Students warn of stern protest

Having been denied admission in post-graduate programmes by two Tribhuvan University-affiliated medical colleges, students whose names are on merit list have warned of stern protests.
Technical panel to study shrinkage loss problem

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) promised to form a technical committee to resolve the problem of shrinkage loss that gasoline stations have been facing after they threatened to stop taking deliveries.
TSC wasnt formed to exempt companies from paying taxes

Recently, the Tax Settlement Commission has been surrounded with controversy regarding the exemption of taxes worth Rs21 billion. Mukul Humagain spoke with Vidhyadhar Mallik,
US, UK urge Nepali stakeholders to create conditions for peaceful elections

The United States and United Kingdom have reiterated their commitment to work for a peaceful, inclusive, broadly-supported, and credible election process in Nepal.
As far as La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat saw, there do not seem to be roundabouts in the La Crosse Sister City in China.

I asked him about it last week as we talked about his visit there with a delegation from La Crosse. Toole Design, the firm hired by La Crosse to reimagine about a mile of South Avenue so the states reconstruction benefits the surrounding neighborhoods, has suggested four roundabouts.

They do not, at least not that we drove on, Kabat said about Luoyang, which is a city of more than 5 million people. A roundabout might be hidden somewhere.

Anyway, he added this: The intersections, they almost become like defacto roundabouts, because as you are there waiting for the light to change you literally have every form of vehicle (circulating through)  except for the cars because of the lights. Its scooters. Its utility vehicles. Its bikes. Its motorcycles. Its three-wheel carts.  It looks a little bit chaotic, honestly. And I was talking to one of the municipal officials and he was telling me their traffic  the flow and the safety  has greatly improved in the last 10 years.

Considering that Luoyang has a known history dating back 4,000 years, theyve had time to work out the rules.

Somehow it all works, Kabat said. Its all working. Everybody is getting to where they need to get to.

City notes

Coulee Rock Community Church is working on a 1,215-square-foot addition to its building at 3059 Medico Court, La Crosse.

Only in an emergency should A-1 Excavating work after 7 p.m. on the installation of storm sewer on Ferry Street from the Mississippi to 6th Street South and on 6th Street South from Ferry Street to Cass Street. The companys request for a limited exemption for construction noise will be the topic of a public hearing on July 3 before the Board of Public Works.

Pischke Motors has asked to buy from the city a parcel of land at the northwest corner of 3rd and Cameron. It is land the city acquired as part of the Highway 16 bridge project. The Public Works Commission told the Planning Department to issue a request for proposals for the sale of the property to see whether any other buyers are interested.

In politics

Indivisible La Crosse has announced two speakers for its July 8 March For Health: La Crosse Common Council member David Marshall, 4th District, and Rep Jill Billings, D-95th District. The event from 2 to 4 p.m. in Cameron Park is subtitled Round 2  For Justice.

However, if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells plans come to fruition, the Senate will vote on the Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act by July 4.

State Sen. Jennifer Shilling seems unimpressed by Gov. Scott Walkers assertion that his budget proposal provides the largest of state funding for K-12 education. The La Crosse lawmaker issued a statement about Walkers visit last week to Holmen.

Gov. Walker and legislative Republicans have turned a blind eye to the impacts their cuts have had on our local schools, she said. Too many districts like Holmen have been forced to rely on referendums to simply keep doors open and classrooms up to date. It is disappointing that Gov. Walker seems more focused on re-election photo-ops at the expense of our students.

She added: Democrats are committed to fully restoring the historic cuts to our local schools and investing in our communities.

According to a report from the Department of Instruction, Holmen taxpayers have voted on five referendums in the past three years and have lost $103,168 to private voucher school operators, Shillings news release said.

La Crosse County Republicans seem unimpressed by the claims being made in the Wisconsin gerrymandering case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a post on its Facebook page, a very red electoral map is accompanied by Keep this map of Trump vs. Hillary precincts in mind when Democrats blame gerrymandering for their continued failure to regain power in Wisconsin. The GOPs big landslide in 2010 happened on maps drawn by a federal court.

In 2011, the GOP-controlled Assembly redrew the districts. In the next election, Republicans picked up one seat, gaining a supermajority of 60 with 49 percent of the vote, according to figures published by The Guardian newspaper. The Democrats stayed at 39. In 2014, the GOP total rose to 63 with 52 percent of the vote.

Dumb joke of the week

What is Beethovens favorite fruit?

Ba-na-na-naaaa!
I was just finishing up the morning calf feeding. The forecast for the day was 90s and humid. The sun was getting warm on my back.

I had done a thorough job. The scouring calves were scheduled for their midday electrolytes, and they had all drunk their milk well just an hour earlier. All of the calves had fresh water in clean pails, to get them through to the afternoon feeding. Experience told me the calves were all ready for the hot day.

In the summer, we have a lot of bicyclists pedaling past our farm, and so they were that morning. As I began to walk back up to calf room, 20 empty bottles in hand to wash and disinfect, a cyclist riding by hollered, Animal abuser!

My immediate response was something I said to myself ... cant put that in print. What could have possessed that man to make such a comment, when I had just spent two hours caring for our calves? I have no idea why he said what he did, but a few possibilities come to mind.

In the past, Ive taken criticism from some folks because we raise our calves in hutches. You dont know how to raise calves, they should be with their mothers, is a comment Ive heard more than once. Perhaps this was the concern the cyclist was referring to.

Actually, calf hutches are a time-tested way to raise healthy, happy calves. Weve raised calves in group pens and in hutches. Calves raised in hutches have performed very well on our dairy. Apart from mama, they dont care what provides their daily milk, be it the cow or a calf feeder; they just want the milk. In hutches, we limit the calves exposure to bacterial loads and monitor each calfs appetite and stool, catching problems early. Calves in hutches do not need to compete with others for starter grain; they live in groups of six to eight calves once they are weaned.

Raising calves in hutches is labor intensive. We keep the calves clean, dry (and warm in the winter with straw bedding, Thinsulate jackets and extra milk).

The other evening, I was scrolling through the TV stations to find something worth watching. I came across a detective show in which someone was being criticized by a colleague for eating a hamburger. The argument went something like this: How can you support the abuse of animals by eating meat?

Maybe the cyclist thinks all of production agriculture is animal abuse.

Some people choose not to eat meat for health reasons, and I can understand that. If people chooses not to eat meat to prevent animal abuse, however, I dont think they fully understand the lives most animals have on the farm. All of our animals eat and sleep in clean, dry comfortable pens. We feed quality feeds. We give them shelter against winter cold, fly control and air movement with fans for their comfort in the summer heat. Its a pretty good life when they are here. We haul our steers to a local slaughter plant 10 miles away; they are typically slaughtered an hour after leaving our farm, so they have very minimal stress at the end of life.

Well then, how could farmers  animal caregivers  allow their animals to be killed for meat? Some people correlate animal slaughter with animal abuse. In the U.S., auction markets are required to handle animals humanely and allow them housing and access to water. At both state and federal slaughter plants, animals must be rendered unconscious in a humane way before slaughter. Government inspectors assure humane slaughter at all plants. In the past decade, large plants have rebuilt their receiving facilities with equipment that allows for more-natural, less-pressured flow of cattle.

There have been some legitimate concerns about animal abuse posted on social media. These are exceptions to the rule. Those situations bother farmers as much or more than they do the consuming public. Unless we farmers take good care of our animals, they dont make milk or grow profitably. Animal husbandry is what makes us feel good about what we do. We do not take lightly the farm managers, auction market managers and slaughter plant managers who have allowed animals under their care to suffer at the hands of employees or otherwise.

What bothers me is this: When falsehoods mold consumer perception, that perception becomes reality. Farmers make up two percent of the U.S. population, and dairy farmers are a very small percentage of that. Poorly informed consumers have a lot more votes than we farmers do, yet they may be trying to mandate protocols for operations they dont understand.

If that cyclislt happens to read this column, I invite him to stop in to see and discuss how we care for our animals. Farm visits by consumers trump any other kind of education about farming. Talk with instead of yelling at a farmer. There is information and trust to be gained, by both parties. We farmers are not animal abusers, we are animal caretakers.

And we are happy to answer your questions.
Around the world, when people hear the word cheese, they think Wisconsin.

Wisconsins brand as the cheese state is due in large part to the hard work of the states dairy farmers and quality cheese producers, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Secretary Ben Brancel said Monday.

Brancel visited Great Lakes Cheese in La Crosse and Westby Cooperative Creamery as part of a statewide tour in celebration of Wisconsin Cheese Day and June Dairy Month.

Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill at the beginning of June declaring cheese Wisconsins official dairy product. At nearly 3.2 billion pounds, Wisconsin produced more than a quarter of the U.S. supply of cheese in 2016, according to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

Now that cheese is the official dairy product of Wisconsin, its only fitting that we visit some of the more than 140 cheese producers in the state to acknowledge their role in keeping Wisconsin a world leader in the industry, Gov. Scott Walker said of Mondays tour. The states 1,200 licensed cheesemakers work hard every day to produce more than 600 varieties of cheese that are sold around the world, and Wisconsin Cheese Day is a chance for us to celebrate their successes.

With more than a $43 billion economic impact on the state, the importance of cheese as a commodity rises every year. Brancel had high praise for the states cheesemakers during his visit to Great Lakes Cheese, saying the quality of the states product has a high level, winning numerous awards at international cheese competitions.

The University of Wisconsin System and its Center for Dairy Research provide a valuable support network to the states farmers and cheese industry, he said. The center offers a master cheesemakers program, the only one of its kind outside of Europe, and offers training and additional certification to those cheesemakers with more than a decade of experience in the industry.

Our cheese producers are the best in the world, he said. We are the only state in the U.S. that has a master cheesemakers program to ensure that quality.

The secretarys visit also celebrated the work of the area companies he visited. Great Lakes Cheese completed an addition to its La Crosse facility two years ago, adding three production lines and more than 100 new jobs. The company is also planning to expand its Wausau facility, which has a 90-year history in Wisconsin.

We measure success in generations, not in quarters, Great Lakes Cheese Director of Operations Douglas Rouse told the secretary. Were proud to be family-owned and employee-owned.

Challenges still face the industry, which has suffered a glut of dairy products for more than a year, driving down prices due to oversupply. There are also concerns about international markets as Canada which dairy experts have argued has increased protections for its own dairy farmers and President Donald Trump has promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which could affect trade with that country and Mexico, two of the bigger export markets for Wisconsin dairy.

The Canadian pricing structure does not follow the spirit of free trade, Brancel said. Those changes come with an impact on our farmers and were a hard blow to our industry. It was a wake-up call to be more mindful of whats going on in our markets.

Editor's Note: Canadian officials dispute the characterization of the country's actions as protectionist and argue changes to policy have been industry-driven. Attached is a copy of a letter from the Canadian Ambassador to Gov. Scott Walker earlier this year.
WASHINGTON  Five months into Donald Trumps administration, only the unwise doubt the presidents intelligence.

Just ask former FBI Director James Comey, who, in addition to being fired by Trump, has been redefined by the president as a dishonest leaker who might have lied were it not for nonexistent tapes of their conversations.

Wait, what?

It takes a craven sort of cunning to pull that one off. One day, Comey, a man admired for his brilliance and integrity, is investigating possible collusion in the 2016 presidential race between Russia and the Trump campaign. The next, hes watching his professional life unravel on television and reading that hes not to be trusted.

Trump didnt stop at upending the mans career, cutting short his FBI directorship by six years. He next tweeted that Comey better hope there were no tapes (his quotation marks) of their private conversation that subsequently became the focal point of congressional investigations.

There were tapes?!

Of course, there were no tapes. Did anyone really think there were? Well, yes, there could have been tapes  just as there could have been a legitimate Trump University. To the credulous goes the nation.

But no president ever admits to tapes, at least not until a subpoena becomes inevitable. Or, as in this case, when the House Intelligence Committee demands such tapes, if they exist.

They dont, Trump finally tweeted after more than a month of suspense-building hedging. But caveat trumptor: The president says he doesnt personally have any recordings of the conversation, but who knows, what with all the surveillance around these days?

The media, alas, had no choice but to entertain the possibility that there were tapes. Like it or not, theres no ignoring a presidents statements. Thus, television anchors and pundit panels have devoted hundreds of hours to examining the what, ifs and buts of the illusory tapes: What would it mean if they existed? What would it mean if they didnt? Was Trump bluffing? Was he trying to intimidate Comey?

No doubt enjoying the scramble to his latest manufactured distraction, Trump chided reporters: Youre going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer. Perhaps. But then, life with Trump is a roller coaster of anticlimaxes.

Trump supporters, I suspect, knew all along that he was bluffing. Theyre in on the joke, which is actually a Southern tradition  goofing on the media, saying outrageous stuff for the pleasure of watching reporters write it down. Who cares what reporters think, anyway, goes the thinking.

To them, Trump was taunting Comey the way they wish they could, giving him the what-for. You think youre so tall. Toying with media and other elites has become the sport of both commoners and the king these days. When Trump isnt playing king, hes happy to be the court jester. With a shrug of his shoulders and a smirkish smile, he conveys whatever.

We tend to forget, too, that Trump is a professional bluffer. We keep thinking hes the president of the United States. Thats his title, but his identity is Donald J. Trump, television star, celebrity wheeler-dealer, a man who grabs what he wants. Everything he says or does should first be considered in this context.

Poor Comey. Burdened with seriousness, he wore a black tie to a circus.

When he testified earlier this month before the Senate Intelligence Committee, saying that Trump suggested that he drop his investigation of Michael Flynn, that he wrote memos about his interactions and leaked them to the press because he feared Trump might lie about them  he was obviously telling the truth.

Otherwise, why admit to the leak  otherwise known as discreet information-sharing, which, you may as well know, makes the world go round. It also occurred post-firing and after Trumps tweet about the tapes.

Yet, Trump, who denies everything, has managed to create a fictional narrative that not only justifies his dangling bluff but gilds it as a moral victory: He tweeted about tapes to make sure leaker Comey would be honest when he testified.

Well, now.

It takes a certain kind of intelligence to spin a yarn so counterintuitive and defiantly false that some people will believe it, anyway. Alternatively, Trump could be just as confused as he hopes others will be.
On Nov. 1, Linn Benton Food Shares warehouse in Tangent received two truckloads of food and household supplies arranged by the local branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
EPDE Policy Paper, June 2017: Electoral Reform in Ukraine - Challenges and ProspectsEuropean Platform for Democratic Elections EPDE  noreply@epde.org Electoral reform is a crucial component of a strong and sustainable democracy in Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian election legislation ranks among the least stable in Europe. Six out of the last eight parliamentary elections in Ukraine were held under different electoral legal frameworks. Moreover, four different electoral systems were in place. In most cases, either new wording or major changes to the electoral legal framework were introduced shortly before the elections.This prevented experts, political parties, and other stakeholders from engaging in an open, fully-fledged debate on the amendment bills. Both parliamentary and local elections shared the same set of problems. This paper outlines the most important challenges of the current electoral reform process in Ukraine.With the next parliamentary elections scheduled for 2019, international actors should take action and encourage the Ukrainian government to overcome the prevailing reform fatigue and push for the implementation of the following reform steps: a proportional electoral system with open regional electoral lists, the right to vote for IDPs, a proper legal framework for the prosecution of violations of the electoral law, and a new composition of the Central Election Commission.
USJ congregation awards 207 degrees

The University of Saint Josephs (USJ) class of 2017 graduated on Saturday at the Macau Cathedral. The ceremony was separated into morning and afternoon sessions, with 207 graduates and more than 800 witnesses. Bishop Stephen Lee, Bishop of Macau and Chancellor of USJ, officiated the event. Six PhD degrees, 41 master degrees and 160 bachelor degrees were awarded in the presence of the bishop, USJ rector Peter Stilwell, and representatives from the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau and Caritas Macau, among other guests.

Chan denies special channel for recruitment

The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, said yesterday during a public event that the government does not have a special channel for staff recruitment. Last week, several media reported the case of a graduated student from mainland China who had reportedly been recruited through a special channel to enter the civil service. According to a statement issued by the Government Information Bureau, Sonia Chan also noted that regarding the specific case of the translation services under the responsibility of the her office, recruitment is done mostly inside the public services and only in urgent situations an external recruitment system is adopted. Chan noted that such scheme is the same existing since 1989.

Rui Cunha Foundation to hold talk on Brexit

The Rui Cunha Foundation will host a talk on the consequences of Brexit from the Irish perspective, scheduled for 6.30 p.m. tomorrow at its headquarters. The foundation has invited Peter Ryan, Consul General of Ireland to Hong Kong and Macau, to discuss the impact of Brexit on Ireland. Brexit refers to the United Kingdoms departure from the European Union (EU), which was decided in a vote last year. Negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom have just begun. The talk will be conducted in English and admission is free.

Four-year-old dies at hotel pool

A four-year-old South Korean child died yesterday afternoon at the pool of an hotel in Cotai. TDM reported that the child was spending the afternoon with its parents at the pool. Around 6 p.m., the parents noticed that the child was suddenly missing, shortly before they saw him unconscious. Hotel staff attempted to resuscitate the child. The child was taken to hospital and was declared dead on arrival. An autopsy is to be performed, but the police believe the cause of death was drowning.

UM graduates first doctor from Colombia

Gilberto Ortiz, a Colombian doctoral student at the University of Macau (UM), became the first doctor from a Spanish-speaking country to graduate from UM. Ortiz is a student of civil and earthquake engineering from UMs faculty of science and technology (FST). In his dissertation, Ortiz proposed a new Bayesian (relating to Bayes theorem) nonparametric technique that has a wide range of applications, such as predicting peak ground acceleration, modeling of seismic attenuation and assisting with structural health monitoring. Ortizs supervisor was Professor Yuen Ka Veng, an FST professor who specializes in real-time structural health monitoring systems for large infrastructure and buildings.

Grand Prix and Wine Museum to close from July 1

The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) announced that the Grand Prix Museum, the Wine Museum and the Tourism Activities Center (CAT) will be closed for renovations starting July 1. MGTO plans to remodel the current Grand Prix Museum. Admission to both museums will be free until June 30. Both museums are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, but are closed on Tuesdays. The Grand Prix Museum features a number of automobiles and motorbikes on display. The Wine Museum brings visitors through the process of winemaking with exhibitions on the history of wine, as well as a showcase of tools used in wine production.

US Independence Day reception in Macau

The U.S. Consulate General of Hong Kong and Macau hosted a reception last Friday to celebrate the 241st anniversary of the independence of the United States of America. The reception was held at the Clube Militar de Macau. Consul General Kurt Tong and Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan were present at the reception. During the event, Chan stated that bilateral trade and investment flows [between Macau and the U.S.] have increased significantly [and that] a good and stable Sino-American relationship is vital to the continued success of U.S. corporations operating in Macau. She added that Macaus long-term policies of economic diversification and regional integration will provide ample opportunities for U.S. corporations in all sectors to flourish.

Delegation from Hubei Province visits IPM

Nie Changbin, Vice Secretary-General of the Peoples Government of Hubei Province, led a group of delegates to visit the Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM) last Thursday. The delegation met Hubei students at IPM to learn about their campus life and encourage them to pursue excellence in their studies. During the meeting, Nie stated the main purpose of the trip was to visit Hubei students in Macau and better understand their academic progress. IPM has admitted outstanding students from Hubei to pursue undergraduate studies in Sino-Lusophone trade relations and Chinese-Portuguese translation and interpretation, among other courses.
Independent book and record store, Pin-to Livros 2.0, officially opened its doors to the public yesterday after 11 months of absence since its forcible closure.

Clean, elegant and quiet, the small store  located at No.47 Rua de Coelho do Amaral, near Kiang Wu hospital  has recaptured the atmosphere of its former incarnation.

Storeowner Anson Ng previously enjoyed a dual set-up, with sister shops Pin-to Livros and Pin-to Musica located one floor apart in the same building, close to Senado Square. His new store now bears the humorous but unofficial byline, 2.0, and is based further afield in an area with lower foot traffic.

The shop, which is just four meters wide and houses both books and records, is considerably smaller than the dual set-up.

Ng was forced to close up shop in July after a new company acquired the lease to the building and notified the bookstore owner that his rental contract would be terminated.

Eleven months on, and the two former premises appear vacant and derelict. Ng said that, to the best of his knowledge, the spaces are not being used for anything.

This was corroborated by a visit to the building yesterday by the Times. On the door to the former bookshop were several Chinese New Year decorations and a note in Chinese informing that Pin-to Livros had closed and will be reopened in 2017. Other than that, there were no signs of activity.

A woman who works in a store in the same building told the Times that the premises are not currently occupied and that there are visitors in the building looking for the bookshop every week.

Meanwhile, back at the new store, Ng was pleased with the opening day turnout.

He estimated that around 100 people had visited Pin-to Livros 2.0 within two hours of its opening. The Times recorded around a dozen people in the shop at any one time during its visit, with several entering or exiting every few minutes.

Despite the limited space, Ng said that he wants to continue hosting concerts, even though they may only accommodate up to 30 people at a time.

The bookstore is located on the ground floor of its new building. The two floors above house a theater associations office and a library of theater-related material.

Pin-to Livros is open daily from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Macau billionaire Ng Lap Seng will start his trial today in Manhattan on charges of corruption, as well as the allleged bribery of senior United Nations officials over a conference center he hoped to build in the MSAR.

Ng has pleaded not guilty to the bribery charges. His former assistant, Jeff Yin  who was arrested at the same time as Ng  arranged a plea deal in April with prosecutors and admitted to being guilty of a single tax charge. Several other defendants in the case have also pleaded guilty.

According to Reuters, jury selection will begin before U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick in Manhattan, and the trial is not expected to last more than a few weeks.

The news agency cites several defense lawyers who have argued that Ngs prosecution was politically motivated. One such motivation, they argue, is to limit Chinas influence over developing countries in organizations such as the U.N.

Among other charges, Ng is accused of paying more than half a million dollars to former U.N. General Assembly president John Ashe, who died in June under mysterious circumstances while awaiting trial.

The alleged bribery was intended to secure Ashes support for a U.N.-backed conference center in Macau. This would be constructed by Ngs real estate company, Sun Kian Ip Group, and serve as Ngs legacy in the MSAR.

He was also allegedly behind substantial donations, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, to the Democratic National Committee between 1994 and 1996, while former president Bill Clinton was vying for re-election. Prosecutors suggested that the allegations, which surfaced in a 1998 U.S. Senate report, would not be brought up in the trial.

Ng was initially arrested in September 2015. He was soon freed on a USD50-million bail, whereby he was permitted to live in a luxury apartment under 24-hour guard.
Norways prime minister warned Brazils president on Friday to curb deforestation in the Amazon or Norway will reduce its financial contribution to the project this year.

The announcement comes as the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests are being cut down at the fastest rate in nearly a decade, according to official Brazilian figures.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Norways more than USD1 billion contribution to the so-called Amazon fund is based on results, Norways NTB news agency said. Since 2001, Norway has donated billions to encourage the conservation of forests.

If preliminary figures about deforestation in 2016 are confirmed, it will lead to a reduced payout in 2017, Solberg said after meeting with Brazilian President Michel Temer in Oslo.

Temer praised Norways contribution to the fund but declined to take questions from media after he and Solberg had made their statements.

This contribution has enabled us to make a more effective impact to avoiding deforestation, Temer said, according to NTB.

Temer said last week he had vetoed legislation to reduce the size of protected environmental reserves. However, the apparent victory for environmental groups most likely will be short-lived, as Brazilian Environment Minister Jose Sarney Filho is working on similar legislation.

The legislation passed by Brazils Congress last month would have converted around 1.4 million acres (566,000 hectares) of protected land into areas open to logging, mining and agricultural use.

However, last week, Filho announced plans to create a new expedited bill that would convert 1.1 million acres of protected land to other uses.

Last year, deforestation in the Amazon jumped 29 percent over the previous year, according to the Brazilian governments satellite monitoring. That was the highest rate since 2008.

Before his meeting with Solberg, Temer was met by protesters holding posters reading Stop rainforest destruction and Respect indigenous peoples rights as he arrived at the prime ministers office in Oslo. By Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, AP
The annual Sao Joao festivities were held over the weekend in the St. Lazarus district, welcoming hundreds of locals and tourists alike to socialize and sample traditional and authentic Portuguese products.

The festival, now in its 11th edition since the restart of a centuries-old tradition, is a cherished event in the city where some of the best of Portuguese folklore music, food and drinks are on offer.

Those the Times interviewed were in agreement that this year was busier than last, even though the 2016 edition had had an unprecedented number of visitors and stall operators.

The number of visitors is increasing every year. My indication of this is that every year the [vendors] are increasing the quantity of products on offer, said Maria Amelia Antonio, president of the House of Portugal (Casa de Portugal) Association, one of the events main organizers. On Saturday night, many of them told me that they had sold out.

I can feel more people this year [at the festival], said Paulo Reis, a teacher at the House of Portugal. Yesterday was full of people; today not so many, but still more than [the same day] last year.

In total, there appeared to be around two dozen stalls and as many as 200 people across several streets of the St. Lazarus district by the late afternoon yesterday.

The House of Portugal teacher was managing a stall displaying and selling his ceramic works. His intention was to first and foremost to provide a place for his artworks to be seen, but he also sees the festival as a good opportunity to recruit more students for his class.

I am selling some pieces, but my [priority] is to show my work to everybody, Reis told the Times. We can show [artwork] everywhere; not only in galleries and museums.

Another vendor, Vania Vieira, who was overseeing a stall affiliated with Portuguese shop, Mercearia Portuguesa, said it was very nice to have the community come together like this. Its a very traditional summer party in Portugal.

They have been running a stall for about four years said Vieira, and offer products sourced from Portugal such as coffee, Madeira cake, sardines, Ginjinha (cherry liqueur) and pumpkin, tomato and other flavored jams.

This years edition was nearly cancelled due to a disagreement between the organizers and the Transport Bureau (DSAT). Eventually, the negotiations were set back on track and the festival was given the green light earlier this month.

What could not be negotiated, however, was the closing time of 10 p.m., which is enforced by local authorities so as to respect a law on noise control in the district.

For the Saturday, it doesnt justify such an early [closing] time. It is not a high-density residential area, said Antonio. The few people that live in that area will not be disturbed. I met some of the people who live there and they are very [appreciative] of the festival. They told me, For one day of the year I can see people happy and enjoying themselves in this neighborhood.
Macau gaming tycoon Stanley Ho has stepped down as chairman of Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., according to Reuters. His daughter Pansy Ho will assume leadership of the Hong Kong conglomerate, which has businesses in hospitality, property, shipping and investment.

Ho founded the holding company and has served on its board for more than 40 years. He will be awarded the title of chairman emeritus  a designation sometimes conferred upon retired founders or corporate visionaries who brought their organizations to new heights  as a mark of distinguished service.

In a statement filed to the Hong Kong stock exchange, the company said Ho will cease to hold any official position  director or officer  at Shun Tak.

Ho, 95, is Macaus wealthiest individual and one of the wealthiest in Asia. He was worth USD2 billion in 2011, making him Hong Kongs 13th richest man. His investments span China, Portugal, North Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mozambique, Indonesia and East Timor.

In the decades that Ho monopolized local gaming, more than 50 percent of the territorys economy came under his ownership.

His many nicknames include The King of Gambling, The King of Macau and Macaus Underground Governor.

After suffering a stroke in 2009, he began decentralizing his corporate empire and distributing it among his family. Ho has had four wives and 16 children.
As Tropical Storm Cindy made landfall in Louisiana last week, citizens and market watchers braced for its impact.

One big concern was that the storm could flood rice-growing areas of Louisiana, which sent prices to a one-year high at 11.5 cents per pound as storm watchers warned of flood risks. Luckily, the damage to fields was largely contained, which knocked prices swiftly lower by Friday.

As the remnants of the storm continue inland through Arkansas and into the Corn Belt, the storm will bring heavy rain to Midwestern farmers, which should ultimately help the growing corn and soybean crops, which sent prices for both markets to the lowest level of the year.

As of midday Friday, corn for delivery in December was worth $3.78 per bushel, while November soybeans sold for $9.09.

Oil prices slump

Crude oil prices tumbled to a 10-month low as U.S. oil producers continue pumping more oil.

Despite falling prices, U.S. drillers have been adding oil wells for 22 weeks in a row, and are now producing 8 percent more crude oil than last year. Many of the U.S. wells, however, are likely running at a loss, so further price drops could force a cutback and eventually shoot prices back higher.

The U.S. and others nations such as Libya and Nigeria are counteracting the recent production cuts by OPEC and Russia, neutralizing their effort to raise prices.

As of midday Friday, August crude oil traded for $43 per barrel.

Brazilian steaks banned

The USDA announced a ban of Brazilian beef on Thursday, a move that caused a flurry in the global meat markets.

Brazil is one of the worlds largest beef and poultry exporters, but its beef has been tainted by accusations that major companies bribed meat inspectors, which has resulted in increased scrutiny.

Since March, the USDA has turned away more than 10 percent of Brazilian beef imports due to quality concerns before putting an all-out ban in place last week.

For now, U.S. futures markets shrugged off the news, leaving trading unchanged on Friday after the story broke. If other countries follow the U.S. in banning Brazilian meat, however, the global supply chain could be affected and drive prices higher.
SAO PAULO  Brazils agriculture minister plans to travel to the United States to try to reverse the American ban of beef imports from Latin Americas biggest country.

Blairo Maggis posted social media comments on his trip and the ban late Thursday, hours after U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced in a statement the immediate suspension of all Brazilian fresh beef imports because of safety concerns.

The U.S. statement said suspension will remain in place until Brazil takes corrective action.

Maggi said Brazil will fight for the U.S. market and that he plans to head a mission to the United States to negotiate the resumption of Brazilian beef exports.

Perdues decision was announced three months after a major scandal into allegations of bribed meat inspectors shook Brazils meat industry and prompted several countries to temporarily halt imports.

Perdue said that since March, U.S. inspectors have refused entry to 11 percent of Brazilian fresh beef products, about 1.9 million pounds. That figure is substantially higher than the rejection rate of one percent of shipments from the rest of the world, the statement said.

The statement noted that Brazil had already addressed concerns of American inspectors by prohibiting five facilities from shipping beef to the U.S., but said that didnt go far enough.

Maggi attributed the USDAs safety concerns to the lumps some steers develop as a result of an allergic reaction to the vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease. He said the lumps did not represent a public health hazard.

We must resolve this matter as quickly as possible because cattle breeding in Brazil is going through a very difficult moment with low market prices, Maggi said.

The Brazilian Beef Exporters Association said in a statement it lamented the export suspension and that adjustments to the production processes are already underway and will be presented to the Agriculture Ministrys mission that will go to the United States.

In March, Brazilian authorities said they were investigating inspectors who allegedly allowed expired meats enter the market in exchange for bribes.

Several countries, including major importer China, temporarily stopped buying Brazilian meats. After assurances from Brazilian officials, most began buying again within a few weeks.

The episode had a large financial impact at a time when Latin Americas biggest economy is struggling to emerge from its worst recession in a generation. For several weeks, the usual tens of millions of dollars in daily exports slowed to less than $100,000.

Brazil was the worlds largest producer of beef and veal in 2016 and one of the top exporters, according to U.S. Agriculture Department. The country is also a major exporter of chicken and pork products.

We must resolve this matter as quickly as possible because cattle breeding in Brazil is going through a very difficult moment with low market prices. Blairo Maggi, Brazils agriculture minister
KIMBERLY  Sugar beet root maggots are fairly widespread pests in southern Idaho, especially in the MiniCassia area. Populations can become so high that an entire stand can be wiped out.

But put the pest in a greenhouse so researchers can study resistant plant lines and the story changes. Researchers have struggled to raise the adult flies because of the nearly constant temperatures in greenhouses.

Adult flies emerge in the spring to lay eggs in the soil next to young sugar beet plants during May and June. The soilborne larvae feed on the taproot through mid-July, then enter diapause  a period of suspended development  as non-feeding, overwintering larvae.

Mimicking that diapause stage has proven to be difficult. But Tucker Daley, a University of Idaho graduate student in entomology, has managed to raise root maggots to the third instar  a developmental stage between molts during the insect life cycle. Usually larvae die after the second instar in greenhouse situations.

His goal is to rear a sustainable colony that can be used year-round in greenhouses to study resistance and other control methods. As part of his research work, Daley is conducting no-choice and paired choice experiments. He is working with UI Extension Entomologist Erik Wenninger.

In the no-choice experiments, a pair of flies is released in a tented container with either a resistant or non-resistant plants. In the paired trials, the flies are placed with both a resistant and non-resistant plant. The hope is that the flies will mate and lay eggs that will then feed on the plants.

Not surprisingly, Daley has seen fewer maggots and much less feeding damage on the resistant plants in the no-choice trials. But when flies are placed in the paired choice trials, they lay as many eggs on the resistant plants as they do on the non-resistant plants.

However, once the larvae begin feeding on the resistant plants, something biologically seems to happen and the larvae die. Resistance gives plants the ability to withstand the feeding damage but is not intended to kill the insects. Daley hopes to find some answers as to why that is happening.

Insects and weeds were the primary pests discussed during the annual pest management research tour at the Kimberly Research and Extension Center in mid-June.

During his career as a UI Extension weed specialist, Don Morishita has seen many cases of herbicide injury on crops when spray applications drift onto non-targeted fields.

Farmers have long noticed an interesting phenomenon when herbicides with a growth regular mode of action drift. Often sugar beet or potato yields are higher in the areas of the field impacted by the drift.

Since Roundup Ready sugar beet seed was introduced, beet yields in the Magic Valley have jumped nearly 10 tons per acre. Factories are hitting a ceiling of how much biomass can be processed. Growers are interested in seeing if the growth regulator effect could be used to help them increase sugar yield without increasing biomass.

Morishita is looking at several ALS inhibitor herbicides to see if the growth regular effect is seen when the herbicides are applied at 0.01 percent to 10 percent of the recommended (1x) rate. He expects to see significant damage at the 10 percent rate.

No new herbicide chemistry has been released for nearly 20 years which has led Morishita and other weed scientists to take fresh looks at older herbicides.

In one beet trial, Morishita is evaluting two herbicides that are known to have caused crop injury when applied alone. But he has been surprised to see that the injury is greatly reduced and weed control improved when the herbicides are used at the same rate in a tank mix. He would like to repeat this trial in a weed-free situation so that crop tolerance could be better evaluated.

He is also evaluating adjuvants when used with older bean herbicide chemistry to improve crop tolerance and weed control.

Howard Neibling, UI Extension water management specialist, also talked briefly about using polymers to improve irrigation water infiltration, reduce runoff and increase yields. Different polymers are being evaluated at different water stress levels.

Last year, Neibling saw a 15 to 20 percent increase in beet yields in plots with the greatest water stress.
THREE CREEK  The population of Three Creek swelled Saturday with nearly 500 guests who descended on the school grounds to celebrate the 71 Livestock Associations centennial.

Founded in 1917, cattlemen and sheepmen in Twin Falls and Owyhee counties formed the association for the purpose of bettering conditions on the range, cooperating with the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

I certainly hope that you will enjoy this look into our past and take advantage here today to visit with those around us that still have a grasp of that past, said Keith Severe, president of the 71 Livestock Association.

We may not have always agreed, he said, but the important thing is that we have had the lines of communication open.

In the past 100 years, range improvements on the 71 range yielded nearly 1,000 miles of pipeline, over 2,000 miles of fence, and hundreds of thousands of acres of seeding throughout the Jarbidge Resource Area and the Jarbidge Ranger District.

Dignitaries included five county commissioners from three counties, three state representatives, two state senators, Rep. Raul Labrador and Lieutenant Governor Brad Little.

I dont know what youre going to do the next 100 years because this country looks incredible, Little said.

Its a team sport with all the agencies to make range management possible, Little said. We need to better the opportunities for our children and grandchildren on this range.

Several families from the original members joined the festivities. There are now members of the association who are sixth-generation ranchers in the Three Creek area.

The Owyhee County Historical Society managed a bookstore stocked with books about the 71 range and the Three Creek area, including the associations 450-page book The 71: A Century of Bettering Conditions, which can also be ordered on Amazon. In addition, families exploring history in the area could trace their family heritage or share historic photos.

After the program and dinner concluded, guests pulled on their dancing boots for an evening of live music and dancing.

In the early 1870s, Joseph Scott was the first cattleman to come to the Three Creek area. He purchased the 71 brand in Nevada. When he expanded into Three Creek, Scott acquired the 71 brand in Idaho and the ranges where his cattle grazed were called the 71 name.

This is where God would run cows, Severe said.
KIMBERLY  The Kimberly School District is buying 2.4 acres of agricultural land, but it could be 25 years before its used for a school expansion project.

School trustees voted Wednesday to sign a purchase and sales agreement. The district will spend $165,000 on the land, which is just south of the middle and high school campuses.

School leaders are planning well into the future for any school expansion projects they may need to pursue as part of a long-term facilities plan.

But in the meantime, it plans to explore whether FFA students can use the land for projects such as raising animals.

We all know that plans change, but the board felt its in our best interest to acquire ground because you can always sell or do a land swap, Superintendent Luke Schroeder said Friday.

The school district is buying the land from Richard and Harriette Hale. Money for the purchase will come from a 10-year voter-approved plant facilities levy, which provides $300,000 per year for school district facility needs.

The property is accessible from Emerald Drive, and includes a house, barn, corrals and outbuildings. Its within 100 yards of the school campuses, separated only by one residential lot.

In the short term, Schroeder said, hed like to look into whether FFA students could use the land.

It would allow students to work with animals and give them real life agricultural experiences.

We have a number of kids that are taking projects, but they dont have property to house those projects, he said.

Recent Kimberly High graduate Kaylie Stastny, 18, was in FFA all four years of high school. She said Friday she loves the idea of allowing FFA students to use the land, calling it so awesome.

She raises pigs at home, but said having land available would give similar opportunities to students who live within the city limits and cant have farm animals.

I know that raising animals in FFA is a huge thing when youre able to learn a lot and are really able to grow, she said.

Statsny is heading off to Brigham Young University-Idaho this fall, where shes considering studying elementary education.

New elementary school

In addition to buying land, the Kimberly School District has another big project in the works: building a new elementary school.

Construction started this spring on the approximately $10.7 million project.

Construction is going full board ahead, Schroeder said. Were currently on budget. Were currently on time.

Construction crews have nearly finished the buildings foundation, poured about half the floors, are putting up walls in the gymnasium and framing walls for the classroom wings.

The 50,000-square-foot elementary school  slated for completion in June 2018  will help alleviate overcrowding. Then, remodeling will begin on the existing elementary school.

The new 10-acre campus is at the corner of Polk Street West and Emerald Drive North, east of Ballards Way subdivision. Its paid for using a $14 million bond voters approved in May 2016.
Seniors wellness

The Twin Falls Senior Center will hold a presentation for senior citizens at 12:15 p.m. Monday at 530 Shoshone St. W.

Physical therapists from Heritage Health Services will discuss balance, posture and fall prevention for seniors.

Free; 208-734-5084.

Weight loss support

TOPS Club (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), a nonprofit weight-loss support group, will meet weekly at several locations.

The Twin Falls chapter will meet at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Twin Falls Senior Center, 530 Shoshone St. W., 208-734-2641 or 208-734-5300.

Other local chapters will meet at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday at 2025 S. Highway 81 in Malta, 208-645-2438; 9:15 a.m. Thursday at the Jerome Public Library, 100 First Ave. E., 208-324-6693; 9:30 a.m. Thursday at 410 E. Third St. in Rupert, 208-436-6037 or 208-679-3518; and at 5:30 p.m. Friday at 1800 J St. in Heyburn, 208-678-8706 or 208-678-2622.

Yoga

Morning Bliss Yoga, 9 a.m. Tuesday and Saturday at the Magic Valley YMCA, 1751 Elizabeth Blvd. Stretch and strengthen your muscles through yoga. Free to the community.

Yoga classes are free in July; donations are welcome, with all proceeds going for the fund to purchase bolsters. Child care is available for $5 per child for non-members, and free for members.

CPR, infant safety

Infant safety and cardiopulmonary resuscitation class, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Oak Rooms 2-4 on the lower level of St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center, 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls.

New parents, grandparents and caregivers learn CPR and what to do if an infant chokes. The class isnt a certification course.

Free; no registration required. 208-814-0402.

Yoga

Prenatal Yoga classes, 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday at Center for Physical Rehabilitation, 754 N. College Road, Suite D, Twin Falls.

All levels are welcome to join and exercise safely. Sami Ashenbrener, doctor of physical therapy at Center for Physical Rehabilitation, is also a certified yoga instructor with specialized training in prenatal yoga.

Equipment is available, or bring your own equipment if desired. First class is free.

Blood drive

The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 12:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at Twin Falls South Stake Center, 541 Orchard Drive.

Donors of all blood types are needed. To schedule an appointment to donate, use the free blood donor app, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800-733-2767. Completion of a RapidPass online health history questionnaire is encouraged.

C-sections

Caesarean childbirth class, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the Oak Rooms 2-4 on the lower level of St. Lukes Magic Valley, 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls.

Topics: Caesarean delivery procedures, pain management, and non-conforming labors.

Free; pre-registration is required, 208-814-0402.

Alzheimers support

Alzheimers Association, Greater Idaho Chapter, will hold Caregiver Support Group meetings from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at DeSano Place Suites, 545 Nevada St., Gooding, 208-934-4623; and from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at DeSano Place Village, 1015 E. Ave. K, Jerome; information: Becci Bowler, 208-749-1621.

Recovery support

Safe Harbor will hold Al-Anon meetings at 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Recovery group meetings at 7 p.m. Thursdays at 213 Fifth Ave. W. in Twin Falls,

A meal will be provided at 6 p.m. Thursday; donations accepted.

Information: 208-735-8787.

Vision support

Visually Impaired Support Group meeting, 12:45 to 2 p.m. Thursday at the Twin Falls Senior Center, 530 Shoshone St. W., Twin Falls.

Topics: glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetes-caused vision problems.

Information: Idaho Commission for the Blind, 208-734-2140.

Anxiety support

Anxiety Support Group, 6 p.m. every Thursday at Magic Valley Fellowship Hall, 801 Second Ave. N., Twin Falls.

Support for those who experience anxiety, panic attacks or depression. Learn about the signs, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and coping skills.

Information: Cathy Shaddy, 208-410-2768.

Rides for treatment

The American Cancer Societys Road to Recovery program provides free transportation to and from treatments for people with cancer who do not have a ride or are unable to drive. There are several volunteer drivers in the Mini-Cassia area who donate their time and the use of their car so patients can go to their treatments.

To schedule a ride to treatments, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 to be matched with a volunteer driver.

Seniors wellness

Medicare 101, Social Security Benefits, and Assistance for Seniors, a community outreach boot camp sponsored by Patient Financial Navigator Foundation Inc., 12:30 to 5 p.m. July 6 at the College of Southern Idaho Fine Arts Building, 315 Falls Ave, Twin Falls.

The program is free and all ages are invited to attend.

CPR, first aid

St. Lukes Magic Valley Education Department is offering a Heartsaver CPR, First Aid and AED class, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 8 at the Learning Center, 840 Meadows Suite 2, Twin Falls.

The course provides training for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid and using an automated external defibrillator.

Cost is $60 and pre-registration is required: 208-814-9050.
TWIN FALLS  Police say they are investigating the death of a 10-month-old girl left for hours in a car on a hot day.

Lt. Terry Thueson with the Twin Falls Police Department confirmed Monday morning that the infant died Friday. Just before midnight, Twin Falls Police responded to the 500 block of Highland Avenue for a call about a baby not breathing. Officers found the 10-month-old was unresponsive.

Paramedics took the baby to St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center for treatment; however, lifesaving measures were unsuccessful.

Officers learned the baby had been left unattended inside a parked vehicle for several hours during the afternoon and evening hours, a police statement said Monday afternoon.

Police did not release the names of the baby or the parents. Don Patterson of Twin Falls told the Times-News on Monday that the girl was his granddaughter and said she had been left in a car strapped into her car seat Friday evening. Patterson said his granddaughter died that night.

No one has been arrested.

These types of investigations can take time and the Twin Falls Police Department is committed to conducting a thorough and complete investigation, Thueson said in the statement.

Coroner Gene Turley said his office sent the babys body to Boise for an autopsy.

Late Monday, Twin Falls County Prosecuting Attorney Grant Loebs said he was still awaiting autopsy results. Depending on the results, he said, investigators could request additional tests.

Complete autopsy results could take up to a month, Thueson said.

It simply is not safe to leave an unattended child in a vehicle anytime, Police Chief Craig Kingsbury said in the statement. This becomes especially true during warm temperatures. The interior temperature of a vehicle increases rapidly and this can become deadly for children and even pets. Please do not ever leave children unattended in a car.

The high temperature recorded at the Twin Falls airport was 81 degrees on Friday, but temperatures around town reached into the mid-80s, KMVT Chief Meteorologist Brian Neudorff said.

Peak high typically takes place between 5 and 6 oclock, he said.

Utah police are investigating the death of a 2-year-old who apparently fell asleep in a hot car in the southern part of the state Saturday. Temperatures in near St. George, Utah, topped 100 degrees over the weekend.

Investigators say the child likely fell asleep during a ride in a van with several other children on Saturday, and wasnt immediately missed when the group got out of the van.

In Houston, police say a 7-month-old boy died after he was left in a car outside a Houston business while his father was inside working Friday.

Authorities say the infants 36-year-old father had dropped off two of his three children at a day care Friday and then went to work.

An in Fort Worth, Texas, police say a three-year-old died Friday after he climbed into a hot car that was parked in the yard of his home.
Shortly after Donald Trump was elected president, Amy Siskind took one of her occasional trips to Val-Kill, the Upstate New York home of former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

I needed a Zen moment, Siskind, who had campaigned for Hillary Clinton, told me. And that is a place that inspires me.

Soon afterward, Siskind began keeping what she calls the Weekly List, tracking all the ways in which she saw Americas taken-for-granted governmental norms changing in the Trump era.

The project started small, read by friends and with only a few items a week.

By Week 9, though, the list had gone viral.

It blew upI had 2 million views that week, she said. People were responding like crazy, saying things like, Im praying for you. 

As time went on, the list grew much longer and more sophisticated. Here are three of her 85 items from mid-June:

Monday, in a bizarre display in front of cameras, Trumps cabinet members took turns praising him.

AP reported that a company that partners with both Trump and (son-in-law) Jared Kushner is a finalist for a $1.7bn contract to build the new FBI building.

Vice President Mike Pence hired a big-name lawyer with Watergate experience to represent him in the Russian probe.

Now, in Week 32, every item has a source link, and rather than just a few items, there are dozens. (Her weekly audience usually hits hundreds of thousands, she said, on platforms including Medium,Facebook and Twitter.)

The idea, she said, came from her post-election reading about how authoritarian governments take holdoften with incremental changes that seem shocking at first but quickly become normalized. Each post begins with: Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so youll remember.

Shes not the only one to have this idea; on Twitter, for example, designer Laura Olin created @_rememberbot, where frequent tweets begin with the words It is not normal and catalogue the oddities of TrumpWorld. (It is not normal for U.S. presidents to criticize federal judges.)

But Siskind may be the most dogged and systematic. One follower even made a searchable database of her lists.

Its scary to look back on the early weeks and see what weve already gotten used to, she said. Examples: a secretary of state who rarely speaks publicly, the failure to fill important positions in many agencies, a president who often eschews intelligence briefings in favor of Fox & Friends.

We forget all the things we should be outraged about, Siskind said.

Jay Rosen, a New York University journalism professor and author of the PressThink blog, called Siskinds efforts a service that is thoroughly journalistic and much needed.

The lists help people experience the history that is being made and keeps them alive and alert to the dangers of eroding norms, Rosen said.

In their user-friendly format, he said, they are one way of dealing with an overload of significant news, a surplus of eventfulness that allows things to hide in plain sight simply because there are too many of them to care about.
Morocco on Saturday recalled its Ambassador to The Netherlands after Dutch authorities did not comply with the Kingdoms request to extradite a notorious drug dealer of Moroccan origin involved in financing and supporting some troublemakers in northern Morocco.

Over the past two days, contacts took place between Moroccan and Dutch authorities at the level of the Heads of Government and the Foreign Ministers with respect to the activities of a notorious trafficker of Moroccan origin settled in the Netherlands, said the Moroccan Foreign Ministry in a statement.

The drug dealer, a former Moroccan MP, identified as Said Chaou, is subject to two international warrants issued by Moroccan courts in 2010 and 2015 for association of criminals and international drug trafficking, the statement said.

The Foreign Ministry explained that specific information on the involvement of this dealer in extending financial and logistical support to some parties fueling unrest in Northern Morocco have been provided to the Dutch authorities for several months.

The statement underlined that Morocco, which has cooperated constantly and earnestly in the fight against drug trafficking with the European Union and the Netherlands, cannot tolerate that a well-known trafficker be allowed to revive his criminal activities, after the North African Kingdom strived to dry up his resources.

Morocco reserves the right to draw all the necessary conclusions and to take the political and diplomatic measures it deems required, the statement said, making it clear to Dutch authorities that it is imperative to take concrete and urgent measures against this dealer and that pending The Hagues response, the Moroccan ambassador will remain in Morocco.

In a reaction to the Moroccan extradition request, the Dutch foreign and justice ministries said in a joint statement The Netherlands is committed now and in the future to an effective collaboration with Morocco based on international legal frameworks and the protection of the rule of law.

Chaous backing to unrest in the Rif region has recently been evidenced in a video he published online, inciting protests.

For Moroccan authorities, the dealer is attempting to fuel turmoil in the Rif to resume his lucrative cannabis trafficking activities.

Dutch media reported that Chaou was arrested in 2015 in the southern Dutch town of Roosendaal as part of a crackdown on a drug network.
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.
CLOSE THE BORDERS, SEND ILLEGALS PACKING, IMPOSE E-VERIFY AND END THE JOBS CRISIS IN AMERICA!





JOE LEGAL v LA RAZA JOSE ILLEGAL





Heres how it breaks down; will make you want to be an illegal!

. which one has it good under the Dems???









JOBLESS IN AMERICA

A merica began as an oasis of plenty in a world of poverty. Farms from New Hampshire to Georgia offered any free man crossing the Atlantic the chance to exchange hard work for a full belly. In 1820, 78 percent of the American labor force farmed. While droughts and pestilence often threatened disaster, joblessness was no part of then-rural America. If you didnt work, you starved, and there was always another patch of land to hoe and seed.

Unemployment arrived only when workers moved to cities. A vital strength of urban life is that it can connect people who want to work with people who have capital and ideas. But sometimes, those matches arent available. Almost half of Americas workers had left their farms by 1870, setting the stage for the recessions of the 1870s and 1890s. University of Florida economist J. R. Vernon estimates that the unemployment rate hit 8 percent in 1878 and may have exceeded 15 percent in the 1890s. In both downturns, financial crises had led to bank failures and massive firm bankruptcies. In 1894, the Pullman Strike disrupted the nations transportation network.

Yet as soon as the banking system recovered, American entrepreneurs resumed hiring cheap, usually unskilled, labor. Nominal wages actually fell over both the 1870s and the 1890s because workers had to accept low pay. With no government safety net, long-term unemployment meant deprivationor even death.

By 1920, the U.S. had become a majority-urban nation. As urban industry replaced agriculture, the country got wealthier but also more vulnerable to economic dislocation. The Great Depression brought it with terrible force: the unemployment rate exceeded 15 percent in 1931, peaked at 24.9 percent in 1933, and remained above 14 percent as late as 1940. (These figures count those working on federal relief programs as unemployed; exclude these individuals, and the unemployment rate was down to 9.5 percent by the end of the decade.) Depression-era Americans endured long-term joblessness, then, but it was fundamentally different from the kind that afflicts us today. The U.S. economy was in disastrous shape throughout the 1930s, with real GDP and industrial output staying below 1929 levels for most of the decade. Whatever the reasonand debates remain livelyAmerican industry recovered from the Depression with painful lethargy. Persistent unemployment mirrored an enduring economic crisis.

The New Deal saw the rise of public programs that worked against employment. Wage controls under the National Recovery Act made it difficult for wages to fall enough to equilibrate the labor market. The Wagner Act strengthened the hand of unions, which kept pay up and employment down. Relief efforts for the unemployed, including federal make-work jobs, eased the pressure on the jobless to find private-sector work.

The carnage of World War II ended both the Nazi regime and the American Depression. The peace augured in 30 years of remarkable growth and prosperity. America enjoyed technological preeminence and an enormous growth in human capital, thanks to policies like the GI Bill. Women surged into the labor force by the millions, yet demand for male work stayed robust. The empowered postwar unions shifted industrial employment to right-to-work states, as the classic work of Thomas Holmes illustrates, but they didnt compromise the labor market as a whole.

F rom 1945 to 1968, only 5 percent of men between the ages of 25 and 54prime-age maleswere out of work. But during the 1970s, something changed. The mild recession of 196970 produced a drop in the employment rate of this group, from 95 percent to 92.5 percent, and there was no rebound. The 197374 downturn dragged the employment rate below 90 percent, and after the 197982 slump, it would stay there throughout most of the 1980s. The recessions at the beginning and end of the 1990s caused further deterioration in the rate. Economic recovery failed to restore the earlier employment ratio in both instances.

The greatest fall, though, occurred in the Great Recession. In 2011, more than one in five prime-age men were out of work, a figure comparable with the Great Depression. But while employment came back after the Depression, it hasnt today. The unemployment rate may be low, but many people have quit the labor force entirely and dont show up in that number. As of December 2016, 15.2 percent of prime-age men were joblessa figure worse than at any point between World War II and the Great Recession, except during the depths of the early 1980s recession.

The trend in the female employment ratio is more complicated because of the postwar rise in the number of women in the formal labor market. In 1955, 37 percent of prime-age women worked. By 2000, that number had increased to 75 percenta historical high. Since then, the number has come down: it stood at 71.7 percent at the end of 2016. Interpreting these figures is tricky, since more women than men voluntarily leave the labor force, often finding meaningful work in the home. The American Time Survey found that nonemployed women spend more than six hours a day doing housework and caring for others. Nonemployed men spend less than three hours doing such tasks.

Joblessness is disproportionately a condition of the poorly educated. While 72 percent of college graduates over age 25 have jobs, only 41 percent of high school dropouts are working. The employment-rate gap between the most and least educated groups has widened from about 6 percent in 1977 to almost 15 percent today. The regional variation is also enormous. Kentuckys 23 percent male jobless rate leads the nation; in Iowa, the rate is under 10 percent.

Graphs by Alberto Mena

W hy, since 1970, has each new downturn added to the ranks of the permanently unemployed? Social science has not fully answered this question, but the best guess involves a combination of a generous social safety net, deindustrialization, and social change.

Both Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson aggressively advanced a stronger safety net for American workers, and other administrations largely supported these efforts. The New Deal gave us Social Security and unemployment insurance, which were expanded in the 1950s. National disability insurance debuted in 1956 and was made far more accessible to people with hard-to-diagnose conditions, like back pain, in 1984. The War on Poverty delivered Medicaid and food stamps. Richard Nixon gave us housing vouchers. During the Great Recession, the federal government temporarily doubled the maximum eligibility time for receiving unemployment insurance.

These various programs make joblessness more bearable, at least materially; they also reduce the incentives to find work. Consider disability insurance. Industrial work is hard, and plenty of workers experience back pain. Before 1984, however, that pain didnt mean a disability check for American workers. After 1984, though, millions went on the disability rolls. And since disability payments vanish if the disabled person starts earning more than $1,170 per month, the disabled tend to stay disabled. The economists David Autor and Mark Duggan found that the share of adults aged 2564 receiving disability insurance increased from 2.2 percent in 1985 to 4.1 percent 20 years later. Disability insurance alone doesnt entirely explain the rise of long-term joblessnessonly one-third or so of jobless males get such benefits. But it has surely played a role.

Other social-welfare programs operate in a similar way. Unemployment insurance stops completely when someone gets a job, which may explain why economist Bruce Meyer found that the unemployed tend to find jobs just as their insurance payments run out. Food-stamp and housing-voucher payments drop 30 percent when a recipients income rises past a set threshold by just $1. Elementary economics tells us that paying people to be or stay jobless will increase joblessness.

Scholars Olivier Blanchard and Justin Wolfers have explained Europes persistent unemployment, which they called hysteresis, by the interaction of adverse economic shocks and extremely generous welfare states. Twenty years ago, the more economically successful European nations, such as Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands, reorganized their welfare states to emphasize work and witnessed positive results. Others, including France, Italy, and Spain, did not, and they have struggled. In a sense, the eurozone financial crisis of the past half-decade is the legacy of southern European countries that wouldnt fix their failing welfare systems. The U.S. needs to decide if it wants to follow the path of Germany or of Spain.

Y et these programs didnt immediately generate a crisis of joblessness in America. Manufacturing workers werent going to leave their well-paying union jobs in 1967 because of the existence of food stamps. But over the next half-century, things changed dramatically. As hundreds of studies have documented, wages for the best-educated and most-successful Americans have risen, while those for the least-educated and least-successful Americans have stagnated.

These developments result from tectonic movements in the economy. Globalization and technological change have steadily erodedand continue to erodethe demand for American brawn. In 1966, American factories employed millions of industrial workers, making products that were shipped to far poorer places. As technology spread, the worlds lower-wage countries started manufacturing. Asias economic tigers initially thrived because of low labor costs, but these increasingly educated countries eventually achieved technological parity withand sometimes became superior tomany American industries.

Manufacturings share of total American output has fallen from 25 percent in 1968 to 12 percent today. The number of manufacturing workers has shrunk from 19.5 million in 1979 to 12.2 million, which represents 8.8 percent of nonfarm employment. The fact that manufacturing today is a larger share of GDP than of employment underscores a shift toward technology-intensive productionanother response to high U.S. labor costs. For millennia, men were valued for their muscles. Human strength was crucial to feudal farming and to Henry Fords assembly line. We still have some jobs that depend on strong backs, as in the building trades. But they are getting rarer because machines can do the work for us.

Were not moving toward an entirely mechanized economy. Between 1980 and 2000, U.S. service-sector employment rose by 73 percenta whopping 37 million new jobs. There remains commercial value in a friendly face and the charm of human interaction. But for millions of men, working in the service sector wasnt a good option.

American joblessness reflects the social unraveling that Charles Murray describes in Coming Apart. A significant portion of the American heartland has moved from a norm of stable marriage and traditional religion to single-parent families and social dysfunction. A study by Raj Chetty and Nathan Hendren calculated mobility across America using income-tax records. Their data show that the share of single-parent families in an area is a particularly strong predictor of low upward mobility. Any parent knows that raising children is tough, even with two adults involved. When only one parent is around, that task gets even harder. Unsurprisingly, many kids from broken families lack the skills needed to get ahead in todays competitive economy.

During World War II, the army taught millions of Americans how to behave effectively in a tough organization. Such skills may have helped returning veterans thrive in the industrial America of the 1950s. Yet that very success may also have enabled younger Americans to tolerate joblessness, as they wind up relying for extended periods on their parents (or grandparents) help. Thirty percent of prime-age jobless men currently live with their parents.

The rise of joblessness among the young has been a particularly pernicious effect of the Great Recession. Job loss was extensive among 2534-year-old men and 3544-year-old men between 2007 and 2009. The 2534-year-olds have substantially gone back to work, but the number of employed 3544-year-olds, which dropped by 2 million at the start of the Great Recession, hasnt recovered. The dislocated workers in this group seem to have left the labor force permanently.

U nfortunately, policymakers seem intent on making the joblessness crisis worse. The past decade or so has seen a resurgent progressive focus on inequalityand little concern among progressives about the downsides of discouraging work. Advocates of a $15 minimum hourly wage, for example, dont seem to mind, or believe, that such policies deter firms from hiring less skilled workers. The University of CaliforniaSan Diegos Jeffrey Clemens examined states where higher federal minimum wages raised the effective state-level minimum wage during the last decade. He found that the higher minimum reduced employment among individuals ages 16 to 30 with less than a high school education by 5.6 percentage points, which accounted for 43 percent of the sustained, 13 percentage point decline in this skill groups employment rate.

The decision to prioritize equality over employment is particularly puzzling, given that social scientists have repeatedly found that unemployment is the greater evil. Economists Andrew Clark and Andrew Oswald have documented the huge drop in happiness associated with unemploymentabout ten times larger than that associated with a reduction in earnings from the $50,000$75,000 range to the $35,000$50,000 bracket. One recent study estimated that unemployment leads to 45,000 suicides worldwide annually. Jobless husbands have a 50 percent higher divorce rate than employed husbands. The impact of lower income on suicide and divorce is much smaller. The negative effects of unemployment are magnified because it so often becomes a semipermanent state.

Time-use studies help us understand why the unemployed are so miserable. Jobless men dont do a lot more socializing; they dont spend much more time with their kids. They do spend an extra 100 minutes daily watching television, and they sleep more. The jobless also are more likely to use illegal drugs. While fewer than 10 percent of full-time workers have used an illegal substance in any given week, 18 percent of the unemployed have done drugs in the last seven days, according to a 2013 study by Alejandro Badel and Brian Greaney.

Joblessness and disability are also particularly associated with Americas deadly opioid epidemic. David Cutler and I examined the rise in opioid deaths between 1992 and 2012. The strongest correlate of those deaths is the share of the population on disability. That connection suggests a combination of the direct influence of being disabled, which generates a demand for painkillers; the availability of the drugs through the health-care system; and the psychological misery of having no economic future.

Increasing the benefits received by nonemployed persons may make their lives easier in a material sense but wont help reattach them to the labor force. It wont give them the sense of pride that comes from economic independence. It wont give them the reassuring social interactions that come from workplace relationships. When societies sacrifice employment for a notion of income equality, they make the wrong choice.

Politicians, when they do focus on long-term unemployment, too often advance poorly targeted solutions, such as faster growth, more infrastructure investment, and less trade. More robust GDP growth is always a worthy aim, but it seems unlikely to get the chronically jobless back to work. The booms of the 1990s and early 2000s never came close to restoring the high employment rates last seen in the 1970s. Between 1976 and 2015, Nevadas GDP grew the most and Michigans GDP grew the least among American states. Yet the two states had almost identical rises in the share of jobless prime-age men.

Infrastructure spending similarly seems poorly targeted to ease the problem. Contemporary infrastructure projects rely on skilled workers, typically with wages exceeding $25 per hour; most of todays jobless lack such skills. Further, the current employment in highway, street, and bridge construction in the U.S. is only 316,000. Even if this number rose by 50 percent, it would still mean only a small reduction in the millions of jobless Americans. And the nation needs infrastructure most in areas with the highest population density; joblessness is most common outside metropolitan America. (See If You Build It . . ., Summer 2016.)

Finally, while its possible that the rise of American joblessness would have been slower if the U.S. had weaker trade ties to lower-wage countries like Mexico and China, American manufacturers have already adapted to a globalized world by mechanizing and outsourcing. We have little reason to be confident that restrictions on trade would bring the old jobs back. Trade wars would have an economic price, too. American exporters would cut back hiring. The cost of imported manufactured goods would rise, and U.S. consumers would pay more, in exchange forat bestuncertain employment gains.

T he techno-futurist narrative holds that machines will displace most workers, eventually. Social peace will be maintained only if the armies of the jobless are kept quiet with generous universal-income payments. This vision recalls John Maynard Keyness 1930 essay Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren, which predicts a future world of leisure, in which his grandchildren would be able to satisfy their basic needs with a few hours of labor and then spend the rest of their waking hours edifying themselves with culture and fun.

But for many of us, technological progress has led to longer work hours, not playtime. Entrepreneurs conjured more products that generated more earnings. Almost no Americans today would be happy with the lifestyle of their ancestors in 1930. For many, work also became not only more remunerative but more interesting. No Pennsylvania miner was likely to show up for extra hours (without extra pay) voluntarily. Google employees do it all the time.

Joblessness is not foreordained, because entrepreneurs can always dream up new ways of making labor productive. Ten years ago, millions of Americans wanted inexpensive car service. Uber showed how underemployed workers could earn something providing that service. Prosperous, time-short Americans are desperate for a host of other servicesthey want not only drivers but also cooks for their dinners and nurses for their elderly parents and much more. There is no shortage of demand for the right kinds of labor, and entrepreneurial insight could multiply the number of new tasks that could be performed by the currently out-of-work. Yet over the last 30 years, entrepreneurial talent has focused far more on delivering new tools for the skilled than on employment for the unlucky. Whereas Henry Ford employed hundreds of thousands of Americans without college degrees, Mark Zuckerberg primarily hires highly educated programmers.

W hat could change this dynamic? The first step is to improve Americans skills. The jobless rate is about 8 percent for prime-age men with a college degree or more but more than 22 percent for men with only a high school diploma or less. We have levers that can improve educational outcomes, like the very best early-childhood programs and charter schools. Such innovations should be expanded and made better through competition and evaluation.

We should also improve the way that we do vocational education. (See Vocational Ed, Reborn, page 36.) Many vocational schools, like Bostons Madison Park High School, have long been troubled. The most ambitious students avoid getting tracked onto a vocational path, and theyand their parentswant schools that focus on college readiness. Consequently, less fortunate or struggling students often get segregated into these vocational centers. The conventional teachers in many vocational programs often lack the know-how for teaching either high-paying blue-collar trades, like plumbing, or cutting-edge fields, like computer programming.

A more effective approach might be to keep students in college-readiness-oriented schools and experiment with out-of-school vocational training. Kids could be taught after school, on weekends, and during the summer by programs specializing in particular occupations. These initiatives can be evaluated swiftlyyou can readily determine if a program has produced, say, good carpenters. The superior training programs can then be scaled up and bad ones shut down. Adopting this structure would mean that anyone could potentially compete to run the programstrade unions, private providers, nonprofitsincreasing the chances that some programs will excel. We should also be open to initiatives like Cambridge, Massachusettss The Possible Project, which has been training youths, many from poorer backgrounds, to launch themselves in the start-up economy. (I am currently working on a randomized control trial for the project.)

Older workers present the toughest training problem. The extensive literature on retraining adults for new jobs has few success stories. We must keep trying; here, too, the more experimentation, the better.

Along with up-skilling workers, we should lower the regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. Its a sad fact that America tends to regulate the entrepreneurship of the poor much more stringently than it does that of the rich. You can begin an Internet company in Silicon Valley with little regulatory oversight; you need more than ten permits to open a grocery store in the Bronx.

One-stop permitting would be a good step, especially in poorer areas. If new businesses had only a single regulatory office to satisfy, the obstacles to entrepreneurship would be less daunting. One-stop permitting would also make it easier to evaluate the regulator on its speed and the number of permits issued. Permitting shops could specialize in the languages and businesses most common in their areas.

Occupational licensing is another area crying out for reform. The University of Minnesotas Morris Kleiner has found that the share of American workers who need an occupational license has increased from 5 percent in the 1950s to 29 percent in 2008. States now credential interior designers, tree trimmers, and even florists. In many cases, these requirements are merely means for protecting incumbents from competition. When we license basic service jobs, we make it tougher for the jobless to find something new to do.

A merican entrepreneurs can solve our joblessness crisis only if the U.S. stops incentivizing joblessness. Consolidating social policies would be a crucial step. Struggling families now receive food stamps, housing vouchers, Temporary Aid to Needy Families, and other assistanceall of which punish work. If the various programs were combined into a single cash benefit, that benefit could be designed so that the tax on earnings never went above 30 percent. We could follow the lead of Norway on unemployment and disability insurance, allowing the disabled to keep, say, 50 percent of their benefit above the $1,170 threshold, while tightening the requirements for being designated as disabled. Unemployment insurance could be structured so that payments were no longer contingent upon staying completely out of work.

Here, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) offers a design model, by providing funds that initially scale up with earnings, especially for lower-income families with children. Economists Nada Eissa and Jeffrey Liebman found that the credits introduction in 1986 increased labor-force participation significantly. The EITC was instituted during one of those rare moments in modern U.S. history when policymakers wanted to avoid rewarding joblessness.

We also need to make hiring workers less costly for employers. Temporarily cutting the payroll tax was one of the most constructive policies adopted during the Great Recession. We could enact a permanent payroll-tax reduction. The tax could be gradually phased in for workers once their hourly earnings went beyond a certain threshold. The payroll tax could be eliminated for workers who had been unemployed, at least for an initial period. The costs of reducing the payroll tax could be offset by raising the minimum retirement age for employees who hadnt paid these taxes for enough years. Reducing mandated benefits, like health care, that employers must provide lower-income earners would help encourage work, too. Ideally, the reform of our health-care system will ensure that workers have health-care options that dont unduly burden employers.

Making work pay needs one final, major policy initiative: wage support, which would replace the EITC. The EITC had the right overall idea, but it is cumbersome and indirect. Instead, the federal government could simply provide pay to increase the earnings of minimum-wage workers by a fixed amountsay, $3 per hour. Consequently, a worker paid $7.25 would take home $10.25 hourly, with the difference paid for by taxpayers. The subsidy could fall gradually as wages rise, and it could be targeted for specific groupslarger for returning veterans or the long-run joblessand rise or fall with the level of aggregate unemployment. The phaseout might slightly slow private-sector wage growth, but the cost would be more than offset by the benefits of such a visible push toward employment. Such a program would be expensive, so it should be matched with spending reductions for other social services.

T he rise in joblessness is not inexorable. But to solve this crisis, we must educate, reform social services, empower entrepreneurs, and even subsidize employment. That is an ambitiousbut necessaryagenda for ending the war on work before it consumes another generation of Americans.

AMERICAS YOUTH STARVE

 ILLEGALS SUCK IN BILLIONS IN WELFARE they also get our jobs!












via @learyreports

WASHINGTON - Seven Florida Republican House members are calling for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to recuse herself from the upcoming deliberation on the travel ban, asserting she has shown "bias" towards President Donald Trump.

Your public criticism of Donald Trump during the campaign included statements such as I cant imagine what this place would be - I cant imagine what the country would be - with Donald Trump as our president You referred to Donald Trump as a faker. When asked about the possibility of Donald Trump winning the presidency, you responded, I dont want to think about that possibility, but if it should be, then everything is up for grabs. 

Nearly 60 House members signed the letter, including Florida Reps. Ron DeSantis, Neal Dunn, Daniel Webster, Ted Yoho, John Rutherford, Bill Posey and Francis Rooney.

Read it here.

"As an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court," it reads, "you are required to recuse yourself in cases in which your impartiality might reasonably be questioned and where you have a a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party. 

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear the travel ban case, while allowing some of the program to go forward, a partial victory for Trump.

--ALEX LEARY, Tampa Bay Times
Florida's porous campaign disclosure laws don't make it easy to peg responsibility when someone launches a critical mailer in a hotly contested race, but in the special election to replace Republican Rep. Jose Felix Diaz in House District 116, the latest missive is the work of some members of the Corcoran leadership circle in the Florida House.

The mailer by Conservative for Truth PC accuses Republican candidate Jose Miguel Mallea of "raising taxes" because he worked as a staffer for two years with former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.

Somebody appears to have messed up because, according to the Division of Elections, Conservatives for Truth PC was disbanded on Oct. 3. The registered agent, Jose Riesco, revived a new committee on June 21 called Conservatives for Truth. But the mailers don't make that distinction.

The Florida Division of Elections received the paperwork for Conservatives for Truth on Friday. DOE posted them to the state web site today, after an inquiry from the Herald/Times.

Conservatives for Truth PC raised $466,000 last election cycle -- $306,000 came from Citizens Alliance for Florida's economy, the political committee run by Anthony Pedicini, the consultant aligned with House Speaker Richard Corcoran and heavily financed by the state trial lawyers. Conservatives for Truth in 2016 raised another $50,000 came from the trial lawyers' Florida Justice PAC and $100,000 came from Rebuild Florida (Pepi Diaz's political committee.)

Diaz, a Miami Republican, resigned effective Sept. 26 to run for the special election in Senate District 40 to replace Sen. Frank Artiles, who resigned amid scandal earlier this year.

Mallea faces Daniel Anthony Perez, a 29-year-old lawyer, who appears to have the support of the Corcoran/Trujillo contingent in the House.

Rep. Jose Oliva, the Miami Republican and incoming House speaker who is in charge of re-election Republicans in the next election cycle, has not endorsed in the race and told the Herald/Times he will not take sides. "I'm okay with serving with either of these guys,'' he said. "It's not my role to get involved."

Diaz has also not endorsed in the race.

Although Perez does not have a political committee, he does appear to be benefitting from the committees of his allies. Riesco is not only the registered agent for Conservatives for Truth (and Conservatives for Truth PC), which financed the attack mailer, he is also the registered agent for the political committees run on behalf of Diaz, Reps. Jose Oliva, Jeanette Nunez, Bryan Avila, Manny Diaz, Jr., and Rene Garcia.

Miami Rep. Carlos Trujillo has endorsed Perez but the extent to which he is steering money through his PC is not yet clear. On May 20, Trujillo's political committee gave $10,000 to Rep. Michael Bileca's political committee, which four days later paid The StoneRidge Group out of Alpharetta, Ga., $16,715 for direct mail.

If Riesco's Conservatives for Truth had any part of this, we won't know until they are required to file their first report on July 10 -- just days before the July 25 primary. He could not be reached for comment.

Perez has drawn criticism from Mallea after the Miami Herald reported that Perez had taken his wedding engagement photos in Havana earlier this year.

Here's the comment on the attack ad from Mallea campaign spokesman Brett Doster:

"Daniel Perez lied about his tourist trip to Cuba and he lied about Jose's Cuban heritage so it's no surprise that he's lying about Jose's record. This new desperate smear is the definition of fake news. We're confident that the residents of District 116 will dismiss the false claims of a man who spends his free time partying in Havana under the oppressive Castro regime."
DUPUYER  It took an electric fence to show John Hayne how often sheep give birth to twin lambs.

I didn't realize how many lambs we lost until we got the fence up this year, the Dupuyer rancher said. We had 100 more than last year. Often sheep have twins but you didnt know. You see the ewe with one and you think everything's fine.

Grizzly bears had been prowling the lambing yard where John and Leanne Hayne raised 700 sheep, picking off newborns before they got counted. Occasionally, theyd grab an adult. John recalled coming out to check the flock one night and seeing a lamb running around erratically. Shining his spotlight, he saw the grizzly with the ewe in its mouth. The sheep was still struggling, until the bear got caught in the light. Then it shook the sheep to death in its jaws and ran away. The whole incident lasted about 10 seconds.

They're such a powerful, fast animal, John said.

Leanne Hayne grew up near Dupuyer, and never saw a grizzly bear in her childhood. The couple began raising sheep 33 years ago, but didnt make much money. Eighteen years ago, they started selling yarn from the wool, which proved more profitable. But just when people started getting interested in knitting, the Haynes started having bear problems.

The coyotes are the worst, but the bears are the most dramatic," Leanne said. Sometimes they kill a lot at one time. We had to either stop or do something.

The Haynes became among the first adopters of aggressive electric fencing to protect their livelihood on the Rocky Mountain Front. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Defenders of Wildlife and other groups all contributed grant dollars, which the Haynes matched with their labor. The first fence went up six years ago around a bedding area west of Highway 89. The latest went around the lambing grounds east of the highway.

Now the bears don't get in, John Hayne said. The coyotes don't get in. The fences are labor-intensive, but once they get shocked, they never go through again. I havent lost a lamb since.

Leanne said the family also fenced about four acres around their home, so they could feel safe in their yard. As competent as theyve become in keeping grizzly bears away, they still dont feel secure.

I don't like living with them, Leanne said. That hasn't changed in 33 years. Its changed the way we live. People just aren't comfortable with it anymore. They're a nuisance.

But this is a very natural place. There's all kinds of wildlife. There's skunks and weasels and raccoons and badgers that cause problems. Having a large predator is so much more spectacular. Thirty-three years later, I'm still afraid.

XXXX

The Haynes told their tale to two dozen state and federal wildlife managers who serve on the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. Last week, the group held its summer session in Choteau, and spent Wednesday on a listening tour along the Rocky Mountain Front.

The 34-year-old committee oversees efforts to help the grizzly bear recover from its threatened status under the Endangered Species Act. It brings together representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, four state wildlife agencies, two Canadian provinces, several non-governmental organizations and a rotating cast of researchers, advocates, academics and local governmental officials.

That energy gets focused on grizzly bears in five ecosystems: Tiny populations of bears in the Northern Cascades of Washington, Cabinet-Yaak-Selkirks of northern Idaho and Montana, the Selway-Bitterroot Range on the Montana-Idaho border; and two major concentrations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

About 700 bears live in the Yellowstone ecosystem. The committee finished its work studying that population and recommended a recovery strategy in January. The U.S. Interior Department should publish a final rule delisting the Yellowstone area grizzlies and handing their management over to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming state wildlife agencies next week. Barring a legal challenge, which almost certainly will occur, the final rule would take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Another 1,000 grizzlies live in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem that covers the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and Glacier National Park. They comprise a separate Distinct Population Segment under endangered species management, and have a separate delisting process.

Wednesdays tour sought out people in the 40-mile-wide strip of farms and ranches that border the abrupt eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains.

In the (northern Continental Divide area) theres private land right up against where the bears are, said Hillary Cooley, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator who joined Wednesdays field trip. It was really great to be on the ground and see the area, talk to those people who are living with bears, and hear how they deal with conflict bears. Ive been hearing about it for a long time, but its a different thing to see it.

XXXX

David Waldren wanted the committee members to see the Pondera Colony cornfield.

The Hutterite colony halfway between Dupuyer and Valier plants about 135 acres of corn. When its ripe, he said, the grizzlies move in.

Bear management has been very successful on the Rocky Mountain Front at shoving a bunch of grizzlies down our throats," Waldner told the yellow school bus-load of bear managers. In late August, September through October, there's going to be eight to 10 grizzlies living in this field, trampling more corn than they eat. If I was a grizzly, I sure wouldn't leave this smorgasbord day in and day out. In 2012, we found a hole excavated two times as big as that bus, lined with corn. The only thing we could figure was they planned on hibernating here.

Three years ago, a female denned in the service berry bushes on the edge of the field, Waldner continued. They trapped her once, and she came right back with twins. Where will they try to find a home? This is a natural place for a home. It would do no good to trap them again. Another would move right in.

The tour passed four Hutterite colonies on its route. Each of the religious communities operates a large, self-sustaining farm complex growing multiple crops and raising a variety of livestock. Each has its own relationship with grizzly bears and the agencies that manage them.

Montana FWP Region 4 Supervisor Gary Bertellotti said the Birch Creek Colony adjacent to Waldrens Pondera Colony has been open to preventive measures like electric fences, and had very few bear conflicts as a result. Pondera has insisted on the removal of problem bears, and declined offers to put up fencing. Several miles away, the Rockport Colony has tried a third variation, fencing some places like its refuse dumps and turkey yards, but not its dairy barns or residential area.

Rockport Colony has "done practically everything they can with electric fences, but theyre so close to the Front, bears are there from the time they come out of the den in spring to when they go back to their dens in fall, Bertellotti said. The grizzlies were so accustomed to raiding the colony, they tunneled under the first electric fences. That threat has faded, but the colony still requires constant vigilance to keep the fences operating, the livestock protected, and residents safe.

XXXXX

In Valier, they remember the Halloween Bear of 2012.

There had been a grain spill, and a bear was sighted, Bertellotti recalled. Then Halloween came along, and we had all these kids out at night carrying bags of candy. We had three police officers and the county sheriff patrolling all night with the trick-or-treaters. The bear moved west of here and eventually denned on the Front. But Valier seems to be the focal point.

The 500 people who live next to Lake Francis no longer feel safe to walk along the shoreline trail, according to Mayor Ray Bukoveckas. The elementary school has bear warning signs posted on its playground fence. Campground hosts hand out bear-safety brochures to travelers staying at the towns tent site.

We have to protect ourselves somehow, Bukoveckas said. Thats how the bear patrol got started.

Valiers volunteer bear patrol has seven members whove offered to do what they can to keep residents safe from grizzlies.

The FWP cant get here in an hour, so we observe the bear and try to get him out of town headed in the right direction, bear patrol member Terry VandenBos said. We cant shoot in town anyway, but we cant let them sleep under the water tower. Theres two daycares on either side.

At Wednesdays meeting, FWP biologists did recommend some more tactics, including training videos developed in Alaska for defending villages against marauding brown and polar bears. The videos show how to read a bears intention to fight or flee, and discuss use of trained dogs and similar methods to discourage bears.

But urban combat with bears doesnt make anyone happy. Many of the bears prowling near Valier are females with cubs. Set a trap in town and catch one of the cubs first, and you have a furious mother grizzly.

Im really concerned about people trying to push bears out of town, Bertellotti said. If something goes wrong, those guys will get themselves hung.

If this fails, it will fail miserably, Hartwell agreed. If it succeeds, hopefully other towns will pick up on it.

Bukoveckas said if the bears were delisted, and a limited bear hunt was allowed, the bears would start to learn to avoid humans.

Once the hunt starts, maybe they'll think man is something to stay away from," Bukoveckas said. I realize that's going to take four to five years.

XXXX

Hunting grizzly bears is one option that could become available after grizzlies shift from federal to state management. Montana, Idaho and Wyoming all drafted hunting season rules leading up to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly delisting. Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem bears would go through a similar but separate process thats still years from completion.

States also would need policies for dealing with problem bears that kill livestock, menace people or become habituated to human food sources. FWS grizzly recovery coordinator Cooley said while those fine details have yet to be worked out, they all must follow a basic principle: Each ecosystems population of grizzly bears cant fall below a sustainable threshold.

The grizzly committee meeting in Choteau lasted three days. On Thursday, fifth-generation rancher Kirk Moore informed the committee that one of his saddle horses had gored itself on a metal pipe in a panic to get away from a grizzly seen on the ranch Tuesday night.

I dont mind seeing grizzlies, Moore said. I love wildlife. But we are seeing a highly increased load of bears. Its time that we do something. No more DNA studies. You folks have the data. Please help us in the field with these problems.

Bertellotti recalled one incident that illustrated the complexity of grizzly attitudes. Every year, the big bears move farther east of the Rocky Mountain Front. Theyre now regularly reported around Fort Benton and beyond, including the land of one particular rancher who wasnt shy about letting the FWP supervisor know his opinions.

Staff warned Bertellotti that this man was on his way in, and he braced for outrage. Instead, the rancher pulled out photos of the bears near a big tree on his property. This was the same tree, he said, that members of Lewis and Clarks Voyage of Discovery climbed to escape a grizzly when they explored the area two centuries ago. He was thrilled the keystone predators were back on the plains where the captains journals first reported them.

Thats the tightrope we walk, trying to balance everybodys interests and not disrespect anyones point of view, Bertellotti said. And that tightrope gets smaller and smaller as the bears expand farther and farther out.
Every year, 17 babies under one year of age die from sleep-related deaths in Montana. That amounts to 89 deaths over the past five years. The exact cause varies, but they often suffocate in a crib with a loose blanket or they roll onto their stomach and can't breathe. Sometimes, when theyre in their parents bed, all it takes is for an adults sleeping arm to cover their mouth for a few minutes.

Its heartbreaking and agonizing for the parents and families, but its also traumatizing for the hospital staff who spend so much time and effort making sure babies are delivered into this world healthy. And perhaps the saddest part of these deaths is that most of them are preventable.

Thats why officials at Community Medical Center in Missoula announced on Monday that they have implemented the first certified safe sleep program in the state.

Pamela Pearson, the Director of Womens and Childrens Services at CMC, said that the deaths have affected staff at the hospital.

These preventable tragedies are what propels us on this journey, implementing a safe sleep program. I feel like we save lives every day in this hospital, but now were saving even more across Montana by implementing this program.

Previously, all unexplained, infant sleep-related deaths were classified as SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome. Now, with a new classification called sudden unexpected infant death (SUID), health care professionals can track deaths due to accidental strangulation or suffocation in bed.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported a decline in SIDS rates, while rates of SUID are increasing. Every year, there are approximately 3,500 SUID deaths in the nation.

Over the past year, the hospital worked with the Inland Northwest SIDS Foundation and Cribs for Kids to implement a safe sleep program, and CMC was awarded the states first Gold Safe Sleep Champion certification on Monday. There are only 100 hospitals nationwide with this certification.

As part of the initiative, the hospital will work with Cribs for Kids to provide Graco Pack n Play portable cribs at no cost to families who cannot afford a safe place for their babies to sleep.

Whats encouraging is that 90 percent of these deaths are preventable with proper education, said Dr. Bonnie Stephens, the medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Community Medical Center. Families are simply doing what they think is best. We want to educate all parents on current safe sleep practices so more Montana babies can celebrate their first birthdays.

Recommended infant safe sleep practices include:

Room share, but do not bed share. Bed sharing is the most common cause of infant deaths, especially for those ages three months and younger. Room sharing is when parents have a crib in the room with them.

Experts recommend that babies sleep alone, on their backs and in a crib, for every sleep time, including naptime. Babies should have a firm, flat sleep surface covered by a fitted sheet.

Remove bumper pads, blankets and all stuffed animals from crib.

Use a sleep sack instead of a swaddling blanket or any other blankets to avoid overheating or overdressing the baby.

Keep room temperature at a temperature comfortable for an adult.

Avoid naptime in swings and infant carriers. Using car seats or other sitting devices such as swings and wedges can cause the chin to rest on the chest, obstructing the airway. Wearable baby carriers also cause significant risk of suffocation and should be avoided during naptime, and the babys airway should be monitored regularly when a carrier is used.

Avoid smoke exposure during pregnancy and after the baby is born.

Avoid using devices marketed to reduce the risk of SIDS; there is no evidence these work or are safe.

When breastfeeding, mothers should feed in a chair and set an alarm for every 5 minutes to avoid falling asleep while feeding.

Well-meaning parents are unknowingly put their babies at risk by providing sleep environments that can obstruct their airway, Stephens added. Our new program will help educate parents on the safest sleep practices for their infants, aimed particularly at preventing suffocation.

For more information on safe sleep, visit cdc.gov/sids/parents-caregivers.htm or call 406-327-4453.

Losing a baby due to an unsafe sleep environment is traumatizing for families, said Olivia Jagelski, neonatal intensive care nurse at CMC. Death of any kind is traumatic, but preventable death can be especially difficult for families, as well as our own nurses and doctors. It is something that stays with you.
Lori Maxwell brushed her poodles voluminous curls into a high pompadour, giving it a good dose of hairspray.

This is just human hairspray, she said. Good, strong hairspray.

The black poodle, Rosie, had a Continental Clip, the cartoonish traditional haircut that shaves the hindquarters and front legs, leaving puffs of fur on the ankles and rear.

Maxwell said it was designed with hunting in mind.

Believe it or not, it really is, she added. Nobodys ever said why we do this.

She was doing it to compete for a ribbon at the 62nd annual Five Valleys Kennel Club show, held at the Missoula County Fairgrounds.

The grooming building was abuzz with last-minute brushings, washings and yes, hairsprayings, before the start of the afternoon competitions.

Maxwell and her friend Brenda Thorpe were putting the finishing touches on their poodles Rosie, Liza and Nova.

Larry Johnson was brushing his energetic Irish setter, Magic.

Retta Dunn and her husband Mark were blow-drying their three golden retrievers, Sundance, Emmy and Hooray for Hollywood.

Out of the 659 dogs registered for the three-day event, 34 were Doberman Pinschers, 60 were golden and Labrador retrievers and 17 were poodles. Over two dozen breeds such as borzois, chow chows and xoloitzcuintli (a hairless Mexican dog) had only one entry each.

Show chair Anne Deister had three standard smooth red Dachshunds to show, Olivia, Mischief and Gus.

Shortly after 11 a.m., she walked over to her kennels and leashed them up, settling them down enough to compete.

The competition itself largely involved walking around the edge of the ring, staying inside the lines, and a quick inspection on a little table.

Six American Kennel Club judges fly in for the event and switch breeds every day, so no ones in front of the same judge twice, Deister said.

With thin leashes pulled taught, handler after handler walked their dachshunds around the ring, in front of a stone-faced judge.

Deister and Mischief got a blue ribbon for the best smooth-standard dachshund and competed against all the dachshund varieties for Best in Breed.

After the winners competition, which was much more involved than previous stages, Dykstra walked out of the ring with a handful of ribbons: Best in Breed, Best of Winners, Best Bred-by Exhibitor and Best Owner/Handler.

That doesnt happen very often, Deister said afterwards, sounding a little overwhelmed.

The ribbons put Deister and Mischief in competitions for best of the entire show in all those categories and the potential to win some of the cash purses.

Deister has 16 dogs  three of them are puppies  and is the only breeder of the smooth-standard dachshund variety in Montana, by way of Ohio.

Shes nearing 30 years of showing Dachshunds, after about 60 years owning them, when she and her husband, newly married, decided on the breed for their first pet.

Id never dreamed Id have Dachshunds that long, Deister said.

The Missoula shows, from 9 a.m. to around 4 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday, are part of a 14-show, 15-day circuit that starts in Twin Falls, Idaho, and includes Billings, Great Falls and Blackfoot, Idaho.

They get one day off to drive from Blackfoot to Billings, Deister said. Its exhausting.

Competitors drive from as far away as California and Arizona, filling the fairgrounds with huge RVs and dog kennels, bringing over 100 different breeds to the show.

Each dog has to meet the breed standard, usually coloring and size, but sometimes more exact details like number of teeth, tongue color or stance.

Dachshunds or Brittanys, which also compete as field dogs, are allowed to have scars, or honorable wounds as the AKC classifies them.

Those breed details are memorized by every judge, who have to undergo strict training regimens before being allowed to oversee competitions.

Ron Spritzer, who flew in from Cincinnati, Ohio, to judge Missoulas shows, is certified by the AKC to judge over 100 breeds after jumping through all the hoops.

To become a judge you have to show dogs, you have to breed dogs, you have to have at least two champions, Spritzer said. Its sort of a natural evolution after showing so long, he said.

He started as a competitor back in 1969, showing Borzoi and Longhaired Dachshunds for about 40 years.

A recently retired dentist, Spritzer mostly judged weekend shows from 1982 to 2016, doing about 35 a year until his retirement.

Now he and his wife, whos also an AKC-certified judge, can come to shows like Missoula and have a couple of days afterward to relax.

Its enjoyable, Spritzer said. Its just the enjoyment of the dogs.
The weekly march by Missoulians for Peace took on an issue not often touched upon in Montana Sunday: police violence against minorities.

Over 89 percent of Montanans are white as of 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, while 6.6 percent are Native American and only 0.6 percent are African-American.

Nationwide though, Native Americans are killed by police at almost the same rate as African-Americans, 21 percent to 24 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To bring attention to the issue, the march up and down North Higgins Avenue included cut-out gravestones with murdered black men, women and children written on them, such as Michael Brown, Charleena Lyles, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner.

Organizer Ilana McCloud handed out gravestones and other signs at the top of the Caras Park stairs on Higgins Avenue Bridge to passersby going to and from the Montana Made Fair shouldering their way through the 25 or so marchers.

Were here because we cant stay silent, McCloud said. We cant just stand around.

And with that, they were off, leaving behind a single gravestone, RIP Tamir Rice 12 years old, leaning against the railing.
LIBBY  The search for the perfect Christmas tree is on in the Kootenai National Forest.

Its not an easy task.

This particular tree will stand somewhere between 60 feet to 70 feet tall. It will need to be arrow-straight and perfectly proportioned with dense cover from every angle. No one knows yet whether it will be spruce or fir or pine.

For months now, Sandi Mason and everyone else working out in the woods on the Kootenai have been keeping their eyes skyward in hopes theyll spot that bit of perfection in thickly covered mountainsides of 2.2 million acre national forest.

Its not as easy as you might think it would be on forest with so many trees, said Mason, who is serving the Kootenai National Forests Capitol Christmas Tree project leader. There are a lot of trees with tops that are split.

So far, they have picked out eight good candidates and are still searching for more.

Every time Im out in the forest, Im always looking, Mason said.

All of those being considered so far have been spotted by Kootenai National Forest employees, but Mason encourages anyone in the public to let them know if they see a tree that might work.

It does have to be on the national forest, Mason said. Weve had calls from people saying they have a really nice blue spruce in their front yard. That wont work.

The deadline for finding that perfect tree that will eventually grace the front lawn of the national Capitol is quickly approaching.

On the week of July 16, the same Capitol architect who has made the final selection for 20 years will arrive with a small entourage to spend two or three days looking at this years candidates for what many call The Peoples Tree.

***

The tradition of asking a national forest to provide the tree for the west front lawn of the U.S. Capitol dates back to 1970s.

It began after a live Douglas fir planted in 1963 succumbed to root damage after being severely damaged in a windstorm in 1967. For a couple of years, white pines were trucked in from Maryland before the decision was made to make the annual search for the perfect tree a national event. Since then, the trees have been selected from about 20 different states.

This is the second time that the Kootenai National Forest has been selected for the honor. The last time was in 1989.

Mason said the Kootenai Forest also provided a tree to Washington in 1958.

Finding that perfect tree is only one part of the challenge that comes with being selected, Mason said.

In addition to the large tree that lights up the Capitol lawn, the Kootenai Forest is also required to find another 25-five-foot beauty for the U.S. Department of Agricultures Whitten Room.

Beyond that, the forest also provides 60 to 70 small companion trees that provide holiday cheer in a variety of locations in Washington, D.C.

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is helping in that endeavor, Mason said.

***

Montanans of all ages also have the opportunity to add their own special touch.

By the time August ends, the Kootenai Forest will need to have gathered 8,000 ornaments to decorate both the inside and outside trees in the nations capitol.

The communities have already kicked into high gear, Mason said. We have about 4,500 ornaments so far.

Local schools have played a large role in making ornaments this past winter. Mason said there will be numerous opportunities this summer for folks to show off their creative prowess at most of the large summer festivals in the area.

But you dont have to live near the Kootenai Forest to take part in the celebration.

Mason said everyone in the state is invited to make an ornament to share something from their part of the state. Once theyre done, the ornaments can be mailed the Kootenai National Forest office in Libby at 31374 U.S. Highway 2, Libby, MT 59923-3022.

The ornaments that go on the outdoor tree have to be waterproof and measure 9 by 12 inches.

They should also be real blingy, Mason said. Theyll need to be able to stand out. We have already received some really cool ones from all over the state. Its amazing how creative people can be.

This years theme for the Capitol Tree is Beauty of the Big Sky.

At this point, the hope is the tree will be cut on Nov. 9. After three or four days to package it properly, it will begin its route over the states Hi-Line that will include at least 17 stops on its ways across the country.

The Capitol Christmas Tree is traditionally lighted by the Speaker of the House on first Tuesday of December.

Its always a big event, Mason said. Ive talked to a lot of people who are planning on going.
Tensions are ratcheting up around the Hollywood Mobile Home Park, with the Missoula City Council stepping in to work toward a quick change in conditions.

Ward 2 representative Jordan Hess has worked with the Westside Neighborhood Association in recent weeks to address ongoing issues  such as stray hypodermic needles and a burned-out trailer left to sit for month  at the trailer court at the corner of Cooley and North Russell streets.

Were not here to talk about law-abiding tenants with leases, Hess said. Rather were here to talk about issues that have been allowed to fester absent proper management at the park.

A few City Council and neighborhood association members met with KEI Property Management in mid-May, where manager Devin Khoury acknowledged many of the neighborhood council's issues. But he failed to keep up with regular email communication promised at the time.

Absent any communication, were left to speculate whats happening. Is anything happening? Hess said.

The neighborhood association read a letter from a former Hollywood tenant who described almost daily issues with neighbors and a lack of management.

She said her mothers car was stuck in the snow for more than 24 hours after a particularly bad snowfall when the property managers didnt plow the road in the court. She had to call the police on her neighbors several times to deal with drug-use issues. And after those neighbors moved out, someone broke into the trailer, shot up one of the rooms, used the bathroom and left drug paraphernalia.

The former tenant also said it took three days to get in touch with KEI when her sewer backed up into the tub and toilet, and only one plumber was willing to even come to the trailer court.

Neighborhood association President Michaela Schager said she and her husband Jason run a mobile home park in the Bitterroot.

In my experience, managing a mobile home park of this quality requires a lot of diligence, Schager said. Its also not uncommon for tenants to move out of, sell, or invite others to move into their mobile home without any communication with or approval from the property manager.

Inspections are overseen by the City-County Health Department, which generally inspects businesses or commercial properties, not residences.

Environmental Health Director Shannon Therriault said the agency has inspected and cited Hollywood court several times in the last year, as well as its neighbor across the street, Skyview Mobile Home Park.

In a voicemail, Khoury said he's doing the best he can to work with the city and county, but is held back by Montana's landlord/tenant act that keeps mobile home park owners from stepping in when tenants own the homes themselves.

"We inherited kind of a rat's nest," Khoury said. "Obviously it's very troublesome and hard to keep clean."

He's hired attorney Thomas C. Orr to represent KEI through the process.

Khoury's brother David, an orthopedic surgeon from Jackson, Wyoming, owns Hollywood, according to the council. Therriault said he makes $25,000 a month from rent.

Both of these court owners unfortunately are really used to seeing our orders of violation, Therriault said. Even if they eventually do it, they dont do it very quickly.

The city doesn't have any recourse if the property manager doesnt comply with the law, Therriault said, aside from revoking their license, which would just leave the tenants as unlicensed residents.

Otherwise, the county can fine them  a pittance compared to the rent earnings  or take KEI Property Management to court.

City police are well aware of the trailer parks and visit often, a combined 470 times in 2016, according to Chief Mike Brady. Thats out of 15,000 Ward 2 calls.

Most of the calls to Hollywood were for disturbances, drug use and theft, he said. Often when police arrive, the reporting and/or offending parties dont live in the trailer court, making it difficult to give out citations.

Hess said hes in favor of any and all ideas that would get the property manager to take better care of the park.

After their initial meeting with KEI, which he thought went well aside from the failure to follow up, hes still open to talking through the issue, but also wants to know if there are existing or potential city ordinances and regulations to coerce good management.

Ward 6 representative Marilyn Marler said she was astounded that Khoury, an orthopedic surgeon who owns a bunch of slums, would want his name tarnished in Missoula and hoped the brothers would turn things around with public pressure.

At some point it stops being a trailer that somebody owns and becomes dangerous garbage, Marler said.
On Wednesday, June 28th I will host my 17th Telephone Townhall to get your input on the healthcare draft proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare. The draft bill was released on Thursday, June 22nd, and I immediately posted the text on my website for all Montanans to read. I am digging into this legislation myself and look forward to hearing the thoughts of Montanans as we consider this important issue together.

While there is an effort to move legislation out of the Senate next week, Ive been urging my colleagues to get this legislation right  my dad taught me it is better to measure twice, cut once. We have a real opportunity to help the American people and Im optimistic that we can find a solution that addresses the failings of our current healthcare system.

As I travel across all 56 counties, I have heard story after story about Montanans experiences with healthcare. The countless meetings Ive had with families, healthcare providers, pharmacists, small business owners, labor unions and tribes about healthcare are too numerous to count. And sadly, I have heard the countless horrible stories about how Obamacare has hurt hard-working Montana families.

It pains me to get emails that share how one Montanan family was nearly forced to sell their home to pay for insurance and how another had doubling insurance premiums. This isnt acceptable.

We have had seven years since the Democrat-controlled Congress and Obama administration signed into law the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known by most as Obamacare. This laws promises to bring healthcare costs down and preserve current doctor-patient relationships were proven false almost immediately.

President Obama said, youll find more choices, more competition, and in many cases, lower prices Going on four years later, insurers are leaving the market and premiums are rising. In 2017, one third of all counties across the nation had just one insurer. And in Montana alone, insurance premiums have risen 133 percent from 2013 - 2017. To make matters worse, insurers are already beginning to ask for permission to raise individual market premiums for 2018.

Without insurers, no one has access to health insurance, including those with pre-existing conditions.

Obamacare has created a train wreck with thousands of pages of legislation. Montanans have made it clear in election after election: they want to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a healthcare system that provides more affordable choices, protects those with pre-existing conditions and puts Medicaid on a sustainable path. With your input, Im going to carefully scrutinize this proposal to determine if it secures these outcomes for Montanans.
Senate Republicans have crafted a plan that will unhinge our nations health care system and leave Montana families and the people who care for them scrambling to pick up the pieces.

To make matters worse, theyll vote on the bill next week without public input. This commitment to secrecy is more than concerning. It has clouded what should have been a transparent and collaborative process of strengthening Americas health. And it has set an unnerving tone for future Congressional action.

GOP leaders rejected the House plan to allow insurers to charge people with pre-existing conditions more for their health insurance  thats good news. They also want to beef up tax credits needed to help low-income people purchase insurance  also good news. But there is a lot of devastating news as well, especially regarding the Medicaid program.

Federal funding for the Medicaid expansion  which has provided health insurance coverage to more than 77,000 Montanans  would be reduced over three years beginning in 2021. Medicaid spending would be capped and allowed to grow at a rate far below the actual growth in medical costs.

These changes would leave Montana lawmakers with two grim choices: take money from elsewhere to fund the program or eliminate the life-saving services currently provided to Montana children, seniors, pregnant women, veterans and other individuals in need.

Also disturbing is that the Affordable Care Acts taxes, which offset the cost of coverage, would be repealed or delayed. In effect, higher-income Americans will get a $664 billion tax cut paid for by severe cuts in Medicaids safety-net programs.

The Congressional Budget Office  Capitol Hills nonpartisan budget scorekeeper  concluded the House bill would cut federal Medicaid spending by 25 percent  $834 billion  by 2026. At the same time, 23 million Americans would lose their health insurance coverage, including more than 100,000 Montanans.

The benefits of health coverage are well documented. Uninsured patients are less likely to seek the care they need or maintain their recommended course of treatment. This results in a sicker, poorer and less productive workforce, and more costly care.

Montana Hospital Association data reveals that the Medicaid expansion is working, but that Congress must do more to protect access to care in our rural communities. Hospital profit margins fell 40 percent in 2016, the first year of the expansion, despite anticipated reductions in uncompensated care. Key factors include stagnant reimbursement rates coupled with increased costs for drugs and medical supplies, regulatory compliance and retaining the staff needed to serve the health needs of our communities.

Congress will not tackle health care costs unless they start addressing these issues. Cutting essential services and denying people access to health care and health care coverage will only make things worse.

The long-term solution for health care costs is to continue to move the delivery of care to a system that rewards value and quality  not the number of services provided. These reforms are in motion, but will be undercut if the Senate bills drastic coverage measures are adopted.

Montana Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester have a monumental decision to make before they head home for the July 4 recess. They need to know that while the Senate closed the door on its health care debate, it cannot be allowed to close the door on Montana.

Dick Brown is president/CEO of the Montana Hospital Association.
BILLINGS  Police found bombs in the home of a Roundup man who was arrested recently in Nebraska and may be under investigation for a string of bank robberies in several states.

Richard L. Gathercole, 39, is suspected of shooting at a Kansas state trooper, according to a statement released by the Musselshell County Sheriff's Department, and an FBI spokeswoman confirmed that evidence found during the search of Gathercole's home "may be linked" to a series of bank robberies in California and other states in 2012 and 2014. The spokeswoman said the investigation is ongoing and declined to comment further.

Police from Chino, California, and Rexburg, Idaho, participated in the search, according to the Musselshell Sheriff's department. A 2014 posting on the FBI website seeks help catching "the AK 47 Bandit," who robbed banks in Rexburg and Chino, shooting a police officer in the latter. The man also hit banks in Nebraska and Idaho, carrying an assault rifle and wearing body armor and a ski mask.

The FBI had offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the man's arrest and conviction. Laura Eimiller, the FBI spokeswoman, did not confirm if the "AK 47 Bandit" robberies were the investigations linked to Gathercole.

Gathercole was arrested for driving under the influence on June 14 at about 2:45 a.m. on Montana Highway 87. He pleaded not guilty to that and obstructing a peace officer, driving without insurance and driving without a license in Musselshell County Justice Court on June 15. He was released after appearing in Musselshell County Justice Court and posting bail.

Gathercole was then arrested on June 20 in south-central Nebraska while in possession of the stolen vehicle that was linked to the shooting incident in Kansas.

A jailhouse phone call transcript shows that Gathercole asked a relative to clear his Montana home of guns after his arrest.

The transcript of the call between Gathercole and a relative, who is unnamed, was submitted to a judge by federal officials seeking a search warrant for the Roundup home.

According to the transcript, Gathercole tells the relative to get all the guns out of the house. She agrees, then reminds him that the call is being recorded.

On Saturday, local law enforcement helped the FBI and police from California and Idaho search Gathercole's Roundup home. The Billings Police Department bomb squad removed several improvised explosive devices. There is no current danger to the public, a statement said.

Gathercole previously was identified as being from San Jacinto, California, after his arrest in Nebraska at a gas station in Lexington. A sheriff's deputy had spotted a pickup that Kansas authorities had said was stolen by a man who fired at a state trooper Monday along Interstate 70.

Gathercole is charged in Nebraska with theft and with possession of stolen firearms. He was being held at the Dawson County jail in Nebraska.
A slow snow melt, moderate temperatures and recent soaking rains have held off an active wildfire season in western and southwestern Montana so far.

That should stave off extra restrictions on fireworks in these parts going into the Fourth of July, a federal fire official said last week, but it wouldnt take much for the outlook to change.

At some point we could turn off the faucet  it stops raining  and we turn up the thermostat, said John Thompson, fire management officer for the U.S. Bureau of Land Managements western Montana district.

That really drives how quickly fire season comes on, he said. If we move up to 80 to 90 degrees in the next week and it stays that way for a week to 10 days and we have a little bit of wind, it changes things very, very quickly.

So far, however, conditions have worked against widespread wildfires in the Rocky Mountain regions of Montana.

Snowpack was average to above average in most of the region, officials say, and snowmelt has been on the slower side.

Look at the Pintlers, Thompson said. The Pintlers still have snow probably down to 8,000 feet. There is still a significant amount of snow up there. That means we have high country that is still green.

Even if other conditions changed dramatically, the high country is still a ways away from being available to burn, he said.

Rains in May and June have helped, too, and are one of the reasons the National Interagency Fire Center predicted a below normal significant fire potential for western Montana in June and July.

The agency noted a storm system from Canada in mid-May brought heavy rains to southwestern Montana, and heavy snowfall in some mountain ranges in the state as well.

Then came the two days of steady rainfall earlier this month, Thompson said. The Missoula and Bitterroot valleys collected about 3 inches of moisture.

That alone probably set back wildfire season by two to three weeks, he said, especially because it fell steadily for so long, saturating the ground and vegetation instead of coming down quickly and running off.

It was the right kind of rain and really slowed things down, he said.

Conditions were different 2015, when low snowpack that winter and hot, dry conditions fed fires that burned nearly 746,000 acres in the Northern Rockies region that includes all of Montana, northern Idaho, most of North Dakota and Yellowstone National Park.

Persistent hot and dry conditions in June that year led communities throughout western Montana to ban the sale and use of fireworks over the July 4 weekend. Missoula permitted them, but had fire crews on hand at public displays.

Thompson noted that fireworks are not allowed on state or federal lands, but he doubted restrictions would be needed locally. That prediction, of course, came with a disclaimer.

That could change, he said. That happened to us a few fire seasons ago. However, everything looks great (now).
Last week in the Northern Hemisphere, we experienced the longest day of the year, when the sun showers our half of the world with bright and powerful rays of light.

Here in Missoula, that means more sunny hours to run up Rattlesnake, paddle the big wave or lounge outside with a cold local brew. It also serves as a reminder that today, and every day, we should soak up more of those rays of sunlight to power our communities with inexhaustible, pollution-free, solar energy.

Its no secret that solar energy is taking off faster than ever before. Just in the United States, we have 43 times more solar today than we did 10 years ago  enough to meet the power needs of 8.7 million households.

So, were making progress. But of course it hasnt always been this way. For so long  since the Industrial Revolution, really  weve relied on the extraction of old and dirty forms of technically sun-powered energy; long-dead plants and organic materials, pushed back into the earth and later pumped out as oil, gas, coal, and other fossil fuels.

We know now that extracting and burning these fuels for energy not only harms our environment and our health, but threatens the climate and the stability of the planet.

The time has come to move past such finite, dirty and increasingly expensive resources. Certainly we have the technical potential to directly use clean sunlight for nearly all of our energy needs.

In fact, the United States alone could power itself 100 times over just with the solar power that shines within our borders. Studies show that just around 2 percent of our land mass could power the entire country with solar; panels on American rooftops alone could power nearly 40 percent of the countrys energy needs.

The good news is, were reaching a tipping point for renewable energy in the U.S and across the world like weve never seen before. Ramping up our renewable goals is not a question of resources, science or technology. It is a question of political will. As more and more leaders in cities, companies, institutions and states commit to goals of using 100 percent renewable energy, well only get there sooner and realize more of the benefits to Montana and our society.

Here in Missoula, we applaud Mayor John Engen for pledging committing to implement the Paris Accord. But, we can do even more. We urge leaders like Engen to commit to a 100 percent renewable energy future; a goal we can and must achieve.

So, on the longest day of the year, we should remember this: every minute of sunlight can be harnessed to create renewable energy to power our lives. We can and must meet this challenge. As we continue to use energy more efficiently, ramp up storage of renewable power and scale up our use of clean energy resources, well make our air and water cleaner, and well leave a legacy that we can be proud of.
The destructive effects of the financial meltdown can still be felt today. The economy suffered shocking losses and an overwhelming number of Americans were left without a job. This was a dark time for a large percentage of Americans, as many felt helpless and taken advantage of.

We need to learn from this mistake and make sure that we do not make the same errors again.

Currently, the United States Court of Appeals is split on the decision to limit the power and influence of Director Richard Cordray of the Consumer Bureau. Allowing the courts to limit the power of the Consumer Bureau would prove to very detrimental for hard working Americans.

Since its establishment in 2011, the Consumer Bureau has worked tirelessly to return almost 12 billion dollars to nearly 29 million Americans. Unfortunately, some Senate Republicans and the current administration are working to dismantle the Consumer Bureau which would leave consumers like you and me vulnerable to unfair banking practices and predatory lenders.

So now is the time to stand up and let our Senators in Washington know that we support the Consumer Bureau under the leadership of Director Richard Cordray.

Phoenix Trent,

Missoula
In late April, President Donald Trump signed off on an executive order which threatens national monuments nationwide. The Upper Missouri River Breaks, located near Fort Benton, is one of the many monuments Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will review under Trumps executive order.

As a third generation Montanan, I am concerned about politicians like Trump who frequently prioritize corporate interest over public opinion. I have been raised to treasure the Montana landscape and the native flora and fauna that thrive here.

I know that the vast majority of my fellow Montanans, liberal and conservative alike, value the many pristine resources that the Treasure State has to offer. The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument is home to countless native wildlife populations and holds one of the states most important grazing areas for wildlife.

The effects of delisting the Breaks could be devastating for many Montanans, and many tourists who come from out of state and contribute millions of dollars to the local economy. The review of national monuments will be concluded on August 25 of this year, placing the Breaks Monument under imminent threat. Secretary Zinke, do not go against the best interests of your home state.

Sierra Gideon,

Missoula
In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order which allows Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to review all national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act after 1996. Of the national monuments included on that list, Montana has one: The Upper Missouri River Breaks.

Designated as a national monument in 2001, the Upper Missouri River Breaks is not only one of Montanas most pristine places; its home to the endangered pallid sturgeon, and also one of our most productive places. Attracting over 130,000 visitors every year, the Upper Missouri River Breaks contributes millions of dollars to the state economy.

Away in Washington D.C., it can be difficult to remember ones roots. Remind Secretary Zinke that Montanas national monuments and local economies are worth protecting by sending him a public comment in defense of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.

Montanans must not hesitate: Secretary Zinke will conclude his review on August 25, and he could be reviewing the Upper Missouri River Breaks at any moment. Do not let Secretary Zinke sell off our opportunities for economic independence for the benefit of outside interests.

Sophie Moon,

Missoula
The Missoulian published my letter of June 21 criticizing Judge Rick West for letting Greg Gianforte walk. This is a big issue and I wanted to add a comment and a question. Gianforte would be done with his four days by now and wed all be better for it. He would be respected in Montana and Congress and probably would no longer fear to have meetings open to the public.

Take your sentence like a man, Greg, and dont buy off the booking and mugshot with lawyers, thats our due process of law. It doesnt matter how the mugshot will look on campaign posters.

Our legal system was petrified of incarcerating such a rich man, even for an egregious crime with a light sentence, in a low-class county jail with low-class inmates. This immunity from justice seems to be an intractable problem.

In Bob Browns column of June 4 he describes the Preston Brooks attack on Charles Sumner over slavery and Joe McCarthys assault on columnist Drew Pearson. What he didnt tell us is what happened to the perpetrators. Did they walk?

Ron Carter,

Libby
BILLINGS  Police found bombs in the home of a Roundup man who was arrested recently in Nebraska and may be under investigation for a string of bank robberies in several states.

Richard L. Gathercole, 39, is suspected of shooting at a Kansas state trooper, according to a statement released by the Musselshell County Sheriff's Department, and an FBI spokeswoman confirmed that evidence found during the search of Gathercole's home "may be linked" to a series of bank robberies in California and other states in 2012 and 2014. The spokeswoman said the investigation is ongoing and declined to comment further.

Police from Chino, California, and Rexburg, Idaho, participated in the search, according to the Musselshell Sheriff's department. A 2014 posting on the FBI website seeks help catching "the AK 47 Bandit," who robbed banks in Rexburg and Chino, shooting a police officer in the latter. The man also hit banks in Nebraska and Idaho, carrying an assault rifle and wearing body armor and a ski mask.

The FBI had offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the man's arrest and conviction. Laura Eimiller, the FBI spokeswoman, did not confirm if the "AK 47 Bandit" robberies were the investigations linked to Gathercole.

Gathercole was arrested for driving under the influence on June 14 at about 2:45 a.m. on Highway 87 in Montana. He pleaded not guilty to that and obstructing a peace officer, driving without insurance and driving without a license in Musselshell County Justice Court on June 15. He was released after appearing in Musselshell County Justice Court and posting bail.

Gathercole was then arrested on June 20 in south-central Nebraska while in possession of the stolen vehicle that was linked to the shooting incident in Kansas.

A jailhouse phone call transcript shows that Gathercole asked a relative to clear his Montana home of guns after his arrest.

The transcript of the call between Gathercole and a relative, who is unnamed, was submitted to a judge by federal officials seeking a search warrant for the Roundup, Montana, home.

According to the transcript, Gathercole tells his mother to get all the guns out of the house. She agrees, then reminds him that the call is being recorded.

On Saturday, local law enforcement helped the FBI and police from California and Idaho search Gathercole's Roundup home. The Billings Police Department bomb squad removed several improvised explosive devices. There is not current danger to the public, the statement said.

Gathercole was previously identified as being from San Jacinto, California, after his arrest in Nebraska at a gas station in Lexington. A sheriff's deputy had spotted a pickup that Kansas authorities had said was stolen by a man who fired at a state trooper Monday along Interstate 70.

Gathercole is charged in Nebraska with theft and with possession of stolen firearms. He was being held at the Dawson County jail in Nebraska.
CHEYENNE, Wyo.  Police in Cheyenne are searching for a man wanted in connection with the killing of a 21-year-old woman.

Authorities have identified the suspect as 57-year-old Emigdio Lara of Cheyenne. Investigators have not identified the victim pending notification of her family.

Police say the homicide occurred at 620 Central Ave.

Lara was seen on surveillance cameras Tuesday wearing a red sweater with a dark stripe on the front.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 307-637-6525. Authorities say people should call 911 if they see Lara and not approach him.

The case remains under investigation.
The repugnant Republican US Senate process of rewriting our healthcare laws is a totally secretive effort behind closed doors that deliberately denies Montana citizens the ability to know what is being proposed before it is jammed down our throats. Montana Senator Steve Daines says it makes him frustrated.

The GOP plans to push this bill through without citizens having any chance to participate. They plan to radically change one-sixth of Americas economy by June 30 by dramatically changing health care for hundreds of thousands of Montanans and tens of millions of Americans without any openness and public participation. Their approach doesnt embrace the people who elected them, it fears the people. In a naked power move, the GOP Senate plans to deliberately jam it through before the people can even have a chance to tell them it is bad. But Senator Daines wants us to know he is frustrated.

No reflection time. No hearings. No discussion. No amendments. No openness. No participation. Not the Montana way. But Senator Daines really wants us to know how frustrated he is.

Challenging this process will take more than cheap words about frustration from our junior senator. Instead of spouting useless rhetoric, Daines needs cast a firm NO vote that reflects the public participation values Montanans cherish and expect.

Those values are not just floating in the Montana air. They are firmly implanted in the Montana Constitution ratified by the people 45 years ago this month.

Recently the fifteen out of one-hundred Montana Constitutional Convention delegates who are still alive were recognized by Governor Bullock with a certificate and a proclamation. They, along with the families of the 85 deceased delegates, were cited for their outstanding service to the state as the Governor expressed undying admiration and appreciation to the citizen delegates who wrote Montanas magnificent 1972 Constitution.

In this landmark Constitution, often cited as the best state Constitution in the nation, are a declared right to know and right of participation for every Montana citizen, making our state one of the most open and participatory state governments in America.

Our Constitutional right-to-know says: no person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents or to observe deliberations of all public bodies or agencies. Our Constitution also declares that the public has a right to expect government agencies to afford  reasonable opportunity for citizen participation.

Those Constitutional values stand in stark contrast to the power-based, highly-partisan secretive process going on today in the US Senate. While Montanas Constitutional requirements are not legally binding on our members of Congress, they are a standard of conduct to which we expect those in Congress to adhere. Yet Senator Daines can only express that he is frustrated.

Our Senator Daines apparently faces a dilemma. Does he bow to the GOP Senates repugnant process, trying to prove that he [Daines] can be a good and faithful servant to the DC swamp where might is right? Or will Daines stand with Montana values and both say and vote NO on any secret bill that seeks to radically change our countrys health care system to provide massive tax breaks to the wealthy without a thorough, open and participatory public process?

Its not enough for Daines to just say he is frustrated. That is a false front to cover what appears to be support for the process and the bill. He needs to totally reject this process and bill that is tainted beyond saving. The stench attached to that process will attach itself to any and all who support it, including our Senator Daines.

Because it only takes three GOP Senators to stop this secret process, if Daines refuses he will stop this thing in its tracks. Maybe knowing that is what makes him frustrated?

This dilemma for our Senator Daines should be easy to resolve. He can and should vote against anything that does not adhere to the public processes we constitutionally demand here in Montana every day, including this month when we honor the 45th Anniversary of the enactment of those very precious concepts.

If Daines sides with Montana, its people and its Constitution, the bill cannot pass. We are watching.

-- Evan Barrett, who lives in historic Uptown Butte, recently retired after 47 years at the top level of Montana economic development, government, politics and education. He is an award-winning producer of Montana history films who continues to write columns and record commentaries, and occasionally teach Montana history and contribute to community and economic development projects.
MUSCATINE  The city of Muscatine has asked a Muscatine district court judge to reconsider Mayor Diana Broderson's return to office.

Amy Reasner, the city's lawyer, filed a motion June 19 asking the judge to issue a new order denying Broderson's reinstatement.

The city council removed Broderson from office in May. She has filed an appeal, and on June 16, Judge Mark Smith ruled the removal be stayed, and Broderson reinstated, pending a July 17 final hearing on the matter. Broderson returned to office last week and held a Coffee with the Mayor event on Saturday.

In the motion, Reasner argued Broderson's removal was a self-executing order; that is, it was decided upon by the city council and can be put into effect without the aid of legislation.

She said Broderson's attorney, William Sueppel, did not "provide any legal precedent supporting the position that a self-executing order could be reversed."

Reasner said the court "must provide its rationale" for deciding it is not a self-executing order, or analyze if a self-executing order can be stayed.

At a June 14 hearing, Sueppel argued the removal is not a self-executing order, and precedent found in Burke v. City Council of City of Lansing proves such an order can be stayed.

After the Lansing City Council voted to remove Alderman William Burke, the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled this year "a City Council that is involved in prosecuting, investigating, and deciding a removal case" amounts to a violation under due process laws.

The judge reinstated Broderson partly because of the precedent set in Lansing, saying there were conflicts of interest in how the council decided to remove Broderson.

At the hearing, Smith said "comparing it to Lansing, the likelihood of success is pretty good on this case in terms of the plaintiff's (Broderson's) success."

Reasner argued the Lansing decision does not support the idea that a self-executing order can be reversed simply because a court concludes there is a chance the council's proceedings would be declared unconstitutional at the final hearing. She asked the judge to set a pretrial hearing in advance of the July 17 hearing date.

Reasner said because the language surrounding the final hearing is unclear, a pretrial is needed to clarify the steps to be taken prior to the hearing, and to better understand its scope, and the court's expectations regarding witness testimony and legal briefs.

Smith set a pretrial for Friday at 3:30 p.m. in Muscatine County District Court. Lawyers will appear by telephone.

Reasner was not immediately available for comment. City Administrator Gregg Mandsager said he has "no comment on ongoing litigation."
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Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
Queen of the Valley Medical Center announced the appointment of Kim Brown Sims to vice president of patient care services/Chief Nursing Officer.

Brown Sims, MBA, BSN and RN, brings a wealth of experience, leadership skills and personal commitment to this position, said a news release.

The selection of Kim is consistent with our desire to lead our nursing staff toward continued excellence in compassionate and quality care, said Larry Coomes, chief executive.

Kim is an excellent fit for this position.

The mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph is inspiring and I am honored to join this incredible team of caregivers here at Queen of the Valley Medical Center, said Brown Sims. I look forward to getting to know the nurses, physicians and caregivers who make this such a special place.

Brown Sims previously served for three years as the chief nurse executive at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo.

She held a number of administrative and clinical roles, including: assistant administrator of women and childrens services for Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento; director of administrative services at Kaiser Permanente in Roseville; and interim manager of the NICU, assistant nurse manager of the NICU and staff nurse in the NICU at Kaiser Permanente in Sacramento.

Brown Sims has an Associate of Science degree in Nursing from Solano Community College; a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from California State University, Sacramento and a Masters in Business Administration from Trident University International. She earned her vocational nursing certificate from Napa Valley College. She also is a FACHE qualified candidate.
If the pop-up restaurant concept seems spontaneous these days, Napa Valley wine veteran Chris Blanchard takes a different view. By way of his own pop-up events and side business, the master sommelier and fried chicken enthusiast is working hard to master the art of southern cooking, a bucket and biscuit at a time.

Earlier this year, Blanchard and his wife, Lauren, were searching for a commercial kitchen space in downtown Napa. The couple became sold on a facility tucked away at the back of the Tannery Row complex on South Coombs Street. Breezes blowing off of the Napa River and views across the water were an added bonus.

Several weeks later, Blanchards Fried Chicken was born, a combination of gourmet destination and gritty determinationwith cheese grits on the side.

I want to make food thats fun, thats soulful, thats a little bit different, the sommelier-turned-fry cook said recently while mixing gallons of cole slaw. It was a couple of days before Blanchards latest Friday take out night, which evolved from the popular fried chicken pop-ups he pulled off last year at local restaurants like Angele, Torc and Oenotri.

Im a white guy making soul food. I like stuff that has some soul to it, that isnt the same old thing, and thats what were doing here. Its a great time, and the food is awesome.

A couple of Fridays a month, Blanchard preps his ingredientsdozens of birds, of course, but also the slaw, mac and cheese, biscuits, and collard greens that complement his New Orleans-style fried chickenand his wife opens the kitchen doors to customers who have placed orders online. A few close friends help execute the menu to a rocking blues soundtrack of John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy.

Buckets and sides leave with happy customers who, through social media and word-of-mouth, find their way to the Blanchards Fried Chicken website. Its like a wine club, but for fried chicken.

Its a different concept than the pop-ups in that I have this club called The Bucket List, Blanchard explained. People sign up to get notifications of when the next take out night is going to be.

So far, all of the menu items have been selling out in advance, but he confessed it isnt exactly a money-maker. Its a labor of love. I know customer service pretty well, so we try to make everybody happy. We have a good time, theres music playing, and like I said, were just doing it because its fun.

It pays the rent, he added, but above that, Im not making a bunch of money. It might be better to go talk about wine at a seminar somewhere.

Blanchard earned his master sommelier degree in 2008 and has worked for the last few years as national sales manager for Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville. Wine is his passion, but his obsession with southern cooking goes back much further, through the family legend of his grandmother, Opal, who died shortly before he was born.

She was the first school teacher for an all-black school in Wichita, Kansas, he said, describing the woman who would end up a respected educator in South Carolina during the tumultuous late 1950s. Just like a lot of peoples grandmothers in the South, she was a nice grandma who made food to make her family happy.

So this is grandma food, you know, which is fantastic. I feel like Im a grandma cooking for all these strangers I dont even know, welcoming them into my house, coming in to get some chicken and some greens.

Last Friday, the scene at their kitchen reflected what the Blanchards have worked hard to create. Lauren, whose own day job is general manager at Savage and Cook distillers on Mare Island, looked over her printed list of customer orders for that evening. Pick-up times scheduled between four and seven oclock afforded her some control over the fast pace. Her husband and friends moved quickly around the kitchen, from hot stove tops to pressure fryer to convection oven, while Canned Heat played in the background.

We have a general idea of what time people are coming, and as long as about 50 percent of the people show up at the time they say, then were in very good shape from the kitchens standpoint, Lauren explained. Then she laughed that the first evening was quite a rude awakening!

But weve got our system down now. Everybody is just really excited to get some great fried chicken.

As people lined up outside, the reporter was invited to sample a plump, spicy chicken thigh, collard greens, and fairly decadent mac and cheese. Blanchard, who greets almost every customer at the door as theyre picking up their food, nodded with appreciation at the Louisiana-style array of dishes.

The great thing about New Orleans is that the ladies who come bring you foodor the mentheyre full of love. You know, they give you a bucket of chicken, and you smile, and they say, Thats for you, baby. And then you take it, and you eat it, and youre so happy.

Around 5 p.m., Nash Cognetti, the executive chef at Tra Vigne Pizzeria in St. Helena, wandered in for a taste of the signature dish and called it undoubtedly the greatest fried chicken in the state of California.

Another chef, Napas now-retired Greg Cole, has been a customer since the BFC debut. Reached on the phone, he was a little more judicious. As a kitchen person and as a chef, I really enjoy watching front-of-the-house people struggle in the kitchen, he laughed, echoing Lauren. The first time was disaster, although the food was fantastic.

Chriss apron was very dirty, but there was a big box of corn flakes right there, which is always a good sign when youre taking home fried chicken.

Cole recalled enjoying a rose Champagne during Blanchards pop-up dinner at Angele last year, which he described as the perfect wine for fried chicken. Ever the sommelier, Blanchard mentioned that in the near future he hopes to acquire a type 85 wine license so he and Lauren can sell Champagne to go. At the very least, theyll have something in their glass to toast their endeavor.

You know, I love wine; wines great. But the cooking is really fun. I love that, too, and fried chickens something a little bit different that we can bring to Napa. Its something with soul that has its own personality.
Officers serving an arrest warrant on a Napa man early Saturday evening became involved in a struggle that resulted in more allegations against the suspect, according to police.

Shortly before 5:22 p.m., police went to a home in the 1300 block of Linden Street to serve a felony warrant on 26-year-old Daniel Raymond Hendricks, according to Sgt. Nick Dalessi.

When Hendricks, who was staying at the home with relatives, emerged from the front door, officers told him of the warrant against him, but he refused to surrender and instead pulled throwing knives from his waistband and threw them into the ground, Dalessi said.

Police grabbed Hendricks by the arms and ordered him to move his hands behind his back, according to Dalessi. A struggle ensued in which officers fell onto a parked vehicle and then onto the ground, he said.

After several minutes, police temporarily subdued Hendricks by pepper-spraying and handcuffing him, according to Dalessi. When Hendricks began struggling again while being led to a patrol car, officers put him in nylon wrap-style device to keep his hands behind his back, Dalessi said.

Two officers were taken to Queen of the Valley Medical Center after the incident, both with scrapes and one with a cut elbow, Dalessi reported.

Hendricks also was briefly treated at the Queen before being booked into the Napa County jail on suspicion of resistance of police likely to cause injury, as well as the warrant and a probation violation.
What lies should make you lose your citizenship? The question irresistibly combines two of the most contentious issues in the age of Donald Trump: the culture of falsehood and the hot-button problem of immigration. On Thursday, the Supreme Court weighed in.

Its solution bucks the anti-immigration trend by making it harder than before to strip immigrants of their citizenship status. At the same time, the court's decision further weakens the basic norm of truth-telling.

The facts of the case, Maslenjak v. U.S., perfectly capture the interaction between lies and immigration. Divna Maslenjak is an ethnic Serb from Bosnia who with her husband, Ratko, and two children in 1998 sought refugee status in the U.S.

As part of her asylum application, Divna Maslenjak explained that she feared persecution from Bosnian Muslims because of her ethnic Serbian identity, and persecution from ethnic Serbs because her husband had evaded serving with Bosnian Serb forces by fleeing into Serbia during the years of the conflict following the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Immigration officials granted the asylum petition for all the Maslenjaks. Six years later, they applied for citizenship. The application form asked whether Divna Maslenjak had ever given "false or misleading information" while applying for immigration and whether she had ever lied "to gain entry or admission into the United States." Under oath, Maslenjak answered no to both questions -- and she became a citizen.

After the family's naturalization, the Maslenjaks' story fell apart. Ratko Maslenjak hadn't avoided service; he'd actually been an officer in a Bosnian Serb brigade that participated in the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.

The government took away Ratko Maslenjak's citizenship for lying on his immigration documents. It moved to do the same for Divna Maslenjak on the ground that she, too, had lied, because she knew her husband had fought with the Bosnian Serb forces.

The federal law that the government used to charge Divna Maslenjak makes it a crime to "procure" your naturalization "contrary to law." According to the government, Maslenjak procured her naturalization contrary to law by lying under oath on her immigration application when she said she hadn't lied to get into the country in the first place -- which she had.

Yet remarkably, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Maslenjak's conviction. In an opinion by Justice Elena Kagan that met with no dissents, the court held that not just any lie under oath on immigration documents counts as procuring naturalization contrary to law. Rather, Kagan concluded, the lie must be material to getting citizenship: "The illegal act must have somehow contributed to the obtaining of citizenship."

Kagan offered a complex and not very illuminating hypothetical to explain her interpretation. But the core idea is that just any old lie on an immigration application won't lead to criminal conviction and loss of citizenship. As Kagan went on to explain, the lie must have some causal relationship to obtaining citizenship.

In Maslenjak's case, that still leaves the tricky question of whether her initial lie about her husband or her subsequent lie about having lied would have gotten her asylum application denied. The government lawyers said yes, unsurprisingly. But the court held that Maslenjak would have to get a new trial in which the government would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that her lies would have predictably led them to engage in further investigation that would have led to her exclusion.

Kagan also specified that Maslenjak could defend herself successfully if she could show that there was no fact that would disqualify her from citizenship. "We have never read a statute to strip citizenship from someone who met the legal criteria for acquiring it," she wrote. "We will not start now."

When you think about it, the whole outcome is remarkable. The Supreme Court in the Trump era held that a person can lie repeatedly in immigration proceedings and still not lose her citizenship.

That's heartening as a matter of judicial independence and unwillingness to bend to contemporary isolationist politics. And if you are sympathetic to immigrants, especially refugees, you may applaud the court's recognition that it's hard to find your way through the complex asylum bureaucracy while telling the truth on every particular point.

Yet it's also true that, morally speaking, the decision rests on the idea that some lies are all right -- that the mere fact of being a baldfaced liar isn't good enough reason to strip away citizenship. In a political moment in which lots of people are lying -- and expressly calling one another liars -- it may be that the simple act of telling the truth is being devalued.

We can all be sympathetic to people who lie under desperation and to improve their family's lives. But even that sympathy is not free of cost to the value of truth itself.




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08:25

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the surgical strikes carried out across the Line of Control proved that India would not hesitate to take the toughest measures to defend itself, while noting that no country in the world had questioned it -- an apparent swipe at Pakistan.

Addressing Indian-Americans at a reception in Virginia, Modi asserted that India has been successful in convincing the world about "the face of terrorism that is destroying peace and normal life" in the country.

"When we talked of terrorism 20 years back, many in the world said it was a law and order problem and didn't understand it. Now terrorists have explained terrorism to them so we don't have to," he said.

Modi said the surgical strikes demonstrated that India, which normally follows the principle of restraint, can also defend its sovereignty and ensure its security when needed.

"When India carried out the surgical strikes, the world realised the our strength and saw that while we exercise restraint, when the need arises, India can also show its

strength and might in dealing with terror and protecting itself," he said to thunderous applause from the diaspora.

India conducted surgical strikes on terror pads across the Line of Control on September 29 last year, 11 days after the Uri attack which claimed the lives of 19 Indian soldiers.

The PM said that the world could have put India in the dock for carrying out the attack accoss the LoC. "But for the first time not one nation in the world raised a

single question, about India's major step to conduct the surgical strikes against terror camps on Pakistani soil."

"It is a different matter for those who had to suffer due to the surgical strikes," Modi said, taking another jibe at Pakistan, amid laughter from the audience.
14:08

A guided White House tour by President Donald Trump, a few laughs and a working dinner -- the first for a foreign dignitary at the White House under the current administration -- was how Prime Minister Narendra Modi rounded off his US visit.





"Well, Mr President (Donald Trump), let me express my gratitude for this invitation that was extended to me. It is true that I have spent a very short time over here, but really, I have felt so much at home during this stay in the United States," Modi told the President at the dinner that was hosted in his honour by Trump.





The US president was joined by First Lady Melania Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence for the dinner. Trump had his top Cabinet members at the dinner, including Defence Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster.





Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, along with his senior advisor Jarred Kushner, were also present at the dinner table which had 13 chairs on each side.





The guest arrived in the Blue Room of the White House after a cocktail reception which was hosted by the First Lady. "I am indeed also very grateful to the First Lady. She has organised this reception in my honour, and this honours not just me, but 1.25 billion people of India. So, once again, let me thank you and express my gratitude," Modi said.





Amidst laughter, Trump told Modi that he will do the toast as soon as the media leaves. "We're going to have a very special toast, a very intimate toast," Trump said. "But again, I want to thank you and all of your representatives. It is such an honour to have you at the White House and in Washington. And we have had tremendous meetings today, tremendous success, and we enjoy a wonderful relationship, but it's never been better than it is today," he said. "And again, any time you'd like, we want to have you back as soon as possible," Trump said, indicating that he would like to have Modi at his house pretty soon.





The two leaders developed an instant chemistry so much so that Trump gave Modi a tour of his residence. Trump gave the Prime Minister a guided tour of President's residence quarters in White House including the Lincoln bedroom and showed him a copy of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg address and the desk on which he wrote it.





Reflecting a new bonhomie between the two leaders, officials of the two countries were seen chatting while they were waiting for Trump and Modi to arrive in the Blue Room of the White House. Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna was seen chatting with Priebus for several minutes and exchanging notes.





Wearing an Emilio Pucci yellow floral dress in crepe, the First Lady joined Trump in welcoming Modi at the South Portico of the White House and then walk with them to the Oval Office.





As Modi was about to depart from the South Portico later in the night after the dinner, he was seen chatting with Melania for more than a minute, apparently thanking her for their great hospitality.





According to the office of the First Lady, she oversaw the planning and menu. At the Rose Garden, Modi acknowledged their hospitality.





"Right from the opening tweet to the end of their talks, President Trump's welcome, which was filled with friendliness, his warm welcome to the White House by himself and the first lady -- I would like to thank both of you from the bottom of my heart for this warm welcome," said the Prime Minister.


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Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-25 23:29:47|Editor: An

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Photo taken on June 25, 2017 shows twin panda cubs "Jianjian" and "Kangkang" in Macao, south China. Macao celebrated the twin panda cubs' upcoming first birthday on Sunday.(Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

MACAO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Two panda cubs in China's Macao Special Administrative Region celebrated their first birthday Sunday when they turned one year old.

This is also the first time they have met the public together with their mother.

The twin brothers sat on the ground, eating their birthday cakes made of bamboos, while behind the glass windows, visitors watched them with joy and ecstasy.

Visitors sang songs and chanted Happy Birthday to Jianjian and Kangkang in Cantonese.

One of the panda care team members said Jianjian now weighs about 23 kg and Kangkang 22 kg. Kangkang, the younger brother, has gained much weight as he was only 53 grams at birth, he said.

The two are still in the baby stage and fed mainly on breast milk and milk powder. They are also starting to learn from their mother's behavior such as picking up bamboos.

The brothers and their parents will meet the public in Macao every afternoon during the summer vacation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 00:04:57|Editor: An

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The minaret of Great Mosque of al-Nuri is seen from the liberated neighborhood in western Mosul, Iraq on May 7, 2017. The extremist Islamic State (IS) militants have blown up Mosul's historical Great Mosque of al-Nuri and its leaning minaret, as Iraqi forces are pushing near the Mosque area in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

GAZA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian observers said the recent attacks of the Islamic State (IS) in various parts of the world were motivated by revenge, following a series of significant defeats it has suffered in Syria and Iraq.

Dozens of people have been killed since March in a spate of IS-claimed terror attacks that has spread through the United Kingdom, France and Belgium, in which the terror suspects used vehicles, knives and explosives to mow down pedestrians, attack police and blow up innocent people.

Many people attribute the growing wave of terror attacks in Europe to significant IS defeats in its last two strongholds in Iraq's Mosul and Syria's Raqqa, as it is only a question of time for the cities to be liberated from IS occupation.

Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian academic, told Xinhua that as the IS is losing ground, it is desperate to its ability to carry out terrorist activities in retaliation.

"Whenever IS encounters difficulties in its main bases on the ground, it resorts to revenge to achieve a self-affirmation through individual operations here and there," he said.

The expert also said the anarchy and lack of development, in addition to the growing unemployment and other economic problems in the Arab area, contribute to IS expansion in the region.

"The complete elimination of the IS requires treating and resolving all these problems and giving young people greater opportunities in all fields," Khatib noted.

Hani Masri, a Palestinian writer and political analyst, said IS is trying to find a new strategy by carrying out terrorist attacks in other countries to prove that the group is still powerful.

The recent attacks in Britain "aimed at easing the intensive strikes waged on its military bases, especially after it has lost control on most of its territory it seized in Syria and Iraq," Masri said.

"I believe that the recent IS attacks were nothing more than a farewell strike, or exactly as a human being who would give up his last breath," he stressed.

"IS wants to prove it is still there and that it has an underground network of cells that are ready everywhere in the world, but this fact will not keep its presence in either Iraq or Syria," Masri added.

However, it is the environment and the climate that led to the emergence of the IS, the Palestinian expert explained.

"The military strikes against the organization may stop or block its military actions for a while, but it will return again, or there might be a new alternative to the group," he said.

Abdel-Majid Suweilm, a West Bank-based political science professor, agreed that IS has recently lost its geographical influence in Syria and Iraq.

Suweilm believes that IS quick move to carry out military operations across the world is "to prove that it still has great potential."

"Most likely, IS is to continue carrying out attacks in the coming period, through groups or elements that are called 'stray wolves' or other names," he noted.

He pointed out that IS is still getting millions of dollars from oil sales, ransoms of kidnapping, sale of antiquities and the exploitation of natural resources in the areas it controls.

Suweilm pointed out that success in combating the terrorism of IS and the cessation of its attacks "require a decisive unity of countries and organizations in the face of IS and addressing the environment that led to its emergence and growing strength."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 00:30:14|Editor: An

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A worker drives a machine to repair a damaged bridge at Huangtan Village of Fuliang County, east China's Jiangxi Province, June 25, 2017. Days of torrential rain triggered floods and landslides in many parts of south China, forcing the evacuation of more than 450,000 people. (Xinhua/Wen Meiliang)

BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Days of torrential rain triggered floods and landslides in many parts of south China, forcing the evacuation of more than 450,000 people.

Over 3,000 rescuers are searching for 93 persons still buried under rocks and mud by a landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The landslide engulfed 62 homes in Xinmo village in Maoxian County in the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba Saturday morning, blocking a 2-km section of river and burying 1,600 meters of road.

Ten people have been confirmed dead and 15 people had been taken off the list of missing as they were not in Xinmo village when the disaster struck, said Xu Zhiwen, deputy chief of Aba prefecture.

Only three people from one family were rescued hours after the landslide. The chance of survival for the missing ones is slim, rescuers said.

Rain-triggered disasters have also left at least 22 people dead and six missing in provinces of Jiangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan and Anhui.

In Jianxi, heavy rain that started to lash on Thursday has affected 1.8 million people and forced 270,000 people to be relocated to safe places in 47 counties and districts, the provincial flood control authorities said.

Flash floods and landslides have left six people dead and three others missing in Jiangxi.

The rain is forecast to weaken on Monday and Tuesday but to get heavier again on Wednesday and Thursday.

In Guizhou, nine people were killed and two remained missing after torrential rain pounded the region over the past few days. Heavy rain also damaged 35,418 hectares of crops and inflicted a direct economic loss of 610 million yuan (89 million U.S. dollars).

In Hunan, 151,900 people were evacuated and 642 small and medium-sized reservoirs overflowed in wake of the largest rainfall this year.

Three people of a family in Luxi County of Hunan were found dead in a landslide that occurred on Saturday.

The water in 14 rivers along the Yangtze River valley has risen above warning levels and heavy rains in the coming few days could further raise the water level in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Changjiang Water Resources Commission said Sunday.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 00:45:18|Editor: An

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BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Luxun Academy of Fine Arts Sunday signed an agreement in Beijing with the University of Salford from the United Kingdom to launch an education project.

The two sides will jointly run the major of digital media arts, according to the agreement.

The cooperation would benefit students and promote cultural exchanges between the two countries, said Li Xiangqun, president of Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang.

Helen Marshall, president of the University of Salford, said that students under the cooperation project will receive degrees from both schools and this could lead to better employment opportunities.

The University of Salford in Manchester is said to keep close contacts with renowned media organizations including BBC and ITV and can offer good learning and intern opportunities.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 01:00:22|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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JERUSALEM, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military on Sunday struck Syrian army posts after projectiles from the war-torn country hit the Israel-held Golan Heights for a second consecutive day.

The strikes were carried out in response to several errant projectiles that hit northern Israel earlier in the afternoon, causing no injuries or damage, a military spokesperson said in a statement.

The spillover was a result of the fighting in Quneitra, next to the disputed border between Syria and Israel.

In retaliation, the spokesperson said, "the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) targeted two artillery positions and an ammunition truck belonging to the Syrian regime."

As a precautionary measure, the army requested Israeli civilians to avoid moving and gathering in open areas adjacent to the border area.

A similar incident occurred on Saturday, as 10 projectiles hit an open field in the Israeli-controlled Golan, causing no injuries or damage.

In response, Israel's air force attacked posts of the Syrian army. Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported that several people were killed in the strikes, including at least two civilians.

The projectiles were spillover from the fighting in Syria.

According to SANA, the battles in this region are between President Bashar Assad's army and the Nusra Front, a Salafist rebel group in Syria.

"Due to the unacceptable violation of Israeli sovereignty," Israel has protested to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which maintains the 1974 cease-fire between Israel and Syria, a military spokesperson said.

After the Sunday incident, Israel filed a second complaint, a military official said.

Errant fire from the Syria, which is fighting a six-year-long war, has occasionally been spilling over to Israel, usually causing no casualties or damage.

Israel often retaliated the mortars with airstrikes.

Israel had repeatedly declared it would not intervene in the internal fighting in Syria.

However, it is widely believed that Israel often carried out airstrikes on weapons convoys in Syria, and has been providing medical treatment to hundreds of wounded Syrians who reached the border.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 01:10:26|Editor: ying

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ISLAMABAD, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Sunday that China and Pakistan will firmly stand together to continuously support each other on their core interests and issues of major concern so as to safeguard their legitimate interests as well as regional peace and stability.

Wang made the remarks during a joint press conference with Pakistani top foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz before concluding his two-day visit to Pakistan.

The foreign minister said during his visit here, the two sides conducted strategic communications and deepened strategic consensus, which are conducive to the further development of the bilateral all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

Wang highlighted the smooth development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), saying it has gained important early achievements which brought tangible benefits to Pakistani people, adding that China will work together with the Pakistani side to push forward the construction of CPEC.

Wang said China appreciates the measures taken by the Pakistani side to ensure the safety and legal rights and interests of Chinese nationals and institutions in Pakistan.

China welcomes Pakistan's further involvement in the joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative so as to create more fields for cooperation, he said.

Pakistan also has made great contributions to the fight against terrorism, Wang said, noting that the international community should fully acknowledge Pakistan's efforts.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 01:20:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ISLAMABAD, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has cut short his London trip over the oil tanker fire incident on Sunday that killed at least 140 people and injured over 100 others in the country's eastern Punjab Province, the Prime Minister Office said.

A statement from the office media wing said that Sharif who was originally scheduled to return home on June 30 will leave for Pakistan on Sunday evening.

"Winding up his engagements in London, the PM has decided to immediately return back to country because terror attacks on Friday and oil tanker fire tragedy have grieved the nation immensely," said the statement.

Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab Province, has announced a compensation package of 2,000,000 rupees (19,100 U.S. dollars) for each of the killed and 1,000,000 rupees (9,550 U.S. dollars) for the injured.

According to police, the tragic incident took place at 6:23 a.m. local time when an oil tanker fully packed with around 50,000 liters of petrol skidded off the road after tire burst on a highway in Ahmad Pur Sharqia, a small town about 400 km southwest of Lahore, capital city of Punjab Province.

The fire broke out after many people from nearby villages came in motorbikes to collect the oil spilled out from the capsized oil tanker.

A total of 75 motorbikes and six vehicles including a traffic police vehicle were burnt out in the fire, said police. The site was littered with numerous bodies burned beyond recognition, said eyewitnesses.

Imran Shah, spokesman of Pakistan Motorway Police, said that initial investigation suggested that the fire broke out after someone on the spot lit a cigarette. However, further probe into the incident is still underway, he said.

Four helicopters and a C-130 airplane were used to airlift the critically injured to hospitals in other cities.

Rana Saleem, deputy commissioner of Bahawalpur, said the death toll might further rise as at least two dozen of the injured are in critical condition.

Both Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Sharif expressed deep sorrow over the loss of so many precious lives in the incident.

The prime minister also instructed all the concerned authorities to provide the best available medical treatment to the victims.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 01:25:31|Editor: An

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BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Axalta Coating Systems, a leading coatings manufacturer, has opened a technology center and plans to invest more in China.

The U.S. company opened its 15,500-square meter Asia Pacific Technology Center (APTC) in Shanghai earlier this month.

HUGE MARKET

Axalta chose Shanghai for several reasons. The company's Asia Pacific headquarters are already located there and the local government has been very supportive in setting up the center, as the city positions itself as an innovation hub, said Charlie Shaver, Axalta chairman and CEO.

"Shanghai has impressive plans to set up an international sci-tech innovation center. Axalta is proud to be part of this vision. And, I can assure you that we are committed to working with each segment of the entire industrial chain to drive the development and application of technology," he said.

"The majority of our organic growth today comes from China," Shaver told Xinhua during an exclusive interview, adding that coating business revenue growth in China grew at a much faster pace than in North America and Europe.

He admitted that the slowing Chinese economy to some extent weighed on the expansion of the industrial coating business, but the booming Chinese auto market was buttressing its transportation coating and refinishing business.

China's economy grew at 6.7 percent in 2016, its slowest pace in about a quarter of a century.

The Philadelphia-based company reported a net sales revenue of about 1 billion U.S. dollars globally in the first quarter this year, driven by sales volume growth of 8.9 percent year on year, with its transportation coatings net sales rising 2.1 percent to 421.4 million dollars in the first quarter, it said in its quarterly report.

LOCAL SOLUTIONS

"The Chinese coating industry is very competitive, with major international and good domestic coatings players on the market, while consumers are demanding more innovation and local solutions," said Shaver, who has visited China once every quarter in recent years.

"The APTC is designed to put customer needs first and serve them with the very best we have. The APTC will be the best example yet of Axalta's commitment to innovation that enables customers to maintain a competitive edge and achieve long-term success," he added.

With a current employee base of 300 and capacity for 500, the APTC joined Axalta's worldwide network of four global technology centers and more than 30 laboratories.

In addition to laboratories, the APTC housed a refinishing training center (RTC) and color development center, the largest such facilities within the company. The laboratories include a coating R&D laboratory, a coating system testing laboratory, and a transportation application laboratory.

"Many customers in this region are interested in transitioning to sustainable waterborne coatings and spraying systems. The RTC is equipped for such training," said Shaver.

"That means our talented China team will have the opportunity to work with, share expertise and learn from international colleagues, as part of a single global R&D organization," he added.

In practice, that means developing new coating applications, next generation paints and creating new colors, he said.

Axalta, an industry leader in coatings for vehicles, buildings, and pipelines, has been doing business in China since 1984.

It has a waterborne coatings facility in its Shanghai Jiading plant, another plant adjacent to Jiading, a plant in Changchun in northeastern China, and five powder coating operations in collaboration with joint venture partners.

Shaver said the company was delighted with the investment and business collaboration with local partners over the past decades.

"Chinese clients know their business very well and are good at explaining their challenges in finding solutions. Chinese customers are becoming more sophisticated, and we are sharing the best global practices with Chinese local body shop owners," he added.

He observed that customer expectations in places like Shanghai were different from those in smaller cities.

The company's combined investment in China has surpassed 100 million dollars since 2013 and plans to build a new factory in Nanjing in eastern China.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 01:35:35|Editor: An

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AKSU, Xinjiang, June 25 (Xinhua) - Mamat Kasim, 73, has written 26 volumes of his diary over the past 40 years. His first record was about a pair of shoes.

In 1965, a Uygur orphan, in rural Kuqa County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, received a new pair of shoes from a Han neighbor, which moved him to tears.

Kuqa, in Aksu Prefecture, has a population around 500,000, consisting of mainly Uygur people and 13 other ethnic groups.

In Mamat's diary, he recorded anecdotes of mutual help between Uygur and Han people in his village, hoping the stories would educate later generations about harmonious ethnic relations.

"In 1976, 16 Uygur men carried the coffin of a dead Han villager to the graveyard five kilometers away, because there were not enough local Han people," he remembered.

"To show their gratitude, the family of the deceased treated them to a Uygur-style dinner," he said.

Other things he wrote included a Uygur man offering a family of migrant cotton collectors a room to live for three years free of charge; Han people's donations for a local child's medical care, and his own experience of being saved by his neighbor Tian Kailin.

In 1997, a tractor overturned, crushing Mamat's chest.

"Seeing he was in critical condition and no cars responded my waving gesture, I just threw myself in the middle of the road to make a vehicle stop and take him to hospital," Tian recalled. "I didn't know it was my neighbor Mamat under the vehicle at first, but I would have done the same even for a stranger."

Mamat's latest record was written six days ago, recording a Uygur grocer returning the wallet a Han cadre had left at his store.

"The wallet was valuable as there was a pair of earrings in it," said Mamat.

GRATITUDE

Among 314 households in Mamat's village, 28 are Han. The first Han from neighboring Gansu Province migrated to the village six decades ago, when the province suffered from famine.

Wang Shouyi, 66, arrived at the village with his parents at the age of nine.

"We had to mime as they did not speak mandarin at all," Wang recalled. He now speaks fluent Uygur.

It was when local Uygur people gave them a hand.

"They often spared us a bowl of porridge, which was life-saving at that time," he said. Uygur villagers also helped the family of three build their house. Han people like Wang brought new farming skills to locals, including fertilizers, weeding and quality seed.

"With these skills, they found their yield almost doubled," said Wang, adding nearby villages also followed suit.

To express gratitude to Han people for their help in the harvest, Mamat wrote Chairman Mao Zedong a letter in 1959, hoping the central government would send another 50 households there. Several days later, he received a reply.

The letter, issued by General Office of Central Committee of Communist Party of China, congratulated Mamat on the harvest and asked him to learn more about farming technology.

He still keeps the letter, protected in a plastic cover and locked in an iron box. Wherever he goes, he carries the key with him.

Because of his poor eyesight and trembling hands lately, Mamat now has his son and daughter-in-law write his diary for him.

He also has a small library at home, offering free book readings to local villagers. Five or six villagers come to read every day.

Works about agricultural technology, government policies and the law are among the most read.

"If only the young generations are better educated, their life will be much better in the future," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 02:00:38|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HEFEI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Low-profile and practical are the best words to describe a university in Hefei in east China's Anhui Province.

Not as well-known as Tsinghua or Peking universities, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has achievements equal to the top universities in China.

From the hydrogen bomb to satellites, the USTC has blazed trails across scientific and technological frontiers.

Each year, the university admits only 1,860 new students, but for every 1,000 alumni, there is one academician and more than 700 who go on to take master's or doctoral degrees, ratios far beyond any other Chinese university.

Recent contributions to quantum telecommunications, iron-based superconductors and other technology have enhanced its reputation and the term "USTC Phenomenon" was coined by the media.

For Wang Zhizhen, a USTC alumni and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the university provides a sense of dependence, purity and tranquility.

"There is no room for bureaucracy in USTC. Respect for knowledge is of the essence. Its denial of bandwagons and bigotry brings a distinctive quality and charm," he said.

The qualities of the university appeal to overseas scholars. Pan Jianwei, chief scientist on the quantum satellite project, was among the first Thousand Talent scientists to come back to China and is now a professor at USTC, his alma mater.

Pan's team, including his student Lu Chaoyang, who also returned from overseas, has made great strides in quantum communications.

They launched the world's first quantum satellite in 2016 and unveiled the world's first quantum computer based on single photons in May.

"USTC is my cornerstone and my dream place to serve the country," said professor Lu Zhengtian, another returnee renowned for his achievements in K-Ar dating.

Lu was enrolled in a special program at USTC at the age of 14. He said it is the university's respect for science and innovation that brought him back.

Students here have more opportunities than elsewhere to meet acknowledged leaders in scientific fields.

The university set up an innovation fund in 2015 for students who need financial aid for research projects. A total of 5.4 million yuan (800,000 U.S. dollars) was granted to the first 55 projects.

As inter-disciplinary research and cooperation becomes the norm around the world, USTC has established new subjects such as quantum information science, nanoscience and chemical biology.

Inter-disciplinary research platforms have been set up. For example, the Hefei national laboratory for physical sciences at the microscale combines physics, chemistry, materials science, biology and information technology.

Established in 1958 in Beijing, USTC moved to Hefei in 1970.

"Some say it is a geographical disadvantage, but for me, it is the other way round. The city provides us with a tranquil environment," said Pan.

For Song Guoquan, secretary of Party committee of Hefei, USTC has, in return, influenced the city.

"The spirit of keeping a low key, of being practical and innovative, has to some extent transformed the image of Hefei," he said.

Hefei has, in the past decade, risen to a leading position in many emerging industries, such as integrated circuits, robotics and medical equipment. The number of high-tech enterprises has increased almost five-fold.

By 2016, high-tech sector was contributing 71.6 percent of industrial growth in Hefei. USTC has been vital to the growth of that sector, Song said.

Over nearly 60 years, USTC has become a top-notch university and was listed in 2009 as one of the C9, an academic conference comprising China's nine top universities.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 06:07:19|Editor: ying

A participant takes part in the 48th Annual Chicago Pride Parade in Chicago, the United States, June 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

CHICAGO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Chicago's famous Boystown neighborhood attracted thousands of people Sunday afternoon to celebrate gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer sexual orientations.

Each year a parade flows a 4-kilometer stretch through Chicago's north side, featuring colorful floats, unique costumes, dance music, and more.

While these parades occur nationwide in the United States, Chicago's parade draws crowds from all over the country. Matt Ensign, 19, has been to Pride parades in his home state of Oregon, but this year he celebrated Pride in Chicago for the first time.

"I came out to join the festivities and have a good time. This is my first year in Chicago so this is my first Pride here. I usually celebrate Pride in Portland, but this will probably be the biggest one I've ever experienced since it's such a big city," Ensign told Xinhua.

CJ Jeffries, an East Coast native, drew rainbow flags on herself and others with markers. In the past she celebrated Pride in Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts.

"This is my first Chicago Pride. Coming to the parade is how I celebrate. This is a big celebration," Jeffries said.

Many Chicagoans come back to Boystown year after year, like Katrina Delgrosso, who came to Chicago's Pride parade for the last three years.

"I usually come out here to celebrate being gay and just be happy," Delgrosso told Xinhua.

Many people who celebrate Pride aren't gay but support those who are. One Wisconsin woman named Laurie came to enjoy the festivities and support her cousin Rob who came to celebrate from Rockford, Illinois.

"I go to the parade because it's different," Laurie said. "You don't see many parades like this. People dress up and I just get a kick out of it."

"Here you get to see floats and decorations and music. It's colorful and it means a lot to everybody. It's a day to just be yourself," Rob added.

Chicago celebrates Pride over two weekends. The weekend before the parade is Pridefest, a festival with music, costumes, food, and more celebration. The Pride festival and parade will return to Chicago next summer with more unique floats, costumes, and festivities.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 06:17:22|Editor: ying

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DAMASCUS, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli forces struck Syrian military positions on Sunday, the second attack within 24 hours, the Syrian army said in a statement.

The Syrian army said the second attack comes to lift the "broken morale of the terrorist groups," which are waging several attacks on the Syrian military positions in Qunaitera, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The attacks are another sign of the collaboration between the Israeli forces and the terrorist groups of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, the army added.

The military statement warned the Israeli side of the repercussions of the attacks, stressing that the Syrian army is determined "to squash the terrorist groups, which are the Israeli arm in the region."

A day earlier, the Israeli forces fired several rockets on the al-Baath city in the countryside of Qunaitera.

The Nusra Front unleashed a wide-scale offensive on Saturday in Quanitera to capture the al-Baath city from the Syrian army, which will open a road for it to advance toward the capital Damascus.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 06:32:28|Editor: ying

People take part in the 2017 Pride Parade in New York, the United States, June 25, 2017. Tens of thousands of participants took part in the 2017 New York City Pride Parade here on Sunday. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

NEW YORK, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of New Yorkers hit the streets of Manhattan Sunday for the city's annual LGBT Pride March.

With multi-hued banners, and multi-faceted backgrounds, the parade started at 36th Street and Fifth Avenue, ended in the West Village, in America's east coastal city of New York.

"This is a moment where we have to really be there for each other in this city and in this country," said NYC Mayor de Blasio, who attended the the event.

"The LGBT community contributes so much to this city... People are feeling pride, but they're also worried about the atmosphere that's been created over the last year or so in this whole nation. This is why this pride takes on a special meaning."

The NYC Pride March, started in 1970, is one of the world's best known LGBT events. This year's theme is "We Are Proud."

Talking about the theme, NYC Pride March director Julian Sanjivan told local media in a recent statement: "There's a lot of uncertainty that people are feeling. We must come together and feel, 'This is who we are, and we are proud of being who we are.'"
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 07:02:32|Editor: ying

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SAN FRANCISCO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Stanford University sociology Professor Doug McAdam argues that while there is significant support from Americans for action on climate change, the issue is still not seen as an immediate threat by many.

His argument in a recent article appearing in the Annual Review of Political Science is based on a review of 40 years of research and theory on social movements in an attempt to determine why a sustained grassroots movement on climate change has not developed in the United States.

Numerous public opinion polls show that Americans believe climate change is a major problem that needs to be dealt with. However, there is a relative lack of grassroots climate change activism in the country. U.S. President Donald Trump decided in early June to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

McAdam blames a host of factors that help to account for the lack of grassroots activism, notably the relentless denial of the reality of climate change by anti-climate change forces; the increasing gridlock in U.S. Congress, making bipartisan action on any issue difficult; and the lack of "ownership" of the issue by any significant segment of the American public.

In addition, in McAdam's words, the mistaken extended "time horizon" associated with the issue reassures many Americans that the impact of climate change is still off in the nebulous future.

In explaining the lack of "ownership," he elaborates that the issue of police violence against African Americans is "owned" by the African American community. That is, the great majority of African Americans are deeply concerned about the issue. The same is true for the threat of deportation among Hispanic Americans. In short, grassroots action is much more likely if a specific population segment identifies with and is committed to action on a given issue.

In contrast, no clear segment of the U.S. population currently "owns" the climate change issue. Therefore, the issue does not elicit the powerful responses necessary for Americans to mobilize.

Although there are more than 400 formal climate change organizations in the United States, they generally eschew forms of non-institutionalized, or otherwise disruptive, action in favor of the more conventional tactics of lobbying and public education, according to the researcher. And relative to the far more numerous and much better-funded climate change denier organizations, "the top-down climate change organizations have had virtually no impact on environmental policy at the federal level."

"The organizations that arose to address the issue were ill suited to the kind of grassroots mobilization characteristic of successful movements," he writes in the abstract of the article, titled "Social Movement Theory and the Prospects for Climate Change Activism in the United States." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 07:42:43|Editor: ying

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BUENOS AIRES, June 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were killed on Sunday when a passenger bus collided head on with a pickup truck and turned over in Mendoza province in Argentina.

The accident, which took place along a highway outside San Rafael, a town in western Mendoza province, also left at least 20 others injured.

"Most of the victims are dancers belonging to a dance group from Buenos Aires that was returning from Malargue (Mendoza), following a tourist visit," the daily La Nacion said on its website.

An image of the crash site showed a bus turned over on its side, alongside what appears to be a curve in the highway.

The injured were taken to an area hospital and the investigation to the accident was underway.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 08:12:46|Editor: ying

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LONDON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Fires have been set off and bricks thrown at police as protesters hold a march over the death of a man after a traffic stop, Sky reported on Monday morning.

Campaigners alleged Edir Frederico Da Costa was "brutally beaten" after he was stopped in a car by Met Police officers in Newham, east London.

It is believed officers used force and sprayed the 25-year-old with CS gas, before he was taken to hospital in a critical condition and died six days later.

Edir Frederico Da Costa died on 21 June, six days after he was stopped in a car.

Demonstrators protesting Mr Da Costa's death shouted "we want justice" and "justice for Edson" as they clashed with officers outside Forest Gate police station.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 08:58:38|Editor: An

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JAKARTA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Since its return to China 20 years ago, Hong Kong has been playing an increasingly important role in facilitating business cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, experts told Xinhua.

Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, deputy chairwoman of Indonesia's commerce and industry chamber (KADIN), spoke highly of the role Hong Kong has been playing in promoting the development of the regional economy.

She said Hong Kong, with its sound relations with the Chinese mainland, can help ASEAN countries, including Indonesia, export their products to the Chinese mainland. "Indonesia views Hong Kong as a strategic port for exports to the Chinese mainland," she added.

For Indonesia and other ASEAN countries, relations with Hong Kong have always been mutually beneficial, Shinta said, noting that ASEAN is the second largest trading partner of Hong Kong after the Chinese mainland.

According to Hermawan Kertajaya, an Indonesian marketing guru who now is also an adviser for Indonesian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) minister, Hong Kong's role sits in its professionalism, sound legal certainty and business certainty.

"This is what businessmen mainly considered when they do business," Hermawan said.

Peter Wong, regional director for Southeast Asia and India of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said it is quite possible that some Chinese companies investing in ASEAN will meet difficulties in legal, labor, cultural and other fields, and Hong Kong, which has a long history of business relationship with ASEAN, can offer consultation and legal services for them.

"Generally, Hong Kong can be a bridge and link for China and ASEAN. Hong Kong will and is able to help Chinese companies penetrate into the ASEAN market," Wong said.

Total trade between Hong Kong and ASEAN reached 105.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, according to data released by the Hong Kong's trade and industry department.

Shinta, who had accompanied Indonesian President Joko Widodo to Hong Kong last month, said that Hong Kong will play an active role in building the Belt and Road Initiative as Chinese investors and their counterparts from countries along the Belt and Road will intensively use Hong Kong's expertise in settling their deals.

She said the Belt and Road Initiative will give full play to Hong Kong's advanced financial, logistic and distribution business.

"Dealing business brokered by Hong Kong is more convenient and comfortable for Chinese investors as Hong Kong does business with global standards," Shinta pointed out.

The international financial service offices in Hong Kong would also help facilitate China's bilateral trades with other countries as well as to accommodate the Belt and Road Initiative, she said.

Proposed by China in 2013, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.

Bambang Suryono, an Indonesian scholar and president of the Jakarta-based think tank Nanyang ASEAN Foundation, said Hong Kong, as an international financial hub in the Asia Pacific besides New York and London, has a good connection with Southeast Asian countries.

He said Hong Kong's service, products and standards are highly accepted in ASEAN nations. Hong Kong's role as a connector and bridge is greatly strengthened as the economic relations between China and ASEAN become closer.

Bambang, who is in his 70s, said he is confident of Hong Kong's future development. "Hong Kong will definitely be even more prosperous on the 30th anniversary of its return to China in 2027. I wish I can still witness that."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 10:04:43|Editor: Zhou Xin

Presidential candidate Miyegombyn Enkhbold from Mongolian People's Party (MPP) casts his vote at a polling station in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, June 26, 2017. Mongolians went to the polls Monday to elect a new president for the landlocked country with a population of 3 million. (Xinhua/Asigang)

ULAN BATOR, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Mongolians went to the polls Monday to elect a new president for the landlocked country with a population of 3 million.

There are 1.978.298 eligible voters who will cast their votes in the presidential elections, which mainly involve candidates from three leading parties.

Voting began at 7:00 a.m. local time (2300 GMT, June 25) nationwide and will end at 10:00 p.m. (1400 GMT).

Candidates vying for the top post have offered different measures to ease the government's mounting debt pressure during the presidential campaigns.

Miyegombyn Enkhbold of the ruling Mongolian People's Party and Battulga Khaltmaa of the opposition Democratic Party are considered the main contenders.

The new president will inherit a 5.5 billion U.S. dollar International Monetary Fund-led bailout aimed to stabilize the country's economy.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 10:14:56|Editor: ying

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YANGON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar government on Monday vowed to step up drug prevention and services, calling on people to listen to the concern and need of youth and support their development and health by reducing drug abuse.

Minister of Home Affairs Kyaw Swe made the remarks in his message on the occasion of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

To reduce drug abuse rate, he said, students are directly and indirectly should be educated at an early age on the subject of drug prevention.

In addition to the education sector, Myanmar Radio and Television is broadcasting educational programs in English and ethnic languages with the intention of providing knowledge about the danger of narcotics.

To assist the process of drug abuse prevention, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) is conducting a survey in Myanmar, he said, adding that addicts require better services and treatment without being stigmatized or discriminated against and they deserve sympathy and understanding that drug addiction is a curable illness.

He stressed the need to prevent illicit drug trafficking and cross-border crimes with increased fervor in the wake of increased activities of organized criminal networks.

He urged the public to join in the common cause of eradicating drug.

According to the minister, counter narcotics agencies will reward 107 student winners out of 3,246 competitors for anti-drug writing and painting contest at a ceremony marking the international anti-drug day.

The minister claimed that the government has been eradicating drug by two methods, eradication of production and eradication of drug abuse.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 10:30:03|Editor: ying

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SEOUL, June 26 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in kept his approval rating at a relatively high level despite controversy over security issues, a survey showed Monday.

According to local pollster Realmeter, Moon's support rate was 74.2 percent last week, down 1.4 percentage points from a week earlier.

The support scores fell for the second consecutive week, but Moon's rating was higher than his predecessors tallied in an early presidency. Moon came into office on May 10.

The result was based on a poll of 2,531 voters conducted from last Monday to Friday. It has 1.9 percentage points in margin of error with a 95-percent confidence level.

The fall in support for Moon came amid controversy over comments, which made in Washington by Moon Chung-in, the president's special advisor on security, unification and foreign affairs.

The presidential special advisor said on June 16 that if the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) stops any nuclear and missile provocations, the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises and the deployment of the U.S military strategic assets in South Korea could be scaled down through discussions with the U.S. side.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party denounced the advisor's comments, worrying about the weakening of the U.S.-South Korea alliance.

A fraction of conservative voters withdrew their support for Moon because of his special advisor's comments, but Moon's approval rating remained at a high level.

Moon was scheduled to leave for Washington on Wednesday for the two-day summit meeting in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The DPRK's nuclear and missile issues were expected to be one of the main agendas during the upcoming summit.

Meanwhile, Moon's ruling Democratic Party garnered 53.6 percent of support last week, unchanged from the prior week.

It was followed by the Liberty Korea Party with 14.5 percent, which was down 0.2 percentage points from a week earlier.

Approval ratings for the centrist People's Party and the minor progressive Justice Party stood both at 6.3 percent. The minor conservative Righteous Party gained 6.2 percent in support scores.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 10:35:09|Editor: ying

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CANBERRA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- One of the Australian government's leading cabinet ministers has been caught on tape saying that the same-sex marriage (SSM) will be legalized "sooner than everyone thinks," going against his party's stance of taking the matter to a public vote further down the track.

It was revealed Monday that Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne was recently caught telling colleagues that the Liberal National Party (LNP) coalition government's center-leaning faction was "in the winner's circle," but needed to "deliver a couple of things" for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's tenure to be considered a success.

In the tape, acquired by News Corp and Sky News political commentator Andrew Bolt, Pyne appeared to suggest that there would be a parliamentary vote on SSM that would happen "sooner than everyone thinks," a complete turnaround from the current government policy which is a public vote, called a plebiscite.

"Friends, we are in the winner's circle but we have to deliver a couple of things and one of those we've got to deliver before too long is marriage equality in this country," Pyne said in the tape.

"We're going to get it. I think it might even be sooner than everyone thinks. And your friends in Canberra are working on that outcome."

The leak has caused an immediate rift within the Liberal Party's factions, with Treasurer Scott Morrison saying the government would not be deviating from its current policy, which would take a non-binding plebiscite to the masses.

"There is no move away from the plebiscite policy," Morrison told the Seven Network on Monday.

"We have a policy. We took it to the last election, that's the policy we've honored in this parliament. The only party standing in the way of people having their say on this issue is the Labor Party."

Former Liberal Prime Minister and current government backbencher Tony Abbott who was ousted by Turnbull in late 2015, said the leak would only serve to disenfranchise the Australian voters further.

"This is one of the reasons why the public turn off politicians, because we don't tell them what we think. It seems like one of our members has been caught out," Abbott told Macquarie Radio on Monday.

"My point is you need to be 'fair dinkum' with the Australian people and it looks like that's not been true of Christopher."

Meanwhile, the political commentator who came across the leak, Andrew Bolt, said that Pyne's comments would only further alienate Liberal voters who were 'fed-up' with the "Labor-lite" policies recently introduced by the Turnbull government, saying the adoption of Labor's same-sex marriage policy, a Parliamentary vote, could be the last straw for the prime minister.

"We've already seen the Liberals under Malcolm Turnbull copy Labor policies on global warming, debt and deficit, and on education," Bolt told Sky News.

"Now (Liberal voters) are hearing a senior Turnbull confidant saying same-sex marriage will come as well, essentially a Labor policy of letting politicians decide. They'll think 'what on Earth is the point of the Liberal Party if it does Labor things?'"

"It's just lucky for Turnbull that Parliament won't be sitting for some time, because this could seriously threaten his leadership."

Following the backlash, in a statement on Monday, a spokesperson for Pyne denied a plan was afoot to legalize same-sex marriage in the immediate future.

"The minister did not say action on marriage equality was imminent," the spokesperson told News Corp.

"The minister said that while marriage equality had failed to materialize over the last two years it would become a reality eventually."
Afghanistan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani (R) shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on June 24, 2017. (Xinhua/Dai He)

ISLAMABAD, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China, Afghanistan and Pakistan are all committed to maintaining regional peace and stability, enhancing regional connectivity and economic cooperation and promoting shared security and development, according to a trilateral joint statement released on Sunday.

The joint press release by the three countries came after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's shuttle diplomacy in Afghanistan and Pakistan that concluded Sunday.

It said that both Pakistan and Afghanistan "are willing to improve relations with each other, strengthen political mutual trust, enhance cooperation in various fields including counter-terrorism, and jointly meet security challenges."

According to the statement, Afghanistan and Pakistan has agreed to establish a crisis management mechanism, which will include prevention through timely and effective intelligence and information sharing and other mutually agreed measures. "This would enable the two sides to maintain timely and effective communications in case of emergencies, including terrorist attacks," it said.

The three parties also agreed to establish the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' dialogue mechanism to cooperate on issues of mutual interest, beginning with economic cooperation, said the paper.

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain (R) meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, on June 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Liu Tian)

It added that "the three parties believe that the Quadrilateral Coordination Group should be revived to create an enabling environment for peace talks and for Taliban to join the peace talks."

The statement said the three parties "support the Kabul process and hold the view that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization-Afghanistan Contact Group should be revived as early as possible to play a constructive role in moving forward the Afghan reconciliation process."

Ahead of his departure from Islamabad, the Chinese foreign minister told a press briefing that his shuttle diplomacy was aimed at mediating between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and help the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

Wang stressed that China never interferes in other's internal affairs, never imposes its will on others, nor does it get involved in geopolitical competitions, but China is willing to lend a hand when friends are in need, adding that he had candid and in-depth talks with Afghan and Pakistani leaders and they reached broad consensus.

The Chinese foreign minister said that both Afghanistan and Pakistan had signaled good will to each other as they agreed to establish a crisis management mechanism, which is an important step forward to improve bilateral ties, noting that the next step is to find an effective way to operate the mechanism by the two sides.

Wang said that China is willing to play a constructive role within its capacity to help Afghanistan and Pakistan in improving their relations.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 11:25:29|Editor: ying

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BOGOTA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people are dead and 28 others missing after a tour boat with some 170 passengers onboard capsized Sunday afternoon in northwest Colombia.

Officials did not yet say what caused the ship called "Almirante" to go down in the Penol-Guatape reservoir in the tourist town of Guatape, in Colombia's northwest department of Antioquia.

Eduardo Rivera, who is in charge of a state-run hospital in the town of Guatape, said another 15 people were injured and recovering at the facility.

The scale of the accident has led to the mobilization of Colombia's armed forces, Victoria Eugenia Ramirez, secretary of the government of Antioquia, told the media.

"We have a full operation underway. The rescue operation includes the interior ministry, air force, army and police. The boat 'El Almirante' (The Admiral) did not crash into another, it just sank," Ramirez added.

The Almirante, a four-deck vessel, was taking visitors on a tour of the reservoir, located 80 km east of Medellin, when it began to tilt sideways, then gradually sank.

Video footage of the incident showed that vessels of all sizes were rushing to the site in an attempt to help the victims.

"According to preliminary reports, the boat was at full (passenger) capacity, due to the fact that during long holiday weekends, thousands of tourists visit the town," RCN Radio reported.

A local vendor told the Caracol News network that it was not the first time the boat has sunk.

"This boat sank three months ago, but at the pier, with no passengers. The owners fixed it and it continued to operate," said Marylin Usme.

Medellin's Mayor Federico Gutierrez announced via Twitter that he was dispatching specialized personnel, including five fire department scuba divers, for the rescue work.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 12:45:59|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Beijing police on Sunday destroyed 1.4 tonnes of narcotics, which had been seized in various operations between 2014 and 2015.

The haul included heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, ketamine, and caffeine.

The drugs were destroyed at Beijing Cement Plant, incinerated in furnaces up to 2,700 degree Celsius.

In 2016, Beijing police arrested more than 10,000 suspects in 1,366 narcotics cases.

Beijing has over 36,000 registered drug addicts, most of whom use synthetic drugs like methamphetamine, according to Liu Yi, deputy director with the municipal narcotics control commission.

"Beijing police face a tough battle against drugs and therefore have 'zero tolerance' for drug-related crimes," said Liu.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 13:16:03|Editor: ying

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HANOI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's relevant agencies will coordinate with Facebook to block accounts whose owners actively trade products on the social network but refuse to pay taxes, local media reported on Monday.

The Vietnamese General Department of Taxation has instructed tax departments nationwide to take strong measures to deal with online traders which make revenues of over 100 million Vietnamese dong (more than 4,400 U.S. dollars) but refuse to pay tax, daily newspaper Tuoi Tre (Youth) reported.

"We don't want to resort to this measure (blocking Facebook accounts), but will have to do that if such online traders insist on refusing to pay taxes," the newspaper quoted an official from the tax agency as saying.

The Hanoi Department of Taxation has recently sent letters to owners of nearly 13,500 Facebook accounts which have trading activities, proposing them to pay taxes.

Local newspaper Tien Phong (Pioneer) quoted the department's latest statistics, in Hanoi, there are nearly 17,000 Facebook accounts which engage in trading products or services on the social network.

Last month, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation sent letters to owners of nearly 13,500 social network accounts, proposing them to complete tax registration at tax offices. However, most of the account owners have yet to show up.

By the end of February 2016, Vietnam had 35 million Facebook users, or one-thirds of the country's population, Facebook announced in late March 2016. Facebook is the dominant social network in Vietnam, with few Vietnamese people using other social networks.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 13:51:22|Editor: An

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for more coordinated efforts to carry out reforms and examine the effects of major reform programs.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the 36th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, which he heads.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 13:56:30|Editor: Liangyu

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Photo taken on June 26, 2017 shows the China's new bullet train "Fuxing" at Beijing South Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China. China's next generation bullet train "Fuxing" debuted on the Beijing-Shanghai line on Monday. A CR400AF model departed Beijing South Railway Station at 11:05 a.m. for Shanghai. At the same time, the CR400BF model left Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station for Beijing. The new bullet trains, also known as electric multiple units (EMU), boast top speeds of 400 kilometers an hour and a consistent speed of 350 kilometers an hour. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China's next generation bullet train "Fuxing" debuted on the Beijing-Shanghai line on Monday.

A CR400AF model departed Beijing South Railway Station at 11:05 a.m. for Shanghai. At the same time, the CR400BF model left Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station for Beijing.

The new bullet trains, also known as electric multiple units (EMU),boast top speeds of 400 kilometers an hour and a consistent speed of 350 kilometers an hour.

The train was designed and manufactured by China.

The train includes a sophisticated monitoring system that constantly checks its performance and automatically slows the train in case of emergencies or abnormal conditions.

Thanks to a remote data-transmission system, a control center will be able to monitor the train in real time.

Lu Dongfu, general manager of China Railway Corp., operator of the new train, said "Fuxing" (rejuvenation), underpins the unique role that high-speed railway has played in China's economic and social development.

Previous bullet trains featured the characters "Hexiehao" (harmony), on the exterior of each train.

China has the world's longest railway network, 22,000 kilometers by the end of 2016, about 60 percent of the world's total.

Beijing-Shanghai railway line is China's busiest route, used by 50,5000 passengers daily.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 14:01:28|Editor: ying

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HAVANA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Cuba has increased its woodlands by some 464,000 hectares in the past decade, thanks to an ambitious reforestation program, the Agriculture Ministry said Sunday.

Cuba does not suffer from deforestation because the acres of woodland lost annually are fewer than the acres of woodland created, Georgina Diaz, from the ministry's Department of Woods and Wildlife, told reporters.

"The national environmental strategy recognizes damage to forested surface area as a problem," said Diaz, during a presentation at the International Agroforestry Convention held in Havana.

Through government efforts, the forested area of Cuba has gradually increased from 13.6 percent of national territory in 1959, to 31.1 percent today.

In 2015, with 30.6 percent forest coverage, the country surpassed the 29.3 percent goal that was set by the United Nations-led Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.

The goal of the government's 2016-2020 Reforestation Program is to reach 34.8 percent forest coverage. Now Cuba has an estimated 3 million hectares of woodland in all.

The main threat to Cuba's woodlands is fire, though preventive measures and detection systems have limited the damage to less than 5 hectares in 70 percent of forest fires registered.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 14:06:35|Editor: Liangyu

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Photo taken on June 26, 2017 shows Long March-5 Y2 carrier rocket at Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province. Carrying Shijian-18 communication satellite, the rocket was vertically transferred to the launch area at Wenchang Space Launch Center on Monday. China has set the window to launch the rocket between July 2 and 5, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. (Xinhua/Zhang Wenjun)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China has set the window to launch its Long March-5 Y2 carrier rocket between July 2 and 5, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Carrying Shijian-18 communication satellite, the rocket was vertically transferred to the launch area at Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province on Monday.

Shijian-18 will test processes for the new Dongfanghong-5 satellites and carry out in-orbit experiments.

After arriving at the launch base on May 5, the rocket has undergone assembly and testing. This will be the second launch mission for the Long March-5, which debuted in Wenchang in November 2016.

During the mission, the rocket will further test its core technology, accumulate data and provide support ahead of the launch of the Chang'e-5 lunar probe in the second half of this year.

Fuelled by liquid hydrogen, kerosene and liquid oxygen, the Long March-5 can carry a payload of 25 tonnes into low Earth orbit and 14 tonnes in geostationary orbit, over 2.5 times the capacity of current Long March carrier rockets.
Lama Ngawang Peljor looks at Mount Qomolangma at the Rongpo Monastery in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Purbu Tashi)

As the first ray of sunshine reaches the tip of a stupa outside the Rongpo Monastery, Ngawang Paljor braces against the wind and begins his walk along a winding path, chanting mantras as he goes.

Out of breath, he places his palms together and looks toward the snow-capped Mount Qomolangma, the world's highest peak, and enters the main hall of the monastery, 5,150 meters above sea level in Tingri County in Tibet.

And so begins another day for the 36-year-old monk at the world's highest Tibetan Buddhist temple.

Lama Ngawang Peljor lights a butter lamp. (Xinhua/Purbu Tashi)

Ngawang Paljor rises at 8:30 a.m., has a light breakfast and chants sutra in the main hall until noon. After lunch, he rests in the dormitory. It is summer, but a heater is still needed at such a high altitude. Modern technology, even something as simple as an electric heater, is still seen as novelty in the monastery.

After a postprandial snooze, the monk resumes his chanting in the main hall until 4 p.m.. The Rongpo Monastery is currently home to 13 monks and 14 nuns. Meals are simple and vegetarian. Supper consists of rice, green vegetables and fried wood ear mushrooms.

Lama Ngawang Peljor practices typing. (Xinhua/Purbu Tashi)

MODERN BLESSINGS

While his life seems a world away from China's megacities, a MacBook and smartphone reveal that monastic life is not totally divorced from modernity. At night, his studies complete, he practices typing in Tibetan script on his laptop and chats to friends all over China via the instant messaging app WeChat.

Each monk or nun at the monastery gets a monthly stipend ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 yuan (about 300 - 450 U.S. dollars). While Ngawang Paljor cares more about inner peace and the opportunity to read and understand the unique scriptures of monastery, his smartphone is also a most welcome blessing.

"Devoted to the study of Tibetan Buddhism, the most important thing in our lives, we must also take on chores as necessary such as fetching water and cleaning," says Ngawang Paljor.

The next day, he is tasked with something unrelated to Buddhist study -- the abbot has asked him to build a fence around the field in front of the temple to prevent livestock belonging to local herdsmen from trampling the grass.

Lama Ngawang Peljor builds a fence in ordinary clothes. (Xinhua/Purbu Tashi)

He removes his crimson robe and puts on the ordinary clothes of any worker. Woolly hat protecting his shaven head, only the red down jacket that protects him from the relentless wind distinguishes him as a monk.

In a tent beside the field, Ngawang Dorje, 38, sells souvenirs to tourists. He came to the Rongpo Monastery 15 years ago, the same year as Ngawang Paljor.

Ngawang Dorje chose not to become a monk. It is a lifestyle suited only to a very few. He makes his living by carving and selling "mani stones." These are just ordinary pieces of local stone carved with the six symbols of the mantra, "Om mani padme hum." The carving on the stones is seen as a highly devotional act, similar in nature to more recognizably doctrinal activities within the walls of the monastery.

Lama Ngawang Peljor (L) meditates. (Xinhua/Purbu Tashi)

CALL OF THE SOUL

Although Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary became the first men to reach the summit of Mount Qomolangma only 64 years ago, Tibetan monks have been striving to reach the peak of enlightenment for over 1,000 years.

Located on the north slope of the mountain, near the current base camp where aspiring climbers prepare for their ascent, Rongpo dates back only 100 years. "But the area has witnessed the spread of Buddhism in Tibet for many centuries," says Ngawang Paljor.

He mentions a local legend often told to tourists that the monastery was a place of retreat for Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, an eighth-century Indian Buddhist master. He heard the story countless times from his grandmother when he was a young boy, and it sparked his interest in Buddhism.

"At Tibetan Buddhist festivals or other important occasions, my grandma would fill a bowl with water before the Buddha shrine and pray for world peace and the health of our livestock," he recalls.

Lama Ngawang Peljor plays with a goat at the Rongpo Monastery. (Xinhua/Purbu Tashi)

Ngawang Paljor comes from a small village around 20 kilometers from the monastery. His father died young, and as the youngest boy in the family, he was his mother's favorite and was never asked to do manual work. He still remembers the day when he held his mother's hand and looked up at Mount Qomolangma, telling her that he wanted to become a monk.

"She was not surprised. She told me it was a very noble calling."

When he arrived at the monastery for the first time at age 21, he says it felt familiar. "Life inside the monastery was exactly as I had imagined," he says.

Although Ngawang Paljor was much older than many of his peers when he became a monk, the abbot appointed Ngawang Odser, a much respected monk and leader of the chanting of Buddhist scripture, to oversee his training.

Lama Ngawang Peljor pours water into cups in front of a niche in his dormitory. (Xinhua/Purbu Tashi)

STAY IN TOUCH

Devoting your life to the study of Tibetan Buddhism does not mean you must isolate yourself from what is happening outside the monastery. Ngawang Paljor reunites with his family twice each year.

In the fourth month of the Tibetan year, they celebrate Saga Dawa, the anniversary of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death. Ngawang Paljor is excited because his brother's family will come to visit him.

In the tenth month of the Tibetan year, he returns to the family home for a month.

"In addition to spending time with my family, I chant scriptures and pray in the homes of other villagers," he says.

Now that an asphalt road connects Rongpo with the outside world, young monks like Ngawang Paljor have the opportunity to travel and see more of the world beyond the mountainous horizon.

The Rongpo Monastery near Mount Qomolangma. (Xinhua/purum Tashi)

Two calligraphy brushes lie beside his ink pot, gifts from a friend he met in Shanghai.

"When my friends from other parts of China travel to Mount Qomolangma, they come to see me at the monastery," he says.

In 2014, along with other monks, the monastery sent him to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, to study at the Buddhism Institute of Tibet. The institute does not confine its curriculum to scripture, but offers courses in subjects such as law, economics, culture and computer studies -- things a young monk cannot learn in a traditional monastery.

"I learned a lot and my horizons have been broadened. But I still have a long way to go to obtain the highest degree of the Nyingma sect," he admits.

When he graduated from the institute in 2016, he returned to Rongpo.

"Buddhism is extensive and profound. I must move forward one small step at a time," he says.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 14:11:33|Editor: ying

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SUVA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Fijian government said Monday it recognized the importance and impacts that geo-science has played in engineering strategies to mitigate the unrelenting and imminent threats of climate change from the perception of geoscientists.

Faiyaz Koya, minister for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Lands and Mineral Resources, highlighted this while opening the 2017 conference of Pacific Science, Technology and Resources (STAR) Network in Nadi.

The week-long conference will allow regional experts and stakeholders to strengthen collaboration and reach concrete resolutions to outline the value in refreshing and animating scientific alliances to showcase useful work, techniques and instrumentation that may be adapted to address development issues of the Pacific region.

"I urge you all to contribute positively to allow for concrete resolutions being reached to outline the value in refreshing and animating scientific alliances to showcase useful work, techniques and instrumentation that may be adapted to address development issues of the Pacific region," Koya told regional participants at the workshop.

"This is by no means a small undertaking. It requires collaborative efforts to ensure that the Pacific realizes opportunities for sustainable ocean development focusing on targeted growth that can be measured upon scientific principles and data."

Founded in 1984 by South Pacific Applied Geo-science Commission (SOPAC) and UNESCO, the forum is an annual gathering of the region's experts in geo-science.

The forum plays a vital role in mapping out local and regional adaptation programs to further the region's collective struggles against the unforgiving effects of climate change.

With Fiji presiding at the COP23 (Conference of Parties) in Germany, Koya said there is a need for a collective focus on showcasing climate action initiatives and innovation was all the more relevant here and now.

"The future of the whole Pacific rests on all of our shoulders and we need to manoeuvre ourselves to ensure that viable advancements are experienced now, tomorrow and onwards to effectively address this world threatening risk," Koya added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 14:16:35|Editor: An

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Hi, here's what you need to know about China for the past 24 hours.

BEIJING -- A book on governance written by Chinese President Xi Jinping marked the 1,000-day anniversary of its debut over the weekend, setting a new record in China's publication history in 40 years with over 6.25 million copies in 22 languages already in print worldwide.

Titled "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," the work has drawn worldwide readers to the mysteries of its popularity and left a profound impact on the world.

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MAOXIAN, Sichuan -- Rescuers searching for victims trapped by a landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province were ordered to be evacuated, as risks of a secondary landslide were forecast Monday morning.

The Sichuan provincial work safety bureau issued the order at 11:10 a.m., after radar monitoring found the moving and deformation of the hillside in Maoxian County, where the landslide occurred on Saturday.

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CHENGDU -- Rescue headquarters said on Sunday afternoon that 15 people had been taken off the list of missing people after the landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Saturday.

Xu Zhiwen, deputy chief of the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba, said that by 2 p.m. Sunday, 10 have been confirmed dead and 15 people were not in Xinmo village when the accident occurred, leaving 93 still missing.

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NEW YORK -- Over 10,000 Chinese Americans gathered downtown here Sunday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

"We American Chinese in NYC rallied exactly here on July 1, 1997 when China resumed exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong. The parade (before the rally) lasted several kilometers. It's such a touching moment that all of us will never forget," said Liang Guanjun, head of the U.S. East Coast Chinese Association Federation, in his opening remarks to the gathering at the Foley Square in Lower Manhattan Sunday afternoon.

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BEIJING -- Beijing police on Sunday destroyed 1.4 tonnes of narcotics, which had been seized in various operations between 2014 and 2015.

The haul included heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, ketamine, and caffeine.

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ISLAMABAD -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Sunday that China and Pakistan will firmly stand together to continuously support each other on their core interests and issues of major concern so as to safeguard their legitimate interests as well as regional peace and stability.

Wang made the remarks during a joint press conference with Pakistani top foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz before concluding his two-day visit to Pakistan.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 14:16:37|Editor: An

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun underscored China's commitment Monday to addressing drug abuse, while urging the need to guide the public to live green and healthy lives.

Guo, who is also head of China's national narcotics control commission, made the remarks while delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of a forum to mark International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Beijing.

He urged efforts to expand social organizations and mobilize the public to participate in the war on drugs.

All departments across the country should increase cooperation and coordination in anti-drug operations, and accomplish more achievements in face of new changes in drug-related crimes.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 14:26:46|Editor: ying

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HAVANA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Cuba will welcome 4.2 million tourists this year, 200,000 more than last year, a Cuban tourism official said Sunday.

Cuba has seen a tourism boom in recent years and the tourist arrivals hit a record high of just over 4 million in 2016, said Dalila Gonzalez, deputy director of marketing for the Cuban Tourism Ministry, after Spanish airline Plus Ultra said earlier Sunday that it will open a new direct flight route between Barcelona and Havana.

Last year, 4 million foreign visitors arrived in Cuba, a 14.5 percent rise over 2015, according to the Cuban Tourism Ministry.

Plus Ultra's Vice President Julio Martinez Ultra announced on Sunday that Plus Ultra would start this code-shared trip with state-owned Cubana de Aviacion once a week, and the inaugural flight was expected to take place on July 1, originating in Barcelona.

The company will be the fourth Spanish airline to fly to Cuba, a destination that already has regular flights with Iberia, Air Europa and Evelop.

Gonzalez said this new route will undoubtedly contribute to the increase of thousands of tourists coming not only from Spain, but other European countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 16:17:31|Editor: Zhou Xin

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JERUSALEM, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Errant bullets from Syria hit Monday a post of the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Israel's army said, in a third consecutive day of fire spillover from Syria.

Residents of the Golan reported hearing gunshots on Monday morning. In ensuing searches, the military said it had identified heavy machine gun bullet holes in a post of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which maintains the 1974 ceasefire between Israel and Syria.

The post is located near the community of Zivanit, adjacent to the disputed border between Syria and Israel.

No injuries were reported.

The incident marked the third straight time that a spillover from the war-torn country hit northern Israel.

On Sunday, the Israeli military said it attacked two artillery positions and an ammunition truck, both belonging to the Syrian army, after several projectiles hit the Israeli-held Golan Heights.

No injuries or damage were reported but as a precautionary measure, the army asked civilians not to gather near the border area.

A similar incident occurred on Saturday, as 10 projectiles hit an open field in the Israeli-held Golan, causing no injuries or damage.

In response, Israel's air force attacked posts of the Syrian army. Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported that several people were killed in the strikes, including at least two civilians.

The army believes that all of the cross-border fire incidents were a result of a spillover from the fighting in Quneitra, next to the border.

According to SANA, the battles in this region are between President Bashar Assad's army and the Nusra Front, a Salafist rebel group in Syria.

Errant fire from the Syria, which is fighting a six-year-long war, has occasionally been spilling over to Israel, usually causing no casualties or damage.

Israel often retaliated the mortars with airstrikes.

Israel had repeatedly declared it would not intervene in the internal fighting in Syria.

However, it is widely believed that Israel often carried out airstrikes on weapons convoys in Syria, and has been providing medical treatment to hundreds of wounded Syrians who reached the border.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 16:32:39|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Cheers erupted as the last section of the tunnel box segment was hoisted into position, bringing the world's longest cross-sea bridge one stage closer to completion.

The tunnel excavation works in the Scenic Hill Tunnel section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) Hong Kong Link Road (HKLR) underneath the Airport Express Line (AEL) was completed in May, linking the HKLR to the 55-kilometer bridge that connects Zhuhai in Guangdong Province with Hong Kong and Macao.

By the end of the year, the bridge will be open to traffic, cutting land travel time between Hong Kong and Zhuhai from three hours to 30 minutes.

The bridge is another example of efforts to bring Hong Kong closer to the motherland.

Since the handover of Hong Kong, 20-years ago, the Chinese central government has been making every possible effort to ensure the stability and prosperity of the special administrative region (SAR).

Basic necessities, including about 95 percent of live swine, 100 percent of live cattle, 90 percent of vegetables and 70 percent of flour on the Hong Kong market are supplied by the mainland. The mainland also ensures the quality and stable price of the products.

Guangdong-based Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant provides a quarter of Hong Kong's annual electricity.

Moreover, about 70 to 80 percent of Hong Kong's fresh water is provided by the mainland.

The central government also supported Hong Kong during the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the international financial crisis since 2008 as well as the SARS epidemic.

With support from the motherland and the central government, Hong Kong's unique advantages have been reinforced and enhanced.

Efforts to support Hong Kong in consolidating and elevating its position as an international financial, shipping, and trade center have been included in the country's 13th Five-Year Plan, and the central government also pledged to support the region in strengthening its position as a hub for global offshore RMB business and an international asset management center.

"The stability and development of the mainland provides backing for Hong Kong and a prosperous and stable Hong Kong also contributes to the mainland's development," said Zhang Rongshun, vice chairperson of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Basic Law Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

As of the end of 2016, Hong Kong remains the largest source of overseas investment for the mainland. The mainland had approved nearly 400,000 projects from Hong Kong investors with the total investment reaching over 914 billion U.S. dollars.

Hong Kong is also the largest recipient of the mainland's overseas investment and its largest overseas financing platform.

Leung Chun-ying, chief executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said in his annual policy address earlier this year that the region's role as a "super-connector" between the rest of China and the world is becoming more apparent.

The development of Hong Kong can not be separated from the motherland, said HKSAR's fifth-term chief executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. "At every stage, Hong Kong secures new growth points within the development of the country. This is true for the past, and for future as well."

Lam expects greater opportunities for Hong Kong brought about by the Belt and Road Initiative.

Eddy Li, president of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, agreed. He believes such opportunities will help Hong Kong's economy.

From April last year, Li's association and some other industrial and commercial associations in Hong Kong organized business study tours to countries and regions along the Belt and Road.

The central government has also made it a major policy to support Hong Kong's participation in Belt and Road development while designing the 13th Five-Year Plan and the Belt and Road vision.

It has pledged to support the SAR in building itself into a platform of comprehensive services, financing and investment and cultural exchanges for the Belt and Road as well as a center for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia Pacific and for multi-functional shipping for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Johnny Ng, president of the Hong Kong United Youth Association, also called on the younger generation in Hong Kong to join their mainland peers to seek opportunities from China's national strategies.

According to a survey, about a half of business starters in Hong Kong have plans to work outside Hong Kong and two thirds of them said that place may be the mainland.

With support from the central government and favorable conditions regarding finance and channels, Ng believes it a "golden age" for Hong Kong youngsters to start business in the mainland.

"The link between the mainland and Hong Kong is providing Hong Kong with very good development opportunities, which the region's youths will not miss," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 17:02:56|Editor: Zhou Xin

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TIRANA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The ruling Socialist Party of Albania is about to win an overall parliamentary majority in the general elections, the preliminary results showed early Monday, while the vote counting is still underway.

The polls were held on Sunday with 18 political parties and groups vying for the 140 seats in the legislative body for a four-year term.

Vote counting began around midnight after ballots were collected and transported to the counting stations. Socialists showed a strong lead in most regions with about 20 percent of ballots counted as of 7:30 a.m. local time (0530 GMT).

The Socialist Party is winning more than 75 seats in the country's 140-seat parliament, outgoing Prime Minister Edi Rama said Monday, claiming a landslide victory.

The main opposition Democratic Party has so far won 27 percent of the vote, which would be translated into 45 seats, followed by Socialist Movement for Integration with 20 seats.

Rama, leader of the Socialist Party, is seeking re-election and a parliamentary majority in the polls so as to push forward the reforms needed to take Albania closer to the European Union.

During the electoral campaign, Rama highlighted reforms. The Socialist Party's win in the polls will pave the way for him to launch within 2017 full European Union membership negotiations.

The turnout was quite low at around 44 percent and the final results are expected to be released later in the day.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 17:23:04|Editor: Liangyu

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ABUJA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's acting president Yemi Osinbajo and the president of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo discussed ways to intensify bilateral cooperation between the two countries in a meeting in Abuja on Sunday, a statement said on Monday.

During the meeting, the two leaders highlighted the critical role that Nigeria and Ghana play as the "centerpiece" of the West African sub-region, according to the statement signed by presidential spokesman Laolu Akande.

Discussions between the two leaders touched on the forthcoming African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, ongoing negotiations on the Continental Free Trade Agreement, and the revitalization of the Ghana-Nigeria Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation.

The leaders pledged to intensify bilateral cooperation for the benefit and development of the sub-region, the statement noted.

Akufo-Addo said his visit to Nigeria was part of an ongoing tour of the sub-region to take stock of what is going on, and to renew relations.

"We are extremely excited about the ECOWAS sub-region and hope that we will be able to do a lot together," the visiting Ghanaian leader added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 17:38:21|Editor: Yurou Liang

Photo taken on June 26, 2017 shows the building of Takata Corp. in Tokyo, Japan. Japan's embattled Takata Corp. said on Monday that it had filed for bankruptcy protection and would sell its business to a U.S. third party, in what is the biggest corporate failure ever of a Japanese manufacturer. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

TOKYO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Japan's embattled Takata Corp. said on Monday that it had filed for bankruptcy protection and would sell its business to a U.S. third party, in what is the biggest corporate failure ever of a Japanese manufacturer.

Liabilities of the Tokyo-headquartered firm currently stand at an estimated 1 trillion yen (9 billion U.S. dollars), owing to the tens of millions of high-profile global recalls by automakers since 2008 of Takata's defective airbag inflators, which can spray lethal shrapnel inside the vehicle when deployed.

The faulty airbag inflators have been linked to at least 11 fatal cases in the United States and led to 42 million cars being recalled as a result, marking the biggest ever car recall in the automotive industry.

U.S. auto parts maker Key Safety Systems Inc., however, has put in an offer to buy the struggling firm, the majority of its assets and its subsidiaries, including its seatbelt and child seat businesses, for 175 billion yen, providing the firm with enough liquidity to continue to meet client orders and avoid hefty layoffs from its workforce.

Key Safety Systems Inc. is owned by Chinese company Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp. and the sale is expected to be completed by 2018. Its inflators will still be produced through March 2020, informed sources confirmed Monday.

At a press conference held in Tokyo, Takata Chairman and CEO Shigehisa Takada apologized to those who had helped bankroll the company until now and said he will step down once the new deal is finalized with Key Safety Systems Inc.

"To all our creditors and those who have supported us thus far, I apologize from the bottom of my heart," Takada said.

"It was difficult to reach an agreement with automakers and our sponsor," Takada added. "Meanwhile, the terms of business with our suppliers worsened, while at the same time we faced a human resources drain. We were running out of funding and there was a risk that we wouldn't be able to continue supplying products," Takada said with regards to filing for bankruptcy.

The firm had initially been seeking a turnaround plan that was not court mandated, but both automakers and Key Safety Systems Inc. insisted on the court's involvement to ensure the highest amount of transparency possible.

Such a plan now involves Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. providing Takata with a bridge loan of up to 25 billion yen, while Takata's U.S. subsidiary TK Holdings Inc. has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

After Takata's bankruptcy filing, its shares will be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 27.

Takata Corp. in May reported a full-year group net loss of 79.59 billion yen (698.80 million U.S. dollars), marking its third consecutive year of red ink, and booked a special loss of 132.98 billion yen owing to costs connected to the global recall.

The global recall, the biggest-ever faced by the auto industry, follows a number of fatal airbag inflator ruptures, which saw the auto parts maker in February plead guilty to a U.S. felony charge related to the recalls.

The settlement of around 1 billion U.S. dollars included compensation for the victims of the faulty airbag inflators, and the mounting recall costs of which have also been shouldered by Takata's clients including automakers such as Honda Motor Co., Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp.

The recalls began in 2008 and are expected to cost the embattled maker in the region of 10 billion U.S. dollars, according to industry sources familiar with the matter.

In fiscal 2016, Takata's operating profit dropped 7.5 percent to 38.96 billion yen, on sales of 662.53 billion yen, down 7.7 percent, it said.

Takata has said its liabilities totaled 380 billion yen as of the end of March, but according to Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd., a credit reporting agency, its liabilities will balloon to 1.7 trillion yen when recall costs that have been shouldered by automakers are factored in.

Toyota Motor Corp., for its part, has said it is not sure whether it will be able to receive the 570 billion yen in recall fees owed by Takata. Similarly, Honda Motor Co., has expressed concerns about collecting around 556 billion yen in outstanding recall-related fees.

Hiroshige Seko, minister of economy, trade and industry, told a press conference Monday that he had instructed his ministry to establish a "safety net" as Takata's bankruptcy will adversely affect a number of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) beyond the auto industry that rely on Takata.

Tokyo Shoko Research said that more than 130 companies in the country serve as tier 1 suppliers to Takata.

Seko said he hopes that Key Safety Systems Inc. will fix Takata's battered finances and that he "expects a quick turnaround."
Part of the interchange that the Chinese firm, China Railway Seventh Group (CRSG) Botswana (Pty) Ltd has constructed. The interchange, popularly known here as the spaghetti because of its design, is expected to ease congestion of traffic in Francistown, some 430km northeast of the capital, Gaborone. (Xinhua/Shingirai Madondo)

GABORONE, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The first "spaghetti road" constructed in Botswana will reduce traffic congestion in the city of Francistown, a Botswana senior official said Sunday.

Transport and Communications Minister Kitso Mokaila said the interchange bridge, constructed by China Railway Seventh Group (CRSG) Botswana (Pty) Ltd, is expected to be officially unveiled to the public late next month.

The interchange is located in the country's second largest city Francistown, and features many links leading into and out of Francistown's central business district (CBD).

Widely believed to be the diamond-rich nation's new landmark, the spaghetti junction is expected to bring much relief to motorists in the Botswana city, according to Mokaila.

In an interview with Xinhua after touring the project Sunday, Mokaila said the spaghetti road is a transformative infrastructure project that has the potential of wooing prospective investors to Francistown.

"The spaghetti will (definitely) be a boon to the economy of Francistown and the general livelihoods of Botswana (citizens of Botswana) living in the northeastern part of the country," Mokaila said.

The minister said the spaghetti road will help expand the capacity of major and secondary roads that bisects Francistown's CBD and to initiate rapid traffic transit systems.

With this project, Mokaila said the process of reforming the urban transport has just begun, as Botswana aspires to be counted among the top countries with good transport system.

Mokaila said the Chinese government and some institutions from the world's most populous nation are playing a significant role in Botswana's infrastructural growth.

Construction of the spaghetti road started in 2015, as part of a 30-km dual road project, at a cost of 100 million U.S. dollars.

CRSG Botswana is a subsidiary of the construction firm China Railway Group Limited (China Railway Engineering Corporation) and has operations in Africa and Saudi Arabia.
Association for the Advancement of Civic Equity in Israel brought Israeli Jews into Arab cities and showed them the real daily life there. (Xinhua photo)

JERUSALEM, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Although Jews and Arabs live together in Israel, they are largely estranged from each other and unaware of each others' customs and traditions.

But the Association for the Advancement of Civic Equity in Israel, better known as Sikkuy, aims to change the situation by bringing Israeli Jews into Arab cities and showing them the real daily life there.

Shireen Mahajna, a tour guide of a group of Israeli visitors, was humorously explaining the customs of Ramadan to them.

"One cannot eat, drink, smoke or have sex during the fast," she told them.

"I wonder what they go and do first," a female Jewish participant chuckled. For her and many Jews, it was the first time that they were being exposed to the intricate details of the holy month observed by Muslims.

The group of about 50 people, mostly Israelis and also including some foreign students in Israel, were listening to Mahajna intently. They seemed fascinated about everything around.

"I feel like I have missed out on something. How can it be that during all these years I have never entered Umm el-Fahem?" said Hemda Drabkin from Tel Aviv.

Umm el-Fahem, the city she and others were visiting, is the second largest Arab-Israeli city in the country.

Situated between the Palestinian city of Jenin and the Israeli cities of Haifa and Afula, it has an image of a problematic city, home to the northern branch of the radical Islamic Movement in Israel.

The organization is considered a violent offshoot of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and is led by Raed Salah, former mayor of Umm el-Fahem.

Salah was recently released from prison. He has been found guilty of inciting violence by Israeli courts more than once.

The majority of the people in city, however, are leading peaceful daily lives, which is exactly what Sikkuy is trying to show.

"On some level, even though rationally I knew there was no problem, there was some fear about coming here," said Dikla Lerner, a female visitor who is a teacher from nearby Kibbutz.

"Through tourism, a lot can be done. Bringing people closer, getting them acquainted with our customs, our places, letting them in our homes, visit us, eat our foods and meet people. That actually lessens the gap between the two populations," said Mahajna.

As the sun went down, the group was taken to the rooftop of a building under construction, a breathtaking vantage point where the whole city can be seen.

Traffic on one of the streets below was heavy. Mahajna explained that people were rushing to a bakery to buy bread before they headed to homes to break the fast.

"Thirty seconds after the Muezzin will announce the fast is over, you will see the road empty in a flash," she said laughing.

True to her word, it did and the group laughed with her.

After that, they headed to the home of Muhammed and Manal Karaman, who have a restaurant on the entrance floor of their house. Tables were set with white plates and bowls were filled with traditional Middle Eastern delicacies.

Manal introduced each dish to the group. As the visitors dug into the meal, the hostess mingled around the tables to answer their questions about the recipes.

After the dinner, the visitors entered the minibuses and started their tour through the narrow ups-and-downs of the city.

"In Ramadan, the days turn into nights and the nights into days," Mahajna said.

In the city streets filled with lights, cars were being washed at garages, people getting haircuts and kids running around. It was almost midnight.

According to Mahajna, there has been a steady increase in tour participation since the initiative began about a decade ago.

Sikkuy, together with other organizations, brings together Arabs and Israelis to promote equality between the two ethnic groups and help Israeli Jews know better about the Muslim minority of the country.

"It is so, so important to bring together the two cultures, the two people, the Jews and Arabs together," said Mahajna, a doctoral student in archaeology who has regular interactions with Jews. "At the end of the day, we live in one country.

In recent years, the Israeli society has been dominated by right-wing, nationalist ideas. In fact, during the meal one woman said the tour was "preaching to the choir."

Still, the importance of such initiatives cannot be underestimated, as even the more liberal elements of Israeli society are not frequently exposed to the Arab part of society.

"I have no doubt at all that I will come back here. Even before I finish this tour here, I am already thinking who I want to bring here," said the visitor Hemda Drabkin excitedly.

Small walls were torn down in the evening in Umm el-Fahem, a small dent in Israel's fragmented society. This leaves hope for progress and understanding in the future.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 18:33:46|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao

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CAIRO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The number of Chinese tourists that visited Egypt in the first five months this year has nearly doubled from last year, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported Monday.

A total of 18,000 Chinese tourists visited Egypt from January to May 2017, marking a 94 percent rise from the same period last year, Abul Maati Shaarawy, tourism adviser at the Egyptian embassy in Beijing was quoted as saying.

China has become the fourth largest exporter of tourists to Egypt since the beginning of 2017, Shaarawy said.

Chinese tourists spent 850,000 tourist nights in Egypt from January to May 2017, compared to 161,000 tourist nights in the same period last year, Shaarway added.

He predicted further rise in the number of Chinese tourists to visit Egypt as the two sides are now in talks to increase weekly flights between Egypt and China.

Negotiations are now underway with the Chinese Civil Aviation Ministry to operate two or three weekly flights between Cairo and Shanghai, one of the largest cities in China, Shaarway said.

Shaarway expected the deal to be sealed in September to coincide with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi's planned visit to China.

Sisi will attend the September 3-5 9th BRICS Summit to be held in Xiamen of Fujian province, and the third China-Arab States Expo to be held in Yinchuan, the capital city of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region from September 6 to 9.

On the sidelines of the exhibition, Egypt and China are to sign two agreements, including one between the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority and the Ningxia tourism bureau, and another between two archaeological cities in Egypt and Ningxia, Shaarway said.

On July 13, the new Egyptian charter airline "Air Leisure" will also start a new direct flight route between Xi'an, capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and Egypt's Aswan city, Shaarway added.

Egypt, a popular tourist destination famous for the Pyramids, has been making huge efforts to revive its tourism industry hit hard by terror attacks and political turbulences in the past years, by promoting tourism in new markets such as China.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 18:43:54|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China was saddened by the news of a fuel tanker fire in east Pakistan and expressed condolences to the victims, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said Monday.

At least 143 people were killed and 156 others injured in an oil tanker fire that broke out in Bahawalpur district of Pakistan's eastern Punjab Province on Sunday morning.

Geng expressed condolences to the victims and sincere sympathy to their families at a daily press briefing.

He said Foreign Minister Wang Yi also expressed condolences to the Pakistan side during his visit to the south Asian country.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 18:48:54|Editor: Zhou Xin

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WINDHOEK, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Countries from around the African continent will converge in Namibia for the 2nd International Road Federation(IRF) Africa Regional Congress on July 11-13 in the capital Windhoek.

The event will be hosted by Namibia's Road Authority, in collaboration with the International Road Federation(IRF) and will run under the theme 'Sustainable transport practices: Tools for modern connectivity'.

The Roads Authority CEO, Conrad Lutombi said Namibia is at a crossroad as it seeks to select the appropriate engineering and management models to make safe and efficient roads a reality, hence, the congress comes at an opportune time.

"As our cities develop and our trade volumes grow, lack of adequate road facilities and transport services will translate into chronic delays, increased injury risk and higher costs borne by society unless the appropriate policies are identified and implemented," he added.

Meanwhile, the IRF President and CEO, Patrick Sankey said that the congress is timely and the 4 sub-themes namely 'Provision of a safe transport system', 'An efficient asset management culture', 'Innovative financing techniques' and 'Building the capacity of the African transport professional' that are supporting the global theme are essential to the advancement of Africa's transport portfolio.

The 1st IRF Africa Regional Congress was held in Abuja, Nigeria in 2014.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 18:48:55|Editor: Zhou Xin

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LONDON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionists has signed a deal with the Conservatives to support Prime Minister Theresa May's minority government, BBC reported Monday.

Sources close to the negotiations say about one billion British pounds (1.27 billion U.S. dolalrs) in concessions have been made to Northern Ireland's largest party in exchange for support from its 10 MPs on key votes in the House of Commons.

The deal came after two weeks of talks between the parties since the election resulted in a hung parliament.

The agreement was signed inside Downing Street by Conservative party chief whip Gavin Williamson and the DUP's Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, while party leaders Theresa May and Arlene Foster watched on.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 19:09:04|Editor: Zhou Xin

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LONDON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionists has signed a deal with the Conservatives to support Prime Minister Theresa May's minority government, BBC reported Monday.

Sources close to the negotiations say about one billion pounds (1.27 billion U.S. dollars) in concessions have been made to Northern Ireland's largest party in exchange for support from its 10 MPs on key votes in the House of Commons.

The agreement was signed inside Downing Street by Tory chief whip Gavin Williamson and the DUP's Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, while party leaders Theresa May and Arlene Foster watched on.

The agreement also comes just days before a crucial vote in the House of Commons on the Queen's Speech, which last week set out government measures in the coming session of parliament. A failure to win the vote Thursday could threaten May's government and even lead to a new general election.

May won 318 seats in this month's snap election, eight short of the 326 seats needed to guarantee a majority. The so-called confidence and supply deal between the Conservatives and the DUP, which has 10 MPs at Westminster, will prop up May's government with a slender, but working majority.

The deal will ensure DUP support if any of the opposition parties attempt to move a vote of no confidence in May or her government, as well as guaranteeing support for budget matters.

The two sides have been engaged in talks about a deal since the June 8 election when May lost her overall majority, resulting in her leading a minority government.

May and DUP leader Foster shook hands as she and other senior party figures arrived at Downing Street on Monday morning to finalize the pact.

May, welcoming the deal, said the two sides share many values in terms of wanting to see prosperity across Britain, the value of the union, the important bond between the different parts of the United Kingdom.

"The agreement we have come is a very, very good one," said May.

DUP leader Foster said: "We're delighted that we have reached this agreement, which I think works, obviously, for national stability. In terms of the Northern Ireland executive, of course we are determined to see it back in place as soon as possible as well, because we believe we need a strong voice for Northern Ireland when dealing not least with the Brexit issue."

Speaking outside Downing Street, Foster said as a result of the deal there will be further financial support for Northern Ireland worth 1 billion pounds over the next two years to boost the region's economy and invest in new infrastructure.

The deal may yet impact on a June 29 deadline for the DUP and Sinn Fein, the pro-republican party in Northern Ireland, to bury their differences to enable the re-establishment of the devolved assembly in Belfast.

Failure by the political parties in Northern Ireland to agree to setting up an executive by 4 p.m. Thursday could lead to rule of the region reverting to Westminster.

Northern Ireland won the right to self-governance as part of a peace treaty that brought to an end three decades of troubles between republican and unionist factions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 19:09:06|Editor: Zhou Xin

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by Abdul Haleem, Jawid Omid

HERAT, Afghanistan, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Saffron growers in war-torn Afghanistan are hoping for expanded export markets for their harvest, amid higher yields but lower prices, business leaders in the industry said recently.

"I am optimistic that China could be a major and profitable market for Afghan saffron if the government facilitates the export of our products to China," head of Saffron Producers Union of Afghanistan Bashir Ahmad Rashidi told Xinhua recently.

Farmers in parts of the conflict-hit Afghanistan have been attempting to replace growing poppies with saffron, and the western Herat province has taken the lead in this regard as many farmers have already begun growing the valuable crop.

Saffron production in Afghanistan, according to the country's Minister for Agriculture, Assadullah Zamir, has been on a constant rise over the past few years. Some 3.5 tons of saffron was harvested in 2015 and 6.5 tons in 2016.

The minister is hopeful that the country's saffron product would rise to 8 tons in the current year.

The major portion of Afghanistan's saffron, according to Rashidi, is produced in the western Herat province.

"No doubt, 90 percent of the country's saffron is produced in Herat, and scores of companies and firms have been operating in Herat to encourage saffron plantation, saffron processing and its broader business," Rashidi said.

Nevertheless, saffron growers in Herat have complained that a lack of market for their products have led to a drop in price of the valuable crop.

Describing saffron as "red gold," director of a saffron processing company in Herat City Omid Aminyar, said the price of saffron has fallen due to a lack of market and the status quo would discourage the farmers to grow the "red gold."

The price of 1 kg of saffron was 130,000 afghanis (about 1,912 U.S. dollars) last year, but in the current year it dropped considerably to 70,000 afghanis per kg, according to locals involved in the saffron business.

Many Afghans believe that if the government better encourage and support the farmers, and help them find markets for their legal products, especially for saffron, it would eventually give confidence to farmers to give up poppy cultivation for the drug trade and switch to saffron.

In insurgency-plagued Afghanistan, the opium-producing poppies harvest reached 4,800 tons in 2016, an increase of 43 percent against 3,300 tons of opium poppies harvested in 2015.

Herat has already been recognized as a leading province in producing saffron in Afghanistan and in the province, according to Khalil Ahmad Yarmand, chief of the Chamber of Commerce of Herat, only 600 kg of saffron had been exported to Middle East, Iran, China and some other countries last year, saying he is expecting to export many more tons of saffron this year.

"We are hopeful of producing good quality saffron this year, better processing it and exporting it to world markets, especially to China in the current year," director of Agriculture Department in Herat, Abdul Sabour Rahmani, said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 19:24:19|Editor: Zhou Xin

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TEHRAN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 100 workers were injured on Monday in a refinery fire in Iran's central city Isfahan, Iran's Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported.

The fire broke out on Monday morning at the sulfur storage of Isfahan Refinery and most of the victims were gas-poisoned, according to the report.

Some of the injured were critically hit by the emitting gases and were hospitalized.

The cause of the blaze remained unknown.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 19:24:24|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BERLIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The security staff of the delegations to the G20 summit in Hamburg on July 7 and 8 may be allowed to carry firearms with the permission of the German government, German media group Funke Mediengruppe reported on Monday.

Several states, including Mexico, the U.S., Britain, South Africa, Vietnam and the Netherlands, have already applied for such a weapon clearance, according to the Federal Office of Administration (BVA).

Nine applications for issuance of firearms permits have been received by BVA. According to the report, no request by a G20 participant country has been rejected. The representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also applied for permits for their delegation.

Additional applications for the import and carrying of weapons during the summit are expected to be submitted to the Administrative Office within the next two weeks, including the Turkish and Russian delegations, the report said.

The German Federal Criminal Police said that the foreign security personnel would not carry police powers but "only the right of self-defense".

Hamburg's police forces retain exclusive authority over its streets, the City's Mayor said, emphasizing that this circumstance applied equally to foreign security personnel.

German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday that the Federal Foreign Office banned a number of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's security guards from entering Germany.

This was, according to the report, a consequence of the violent confrontation reportedly between Turkish security personnel and protesters in Washington in May.

The Turkish Embassy has sent the Foreign Office a list of some 50 persons who are to accompany Erdogan to Hamburg, including several members of the security forces against whom the U.S. authorities have issued arrest warrants after the violent incidents in Washington. According to the report, the Foreign Office has rejected the entry into Germany of those involved.
(FILE PHOTO)A group of camels and horses stand idle in front of the Great Pyramids awaiting tourists in Giza, Egypt, March 29, 2017. (REUTERS photo)

CAIRO, June 26 (Xinhua -- The number of Chinese tourists that visited Egypt in the first five months this year has nearly doubled from last year, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported Monday.

A total of 18,000 Chinese tourists visited Egypt from January to May 2017, marking a 94 percent rise from the same period last year, Abul Maati Shaarawy, tourism adviser at the Egyptian embassy in Beijing was quoted as saying.

China has become the fourth largest exporter of tourists to Egypt since the beginning of 2017, Shaarawy said.

Chinese tourists spent 850,000 tourist nights in Egypt from January to May 2017, compared to 161,000 tourist nights in the same period last year, Shaarway added.

He predicted further rise in the number of Chinese tourists to visit Egypt as the two sides are now in talks to increase weekly flights between Egypt and China.

Negotiations are now underway with the Chinese Civil Aviation Ministry to operate two or three weekly flights between Cairo and Shanghai, one of the largest cities in China, Shaarway said.

Shaarway expected the deal to be sealed in September to coincide with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi's planned visit to China.

Sisi will attend the September 3-5 9th BRICS Summit to be held in Xiamen of Fujian province, and the third China-Arab States Expo to be held in Yinchuan, the capital city of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region from September 6 to 9.

On the sidelines of the exhibition, Egypt and China are to sign two agreements, including one between the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority and the Ningxia tourism bureau, and another between two archaeological cities in Egypt and Ningxia, Shaarway said.

On July 13, the new Egyptian charter airline "Air Leisure" will also start a new direct flight route between Xi'an, capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and Egypt's Aswan city, Shaarway added.

Egypt, a popular tourist destination famous for the Pyramids, has been making huge efforts to revive its tourism industry hit hard by terror attacks and political turbulences in the past years, by promoting tourism in new markets such as China.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 19:44:28|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BERLIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from parties across Germany's political spectrum criticised Martin Schulz heavily on Monday after he made statements at the SPD party conference last weekend, accusing Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) of "attack on democracy."

Hoping to reinvigorate the SPD's electoral fortunes, Schulz went on the offensive against the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) at the conference in Dortmund.

Schulz accused Merkel of the "arrogance of power" in trying to lull the German public into a state of political apathy by depicting herself as the only viable alternative in elections.

The CDU/CSU were hoping for a low voter turnout, he said, describing this tactic as an "attack on democracy."

Although known for his fiery rhetoric, the comments were the harshest yet to be made on the campaign trail by Schulz.

Conservative politicians promptly hit back, with CDU deputy chairman Armin Laschet calling Schulz' accusations "absurd."

Nonetheless senior party figures broadly backed Schulz' performance at the conference where he was seen to have convincingly argued that the SPD can still win upcoming national elections in September.

Following a short upswing in the polls, the SPD has suffered a series of setbacks since Schulz, former president of the European Parliament, took its helm in March 2017.

The SPD has lost three recent elections at the state level in Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, and is languishing behind the CDU/CSU in national polls.

In a "stern-RTL-Wahltrend" survey published last week, only 23 percent of respondents supported the SDP, compared to a combined 39 percent backing the CDU/CSU.

The figures were worse still when it came to a comparison of political personalities.

53 percent of those surveyed would vote for Merkel directly to assume the chancellorship for a fourth time if they could. Only 22 percent of respondents indicated a preference for Schulz in the same category.

While Schulz' weak showing in polls has raised questions over his ability to successfully compete against Merkel for Germany's highest political office, the SPD leader received prominent support from fellow party member and former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Referring to his own strong showing after unfavorable polls in the 2005 national elections, Schroeder voiced a belief that "what was possible then, is possible now."

In a show of unity and support, the SPD unanimously passed Schulz' electoral manifesto which includes pledges to raise taxes on high-income earners and reduce the fiscal burden for the lower and middle classes.

Thomas Opperman, head of the SPD faction in the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) defended Schulz lashing out against Merkel as being a necessary part of election campaigns.

Opperman went on to describe the party leader as "the right man to win over undecided voters" and said of Schulz that "there has never been a better match between a person, a program and a party."

But the optimism showcased by the SPD during and after its conference was not shared by its political rivals.

Senior CSU politician Gerda Hasselfeldt told press on Monday that what the SPD was proposing as a "plan for the future" was in fact more of the same. She expressed disappointment that the party had "once again focused on redistribution alone" when it came to taxes.

The Left party (Linke) in particular, which competes with the SPD for a similar left-leaning segment of the electorate, took the Social Democrat conference as an opportunity to pounce on Schulz' manifesto.

The head of the Left faction in parliament, Sahra Wagenknecht, described the SPD conference as "the final stage in a great disillusionment."

"Nobody needs an SPD which has no distinguishing features from the CDU/CSU."

In contrast, the Green party leader Cem Oezdemir criticised what he saw as the SPD manifesto's excessive weakness on climate change.

The SPD had indicated no position on the use of coal as a power source and called for a shift to renewable energies by 2050 "without specifying a clear instrument," Oezdemir lamented.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 20:04:40|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BUCHAREST, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Social Democratic Party (PSD) of Romania decided to propose acting Economy Minister Mihai Tudose to be the party's nominee for the Prime Minister office, announced the party leader Liviu Dragnea on Monday.

Tudose was officially validated as proposal for the Prime Minister office by the National Executive Committee convention of the PSD.

The proposal was also endorsed by the junior ruling Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE).

The proposal of the two-party ruling coalition will submit to President Klaus Iohannis.

Tudose, 50, is the acting Minister of Economy in the government led by Sorin Grindeanu which was dismissed by a motion of censure last week. He had been in the same position from December 2014 to November 2015.

He is a PSD deputy and for 13 years the chairman of the Commission for Economic Policy, Reform and Privatization of the Chamber of Deputies.

The ruling coalition toppled on Wednesday its own cabinet amid a tense relationship between the leadership of major ruling PSD and the prime minister who refused to resign even after his party withdrew political support for him and expelled him from the party.

Grindeanu's cabinet entered into office in January after the Social Democrats won more than 45 percent of the votes in the parliamentary elections in December 2016.

President Iohannis will begin later Monday consultations with parliamentary parties. Under the Constitution, the head of state shall designate a candidate to the office of prime minister after the consultations.

The designated prime minister shall seek the vote of confidence of Parliament upon the program and complete list of the government within 10 days of his designation.
British Prime Minister Theresa May gives a speech at 10 Downing Street after meeting with the Queen in London, Britain on June 9, 2017. (Xinhua/Richard Washbrooke)

LONDON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionists has signed a deal with the Conservatives to support Prime Minister Theresa May's minority government, BBC reported Monday.

Sources close to the negotiations say about one billion pounds (1.27 billion U.S. dollars) in concessions have been made to Northern Ireland's largest party in exchange for support from its 10 MPs on key votes in the House of Commons.

The agreement was signed inside Downing Street by Tory chief whip Gavin Williamson and the DUP's Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, while party leaders Theresa May and Arlene Foster watched on.

The agreement also comes just days before a crucial vote in the House of Commons on the Queen's Speech, which last week set out government measures in the coming session of parliament. A failure to win the vote Thursday could threaten May's government and even lead to a new general election.

May won 318 seats in this month's snap election, eight short of the 326 seats needed to guarantee a majority. The so-called confidence and supply deal between the Conservatives and the DUP, which has 10 MPs at Westminster, will prop up May's government with a slender, but working majority.

The deal will ensure DUP support if any of the opposition parties attempt to move a vote of no confidence in May or her government, as well as guaranteeing support for budget matters.

The two sides have been engaged in talks about a deal since the June 8 election when May lost her overall majority, resulting in her leading a minority government.

May and DUP leader Foster shook hands as she and other senior party figures arrived at Downing Street on Monday morning to finalize the pact.

May, welcoming the deal, said the two sides share many values in terms of wanting to see prosperity across Britain, the value of the union, the important bond between the different parts of the United Kingdom.

"The agreement we have come is a very, very good one," said May.

DUP leader Foster said: "We're delighted that we have reached this agreement, which I think works, obviously, for national stability. In terms of the Northern Ireland executive, of course we are determined to see it back in place as soon as possible as well, because we believe we need a strong voice for Northern Ireland when dealing not least with the Brexit issue."

Speaking outside Downing Street, Foster said as a result of the deal there will be further financial support for Northern Ireland worth 1 billion pounds over the next two years to boost the region's economy and invest in new infrastructure.

The deal may yet impact on a June 29 deadline for the DUP and Sinn Fein, the pro-republican party in Northern Ireland, to bury their differences to enable the re-establishment of the devolved assembly in Belfast.

Failure by the political parties in Northern Ireland to agree to setting up an executive by 4 p.m. Thursday could lead to rule of the region reverting to Westminster.

Northern Ireland won the right to self-governance as part of a peace treaty that brought to an end three decades of troubles between republican and unionist factions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 20:09:43|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MADRID, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Authorities have captured and killed an eight-foot-long blue shark that caused momentary panic and forced tourists out of the sea at the tourist resort of Magaluf on the Island of Mallorca over the weekend, Spanish media reported on Monday.

The shark was first spotted on Saturday as it swam in shallow water just off the beach at one of the island's most popular tourist spots.

Bathers, including children, rushed out of the sea, while many took photos and videos of the fish, which they posted on social media. The images showed the shark to be just yards from the shoreline.

Although the fish swam off after a few minutes, Civil Guards and Civil Protection workers continued to monitor the beach and when the shark was spotted again on Sunday afternoon, it was captured.

Experts from the nearby Palma Aquarium discovered the shark was suffering from a serious injury which had been caused by a harpoon and it was put down. It is thought that the injury had disoriented the fish, causing it to swim much closer to shore than normal for a blue shark.

Blue sharks are relatively common in the Mediterranean, but are not usually thought to be dangerous for bathers although one is thought to be responsible for biting a bather on the hand in 2016 in the sea off the eastern Spanish town of Elche.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 20:14:45|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for more coordinated efforts in reform and for a review of all current major reform programs.

Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the 36th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, which he heads.

All departments and localities should be devoted to delivering reforms and should ensure that all results are reviewed, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The group called for swift correction of problems uncovered during inspections and of lax implementation of reform. Departments and authorities should track reform implementation and assess overall outcomes, the statement said.

The meeting passed a plan to establish the Qilian Mountains National Park and explore coordinated ways to protect the environment, improve local standards of living and supervise the exploitation of natural resources.

The group stressed that mixed-ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOE) is important to SOE reform, with mixed-ownership to be well-established by the end of this year. Mixed-ownership should protect employees, prevent erosion of state assets and ensure the leading role of the CPC, said the statement.

Emphasizing the roles of Chinese enterprises overseas and outbound investment in maintaining China's overseas interests, the group called for improved regulation of overseas investment.

China will continue innovation-driven development following two successful years of the Fujian, Guangdong and Tianjin pilot free-trade zones.

The group also discussed homogenizing local GDP calculations and experiences in the Fujian national ecological experimental zone.

Liu Yunshan, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the group, attended the meeting.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 20:29:58|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao

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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven in Beijing, capital of China, June 26, 2017. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for stronger relations with Sweden and closer cooperation on clean energy, life sciences, green finance, high-speed rail and space technology.

Xi made the remarks while meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who is in China for the Summer Davos Forum scheduled for June 27-29 in northeast China's Dalian.

Recalling that Sweden was the first western country to forge diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China, Xi said a healthy, stable and sustainable China-Sweden relationship not only met the national interests of both countries, but also helped the development of China-Northern Europe cooperation and China-Europe relations.

He called on both sides to find novel ways to cooperate and boost China-Sweden ties. Xi proposed to combine China's 13th Five-Year Plan, its innovation-driven development strategy and Made in China 2025 plan, with Sweden's Smart Industry strategy.

The two countries should also work together on smart cities, tourism and winter sports, said the president.

China hopes to strengthen coordination with Sweden in the United Nations and the Arctic Council, he added.

Regarding China-Europe ties, Xi said China expects more policy coordination with Northern European countries including Sweden, and new progress in China-Northern Europe cooperation.

Lofven expressed condolences for losses in the recent landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

He said Sweden values China's influence in major global and regional affairs, as well as cooperation with China in multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations.

Lofven vowed closer cooperation with China in trade, innovation, culture, sports, tourism and arctic affairs.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 20:30:01|Editor: Zhou Xin

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TEHRAN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday called the cause of Palestine as major issue of the Islamic world and urged Muslims to fight Israel with "whatever means possible."

Khamenei made the remarks in an address to a gathering of Iranians in the capital Tehran.

"According to Islamic jurisprudence, when an enemy takes over Muslim lands, Jihad (struggle or fight against enemies of Islam) in any possible form becomes everyone's duty," Khamenei was quoted by Press TV as saying.

"Palestine is the number one issue of the Islamic world, but some Islamic countries are acting in such a way that as if the Palestinian case had been ignored and forgotten," Khamenei said.

"Today the fight against the Zionist regime is obligatory and necessary for Muslims," he said, urging unity among the Muslim states.

"Division and discord are harmful to Islam and the Islamic Ummah (nation)," he stressed.

Khamenei also hailed Al-Quds Day rallies on Friday and the massive turnout in the capital Tehran and other cities across Iran to support the Palestinian people.

On Friday, the ralliers chanted anti-Israel and anti-U.S. slogans and carried banners condemning Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 20:45:08|Editor: Zhou Xin

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SKOPJE, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The new government in Macedonia is planning to raise the minimum salary to the projected level of 12,000 MKD (223 U.S. dollars), local media reported Monday, citing official sources.

The Macedonian Finance Ministry said in a press statement that it has already started open dialogues with groups of interest to introduce the new initiative taken by the government.

Finance Minister Dragan Tevdovski told reporters that the increase of minimum salary was one of the electoral promises so the new executive led by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) was set to keep it.

"The minimum salary is projected at MKD 12,000 and the money will be planned for this purpose after rebalancing the budget," local media quoted Tevdosvki as saying in a press statement.

In the meantime, the ministry has informed that it will continue discussions this week with trade unions, chambers of commerce and employers, business associations etc to get their proposals and suggestions.

The new initiative to raise minimum salary will be debated later at the Economic and Social Council, local media reported.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 21:08:27|Editor: Liangyu

Customs officers weigh confiscated drugs in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, June 26, 2017. After half a year of detection, Fuzhou customs arrested 4 suspects on drugs smuggling and confiscated 17.39 kilograms of drugs, destroying a route of drug smuggling by post. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 21:20:22|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BANGKOK, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Thai navy on Monday confirmed that a Thai oil tanker which was hijacked by a pirate vessel in Malaysian waters had returned to Thailand.

"The hijacked oil tanker C.P. 41 is safe now," said Thai Navy spokesman Admiral Jumpol Lumphikanont.

Jumpol said the oil tanker were sailing on the right route when it was attacked and Thai navy sent patrol boat HTMS Takbai there to save them after being informed.

C.P. 41, carrying 17 crew and some 3,800 tons of diesel oil, was attacked by six armed pirates, while en route from Singapore to Songkhla Friday night.

The crew said they were held captive at gunpoint during the hijack, and the hijackers cut their communication.

The Bahasa spoken pirates siphoned 1,500 tons and left the oil tanker on Saturday morning, Thai PBS reported.

Jumpol said Thailand and Malaysia "has a strict joint patrol" after the incident and they have asked private companies to be more cautious and assigned authorities on routes of high risk of piracy.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 21:20:23|Editor: Zhou Xin

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by Ronald Ssekandi, Samuel Egadu

KAMPALA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- African leaders will next month gather at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Ethiopia to adopt proposals that the continent gets two permanent seats at the UN Security Council.

Alpha Conde, Guinea President and also chairperson of the African Union (AU) told reporters here over the weekend that Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma will present the proposals when the Heads of State meet July 3-4.

"It's no longer rhetoric. A decision shall be taken and we shall act on it. AU needs two permanent seats in UN Security Council and the number of non-permanent countries increased," said Conde on a two-day state visit to Uganda on Saturday.

AFRICA'S POSITION

In 2005, Africa established a united position (Ezulwini Consensus) on UN reform calling for the inclusion of two permanent and five non-permanent seats for African countries on the UN Security Council and extension of veto powers (should they remain) to new permanent members.

Africa argued that in 1945, when the UN was being formed, most of Africa was not represented and that in 1963, when the first reform took place, Africa was represented but was not in a particularly strong position.

The continent now argues that it should be fully represented in all the decision-making organs of the UN, particularly in the Security Council, which is the principal decision-making organ of the UN in matters relating to international peace and security.

Africa among others also demands that the AU should be responsible for the selection of Africa's representatives on the Security Council.

Russia, Britain, China, France and the United States are currently the five permanent members of the Security Council with the power to veto resolutions. The other 10 are non-permanent members.

Since the adoption of the Ezulwini Consensus, African leaders have been carrying out shuttle diplomacy seeking allies across the globe to support the continent's position.

According to Uganda's foreign ministry, as the world lobbies Africa, Africa is also lobbying them to accept its position.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in 2015 traveled to Japan, which is also calling for reforms at the UN. Museveni argued that a small group of countries should not monopolize decision making for the whole world.

Speaking at a function on October 1, 2015 at the Chinese embassy here, Museveni hailed China noting that it is careful not to give lectures and sticks to the UN principle of non-interference.

He was speaking in reference to Western powers dictating to African leaders on how to manage their countries.

Zhao Yali, Chinese ambassador to Uganda then argued that China will never seek hegemony or expansion no matter how strong it becomes.

AFRICA'S DESTINY

Conde and Museveni at the weekend presser argued that Africa must be in charge of its own destiny and not necessarily follow external dictates.

Museveni said African leaders should push for non-sectarian tendencies to avoid conflicts and confrontation in situations where there are problems.

Conde said African leaders need to speak openly and frankly so that when Africa speaks, it does so with one voice that is heard.

"You don't have to be super intelligent to know that the problem faced by Africa is interference in its affairs. We need to use our own resources to fund our organization (AU) ourselves. Currently our main funding is by the European Union. How can you speak freely if you are funded by someone else?" Conde said.

He said there is a new dynamism in Africa that will propel the continent to realize its vision.

He said during the forthcoming AU summit the leaders will discuss various issues including conflicts in Libya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Mali as well as the UN operations in Africa.

On the situation in Libya, Conde said AU's goal is to stop the crisis.

"It's not easy but it has got to be done. We must find a solution. It's like a cancer, if we don't solve it, it will spread to the rest of Africa," he said.

Conde criticized the deployment of UN peace keeping troops in Africa noting that they have failed to end conflicts. UN troops have been deployed in DRC, CAR and South Sudan.

He cited the deployment of over 20,000 UN troops in DRC but fighting has continued leaving thousands of people dead and others fleeing to neighboring countries.

He said Africa is planning to set up its own force to intervene in case of violence or war.

"We don't want foreign intervention in our affairs. All the conflicts in Africa must be solved by Africa. Now we aim to have African troops to respond," said Conde.

"We need to take issues in our own hands and resolve them by ourselves. We must take destiny into our hands," said Conde.
A visitor takes photo of a model of Shark's teeth at the Polar Aquarium in Tianjin, north China, Aug. 1, 2015. Visitors can spend the night at the aquarium, observing nocturnal behaviors of marine creatures. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)

MADRID, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Authorities have captured and killed an eight-foot-long blue shark that caused momentary panic and forced tourists out of the sea at the tourist resort of Magaluf on the Island of Mallorca over the weekend, Spanish media reported on Monday.

The shark was first spotted on Saturday as it swam in shallow water just off the beach at one of the island's most popular tourist spots.

Bathers, including children, rushed out of the sea, while many took photos and videos of the fish, which they posted on social media. The images showed the shark to be just yards from the shoreline.

Although the fish swam off after a few minutes, Civil Guards and Civil Protection workers continued to monitor the beach and when the shark was spotted again on Sunday afternoon, it was captured.

Experts from the nearby Palma Aquarium discovered the shark was suffering from a serious injury which had been caused by a harpoon and it was put down. It is thought that the injury had disoriented the fish, causing it to swim much closer to shore than normal for a blue shark.

Blue sharks are relatively common in the Mediterranean, but are not usually thought to be dangerous for bathers although one is thought to be responsible for biting a bather on the hand in 2016 in the sea off the eastern Spanish town of Elche.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 21:30:28|Editor: Liangyu

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Photo taken on June 26, 2017 shows the China's new bullet train "Fuxing" at Beijing South Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China. China's next generation bullet train "Fuxing" debuted on the Beijing-Shanghai line on Monday. A CR400AF model departed Beijing South Railway Station at 11:05 a.m. for Shanghai. At the same time, the CR400BF model left Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station for Beijing. The new bullet trains, also known as electric multiple units (EMU), boast top speeds of 400 kilometers an hour and a consistent speed of 350 kilometers an hour. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China's next generation bullet train, "Fuxing," ran for the first time on the Beijing-Shanghai line on Monday.

CR400AF departed Beijing South Station at 11:05 a.m. for Shanghai, while, at exactly the same time, CR400BF left Shanghai Hongqiao Station bound for Beijing.

Beijing-Shanghai line is China's busiest route, used by more than half a million passengers each day.

The new bullet trains -- electric multiple units (EMU) -- can hit 400 kilometers an hour and maintain a constant speed of 350 kilometers an hour.

The train includes a monitoring system that automatically slows the train in case of emergency or abnormal conditions. Telemetry allows a control center to monitor the train in real time.

"Fuxing" (rejuvenation) in a substantial upgrade on "Hexiehao" (harmony). "Fuxing" is more spacious and energy-efficient, with a longer life expectancy and better reliability.

"The train was entirely designed and manufactured in China. We hold the complete intellectual property rights," said Lu Dongfu, general manager of China Railway Corp., operator of the new train.

China began working on EMU trains in 2012 and in 2015, the first EMU hit 385 km per hour. In July 2016, two EMU trains travelling at 420 km per hour passed each other in opposite directions on parallel tracks.

"High-speed train technology has become wholly indigenous," said He Huawu, chief engineer of China Railway Corp.

China has the world's longest high-speed rail network, 22,000 kilometers at the end of last year, about 60 percent of the world's total. Chinese bullet trains have been bought by Indonesia, Russia, Iran and India.

He Huawu said "Fuxing" will be China's prime high-speed exports in the future. The model can be adapted to various geological and operational situations, including extreme climate, a core competitive strength in the global market.

A high-speed link between Indonesian capital Jakarta and nearby Bandung was the first full-package overseas deal for China's high-speed trains, using Chinese technical standards, surveys, design, construction, equipment and personnel training.

Chinese companies are now actively seeking deals in Malaysia and Singapore, Mongolia, the United Kingdom, the United States and across Africa.

China will soon test driverless trains on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou line and carry out more further experiments on maglev trains, He added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 21:50:31|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese lawmakers on Monday deliberated a State Council report on 2016 final accounts and an audit report for the central government's the 2016 budget, fiscal revenue and expenditure.

"Facing complicated and stark economic situations at home and abroad, it was not easy to smoothly push ahead fiscal reform and achieve relatively sound final accounts," Du Liming, a member of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said at a panel discussion during the committee's bi-monthly session.

The final accounts report was delivered Friday by Zhang Shaochun, vice minister of finance, stating that China's government debt risk is "largely controllable" and authorities have strengthened local government debt management.

Du suggested the country further improve fiscal management to regulate benefit distribution relations between central and local governments, as well as between different local governments.

Standing Committee member Lyu Wei said that the country should find new ways to contain local government debt risk.

"We should not only control public debt, but prevent risk from rapid local debt growth through different channels," Lyu said.

Commenting on the audit report, Du Liming said audits had yielded positive outcomes in fiscal and financial management. However, national audits can still find problems, including some old problems that have not been eradicated. Du suggested that auditors track rectification of problems found in audits and through inspections.

The audit report said audits led to the punishment of 315 people for irregularities related to affordable housing, and another 309 people for violations in 20 central state-owned enterprises.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 22:25:55|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China will strengthen supervision of commercial banks in deals of public funds deposit, to maintain a fair and orderly market, said the banking regulator in a statement on Monday.

Authorities will no longer use metrics such as the amount of deposits, market share or rankings of deposits, and strengthen audits of public funds deposit, said the statement.

Cases that break the law will be dealt with by the judiciary, according to the statement.

Employees of commercial banks should avoid personal relationships with public funds holders with deposits in their banks, and respect customers' wishes, it said.

The China Banking Association should urge its members to favor fair competition, avoid inappropriate deals and promote activities that complies with industry norms and practices.

Authorities will tighten control of illegal fund-raising to protect the public interest and fend off systemic risk. They must strengthen supervision of intermediaries in private financing, deal with fraudulent advertisements and improve legal measures against illegal financing.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 22:36:03|Editor: ying

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Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), presides over a chairpersons' meeting of the NPC Standing Committee in Beijing, capital of China, June 26, 2017. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) held a chairpersons' meeting Monday to review draft laws and resolutions.

The meeting was presided over by Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the committee.

The chairman and vice chairpersons reviewed opinions from lawmakers about a draft law on national intelligence, and a draft amendment to the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law.

The two drafts were submitted to the committee for a second reading at the start of its bi-monthly session.

Reports about the deliberation on the administrative and civil procedure laws were heard at the meeting.

Chairpersons also studied opinions of an agreement on the establishment of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Institute, and extradition treaties with Argentina and Ethiopia.

In addition, they heard a report on the central government's 2016 final accounts and an audit report on the central government's budget for 2016.

After further revisions, the documents will be reviewed at the next meeting of the chairman and vice chairpersons who will decide whether to put them to a vote.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 22:41:09|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ZAKOPANE, Poland, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Polish popular tourist destinations, including Zakopane at the foot of Tatra Mountains, have looked forward to attracting more Chinese tourists.

It came after the recent signing of a tourism cooperation agreement between Poland and China during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May.

Zakopane in the southern part of the Podhale region near the border with Slovakia, is one of Poland's most popular resort towns in the summer.

"Upon arriving to Zakopane, one can immediately feel its unique atmosphere, see the typical wooden architecture, enjoy hand-made craft items, traditional dishes and folk music,"a German tourist who comes to Zakopane each year, told Xinhua.

Every year, around 2.5-3 million tourists visit Zakopane and nearby Tatra Mountains. In 2016, the Tatra National Park saw record visits of 3.5 million tourists, according to the park's statistics.

"We are almost full booked throughout the whole season," said a receptionist at one of Zakopane's biggest hotels,"We know Chinese people like nature and travel more recently, we really wish more of them can come to our region!"

Attracting tourism from China is also a major aim of Poland. According to Polish Central Statistical Office, the number of Chinese tourist using accommodation facilities in the first half of 2016 was 33.4 percent more than that in the same period a year before.

Opening a foreign center of the Polish Tourist Organization in 2015 and a visa application center in 2016, both in Beijing, aimed at promoting the cooperation of Poland and China in the tourism section.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 22:46:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano will visit China this week, a Foreign Ministry spokesman announced on Monday.

Cayetano will pay an official visit from Wednesday to Saturday, at the invitation of China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, spokesman Geng Shuang said at a routine briefing.

Chinese leaders will meet with Cayetano, and Wang Yi will hold talks with him. The two sides will exchange ideas on relations between China and the Philippines, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as on international and regional issues of common concern, said Geng.

China and the Philippines have a long-standing friendship, Geng said, noting that the relationship between the two countries has benefited both peoples and contributed to regional stability since ties were normalized last year.

The Philippines is the chair of ASEAN this year, and China is ready to work with the Philippines to deepen China-ASEAN relations and cooperation with Southeast Asian countries.

"We believe Cayetano's visit will enhance the political trust of the two countries and deepen cooperation in various fields, " Geng added.
STOCKHOLM, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Johan Gustafsson, the 42-year-old Swedish man kidnapped by al-Qaida linked group in Mali since 2011, has been released, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Johan Gustafsson has been released and can return to Sweden," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement on the government website.

"Johan's situation has touched many of us, and extensive efforts have been made to secure his release," she said.

"The government would like to highlight the excellent cooperation that has marked the work of the Foreign Ministry, the National Police's operational department and other Swedish and foreign authorities -- work that finally allows that Johan can come home," Wallstrom said in the statement.

According to Swedish newspaper Expressen, Gustafsson is right now sitting on a plane bound for Sweden.

It was during a motorcycle vacation through Africa when Gustafsson was kidnapped in the city of Timbuktu by the terrorist group al-Qaida's North African branch of AQIM. Since then, he has been a prisoner of the group.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 23:26:36|Editor: ying

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Vice President of China's Xinhua News Agency Liu Siyang (Right) shakes hands with State Secretary of Latvia's Ministry of Transport Kaspars Ozolinsh (Left) on June 26, 2017.



RIGA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Xinhua News Agency and Latvia's state news agency LETA signed here on Monday an agreement on news exchange and cooperation, and exchanged views on further strengthening media cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The signing was witnessed by visiting Xinhua News Agency Vice President Liu Siyang and LETA's president Juris Mendzins.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Liu said Xinhua -- in the capacity of both China's state news agency and an international news agency -- has always attached importance to reporting news related to Latvia.

Based on existing cooperation, Liu said, Xinhua is willing to further enhance cooperation with LETA, the relevant government departments of Latvia as well as other Latvian media organizations, intensify news coverage on the Belt and Road Initiative, and promote mutual understanding and friendship between peoples of China and Latvia.

Speaking on the same occasion, Mendzins said Xinhua is an important media organization with international influence, and that strengthening cooperation with Xinhua will have an important impact on increasing Latvia's influence in the world.

During his stay in the Baltic nation, Liu also met with Latvia's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andreis Pildegovichs, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics Juris Stinka, State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Kaspars Ozolinsh, Chairman of Latvia-China Friendship Group of Latvia's parliament Sergejs Potapkins, and editor in chief of the Diena newspaper Andrey Svedovs.

On behalf of Xinhua, Liu also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Transport of Latvia.

Huang Yong, Chinese ambassador to Latvia, was present at the meetings.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 23:31:37|Editor: ying

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (L, front), accompanied by Leung Chun-ying (R, front), chief executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, visits an exhibition profiling the achievements made in Hong Kong since its return to the motherland in 1997 in Beijing, capital of China, June 26, 2017. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called "one country, two systems" the best institutional arrangement for Hong Kong's prosperity and stability.

Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited an exhibition at the National Museum in Beijing profiling the achievements made in Hong Kong since its return to the motherland in 1997.

At 3:00 p.m. Monday, Xi and other senior leaders arrived at the National Museum, accompanied by Leung Chun-ying, chief executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

During the last 20 years, "one country, two systems" has proven not only to be the best solution to the Hong Kong question left over from history, but the best institutional arrangement for Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability since its return, Xi said.

"We will continue to comprehensively and precisely implement the 'one country, two systems' principle, handle affairs in line with the Constitution and the Basic Law of the HKSAR, and further promote the overall development of Hong Kong," Xi said.

Xi said he hopes Hong Kong compatriots would join with all people of the country to advance "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong, and strive to maintain the region's prosperity and stability, creating a more beautiful tomorrow.

Other senior leaders Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli also visited the exhibition.

When Xi entered the exhibition hall and pressed a button on an interactive display, a beating heart glowed on a big screen.

The display, named "concentric circles," showed that Hong Kong compatriots and all other Chinese people are of one heart and contribute together to the nation's development.

The exhibition, organized by the HKSAR government, has 10 display areas. Photographs, graphics and interactive multimedia showing Hong Kong's development, opportunities and engagement with other Chinese cities held the attention of the leaders.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 23:36:40|Editor: Song Lifang

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TOKYO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 people attended the opening ceremony of a photo exhibition that kicked off here on Monday to mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

The exhibition displayed dozens of photos featuring historical moments as well as social and economic life of Hong Kong, since China resumed exercise of sovereignty over the territory on July 1, 1997.

Shirley Yung, Principal Representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)'s Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo, said at the ceremony that the anniversary is an important milestone for Hong Kong's development.

Hong Kong will continue to bring into full play the advantage of "one country, two systems" principle to make greater achievements and to serve as a "super-connector" between Chinese mainland and the world, she said.

Masahiko Komura, Chairman of the Japan-Hong Kong Parliamentarian League (JHKPL), said that he had witnessed with his own eyes the stable development and prosperity of Hong Kong under China's "one country, two systems" principle when he visited Hong Kong in 2015.

Hong Kong's stability and prosperity will benefit both its motherland as well as the whole region including Japan, he said.

Kyoko Maseki, an official from Japan Association for Promotion of International Trade, said that Hong Kong has made a lot of achievements in the past 20 years and the connection between Chinese mainland and Hong Kong is becoming stronger.

She said that Hong Kong is one of the most important markets for Japanese farm goods and she hopes that Japanese enterprises could enhance cooperation with enterprises from Hong Kong and become more involved in China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The photo exhibition will run through Friday.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 23:41:49|Editor: ying

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum (WEF) founder and executive chairman, in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, June 26, 2017. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

DALIAN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called on all countries to make concerted efforts in building a more fair, just and open world economic system on Monday.

Li made the remarks when meeting with Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum (WEF) founder and executive chairman, in China's northeastern coastal city Dalian ahead of the Summer Davos Forum.

This year's forum, scheduled for Tuesday to Thursday, carries the theme "Achieving Inclusive Growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution." Li will address the opening ceremony on Tuesday.

Li spoke highly of the cooperation between the WEF and China, saying the theme of the annual meeting has practical significance.

With a focus on the supply-side structural reform, China is using the new round of industrial and technological revolution to push forward economic reform, said Li.

The government is trying to stimulate the market by cutting red tape, improving supervision and services, as well as encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship, he said.

He said China is making efforts to foster new growth drivers to replace old ones, promote job creation and upgrade its industries, in a bid to create a new engine for economic development.

The Premier said the recovery of world economy needs the efforts of all countries.

He called on countries to meet challenges together, enhance coordination in macroeconomic policies, and advance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

China will continue to advance a new round of high-level opening-up, and treat domestic and foreign-funded enterprises fairly and equally, so as to achieve mutual benefit and common development, said Li.

Schwab, for his part, appreciated the policies mentioned above, saying the WEF is willing to reinforce its partnership with China.

He said the WEF is ready to join with China to send out a positive signal of stability, development and cooperation, and contribute to a strong, sustainable and balanced world economy.

Established in 2007, the annual meeting has become the foremost gathering on science, technology and innovation. It serves as a platform for leaders to deepen their understanding of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Around 1,500 politicians, officials, entrepreneurs, scholars, and media representatives from over 90 countries and regions will attend the meeting.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 23:46:58|Editor: huaxia

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ADDIS ABABA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas (EMPNG) is to establish five gold trading centers across the country to combat contraband gold trade.

The information was given on Monday by EMPNG artisanal mines production support directorate director Jigsa Kidane who also says the new centers will help in cutting long distance that artisanal miners had to travel to sell their gold find and thereby legalizing artisanal gold mining trading.

The five centers will be built in Tigray, Southern Nations, Gambella, Oromia and Benishangul Gumuz regional states, which together are source for the vast majority of Ethiopia's gold production.

Ethiopia earned 74 million U.S. dollars from gold exports for the 11 months of Ethiopian fiscal Year (EFY) 2016-2017 ending in May.

The revenue was smaller by half from the same period last year EFY 2015-2016, when Ethiopia earned 150 million dollars from gold exports.

The Ethiopian government blamed primarily contraband gold trading for the decrease in gold exports revenue. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 23:52:02|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China is expected to post steady demand for oil and natural gas in the near future despite a slowdown in global consumption, a report showed Monday.

China's demand for natural gas might grow by over three percent annually until 2030 while the growth rate might fall below one percent in western countries, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Reserves and output of oil and natural gas keep growing steadily while consumption continues to slow or might even drop in the future, leading to over-supply of oil and natural gas, the report pointed out.

Global natural gas output is expected to reach five trillion cubic meters by 2030 and Asia will be a major consumer, the report showed.

Demand for natural gas in Asia and China's abundant output and imports make it possible for China to plan for a regional natural gas trading center for Northeast Asia, the report added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-26 23:57:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ADDIS ABABA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The 29th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union (AU) will kickoff at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Tuesday.

The 29th summit, which will take place from June 27 to July 4, will be held under the theme "Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth."

The Pan-African bloc in a statement on Monday indicated that, the 34th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives' Committee (PRC) will be held during the first two days of summit, June 27 and 28.

The PRC meeting is expected to prepare the agenda of the AU Summit with appropriate recommendations for consideration by the Executive Council, which is scheduled to take place from June 30 to July 1.

The Permanent Representatives' Committee meeting will bring together all the Ambassadors of the 55 AU member states based in Addis Ababa and other key AU officials, the AU Commission announced.

The main event of the summit, the 29th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, is expected to take place from July 3 to 4.

Meanwhile, Ethiopian security forces have assured African leaders and summit participants for the peaceful deliberations of the event.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Addis Ababa City Administration, in a joint press communique issued on Friday, asserted that that the east African country has completed all the necessary security preparations.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:17:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SHIJIAZHUANG, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The first subway lines in north China's Hebei Province started test runs on Monday.

The first phases of Line 1 and Line 3 cover 30 km from east to west, with 25 stations in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei.

The National Development and Reform Commission approved plans to build subway lines in Shijiazhuang in July 2012. The subway network includes six lines and 160 stations over a combined distance of 242 km.

The first phases of Lines 1, 2 and 3 will be completed by 2020 at a cost of about 42 billion yuan (6 billion U.S. dollars), according to the plans.

Shijiazhuang is a train transportation hub, but the complicated train network creates much traffic congestion.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:17:13|Editor: Song Lifang

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DUBLIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney on Monday welcomed the confidence and supply agreement reached between the United Kingdom's Conservative Party and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

"The content of the confidence and supply agreement between the Conservative Party and the DUP is primarily a matter for those two parties. I note that the agreement provides DUP support for British government legislation on Brexit," Coveney said in a statement.

On Monday, the DUP, a unionist political party in Northern Ireland, signed a deal with the Conservatives to support British Prime Minister Theresa May's minority government.

Under the deal, about one billion pounds (1.27 billion U.S. dollars) in concessions have been made to Northern Ireland's largest party in exchange for support from its 10 MPs on key votes in the House of Commons.

"An enhanced Northern Ireland voice articulating an agreed devolved government position could see more effective and inclusive representation of the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland at Westminster," said the Irish minister, who is currently in Belfast to assist in the talks aimed at restoring the devolved institutions.

Coveney said a functioning Executive and Assembly is in the best interests of the people of Northern Ireland.

"That is my focus and that of the Irish government," he said.

The Northern Ireland Executive is the administrative branch of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland. It consists of the first minister and deputy first minister and various ministers with individual portfolios and remits.

In March's Assembly elections in Northern Ireland, the unionists emerged for the first time ever without a majority, with the pro-republican Sinn Fein making massive gains. Sinn Fein reduced the margin to just one seat, winning 27 assembly seats, just one less than the 28 won by the DUP.

Under Northern Ireland's power-sharing agreement, the government there must be run by Irish nationalists and unionists together.

Monday's deal may yet impact on a June 29 deadline for the DUP and Sinn Fein to bury their differences to enable the re-establishment of the devolved assembly in Belfast.

Failure by the political parties in Northern Ireland to agree to setting up an executive by 4 p.m. Thursday could lead to rule of the region reverting to Westminster.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:22:21|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police on Monday launched investigations into the mysterious death of five people whose bodies were dumped at the railway line in Nairobi's sprawling Kibera slums.

Nairobi County police commander Japheth Koome said some of the bodies whose eyes had been gouged and some had the private parts mutilated seemed to have died painfully in the hands of their killers.

Koome said they are yet to know who was behind the incident and the motive.

"They seem to have been dumped there after they were killed elsewhere by unknown people. We are investigating," said Koome.

Residents could only identify one body. The one that the residents said hailed from there had been missing for a day. It is not clear how and who killed the men thrown on the railway line for the cargo train to run over them.

Koome said the bodies were dumped there on Sunday night by unknown people in Darajani area. The first two bodies were in Darajani area while the rest were discovered down the railway line.

The officers who attended the scene said the bodies had deep cuts in the head, and stomach. Police combed the area to search for clues of the killings in vain.

The bodies were discovered in mid morning hours in the slum by residents who called police. The residents said the discovery was the latest in a series that have been happening there.

"We usually find bodies here and call police to pick them. We don't know who kill the victims," said Sheila Asika, a resident. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:27:22|Editor: ying

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DALIAN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), on Monday applauded China's role in driving global economic growth and its commitment to globalization.

"China's growth is an incredible contribution to the global economy," Schwab told Xinhua ahead of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2017, also known as Summer Davos.

China's GDP registered a 6.9 percent year on year increase in the first quarter thanks to warming trade and robust consumption, which prompted a number of financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, to upgrade their forecast.

"The Chinese economy has surprised, again, many people as when we were in Tianjin a year ago and two years ago here, there were many skeptics," Schwab said, adding that he is optimistic for the global economy as a whole with many areas moving out of recession.

China has served as a major stabilizer and driving force for the world economy, contributing to more than 30 percent of growth during the past years, data showed.

Schwab believes the economy has become more forward-oriented during the past decade that featured with the Summer Davos. Established by the WEF in 2007, the forum is held each year in China, alternating between the port cities of Dalian and Tianjin.

"The meeting shows that China is not just a traditional economy based on manufacturing but has great potential to move very fast into the era of the fourth industrial revolution," Schwab said.

He also highlighted China's efforts to push forward globalization. "We are living in an inter-connected and inter-dependent world and we need globalization because our fate is interwoven."

Schwab called for a different form of globalization that can ensure dialogues in a multipolar world and rein in the widening gap between rich and poor. "We have to made globalization much more inclusive."

Striving to further integrate into the world economy, China is on a new course with the Belt and Road Initiative. A high-level meeting was held in Beijing last month to rally support for the initiative.

"The Belt and Road Initiative has great significance because it is a new approach to reach a new and open cooperation...and everybody can participate in a win-win situation as an equal partner," Schwab said.

From Tuesday to Thursday, around 1,500 politicians, officials,entrepreneurs, scholars, and media representatives from over 90 countries and regions will assemble in the city to discuss topics from inclusive growth to the new industrial revolution.

The meeting, themed "Achieving Inclusive Growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution," will focus on how technology and policy innovations can accelerate a more inclusive style of economic growth that prioritizes meaningful job creation and sustainable development.

Premier Li Keqiang will address the opening ceremony on Tuesday.

Schwab founded the WEF in 1971, initially known as the European Management Forum. In 1987, the forum changed to the current name and sought to broaden its vision by focusing on international concerns.

China first sent a delegation to the meeting in 1979, with subsequent participation marked by an incremental and positive assertiveness.
British Prime Minister Theresa May attends a press conference at the end of a two-day EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 23, 2017. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

LONDON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May outlined Monday a nine-point plan stating the rights of more than 3 million European Union (EU) citizens to remain in Britain after Brexit.

Telling MPs in a House of Commons debate that her post-Brexit proposals were a fair and serious offer, May said under the plan no EU citizen in Britain lawfully will have to leave when the country finally ends its membership of the EU in about two years.

She said any EU citizen in Britain with five years' continual residence at a specified cut off point will be able to stay with settled status and be treated as if they are British citizens in regard to healthcare, education, benefits and pensions.

Those without five years' residence arriving before the cut-off date will be able to stay until they have five years' residence and can then apply for settled status.

May added that the cut-off date will be the subject of discussions, but will be no earlier than March 29 2017 and no later than March 29 2019, the date Britain is scheduled to leave the EU.

The plan will also mean no families will be split up, with measures to allow dependents to apply for settled status.

May also said there will be no "cliff edge" by introducing a two-year grace period to allow people to regularize their status.

The policy unveiled by May will mean all 3 million EU citizens resident in Britain will have to apply for a settled status identity card.

It is also expected that the offer will be extended on a reciprocal basis to citizens of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

May's plans came under attack from opposition politicians.

The main opposition leader, Labor's Jeremy Corbyn, said the offer was not generous and offered too little, too late.

Labor said Britain should have made a unilateral guarantee to EU citizens following the referendum a year ago which voted in favor of Brexit.

Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat's Brexit secretary, said: "Far from being 'fair and serious', this proposal offers very little and shows the government is continuing in its callousness."

He called for Britain to unilaterality guarantee the right of EU citizens to stay.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:32:24|Editor: huaxia

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HARARE, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) on Monday expelled all medical students from its halls of residence after they staged a protest over school fees.

It is reported that the students were not happy about being asked to pay full fees during the third year when they will not be fully based at the university.

The medical students pay 450 U.S. dollars per semester, which is made up of 15 weeks.

The students, whose degree is five years long, had argued that they should not be compelled to pay fees in full especially during the third year when they will not be fully based at the university.

It is in the first two years of study, referred to as the pre-clinical studies, that medical students will be fully based at the varsity.

However, the varsity allegedly insisted that they pay full fees for the two semesters, amounting to 900 dollars. The students were allowed to make payment plans.

"The security department has reported this morning that a gathering of medical students at the Students Union building had started throwing stones, a behavior that the University of Zimbabwe does not tolerate," the UZ said in a notice on Monday.

"The University has now made a decision that all medical students should move out of halls of residence on campus and off campus with immediate effect. All medical students are therefore directed to vacate halls of residence with immediate effect and by no later than 13:15 hours, June 27, 2017."

This is not the first time that the university has been rocked by skirmishes. In 2015, the university was temporarily closed after students staged protests at the campus in solidarity with their lecturers and non-teaching staff who were on strike over delayed pay.

This led university authorities to temporarily close the institution of higher learning for a week. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:37:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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STOCKHOLM, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Johan Gustafsson, the 42-year-old Swedish man held captive by an al-Qaida linked group in Mali since 2011, has been released, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs said Monday.

"It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Johan Gustafsson has been released and can return to Sweden," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement issued on the government website.

"Johan's situation has touched many of us and extensive efforts have been made to secure his release," she said.

"The government would like to highlight the excellent cooperation that has marked the work of the Foreign Ministry, the National Police's operational department and other Swedish and foreign authorities -- work that finally made it possible for Johan to come home," Wallstrom said in the statement.

According to Swedish newspaper Expressen, Gustafsson has landed in Sweden.

Gustafsson was traveling through Africa on a motorbike when he was kidnapped in Timbuktu by AQIM, al-Qaida's North African branch, in November 2011. Since then, he has been a prisoner of the group.

Information about Gustafsson's well-being has been scarce during the days he was held hostage. But his family in Sweden received intermittent signs, including video footage, that he was alive. It was in March that they were assured of their son's good health, Swedish public television broadcaster SVT reported.

The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs will hold a press conference later tonight.

Goran Gustafsson, Johan Gustafsson's father, would not confirm or comment the information to Swedish news agency TT.

According to Johan Ripas, SVT's correspondent in Africa, the captors demanded an enormous ransom -- a sum of nearly 23 million U.S. dollars was mentioned. It is still unclear what has changed, SVT reported.

"There was talk of trying to reduce the ransom to cover 'food and lodging' during captivity," Ripas told SVT.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:47:30|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MOSUL, Iraq, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi forces battling Islamic State (IS) militants on Monday freed a neighborhood from IS militants amid fierce clashes as the troops continued pushing toward the heart of the heavily populated old city in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said.

The Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces liberated al-Farouq al-Oula neighborhood in the old city in the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of the Tigris River, and they raised the Iraqi flag on some of its buildings after killing many IS militants, Abdul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement.

The troops managed to free the neighborhood located in the northwestern part of the old city, after days of back-and-forth battles, while an army force continued street-to-street battles in the adjacent al-Mashahda neighborhood.

During the past few weeks, the CTS forces, federal police and army soldiers made slow progress due to the stiff resistance of IS militants and a large number of roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings, in addition to IS snipers who took positions in the buildings of heavily-populated neighborhoods.

"There is only about one percent of the city of Mosul left in in the hands of Daesh (IS group) militants, and the Iraqi security forces are continuing their advance from several directions into of the old city center," JOC Spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul said on Sunday.

According to UN reports, some 100,000 civilians are still trapped in the IS-held areas in the old city center and the adjacent al-Shifaa neighborhood. The extremist group is using the civilians as human shields.

Iraqi forces, backed by international coalition, launched their final push on June 18 to drive out IS militants from al-Shifaa neighborhood and the densely-populated old city center.

Mosul, 400 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:47:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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RIGA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian government coalition has agreed to make personal income tax more progressive, differentiating its rates at 20 percent, 23 percent and 31 percent depending on the size of one's income, Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis told reporters following coalition partners' meeting on Monday.

The highest, 31 percent tax, would be charged on personal income exceeding 55,000 euros a year. The earners of high salaries, however, would no longer be paying the so-called solidarity tax.

The 23 percent tax rate would be applied to annual income between 20,000 euros and 55,000 euros, and the lowest, 20 percent tax rate, would apply to annual income that does not exceed 20,000 euros, the prime minister said.

The latest tax proposal also includes a gradual rise of the nontaxable monthly minimum income from 200 euros in 2018 to 230 euros in 2019 and to 250 euros in 2020.

"The latest proposal has been balanced so that it would not create a budget deficit," Kucinskis said.

At present, the tax rate on all personal income is 23 percent, but in the context of Latvia's planned broader tax reform, the Finance Ministry earlier proposed cutting the tax rate on income that does not exceed 45,000 euros a year to 20 percent and leaving it at 23 percent on personal income surpassing that amount.

The Finance Ministry first came up with its tax reform proposals in late February 2017, offering to lower the personal income tax rate to 20 percent from 23 percent, abolish solidarity tax and leave microenterprise tax in place.

The European Commission, which has expressed concerns about Latvia's tax reform plan, has commended Latvia's efforts to ease the tax burden on people with low income, but it regards the plan to slash the personal income rate to 20 percent from 23 percent as a risky measure.

The European Commission has warned that the tax cut would cost too much and that the compensatory mechanisms planned as part of the tax reform would be insufficient to make up for the loss of budget revenue.

Later, it was reported that the government coalition has been mulling various new compensatory measures, including making the personal income tax more progressive, postponing the reduction of personal income tax, as well as other solutions.

Meanwhile, the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), which initially strongly supported the tax reform, said last week that it could no longer back the reform plan if it included a hike of taxes on labor or progressive income tax rates.

Bank of Latvia Governor Ilmars Rimsevics voiced a similar opinion, saying that the government's attempts to provide additional funding for Latvia's cash-strapped health sector were "killing the tax reform."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:47:33|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MARSABIT, Kenya, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police confirmed on Monday that they are interrogating five suspects in connection with renewed clashes in Marsabit county in northern part after the murder of ten people this month.

County Police Commander Ben Kogo said the latest victim is a 12-year-old boy who was beheaded and another seriously wounded on Monday morning.

"We have arrested five suspects in connection with the killing. We are still questioning them. Other suspects have already appeared in court. We have no official report of claims made by politicians," Kogo said.

Local leaders claim that the skirmishes have claimed a total of 22 lives in the area in the renewed clashes between Rendile and Borana communities as leaders protest over escalating insecurity in the region ahead of the August poll.

The latest killing occurred on Monday morning when raiders armed with crude weapons attacked a 12-year-old boy at Songa area in Saku constituency and hacked him to death and seriously wounding another.

Kogo said they are questioning five suspects in connection with the killing including the suspects who shot dead a police reservist in the area.

He said they have arrested some suspects who attacked a truck along Laisamis road killing one person before offloading some camels to another truck.

The incident has sparked fresh tension in the region that has witnessed bloody conflicts in the last two months. Police say they are also investigating the murder of civilians by armed thugs in the region.

Local leaders said they fear for their lives as criminals may target to eliminate them. They called on the state to investigate the killing in Laisamis, Saku and Moyale region.

Moyale region in Kenya's northern border with Ethiopia has been the scene of tribal clashes involving mainly Borana, Rendile and Gabra communities of Kenya between 2013-2015.

Moyale, a town which is less than a kilometer from the neighboring Ethiopia, burst into deadly skirmishes late August 2013 that pit Borana against their arch-rival Gabra community.

Moyale town has been experiencing one of the worst continued inter-clan feuds.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 00:52:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ADDIS ABABA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Workneh Gebeyehu on Monday asserted the need to strengthen the long-standing cooperation between Ethiopia and Russia.

In his meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Russia's capital Moscow on Monday, Gebeyehu said the Ethio-Russia relations, which dated back some 120 years, have good prospect and potential for further growth, Ethiopia's state news agency reported on Monday.

The two foreign ministers have discussed bilateral and international issues of mutual interest as well as ways to strengthen their cooperation in many sectors, including infrastructure, trade and other economic spheres.

Gebeyehu, who invited Russian companies to invest in the east African country, further noted that Ethiopia's mining and energy sectors would be good opportunities for Russian companies.

Russian company, Inter RAO-Export, has recently expressed its interest in the construction and modernization of hydroelectric stations in Ethiopia, while another Russian oil and gas company, GPB Global Resources, is already exploring hydrocarbons in the eastern part of Ethiopia.

The two countries, as part of their push to strengthen their cooperation, have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on scientific and technical cooperation, including the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks live on television in Tehran June 12. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

TEHRAN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday called the cause of Palestine as major issue of the Islamic world and urged Muslims to fight Israel with "whatever means possible."

Khamenei made the remarks in an address to a gathering of Iranians in the capital Tehran.

"According to Islamic jurisprudence, when an enemy takes over Muslim lands, Jihad (struggle or fight against enemies of Islam) in any possible form becomes everyone's duty," Khamenei was quoted by Press TV as saying.

"Palestine is the number one issue of the Islamic world, but some Islamic countries are acting in such a way that as if the Palestinian case had been ignored and forgotten," Khamenei said.

"Today the fight against the Zionist regime is obligatory and necessary for Muslims," he said, urging unity among the Muslim states.

"Division and discord are harmful to Islam and the Islamic Ummah (nation)," he stressed.

Khamenei also hailed Al-Quds Day rallies on Friday and the massive turnout in the capital Tehran and other cities across Iran to support the Palestinian people.

On Friday, the ralliers chanted anti-Israel and anti-U.S. slogans and carried banners condemning Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 03:24:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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KIGALI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Experts on conflicts have called on African governments and the international community to adopt better approaches to address humanitarian crisis during urban armed conflicts.

Speaking on Monday at a public regional conference on challenges and humanitarian consequences of urban armed conflicts in the Rwandan capital Kigali, experts argued that humanitarian crisis in urban armed conflicts is quite alarming, especially the urban setting which need better and sustainable approaches to address the challenge.

The one day forum dubbed "War in Cities: an African Perspective" focused on deliberating ideas and approaches geared towards adopting a multi-disciplinary approach to improve the conditions of the civilian population.

It's organized by International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC).

"Human rights protection is a must during armed conflicts. The growing phenomenon of urban armed conflicts leads to loss of civilian lives and abuse of human rights. Many conflicts could be avoided through greater attention to civilian lives at an early stage before violence breaks out," said Jean-Paul Kimonyo, expert on conflict and post-conflict reconstruction.

He said relief efforts in urban setting often fall far short of need during conflicts, and a better approach is required to respond to the scale, complexity and duration of armed conflict in urban areas.

The event brought together regional experts from the humanitarian, military, diplomatic and academic communities to share their point of views and experiences on the issue of urban armed conflicts.

"What we have learned from past urban conflicts and violence, such as in South Sudan, Nigeria or Central African Republic should be a lesson to us to address the humanitarian crisis during urban conflicts," said Julien Le Sourd, urban water advisor, ICRC Nairobi, Kenya.

She added that it is in crisis and conflict that individuals and communities are most at risk and in need of protection.

The meeting reflected on the drivers behind the conflicts and humanitarian implications and explored operational and policy responses.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 03:39:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BERLIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A so-called "Reichsbuerger" will face trial for the murder of a police officer, a representative of the German judiciary told dpa on Monday.

The 49-year-old, who is accused of murder, attempted murder and severe bodily injury, opened fire on an officer of Germany's police special forces (Spezialeinsatzkommando, SEK) during a routine investigation near Nuremberg, Bavaria in October 2016.

A 32-year-old officer was killed and two officers were injured.

The SEK had been called in to confiscate the weapons of a hunter who was no longer seen as reliable by authorities.

"Reichsbuerger"(citizens of the empire) is a term adopted by members of a far-right political movement which has long confounded authorities with its peculiar beliefs.

The loosely-organized group rejects the German Federal Republic, and its constitution, authorities, laws and courts.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BvF) estimated in May 2017 that there were 12,600 individuals affiliated with the "Reichsbuerger" movement.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 03:59:29|Editor: huaxia

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VIENNA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Austria has seen a 10.3 percent increase in exports for the first quarter of the year, the largest increase in the past five years, the Austrian Economic Chambers revealed.

In a press release to mark the opening of its "export day" event on Monday, the chambers President Christoph Leitl said the "difficult export year 2016" has now passed, and exports are once again on an upward trend".

He said the first-quarter export growth also brought with it short-term tax revenues of about 350 million euros (390 million U.S. dollars).

Export growth was observed to most major regions of the world, including Europe (up 10.2 percent), Africa (11.2 percent), the Americas (11.2 percent), Asia (8.8 percent), and Australia (26.1 percent). Only the Middle East saw a decline of 3.9 percent due to the present crises there. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 04:04:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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JERUSALEM, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip launched a rocket that landed in southern Israel on Monday night, causing no injuries or damage, a military spokesman said in a statement.

The spokesman said the rocket hit an open field in the regional council of Sha'ar HaNegev and the forces are still searching the area for remnants of the rocket.

No organization immediately claimed responsibility for the fire.

The incident came as Gaza is coping with a spiraling crisis since Israel has decreased the electricity it provides for the besieged Palestinian enclave after the Palestinian National Authority said it will pay only 70 percent of Gaza's electricity bill.

Since Israel concluded its 51-day military campaign in Gaza in the summer of 2014, sporadic rocket fire from the region persists in southern Israel, usually causing no injuries or damage. Israel often retaliates by attacking Hamas positions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 04:29:47|Editor: huaxia

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ARUSHA, Tanzania, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Monday banned the export of unprocessed food crops, in a bid to encourage investment in agro-processing industries.

Majaliwa announced the ban when speaking at this year's Eid al-Fitr celebration, which at the national level was held in Moshi Municipality, northern Tanzania's region of Kilimanjaro.

"From today, it's strictly prohibited for a person to export food crops which are not added value (unprocessed). The Fifth-Phase government has been encouraging investors to invest in agro-processing industries.

"In this area, we want people to export processed food crops. And if it is maize, farmers/traders should export maize flour. This will create employment for our people," said Majaliwa.

"I'm informed that there are people/traders who are trying to smuggle raw maize to neighboring countries. This is not acceptable at this time when we're interested in seeing people venture into agro-processing," he stressed.

The Tanzanian PM further said: "Anyone who can go against with this order, his/her maize will be seized and will be taken to the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA)."

He also cited food security as one of the reasons for the government to ban the export of raw maize, the main staple food in Tanzania and the rest east and central African countries.

He called upon Tanzania's security agencies and local government authorities to be vigilant in the border posts of Tarakea, Holili, Mwanga, Horohoro, Siha, Namanga and Sirari, which are notorious for smuggling.

Majaliwa also suggested the need for Tanzanian traders to take maize from where there is a bumper harvest to those areas with food shortage, citing northwestern Tanzania's regions of Shinyanga and Geita. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 04:45:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SANAA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed nine civilians in central Yemeni province of Marib on Monday, local residents and official told Xinhua.

"The Saudi-led warplanes launched several airstrikes on villagers' houses in Al-Miseyd area, killing nine civilians, including two women," one official at the scene told Xinhua by phone.

Other four villagers were wounded in the airstrikes. The incident was videotaped by the residents, and a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua.

Al-Miseyd area locates in Serwah district of Marib province, about 173 km northeast of the capital Sanaa.

Marib provincial capital city was recaptured from Houthi rebels last year by forces loyal to the coalition-backed Yemeni government. But Serwah and several adjacent areas were still under rebels' control.

This is the latest in a series of airstrikes hitting Yemeni civilians since the war began in March 2015.

Last week, a total of 25 Yemeni civilians were killed when a Saudi-led coalition warplane struck a popular market in Yemen's northern province of Saada.
Followers of the Houthi movement shout slogans as they rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, during the holy month of Ramadan in Sanaa, Yemen June 23, 2017. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

SANAA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed nine civilians in central Yemeni province of Marib on Monday, local residents and official told Xinhua.

"The Saudi-led warplanes launched several airstrikes on villagers' houses in Al-Miseyd area, killing nine civilians, including two women," one official at the scene told Xinhua by phone.

Other four villagers were wounded in the airstrikes. The incident was videotaped by the residents, and a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua.

Al-Miseyd area locates in Serwah district of Marib province, about 173 km northeast of the capital Sanaa.

Marib provincial capital city was recaptured from Houthi rebels last year by forces loyal to the coalition-backed Yemeni government. But Serwah and several adjacent areas were still under rebels' control.

This is the latest in a series of airstrikes hitting Yemeni civilians since the war began in March 2015.

Last week, a total of 25 Yemeni civilians were killed when a Saudi-led coalition warplane struck a popular market in Yemen's northern province of Saada.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 04:55:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BRATISLAVA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A six-day general strike at Volkswagen Slovakia (VW SK) has ended Sunday after the trade union and the company management agreed on a deal after negotiations, VW SK spokesperson Lucia Kovarovic Makayova confirmed on Monday.

The spokesperson said the agreement features an increase to workers' salaries by 4.7 percent as of this month, by another 4.7 percent as of January 2018 and by another 4.1 percent between November 1, 2018- Aug. 31, 2019.

Furthermore, the trade union and the management agreed that all workers will receive a one-off payment worth 500 euros (558 U.S. dollars) this month, a salary compensation worth 40 percent of the average salary for the first three days of work incapacity and higher contributions if participating in a voluntary blood donor program.

"In this way, we have decided to contribute towards securing a long-term perspective for both our employees and the company," stressed Kovarovic Makayova.

Volkswagen Slovakia's Modern Trade Union (MOV) informed the employees about the end of the strike on a social network.

"We ended it with a very successful collective bargaining. All the points we wanted to cover were concluded. We managed to agree on gradual salary hikes of 14.12 percent in total until November 2018," said MOV chairman Zoroslav Smolinsky.

It was the first strike in the VW SK since its establishment in 1992. VW Sk produced last year 396,000 vehicles and employs 12,000 people. In 2016 its profit reached 213 million euros (238 million U.S. dollars).
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 05:05:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BUCHAREST, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Romanian President Klaus Iohannis designated Social Democrat Mihai Tudose as new prime minister on Monday, accepting the candidate proposed by the parliamentary majority to lead the government.

The decision paves the way for the rapid formation of the new government, easing days of political instability that could discourage foreign investors.

"The crisis we are going through...seriously harms Romania. It harms the Romanian economy, the image of Romania in the world," Iohannis said at Cotroceni Presidential Palace when announcing his decision, stressing that "the crisis must end as soon as possible".

"We must have as soon as possible a new government, a government that will begin to solve the problems that have remained unresolved."

Liviu Dragnea, leader of the main ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), said a new government would be approved in parliament on Thursday in a vote of confidence supported by the majority formed together with Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE).

According to sources of the coalition, there will be no substantive change in the composition of the government and in the distribution of ministers between the two ruling parties, while most of the ministers of the previous cabinet will continue to serve in the new government.

Prime minister-designate Tudose, 50, is the acting Minister of Economy in the government led by Sorin Grindeanu that was dismissed by a motion of censure last week. He had been in the same position from December 2014 to November 2015 in a previous social democratic government.

He is a PSD deputy and for 13 years the chairman of the Commission for Economic Policy, Reform and Privatization of the Chamber of Deputies.

Under the Constitution, the designated prime minister has 10 days to gain the vote of confidence in his government and his program in the parliament.

The ruling coalition toppled on June 21 its own cabinet amid a tense relationship between the leadership of major ruling PSD and the prime minister who refused to resign even after his party withdrew political support for him and expelled him from the party.

The PSD leadership claimed they removed Grindeanu over his failure to pass most of the party's legislative program, which includes measures like tax cuts, salary increases for public servants and a sovereign-wealth fund of 11.2 billion U.S. dollars to promote infrastructure investment.

Grindeanu's cabinet entered into office in January after the Social Democrats won more than 45 percent of the votes in the parliamentary elections in December 2016.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 05:15:28|Editor: Yurou Liang

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LA PAZ, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Bolivian Ministry of Education and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) signed an agreement on Monday to expand cooperation on science and technology.

The agreement was signed by Bolivian Education Minister Roberto Aguilar and President of the CAS Bai Chunli in a ceremony held in La Paz.

Aguilar said in the signing ceremony that Bolivian scientists and researchers would be trained in China in a number of areas in line with the agreement.

The agreement will help Bolivian researchers learn from internationally recognized scientists, he added.

The agreement opens research in public universities to boost knowledge and training in both countries.

According to the agreement with a term of five years, the collaboration can take place in areas of mutual interest through visits, collaborative research, conferences, seminars, workshops, and the exchange of information and publications.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 06:05:53|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SANTIAGO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Amid snowfall, Chilean authorities on Monday located a group of 11 mountain climbers missing for two days near Lonquimay Volcano, in southern Chile's La Araucania region.

Most of the climbers -- six women and five men between the ages of 40 and 61 -- were in good condition, but four showed signs of hypothermia, rescuers said.

Forest rangers and police found the group via helicopter on a mountain slope, where they had carved out a kind of trench in the snow to keep warm.

The group, all members of a mountain climbing club from the capital Santiago, had been missing since 3 p.m. local time Saturday, when they sent relatives a message saying, "We are lost."

Police said their climbing experience and knowledge helped their survival.

Earlier Monday, David Jouannet, director of the National Forestry Corporation (Conaf) in La Araucania, told a local radio station that search and rescue efforts had been stepped up, but that snowfall could hinder those efforts.

Lonquimay rises some 2,850 meters above sea level and is invariably covered in snow in the winter months, when rangers recommend climbers stay away from the volcano.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 06:05:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MEXICO CITY, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Armed assailants rounded up at least eight people at a restaurant in Mexico's northwest state of Sinaloa in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, state authorities said.

The brazen mass kidnapping took place between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. local time (0630 and 0700 GMT) at Mar & Sea, a restaurant in the state capital Culiacan, according to the state Secretariat of Public Security.

Initial reports said 12 to 15 people had been abducted, but Public Security Secretary Cristobal Castaneda said police determined the actual number was eight.

The restaurant, popular among local politicians and businessmen, was the site of another crime-related incident in 2014, local media said.

"On Feb. 6 of that year, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman (the son of drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman) managed to escape (capture) dressed as a waiter and wearing an apron," the daily Milenio said on its website.

Officials were trying to determine whether Monday's victims were clients or employees of the restaurant, media said.

The state has seen an uptick in violence since El Chapo was extradited to the United States in January, as rival drug cartels fight each other for control of the lucrative drug market.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 07:21:50|Editor: ying

Xu Jinghu (L), the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs, meets with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in kigali, capital of Rwanda, June 26, 2017. (Xinhua/Chinese Embassy in Rwanda)

KIGALI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to work closely with Rwanda to implement consensus reached by leaders of China and Rwanda, a Chinese official said here on Monday.

Xu Jinghu, the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs, made the remarks while meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 46 years ago, bilateral relations between China and Rwanda have been developing healthily and smoothly, said Xu, who was visit Rwanda from June 24 to June 26.

During President Kagame's visit to China in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kagame reached important consensus on future development of bilateral relations. Under the consensus, China is willing to closely work with Rwanda to deepen friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields, and make the two peoples better benefit from China-Rwanda relations.

Kagame said at the meeting with Xu that Rwanda pays highly attention to developing relations with China. After his latest visit to China, the development of bilateral relations is showing a good momentum.

Rwanda is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in the areas of industrialization, energy resource exploration, infrastructure construction, tourism and agriculture and etc., Kagame said.
Police officer stabbed by mentally ill man

The victim identified as PC Charles and another officer PC Ramsubhag, both of the Southern Division Task Force were on mobile patrol in Princes Town around 7.30 pm on Saturday when they responded to a report that a mentally ill man was threatening residents along the Naparima Mayaro road in the vicinity of the Princes Town Fire Station.

On arrival at the scene police reports state, the man began throwing pieces of steel rods and stones at the officers. Charles attempted to subdue the man when he pulled out a knife and stabbed him in his back. He also sustained a cut to left little finger.

Charles fell to the ground with the impact of the stabbing and injured his left knee.

With the assistance of PC Ramsubhag and other officers who arrived at the scene, the mentalli ill man was subdued and taken to the Princes Town Police Station while Charles was rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital where he remains warded. Cpl.

Malloo is continuing investigations.

Over the past three months, four mentally ill men Paul Marchan, Raymond Joseph, Daniel Paul and Edison Thompson - have been shot dead by police prompting criticisms from some sectors in the society including Roman Catholic priest Fr Martin Sirju who called for respect for the mentally ill.
Naps student is top JA achiever

Representing company Euphoria, sponsored by platinum sponsor bpTT , Basdeos stellar achievement was loudly applauded by a packed Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre ballroom audience of Junior Achievers, JA officials and guests on June 10.

The JA experience has been very rewarding.

I got the opportunity to interact with my peers from schools across the country.

The programme taught us skills needed to plan and conduct a viable business enterprise.

This award really belongs to all my company colleagues, said an euphoric Basdeo, after receiving his award.

Accolade of Company of the Year went to another bpTT -sponsored company, Highline Productions, four of whose members will be selected to travel to Brazil later this year to attend a JA hemispheric forum where they will interact with other young achievers from the Caribbean, Central and South America.

President of the Year went to Antonio Roberts (VindexTT ), counselled by JA, while Aaliyah Joseph was awarded of Advisor of the Year Executive director of JA, J Errol Lewis told the graduation 2017 was a benchmark year for the youth development organisation as it expanded its borders to include youths from far-flung areas of TT .

This year, we have gone as far as Matelot, Toco, Rio Claro, Palo Seco, Fyzabad, to get our children involved in the JA movement.

We keep expanding our reach and our programmes, Lewis stated. The 2017 JA Trade Fair, he declared, was the largest ever in its history, with the companies generating sales of $150,000, with the total income for the year amounting to $300,000.

Lewis praised the students for their social consciousness as they donated a portion of their income to several charities and distributed monthly hampers to the less fortunate.

On hand to distribute awards were JA directors Anthony Pierre, chairman; Michael Callendar, deputy chairman; Nigel Scott, Dawn Richards and Claudia Drakes.

Actress and comedienne Nikki Crosby who delivered the feature address, urged the young achievers to see themselves as a brand.

To be a relevant and successful entertainer I had to take care of the brand, Nikki Crosby. You have to decide what you want your brand to be. Whatever you are doing in life, see it as a business. All you have is your name; that is your brand. Even if you work for someone else, you are an extension of that brand. You must have a passion for something but you need to work 24/7, through the night and during holidays to reach the top, Crosby advised the achievers.

She told the students of her challenges and successes as an entertainer.

More than 1,000 students, representing 46 companies, participated in the signature JA Trade Fair at Woodford Square, Port of Spain in April, with the Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro-Enterprise Development and energy company bpTT the major company sponsors. Companies sponsored by bpTT accounted for the major haul of awards at the banquet. Apart from Achiever of the Year and Company of the Year, the winning companies included Ohanna, Best Sales Team; Ellipsiis, Best Trade Fair Booth; Highline Productions, Best Stockholders Report; Kristoph Ramberan, vice president of production; Vyaad Ramnarine, vice president of finance; Shameel Mohammed, deputy president; and Fusion Inc, Best Customer Service Team.

Other major awards went to Shania Blackman, Urban Collision/ JATT )  vice president of human resource; Aarti Sirju (Enso/ JATT )  vice president of marketing; and Ruth Mahabir, Limitless Production/ JATT  Salesperson of the Year.
Plan reading activities for children

Several studies show that children who consistently read in the summer holidays return the following school year an average of three months ahead of their non-reading peers.

They exhibit sharper comprehension and analytical skills than their non-reading friends as well. They are better able to relax and concentrate.

Their verbal skills are sharper and their empathy skills increase.

The trick is to make holiday reading fun and natural  even for reluctant readers.

Above all, reading must be relevant to childrens lives. Children should always be in charge of their reading choices with some helpful guidance from their parents. If you try to force children to read, they will be resentful so take this opportunity to make this an exercise in independence.

Here are some ideas about holiday reading: 1. Check online for interesting tips  There are many newspaper and magazine stories that appear just before the holidays that can guide you in a fun-filled holiday selection of books. Have children do their research and choose the books that look most interesting to them.

2. Creative interactive reading experiences  The Guardian newspaper online in England suggests interactive activities that connect to reading.

One article suggested trading card activities.

Ask children to create trading cards about books they have read and books they are reading. The activities could include information about a character, theme or plot of a book.

3 Put children in charge of research for your holiday trip  Children enjoy a sense of power and this gives them an invested interest in a trip youre taking. You can also ask children to do research on items they want to buy for the summer. Let them go online and find information about the puppy they want or the bicycle they want. This is a way of keeping their research skills sharp for when they return to school.

4 Earn movie vouchers  Let children do their research on books being turned into movies. When they read the books, and talk to you about them, they get a prize: movie vouchers for the book they have read or even a movie in general.

5. Give a book allowance for the summer  Provide students with a set allowance that can only be used for books.

The allowance goes up every week or every month if they can prove they read the books.

6. Organise a reading party  Have a party where children dress up as their favourite character in a book. All the children make some presentation about their book.

They can read a favourite passage and talk about why they liked a particular book.

This activity is their ticket to a party that celebrates a character from a book.

Remember to consult the Internet for many fun-filled holiday reading activities.

Also check NALIS for holiday activities.
PREGNANT MOM OF DISABLED GIRL SHOT DEAD

The deceased Ornella Philip, 28, who was five months in her pregnancy sustained a single gunshot wound to the chest. Phillip, of Thompson Street, Gasparillo, was the mother of Kayla, an eightyear- old autistic pupil of the Lady Hochoy Home. The child uses a wheelchair to move around.

A resident made the gruesome discovery shortly before 10 am yesterday when he went to Phillips apartment. However, investigators believe she was shot and killed about nine hours earlier, unknowing at the time to her daughter, mother and other relatives nearby.

According to police investigators, at about 11.30 pm on Saturday Phillip dropped off her daughter to spend the night at her mothers apartment located behind the house on the same premises.

That was the last time the mother, Joanne Seepersad, saw Phillip alive.

The report added that at shortly before 10 am yesterday a resident contacted police about the gruesome discovery. Supt Pragg, ASP Ali-Mohammed together with Insps Ramkhelawan, Yearwood and Figaro, of the Gasparillo Police Station and Homicide Bureau, visited the scene. Police said neither the house was ransacked nor valuables missing which leads them to believe she may have known the killer. Phillip, a single parent, lived with her daughter. Resident Anthony Boy Boy John explained that he went to the house and called out several times to Phillip.

He observed the front door ajar and when he peeped inside saw her lying on the ground and immediately ran to the back of the house and called out to Philips mother.

All I see was her feet looking green. She was lying on the ground in the living room. I did not go and view the body or anything, John said.

Residents expressed shock over the killing saying they heard no screams or shouting to suggest that a murder was being committed.

However, they recalled that at about 1 am yesterday, a gunshot rang out. They did not pay any mind until hours later when the resident discovered the body.

Scores of residents gathered along Thompson Street as police cordoned off the street. As undertakers were removing the body, Phillips mother was visibly shaking as she spoke with police.

Other police at the scene yesterday included Sgt Maharaj, PCs Harrikissoon and Noyan and WPC Green. The DMO Dr Francis viewed the body and ordered its removal to the mortuary of the San Fernando General Hospital.

Police are yet to determine a motive for the killing and an autopsy is expected to be performed tomorrow at the Forensic Sciences Centre, St James.
Manufacturers Assoc head: CARICOM underperforming

He said CARICOM is the most uncommmon common market.

Dr Ramdeen made the comments while delivering remarks at the opening of a Caribbean Market Mission organised by JAMPRO, the Jamaican trade and investment promotion agency, at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, St Anns. He added that in theory CARICOM was supposed to include free movement of people but this has been repeatedly delayed and today he is not sure whether the community is still discussing free movement.

Dr Ramdeen compared CARICOM to the European Union (EU) and said there is no reason why the regional body cannot advance in the same way as the EU has done.

He said the JAMPRO mission is targeting three countries: Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and The Bahamas, but he said that exporters sending goods into The Bahamas had to pay duties because while The Bahamas is part of CARICOM it is not part of the Common Market regime. He said such issues needed to be sorted out. Regarding the JAMPRO mission, he said the TTMA welcomed competition because Trinidad and Tobago was a consumer society and needed goods to come into this market.

He said the TTMA did not fear competition although the border agencies needed to do their duties. Dr Ramdeen said there was no reason that this country was importing some $5 billion a year in food including a lot of goods from outside the region while some of those products could be sourced from within the Caribbean.

However, he said he was an optimist and saw himself as a CARICOM person. He said the TTMA continued to work with the Government to develop trade and needed Jamaica in order for this country to be a healthy and strong economy and CARICOM to be a healthy and strong economy.

Also speaking at the event was the Jamaican High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, David Prendergast who lamented that in 2015 Jamaica exported just over US$12 million worth of goods to Trinidad and Tobago and had a substantial trade deficit of over US$400 million, a situation the JAMPRO trade mission to this country was hoping to improve. The mission comprises 18 Jamaican firms but only eleven have chosen to visit this country because they see the most promise in this market. He said that, Over the past five decades, Jamaica and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago have maintained strong bilateral relations as CARICOM sister nations.

The trade links between our two countries have remained extensive, and its continued promotion is important if small economies such as ours are to sustain an upward trajectory towards achieving our long term development goals, realising economic growth and ensuring job creation. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Frances Seignoret, said the visit showed the determination of both countries to collaborate on trade and investment matters within CARICOM and said last years visit to Jamaica by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and a high powered delegation underscored the importance of co-operation between the two islands, adding that both prime ministers acknowedged the need for improvement in trade relations including the obstructions to free trade and the free movement of goods and services.

He said the prime ministers of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago agreed to work toward a better and stable environment for businesses to thrive, to increase investment flows and to develop mechanisms for closer trade co-operation and the resolution of trade issues. She said the local Trade Ministry was working with its CARICOM partners to advance trade relations in accordance with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, observing that this involves working with the regions Common External Tariff within the Revised Treaty to protect and provide a foundation for growth and development for the regions manufacturing capacity.

Seignoret mentioned the Single Electronic Window (SEW ), an information technology portal which allows all trade related processes to be completed online with one document which is submitted to all the approving agencies with approvals promised within a day or two.

She said that the SEW improves operational efficiency and increases the speed of trade and business transactions.

She said the ministry is also working on an E-Commerce Policy which would set up a framework for the online trade in products and services locally, regionally and internationally.

She said when this is implemented it would lead to the creation of a new and enhanced environment and ensures that business owners, traders and consumers will have the necessary confidence and resources to use the internet to expand into regional and global markets and enhance their revenue.
Abdulah says race politics makes Brets destruction look like dolly house activity

Referring to Fridays heated debate rife with allegations of racism from both sides of the floor in Parliament, Abdulah charged it was disgusting, disgraceful, demeaning and destructive.

What took place on Friday with allegations of name calling and racism being thrown, that must stop.

The destruction of that kind of politics to the society and the development of TT would make the destruction of Bret look like dolly house activity, Abdulah said.

He made the comments during a press conference at MSJs headquarters at St Josephs Village, San Fernando.

He emphasised that there can be absolutely no petty party politicking over the suffering of people adding both the UNC and PNM political parties are guilty of it.

Commenting on the relief responses from the authorities in light of the tropical storm, the political leader said it was inadequate and inappropriate.

It seemed, he said, that first responders such as the ODPM and regional corporations waited for the storm to hit and then to mobilise to go into affected communities Apart from what he said was a mobilisation slow in coming, Abdulah noted that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowleys response was equally slow.

Even though he may have been in touch by phone in Tobago, in a situation like this, we needed to have all hands on deck from the highest level of government all the way down to the councillors, Abdulah said.

Saying the relief efforts should not be the responsibility of government alone, he called on the business community and citizens to provide relief to those affected by the storm.

We do want to congratulate and thank all those who brought relief to those affected.

This country has been courting disaster by the way in which we behave. We dump stuff in rivers and pretend it is not going to affect us when it fact it does, Abdulah said.

As such, Abdulah called for the immediate passage of the Beverage Container Bill which would keep a lot of the bottles out of watercourses. He further called on behalf of the party, for a review on the issue of quarrying as well as for the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and Town and Country Planning to enforce proper practices.

We need building codes to be passed and enforced so people can build homes in accordance with standards that would avoid and minimise things like roofs being blown off. Some businesspeople develop real estate without concern for the fact they are blocking water courses, Abdulah said.

The leader recalled that about seven years ago, he too experienced flooding at his Couva home and so he can relate to the affected persons.

It is really a horrendous experience, a terrible experience, something that no one wishes on anyone to have happen to them, Abdualah added.

As local Muslims joined in with Muslims around the world yesterday to celebrate Eidul- Fitr, Abdulah offered best wishes. He also hoped that the fasting they endured during the holy month of Ramadan strengthened their spirit and resolve to continue to make TT a better country
Moonilal: Careful over traffic wardens

So said Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal in last weeks Lower House debate on the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017.

The effect of this bill is to elevate a traffic warden to an inspection officer, he said incredulously.

Now somebody making $4,700 a month is inadequate.

Some people work in the night as bar men and waitresses because traffic warden is not a job which carries the salary and benefits, and you are now calling them Inspection officer but not providing for any upgrade. Saying the bill gets traffic wardens to participate in punitive actions including going to court, Moonilal asked if this is an apt role for persons who are not public officers but contract workers.

Noting the bill contains 100 offences, Moonilal hit the bills brutality.

This law contributes to the punitive environment that this Government is creating  Everyones guilty; Prove your innocence.

It is a very dangerous culture. I dont know from what jurisdiction this is coming. Saying a dim backlight on a motor vehicle will incur a hefty $450 penalty, Moonilal scoffed, Its fine after fine after fine!.

Estimating that the Government could collect $2.1 billion in traffic fines under this bill, he asked what the money would be used for? In a clear taunt at the Government, Moonilal asked if the collected fines are to be used to pay roaming charges, fund trips to Tobago or pay the $2 million cost to cut a ribbon to open a stadium? He suggested the money be used to fund road repair and watercourse clearing, saying if there had been a regular fixing of drains the country would not be in the catastrophe it is now in after the recent passage of Tropical Storm Bret
Athletes from around the world took part in a triathlon with a difference on Sunday. They began with a 750 meter swim along the moat of Osaka Castle.

It's the first time the International Triathlon Union has used a castle moat.

The venue was chosen to highlight the tourist attraction. People are usually banned from swimming in the moat.

Organizers say they cleared the moat of algae and met the water quality standards of Japan's Environment Ministry. They say the water temperature was 27 degrees Celsius.

After the swim, athletes cycled 20 kilometers through a high-rise district and ran 5 kilometers in the park.
Sightseers are flocking to Japan's highest dam to watch the spectacle of water gushing from it.

An electric power company releases water from Kurobe Dam, in Toyama Prefecture, central Japan, from June to October of every year to the great enjoyment of visitors. The 186-meter-high structure was built in 1963 for power generation and other purposes.

The operator says water was flowing out of the dam on Monday morning at the rate of 15 tons per second.

Visitors from home and abroad gathered on the observation deck and terrace. They took photos of the huge cascade of water, a rainbow and the dam against the backdrop of the snow-capped Mount Tateyama in Japan's Northern Alps.

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Gaffe-prone Finance Minister Taro Aso made a comment Saturday about a junior lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who indicated her intent to leave the party due to allegations that she abused one of her secretaries, stressing her gender.

"If you take a look only at her academic background, it is impeccable, but she is a woman," Aso told a group of LDP lawmakers belonging to his faction during a meeting in Shibata, Niigata Prefecture.

According to a report in the edition of the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho that hit newsstands Thursday, second-term Lower House lawmaker Mayuko Toyota was sitting in the back seat of a car driven by one of her secretaries on May 20 when she yelled "baldy!" at him and struck him several times on the head and face, causing injuries.

Toyota, who graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1997 and earned a master's degree at the Harvard School of Public Health in 2002, was an official at the health ministry until she won a Lower House election in 2012.
Japanese production of disposable diapers declined for the first time in 15 years in 2016, mainly due to weaker purchases from visiting Chinese tourists.

Strong demand from overseas visitors had given the Japanese diaper market a boost in recent years, but the trend may have peaked. Still, high-quality Japanese diapers are popular in China, prompting Kao and other domestic players to seek more opportunities there.

Toyota joins other Japan companies to make next-generation chips

Nikkei - Nov 11

Toyota Motor and around nine other Japanese companies will team up with the government to launch a new entity to develop and make next-generation semiconductors, Nikkei has learned, aiming to establish manufacturing processes by the late 2020s. Toyota Motor and around nine other Japanese companies will team up with the government to launch a new entity to develop and make next-generation semiconductors, Nikkei has learned, aiming to establish manufacturing processes by the late 2020s.

Inflation brings end to beloved 114-year-old Japanese candy Sakumaseika

theglobeandmail.com - Nov 10

A beloved Japanese candy eaten by generations, so iconic it even appeared in a hit anime film, has come to the end of the line, a victim of surging raw material and energy prices. A beloved Japanese candy eaten by generations, so iconic it even appeared in a hit anime film, has come to the end of the line, a victim of surging raw material and energy prices.

As Elon Musk transforms Twitter, risk hits home for Japanese banks

Nikkei - Nov 09

As Elon Musk makes dramatic changes to Twitter following his $44 billion acquisition, Japanese banks that cofinanced the deal find themselves with little choice but to go along for the ride. As Elon Musk makes dramatic changes to Twitter following his $44 billion acquisition, Japanese banks that cofinanced the deal find themselves with little choice but to go along for the ride.

Ferrari, Lamborghini and other supercar sales boom in Japan

theedgemarkets.com - Nov 09

Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other supercars are seeing an unprecedented sales boom in Japan, fueled by pent-up, post-Covid-lockdown demand from wealthy buyers, who also see the vehicles as good investments amid a weakening yen and soaring used-car prices. Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other supercars are seeing an unprecedented sales boom in Japan, fueled by pent-up, post-Covid-lockdown demand from wealthy buyers, who also see the vehicles as good investments amid a weakening yen and soaring used-car prices.

Japan foreign reserves fall for third month after intervention

Reuters - Nov 09

Japan's foreign reserves extended declines in October, following the previous month's record drop, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday, reflecting the largest ever amount of yen-buying, dollar-selling intervention. Japan's foreign reserves extended declines in October, following the previous month's record drop, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday, reflecting the largest ever amount of yen-buying, dollar-selling intervention.

As yen tumbles, gadget-loving Japan goes for secondhand iPhones

WION - Nov 09

For years Japanese shoppers eagerly shelled out for the latest gadgets, but now a tumbling yen has put new iPhones out of reach for some and sparked a growing secondhand trade in a major market for Apple Inc. For years Japanese shoppers eagerly shelled out for the latest gadgets, but now a tumbling yen has put new iPhones out of reach for some and sparked a growing secondhand trade in a major market for Apple Inc.

Toshiba buyout: Japanese fund submits $15bn proposal

Nikkei - Nov 08

Investment fund Japan Industrial Partners has submitted a formal proposal to take over Toshiba for about 2.2 trillion yen ($15 billion), Nikkei learned on Monday. Investment fund Japan Industrial Partners has submitted a formal proposal to take over Toshiba for about 2.2 trillion yen ($15 billion), Nikkei learned on Monday.

Japans govt sounds alarm over Americas EV tax credits

freemalaysiatoday.com - Nov 07

Japans government warned on Saturday that new electric vehicle tax credits in the United States could ultimately deter further investment by the Japanese there and hit employment in the worlds biggest economy. Japans government warned on Saturday that new electric vehicle tax credits in the United States could ultimately deter further investment by the Japanese there and hit employment in the worlds biggest economy.

Japan ends printing of Yukichi Fukuzawa banknote

arabnews.jp - Nov 06

Japan has finished the printing of the current 10,000-yen banknote, with a portrait of prominent educator Yukichi Fukuzawa, it has been learned. Japan has finished the printing of the current 10,000-yen banknote, with a portrait of prominent educator Yukichi Fukuzawa, it has been learned.

Tourists return to Japan, but where are the workers?

Nikkei - Nov 06

Japanese airports and hotels are scrambling to handle the influx of tourists streaming across reopened borders, as staffs that withered to skeletal levels during the pandemic have not rebounded to match the rise in customers. Japanese airports and hotels are scrambling to handle the influx of tourists streaming across reopened borders, as staffs that withered to skeletal levels during the pandemic have not rebounded to match the rise in customers.

Japan pension 'whale' GPIF suffers longest losing streak since 2009

Nikkei - Nov 05

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, one of the world's largest institutional investors, posted its third consecutive quarterly loss Friday to mark its longest slump since the global financial crisis. Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, one of the world's largest institutional investors, posted its third consecutive quarterly loss Friday to mark its longest slump since the global financial crisis.

Survey shows prices of more than 800 food items will increase in November

NHK - Nov 02

A survey conducted by a private research firm indicates that the prices of more than 800 food and beverage items will go up in Japan in November. A survey conducted by a private research firm indicates that the prices of more than 800 food and beverage items will go up in Japan in November.

TEPCO to raise household electricity charges

- Nov 02

Japan's largest power utility is considering hiking regulated electricity rates for households. Japan's largest power utility is considering hiking regulated electricity rates for households.

Faced with a possible energy shortage this winter, Japan advises people to wear warm clothes indoors

WION - Nov 02

Japan on Tuesday announced that it will ask businesses and households to conserve energy "as much as possible" during the winter. Japan on Tuesday announced that it will ask businesses and households to conserve energy "as much as possible" during the winter.

Japan seeks to stay in Russia's Sakhalin-1 energy project after Exxon exit

Nikkei - Nov 01

The Japanese government has decided to remain involved in the formerly Exxon-led Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia, Nikkei has learned, as it seeks a stable supply of energy despite international sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The Japanese government has decided to remain involved in the formerly Exxon-led Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia, Nikkei has learned, as it seeks a stable supply of energy despite international sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Saga Prefectural Police have launched an investigation following the discovery on Sunday of a male government official with burns near a burned-out vehicle with a corpse inside, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun

At 12:10 a.m., emergency services received a report about a car on fire along the shoulder of National Route 263 in the village of Mitsuse in Saga City. Officers from the Saga Kita Police Station arriving at the scene found a charred corpse in the passenger seat. The gender and approximate age of the person are not known.

A man with burns to his legs from the knees down was found outside the vehicle nearby. He was transported to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.

The man told police that he is a government employee at the Kyushu Regional Bureau of the National Personnel Authority and that he was driving the car.

An autopsy was scheduled for Monday to determine the cause of death. Police plan to ask the man about the identity of the corpse and the cause of the fire.

Jun 26 (ANNnewsCH) - aeaaaeaaceSacaaeSaaa1aaeaaeaaaSaaaYaeeaaaaYaaaaacaaaaaaaaaaaa25aa0aaZaaeaacaaeaeaaesaSZaaaYaaaaeSacaaaaa
A 70-year-old woman dubbed the "black widow" for allegedly murdering her husband and common-law partners with cyanide, pleaded innocent Monday at the first hearing of her trial at the Kyoto District Court.

"I entirely entrust the matter to my lawyers," Chisako Kakehi told the court. The defense team denied the charges of murder and attempted murder-robbery involving four elderly men and said the plaintiff has dementia and cannot defend herself.

Prosecutors aim to use circumstantial evidence to prove Kahehi's guilt amid a dearth of physical evidence, and more than 50 people are expected to be summoned as witnesses during the trial, which is likely to last until Nov. 7.

Kakehi admitted during the investigation to using cyanide capsules to poison the four victims, but her defense team later withdrew the admission and changed her plea to not guilty.

More than 10 men romantically involved with or associated with Kakehi are known to have died, allowing her to inherit an estimated A1 billion, investigative sources said.

According to the indictment, Kakehi slew her 75-year-old husband, Isao, and common-law partners Masanori Honda, 71, and Minoru Hioki, 75, and tried to kill acquaintance Toshiaki Suehiro, 79, by having them drink cyanide at various times between 2007 and 2013.

At the hearing presided over by Judge Ayako Nakagawa, prosecutors claimed that she committed the crimes for the purpose of inheriting their wealth, saying she once called a business to get it to open the safe of one of the victims the day after he died.

"The victims in the four cases are all elderly men and died from potassium cyanide poisoning. Their conditions and causes of death are so similar," the prosecutors said.

The prosecutors did not clarify how she obtained the cyanide.

Jun 26 (ANNnewsCH) - aeaaeaaaaeaaYeeaacaaaecsaaaaaaaaaacaaaaaYaaeaaeaaaaaSaeaSaaccaaaaaaaYa
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Uncertainty over healthcare is changing the market. Its still not certain if Obamacare will be repealed, which has placed healthcare investments in limbo.





On the positive side, the future for medical is bright and its a great investment for those looking to further their education. Whats more, different organizations and entrepreneurs are looking into health technology as an opportunity for rapid growth. Apple and Nokia (News - Alert) are two of those companies who have created a merger for greater digital health possibilities.

Nokia and Apples Patent War Finally Ends

It all started with a dispute over patents. Nokia accused Apple of violating 32 of its patents in the iPhone (News - Alert) design after a deal it made with Apple expired in 2016. The war went on for five long months, and now the two companies believe they have a solution for the problem: Apple (News - Alert) will put Nokias digital healthcare products, software and gadgets back on the shelves in its stores.

The two companies will also work together on future healthcare collaborations. With these two teaming up, the future holds excellent possibilities for apps and devices designed for health.

Apple also agreed to pay Nokia a certain amount to maintain the deal. The sum was undisclosed, but analysts predict that its between $500 and $600 million.

The two companies released a joint statement in which they closed all litigation for intellectual property rights and expressed their excitement for a multi-year patent license together.

This is a meaningful agreement between Nokia and Apple, said Maria Varsellona, Chief Legal Officer at Nokia, responsible for Nokias patent licensing business. It moves our relationship with Apple from being adversaries in court to business partners working for the benefit of our customers.

Keeping Track of the Deal

The details of the deal will remain confidential; however, the two organizations have worked something out to make sure everyone stays on the same page.

In order to keep things running, monthly, Nokia and Apple executives will have regular summits to maintain a smooth relationship for both parties and their customers. Basically, this is meant to keep one company from getting the upper hand in the deal.

It might seem like a lot of work, but the two organizations seem content with the agreement, unlike their position a month ago. Both executives say theyre looking forward to the collaboration.

Jeff Williams, chief operating officer for Apple, officially stated, We are pleased with this resolution of our dispute and we look forward to expanding our business relationship with Nokia.

Basil Alwan, President of Nokias IP/Optical Networks business, also openly stated his support of the deal: This agreement will strengthen our collaboration. We look forward to supporting Apple.

The executives are on the same page for now, and the parameters of the deal should eliminate future issues with things like patents and intellectual property rights.

A Bright Future for Health Tech

Bringing two major corporations together indicates some exciting new possibilities. Their interest in the health field is even more promising.

Thanks to the current uncertainty of the market, theres a lot of room for healthcare technology. Consumers demand an easier way to deal with insurance, health tracking, medical data, and even annual doctors exams. New tech software is the solution.

Apple has reportedly hired an entire team of biomedical engineers to work in its Silicon Valley location. The nature of the work is meant to be a secret, but rumors abound that Apples working on sensors that can monitor blood sugar levels through more non-invasive needs.

For diabetics who have to prick their fingers multiple times per day, this technology would be revolutionary. The cost of medical supplies for those with the condition continues to rise, and its a painful process.

Time will tell, but were hopeful that Nokia and Apples new partnership will yield many useful possibilities for the future of health tech.
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Everybody and their brother is testing so-called 5G technology these days. And that includes TELUS (News - Alert) and Huawei.





In fact, the communication services provider and the equipment giant have been collaborating on a 5G pilot project that is part of the companies 5G Living Lab in Vancouver. And late last week, the two companies announced that they have concluded what they called a successful pilot effort involving 5G wireless connectivity based on 3GPP standard technology.

That test, the companies said, demonstrated the high speeds 5G can deliver and showed its potential for us to deliver wireless-to-the-premise connectivity to power smart homes and businesses.

That said, it should be noted that the 3GPP is still working on standardizing 5G. The cellular community  include 3GPP and then the ITU  is working on two phases of 5G standards. The first, called Release 15, is expected to be frozen by June 2018. The second, referred to as Release 16, should come out 15 months after that. (And 5G technology is expected to become commercially available beginning in 2020, according to Huawei (News - Alert) and TELUS).

However, Huawei and TELUS said the pilot network leveraged equipment based on 3GPP 5G foundational technologies over a 28GHz connection.

The companies in their announcement also emphasized their pride in the fact that Canadian led talent and expertise is at the forefront of global 5G research and technology deployment. But while TELUS is a Canadian company, and Huawei has operations in Canada, the infrastructure giant is a Chinese company.

But Dr. Wen Tong, Huawei Fellow, and CTO Huawei Wireless based at the Canada Research Centre in Ottawa, commented, For the past several years, our Canadian team has played a key global leadership role in 5G. To achieve this successful trial in Canada with a Canadian partner is a powerful reflection on Canadas 5G innovation capabilities.

Huawei and TELUS have been working in the 5G Living Lab in Vancouver for the past couple of years. Last year at the labs they demonstrated 30 gigabit per second speeds over a heterogeneous network in downtown Vancouver.

Edited by Alicia Young
Never send a cop to do a man's job
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Cutting US military aid to Tunisia is a misguided and dangerous decision representing a stark departure with the US Presidents plan to demolish and destroy the Islamic State (ISIS), said Sarah Yerkes of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in an opinion piece on The Hill.

The article criticizes Trumps budget blueprint released on May 23 providing for slashing security assistance to vulnerable countries, including Tunisia and Lebanon, by more than 80% compared with fiscal year 2016. It also pushes for replacing military aid with loans.

The proposed cut is one of the more troubling aspects of Trumps foreign aid budget, which decreases bilateral aid to Tunisia by 67 percent. The proposal would zero out the foreign military financing account by switching Tunisias military assistance package from a grant to a loan, said Yerkes.

The author recalls that American and European military aid was instrumental in arming and boosting the capacities of Tunisias security services in countering the jihadist threat emanating notably from the chaos in Libya in the wake of the turmoil of 2011. This support has allowed Tunisia to build a partial border wall with Libya to prevent smuggling of goods and people. And in 2015, the U.S. designated Tunisia a Major Non-NATO Ally  only the 16th country worldwide to receive such a designation that was meant to bolster the American-Tunisian security partnership, she recalled.

Yerkes noted that Tunisia is on the front line with ISIS in Libya and Al Qaeda affiliates in Algeria, adding that aid should be maintained to help Tunisia face the threat of its own foreign fighters within the ranks of ISIS in the Middle East. Tunisians make up one of the largest contingents of foreign fighters assisting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. And the country is currently struggling with how to handle hundreds of those fighters as they return home, the author explains.

The author made the case for keeping U.S. military aid to Tunisia saying that the countrys stability is key to U.S. interests in the region and the stability of U.S. allies in North Africa and Europe. At the same time, she pointed to the comments by General Thomas Waldhauser, commander of the military Africa Command (AFRICOM), who recently testified before the Senate that instability in North Africa may be the most significant near-term threat to U.S. and allies interests in Africa and ISIS-Libya remains a regional threat with intent to target U.S. persons and interests.

Tunisia, a bulwark against ISIS in Libya, may not be able to afford the U.S. term loans and may be forced to seek military assistance from U.S. rivals such as Russia, said Yerkes.

the author concludes her article saying that turning our back on Tunisia now sends a terrible signal that defeating and destroying ISIS is a priority  as long as someone else is paying the bills.
Morocco recalled its ambassador to The Hague after Dutch authorities failed to extradite a drug dealer wanted by the Moroccan justice and allegedly accused of funding unrest in the northern Rif region.

Moroccos foreign ministry released a statement explaining that contacts have been made in recent days with Dutch authorities at the level of Heads of Government and Foreign Ministers concerning the extradition of a notorious drug dealer, identified as Said Chaou, a former Moroccan MP.

The statement adds that the drug dealer in question has been subject of two international arrest warrants issued by Moroccan courts and that precise information have been communicated to the Netherlands on Chaous involvement in funding and offering logistical support to some parties in Northern Morocco.

Having faithfully cooperated with the EU and the Netherlands in the fight against drug trafficking, Morocco cannot tolerate the fact that a notorious trafficker is still running away from justice, said the statement.

Pending the Netherlands response, the statement said that the Moroccan ambassador will remain in Morocco and that his return depends on the unfolding of the issue.

In a reaction to the Moroccan extradition request, the Dutch foreign and justice ministries said in a joint statement that Rabats comments were incomprehensible and unnecessary.

The Netherlands is committed now and in the future to an effective collaboration with Morocco based on international legal frameworks and the protection of the rule of law, added the joint statement.

Chaou backs unrest in the Rif region and has recently published online a video instigating protests. Moroccan authorities accuse him of seeking to recreate chaos in the Rif to resume his lucrative cannabis trafficking activities.

Chaou owned a cannabis cafe in the Netherland, which was closed because it served overdoses to its clients. He was reportedly arrested in 2015 in the southern Dutch town of Roosendaal as part of a crackdown on a drug network, the Dutch broadcaster NOS said.
How long will President Trump survive? Nobody knows, but everyones guessing.

Its a basic principle of psychology that the defenses we erect to defend our value always end up producing exactly what we are trying to avoid. In Trumps case, the relentless insistence that he didnt do it feeds the case that he did do it. I dont know what the it will turn out to be, but I know Trump well enough to know that there are countless potential its.

I believe the end for Trump is much closer than most people imagine. Perhaps thats wishful thinking, and I recognize Im not particularly trustworthy. I always feared Trump could win the presidency, but I never truly believed he would. I do believe Trump will self-immolate. The more convinced Trump becomes that he will be caught, the more desperately he will deny what will turn out to be indisputably true. Is there anyone rational who doesnt believe he has already obstructed justice several times over? In the end, I dont believe Trump will be impeached, or found guilty of a crime. My gut tells me that when the fire gets hot enough, he will make a deal to save himself, resign the presidency, and declare victory. Tony Schwartz, co-author of The Art of the Deal

After the Democrats went zero for four in special elections, the delusions and fantasies continue. Trump will be reelected in 2020, and Pence will probably follow him in 2024. The analogue for Trump is Andrew Jackson, not Richard Nixon. Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House

The likeliest outcome is a very weakened presidency that goes a full term, but discredits much of the angry rhetoric and sentiment that got Trump elected  that the problems of average people are a consequence of government overreach. And that will be a continuing dilemma for Republican members of Congress, who will be caught between the unhappiness with Trump of the electorate at large and the enthusiasm of Republican voters. Barney Frank, former congressman

I will say this: Trump will survive as long as congressional Republicans lack a conscience. They are too afraid of the right-wing base to speak up for decency, as Howard Baker, Barry Goldwater, and others did during Watergate. Jill Abramson, senior lecturer, Harvard

It is perhaps naive to underestimate Donald Trumps capacity for self-inflicted wounds. But, even so, Trump is likely to weather his scandals because he has advantages that Richard Nixon could never have imagined: (1) He has an alternative-reality media infrastructure that will provide him air cover and attack his critics, regardless of the facts that emerge. (2) The Republican base remains solidly behind him, regardless of his erratic behavior and reckless rhetoric. Until that base cracks, GOP politicians will be loath to distance themselves from Trump. And, finally, (3) conservatives have allowed themselves to be corrupted by Trumpism, as they jettison long-held principles in the service of what has become a cult of personality on the right.

All of this could change, of course, but until Republicans show even a modest willingness to stand up to the president, its hard to see how they would be complicit in bringing him down. Charlie Sykes, former talk-show host

The great conundrum of the Trump era is that it is almost impossible to imagine this level of public agitation, chaos, lawbreaking, and unpopularity sustaining itself for four years. Yet it is equally difficult to imagine any credible way it ends, at least before 2019. Clearly one of these premises must be wrong. Ive struggled to figure out which one it is. My best guess is that Trump is more likely than not to leave office before January 2021. The number to watch is approval from self-identified Republicans. That number now stands at over 80 percent. It likely needs to fall to 50 percent or below before removal from office becomes credible. Josh Marshall, editor and publisher, Talking Points Memo

Whether Trump survives  and I think he will  has nothing to do with the professional pundits and prognosticators who write for this magazine. The media has less credibility and influence today over politics than at any time in modern times. Instead, his survival is based on maintaining the support he has from the tens of millions of Americans who voted for him. And from what I see and hear  and I have spent more time with Trump voters than just about anyone in America  theyre behind him 100 percent.

These alienated Americans dont support him because of his economic policies, though they do believe the American workforce has been used and abused by the international economic community. They dont support him for his foreign policy, though they eagerly embrace his America First clarion call. They support Trump because of his persona, the in-your-face bravado that is so often condemned because it is so often misunderstood. His base, about 35 percent of the American electorate, has waited a lifetime for a president to stand up, speak out, and reorder the world order. Its been chaotic and messy, but to the average Trump voter, its exactly what they wanted  and they are grateful. Frank Luntz, Republican pollster

One thing I learned during my time in Obamas White House: Never underestimate the cravenness of Mitch McConnell. If all you care about is cutting taxes for the rich and repealing Obamacare in secret, a Watergate-size distraction is a feature rather than a bug. As long as Trumps base (and Fox News allies) punish Republicans who push for impeachment, I just dont see McConnell and his party cutting the president loose. Until he becomes toxic in the brightest-red states and districts, theyll be more than happy to use the chaos as cover while they ram through as much regressive policy as possible. David Litt, former Obama speechwriter

Trump himself hasnt proved predictions wrong  he is exactly what his critics expected  but the American people and the Republican Party did, by not standing up to Trumps nationalist demagoguery in time. The people and other elements of government and civil society are rising to the challenge, but unless the GOP starts putting principles over party, America is headed for more chaos, more division, and a constitutional crisis. Trump cares only for his brand, so hell look for a way out before impeachment. Garry Kasparov, chairman of the Human Rights Foundation

Because of the administrations exhaustive attack on the media, accusing them of constantly reporting fake news, when Trump mysteriously abandons the presidency in August of 2019, no one will know why. All eyes will then turn to Woodward and Bernstein, the only trusted reporters left, for the answer. As they begin to share with us the brilliant Machiavellian coup detat just staged by the deep state, we all wake up, its November 7, 2016, and this was all a horrible dream. Who are we kidding? Trumps a two-term president. Enjoy! Larry Wilmore, host of Black on the Air podcast

Todays guess: I would say he is more likely to be felled by fast food than anything else but, on his current path, is no more than a one-termer. Norm Eisen, chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Assume that Trump manages to avoid stumbling into a major war. (Should that assumption prove false, then all bets are off.) But if our current situation persists  lesser wars that drag on indefinitely  then the current obsession with Trumpian scandals, real or alleged, is likely to intensify. Trump has shown himself to be astonishingly thin-skinned. He will grow weary of being pursued. Before his enemies close in for the kill, he will leave the field. Andrew J. Bacevich, historian, Boston University

Although beset and besieged at every turn  and gaining an average of ten pounds a year  Trump indeed will make it through his first term. Hell choose not to run again in 2020. Mike Pence will run and lose to New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who thus becomes the first female president. (I offer this prediction having been wrong about every bit of political prognosticating Ive ever been foolish enough to make.) Margaret Sullivan, media columnist, Washington Post

*A version of this article appears in the June 26, 2017, issue of New York Magazine.
Photo: Facebook

Last week, Donald Trump appeared before a rally in Iowa, where he regaled a crowd of supporters with stories of the great wealth of his inner circle of advisers. When you get the president  this is the president of Goldman Sachs  smart!  having him represent us, he went from massive paydays to peanuts! he boasted. The crowd applauded, as people passionate enough about a politician to attend a rally are wont to do.

But the thing about Trumps core supporters is that Trump doesnt have enough of them. To win the election, he had to pry away some former Obama voters in the Midwest, and he did it by positioning himself to his opponents left on economics. Hillary will never reform Wall Street. She is owned by Wall Street! he warned. Im not going to let Wall Street get away with murder, he promised. His closing ad quoted Trump insisting, The Establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election, while images of a stock ticker and the street sign for Wall Street appeared onscreen.

Trump lies and reverses himself about all kinds of things, but usually this behavior is a flailing attempt at self-preservation. The curious thing about these particular reversals is that this hypocrisy comes at large cost to himself. Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg recently interviewed white working-class Obama voters whod turned to Trump and found that news of the presidents Wall Street advisers was the fact most likely to shake their faith in his administration. Trumps approval ratings have sunk to 40 percent or lower. Why is he making so little effort to conceal his bait-and-switch? Why forfeit his most precious political asset? The best explanation for this grand act of self-sabotage (beyond his simply not understanding the policies he endorses) is that Trump, like much of the Republican Party, is an instinctive social Darwinist.

Social Darwinism is a philosophy that treats the market as a perfectly efficient and moral mechanism for allocating wealth. Just as natural selection favors those species best adapted for survival, the theory goes, capitalism rewards the smartest and most deserving among us. It is the intellectual scaffolding, constructed by writers like Ayn Rand and various Austrian economists, behind the vision of conservatives like Paul Ryan and David Koch. Trump may not have read up on the theory, but he understands it viscerally. His father, Fred, inculcated his son with the unshakable belief that his own greatness would lead to enormous wealth.

Trumps boast in Iowa about the great, brilliant business minds in his administration communicates a great deal about his innermost beliefs. I love all people, rich or poor, he explained, but, in those particular positions, I just dont want a poor person, does that make sense? The richest people in the country are, by definition, the most brilliant and well qualified. Trump rejects the notion that circumstance, luck, or social advantage might play a role. In a 1990 interview, a more candid time, Trump expressed his belief that being born into poverty would not have arrested his rise. The coal miner gets black-lung disease, his son gets it, then his son, he told an interviewer. If I had been the son of a coal miner, I would have left the damn mines. But most people dont have the imagination  or whatever  to leave their mine. They dont have it  Youre either born with it or youre not.

Conservative intellectuals make a sharp distinction, at least in theory, between good wealth amassed through pure capitalism and bad wealth obtained by government favoritism. Trump has never observed any boundary between the two. (On the contrary: During the campaign, he presented his experience buying government influence as a qualification for office.) And in practice, few Republicans bother themselves too much over how a person got rich, either. The Bush administration was a boom time for grifters  Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, and Duke Cunningham were among the party eminences who used Republican control of government to fatten their wallets.

After the Bush presidency collapsed, conservatives made a show of remorse and vowed not to succumb again to the temptations of corruption. Abramoff, the crooked conservative activist and lobbyist, refashioned himself after returning from prison as a chastened reformer. In 2012, he appeared at a Public Citizen event, denouncing the evils of the system.

But now the lessons have been discarded, and the stench of self-dealing is everywhere. The only low-income-housing program spared by Trumps budget is one his business profits from, and he picked a comically underqualified family loyalist, an event planner by trade, to oversee federal housing in New York, where his business has its largest interest. Trump has handed control of every major regulatory agency to the industries they oversee  a Wall Street lawyer runs the Securities and Exchange Commission, fossil-fuel surrogates run the Environmental Protection Agency, the CEO of a for-profit lender will oversee the student-loan system, and on and on. Lobbyists are already shuffling between the White House and K Street. Even Abramoff has been lured out of retirementregistering as a foreign lobbyist, in which capacity he prevailed upon one member of Congress to write a letter requesting a presidential meeting with a client of Abramoffs, a foreign dictator.

Congress has indulged Trumps flagrant profiteering in part because he is letting them dip their beaks too. That Trump is holding his inaugural reelection fund-raiser in the Trump International Hotel, where party elites will join in an event that lines the presidents pockets, is one of the perfectly symbolic moments of the young administration. Any theoretical distinction between the Trumpian ethos of self-entitlement and the conservative doctrine of rewarding job creators has long since washed away.

Social Darwinism is the tissue connecting this shady conduct with the Republican Partys highest policy priorities. Conservatives believe programs that tax the rich and benefit the poor illegitimately meddle with the natural and correct distribution of wealth produced by the marketplace. The Republican health-care bill  both what passed in the House and what Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has brought to the Senate  confers a nearly trillion-dollar tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy. That appears to be its sponsors primary consideration. Secondarily, it strips away an equal amount in Medicaid and middle-class insurance tax credits.

Conservatives have little difficulty applying the logic of social Darwinism to justify punishing the sick. Vice-President Mike Pence explains that the administrations health-care plan supports the promotion of personal responsibility. Kellyanne Conway implies that only an unwillingness to work would cause an able-bodied adult to have trouble affording health care: If they are able-bodied and they want to work, then theyll have employer-sponsored benefits like you and I do. The Republican plan, explained Alabama congressman Mo Brooks, will reduce the cost to those people who lead good lives. Theyre healthy, theyve done the things to keep their bodies healthy. Mick Mulvaney, Trumps budget director, allowed that while people who get cancer should have a safety net, that doesnt mean we should take care of the person who sits at home, eats poorly, and gets diabetes.

After passing a health-care bill built around a regressive tax cut, Republicans plan to proceed quickly to a second tax cut, which is expected to also benefit the rich disproportionately. The two bills, which are the entire focus of the partys current legislative ambitions, would constitute the most sweeping upward redistribution of resources in American history.

Washington in the summer of Trumps first year is an atmosphere of organized looting. The precariousness of Trumps position, given his anemic polling, a riled-up opposition, and Robert Mueller lurking in the background, has only heightened the urgency to get while the getting is good.

*A version of this article appears in the June 26, 2017, issue of New York Magazine.
Its unclear why Trump is gloating over a marginal narrowing of an injunction against his travel ban taking effect, but guess he needs a win this week. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court today issued a complicated and very preliminary ruling on President Trumps second version of his proposed travel ban.

Trump himself found nothing complicated or preliminary about it at all, it seems, according to the statement he released:

Todays unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security. It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective.

As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive.

My number one responsibility as Commander in Chief is to keep the American people safe. Todays ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nations homeland. I am also particularly gratified that the Supreme Courts decision was 9-0.

Actually, the decision was only unanimous with respect to a narrowing of the lower-court injunctions against implementation of the travel ban. And the narrowing was marginal. As Cristian Farias put it: The justices allowed his administration to enforce the travel ban against pretty much anyone who is not tangibly affected by it. That does not make the travel ban largely effective. And even that largely technical victory for the administration is tentative: the Court could ultimately decide the lower courts were correct in voiding the whole exercise on either constitutional or statutory grounds.

The only clear victory Trump won was with respect to the three justices (Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch) who dissented from the Courts unsigned opinion, arguing that the travel ban should have been allowed to go fully into effect pending SCOTUS review.

And theres one other reason the presidential gloating may be misguided: The Court asked the parties to the case to prepare to explain when the case does come up for review why the whole controversy is not moot, since todays ruling will give the administration plenty of time to come up with the enhanced vetting standards for visas that the travel ban was originally supposed to give way to within 90 days.

This isnt a White House known for nuanced commentary on judicial rulings, or for self-restraint in claiming victories. But calling the SCOTUS action a clear victory is a bit much.
The devastating fire clearly could have been, and should have been, prevented. Photo: Niklas Hallen/AFP/Getty Images

At least 60 high-rise buildings across England have failed fire-safety tests conducted in the aftermath of the horrifying fire that killed at least 79 people inside Grenfell Tower in the North Kensington area of London. As many as 600 buildings throughout the U.K. may have the same type of exterior cladding that is believed to have been responsible for the incredible speed and devastation of the Grenfell Tower fire on June 14. British authorities announced on Sunday that every building that has been examined so far has failed the test, and plans to remove the cladding panels from at least 11 towers are already underway, prioritizing the most at-risk buildings.

As a result, at least 4,000 people have already been ordered to leave their homes while their buildings are refurbished to remove the danger, including the residents of some 650 flats in the Camden area of London who were told to vacate their residential towers on Friday night. Camden Council leaders said they only made the decision to evacuate the towers after firefighters told them they could not guarantee the safety of residents. Some 200 people have refused to leave those buildings, and authorities are still trying to convince the holdouts to relocate.

Workers remove panels of external cladding from the facade of a building in the Wythenshawe area of Manchester. Photo: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

Not every tower block that has failed the fire-safety test will need to be evacuated, authorities say. For instance, the cladding wasnt the only concern with the Camden towers, but the fire risk was compounded by the presence of other issues with gas pipes and fire doors. The risk to each building will be evaluated individually, though it seems the cladding will be removed in most, if not all, cases. Displaced residents have apparently been offered free accommodation in nearby hotels. All told, The Telegraph estimates that the cladding-removal effort may cost more than 600 million.

The flammable cladding on the Grenfell Tower, seen here both melted and burnt away. Photo: Niklas Hallen/AFP/Getty Images

Investigators say the Grenfell Tower fire began when a refrigerator exploded in an apartment on the fourth floor. Since the fridge was near a window, it ignited the flammable, aluminum composite material used in the cladding, which allowed the fire to quickly climb the exterior of the building. The speed and intensity of the fire, coupled with the fact that it spread externally instead of internally, is the primary reason why firefighters were not able to stop it or rescue more people. The cladding, which consists of a panel of aluminum attached to a layer of combustible polyethylene insulation, is typically used as a low-cost way to improve the insulation and appearance of buildings, and the type of cladding which utilizes combustible or fire-resistant materials is less expensive than the type that uses non-combustible materials. Aside from the flammable insulation, the design of the cladding panels also includes a built-in gap that can act as an air channel, feeding and transporting the fire.

Interior view of one of the fire-damaged flats in Grenfell Tower. Photo: Handout/London Metropolitan Police Service via Getty Images

Grenfell Tower was hardly the first time this had happened, either. The same type of cladding has already resulted in numerous externally spread fires on buildings in multiple countries. Understanding the risk, manufacturers of the cladding typically advise against using it in high-rise buildings like this one in Dubai, which suffered a similar fire in 2016.

A Dubai high-rise smolders after another cladding-based fire in 2016. Photo: Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images

It remains unclear whether or not the companies that ordered or installed the cladding on the Grenfell Tower knew how dangerous it could be during a fire at the building. The company that manufactured the cladding panels used on the tower, Arconic Inc, is already telling the media that it was not its responsibility to make sure building materials were used in compliance with local building regulations. Furthermore, in the case of Grenfell Tower and the other affected buildings in England, local regulations almost certainly werent good enough to begin with. According to an extensive new report in the New York Times, the underlying blame for the Grenfell Tower fire, and the risk to numerous other buildings with the same type of cladding, starts with the British government:

[I]nterviews with [Grenfell] tenants, industry executives and fire safety engineers point to a gross failure of government oversight, a refusal to heed warnings from inside Britain and around the world and a drive by successive governments from both major political parties to free businesses from the burden of safety regulations.

Promising to cut red tape, business-friendly politicians evidently judged that cost concerns outweighed the risks of allowing flammable materials to be used in facades. Builders in Britain were allowed to wrap residential apartment towers  perhaps several hundred of them  from top to bottom in highly flammable materials, a practice forbidden in the United States and many European countries. And companies did not hesitate to supply the British market.

Fire-safety engineers, firefighters, and members of the British Parliament had sought to restrict the use of the cladding after it was blamed for earlier fires in the U.K. and elsewhere, but their requests and warnings went unheeded. Manufacturers of the cladding fought additional restrictions and testing, citing the additional cost of fire-resistant or fire-proof building materials, and government regulators ultimately didnt act. Pro-business governments over the past two decades have also pared back existing regulations, for instance leaving fire-code adherence to industry self-policing, rather than government inspectors.

Here in the U.S., fire-safety regulations require that building materials used on any building taller than a firefighters two-story ladder be subjected to real-world fire simulations, and the type of aluminum cladding used on the Grenfell Tower failed those tests and is therefore mostly banned for buildings taller than 40 feet. Not every U.S. jurisdiction requires the test, however. NPR reports that Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia have relaxed restrictions in their building codes on testing the cladding, citing the expense of the tests. In those cases, the untested cladding can be used provided the buildings employ other fire safety measures, like sprinkler systems. It is not at all clear that this is a responsible way to save on building costs, regardless of the additional precautions. One fire-protection engineer, John Valiulis, is certain its not and has published a white paper since the Grenfell Tower disaster criticizing the relaxed restrictions.

A man looks at a board showing pictures of people missing following the Grenfell Tower block fire. Photo: Niklas Hallen/AFP/Getty Images

Back in the U.K., the cascading political and policy effects of the Grenfell fire are still just starting. Aside from the ongoing examinations of buildings with the cladding, government ministers have already dropped a cost-saving proposal to relax fire-safety standards in new school buildings. The Observer reports that the policy retreat is part of a government-wide reexamination of existing and proposed fire-safety standards in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. If the Times report is any indication, a massive policy shift is badly needed  and long before the criminal investigation and political bloodletting has finished.
Kurt Russell's sexiness was at critical mass in this movie, whew.

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The head is me when my friends start getting into an argument.

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I just love practical effects so much

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Carpenter is a very technical director, he's all about the camera angles and the effects. He does literally as little as possible with the actors. So if you enjoy someone's performance in one of his films, they get all the credit themselves.



I was in one of his films as an extra and got to watch him work for a week. It was not my first film, so I had seen a lot of other directors work with actors right before a take. Carpenter literally gave them no direction He was always behind the camera and the AD talked to the cast and crew for the most part.



One of the lead actresses was so bad, she couldn't remember her lines at all, and they kept trying to get a good take, but it was impossible. They finally made cue cards with her dialog on them, and she couldn't even read them properly. There were about 150 extras in this scene, and we're all getting paid while she forces production into overtime. Eventually they let us go and just filmed her scene alone, with the camera on her and no reaction shots from the extras. This wasn't her first film, either, and she had been on a hit TV show for many years. I'm not sure what her problem was, but he gave her no help or direction and she was awful.

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the chest-turns-into-a-giant-mouth scene still gets me. the whole thing movie just fucked me up so bad the first time i saw it.



iconic.

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i think i literally screamed during that scene when i first saw it lol

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the thing is just so good. i still remember when i first saw it and how freaked out i got. i should really rewatch it.



also yessss to young kurt russell

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mmm yes he was so hot

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I still haven't seen this but Russell's beard is magnificent.

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I watched this when I was way too young, I had nightmares for ages lol.

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This movie and The Fly will eternally be my favorite horror movies!!

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God why can't we have practical effects anymore!?

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Was just watching a theory video on the ending last night. Always go back and forth if Childs was a Thing by the end of it. Love that it's so ambiguous, and we still discuss it 35 years later.

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my fave horror movie! kurt russell is...so beautiful.

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He was such a stud.

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Which OP recommends you read on a chilly winter evening if you're a fan of the film!



omg BLESS. i love some cold weather creepiness



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Yeah! I tried to read winter-themed books this past winter season and that was one of them lol.

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Kurt was such a babe here!!

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Definitely one of the best movies of all times imo.

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TO THIS GD DAY I cannot watch that first transformation w/e scene with the dogs. The fucking epitome of horror to me and even thinking about it has me all adlksdhgsljaf



Love the movie, but I always have to nope out of that scene. Far too gruesome for me.

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Mte i love the movie but i walk out of the room as the dog scene is about to happen.



Speaking of, that dog they used was a good actor. I was creeped out

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Im sorry for anyone that would take beauty/fashion advice from her. She's sf tacky lmao

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you may know her from her infamous "my dog was raped" video



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jfc. i'me definitely not watching that.

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This bitch is obnoxious. Uggggggh.....spay and neuter your goddamn pets. Bob Barker told us this ages ago!This bitch is obnoxious.

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I hated that video and I also hated the "I was raped by a dog" video she did and almost unsubscribed to her although the video wasn't as bad as the title suggested (beastiality is animal abuse and cruelty idc what anyone says).....I have been unsubscribing to over the top click bait on YT

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this is amazing i love her referring to non-neutered dogs as "a group of horny men"

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gigi is the satanic spawn of trisha paytas and caitlyn jenner. she acts like that because of her ladybrain, silly!

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Ive never been into her videos or anything but she does have a huge following. She had that whole movie on youtube red becomgin Gigi.

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Interesting pronoun usage

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used to watch her all the time but have totally lost interest

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I agree, ever since she got in this new relationship she's really let her channel down I think. I get it she's out having a life and doing her thing, but she wouldn't be able to do that without her channel. her content has gotten so shitty, I miss the story times and dumb chitchats

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gigi is repulsive.

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anyone remember when kandee johnson used to do this?

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Uh wow. She looks very, very different with a full face of makeup. I wouldn't have recognized her in that screencap.

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Did she purchase the rights to that Kylie song, tho? It's unprofessional when well-established youtubers use music that they didn't clear.



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Yeah I wonder how they get away with that?? Back in the day that was a quick way to get your channel deleted, guess the bigger yt stars are given more leeway?



She had Katy Perry too

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Sike. Michelle Phan got sued by Sony for millions because of all the background music she used in her videos and I believe she did have to pay them for it.

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And what's funny is that Katy Perry is part of a Covergirl campaign, not Revlon.

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My ex boyfriend loves her. He now makes makeup tutorials.

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her mic is blown the fuck out in the beginning. she's supposed to be a professional?

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and since this is a beauty post I'm pissed NARS is no longer cruelty free! https://logicalharmony.net/is-nars-cruelty-free/

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WHAT

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anything cosmetic that is sold in china is not cruelty free

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ughhhhhhhh

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wtf. nars should be cruely free especially at its price point.

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ikr, I keep thinking of that shitty Zooming Zucchini ad with the echo





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Ugh unless they are brand new I'm revolted by the dingy look of beauty blenders



(Of course the average person doesn't need to use a new one every time but if you're a professional YouTube maybe don't use a gray groddy one)

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That dress is seriously heinous and probably not even comfortable so like why?

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Whoa, seeing her without make-up is a trip!

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typical gigi

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God she looks so awful. You can tell how fake her lips are when she doesn't have anything on them.



I don't think I have any Revlon products.

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I honestly don't get the people that find lip fillers to be attractive, they're so unflattering...and weird looking.



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IA I am so over seeing lip fillers everywhere on Insta and youtubers. Some people get them and don't even need them.



It looks okay when you have full face of makeup on and liquid lip but then in everyday situations without makeup they stand out and do not look flattering on anyone imo.

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I can't name one instance where they have looked good honestly.

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i pretty much quit instagram bc of all the use of lip fillers for lip swatches. if you wanna use girls with bigger lips, there's a whole goddamn population of women who have them naturally.

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Yeah. It looks like they Kylie Jenner challenge most of the time. When even rich people get bad lip injections, why even try it on a lower budget.

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it doesn't even really "fill" the lip, but the skin around it. so they end up with Simpson mouths.

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Fillered lips look gross, like rubber. Esp when ppl don't know where to stop and fuck up their lip line.

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That Hulk movie isn't part of the MCU so TECHNICALLY she's not coming back ;)

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Pepper is really great regardless of what a flop Goop is. Jennifer threw me for a loop for a few seconds there. I was like "oh shit Betty???!!!? Wait no that's Liv Tyler now nvm." I wish MCU would remember Betty exists.

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Didn't they say Liv is reprising Betty in Infinity War? So she's coming back, finally.

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Fuck why is Infinity War so gd stuffed



I mean, BETTY? seriously? Fuck Marvel.

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The Jennifer casting is cute, lol

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Awww Jennifer Connelly's role is cute considering her husband plays J.A.R.V.I.S.

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I know! I was just thinking how adorable that is. Plus now she gets to cash in that Marvel money and I love her so I'm all for this.

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ikr? keeping it in the family

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Awww, I didn't even think about that, that's cute. They could have an AI-off.

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i'm really hoping that she and paul will share the screen on the MCU in the future

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Awww ur right how cute!

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I didn't even think of that. That's cute.

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Yeah, I just realised that. heee

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Also whenever I try to picture Jennifer Connelly, I think of Demi Moore

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icwym but Jennifer has about triple the eyebrow volume Demi ever had tho, fat eyebrows are the first thing I see when I think of her.

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I forgot how much i missed Pepper until this post. Welcome back!!!!!

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<3 i love them and i rarely love a straight couple.



i still prefer Stony.



Edited at 2017-06-26 06:32 am (UTC)

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huh i didn't realize how much i missed them until now.

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I have always really liked Jennifer Connelly she's so beautiful and I used to watch her lesbian scene in Higher Learning over and over. It got on my mom's nerves cause I rewound the tape so much it started to garble.



they can keep Poop.

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all i can think of is her scenes in requiem for a dream. lord, i've never felt queasier.

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can jennifer connelly leave her husband for me already? thanks. and eh still don't care about this movie

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So glad Iron Man wasnt much in it after all

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you've seen it? how was it?

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I love Pepperony! I hope they are back together. :( I can totally understand why she left him because Tony was being an insufferable twatwaffle but I do love them.

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UMMMM...i hope not

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God I am dying for a Jennifer Connelly comeback

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Aww, that's cute about Jennifer!



I read about the other two, esp Evans' bits. Steve in his stupid avengers uniform doing stupid school videos gives me life



and mte OP, pepper is awesome yet goop is so gross.

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Even NASA hates her for her dumb stickers. lol.

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ikr? She is so ridic. Her acting is stellar tho to make Pepper so fab lol

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I think it's stupid we're supposed to believe the school would be showing videos of Captain America when he's a fugitive of the law.

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YESSSSSSSS I love Pepper

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connelly can take her pos husband and both bug off. I don't especially care for pepper but I do like goop so maybe that will be fun.

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I don't especially care for pepper but I do like goop so maybe that will be fun.



i think you meant it the other way around.

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pepper is pathetic weak slut shaming crap and goop is a capable entertainer so no I did not

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harry is clearly the best character in harry potter imo, it annoys me what a short shrift he gets from some fans

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I love Harry so much. I'll always be bitter about fans calling him whiny and annoying for reacting to trauma like a real person. He should have been way more fucked up before OotP from the abuse he got from the Dursleys alone.



Edited at 2017-06-26 01:53 pm (UTC)

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Ron's my favorite but Harry's right up there too. His inner monologue alone is hilarious.

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ppl who dislike harry are losers

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mte, harry is the best

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yes. i agree. he is so brave and courageous and always chooses to do the right thing.

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This so much!!!

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what @ this thread



maybe harry is underappreciated on tumblr but tumblr is full of special snowflakes. irl everyone loves harry.

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I would get frustrated with him at times, but then I would tell myself that his actions and thoughts are normal and quite typical of someone his age. She wrote him well and as realistic as a character can get in a fantasy setting.

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I can't believe there are people who think he's whiny omg

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yesss Harry's my fave <3

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I always thought he wasn't really realistic enough. He was so stoic for most of it. I know that's needed of the main character but still

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Harry is the best. He got such a raw deal.

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Harry is so nothing

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I'll never fail to be amazed that Harry turned out as decent as he did after the childhood he had.



And OotP Harry was a teenager reacting to violent trauma, I've never understood ppl who call him names for it.

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Double party time!



My parents just picked it up for me in a gas station one day, and I was sold after the first sentence tbh

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HOW IS IT TWENTY YEARS ALREADY



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I feel like reading some fanfics lol sorry JK.



I started in 2000, I was 13. That was when the book was released in my country. Book 2 and 3 all come out the same year. I think book 5 was the first one I bought in english, because I just couldnt wait for the translation lol Harry Potter gave me great things and the golden trio will forever be my favorite. forever. they are the best. I'm celebrating by looking at them:I feel like reading some fanfics lol sorry JK.I started in 2000, I was 13. That was when the book was released in my country. Book 2 and 3 all come out the same year. I think book 5 was the first one I bought in english, because I just couldnt wait for the translation lol Harry Potter gave me great things and the golden trio will forever be my favorite. forever. they are the best.

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Awww . I want to read fics too! I spent the weekend reading some everlak ones . But honestly, nothing like Ron and Hermione.

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same! everlark has so many great fanfics. its unreal.



but I really feel like reading some of the best otp ever.

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otp tbh

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I remember my mom buying the book for me in 1998 when we were in Walden's Bookstore and I was getting Pokemon cards, I think it had just come out in the US

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The Harry Potter books and films will always hold such a special place for me, they really were my childhood and it was so cool growing up alongside the characters. It's really amazing how JK wrote and built on such an extensive universe that's now part of real life and pop culture

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Oh! That explains why her episode of So Who Do You Think You Are was on Discovery Family last night. I wondered. I feel back asleep halfway through but something about her great-grandpa and his ma were born just 10 miles from the German border in Alsace.

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corny af but hp was a life changer. it opened up my love of writing, it brought me amazing friends and it was just an incredible series to be apart of.

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I don't think that's corny at all. It was a life changer.

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thx bb. it definitely holds an absurdly special place in my heart.

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Hufflepuff rave!

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PUFF PRIDE

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My favorite personal Harry Potter memory is when the final book came out, I was living in South Korea at the time (I'm from the U.S) and being over there I wasn't quite as in tune with release dates and stuff, so I knew the final book was coming out soon-ish just wasn't sure when and then I just happened to be in a big mall in the city one day and the book was JUST THERE it was THEREEEE, like can you imagine not counting down the days but just stumbling upon the book?? It was great, I also loved that I ended up the same age as Harry (17) when the final book came out

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I actually didn't read a HP book or see any of the movies until Prisoner of Azakaban came out in theaters. For some reason I just wasn't interested in HP in general but I was 14 at the time and saw Daniel in a bunch of interviews and thought he was charming so I asked to see PoA, bought all the books that were out at the time and became a stan lol.

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Read it in 5th grade. Our teacher had the book and we all got to take it home for a week. It's one of the first books I remember not wanting to put it down.



I think Hermione is my fav character now. I related to her as a kid, haha

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it's been 20 years??? oh my word, i read the first book when i was 13! i even still have the editions of the first 3 books with JK Rowling's name spelt wrong...

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I hadn't heard if the books at all. I guess the weren't such a phenomenon in Pakistan. My brother told me about the films when I was 10, I believe. the first two had already come out at that time so I watched those. Then I read the first 4 books which had been published by then.

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OH MY GOD I'M IN SUCH A RAGE @ THE TRAVEL BAN REINSTATEMENT

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When the fuck are we going to get that Monday bombshell we were promised, I need a fucking headline palate cleanser

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I don't remember anything about a Monday bombshell.

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ikr wittes better know something huge

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That TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK better not have been for nothing...

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Same. I got the notification on my phone when I had to be quiet at work and I just clenched my fist and dropped my head down.

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Plus those 'no gays in muh store' people taking their case to the Supreme Court

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I don't know why you guys are so worried about a terrorist attack when your own damn government is doing everything in its power to destroy you.

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I am in shock :(

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I'm going back to bed. This is basically my reaction to Supreme Court newsI'm going back to bed.

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The travel ban AND their bullshit ruling on that church in Missouri alskdjfodiasj



And the stupid Trump supporters not understanding this victory (gag) is only partial. They haven't won jack shit until the SC hears arguments and rules in October

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Same.



I am just so angry and so tired right now.

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Can Jed just stop?

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But we can't get rid of her.

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Preet Bharara launches new podcast on "justice and fairness" https://t.co/OCVIqdx5aU pic.twitter.com/eUY4Qv9dlr  The Hill (@thehill) June 26, 2017



Stay Tuned with Preet! NICE! Stay Tuned with Preet! NICE!

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this. fuck them.

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Fuck Mitch and everyone who blocked Merrick Garland's appointment.

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And fuck all the ones who knew what they were doing was wrong and didn't "agree" with it, but did it anyway because they're scared of the fucking Koch brothers. One of the Pod Save America episodes had someone on who talked about that. Made me rage! I need Jessica Chastain to come in and pull a fucking Miss Sloane on DC.

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So far Gorsuch makes Scalia look positively moderate.

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what parts of the travel ban are they allowing??? i havent seen an article that explicitly states what parts are allowed. and how the fuck can they allow it when they havent heart arguments or ruled on it yet? this better not be indication of their decision based on a case they havent even heard yet.



im glad they ussc is hearing the bakery case though. texas just passed a law that allows private adoption services to prohibit gay couples and non christian couples from fostering or adopting children. i feel like the bakery case will set the precedent on that case bc groups are already talking about suing over that law.



Edited at 2017-06-26 03:47 pm (UTC)

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They are allowing travel from these countries for anyone who can prove a 'bona fide' connection with an American citizen IE family relatives

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oh christ. this is going to be a mess. i can already see ways DHS will go around that shit.

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Ew @ Texas

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the travel ban was reinstated but who's actually denied entry? cause apparently they ok'd people with "bona fide relationship to the US" so relatives, us business ties, and us school ties. but i feel like theres a huge loophole

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And nothing was ever said about Saudi Arabia again. The End.

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you first!

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mfte

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Exactly

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lol this needs to be the default response anytime this person posts anything.

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why would they collude with someone they were against? like the russians aren't stupid, they're not going to waste resources getting hillary on the ticket when they know they're going to back trump no matter what.

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The FBI is investigating Bernie and Jane Sanders after accusations she manipulated a $10 million loan application https://t.co/fPsdH4ur0U pic.twitter.com/IxgLm8ZB7D  CBS News (@CBSNews) June 26, 2017



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This is the dumbest fucking thing I've ever seen lol.

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Hillary Clinton colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat Crazy Bernie Sanders. Is she allowed to so collude? Unfair to Bernie!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 25 June 2017



'They were picking on my good friend commie marxist globalist 'crazy' Bernie Sanders and I will not put up with it!' 'They were picking on my good friend commie marxist globalist 'crazy' Bernie Sanders and I will not put up with it!'

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I need some better news after the SCOTUS news this morning.





Before almost every big Comey story, Ben Wittes tweets 'tick tick tick'.



He just did it again: https://t.co/hmKty7SXZi  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 26, 2017

Give us some tea, Comey!I need some better news after the SCOTUS news this morning.

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I haven't been on twitter and I haven't watched the news in a few days. I was so addicted to all of it so it's been kind of refreshing.

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I detox from politics on the weekend unless I really need to consume it. During the week days, I'm trying to lower my consumption of politics to a specific period.

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Yes it's been nice to take a step back a bit

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i went 4 days without having the news on as background, not going on twitter and not even really going on facebook and reading non politics posts on here. it was actually really nice.

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It always feels nice until the day I get into it again and realize how much fuckshit has happened those few days I stepped back then I'm freaking out again lol.

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same, sorta. i stopped watching news for long periods of time a day (i only watched joy reid this weekend and during the week only chris, rachel and lawrence some days) and started to binge on movies and shows and it's so much better

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I got a temp ban from r/politics and the mods are reeeeaally dragging their feet on overturning it, so I've been staying away from all political news for the past few days because the temptation to comment (and subsequently not be able to) is really frustrating.



It's been refreshing, though.

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Why? Isn't that place overrun by people from The_Donald?

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not banned on /r/politics. it's been enjoyable. it's the other place i talk about politics wise.

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I mean they have no actual legal basis tbh. They're still allowing people with bona fide relationships to enter. I just hope Kennedy doesn't retire.

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I'm worried about the gay bakery thing. That sets a dangerous precedent.

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Fuck this country

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Schiff is upset at the Obama administration re: Russia

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im very annoyed with the dems that are taking trumps bait. like fine obama admin coulda done more(hes done more that trump tho since he did the sanctions and closed those compounds after), but guess what??? trump woulda still won. plus the trump admin is doing NOTHING about it rn in regards to prevention. like that is the MAIN issue here

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He's not wrong tho? It's okay to express frustration with past administration bc he is right. They waited too late to do anything.

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They dropped the ball. But, like everything with that fucking election, their actions were influenced by the fact that everyone thought it was a given that Hillary was going to win.

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I was in a bar with Richard Spencer last night. I am just, in shock. He had a bunch of nazis with him. Seemed like they were celebrating. Fucking, ugh.

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Did you yell at him like that lady in the gym? I hope people him feel uncomfortable everywhere he goes.

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We wanted to but we were outnumbered and felt scared. We closed our tab and left immediately when we realized. My friends bf went around to all the people of color and warned them. We stood out front and warned people not to go in and some nazis in combat boots and skinheads tried to start shit with us.

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I hope the bartender pissed in all his drinks

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Where are you?

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SCOTUS also said Japanese interment camps were constitutionally legal and we know how that ended. We will fight and we will win. https://t.co/NOkL6Wo7xg  Paola Mendoza (@paolamendoza) June 26, 2017





If Kennedy retires we're fucked for decades and beyond. And who knows how long RBG stays for either. If Kennedy retires we're fucked for decades and beyond. And who knows how long RBG stays for either.

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Fuck this country [2]

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Kurdish oil is headed for the United States this week, further buttressing the semiautonomous regions economic independence as Erbil prepares for a referendum on political independence later this year.

An estimated 650,000 barrels of oil, mostly extracted from the Kirkuk field located in Kurdistan, departed the Mediterranean Sea on June 20th, according to Bloomberg data. The oil tankers route indicated a dash towards the American East coast, after a three-year hiatuscaused by a dispute with Baghdad over Washingtons true loyaltiesended the transatlantic shipments.

The bane of the Kurdistan Regional Governments (KRG) existence is its relationship with the Iraqi federal government. Erbil has argued for years that it remains under-compensated for its fossil fuel assets. Those tensions rose to the surface in 2014, when Baghdad blocked Kurdish shipments to the U.S.  the regions coveted foreign ally. The spread of the Islamic State (ISIS) necessitated international teamwork, so the blockade issue shrank in significance.

Kurdish oil is mostly marketed through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, which is linked via pipeline to oil-rich Kirkuk. SOMO, Iraqs oil marketing agency, sells only a small portion of Kurdish crude at Ceyhan, according to local sources that spoke to World Oil. All crude sold through SOMO is shipped via pipeline to the Kirikkale refinery near Ankara, raising doubts over whether it has been approved by Baghdad.

It does feel like a bit of a test case, Energy Aspects analyst Richard Mallinson said regarding Neverlands risky route to the U.S. Whilst Kurdish oil has found its home in the market, Baghdad hasnt seemed to want to try and challenge Kurdish exports.

The KRG announced its independence referendum on June 8th, after convening a meeting between all of the regions major political parties. One party, the Gorran, boycotted the summit as a rejection of the Kurdistan Democratic Partys hegemony of Kurdish politics, but Erbils upper echelons largely support the referendum, slated to take place on September 25th. Related: Oil Prices Inch Higher As Saudi Crude Oil Loadings Drop

Though Baghdad is not a fan of taking any steps towards eventual Kurdish independence, rifts within the KRG government are more likely to cause the new referendum effort to fall flat. Gorran, which is the main opposition party, as well as several other smaller parties, insists that the Kurdish parliament pass legislation to codify election standards. But the KDP has not been able to hold an official congressional session for two years as opposition leaders keep lawmakers from meeting a required quorum.

The central problem here is KRG President Masoud Barzani, who refused to leave office after his term ended in 2014. Since then, Gorran and its allies have boycotted KDP-dominated Erbil, with some third parties, like the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, occasionally entering discussions with the regional government to make quorum without Gorran. The latest round of such talks appears to be succeeding, and parliament could reopen as soon as the end of June.

A legislative mandate for the referendum requires 56 of 111 votes to pass, meaning that the KDP would need to continue making concessions to its staunchest enemies, who are convinced the vote is a ploy to increase the KDPs popularity within the region.

Turkey  a longtime Kurdish ally for oil exports  welcomes any delay in the referendum process, in hopes that a messy independence movement would make similar initiatives unpopular amongst Turkey's Kurds.

Iraqs Arab allies have also been inconsistent in their support of Baghdads control of Iraqi land. While Iran backs the federal governments stance in keeping the country in one piece, the United Arab Emirates has offered funding to Erbil to facilitate the referendum. The Gulf states compulsively reject any position or country with Tehrans stamp of approval, as demonstrated by the ongoing diplomatic blockade against gas-producer Qatar.

Kurdish oil is likely replacing the export reduction pedaled by Saudi Arabia earlier this month to force American refineries to draw from domestic inventories. Baghdad was quick to offer its crude to U.S. importers looking for a substitute to Saudi supplies in a bearish market. Erbil is cashing in on the same opportunity.

Despite Erbils external show, or test, of independence through the Neverland tanker, the success of the KRGs referendum hinges on its ability to address its domestic governance issues. An officially sanctioned referendum is necessary for a vote to hold any sway in international circles, meaning it is crucial for current talks between the KDP and related parties to result in a legislative session that meets quorum.

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
ExxonMobil and its peers risk blowing $2.3 trillion on oil projects that will not be needed if the world hits peak demand in the next decade.

A new report from The Carbon Tracker Initiative analyzed what would happen if the oil market saw demand peak by 2025, a scenario that would be compatible with limiting global warming to just 2 degrees Celsius. The headline conclusion is that about one-third of the global oil industrys potential spending  or about $2.3 trillion  would not be needed. In other words, the oil industry is on track to waste a massive pile of money if demand peaks in less than ten years.

Of course, the vulnerability to peak demand varies by company. Carbon Tracker surveyed 69 global oil and gas companies, and their exposures range from 10 to 60 percent of their potential spending. That is, 10 to 60 percent of their spending could be unnecessary or wasteful if demand peaks by the middle of the next decade. The latest report adds more detail to the stranded assets theory  the notion that large volumes of oil will be left in the ground because demand peaks, whether because of alternatives or climate regulation, or both.

Some medium-sized companies like Southwestern Energy and Apache Corp. topped the list with 60 to 70 percent of their potential upstream capex vulnerable in a peak demand scenario. As for the oil majors, ExxonMobil would be the most vulnerable to peak demand, with about half of its potential spending through 2025 unneeded. Other oil majors fare a bit better, although not by much. Chevron, Eni and Shell could see 30 to 40 percent of their capex spent on wasted projects.

Which projects are subject to redundancy largely comes down to economics. U.S. shale drilling has seen dramatic costs declines, pushing some higher-cost projects out of the range of viability in this scenario.

Intriguingly, Carbon Tracker concludes that there should not be any spending growth from 2016 levels. The global oil industry savagely cut spending between 2014 and 2016, a response to the plunge in oil prices. A large number of projects were scrapped, exploration and drilling dried up, and very few new greenfield projects moved forward. With spending still roughly stuck at a fraction of the pre-2014 level, Carbon Tracker says that it needs to be frozen todays levels and not rise as many companies have planned. Related: Saudi Reshuffle Could Completely Shake Up Oil Markets

Importantly, however, Carbon Tracker says that about two-thirds of the potential oil and gas production that could find itself unneeded in a peak demand scenario is controlled by the private sector. In other words, state-owned national oil companies from the likes of OPEC are much more likely to hold onto market share, while expensive projects under the control of the oil majors would run into trouble.

This matters because some large-scale projects, such as oil sands and deepwater, can produce for decades. If demand peaks, some of them might not be needed for the full potential lifespan that companies have planned.

The upshot is that that publicly-listed oil and gas companies need to be more transparent about their long-term strategies, which Carbon Tracker says makes it difficult for investors to understand and test the degree of alignment with a 2D scenario. Companies may have already decided to put a number of high cost projects on hold, but more can be done to tell this story to their shareholders.

Peak demand is a possibility that until recently, few had considered likely. But it isnt just environmentalists  even some oil companies see threats looming on the horizon, although they differ widely on timeframes. Executives from Royal Dutch Shell have voiced some agreement with the Carbon Tracker scenario, predicting demand will peak in the next decade. BP, on the other hand, sees demand rising through 2040. Related: The Biggest Obstacles For Chinas $900 Billion Silk Road

But, for now, there are only small signs that the oil majors are preparing for this eventuality. They have fought against shareholder resolutions calling for more disclosure of their vulnerabilities to climate change regulation, although there have been a few high-profile defeats recently.

At the same time, the oil majors are hedging their bets. There has been a huge exodus by the oil majors from the Canadian oil sands this year, as they divert money into shorter-term shale projects. They are also pouring money increasingly into natural gas, and in a few minor cases, renewable energy.

However, by and large, they are still planning to produce oil for decades to come. That may work out for them. But if oil demand hits a peak in the 2020s, they will waste hundreds of billions of dollars on projects that are no longer needed.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

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Hedge funds slashed their bets on the three main long oil futures contracts by 109 million barrels in the week that ended on June 20th, according to a new report by Reuters.

Fund managers are now holding two long positions for every short position at this point  marking one of the most bearish oil price markets since prices fell in 2014.

Hedge funds had placed bullish bets on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ability to reign in the supply glut by cutting output to rebalance markets, but after six months of a 1.2-million-barrel bloc-wide production reduction, oil prices stand no higher than they did at the beginning of 2017 when the deal went into effect.

Analysts say the new low could still bring a jump in futures.

"We kind of hit bottom after this long drop," Michael Lynch, the head of Strategic Energy & Economic Research told Bloomberg. "It makes sense that were either going to stabilize or be up a little unless some news comes out."

Hopeful from a rise in oil prices after initial compliance numbers, fund managers boasted a net long position of 1 billion barrels at the end of February. By March, prices began to fall again, only to rise a month later in anticipation of the OPEC meeting late-May in Vienna. There, the bloc decided to extend cuts through March 2018. Related: The Hidden Motives Of The Chinese Silk Road

The glut continues due to rising production in Libya and Nigeriaboth OPEC nations exempt from the dealas well as high output from American shale producers and Saudi Arabias failed policy of cutting exports to force the U.S. and major Asian nations to tap into existing inventories.

Brent barrel prices traded up 0.42 percent at $45.73 a barrel at the time of writing, while West Texas Intermediate also saw an increase of 0.67 percent, bringing barrel prices to $43.30.

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

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We discussed back in early May how Saudi Arabian crude export loadings in April had dropped materially. Given the journey time to US shores (hark, seven-ish weeks), the expectation was that we would start to see lower volumes reflected in the June data. And sure enough, as we prepare to exit June stage right, arrivals are on the decline.

Imports of Saudi barrels into the U.S. so far this month have dropped below one million barrels per day for the first time since last November. Although U.S. imports of Saudi crude are still averaging higher than year-ago levels so far this year (to yesterday), this is in part due to strong arrivals in the first few months of the year (and particularly January, at nearly 1.4 million barrels per day - wowzers) - offsetting recent weakness.

While March-May arrivals have stayed neck-and-neck with year-ago levels, June volumes are finally coming off. Imports into the U.S. are below 900,000 bpd with less than a week of the month left:

(Click to enlarge)

It is a similar story for Saudi flows into Asia. We have to go back to November 2014 to see Asian offtake dropping below the 4 million barrel-per-day mark. Just as we saw U.S. imports spiking in January as Saudi ramped up export loadings at the end of last year, we see exactly the same trend in Asian volumes. Imports popped over 5mn bpd in January, and fizzed around ~4.5 million bpd in recent months...before a June swoon:

(Click to enlarge)

To counter the supportive influence of the above data, we are seeing Saudi exports rebounding thus far in June. Not only that, but export loadings have also picked up this month from a number of different countries (think: UAE, Iraq, Angola), while higher Libyan and Nigerian production is reflected through in higher exports.

Nearly six months through the OPEC / NOPEC production cut, and it is very much still a case of whack-a-mole for the various players: one month they duck lower, only to poke their head higher the next month. All this leaves OPEC exports at basically the same level as back in October.



(Click to enlarge)

By Matt Smith

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The European Union should negotiate the terms of the North Stream 2 pipeline, which would double the existing pipelines capacity to bring Russian gas to Europe, according to 13 of 28 nations in the continental bloc, a new Reuters report said.

"We had 13 delegations intervening, with all of them being supportive of the Commission's approach," Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic told Reuters by phone. "I am definitely optimistic about getting the mandate, but I know this is just the beginning of the debate."

Germany, which would be the direct recipient of the new energy supplies, strongly supports the pipeline expansion, but some of Berlins allies spoke against the project, citing the leverage it would add to President Vladimir Putins geopolitics, especially regarding Ukraine.

Berlin believes the European Commission does not need to play a part in negotiations with Russia, because the project is only a commercial enterprise. Italy, along with Nordic, Eastern European and Baltic nations, supported EU intervention on the pipeline. France, a partner in the Nord Stream 2 project, declined to take the floor.

Russia and its state firm Gazprom cover one-third of Europes gas needs, though the EU continues sanctions against Moscow for its annexation of Crimea and activities in the Ukraine.

New EU negotiations with Russia could delay Nord Stream 2 to post-2019, giving Western-backed Ukraine the upper hand in talks on transit fees for Russian gas passing through to Europe. The route through Kiev is currently the most popular for gas supplies headed to Europe. Nord Stream 2 would bypass Ukraine, cutting off a key revenue source for the ex-Soviet nation.

Nord Stream 2 has also been the target of new U.S. sanctions against Russia, though not explicitly, as Washington seeks to punish the Kremlin for its alleged interference in the 2016 presidential elections, as well as for its role in Syria and Ukraine.

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

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The emir of Qatar, the tiny gas-rich Gulf state now isolated by its Arab neighbors, met with ExxonMobils chairman and chief executive Darren Woods in Doha on Saturday to talk bilateral cooperation relations, Reuters reports, citing Qatars state news agency QNA.

At the beginning of June, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Yemen, and Libya cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of sponsoring terrorism and destabilizing the region. Last week, Saudi Arabia and its several other Arab allies issued a list of 13 demands to Qatar, giving it 10 days to meet those demands, which include cutting ties with Saudi archrival Iran, and closing the Al-Jazeera TV network. Most analysts and insiders think those demands are nearly impossible to meet, while Qatar denies allegations that it is a sponsor of terrorism and says that it would not negotiate under blockade.

This latest rift in the Middle East has raised concerns over energy supplies. While Qatar is not a major oil producer and exporter, it is the worlds biggest LNG exporter, and it was Exxon that has partnered in projects with Qatar Petroleum to develop the North Field, the worlds largest non-associated natural gas field.

According to the Qatari news agency, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani met with Exxons CEO Woods and ExxonMobil Qatar General Manager Alistair Routledge at the Al-Bahar Palace on Saturday.

During the meeting, they discussed bilateral cooperation relations and means to develop them in addition to the latest developments in the energy sector, Reuters quoted the QNA agency as saying.

Just a day after Qatars neighbors cut their ties with the worlds biggest LNG exporter, Exxon said to Reuters that LNG production and exports from Qatar had not been affected by the spat among the Arab Gulf states.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Seeking to diversify its gas imports away from Russias giant Gazprom, Lithuanias state-held gas trader Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas said on Monday that it had signed a deal with Cheniere Marketing International to buy LNG directly from the U.S., adding to the growing list of customers of Americas LNG cargoes.

The Lithuanian company expects to receive the first LNG cargo delivery in the second half of August.

It will be the first time Lithuania imports gas from the U.S. We opted for delivery from Cheniere after evaluating several offers for LNG, a spokesman for Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas told Reuters.

Since Cheniere sent Americas first LNG cargo abroad in early 2016, U.S. gas exports have reached buyers in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and even the Middle East. Since February 2016, U.S. LNG cargoes have been delivered to 20 countries, including to China, Japan, South Korea, and India. Middle Eastern buyers were Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and the UAE. Earlier this month, cargoes from Sabine Pass called at Rotterdam for its first Northwest Europe destination, and to Polanda first delivery to a country in Central and Eastern Europe, where Russias Gazprom reigns supreme.

According to the EIA, the U.S. is expected to become a net exporter of natural gas on an average annual basis by 2018, thanks to declining pipeline imports, growing pipeline exports, and increasing LNG exports. The growth of natural gas exports, especially from new LNG terminals, would lead to growth in U.S. natural gas production through 2020 at about the same rate, 3.6 percent annual average, as it has grown since 2005, the EIA reckons.

Lithuania, for its part, is trying to reduce reliance on Gazprom, breaking its monopoly in 2014 by opening an LNG terminal at the Klaipeda port as part of its efforts to increase energy security and competition.



Related: Oil Prices Inch Higher As Saudi Crude Oil Loadings Drop

Last month, Lithuania urged the European Commission to impose stronger obligations and conditions on Gazprom in its antitrust settlement with the Russian giant.

If the European Commission does not take our proposed stronger obligations into account, we see no other way to proceed than for European Commission to issue Gazprom with a fine, Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told Reuters in a statement via email.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Londons top fund managers have thrown in the towel on their fight to stop Saudi Arabias state oil giant Aramco from listing shares on the London exchange, accepting that the political will to lure what is expected to be the biggest IPO in history is too strong to oppose, The Sunday Times reported.

Aramco, which Saudi officials claim is worth US$2 trillion, aims to list 5 percent of the company on one or more international stock markets next year.

In April, UK Prime Minister Theresa May traveled to Saudi Arabia together with London Stock Exchange boss Xavier Rolet to try to sell London as an Aramco listing venue to Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih, who is also chairman of the Saudi oil company.

Aramco wants to sell just 5 percent in IPO, but under the UKs Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules, a company qualifies for a premium listing only if it has a minimum 25 percent free float, meaning Aramcos 5% listing would fall significantly short of qualifyingthat is, unless the listing rules were changed.

Earlier this month, asset manager Royal London warned against the London Stock Exchange changing initial public offering rules to better suit the tastes of Riyadh.

However, according to The Sunday Times, a subtle intervention by the FCA has softened investors opposition to a possible Aramco listing in London.

London is not exactly in a position to turn business down at the moment, one fund manager in the City told The Sunday Times.

Earlier this year, the FCA said in a discussion paper that it could create a distinct international segment, and this may be attractive to companies where there is a founding family or government that wishes to retain control rights that are incompatible with a conventional premium listing.

Related: The Biggest Obstacles For Chinas $900 Billion Silk Road

The FCA will publish a follow-up paper in the coming days, in which it will discuss the proposals in detail, according to The Sunday Times.

Just last week, the architect of the Aramco listing and the Saudi official overseeing the IPO plans, Mohammed bin Salman, was promoted to crown prince in a Saudi royal succession reshuffle.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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By Kathryn Hickok

President Donald Trump stressed the dignity of work in a speech June 16 promoting his Apprenticeship Initiative for young workers. Today, this is the message I want every young American to hear: there is dignity in every honest job, and there is nobility in every honest worker, Trump said.

This is a timely message. According to a recent report by the American Enterprise Institute, the workforce participation rate for men 25-54 has dropped from 96% in 1967 to about 88% in 2016, an all-time low. Young men, especially with less education, are increasingly opting out of the workforce, and not just due to a weak economy. Other causes of unemployment among men include a lack of postsecondary education, dependence on benefit programs, opioid dependency, the rising prevalence of criminal records, a lack of available jobs in economically distressed areas, and weakening cultural norms [that expect able-bodied men to be working].

Public policies and government regulations should make it easiernot harderfor young people to develop marketable skills and experience. When young adults at the point of entry to work lose the belief that earning a paycheck is better than the ease of drawing a benefit check, the human cost is significant. Renewing a moral sense of the value of labor can refocus policy makers onto solutions promoting gainful employment, the pride of accomplishment, and financial self-sufficiency over dependence on government programs.

Kathryn Hickok is Publications Director and Director of the Childrens Scholarship Fund-Oregon program at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregons free market public policy research organization.
The last week of May was full of unprecedented developments for Reliance Communications, the seventh-largest telecom service provider in the country, starting with its first-ever yearly loss of Rs1,283 crore. The losses, coupled with high debt - Rs 45,733.40 crore as on March 2017 - prompted banks to raise a red flag on the company. To make matters worse, ratings agencies ICRA, CARE and Moody's downgraded RCom over debt concerns. The panic-stricken investors reacted; in seven trading days, RCom's stock tanked 33 per cent.

Compelled to allay fears about the telco's future, RCom Chairman Anil Ambani called the media at Reliance Centre in Santacruz, the new global headquarters of the Reliance Group where he shifted from the upscale Ballard Estate about a year ago. He fielded a volley of questions at the 95-minute-long Q&A, before settling down for an informal chat. The lenders had granted a seven-month "standstill" on the debt, he said.

Between now and December, Ambani will have to conclude two crucial deals - merger of the wireless business with Aircel and the 51 per cent stake sale in Reliance Infratel (tower business) to Canadian private investment firm Brookfield Infrastructure - that are expected to bring in around Rs25,000 crore. With this, it will be able to pare down its debt to about Rs20,000 crore.

RCom's debt comprises money from a consortium of Indian banks led by State Bank of India, and international loans. The debt pile-up, over the past decade, is a result of switching from CDMA to GSM technology, and purchase of expensive 3G spectrum in 2010 for Rs8,585.04 crore. In 2011, it availed of a Rs6,000-crore loan facility with China Development Bank to refinance the amount it had paid for the 3G spectrum. A year later, it signed an agreement with three Chinese financial institutions - ICBC, CDB and EXIM - to repay outstanding FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bonds) due for redemption. By then, the company had got into a debt trap - raising fresh debt to repay old debt.

Litany of Woes

Reducing debt is only one of the several challenges for RCom. The latest quarterly numbers show that RCom's wireless business, its bread and butter, is under immense pressure. It has witnessed an erosion in value and volume of both voice and data businesses. For instance, voice subscribers dipped 18 per cent to 84.7 million in the last quarter of 2016/17, compared to a year ago. Its voice ARPU, an important metric to determine average revenue per subscriber, fell Rs20 to Rs87. There's been an upheaval in the voice market since the entry of Reliance Jio, which has kept its voice services free. Telecom players which derive a large chunk of revenues from voice - 57 per cent in case of RCom - have been badly hit.

A Bank of America Merrill Lynch report states, "Jio's aggressive offering has impacted smaller telcos like RCom more as they have more price-sensitive consumers who are now moving to Jio. Post results, we expect a reduction in market share and resultant operating leverage putting pressure on margins."

Not just that, RCom's customers are shifting to other telcos offering free voice calls. In the last quarter, RCom lost 29.5 million voice and data customers compared to the same period last year, whereas Airtel and Idea Cellular gained 22.41 million and 14.4 million subscribers, respectively, during the same period.

The entry of Jio was the proverbial last straw. It has changed the way operators do business, and has led to a series of mergers and acquisitions over the past two years. In November 2015, RCom announced the acquisition of MTS, followed by the merger with Aircel in September 2016. Both the deals are awaiting regulatory approvals.

To succeed (or survive) in the current scenario, AirCom (proposed name for the RCom-Aircel-MTS entity) needs decent spectrum and high-quality subscribers. On both counts, it lags - in terms of spectrum holding, AirCom will hold about 883 megahertz (MHz) spectrum, far lower than Idea-Vodafone (1,850 MHz), Airtel (1,489 MHz) and Jio (1,235 MHz).

"A merged wireless entity would have about 10 per cent revenue market share, but sub-optimal quality of subscribers and debt burden would be key challenges. Also, residual business with estimated EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] profile of at best Rs2,000 crore would initially have limited cash flows to service [about] Rs19,000 crore debt," says a report by IDFC Securities.

The current issue with RCom's subscriber base is partly linked to its delay in shifting from CDMA to GSM technology. That's why it has historically had a low-value subscriber base.

"People used RCom as the second SIM. They would recharge it in case of some promotional offer and use it infrequently. When Jio came, RCom SIMs were discarded. The quality of Aircel subscribers is not significantly different," says a telecom analyst.

RCom's sluggish investments in building networks and upgrading infrastructure have marred its growth prospects. The initial attempts to upgrade turned out to be futile because it could not get enough subscribers. As investments slowed, so did subscriber additions, as people chose operators with superior networks. Today, it has about 62,000 cell sites compared to Idea-Vodafone's 273,000 and Airtel's 185,000.

The Way Out

In the present financial mess, RCom will find it even more difficult to invest in network modernisation, or to even buy new spectrum, since banks may not be willing to lend money. "The investment in network is a continuous process. Given its financial health, it might be tricky to put in more capex in the network," says Rishi Tejpal, principal research analyst at Gartner.

RCom has failed to monetise its capabilities in optic fiber network fully. Its discussions with institutional and private equity players to sell the non-wireless businesses, particularly undersea networks and the optic fibre, reached a dead end. RCom has a 3.1 lakh-km-long optic fiber network - 1.9 lakh km in India and 1.2 lakh km abroad - comparable to that of Airtel (2.2 lakh km) and Idea-Vodafone (2.5 lakh km). In fact, Jio is using RCom's optic fiber for its 4G services.

Sources within RCom say that the company is focusing more on corporate customers than retail. "They have a strong fiber network, but the brand presence is clearly lacking. They are making some money by leasing, but it's not considered as strong as Airtel or BSNL. Their focus should be on getting cost efficiencies out of the merger, and innovating in areas like marketing and brand positioning," says Tejpal.

Servicing debt after the proposed deals are finalised will also be a challenge. Over the years, RCom has built other businesses that now contribute about 35 per cent to its revenues. These include global cloud exchange, undersea cables, India enterprise business, optic fiber business (global and Indian), data centre and direct-to-home services. However, Mahesh Uppal, Director at telecom consultancy ComFirst India, says that these are vanilla businesses where players like RCom can be easily substituted. "These are not branded businesses. I don't think these can have a huge upside. RCom is one of the many players with no unique advantage," he adds.

RCom is also planning to sell off its two prime land parcels - the 135-acre Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City in Navi Mumbai and a four-acre property near Connaught Place in New Delhi - to retire its remaining debt.

In 2006, when the Ambani brothers decided to split the Reliance business, Anil made sure his elder brother Mukesh Ambani, who was the brainchild behind the telecom business, did not enter the telecom industry for the next four years, through a non-compete clause in their agreement. And in 2016, Mukesh Ambani disrupted the market by launching Jio. The brothers already have a tower and spectrum sharing agreement. There is speculation that Mukesh will not let RCom die because of the 'Reliance' brand attached to it. Interestingly, at a recent Reliance Communications Annual General Meeting, the younger Ambani said "as far as our 100 million customers are concerned, as far as our one million retailers are concerned, as far as our employees are concerned, and as far as our vendors and partners are concerned, there has already been a virtual merger of the two organisations (RCom and Jio)."

RCom has seven months to emerge out of the debt trap. The clock is ticking.



@manukaushik
The impact of the introduction of GST will be manifold on the telecom sector, especially telecom service providers and handset manufacturers. Apart from higher taxes that telecom service providers will have to pay, GST is expected to substantially increase their regulatory compliance and data management requirements. Telecom services will now be in the 18 per cent slab, higher than the current 15 per cent service tax. While the higher tax rate is expected to have a marginal impact, the way GST is designed means telcos will need to completely overhaul their processes.

It is complex because while India has 29 states and seven union territories, there are only 22 telecom circles. Many circles cover more than one state and union territory. The Delhi circle includes Delhi, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida, and Gurgaon, covering three states. Currently, service tax collected from the Delhi circle goes directly to the central government. But since GST has two components - CGST (central GST) and SGST (state GST) - the tax collected from service providers will be divided between the central and state governments. That will mean increased paperwork.

"Once GST comes into force, telcos will have to segregate revenues emanating from each state. It will have compliance and data collection-related cost implications for telcos," says Harsh Jagnani, Vice President at ICRA.

Reconciliation of roaming revenues will also be a challenge. In mobile-to-mobile calls, termination charges of 14 paisa are paid by one telco to another. However, currently telcos may not be accounting for termination charges on voice calls between two states. "Going forward, that will not work as state-wise accounting of revenues has to be done," says Jagnani. Work is being done on telecom networks' backend to resolve the issue.

The GST troubles are not restricted to telecom service providers alone. Domestic mobile manufacturers were in a rude shock when the GST council hiked rates from 6 per cent to 12 per cent. At the same time, the tax rate for imported handsets was reduced from 18-27 per cent to 12 per cent. Nearly 80 per cent mobile phones are assembled in the country. Experts say low margins will force handset makers to pass on the costs to end consumers. Under the Make in India programme, mobile manufacturing was given a big push. Around 42 mobile manufacturing units have been set up in the past two years, producing around 13 crore handsets annually. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has given assurance of providing duty differential, the industry expects sales to get affected until any such announcement.

"We are expecting sales at the distributor level to dip by 5 per cent over the next two months. Handset prices are likely to fall as distributors clear inventory," says Tarun Pathak, associate director at Counterpoint Research.



@manukaushik
I have met the enemy, and he is me. (What Trump, channeling Pogo, should be saying to himself every morning.)

Can Trump turn it around? No one knows, of course, but if my only slightly tongue-in-cheek analysis is correct, the best hope for Trump is that his dismal experience to date will prove to be a wake-up call.

We observed in the case of Steve Jobs that a series of calamitous experiencesbeing fired from his own company, launching a new company that failed utterlyhelped turn his head around. Getting married and starting a family helped as well, so that by the time Jobs returned to Apple in the late 1990s he had matured.

The word matured, of course, has a special meaning in the case of Mega Entrepreneurial Personalities (MEPs). It didnt mean that Jobs had mellowed or that he had developed the capacity to empathize with others or to live by the same rules as everyone else. It meant that he had learned to focus his attention on a few projects that really mattered to him and to Apple. The rest of the company could operate normally and, while the important projects still felt the full brunt of his searing personality, Jobs was able to back off just before he blew everything up.

Its possible to analogize Trumps first six months in office to Jobs experience at Apple I and NeXT. Perhaps the poor results Trump has achieved so far will cause him to mature, to learn to focus only on those things that really matter and even there to control himself when it looks as though he is about to blow an important initiative out of the water. But is it likely? And even if it happened, would it matter?

I have no idea how likely it is that Trump will learn from his experiences in high office, and neither does anyone else (although everyone thinks they know). But even if Trump should experience a Jobs-like transformation, it might simply be too late because of the second trait Ive pinpointed: Trump has never held office. He knows almost nothing about how Washington works, nothing about the traditions and responsibilities and processes and procedures of the Presidency. On top of that, he doesnt know anyoneor trust anyonewho does know about these things.

As Trump has stormed around and stumbled around, his approval ratings have plummeted and he is now the most unpopular President since at least World War II. Still, its important not to read too much into the poll numbers. If we disaggregate the ratings what we find is that, as with the Conservative Party in the UK, Trump is so unpopular with younger people that it drags down his overall ratings. Among voters over 40, Trumps approval ratings are above 50%. If you believe that young people own the future, Trump is certainly in trouble. On the other hand, if you believe that young people are essentially blockheads but that they will smarten up in a few decades, the polls probably dont mean much.

More problematically, a matured and transformed Trump who was focused like a laser on a few key initiatives would still be a Trump who lacks the tools to accomplish much. Domestic policy doesnt get made by issuing orders or tweeting or storming around the Oval Office raging at your enemies. It gets made through a long and unwieldy process that begins with hiring policy staffers who know how to manage the maze that is Washington, D.C.ideologues have their uses, but this isnt it. Then there is the hard slogging of drafting policy proposals, inviting guidance and comment from Congress, involving policy wonks and lawyers, developing a communications strategy, blah, blah, blah. None of this is happening.

In the realm of foreign policy a President has greater leeway, but even there nothing good will come of White House initiatives unless they are followed up on by a small army of under secretaries and assistant secretaries, the people who do the day-to-day work at State and Defense. Almost none of these people are in place, there are literally hundreds of vacancies. Why? The Trump team views the obvious candidates as unsatisfactory because they (a) opposed his campaign, (b) are Democrats, or (c) Trump doesnt know them. Ironically, the result of this is that State and Defense are being run by the deep state, that is, the permanent bureaucrats who run Washington the way they want to regardless of what the President wants.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company was unquestionably bloated beyond recognitionbut underneath that bloat Apple had great bones. Jobs focused on the bloat and vigorouslyone might say viciouslypared it away. What was left was a small team of A playersdesigners, engineers, marketers, etc.who could focus on a few key initiatives and produce peerless products. By contrast, the Trump White House was empty when Trump arrivedthere were no great bones to work on and none have been assembled.

We often say of a successful President that he grew in office. If I could give Donald Trump one piece of advice it would be that he needs to shrink in office, to commandeer his oversized personality, to pare down the scattershot activity, to focus on a few initiatives that matter, to set the agenda but then get out of the way and let the experienced Washington hands guide him through the maze.

Will he do it? Its not impossible, and people have bet against Trump and lost before. Still, I wouldnt bet the farm on it.

Next up: Cash Is King
During a muggy June in 1863, Civil War-weary Pittsburghers panicked at rumors that Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was marching his Army of Northern Virginia toward Pennsylvania.

The rumors, as we now know a century and a half later, were indeed truealthough Pittsburgh was about 200 miles west of the small farming town of Gettysburg where the Union and Confederate armies horrifically clashed north of the Mason-Dixon line.

The Battle of Gettysburgfought July 1, 2 and 3, 1863 in the Adams County townremains the largest battle ever fought on North American soil, producing some 53,000 casualties: men killed, wounded or missing. And given our regions reputation for a strong work ethic, historians say it should come as no surprise that Pittsburghers made a significant contribution not only in Gettysburg, but to the overall four-year ordeal of the Civil War that began on April 12, 1861, with the Confederate firing on Fort Sumter.

The city, especially early in the war, responded very strongly and was known for sending a large volume of men, says Leslie Przybylek, senior curator at the Senator John Heinz History Center. When Lincoln requested troops from this area, the response was so enthusiastic that they doubled the number of men (expected) from this area People really saw it as a civic duty and responsibility to get out there.

In June of 1863, some emergency regiments were formed locally, with people anticipating Lees invasion of Pennsylvania, says Michael Kraus, curator at the Soldiers & Sailors Hall & Museum in Oakland. Meanwhile, male citizens of Allegheny County were required to help build trenches and fences around Pittsburgh to prevent it from attack that ultimately never came.

The regiments with Pittsburgh men that ended up fighting in Gettysburg already were out in the field, in Virginia and Maryland, and they responded by heading north. The journey back to Pennsylvania surely was emotional, Kraus says. Any Pennsylvanian who was marching across the border from Maryland into Pennsylvania had a well of pride. It was very meaningful for them to be in Pennsylvania.

A Noble Calling

Although no reliable figures state how many Pittsburgh-area men fought at Gettysburg, we know that when President Lincoln called for volunteers, government officials requested 1,609 Army enrollments from Allegheny City, which today is Pittsburghs North Side. Instead, 5,709 men enlisted from there, Przybylek says. The Army requested 3,227 enlistments from Pittsburgh, and got 11,187. Overall, Kraus says, Allegheny County supplied nearly 26,000 troops for the Civil War.

And in Gettysburgwhere 93,700 Union troops fought 70,100 Confederates14 regiments contained Pittsburghers. Some were heavily local, while others just had a company or two. During the Civil War, an Army regiment typically had about 1,000 men, with each regiment typically containing 10 companies of about 100 men each. Regiments often drew from one primary geographic area in a state, though many had men from more than one city or state, and companies usually featured men from the same neighborhoods and nearby communities.

In Gettysburg, three regiments with local ties played the most significant fighting role: the 74th, 62nd and 155th Pennsylvania, says Deb Novotny, a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg National Military Park.

Theyre in some really hot spots, Novotny says.

The 74th Pennsylvania: A German Regiment

America drew thousands of European immigrants in the 19th century, and many of them fought for their new country. Some 200,000 Germanic menimmigrants and first-generation Americans from Germany, Switzerland and Austriaserved in the entire Union Army during the Civil War. That is about 10 percent of Union forces, and the Germans formed the biggest ethnic group. It speaks volumes that people stepped up and said, Well go; Well serve,  Kraus says.

Several regiments with mostly German men, many of whom spoke limited English, formed. The 74th Pennsylvania, featuring mostly German guys from the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas, faced a major fight on the first day, when Lees troops arrived just west of Gettysburg. The men of the 74thmarching in from near Emmitsburg, Md.could hear the cannons firing when they came within six miles of the fight, Novotny says. They ran toward the action, each carrying some 50 pounds of equipment. The unit suffered heavy casualties.

The 74th Pennsylvania monument stands on West Howard Avenue. It is highly recognizable, with a statue of a man holding a flag atop a base, representing the fallen color bearer.

The 62nd Pennsylvania: Defending the Wheatfield

Some of the fiercest fighting over the three-day battle happened July 2 in the Wheatfield, which switched between Union and Confederate control at least six times that afternoon and produced more than 6,000 casualties. The 62nd Pennsylvania suffered high casualties. This regiment was organized in Pittsburgh as the 33rd Pennsylvania on Aug. 31, 1861; after the members left for Washington, D.C., the regiments name changed to the 62nd that November. The 62nd contained men from Allegheny, Clarion, Jefferson and Blair counties. Pittsburgh attorney Col. Jacob B. Sweitzer led the Second Brigade of the Fifth Army Corps First Division, which included the 62nd Pennsylvania. The regiments monument towers over the Wheatfield, just south of town.

The 155th Pennsylvania: Pearsons Zouaves

Zouave units in the Civil Warinspired by French Zouave army units from the 1830s were known for their eye-catching uniforms, with an Arab-inspired short jackets, baggy trousers and colorful fez caps. The 155th Pennsylvania was not clad in these uniforms during the Gettysburg battle, but all Zouave units were considered elite and had a reputation of being recklessly brave, according to the Civil War Trust.

The men of the 155th had their glory day on July 2, when they helped defend Little Round Topa hill both armies recognized as critical to hold. The tall, grand monument to the 155th stands near the summit of Little Round Top. The Zouave-clad soldier topping the monument gazes toward where the enemy gathered at the foot of the hill.

Two prominent Pittsburgh officers led the 155th: Lt. Col. John H. Cain, who resigned after Gettysburg. Alfred L. Pearson, who began as a captain, then became the regiments colonel in August of 1863. Pearson, a lawyer, later won a Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Lewis Farm in March of 1865.

Noteworthy Pittsburghers

Franklin native Alexander Hays served as colonel of the 63rd Pennsylvania, which recruited men exclusively from Allegheny County in August of 1861. Later promoted to brigadier general, Hays led the Third Division of the Second Corps at Gettysburg, which played a major role defending Cemetery Ridge against Picketts Charge on July 3. Men in Hays division captured numerous Confederate flags, prisoners and weapons during the battle. The Hays monument stands south of town at the north end of Hancock Avenue. Hays, who is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville, was killed in the Wilderness fighting on May 5, 1864. He was named major general posthumously for his brave service.

One quirky regimentthe 149th Pennsylvania, known as the Bucktails for the regimental custom of men wearing on their hats the tails of deer they shothad one company from Allegheny County, though the regiment was formed in 1862 in Harrisburg. This regiment played a role in defending the McPhersons Ridge, which allowed time for more Union troops to arrive on the first day of battle and defend against the Confederate invasion.

The 102nd Pennsylvania may not have played a major fighting role at Gettysburg, as its Sixth Corps didnt arrive until later in the battle. But this regiment is known for its mascot, Dog Jack, who started as the mascot for the Niagara Volunteer Fire Company in the Strip District. Dog Jack, a brown and white mixed breed, loyally and bravely accompanied his soldiers on their journey. The animal was the subject of both a book and a movie.

You can read all about the Civil War and the dramatic Battle of Gettysburg, but nothing makes it real like visiting the Adams County town where the wars biggest battle happened on July 13, 1863. The Borough of Gettysburg offers much to do condensed into a small area: museums, shopping, and of course, Gettysburg National Military Park. You can contact the National Park Service and arrange a private tour of the battlefield with a licensed battlefield guide, and ask the guide to point out the spots where Pittsburgh-bred regiments fought.

The website pacivilwar.com provides many details about each state regiment. To learn more about a regiments memorial monument, visit gettysburg.stonesentinels.com. For more information on planning a Gettysburg vacation and battlefield tour, visit:

destinationgettysburg.com

gettysburgfoundation.org

nps.gov/gett/planyourvisit

gettysburgbattlefieldtours.com
QUEENSBURY  Six Flags Great Escape officials are conducting an internal review of the park's "Sky Ride" after a 14-year-old girl fell 25 feet from one of its cars Saturday evening.

The girl, who is from Delaware, was not identified. Her fall was broken by a small crowd of park workers and attendees, but she was still injured, taken to Glens Falls Hospital, then to Albany Medical Center by helicopter.

According to Jessica Hansen, director of marketing and sales, the park immediately closed the ride once all visitors were off it Saturday. The state Department of Labor cleared the ride to re-open Sunday, but the park opted to keep it closed.

A cellphone video of the girl falling taken by Loren Lent of Glenville, went viral overnight, and the story was picked up by media outlets including staff-written stories in the the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and several papers in England.

Lent's own Facebook post received more than 1,400 comments in 22 hours, and the video was used in many of the news reports.

Back at the park

Lent was back at the park Sunday and was interviewed by The Post-Star's news partner, Channel 13, WNYT of Albany.



He was screaming, You got to help her, she can't hold her, she's going to fall, she's slipping, she's choking, she can't breathe, her head is caught,' Lent told Channel 13. It was just hysterics. The Sheriff's Office did not say what the girl was doing and how she ended up hanging from the ride in the first place. The ride has no height requirement and no seat belts. It does have a safety bar.

Plans in place

When asked about safety procedures at the park, Hansen said all rides have a standard evacuation plan.

"As part of our annual practice an evacuation drill is conducted in partnership with local emergency personnel on this particular ride each spring," she said in an emailed response. "Every situation is unique and requires the appropriate time and tools for the evacuation. We are reviewing our internal procedures to ensure the safety and security of our guests and team members."

Hansen said even though the park had permission to re-open the ride, park officials kept it closed "out of an abundance of caution."

The safety of our guests and team members is our top priority, and out of an abundance of caution, the ride will remain closed while we conduct a thorough internal review," she said.

Warren County Sheriffs Office and emergency medical services were dispatched to the park at 8:05 p.m. Saturday, according to to the Sheriff's Office.

The girl, who is from Greenwood, Delaware, was riding with a younger relative when she fell.

The ride is very slow-moving, gondola that spans several hundred feet across the park, and had been stopped by the operator after having received a radio transmission from park staff on the ground that a rider was in distress.

The Sheriff's Office said the girl fell from the car, hit a tree as she fell.

A video posted to Facebook and YouTube shows her dangling from the car with a crowd beneath her, then losing her grip and falling.

She was treated by park emergency medical personnel at the scene and transported to Glens Falls Hospital. She was later taken by helicopter to Albany Medical Center and was reported to be in stable condition with no serious injuries. An updated condition was not available Sunday night.

Mattthew Howard Sr., 47, of Schenectady, a season-pass holder at the park, was transported to Glens Falls Hospital. He was treated and released for a back injury he suffered partially catching the falling girl.

Sheriffs investigators, assisted by park personnel, inspected the ride and the car the girl was in Saturday night and said everything was in proper working order and all safety equipment was intact and operational.

Queensbury Central Fire, West Glens Falls EMS, and Bay Ridge EMS assisted at the scene.
If you boiled your tone down to its essence -- the primal drumbeat and the tribal chant of it -- what's the feeling there? Moods come and go, but most people have a rather consistent set point their outlook hovers around, and it's a good thing to know about yourself. A Mars and Neptune trine will bring some self-awareness and harmony on the subject.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY (June 26). The next 10 weeks will build up your confidence. September is your chance at a prize you've wanted since you were a child. New trends begin in November. You'll improve according to whom you have around you. The help you gave long ago will boomerang back in the form of excellent luck at the close of 2017. Libra and Scorpio adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 9, 50, 33, 2 and 28.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Try to see the neutrality in things this week. Nothing is worse or better than it is, except when you choose to think of it that way. Your thoughts will make it so.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You're not always looking for a robust learning experience. You just want to know how to make it work. You'll appreciate those who can get to the point and show you how to fix it without too much backstory.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). It feels like you started this journey ages ago, but you're not in the final stretch yet. You're not even halfway there! Be consistent with your efforts and march on.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You wanted to know, but you were afraid to ask. Your chance comes today. You can speak candidly and others will not be offended, because your question holds within it the innocence of a child.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). A school of thought is like a brick-and-mortar school in that the one you attend will change everything -- the people you know, the activities you become involved in, even where and how you live.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). The teacher will not recruit a class; instead the students will seek a teacher. For this reason, don't wait around for the opportunity to learn. Decide what you want to know, and go find someone who knows it already.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). To remain true to your core won't be a rigid stance but a flexible one. Great strength sways with the wind and weather like the ancient trees do, reaching roots ever downward as they grow.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). The challenge calls for a vision into the far-off future. If you can't get a good idea of what's to come, you can at least have faith that it's something good. It's important that you don't sell your future for a quick fix today.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Don't worry about the money so much. Creativity will take over where the money leaves off. In this and other ways the ends will find their own magical way of meeting.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). To create is to feel vitality flowing through you, to be animated by the force of life. The nature of the material world is to have an ending, but the nature of creation is to live on.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). To ask "What's in it for me?" isn't selfish today; it's practical. And if you don't negotiate it, who will? It would be irresponsible to depend on others to be your No. 1 advocate when you're perfectly suited for the job.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Even though people yearn for excitement, they also crave predictability. There's a balance to be struck here, and you'll succeed in bringing a little of both to a relationship.
GLENS FALLS  Dr. Kathleen Braico, who retired from her pediatric practice in 2011 after more than 30 years but is still medical director of Double H Ranch, has been chosen as this years recipient of the Henry Crandall Award.

Its a pleasure to be able to give the award to her, not just for the work she has done locally, but because she was able to cement the communitys relationship with the broader world, and thats so important these days, Crandall Public Library Director Kathy Naftaly said. She has supported the library behind the scenes, and she has been a big part of our success.

Braico said she was very, very surprised by the honor.

I have done virtually nothing for the library, other than being a patron and bringing my kids and grandkids there, she said. I think it is lovely, very sweet that they are doing this.

Braico and her husband, John, ran the pediatric practice, Adirondack Pediatrics, together. Double H Ranch, in Lake Luzerne, is a camp for children with serious illnesses.

Braico has been instrumental in starting a teen program in Hudson Falls through Amorak Youth Services. She has also volunteered for the Glens Falls Medical Mission, Red Cross, Community Workshop, Inc., and the Saga City Exchange Program.

In 2014, she established Gift Back, an alternative gift fair to benefit local nonprofits, and has recently become involved in green initiatives for the Glens Falls region.

On an international level, Braico has worked with the Medical Mission since 1998, teaches neonatal resuscitation and has become a master trainer for Helping Babies Breathe and Essential Care for Every Baby  programs that help reduce infant mortality. She has taught these skills to medical staff in Guatemala, Haiti and Bangladesh.

She has previously has been honored by several local organizations, including the Warren County Medical Society, Glens Falls Rotary Club, Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York, Soroptimist International of the Adirondacks, and the Warren County Bar Association.

Braico will be honored at the librarys Celebrating 125 Years Gala at The Sagamore.

The library will celebrate 125 years since it was founded by Crandall, who provided and furnished two rooms on the second floor of a building he owned and donated $2,500 for books to establish a library in the city. The event will kickoff a yearlong celebration of the librarys history.

The award named in his honor has been given yearly since 2010 and seeks to honor those who have affected the improvement of the community and demonstrated commitment to Crandall Public Library. The librarys board of trustees selects the honoree.

The gala is a major fundraiser for the library and will be held from 6 to 10:30 p.m. Oct. 27. The $100 reservation price includes a cocktail hour, dinner, live music and dancing, and select silent and live auctions with auctioneer Martin Seelye. Reservations can be made starting in August.

The library is currently accepting sponsors and honorary committee donations for the gala. For information, go to www.crandalllibrary.org or call 792-6508, ext. 284.
With Jamaican beads freshly braided into strands of her long, light brown hair, former Glens Falls High School student Mayr Sawyer spoke about her recent 10 days in Jamaica, where she taught music to impoverished kids in Portland Parish.

She mentioned the amazing food, the beauty of the tropical island and the kindness exuded by the Jamaicans, but she spoke most excitedly about how kind the children were and how music from both worlds brought them together.

Ive never traveled like this where music was the main focus, she said. And we all kept saying how these kids have nothing, yet they want to give everything to you. It was super powerful.

They taught me more than I taught them.

Sawyer is a junior at SUNY Potsdam and the Crane School of Music, double-majoring in music education and theater. She traveled to Jamaica as part of Potsdams Field Service Project.

The program is designed to bring structured music lessons and instruments to the country, which has no music classes in its schools, she said. The Potsdam students brought drums, recorders and egg-shakers, in addition to lots of school supplies and clothes.

The music education students, like Sawyer, worked primarily with kids in first through sixth grades, but also spent some time with preschoolers, teaching them classics like Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider and a choreographed version of Lion Sleeps Tonight, she said.

Music therapy students worked primarily in hospitals, Sawyer said.

The creator of the program, music professor Eric Wills, said it has grown from a handful of Potsdam students to dozens of students annually from the entire SUNY system and 70 universities outside of SUNY.

It has blossomed beyond my imagination, Wills said, adding that students, in addition to teaching and learning, have also become school supplies smugglers, in a sense.

Weve had teachers break out in tears when they see what we bring, he said. Cheap Crayons here sell for more than $5 a box there, he said.

Both Sawyer and Wills spoke about the myth that Jamaica is dangerous, saying resorts spread that story to keep tourist dollars at the resorts. Wills said not only is Jamaica safe away from the resorts, but that the resorts are the spots tourists should stay away from.

In the classrooms, Sawyer said she did a lot of drumming, a whole lot of dancing and singing and some work with recorders, which the students were less thrilled with. She taught five lessons a day.

Sawyer said the students enthusiasm was infectious and some of them, like a little boy named Donovan, stole her heart.

He was so stinkin cute, she said.

Sawyer credits Glens Falls music teachers Pam Granger and Nancy Armstrong for her passion for music and theater, calling both her idols. Granger, reached after Sawyers return, said she wasnt surprised by her stories from Jamaica.

She spoke about Sawyers heart and said she has worked with her since she was a sixth-grader, when, despite being taller than most of the other kids, her audition demanded the role of Annie in the school musical.

She had this spirit that reached the back of the auditorium, making it necessary to cast her, even though she was growing like a weed, Granger said.

Granger said shes excited Sawyer will continue in music education, and praised not only her talent but her temperament.

Her personality will win everyone over who works with her, she said. Shes a giver and shes infectious and brings her joy to everyone.

Sawyer isnt the only one in her family bringing Glens Falls to the world these days. Her cousin, Bella Winston, who graduated with her from Glens Falls High School, is teaching English in a tiny town in Nicaragua called Jinotega.

Sawyer said they were communicating through Facebook and texts while she was still in Jamaica and talked about how they really werent that far apart geographically.

It was a cool moment for me, she said.

Winston, reached via Facebook, said shes halfway through an eight-week teaching program for an organization called Outreach360 that has a separate learning center students attend five days a week after their regular school.

The children are incredibly intelligent, hilarious and lively. I am so proud to be their teacher and look forward to spending time with them every day! Winston wrote. This experience has made me so appreciative of all of the opportunities that I have been given, and has shown me that opportunities are rarely equal or fair. The kids have reminded me that learning is a gift, and continue to humble me every day.

Glens Falls School Superintendent Paul Jenkins said he isnt surprised to hear the cousins are out making a difference in the world.

Both are very outgoing, confident individuals  and very caring, he said. And its nice to hear of Glens Falls graduates doing things like this so current students can see it and say, I know Mayr and Bella; if they can do it, its something I can aspire to do as well. 
QUEENSBURY  Police believe human error on the part of the girl who fell from a ride at The Great Escape was the cause of the weekend accident that has drawn national attention to the amusement park.

The 14-year-old, whose name has not been released, was not believed to be hurt, but was hospitalized for tests to ensure she didnt have any internal injuries, sheriffs Lt. Steve Stockdale said.

She was released Monday afternoon from Albany Medical Center according to officials.

The girl was hospitalized Saturday night after she fell an estimated 25 feet from the Sky Ride, a gondola-style attraction that carries patrons over part of the park. She brushed against a tree, and a group of patrons helped break her fall, and numerous park visitors shot video of the incident that has gone across the Internet and television in recent days.

She was released Monday afternoon from Albany Medical Center.

Stockdale said the girl, who is from Delaware, was riding with her younger brother, somehow slipped underneath the restraining bars that holds riders in the car.

The ride was also found to be functioning properly, Stockdale said.

Police had not interviewed the girl or her brother as of early Monday, but tests have ruled out a medical problem causing her to slip out, so it appeared that she was either not paying proper attention or was fooling around to slide underneath the bar.

Some witnesses surmised she may have been trying to kick trees as the ride passed them, but Stockdale said that did not appear to be the case. He said she had already slipped through by that point that she was seen flailing her legs.

Thankfully the girl fell at one of the points where the seats arent at their highest on the ride, as they get significantly farther off the ground and over water closer to the end.

It could have been a lot worse than it was, Stockdale said.

Albany Medical Center said it could not release patient information without the childs name to check her status.

Stockdale said the Sheriffs Office was besieged by media requests for interview about the matter, with national shows seeking access to the investigating officers and the victim and her family.

I got two phone calls from Good Morning America, he said.

Two safety consultants contacted by CBS This Morning said gondola rides such as Sky Ride have good safety records. They told the networks reports that problems are typically caused by actions of the rider.

The state Department of Labor inspected the ride and cleared it to re-open Sunday, but the park opted to keep it closed through Sunday. It was unclear early Monday whether it would re-open Monday,as calls and emails to a corporate spokeswoman were not returned.
SOUTH GLENS FALLS  Village employees are going to get new health care options, but they wont have to give up either of the expensive perks that the new mayor criticized before the election.

For now, Mayor Harry Gutheil said, hes just trying to save the village a little money.

The village pays 90 percent of each employees health care plan, and 100 percent of the vision and dental plans. If employees are willing to choose new plans that cost less, the village stands to benefit financially.

I hope they can save money and the village can save money, Gutheil said.

Employees may be motivated to pick a new plan because their portion of the premium would also go down. The village hired an insurance broker to search for options, with the intention of letting employees pick their own plans. The village could end up running many plans.

Let them pick the one that tailors their needs best, Gutheil said. If they find something that better suits them, theyll have the options.

But no matter what they choose, they will still get the duplicate prescription insurance plan that Gutheil has criticized as hurting the village.

The village pays for a prescription plan that is included in each employees CDPHP insurance. But the village also pays $5,800 a year per employee for a second prescription plan. Its costing the village $80,500 a year.

Employees are also given village-funded health reimbursement accounts that cover many of their expenses. That, too, isnt going away with the new health plans.

Gutheil wants to be clear about the health plan decision. None of the plans changes the lucrative perks he has criticized, he said.

I want to make sure were not renegotiating their contract, he said. Were not taking anything away from them.

Changing the perks would require mandatory negotiations, he said.

But he is still hoping employees decide to help the village. They could voluntarily drop the duplicate prescription plan, he noted.

CSEA President T.J. Chagnon has defended the duplicate plan, saying its much cheaper than the villages other prescription plan. A routine medication he takes is $3 a month in the duplicate plan. It would cost $60 in the other plan, he said.

It remains to be seen whether the new options reduce that price difference. The insurance broker is finishing one more plan and will then schedule meetings to unveil the options to the employees.
















The Syrian army on Sunday issued a warning to Israel, following two IDF retaliatory strikes on its territory in as many days for spillover fire from the war-torn country.





The regime said that three Syrian soldiers had been killed by Israeli fire.





Around 10 mortar shells from Syria struck the Golan Heights on Saturday, prompting an Israeli response that reportedly killed two Syrian soldiers. On Sunday, several more projectiles hit Israel, in what the army said was spillover fire.





The IDF on Sunday again responded to the errant fire, confirming it targeted a Syrian military vehicle. Arab media reports said five people were injured in the Israeli raid.





The general staff of the Syrian army warns of the dangers of these aggressive actions and holds the Israeli enemy responsible for the grave consequences of these repeated actions, despite any excuse there may be, the Ynet news site quoted the Syrian military as saying.





The Syrian general staff also published photos of at least three men it said were Syrian soldiers killed in Israeli strikes. It did not provide a date or any other information on when they were killed.





Also on Sunday, Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij visited troops in southern Syria to mark the end of the Ramadan monthlong fast where he vowed the regime would continue fighting until it conquers every morsel of the homeland.





In Sundays strike , the IDF targeted two artillery positions and an ammunitions truck belonging to the Syrian regime, an Israeli military statement read, noting the army had also ordered Israelis to keep away from open areas along the border near Quneitra, where internal fighting was heavy.





Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned Saturday night that the regime would continue to suffer the consequences of any attack on Israel emanating from its territory.





Israel, he said, had no intention of accepting challenges to our sovereignty and threats to our security, even if they are caused by spillover from Syrian infighting.





































The IDF is reportedly preparing for the possibility that Hezbollah may seek to launch an attack against Israeli forces during the construction of a new border fence along the northern front, slated to begin next month.





According to Hebrew media reports Sunday, the army believes that the Lebanese terror group may seek to take advantage of the large concentration of Israeli soldiers along the border to launch an attack.









The IDFs Northern Command believes that Hezbollah may claim Israel violated the 2000 United Nations approved border as a pretext to strike, the Haaretz daily reported.





The purpose of the fence, which will stretch from Metulla to Misgav Am in the east and Hanita to Rosh Hanikra in the west, is to prevent the infiltration of Hezbollah operatives seeking to carry out terror attacks into Israel.

In recent years, Israel has carried out a series of construction projects along the border  including fences and artificial cliffs  in order to boost its defenses against Hezbollah.





While scheduled for some time, the upcoming work along the border comes amid heightened tensions in Israels north.





Last week , Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel against attacking Lebanon or Syria, saying hundreds of thousands of Arab and Muslim fighters would be ready to strike back. The Israeli enemy should know that if it launches an attack on Syria or Lebanon, its unknown whether the fighting will stay just between Lebanon and Israel, or Syria and Israel, Hassan Nasrallah said.

Hezbollah has significantly built up its weapons stockpile since the 2006 war and has upgraded its arsenal to about 150,000 missiles, Israeli officials say. Israel also fears that some advanced surface-to-sea and anti-aircraft weapons systems have reached Hezbollah from Iran. Israel has reportedly sent messages to Iran via Europe warning it against continuing to expand Hezbollahs war-fighting capabilities against Israel in southern Lebanon.





























Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned Saturday that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad would continue to suffer the consequences of any attack on Israel emanating from its territory. Libermans comments came after around 10 mortar shells hit the Israeli Golan Heights in the afternoon, leading to retaliatory Israeli air strikes. The army said the mortar shells appeared to be errant fire from Syrian factions fighting each other across the border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor which has been reporting on Syrias six-year-war, said two Syrian soldiers were killed in the Israeli strikes.





It also reported fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels in Quneitra.





As part of the Israeli enemys continuing support for terrorist organizations, Israeli warplanes attacked services facilities and residential buildings in the surroundings of al-Baath city in Quenitra province at the same time as Jabhat al-Nsura terrorists were attacking the area, said a statement published by the Syrain governments SANA news agency.





Liberman, meanwhile, stressed Israel had no intention of accepting challenges to our sovereignty and threats to our security, even if they are caused by spillover' from Syrian infighting.





Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu too, said in a statement that Israel would not accept a trickle of projectile fire and would respond with force to any firing into our territory.

































US President Donald Trump is eager to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin with full diplomatic bells and whistles when the two are in Germany for a multinational summit next month. But the idea is exposing deep divisions within the administration on the best way to approach Moscow in the midst of an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the US elections.





Many administration officials believe the US needs to maintain its distance from Russia at such a sensitive time  and interact only with great caution.









But Trump and some others within his administration have been pressing for a full bilateral meeting. Hes calling for media access and all the typical protocol associated with such sessions, even as officials within the State Department and National Security Council urge more restraint, according to a current and a former administration official.

Some advisers have recommended that the president instead do either a quick, informal pull-aside on the sidelines of the summit, or that the US and Russian delegations hold strategic stability talks, which typically dont involve the presidents. The officials spoke anonymously to discuss private policy discussions.





The contrasting views underscore differing views within the administration on overall Russia policy, and Trumps eagerness to develop a working relationship with Russia despite the ongoing investigations.









There are potential benefits to a meeting with Putin. A face-to-face meeting can humanize the two sides and often removes some of the intrigue involved in impersonal, telephone communication. Trump  the ultimate dealmaker  has repeatedly suggested that he can replace the Obama-era damage in the US-Russia relationship with a partnership, particularly on issues like the ongoing Syria conflict.





Nina Khrushcheva, a Russian affairs professor at the New School, said Trump is in an impossible position. He cant be too nice to Putin because its going to be interpreted in a way that suggests he has a special relationship with Russia, she said. He cant be too mean because Putin has long arms and KGB thinking. So Trump needs to have a good relationship with him but he also needs to fulfill his campaign promises of establishing better relations with Russia. The White House said no final decision has been made about whether a meeting will take place. It did not respond to questions about the opposing views within the administration.












LIC net profit jumps to Rs 15,952 crore in September quarter from Rs 1,434 crore in the year-ago period: Filing.
Finding Peace of Mind: Discover These Five Places in Europe to Unwind
Two engineering firms with roots that trace back 70 years have merged in the Quad-Cities.

IMEG Corp., and Missman Inc., merged to expand regional service offerings in engineering, design and construction-related services. The Missman firm includes civil engineers, and the IMEG firm has mechanical, plumbing and electrical engineers, among other specialties.

"Over the course of the last two years, especially the last 14 months, we've been trying to grow and expand our services aggressively," said Pat Eikenberry, Missman president and CEO. He was in the process of negotiating with another firm when Paul VanDuyne, IMEG's president, called to ask about a merger.

"We are very excited to advance our relationship with Missman," VanDuyne said. "Through this merger, we have created a unique strategic opportunity by combining Missmans multiple years of civil and structural engineering expertise with IMEGs expansive building design capabilities.

"We will remain focused on providing engineering services to our customers  strengthening our core regional teams to build on our offerings and deliver even greater value.

Eikenberry, a civil engineer, has been with Missman since 1984 and was named president in 2009. He calls IMEG a valued partner, and said the firms have a shared history in the Quad-Cities.

"This merger will broaden and deepen our existing industry specializations, enabling us to offer more comprehensive services tailored to our clients," he said.

Missman is providing construction engineering and inspection services for the new $1.4 billion Interstate 74 bridge project. The firm also is part of the team working on the $80 million Mississippi River replacement bridge between Savanna, Illinois and Sabula, Iowa.

Missman was founded in 1946 as C.D Missman & Associates by Cliff Missman. The name changed over the years and in 2011, became Missman Inc. The company has 60 employees and offices in Rock Island and Bettendorf, as well as Rockford and DeKalb, Illinois.

IMEG, formerly KJWW Engineering Consultants, was founded in 1961 by Walter Kimmel. KJWW merged with TTG Engineers of Pasadena, Calif., in 2015 and was later renamed IMEG. Paul VanDuyne is president and CEO, and the corporate headquarters are in Rock Island.

It employs more than 1,000 and is one of the top five largest building engineering firms in the country.

The two firms have worked together for about 33 years, Eikenberry said, and this is now a formalized relationship. "We first discussed this topic in the 1990s," he said.

Missman will retain its name, and it will be the same people and the same services, Eikenberry said.

But clients will now benefit from an increased depth of knowledge and services.

"We want to make it easy for our clients," Van Duyne said, adding that most of the IMEG clients are architects.

"When they need a service, all they have to do is to call one location," he said. In addition to having a large workforce, IMEG engineers are in teams, for health care, education, industrial, science and technology and corporate office buildings.

There is quite a bit of business, especially in the civil engineering sector," Van Duyne said.

"We actually plan to expand our workforce in the Quad-Cities," Eikenberry said. "We are extremely busy, and with the addition expertise that IMEG has, we can recruit engineers from across the country, and that will really benefit our organization."
Scientists tallied a total of 776 species during a 24-hour "bioblitz" over the weekend at Loud Thunder Forest Preserve, rural Illinois City, the most-ever for a Quad-City area blitz.

The preliminary total is 21 higher than the 755 species recorded in 2013 in Milan Bottoms, a wetland area in southwest Rock Island.

"We had beautiful weather, a record species count, interesting finds and many happy children who were able to spend quality time experiencing the natural world," said Marilyn Andress, of the nonprofit organization Guardians of the Prairie and Forest that organized the event.

Among the rare finds was a small, minnow-sized fish called a grass pickerel, listed as a "species of concern" in Illinois. Aleshia Kenny of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service found it in the small stream that runs through the 240-acre Ralph Martin Conservation Area adjacent to Loud Thunder, which is 1,621 acres. The fish's presence is an indication of clean water, Kenny said.

Other rarities: a copper-bellied water snake and a goldenseal, a type of plant.

Among the more unusual birds were three black-billed couckoos, a cerulean warbler and a northern parula. Although not rare, they are among species whose numbers have declined rapidly, so it was good to see them, said Kelly McKay, a wildlife biologist from Hampton who led the bird expedition.

The blitz involved nearly 40 scientists and graduate students from Illinois and Iowa colleges and universities to identify the species, and the public was invited to come out and watch, learning from experts who explained the significance of what they were seeing.

A highlight for children was an exercise in with scientists shone lights, both white and blue, on a bedsheet at night, drawing all kinds of moths and insects, Andress said.

Other blitz totals were 440 species recorded in 2015 in a wetland owned by the Quad-City Conservation Alliance, East Moline, and 533 recorded in 2014 at Black Hawk State Historic Site, Rock Island.

Next year's blitz will be at Nahant Marsh, Davenport.
Gentry serves as deputy commanding general-support for First Army, a position he has held since Oct. 3, 2016. He is responsible for assisting Twitty with training, readiness and mobilization of Army Reserve and National Guard units across the United States and two U.S. territories. He also is the commander of First Army Reserve Support Command, an Army Reserve unit, attached to First Army headquarters.
As she suggested when she was appointed earlier this year, at-large Alderwoman Lisa Brown has officially announced her candidacy to remain on the Bettendorf City Council.

Brown was appointed to fill the remainder of former Alderman Gary Mohr's term after he was elected to represent Iowa House District 94. But she is no stranger to public office, having previously served as at-large alderwoman for 14 years and four years on the Parks and Recreation Board.

"It is an exciting time in Bettendorf as we continue to move forward with our many projects and new initiatives not only with the BettPlex and I-74 bridge, but long awaited downtown development," Brown said. "During my time serving as a Bettendorf councilman, I have gained a great deal of experience with the complexities of city government including its capabilities and limitations."

When Mohr announced his resignation, 16 candidates applied for the vacancy and after several elimination rounds, Brown was selected.

Brown said she was drawn to the opportunity to once again be involved in the community.

Brown is member services manager at the Center for Active Seniors Inc. in Davenport after working as dean of student services at Scott Community College for 24 years.

"Our citizens are very proud of their community and I want to continue representing and advocating for them to meet and exceed their expectations," Brown said. "Bettendorf is a thriving community with a strong quality of life, excellent recreational opportunities, quality education and a fiscally sound balanced budget. I am very proud of my involvement in the Bettendorf community."
DES MOINES  Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says she is monitoring Congress as lawmakers draft legislation that would make sweeping changes to federal health care policy.

Reynolds said Monday she believes federal action is needed because health care reforms made under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, are collapsing, and she is hopeful the current, Republican-led effort will produce federal policy that gives states the flexibility to use federal funding to craft their own health care programs.

The state recently petitioned federal regulators for permission to divert $352 million in anticipated federal funding for 2018 to a restructured system of premium tax credits and a state-run high-risk pool.

At the time, Iowa was facing the possibility of becoming the first state in the country without at least one health insurance company selling federally-approved plans statewide. Minnesota-based Medica has since said it will continue to sell plans statewide next year, but with an average monthly premium increase of 43.5 percent.

Probably one of the biggest things that (Congress) could do, and thats in our stopgap proposal, is to give us some flexibility in how we design the program, Reynolds said Monday during her weekly news conference. Because we know what Iowans need. I dont know what Colorado needs. I dont know what North Dakota needs. But I know the health insurance environment in Iowa.

The Republican proposals  the House passed its version and the Senate is working on a similar bill  would undo many of the reforms passed by Democrats in 2010. The GOP proposals would remove the requirement that all individuals purchase health insurance, alter the federal subsidies designed to help low-income residents purchase insurance, soften the requirement that all patients be eligible for coverage regardless of preexisting conditions, and reduce federal funding for Medicaid, among other provisions.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that if the House or Senate bill were to be implemented, more than 20 million people would become uninsured over the next 10 years, either due to lack of access or by choice.

The proposals have been unpopular with health care advocacy groups and the public.

Only 3 out of 10 people said they find the Republicans health care plan favorable, while more than half said they find it unfavorable, according to national polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health care policy think tank.

Health care industry and advocacy groups like the American Medical Association and AARP are among the dozens that oppose the legislation.

Reynolds, a Republican, said because of the issues with the individual marketplace in Iowa, she is happy to see Congressional Republicans working on health care reform.

Our carriers are leaving because its not sustainable. So we need to stabilize the individual market. And this is part of the process to move that forward. So Im happy that were moving the process forward, Reynolds said. Theyre addressing this through reconciliation and then hopefully, if we can get something passed in the United States Senate, theyll go to conference committee and well start to address the Obamacare (Democrats 2010 reform) that is unworkable, unsustainable and unaffordable.

If thousands of Iowans lose access to health care through GOP reforms, Reynolds said there are other ways to help vulnerable residents.

Theres a lot of different ways that we can work with vulnerable Iowans. It starts with helping them get the skills that they need to fill the jobs that are available today. Theres a means of providing a safety net as they get the skills that they need, she said. I think the more that we holistically can look at how we meet the needs for those individuals, but most importantly help them succeed and help them have a great quality of life, but making sure that theres some type of a safety net there along the way so were not ripping that out from underneath them, but phasing it out while providing them options to get a great job and have a great quality of life. I guess thats what Im looking for.
Walk into Suite 205 of Davenport's Bucktown Center for the Arts, and you'll see affixed to the four walls, all around you, dozens of charcoal sketches of the naked female form, known as life drawings.

Some of the figures are standing, some are lounging, some are faces only. All were created by Davenport artist Dean Timmermann, described by fellow artist and friend Paul Lange as "a slow-moving, deep-thinking and extremely talented, yet humble artist."

The sketches, numbering in the hundreds, are among possessions Timmermann left behind when he died in January of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, at the age of 61.

Because of the expense of his extended illness, the state claimed all of his possessions, but Lange and other artist friends got permission to take his drawings.

To honor their friend, they are selling the works for a $20 donation each, with proceeds going to an entity such as Quad-City Arts or the HAVlife foundation for art scholarships for needy students.

"Our purpose is two-fold," Lange said. "First, we want people to have his art! That's his legacy. Second, we know that the money raised to encourage young artists would be something that Dean would have loved."

The sale ends July 15.

Dean's brother Don, of Blue Grass, said "art was just about his whole life."

"That and his religion."

Timmermann was born and raised in Davenport, graduated from West High School where he was on the wrestling team, and earned his bachelor's degree in graphic design from Iowa State University, Ames.

Don Timmermann said he isn't sure how his brother got interested in art because when he went to Ames he originally majored in chemical engineering "because that's what I did."

But Dean Timmermann soon changed his focus, and after that his life was all about art, reading and spirituality. "He was one of the most educated persons I knew," Don Timmermann said. "He read all the time about all different things. He knew about all the major religions of the world."

Lange met Dean Timmermann when they sketched together at the former Davenport Museum of Art and other places. "We'd get kind of immersed in what we were doing. We did not think about an idea, we just drew. There was no pressure. It was in the moment.

"Dean would usually wander in late to class, greet everybody politely and absorb the atmosphere. He would find a seat and slowly take out his supplies. Then he would sit. He would look at the model, study the pose and ponder. Then he would pick up a piece of charcoal or graphite and draw an effortless line with an outstretched arm.

"We all were in awe of his sensitive line and affinity for the figure."

To support himself, Timmermann painted decorative finishes and murals for businesses and wealthy homeowners in the Chicago area. He used spray paint for years without wearing a mask, and that is how his friends and family believe he developed COPE, a term used to describe progressive lung diseases that are characterized by increasing breathlessness.

Timmermann had been on disability for 1 years, "but it should have been a lot longer," his brother said. "He was in very bad shape for a significant amount of time."

Bucktown, 222 E. 2nd St., is donating space for the display and artist Tony Seabolt, working in the suite next door, is handling sales.

"There is one more "Final Friday"  June 30  before the close of the show and we'd like to get as many people to that night as possible," Lange said. Final Friday is an event held the last Friday of every month at Bucktown with extended hours until 9 p.m. and special activities.

In addition to Don, Dean is survived by another brother, Dennis, also of Blue Grass.
Travis Kalanick helped found and build Uber into a corporate giant worth more than Ford Motor Co. On Tuesday, Uber's board effectively fired Kalanick.

This was a direct reaction not to Kalanick's infamously immature bad-boy behavior but to what his toxic personality was doing to the ride-hailing service's bottom line. It recognizes that consumers don't scour the internet for the lowest price and, on that basis alone, make a purchase. Reputation still counts.

Kalanick had become the leading representative of an obnoxious "bro culture." He and his managers both mocked and discriminated against women. They partied at strip joints. They sneaked around local regulations, abused drivers and have been accused of stealing technology owned by Google's parent company. Kalanick's official core values included "stepping on toes" and "always be hustlin'."

Uber's big investors decided they'd had enough.

The Uber case is just one example of companies' acting on worries that they are lending their good name to questionable activities. Another was JPMorgan Chase's decision to withdraw its advertising from NBC's Megyn Kelly interview with the creepy conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Delta Air Lines and Bank of America pulled back sponsorship of a New York Shakespeare in the Park production of "Julius Caesar" that featured the assassination of a Donald Trump-like figure. In a similar vein, CNN fired comedian Kathy Griffin after she posed lifting a mock severed head of Trump.

All these decisions were solid ones. A critic for The Guardian quoted an English theater director as saying that corporate sponsorships of performances are, in effect, censorship. That is nonsense.

Bill O'Reilly's sponsors were in no way censoring the Fox News personality when they pulled ads from his show because of multiple reports of his piggish treatment of women. And it mattered not that O'Reilly still had a big audience. They didn't want to be seen as enabling socially repugnant behavior.

O'Reilly retains the right to say what he wants to, and Fox News has a right to give him airtime, though it decided to let him go. But companies also have a right to advertise or not.

As for the ads themselves, I don't care much for overtly political messages, even when the messages jibe with my own worldview. They have an air of manipulation, playing with my civic emotions to sell a product having nothing to do with government or politics. But I have no problem with companies that sponsor news shows promoting views I greatly disagree with. As long as the content is vaguely honest, the sponsor's reputation remains intact, in this opinion.

There was a time when advertisers saw social media  Facebook, Twitter and the like  as a means to maintain tighter reins, directing customized ads toward specific audiences. On the contrary, social media have become a wild horse, an uncontrollable force whereby popular campaigns against a company can explode with force in a matter of hours.

That's why the hashtag "DeleteUber" so pained Uber's board of directors. That's why the hashtag "GrabYourWallet"  urging followers to boycott Trump brand products  has hurt bottom lines.

It is admittedly a tall order for corporations to navigate these choppy waters. They must develop sharp messaging that will not set off fireworks on Twitter and Facebook among would-be customers. (It's hard enough to counter blatant lies targeting the company name.)

But buffing the corporate image is what executives get extravagantly paid to do. If it gets tarnished by anti-social behavior in the executive suite or association with a repellant personality or message, companies have every right to cut the ties. Bashers of corporate America take note: Big business may be one of the few gatekeepers for public decency left.
Gov. Bruce Rauner regularly attempts to "go over the heads" of the news media and talk directly to the public without any journalistic filters. Usually for people in his particular position, that's just not possible. Governors aren't presidents, after all. They can't deliver "Oval Office" addresses that are carried live by television networks or give stump speeches that cable news networks regularly broadcast. They don't have millions of Twitter followers or Facebook video watchers.

But that hasn't stopped Rauner from trying. It's what his prolific television advertising is really about. He has spent millions even in non-election years attempting to frame his issues his own way without any filters  mainly to avoid taking any blame for his state grinding to a halt without a budget and to shift all blame to House Speaker Michael Madigan and the Democrats instead.

Aside from those ads, most of his Facebook videos have less than 10,000 or so views, a tiny fraction of Illinois' population. He only has about 20,000 Twitter followers, which is less than I have.

So, last weeks Old State Capitol speech about the need for unity was a true rarity. Rauner's three minute, 15 second address was carried live by several television stations, including the one with the largest news audience in the Chicago region, Channel 7.

He didn't break much ground with what he said. What was new was the platform he used. Because he inserted himself into TV news broadcasts, tons of people got a chance to hear him speak live on the topic of his choosing for the very first time without interruption - which has simply never happened before in this state.

The extreme drama of more than two years with no budget, a state teetering on fiscal collapse and a crucial special legislative session starting the following day was just too juicy to resist for the stations. Toss in the location of the Old State Capitol, which was used by both Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama for major speeches and the setup was nearly perfect.

The governor used lots of buzz words like "compromise," "bipartisan" and "unity." He got in his pitches for a property tax freeze, school funding and term limits, all hugely popular out there in Voter Land. Not once did he utter the phrase "tax increase," even though he supports a plan to increase the income tax rate by about a third. And he called the impasse "unnecessary" even though the Statehouse war was basically his idea from the get-go.

It was all too much for the Democrats, who mostly reacted harshly. Chris Kennedy labeled it as "a few minutes of empty remarks in an empty room." Sen. Daniel Biss called it "the worst infomercial in our state's fiscal history." JB Pritzker said: "Rauner has decided he wants to make people think that he'd like to work together to get something done." Ameya Pawar called Rauner a "liar, a fraud and a flake." And the House Democrats official response accused the governor of "talking out of both sides of his mouth."

To the people who watched the speech, that reaction may have been seen as an overreaction, if they even bothered to look up the react. Rauner's specialty is winning the news cycle, and he most certainly won the week with that little address of his.

Rauners speech wasn't about getting a budget deal. It was about portraying himself as the good guy and the person who is not to blame and then letting the other side take its nastiest shots to prove how they're not so good. "Why are they picking on this man who only wants bipartisan unity?" would be the preferred message received.

On the other hand, Rauner was poorly lit, his face and head were distractingly shiny, the empty room had lousy acoustics and he had what appeared to be a cold sore on his upper lip.

Television is all about the visuals, which is why the best way to effectively rate a TV ad is to turn off the sound. People see way more than they hear. What they probably heard last week were the poll-tested, tried-and-true buzz words. What they saw may not have been so great.

Still, the fact that Rauner pulled it off is quite an accomplishment. I used to tell Rod Blagojevich to stop trying to go over our heads and learn to deal with the news medias filter. Rauner figured out how to do what Blagojevich never could.
Purdue University, the only land-grant institution in Indiana, is in the process of buying Kaplan University, which has roots that trace back 80 years in Davenport.

The sale was announced in late April, but has been under review by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, the U.S. Department of Education and the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits both universities.

The working title of what Purdue calls "the world's next public university" is NewU. Officials, led by Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor and now president of Purdue, described the purchase as an effort to serve adult students who do not have a college degree, an estimated 92 million Americans in total.

"We will operate this new university with the same care and commitment to student success as we do the other campuses in the Purdue system," Daniels wrote online in a letter of explanation, "Welcome to the world's next public university.

Kaplan University has institutional operations and assets including 15 campuses and learning centers, 32,000 students and 3,000 employees, and decades of experience in distance education.

Two weeks ago, Purdue set tuition rates at $39,600 for NewU students who are residents of Indiana. Tuition will be waived for Purdue faculty and staff family members.

A Purdue spokesman said students who reside in Iowa or Illinois will pay the tuition they currently pay at the Kaplan campus in Davenport. Tuition rates vary depending on the program, but a student pursuing a bachelor of science degree in business pays $5,109 per term, or $66,4107 in total tuition to earn a degree, according to Kaplan's website.

While no one at the campus was available for comment, Steven White, a Kaplan spokesman based in Florida, confirmed the Davenport campus is part of the sale.

Kaplan's main campus in Iowa is in Davenport, White said, noting the school's historic origins, which include the former AIB business school.

According to Davenport city records, Kaplan rents the property from Piper Ventures LLC., Alpharetta, Georgia.

"This transaction has to pass several approvals before it is finalized," White said. "It's not a done deal, yet."

The process could take several months, according to Steve Kauffman, a spokesperson for the Higher Learning Commission, Chicago.

The Higher Learning Commission is reviewing the Change of Control application, and its final decision also will consider the U.S. Department of Educations pre-acquisition review.

Due diligence typically takes several months, Kauffman said in an email message.

For its part, Purdue has several published news releases online about the idea of NewU. It was created to address the need for post-secondary education for working adults, and to harness the explosive growth in online technologies.

All existing Kaplan students and faculty will transition to the new university.

Betty Vandenbosch, chancellor-elect of NewU, is president of Kaplan University, having joined the institution in 2008. She spoke at the first meeting of the NewU board of trustees.

"We are thrilled to be part of this journey with Purdue University and our trustees, she said, in a report on the university's website.

"It is an honor to be affiliated with Purdue, and I am confident that Kaplan's experience in online and on-ground education will provide significant new opportunities for Purdue as well," Vandenbosch said.

Kaplan is now located in Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Maryland, Maine, Missouri and Wisconsin. It's Concord Law School was the first to fully offer an online law degree.

NewU is not designed to require state appropriations but is to rely on tuition and fundraising to cover operating expenses.
HURON - South Dakota Farmers Union joins with other drought-stricken states in requesting that Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres be released for livestock owners to utilize as forage to feed their animals.

"This drought is a natural disaster - creating a situation where many of South Dakota's livestock producers are running out of grass and other forages to feed their animals," said Doug Sombke, President of S.D. Farmers Union and a fourth-generation crop and livestock producer from Conde.

On June 20, 2017, Sombke, along with the president of National Farmers Union and presidents of Farmers Union organizations from the drought-stricken states of North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, with this request.

The letter reads as follows:

June 20, 2017

The Honorable Sonny Perdue

Secretary of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Agriculture

1400 Independence Ave, SW

Washington, DC

Secretary Perdue:

I write on behalf of Farmers Union members who are experiencing significant drought in the Upper Great Plains. I urge you to immediately consider emergency haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land.

Emergency haying and grazing of CRP land is authorized to provide relief to livestock producers in areas affected by a severe drought or similar natural disaster. Farmers Union members in all of North Dakota and parts of South Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota are facing serious drought conditions. The National Drought Mitigation Center current lists D1 and D-2 conditions in and around the Missouri River Basin.

Reports from our members have painted an alarming picture of a deteriorating feed supply. While recent rain fall has helped, it has done little to significantly alter conditions in the long term. Ranchers are forced to graze alfalfa stocks before the plants have reached maturity. Although the usual Drought Monitor Index threshold for releasing CRP has not yet been reached, hay is in short supply after the harsh winter. Many producers are left with the difficult choice of down-sizing their herd or driving hundreds of miles to purchase hay.

Local media outlets are frequently sharing stories of sales barns that are oversupplied with cattle, causing prices to decline since the spring. Such significant herd downsizing, especially in the context of a flooded market and low prices, threatens the long-term viability of many of these ranches.

I urge you to release CRP land for emergency grazing as soon as possible. Waiting until August to allow producers on to CRP land will provide little relief, as the grass will be of little nutritional value. The window for this decision is short and narrowing each day.

I thank you for your consideration and stand ready to provide any additional assistance.

Sincerely,

Roger Johnson, President, National Farmers Union

Doug Sombke, President, South Dakota Farmers Union

Alan Merrill, President, Montana Farmers Union

Gary Wertish, President Minnesota Farmers Union

Mark Watne, President North Dakota Farmers Union
MITCHELL | Tiffany Boehmer has always considered herself "one of the guys."

With a strong build and trademark ponytail, Boehmer has worked alongside male counterparts most of her professional career, from working in a fertilizer plant to volunteering on the Delmont Fire Department. But when her pager goes off, the lone woman on the Mitchell Fire Department forgets any differences between herself and her co-workers.

Suddenly her gender doesn't matter. Nothing does, really, except the safety of everyone involved and the task at hand  battling the blaze.

Boehmer, of Parkston, is one of 14 paid female firefighters in South Dakota. She's among 421 South Dakota residents who make firefighting and emergency services a full-time profession  only 3.3 percent of whom are women.

Boehmer's situation is unusual, but she hardly notices.

"The stuff nobody sees is how we hang out outside the station, too, and it's like a family," Boehmer said. "It's really different than any other job that I've had. Most of my jobs have been predominantly male co-workers, so I kind of have always considered myself one of the guys."

In 2012, while working at a fertilizer plant in Delmont, Boehmer said she was prodded by her then-boss to volunteer with the Delmont Fire Department.

Now, she credits the decision to follow his advice as one of the best decisions she's ever made.

After volunteering for the department for five years years, Boehmer said she was ready to make the hobby a lifestyle.

She's the first to do so in Mitchell in several years, according to Assistant Fire Chief Paul Morris. Several years ago, there was a woman on the department, but she eventually vacated, leaving it empty for at least 15 years, Morris said.

But Boehmer probably won't be the only woman on staff for long.

There is currently one woman in the hiring process  that can take up to three months  for a part-time position with EMS and the fire department, Morris said, and two women in the process for EMS only.

South Dakota Fire Marshal Paul Merriman said the recruitment of women could help offset South Dakota and national trends that show struggles in recruiting and retaining firefighters.

In recent years, departments across the country  mainly volunteer departments  have struggled with retention and recruiting, Merriman said, likely due to the strenuous nature of the job, increase in the number of calls and major time commitment it takes to be a firefighter.

"The number of firefighters is decreasing while the demand and need continues to increase and the list of duties continues to grow," Merriman said. "So we're always looking at different ways we can improve recruitment numbers and ... retain that talent and keep folks interested and around. Anything is good, and I think (more women) is a good start."

The increasing interest isn't unique to Mitchell.

Of the five nonvolunteer fire departments in the state  Mitchell, Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen and Watertown  all said they have women on their payrolls.

Sioux Falls has four full-time female firefighters on staff, with two anticipated to join in the coming months, according to Battalion Chief Jim Powers. And though women have a long history of serving on the department  the first woman was hired in 1987  Powers said he's glad more women are seemingly recognizing the "tremendous rewards" that go along with firefighting and EMS work.

The Watertown Fire Department hired its first female employee in 2013, with its second hire in fall 2016.

Both departments are now actively recruiting more women.

Powers and Watertown Fire Chief Doug Kranz said they are diligent about attending college fairs, visiting high schools and colleges and generally trying to prove to anyone who's willing to listen that firefighting is a great career opportunity for men and women.

"Firefighting has been so dominated by men, sometimes it's just difficult, there's that stigma there," said Powers, a 30-year veteran of the department. "And I don't know what draws an individual to fire service, but we hope anyone even slightly interested would give it a chance. It's very rewarding for any person."

The Rapid City Fire Department employs three female firefighters, and Aberdeen has four.

After filling out an application, applicants are required to take a test that checks reading comprehension and ability to do simple math, among other tasks, then a certain percentage moves on to the interview phase. Then, the department will hire as many firefighters as it needs, on the condition that they pass a physical fitness examination, psychological examination and a background check. Interviews are conducted with family and friends of the applicant. If all goes well, the applicant becomes the newest member of the team.

And if that applicant is a woman, she can bring a "whole new dynamic" to the department.

"Some patients or just people in general will just respond better to a female than a male," Morris said, adding that though different genders can bring different perspectives to the department, women are subject to the same tests, training and workload as their male counterparts. "Sometimes you just get that, and it's a welcome addition to our departments."

For women interested in following in her footsteps, Boehmer said the keys to success in firefighting are simple.

First, stay in shape and work out often. Second, don't cause any unnecessary tension. Third, know that nobody gets special treatment.

"It's just like any other job, if you do what you need to do and what you're supposed to, it'll be fine," Boehmer said. "The physicality of it isn't daunting if you are committed to working out and staying healthy. But, honestly, this is a really rewarding, really fulfilling job."
After a multimillion-dollar makeover spread out over 18 months, Rapid Citys Ramada Inn & Suites is shedding its image as a leisure getaway hotel and getting down to business.

What started as a relatively simple renovation of the lobby and rooms at the Ramada Inn, located at Interstate 90 and Lacrosse Street, turned into a complete transformation to a business and convention center.

Gone are the swimming pool, hot tubs and spas that used to dominate the two-story enclosed atrium greeting hotel patrons just off the main lobby.

We were a leisure hotel with a pool, like every hotel in town had a pool or a waterslide, said Monte Hartl, regional director of operations for hotel manager Capitol Management of Rapid City.

Were targeting the business traveler.

Now, the refurbished lobby opens to a 10,000-square-foot convention center capable of hosting dinner meetings for 25 people or conventions, wedding receptions, trade shows or other events for as many as 800.

The space is compatible with car and motorcycle shows and even concerts, Hartl said.

A five-month final push by contractor CSI Construction allowed the convention center to open for bookings on June 15.

Also opening on that date was a brand new restaurant, Seasons Restaurant & Lounge, emerging from the dust and din of construction in place of the former Beach Club & Pub.

Seasons seats about 120 patrons and features a $9.95 all-you-can-eat, cooked-to-order, beverage-included breakfast, along with an evening dinner menu, a buffet, bar and a serve-yourself tap beer kiosk.

Food and beverage manager Bradley Phillips said the restaurants menu wasnt built around a particular cuisine, such as Italian or barbecue, but keyed on American favorite dishes culled from his 26 years of restaurant experience.

As the name Seasons suggests, the menu will shift according to the calendar, with more summery fare  burgers, steaks, salads and sandwiches  giving way to pasta dishes, soups and heavy breads in the cold-weather months.

Phillips makes clear his preference for an independent, locally owned and operated eatery. There are no plans for more Seasons restaurants in other locations, he said.

Were not a corporate chain. We do whatever we want. No one tells us what to do, he said.

Bringing back convention business

Capitol Management also decided to chart its own path when the Ramada Inn was initially closed for remodeling in December 2015.

In April 2016, the company announced that while some of the Ramadas guest rooms would reopen in time for last years summer travel season, the renovation had expanded to include removal of the swimming pool recreation area in favor of a business and convention center.

Hartl said city voters rejection of a proposed $180 million expansion of Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in 2015 played a role in the decision, but the final call to build a convention center was based simply on the need for more such facilities in the city and Black Hills region.

Were trying to help Rapid City attract larger statewide conventions that may be lost to Sioux Falls. They have so much convention space with Sanford (Premier Center) and the Pentagon and all the hotels over there, Hartl said.

Hopefully this can bring some of those conventions back to Rapid City, he said.

And the Ramada could be just the first among new convention center capabilities in northeast Rapid City.

Earlier this year, news broke that Liv Hospitality and the city of Box Elder are in preliminary discussions about a public-private partnership to build a $20 million event center near WaTiki Indoor Waterpark Resort farther east on I-90.

But now the Ramada convention center features movable partitions to make five smaller rooms. The two-story center atrium can take advantage of natural light coming through curtained skylights or be illuminated by state-of-the art LED lighting.

The center also features a sound room with a mixing board and hotel Wi-Fi capable of providing unfettered and simultaneous internet access for 500 people and their personal cellphones, tablets and laptops, Hartl said.

Most guest rooms have also been redone with new utilities, many opening in time for Memorial Day. Still to be completed, after this summers travel season, are nearly two dozen multiroom suites.

This hotel has never had suites before, Hartl said. We pretty much took everything down to the bones and rebuilt it.

Family amenities

The Ramada has not entirely shed its family amenities. An unfinished game room is situated between the hotel lobby and the restaurant. And while there is space for another swimming pool, a decision on adding the pool will likely wait a couple of years, Hartl said.

Elsewhere on the Ramada property, the former Arnolds Diner-Dog n Suds restaurant has served as a storage and staging building for construction.

The retro chrome and glass-block style eatery was originally Dennys Diner, located at the corner of Mount Rushmore Road and Columbus Street before being trucked to its current location in 2007.

Hartl said there are no plans to demolish the building, but there are also no plans to reopen it as a restaurant. The building will be offered for lease this fall as a retail or office space, depending on parking needs of a new occupant.

On the north side of the interstate, Hartl said negotiations are underway regarding the future of a long-delayed and unfinished indoor water park just northwest of Bostons Pizza & Bar.

Both Bostons and the water park, originally slated to be called Rippin Rapids, are owned by Capitol Management.

Hartl wouldnt elaborate on the talks concerning the water park, but he said an announcement could be made in 90 days.

Hartl said he is frequently asked why Capitol Management reinvested time, money and effort into redoing the Ramada Inn, a building dating to the '60s.

Exit 59 was the first hotel exit off of I-90. We wanted to bring some life back to this exit. Theres a lot of things happening here, he said.

With its easy access to the Interstate and close proximity to both the Rushmore Mall and Rushmore Crossing shopping centers, the hotel convention center has been busy since opening on June 15, he said.

If the opening week is any indication, were going to be busy, he said. Were already looking at conventions for 2020.
Russian billionaire Mikhalchenko to stay detained in alcohol trafficking case

MOSCOW, June 26 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova)  The Moscow City Court on Monday extended detention of billionaire Dmitry Mikhalchenko, who stands charged with alcohol trafficking, until September 29, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

Detention of another defendant, Boris Korevsky, was also extended till late September.

Mikhalchenko and Korevsky have pleaded guilty in part.

The third defendant in the case, Anatoly Kindzersky, who has pleaded guilty, is currently under house arrest.

Mikhalchenko, CEO of Forum Holding Company, was arrested and detained in late March 2016. Investigators believe that he has organized trafficking of alcoholic products from countries of the European Union. Reportedly, the caused damage is estimated at more than 61 million rubles ($1 million).

Forum Holding Company established in 2011 is one of the largest multibusiness companies in Saint-Petersburg.

The company has united several dozens of the citys enterprises and organizations. Forum Holding consists of industrial enterprises, such as "Spinning Mill named after S.M. Kirov", oldest textile industry enterprise in Russia, "Izmeron" factory, one of technological leaders of Russian downhole equipment market, according to the companys website.
Moscow court approves settlement between Rosneft and RBC in defamation lawsuit

MOSCOW, June 26 (RAPSI)  The Moscow District Commercial Court has approved the settlement between Rosneft oil corporation and Russian news outlet RBC in a 3.1-billion-ruble defamation lawsuit (about $52.5 million at the current exchange rate), the defendants representative told RAPSI on Monday.

Proceedings in the case were dropped and details of the settlement remain unknown.

On December 12, 2016, the Moscow Commercial Court granted the claim of Rosneft in part ordering RBC to pay the corporation 390,000 rubles (over $6,000) with Rosneft initially seeking 3.1 billion rubles.

On March 13, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals overturned the Moscow City Court's ruling to pay the compensation. However, the court held that the defendants must remove the article in dispute and publish a retraction within 10 days after the ruling becomes effective.

Rosneft has filed a defamation lawsuit demanding 3.179 billion rubles (about $48.5 million) in damages from RBC and its journalists.

The lawsuit was brought after an article about Rosneft privatization headlined 'Rosneft requests authorities to protect it from BP' had been published on the website of the newspaper on April 11, 2016.

Rosneft claimed that "information contained in the article published on RBC website is misleading." "It is a baseless fantasy on the part of journalists, or their so-called undisclosed sources, the company said earlier in the press-release adding that only the Russian government had the right to decide how the company was to be privatized.

RBC journalists Timofey Dzyadko, Lyudmila Podobedova, and Maxim Tovkailo, Konstantin Bochkarev, alongside BusinessPress company (RBC newspaper publisher) and RBC-TV, were named co-defendants in the case.

In December 2016, the Moscow Commercial Court granted the claim in part ordering the defendants to pay the company 390,000 rubles.

RBC said the monetary claim was ungrounded and provided to the court income statements of the journalists. The lawyer for RBC told the court that the journalists would go bankrupt and the outlet would be destroyed if the claim was granted in full.
Convention on confiscation of proceeds from crime submitted to State Duma for ratification

MOSCOW, June 26 (RAPSI)  President Vladimir Putin on Monday submitted the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism to the lower house of Russian parliament for ratification, according to the State Duma database.

The Convention was signed on behalf of the Russian Federation on January 26, 2009, in Strasbourg.

Ratification of the Convention will enhance the efficiency of Russias cooperation with other countries in anti-money laundering and combating the financing of international terrorism and provide additional features for development of international cooperation of competent authorities in laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime, an explanatory note to the document reads.
Russian court suspends activity of "Polish Community" Association

MOSCOW, June 26 (RAPSI)  The Dzerzhinksy District Court of St. Petersburg has ruled to indefinitely terminate activity of Polish NGO "Polish Community" Association (Wspolnota Polska) because of fire safety violations in the building used by the organization, RIA Novosti reported on Monday.

A lawsuit against the organization was lodged by the St. Petersburg Prosecutors Office. The lawsuit was related to several reports on fire safety violations filed by the Emergency Ministry.

Earlier, head of the NGOs St. Petersburg branch Tatyana Rakus announced that the organization was unable to follow through directives of the ministry because the building is a memorial and is under state protection. According to Rakus, the Association owns a building in St. Petersburg and is renting it to various Polish NGOs for free.

"Polish Community" Association, founded in 1990, is an NGO striving to strengthen relations between Poland, Polish diaspora and Polish nationals.
MISSOULA  Lately, the bosses of Montana's universities have been direct.

One message: the University of Montana needs to reduce spending on personnel.

Another: UM and other schools need to be strategic about where money goes, and campuses need to set clear priorities.

Also: Don't count on a rosy financial picture for higher education in the future. At a recent meeting of the Montana Board of Regents, Commissioner Clayton Christian again stressed that priorities are important, dollars need to follow students, and campuses need to be practical with their budgets.

"It is incredibly important that we look at where revenue and enrollments are trending in the future," Christian said.

Indeed, UM is in the process of ranking its programs, presumably for beefing up or cutting. It's also offering $2 million in buyouts to reduce its spending on faculty.

So far, nearly 100 offers have gone out.

Yet earlier this month, UM also announced its top administrator who had been asked to step down in December, would stay on board to teach at the university with a $119,000 contract in a department that, at least in the most recent assessment in 2015, was not identified as one poised for growth.

Tenure is the reason.

Faculty members earn tenure. Administrators, though, negotiate it.

If an administrator is asked to step down from a management post but holds tenure in an academic unit, that person has the legal right to a faculty contract, regardless of the need in the department or financial realities on campus.

Administrators such as deans, presidents and provosts often come from the ranks of faculty and receive contracts that retain their tenure. At UM, 21 administrators also have full or probationary tenure.

Kevin McRae, deputy for communications in the Commissioner's Office, said contract faculty and administrators of the university system don't have the same legal rights as most other workers, and tenure offers similar security.

"It provides the same kind of employment protections that other workers have under Montana's wrongful discharge act," McRae said.

Tenure has become a political hot button in some other states, but it remains part of a long tradition in academe.

Fran Albrecht, chair of the Montana Board of Regents, said some other universities are looking at alternatives to tenure, but campuses still need to continue to attract high-quality faculty and protect academic freedom. At the same time, she said higher education officials need to continue to evaluate the model to make sure it's still in the best interest of the public and public institutions.

"It's definitely worthy of continuing to scrutinize to ensure it's meeting the needs of what was intended," Albrecht said.

***

Faculty members who earn tenure enter into a compact with the institution, said Lee Banville, spokesman for the University Faculty Association. The instructors demonstrate they can teach, conduct research, publish and serve the community; in turn, the campus pledges to support their work for the long term.

Tenure also has two sides, he said.

"If you don't get tenure, you're required to leave your institution," said Banville, associate professor in the School of Journalism.

But faculty members who earn it can work without the pressures of outside influences, he said. It allows academics to do research, report findings that go against the grain, and do so without worrying about their popularity  or the unpopularity of their conclusions.

"It creates some independence for the university and for the teachers from the political winds of the day," Banville said.

Constitutional scholar and former UM law professor Rob Natelson earned tenure in Missoula. On campus, he produced much research, and in the classroom, he challenged the positions his students took, regardless of their political stance.

But in Montana, he was politically active in conservative causes that most of his colleagues "fervently disagreed with." He favored government reform and generally opposed tax increases, and his activism off campus rocked the boat.

"I have no doubt in my mind  no doubt  that if I had not had tenure, that the law school administrators and faculty would have found some way to get rid of me," Natelson said.

Eventually, the institution highlighted his scholarship in its research magazine, but early on, UM didn't embrace his work, and colleagues never liked his political activity, he said. Tenure protected not only his job, but the independence of his research and its conclusions  whether outcomes were liberal or conservative.

"You don't want fear of retaliation skewing your research findings," Natelson said.

In 2010, Natelson retired from UM and moved to Colorado, and he's a senior fellow at the free market Independence Institute there. However, because he had tenure, he was able to stay in Missoula as long as he wanted, to raise his children and continue his commitment to his political causes.

To protect academic freedom, tenure is essential, said William Tierney, professor at the University of Southern California, in an email. Tierney is a higher education policy researcher whose publications include ones that address tenure.

"Without it, we are all at risk," said Tierney, Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education and co-director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at USC. "If we want to ensure that faculty can speak truth to power, then the mechanism to enable it, to foster it, to encourage it, is tenure."

***

But Tierney also said tenure for administrators comes through their contracts, either because they ask for it or the hiring board offers it. Boards don't have to offer administrators such as presidents tenure, he said, but they do have to honor the agreements once signed.

"I don't see why presidents get all these perks, but they do," Tierney said. "They don't have to give a president a big buyout or tenure, but it is the norm."

It's also less of a perk than the ones sometimes given in the private sector, said John DeBoer, former head of the Faculty Senate at UM. A campus administrator may retain the right to a teaching position, but CEOs can get larger golden parachutes without any responsibilities to the organization.

"You were terrible. Here's $20 million. Don't call," said DeBoer, associate professor in the School of Theatre and Dance.

In an analysis of enormous payouts earlier this year, CNN Money reported that former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina collected $21.4 million in an exit package "when the once-mighty computer maker was foundering."

DeBoer said he knows some faculty on campus think it's a bad idea for administrators to cycle back into teaching jobs as "sometimes expensive faculty." But he wants strong faculty members to continue to seek leadership roles, and he doesn't want their tenure to be on the line if they fail.

"It's important that when faculty rise up to a point of administration, that their tenure go with them," DeBoer said. "I would hate to see really great faculty who could make a real impact as administrators opting out simply because of the tenure risk."

An excellent researcher and instructor in the classroom just might not make a great manager, but he said the person is still valuable to the institution.

"If they're still known to be a good teacher, frankly, let them teach," DeBoer said.

Sen. Dick Barrett said that sometimes, an administrator who came out of a campus department, such as a provost, will continue to teach a class in the same department. The Missoula Democrat sees the protection as different for administrators who return to be faculty in departments where they formerly taught  as opposed to administrators who earned tenure elsewhere.

"When somebody is hired de novo and you grant them tenure, that's imposed on the department externally," Barrett said.

However, the economist said without knowing how often administrators return to teach instead of retiring or taking another job, it's hard to economically assess the provision.

***

In this particular case, former UM President Royce Engstrom came to Missoula from the University of South Dakota, and he took a position as provost of UM with tenure through the Chemistry Department. His contract for president included tenure, and he will teach in the chemistry department in the fall.

Regents Chair Albrecht said chemistry isn't going to go away anytime soon, and the students will learn from a subject matter expert.

"We are honoring the strength and skill set, the scholarly skill set, of this individual and matching it with the right need," Albrecht said.

Albrecht also compared the academic system with private industry. She said faculty members undergo rigorous review and work a long time to obtain tenure, and assessment continues.

"I am grateful that the process of becoming tenured takes years," she said. "In the private sector, it takes six months of probation."

In theory, faculty members with tenure don't get to coast. However, Natelson said in reality, institutions don't always want to undertake the due process required to get rid of a protected instructor who is "asleep at the switch" because they're asking for a "nasty fight."

"Often, it happens that universities don't want to do what's necessary to get rid of dead wood," Natelson said.

***

For the Montana University System, the offer of tenure is a necessary recruitment tool for administrators who demonstrated they deserved tenure as faculty members at other reputable and credible institutions, said McRae, spokesman for the Commissioner's Office.

Montana already ranks low when it comes to executive compensation, he said. In a Chronicle of Higher Education survey from 2010 through 2015 of more than 250 public universities and systems, Montana offered its presidents $301,000, or 73 percent of the median salary.

The ranking puts 159 schools ahead of Montana flagships in presidential salaries, McRae said. But he estimated some 50 of those campuses aren't even doctoral institutions. Montana does offer deferred compensation, but so do other states, he said, so the state isn't competitive in pay.

"If we cannot also be competitive on the tenure question, and be willing to grant tenure to individuals who hold tenure at other institutions and have proven worthy of tenure, then we're 0 for 2 in terms of being able to realistically negotiate," McRae said.

Currently, recruitment is underway for a president at UM, but McRae said tenure is not a given in the contract; the contract depends on the person's qualifications.

Banville said the fact that administrators can receive tenure underscores the importance of hiring well for those positions.

"It's controversial because I think people look at it, and they see it's a job for life," Banville said. "And that's not completely accurate, but I think it's something that in particular, the leaders of the university have to recognize is a concern the public has.

"And so what we need to do is make sure that when we do bestow a real honor, which is what tenure is, it needs to be done seriously.

"It is when you teach. And it should be just as serious when you hire an administrator."
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European Humanist Federation

joint letter from European Humanist Federation and International Humanist and Ethical Union seeking for protection of Sultana Kamal in Bangladesh

His Excellency JAn Figel Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU European Commission Rue de la Loi 200 1000 - Brussels

Brussels, 15 June 2017

Concern: Protection of Bangladeshi human rights defender Sultana Kamal over threats by Islamist hardline group Hefazat-e-Islam

Your Excellency,

Sultana Kamal is a lawyer and prominent human rights activist in Bangladesh well known for her work on civil, political and gender rights. She served as the Executive Director of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a legal aid and human rights organisation in Bangladesh for over 15 years. In addition to that, she is the Chair of the We Can End Violence Against Women Alliance, Chair of Transparency International Bangladesh and also Co-chair of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission.

On 2 June 2017, she was publicly threatened with arrest, exile and extreme violence by Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam, who had intentionally misrepresented some comments she made during a TV talk show. During Friday Prayers at the countrys largest mosque Baitul Mukarram in Dhaka, Hefazatas Vice-President Junayed Al-Habib falsely claimed Sultana Kamal had called for the removal of all mosques from the country, and demanded her arrest within 24 hours. He went further threatening: aIf you [Sultana Kamal] come out to the streets, we will break every bone in your body.a Numerous YouTube videos have been posted by Hefazat supporters since 2 June threatening or inciting violence against her.

The Dhaka Police declared on 5 June they had taken joint measures for providing protection to Sultana Kamal. As highlighted by Amnesty International and Front Line Defenders, these measures are clearly insufficient to protect her life. Furthermore, there has been no public condemnation of the threats by the authorities, nor police investigations launched.

The European Humanist Federation and the International Humanist and Ethical Union have repeatedly and strongly denounced the lack of willingness of the Bangladeshi authorities to protect human rights defenders, and especially non-believers and freethinkers from growing Islamistsa threats. Between February 2013 and June 2016, at least 14 human rights defenders, secular writers and activists were murdered in Bangladesh. Several of those threatened have managed to leave the country but those remaining are literally caught between death threats and repression from the State on the grounds of ainsults to religiona .

We therefore call you to urge the Bangladeshi authorities to:

Take immediate action to ensure the safety of Sultana Kamal, in coordination with her wishes;

Conduct a thorough, impartial, independent and effective investigation into the threats made against Sultana Kamal and bring those responsible to justice in trials which meet international standards of fairness;

Ensure that human rights defenders are able to carry out peaceful activities without fear of surveillance, intimidation, harassment, arrest, prosecution or retribution, and guarantee the integrity of human rights defenders, including against attacks or threats coming from non-state groups.

Vigorously protect the full exercise of the freedoms of religion, belief, and expression, threatened atheists, secularists, minorities, and all those exercising their rights in their country. This implies to remove the blasphemy provisions in the Bangladeshi penal code and law 1]

Should you need further information on the case, we invite you to contact us and to read Amnesty Internationalas briefing paperattached to this letter.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Giulio Ercolessi, President, European Humanist Federation

Andrew Copson, President, International Humanist and Ethical Union
LIW

ICN, June 24, 2017

On June 27, Prime Minister Modi of India will pay his first official visit to the Netherlands. Reasons for this visit are the 70 years diplomatic relations between India and the Netherlands and the fact that the Netherlands is one of the largest investors in India.

Silent support for violence of hindu extremists

The close Dutch relationship with India is a good reason to address the deteriorating human rights situation in India during the discussion with the Indian Prime Minister. Under Modis hindu-nationalist government, the marginalization of minority groups such as Dalits (auntouchablesa), Christians and Muslims has increased significantly. Especially these groups, together more than a third of the Indian population, are nowadays regularly victims of extremist Hindu groups who respond by violence to every alleged abuse of cows. The government of India largely ignores this violence. In April of this year, Human Rights Watch also expressed her concern about this. In that month, acow protectorsa killed a 55-year-old man who was on his way with his cattle truck.

We urge you to ask Prime Minister Modi to actively promote the rights of minorities and to speak out against the violence of the Hindu extremist groups.

Freedom of expression heavily under pressure

India is known as a country with a great diversity of civil society organizations that are e.g. addressing rights violations and appeal to the government to act against them. However, the freedom of critical human rights and environmental organizations a which are supposed to be crucial for a democracy - is heavily under pressure. The UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Association stated last year that the restrictions imposed by the Indian government on getting foreign funding "might disproportionately affect those organizations engaged in critical human rights work, those which address issues of government accountability and good governance, or represent vulnerable and minority populations or views."

Recently, for example, Dalit organization Navsarjan was unable to receive money from foreign donors. Navsarjan carries out development programs for Dalits and supports Dalits to stand up for their rights.

Refusal of visa hampers cooperation for human rights

Also for Dutch civil society organizations it becomes increasingly difficult to cooperate with Indian human rights organizations and to support their work. Another way to frustrate this cooperation is to refuse visas for employees of Dutch organizations, including journalists. For example, the person signing this open letter has been refused a visa for India for almost 15 years.

In response to parliamentary questions, Minister Koenders of Foreign Affairs announced in February that the Netherlands will exert itself to "pay attention to this situation [the various obstacles for Indian and Dutch civil society] and will continue to do so". The visit of your colleague Modi is a unique opportunity to emphatically discuss this issue again and to make it a point of permanent attention in the bilateral and multilateral relations with India.

Violations of labour rights by Dutch companies

With his program Make in India, Modi wants to put India on the map as an economic superpower. Success stories about economic growth are manifold. The downside of it gets much less attention. According to the Dutch policy on international corporate social responsibility, doing business in a country like India is not free of obligations, but must comply with the OECD Guidelines for responsible business conduct. As often confirmed by your government, there are often substantial, serious violations of labour rights in the supply chains of Dutch and other companies that are operating in India. For example, girls work as modern slaves on cotton fields and in spinning mills for products that international companies sell on the Dutch market. Also in for example vegetable seed production, mining and processing of natural stone and the production of leather products, Dutch companies are involved in systemic rights abuses.

Actively together against child labour, exploitation and modern slavery

Currently, at the initiative of Minister Ploumen, Dutch civil society organizations, companies, trade unions And the Dutch government are working together on solutions in various sector agreements [called covenants], including in the textile sector. But to address the labour and human rights problems in Indian supply chains of Dutch companies, engagement of the Indian government is indispensable.

In line with her policy, the Dutch government should take the opportunity of this state visit to do the maximum within her capacity to get the support of the Indian government to address child labour, modern slavery, exploitation and other abuses in the chains of Dutch companies.

Gerard Oonk

director India Committee of the Netherlands

India Committee of the Netherlands - June 24, 2017
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Japanese arthouse-genre fave Kurosawa Kiyoshi returned to Cannes this year with his latest effort, low key alien invasion picture Before We Vanish, as part of the Un Certain Regard selections.

Narumi and her husband Shinji are going through a rocky patch when Shinji suddenly vanishes, returning several days later, utterly transformed. He seems to have become another man entirely, loving and attentive. At the same time, a family is brutally murdered, and the town beset by strange phenomena. Journalist Sakurai begins to investigate the mystery

True to form for Kurosawa this latest effort is driven far more by concepts and ideas than action or adrenaline and the general response at the festival was quite strong. It'll likely be a bit of time yet before audiences in North America get the chance to see the film but with the Japanese release now coming up the first theatrical trailer for that release has arrived online. The VFX work looks more than a little but dicey but its fascinating to watch star Matsuda Ryuhei sliding into this sort of more middle aged role under the guidance of such a strong hand. Take a look below.
If John F. Kennedy was the first TV president, Ronald Reagan, a former Hollywood actor turned the 40th American President, was the one who mastered the medium.

Pacho Velez (Manakamana) and Sierra Pettengill have made a documentary entirely out of the TV coverage of Reagan in his eight-year tenure. Thirty years have passed since Reagan left the Oval Office. Time has been kind to Reagan, as a majority of Americans regard his presidency as one of the best, even though others, like me, still see him as the emblem of 1980s corporate greed, ill-fated trickle-down economics, countless contras in Latin America, and cultural decadence.



The Reagan Show starts with a 1988 exit interview that Reagan did with David Brinkley of ABC News. Brinkley asks if being an actor helped with him being president; he answers: "There had been times, in this office, when I've wondered, you couldn't do the job if you hadn't been an actor." The film only shows the side of Reagan's highly prepped public, TV persona, with a hint of the 'man behind the mask' through a series of extended takes after they called 'cut.'

The doc shows the symbiotic love/hate relationship forged between the press and Reagan, in contrast with the deeply partisan, ugly political climate we find ourselves in now. I thought I'd never say this, but I miss the 80s.



Reagan, a b-movie actor who always maintained a good guy persona -- smiling face, iconic pompadour -- eased into the presidency like it was his second nature. Although the press rarely doubted his leadership ability and communication skills, they were asking exactly where he was leading the country to, if there was any substance behind the shining persona. Many also argued that he was a shell of a president and that the actual power of the White House laid with his associates and Nancy, his wife.



You wouldn't have known that his presidency had been anything but smooth sailing from all the press briefings in the film. The press was asking tough questions, not because it was partisan, but because it was doing its job. Many faces from the three major network are still familiar to us, such as Tom Brokow, Dan Rather and Chris Wallace (then an NBC reporter), just to name a few. This is the time before the Fox News Network and other cable news networks. It's interesting to note that the film is co-produced by CNN Films.



The film kicks into gear at the height of the Cold War under Reagan. He had called the Soviet Union 'the evil empire' and poured gasoline on the fire on the nuclear arms race when he announced the controversial SDI program (Strategic Defence Initiative), aka Star Wars. The symbolic Doomsday Clock inched forward to 12 o'clock. Ailing in his second term due to the Iran Contra controversy, he needed to boost his public image and secure his legacy.



But the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev, then a new General Secretary of the Soviet Union -- relatively young, open minded and just as media savvy as his counterpart -- challenged Reagan's stature on the world stage. It was Gorbachev who first announced a complete disarmament of the nuclear arsenal by year 2000. He even hired an American image consulting firm to heighten his status. In order to outdo his newfound rival, Reagan announced a summit of the two countries to discuss and reach an agreement on the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty) and upstaged him with the famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" speech in Berlin.



The Reagan Show highlights how the president used the relatively new technology to his advantage. But this documentary isn't merely a walk down memory lane. It serves as a stark contrast to the current administration, which thrives upon being anti-media, the same media Reagan once embraced. There were gives and takes. But the media was there to balance the powers that be. Reagan knew it well, and so did the media. Their uneasy but cordial dance continued all throughout his presidency.



We live in an increasingly hostile media environment. Everything is extremely black and white. Infotainment overshadows journalism and the public perception of the media is at all-time low. It is very difficult to be seen as neutral by association or affiliation. But it is very important to remember that even Reagan, a highly divisive figure, was regularly grilled by the people who are now regarded as partisan hacks. It didn't use to be that way. There was mutual respect. The film is a good reminder of that.

A presidency is an every four-year event. It's a blip in history. We do not need to resort to a sketch artist in the White House press briefing. Hopefully we will restore some of that mutual trust and respect soon.

The Reagan Show opens on Friday, June 30 at Metrograph in New York and Laemmie Monica Film Center in Los Angeles, with a national rollout to follow and VOD on July 4.

Dustin Chang is a freelance writer. His musings and opinions on everything cinema and beyond can be found at www.dustinchang.com
Foiling low-bar expectations, War for the Planet of the Apes takes advantage of its built-in name recognition to create a gloomy, tense atmosphere in which nothing is guaranteed and anything is possible.



Strangely enough, the film reminds me of director Matt Reeves' intimate, suspenseful drama Let Me In, an adaptation of the novel that inspired the superb Swedish thriller Let the Right One In. Reeves directed episodic television for years before making Cloverfield, his feature debut. The monster movie was limited to some effect by the limitations of its found-footage aesthetic, in a different yet related way to how Let Me In followed the basic outline of its predecessors.



The rebooted series began with Rupert Wyatt at the helm for the entertaining Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which borrowed elements from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and quite rightly, since the fourth installment of the original series was a daring, brutal, and thinly-disguised commentary on racial relations in the U.S. Rise was rousing and polished, if never as provocative as Conquest.



After Wyatt departed, Matt Reeves come on board Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and then brought Mark Bomback along for a rewrite of the script. Set 10 years later, the film established a wary detente between the human race, decimated by a worldwide virus, and the apes, who want nothing more than to be left alone. Eventually, one ape allows his own anger to cause a division in the community, while the humans become increasingly desperate and began striking out.



War for the Planet of the Apes picks up soon thereafter. Caesar, once again portrayed by Andy Serkis (in a motion-capture suit but thoroughly convincing, nonetheless), has done everything he can to protect the apes and the community, in turn, is increasingly reliant upon his leadership. Hiding out from the humans in a forest, however, does not provide absolute security, especially when the remaining human tribe is led by the Colonel (Woody Harrelson), a fearsome figure who is convinced that the apes must be wiped out.



Whereas Dawn featured human civilians, War focuses exclusively on the military under the command of the Colonel, who has assumed the guise of Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. This Colonel is very obviously an homage to that character, though he does not simply ape his inspiration. Instead, Harrelson infuses his Colonel with a steely-eyed madness, married to a singular purpose and an absolute absence of fellow feeling.



Caesar, in contrast, retains his humanity, as it were, or what we humans would recognize as "the better angels of our nature," as President Abraham Lincoln once said. Even as he seeks to do what is best for his fellow apes, Caesar must battle his own darker instincts, of a similar type that devoured the angry, rebellious Koba (Toby Kebbell) in Dawn.



Collaborating again with director of photography Michael Seresin, film editors William Hoy and Stan Salfas, and music composer Michael Giacchino, Reeves envisions a world where the possibility for happiness exists, but a long and difficult journey will be required. Often wrapped in shadows or outright darkness, the action unfolds in a deliberate, inevitable fashion.



Practically the only ray of light is supplied by Bad Ape (Steve Zahn), whose past experiences allow for sometimes humorous relief. Otherwise, it's a grim affair. After all, everyone is fighting for their lives and the survival of their respective races. and desperation runs rampant through the veins of both the apes and the humans.



Still, War for the Planet of the Apes never feels oppressive. Instead, it's an emotional approach to a weighty subject. It is dexterous, deftly employing stylish visual storytelling to convey its meaningful themes. Its forward momentum is unstoppable, gaining power as it develops into the best Apes movie yet, and one of the best movies of the year.



The film opens in wide theatrical release on Friday, July 14.


 House Oversight Committee schedules hearing this week on "Criminal Justice Reform and Efforts Reduce Recidivism" | Main | SCOTUS denies cert on Wisconsin case with defendant challenging risk-assessment sentencing 

The question in title of this post is the headline of this Columbus Dispatch article which somewhat imperfectly describes one somewhat notable provision of a huge criminal justice revision proposal in the Buckeye State. Here is the context:

A proposed sweeping rewrite of Ohios criminal laws includes a provision that would allow the state to release hundreds of low-level, nonviolent inmates when the prison population hits 47,000. The state prison population last week stood at 50,093  3,093 above that threshold.

That change is among hundreds recommended by the Ohio Criminal Justice Recodification Committee, which on June 15 completed a two-year task of rewriting the entire state criminal code. The result is a 4,017-page bill submitted to the General Assembly. The committee composed of judges, legislators, prosecutors, law-enforcement officials and others voted 18-2 to recommend the overhaul.

Other changes include the return of a version of bad time for inmates who misbehave in prison, reduced add-on sentences for crimes committed while in possession of a gun, expanded opportunities for offenders to obtain drug treatment in lieu of prison, and an increase in the theft amount that triggers a felony charge to $2,500.

Created by the legislature, the committee was charged with enhancing public safety and the administration of criminal justice. The last time criminal laws were overhauled was 1974, although some statutes date to 1953 and have been effectively superseded or contradicted by new layers of laws. The committees recommendations need the approval of the legislature.

Judge Frederick D. Pepple of Auglaize County Common Pleas Court, chairman of the committee, said hes pleased with the overall report. These improvements make the system better and could save hundreds of millions of dollars. When I stand back and look at it, without getting into every nitty-gritty detail, Im satisfied.

Pepple said the rewrite cut down the length of the code by nearly 25 percent, mostly by condensing language. More important, Pepple said the changes would significantly improve the quality of justice and better protect the people of Ohio ... We tried to make it readable and understandable so people know what is against the law.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron OBrien was one of two committee members, along with Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson, to vote against the package. OBrien said that while he agreed with most of the recommendations, several were deal breakers, including the prison-release provision, which he said would be like Bastille Day every day. OBrien said he disagreed with granting unilateral authority to reduce prison population.

The provision would be triggered when the total prison population exceeds 43,500 men and 3,500 women for at least 30 days in a row. At that point, the director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction would direct the parole board to select from those who are eligible for overcrowding parole release a sufficient number of prisoners to be released within thirty days to maintain the inmate population at less than 43,500 for males and 3,500 for females. No more than five hundred male inmates and five hundred female inmates may be released per month pursuant to this section. The board would select inmates for release who present the least threat to the public, including the victims and their families, and those who have committed nonviolent and non-sex-oriented crimes.

In a statement to The Dispatch, Gary Mohr, director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said he voted for (but did not propose) the overcrowding release provision. However, he said he prefers a method built into the current state-budget proposal to divert nonviolent drug offenders to community treatment to avoid the potentially lifelong collateral consequences of coming to prison....

Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, praised the committee. How this group of experts from varying political viewpoints worked together over the last two years speaks volumes about their commitment to pursuing reforms within Ohios criminal-justice system. Holly Harris, executive director of the U.S. Justice Action Network, said that if the rewrite of criminal laws is adopted, Ohio is ready to take another leap forward on reforming their justice system.
A grim discovery was made over the weekend in Hayward casting greater suspicion on a man named Bob Tang, the person of interest in the May disappearance of 48-year-old Uber driver and married father of two, Piseth Chhay. As KRON 4 reports, SFPD investigators were called to a warehouse in Hayward Saturday morning where they found bags of mutilated human remains, and this warehouse is connected to Tang, who is believed to have fled the country before he could be questioned by police last month.

Chhay was last seen on May 14, Mother's Day, and his wife says he was headed to see Tang that afternoon. Chhay was a full-time driver for Uber but was not on duty that day. His vehicle, a Mercedes SUV, was found stripped less than a week later on a desolate street in the Bayview, and police began to focus on Tang, 48, who owned a business in a warehouse about 20 blocks from where the car was found. Police further conducted a search warrant at an address in Antioch owned by Tang, and he was last seen by his family on May 22, allegedly heading to that property to check on a security alarm that had gone off. Tang was scheduled to meet with SFPD investigators on May 23, but his family reported him missing on May 24. His car was found just about a day later in an SFO parking garage, and it is believed that he fled to his native Cambodia. The FBI is now involved in trying to track him down.

SFPD spokesperson Robert Rueca said in a release on Sunday that the department had been alerted to the possible remains  apparently located by the smell, according to NBC Bay Area  by workers at the warehouse, which is "the size of a retail warehouse store." The Medical Examiner's Office then took custody of the remains, and because of their condition "investigators will need to use DNA testing to identify the deceased."

KTVU reports that the warehouse is the US Trading company at 21118 Cabot Road in Hayward, and that Tang used to work there.

Chhay's wife gave a tearful interview Sunday to ABC 7, saying of Tang, "We believe he's in Cambodia," and adding, "I just hope that body part doesn't belong to my husband, but if it is, Bob Tang had something to do with it."

Kim also said that Chhay's mother and aunt had arrived in town and would be providing DNA samples to aid in the investigation.



Previously: Person Of Interest In Missing Uber Driver Case Is Missing Man's Friend


#Bye #Girlboss.

The Netflix series Girlboss, shot in San Francisco last year in and around the Haight and elsewhere, has been canceled after just a single season, the latest in a wave of cancelations several of Netflix's high-profile new original series.

As Variety reports, the show based on Sophia Amoruso's memoir of the same name (except with hashtag), about how she built her multi-million-dollar Nasty Gal brand out of an eBay store when she was in her mid-20s, will not be returning despite only telling a piece of Amoruso's story in 13 half-hour episodes. It stars Britt Robertson as Amoruso, and the cancellation has prompted a flood of sad responses from Amoruso's large Instagram following.

The show was amusing in parts but largely more frustrating than anything because of the portrayal of Amorouso's character as a fairly petulant, egocentric, and unlikable young woman  but I will say that the way the writers and director chose to dramatize chatroom comments using actors around a roundtable was hilarious.

Amorouso posted an Instagram "story" over the weekend discussing the cancellation, saying, "So that Netflix series about my life got canceled. While Im proud of the work we did, Im looking forward to controlling my narrative from here on out. It was a good show, and I was privileged to work with incredible talent, but living my life as a caricature was hard even if only for two months. Yes, I can be difficult. No, Im not a dick. No, someone named Shane never cheated on me. It will be nice to someday tell the story of whats happened in the last few years. Ppl read the headline, not the correction, Ive learned."

The cancellation follows on the axing of Sense 8, which was also show partly in SF, and the Baz Luhrman hip-hop drama The Get Down. Per Variety, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos talked about those two shows at a recent conference, saying, "Relative to what you spent, are people watching it? That is [a] pretty traditional [test]. When I say that, a big expensive show for a huge audience is great. A big, expensive show for a tiny audience is hard even in our model to make that work very long."
The visits target to consolidate multifaceted cooperation relations with international friends, contributed to continue implementing multilateral and diversiform diplomatic policies.The Vietnamese leader gave an interview to press agencies of Russia and Belarus before the visits. He reviewed the achievements of traditional friendly relations and comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and Russia in previous years.Over the past 65 years since Vietnam and Russia established diplomatic relations, the two countries became strategic partners in 2001 and upgraded their relations to the comprehensive strategic partnership in July, 2012.Both countries pushed up economic and commercial cooperation ties, bilateral trade exchange, cooperative expansion of automobile production and assembly.In order to raise effectiveness and development of the comprehensive strategic partnership in the upcoming time, Vietnam and Russia need to continue promoting political relations, cooperation of trade, energy, defense and security, education and training, science and technology, high- quality technology etc etcFor diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Belarus, President Tran Dai Quang said that the two sides have potentialities to develop effectively the traditional friendly ties and mutual political belief.President Tra Dai Quang appreciated important role of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and Belarusian  Vietnamese Protocol on motor vehicle manufacturing, which were signed and took effective two years ago.He appreciated the signing of Free Trade Agreement between EAEU with Vietnam, and believed that effective implementation of the agreement will create new motivation to increase trade turnover between Vietnam and EAEU up to US$ 10 billion by 2020.After the agreement takes effective, trade turnover between Vietnam and Russia will increase by an average of 18- 20 percent a year, reach US$ 10-12 billion by 2020.

BY BAO MINH- Translated by Huyen Huong
 Expand Photo Courtesy: Wisconsin Historical Society

Throughout July, the Wauwatosa Historical Society will host a traveling exhibit titled Crossing the Line" to help commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Milwaukees fair housing marches. The exhibit will be hosted at the Little Red Store (7720 Harwood Ave.) in the Village area of the city, near the farmers market.

While Civil Rights activism within the city of Milwaukee gets the bulk of the attention in histories of the era, the NAACP Youth Council and Father James Groppi did not limit their activism to the city proper. In 1966, Groppi and the council bussed to Wauwatosa for 11 consecutive nights to march outside the home of Judge Robert Cannon to protest the Judges membership in the whites-only Eagles Club on Wisconsin Avenue. In an article on the protests for a recent issue of Historic Wauwatosa, Dave Vogel notes that the visits were not warmly received in the suburb. He quotes a local editorial from the time that declared, The Wauwatosa invasion was completely pointless. No public official worth his salt would, before he joins a lodge or any other group, ask the approval of a group of teenage Negroes directed by the assistant pastor of St. Boniface Catholic Church." On the twelfth night of protests, the National Guard was summoned to maintain order. A local Ku Klux Klan chapter also appeared that night and peppered the protestors busses with rocks and cherry bombs.

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Wauwatosa reluctantly passed a fair housing ordinance in 1968. There was still a lot of opposition to the idea that African Americans should be allowed to live anywhere they wanted," said Natalie Wysong, executive director of the Wauwatosa Historical Society. She cites another editorial mentioned in Vogels piece, written just after the ordinance passed. [The ordinance] holds false hopes to Negroes that Tosa is now open to them regardless of whether they have enough money to buy or build here."

With the Milwaukee metro area among the most segregated in the nation, it is vital to recognize that the fair housing battles of the 1960s were not limited within Milwaukees city limits, nor should the fight against segregation end there today. There are so many layers to injustice, and people had to march and endure and problem-solve just for this one fair housing ordinance to be passed," said Wysong. If you understand that, you may realize that there are other areas where injustice occurs, and that there is more work to be done. I hope people feel encouraged and motivated by seeing the exhibit."

The exhibit is open from 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursdays, 8 a.m.-noon on Saturdays, and 12:30-2 p.m. on Sundays. It runs from July 6 through July 23 and is free to the public.
The first annual Footlights Performing Arts Awards for Greater Milwaukee ceremony took place on June 22, 2017, at the Milwaukee Repertory Theaters Quadracci Powerhouse. The well-run, efficiently produced event followed the familiar template of longstanding awards ceremonies. Actor and TV personality John McGivern played host and opened with a comic monologue about his career struggles. Charming presenters from many area performing arts institutions named the nominees and winners as photos of each were projected on an upstage screen, and there were several well-done musical interludes. Steve Marcus, president and founder of Marcus Productions, the publisher of Footlights playbills, gave a warm and funny inaugural speech.

Artists, audiences and performing arts companies submitted nominations for work presented between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017. Two awards were given in each of 16 categories, one for professional and one for non-professional work. And the winners are:

Best Choreography (Professional)

Ryan Cappleman

The Pirates of Penzance

Skylight Music Theatre

Best Choreography (Non-Professional)

Melissa Bloch-Meier

Chicago

Musical Masquers Community Theatre

Best Costume Design (Professional)

Chris March

La Cage Aux Folles

Skylight Music Theatre

Best Costume Design (Non-Professional)

Rhonda Schmidt

Anything Goes

Sunset Playhouse

Best Technical Design, Lighting + Sound (Professional)

David Gipson

Beauty and the Beast (Zemire et Azor)

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Skylight Music Theatre

Best Technical Design, Lighting + Sound (Non-Professional)

Katrina Smith

Little Shop of Horrors

Sunset Playhouse

Best Scenic Design (Professional)

Todd Edward Ivins

A Christmas Carol

Milwaukee Repertory Theater

Best Scenic Design (Non-Professional)

Roger F. Bochek

My Fair Lady

Falls Patio Players

Best Direction (Professional)

Mary MacDonald Kerr

Luna Gale

Renaissance Theaterworks

Best Direction (Non-Professional)

Jerry Becker

Beauty and the Beast

Hartford Players

Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Play, (Professional)

Marques Causey

Luna Gale

Renaissance Theaterworks

Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Play, (Non-Professional)

Sam Ellis Sherman

Wonderland

Outskirts Theatre

Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Play, (Professional)

Rana Roman

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre

Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Play, (Non-Professional)

Ruth Arnell

33 Variations

Waukesha Civic Theatre

Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Musical, (Professional)

Shawn Holmes

La Cage Aux Folles

Skylight Music Theatre

Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Musical, (Non-Professional)

Thomas Hess

Young Frankenstein

Lake Country Playhouse

Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Musical (Professional)

Angela Iannone

Ernest in Love

In Tandem Theatre

Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Musical (Non-Professional)

Katie Katschke

Fiddler on the Roof

Sunset Playhouse

Best Leading Performance by a Male in a Play (Professional)

Anthony Crivello

McGuire

Milwaukee Repertory Theater

Best Leading Performance by a Male in a Play (Non-Professional)

Nicholas Callan Haubner

The Odd Couple

SummerStage Delafield

Best Leading Performance by a Female in a Play (Professional)

Jenny Wanasek

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre

Best Leading Performance by a Female in a Play (Non-Professional)

Beth Perry

33 Variations

Waukesha Civic Theatre

Best Leading Performance by a Male in a Musical (Professional)

Ray Jivoff

La Cage Aux Folles

Skylight Music Theatre

Best Leading Performance by a Male in a Musical (Non-Professional)

Ryan Charles

Jesus Christ Superstar

Greendale Community Theatre

Best Leading Performance by a Female in a Musical (Professional)

Allie Babich

Violet

Skylight Music Theatre

Best Leading Performance by a Female in a Musical (Non-Professional)

Marann K. Curtis

Grease

Theatre on Main

Best Performance (Professional)

Zie Magic Flute

Milwaukee Opera Theatre and Quasimondo Physical Theatre

Best Performance (Non-Professional)

Comicality 2017

Hartford Players

Best Play (Professional)

Fences

Milwaukee Repertory Theater

Best Play (Non-Professional)

33 Variations

Waukesha Civic Theatre

Best Musical (Professional)

La Cage Aux Folles

Skylight Music Theatre

Best Musical (Non-Professional)

My Fair Lady

Falls Patio Players
ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- Northwestern College in Orange City recently honored multiple faculty members and staffers during a recent recognition banquet.

Psychology professor Jennifer Feenstra was the recipient of the colleges 2017 Faculty Inspirational Service Award. This award recognizes faculty members who go beyond excellence in their performance, have demonstrated a selfless commitment to service, and whose commitment to Christ is apparent in their daily work and interactions.

Jim Burmakow, housekeeper in Northwesterns Bultman Center, is the recipient of the colleges 2017 Staff Inspirational Service Award. This award recognizes staff members who go beyond excellence in their performance, have demonstrated a selfless commitment to service, and whose commitment to Christ is apparent in their daily work and interactions.

A selection committee composed of faculty and staff chose the winner from among candidates nominated by Northwestern employees.

In addition, two retiring faculty members were recognized at the ceremony.

Eric Elder, professor of business and economics, is retiring after 32 years of service to the college. An accountant, Elder felt a sense of calling to become an economics professor at a Christian college. He earned a doctorate in agriculture economics from Washington State University and joined Northwesterns business department in 1985.

Jackie Smallbones, professor of religion and Christian education, is retiring after 22 years on Northwesterns faculty. Smallbones earned a masters degree in Christian education from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a doctorate in theology from the University of Durban-Westville. She taught courses in biblical studies, Christian education and spirituality, and has served as religion department chair and faculty president.
SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa | An Arkansas man was airlifted to a Sioux Falls hospital after being struck by a vehicle Saturday morning.

The Dickinson County Sheriff's Office said James Heim, 68, of Spirit Lake, was eastbound on 215th Avenue when he struck a bicycle being ridden by Gerald Zelinsky, 79, of Arkansas.

Heim was not injured, but Zelinsky was transported to a nearby hospital before being airlifted to Sioux Falls with serious injuries.

Heim was cited for failure to stop within a clear distance.

Zelinsky was not participating in the University of Okoboji Campus Bike Ride on Saturday, the sheriff's office said.

The Sheriff's Office was assisted by the Dickinson County Emergency Management, Okoboji Police Department, Spirit Lake Fire Department and First Responders and the Lakes Regional Healthcare Ambulance.
SIOUX CITY | Woodbury County's Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Flavors of Northwest Iowa will host a Siouxland Bike-N-Bite event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 29.

Bike-N-Bite is a community bike ride that celebrates local food in Siouxland. It will start at the Sioux City Farmers Market (located at the Tyson Events Center north parking lot at the corner of Tri View Avenue and Pearl Street) and then send cyclists on a food tour throughout the city, biking around Siouxland while biting into free samples of locally grown food prepared by area restaurants, vendors and shops.

Registration is $15 per person. Kids, ages 12 and under, can ride for free. Paid registrations received by July 14 will receive a Bike-N-Bite drawstring bag while all registrations will receive a Bike-N-Bite wristband and a map of all bite locations.

Registration is available at www.extension.iastate.edu/flavorsofnorthwestiowa/siouxland-bike-n-bite

The ride is made possible by Great Southern Bank and the Sioux City Farmers Market.
IDA GROVE, Iowa | Twice before, a proposed consolidation of the Odebolt-Arthur and Battle Creek-Ida Grove school districts went down to defeat.

Backers of a former merger between the neighboring schools hope the third time's a charm Tuesday.

The districts have had a whole-grade sharing agreement for eight years, with the middle school in Odebolt and high school in Ida Grove. Both towns have their own elementary schools for grades K-5.

In Iowa, school consolidations require approval from a majority of voters in each district. Twice before, in 2011 and 2016, voters in Battle Creek-Ida Grove gave overwhelming approval, while it failed in Odebolt-Arthur.

In the most recent election, 84 percent of BC-IG voters approved consolidation, while only 43 percent in O-A favored it. After the required eight-month waiting period following a failed election, backers petition to put the issue back on the ballot for Tuesday's special election. Polls are open from noon to 8 p.m.

Residents in each district said last week the passion on the controversial consolidation issue has tapered off somewhat after the most recent vote.

"I think it is a sign that everybody got beat up and emotionally spent on the last election," said Terry Kenealy, the superintendent for both districts. "Since December, everything got really, really quiet."

Kenealy said he's heard from people who opposed the consolidation in December who plan to vote affirmatively this time.

"Maybe it has turned, but I don't know. We don't do polling," the superintendent said.

Al Wilke of Odebolt, a former Odebolt-Arthur teacher who supports the consolidation, said the issue is "a bit more low key this time," but added it's "no less important."

"The communities need each other, as far as combining their resources together and moving forward," Wilke said. "It is hard to go it alone."

The BC-IG district lies within Ida County, while O-A covers portions of Ida and Sac counties. Both are largely rural counties. Population losses driven largely by a reduction in the number of farms have shrunk enrollments for both districts in recent years.

Before a major wave of school consolidations that began in the 1950s, the four towns each had their own schools. Odebolt and Arthur merged in 1956, and Battle Creek and Ida Grove followed suit in 1994.

The last of eight public information meetings before Tuesday's consolidation vote will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at the school in Odebolt. Kenealy said the meetings held in all four towns have been sparsely attended, with no one showing up to the most recent one on June 20.

Kenealy said there are a few social media accounts set up to share information about the vote. Unlike last year, few signs on either side of the issue have been planted in yards.

Pat Hoefling has lived in Odebolt his entire life and is on his second term on the Odebolt-Arthur School Board. Hoefling said he is neutral on the consolidation vote.

Kenealy said no buildings would close as part of the reorganization.

"Everything they see now they will still see," he said.

The consolidation would remove some overlapping expenses in the two districts by about $50,000 to $70,000 annually and reduce property taxes for three years, since the state offers financial incentives for districts that consolidate, he said. The so-called Uniform Levy in school funding resources would drop from $5.40 to $4.40 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation, which would total about a combined $700,000 over three years, with state money to fill the gap, he said.

However, through consolidation the district would lose state money toward sharing positions such as a superintendent, business manager and other positions. The two districts now share 11 positions, and Kenealy is heading into his third year as shared superintendent.
SIOUX CITY | The U.S. 20 Corridor Association will hold its annual meeting in Sioux City on July 14.

The association is made up of people who have pushed to have U.S. Highway 20 moved from two to four lanes in western Iowa.

The association holds continuing meetings that are open to the public, and the annual meeting adds the election of board members onto other meeting topics.

The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. July 14 at the Sioux City Public Museum, 607 Fourth St. Topics on the agenda include a construction update, Iowa Department of Transportation news and election of board members.

All are welcome to attend the meeting. For more information on the Association and their advocacy for Highway 20, visit www.4lane20.com.

IDOT has committed to completing the highway modernization by November 2018. Forty miles of Highway 20 are being moved from two to four lanes from Moville to Early to meet that goal.
The Supreme Court is letting a limited version of President Donald Trump's ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries take effect, a victory for Trump in the biggest legal controversy of his young presidency.

The justices will hear full arguments in October in the case that has stirred heated emotions across the nation. In the meantime, the court said Monday that Trump's ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen can be enforced if those visitors lack a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."

Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by courts.

The administration has said the 90-day ban was needed on national security grounds to allow an internal review of screening procedures for visa applicants from the six countries. Opponents say the ban is unlawful, based on visitors' Muslim religion. The administration review should be complete before Oct. 2, the first day the justices could hear arguments in their new term.

A 120-ban on refugees also is being allowed to take effect on a limited basis.

Three of the court's conservative justices said they would have let the complete bans take effect.

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, said the government has shown it is likely to succeed on the merits of the case, and that it will suffer irreparable harm with any interference. Thomas said the government's interest in preserving national security outweighs any hardship to people denied entry into the country.

Some immigration lawyers said the limited nature of the ban and the silence of the court's liberals on the issue Monday suggested that the court had not handed Trump much of a victory. The White House did not immediately comment.

The court's opinion explained the kinds of relationships people from the six countries must demonstrate to obtain a U.S. visa.

"For individuals, a close familial relationship is required," the court said. For people who want to come to the United States to work or study, "the relationship must be formal, documented and formed in the ordinary course, not for the purpose of evading" the travel ban.

The opinion faulted the two federal appeals courts that had blocked the travel policy for going too far to limit Trump's authority over immigration. The president announced the travel ban a week after he took office in January and revised it in March after setbacks in court.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said the ban was "rooted in religious animus" toward Muslims and pointed to Trump's campaign promise to impose a ban on Muslims entering the country as well as tweets and remarks he has made since becoming president.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the travel policy does not comply with federal immigration law, including a prohibition on nationality-based discrimination. That court also put a hold on separate aspects of the policy that would keep all refugees out of the United States for 120 days and cut by more than half, from 110,000 to 50,000, the cap on refugees in the current government spending year that ends September 30.

Trump's first executive order on travel applied to travelers from Iraq and well as the six countries, and took effect immediately, causing chaos and panic at airports over the last weekend in January as the Homeland Security Department scrambled to figure out whom the order covered and how it was to be implemented.

A federal judge blocked it eight days later, an order that was upheld by a 9th circuit panel. Rather than pursue an appeal, the administration said it would revise the policy.

In March, Trump issued the narrower order.
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
PRINCE FREDERICK, Md.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at so.md/expungeme.

(June 26, 2017)The Prince Frederick Barrack of the Maryland State Police (MSP) released the following incident and arrest reports.DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY: On 6/5/2017 at 3:38 pm, Trooper First Class Warrick received a complaint for a reported malicious destruction of property. A juvenile student reported after driving to school at the end of the day discovered unknown suspect(s) had keyed the vehicle. The estimated damages totaling over $1750. Investigation continues.TRESPASSING: On 6/11/2017 at 2:56 pm, Trooper First Class Davis responded to the FaStop in St. Leonard for a disorderly complaint., was located nearby and appeared to be highly intoxicated but refused medical treatment. Further investigation revealed Chase was previously issued a no-trespass order for "Fast Stop." Charges are pending.UNAUTHORIZED USE OF MOTOR VEHICLE: On 6/12/2017 at 3:11 pm, Trooper First Class Costello responded to the 500 block of Patuxent Reach Drive in Prince Frederick for a reported attempted vehicle theft. Investigation revealed a juvenile had removed the keys without permission with a plan for friends to remove the vehicle from the premise., and the juvenile were both arrested. Graves was incarcerated in the Calvert County Detention Center and the juvenile was released to the custody of Juvenile Services.THEFT FROM MOTOR VEHICLE: On 6/15/2017 at 8:57 am, Trooper Jones handled a report for the theft of the registration year sticker being stolen from a vehicle. The victim was unable to report when or where the sticker had been removed. Investigation continues.Lloyd F. H. Khan, 46, of Port Republic, arrested on 06/09/2017 @ 12:32 am by TFC J. WarrickMiguel Mercado, 32, of Ches. Beach, arrested on 06/10/2017 @ 05:21 pm by TFC T. DavisPaz D. Ottoniel DeJesus, 22, of Guataemala , arrested on 06/11/2017 @ 07:08 am by TFC N. RuckerKeith O. Frink, 50, of North Beach, arrested on 6/14/2017 @ 09:22 pm by TPR. K. StullKeith L. Jones, 50, of Pr. Frederick, arrested on 6/15/2017 @ 06:04 pm by TPR. K. StullJeffry W. Conaway, 58, of Dover, PA, arrested on 6/17/2017 @ 09:08 pm by TFC N. RuckerEmma C. Roper, 26, of California, MD, arrested on 6/19/2017 @ 03:46 pm by TFC N. RuckerRandy D. Griffin, 43, of Pr. Frederick, arrested on 6/23/2017 @ 02:50 pm by TFC S. LewisAlfred Garrow, 51, of Charlotte Hall, arrested on 6/24/2017 @ 08:21 pm by TFC J. WarrickJennifer R. Freeman, 39, of Jasper, AL, arrested on 6/25/2017 @ 12:33 am by TFC S. Matthews
Nearly 3,000 students representing schools from throughout the United States, surrounding territories and countries around the world gathered at the University of Maryland, College Park from June 11-15 to compete in the 2017 Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Competition. Three students from Calvert County Public Schools earned top awards.Abigail Setzfand of Northern Middle School was honored with the silver medal in the Junior Individual Website category for her project "Lewis Hine: Focusing the Lens on Child Labor."Tyler Cassidy and Edward Williams of Plum Point Middle School won the Outstanding State Entry Award for their exhibit entitled, "Brown v. Board of Education of Calvert County: Taking a Stand for African-American Teachers." They finished fourth in the Junior Exhibit Category.Dr. Daniel D. Curry, Superintendent, said, "Thanks to Abigail, Tyler and Edward for representing us so well at Nationals. We are proud of their performance."According to a press release from Maryland Humanities, the National History Day program allows students to explore an annual theme through research using primary and secondary sources and to create a final product to display their work. The 2017 competition encouraged students to contemplate "Taking a Stand in History" and select a project in one of the following five categories: exhibit, performance, website, paper or documentary. Maryland students competed in school and county competitions, as well as the statewide contest Maryland History Day, which is coordinated by Maryland Humanities, before advancing to the national competition in College Park.Maryland Humanities is a statewide, educational nonprofit organization that creates and supports educational experiences in the humanities that inspire all Marylanders to embrace lifelong learning, exchange ideas openly and enrich their communities.The Calvert County Special Education Citizens' Advisory Committee (SECAC) recently hosted its First Annual Teacher and Staff Awards Program. The recipients, chosen from nominations made by parents and guardians, make a significant difference in the daily lives of children receiving special education services.Christy Harris, Director of Special Education, said, "The first annual Calvert SECAC Staff Appreciation Awards Ceremony was an amazing success. It was great that parents of children with disabilities had the opportunity to nominate staff who positively impact the lives of their children each day. There are so many amazing and dedicated staff who make a difference every day. The recognition was well deserved. I appreciate the hard work of the SECAC members who volunteered their time to make this event a success. Next year we hope to be able to recognize even more CCPS staff."The winners are:Related Services Staff: Calvert Country School Staff, nominated by Elizabeth Calabrese;Support Staff: Bus driver Bernadette Wills and assistant Dawn Cranford, nominated by Katina Jones;Child's Team: Lauryn Turner, Stasia Sobotka, Debra Coates, Dolores Roan, Sue Reedy, Sara Frederick, and Kelly Griffith from Windy Hill Elementary, nominated by Terri McKinstry; andIndividual Teacher or Aide: Katie Bolt from Huntingtown Elementary, nominated by Theresa Kuhns.The Calvert County SECAC meets monthly to collaborate with and provide input to the Special Education Department. Membership includes parents, community members, and Calvert County Public Schools staff. For more information about SECAC, please visit www.calvertsecac.org.The Board of Education of Calvert County Public Schools recognized Colleen Larsen, President of the Maryland Association of Student Councils (MASC), and Hunter Marsh, President of the Calvert Association of Student Councils (CASC) and Parliamentarian of MASC, for their contributions to student government at the state and local levels.Colleen, a graduating senior from Huntingtown High, is the first Calvert County student to hold the position of President of MASC since 1994. She has held a position on the MASC Executive Board for the past three years and has been a member of Student Council for six years. Rick Weber, principal of Huntingtown High, said, "Colleen Larson has been one of the most effective student leaders I have ever had the pleasure to work with. She is mature beyond her years, with an ability to get to the heart of the matter and not get bogged down in minutia. Colleen's leadership of the Student Government Association has had a positive impact on the Huntingtown High School community and will be difficult to replace."Hunter, a graduating senior from Patuxent High, has been an integral part of the success of both CASC and MASC. Patuxent High Principal Sabrina Bergen said, "Hunter exemplifies the characteristics of a strong leader. He is motivated by a desire to help others achieve their maximum potential, and his interest in fairness and honor is inspiring." As evidence of his commitment to enhancing the leadership skills of his peers, he has taught workshops at the school, county and state levels and is a counselor at Maryland Leadership Workshops, Maryland's premier leadership development program for middle and high school students.The Board of Education of Calvert County Public Schools recently recognized Central Office support personnel as Employees of the Month.The Employees of the Month for June are:Finance: Monica JonesHuman Resources: LaCoria ConteeInformation Technology: Keith GrahamMaintenance: Dennis GibsonSpecial Education: Shelley McClain, Jodi PerezStudent Services: Lori LusbySchool system employees are recognized monthly at Board of Education meetings in accordance with Policy #6620. During the school year, the Board recognizes one support staff member and one professional staff member from designated schools, with each school scheduled for recognition one time per year. Central office support staff and teacher specialists are recognized in June. School and central office administrators are recognized in August.
The T in LGBT had their own time to shine in St. Petersburg  and made history in the process.

The first 2017 TransPride March hit the St. Pete Pride Parade on Saturday, June 24 to give transgender and gender nonconforming people a safe space to celebrate who they are.

About 30,000 people marched for the LGBT community, reports 10 News WTSP, Tampa Bays CBS station.

Normally the trans community is not really represented, but today we're going first, marcher Jennifer Gulley told the publication. I think it's harder to make that change in the community for some reason. Sometimes you feel discrimination in your own community, which is crazy to think, but you do feel a little of that. So, it's nice to come out here and have our own march.

This is the first ever trans-centered event in St. Pete Prides 15-year history, trans board member Nathan Bruemmer told Tampa Bay.

"It's the silent 't'," he told the publication, referring to the T in LGBT. "The trans community has long said they feel marginalized."

According to 10 News, the citys police reports there were no arrests made at the parade.

It means everything, Bruemmer told ABC Action News. "What we have to do as an LGBT community is be fully inclusive by actions, not just by words. So highlighting the transgender voices and recognizing that we need to take a moment this year to sort of look at the work that needs to be done is really important.
Although a wide swath of the LGBTQ community was represented at Chicago's 2017 Dyke March, some marchers were angered when organizers ejected three people who were waving a Jewish Pride flag.

The Windy City Media Group reports that the annual protest march attracted more than 1,500 marchers as it moved through its new route in the Little Village neighborhood. Representatives negotiated with 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munox and the Chicago Police Department to have the west-bound lanes of 26th Street shut down, as the city would not issue a permit to organizers.

Marchers held aloft banners supporting minority communities and condemning abusive government practices as they came upon a small group of Christian extremists at the Piotrowski Park rally area. People formed a human barrier two lines deep and held up gay Pride flags to block the anti-gay group from ruining the celebrations.

But some marchers were nonplussed when they discovered they were the target of a similar boycott. Three marchers carrying Jewish Pride flags (a rainbow flag with a Star of David in the center) were ejected from the parade when Dyke March collective members told them the flags "made people feel unsafe" and that the march was "anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian."

Newsweek reports that marcher Laurel Grauer said she was harassed and asked to leave, and take her flag with her.

"It was a flag from my congregation which celebrates my queer, Jewish identity which I have done for over a decade marching in the Dyke March with the same flag," said Grauer. "They were telling me to leave because my flag was a trigger to people that they found offensive. Prior to this [march] I had never been harassed or asked to leave and I had always carried the flag with me."

Some have described Israel's backing of LGBT rights as 'pinkwashing' to detract from their ongoing conflict with Palestine. But this rankled some marchers like Ruthie Steiner.

"I'm German-born. Am I pinkwashing by being here and supporting my community? Is every nation which does not have a clean civil-rights record and also hosts a Pride parade guilty of pinkwashing? With all the people that so hate the LGBTQ community, for it to tear itself apart in self-hatred makes no sense at all," said Steiner.

A statement from posted June 25 on Dyke March Chicago social media accounts read in part that, "Sadly, our celebration of dyke, queer and trans solidarity was partly overshadowed by our decision to ask three individuals carrying Israeli flags superimposed on rainbow flags to leave the rally. This decision was made after they repeatedly expressed support for Zionism during conversations with Dyke March Collective members."

The group A Wider Bridge replied with a press release of their own, saying, "The Dyke March has failed to live up to their goal of 'bridging together communities.' That the organizers would choose to dismiss long-time community members for choosing to express their Jewish identity or spirituality runs counter to the very values the Dyke March claims to uphold, and veers down a dangerous path toward anti-semitism."
Christine Leinonen lost her son Christopher and his boyfriend Juan Ramon Guerrero a year ago in the Pulse nightclub shooting, and has been advocating everyday since to end homophobia and transphobia in her community and her state.

I carry the grief from the loss of Christopher in my heart every single day, along with a determination to honor his life through advocacy, Leinonen said in a statement. This is so important, as we have seen hate crimes on the rise through our state and nation, and should remind lawmakers that they have an obligation to protect all residents.

In the days following the massacre, Governor Rick Scott told LGBT activists in backroom meetings that he would sign an executive order to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity throughout state hiring and contracting, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

It has already been a year, and that promise remains unkept.

He promised, and his office gave us every indication that this was going to happen, Carlos Guillermo Smith, Florida Democrat and former Equality Florida lobbyist, told the Times. At this point, it is a broken promise.

Politicians were not the only ones to notice Gov. Scotts failure to sign an order. Leinonen encouraged Gov. Scott to uphold his promise to ensure that no one else in the state of Florida has to go without protections from discrimination.

By issuing this executive order, the governor can help uproot hate and protect LGBTQ state employees and government contractors from discrimination, Leinonen said. With the stroke of a pen, he can signal that hate has no place in our state.

Yet, Leinonen continued. The governor continues to do nothing and allows bigotry to go unchecked. Laws set the tone to serve as the moral compass of our society. Yet, the state of Florida fails to give its own citizens protection against being fired for being LGBTQ.

Currently in Florida it is legal to fire, refuse to rent or decline to serve people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. An executive order from Gov. Scott would ban discrimination in the hiring process and workplace, and broader protections being advocated for by Equality Florida would extend those protections to housing and public accommodations.

Though Gov. Scott has yet to act on the issue, Lauren Schenone, a spokeswoman of the state, said that Florida doesnt tolerate discrimination in any form.

In accordance with federal guidelines, Florida state agencies do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, and state employees should not be discriminated against in any way, Schenone continued. Our office will continue to review ways we can work to eliminate discrimination of any kind.

Still, Leinonen and advocates continue to fight for unilateral legislation to explicitly ensure protections against discrimination of any kind in the state.

Gov. Rick Scott, its time to lead, Leinonen said. Please honor my son and the other 48 angels who were taken by hate with action.
This is how the LGBT community embraces a leader who embraces them.

On Sunday, while U.S. President Donald Trump was ignoring LGBT Pride Month 25 days into June, and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley was lamenting via Twitter about being booed at brunch in Manhattan by New York City Gay Pride revelers, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on the streets of Toronto receiving love and adoration from the crowd as he marched in the city's annual Pride Parade.

The Washington Post made note of how far a polar opposite Trudeau is from his American counterpoint by mentioning the dreamy world leader's choice of footwear. In photos of the Prime Minister is seen wearing socks that read "Eid Mubarak," a message to honor the religious holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, which coincided with Gay Pride this year.

The Toronto Star newspaper noted that Trudeau wished the crowd a happy "Pride Mubarak," recognizing the dueling events taking place that weekend.
NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 23 June 2017 - Studying Cardiac Biology. NASA

The Expedition 52 trio worked throughout Friday on human research studying cardiac biology and the microbes that live on humans. Tiny satellites inside the International Space Station were also investigated for future remote or autonomous use in space.

NASA astronaut Jack Fisher collected microbe samples from his body and stowed them inside a science freezer for later analysis on Earth. He also activated an ultrasound and scanned his legs for the Vascular Echo study that is exploring how veins and arteries adapt during a spaceflight mission.

Three-time station crew member Peggy Whitson retrieved stem cell samples for observation to determine if living in space speeds up the aging process. Whitson then set up the SPHERES Halo experiment that is exploring the possibility of using satellites to clean up space debris and assemble objects such as space telescopes and habitats.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin worked in the stations Russian segment maintaining life support systems. The veteran cosmonaut also explored pain sensation in space then wrapped up the work day with Earth photography documenting human and natural impacts across the globe.

On-Orbit Status Report

Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) Halo: The crew completed a test session for the SPHERES Halo investigation. For this investigation the ISS fleet of SPHERES satellites are upgraded to enable each satellite to communicate with six external objects concurrently, supporting testing of new control and remote assembly methods. Results may be used to support remote or autonomous servicing of retired, obsolete, or failed satellites that otherwise eventually become space debris. SPHERES Halo also supports research into future assembly of space habitats including large telescopes and exploration vehicles that may be too difficult and costly to launch from Earth but could be assembled in orbit.

Microbial Tracking-2 (MT-2): The crew collected surface and air samples at different locations and a saliva sample and placed them inside a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) in support of the Microbial Tracking-2 investigation. MT-2 monitors the different types of microbes that are present on ISS over a 1 year period. After the samples are returned to Earth, a molecular analysis of the RNA and DNA will be conducted to identify the specific microbes that are present on ISS in order to understand the microbial flora diversity on the ISS and how it changes over time.

Vascular Echo Ultrasound: Ultrasound scans of a crewmembers neck, torso, heart, and back of the knee were taken today. The crewmember donned Electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes and with remote guidance assistance from the ground, collected ultrasound measurements. They donned leg cuffs for several hours and repeat the ECG and ultrasound measurements. This Canadian Space Agency (CSA) investigation examines changes in blood vessels and the heart while the crew members are in space, and again upon their return to Earth. The results could provide insight into potential countermeasures to help maintain crew member health.

Cardiac Stem Cells: In support of the ongoing Cardiac Stem Cells investigation, the crew changed out the media in one of the BioCell Habitats in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). Cardiac Stem Cells investigates how microgravity affects stem cells and the factors that govern their activity, in order to clarify the role of stem cells in cardiac biology and tissue regeneration. This investigation also supports research into the possible acceleration of the aging process in microgravity.

Todays Planned Activities

All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

Microbial Tracking-2 Reminder for Surface sampling

Microbial Tracking-2 Body Sample Collection

Microbial Tracking-2 Sample MELFI Retrieval Insert

ISS Crew and ???? (RSA Flight Control Team) weekly conference

Glacier #4 Sample Remove

ABOUT GAGARIN FROM SPACE. HAM Radio Session with Ufa State Aviation Technical University

Group Combustion Module (GCM) Experiment Laptop Terminal 2 (ELT2) Setup

ALGOMETRIYA. Preparation for and Conducting Pressure and Thermal Algometry Measurements.

Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) /Group Combustion Module (GCM) Component Activation

Combustion Integrated Rack Alignment Guide Install

Microbial Tracking-2 Crew Conference

Routine Maintenance of Central Post Laptop (start of test 1)

Microbial Tracking-2 Environmental Sample Collection

Routine Maintenance of Central Post Laptop (end of test 1, conducting test 2)

Routine Maintenance of Central Post Laptop (start of test 3)

Checkout of Window #9 External Cover Drive

Start of Transfer from CWC-I to EDV #1237 (???1???_1_111, 3.0 CTB for EDV 00053480R )

On-Orbit Hearing Assessment (O-OHA) with EarQ Software Setup and Test

SPHERES Crew Conference

Routine Maintenance of Central Post Laptop (end of test 3, start of test 4)

Microbial Tracking-2 Sample MELFI Insert

SPHERES Test Session Setup

Termination of Transfer from CWC-I to EDV

Ultrasound 2 HRF Rack 1 Power On

R&R of Rubber Valves on ISS RS Power Panel

Vascular Echo Leg Cuffs Ultrasound Scan 1  Subject

Cardiac Stem Cells SABL Insertion

Routine Maintenance of Central Post Laptop (end of test 4, closeout operations Public Affairs Office

ALGOMETRIYA. Pressure Algometry Measurements

Cardiac Stem Cells Media Change 1 BioCell Habitat

Filling (degassing) of EDV (KOV) for Elektron or EDV SV

ISS HAM Service Module Pass

SPHERES Halo Test Session

PK4. Chamber Gas Refill

Rodent Research Access Unit Clean

Vascular Echo Leg Cuffs Ultrasound Scan 2  Subject

SPHERES USB Download

ALGOMETRIYA. Pressure and Thermal Algometry Measurements. Closeout Operations

Reminder Rodent Research Thermal Consideration

Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) Experiment Laptop Terminal (ELT) Cables Connection

Crew Medical Officer (CMO) Proficiency Training

Wanted poster for the missing Manufacturing Device prints

Completed Task List Items

None

Ground Activities

All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

ROSA ops

SPHERES ops

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Sunday, 06/25: Crew off duty

Monday, 06/26: Seedling Growth ops, Surface Sampling, HRF ops

Tuesday, 06/27: StemCell media changeout, OBT CMO, Dragon LiOH filter bag R&R

QUICK ISS Status  Environmental Control Group:

Component  Status

Elektron  On

Vozdukh  Manual

[???] 1  SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1)  Off

[???] 2  SM Air Conditioner System (SKV2)  On

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab  Standby

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3  Operate

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab  Idle

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3  Operate

Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA)  Process

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA)  Process

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab  Full up

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3  Off
Benin-based Awa Fish is one of the leading frozen seafood firms, a position it has established by working closely with its suppliers  small-scale fishermen. But like many companies, it finds it hard to raise funds and faces recurring power cuts.

Awa Fish, based at Cotonou port, is a leading player in the frozen seafood market. The firm owes its success to founder Awa Codjos ground-breaking business model. By bridging the gap between traders and more than 400 fishing families, the company stands apart from its competitors, most of which source their produce from outside Benin.

One day, I saw how fishermen at the port were throwing away their unsold daily catches in high season, explains Codjo. It seemed like such a waste. So I came up with the idea of storing the unsold catches in cold stores. The firm was founded in the 1990s, when it produced 170 t of frozen fish a year. Now that figure has risen to 700 t, and Awa Fish is one of the top-two frozen seafood exporters to the vast Nigerian market.

The companys growth has also helped improve the livelihoods of local fishing families, who no longer have to sell their produce to traders  sometimes at a loss  or throw away unsold catches. Some 4,000 fishermen land their catches at buying centres along the countrys coastline every day.

In 2009, Awa Fish secured a US$350,000 loan as part of a five-year compact between the Government of Benin and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)  a US development assistance agency  to purchase new cold stores and fund an accounting training course for its staff. With its new equipment, the firm has gone from strength to strength, leaving it better placed to negotiate prices with traders. Some fishermen have even brought in bigger catches to meet demand. The company has also doubled its line of credit thanks to its improved credit rating.

But the firm is still grappling with an unreliable electricity supply  a major challenge facing businesses across the sector. In 2015, the government of Benin and MCC signed the Benin Power Compact  a 335 million agreement to boost local electricity production, improve distribution and introduce reforms to public-private energy sector investment. Reflecting on her meeting with Codjo, then-MCC CEO Dana J. Hyde said: A reliable electricity supply means she will no longer have to rely on an expensive generator to keep her fish frozen during power outages.

Claude Biao
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After Hippodrome 3Rs third race on Sunday, June 25, the management and horsepeople at the track paid tribute to harness racing legend Herve Filion, who passed away Thursday at the age of 77.

A native of Angers, Quebec, Filion went on to become a harness racing icon in the sport. He went to the United States in 1961 and was the North America's leading driver 16 times, earning his first title in 1968 and last in 1990. He retired with 15,183 wins and had career earnings of $88.4 million.

Many of the horsepeople that participated during Hippodrome 3Rs Sunday program came out to the winners circle, along with track management and racing fans. Handicapper Daniel Delisle discussed Filions illustrious career in both French and English, followed by a moment of silence. All of the infield flags on Sunday were lowered to half-mast.

Horsemen participating in the memorial service to Herve Filion (thephotodesk.ca)

On the racetrack Sunday were the $30,000 finals of the Quebec-Bred Series for four and five-year-old trotting mares and horses.

The horses were first in the limelight in the sixth race and no one was going to pass by Wildwild Men and driver Robert Shepherd when the starting gate pulled away.

Shepherd sent Wildwild Men right to the front with KFB Amigo Cool (driven by Stephane Brosseau) leaving from Post 6 and grabbing the two-hole spot.

After a fast :28.3 opening quarter mile, Shepherd was able to back off the pace by the half mile marker in 1:00 as the field remained in position.

When Wildwild Men got to the three-quarters in 1:29.3, Shepherd let the five-year-old gelding by Muscle Mass have his head and they held the field at bay, winning with ease by one and three-quarter lengths in 1:59.1 as Shepherd raised his whip in triumph coming to the wire.

Wildwild Men (thephotodesk.ca)

KFB Amigo Cool held for second place with last years champion, Holiday Party (driven by Pascal Berube) third.

He really behaved himself today, said Shepherd. It feels good when you can open up in the stretch like he did today.

As a two-year-old, Wildwild Men set the track record for his age at H3R in winning the Future Stars Final and now has added his second Final in capturing the Quebec-Bred Series.

Trained by Isabelle Darveau, it was the second win in five starts this year for Wildwild Men, who has yet to finish worse than second place this season. He paid $2.80 to win.

Wildwild Men was bred by Chantal Gravel of St-Cyrille-De-Wendover and she co-owns the horse with Catheline Pelletier of Mirabel.

Rains came in and turned the track surface from fast to good by the ninth race $30,000 final for the trotting mares.

Carl Duguays Y S Suzanne left sharply for driver Stephane Gendron to take command with EAU Naturelle (Simon Delisle) getting the two-hole trip to the opening quarter mile in :30.1.

Y S Suzanne then led the field to the half mile in 1:02 as Artemis Duharas and driver Raymond Gingras boldly came first-over to challenge.

As the field reached the backstretch, EAU Naturelle went off-stride in the two-hole, but Gingras did not want to stop the moment of his mare and they stayed on the outside and were able to collar Y S Suzanne past the three-quarters in 1:32.2 and around the final turn.

As they started down the stretch, Artemis Duharas would not be denied as Gingras urged his mare on to victory by one and one-half lengths in 2:03.1. Second was the 30-1 long shot Grace And Claire (Francis Picard), and Y A Jailhouse Jodi (Guy Gagnon), who was unable to get into the flow of the race, rallied to be third.

Artemis Duharas (thephotodesk.ca)

Sent off at odds of 9-2, Artemis Duharas paid $9.40 to win. It was the first victory in four starts this year for the four-year-old mare by Andover Hall. She is trained by Manon Levasseuri for owner/breeder Haras De L Estri, Inc. of Dunham.

Track Notes: For the first time this season, not one driver or trainer on the race program could win more than one race. All ten races on the program were won by a different driver and trainer.

The racing action continues at the Hippodrome 3R on Tuesday evening. First race post time is 7:00 p.m. and the feature event is the sixth race Invitational Trot headlined by return winner Theregoesthegroom, who will take on Caroluzzo, Four Starz Speed and Spicey Victor.

For more information, visit quebecjockeyclub.com.

To view the harness racing results for Sunday at Hippodrome 3R, click the following link: Sunday Results  Hippodrome 3R.

(Quebec Jockey Club)
A Truro Raceway track record that stood for 27 years was broken on Sunday, June 25 at the Nova Scotia oval, as the Carl and Marg MacKenzie Memorial Stakes for three-year-old pacers produced a little bit of everything during the afternoon program.

Trained and driven by Marc Campbell, Elektra Express ($3.90) was on her game on Sunday during the second of the stakes filly divisions (Race 2). After having started from Post 6, the brown Western Paradise filly toured Truro Raceway in 1:55.4 to break the 1:56.2 three-year-old pacing filly mark that had stood since 1990. JK Beauty was the filly that set the record in 1990. It had since been equalled by two other fillies, one of which was Elektra Express earlier this month (on June 4).

It is simple to say that Elektra Express paced a huge mile with her track-record effort on Sunday. She started from Post 6 and was parked every step of the way. She was overland in fifth at the :28.1 quarter, outside in fourth at the :57 half, and was two-wide on the lead at the 1:27 three quarters. She drew away from her rivals late, as she was up a length at the three quarters, on top by three at the head of the stretch, and paced off to the six-length win off a :28.4 final quarter. Traces of Purple (driven by Gilles Barrieau) finished second and Kinda Like Her (Kenny Arsenault) was third. Elektra Express is a hombred of Danica Ellis.

The first of the filly divisions took place during Race 10, as the brown Proven Lover lass Filly Forty Seven ($2.50) stretched her 2017 unbeaten streak to five. The Marc Campbell-trained and driven performer started from Post 6, made the lead in the second panel (after the 29-second opening quarter) and was tops the rest of the way. She cut the half in :59.1, spun off three quarters in 1:28.4 and came home in :29.2 for a quarter-length victory in 1:58.1. Pictonian Dazzle (Ryan Ellis) finished second and Winrlosedrnkdaboze (Gilles Barrieau) was third. Filly Forty Seven is owned by Darryl Maclean, Katelyn Smallwood, Cory Carver and Tanya Tremblett.

The Carl and Marg MacKenzie Memorial Stakes consisted of five divisions Sunday, a pair for the fillies and three for colts and geldings.

The Danny Romo-trained and driven Lucbobski ($5.90) got the colt and gelding festivities underway in Race 4 with a convincing six and a half-length score in 1:58.1. The complexion of the contest changed right off the hop, as the heavy favourite, Ashes To Ashes, broke stride behind the gate and spotted the field a 30-length advantage early. After having started from Post 2, Lucbobski, a gelding by Articulator, was second at the quarter pole (:29.1), but was neck and neck with the pacesetter (Southsidelightning) at the :59.3 half. Lucbobski was overland on the lead at the 1:28.2 three-quarters pole, and that was as close as any rival would get to him from there on out. He met the head of the lane four lengths the best and paced home in :29.4 for the win. Jigtime Jones (Rinaldo MacDonald) finished second and Southsidelightning (Mark Bradley) was third. Lucbobski is owned by Robert and Jeffrey Skinner.

There was an even bigger upset in the second division for the male pacers (Race 6), as another Articulator gelding, Howmacs Dragonator ($12.80), clicked at odds of 5-1 for pilot Todd Trites, as he posted a gate-to-wire win in 1:57.2 for trainer Earl Watts. After having started from Post 4, the brown performer crossed over the lead, cut the fractions (:28, :58.3, 1:28.2) and came home in 29 seconds for a three-quarters of one-length win. The favoured Nameisonthehalter (Clare MacDonald) took a pocket ride through the fractions, but couldnt get up on the leader before the wire. JJ Tanner (Gilles Barrieau) finished third. Debbie Denney owns Howmacs Dragonator.

The third division for the male pacers (Race 8) was deemed a 'no contest' after the Warren MacKinnon-trained and Todd Trites-driven Private Paradise fell to the track after the start of the race.

Both Trites and Private Paradise were unscathed in the incident. They were the only ones to go down on the track. Trites got up and stayed with Private Paradise. The other horses just passed the quarter pole when the race was declared a no contest, as the horse was still down on the track. Private Paradise left the track without much fuss and walked off the track after he got untangled from the race bike and equipment. Trites drove his remaining horses in the card.

The combination of trainer Pamela Moore and driver Darren Crowe clicked during the cards Winners Over Pace (Race 13), as six-year-old bay mare Badlandia ($14.80) propelled to a one-length victory in 1:57.3 off of a second-over trip. After having raced first up, Heart And Soul (Clare MacDonald) finished second, while the pacesetter, Distinctiv Rusty (Ryan Ellis), hung on for third. Badlandia is owned by Paula White.

To view the harness racing results for Sunday at Truro, click the following link: Sunday Results  Truro Raceway.
Trot Insider has learned that longtime Standardbred horse owner, breeder and trainer Earla Geisel has passed away.

During her lifetime, Geisel could be found at local fairs (Sutton Fair, Sunderland), helping out at the Wil Lor Farm that was owned by her uncles or racing her own horses at various tracks in Ontario. The last 20 years she owned horses with her partners Joe Kelly (husband) and her daughter Lori Jennex (Geisel).

She passed away peacefully after a courageous battle with cancer, at The Guelph General Hospital on Saturday, June 24 in her 70th year. Beloved wife of Joe Kelly. Predeceased by her parents Ken (Debnam), Eileen (Brethour) and sister Heather. Very proud mother of Lori (Dave) and Deborah. Adoring grandmother of Bailey, Travis and Morgan. Earla will be remembered by her mother-in-law Marie Kelly, brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws Linda (late Brian), Cec, Anne, Kathy (Bruce), Debbie (late Frank), Marilyn, Maryanne, Terry (Amanda) and several nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Earlas Life will be held on Sunday, July 16, 2017 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Colonel John McRae Legion, 57 Watson Parkway South, Guelph, Ontario. 519-822-1565. Funeral arrangements entrusted to Gilbert MacIntyre & Son Funeral Home. As expressions of sympathy, donations to the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated by the family. Donations cards are available at the Funeral Home, 519-821-5077, or condolences may be made online at gilbertmacintryreandson.com.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Earla Geisel.
IANS

As the launch date of iPhone is nearing, a new leak has reportedly "confirmed" the iPhone 8's brand new design. Following several leaks about Apple's controversial yet virtually bezel-less redesign, OnLeaks has obtained detailed iPhone 8 dummy models which confirm that the devices to be launched in September would have an elongated 18.5:9 aspect ratio like the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, Forbes reported.

It would also reduce bezel sizes to just 4mm on all sides and feature a vertically aligned rear camera, the report added. The rear dual-camera system on the iPhone 8 would protrude more than ever before.

Earlier leaks have suggested design changes in detail. They also pointed out that the 2017 device would have an all-display front with fingerprint scanner moved to the back. According to a revelation by Chinese site iPhoneros, the iPhone 8 would compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6 displays.

The move makes sense as elongated aspect ratio allows manufacturers to increase the size of a smartphone display while keeping it narrow enough to hold with one hand and still use the keyboard comfortably.

However, for this, the app makers would have to redesign their user interfaces while navigation at the top of the display (like the back button in iOS) becomes harder to reach. The handful of images also showed the upcoming iPhone 8 with rear-placed Touch ID placed directly below the Apple logo.

The placement matches earlier leaked drawings, showing the vertical camera design, camera flash placement, among other design information. Earlier in June, Apple introduced iOS 11, a major update to the world's most advanced mobile operating system that would bring new experiences and several new features to iPhones and iPads this fall.
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British officials were investigating a cyberattack on 24 June, 2017 on the countrys Parliament after discovering unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts.

A statement from the House of Commons said that as a precaution, remote email access for members has been disabled in order to protect the network from hackers.

As a result, some Members of Parliament (lawmakers) and staff cannot access their email accounts outside of Westminster, it said, adding that IT services at Parliament itself are working normally.

It was not immediately clear how many people were affected or what the extent of the damage was. An email sent all those affected described a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in an attempt to identify weak passwords, according to The Guardian newspaper. These attempts specifically were trying to gain access to our emails.

Liberal Democrat Chris Rennard said on Twitter that urgent messages should be sent by text message because parliamentary emails may not work remotely. The National Cyber Security Center and the National Crime Agency are looking into the incident.

Liam Fox, Britains International Trade Secretary, told ITV News that the attack was a warning to everyone: We need more security and better passwords. You wouldnt leave your door open at night.

Associated Press
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China and Canada have signed an agreement vowing not to conduct state-sponsored cyberattacks against each other aimed at stealing trade secrets or other confidential business information.

The agreement was reached during talks between Canada's national security and intelligence adviser, Daniel Jean, and senior communist party official Wang Yongqing, a statement dated June 22 on the Canadian government's website showed.

"This is something that three or four years ago (Beijing) would not even have entertained in the conversation," an unnamed Canadian government official told the Globe and Mail, which first reported the agreement.

The new agreement only covers economic cyber-espionage, which includes hacking corporate secrets and proprietary technology, but does not deal with state-sponsored cyber spying for intelligence gathering.

"The two sides agreed that neither country's government would conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors," the Canadian Government said in the statement.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some countries, including the United States, have long accused Beijing of sponsoring hacking attacks on companies in an effort to acquire sensitive foreign technology. China denies those accusations, and says that it is also a victim of hacking.

In 2015 China and the United States came to a similar understanding on corporate cyber-espionage, after the Obama administration had mulled targeted sanctions against Chinese individuals and companies for cyber attacks against U.S. commercial targets.

U.S. cyber security executives and government advisors said breaches attributed to China-based groups had dropped around the time of that agreement.

China this month put into effect a new cyber security law designed to strengthen critical infrastructure, even as many global tech firms and lobbies said the rules skewed the playing field against foreign firms.

In 2015 China and the United States came to a similar understanding on corporate cyber-espionage, after the Obama administration had mulled targeted sanctions against Chinese individuals and companies for cyber attacks against U.S. commercial targets.

U.S. cyber security executives and government advisors said breaches attributed to China-based groups had dropped around the time of that agreement.

China this month put into effect a new cyber security law designed to strengthen critical infrastructure, even as many global tech firms and lobbies said the rules skewed the playing field against foreign firms.

Reuters
IANS

With IT sector witnessing subdued sentiment amidst pressure on hiring and annual pay rise for employees, the country's software and services hubs such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Noida-Gurgaon are expected to see 10-20 percent reduction in housing rents over the next three quarters, an Assocham Paper said here on Monday.

Unlike in the past when the fresh inflows of young professionals were pushing the demand for rentals in Bengaluru, the house owners in India's 'Silicon Valley' seem to have done a reality check and are accordingly slashing the rentals, while offering better amenities, the study said.

"Even in the existing rental deeds, the tenants are seeking better options and no hike in the monthly outgo, quoting the adverse industry outlook. With better options, the market is tilting in favour of the tenants, especially those paying above Rs 50,000 per month," it added.

Going forward, the rentals may ease at least by 10-15 percent in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, while the decline may be steeper, up to 20 percent in Pune, in the next three quarters. Gurgaon and Noida are also witnessing a correction in rentals up to 10-15 percent, the study forecasted.

According to the Assocham's latest estimates, while the IT sector continues to employ over four million people, mostly in the four to five big cities, the hiring growth has subdued.

"The IT and other services like financials are among the sectors which pay well. Besides, the age profile of these employees is quite tempting for the marketers. They are good spenders and want good life. These factors kept the markets for rentals pushing up, especially in gated and well-equipped housing complexes and societies in Bengaluru, Gurgaon, and Hyderabad. There is certainly a pause visible," said D.S. Rawat, Secretary General, Assocham.
Anirudh Regidi

Truth be told, Samsungs real flagship device this year is the upcoming Galaxy Note 8. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are handsome devices, but they feel incomplete. The odd placement of the fingerprint sensor, non-standard aspect ratio and a useless voice assistant are only some of the issues with the devices.

Apple is also preparing a rather special phone this year, the iPhone 8, and it had better be something special because Samsung is leading an Android charge that is slowly but surely eating into the foundations of Apple's complacency.

Living down the Note 7 fiasco

Following the Note 7 disaster, there was a lot riding on the success of the S8. Samsung had to make an incredible and safe device if it wanted to restore peoples faith in the brand, and it did, after a fashion. As far as Android flagships go, the S8 is indeed the best you can buy today, but thats not saying much.

With the Galaxy S8, I think Samsung has managed to put together an incredible teaser for what is to come. The gorgeous glass finish, the subtle curves, the Infinity display, the force touch home button, etc.

The Note 8 is expected to release in September, which is still a few months away, giving Samsung plenty of time to further refine the design that the S8 introduced. This is also enough time for developers to adopt the new aspect ratio guidelines introduced by Google and for Samsungs Bixby to actually gain some IQ points.

When the Note 8 comes out, it will be the more refined Android flagship that I think all of us have been waiting for.

In terms of specifications, VentureBeat reports that the Note 8 will be powered by the flagship Exynos 8895 chipset and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, both of which power the Galaxy S8. The phone is expected to up the RAM to 6 GB and also include a dual-camera with independent optical image stabilisation for each lens. Unfortunately, the report also says that the fingerprint sensor will once again be placed on the rear of the device.

Of course, you can rest assured that Samsung is likely triple checking its Note 8 design for battery issues. Oh, and dont forget the S-Pen, which will apparently be accompanied by more capable software.

Is there any wonder, then, that the Note 8 is to be the true Android flagship?

And in Apples court...

The Apple iPhone 8 will also mean a lot to Apple. For a start, the iPhone 8, or whatever itll be dubbed at launch, will represent 10 years of the iPhone and the first major design overhaul since Steve Jobs passing.

The iPhone has been making do with the exact same design that Apple introduced in 2014. In smartphone terms, thats an eternity. Put three generations of iPhones side-by-side and youll be hard-pressed to tell them apart. A change in design is needed, and fast.

Put an iPhone next to an S8 and the iPhone will look and feel really old, and this is coming from a person whos used an iPhone for three years and sees no point in switching back to Android.

Putting all the rumours together, were expecting an iPhone with a bezel-less display, a fingerprint sensor integrated into the display or the power button, 3D Touch everywhere and wireless charging.

As an Apple user, the iPhone 8 is significant because judging by the past, were going to be looking at the same design for the next 3-4 years.

For the first time in three years, the iPhone might also see a significantly larger battery. As far as the rest of the specifications are concerned, theres really nothing to add. One can expect it to be powered by a platform that Apple will dub the A11 or A11X, it will have at least 3 GB of RAM and the dual-cameras on the rear will remain.

Both devices are expected to be the most expensive mainstream smartphones ever made (and no, Prada and Vertu and the like dont count) as both are expected to be priced in the $999 range.

A battle of titans

The battle might seem moot to the average observer, the Android user will go for the Note 8 and an Apple user to the iPhone 8 (or the iPhone 7s), after all.

However, it was just before the Note 7 started blowing up that news started trickling in of Samsung grabbing chunks of Apple's user base. If it wasn't for the Note 7, Apple might have indeed been on the back foot this year. Neither company can afford a dud of a smartphone this year.
The Pride Month is at its tail end. This is the one month where the queer community, lesbians and transgenders, come out in celebration of their alternate identities, which is yet to be fully accepted by the mainstream society.

For tech companies this becomes especially important since the masculine predominance in the industry has made it difficult for women, be they straight or homosexual, to go up the ladder. One of the prime examples of this is the recent Uber case where women had to face sexual discrimination either implicitly or explicitly. The existence of lesbians and queers within this space means things are even more difficult for them as they have to face gender bias often.

Kara Swisher, a prolific tech journalist and co-founder of Recode, who was a speaker at Lesbians Who Tech, had said in her interview to Vogue, Its always nice to remind tech that there are people outside whats perceived as the norm, which is essentially straight white men. This time, tech companies like Apple, Uber, Google, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, have introduced more emojis, stick-ons to commemorate the month of the rainbow. Uber has even come up with an on-demand drag show with the Seattle Pride, where the customer can opt to press the PRIDE icon. But is this all there is to gay pride?

Leaving a few companies aside, Silicon Valley has not been as cozy with the idea of LGBT as it is projecting itself to be. Sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes ignorant, the multifarious notion of gender has been questionable. Mozillas Brendon Eich was one such fellow who was forced to step down from his position of a CEO, according to the Telegraph, when he supported a campaign for same-sex marriage legislation.

In March 2017, YouTube responded to numerous complaints that were made against the Google-owned video website for removing content related to the queer community. The public, in general, had the option of using the restricted mode. Restricted mode, was introduced in 2010, we designed this feature to broadly restrict content across mature topics, whether these are videos that contain profanity, those that depict images or descriptions of violence, or discussions of certain diseases like addictions and eating disorders. Places like schools, and institutions have an option of blocking that content.

According to a report by The New York Times, the restricted mode was problematic for adults and children who were yet to come out or were struggling with respect to their sexual identities. For instance, Ash Hardwells My Vows video, where a woman says her vows to her partner (also a woman). This video, then deleted, normalises the idea of love. While Calum McSwiggans Coming out to Grandma embraces coming out gay was also deleted. YouTube, in a statement made via blogpost, said that it would try to fix the problem. It also said that it doesn't discriminate against any gender.

Much before that, in 2015, Uber had an incident where two gay men who were supposedly intimate during an Uber ride were asked to get out of the car by their driver. The driver even added that while he has had homosexuals as his customers, no one had ever been intimate. When reported, Uber not only fired the driver, but also issued a statement in which it said that it does not support discrimination from either their partner drivers or towards their partner driver. Though Uber took strict action in this instance, it was a knee-jerk reaction. It would have been better if the company took the trouble to give employees access to gender sensitization programs and raised awareness for the same.

Discrimination from these tech giants isn't shocking since similar cases have happened previously. For instance, in the case of Facebook, the social networking site came under the fire when many queers, who did not appear on Facebook with their real names, had their accounts deactivated for not using their real names. Following this, Facebook came out with their response where their chief product manager, Chris Cox, claimed that Facebook was misled into believing that the affected accounts were a part of the many other accounts that were known to bully and troll users.

But, amidst the confluence of have-they or have-they-not, very recently, a group of tech giants, Facebook, Google, Apple, Dell, Silicon Labs, Amazon, amongst others, requested the Texas Governor Gregg Abott to not pass the bathroom bill, which terminates the rights of transgenders. In this, the transgenders are allowed to use only those washrooms as mentioned in their birth certificates. This negated not only gender rights but the rights of transsexuals as well. These organisations, thus, requested the authorities to not pass the bill. Those who did not belong to this group, either because of, disinterest or ignorance were, notably, Snapchat and Uber.

Apple, which has always supported LGBTQ efforts, had released an Apple smartwatch with a rainbow coloured strap. Meanwhile, Facebook, which has an active LGBTQ group since 2008, introduced stick-ons. They also have stick ons for the upcoming Queer Pride walk in Kerala on 8 August and had stick ons for the Chennai Rainbow Pride walk that took place on 25 June. Instagram, on the other hand, has come up with rainbow-coloured glasses and unicorns. Twitter has queer pride hashtags and colourful hearts. While Skype has come up with creative emojis and emoticons that express support queer pride. It even allows the chat section to be more colourful.

Companies like Google and Facebook have verticals like Google Diversity and LGBTQ@Facebook. While Gayglers is a part of the Google Diversity program, a program to allow inclusion, which allows Google to create an unbiased workspace, Facebooks official LGBTQ is a support group for people of these communities.

The tech industry, which has always focussed on talent and is known to introduce dynamicity in the new age, for them it becomes necessary to include everyone within the same ambit. Despite, innumerable cases of ignorance and insensitivity, these tech giants recognising this Pride Month, may be the least that they can do to raise awareness for the cause.

But they can and should do more, a lot more.
The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
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High rates of cancer, obesity, heart disease, substance abuse, premature death and a host of other health problems plague Southern Illinois. This is particularly true for Illinois lower 16 counties that make up the northern-most portion of the eight-state Mississippi Delta region.

Dr. Sameer Vohra, a pediatrician with the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, has joined others on the front line battling the region's myriad health epidemics. The weapon he brings to the fight against systemic poor health is the School of Medicine's new health-policy focused think tank and its energetic and talented staff, able to better understand the region's health challenges, turn innovative ideas into new programs and then measure their effectiveness.

Its been about nine months since the School of Medicine launched the Office of Population Science and Policy, of which Vohra is the executive director. Since its inception in October, Vohra said the team has been focused on organizing priorities and strategy.

As part of that effort, he said, the team already has begun to build partnerships in pursuit of their overall mission to improve health outcomes by using flexible, evidence-based models to affect policy changes both large and small at all levels of government.

We know that policy involves politics but we want this to be grounded in evidence that makes sense, Vohra said. He noted that in the political world, some solutions floated by and to governmental leaders are rooted in evidence and others in emotion. He hopes the research component of his offices multifaceted work can add a level of credibility to complex health policy debates.

I think being an academic institution, were in a position that we are grounded not on our personal beliefs but in research and programs and what the data are showing in our communities, he said.

Vohra said that though there are many health challenges in need of solutions, he and his staff have identified where they believe they have the right resources and know-how to make a difference in combating specific health challenges in the 66-county region the School of Medicine serves throughout central and Southern Illinois.

The outcome of those internal discussions is a three-tiered approach that prioritizes policy and research addressing health challenges in children and high cancer rates at the top, he said.

Second-tier priorities identified for the office are coming up with effective strategies for reducing sexually transmitted diseases and improving respiratory health. And the third tier, he said, is reserved for projects of interest identified through community partnerships and/or a need to address a unique and particular health challenge in a specific place.

At the SIU School of Medicine, Vohra wears a number of hats. In addition to his role of executive director of this new health policy think tank, he also sees children in his general pediatrics practice as a member of SIU Healthcare, and is an assistant professor within the Department of Pediatrics and Medical Humanities.

His educational training extends beyond medicine. Vohra also is formally trained in law and public policy. He is a graduate of SIUs Medicine and Law Dual Degree Program, from which he graduated with both his medical doctorate and juris doctorate.

This well-rounded education as it relates to medicine and policy gives him a unique perspective it the field of medicine. Vohra said one of his primary objectives as a medical doctor is to improve a patients overall health. As the leader of a research-driven policy think tank, its to improve the health of an entire community or region. With expertise and experience in both realms, he understands the strengths and limitations of both direct care and community-wide initiatives.

The creation of the Office of Population Science and Policy, he said, is based on the premise that only 20 percent of someones health can be affected by health care professionals.

The other 80 percent, often referred to the social determinants of health, constitute an individuals socioeconomic status, health behaviors, and physical environment, he said.

If we want to really look at strategies to improve peoples health, we have to think about solutions inside and outside the clinic and hospital," he said.

That concept  that the doctor can only do so much if the patient, for instance, continues to smoke, forgoes exercise, and lives in an unhealthy environment that exacerbates an underlying asthma condition  was the driving force behind the new office. The ultimate goal, Vohra said, is to find the root causes of those problems and solutions to help remedy them.

This should also be in the realm of health care institutions because if we arent thinking about the health care of populations, then we never really figure out the best way to improve the health of society, he said.

Vohra also acknowledged the work of the many organizations in the private, nonprofit and government sectors working to improve health outcomes, and said it is not the mission of his office to reinvent the wheel, but plug in where it is needed most.

Our biggest contribution is in the area around appropriate data and evaluation of programs and projects. People have been doing fantastic work, but the biggest thing we learned is the evaluation component is often not there in the way that it needs to be, he said.

Woody Thorne, Southern Illinois Healthcares vice president for community affairs, said that the health-based research expertise that Vohra and his team bring to the table is one of the most exciting aspects to him about the School of Medicines new Office of Population Science and Policy.

Dr. Vohras leadership of the new Office of Population Science and Policy is going to, I think, bring new life to some of that work as we try to identify and address some of the issues in southern and central Illinois, Thorne said.
"Tracy and I can't thank the people of Southern Illinois enough for their support and their prayers. Our victory tonight sends a powerful message to out-of-touch politicians everywhere that we're unified and unyielding in the fight for our conservative values. Joe Biden's going to be held accountable for destroying the economy, ignoring the border crisis, and taking us from America First to America Last in two years flat. But none of this would be possible without the trust of voters from across our vast 12th District. Serving you is truly the honor of a lifetime."
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Everyone enjoys fireworks, but consumers need to be careful about where they buy their fireworks. The National Council on Fireworks Safety (NCFS) recommends that you only buy consumer fireworks from a licensed store, tent or stand. Never buy fireworks from an individual's house or from someone on the street. Such devices are likely illegal explosives or professional 1.3G fireworks that can seriously injure you.

Consumer fireworks, regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, are packaged in bright colors and have safety warnings on the package. The packaging sets forth the country of origin, which is normally China. Typical consumer fireworks include fountains, cones, sparklers, firecrackers, rockets and multi-tube aerial devices.

Illegal explosives are often unpackaged and wrapped in brown paper. They are unlikely to have any safety warnings or place of manufacture. Many of them are handmade in basements or illicit factories without any quality control. They go by names such as M-80, Quarter Stick or Cherry Bombs. If someone approaches you to sell one of these illegal explosives, politely decline and call your local police department.

Professional 1.3G fireworks are legal but only in the hands of a licensed, trained pyro-technician. These devices are very different than consumer fireworks, are extremely powerful and are not meant for consumer use.

The National Council on Fireworks Safety encourages consumers to know their fireworks. Nancy Blogin, President of the National Council on Fireworks Safety says, "Consumers should be aware of where their fireworks come from; only buy from licensed stores, stands and tents." Nancy also says, "A designated shooter should prepare a shooting area, carefully read the label of each firework and understand exactly what the firework will do and refrain from consuming alcohol. Planning makes for a safe and fun backyard fireworks display.

Consumer fireworks, when used in accordance with the instructions and safety warnings, are very safe. For a full list of consumer fireworks safety tips and a safety video, please visit www.FireworksSafety.org.
WASHINGTON  One shirt, one pair of pants.

Those are the basics for outfitting an Afghan soldier. But in that simple uniform combination are the threads of two troubling stories  one about the waste of millions in American taxpayer dollars, the other about the perils of propping up a partner army in a seemingly endless war.

Together these tales help explain why some in Congress question the wisdom of investing even more resources in Afghanistan, nearly 16 years after the United States invaded the Taliban-ruled country in response to the al-Qaida attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Army general who runs the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan calls it a stalemate. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the U.S. is "not winning," and he vows to "correct this as soon as possible."

The Trump administration is searching for an improved approach to achieving the goal it inherited from the Obama administration: to get the Afghan government to a point where it can defend itself and prevent its territory from being a haven for extremists. Mattis has said he expects to have that revised strategy ready for Congress by next month. This coming week he will be consulting with NATO allies in Brussels on troop contributions and other Afghan issues.

The long war has generated repeated examples of wasted funds, which may be inevitable in a country such as Afghanistan, where the military has been built from scratch, is plagued with corruption and relies almost completely on U.S. money for even the most basic things, including salaries and uniforms. Among the costs rarely noted publicly: The Pentagon has spent $1 billion over the past three years to help recruit and retain Afghan soldiers.

The money wasted on uniforms is small potatoes by comparison with other U.S. missteps in Afghanistan, but it is emblematic of broader problems.

The Pentagon has not disputed the gist of findings by its special inspector general for Afghanistan, John Sopko, that the U.S. spent as much as $28 million more than necessary over 10 years on uniforms for Afghan soldiers with a camouflage "forest" pattern that may be inappropriate for the largely desert battlefield. In a report released this past week, Sopko's office said the Pentagon paid to license a propriety camouflage pattern even though it owns patterns it could have used for free. The choice, it said, was based on the seemingly offhand fashion preference of a single Afghan official.

"This is not an isolated event," Sopko said in a telephone interview. The U.S., he said, has been "in a mad rush to spend money like a drunken sailor on a weekend furlough." It reflects a pattern, he said, of spending too much money, too quickly, with too little oversight and too little accountability.

Sopko's office is still investigating the camouflage uniform contract process, which it found "questionable."

"This was more than just a bad fashion move," he said. "It cost the taxpayer millions of dollars" more than might have been necessary.

Money is rarely part of the debate over what the United States should do differently or better in Afghanistan, and thus the accumulating costs are often overlooked.

Since 2002, the U.S. has spent $66 billion on Afghan security forces alone. In recent years this spending has grown, even though President Barack Obama's stated goal was to wean the Afghans from U.S. military help after he formally ended the American combat role there three years ago. U.S. spending on Afghan forces rose from $3.6 billion last year to $4.2 billion this year, and President Donald Trump's proposed 2018 budget asks for $4.9 billion.

Stephen Biddle, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said the money wasted on camouflage uniforms is symptomatic of a broader problem of official corruption that has sapped the strength and spirit of too many Afghan soldiers.

"The real problem in Afghanistan is not, 'Can we get a rational decision about which camouflage design it should be.' The real problem in Afghanistan is that cronyism and corruption in the government and the security forces saps the combat motivation of the soldiers," Biddle said in an interview.

"That's why they they're having such a problem holding onto a stalemate," he added. "That's why they can't retake ground, even though they have vastly more forces in the field than the Taliban does."

Even keeping Afghan troops in uniform  any uniform  is a problem. The army is chronically about 20,000 soldiers short of its authorized total of 195,000. The U.S. has about 8,400 troops there to train and advise the Afghans and to hunt extremist groups, down from a peak of 100,000 in 2010-2011.

Trump has delegated to Mattis the authority to decide how many troops the U.S. should have in Afghanistan, and Mattis is expected to send nearly 4,000 more this summer. That would be in line with a standing request by U.S. commanders, who say it would address a shortfall in troops to train and advise Afghans. A small percentage of the additional troops would be designated for a related U.S. mission of fighting al-Qaida and other extremist groups there.
The Trump administration, like its predecessors, has shown an apparent appetite for the use of force overseas. The mother of all bombs dropped on Syrian troops, saber-rattling toward North Korea, deployments of U.S. forces in 10 or more countries  all of this suggests a growing comfort with the idea of putting our troops in dangerous places.

But the decision to send troops overseas requires clear eyes, hard questions and specific answers. If we are sending our military abroad, our objectives and exit strategies need to be nailed down. Are we engaging in nation- or empire-building? Do we risk being locked into protracted, unending conflicts? Are we inflating the dangers to our national security, as when we falsely asserted that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction?

And when we do intervene, are we avoiding or increasing the suffering of the local people whom were trying to help? No use of force should go forward without reciprocity  that is to say, capable, committed local leaders who fight corruption and try to provide good governance and protect the values we cherish and promote.

The use of force ultimately comes down to the president  or the president and his top advisers  making the decision. Too often this happens without sufficient dialogue, consultation, or robust debate beyond the White House. In particular, the people who have to do the fighting and bear the costs need to have a major voice in the use of force, and the best way to ensure that is with the involvement of the Congress, along with the media, courts, civil society, and even the international community.

There are obviously cases where the president needs flexibility. But if were to put our troops in harms way, he also needs independent advice and to answer tough questions. I dont see any alternative but the strict, robust and sustained involvement of the Congress.

Deciding on the use of force is the most grave and consequential decision government makes. It is of such import that it should not be made by the president alone, but should be shared with the Congress. Presidents should not get broad authority to use force without limit on geography, objectives, or types of forces. The Founding Fathers had it right: the president is commander in chief, Congress has the authority to declare war. Power over the use of force needs to be shared.
The health care policy tree is loaded with chestnuts  stale, endlessly repeated truisms. Lets paraphrase four and roast them:

First: Rubes think the government should keep its hands off their Medicare.

This condescending snipe is a staple for those advocating government suzerainty over health care. Actually, the alleged rubes have a legitimate gripe. The original Medicare bargain was essentially, Well tax you throughout your life and, after age 65, pay for whatever health care you and your doctors deem useful. Sounds reasonable, right?

But because 1960s politicians knowingly constructed Medicare as a demographic time bomb, the bargain is swinging toward, Since were running out of money, the government, not you and your doctors, will decide what sort of care you get and how much of it.

Second: Markets dont work in health care because when youre on a gurney having a stroke, youre not able to comparison-shop for doctors and hospitals.

Thats equivalent to, Markets dont work in plumbing because when your toilet pipe bursts, youre in no position to comparison-shop for plumbers and hardware. Most health care expenditures arent for emergencies; theyre for routine and chronic services, with ample opportunity for education and comparison shopping.

One can (and should) shop around for emergency caregivers before the emergencies ever happen, just as my plumbers magnet stands ready on my refrigerator for rapid response. Before youre on the gurney, you can pick a hospital and establish relations with a primary care doctor to shepherd you (conscious or unconscious) through rough patches. Strokes on gurneys are as much an argument for government-run health care as burst pipes are for a single-payer, government-run plumbing system.

Third: Let doctors design and run the health care system, since they know more about the subject than anyone else.

I deeply admire pilots, but theres zero reason to think they should manage airlines or oversee aviation policy. Theyre trained to get planes into the air, steer them toward their destinations, land them safely, and deal with whatever contingencies occur along the way. Pilots arent necessarily trained in finance, accounting, marketing, public policy, personnel management, or logistics. Their knowledge of aircraft design and maintenance, though substantial, likely pales next to that of engineers and mechanics.

Similarly, physicians skills and intellects merit awe from the rest of us. But on the big picture  the structure of the system  doctors may be no more coherent than random people on the streets. (Im reminded of this whenever a highly paid specialist asks, vehemently, Why are Americas health care costs so high?) Plus, even outstanding medical professionals inhabit specialized silos and often fiercely resist beneficial changes to their own fields. Of course, pilots and doctors deserve to be heard and respected by business managers and policymakers.

Fourth: If you dont like our plan for fixing health care, then you need to explain what your plan would be.

Sure, but before that, tell me your plan for fixing all our transportation problems. Huh? you ask. I want you to write a big law addressing everything concerning the manufacture and operation of planes, trains, automobiles, spacecraft, trucks, subways, ships, bikes, roads, bridges, rivers, canals, sea lanes, hyperloops, and all their financial and support systems. Call it the Affordable Transportation Act or some such.

Transportation services comprise a considerably smaller share of the U.S. economy than health care. Yet outside of faculty lounges and late-night dorm rooms, the thought of trying in one shot to redesign and stage-manage all transportation from Washington would sound delusional. Yet, lots of people are willing to embrace such hubris for the even larger health care sector. The decades-old idea of a plan is how health care got so screwed-up in the first place.

Unfortunately, these truisms bear considerable responsibility for our dysfunctional health care debate. There are others, like the ever-popular, America spends so much on care, but gets such terrible outcomes. But for today, more than four chestnuts would be a blight.
By Azernews





By Rashid Shirinov

June 26 marks the 99th anniversary of the establishment of one of the most powerful armies of the East, Azerbaijans Armed Forces.

The history of the modern Azerbaijani army dates back to the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic created in the early 20th century. The Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic were created on June 26, 1918 to protect the country from the military aggression of Armenia and Russia.

Today, the Azerbaijans Armed Forces consist of Air Force and Air Defense Forces, the Navy, and the Land Forces. Currently, the Azerbaijani army is considered the strongest and most modern army in the South Caucasus region. Global Firepower, a think tank providing a unique analytical display of data concerning world military power, ranks Azerbaijan 59th by military strength among 128 countries.

The skills and combat readiness of the Azerbaijani army are growing year by year, as the countrys Armed Forces regularly conduct military drills to improve its capabilities. Azerbaijan pays special attention to the professional training of its military personnel.

Alongside the exercises inside the country, Azerbaijani Armed Forces participate in various military exercises conducted at the international level, including those with the Turkish, Russian and Georgian armed forces.

Over the past few years, Azerbaijan has also succeeded to modernize and strengthen the Caspian fleet inherited from the Soviet time. Today, the Azerbaijani Navy is considered the second, after Russia, strongest fleet in the Caspian Sea for its capabilities.

The army building process is of particular importance for Azerbaijan, as twenty percent of the countrys territory  Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions  is under Armenian occupation and the country is in a state of war with neighboring Armenia. The Azerbaijani army is able to liberate the occupied lands at any time, and Armenia-triggered April fights last year were a clear evidence of that. During the four days of fighting, the Azerbaijani army liberated several strategic heights and settlements on the frontline, thus making the aggressor Armenian side retreat.

Azerbaijans military expenditure has developed rapidly in recent years, and in a short time, the military budget has increased by more than 20 times. Azerbaijan provides the national army with sufficient military budget every year. Defense spending of Azerbaijan determined in the state budget for 2017 made up 2.64 billion manats ($1.55 billion), which exceeds the spending for 2016.

It is noteworthy that Azerbaijans military budget exceeds the overall state budget of occupant Armenia by more than $1 billion.

The Azerbaijani army possesses modern weapons and technical equipment for maintaining a high level of combat capability. These weapons are both purchased from other countries, such as Turkey, Israel, Russia, the U.S., and also are of domestic production. Currently, twenty-eight military factories are operating within Azerbaijans Defense Industry Ministry. The ministry has increased the volume of defense industry products in 2016 by 1.6 times compared to 2015, while the product assortment rose by 1.8 times.

Currently, the military factories of Azerbaijan produce sniper rifles, sniper machine guns, mine protected armored vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-tank mines, small arms, special reconnaissance patrol vehicles, and many other weapons.

Today, the Azerbaijani armys contribution to international security and stability continues to grow. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have collaborated with NATO under the Partnership for Peace Program since 1994 and have military cooperation with a number of foreign states.

Azerbaijan supports certain peacekeeping operations under the NATO and the UN. Since September 1994, the peacekeeping divisions of the Azerbaijan Armed Forces have served in international peacekeeping efforts forces in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Since 1998, Azerbaijan annually celebrates the Day of the Armed Forces on June 26, in accordance with a relevant decree issued by the former President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev. Thanks to the state attention to the military, the Azerbaijani army is currently one of the most skillful armies in the world and the most powerful army in the region.
The Abraaj Group, a leading investor operating in growth markets, has divested its shareholding in Careem, one of the regions leading transportation businesses, to Kingdom Holding Company.



Founded in Dubai in 2012, Careem has grown to be one of the leading transportation and ride hailing businesses across Mena, Turkey and Pakistan (MENATP).



The company originally established a web-based car booking service for corporates in the United Arab Emirates. It evolved rapidly into the regions dominant provider with continued ambitions to reshape the regions transportation and people logistics space. The company has achieved steady double digit growth since inception and continues to expand. As of June 2017, Careem is active in over 80 cities, up from 20 at the time of Abraajs investment in 2015.



Abraaj closely partnered with Careem and its management team through a critical phase of the companys growth, a statement said.



The Group helped drive and increase corporate client outreach through its strong regional networks, accelerated strategic hiring, and supported the company with expansion into new markets, it added.



Ahmed Badreldin, partner and head of Mena at The Abraaj Group, said: We recognized the opportunity for Careem to scale and rapidly grow its offering across the region. We are proud of the rapid advancements the Company made based on our investment and partnership.



The markets in which Careem operates benefit from a combined GDP of $3.6 trillion, representing a populous and connected economy, and one that will increasingly benefit from the services that Careem provides. We wish the Company, its investors and new partners every success as they continue to take this dynamic business forward.



Mudassir Sheikha, co-founder of Careem added, The Abraaj Group has been a great partner for us over the past two years, and the companys unique regional insights and global resources has been a major contributor to our current success. We will continue to expand, innovate, lead and serve our mission of simplifying the lives of people in the region.



The Abraaj Group manages $10 billion in assets and is focused on investment strategies across private equity, private credit, impact investing and real estate.  TradeArabia News Service
Emirates NBD (ENBD), a leading bank in the region , has opened a disability-friendly branch within Emirates Group headquarter sin Dubai, UAE.



Inaugurated by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Emirates NBD, the Emirates Group headquarters branch is the thirteenth in Emirates NBDs network of disability-friendly branches, an important component of #TogetherLimitless, the banks flagship advocacy platform for financial, educational and workplace inclusion of people with disabilities (people of determination).



The bank also announced plans to continue to add to its disability-friendly network which currently include branches in Jumeirah Al Wasl,Hamriya, Rashidya, Al Aweer, JumeirahEmirates Towers, Nad Al Sheba, Green Community, Oud Metha, and Mizhar Mall, Jumeirah Beach Road, Umm al Quwain and Mankhool.



In its first phase of modification, employees of the Emirates Group headquarters branch will be trained on disability etiquette and the privileges offered to Sanad Card holders. To enhance mobility access, the branch has been equipped with accessible low-height ATMs, teller desks and cheque writing counters.



To provide people with visual impairment ease of direction within the branch, tactile floor indicators and signage have been installed. The branch also offers priority queuing and a dedicated waiting area offering an easier and more elevated branch experience to people with disabilities.



Sheikh Ahmed said: As part of our strategic and long-term commitment to the people of determination, Emirates NBD has taken the lead in transforming its branch network and operations to cater to their needs. Step by step, we are working towards transforming our entire institution to provide people with disabilities an enhanced and inclusive customer experience in addition to products and services that support their integration and independence financially.



As our nation prepares to receive millions of visitors, we urge others in the private sector to join our efforts in supporting Dubais goalof being a disability-friendly city by 2020. It is only through the empowerment of all segments of society can we truly achieve complete financial and social inclusion, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lundbeck, a Danish international pharmaceutical company, to raise community awareness on mental health disorders.



The awareness programme will highlight disorders such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease, among others.



Present during the signing ceremony were Dr Mohamed Salim Al Olama, undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention; Dr Hussein Abdel Rahman Al Rand, assistant undersecretary of the Ministrys Health Centers and Clinics Sector; and from Lundbeck, Emad Wajih, regional manager for the Gulf and the Near East and Henrik Larsen, managing director of Lundbeck Middle East and North Africa (Mena).



Al Rand stressed that the agreement aims to implement stronger preventive measures and ensure early detection of mental disorders in alignment with the UAEs national strategy preventing mental illnesses and providing rehabilitation of and support for mental patients, said a statement from the ministry.



The national strategy also seeks to help patients integrate into society and build high-quality life, it said.



Dr Youssif Al Serkal, assistant undersecretary for the Ministry of Health and Prevention Hospitals Sector, mentioned that the Council of Ministers move to adopt the National Policy for the Promotion of Mental Health done during its previous session, with the aim of preparing a multi-sectoral framework and developing special services in partnership with concerned authorities.



The adoption resulted in enhanced quality of services and lesser treatment costs in accordance with national and international policies, legislations, programmes, and partnerships.



Larsen said: We are pleased to sign the deal with the Ministry of Health and Prevention. This is a show of our support to the governments efforts to promote exchange of experiences, increase community awareness, educate healthcare practitioners, and empower patients through specialised programmes.



Our partnership is part of our social responsibility to aid individuals suffering from mental disorders so that they can smoothly integrate into the community where they will be happier and productive members of our society, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
The Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza) recently participated at the 19th International Logistics and Material Handling Exhibition (SIL) in Barcelona, Spain, with the aim of helping increase foreign direct investment (FDI) opportunities between the freezone and investors from Spain and the other participating countries.



The fair, organised by the Consorcy ZF International S-IU, is a global meeting point for logistics industry professionals. It attracts key exhibitors and thousands of visitors from around the world, providing bridge between the European market and the Latin American, North African, Middle Eastern, and the Mediterranean Basin markets.



More than 600 companies and institutions, 45 per cent of which were international firms, joined the exhibitions latest edition. The participants included organisations from various sectors, including transport and logistics, infrastructure, real estate, warehousing and equipment, information, electronics, and information and communications technology.



Inigo de la Serna, Spains Minister of Public Works and Transport; Josep Rull, the Catalan Minister of Territory and Sustainability; Jordi Cornet, president of Barcelona Free Zone; and Salem Rashid Al Owais, UAE consul general in Barcelona, inaugurated Dafzas pavilion during the exhibition.



During its participation, Dafza organised a seminar on foreign investments under the theme Boost your business from Dubai to the World, it said.



It featured the UAEs strong economic performance, Expo 2020-related opportunities, and the regions rising logistics sector.



Dafza, one of the worlds most competitive free zones, took the opportunity to present its broader range of investment incentives, distinct and diverse business offerings, and successful efforts to establish good relations with foreign investors from Europe and the rest of the world.



To date, an estimated 27 per cent of the total companies operating in Dafza are from Europe.



Dafza team also met high-level officials from the Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona and the Barcelona Foundation for Halal Services to discuss cooperation and support among parties.



The authority presented investment opportunities for the Catalan business community as well, which will give them an access to the Middle East and Central Asia markets through Dubai and Dafza particularly.



Dafza said it is keen on attracting Catalan business leaders, noting that Catalonia is a major contributor to Spains gross domestic product (GDP). As per official statistics, Catalonia accounted for about 20 per cent, or an equivalent of 223.6 billion ($250.37 billion), of Spains total GDP in 2016.



Abdulaziz Al Hammadi, manager of marketing, Dafza said: We took part in this global exhibition to attract the Catalan business community as part of our full support for the UAEs economic diversification policy over the past 20 years of Dubai Airport Freezone's success.



A number of leading international companies, including top Spanish businesses, have chosen Dubai, a regional business hub, as the centre of their operations in the Gulf, the Middle East, and Asia, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
International diamond brand Samer Halimeh New York (NY) has partnered with SSH Maritime, a leading yacht charter, to launch a series of summer diamond boutiques on the superyachts represented by SSH Maritime.



To announce the launch of the summer superyacht boutiques, Samer Halimeh New York held a special diamond photoshoot and showcase of some of its best diamond jewellery pieces and important gemstones aboard the world-famous Chakra, a 282 ft/86m superyacht, moored in Cannes for the occasion.



Samer Halimeh, founder and chief executive of Samer Halimeh New York said: Samer Halimeh New York are delighted to announce the launch of the summer superyacht diamond boutiques on board the Chakra, the exclusive SSH Maritime superyacht. Owners of the worlds most beautiful diamonds also use superyachts, private jets and 5-star hotels, which is why this collaboration with SSH Maritime is highly complementary for both brands and clients.



The new jewellery retailing concept be introduced on SSH Maritime superyachts creating a Bond Street on sea for super-rich. Samer Halimeh NY has previously built 400 sq ft (39 sq m) pop-up shops in hotels, but this is the first time the retailer has introduced a retailing concept in a nautical setting creating a diamond showcase on superyachts.



The jewellery-superyacht collaborations is being undertaken on four of the SSH Maritime super yachts  Chakra, Serenity, Grand Ocean and Omega. Millionaire and billionaire clients typically charter one of these beautiful superyachts for 2-6 weeks over the summer, at an average cost of 400,000 ($508,400) per week.



Superyacht charter clients will be approached and asked if they would like a diamond showcase on their yacht. If the client decides they would like a diamonds showcase on their yacht then a VIP brochure containing photographs and details of the Samer Halimeh NY diamond jewellery and diamond portfolio will be sent to them in advance of their voyage on their chosen superyacht.



Clients can then choose exactly what they want showcased on their superyacht. Then, whilst they are on their yacht the hosts and their guests can wear and enjoy the diamond jewellery and diamonds for both private and public events whilst they are both on their superyacht or whilst they are at a superyacht mooring during the voyage. Security is provided by the yacht safes and the diamond showcase is under the supervision of the captain, staff and security on the yachts.



After the superyacht cruise is finished, the client will be asked if they or their guests liked any of the diamonds they used or saw whilst they were on the voyage. If they do then - and only then - will they be asked to pay for their selection when they return home to their country of origin/domicile. Clients will need to spend a minimum of $1 million US dollars or more to be eligible for 2-3 extra free days whilst on their superyacht.  TradeArabia News Service
FedEx Express, a global express transportation company, and TNT recently celebrated the spirit of Ramadan by distributing Iftar food packs to less fortunate members of the community within the UAE.



In Dubai, FedEx Express participated in a food distribution initiative managed by SmartLife, a non-profit organization, under the supervision of Dubai Chamber of Commerce. A total of 500 food packs were distributed to workers in two labour accommodations in Sonapur. Each pack contained 5kg of food including flour, rice, sugar, tea, and more.



In Sharjah, TNT worked with Mission to Seafarers, anon-profit organization, to distribute food packs to seafarers. The food packs included essential food items, such as rice, lentils, oil, dates, and curry powder.



With Ramadan representing a month of generosity, and 2017 the Year of Giving in the UAE, our commitment to support the communities in which we live and work provided a strong link to give comfort and support to those who work tirelessly in our community, said David Ross, regional president of FedEx Express Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa.



FedEx was founded as a people-first company, and this is a philosophy that we extend beyond our own team members at FedEx and TNT we believe that delivering a positive impact is part of our responsibility towards the communities we live and work in.  TradeArabia News Service
Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC) has unveiled a conformity assessment scheme to verify the quality, safety and sustainability performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.



The scheme allows suppliers and manufacturers of solar PV systems that meet the requirements outlined in the certification scheme to apply through the QCCs Jawdah Online System and obtain the Environmental Performance Trustmark.



The Small-Scale Solar PV Systems Conformity Assessment Scheme will ensure the compliance of solar PV systems to the Regulatory & Supervision Bureaus (RSB) Electricity Wiring Regulations and Small-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Energy-Netting Regulations.



Abdullah Hassan Al Muaini, executive director of Conformity Scheme Services at QCC, said: The Solar PV Systems Certification Scheme was developed as part of the QCCs mandate to support Abu Dhabis ambitious economic diversification strategy and achieve its effective integration into the global trade system as a leading manufacturer of quality, sustainable products. The Scheme will ensure the compliance of solar PV systems to the Regulatory & Supervision Bureaus (RSB) Electricity Wiring Regulations and Small-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Energy-Netting Regulations.



QCC collaborates with relevant stakeholders including both regulators and industry partners to produce certification schemes that contain quality, safety and environmental performance requirements for various products, systems and personnel services.



This assures that products, systems and personnel consistently meet the requirements outlined in a certification scheme that are tailored to the needs of regulators and consumers and capabilities of the industry, Al Muaini said.



With the development of a certification scheme dedicated to solar PV systems, the QCC is responding to the industrys need by identifying the key specifications of products, aligning international testing and control standards, and connecting the markets stakeholders with the authorities requirements. This would ensure the safety, quality, performance and uniformity of solar PV systems, while allowing the industry and authorities to fully access the benefits of renewable energy standards and performance of solar PV systems, Al Muaini added.



Ali Al Mashjari, director of Production and Electricity Services at Regulation & Supervision Bureau (RSB), said: "We are delighted with the launch of the Solar PV Systems Certification Scheme which increases consumer confidence in small-scale solar PV systems. The scheme will ensure the highest quality standards and adherence of manufacturers and suppliers of small-scale solar PV systems to the requirements of the conformity certificate. This will encourage more home owners and companies to adopt PV systems to meet part of their energy needs."



As the regulator of water, electricity and sewerage services sectors in Abu Dhabi, RSB has developed a solid regulatory framework that promotes the widespread expansion of clean and renewable energy in the emirate through the generation of solar power at homes and buildings. The will allow our citizens to meet their electricity needs right from their homes. At RSB, we continually work with all partners to ensure streamlined access of all consumers to renewable energy and its various applications.



RSBs regulatory framework for small-scale PV systems targets all customers of Abu Dhabi Distribution Company and Al Ain Distribution Company, and hence it is available to all households and commercial and non-commercial establishments in the Emirate. We thank QCC for developing this conformity scheme, which will significant increase the number of people using small-scale solar PV to meet their energy needs, Al Mashjari added.  TradeArabia News Service
A new online shopping marketplace has been launched offering a sophisticated fusion of luxury and unconventional French brands to the Middle Eastern woman.



Through curated fashion and a premium online shopping experience, DivaNoor.com offers a variety of high-end brands in several categories including luxury leather goods, fine jewellery, beauty, accessories, fashion and lingerie, a statement said.



Shoppers can request their bespoke pieces directly from the designer's stores in Paris.



This platform is not only about fashion, but also about bringing two rich cultures into one shopping location, the statement added. The new website is a crossroad between French know-how and Arabic culture.



Introducing this platform to the Arab World digital shoppers, a spokesperson for DivaNoor explained: "For centuries, the story of cultural relations between France and the Middle East has been one of mutual fascination. DivaNoor decided to cultivate these affinities by building a marketplace where French designers present their limited editions and On Demand products to stylish Arab women".



DivaNoor promotes the French art de vivre in the Middle East's digital sphere, spreading awareness and driving sales through an innovative mix of bilingual content, e-shopping and tailor-made marketing designed specifically for the e-world.  TradeArabia News Service
InterContinental Hotels Group, one of the worlds leading hotel companies, has announced today the opening of Staybridge Suites Jeddah Alandalus Mall.



The hotels connection to Alandalus Mall - one of the most important shopping destinations in Jeddah with an annual visitor rate exceeding 13 million visitors - and proximity to Al Salaam Mall make it an attractive location for families as well as transit guests to Makkah.



Business travellers and tourists can now choose this ideal location, situated in the heart of modern Jeddah. The hotel is linked to the most important roads to the south, west and east, including King Abdullah Road and Prince Majed Road, which connect it to the new King Abdulaziz Airport in less than 15 minutes. The hotel is also close to Al Haramain Train Station, allowing guests to reach the Grand Mosque in less than 20 minutes.



Hathal Al Utaiby, director of Marketing and Business Development, Alandalus Property Co, said: We are honoured and delighted to partner with IHG in order to launch Staybridge Suites in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom maintains the largest economy in the Middle East, and as a result, corporate travel within the country - particularly in Jeddah - is considerable. As the GCCs economy continues to expand, Jeddah will continue to grow as a commercial hub for industries such as engineering, real estate, construction, and IT/telecommunications. This means an ever-increasing number of visitors who need long stay options in the city. Staybridge Suites Jeddah Alandalus Mall now offers business travellers a world-class extended-stay experience whenever they make Jeddah their home-away-from-home.



The new hotel will comprise of 164 suites: a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom suites, complete with spacious living areas, fully equipped kitchens, guest laundry rooms and high speed internet connections. Additionally, the Jeddah Alandalus Mall location will offer seven meeting rooms, a banquet hall, outdoor swimming pool, a spa, a gym, and a business centre.



Pascal Gauvin, chief operating officer - IMEA, IHG said: As part of IHGs diverse family of brands, Staybridge Suites endeavours to provide guests with the best extended-stay experience possible. We believe our unique offering, coupled with an excellent location near the heart of Jeddah, will allow Staybridge Suites to serve the needs of Saudi Arabias families, religious and leisure tourists, and business travelers alike. - TradeArabia News Service
iStock/Thinkstock(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Several government websites in Ohio, including one for Gov. John Kasich, were hacked on Sunday displaying a pro-ISIS message, according to officials.

The message read, "You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries."

It ended with, "I love Islamic state."

Other websites that were affected by the hacking were those belonging to the Ohio First Lady Karen Kasich, the Office of Workforce Transformation, the Casino Control Commission, Medicaid, the Office of Health Transformation, the state Inspector General, the Office of Facilities and Construction Commission and LeanOhio, according to the Plain Dealer.

A group known as Team System Dz claimed responsibility for the hacking. According to ABC affiliate WEWS-TV, the Dayton City Paper, a free weekly arts publication, was hacked by the same group in 2015.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Prosecutors will not file criminal charges in connection with a February shooting in north Casper that killed a 46-year-old man.

The Natrona County District Attorneys office declined to file charges in the Feb. 16 shooting on North Jackson Street that killed Brandon Machado, District Attorney Mike Blonigen said Monday.

Blonigen said the shooting appeared to be a case of self-defense, but did not immediately disclose any further details.

Machado and a woman were both shot the evening of Feb. 16 in their home the 900 block of North Jackson Street.

Police found Machado and the woman injured inside the home after a third person called 911.

Machado died of a gunshot wound the next day. The woman, who has not been publicly identified by authorities, was hospitalized and later released.

Authorities have shared few details about the shooting or the circumstances surrounding it.

Casper police on Monday referred questions about the case to the District Attorney, who did not respond to an email asking for more details.
GILLETTE  A Wyoming man who caused a fatal crash as he was being chased by authorities in northern Wyoming has pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide.

28-year-old Grant Gleason entered the plea Friday for the June 29, 2015, death of George Bryant.

Gleason said he had been drinking and doing cocaine before a sheriff's deputy pulled him over for not having license plate lights. He fled, leading law enforcement on a chase reaching speeds of more than 80 mph.

While driving away from deputies, Gleason said he tried to find the cocaine in his vehicle so he could get rid of it while also looking in the rearview mirror. He then slammed head-on into Bryant's vehicle.

According to court documents, Gleason crashed at 83 mph.
PHOENIX  A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday could prove to be good news for the mother of a Mexican teen hoping to sue the Border Patrol agent who shot her son at the Nogales line.

In an unsigned order, the justices directed the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to take another look at its decision in a similar case, where a Border Patrol agent in Texas shot and killed a teen who was in a culvert on the Mexican side of the border. The justices said the appellate court needs to consider certain legal issues.

Potentially more significant, the Supreme Court said there was no basis for lower courts to conclude the Border Patrol agent is entitled to qualified immunity.

The ruling is a victory for the plaintiffs in that case: The appellate court had previously ruled they had no right to sue in U.S. courts. It gives the parents of Sergio Hernandez a new opportunity to make their case that Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa Jr., who fired across the border, can be found liable.

Robert Hilliard, attorney for the victims family, told Capitol Media Services that what the justices wrote in connection with his case should also benefit Araceli Rodriguez, who is suing Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz over the 2010 shooting of her son in Nogales.

Reviving our case, and determining no qualified immunity (for the Border Patrol agent) is the first step in what I believe will ultimately be constitutional protections to those shot and killed (in Mexico) by Border Patrol agents standing in the United States, Hilliard said.

Swartz shot Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, who was standing on the Mexican side of the border at Nogales, through the border fence. Swartz has not denied the incident, but said the 16-year-old was throwing rocks at him.

After hearing oral arguments last year, the judges of the 9th Circuit decided not to rule whether Rodriguezs case could go forward. Instead, they said they would wait to see how the Supreme Court ruled in the Texas case.

Swartz, through attorney Sean Chapman, has also raised the defense of qualified immunity. But U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins, in an earlier ruling, reached the same conclusion as the Supreme Court in the Hernandez case, saying Swartz cannot claim qualified immunity for his actions, particularly as the agent could not have known at the time of the shooting that the victim was not a citizen.

There are several issues that are key in both cases.

Potentially the most crucial is whether a Fourth Amendment claim of wrongful search and seizure  in this case, encompassing wrongful death can be brought in federal courts when the victim was killed in a foreign country.

The appellate court had concluded the Border Patrol agent was entitled to qualified immunity because Hernandez was an alien who had no significant voluntary connection to the United States.

The high court countered: It is undisputed ... that Hernandezs nationality and the extent of his ties to the United States were unknown to Mesa at the time of the shooting.

Hilliard said those factors favor not only his client but also Rodriguez in her case against Swartz.

In Mondays ruling, the justices also resurrected the claim that Hernandezs Fifth Amendment rights were violated because he was deprived of life or liberty without due process of law.

If nothing else, Mondays court action means it will likely be at least October  if not later  before the justices rule in the Texas case. And that keeps the civil lawsuit against Swartz on the back burner, even as a criminal trial against him is set to begin Oct. 12.
A local nonprofit organization is seeking help from the community to keep firefighters safe from a potentially deadly disease.

The Greater Tucson Fire Foundation is seeking tax-deductible donations to help pay for new skin cancer screening technology called DermSpectra, which can be used to detect the disease early.

The foundations mission is to raise $100,000 to pay for the equipment and its asking for help from the community for $89,000. The money would be used to pay for the equipment that would provide screening at no cost to the Southern Arizona fire departments, according to a press release.

The foundation has been operating since 2010. It works with firefighters to provide them with health and wellness resources.

Foundation chairman Mike McKendrick said Tucsons sunny skies create greater risk for firefighters. A recent FEMA study showed that Southern Arizona firefighters are three times more likely than the general public to get skin cancer.

McKendrick said in the last four years there have been several firefighters who have been diagnosed with skin cancer.

Two firefighters a year get melanoma, thats the skin cancer that kills, McKendrick said. Two doesnt seem like much but when you look at two out of 1,800, thats significant.

When the foundation went through its strategic planning meetings, cancer prevention was an important item.

So then we looked at what we could do as a foundation and what the community could do to help catch these early, McKendrick said. When you catch a melanoma early or any other skin cancer early, the numbers are in your favor to eradicate the cancer and save the life.

The imaging technology will be placed at WellAmerica Inc., where Dr. Wayne F. Peate advised the Greater Tucson Fire Foundation about the imaging system, McKendrick said.

Its technology that was founded here in Tucson, it was beta tested at the University of Arizona and Dr. Peate ... came to the foundation and basically said we have this technology, its state of the art and our firefighters are at the most risk of any firefighters in the country.

He said after discussions with DSI Acquisition  the owners of DermSpectra  they were able to get the technology into the WellAmerica clinic.

Peate said when they found out the risk to firefighters, the decision was made to find a better screening process. We thought we needed to do a better job because 98 percent of melanoma, if theyre detected early can be cured. He said theres a huge payoff to early detection.

McKendrick said in addition to the wellness of the firefighters, there is a business cost to procuring the DermSpectra imaging system. He said that not catching the cancer early is not only expensive but also creates trauma for the patient and time away from work.

The community, the taxpayer, put in a tremendous amount of money for selecting these firefighters, training them and keeping them healthy so when you and I call 911 theyre ready and available to help us, Peate said.

Capt. Andy Skaggs, a spokesman for the Tucson Fire Department, said firefighters are doing their best to combat the extremely hot weather and sunny skies.

Weve got sunscreen at all of the stations, the fire chief has authorized us to use hats, and then a lot of our folks opt to wear a long sleeve T-shirts instead of a short-sleeve T-shirts to help try to keep the sun off.

Fire stations are going through safety training and being reminded about the dangers of the Tucson heat on their bodies and taking all precautions to stay safe.

The firefighters are constantly doing their part to make sure that theyre staying safe so they can keep the citizens safe, Skaggs said. If were not in the healthiest condition, how are we supposed to help the citizens of Tucson.
Nationally, 49 percent of Americans went to the polls last year backing Republican candidates in House races throughout the country, yet the GOP controls 55 percent of the U.S. House of Representatives.

An investigation by The Associated Press looked at political redistricting  and what is known as gerrymandering  throughout the country as a legal fight in Wisconsin heads to the Supreme Court. A decision there could shape how political districts are drawn in every state.

The AP used a mathematical formula to determine the effects of gerrymandering, in which the party in power alters voting districts to its advantage, in federal and state legislative races across the country.

So is gerrymandering why Arizona is a red state? Unlikely. The results indicate Arizona has among the lowest measures of unequal representation among the states analyzed by The Associated Press, coming in fourth out of 43 states in the 2016 election. The reason, some say, is how the state draws its political districts every 10 years, relying on a independent redistricting commission.

The AP analysis found that Republicans  the largest political party in the state  won 52 percent of the votes in Arizona statehouse races in 2016 but ended up with 58 percent of the seats. The GOP gained just three seats more under the current district maps than it would have under more neutrally drawn maps.

Also, the Arizona GOP controls five of the nine House seats in Congress  about 56 percent  and at the polls in 2016, Republicans received 52 percent of the vote. The analysis shows the Arizona GOP won less than one seat more in the U.S. House using the current district maps.

For its analysis, The AP scrutinized all 435 U.S. House races in November using an efficiency gap statistical method designed to calculate partisan advantage. It found that the GOP may have won as many as 22 additional congressional seats than expected based on the average vote share in congressional districts across the country. The AP also used the method to calculate efficiency gaps for all states that held partisan House or state assembly elections for all of their districts in 2016.

The APs analysis was based on a formula developed by University of Chicago law professor Nick Stephanopoulos and Eric McGhee, a researcher at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. They computed efficiency gaps for four decades of congressional and state House races starting in 1972, concluding the pro-Republican maps enacted after the 2010 Census resulted in the most extreme gerrymanders in modern history.

In Arizona

Local political observers disagree with the analysis, but all three agree the states Independent Redistricting Commission  backed by voters in 2000 after complaints of gerrymandering  plays a major role in wresting control of the process of creating legislative and congressional districts from the states political parties.

When the voter-backed commission draws the maps every decade, it gives weight to following the federal Voting Rights Act, but also the districts shape and geographical features, keeping communities of interest together as well as potential political competitiveness.

Scott Freeman, a Republican who sat on the states redistricting commission, said the AP has simply taken a snapshot of Arizonas political environment without putting into context what the makeup of the Legislature was two to four years ago.

I dont think the efficiency gap is a useful tool, he said, noting the states congressional delegation had more Democrats than Republicans after the 2012 election, which used the same legislative districts. It is very misleading.

Freeman continued, The 2012 election was the first election with the current maps and, theoretically at least, more likely to expose the plan of the devious map maker.

Political analyst Chris Herstam says he would like to see the state focus on building as many competitive districts as possible.

The number-one criteria should be competition, he said. It is good for democracy and good for Arizona.

However, Herstam said the state also needs to look at the entire system as the states second-largest political group  independents  have almost no voice in the current system.

It almost impossible for an independent to run for office, he said.

Specifically, the state requires too many signatures, and the two main political parties make it difficult for political outsiders to raise campaign funds.

He worries that over time, these independents will reject the entire system and sit out on election night.

Something has to be done, or we are losing a significant part of our voters, he said.

DJ Quinlan, the former executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party, agrees with Herstam that the current maps do not go far enough to make districts politically competitive.

However, he said any changes to the maps would have to consider the federal Voting Rights Act, which is designed to prevent racial discrimination and voter-suppression efforts.

The states commission

Voters pulled redistricting from the Legislature in 2000, with proponents of Proposition 106 arguing political lines were being gerrymandered for political advantage. The redistricting commission is made up of two Republicans and two Democrats appointed by legislative leaders and one independent chosen from a list compiled by the state Commission on Appellate Court Appointments.

When the final maps were adopted by the redistricting committee in early 2012, a series of court challenges ensued over complaints of unequal populations in the districts. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commissions legislative districts, even though the court acknowledged the unequal population sizes of the districts.
For 25 years Foreign Correspondent has showcased international stories.

Now, in a special one-hour collaboration with The New York Times, ABC flips the camera to get an outsiders take on race relations in Australia.

Through American Eyes is produced by Suzanne Smith at the special time of 8:30pm.

Race is John Eligons beat. He roams America reporting for The New York Times on the tensions, eruptions and occasional triumphs in race relations.

What might he make of relations here between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the country?

ABC TVs Foreign Correspondent and The New York Times decided to find out by sending Eligon on a journey across Australia.

As Eligon quickly learns, less than a lifetime ago indigenous Australians werent even counted in the Census. For many, wages came in rations of flour, sugar and tea. Days and destinies were subject to the whim of bureaucrats and missionaries.

So, having attained full equality under the law, having scored pivotal victories like native title rights, are Indigenous people truly in control of their lives? What more do they need to do for themselves? Is racism these days rare or routine?

John Eligon looks for some answers. In Western Australias Kimberley region he gets a taste of Indigenous life in a remote town.

Theres just a lotta troublemakers here Theres a lotta racism here  Aboriginal girl, 19

There he meets teenagers determined to make something of themselves. But they must rise above frequently unstable home lives and a suicide epidemic that is robbing them of family and friends.

In the same town Eligon follows a good-hearted cop who is trying to stop kids as young as six turning to crime. An elder takes Eligon on a trip to ancestral lands  and dishes out a scorching critique on the monster created by wasted mining royalties.

Next stop is idyllic Torres Strait, birthplace of legal trailblazer Eddie Mabo. Indigenous people here have more power than any others thanks to Mabo and a unique fishing treaty with Papua New Guinea.

Were gonna bloody rock your boat and were gonna sink your ship!  Islander fisherman recounting his ultimatum to white commercial fishermen accused of trespassing

In the Torres Strait John Eligon explores what the pay-off has been for the Islanders and how much autonomy they really have. On a white sand beach Eddie Mabos daughter Gail shows how her dad won his famous case  and channels what she thinks he would say about race relations were he alive today.

We have to fight harder to go upstream because the current coming the other way is trying to push us backwards  Gail Mabo

From the tropics Eligon heads to the suburbs  where most Indigenous Australians live. In Brisbanes gritty Inala, he meets a family that appears to defy the racial stereotypes.

University lecturer Chelsea, retired cop Matt and their five kids live in a nice house with a pool. Some 15 years ago Matt made a fateful decision to join the police force. He wanted to change what he saw as its racist culture. That noble effort nearly destroyed him when he fell out with white colleagues over a controversial Aboriginal death in custody.

As Matt and Chelsea learned over time, the signposts of upward mobility can be illusory.

Class does not remedy race  Chelsea

But like many of the Indigenous people Eligon encounters on his journey, the couple is determined to bridge the racial divide. As Chelsea sees it:

I think were a pretty resilient mob

8.30 pm Tuesday June 27 on ABC.
Help India!

By Sheikh Khurshid Alam for TwoCircles.net

Amidst blaring Bollywood numbers doing a surgical strike through my windows, I am trying to pen down my thoughts on the proposed Black Band Protest against mob-lynching of people in general and Muslims in particular. Agreed, protest is vital to democracy but is there any point in protesting just for the sake of it?

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Among those who would be protesting with their black bands on Eid, there will be such anti-socials who extort money from people to decorate the streets with stolen electricity and make the lives of their neighbours hell with loud music for all the three days of Eid and there will also be those good Muslims who choose to remain silent on every social issue of the locality but they will be very content with their Black Band Protest because they believe  Kuch nahi karne se achcha kam se kam patti lagakar protest zahir to kiya! (protesting with black bands on arms is better than not doing anything at all).

Quran says, Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good , enjoining Al-Maroof and forbidding Al-Munkar (all that is bad). And it is they who are the successful. Our protests lack spirit because we are selective and if not self-centric then at least community-centric or caste-centric or region-centric or ideology-centric. We do not invite to all that is good and neither forbid all that is bad. A life of a Communist or a Sanghi or a Hindu or a Dalit or any human being is as precious as that of a Muslim. In theory, there is no caste system in Islam but in practice there are places where upper caste Muslims dont hesitate to ruin the lives of low caste Muslims and they cry foul when non-Muslims mistreat them.

Just because some Pratapgarhi or any visionless leader has appealed to Muslims to sport black bands on Eid Day, emotional fools that we are rush to such gimicks. What about the sanctity of Eid? It is human nature to adopt the easy way out. Sporting black band is one of those easy way out. Enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil is obligatory upon all the Ummah, men and women, each according to his or her circumstances.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Whoever among you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand [by taking action]; and if he cannot, then with his tongue [by speaking out]; and if he cannot, then with his heart [by feeling that it is wrong]  and that is the weakest of faith. Why are we satisfied and content with the weakest display of our faith? Lets not forget that good is the enemy of great. Ghalib has aptly said, Haq to yeh hai ke haq ada na hua. (the Truths is that we did not fulfill the rights).

We are in one of the best democracies of the world. Our democracy gives us the options like filing of PILs, complaint to NHRC or SHRCs, representation to the Executives, getting politically conscious of our rights and holding our elected representatives accountable for their breach of duties. Lets ask ourselves that have we ever tried to change any evil by our actions first or we have limited ourselves to coffee table discussions and black band protests only! In spite of various cases and allegations of corruption in the Judiciary, it is still dispensing justice to the people of India. Why dont the Muslim organizations include in their long term plans to encourage and support the entry of right minded youth in the Judiciary and Administration of the country? We need much more likes of Zakat Foundation of India.

These pointless protests will not lead us anywhere. The regime which has leased reign of terror will not be moved by our black bands. It has taken them more than 60 years of hardcore preparation to occupy the throne of Delhi and our able leadership should have the vision to prepare such efficient roadmaps to sail us through. In order to follow the teaching of our beloved Prophet to exhibit the highest level of faith, we need to empower ourselves likewise. Black band or No band, Eid Mubarak to all.



Sheikh Khurshid Alam is a Kolkata-based advocate.


What Donald Trump once described as "phoney" and a "witch hunt", he now appears to acknowledge that there is some veracity to claims about Russian interference in the 2016 Election. Tweeting that Obama knew far ahead of the election about the Russian meddling in the election but did nothing, suggests that he may have finally come to terms with what multiple intelligence agencies have been telling him about Russia's meddling in the US elections. It came after a report in the Washington Post that dealt with discussions within the Obama Administration about how to respond to the Russian efforts to influence the election.

Trump's denial of Russian interference

Donald Trump was so sure that Russia was not involved in influencing the election, he fired the CIA Director James Comey and publicly stated that he did so because of the Russia investigation. News about the Russian meddling came to light last summer and the CIA concluded in a report that there was overwhelming evidence to support the claim. President-elect Donald Trump wasted no time in denouncing the CIA findings as "ridiculous". He continued his denial of Russian meddling and even suggested the Russians were laughing at the US, tweeting that it was "Fake News" and a "lame excuse" for why the Democrats lost the election

In addition to outright denial of Russian interference, Donald Trump's presidency has been one of avoidance and indifference when asked about his position on Russian meddling.

Putin's support for Trump's stance

Donald Trump had the support of Moscow in his denial of the foreign power's meddling in the US elections. Even after the US Department of Homeland Security made explicit claims of Russian hacking, Putin backed up Trump's claim that the allegations were without merit. During the 2016 election campaign, Putin praised Trump for energising the US elections and stated that Russia had nothing to do with influencing the elections.

Denials also came from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, emphatically stating that they did not supply Russian hackers with material.

Two different responses to hacking allegations

As evidence of Russian interference and collusion by the Trump campaign in the elections continue to grow, Donald Trump has responded by rewarding the Russian government by meeting with Russian officials in the Oval Office and indicating an intent to normalise relations with that government.

During his last days in office, President Barack Obama kicked 35 Russian officials out of the US in sanctions against Russian intelligence services and closed two Russian-owned compounds in the US. These sanctions based on evidence of Russian hacking of the 2016 elections were described at the time as the strongest action taken by the administration in retaliation for Russia's cyber attacks.
Jeremy Corbyn has accumulated a 5-point lead over Theresa May just weeks after the 2017 General Election amid Tory turmoil.

In a devastating blow to the Prime Minister, The Sunday Times discovered Labour's leader is proving to be more popular in recent opinion polls.

The survey questioned a sample of 5,000 people, who provided Mrs May with a favourability rating of -17 points, whilst Mr. Corbyn achieved a score of +17. This will only add to Labour's momentum if another general election was called tomorrow, especially after the party performed better than expected on June 8th, gaining 34 seats.

One of the constituencies they acquired included Canterbury, which had been Conservative since 1841.

Labour's election result benefitted from a large turnout of electors aged 18-24. The Labour leader used this bounce as an opportunity to address many of the people who helped him gain more seats at the expense of the Tories to address attendees at Glastonbury this weekend.

'Another world is possible.'

Addressing the crowd, he said another world is possible if everyone comes together to make it happen. He added that he wants to achieve a better society for all.

This will only add another blow to Mrs May's chances of remaining as Prime Minister into the near future.

She has vowed to continue as Prime Minister with her Chief of Staff, Gavin Barwell.

In the face of a humiliating election result, many of her key members of staff resigned, including her former chiefs of staff, former communications director, press secretary and two policy experts.

A source close to Blasting News said the 1922 Committee placed a lot of pressure on the Conservative leadership to issue policies that engage with young people.

The Daily Express reported that Chancellor Philip Hammond is being urged by many Tory MPs to replace the Conservative leader as Prime Minister and lead the Brexit negotiations.

'A caretaker leader.'

However, many MPs have said he should only remain as a caretaker leader before the party elects a new leader to lead them into the next general election.

They added that he should be installed as leader by the time of the Conservative Party Conference in October.

A former cabinet colleague told The Sunday Times that Mr. Hammond believes he is the right man for the job. But MPs in the party are suspicious of 'Spreadsheet Phil' as Eurosceptics fear he could push for a 'soft' Brexit.

This could mean jobs and business are prioritised before controls on immigration should he become Prime Minister.

Many Brexiteers are pushing for Brexit Secretary David Davis to become his deputy. One Tory minister told The Daily Express he is a more credible caretaker than the current Prime Minister. They added that Mrs May's brand is damaged beyond repair, especially after she was heckled at a church for her handling of the Grenfell Tower fire.

This was caused by her failure to win an overall majority for the Conservatives at the recent general election only a year into her premiership, despite healthy opinion poll leads and successive local election results.

But other cabinet ministers tipped to take over from the Prime Minister include Mr. Davis or Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

'A woman of extraordinary qualities.'

Mr. Johnson has said he has no intention to stand against Mrs May before the Brexit negotiations are concluded in April 2019.

A series of Whatsapp messages which were leaked to press show that Mr. Johnson believes the Prime Minister to be a woman of extraordinary qualities.

The Daily Telegraph reported some Conservative MPs believe Mr.

Davis is too old to become Prime Minister because he is nearly 70. They also fear that he is unpopular after failing to defeat David Cameron during the 2005 leadership contest.

Another concern is that he pressured the Prime Minister into calling a snap election.

The Foreign Secretary's deputy, Sir Alan Duncan, urged him to stop playing games as there are no credible alternatives to Mrs May as Prime Minister. Those comments were shared by many allies of Mr. Davis.

Mr. Duncan also disagreed with his boss' optimistic assumptions about Brexit, warning people a deal will not be easy to achieve.

He added if anyone believes that to be the case, they should resign from politics.
Qatar has for the last three weeks been under a blockade from some of its neighbours for its ties with Iran and supposed support of terrorist organisations. Saudi Arabia in conjunction with Bahrain, UAE, and Egypt have last week presented a list to Qatar containing 13 demands they should comply with. This should be done within 10 days or the olive branch becomes null and void.

But the question is, is this really an olive branch? Does it have all or most of the characteristics of an olive branch? Since it's come from pressure emancipating from the United States and the United Kingdom stating that a blockade without conditions does nothing to foster reconciliation, thus Saudi Arabia and its allies came back with the list.

Borris Johnson the UK foreign secretary appeared to criticise the scope of the Saudi ultimatum saying Gulf states should be "...measured and realistic" in their demands.

Experts believe this might just be the first step towards a most likely long road leading to reasonable terms between the Arab states and reconciliation.

Qatar blamed of supporting terrorists

In the second item on the list of demands, it requests Qatar sever all ties to "terrorist organisations" including the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda, and Lebanon's Hezbollah, and formally declare those entities as terrorist groups.

Sixth on the list it states: stop all means of funding for individuals, groups or organisations that have been designated as terrorists by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, the United States, Canada and other countries.

Number seven on the list continues this way; hand over "terrorist figures" and wanted individuals from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain to their countries of origin. Freeze their assets, and provide any desired information about their residency, movements, and finances.

As you can see terrorism is a real issue within the Arab states as it has been mentioned on three out of the 13 other items on the list.

Not all of these are allegations, although some of them appear to be fabrications, however, there are some which have some truth behind them.

It's important to take into account that Turkey which has close ties with Qatar are both prominent supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered a terrorist group by Egypt and other Arab countries.

In an interview, an undisclosed Al Jazeera employee told CNBC reporters that "None of the 9/11 terrorists was from Qatar. Fifteen came from Saudi, two from the UAE and one from Egypt. Qatar is more progressive; women can drive here."

Repercussions for citizens dealing with Qatar

Reports from CNBC say that in recent days the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have warned their citizens against showing sympathy for Qatar, with Abu Dhabi reportedly threatening prison sentences of up to 15 years. Saudi Arabia plans to fine people who watch Al-Jazeera 10,000 Saudi riyals ($2,667), according to the Saudi commission for tourism and national heritage.

Qatar's options going forward

Qatar has been forging an independent foreign policy since the discovery of gas and a palace coup where the former Emir ousted his pro-Saudi leaning father.

Since 1995, the country has been in a construction boom that has been reshaping the desert state for the better. Qataris are the world's richest per capita ($130,000), while in Saudi Arabia - although it notably is much larger - has more than 35% of its citizens who live under the national poverty line.

"The State of Qatar recognises that a decision to close Al-Jazeera will infringe on their sovereignty," stated Wadah Khanfar President of Al Sharq Forum, an independent network dedicated to developing long-term strategies for political development, social justice and economic prosperity of the people of the Middle East.

Iran is already talking to the Turks and the Qataris  a move that could reshape cooperation in the Middle East.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken to the Qatari Emir and would be eager to mediate, undermining the United States, despite Moscow being accused of hacking the Qatar News Agency website and planting a story that triggered the diplomatic crisis.

Qatar according to a report from CNN received the list on Friday. The director of Qatar's Government Communication Office, Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al-Thani, said the demands confirm what Qatar has said from the beginning: "The illegal siege has nothing to do with combating terrorism, (but) it is about limiting Qatar's sovereignty and outsourcing our foreign policy."

In addition, the Qatar News Agency said in an article on Friday "Qatar's National Human Rights Committee, NHRC noted that Qatar's acceptance of these demands and conditions would subject the country to international accountability and violate its obligations under human rights conventions.

In this context, NHRC urged the state of Qatar not to accept those demands".

In 2014 the Gulf States lacked support from President Obama, but just after President Trump's recent visit to Saudi Arabia, they seem to have received support from the White House as the demands came momentarily after Trump's visit, according to Marwan Kabalan Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

Al Jazeera targeted

This is not the first time Al Jazeera is being told to shut down, in 2014 there were demands from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries during the Gulf Confederations Council to shut down the station. The covering of sensitive and sometimes taboo subjects is often why Al Jazeera has been banned, and its journalists killed, attacked, expelled and jailed across the Middle East.

The shutdown demand is seen by some as a scare tactic, they dont really want it to be closed as that is hard to achieve, their true agenda might be scaring them into choosing their words and their news more carefully.

According to Al Jazeera, the UN doesnt want to enter into the negotiations right now so as to give Kuwait enough time to negotiate the peace agreement as this is an internal issue. There are approximately between 30,000-40,000 civil society activists, peaceful protesters in jail in Egypt because of the ideas they have not the threat they pose, this is according to Rami Khouri Non-resident senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.
Hillary Clinton won the popular election by 3 million more votes over Donald Trump, and she's bent on making sure no one forgets that. In a new interview, Clinton insists that she unofficially won the election despite getting 227 electoral college votes to Trump's 304.

Trump didn't win on "anger," Hillary insists

The former Secretary of State shrugs off the notion that Trump won the election because angry Americans swung the presidency in his favor. She dismisses the theory by saying it's not a good strategy for most people. She didn't leave Bernie Sanders out in her interview with New York Magazine.

"I beat both of them," Hillary Clinton told the magazine, adding that "anger is not a good strategy for most people." Clinton expounded that people can't be angry for themselves. It makes sense to be "indignant," "annoyed," and "frustrated," but anger isn't productive.

On Friday Hillary returned to her alma mater at Wellesley College to deliver a commencement address where she skewered Donald Trump without actually using his name. She drew parallels of Nixon's presidency and Trump's in regards to being investigated. She noted that at the time of Nixon's presidency, many were upset with a man who faced "impeachment for obstruction of justice."

Of particular similarity was she pointing out that he fired the individual who was running at the Department of Justice.

Nixon resigned after he was thought to be impeached in 1974.

Her take on FBI firing

What does Hillary Clinton think of Trump firing former FBI Director James Comey. She reveals that she's "less surprised" than she is "worried." She feels that Trump's motives for letting Comey go has to do with attempting to destroy the Russian inquiry.

She believes that Comey should have been disciplined for his role in harming her chances in the election, but an abrupt firing was just too suspicious.

The shock of November election

When it came to the election results in November, Clinton admits she was stunned and thought in the end she'd pull out and win. She cites data that indicated she was going to come out the winner and that nobody predicted what would eventually be by the end of November 8.

Contrary to Trump's estimations of Clinton's rallies, Hillary adds that she had great crowds, high energy, and that the campaign really believed she was going to be elected the next president.

Hillary Clinton does say she takes responsibility for her election loss and realizes that won't satisfy all of her detractors. She said she wasn't a perfect candidate and doesn't know anyone who was.
The Syrian army vowed to continue its operations against ISIS even though the U.S. led coalition had started its offensive against the terror group. The government's statement came after U.S. planes downed two Syrian aircraft in just two weeks over the deconfliction zone near American forces in Syria.

What is the status of the Syrian offensive against ISIS?

According to reports coming from Assad's forces, government troops have taken the town of Resafa, which is a major town that lies between the besieged city of Raqqa and the American base in Al-Tanf.

The occupation of the city effectively cuts the opportunity of the U.S. led coalition to completely own the Eastern Syrian desert.

The Syrian government had also taken the strategic city of Palmyra and is now pushing east through the roads towards the Deir ez-Zor area on the Euphrates river, which is a major crossing point with Iraq. ISIS fighters have been on the retreat as Assad's forces plowed through large areas of territory once held by the jihadists. The massive advance of Assad's forces show the growing weakness of the terrorist group and how easily they can be defeated.

The success of Assad's forces can be attributed to the massive support provided by the Russian military, especially during the offensive to wrestle Syrian lands from ISIS occupation..

However, the only hindrance for Syria to completely liberate its country from ISIS oppression is the United States. Operatives of the U.S. military have created a deconfliction zone, where Assad's forces are prevented to enter or face massive missile and air strikes coming from the U.S. Navy.

What will the United States do to protect its assets in Syria?

According to U.S. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, the United States has all the right to defend itself in Syria. Though he added that lines of communication between Syria and Russia were created to avoid military blunders and mishaps.

As of the moment, the U.S.

led coalition is hard pressed on liberating the city of Raqqa from ISIS control. Raqqa is a major stronghold of the terror group and that capturing it will be a massive blow to the leadership structure of the terrorist insurgents.

U.S. policy in the Middle East is the destruction of ISIS and all terrorist groups that are affiliated with Islamist sentiments. The Iraqi army, also supported and led by the United States, is also in the process of inflicting a major blow to ISIS forces with the imminent liberation of the city of Mosul. The fight against ISIS is now gaining ground, though U.S. and Syrian relationship have yet to improve.
Leah Penny was 31-years-old, a mother of seven children, a resident of Malden, MA, and living with an abusive boyfriend. Her 32-year-old boyfriend, Ryan Power, is accused of strangling her to death with a dog leash on June 20 while the couples two small children were home asleep in their crib. He is being held, without bail, on charges of Assault And Battery, as well strangulation, of a household or family member.

Three years ago, Penny moved from North Carolina to the Boston area. She was the first-born in her family  also with seven children.

She was a wonderful child and was always an honors student, according to her mother, Patty Duble, who lives in North Carolina. Duble told the Boston Herald that Pennys entire family is heartbroken following her murder.

Accused killers mother discovered victims body

Leah was discovered near the foot of a staircase in the home where she and Power lived with their one- and two-year-old children, along with her five older children, whose ages range from 4-years-old to 14-years-old.

When going to see her grandchildren, Powers mother discovered Pennys body and went to the police right away. Wrapped around her neck was a dog leash. Thursday was Powers arraignment, Malden District Court. According to the prosecutor, Elizabeth Dunigan, one of Pennys hands was near the leash trying to pull it down.

Victims mother asserts domestic violence was throughout relationship with alleged murderer

Duble said the couple had problems yet she did not know it was that intense. Three weeks prior to when Penny was murdered allegedly by Power, he was charged following with assault and battery a different incident of Domestic Violence.

He reportedly shoved her to the ground and accused Penny of being unfaithful to him. Their two small children present.

Judge Matthew Machera agreed to a request by the prosecutor at Powers arraignment on May 31, ordering that Power not goes near Penny. He was free on his own recognizance. Letting him go was an injustice, Duble told the Boston Herald.

He should have been held, she said, adding that Penny did not deserve to die a violent death.

The Boston Herald asked how come there was no attempt by prosecutors keeps Power in custody. A spokeswoman for Marian Ryan, Middlesex District Attorney, said she would check into it, but did not answer.

Advocates against domestic violence say homicides predictable

No system is foolproof, according to spokeswoman Toni Troop, Jane Doe, Inc., which advocates for domestic and sexual violence victims. Domestic violence murders, she said, rank with the most predictable homicides.

Police stated that Power left the home he shared with Penny the evening she was murdered. According to the district attorney, Power told police  a detective and the police chief  they had an argument.

He said it became physical and that he used his hands to choke her. He said he left, went to store, and returned, yet claimed that he did not see his girlfriend again Tuesday night.

Accused killer fled state following abusive fight

Police say Power fled to Seabrook, New Hampshire. He called his mother  shortly after she discovered Pennys body. After a warrant was issued for his arrest, Power spoke with police in New Hampshire. He told them that Penny was dead when he returned home.

After he had agreed to go back to Massachusetts, he was ordered to be detained for two weeks, which is when bail arguments may be heard on July 7. Daniel Solomon, his attorney, contends that the outcome of an autopsy on Penny could change the situation, characterizing it as raft with issues.

Victim had restraining order, according to her mother

Prosecutors say Power was previously charged with assault and battery on Penny in May, which is when they requested a restraining order, but it was not received.

However, Duble said her daughter had a restraining order against her boyfriend, but he convinced her to have it rescinded. She described her daughters relationship with Power as abusive the entire time they were together.

Duble plans to be at a custody hearing concerning her grandchildren next week in Massachusetts. Afterward, she is going to the coroners office so that she can identify her eldest daughters body. She said that, as a mother, she never thought she would have to say those words.
82-year-old Frank J. Kerrigan was still mourning the loss of his mentally-ill, Homeless son, who he had laid to rest eleven days before. He then received a phone call from his friend, Bill Shinker, to tell him his son, Frank M. Kerrigan, was still very much alive. He asked Shinker to put his son on the phone and heard the words, Hi Dad. It turns out the orange county coroners office had misidentified the body.

Homeless man found dead in Fountain Valley

As reported by the Orange County Register, on May 6 a mans body was discovered behind the Verizon store in Fountain Valley.

When Kerrigan called the Orange County coroners office, he was told the dead man was his son, 57-year-old Frank, Jr. His son was mentally ill and homeless, living on the streets. Kerrigan asked if they needed him to identify his sons body, but was told by a woman at the coroners office  incorrectly  that he had already been identified through his fingerprints.

Man believed dead is alive -- family buries wrong person after mistake by Orange County Coroner's Office https://t.co/eMsMojRRpJ pic.twitter.com/sFbUVUchzy  chi (@chiIIum) June 24, 2017

Kerrigan said he believed them when they told him his son had passed away, after they told him they checked his identity through his fingerprints.

If that hadnt happened, he would have immediately gone to identify his son.

It was hard for Franks sister, Carole Meikle, 56, of Silverado, too, as she visited the spot where her homeless brother had allegedly died to leave a small memorial to him. Meikle said it was a pretty disturbing scene with dirty blankets and blood.

The family had been told Frank had died peacefully, but the scene on the street gave no indication of that fact.

Before the funeral, the grieving father had even looked at the man lying in the casket to say goodbye, but didnt realize it wasnt his son. Kerrigan said he didnt know what his dead son would look like and that the family had lived through their worst fear.

Family holds a funeral for their lost relative

The family held a $20,000 funeral for Frank in Orange on May 12, with around 50 mourners attending and Franks brother, John, gave the eulogy as his brother was buried around 150 ft. from his mother. Meikle said of the funeral that they had believed they were burying her brother, but somebody else got a beautiful send off instead.

Due to the incorrect death identification, the federal government stopped disability payments for Frank, but Meikle says they are working to restore those payments. She added that as her brother had chosen to remain homeless, they had lived through their worst fear, adding that those feelings dont go away.

Kerrigan has hired an attorney, Doug Easton, who told the media that officials at the coroners office had tried to match the dead mans fingerprints in a law enforcement database but without success.

They reportedly identified the man as Kerrigan through an old drivers license photo.

'Hi, Dad,' son tells father after family mistakenly buries another man in Orange County, California https://t.co/PsWkc8lPS8  AP West Region (@APWestRegion) June 24, 2017

Coroners office runs fingerprints again and correctly identifies dead man

Once the family knew that Frank was still alive, the coroners office ran the fingerprints again and eventually learned they belonged to someone else. While the Kerrigan family was told the name of the deceased person, identification has still to be independently confirmed. Easton said the family now plans to sue the coroners office for incorrectly identifying the body as their relative.

He said officials didnt really try to identify him properly as he was homeless.

Coroners office reviewing the identification process

As noted by Buzzfeed, a spokesman for the Orange County coroners office said Saturday that the department regrets the emotional stress placed on the Kerrigan family by the unfortunate incident. Lt. Lane Lagaret went on to say the Orange County Sheriffs Department will conduct an internal investigation into the error and that identification procedures and policies will now be reviewed to ensure this doesnt happen again in the future.
According to Bloomberg, President Donald Trump intends to roll out a new energy policy that will turn away from the Obama-era drive to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. Instead, the policy goal is to establish American dominance in all forms of power generation, oil, gas, coal, nuclear, and renewables. The new policy will not only reflect the presidents skepticism about human-caused climate change but aligns energy policy more toward market realities.

American as a net exporter of oil, natural gas, and coal

The center of Trumps new policy is informed by the fact that the fracking boom has made the United States a net exporter of fossil fuels.

The development, which ironically took place during the most anti-fossil fuel president since Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, has upended the international Oil And Gas markets. For the past 40 years, since the first energy crisis, oil and gas markets have been dominated by OPEC, led by the Arab Gulf states. That situation placed the United States and the rest of the West in the uncomfortable position of being dependent on foreigners who did not have its best interests at heart.

Now, with the United States shipping oil and gas overseas, that situation has changed. Now America is set to control energy markets, stabilizing prices, and ensuring the availability of energy around the world. Trumps new policy will encourage this process, opening up federal lands and offshore territories to drilling.

Peace will be declared in the war on Coal.

Nuclear power to see a revival?

Nuclear power, despite its role in mitigating carbon emissions, has not seen prosperity during the past decade. Bureaucratic red tape lengthens the approval of new nuclear plants past a decade or more, making them uncompetitive. Trump means to change that, noting the smaller, safer modular nuclear power stations will have an increasing role in generating energy in the United States.

Solar and wind energy not to be neglected

While renewable energy will no longer have a dominant position in American energy policy, the new administration will not ignore that growing sector. Most intriguing is the idea that the president seems to have adapted to turn the planned border wall into a giant solar power collector.

Energy dominance means American dominance

The goal of this new energy policy is to enhance American power around the world by creating a dominant position in power generation, replacing OPEC in that role. Now American interests will have to be listened to and accommodated by an energy-hungry planet. Fighting climate change will no longer be a priority, except, as in the case of Mexico, as a means to establish and maintain American influence.
US officials said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to delete Myanmar and Iraq from the US list of the world's worst offenders, who use child soldiers in war. The move, if implemented, will be a total disregard of the recommendations of experts and the Department Of State.

Consequences of the decision

The plan, confirmed by three administration officials, would disrupt the longstanding convention at the State Department over how to determine defaulting countries and could lead to allegations the Trump administration is strategizing diplomatic and security interest in lieu of human rights.

The Secretary of State overrides his officials evaluation on the use of child soldiers in the two countries and jilted the recommendations put forward by US diplomats in the Middle East and Asia, who believes Myanmar and Iran should be on the list, officials with knowledge of the internal discussions said. Tillerson also declined consideration of a proposal to include Afghanistan to the list by the State Departments internal unit.

Reason for the measures

Reuters reported that an official at the State Department hinted that the decision was made amid pressure from the Pentagon to prevent bottlenecks to the US military aid to Iraq and Afghanistan, who maintains strong ties with the US in the fight against ISIS militants.

The list prescribes sanctions on foreign militaries, who engage children as soldiers. Countries that are on the list are prohibited from receiving US military assistance, US-made weapons and military weapons unless the White House decides to issue a waiver.

The deletion is expected to be officially announced on Tuesday, the official hinted.

However, Human rights groups have expressed dismay at the decision, describing it as worrisome.

Child's protection

The 2008 Child Soldiers Prevention Act stipulates that the White House must be satisfied that children are not recruited or forced to work as soldiers in order for a listed country to be removed the list and be eligible for US military aid.

Human Rights groups said erasing Myanmar, formerly Burma, would be a total disaster and immature move that will definitely subject many children to rights abuses and enslavements. The Trump administration could be at odds with the United Nations should the decision be implemented. The UN still lists Myanmars military and seven armed groups as organizations exploiting and recruiting child soldiers.
The second season of our beloved animated series Rick and Morty started off with a bunch of dark episodes, and were going to focus on the second episode. Mortynight Run has got to be one of those largely talked about episodes and personal favorites of many in the fandom (every episode of "Rick and Morty" is an absolute gem and we me no discrimination, but let's be honest, everyone has their favorite episodes).

What makes this episode special?

Now, there are a bunch of reasons why this one stands out in ways unknown, but were here to fill you in on the details, as usual.

Released on August 2. 2015, Mortynight Run is about Morty attempting and giving his all to save the life of an interdimensional floating, sentient, telepathic cloud he lovingly names Fart, and eventually taking the same life he worked a whole episode to protect and save. Tragic, but necessary.

One of the fondest moments between Morty and his friend Fart has got to be the lullaby-ish song he sings. This song, Goodbye Moonmen is about Farts perspective of universal peace and the cosmos without hatred. The lyrics are otherworldly and gorgeously outlandish, although the song has an eerie and melancholic vibe to it. This song quickly grew to become a viral sensation and is the most covered song of the whole series, yet.

The is co-written by David Phillips and co-creator Dan Harmon. Jemaine Clement, who voices Fart, is the voice behind this hauntingly beautiful tune. Sung in the ethereal style of David Bowie (refer Ground Control to Major Tom), this song is a tribute to him.

Mashup

One very creative fan has gone on to collide two uniquely mind-blowing worlds into one breathtakingly spectacular mashup video that is truly captivating in every sense of the word.

YouTube used Anastasia Vasileva has brought together the tune Goodbye Moonmen in unison with a clip from Marvels movie Doctor Strange.

The grounds between both the franchises like multiple realities, parallel universes, interdimensional travel, and time manipulation blends the similarities in them. As strange as it may sound, the clip from the bit where Stephen Vincent Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) is demonstrated the power of the mind and the multiple parallel universes that exist.

The clip is a visual masterpiece with its immensely

The clip is a visual masterpiece with its immensely psychedelic graphics and intricate visualization and goes perfectly with our beloved tune. The splicing is almost impeccable and is a true treat to our senses. Anastasia, WE LIKE WHAT YOU GOT!
Johnny Depp has been working hard to give the "Pirates Of The Caribbean" fans a great story. The phenomenal actor has put a nasty divorce behind him and he is reportedly trying to get a normal life again after his failed marriage to Amber Heard.

According to new reports, a new team has been handling the finances of Johnny Depp after his divorce from Amber Heard. The "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" star is reportedly healthier and is dating again. "The Lone Ranger" actor is believed to be taking care of himself as he works hard at the same time.

Depp is also spending more time with his kids now that he is single.

Johnny Depp dating and doing better in life

It seems like Johnny Depp has never given up on love because the "Sleepy Hollow" actor is back in the dating market. The 53-year-old movie actor is reportedly doing much better and is happier and focused in life after his split from Amber Heard.

Reports claimed that Heard and Depp finalized their divorce earlier this year. It can be remembered that Heard accused Depp of emotional and physical abuse when they were still together. Fortunately, the ex-couple has finally reached a settlement, which required the famous actor to pay $7 million to Heard. On the other hand, Heard promised to donate the money to a charity despite the fact that Depp denied the accusations.

Depp sued his former managers, Joel and Rob Mandel

On the other side of the story, Depp has stayed out of the limelight for quite a while after his nasty divorce battle. The "Black Mass" actor has also tried to stay out of the public eye, yet he is now making headlines once more because of the case he filed against his former managers, Rob and Joel Mandel.

According to reports by People Movies, Depp accused his former managers of taking out high-interest of loans and also claimed that the Mandel brothers failed to pay the actor's taxes on time. Depp also accused the siblings of negligence and fraud. However, the Mandel brothers stated that the actor should blame his exorbitant spending, which Depp denied.

Depp was reportedly unhappy about how his relationship with the Mandel brothers turned out. He even stated that he trusted lots of people in his life who have let him down in the end.

Johnny Depp stars in the "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" movie. As of this writing, the famous actor is yet to comment on the dating rumors reported about him.
Hey, "The Bachelorette" fans. In this next episode 6, one guy fails to deliver what Rachel needs on their one-on-one date. A mystery guy gets ousted on a group date. There will be a Viking challenge, some hot tub action and much more. These spoilers come from Reality Steve and ABC's official description.

From 9 to 6

In the new episode 6, Rachel and the guys are going to head on over to Copenhagen, Denmark. By the time it's over, the field of men will get narrowed down to just 6 from 9. They're going to start off showing us footage of a one-on-one date with Eric Bigger.

He and Rachel took a hot tub dip in the open of the city according to Reality Steve. He didn't mention if Eric got a rose on this date but we're guessing he did. If he didn't get the rose, Steve definitely would've mentioned it.

Unknown guy gets ousted

Next, there's going to be a group date scene. Dean, Peter, Bryan, Alex, Matt, Adam and some unknown guy will go on this date. For some reason, Steve didn't know who the unknown guy is. However, he did point out that he will be the one to get eliminated. So, at the end of the day, I guess it won't really matter who he is. During the group date, they will do a Viking Challenge using swords and shields.

The intel about the eliminated guy was revealed on a radio show with Robert Mills.

Rachel apparently told him that she eliminated one of the guys during the group date in Denmark. All of these other guys will make it to the next show except for Alex which leaves this unknown guy on the outs.

Will Gaskins one-on-one date

After the group date, they're going to show a one-on-one date with Will Gaskins. They will take a boat trip to Sweden for the day.

Steve mentioned that he's pretty sure Will gets eliminated on this date because he never makes it to Geneva, Switzerland which is the location for the next episode.

I guess nothing too eventful happens during the cocktail party as Steve never mentioned anything about it. So, that brings us to the rose ceremony footage. Everyone got a rose except for poor Alex Bordyukov.

So, he joined the mystery man from the group date and Will Gaskins on elimination row. The next time we'll see them is at the special "Men Tell All" episode if they decide to show up.

A two-on-one elimination

We also have an official description from ABC by way of TV Guide. They mention that the episode will start out with a continuation from the previous episode. This continuation will entail Rachel sending one of the guys home from a two-on-one date that took place. Then there will be a rose ceremony elimination.

After that, Rachel and the guys will go to Copenhagen, Denmark. From there, the foorage of the date is as Steve describes. ABC's description is always slightly different because they know exactly how each episode is edited. Also, please note that episode 6 is scheduled to actually air tomorrow night, June 27, 2017, at 7 pm central time on ABC. They're airing back-to-back episodes this week. Stay tuned.
The U.S.-Russia Business Council will host a farewell party for Russian Ambassador to Washington Sergey Kislyak on July 11 at the St. Regis Hotel. The event confirms a BuzzFeed News report that Moscow has recalled the controversial envoy whose alleged secret meetings with Trump campaign officials has led to an obstruction of justice investigation against President Donald Trump.

The recall, although expected because the ambassador has been in his U.S. post since 2008, comes at a time that the Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kislyaks secret meetings with Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Trump, and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. This triggered a political storm because the president to fired an FBI director.

Counterterrorism position with the UN

Had Kislyaks secret meeting with Kushner and Flynn not been exposed by media, the ambassador would have moved to New York for a counterterrorism position with the UN. Trump, however, pressured former FBI Director James Comey to stop the investigation on Flynn. When Comey refused the presidents order, Trump fired Comey which resulted in the appointment of another former FBI director, Robert Mueller, as special counsel to probe the obstruction of justice investigation against Trump.

It was also with Kislyak that Trump shared classified intelligence information provided by Israel about a plan by ISIS to use bombs disguised as laptop batteries. It led to the ban of devices on flights originating from six Middle Eastern and African airports. Until the secret meetings were exposed, including one when Kushner proposed the creation of a secret communications backchannel with Moscow using facilities of the Russian embassy, the 66-year-old diplomat was hardly involved in any controversy, The New York Daily News noted.

Most radioactive man in Washington

With his new label as the most radioactive man in Washington, Kislyaks recall could mean it may complicate any potential attempts from the special counsels team to have the ambassador share his testimony for the ongoing probes. He also allegedly met with Attorney General Jeff Sessions at a Washington hotel where Trump, who was then the Republican candidate, delivered a speech, The New York Post added.

The meeting, plus two previous meetings with Sessions when he was still a senator, were not disclosed on his security clearance application. It led Sessions to recuse himself from the Russian investigations.

BuzzFeed News said Anatoly Antonov is expected to replace Kislyak as the Russian ambassador to Washington. There is, however, no definite timetable when Kislyak will kiss his Trump campaign friends goodbye before the controversial envoy returns to Kremlin.
Colored material made from Alcantara SpA fabric on display at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, in April 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

BEIJINGChinese consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and brand-savvy, underpinning a fast-growing market for luxury products, according to an Italian luxury material manufacturer.

"The Chinese consumer market is promising not only because of its volume but also because local consumers are very reactive, enthusiastic about new things and sensitive to brands and quality," said Andrea Boragno, chief executive officer and chairman of Alcantara, which makes a leather substitute used in fashion, accessories, automotive interiors and consumer electronics.

The company opened its second international store in Shanghai in April following a concept store in Milan where the company's headquarters are based.

China is one of the two fastest-growing markets for Alcantara and the second largest market after the European Union, in terms of sales last year, according to Boragno.

In his view, Chinese designers have taken big strides in recent years by shifting from copying to developing their own identity based on their creativity and culture. The company is already working with Chinese designers.

The company will stick to "Made in Italy" to maintain exclusive quality while planning to work with Chinese brands in the future, he said.

Boragno attributed Alcantara's popularity in China to Chinese consumers' willingness to pay for exclusivity as well as the recognition of a green lifestyle.

The carbon-neutral-certified material producer has been able to reduce and offset its greenhouse gas emissions to zero since 2009 through advanced and efficient production processes and participation in global sustainable initiatives.

Last year, Alcantara invested 22 million euros ($24.64 million), of which more than $7 million was devoted to sustainability-related activities. It plans to invest 28 million euros this year, with over 25 percent of spending on health, safety and environmental activities, according to the company's annual report.

"Going green will not hurt profits in the long run. Instead, we strongly believe that the generation of value for stakeholders can become a driver to generate value for shareholders," Boragno said.

Using its material, Alcantara organized an exhibition on the sustainability theme in Italy last week, which included works from Chinese calligrapher Qin Feng.

Sustainability is a necessary factor that will help materialize the long-term objective of increasing the company's financial value, Boragno said.
Photo taken on June 25, 2017 shows mother panda "Xinxin" (R) and her cub "Kangkang" in Macao. Macao celebrated the twin panda cubs Jianjian and Kangkang's upcoming first birthday on Sunday.[Photo/Xinhua]

MACAO - Two panda cubs in China's Macao Special Administrative Region celebrated their first birthday Sunday when they turned one year old.

This is also the first time they have met the public together with their mother.

The twin brothers sat on the ground, eating their birthday cakes made of bamboos, while behind the glass windows, visitors watched them with joy and ecstasy.

Visitors sang songs and chanted Happy Birthday to Jianjian and Kangkang in Cantonese.

One of the panda care team members said Jianjian now weighs about 23 kg and Kangkang 22 kg. Kangkang, the younger brother, has gained much weight as he was only 53 grams at birth, he said.

The two are still in the baby stage and fed mainly on breast milk and milk powder. They are also starting to learn from their mother's behavior such as picking up bamboos.

The brothers and their parents will meet the public in Macao every afternoon during the summer vacation.
Britain's Prince William (R), Duke of Cambridge, his wife Catherine (C), Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry leave St. Paul's Cathedral after the National Service of Thanksgiving to mark the Queen's 90th birthday on June 10, 2016 in London, Britain. [Photo/Xinhua]

LONDON - Queen Elizabeth's bachelor grandson Prince Harry caused a stir Thursday by saying no members of the British royal family want to be the king or queen.

The remarkable comment by the prince was made in an interview with the US magazine Newsweek.

"Is there any one of the Royal Family who wants to be king or queen? I don't think so," Harry said in the magazine.

He said the royals were doing it "for the greater good of the people". Prince Harry added in the interview: "We will carry out our duties at the right time."

The prince also spoke about the role he and his older brother Prince William are taking in modernizing the British monarchy. Prince William is second in line to the throne.

Harry in the interview paid tribute to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, for letting the younger royals "do things their own way".

Describing the monarch as remarkable, Harry added: "The Queen has been fantastic in letting us choose. She tells us to take our time and really think things through."

On a more somber note, Harry spoke about the day, when he was aged 12, he walked in the funeral procession for his mother, the late Princess Diana, through the streets of London.

The procession was screened live around the world.

"No child should be asked to do that," said the prince.

On the day of the funeral in 1997, Harry walked alongside his brother Prince William, his father and his grandfather, the Queen's husband Prince Philip and Diana's brother Earl Spencer, in the procession behind his mother's coffin.

In a recent interview, Harry, who has become a mental health champion, revealed he had received counseling to cope with the death in a car crash of his mom.

"My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television. I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don't think it would happen today."

Talking about his role in helping to modernize the royal family, Harry said: "It's a tricky balancing act. We don't want to dilute the magic. The British public and the whole world need institutions like it."

He also revealed he did his own shopping, adding: "I worry someone will snap me with their phone. But I am determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one too.

"Even if I was king, I would do my own shopping," he said.

The anti-monarchy campaign group, Republic, responded to the interview Thursday, saying Harry could always walk away from his job as a British royal.

Republic said if Harry is right, "we need a national debate about ending the monarchy."

Graham Smith, the group's CEO, said: "If this is true, that no royal really wants to be king, then I have some sympathy. But the honest truth is Harry can walk away whenever he likes. If they are reluctant royals then they should walk away - Britain will be fine without them.
Shirley Zindler of Sebastopol, California sits with her Neapolitan Mastiff named Martha after after winning the 2017 World's Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair on June 23, 2017 in Petaluma, California. [Photo/VCG]

PETALUMA, Calif.  Martha is big, ugly, lazy and gassy. And a world champion.

In a competition annually dominated by the old, the tiny, and the hairless, the 3-year-old, 125-pound Neapolitan Mastiff used her lollygagging youth to win the 29th annual World's Ugliest Dog Contest.

She was a favorite of the Northern California crowd from the start, often plopping down on her side on stage with her droopy face spread across the ground when she was supposed to be showing off. The judges didn't even need to hear her signature snore to give her the award.

"Do you know you just won the World's Ugliest Dog Contest?" asked Kerry Sanders of NBC News, one of three judges who gave Martha the crown. Her handler Shirley Zindler answered for her: "I'd gloat, but I need a nap."Martha lumbered away with $1,500, a flashy trophy and a trip to New York for media appearances, all things she could hardly care less about.

The dog, from nearby Sebastopol, was rescued when she was nearly blind from neglect by the Dogwood Animal Rescue Project in Sonoma County, where the contest was held. After several surgeries, she can now see again, Zindler said.

The only animal in this year's contest too big to be held by her handler, Martha beat out 13 other dogs, most of them the kind of older, smaller dogs who win here.

Moe, a 16-year-old Brussels Griffon-pug mix from Santa Rosa, California, who was the oldest in the competition, came in second. He had lost his hearing and sight but his sense of smell is strong and he was enjoying all the smells at the Sonoma-Marin Fair where the contest is held, including funnel cakes and other fried goodies.

Chase, a 14-year-old Chinese Crested-Harke mix, came all the way from Neath, United Kingdom to take third place.

The contestants were judged on first impressions, unusual attributes, personality and audience reaction.

Many of the contestants were adopted. Monkey, a 6-year-old Brussels Griffon, and Icky, an 8-year-old unknown breed, were both rescued from the homes of hoarders.

These dogs  some with acne, others with tongues permanently sticking out  are used to getting called ugly. But for their owners, it was love at first sight.

"He's my sexy boy," Vicky Adler, of Davis, California, said of her 8-year-old Chinese Crested named Zoomer.

AP
Thousands turn out for lion and dragon dancing, traditional singing and more

The 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China was celebrated by thousands in New York and San Francisco over the weekend.

Zhang Qiyue, China's consul general in New York, said at a ceremony in Foley Square next to Chinatown on Sunday that the implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle has been "very successful".

She spoke highly of Hong Kong's stability and economic development since China resumed sovereignty over the territory on July 1, 1997.

"The Chinese community in the Eastern USA will always support and care for our Hong Kong compatriots," Zhang said.

Many waved China's national flag and the regional flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the celebration.

Steve Barclay, director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in New York, and Felix W. Ortiz, the assistant speaker of the New York state Assembly, also attended the event.

Dragon and lion dancing, and traditional Chinese singing and dancing were part of the celebration.

Guanjun Liang, chairman of the Chinese Associations General in New York, said that more than 200 associations participated. "It's the first time that we organized an event on this scale," Liang said.

On Friday in San Francisco, around 400 people from local businesses, political and academic communities in the Bay Area gathered to celebrate the anniversary.

"Twenty years ago, Hong Kong proudly reunited with our homeland. Under the 'one country, two systems' arrangement, we are part of China but are able to maintain a unique identity," Clement Leung, Hong Kong commissioner for Economic and Trade Affairs, USA, told guests at a celebratory gala reception hosted by the HKETO in San Francisco.

Over the past two decades, Hong Kong continues to be a premier international business center in Asia, with its economy nearly doubling in size, Leung said.

"We are the undefeated champion as the freest economy of the world for 23 years. We are the No. 1 IPO stock market," he said.

Besides the pillar economic sectors of trade, financial services, tourism and professional services, new sectors and opportunities have emerged in Hong Kong.

Those include the development of RMB business, the implementation of the Stock Connect programs that enable international investors to access the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets, the vibrant innovation and technology startup ecosystem, wine auction and distribution, arts, culture and creative industries, as well as the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Leung.

The HKETO in San Francisco presented a concert titled A Musical Journey following the reception, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Oratorio Society, the largest choir with the longest history in Hong Kong.

The celebratory activities began in January when six giant, vase-shaped bamboo sculptures, designed by Hong Kong designer Freeman Lau, were installed outside of San Francisco City Hall.

A Hong Kong young entrepreneur competition recently concluded, and five US college students who won the competition will travel to Hong Kong next month to witness the city's start-up business ecosystem.

Rui Nan in New York contributed to this story.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com
President Xi Jinping looks forward to meeting again with US President Donald Trump during the G20 Summit in Germany in July and welcomes Trump to make a state visit to China this year, State Councilor Yang Jiechi told Trump while meeting him at the White House last Thursday.

A day later, last Friday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed at a press briefing that Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner have accepted an invitation to visit China later this year.

"They have (accepted the invitation)," he said when asked to confirm the report a few days ago. The report said the two will visit China ahead of President Trump's state visit to China at the invitation of President Xi.

China hopes to work with the United States to make sure these high-level exchanges gain fruitful results, Yang said to Trump on Thursday.

Yang also said China hopes to expand mutually beneficial cooperation with the US and continue promoting the healthy and steady development of bilateral ties.

Conveying Xi's greetings to Trump, Yang said bilateral ties have achieved new and important progress under the guidance of the important consensus that the two heads of state reached during their meeting at Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April.

Such progress, including reaching agreement on the "early harvest" from the 100-Day Plan - a plan the two presidents agreed to at Mar-a-Lago to bolster bilateral economic ties - has brought tangible benefits to the people of both countries, Yang said.

China is willing to work with the US to maintain high-level exchanges as well as exchanges at other levels and to properly manage differences on the basis of mutual respect, Yang said.

The state councilor was in Washington attending the first round of the China-US Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which opened on Wednesday.

The dialogue is one of four that the two countries agreed to establish during the Mar-a-Lago meeting.

Yang said this round of the dialogue was an important step to implement the consensus between Xi and Trump.

Yang also said China highly appreciates the fact that Trump sent delegates from the US government to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, held in Beijing in May.

Trump asked Yang to convey his greetings to Xi, and said he was pleased with the progress that bilateral cooperation has achieved since the Mar-a-Lago meeting.

Trump also said the US hopes to cooperate with China in projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative.

Speaking of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Trump said the US looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China to achieve the peninsula's denuclearization at an early date.

Yang reiterated China's position on the issue and said China hopes to continue to maintain communication and collaboration with all parties involved, including the US, to make joint eff orts to ease tension on the peninsula and to solve the issueproperly.

Su Xiaohui, a researcher of China's foreign policy at the China Institute of Internationa Studies, said China-US relations have remained stable since the Mar-a-Lago meeting, which was "very successful in setting the tone for bilateral ties".

Fan Jishe, a researcher of China-US ties at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,said China and the US have maintained "close cooperation"on major issues, and they need timely communication to solve or narrow their diff erences.

Meetings between the heads of state of the two countries help guide bilateral ties to develop in a healthy way, Fan said.
A news assistant runs out after the US Supreme Court granted parts of the Trump administration's emergency request to put his travel ban into effect immediately while the legal battle continues, in Washington, June 26, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by reviving parts of a travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries that he said is needed for national security but that opponents decry as discriminatory.

The justices narrowed the scope of lower court rulings that had completely blocked key parts of a March 6 executive order that Trump had said was needed to prevent terrorism in the United States, allowing his temporary ban to go into effect for people with no strong ties such as family or business to the United States.

The court issued its order on the last day of its current term and agreed to hear oral arguments during its next term starting in October so it can decide finally whether the ban is lawful in a major test of presidential powers.

In a statement, Trump called the high court's action "a clear victory for our national security," saying the justices allowed the travel suspension to become largely effective.

"As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive," Trump added.

Trump's March 6 order called for a blanket 90-day ban on people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a120-day ban on all refugees while the government implemented stronger vetting procedures. The court allowed a limited version of the refugee ban, which had also been blocked by courts, to go into effect.

Trump issued the order amid rising international concern about attacks carried out by Islamist militants like those in Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin and other cities. But challengers said no one from the affected countries had carried out attacks in the United States.

Federal courts said the travel ban violated federal immigration law and was discriminatory against Muslims in violation of the US Constitution. Critics called it a discriminatory "Muslim ban."

Ahmed al-Nasi, an official in Yemen's Ministry of Expatriate Affairs, voiced disappointment.

"We believe it will not help in confronting terrorism and extremism, but rather will increase the feeling among the nationals of these countries that they are all being targeted, especially given that Yemen is an active partner of the United States in the war on terrorism and that there are joint operations against terrorist elements in Yemen," he said.

Groups that challenged the ban, including the American Civil Liberties Union, said that most people from the affected countries seeking entry to the United States would have the required connections. But they voiced concern the administration would interpret the ban as broadly as it could.

"It's going to be very important for us over this intervening period to make sure the government abides by the terms of the order and does not try to use it as a back door into implementing the full-scale Muslim ban that it's been seeking to implement," said Omar Jadwat, an ACLU lawyer.

During the 2016 presidential race, Trump campaigned for "atotal and complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States. The travel ban was a signature policy of Trump's first few months as president.
A few days ago I mentioned spiritual bypassing in my commentary on a short Hasidic text. A few of you reached out to me after that post went out, asking for more about spiritual bypassing: what it it, how can you recognize it, why is it important.

For a basic introduction, here's a good article by Dr. Ingrid Mathieu: Beware of Spiritual Bypass. Dr. Robert Masters also offers a great essay about bypassing, calling it Avoidance in holy drag. His book Spiritual Bypassing is a classic in my field, and with good reason.

Spiritual bypassing is a defense mechanism in which one uses spirituality in order to avoid uncomfortable or painful feelings. Maybe one wants to avoid anger, or grief, or loss, or boundaries. So instead of feeling that anger (or grief, or loss, or boundary, or whatever the thing in question may be), one papers it over, and calls the papering-over "spiritual."

(The image illustrating this post is a great example of spiritual bypassing in pop culture: Princess Unikitty from the LEGO movie. She's a sparkling rainbow unicorn, and she over-focuses on the positive, refusing to acknowledge anything that hurts... until she reaches her breaking point, whereupon all the negativity she denied herself causes her to boil over in rage. Image via Stephanie Lin.)

It's easy to mis-use spirituality to justify avoidance of things that are painful or uncomfortable, like anger or conflict or boundaries. But this is not spiritually healthy, even though it disguises itself as spiritual. It is a spiritual sickness, disguised as spiritual health.

Authentic spiritual life calls us to experience what is: all of what is. And that includes the things we tend to categorize as "dark" or negative: pain, sorrow, loss, rejection, grief. (I wrote about that recently in my review of Barbara Brown Taylor's Learning to Walk in the Dark.)

The Jewish mystical tradition describes God via a series of qualities that exist in holy balance, such as chesed (lovingkindness) and gevurah (boundaries / strength / judgment). When someone leans so far toward chesed that they reject its healthy balancing with gevurah, that's spiritual bypassing.

When a spiritual leader serving a community where there has been abuse (whether sexual, emotional, ethical, spiritual, or all of the above) ignores the abuse, or urges community members to rush to healing before there has been justice for the abused, that's spiritual bypassing.

When someone doesn't want to feel angry, or isn't comfortable with conflict, so they over-focus on sweetness and light while sweeping their anger under the rug (or encouraging others to sweep anger under the rug), that's spiritual bypassing.

When someone doesn't want to be constrained by someone else's interpersonal or systemic boundary, so they transgress it while convincing themselves that the boundary really shouldn't apply to them anyway, that's spiritual bypassing.

In all of these instances, the quality that's chosen for over-focus -- whether it be healing, or sweetness, or lovingkindness -- is in and of itself a good quality. That's part of the challenge: everyone likes healing and sweetness and lovingkindness, right? But these qualities are only healthy when they're used honestly, authentically, and safely -- and, as the Hasidic text I translated last week suggests, when they're in appropriate balance with qualities like judgment and healthy boundaries.

If I pursue healing at someone else's expense, then that healing is not only false but damaging. If I pursue pleasantries in an abusive context instead of naming the abuse for what it is, then my sweetness is not only false but also complicit in the abuse. If I disregard someone's boundaries because I think I should be exempt from their rules, then my "love" will cause hurt.

Even gratitude, the middah (quality) to which I most often gravitate, can be used in spiritual bypassing. When faced with trauma or grief, if I leap too quickly to "let me find something to be grateful for so I don't have to feel this thing that hurts," then the gratitude practice that's such a core part of my spiritual life becomes a tool for bypassing the thing I need to actually feel.

Spiritual bypassing is what Reb Zalman z"l used to call "whipped cream on garbage:" a sweet topping disguising something rotten underneath.

Spiritual bypassing pretends to make things better, but it actually makes them worse. If a wound is infected, then suturing it and simply hiding the infection will not help the infection to heal. If a relationship is abusive, then pretending that it's healthy will not help the person who is being abused. (For that matter, it also doesn't help the abuser to name and recover from their own trauma.) Spiritual bypassing does serious damage to people and communities.

Authentic spiritual life calls us to feel what we feel, even when what we feel is uncomfortable or painful. Authentic spiritual life calls us to speak truth, even when we'd rather pretend there are no difficult truths to be spoken. Authentic spiritual life calls us to pursue justice, even when we'd rather imagine that if we close our eyes to injustice it will simply go away on its own.

Any spiritual leader who claims otherwise is not worthy of the title.
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Hanoi, June 26 (VNA)  Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong said on June 25 that the visit by President of the Cambodian National Assembly Samdech Heng Samrin was a significant event in a series of activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.



The Party leader made the statement while receiving Heng Samrin and his delegation in Hanoi.



General Secretary Trong congratulated Cambodia on it successes in the local elections this month, and praised achievements the country attained under the rein of King Norodom Sihamoni and the Royal Government.



He said the Party, State and people of Vietnam always attach special importance to the relationship with Cambodia, and thanked the latter for its assistance for Vietnams cause of national liberation in the past and national construction and defence at present.



For his part, NA President Samrin affirmed that Cambodia always cherishes the enormous role of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers in saving the Cambodian people from the genocidal Pol Pot regime.



He also emphasised that the Government, National Assembly and people of Cambodia view Vietnam as a good brother, good friend, good neighbour and will continue to support Vietnam on regional and international issues.



Praising Vietnams socio-economic development and improved living standard, Heng Samrin said he is convinced Vietnam will continue its achievements in industrialisation and modernisation.



Both Party leader Trong and NA President Heng Samrin said they want to further develop the friendship and cooperation between their two countries.



During his visit, the Cambodian NA leader, who is also Chairman of the National Council of the Solidarity Front for Development of the Cambodian Motherland, attended a ceremony held in Hanoi on June 24 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Cambodia diplomatic relations. He also took part in the third conference of the Presidents of the front organisations of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam on June 25.

VNA/VNP
HA NOI  Binh Duong enterprises registered to recruit more than 20,000 workers at the provincial job introduction sesssion on Sunday.

Nguyen Thanh Phuong, deputy director of the provincial Centre for Job Introduction, said that more than 60 enterprises were in need of 22,964 employees, including 21,540 unskilled and over 1,400 skilled workers.

In the first six months of 2017, Binh Duong Province organised eight employment sessions to address the needs of 55,528 workers and the participation of 1,276 enterprises, of which more than 42,000 employees directly attended the recruitment consultancy. Some 2,300 employees were directly recruited by the firms through the trading session, the Peoples Committee of Binh Duong reported.

The province also created jobs for more than 25,690 employees since the beginning of 2017, reaching over 57 per cent of this years target of 45,000 jobs.

Provincial labour demand is forecast to increase as both domestic and foreign investment capital has increased recently.

According to a representative of Leading Star Viet Nam Garment Joint Stock Company, due to expanding production orders from foreign partners, the company needs to employ 60 skilled workers, with an income of VN7-10 million (US$308-440) per month.

In addition, employees of the company will receive 21 per cent of their wages during the probationary period and the 13th month salary under current law. Notably, the company also sponsors two meals per day, or workers get VN7,000 per meal as allowance if they do not receive meals.

Wonderful Sai Gon Electrics Company Limited, a 100 per cent foreign-owned company belonging to Sun-S Group of Japan, said the company was currently looking to recruit 200 unskilled workers and 46 professional workers, of which professional employees require a graduate degree in electrical engineering, such as electronics, mechatronics, electrical industry or auto power.

Binh Duongs tax report shows that in the first half year of 2017, up to 2,327 new enterprises were operating with total registered capital of VN25 trillion. In particular, there were some 2,240 domestic investment enterprises with total capital of nearly VN15 trillion and 83 foreign direct investment enterprises with total capital of VN10 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 45.1 per cent in number of enterprises and 89.4 per cent in registered capital.  VNS
HA NOI  The Noi Bai International Airport has asked all domestic airlines to improve operations so as to cut down on the increasing number of flight delays recorded recently.

Airlines that have been asked to get their act together includes national carrier Vietnam Airlines and two budget airlines VietJet Air and Jetstar Pacific.

Figures from June 1 to 15 show that VietJet Air led the list, with 435 of its total 1,094 flights being delayed, or 39.8 per cent.

Vietnam Airlines had 191 delayed flights of its 1,489 flights, or 12.8 per cent. Its subsidiary Jetstar Pacific operated a total of 244 flights, of which 26.2 per cent was delayed.

The Noii Bai Airport has instructed the airlines to strengthen their flight operations control to minimise the number of delays, and to improve the experience for passengers.  VNS
HCM CITY  Electronic wallet (e-wallet) services are becoming more popular in Viet Nam, with a number of new e-wallet services officially licensed in the last year and a half.

Over the next five years, 24 per cent of banks market share in remittances and payments are expected to belong to financial technology companies (fintech), according to a global survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

E-wallets are electronic accounts that allow users to pay online bills and service fees, and transfer money and receive money quickly.

As an online payment form, through a mobile device, e-wallets help users make payments anywhere at anytime, saving money and time compared to other forms of payments.

In remote areas, where transaction offices and commercial banks are not present, e-wallets are especially useful.

The e-wallet market has become more active with competition among major service providers.

To compete with commercial banks and traditional e-wallets, the WebMoney e-wallet has launched a global version in Viet Nam after five years of operation with many new features, such as money transfer and global shopping.

Meanwhile, the VietUnion Online Services Corporation (VietUnion) with its Payoo e-wallet service has raised capital to VN150 billion (US$6.6 million) after transferring 40 per cent of its stake to the Japanese company NTT Data.

The MoMo e-wallet has a wide network with 3,000 transaction points, 100,000 retail outlets and about 500,000 customers.

Viet Nam has about 10 million customers using e-wallets from 10 service providers, using internet and mobile devices, according to experts.

Ngan Luong, Payoo and MoMo are among the e-wallets being used.

The State Bank has granted a license for intermediary payment services to 1Pay Joint Stock Company which will allow electronic payments, collection assistance, electronic money transfer and e-wallet services.

The State Bank has also licensed an intermediary payment service for WePay, a payment service company.

Last year, a number of companies operating in the field of payment services, including e-wallet services, were licensed.

These companies must comply with regulations on safety and security of equipment for bank card payments and regulations to ensure confidentiality and privacy.

Many commercial banks are also cooperating with e-wallets to create more added value services for customers.

For example, the Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank) has expanded its cooperation with VietUnion to use Payoo e-wallet services.

Any individual and organisation can carry out transactions via the Payoo e-wallet and select from many convenient transaction channels at Vietcombank.

At Payoo e-wallet, customers can charge a limit of VN50 million ($2,200) per day, and withdraw a maximum of VN20 million ($880) per day.

Other commercial banks are also using e-wallet services.

According to a representative from the LienVietPostBank, Vi Viet is a non-cash payment online tool that helps customers pay bills and shop online.

As of the end of April, after one year of operation, Vi Viet had about 1.2 million accounts with 5,000 payment acceptance points nationwide.

The head of LienVietPostBank said by the end of this year there would be 2.5 million customers opening Vi Viet accounts and more than 10,000 payment acceptance points nationwide.

Nguyen Thanh Hung, chairman of the Viet Nam E-commerce Association, said during the last five years nearly 20 e-wallets had been in operation but only a handful of them had survived.

With a high percentage of internet users (44 per cent) and 143 million mobile subscribers and more than 30 million Facebook users, e-wallets have great potential in the country.

If banks do not invest in technology innovation, the electronic payment market will fall into the hands of electronic wallets and fintech companies, Hung said.

Fintech companies have become a threat to banks. If banks do not use advanced technology, traditional payment methods may begin to lag behind within the next few years.

Dr. Huynh Trung Minh said the development of e-wallet services provides a convenient payment channel for customers.

However, the local habit of using cash, along with security-related barriers, prevents many people from using e-wallets as a payment channel.

In order for e-wallet services to thrive in the future, commercial banks and payment service companies need to cooperate.

According to Circular 39 issued by the State Bank, e-wallet services are officially recognised as a payment service like other collection and payment services.

The e-wallet was introduced in Viet Nam in 2008 when an urgent need for payment methods for e-commerce activities emerged.

With the e-wallet service, users only need a mobile phone to pay bills or take part in e-commerce activities.  VNS
HA NOI  The trade value between Viet Nam and Brazil in the first half of 2017 stood at US$1.73 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16 per cent after a long slump.

The Viet Nam Trade Office in Brazil said Viet Nams export value to Brazil was estimated to surge by 46 per cent to $1.065 billion against the same period last year; while Brazils export value to Viet Nam reduced by 13 per cent to $665 million.

In the first five months, many Vietnamese products recovered their export growth to Brazil, including telephone and electronic parts (up 57 per cent), seafood (43 per cent), rubber and rubber products (73 per cent) and synthetic fibre (300 per cent), the Viet Nam Trade Office said. Other products with high export value include textile and garments, steel, plastics and food items.

Many Brazilian traders are looking for supplies to meet their countrys gradually rising demand as it recovers from economic recession. However, the pace of Viet Nams export growth to Brazil will face trade and technical barriers that Brazil is erecting to protect domestic production.

The Viet Nam Trade Office in Brazil suggested that Vietnamese exporters work closely with their import partners in handling complaints from related trade associations in Brazil to avoid lawsuits related with commercial defence.

As per the Ministry of Industry and Trades export report in 2016, Viet Nams key markets in Latin America recorded high growth in export value, with Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Chile posting an export value of more than $1 billion each from Viet Nam.

Trade experts say Brazil is one of Viet Nams most important export markets in Latin America. However, Brazils political situation is unstable, which can affect trade activities and exports.  VNS
CAN THO  Officials of Can Tho City in Mekong Delta met with a delegation from South Korea on Friday to explore opportunities for enhancing cooperation in the healthcare and construction sectors.

Haeseung Shin, director of Koreas Gumi Gangdong Hospital, who is leading the delegation on this investment promotion trip, said Can Tho is among their six destinations, the others being Ha Noi, HCM City, Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh and Soc Trang provinces.

The delegation had meetings with the Can Tho municipal Peoples Committee and Peoples Council, Can Tho General Hospital, Hoan My Cuu Long Hospital, and some construction companies, to understand local mechanisms and policies on foreign investment, especially in these two fields, Shin said.

He expressed hope that the city would support Korean businesses in building medical equipment factories, and distributing medical equipment and materials. Shin added that they are also looking to invest in construction, building materials supply, and construction consultancy and supervision.

Truong Quang Hoai Nam, vice-chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee, said Korea ranks first among foreign investors in Can Tho City. To create an optimal investment climate for foreign firms, aside from administrative procedure reforms, Can Tho has also paid attention to upgrading both its hard and soft infrastructure, focused towards large healthcare and education projects, Nam said.

In the first half of 2017, the city sent many investment promotion delegations to step up cooperation with Korea in smart city building, hi-tech agriculture and education training, Nam said.

As of this May, Can Tho had nine Korean investment projects with a total registered capital of US$247 million, and the $17.7 million Korea Vietnam Incubator Park, which uses official development assistance (ODA) from Korea.

Another ODA project on supporting agricultural mechanisation in Can Tho is being considered by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the municipal Department of External Affairs said.

Four other projects sponsored by Korean non-governmental organisations are also underway in the Mekong Delta city, which include healthcare for children and women; and teaching Korean language and culture to Vietnamese women who wish to marry Korean citizens.

In 2016, Can Tho posted $9.5 million in exports to and $6.9 million in imports from South Korea. The figures were $2.1 million and $1.7 million, respectively, in the first four months of this year.  VNS
QUANG NAM  The central province plans to protect a herd of gray-shanked douc langurs (pygathrix cinerea) who have lived in a forest in Nui Thanh for 10 years.

Head of Quang Nam Forest Protection sub-department, Phan Tuan told the Viet Nam News that the herd, which was estimated to number around 50 individuals, was found living in a 10ha forest in ong Co Village of Tam My Tay Commune.

Tuan said local residents could see them at close range in a forest near Hon Do Mountain, but their habitat has become endangered due to logging.

He said the sub-department had warned local residents of the existence of the langurs and moved to protect the endangered primates.

We advised the local administration and people to help with protecting the langurs, as their habitat is disappearing due to increased logging of acacia  one of the most profitable woods in the central region, Tuan said.

The province will allocate a special protection zone to limit human activities and prevent illegal hunting and logging in the area.

According to Tran Huu Vy, director of the Centre of Biodiversity Conservation, GreenViet, the langurs need special protection at the site as rapid logging damages the habitat of the endangered primates.

Vy said the province should call on support from biologists, international organisations and wildlife protection programmes in sharing experience and scientific measures on how to protect the langurs from extinction.

He warned that moving the langurs to another area would be harmful, as the primates were used to the stable environment of their current habitat.

He said the habitat needs to be isolated from human activities.

Experts from the Frankfurt Zoological Societys Viet Nam Primate Conservation Programme said around 1,000 gray-shanked doucs were recorded living in forests of five provinces, including Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh inh, Kon Tum and Gia Lai, and Gia Lais National Kon Ka Kinh Park preserves the largest number of langurs.

Expert Ha Thang Long, head of the representative office of the Frankfurt Zoological Society in Viet Nam, who is an authority on gray-shanked douc studies, said the gray-shanked douc langur is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUNC) Red List as one of the worlds 25 Critically Endangered primates.

Long said the conservation programme to protect the primate species was launched in Kon Ka Kinh National Park in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai in 2006.

Long said biologists counted 250 langurs living in the park  the largest troop in Viet Nam.

Long said the Frankfurt Zoological Society provides funding of between US$18,000 and $25,000 a year to support rangers at eight stations in the park in protection of biodiversity and the langurs since 2010.

Illegal logging and hunting is seen as the biggest threat to endangered species in the central region.  VNS
HA NOI  The Vietnamese Government and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on Monday announced the first GCF-funded project in Viet Nam, worth almost US$30 million. The project focuses on supporting vulnerable, highly disaster-exposed communities to protect themselves from the impacts of frequent typhoons and floods.

The 3-year project named Improving the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate changerelated impacts in Viet Nam was approved this month.

It was developed as a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Construction, and Planning and Investment and seven coastal provinces.

Accordingly, activities will include the provision of safe housing to protect vulnerable coastal communities from increased flooding and storms, robust mangrove coverage to provide a natural buffer between coastal communities and the sea and enhanced climate risk information to guide climate-resilient and risk-informed planning.

The project, slated to start from August, will be carried out in the provinces of Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Ngai, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Ca Mau and Nam inh.

About 40,000 poor people in disaster-prone areas are expected to benefit when storm and flood resilient design features are added to 4,000 new houses in the provinces.

About 4,000ha of coastal mangrove will be regenerated to form buffer zones against storms.

It is expected that public and private sectors will be able to access more data about damages and losses caused by climate change in the countrys 28 coastal provinces.

Speaking at the project announcement ceremony on Monday, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong said that the need for investment to support climate change mitigation and low carbon development was urgent as Viet Nam was considered one of 30 countries at extreme risk to the impact of climate change.

Phuong said that the GCF-funded project would be the first step in the long-term strategic partnership with GCF.

United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Viet Nam Kamal Malhotra said that UNDP was working with Viet Nams Government on initiatives to build resilience to extreme climate events among rural poor, many of whom are women or come from ethnic minority groups.

He said that the UNDP expected innovations and transformations to increase climate resilience, especially among the private sector.

Nguyen uc Quyen, vice chairman of central Thanh Hoa Province Peoples Committee said that the province was calling for assistance to improve its sea dyke system, reservoirs, dams, natural disaster monitoring and early warning system as well as aids to improve the livelihoods of disaster-hit poor households.

Besides the provinces budget, funding from the private sector, overseas development assistance and help from NGOs are appreciated, he said.

He said that the province hoped to join three components of the GCF projects: flood resistant housing, afforestation, and improved natural disaster risk management and warning.

The GCF was created in 2010 by the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP) in Mexico, aiming to allocate its resources to low-emission and climate-resilient investment in developing countries.
QUANG NINH  The Peoples Committee of northern Quang Ninh Province has ordered the coal mining sector to implement urgent solutions to protect the environment.

Accordingly, the committee has asked for lowering the height of coal dumps, planting trees to cover the dumps and stepping up monitoring of the environment.

Viet Nam Coal and Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited (Vinacomin) and ong Bac Corporation under the Ministry of Defence have proposed solutions under six groups.

The proposals include solutions to avoid landslides and rocks floating to protect the environment; dredging and improving water drainage system; relocating inhabitants out of risky areas; treating waste water, water on the surface, toxic waste and solid waste; and reducing level of dust, noise and emissions. Vinacomin also proposed recovering environment of some 190ha of land with dumps at Chinh Bac Nui Beo, ong Cao Son and Ha Rang areas within this year.

In addition, the corporation aims to stop dumping of coal at dumps exposed to Highway 18A during the 2018-20 period and construct conveyor belts to transport coal from and to ports and power plants by 2020.

To effectively implement the proposals, deputy chairman of Quang Ninh Provinces Peoples Committee ang Huy Hau asked the two corporations to share the conveyor belt system to avoid waste, reduce released dust while using the mistorising system and launch projects to dredge rivers and streams.

The companies were also urged to build automatic environmental monitoring stations following standards.

Earlier, households living in Mong Duong Ward, Cam Pha City, submitted a petition to local authorities detailing the risks they face from coal mining activities of the Thang Long One Member Ltd Company, located nearby.

Within this month alone, three downpours have washed mud from the companys dumps towards houses in the area, causing floods and landslides. Some families have been forced to leave their homes for temporary shelters.

Hoang Ngoc Chi, a local, said the company started coal mining activities in July 2015, dumping piles of soil and rock 30 to 70m high without any safety measures. The dumps are less than 50m from the houses of locals.

The company often drills the ground for mine explosions without informing the public.  VNS
Workers process frozen aquatic products at the Sai Gon Food Joint-stock Company in HCM City. In the past two decades, labour productivity in Viet Nam grew at 4.3 per cent on average, the highest increase among ASEAN countries.  VNA/VNS Photo An Hieu

Khanh Duong & Thu Ha

After watching the staff work hard to transport materials and products to and from a coffee processing company, Vu Quang Tho asked them why they didnt think of a way to save time and effort.

Vu Quang Tho

The head of the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions was surprised at the answer he got.

They said, Why do we need to change? In the end, the benefits will go to the bosss pocket, not ours, Tho told Viet Nam News.

The lack of incentive, initiative and willingness to change is holding back the nations labour productivity, Tho said.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), labour productivity is an important economic indicator that is closely linked to growth, competitiveness, and living standards.

Labour productivity measures the goods and services produced per unit of labour; more specifically, it measures the GDP produced per unit of labour.

A General Statistics Office (GSO) report said last year that labour productivity per capita was VN84.5 million (US$3,730) in 2016, a 5.31 per cent year-on-year increase.

Compared to 10 years earlier, labour productivity has risen by over VN60 million. It was VN24.1 million ($1,064) in 2006.

In the past two decades, labour productivity in Viet Nam grew at 4.3 per cent on average, the highest increase among ASEAN countries, according to the ILO.

However, in comparison with ASEAN states, Viet Nams aggregate labour productivity is still near the bottom.

The GSO warned that Viet Nams productivity growth has been outpaced by Laos, and is only higher than Myanmar and Cambodia in the region.

Nguyen Anh Tuan

Nguyen Anh Tuan, head of Viet Nams National Productivity Institute, said although Viet Nam has narrowed the gap with more advanced countries like Japan and Singapore, it remains the same, and in some cases, is being widened with regional economies that are primary competitors, like Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia.

Malaysian labour productivity is now more than six times that of Viet Nam. Based on each countrys productivity growth target, it would take Viet Nam 97 years to catch up with Malaysian productivity, Tuan told the Viet Nam News.

With less developed economies in the region, the gap is narrowing.

Viet Nam is still more productive than Myanmar but without any changes in the growth rate of productivity, Myanmar will soon catch up with us, said Tuan.

Outdated attitude

Tho said the inertia mindset of workers is a main factor restraining productivity growth.

Workers dont feel the need for self-improvement in knowledge and skills to increase productivity because they feel secure once they land a job, Tho said.

He said this thinking is particularly common in State-owned sectors due to the lingering influence of the decades-long subsidised economy.

Some workers even think that they will only work 10 or 15 years and then retire, so theres no point to improving skills or increasing productivity. Even if they are given opportunities to attend training, they are not eager to participate, Tho said. This is an obstacle for innovation.

Even people in managerial positions are not feeling the need for innovation to improve productivity, said Terasaki Akashi of Hirayama Vietnam, a company that offers consultancy services on renovating working methods for higher productivity in Viet Nam-based enterprises.

Akashi said managers are also easily satisfied, as long as the company makes a profit. They are not aware that without timely changes, their companies will soon lag behind.

He said they are not aware of what is being wasted in the working process - a factor that holds back productivity, and do not have a thorough understanding of innovative methods, either.

Nakata Akashi, another Japanese expert on labour productivity, wrote in his article published by the Nhan Dan (People) newspaper that he had seen quite a few high-skilled Vietnamese labourers failing to maintain discipline.

They go to work whenever they like and drop out when they dont.

Many ask for leave to harvest rice, join village festivals, go to weddings or even to go to a hair salon, he wrote.

Weak teamwork is another problem, he said, citing an experience with a garment company in HCM City where he found workers engaged in different parts of a shirt making process were not aware of their correlation.

Worker making shirt collars do not co-operate with those making sleeves, while those making sleeves do not feel any link with QC (Quality control) staff. But if sleeves have been completed, while collars are not, the final product cannot come out, which means nothing for the QC people to check, he wrote.

He said it is only when workers understand the need to collaborate that the production process accelerate and lead to an increase in productivity.

Source: General Statistics Office.  VNS Infographic Khanh Duong

Labour market structure

But experts say apart from skills and attitudes there are other factors behind the nations low productivity. A majority of workers are continuing in lower-value sectors like agriculture-forestry-aquaculture, despite the economic structural changes over the past few decades.

According to the General Statistics Office, GSO, 41.9 per cent worked for agriculture-forestry-aquaculture sector, 33.4 per cent work for services and 24.7 per cent work for industry-construction.

The productivity of workers in the industry-construction and service sectors is higher, said Nguyen Anh Tuan of the National Institute of Productivity.

It is the low labour productivity of the agriculture-forestry-aquaculture (VN33 million per labourer) sector that has dragged down the overall national productivity, he said.

Moreover, Viet Nam is often involved in processes that do not add much to the value chain, Tuan pointed out.

For example, we grow rubber trees to export latex but we dont make gloves for export, which brings much more money, Tuan said.

The slow application of science and technology is also hindering Viet Nam from boosting its labour productivity, said Tho of the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions.

According to a recent Global Innovation Index compiled by the World Intellectual Organisation, Viet Nam ranks 71st among 141 economies and 4th among ASEAN countries in terms of technology innovation. More than half the Vietnamese enterprises are still using old and backward technologies, especially small-scale ones.

Since application of advanced technology often costs a big sum of money, many investors, both domestic and foreign, are still reluctant to invest.

They still choose to utilise the cheap labour force that is still available in Viet Nam to generate profits.

But this choice will soon be challenged with the Industrial Revolution 4.0, he said.

Source: General Statistics Office.  VNS Infographic oan Tung

Mindset change

Resolution 5 adopted last November by the 12th Party Central Committee has made increasing labour productivity one of the three pillars for achieving a new growth model for the country, besides growth quality and increased competitiveness.

The resolution has set the target of increasing productivity by 5.5 per cent per year, and to have 30 to 35 per cent of enterprises engage in innovative activities every year in the 2016-2020 period.

It also envisages that Viet Nam narrows the productivity and competitive capacity with ASEAN-4 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand) in the coming years.

To achieve these ambitious targets, multiple measures have to be taken with concerted efforts made by both the State and businesses, experts said.

However, Tho reiterated that the most important thing is to change the mindset of workers.

Labour productivity should be made an ethical issue for every worker, he said, citing the example of Japan, where workers are famous for their unceasing efforts to do better at work.

He said this can be done by increasing activities to honour and reward labour productivity, like contests for high-sklled and other measures to encourage innovation.

Such activities have already been in place but the Government should make them national activities for boosting labour productivity, Tho said.

Terasaki Akashi

The movements or campaigns should also be conducted at companies to raise the awareness of both managers and workers, said Terasaki Akashi from Hirayama Vietnam.

It is also important that companies nurture an environment in favour of creativity and innovation by having a system to frequently praise and reward good innovation ideas, something that is common in Japan.

If a worker shows good initiative, he or she should be publicly complimented by the managers. The workers achievement should also be reflected in personal annual evaluations and be considered a factor for salary increments.

Such a system is still not popular in Viet Nam, both in private and public sector, Tho said, adding that ensuring good salary and benefi policies for workers is another crucial factor to motivate workers.

Amidst the exponential pace of science and technology development, all experts agreed that innovation and technology change is necessary.

But they warned that it will only work with simultaneous improvement of workers knowledge and skills.

To that end, it is important to improve the quality of the education system, both general education and technical and vocational education and training, Tho said.

Tuan agreed, noting that many enterprises are unable to use modern machines they have bought because there are not enough skilled workers to operate them.

However, he said. education and training should not only rely on the general education system. Each company should also have its own in-house training system to develop workers skills.

The general system cannot deliver for all types of work. Companies should define requirements for each position and conduct appropriate in-house training programmes.

Before a worker starts a job, he or she should receive mentoring with detailed instructions, he said.

At the national level, Tuan said, the Government should further enhance the structural shift that has happened over the past decades to promote the development of industries with high labour productivity.

This would attract more workers from lower value industries like agriculture to higher value ones like manufacturing and services, generating an impetus for the society as whole, Tuan said.

Apart from a general solution to increase productivity for the whole economy, the Government should focus on particular solutions for each industry as each of them has its own hurdles, he said.

This should most importantly apply to spearhead industries with big advantages and development opportunities, he said.

Tho agreed.

The Government should invest without reservation for achieving new productivity levels in some key industries, for example information technology or machinery manufacturing, he said.

This will act as a stimulant, spreading the spirit of increasing productivity to the whole economy.  VNS
The Presidents of the front organisations of Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam signed a trilateral co-operation agreement covering the period 2017-20 at their third conference, held in Ha Noi yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo Van iep

HA NOI  The Presidents of the front organisations of Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam signed a trilateral co-operation agreement covering the period 2017-20 at their third conference, held in Ha Noi yesterday.

The programme aims to further improve the ties among the three parties, in line with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on co-operation they signed more than three years ago.

Under the programme, the parties will increase exchanges and relations between their chapters, along with planning high-level delegation visits for sharing experiences, while organising activities to celebrate major anniversaries of the three countries in 2017.

The three front organisations also pledged to coordinate to contribute to building a people-centred ASEAN community, forge friendships and mutual understanding among countries to encourage regional and global peace and stability, and address disputes via peaceful means on the basis of respect for international law and each others independence and sovereignty.

President of Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee Tran Thanh Man said the conference took place at a time when the three countries are celebrating 50 years of Vietnam-Cambodia diplomatic ties, 55 years of Vietnam-Laos diplomatic relations, and 40 years of signing the Viet Nam-Laos Treaty of Amity and Co-operation.

He called on the three front organisations to raise public awareness about the three countries traditional solidarity, friendship and cooperation, as well as working to prevent hostile forces from undermining their sound relations.

He stressed that the trilateral co-operation should focus on promoting economic-trade development and transport connectivity, in association with ensuring social welfare and environmental protection, and guiding localities along the shared borders to implement coordination and support one another.

President of the National Council of Solidarity Front for the Development of Cambodia Motherland Samdech Heng Samrin said the conference is important in maintaining the good relations among the three countries.

He said the content of the three front organisations MoU should be promoted among the people so they will join hands in strengthening the traditional friendship and cooperation.

Samrin also suggested encouraging shared border localities to establish twinning ties and friendship associations to tighten their solidarity, friendship and cooperation along the borders.

Meanwhile, President of the Lao Front for National Construction Saysomphone Phomvihane said the three front organisations should carry out more educational campaigns to help people of all walks of life better understand the traditional solidarity and collaboration among Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam.

He noted that guidance should be provided to border localities in implementing the MoU, thus building a border of peace and friendship.

The next conference of front organisation presidents of Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam will be held in Cambodia in 2020 to review the trilateral co-operation programme in 2017-20 and sign a new agreement for 2020-23.  VNS
HCM CITY  A model of advanced schools in which students learn soft skills, English and computer skills in a modern facility has been expanded to nine more public schools after approval by the HCM City Peoples Committee.

The schools include four primary schools: Bau Sen, Vo Thi Sau, Le uc Tho and Tan Son Nhi; two kindergartens: Hoa ao and Anh ao; and three secondary schools: Ly Thanh Tong, Nguyen Chi Thanh and Phan Van Tri. They are located in districts 5, 8, 12, Go Vap and Tan Phu.

The advanced model was implemented in 24 public schools in the last academic year.

Students at Nguyen Hien, Nguyen Du and Le Quy on high schools have benefited from the model for the last 10 years.

These schools closely follow the Ministry of Education and Trainings training programme which focuses on reducing academic theory and increasing the number of classes to develop students aptitudes, soft skills and English.

At the kindergarten level, for instance, there are two additional classes develop 10 motor skills, two English classes with native English-speaking teachers, and outdoor activities during the school year.

Primary students in the advanced model study subjects in the curriculum from the Ministry of Education and Training in the morning, and soft skills and aptitude in the afternoon.

Chung Minh Bao, principal of Chau Van Liem Primary School in District 6, told the Giao Duc Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh (HCM City Education) newspaper that the school must meet national standards of education accreditation and have modern facilities for teaching and learning.

The schools teachers also must be placed above the Ministry of Education and Trainings standards, while the number of students in each classroom is no more than 30.

Ha Huu Thach, principal at Le Quy on High School in District 3, which has carried out the model for 10 years, said the schools students were good at English and had good skills which would help them if they studied abroad.

The school is one of the countrys top schools with students who have high scores on the national high school graduation exam.

Students at the school benefit from advanced methodologies, he said, adding that the school has co-operated with others in the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Its teachers have been sent to other countries to update their knowledge and methodologies, while the students have experience in studying in other countries in spring and summer.

Many parents have visited the schools with the advanced model, such as Vang Anh Kindergarten in District 5 and Chau Van Liem Primary School, to register for the new school year, although the enrollment period has not begun.VNS
Ha Noi at dusk. The investment and business environment have been improved to help develop the capital city.  VNA/VNS Photo Ngoc Ha

HA NOI  Enterprise drives the development of Ha Noi and the city has committed to leading the country in improving the investment and business environment and supporting enterprises, said municipal leaders at a conference in Ha Noi yesterday.

The Ha Noi 2017  Co-operation, Investment and Development conference attracted more than 1000 delegates, including leaders of the Government, ministries, sectors, and representatives of diplomatic agencies, international organisations and domestic and foreign investors.

This years conference once again affirmed the citys commitment to work with enterprises and create the best conditions for businessmen and investors to start up, invest and develop long-term businesses in the capital city.

Speaking at the event, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai affirmed that Ha Noi leaders are aware that the key to the citys development is to side with enterprises, with the private economy a driving force in its economic restructuring.

Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Nguyen uc Chung said that Ha Noi lead in implementing Government instructions and in building a service administration.

Ha Noi always welcomes and wants to co-operate with all investors, businesses, associations and localities inside and outside Viet Nam, he said.

The satisfaction of enterprises and citizens helps measure the professionalism and efficiency of the citys administration, he said.

He added that Ha Noi will prioritise attracting investment projects using new technologies and clean energies, with a focus on satellite urban areas, urban railways, belt roads and car parks.

Development solutions

To attract more investors and talent, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urged Ha Noi to work to connect businesses and involve residents and both domestic and international enterprises in building the city.

The city should also boost administrative reform and build a responsible, trustworthy and effective apparatus through developing the capacity of officials and cadres, he said.

Continuing to improve the business and investment environment to earn more trust from investors, businesses and citizens is also necessary, he said.

The PM asked Ha Noi to improve planning work and develop in line with social infrastructure.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung suggested Ha Noi remove some State establishments from the centre of the city to reduce pressure on the infrastructure system and create space to develop trade and services and to effectively use land in outskirt areas.

The city should study measures to reduce traffic congestion, particularly policies relating to population and personal vehicle management, he said.

Chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc said investors want more improvements from the capital city.

Ha Noi should continue changing investment procedures. Investors still face difficulties in completing investment procedures, particularly those relating to land. More scientific and transparent procedures with policies to support investors when needed should be prioritised in the citys administrative reform, he said.

The city should also address overloading of urban infrastructure during the investment promotion procedures.

A VCCI study revealed that investors of high quality and big projects had high expectations not only about infrastructure and human resources but also about public administrative services and administration quality, Loc said.

Chairman of the Ha Noi Young Business Association Tran Anh Vuong said Ha Noi should be pioneer of the country in start-ups with a focus on human resources training.

Participants also discussed how to make Ha Noi a smart city with international integration and sustainable development.

Socio-economic achievements

At the conference, PM Phuc highlighted Ha Nois efforts to improve its investment-business environment, with the citys provincial competitiveness index jumping 10 spots, ranking 14th out of 63 provinces and cities  its highest ever ranking, while its index of public administrative reform also climbed six spots. In the year, nearly VN440 trillion (US$19.36 billion) was poured into investment projects in the locality.

Investment licenses

Ha Noi presented decisions approving investment proposals and investment licences for 48 projects with total registered capital of more than VN74 trillion ($3.25 billion) at the conference. The city and investors also signed 15 memoranda of understanding worth nearly VN135 trillion ($5.94 billion).  VNS
HCM CITY  HCM City last Saturday launched a campaign to raise awareness of the fight against drug use following Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs instructions to authorities nation-wide to mark Action Month for Drug Prevention this month.

The campaign encourages people to take part in the fight by denouncing drug addicts and drug-related crimes.

At the inaugural ceremony, Le Minh Tan, head of the city Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said relevant city agencies and authorities should take steps to prevent drug-related crimes.

They should prevent drug dealing and use in their locality, he said.

They should educate young locals in their locality to stop them from pushing and using drugs, he added.

Tran Ngoc Du, head of the Social Evils Prevention Division, said the city had more than 21,700 drug addicts and the number of young addicts was rising. Many of them used many different kinds of drugs at the same time, he said.

The police have busted 742 drug trafficking and trading cases this year, up from 824 in the same period last year, arrested 1,574 people and seized 222kg of drugs, most of them amphetamine-type stimulants.

The campaign is being organised by the city Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in co-operation with Department of Culture and Sport and the District 12 Peoples Committee. VNS
HA NOI  Nguyen Thi Lua, 54, a homemaker in Ha Noi, was detected with leukaemia at Saint Paul Hospital where she had registered for a check-up, funded by health insurance.

Once diagnosed with blood cancer, Lua was sent to the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) for treatment. However, at the NIHBT, the highest medical facility that specialises in blood diseases, doctors refused to use the results of the tests conducted at Saint Paul Hospital.

Lua was forced to spend another half a day undergoing tests that she had done just a few days ago. The only good thing is that the health insurance fund will pay for tests conducted at both hospitals.

Lua is among the thousands of patients who have to repeatedly undergo the same medical tests as they are sent from a hospital to a higher-level or more specialised medical facility. While its a waste of valuable time for patients and health workers, its a waste of money for the health insurance fund.

However, from 2018, hospitals and medical facilities of first and special levels will start recognising and using patient examination and treatment test results from other such facilities.

Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy director of the health ministrys Medical Service Administration (MSA), said that there are currently 50 ISO-15189 compliant medical laboratories in 40 central and provincial hospitals that will start implementing the mutual recognition plan from July this year.

Mutual recognition of test results means a hospital recognises test results from others in several cases when tests still have usage value and depending on the patients condition, said Luong Ngoc Khue, director of the MSA, while speaking at a workshop in Ha Noi last week.

This means that some test results may be used by other hospitals or medical facilities for patient diagnosis, treatment and supervision that will help save test expenses.

The workshop on implementing the national laboratory quality management criteria, for mutual recognition of test results, was aimed at handling issues faced when hospitals or medical facilities dont recognise test results.

Khue said that by 2020, all medical tests conducted by certain laboratories can be linked and accessed by all hospitals and medical facilities in the same city or province. By 2025, this information-sharing model will be nationwide.

According to the health ministry, the countrys hospitals conduct roughly 475 million tests, including 200 million blood tests and 25 million microbiological tests annually, at a growth rate of 10 per cent each year. Reducing even one per cent of the countrys total tests would reduce around 4.75 million tests annually, Khue said.

If a test costs VN50,000 (US$2.2), we could save VN237.5 billion of the health insurance fund.

The health ministry has developed criteria required for biochemical, blood and microbiological tests that will be applied across laboratories. These will lay important foundation for hospitals and medical facilities to mutually recognise and use test results, Khue said.

The ministry will also tighten inspection and supervision on test prescription processes in hospitals to prevent overuse of tests, Khoa said.  VNS
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images(LONDON) -- A cladding manufacturing company announced Monday that it is discontinuing sales of a type of paneling that was used in London's Grenfell Tower apartment complex, where a devastating fire killed at least 79 people this month.



Arconic said in a statement that it will stop global sales of the aluminum composite material Reynobond PE for use in high-rise applications.



"We believe this is the right decision because of the inconsistency of building codes across the world and issues that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy regarding code compliance of cladding systems in the context of buildings overall designs," Arconic said.



In its initial statement after the fire, Arconic acknowledged the use of Reynobond PE as a component in the tower's cladding system and expressed condolences to the victims.



U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said tower block safety tests needed to happen more quickly in England, the BBC reported.



Last week more than 800 public housing apartments in north London were evacuated over fire concerns. The tower blocks were found to be covered in the same cladding that surrounded Grenfell Tower, officials said. The buildings will undergo emergency work over the next three to four weeks.



Police announced on June 24 that the massive fire was caused by a faulty refrigerator and they were considering filing manslaughter charges related to the fire.



It is unclear how many residents were inside the building at the time.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
s, on Sunday for abuse of office and appropriation of property, Vietnam News Agency reported on Monday.

YEN BAI  Northern Yen Bai City Police began prosecuting Le Duy Phong, who is responsible for readers feedback of online

YEN BAI  Northern Yen Bai City Police began prosecuting Le Duy Phong, who is responsible for readers feedback of online Viet Nam Education s, on Sunday for abuse of office and appropriation of property, Vietnam News Agency reported on Monday.
PARIS  Dozens of city mayors from around the world -- including Washington, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney -- on Monday called on G20 leaders to stick to their commitments on tackling climate change.

In a joint text distributed to media outlets worldwide and posted online, the "C40" mayors "of the worlds great cities" urged leaders from the Group of 20 "on behalf of the hundreds of millions of citizens that we represent... to deliver on your commitments to tackle climate change, one of the worlds most pressing issues."

In light of US President Donald Trumps decision to pull out of the Paris climate change pact "the resolve of the other 19 leaders at the upcoming G20 Summit to safeguard the future of our planet is more important than ever," the statement added.

The 20 leaders will gather in Hamburg, Germany on July 7 and 8.

The world city mayors, led by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, said they were inspired by the "courage" shown by more than 300 mayors in cities across the United States who have committed to upholding the Paris Agreement despite Trumps decision.

The core goal of the Paris agreement is for countries to take measures aimed at restricting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

But Trump has said the climate pact, signed by nearly 200 countries, would hit the United States with "draconian financial and economic burdens" while competitors got off lightly.

The list of mayors who have signed up to the statement also include those of Karachi, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne, Chicago, Warsaw, Seoul and Vancouver.

"Local leaders around the world stand together with you, redoubling our commitment to bold action on climate change, working with business leaders and citizens worldwide," the mayors said in their statement, urging ordinary citizens to sign a petition to back their cause.

"We must all work together to save the planet," the statement stressed.  AFP
PHNOM PENH  Cambodias major political parties, including the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) have acknowledged the results of recent communal elections.

Results were revealed by Cambodias National Election Committee (NEC) on Sunday. The CPP earned victory by winning in 1,156 and the CNRP came second with 489 out of the total 1,646 communes and wards.

In a statement, the ruling CPP predicted it will also win the general election scheduled for July 2018.

The CPP received 3,540,056 votes, or 50.76 per cent of total votes cast, with the CNRP receiving 3,056,824, equal to 43.83 per cent. The CPP secured 6,503 council seats while the CNRP gained 5,007 seats.

According to the NEC, 90.37 per cent of the total 7.8 million eligible voters in Cambodia cast their ballots.

Despite its success, the CPP lost control of more than 430 localities compared to the previous election in 2012.  VNS
For the second year, the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech will host two GenCyber teachers camps for 50 high school teachers from across the country.

The cybersecurity educational camps will take place on Virginia Techs Blacksburg campus June 25-29 and July 9-13.

Educating secondary school teachers enables them to better train their pupils on both the nature of the technology and safe practices in the use of this computing and communication capability, said Joseph Tront, professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the projects principal investigator. We view the camps as a recruiting opportunity in that the teachers who participate will be able to refer their technically minded students to apply to Virginia Tech to study engineering and computer science.

The multipurpose goals of the cybersecurity event are to:

improve cybersecurity awareness among high school teachers;

motivate high school teachers to integrate cybersecurity lessons into their curriculum;

raise awareness of Virginia Techs role in cybersecurity education; and

increase recruitment of high school students into Virginia Techs cybersecurity curriculum.

During the camp, high school teachers will use the Virginia Cyber Range to participate in lab exercises by using the courseware and a cloud-hosted, virtual environment. Proposed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe in spring 2016, the Cyber Ranges mission is to enhance cybersecurity education in Virginia high schools, colleges, and universities.

Student interns will also provide demonstrations of cybersecurity on the internet of things. Demos will include how heating and air conditioning systems can be commandeered by attackers and how lighting systems can be adversely controlled to trigger medical conditions.

Ingrid Burbey is the project manager of the teacherss GenCyber program at Virginia Tech, and David Raymond, deputy director of information technology security at Virginia Tech, is the lead instructor for the camp. Burbey will teach a lab on the Rubber Ducky, a hacking device that looks similar to a USB flash drive, but can be programmed to hack into a computer or phone.



Along with Burbey, Tront, and Raymond, the Virginia Tech Information Technology Security Office is collaborating with the team to provide support for the Virginia Tech GenCyber Camps. The two campus events are sponsored by the National Security Agency and the National Science Foundation.
WATERLOO  Many Vietnam veterans received, at best, a cold shoulder when they returned home some 50 years ago. Now the Black Hawk County Veteran Affairs Commission has a gift for them.

The office has received nearly 1,500 copies of the Iowa edition of the hardcover book Vietnam War 50th Commemoration: A Time to Honor.

The Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs has raised the funds to pay for the books to distribute free to Vietnam veterans and provided a complement of them for distribution in Black Hawk County in April.

However, so far, county Veteran Affairs Director Kevin Dill has only been able to distribute about 200 of them, despite getting word out to various veterans groups and other organizations and leaving a copy at several local libraries.

Hed like to give away all of them. Theyre sitting in his office in boxes.

The book and accompanying DVD is published by RMS, or Remember My Service, a division of StoryRock Inc. of Salt Lake City. It contains stories and photos of individual veterans who served in Vietnam.

Funds were raised for the Iowa edition, but not enough for all Vietnam-era veterans  only about half for every Iowa veteran of that era to receive a book.

Here in Black Hawk County, the U.S. Census estimates we have 2,800 Vietnam veterans living in Black Hawk County, Dill said, but the county received a little more than half that number of books. Were giving them out to Vietnam veterans who served in country in Vietnam; if youre a Navy veteran who served along the coastal waters of Vietnam or the inland waterways; or an Air Force veteran who flew in and out of Vietnam on missions; or if you were in Thailand supporting the troops in Vietnam.

Once we get through that, well open it up to any Vietnam-era veteran. But we still have 1,250 books, Dill said. Veteran Terry Scheffert picked up and delivered the books courtesy of a vehicle provided by United Rentals.

Anyone interested in getting a book may call the county VA office at 291-2512. Or just come down to the office, on the first floor of the Pinecrest county office building, 1407 Independence Ave. You dont need an appointment. Just walk in, Dill said. Pick up a book for Grandpa, Dad, or if Mom served in Vietnam.

Distributing the book provides the county office an opportunity to make contact with Vietnam veterans and serve them.

Thats the big thing. Weve seen a number of Vietnam vets whove come in to get a book who have never been in our office, Dill said. Now weve made appointments with those guys. Some of them have some of the conditions, like from (exposure to toxic defoliant) Agent Orange, that they didnt even know they could get compensation for it.

Thats the big push behind it, Dill said, if I could just get more of those guys to come in. Because theres compensation available for them and their families and they just dont know about it.

Thats part of the whole point behind the project, agreed Dan Gannon, chairman of the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs in Des Moines.

Part of it is recognizing the 50th anniversary of Vietnam, Gannon said. But the other part is outreach.

The counties came to us, and asked to distribute the books, Gannon said. The veterans get a free commemorative book and the county veteran offices get to see Vietnam veterans they may not have seen before.

Were asking for any type of donation to finish fundraising so all Vietnam-era veterans can receive a book, Gannon said.

In a fundraising letter to potential donors, Gannon wrote: It is critical that we not let this 50th commemoration slip by without trying to right the wrong of 50 years ago when Americans neglected to welcome home our millions of warriors.

Checks may be made to Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs and sent to: Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs, 7105 N.W. 70th Ave., Camp Dodge, Building 3465, Johnston, IA 50131 with a Vietnam book check notation.
EVANSDALE --- A Waterloo man has been arrested for allegedly breaking into an Evansdale home and work trailer and leading authorities on a chase that ended in a crash early Sunday.

Police arrested Devin Dewayne Smith, 26, of 350 Idaho St., for second-degree burglary, two counts of third-degree burglary, interference and possession of burglary tools. He was taken to the Black Hawk County Jail, and bond was set at $50,000.

Evansdale officers were called to a burglary at home in the 100 block of Morehouse Street around 2:50 a.m. Sunday.

People were inside the house at the time of the break-in, and police found a TV that had been moved and was halfway through a window, and they found vehicle rims that had been moved. Officers also found a lock on a work trailer parked nearby had been cut.

The suspects fled, and a high-speed chase ended when the fleeing vehicle ended up in a ditch near the Eastgate Estates mobile home park in Waterloo. Two people ran from the vehicle, and police detained Smith, who was carrying a steak knife and a screwdriver.
DECORAH  A street event featuring regional bands and local food and drink is being planned for Sept. 16.

The Decorah City Council recently approved closing the 300 block of Water Street for Live on Water Street. Although the event runs from 4 to 10 p.m., the closure will be from 7 a.m. to midnight due to the time it will take to set up tents and food and beverage equipment.

Decorah breweries Toppling Goliath and Pulpit Rock will provide beer for sale and the Oneota Community Food Co-op will sell food, including grilled burgers, brats and sausages.

Last year, the co-op planned an Oktoberfest-type event for September, which was rained out. Live on Water Street will be more music focused, Oneota Co-op General Manager David Lester said in a correspondence with City Manager Chad Bird requesting the street closure.

The event will be free to attend, and the Winneshiek County Fairgrounds has been secured as a rain location.

Lester told Bird the Winneshiek Farmers Market and Decorah Area Chamber of Commerce have been contacted about Live on Water Street and that he is meeting with every business owner in the 300 block of Water Street.

Our hope is that businesses will benefit greatly from the beer tourism and just general tourism draw the event can bring to an already growing tourist destination Decorah has become, Lester wrote.

Pulpit Rock will be doing a special release for the event.

The idea for last years Oktoberfest started with the Water Street Music Series, which strives to create and sustain a collaborative, innovative artistic presence connecting Luther College and the Decorah area. The organization will be partnering with the Co-op for Live on Water Street this summer.

Now in its sixth season, the Water Street Music Series will present Live on Water Street as a pop-up festival. In addition to regional bands, local musicians will perform.
DES MOINES  The second draft of Iowas state plan for meeting the federal Every Student Succeeds Act is available for public review and comment.

ESSA is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. This update replaces the No Child Left Behind Act and will be fully implemented in the 2017-18 school year.

Under ESSA, Iowa and other states must develop state plans that address assessments, school and district accountability, funding and support for struggling schools.

Although the content is similar to the first draft, the second draft is organized differently to reflect a new template that U.S. Department of Education officials requested states use for their plans.

Other changes from Iowas first draft include a new post-secondary readiness measure and long-term goals based on Iowas current statewide assessments, which were required by federal officials. Iowa is on track to select a new statewide assessment for the 2018-19 school year through a competitive-bidding process.

In developing this draft plan, the Iowa Department of Education sought input through 18 public forums statewide, an advisory committee, focus groups, education work teams and written comments.

A third draft of Iowas ESSA plan will be released in August, and a final plan will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education by Sept. 18.

Iowans are invited to give feedback on the second draft in an online survey, which is open through July 18. Feedback also can be submitted via email at ESSA@iowa.gov or by mail: Iowa Department of Education, Attn: Deputy Director David Tilly/ESSA Feedback, Grimes State Office Building, 400 E. 14th St., Des Moines, IA 50319-0146.

Department leaders will collect additional input on the second draft plan at a July 25 meeting of the ESSA Advisory Committee. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Room B100 of the Grimes State Office Building.

For more information on the Every Student Succeeds Act in Iowa, go to the Iowa Department of Educations website at educateiowa.gov.
Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, is well-known for being a loud and boisterous speaker at rallies.

Some of his remarks at President Donald Trumps rally in Cedar Rapids last week were heard across the country.

Before Trump hit the stage, Kaufmann lambasted so-called Never Trumpers, Republicans who pledged during the 2016 presidential campaign they would not support Trump as the GOPs candidate.

Kaufmann in particular singled out Ben Sasse, a Republican U.S. senator from Nebraska who was critical of and campaigned against Trump during the lead-up to Iowas first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses in February 2016.

Weve got Never Trumpers out there. You know what? Im getting just a little tired of that, too, Kaufmann said. We had Sen. Ben Sasse from Nebraska. He crosses the Missouri River and in that sanctimonious tone talks about what he doesnt like about Donald Trump. You know what, Sen. Sasse? I really dont care what you like. We love Donald Trump. And if you dont love him, I suggest you stay on your side of the Missouri River.

Kaufmanns remarks spread like wildfire the next day on social media and in news coverage. Stories detailing his comments about Sasse appeared online in Politico, multiple media outlets in Nebraska, and The Hill. The story also was reported on conservative news sites such as Breitbart and Newsmax.

The state GOP leader doubled down on his remarks in an interview with Politico, saying he thinks Sasse before the caucuses was treating Trump supporters with condescension.

Hes an arrogant academic, Kaufmann said of Sasse in the interview with Politico. Sasse is a former college president. (Kaufmann is a college history professor.) Hes sanctimonious. His statements are geared toward what can help him. Hes arrogant. And hes not a team player, when in reality the only reason hes got any clout at all in the Senate is because the Republican Party has the majority.

Sasse has not responded to Kaufmanns remarks.

Sasse is, however, scheduled to cross the Missouri River and appear in Iowa on July 7 as the keynote speaker at the Story County GOPs annual fundraising dinner.

Trump country

Perhaps Kaufmann felt free to lay into Sasse because he knows Iowans who voted for Trump have not wavered in their support of the president.

That has been evident at Republican rallies  this reporter found nothing but Trump loyalty at U.S. Sen. Joni Ernsts Roast and Ride fundraiser, which featured Vice President Mike Pence.

And it was evident in new polling published this week.

In a sampling of Iowa voters in four rural counties  Cass, Clay, Hardin and Page  individuals polled who said Trump is doing an excellent job rose from 25 percent in April to 27 percent in June.

Trump is losing support among voters in swing districts in other areas polled, but not in Iowa, the poll results showed.

The poll was conducted by Brown University in Rhode Island, and the Iowa-based, bipartisan polling firm RABA Research. It also surveyed Trump voters in working class suburbs in Rhode Island, rural areas in the Carolinas, upper middle class suburbs in Pennsylvania and wealthy suburbs in Colorado.

Results underscore that President Trump is losing support in locales that switched into the Republican column in the November 2016 election. But hes gaining support in places that traditionally vote Republican, said a press release that accompanied the poll results.

As examples, the press release noted in the working class suburbs in Rhode Island, those saying Trump is doing an excellent job fell from 30 percent in April to 23 percent in June, but that those percentages increased from April to June in what the poll called a rural, Midwestern sample of Iowa.
Iowans are trying to understand the deaths of two teenage girls adopted from foster care. This state may certainly need statutory, policy and funding changes to improve the long-term safety of adopted children. Sorting through that falls primarily to a handful of child welfare experts and lawmakers.

The harder work of providing good homes for abused and neglected children falls to the rest of us. It is up to the people of this state to step up and commit to being foster and adoptive parents. That is our job.

Iowas child welfare system can only be as good as the families willing to open their homes to children. And Iowa does not have enough of these families.

There are now 750 children whose parents rights were terminated by courts and have not been adopted. Though many live with relatives, many seek to be adopted by forever families.

These include 9-year-old Cassie, who is looking for a home with a dog or cat. They include 12-year-old Ryan, who loves Boy Scouts but needs parents who can provide support with academics and behaviors. They include 16-year-old Zion, who says she wants a fun, affectionate family who will be active in her therapy and hold her accountable without yelling.

In a state of 3 million people, there should not be a single child waiting for an adult to offer a permanent home. And in a state with many retirees, empty nesters, active churches and generous people, it also should not be so difficult for social workers to find good families to temporarily care for children removed from unsafe environments.

But these families can be hard to find, even among the more than 2,200 licensed foster homes in this state.

Its really tough to get families, and its really easy to get the wrong families, said Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines.

Many foster parents may welcome an infant or toddler, but not a teenager. Families must be willing and able to transport kids to visits with biological parents, doctors appointments, therapists and court hearings. Ideally, homes would be located near a childs current school so that aspect of his or her life isnt also disrupted.

We need foster families willing to take sibling groups, older teens, kids with special needs and mental health issues, said Kelli Malone, a child welfare staffer with Four Oaks, an organization contracted with the state to recruit and train foster families. Many of the families she has worked with said they felt a calling to volunteer.

Foster care is a calling. Though families receive a monthly stipend, taking on the responsibility of a child you have never met is a public service. It requires a willingness to be part of the solution in a sometimes ugly world. It means upending your daily routine for kids who may arrive with few possessions and many bad experiences. It means having your heart broken when a child returns home, but remembering the primary goal is to reunify biological families.

And even as the publics attention is captivated by recent tragedies in a few adoptive families, thousands of other families are success stories. They helped children make emotional, physical and academic gains. They provided stability and safety. They worked with birth parents so families could be reunited. They adopted the children no one else wanted.

Lisa Clapp and her husband were living in Des Moines and already had two young children when they decided to become foster parents. She said it was just something they always wanted to do. They filled out the application and went through the licensing process, which includes fingerprinting, background checks, interviews, a home study and 10 weeks of training. Iowa requires more hours of training than many other states, and Clapp said it prepared them well.

The classes opened my eyes to how to deal with children who have been through traumatic issues, she said.

Months later, she was pregnant with their third child when a social worker called needing a foster home for an infant. The couple said yes. Then more and more calls came, including one from a worker seeking a home for a sibling group of nine. In the end, the Clapps adopted two children from foster care who are now 8 and 10 years old.

But where did the nine brothers and sisters end up? And where does a social worker turn when trying to keep children together? The worker needs as many options as possible to find the most appropriate home for each child.

That means Iowa needs as many good foster families as possible. This state can have them if more of us are willing to open our hearts and homes.

Foster parents provide care for a child while social workers work with the childs birth family to ensure the child can return to a safe environment.

Placement is frequently temporary. The goal is always and rightly to reunify families. In some cases, thats not possible and a judge terminates the biological parents legal rights to a child. Then he or she is legally free to be adopted.

Foster and adoptive families can be single, married, homeowners or renters. They come from all racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds and sexual orientations.

Iowans seeking a license to be foster parents are fingerprinted and subject to background checks (criminal, child abuse, sex offender charges, convictions or deferred judgments). If cleared to proceed, they attend 30 hours of training over 10 weeks and undergo a home study. They complete continuing education to maintain their license.
Q: What are the responsibilities from the city perspective for property owners to remove their nearly dead and diseased ash trees?

A: Waterloo City Forester Todd Derifield said property owners with a nearly dead or diseased ash tree should hire a licensed and insured tree service to remove their tree. A list of such tree services available for hire in Waterloo are listed on the Waterloo Leisure Services website under the forestry tab at www.waterlooleisureservices.org. If the question is about a different city, try calling your City Hall.

Q: KWWL is in the habit of showing pictures they say are graphic in nature. If they are going to be graphic and could bother some people, why even show them?

A: A response from the station news director: News isnt always pretty. Television news has had to balance the graphic nature of events and how to present it to viewers since the Vietnam war and before. We are not in the business of sanitizing news content. We do, however, have a practice of alerting viewers to video that some may find graphic. We work to produce television, internet and social media content that is sensitive to the viewer and user while at the same time presenting accurate content.

Q: How can I get a refund on a membership to the Cedar Valley SportsPlex if Im not happy with the facility?

A: Stop by the front desk at the Cedar Valley SportsPlex for information regarding membership cancellation. While there, be sure to ask for Katy Moeller or Mark Gallagher to visit regarding your concerns.

Q: If Im being harassed by a worker at the Iowa Workforce Development who can I report this to?

A: You can contact Nicholas Olivencia, legal counsel for Iowa Workforce Development, at (515) 725-5681. If this is a claimant, or business, IWD cannot discuss anything regarding their information with third parties as it is confidential under Iowa Code 96.11(6).

Q: What are the tax rules when I buy or sell a used boat? Is the boat and motor both taxed?

A: Boats are subject to Iowa sales tax whether purchased from a dealer or a private individual. Boat motors are subject to sales tax when sold by a dealer, but are eligible for a casual sale exemption if sold by an individual. If the boat and motor are sold as a unit, they are both taxable, whether sold by a dealer or private individual. Dealers will collect the tax from the purchaser. If sold by a private individual without a sales tax permit, the tax will be collected by the county recorder upon registration.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 26, 2017 | 06:37 AM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY

A traffic stop early Monday morning left two people facing drug charges.

According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Office, deputies stopped a minivan for traffic violations on John Puryear Drive around 12:30 a.m. The van was occupied by 44-year-old Christy Hiett of Calvert City and 46-year-old Joe Hiett of Paducah.

Police said Joe Hiett had an outstanding arrest warrant out of McCracken County District Court and Christy Hiett had two outstanding arrest warrants out of McCracken and Marshall counties.

As the investigation continued, deputies were granted consent to search the vehicle and found suspected methamphetamine. Both Hietts were arrested and taken to the McCracken County Regional Jail.

Both were charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Joe Hiett was also charged with giving an officer false identifying information, theft of identity of another without consent, possession of an open alcoholic beverage container in a motor vehicle and on a warrant for failure to appear.

Christy Hiett was additionally charged with rear license plate not illuminated and failure to maintain required insurance. She was also arrested on warrants for contempt of court and failure to appear.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 26, 2017 | 04:51 AM | MAYFIELD, KY

Two Mayfield residents face methamphetamine charges after their arrest Sunday night.

According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to an apartment complex at 15th and Ridgeway in Mayfield on information that two fugitives were at the home of 29-year-old Katrena Scott. Deputies arrived and were met at the door by Scott and 64-year-old David Melton.

Both gave deputies consent to search the home. Deputies didn't find the fugitives but did find meth and drug paraphernalia.

Both Scott and Melton were arrested and taken to the Graves County Jail. Both were charged with possession of meth and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Jun 26, 2017 | By Julia

Taiwan has just made some serious leeway in the 3D printed automotive race, this time in the form of a two-seater electric vehicle (EV). Late last week, the tech world caught wind of this exciting development from Taiwan Automotive Research Consortium (TARC), which is quickly proving to be a game-changer in the colliding fields of 3D printing and electric cars. The product of months of research and development, the TARC-manufactured EV was first exhibited at the Taiwanese trade show 2017 Taipei Ampa & Autotronics Taipei earlier this spring.

This miniature but mighty EV is equipped with a 6.6kWh lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, and can travel approximately 60-100km (or about 37-62 miles) per single charge. Measurements stack up at 2,780 (L) x 1,440 (W) x 1,570mm (H), and the wheelbase measures in at 1,770mm. Maximum output and maximum torque are 7kW and 44Nm, respectively.

With a maximum speed of 60 km per hour, this Taiwanese EV wont be winning the Formula 1 anytime soon, but what it lacks in speed and prowess it makes up for in sustainability.

"It can reduce environmental load not only at the time of driving the vehicle but also at the time of manufacturing the vehicle," TARC representatives told press.

This TARC car is sending a powerful message to the automotive industry: green has become a central focal point in vehicle manufacturing, and 3D printing may be the best way to execute that vision.

The EV interior and body (excluding doors) are made entirely of 3D printed plastic. TARC engineers elected to use poly-lactic acid (PLA) material from plant-derived starch, with the doors made of steel for obvious safety reasons.

How competitors respond to this nifty little vehicle remains to be seen. Material improvements could certainly be made, but the structural integrity of this little EV is impressive to say the least, and would present a challenge for anyone looking for build upon it. While the TARC car does not have a monocoque structure, which is rather uncommon for a vehicle, company reps state that necessary collision safety is realized already by the cars heavy duty frame. Consequently, its possible to freely design the exterior of the body, thus opening up a world of possibilities for separate manufacture of body and frame.

For this particular prototype, the frame is made of aluminium, with a mass of 98.7kg. With a simple extension of the rear part of the frame, the vehicle could become a pickup truck, three seat vehicle, and more. Additionally, by altering the shape of the aluminum frame, the same composition could be used for bicycles.

Next up, TARC aims to reduce overall manufacturing costs by 30-40% by increasing the scale of production. That being said, the research group has not yet confirmed that the EV can be mass-produced. When and if this car will be commercialized remains a question mark.

The EV was first exhibited at the 2017 Taipei Ampa & Autotronics Taipei trade show for cars and motorbikes, which took place from April 19-22, 2017 at the Nangang Exhibition Centre, Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC). Tarc is a direct subdivision of the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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by Dave Maier

Heres a joke I remember from my childhood. A man takes a taxi. The fare comes to $9.63, so the passenger gives the driver nine dollars, two quarters, a dime, and three pennies. The driver looks at the money dubiously; whereupon the passenger asks Isnt that correct? The drivers answer: Its correct, but it aint right. Here the driver is distinguishing correctness from moral rightness in particular. Thats not quite the distinction I want to talk about today, so lets instead use a word which wouldnt make the joke quite so funny: appropriateness.

Our context is that of the nature of truth. Pragmatists are often accused of reducing truth to appropriateness or utility. (William James invited such attacks with his supposedly pragmatic slogan that truth is what works.) Yet it certainly seems possible to say something true which is not appropriate or useful. There are many types of case, but for now as an example of inappropriateness try tactlessness: Why yes, that dress does indeed make your butt look big. While clearly effective against Jamess slogan, this is not the refutation of pragmatism that it appears. We must look more closely at what determines what it is appropriate to say, and why.

* * *

After 9/11, President George W. Bush emphasized that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were not wars against Islam generally by claiming that, as he put it, Christians and Muslims worship the same God. He got immediate pushback on this from some Christian leaders (Richard Land is the one who sticks in my mind, but there were others), who disputed this claim. More recently, a professor at a Christian school got into hot water when, as a way to show solidarity with Muslims, she made that same claim. In each case, the objectors quite plausibly pointed out that the Christian deity and the Muslim deity have many conflicting characteristics  for example, that the former is triune and the latter not  so how could they possibly be the same entity?

This presents itself as a disagreement about the correctness of a manner of speaking, or a matter of fact, one which is difficult even to word properly so as not to beg the question: is the entity (are the entities) which Christians call God and (Arabic-speaking) Muslims call Allah the same entity or different entities? Bush says they are the same and Land disagrees; so it seems that one of them must be wrong, depending on how the world actually is. Lets examine the arguments and see if we still think this when were done.

In investigating this matter of fact, we naturally assume that we shouldnt worry about what inferences President Bush wanted to draw from it; we simply want to know whether its true or not. Maybe we can agree about the fact and still preserve whatever further differences remain. That is, maybe Land could be persuaded that Bush was right about the ontological issue, if he found that he could still make his objections to Bushs conclusions equally strongly. That is, he would then be able to say something like it doesnt matter that the two deities are the same entity  it doesnt follow from that, as you think it should, that the differences between Christianity and Islam are simply friendly or abstract disagreements rather than matters of crucial spiritual importance.

If he were thus able to preserve the substance of his view against Bushs, Land might well see his concession to Bushs way of talking as just that: an abstract terminological issue rather than the substantive spiritual one it seemed to be. Let me spell out in some detail an argument for the truth of Bushs claim. Note that it does not argue for the truth of his broader views, and in fact the way it makes the ontological claim plausible is by showing, as already suggested, that talking this way does not threaten Lands broader views as Bush had made it seem that it did.

Christianity and Islam are both religions in the monotheistic tradition that dates back to the ancient Hebrews. Both religions, for example, honor Moses as a prophet of the Hebrew deity. Both differ from Judaism in acknowledging further revelations. For example, Muslims regard Jesus of Nazareth as at least a prophet (rasul, the same word as they use for Muhammad) on the level of Moses and Abraham, and of course Christians consider him to be the son of God (and in some way identical with God). So Christians and Muslims do indeed both worship the same God: that is, the God of Abraham; but about this entity they believe importantly different things. For example, Christians believe God to be triune, but Muslims do not. Each takes the other not simply (as they would, say, Buddhists) as believing a false religion, but in fact blaspheming against God (that is, saying something false about that same entity rather than something (potentially) true about a distinct one). In rejecting the Trinity, Muslims, to Christians, wrongly say of God that He is ontologically distinct from Jesus of Nazareth. They also believe, contrary to Christian doctrine, that He sent the angel Gabriel to Muhammad with divine revelations in the 7th century A.D. Of course, to Muslims, Christians believe the converse falsehoods, and are not simply denying divine revelation but, in affirming the Trinity, are thus polytheists. (This is the point of the Muslim affirmation that there is no God but God (La allahu ill Allah)).

Note, again, that both ways of talking allow virtually the same objection to Bush's statement. Instead of saying No, they dont in fact worship the same God, so we shouldnt minimize the differences between Christianity and Islam, Land can instead say Yes, but they dont acknowledge the divinity of Christ, so we shouldnt minimize the differences between Christianity and Islam.

Land might instead prefer to continue to make his point in the former way, perhaps finding compelling the naturalness of speaking, as above, of the Christian deity and the Muslim deity as distinct entities with differing properties. He would then have to account for the common historical origins of the two faiths in the Hebrew tradition, as well as lingering ontological questions suggested by his way of speaking (so does the Muslim deity not exist at all? or is it a distinct but minor deity, or a demon?); but theres no reason to think that this couldnt be done.

Similarly, it seems that whatever substantive point Bush was making might survive being transposed into Lands preferred idiom (and that if it couldnt, that would be a problem for Bushs view). True, he might say, Muslims worship a different God, in the strict metaphysical sense of numerical distinctness (not that its plausible that W would use this term; bear with me here); but if we look closely at the great deal of conceptual overlap between them (as well as, again, the historical inheritance from the Hebrew tradition), and pay attention to the moral and cultural roles played by each in their respective traditions, then we can see past the specific doctrines of each  without, of course, thereby giving them up, as adherents of our respective faiths!  to the broader similarities.

Now of course Land need not agree with this; but it does seem that however the conversation continues, neither he nor Bush is simply required by the nature of the world itself, as it had seemed would be the case for matters of fact, to speak in one or the other idiom. If Land points to this or that section of the Quran which can be read to suggest that, for example, Muslims may use violence to defend their faith against its enemies, we have left the ontological issue of the identity or distinctness of deities, and thus the proper metaphysical way of conceptualizing their differences, far behind. Nor, again, can Bush simply cite the Quranic story of Mosess deliverance of the ancient Hebrews with the help of God/Allah, with its clear implication that Muslims worship the Abrahamic deity, in support of his ultimate views. Neither can get from the metaphysical issue alone what he thinks he needs.

* * *

I hope it is clear that nothing depends on this particular example and whatever properly metaphysical or theological obscurity it brings with it. It has been meant to resist the metaphysical-realist idea that the world in itself determines what we must say to get it right  that the independent reality of the objective world requires that we purge our inquiries, and our representations, of their subjectivity, such as they might acquire if we were to consider, for example, which of our ends we would further by speaking in this or that way, when what we should be doing in inquiry is getting things right. So far, though, all we have done is to see how we may construe (what seemed to be) disagreements in matters of fact as (mere) differences in manners of speaking. If we left it there, though, we would accede to the realist criticism of pragmatism as a facile linguistic instrumentalism, or worse, the sophistic pragmatism of Stanley Fish. We would lose the very idea of speaking truly, of getting things right. The world is indeed independent of us in some way; the pragmatist criticism of realism concerns what way that is.

This means that having pushed in one direction, we need now to push back in the other. (Such is the nature of dualism-smashing.) The issue between Bush and Land, even at the properly metaphysical level (that is, putting to one side the idea of a war against Islam) cannot be merely semantic, just as it is not merely ontological. The two idioms cannot, and should not be made to try to, pick out exactly the same empirical facts. Instead, they are to be used in different contexts for different purposes, to express different ideas and beliefs, each when appropriate, as judged by a speaker at a time. (Nothing should prevent Bush from speaking of the Muslim deity, nor Land from speaking of blasphemy as opposed to error, should the context require it.)

But now, in affirming that the issue is not merely semantic, it seems that I have thereby reopened the door to empirical refutation of one or the other way of speaking. Indeed, I freely grant that one could, should one so desire, try to (re)construe any particular difference in ways of speaking as instead specifically a difference in belief in matters of fact, such that one or the other could be decisively refuted by evidence or argument. This is, for example, why we no longer speak of phlogiston or luminiferous aether: the newly discovered facts that we wished to incorporate into our discourse made such ways of speaking not worth the trouble, and theres no reason not to just go ahead and say that we used to believe one thing and now we know that another is true instead (i.e. rather than that we found our old way of speaking no longer to pay its way  although I think we could say that instead if we felt like it. Hell, with enough conceptual reworking we could continue to speak in the old idiom if we felt like doing that  but with extremely rare exceptions that would really not be worth the trouble!)

Contra James (or Jamess slogan, at least), pragmatists do not demand that we speak in merely useful ways, as opposed to getting the world right. But we do not thereby accede to the realists demand that we speak correctly, if that means taking the world, on the one hand, and the dictionary, on the other, to determine this. I propose that pragmatists urge instead that we speak appropriately, so as to acknowledge the very real demands made on us by world and dictionary respectively, whlle recognizing as well that our first obligation is to express in what we say our own commitments, whether doxastic, semantic, or practical, in the most cogent and coherent way we can (without, of course, thereby betraying them). To speak appropriately is to balance these shifting requirements in such a way as to do justice to them all, as we judge them in the context.

This, I take it, is what Richard Rorty means by his claim that the primary, or even only, constraints on what we say are conversational ones. Rorty himself responded inadequately, in my view, to the chorus of abuse directed his way for this claim. He resisted, as always, the realist dogma of truth as determined by the world in itself; but he failed to emphasize in turn  bizarrely, to my mind, as the student of Davidson he claimed to be  the commitments to objectivity actually implicated in the conversational constraints he advocated.

Pragmatists are not sophists, concerned only with our ends. Speaking of appropriateness in this way, elevating it to a theoretical commitment alongside that of correctness, does not threaten our understanding of what the sophist is doing in manipulating others with his words, as realists charge. Instead, it allows us to preserve our commitment to the objectivity (in the relevant senses) of meaning and belief  while at the same time noting the sense in which the sophists actions are outrageous, if they are: he is not playing fair, conversationally speaking. (We may go on to regard him as thereby unethical; but we are not, it seems, required to do so in every case. After all, Machiavelli, for example, defends his seemingly cynical manipulation of others on what he claims to be explicitly moral grounds, and theres no reason for us to close down that defense prematurely, on theoretical grounds alone.)

Next time (maybe): appropriateness and the tool metaphor.
by Claire Chambers

In discussions of postcolonial and diasporic literature, questions of faith and religious identity have until recently tended to be subsumed under such categories as ethnicity, nationality, hybridity, and race. Rae Isles, a character who lectures on Middle Eastern politics in Leila Aboulela's The Translator, accordingly asserts: 'Even Fanon, who I have always admired, had no insight into the religious feelings of the North Africans he wrote about'. In his 1959 essay 'Algeria Unveiled', Frantz Fanon anticipated by almost three decades Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's famous idea of 'white men saving brown women from brown men'. Against the Algerian backdrop, white saviour discourse allowed French colonizers to dismiss Islam as 'a repressive, dehumanizing religion for women'. By contrast, Fanon explored the haik or veil's subversive aspects of secrecy and concealment. He also debated such issues as modest Muslim dress functioning as a type of uniform, the 'absent presence' of the covered person, and the colonial gaze. Yet, as Rae indicates, Fanon does little to shed light on any of the reasons, other than nationalist resistance, that lead Maghrebi women to wear the haik. When Islam or religion is mentioned in Fanon's essay, it is construed as the false bestowal by 'Islam specialists' or other colonizers of an irrational belief system on those peoples they keep subjugated. Fanon was not Muslim and nor indeed was he religious in any orthodox sense. Through her character Rae, Aboulela suggests that the theorist underestimates the power of religion in his adopted home of Algeria and in Africa more broadly.

Of postcolonial theory's foundational thinkers, Edward W. Said provides by far the most substantial contribution on Muslims and religion more broadly. Said's engagement with Islam is still timely and urgent. This is because although the flashpoints and key players have altered since the publication of his groundbreaking book Covering Islam in 1981, unfortunately little has changed in relation to negative representations of Muslims. Writing in his 1997 introduction to the second edition of Covering Islam, Said asserts: 'the term 'Islam' as it is used today seems to mean one simple thing but in fact is part fiction, part ideological label, part minimal designation of a religion called Islam'. This comment has been inspiring for my own work, and that of the field of 'Muslim writing' more broadly. In my first book British Muslim Fictions, I took up Said's identification of Islam as 'part fiction', discussing the extent to which the terms 'British Muslim' or 'Muslim fiction' are illusory. Following Covering Islam's lead, I also argued that many mainstream writers' and journalists' depictions of Islam and of Muslims might themselves be viewed as types of fiction. Similarly, in their virtuosic cultural studies book Framing Muslims, Peter Morey and Amina Yaqin note the importance of Said's contribution to the field, observing that his research enables readers to ponder 'the limited and limiting conceptual framework surrounding Islam' in much depressingly circular current debate.

Said's concept of 'secular criticism' is notable for its resistance to all dogma as well as to totalizing political systems. In The World, The Text, and the Critic, he makes a plea for a socially-engaged, 'worldly' critical outlook in the face of the esotericism of early-1980s poststructuralism. Said appears particularly concerned that academics recognize the extent to which classic texts from the Western 'canon' (note the Christian diction) were shaped by what in his previous book (1978) he termed Orientalism:

The Orient and Islam [] stood for the ultimate alienation from and opposition to Europe, the European tradition of Christian Latinity, as well as to the putative authority of ecclesia, humanistic learning, and cultural community. For centuries Turkey and Islam hung over Europe like a gigantic composite monster, seeming to threaten Europe with destruction.

These Others of Turkey and Islam have, he argues, been silenced, excluded, or 'domesticated' by Western scholarship. Said famously establishes a distinction between filiation  preordained relationships such as those between families and clans  as compared with affiliation, the more active creation of connections based on shared values. He seems to value affiliation above filiation, but then complicates this hierarchy by arguing that apparently radical affiliation can end up being as hidebound and conservative as the filiation it seeks to replace. If 'social affiliation' is broadly viewed as a secular phenomenon and 'instinctual filiation' linked with religion, Said is careful to complicate in this dichotomy. Yet ultimately he positions literary criticism as a secular pursuit: it should be sceptical, self-reflexive, and self-critical, without misconstruing its own enterprise as objective or value-neutral. The keyword he links to criticism other than 'secular' is 'oppositional', and he calls for a critical consciousness that is resistant and suspicious of 'totalizing concepts, [] reified objects, [] guilds, special interests, imperialized fiefdoms, and orthodox habits of mind'. Interestingly, he recognizes the potential coerciveness of secular criticism by highlighting the possibility of it becoming just another kind of doctrine. He also examines the Qur'an sympathetically as a text believed by Muslims to be the direct and unmediated word of God, and positions Islam as a religion that 'gives its adherents genuine nourishment'. Said gestures toward the durable existence of religion, notwithstanding Enlightenment and Marxist assumptions that it would wither away. Finally, he is aware of the multiple meanings and connotations hidden within that bland word 'religion'.

Compared to Said, the other two members of postcolonialism's 'Holy Trinity', Gayatri Spivak and Homi K. Bhabha, have less to say about this subject. Spivak makes only one direct mention of Islam in A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, the last book she wrote before the World Trade Centre attacks. This passing reference is a harbinger of future global geopolitics, though, for she evokes 'Islamist, Hindu, or yet ethnic nationalisms that, often exacerbated by racist misapprehensions, cannot bode well'. Yet something seems to have changed for Spivak after she witnessed 9/11 first-hand in New York, seeing 'the second plane hit the second tower [] That enclosed object, moving across a sunny sky quickly, with no special effects'. In her subsequent work Spivak makes a conscientious effort to write in an accessible way, to be less wedded to complex technical terms, and to deal with current events like the War on Terror with a clearer ethical thrust. 'Globalicities: Terror and Its Consequences', written in October 2001 and published in 2004, is ostensibly about globalization and global cities, but swiftly progresses into an exploration of the attacks on the United States and the violence this unleashed. In this as well as in other contemporaneous essays such as 'Terror: A Speech After 9/11', Spivak invites readers to imagine (she twice parenthetically intervenes to say 'without condonement, of course') the inner life of the suicide bomber. Many people resist trying to understand the motivations and back-stories of terrorists, and Spivak makes passing reference to 'the many irresponsible criticisms that [her] position has received'. However, she states that there can be no peace until governments and citizens make the imaginative effort to think of those who commit acts of terror as more than just mass murderers. Those best placed to make this effort, Spivak consistently argues, are students and teachers of humanities subjects, for these are the disciplines most invested in empathy and the imagination. In a line of enquiry that overlaps with that of Lila Abu-Lughod in 'Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?' she draws attention to single-issue feminism in the Afghan War and the way assertions of women's human rights have been co-opted into the binary discourse and unthinking patriotism of the broader War on Terror. Ever adept at spawning new concepts, she also offers the phrase 'single-issue nationalism' by way of a critique of those who respond to international strikes by being entirely uncritical of Afghanistan and Islam.

In The Location of Culture, Bhabha briefly, and seemingly reluctantly, alludes to Islam and Muslims. He does so in the chapter 'How Newness Enters the World', where it is unavoidable given the topic of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. Bhabha's larger work in theorizing hybridity, as Spivak suggests, can 'inadvertently legitimize[] the "pure" by reversal'. This warning against some of Bhabha's less sophisticated followers' starry-eyed visions of hybridity is especially salient in the context of Islam and postcoloniality. Indeed, the distinction that many commentators assume exists between a chutnified, impure, mongrelized literature and pure, austere Islam  a religion which Salman Rushdie and others suggest is the enemy of the imagination  is fallacious. In fact, Muslim religion and culture, far from being opposed to narratives, is replete with them, whether stories that derive from the Qur'an and Sunna (life of the Prophet), or hadiths (sayings about the ways and deeds of Mohammed).

Despite postcolonial theory's relative neglect of Islam, during the last dozen years or so, increasing numbers of scholars are following Amin Malak's suggestion that this lacuna may be due to high theory's unwitting valorization of 'a secular, Euro-American stance'. Muslim literary criticism constitutes a young but increasingly bustling and intellectually curious field of enquiry. Perhaps the earliest work in this area was Byron Porter Smith's Islam in English Literature (1939). Porter Smith traced how the English literature of such authors as Shakespeare, Dryden, and Milton was affected by encounters with Islam. In recent years, however, a group of critics has emerged who train their critical gaze in the opposite direction, analyzing the impact of time spent in the diaspora on Muslim writers. Malak's Muslim Narratives and the Discourse of English (2005) laid the intellectual foundations for those of us working in the field of Muslim writing. His monograph incorporated a relatively broad temporal sweep and encompassed Anglophone literary production by Muslims around the globe. Working together and independently, Rehana Ahmed, Amina Yaqin, and Peter Morey have also produced important work in this area. Their Culture, Diaspora, and Modernity in Muslim Writing was a path-breaking edited collection, while Morey and Yaqin produced the aforementioned Framing Muslims, and in 2015 Ahmed published the most detailed and scholarly volume on South Asian Muslim writing in Britain to date, Writing British Muslims. Geoffrey P. Nash has long been working in this and related areas, and two of his books deserve special mention, Writing Muslim Identity (2012) and the co-edited collection Postcolonialism and Islam. From the United States, Wail Hassan's Immigrant Narratives, Esra Mirze Santesso's Disorientation, and Santesso's and James McClung's edited volume Islam and Postcolonial Discourse are incisive studies. Outside of Euro-America Alaa Alghamdi, a young scholar based in the Middle East, published Transformations of the Liminal Self in 2011, while in India Abdur Raheem Kidwai brought out two volumes in 2016: Believing and Belonging: Critical Essays on British Muslim Fiction and Orientalism in English Literature: Perceptions of Islam and Muslims.

To conclude, over the last two decades or so, many Muslim and non-Muslim creative artists have taken Islam as their subject. Some of them have managed to do this without shirking evaluation of the social problems the religion has accreted, while simultaneously maintaining a gradated sense of the Muslim community's multifaceted nature. Academics are also increasingly scrutinizing this body of artistic work. What the next decade will bring for Muslim literary studies is open to conjecture. I anticipate that with the publication of Alberto Fernandez Carbajal's eagerly awaited monograph and the findings of the interdisciplinary research project Storying Relationships due in 2019, sexuality will be one hot topic. Another is a digital humanities attempt to map (distant read) as well as analyse (close read) the literary oeuvre, recording such issues as generic category, geographic concentration and the presence/absence of violent extremist(s) or veils. Although the methods and approaches may be novel, I hope that the field's commitment to social justice and human rights, as well as its implacable opposition to racism and Islamophobia will continue to form its primary ideological substratum.
by Evan Edwards

Theres a zen koan about master Nan-in and a younger monk, Tenno, who had been studying with his teacher for ten years. Tradition went that a student had to study this long before they were qualified to begin teaching, and Nan-in had invited Tenno over for tea to celebrate his pupilship coming to an end. Since it was raining that day, Tenno wore clogs and brought an umbrella, and left them by the door when he entered Nan-ins home. After his guest had sat down, Nan-in asked Tenno, I assume that since it is raining, you brought an umbrella. Correct? And did you put it on the left or the right of your clogs? When he didnt have an immediate answer, Tenno stood up and returned to the monastery in order to continue as a student for six more years.

The story is usually interpreted as an illustration of the value of attention and, more importantly, what we might call awareness. Because Tenno was unable to recall the position of his umbrella, or perhaps better, because he was unaware of how he had arranged his things in the other room, he was not practicing every-minute zen. In other koans, the theme of the significance of attention and awareness return again and again. A student asked Master Ichu to write him something of great wisdom. Ichu took up his pen and wrote attention. The student asked Ichu what attention meant, and he responded that attention means attention. This theme seems to be so recurrent because, as individuals in the Vipassana school argue, nirvana, as a kind of Budda-consciousness, has to do with a particular state of vijnana, or consciousness. This kind of consciousness is a state of perfect awareness.

Certain strains of ecology and western environmental philosophy, also, stress the importance of awareness. In the work of Henry David Thoreau, we see an intense attention to nature that has been described by several commentators as an attempt to integrate himself more fully, and therefore live more authentically, within the web of life.

Jane Bennett describes the importance of this integration, or harmonizing, with nature for Thoreaus ethical and political project, and it is awareness that ultimately allows us to see more fully and thoroughly the nature of these relations. In a recent interview, she explains:

Was his move to Walden a retreat from the public? Or was it a retreat from a human-centric public and a move into another, lets call it polycentric, public, one consisting of plants, animals, landscapes, the sounds of birds and locomotive trains, and people? As I read it, Thoreaus experiment at Walden was less about apolitical solitude than it was an attempt to engage more fully with a set of nonhuman interlocutors and to participate in a public that included them.

In a series of letters exchanged between Gary Snyder and Wendell Berry, this same relation between awareness of natural processes and political/ethical thought is acknowledged from the perspectives of Zen Buddhism and a kind of eclectic Christianity, respectively. Thinkers like Gregory Bateson and Felix Guattari also acknowledge this relation, but do not stress its aspect of awareness, and focus more on the nature or logic of the relation. Nevertheless, one must presume, to a certain extent, that the point of understanding the nature of the relations is to somehow adjust our conscious apprehension of them. As Jane Bennett puts it in the same interview from above:

I keep returning to the figure of sensibility. Maybe I should just tell a quick story about teaching environmental politics at Goucher College. For years, my course followed the sky is falling! danger, danger! storyline. As I saw students get more and more passive, more and more demoralized, I realized that my strategy of critique-expose was not producing the desired mobilizing or energizing effect. I started to think about how to encourage an ecological sensibility rather than just an increase in knowledge. How to feel more intensely the natural world, how to cultivate the ability to see, smell, touch it, and ourselves, differently? How to remind ourselves that we too are material bodies, along with trees and waterwayseach part and parcel, says Thoreau in Walking, of a larger, fractious process of natura naturans. That was the sensibility, the mood, I wanted to encourage.

* * *

I, for one, am often incredibly unaware of many things, particularly my surroundings. When cooking, I dont notice when I drop bits of food on the ground until my dog comes by and picks them up. In the time just before and after a recent apartment move, when our keyrack was packed away, I lost my keys a total of three times each day. I put articles of clothing on furniture that are covered in dog fur because I dont notice until it is too late. I dont remember meetings, appointments, what I was even doing a minute ago. I would be a grave disappointment to Nan-in.

But Id like to be more aware, more conscious, more attentive. At the very least, it would mean that I could be more respectful of those around me. Knowing, recognizing, and attending to the needs, desires, and motivations of my partner, my son, my colleagues, neighbors, parents, and so on, just seems like good practice. Trying to be nice is great, but theres only so much kindness you can spread around if you dont know where it is needed. On another level, being more aware seems important for appreciating and understanding other parts of ones environment. Im often better at this part of awareness: noticing flowers growing through the concrete, the way a tree bends around power lines down the street, the elegant and coordinated bustle of a cloud of gnats in the vespertine light, the moon making weird shadows of the buildings at night, etc. Awareness seems to stretch a poetic muscle in our spirit.

Memory seems to be bound to awareness as well. Strong impressions, those that we attend to fully, beauty pressing itself into our consciousness, the pain we see in peoples faces on the train, these are recalled more readily than the impressions that we dont invest ourselves in as fully. When I skim through a book, or only attend half-heartedly to a conversation, I can often recall nothing about the information I should have. Im convinced that it isnt that my memory is terrible, but that I am not great at attending to details as thoroughly and committedly as some of my friends and colleagues. Prousts madeleine is such an emblem of the secret conspiracy between attention and memory; the cookie, the object of Marcels whole being as a child in Combray, recalls not just his memory, but the feeling of an infinite transcendence beyond the particulars of the taking of tea. Perhaps this is what memory is, the afterimages of those things which most fully grasp our attentive powers, be they traumatic or ecstatic.

Finally, forethought, and therefore preparedness, seem to be associated with awareness as well. This is another thing I am quite poor at. Being conscious of what I will need means being aware not only of the present; nor only of the past, in memory; but of the likely state of the future. Being aware of the likely state of the future means linking an invisible and purely speculative reality to the solidity of the present, and thereby transcending space and time once again. This aspect of awareness was so important to the ancient Greeks that they named the creator, the progenitor, and therefore the essence of mankind, after it. The fire-bringer Prometheus, whose name Plato explains is derived from pro  (before) and methos  (related to learning, or knowing), is in many myths not just the savior but the creator of humanity. Forethought, the ability to plan not just days or seasons in advance, but entire years or generations ahead of time, is what distinguished man from the animals. The ability to conceive of a future, rather than just act, is what made humans capable of both rational and poietic thought.

Awareness is, in this account, extraordinary in its capacity to ground a unified concept of time: past/memory, present/attentiveness, and future/forethought. Being aware, and by turn, integrated into space, time, ecological interconnections, and consciousness, embeds the individual in a matrix of significance and, as Im learning, helps keep the apartment clean at the same time.

* * *

What has struck me about my concern with attentiveness, however, is this: when I read a text extolling the importance of attentiveness and the difficulties surrounding being awaremost of what Im into is from before the 20th centuryIm reading the work of someone who has no concept of a smartphone, television, or computer. No, theyre concerned with the difficulty of being fully immersed in ones environment without digital technology. Im baffled every time I realize this. If it was so difficult to be fully aware before the internet then what hope do I have?

Of course, previous generations had their own technology, and each period of innovation saw a cadre of nay-sayers heralding the end of real human consciousness. Gutenbergs press, the novel, steam engines, etc. But surely there is something unique about the last ten years of technology. Or even the last three. IBM claims that since 2014, we produce more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of information a day, which means that since then, weve generated 90% of all information in the history of the human species. A recent study found that young people spend approximately one third of their waking hours on their phones. This is, at best, one third of ones conscious life that is spent in a solipsistic demi-world, an idios kosmos half-connected to the koinos kosmos. At worst, it means that two thirds of our days are simply the time between the time spent on visual technology.

For us, children of the iPhone, attention is focused, of course, but not on the environs, human, animal, floral, lunar, or otherwise. Rather, awareness is directed to a vast and ambiguous elsewhere. This elsewhere can very well be the absolute antithesis of the description of the object of awareness I described above. Rather than unifying the present to the past and future, the vaporous elsewhere is an utter disconnection from the surroundings of my immediate body. But, on the other hand, in the grand scheme of things, what does it matter what is happening at my desk right now? An empty take-out box, a voided check, my sisters birthday card, some wires whose purpose Im not entirely sure about, all these things could very well not exist and nothing would change in the course of universal history. They have significance only insofar as they make up the fragile fabric of my brief existence, which isnt going to last that long, or be that important.

Perhaps what is more significant is the U.S. positioning of troops near Russias western border, or the discovery of a planet only a few light years away that may teach humans about interplanetary colonization. These events could alter the course of human history. They could alter my sons life irrevocably. I may not have ever known about these events until they had already shifted life as such if I were not connected to social media. Or perhaps I would have never noticed their influence on my life. This seems to be the only redemptive possibility of the internet. Although Ive been smartphone free for nearly a year now, I still get most of my news from social media. Im aware, of course, of the way that algorithms shape my news feed, and so know that Im only getting a sliver of the information available. But because of the network that I have cultivated on facebook and twitter, I often know about news that would otherwise slip by in an age without the global interconnectedness of the web. Turkish colleagues posted all sorts of articles about the events of earlier last year, Colombian friends fill me on on the particulars of their countrys now-failed peace deal, bombings in North African cities, which dont make CNN headlines, populate my newsfeed, as well as magnificent reportage of the latest science, art, music, etc. Perhaps our worlds awareness is not extinguished, but undergoing a sea change.

Perhaps awareness will, as our lives becomes more enmeshed in the internet and the technologies associated with it, continue to become a sort of attention to new environments, electronic ones through which we will have to learn to tread softly. Perhaps, for better or worse, awareness is subject to evolution just like any other aspect of the human being. Perhaps the memory associated with pre-technological awarenessProusts memoryis not as necessary in a world where information can be recalled by accessing an external hard-drive (the internet). Perhaps Prometheus will be bound again to make room for new gods as we find that technology provides us with more opportunity to plan on the fly, rather than be a slave to planning ahead. Perhaps the conscious subject, the Tenno that is mankind, will become attuned to a novel kind of everyday zen.

Next month, I plan on returning to this train of thought, because Ive already gone over my word limit, and Im afraid Ive lost your attention.
by Evert Cilliers aka Adam Ash

How to explain Donald Trump?

I'm going to try something I've never seen or read anywhere, until a good friend, a black female school principal spoke to me about when she was teaching the children of rich, privileged parents, and discovered that those parents never raised their kids themselves, but relied on nannies to do all the heavy lifting.

In other words, those parents never loved their children on a day-to-day basis.

My friend knew such extremes as one wealthy divorced mom who would go to Paris for a month of high living, and leave her child with the nanny back in New York.

My friend's theory is that Trump is such a child, who might have been more or less ignored by especially his Dad when he was a very young boy, and is therefore a deeply wounded man. His wounds have created an irrepressible need for adoration, to make up for an emotional orphan-like existence as a child.

Although my friend feels great animosity towards Trump and his policies  heck, she is a middle-aged black woman, so what he is, strikes at her very core  she also feels a deep compassion for him and his suffering.

1. Trump As A Deeply Wounded Man

So this then is the theory expounded in this essay: a man so thin-skinned, he gets upset with beauty queens (and a man so insecure, he never stops bragging) is a man who lived a childhood of psychic trauma.

Bear with me as I continue this line of utterly unsupported non-scientific speculation, which goes beyond the usual profile you may have read about Trump, which depicts him as suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder, and possible sociopathy if not outright psychopathy. (Though the shrink who invented the diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder says Trump does not have a disorder, because he is successful, and people who suffer from a disorder live crippled lives: according to this fellow, Trump is a supreme narcissist, but does not suffer from an actual narcissistic disorder.)

At least now, with the theory of Trump As The Deeply Wounded Man, you are reading something about Trump that you have never read before. So indulge me for my originality, or rather, the originality of my educator friend.

Trump says he loves his father. But I don't think his father cared much about him as a young boy  or rarely showed it when Trump was say twelve or younger. His father sent him to a military-style boarding school; his father wanted to be rid of him.

I suspect that's a clue to Trump's character. He admits that he got into many fights growing up, and even hit a teacher. That might have been him acting out what was visited upon him.

2. Trump's Bizarre Touchiness

I am pretty sure Trump's Dad gave him hidings, so his wound is physical, as well. That would explain Trump as a kid going forth in the world and getting into fights. Which is pretty much what he did as a candidate and what he now does as president. The man relishes a fight, and when he feels attacked, he hits out. Or tweets out.

Surely one of the most bizarre things about Trump is his severe touchiness. Why would a guy who is so successful, so rich, who has dated many beautiful women, who has had three beautiful wives, who has a beautiful, accomplished daughter, who presides over a palatial estate in Florida, who sits his plump bum down on a gold toilet seat  why does this seemingly worldly fellow get upset, for example, about slights from a former beauty queen? Why cannot he simply shrug that off? Why is he not bigger than that? Why is he not grownup about silly crap like that? Why is he such a petulant child? Why, when things don't go his way, does he get in a foul mood and upbraid his staff when the fault lies not with them but with him? (He reminds me of the Hollywood mogul who said, "I don't get ulcers, I give ulcers.") My theory that Trump as a small boy never got much love from his Dad explains that. A deep psychic wound from his childhood gets him upset at any attack upon him.

3. Trump's View Of Women

And why does Trump have such a binary view of women? He rates them on a one-to-ten scale, treats them as sex objects, assaults them, gets upsets with them when they don't look like supermodels (Rosie O'Donnell, Carly Fiorina), yet he gives women big jobs in his real-estate business, and had a brilliant female campaign chief, Kellyanne Conway, who helped make him president.

Perhaps part of his wound is that he wishes his Mom had prevailed upon his Dad to be more attentive. Perhaps he thinks she is partly to blame for the fact that his Dad neglected him.

Trump singles out women's weaknesses, and also men's.

"Low energy Jeb."

"Little Marco."

"Lying Ted."

"Crooked Hillary."

He even mocked a journalist with disabilities, something that Meryl Streep was driven to remark upon. He stigmatizes whole groups of people: immigrants, Mexicans, Muslims.

My supposition is that he is projecting the unfeelingness of his Dad to him as a boy out to the world. That's how he salves his wound.

4. Trump's Wound Could Wound Us

I think my theory also explains why the LA Times in a recent editorial was moved to write the following:

"What is most worrisome about Trump is Trump himself. He is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation. His obsession with his own fame, wealth and success, his determination to vanquish enemies real and imagined, his craving for adulation  these traits were, of course, at the very heart of his scorched-earth outsider campaign; indeed, some of them helped get him elected. But in a real presidency in which he wields unimaginable power, they are nothing short of disastrous."

4. Trump's Lack Of Empathy

By his own admission he never took care of his children, and only appeared to have become friends with them after they were grownup, when he could use them in his business.

Which brings me to a last point. What is it with Trump's lack of empathy, which has led to the sometimes label of sociopath or psychopath? What is it within him that leads him to stiff suppliers, and defraud elderly folks with Trump University.

Can that be explained by the part a hard, harsh, tough, non-emotional father played in the boy Trump's life?

Stiffing your suppliers without a twinge of remorse  how do you explain that? If it's just plain selfishness, it's selfishness of a pathological degree. Could it be that Trump is unfeeling like that, because he internalized unfeelingness from his father? How do you stiff someone who has done you a service? And when you finally agree to pay up, you whittle the supplier down to a tenth of the agreed-upon price? Unscrupulous. Unethical. It's of a piece with using bankruptcy to your advantage, to avoid taxes.

So this is a new theory about Trump: he is who he is not just because he is a full-blown narcissist, which he undoubtedly is, or a sociopath or psychopath, which he might be. He is who he is because he is wounded. Deeply wounded. Look no further than his life as a young boy with his unreachable Dad.

5. Maybe Trump's Followers Have His Wound, Too

I would go further. Perhaps Trump's most ardent followers suffer from the same thing. Perhaps many Trump supporters are like him. That would explain a lot, especially the fact that most of the men who voted for Trump actually make above-average money, and aren't the downtrodden working class lads about whom pundits punt their punditry.

Perhaps behind Trump marches an army of successful but angry, wounded men who as boys were neglected by their fathers.

Men who deserve your compassion.

Unless you're one of them. In which case, you're the one who most needs your compassion.
While the pay could be better, benefits of teaching out of this world


Partners with JCB International to Enable SEPA Transactions

Melbourne, June 26, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - JCB International Co., Ltd., the international operations subsidiary of JCB, is pleased to announce that Australian Securities and Frankfurt Stock Exchange listed iSignthis Ltd ( ASX:ISX ) ( TA8:FRA ) (iSignthis), the global leader in remote identity verification, payment authentication and payment processing, has signed a direct License Agreement to process JCB transactions in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The partnership couples JCB card services with iSignthis RegTech services to offer card acquiring, settlement and processing services to EU/EEA merchants, creating new opportunities to generate sales with JCB's 106 million card members worldwide. With this agreement in place, iSignthis services will be on-boarded to JCB during Q3 '17 with JCB acceptance going live before the end of 2017.



JCB is rapidly increasing its acceptance footprint across EMEA by expanding its merchant acceptance network, particularly with e-commerce retailers, to support Japan as the 4th largest B2C global market for e-commerce by engaging directly with fintech payment processors. Currently JCB cards are accepted at merchants worldwide. iSignthis provides an end-to-end customer due diligence and on-boarding service for merchants, with a unified payment and identity service via its Paydentity(TM) and ISXPay(R) solutions, offering global reach to any of the world's 3.5Bn 'bank verified' card or account holders.



iSignthis will offer the new service to EU/EEA based merchants, incorporating JCB card acquiring into Paydentity(TM), further extending both iSignthis' merchant reach to Asian customers, and JCB acceptance with EEA merchants. iSignthis' merchants include some of the world's largest regulated fintech companies, in addition to technology and online ecommerce merchants.



Mr. Tsuyoshi Notani, Managing Director of JCB International (Europe) Ltd, said, "A true testament to our willingness and ability to engage with cutting-edge fintech businesses, this partnership with iSignthis is a significant step forward for JCB as we expand across every European market. As a gateway to the East, we offer European acquirers the ability to engage with Asian consumers, giving JCB card members greater freedom and flexibility when it comes to enjoying our services internationally."



John Karantzis, CEO of iSignthis, said, "We are honored to be partnering with JCB, a leading issuer in Japan and a major international scheme. JCB is one of the world's most trusted providers of payment technologies, which have been deployed to 106 million users. The JCB partnership is a further validation and extension of the Paydentity(TM) technology and its capabilities covering KYC remote identity, payment processing and authentication. The ISXPay JCB service will be offered to all eligible EU based merchants and fintech, seeking to access the JCB network of cards and credit solutions. At the same time, iSignthis will offer JCB card holders access to these merchants in a secure and verified environment. We plan to have JCB integrated by Q3 of this year, and transactions processing before the end of 2017. We are excited to be bringing this highly regarded Asian brand to the European fintech sector."





About iSignthis Ltd





iSignthis Ltd (ASX:ISX) (FRA:TA8) is a hybrid monetary financial institution and also a RegTech leader in remote identity verification, payment authentication with deposit taking, transactional banking and payment processing capability. iSignthis provides an end-to-end on-boarding service for merchants, with a unified payment, electronic money and identity service via our Paydentity(TM) and ISXPay(R) solutions.

By converging payments and identity, iSignthis delivers regulatory compliance to an enhanced customer due diligence standard, offering global reach to any of the world's 4.2Bn 'bank verified' card or account holders, that can be remotely on-boarded to meet the Customer Due Diligence requirements of AML regulated merchants in as little as 3 to 5 minutes. Paydentity(TM) has now onboarded and verified more than 1.5m persons to an AML KYC standard.

iSignthis Paydentity(TM) service is the trusted back office solution for regulated entities, allowing merchants to stay ahead of the regulatory curve, and focus on growing their core business. iSignthis' subsidiary, iSignthis eMoney Ltd, trades as ISXPay(R), and is an EEA authorised eMoney Monetary Financial Institution, offering card acquiring in the EEA, and Australia.

ISXPay(R) is a principal member of Mastercard Inc, Diners, Discover, (China) Union Pay International and JCB International, an American Express aggregator, and provides merchants with access to payments via alternative methods including SEPA, Poli Payments, Sofort, PRZ24 and others.

Probanx Solutions Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of iSignthis Ltd, provides API based access to CORE Banking solutions, SEPA Core, SEPA Instant and SEPA business scheme, for neobanks, banks, credit unions and emoney institutions, and provides a bridge to the Eurosystem's Central Bank of Lithuania's CENTROLink service.

About JCB

JCB is a major global payment brand and a leading payment card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase merchant coverage and card member base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to provide responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide. For more information, please visit: https://www.global.jcb/en/

or https://www.jcbeurope.eu


Partners with First People Digital to Sell Indigenous Products to China

Sydney, June 26, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - SmartTrans Holdings Limited ( ASX:SMA ) (SmartTrans or the Company) is pleased to announce a new initiative with First People Digital that will allow Indigenous enterprises to sell products and services directly to consumers in China through the RooLife online marketplaces.



- SmartTrans to partner with First People Digital to add Indigenous products and services to the RooLife marketplaces in China



- Indigenous enterprises will gain exposure to the world's largest online shopping market in China, providing potential new income streams



- Significant opportunities for Indigenous enterprises to offer new products and services to Chinese consumers, including art work, foods, medicines, tourism and traditional products



- SmartTrans continues to add high-quality Australian products and service to RooLife



First People Digital is a digital technology services provider that has been recently established to ensure that Indigenous people, communities and enterprises participate in and benefit from the digital economy. First People Digital is proudly majority Indigenous-owned.



Through this initiative, Australian Indigenous communities will be able to sell their products and services directly to consumers in China through SmartTrans' RooLife online stores across a range of popular e-commerce platforms including Wjike.com, TMall.com, JD.com and WeChat. The stores operate through SmartTrans' established relationships with well-established Chinese companies Wjike and Dodoca.



One of the benefits of this arrangement is that payments to Indigenous enterprises will be settled locally in Australian currency.



The addition of Indigenous products, alongside the existing range of carefully-selected premium Australian brands already available through RooLife, fits perfectly with the RooLife concept of promoting Australian products, services, culture and heritage to China.



With 1.2 million Chinese visitors to Australia in 2016, a 20% year-on-year increase (according to Tourism Australia), there is also an especially strong opportunity for Indigenous communities to generate income by selling unique tourism-related services to Chinese consumers through RooLife.



Australian-made products have a strong reputation for quality in the Chinese market and the RooLife marketplaces provide consumers with a trustworthy and dependable source for genuine, high-quality products from Indigenous enterprises.



The arrangement also supports the establishment of a basis on which two of the world's oldest cultures, Indigenous Australians and Chinese, can develop a deeper understanding of each other to grow and support interactions via trade opportunities.



This new and exciting initiative between First People Digital and SmartTrans is further evidence of RooLife's growing strength in terms of its product range, providing a valuable gateway for Australian companies, brands and communities looking to export to China.



SmartTrans Managing Director Bryan Carr said: "The partnership between SmartTrans and First People Digital further highlights how the RooLife marketplaces are fast becoming the go-to destination for Australian and Indigenous businesses and brands looking to sell products to China.



"In the past, Chinese consumers may have unwittingly purchased lower-quality imitations of Indigenous products, while Indigenous artists and communities may not have realised fair value for their work. The RooLife marketplaces are a trustworthy and dependable way to facilitate the provision of quality products and services and ensure buyer and seller get the best experience.



"In particular, there is a massive, fast-growing and under-served market in China for unique tourism experiences that Indigenous communities in Australia are uniquely positioned to fill and we anticipate tourism will quickly emerge as a major product category.



"We are delivering on our objective to offer more than 100 quality Australian brands through the RooLife marketplaces within the first year of operation and look forward to adding more great products in the near future."



SmartTrans is continuously working to further drive scale for the RooLife marketplaces through partnerships with the vendors of additional premium-quality Australian brands, and will continue to update the market with further developments.





About SmartTrans Holdings Limited





SmartTrans Holdings Limited (ASX:SMA) is a leading Australian technology and software provider that has developed a mobile and online billing and payment platform for the China market The company has agreements in place with China Mobile, China Unicorn, China Telecom CMPay, UnionPay and Alipay. With the growing use of the smartphone as a billing device in China, the company is experiencing significant uptake of its technology in that market. SmartTrans has also developed cutting-edge proprietary logistics software which is used by some of Australia's leading blue-chip organisations who have long term contracts in place with the company. SmartTrans is assessing growth opportunities for its logistic offering in China to complement its mobile and online payments platform.


Lithium Projects Update - Pilgangoora and Greenbushes

Perth, June 26, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Venus Metals Corporation Limited ( ASX:VMC ) is pleased to provide an update on WA Lithium Projects at Pilgangoora and Greenbushes.



Pilbara Projects



- Recent interpretation of regional geophysical data (aeromagnetic & radiometric) over Pilgangoora East and Wodgina South has identified a number of potassic-rich, pegmatite target areas.



- A significant potassic-rich trend, identified from radiometric data covering Pilgangoora East (E45/4630), has an identical signature to the Lithium-Tantalum bearing pegmatites held by Pilbara Minerals and other explorers in the region (see Figure 1 in the link below).



- Several new target areas were delineated from analysis of the magnetic data at Wodgina South (E45/4627& P45/3004) (see Figure 2 in the link below).



- Lithium Australia NL ( ASX:LIT ) (under MoU) is planning to conduct a detailed mapping and surface sampling to refine the target locations at Pilgangoora East and Wodgina South tenements.



Greenbushes East Project



- A broad potassic rich area (>9 km2) has been identified from regional radiometric data, and is located southeast of Talison Lithium's world-class Greenbushes Lithium-Tantalum mine.



- A NW trending major fault is interpreted to be controlling Lithium- Tantalum mineralisation at the Greenbushes Li-Ta mine and extends into the potassium-rich target area in E70/4810 (see Figure 3 in the link below).



- VMC is planning to conduct reconnaissance geological mapping, followed by RAB drilling, in the coming weeks.



To view figures, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/Q812FQQR





About Venus Metals Corporation Limited





Venus Metals Corporation Limited (ASX:VMC) is a West Australian based Company with a focus on gold, base metals, vanadium and lithium exploration projects. The Company aims to increase shareholder value through targeted exploration success on its projects.

The Company's major gold project is the Youanmi Gold Mine, located 500km north-east of Perth. The Youanmi Gold Mine is now jointly owned by Venus Metals (30%) and Rox Resources Limited (70%); Indicated and Inferred Resource of the mine is in excess of 3 million ounces of gold.
Various large Listed South African funds feel African real estate is a long term game hindered by weak laws. They need recourse if something goes wrong.

The African real estate market needs stronger regulations and a more reliable rule of law in order to attract investment in the continent  Africa Property News.com has learned.

Various large Listed South African funds feel African real estate is a long term game hindered by weak laws. They need recourse if something goes wrong.

This was revealed at the recent South African Property Owners Association (Sapoa) Conference which was held in Cape Town last week.

Addressing the conference, CEO of Fortress Income Fund, the very successful diversified property group, Mark Stevens said it was still highly risk to invest institutional capital in the likes of Nigeria, because property laws and regulatory frameworks were not strong enough yet.



Stevens was a part of a panel at the South African Property Owners Association's (Sapoa) conference, held in Cape Town last week.



Fortress has invested in industrial property in South Africa - in fact it owns the most of listed industrial property in the country. It invests in Western Europe through its stake in Hammerson plc and in central and eastern Europe through New Europe Property Investments (Nepi) and Rockcastle Global Real Estate which own assets in countries including Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic.



Nepi and Rockcastle are set to merge into the largest property fund on the JSE with a market capitalisation of over R85bn.



Fortress is part of the Resilient REIT group of companies. Resilient REIT had plans to build ten shopping centres in Nigeria, but these have been put on hold.



"We have been unable to spend the money which we raised in Nigeria. The economic policies related to currency control are not conducive to investing for us," said Resilient REIT MD Des de Beer a few months ago.

"Nigeria is on ice in our portfolio for the time being. We are looking to move our efforts elsewhere," he said.



Rendeavour CEO and founder and developing market investment expert, Stephen Jennings, said many African countries were actually offering very high growth relative to a decreasing degree of political and conflict risk as compared with the likes of Western Europe and the US.



He said many South African investors may have taken their money out of the continent because of push factors without considering strong genuine opportunities in Africa.



Stevens said he still believed political risk had caused trouble in SA's economy. It had created volatility.



"We are in a recession and recent ratings downgrades have prompted investors to buy assets offshore. SA's government needs to stay out of running much of the economy," he said.
Several government websites in the US states of Ohio and Maryland had to be shut down after being hacked to display messages supporting the Islamic State group.

Among the affected websites was one belonging to Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Posted on the websites was a message, from a group calling itself Team System DZ, vowing revenge against US President Donald Trump.

You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries, it read, adding: I Love Islamic state.

The messages, written in gold lettering against a black backdrop, also displayed a white symbol with what looked like Arabic script.

The one posted on Kasichs website also played an Islamic call to prayer.

A website for Howard County, Maryland, several miles outside Washington DC, was also affected.

Some of the websites remained out of service early Monday, while Kasichs www.governor.ohio.gov site was back up and running after being taken offline Sunday.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani voiced support on Sunday for Qatar in its confrontation with Irans rival Saudi Arabia and its allies, saying a siege of Qatar is unacceptable, the state news agency IRNA reported.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of support for Islamist militants, an allegation Qatar denies.

They have since issued 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television, curbing relations with Iran, shutting a Turkish base and paying reparations.

Tehran stands with the Qatari nation and government We believe that if there is a conflict between regional countries, pressure, threats or sanctions are not the right way to resolve differences, IRNA quoted Rouhani as telling Qatars emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in a telephone call.

The siege of Qatar is unacceptable to us The airspace, land and sea of our country will always be open to Qatar as a brotherly and neighbouring country, Rouhani said.

Doha, whose neighbours have closed their airspace to Qatari flights, has said it was reviewing the list of demands, but said it was not reasonable or actionable.
Police have arrested two persons for allegedly robbing a Mumbai-based jeweller last month of gold worth over Rs. 2 crore.

The duo hails from Rajasthan, police said.

One Manohar Singh Jodha, used to work as courier for a jeweller of Kalbadevi in Central Mumbai, DCP Zone XII, Vinay Kumar Rathod, said.

For about last three years, Jodha had been ferrying gold from Hyderabad for the jeweller. On May 30, he left with a gold consignment of 7.5 kg stuffed in his jacket from Hyderabad in a bus, the official said.

Upon arriving in Mumbai, Jodha told the jeweller that somebody had drugged him in the bus and fled with the jacket containing gold, Rathod said.

On June 3, a case in this regard was registered against unknown persons at Samta Nagar police station.

However, police got suspicious about Jodhas involvement in the crime as he fled Mumbai after the case was registered, the DCP said.

Upon investigation it was revealed that Jodha, along with one businessman from Rajasthan Narayan Singh Rathod had committed the crime. He had cooked-up a false story of robbery to mislead his employer and police, the official said.

Police then launched a manhunt and sent teams to Hyderabad and Rajasthan.

Fearing arrest, Jodha and co-accused Rathod kept changing their locations, he said.

The duo was, however, nabbed from suburban Borivali on June 23, another official said.

They have been sent to police custody till June 30.

Police have recovered 6.3 kg of stolen gold, worth Rs. 1.9 crore from their possession, he said.

Further investigation into the matter was underway, said the official.
This was long awaited moment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting US President Donald Trump, the build-up to his US tour witnessed Trump referring him as a true friend. Two different personalities, one inherent billions of dollars from his father, other one was born in a humble family, father as a chaiwala (tea seller). The US President got control of his father Fred Trumps real estate and construction firm and he renamed it The Trump Organization. On the other hand, our PM Modi helped his father in selling tea in Gujarats Vadnagar, while his mother worked as a domestic help to earn a livelihood. Being a millionaire, Donald Trump led an extravagant lifestyle. He has appeared at the Miss USA pageants, which he owned from 1996 to 2015. He has also made appearances in films and TV series. He hosted and co-produced The Apprentice, a reality television series on NBC, from 2004 to 2015. As of 2016, he was listed by Forbes as the 324th richest person in the world, and 156th in the US.

On the other hand, Modi leads a simple life. His 90-year-old mother has been seen travelling in auto-rickshaws. She lives in a simple house in Gujarats capital Gandhinagar. Modis other relatives too live a modest life and all are doing average to earn their bread; no one is favoured or has prospered, just because he is nations most powerful person. He lived like a saint most of the time, giving up everything. Donald Trump has been married three times and has five children. Apart from this, his relationship with women is very much debatable; he lived with money and fairy-tale life. A few days before the US Presidential elections, a 2005 video and audio clipping surfaced in which Donald Trump was heard big-headed about fumbling, kissing and trying to have sex with women. Well, Modi leads the life of a loner. He is single after having left his wife in his teenage years. He does not have any children. He always, lived a bachelor life.

Donald Trumps political rise has been deferred but unexpected and shrill. He sought presidential nomination in 2000 from the Reform Party. However, he withdrew before voting began. In June 2015, Trump announced his candidacy for president as a Republican. He emerged fast as the front-runner for his partys nomination. In May 2016, his rivals in the Grand Old Party suspended their campaigns. In July, he was formally nominated for the presidents post at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Exactly opposite, Narendra Modi has worked hard to steadily rise in politics. He worked at the lowest stair of the RSS and slowly became a Pracharak. Then, he was sent to BJP as RSS evocative. He rose to first become Gujarats Chief Minister in 2001. He was the states CM for four terms before becoming Indias PM. They both are different from each other. However, some elements which are matching make them stand in one row. At an apparent level, there are similarities. Both men have portrayed themselves as outsiders to power. Both railed against the political establishment; both use a rhetorical style that critics see as inflammatory; both attract fanatical devotion; both have opposed certain kinds of immigration, both inspire their loyalists to treat the media as enemy. And both have been accused of playing fast and loose with the facts for dramatic effect.

Modi struck a personal chord with Trump during the dinner meets discussing a range of crucial issues.

The excited Indian migrants gathered in Virginia to listen to Modis address that voiced confidence about the future of India-US ties under the leadership of Modi and President Donald Trump. The prime minister spoke for nearly 50 minutes at the event in Hindi and explained to the audience the welfare programmes his government has launched in past three years. Modi is an outstanding politician and a businessman. He knows, how to handle other entrepreneurs. Trump is a businessman too. Modi knows, how to make this trip to Indias advantage. Perhaps that is one good quality he has, wherever he goes he just dominates the ambience to great extent and proves that India is no less than any other country. There is a lot of positive energy and enthusiasm about Indias relations with the US. So, we can expect only a positive outcome from the Trump-Modi meeting and for the future of the two countries.

Overcoming trade and investment barriers would calm the concerns of the US leadership, trade associations and businesses. Both leaders are visionaries. Relations between the worlds two largest democracies had warmed under Mr. Trumps predecessor Barack Obama, as India sought greater foreign investment and trade ties. However, it was not long after Trumps election that obstacles emerged on issues such as trade and visas for Indians wanting to work in the United States. A proposed overhaul of H-1B visas  used by thousands of Indian software engineers to work in the United States, has caused concern. PM Modis core goals for the meeting are to ensure that India is on the US radar, and that the new US administration maintains policy continuity with the last one.

Trumps main concern is job creation in America and improving the living standard of denizens of rust belt. The arms sale to Saudi Arabia; castigation of Iran and tacit support for boycott of Qatar by GCC countries and subsequent sale of weapons to Qatar; withdrawal of security guarantees to NATO allies and his insistence on spending of 2 percentage of GDP by them on defence, are all indications that Trumps mind is preoccupied with American economy.

Let us all hope, this time our PM comes up with all goodies for Indians living in the US and Indians aspiring to do something in the US.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
In 2013, the Kern High School District had 3,173 students with Individualized Education Programs. It's projected to serve almost 1,000 more next year. The Bakersfield City School District saw 64 new autistic students last year, bringing the total number of its special ed students north of 3,100  a 4 percent increase over the prior year.

All they can do is dive into their reserves.

An unexplained increase in autistic and emotionally disturbed students is driving up special education enrollments  a huge problem for school districts that aren't getting any additional state and federal funds to cover the ballooning costs.

This story from California tells it all. So how long have we got as a country? How bad does the situation have to get before this is a crisis? REGARDLESS of the controversy over the cause, we have to admit there is something going on.

While health officials, doctors, and of course the media have spent the last two decades telling us our children are fine, all we have to do is keep on vaccinating them and shine those blue lights every April. These same three groups have scoffed at the idea that vaccines are damaging kids and pretended that more and more disabled students in our schools is better recognition. It's much more than just the rate of autism, something that no one is really concerned about, no matter what statistics are out there--it's also the flood of kids who can't speak, can't learn normally, and can't behave in a classroom. We've made up endless labels for them without any questions being asked.

By Anne Dachel I've read dozens of stories about what's happening to special education in recent days. I wrote this piece about the heated reaction to an Australian lawmaker who said that inclusion of severely autistic children in regular ed classes is taking a huge toll on teachers.

Experts can only speculate as to why autism diagnoses are on the rise  they've been attributed to everything from genetic deficiencies to better detection to vaccines. But those in special education are sure of one thing: the costs are staggering.

Were drowning, Roberta Joseph, a speech language therapist at Leo G. Pauly Elementary School said.

Some disabled students cost more to educate than others. But on average, KHSD paid about $19,170 to accommodate each of about 3,800 special education students last year. BCSD educated 3,146 students at $16,326 apiece. ...

The number of special education students has been rising and the cost of an individual special ed student, especially the more challenging students, is significant, said Julianna Gaines, executive director of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Consortium SELPA. ....

SURGING NUMBERS

KHSD will see 333 more disabled students next year, an 8 percent increase over last year. It has already hired more special education teachers to add to the 235 on staff, and added classrooms to accommodate them, Niday said.

Most special education students require two to three times the staffing of a general one.

In your basic special education classroom, they would have a teacher, and then most students require additional supports, so theres additional staff members. Theres speech pathologists, a mental health clinician, behaviorists, psychologists, Niday said.

Autistic students also typically require orthopedists and physical therapists, she said.

One in 68 children in the U.S. has been diagnosed with autism, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cause of the spike in cases has been speculated to be everything from vaccine and herbicide exposure to greater public awareness of the disorder.

BCSD enrolled 64 new autistic students last year, bringing its total to 451. In 2002, it had just 47. And while 64 new students may not sound like a significant increase, in special education, where class sizes are kept to about 10 students per room and each student has specific needs, it hits school budgets hard.

More stories.....

June 24, 2017, Toronto Star: Violence in Ontario schools prompts call for more front-line staff

Their kids have witnessed vulgar verbal attacks, seen teachers chased down the hall, even assaulted, and say too-frequent lockdowns at their elementary school have made students anxious.

A group of Oshawa parents says the situation has grown so out of hand at Beau Valley Public School that their children sometimes dont want to go to class. And they are calling on the Durham public board and province for changes to help curb such disturbing incidents across all boards  and better support students with special needs who need more support workers with them in class. ...

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is urging the government to fund more staff this fall  from educational assistants to social workers to counsellors to psychologists  as well as implement better training and reporting procedures.

President Sam Hammond acknowledged the government has made some progress on these issues, (but) there is much more work to be done . . . Were talking about the need for more services to address childrens mental health, as well as the need to ensure that funding for special needs is also allocated to front-line support services to help ensure the success and well being of every student. ...

One special education teacher in the Toronto board said hes happy with ministry initiatives on youth mental health, but whats needed is early intervention. Integrating students with behavioural issues into mainstream classes is the goal, he said, but they must be properly supported or their learning, and that of their classmates, suffers.

June 23, 2017, National Post (Canada): In rare display of unity, opposition hammers Trudeau on cold-hearted autism funding decision

http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/in-rare-display-of-unity-opposition-hammers-trudeau-on-cold-hearted-autism-funding-decision/wcm/cec295f7-0973-499d-af14-e0f6934ca615

....As it stands, he said, Canada doesnt even have reliable statistics about the prevalence of autism, because health services are delivered provincially and can vary from province to province. ...

Tom Frazier, chief science officer at Autism Speaks, said U.S. statistics show the prevalence of autism has increased significantly in the last 25 years, partly as people have children later and as the rate of survival of premature infants increases.

Lake, whose 21-year-old son, Jaden, is autistic, said he worries about the options for the growing number of adults with autism, and he plans to keep fighting for the partnership.

What happens when were gone? he said. Will we have a society that cares for our kids like we care for our kids?

May 31, 2017, Global News (Canada): Violence in Durham Region classrooms has seen teachers bitten, punched and kicked

http://globalnews.ca/news/3491070/violence-in-durham-region-classrooms-has-seen-teachers-bitten-punched-and-kicked-union/

The union representing elementary teachers in Durham Region says violence in some classrooms is hurting its members, which has parents and officials calling for more supports.

Durham Local Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario held a meeting in Oshawa Tuesday evening entitled Safe schools for all to discuss increased violence in schools, the education funding formula and special education. ...

Mastin said the union is aware of an extremely large number of student incidents and instances involving students and teachers.

Were talking about everything from biting, from kicking to pinching, all the way to grabbing hair, smashing heads on the desk. If you can imagine it, its happening, he said.

The meeting comes after Global News heard from educators and parents across Ontario about their concerns over integrated classrooms and supports being offered to children with disabilities.

I was punched in the head multiple times in one week, Jennifer said, adding some of the children who initiated physical contact have been as young as seven or eight years old.

Jennifer works in an integrated classroom where students with special needs and those without are in the same class.

June 23, 2017, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth: Community of Support for Young Adults With Autism Moves Forward

It's estimated that 50,000 people with autism age of out of the school system every year and that 85 percent of adults with autism are unemployed.

June 23, 2017, London (Ontario) Free Press: Special-ed funding, demand on the rise | The London Free Press

http://www.lfpress.com/2017/06/23/special-education-funding-demand-on-the-rise

June 23, 2017, Chalkbeat.org: In first for Aurora, charter school to run center for special education students | Chalkbeat

http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2017/06/23/charter-replacing-elementary-in-aurora-to-become-districts-first-to-run-a-center-program-for-special-needs/

May 31, 2017, Michigan Live: New $885K Ottawa ISD facility serves growing special needs population

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2017/05/ottawa_area_isd_dedicates_885k.html

May 11, 2017, Morningside, Maryland: Baltimore City Schools Spends More Than One-Quarter Of Its Budget For Special Needs Programs

http://morningsidemaryland.com/baltimore-city-schools-spends-more-than-one-quarter-of-its-budget-for-special-needs-programs/

April 11, 2017, KELO Sioux Falls, SD: More Teachers Needed For Growing Special Education Enrollment

http://www.keloland.com/news/article/education/more-teachers-needed-for-growing-special-education-enrollment

Jan 23, 2017, Chicago Tribune: Critics: CPS Special Ed Policy Is Delay And Deny

http://www.bettergov.org/news/critics-cps-special-ed-policy-is-%E2%80%98delay-and-deny%E2%80%99

Jan 19, 2017, Texas Tribune: Expecting spike in special ed students, advocates push for better services

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/01/19/advocates-pushing-increase-quality-not-just-number/

2016 New Jersey School Boards Association: Meeting a Growing Need for Special Education

https://www.njsba.org/news-publications/school-leader/july-august-2016-volume-47-1/meeting-growing-need-special-education/








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Big powers and South Asia

South Asia where the two nuclear powers India and Pakistan that jointly occupy Jammu Kashmir- a nation sandwiched between them - dominate the scene by perpetual conflict, wars and cross boarder fires, alongside limited cross border trade, remains one of the most tensed regions of the globe. NATO war on Afghanistan and its continued military presence there further complicated the situation in the region.

Global superpower USA, wanting perpetual terror wars in Islamic nations so that their economies are weakened and they become destabilized, is therefore keen to prolong the conflict in Afghanistan by creating problems and brining in new terror actors wit new names. Pakistan believes that the US may be using ISIS as proxy to further its interests particularly to counter China and a resurgent Russia. Russia is interested in engaging the Taliban in an attempt to defeat ISIS in the region.

The USA is not ready yet to accept a peace deal something officials here pointed out showed Washingtons lack of interest in seeking any peaceful environment anywhere in the world that would drastically undercut the arms trade by USA and Israel. Contrary to the tough US stance, China and Russia are willing to show flexibility in a bid to give way for genuine peace efforts. The unending Afghan problem has brought Pakistan and Russia so close that the two are now taking their ties to new heights in terms of strategic and defence cooperation. The development is part of a series of steps the two countries have undertaken in recent years to open a new chapter in their relationship that have long been held hostage to the politics of cold war era.

Today, as a new development in international relations, Pakistan, China and Russia have come together to stabilize South Asia, first by brining stability in war torn and highly destabilized Muslim nation Afghanistan. For well over two decades, Islamabad and Moscow competed against each other to pursue their interests. Now the two are all set to become part of a possible alliance in a dramatic turnaround in their otherwise frosty relationship for decades. China plays a crucial mediating nation. Pakistans entry into SCO makes its place secured in international politics.

Until recently New Delhi increased its military and economic ties with Russia to ensure its occupation of Jammu Kashmir which it annexed in 1947 by using all British arms and technology as soon as it got independence from Great Britain. But now India with its fast growing economy has chosen USA and Europe and Israel to spend its money on new terror goods. Russia, however, is not much worried about the change of political and military mind in New Delhi. Russia then, but gradually, moved towards Pakistan for beneficial ties.

Kashmir, being occupied India is another major cause of serious concern perpetually blocking chances of regional peace. The emergence of ISIS in Afghanistan is not gong bring peace there at least in the near future. For Pakistan, this is dangerous scenario as prolonged instability in Afghanistan will continue to cast shadow on its progress and stability. Russia and China have endorsed Pakistans stance on Afghanistan seeking an all inclusive reconciliation process. Emerging Russo-Pakistani ties have obviously created uneasiness not just in New Delhi, a very close military ally of Russia, but in the USA.

China, USA and Russia are supposed to play important role in the stability or otherwise of South Asia where the w two nuclear powers India and Pakistan continue to fight each other over the occupied Jammu Kashmir.

Steady improvement

Pakistan and Russia have joined hands for apprehensions that the USA may not be interested in bringing stability to Afghanistan for its own strategic interests. These fears have now opened up the possibility of an alliance between Pakistan, Russia and China in an unprecedented development that will shape the future of this volatile region. They are inching closer to formalizing their relationship with an aim to bring regional stability particularly seeking a political solution to the Afghan war. With a view to evolving a regional consensus for the lingering conflict in Afghanistan Russia has already hosted two meetings involving Pakistani and Chinese officials to discuss the Afghanistan problem that keeps spiraling and disallows peace in the region.

Pakistan accepted the Russian Federations proposal to enter into bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Russian President Vladimir Putin during his meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at Astana gave the offer - which Pakistan accepted. In the meeting, it was also decided to setup a top-level committee of Russian and Pakistan officials on the FTA. Sources have informed that leaders of both the countries will soon meet to formally sign the trade agreement. Pakistan has FTA agreement with China, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

Moreover, Russia has also unconditionally expressed support for Pakistans inclusion in Eurasian Economic Union  the FTA will increase Pakistan`s trade volume, exports and foreign reserves as it will Pakistan access to Russian markets.

Russo-Pakistan relations since 1947 when India and Pakistan became free from British occupation have never been sound. Russian interest in Pakistan grew only when Soviet army invaded neighboring Afghanistan. As a leader of NAM, India became an important nation to propagate socialist thinking in third world. The Soviet Union and Pakistan first established the diplomatic and bilateral relations on 1 May 1948. For the most of the Cold War, the Soviet Union's relations with Pakistan have seen ups and downs during the different periods of Pakistan's history. Pakistan turned to USA as an anti-communist country. And let Washington decide its policies and fate. In response to ongoing Soviet support to communist Afghanistan regarding the Durand Line issue during the late 1970s and 1980s, Pakistan began to support Mujahideen rebels attempting to overthrow the Soviet-backed communist regime and was later aided by the United States, United Kingdom, China and Saudi Arabia. This later led to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

In 2010, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia stated that Russia was against developing strategic and military ties with Pakistan because of Russian desire to place emphasis on strategic ties with India. In 2011, Russia changed its policy and Putin publicly endorsed Pakistans bid to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and said that Pakistan was a very important partner in South Asia and the Muslim world for Russia. Putin offered Russia's assistance in expansion of Pakistan Steel Mills and provision of technical support for the Guddu and Muzaffargarh power plants and Russia was interested in developing the Thar Coal Project In 2011, Russia strongly condemned the NATO strike in Pakistan and the Russian foreign minister stated it is unacceptable to violate the sovereignty of a state, even when planning and carrying out counter-insurgent operations.

In 2012, Russia and Pakistan have covertly developed geopolitical and strategic relations behind the scenes of world politics for the last two years. In 2012, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced to pay a state visit to Pakistan soon after his re-election, later he cancelled it, citing other crucial engagement. However, to offset the diplomatic setback caused by this unexpected cancellation of much-anticipated visit, Putins sent his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (Media reported that Putin cancelled the visit due tremendous pressure from both USA and India.) On 5-August-2013 Colonel General Vladimir V Chirkin visited Pakistan where he was received by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The two generals discussed matters of mutual interest with emphasis on improving defence cooperation, army-to-army relations the security situation in the region, especially in Afghanistan post 2014. The Russian Federation came to a conclusion that Pakistan is a crucial player in Afghanistan and that, as NATO withdraws, it becomes all the more urgent for Moscow to seek some sort of modus vivendi with Islamabad

Russia, China and Pakistan seem to come together to stabilize Afghanistan as a prelude to make the region safe and secure. In recent years ties between Russia and Pakistan have warmed as a counter measure to warming ties between India and the USA, the two countries carried out their first ever joint military drills in 2016 despite Indian requests to postpone due to attack. Pakistan and Russia signed an agreement for the North-South gas pipeline from Lahore to Karachi, and reached a price accord by December 2016. Pakistan has also granted Russia access to a warm water port in the Arabian Sea Gwadar Port.

The development is part of a series of steps the two countries have undertaken in recent years to open a new chapter in their relationship that have long been held hostage to the politics of cold war era.

Is Islam popular in Russia?

Pakistan is a Muslim nation and a close ally of Arab nations. Russia, like China, is not known to be pro-Islam nation; however, unlike China which denies the Muslim population the right to pray and undertake fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, it does not harm the Muslim interests in any direct manner. The Chinese anti-Islam behavior is indeed strange and awkward in view of its close relations with Pakistan.

Can Russia, predominantly a Christian nation now, like Pakistan or Islam? The bilateral relations have not showed any people-to people relations as yet. President Putin inaugurated a big Mosque in Russia in the presence of Turkish President Erdogan that made it amply clear his real mind.

It seems Islam is becoming popular in Russia and Putin who killed many Chechen Muslims to strengthen his presidency, doesnt intervene in Islamic faith in Russia. But he opposes terrorism which is given the Islamic color by the West.

Meanwhile, thirty percent of Russians now identify as Muslims, according to a new survey by the ZoomMarket marketing agency, just 12 percent fewer than the 42 percent who say they are Orthodox Christians. Some 18 percent say they are atheists, with all other denominations in the single digits. Thus, three percent of Russians say they are Roman Catholics, two percent say they are Protestants or Old Believers, and one percent each identify as Buddhists, Jews, Greek Catholics or Slavic pagans.

The most Muslim places were Kazan (72 percent), Krasnodar (43 percent), Voronezh (31 percent), Yekaterinburg (29 percent), Krasnoyarsk (28 percent), and Moscow (26 percent). And the most atheist were St. Petersburg (26 percent), Voronezh and Yekaterinburg (23 percent), Krasnoyarsk (22 percent), Moscow (21 percent), and Novosibirsk (18 percent).

These figures are important for at least three reasons. First, they show just how rapidly Islam is gaining ground in Russia. Second, they cast doubt on the claims of the Kremlin and the Moscow Patriarchate about how Orthodox Russia in fact now is. And third, they set the stage for even more changes ahead. One indication of that: a third of all those queried said that they would vote for a religious party if one were available to them.

Geopolitics and Indian worry

India believes it has got maximum benefits from Russia and now it must go ahead with a strong a strategic partnership with USA to advance its national interest at par with Israel.

India is worried that its nearly 70-year friendship with Russia is about to end. Russia is warming up to Indias biggest historical enemy, Pakistan, which inevitably has led to tensions between New Delhi and Moscow. So even though India and Russia were very close for nearly seven decades, Russia-Indian relations have come crashing down over the last two years as India looks forward to Washington, Israel and its western allies

Geopolitics is the reason the relationship between the two countries is deteriorating. Moscow and New Delhi have backed one another on the international diplomatic sphere for decades. But when Russia refused to support Indias bid to turn Pakistan into a pariah state this year, Moscow took a major step away from its friendship with New Delhi. Russia and India may have signed large-scale military deals over the past seven decades, but when Moscow held its first-ever joint military drills this year with Pakistan  Indias biggest adversary  it was a sign that Russia is trying to send a message.

When Russia rejected Indias efforts in November to isolate Pakistan politically, tensions between Moscow and New Delhi reached their peak. While concerns are rising within the Indian government, Russia continues to warm up to Pakistan and has recently shown interest in Pakistans joint project with China, the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The CPEC is a sensitive issue for India because the project passes through the disputed Gilgit-Baltistan region in Kashmir. By backing the project, Russia automatically declares its support for Pakistans position in the long-standing Kashmir issue, a major development in Russian-Indian relations that could end their seven-decade friendship once and for all.

Apparently, India is not much worried about deteriorating ties with Moscow as it calculates that would make USA move forward to seek closer ties with India. Unlike Soviet era policy of free economic assistance, now Russia does business deals with India incurring huge expenses and it wants to buy terror goods from USA and Israel, instead. Indians say Russias cooperation with Pakistan directly threatens Indias safety. Indias unexpected turn toward the USA wasnt met with much excitement in Moscow, which is why Russias efforts to find a new ally in the region shouldnt come as a surprise. And Russia seems to have made a choice in favor of Pakistan, no matter how painful it may sound for India.

However, increasing Russo-Pakistanis ties annoy New Delhi. But Moscow has assumed India it continued support and not to worry much about its relations with Pakistan. Dismissing Indian fears over growing Russia-Pakistan relations, Russian President Vladimir Putin on said that while his country had a "deep cooperation" with India, which could not preclude ties with other countries, including Pakistan. Putin reportedly assured the Indian state-run news agency that Russia's relations with Pakistan will have "no impact on trade between India and Russia. The Russian president also spoke about the "deep cooperation" his country enjoys with India in areas such as missile technology, asserting that the relationship between the two countries "cannot be diluted." He added, however, that this "special relationship" between the two countries should not be a restriction on forming contracts with other "partnering countries."Putin admires Islamabad: saying: "I believe Pakistan is taking immense steps to stabilize the situation in the country."

Urgent concerns

Pakistan, meanwhile, has two urgent concerns: the violent military suppression of legitimate political discontent in India-occupied Kashmir and the actions a hawkish Hindutva Indian government may be taking to stir trouble inside Pakistan. India under Prime Minister Narendra Modis misguided, militarized policies in occupied Kashmir and refusal to engage Pakistan and freedom fighting leaders could attempt to play on the latters fears by pulling closer to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the LoC, racked by tensions and frequent exchanges of fire, is worryingly close to the possibility of a conflagration.

Helping reduce tensions in the short term and promoting dialogue among Pakistan, India and Afghanistan will only work if China, the USA and Russia play pivotal roles and recognize the interplay between the various security concerns of the three countries.

China is a traditional ally of Pakistan and therefore an adversary of India. Warming up to Islamabad is a smart move to get closer to China, but that move comes at a price: abandoning its decades-long friendship with India. In fact, India must blame itself for losing a close and reliable friend in Russia. As the Cold War-era generation doesnt hold much sway in India now, its far trendier for the newer generation to look up to America. A survey by the Pew Research Center in 2015 revealed that more Indians view USA favorably than Russia.. Moscow cannot but lose appeal in a country that has been gravitating towards Russias biggest competitor in the world. The Kremlin reminded India that Moscow hasnt made any complaints about New Delhis growing cooperation with Washington on matters of defense.

In order to stabilize Afghanistan there should at least be normal relations between India and Pakistan. The threats to peace and stability in the region are interlinked and dialogue is the only realistic solution. Russia has offered to mediate between Pakistan and India. China appears to once again be preparing to take a lead role in dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the newly revived Quadrilateral Coordination Group framework. The USA, in a new review of its Afghan policy, has broadened the scope to include its policy towards Pakistan, which in turn has widened to include the latters ties with India.

Kabul, riven by political tensions and under extreme pressure by the Afghan Taliban on the battlefield, has taken to blaming Pakistan for all its security troubles and has cooled to the idea of dialogue with. Very recent events suggest that Kabul may be considering softening its approach towards the insurgents, and coordinated diplomacy by outside powers could help in this.

Demanding Pakistan put pressure on the Afghan Taliban without helping alleviate its concerns about Indias growing involvement in Afghanistan and destabilization efforts in Pakistan, has not worked in over a decade.

Similarly, Pakistan demanding India address the Kashmir dispute is unlikely to achieve results while New Delhi, unwilling to deliver justice to Kashmiris by surrendering their sovereignty back to them instead of murdering and terrorizing them, is focused on a perceived terrorism threat from Pakistan to dilute the tensed situation in Kashmir.

India has killed over 1000,000 Kashmiris and converted Kashmir its major military cantonment to keep increasing its military prowess there to silence the freedom movement now by the youth there.

War no option for peace

For all the tensions among India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the three states recognize that war is not an option and that peace and stability must be sought. Surely, that is a need for big-power diplomacy in this region. As a senior partner of both India and Pakistan, USA could contribute to the noble cause of freedom of a nation by indirectly pushing the Modi government to opt for surrendering sovereignty to Kashmiris ion favor of regional stability and global peace that would be an achievement much more than and above the ordinary Nobel Peace prize. At the very least, outside powers can try and stabilize regional dynamics that are threatening to spiral out of control.

The QCG, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the influence that the USA, China and Russia independently have in this region  all can be for the good if used pragmatically and in a sustained manner.

What remains to be seen is if the USA, China and Russia, each of which has different relations with India and Pakistan but all of whom are invested in stability in Afghanistan, can do something more and better  help align the interests of Pakistan and Afghanistan (also India) in a way that reduces regional tensions.

Strong bilateral ties between Russia and Pakistan could have a very important positive outcome: Kashmiris would get back the lost sovereignty. Could Russia  standing between New Delhi and Islamabad and now having an equally big influence on the two of them  help resolve some of the most pressing issues in the region, the Kashmir issue?

Indias policy cum efforts to solve the regional tensions without surrendering Jammu Kashmir  but only by killing Kashmiris who demand sovereignty back, have only made the region a perpetually crisis region. Both India and Pakistan keep adding more terror goods to their military depots, denying a credible chance for peace in South Asia.








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Spiritual well being of human is the major thrust of fasting during Holy month of Ramadan. As Muslims stay away from food, water, etc during the day for whole moth, they also keep themselves away from bad thoughts and wrong life patterns as well. They are kind to others and never think of hurting their feelings or make them suffer. Muslims cultivate healthy habits and positive thinking and completely overcome narrow mentally. Thus they indeed become true humans, real Muslims as envisaged by Islam and prescribed in the holy Quran.

Once again the Holy Ramadan month has come to purify the minds of Muslims as the chief blessings of Allah (Arabic world for God) to help the humanity of believers live much better than now and after the holy month and safe-land in the Hereafter life. As the Holy month is coming to end Muslims should ponder over the meaning of the Holy month and its spiritual value. This helps us to gauge the change that may have happened in our lives and our very perceptions of life.

Muslims are under intense surveillance and attacks globally while many Muslims deliberately harm fellow Muslims and bring bad name for Islam by their foolish misbehavior even with Muslims. It is because they have no faith in God or Islam. Whether they fast sincerely or not, they live for themselves, their focus being on scheming and material profits, even work against Islam and Muslim community.

These Muslims harm Muslims and others as use Islam and community for their own upliftment; they are a shame to Islam and Muslim community.But those who observe fasting and offer prayers should be on guard from evils of all kinds. There are precautions that could help Muslims to overcome that and attain spiritual heights the Ramadan fasting is meant for.

Muslims should realize that fasting during the holy Month is not a formality. Attaining self-purification through spirituality is a major goal of Islamic fasting-worship, especially in the month of Holy Ramadan, although unfortunately Muslims fast for certain material benefits.

The entire global nation of over 2 billion people, men and women, young and old, rich or poor - all together, for a whole month - not eating, not drinking and not having intimate relations, during the daylight hours. This describes the month of Ramadan.

Fasting as a spiritual practice is found not just in Islam but in all religions but there are fundamental differences as Islam prescribes clear cut norms- from dawn to dusk every day for full month of Ramadan. Fasting in Islam does not just consist of refraining from eating and drinking, but from every kind of selfish desire and wrong-doing. The fast is not merely of the body, but essentially that of the mind and spirit as well. The physical fast is only a symbol and outward expression of the real, inner fast.

The founders of various other faiths (Buddha, Moses, Jesus, others) practiced quite rigorous fasting as a preliminary to attaining their first experience of spiritual enlightenment and communion with God. However, it is not that only Holy prophets fast but also all believers also do so, and they all do so not as a mere formality but with a spiritual purpose useful for the human lives. Islamic fasting, especially in Ramadan month, is significant for its content and length - from dawn to dusk without food or drink.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar which is a month of blessed, month of revelation of the Holy Quran, andmonth to achieve Jannah, and therefore the best month in a year Muslims look forward each year to fulfill their spiritual duties. Fasting is one of Islam's five main pillars. The other pillars are the belief in one God and the Prophet Mohammed as His Messenger, praying five times a day, completing the pilgrimage to Mecca for those who are able and giving charity or "zakat". Though fasting is mandatory for all Muslims upon reaching puberty, as long as they are mentally and physically sound, it should notbe observed as amereformality. Those elderly and chronically ill are exempt from fasting; however, it is incumbent upon them to feed the poor instead if they possess the financial means. Concern for less privileged and poor is the thrust of Islamic fasting.

While fasting, Muslims are expected to reflect upon good and bad things that have happened to them in the past, especially the last Ramadan month. Those Muslims who have been Islamic, positively religious, upright with truth, who avoid ill speech, arguments, loss of temper and malicious behavior, who have served the cause of Islam and Muslims, helped fellow Muslims and others in difficult positions, who have kept the word given to others - are the blessed ones - especially those who undertook the fasting and did only good things, thought only of good positive tidings! Remember, Allah warns us of consequences for each of our good or bad actions and we would be held accountable for everything we do or refuse to do.

It is quite possible that Allah does not punish quickly enough those who commit hypocritical errors or crimes but that does not mean we can justify everything we do.

The Holy Quran informs the believers, the Muslims, that fasting, like other Islamic duties, is prescribed for them. O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard against evil. (Holy Quran, 2:183) Allah says: And when My servants ask you (O Prophet) about Me, surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should hear My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way. (ibid, 2:186) And swallow not up your property among yourselves by false means, nor seek to gain access thereby to the authorities so that you may swallow up other peoples property wrongfully while you know. (ibid., 2:188) He who does not give up uttering falsehood and acting according to it, God has no need of his giving up his food and drink. (Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAS). Prophet Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights, and explained it by saying: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:2-4.) Prophet Moses also had fasted forty days and forty nights (Exodus 34:28).

Purpose of fasting in Islam as practiced by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAS) include (a) develop and strengthen our powers of self-control, so that we can resist wrongful desires and bad habits, and therefore guard against evil. In fasting, exercising our ability of self-restraint, so that we can then apply it to our everyday life to bring about self-improvement; (b) to attain nearness and closeness to Almighty Allah (God) so that He becomes a reality in our lives. The rigors of fasting purely for the sake of following a Divine commandment, knowing and feeling that He can see all our actions however secret, it intensifies the consciousness of God in our hearts, resulting in a higher spiritual experience;(c) to learn to refrain from usurping others rights and belongings. In fasting we voluntarily give up even what is rightfully ours; how can then we think of taking what is not ours but someone else? (d)Charity and generosity is especially urged during Ramadan. We learn to give, and not to take. The deprivation of fasting makes us sympathize with the suffering of others, and desirous of alleviating it; and it makes us remember the blessings of life which we normally take for granted.

The object of fasting is that a person should abstain from the food which nourishes the body and obtain through fasting the other religious food which satisfies and brings solace to the soul. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad said: People are unaware of the true nature of fasting.. Fasting is not just the state of remaining hungry and thirsty. Its nature and effect can only be discovered by experience. The human makeup is such that the less food is consumed the greater is the purification of the soul and the development of the powers of inner vision. Gods purpose is that you should reduce one kind of food (physical) and increase the other kind (spiritual). The person fasting must remember that the aim is not simply to remain hungry; he should be engrossed in the remembrance of God so as to attain severance from worldly desires.

Fasting a full month with Islamic commitment would make the believers strong spiritually. Those who truly fast for the sake of attaining to God - and not merely as a custom or formality- should be absorbed in the praise and glorification of God, and in meditating upon His Unity. Maulana Muhammad Ali said: The real purpose of fasting is to attain righteousness. A person who undergoes hunger and thirst, but does not behave righteously, has done nothing. If someone is told the aim and object of doing a certain duty, and he does that duty but does not attain the required aim and object, it is as if he has not done that duty. The Maulana used very strongly to urge the members of the Muslim community to say the tahajjud prayers during the month of Ramadan: You have to rise early in any case to begin the fast; rise even earlier, by half an hour or an hour, and say tahajjud prayers.

Many people have tried different kinds of fasting. Some will drink only juice for a day, or eat only fruit, or stay away from any sugar or starches, or leave alcohol for a period of time. Yet, it seems strange to most folks, the idea of Muslims fasting in the month of Holy Ramadan. What is the significance of Ramadan? Isn't it a very harsh practice?Is it just a time when Muslims sleep and fast and hardly work all day; and eat, drink, enjoy and stay awake all night? What really is the spirit of Ramadan?

Islamic fasti
Aiken, SC (29801)

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June 25, 2017

Taking sides in eastern Syria

Ali Hashem writes, The war for the Syrian Desert is in fact a war for the heart of the Middle East. The Iranian-led coalition in Syria is racing against the US-backed forces there, as both seek to defeat the Islamic State (IS), the group that has shaped the face of the region for the last four years. It is a war in the desert to draw a line in the sand, some might say, or a war to draw a line across borders and connect four capitals: Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut. Hence the battle is between two different regional and international agendas, with each side viewing the other as the real threat after the defeat of IS in Iraqs Mosul and Syrias Raqqa.

He continues, The Tehran-Beirut route is a symbolic connection, one that announces that the Iran-led resistance axis is intact, as it was before the eruption of the Syrian revolution in 2011 and IS capture of Mosul in June 2014. That said, from the Iranian point of view, the regional stage is now different. The advance of Syrian forces has been concomitant with progress toward the same border by the PMU [Popular Mobilization Units] in Iraq, led by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who announced on June 10 that his forces had reached the frontier and liberated 4,200 square kilometers [1,622 square miles] and 142 villages. Of note, however, his forces have no intention of entering Syrian territory.

A US airstrike on Syrian positions in al-Tanf on June 6 is a sign that the United States and Iran are taking sides on opposite sides of this latest fault line in the region. Arash Karami reports that Iran on June 18 for the first time launched missiles against IS positions in eastern Syria. The timing of the strikes, Karami writes, has led some to believe the message was also intended for the new US administration, which is adopting a policy of regime change for Tehran and is reportedly seeking to confront Iran militarily in Syria.

Hashem explains that the notion of a road link or land bridge from Tehran to Beirut might, however, be an overstatement or a bit of hyperventilating analysis, given that in the past Israeli fighter jets have on several occasions hit alleged arm supplies near and around Damascus. A longer route, mainly through a no man's land in remote areas of Iraq, is likely to be vulnerable to hits by the Israeli or US air forces, not to mention possible attacks by insurgents, including IS.

The battle for eastern Syria introduces further complexity, and uncertainty, about the role of Iraq, which faces pressure from both Tehran and Washington. While the battle against IS on the Iraqi side of the Syrian desert border is being led by the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is walking a tightrope between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Omar Sattar writes.

Abadi visited Riyadh on June 19 and Tehran on June 20, and he may be seeking to defuse tensions between the two countries, without upsetting either.

Arash Karami reports that Abadi and Iranian leaders discussed a shared concern about plans for a referendum on independence by the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is hard to envision Iraq staying neutral, let alone antagonizing Iran, given the stakes in Syria.

The US alliance with the Syrian Democratic Forces, made up primarily of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), is also at a critical juncture, according to Fehim Tastekin.

In an unusual move, Kurdish officials have made statements supportive of Riyadh regarding its tension with Qatar, Tastekin reports. But these comments may reflect a broader unease about what comes next, given the many interests, actors and high stakes in play. He continues, A senior YPG commander who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said the YPG is ready to go to anyplace in Syria to fight IS, but they will not agree to any alliance beyond that. He said the Kurds see Iran as a problem but will not become part of a battle against it. They have no plans to move to al-Tanf, he said.

Hamas, Gaza on edge over Gulf crisis

Adnan Abu Amer writes this week that the demand by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that Qatar sever ties with Hamas carries risks for the Gaza Strip, and could push Hamas further into the Iranian camp.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told Al-Monitor that the knife could cut both ways. Arab division and tension in the region could tempt Israel to take advantage of the situation and move against the Palestinians, or, as Qassem put it, commit crimes against them in Gaza, Abu Amer reports. Hamas hopes this Arab crisis will [soon] come to an end, because it mainly serves Israel, and the movement stresses that any Israeli escalation against Gaza would be met with all the resources it can get to defend the Palestinian people, Qassem said. The ongoing blockade on Gaza would lead Palestinians to confront their true oppressor, the Israeli occupation. Hamas is greatly offended by the hostility and pressure by the Palestinian Authority, Israel and some regional parties.

Abu Amer, reporting from Gaza, observes that an increasing number of Israeli surveillance drones have recently been flying over Gaza at low altitudes, and daily episodes of violence are taking place between Palestinian demonstrators approaching Gazas eastern border and Israeli soldiers on the other side. One Palestinian was shot and killed June 6 when Israeli soldiers fired on the protesters.

Abu Amer concludes, Hamas has largely remained silent about the Gulf crisis, perhaps not wanting to provoke Arab states' hostility. The movement's leadership may well recognize that with the political, financial and military shadows cast by the Gulf crisis, it should forgo any military confrontation with Israel for the time being. Hamas alone, however, does not control the situation in the Gaza Strip. Israel, Egypt and the PA also have a say, and they have not hidden their hostility toward Hamas. This raises the possibility of their potentially seizing the opportunity to eliminate it once and for all.

This column, commenting on Abu Amers reporting earlier this month, noted that the US-Saudi-Islamic summit forced a rethink by the Hamas political leadership in favor of support for Irans resistance axis.
June 20, 2017

A young Egyptian entrepreneur has created a mobile app to promote use of the Nubian languages and offer a way for both Nubians and non-Nubians to learn about the regions culture and heritage.

Software programmer Momen Talosh kick-started his app Nubi in February after realizing how many young Nubians do not know their heritage languages.

I was once sitting with my young cousin and he was holding his tablet. I was trying to teach him some Nubian words. But he did not pay much attention to me. He was concentrating on things he was doing on his tablet, Talosh told Al-Monitor. At that moment, I decided to launch a mobile application that can teach Nubian to as many young people as possible, he added.

The way to young Nubians was through their mobile devices, he concluded. According to a monthly report released by the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the number of mobile phone subscribers in Egypt totaled 98.8 million in February 2017, compared to 94.6 million in the same month last year. Mobile penetration, meanwhile, hit 110% in February 2017, compared to 107.7% in the same month the year before, according to the ministry.

Talosh further developed his idea of an app to teach Nubian after he participated in training sessions organized by Startup Weekend Alexandria. The accelerated course provided him with support choosing his team, launching his app and creating marketing campaigns on social media.

After attending this training, I started to gather data  and possible learning tools. Then I developed the application, which contains pronunciation, Nubian songs, Nubian proverbs and [links to] books written by Nubian writers, he said. The app offers two different streams of lessons in Kenzi and Fadicca, which Talosh calls dialects of Nubian, but linguists and other researchers consider separate languages. It has been downloaded 8,000 times so far by users from Egypt, Sudan, the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Kenzi and Fadicca are two of the five extant Nubian languages, and their speakers are in steady decline. Three years ago, a petition addressed to UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova asked for help to save the Nubian "language" spoken by millions in southern Egypt, northern Sudan, Darfur, the Nubak Mountains and in the Nubian diaspora. Written records of Old Nubian, the ancestor of the five surviving modern variants, date to the eighth century. One of the oldest recorded languages of Africa, Old Nubian was written not in Arabic script but in one derived from ancient Greek.

Talosh hopes to someday introduce Nubian to Google Translate.

The Nubi application is very useful to Nubians who are living away from Nubia and Aswan and working in the cities, 27-year-old user Mahmoud Tag told Al-Monitor. Tag, a Nubian who lives in Alexandria, added, Many of these people want to learn the language but do not have a place or an outlet. The application is the perfect platform. He added that non-Nubians who are interested in Nubia can also use it to get acquainted with Nubian culture and traditions.

After the building of the Aswan High Dam in 1960s and the flooding of a majority of Nubia, the displacement of Nubians and the destruction of their traditional villages have contributed to a serious decline in the use of their languages. Nubians, who are predominantly Muslim but not Arab, have started in recent years to use the Arabic language in their everyday lives. The change has led younger generations to stop learning their heritage languages, which are not taught at schools nor used in public institutions at all.

For Talosh, language and culture is only the first phase. He plans to extend the app by introducing commercial and touristic dimensions. The additions will display handmade Nubian products, so that people can order them online from manufacturers in Nubia. The application will also provide a list of hotels, restaurants, museums and tourist sites in Nubia with an eye toward boosting the regions tourism, he said.

Talosh said that his apps slogan is We Will Bring Nubia to Your Doors.

The application will allow Nubians and non-Nubians to buy Nubian products online, book hotels and restaurants online, he said.

Nubia has a culture of its own. We are trying to keep this culture alive. You cannot find anything like it in any other place of the world. And we Nubians have to preserve that culture and heritage and spread them, said Talosh.
June 23, 2017

CAIRO  The Egyptian Interior Ministry announced June 22 the killing of seven people it believed were involved in recent attacks against Copts, including church bombings and shootings in which about 100 people were killed. The ministry said in a statement it was certain that a group of individuals had been stationed in some areas in the Western Desert, where they received military training on how to use weapons and assemble explosive devices in order to carry out more terrorist attacks.

The latest terrorist attack in Minya governorate May 26 that killed 29 people, mostly Copts, raised questions about the Islamic States ability to establish cells with armed elements and a safe network to recruit fighters in Upper Egypt.

Najah Ibrahim, a freelance researcher and writer on armed groups, told Al-Monitor over the phone that IS choice of Upper Egypt as its new refuge and target was a not a spur-of-the-moment decision; IS had already tried to launch a new branch two years ago in Upper Egypt through a failed terrorist attack on June 10, 2015, near Karnak Temple in Luxor.

Ibrahim said IS has a safe network to recruit fighters in Upper Egypt, especially in Qena. Upper Egypt provides a fertile environment for this group to prosper since it is the poorest and least educated area [in Egypt], is marginalized by politicians and lacks security, he said.

He said the group adopts a method of operation that is specific to IS, which is repeated terrorist attacks that leave a great impact on the local population. When it discovered that its goal to declare Wilayat Sinai (the Islamic State in Sinai) was difficult and would not be achieved, it turned to targets that are difficult to secure, such as churches.

Ibrahim does not rule out the possibility of IS' running a center that manages operations in the Western Desert, as he believes the fighters are highly trained and may have received their training in Libya or Syria.

Brig. Gen. Khaled Okasha, the director of the National Center for Security Studies, told Al-Monitor over the phone that IS is trying to gain a foothold elsewhere in Egypt after its role dwindled in the Sinai Peninsula. IS carried out various terrorist attacks in the Nile Delta, the coastal area and Upper Egypt to showcase that the group is spreading throughout Egypt.

Okasha said it was easy for IS members to hide in Upper Egypt because security control is weak in the area. There they can find logistical support such as supply lines for weapons and passageways for fighters to enter undetected  all of which may not be available in other provinces.

Okasha said that Egypt has a strong legislative support system to counter terrorism, but that there are gaps in security procedures and some security officials are not capable of handing such a responsibility.

He expects the security services to deal with IS in Upper Egypt differently than they did in Sinai, noting that the security services are working on a double task; they should protect the border and remain on standby for any attack from the inside.

Okasha ruled out that the group would have the ability to seize any territory inside Egypt, saying, Geographically, this can never happen. IS is only betting on carrying out more operations and inflicting more damage. It chooses the most difficult targets to defend and most harmful for civilians and Copts in particular.

He added, Egypt needs counterterrorism units to operate in a decentralized manner as well as a unit to collect information, research and analysis  all of which we unfortunately lack.

Hassan Abu Haniyeh, a resident of Jordan and an independent researcher on armed groups, told Al-Monitor over the phone that IS is expanding inside Egypt through cluster cells that are difficult for security services to track.

Abu Haniyeh said that the laws are not a deterrent to terrorist organizations and declaring a state of emergency in Egypt on April 9 did not have much of an impact. This is why in the near term, the Egyptian security services should focus on intelligence work and strengthen cooperation with other countries. In the long term, Egypt should work on reducing the divisions that followed the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013 and develop military and security approaches that separate the moderate from the extremist.

Yahya al-Kadwani, a member of the parliaments National Defense and Security Committee, told Al-Monitor that laws are important elements in a comprehensive strategy to counter extremism. They also help the security services and we, in fact, have an important legislative framework to combat terrorism, he said.

Kadwani said that Egypt is striving to strengthen cooperation with Europe in terms of intelligence, but that it is suffering from a stalemate with some countries, including Britain, Ireland and Canada  without giving details about the reason behind the deadlock.

He said the committee had made recommendations to the government to pay more attention to Upper Egypt and provide the needed services, but the government can only work with the available resources.

Al-Monitor asked Maj. Gen. Tariq Atiyyah, the director of relations and information at the Ministry of Interior, to comment on this topic, but he suggested that comments should come from the national security apparatus. Al-Monitor tried to contact the latter, but to no avail.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched May 26 airstrikes on militants in Libya in response to the Minya attack, but reports said these strikes did not target those responsible for the attack. Defense Minister Sidqi Sobhy said June 1 that the goal of the strike on Libya was to deter terrorist organizations and the forces supporting them.

Meanwhile, Libya's Presidential Council, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj ,condemned the Egyptian army's bombing sites in Derna without coordinating with Sarraj first.
June 26, 2017

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and stressed the expansion of their ties amid a Saudi-led effort to politically and economically isolate the tiny country in the Persian Gulf.

During the phone call on June 25, Rouhani said, Helping Qatars economy and expanding relations  especially in the private sector between the two countries  can be a joint goal. Iran has been reportedly sending 1,100 tons of fruits and vegetables to Qatar daily ever since Saudi Arabia blocked off its borders to the country, according to Irans directors of ports in Bushehr province. Qatars only land border is with Saudi Arabia.

Rouhani noted that he sees a continuous relationship between Iran and Qatar and that there is a great deal of capacity to strengthen ties.

On the crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which has dragged in regional states as well as Western countries, Rouhani said, We believe if a dispute takes place between regional countries, pressure, threats and sanctions is not the path to resolve the dispute. He added that Iran is ready to help to reduce tensions.

However, one of the 13 demands that the team of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain presented to Qatar is that they cut all relations with Iran. Other demands included they shutter Al Jazeera news network, suspend cooperation with those groups designated as terrorists and pay Saudi Arabia reparations.

Rouhani also said the blockade on Qatar is unacceptable for our country. Our airspace, seas and land will be open to Qatar as a brotherly and neighborly country.

Thani said that his country is ready to expand ties and work together to resolve problems facing Muslim countries, noting, The Islamic world is in a challenging situation and to resolve problems wise leaders and dialogue are needed.

Based on the phone conversation between the Iranian and Qatari leadership just days after the Saudi list of demands was published shows that Qatar so far is refusing to cut ties with Tehran. The Saudi demand that Qatar stop plans to build a Turkish military base in the country has irked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the demands were against international law. Erdogan continued that to ask Turkey to pull out its troops from Qatar is disrespectful behavior toward us.

Ankaras reaction has caught the attention of Irans media. Erdogans comments in support of Qatar made headlines on a number of Iranian websites. Comments by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that the imposed blockade on Qatar is a humanitarian mistake also made headlines.

Some Iranian websites even had fun with the new trade relations between Qatar and Iran. Mashregh News published the tweet from a popular Qatari account that showed a picture of an Iranian yogurt drink with the caption, Iranian Safavid yogurt is delicious  a joke in reference to sectarian slurs that refer to Iranians as Safavids, the 16th-century Iranian dynasty that expanded Shiism.
June 26, 2017

More and more voices in Israel are saying that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has become a burden and its mission is no longer needed.

UNIFIL was supposed to be the enforcement apparatus for Security Council Resolution 1701, a high-placed Israeli military source said on condition of anonymity. But in actual fact, it has become only a fig leaf for that resolution. UNIFIL whitewashes Hezbollah activity on the 'Blue Line' [border], and serves as an excuse for Hezbollah and the Lebanese government to violate the UN resolution and ratchet up tensions along the border. We no longer need this force here any longer. Better to remain with only the coordination and liaison units, and thats all, he added.

The confrontation between Israel and UNIFIL erupted at the beginning of the month, in the course of the June 7-9 visit of US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley to Israel. Haley, who enjoys tremendous popularity in Israel, was taken for a patrol of the northern border line between Israel and Lebanon. She was accompanied by Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who recently served as the head of the Northern Command and is now deputy chief of staff, and Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. Amir Baram, the 91st Division commander.

In preparation for the visit, Kochavi and Baram had received special authorization to reveal hitherto secret intelligence information to Haley regarding Hezbollahs deployment along the border in violation of Security Council Resolution 1701. To demonstrate that, Kochavi and Baram received approval to use sophisticated observation devices on the patrol. In addition, a female soldier from the local combat intelligence battalion participated in the patrol; she had recently immigrated to Israel from the United States and was tasked with providing accurate translations to the ambassador.

Kibbutz Misgav Am was chosen as the observation point where the ambassador received detailed explanations of the entire zone. The kibbutz is located on the fence along the border between Israel and Lebanon. Baram explained to Haley that the kibbutz fence is actually the border fence as marked by the UN after the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from southern Lebanon in 2000. According to sources who participated in the meeting, Haley was astonished when she learned that normal, everyday life characterizes the Israeli kibbutz on the border fence. The other side of the fence is where Hezbollah militants patrol. At this point, Baram whipped out Security Council Resolution 1701 that had been adopted at the conclusion of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and read it out aloud. The resolution states that Hezbollah militants are not to be south of the Litani River. Then Haley was given intelligence information that Israel had collected in the recent year. In addition, via the special observation instruments brought there, Haley was able to discern observation points erected by Hezbollah along the length of the Lebanese border, camouflaged as a green environmental organization for nature protection.

At exactly this stage, the UNIFIL commander, Irish Maj. Gen. Michael Beary, arrived. Haley asked the general for his response to the information she received, and explained to him that she saw with her own eyes how Hezbollah militants are clearly present south of the Litani  areas where the Security Council resolution forbids them to have a presence. And UNIFIL is the body that is supposed to enforce this resolution. The general denied the information, and then a heated argument ensued between Beary and Kochavi  all this, in front of the American ambassador.

We have a terrible crisis with UNIFIL, a senior IDF officer told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. Now, when the word is out and the whole world has seen the pictures, it will be impossible to deny Hezbollahs violations any longer. Unfortunately, UNIFIL assists Hezbollah in whitewashing the truth. Under the current state of affairs, there is no point for UNIFIL battalions to remain on the scene. They cause more harm than good. They do what Hezbollah tells them to do. They dont dare raise their heads and carry out their duties, so the appropriate thing now is for them to vacate the premises. Several days later, the UN denied the Israeli information; this only served to heighten the distrust between the sides.

Until Haleys visit, Israels intelligence info about Hezbollahs presence on the southern Lebanon border fence was kept under wraps. Since Haley represents the outlook of President Donald Trump, who views UN peacekeeping initiatives as a waste of money, it was decided to reveal the information to her. At the present time, various Israeli spokesmen are adopting harsh rhetoric against UNIFIL and its collaboration with Hezbollah.

In the coming weeks, the IDF will begin a new stage in constructing a land barrier throughout the entire length of its border with Lebanon (construction that was revealed in an earlier article in Al-Monitor). Israel plans to build a high wall in the western zone and another one in the Metula area. Metula, an Israeli border town, is viewed as especially vulnerable because Hezbollah controls two ridges that command a view of Metula from the west and east. The IDF is aware of Hezbollahs plan to attempt to gain control of Israeli localities in the next confrontation, and it is preparing for all possible scenarios. Hezbollah does not have the ability to defeat Israel, but it can surprise the IDF with a sudden breakout of its Radwan special forces (commando units). This would allow the organization to take rapid control of an Israeli locality, even for a few hours, which could be a tremendous psychological victory over Israel, which has not lost territory to an Arab enemy since 1973. There are 22 Israeli localities adjacent to the fence, along the length of the Lebanon border. The IDF has a detailed plan for evacuating some of them in case of a conflict. Simultaneously, the IDF is planning to take steps that will avert the danger to the localities.

According to the IDF, Hezbollah has morphed from a local guerrilla organization into an army with a state  Lebanon. A senior Israeli source told Al-Monitor that Hezbollah already has dozens of tanks and no small amount of RPVs (drones), some of them armed. From Israels point of view, it is not clear if this is good news or bad. In the Second Lebanon War, the IDF suffered from a lack of Hezbollah targets. The next time around, they say in the IDF, things will look completely different.

According to an Israeli military source, Hezbollah has carved out a separate identity for itself. It is no longer an extension of the Iranian arm, and it shows more and more signs of independence. There is still a clear and powerful symbiosis between Tehran and Beirut, but Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah now has his own agenda. He does not necessarily follow every Iranian dictate. This summer, all these working assumptions may be put to the test on the ground. The construction of a wall by Israel is viewed as an act that can cause friction. But the fact that Iran is building factories in Lebanon to produce rockets and missiles is viewed by Israel as the clear crossing of a red line.

A high-ranking Israeli politician, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, Although both sides have no interest at the moment in being dragged into a conflict, the situation on the ground can definitely deteriorate quickly, even to an all-out conflagration.
June 23, 2017

The press release issued by the US Consulate in Jerusalem on June 22 sounded a lot like the typical protocol press releases issued by Arab state wire services. It mentioned who met and talked about peace, called the meeting productive, but failed to make any statement about what happened in the highly anticipated US-Palestinian meeting held in Ramallah late June 22.

The fact that the statement failed to mention settlements or the two-state solution indicates that the meeting was not very positive. Israeli press reports claim that the issues of support to Palestinian prisoners and incitement  the usual Israeli talking points  were major points of contention. For Palestinians, the issue of caring for prisoners is a legal mandate as stated in the 1996 Palestinian Basic Law. Article 27 of the Basic Law stipulates that the Palestinian government guarantees educational and social welfare support to families of prisoners and martyrs. Politically, with over 6,000 Palestinian prisoners and tens of thousands who were killed since the Israeli occupation in 1967, stopping such social stipends would be nothing short of political suicide.

The refusal of the American team to utter the simple words two-state solution or to publicly condemn the settlement activities is seen as a green light to the Netanyahu administration to continue its pro-settlement enterprise. Leading Palestinian daily Al-Quds focused June 23 on the increase in settlement activities as the real proof of who doesnt want peace. Talking about peace efforts and having meetings while Israel does what it pleases means that we are translating this effort for peace into the realm of absurdity. This will deepen the mistrust in the seriousness of trying to find a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the region, read the editorial titled What peace efforts amid all these settlements?

Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and special adviser of President Donald Trump, certainly got his feet wet on this visit and began to realize how difficult and complicated many of the issues are. Palestinian sources in Ramallah were quoted in the Israeli press as saying that they felt the American delegation acted like the lawyers for Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than the neutral facilitators who are trying to make the so-called ultimate deal.

Palestinians have also pointed to the Twitter feed of US special peace envoy Jason Greenblatt as a sign of the pro-Israel bias of the American negotiating team. Greenblatt has tweeted about visiting the Western Wall, as well as visiting with the families of Israeli soldiers, public figures and intellectuals. In one tweet, Greenblatt described the killing of a member of the Israeli security services by Palestinians as "a brutal act of terrorism. This description is contrary to the official US definition of terrorism that is limited to attacks on noncombatants. With the exception of Greenblatt's iftar with the Palestinian patients at the Maqassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, and its meeting President Mahmoud Abbas, the US team had no other meeting with the Palestinians. Between June 19 and June 22, Greenblatt posted 10 tweets detailing meetings with Israeli officials, writers and families versus one tweet of his meeting with Abbas and two of his visit to Maqassed Hospital.

Palestinian officials expressed a very pessimistic attitude about the future of the negotiations, saying that most of the meetings between the Americans and Palestinians were focused on small issues that were fed to the Americans by the many Israelis they met.

The maneuverability of Abbas is becoming more and more limited with the situation in the Gaza Strip heating up again as the electricity crisis looms and possibilities of an alliance between Hamas and renegade Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan are on the rise with a surprise visit expected soon by Dahlan aide Samir Mashrawi.

Palestinian officials contacted by Al-Monitor said they felt abandoned by the United States as their negotiating team left little leeway for Abbas to be able to show something for his efforts and attempts to keep the lid on the brewing public discontent with him. The biggest problem for the Palestinian president comes from families of prisoners and martyrs, as these families are worried that they will be sacrificed for an unknown process that has little chance to succeed.

On June 23, Israeli press reports said that despite the talk about prisoners and incitement, some larger issues were discussed and the beginnings of a process seem to be taking shape. According to Palestinian sources, a meeting scheduled in Washington next month will make the picture much clearer. As for now, the Palestinians are holding on tight to their cards and are unwilling to make any compromises without being able to extract the utterance from the US mediators of the words "two-state solution" and a condemnation of illegal Israeli settlement activities. As a Palestinian source in Ramallah who asked to remain anonymous told Al-Monitor, If they cant support the two-state solution and condemn settlements, there is nothing to talk about.
Liquidation sales will begin this week at 20 additional stores in the Sears Holdings portfolio.

Spokesman Howard Riefs said the company sold 235 Sears and Kmart stores to Seritage as part of an agreement in which Sears Holdings leases the stores back from Seritage. Under the agreement, Riefs said Sears Holdings has the option to exit leases by making a payment equal to one year of rent if a store is unprofitable.

"We have been strategically and aggressively evaluating our store space and productivity, and have accelerated the closing of unprofitable stores as previously announced," he said in an email to AL.com. "As such, we have informed Seritage that we will soon be exiting 18 Sears stores and two Kmart stores."

Seritage issued an 8-K filing to this effect with the Securities and Exchange Commission last Thursday, June 22.

Riefs did not identify which Sears and Kmart stores will close, but said none of the locations are in Alabama, Mississippi or the Florida Panhandle. A full list of new store closures is available on Business Insider.

"These Sears and Kmart stores will close to the public in mid-September," Riefs said. "It's important for you to know that until then, the stores will remain open for customers. The stores will begin their liquidation sales by June 30."

Earlier this month, Business Insider reported Sears Holdings will close as many as 72 stores on top of 180 store closures announced earlier this year.

Sears Holdings is encouraging shoppers to take advantage of the company's Shop Your Way membership platform, websites and mobile apps. The free social shopping and rewards program allows members to earn points on future purchases and shop for thousands of products after a store closes its doors.

"As a result, we hope to maintain and even grow our relationships with the members who shopped this location," Riefs said.
Talladega's Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind will break ground in August on a $1.3 million nursing center.

The 5,000-square-foot facility is designed to enhance healthcare services for students across AIDB's campuses. It is planned to include three hospital bedrooms, a nursing station, waiting area and administrative space.

School officials said the center will serve as a "mini-hospital" while other services will still be provided at the Dowling Center healthcare building. The nursing center is scheduled for completion early next year.

School officials said funding is coming from the school's AIDB Foundation, which has raised about $1.15 million toward the project. However, the school is still working to raise its target amount of $1.3 million.

AIDB serves 24,500 individuals statewide and provides full-time nursing and health care to approximately 2,000 children and adults on the Talladega campuses. They include the Alabama School for the Blind, the Alabama School for the Deaf, the Helen Keller School, the E. H. Gentry Center and Alabama Industries for the Blind.

AIDB President John Mascia said the center is needed due to some accessibility issues on the Dowling Center's third floor.

"We are thrilled that our new facility will be a great front door into the comprehensive healthcare services we provide for our students," Mascia said.
Aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin is coming to Huntsville, Gov. Kay Ivey announced today.

Blue Origin is an American privately funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos with its headquarters in Kent, Washington.

The company will make up to 30 engines per year for a nearby ULA plant in Decatur and for Blue's New Glenn rocket. It will employ up to 350 with an average salary of $75,000 a year, company President Rob Myerson said.

Adding Blue Origin to Aerojet Rocketdyne's April announcement means 1,150 new rocket engine jobs are coming to Huntsville this year. Aerojet Rocketdyne announced in April that it will also produce new rocket engines in Huntsville.

BLUE ORIGIN | Welcome to Rocket City, USA from Red Brick Strategies on Vimeo.

The 400,000-square foot facility Blue Origin company will be built in Cummings Research Park West on 40 acres on Explorer Boulevard, said Erin Koshut of the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce. The plant could eventually produce 30 engines a year.

"America's next rocket engine will power United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket ending the nation's dependence on Russia for access to space for critical national security space systems," Myerson said. "Two BE-4s will b used on each Vulcan booster."

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) was at the announcement today. "You're going to do well here," he told Myerson, "and we're going to replace that Russian engine."

Huntsvllle Mayor Tommy Battle said the Blue Origin moves helps assure Huntsville's continued prominence in rocket propulsion. "We have both advanced manufacturing and engineering, logistics and design work," Battle said. "We go from the high tech portion of the design and engineering to the actual wrench-turning part of making an engine."

Bezos in 2016 invited AL.com and other media outlets on the first ever tour of the once-secretive company's main factory near Seattle.

Bezos talked then about what the company looks for in an expansion site during a Q&A with reporters.

"The biggest factor there is talented workforce, that you can really hire people who understand the quality demands of aerospace," Bezos said. "You really want to be able to get good assembly and integration engineers, you want to be able to get high quality machinists and machine operators and those jobs today are very sophisticated jobs."

"You want to go some place that's welcoming, that actually wants the company," Bezos added. "Those are probably the two biggest things."

(Updated at 11 a.m. CDT with new information throughout)
What's at "steak" here?

Whether rare, medium or well done, ribeye, strip or filet, the tradition of steak and the steakhouse is a storied slice of America's culinary history. Although beef may be cooked in a similar fashion throughout the entire world, the technique and approach to cooking a steak, as many of us know it, is largely a facet of Americana. Just as our nation is vast and diverse, the way we think of steak depends largely on our upbringing and what we hold dear. No two regions do it the same. Whether it be the roadhouses inspired by the frontiers of the American southwest, the utilitarian tastes of big city broils in places like Pennsylvania and New York, or the down-home approach of the southeast, where Alabama is neatly nestled, we all think of the meat in a different way.

With those things in mind, choosing a "best" place to enjoy a steak in Alabama became a difficult task for Haley Laurence and me. Each place we traveled felt committed to doing things just as they pleased. Ultimately, the steak was solid at every place we went, with the occasional menu item presenting itself as a cut above the rest. Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

We were constantly shocked that each establishment we visited felt so different from the last. All the same, each community we touched, crammed people into their favorite hometown haunt, embracing the staffs with love, as if their restaurants were the only show in town. In many cases, those restaurants were.

I personally commend each of the seven finalists for "Alabama's Best Steakhouse" for getting the most important ingredient to success as a restaurant right: community building. They each had their people behind them, which is largely how they shot to the top of the other nominees considered in the competition. Whether fine dining or hole-in-the-wall, they all delivered on the promise to the people who support them day in and day out.

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

Haley and I both agreed on our top three selections for this "Alabama's Best", right down to their order. But, we enjoyed our time at each of them for distinct reasons. I implore you to give ALL OF THE FINALISTS your business, based on which steakhouse experience you feel is most appropriate to your tastes, budget and thirst for an adventure, given the kind of evening you have planned while you're in town.

Now that we've got that spiel handled and done with, let's talk food!

Jared Boyd | JBoyd@AL.com

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

Honorable Mention - George's Steak Pit - Sheffield

1206 S Jackson Hwy, Sheffield, AL 35660

(256) 381-1531, GeorgesSteakPit.com

The Shoals are a magical place. Not only is the region partly Haley's old stomping grounds, but it is steeped in the history of American popular music. Even more cool, each of the anchoring towns of the Shoals have their own feel. No matter what each of the towns has to offer on its own, if you are in the area, heck, if you are in North Alabama, George's is the spot you need to visit.

It falls under the pricey category, sure. On my typical budget for food, I would be looking for a cheaper way to fill my belly. However, there's no better excuse than travel to pretend that it's a special occasion. So, in that case, you might as well just splurge while you're out of town, right? The food (steaks and desserts, especially) are worth every penny.

By the way, it's an easy drive from several worthwhile museums and landmarks key to icons in the state, such as the Muscle Shoals Swampers, Helen Keller, Jesse Owens and W.C. Handy.

Read more on our visit to George's

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

#3 - FIRE Steakhouse - Wetumpka

100 River Oaks Dr, Wetumpka, AL 36092

(866) 946-3360, FireSteakhouse.com

In keeping with the more exquisite steakhouses along our food trail, FIRE made a huge impression on Haley and me.

We aren't tough to please, by any means. So, the experience at FIRE spoiled us. The gambling spirit is in the air at FIRE, even as removed as it is from the casino floor at the Wind Creek Wetumpka. However, big stakes beget big steaks, and the ante is high within the walls of this steakhouse. You'll want to come spend your earnings, or just some cozy family time, right in these dining seats onlooking the Coosa River.

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Jared L. Boyd

Wetumpka is found right in the middle of our state, making it a viable corridor for many people who are passing through on their way to somewhere else. Soon, however, it may be a destination for fans of flavor. FIRE now joins Must STOP Cafe, a finalist from our meat-and-three competition, in the pantheon of "Alabama's Best" standouts.

What we most enjoyed about our dinner at FIRE is Chef Stephen Allen's commitment to creative food that is just done extremely well. Take for instance the lamb spare ribs pictured above. An item which sounds fancy and delicate on paper is paired with a sweet, savory flavor that gives it the familiarity of a backyard barbecue. You don't expect these twists when you order. They come from left field, but they are executed so well that the unexpected is hardly unwelcome.

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

The small details go a long way at FIRE.

Check out these chocolate bon bons served over dry ice. We didn't order them. They were one of several small treats served to tease and cleanse our palates through the night.

Each woman who dines is presented with a long-stemmed rose when the check arrives. The front of the house pays attention to how much light is coming from the beautiful river-side scenery near the dining room. If the Sun is harsh, they can manipulate the blinds remotely, without disturbing the guests sitting near the window. On the side of the restaurant that faces the pool, the windows are shaded to make it next to impossible to see outside at eye level of someone sitting at the table. That way, while you eat your beef, you won't be distracted by staring at "mutton dressed like lamb." For the guests swimming, who don't have to look up and see someone watching them with a fork and knife in their hands, I'm sure it's all the better.

More on our visit to FIRE in Wetumpka

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

#2 - Bull Pen Steakhouse & BBQ - Oakman

111 Old York Rd, Oakman, AL 35579

(205) 622-3999, Bull Pen on Facebook

Since we've reviewed the Bull Pen in Oakman, I've had a lot of curious friends ask, "Well, where IS that?"

Frankly, I don't know. Even having myself driven from Birmingham, north up Interstate 22, I'm still inclined to respond with, "Well, it's kinda in the middle of nowhere."

And, I think I'd be fair in doing so. I'd also be fair in declaring you shouldn't let Bull Pen's remote location keep you from figuring out just where in the middle of nowhere these tasty steaks reside.

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

Atmosphere is everything at the Bull Pen.

The steakhouse, though it is only decades old, is situated next to a large park filled with structures preserved from Alabama's days as a stronghold in the colonial American frontier. Artifacts inside and around the restaurant date from Oakman's history in that time period and all through the subsequent years leading to today. Through pictures, signs and trinkets strewn about, diners are encouraged to imagine themselves in a reality that doesn't neatly connect the present or the past. A picture of wrestler Ric Flair from the late 1990s has little to do with an abandoned tractor, other than the two things help tell the story of why Bull Pen is unique.

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

The portions will please you at Bull Pen.

These crispy "fried onion petals" are the alternative to the bloomin' onion that you never knew you needed. When I left Bull Pen with leftovers (because of course I had leftovers), I sprinkled the little flakes all over the top of my steak before reheating. While I write this, my mouth is watering just thinking about their crunch and their buttery crust.

It wasn't just these. Yeesh. I mean, the frog legs were exceptionally fresh and tender, the cobbler was packed with a butterscotch-like savory-sweetness, the fried green tomatoes were astounding. Bull Pen is excessive in its enabling of gluttony. It's the kind of restaurant you shouldn't dare do alone. You won't want to. The incentive to share is too high.

More on our visit to Bull Pen in Oakman

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

#1 - Big Mike's Steakhouse - Thomasville

33215 US-43, Thomasville, AL 36784

(334) 636-2260, Big Mike's on Facebook

This was tough. Not the steak, but the decision.

It is becoming a rule a thumb that the best food isn't enough to win "Alabama's Best", as far as Haley and I are concerned.

More often, it is the restaurant most dedicated to feeding into the identity of great Southern food service and the culture that wins out. Sure, the food's gotta be remarkable, but the way the experience makes people feel is of equal, and sometimes greater, importance.

In the instance of the seven steak houses we ate, Big Mike's ribeye was likely the best cut of meat we had. And that was the first meal we ate, so it says something that the impression lasted throughout the entire trip.

I distinctly remember having food envy toward Haley after she cut into her meat and slide some of it onto my plate. One bite and I began looking at my daily special dish like I had maybe chosen poorly. Y'see, my meal, known on Big Mike's menu as the Tallahatta Tips was darn creative, but it just didn't beat a classic, no-frills, fat, juicy, hunk of beef, grilled to your personal liking. The crust around the meat had an audible crunch every time we dug a knife through it. Inside, the pink flesh was oozing with bursting flavor.

My entree was delicious and hearty, albeit off the beaten path. The Tallahatta Tips are, in actuality, a symbol of owner "Big" Mike Cole's approach to his restaurant. The dish is named after a nearby street, just as many of his most popular items are named after the people and places who inspire them.

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

In a town like Thomasville where a wet restaurant can be a point of contention for some, Big Mike's fully stocked bar is well-attended by chattering locals.

Nearing the end of our dinner, there was hardly a seat in the large dining room. This was in the middle of rain storm that nearly made us turn around.

The diners next to us talked to us, giving us their opinion of the restaurant and welcoming us to their hometown favorite. They even came back to comment under our review of the restaurant.

Big Mike, himself, came by our table to shower us with love and insight on how he's making his dream of great food for his little town come true.

He could point to people in his dining room who were enjoying meals they helped inspire, including a woman who always orders the same fried green tomatoes/crab cake combo she conceived in a conversation with Mike.

Relationships matter as much as a clean kitchen and a competent chef. Mike's place feels appropriately small-town South without feeling deliberate or hokey. It never takes itself too serious even with seriously delicious food pumping out of the kitchen on a nightly basis.

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

Big Mike's does it right. The restaurant fires on all cylinders.

Imagining the perfect steak, I am inclined to favor the most no-frills approach there is.

On this trip, we had our up-scale choices, we had our eye-catching gimmicks, we even had the occasional dish we thought wasn't quite inspiring enough. And all that is fine, because each finalist we visited did something exceptionally.

Big Mike's just does everything in a way that's pretty darn solid.

Well done.

More on our visit to Big Mike's

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Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com

More on Alabama's Best

Want to read more Alabama's Best stories? Well, you're in the right spot.

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Join Haley Laurence and Jared Boyd Monday at 9 a.m. for a Q&A session powered by Reddit.
I liked Puddin' Pops as much as the next person. I grew up watching The Cosby Show and am old enough to remember watching Fat Albert on Saturday mornings too. But hey, hey, hey...this is crazy!

This notion of Bill Cosby going on a tour across the country, including Birmingham, holding town hall meetings to speak with young people about the consequences of their behavior is asinine.

Where is the leadership that is supposed to guard the best interests of these children? They aren't out of touch with current events. They know the accusations waged against this man. What are they to think - both boys and girls alike - when such as that is offered to them as a role model?

God forgive them both and bless them with hope and happiness, but this is the equivalent of Robert Bentley suddenly stepping forward to say he is going to teach a class on marriage to newlyweds at church and the church being encouraging and welcoming. Now in fact, there is a chance he has learned some valuable lessons about marriage in his recent past worth sharing. But unfortunately he has also forfeited his right to mentor, and so has Bill Cosby.

I don't know the clinical term for a person who prefers to sedate their partner. It almost has a black widow feel to it, yet it's different. At any rate, he is not the guy to talk to the youth of Birmingham about the consequences of their choices. I would think the state's overcrowded prisons more than adequately illustrate that point.

Bill Cosby came to Selma and spoke to the youth of the Black Belt a couple of years back when the first few women from his past were just beginning to speak out against him, and if you will check the stats for Selma you will find that his involvement did not help. Selma is now considered the most dangerous city in the state. I'm not saying it is in any way his fault, I'm saying his input did nothing.

Town hall meetings geared toward youth development are a great idea. A workshop offering tools to spiritually heal from sexual abuse would probably be most useful and helpful. Start the meeting by asking every child, parent, and teacher who has ever had to deal with inappropriate sexual behavior to stand. I doubt many people would remain seated.

I'm not sure who should be on the short list to speak to such a crowd, but I think we can all agree it is probably not Bill Cosby. It's likely not a professional comedian or a sexual deviant. It needs to be someone qualified and compassionate who can steer victims toward gaining their own voice and power - someone who can address fear, anger, shame, resentment, brokenness, bitterness, anxiety, and overcoming.

Nobody owes anybody silence if they are being, or have been in the past, sexually abused or mistreated. It doesn't matter who the person is or what they have accomplished or how well they are liked by the community. The first step toward leveling the playing field of power, ending the mental torment, and starting to spiritually heal is by saying something. Certain behaviors do have consequences, and it doesn't take Bill Cosby to deliver that message.

Amanda Walker is a blogger and contributor with AL.com, The Thomasville Times, West Alabama Watchman, The Alabama Gazette, and Wilcox Progressive Era. Contact her at Walkerworld77@msn.com or at https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist.
UPDATE: The three missing siblings and their grandmother were found at a homeless shelter in Birmingham. The children will be released to their mother. It wasn't immediately clear whether charges will be filed against the grandmother.

EARLIER STORY:

Authorities are searching for three young children who have reportedly been missing for three days.

Tuscaloosa police said the children's mother - Lolisa Hood - reported her children missing on Sunday. She said she last saw the kids on Thursday when she left them with her mother - 49-year-old Lisa Hood - for an overnight stay.

Lt. Teena Richardson said the children were last seen in the early morning hours of June 23 at the home of Lisa Hood by a friend of the family. Lisa Hood and the children are believed to be traveling in a blue 2002 Ford Windstar van, Alabama license tag 8060AS5.

The children's names are Bryant Taylor, 5, King Scott, 3 and Lola Scott, 1.

If anyone has information on the whereabouts of Lisa Hood or the three missing children, please contact Crime Stoppers at 205-752-7867 or Tuscaloosa Police Department at 205-349-2121.
An increase in "huffing'' deaths in one east Alabama county has the coroner there issuing a warning about the dangers of inhalant use and abuse.

Cherokee County Coroner Dr. Jeremy Deaton just last week investigated the death of an adult victim who was inhaling 10 to 12 cans of inhalant each day. "We're seeing it a lot more,'' Deaton said. "It causes the heart to temporarily stop and decreases blood to the brain, causing that euphoric high. Sometimes your heart jumps back, and unfortunately sometimes it doesn't."

Inhalants include a range of household and industrial chemicals whose volatile vapors or pressurized gases are concentrated and breathed in via the nose or mouth to produce intoxication. Huffing isn't new, but Deaton said he's seen a jump in deaths over the past two years. "As a parent,'' he said, "I had no clue."

Though not always the direct cause of death, he's seen several cases where the use of inhalants contributed to death, such as a teen using it and then drowning.

Deaton issued a warning on Monday, saying parents of teens need to be aware that is on the rise. A 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed that the primary population of inhalant abusers (68%) is under 18 years of age. Although inhalant abuse is declining from its peak in the 1990s, it is still a significant problem. In 2011, 7% of eighth graders reported inhalant use, along with 4.5% of 10th graders and 3.2% of 12th graders, he wrote.

Symptoms include mild symptoms such as drowsiness, lightheadedness but can lead to more serious consequences such as permanent damage to the brain and other organs. Sudden cardiac death from fatal cardiac arrhythmias has been reported even in teen inhalant abusers. Death from huffing can occur upon the first time of use or after prolonged inhalant abuse. Other causes of death related to huffing include asphyxiation, aspiration, or suffocation.

"Parents of teens need to be especially vigilant about signs of inhalant abuse (huffing), since the abused substances are simple household items and not readily identifiable as drugs of abuse,'' Deaton wrote. "Chemical-soaked rags or empty spray paint or other solvent containers may be found. Inhalants are substances that are easily purchased and are inexpensive, making them attractive to curious teens."

Deaton said the most commonly abused inhalant seen through the Cherokee County Coroner's Office is some type of compressed air used to remove dust from computers or other items around the house. "While there is no specific brand that is more popular than the other, parents should begin to ask questions of concern if containers are found around the house or in their children's vehicles,'' he wrote. "If parents are concerned that their child maybe suffering from this addiction, you should consult with your physician or the Court Referral System for options on addiction treatment."
The former controller for a Birmingham-based Iron Tribe Fitness franchise and a subsequent retail store was sentenced Monday to one-and-a-half years in prison for defrauding the companies out of more than $100,000, federal authorities announced.

Rebecca Frith, also known as Rebecca Wilson, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins, according to a joint statement from Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge David W. Archey.

Frith pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in March. As part of her sentence, she must pay $102,806 in restitution. Frith was living in Texas when she was indicted and arrested in December. She must report to prison Aug. 28.

For more than two years while Frith worked as controller at Iron Tribe Fitness between 2014 and 2016, she fraudulently charged personal expenses to the company's corporate bank and credit card accounts, according to a statement. She established automatic drafts to pay personal monthly utility bills and used Iron Tribe credit cards to pay unauthorized personal expenses including furniture purchases, pet care, car payments, taxes, flights, hotels and vacations, according to the statement.

Frith resigned from Iron Tribe in June 2016 and began work as controller at The Pants Store in July 2016, according to the statement. Within her first month at the retail store, she set up automatic drafts from the company's business bank account to pay her $1,650 apartment rent.

The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark prosecuted.
A Morris resident captured this bear on his game camera over the weekend. (Facebook)

A northern Jefferson County game camera captured a black bear over the weekend, and now police are warning residents to be on the lookout.

The Kimberly Police Department posted a video to a Facebook from a game camera taken just after 11 p.m. Saturday. Also over the weekend, a Morris man posted to social media a still photograph taken by his game camera. It wasn't immediately clear whether it was the same bear, but it was two different cameras.

According to Kimberly police, there have been several sightings in northern Jefferson County. The video posted to the department's page came from a camera on Mahaffey Road.

Kimberly City Councilman Duane Whatley said there was another reported sighting near Dean Road on Sunday night. "We're just trying to make sure everybody knows they're not going to attack, but to just be aware and stay away," Whatley said.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has been notified of three bear sightings this month, in Pinson, Center Point and Morris.

Earlier this month, on June 9, just before 5:30 p.m., Jefferson County sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a bear sighting in the 100 block of Hillview Lane in Center Point. Chief Deputy Randy Christian said an adult female caller reported that she heard her dogs barking and looked out to see a black bear in her back yard. Deputies arrived and spotted the bear leave the yard and walk into a wooded area between Hillview Lane and Fox Hill Drive where they lost sight of it.

Kimberly police asked residents to contact them or the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources if they spot a bear. They also directed them to bearsmart.com to learn what should a bear encounter.

The number of reported black bear sightings in Alabama doubled from 2014 to 2015 and then increased by another 50 percent in 2016, with about 150 sightings reported to the department that year, Thomas Harms, a wildlife biologist who coordinates the ADCNR's large carnivore efforts dealing with bears and cougars, told AL.com earlier this year.

Harms said 90 percent of the calls he gets are related to bears finding food in deer feeders. Bird feeders, pet food and unsecured trash bins can also draw bears out from their natural woodland habitat. Harms said it's important to remove food sources once bears get into them so the bears don't learn to associate humans with food and become repeat visitors to your home.

"Bears don't come around just for no reason, they don't come around to say hi or for a bowl of porridge," Harms said. "They come there for a reason, and you have to get rid of that reason. Usually it's a feeder or dog food that's left out.

If you do encounter a bear, the Department offers the following tips on its web site:

Do not be frightened.

Do not approach the animal.

Do not run from the bear; back away slowly.

Stand tall and upright and make loud noises.

Avoid direct eye contact with the bear.

Make sure the bear has an unobstructed direction to escape.

Never purposely feed a bear.
MEXICO CITY - Mexican officials agree that it is high time to bolster agricultural trade ties with China, as the country needs to diversify its trade, given the uncertainty of its relationship with its northern neighbor.

"Opening and strengthening the channels of trade with powers such as China is very important for us," and so is "not relying on a single trade relationship," Federal Deputy Cristina Gaytan Hernandez told Xinhua.

Hernandez, a member of the opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party, urged producers and business owners from Mexico and China to forge closer ties, especially in the agricultural sector, which offers "great" potential.

The only thing missing is to foster "friendship, trust and respect so that in the field of trade our countries can find great economic advantages for their communities and for the comprehensive development of both nations," said Hernandez.

Agricultural trade with China continues to center on soybean, but as China's economy expands, so does the purchasing power of its urban middle class with accompanying changes in lifestyle and consumption, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Hernandez's remarks were echoed by Adriana Herrera Moreno, director of international trade negotiations at the Ministry of Agriculture, who emphasized the importance to "talk about increasing trade and creating opportunities for China and for Mexico."

"Agriculture is one of the sectors that would win (from expanded trade ties), because China offers a growing market that demands products that Mexico can supply, such as meats, fruit and high value-added products that offer our producers opportunities to diversify their incomes," said Moreno.

Though Mexico has no trade agreement with China in the area of agricultural commodity, it is working to meet China's phytosanitary requirements with an eye to opening the Asian market to Mexican-made produce.

"We will continue to work hard to strengthen our sanitary protocols towards China, and that is important because it provides us with the guidelines to be able to export and create real market opportunities" for the national industry, said Moreno.

The ministry is also committed to investing in promoting any new export products in the Chinese market, as it has with tequila and avocados, she said.

Mexico's China-bound agricultural exports mainly consist of cotton, beer, tequila, pork, avocados, cranberries, raspberries and blue berries.

Mexico City's Secretary of Labor Amalia Garcia Medina admits that bilateral trade with China is currently minuscule, offering great potential.

"Trade exchange is still very small. The agricultural figures ... can still grow enormously. That is to say, the potential to expand it is great and that is why the opportunity exists," said Medina.

What's more, Mexico's government has shown its willingness "to strengthen trade ties with China," in mind of its current over-reliance on its northern neighbor, according to Medina.

"A substantial portion of Mexico's trade is with the United States. If it does not diversify, it will weaken our country because any political flux in the country with which we have the largest part of trade, has an impact on us," she said.

"The positive side of our current situation is the possibility of opening up trade exchange and building substantial ties with China," said Medina, a leading voice of the Mexican left.

According to official figures, 80 percent of Mexico's agricultural exports go to the United States and Canada.

However, geographic convenience is no longer enough to sustain the country's trade ties, said Sergio Palacios, head administrator at Mexico City's Central de Abastos, Latin America's largest wholesale market of produce and foodstuffs.

"China and its provinces represent important markets where Mexico must consolidate its presence," said Palacios, adding that Mexico can offer the Asian market "many high-quality products."

To expand bilateral ties, it is essential for Chinese trade delegations "to come to Mexico more often and for Mexican delegations to go to China and learn what the opportunities are. I think they are two nations that, despite distance, have much in common and share a great friendship," added Palacios.

Earlier this week, Mexico's Chamber of Deputies hosted a bilateral agricultural exchange and cooperation forum between Mexico City and the southwestern province of Sichuan to strengthen trade between the two regions, the very first of many such encounters.
An independent photojournalist says it felt like rape as officers subjected him to a cavity search while laughing.

After independent photojournalist Shay Horse was arrested during protests against the inauguration of right-wing US President Donald Trump, he said his treatment at the hands of police felt like rape.





At a news conference in the US capital last week, Horse recalled police officers aggressively examining his rectum and gripping his testicles while other officers laughed after he was detained on January 20, Inauguration Day.

I felt like they were using molestation and rape as punishment, Horse said. They used those tactics to inflict pain and misery on people who are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.

He added: It felt like they were trying to break me and the others  break us so that even if the charges didnt stick, that night would be our punishment.

Along with two demonstrators and a legal observer, Horse is a plaintiff in a new lawsuit filed by American Civil Liberties Union in the District of Columbia (ACLU-DC) against the city, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Police Chief Peter Newsham.

The suit accuses the MPD of making wrongful arrests, violating protesters constitutional right to free speech, denying detainees from accessing food and water and carrying out invasive body searches.

It says the MPD used overwhelming and unlawful force against non-violent demonstrators at largely peaceful demonstrations where some law-breaking took place.

That day police kettled (enclosed in a police cordon) more than 230 demonstrators, journalists and legal observers who were present during an anti-fascist bloc march, while Trump was being sworn into office just blocks away.

READ MORE: Anti-Trump protester  Is this my last free birthday?

The following day, most of them were slapped with felony rioting charges that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

In late April, the DC Superior Court returned a superseding indictment that issued a swath of new felony charges to 209 people and three new defendants. Most of the charges against the defendants carry maximum sentences that range between 70 and 80 years in prison.

Horse was initially charged with felony rioting, but his charges were later dismissed.

Milo Gonzalez, another plaintiff, was also reportedly subjected to invasive and forceful rectal examinations.

Among other allegations, the suit claims that the plaintiffs were attacked with pepper spray without warning and for no apparent reason other than being near the area where officers were detaining demonstrators.

Facing decades in prison

The lawsuit comes at a time when rights groups and activists warn that a string of some 30 proposed laws in more than 18 states nationwide aim to stifle protest by introducing increasingly strict sentences.

In March, a United Nations report (PDF) said that at least 16 of these bills will have a chilling effect and strip the voices of the most marginalised, who often find the right to assemble the only alternative to express their opinions.

Most of the protests that took place in the city on Inauguration Day passed without violence or mass arrests.

Officers clashed with demonstrators during the anti-fascist bloc march, however, and fired rubber bullets, tear gas and concussion grenades at the demonstrators.

Some marchers smashed windows at Starbucks, McDonalds and Bank of America, among other buildings. The US Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia claims that more than $100,000 in damage was inflicted upon property, cars and buildings.

After officers surrounded the crowd, they held the demonstrators for a long period before arresting them and hauling them off.

READ MORE: Reporters face 70 years in prison over anti-Trump march

In a statement released on Wednesday, the MPD said officers arrested people engaged in criminal action on January 20.

During the 58th Presidential Inauguration, there were thousands of individuals who exercised their constitutional right to peacefully assemble and speak out for their cause. Unfortunately, there was another group of individuals who chose to engage in criminal acts, destroying property and hurling projectiles, injuring at least six officers, the statement said.

The department also said it plans to investigate allegations of police misconduct. Contacted by Al Jazeera, the MPD declined to provide further comment.

Indiscriminate arrests

Even before the ACLUs lawsuit, demonstrators, activists, observers and rights groups had accused the MPD of using excessive force against the march.

Just days after the arrests, the ACLU expressed concern about the MPDs conduct and the ostensibly harsh charges of the prosecution, many of which the group said were unjustified.

Earlier this month, the DC Mayors Office allocated $150,000 for the Office of Police Complaints to review the allegations against the MPD.

An earlier investigation (PDF) by the DC Mayors Office found evidence that police indiscriminately used riot control weapons without justification and not necessarily in response to unlawful action. It also accused police of failing to issue dispersal orders to the crowd before attacking them.

READ MORE: US anti-fascists take on alt-right fight squads

Carlo Piantini, 25, faces nearly eight decades in prison for a slew of felony charges stemming from his arrest on January 20.

While he was kettled with the others, Piantini says the MPD officers unleashed chemical weapons [such as pepper spray] and concussion grenades as crowd-control tactics against protesters and carried out indiscriminate arrests.

The current message from the government is clear: Resistance to this regime will absolutely not be tolerated, Piantini told Al Jazeera by email.

Came in with guns raised

Dylan Petrohilos, an activist and graphic designer who helped plan protests on Inauguration Day, was one of the three defendants who were only first charged when the superseding indictment was returned in late April.

Police showed up at the 28-year-olds home in the capital on the morning of April 3. Court documents show that police had infiltrated organising meetings where Petrohilos was present in the run-up to January 20.

He was asleep when officers knocked on the door and identified themselves. As he made his way down the stairs, he says they quickly smashed through the door. The door was split in half, and the frame was completely destroyed, he recalled. They came in with guns raised. It was a very traumatic experience.

The officers searched his home and seized laptops, mobile phones and a black anti-fascist flag that was left in his lawn.

Petrohilos is now facing a swath of felony charges  including rioting and conspiracy to riot  that carry a maximum sentence of 80 years behind bars.

READ MORE: US anti-fascists can make racists afraid again

The real conspiracy here isnt whether people protested or not, he argued. Its whether the state conspired to arrest protesters on the first day of Trumps rule, and [whether] cops and prosecutors were feeling emboldened when he came to power. This is a prime example of that.

According to the DC Legal Posse, an activist group that supports the defendants, more than 130 of them have joined a Points of Unity agreement, a collective pledge to reject any potential plea deals and reject cooperation with the prosecutors that comes at the expense of their codefendants.

Some defendants have reached plea deals with the authorities in exchange for markedly shorter sentences.

Petrohilos called for broader public support of the Inauguration Day defendants and other protesters facing harsh charges across the country.

Now more than ever we need people to show solidarity with J20 [January 20] arrestees, but not just them  people facing similar charges in Sacramento, Standing Rock and so on. To not show up for one or the other is a failure to all.

Follow Patrick Strickland on Twitter: @P_Strickland_
There is much to celebrate in Emmanuel Macrons ascent to the French presidency. The election was a resounding defeat for the forces of reaction. Macron conducted himself with decency and intelligence and achieved his victory without submitting to the prevailing xenophobic impulse. In acknowledging Frances imperial excesses, in standing up to Vladimir Putin, and in resisting Donald Trumps provocations, he seemed to herald a bold new politics that would align power with principle.

Since assuming power, however, Macrons statements have been more equivocal. His recent comments on Syria suggest that in the balance between ideals and pragmatism, the president is leaning heavier on the latter. Speaking to the European press, Macron announced his break with past policy. I havent said the deposing of Bashar al-Assad is a prerequisite for everything, he said. Because no one has introduced me to his legitimate successor! Instead, he emphasised the need for a political and diplomatic roadmap; because, We wont solve the question only with military force.





The cliche about military force would be meaningful, if it came from the party that is committed to military victory. But the monopoly on violence in Syria is held by the regime and its allies, Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah. Together, they are responsible for over 90 percent of all civilian deaths. The West has deployed its military force primarily against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and al-Qaeda, and, occasionally, also against anti-Assad fighters (often indiscriminately). France has never confronted Assad; and only under Trump has the US tackled the regime in five rare instances, the most significant being the cruise missile strike on the Shayrat airbase after the sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun.

For the leader of France to foreswear military force in Syria is quite meaningless. The real question is if Assad, Russia and Iran accept that there is no military solution. They dont.

It is also not necessary for Syrians to produce a legitimate leader before they can rid themselves of a decidedly illegitimate one. The very cause of the conflict in Syria is that citizens were denied the right to elect legitimate leaders. Which is what makes Macrons next statement puzzling. Democracy isnt built from the outside without the people, he says. But in Syria, people inside were trying to build democracy. The only assistance they asked for was not to be gassed, starved, tortured or disappeared in the process.

To avoid having to address the present, Macron reverts to the past and refers to the debacles in Iraq and Libya. What was the result of those interventions? he asks. Failed states where terrorist groups prospered.

Syria will never be at peace as long as Assad remains in power. Over half of Syria's population will be unable to return home for fear of reprisal (and why wouldn't Assad seek and destroy his enemies, since he has learned that there is literally no crime that he cannot get away with). by

But the Iraq war had nothing in common with Libya, let alone with Syria. There was no popular uprising in 2003 and nor was there an imminent humanitarian crisis. Saddam had committed his worst crimes in the 1980s and 90s. In Libya, France intervened, with UN support, to prevent an imminent slaughter and 75 percent of the Libyan population approved. The subsequent disaster had less to do with Muammar Gaddafis removal than with the failure to help consolidate Libyas nascent democracy, leaving it vulnerable to domestic and foreign subversion  Frances included. If Iraq and Libya have turned into failed states where terrorist groups prospered, its mainly because the logic of the war on terror has trumped the logic of democracy and human rights.

It is in Syria, however, that Macrons argument really founders. If Iraq shows that unprovoked action has consequences, Syria proves that inaction in the face of provocation, too, can lead to disaster. The war Syrian has killed over a half-million people, over five million have fled and 6.3 million are internally displaced.

The root of the Syrian crisis is the Syrian regime; ISIL is its mere symptom. Committing to fight the latter while ignoring the former is not realism, it is wishful thinking. Macron has been at his most effective when he speaks from principle. His reiteration of his red line  which he has now expanded to also include humanitarian corridors  is a welcome development. But if he believes that Assad is merely an enemy of the Syrian people, then he needs to be reacquainted with John Donnes admonition: no man is an island.

In 2013, Barack Obama also thought Assad was someone elses problem and walked away from his redline. With this residual constraint lifted, the regime escalated its violence and killed nearly four times as many people in the two years after the chemical attack as it had in the two years before. This was the turning point that discredited Assads democratic opposition, empowered the Islamists, and led to the rise of ISIL. It was also the moment when the refugees flight spiked. The overflow from this deluge trickling into Europe sparked the xenophobic backlash that the far right has exploited across the West; and, while the brunt of ISIL terror is born by Syrians and Iraqis, Europe, too, became a target of its indiscriminate fury.

Macron should know, because in the same interview he criticised Obama for failing to enforce his redline, creating a vacuum that was filled by the forces of reaction. But that abdication is not a historical detail: Its effects continue to fester.





Syria will never be at peace as long as Assad remains in power. Over half of Syrias population will be unable to return home for fear of reprisal (and why wouldnt Assad seek and destroy his enemies, since he has learned that there is literally no crime that he cannot get away with). ISIL will be defeated, but the morbid symptoms it embodies may take even more grotesque form unless the underlying cause is addressed.

In the interview, Macron spoke eloquently of Europes love of justice; he also spoke of democracy, individual freedoms and social justice; and he warned of the threat of authoritarian regimes. The Syrians who rose up against Syrias authoritarian regime share these principles. Macrons words will ring hollow if he allows these people to be crushed and authoritarians everywhere will be emboldened, taking this as license to ruthlessly quash dissent.

What Assad has done in Syria is not a crime against Syrians alone, it is a crime against humanity. It is not for Syria alone that the bell tolls, it tolls for all of us. Macron says he rejects neoconservative interventionism; but he needs to be just as leery of realist lack of imagination. It was the pursuit of stability after all that gave us the Mubaraks, Saddams and Assads. The aggravating dissonance will persist until the West learns to side with citizens instead of their oppressors.

Muhammad Idrees Ahmad is Lecturer in Digital Journalism at the University of Stirling. He is a contributing editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
US President Donald Trumps recent statements and tweets on the Middle East have puzzled US friends and foes alike by threatening further escalation of regional conflicts.

Last year, he said that he would seek harmony in the Middle East as US commander-in-chief. But after his first visit to the region, tensions began to rise, especially in the Gulf. Now Trumps flip-flopping is threatening the stability of the area, which holds some 50 percent of the worlds energy reserves.





On one hand, after long claiming that Saudi Arabia hated America and was behind 9/11, he now sees the kingdom as the bedrock of regional security and moderation, Americas best friend and foremost ally in the war on terror.

On the other hand, less than two weeks after calling Qatar a crucial strategic partner in his Riyadh speech, and boasting of selling it beautiful American weapons, he suddenly began to jeer against Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.

To add to the confusion, Trump then offered to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Qatar and asked his secretary of state to calm the situation and urge restraint, which he did rather tactfully in a carefully worded public statement.

But less than an hour later, Trump accused Qatar of historic, high-level support of terrorism and undermined his foreign policy establishment in the process.

All of which begs the question: Why? Why the dramatic u-turn on Saudi Arabia, the confusion on Qatar? And what are the implications for the region?

Puzzling foreign policy

Some blamed the administrations most recent flip-flop on the persistent foreign policy confusion in the Trump White House. Others detected complicity between the president and his secretary of state, suggesting that they have been playing good cop-bad cop with Qatar.

For his part, Trump claimed that he took the position against Qatar after his meetings in the region, where his counterparts told him of Qatars support for terrorism.

OPINION: The GCC crisis  Draconian demands and juvenile politics

But what could the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians and Bahrainis say that the CIA, Department of State or the Pentagon didnt know or couldnt share with the president before his upbeat meeting with the emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani?

After all, Qatar has $30bn worth of investments in the United States and stands out as the host of the largest American military base in the Middle East, from which much of the war on terror is being fought in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, most of the trumped up charges against Qatar are either demonstrably thin, false or totally fake.

For example, the Band of Four accuses Qatar of supporting the Taliban because it opened an office for the Afghan insurgency, when in fact it did so at the behest of the US administration to facilitate peace talks.





Qatar has also been accused of supporting some of the anti-regime groups in Syria, but a number of its Gulf partners also did so. Moreover, General Joseph Vogel, chief of the US militarys Central Command, wrote that Qatar is a key and critical ally that could be of much help in facilitating a sustainable deal in Syria.

Hamas political presence in Doha was another item of complaint. But by allowing Hamas a political presence in their capital, the Qataris have had a moderating effect on the Palestinian resistance group. Its perhaps worth remembering that Hamas won the last legislative elections in Palestine, which the Bush administration helped facilitate a decade ago.

He that is without sin

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has rightly claimed Qatar has a history of supporting groups that span the spectrum of political expression from activism to violence. But who doesnt do that in the Middle East? Washington also has such a record, and it is a very long and extensive one. Besides, its no vice to support those who seek freedom from occupation and oppression.

Unless the US and European foreign policy establishments restrain the Trump presidency from taking more reckless steps, we may be heading towards more regional chaos and conflict. by

The same goes for accusations against Qatar punching above its weight, especially when it does so in the realm of soft power, like media, philanthropy and sport. Dont tiny UAE and Israel, just like Saudi Arabia, punch above their weights in most controversial ways?

And then theres my favourite accusation of Qatar having it both ways by presumably financing Al Jazeera and providing platforms for persons and groups hostile to US and Israel, and at the same time hosting the biggest US military base in the region. Assuming thats a real issue, for that I say, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.

It seems to me thats traditionally what countries do, for ill or good. Some call it statecraft or a balancing act. Others refer to it as pragmatism or opportunism. But its certainly nothing abnormal in international relations, especially when it comes to smaller countries trying to stay afloat in stormy waters.

Also, which country involved in this whole mess doesnt try to have it both ways? Could it be the Egyptians, who condemned Hamas and opened an indirect channel to the Palestinian group in Gaza? The Emiratis, who accuse Qatar of interfering in other countries affairs, while intervening militarily in Libya, Yemen and other countries? Could it be the Saudis, who speak of regional stability while waging a reckless war in Yemen? Or be it the US, which supports its NATO ally, Turkey, while simultaneously arming its nemesis within, the PYD/PKK?

How do any of these even begin to compare with what Qatar does?

To be sure, Qatar has made a few mistakes of its own in the early days of the Arab Spring, but it also seems to have learned from past mistakes, notably the idea that diplomacy trumps war, and mediation, openness and reform is the safest and best long-term bet in an evermore complicated region.

And Qatar is back at doing what it does best. Like a Geneva in the Gulf, it hosted mediation efforts among various conflicting parties, be they Palestinians, Lebanese, Sudanese, Afghans, Libyans or others; certainly more than any other state in the region. And whatever leverage it has over so-called extremist groups, it has used effectively to resolve, not inflame conflict.

OPINION: Blockading Qatar, targeting Iran

Alas, some of Qatars more hostile neighbours seem to have concluded the opposite after their adventures in Yemen as well as Libya and Syria. After decades of destructive wars, theyre now advocating open confrontation with Tehran.

To be sure, Qatar has long sided with Saudi Arabia in opposing Irans sectarian policies in the region, especially in Iraq and Syria. But like most other Arab and Western nations, it opposes an open showdown with Iran in the Gulf, and rejects the idea of regime change there  especially as the Iranians continue to show support for moderate governments that are frequently at odds with Iranian extremists and are more concerned with building up their country than with regional hegemony.





And yet, the US president has allowed Riyadh to take draconian measures against Qatar even after it became clear that their pretexts are false and their consequences, intended or otherwise, are leading to serious escalation and instability in the region.

So if its not about Qatari behaviour, what is the crisis about and why has Trump inflamed it?

Bribed, duped or complicit?

One grudge Trump might have against Qatar lies in the fact that, unlike the Emiratis and the Saudis, who invested in his properties and gave him generous concessions, it didnt give Trump business incentives that would allow him to expand his brand in the country.

But such banality couldnt really be the reason why the US president was so prone to ride the anti-Qatar bandwagon, could it? Alas, and for the record, during his campaign, Trump did boast about liking the Saudis for buying $40 million apartments in his towers.

Considering his tendency to value money above principle, and everything else, the US president was clearly bribed by his Saudi hosts during his visit to the country. They offered the Trump administration hundreds of billions of dollars of lucrative arms purchases and promises of investment before asking their guest to support them against their nemesis, Qatar.

Indeed, the Saudis exploited Trumps short-sighted consent to outsource his campaign against Islamic terrorism in order to frame Qatar. They also used this opportunity to deflect any and all US accusations directed at the kingdom in the US Congress and media.

READ MORE: Twitter users hit back at Saudi blocs list of demands with humour

But Trump mightve also had an agenda of his own that correlated with that of the Saudis and Emiratis. Trump made a strategic decision to reverse Obamas policy towards the Middle East and has committed his administration to support Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt and the UAE against Sunni extremism and Iranian clerics.

This meant creating the right conditions for rapprochement between Israel, the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia; the so-called outside-in approach to resolving  or rather dissolving  the Palestinian issue. The fact that this effort is headed by Trumps inexperienced, radically Zionist son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who maintains close relations with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, speaks volumes. We are witnessing an unholy trinity thats bound to destroy any hope for regional stability.

Worse, instead of leading an already quite disastrous regional coalition against Iran, Trump lazily entrusted this new strategy to his reckless junior allies. This is exactly what his predecessor, President Barack Obama, rejected. Obama refused to be dragged into petty squabbles and regional confrontations. He may have been weak on Syria, but he was smart to decouple US strategy from that of its regional clients, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

In short, Obama refrained from leveraging US power to these unsavoury or inexperienced regional players, which would have been utterly dangerous, if not totally suicidal.

This might explain the reason why the experienced men and women at the US State Department and the Pentagon didnt go along with President Trumps unconditional embrace of Riyadh, and warned against drinking Abu Dhabis Kool-Aid.

Indeed, Secretary Tillerson was mystified by the sudden escalation and took the initiative from the White House to lash out at Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their procrastination and lack of seriousness in articulating their grievances and presenting their demands to Qatar. He also questioned the motivations behind the crisis, arguing that they manufactured the crisis with Qatar to settle old grievances that have nothing to do with terrorism or security.





Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, who has ample experience in the Gulf region, insisted that the demands from Qatar must be reasonable and actionable in order to bring a swift end to the crisis and avoid compromising wider US interests.

Interestingly, since Tillerson publicly reprimanded Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their procrastination, President Trump has (thus far) kept quiet and allowed his more qualified foreign policy chiefs to handle the crisis with caution and maturity.

Indeed, the White House seemingly made another u-turn last week, saying that the Gulf crisis was a family issue rather than an international crisis about supporting terrorism.

Wait! What! A family feud? Really?! So what about accusing Qatar of historic high-level support of terrorism and giving the green light to the Emirati and Saudi leaders to behave recklessly? Is it really possible to classify this crisis as a family issue after the Band of Four exploited Trumps folly to besiege Qatar, split the GCC, and plunge the region into a downward spiral?

The damned demands

When a list of demands that the Band of Four say Qatar must comply with in order to end the crisis was finally released, it turned out to be neither reasonable nor actionable. Indeed, theres a general consensus that the demands in the 13-point list are anything but measured and realistic, to quote UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

If anything, the wording, tone and sweeping nature of the document signal total ignorance of international law and the UN charter. The text underlines Saudi Arabia and the UAEs unmasked intention to take control of Qatars sovereignty and independent foreign policy.

The assumptions in the list, such as Qatars support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) or al-Qaeda, are clearly baseless. And contrary to US insistence on evidence to support their accusations, there was absolutely nothing in the document to support these outrageous claims.

The Band of Four demands that Qatar downgrade diplomatic relations with Iran, even though the UAE is Irans leading trading partner in the GCC, and the other GCC members, Oman and Kuwait, nurture stronger diplomatic relations with Tehran than Qatar.

And they demanded that Qatar round up all opposition figures from their countries in contravention to international humanitarian law, and demanded that Qatar treat the Muslims Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, not a mere opposition group, as seen by most countries of the world. Qatar, like most or all Western nations, has long warned of the dangers and implications of sweeping generalisations and the labelling of popular political opposition groups as terrorist.

OPINION: Why Morocco chose to be neutral on the Gulf crisis

The Band of Four regimes also require Qatar to shut down a modest Turkish military base it has been hosting for over two years, while continuing to host a US base. How is this a logical demand given that the UAE is hosting a French military base and Bahrain an American naval base?

But the demand that smacks of total hypocrisy and, frankly, stupidity, is the one that calls for an immediate shutdown of Al Jazeera, its affiliates and all other media outlets that are presumably supported directly or indirectly by Qatar.

These demands reflect Saudi, Emirati, Egyptian and Bahraini intolerance for difference of opinion and press freedom. These countries are attempting to silence respectable media outlets when they themselves finance and support propaganda outlets that are infamous for their hate and sectarian speech.

Fortunately, this demand has been rejected and condemned by renowned media organisations, such as the New York Times and The Guardian, as well as international rights organisations.

Last but not least, the demand that Qatar complies with all 13 conditions in 10 days, and also consent to provide monthly compliance reports, underline the obvious fact that the Band of Four is not willing to resolve the crisis for anything short of the total surrender of Qatars sovereignty.

All of this begs the question: Why is the Band of Four so eager to suppress Al Jazeera and Qatars independent foreign policy?

Another major Gulf conflict?

When Tillerson finally weighed in on the list of demands this past weekend, he said some are difficult to meet and others may work as a base for long-term dialogue. But thats just a diplomatic way to say the demands are not actionable, measured or realistic.

Now the Band of Four is threatening Qatar with divorce if it doesnt swiftly and fully comply with its demands, which clearly demonstrates that this crisis is not a simple family feud or a rift caused by Qatars alleged support for terrorism.

In reality, this quarrel has little or nothing to do with combatting terrorism. These four regimes are responsible for the death of tens of thousands, and hold tens of thousands of political prisoners. They will not stop until they erase any and all traces of the Arab Spring and the ideas it envisioned in the minds of Arabs; namely, justice and freedom of speech. These dreams may contaminate the peoples of the Gulf and the rest of the Arab world.

READ MORE: Analysis: The implications of the Qatar-Turkey alliance

They insist on shutting down all forums that give voice to the ideas of the Arab Spring, including Al Jazeera, and on ending Qatars assistance or support for anyone or any group that survived the counterrevolution in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world.

Unfortunately, despite their dark, repressive and reactionary nature, these measures in effect complement the White Houses embrace of Arab thugs, dictators and strongmen at the expense of their peoples in order to narrowly advance Trumps pro-Israeli, anti-Iranian and anti-Islamist agenda in the region.

Unless the US and European foreign policy establishments restrain the Trump presidency from taking more reckless steps, we may be heading towards more regional chaos and conflict.

After all, the blowbacks from another major showdown in the Gulf will worsen Western and Arab security alike. ALIKE.

Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera. Follow him on Facebook.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
ISIL fighters lose western Raqqa neighbourhood of Qadisia to the SDF, a coalition of Arab and Kurdish fighters.

A US-backed Syrian coalition of Kurdish and Arab groups has captured a western district of Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) group.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took the al-Qadisia district, they said.

The progress came after three days of intense fighting, the group said in a statement posted on social media.





After launching an assault three months ago, the SDF has pushed ISIL from large areas of northern Syria over the past 18 months.

Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters have also taken territory from it and the Syrian army has this year advanced against it in desert areas.

The US-backed coalition has supported SDF advances against ISIL throughout the Raqqa campaign with artillery and air strikes, including some against the groups leaders.

However, coalition air raids have also caused large numbers of civilian casualties, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said on Saturday that coalition air strikes in and around Raqqa had killed nearly 700 civilians so far this year.

After the war

In a separate development, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that countries that promised to get back weapons supplied to the Kurdish YPG armed group in northern Syria were trying to trick Turkey and would eventually realise their mistake.

Turkey was infuriated by a US decision last month to arm the YPG, which the US sees as a vital ally in the battle against ISIL.

Turkey considers it an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by the US, the EU and Turkey, has been waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey since the 1980s.

READ MORE: Syrias civil war explained from the beginning

Turkish defence ministry sources said on Thursday that the US had pledged that weapons provided to the YPG would be taken back once ISIL was defeated.

Erdogan dismissed those assurances, saying Turkeys friends and allies were cooperating with terrorists.

The ones who think they are tricking Turkey by saying they are going to get back the weapons that are being given to this terrorist organisation will realise that they are making a mistake eventually, he said.

But it will be too late for them, he added, saying that if violence spilled over Syrias border into Turkey,

Turkey would hold to account anyone who supplied arms to the YPG.

US President Donald Trump decided to arm the YPG fighters despite Turkeys objections and a direct appeal from Erdogan at a White House meeting last month.
Sheikh Khalid says presence of foreign forces in Qatar will have consequences, apparently referring to Turkish soldiers.

Just over two weeks after stating that Turkeys military presence in Qatar has no relation to an ongoing Gulf crisis, Bahrains foreign minister appears to have performed a complete U-turn.

Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa on Monday accused Qatar of creating a military escalation in the regional diplomatic dispute, in an apparent reference to the long-planned deployment of Turkish troops in Qatars capital, Doha, in recent days.

The disagreement with Qatar is a political and security dispute and has never been military, Khalifa said on Twitter.

But the deployment of foreign troops with their armoured vehicles is a military escalation for which Qatar will bear the consequences.

OPINION: What is the Qatar-GCC showdown really about?

Yet, these remarks contradicted previous statements made by Khalifa during a visit to Turkey on June 10, three days after Turkeys parliament fast-tracked the approval of a 2014 agreement with Qatar that allowed troops to be deployed to a Turkish military base in the Gulf state.





This base has been established  to protect the countries in the region from threats that might emerge. It has nothing to do what is going on between us and Qatar, Khalifa said at the time during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart, according to Turkeys state-run media.

For his part, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkeys foreign minister, said in the news conference that no country in the Arab Gulf region should regard the deal about Turkeys base in Qatar as hostile.

He also stated that the setting up of the base was aimed at contributing to the security and stability of all Gulf countries  a statement welcomed by Bahrains foreign minister.

[The Turkish foreign minister] stressed that this base has been set up in order to protect the security and stability of the GCC countries and will not be used against anyone, Khalifa said at the same press briefing.

He had added: We are pleased with this statement.

Gulf rift

Along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and a number of other countries, Bahrain severed relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism and Iran. Qatar strongly rejects the accusations.

Last week, the four Arab countries reportedly gave Qatar 10 days to comply with a list of 13 demands to end the crisis, insisting, among others, that Qatar close the same Turkish military base that Khalifa had acknowledged as helping in the protection of the regions security during his visit to Turkey earlier this month.

Qatari officials immediately dismissed the document as neither reasonable or actionable.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday also denounced the demands of the Saudi-Emirati-led bloc as being against international law.

Turkish troops deployed

Two contingents of Turkish troops with columns of armoured vehicles have arrived in Doha since the crisis erupted following the Ankara-based parliaments approval of the April 2016 deal.

Turkish and Qatari forces have also carried out long-planned military exercises, which are part of a mutual agreement aimed at strengthening the defence capabilities of both countries, as well as boosting efforts to combat armed groups and maintaining stability in the region. That deal was signed by the two countries in December 2015.

READ MORE: An Open Letter from Al Jazeera

Earlier in June, Erdogan said that he had offered to also build a military base in Saudi Arabia after work began on the Turkish base in Qatar.

I made the same offer to King Salman  and said that if its appropriate we could also establish a base in Saudi Arabia. They said they would look into it but since that day nothing more came, he told the Portuguese broadcaster RTP.

Shortly after Erdogans statement, officials in the kingdom rejected the offer, according to Saudi Arabias state-run media.

Before the arrival of the Turkish troops, Qatars foreign minister had clarified that their deployment in Doha was for the sake of the entire regions security.

In an interview with Al Jazeera on June 8, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also insisted that the crisis be solved by peaceful means.

There cannot ever be a military solution to this problem, he said.
Republican chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee says recent disputes undermine US policy in the Middle East.

An influential Republican senator has announced he will withhold approval of US weapons sales to members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), until there is a clear path for settling the major diplomatic crisis with Qatar.

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Monday said in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that recent disputes among GCC countries undermine efforts to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group and counter Iran.

Corker said GCC member states devolved into conflict instead of seeking to ease regional tensions and expand their security cooperation.

READ MORE on the Qatar-Gulf crisis  All the latest updates

The GCC is an alliance of six Middle Eastern countries: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

On June 5, three GCC members  Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain  along with Egypt, cut ties with Qatar over allegations that it funds terrorism  an accusation Doha strongly rejects but that President Donald Trump has echoed.

The move has left Qatar under a de facto blockade by its neighbours.

As chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Corker plays a central role in allowing or blocking US weapons sales.

Congress has a particular power here, which is very important, Al Jazeeras James Bays, reporting from Washington, DC, said, adding that in his letter Corker was careful not to single out a specific country.

Nevertheless, he did write that the GCC had failed to take advantage of an Arab-Islamic-American summit last month in Saudi Arabias capital, Riyadh, where Trump and dozens of Arab and Muslim leaders discussed ways of rooting out terrorism, and instead chose to devolve into conflict.

That seems to be an implicit criticism of those GCC members that decided to take action  Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain  and launched the attempt to blockade Qatar, Bays said.

The country that could be hurt the most by Corkers statement would be Saudi Arabia, which recently committed to buy $110bn worth of weapons from the US, our correspondent added. Saudi Arabia relies on US arms in its war in Yemen.

Qatars recent purchase of $15bn worth of F-15 fighter jets could also be affected, Bays said.

All Gulf states have acquired military equipment from the US, according to the US Congressional Research Service. Between 2012 to 2015, the US sold $300m worth of arms to Bahrain, $900m to Oman, $4.2bn to UAE, $4.4bn to Kuwait, $9.9bn to Qatar and $17bn to Saudi Arabia.

Senate endorsement

Once Congress is formally notified by the State Department of the sale of weapons to an ally, politicians typically have 30 days to review the transaction.

During that period they could pass a joint resolution or take other steps to stop the sale. If they take no action, the sale moves forward.





Corker told Tillerson that before we provide any further clearances during the informal review period on sales of lethal military equipment to the GCC states, we need a better understanding of the path to resolve the current dispute and reunify the alliance.

Rising tensions

The Saudi-Emirati-led bloc of countries has reportedly given Qatar 10 days to comply with 13 demands to end the crisis, insisting, among others, that Qatar shut down Al Jazeera, close a Turkish military base and scale down ties with Iran.

Qatari officials immediately dismissed the demands as neither reasonable nor actionable.

Tillerson said in a statement on Sunday that several of the demands Saudi Arabia and the other countries have placed on Qatar will be very difficult to meet.

Earlier this month, the Senate narrowly rejected a bipartisan attempt to rebuke Saudi Arabia, and scrap Trumps plan to sell the kingdom more than $500m in precision-guided munitions.

The weapons are part of Trumps proposed $110bn arms package to Riyadh, which the administration said would create US jobs while also improving a key allys military capability.
Nine civilians are killed in suicide attacks in Nigerias Maiduguri, while eight troops die in raid in next-door Chad.

Suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers have struck the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing at least nine civilians, as the same armed group was also blamed for the death of eight soldiers in fierce fighting in neighbouring Chad.

The multiple attacks in Maiduguri also left 13 wounded, police told the Reuters news agency on Monday. They were the latest in a spate of attacks in the region.

No group has officially claimed responsibility for the blasts in Maiduguri, but the use of suicide bombers in the region is a hallmark of Boko Haram.

Borno police said a male suicide bomber killed a security guard after entering the University of Maiduguri, near the city centre at 21:20 GMT on Sunday.

WATCH: Boko Haram  Behind the Rise of Nigerias Armed Group

Four female suicide bombers then killed eight people around an hour later on the outskirts of the city in Zannari community, after detonating devices in residential buildings.

Two female suicide bombers were the only people to die in two blasts at the University of Maiduguri on Monday morning at around 03:20 GMT.

In all, 16 persons, including the suicide bombers, died in the multiple explosions while 13 persons were injured, said the Borno Police commissioner, Damian Chukwu.

A number of suicide bomb attacks by suspected members of Boko Haram have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its neighbouring areas in the past few weeks, including blasts that killed 12 people on June 19 and a June 7 raid which left 14 dead.

On Friday, Nigerias state security agency also said it had foiled plans to detonate explosives in four northern cities  Maiduguri, Kano, Sokoto and Kaduna  during celebrations to mark the end of Islams holy month of Ramadan.

More than 20,000 people have been killed and more than two million have fled their homes since Boko Haram launched an armed campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

Nigerias army, with the help of troops from neighbouring countries, pushed the group out of most of a swath of land around the size of Belgium which it controlled until early 2015.

Suicide attack, gun raids

But suicide bombings and gun raids in mostly busy public areas such as mosques and markets have continued in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon and Niger.

The frequency of suicide bombings has increased in the past few weeks, although a large proportion of the attacks result in only the bombers being killed.

In neighbouring Chad, eight soldiers were killed when suspected Boko Haram fighters launched an attack over the weekend on islands on Lake Chad, the army told the Associated Press news agency on Monday.





Our forces attacked Boko Haram elements on five islands near Nigeria on June 24 and 25, said Chad army spokesman Colonel Azem, indicating eight soldiers had died and another 18 were wounded.

He also said troops had killed 162 fighters and destroyed six vehicles along with many of the motorcycles often favoured by the group in their raids.

The claim of the military could not be independently verified.

Lake Chad borders four countries on the edge of the Sahara: Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.

Chad is part of a five-nation regional force  also comprising Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Benin  fighting Boko Haram.

On Sunday, Chads President Idriss Deby threatened to pull the countrys troops out of peacekeeping operations in Africa because of a lack of foreign financial support.

Chad has contributed 1,390 soldiers, the third-largest contingent to MINUSMA, the UN peacekeeping mission deployed in Mali in response to violence.
Liu Xiaobo, Chinas jailed Nobel peace prize laureate, has been granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer last month, his lawyer says.

Liu, who has about three years of his 11-year sentence to serve, had the diagnosis on May 23 and was released a few days later, his lawyer Mo Shaoping told AFP new agency.

Liu, 61, was being treated at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang.

He has no special plans. He is just receiving medical treatment for his illness, Mo said.





The democracy campaigner was sentenced in 2009 for subversion after spearheading a bold petition for democratic reforms.

He was awarded the Nobel prize a year later and was represented by an empty chair at the ceremony in Oslo.

Supporters voiced concerns about his health and criticised the way he was treated by Chinese authorities.

Adding injury to insult, Liu Xiaobo has been diagnosed with a grave illness in prison, where he should never have been put in the first place, Patrick Poon, China researcher at global rights group Amnesty International, told AFP.

Poon called on Chinese authorities to ensure Liu receives adequate medical care, effective access to his family and that he and all others imprisoned solely for exercising their human rights are immediately and unconditionally released.

Su Yutong, a Chinese journalist and activist in exile in Germany since 2010, said she was very shocked and saddened that her friend had fallen ill in prison, and urged authorities to let him travel overseas for treatment.

Bold petition

Liu is one of only three people to have won the Nobel award while jailed by their own government.

China condemned his Nobel prize as unwanted foreign interference in its internal affairs, and refused to allow him to attend the ceremony in Oslo.

Diplomatic ties and trade talks between Norway and China were frozen after Liu was given the award, and Norways salmon industry suffered as exports to China were halted.

Relations were only normalised in December 2016.

Asked about Lius parole, Geng Shuang, Chinas foreign ministry spokesman, said: I am not aware of the situation youre talking about.

WATCH: The Listening Post  Pushing the limits of Chinese journalism

The international community has been calling for his release for years.

Liu was arrested in 2008 after co-writing Charter 08, a bold petition that called for the protection of basic human rights and the reform of Chinas one-party Communist system.

Charter 08, which was posted online, specifically demands the abolition of subversion as an offence in Chinas criminal code, the very crime for which Liu has been jailed.

His wife, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest since 2010. She suffered a heart attack in 2014, when she was diagnosed with depression after years of detention, a rights group said.

Tiananmen role

Liu is also known for his efforts to help negotiate the safe exit from Tiananmen Square of thousands of student demonstrators on the night of June 3, 1989, when the military quelled six weeks of protests in the heart of Beijing.

He was arrested immediately after the crackdown and released without charge in early 1991.

Liu was rearrested and served three years in a labour camp from 1996 to 1999 for seeking the release of those jailed in the Tiananmen protests and for opposing the governments verdict that they amounted to a counter-revolutionary rebellion.

WATCH: It happened in Tiananmen Square  Featured documentary

The holder of a doctorate in Chinese literature, Liu was once a professor at Beijing Normal University, but was banned from teaching at state institutions over his involvement in the 1989 demonstrations.

Although Liu was banned from publishing in China, many of his writings advocating greater democracy and respect for human rights appeared in Hong Kong and overseas Chinese publications.

PEN Hong Kong, an organisation of journalists and writers advocating freedom of expression worldwide, also called for his unconditional release on Monday.

At a time when China wants to have a greater international role, it is only fitting that it should show humanity and compassion towards a man who has never committed any violent crime, but has dedicated his life to literature and free expression, it said on its website.
Official says 24 Libya-bound people rescued but dozens are believed to have died after being left without food or water.

Dozens of people are feared dead after human traffickers abandoned them in Nigers northern desert without food or water, a senior local official said on Monday.

Fatoumi Boudou, the prefect of Nigers northern region of Bilma, told the AFP news agency that authorities on Sunday rescued 24 people who were part of a group of 70 people who had left in three vehicles from Agadez for Libya.





Agadez is a remote town in Niger on the edge of the Sahara desert that has become a major people-smuggling point.

The traffickers abandoned them in the middle of the desert without food or water, Boudou said, adding that those rescued had spoken of several dead bodies without specifying a number.

But the Agadez-based Air Info website, citing a security source, said scores of bodies had been buried on Sunday by troops and locals.

A local radio station had said 52 dead bodies had been discovered by authorities on Sunday.

OPINION: Who is really responsible for deadly refugee journeys?

The 750-km trip from Agadez to the Libyan border takes between two and three days with only very short petrol and toilet stops on the way.

Boudou said searches across a 65-km radius had yielded one dead body with the identity card of a Nigerian student.

In early June, at least 44 Libya-bound migrants, including women and babies, died of thirst in the Sahara desert after their vehicle broke down in scorching conditions.

In May 2015, the government in Niamey adopted a law banning the trafficking of migrants and refugees with those found guilty facing a prison sentence of between one and 30 years, and fines of up to 30 million CFA francs ($51,000).

Libya has long struggled to control its southern borders with Sudan, Chad and Niger, even before the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

In the chaos that followed, traffickers stepped up their business, with tens of thousands of people each year making the perilous crossing to Italy just some 300km away.

Germany and Italy last month called for a European Union mission to be installed on the border between Libya and Niger to reduce the flow of migrants and refugees.
At least 12 people reportedly killed as Assads forces and opposition fighters clash in Quneitra amid Israeli strikes.

Fighting between government forces and opposition fighters has intensified in the Quneitra province in Syrias south, situated in the 30 percent part of the Golan Heights under Syrian control.

More than a dozen people were killed, including both pro-government forces and opposition fighters, in the latest increase in fighting in the countryside of al-Baath city and near the town of Khan Arnab, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday.

The deaths came as the al-Qaeda-linked Levant Liberation Committee [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] and allied anti-government groups launched an offensive to take control of al-Baath city, one of the few towns in the province that has remained under control of Syrian government forces in recent years.





Abu Omar al-Jolani, a Quneitra-based media activist, told Al Jazeera that the battle is ongoing and that armed groups managed to break the regimes first line of defence.

Also on Sunday, Israeli fighter jets targeted Syrian government positions in the region for a second day in a row, reportedly destroying a handful of tanks.

The UK-based SOHR reported that the strikes killed two Syrian army soldiers and injured several others.

After Israeli air strikes hit the area on Saturday, Syrian state news agency SANA accused Israel of supporting the Levant Liberation Committee, formerly known as al-Nusra Front.

Israel has been occupying roughly 70 percent of the Golan Heights since the 1967 Middle East war.

Since the outbreak of fighting in the Golan region in 2012, it has carried out sporadic air strikes, mostly targeting government forces and their allies.

In recent months, President Bashar al-Assads forces, backed by Russian air power, have gained ground in Syria from opposition fighters and armed groups.

New attack launched

Since the war began in 2011, it has killed hundreds of thousands, driven millions more from their homes, caused a global refugee crisis and drawn in regional and world powers.

The conflict is far from over. Opposition fighters hold large expanses of the country, including around Idlib province near Hama, and launched a new attack in Quneitra in the southwest on Saturday.

Anti-government fighters also hold the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus, parts of the desert in the southeast and a large pocket south of Hama around the city of Rastan.

READ MORE: Iftar for the homesick  Remembering Ramadan in Raqqa

As recently as March, opposition fighters advanced from Idlib province to within a few miles of Hama, before the army and its allies pushed them back in weeks of fierce fighting.

However, the army drove the fighters from their biggest urban stronghold in Aleppo in December and have also forced several important opposition enclaves to surrender over the past year.

US-led coalition air raids have also caused large numbers of civilian casualties, according to the SOHR.

It said on Saturday that coalition air strikes in and around Raqqa, the besieged stronghold of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, have killed nearly 700 civilians so far this year.
Iraqi officials say ISIL fighters launched surprise attacks in Tanak and Yarmuk to ease pressure on Mosuls Old City.

Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group launched a string of counterattacks in western Mosul, setting off clashes that continued overnight on Monday, according to Iraqi officials.

An unknown number of suicide bombers and gunmen targeted the Hay al-Tanak and Yarmuk neighbourhoods, military officials told news agencies.

The fighters set fire to houses and cars in Tanak, an area that had been declared free of ISIL in May.

Several people are reported to have died in the attacks, which sowed panic among residents who had returned to the area, and prompted hundreds of families to flee overnight.

Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a top commander in the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), which sent forces to fight the ISIL gunmen, said the attackers had infiltrated the neighbourhood by blending in with returning displaced civilians.

READ MORE: Journalist Veronique Robert dies of Mosul blast wounds

The group came with the displaced and settled in the Tanak district. They regrouped and launched counterattacks, he told the AFP news agency.

Yarmuk is being searched house to house, he said, adding that two groups of ISIL attackers were still believed to be in the area.

While the exact circumstances were unclear, Sunday nights attacks were described as a diversionary tactic by west Mosul-based sleeper cells to ease the pressure on the Old City, where Iraqi forces are closing in on the last remaining pockets of ISIL fighters.





The offensive to retake Mosul, in northern Iraq, was launched eight months ago with air and ground support from a US-led international coalition.

Brigadier General Mohammed al-Khodari told the Associated Press news agency that counterattacks were tactics the Iraqi army had seen in other areas that were previously recaptured from ISIL.

When they sense defeat somewhere, they counterattack somewhere else to draw away attention and to show that they are still strong, said Khodari.

This attack shows that they will soon be defeated in Mosul.

ISIL is finished

A curfew was in force over western Mosul, a Reuters news agency correspondent reported.

A CTS medic said the attack had caused several victims but he could not say how many.

There are martyrs who were killed by Daesh, the medic said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL

He said 15 to 20 ISIL fighters were also killed in the battle.

The fall of Mosul would mark the end of the Iraqi half of the caliphate. ISIL is facing an offensive in Raqqa, its self-declared capital in Syria.

READ MORE: UN  ISIL targets children of families fleeing Mosul

A senior commander who spoke to Reuters on Monday predicted that the battle for Mosul would be over in a few days.

Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi said the area under ISIL is now less than 2sq km.

From a military perspective, Daesh is finished, he said. It lost its fighting spirit and its balance. We are making calls to them to surrender or die.

The Iraqi military estimates that up to 350 fighters were besieged in the Old City, dug in among civilians in crumbling houses.

More than 50,000 civilians, about half the Old Citys population, remain trapped behind ISIL lines with little food, water or medicines, according to those who escaped.

Aid organisations say ISIL has stopped many from leaving, using them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.
Hundreds, including 14 pregnant women and four infants, rescued off of Libya in wretched state, says Irish navy.

An Irish naval ship has rescued 712 people, including pregnant women and infants, off the coast of the Libyan capital of Tripoli as part of an international migrant-rescue effort, Irelands Defence Forces say.

The Le Eithne ship led the rescue of multiple vessels in distress 40km north-west of Tripoli throughout Sunday.

Six migrants, including one baby, were revived from states of unconsciousness.

The ship will transport the people, including 14 pregnant women and four infants below the age of four months, to a designated port of safety to be handed over to Italian authorities.

LE Eithne Rescue Operation Update  712* migrants on-board.606 persons rescued and a further 106 transferred from NGO vessel. pic.twitter.com/Hx42B4BX19  Oglaigh na hEireann (@defenceforces) June 26, 2017

Im very proud to say all lives were saved, no lives were lost. It was a complex operation where lives were at stake at every turn over a full eight-hour period, Commander Brian Fitzgerald told national broadcaster RTE from the ship.

Overall, they were really in a wretched condition but in all cases healthy enough to undertake the journey to a port of safety.

READ MORE: African migrants traded in Libyas slave markets

Earlier this month, at least 126 asylum seekers en route to Europe drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after the motor of their boat was stolen, causing it to sink, the UN migration agency has said.

Gangs in Libya have built a lucrative trade out of packing refugees into rickety boats heading for Italy, where more than 65,000 have arrived so far this year.

As of June 14, 1,828 people are believed to have died trying to reach Europe, according to IOM figures.

Debate over dealing with the refugee influx is becoming increasingly bitter in Italy, whose economy is lagging behind its European peers before national elections next year.

The IOM recently said that hundreds of African refugees and migrants passing through Libya have been bought and sold in modern-day slave markets before being held for ransom or used as forced labour or for sexual exploitation.

People are bought for between $200 and $500 and are held on average for two to three months, Othman Belbeisi, head of the IOMs Libya mission, said in Geneva earlier this year.

Selling human beings is becoming a trend among smugglers as the smuggling networks in Libya are becoming stronger and stronger, he said.
Tokyo-based car-components manufacturer is facing lawsuits and costs over airbag defect linked to at least 16 deaths.

Takata, the Japanese car-parts manufacturer, says it has filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan and the US after faults in its airbags prompted the industrys biggest ever safety recall.

Takata is facing lawsuits and huge costs over an airbag defect linked to at least 16 deaths globally.

News reports have said its liabilities would exceed one trillion yen ($9bn).

Key Safety Systems, an American car-components manufacturer owned by Chinas Ningbo Joyson Electronic, will take over Takata, both companies said.

Takata, which is based in Tokyo, will sell its assets and businesses to Key Safety Systems for an estimated $1.588bn, they said.

Trading in Takata shares was suspended at the opening of the stock market on Monday after a week of massive volatility and the Tokyo Stock Exchange said it would delist Takata on July 27.

At a board meeting on June 26, our company decided to begin procedures in filing for bankruptcy protection, Takata said in a statement after making the filing with the Tokyo District Court. It said the court had accepted the measure.

Takata has 12 overseas subsidiaries that have also filed for bankruptcy protection.

OPINION: Japans new Defence White Paper  Turbulence ahead

Jason Luo, president and chief executive of KSS, voiced confidence in Takatas rehabilitation.

Although Takata has been impacted by the global airbag recall, the underlying strength of its skilled employee base, geographic reach, and exceptional steering wheels, seat belts and other safety products have not diminished, he said in a statement.





We look forward to finalising definitive agreements with Takata in the coming weeks, completing the transaction and serving both our new and long-standing customers while investing in the next phase of growth for the new KSS.

Takata shares rose more than 40 percent on Friday after collapsing over the week as traders made bets on its likely bankruptcy.

Analysts attributed the surge on Friday to speculative trading among short-term investors hoping to profit from wild swings in share prices as well as to position adjustments ahead of the weekend.

Nearly 100 million cars, including about 70 million in the US, were subject to the airbag recall linked to a risk they could improperly inflate and rupture, potentially firing deadly shrapnel at the occupants.

The ultimate cause of the malfunctions has not yet been identified but three factors are suspected: a chemical component, ammonium nitrate, that responds poorly to humidity; extreme climatic conditions, such as heat and high humidity; and faulty design.

In the US, Takata agreed in January to plead guilty to wire fraud for falsifying testing data and reports provided to car manufacturers.

The penalty includes a $25m criminal fine, a $125m compensation fund for victims, and an $850m restitution fund for car manufacturers.

READ MORE: Lives in limbo  Why Japan accepts so few refugees

Three of its executives were indicted in connection with the safety defects.

Al Jazeeras Wayne Hay, reporting from Tokyo, says filing for bankruptcy offers Takata some protection going forward, and it makes the companys affairs more ransparent, while allowing for a bailout.

But there is a long way to go in terms of the recall process  most of the cases have been in the United States [and] only around 38 percent of the repairs and replacements have been completed in the US, he said.

Because there is so much work to be done, there is a real concern that there wont be enough money to complete all these recalls and therefore the car manufacturers themselves will have to pick up most of the costs.
Johan Gustafsson was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 along with a South African and a Dutch.

A Swede who had been held hostage by al-Qaeda in Mali since 2011 has been freed, the Swedish government has announced.

Johan Gustafsson returned home and was reunited with his family, Minister of Foreign Affairs Margot Wallstrom told reporters late on Monday as she showed a picture of the ex-captive surrounded by his relatives.

RELATED: Dutch hostage rescued by French troops in Mali

I welcomed him home, and I can say that he is in good health and is holding up well, given the circumstances, she said.

Wallstrom refused to provide details about how Sweden secured Gustafssons release, saying only that it occurred a couple of days ago and was the result of several years of efforts by police, politicians and diplomats, as well as Swedish and international authorities.

She also did not comment on whether a ransom was paid. She said only that Swedens policy is to not pay ransoms in the event of kidnappings.

Malian officials helped

A Malian security source meanwhile told the AFP news agency that officials in the West African country had helped secure the release of the Swedish hostage. He was released in the Mali desert.

Gustafsson, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 along with South African national Stephen McGown and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke.

There was no immediate word on the fate of McGown. Rijke had been freed in 2015 by French special forces.

Gustafsson was on a motorcycle trip from Sweden to South Africa when he was kidnapped.

He, Rijke and McGown were seized along with several others by a group of armed men while on the terrace of their hotel.

Rijkes wife managed to escape, but a German who tried to resist the abduction was killed.

Al-Qaedas North African affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

It was one of several groups that took control of Malis north in 2012 before being overthrown by a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.
Appointment of former economy minister comes days after ruling Social Democrats remove their own government.

Mihai Tudose, the outgoing economy minister of Romania, has been appointed as prime minister, days after the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) removed its own government following an internal power row.

The 50-year-old Tudose now has 10 days to gain the vote of confidence in his government and his programme.





Taking into consideration the current crisis, the urgency to end it  as it harms the economy (and) Romanias external image abroad, I have decided to name Mihai Tudose as prime minister-designate, President Klaus Iohannis told reporters on Monday.

The Social Democrat Party filed a no-confidence motion in ex-Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu last week, accusing him of delays in implementing reforms in the European Unions second-poorest country.

Members of parliament are likely to vote on Tudoses nomination on Thursday. The vote is seen as a formality given that the PSD holds a parliamentary majority with its ALDE ally.

The PSD unexpectedly withdrew its support for 43-year-old Grindeanu on June 14, barely six months after the party swept back to victory in elections.

Grindeanu, however, refused to resign and accused powerful PSD boss Liviu Dragnea, 54, of seeking to concentrate all the power in his hands.

Dragnea, who is barred from running for office because of a fraud conviction, is widely acknowledged to pull the strings behind the scenes.

But Grindeanu began to assert his independence in recent months, which reportedly led to his fall from grace.

Romanian media on Monday highlighted the fact that Tudose was one of the ministers held responsible for the failure of Grindeanus government to implement reforms.

OPINION: Romania  The second fall of Ceausescu

It is the second major crisis to hit the PSD since it rode back into power in December, barely a year after being forced from office over a deadly nightclub blaze blamed on corruption.

In February, Romanias largest protests since the fall of communism forced the government to drop a bill aimed at watering down anti-corruption laws that critics said would help Dragnea himself.
Ballots cast in presidential election dominated by allegations of corruption against backdrop of economic turmoil.

Voting is under way across Mongolias cities, townships and prairies, as the country chooses a new president amid worries about corruption and economic turmoil.

Most voters expect a two-horse race between the ruling Mongolian Peoples Party (MPP) candidate Miyeegombo Enkhbold, the former mayor of capital Ulaanbaatar, and former martial arts star and property tycoon Khaltmaa Battulga of the outgoing presidents opposition Democratic Party.

But Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the breakaway Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party (MPRP) could win enough votes to trigger the countrys first-ever runoff.

All three presidential candidates were embroiled in corruption allegations, prompting some voters to leave their ballot papers blank in protest on Monday.

READ MORE: Mongolias reindeer herders defend their way of life

I really wanted to participate, and do something, but I didnt want to vote for any of the three candidates, Khishigjargal, a 22-year old translator, said after leaving her ballot blank at a polling station in Ulaanbaatar.

In the end, if enough people vote blank there could be another election, she told Reuters news agency.

Resource-rich and landlocked Mongolia is a parliamentary democracy and elected a new government last year.

It was once Asias fastest growing economies, but in recent years it has struggled with mounting debt after foreign investment and commodity export earnings collapsed.

The new government secured a $5.5bn loan from the International Monetary Fund in May after implementing austerity measures.

All three candidates promised to pull Mongolia out of financial crisis, restore its stagnant economy to its former boom status, and reassess ties with neighbours, including China, which purchases 80 percent of its exports.

The economy was 66-year-old herder Osorjamiin Ereenetuvshins top concern.

The most important issues to me are the countrys prosperity, the peoples prosperity, and pollution, he said near a polling booth in a yurt outside Ulaanbaatar.

Some voters said they heard little about unemployment and jobs  their top concerns, as candidates focused their campaigns on their opponents alleged shady pasts.





Among the accusations were a $25m scheme to sell government posts, hefty offshore accounts and a clandestine donation from a member of a South Korean church  all of which the candidates have denied.

Daram Erdebayar, a 61-year-old retired teacher, had previously been loyal to the MPP, but decided to support Battulga after a recording surfaced in which Enkhbold and other MPP officials were allegedly discussing a plan to hand public jobs to the highest bidders.

Lantu Erdenechimeg, a 50-year-old government official, said he voted for Enkhbold because of his unity pledge.

For me, the most important things are solidarity and unity, which are more important than party divisions.

Zunduv Gombojav, a 60-year-old unemployed disabled man, was disillusioned with the two main parties.

Ganbaatar is the only one who speaks the voice of the regular people of Mongolia, he told AFP news agency.

For 27 years, we have chosen the two largest parties, but they have done nothing.
Rights Committee says unjust siege impacts the right to education for Qatari students in Saudi, the UAE and Bahrain.

A human rights body in Qatar says it has monitored several serious violations against Qatari students in three neighbouring countries amid a major regional fallout, according to a report on state media.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed a blockade against it on June 5 over allegations that it funds terrorism.

The three Arab Gulf countries, along with Egypt, who have severed relations, have not provided any evidence for their claims, while Qatar has repeatedly denied the allegations as baseless.

OPINION: The GCC crisis  Draconian demands and juvenile politics

Qatars National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), which has previously called the moves against Qatar worse than the Berlin Wall, said that the unjust siege was impacting the right to education for Qatari students in the three countries, and especially in the UAE, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Monday.

QNA said that the rights body had noted that these violations were shown in several ways, such as not allowing Qatari students to complete exams at the end of the academic year, and refused to give them certificates of graduation and the closure of their educational accounts as well as the termination of their registration arbitrarily without giving reasons.

The NHRC said it had filed a series of complaints to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) according to QNA.

It also urged universities and educational institutions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to put aside political differences and take into account the rights of Qatari students and not put obstacles in the way of their right to education.

OPINION: What is the Qatar-GCC showdown really about?

The committee has previously called for an immediate and unconditional lifting of the blockade on Qatar, describing it as collective punishment that resulted in tearing up families.

The siege can not be subject to restrictions or conditions because it is in contravention of international agreements and human rights conventions, it said.

It should, therefore, be lifted immediately and unconditionally.
Over two decades ago, Al Jazeera Arabic was launched with a simple mission: to provide reliable information to viewers across the Arab world. Ten years later, in 2006, Al Jazeera English began broadcasting with the same mission  to provide people around the world with accurate, balanced and impartial information.

When Al Jazeera Arabic went on air in 1996, it was unique in the Arab world. Most media in the region at the time were state-controlled and often unchallenged mouthpieces for the different rulers and governments in the region. Al Jazeera was different, a truly independent voice, with a mission to hear and report the human stories that were otherwise ignored; to cover events with balance and integrity; and to hold power to account.

Al Jazeera Arabic quickly gained a huge and loyal audience across the region. The information we provided became a lifeline to millions of people who wanted to know what was really going on around them.

WATCH: INSIDE STORY  What is behind the campaign against Al Jazeera?

Al Jazeera Arabic has remained the most watched news channel in the Arab world throughout its history. Al Jazeera Arabic channel has more viewers than the combined total of our main competitors.





Al Jazeera English is seen in more than 130 countries around the world, and is watched by tens of millions of people who respect our journalism.

The global audiences are loyal to the Al Jazeera brand because of our continuous commitment to journalism; our dedication to covering stories impartially; and our determination to tell stories with no agenda and with total integrity.

We at Al Jazeera believe in our mission: People have a right to be informed. They have a right to get news that is not controlled by the narrative of authorities.

They have a right to know what is going on in their world. Equally, people have a right to have a voice. To have their stories told when they deserve and need to be heard.

Freedom of speech  and the freedom for journalists to carry out their responsibilities  may be an accepted norm in many parts of the world, but it is a right, which is so often challenged for political gain in parts of the Arab world.

The right to be informed by reliable information is one of the foundations of a healthy society.

Voice for the voiceless

Throughout our long history, we have remained resolute in our commitment to storytelling, to balanced journalism, and to finding and covering stories. We have given a voice to the voiceless. We have shone a spotlight on the people and stories that would otherwise have remained in the dark. And weve always done so with responsibility and integrity.

Journalists from all regions of the world have joined Al Jazeera because they believe in the mission of good journalism, and the responsibility that goes with it. Every day we cover stories from around the Arab world, Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America.

We have more than 3,000 staff who are among the most talented and diverse in the world. Their commitment makes Al Jazeera what it is today.





We have bureaus in more than 70 locations around the globe, including our headquarters in Doha and broadcast centres in London and Washington, DC, staffed by journalists whose courage and work ethic is unwavering

They report on events first-hand. They report with integrity. They carry out their jobs with passion, and with responsibility. Their commitment to hear the voices of those caught up in events is available for all to see.

Our staff are our fabric. They ensure our journalism is of the highest quality, is impartial, and has integrity.

Our millions of viewers are a testament to the quality of our work. Every minute of every day, in tens of countries, on every distribution platform, millions of people choose Al Jazeera as their source of information.

If we did not have integrity, if we were not reliable, our audience are intelligent enough to judge and would switch us off. For more than 20 years they have remained loyal to Al Jazeera, and we have always remained loyal to them and true to their demands for information.

We have been accused of bias, of catalysing the Arab Spring, of having an agenda, and of favouring one group over another. We reject these allegations and our screens are a testament to our integrity.

All our coverage is on show online and on TV for anyone to see and scrutinise. By covering events such as the Arab Spring, we dont create those events. And as is the role of good journalism, we dont take sides, instead, we hold the powerful to account for the decisions they make.

Muzzling Al Jazeera

We were once accused of bias because Al Jazeera Arabic was the first Arabic channel to have Israeli politicians and commentators on the air. But what we were doing was ensuring we heard and challenged all relevant voices in a quest for good journalism.

We were accused of extremism when we interviewed members of the Taliban, but in fact we were asking the hard questions and ensuring we were challenging all sides of the story.

We defend the freedom of expression and believe in peoples right to knowledge. We take no sides. We are no ones messenger or spokesperson and we never have been.





Al Jazeera  like all credible media organisations  has been challenged throughout its history. We have been criticised because our journalism shows what is really going on, and sometimes governments, corporations or individuals dont want what they are doing to be seen.

Our offices have been closed in the past by certain countries who didnt want the truth to be seen. Most recently by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt.

The satellite TV and online signals distributing our channels have been blocked by governments to prevent their people from seeing our content.

Al Jazeeras staff have been threatened, locked up, and killed as a consequence of carrying out their duties as journalists. Our colleagues in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere have paid the ultimate price while doing their jobs.

We have also reported on critical and perhaps embarrassing issues in Qatar when they arose, including the plight of workers on construction sites and accusations of rights violations.

We have covered stories that have been attacked by Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia because we showed what was really going on.

Egypt not only attacked Al Jazeera for its coverage, but also, shockingly, imprisoned and sentenced our colleagues, whose only crime was their commitment to great journalism.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE may silence their own media and their own peoples freedom to speak out, but because Al Jazeera is watched by so many people in the Arab world, they want us gone.

Reliable journalism

Despite the pressure being exerted on Al Jazeera by these countries, and their calls for our closure, we have covered the region and events with balance and with impartiality, and we will continue to do so.

We are a network that exists to cover all peoples; to hear human stories from all corners of the world; and to ensure that our information stands up to scrutiny in every country and from every person who watches or reads our news.

The attempt to silence Al Jazeera is an attempt to silence independent journalism in the region, and to challenge everyones freedom to be heard and to be informed. This must not be allowed to happen.

We are deeply proud of our journalism. We respect  and give thanks to  everyone we report about, and everyone we inform.

We remain resolute in carrying out our responsibility of providing reliable information, and giving those we cover a voice.

We are unwavering in our resolve to continue doing so, and we will proceed to tell the stories of the world from Kabul to Caracas and from Mosul to Sydney.

We will continue to do our job with integrity. We will continue to be courageous in the pursuit of the truth. And we will continue to respect peoples rights to be heard.
Salvador Adame, director of a local TV station, was abducted on May 18 in Mexicos western state of Michoacan.

A Mexican journalist who was kidnapped in May in the western state of Michoacan has been found dead, the sixth reporter killed this year in the country, officials announced.

A body discovered on June 14 was identified through DNA testing as that of Salvador Adame, a local television journalist who had been missing since he was abducted by gunmen last month, Jose Godoy, Michoacan chief prosecutor, told journalists on Monday.

Mexico has been the deadliest country for reporters in 2017, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

https://twitter.com/jahootsen/status/879413853359972352

When Adame disappeared on May 18, CPJ issued a statement calling for his immediate release.

According to the news website Expansion, armed men forced Adame into a four-wheel drive vehicle and was driven away.

Adame worked as the director of the local television station 6TV and had been working as a journalist for 20 years when he was abducted.

In April, Adame and his wife, Frida Urtiz, were detained by police while covering a demonstration, according to CPJ. He also told CPJ that police beat him and his wife, while municipal officials looked on.

Series of murders

Also in May, Javier Valdez, an award-winning reporter who specialised in covering drug trafficking and organised crime, was murdered in the state of Sinaloa.

In April, veteran reporter Maximino Rodriguez Palacios was shot and killed in the Baja California peninsula. Palacios also covered the police and crime beat.

Three other journalists covering organised crime in Mexico have been killed since March 3  in Chihuahua, Guerrero and Veracruz states, according to officials and media groups.





In early April, newspaper Norte de Ciudad Juarez announced it would cease publishing after 27 years in existence because of increasing insecurity.

Several journalists have also been wounded in armed attacks while others have fled their homes due to threats, the CPJ said.

In a 2017 report titled No Excuse, journalist Adela Navarro Bello wrote for the CPJ that covering corruption in Mexico means living with impunity.

Between 2006 and 2016, 21 journalists were murdered with complete impunity in Mexico, putting the country sixth on CPJs annual index that measures cases where perpetrators remain unpunished, Bello wrote.

The system seems to be corrupt down to its very foundation; either that or its simply incapable of achieving justice.

The overall number of murder investigations in Mexico also hit record levels in May as criminal violence increased dramatically since last year.

There were 2,186 murder probes last month, the highest for any month going back to 1997, according to government statistics.
Agreement to enable Theresa Mays Conservative Party to govern the country despite losing its majority in parliament.

Prime Minister Theresa Mays Conservatives have signed a deal with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that will allow them to govern Britain after losing their majority in a general election earlier this month.

The Conservatives have 317 seats in the 650-seat parliament after the June 8 election and need the support of the DUPs 10 members of parliament to be able to govern.

An agreement has been signed, the UK prime ministers spokesperson told AFP news agency.

Arlene Foster, the head of the DUP, said she was delighted that a deal had been struck, and that the details of the deal will be published later.

Discussions between the two began immediately after the election and centred on a confidence and supply deal in which the DUP would support the government in any confidence votes and to pass budgets.

READ MORE: How has the UK changed since the Brexit vote?

Fosters party wants tangible benefits for Northern Ireland in terms of jobs and investment in order to offer its support.

Al Jazeeras Neave Barker, reporting from Britains capital, London, said that under the agreement, Northern Ireland will receive a $1.3bn fiscal package.

This will go on everything from hospitals to roads but also to shoring up their position in northern Irish politics, he said.

This will not be an easy journey for May or for this Conservative government. They will be under scrutiny from start to finish.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, attacked the deal, saying it had not been done in the national interest, but in the interest of May and the Tories political survival.

This Tory-DUP deal has not been done in the national interest but in the interest of @Theresa_May & @Conservatives' own political survival. pic.twitter.com/BqtPwJByIl  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 26, 2017

DUP leaders had previously said that an agreement with the Conservatives will offer stable British government.

But critics, including some members of the Conservatives, had objected to any kind of alliance with the DUP because of some of its views, including opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.





Some of its representatives have also been criticised in the past for homophobic comments, climate-change-denial statements and sectarian rhetoric.

Enda Kenny, Irelands former prime minister, has cautioned that a deal with the Protestant and pro-British DUP could upset Northern Irelands fragile peace.

However, May, in a statement shortly after the agreement was signed, said that the DUP will back the British government on all Brexit and national security legislation.

The DUP will support the Conservative government on votes on the Queens speech, the budget, and legislation relating to Brexit and national security, she said.

The agreement makes clear that we remain steadfast to our commitments as set out in the Belfast Agreement and its successors, and in governing in the interests of all parts of the community in Northern Ireland.
The US secretary of state says some of the demands on Qatar are difficult to meet.

Theres a week to go for Qatar to meet a list of 13 demands imposed on it by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.

It includes shutting down the Al Jazeera network and aligning Qatars foreign policy with that of the Gulf Cooperation Council, among many other demands.

Qatar has rejected the list, saying it violates its sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the United States is calling on all sides to sit down and talk.

A statement from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says while some of the measures will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution.

So, is dialogue even possible?

Presenter: Hazem Sika

Guests:

Abdulaziz Al-Horr  CEO of the Qatar Finance and Business Academy

Ahmed Al Burai  Lecturer at Istanbul Aydin University

Hillary Mann Leverett  Former White House official
The original concept of fake news was called disinformation, an invention of Joseph Stalin, who coined the term. Some writings from the time indicated that the Soviets in many cases considered disinformation to be a higher intelligence priority then actual intelligence collection. This appears to be a continuing philosophy, with intelligence collection left to independent hackers and the thrust of state sponsored intelligence going to disinformation (dezinformatsiya).

Disinformation is false information spread deliberately to deceive and cause chaos. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking defector from the Soviet bloc explained in his[i] book Disinformation that the ultimate measure of success for disinformation was when the major organs of the media coud be tricked into unknowingly propagating deliberate falsehoods.

But the Russians are far from the only ones practicing disinformation designed against political systems. The current investigations of alleged Russian collusion on Capitol Hill are the result of a disinformation campaign that was begun by the Democratic Party and continued when the mainstream media were fooled into publicizing the accusations as fact.

This is not to say the Russians werent involved. There was much made of the former British intelligence officer Christopher Steeles Trump Dossier. The dossier contained a lot of unverified allegations against Trump that would lead the reader to assume the Russians were either in contact and helping him or that they had enough information to blackmail him once he was in office. What is less well publicized is that Steele paid for the information, that he paid what turned out to be Russian operatives, and that he was never able to verify the information he received. There have been attempts to breathe life into the dossier by pointing out that parts seemingly have been verified by recent independent revelations. This is, however, part and parcel of a disinformation campaign, finding ways to shore up the reports you have already pushed out.

Of course, this type of reasoning can drive you crazy. If any lie can be proved true, then what is true? Actually, its not that difficult. You need multiple sources to confirm a story and they must be vetted to be trusted. This is where the disinformation campaign falls apart. The deeper you dig, the less the facts hold up.

This process appears to be happening now with the investigations into the Trump campaign and the Russians. The so-called multiple contacts between the campaign and Russian operatives were a bunch of disconnected and unrelated data points. So-and-so met with this person that has a connection to the Russian government. Look deep and there is a good and legitimate reason. President Trumps son-in-law attempted to set up a back channel to Russia. This is standard stuff and we only knew about some of it by intercepting the Russian ambassadors communications with Moscow, that he knew were being intercepted and read. So, there was a meeting between Jared Kushner and the Russian Ambassador. This we know is true, but the exact contents may or may not have been revealed. If they were, it is still nothing, as back channels are a normal part of statecraft. We also know, or at least most believe, the DNC was hacked and e-mails released. This, however, is not a disinformation campaign since what was in the e-mails is true. This is a crime, as hacking is a crime, but it is not disinformation.

What was begun as a political talking point to explain the unexplainable, that Clinton lost to Trump, morphed into disinformation and is being carried so far that now the Russians have latched onto it to continue a campaign of disruption of the American government and political system.

What is happening now is that very good people are putting out misinformation, information that is not true but is believed to be so by those making the statements. Unfortunately, the process of countering the lies takes time and energy. But as with Jared Kushner, the lies must be exposed and ended. I understand that the Dems would like to keep this going to win back the House of Representatives and the Senate, but the damage it is doing to the country is not worth it, even if it could work which is looking less and less likely. The American people are facing fatigue on this issue.

Disinformation only works if people refuse to think or find it easier not to. I ask all to please think about what is being laid in front of you and see if it makes sense.

Paul Davis is a retired Army Military Intelligence Analyst who began as a Soviet analyst and moved on to Korea and the Middle East and worked as a consultant to the Intelligence Community after retirement.
After more than a year of a heated debate, Egypt finally ceded two small Red Sea Islands to Saudi Arabia, giving KSA control over the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba. These waterways separate the Sinai Peninsula from the Arabian mainland and portions of the coastline are owned by Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Giving ownership of Tiran and Sanafir Islands and control of the gulf and straits to Saudi Arabia is a strategic mistake and a security threat for five reasons.

1) Almost every regime in Saudi Arabia has furthered expansionist, imperialistic agendas. Historically, Saudi rulers have attempted to lead the Muslim Umma (nation) by conquest or political and religious imperialism. King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Sauds seizure of power in 2015 wasnt smooth, there were and still are attempts to overthrow him. The Saudi internal conflict will most likely escalate after King Salmans historic precedent to move the Saudi succession from the house of Abdulaziz ibn al-Saud to the house of Salman. King Salman may believe that asserting his territorial control of Gulf of Aqaba will help him strengthen his domestic position by increasing his regional and international power. Whether the Tiran treaty, and succession coup stunt works or backfires is yet to be seen.

2) King Salman has allegedly agreed to a portion of the Camp David Accords, which guarantees Israel unfettered access through the Straits of Tiran. This acquiescence creates a serious catch-22 for the King. While the deal increases King Salmans regional power, an agreement with the Jewish state threatens his domestic authority, because he is bound by Islamic Sunni jurisprudence. For example, the Saudi view of treaties with Israel was expressed by King Salman supporter and Saudi celebrity Sheikh, Salman al-Ouda. When Mr. al-Ouda was asked about the legitimacy of treaties with Israel, he answered with a Fatwa issued in 1988-1989 and signed by 60 Sunni scholars. It declared jihad against Israel adding, under no circumstances is a person or an entity to recognize Jewish authority over any fraction of the land of Palestine.

If King Salman were to actually abide by any element of the Camp David Accords, his rule would become illegitimate according to Saudi Arabias fundamentalist Islamic system. These are the views Saudi rulers indoctrinate their citizens to adopt as the sole legitimate Islamic position towards Israel.

3) According to the Sunni Saudi narrative, suicide bombings against Jews and non-Muslims is a legitimate form of dissent. For example, a member of Saudi Arabias Supreme Council of Scholars and Advisor at the Saudi Royal Court, Abdallah Ibn Man'a previously stated in an official Fatwa, The best form of jihad for Allah, is martyrdom in his cause. Whoever dies in such an operation, is a martyr.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia indoctrinates its security officers into adopting the belief in suicide bombings. For example, former security police officer and current Muslim sheikh Sami bin Khalid Awad el-Hamoud, received his Masters degree in Islamic jurisprudence from King Saudi University in Riyadh. His thesis was titled, Suicide Operations: Its forms and its jurisprudence, where he argued that any region governed by non-Muslim laws is a house of war, where jihad in all its forms, should be exercised.

Since Salman has never shown any intention of abandoning Islamic jurisprudence, which is Saudi Arabias raison d'etre, his only solution under Sunni theology would be to officially agree to the accords, but unofficially continue to support militant Islamic activities.

Its puzzling why Egypt and Israel would agree to further associate with King Salman, who was accused by the New York Times for direct involvement in financing terrorism in Pakistan and Bosnia. While Israel is officially granted freedom of passage in Gulf of Aqaba by the Camp David Accords, there is absolutely no evidence that Salman will abide by the accords or that he would not abuse his power in the Gulf of Aqaba. This would deeply endanger both Egypt and Israel.

4) The possibility that King Salma will facilitate a jihadist migration into Sinai, given his history as a terror financier, is not far-fetched. The presence of more jihadists in Sinai, would endanger both Egypt and Eilat. Sadly, this scenario is likely given the fact that KSA plans to build a bridge linking Sinai to Arabia. Many have taken KSAs newfound control of the Gulf of Aqaba at face value and celebrated it as a Saudi adoption of part of the Camp David Accords. The treaty should be more accurately viewed as a Saudi repudiation of the accords, given the negative possible outcomes for both Egypt and Israels security.

A warning about Saudi control of Tiran and Sanafir, was communicated in a 1957 CIA intelligence brief titled, Prospects of an Armed Clash in the Gulf of Aqaba. The brief warned -- Saudi Arabia, which controls the east coast of the Straits of Tiran, could conceivably take unilateral action to prevent entry of Israeli or Israeli-bound vessels into the Gulf. The briefing continued, In the event that Saudi forces were to occupy the islands they might attempt to control shipping through the straits of Tiran from positions on the islands. Its still 1957 in Saudi Arabia, and if Salman and his son are overthrown, the possibility of replacing them with an Iranian friendly option, such as Prince Ahmed bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud, would mean that a Saudi-Iran coalition could be created.

5) Signs of other security concerns caused by the treaty have already begun to manifest. The Muslim Brotherhoods Turkey-based Egyptian Revolutionary Council (ERC), has basically declared jihad in Gulf of Aqaba in an official statement on its official Facebook page. The ERC called upon Egyptians living in the cities overlooking the Red Sea, to struggle to liberate the Islands and the Gulf of Aqaba and treat them as, occupied territories.

In another veiled call for terrorism, the statement also urged citizens to treat all Saudi companies and institutions, as occupying forces. Not only does this destabilize Egypts security, more dangerously, it can inspire a coup d'etat in Egypt. A coup could be launched with the excuse of defending Egyptian land, which may work given President el-Sisis plummeting popularity after the treaty signing.

The issue of the Red Sea islands is part of a broader and reoccurring question of whether or not the free world should be making deals and treaties with Islamic theocracies. The international community would be well advised to refrain from further official treaties with Sunni and other theocratic nations, until these regimes reform their governments and recognize the modern international laws and treaties, to which they have already committed. Until that time, it is irresponsible to make treaties, which have repeatedly backfired. The Saudi control of the Gulf of Aqaba, is almost as dangerous to regional peace as President Barack Obamas Iranian nuclear deal.

Cynthia Farahat is an Author and Fellow at the Middle East Forum
Democrats keep losing. The twin defeats in Georgia's special House election (which Democrats expected to win) and South Carolina's special House election (which Republicans expected to win but almost lost) must be added to Democrat defeats in Montana and Kansas House special elections earlier this year.

While Republicans may have little to offer frustrated and distrustful Americans, Democrats have nothing to offer at all. Their leadership, if one may call it that, is stocked with rich white plutocrats who gained their ill gotten wealth in the "public service" of politics and its seedy graft.

So voters in traditionally Republican areas like those four House districts may be upset with Republicans, but they also understand that the defeat of a Republican House candidate in a traditionally Republican area would be seen nationally as a rebuke to President Trump. So they turn out to vote, and they vote for the party Trump has chosen as his own.

The curiosity is that Democrats, who lust for power like no one else in American life, are quite literally incapable of offering anything but noxious feminism, stale racial whining, worn out socialism presented by multimillionaires like Hillary, job-destroying radical environmentalism, pathetic complaints about "religious extremism" that invariably mean peaceful and loving Christians and never vicious Muslims, and other failed and hateful policies.

These Democrats agree with Hillary that one quarter of the nation  the one quarter, of course, who do most of the real work  are "deplorable" and agree with Pelosi that desperate folks on unemployment can "write books" and such.

Things for Democrats are about to get worse  much worse. Bernie Sanders, the dolt who seems to hate Christianity that defeats Israel more than Islam that calls for Christianity's death, and his weird acolytes, when they are not trying to murder Republican House leaders, are taking over state Democratic Party organizations one by one.

What this means is that by 2020 and perhaps by 2018, many state Democrat organizations will be run by folks who think the demise of the Soviet Union was a tragedy and that what our country really needs is more atheism and more socialism and more statism.

Ask Democrats who remember 1972 what that means in national elections. The nuttiest radicals imaginable took over the Democratic Party that year. These uncontrollable freaks delayed McGovern's impassioned "Come Home, America" acceptance speech until the wee hours because they insisted on placing Mickey Mouse's name in nomination and generally behaving like inmates in an insane asylum.

Americans noticed. The AFL-CIO, for the first time in memory, declined to support the Democrat nominee. Even a president as unpopular as Richard Nixon was able to win 49 states. Had he focused more on electing Republican senators that year than padding his presidential majority, Democrats would have lost control of the Senate, and had he channeled more campaign funds to House candidates, Republicans might even have captured the House as well. Nixonian hubris saved the Democrats' skin.

President Trump in 2020 will doubtless not make the mistakes Nixon made in 1972 if Democrats present him with the opportunity. If he leads Republicans to supermajorities, then his influence on Republicans in Congress, many of whose members would owe their seats to him, will grow.

The Democratic Party, a junkie to its own surreal ideological fantasies, seems utterly unable to change or evolve into a political party that might actually do the republic some good  like defending coal miners from environmental extremism or demanding that we defend women oppressed by Islam or granting school choice for inner-city kids and parents.

This sort of sensible and patriotic intention would have the added benefit of forcing Republicans to actually be responsible politicians instead of the recipients of the benefits of Democrat stupidity and madness.

The reality is that Democrats now seem incapable of winning and have begun seeing losing, as Hillary lost in the 2016 presidential election and Ossoff's loss on Tuesday, as "victory" or, worse, as victory stolen. Losing is not winning, however much Democrats fantasize otherwise. The political party that has chosen to consign itself to two narrow coastal regions and a few dysfunctional big cities is more and more simply the Party of Losers.
There has been no shortage of effort by pundits and big data analysts to try to draw conclusions on whether the results of the two special elections for open House seats in Georgia and and South Carolina last week meant that Democrats or Republicans had (choose one) underperformed or overperformed, as compared to the recent district votes for President and Congress in 2016. Similar analyses followed the special elections in Kansas and Montana earlier.

In all four cases, new Trump administration Cabinet members who had won their district races comfortably in 2016 were replaced by Republicans who won the open seat races far less comfortably. In 3 of the 4 races, the margin for the winning Republican in the special election was narrower than Trumps margin of victory in the district in the Presidential race last year (Georgia 6 the exception -- Trump won by a smaller percentage margin than Karen Handel).

It is highly likely, however, that if the four new Cabinet members -- Tom Price, Mike Pompeo, Ryan Zinke and Mick Mulvaney -- had stayed in the House and would run again in 2018, they all would win easily. In essence, special elections are a lot different than races where incumbents are running for re-election in regular cycles, especially from generally safe districts.

Special elections are open seat races, meaning there is no incumbent. Normally, they are held on a day when this race is the only contested one. Turnout is usually far lower than the turnout in a normal midterm, much less a presidential year. In the two contests last week, in districts with the same approximate population, 260,000 votes were cast for the candidates in Georgia and 87,000 for the two candidates in South Carolina. The difference is accounted for by the amount of fundraising and media attention lavished on the Georgia, but not on the South Carolina race. Each race however wound up with a margin of victory of between 3% and 4%.

In regular election cycles, there is a big advantage to incumbency. When House seats turn over, the percentage of open seats that shift between the parties is usually far higher than the percentage of seats that turn over among the incumbents running for re-election. If you were running the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for 2018, a district where the incumbent Republican is retiring and which provided a 55% to 45% margin in the last cycle, would be a far better target than a seat in which the incumbent Republican is running for re-election and also won by that same margin last time around.

The major impact of the races last week for the GOP, particularly the closely followed Georgia election, is that it may encourage more Republicans who may have thought of retiring to stick around (They told potential candidates that the world is not ending, yet), and may slightly discourage some Democrats from thinking 2018 is a sure thing to win a Republican-held seat, damaging the partys candidate recruitment efforts.

Why would the Georgia race have drawn three times as many voters as the South Carolina race? The weather on election day may have been worse in Georgia, where about half the votes were cast before the date of the special election. Clearly, the media ignored the South Carolina race, assuming it was safe for the Republicans, but thought Georgia 6 would be the Democrats breakthrough. The enormous campaign spending on the race on both sides, and the constant TV and radio ads, door knocking, and phone banking, seems to have fired up Democrats and NeverTrump Republicans to vote for Ossoff, but also encouraged many Republicans to show up to protect the seat for their party, particularly on Election Day.

Winning the seat became the biggest election battle since Trumps victory in November, and the first real chance for the left and Democrats and their media partners to slay the dragon. The enormous amount of San Francisco and Hollywood campaign money spent in the district, made it easy to produce some clever ads for Handel mocking the out of state deluge, which may have encouraged local Republicans to show up and beat back the perceived California-funded challenge.

In South Carolina, Republicans seemed to feel the partys control of the seat was not threatened, and stayed home, and Democrats failed to take advantage of a large African American population (near 30%) in the district to build their turnout. If $50 million has been showered on this district, turnout would likely have been far higher on both sides, maybe more so for the Republicans.

In any case, what matter is victories, and in special elections, they are not assured, even in districts which normally are strong for one party or another. Turnout is a crapshoot, and there is no incumbency advantage. Trumps approval scores remain in the 40% range, but Republicans are winning open seat House contests narrowly, with 51% to 53% of the total vote. There is simply no way to extrapolate from these four contests to 435 races 16 and a half months from now.

Tell me how many Republicans are retiring and where their seats are, and it will be a little easier to predict the partys chances of holding the House. Even more important is how much legislation is passed by Congress, how the public reacts to the legislative achievements, and how far afield the special counsel chooses to go to damage the President. In any case the percentage margin in a special election in the spring of 2017 will not matter at all.
On June 1, President Trump announced that the United States is pulling out of the Paris climate accord. While environmental scientists claim that the consequences could be catastrophic for the planet, many religious Americans are taking the news in stride. Indeed, the deafening silence of many people following Trump's decision bespeaks skepticism of man-made global warming as well as the government's ability to address the issue.

The heated rhetoric, both in favor of and in opposition to such international treaties as the Paris agreement, is but a byproduct of the politicization of the environmental movement. Climate change has become a flagship issue, similar to gun control and gay marriage, which are reliable indicators of left and right.

While global warming advocates and God-fearing Americans are perceived today as the strangest of bedfellows, the truth of the matter is that religious language was very much present in early conservation movements. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and father of American environmentalism, believed in God. "[For centuries] God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods; but he cannot save them from fools," Muir wrote in his 1897 essay "The American Forests."

As such, the conventional wisdom that conservationism and religion are inherently hostile toward each other is flawed. Calvinism, Congregationalism, and Presbyterianism played leading roles in the creation of national parks, forestry, and conservation efforts. In addition, our modern notions of nature are steeped in the morals and traditions of these particular denominations.

Moreover, the Bible sparkles with references to natural phenomena that sound suspiciously like climate change:

Jeremiah 2:7: "And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination."

Isaiah 24:5-6: "The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left."

Psalm 46:2-3: "Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah."

Another popular misconception is that perceiving our world through a religious lens automatically translates into a rejection of climate change. While there are those people who reject the very possibility that the Earth is heating up, many more skeptics accept the possibility of climate change but challenge the veracity of its root cause: human activity. Others believe that global warming is evidence that the world will be ending soon and that we don't need to worry about it in light of the approaching apocalypse.

While opinions vary within every community, the deep suspicion regarding climate change taps into a deeper mistrust that many Americans have of scientific claims. Moreover, many climate control skeptics believe that scientists are both anti-religion and agenda-driven, more interested in providing an empirical justification for big government programs that will ultimately strip citizens of their freedoms.

Over the past 40 years, the environmental movement has transformed radically, from stewards of God's creation to neo-pagan nature worship. The religious underpinnings of environmentalism, steeped in Christian intellectual history, have been weakened by an elite group of scientists, economists, politicians, and journalists who have created an alarmist Climate Industrial Complex. By claiming that humankind is threatened by disastrous global warming, many scholarly fields have greatly benefited, and whole industries have sprung up dependent on government funding and regulation. Beyond the shimmering platitudes and virtue-signaling, today's environmental movement is in fact a serious threat to freedom and prosperity in the modern world.

In short, one can make the argument that many religious Americans didn't abandon the environmental movement, but were rather abandoned by it.
For more than a decade, Turkey's leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has turned his country from a largely secular, mostly free democracy into an Islamist state. In some ways, it happened so gradually that until very recently, there were several European countries who were sponsoring Turkey's proposed membership in the E.U.

That's almost certainly not going to happen now, as Erdogan has concentrated most of the power of the state in the hands of the president. His stranglehold on power and his growing hostility to the West have precipitated a debate over whether U.S. nuclear weapons based in Turkey should be withdrawn.

Turkey is a member of NATO, but there are legitimate questions whether Erdogan will fulfill his obligation to the alliance if member-nations agree to go to war.

Recently, German members of parliament were not guaranteed access to Incirlik Air Base to visit German troops. So Germany moved its planes and men to Jordan. The hostility to Germany raised alarms in Washington because the U.S. has nuclear weapons at the air base.

Washington Examiner:

U.S. European Command, which oversees U.S. operations at Incirlik Air Base, while not acknowledging the presence of nuclear weapons at the base, said there are no security concerns overall. "Our strategic assets are stored under highly secure conditions and under U.S. control," said Air Force Capt. Joe Alonso. "We are confident that they are safe." Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists, considered the foremost authority on the subject, said the U.S. keeps about 50 B-61 nuclear gravity bombs at Turkey's Incirlik base, each with a maximum yield of 170 kilotons, or 10 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. All this just about an hour-long drive from Syria, the most active war zone in the world, where in addition to a raging civil war, the international coalition led by the U.S. is battling ISIS, a terrorist group that would love to get its hands on a nuclear weapon. "We should be concerned, and it is certainly past time to think about relocating them," Fitzpatrick told the Washington Examiner. "The nuclear weapons in Turkey are not currently under direct threat of seizure, but the circumstances over the past year give strong reason to take them out as a precaution." Arm control advocates such as Ploughshare's Cirincione said there are many arguments for pulling U.S. nuclear weapons out of Turkey before something goes wrong. He points to when, during the attempted coup last year, senior Turkish officers were accused of being among the leaders of the coup and flying missions from Incirlik in support of it. The United States temporarily lost access to the base, and then for several days Turkish forces loyal to Erdogan surrounded Incirlik and cut off power, which Cirincione said effectively trapped some 2,500 U.S. military personnel along with the 50 nuclear weapons. A week later, he pointed out, the base was again under siege, surrounded this time by thousands of anti-American protesters who burned American flags and demanded the government close the base. "When you have four or five indicators that are all blinking red, and no sound strategic rationale for keeping the weapons there, you should err on the side of security, you should pull them out," Cirincione said. The U.S. continues to say publicly that Turkey remains a strong and vital ally.

One expert on our nuclear arsenal says there are about 50 nuclear bombs being stored at Incirlik. If Erdogan were so inclined, he could make Turkey an instant nuclear power by seizing those weapons. How much resistance could U.S. forces offer if Erdogan made a grab for the nukes? I'm sure our people would give a good account of themselves, but realistically, they would be hopelessly outmatched.

NATO is such a mess right now that questions about Turkey's membership in the alliance are on the back burner. But even before those questions are resolved, the U.S. should play it safe and withdraw our nukes  without warning  to keep them out of the hands of an Islamist dictator.
How should we evaluate Iran's medium-range missile strikes, boasted by the mullahs as an official response to the June 7 twin attacks allegedly staged by ISIS in Tehran? As a sign of strength showing Iran's ability to take on ISIS while also sending a message to all adversaries, most importantly Washington? Or a desperate attempt by the mullahs to maintain a straight face against increasing domestic and foreign crises?

Iran last resorted to such drastic measures of launching ballistic missiles from its soil back in the final days of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988 after suffering major defeats, and once again in 2001 against former bases of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Iraq in response to a vast opposition camp inside the country. This proves that Tehran will fall to such lows when pinned against the wall.

The question is, why would Iran launch expensive medium-range missiles, knowing it has yet to perfect a precision guiding system (as three of the seven missiles landed in Iraq, and three others were far off their targets in Deir Ezzur)? Furthermore, Iran boasts of having tens of thousands of proxy shock troops in Syria propping the Assad regime, and there are also reports of Tehran launching missile factories in Syria. So why the need to use such poorly guided medium-range missiles from their own turf?

This was nothing but a publicity stunt following the June 7 attacks, with Iran seeking to take advantage of the entire scenario to press the gas pedal on domestic crackdown and justify its foreign meddling in the Middle East and beyond. I have explained my thoughts extensively in articles in Forbes and Al Arabiya English.

Despite targeting Syria in this missile attack, Iran mainly intended to deliver a message to Saudi Arabia. Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) accused Riyadh and also Washington of playing a part in the June 7 attacks.

However, we should also take into account that Tehran launched its missiles into the deserts of eastern Syria. And while the IRGC accuses Saudi Arabia and the U.S., rest assured that Iran's mullahs are not so foolish as to launch missiles into the kingdom or target American interests in the Middle East.

Iran's leaders may be extremists, but they are pragmatic and know exactly when to back off. One such lesson was learned when the U.S. Navy in 1988 launched Operation Praying Mantis and nearly annihilated Iran's naval forces in retaliation to the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War, with subsequent damage to an American warship.

The Iranian regime's senior hierarchy and IRGC were in dire need of such a missile launch, especially following five months of setbacks:

a) The election of Donald Trump as president of United States and the end of Obama's dreadful era of appeasement.

b) Iran being placed "on notice" by the Trump administration.

c) Washington slapping two rounds of sanctions and a recent Senate resolution calling for sweeping action against Iran's ballistic missile program, support of terrorism, and human rights violations.

d) The U.S. military taking direct action against Assad's airbase in April, more recently attacking Iran-backed troops and two Iran-made drones in southeast Syria, and downing an Assad regime bomber near Raqqa.

e) Possibly most significant of all, at a time when the Trump administration continues to weigh its comprehensive Iran policy, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is heard in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing emphasizing that Washington will support elements inside Iran seeking peaceful regime change.

All this places a heavy burden on a regime that enjoys merely four percent popular support, as explained by a candidate in last month's faux presidential election.

As a result, to maintain a straight face, Iran will resort to any and all desperate measures. All the while, such a turn of events and severe setbacks have come at the worst possible time for Tehran, as the PMOI/MEK, under the political umbrella of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), are preparing for their annual Paris rally, scheduled for July 1 this year.

Over 100,000 Iranians and hundreds of American, European, and Middle East dignitaries gather to voice their support for NCRI president Maryam Rajavi and her ten-point plan for the future of Iran enjoying gender equality; peaceful coexistence; abolition of capital punishment, torture, and crackdown; and an end to Iran's nuclear program, meddling, and support of terrorism.

As a result, from the mullahs' perspective, desperate times call for desperate measures. Considering the bleak-looking future for Tehran, expect more such reactions.
The media will never give President Trump credit for the strategic masterstroke he has orchestrated, robbing power from OPEC, Russia, and Venezuela while enriching the United States and creating countless high-paying jobs. So he is slated this week to call for an attention-grabbing goal, using the vocabulary of power, not diplomacy: "dominance." Jennifer A. Dlouhy of Bloomberg reports:

Donald Trump will tout surging U.S. exports of oil and natural gas during a week of events aimed at highlighting the country's growing energy dominance. The president also plans to emphasize that after decades of relying on foreign energy supplies, the U.S. is on the brink of becoming a net exporter of oil, gas, coal and other energy resources. (snip) Trump's theme of "energy dominance" marks an evolution. For years, the catch phrase of choice has been "energy independence," as politicians and industry officials sought to highlight how a new era of abundance was helping the U.S. wean itself from foreign sources of oil and natural gas. That was in turn a dramatic change from the 1970s, when former President Jimmy Carter turned down the White House thermostats and used a televised address in February 1977 to urge consumers to conserve energy amid a permanent "shortage." After that, federal energy policy became rooted in the view that oil and gas were in short supply. "Trump is reorienting our national rhetoric toward 'dominance,'" said Kevin Book, analyst with ClearView Energy Partners LLC. "Captives crave independence; competitors strive to dominate. It's a shift from getting by to getting ahead."

That "dominance" is both real and long-lasting. Another Bloomberg article by Julian Lee presents a good account of OPEC's struggle to remain alive. Its members have cut production but still cannot raise prices because frackers have so rapidly increased production.

The most telling portion of the article captures the essence of American strength: the innovative and aggressive cost-cutting of frackers (and others).

The oil industry has responded to the price slump by slashing costs. Projects that needed $100 crude to break even have magically been redesigned to be profitable at half that level. OPEC has completely misjudged the North American shale industry and seems not to understand how it is still evolving rapidly. It's a little like trying to explain the internet to my 85-year-old mother, or my 12-year-old daughter trying to explain social media to me. As consultant Morten Frisch tells me, drilling horizontal sidetracks from abandoned wells in the Permian Basin is yielding a 91 percent internal rate of return on a $7 million investment and delivering 1,500 barrels a day of crude. He predicts large production increases from vertical wells in previously produced areas in the Permian. Having failed to use the good times to invest for a future of low oil prices, OPEC is facing a crisis of old age. It is falling apart internally, confounded by the world and increasingly irrelevant.

One of the key driving forces of the world economy and geostrategic power is the energy revolution brought to us by the petro-industrial-academic complex. They are heroes and get far too little credit for what they do for America. A growing energy export sector could be the basis for major job creation.

It is true that President Trump did not invent the fracking revolution, and that President Obama did not fatally hinder its development. But Trump did understand the geostrategic implications, and is pushing them to the max, while also pleased at the jobs that will be created.
"Civil war" is an easy term to fling around to exaggerate a problem. But what do protester sieges on a Venezuelan air base and its supreme court sound like?

The Associated Press reports:

Young protesters broke down a metal fence guarding an air base in Caracas on Saturday before being repelled by security forces firing tear gas in another day of anti-government protests in Venezuela's capital. Demonstrators threw stones, and some protesters were injured. The clashes took place after a peaceful mass demonstration next to La Carlota base where a 22-year-old protester was killed this week when a national guardsman shot him in the chest at close range with rubber bullets. Protesters also fought with security forces outside the base Friday, and activists burned some vehicles during the confrontation.

It follows news of this, from the London Daily Telegraph:

Anti-government protesters set fire to the supreme court in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday. This is the twelfth week of upset in the country, as protesters demand the resignation of president Nicolas Maduro and call for elections.

The dramatic pictures in the Telegraph tell the intensity of the story.

What we are seeing here is a country whose institutions are under siege. Protesters are protesting the corrupting blur of socialism and rule-of-law institutions  and not just protesting about it, but attacking it.

It's not a full-blown civil war, but it's getting close to one. It shows the frustration Venezuelans must feel at a non-accountable, non-coping government that represents no one but itself  and note that these Venezuelans have been protesting since at least 2002, when a coup d'etat was launched against the late Hugo Chavez. That's well before some of them were born.

It raises questions as to what the next protester takeover will be. What happens when the protesters succeed in taking down a government institution  maybe the army, maybe the tax office? At some point, they might do it.

After that, an avalanche of other institutions may go down, too. It offers clues as to how the state of affairs may turn in the failed chavista state. The protests have been boiling for years. Now some are turning to takeovers of institutions, "laying siege."

If this becomes the full modus operandi of the protesters, it's pretty likely it will escalate into an openly declared war next. These current acts seem to be a roadmap.
In an extraordinary move, CNN's staff, from social media to video to editorial to MoneyStream, has been told, "No Russia reporting for you!" without adult supervision.

According to the Daily Caller:

No one should publish any content involving Russia without coming to me and Jason," CNNMoney executive editor Rich Barbieri said in an email obtained by BuzzFeed. "This applies to social, video, editorial, and MoneyStream. No exceptions." The "Jason" referred to in the email is a vice president at CNN, according to BuzzFeed.

Hear that? No exceptions.

Sounds as though someone's been playing hooky from actual news-gathering and has gone off to the peep shows or something.

The leaked memo comes in the wake of a string of embarrassments in the network's Russia coverage, with CNN living up to its nickname, "fake news," bestowed President Trump. How could stories that had to be retracted  downright pulled from the website  be anything else?

It's probably a reasonable response, given that the network's claim about Trump transition team member Anthony Scaramucci claiming he was under investigation for Russia ties turned out to be pure garbage, and the network had to apologize to him, probably to stay out of libel court.

But oh, what an embarrassing thing to get out in the journalism world! Not just the order to clear it with the adults, but the leaked memo, too.

The thing is, it signals that CNN's reporters and writers don't have sufficient news judgment to report on this topic without adult supervision. Apparently, word has gotten around on the left that pretty much any old thing can be made up and any innuendo leaked with impunity at CNN. Imagine the newsroom atmosphere where every reporter has suddenly allowed himself to be used as flypaper  for scurrilous, made up, cooked up, invented lies.

Apparently, they've gotten away with it for so long that it's how they do business. And now the executives have sought to stop it and maybe restore the news agency's now missing credibility.

Once upon a time, CNN was an innovator in news production. I remember how the network was known for hiring non-telegenic journalists to send the explicit message that CNN hired not cupcakes based on pretty faces, but only the most talented and professional journalists.

Their problem now isn't pretty or unpretty faces, but whether their reporters want to report the news or content themselves with being a public relations vehicle for every ignorant, malevolent, and partisan whack-job on Capitol Hill; the non-government agencies; the out-of-work Obama dead-enders; and perhaps their holdovers still in the White House. Does that sound like a dignified role?

Apparently, the execs of the place have taken notice.
ROMA - New survey reveals that the Euro-Med region, including a vast majority of Italians, does not believe in the myth of clash of civilisation. The results of a new survey on Intercultural Trends in the Euro-Mediterranean region, carried out by Ipsos-Mori in 13 countries, were presented on Friday by the Anna Lindh Foundation at the Italian Parliament in Rome. Involving more more than 13,000 people across 13 Euro-Mediterranean countries - Austria, Croatia, Finland, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and The Netherlands) and five Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEM) countries (Algeria, Israel, Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia) - the report also shows investment in youth-led initiatives and education is the best response to conflict and radicalisation.



A large majority of respondents in Italy agree that cultural and religious minorities should have the same rights and that cultural diversity is a source of prosperity for the Italian society (78% of Italians vs. an average across EU countries of 71%).



Italians also share a high level of interest to know the other, compared to their European counterparts: 35% have interest in news and information about cultural life and lifestyle in southern and eastern Mediterranean countries (vs.



28% average across the EU countries surveyed); 31% are interested in the political situation in these countries (vs.



28% average in EU countries); and 26% express interest in their economic conditions (vs. 23% average in EU countries). Survey provides a positive picture of the propensity of Italians to accept diversity in society and in their personal sphere. The primary value that Italian parents wish to pass on to their children is the respect for people from other cultures (69% of respondents, above the European average of 63%); an increase of four percentage points in the importance of this value compared to 2012). 64% of respondents in Italy, compared to a European average of 44%, consider education and youth-lead initiatives an efficient way to tackle and prevent radicalisation.



Respondents in Italy also associated the Mediterranean region first and foremost with migration issues.



The issue reveals that the region is not a victim of a clash of civilisations, as is often reported, but rather a 'clash of ignorances' based on historical stereotypes and the 'culturalisation' of conflicts promoted by some media and political narratives.



The results also show that Italy can play a constructive role in reshaping policies in the Mediterranean beyond the policy panic driven by the current pressing regional challenges such as migration, the refugee crisis, and radicalisation.



The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that it will host the next Anna Lindh Foundation's Advisory Council meeting in Rome in September. The Council will focus on finalising the new operational framework of the Foundation from 2018 onwards, built for the first time on the basis of Intercultural Trends report, including the creation of a Media Observatory, attached to the Euro-Mediterranean Foundation, which will observe how media cover issues of intercultural relations and provide evidence-based resources and material for journalists and the media.



According to the Trends survey results there is a high level of interest of Italians, compared to their European counterparts, in news and information about cultural life and lifestyle in southern and eastern Mediterranean countries (35% vs. an average across the EU countries surveyed of 28%), about the political situation in these countries (31% vs. 28% respectively) and their economic conditions (26% vs. 23%, respectively). The survey investigated what people see as critical aspects of life in the Euro-Mediterranean region, and the key similarities and differences they find between themselves and those from other countries, cultures and backgrounds. It also examines trust of different types of media sources across different countries and age profiles.



The countries studied included eight in the EU ( Education and youth programmes received wide support from all interviewees, with 81% of respondents in European countries and 85% in SEM reporting that they believe such mechanisms will help prevent and deal with the challenges of radicalism.



Television was reported as the most trusted news source across both European and SEM countries, while in European markets second and third place are taken by Print media, and Films and Documentaries respectively. In SEM countries on the other hand, Online media is ranked second in terms of most trusted news source, while Books take third place.



While migration does feature as a characteristic of the region, particularly in SEM countries, in terms of what people see as critical aspects of life in the Euro-Mediterranean region, it is well behind concepts such as hospitality and way of life. This shows that the people of this region have more in common than what is reflected commonly by certain media and political narratives.


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The headline is a quote from a member of the government. This is "a critical time, they said, adding that the tension is tangible within the Catalan executive. In cabinet meetings, forthright debate is a thing of the past due to the leaks about disagreements over the roadmap to independence. The shutdown affects key members of the government, who are upset about not having access to information on decisions affecting their departments and the possible consequences these might have for them. The lack of detail regarding the next steps in the process towards the referendum should be less following the rollout of an advertising campaign scheduled for 4 July explaining how the vote will be held. Those in the know speak of "another leap of faith", despite pressure from the Spanish government, that they feel is increasingly closer to home.

The court rulings banning individuals from holding government office over the non-binding 9-N vote have been followed by other complaints lodged by Societat Civil Catalana [Catalan Civil Society, a unionist group] before the Court of Auditors, demanding 5m from the defendants. Certain members of the government see the threats of criminal proceedings for crimes of sedition or embezzlement of public funds as crossing a line. They wonder how far they can personally tolerate the States retaliation, and when it comes down to it, if they will be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. They wonder if, collectively, the pro-independence movement will be faced with crossing the line between heroism and adventure, bravery and recklessness.

In spite of all the difficulties and misgivings, President Puigdemont and Vice President Junqueras have a solid relationship and both of them have accepted the personal and political consequences of seeing the referendum process through. Certain courtly advisors have helped to convince them that "it is better to be banned by a court of law than by our own people" and that the day after the referendum, whenever that may be, the political party system will be completely different, and they will need each other".

Madrid is stepping up the pressure with threats that seek to cause the independence bid to collapse and implode. It would be the best outcome for the state, which dedicates resources to threatening public officials and members of the Catalan government, along with suppliers and volunteers. However, the current state of affairs means that there is no way for them to explain how they could possible put a stop to the referendum in a civilised manner with the worlds media looking on.

It is also a critical time for the ruling Partido Popular, following years of political disrespect and the systematic dismantling of Catalan self-rule. Some in the PP are beginning to worry, since the caricature of the Catalans being eager to reach a compromise, which the state arrogantly confuses with cowardice, wont work this time. To reflect, to ask questions, to draw lines in the sand, to be willing to talk and accept responsibility, this is what is asked of the political actors and public opinion, but they are starting to realise that if such disrespect causes the moderates to side with the Yes vote, the Catalan government has a winning hand: a referendum, a democratic decision. What, on the other hand, does the ruling PP party have to offer?

Both sides know that the credibility of keeping up the pressure to the end is crucial to success, and while the questions are asked in a hushed voice, the proclamations are made with a shout. The Spanish right has also begun to grow restless with the countdown to the referendum and it is beginning to wonder if it will really achieve the collapse of the movement and what degree of intervention it will be forced to resort to.

Reasons for optimism. If the tension reaches an intolerable level and the moderates and the most cautious those Catalans who are as yet undecided or who fear a situation of instability are forced to take sides, then the PP will pay the price for lacking a political project for the modernisation of Spain. The independence movement is at a difficult time, with the countdown and growing internal divisions, but the movements foundation is an indisputably attractive idea: to vote, to decide and to build.

The editorial in Friday's New York Times is a very valuable example. The worlds most prestigious newspaper has spoken about the great political problem that the Spanish government scorns in public and also pretends to ignore. The editorial states that Rajoys attitude provides a boost to the pro-independence camp and that it is a political issue that requires a political solution that goes beyond "the judiciarys restrictive interpretation of the Constitution to punish Catalan efforts for greater autonomy". The NYT goes on to examine the economic dimension ("Catalonia contributes nearly a fifth of Spains GDP, yet the region receives just 9.5%") and urges Spain to negotiate "in good faith". Moreover, it asserts that intransigence only serves to fan the flames of Catalonias frustration.

The PPs cunning and Spanish diplomacy have not worked with the NYT. Threats and fear do not work when someone's mind is free.
AAR will support Wataniyas fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft through its extensive inventory network, including parts warehouses in Dubai and Europe, and position local stock in Kuwait.

With significant component stock in the Middle East, AAR is well-positioned to support Wataniya Airways and its plans for rapid expansion to more than 30 destinations in the first two years of operation, said Deepak Sharma, President, AAR International Supply Chain. We are pleased that Wataniya chose AAR for our experience and knowledge in the industry that will not only assist in their startup phase but also will facilitate a long-term partnership.

As Wataniya Airways prepares to launch, we are delighted to gain a trusted partner like AAR with a proven track record in the aviation aftermarket, providing a total support solution to ensure we meet our customers expectations and maintain the highest levels of quality, reliability and safety, said Ali Alfouzan, Chairman, Wataniya Airways.
With the new certification, operators can upgrade their fleets with Honeywells latest transponder to comply with all Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast requirements for the DO-260B retrofit mandate, which includes firmware update and configuration changes.

As airspace becomes increasingly crowded, transitioning to Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) based on GPS is key to safely navigating the skies and increasing efficiency. The Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency will require aircraft to comply with this mandate by January 2020 and June 2020, respectively. With approval from the European authority for aviation safety, Honeywells TRA-100B is the industrys latest transponder designed for future growth to help operators conform with new industry standards. Honeywells TRA-100B transponder is currently being certified by Airbus and Boeing and supports all platforms from the two manufacturers, in addition to other aircraft fitted with TRA-67A transponders.

ADS-B is a key component of the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research initiative, which outlines a transition to GPS air traffic control to automated ADS-B systems aboard all European aircraft. With these systems, operators can experience operational and technical benefits that ensure greater levels of safety in a more congested airspace. These benefits include reduced surveillance costs, more accurate information about an aircrafts position and consistent transmissions up to four times faster than current systems. In addition, Honeywells TRA-100B comes with a standard five-year warranty in all forward-fit and retrofit applications.
Qatar Airways has long considered American Airlines to be a good oneworld Alliance partner and looks forward to continuing this relationship. Qatar Airways plans to make an initial investment of up to 4.75%. Qatar Airways will not exceed 4.75% without prior consent of the American Airlines board. Qatar Airways will make all necessary regulatory filings at the appropriate time.
Much has been written about the building of hydropower dams in the upper reaches of the Mekong River, especially Lancang River in China, and their role in causing droughts in the Mekong delta region in Vietnam. Many environmental and social activists claim Chinese dams have reduced the water flowing in the delta, seriously harming rice cultivation and allowing saltwater to flow into the delta.

Let us objectively consider the facts and validity of such claims.

Drought indeed dealt a serious blow to Vietnam's agriculture and forestry sector, and seafood industry in the delta region last year. Official data show the growth rate in these sectors was only 1.36 percent last year, the lowest since 2011. The drought also had major economic, social and environmental impacts as it severely affected Vietnam's coffee, rice and shrimp production and exports.

There are many reasons why Vietnam is facing serious water scarcity. First is climate change. According to the World Bank, Vietnam is likely to be one of the five most affected countries by climate change. Last year's El Nino-induced drought seriously reduced robusta coffee production in the central highlands and rice yields in the delta region. Vietnam is the world's largest robusta producer and the third-largest rice exporter.

There is little Vietnam can do alone to reduce the frequency of El Nino-induced droughts. But, of course, it can take steps to make agricultural practices more water-efficient. It could consider changing cropping patterns, using a mix of crops, to improve management and technological practices, in order to reduce water requirements without curbing farmers' incomes.

As for the construction of hydropower dams by China, which many claim has been solely responsible for reduced water availability in the Mekong delta region, we must realize that the demands for electricity and water in the riparian countriesChina, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnamare increasing steadily, especially because hydropower does not contribute to carbon dioxide emissions, which accelerate climate change. And since more and more electricity is needed for industrialization, the six countries see rivers such as the Mekong and its tributaries as major sources of energy.

The 132-meter-high Manwan Dam, the first built by China on the Lancang River, became functional in 1995 and can generate up to 1,750 megawatts. Since then 11 hydropower dams have been built on the Mekong river system, six of them in Chinaand more are likely to be built to meet the demands of an electricity-hungry Asia.

But will hydropower dams cause more droughts in Vietnam? To begin with, such dams do not consume any water. After electricity is generated, water is discharged into the river. Since the dams store the floodwaters during the rainy season and discharge them into the river system over the entire year, they should increase the water flowing in the rivers during dry seasons. This is to say, if dams are built only to generate electricity in the upper reaches of the Mekong and its tributaries in China, Laos and Thailand, they are unlikely to reduce the flow of water in the delta in the dry season.

Institutional arrangements to manage the Mekong River basin leave much to be desired. In 1957, the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East set up a Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong Basin as an autonomous body, popularly known as Mekong Committee, with four member states. Sixty years on ECAFE has become the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and the Mekong Committee has changed into the Mekong River Commission. China and Myanmar are not members of the MRC, which, along with the MC, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past six decades but not undertaken even one single significant regional scale project. As a result, the Mekong's full potential has not been realized in the riparian countries.

In other words, the effectiveness of the MC and MRC has been disappointing.

Given these conditions, there is an urgent need to develop an effective institutional mechanism in which all riparian countries can jointly develop the Mekong region, in order to improve the lives and livelihoods of the people living there. But there are no signs of that happening in the foreseeable future. Rather, there appears to be a weakening of political will to cooperate, at least through the aegis of the MRC. So the riparian countries should urgently work on a coordinated and sustainable development plan for the Mekong region so as to realize the full potential of the river's system.

Asit K. Biswas is distinguished visiting professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, and Cecilia Tortajada is a senior research fellow at Institute of Water Policy at the same School, National University of Singapore, and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.
The audio clip was aired by Malayalam TV channels a day after the actor disclosed he has filed a police complaint.

Mumbai: An audio recording of a purported telephonic talk by the main accused in the sensational abduction and assault of a South Indian actress 'blackmailing'

Malayalam actor Dileep through his aide surfaced today.

The audio clip was aired by Malayalam TV channels a day after the actor disclosed he has filed a police complaint on April 20 alleging blackmail by a man, who claimed to be a friend of Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the case.

In the audio, Suni, currently lodged in the Ernakulam District jail near here, purportedly told Dileep's manager that money should be given if the actor's name should not be dragged in the case.

Incidentally, this conversation was alleged to have taken place before April 20 when Dileep had filed the police complaint along with evidences of blackmailing based on the telephonic talk of one Vishnu, who claimed himself to be Suni's friend, with his friend and film director Nadirshah.

Vishnu had allegedly demanded huge money from the actor.

Police remained tightlipped about the 'blackmail' audio.

When contacted, a top police officer dismissed as speculation media reports that the police did not take much interest in investigating into Dileep's complaint alleging blackmail.

"We have been on job since the actor lodged the complaint. It got public attention now only after the media came to know about it two days ago", the official, who declined to be named, told PTI.

The official evaded a direct answer to a question whether Vishnu has been taken into custody for interrogation.

"All those who are connected with the case were interrogated", the official said.

Nadirshah had said, Vishnu claimed to have shared a cell with Suni in jail, told him that some people in the Malayalam film world have offered to give money to Suni if he implicated Dileep in the abduction of the actress on February 17.

The revelation came in the wake of media reports that police is planning to reopen the abduction and assault case.

Dileep had earlier slammed a section of the media for "targeting" him in connection with the alleged abduction and harassment of the actress by a gang of men.

Dileep, who recently got married to Malayalam actress Kavya Madhavan, had said he did not have any contact, directly or indirectly, with any of the accused involved in the "heinous crime."

Six persons, including 'Pulsar' Suni, Martin and Vigeesh were arrested by police in connection with the incident in which the actress was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by the accused, who had forced their way

into the vehicle and later escaped in a busy area here.
Under the Kisan Sandesh Yatra public representatives will hear farmers grievances and apprise them about the welfare schemes.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had gone for a fast after farmers were killed in the state in police firing (Photo: PTI)

Bhopal: The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh is launching a farmer outreach programme from Tuesday, weeks after the state was hit by a widespread agitation by cultivators.

The saffron outfit, which faces assembly polls in late 2018, is starting a Kisan Sandesh Yatra under which its public representatives will meet farmers and listen to their grievances.

"Our public representatives are going to go in the midst of farmers from tomorrow under a 10-day long Kisan Sandesh Yatra. We are going to hear their grievances and apprise them about the welfare schemes being run by the state and central governments," Madhya Pradesh BJP general secretary V D Sharma said.

"We are going to dispel misconceptions spread among farmers by vested interest," he said.

The basic aim of the programme is to connect farmers with the government's policies and remove any doubt they have about the state administration, Sharma added.

The BJP leader maintained the yatra was planned much before the agitation which started in the first week of June and later turn violent.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was a `kisan putra' (the son of a farmer) and was very sensitive to problems of cultivator. The BJP government is working very hard to double the income of farmers by 2022, a goal set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sharma said.

Madhya Pradesh witnessed farmer unrest in the first fortnight of June. The stir made headlines when police fired at farmers, killing five of them in Mandsaur district on June 6.

The agitation was launched to demand a loan waiver and better prices for farm products. Since the unrest, more than 20 farmers, most of them debt-ridden, have committed suicide in the state.
Modi will be the first foreign dignitary to have a working dinner at the White House under the new administration.

Washington: Before meeting over a working dinner at the White House on Sunday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump will address reporters.

Earlier, the US and India leaders had declared that they will not answer any questions. However, Modi and Trump have agreed to answer one question each, selected in advance, once a joint statement on their dinner meet is issued.

According to an NDTV report, Modi and Donald Trump will commence a 20-minute one-on-one interaction that will be followed by delegation discussions and a press briefing. Modi will be the first foreign dignitary to be hosted at a White House dinner by the Trump government.

United States President Donald Trump will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday for a first tete-a-tete aimed at building a personal rapport in spite of very real divergences between the two leaders, whether on climate change or immigration.

A senior Indian official said he hoped for "chemistry," while a US official said the two leaders had a lot in common, noting that Modi will be the first foreign dignitary to have a working dinner at the White House under the new administration.

Initial signs were upbeat, with President Trump describing Modi as a "true friend!" on Twitter, and the Indian leader posting that he "greatly looked forward" to the one-on-one.

Some commentators have suggested Modi and Trump should have a natural affinity, having both risen to power in part by castigating the traditional ruling elite while offering a strongly nationalistic vision.

"Both have portrayed themselves as outsiders, promised jobs and to make their countries respected (again), and used or taken advantage of identity politics," wrote Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution.

Both prefer to reach out directly to their base via social media, where PM Modi's nearly 31 million Twitter followers rival Trump's 32 million.

Relations between the world's two largest democracies had warmed under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, as India sought greater foreign investment and trade ties. But it was not long after Trump's election that obstacles emerged on issues such as trade and visas for Indians wanting to work in the United States.

A proposed overhaul of H-1B visas -- used by thousands of Indian software engineers to work in the United States -- has caused concern in New Delhi.

Then the US President accused India of seeking to profit from the Paris climate accord as he announced the US withdrawal from the deal this month -- drawing sharp denials from New Delhi.

After an Oval Office meeting mid-afternoon, the leaders will dine together at the White House, though no press conference is scheduled. That decision -- a contrast with high-profile visits from other leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- may reflect a White House effort to avoid a flurry of questions over the probe into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which has dogged the young Trump administration.

On Sunday, Narendra Modi told top American executives that India is a business-friendly country of "minimum government" -- a message expected to resonate with Mr Trump, who has proposed streamlining what he calls business-hampering US regulations and cutting the budgets of several US government agencies.

His protectionist instincts, however, are at odds with India's efforts to boost exports and encourage Western manufacturers to "Make In India" -- Modi's flagship scheme.

Modi's core goals for the meeting, analysts say, are simple. "Ensure that India is on the US' radar, and that the new US administration maintains policy continuity with the last one," said Shailesh Kumar of the Eurasia group.

"PM Modi will arrive at the White House with a full-on charm offensive aimed squarely at Donald Trump," he said.

"Modi will try to give Trump some tweetable wins," Tanvi Madan said, which in the defense arena could see the announcement of a $2 billion deal by US manufacturer General Atomics to supply unarmed drones to India.

The White House refuses to comment on US arms sales before Congress has been officially notified, but a senior administration official underscored that "this defense relationship is extremely important for both countries".

Regional security is expected to be high on the agenda as Washington considers deploying up to 5,000 extra troops in Afghanistan to help local forces fighting insurgent groups and seeks to encourage what an administration official describes as India's "positive role" in the country.

President Trump's administration has meanwhile indicated it could take a tougher stance on Pakistan over harbouring terrorist groups.
Chinese troops have also stopped pilgrims who were proceeding for Kailash-Mansarovar yatra.

New Delhi: Tension mounted in a remote area of Sikkim after a scuffle broke out between personnel of the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), leading to Chinese troops damaging bunkers on the Indian side of the border.

The incident happened in the first week of June near the Lalten post in the Doka La general area in Sikkim after a face-off between the two forces, which triggered tension along the Sino-Indian frontier, official sources said.

After the scuffle, the PLA entered Indian territory and damaged two make-shift bunkers of the Army, the sources said.

After the India-China war of 1962, the area has been under the Indian Army and the ITBP, which is the border guarding force and has a camp 15 km from the international

border.

In a bid to defuse the tension along the LAC, the Indian Army twice asked the Chinese to join a flag meeting, which they turned down. Finally, the Chinese side agreed to a

meeting on June 20. It was then that the Chinese side conveyed to their Indian counterparts that Indian pilgrims, who were on a yatra to Kailash Mansarovar, would not be allowed to cross into Tibet, the sources said.

The pilgrims were kept waiting till June 23 after which they returned to Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, which is the only region where the border between India and China is

demarcated.

According to the sources, the Chinese side said a bridge had broken because of which the pilgrims could not cross into Tibet for the annual yatra.

The Sikkim route to Mansarovar, which is in Tibet, was opened in 2015.

It is not the first time that such a transgression has happened at Doka La, on the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction.

The Chinese forces had in November 2008 destroyed some makeshift Indian army bunkers there.

Earlier this year, Chinese helicopters had entered the airspace in the Barahoti area of Uttrakhand, called the middle sector. Sikkim is a part of the sector and experts have been warning the government of increased Chinese activities in this area.
After the attack, the victim rushed out of the house seeking help from neighbours who then informed the police and took him to a hospital.

The woman along with her brother and sister-in-law were found on Wednesday; the weapon of offence was also recovered. (Photo: File/Representational)

New Delhi: Police on Sunday arrested a 23-year-old woman who allegedly chopped off the genitals of her boyfriend after he refused to marry her.

Ravi (35), a street vendor, was allegedly attacked at his girlfriend's house in outer Delhi's Mangolpuri late on Wednesday, where he was called by her relative, police said.

When he reached their home, his lover for the past 4 years, broached the topic of marriage.

However, Ravi refused, saying his family was against it. The victim told police that the woman then pushed him inside the bathroom, undressed him and forced him to have sex with her.

She allegedly threatened him of dire consequences if he did not give in to her demand. Enraged at his refusal, the accused chopped off the man's genitals with a kitchen knife.

The victim said the woman's brother and sister-in-law were present at the house when the incident took place. He alleged that they did nothing to stop the woman from attacking him.

After the attack, Ravi rushed out of the house shouting for help. Some neighbours informed the police and rushed him to a hospital.

After a surgery, he was referred to the Jaipur Golden Hospital. The woman and her family members had fled their house after the attack.

Her brother and sister-in-law were found on Wednesday and questioned. The woman was arrested and police have also recovered the weapon of offence.
M Venkaiah Naidu said it was unfortunate that the Congress and Left parties are trying to rake up a controversy, where none exists.

Hyderabad: Referring to the proclamation of Emergency in 1975, signed by the then president, without a Cabinet decision, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday took a dig at the Congress saying the country needs a "constitutional president".

He also said it was unfortunate that the Congress and Left parties are trying to rake up an unseemly controversy, where none exists, by terming the upcoming presidential polls as an ideological battle.

"I do not see any reason for ideology to be dragged into the presidential election which should be kept above the routine of accusatory politics being indulged in by political parties," Naidu said.

Having a president, who goes by the Constitution, is all the more important as the country just observed the 42nd anniversary of Emergency, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister said.

"In 1975, then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed a proclamation imposing Emergency without even a Cabinet decision, simply on the basis of a letter written by the then prime minister and thus trampled upon all democratic rights of the people," he said.

"Conscious vote is a matter of convenience for the Congress. Let us recall that it has used conscience to defeat its own official candidate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy," Naidu said.

Raising the pitch for the NDA's pick for the presidential polls, he said the country needs a "constitutional president" who simply adheres to the Constitution in its letter and spirit of and who is above politics.

"Protection of the Constitution should be the only ideology that he should be committed to and nothing else," Naidu said.

He said it is pertinent to mention that the President has no powers to make policies as they fall in the domain of the government, which comes to power on the basis of its ideology.

On the NDA picking Ram Nath Kovind as its nominee for the top post, Naidu said commitment to the Constitution is the sole criterion for a presidential candidate along with character, calibre and conduct.
The Punjab CM also said the state govt has increased compensation for crop damage from Rs 8,000 per acre to Rs 12,000 per acre.

Jalandhar: Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday said the Punjab government had waived crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh of farmers and this had benefitted more than 10 lakh tillers in the state.

"The decision will benefit marginal and big farmers. Moreover, the government has repealed Section 67 A of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, which provides for auction and kurki of a farmer's land (auction of mortgaged land)," he said in Jalandhar.

The waiver has benefited 10.25 lakh farmers and it has been decided to take over the outstanding crop loans from institutional sources of the families of farmers who committed suicide in the state, the chief minister said.

"The state government has increased the compensation for crop damage from Rs 8,000 per acre to Rs 12,000 per acre, and has arranged for hassle-free procurement of grains at Punjab's markets," he said.

Congress leader Satnam Singh Kainth said the government has taken many decisions for the welfare of farmers in the state. "Some states have announced to waive farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh with the support of the Centre. But Punjab has decided to waive loans up to Rs 2 lakh," he said.

However, state BJP spokesperson Rakesh Shantidoot said the promises made by the state government have not been able to rid the farmers of their debt. "The Congress government should work towards complete waiver of loans," he said, adding the state should also work towards making the agricultural sector profitable.
The home ministry will directly monitor security arrangements on a daily basis.

Intelligence agencies have already warned the Centre that terrorist groups and even stone-pelters are likely to target the yatra. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: With the threat perception to the Amarnath Yatra, that starts June 29, at the highest in over a decade, the home ministry will directly monitor its security arrangements on a daily basis than leave it to either the state police or the Srinagar-based Unified Command.

Intelligence agencies have already warned the Centre that terrorist groups and even stone-pelters are likely to target the yatra, which is often considered a soft target in the already-volatile security scenario in the Valley. Sources said that with the holy month of Ramzan ending with Id-ul-Fitr on Monday, the possibility of subversive elements targeting the yatra was even higher.

Given these intelligence inputs, the home ministry has already doubled the deployment of Central paramilitary forces for the yatra this year. Altogether 210 companies of Central forces, nearly 22,000 security personnel, have been deployed to secure the yatra, in contrast to the 115 companies deployed last year. The J&K police will also make its own security preparations, along with aerial surveillance through drones. Sources said though over one lakh pilgrims had already registered to visit the holy Amarnath cave this year, the authorities feel the number could double as large groups of devotees had also begun to arrive without registration.

The MHA has deputed officers from its internal security and Kashmir divisions to monitor the yatra arrangements on a day-to-day basis, and stay in regular touch with the security officials on the ground. Two senior officers have just returned from Srinagar after a detailed security review meeting. Sources said the MHA may send a team of officers to camp in Srinagar till the completion of the entire process.

While the yatra route and all vulnerable points would be secured primarily by the CRPF, the BSF and the Army will also be roped in to provide a foolproof security cover. The J&K police will be primarily used to provide cover to the convoy of buses and other vehicles used to transport the pilgrims.

We have already done a detailed security review for the yatra and the tasks for each agency have been clearly chalked out, But since this is an ongoing process, all arrangements will be reviewed on a daily basis under the direct supervision of the home ministry. The threat perception for the yatra this season is highest compared to previous years, more so in the wake of the unrest in the Valley over the last few months, a senior official said.
The ED has sought all relevant documents pertaining to the case from the I-T department, a source said.

New Delhi: The noose appears to be tightening around the family members of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, including his wife, son and daughters, as the Enforcement Directorate is preparing to initiate its own inquiry against them for possible violations of foreign exchange and money laundering laws.

The agency is set to initiate its probe on the basis of the income-tax department investigation against them. The ED has sought all relevant documents pertaining to the case from the I-T department, a source said. Besides, the ED has already arrested a chartered accountant, Rajesh Kumar Agarwal, allegedly linked to Lalu Yadavs daughter Misa Bharti over a separate probe into a Rs 8,000-crore money laundering racket involving two Delhi-based businessmen and a few political entities.

A source said: Preliminary investigations by the agency revealed that Agarwal is also associated with some transactions involving M/s Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd. The firm Mishail is allegedly linked to Misa Bharti. ED sleuths are also analysing the statement by Mr Agarwal during custodial interrogation, they added. Mr Agarwal was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for allegedly being instrumental in providing accommodation entries (illegal funds) to launder the money of the two Delhi-based businessmen.

Officials suspect Misa was one of the many high-profile people who allegedly used Mr Agarwal to launder funds. Senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi has already accused the RJD chief and his family of corrupt deals and claimed there was a link between Mr Agarwal and Lalus daughter. Mr Modi earlier accused Ms Bharti of laundering money through a shell company to buy a farmhouse in Delhis Bijwasan area at a throwaway price in 2008-09, when her father was a Union minister.

The I-T department recently charged six family members of the RJD chief under the new, stringent anti-benami law over its probe into alleged land deals worth Rs 1,000 crores, and also tax evasion. The I-T department also served notices of attachment of assets to Ms Bharti, Lalu Yadavs son-in-law Shailesh Kumar, his wife and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav, Bihars deputy CM, and daughters Chanda and Ragini Yadav.
Chief minister said that the recently approved Noida International Airport would make it easy for tourists to reach UP.

Lucknow: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath said that Lord Ram and Lord Krishna cemented the nation together. The chief minister said that while Lord Ram connected north India with South India, Lord Krishna connected eastern parts of the country with the western region.

Speaking at function on tourism, Yogi Adityanath explained, Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya in north India but he went to the south to perform his karma and fulfil the mission of his birth. Krishnas wife Rukmini belonged to eastern India, while he was the ruler of Dwarka, which is situated in the western part of the country.

He said that Rukmini, according to folklore, was the daughter of Bhishmaka, the king of Vidarbha in Maharashtra but was born and brought up in Arunanchal Pradesh. Like Rama and Krishna, tourism was the common thread binding the people of India. The fact that UP is the land of Ram and Krishna makes it a major tourist attraction. Everyone wants to visit the land of Ram and Krishna, the chief minister said. He said that Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka had been showcasing their connection with Ram to boost tourism, while Uttar Pradesh had lagged behind in cashing on its tourist potential.

Not only the place of Ram and Krishna, UP is also the karmabhoomi of Lord Buddha and my government is working to develop places of Buddhist interest, he added. Yogi Adityanath also pointed out that religious places like Varanasi, Ayodhya and Vindhyachal were fast becoming the preferred choice of the Indian middle class, which cannot afford holidays to expensive tourist destinations, either in the country or abroad.

The chief minister said that the recently approved Noida International Airport would make it easy for tourists to reach UP. But before the airport is built and becomes functional, we will renovate 10 airstrips that were not being used well and these will be opened to improve air connectivity, he said. Meanwhile, the UP government launched eight destination-specific websites that are aimed at attracting tourists by providing all the information required.
Gen. Bajwa hailed the morale of troops, their devotion and operational preparedness, said a military statement.

Islamabad: Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday offered Id prayers with troops along the Line of Control (LoC) with India, the military said.

Gen. Bajwa hailed the morale of troops, their devotion and operational preparedness, said a military statement. Pakistan Army stands shoulder to shoulder with victims of terrorism and oil tanker fire, Gen. Bajwa said. We will overcome all challenges by staying united and steadfast as a nation, he added.

Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah, also spent Id with the troops deployed on forward posts of the Pakistan Navy, located in Sir Creek area bordering India.

The Navy Chief was accompanied by officiating Commander Coast Rear Admiral Athar Mukhtar during the visit. The admiral visited the Ghani post, located near the Pakistan-India border and had informal interaction personnel.

He lauded their level of motivation and determination to safeguard maritime frontiers of the country at critical area under very harsh topographic environment comprising marshes, swamps and unpredictable waterways, said a military statement.

Meanwhile, Id was celebrated throughout Pakistan, and Id congregations were held at open places mosques and Eidgahs in all major cities, towns and villages of the country.

In Islamabad, the main Id congregation was held at Faisal Mosque where President Mamnoon Husssain offered his Id prayer. A large number of people, including parliamentarians, ministers and envoys of Islamic countries also offered Id prayers at the Faisal Mosque.

Security was beefed up in different parts of the country, including the federal capital, to avoid any untoward incident on the auspicious occasion. Snap checking and patrolling by law enforcing agencies have been increased.
Governor Ram Naik and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav also visited the Idgah to wish Muslims on the festival.

Lucknow: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath broke a long-standing tradition and did not visit the Idgah on Monday to greet people on the occasion of Id.

Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma represented the chief minister at the Idgah and said that Lucknow was the land of Ali and Bajrangbali and was known for peaceful coexistence of the two communities.

Governor Ram Naik and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav also visited the Idgah to wish Muslims on the festival.

It has been a tradition in Lucknow for the chief minister to attend the Id namaaz at the Aishbagh Idgah, and thereafter, address the people. Yogi Adityanath is the second chief minister to skip the event, even though he was in Lucknow on Monday.

However, Yogi Adityanath spoke to prominent clerics on phone and wished them on Id. He also issued a statement greeting people on the occasion and said, This festival of happiness enhances the spirit of mutual brotherhood as well as strengthens social unity. It gives everyone a message of peace and harmony in society.

Earlier, the chief minister had declined to host the annual Iftar at his residence. He also did not attend the Iftar held at Raj Bhawan by UP Governor Ram Naik on June 23.

Former chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that Yogi Adityanath should have attended the prayers at Idgah  a unique tradition.

He is the chief minister and he should have been here. I am the ousted chief minister but still I am here, he told reporters.

Meanwhile, special security arrangements had been made for the festival across the state and the police stepped up vigil in communally sensitive areas.

A section of Muslims wore black bands on their arms to register their protest against religious killings and the failure of the government to protect Muslims.
The media adviser of Assam chief minister, Hrishikesh Goswami, also accompanied the chief minister during the meeting in New Delhi.

Guwahati: Union home minister Rajnath Singh has reiterated commitment of his party to deal with the problem of infiltration of foreigners, including sealing the international border with Bangladesh.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal who met Mr Singh in New Delhi said that the home ministry was committed to fulfill its promises and assured all necessary help to the state in fighting corruption and dealing with the problem of infiltration of foreigners.

The Union home minister has assured the Centres support to Assam on all these issues, he said.

Pointing out that a number of issues plaguing Assam were discussed at the meeting, Mr Sonowals office said that the problem of floods was also discussed and the Union home minister assured that the Centre would extend all necessary help in dealing with the problem and providing relief to the affected people.

Mr Sonowal also raised the issue of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and apprised Mr Singh that the draft of the updated NRC would be ready by December 31 this year.

He said that all precautions were being taken to ensure that the updated NRC was totally free from any mistake and that was why the process was taking some time.

He also informed Mr Singh that the Assam government was forced to remove 19 members of the foreigners tribunals as their performance was not satisfactory.

The union home minister informed Mr Sonowal that he issued instructions to officials concerned to expedite the process of sealing the international border with Bangladesh so that further infiltration could be checked.

He also requested Mr Sonowal to personally visit the international border to assess the situation on the ground. The media adviser of Assam chief minister, Hrishikesh Goswami, also accompanied the chief minister during the meeting in New Delhi.
A case has been registered at South Campus police station on the complaint, which was received on June 22.

The accused and the victim are students of Class 5 in a prominent school located at Anand Niketan. (Representational image)

New Delhi: A complaint against the minor son of an Angolese diplomat, for allegedly sodomising his classmate and son of a Filipino envoy, has left the police bewildered on how to proceed with the case, owing to the diplomatic immunity enjoyed by the accused in the case. A case has been registered at South Campus police station on the complaint, which was received on June 22.

The accused and the victim are students of Class 5 in a prominent school located at Anand Niketan. The accused stays with his family at the Angola embassy in Vasant Vihar and the victim stays with his family at the Philippine embassy in Chanakyapuri, the police said.

In his complaint, the minor said that the sexual assault took place in March and continued for a period of time. The victim was traumatised after the incident and even during his summer vacations, he remained lost.

After persistent questioning by his parents, he narrated his ordeal, following which they approached the police.

After a case was registered at the South Campus police station, the school also took action against the accused juvenile and rusticated him. The accused student visited the police station on June 24 along with his family members. He, in turn, charged the Filipino student of sexually assaulting him. The police has received his complaint but so far, hasnt registered a case.

The police said that the family of the accused student enjoys diplomatic immunity, which is why the juvenile has not been apprehended yet.

We have registered a case under Sections 377 (unnatural sex) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and under relevant Sections of POCSO at the South Campus police station. Further investigation is underway. The accused child is a minor and due to diplomatic immunity has not been apprehended, said a senior police official.
The officer had instructed the victim to hand over money via cheque through a middleman for releasing payment in favour of victim's client.

Both the accused were produced before a court and remanded to police custody till June 28. (Photo: File/Representational)

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested a Recovery Officer of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DBT) and his accomplice for demanding a bribe of Rs 7,00,000.

The officer had instructed the victim to hand over money in the form of a cheque through a middleman for releasing payment in favour of victim's client.

It was also alleged that the accused introduced the middleman to the complainant and under his instructions; a cheque of Rs 7 lakh was issued and delivered to the middleman, the CBI officials said.

During a search operation at the officer's residence, the CBI recovered fixed deposits worth Rs 65 lakh, approximately, Kisan Vikas Patras' worth Rs 9 lakh (approx) and some property documents.

Both the accused were produced before a court and remanded to police custody till June 28.
The police is likely to investigate Dwivedis role in Chaudharys murder.

Mumbai: Two weeks after small-time actress Kritika Chaudharys murder, Amboli police has arrested her estranged husband Vijay Dwivedi in a cheating case, late Saturday.

The police is now questioning him in relation to the phone calls between him and the deceased where Dwivedi could be heard asking for them to get back together, while she was reluctant, citing the various incidents of him cheating on her with other women as the reason. The police is likely to investigate Dwivedis role in Chaudharys murder.

According to police officers attached to the Amboli police station, Dwivedi has various cheating cases registered against him. He had married the deceased in 2012 and the couple had shifted to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh post their marriage.

Speaking to The Asian Age, Bharat Gaikwad, a senior police inspector attached to the Amboli police station, said, We have arrested Dwivedi in a cheating case and are also trying to ascertain his role in his estranged wifes murder. He will be questioned about his alleged conversation where he offered her to reconcile.

Late on Saturday, the police received a tip-off that he was seen in Jogeshwari. Following this, the police officials arrested him in a cheating case that has been pending against him since a long time.
The police had resorted to pellet-firing and baton charge.

Mumbai: While the Thane police claims that Chainu Jadhav and Mathur Mhatre, who were named in its first information report (FIR) as the two main accused who orchestrated the Thursday rioting at Kalyans Nevale, are still on the run, it has emerged that the duo allegedly met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday. They met the CM along with Thanes guardian minister Eknath Shinde.

Confirming the meeting, a Thane police officer who is supervising the probe, said, We have learnt that Chainu Jadhav and Mathur Mhatre had met the CM on Saturday along with other politicians. On being asked if the police had prior information about the meeting, the officer said, No, we did not have any prior information. We are doing our best to nab them but they are changing their locations.

On Saturday, I proposed to the CM to mediate in the ongoing dispute in Nevale citing the injustice meted out to the farmers. The chief minister was given application seeking justice to the farmers and also to find a solution to the issue at Nevale which would

be in favour of all concerned, stated a release issued by Eknath Shinde, Thanes guardian minister.

While the meeting took place, there is little clarity on what unfolded during the meet and what Jadhav and Mathur may have said during the meeting. Mr Fadnavis was unavailable for a comment on the same when The Asian Age attempted to contact him. Jadhav is the sarpanch of Nevale village, which saw the maximum violence on Thursday when a mob of around 2,000 villagers took on the police and thrashed them. The agitation was sparked over the Navys erection of a fencing wall around 1,700-acre land belonging to it where it is seeking to redevelop a British-era airstrip. The violence had left 12 policemen and 15 villagers injured. The police had resorted to pellet-firing and baton charge.

Besides Nevale, Bhal, Khoni and Rawal Pada villages also witnessed violence at the hands of villagers who torched six vehicles and also damaged several others.

Apart from Jadhav and Mhatre, a Vilas Patil has also been named as main accused in the FIR registered by the police.

Jadhav is an influential figure not only in Nevale (where he is a sarpanch) but also in the other villages that witnessed violence and are located within a radius of three kilometres. The probe hints towards Jadhav along with Mhatre and Patil as main conspirators who chalked down the plan of attack, said an officer of Thane police.

The polices combing operation is still underway and the officials have detained at least 30 persons in connection with the attack and are questioning them.

The attackers also molested two women constables. However, those who did that are yet to be found.

We are scanning the CCTV footage along with the videos and pictures shot by policemen during the incident to identify the attackers. We are subjecting the detainees to verification based on that and those who are identified will be arrested, said Pratap Dighavkar, additional commissioner of police, Thane city.

The Thane police will soon send a report to the state on the Nevale riots case with details of the investigation and roles of the accused.
In the past three years, BEST has lost more than six lakh passengers.

In the past three years, BEST has lost more than six lakh passengers.

Mumbai: The expansion of Metro services is likely to spell doom for the transport wing of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking. After completing all six Metro routes in the city, the ratio of BEST passengers among people using all kinds of transport will come down from 21.9 per cent to 11.2 per cent by the year 2034, says the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) mobility plan.

In a bid to find a solution to ever increasing traffic woes on city roads, BMC has prepared a comprehensive traffic mobility plan, which has surveyed people travelling using various modes like BEST, railway, car, taxi, rickshaw, bicycle, motorcycle, monorail, metro etc.

The survey says that BEST, which is already struggling with dwindling number of commuters every year, is likely to further lose passengers after the Metro network is established entirely in the city.

While the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro route is already commissioned, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has proposed five more routes  Dahisar to DN Nagar, DN Nagar to Mandale, Wadala-Ghatkopar-Kasarvadavali (Thane), Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ and Andheri East to Dahisar East.

In the past three years, BEST has lost more than six lakh passengers. In 2014, BEST plied 30 lakh passengers every day, which has now dropped to about 24 lakh. As a result, the transport undertaking is suffering an annual loss of Rs 600 crore.

After the Metro network is completed, BESTs passenger count is expected to erode further. By the year 2034, 23.6 per cent commuters will travel by Metro, while BESTs passenger ratio will drop to 11.2 per cent.

We have undertaken several measures to increase the number of BEST passengers, said BEST committee chairman Anil Kokil. Along with purchase of new buses, we have also decided to start new routes for the convenience of commuters, he said.

The report also says that the total costs for strengthening public transport is Rs 13,378 crore. The report said Rs 4,851 crore would be required for strengthening of road/highway system.
There are legitimate concerns that the Trump-Mohammed duo could lead the region into an all-out war.

The scene was bizarre even by Saudi standards. The freshly-anointed crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, kissed the hands of the prince he had just replaced and then, in a remarkably non-Saudi (and, indeed, non-Islamic) gesture, fell to the ground and attempted to kiss the feet of the ousted prince.

Mohammed bin Salman was bidding goodbye (and good riddance?) to the second crown prince who has had to make way, in two years, to fulfil the aspirations of this 31-year old prince, who now wields supreme authority over all matters political, military, energy and economic. Now hes not subject to any restraining influence. This is an unprecedented concentration of power in the hands of one young prince in the Saudi royal house.

The steady progression of Prince Mohammed bin Salman to these heights began from the time his father, King Salman, now 81, became King in January 2015: he was then named defence minister and head of the royal court. In April 2015, his uncle, Prince Muqrin, the youngest surviving son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the present kingdom in the early 20th century, was removed as crown prince. Prince Mohammed bin Salman then elbowed out several other senior royals to become deputy crown prince, with his cousin Prince Mohammed bin Naif as crown prince and interior minister.

Over the last two years, the deputy crown prince has steadily encroached on his senior royals domain: the national security centre was placed under the royal court, the intelligence services saw the appointments of the princes favourites, and recently criminal investigation also came directly under the royal court.

Saudi sources have suggested that the princes elevation is in keeping with Saudi tradition; the Saudi-owned Al Hayat has spoken of the kingdoms perfection and uniqueness that defies all norms of Western political theory and is founded on the countrys own deep roots in history.

These assertions are inaccurate: the steady upward trajectory of the young prince, the powers enjoyed by him, and absence of intra-family consultations contradict the way the royal family has functioned over the past hundred years. They also threaten family unity at a time of grave domestic and regional challenges, aggravated by the collapse of oil prices that has deprived the kingdom of valuable revenues for its wars and reform projects.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman has over the last two years projected himself as his countrys principal spokesman in the national and international media, courting influential Western journalists with detailed interviews of his vision and plans for the kingdom. His most ambitious initiative is Vision 2030, a programme of economic and social reform that will prepare Saudi Arabia for a future when it will no longer depend on oil revenues, would give up its addiction to oil, as the prince put it.

This initiative calls for the funding of wide-ranging economic reform through the partial sale of public sector assets and the setting up of a robust private sector that would expand and diversify the countrys manufacturing base and employ its youth, who have till recently found ready sanctuary in government employment.

These reforms envisage changes in the nations economic, social and cultural areas, with indications that the oppressive role of the religious order could be diluted. Prince Mohammeds appointment is being projected as the acceptance of youth and modernity in the conservative and authoritarian nation, but there are no suggestions that there would be any scope for popular participation in governance.

Prince Mohammed, as defence minister, is leading two conflicts with neighbours, in Yemen and Syria, both of which have caused widespread destruction, but have not yielded victory, despite investment of billions of dollars into the war effort.

These are both proxy wars, for the kingdoms ire is really directed at its strategic, political and doctrinal rival, Iran. Here, Prince Mohammed has framed their differences in starkly sectarian terms, accusing the Islamic Republic as being impelled by its Shia doctrine to seek to occupy Mecca and dominate the Islamic world.

Prince Mohammeds greatest success, facilitated by high-value defence contracts, has been getting US President Donald Trump allied politically and militarily with the Saudi-led coalition; though touted as a Sunni alliance, its principal members are Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt.

Strengthened by US support, Saudi Arabia has put in place the diplomatic, economic and communications boycott of Qatar, a fraternal neighbour and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member. Qatar is being penalised for questioning the Saudi dependence on Mr Trump and recommending engagement with Iran as a major Islamic country and regional power.

Prince Mohammeds formal appointment as crown prince and his alliance with Mr Trump portend increased uncertainty and instability in the kingdom and in West Asia in general. Both leaders are disruptive forces in the international arena, both rejoice in their strongman persona, and both seek quick solutions to complex issues through hard military force; neither of them has much time for reflection, diplomacy and accommodation of diverse interests. They are a lethal combination in West Asia.

Prince Mohammeds first act as crown prince was the framing of 13 conditions that Qatar must accept and implement before the embargoes are removed. They require total renunciation by Qatar of all its cherished positions and institutions that have imparted to it a unique status in the region, and acceptance of the monitoring of its conduct by international agencies over a 10-year period.

This list of demands provides no space for negotiation or compromise, and affirms the brinkmanship and adventurism that have characterised the princes approach to regional crises, so that West Asia is now reeling from sectarian and jihadi confrontations, a fragmented GCC, murder and mayhem in Syria and Yemen, and political and military standoff between the two Islamic giants who confront each other across the Gulf waters.

There are legitimate concerns that the Trump-Mohammed duo could lead the region into an all-out war.
Beijing and New Delhi are two capitals of two of the most populated nations of the world.

Chinas legendary revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, standing in front of Beijings Tiananmen Square in the 1950s, talked about Tibet and the Himalayas: Xizang (Tibet) is Chinas right hands palm, which is detached from its five fingers  of Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal (formerly NEFA). As all of these five are either occupied by, or under the influence of India, it is Chinas responsibility to liberate the five to be rejoined with Xizang (Tibet).

Beijing and New Delhi are two capitals of two of the most populated nations of the world, with the Himalayas forming the most formidable barrier to an extensive interaction between them. The Himalayas, however, have much more to do with Hindu history, culture and the traditions of South Asia than that of China owing to its remote distance from China. Beijing owes its glorious rice culture more to the Hwang Ho and Yangtze rivers than to the Himalayan rivers of the Sindhu, Ganga and Brahmaputra.

Just like Jerusalem is the cradle of both Christianity and Judaism, and Mecca and Medina the centre of Islam, the Himalayas and its waters have played a seminal role in the rise, growth and development of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. The Chinese owe the origin and development of their glorious civilisation more to the twin non-Himalayan river valleys of the Hwang Ho and Yangtze than to the remote Himalayas, the abode of snow. The name originates from the combination of two Sanskrit words him (snow) and alay (abode).

Lets study the distance of the Himalayan five fingers from the two capitals of New Delhi and Beijing. Leh (Ladakh) is 1,258 km by road from Delhi and 3,490 km from Beijing; Kathmandu (Nepal) is 1,160 km from Delhi and 3,160 km from Beijing; From Nathu-La (Sikkim) to Delhi is 1,636 km, while to Beijing it is 2,888 km; Thimphu (Bhutan) is 1,782 km from Delhi and 2,820 km from Beijing; and lastly, from Tawang (Arunachal) Delhi is 2,315 km, while Beijing is 2,640 km from there.

Indeed, the five fingers of Beijing are rather too far when compared to the distance thereof from Delhi. Nevertheless, let us see things from Beijings point of view as well, in the light of its BRI/CPEC and SCO objectives. Several of its economic projects have been given different names to keep the non-Chinese guessing. That is the Chinese way, which could be to look different without being different. Why? Because the goal is always fixed. Its the way to the acquisition of land and money, in the old Chinese tradition of kowtowing by rivals. Even when things do not exist, there is a need to make them exist. Almost like that of Voltaires logic: Even if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. The belief has to prevail. If not today, in the long term and in the long run. The Chinese can go on hammering. The wall is bound to crack and crumble inevitably one day.

Ladakh is still with India, forced Chinese part-occupation notwithstanding. Nepal is independent and pursues its policy with great elan, despite its abolition of the monarchy and the tag of being a Hindu state. Sikkim joined India on its own volition in 1975, and there doesnt seem to be any sign of a reverse gear. Bhutan too cant be penetrated, as it is too steadfast in its approach. The proposed Chinese embassy in Thimphu is still a long way off. Arunachal Pradesh is one of the 29 states of India, and there is little to suggest that it can be anything other than that.

Therefore, the direct approach to liberate the five fingers of Xizang needs to change to an indirect one. How? By the application of economics. Development, investment, people-to-people contacts, profit, infrastructure, connectivity and corridor are alluring words. The Chinese aim to entice them, cajole them, as they are all landlocked terrain. All are helpless at the mercy of others. They need liberation by or under someone. Dissatisfaction and resentment is the key to their changing sides.

To begin with, a country has to have proximity to sea outlets. Five landlocked fingers cannot operate from Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea. It is remote and turbulent. It has to be the Bay of Bengal, with its six ports of Kolkata, Haldia, Khulna, Chalna, Coxs Bazar and Chittagong. Nathu-La to Kolkata is 727 km, Dhaka 640 km, Chittagong 900 km.

No wonder China is anxious to open its embassy in Bhutan to balance New Delhis influence and to breach Siliguris Chickens Neck of less than 80 km to reach the shoreline of the Bay of Bengal. It does not matter what it takes to achieve the so-called economic goal. It matters little whether or not turbulence is created to breach the established polity of India and reach the beaches of West Bengal and Bangladesh. It is simply economics!

One of the priorities is the Sino-Bhutan border issue. The year 2017 has seen hectic Chinese activity in Bhutan  with very little effect though. They are trying hard in the Chumbi Valley tri-junction of Bhutan, Sikkim and Tibet. The Yadong railway will also reach Kathmandu via Gyirong (Tibet). The Chinese want a railway line through Bhutan, West Bengal and Bangladesh as well. Not too soon, it appears, as tension and turbulence go on increasing in the highly vulnerable Chickens Neck area of India, that in turn may well contaminate all four nations in the neighbourhood  Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. Paradoxically, however, the adverse effect on these four nations is likely to be advantageous to China.

The Chinese hopes still revolve around Mao Zedongs unfulfilled dreams. Hence, the renewed Chinese keenness to go to the east as well as the Northeast in Indian territory. India is the gateway to all the five (landlocked) fingers. The gate must be prised open  the sooner the better. It is the all-embracing Chinese economics: which Beijing sees as the only way to liberate the five fingers.
The leaked data looks to be coming from Microsofts own servers and is dated March 2017.

According to a report from The Register, they have revealed that the data includes not only internal builds of Windows 10.

Over 30 terabytes of data from Microsoft has been leaked, including sources for the operating systems hardware which would allow hackers to find vulnerabilities and also create exploits substantially easier.

The leaked data looks to be coming from Microsofts own servers and is dated March 2017, comprising even Windows 10 tools which the company uses internally for troubleshooting, testing, and debugging. The builds were never supposed to be public, and they include symbols that are being used by Microsoft so as to determine each specific version.

According to a report from The Register, they have revealed that the data includes not only internal builds of Windows 10, but also Windows Server 2016, as well as the code for Shared Source Kit, which in its turn compromises data from the Windows 10 hardware source code, PnP code, USB and Wi-Fi stacks, Storage drivers, and ARM kernel code.

Furthermore, the leaked data has also been stated to include the Windows 10 Mobile Adaption Kit which is an unreleased solution developed by Microsoft which the company uses to run specific Windows 10 applications on smartphones. The Adaption Kit is believed to be part of Microsofts new toolset for the Windows 10 Mobile refresh which is expected later this year or maybe in early 2018.
Trump has received detailed briefings on India and relations between the two countries including the growing defence cooperation.

Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been receiving a lot of affection lately from his foreign counterparts as United States President Donald Trump is now attempting to learn Hindi to welcome the former.

Notably, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa arranged a Gujarati meal for the latter on Saturday.

According to a NDTV report, Trump is expected to flaunt his acquired Hindi proficiency during his meeting with Modi on Monday.

The prime minister, who is on his two day state visit to United States, will be hosted in a first-of-its-kind dinner by Trump.

The report said that Trump has received detailed briefings on India and relations between the two countries including the growing defence cooperation.

"Donald Trump is learning Hindi words for the meeting with Prime Minister Modi... He will say Trump Sarkar welcomes Modi Sarkar," said Chicago industrialist Shalabh "Shalli" Kumar, who was considered the chief architect of the presidential candidate outreach to the Indian-American community last year.

The nation wide famous 2014 election campaign slogan "Ab ki baar Modi Sarkaar" (This time, a Modi government) was used by Donald Trump during his fiercely-contested US president election last year to woo the Indian-American community.

He had said, "Ab ki baar Trump Sarkar" in a 30-second commercial to reach out to Indian Americans.

Pointing out that Trump had been briefed adequately about Modi, Kumar said, That is just the start of a great relationship (between two leaders)."

He further added, He (Trump) has through me, as well on his own, enough people (to brief him)... he knows Prime Minister Modi really well.

The White House chief strategist Steve Bannan has "studied Modi" and "they already know where Modi stands, where he wants to take India," Kumar said.
Hassan Rouhani added that threats and sanctions were not the correct way of solving problems between countries.

Tehran: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday said his country wants to bolster ties with Qatar and rejected a Saudi-led blockade of the Gulf Arab emirate.

"Iran's policy is to develop more and more its relations with Doha," Rouhani said in a phone conversation with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, according to the presidency website.

"Tehran stands alongside the people and government of Qatar and we believe that... pressure, threats and sanctions are not a good solution to solve problems" between countries of the region, Rouhani added.

Read: Post Gulf crisis, Qatar gets 5 planes, 3 shiploads of food from Iran

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are among several countries which announced on June 5 the suspension of all ties to Qatar, accusing it of support for extremist groups, a claim Doha denies.

They have also closed their airspace to Qatari carriers and blocked the emirate's only land border -- vital for its food imports.

Shiite dominated Iran, an arch-rival of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, has stepped in by shipping to Qatar tonnes of fruit and vegetables.

"Helping Qatar economically and developing ties, particularly in the private sectors of both countries, could be a common goal," Rouhani said on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Egypt, have issued 13 demands which they want Qatar to meet in return for an end to the nearly three-week-old diplomatic and trade "blockade".

Doha has said denounced the demands -- including the closure of Al-Jazeera news channel and downgrading ties with Tehran -- as unreasonable.
Many of the dead were burned beyond recognition, said Dr. Mohammad Baqar, a senior rescue official in the area.

At least 153 men, women and children were killed, with dozens more in critical condition, hospital and rescue officials said. (Photo: AP)

Bahawalpur (Pakistan): Alerted by an announcement over a mosque's loudspeaker that an overturned tanker truck had sprung a leak, scores of villagers raced to the scene with fuel containers on Sunday to gather the oil. Then the wreck exploded, engulfing people in flames as they screamed in terror.

At least 153 men, women and children were killed, with dozens more in critical condition, hospital and rescue officials said.

"I have never seen anything like it in my life. Victims trapped in the fireball. They were screaming for help," said Abdul Malik, a police officer who was among the first to arrive on the scene of horror in Pakistan's Punjab province.

When the flames subsided, he said, "We saw bodies everywhere. So many were just skeletons. The people who were alive were in really bad shape."

About 30 motorcycles that villagers had used to rush to the site of the highway accident lay charred nearby along with cars, witnesses said. Local news channels showed black smoke billowing skyward and army helicopters taking away the injured.

As victims cried out for help, residents wandered through the area, looking for loved ones.

Zulkha Bibi searched for her two sons. "Someone should tell me about my beloved sons. Where are they? Are they alive or are they no longer in this world? Please tell me," she pleaded.

Many of the dead were burned beyond recognition, said Dr. Mohammad Baqar, a senior rescue official in the area. They will have to be identified through DNA.

The disaster came on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. While Saudi Arabia and most other Muslim countries celebrated the holiday Sunday, Pakistanis will mark it on Monday.

The fuel truck was travelling from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore, the Punjab provincial capital, when the driver lost control and crashed on a highway outside Bahawalpur.

A loudspeaker atop a mosque alerted villagers to the leaking fuel, and many rushed to the scene with fuel containers, said Rana Mohammad Salim, deputy commissioner of Bahawalpur.

Highway police moved quickly to redirect traffic but couldn't stop the scores of villagers, spokesman Imran Shah told a local TV channel.

When the fire erupted, the same mosque loudspeaker called on the remaining villagers to help put it out.

Mohammed Salim said he ran toward the smoke with buckets of water and sand, but the heat was too intense for him to reach the victims.

"I could hear people screaming, but I couldn't get to them," he said. Dr. Javed Iqbal at Bahawalpur's Victoria Hospital said most of the patients suffered burns to upward of 80 percent of their bodies. Many were evacuated by plane or helicopter to hospitals in the Punjab cities of Lahore and Multan.
He has been allowed treatment outside the prison, but he will not seek medical treatment abroad. In 2009, he was sentenced to 11 years for "inciting subversion of state power" after he co-authored Charter 08. Whilst in prison, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  Jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, one of Chinas most important icons of democracy, has been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and has been allowed to leave the prison for treatment.

In 2009, Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" for co-writing and promoting Charter 08, a manifesto calling on the Chinese Communist Party to undertake social and political reforms.

News about the state of his health was confirmed today by his lawyer, Mo Shaoping, who also said that Liu was given permission to be treated outside the prison.

The diagnosis of cancer came on 23 May and Liu Xiaobo is now at a Shenyang Hospital (Liaoning). Through Mo, he said he was not going to seek medical treatment abroad.

Liu Xiaobo has been one of Chinas leading figures in the past 30 years. Before the Tiananmen massacre he sought to open a dialogue between the military and the students on the square.

He was arrested and jailed for three years shortly after the massacre. After a period of studies abroad, he returned and continued working in the cultural domain and with Chinas dissidents.

Charter 08, which he co-authored, was signed by over 300 figures in the fields of art, culture and labour.

It is one of the most lucid analyses of Chinas situation, a country still unable to take a step towards modernity through political reforms, religious freedom, creativity of its people, elections and a division of state powers.

In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he did not receive in person because he was in jail. Beijing threatened relatives, friends, and dissidents from picking up the award on Lius behalf.

The Nobel Academy left an empty chair with the picture of the great dissident.
Mieygombo Enkhbold, of the Mongolian People's Party, and Khaltmaa Battulga, of the Nationalist Democratic Party, are the frontrunners. The vote is a referendum on economic policy. The country is trying to curb Chinas hegemony. In religious matters, nothing has changed. Buddhism is protected by the state whilst Christians endure restrictions.

Ulaan Baatar (AsiaNews)  Mongolians go to the polls today to pick a new president. Polling stations opened this morning in the countrys cities and desert areas. The first results are expected tomorrow.

The campaign was dominated by the countrys economic crisis, foreign debt, high corruption, China's influence, and the impact of the relationship with Beijing on the religious freedom of Buddhists, and implicitly, of Christians.

An anonymous local source told AsiaNews that local Christians in all probability "will still face an uphill battle when it comes to promoting their faith. Regardless of who wins, what worries people the most is how to survive in a country that is now largely dependent on foreign loans and is trying to get more and more away from Chinese hegemony."

About two million people (out of a population of three million) are called upon to choose among the candidates in what looks like a two-horse race between Mieygombo Enkhbold, an investment-friendly career politician from the ruling Mongolian Peoples Party (MPP), and Khaltmaa Battulga, of the opposition right-wing nationalist Democratic Party. Most analysts do not give a third candidate, Sainkhuu Ganbaatar, from the Mongolian Revolutionary Party (MPRP), any chance.

For many, today's vote is a referendum on economic policy and China's role in the countrys development. The election campaign saw various episodes of anti-Chinese sentiments. In one of these, Enkhbold was mocked as a "half Chinese" and was forced to publish his family tree to refute the charge.

Many stress that both frontrunners have invested their political capital in ensuring the countrys independence. Enkhbold has advocated for a United Mongolia, whilst Battulga has said that he wants to restore Mongolias pride under the slogan Mongolia will win.

Irrespective of what candidates say, Mongolia is in a serious economic crisis and its main trading partner is China. Chinas share of Mongolias foreign trade was 68.5 per cent from January to May this year, up from 1.5 per cent in 1989. China took 90.5 per cent of Mongolias exports from January to May.

Experts believe that this relationship will determine the voters decision. Ultimately, economic growth may hold more allure for voters than nationalism, said Sumati Luvsanvandev, head of the Sant Maral Foundation polling group. Voters may be suspicious [of China], but theyre also quite pragmatic.

I dont think [anti-China] sentiment can win, said Gerel Orgil, a Mongolian public opinion analyst. People are increasingly rational. They are not thinking about what happened with China in the past; theyre thinking about what will happen in their daily lives if the economy doesnt improve.

The local source agrees that most people are concerned about the countrys "stagnant" economy. Mongolia recently received a US$ 5.5 billion International Monetary Fund bailout.

In recent years, "the government has sought to reduce dependence on China by looking for other trading partners, the famous third neighbour beside China and Russia, namely Japan and South Korea."

"The country needs foreign capital without which it cannot surviev. Now the issue is which partner and under what conditions it can get loans, so that they may be beneficial to everyone."

Some experts believe that the tie to China will not weaken especially after Mongolian authorities were forced to apologise for inviting the Dalai Lama to Mongolia in November 2016 for a religious event.

The incident angered the Chinese, who threatened heavy economic retaliation. After the apology, Beijing decided to reward Mongolia for its good behaviour by granting new loans.

According to the source, Chinese threats "have not had major repercussions on religious freedom at the local level." Most people are Buddhist and they "continue to live their faith in a free and autonomous way."

In Mongolia, state-religion relations are regulated by a law. Freedom to profess a religion is a right "guaranteed by the law although the right is officially recognised only for Buddhists, whilst the situation of Christians is different."

"It is no coincidence that the law is called the 'Law that regulates relations between the state and the monastery'. This means that primarily Buddhism is recognised by the state as the religion of its citizens.

According to many experts, Christians lack legal standing to exercise more freedom, but I do not think that changing the law is a government priority despite proposals for some amendments."

"I believe that the presidential election will not change anything. Controls will remain in place, red tape will be a burden, and people will not be able to promote the Gospel."
by Thanh Thuy

In a statement, Chinese General Fan Changlong said that all the islands in the South China Sea have been Chinese since ancient times. This caused the cancellation of a planned Sino-Vietnamese Border Defence Friendship Exchange. Beijing is unhappy about Vietnams plans to carry out oil and gas exploitation in disputed waters. Hanoi seeks closer economic and military relations with Japan and the United States.

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - General Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of Chinas Central Military Commission, reportedly cut short his visit to Vietnam scheduled for 18-22 June where he was supposed to meet with high-ranking Vietnamese government officials.

According to Vietnamese media, on the first two days, his agenda included meetings with Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Tran ai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich.

On the other two days, General Fan was set to join General Ngo Xuan Lich for the fourth Border Defence Friendship Exchange with the participation of troops from both countries.

A local independent newspaper said that the generals visit included discussions over the dispute between the two countries in the South China Sea.

In a statement, the general said that all the South China Sea islands, including the coral reefs, have been Chinese since ancient times.

When the Government of Vietnam did not agree with the generals views and suggestions, the general cancelled all of his engagements, and, on the evening of 18 June, left for home without any explanation.

Vietnam has always stated that it is committed to building "good relations" with China. However, according to analysts, Fan Changlong's sudden decision is a sign of China dissatisfaction with Vietnam's plans to exploit oil and gas in the South China Sea.

In fact, in the recent past, Hanoi has been trying to develop closer economic, military, and relations with Japan and the United States of America.

In January 2017, the US oil company ExxonMobil signed an agreement to build a plant to process gas from the Ca Voi Xanh (Blue Whale) gas field, which is located off the coast of Vietnam.

On 13 June, the crew of a Japanese Coast Guard ship, the Echigo, visited in a Nang (central Vietnam), after a joint drill with the Vietnamese coast guard.

Washington and Tokyo have also provided Hanoi with patrol boats to boost Vietnams maritime capabilities.

For their part, Chinese authorities have announced that the exploratory oil rig, Haiyang Shiyou 981 (HD-981) would be deployed in the Lang Thuy oil field from 16 June to 15 September 2017.

At present, the rig is located at 74 nautical miles from Hainan, a Chinese island off the coast of southern China, east of Vietnams coastline, a stretch of sea that is at the centre of Sino-Vietnamese negotiations.

This it is not the first time that China deploys the HD-981 rig in Vietnamese waters, or in waters at the centre of disputes, in retaliation against Hanoi for trying to get away from Chinese influence.

Analysts now expect more tensions between the two countries, which are likely to undermine the peace and economy of the South Chinese Sea.

Taking advantage of ambiguities in international maritime law, Beijing claims most (85 per cent) of South China Sea. This includes the Spratly and the Paracels Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia, as well as the Senkaku/Diayou Islands in the East China Sea (claimed by both China and Japan).

In order to ensure its control over the major maritime routes in the South China Sea, the Chinese government has begun to build a series of artificial islands with military installations and lighthouses.

According to recent estimates, more than US$ 5 trillion in trade passes through the sea.

In all this, the United States has backed the nations of South-East Asia against what Washington considers Chinas illegal and irrational claims, the so-called cow tongue, which covers about four fifths of the seas 3.5 million square kilometres.
by Bernardo Cervellera

The bishop of Wenzhou (Zhejiang), who belongs to the underground community, is said to be undergoing brainwashing to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Since China and the Holy See resumed talks three years ago, this is the first time that the Holy See Press Office speaks about a detained bishop. The faithful have felt too much pain over the Vaticans extended silence. Germanys ambassador in Beijing, Michael Clauss, has talked about the case. The Vaticans press office calls on the faithful to pray for Bishop Shao Zhumin and the path of the Catholic Church in China.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "The Holy See is observing with grave concern the personal situation of Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou, forcibly removed from his episcopal see some time ago, said Greg Burke, director of the Holy See Press Office in a press release today, a month after police seized the prelate.

Mgr Shao was taken away by police officers and members of the Religious Affairs Bureau in Zhejiang Province on the evening of 18 May after he was summoned to appear. The prelates 90-year-old mother has called for his release. In Wenzhou, the faithful have launched a chain of prayers.

"The diocesan Catholic community and his relatives have no news or reasons for his removal, nor do they know where he is being held," read the Holy See press release. The bishop was seen at Wenzhou Airport on 16 June, only to disappear in the hands of public security officials.

As for why he is missing, some Catholic believe that he is being subjected to religious seminars" (i.e. brainwashing) in order to force him to joint the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), which the Vatican considers "incompatible with Catholic doctrine. "

Bishop Shao belongs to the unofficial community and is therefore not a member of the CPCA. As such, he is not recognised by the government. Still, he became the ordinary bishop of Wenzhou after the death of his predecessor, Mgr Vincent Zhu Weifang.

In its press release, the Holy See Press Office went on to say that "the Holy See, profoundly saddened for this and other similar episodes that unfortunately do not facilitate ways of understanding, expresses the hope that Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin may return as soon as possible to the diocese and that he can be assured the possibility of serenely exercising his episcopal ministry. We are all invited to pray for Bishop Shao Zhumin and for the path of the Catholic Church in China.

Since the Vatican and China began informal talks three years ago, this is the first time the Holy See has spoken about an imprisoned bishop. Many Chinese Catholics have expressed pain for the Vaticans extended silence on persecuted bishops, priests and laity.

Recently, even the German ambassador to China, Michael Clauss, issued an official statement calling for Mgr Peter Shao Zhumins release.

Mgr Guo Xijin, bishop of Mindong (Fujian), a member of the underground community but recognised as a bishop by the Holy See, was also taken by the police but has been recently allowed to return to his diocese.

By contrast, the situation of Mgr Thaddeus Ma Daqin, bishop of Shanghai, has not changed and he remains in isolation under house arrest.
by Nirmala Carvalho

Outlawed fundamentalist groups have the support of political and religious leaders, and are not punished for violence against minorities. The economy excludes the most vulnerable groups in society. Vegetarian terrorism" is unleashed against killing cattle. For Hindu activists, violence against cows is criminal, but violence against human beings is simply punishment. The fear of conversion marks every Christian with suspicion. For one witness, The better the person, the greater the danger. Hindutva followers have historicised mythology. "By taking mythologies as histories they are humiliating the sense of history of their own people. However, the prelate has confidence in Indian society. All we have to do is create situations where interactions are possible; where everyone has an opportunity to explain himself."

Mumbai (AsiaNews)  Mgr Thomas Menamparampil, archbishop emeritus of Guwahati (Assam) and former apostolic administrator in Jowai (Meghalaya) shared his concerns with AsiaNews with respect to the future of Indian society in a climate of growing violence.

We heard of the vandalization of the Cathedral at Bongaigaon in Assam. What is your comment on that?

The details of the incident are widely known. What we notice also in this case is a recognizable pattern in the attack. The central area of worship is targeted, the holiest objects are dishonoured, the aim apparently is to publicly humiliate a minority community. The impression left behind, however, is one of robbery. No definite conclusions can be drawn. Officials put it to anti-social elements; they say that Hindu temples and Muslim masjids are also being robbed. What they do not say is that anti-social elements are being cultivated by fundamentalist groups, irresponsible politicians, and of late, even by corporations.

The police become helpless when lawless groups enjoy patronage from political strong men or are linked with emotion-driven religious leaders. These groups are organized into senas and dals (armies and squads), brain-washed, and initiated into various forms of reckless social interventions, e.g. to act as moral police, or as self-appointed protectors of women, to defend cultural values, and humiliate minority communities. Assam seems to be free of such elements at this stage. But there is evidence that that groups may be under training.

One would have thought that growth and development were the priority for the present set of leaders.

So they claim. The elections were fought recently in the State of Uttar Pradesh on the theme Development for All. But no sooner had Yogi Adityanath become the Chief Minister that his priority was the defence of the cow. The rules he has passed in haste will affect the lives and livelihood of millions of people. Someone has said he wants to impose vegetarian terrorism on his people. Cow vigilantes scour the countryside penalizing Muslims and people of the humble castes who sell or consume beef. But curiously, during the first year of the BJP in power at the national level beef export had gone up by 15%. Business, of course, is business. At the same time, there have been increasing instances of violence against the lower castes in several parts of the state, most of them cow-related.

BJP came to power promising to protect the cultural identity of the Assamese people. But one of the first steps of the new government was to impose Sanskrit on a society that was already struggling with several languages within the state to communicate with each other. Of course, the Sanskrit-related decision was withdrawn after strong protests. But such a course of action reveals the hidden ways that the ruling party seeks to advance the Hindutva agenda.

But the Prime Minister seems to be always speaking of the economy

No doubt, the economy is his priority. But unfortunately it is an exclusive economy; his big projects are for the benefit of the privileged few, of the elite that marginalizes the weaker sections of society, fragile castes and tribals whose lands are being given away to multinational corporations. The mineral wealth from these territories are being sold to big money-bags with no benefit to indigenous communities. Many lives have been lost in suppressing tribal uprisings in those areas.

This economy of exclusion fits in well with a cultural philosophy of exclusion that dominates a world of castes and communities that exclude each other, the feeble groups remaining vulnerable all the time. The policy-makers know that an absence of Hindu solidarity will be hurtful for the dominant groups long-term interests. Boasts about achievements in the field of economy cannot stir the humbler elements that are more the victims of the economy than beneficiaries. Hence the call for cow protection against Muslims and opposition to conversion against Christians.

Have these campaigns led to anything?

In the international scenario, this may sound ridiculous, even embarassing. But states with bigger population than Italy or France allot huge sums to gaushalas (sheds that accommodate cows). Rajasthan has a government department devoted to cows, in addition to a cow-sewa (service) Commission and cow conservation Directorate. We wish this protection would be extended to vulnerable women (rape cases are on the increase), children, and exploited groups. On the contrary, cow defence vigilantes are growing day by day, composed of unemployed youth, school dropouts, and other misfits in society, ready for action, indoctrinated to the use of hate words, ready to adopt provocative poses and prompt action against all those they consider alien (by caste, community, culture, conviction, lifestyle). These radical groups feel protected by the Administration, keep digital contacts with each other, and go around eager to initiate quarrels.

Police reports are always in their favour. No wonder places of worship are broken into, Muslim and dalit (lower caste) villages are attacked, and beef-dealers are eliminated. They ignore the fact that ancient Indians consumed beef (Rigveda X.86.14, X.85.13, Aitareya Brahmana III.4). For the Hindutva activists, violence against cow is criminal, violence against human beings is merely punishment. Recently, Milan Vaishnav brought out a book When Crime Pays (HarperCollins) showing the criminalization of Indian politics quite independently of parties. There are reasons for serious anxiety in the long run.

You spoke of the accusation of conversion against Christians

The word conversion stirs alarm in people when it is presented as a threat to their communitys culture and identity. But, rightly understood, it is an affirmation and enhancement of all that is good in ones culture. Besides, the fact remains that every individual has a right to be respected in his religious choice. And again, it is clean forgotten that all religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism, are offering their teachings to those who seek it, and are accepting new adherents in every part of the world.

The advantage for strategic planners is that it is easy to call all sections of the Hindu society together against a supposed common enemy. In real fact, the majority in the community cares least about the so-called conversion, least of all the humbler sections. But they all can be brainwashed. More and more of the media is going into the hands of groups that may be called cultural nationalists, the police are pliable. Our fear is that the judiciary too is falling into their hands. With the passage of time all the structures of a totalitarian regime can be in position. Are we moving in the direction of an undeclared state of Emergency?

A further advantage of raising the conversion bogey is that even the best Church worker can also be accused of a conversion bid. The better the person, the greater the danger! Any preacher, or teacher or social worker can be called to court. Little surprise that priests have been harassed, educators taking a group of children for picnic are being questioned, religious sisters taking a team of nurses for training are being held up by vigilantes who keep watch on every movement. It is often the Administrative machinery that has taken the initiative in molesting individuals and institutions, challenging accounts, filing cases. Fortunately, civil society in India is not so gullible, intellectuals have been vocal, and have on a variety of occasions come to the rescue of weaker groups. But their voices are growing fainter. The danger is that they will be silenced.

That may give rise to obscurantism

That precisely danger. Koenraad Elst, a Hindutva sympathizer, expressed this trend with great anxiety. While power-wielders and profit-makers are increasing in their ranks, intelligent thinkers, leaders of holistic vision, spokespeople who consider themselves accountable to the wider society and are sensitive of world opinion are diminishing. In their eagerness to make India great, they clearly show that what they want to do is to make the high caste great, their categories of thought and their cultural habits to be beatified. By taking mythologies as histories they are humiliating the sense of history of their own people. Their childish claim that ancient India had made all discoveries of modern times like jet planes and space vehicles is only embarrassing to intelligent Indians. What would you think of a Prime Minister who could say that ancient India was well advanced in head-transplant, referring to the deity Ganesh? Meantime they are marginalizing that section of society that is open to the wider world reality, that encourages independent thinking, has a scientific mentality, seeks to be fair to all and work for a national consensus on matters of common interest.

India was divided, not because she recognized diversity but precisely because a section of society feared forced homogeneity. Such fears are lingering in Kashmir, Punjab, deep South, Northeast, and among marginalized minorities. It would be disastrous for the Indian nation if it falls into the hands an obscurantist handful. If intellectuals are marginalized giving them the name pseudo-secular, anti-national, western stooges, Marxist retrogrades, free thought will be suppressed in a short time.

The Twitter and Facebook world in India is full of threats and abuses showered on intellectuals. Is the scholarship of Amartya Sen or Romila Thapar a greater danger to India than the absurd statement of the great Hindutva leader who said that there was great king in Ayodhya 800,000 years ago, a long while before even homo sapiens emerged? Will it be such people who will dictate how a citizen should stand when the national anthem is being played, and define who is loyal to the nation and who is an anti-national?

What would you suggest be done in these circumstances?

The Christian community in India is small, hardly 2.3% in the entire population. The situation is different in different places. Each region will handle its problem in its own way according to possibilities. I have merely referred to the general trends. But having referred to them, I would affirm that I have great confidence in Indian society.

Ours is not a hate culture. However, we have a duty to cultivate relations with the people of all religious groups in the neighbourhood. People should know what we are doing and what we are aiming at. Mere confrontation over individual incidents will not help. Prestige fights will lead to no useful conclusion. Least of all should we be keen on appearing merely a contentious group. We should make no contribution to the polarisation of society, which is precisely what our opponents want to do. If there is some trouble in the neighbourhood it will not be the courts or political leaders in the Capital that will stand at our side, nor the media. They may come in due time. Our good neighbourly relations are our sure protection.

The exchange of ideas can be stimulating. We are proud of Indias ancient civilization, familiar with its cultural traditions, profit by the depth and wisdom of its great schools of philosophy, and are edified by the spiritual insights in its sacred writings. We have more in common with our opponents than we think. All we have to do is the create situations where interactions are possible where everyone has an opportunity to explain himself. We do grant that even those whom we criticized here a measure of good will that can open wider the doors to each other, if we only keep trying to make it happen.

However, we do not rule out a sudden turn of events when unpredictable leaders can drive societies into unpredictable situations, as it happened at the Partition of the country, or during numerous communal riots. That is why we need to remain vigilant, constantly observing the situation, intelligently interpreting events, not becoming alarmist during unhappy events, remaining always open to dialogue. Christian hope is a force that gives confidence, not to the believer only, but is capable of planting the same confidence in the hearts of others. May we flourish together!
Thousands of South Korean people march in the capital to ask for the cancellation of the project days ahead of first official visit to the United States of the newly elected president. A group of Republican and Democrat senators ask Moon to keep the alliance's commitments. In a letter to Trump they deny the interference of the American anti-missile system on Chinese territory. They condemn China's threats of retaliation on South Korea.

Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The United States's high-tech anti-missile defense system (Thaad) that the US wants to activate in South Korea is a serious stumbling block in the dialogue between the two countries after President Moon Jae-in questioned the project approved by his predecessor.

Two days ago, thousands of South Koreans flocked to downtown Seoul to ask Moon to deny permission to US President Donald Trump when he meets him in the next few days in Washington on his first official visit to the United States. But at the same time comes the news that both Republicans and Democrats believe the project is the necessary condition for maintaining the US-South Korean partnership.

"The anti-missile shield is not necessary for the defense of the Korean peninsula and should be canceled," the 3,000 demonstrators of Seoul Plaza said, ending the protest by besieging the United States embassy in a peaceful manner. The rally was set in view of the first Moon-Trump Summit to be held from June 29 to 30. A meeting that will strengthen trade relations and cover the implementation of the Thaad (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence).

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of US senators in an open letter by President Trump invited him to use the next summit with South Korean President to firmly reaffirm the alliance and speed up the full deployment of Thaad. These are 18 senators led by Republican Sens Cory Gardner and Democrat Bob Menendez. The letter arrived after another group of 19 senators had submitted a resolution on the importance of Moon's visit. The resolution and the letter underline the high interest the United States in this summit. The senators have asked for the full deployment of the anti-missile battery. In fact, only two of the six Thaad launchers have been installed since the South suspended the implementation of the remaining four pending an environmental review.

"We ask you to reiterate to President Moon," reads Trump's letter, " that the decision to deploy THAAD was an alliance decision, and protects both U.S. troops and millions of South Korean citizens, while not posing any threat to South Korea's neighbors,. "The obvious reference is to China threatening retaliation against South Korea if it hosts Thaad. According to Beijing, the powerful Thaad radar system serves to spy on Chinese military infrastructure as well.
With a decree, the ministry eliminates barriers and discrimination, favoring climb to top positions. There are 17,000 women employed in the industry, 7% with roles of responsibility. The ability to work on platforms is blocked. For the Central Bank the GDP grew by 12.5%; chiefly form proceeds from the sale of oil.

Tehran (AsiaNews) - The petroleum industry in Iran is increasingly an employment and career opportunity for women, thanks to the abolition of barriers and the introduction [by law] of gender equality and equal opportunities. Confirmation comes from Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, who issued a decree implementing anti-gender discrimination and encouraging the rise of women in the field, rewarding their skills and capabilities.

Women are not allowed to work - as laborers - on petroleum platforms and those dedicated to gas extraction. A partial limitation, which does not diminish the scope of a decree confirming the growing role of the female world within the Islamic Republic and the ever larger spaces that can be carved out.

This is confirmed by the recent municipal elections, which have been the first to open the road to women in politics; In Tehran the top five candidate in the last vote were female. And the world of motor cross pilots has also been opened up to women as of last September.

The first appointment of a woman to a managerial role in the oil sector has recently taken place. She is Marzieh Shahdaei, who has served as National Administrative Director of the National Petrochemical Company. A first step, according to the Ministry, to offer "equal opportunities for work and career" with male colleagues.

To date, there are about 17,000 women working in the Iranian oil industry. Of these, at least 7,000 are employed and another 10,000 collaborate through contractual forms of various nature. A share of about 8% of the total workforce in the industry. The figure drops to 7% if you take into account managerial roles or degrees of responsibility.

Most women employed in the oil industry are between the ages of 30 and 34, with a past experience of at least 10/15 years. Over 70% of them have a bachelor's degree or a higher degree, demonstrating the high scientific and cultural level of women in the sector.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Central Bank (CBI) also confirms the two-digit economic growth of the country and the fruit of the reforms introduced by the recently re-elected President Hassan Rouhani. Taking into consideration the Iranian calendar, in the last year - 1395, which closed on March 20, 2017 - gross domestic product (GDP) marked a 12.5% growth. The figure also includes revenues from the oil sector and speaks of a total volume of $ 178.5 billion.

The decisive acceleration for GDP growth comes from the proceeds of the sale of black gold, which returned to the markets following the historic agreement on the atomic program, which resulted in a partial easing of the economic sanctions of the West. However, even excluding oil balance remains positive with a 3.3% increase over the previous year.

For the International Monetary Fund (IMF), GDP growth forecasts for 2016-17 should reach 6.6%.
by Joseph

The silence on the persecution of Chinese Catholics and their bishops in Wenzhou and Shanghai. The organisms that Benedict XVI did not accept (Patriotic Association and Chinese Bishops' Conference) because "incompatible with Catholic doctrine" now govern the Church. Dialogue between China and the Vatican must address the issue of underground bishops out in the open and not under the shroud of secrecy. An analysis from a northeast Chinese Catholic, as the Vatican celebrates a new round of China-Holy See talks.

Rome (AsiaNews) - Marking the 10th anniversary of the Letter from Benedict XVI to Chinese Catholics, we received this analysis from a Catholic in northeastern China, named Joseph. In it he traces these 10 years evidencing how - though Pope Francis has proclaimed it still relevant and valid - the facts show that it is being betrayed bit by bit. Citing facts and situations, the author also points out how the power of the Chinese government is increasingly determining the life of the Church and appointing bishops, choosing and ordaining candidates who live in "gray pragmatism" (Evangelii Gaudium, 83). Joseph also complains that there is too much silence on persecution as bishops, priests and lay people endure in China and fear that the talks between China and the Vatican - a session of which took place June 20-21 in the Vatican - will lead to the elimination of the unofficial Church. To allow for a better understanding of the facts, the interactive links posted by the editorial team refer to the news items they reference, published on AsiaNews.

Recently, following the fourth detention of Bishop Shao Zhumin, Bishop of Wenzhou, his condition caught the attention of the German ambassador to China and many people in the country and abroad. Additionally, this year marks the 10th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVIs Letter to Chinese Catholics and the 5th anniversary of the forced house arrest of Bishop Ma Daqin July 7, 2012. It is the perfect occasion to briefly review recent Church events in China.

The Letter of Benedict XVI

Ten years ago, Pope Benedict XVI published his famous Letter to Chinese Catholics, in which he indicated that some bodies, which were placed above the Church, namely the Chinese Patriotic Association and the Episcopal Conference [called "Yi hui, yi tuan" , One Association, One Conference-ndr], are incompatible with the specific nature of the Catholic Church. The Pontifical Letter aroused a strong reaction. Later, the Holy See also published a Compendium of the same Letter. Nine years after its publication, Pope Francis acknowledged that the Letter still guides the Church's affairs in China. In addition, two initiatives continued with the Letter: the first, the observance of May 24 as the Feast of Our Lady of Help of Christians and the Day of Prayer for the Church in China and Pope Benedicts special prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan for this purpose. The second initiative is that the Holy See has formed a permanent study commission, which gathers in secret at regular intervals to consider the problems of the Church in China and the relations between China and the Vatican: its official statements have expressed concerns and remonstrations against cases in which the Beijing authorities had obviously forced [the so-called] democratic episcopal ordinations. Yet 10 years later, when Pope Francis recalled the Day of Prayer of the Universal Church for the Church in China, the offices of the Holy See no longer mention the Letter of the Emeritus Pope or that the Special Commission has been suspended without reason.

The bishop of Shanghai and "free" episcopal ordinations

With regards the Church in China, five years ago, at the episcopal ordination of the auxiliary bishop of Shanghai, Msgr. Ma Daqin (Beijings One Association and One Conference appointed him as coadjutor bishop), during the ceremony, he refused the imposition of the hands of an illegitimate bishop and after the blessing stated that he was withdrawing from the Patriotic Association. This fact went down in history as 'the change of July 7'. Bishop Ma Daqins gesture was welcomed with a huge applause both in China and abroad. But at the same time, led the Diocese of Shanghai to paralysis, sheep without a shepherd, which is still the case even today. Bishop Ma has been put under compulsory house arrest for five years, and even nowadays cannot exercise his episcopal ministry. The Vatican does not consider the only existing bishop in Shanghai as ordinary of the diocese, so the situation is subject to unpredictable variables.

Over the course of five years, Beijing has not conducted any democratic episcopal ordination, but the appointment and ordination of bishops reveal evident signs of being under the full control of local authorities. Such cases include those Msgrs. An Shuxin, Wu Qinjin, and other bishops who were officially installed on the initiative of local authorities, following the consent of the authorities of the Beijing One Association and One Conference. In recent years, bishops who have been officially ordained have all been chosen by the diocese and Patriotic Association, with the permission of the One Association and One Conference and Registration of State Administration for Religious Affairs, and at the same time with the announcement of the appointment by the Holy See. On the eve of ordination, the decree for the appointment of the Holy Father was read to the clergy, but during the ceremony of ordination or installation, the document of the permission of the Chinese Bishops' Conference was proclaimed instead. The new bishop also had to state that he supported the party and the government who loved the Church and the Homeland, observing the Constitution and the laws ... At the same time, legitimate bishops and illegitimate bishops took part in the ordinations, while the ceremonies were previously prepared in detail by the official authorities to ensure a perfect execution down to the last detail[i].

Dialogue and persecution

In the context of the many and strong rumors of an agreement reached in the negotiations between China and the Vatican, the two Cardinals of Hong Kong, emeritus Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and the ordinary bishop Cardinal John Tong Hon have published their different comments: the first illustrating his pessimism and disappointment, the second some optimism. China's semi-official cultural circles hastened to visit the Vatican and exchange contacts in the form of friendship. But the news that is spreading today is that the negotiations between China and the Vatican have faltered. They are preparing to continue them with the change of stakeholders.

From another point of view, Msgr. Ma Daqins gesture led to him being considered a good mascot for the Church in China, and he attracted renewed interest in the unofficial Church. But last year the bishop published five articles, in which he reflected deeply on his impetuous action five years ago and humbled himself with a public retraction. During these five years, an underground priest Yu Heping died of suspected drowning, An elderly bishop for a long time under house arrest, Msgr Shi Enxiang died in detention. At least two bishops and a number of clandestine priests are frequently detained, taken away and pressured to enter the Patriotic Association of the official Church. Yet all these facts seem to be ignored by everyone, because they are enamored by the news that the day of the possible diplomatic agreement between China and the Vatican is near.

Neither has the Holy See uttered a word or even an appeal on behalf of their situation: they seem to have become the vulnerable group to be rejected. Meanwhile, some dioceses in the nation are divided into factions, some of which are considered 'faithful' to the unofficial Church. This phenomenon can be seen in areas of Fujian and Hebei. The case of the priest who was already suspended, Rev. Paul Dong Guanhua of the Diocese of Zhengding who proclaimed himself a bishop in secret is a particular example of this: it prompted the Holy See to publicly show its disapproval (it seems that the Holy See is no longer worried about Illegitimate bishops who are autonomously nominated and ordained).

At present, the official Chinese authorities, in addition to severely enforcing law and promoting the 'Sinicization of Religions', are stepping up their efforts to put some of the unofficial Church's strongholds under control, namely to submit bishops Shao Zhumin, Guo Xijin and other bishops who hold fast to the principles of the Church and force them to bend and adhere to the official Church. Most recently, both in China and abroad, many have been concerned and have protested against the detention and the danger that Bishop Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou finds himself in.

The AsiaNews Symposium and gray pragmatism

In the context of the decade of the Letter to Chinese Catholics of Pope Benedict XVI, two different conferences were held in Rome: the first organized by AsiaNews Agency on 'China: The Cross is Red'. Originally, the Holy See Secretary of State, Card. Piero Parolin was invited and participation eagerly awaited. However, in the end, because of commitments, he could not take part. The General Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Archbishop Savio Han Tai-Fai, gave a lecture during the symposium, in which he emphasized that a "gray pragmatism" is spreading in the Church in China (an archbishop who is a supporter of this line of gray pragmatism and who is close to the government, but who has not yet been officially recognized, even thinks that the faithful Church needed this in the past, but now the circumstances have changed, but the unofficial Church still exploits the flag of fidelity. "For the words and actions of that archbishop, the clerical faithful of Zhejiang and Hebei do not go to his church to receive the sacraments, especially since he exhibited the Patriotic Association membership). In another symposium, organized by the St. Egidio Community on the subject of trade between China and the Vatican, the representative of the Chinese party received strong applause for his speech on the 'Sinicization of Religions from a historical point of view and the present situation' .

In general, any agreement reached in the negotiations between China and the Vatican can be good, but the fate of the unofficial Church is still in an uncertain state with possible variables. With regard to fears, what many people worry about is that the spiritual foundation of faith no longer centers on the Lord, but unconsciously without realizing it, [the center] becomes the concern about the problem of 'giving God what is of God and give Caesar what is of Caesar'.

As for Shanghai, for the Jiangsu clergy and faithful, the current situation is causing confusion and concern. It is hoped that the Holy See can clearly express an appropriate concern for Msgr. Shao Zhumin and the future of the entire unofficial Church and strive to resolve the problem that the 30 or more bishops of the underground Church, which are not recognized by the government, receive the right recognition and this not only through secret negotiations. In addition, 'gray pragmatism' and secularization, which are corroding the Church in China, are problems that require greater consideration.

Joseph,

Faithful of a gray Northwestern church in China

[i] An example were the episcopal ordinations in Chengdu and Xichang , last November and December.
A joint note by Unicef and WHO experts. Suspected cases exceeded 200,000, victims over 1300; Of these, a quarter were children. There are 5,000 new cases per day. Almost 19 million people out of 28 million need assistance. Seven million are at the brink of famine. The health system has collapsed, endangering the supply of drinking water.

Sana'a (AsiaNews / Agencies)  The worlds worst cholera epidemic is unfolding in Yemen, with a number of suspected cases that exceeded 200,000, says a joint note by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The situation in the Arab country theater for over two and a half years of a bloody conflict is becoming more and more serious. To date more than 1300 people have died because of the disease. Of these, at least a quarter were children. According to experts, the number of victims is expected to increase in the coming weeks.

The two agencies are doing everything possible to block the spread of the epidemic. "We are facing - the statement says - the worst cholera epidemic in the world." UN experts confirm the alarm launched recently by Msgr. Paul Hinder, apostolic vicar of southern Arabia (UAE, Oman and Yemen). The prelate had spoken of a "disastrous" situation in the country, plagued by epidemics, war and chronic famine.

Over the last period, United Nations agencies and humanitarian organizations have stepped up efforts by setting up rapid response teams to explain to citizens how to deal with the emergency and preserve drinking water. However, water supplies are becoming increasingly scarce and there is a danger that they will run out in the near future.

Since January 2015, the Gulf nation is the scene of a bloody internal conflict that sees the Sunni leadership of Since January 2015, Yemen has been fought over in a bloody civil war pitting the countrys predominantly Sunni leadership, led by former President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by Saudi Arabia, and Shia Houthi rebels, close to Iran and Lebanons Hezbollah. In March 2015, a Saudi-led Arab coalition began carrying out air strikes against the rebels, which the United Nations criticised because of the civilian casualties they provoked, including children. So far, more than 8,000 people have died, more than 44,000 injured and 3 million displaced.

Out of a total of 28 million, the conflict also left up to 18.8 million people in need of assistance and humanitarian aid to survive. Of these, at least seven million are considered on the brink of famine.

The water and sanitation system is now collapsing. The war has destroyed more than half of the structures and still functioning hospitals are overcrowded. Lack of food has generated widespread malnutrition, which favors the spread of cholera in particular among children. "In just two months - concludes UNICEF and WHO - cholera has spread to almost all governatorates of this nation in war, with an estimated 5,000 new cases per day.
Woolworths sells EziBuy





Woolworths has sold its EziBuy clothing and homewares retailer to Sydney-based investment firm, Alceon Group.

The sale figure has not been disclosed.

Woolworths acquired EziBuy four years ago but said after conducting a strategic review, decided to sell the business.

Since this time, Woolworths has undertaken a comprehensive sales process to ensure the right decision was made for EziBuy with a buyer who has indicated a desire to work with the team to continue to build the business, Woolworths said in a media statement.

EziBuy was established in New Zealand in 1978 and has some retail stores still operational in New Zealand. Within Australia, EziBuy sells its products online and through catalogues only.
By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Technology and Learning, Western Sydney University

Syda Productions/Shutterstock

Young people get a huge amount of their news from social media feeds, where false, exaggerated or sponsored content is often prevalent. With the right tools, caregivers can give kids the knowledge they need to assess credible information for themselves.

Being able to identify the trustworthiness of information is an important concern for everyone. Yet the sheer volume of material online and the speed at which it travels has made this an increasingly challenging task. Platforms like Twitter and Facebook provide a loudspeaker to anyone who can attract followers, no matter what their message or content.

Fake news has the power to normalise prejudices, to dictate us-versus-them mentalities and even, in extreme cases, to justify and encourage violence.

We have become obsessed with getting kids off their devices at the expense of developing their understanding of the online world. This is not about surveillance, but rather about having open conversations that empower children to understand and assess the usefulness of information for themselves.

Fake news is tricking children

Young people are growing up in a world where distributing large volumes of misinformation online has become a subtle yet powerful art.

Its no surprise then that research published in 2016 by Stanford University suggests kids may focus more on the content of social media posts than on their sources.

For example, of 203 middle school students surveyed as part of the report, more than 80% thought a native ad on the news website Slate labelled sponsored content was a real news story. A majority of high school students questioned by the researchers didnt recognise and explain the significance of the blue checkmark on a verified Fox News Facebook account.

With the amount of content we see in a busy day, its possible that these subtleties are being lost on many adults as well.

Minimising the harm of fake news for kids

Helping young people navigate online spaces requires better skills in verifying what is true and what isnt.

Here are five questions to start the conversation with children.

Find an online post that you consider to be fake news and talk with the child about it. Shape your conversation around these questions:

Who made this post?

Who do they want to view it?

Who benefits from this post and/or who might be harmed by it?

Has any information been left out of the post that might be important?

Is a reliable source (like a mainstream news outlet) reporting the same news? If theyre not, it doesnt mean its not true, but it does mean you should dig deeper.









JaysonPhotography/Shutterstock





Clues for children to use

Detecting fake news can be like a spot the difference game.

These questions are clues for kids that a source may be dodgy:

Is the URL or site name unusual? For example, those with a .co are often trying to masquerade as real news sites.

Is the post low-quality, possibly containing bold claims with no sources and lots of spelling or grammatical errors?

Does the post use sensationalist imagery? Women in sexy clothing are popular clickbait for unreliable content.

Are you shocked, angry or overjoyed by the post? Fake news often strives to provoke a reaction, and if youre having an intense emotional response then it could be a clue the report isnt balanced or accurate.

How is the story structured and what kind of proof does it offer? If it merely repeats accusations against the people involved in an incident without further reporting, for example, theres probably a better version of the story out there from a more reliable news source.

Get to know the rules

Many social media sites are now also cracking down on the spread of fake news. Showing kids the restrictions these sites are imposing on their users will help them get a rounded understanding of the problem.

For example, asking kids to read the rules by which Reddit will remove content from r/news is a good starting point. Facebook also offers Tips to Spot False News, suggesting readers check that other sources are reporting similar facts and that they look out for weird formatting, among other hints.

Growing up in a world of fake news doesnt have to be a heavy burden for kids. Rather, it requires extra support from adults to help them understand and navigate the digital world.

Our goal should be not only to help children survive this complicated online world, but to equip them with the knowledge they need to flourish in it.

Joanne Orlando does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Originally published in The Conversation.
Hi All,



Looking for a bit of advice about an onshore partner visa application.

I have been with my now husband since January of 2017. We only met in person in Jan and then approximately a month later he left to go back to America for 85 days.

During this time we were in a committed relationship and had constant contact through phone calls/facetime and messaging services.



Long story - I got pregnant early on in our relationship and am currently 6 months pregnant. We decided to get married and I lodged our NOIM in late April. He arrived in early May and we got married on the 25th June.



During our 6 month relationship we've spent close to 3 months apart, but our relationship is genuine and we feel ready to submit our 820 application given we are married and want him to be here when our daughter is born.



However -- We don't have much evidence, we did create a joint bank account before he left in Feb but it doesn't have a whole lot of history given we've only been together in person for 3 months. Obviously i'll have phone bills/chat logs.. We have our wedding certificate, photos..

I can get statements for some friends and family but, there wont be an excessive amount of evidence.



I am just wondering is it worth just submitting the items that we have currently,



OR would it be better to fill in the application with the minimum information and forms required and then as more evidence becomes available naturally --- as I change my name, our daughter is born, we socially interact more with family and friends etc.. then upload all the documentation and evidence once I have more of it?



My dad recently went through this process and he submitted the bare minimum of information and it held up his application but once he put everything through it was fine.



I am not stressed on our total application time, we just need that security of a BVA where he can work, and can travel back to the USA when he needs too.



Any help, advice or your experiences would be really helpful.



Thanks,



Caragh
Hertz has renewed its global partnership with Lufthansa airlines to offer benefits to airline passengers renting vehicles at Hertz locations throughout the world.

As part of the renewed agreement, Lufthansa customers will receive access to discounts and benefits on Hertz rental cars.

Additionally, members of Lufthansas Miles & More frequent flyer program will receive a minimum of 500 miles for renting vehicles through Hertz.

"We are confident that the renewal of our alliance with Lufthansa will be very welcomed by travelers seeking convenience, high quality, and reliability for their trips, said Michel Taride, group president, Hertz International. Lufthansa's extensive route network across 83 countries, together with our truly global footprint and leading presence in the U.S., are certainly a perfect match for both leisure and business travelers."

"We are very pleased to extend our cooperation with Hertz, our strong partner in the mobility sector, on lufthansa.com, said Heike Birlenbach, senior vice president sales Lufthansa Hub Airlines and CCO Hub Frankfurt. With Hertz, we offer our customers a compelling and high quality car rental product at all Lufthansa destinations worldwide."

Hertz has partnered with Lufthansa for more than 20 years. Hertz powers Lufthansas carpool fleet of carsharing vehicles for employees in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich. Hertz is also the exclusive provider of corporate car rental services to the airlines employees.
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 61F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 41F. Winds light and variable.
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Simteract rozpocznie prace nad nowym symulatorem premium na poczatku 2023 roku

Simteract rozpocznie prace nad nowym projektem symulatora z gatunku premium na poczatku 2023 roku, moze to byc najwiekszy projekt, jaki spoka zrealizowaa do tej pory - poinformowa Simteract w komunikacie. W trzecim kwartale 2022 roku producent gier zanotowa 235 tys. z zysku netto.
Walt Disney World plans to give President Donald Trump a speaking role in The Hall of Presidents attraction, park officials said Sunday.

Many people have wondered what role the president would play in the Magic Kingdom attraction since he was elected.

Located in Liberty Square, the Hall of Presidents features animatronic robots of all previous U.S. presidents.

Since Bill Clinton, every sitting president has recited a speech during the attraction.

A report in May from Vice's Motherboard suggested that the Trump animatronic would be silent.

However, Disney says it plans for Trump to speak.



"The same thing that we've done with other presidents, is the same plan we have for President Trump," said Jacquee Wahler, vice president of communications. When asked if Trump would have a speaking role, Wahler said that he would.

In May, during the opening of Pandora-The World of Avatar, Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNN that a script had been written for Trumps team to edit.

Were hopeful that, at least by the first anniversary of his election, hell be there with the 44 other presidents that preceded him, Iger said.

The attraction has been closed since January for refurbishment.

Initially, the Walt Disney World website said the attraction would be closed between Jan. 17 and June 29.

No specific date has been announced, but Disney says The Hall of Presidents will reopen in "late 2017."

Story updated at 6:29 p.m. for clarification.

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The Supreme Court will let the Trump travel ban take effect, overturning lower court orders that blocked it.

Supreme Court has allowed Trump travel ban to take effect

People from 6 mostly Muslim countries would be affected



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The executive order blocks travelers from six mostly Muslim countries  Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen  from entering the U.S. for 90 days. An exception would be one category of foreigners, those "with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."



The high court's action is a victory for President Donald Trump and his administration.

The Trump administration argues that the travel ban is necessary for protecting the country from possible terrorist attacks. Opponents, meanwhile, say it unfairly targets Muslims, in violation of the Constitution.

Lawmakers' reactions were divided.

Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after making it through the court system.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in October.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Family, friends, and community members joined together Sunday night to celebrate the life of Janiya Thomas. Janiya is the 11-year-old girl who was found dead in a freezer.

RELATED: Vigil planned for Janiya Thomas



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In October of 2015, the young girl was tragically murdered, allegedly by her mother, Keishanna Thomas. Documents showed she was abused, starved, and stuffed into a cardboard box in a freezer.

"We are celebrating today to let everyone know that Janiya did not die in vain," said community member Sherry Douglas, leading prayer at Lincoln Park. Through prayer and song, the Palmetto community continues to heal after the tragic murder of the 11-year-old.

"Tonight we just want to celebrate Janiyas life and let the world know that we are not going to forget about Janiya," said Wayne Washington, Janiya's cousin. "We want to let the community know that she is loved and that her memory will always live on."

The group remembering the beautiful child whose life was taken too soon.

"We need to start listening to one another, instead of talking about one another, we need to listen because this could have been avoided," said community member, Ronald James.

Janiya was missing for a year before her body was discovered. Washington says it's something that needs to be talked about. "Its opened up a conversation about abuse thats going on in the home," said Washington. "Its also made us call family to check up on family members, with her being gone that long and nobody noticed, it kinda of threw everybody off."

Sunday's celebration of life shows although Janiya may be gone, her memory remains strong.

Keishanna Thomas was indicted by a grand jury in 2015 on charges of first degree murder, abuse of a dead body, and aggravated child abuse.
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Manatee County is experiencing massive growth, as is most of the Tampa Bay area.

Fort Hamer bridge to open in August

Manatee residents, transportation officials hopeful new bridge will help with traffic

$32-million structure will stretch about 2,300-feet across the Manatee River

Bay News 9's Real Time Traffic Reporter Chuck Henson takes an in-depth look at transportation issues around the Bay area

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Just take a drive across any of Manatee's bridges to gauge how the growth is impacting commutes.

In response to a request from viewer Gail Sylvia-Cox, Real Time Traffic Expert Chuck Henson took a look at getting across the bridges faster.

A 30-year resident of Palmetto, Sylvia-Cox said getting across the Green Bridge in a timely manner has gotten more difficult over of the years.

"It's been a growing, growing problem, trying to get over the Green Bridge and back either way," Sylvia-Cox said. "Especially in the Winter, and now that we have many, many events happening."

Sylvia-Cox added it can often take her 45 minutes or more during the morning or afternoon drive. She said it takes even longer during the winter months when snowbirds flock to the area's roadways.

For folks in western Manatee, there is a choice of three bridges to cross the Manatee River: Interstate 75, the DeSoto Bridge and the Green Bridge. Many Manatee residents are looking at the new Fort Hamer Bridge as a solution to the problem.

The $32-million structure will stretch about 2,300-feet across the Manatee River, connecting Lakewood Ranch and the Parrish area. Construction has been ongoing for almost two years.

Sylvia-Cox said she remains doubtful.

"I don't see it myself," she said. "(The bridge) helping us because we're so far away from that. And I think Fort Hamer is mostly for the development out in that area, which is extensive. I used to work out in that area and that's become a mess as well."

Sylvia-Cox said she has spoken to city, county and state officials in the past about the traffic delays. She said she believes the signal timing is to blame.

However, Renjan Joseph with the Florida Department of Transportation said the signals are not to blame.

Instead, Joseph said, the problem is a capacity issue that can not be resolved through signal timing adjustments. He said multiple adjustments, as well as system-wide retiming measures, have been done over the years. None did much to help with traffic backups.

The Fort Hamer Bridge, is expected to open in late August.

The two-lane bridge will include paved bike lanes, improved shoulders, sidewalks on the east side, and turning lanes at the north and south approaches.
China and India, both large economies developing at a fast pace, should enhance their cooperation and dialogue to promote their ties and better contribute to the global economy, scholars from both countries said at a weekend forum.

Chinese and Indian academicians gathered at the Second China-India Think Tank Forum on Saturday and Sunday in Beijing to discuss "strategic cooperation and developmental partnership".

The forum, sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and India's Ministry of External Affairs, covered issues of strategic communication, trade and investment, people-to-people exchanges and science and technology.

At its opening ceremony, CASS President Wang Weiguang said China and India are "two important forces in the world's process of multipolarization" and their think tanks should participate in strengthening their bilateral cooperation.

China-India cooperation benefits not only the two countries, but also Asia and the world, Wang said.

India's delegation consisted of 17 experts and scholars from 11 Indian think tanks and institutions, said Nalin Surie, delegation head and director general of the Indian Council of World Affairs.

The two countries "are expected to play a much greater role in international affairs", said Surie, who is also a former Indian ambassador to China.

"We have a variety of reasons to cooperate and collaborate, rather than entering into needless competition or rivalry," he said. The two countries should ensure that differences between them do not become disputes, he said, but are converted into opportunities for greater cooperation.

China and India established the forum in 2015, and it was first held in December the following year in New Delhi. The two countries will alternate as host of the annual event.

Indian Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale said, "The genesis of this platform lies in our shared belief in the need for greater and more sustained dialogue among our scholars and academics."

The ambassador called for "sustained and in-depth dialogue" at the governmental as well as societal levels in order to sustain ties between the two countries.

China and India are the world's two most populous countries and are regarded as important players in the global economy.

Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said on the sidelines of the forum that the two countries should focus on cooperation in development.

They "have many similar aspects in their national conditions", and communication on developmental issues will help build a more solid foundation for the bilateral ties, Hu said.

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/26/2017 page3)
At least one audience member at Iron Maiden's concert at the AT&T Center in San Antonio Sunday had to leave early.

Derrick Roseland, a fugitive wanted on a charge of aggravated kidnapping in Austin, was arrested by Bexar County sheriff's deputies mid-concert after one of his friends posted pictures of where they'd be sitting on Facebook.
Airway Oxygen, a Wyoming, Mich.-based home medical equipment supplier, experienced a ransomware attack affecting 500,000 individuals, according to HHS' Office for Civil Rights breach portal.

The company learned April 18 that a cyberattacker gained access to its technical infrastructure and installed ransomware, according to a letter delivered to customers whose protected health information was on the computer network. This information might have included names, dates of birth, diagnosis and health insurance information, among other data.

Airway Oxygen officials have no evidence any protected health information was accessed or acquired, according to the letter. The letter detailed information about credit reports and fraud alerts, and specified the company had reported the incident to the FBI. The company has established a dedicated call line and hired a cybersecurity firm to assess the impact of the breach.

Click here to view the full letter.

Editor's note: Becker's Hospital Review reached out to Airway Oxygen for comment and will update as more information is available.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appointed IBM Vice President and Chief Health Informatics Officer Anil K. Jain, MD, to a federal committee to advise the Trump administration on health IT issues.

The 25-member Health IT Advisory Committee was created under the 21st Century Cures Act, which former President Barack Obama signed into law in December 2016. The committee of experts  appointed by Congressional leaders, the HHS secretary and the comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office  will provide policy recommendations to the ONC.

Dr. Jain, a practicing physician, biomedical engineer and computer scientist, will join other healthcare stakeholders like Steve Ready, CIO of Louisville, Ky.-based Norton Healthcare; Steven Lane, MD, clinical informatics director of Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health; and biotech entrepreneur and surgeon Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, on the committee.
Health Care Access and Heartland Community Health Center, both safety-net facilities in Lawrence, Kan., signed a nonbinding letter of intent to merge, according to the Lawrence Journal-World.

Lawrence (Kan.) Memorial Hospital President and CEO Russ Johnson reportedly shared news of the decision during a board of trustees meeting Wednesday. Heartland Community is a federally-qualified health center safety-net partner of LMH.

Mr. Johnson said during the meeting Heartland Community approached the hospital about a "one-time contribution to offset the costs of the potential merger, as well as a $250,000 operational loan for renovations to [its] existing facilities," according to the report.

LMH officials expect the safety-net organizations' integration will be effective Jan. 1.

Neither Health Care Access nor Heartland Community Health Center provided the Journal-World with a specific timeline for the merger, but said the process would "take a number of months," according to the report.
Almost 16 percent of nursing positions in Missouri Hospitals are vacant  the highest shortage the state has seen in 16 years, according to a 2017 survey by the Missouri Hospital Association.

The number of vacant positions climbed 6.7 percent this year due to an increase in retirement rates, pursuit of promotions and demand for healthcare services, according to the survey.

"Its tough when you're short-staffed all the time, and its not administration's fault," Jill Kliethermes, CEO of the Missouri Nurses Association, told the Columbia Missourian. "Sometimes it's just the way it is. You can only get what you can get, even with agency nurses or trying to bring outside people to fill the void."
An Oklahoma physician was charged Friday with five counts of second-degree murder for prescribing what prosecutors called a "horrifyingly excessive" amount of opioids to five female patients, according to The Hill.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics reported Regan Nichols, DO, prescribed 3 million units of controlled substances to patients at Oklahoma City-based pain management clinic Sunshine Medical in Midwest City between January 2010 and October 2014, according to News9.com.

Investigators say a specific combination of opioids and sedatives, including hydrocodone, Xanax and Soma, led to the overdose deaths of five patients. Medical journals say this combination of opioids, an anti-anxiety medication and muscle relaxant causes a spike of dopamine in the body while impairing respiratory functions. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said Dr. Nichols "knowingly prescribed controlled dangerous substances" with an "extreme disregard for human life," according to The Hill.

Dr. Nichols signed prescriptions for a total of 1,800 painkillers to five patients between 2010 and 2013, each of whom died of drug toxicity within a month of visiting the clinic. One patient died the same day she visited Dr. Nichols' clinic, according to News9.com.

Although her medical license is still active, the Oklahoma Board of Osteopathic Examiners suspended Dr. Nichols' ability to prescribe narcotics in 2015 due to the investigation.

Dr. Nichols posted a $50,000 bond June 23 after her arrest. She may face additional murder charges for the deaths of other patients who died under her care, according to News9.com.
Little Rock, Ark.-based Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System is experiencing a nurse staffing shortage and has implemented a multipoint plan to beef up nurse staffing levels.

While the hospital's efforts to address the nursing shortage have been ongoing, a group of 30 nurses filed a complaint June 19 with the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, the Office of Special Counsel and state nursing board, citing understaffing, high patient loads and staff turnover, among other issues, as being a threat to patient safety, according to a statement CAVHS sent to Becker's.

The Veterans Health Administration Office of the Medical Inspector will conduct an external review of the nurses' concerns.

CAVHS' ongoing plan to address nurse staffing and turnover is extensive and includes an "aggressive" recruiting program. The main points of the plan include:

Temporarily closing 19 beds in its medical/surgical units to "protect and enhance patient care"

Hosting a nurse recruiting fair June 24

Offering recruiting incentives of up to $15,000, as well as referral and stay bonuses

Instituting nursing leadership listening sessions

Developing an action plan based on exit interview information to reduce turnover

More than 350 people applied for jobs during CAVHS' Saturday nursing career fair. "Our nurse recruiters will be very busy in the coming days to further review and complete the processing of those who are selected for hire," Salena Wright-Brown, CAVHS' associate director of patient care services, said in a statement. "It is a blessing to have a great pool of professionals who want to come work alongside the CAVHS team in the care of America's heroes."
Andrea Pardo of Issaquah, Wash., was tested for the Zika virus in October 2016 after returning from Mexico. The results, which were ready in December and suggested the possibility she'd contracted the virus, were not given to her until April 2017, according to Kaiser Health News.

After receiving a blood test that was negative for Zika in Mexico, Ms. Pardo returned to the U.S., where she was tested for the virus again  16 weeks into her pregnancy. Ms. Pardo tested positive for the Dengue virus, which is a flavivirus like Zika. Dengue and Zika can cross-react in tests, meaning officials could not be sure whether Ms. Pardo had contracted Zika at some point. Ms. Pardo was not notified of the situation until 37 weeks into her pregnancy, shortly before the birth of her daughter. The child has not displayed any signs of Zika-related defects thus far.

The test results were reportedly mishandled at the Seattle-based UW Medicine clinic where Ms. Pardo was treated. Timothy Dellit, MD, an infectious disease expert with UW Medicine, contacted Ms. Pardo to apologize for the error.

"I apologized for the fact that test results were not given to her back in December. It was just an unfortunate way those tests were handled," Dr. Dellit told Kaiser Health News.

Earlier this year, three Washington, D.C., residents retested positive for Zika after previously botched tests conducted in 2016 indicated they were not infected with the virus. One of the residents was pregnant at the time of the faulty test.

More articles on infection control:

Lyme disease diagnosis up more than 20% since 2016

Top 10 infection control stories, June 19-23

Ridinilazole vs. vancomycin for C. diff treatment  4 study insights
The American Medical Association sent a letter to Senate leaders, outlining the society's opposition to the Better Care Reconciliation Act.

Here are four things to know:

1. The AMA has consistently warned reforms should not impact individuals' insurance access, affordability or quality. The association argues the Senate's proposed bill goes against those values.

2. Senate Republicans unveiled their draft legislation to repeal and replace the ACA on June 22.





3. The Senate created the BCRA in response to the House's version called the American Health Care Act.

"On behalf of the physician and medical student members of the American Medical Association, I am writing to express our opposition to the discussion draft of the 'Better Care Reconciliation Act' released on June 22, 2017," the letter begins. "Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or 'first, do no harm.' The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels."
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Northern Irelands business leaders have welcomed the financial support package agreed by the DUP to support Theresa May's minority Conservative government.

The package includes 1bn of new funding for infrastructure, health and education spending, along with enhanced flexibility on almost 500m of previously allocated cash.

A total of 400m over two years has been earmarked for infrastructure projects, including the York Street Interchange designed to ease traffic congestion in Belfast.

The deal also includes 150m to provide ultra-fast broadband across Northern Ireland.

There will also be further consultation on VAT and Air Passenger Duty tax, along with a commitment to devolve Corporation tax to Stormont, with a revised timetable for its introduction.

A number of so-called city deals and Enterprise Zones are also due to be created as part of the deal.

Read More

There is much in this agreement that business will welcome", Trevor Lockhart, CBI Northern Ireland Vice-Chair commented.

In particular, the delivery of the York Street Interchange has long been a key infrastructure priority for local firms from across Northern Ireland, not just those based in Belfast. The continued support for the devolution of corporation tax, plus commitment to examine options for implementation in the Autumn Budget, will be similarity welcomed.

However, while businesses will welcome the economic commitments laid out in this document, the number one priority for firms in Northern Ireland remains getting the Executive back up and running before the end of June. Against the backdrop of Brexit, and its specific impact on this region, we cant afford any more delays.

NI Chamber also welcomed the commitment to devolve Corporation Tax powers to Northern Ireland.

This, alongside the establishment of City Deals, will prove attractive to investors, Ann McGregor, Chief Executive of NI Chamber, said.

Road schemes such as the York Street Interchange will do much to ease congestion on heavily trafficked roads in the region, helping businesses to move products and goods more efficiently and in the process reduce costs, she added.

We need the Northern Ireland Executive to reform, to agree a final Programme for Government, an economic strategy, and to establish a single Northern Ireland action plan on Brexit which will address key business concerns. Ann McGregor, NI Chamber

The Federation of Small Businesses hailed the DUP/Conservative deal as a starting point for progress, adding it is now vital that agreement is reached to restore the Northern Ireland Executive.

Roger Pollen, FSB Northern Irelands Head of External Affairs, said: FSB welcomes the positive implications of the deal for infrastructure and jobs, but will now be calling on the local parties to engage to restore the institutions that will let Northern Ireland capitalise on this new-found investment.

Read More

Retailers have also urged Stormont leaders to restore the executive following the announcement of the DUP-Tory deal.

Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said: This deal ensures that we will see the delivery of the long awaited York Street Interchange and hopefully A5, A6 and other key infrastructure projects

Retail NI has long campaigned for City Deals and more Enterprise Zones and we are pleased that they included in this deal.

With such a generous package now agreed, it is now vital that the political parties conclude a deal to restore an Executive and start to deliver real economic change for Northern Ireland.
Belfast Harbour has seen pre-tax profits rise by 7% to 35.8m, but has said Brexit will see the "greatest change" to trading relationships in more than 40 years.

The port and property developer, which handles more than two-thirds of Northern Ireland's sea trade, also saw turnover rise - up by 7%, to 58.1m for the year ending December 2016.

In its annual report, the harbour said growth was led by greater levels of trade through the port as well a boost in property income.

More than 23 million tonnes passed through the harbour in 2016. That was up around 1%.

Ferry passenger numbers grew strongly in 2016, up 9% to 1.5m, the highest level since 2004.

The harbour said it invested 42m in the last year. That was up from 18m a year earlier.

Overall tonnage in the 'dry bulk' sector, which includes things like grain, fell by 1.5% to 6.5 million tonnes. But it said there was strong trading in areas such as coal and cement.

It added a record 82 cruise ships brought in 145,000 passengers in 2016.

Work is due to finish on the second City Quays office building this year. As for City Quay 3, which will be the largest of the harbour's office developments so far, it could be completed by the end of 2019.

Earlier this year, the harbour submitted plans for the 46m building which will have 16 storeys with the potential to house 3,000 workers.

Its construction is expected to bring jobs for up to 600 builders.

David Dobbin, Belfast Harbour chairman, said that it had been "another highly successful year".

"Every penny of our net profit is reinvested in the development of the harbour's port and property activities, supporting businesses throughout Northern Ireland," he added.

"As is the case in the port sector the scale of these benefits to the wider economy is considerably in excess of the direct economic benefit to Belfast Harbour itself."

Other major developments this year included the completion of new film studios.

And a new television show set on Superman's home planet of Krypton is now due be filmed at the location.

The harbour has invested more than 400m over the past 20 years across the massive 3,000-acre estate. It also said, as of December 2016, its "liquid funds" stood at 60.4m, "all of which is committed to future projects". That includes further development of City Quays, and new high capacity cranes.

"Total capital expenditure during 2016 was 41.7m and in addition, a further 105m has been committed at the 2016 year-end to strategically significant projects", the harbour said.

Mr Dobbin said: "Belfast Harbour has an ambitious investment pipeline which will continue to drive our business and enhance the capacity of Northern Ireland's economy, creating jobs and maintaining Belfast Harbour as the region's most important access point to the global marketplace."
The pubs chain is ploughing 15 million euros (13.1 million) into developing a new pub and 98-bedroom hotel in Dublin

JD Wetherspoon, headed by vocal Brexit-backing chairman Tim Martin, has announced its biggest ever single investment - into the European Union.

The pubs chain is ploughing 15 million euros (13.1 million) into developing a new pub and 98-bedroom hotel in Dublin city centre, which will create 200 new jobs in the Irish Republic.

Development work at the site, currently a row of derelict properties in Camden Street, will begin in February 2018, with the pub and hotel set to open early 2019.

Since the Brexit vote, Mr Martin has accused the EU of bullying the UK and used several company updates to rip into German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former French president Francois Hollande and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

He has also lashed out at former chancellor George Osborne, the IMF, the Bank of England, the CBI, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and PwC, who he claims were too negative about the impact of a Leave vote.

But announcing the investment on Monday, he said of the Dublin site: "We are looking forward to developing the site into a fantastic pub and hotel.

"It will be the biggest single investment undertaken by Wetherspoon and will result in our largest hotel alongside a superb pub.

"Our pubs in the Republic of Ireland are thriving and we are confident that the pub and hotel will be a great asset to Dublin and act as a catalyst for other businesses to invest in the city."

Mr Martin added: "Trade and investment will continue, inside or outside the EU, as the Brexit campaign has emphasised.

"The biggest investors in the UK in the catering industry, for example, are American - Starbucks, McDonald's and others.

"And the EU and UK have no trade deal with America.

"Wetherspoon has four pubs in the Belfast area and four in Dublin and plan to open more pubs in both cities.

"Cross-border trade and investment will continue after Brexit, as the Irish and UK governments have made clear."
John Wayne at the station in The Quiet Man

A campaign to save the iconic railway station which featured in The Quiet Man could be derailed tomorrow unless urgently-needed funds are secured.

Campaigners have until noon to reach their 30,000 (26,240) crowdfunding target to restore Ballyglunin station to its former glory.

But with less than 24,000 (20,992) raised to date, fundraising chiefs face a race against time to plug the remaining 6,000-plus shortfall.

If they fail to reach their target by tomorrow's deadline, strict crowdfunding rules dictate that all funds will have to be returned.

Leaders of the community-led project admitted that would spell disaster for their hopes of renovating the abandoned Co Galway station, which featured in the opening scene of the 1952 John Ford classic, starring Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne.

Campaign spokesman Mark Gibson said: "We are still quietly confident we can reach the 30,000 target by Tuesday, but we really need some generous donors to come forward.

"In recent days we received an anonymous donation of 5,000, which really helped us out.

"We could really do with another gesture like that," Mr Gibson added.

The ambitious project to renovate the so-called Quiet Man station - which closed in 1976 after more than a century of service - has been backed by Ballymena-born Hollywood A-lister Liam Neeson and Irish actor Gabriel Byrne.

Gibson insists there's no reason that the small village of Ballyglunin - where the station is based - couldn't emulate the success of Cong, Co Mayo, which has been attracting thousands of film fans from across the globe in the decades since the enduring movie was shot there.

However, he said the immediate priority is to save the station's crumbling roof from imminent collapse.

To help, log on to http://www.ballyglunin.com or fundit.ie.
Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement on the European Council in the House of Commons, London. PA Wire

Millions of EU nationals living in the UK will have to apply to a settled status register and might be given ID cards as part of new plans laid out by the Home Office.

The Governments 15-page policy paper sets out an online application process for the three million EU nationals in the UK to make sure they receive the same rights and benefits as non-European nationals who have lived in the UK for five years.

It is unclear whether the settled status would result in an identity card or simply be an entry in a Home Office database.

I want to completely reassure people that under these plans, no EU citizen currently in the UK lawfully, will be asked to leave at the point the UK leaves the EU, said Theresa May.

We want you to stay.

After Ms May gave a statement on the issue in Parliament, the EUs Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier tweeted: More ambition, clarity and guarantees needed than in todays UK position.

The 150,000 people who have already applied for permanent resident status since the referendum will have to apply again, but will not have to provide evidence of sickness insurance this time round.

The Home Office processes millions of visas each year. The new light touch online system, as described by Ms May, will use existing HMRC documents to save applicants retrieving pay slips from five years ago.

While the Home Office paper said that EU nationals cannot bring a spouse to live with them unless they meet an 18,600 minimum income threshold, Ms May did not mention this in her speech. She said that people with settled status would have equal rights to British citizens if they wanted to bring over family members.

EU citizens are yet to see whether they will retain their voting rights in local elections, or whether they will have the protection of the European court of justice, which, under the new plan, will no longer have jurisdiction over their rights in the UK.

Several issues for EU nationals living in the UK, such as healthcare, professional qualifications and rights for self-employed workers, have not been guaranteed.

There are several protections, however, including pensions, and certain security benefits like child benefit.

The need to apply for settled status will only become mandatory after the cut-off date, which has not been set.

Former Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, who campaigned to leave the EU and to reform the immigration system, tweeted: New UK government rules on EU citizens still set no cut-off date. Numbers will continue to grow.

EU nationals will be given a grace period of up to two years if they can demonstrate five consecutive years of residence in the UK. Ms May said anyone with less than five years, but who arrives in the UK before the country leaves the EU, will be allowed to build up to five years and apply for settled status.

After the cut-off date, EU nationals who have not applied will not be allowed to stay in the country, although people can come to the UK after the deadline on a temporary basis and will have the chance to apply for permanent residency.

Any EU national arriving in the UK after the cut-off date will be subject to the new immigration rules, which are yet to be agreed.

Ms May was grilled over the threat of families being broken up if her new plan insists upon a minimum income requirement to bring over a spouse.

No families will be split up. Family dependents who join a qualifying EU citizen here before the UKs exit will be able to apply for settled status after five years, she responded.

After the UK has left the European Union, EU citizens with settled status will be able to bring family members from overseas on the same terms as British nationals.

The income requirement raises questions, however, on how EU nationals can bring over parents and other family members.

EU nationals can sign up for Government updates on the status and requirements for living in the UK here.
On June 8, 292,316 people voted for Democratic Unionist candidates. I remain deeply humbled by such an extraordinary mandate.

People rallied to the DUP because it was the strongest unionist party and the party best placed to move Northern Ireland forward.

Those votes elected 10 MPs and placed the DUP at the heart of UK politics and in an incredibly influential position. It is a massive opportunity, but a responsibility I do not take lightly. We are determined to utilise this position to help deliver stable government in the United Kingdom and address long-standing issues which affect everyone in Northern Ireland.

Last night, I travelled to London with our Parliamentary Leader Nigel Dodds MP and House of Commons Chief Whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP for further meetings with the Prime Minister today.

Since the general election, we have been engaged with the Prime Minister and her team to explore how we can work together.

Progress has been slow at times but we continue to work through the issues. I believe we are close to concluding an appropriate agreement with the Conservative Party to support a minority government on a confidence and supply basis.

The Conservative Party and the DUP have common principles of supporting the Union and delivering a safer and more prosperous United Kingdom.

As Northern Ireland, alongside the rest of the United Kingdom, exits the European Union, I want to ensure we are in a strong position of influence to get the best deal for those who live and work here.

If there was ever an election which exposed the fallacy of MPs not taking their seats, this one has.

With only 11 of Northern Ireland's 18 MPs taking their seats in the House of Commons, I can assure people in every constituency, DUP MPs will speak up for everyone and will seek to deliver for everyone.

Whilst focusing on stable government in London, I am frustrated that almost four months after the Assembly election no Executive has been formed in Northern Ireland.

This has led to a vacuum in leadership within government and also plunged schools, hospitals and community sector organisations into financial uncertainty in the absence of a budget.

This cannot continue.

I wanted an Executive formed immediately after the election so we could get on with governing whilst a talks process to discuss other matters continued in parallel.

That has not happened but I remain determined to do all I can to ensure local ministers are back in charge of Northern Ireland departments.

At our manifesto launch a few weeks ago, I urged people to vote for the restoration of devolution, to get the best negotiating team for Northern Ireland as we leave the EU and to get MPs who would work to strengthen the Union.

The electorate responded to that call and the DUP MPs, MLAs, MEP and councillors will work together to ensure we deliver for those who placed their trust in us.
Pallets have been replaced at Sandy Row bonfire site after being removed by the council

Belfast City Council will not be replacing any of the 3,000 pallets it had controversially stored for loyalist bonfires that were stolen from its premises.

The Belfast Telegraph last week revealed the theft of the material, which the council was holding in east Belfast and was due to return to loyalists in the run-up to the Eleventh Night.

The pallets were to be returned to two contentious bonfire sites - one near Chobham Street in east Belfast and the other beside the Holiday Inn in Sandy Row.

Prominent loyalist Jamie Bryson demanded that the council should buy the loyalists new pallets to replace the ones stolen from council premises on the Gransha Road last week.

Writing on Twitter he warned that: "Failure to do so should sound the death knell for loyalist engagement with any statutory agencies."

Kilkeel councillor Henry Reilly warned that failure to resolve the situation will be seen as "breach of trust".

The independent unionist also warned that inaction will "end cooperation and foster more alienation".

A spokesperson for Belfast City Council also said that some of the pallets stored by the local authority had been returned to a company after it claimed they had been taken without permission.

"Most recently, one particular type of pallet was identified as belonging to a particular company who made claim of ownership and council returned those within their control immediately," the spokesperson said.

Referring to a council investigation launched at the end of last week after a unanimous vote by City Hall councillors, they said the "unauthorised removal" of the pallets from the council site is also subject to a police investigation.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close A bonfire builder at work in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire. PA An image posted on the Ballycraigy bonfire Facebook page claiming to be an effigy of Gerry Adams The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Youths climb a bonfire in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire. PA An image posted on the Ballycraigy bonfire Facebook page claiming to be an effigy of Gerry Adams Election posters of Alliance MLA Anna Lo and Sinn Fein's MEP Martina Anderson were placed on a bonfire in the Bloomfield estate in Bangor Preparations get underway at the Bonfire in Lanark Way in Belfast, ahead of the 12th of July annual Orange celebrations Pacemaker Press 7/7/2014 The memorial from which statue was stolen The huge bonfire on Lanark Way July 2014 Ballyduff bonfire in Newtownabbey July 2014 Election posters of Alliance member Anna Lo on the Bonfire in Carrickfergus ahead of the 12th of July annual Orange celebrations Pacemaker Press 7/7/2014 Mount Vernon North Belfast Young loyalists scale the huge face of the bonfire on Lanark Way, off the Shankill Preparations get underway at the Bonfire in Lanark Way in Belfast, ahead of the 12th of July annual Orange celebrations Pic Pacemaker Sandy Row South Belfast A statue of our the Virgin Mary placed on a loyalist bonfire at Lanark Way PACEMAKER Bonfire on Shankill Road 2012 Bonfire on Shankill Road 2012 Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison. A youth fixes a flag onto a bonfire on the lower Shankill area of Belfas. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images Houses are evacuated and protected at Chobham Street in east Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images A man stands on top of the bonfire as houses are evacuated and protected at Chobham Street in east Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images Houses are evacuated and protected at Chobham Street in east Belfast, Northern Ireland, as one of the biggest bonfires in east Belfast grows in size, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images A man sits on a bonfire on the lower Shankill area of Belfast. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images A youth stands on top of a bonfire on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images A youth fixes a flag onto a bonfire on the lower Shankill area of Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images Local youths burn palets next to the New Mossley bonfire, one of the largest in the province is seen on the outskirts of Belfast. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images The New Mossley bonfire, one of the largest in the province is seen on the outskirts of Belfast. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images Bonfire builders at Mount Vernon in north Belfast. Photo: Matt Mackey/Presseye ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Photographer ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com 10th July 2015 Bonfire builders at Mount Vernon in North Belfast. ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Photographer ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com 10th July 2015 Bonfire builders at Mount Vernon in North Belfast. ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Photographer ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com 10th July 2015 The scene in East Belfast's Chobham Street where more than 50 homes have been boarded up to protect them from a 11 July bonfire. ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Matthew Dixon and Gary Ashwood in south Belfast. Pic: Mark Marlow/Pacemaker press Elliott Ross and Ryan Ashwood with Matthew Dixon and Gary Ashwood. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker press Ryan Ashwood from south Belfast. Pictures: Mark Marlow/Pacemaker press Photographer ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com 10th July 2015 Bonfire builders at Mount Vernon in North Belfast. ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is Fire Fighters at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast as the intense heat begins to melt objects and forces the crowds back as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is firefighters using a jet hose on a building at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is firefighters using a jet hose on a building at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is firefighters using a jet hose on a building at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is the Donegall Road bonfire in South Belfast, as seen from the King Billy mural in sandy row as the 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye 11th July 2015 ?William Cherry/Presseye A man playing the flute as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn for the 11th of July Celebrations when the bonfires are lit in many Protestant, unionist and loyalist areas of Northern Ireland. ?William Cherry / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Bonfire builders get to work lighting the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye A man playing the flute as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street Bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street Bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Firefighters hose down the houses in the area after smoke begins to rise from the roof of a property next to the Chobham Street bonfire. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The Shankill bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Police water canon on stand by at the Grosevnor Road police station in Belfast, Northern Ireland as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Pictured are Kayie Curry with Ryan Morgan Maddox Glass and Kai McNurnan. The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Iain McFarland, an Orange bandsman, plays his flute during the 11th night bonfire at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images One of the huge bonfires that towers over the houses and looks over the city of Belfast in preparation for the 11th of July celebrations when the bonfires are lit in many Protestant, unionist and loyalist areas of Northern Ireland. Photo: William Cherry / Presseye ?William Cherry / Presseye Firefighters hose down the houses after smoke begins to rise from the roof of a property near the Chobham Street bonfire. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye A man lights the controversial Chobham Street Bonfire on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Bonfire builders take a rest in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire. PA Preparations begin around Belfast ahead of this year's annual Eleventh Night bonfire night celebrations. Jonathan Porter/Press Eye. Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. A young boy gazes in awe at a bonfire in the Roden Street area of south Belfast. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. / Facebook

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Whatsapp A bonfire builder at work in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire.

"Following a decision by the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on Friday, no materials will be returned by council to any person(s) for the purposes of burning on bonfires," they added.

"Belfast City Council work closely with the PSNI and other statutory agencies in respect of managing the impacts of bonfires and the materials used on them," they added.
Powersharing at Stormont is the only fair way to distribute money from the DUP's deal with the Conservatives, Gerry Adams said.

The windfall in exchange for the Northern Ireland party's support includes 1 billion of new funding for infrastructure and health spending, along with enhanced flexibility on almost 500 million of previously allocated cash.

If negotiators miss Thursday's deadline for a new agreement to restore devolved government, they face the prospect of direct rule being reimposed from Westminster after months of talks failed to break the impasse.

Mr Adams said any extra money for Northern Ireland is a good thing, adding: "We may be able to say well done Arlene, when we have the Executive in place."

Mr Adams said it was always better to have a ministerial Executive in place.

"The only fair way to get whatever resources come to this place, the only forum or the only decision-making body that can do it in a fair way is the Executive."

Nationalist SDLP leader Colum Eastwood concurred.

"I would like an inclusive Executive that represents all of the people of Northern Ireland to be making sure that money is spent properly and for all of our benefit, not that it is being spent by a Tory party who seem to be under the thumb of the DUP.

"I think that would be a very dangerous place for all of us."

Sinn Fein leader at Stormont Michelle O'Neill warned time is running out to reach an accord on restoring institutions which foundered earlier this year over the DUP's handling of a botched green energy scheme.

Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann said NHS waiting lists were spiralling out of control and schools did not know whether they had a budget for next year because of financial uncertainty.

He added: "Sinn Fein has the blame to carry if this actually does not deliver for the people of Northern Ireland."

Stephen Farry, a senior member of the cross-community Alliance Party, said the work necessary to clinch agreement could be done over the next two days.

"If we simply leave this process on Thursday with another deadline, I think these talks will have to be viewed as being a failure and most people will see the situation as being quite farcical."

The deal has to be done by Thursday, as set out in legislation at Westminster.

If one is not reached, then Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire must step in and could call another Assembly election within a period.

Stormont has been in limbo for months, with the executive not working since March and no first and deputy first minister since January, when the late Martin McGuinness's resignation forced Arlene Foster from her job as first minister.

Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney is leading the talks alongside Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire.

He said: "The hope would be that the heavy lifting would have been done by tomorrow evening.

"There are some big political issues to be addressed this evening.

"If we are going to get that done, both parties need to be willing to move towards each other's position to try to accommodate each other."

He added: "There are political choices to be made."
A court heard on Monday that the life of a woman who killed Eddie Girvan in his Co Antrim had descended into a "heroin hell'' following the cot death of her infant daughter.

The remarks were made by defence QC John McCrudden during a sentencing hearing at Belfast Crown Court in the case of Margaret Henderson-McCarroll.

The 31-year-old, formerly of a hostel in Verner Street, Belfast, had pleaded guilty last month to Mr Girvan's manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The mother-of-three admitted unlawfully killing the 67-year-old in his Station Road home in Greenisland in January 2016 by stabbing him in the chest with a cake knife while high on a cocktail of heroin and crystal meth drugs.

She further admitted eight other charges arising out of the killing including theft, attempted theft, aggravated vehicle taking causing damage, dangerous driving, driving when unfit through drink or drugs, driving without insurance, failing to stop and failing to report an accident.

At a hearing ten days ago, prosecution counsel Charles McCreanor QC told Mr Justice Treacy that Mr Girvan and Henderson-McCarroll had been known to each other for some years.

"She would come and stay with the deceased at his home and he would pay her for sexual relations,'' said the prosecution counsel.

He also told the court that Mr Girvan had cried out "murder, murder'' before Henderson-McCarroll had put kitchen roll in his mouth to stop him crying out further and bound his hands and feet with neck ties.

This was disputed by her defence team, who said that Mr Girvan had in fact been calling out her name.

Mr McCreanor told Mr Justice Treacy on Monday that following a re-examination of the transcripts of her taped police interviews "Mr Girvan was clearly saying 'Margaret, Margaret' and not 'murder, murder'."

John McCrudden QC for Henderson-McCarroll said: "I am grateful for the prosecution for having made that conclusion after listening to the tapes.

"It is clear from the transcripts that he was going 'Margaret, Margaret' and she was heard crying on the tape. I hope that will be accurately reported by the press.''

He told the judge that at the time of the killing, the defendant had an addiction to opiates and that she and another inmate at Hydebank Wood prison in south Belfast were currently in the process of mounting a judicial review against the Northern Ireland Prison Service to receive "appropriate care by way of opiate substitute therapy medication'' which was not currently available in the jail.

He said that in 2012, Henderson-McCarroll had been clean of drugs while pregnant and remained clean from drugs following the birth of her daughter Lily Rose.

However, Mr McCrudden said that six weeks after her birth, Lily Rose had died as a result of a cot death which he said had a "catastrophic'' effect on the life of Henderson-McCarroll.

"She thought that the birth of her daughter would be a fresh start for her but her life fell apart following the death of Lily Rose and she started to inject herion.

"Her life descended in a heroin hell, buying drugs from these drugs gangs operating in south Belfast who were well known to police.''

The defence QC added that Henderson-McCarroll "defended herself'' when Mr Girvan came at her with a stick sword during a row, saying the murder was not "pre-planned or pre-meditated''.

Mr Justice Treacy remarked: "I have never seen a case like this where an individual person who has been gagged, where three ties were used to bind his hands and at least one tie used to tie his feet.

"He has been bound and gagged in three different areas. There must have been a fair degree of preparation on her part.''

At this point, the defendant shouted out from the dock: "The place was a mess. There was stuff lying everywhere.

"You have already made your mind up about me fella. If you let me in the witness box I will tell you all what happened.''

The judge told her defence QC: "This is a difficult and complex case and she should be rest assured that this court has not made up its mind up despite what she says. Nothing could be further from the truth.''

Mr Justice Treacy said that what he would not understand was "why did she not ring the police or ring the hospital? How do you explain that?''

Mr McCrudden said she "didn't really know how badly injured he was as there was not a lot of blood'' and added that she then "left the house in a blind panic''.

He described the relationship between Mr Girvan and the defendant as "symbiotic'' in which Mr Girvan paid her for sex and she was "sleeping with Mr Girvan'' to stop her carrying out street robberies in Belfast to get money to feed her heroin addiction.

Mr Justice Treacy said he agreed with the prosecution application to receive a supplementary report from a doctor to allow him to be "fully aware of her substantial background and that she has offences of serious violence that were associated with these street robberies.''

The doctor had compiled a report for the hearing saying he did not believed she posed a danger to the public on his release.

The court previously heard that Henderson-McCarroll had a record of 100 criminal convictions, including offences for assault during street robberies. In one attack, a man suffered a fracture to his leg.

The judge said he was adjourning the case until this Friday, June 30, to allow the doctor to review her criminal record and state whether or not this would change his view on the danger she posed to the public in the future.
A former Welsh secretary has urged Damian Green to keep an "open mind" on ideas for further investment in Wales.

Stephen Crabb suggested the First Secretary of State consider recommendations by Welsh MPs, as he welcomed his statement on the DUP deal.

He backed Mr Green's "personal commitment to ensuring that the imbalances and inequalities that exist in all parts of the United Kingdom are effectively tackled by this Government" and asked for details on how the UK Prosperity Fund would be used to "raise economic output in the poorest parts" of the country.

Mr Crabb added: "Can I encourage him to keep an open mind on some of the ideas that maybe Welsh colleagues of his might have for further investment."

Mr Green said the UK Prosperity Fund would be introduced after Brexit has been completed.

He said: "It is precisely to help disadvantaged communities across the whole of the United Kingdom, some of them will indeed be in England, it is meant to replace the money that's gone through European institutions to some of our deprived communities.

"I know for instance communities in Cornwall have benefited from that, but absolutely there will be communities in Wales, as there will be in Scotland and Northern Ireland and other parts of England like the North East, that may well benefit from that and I'm always open to creative ideas from any part of the UK about how best to spend that sort of money."

Labour former frontbencher Paul Flynn accused the Government of making the UK "more divided than ever" as he called on MPs representing Wales and Scotland to "put our countries first".

Mr Flynn (Newport West) said: "The Government have just lost an election, they have made themselves and the country more unstable and weaker than they were before, in order to again correct problems within the Tory party, they are using this crude bribe.

"Isn't the answer today is that those MPs who represent Wales and Scotland have got to put our countries first and the result of this is that the Government is making the United Kingdom more divided than ever?"

Mr Green defended the Government's election result, and said: "The idea that the Labour party won the election is a fantasy which I think is dying out even in the wilder shores of Momentum."

Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) accused the Government of treating the Welsh people like "third class citizens".

She said: "While the Prime Minister is busy bribing the DUP to stitch up the seams of this threadbare administration, she continues to neglect the people of Wales and treat us like third class citizens in this so-called family of equals."

She said the Government's "disregard" for the Barnett formula suggested they agreed with her party's belief that the formula is "not fit for purpose".

"If this Government can hand out 1 billion to Northern Ireland in times of such austerity then I would ask on behalf of the people of Wales, where is the 1.7 billion which is now so evidently our right?"
A man who died a day after being discovered unconscious in a Co Waterford street after an alleged assault was originally from Northern Ireland.

The victim, aged 54, was found on Lower Strand Street in Tramore after an altercation with another man at about 2.15am on Saturday outside a taxi rank.

The man has been named locally as Edmund Rice, who is originally from Coleraine. He had been living in Waterford for a number of years.

It's been reported that Mr Rice was a married man with adult children.

Gardai said the victim was rushed to University Hospital Waterford where he was pronounced dead in the early hours of Sunday.

A man was arrested at the scene and was detained at the local Garda station.

Niall Hewson (21), of the Clarinwood estate in Tramore, appeared before a special sitting of Waterford District Court yesterday where he was charged with assault causing harm to Mr Rice.

Mr Hewison was bailed with conditions attached.

Giving evidence of arrest, charge and caution in court yesterday, Det Sgt Shay Keevans told Judge Furlong that he formally arrested the accused at 10.57pm on Saturday and charged him six minutes later.

He offered no reply when charged. A bearded man, Mr Hewison wore a navy suit and blue shirt in court.

He was joined in the courthouse at Grace Dieu on the Tramore Road with a number of family numbers.

His solicitor Kenneth Cunningham was granted free legal aid.

Inspector Anthony Dineen said that there was no State objection to bail.

Judge Gerard Furlong told Mr Hewison that two normal conditions of bail were that he appear for all court appearances and be of good behaviour.

Other agreed conditions were that he reside in Clarinwood, sign on three times per week at Tramore, surrender his passport and not reapply for additional travel documents. He also undertook not to leave the jurisdiction and remain sober at all times in the 300 bail bond.

The State Pathologist's office has been notified and a post-mortem examination is due to take place.

Gardai appealed for witnesses to an altercation in the Lower Strand Street area of Tramore in the early hours of Saturday or for anyone who was in the area on that day to come forward.
Class A,B and C drugs were among the items

Shocking pictures have emerged showing hundreds of litres of alcoholic drinks and drugs seized from children in anti-social behaviour hotspots across Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon.

The haul was seized on Friday as part of Operation Snapper, relaunched by the PSNI to safeguard young people and combat anti-social behaviour.

In just one day police spoke to over 230 children and seized items including 200 suspected prescription painkillers, cannabis bongs made from coke bottles, 74 litres of cider and 22 litres of Buckfast.

Also confiscated were beers, 16 litres of vodka, one bottle of whiskey, 24 bottles of alcopops and five bottles of wine.

In 21 drugs searches there were three finds of class B drugs (cannabis), one class A seizure and one class C find. Among the finds was suspected methedrone or cocaine seized from adults.

As a result of the operation, 15 referrals were made to social services while other children were referred to an Alcohol Support Programme and several were taken home to their parents by police.

The seizure came less than five weeks after 15-year-old schoolgirl Caitlin White died near the Corcrain estate in Portadown in a suspected drug-related incident.

Chief Inspector Jon Burrows, who led Friday's operation, said drink and drug abuse is leaving children vulnerable to sexual exploitation and grooming. He said he hoped the massive seizure will act as a "wake up call".

"The children taking alcohol would have been aged from 13-16, while we would regularly find children as young as 13 taking drugs," he said.

"It's a case of being proactive-over the last number of weeks. We have been looking at hotspots out of public view where young people are gathering - wooded areas, behind buildings, out of view areas.

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"This has coincided with the GCSEs finishing and the start of the summer holidays. This is about safeguarding young people. There is a huge vulnerability around young children out of public view mixing alcohol and drugs.

"One of the techniques that predators have used with young people being groomed or sexually exploited is to use alcohol or drugs.

"During the operation we found children who were very vulnerable - there was a 14-year-old in Waringstown who couldn't stand straight at 6pm. All those children who we assisted were vulnerable to being assaulted, sexually abused, alcohol poisoning, or injuring or hurting themselves in the woods."

Chief Inspector Burrows said that many parents were completely unaware where their offspring were.

"Time and time again parents were shocked as they thought their son or daughter was in a completely different location, and they were actually in a wood in a different town drinking alcohol," he added.

"Also, children are starting to drink earlier in the day so that they have sobered up by the time they get home. There is a need for vigilance around the drinks cupboard and medication at home, and some may purchase substances from the internet. It comes back to parental supervision. This is happening across Northern Ireland."

DUP MLA Carla Lockhart said she had witnessed first-hand distressing scenes of intoxicated youngsters, having accompanied youth workers on patrol.

"It's quite alarming to see the amount of alcohol and drugs confiscated from young people, which seems indicative of underlying issues," she said.

"I saw one individual who was quite badly beaten, another who had taken drugs.

"Young girls could easily be taken advantage of. I would encourage parents to know where their kids are. This has been an important awareness-raising operation."

SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly said that local residents had been left "angry" and "frightened" by the young people's behaviour.

"There is a lot of rowdiness and in some areas they play games of throwing bottles over perimeter fences of schools to see if they can hit buildings or windows," she said.

"There seems to be a lack of responsibility, a lack of respect and a lack of respect for themselves. There have been cuts to youth service provision and outreach services and I think that these need to be reinstated.

"The last thing we want is a lot of young people getting convictions."
The first Filipino to be become a Catholic priest in Ireland was ordained at St Peter's Cathedral in Belfast yesterday.

Manuelito Muga Milo (29) a native of Albuquerque, Bohol, was ordained by Most Reverend Noel Treanor, Bishop of the Diocese of Down and Connor.

Friends, family and ecclesiastical colleagues had travelled from around the world to the west Belfast venue to be present at the historic occasion.

Rev Milo told Philippines newspaper the Bohol Chronicle that his journey to the priesthood was a "payback to God" for saving his life when he was an infant. When he was just two, Manuelito's life was threatened by severe convulsions.

Although eminent Filipino medics recommended surgery, his parents Danny and Victoria instead prayed for God to bring healing to their little son, known as 'Emem'.

Fr Milo moved to Northern Ireland from the Philippines in 2007, studying initially at St Malachy's Seminary, Belfast, and then philosophical studies at Queen's University, where he graduated in 2011. He later studied at St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth, and has worked in various parishes including St Luke's Twinbrook, Corpus Christi, Belfast, and most recently in Kirkinriola Parish in Ballymena.

On Christmas Eve last year, he was ordained a Deacon in St Vincent de Paul's Parish, Ligoniel.

At yesterday's ceremony. Bishop Treanor told him: "We rejoice in the fact that you are the first of the new Irish to be ordained for service in our diocese.

"At this joyful moment in your life we are particularly conscious of the links in faith and Christian solidarity between our two peoples and of the work of thousands of Irish missionaries and religious in the Philippines."

The bishop paid tribute to the contribution of Filipino families in Northern Ireland society adding: "We pray that through your priestly ministry this living communion in faith will be enriched, as this society in Northern Ireland grows to reflect the rich mosaic of the human family through the presence and work among us of people from many nations."

Last night Fr Milo said: "Thank you very much for all the prayers, greetings, and support."
Theresa May stands with DUP leader Arlene Foster (left) as DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (second right) and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Gavin Williamson agreed a deal to support the minority Conservative government

A deal struck between the UK Government and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is "the worst kind of pork-barrel politics" and "a straight bung", the first ministers of Scotland and Wales have said.

Nicola Sturgeon and Carwyn Jones reacted furiously to news the agreement - which includes 1 billion in new funding for Northern Ireland - would not result in a knock-on funding boost for other parts of the UK.

Downing Street has said that as the allocation is being made as part of the block grant to Northern Ireland, there will be no consequentials through the Barnett formula, the mechanism used to distribute Treasury funds to the devolved nations.

Ms Sturgeon said that by "ignoring" the Barnett formula, Scotland would lose out on around 2.9 billion for public services while Welsh Government estimates put its loss at 1.67 billion.

Mr Jones said: "Today's deal represents a straight bung to keep a weak Prime Minister and a faltering Government in office.

"Only last week we were told that the priority was to 'build a more united country, strengthening the social, economic and cultural bonds between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales'.

"This deal flies in the face of that commitment and further weakens the UK, and as currently drafted all but kills the idea of fair funding for the nations and regions."

Ms Sturgeon said: "In concluding this grubby, shameless deal, the Tories have shown that they will stop at nothing to hold on to power - even sacrificing the very basic principles of devolution.

"The Tories' excuses are simply empty spin and expose that they once again plan on short-changing Scotland.

"This is not a city deal - it is simply an attempt to pull the wool over people's eyes.

"This is the worst kind of pork-barrel politics, which has shredded the last vestiges of credibility of this weakened Prime Minister."

Scotland's First Minister said the deal also raised questions for Scottish Secretary David Mundell, who previously said he "won't support funding which is deliberately sought to subvert the Barnett rules".

"He and Ruth Davidson should now live up to their boasts by preventing this deal to go through - they should order Scottish Tory MPs to use their votes to put a halt to it," she said.

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale also urged Ms Davidson and her new Scottish MPs to demand "extra cash to reverse the spending cuts her government has inflicted on Scotland".

In response, Ms Davidson said: "The Barnett formula ensures that if funding for public services goes up in England, it does across the devolved nations, if they are responsible for delivering these services. That system remains in place.

"But the UK Government has always been able to spend outside Barnett - like the city deals, which invested 500 million directly in Glasgow, 125 million in Aberdeen and 53 million in Inverness.

"Or like the 5 million for the V&A Dundee, the 5 million for the Glasgow School of Art or 5 million on regenerating Helensburgh's waterfront.

"With its distinct politics, Northern Ireland has received this sort of special funding package before - the last one in 2015.

"It's absurd for the SNP to criticise UK Government spending on top of Barnett in Northern Ireland when the exact same thing happens in Scotland."
'The man was taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition at present' (stock photo)

North Belfast residents have been encouraged "not to take the law into their own hands" after two men were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a hatchet attack on another man yesterday morning.

The attack occurred at around 1.15am on Sunday morning, when the 34-year-old victim was assaulted and struck on the head with a hatchet in the Glenrosa Link area.

The man was taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition at present.

Detective Inspector Paul Rowland said: "The arrested individuals, both aged 26, were detained by police a short time after the attack. They are being interviewed at Musgrave police station."

Independent Castle Alderman Patrick Convery slammed the early morning attack as "totally unacceptable".

"There is nothing within our society that warrants such attacks, it is totally unacceptable that such attacks are still continuing within our community," he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"Anyone with information should report this to the police - the only way to deal with such threats or attacks is through the courts or police.

"No doubt it will have raised concerns within the local communities, however, I would urge people to come together and talk to the police and ensure that this type of attack does not continue.

"No-one should take the law into their own hands.

"We have a police force and courts and those are the mechanisms which should be used."

UUP Castle councillor David Browne said he felt that police patrols in the area needed to be stepped up to act as a deterrent to criminal behaviour.

"This is an unbelievably frightening attack and whoever is responsible needs to be brought to justice," he said.

"They shouldn't be bringing this sort of violence to our streets.

"This was a brutal attack and we don't want the community to be in fear of such incidents.

People who resort to that sort of 'justice' for whatever reason need to be taken off our streets. They need to respect the rule of law.

"I think that the police need more resources out on the beat in north Belfast - there needs to be more visible policing.

"Nothing puts people off doing things like that more than seeing a policeman in the street.

"I understand that police stations are closing down, but it's a visual reassurance for those who live there."

Detectives are appealing for witnesses.

Anyone with information can contact the police on 101, quoting reference 100 of 25/06/17.

Alternatively, information about this crime can also be given anonymously to the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.
Two migrants cling to the top of a lorry as it leaves the Eurotunnel site in Folkestone (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Ten fines are issued to hauliers every day after migrants are found hiding in lorries, new figures show.

Home Office data shows 3,522 civil penalties were handed to drivers or their employers in 2016/17 after clandestine entrants were discovered in vehicles.

This was a 12% rise on the tally of 3,151 in the previous 12 months, according to statistics supplied following a Freedom of Information request.

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A total of 7.8 million worth of fines were issued in the most recent year.

The findings suggest that large numbers of migrants are still boarding UK-bound lorries despite the closure of the Jungle camp in Calais in autumn last year.

The figures were obtained by law firm Nockolds, which claimed they raise doubt about the fairness of the penalty regime

A fine of up to 2,000 can be imposed on drivers or firms for each stowaway discovered where reasonable measures were not taken to secure and check vehicles.

A driver or haulier served with a civil penalty notice can lodge an objection or appeal against it.

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Transport lawyer Dan Hart, of Nockolds, said: The majority of drivers take measures to secure their vehicles but it is increasingly difficult to do so when faced with the determination of large gangs of migrants.

If there are even the smallest shortcomings, civil penalties are imposed. In the current climate, it raises the question of whether the penalty regime is fair given the exceptional circumstances.

On Tuesday a van driver was killed in the port town after colliding with lorries reportedly forced to stop due to migrants blocking a road with tree trunks.

In a separate case, 18 people were found in the back of a lorry on the A22 in East Grinstead, West Sussex, on June 17.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has called for the French military to be deployed on the Calais approach roads to the port to protect UK-bound HGV drivers.

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An RHA spokeswoman said: Hauliers take every precaution possible to prevent migrants getting on the back of their trucks but it still happens.

We regularly hear from hauliers who no longer want to take the Calais/Dover route because of the risk of fines and also the real possibility of facing intimidation or migrant attacks.

This will harm the economy and inevitably lead to higher prices.

RHA chief executive Richard Burnett added: The Clandestine Civil Penalty scheme to tackle lax and careless operators was introduced in 1999 at a time when the number of illegal migrants heading towards the UK was considerably less. The playing field has now changed and we believe that the scheme is outdated and must be reviewed.

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Figures published last July showed that the number of migrants discovered in the UK after hiding in vehicles or on trains had more than doubled.

A report on so-called lorry drops showed authorities encountered 6,429 clandestine entrants in the six months from the beginning of April to the end of September 2015, compared to 2,411 in the same period of 2014.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: It is in all our interests to combat attempts to enter the UK illegally, which can damage the haulage industry financially and place the safety of drivers at risk.

That is why we continue to work closely with the French to bolster security at the ports, tackle the organised crime networks behind trafficking and people-smuggling, and ensure hauliers and other travellers can travel through the ports safely.

Most hauliers take their responsibilities for vehicle security seriously  the fines imposed are designed to ensure that all drivers take reasonable measures.
As many as 90 email accounts have been compromised in a massive cyber attack on Westminster.

However, fewer than 1% of the system's 9,000 users were directly impacted by the "determined and sustained" attack.

It is not known if Northern Ireland's 18 MPs were affected by the security breach.

The incident gave rise to blackmail fears after hackers tried to break in to the accounts of MPs, peers and their staff by searching for weak passwords.

Investigations are under way to see whether any data has been lost. Officials said both Houses of Parliament will meet today as planned after staff worked to ensure business could continue in the wake of the hacking.

A parliamentary spokesman said: "Parliament's first priority has been to protect the parliamentary network and systems from the sustained and determined cyber attack to ensure that the business of the Houses can continue.

"This has been achieved and both Houses will meet as planned.

"Investigations are ongoing, but it has become clear that significantly fewer than 1% of the 9,000 accounts on the parliamentary network have been compromised as a result of the use of weak passwords that did not conform to guidance issued by the Parliamentary Digital Service.

"As they are identified, the individuals whose accounts have been compromised have been contacted and investigations to determine whether any data has been lost are underway," the spokesman added.

"Parliament is now putting in place plans to resume its wider IT services."

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and National Crime Agency are probing the incident, which came after reports that passwords for Cabinet ministers and MPs were being sold online by hackers.

North Down MP Lady Sylvia Hermon told the Belfast Telegraph that her email account had not been affected and put her cyber safety down to using complicated passwords.

"The head of the parliamentary digital service notified all MPs at lunchtime on Friday to say that they were investigating what was described as 'a cyber security incident'," she said.

"No other details were given apart from explaining that they were making some 'emergency changes to the IT network', which might cause some disruption.

"However, I've always used complicated passwords, which I regularly change, and so I was fairly confident a hacker couldn't access my emails.

"But, just to be sure, I phoned the parliamentary digital service today (Sunday) and have been reassured that I am not one of the MPs whose emails have been hacked. Thank goodness, I say, for a quirky password to access my emails.

"Apparently, only a very small number of MPs have been affected and they have been informed."

A parliamentary spokesman said MPs were informed of the problem via email on Friday and were sent two further updates.
Campaigners face off with police as they protest over the death of Edir Frederico Da Costa (Lauren Hurley/PA)

Campaigners shouting we want justice have faced off with police in a protest over the death of a man after a traffic stop.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has launched an investigation into the treatment of Edir Frederico Da Costa, 25, who died on June 21, six days after he was stopped in a car by Metropolitan Police officers in Woodcocks, Beckton, in Newham, east London.

Protesters, some carrying Black Lives Matter posters and others with homemade placards which read Justice for Edson + How Many More???, stood in front of a line of uniformed officers at Stratford bus station, east London.

They allege the 25-year-old, known by friends as Edson, was brutally beaten.

Borough Commander Superintendent Ian Larnder stood in the middle of a group of protesters trying to answer their questions and calm tensions.

Campaigners claim that Mr Da Costas neck was broken and he suffered head and other injuries after he was stopped in a car, containing three people, by Met officers.

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The IPCC said a preliminary post-mortem, carried out on Thursday, indicated there were no spinal injuries caused by police.

Transport for London said that from just before 6pm there had been a number of bus diversions at police request due to the demonstration at Stratford.

One protester rode his motorbike up to the police line and deliberately revved his engine in front of the officers.

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Another motorcyclist turned his bike towards the officers and span his wheels so that smoke blew towards them.

A Met spokeswoman said they are aware of the protest, adding: An appropriate policing plan is in place.

A flurry of angry comments such as you are protecting them and you have told us what you cant do, now tell us what you can do were hurled at Mr Larnder as members of the crowd pressed him about alleged police brutality.

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More questions and disbelieving comments drowned him out as he told the largely black crowd: I am here because l care deeply about what is going on.

He also said: Police officers are all accountable to the law, they are being investigated 

I genuinely feel for you. I will ring the IPCC and ask them what are you doing.

When one of the campaigners asked if the officers involved in the incident were still working, he said: I am pretty sure they have not been suspended but removed from operational duties.

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The crowd later began marching to Forest Gate police station shouting we want justice and justice for Edson to the beat of a drum.

The crowd arrived at the station at around 8.15pm and a cordon of uniformed officers stood outside the building.

At least a dozen officers wearing helmets stood shoulder-to-shoulder and two-person deep at the station entrance as tempers flared, with swearing and chanting from the campaigners.

They held a calm minutes silence at 8.40pm with each person holding a clenched fist in the air. It was broken with applause, revving of motorbikes and then booming music.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have visited some of the Arena staff on duty on the night of the Manchester bombing and praised their response to the horror suicide attack.

Both royals stood in the half light of the foyer area at the Arena, its glass panels above blown out, to view the spot where carnage unfolded on May 22.

They stood in silence as they were shown the spot on the tiled floor, now deeply pock-marked, where Salman Abedi detonated his suicide bomb killing 22 people at the end of the Ariana Grande concert on May 22.

They spent around 10 minutes in the foyer, as Bob Gallagher, forensic manager for the North West Counter Terrorism Unit talked them through what had happened.

Yards away gaping, ragged round holes made by flying shrapnel of nuts and bolts still marked the walls and exit doors and huge re-enforced glass panels, shattered from the blast, have been replaced by wooden hoardings.

No cameras were allowed inside the area for the royal visit, as it is still being treated as a crime scene.

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Later the royal visitors met medical and crowd management staff employed by the Arena, to speak to them about their experiences on the night.

Charles and Camilla both listened intently as they asked about what had confronted the people working that night and how they had coped since the bombing.

Many of the 22 killed were children along with more than 100 people injured, many critically.

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Both royals spoke to the medical staff, who have other full-time jobs or are students, some as young as 18, who were working that night and first on the scene before 999 responders. None wanted to be named.

One woman in the medical control room was watching the arena on a laptop and saw the bomb explode, she told the Duchess.

One medic told her: Nobody knew what was going to happen next. If there was another bomb. You can prepare on paper but

We heard the bang and saw the smoke. We knew where we needed to go and head to where it came from. We knew deep down what had happened immediately.

Camilla told them: It is important to talk to each other afterwards. I think you are all incredible. It must have been incredibly difficult for you. People have got a lot to thank you for. You did a fantastic job you should be proud of yourselves.

Later the royals visited Manchester Town Hall, where Camilla had a private meeting with Freya Lewis, 14, who was badly injured in the bombing and is still recovering, along with her parents, Nick and Alison.

Charles also hosted a roundtable discussion with Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and other community leaders and young people about the impact of the recent terror attack and how the city united in the immediate aftermath.

Later the royal couple met medical staff from hospitals who dealt with the emergency response and gave fulsome praise to Manchester for the way it has dealt with the aftermath.

Charles said: No-one should have to suffer the losses which you have endured; yet no-one, surely, could have endured them with greater fortitude.

In the aftermath, we have watched with mounting admiration as those of all faiths and none have refused bitterness, and embraced belonging.

In all this, Manchester is an example to the world.
Arlene Foster says that her party is close to sealing a historic deal with the Tories  as she prepares to meet the Prime Minister for talks at Westminster today.

The DUP leader last night travelled to London along with senior party MPs, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Nigel Dodds.

I believe we are close to concluding an appropriate agreement with the Conservative Party to support a minority Government on a confidence and supply basis, Mrs Foster told the Belfast Telegraph.

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The political focus has shifted again to London despite the parties having just three days left to reach a deal to save power-sharing at Stormont. Negotiations between Sinn Fein and Mrs Fosters party continued in Belfast over the weekend but no progress will be possible before details of any DUP-Conservative deal are published.

DUP sources were last night confident that a deal would be announced today. The Tories are seeking to finalise the deal ahead of a crucial vote on the Queens Speech in Parliament on Wednesday.

While there have been fears that the DUP would focus only on advancing unionist interests in the pact, Mrs Foster insisted that any agreement would serve both communities.

We are determined to utilise this position to help deliver stable Government in the UK and address long-standing issues which affect everyone in Northern Ireland, she said.

The DUP leader claimed that her party was now at the heart of UK politics and in an incredibly influential position which represented a massive opportunity but a responsibility I do not take lightly.

She admitted that progress during talks with the Tories had been slow at times but stressed that both parties continue to work through the issues.

She continued: The Conservative Party and the DUP have common principles of supporting the Union and delivering a safer and more prosperous UK.

As Northern Ireland, alongside the rest of the UK exits the European Union, I want to ensure we are in a strong position of influence to get the best deal for those who live and work here.

In a clear reference to Sinn Fein, she said that this months Westminster election had exposed the fallacy of MPs not taking their seats.

With only 11 of Northern Irelands 18 MPs taking their seats in the House of Commons, I can assure people in every constituency, DUP MPs will speak up for everyone and will seek to deliver for everyone, she said.

Round-table talks involving the local parties and the British and Irish Governments are due to take place at Stormont this afternoon.

After those discussions, the parties will meet with the head of the Northern Ireland civil service, Sir Malcolm McKibbin, to determine the agenda for the rest of the week.

Political sources said that Sinn Feins tone in the negotiations had changed considerably in recent days and the party now appeared keener to reach a deal with the DUP.

However, the talks insiders were sceptical as to whether the DUP would offer Sinn Fein enough to satisfy republicans.

SDLP negotiator Claire Hanna said it was highly frustrating that discussions were once again going down to the wire in terms of Thursdays deadline for agreement.

This culture is only increasing public cynicism and frustration, she said.

Alliance leader Naomi Long said that unless there was significant progress imminently, it was hard to see Thursdays deadline being met.

Time is running out as many key players will be in Westminster for Northern Ireland questions and for the vote on the Queens Speech on Wednesday, she said.

Mrs Long stated that issues important to the Alliance, SDLP, and UUP had been parked and would have to be urgently addressed if the DUP and Sinn Fein wanted a five-party Executive.
Theresa May is due to chair a meeting of the Grenfell Tower Recovery Taskforce (Rick Findler/PA)

Flammable cladding has been found on 75 high-rise buildings across 26 local authority areas, Sajid Javid has said.

The Communities and Local Government Secretary revealed the safety crisis had further escalated as he urged local authorities to hasten action.

Hospitals and schools will also be tested to make sure they are not encased in combustible cladding, he told the House of Commons.

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The so-called combustibility test has been failed by every building tested so far, Mr Javid said.

Grading the material on a scale of fire-resistance, the assessment determines whether the material meets building regulations.

The minister reiterated concerns in Whitehall that councils were not being fast enough in submitting samples for testing.

Mr Javid said: I can inform the House that as of midday today the cladding from 75 high-rise buildings in 26 local authority areas has failed the combustibility test.

He added: The combustibility test has three categories rated one to three and it is judged that cladding material in categories two or three does not meet the requirements for limited combustibility in building regulations.

I can also confirm to the House that, so far, on that basis, all samples of cladding tested have failed.

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The fact that all samples so far have failed underlines the value of the testing programme and the vital importance of submitting samples urgently.

He added: I am concerned about the speed at which samples are being submitted. I would urge all landlords to submit their samples immediately.

The scope of the forthcoming public inquiry into the blaze is expected to widen, examining the apparent widespread use of the cladding.

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Theresa Mays official spokesman said questions over why the material was used on tower blocks nationwide despite breaching fire safety rules would likely be scrutinised.

It is clearly a huge concern that this is the case, the spokesman told reporters.

Downing Street earlier said the Department of Health and Department for Education will oversee the testing of schools and hospitals.

Schools and authorities responsible for schools have been contacted across the country and ordered to carry out checks on their buildings.

They have been told any concerns about materials used on school premises should be reported to the Government for investigation.

It is not clear at this stage how many buildings could be affected.
Riot police move to detain a man as they stop LGBTI protesters from gathering in large numbers in Istanbul (AP)

Forty-four people have been detained during a march for LGBT rights that the governor of Istanbul had banned, Turkey's official news agency said.

Anadolu agency reported that 20 people who "reacted against" the march were among those detained on Sunday.

Ultranationalist and religious groups had threatened the 15th Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride March in the week leading up to it.

Organisers said 27 people who tried to go on with the banned event were detained, including two minors and a Danish activist.

They were released after questioning.

Police set up checkpoints to prevent people from entering Istanbul's main thoroughfare and marching en masse.

Police also used tear gas and plastic bullets on groups of participants.

The governor's office banned Pride for the third year in a row, citing safety and public order grounds.

AP
Pakistani rescue workers at the site of an oil tanker explosion on a highway near Bahawalpu (AP Photo/Iram Asim)

Pakistan's prime minister cut short a trip abroad to rush to the side of victims of a massive fuel tanker fire as authorities raised the death toll from the blaze to 157.

The truck, carrying some 6,600 gallons (25,000 litres) of gasoline, was travelling from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore, the Punjab provincial capital, when the driver lost control and crashed on a highway outside the town of Bahawalpur early on Sunday.

Alerted by an announcement over a mosque loudspeaker that an overturned tanker was leaking fuel, scores of villagers rushed to the scene to collect the spilled fuel when the blaze ignited. The wreck then exploded, engulfing people in flames as they screamed in terror.

Dr Nahid Ahmed at the Nishter Hospital in the city of Multan, about 60 miles (100km) away from the site of the fire, said four of the victims had died overnight, taking the death toll to 157. He said 50 severely burned victims were being treated at his hospital.

Rescue official Mohammad Baqar said 20 victims had been transported by a military C-130 plane from Bahawalpur to Lahore on Monday for better medical care.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who visited the Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur on Monday, ordered that more of the most critically injured be transferred to bigger hospitals in the area, Mr Baqar said.

Mr Sharif cut short his trip abroad and rushed back home, reaching Bahawalpur on Monday to visit the victims and console the affected families.

He also announced 2 million rupees - about 24,330 - as financial assistance for each family that lost a relative in the highway inferno, and handed over cheques for 1 million rupees (12,165) for each burned victim being treated at the hospital in Bahawalpur.

"This is not compensation - no compensation is possible for precious human life - but it is to help the affected families in distress," Mr Sharif said, expressing his prayers for those killed and for a speedy recovery of the burned victims.

Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and will have to be identified through DNA testing, said Mr Baqar.

"I have never seen anything like it in my life. Victims trapped in the fireball. They were screaming for help," said Abdul Malik, a police officer who was among the first to arrive on the scene of horror.

When the flames subsided, he said, "we saw bodies everywhere. So many were just skeletons. The people who were alive were in really bad shape."

Some of the most badly burned were immediately evacuated by army helicopters to Multan. The dead included men, women and children.

The disaster struck on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr which follows the holy month of Ramadan. While Saudi Arabia and most other Muslim countries started celebrating the holiday on Sunday, Pakistanis were marking it on Monday.

The scope of Sunday's tragedy was a first in Pakistan but in cases of massive oil leaks in impoverished countries, many of the poorest and least educated often rush to the scene to collect the spilled fuel, unaware of the grave danger they face. In recent years, similar incidents have been reported in Nigeria and Sudan.

AP
Sweidsh Foreign Affairs Minister Margot Wallstrom gave no details about what had led to the hostage's release

A Swedish man kidnapped by Islamic militants in northern Mali nearly six years ago has been released from captivity, the Swedish government confirmed.

Foreign minister Margot Wallstrom announced the release of Johan Gustafsson - who had been on a motorcycle tour through Africa - without giving details on what had finally led to his freedom.

There was no immediate word on the fate of a second hostage, from South Africa, who was also seized in Timbuktu.

Mr Gustafsson, 42, was flown to Stockholm on a special Swedish government plane on Monday but he did not appear before media.

Following his arrival, Ms Wallstrom said during a news conference that Mr Gustafsson was set free "a few days ago" but declined to give any details on the negotiations except to say that "diplomacy and police work" along with tight international co-operation led to his release.

"The Swedish policy is not to pay ransom in connection with kidnappings," Ms Wallstrom said, referring to her government's general guideline, but she refused to take questions on Mr Gustafsson's case.

There was no immediate word on the fate of Stephen McGown, the South African hostage.

A third foreigner had been freed in 2015 by French special forces.

The kidnapping of Mr Gustafsson - who Ms Wallstrom said was the longest-held Swedish kidnapping victim "in the modern history of Sweden" - took place in November 2011 as Islamic extremism was gaining a foothold in northern Mali.

Not long after, jihadi groups seized control of the major towns, including Timbuktu, and began enforcing their harsh interpretation of Shariah law.

The extremists were forced from their strongholds in early 2013 by a French-led military operation but continue to launch attacks on peacekeepers and Malian forces.

French hostages held in the region were released through a series of operations but Mr Gustafsson and Mr McGown had languished in captivity.

AP
People inspect damage from air strikes and artillery shelling in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa (Aamaq News Agency via AP)

Syrian Kurdish forces say they have seized a new district from Islamic State (IS) in its self-declared capital Raqqa.

Cihan Shekh Ehmed, a spokeswoman for the US-backed militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said the group's fighters seized the western district of al-Qadisiya from IS on Monday.

Assisted by air strikes from the US-led coalition, the SDF has been slowly advancing against IS in Raqqa since launching its offensive in early June after encircling the city.

Raqqa is the capital of the extremist group's self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate, which it declared in 2014 in parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

IS has suffered a series of setbacks in recent months at the hands of an array of Syrian and Iraqi forces.

AP
The virtuous circle is now in reverse. The engine of the peace process had been electoral success. The more the parties of the extremes were willing to engage with the core ideas of power-sharing and reconciliation, the more people voted for them. That reality kept them at it, for there is nothing a political party wants more than votes.

Both Sinn Fein and the DUP resisted this and had to be drawn deeper into the peace process until that reality was plain to them.

Sinn Fein, at the start, wished above all to preserve the legitimacy of the IRA campaign.

It indulged the idea that a reformed police service would absorb members of the IRA at the ranks they had held there.

Republicans resisted the consent principle. Sinn Fein demanded that the British Government would become persuaders for Irish unity.

Even once the talks had started in 1997, the party was briefing that the creation of a Northern Ireland Assembly was not an outcome it was working towards.

But having argued for years that the IRA was a democratic people's army, it saw plainly now that the people wanted peace and would support it in greater numbers if the end of the Troubles was on offer.

Similarly, the DUP had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the process, and at a later stage.

The Rev Ian Paisley had rejected the Good Friday Agreement and campaigned on, not just for the acceptance by Sinn Fein of the police but for repentance and the verifiable decommissioning of weapons.

In 2004 he wanted 'sackcloth and ashes'.

The IRA wanted to continue reaping in huge bounties from daring robberies and Sinn Fein provided cover.

But after the St Andrews Agreement and the Sinn Fein assent to policing, Paisley joined forces with Martin McGuinness and Sinn Fein and the DUP agreed to govern Northern Ireland together.

This would not be without glitches and further threats to the institutions.

The DUP threatened to pull them down over the OTR scheme which assured more than 200 IRA men on-the-run that they could come home.

One of them was promptly charged with the 1982 Hyde Park bombing and a court ruled that he would have to be released because of the note he had been given.

Sinn Fein threatened to pull down Stormont over the welfare cuts which it refused to implement, and for which mitigation was agreed.

But the fundamental reality for both was that if they demonstrated a willingness to make power-sharing work, the electorate would stay with them, subject to another painful reality; that much of the electorate was getting bored.

Both parties had been facilitated by a toxic clause in the St Andrews Agreement which changed the fundamentals of Good Friday.

This said that the First and Deputy First Ministers would be chosen from the biggest parties, not the biggest communities. This provided a huge incentive for voters to discard the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP, which they did.

For Sinn Fein and the DUP, this was a gift. But they both seemed to need to test popularity with their bases.

While they were harvesting new votes from people who were not adamant true believers in the old cause, they behaved as if they felt they had to provide assurance to those who had been with them all along - the hardliners.

Each big party felt its heart pulled two ways, into power-sharing and agreement and back towards the ghetto mentality.

The virtuous circle worked to keep them on track, side by side, rewarded by the electorate for their discipline and resolve.

As late as last autumn, the certainty that this mechanism was working well had become a joke. The joke was Marlene.

We were enjoying a smug confidence that Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness had virtually merged into a single entity. But the election of last year had shown a slide in the overall nationalist vote.

Nationalists, it seemed, were not as nationalistic as unionists were unionist.

And that suggested a possible trend by which our power-sharing, two-party rule model might ultimately disintegrate. Which would be fine if you were a unionist, or if you were out of a nationalist community but not personally all that fussed about community identity or a united Ireland.

From the perspective of Gerry Adams, it must have seemed as if the communal vote was being eroded at the edges. The people relied on to vote Sinn Fein were staying at home, or they were voting for the Greens. They were fretting not so much about a united Ireland but challenging canvassers on the doorstep about abortion or same-sex marriage.

In Ballymoney, a group of Catholics canvassed for the DUP as the party most likely to oppose abortion.

In South Belfast, nationalists swung from the SDLP and Sinn Fein to the Greens who were most likely to support abortion.

In short, Northern Ireland was starting to look like any other polity and voting on issues rather than on the constitution. But this was not symmetrical - it was more likely to happen in the nationalist community than in the unionist.

That, I suggest, is why Gerry Adams crashed the system.

Nationalist politics had to be resectarianised.

The next electoral showdown was brought forward over the RHI scandal and the question of Arlene Foster's position as First Minister.

The nationalist vote was rallied on the assertion that unionists were not treating nationalists as equals.

Nor, of course, were they. Successive DUP ministers had sneered at the idea of an Irish Language Act when they might instead have quietly relished the fact that a culture war was so much less bloody than what had preceded it.

The Assembly election in March brought a huge swing to Sinn Fein, probably supported by a gay vote.

Unionism got its vote out for the General Election this month and registered a huge advance, shaking off the fear that the two communities were drawing level.

By this Thursday, they should both be translating their successes into a willingness to agree the restoration of devolution. However, will they?

Each has actually thrived on deadlock.

Each may feel confidently that its electorate wants it to dig in.

Each may be tempted to prolong a stalemate that has proven so fruitful.

And each has a bigger game to play elsewhere while it waits for the next electoral test of its commitment to devolutions, the DUP at Westminster, Sinn Fein in the Dail.

Gerry Adams is going to demand seats there and speaking rights for his northern MPs. He might even, by Christmas, be leading the governing party that could open the door for them. That's where his focus is.

It appears that Stormont can wait.
Muslims wearing black arm bands to protest atrocities against the community gather for Eid prayers in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, June 26, 2017.

Updated at 9:55 a.m. ET on 2017-06-27

Thousands of Muslims across India on Monday sported black arm bands while offering Eid prayers to protest what they termed as a sharp rise in atrocities against their community members since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power three years ago.

In two separate incidents on Thursday, four Muslims were allegedly killed in mob violence in the eastern state of West Bengal and northern state of Haryana by self-styled cow vigilantes.

Cows are considered sacred in Hindu-majority India, and consumption of beef is banned in most states.

Asked why he had chosen to wear an arm band on Eid al-Fitr, New Delhi resident Daulat Khan told BenarNews: We have been at the receiving end for quite some time. We want the government to understand our plight that we are unhappy on the day of Eid because of the routine violence against our community.

No communal dispute

Three men  Nasirul Haque, 30, Mohammad Samiruddin, 32, and Mohammad Nasir, 33  were beaten to death by a mob that allegedly caught the trio stealing cows in West Bengals North Dinajpur district, about 450 km (279 miles) from Kolkata, police said.

Police said they had arrested three men who were allegedly part of the mob. The state government ordered a probe into the violence, the latest in a string of similar attacks on the minority community since the Hindu nationalist BJP swept to power in May 2014.

Three suspects  Asit Basu, Ahim Basu and Krishna Poddar  have been arrested and we are hunting for others who took part in the violence, investigating police officer Pankaj Jha told BenarNews.

The three men who were killed were in fact cow thieves with a past criminal record, Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Rathod told BenarNews.

The state government however denied the violence was communal in nature.

There was no communal dispute. On Thursday night some alleged thieves were caught [and] that anger turned violent, West Bengals Member of Legislative Assembly Hamidur Rahman told BenarNews.

Echoing in my ears

In another incident on Thursday, a mob armed with knives attacked four Muslim brothers on a train after allegedly calling them anti-national and beef-eaters.

The over two-hour attack claimed the life of one of the brothers  16-year-old Hafiz Junaid  as the four were traveling from New Delhi to Uttar Pradeshs Mathura city after shopping for Eid, police said.

It is impossible to get rid of the image of Junaid lying in my lap, soaked in blood. His screams, which became louder with every stab, are still echoing in my ears, Junaids older brother Hashim, 20, who was also stabbed, told Hindustan Times.

Police arrested one person in connection with the train incident, an official said, without identifying the suspect.

During interrogation, the accused told us that he was egged by his friends to attack the Muslim brothers because they ate beef, the official told BenarNews while requesting anonymity.

Shameful

More than two dozen mob attacks on suspected cow thieves and beef-eaters have occurred in the last three years that the BJP has been in power. The assaults left at least 10 people dead, six of them Muslims.

A social media campaign to condemn these atrocities picked up over the weekend with hashtags such as #StopKillingMuslims and #EidWithBlackArmBand, cropping up on Twitter and Facebook.

Activists blamed the BJP government for failing to control the frequent incidents of mob violence by self-styled cow protectors.

The main goal of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, BJPs ideological mentor, is to turn India into a completely Hindu country, political analyst Pradeep Bhattacharya told BenarNews, referring to a rightwing Hindu outfit affiliated with the ruling party.

Atrocities against minorities in the name of cow protection are part of this plan.

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) official offered a similar view.

The mild admonitions from BJP leaders when Muslims are lynched over cows send a message that the BJP supports this violence, HRW official Meenakshi Ganguly wrote in a column.

Instead of a government that took office on the promise of universal development, it now appears to be one unwilling to protect those most vulnerable, Ganguly added.

Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad told NDTV that incidents of cow vigilantism are extremely painful and shameful and the government wont tolerate such attacks.

BenarNews effort to reach senior BJP officials for comment was unsuccessful.

Paritosh Kanti Paul in Kolkata contributed to this report.
Philippine soldiers rescue a child who had been trapped in crossfire between troops and Islamic State-inspired militants in the southern city of Marawi, June 25, 2017.

Updated at 1:01 p.m. ET on 2020-07-22

Islamic State-backed gunmen who laid siege to the southern Philippine city of Marawi have beheaded four civilian hostages, the military said Monday, citing witnesses.

The military said civilians who had been extricated from the war zone during the weekend told officials that four civilians were beheaded by the Maute and Abu Sayyaf group.

"This puts the total number of civilians killed by the terrorists at 30," a military official who requested anonymity told BenarNews.

He said Teresito Soganub, a Catholic priest taken hostage by the militants, had been seen alive as of last Friday, weeks after he went on air apparently under duress and appealed on the government to stop its airstrikes on rebel-held areas in Marawi.

Separately, a BenarNews source who had met with the gunmen in a mission sanctioned by security officials during the weekend said that one of the militant leaders, Abdullah Maute, told him that Soganub was alive, but would only be freed in exchange for the release of his parents.

Soganub and some church workers were taken by the Maute-led gunmen when the violence broke out on May 23.

In his earlier videotaped message, Soganub said that about 200 other civilians, including some children, were being held by the militants.

Forced to seek help

Fighting erupted when the police and military were sent in to capture Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, the acknowledged IS leader in the country.

But the planned arrest was foiled because Hapilons force was backed up by extremists belonging to the Maute gang and several foreign fighters, including militants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Middle East.

A video later recovered by the military showed Hapilon planning the attack with the Maute brothers and several others, including Malaysian terrorist Mahmud Ahmad, an Islamic State leader in the region who allegedly financed the Marawi attack.

More than a month of vicious firefights had transformed Marawi into the biggest internal security crisis in the Philippines, amid intelligence reports the IS was trying to gain a foothold in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

At the start of the siege, President Rodrigo Duterte placed the entire southern region of Mindanao under martial law, giving the military police powers to regain control of Marawi, a once prosperous lakeside trading center in the south. He has also been forced to seek help from the United States and Australia, two countries that he had earlier publicly insulted.

American P3 Orion spy planes have been providing intelligence help, although U.S. forces on the ground are barred from joining combat. Australia, too, has said it was ready to provide intelligence assistance.

Omarkhayam Maute dead?

On Friday, the military said it had received reports that Ahmad, as well as Abdullahs brother Omarkhayam Maute, had been killed in the intense clashes. The Malaysian government however said it could not confirm the information.

At the height of the violence early this month, the parents of Abdullah and Omarkhayam were arrested separately as they fled the fighting, which has transformed the mostly Muslim city of 200,000 into a virtual ghost town.

The BenarNews source who spoke with Abdullah Maute on the weekend said he tried to inquire about Omarkhayam, but did not get a reply.

In Manila, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said the government death toll has reached 70, with one soldier dying of his wounds at the hospital at the weekend.

Such a high price to pay for the liberation of Marawi, he said. But we remain undeterred and will carry the fight until our mission is completed.

The military could not categorically say how many civilians are being held hostage, but intelligence information has indicated about 100, including Soganub. Between 300 and 500 people are also believed trapped in the crossfire.

At least 290 gunmen have also been killed in the violence, which is now in its fifth week, with no immediate signs of ending.

Felipe Villamor contributed to this report in Manila.

CORRECTION: An earlier version misspelled the name of the priest, Father Teresito Soganub.


Pro-democracy activists gather at Democracy Monument in Bangkok to mark the second anniversary of the junta-led government takeover, May 22, 2016.

Future governments will not be required to follow a 20-year plan put in place by the current military junta, a senior official said Monday, in an apparent roll back of statements last week about a new law that critics say will prolong military control over Thailand for years to come.

The junta-appointed National Legislation Assembly (NLA) passed the National Strategy Bill 218-0 with three abstentions on Thursday, paving the way for formation of a 17-member National Strategy Committee to be led by Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha.

The upcoming national strategy isnt set in stone or compulsory to the new governments to follow. It includes a broad vision and a goal for the nation in the next 20 years, Adm. Pallop Tamisanon, an NLA member and spokesman for the strategy drafting committee, said Monday.

The committee to establish a 20-year national strategy will include seven top military officers, according to the new law. It will officially be formed after the law is posted in the Royal Gazette.

The law also calls for creation of a subcommittee charged with monitoring the compliance of future governments formed after elections, now expected at the end of 2018.

Pallops comments during a televised session of the NLA were in sharp contrast to those of Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Kreau-ngam, who told reporters Friday that new governments must follow the plan or face being disbanded and potential jail terms for their leaders.

The national strategy sub-committee will monitor how the new governments would run the country for five years and will report guilt, if any. It is a big issue, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Kreau-ngam told reporters after the bill was passed.

Any governments that fail to follow it, commit wrong-doing or defy it, will be investigated by the counter corruption commission and tried by the Constitutional Court, he said.

Too harsh

Since constitutional democracy came about in 1932, at least 19 coups have shaken Thailand. In the most recent, populist leaders Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck were toppled in their roles as prime minister in coups launched by the military in 2006 and 2014.

Prayuth has said he needed to oust Yingluck in May 2014 to restore national stability, and that new elections will not be held until the nation is at peace. Political street violence has killed hundreds of people in Thailand over the last 12 years.

Critics said the new law would enable the military to hold the reins of power even after it allows the country to hold democratic elections.

Nipit Indarasombat, deputy leader of the Democrat Party, questioned the laws penalties.

It is too harsh, I think. The issue came out of the junta-appointed NLA which does not necessarily go along the wish of people, he told BenarNews in a phone interview. The committee strategy might not fit peoples liking and when future governments do things their own way, they could be subjected to a jail term. That is odd.

A former representative of Yinglucks Pheu Thai party said the national strategic template would not allow Thailand to adapt to rapid global changes.

I dont agree with the 20-year strategy planning simply because it dictates that new governments do what it says, leaving no room for adapting to changes. Amending laws is hard, Somkid Cheaukong told BenarNews.
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For Immediate Release, June 26, 2017 Contact: Elise Bennett, (727) 755-6950, ebennett@biologicaldiversity.org $5,000 Added to Reward for Killer of Threatened Tortoises in Florida LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. The Center for Biological Diversity today added $5,000 to the reward for information leading to an arrest or fine in the killing of two state-protected gopher tortoises beaten to death in Florida earlier this month. It's deeply disturbing that someone would harm these gentle, defenseless creatures, said Elise Bennett, a Center attorney and lifelong Floridian dedicated to protecting rare reptiles and amphibians. These tortoises are our wild neighbors and they deserve justice. I know fellow Floridians and visitors to our state feel the same. On June 8 children discovered two tortoises that were apparently beaten along a bicycle path in Lakewood Ranch. One of the tortoises was found dead with its shell cracked, and the other was in a pool of its own blood. Neither tortoise survived the attack. A local newspaper reports that at least three people on a neighborhood forum have offered rewards totaling $1,100 to capture the person responsible, and the Lakewood Ranch community development district supervisor offered an additional $500. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also has a reward hotline, and anyone offering information leading to an arrest may be eligible for a reward of up to $600 from the agency. Today's announcement brings the total awards offered to $7,200. Gopher tortoises are fully terrestrial turtles that live in intricate burrows in the sandy soils of upland forests and prairies. They are most easily recognized by their shovel-like front limbs, which they use for burrowing, and their elephant-like hind legs. These tortoises can live from 40 to 60 years in the wild. They are important members of native Florida habitats because their burrows offer refuge to more than 350 other species of wildlife. Widespread urban development and historic development practices that allowed tortoises to be entombed in their burrows have severely reduced the number of gopher tortoises in existence. They continue to disappear in the face of ongoing habitat loss, herbicide and pesticide pollution, harmful forestry practices and disease. Because these tortoises are fighting to survive, they are now protected as threatened under Florida law and are candidates for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. Someone probably has information that can lead the authorities to the person who committed this cruel, illegal act of violence, said Bennett. I hope they can find it within themselves to share that information and give justice to these tortoises and the communities that loved them. Florida law prohibits any person from killing or wounding gopher tortoises, which are protected as threatened in the state. Violating the law is a third-degree felony and punishable by up to five years in prison, a $5,000 fine or both. Anyone with information should contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 888-404-FWCC (3922) or Tip@MyFWC.com.
For Immediate Release, June 26, 2017 Contact: Collette Adkins, Center for Biological Diversity, (651) 955-3821, cadkins@biologicaldiversity.org

Amey Owen, Animal Welfare Institute, (202) 446-2128, amey@awionline.org Feds to Analyze Wildlife Services' Impacts on Endangered Ocelots in Arizona, Texas Fewer Than 100 Likely Remain in United States TUCSON, Ariz. Under a settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity and the Animal Welfare Institute approved today in Tucson federal court, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to conduct analyses aimed at ensuring that Wildlife Services, the department's long-running program that kills Arizona and Texas wildlife, does not inadvertently kill endangered ocelots. With fewer than 100 ocelots remaining in the United States, these beautiful cats desperately needed this good news, said Collette Adkins, a Center attorney and biologist. All the latest science shows Wildlife Services' predator-control program is expensive, ineffective and inhumane. This settlement will help ensure that no ocelots suffer and die by traps set for bobcats, coyotes, bears and other predators targeted by Wildlife Services. Wildlife Services is required by the Endangered Species Act to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on its activities that may affect endangered species, including predator control. The program kills wildlife within the range of endangered ocelots. Given the similarity in size between ocelots and many of the targeted predators, the Fish and Wildlife Service warned Wildlife Services in a 2010 biological opinion document that ocelots could be harmed by its use of traps, snares and poisons  including baited M-44 devices that propel lethal doses of sodium cyanide into animals' mouths. Since that 2010 opinion, ocelots have been spotted in several additional locations in Arizona, including the Huachuca and Santa Rita mountains. New evidence also indicates that Wildlife Services has failed to comply with the mandatory measures intended to minimize risk to ocelots. Since the plaintiff wildlife organizations filed their complaint, Wildlife Services and the Fish and Wildlife Service have been working together to examine risks to ocelots and develop risk-mitigation measures. Under the settlement, the Service's consultation determination is due at the end of June. Wildlife Services currently uses lethal, indiscriminate techniques that clearly defy the federal protections provided to ocelots, said Tara Zuardo, a wildlife attorney with the Animal Welfare Institute. Moving forward, this settlement will help to safeguard this critically endangered species from the program's reckless activities. The program's analysis, long overdue, will help create a brighter future for ocelots. The wildlife organizations' complaint also asserted that Wildlife Services must use recent science to supplement its outdated, 1990s environmental analyses of its wildlife-killing program in Arizona. Under the settlement the Service will analyze this new information in a final environmental assessment to be released by December 29. The Wildlife Services program kills tens of thousands of animals in Arizona and Texas every year using traps, snares and poisons. Texas leads the country in the number of nontarget deaths from M-44 devices, also known as cyanide bombs, with 822 bobcats, foxes and other animals unintentionally killed from 2010 to 2016. Background

Ocelots have tawny coats marked by elongated brown spots with black borders. They can weigh as much as 35 pounds and stretch to 4 feet in length (including the tail). Ocelots seem to prefer dense cover but use a variety of habitats. Hunting mostly at night, they target rabbits, birds, fish, rodents, snakes, lizards and other small- to medium-sized prey. Their range includes Texas, Arizona, Mexico and Central and South America. Monitoring of collared individuals has shown that ocelots travel as far as 10 miles outside their home ranges. Since 2009 they've been detected at least five times in Arizona, including a road-killed ocelot near Globe in 2010, a treed ocelot in the Huachuca Mountains in 2011 and a male ocelot photographed in the Santa Rita Mountains in 2014. Since 1982 the species has been designated as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Although never abundant, ocelots were historically killed incidentally during the hunting, trapping and poisoning of coyotes, bobcats and other predators. Habitat loss also contributed to the animals' decline; only a fraction of the less than 5 percent of original native vegetation remaining in the lower Rio Grande Valley is optimal habitat for these cats. Now continuing habitat loss, collisions with vehicles and inbreeding resulting from small and isolated groups are keeping the wildcats' population numbers low.
For Immediate Release, June 26, 2017 Contact: Nathan Donley, (971) 717-6406, ndonley@biologicaldiversity.org California EPA Becomes First U.S. Agency to Declare That Roundup Causes Cancer SACRAMENTO, Calif. The state of California announced today that as of July 7 it will list glyphosate, the main ingredient in the pesticide Roundup and the most common pesticide in the world, as a known human carcinogen under the state's Proposition 65. Today's decision by the California Environmental Protection Agency was prompted by the World Health Organization's finding that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. The WHO's cancer research agency is widely considered to be the gold standard for research on cancer. California's decision makes it the national leader in protecting people from cancer-causing pesticides, said Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity and a former cancer researcher. The U.S. EPA now needs to step up and acknowledge that the world's most transparent and science-based assessment has linked glyphosate to cancer. The state was cleared to move forward with its decision earlier this year to list glyphosate after a court denied Monsanto's efforts to postpone the listing pending the outcome of the pesticide company's legal challenge of the decision. Glyphosate is the most widely used pesticide in the United States as well as the world, and is the most widely used pesticide in California, as measured by area of treated land. An analysis by the Center, available in English and Spanish, found that more than half of the glyphosate sprayed in California is applied in the state's eight most-impoverished counties. The analysis also found that the populations in these counties are predominantly Hispanic or Latino, indicating that glyphosate use in California is distributed unequally along both socioeconomic and racial lines. Earlier this year a report released by a federal scientific advisory panel concluded that the pesticides office at the U.S. EPA failed to follow its own guidelines when it found last year that glyphosate  the active ingredient in Monsanto's flagship pesticide Roundup  is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans. Recent court documents revealed that the chair of the federal EPA's Cancer Assessment Review Committee on glyphosate was in contact with Monsanto, providing insider information on the potential carcinogen listing, allowing the company to launch a campaign against it. The committee chair promised to thwart the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' review of glyphosate's safety, saying that if he was successful he deserved a medal. The department never did review glyphosate's safety, and the U.S. EPA continues to dispute the WHO's cancer research agency's findings. This is a remarkable day for California, which forged ahead and did the right thing on glyphosate even while special-interest politics hamstring our federal government from taking action to protect people from this dangerous pesticide, Donley said. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Eurofins Scientific announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire Genoma Group Srl in Italy. The transaction is expected to close in the next few weeks, subject to customary closing conditions.

With 20 years of clinical testing innovation, Genoma offers a wide range of specialty diagnostic testing services, and has developed a strong reputation in molecular biology and cytogenetics. Specifically, the company is a pioneer in non-invasive pre-natal testing (NIPT) in Italy, and leads the industry in innovative diagnostic tests in oncology. Genoma employs about 100 staff across its 2 main sites in Rome and Milan, and generates annual revenues in excess of EUR 20m.

The company serves hospitals, physicians and other laboratories which outsource the more complex diagnostic tests to Genoma. Given the ongoing consolidation in the clinical testing sector in Europe, the company is well-positioned to leverage and strengthen its footprint in the specialty diagnostic testing sector. This acquisition therefore provides Eurofins a strong entry platform into the clinical testing market in Italy, and strengthens the Groups footprint in the specialty diagnostic testing market in Europe. In return, Genoma should be able to further develop its portfolio of tests and services, as well as consolidate their client reach, by leveraging the Groups renowned capabilities in genomic testing and its international presence.

Comment from Dr. Francesco Fiorentino, Genoma CEO and founder: "We are excited to be joining Eurofins and look forward to the next phase of our development within the Group. We are confident that with access to Eurofins global network, we should be able to expand our geographic footprint, and achieve an improved international positioning of our analytical portfolio and molecular diagnostics services."

Comment from Dr. Gilles Martin, Eurofins CEO: The acquisition of Genoma reinforces Eurofins growing footprint in the specialty clinical diagnostics market, with innovative services with high positive impact for patient care. This transaction should enable the Group to continue deploying its technical know-how and proprietary technologies throughout Europe. In return, Genoma should benefit from access to the full capabilities of the Eurofins network.
Starting your day with a cup of mushroom coffee can give a much-needed twist to your daily regimen. Many speak of its benefits, and some even prefer it to regular coffee. But given its unique
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Thomson Reuters is looking at ways to partner with the vibrant innovation hotspots of Nairobi and Lagos, having launched its innovation lab in Cape Town at the end of last year.

 seamartini via 123RF

Disrupt Africa reported in October Thomson Reuters opened its first African innovation lab in Cape Town, aiming to support and partner with local technology and content driven startups and universities.

Thomson Reuters  which also ran an African startup challenge last year  hopes to co-create new technologies and business models together with startups, customers, and local universities through the Labs initiative, fuelling economic growth in various ways.

Saidah Nash Carter, senior vice president for innovation in Africa at Thomson Reuters, told Disrupt Africa the goal was to jumpstart as many new products and services that meet the unique needs of the companys African customer base as possible.

While the primary focus right now is on Cape Town and creating value for Thomson Reuters customers there, she said it was also looking at ways to partner with the vibrant innovation hotspots in Nairobi and Lagos.

I spend a lot of time on planes and coordinating with our colleagues on the ground in both Lagos and Nairobi, in order to ensure that we pursue opportunities that will be relevant across borders and scale, Carter said.

The Cape Town lab is a way for Thomson Reuters to rapidly prototype and de-risk new ideas.

We use all of the proven methodologies like Lean Startup and Design Thinking to put the customer at the centre of our approach and to quickly iterate on ideas, Carter said.

We are running co-creation led programmes with customers, startups and other innovation ecosystem players.

Thomson Reuters Labs focuses on programmes in transformational technology, specifically innovation clusters within the fintech, regtech and legaltech markets. The company is actively seeking partnership opportunities with startups in areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, cognitive computing, cryptocurrency, distributed ledgers, big data, social sentiment, advanced analytics, machine readable news, and automated data collection and analysis.

One key example Carter gave is a project called Bankable Farmer, which creates credit risk profiles for smallholder farmers through partnerships with farming cooperatives, banks, non-governmental organisations and mobile startups.

Our goal is to try and inject more information into the lending process  giving banks the information they need through non-traditional means to be able to have confidence to make loans to farmers that are creditworthy but dont have a traditional credit profile, she said.

The overall goal is to innovate at the intersection of where Thomson Reuters has domain expertise, and where Africa has a need, in areas such as land administration, risk mitigation, agribusiness and supply chain, and financial inclusion.

Cape Town may be the base, but Carter is clear Thomson Reuters is looking beyond just one city.

Cape Town has an extremely vibrant startup and VC ecosystem. In addition, a number of our largest and most strategic customers have decided to open innovation labs and incubators in Cape Town. In part, we followed our customers. Also, our headquarters for our Africa business is in Johannesburg, a short two-hour flight away, she said.

We have a pan-African, sub-Saharan Africa focus, with a distinct focus on the primary markets of Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa.

Carter sees both massive opportunities and significant challenges on the continent, with the main opportunities lying in mobile tech and the ability to build business and government infrastructure from the ground up using new technologies like blockchain and AI.

I also see the African entrepreneurial spirit as perhaps the biggest opportunity for growth across all sectors, she said. The biggest challenges I see are unemployment and a general lack of transparency and access where it matters.
Advertising, branding and marketing has been a part of my life for over 30 years.

I started in advertising in 1986, running huge advertising budgets for multinational motor companies, in client service and in strategy in top agencies, as an academic head of faculty, no less, at the AAA School of Advertising. I have never been to the Loeries nor have I ever been to the Cannes Lions. Never.

Arthur Sadoun

Why do I feel the need to tell you this? Well, Im sure that you all have seen the announcement made by Publicis new CEO, Arthur Sadoun, who has been in the job under a month, when he pulled out of the Cannes Lions saying that the money would be spent instead on artificial intelligence technology. Certainly this is a huge blow to the egos of the people in creative departments around the world, and their CVs, but if we aren't one of them, should we care?

There was a time when the type of creativity celebrated at advertising awards ceremonies was crucial for the success of advertising campaigns. That was when just about the most important job in advertising was to flag down people doing stuff like watching rugby, a movie or the Miss World pageant or even driving down the road, with a commercial message that had to be creative or it wouldn't be noticed. It was right that creativity was celebrated although there have always been skeptics like me who were never convinced that panels of creatives were the best way of judging this and that effectiveness was the sole credible judge.

In the digital and social era, the celebration of these artifacts are even less important. Im not judging, by the way, the value of networking for the delegates nor the quality of talks that delegates attend although we could definitely debate the cost and whether this is the best way to spread these ideas into the industry. In the digital age the need for flagging down or interrupting the audience with creativity takes a very much smaller role. One of the agency groups I once worked in DDB Needham used a measure called ROI, short for 'relevance, originality and impact' to judge advertising. Today relevance outweighs the other two massively.

Creating relevance is the business model of major social networks such as Facebook, by creating incredibly granulated target markets and by digital advertising networks such as Google to deliver advertising precisely to people who prove by their interest by their search behaviour or what they write about in emails or what they read or view while online. Google Ads may be heavily optimised, but they don't display this classic Lions creativity and can certainly be judged by actual results and there is no need at all for a panel of judges.

I still see a need for industry get-togethers to share knowledge and for the network opportunities but quite frankly think that Publicis will be followed by others just because its key output, the recognition of advertising creativity, is just not as important as it once was in the race for advertising agencies to remain relevant and so the alternative investment into artificial intelligence, big data, social network analysis and other technologies is a far better way to spend agency money. It will be interesting to see what happens and whether the focus will lead to more cost-effective and inclusive ways to spread advertising, marketing and digital ideas.
This year's winners of the Sunday Times Literary Awards, in association with Porcupine Ridge, were announced on Saturday night, 24 June at Tiso Blackstar Group's (formerly Times Media) new office venue at Hill on Empire in Parktown, Johannesburg.

The 17th Barry Ronge Prize for fiction was awarded to Zakes Mda for his book Little Suns (published by Umuzi) while Greg Marinovich was the recipient of the 28th Alan Paton Award for non-fiction writing for Murder at Small Koppie: The Real Story of the Marikana Massacre (published by Penguin Books).

Greg Marinovich and Zakes Mda

The Sunday Times Literary Awards are widely recognised as the most prestigious literary recognition in South Africa.

Sunday Times Books editor Jennifer Platt says: The shortlists were particularly powerful this year. The judges had a tough job, indeed. At the end, two winners were chosen that speaks to who we are as a country now  especially in examining our past and scrutinising our present.

The winners were adjudicated from shortlists selected by esteemed panels of judges.

Professor Pippa Green chaired a panel which included Justice Johann Kriegler and Professor Tinyiko Maluleke in deciding the Alan Paton Award. The judges called Marinovichs book, Murder at Small Koppie: The Real Story of the Marikana Massacre, one of the most important books of the year. They said it was so far, the definitive account of the Marikana massacre.

The Barry Ronge Fiction Prize was decided by a judging panel consisting of Africa Melane and Kate Rogan, chaired by Rehana Rossouw. The judges said that Little Suns was a novel of rich, magical African imagery. They applauded Mda for bringing history to glorious life, in writing that is unique to him.

The winners each received a R100,000 prize from the Sunday Times for their contribution to South African literature.

View the gallery here.
The agricultural sector has shed 44,000 jobs nationwide in the first quarter of this year alone, seeing Eastern Cape farming communities under increasing pressure to create sustainable livelihoods for residents. According to Agri Eastern Cape President Doug Stern, high rural unemployment rates in the province are often alleviated only by seasonal industry jobs such as fruit picking and sheep shearing.

Amid the pared down farming units focused on food security, Agri Eastern Cape members have become innovative in battling the spiralling unemployment rate in their communities. Our rural communities are often faced with a range of socio-economic problems, such as alcohol and substance abuse, family issues and crime. Many of our members are working hard to assist the unemployed by building small businesses and other creative enterprises in addition to their farming activities.

This group of women from the farm Rosenhof near Humansdorp is one of a number of successful creative development enterprises to emerge from employee wellness programmes implemented by Agri Eastern Cape members. Their clothing and beaded accessories brand, African Queens, aims to upskill more unemployed women in the area. (Image: Supplied)

"Boerseep" - putting by-products to good use

In Cradock, cattle farmers wife Tracey Michau started up her "Boerseep" soap-making business earlier this year as a way of putting the discarded beef tallow by-product to good use. Now her start-up is giving the local community a hand up. I discovered the old family recipe about a year ago and once I started making the soap, I realised there was a whole community of women that would benefit immensely from employment, said Michau.

Although the product is still in its infancy, Michau said her research indicated that there was a market for it, with existing distribution points at farm stalls and online organic stores. She is currently training a member of the community in the entire production process, who in turn will be able to transfer those skills as the team grows. Michaus intention is to secure employment for the women who assist with the sorting and classing of mohair after the farms Angora goats are shorn twice a year.

The soap takes three weeks to cure and we are currently producing around 700 bars per month. Besides creating sustainable employment for the women on our farm, the soap is also a project of mine that will fund my long-term goal of garlic production. I will utilise the same team of women, as intensive labour is only required for planting and harvesting.

From designer textiles to arts and crafts

An ongoing success story comes from Fish River Mouth near Port Alfred, where Agri EC member Adele Cutten established her mohair business more than 30 years ago.

Formerly a working pig farm, Cutten converted the old sty buildings into a labour-intensive cottage industry, which today employs 55 women for various semi-skilled and skilled tasks, such as spinning, dyeing, beading, knitting and crochet work. The women produce designer knitting yarns, fashion accessories and home textiles for the national and export market. Cutten said the Adeles Mohair brand had also expanded in response to global market demand to include a wider variety of natural fibres such as wool, alpaca, silk, and bamboo, in the offering.

Nationally, our products are mainly focused around tourism places in the Western Cape and a few small yarn shops dotted around. Internationally, our market is very widespread  from Japan to Russia, through Europe into Scandinavia, the UK and into America  at least 20 countries, said Cutten.

Adeles Mohair near Fish River Mouth has been providing employment for rural communities for over 30 years. Here founder and Agri EC Adele Cutten (left) and long-time employee Liz Dyakala (right) inspect the teams new uniforms. (Image: Supplied)

Similarly, Elsona de Klerk of the Graaff-Reinet district started training employees on her farm to paint tablecloths and placemats as part of a small business initiative just shy of two decades ago. The products proved so popular that she opened a studio and retail store in town and has since trained around a hundred community members in crafts, ranging from fabric painting and textiles to woodwork and ceramics. Their products, too, are exported worldwide under the Elsona Studio label. We have come a long way and today some forty wonderfully skilled women and men are providing for their families as a direct result of this project, said De Klerk.

In addition, Stern said a number of Agri EC members were partnering with facilitative organisations like Ekwip, which works with farmers and farmworkers in the Kouga region to address community wellbeing and equip employees and their families with essential income-generating and life skills.
Kaap Agri Limited, specialising in retailing and trading in agricultural, fuel and related retail markets in southern Africa, has listed in the Speciality Retailer sector of the JSE's Main Board - the seventh company to list on the JSE this year. With its strategic footprint, infrastructure, facilities and client network, it follows a differentiated market approach. In support of the core retail business, Kaap Agri also offers financial, grain handling and agency services.

Kaap Agri Limited Directors celebrating the listing at the JSE

Donna Nemer, director: capital markets at the JSE, says the JSE is privileged to welcome Kaap Agri to the wide-ranging group of retailers listed on the exchange. We are proud to provide a liquid and well-regulated platform where a company like Kaap Agri can list alongside its peers in the wider retail industry. The opportunity to buy shares in retail companies allows ordinary South Africans to participate in the growth of companies they know and shop at every day.

Nemer says Kaap Agris listing is also of special significance for the JSE because of the longstanding relationship the exchange has with the agriculture sector. The grain handling services Kaap Agri offers help to ensure the physical delivery of grain which is crucial to the functioning of the JSEs Commodity Derivatives Market. We see them as important partners to the JSE.

Sean Walsh, managing director of Kaap Agri, says the company believes listing will provide additional liquidity in the share and create further value for its shareholders. Listing on the JSE will make Kaap Agri visible to a wider investor audience which will draw in additional liquidity. The listing will also provide a platform for Kaap Agri to use its script for accretive merger and acquisition activities alongside organic growth.

Walsh says Kaap Agri is confident that it will be able to reach its target of a minimum annual growth of 15% in headline earnings per share over the next three years. We dont see the listing as just a single event. Its part of the process to continue to grow our business and generate a good return for our shareholders. We are very happy that our company has reached this point in our journey and we look forward to building on our success from here.

There are 27 retail companies listed on the JSE with a total market capitalisation of R590.3b. The sector contributes 4.3% to the JSEs overall market capitalisation.
There's a worrying trend in consumer behaviour which will see the underinsurance gap grow even more over the next few years.

The insurance gap of R28trn is disappointing. It reflects the harsh economic realities in South Africa. Ive been following these trends for 20 years and the gap continues to increase every year. It is a great concern because it has a direct influence on the financial stability of the individual and the next generation of income earners, says Johan Minnie, Liberty Group executive for sales, distribution and Bancassurance.

Well probably wont make up the massive number of R28trn in our lifetime. We wouldnt have this gap if people saw the need for insurance. However, people dont want to think about illness or death. Its not a thought that you want to entertain. In addition, under the current economic conditions, many South Africans will be sacrificing their insurance cover to make ends meet in the coming years, he says.

Long-term insurance not a priority

While it is encouraging to note that South Africans are starting to service their debts more effectively, it is clear that the average South African doesnt wake up every morning, thinking about insuring their lives. The reality is, if long-term insurance is not made a priority, the ability to service basic debts after a life changing event becomes impossible.

Consumers should look at long-term insurance as an investment instead of a grudge purchase. When you buy your new car, you know that before you leave, you need to have car insurance. Yet, the person behind the steering wheel who earns the income is not investing in the body that is generating the income. If something happens to the person, all the assets in the household will be lost if the right level of long-term insurance is not in place, says Minnie.

Overwhelmed by technicalities

Another reason for the lack of long-term insurance cover is that people are overwhelmed with technicalities. They dont want to make mistakes in getting cover, so they end up doing nothing instead.

This is where the true value of a financial planner comes into play. They are essential in changing the mind-set of customers. Financial advisers must focus on the lifestyle requirements of the customer, and provide simple long-term insurance solutions in place to cover all their needs at once, says David Kop from the Financial Planning Institute.

However, there is another gap in the number of advisers versus the number of consumers needing advice. There are approximately 40,000 financial advisers in the country servicing a massive population of income earners. As a result, people are buying less risk cover.

Financial education is vital, especially in those areas where people are struggling in day-to-day. We all need to start talking about basic financial management. South Africa as a whole needs to get involved in educating the public sound financial management skills, from basic education until earning your first income. We need to use technology to make financial planning smarter and more effective.
Officials from the Department of Human Settlements will this week visit the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape for public hearings on the Property Practitioners Bill and the Home Loan and Mortgage Disclosure Amendment Bill.

The two Bills are aimed at transforming the property and real estate sector.

The sector is currently valued at about R7 trillion and its subsidised component is approximately R1.5 trillion. Historically disadvantaged people only account for less than five percent ownership and this new law will help ensure a more inclusive and representative sector and protect the consumer, the department said on Sunday.

The department said the published envisaged laws are public documents and allow for South Africans and practitioners in the property sector to comment and give further inputs.

The public comments are a necessary requisite to complete the work of the Department of Human Settlements that drafted the amendments following a review of the impact of current legislations and inputs from stakeholders on challenges related to fair lending practices and transformation in the property sector.

They will further broaden the sectors operations and reach to historically black communities such as townships where the real estate sector and estate agents work has still not stretched to its maximum potential in terms of access, ownership and even the training of new real estate agents in poor communities, the department said.

The proposed laws encourage professionalisation, accountability and transformation of the sector.

Public hearings will be held in all nine provinces. Last week, the public participation sessions were held in Northern Cape and Free State and North West.

Communities in these provinces took the opportunity provided by the public hearings to robustly engage and comment to ensure an inclusive outcome that will give the country better laws, the department said.

Among other issues raised and discussed during the engagements included the promotion of meaningful participation by small businesses, stringent penalties to ensure financial institutions compliance, unfair landing practises by institutions, to assistance given to mortgage defaulters.

This week, the public participation sessions will take place in the following provinces:
Fast-growing private education business, Curro Holdings, which investment company PSG Group controls, has set a longterm expansion target of 500 schools by 2030.

Outgoing CEO Chris van der Merwe disclosed this at the annual meeting in Stellenbosch on Friday, 23 June 2017. Van der Merwe - who will now head Curro's tertiary education spin-off, Stadio Holdings - said the private school market in SA lagged those in other countries globally, where independent schools made up nearly 20% of the total number of schools, compared with just 4.4% in SA.

"If SA follows this trend, there is huge potential for many more independent schools to be developed," he said.

Curro CEO designate Andries Greyling said the group would open two Curro Castles (preprimary schools) in Oakdene (Gauteng) and Uitzicht (Cape Town) in 2018, as well as three Curro Academy campuses in Sunningdale (Cape Town), Riverside and Mamelodi (both in Gauteng).

He said Curro would concentrate its expansive efforts in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces and would consider expanding into other regions via acquisition.

Van der Merwe said Curro had increased pupil numbers by a compound growth rate of 31% since 2012, with revenue and earnings increasing at a compound growth rate of 48% and 83%, respectively over the same period.

Curro's operating margin, which had grown from 23% in financial 2012 to 29% in 2016, could settle between 30% and 40% in the medium term.

Van der Merwe said if Curro stopped building schools its existing 127 schools were at just 52% capacity. "We could accommodate a massive amount of learners." As regards Stadio's tertiary ambitions, he said plans were under way for a large and diverse institution of higher learning, a "multiversity" with centralised functions.

Van der Merwe said Stadio's target for 2017 was to have 13,000 students at the firm's listing in the third quarter, with a medium-term target of 35,000 pupils and a longer term vision of 65,000.

Anthony Clark, an analyst at Vunani Securities, said that the tertiary education sector was ripe for consolidation and that a number of Stadio rights issues were likely to fund acquisitive growth.

There were 117 independent tertiary businesses in the country servicing 147,000 pupils, Clark said.

"Only 15-20 would be in Stadio's cross hairs," he said.

Curro gained 1.6% on Friday to close at R43.10. The stock is down more than 14% in 2017.

Source: Business Day
The Council of the University of Johannesburg has appointed of Professor Tshilidzi Marwala as the university's second vice-chancellor and principal. Prof Marwala's appointment follows a rigorous and extensive selection process, as required by the University statute and the University's rules for the appointment of the vice-chancellor.

From L-R: Prof Ihron Rensburg, Vice-Chancellor and Principal; Chairperson of the Universitys Council, Prof Roy Marcus; and Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, Vice-Chancellor Designate.

Prof Marwala, who is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Internationalisation at UJ, will succeed Professor Ihron Rensburg on 1 January 2018.

Announcing the decision following the Universitys Council meeting on Thursday, 22 June 2017, the Chairperson of the Universitys Council, Professor Roy Marcus, said the appointment of Prof Marwala will further advance the strategic goal of the University to become Africas epicentre of critical intellectual enquiry.

Since its establishment in 2005, and under the bold and visionary leadership of Prof Ihron Rensburg, the University has had a remarkable journey that has seen it become the national standard bearer for transformation, equity, access, and Pan African and global excellence. As a result, the University has become a leading African university with global stature that is now ranked 7th amongst Africas universities, and ranked within the top 2.3% of universities in the world as published in the QS World University Rankings for 2017/2018," said Prof Marcus.

"I am confident that Prof Marwala will further advance UJs vision of excellence in teaching, research and innovation, internationalisation, public scholarship and community engagement. Prof Marwalas excellent academic pedigree and extensive national and international experiences will be vital to deepening and widening on our strategic goal of Pan African and global excellence and stature."

Biography

Prof Marwala has a distinguished tenure at UJ as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Internationalisation since 2013, and was previously UJs Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. Prof Marwala has received in excess of 45 honours and awards, including the Order of Mapungubwe and was the first African engineer to be awarded the National Research Foundations Presidents award.

Notable other honours and awards include being the Carl and Emily Fuchs Chair of Systems and Control Engineering as well as the SARChI Chair of Systems Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. Prof Marwala academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (magna cum laude) from Case Western Reserve University (USA), a Master of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pretoria and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Engineering from Cambridge University. He completed a post-doctoral research associateship at the Imperial College (London) and a programme for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.

Prof Marwala is a registered professional engineer, a fellow of TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences), the Academy of Science of South Africa, the African Academy of Sciences, the South African Academy of Engineering, a senior member of the IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and a distinguished member of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery).

Prof Marwalas research interests are multi-disciplinary and include the theory and application of computational intelligence to engineering, computer science, finance, social science and medicine. As a B-rated researcher, he has published nine books, over 300 papers in journals, proceedings, book chapters and magazines and holds three international patents. He is an associate editor of the International Journal of Systems Science (Taylor and Francis Publishers) and has been a reviewer for more than 40 ISI journals. His global network is wide and includes being a visiting scholar at Harvard University, at the University of California at Berkeley, at the Wolfson College of University of Cambridge and at Nanjing Tech University. Prof Marwala is also a member of the programming council of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Silesian University of Technology (Poland).
LONDON - US social media giant Facebook launched a campaign in Britain on Friday to counter the spread of online extremism following warnings from Prime Minister Theresa May after four terror attacks in three months.

Facebook said it would seek to educate charities and other organisations on how to fight hate speech, in the wake of recent terror attacks in Belgium, Britain and France.

The Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI) will act as a forum for charities and other nonprofit organisations to share their experiences of extremism and develop "best practices" to tackle the issue, both on and offline.

There are already OCCI schemes in France and Germany.

Earlier this year, Group of Seven (G7) leaders had urged online giants like Facebook and Google to do more to curb extremist content online.

"The fight is moving from the battlefield to the internet," May said at the time.

Partners in the new initiative include the Jo Cox Foundation, which was established in memory of the British member of parliament who was assassinated last year by a man with links to neo-Nazi organisations.

Other partner organisations include anti-hate groups from the Jewish and Muslim communities.

"There is no place for hate or violence on Facebook," the company's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said Friday.

"We use technology like AI (artificial intelligence) to find and remove terrorist propaganda, and we have teams of counterterrorism experts and reviewers around the world working to keep extremist content off our platform.

"Partnerships with others -- including tech companies, civil society, researchers and governments -- are also a crucial piece of the puzzle."

"We know we have more to do, but through our platform, our partners and our community we will continue to learn to keep violence and extremism off Facebook."

The announcement Friday comes a week after Facebook launched a series of counter-terrorism measures in the wake of the recent terror attacks in Manchester and London.

In a separate announcement Friday, the British government rolled out new rules to crack down on terrorist and criminal financing.

Businesses like banks, estate agents and accounting and payment firms will have to carry out "stringent and targeted checks" to make sure that money "is from a legitimate source and will not be used to fund terror acts", the Treasury said in a statement.
Dozens of city mayors from around the world - including Washington, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney - on Monday, 26 June, called on G20 leaders to stick to their commitments on tackling climate change.

In a joint text distributed to media outlets worldwide and posted online, the "C40" mayors "of the world's great cities" urged leaders from the Group of 20 "on behalf of the hundreds of millions of citizens that we represent... to deliver on your commitments to tackle climate change, one of the world's most pressing issues."

In light of US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate change pact "the resolve of the other 19 leaders at the upcoming G20 Summit to safeguard the future of our planet is more important than ever," the statement added.

The 20 leaders will gather in Hamburg, Germany on 7 and 8 July.

The world city mayors, led by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, said they were inspired by the "courage" shown by more than 300 mayors in cities across the United States who have committed to upholding the Paris Agreement despite Trump's decision.

The core goal of the Paris agreement is for countries to take measures aimed at restricting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

But Trump has said the climate pact, signed by nearly 200 countries, would hit the United States with "draconian financial and economic burdens" while competitors got off lightly.

The list of mayors who have signed up to the statement also include those of Karachi, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne, Chicago, Warsaw, Seoul and Vancouver.

"Local leaders around the world stand together with you, redoubling our commitment to bold action on climate change, working with business leaders and citizens worldwide," the mayors said in their statement, urging ordinary citizens to sign a petition to back their cause.

"We must all work together to save the planet," the statement stressed.

Source: AFP
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius - The 2017 round of Africa Code Week was officially launched last week in Flic-En-Flac, Mauritius. Now in its third year, Africa Code Week aims to spread coding literacy among African youth, with a key focus on female skills development and training.

 Hannu Viitanen via 123RF

Started in 2015 by SAP Corporate Social Responsibility EMEA and several public and private sector partners, the initiative has a long-term goal of empowering more than 200,000 teachers and positively impacting the lives of five million children and youth within the next 10 years.

In 2016, more than 426 000 young Africans across 30 countries learnt computer coding basics as part of Africa Code Week, beating initial targets of 150,000 by miles. This year, SAP set a target of impacting the lives of 500,000 youth across 35 African countries from 18-25 October.

"By learning the new language of coding in an open, supportive environment, young Africans are able to take advantage of the immense opportunities presented by the digital revolution and become active players of the global economy," says Claire Gillissen-Duval, Director of EMEA Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP and Global Project Lead for Africa Code Week.

By 2040, Africa is projected to have a working age population of more than one billion. "Considering the growing global shortage in technical skills, Africa has a unique opportunity to take a lead role in powering the global economy," says Clas Neumann, senior VP, lead of Fast Growth Market Strategy at SAP.

"However, the lack of widely available education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) fields could undermine the continent's ability to equip this growing workforce with the skills they need to thrive in the digital economy. Africa Code Week is one way of reaching out to even remote corners of the continent and creating interest in the opportunities only the digital world can offer. We hope, that this will help inspiring young Africans to pursue careers that will drive the continent's digital transformation."

A platform for digital service delivery in Africa

Since gaining independence in 1968, Mauritius has undergone a remarkable economic transformation from a low-income, mostly agriculture-based economy to a diversified, upper-middle income country with vibrant sugar, tourism, ICT, hospitality, and property development industries.

Today, it is one of the leading African countries across a range of indexes, most notably scoring first place in Africa in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index and United Nations' Human Development Index. With the highest ICT Development Index of all African countries, the Republic of Mauritius also continues to lead the way in the integration of ICT as a socioeconomic growth accelerator.

According to the latest government statistics, nearly a third of current Mauritian students are enrolled in a STEM-related course. However, according to Mauritian President, Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, the sector's workforce impact remains low due to a lack of sufficient talent needed to take the sector to new heights. "There is only one way to transform Africa's 'youth bulge' into an unprecedented opportunity for growth and social peace: education," says Gurib-Fakim.

The call for diversity

Prevailing stereotypes and cultural barriers typically mean women are 1.6 more likely to report a lack of digital skills as a barrier to their participation in the digital economy. "If Africa is to realise its potential and provide the workforce that will power the global economic engine in the long run, more must be done to empower girls and women by promoting digital skills development and improve their job prospects," said Gillissen-Duval.

The Mauritian government has taken several measures to promote gender equality, including repealing discriminatory laws, and the appointment of equal opportunity officers in principal ministries to deal with women's issues.

Mauritius's efforts towards empowering the next generation of female leaders and entrepreneurs are very much in line with the #eSkills4Girls mission: a joint initiative by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), SAP, Africa Code Week and UNESCO, to overcome the gender digital divide and improve digital skills and employment opportunities for girls and women in emerging and developing countries.

The value of partnerships

Africa Code Week is now actively supported by a fast-growing network of strategic partners - including UNESCO YouthMobile, BMZ, the Cape Town Science Centre, the Galway Education Centre, Google, ALink Telecom, Fondation Life Builders, DreamOval Foundation, Camara Education and 10 African governments.

Among the latter public-sector partners, the Moroccan Ministry of Education and Vocational Training won the ACW friendly competition two years in a row with a record of 200,000 young Moroccans engaged in Africa Code Week since 2015.

Brett Parker, president of SAP Africa, said Africa Code Week is a shining example of how effective public-private partnership and open collaboration can bring transformative change to Africa's youth.

"With a wealth of youthful talent, a network of passionate teachers, and the tremendous support of our key strategic partners, Africa Code Week has gone from strength to strength, making a far-reaching and positive impact on the fortunes of the continent's youth.

We are thankful to our partners for their support in our effort to address the challenge of female STEM skills development through Africa Code Week, and we look forward to working with all stakeholders to empower a new generation of digital innovators across the continent."

The 2017 Africa Code Week initiative will take place across 35 countries from 18-25 October. For more information about Africa Code Week, please visit http://africacodeweek.org/ .

Source: Africa Media Agency.
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso - Ignoring the plight of jobless young people in sub-Saharan Africa is a recipe for political instability and global insecurity, warned a high-level symposium of Africa's interior, environment, and foreign affairs ministers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Richard Van der Spuy via 123RF

The high-level symposium, which was held ahead of this year's World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) marked on June 17, stressed that Africa's heavy reliance on the natural resource base for livelihoods is a challenge, and its mismanagement increases household risks and amplifies the vulnerability of millions of people. This was the first time high-ranking officials drawn from Africa's foreign affairs, environment, and interior ministries met jointly to find solutions to Africa's growing challenge of rural youth unemployment that is driving distress migration and radicalisation of disillusioned young men.

Participating ministers called for support to create land-based jobs in the rural areas to ward off the temptation for the most disillusioned to take up alternative but dangerous sources of income. They called for the identification of sites where tenure or access to land rights can be secured and provided to vulnerable at-risk groups.

The high-ranking officials also called for partnerships to create two million secure land-based jobs through rehabilitation of 10 million hectares of degraded land. They called for investment in rural infrastructure, rehabilitation tools and skills development and prioritisation of job creation in unstable and insecure areas, as well.

The symposium examined the threats connected to sustainability, stability and security, namely, conflicts linked to access to degrading natural resources, instability due to unemployment of rural youth and insecurity and the risk of the radicalisation triggered by social and economic marginalisation and exposure to extremist groups.

Drought, unemployment and hopelessness, fertile grounds for extremism

Presidents Roch Marc Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali and Mahammadou Issoufou of Niger stressed that drought, food insecurity, water scarcity, unemployment, hopelessness about the future and poverty are fertile grounds for extremism, and a sign of insecurity, instability, and unsustainability.

Two days earlier, more than 400 civil society representatives from African participated in their World Day observance, also in Ouagadougou, and organised by Spong, a local non-governmental organisation, to prepare for the International Summit of Non-State Actors titled, Desertif'actions 2017, to be held on 27 and 28 June 2017 in Strasbourg, France, which will be dedicated to land degradation and climate change, bringing together 300 stakeholders from 50 countries.

The outcomes of the Strasbourg Summit will be presented to the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to be held in Ordos, China, in September 2017, and the 23rd session of the Conference of Parties to the Climate Change Convention.

"Frustrations Will Boil over with More Migration and More Conflict"

According to Monique Barbut, UNCCD executive secretary, more than 375 million young people will enter Africa's job market over the next 15 years, of whom 200 million will be living in the rural areas. "Millions of rural young people face an uncertain future due to the lack of decent rural jobs and continuous loss of livelihoods due to land degradation and falling yields... Frustrations will boil over with more migration and more conflict over a shrivelling resource base."

The challenge is bigger than just a matter of a million young African's attempting to make the move towards Europe over the course of a year, she said, adding that the UK Ministry of Defence estimates up to 60 million Africans are at risk of distressed migration as a result of land degradation and desertification pressures in the next two decades.

"Imagine what could happen if each of you committed to rehabilitate 100,000 hectares of land in your respective countries... If young people in Africa were given the chance to bring that natural capital back to life and into production... With the right type of investments in land, rural infrastructure and skills development, the future in your region can be bright."

During the celebrations, Barbut announced the two winners of the prestigious Land for Life Award: Practical Action Sudan/UNEP from South Sudan; Watershed Organization Trust from India. The Land for Life China award was given to Yingzhen Pan, director general of National Bureau to Combat Desertification, China. The winners show that restoration of degraded land can halt distress migration that is driven by unproductive land resources, Barbut said. "Families and communities are transformed and become more resilient towards climate change when job opportunities are created."

The first African Action Summit by Heads of State and Government held in Marrakesh in 2016 launched the Sustainability, Stability and Security initiative - the 3S Initiative - with a commitment to speed up the restoration and rehabilitation of degraded lands as a means to create jobs for rural youth.

According to Batio Bassiere, Minister of Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change, Burkina Faso, his country, on average, loses 360,000 hectares of land to degradation every year, with significant impacts on 85 percent of the population that lives off agriculture and pastoral activities. As stated in the theme of the World Day to Combat Desertification, Our Land, Our Home, Our Future must be preserved against all forms of degradation or desertification, said the minister.

Burkina Faso is now among the 110 countries that to-date have committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target of land degradation neutrality by 2030, he said.

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the only legally binding international agreement on land issues. It promotes good land stewardship, and its 196 Parties aim, through partnerships, to implement the Convention and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

According to UNCCD, the end goal is to protect our land from overuse and drought so it can continue to provide us all with food, water, and energy. "By sustainably managing land and striving to achieve land degradation neutrality, now and in the future, we will reduce the impact of climate change, avoid conflict over natural resources and help communities to thrive."

This story is part of special IPS coverage of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, observed on 17 June.
Advertising Week, the world's largest annual gathering of marketing, media, and technology leaders, makes its long-anticipated debut in Africa on 14-19 February 2023, after the planned launch was delayed by the global pandemic.
PM Abe hopes to have basic free trade deal reached with EU next month

TOKYO - Japan wants to hold informal free trade talks with the United Kingdom as it also works to sign a deal with the European Union, a report said on Sunday.

Tokyo's moves aim to minimize Brexit's impact on Japanese companies as the UK negotiates its exit from the EU, the business daily Nikkei reported.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he wants to reach a basic free trade agreement with the EU next month.

More than 1,000 Japanese companies operate in Britain, employing some 140,000 people in the country, while Japan's direct investment in the UK has topped 10 trillion yen ($96 billion) to date.

Japanese officials have already warned businesses with European headquarters based in Britain that they may have to relocate to continental Europe after a final deal is signed between London and the EU.

Japan's major automakers have so far backed the British economy, with Toyota announcing an investment in a car assembly plant while Nissan gave the green light to new investments at its plant in northeast England.

Japan is planning to start informal talks with the UK while it remains in the EU, but will wait until the country has left the bloc before launching formal bilateral negotiations, the Nikkei report said, without citing sources.

"As (the UK) is not allowed to launch formal negotiations with a third country under the EU rules, the Japanese and British governments will prepare (informal) talks behind the scenes," it said.

Japan does not currently have a trade deal with the EU but is locked in long-running negotiations with the bloc. On Saturday, Abe said he is aiming to reach a Japan-EU free trade deal during his visit to Germany to attend a Group of 20 summit.

"I hope to hold a summit meeting with the EU and reach a basic agreement there," he said.

"The Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement will be a model for 21st century economic order," said Abe.

He added that he hoped the EU deal would provide the same stability promised by the enormous Trans-Pacific Partnership pact. US President Donald Trump has pulled out of the TPP, effectively putting the deal on hold.

The UK voted to end its four-decade membership of the 28-nation bloc in a referendum last year.

Agence France-presse

(China Daily 06/26/2017 page11)
PR Newswire

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 26, 2017

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog today called on Congress to ensure the adoption of federal safety standards to cover self-driving autonomous vehicles and warned that proposed House legislation that would pre-empt state safety regulations "would leave a regulatory void without meaningful safety protections."

In a formal statement filed with the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection for its hearing Tuesday on self-driving legislation, Consumer Watchdog's John M. Simpson warned:

"Pre-empting the states' ability to fill the void left by federal inaction leaves us at the mercy of manufacturers as they use our public highways as their private laboratories however they wish with no safety protections at all."

The proposed legislation circulated by the Subcommittee does nothing to require or promote the development of safety standards, but would prevent states from enacting them.

The nonprofit nonpartisan public interest group stressed that regulations covering jurisdiction over licensing; enacting and enforcing traffic laws and regulations; and regulating vehicle insurance and liability must remain with the states.

"Lost in the hyperbole over robot cars is a realistic assessment of the likely costs to both consumers and taxpayers particularly over the coming decades, when robot cars and human drivers will share a 'hybrid highway,' " said Simpson.

Consumer Watchdog also called on Congress to increase funding for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration so it has the resources necessary to enact safety performance standards and regulate self-driving robot cars.

Read Consumer Watchdog's statement here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/househavstatement062717.pdf

View the Subcommittee hearing here: https://energycommerce.house.gov/hearings-and-votes/hearings/self-driving-vehicle-legislation

The statement to the House Subcommittee comes after Consumer Watchdog's in depth study, "Self-Driving Vehicles: The Threat to Consumers." Read the report here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/resources/self_driving_consumer_threat_report.pdf

Consumer Watchdog noted that when the federal government finally enacts Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FVMSS) covering autonomous vehicles, they will under current law pre-empt state safety regulations.

"There will be no 'patch-work' of competing and possibly contradictory regulations that some warn about," said Simpson. "NHTSA just needs to do its job and protect the public's safety."

Consumer Watchdog's formal statement concluded:

"We call on you to require the development of enforceable federal safety performance standards. Responsible regulation goes hand-in-hand with innovation. Voluntary 'standards' in the auto industry have repeatedly been proven to be weak and insufficient. Safety must come before the automakers' bottom lines. Consumer Watchdog calls on you to require NHTSA to enact the necessary regulations to protect the safety of our highways and give the agency the necessary resources to do so."

The next few years will feature complex interactions between people, computers, cars and public streets and freeways, Consumer Watchdog said. To deal with the challenge posed by autonomous vehicle technology, Consumer Watchdog believes six principles must be adopted. They are:

1. Protect the civil justice system. The state-based civil justice system  open courts, impartial judges and citizen juries  is fully equipped to handle the determination of legal responsibility as our transportation system evolves over the coming decades. Disputes over who is at fault in a crash involving a self-driving car or truck will require the full power of civil justice system, with its procedural safeguards of an impartial judge, full public transparency, and trial by citizen juries, to investigate and publicly expose the cause of crashes, compensate the victims for deaths, injuries and property damage, punish the wrongdoer, and force manufacturers to make changes in their products to prevent future harm. When their autonomous technologies fail, hardware and software manufacturers must be held strictly liable. Lawmakers should reject legislation to limit or restrict state consumer protection laws. Manufacturers must not be permitted to evade these consumer protections by inserting arbitration clauses, "hold harmless" provisions or other waivers in their contracts.

2. Enact stronger state consumer protections against insurance company abuses. According to a 2013 report by the Consumer Federation of America, "California stands out from all other states in having the best insurance regulatory system for protecting consumers." Enacted by California voters in 1988, California's insurance reform law provides precisely the stronger protections consumers will require in the era of robot vehicles. The reforms, known as Proposition 103, have protected motorists (along with homeowners, renters, businesses and medical providers) against unjust insurance rates (including product liability insurance rates) and anti-consumer and discriminatory practices. The law's emphasis on rewarding drivers with lower insurance premiums based on their safety record, their annual mileage, their driving experience, and other rating factors within their control that are "substantially related to the risk of loss," will be critical in the new automotive era. Proposition 103's mandate for public disclosure and public participation in regulatory matters are essential components of a system that will be trusted by consumers.

3. Enact auto safety standards. Private companies cannot be trusted to develop and deploy robot cars and trucks without rules. The federal auto safety agency or other relevant federal agencies, or in their absence, state auto safety agencies, must develop standards for the testing and deployment of the multiple technologies required by robot vehicles. These standards must address safety, security, privacy and the software that determines the robot's actions in the event of an impending collision and as it makes life and death decisions. They must be enforceable by consumers in courts of law.

4. Stronger laws are needed to protect consumers' privacy. The laws have not kept pace with the evolution of technology and the collection and monetization of consumers' personal data. Hardware and software manufacturers and insurance companies must be barred from utilizing tracking, sensor or communications data, or transferring it to third parties for commercial gain, absent separate written consent (which should not be required as a condition of accessing the services of the vehicle/manufacturer, and which should be revocable by the consumer at any time).

5. Bar federal interference in state consumer protection laws. Neither Congress nor federal agencies should be permitted to preempt or override stronger state based civil justice, insurance reform or auto safety laws.

6. Respect democratic and human values. The sponsors of self-driving vehicles have promoted the myth that machines are infallible in order to justify the wholesale departure from a panoply of norms that form founding principles for the nation, beginning with the rule of law; individual and corporate responsibility; long held legal principles that distinguish between human beings and property; and the transparency of public officials and institutions that is a hallmark of democracy. The strategy of substituting robot values for human values has reached its apotheosis in the determination by robot car company executives to program computers to make life and death decisions, and to keep that decision-making process secret. Lawmakers will need to impose the rule of law and other attributes of American democracy upon the executives of the hardware and software companies that manufacture self-driving cars.

Visit our website at www.consumerwatchdog.org

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consumer-watchdog-calls-on-congress-to-ensure-safety-standards-for-robot-cars-warns-pre-emption-of-state-rules-before-feds-act-would-leave-dangerous-regulatory-void-300479982.html

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog
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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This years Eid al-Fitr celebration marked the first time that the Brandon Islamic Centre wasnt large enough to accommodate Brandons Muslim community.

Instead, Muslims gathered in the gymnasium of Vincent Massey High School to celebrate Eid, the conclusion of Ramadan, on Sunday morning.

Muhammad Abidullah, the treasurer of the Brandon Islamic Centre, was expecting 200 attendees, but figured there were approximately 300 men, women and children who took part this year.

Michaela Solomon/The Brandon Sun The Brandon Islamic Centre estimates 300 people attended the celebration of Eid Eid al-Fitr, the conclusion of Ramadan, at Vincent Massey High School on Sunday morning. This marks the first time the centre's location on 10th Street hasn't been able to accomodate the celebration.

Its an eye-opener for us, Abidullah said in reference to the significant growth of Brandons Islamic community.

Between Nov. 4, 2015, and Feb. 29, 2016, the federal government resettled more than 25,000 Syrian refugees. Abidullah said those resettlements played a major factor in the increase in patrons to the centre, and subsequently the need for a bigger space.

We dont have a charity status, Abidullah said. But weve applied to the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) for that.

According to Abidullah, when the centre moved into its 10th Street location in 2013, they figured that space would accommodate their needs for at least the next 15 years.

But its 2017, Abidullah said. And that building has a permit for occupancy of just 150 people.

Brandon Islamic Centre president Faiz Ahmed said that praying for peace in the world was especially important at this years Eid celebration.

Right now we are living in a time in the world where, one thing in very scarce supply is peace, Ahmed said. We want the Brandon community to know that we are good, responsible society members, all working toward the same cause, which is to make Brandon a better community, Manitoba a better province, and our country the best nation in the world.

In addition to peace, Ahmed said they pray for those in the community who are sick, less fortunate, and those who have passed on.

Not just the Brandon community, Ahmed said. But the nation, the entire global population of all the people in this world. We pray for them.

Ramadan, also known as the holy month, ran from the evening of May 26 to the evening of June 24. The month lasts 29 to 30 days, depending on the visibility of the crescent moon.

One of the five pillars of Islam, along with the widely recognized pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, Ramadan serves to represent ones dedication to Allah.

During the month-long period, Muslims, with the exception of those with a medical condition that prevents them from taking part, fast each day from dawn  or one hour before sunrise  until sunset. The fast excludes food, liquid, smoking, sexual activity and music.

Muslims are also meant to refrain from ill speech, and pray more often during the holy month of Ramadan.

Michaela Solomon/The Brandon Sun Muhammad Cheema, left, is the grandfather of, Yahya Akram, centre, and father to Usman Akran, right. The family is proud to have three generations present at this year's Eid al-Fitr celebration at Vincent Massey High School.

Its a month of self-restraint for every aspect of life, Ahmed said. After the first two weeks, you begin to feel a little bit low on energy, but it is something strange because this inner strength comes out.

Usman Akran, who attended the Eid celebration with his family, said that fasting during the month of Ramadan saves families a lot of money, which they donate to the less fortunate prior to Eid.

Its called a fitrana, Akran said. Each person pays a $10 donation at the end of Ramadan, which we donate to those people who cannot afford to eat.

Following prayer in the morning, a buffet meal was served, complete with tea and dessert.

Fozia Firbaus said its especially challenging to fast when Ramadan takes place in the summer, as the time between sunrise and sunset can be as long as 18 hours.

We feel hungry for the full day when we are fasting, she said. Its good for us to feel like, how many people who are hungry in the world. We tell our kids that for the day they are feeling how those people feel when they are hungry.

Firbaus said she offers translations of the Quran from Arabic to English, so that more people will have access to the central religious text of Islam.

One class was on Saturday and people came to my house and we were learning the holy book, she said.

The Brandon Islamic Centre leadership said they are happy to see such a positive turn out for this years Eid celebration to mark the end of Ramadan.

 The Brandon Sun
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/06/2017 (1966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In hopes of attracting more funding to aid in Brandons affordable housing shortcomings, the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corp. is promoting provincial grants available to property owners.

The Rental Housing Improvement Program provides as much as $24,000 in forgivable loans, per unit, to assist in the renovation of rental units that are deemed affordable.

Affordable rates in Brandon, without utilities, are $485 for bachelor units, $640 for one-bedroom units, $813 for two-bedrooms, $954 for three-bedrooms and $1,118 for four-bedrooms plus.

Tyler Clarke/The Brandon Sun Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corp. housing co-ordinator Leanne Petrin, pictured at the organizations offices at city hall, is keen to help landlords navigate the system to secure funding to help spruce up their affordable rental units.

Manitoba Housing is hosting an information session about the program at 2 p.m. on Tuesday at their 253 Ninth St. office  an effort BNRC is keen to promote.

Given the limited number of new affordable housing units being built, preserving the citys existing stock is integral, BNRC housing co-ordinator Leanne Petrin said.

When the rates are so low its difficult to have enough money to maintain the buildings, so this is a very important program, she said.

Further to helping ensure buildings dont degrade, she said that its important to provide property owners with incentive such as this to help dissuade them from giving up on keeping things affordable, and bumping their rates up to market levels.

Previous years havent seen Brandon property owners take as great advantage of the Rental Housing Improvement Program as they could have, Petrin said.

To help ensure Brandon started getting its share of funding, the BNRC began promoting the program last year, which resulted in two funding applications being approved.

Its a big priority of the BNRC to let people know about the availability of this, Petrin said, adding that her organization is about improving the quality of life among those living in Brandon, which includes those of a lower income.

This funding goes toward treating buildings core problems, such as structural, electrical, plumbing, heating and fire safety concerns.

For those who miss out on Tuesdays event, Petrin encourages those interested in either contacting either Manitoba Housing directly or herself at the BNRC office for more information.

I dont administer the program, but Im more than happy to answer whatever questions I can; whatever it takes to increase the availability of this program, she said.

Further than that, she said that if a property owner finds difficulty navigating the system, shes willing to help advocate on property owners behalf.

Shed also like to hear from the property owners of affordable housing units who do not find the Rental Housing Improvement Program relevant to their needs, since there might be room for improvement.

Applications for the Rental Housing Improvement Program are being accepted until July 20.

 tclarke@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB
Retail groups are predicting that Brexit will continue to be a major risk factor for Irish retailers and consumers.

Retail Ireland is meeting with representatives from the British and Northern Ireland Retail Consortiums today to analyse the challenges for businesses.
Up to 200 jobs are on the way to Dublin in a new bar and hotel from JD Wetherspoon.

The pub chain is spending 15m on developing the pub and 98-bedroom hotel in the Camden Street area of the city.

It will begin working on the project in February 2018 and the development - the company's biggest ever single investment in the European Union - is set to open in early 2019.

Its chairman Tim Martin was one of the most well-known figures who campaigned in favour of Brexit.

He said: "We are looking forward to developing the site into a fantastic pub and hotel.

"It will be the biggest single investment undertaken by Wetherspoon and will result in our largest hotel alongside a superb pub.

"Our pubs in the Republic of Ireland are thriving and we are confident that the pub and hotel will be a great asset to Dublin and act as a catalyst for other businesses to invest in the city."

The pub area will be set over two floors and will include a beer garden.

The British chain currently has five pubs in the Republic of Ireland.
by Ann O'Loughlin

A business partnership involving broadcaster Gay Byrne has settled its Commercial Court dispute against a financial fund over loan repayments in relation to an investment property worth an estimated 13.5m in central Dublin.

The Firstwood Partnership had brought proceedings against the Launceston Property Finance concerning a property containing a block of offices, retail units and car park at St Andrews Lane in Dublin 2.

The fund in 2014 acquired a loan which the Partnership had taken out in 2000 with Anglo Irish Bank to acquire the property. The loan is due to expire in 2020.

The court had previously heard the property had been valued at 13.55m in 2014 with approximately 6.7m outstanding on the loan.

Today the matter was briefly mentioned before Mr Justice Brian McGovern at the Commercial Court.

Rossa Fanning SC for the Partnership told the court that matter had been settled and could be adjourned to a date in October for mention only.

No details of the settlement agreement were given in open court.

The Partnership sued Launceston in September 2016, after the fund issued a demand for full repayment of the 6.7m outstanding on the loan and appointed a receiver.

The fund also informed the Partnership failure to remit all rental income to it within 28 days would be considered an event of default, it was claimed.

The Partnership argued the fund contrived a default in 2016 on a fully-performing 20-year loan made to it.

In seeking the injunction the Partnership claimed there was no default on the loan and the fund was not at risk of not getting its money.

It secured injunctions from the High Court restraining the receiver dealing with the property.

The Partnership also secured orders, pending the outcome of the action, allowing it to continue servicing the loan as agreed with Anglo, including an amortisation schedule for repayments.

Opposing the injunction application, the fund's lawyers argued the case appeared to be about the investors not wishing to be forced to sell this investment property three years earlier than they wished.

A prior course of dealings with Anglo did not mean the fund is not entitled to rely on the loan security documents, the fund also argued.
Church leaders have urged the North's politicians to strike a powersharing deal for the common good of everyone.

As a deadline looms for t he DUP and Sinn Fein to break the deadlock at Stormont, the clerics issued an open letter to the five main parties pleading with them to go the extra mile to reach an agreement.

They warned that Northern Ireland input into Brexit negotiations is suffering.

And they said that unless the current impasse is broken, then the most vulnerable people and the small voluntary and community groups that serve them are at risk.

"While we acknowledge the complexities involved in reaching an agreement, we want to express our continued concern that without an agreed budget and with no executive ministers in place, the most vulnerable are at greater risk, while crucial decisions on education, health and welfare are not being taken," they wrote.

"At the same time, I am sure you are aware that small voluntary and community groups - who play such a vital role at the heart of our villages, towns and cities - face mounting uncertainty and are finding it increasingly difficult to support those most in need.

"Furthermore, with no Executive there has been comparatively little co-ordinated local input into the Brexit discussions and even less detailed preparation for what lies ahead for Northern Ireland and the island as a whole."

The letter was signed by Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh Richard Clarke, Rev Dr Laurence Graham, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Catholic Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, Bishop John McDowell, President of the Irish Council of Churches and Dr Noble McNeely, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

It was sent to SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, DUP leader Arlene Foster, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long, Sinn Fein leader Michelle O'Neill and Ulster Unionist Robin Swann, as well as Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and the North's Secretary of State James Brokenshire.

There were some warnings last week that crisis talks aimed at restoring powersharing may not be resolved by the June 29 deadline.

The churchmen said they pray and hope that all political leaders will do what is necessary to end the uncertainty.

"This week we strongly encourage all the political leaders involved in the talks to go the extra mile to reach an accommodation, which establishes a sustainable administration that will work for the common good of all in our society," they said.

Stormont has been in limbo for months, with the executive not working since March and no first and deputy first minister since January, when the late Martin McGuinness's resignation forced Ms Foster from her job as first minister.

If the parties miss the deadline for a new agreement they face the prospect of direct rule being reimposed from Westminster.
Irish Naval Vessel, LE Eithne, rescued 183 people from the Mediterranean yesterday morning.

The ship rescued 113 migrants from an inflatable boat at 6am on Sunday morning that was found drifting about 40 kilometres off the Libyan coast.

A further 70 people were rescued shortly afterwards from another vessel in distress.

The Defence Forces released a clip of the rescue which shows some migrants in the water as well as a boat full of migrants in the middle of the Mediterranean.
More than 11,000 young people across the country are long-term unemployed, according to the latest figures from the Department of Social Protection.

The statistics also show that the issue is particularly prevalent in Dublin, with more than 4,000 young people unemployed for six months or more.
The Irish Red Cross has committed 25,000 to help in the fight against a major cholera outbreak in Yemen.

It follows the deployment of two Irish staff members in 2016 to help in the response to Yemens ongoing war and famine which has left 19 million Yemenis reliant on humanitarian aid.

According to the Irish Red Cross, there are 124,000 suspected cases from the current outbreak which has already claimed the lives of 923 people.

One in every 250 Yemenis is suspected to have contracted cholera as heavy rains and uncollected waste accelerate the spread of the disease.

In addition, food is no longer available to almost half the population and access to clean, safe water is severely limited.

The group also claims that Yemens health care system is near total collapse and lack of fuel and supplies has forced hundreds of hospitals to close.

John Roche, Head of International Relations at the Irish Red Cross, said: "The clinics that are open are running dangerously low on medicine, equipment and fuel."

He said that 600 healthcare facilities have been forced to close because of the shortages, leaving only 45% of hospitals operational in the whole country and less than 30% of the needed medicine and medical supplies available.

"The urgency of the situation in Yemen cannot be overemphasised. On average, 20 people - women, children, men - die there every day, many from treatable wounds and curable illnesses," added Mr Roche.

You can donate to the Irish Red Cross Yemen Emergency Appeal at www.redcross.ie/donate or by calling the charity on 1850 50 70 70.
The Lord Mayor of Dublin says residents of the north inner city are too afraid to provide information on gangland feuds.

Brendan Carr says they are scared to come forward as they believe they would "pay a very serious price".
Forty-four people have been detained during a march for LGBT rights that the governor of Istanbul had banned, Turkey's official news agency said.

Anadolu agency reported that 20 people who "reacted against" the march were among those detained on Sunday.
The Greek government has urged striking garbage collectors to return to work after a 10-day protest has left huge piles of trash around Athens.

Striking workers scuffled with riot police in central Athens outside the stuttered entrance of a ministry building, where a union delegation was expected to present its demands.

Temperatures are forecast to reach 42C (107F) in Athens by the end of the week, prompting a public health agency to issue a warning over the continuing strike.

"The continued accumulation of garbage... combined with high temperatures poses a risk to public health," the state-run Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Despite the strike, municipal crews agreed to collect some garbage in busy tourist areas, outside hospitals and at intersections where tumbling piles of trash were slowing traffic.

Later on Monday, the government is due to submit draft legislation to parliament to renew job contracts for thousands of municipal garbage works.

Striking unions are demanding that government fulfil commitments to provide permanent jobs for long-term contract workers - an action that could breach strict budget obligations set out under the Greece's international bailout agreements.

Greece has been repeatedly criticised by the European Union for its heavy reliance on open landfills and low rates of recycling, and has been fined on many occasions for failing to close illegal dump sites.

AP
DOHA, Qatar - Qatar on Saturday denounced a sweeping list of demands from Saudi Arabia and its allies in an escalating Gulf diplomatic crisis as unreasonable and an impingement on the emirate's sovereignty.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt want Qatar to meet the 13-point ultimatum in return for an end to a nearly three-week-old diplomatic and trade "blockade" of the emirate.

Qatar has been given 10 days to meet the demands, which apparently include a call to close down broadcaster Al-Jazeera, but Doha said the requests were unrealistic.

"This list of demands confirms what Qatar has said from the beginning - the illegal blockade has nothing to do with combating terrorism, it is about limiting Qatar's sovereignty, and outsourcing our foreign policy," Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al-Thani, head of Qatar's government communications office, said in a statement.

"The US secretary of state recently called upon the blockading nations to produce a list of grievances that was 'reasonable and actionable'.

"The British foreign secretary asked that the demands be 'measured and realistic'. This list does not satisfy that criteria."

The four Arab governments delivered the demands to Qatar through mediator Kuwait on Thursday, more than two weeks after severing all ties with the emirate and imposing an embargo.

The document has not been published but has been widely leaked and the demands are sweeping in their scope.

They include the closure of Al-Jazeera television, a long-standing source of conflict between Doha and neighboring countries which accuse it of fomenting regional strife.

Erdogan's support

Turkish President Tayyip Ergodan said on Sunday he backed Qatar's response, and said calls for a Turkish military base there to close were disrespectful.

Erdogan said Turkey appreciated and endorsed Qatar's response to the 13 demands. He said Turkey had offered to set up a military base in Saudi Arabia as well as Qatar, but Riyadh had not responded.

"Even though they still didn't come back to us on this, asking Turkey to pull back its troops (from Qatar) is disrespectful against Turkey," he said.

Afp - Reuters

(China Daily 06/26/2017 page12)
Islamic State (IS) fighters launched a string of counter-attacks in a western Mosul neighbourhood that had recently been declared free of the militant group, setting of clashes that continued overnight, Iraqi officials said.

By daylight on Monday, the situation was calm and the fighting had subsided, according to army spokesman Brigadier General Mohammed al-Khodari.

The attacks came as Iraqi forces continue to move in on the last pocket of territory the IS militants hold in the neighbourhood known as the Old City.

Mr al-Khodari told The Associated Press that IS sleeper cells set fire to houses and cars on Sunday afternoon in the Tanak neighbourhood on Mosul's far western edge.

The area was declared fully liberated in early May.

"This is in line with tactics we have seen previously in Samarra (and) Anbar," he said.

Both the Iraqi city of Samarra and the western province of Anbar had been liberated of IS militants last year but have seen occasional counter-attacks by the extremist group.

"When they sense defeat somewhere, they counter-attack somewhere else to draw away attention and to show that they are still strong," said Mr al-Khodari.

"This attack shows that they will soon be defeated in Mosul."

Earlier this month, IS launched a large-scale counter-attack in Mosul that underscored the extremist group's resilience in the city despite months of heavy fighting with Iraqi forces backed by US air power.

The June 14 assault was carried out by more than 100 IS militants and killed 11 Iraqi policemen and four civilians in clashes that lasted hours.

Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake Mosul's Old City - the IS group's last stronghold there - just over a week ago, more than eight months after the fight to retake Iraq's second-largest city officially began.

AP
UPDATE 6.30pm: The US Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to go forward with a limited version of its ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries.

The decision is a victory for President Donald Trump in the biggest legal controversy of his presidency so far.

The justices will hear full arguments in October in the case, which has stirred heated emotions across the nation.

In the meantime, the court said that Mr Trump's ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen can be enforced if those visitors lack a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States".

Mr Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by the courts.

The administration has said the 90-day ban was needed on national security grounds to allow an internal review of screening procedures for visa applicants from the six countries.

Opponents say the ban is unlawful, based on visitors' Muslim religion.

The administration review should be complete before October 2, the first day the justices could hear arguments in their new term.

A 120-day ban on refugees is also being allowed to take effect on a limited basis.

Three of the court's conservative justices said they would have let the complete bans take effect.

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, said the government has shown it is likely to succeed on the merits of the case, and that it will suffer irreparable harm with any interference.

Justice Thomas said the government's interest in preserving national security outweighs any hardship to people denied entry into the country.

Some immigration lawyers said the limited nature of the ban and the silence of the court's liberals on the issue on Monday suggested that the court had not handed Mr Trump much of a victory.

They said relatively few people would fall under the ban because people coming to study, work or visit family members in the United States already have sufficient relationships with others already in the country.

Mr Trump, though, hailed the high court's order as a "clear victory for our national security".

He said in a statement that his "number one responsibility" is to keep the American people safe.

The court's opinion explained the kinds of relationships people from the six countries must demonstrate to obtain a US visa.

"For individuals, a close familial relationship is required," the court said.

For people who want to come to the United States to work or study, "the relationship must be formal, documented and formed in the ordinary course, not for the purpose of evading" the travel ban.

The opinion faulted the two federal appeals courts that had blocked the travel policy for going too far to limit Mr Trump's authority over immigration.

The president announced the travel ban a week after he took office in January and revised it in March after setbacks in court.

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said the ban was "rooted in religious animus" towards Muslims and pointed to Mr Trump's campaign promise to impose a ban on Muslims entering the country as well as tweets and remarks he has made since becoming president.

The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the travel policy does not comply with federal immigration law, including a prohibition on nationality-based discrimination.

That court also put a hold on separate aspects of the policy that would keep all refugees out of the United States for 120 days and cut by more than half, from 110,000 to 50,000, the cap on refugees in the current government spending year that ends September 30.

Mr Trump's first executive order on travel applied to travellers from Iraq as well as the six countries, and took effect immediately, causing chaos and panic at airports over the last weekend in January as the homeland security department scrambled to figure out who the order covered and how it was to be implemented.

A federal judge blocked it eight days later, an order that was upheld by a 9th Circuit panel.

Rather than pursue an appeal, the administration said it would revise the policy.

In March, Mr Trump issued the narrower order.

AP
The Russian military said it has successfully test-fired a submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile.

The Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear-powered submarine launched the Bulava missile on Monday from a submerged position in the Barents Sea, the defence ministry said.

The missile's mock warheads reached their designated targets on the opposite side of Russia, the Kura shooting range on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, the ministry said.

The Bulava, which has been commissioned by the Russian navy after a long cycle of development, carries six nuclear warheads and has a range of up to 9,300km (about 5,770 miles).

The Yuri Dolgoruky is the first in a series of Borei-class submarines carrying the Bulava.

Russia now has three such submarines, and five more are under construction to gradually replace some of the older Soviet-built ones.

AP
Update 5.10pm: Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has hit out at the deal between the DUP and the Conservatives - saying its a "blank cheque for a Tory Brexit".

The price of todays DUP-Tory deal is DUP support for continued Tory Austerity and cuts to public services.

It provides a blank cheque for a Tory Brexit which threatens the Good Friday Agreement.

The DUP have agreed to support the Tory Government on all motions of confidence; and on the Queens speech; the Budget; finance bills; money bills, supply and appropriation legislation and estimates and all legislation pertaining to British national security and Brexit.

The Tory government has slashed more than 1 billion from the block grant over the last seven years. The allocation of additional funds could help to ease the enormous pressure on our public services. The devil is in the detail.

Arlene Foster has said the deal will help address "the unique cirumstances of Northern Ireand and the affect these have had on the economy and its people".

Earlier: Scottish and Welsh leaders have reacted furiously to a deal struck between the UK Government and the DUP.

Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones described the agreement - which includes 1bn in new funding for Northern Ireland - as "unacceptable" and a "straight bung" to prop up a "faltering" Conservative minority government while SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford MP slammed the deal as "grubby".

Downing Street has said that as the allocation is being made as part of the block grant to Northern Ireland, there will be no knock-on funding boost for other parts of the UK through the Barnett formula, the mechanism used to distribute British Treasury funds to the devolved nations.

Mr Jones said: "Todays deal represents a straight bung to keep a weak British Prime Minister and a faltering Government in office.

"Only last week we were told that the priority was to build a more united country, strengthening the social, economic and cultural bonds between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

"This deal flies in the face of that commitment and further weakens the UK, and as currently drafted all but kills the idea of fair funding for the nations and regions.

"It is outrageous that the Prime Minister believes she can secure her own political future by throwing money at Northern Ireland whilst completely ignoring the rest of the UK."

UK Scottish Secretary David Mundell has previously said he "wont support funding which is deliberately sought to subvert the Barnett rules".

He said: "We have clear rules about funding of different parts of the United Kingdom. If the funding falls within Barnett consequentials, it should come to Scotland."

Mr Blackford said: "After weeks of secret backroom negotiations, the Tories have now signed a grubby deal with the DUP.

"The financial aspects of this deal entirely sum up how little the Tories care about Scotland - while a billion pounds is being handed over to Northern Ireland, Scotland is seemingly to be offered little more than scraps from the table.

"The claim is being made that the funding being made available is a recognition of Northern Irelands special circumstances - but if there was any true appreciation of those circumstances, there would be no deal at all with the DUP.

"Only 24 hours ago David Mundell was categorically assuring us that Scotland would be in line for Barnett consequentials as a result of the DUP deal - so he has seemingly either been deliberately misleading people or he is completely out of the loop even in Theresa Mays crumbling government."

He said the deal was "the first big test" for Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and her new raft of Scottish Tory MPs.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said the deal included financial support of 1bn in the next two years as well as "new flexibilities" on almost 500 million previously committed to Northern Ireland.

She said the money will be used to boost the regions economy and invest in new infrastructure, health, education and other sectors.

Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "Any sense of fairness sacrificed on the altar of grubby DUP deal to let PM cling to power, & Scots Tories influence in No10 shown to be zero".
Canberra man Gerard McDonnell has been found safe and well, after police called on the public to help find him.

The 82-year-old man, who has Alzheimer's, went missing about 8:30pm on Monday evening, walking towards the Waramanga shops.

ACT Policing sought the public's assistance to locate missing 82-year-old man, Gerard McDonnell. Credit:Chaney-Nikolavcic, Robert

Police held concerns for his welfare, but thanked the public for their assistance on Tuesday morning.

A family member said Gerard was found by a member of the public about midnight and dropped off at Woden police station.
Donald Trump is unique among US presidents not for his rough treatment of America's enemies but of its allies. His Vice-President, Mike Pence, must be aware of the problem. He offered Julie Bishop a way around it: "If you ever have any issues with the boss", he told Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, "give me a call". It's the diplomatic equivalent of a detour around a crash scene, a scene that Malcolm Turnbull had to fight his way through in his notorious first phone call with Trump.

Since then, Australia's dealings with the Trump administration have been sound, by all accounts. Probably because the federal government deals chiefly with officials other than the President himself. "It's excellent that there are impressive individuals around Donald Trump," says the head of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Michael Fullilove. "The system is trying to wrap itself around him and restrain him." But he's not convinced that this is any solution to the problem: "In times of crisis, the restraints fall away. In the end, presidents make history. The long-held instincts of the president cannot but determine overall US foreign policy. It was the case with George W. Bush, it was the case with Barack Obama and it will be the case with Donald Trump."

And one of Trump's strongest instincts is scepticism towards American allies, a view he's expressed consistently for some 30 years since he took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to complain about Japan. As German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last month in a rebuke of Trump's America and Brexit Britain: "The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out."

Europeans, she said, had to take their destiny into their own hands. It's striking that, even in public, some of Trump's topmost officials do not try to deny the glaringly obvious  that the President is a liability, not an asset, for global sanity.
The inferno in London's Grenfell Tower has rung alarm bells across the globe. As British authorities scramble to check cladding on high-rises and struggle to cope with large-scale evacuations, the whole government approach to social housing is now under attack. But the fire was still smouldering when wider repercussions started to emerge. If a design flaw in the tower contributed to the blaze, then buildings elsewhere could have a similar problem.

In Australia, the Grenfell Tower fire has belatedly catapulted the issue of fire safety to the forefront of the NSW state government's agenda. The government has been content to pocket the massive stamp duty windfall resulting from the biggest housing construction boom in NSW history while sitting on its hands about reforming building industry standards.

The Grenfell Tower fire has catapulted the issue of fire safety to the forefront in NSW. Credit:Getty Images

The government has been aware of major concerns in the construction industry, including clear evidence of unsafe fire safety systems in new and existing buildings, following a scathing report in 2015 that warned inaction would inevitably result "in a major negative event." Yet the government has not responded to almost half of the 150 recommendations made by former treasury secretary Michael Lambert in his review in October 2015 into the Building Professionals Act, which governs building regulation in NSW.

The Australian Building Codes Board last year considered recommending mandatory certification of all cladding but the cost proved too high. It recommended a cheaper option that included more education on how to choose cladding and greater enforcement by states.
An inner-city cocktail bar named after one of the poncier fruits  the cherry  is exactly the kind of place you would expect left-wing government schemers to hatch a plot to legislate gay marriage.

And indeed, it was at the Cherry Bar in Sydney's Star Casino that government minister Christopher Pyne was secretly taped boasting to fellow Liberal Party moderates that same-sex marriage would happen "sooner than everyone thinks".

This is a direct contradiction of official Coalition policy, which is, roughly summarised: If we have anything to do with it, same-sex marriage will happen much later than everyone thinks.

An as yet-unscheduled, superfluous and non-binding plebiscite has been determined as the best way to achieve this outcome.
"I'd be in meetings in New York and throw my heels off and sit cross-legged on a chair," Mary-Louise Parkinson recalls.

Parkinson, who worked in IT for two decades as the education manager of Apple and then general manager of sales and marketing for Commodore computers, always practiced yoga on the side.

Stretching themselves: Corporate women who have become yoga teachers take a class at Wylie's Baths in Coogee. Credit:Janie Barrett

"It was my bit of sanity really," she says.

Although Parkinson cut back to part-time work in 2000 after her son was born, the demands of corporate did not diminish.
Everything is antipodean at Antipodean, including the owner-chef. Grant King was born in New Zealand, cooked in Queenstown, came to Sydney, head-cheffed at Pier in Rose Bay right up to its three-hat status, then opened his own high-end Gastro Park in 2012. He's as trans-Tasman as a pavlova. And now he's going back  not to New Zealand, but to his roots, rebooting Gastro Park into a simpler and more casual restaurant with an emphasis on all things Australian and New Zealand.

Down have come the filmy curtains, and on the bare tables are some deliciously hand-thrown, organically shaped, saggar-fired plates from Byron Bay's Made of Australia. Back windows have been blackboard-painted for the monthly changing menu and a smaller, more focused wine list.

South Australian jamon sits front and centre at Antipodean. Credit:Christopher Pearce

Here, you'll find things like New Zealand's Cloudy Bay clams with smoked bacon vinaigrette; South Australian jamon (the full leg proudly displayed as a feature) served with pickled muntries, and raw Paroo kangaroo with local pecorino and Manjimup truffle.

You might have gathered that when King says his cooking is simpler, it's a relative term from someone who used to float liquid butternut gnocchi in mushroom consomme.
The age of the career public servant is coming to a close, the federal workplace authority has warned.

Traditional routes up the bureaucratic career ladder are becoming outdated too, Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd says, and government workers should get used to the idea of their pay being linked to the quality of their efforts.

"Profound changes": Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd. Credit:Jay Cronan

Public servants also need to prepare for a future without the extensive workplace rights they currently enjoy, Mr Lloyd said in a speech last week.

Promising a new era of "flexibility" in Commonwealth employment, Mr Lloyd predicted there would be "fewer career public servants" in the future.
A screaming woman allegedly being dragged into a car in Sydney's west over the weekend caused police to issue a plea for information into a possible abduction.

Witnesses told police they saw a man drag the woman into a white Holden Rodeo ute at the intersection of Keesing Crescent and Jersey Road in Blackett, in Sydney's west about 2am on Saturday.

Witnesses saw the woman dragged into a car, which has been captured on CCTV. Credit:NSW Police

The vehicle was last seen travelling east along Jersey Road before turning north onto Carlisle Avenue.

There had been no reports of a missing person in the area and it was not known if the pair knew each other.
A woman seeking treatment for back pain was raped by a Sydney chiropractor who insisted he had to use an "internal technique" to fix her tail bone.



Dong Won Choi, known as Winston Choi, recently had his registration cancelled, after being found guilty of professional misconduct over the attack, and then lying to health authorities about his criminal record.

A jury found Choi guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent in late 2014, and he was jailed until August last year.

The woman, who cannot be identified, went to see Choi for treatment in November 2011, and he ushered her into his consulting room and locked the door.

He told her to lie face down on the bed, while he massaged her spine, before pulling down her pants and telling her he needed to carry out an "internal adjustment" to correct the position of her coccyx.

The woman told court she was upset, shaking and crying out in pain, and kicked Choi to try to stop him.
One of the country's most wanted fugitives has been captured, found hiding under a bed in north-west Sydney.

Jayde Alfred Schackow, 29, went on the run while on parole in Queensland after serving a prison term in 2010 for violent offences including acts intended to maim or disfigure, burglary and dangerous use of a motor vehicle causing grievous bodily harm.

His photo had been circulated around the country since 2016 as part of Operation ROAM, a national crackdown on fugitives.

His arrest about 10pm on Saturday came "as a result of extensive inquiries into [his] whereabouts", NSW Police said in a statement on Monday.
Police have denied reports that a man shot and dumped outside the Tweed Heads Hospital on Saturday was a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang.

The victim, a 31-year-old father named Ace John Anthony Hall, was shot in the torso before being driven four kilometres to the hospital by a woman believed to be his girlfriend about 4.30pm.

Ace Hall died after he was shot in the torso at Tweed Heads. Credit:Facebook

The man was immediately treated by doctors, but died soon after.

Tweed Heads Local Area Commander Detective Inspector Wayne Starling said while the man was known to police, they did not believe the incident was a bikie-related attack.
Fresh assault charges have delayed the sentencing of a New Zealand man who killed promising young Queensland water polo player Cole Miller.

Armstrong Renata was due to be sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday for unlawful striking causing death but his case adjourned as a result of the new charges.

Cole Miller died after a one-punch attack in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley.

The court heard Renata was charged with two counts of serious assault in April 2017 while he was in custody as revealed by Fairfax Media.

Renata, 22, has been in custody since the early morning attack on Mr Miller in the Fortitude Valley nightlife precinct on January 3 last year.
A gas leak has been found in a Brisbane unit block, after management insisted there was a "strong smell of gas".

Emergency services were called to Arthur Street in Fortitude Valley just after 2pm on Monday, with police and paramedics on standby while fire crews searched the building.

Firefighters did not detect any gas levels during their initial search, however a second search was conducted at management's insistence. Credit:Queensland Fire and Emergency Se

Firefighters did not detect any gas levels during their initial search, however a second search was conducted at management's insistence.

About 2.30pm, fire crews reported from the scene that a leak had been found and were waiting for a gas examiner to arrive.
Any driver hit with a fine by Victoria's virus-addled speed cameras this month should strongly consider challenging it in court, traffic law experts say.

The potential legal challenge has been foreshadowed at the same time as Fairfax can reveal camera-operator Redflex's own staff held serious concerns about outdated and unmaintained software well before this month's attack.

Computer security experts have also raised serious doubts about whether the virus blamed, WannaCry, was actually responsible for the attack, raising questions about Redflex's response to the crisis.

The state's entire speed camera system is suspended after Redflex said they had detected the WannaCry virus, a dangerous piece of ransomware already wreaking havoc across the globe, on the cameras' systems.
A jury has found three men guilty in relation to the death of a Perth man whose body was disposed of in the ocean after he was fatally bashed over a drug debt.

Jason Edge, 28, died on Anzac Day 2015 after attending a house in Clarkson with a woman for what he believed would be a drug deal.

Jason Edge's family released this photo of him to WAtoday.

Instead, he was taken into a bedroom and bashed to death, with others in the house saying they heard "thuds, bangs and screaming" for up to 45 minutes.

Two men, Johnathon Pihema, 29, and Christopher Moir, 22, were on trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, charged with his murder.
London: Islamic State militants trapped in their besieged Syrian and Iraqi capitals Raqqa and Mosul are "fighting for their lives" and not plotting terror attacks on the west, the spokesman for the global coalition fighting IS in the Middle East says.

But Major General Rupert Jones said exposing the fundamentalists' narrative was critical as it has inspired numerous attacks across Europe, including three in three months in London, all of which IS has claimed responsibility for.

Major General Rupert Jones is a spokesman for the Global Coalition fighting Islamic State.

Speaking to international journalists in London via video link in Baghdad, the Major General said Mosul is poised to fall with the militants blowing up the Al Nuri mosque, where leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the caliphate in 2014, last week. He said the destruction of the mosque was a sign of the militants' desperation and showed that they did not value religion.

"Daesh are under extraordinary pressure and when you're under pressure in Raqqa and when you're under pressure in Mosul, trust me what you're not doing is sitting there plotting attacks into Europe and elsewhere," he said.
Taipei: A powerful matriarch has emerged as one of the alleged kingpins behind the assault on a Philippine city that may herald the expansion of the Islamic State terrorist group across southeast Asia.

Farhana Maute, 60, is suspected of funding the Maute terror group operated by her two sons, Omarkhayam and Abdullah, that has held Marawi, a majority-Muslim city of 200,000 in the southern Philippines, under a brutal siege against government troops for the past month.

Maute, described as a wealthy businesswoman and political kingmaker from the well-respected Romato clan, is also reported to have used her influential status to recruit militants, some of them children, to join her notorious sons' operations.

In an interview with local online news network Rappler, a former child soldier claimed that Maute and her husband had duped his impoverished parents into sending him to their headquarters in Butig, 48 kilometres from Marawi, to study the Koran.
Istanbul: Turkey has removed the concept of evolution from its secondary school curriculum, in what critics fear is the latest attempt by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government to erode the country's secular character.

Starting in September, a chapter on evolution will no longer appear in textbooks because it is considered too "controversial" an idea, an official announced this week.

Unexpected ally: can the Kurds of Iraq rely on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan? Credit:AP

"Our students don't have the necessary scientific background and information-based context needed to comprehend" the debate about evolution, said the official, Alpaslan Durmus, chairman of the Education Ministry's Education and Discipline Board, which decides the curriculum, in a video posted on the ministry's website.

The news has deepened concerns among Erdogan's critics that the President, a conservative Muslim, wants to radically change the identity of a republic that was founded in 1923 along staunchly secular lines.
Washington: A win is a win  unless it's something in between.

On Monday the US Supreme Court allowed a pared-back version of Donald Trump's pared-back version of his original, controversial travel ban to come into force, pending an October hearing on the constitutionality of the presidential order.

"A clear victory for our national security," Trump declared. But it was a victory for common sense too, with the court ruling that a significant but unspecified number of people who would have been barred should still be allowed to enter the US.

"As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm," Trump said. "I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive."
Washington: The US Supreme Court has upheld some portions of President Donald Trump's revised travel ban, setting the stage for arguments on the case in October. Here's what you need to know.

What did the court decide about Trump's travel ban?

The Supreme Court did two things: it agreed to evaluate the ban next term, and, in the meantime, it overturned the decisions of lower courts, saying that Trump's administration could enforce its immigration ban against certain people while it waited for the court to hear arguments and decide the case.

Does that mean that the President can block everyone from the six countries he identified as dangerous - Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen?
Challenging the legality of the state-based levy

Increasing interest rates on SA mortgages and corporate loans

Repricing the loan book of BankSA (a Westpac subsidiary)

Threatening to move operations out of the state

Rationing credit within the state

Following the South Australian governments surprise move to introduce its own banking levy on Thursday (22 June), the Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) and the major banks have come forward criticising the move as an outrageous cash grab without policy substance.States are not responsible for banking policy. There is absolutely no policy reason for this announcement, other than a need for the South Australian Government to raise revenue in a desperate political move, said ABA chief executive Anna Bligh in a statement.With an unemployment rate of 6.9%  the highest in the country  South Australia was a state that sorely needed economic confidence, she said.Todays announcement is the worst possible signal to the business community in South Australia and will make South Australia less competitive, potentially driving jobs to other states.She slammed Australias tax policy in general, saying that it had become a joke at the whim of political opportunism, adding that the move by South Australia was a way to bring in triple dipping for bank taxation.The banks impacted by this proposal pay full corporate tax, the Federal Government has just passed a new bank tax and now the South Australian Government is trying to impose a third state tax, Bligh said.The proposed tax will affect the big four banks plus Macquarie and is expected to raise around $370m according to the state governments forward estimates.As well as making super profits from South Australian mortgage holders, state Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said the banks had benefited from the federal decision not to apply GST to the financial sector.The Commonwealths major bank levy seeks to address this, but ignores the states share, he said. Major banks also capitalised on the Global Financial Crisis, acquiring many smaller financial institutions and growing their market share to a combined 80%.We are putting South Australians first by supporting growing industries that will create jobs for South Australians, and this measure will help raise the revenue we need to drive those initiatives.As the levy will not apply to mortgages or deposits under $250,000, there was no justification for the banks to pass this cost onto those customers, Koutsantonis said.Analysts from UBS, Jonathan Mott and Rachel Bentvelzen , remain cautious on the big four banks, saying that Pandoras Box is officially open.It is just six weeks after the announcement of the Federal Government's Bank Levy and the banks are already seeing a further increase in tax, they wrote in an Australian Banking Sector Update on Thursday (22 June).They expect the banks to push back against the SA levy in an attempt to stop other states and territories following suite. This can be achieved in a number of ways including:In addition to potential state-based levies being introduced, Mott and Bentvelzen said there was also the possibility of further increases in the federal levy especially if the national budget remains under pressure.The big four banks have also expressed their disappointment with the newly announced tax, citing a range of reasons why the move will have potential consequences.Australias economic potential will only be met when state and federal governments deliver sustainable budgets and dont indiscriminately add new taxes or levies, said Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev Governments state and federal need sustainable plans to balance their budgets rather than penalising businesses that are creating jobs and driving economic growth. ANZ chief executive officer Shayne Elliott said the tax was deeply concerning and likely to impact business investment in South Australia.All businesses will rightly question the political risk associated with investing in a state with a government prepared to unfairly target an industry that has played a significant role in supporting its lagging economy, he said.He criticised the South Australian Treasurer for having a clear lack of understanding about the role of the banking industry within the state.Westpac said that the move was bad public and economic policy which was not in the interest of South Australians.We were disappointed by the Federal Government bank levy, but the SA proposal is double taxation and is a disgrace. The South Australian economy faces challenges but populism will not deliver the robust and sustainable economy South Australians deserve. As we have previously noted, there is no magic pudding, the bank said in a statement.Finally, National Australia Bank ( NAB ) said the announcement was poor policy without logic.The role of the Australian banks is to support customers and communities and drive economic growth and activity. It is not to be a blank cheque so governments can cover their own budget shortfalls, NAB said in a statement.
Progress Claim Finance: an invoice finance solution providing up to 70% funding against certified progress claims (up to $750,000) for businesses with contractual arrangements raising progress claims under the Security of Payments Act

Asset Finance Loans: a product that helps existing or potential debtor finance clients maximise working capital through access to additional funding against assets such as plant & equipment or equity in property

Bad Debt Protection: a product that protects clients from the risk of bed debts stemming from customer insolvency or inability to pay with Scottish Pacific handling reporting and processing in the event of a claim

SME working capital specialist funder Scottish Pacific has launched a new specialised finance division along with an expanded product suite that allows brokers more opportunities for diversification.Craig Michie, a senior executive at Scottish Pacific, will head the new division and will be responsible for new offerings such as Progress Claim Finance, Asset Finance Loans and Bad Debt Protection in addition to the funders existing products like Selective Invoice Finance, Trade Finance, Import Finance and Export Finance.The expanded range will offer more avenues for Scottish Pacific to work with brokers and their clients to find more opportunities and more ways to make funding deals happen, Michie said.For 30 years weve specialised in debtor finance, and helped thousands of clients to survive and thrive. But sometimes brokers clients dont fit into a traditional debtor finance model, so weve made it easier, with new and very flexible products which can be tailored to meet very specific funding needs.The new products and division will also allow Scottish Pacific to fund broker clients throughout the supply chain from purchase to payments, he said.For brokers, if your clients dont fit a standard debtor finance deal, well work with you to tailor a deal, whether your clients are looking for $30,000 or $30 million in funding. Well be able to say 'yes' to your clients, faster and more often than ever. In a tough market, this offers brokers new sources of income.Both commercial and residential brokers could use these new offerings to diversify into working capital finance, Michie noted.There are real incentives for brokers to work with us on Asset Finance Loans and Progress Claim Finance, as not many providers are able to provide our scale of funding. These products allow us to fund where we have not been able to say yes to in the past.Scottish Pacific has added the following products to its funding range:Michie said he looked forward to working with brokers to help them find the right product for their client needs.We are keen to expand our strong existing community of broker introducers. With further new products on the horizon, we encourage brokers to take a closer look at our range of solutions and how they can be combined to help brokers clients.Scottish Pacific would work together with brokers to explain the different products on offer so clients can obtain more flexible business solutions, Michie added.Some of our new products are applicable across a wide range of industries. Others, such as our niche Progress Claim Finance, make us the only major financier in Australia targeting the construction industry, so this is a real opportunity for brokers with clients in this industry.
Parramatta (4,890)

Blacktown (2,925)

Bayside (2,805)

Canterbury-Bankstown (2,598)

Camden (2359)

New housing completions in Sydney remain at record highs, according to new figures released by the New South Wales state government.Data from the Department of Planning and Environment found there were 37,575 new homes completed in Greater Sydney in the 12 months before April 2017.Once again these are great figures for Sydney, showing the NSW Government is committed to tackling housing supply and affordability, Minister for Planning and Housing Anthony Roberts said.We are tackling housing affordability in this state head on as demonstrated in the Budget, where we have allocated $720m over the next four years to address the key issue of housing affordability.The state was working hard to make home ownership attainable for as many people as possible, Roberts said.The number of homes completed in the year to April 2017 was 36% higher than the most recent four year average, he added. New construction has occurred across Sydney with over 63% of new detached house completions occurring in Blacktown, Camden, Liverpool, and Hills Shire areas over the last 12 months.Local government areas with the higher number of homes completed in this time include:Additionally during the same 12 month time period, housing approvals in Greater Sydney reached 55,741.We are not just getting more homes built, were creating vibrant communities that are supported by record investment in infrastructure including public transport, schools and hospitals, Roberts said.
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Brooklyn brought home the bacon.

Foodie website Eater anointed the 15 best chefs and restaurant pros in the country with its Eater Young Guns awards Thursday, and Kings County led the geographic pack! Granted, two other cities  Manhattan and New Orleans  matched it with two honorees each, but since the ceremony also happened in Brooklyn, at the swanky Cecconis restaurant in Dumbo, we are counting that as another win.

The publication honored Kim LeVine, of Cobble Hill tapas spot La Vara and its next-door coffee shop Tekoa, who also runs two eateries on the distant island of Manhattan.

And the Williamsburg TaiwaneseAmerican restaurant Win Son also won some accolades for its founders, Trigg Brown and Josh Ku, who dished up plates of Lou Rou Fan  a Taiwanese stewed pork with pickled Chinese broccoli and a soy egg  at the announcement party.

The dish was a stand-out among the fine food on offer from a half-dozen Young Gun winners. And the Win Son chef was happy to serve a line that grew to stretch across the room.

It was great putting Lou in peoples faces, Brown said.

Win Son is just a little more than a year old, and its founders said they hoped to capitalize on the attention their recognition brings them.

Its exciting that a big publication like Eater is paying attention to us, said Brown. We want to continue on this route.
Springfield quarry plan still unresolved as residents wait, worry

Conditional Use Hearing on a proposed quarry along Rt. 309 in Springfield may be nearing an end after two years. Here's what residents have to say.
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October 31, 2022

Buddy TV

In November, there are hundreds of new and returning TV showsit can be overwhelming to try and choose what to watch. That's why we've selected some of the best options...
Media Advisory: At long white coat ceremony, UB medical school welcomes 190 new physicians to Western New York

Media are invited to attend the ceremony and reception

During orientation, residents visit UB-affiliated teaching hospitals, interact with program faculty and, in some cases, work with UBs Clinical Competency Center to assess interactions with actors playing patients.

BUFFALO, N.Y.  One hundred and ninety newly minted MDs will mark a critical milestone in their professional lives at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 27, at the Center for Tomorrow on the University at Buffalo North Campus. Thats when they become medical residents of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

Afterward, all medical residents will gather outside for a group photo. A reception will follow.

This years class of residents of 81 women and 109 men includes 120 U.S. citizens and 70 citizens of at least 17 other countries, including 24 from Canada, 9 from Pakistan and six from India.

Forty of the new residents are UB graduates, 32 of whom graduated from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and eight of whom graduated from the School of Dental Medicine.

After graduation from medical school, medical residents are matched with a residency program where they train in a medical or surgical specialty from three to seven years. The residents who take part in Tuesdays ceremony chose to start their careers as physicians in Buffalo at UB. They will provide patient care under supervision of UB medical school faculty in Western New Yorks hospitals and clinics.

The long white coat is not only a symbol of the profession but it also symbolizes the trust patients place in their physicians and the responsibility to act professionally while serving patients and the public, said Roseanne Berger, MD, senior associate dean for graduate medical education in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and associate professor of family medicine.

To celebrate the transition, UBs newest medical residents will don the long white coats that indicate they have graduated from medical school, leaving behind the short white coats they received when they entered medical school.

At the ceremony, medical residents recite the Hippocratic Oath and the UB Resident Code of Conduct. The ceremony occurs on Education Day, during which residents receive information on topics ranging from health issues in Buffalos population and communication and cultural issues to patient privacy, quality improvement and safety. There also is a focus on resident well-being, highlighting institutional support resources and advice from current residents.

Its part of UBs five-day medical resident orientation which includes background on UB, the Western New York community, its population and its health care systems. During orientation, residents visit UB-affiliated teaching hospitals, interact with program faculty and, in some cases, work with UBs Clinical Competency Center to assess interactions with actors playing patients. Before arriving on campus, residents completed online tutorials, including modules on addiction, pain medicine and safe prescribing practices.

The event was planned in collaboration with UBs Richard Sarkin/Emeritus Faculty Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, which launched the tradition of holding white coat ceremonies in the 1990s to symbolize that humanism remains at the core of all medical care. UB is one of only 14 medical residency programs in the U.S. that is home to a residency chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
Paul Marley, an Internal Sales Representative for the Building Products division of Aggregate Industries, is celebrating 40 years with the construction materials supplier, having started with the company in 1977, just three weeks shy of his 16th birthday.

The Building Products division specialise in concrete blocks, walling blocks, roofing tiles and packed cement products for both commercial and residential buildings. Pauls current role involves pricing and order fulfilment for structural walling and roofing, as well as providing invaluable support to the Building Products team.

Paul started work with the company just three days after finishing school and, during his time, has been based at the companys factories in South Cerney, Cleveland Farm and Northend Works, in Swindon, where he is currently located. To commemorate his 40th anniversary, Paul was presented with a Long Service Award by Building Products Sales Director, Jeremy Lee.

Commenting on his long service, Paul said: I cant quite believe its been 40 years. I thoroughly enjoy what I do and where I work, which is what has kept me here for so long. Forty years is a long time and things have certainly changed during my time working, most notably the introduction of computers and IT, but more importantly Health and Safety standards in the industry, which is one of Aggregate Industries core values. I look forward to many more years with the company.

Jeremy Lee, Sales Director for the Building Products division, added: Our employees are the lifeblood of our business, which is why we place such a huge importance on their learning and wellbeing, which is one of the reasons, I hope, that has kept Paul with the business for so long.

I offer a much deserved congratulations to Paul. He is a very important and valued member of the team and to have reached such a big milestone is fantastic. We hope to be issuing many more Long Service Awards at Aggregate Industries in the years to come.

Picture caption: Paul Marley is celebrating 40 years with Aggregate Industries.
With sustained growth being experienced throughout the construction sector, merchants from across the UK gathered earlier this month at the 20th Independent Builders Merchant Forum (IBMF) hosted by Ibstock, to garner advice on capitalising on the growth opportunity and share opinions on continuing the upward trend.

The annual forum gave almost 100 merchants the opportunity to hear about the latest innovations from Ibstock including design, technical, customer service and marketing support, as well as hearing about new products in the range.

Merchants were also given an exclusive first glimpse of Ibstocks new brickworks in Leicester - the result of a 54 million investment by the manufacturer. The state-of-the-art site, which opens later this year, is set to bring an additional 100 million bricks to the market every year (enough to build 15,000 houses), and will play a crucial role in ensuring merchants and their customers have the bricks they need, when they need them.

The event also saw the launch of the Collington Blend, the latest product to be added to Ibstocks design portfolio. Manufactured at the companys Ashdown site, the new stock, sandfaced brick strengthens the existing range, which is popular with merchants and their customers.

Merchants were also able to gain valuable industry insight from new Director of Sales  Builders Merchants, Simon Taylor, who presented an in-depth analysis of the current growth of the RMI market, before hosting question and answer sessions later in the day. Further sessions with Ibstocks customer service team explored how the business can further support the bespoke needs of independent merchants.

Commenting on the event Simon said: It was great to see so many merchants attend our 20th Forum. The overarching theme for the day was The Ibstock Difference to demonstrate the ways in which we are continually investing to deliver the products, services and solutions our customers require.

We are experiencing strong growth across the construction sector, and a large part of this success is thanks to merchants. The key areas of self-build and repairs and maintenance play a significant role in our continued growth, and it is therefore vital that we work to support merchants and their customers; whether through marketing, technical literature, brick supply, expert specification or stocking advice. The key message coming out of the Forum is for merchants to discuss their requirements with us so we can continue to work with them as they build their operations and ensure demand is met.
If government goes ahead with the introduction of Clean Air Zones, Ministers must act to support merchants to replace old vehicles with cleaner, greener models. That is the message from the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) to the new Environment Secretary, Michael Gove MP.

The rise in commercial journey in recent years means action must be taken first to alleviate harmful emissions from HGVs and LGVs, said the BMF. Funding ought to go towards retrofitting vehicles with devices that limit exhaust emissions - or replacing older, polluting lorries, trucks and vans.

The BMF was responding to a consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) seeking views on improving air quality by tackling nitrogen dioxide pollution.

John Newcomb, managing director of the BMF, said: We support the governments ambitions to improve air quality. However, it is imperative that local authorities exhaust all possible options before resorting to the imposition of charging zones.

Government at all levels must understand that the cost of doing business is already too high - and Clean Air Zones represent another administrative and financial burden. The worry is that different authorities take different approaches to one another that simply adds to merchants costs.

Whitehall and local government want to implement Clean Air Zones to improve air quality and tackle pollution from diesel vehicles. Several local authorities aim to restrict access to their city based on the type of fuel or vehicle - and businesses are faced with new penalty charges to enter.

John added that current proposals do not address uneven treatment of private motoring and business traffic. Diesel is the fuel used in lorries, trucks and vans to carry commercial loads. DEFRA is not requiring cities to levy charges on private cars (especially diesel) motorcycles or mopeds.

In its lobbying, the BMF emphasised a need for government to work with its members - both in and outside Zones - not against them. Merchants perform a vital function as the last-mile link in delivering to building sites and have no choice but to use diesel, the BMF told DEFRA.

Places that are in line to introduce Clean Air Zones are (firstly) Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton and (secondly) Greater Manchester and Bristol and South Gloucestershire.
With around a fifth of general merchant business comprising timber and wood products, maximizing sales opportunities in the category is key to profitability.

With this in mind, the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) has embarked on a strategic partnership with British timber promotion campaign Grown in Britain, to help the Federations members extend their customer choice and business opportunities.

One of our core functions as a Federation is to help members to market their businesses, said John Newcomb, Managing Director of the BMF. British timber is already present in merchant yards, yet is not necessarily highlighted to customers as a buying choice. To grow merchants wood business, both pre- and post-Brexit, our partnership with Grown in Britain will give members information and ideas for making the most of the British timber in their supply chains, John added.

Grown in Britain was formed in 2013. It runs a special Grown in Britain Week, which this year coincides with UK Construction Week in October. One of its achievements is a timber procurement preference statement in favour of British-grown timber from major contractors.

Dougal Driver, Chief Executive Officer of Grown in Britain, said: We will be enabling BMF merchant members to sell British-grown timber with confidence, providing the latest information and promotional guidance. There has been vast investment in producing British timber in the past 20 years, with mills here operating to the same or higher standards than those in northern Europe. While challenging perceptions well be helping merchants to take full business advantage.

Further information, including a new leaflet specifically for merchants with information on the market for British-grown timber, is now available at www.growninbritain.org or by contacting enquiries@growninbritain.org.
Digby Stone has recruited Toby Stuart-Jervis to join the family business as a Director alongside Managing Directors Darren and Claire Digby.

Toby brings 40 years of industry knowledge to the role, most recently with Aggregate Industries, where he was Commercial Director for the Bradstone and Charcon brands. Digby Stone believe that Toby will become an invaluable part of the team, providing vital support across many areas of the business.

This expansion of the Digby Stone board demonstrates the company's continuing determination to grow and innovate for the benefit of their customers.

Toby said: "I am thrilled to join the Digby Stone team and work in an independent business that can quickly respond to new ideas and opportunities."

Darren and Claire are excited to introduce new talent with such a high level of experience to the company. Darren said: As soon as we met we felt that Toby would fit in with our team. We both hold the same values with regards to customer service, quality, and a desire to be the best in the industry. We are delighted that Toby has decided to join us.
Teen visits South Jersey in 50-state Flowers and Flags tribute to vets

Preston Sharp of Calif. visits veterans graves in Cinnaminson cemetery in South Jersey on 50-state Flowers and Flags tribute to their sacrifices
India's largest e-commerce marketplace clawed back market share from rival Amazon, showing steady growth in the nine months to March 2017 immediately after which it raised a massive $1.4 billion round at a valuation of $11.6 billion.
Pharmaceutical exports were supposed to be the next big thing for India, after the global success of its information technology (IT) industry. But, it seems are past their prime, even as the industry is still in its infancy. In FY17, IT services exports, at $160 billion, were nearly 10 times those of drugs and pharma and equivalent to nearly 60 per cent of the countrys merchandise (goods) exports. In FY17 IT services exports were up 3.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), while total merchandise exports were up 5.3 per cent.
Last month, Sudhakar Choudhari took the company bus as usual from his one-bedroom apartment to the suburban offices of Tech Mahindra, a major employer of workers in India that powers the global technology machine behind the scenes. Then a manager took him into a conference room and asked him to resign.
experts see administrative as well as legal challenges before a solution is arrived at over Tata Power and other imported coal-based power producers offer to sell stakes in their stressed assets.
State-owned telecom corporation Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) on Monday said it expects to repay about Rs 125 crore of debt before June-end.

The debt-laden company - which offers landline and mobile telephony services in Delhi and Mumbai areas - said it will be able to make the repayment due to "one of the public sector banks", a few days before the June-30 deadline.

"About Rs 125 crore is due for repayment, which we will be paying three days before the deadline...As far as the financing is concerned we do not see a challenge," MTNL Chairman and Managing Director, PK Purwar told PTI.

Stating that about Rs 495 crore of long-term loan will come up for repayment in the current financial year, Purwar said the telecom PSU is confident of meeting its obligations in this regard.

"We have our own revenue to the extent of about Rs 3,000 crore, and the repayment modalities are based on availability of funds. Sometimes we use the internal accruals and sometimes we use fresh line of credit," he said.

Purwar, who recently met the interministerial group (IMG) on financial stress in the telecom sector, has been seeking "government support" for the availability of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore capital over a period of time.

Earlier this month, Purwar - after a meeting with the IMG officials - told reporters that since government is the promoter of MTNL, it "should not be found wanting" in support with regard to its capital requirements.

MTNL has also sought government aid for its high employee cost - a tab of Rs 2,800 crore.

The PSU has shot off a letter to the telecom department seeking extension in the validity of its mobile licence for the Delhi and Mumbai circles by two more years till 2021, at no extra cost.

It has argued that the mobile licence for the two service areas remained underused in the first four years of the permit's lifespan, for various reasons.

The cellular licence of MTNL is valid till April 2019, after which the telecom corporation would be required to renew it.

As per data by the telecom regulator, MTNL's wireless subscriber base stands at over 36 lakh in the two metros put together. The wireline subscriber base of MTNL stands at over 34 lakh for the two circles.

A household telephony brand in the 90s and early 2000, MTNL's revenue and profitability has come under tremendous pressure with intensified competition in mobile and landline services.
US online retail giant Amazon would keep investing and growing in India, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in Washington DC on Sunday, soon after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
have captured more than one-third of the domestic two-wheeler market for the first time in over a decade. A sustained double-digit growth in scooter sales year after year has inched up its share to about 34 per cent in the worlds biggest two-wheeler market.
Takata, the Japanese auto parts maker crippled by vast airbag recalls, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Sunday evening and said it would sell its surviving operations to a Chinese-owned American rival, Key Safety Systems.

The deal seals the fate of the company at the center of the farthest-reaching auto safety crisis in history. Exploding Takata airbags have been linked to at least 14 deaths. Carmakers have recalled nearly 70 million of the companys airbags in the United States, in 42 million vehicles, as well as millions overseas.

Takata said it would sell its factories and other assets to Key Safety Systems, which makes airbags and other auto safety equipment. Key Safety Systems said it would buy Takatas factories and other assets for about $1.6 billion. Key Safety Systems is based in Michigan but is owned by a company in China, Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corporation.

The deal effectively means the end of Takata, which was established in 1933 and is still controlled by its founding family.

Shigehisa Takada, the companys chief executive, said a court-supervised restructuring was the best way to ensure that Takata could keep supplying automakers.

We needed to consider the impact on the global car industry, not just in Japan but also in the United States and Europe, Takada said.

A new corporate entity established by Key Safety Systems will take over Takatas production operations, which encompass seatbelts and other equipment as well as airbags. Despite its troubles, Takata has held on to about 20 per cent of the global airbag market, which is dominated by just a handful of .

Takata will continue to exist on paper, at least for a while. But instead of making airbags, its work will be to pay off debts.

Takata owes billions of dollars to banks and automakers, which have been paying to replace tens of millions of potentially dangerous Takata airbag inflaters. And it has promised the United States government that it will pay $125 million in compensation to victims. Lawsuits could add to the burden.

Takata agreed in January to plead guilty in the United States to wire fraud for providing false data to safety regulators. The recalled Takata airbag inflaters can explode with too much force in a collision, sending shrapnel flying through a vehicles cabin.

Takatas bankruptcy is thought to be the largest ever by a Japanese manufacturing company. The cost of the recalls continues to mount, and Takata said it could not yet estimate the scale of the liabilities it would ultimately face. But the figure is expected to be over 1 trillion yen, or about $10 billion.

Bankruptcy will leave at least some of Takatas creditors out in the cold. Even after selling its assets, the company will not have enough money to pay everyone it owes.

Among the biggest unsecured creditors of Takatas American operation, according to a court filing, are virtually all of the major automakers, led by Honda, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler.

Once the last of Takatas obligations are settled, the company will shut down.

Takata initially said it hoped to find a buyer for all or part of its business last year. But the question of who would be stuck with its liabilities has been a stumbling block in the complex negotiations over its fate.

The controlling Takada family initially appeared to be holding out hope that it could find a white knight investor to save the company - perhaps by buying a minority stake - leaving Takata intact and out of bankruptcy. But no buyer wanted to share responsibility for the still unknown final cost of resolving the recalls and their aftermath.

The sale to an American-Chinese buyer is notable in Japan. Japanese politicians and government officials have often cajoled domestic businesses to save competitors rather than let them fail or be swooped up by foreigners.
is under pressure from US activist shareholder Third Point, which has taken a $3.5 billion stake in the food maker and is pushing Europes largest company to improve margins, buy back shares and get rid of non-core businesses.
knows how to sell American diplomacy. The US President, who quietly claimed credit for getting the Saudis to go against Qatar, now seeks to use his negotiating skills on visiting Indian Prime Minister .
The Union human resource development (HRD) ministry on Monday appointed an eight-member committee headed by K Kasturirangan to draft the new . The last was made in 1989.
From the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army last year, Prime Minister on Sunday trotted out what he saw as his administration's achievements -- at his meetings with American CEOs and Indian-Americans.
Four members of a Delhi family and three tourist guides were killed when a cable car came crashing down after a ropeway snapped midair in the ski-resort of Gulmarg on Sunday, prompting the J-K government to order a high-level inquiry.

A tree, uprooted by strong winds, fell on the ropeway of Gulmarg Gondola severing the lines and plummeting the cable car to the ground, a police official said.

The police said they rescued around 150 people stranded due to the snapping of the cable car ropeway in north Kashmir's Baramulla district.

Four of the deceased belonged to a family from Delhi's Shalimar Bagh, he said.

They have been identified as Jayant Andraskar, his wife Manisha Andraskar and their two minor daughters, Anagha and Janhvi.

Three Kashmiri tourist guides, Mukhtar Ahmad of Chonti Patri Babareshi, and Jahangir Ahmad and Farooq Ahmad Chopan, both residents of Tangmarg -- were also killed in the accident, the official said.

Two others, Tariq Ahmad and Ajaz Ahmad, both residents of Pachhar, were injured and were taken to a hospital in Srinagar.

All the five locals were said to be working as tourist guides in Gulmarg in north Kashmir's Baramulla district.

Jammu and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti ordered a high-level inquiry while expressed grief and shock over the deaths.

Mufti, who herself was monitoring the rescue operations, also announced ex gratia of Rs five lakh to the next of kin of the deceased, an official spokesperson said.

He said the chief minister has asked the inquiry to probe the causes or lapses, if any, that led to the tragedy.

The bodies of the deceased were being sent to their homes, the spokesperson said.

An official of the cable car company said that around 150 people had got stranded after the ropeway collapse.

"We resumed the ropeway for rescue of the stranded people," Riyaz Ahmad, the general manager of the Jammu and State Cable Car Corporation, which runs Gulmarg Gondola, said.

Former Jammu and chief minister Omar Abdullah questioned why the cable car service had not been shut down as a precautionary measure because of high winds.

"What terrible news," he tweeted.

"It begs the question as to why the cable car operations weren't suspended in high winds. That's a laid down SOP [standard operating procedure]," he posted on Twitter.
2017: Acclaimed Odissi dancer Dona Ganguly's troupe performs during 46th ISKCON Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath in Kolkata. Photo: PTI

2017: Devotees take part in a procession during the 140th annual Lord in Ahmedabad. Photo: PTI

Jagannath Rath Yatra 2017: Odissi dancers perform in front of the three chariots during the inauguration of the annual Lord Jagannath Rathyatra festival in Puri. Photo: PTI

Jagannath Rath Yatra 2017: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani mounts the chariot on the occasion of 140th annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad. PTI Photo

Jagannath Rath Yatra 2017: Thousands of devotees throng the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra during the inauguration of the annual Rathyatra festival in Puri. Photo: PTI

The world famous Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath was held in the pilgrim town of Odisha on Sunday with religious fervour and enthusiasm amid tight security.Undeterred by rains, lakhs of devotees from across the country and abroad descended on the seaside town to witness the nine-day journey of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra to the Gundicha Temple and back to their abode.Devotees from all walks of life made a beeline to the seaside town to have a glimpse of the presiding deities of the 12th century shrine of Lord Jagannath as the trinity mingled with the sea of humanity during the annual festival of chariots.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Odisha Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, BJP president Amit Shah, Union Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other dignitaries greeted the people on Lord Jagannath's annual car festival.Enthusiasm and excitement ran high among devotees as the deities remained indoors since 'Snana Purnima' on June 9. 'Naba Jaubana Darshan' of the deities was performed yesterday as they remained confined to "Anasara Pindi" (recovery chamber) after the grand bath on 'Snana Purnima'.Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has put a ban on climbing the chariots and touching deities. "Climbing the chariots and touching the deities during the Rath Yatra is not permissible as per the order of the Orissa High Court," said SJTA Chief Administrator P K Jena.With millions thronging the holy town, police made elaborate security arrangements by deploying 127 platoons of force (one platoon has around 30 personnel) besides putting air and coast surveillance in place. A multi-layer security net was built to ensure smooth conduct of the festival while CCTVs were installed at various locations, according to Director General of Police (DGP), K B Singh.Security was tightened outside the temple, around the three chariots and the Grand road, sea beach, railway station and the bus stand, he said, adding that patrolling was strengthened."We are well prepared to face any situation. Steps have also been taken to avoid any stampede-like situation," said a police official.Besides three companies of the newly raised Odisha Swift Action Force (OSAF), personnel of Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), Rapid Action Force (RAF) and sharp shooters were deployed at vital points while the Coast Guard kept a vigil on the sea.Devotees poured into the seaside town to watch the grand ceremony and pull the three majestic and colourful chariots on the 'bada danda', the grand avenue.Before the presiding deities - Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and their sister Devi Subhadra - set out from the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, a number of special rituals like 'Mangla Arati' and 'Mailam' were held.Descending from the 'Ratna Sinhasana', the bejewelled throne, the three deities were taken out of the temple down the 22 steps known as "Baisi Pahacha" through the Lion's gate in an elaborate royal ritual called "Pahandi" as devotees and sevayats jostled to have a glimpse and touch them.In a rhythmic style, the deities moved forward step by step to the accompaniment of beating of 'ghantas' and 'kahalis' and blowing of konch shells.The trinity proceeded majestically in rhythmic movement in their journey to the world outside during 'Pahandi'.At first Sudarshana, the celestial wheel of Krishna Vishnu, was taken out and placed in the chariot of Devi Subhadra followed by Lord Balabhadra and finally Lord Jagannath.Ready to carry the deities for their annual nine-day sojourn to the Gundicha temple, about two km away, the three majestic wooden chariots waited outside draped in layers of red, black, green and yellow cloth.The 45-feet high 'Nandighosh,' the chariot of Lord Jagannath stood with 16 huge wooden wheels, while the 44-feet high 'Taladhawaja' with 14 wheels is for Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra's 'Darpadalan' was 43-feet high with 12 wheels.The Shankaracharya of Puri Govardhana peeth Swami Nischalananda Saraswati had a darshan of the deities on the chariots along with his disciples.Thereafter, the Gajapati King of Puri Divyasingh Dev proceeded to the chariots to perform the 'Chhera Panhara' ritual by sweeping the platform with golden broom.The proceedings were watched by millions including a host of VVIPs and dignitaries, while buildings on both sides of the grand avenue were occupied by thousands of people vying for a proper view.The administration made arrangements for convenience of pilgrims. Parking lots have been built for vehicles. Arrangements were also made for facilities like health service, drinking water and sanitation.The visitors were provided with guidance and assistance by police and other personnel deployed on the occasion.Earlier, visitors were also given information about traffic management through social media and Puri police administration website, a police officer said.East Coast Railway (ECoR) is running special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers for the car festival.A large number of cameras were installed across the city with an integrated surveillance control room near the Jagannath Temple as a special step.
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In his second leg of his three-nation tour, as Prime Minister held a roundtable meeting with business leaders in the US, Indian American businessmen pointed to dual taxation as a major hurdle for investments in India.

Sunny Ghai, president MGMT Service Inc., said, "Both Prime Minister Modi and President need to talk about dual taxation to ease our situation, so that we can invest in India and don't have to end up paying taxes on both sides."

As Trump pledged on the day of his inauguration that it's going to be only 'America first' and Prime Minister Modi has been highlighting his 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' programmes, Sunny Ghai said India can contribute to the American economy as every sector of the economy has a front and a back end and the front end only can work in the US while the back end of the Silicon Valley is in India in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi etc.

In his conference with US business honchos, Prime Minister Modi stressed that the whole world is looking at India today adding that growth for New Delhi also presents a win-win partnership for the United States.

Praising Prime Minister Modi, another expat said Modi has enhanced the status of Indian people across the world and we are not worried about the H1B Visa as there are no hurdles for students who know work.

"Infrastructure growth and terrorism are the main matters to focus on and I want that Russia should also support us on this," he added.

Dr. Nandini Tandon said she has high hopes from the meeting between two powerful leaders - Trump and Prime Minister Modi.

Referring to the H1B Visa regime, she said, "As an American citizen of Indian origin, we want that everyone should have jobs and tech savvy people are required both in America and India."

"I have already sent a report to Prime Minister Modi as there are three areas that will change India dramatically i.e. manufacturing, electric vehicles and solar energy and we have the know-how," Prof. Rajendra Singh said.

Lauding the Modi Government for introducing policies that have made easier for NRIs to do business in India, Singh said, "I wanted to establish a manufacturing plant in India, and now my desire can be fulfilled because we have the best possible government in India I have seen in the last 40 years."

Later in the day, Prime Minister Modi addressed the Indian diaspora in Virginia where he talked about terrorism, counter-terrorism, surgical strikes, the success of gas subsidy transfer and how the Ministry of External Affairs in India has brought a change in the lives of Indians across the globe.

Prime Minister Modi, who touched down the Andrews Air Force base in Washington on Sunday, is on a bilateral visit to meet Trump.

He would be the first world leader to have a working dinner with Trump at the White House on Monday.

Speaking ahead of the visit, India's Ambassador to the U.S., Navtej Sarna, said that Prime Minister Modi and President Trump would discuss crucial issues such as counter-terrorism, security and cyber security.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis called on Prime Minister here on Monday amid reports that America will sell 22 Guardian drones to India to bolster its surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities.

The meeting between Mattis and Prime Minister Modi came ahead of the latter's maiden meeting with US President at the White House.

Mattis met Modi at the Hotel Willard Intercontinental, where the Indian prime minister is staying.

Senior Indian officials, including Security Advisor Ajit Doval were present at the meeting.

While the deal on the 22 Guardian worth between USD two to three billion has not been formally announced, it is considered to be a "game changer" for the US-India relations as it operationalises the status of "major defence partner".

The designation of India being a "major defence partner" was decided by the previous Obama Administration, and formally approved by the Congress.

According to General Atomics, the Predator Guardian UAV, a variant of the Predator B, can be used for wide-area, long- endurance maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

The Indian Navy had made the request for this intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform last year.

The Guardian has cutting edge technologies that do not do not exist in the current Indian Navy arsenal.
The United States (US) on Monday designated Syed Salahuddin, the head of Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, as a specially designated global terrorist, a move welcomed by India which said it underlines quite strongly that both the countries face the threat of terrorism.

The move by the State Department comes just hours before the first meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Donald Trump at the White House.

As a consequence of this designation, US citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with Salahuddin and all of Salahuddin's property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked.

As a senior leader of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), the State Department said in September, 2016, Salahuddin, also known as Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah, vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley "into a graveyard for Indian forces".

"Under Salahuddin's tenure as senior HM leader, HM has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people," the State Department said.

Following the designation of Salahuddin as the global terrorist, the State Department in a notification said he has committed or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.

India welcomed the US' move.

"India welcomes this notification. It underlines also quite strongly that both India and the US face threat of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organisations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system.

Moreover, designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations, it said.
on Monday completed 100 days in office as Uttar Pradesh chief minister but it was a low-key anniversary with no big event to showcase the achievements of the government.

The BJP government, which assumed office on March 18 after bagging 325 of the 403 Assembly seats along with its allies, faces major challenges, some of the biggest being raising funds for the farm loan-waiver and law and order issues, including communal clashes.

The loan-waiver, a pre-poll promise of the BJP, has the finance department burning the proverbial midnight oil as it tries to offload the sudden fiscal burden of nearly Rs 36,369 crore.

This, coupled with Rs 34,000 crore for the implementation of the seventh pay commission recommendations, has put an additional burden of Rs 70,000 crore on the state's coffers, an official said.

There are other challenges too. Like arranging funds for mega projects like the Purvanchal e-way.

The government has also admitted it could manage to make just 63 per cent of the state's roads pothole free by the June 15 deadline set by the chief minister.

Distribution of free laptops among students, mentioned in the BJP manifesto, is another unfinished promise. The scheme was inaugurated on March 19 but there is no launch date yet.

The 45-year-old saffron clad chief minister and his cabinet colleagues have already sought more time saying they inherited a "jungle raj" from the SP government and it would take them some time to set things in order.

As the state government was busy preparing a 100-day achievement document, opposition parties stepped up their attack.

State Congress spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi ridiculed the ruling party for making promises that it could not meet.

"Two months of the Adityanath government have not sent out any strong message on any of the issues which were part of BJP's campaign -- improved law-and-order situation and better administration," he said.

BSP chief Mayawati alleged that the Dalits, the OBCs as well as forward castes, including Brahmins, have been facing "atrocities" in the state in an apparent attempt to associate Adityanath and his government with Kshatriyas only.

As head of the Gorakhnath Peeth, Adityanath has often associated himself with Kshatriya symbols.

He is often seen surrounded by mostly Kshatriyas and has supported Thakur leaders of other parties too. In 2013, he came out in support of Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya who was accused of conspiring to kill a deputy superintendent of police.

Not known to take the frequent barbs directed at him lying down, former chief minister and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav recently took on the Yogi government, saying, "I never knew officers wielded brooms so well. Now the question is how much filth have they cleared so far?"



He said the deadline to make state roads pothole-free by June 15 remained a "pipe dream".

Asked about the Yogi government's decision to probe the Expressway and river front projects launched during the SP rule, Akhilesh said, "Will this government do any work...Or will it only conduct probes? This government should try to do better work than us."



Refuting criticism on law and order, state cabinet minister Shrikant Sharma said, "A special cell will be constituted in the CM's office for crime-monitoring, which will be done personally by the CM."



"SP leaders, who have carried criminals and rapists with them in their cars, should introspect," he added.

Since taking office on March 19, the Adityanath government has recommended CBI probes into several projects of the previous regime led by Akhilesh Yadav, leaving the SP fuming.

"The government has become an inquiry committee. It is resorting to such tactics to smokescreen its failures...It smacks of politics of vendetta," SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury told PTI.

He said the state was under "an undeclared Emergency" since the saffron party came to power.

For almost a month after Adityanath took over the reins of the state, some 80 presentations were made by as many departments before him.

Counting the government's achievements, Principal Secretary (Information) Avaneesh Awasthi said it has half a dozen significant measures, starting with the Rs 36,500 crore loan waiver and the power-for-all agreement.

The power-for-all agreement with the Centre promises electricity around the clock to district headquarters and 18 hours a day to all villages.

A panel of Group of Ministers constituted by the chief minister has submitted a report on a new mining policy and on clamping down on illegal mining, a major problem in UP.

A portal being launched under the CMO's supervision to allow people to file complaints on illegal land-grab could be a game-changer too, officials said.

Another key decision was making transfers and postings of bureaucrats "merit-based" and free from extraneous pressures as reflected in wide-scale transfers done by the government.
The government has given relief to e-commerce majors such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal, putting on hold a provision to deduct a one per cent tax collected at source (TCS).
With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asking banks to take defaulters through the insolvency process, the role of insolvency professionals has assumed importance and people are rushing to clear the qualifying examination.
Filing a tax return on the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) portal by an entity will cost Rs 55 a month but the state will bear this burden. The user charge for all eight million taxpayers will be borne by the Union and the state governments, to keep revenue flowing for GSTN, the company charged with providing the information technology (IT) backbone for the reform, without burdening the assessees.
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) launched a new Star Rating Programme for air pollution on June 5, 2017World Environment Day. The programme uses smoke-stack emissions data that MPCB is already collecting. But, since sampling results are not very comprehensible to the general public, MPCB is turning these pollution readings into an easy-to-understand Star Rating.

Under the new scheme, industries are rated based on the density of fine particulate pollution coming from their smoke stacks. The best performing industries receive five stars. Those with the highest density of emissions receive only one star. Industry, government and the public can then log onto the MPCB website to access the report cards for plants in their area.

India is making headway to ambitious goals for clean energy, such as solar and wind power. Between 2017 and 2040, India will account for 15% of the estimated $10.2 trillion global investment in power generation. As these technologies get better and cheaper, the costs of going green have fallen. Earlier this year, the cost of solar power (Rs 2.62/kWh) fell below the market price for coal-generated power by the National Thermal Power Corporation, Indias largest power utility (Rs. 3.2/kWh), as The Guardian reported on May 10, 2017. The cost of solar energy could drop a further 66% by 2040 over current costs, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Outlook 2017 report. Yet, progress in technology alone will not be enough for industry to take up cleaner growth.

Maharashtra knows the benefits and the by-products of growth. For instance, the heavy industry centre of Chandrapur is ranked the most polluted city in India as of 2016 with an air-quality index (AQI) of 824. The MPCB regulates industries in Maharashtra and requires advanced control technology. What more can be done to bring this pollution down? In an area as thick with cement, power, and other heavy industries as Chandrapur, it is hard for the public to know the answer to this question.

The Maharashtra Star Rating Programme is the first government-led initiative in India that makes data available from approximately 20,000 industrial stack samples over multiple years. An easy and accessible way to inform residents of Maharashtra about the industry emissions around where they live and work, the programme has the added benefit of infusing transparency and accountability into the system.

Such transparency can bring about change in two possible ways. First, by making citizens more informed about the sources of pollution in their communities, citizens can then call for action. And second, by giving industries information on their pollution emissions, they may discover inefficiencies in their system and opportunities for improvements such as installing new technologies.

It could also instil some healthy competition. Theres a growing literature in behavioural economics (here, here and here) that suggests that knowing what your peers are doing can be an important source of change. So, industries may see how their performance compares to others and be motivated to improve. Along the way, they could also learn from each others success.

Since the MPCB already collects high-quality data on industrial air pollution emissions on a regular basis, the programme has practically no cost with possibly limitless returns. This innovative policy effort builds on successful technology efforts MPCB has created and championed, such as the mandating of Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) for high pollution potential industries. In providing access to real-time pollution data, CEMSlike the Star Rating Programmeencourages self-regulation by improving data transparency and quality of information.

The Star Rating scheme is a new kind of regulation in India. It sets ambitious targets for industries, aside from only heaping on penalties. It also informs the broader public to encourage calls for action.

Similar programmes have launched before, such as the Program for Pollution Control Evaluation and Rating (PROPER) in Indonesia, the United States Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), India Centre for Science and Environment Green Rating Programme and AKOBEN in Ghana for rating the environmental performance of industries in the mining sector. However, the Maharashtra Star Rating Programme will be the first ever programme released by a government regulator to provide industry ratings across sectors on particulate matter emissions.

A coalition of researchers from J-PAL South Asia, the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), and Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) at Harvard Kennedy School will assist the state government in evaluating this programme and tracking its success, which ultimately relies on how industries respond to this information being made public. The effort has the potential to become a global model for how star-rating schemes can function successfully.

(Greenstone is the Milton Friedman Professor in Economics, the College, and the Harris School, as well as the Director of the Energy Policy Institute at University of Chicago (EPIC). Pande is the Mohammed Kamal Professor of Public Policy and co-director of Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) at Harvard Kennedy School. Ryan is Assistant Professor of Economics at Yale University, and Sudarshan is India Director for EPIC.)
Last June in my address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, I stated that the relationship between India and America had overcome the hesitations of history. A year later, I return to the U.S. confident in the growing convergence between our two nations.

This confidence stems from the strength of our shared values and the stability of our systems. Our people and institutions have steadfastly viewed democratic change as an instrument for renewal and resurgence.

In an uncertain global economic landscape, our two nations stand as mutually reinforcing engines of growth and innovation. Confidence in each others political values and a strong belief in each others prosperity has enabled our engagement to grow. A vision of joint success and progress guides our partnership.

Our bilateral trade, which already totals about $115 billion a year, is poised for a multifold increase. Indian companies are adding value to the manufacturing and services sectors in the U.S., with total investments of approximately $15 billion and a presence in more than 35 states, including in the Rust Belt. American companies have likewise fueled their global growth by investing more than $20 billion in India.

The transformation of India presents abundant commercial and investment opportunities for American businesses. The rollout of the Goods and Services Tax on July 1 will, in a single stroke, convert India into a unified, continent-sized market of 1.3 billion people. The planned 100 smart cities, the massive modernization of ports, airports, and road and rail networks, and the construction of affordable housing for all by 2022the 75th anniversary of Indias independenceare not just promises of great urban renewal within India. These plans also showcase the enormous fruits of our relationships with enterprising U.S. partnersworth many billions of dollars over the next decade alonetogether with concomitant new employment opportunities across both societies.

Indias rapidly expanding aviation needs, and our increasing demand for gas, nuclear, clean coal and renewables, are two significant areas of increasing convergence. In coming years, Indian companies will import energy in excess of $40 billion from the U.S., and more than 200 American-made aircraft will join the private Indian aviation fleet.

The combination of technology, innovation and skilled workers has helped forge an exciting digital and scientific partnership between our two countries. The creative and entrepreneurial energy of our engineers, scientists and researchers, and their free movement between both countries, continue to help India and the U.S. retain their innovation edge and maintain competitiveness in the knowledge economy.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calls on Prime Minister in Washington DC on Monday. Photo: PIB

A new layer in our engagement is our partnership for global good. Whenever India and the U.S. work together, the world reaps the benefitsbe it our collaborative efforts to find affordable vaccines for rotavirus or dengue, our joint studies of gravitational waves, observations of distant planets, establishing norms for cyberspace, providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the Indo-Pacific region, or training peacekeepers in Africa.

Defense is another mutually beneficial sphere of our partnership. Both India and the U.S. have an overriding interest in securing our societies, and the world, from the forces of terrorism, radical ideologies and nontraditional security threats. India has four decades experience in fighting terrorism, and we share the U.S. administrations determination to defeat this scourge.

We are already working together to address the existing and emerging strategic and security challenges that affect both our nationsin Afghanistan, West Asia, the large maritime space of the Indo-Pacific, the new and unanticipated threats in cyberspace. We also share an interest in ensuring that sea lanescritical lifelines of trade and energyremain secure and open to all.

The logic of our strategic relationship is incontrovertible. It is further underpinned by faith in the strength of our multicultural societies that have defended our values at all costs, including the supreme sacrifices weve made in distant corners of the globe. The three-million-strong Indian-American community, which represents the best of both our countries, has played a crucial role in connecting and contributing to our societies.

The past two decades have been a productive journey of engagement for our mutual security and growth. I expect the next few decades to be an even more remarkable story of ambitious horizons, convergent action and shared growth.

The U.S. and India are forging a deeper and stronger partnership that extends far beyond the Beltway and the Raisina Hill. That partnership has become our privileged prerogative and our promise for our people and our world.

Source: The Wall Street Journal
India has emerged as a business-friendly destination, more so with the upcoming implementation of the landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST) beginning next month, Prime Minister said on Sunday while meeting with the CEOs of the top 20 American firms.
In the second leg of his three-nation tour, Prime Minister met and interacted with 20 top American CEOs at a roundtable meeting in Washington DC, and talked about various topics ranging from the Goods and Services Tax (GST), technology, India's economy and Digital India, Make in India, Skill Development, Demonetisation and the thrust towards renewable energy among others.

Welcoming the CEOs, Prime Minister Modi said that the world is focussed on India's economy. He said a young population and a rising middle class are among factors, which generate global interest in the Indian economy, especially in areas such as manufacturing, trade and commerce, and people to people contacts.

He said that in the last three years, the Union Government in India has focussed on improvement in quality of life of the people.

The Prime Minister said this requires global partnership, adding, therefore the Indian Government is working on principles such as Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.

The Prime Minister also spoke of the recent reforms, and noted that the Union Government alone has initiated 7,000 reforms. He said this indicates India's quest for global benchmarks. He mentioned the Government's emphasis on efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.

On the GST, the Prime Minister said that this is becoming a reality after years of effort. He added that its implementation is a complex task that may well be the subject of future case-studies. He added that this shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly.

The CEOs appreciated Prime Minister Modi for his policy initiatives and the work done in recent times towards ease of doing business.

Initiatives such as Digital India, Make in India, Skill Development, Demonetisation and the thrust towards renewable energy came in for much appreciation from a number of CEOs.

Several CEOs showed their willingness to be partners in skill development and education initiatives. They also mentioned social initiatives being undertaken by their companies in India, in spheres such as women empowerment, digital technology, education and food processing. Themes such as infrastructure, defence manufacturing and energy security also came up for discussion.

In conclusion, the Prime Minister thanked the CEOs for their observations.

Prime Minister Modi further sought enhanced attention from the CEOs in areas such as women empowerment, renewable energy, startups and innovation. He suggested linking sanitary practices, products and technologies with the requirements of school going girls. He reiterated that his primary interest is improving the quality of life in India.

Prime Minister Modi will next meet United States President and would be the first world leader to have a working dinner with the latter at the White House.

Looking forward to his meeting with President Trump, Prime Minister Modi said India and the US have shared values. He said if America becomes stronger, India will be a natural beneficiary. He also added that India believes that a strong America is good for the world.

Later in the day, Prime Minister Modi addressed the Indian diaspora in Virginia where he talked about terrorism, counter-terrorism, surgical strikes, the success of gas subsidy transfer and how the Ministry of External Affairs in India has brought a change in the lives of Indians across the globe.
In a perhaps final attempt to revive bauxite mining atop the ecologically fragile hills, the Odisha government is exploring the possibility of putting these mines for auction. The contentious deposit is no longer under the leasehold of its Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC).
Several CEOs of top American companies who met with Prime Minister committed to invest a "very large" amount" in India, one of the participants of the meeting has said.

"Some did step up and say they have plans to invest more. I'm not at liberty of telling those numbers, but I think I would say almost half a dozen of them made a very large dollar number commitment also as they move forward," Mukesh Aghi, the president of the US India Business Council (USIBC) said.

Aghi joined the top 20 American CEOs for a roundtable with the prime minister yesterday. The meeting lasted for about 90 minutes. Aghi refused to reveal any further details of the close-door meeting.

Responding to a question, Aghi described the roundtable as "good meeting, positive meeting focused on win-win between India and the US".

Both the CEOs and the prime minister were looking forward to building this relationship, he said, adding that Modi responded to every question raised by the CEOs.

"So I think it was a good meeting," he said.

"(He was) definitely focused a lot on technology transfer. India is not just about investment, it's about being good to the rest of the world itself. So I think, I would say I walked away with a very very positive feeling," he said.

In addition to having discussion on defence, digitisation and healthcare, some of the CEOs also raised the issue of ease of doing business and trade barriers.

"But overall, I would say it was very very positive, saying that India's a fantastic opportunity. I would like to see this moment in going on," he said.

Aghi said that there is no clash between Modi's 'Make in India' and Donald Trump's 'America First'.

"I think there's no clash there....Make in India is focused on trying to create jobs there, whereas Trump's policy of making America great again is creating jobs here," he said.

Citing an example, Aghi said India if decides to go with either F16 and Lockheed starts making the fighter jets in India, components will still come from the US.

"So, there's job creation in the US and job creation in India too," he noted.

Aghi said during the roundtable, the hospitality industry raised the issue of 28 per cent tax on hotel rates or chocolates under the new Goods Services Tax structure.

"Those were brought up and he said we'll look into that and try to see how we can address that," said the USIBC president.

The issue of H-1B visas did not come up, so did the issues of intellectual property rights and price caps on stents, he said.

"I think the issue of price cap did not come up, but he did talk about looking at Johnson & Johnson, saying let's put a campaign together, especially for school or for girls, sanitary napkins as a joint partnership itself," Aghi said.

According to Aghi, Modi appeared to be very confident ahead of his first meeting with Trump.

"I think he feels very comfortable meeting with President Trump. He said that his last two conversations with the president were very positive and he's looking forward to building this relationship with the president when he sees him," he said.

"We are looking at a long 10-year term (for) Prime Minister. They're looking at a long-term investment coming through. So, I think the local populist agenda never did come up and I think the CEOs are still keen on India as a market," he said.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in an tweet said that he would continue to invest in India.
Prime Minister on Sunday said India has now emerged as a business-friendly destination, more so with the upcoming implementation of landmark GST beginning next month, while asking CEOs of top US companies to invest in the country.

Modi also said India attracted largest foreign direct investment (FDI) as a result of the NDA government policies in the last three years, during his interaction with a group of CEOs of top 20 American firms.

In a round table interaction with the group, including Tim Cook of Apple, Satya Nadella from Microsoft, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Modi listed out steps taken by his government in the last three years and next moves.



ALSO READ: Growth of India presents win-win partnership: Modi to top US CEOs

"The whole world is looking at India. 7,000 reforms alone by GOI for ease of (doing) business and minimum government, maximum governance," Gopal Bagley, spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said in a tweet from inside the meeting, quoting the prime minister.

India's growth presents a win-win partnership for the country and the US, and American companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that, Modi told the CEOs, according to Bagley.

"The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools," Modi said.





ALSO READ: Modi in US: PM to meet top CEOs, discuss GST, Make in India gains, H1B visa

During the hour-long interaction, at the Willard Hotel, where he is staying, Modi gave a patient hearing to the wish-list of the CEOs.

Among other CEOs present at the meeting were Shantanu Narayen from Adobe, Ajay Banga from Mastercard, David Farr from Emerson, Doug McMillon and Punit Renjen from Deloitte Global. Mukesh Aghi, president of the US India Business Council, was also present at the meeting.

Posting a group picture of the prime minister with the CEOs, Bagley said, "strengthening the Indo-US economic partnership".

In a recent policy document, USIBC said the US-India commercial and strategic relationship supports global security, promotes economic growth and creates jobs for both countries and the global economy.

"Today, as we witness a paradigm shift in the erstwhile global order, an opportunity has emerged for both countries to set new standards in bilateral ties that will be bound by their shared values," USIBC said.





Noting that US-India trade has tripled over the last decade, reaching a historic high of nearly $110 billion in 2015, USIBC said there is an opportunity for both the countries to also sync their regulatory and standards system to increase trade and investment.

ALSO READ: H-1B visa unlikely to be thorny issue in Modi-Trump talks: USIBC



In a separate statement, Jagdip Ahluwalia, executive director of Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston, said the United States and India share a very symbiotic relationship, and Modi's first face to face visit with Donald Trump is important to strengthen the relationship between the two.

"On behalf of Houston, the energy capital of the world and home of the world's largest Medical Center the IACCGH and the strong Indian American community hope to welcome Prime Minister Modi to Houston in the not too distant future," Ahluwalia said.





ALSO READ: India's Modi heads to Trump White House with relationship issues

During the hour-long interaction at the Willard Hotel, PM Modi gave a patient hearing to the wish-list of the CEOs.
Walmart will be benefited by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which will be a win-win situation for all, the American retail giant's top official in India said here today as the landmark tax reform measure is all set to be rolled out on July 1.

"For instance, in the medium to long term when it becomes one national unified market, you don't need warehouse in every single state. That's a big benefit in terms of economies of scale, how one can drive economies of scale," Krish Iyer, president and CEO of Walmart India, told PTI in an interview.

"Eventually, if we are able to run the business at lower cost, we will pass it onto the consumers, and the prices of the central commodities can come down, so it's a win-win for everyone, for the consumer, for the state, as well as for the business," said Iyer, who was present in the meeting that Walmart CEO Douglas McMillion had with Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday.

Walmart is eyeing a big space for itself in India and is all set to benefit in a big way, the company said.

"We're appreciative of what the government is currently doing in terms of reforms, and we had no specific discretions. We are happy with the way the government is getting out various refunds.

"We were very appreciative of the GST, particularly the changes that will come into effect from first of July, and we believe that will be a game-changing reform, and will remove a lot of barriers which currently exist," Iyer said.

During the course of the meeting with Modi, McMillion reiterated Walmart's commitment to expand its operations and investment in India.

"We also talked about global sourcing that we do from the country and also the global technology centre that we have," Iyer said.

The Walmart CEO also talked about the agenda on working with farmers regarding the company's direct procurement programme and the economic empowerment of women entrepreneur.

Walmart has proposed to open 50 more Cash and Carry stores over the next four to five years.

"We have already built a pipeline of nearly 16 stores as we speak, and the work is in progress in terms of various stages of construction," Iyer said.

Walmart believes that India has improved a lot in ease of doing business in the last three years, he said.

"I have been witness to various changes and efforts that the government has made in the ease of doing business. The result may not be visible on the ground as of today, but I know that it takes time, and the various concepts, various concept like e-governance, and the efforts to really root out corruption, these are highly commendable, so I can give a lot of instances of the very strategic focus of the government in driving growth and creating jobs," he said.

Prime Minister Modi has done a lot of things to help the retail industry, Iyer said, adding that all these shows government's intention to make retail a vibrant industry in the medium to long term.

"That is what is commendable, so it's not just Walmart, I'm sure. Most of the retailers, also, within the country would echo the same sentiments, and would benefit from these reforms," Iyer added.
On June 29 2014  nearly three years ago to the day  Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took the pulpit at the Great Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul in northern Iraq. He announced the creation of a new Islamic State that stretched across the borders of Iraq and Syria. Declaring himself Caliph Ibrahim, the leader of all Muslims, he implored the faithful from across the world to make the pilgrimage to come and serve.

Yesterday, in the midst of what are likely to be the final stages in the Battle for Mosul, the Islamic State appears to have destroyed the Great Mosque of Al-Nuri and its iconic leaning minaret.
Don't expect a lot of deliverables from the Trump-Modi meeting, says an American commentator.

Writing in The Washington Post, Josh Rogin says the Monday meeting between the US President and the Indian Prime Minister was scheduled before the Group of 20 meeting in Germany in July so that they could develop some rapport before meeting there.

Although both and have some things in common, "the question remains whether his (Modi's) dalliance with Trump will be a one-night stand or will blossom into a full-on romance", Rogin said.

Rogin said a close relationship which Trump had promised before his election victory was yet to materialise due to many factors.

These include a mix of transition dysfunction, the distractions of the more urgent issues and a shortage of senior Trump administration officials with India experience.

"The Modi government, unlike some other Asian powers, has not pushed itself in front of the Trump team, instead pursuing a dual-track policy of cautious engagement mitigated by hedging."

The Trump-Modi meeting "is intended to ... get the US-India relationship back on an upward trajectory.

"The fact that Modi will have dinner, not lunch, with Trump is meant to signal respect, officials said."

Rogin noted that Modi had recently made high-profile visits to Russia, France and Germany, and that he may be preparing for alternatives in case his push to warm ties with Washington under Trump doesn't pan out.

Rogin said: "At some point, for real progress to be made, the two sides will have to tackle their differences, including on H1-B visas, trade irritants and India's approach to intellectual property.

"The Trump administration also must settle on its own foreign policy for India to be reassured that strategic interests remain aligned.

"Modi's task is to convince Trump that spending more time and attention on India fits into his America First agenda.

"Trump's job is to convince Modi that his bet on the US will pay off in real ways long after their dinner is over."
US President Donald Trump accused of colluding with the Democrats to defeat "crazy" Senator Bernie Sanders, who was the former Secretary of State's rival for the party's presidential nomination.

" colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat crazy Bernie Sanders. Is she allowed to so collude? Unfair to Bernie," Trump tweeted on Sunday.

During last year's election campaign, it came to light that officials with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had discussed various strategies to defeat Sanders and favour Clinton as the party's presidential candidate.

In July 2016, WikiLeaks published more than 19,000 controversial e-mails stolen from the DNC, in which Democratic officials discussed assorted strategies to weaken Sanders' candidacy.

The WikiLeaks revelations forced DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign and also created significant internal divisions among Democrats given that Sanders supporters felt deceived.

During the election, many Sanders backers wound up voting for Clinton, but others cast blank ballots or even voted for Trump, who -- like Sanders -- gave a voice to many discontented working class people.
Pakistan has deployed a special military force of 15,000 for the protection of Chinese working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and other similar projects in the country.

This comes after China raised concerns about the safety of its nationals in Pakistan following the abduction of a Chinese couple last month.

According to local media reports, President Mamnoon Hussain informed visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that protecting Chinese nationals in Pakistan was the "top priority" of Islamabad.

Two Chinese nationals were kidnapped on May 24 from the Jinnah town area of Quetta, outside the capital of Balochistan.

Unidentified abductors had forced the two Chinese nationals, a man and a woman, into a vehicle at gunpoint and drove away, the Dawn reported.

The two Chinese nationals were teachers at a private language school in Quetta. Another Chinese national reportedly managed to escape, while a passerby was injured during firing by the abductors.

Both China and Pakistan are also probing the ISIS claim that the Chinese couple has been killed by them.

The killing of two Chinese nationals by the Islamic State in Pakistan's Balochistan province has sparked outrage on social media, with Chinese netizens demanding that their government send PLA troops to Pakistan to avenge the killings.

The reports about the killing of two Chinese nationals in Balochistan generated a cascade of discussion on Weibo, a Twitter-style Chinese social media platform, with many users calling for revenge, the South China Morning Post has reported.

"We shall start a war against IS, killing them on behalf of the two murdered Chinese," said a user going by the name Zhou Qi Bei Hou.

Chinese officials have yet to directly confirm the deaths, but a spokesman of the Chinese foreign ministry said Wednesday that Beijing is investigating whether the pair described in some reports as Chinese language teachers were illegally preaching in Pakistan before they were abducted and killed.

In an earlier press conference, the ministry said it had been told by Pakistan that the pair had "probably died".

"It is time to fight violence with violence," another user said.

Beijing has been restricting such content from going online, but tens of thousands of comments regarding the atrocity remain.
A full year after the EU referendum, the British prime minister has finally issued a statement on the status of the 3m European citizens living in the UK. These people have spent the year lobbying governments, parliaments and relevant organisations all over Europe for clarity about their post-Brexit rights  as well as those of British people living in Europe . Now that a statement has finally been made, they are supposed to feel reassured.

But there is little substance so far. While Theresa Mays offer to award all non-UK EU citizens the right to remain  provided they have been living in the country lawfully for a minimum of five years  might appear to be fair and generous, it would have been very difficult for her to do anything else.
Five American Senators have asked US President to use his meeting with Prime Minister as an opportunity to discuss India's "discriminatory" policies against foreign religious and humanitarian organisations.

"Discriminating against foreign organisations that help the citizens of India is counterproductive, and it needs to change. I ask that President Trump address this serious issue with Prime Minister Modi during his upcoming trip to Washington," Senator John Kennedy said in a statement.

Joined by Senators Roy Blunt, Mike Crapo, James Lankford, and Amy Klobuchar, Kennedy sent a letter to Trump ahead of the White House meeting between the two leaders.

"Over the past few years, the Indian government has made it difficult - if not impossible - for religious and humanitarian organisations to get funding to their charitable operations in India," Kennedy said.

"Many of these organisations are simply trying to meet the basic needs of the citizens of India. Compassion even had to leave India. This humanitarian aid organisation had helped feed and provide health care to children in India for nearly 50 years. Now thousands of innocent children will be left without this critical support," he alleged.

Referring to the issues of Compassion International, Ford Foundation, Amnesty and Greenpeace among others, the Senators said, "Based on these troubling developments, we ask that you make religious liberty a top priority when Prime Minister visits the United States this month."



"We request that you use the United States' strong, longstanding relationship with India to encourage Prime Minister Modi to alleviate the discrimination against these organisations, particularly religious-based aid groups, and to take steps to advance religious liberty for all of India's citizens," they said.

In the letter, the Senators said that they are particularly concerned about violations of religious liberty in India.

"India is the world's largest democracy and therefore holds a position of importance on the world stage, making the ongoing violations even more disturbing. Despite India's size and religious diversity, violations of religious liberty have existed for years," they wrote.

Every year, the United States Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) releases a report outlining the state of religious freedom across the world.

India has consistently remained a 'Tier 2' country, meaning that USCIRF believes it requires close monitoring based on evidence of violations of religious freedom.

These include violence, discrimination, and forced conversions, as well as harassment and intimidation, the letter noted.

"Of significant concern is India's recent use of its Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA) to target humanitarian and religious organisations. Any foreign religious organisations, including missionaries, working in India must comply with this law. In 2011, the Indian Parliament amended FCRA to allow the government to block funds for foreign organisations that conduct any 'activities detrimental to the national interest'," the Senators said.

The Senators alleged that the Indian government has since used this broad provision to target foreign humanitarian and religious organisations that serve the Indian people, such as Compassion International that was forced to leave India and the 145,000 Indian children it served.

"Other organisations that have come under scrutiny include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Amnesty International, and Greenpeace. Other evangelical Christian organisations, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, have also faced discrimination of various kinds. The number of organisations that have lost their licenses has exceeded 10,000 since Prime Minister Modi took office," they alleged.
The US Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by allowing his temporary bans on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and all refugees to go into effect for people with no connection to the United States while agreeing to hear his appeals in the closely watched legal fight.


At present, if a company has a mine with 10 mt capacity but is extracting only four mt, it pays royalty on the latter amount
Among seafood exporters to America, those from India and Vietnam had the highest number of consignment rejections between January and May this year.
The first installment of the Harry Potter seven-book series celebrates its 20th anniversary today, making it truly a joyous day for potterheads across the globe.

Taking to Twitter, celebrated author of the magic series J.K. Rowling said, "20 years ago today a world that I had lived in alone was suddenly open to others. It's been wonderful. Thank you."

Rowling told the story that how before publishing her first book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" on June 26, 1997, she received "loads" of rejections.

Rowling once told her fans that she couldn't even get books published under the alias of Robert Galbraith, which she used for some thrillers she wrote.

It's been twenty years since the first 'Harry Potter' book hit the shelves.

Over the years, seven Harry Potter novels sold more than 450 million copies and have been translated into more than 60 languages.

According to a study by researchers in Italy, found that reading Potter books helped implant understanding in children.

The star cast Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint gained popularity and the audiences watched the cast grow up on screen and become megastars.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Johan Gustafsson, a Swedish national who was held hostage by al-Qaeda in Mali since 2011, has been released.

Gustafsson was abducted in Timbuktu, along with a South African and Dutch national.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement on Monday, "It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Johan Gustafsson has been released and can return to Sweden. Johan's situation has touched many of us, and extensive efforts have been made to secure his release."

"The government would like to highlight the excellent cooperation that has characterized the work of the Foreign Ministry, the National Police's operational department and other Swedish and foreign authorities. A work that finally made it possible that John can come home," the statement added.

Gustafsson was abducted in Timbuktu, along with a South African and Dutch national.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. It was one of several Islamist groups to take control of northern Mali in in 2012, before being pushed back from their strongholds by French military forces the following year.

According to the DW, the kidnappers had allegedly demanded USD 5 million for Gustafsson's release, a demand reportedly rejected by the Swedish government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Anuj Puri, Former Chairman and Country Head of International Property Consultancy JLL India, today announced the launch of ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd., essentially rebranding JLL's erstwhile residential brokerage business which he acquired earlier this year.

Simultaneously, Puri announced the Firm's real estate investment and fund platform, which will invest Rs. 300 crore in Residential real estate projects.

Anuj Puri, Chairman - ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd"We have chosen the brand ANAROCK with the motto 'Values Over Value' to reflect a business model and philosophy founded on the bedrock of Trust and Reliability," says Anuj Puri, Chairman - ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd. "ANAROCK is the Group Brand, which will house multiple real estate services verticals. We will provide our regular residential advisory services which charges zero brokerage from our customers. Additionally, the Firm will operate a revolutionary business model of bulk-purchasing residential apartment inventory through a proprietary investment fund. ANAROCK will also provide debt, equity and mezzanine funding to residential developers. And this is just the beginning." Ashwinder Raj Singh, who continues as CEO - ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd. is currently enhancing the Firm's team of residential brokers to a Pan India headcount of 700 by the end of 2017.

ANAROCK's radical and disruptive residential brokerage model fully enables supply, demand and discovery through a digital platform, with transactions facilitated offline via highly-trained real estate experts. "Our unique, multi-pronged approach will significantly differentiate ANAROCK from all other players within the Indian residential property market," says Puri. "We are fully substantiating the Firm's motto 'Values Over Value'."

ANAROCK's Investment and Fund platform, which is targeting a capitalization of USD 500 million by 2020, currently houses two funds. ROF-I, with its recent investments, stands fully deployed at Rs. 161 crore and has already demonstrated successful exits. ROF-II, for which Rs. 300 crore were raised in 2016, will invest into meaningful residential assets from a existing pipeline and its deployment will commence as soon as it completes the last leg of regulatory requirements.

The fund's key focus areas will be underwriting and asset management, since in the current market dynamics and with the introduction of RERA and implementation of GST, delta returns and successful exits can only be achieved through constant monitoring and robust in-house asset management.

"We will redefine the way residential real estate transaction business is done in India," says Puri. "This company's brand is forged to withstand the test of time. ANAROCK is the merging of two words. As outlined by British mathematician Charles Howard Hinton, ANA is the fourth spatial dimension and symbolizes the Firm's four core values of Ethics, Integrity, Transparency and Trust. ROCK is the globally understood symbol of Solidity and Stability."

With Anuj Puri's proven background and experience in strategizing real estate companies' success and growth in India, ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd. has set its sights on multi-dimensional growth as India's premier digitally-enabled and customer-focused residential brokerage and services platform. Real estate history is being rewritten - yet again.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Emergency remark saying that the young generation must recall and remember the dark chapter in the electoral history.

"I think Prime Minister Modi's inclusion of impositing Emergency in Mann Ki Baat was a message to the people that we must not forget the black day of the imposition of Emergency. The Congress, which claims to be today's paragons of virtues, says it has no tolerance towards any kind of limitation of freedom. It is actually responsible for the sin of imposing emergency and ensuring that people did not have civil liberties," BJP leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told ANI.

Echoing similar sentiment, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said the Congress has no right to point fingers at the Modi Government while having a black chapter of Emergency in past.

"What Prime Minister said was right. The Congress points fingers at us and what they did during their regime by imposing Emergency cannot be forgot so soon. People had to face many difficulties and harassment during the Emergency. The Congress has no right to speak against our Government," Lekhi told ANI.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi in his monthly radio address 'Mann ki Baat' said that the emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the month of June, 1975 was a dark phase for the nation and asked people to re-dedicate themselves towards the goal of strengthening democracy.

Delivering his 33rd radio address to the nation, Prime Minister Modi reminded the people June 25 was the 42nd anniversary of the declaration of emergency across the country.

He reminded people of the horror of a government having the power to take away one's liberty and freedom, and not sparing any section of society, be it political, economic, media, students, communities, or even the judiciary. He used today's address to recall and recite a poem written by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he was in jail.

"The Emergency will be remembered for the way in which people of India came together and safeguarded democratic values. Democracy is not only a system, but also our ethos as -'Eternal vigilance is the life of liberty'. We need to remember the things which harm democracy and move forward in a positive direction. Those who love democracy can never forget the dark night of June 25, 1975, when the entire nation turned into a prison, all voices of dissent were muzzled, where senior leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan were imprisoned. Not even the judiciary was spared from the shadow of authoritarianism," Modi said.

"Newspapers were rendered ineffective, students of journalism and political activities must continuously remind themselves of this dark phase. They must work towards creating awareness about democracy. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also imprisoned during this period. When he completed one year in prison, he wrote a poem describing his feelings," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress' candidate for President Polls Meira Kumar on Monday joined micro-blogging-site Twitter.

The development has come at a time when the spat between the congress party and External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj is making headlines in wake of the President election slated for July 17.

Kumar made her debut on the occasion of Eid, tweeting, "Eid Mubarak! Joy, peace and prosperity to all."

Post Kumar's name was tabled by the opposition parties for the post of President, Swaraj last week posted an old video of the former titled "This is how Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar treated the Leader of Opposition"

The video shows the Parliament session of 2013 in business and Kumar relentlessly interrupting Swaraj who was making a speech highlighting the corruption of the UPA regime.

However, retorting to Swaraj's move the Congress posted a video of the Union Minister heaping praises of the grand old party veteran.

At Kumar's farewell in 2013, Swaraj told the House, "I want that we all fight the elections with integrity. And I am a fan of you. What Vasudev ji said in public, I have told you multiple times in person; your nature and the quality of not being angry/agitated contributes the most to the proper functioning of this House."

Last week, the Congress-led opposition nominated Kumar to face Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

Many of the Opposition parties including the Janata Dal (Secular), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Communist Party of India and CPI (Marxist) are backing Kumar.

While Kovind, apart from the NDA allies, is being supported by major non-NDA parties like the JD-U, the BJD, the AIADMK, the TRS and the YSR-Congress.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress Party on Monday said that criticising the Opposition has become the DNA of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said, "Unfortunately, criticising the opposition has become the DNA of Prime Minister Modi."

He said that Prime Minister has continued crtiticising the Opposition in his 64th foreign trip.

Surjewala alleged that "abusing opposition party has become the foreign policy for him, ignoring from core subjects has become strategy, and claiming Congress-UPA works as their own on foreign platforms has become the politics".

Raising the question on Prime Minister Modi's visit to U.S., the grand old party wanted to know whether the Prime minister will discuss HIB visa and other issues with U.S. President Donald Trump.

"Will the Centre and the Prime Minister let the people of nation know that whether he will discuss the H1B topic with his U.S. president Trump," he questioned

.

At the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Modi is visiting United States.

On Monday, Prime Minister Modi's will be meeting first time with President Trump, whose presidency began on January 20. The two leaders have spoken over phone at least thrice since the latter assumed office.

This meeting comes at a time when Trump made critical comments about India while announcing America's decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. President Trump has accused India and other countries of trying to extract "billions and billions and billions" of dollars in foreign aid from the developed world to sign up for the climate accord.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry on Tuesday appointed a new nine-member panel, under the Chairmanship of eminent scientist Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan,who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1994 to 2003, to work on a New Education Policy (NEP).

The council will start its work with immediate effect.

In an exhaustive democratic exercise carried over the 30 months, the HRD ministry has received thousands of suggestions from, educationists, teachers, experts, students and other stakeholders from across the country.

Regional conferences were organized where state governments have given their detailed opinions.

The Rajya Sabha debated the issues and a special education dialogue was organised in which 48 MPs from all parties participated. Many MPs have given their views in writing.

Meanwhile, on the MyGov platform 26, 000 people gave their views online.

The other members of the committee are: Dr. VasudhaKamat a prominent academician from the field of education technology who has contributed extensively towards school education. She was also Vice-Chancellor of Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University (SNDT), Mumbai; K.J. Alphonse holds administrative experience of practical challenges in implementation of school education reforms. He was instrumental in achieving 100 percent literacy rate in Kottayam and Ernakulam districts of Kerala; Dr. Manjul Bhargava a professor of Mathematics in Princeton University USA. He was awarded field medal in mathematics at a quite young age for his contributions to Gauss number theory; Dr Ram Shankar Kureel, Vice Chancellor of Babasaheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences Mhau, Madhya Pradesh has published various and international papers on inclusion of the marginalized in mainstream education and development; Dr T.V.Kattimani , Vice-Chancellor of Tribal University, Amarkantak. He is from the field of language education and mass communication; Krishna Mohan Tripathy has vast experience of implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and was also Chairperson of Uttar Pradesh High School and Intermediate Examination Board; Dr Mazhar Asif is a Professor of Persian in Guwahati University. Under his research mentorship, the first Persian-Assamese-English dictionary was compiled and Dr. M.K.Shridharis, former Member Secretary of Karnataka Innovation Council and Karnataka Knowledge Commission. A Divyang scholar, he is also a member of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was grateful to United States President Donald Trump as he, along with the First Lady, Melania, rendered a warm and grand welcome to the Indian Head of State.

"I think I will have a lot to speak after the meeting. The way President Trump and the First Lady have welcomed me at the White House, it's a grand welcome, this is a welcome to the 125 crore people of India. I am extremely grateful to them for the respect," Prime Minister Modi said.

Heaping praises on Prime Minister Modi, Trump said that he had been reading a lot about him and that he would want to congratulate him for the exemplary leadership he has shown, primarily, economically.

"I want to welcome the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi. He is a great Prime Minister. I have heard so much and I have been reading so much about you. He has done a great job, economically, and is doing well in so many ways. So, I would like to congratulate him," he said.

The visiting Prime Minister will later on hold one-on-one-meeting with Trump followed with delegation level talks.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi also held discussions with U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis.

More to follow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
United States President extended a warm welcome to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as he, along with First Lady Melania, received him at the White House early on Tuesday morning by India time.

Heaping praises on Prime Minister Modi, Trump said that he had been reading a lot about him and that he would want to congratulate him for the exemplary leadership he has shown, primarily, economically.

"I want to welcome the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. . He is a great Prime Minister. I have heard so much and I have been reading so much about you. He has done a great job, economically, and is doing well in so many ways. So, I would like to congratulate him," he said.

Prime Minister Modi, while thanking Trump for the warm welcome rendered to him, said the kind of welcome he was given, it was a welcome to the 125 crore people of India.

"I think I will have a lot to speak after the meeting. The way President Trump and the First Lady have welcomed me in Washington D.C. I am extremely grateful to them for the respect and the grand welcome. This is a welcome to the 125 crore people of India. I am extremely grateful to them," he said.

The visiting Prime Minister will later on hold one-on-one-meeting with Trump followed with delegation level talks.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi also held discussions with U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis.
United States President Donald Trump extended a warm welcome to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi even as he, along with First Lady Melania, received him at the White House on Monday.

Heaping praises on Prime Minister Modi, Trump said that he had been reading a lot about him and that he would want to congratulate him for the exemplary leadership he has shown, primarily, economically.

"I want to welcome the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi. He is a great Prime Minister. I have heard so much and I have been reading so much about you. He has done a great job, economically, and is doing well in so many ways. So, I would like to congratulate him," he said.

Prime Minister Modi, while thanking Trump for the warm welcome rendered to him, said the kind of welcome he was given, it was a welcome to the 125 crore people of India.

"I think I will have a lot to speak after the meeting. The way President Trump and the First Lady have welcomed me in Washington D.C. I am extremely grateful to them for the respect and the grand welcome. This is a welcome to the 125 crore people of India. I am extremely grateful to them," he said.

The visiting Prime Minister will later on hold one-on-one-meeting with Trump followed with delegation level talks.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi also held discussions with U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis.

More to follow.

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Director of India Initiative at Hudson Institute Dr. Aparna Pande has said that closer ties between India and U.S. will surely send a strong message to China and especially Pakistan, who would come under pressure to take action against terror groups enjoying safe haven in the country.

Speaking here ahead of the Modi-Trump meeting, Pande told ANI, "Whenever India and US come close, Pakistan always reacts. It will try to chastise US but also understands that as India and U.S. come closer, it will have to take action against terror groups and jihadi groups as the pressure increases."

Hailing the the recently-approved $2 bn 'Guardian' drone deal between New Delhi and Washington D.C. as 'symbolic' and 'strategic, Pande said that it sends a message to both Pakistan and China.

"The U.S. Congress passed a bill few months ago in which it called India a major defence partner of the United States. This means that India now has access to a number of hi-tech American military equipment. The 22 guardian drones is a huge deal," she said.

Pande, however, added, "We have to remember that Guardian is a maritime drone and not a predator armed drone. In order to get armed drones India will have to sign the remaining foundation agreements that the US mandates for any country which wants to buy hi-tech armed equipments from it."

She also said that the chemistry between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump would be something to look forward to.

Trump before Modi's arrival already tweeted from POTUS, "Look forward to welcoming India's PM Modi to @WhiteHouse on Monday. Important strategic issues to discuss with a true friend!.

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The Indian diaspora in the United States showered praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comprehensive speech as he addressed them here and said his efforts to make a better India are praiseworthy.

Praising Modi's speech at the Indian Diaspora, an Indian expat said, "Prime Minister Modi's speech was comprehensive as he talked about India's development in various spheres and what his government has accomplished in the last three years. He understands the needs of the people and hence, touches the hearts of the people."

"Prime Minister Modi extensively talked about terrorism that has affected many countries and now, the whole is listening," Sharad Amin, an Indian American from Texas said.

Amin added that he hoped U.S. President Donald Trump would help India and advise Pakistan to mend his ways for peace.

Most of the Indian community members expressed confidence in Prime Minister Modi's vision of making India a developed country .

"Prime Minister Modi appreciated the community that has always worked for India during elections and lot many things. We agree with him to allow the future generation to participate in the growth of India," said another expat.

Prime Minister Modi addressed the Indian diaspora in Virginia where he talked about terrorism, counter-terrorism, surgical strikes, the success of gas subsidy transfer and how the Ministry of External Affairs in India has brought a change in the lives of Indians across the globe.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met and interacted with 20 top American CEOs at a roundtable meeting in Washington D.C., and talked about various topics ranging from the Goods and Services Tax (GST), technology, India's economy and Digital India, Make in India, Skill Development, Demonetisation and the thrust towards renewable energy among others.

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Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has moved up to 12th spot in the latest WTA rankings after she made a winning comeback from a knife attack by lifting the Birmingham title.

However, there is no change in the top three rankings with Angelique Kerber acquiring the numero one spot, followed by Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova.

Kvitova had defeated Australia's Ashleigh Barty 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the grass-court event in Birmingham.

The 27-year-old suffered severe injuries to her playing hand after she was attacked by a knife-wielding intruder at her home in Czech Republic last December.

Kvitova, who won the women's singles titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, has pulled out of the Wimbledon warm-up at Eastbourne this week with an abdominal injury, the WTA reported on Monday.

"Petra Kvitova has withdrawn from Eastbourne with an abdominal injury," Sport24 quoted the WTA as saying on their official Twitter page.

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Nepali chartered accountants graduating from India will not be granted licenses to practice back home after mid-July 2018.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal (ICAN), which is the regulatory body for chartered accountants in Nepal, has taken a decision in reference to the rule that bars chartered accountants graduating from Nepal from practicing chartered accountancy in India, reports the Kathmandu Post.

The provision may affect the ICAI graduates looking forward to practicing chartered accountancy in Nepal, as they would have no other option but to undergo the course all over again.

ICAN President Mahesh Khanal said the decision can only be withdrawn if India agrees to sign a mutual recognition agreement with Nepal, giving a path to those pursuing chartered accountancy courses in Nepal to practice in India.

"Since we are currently producing quite a good number of chartered accountants here in Nepal, the latest move will not create short supply of these professionals," said Khanal.

Khanal had earlier put forth the proposal to bar graduates of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) from practicing it in Nepal based on "complaints filed by Nepali students". The proposal was even approved by most of the board members of ICAN.

Earlier this year, the ICAN had planned to immediately bar new ICAI graduates from practicing chartered accountancy in the country, but the plan was put on hold, as the idea was highly condemned by the Nepali students practicing the course in India.

The ICAN President with his delegation visited India to meet the president of the ICAI.

Khanal, proposed the ICAI to sign the mutual recognition agreement, during his meet.

Khanal said that as of now, India has agreed to sign the agreement.

"Yet, India has agreed to initiate the process of signing the agreement with Nepal, we hope it to be signed before mid-july 2018", Khanal added.

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Pakistan is the United States' 'frenemy' and not an ally in war on terror, said a United States security expert on Monday.

In an exclusive interview to ANI, Teresita C Schaffer, an expert on economic, political, security & risk management trends in India and Pakistan, said, "I hate to call Pakistan an ally and I know that was historically true but it is such a complicated relationship with lots of downs and a few ups. There is a phrase called 'frenemy'- a combination of friend and enemy. In some respects we are close friends with Pakistan and in other respects we are working in very different directions and that tension is going to continue."

Hours before the much awaited meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, the security expert said that "right now Pakistan and the US relations are in very difficult shape and this will make things easier for India".

She further lamented that "one of the things that is troublesome that Pakistan is the unseen figure in the room during an India and US conversation".

She, however, admitted that "there is going to be a certain tension between the US view that at the end of the day you need Pakistan in order to achieve a stable Afghanistan and the safe departure of the US fighting forces".

Commenting on China, Schaffer said that China has become a strategic rival of both India and the US.

"China is a traditional strategic rival of India, and moreover recently a strategic rival of the United States. India and the United States have recognised for some years now that there are strategic interests with respect to China are actually very similar. They (India and the US) don't like to talk about it publicly but I think that is the realty," the security expert said.

Meanwhile, India has welcomed Washington's decision to designate Hizbul Chief Mohammad Yusuf Shah, also known as Syed Salahuddin, as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist.'

The announcement came after Prime Minister Modi met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Commenting on the development Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in a statement, "In that sense we would welcome this notification and also underlines strongly that both India and US face threat of terrorism and are working together to counter this threat."

He added that this move by the U.S. vindicates India's long standing position that cross border terrorism from Pakistan has been behind the disturbances created in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Salahuddin is the senior leader of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen. In September, 2016, Salahuddin vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley "into a graveyard for Indian forces."

Under Salahuddin's tenure as senior Hizbul leader, the terror outfit has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people.

Later in the day, Prime Minister Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump will have a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office of the White House for 20-minutes between 3.50 p.m. and 4.10 p.m. (EST) (that is tentatively between 1.20 a.m. and 1.40 a.m. IST.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while lauding the proactive approach of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as he addressed the Indian Diaspora in the United States, asserted that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has emerged as a strong humanitarian force for Indians globally.

"It is for everyone to see how the MEA has, in addition to its routine work, emerged as a strong humanitarian force for Indians globally. The Indian Government has been successful in bringing more than 80,000 people, who have been in any kind of distress, from across the to their respective homes," Prime Minister Modi said.

Prime Minister Modi highlighted the role of the social media in bringing a change in the functioning of the MEA.

Referring to the recent incident when Swaraj helped Indian national Uzma come back to her home from Pakistan where she was forcefully married off, Prime Minister Modi said, "The way Sushma Swaraj has worked and helped every Indian abroad is commendable. It is now well known that when anyone in trouble tweets to Sushma, she promptly replies and the Government takes a prompt action."

"The Indian diaspora now has faith in the Indian Embassies that their issues will be resolved," he added.

Prime Minister Modi also urged the Indian diaspora to further strengthen their association and bond with India and said, "Keep the bridge with India. Your younger generations must continue your strong bond with India."

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi met and interacted with 20 top American CEOs at a roundtable meeting in Washington D.C., where economy and the Good and Services Tax (GST) reforms were majorly discussed.

Prime Minister Modi will next meet United States President Donald Trump and would be the first leader to have a working dinner with the latter at the White House.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the second day of visit to the United States, sat down for delegation-level talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room at the White House here.

During the delegation-level meeting, the two leaders touched upon various topics ranging from purchase of military equipment to the bilateral relations between the two nations.

Welcoming the Indian delegation, Trump said, "It's a great honour to have Mr. Narendra Modi here, who has been such a great a prime minister. We have had a lot of discussions already," adding, "the relations between the U.S. and India are very strong and powerful."

Trump struck upon the topic of purchase of military equipment, in reference to the recent F16 joint production deal.

"Thank you for ordering equipment from the U.S.. No one makes military equipment like the U.S.," he said.

Responding to Trump's starting statements, Prime Minister Modi said, "The U.S., being the oldest democracy of the world, and India, being the largest democracy, will come together to change the and bring peace."

Further describing the U.S. as a "true friend" of India, the visiting Prime Minister said, "Under Trump's leadership, we can take U.S.-India ties to a high level."

Earlier, Trump extended a warm welcome to Prime Minister Modi even as he, along with First Lady Melania, received him at the White House on Monday.

Heaping praises on Prime Minister Modi, Trump said that he had been reading a lot about him and that he would want to congratulate him for the exemplary leadership he has shown, primarily, economically.

"I want to welcome the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi. He is a great Prime Minister. I have heard so much and I have been reading so much about you. He has done a great job, economically, and is doing well in so many ways. So, I would like to congratulate him," he said.

Prime Minister Modi, while thanking Trump for the warm welcome rendered to him, said the kind of welcome he was given, it was a welcome to the 125 crore people of India.

"I think I will have a lot to speak after the meeting. The way President Trump and the First Lady have welcomed me in Washington D.C., this is a welcome to the 125 crore people of India. I am extremely grateful to them," he said.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi also held discussions with U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Minister of State for Micro Small and Medium Enterises Giriraj Singh waded into controversy yet again, as he slammed the Congress Party for hosting an iftar party, saying it was spreading appeasement politics in the country.

"The Congress Party has started the appeasement politics in the country. Today, the so called secular leaders are following this politics and are organising the iftar party. I simply want to ask these people that whether they will organise the same for Hindus. There is no need to create such dramas by giving iftar parties," Singh told ANI.

Reportedly, earlier also Singh urged Hindus that instead of cutting cakes on birthdays, they should offer prayers in a temple.

As soon as the new crescent moon of holy month of Ramadan was spotted, the political circles all over India waded into their decade long tradition, hosting iftars.

On June 23, President Pranab Mukherjee hosted iftar party, attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad were also present at the event.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav hosted Roza-Iftaar party in Patna which was attended by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar .

On June 18, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti hosted Iftar party.

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Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind will visit Srinagar on June 28 as part of the ongoing campaign, seeking support from its alliance partner, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Kovind will be accompanied by Union Ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu, Jitendra Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) general secretary and party in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir Ram Madhav.

Kovind, along with leaders, would meet the BJP and the PDP members of parliament to seek their support.

Yesterday, Kovind met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow, after filing his nomination papers to seek support from BJP MPs and MLAs for the presidential post.

The nomination process for the presidential elections will continue till June 28.

The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17, as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 24.

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Amidst the alleged rift between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] over their contradictory choices on backing a presidential nominee, the latter has said the decision needs to be taken keeping interest in mind rather than engaging in political confrontation.

Drawing parallels with the previous presidential election, JD (U) leader Rajeev Ranjan said President Pranab Mukherjee was elected keeping in mind the common betterment of the country, adding that this should be the priority in the upcoming polls as well.

"Under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, the people of Bihar have given RJD another chance, as it was otherwise an offshoot party. While Lalu Prasad Yadav has always backed the alliance, many party workers have disrespected the norms of the alliance. The choice for president is not based on any political agenda, but on interest. Therefore, these workers need to remain silent and respect the decision," Ranjan told ANI.

Reports have surfaced in the recent past of alleged bitterness between the two parties of the 'grand alliance' after the two party supremos extended their support to the opposing candidates.

While RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav extended his support to the opposition's candidate Meira Kumar, Chief Minister and JD (U) Chief Nitish Kumar while re-affirming his support for the Democratic Alliance's (NDA) Ram Nath Kovind said the UPA had chosen 'Bihar ki Beti' Kumar to lose.

So far, the Shiv Sena, JD (U), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) including O. Panneerselvam have backed Kovind for the post of President, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have backed Kumar.

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With the Army considering the option of recruiting civilian staff in peace stations as part of its plans to end Sakayak system, a defence expert on Tuesday asserted that it will help the army in terms of economising on manpower.

Defence expert P K Sehgal told ANI, "The army should decide on this and it is a good initiative to be taken up. The option of deploying civilian staff at peace stations instead of Sahayaks will help the army in economising on manpower as well".

Journalist Rahul Jalali told ANI,"This Sakayak system is a long discussed matter which needs to be looked into. The army has been thinking on this since long and will end it soon. Currently, they are examining various aspects of the option."

On Monday, a senior army official, said Sahayaks or buddy system - whereby a solider is attached to officers - will continue be deployed in key bases and field areas as they have defined military duties.

"We are looking at getting civilian staff to replace Sahayaks in peace stations," the official said.

In the recent months, a number of videos had surfaced where some army jawans were seen voicing their anger over the Sahayak system with some even alleging that they are treated as servants by the officers whom they are attached to.

In March, the government had strongly defended the Sahayak system in the army, saying it provides essential support to officers in fully attending to their duties in times of peace and war.

At the same time, the government had said Sahayaks or orderlies are combatants and exhaustive instructions have been issued to not make them perform menial tasks which are not in conformity with the dignity of a soldier.

An annual conference of top army commanders in April had held extensive deliberations on the amy's "internal health" including on Sahayaks, and decided to reorient the human resource policy of the force.

Sahayaks are soldiers and their duties include protecting the officers, maintaining their weapons and equipment and helping them in carrying out their responsibilities.

In March, the body of a jawan, Roy Mathew, was found hanging at the Deolali Cantonment in Maharashtra after a sting video, which showed him complaining about being made to do household chores of superior officers, went viral.

Days later, a sepoy also posted a video online criticising the Sahayak system and accused senior officers of treating them as slaves.

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday permitted the Trump administration to partially reinstate the travel ban which would affect people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The apex also agreed to hear the government's appeal of lower court rulings blocking the immigration order from taking effect nationwide, reports the Hill. The court will take up the case in October.

As a result of the decision, people who do not have a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States would be barred from entry. People who can show they have a relationship to a person or entity will be allowed to enter the country.

The order would be effective within 72 hours.

After the US government announced the travel ban in January earlier this year, an appeals court blocked it for being discriminatory. The revised travel ban was also blocked the proposed travel ban on visitors from Muslim-majority countries.

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Washington's decision to designate Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist shows that the United Sates recognises that India is a victim of terrorism, said a senior political scientist here.

Senior political scientist Jonah Blank told ANI, "It says that the United States recognises that India is a victim of terrorism and that this something that the whole should care about."

He, however, added that the announcement should have come much earlier when Salahuddin was leading a terrorist movement in Kashmir.

"This designation says that in the eyes of the US Salahuddin is not merely a terrorist active against India but with an impact globally. This would have had more impact if it would have been issued a long time ago for example when Salahuddin was leading the terrorist movement in Kashmir rather than now," said Blank.

Meanwhile, India welcomed Washington's decision to designate Hizbul Chief Mohammad Yusuf Shah, also known as Syed Salahuddin, as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist.'

The announcement came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis today.

Commenting on the development Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in a statement, "In that sense we would welcome this notification and also underlines strongly that both India and US face threat of terrorism and are working together to counter this threat."

He added that this move by the U.S. vindicates India's long standing position that cross border terrorism from Pakistan has been behind the disturbances created in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Salahuddin is the senior leader of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen. In September, 2016, Salahuddin vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley "into a graveyard for Indian forces."

Under Salahuddin's tenure as senior Hizbul leader, the terror outfit has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The White House did not host an Iftar dinner to commemorate Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, for the first time in nearly two decades.

United States President Donald Trump and first lady Melania released a statement on Saturday wishing "warm greetings" to those celebrating Eid al-Fitr.

"Muslims in the United States joined those around the world during the holy month of Ramadan to focus on acts of faith and charity. Now, as they commemorate Eid with family and friends, they carry on the tradition of helping neighbours and breaking bread with people from all walks of life," the statement read.

With this, Trump has broken the annual tradition upheld by the past three administrations that began under President Bill Clinton and was continued by George W Bush and Barack Obama.

The Iftar dinners were typically attended by prominent members of the Muslim community as well as members of the Congress and diplomats from Muslim countries.

In the White House, Trump has attempted to ban travel to the US from several Muslim-majority countries.

During his first trip abroad, Trump, however, urged the leaders of 55 Muslim-majority countries calling for unity in the fight against terrorism, in his address.
When International Yoga Day was first observed in Nagaland, a Christian-dominated state in the North East, there were not many takers of the art of healthy living as a fitness art.

Many people construed it as an initiative to popularise Hindu philosophy. However, the change in perception has been proven with enthusiasts going to Orentsani Fitness Studio, DC Court Junction, Duncan Bosti in Dimapur.

The lesser known fitness studio, owned by Orentsani Kikon, has today 30 plus students age between 3 - 80 years.

Orentsani is the first yoga instructor among the Nagas in Nagaland.

"I am not here to propagate any religious philosophy or for that matter the philosophy of yoga, but to spread healthy lifestyle through yoga," Orentsani said.

Her journey of yoga started when she underwent yoga teacher's training from Yoga Institute of Mumbai and then mastered Hatha, Classical yoga and Power Yoga from different institutions.

"I came across many opportunities to teach yoga in various parts of the world. However, I choose my state Nagaland and took the challenge to spread the healthy lifestyle," she added.

Among the students is 67-year-old N. Hokto Sema, a retired engineer, who testified to the benefits of going for yoga, and said, "I have diabetes and BP, but it's under control after I started attending this yoga class since 2017 January."

Lydia Yeptho also said she was diagonised with a neuro problem earlier. She also said that the yoga class has helped her a lot.

Elvin, a housewife, said, "I only get full attention to my health during the yoga session, as we women remain busy attending to household chores, children and family affairs the whole day."

For a young student like Sophi Nymba, yoga boosts memory power. "I find it very interesting. Practicing yoga helps me a lot even in my studies," she said.

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Nine persons have died and more than 30 are missing after a tourist boat carrying 150 people sank in a Colombian reservoir, authorities said.

Rescuers are combing the waters, said authorities in Antioquia, where the incident took place, CNN reported.

The head of the Antioquia's Disaster Prevention Department told reporters that at least 100 people have been rescued. Twenty one of them were injured, police said.

The boat sank on Sunday near the popular tourist town of Guatape, roughly 45 km east of Medellin, one of Colombia's biggest cities.

Video on social media showed the multi-tiered tour boat tilt on to one side before the lower deck submerged.

There were no life vests on board the tourist vessel, CNN quoted a survivor as saying.

A Colombian Air Force helicopter was deployed to help with the rescue operation.

--IANS

in/

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Saffron growers in war-torn Afghanistan are hoping for expanded export markets for their harvest, amid higher yields but lower prices, business leaders in the industry said.

"I am optimistic that China could be a major and profitable market for Afghan saffron if the government facilitates the export of our products to China," Bashir Ahmad Rashidi, head of the Saffron Producers Union of Afghanistan, told Xinhua.

Farmers in parts of Afghanistan have been attempting to replace growing poppies with saffron, and the western province of Herat has taken the lead in this regard. Many farmers have already begun growing the valuable crop.

Saffron production in Afghanistan, according to the Minister for Agriculture Assadullah Zamir, has been on a constant rise. Some 3.5 tonnes of saffron was harvested in 2015 and 6.5 tonnes in 2016.

The minister was hopeful that the country's saffron product would rise to 8 tonnes in the current year.

The major portion of the saffron was produced in Herat.

"No doubt, 90 percent of the country's saffron is produced in Herat, and scores of companies and firms have been operating in Herat to encourage saffron plantation, saffron processing and its broader business," Rashidi said.

Nevertheless, saffron growers in Herat have complained that a lack of market for their products have led to a drop in price of the valuable crop.

Describing saffron as "red gold", the director of a saffron processing company in Herat city, Omid Aminyar, said the price of saffron had fallen due to a lack of market and the status quo would discourage the farmers to grow more.

The price of 1 kg of saffron was 130,000 afghanis ($1,910) last year. But in the current year it dropped considerably to 70,000 afghanis per kg, according to locals involved in the saffron business.

Many Afghans believe that if the government better encouraged and supported the farmers, and helped them find markets for their legal products, especially for saffron, it would eventually give confidence to farmers to give up poppy cultivation and switch to saffron.

In insurgency-plagued Afghanistan, the opium-producing poppies harvest reached 4,800 tonnes in 2016, an increase of 43 percent against 3,300 tonnes of opium poppies harvested in 2015.

--IANS

mr/

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The Australian government on Monday said it plans to make it legal for social media websites to hand over vital information about suspected terrorists or militant operations.

On Saturday, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull met with representatives from leading social media websites, telling them they "cannot continue to allow terrorists and extremists to use the internet and the big social media ... to spread poison", reports Xinhua news agency,

On Monday, Australia's former army chief Peter Leahy told the media that the governments deserved more from big social media companies when it comes to clamping down on terrorism, saying it was not only a government problem but a social obligation for the online giants to pitch in.

"There are many levels to this. Firstly, I think the tech giants deserve to show some social responsibility. They're letting this (terror-related content) on their sites," Leahy said.

Opposition Labor Party MP Andrew Leigh said his party was glad the government was cracking down on cyber security -- indicating that it would back federal legislation in Parliament if it was "sensible".

--IANS

ksk/mr

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Authorities have captured and killed an eight-feet-long blue shark that caused momentary panic and forced tourists out of the sea at a resort on the Island of Mallorca over the weekend.

The shark was first spotted on Saturday as it swam in shallow waters just off the beach at one of the island's most popular tourist spots, Xinhua news agency reported.

Bathers, including children, rushed out of the sea, while many took photos and videos of the fish, which they posted on social media. The images showed the shark to be just yards from the shoreline.

Civil Guards and Civil Protection workers continued to monitor the beach and captured the shark on Sunday.

Experts from the nearby Palma Aquarium discovered the shark was suffering from a serious injury which had been caused by a harpoon and it was put down.

It is thought that the injury had disoriented the fish, causing it to swim much closer to shore than normal for a blue shark.

--IANS

soni/bg

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Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday made a veiled attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying people with one principle make one decision and those having multiple principles make different decisions.

"He (Nitish Kumar) made the first announcement of defeat of a Dalit leader from his state. It is his doing, not us," Azad told reporters on being asked about Kumar's remark on opposition's presidential candidate Meira Kumar.

"People who believe in one principle make one decision, but those who believe in many principles make different decisions," he added.

Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U President Nitish Kumar on Friday admonished the opposition alliance for fielding "Bihar ki beti" (Bihar's daughter) Meira Kumar to lose, as a smooth sail is likely for ruling NDA's candidate Ram Nath Kovind in the July 17 election.

Nitish's remarks came a day after 17 opposition parties led by Congress named former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as their presidential candidate and Rashtiya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav hailed her as "Bihar ki beti" as she has her roots there.

--IANS

sid/nir

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Bangladesh on Monday celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr with religious fervour amid tight security, marking the end of Ramadan.

Dressed in traditional attire, people offered prayers in Eid congregations across the country, reports Xinhua news agency.

President Abdul Hamid with ministers and lawmakers offered prayers in the capital city.

The country's largest congregation was held at Sholakia in Kishoreganj district which came under a terror attack last year that killed two people.

Bangladeshi Police chief Shahidul Hoque said the entire country has been brought under stringent security measures, with the deployment of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police force for peaceful and smooth Eid celebrations.

The government has declared a nine-day holiday for the festival.

Special foods were offered in hospitals, government-owned welfare centres and shelter homes for children, socially-handicapped people and the destitute.

President Hamid hosted an Eid reception in honour of foreign diplomats and top government officials at his residence.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has also exchanged Eid greetings with foreign diplomats, politicians, professionals and other officials.

--IANS

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Dressed in traditional attire, the Muslim community members in West Bengal celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr on Monday with religious fervour.

Since morning, people gathered at mosques, including the city's main Nakhoda Masjid, to offer prayers and greet one another on the auspicious occasion.

The festival marked the end of Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

After prayers and a breakfast of dates and sweets, Muslim families got together for their first midday meal in a month.

Eid celebrations took place in Raja Bazaar, Park Circus and Khidderpore. The sprawling Red Road in Kolkata saw a huge number of faithfuls sitting on rugs and offering prayers.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also greeted people on this auspicious occasion.

Participating in celebrations at Red Road, the Trinamool Congress supremo gave a message of communal harmony.

At the mosques, Muslims hugged one another, ignoring class differences. Many of those settled away from home returned to Kolkata to celebrate Eid with their families.

Heavy security arrangements were made across the city.

Fairs and cultural programmes were organised in different parts of the state.

The Muslim community in the Darjeeling hills also celebrated the Eid-ul-Fitr as people offered prayers at local mosques.

Amid the ongoing indefinite shutdown in the hills, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) leadership had announced a "partial relaxation for 12 hours" on Monday to enable the Muslim community celebrate the festival.

--IANS

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Indian and Chinese troops faced off along the border in Sikkim, with reports that the Chinese troops entered the Indian side and destroyed two Indian Army bunkers.

While the Indian Army refused to comment on the incident, the Chinese Army has come out strongly against "provocation" by Indian troops and accused them of entering into Chinese territory and impending road construction activity.



Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang claimed in a statement last night that the Indian border guards crossed the boundary in the Sikkim section of the Sino-India border and entered Chinese territory.



China urges India to immediately withdraw its border guards that have crossed the boundary and have a thorough investigation of this matter, Geng said.

According to information, Chinese troops entered the Indian side of the border in Lalten in the Doka La region at the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction and also destroyed two Army bunkers.

There was no official comment from the Indian Army or Defence Ministry on the incident.

An undated video of a face-off between Indian and Chinese troops was also doing the rounds. The video showed troops from India and China involved in a scuffle.

Sources said that tension had been brewing for a while in the area after Chinese troops tried to enter, but were stopped by Indian troops.

The China's defence ministry confirmed the incident, saying "Indian troops crossed the border with China in an attempt to prevent a road construction by the Chinese side."

"Indian troops' provocation has violated the consensus and relevant agreements on border issues between the Chinese and Indian governments, seriously endangering the peace of the border areas," Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang said on Monday.

Ren urged the Indian side not to complicate border issues, and reiterated China's firm resolve to safeguard its sovereignty.

The road construction was carried out on China's territory, and India has no right to interfere, Ren said.

The PLA, in a statement, said: "The China-Indian border in Sikkim has been delineated by historical treaties. After the independence of India, the Indian government has confirmed in writing several times, acknowledging that there is no objection to the border between the two sides."

"The construction of the above-mentioned roads (Donglang sector) by the Chinese side is entirely a sovereign act in its own territory, and the Indian side has no right to interfere," it said.

The development comes as China last week refused entry to the first batch of some 50 Indian pilgrims, who were to travel to Kailash Mansarovar, via Nathu La in Sikkim.

In the same area, in November 2008 Chinese forces had destroyed some makeshift Indian army bunkers.
Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo was released on medical grounds after he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, his lawyer confirmed on Monday.

Liu is currently receiving treatment at the university hospital in Shenyang in Liaoning province after being diagnosed on May 23, advocate Mo Shaoping told Efe news.

Liu, among the most well known Chinese dissidents, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 after being sentenced the previous year to 11 years' imprisonment for inciting subversion of state power.

He was arrested after he signed, along with 300 other intellectuals, the political manifesto Charter 08, which called for constitutional rights such as freedom of the press and expression as well as the implementation of a multi-party system.

His family was allowed to meet him 10 days ago at the hospital and he was then in a stable condition, according to his lawyer.

His family has so far ruled out seeking medical aid abroad. Liu's wife, Liu Xia, is currently under house arrest.

--IANS

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The Colombian emergency crews have ended their rescue efforts at two coal mines, where an explosion left at least 13 miners dead and one injured, officials said.

"Over more than a day, without any rest, our emergency rescue personnel recovered the bodies of 13 deceased people, and one injured person, without any (further) incident," said the president of the National Mining Agency (ANM), Silvana Habib Daza, as quoted in a communique issued by the Mining Ministry on Sunday, Efe news reported.

Habib further confirmed that both mines were illegally mining coal as they did not have environmental authorisation to do so.

The explosion occurred around midnight on last Friday in the El Cerezo and La Guasca mines located in the town of Pueblo Viejo, in central Cundinamarca province.

Mining Deputy Minister Carlos Andres Cante issued a call for prevention of such accidents and safety guarantees for miners, along with the adherence to protocols and the avoidance of illegal operations.

"We want tragedies such as this one... not to occur again, and for those who are exploiting minerals to do so legally, complying with all safety standards," Cante said.

The Mining Ministry said that with the end of rescue operations, an investigation will be launched by the ANM to determine the cause of the accident, who - if anyone - bears responsibility and what the appropriate punishment should be.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, upon his arrival on Saturday night in Bogota after an official four-day trip to France, expressed his regret over the accident.

"I would like to express our condolences, our thought, our hearts are with your families," said the president at the Catam Air Base upon his arrival.

Meanwhile, emergency authorities on Sunday recovered the lifeless body of one of the two miners who was trapped on Saturday after a cave-in at a mine in the town of Lenguazaque, also in Cundinamarca province.

Emergency personnel are continuing to work inside the mine to try and find the other missing miner.

--IANS

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Eid was celebrated with fervour and enthusiasm across Madhya Pradesh on Monday as people thronged Eidgahs and mosques to offer prayers.

People hugged and exchanged greetings with friends and family and wished for peace in the country and state.

Filled with enthusiasm and excitement, Muslims started gathering at the Taj-ul-Masajid in the state capital since early morning for prayers.

Members of the Hindu community greeted Muslims on Eid.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Governor Om Prakash Kohli greeted the people on the occasion of Eid and wished for everyone's progress.

Thousands offered Eid prayers at a mosque in Chhoti Gwaltoli in Indore and prayed for peace and prosperity in the country. They embraced each other on the occasion. Children in particular were full of enthusiasm.

The festival was celebrated in other parts of the state, including Gwalior, Jabalpur, Sagar, Burhanpur, and Ujjain.

Strong security arrangements have been made across the state on the occasion.

--IANS

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Former Calcutta High Court Justice C.S. Karnan has written to West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi seeking bail or parole, his counsel Mathew J. Nedumpara said on Monday.

The 62-year-old judge was sentenced to six months in jail on May 9 for contempt by the Supreme Court. After remaining untraceable for a while, Karnan was arrested in Chennai and brought to Kolkata on Wednesday where he was lodged in the Presidency Jail. On Thursday, the former judge was admitted to a hospital.

"We have moved a petition to the West Bengal Governor seeking bail or parole," Nedumpara said over phone.

Karnan appealed to the Governor "to exercise the jurisdiction invested in Your Excellency and enlarge the prisoner, Justice C.S. Karnan on bail/parole in the interest of justice and equity," the petition said.

Quoting the petition, Karnan's counsel said: "The applicant is ready and willing to abide by any terms and conditions that may be imposed for granting bail or parole to him."

Making the representation through his lawyers, Karnan said: "The imprisonment which the applicant undergoes as of now is without knowing the reasons for which he is imprisoned, and in violation of fundamental, constitutional, statutory and equitable rights invested in him."

"Hence, it is requested that the applicant may please be enlarged on bail/parole till the said lacunae are remedied and constitutional supremacy restored," the petition added.

Karnan's lawyer said the a copy of the representation along with a covering letter has been sent to the West Bengal Chief Minister and state Home and Law Minister.

--IANS

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Filmmaker Vamsi Paidipally says his next yet-untitled Telugu project with superstar Mahesh Babu will be a big film for both their careers.

While remaining tight-lipped about the film and its genre, Paidipally told IANS: "Mahesh is very excited. When he heard the first narration, he was ready to go ahead. It's going to be a big film in both of our careers."

The project marks Paidipally's first collaboration with Mahesh.

"Mahesh as an actor is ready to embrace everything. As a director, I really can't ask for more and that's what makes this film really exciting," Paidipally said.

Paidipally earned critical acclaim for his last film, "Oopiri", a slice-of-life drama which explores the relationship between a quadriplegic millionaire and his convict-turned-caretaker.

Asked if we can expect another slice-of-life flick with Mahesh Babu, he said: "It's too early to talk about the film."

Pooja Hegde is rumoured to be the leading lady.

--IANS

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A three-member delegation of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) met Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi here on Monday to formally submit their resignation letters from the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the developmental board in the northern West Bengal hills.

"MLA from Darjeeling Amar Singh Rai, ex-GTA chairman Roshan Lama and Deputy Chairman Rabindra Lama were in Kolkata today to hand over their resignation letters to the Governor of West Bengal," Binay Tamang, GJM's Assistant General Secretary, told IANS.

Tamang said the delegation, led by Amar Singh Rai, also handed over the resignation letters of 43 GJM leaders, including party chief Bimal Gurung, who resigned en masse from the board on June 23.

"The other GTA member Satish Pokhrel, who is in judicial custody, had handed over the resignation letter to Roshan Lama," he added.

The GJM, spearheading the movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills, announced it would resign from the GTA over its differences with the Mamata Banerjee government.

The GJM chief, who had been in hiding since a police raid at his residence in Darjeeling's Patlebas locality on June 15, had resurfaced on Friday and vowed to burn the GTA Regulation Act documents before the public on June 27 as a symbolic protest against the board.

--IANS

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Automobile manufacturer General Motors India on Monday said that it has begun regular shipment of the sedan version of Chevrolet Beat from its Talegaon export hub to the Latin America markets.

According to the company, a consignment of 1,200 Chevrolet Beat sedans was on Monday loaded for shipment to Latin America, following the start of production on June 5, 2017.

"Our Talegaon facility is a key export manufacturing hub for GM," said Asif Khatri, Vice President-Manufacturing, GM India.

"GM India's exports have more than tripled in the past year. GM was India's third largest passenger vehicle exporter in May - recording our highest monthly total of vehicle exports at 8,297 units."

Earlier this year, GM India began exporting the Chevrolet Beat hatchback to Latin American markets.

GM India exports the Chevrolet Beat hatchbacks and sedans to a number of left-hand-drive markets in Latin America.

--IANS

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Is your cupboard full of stuff you no longer use but can't bear to part with? Taking their photo may help you dispose of such items, a new research suggests.

The study showed that people were more willing to give away unneeded goods that still had sentimental value if they were encouraged to take a photo of these items first, or find another way to preserve the memories.

"What people really don't want to give up is the memories associated with the item," said Rebecca Reczek, Associate Professor at the Ohio State University.

"We found that people are more willing to give up these possessions if we offer them a way to keep the memory and the identity associated with that memory," Reczek added.

For the study, published online in the Journal of Marketing, the team conducted a field study involving 797 students at the Penn State, where they conducted two different advertising campaigns for a donation drive.

The researchers found 613 items were donated in the halls that hosted the "memory preservation" campaign, versus only 533 in the control campaign.

Reczek said the results show it may be relatively easy to break the habit of clinging on to some of our possessions with sentimental value.

However, "it is not a natural behaviour. It is something we have to train ourselves to do," she added.

In other related experiments, the researchers found that it wasn't just the memories associated with these possessions that were keeping people from donating -- it was the identities linked to those memories.

"These memories connected to possessions are a carrier for identity. It is this reluctance to give up a piece of our identity that is driving our reluctance to donate," Reczek said.

The bottom line is that everyone benefits by using this memory preservation strategy to declutter a home, the researchers said.

--IANS

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Thai navy confirmed that a Thai oil tanker which was hijacked by a pirate vessel in Malaysian waters had returned to Thailand, the media reported.

"The hijacked oil tanker C.P. 41 is safe now," said Thai Navy spokesman Admiral Jumpol Lumphikanont on Monday.

Jumpol said the oil tanker were sailing on the right route when it was attacked and Thai navy sent patrol boat HTMS Takbai there to save them after being informed.

C.P. 41, carrying 17 crew and some 3,800 tonnes of diesel oil, was attacked by six armed pirates, while en route from Singapore to Songkhla Friday night.

The crew said they were held captive at gunpoint during the hijack, and the hijackers cut their communication, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Bahasa spoken pirates siphoned 1,500 tonnes and left the oil tanker on Saturday morning.

Jumpol said Thailand and Malaysia "has a strict joint patrol" after the incident and they have asked private companies to be more cautious and assigned authorities on routes of high risk of piracy.

--IANS

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India and the US started delegation-level talks headed by Prime Minister and President at the White House in Washington on Monday.

The talks were preceded by a one-on-one meeting between Modi and Trump in the Oval Office.

"President Trump has welcomed me with immense warmth. I thank him for the welcome. This is an honour for the 1.25 billion people of India," Modi told the media ahead of the meeting.

"I remember very well when he (Trump) was not even the President and he visited India in 2014 and when media asked him about me, he was full of very warm remarks and observations about me. I am still very grateful," he said.

Trump said it was "a great honour" to host Modi "who has been such a great PM".

"You have done a great job economically and you are doing well in so many ways. I would like to congratulate you," the US President said.

Earlier, Modi was welcomed by Trump and his wife Melania at the US presidential residence and was accorded a red carpet welcome. Both leaders warmly shook hands and smiled in what was their first ever meeting.

Prior to Monday's meeting, Modi had spoken to Trump thrice over the phone after the latter assumed office in January this year.

Defence and counter-terrorism issues are likely to be among the major topics to be discussed during the Modi-Trump meeting.

On Sunday, in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, Modi said that defence was a mutually beneficial sphere of the Indo-US partnership.

"We are already working together to address the existing and emerging strategic and security challenges that affect both our nations -- in Afghanistan, West Asia, the large maritime space of the Indo-Pacific, the new and unanticipated threats in cyberspace," he said in the article.

Earlier on Monday, US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made courtesy calls on Modi here.

On Sunday, Trump tweeted about the arrival of Modi and called him "a true friend". Hours before the Modi-Trump meet, the US on Monday also declared the Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin a global terrorist.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said there is an environment of intolerance in the country and urged the people to stay united.

"I know the atmosphere of intolerance has given this country a lot of pain. But we do not think that way. We are here for all. We are united," Banerjee told an Eid-ul-Fitr ceremony in the city.

Banerjee addded amid cheers: "Stay together. No one will be able to do anything to you."

The Trinamool Congress chief, who returned from the Netherlands on Sunday after attending a UN event, said: "We are humans first. Then we are Hindus, Muslims and Christians. We all stand united. We are for all and we fight for all."

--IANS

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday called the cause of Palestine a major issue of the Islamic world and also urged Muslims to support the "people of Bahrain, Kashmir and Yemen".

Khamenei made the remarks in an address to a gathering of Iranians in the capital Tehran, reported Xinhua news agency.

"According to Islamic jurisprudence, when an enemy takes over Muslim lands, jihad in any possible form becomes everyone's duty," Khamenei was quoted by Press TV as saying.

"Palestine is the number one issue of the Islamic world, but some Islamic countries are acting in such a way that as if the Palestinian case had been ignored and forgotten.

"Today the fight against the Zionist regime is obligatory and necessary for Muslims," he said, urging unity among the Muslim states. "Division and discord are harmful to Islam and the Islamic Ummah (nation)."

Muslim the world over should also openly support the people of Bahrain, Kashmir and Yemen "and repudiate oppressors and tyrants who attacked people in Ramadan", he said.

On Friday, people here chanted anti-Israel and anti-US slogans and carried banners condemning Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands.

--IANS

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Prime Minister reached White House on Monday afternoon where US President and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed him.

Modi called the "immense warmth" by the White House as an honour for 125 billion Indians.

"The way I have been welcomed by the President and the First Lady is the honour for 125 billion Indians," Modi said at the White House.

"I remember very well when he (Trump) was not even the President and he visited India in 2014 and when media asked him about me, he was full of very warm remarks and observations about me. I am still very grateful," Modi said before his meeting with President Trump.

Earlier Trump tweeted about the arrival of Modi and called him "a true friend". Hours before the Modi-Trump meet, the US on Monday also declared the Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin a global terrorist.
Japanese airbag manufacturer Takata has filed for bankruptcy protection in a court in Tokyo and the US after multimillion-dollar losses caused by defective devices, the company announced on Monday.

The decision was taken by Takata's board of directors, prompting the Japanese stock regulator to suspend trading of the company's shares after they had fallen by nearly 80 per cent since mid-June, Efe news reported.

Takata's payment obligations exceed 1 trillion yen ($9 billion), making the bankruptcy of the airbag manufacturer the largest of a Japanese manufacturing company to date.

Filing for bankruptcy will facilitate the restructuring of this debt, avail itself of the protection under the Japanese legislation and avoid insolvency, and they will request emergency financial assistance from Japanese entities to continue its activities, the company said.

TK Holdings, a US-based subsidiary of the company, has also filed for bankruptcy in the US, and says that it will receive financial backing for its restructuring by US-based Key Safety Systems, according to Takata.

Founded in 1933, Takata is one of the world's largest providers of airbags and other road safety devices, and has been experiencing severe economic difficulties since 2008 due to the defects detected in the metal capsules in which the airbags are housed.

The faulty products can explode with too much force, shooting out fragments that could, and did, harm vehicle occupants.

The error, which led to the company losing multi-million dollars on device replacement, penalties and sanctions, has been linked to at least a dozen deaths, and has affected vehicles of more than 10 automobile manufacturers.

--IANS

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Senior adviser Jared Kushners real estate firm received a $285 million loan a month before Election Day from Deutsche Bank that has lent millions to his father-in-law President Donald Trump in the past, the media reported.

According to the Washington Post report on Sunday, Kushner was acting as both an adviser to the Trump campaign and working at his real estate company when his firm received the loan from Deutsche Bank.

The White House told The Post that Kushner "will recuse from any particular matter involving specific parties in which Deutsche Bank is a party."

Kushner also reportedly made a personal guarantee on the loan, which he did not reveal on his financial disclosure form with the Office of Government Ethics.

A lawyer representing Kushner told the Post that the senior adviser was not required to disclose the loan because of guidance from the ethics office that "clearly states that filers do not have to disclose as a liability a loan on which they have made a guarantee unless they have a present obligation to repay the loan".

A former ethics official said he would have recommended that Kushner include the loan on the disclosure because of how large it is and the implications of being the guarantor of the loan.

Deutsche Bank has also been tied into the investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Kushner is reportedly under scrutiny for meetings with Russian officials, reports The Hill magazine.

House Intelligence Committee leaders have been pushing the bank to share information about Trump's financial dealings with Russia.

Trump's personal financial disclosure report showed that he owes a debt of $130 million to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, suggesting the bank is one of the President's major lenders.

--IANS

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In a reference to Sunday's anti-Gorkhaland protests in north Bengal's Siliguri, some Left Front leaders on Monday said raising racist slogans against a certain community is disrespectful to the martyrs who fought for unity in the hills.

"More than 200 CPI-M activists from the Gorkha and Nepali communities were martyred fighting against the division in the north Bengal hills during the 80s.

"Raising racist slogans against the community is equivalent to showing disrespect to those martyrs," Jibesh Sarkar, Left Front Convener of Darjeeling district, said in a press release.

He said that such slogans were also against the cultural heritage of Bengal and would only help in fuelling the separatist powers active in the region.

Sarkar accused state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of "once acknowledging" the demands of a separate state of Gorkhaland in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) agreement.

He also urged the people of both hills and plains to shun the path of violence and be tolerant.

"The Chief Minister herself acknowledged the divisive forces in the hills once by including the clause of 'keeping on record the demand for Gorkhaland' in the GTA agreement," the left leader alleged.

"To maintain peace and harmony between the hills and the plains, people should shun the path of violence and be tolerant," he added.

The plains of Darjeeling on Sunday saw the first violent anti-Gorkhaland protests since an agitation erupted in the hills over the demand for a separate Gorkhaland.

Several protesters blocked the Hill Cart Road in Darjeeling district's Siliguri and vandalised several vehicles carrying hill-bound commuters. Anti-Gorkha slogans were also raised at the demonstration.

--IANS

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Saying both India and the US are determined to defeat the "scourge" of terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that "the logic of our strategic relationship is incontrovertible".

Modi, ahead of his meeting with President Donald Trump, also said in comments published in The Wall Street Journal that he expected bilateral ties in the next few decades to be "an even more remarkable story of ambitious horizons, convergent action and shared growth".

"The past two decades have been a productive journey of engagement for our mutual security and growth. I expect the next few decades to be an even more remarkable story of ambitious horizons, convergent action and shared growth.

Modi recalled how he told the US Congress in June 2016 that the bilateral relationship had overcome the "hesitations of history". "A year later, I return to the US confident in the growing convergence between our two nations.

"This confidence stems from the strength of our shared values and the stability of our systems. Our people and institutions have steadfastly viewed democratic change as an instrument for renewal and resurgence."

He said the two countries stand as mutually reinforcing engines of growth and innovation in an uncertain global economic landscape.

"Confidence in each other's political values and a strong belief in each other's prosperity has enabled our engagement to grow."

Saying defence was another mutually beneficial sphere of their partnership, Modi said both India and the US had an overriding interest "in securing our societies, and the world, from the forces of terrorism, radical ideologies and non-traditional security threats.

"India has four decades' experience in fighting terrorism, and we share the US administration's determination to defeat this scourge."

The two countries, he said, were working together to address the existing and emerging strategic and security challenges that affect them in Afghanistan, West Asia, the large maritime space of the Indo-Pacific and the new and unanticipated threats in cyberspace.

"We also share an interest in ensuring that sea lanes - critical lifelines of trade and energy - remain secure and open to all," Modi said, without referring to the South China Sea by name.

Indo-US trade, which totals about $115 billion a year, was poised for a multi-fold increase, the Indian Prime Minister said.

"The transformation of India presents abundant commercial and investment opportunities for American businesses. The rollout of the Goods and Services Tax on July 1 will, in a single stroke, convert India into a unified, continent-sized market of 1.3 billion people.

"The planned 100 smart cities, the massive modernization of ports, airports and road and rail networks, and the construction of affordable housing for all by 2022 - the 75th anniversary of India's independence - are not just promises of great urban renewal within India.

"These plans also showcase the enormous fruits of our relationships with enterprising US partners - worth many billions of dollars over the next decade alone - together with concomitant new employment opportunities across both societies.

"India's rapidly expanding aviation needs, and our increasing demand for gas, nuclear, clean coal and renewables, are two significant areas of increasing convergence.

"In coming years, Indian companies will import energy in excess of $40 billion from the US, and more than 200 American-made aircraft will join the private Indian aviation fleet."

Modi said the combination of technology, innovation and skilled workers had helped forge an exciting digital and scientific partnership between the two countries.

"The creative and entrepreneurial energy of our engineers, scientists and researchers, and their free movement between both countries, continue to help India and the US retain their innovation edge and maintain competitiveness in the knowledge economy."

Modi underlined that whenever India and the US work together, the world reaps the benefits.

He also paid his tribute to the three-million-strong Indian-American community, "which represents the best of both our countries (and) has played a crucial role in connecting and contributing to our societies".

--IANS

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Women living in lower-income areas in the US with breast cancer were more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stages of the disease as a result of the rollback of the Medicaid coverage, a study has showed.

Medicaid, a healthcare programme for low-income and disabled Americans, offered tax cuts to help people buy health insurance and gave states more power in shaping healthcare regulations.

However, the new health plan by President Donald Trump, proposes to replace parts of the Affordable Care Act, largely known as the Obamacare, by former President Barack Obama.

It would change the way the cost of Medicaid programmes was shared between the federal government and states, limiting future increases in federal funding and putting more of the onus on states leading to potential negative health impacts.

The findings showed that women were diagnosed at later stages and experienced more delays in treatment in the period after restrictions.

There was also a 3.3 percentage increase in late-stage diagnosis for women living in low-income areas relative to women living in high-income regions.

"We show that when a large population in a state loses Medicaid coverage, low-income women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer at later stages, suggesting that they did not receive screening or other primary care that may have facilitated earlier diagnosis," said Wafa Tarazi from the Virginia Commonwealth University.

"Our findings are important for policymakers who are considering changes to the Medicaid program," Tarazi added, in the paper published in the journal CANCER.

Further, researchers stressed that late-stage cancer is more costly to treat than early-stage cancer and was associated with a greater risk of death.

In addition, Medicaid rollback might contribute to widening disparities in health outcomes between high-income population and their poorer counterparts, for whom Medicaid was often the only health insurance coverage option, the researchers said.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his most compelling invitation to American business to invest in India, telling them that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that will come into effect from July 1 could be a subject of study in US business schools.

Modi, on a two-day visit to the US capital, held a roundtable here on Sunday with 20 top executives of American companies. Among those who attended were Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Mastercard President Ajay Banga.

"The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools," Modi told the gathering, according to a tweet by Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay.

"The whole world is looking at India. 7,000 reforms alone have been done by the government for ease of business," Modi said, as per another tweet by Baglay.

Foreign investors too have been eagerly looking forward to the rollout of the single pan-India GST, which will replace the existing myriad central and state levies on both goods and services.

"Growth of India presents win-win partnership for India and US both. American companies have a great opportunity to contribute," said Modi. "If America becomes stronger, India will be a natural beneficiary."

Current India-US bilateral trade is balanced adversely against the latter, while New Delhi has earlier reaffirmed that this trade was a "win-win situation" for both countries.

Indian Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in New Delhi earlier this month that while Indian goods exported to the US were very competitively priced, Indian professionals had contributed much to the growth of the American IT industry.

On Sunday, the Prime Minister pointed out opportunities for tourism through developing hotels in the "PPP (public private partnership) model" at 500 railway stations, Baglay said.

"Interacted with top CEOs. We held extensive discussions on opportunities in India," Modi tweeted later.

The CEOs lauded the Modi's demonetisation and digitisation initiatives and the GST, Baglay said. They also expressed support for Make in India, Digital India, Start Up India and other initiatives of the government.

"CEOs applaud reform measures and steps taken by the government to improve ease of doing business.

"CEOs outline priorities in India and suggestions for mutually beneficial partnerships in line with inclusive growth," he said in a series of tweets.

Pichai told reporters after the meeting that Google was excited about investing in India and that US companies are looking forward to the roll out of the GST.

"Good," Apple CEO Tim Cook told reporters, describing the outcome of the meeting.

--IANS

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British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday reached a supply and confidence deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), enabling her to form a functioning minority government in London.

The deal comes after two weeks of talks between the DUP and May's Conservatives since the June 8 general election resulted in a hung Parliament, reports the BBC.

The DUP's 10 members of Parliament will back the Conservatives in key Commons votes, starting with the Queen's Speech later this week, but there will be no formal coalition.

The DUP has claimed the UK government has agreed to improve the treatment of military veterans in Northern Ireland as part of the agreement, but played down reports that it had sought 2 billion pounds in extra funding for Northern Ireland in return for its support.

May shook hands with DUP leader Arlene Foster as she and other senior party figures arrived at Downing Street earlier on Monday to finalise the accord.

Foster said she was "delighted" with the arrangement and that May believed the deal was a "very good one" and the parties "share many values", the BBC reported.

May fell nine seats short of an overall majority after the snap election, meaning she is reliant on other parties to pass legislation, including Brexit terms.

The support of the DUP will give her an effective working majority of 13.

--IANS

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Amid tight security, the Muslim community celebrated Eid in various parts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh on Monday.

With tension remaining between India and Pakistan over terror attacks on security forces and ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir, no sweets were exchanged between the border guards at the joint checkpost at Attari-Wagah, 30 km from Amritsar.

Officials of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Pakistan Rangers exchange sweets on religious occasions and national days of both nations but the tradition has been given a break a few times in the past five-six years.

In Chandigarh, hundreds of Muslims converged at the Sector 20 Jama Masjid and other mosques to pray and celebrate Eid and greet each other. People turned out in large numbers to offer prayers.

In Punjab, the Muslim population is concentrated in the Malerkotla area near Patiala, 110 km from here, and in Gurdaspur district. Muslims in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ferozepur and some other towns also celebrated Eid.

In Haryana, Eid was celebrated in the Muslim-dominated Mewat district, besides in Ambala, Panipat and Jhajjar.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar greeted Muslims on the occasion of Eid.

--IANS

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Formula one Azerbaijan grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo on Monday said that Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was passion driven following the incident that took place with Mercedes AMG driver Lewis Hamilton here.

Vettel came from behind to hit Hamilton twice in the race on Monday. The former was given a 10-second stop-go penalty and three penalty points for the foul show.

Redbull driver Ricciardo shared his view on this incident and also said the German should think before he does something.

"Seb probably sometimes doesn't think before he acts," Ricciardo was quoted as saying by Fox .

"It's probably driven through passion and hunger. He's kind of just got to put a lid on it sometimes."

"I respect Seb a lot for his grit and his love for the sport, which turns into a lot of passion and sometimes aggression. I respect and like that about him.

"But today you have seen? whether it's over the radio, sometimes he will just go crazy. It is probably - what's the word? - spur of the moment? There's a better word," Ricciardo said.

Due to some high intensity action in the race, Vettel (4th place) and Hamilton (5th) failed to finish in the podium spot.

--IANS

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Romanian President Klaus Iohannis appointed Social Democrat Mihai Tudose, candidate proposed by the parliamentary majority, as Prime Minister and mandated him to form a new government.

"The crisis we are going through...seriously damages Romania. It damages the Romanian economy, the image of Romania in the world," Iohannis said on Monday at Cotroceni Presidential Palace when announcing his decision, stressing that "the crisis must end as soon as possible".

"We must have as soon as possible a new government, a government that will begin to solve the problems that have remained unresolved," Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.

Tudose was officially validated as proposal for the Prime Minister office earlier Monday by the National Executive Committee convention of the main ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD).

Tudose, 50, is the acting Minister of Economy in the government led by Sorin Grindeanu which was dismissed by a motion of censure last week. He had been in the same position from December 2014 to November 2015.

He is a PSD deputy and for 13 years the chairman of the Commission for Economic Policy, Reform and Privatization of the Chamber of Deputies.

The ruling coalition toppled on June 21 its own Cabinet amid a tense relationship between the leadership of major ruling PSD and the Prime Minister who refused to resign even after his party withdrew political support for him and expelled him from the party.

Grindeanu's cabinet entered into office in January after the Social Democrats won more than 45 per cent of the votes in the parliamentary elections in December 2016.

--IANS

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Eid was celebrated across Jammu and Kashmir on Monday but the festivities were marred by clashes between protesters and security forces in many parts of the Kashmir Valley, injuring some 20 people.

Five policemen, including a senior officer, were injured in the south Kashmir town of Anantnag after protesters took on the security forces in Janglat Mandi area immediately after Eid prayers.

The clashes, with mobs of young men hurling stones at security forces, then spread to adjoining Achabal area in Anantnag district.

Similar street fighting also broke out in Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama towns in southern Kashmir.

Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were injured in Srinagar's Old City area where youths threw stones at security forces.

Similar clashes were reported from north Kashmir's Sopore and Pattan towns too.

The security forces used tear smoke shells and pellet shotguns to disperse the protesters.

Witnesses and official sources said over a dozen demonstrators sustained injuries in the action by the security forces.

"The security forces are exercising maximum restraint while dealing with the stone-pelting mobs," a senior police officer here said.

Eid prayers elsewhere in the Valley ended peacefully.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti offered Eid prayers at a mosque in the high security Sonawar area in Srinagar.

A large number of devotees prayed at the Hazratbal and other mosques and Eidgahs in the Valley.

For security reasons, many ministers and senior civil and police officers offered prayers at the district police lines mosque here at 6.30 a.m.

Jammu and Kashmir's Inspector General of Police on Sunday issued an advisory, asking VIPs to offer Eid prayers only at secure places and to avoid public places.

--IANS

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News of Mullah Omar's death, the man who founded the Taliban, led to the beginning of internal rifts in the group, raising several questions in Afghanistan.

In July 2015, Kabul announced that Mullah Omar had died in 2013 in Pakistan. The news, confirmed by the Taliban, resulted in the breakdown of incipient talks between the Afghan government and the insurgents, reports Efe news.

Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who was functioning as the de facto leader, was named Omar's successor.

However, several commanders rejected his leadership, leading to conflicts in the group that aggravated following Mansour's death in a drone attack in Pakistan in May 2016.

Several Taliban factions decided to join the Afghan Islamic State or IS-Khorasan, which sprung up in 2015.

Others operated as splinter groups such as Mahaz-i-Fedai led by Mullah Dadullah (active in Zabul province) and by Mullah Rasul (active in Helmand, Uruzgan, Farah, Herat and other provinces).

The two splinter groups have been part of an internal battle for the last two years against the Taliban, currently led by Mullah Haibatullah, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of militants and has led to a new series of violence.

On June 14, Haibatullah's group carried out a suicide car bomb attack on the followers of Mullah Rasul in Helmand, to which the latter responded in kind a few hours later, marking an escalation of conflict in the region.

Several analysts consider Haibatullah, a cleric without military experience, as not being able to reconcile the differences between groups.

Afghan security forces believe that currently the Haqqani network, an insurgent group considered by Kabul and Washington of having links to the Pakistani intelligence services, is taking control of the Taliban from inside.

"From the perspective of leadership, the Taliban are in a weak position, they lost their single and united leadership, and are divided into groups," political analyst Muhammad Natiqi told Efe news.

However, internal rifts, combined with a lack of unified leadership, did not seem to affect the insurgents' advance on the battlefield.

Over the last two-and-a-half years, the Afghan government has been losing ground to the Taliban and currently controls only 57 percent of the country, according to the US Congress' Special Inspector General for Reconstruction (SIGAR) in Afghanistan.

"This gives rise to the question: who is leading the Taliban's war machine?" Natiqi said.

Some attribute the Taliban's military success to the withdrawal of NATO troops, internal disputes in the Afghan government, reduction in international aid and violence between ethnic groups as well as alleged support from regional countries.

"Taliban now have access to modern weapons, which are not even available for the government and now some regional countries started to provide Taliban with some sort of support," political analyst Nazar Muhammad Mutmaeen told Efe.

Other experts maintain that infighting has weakened the Taliban, who have not been able to make substantial advances in the eastern part of the country this year.

--IANS

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Editors of two Kannada tabloids sentenced by the assembly to a year in jail for defaming two ruling Congress lawmakers have not been arrested as one is hospitalised while the other one has been missing since Saturday, police said on Monday.

Meanwhile, media sources said that the two will move the high court against the conviction and sentence

"We have not arrested Hai Bangalore editor Ravi Belagere or Yelahanka Voice editor Anil Raj though we got arrest warrants from the assembly for breach of privilege and criticising lawmakers," Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Bengaluru, S.D. Sharanappa told IANS.

Belagere, 59, was admitted to a private hospital on Saturday at Dharwad, about 400 km from here, after he complained of chest pain and uneasiness.

"We have been waiting for Belagere's discharge after which we will arrest him. He will be lodged in the central jail here," said Sharanappa.

The two editors were held guilty by the assembly of criticising lawmakers, including Speaker K.B. Koliwad.

Koliwad, on June 21, issued bailable arrest warrants on the recommendation of the assembly's privileges committee, sentencing the two editors to one year jail and a Rs 10,000 fine each for defaming him, fellow ruling party lawmakers B.M. Nagaraj and S.R. Vishwanath in their tabloids over the last two years.

A hospital spokesperson, however, told IANS on phone that Belagere was discharged earlier on Monday and left for Bengaluru as he was feeling better. He did not want to wait for the duty doctor to come and certify his recovery from illness, the spokesperson added.

Sharanappa however said that they had no information as to when Belagere left the hospital and where he went. "We will verify with the hospital and find out his location," he added.

An employee of Belagere's tabloid told IANS that his editor was not seen in the city or at his home town.

About Raj's absence from his office or residence here, Sharanappa said he was unaware of his whereabouts as the location was not under his jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, Yelahanka Inspector A.G. Nanjundaiah told IANS they have not been able to arrest Raj as he is missing from his office and home since Saturday and they were waiting for him to return sp they could take him into custody.

In 2014, the two lawmakers petitioned the privileges committee against Belagere for offending them with news articles in their tabloids that were derogatory and tarnished their image in the public.

Taking cue from his colleagues, Vishwanath too complained to the privileges committee against Raj for writing defamatory articles against him in his tabloid.

The committee's recommendation was considered and adopted by the lawmakers before the assembly was adjourned sine die on Friday.

--IANS

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The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday said it has passed a resolution demanding the immediate scrapping of the National Commission for Minorities and the Ministry of Minority Affairs, as they "give credence to a separatist mindset".

The VHP's Central Governing Council met in Vadtal in Kheda district of Gujarat between June 24 and 25, where it concurred that minorities "gather sympathy" and carry out "anti-Hindu and anti-national activities" with the help of the minorities commission.

"The National Human Rights Commission is more than enough to take care of the rights of all citizens of the country... The workings of the minorities commission creates a false feeling that the Muslim and Christian community are being persecuted," reads the resolution.

The VHP also reiterated its demand of enacting a law for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"Iron Man Sardar Patel has already shown us, through the example of Somnath temple, how this can be done. The best tribute to the Iron Man would be if the Ram temple could be built on the lines of the Somnath Temple," the resolution said.

Freedom fighter and India's first Home Minister Sardar Patel was born in Kheda district.

The VHP also expressed concern over the imposition of GST on "prasad" of the Tirupati and some other big temples. It asked Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to quash all taxes on Hindu religious items such as agarbatties, dhoop, gods and goddesses' idols, etc.

It stated that there was a conspiracy to malign the image of "gau rakshaks" (cow vigilantes).

"Gau rakshaks never take law in their own hands and it is police who file false cases against them to hide their own failures," the VHP resolution said.

--IANS

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The White House did not host a traditional Iftar dinner to commemorate Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, for the first time in nearly two decades, a media report said on Monday.

Despite events held by previous administrations, this year's Ramadan passed nearly unobserved by the White House. It was marked only by a statement published late Saturday coinciding with the end of the holy month, reports the Guardian.

The first White House Iftar dinner was hosted by President Thomas Jefferson in 1805.

Hillary Clinton resurrected the event when she was First Lady in February 1996, hosting about 150 people for a reception for Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month.

The sunset dinner, attended by legislators, diplomats and leaders within the US Muslim community, went on to become an annual tradition from 1999, observed by the past three administrations.

George W. Bush held an Iftar dinner every year of his two terms, including just after the September 2001 terror attacks.

President Barack Obama hosted his first Ramadan dinner in 2009 and subsequently every year of his Presidency.

The Washington Post reported that Saturday's White House statement was signed by Donald and Melania Trump and was not posted to the President's social media presences.

It read: "Muslims in the US joined those around the world during the holy month of Ramadan to focus on acts of faith and charity.

"Now, as they commemorate Eid with family and friends, they carry on the tradition of helping neighbours and breaking bread with people from all walks of life. During this holiday, we are reminded of the importance of mercy, compassion and goodwill. With Muslims around the world, the US renews our commitment to honour these values. Eid Mubarak."

Last year, then Presidential candidate Trump told an ABC News interview that he would be open to continuing the tradition of hosting the dinner if he were in the White House.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also broke with tradition by not hosting an Iftar dinner at the State Department.

--IANS

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An FIR was filed against two women in South Goa on Monday for insulting the national flag, abusing Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and assaulting his bodyguard during an official visit to a local hospital on Sunday.

The FIR was lodged at Margao police station in South Goa district.

Rane has alleged that the two women, who publicly heckled him -- an incident which was caught on video -- had been planted by the Congress party.

South Goa Superintendent of Police Chandan Choudhury has confirmed the registration of the FIR.

"We are probing the matter. An FIR has been filed by the minister's PSO (Personal Security Officer)," Choudhury told reporters.

The FIR filed by Sharad Chopdekar, the PSO of Rane, has been registered under sections 352 (assault), 353 (preventing government servant from discharge of duty) and 504 (breach of peace), read along with relevant sections of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act 1971.

Speaking to IANS, Rane said that the two women heckled him during his visit to a government hospital in South Goa on Sunday and apart from hurling abuses at him, they also grabbed at the Tri-colour affixed on his official car.

"Looks like they were planted by the Congress there to harass me. The Congress is a frustrated party at the moment... They also hit my PSO," said Rane, who in March had quit the Congress party to join the cabinet in the BJP-led coalition government led by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

The video of the two women heckling Rane had gone viral on Sunday.

--IANS

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On Friday, none of the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders or Union ministers attended the iftar hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, while Opposition leaders were present in good numbers. On Eid day, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain and Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hosted Eid Milan at their homes. Some of the Union ministers like Arun Jaitley attended the Eid celebrations at Naqvis house. However, none of the senior Congress leaders, like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel, organised Eid celebrations. In several parts of India, devotees celebrated Eid by wearing black armbands to protest the recent lynchings of Muslims.
Getting compensation from an airline, in case of delays, is a grey area for customers. Most of them are unaware of the rules guiding the process. And getting help from airlines isn't easy as well. Airlines are not upfront about the benefits and compensations passengers can get for the inconvenience. Most of the times, a passenger has to fight for it, says D Sudhakara Reddy, founder and national president, Air Passengers Association of India.
If you expect your bank to compensate you for losses in case of theft or burglary from your locker, you may be in for a shock. Banks are not liable to compensate you for such losses. This was revealed in an RTI (Right to Information) response by the Reserve Bank of India and several public sector banks. Banks have contended that as far as the locker service goes, their relationship is that of a lessor (one who leases space) and lessee, and the latter alone is responsible for the safety of contents in such a relationship. Since banks will not compensate customers for losses, the onus is on customers to take steps that will reduce their risks.
After senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela said that his commitment to party president Sonia Gandhi was over, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said the grand old party should introspect as to why their own party leaders are going against it.

"This is the Congress' internal matter. The Congress should introspect on this issue," BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain told ANI.

Asserting that the Congress has become deprived of leaders, BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said the grand old party had lost the trust of both, people and its workers.

"The Congress has become leader-less and people are losing trust on the Congress leaders. The Congress has joined hands with parties with whom they had rivalry. This is the reason their own party workers are losing trust on them," Vijayvargiya told ANI.

Vaghela, former Gujarat chief minister, lashed out at the Congress party for lack of preparedness to fight the 2017 Gujarat assembly elections.

"In 2004, when I was made a minister in the UPA government, Sonia Gandhi said she trusted me despite my RSS-BJP links. In return, I promised her loyalty. However, when we met in Delhi recently, I told her my commitment was over," Vaghela said a public meeting on Saturday in Gandhinagar.

Citing the Uttar Pradesh poll failure, he further hit out at the party high command for not learning from the past mistakes.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Sangh Parivar affiliate, had played a key role in giving impetus to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement that led to much bloodshed across the country, but the campaign also helped (BJP) electorally.
Twenty-four West African migrants were rescued and dozens more feared dead after traffickers deserted them in Niger's northern desert without food or water, a senior local official said today.

The migrants rescued yesterday were part of a group of "70 people who had left in three vehicles from Agadez for Libya," Fatoumi Boudou, the prefect of the northern region of Bilma.

Agadez is a remote town in Niger on the edge of the Sahara that has become the smuggling capital of Africa.

The traffickers "abandoned them in the middle of the desert without food or water," he said, adding that those rescued had spoken of several dead bodies without specifying a number.

But the Agadez-based Air Info website, citing a security source, said scores of bodies had been buried on Sunday by troops and locals.

A local radio station had said 52 dead bodies had been discovered by auhgtorities on Sunday.

The 750-kilometre (465-mile) trip from Agadez to the Libyan border takes between two and three days with only very short petrol and toilet stops on the way.

Boudou said searches across a 65-kilometre radius had yielded one dead body "with the identity card of a Nigerian student."



In early June, at least 44 Libya-bound migrants, including women and babies, died of thirst in the Sahara desert after their vehicle broke down in scorching conditions.

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The police have arrested a 42- year-old man for allegedly raping a seven year-old girl living in his neighbourhood in southeast Delhi's Amar Colony.

The incident occurred yesterday and the girl's parents approached the police with a complaint.

After a medical examination confirmed that the girl was sexually assaulted, a case was lodged and the accused arrested from his house, the police said today.

The accused had allegedly lured the girl to an isolated place in the neighbourhood on the pretext of giving her some goodies and then, sexually assaulted her, the police said, adding that he subsequently left the victim outside her house.

The accused, a casual labourer, told the police that he was inebriated when he committed the crime.

In another incident, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her 17-year-old neighbour in northwest Delhi's Jahangirpuri, the police said.

The incident was reported to the police yesterday. However, the girl was allegedly sexually assaulted around a couple of weeks ago, but she kept quiet as the accused had threatened her of dire consequences, the police said.

The victim narrated her ordeal to her mother, who informed the police and subsequently, a case was registered.

The juvenile accused is absconding.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Deviating from the usual practice, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath did not visit the eidgah here today on the occasion of Eid, prompting his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav to take a swipe at him.

However, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma visited the eidgah.

Reacting to Adityanath's absence, Samajwadi Party president Yadav told reporters, "I am a former chief minister... I am here. He (Adityanath) should tell why he did not come."



It has been customary for Uttar Pradesh chief ministers to visit an eidgah on the occasion of Eid, which marks the culmination of the holy month of Ramazan.

Adityanath, however, greeted the people on Eid and noted that the festival is a special occasion where the message of joy and peace is spread to the world.

"This festival of happiness enhances the spirit of mutual brotherhood as well as strengthening social unity. It gives everyone a message of peace and harmony in society," he said.

Governor Ram Naik also visited the eidgah and extended greetings to the Muslim community on the occasion of Eid.

The deputy chief minister said, "On one side there is eidgah and on the other Ramlila is played (in Aishbagh). This is an area of Ali and Bajrangbali and when both unite it gives strength to democracy.

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There are economic incentives for Indian chemical industry to improve security measures of their facilities as per requirements of US authorities, chemical security experts from the USA, said here today.

Compliance to certain security programmes will help speed up exports to the USA, they said.

"Indian chemical industry is definitely ascending in terms of security. There are economic incentives to comply with security programmes. There are also economic incentives in ensuring you have safe and secure facilities," said Allan Milojevich, a non-proliferation specialist with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a unit of US Department of Energy.

USA accounts for Rs 10,000 crore of Rs 26,600 crore chemical exports from India annually. Gujarat accounts for around 18 per cent of total chemical exports from India.

James Snyder, a US-based risk management advisor, said that compliance to security guidelines will reduce costs by expediting the process of export.

He urged industry units to also obtain Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), a voluntary supply chain security programme led by the USA.

"Compliance to security requirements reduce cost. By thinking about global best practice and security measure, we can secure our world. There are no hard and fast requirements but there are incentives. The C-TPAT applies to US companies as well. This helps reduce customs inspection," he said.

Snyder said that other countries are also adopting the same criteria in order to create a world-wide security regime so that chemical products are not diverted for their use to make chemical weapons and explosives.

The experts were talking to the media ahead of their participation in a five-day workshop on chemical security assessment organised by the Gujarat Chemical Association (GCA), an industry association with around 700 members.

Jaimin Vasa, president of GCA, said that chemical security assessment of the industry will help decide necessary actions to assure that risks inherent with the use and application of chemicals by adversaries are minimised to protect the environment, infrastructure, and life.

He said nearly 80 per cent of the industry in the state, which contributes to 18 per cent of India's chemical exports, still need to comply with security standards.

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It was a sombre Eid at Khandawali. Villagers turned up for prayers wearing black bands to protest the lynching of a Muslim youth on board a Mathura-bound train last week.

After the special morning prayer, many talked about earlier incidents of lynching in Dadri and Alwar, and asked when would such targeted attacks on Muslims stop?



"Junaid's killing is not just a murder. In Dadri, it was Mohammed Akhlaq. In Alwar, it was Pehlu Khan and now, an innocent teenager from Ballabgarh. It is hatred which is being bred in society," said Zubair, a youth from Khandawali village.

Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer, was killed by cow vigilantes in Alwar in Rajasthan in April this year, while Mohammed Akhlaq was lynched in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh in September 2015 on suspicion that his family had stored and consumed beef at their house.

"We feel vulnerable. Is there anything wrong in wearing articles of your faith such as a skull cap and growing beard. Should we be targeted just for this," Zubair asked.

Non-Muslims from some social organisations were also seen in the village. They condemned the horrific incident and expressed their support for the family in the hour of grief.

Gayasuddin, another villager, who struggled to hold back his tears, asked, "How will we celebrate Eid, we are in mourning today."



"Our demand is that such incidents should stop. We demand that all the culprits should be arrested," he said.

A sense of despair hung in the air in Khandawali village, lying over an hour's drive from Delhi.

Festivities were missing and there was no biryani being cooked in households, which is the tradition on Eid, or children being seen playing carefree on streets.

"This place used to bustle on Eid. Today, even those who turned up for prayers, wore a gloomy face," said Mohd Ashraf, another villager.

Junaid's mother Saira is in a state of shock ever since the of her son's killing reached her.

Another villager said that Junaid had once told her mother that he wanted to become Imam of Jama Masjid.

Junaid was stabbed to death while his brothers, Hashim and Sakir, were injured by a mob which also allegedly hurled slurs against them on board the Delhi-Mathura passenger train between Ballabgarh and Mathura stations on Thursday night.

Police had yesterday announced a reward of Rs one lakh to anyone providing credible information leading to arrest of other accused in the case.

"So far, only one person has been arrested and further investigations were under progress," Kamaldeep Goel, the Superintendent of Police, Government Railway Police (GRP), Faridabad, said today.

He also said six EMU trains running on the route (Delhi- Palwal-Mathura) had been identified which could be vulnerable and accordingly vigil and security had been stepped up.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and the US today discussed ways to step up counter-terrorism cooperation and reviewed the situation in Afghanistan as two top American officials met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here just before his first meeting with President Donald Trump.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis separately called on Modi, setting to tone for the summit meeting between the prime minister and Trump.

The issues that figured prominently in these discussions included terrorism, Afghanistan and the situation in the Asia Pacific region.

"There was a strong focus on terrorism and cooperation in counter-terrorism," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay told reporters while briefing on the meeting between Modi and Tillerson.

"It is very clear that given the challenges that the two countries have faced and continue to face and the rest of the world also faces from this global menace of terrorism, the discussions in the courtesy call touched upon how the two sides have cooperated in countering terrorism and the broad direction in which they can develop this cooperation further," he added.

Modi conveyed to Tillerson that the "fulcrum of India's foreign policy" is to have good relations with all nations, "in particular with its neighbours."



Discussions between Modi and Mattis focussed on the Asia Pacific region, with a veiled reference to the South China Sea over which China is laying an absolute claim.

Baglay said both India and the US believe in respect for international law, rule-based order and freedom of navigation.

He said there was discussion also on counter-terrorism and on the situation in Afghanistan and the conversation with Mattis briefly touched upon how the two countries can work together on the issue.

Mattis also appreciated India's role in Afghanistan, Baglay said.

"In the context of the evaluation that is currently underway in the US on policy in context of the situation in Afghanistan, both sides decided that they would remain in touch, consult, cooperate and focus on the security situation in Afghanistan," the spokesman said.

Modi underlined that he wishes all its neighbours and countries grow just as India is growing and share the prosperity, in line with his mantra 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' (cooperation of all, development of all).

Baglay added that both the meetings essentially conveyed the warmth of the relationship and the strong desire of both sides to consolidate multidimensional global strategic partnership between the two countries.

Modi also welcomed and endorsed the view and "conveyed India's desire also to walk side by side with US for consolidating this partnership, which is very valuable and has global implications."



"That came through very strongly in both these meetings," he said.

Modi put the India-US partnership in context of the changing global situation and said the world is "very keenly" looking at India and US and their partnership, which has been described as the "defining partnership" of the century, Baglay said.

Tillerson conveyed to Modi that Trump was "eagerly looking forward" to receiving him at the White House and "having discussions with him," Baglay said.

Tillerson also mentioned the desire of both sides to strengthen the India-US partnership in strategic areas as well as on economic cooperation.

Baglay noted that the meetings are in the nature of courtesy meetings and very specific matters were not discussed in great detail.

On the meeting with Mattis, Baglay said the Defense Secretary referred to the op-ed written by Modi in the Wall Street Journal, where he mentioned that there is no need for any hesitation in seizing the moment and opportunity to consolidate, strengthen and expand the partnership and take it on an upward trajectory.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bodies of four members of a Delhi- based family hailing from Nagpur, who were killed in a cable car accident in Kashmir yesterday, have been brought to the city this evening.

Jayant Andraskar (42), his wife Manisha (38), their daughters Anagha (4) and Janhvi (7), and three tourist guides were killed when a cable car came crashing down after a ropeway snapped midair in the ski-resort of Gulmarg.

Their bodies were brought to Nagpur around 5.15 pm in a Jet Airways flight. Their last rites will be performed late this evening.

The Andraskar family hailed from Nagpur, but had shifted to the national capital seven years ago after Jayant started working in the Directorate of Technical Education there.

His wife was a homemaker. One of their daughters was a student of class I, while the other was in playschool.

With the of their death, a pall of gloom descended on Old Subhedar layout area here, where his family members, including his parents and siblings, live.

Jayant's brother-in-law Saurabh Wandhare told PTI that they were supposed to come to Nagpur on June 29 to attend his (Jayant's) mother-in-law's death anniversary.

"Jayant and his family members were on a vacation in Nagpur between May 12 and June 6 and they also attended my marriage last month," he said.

One of the neighbours remembers Jayant as a good and humble person.

"He was very respectful towards others," he said.

Sachin, one of Jayant's cousins, said, "Before joining the Directorate of Technical Education in Delhi seven years back, Jayant had taught in an engineering college in Nagpur and had also worked in Nagpur Improvement Trust."



Assistant professor Mahendra Umre, who had worked with Jayant when he was teaching in the engineering college, said, "He was a very hardworking and ambitious person with a lot of technical knowledge. His untimely demise is saddening."



The Andraskars, who lived in Shalimar Bagh in northwest Delhi, had gone to Kashmir for holidaying on June 22.

The cable car accident occurred after a tree, uprooted by strong winds, fell on the ropeway of Gulmarg Gondola severing the lines and plummeting the cable car to the ground, a police official had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Goa police have filed a case against two women for blocking Health Minister Vishwajit Rane from entering his car during his visit to Margao town yesterday.

Margao police have filed FIR against Maria de Cruz (70) and her daughter Auda Godinho (age not known) for blocking the minister and abusing policemen on duty.

A formal complaint was lodged with Margao police by personal security officer of the minister Sharad Chopdekar who claimed that the women used abusive and vulgar language against the minister and policemen on duty.

"Both the ladies even assaulted policemen and the security guards of the district hospital in Margao," reads the complaint, copy of which is with PTI.

Rane faced ugly incident yesterday when he was on his tour to inspect the Portuguese-era building of district hospital.

A few days ago a woman was injured when an iron railing crashed on her at the hospital.

In his complaint, the PSO said that the two women kicked and banged the car.

The accused were apparently abusing the minister over his act of resigning from Congress and joining BJP.

The complaint also mentions that "the daughter of the woman tried to show disrespect to the national flag mounted on the official car of Rane."



Police Inspector Filomena Costa said FIR has been lodged against both the women but they were not yet arrested as the investigations are going on.

The ladies have been booked under section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 341 (wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 362 (whoever by force compels, or by any deceitful means induces, any person to go from any place), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) of the Indian Penal Code.

They are also booked under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Cellular operators body COAI has opposed a proposal for mandatory testing of telecom products, saying the move will "cripple" the debt-ridden sector and increase cost of telecom services hurting end-consumers.

In a letter to the Telecommunication Engineering Centre, which is proposing compulsory testing and certification of telecom gears, the COAI said the proposal should be "abolished" as it may act as a "technical barrier to trade".

"...The mandatory testing of telecom products proposal should be abolished, as this mandatory local screening will create potential supply chain disruptions, increasing the cost of telecom services and hurting end consumers," COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said in the letter.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) is the apex body of telecom service providers and its members include large operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio.

"... The proposed mandatory testing by TEC is a technical barrier to trade and is not in sync with Government of India objective on improving the ease of doing business," the COAI said, adding the move would restrict market access, leading to import delays.

It warned that the business disruptions could be huge if the proposal is taken forward. It also pointed out that the products have already been meeting legal and regulatory requirements in over 180 markets, including India.

Moreover, the proposal will act as a "direct deterrent" to the Make in India initiative of the government, the association claimed.

The body said that declining revenue, mounting debt, hyper competitive marketplace have posed tremendous pressure on network investments and expansions.

The financial pressure is leading to further debt and the industry is already going through a "rough patch", the COAI said.

The proposal "is surely going to cripple the entire telecom sector ecosystem, which is already debt ridden, overburdened with regulatory and policy interventions and multiple government/sectoral compliances", the COAI argued.

The TEC has proposed that any original equipment manufacturer (OEM), importer and dealer who wishes to sell, import or use any telecom equipment in India, would have to obtain certificate from it and affix the product with its certification label.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress today demanded a comprehensive statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over the denial of entry to 47 pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet through the Nathu-la pass in Sikkim recently.

"This is a serious issue and we would want that Prime Minister Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj take up the issue with their Chinese counterparts and ensure the Mansarovar yatra route is opened for Shiv-bhakts (followers of Lord Shiva)," AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

He also took a dig at the BJP government for patting its back when the China route for the Mansarovar yatra was started.

Today, when China has illegally stopped the yatra by humiliating Indian pilgrims, the same government adopted a "conspiratorial silence", Surjewala said.

China had last week refused entry to the 47 Indian pilgrims who were scheduled to travel to Kailash Mansarovar through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim.

The pilgrims were scheduled to cross over to the Chinese side on June 19 but had failed to do so due to inclement weather. They had waited at the base camp and tried to cross again on June 23 but were denied permission by the Chinese officials.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay had said some difficulties were being experienced in the movement of pilgrims through Nathu La and that India was taking up the matter with China.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An eerie silence prevailed on the occasion of Eid along the LoC, which has witnessed 20 ceasefire violations, a BAT attack and two infiltration bids in the month of June in which four people, including three jawans, were killed.

The lack of the rattle of guns came as some good .

"Guns are silent today. There is no report of any firing and shelling by the Pakistani Army along the LoC," a senior army officer said.

The Pakistani Army breached the truce thrice yesterday by firing small arms and shelling mortars on army posts along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch sectors, drawing strong retaliation from the Indian side.

There have been 20 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the International Border in Jammu region in the month of June in which three jawans and one civilian were killed.

Pakistani troops had on Saturday fired automatic weapons on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Poonch sector.

These violations came just days after an attack by a Pakistan special forces team that sneaked across the LoC into Poonch taking cover of heavy fire and killed two jawans while losing one of their men.

Pakistan's Border Action Team comprises its army's special forces personnel and terrorists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Guns fell silent along the LoC on Eid today after a spate of ceasefire violations, Army officials said.

Border guarding forces from either side exchanged sweets on the International Border in Jammu.

"The guns are silent today. There is no report of any firing and shelling by the Pakistani Army along the LoC," a senior army officer said.

"The border guarding forces exchanged sweets in a cordial atmosphere all along the IB in the Jammu frontier area," a BSF officer said.

There have been 20 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the International Border in Jammu region so far in June. Three jawans and one civilian were killed in firing.

A jawan was injured in back-to-back ceasefire violations by the Pakistani Army yesterday.

The Pakistani Army breached the truce thrice yesterday by firing small arms and shelling mortars on army posts along the LoC in the Rajouri and Poonch sectors. The Indian side fired back in retaliation, army sources said.

Pakistani troops on Saturday fired on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Poonch sector.

These violations came just days after an attack by a Pakistan special forces team that sneaked across the LoC into Poonch under cover of heavy fire and killed two jawans. One Paksitani soldier was also killed.

Pakistan's Border Action Team comprises its army's special forces personnel and terrorists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The finance ministry has made a case for pushing back the Reserve Bank's deadline for implementing Basel III banking norms in view of higher capital requirement to deal with bad loans which have reached unacceptable levels.

In a recent meeting with RBI, senior officials from the ministry pitched for deferring the implementation beyond March 2019, saying it will help banks meet the capital needs and increase credit flow to productive sectors along with balance sheet clean-up.

These global capital to risk norms, called Basel III capital regulation, are being implemented in phased manner by Reserve Bank of India since April 1, 2013. They are to be fully implemented as on March 31, 2019.

As per the norms, banks have to maintain a minimum common equity ratio of 8 per cent and total capital ratio of 11.5 per cent by March 2019.

Most of the 21 state-owned banks are already above the average prescribed by RBI but there are six PSU banks including IDBI Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Central Bank of India, which have been put under prompt corrective action (PCA) requiring course correction and higher capital to come out of poor financial health.

However, provisioning levels for the Indian banking sector have risen sharply over the last few quarters in response to rising bad loans, with the RBI's asset quality review initiated in December 2015 pushing the bottomline of several public sector banks (PSBs) into the red.

Their toxic loans rose by over Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 6.06 lakh crore during April-December of 2016-17, the bulk of which came from power, steel, road infrastructure and textile sectors.

Gross NPAs of PSBs nearly doubled to Rs 5.02 lakh crore at the end of March 2016, from Rs 2.67 lakh crore at the end of March 2015.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced capital infusion of Rs 10,000 crore for PSBs in the current fiscal in line with the Indradhanush scheme.

This will be over the Rs 70,000 crore that banks will get as capital support from the government. Of this, the government has already infused Rs 50,000 crore in the past two fiscals and the remaining will be pumped in by the end of 2018-19.

As per the scheme, PSBs need to raise Rs 1.10 lakh crore from markets, including follow-on public offer, to meet Basel III requirements, which kick in from March 2019.

Discussions are ongoing with RBI and the ministry made the point of deferring Basel III norms given the circumstances, sources said.

The question is what works the best for Indian banks taking into consideration financial stability, NPA resolution and provisioning requirement, sources said.

"The RBI team is very receptive and there is professional respect. We may not agree. Where RBI has power to take a call they will decide," an official said.

RBI had already extended the deadline from March 2018 to March 2019 in 2014 after getting representation from various quarters.

This (implementation of Basel III capital regulations) may necessitate some lead time for banks to raise capital within the internationally agreed timeline for full implementation of the Basel III capital regulations, RBI had said.

According to sources, RBI believes that there is a set framework and it should not be disturbed and any divergence from Basel III norms by the RBI can impact the perception on Indian banks and the central bank globally.

The US Treasury in its recent report has also suggested some flexibility in the implementation of norms, sources said.

Banking industry officials said that the central bank has been approached for relaxing the norms for adherence to Basel III norms and some relief on provisioning by banks on account of implementation of the new Indian Accounting Standards, or Ind-AS, from Apr 1, 2018.

Banks' provision levels may significantly go up after the new accounting standards are implemented.

Under the new accounting standards, banks will need to make provisions based on expectations of future losses after it was felt that the current model of 'incurred losses' resulted in inadequate provision levels.

Basel III reforms are the response of Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) to improve the banking sector's ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress, whatever the source, thus reducing the risk of spill over from the financial sector to the real economy.

Following the global financial crisis 2007-08, during Pittsburgh summit in September 2009, the G20 leaders committed to strengthening the regulatory system for banks and other financial firms.

They aimed at implementing strong international compensation standards aimed at ending practices that lead to excessive risk-taking, to improve the over-the-counter derivatives market and to create more powerful tools to hold large global firms to account for the risks they take.

As a result of this Basel II replaced Basel III reforms on capital regulation.
Five people were killed and two were injured after being struck by lightning in separate incidents in Chhindwara and Mandsaur districts since yesterday morning, as the monsoon got active in parts of Madhya Pradesh.

Draupadi Bobde (55), Rajni Bobde (35) and Shanti Paradkar (45) died and Devnath and Manku sustained injuries when lightning struck them at Umrikhurd in Pandhurna tehsil of Chhindwara district yesterday, police said.

The victims were working in a field.

Another woman, Surekha (22), was killed by lightning strike while working in a field at Janbhi in Amarwara tehsil of the district last evening.

Richhalal Muha (60) died due to lightning strike while working in a field in Bhaugarh area of Mandsaur district last night, said police sub-inspector Gaurav Laud.

India Meteorological Department's Bhopal Centre Director Dr Anupam Kashyapi told PTI that monsoon has reached some parts of the state, and it will cover south-east and central Madhya Pradesh soon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A day after seven persons died in a tragic cable car crash in Gulmarg in Kashmir, officials incharge of the ropeway claimed that safety norms were followed and the accident can be best explained as an "act of God".

The Jammu and Kashmir government had yesterday ordered a probe into the incident in which four of a Delhi family and three local youth had lost their lives.

"There was no deviation from the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The weather suddenly turned bad and strong winds caused the uprooting of a tree that fell on the cable," Director, Tourism, Mehmood Shah said.

General Manager of the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation, Reyaz Ahmad, said the accident was an "act of God".

"We always follow the safety manual and never operate the cable car if any risk is involved. The uprooting of the tree due to abrupt blowing of high velocity wind, which led to the accident, can at best be explained as an act of God," Ahmad said.

Police have registered a case into the incident and started investigations into whether there was any violation of SOP.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has yesterday ordered a probe and alsoannounced ex-gratia relief of Rs five lakh in favour of next of kin of the killed.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the four members of a Delhi- based family, who died in the accident, have been brought today evening to Nagpur, the city the deceased hailed from.

Jayant Andraskar (42), his wife Manisha (38), their daughters Anagha (4) and Janhvi (7), and three local tourist guides had died in the Gulmarg accident.

Their bodies were brought to Nagpur around 5.15 pm in a Jet Airways flight for last rites.

The Andraskars hailed from Nagpur, but had shifted to the national capital seven years ago after Jayant started working in the Directorate of Technical Education there.

His wife was a homemaker. One of their daughters was a student of class I, while the other was in playschool.

With the of their death, a pall of gloom descended on Old Subhedar layout area here, where his family members, including his parents and siblings, live.

Jayant's brother-in-law Saurabh Wandhare told PTI that they were supposed to come to Nagpur on June 29 to attend his (Jayant's) mother-in-law's death anniversary.

"Jayant and his family members were on a vacation in Nagpur between May 12 and June 6 and they also attended my marriage last month," he said.

One of the neighbours remembers Jayant as a good and humble person.

"He was very respectful towards others," he said.

Sachin, one of Jayant's cousins, said, "Before joining the Directorate of Technical Education in Delhi seven years back, Jayant had taught in an engineering college in Nagpur and had also worked in Nagpur Improvement Trust."



Assistant professor Mahendra Umre, who had worked with Jayant when he was teaching in the engineering college, said, "He was a very hardworking and ambitious person with a lot of technical knowledge. His untimely demise is saddening."



The Andraskars, who lived in Shalimar Bagh in northwest Delhi, had gone to Kashmir for holidaying on June 22.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Following are the top stories from the northern region at 2130 HRS:



DEL9 RAJNATH-EID



New Delhi: Conveying his Eid greetings, Home Minister Rajnath Singh says the festival will help in bringing peace and happiness in the Kashmir Valley.

DEL29 JK-LD EID-NO CEASEFIRE VIOLATION



Jammu: Guns fall silent along the LoC on Eid after a spate of ceasefire violations, Army officials say.

DEL19 UP-LD ADITYANATH 100 DAYS



Lucknow: Yogi Adityanath completes 100 days in office as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, but it was a low-key event with no fanfare to showcase the achievements, except for the government asserting that it has given the "best performance and result". By Arunav Sinha



DES20 POL-GST-YECHURY



New Delhi: Less than a week left for the Centre to roll out the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the CPI(M) asks why the Centre is hurrying to introduce the new tax regime.

DES27 UP-LD EID



Lucknow: Eid-ul-Fitr celebrated with fervour across Uttar Pradesh, barring protests at certain places by Muslims, many of whom wear black armbands against alleged atrocities on members of the minority community.

DES4 EID-ROHINGYA REFUGEES



New Delhi: It's Eid morning. Shoria has been up for hours making the traditional Eid delicacy of vermicelli, sugar and milk, known as sevian in these parts but shai mai in her home back in Myanmar. By Pragya and Arjun Ramachandran. Photo: PTI6_26_2017_000087B



NRG4 HP-ACCIDENT



Shimla: Five members of a family killed and five others injured when their jeep rolls 200 mts deep into a gorge near Nerwa in Shimla district, 140 Km from here.

DES17 UKD-PREZ-KOVIND-TOUR



Dehradun: The NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind holds a meeting with MPs and MLAs of the ruling BJP in Uttarakhand at Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat's official residence here to canvass support for himself.

NRG10 LYNCHING-KHATTAR



Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar condemns the brutal killing of a Muslim youth onboard a Mathura-bound train and says that efforts were on to nab the other accused in the case.

DES16 UP-RAM TEMPLE-SAKSHI



Unnao (UP): The date for construction of a "grand" Ram temple in Ayodhya is likely to be finalised in the 'Dharma Sansad' scheduled to be held in November in Karnataka, firebrand BJP MP from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj says.

DES29 DL-MISHRA-KEJRIWAL-TWEET



New Delhi: Sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra takes a jibe at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by wishing him "ED Mubarak" after the latter tweets his Eid greetings.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 'global skill park' based on Singapore model would be set up in Haryana with an aim to develop efficiency and skill sets of youth.

The state government has proposed to establish the park at Manesar in Gurugram, this was disclosed at a meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy and state Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

During the meeting, an overall review was done with regard to various skill development schemes being implemented in Haryana.

Rudy noted that sector skill centres would also be established in Faridabad, Nuh, Hisar, Fatehabad and Bhiwani where training would be imparted to youth, an official release said here giving details.

The minister said these centres would be made functional within the next five months. These modern centres would serve as models and the union ministry would assist in making them functional, Rudy added.

The Union minister said there was a possibility of opening modern skill centres in all districts of the state, for which the Haryana government should send proposal to the ministry.

In response to this, the chief minister said that the state government was ready to provide building and land to the Centre for this purpose and the proposal in this regard would be sent within one week.

Detailed discussions were held in the meeting regarding opening of driver training institutes.

In this regard, the union minister said the central government would introduce a composite scheme regarding driver training institute where driver training related to every automotive would be imparted.

He said that such modern driver training institutes would be opened in every state.

Rudy said that though Haryana already had such institutes, in order to provide better training, a group should be constituted so that after completion of training, a candidate could get employment at national and international levels.

He said the previous governments had not paid attention towards Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) due to which youth were deprived of better skill development.

However, the present State Government took this matter seriously and constituted a separate ministry for skill development, he said, according to the release.

Reforms are being brought into improve the functioning of the ITIs and various initiatives have been undertaken under which youth would be eligible to apply for further studies on the basis of certificate of ITI, short-term skill development programmes are being implemented as per the National Skills Qualification Framework, for which a single curriculum has been adopted, he said.

The central government would soon introduce new rules in relation to ITIs, he added.

He said the central government had released Rs 84 crore for skill development in Haryana and additional amount could be released as per requirement.

Rudy said the state governments have been linked with the National Skill Development Corporation for monitoring of funds to ensure proper utilisation.

He directed the officers to adopt rules prescribed by the National Skills Eligibility Framework in recruitment process.

Discussion was also held on establishing entrepreneurship institutes and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra in each district, and dual training, among other related issues.

The chief minister said that every year four lakh youth in the state are prepared for employment. While two lakhs of them get jobs on their own, the remaining youth require assistance in finding jobs, he said.

For this, the Haryana government has implemented the Saksham YUVA Yojana under which applications have so far been received from 15,999 post-graduates, of which 10,668 applications have been approved, Khattar said.

He said that all graduates and post-graduates would be provided 100 hours of work in Haryana by December 31, 2017.

He said that skill development university being established in Palwal is a first of its kind besides the state government has launched 300 courses in different places and has set a target to provide skill development training to 1.33 lakh youth.

Rudy said the Saksham YUVA scheme be linked with the central government so that maximum employment opportunities may be generated for youth.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dealers of General Motors, which has decided to stop selling vehicles in India by the year-end, will demonstrate at Jantar Mantar tomorrow to protest against the American automaker.

A majority of General Motors' 96 dealers, which operate around 140 showrooms across India, are unhappy with the company's offer of just around 12 per cent of total investments they have made, as compensation.

"Never before have automobile dealers resorted to a 'dharna' as a method of protest. But anguished by the decision of GM India to quit the domestic market without keeping their long standing dealers in the loop, we have been forced to do this," FADA President John Paul Kuttukaran told PTI.

Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the apex body of automobile dealers in the country, has received permission from the authorities concerned to stage a peaceful 'dharna' at Jantar Mantar, he added.

"GM dealers and their employees would be sitting on 'dharna' to draw attention of the ministries concerned to the plight of the dealers and loss of over 15,000 jobs," Kuttukaran said.

The dealers have already decided to explore the possibilities of filing class action suits against the American automaker in the US over inadequate compensation being offered to them.

As per the conditions set by General Motors, a dealer who does not accept its offer by July 15, would only get 50 per cent of the compensation amount being offered.

In case a dealer does not accept the offer by September 15, he would not get any compensation at all.

In 2015, the company had announced to invest USD 1 billion in India to enhance manufacturing operations and roll out 10 locally-produced models over the next five years.

In January this year, the American firm put on hold its investments on new models for India as it undertook a full review of its future product portfolio in the country.

On May 18, General Motors suddenly decided to stop selling its vehicles in India as there was no turnaround in its fortunes here after struggling for over two decades to make a mark.

The company will now focus on exporting vehicles from its manufacturing plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra after it stopped production at its first plant at Halol, Gujarat last month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Twenty years ago, a writer took book lovers across the world on a magical journey with a boy wizard and his two friends, changing the face of children's literature forever.

J K Rowling sat all by herself in a coffee shop in Edinburgh to write about Harry Potter and his fight for survival against arch nemesis Lord Voldemort, a tale so enchanting that it continues to be an integral part of the growing up years of many.

Looking back on her spectacular journey, Rowling tweeted, "20 years ago today a world that I had lived in alone was suddenly open to others. It's been wonderful. Thank you."



The seven-part book series -- "The Philosopher's Stone", "The Chamber of Secrets", "The Prisoner of Azkaban", "The Goblet of Fire", "The Order of the Phoenix", "The Half-Blood Prince" and "The Deathly Hallows" -- became so popular that children would queue up outside bookstores hours before they hit the shelves.

The massive popularity of the story soon piqued the interest of major Hollywood producers.

It was Warner Bros which gave birth to the eight-part money-spinning "Harry Potter" franchise, starring young Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

Just like Rowling, who became an overnight star, the popularity of the movie's three main leads -- Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Watson (Hermione Granger) and Grint (Ron Weasley) -- was no less than an A-list Hollywood star.

The last film "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" released in 2011.

The world of Harry Potter, much to the delight of fans, however, did not end with the culmination of books and movies.

Rowling's pen continues to weave magic with the spin-off stories - "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" and "Quidditch Through the Ages".

A play titled "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two" was also conceived and penned by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany and Rowling.

Rowling provides interesting details about the Potter universe through Pottermore, Twitter as well as media interviews.

"Fantastic Beasts" is being turned into a five-part film series, the first of which, starring Eddie Redmayne in the role of Newt Scamander, released last year. Both Johnny Depp and Jude Law will be a part of the second film in the series.

Fans of Harry Potter took to social media to celebrate the milestone with '20 years of Harry Potter' trending on Twitter while Facebook introduced a special feature for all Potterheads.

Publishers Bloomsbury celebrated "house week" by releasing special edition of the first book in the colours of the four houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry -- Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

Even after 20 years, Harry Potter lives on in the hearts of fans. To this, Severus Snape would have said, "Always".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Following are the top stories from the western region at 2100 HRS:



BOM 13 MH-PRISON-LD INDRANI



Mumbai: Police book nearly 200 inmates of a women's prison here, including Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, for rioting after they allegedly staged a protest over the death of a convict.

BOM 3 MH-PRABHU-FILM



Mumbai: Union minister Suresh Prabhu rubbishes allegations that the party was sponsoring an upcoming film, "Indu Sarkar", set against the Emergency period, saying the BJP does not produce, write or direct movies.

BOM 10 MP-GIRL-LD SHOT



Bhind: An eight-year-old boy who was playing with his father's licensed pistol allegedly kills his 10-year-old sister in Bhind district in Madhya Pradesh.

BOM 7 MH-FARMERS-UDDHAV



Aurangabad: The Shiv Sena asks the Maharashtra government to set up a study group to ensure that benefits of the Rs 34,022-crore loan waiver scheme reach the needy farmers.

BOM 14 MH-CABLECAR-FAMILY-BODIES



Nagpur: Bodies of four members of a Delhi-based family hailing from Nagpur, killed in a cable car accident in Kashmir yesterday, brought here this evening.

BOM 11 MP-BRIBE-OFFICIAL



Satna: Lokayukta Police arrest Satna municipal commissioner for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 12 lakh in cash and jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh.

BES 12 GA-MINING-PARRIKAR



Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar says a decision on handing over the illegal mining case, in which former CM Digambar Kamat is under scanner, to the CBI will be taken only after the SIT submits its investigation report.

BES 10 MH-FARMERS-LOAN-DEMAND



Mumbai: A group of farmers from Puntambe village, the epicentre of the recent agrarian protests in Maharashtra, express unhappiness over the loan waiver scheme announced by the state government.

BES 1 MP-RAINS-LIGHTNING



Bhopal: Five killed and two injured after being struck by a lightning in separate incidents in Chhindwara and Mandsaur districts of Madhya Pradesh since yesterday.

BCM 9 GA-GST-PARRIKAR



Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar says GST is a simple tax system and the prevailing confusion is because for the first time such a sweeping reform is being carried out in the country.

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The government has started an anti-dumping probe into a select Chinese polyester yarn following complaints from SRF Ltd and Reliance Industries.

The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), under the commerce ministry, has "sufficient" evidence of dumping of 'high tenacity polyester yarn' from the neighbouring nation.

SRF Ltd and Reliance Industries have alleged dumping of the yarn and asked for an investigation into the matter.

If established that dumping has caused material injury to domestic players, the DGAD will recommend imposition of anti- dumping duty.

Anti-dumping duties are levied to provide a level playing field to local industry by guarding against cheap, below-cost imports.

The probing authority "hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry", the DGAD said in a notification.

The investigation will cover the period from April 2016 to March this year. These yarns are used for manufacture of tyre cord fabric, seat belt webbing, slings, ropes, coated fabric and conveyor belt fabric.

Increasing imports and dumping of goods from China have always been an area of concern for Indian companies. Exports to China were only USD 9 billion in 2015-16, but imports totalled USD 61.7 billion in the fiscal.

The DGAD is also probing dumping of several other products such as chemicals from China.

India is one of the most attractive markets for global producers due to its large middle class population.

Imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime. Both India and China are members of the Geneva-based body.

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The Chinese military today accused the Indian Army of stopping the construction of a road along the Sino-Indian frontier in Sikkim and said the move has "seriously damaged" border peace and tranquillity.

"After India's independence the Indian government repeatedly confirmed in writing that both sides have no objection to Sikkim border," a People's Liberation Army statement said.

China's building of the road was completely an act of sovereignty on its own territory, India has no right to interfere, it said.

"The Indian attempt to stop the construction of road has seriously damaged border peace and tranquillity," the statement said.

"(We) hope that India will meet China halfway and do not take any actions to complicate the boundary problem, and jointly maintain momentum of good development of bilateral relations," the statement added.

Tension mounted in a remote area of Sikkim after a scuffle broke out between personnel of the Indian Army and the PLA, leading to Chinese troops damaging bunkers on the Indian side of the border.

The incident happened in the first week of June near the Lalten post in the Doka La general area in Sikkim after a face-off between the two forces, which triggered tension along the Sino-Indian frontier, official sources in New Delhi said.

After the scuffle, the PLA entered Indian territory and damaged two make-shift bunkers of the Army, the sources said.

After the India-China war of 1962, the area has been under the Indian Army and the ITBP, which is the border guarding force and has a camp 15km from the international border.

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The HRD ministry has appointed a new nine-member panel, headed by space scientist Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, to work on a New Education Policy (NEP), sources said.

The Prakash Javadekar-led HRD ministry has chosen experts and educationists from wide-ranging backgrounds to be part of the panel that is expected to recast India's education policy.

Besides Kasturirangan, who headed India's space agency ISRO, the panel includes former IAS officer K J Alphonse Kanamthanam. He had played a key role in helping Kerala's Kottayam and Ernakulam districts achieve 100 percent literacy, sources said.

Ram Shanker Kureel, vice chancellor of the Baba Saheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences, Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, who has wide experience in the field of agriculture sciences and management, has also been appointed.

Dr M K Shridhar, former member secretary of the Karnataka State Innovation Council, Dr T V Kattimani, an expert on language communication, Dr Mazhar Asif, professor of Persian at Guwahati University, and former director of education, Uttar Pradesh, Krishan Mohan Tripathi also bring a wealth of experience to the panel, the sources said.

Besides, the committee also comprises mathematician Manjul Bhargava from Princeton University and Vasudha Kamat, former vice chancellor of Mumbai's SNDT University.

"The panel has been appointed keeping in mind that the members bring expertise related to the diverse areas of education. Significantly, the panel also reflects the diversity of the country as the members belong to different sections as well as regions," an official said.

This diversity, the ministry hopes, would help the committee understand the varied issues that have to be kept in mind for the formulation of such a key policy document, he added.

"The panelists belong to different age groups which should be helpful as they would be able to bring experience, innovation and also global exposure which are so vital for such an important policy formulation."



The HRD ministry had a couple of years ago formed a panel under former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian on the New Education Policy. Sources said inputs from the Subramanian panel report would also be utilised.

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Eid has lost all its meaning, residents of Faridabad's Khandwali village said today as they mourned the loss of their "son" Junaid by wearing black bands during the special morning namaz.

Four days after 17-year-old Junaid was killed on his way back from Delhi after Eid shopping, despair hung like a shroud over the village with Muslim residents wondering if "the spate of lynchings" would ever end.

"We could not have celebrated Eid with the usual sense of joy considering how Junaid was killed. So we decided to mark our protest by wearing black bands around our arms," Shakeel, a resident of Khandawli in Ballabgarh near Delhi, told reporters.

He claimed Muslims of neighbouring villages were also protesting the incident by wearing black bands during the Eid morning prayers.

Junaid was stabbed to death on June 22 on a Mathura-bound train, which he had taken with his two brothers after shopping at Delhi's Sadar Bazar. A group of men hurled communal slurs at the boys and attacked them after an altercation, allegedly over seats.

"When will this stop? After every such incident, the government offers some compensation and people move on. But the question is, will it ever stop?" asked a villager in his 20s.

He also questioned the efficacy of the administration in acting against the accused, wondering why only one arrest had been made in four days.

Before being remanded to police custody by a court in Faridabad district on Saturday, the accused had told reporters that he was in an inebriated state at the time of the incident and had attacked the teenager after being allegedly instigated by fellow passengers.

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Authorities in Mexico found the burned remains of a journalist who was kidnapped in May, the sixth reporter killed this year in the country, a state prosecutor said today.

"DNA samples have confirmed that these remains are those of Salvador Adame," the public prosecutor for the central state of Michoacan, Jose Martin Godoy, told a conference.

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Hundreds of people have performed yoga in Jungfrau mountains, located in Switzerland and known as the top of Europe, as part of celebrations to mark the International Day of Yoga.

BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav, who attended it, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has encouraged the world leaders to turn to yoga, leading to its global recognition, according to a statement.

The event was organised by Indo-Swiss Center yesterday at a height of 11,371 feet in the Swiss Alps and attracted hundreds of people, it said, adding that Jungfrau mountains are known as the "Top of Europe".

"Hundreds of global tourists in Jungfraujoch got an opportunity to participate in the Suryanamaskar sessions that was conducted throughout the day, in a specially marked area on the vast glacier, surrounded by icy peaks.

"A specially prepared 3,000 square feet snow floor served as the yoga ground for a new batch of visitors every 10 minutes while a 300 square feet stage made up of snow, was used by Yoga instructors, performers and special guests attending the event," the statement said.

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A group of farmers from Puntambe village, the epicentre of the recent agrarian protests in Maharashtra, on Monday expressed unhappiness over the loan waiver scheme announced by the state government.

The farmers want more benefits for those who regularly repay their crop loans.

Eight farmers from the village in Ahmednagar district are in Mumbai to meet NCP chief Sharad Pawar over their demands.

The BJP-led government had on Saturday unveiled a Rs 34,022 crore farm loan waiver scheme, under which debts of up to Rs 1.5 lakh would be written off, giving relief to some 89 lakh farmers.

However, the steering committee of farmer leaders yesterday rejected the mega loan waiver scheme, saying there should be no upper limit for the waiver.

Under the scheme, the farmers who regularly repay loan will get 25 per cent relief on paid amount, capped at Rs 25,000.

Abhay Chavan, a farmers' leader from Puntambe, said, "We regularly repay our crop loans. The government's loan waiver scheme helps us up to Rs 25,000 only whereas those who have outstanding loans up to Rs 1.50 lakh are going to benefit more."



"We think this is unfair to us as we repay crop loan from time to time," he said.

Another farmer Dattatray Dhanwate said, "We have come to meet Sharad Pawar because he understands our issues thoroughly. Our demand is that we should get benefit up to Rs 50,000 because many farmers would not benefit from the existing scheme.

"If a farmer gets Rs 25,000 return under the scheme, it is quite less," he said.

Asked about the reasons for their dissatisfaction, Chavan said, "Most of us grow grapes, sugarcane and soyabean. Our crop loan limit is also quite high as compared to farmers growing food grains.

"Hence, when our loan turns bad, its amount is much more than that of farmers growing cereals and pulses. We are not going to benefit much from such loan waiver schemes," he claimed.

Early this month, several parts of Maharashtra witnessed large scale protests by farmers over their demands for a loan waiver and remunerative price for their produce, among others.

The protests started from Puntambe and then spread to other places in the state.
A group of farmers from Puntambe village, the epicentre of the recent agrarian protests in Maharashtra, today expressed unhappiness over the loan waiver scheme announced by the state government.

The farmers want more benefits for those who regularly repay their crop loans.

A delegation of eight farmers from the village in Ahmednagar district today met NCP chief Sharad Pawar here in connection with their demands.

The farmers claimed that Pawar assured to look into their issues. The cultivators also said that they are planning to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis tomorrow.

The BJP-led government had on Saturday unveiled a Rs 34,022 crore farm loan waiver scheme, under which debts of up to Rs 1.5 lakh would be written off, giving relief to some 89 lakh farmers.

However, the steering committee of farmer leaders yesterday rejected the mega loan waiver scheme, saying there should be no upper limit for the waiver.

Under the scheme, the farmers who regularly repay loan will get 25 per cent relief on paid amount, capped at Rs 25,000.

Abhay Chavan, a farmers' leader from Puntambe, said, "We regularly repay our crop loans. The government's loan waiver scheme helps us up to Rs 25,000 only whereas those who have outstanding loans up to Rs 1.50 lakh are going to benefit more."



"We think this is unfair to us as we repay crop loan from time to time," he said.

Dattatray Dhanwate, another member of the farmers' delegation, claimed that Pawar has "assured to look into the matter".

"We met Pawar because he understands our issues thoroughly. Our demand is that we should get benefit up to Rs 50,000 because many farmers would not benefit from the existing scheme.

"If a farmer gets Rs 25,000 return under the scheme, it is quite less," he said.

"Some senior farmers from Puntambe village are going to meet Fadnavis tomorrow regarding the same issue. Loan waiver scheme announced by the state government is not satisfactory," Dhanwate told reporters after their meeting with Pawar at Y B Chavan centre near the state Secretariat.

Asked about the reasons behind their dissatisfaction, Chavan said, "Most of us grow grapes, sugarcane and soyabean. Our crop loan limit is also quite high as compared to farmers growing food grains.

"Hence, when our loan turns bad, its amount is much more than that of farmers growing cereals and pulses. We are not going to benefit much from such loan waiver schemes," he claimed.

On the legal cases filed against the cultivators, Amol Teke, who was a part of the farmers' delegation, said, "The state government should withdraw all cases against the farmers without any condition."



Early this month, several parts of Maharashtra witnessed large scale protests by farmers over their demands for a loan waiver and remunerative price for their produce, among others.

The protests started from Puntambe and then spread to other places in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met President Donald Trump for their first summit with focus on pushing the strategic ties amid the US' strong message to Pakistan by declaring Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist.

In a special gesture, Trump and the first lady Melania came out on the South Portico of the White House to receive Modi.

Trump and his wife warmly welcomed Modi and they were seen exchanging pleasantries and having a brief interaction before going inside the White House.

As the two leaders sat for the meeting, Modi expressed gratitude to Trump and the first lady for the warm welcome extended to him.

He said the welcome extended to him was a welcome to 125 crore people of India.

The prime minister said Trump has been paying attention to India's growth march and economic progress.

He recalled that Trump had visited India in 2014 before he became the President and had made nice comments.

Among the issues on the table were counter-terrorism cooperation, defence partnership, global cooperation, trade and energy.

The tone for the first summit meeting was set by the US State Department which declared Syed Salahuddin, chief of Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, as a 'global terrorist', just a few hours earlier.

The State Department action sent out a strong message against the terrorism emanating from Pakistan which is hurting India.

Ahead of the meeting, Modi said the logic of the Indo-US strategic ties is "incontrovertible" and the two countries have an overriding interest in securing the world from terrorism, radical ideologies and non-traditional security threats.

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The Muslim community in Nagaland today celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of 'Ramzan' with religious fervour across the State.

Muslims offered namaz at idgahs, specially in Kohima and Dimapur while also exchanging Eid greetings.

Nagaland Governor P B Acharya conveyed warm greeting to the people of the state, particularly to all Muslim brothers and sisters and expressed hope that "this sacred occasion will usher-in good will and harmony and further strengthen the values of composite society".

Eid-ul Fitr reminds every members of the community their obligations and responsibilities towards other members of the society, especially the poor and downtrodden for peaceful coexistence and equitable progress of the state and the nation, he said.

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Attacking the National Commission for Minorities' (NCM's) move to start a helpline for Muslims, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today demanded that the commission as well as the ministry of Minority Affairs should be scrapped.

NCM chairman Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi had recently said that Muslims could give a call on the helpline number in case any atrocity is committed against them.

Addressing reporters here today, VHP leader Surendra Jain alleged this move of the NCM would eventually strengthen feelings of separatism among "Muslim and Christian extremists" in the country.

He said a resolution supporting the demand for dissolution of the commission and the ministry was passed at the VHP's central governing council meet, held at Vadtal in Kheda district on June 24 and 25.

"This announcement of starting a helpline would give a message that atrocities against minorities -Muslims and Christians -have reached such proportion that the extreme step of launching a helpline had to be taken," the VHP international joint general secretary told a press conference.

Stating that Muslims and Christians are not victims, the VHP leader said the commission should keep in mind that the "Jihadists and Christian missionaries are involved in attacking other minorities, such as Buddhists and Sikhs".

"The decision to open the helpline would eventually strengthen the feeling of separatism among Muslim and Christian extremists.

"The very genesis of the minority commission is an encouragement to separatism. We feel that the human rights commission is competent enough to safeguard the rights of citizens. Thus, VHP demands that both the NCM as well as the ministry should be scrapped," he said.

When asked about the violence allegedly committed by gau-rakshaks in name of protecting cows, Jain said they are "respectable citizens" of this country.

"Now a days, gau rakshaks are being portrayed in poor light and even humiliated for saving cows. They are not goons. They are the protectors of law. They deserve respect for what they do. We want the Centre to bring a law to ban cow slaughter across the country," said Jain.

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Marking the culmination of the one month-long Ramazan fasting, Muslims in Kerala today celebrated Eid-ul-fitr with religious fervour.

Devotees offered prayers at mosques and specially arranged Eid-gahs across the state in the morning.

Special sermons were held in many mosques, where religious leaders urged devotees to uphold values of compassion, fraternity and social harmony.

Traditional feasts were prepared in Muslim houses with an array of ethnic delicacies.

Kerala government had declared public holiday for all state-run offices and educational institutions today.

Governor Justice (Rtd) P Sathasivam, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and opposition leader in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala extended Eid-ul-fitr greetings to Muslims across the state.

"I convey my heartiest greetings to the people of Kerala and Malayalies the world over on the solemn occasion of Eid-ul-fitr, which marks the culmination of the holy month Ramazan," he said.

He also wished that the celebration may brighten the world with love, harmony and brotherhood.

"May Eid-ul-fitr brightens our world with love, harmony and brotherhood through its unmatched message of self-discipline, sacrifice and charity," the Governor said.

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Nigeria's ailing President Muhammadu Buhari marked the end of Ramzan with an audio broadcast to the nation, his first public message since heading to London on medical leave nearly two months ago, the president's office said.

The recording attributed to the president was played on Nigerian radio channels over the weekend and featured a tired hesitant voice that appeared to be his, speaking in the Hausa language used in the Muslim-majority north, where Buhari is from.

"I am immensely grateful to God for his mercy in guiding us successfully to conclude another Ramadan fast," he said, according to a translation provided by his office. "My greetings to all Nigerian Muslims and our brother Christians on the occasion of Eid-al-Fitr."



Some Nigerians questioned the use of Hausa for Buhari's first message since departing for London on May 7, accusing him of addressing only his kinsmen rather than the nation as a whole.

Tensions are currently high between different ethnic groups, including Hausa-speaking Fulani herdsmen, who have clashed with farmers in the central state of Taraba recently, killing dozens.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has also appealed for unity in the face of a call by northerners in Kaduna for Christian Igbos living there to return to the southeast, where they are dominant.

Eid, a normally joyous occasion, marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"I, again, appeal to all Nigerians to avoid reckless statements or actions against our fellow countrymen," he said.

"We should all resolve to live in peace and unity in our great country," he added in the recording. It was not possible to determine when it was made.

There has been much speculation about the state of Buhari's health and despite reassurances from the government there have been reports on local media and social networks that the 74-year-old has difficulty speaking and suffers from memory loss.

He spent nearly two months in London for health reasons at the beginning of the year and on his return said he underwent blood transfusions and "couldn't recall being so sick since I was a young man".

No information was provided on his medical condition but he appeared extremely weak during his last appearances in public.

The government has said there is no cause for alarm over Buhari's health and that the reason for his departure was a follow-up medical consultation.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the surgical strikes carried out across the LoC proved that India would not hesitate to take the toughest measures to defend itself, while noting that no country in the world had questioned it -- an apparent swipe at Pakistan.

Addressing Indian-Americans at a reception in Virginia, Modi asserted that India has been successful in convincing the world about "the face of terrorism that is destroying peace and normal life" in the country.

"When we talked of terrorism 20 years back, many in the world said it was a law and order problem and didn't understand it. Now terrorists have explained terrorism to them so we don't have to," he said.

Modi said the surgical strikes demonstrated that India, which normally follows the principle of restraint, can also defend its sovereignty and ensure its security when needed.

"When India carried out the surgical strikes, the world realised the our strength and saw that while we exercise restraint, when the need arises, India can also show its strength and might in dealing with terror and protecting itself," he said to thunderous applause from the diaspora.

India conducted surgical strikes on terror pads across the Line of Control on September 29 last year, 11 days after the Uri attack which claimed the lives of 19 Indian soldiers.

The Prime Minister said that the world could have put India in the dock for carrying out the attack accoss the LoC. "But for the first time not one nation in the world raised a single question, about India's major step to conduct the surgical strikes against terror camps on Pakistani soil."



"It is a different matter for those who had to suffer due to the surgical strikes," Modi said, taking another jibe at Pakistan, amid laughter from the audience.

The Prime Minister had some choice barbs for China as well, saying India does not believe in disturbing the global order to achieve its goals.

"This is India's tradition and culture," he noted, apparently referring to China's assertiveness in the South China Sea.

"We are bound by international law because that is our character and nature. For us the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam -- the world is one family -- are not just words. This is our nature and character," he said.

The Prime Minister said India, while following international laws and norms, is also capable of taking the "toughest of steps for our sovereignty, security, peace, our people and progress".

"Whenever the need arises we have done it and the world will never be able to stop us," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today that India has succeeded in convincing the world about the "face of terrorism" and hence not a single nation questioned the country's major decision to conduct surgical strikes against terrorist launchpads on Pakistani soil.

"When we talked of terrorism 20 years back, many in the world said it was a law and order problem and didn't understand it. Now terrorists have explained terrorism to them so we don't have to," Modi said, referring to the increasing number of deadly terrorist attacks around the globe.

Addressing the nearly 600 Indian-Americans at a reception organised for him in Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC, he said the Indian Army's surgical strikes against terror training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on September 29 demonstrated that India can defend its sovereignty and ensure its security whenever required.

The surgical strikes were launched as a response to an attack by Pakistan-based terrorists on an Indian Army base in Kashmir's Uri in which 19 Indian soldiers lost their lives.

"When India carried out the surgical strikes, the world realised our strength and saw that while we exercise restraint, when the need arises, India can also show its strength and might in dealing with terror and protecting itself," he said to thunderous applause from the audience.

The prime minister said the world could have put India in the dock for launching the strikes. "But for the first time, not one nation in the world raised a single question, about India's major step to conduct the surgical strikes against terror camps on Pakistani soil."



"It is a different matter for those who had to suffer due to the surgical strikes," he said, taking a jibe at Pakistan.

India has been successful in convincing the world about the "face of terrorism" and that it was "destroying peace and normal life", Modi said ahead of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump, who had reportedly offered to mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue drawing sharp reactions from New Delhi.

India has maintained that the Kashmir issue between Islamabad and New Delhi should be resolved bilaterally, without the interference from any third party.

Modi had some choice barbs for China, which of late has appeared to overcome its differences with the Trump administration over trade disputes and North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Trump had previously called Beijing a "currency manipulator" and threatened to launch a trade war with the communist giant.

The prime minister said India does not believe in disturbing the global order to achieve its goals. "This is India's tradition and culture," he underlined, apparently referring to China's growing assertiveness in the resource- rich South China Sea, where Beijing has territorial disputes with its neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

"We are bound by international law because that is our character and nature. For us the concept of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' - the world is one family - are not just words. This is our nature and character," he said.

Modi said India, while following international laws and norms, is also capable of taking the "toughest of steps for our sovereignty, security, peace, our people and progress".

"Whenever the need arises we have done it and the world will never be able to stop us," he told the gathering.

Modi's addresses to the Indian community during his visits overseas have been increasingly seen as an effort to court diaspora Indians by eulogising their links to their roots and their contributions to the country they have made their home.

As part of that outreach, Modi praised his External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, saying she and her ministry have effectively used social media to deliver good governance and help Indians in distress in every corner of the world.

"Social media has become very powerful. I am also connected with it. But the External Affairs Ministry and Sushma Swaraj have set the best example of how a department can be strengthened through its use," he said.

"If any Indian in distress tweets from anywhere in the world to the External Affairs Ministry, even at two in the night, within 15 minutes Sushma Swaraj replies to it, the government takes prompt action and delivers results," he said.

He said the Indian government has been able to safely bring home more than 80,000 citizens - facing trouble in different parts of the world.

Modi also referred to the episode of Uzma Ahmad, who was stuck in Pakistan for months after she said she was forced to marry a man at gun point in that country. "A daughter of India, who landed in distress in Pakistan, returned to India through efforts of Indian High Commission. Sushma Ji deserves credit for this," Modi said.

There were several rounds of applause from the audience during Modi's nearly 50-minute speech. The attendees appeared optimistic about the future of India and its ties with the US.

Modi "correctly believes that the Indian diaspora can make a big difference between US and India relations," Sudhir Parikh, a medical doctor and long time community leader, told PTI.

Parikh said he expects Trump and Modi to discuss bilateral defence deals, the H1B visa, other immigration issues and the historic Paris climate deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind today held a meeting with MPs and MLAs of the ruling BJP in Uttarakhand at Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat's official residence here to canvass support for himself.

The closed-door meeting, chaired by the chief minister, lasted for two hours, official sources here said.

All 57 party legislators and two out of the five party MPs from the state and one Independent MLA, Pritam Singh Panwar, were present at the meeting, they said.

BJP MPs and former chief ministers Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank could not attend the meeting due to their personal engagements.

Earlier in the day, Kovind was received at the Jolly Grant airport by the chief minister who took him to his official residence. The NDA's presidential pick was gifted a shawl, an urn filled with water from the Ganga river and a book on the history of Uttarakhand.

Kovind had yesterday embarked on a nationwide tour from his home state Uttar Pradesh to garner support of various political parties for him in the July 17 presidential election.

Sources in the BJP had said a Union minister, a senior party leader and two MPs would accompany Kovind on his nationwide tour to reach out to all the members of the electoral college.

Though he would be meeting only with the MPs and MLAs who have pledged their loyalty with him, the NDA's presidential pick would appeal to all the members of the electoral college to support his candidature, they had said.

With over 62 per cent of the votes firmly behind him, Kovind's election as the next president is almost certain. Besides the BJP and its NDA allies, the TRS, YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD and the JD(U) have also announced their support to him.

The presidential election is scheduled for July 17 and the counting of votes will take place on July 20.

Kovind filed his nomination in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 23, while opposition candidate Kumar is yet to file hers.

If elected, Kovind will be the second Dalit president after K R Narayanan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India has now emerged as a business-friendly destination, more so with the upcoming implementation of landmark GST beginning next month, while asking CEOs of top US companies to invest in the country.

Modi, during his meeting with the CEOs of top 20 American firms, also said that India attracted the largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) as a result of the NDA government's policies in the last three years.

In the round table interaction with the group that included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon, he spoke about the reforms undertaken by his government, saying they numbered over 7,000, and were aimed at "ease of (doing) business and minimum government, maximum governance."



"Interacted with top CEOs. We held extensive discussions on opportunities in India," Modi tweeted after the meeting that lasted for about 90 minutes.

He said the world is now focused on India's economy, especially in areas like manufacturing, trade, commerce, and people-to-people contact, due to a young population and a rising middle-class.

"The whole world is looking at India. 7,000 reforms alone by GOI for ease of (doing) business and minimum government, maximum governance," Gopal Bagley, spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs quoting the prime minister as saying.

India's growth presents a win-win partnership for the country and the US, and American companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that, Modi told the CEOs.

"If America becomes stronger, India will be a natural beneficiary," he said.

On the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Modi said its implementation is a complex task that may well turn out to be "a subject of studies in US business schools."



"This shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly," he said.

During the interaction at the Willard Hotel, where he is staying, Modi gave a patient hearing to the wish-list of the top bosses.

The Prime Minister pointed out opportunities for tourism through developing hotels in "PPP (public private partnership) model" at 500 railway stations, Baglay said.

Modi said his government has focused on improving the quality of life of the people, and added that working towards this end requires a global partnership.

Therefore, he added, India is working on principles like 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance', efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.

"In concluding remarks, PM stresses imp of coopn 4 start up, innovation &tapping huge intellectual, edu & vocational training potential in India," Baglay tweeted.

The CEOs lauded the Prime Minister's initiatives of demonetisation and digitisation of economy and the GST, the spokesman said.

The CEOs also expressed support for 'Make in India', 'Digital India', 'Start Up India' and other flagship initiatives of the government.

According to Indian officials present at the meeting, several CEOs showed willingness to be partners in skill development and education initiatives in India. They also mentioned social initiatives being undertaken by their companies in India in women empowerment, digital technology, education and food processing.

Infrastructure, defence manufacturing and energy security also came up for discussion during the meeting.

"CEOs applaud reform measures and steps taken by the government to improve ease of doing business," Baglay tweeted.

"CEOs outline priorities in India and suggestions for mutually beneficial partnerships in line with inclusive growth," he said, adding that they reaffirmed their commitment to growing with India and attested to its attractiveness as an FDI destination.

Pichai told reporters after the meeting that they were excited about investing in India.

Praising the steps being taken by the Indian government in the last three years, he said the US companies are looking forward to the roll out of the GST.

"Good," said Cook as he emerged out of the meeting.

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) president Mukesh Aghi said the CEOs praised the reforms being undertaken by the Prime Minister and underscore his efforts to make India a business-friendly destination.

Responding to a question, Aghi said the H-1B visa issue was not discussed at the meeting.

Among other CEOs present at the meeting were Shantanu Narayen from Adobe, Ajay Banga from Mastercard, David Farr from Emerson, Doug McMillon from Walmart, and Punit Renjen from Deloitte Global, Jim Umpleby from Caterpillar, Alex Gorsky from Johnson and Johnson, Jamie Dimon from J P Morgan Chase, and Marillyn Hewson from Lockheed Martin. USIBC president Aghi was also present.

Posting a picture of the prime minister with the CEOs on Twitter, Bagley said, "strengthening the Indo-US economic partnership".

In a recent policy document, USIBC said the US-India commercial and strategic relationship supports global security, promotes economic growth and creates jobs for both countries and the global economy.

"Today, as we witness a paradigm shift in the erstwhile global order, an opportunity has emerged for both countries to set new standards in bilateral ties that will be bound by their shared values," USIBC said.

Noting that US-India trade has tripled over the last decade, reaching a historic high of nearly USD 110 billion in 2015, USIBC said there is an opportunity for both the countries to also sync their regulatory and standards system to increase trade and investment.

In a separate statement, Jagdip Ahluwalia, executive director of Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston, said the United States and India share a very symbiotic relationship, and Modi's first face to face visit with Donald Trump is important to strengthen the relationship between the two.

"On behalf of Houston, the energy capital of the world and home of the world's largest Medical Center the IACCGH and the strong Indian American community hope to welcome Prime Minister Modi to Houston in the not too distant future," Ahluwalia said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The police arrested a fake doctor from Bagula Bazar in Hanskhali area of Nadia district after he failed to produce his medical degree.

The police raided the chamber of Bapi Nath last night and asked him to produce his MBBS degree. As he failed to produce his degree we arrested him, a police officer said.

During interrogation Nath admitted that he holds no MBBS degree, the sources said.

Nath was produced before a Ranaghat court today. The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Abhishek Manna remanded Nath to 14-days judicial custody.

The police had earlier this month arrested a fake MBBS doctor from Muragachha in Hanskhalia area of Nadia district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to Gujarat on June 29 and 30 to attend a host of programmes in different parts of the state, including a roadshow in Rajkot.

This will be Modi's fourth visit this year to the poll- bound state, where Assembly elections are slated to take place by the year-end.

On June 29, Modi would first visit Sabarmati Ashram here, which is celebrating 100 years of its establishment, state BJP president Jitubhai Vaghani said in a release.

During his visit to the Ashram, Modi will release a commemorative coin and a postal stamp on Shrimad Rajchandra, who is considered the spiritual guide of Mahatma Gandhi, it said.

He would then go to Rajkot, where he is scheduled to attend a programme of distributing aid to physically-disabled people.

In the evening, the prime minister would go to Aaji Dam, which will be filled with water from the Narmada river under the Sauni scheme, the release said, adding Modi would then lead a roadshow in the city.

The next day, Modi would visit Modasa town in Aravalli district in north Gujarat to inaugurate two water supply projects worth Rs 552 crore. He will also address a gathering at the venue, it said.

In the afternoon, he would arrive in Ahmedabad to address youths in Maninagar area, the release said.

He will also take part in the "International Textile Conference and Exhibition" at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.

The Minister of State for Home, Pradeepsinh Jadeja, along with senior police officials visited Modasa and Mahatma Mandir to take stock of preparations and security arrangements for the prime minister's visit, an official release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It's Eid morning. Shoria has been up for hours making the traditional Eid delicacy of vermicelli, sugar and milk, known as sevian in these parts but shai mai in her home back in Myanmar.

A few hours later, after prayers in the nearest Eidgah, her husband Sabeer and their three-year-old son Rafiul join her in their dark and dingy room, still filled with smoke from the wood stove. There are some fruits but no meat or spicy food for this family of Rohingya Muslims - out of cultural choice but also because they can't afford it.

Though Shoria tries to follow tradition, Eid in exile is just another day for this Rohingya Muslim family in south Delhi's Madanpur Khadar locality.

Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine state of Myanmar are the "most persecuted minority in the world", according to the United Nations. Alleged "ethnic cleansing" by the majority Buddhist community in the neighbouring country has forced over 11 lakh Rohingyas to take refuge in different parts of the world. Of these, about 14,000 Rohingya Muslims are in India.

In the national capital Delhi, Sabeer is one of nearly 900 Rohingya refugees in camps in Shaheen Bagh, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla and Vikaspuri. While some work as ragpickers and sweepers, others find small time jobs in NGOs and private offices.

They fast but do not feast.

"How can we celebrate Eid when our family members and relatives are living in such danger?" asks Sabeer.

Sabeer fled to India in 2004 and has not been home since. He met his wife Shoria, also a Rohingya, at a refugee camp here.

Every day during the month of Ramzan and every Eid, Sabeer offers prayers at the Eidgah nearby. But there is no sumptuous meal waiting him after the stringent daylong fast.

His neighbour Jaffar, another Rohingya who escaped violent clashes in 2011 in Rakhine, is in no mood to celebrate either. But it's not just yearning for his homeland.

He is traumatised by from home that his nephew was stabbed last week after being accused of using a mobile phone to provide information to "foreign agents".

Living in India is safer but uncertainty looms large. They fear they can be deported anytime.

"We meet and greet people. We distribute sevian to each other but at the end of the day we are refugees, and it is very disturbing," says Jaffer.

According to Ali Johar, a member of the Rohingya community working for the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) here, the Indian government allows Rohingyas to stay in the country, avail healthcare and educational services but they need get their refugee cards renewed every year.

"On humanitarian grounds, we continue to reside here but there is not enough assurance from the government," Ali says.

While Jaffar, Sabeer and others remember their homeland with a certain sense of hopelessness, their children keep the excitement alive, punctuating the gloom with their laughter. Wearing new clothes and getting Eidi, the gift given by elders, is enough to make them happy.

"Only our kids are happy because they don't know about the situation in Myanmar," says Sabeer, who works for an NGO for Rs 12,000 a month.

This year, however, he found it difficult to get new clothes for his son Rafiul.

"We don't have enough money and can't ask people for financial help here."



It is heartbreaking for many Rohingyas to realise that their children, most of whom are born in India, will never know 'Jago' teams, who sing 'wake-up' songs asking their fellow Muslims to wake up for suhoor, the early morning meal before the day of fasting begins.

"Our prayers are for returning home. We spend sleepless nights worrying about our family members. What is Eid away from home, without the presence of loved ones?" asks Shoria.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A week of public yoga events to mark the International Day of Yoga have ended at Tolstoy Farm, the commune established by Mahatma Gandhi during his stay in this South African city.

More than 30 events over the past week in all major cities of South Africa saw tens of thousands of people from all communities participate in yoga activities arranged by the Indian missions in the country in collaboration with community organisations and local yoga schools.

"It is a privilege for us to have the closing ceremony of the third annualInternational Day of Yoga at such a place where we are paying homage to Gandhiji at this iconic Tolstoy Farm," said Indian Consul General Dr K J Srinivasa.

Srinivasa explained to scores of mainly Black African children and adults as well as members of the local Gayathri Parivar organisation how the UN had accepted a proposal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that June 21 be declared the Internationa Day of Yoga.

"Yoga is a good balance of your mind, body and intellect. The universal values of yoga bring about peace and harmony as a unifier that is not exclusive to any religion or country," he added.

Veteran freedom activist Prema Naidoo recalled how his grandfather Thambi Naidoo, the righthand man to Gandhi, had lived on the farm and espoused the values of yoga which gave them the strength to fight the oppression of the time.

"I am confident that yoga and meditation were practices that those living on Tolstoy Farm were accustomed to," Naidoo said as he called on his countrymen to use yoga to help alleviate the social ills that were so dominant in South Africa today.

"Yoga allows us to rejuvenate ourselves and tackle the challenges that lay ahead of us. It is a practice that should be introduced in all schools," Naidoo suggested.

Before the participants were led through an hour of yoga exercises, Kirti Menon, a great- granddaughter of Gandhi, said Tolstoy Farm was a good place to do so.

"All those years ago in another century, the young Gandhi and his companions walked every day to the centre of Johanensburg, more than 20 kilometres away," Menon recalled.

"As you go through the physical and mental motions of yoga as well as the spiritual connection, irrespective of what religion you belong to, or even nor religion at all, one begins to feel the connection between the mind, body and soul," Menon said.

Hermann Kallenbach, a white farmer, was so impressed with the peaceful way of life at Phoenix that he offered Gandhi his own big farm near Johannesburg to the cummunity.

Tolstoy Farm, some 30 km from Johannesburg, became the headquarters of Gandhi's campaign of satyagraha (non- violence). This campaign was a reaction to the discrimination against Indians in Transvaal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
South Korea's dovish new President Moon Jae-In -- who backs engagement with the nuclear-armed North -- heads to Washington this week for talks with his hawkish US counterpart Donald Trump, as Pyongyang defies international sanctions to accelerate its missile programme.

Centre-left Moon suggested on the campaign trail that as president he would be willing to go to Pyongyang before Washington, but he is making the US his first foreign destination since he was sworn in last month after a landslide election win.

Washington is the South's security guarantor and has more than 28,000 troops in the country to defend it from its neighbour, which has been intensifying missile tests -- including five since Moon's inauguration -- as it seeks to develop nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that could reach the continental United States.

US Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has labelled North Korea as "the most urgent and dangerous threat" while Trump has made halting Pyongyang's weapons programme a top foreign policy priority.

There have been misgivings about the first tete-a-tete between Moon and Trump, who is pushing for tougher sanctions against Pyongyang to curb its nuclear ambitions and whose administration has said military action was a possibility.

That would put Seoul on the front line of any retaliation from the North.

But analysts say their first encounter is likely to be low on drama with the two getting a sense of each other, rather than displaying jarring differences.

Trump's policy of "maximum pressure and engagement" has a wide range from diplomacy to sanctions, allowing for an "overlap" with that of Moon, who has never denied the need for sanctions even while seeking dialogue, said John Delury, a professor at Yonsei University.

"So there doesn't have to be a train wreck over North Korea policy," he told AFP.

Also high on the agenda is likely to be a controversial US missile defence system that has been installed in South Korea to guard against missile threats from the North.

Though parts of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system are already in place, Moon suspended further deployment following a furious campaign of economic sanctions and diplomatic protests by Beijing against the US missile shield, dealing a blow to Washington's regional security policy.

Officially, the delay is to allow for a new, comprehensive environmental impact assessment, but analysts say the move is a strategic one by Moon to delay the tricky diplomatic situation he inherited.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India's largest steelmaker SAIL is keen to cut down its dependence on Australian firm BHP Billiton for coking coal import and is readying a Plan B with countries like South Africa and Canada on mind.

"SAIL is a buyer of around 12 million tonnes (mt). Out of this, 9-10 mt come from Australia (BHP Billiton). The supply by BHP is fluctuating. Sometimes it is not able to supply on time. As a result, SAIL is looking at other options," an official in the know said.

SAIL, he said, is exploring options of importing metallurgical coal from nations like South Africa and Canada, the official said.

"Recently, some of the companies from South Africa and Canada met a senior official in the steel ministry on the issue," the official said further.

An e-mail query sent to BHP Billiton went unanswered by the time of filing this report.

Other than Australia, SAIL sources coking coal from countries like New Zealand, Mozambique and the US. In 2017-18, the state-owned company is planning to import around 10-12 mt of coking coal, a vital ingredient in the steel-making process.

SAIL happens to be a major customer of CIL's metallurgical coal too.

In January, CIL arm Bharat Coking Coal had raised the price of coking coal by about 20 per cent. Another subsidiary Central Coalfields went for a similar hike this month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The family members of slain gangster Anandpal Singh today refused to take his body, demanding a CBI into his encounter killing on Saturday night.

The body has been kept at the mortuary of the Ratangarh (Churu) Hospital.

A large number of people gathered at Singh's hometown, Sanvrad in Didwana of Nagaur district, to console the family members and demanded a CBI inquiry into the encounter which took place at a village in Churu district.

"The family has not accepted the body so far. Their main demand is a CBI inquiry into the encounter," Nagaur Superintendent of Police Paris Anil Deshmukh told PTI.

He said that several Rajput leaders had also raised the demand for a CBI inquiry before the district administration.

Meanwhile, 25 people were taken into preventive custody tonight to control law and order in the area, he said.

Seventy-five people were arrested yesterday when they attacked a police party and injured the SHO of Jaswantgarh police station during a protest against the encounter.

Anandpal, who had managed to escape from custody of police while being taken back to high security prison in Ajmer from a court in Nagaur in September 2015, had taken a shelter in a house in Churu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Special prayers and feasts marked the Eid-ul-Fitr festival which was celebrated with fervour and gaiety across the country, including the troubled Kashmir where stone-pelters tried to spoil the atmospherics at a few places.

However, Muslims in Haryana's Khandwali village wore black bands on their arms as a protest against the lynching of a local youth recently in Ballabhgarh on suspicion of carrying beef.

Across the length and breadth of the country, Muslims thronged mosques, shrines and eidgahs since early morning to offer special prayers on Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramzan.

Along with the special prayers, feasts were held by the Muslims to celebrate the occasion in which members from other communities also participated.

Clad in new clothes, Muslims, particularly children, could be seen visiting relatives and friends as well as parks.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other political leaders extended their greetings, wishing that the festival ushers in peace and harmony in the country.

In Kashmir, which has been witnessing increased violence for some time, people celebrated the festival with immense fervour and devotion.

Muslims from all walks of life offered prayers at Eidgahs (prayer ground) and mosques and visited relatives and friends to greet them on the occasion.

Hazratbal shrine on the outskirts of Srinagar saw more than 50,000 faithfuls offering their prayers while the Eidgah in old city had the second largest gathering of 40,000 devotees.

Big gatherings were also reported from Sonawar and Soura shrines in the heart of the city, officials said, adding that similar gatherings were held at all districts headquarters andmajor towns of the Valley.

Barring a few incidents of stone-pelting after the prayers, the situationin the Valley remained peaceful.

Clashes between protestors and law enforcing agencies were reported from Sopore,Anantnag,Rajpora,Shopian towns and Safakadal area of the city.

There were no reports of anyone getting hurt in these clashes.

The authorities had placed top separatist leaders, including Syed AliGeelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under housearrest, fearing that their presence at large Eid gatherings could sparkviolence, the officials said.

JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik has been taken into preventive custody and lodged at Central Jail, Srinagar.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in a special video message for the people of Kashmir, expressed confidence that the festival would help bring peace and happiness to the Valley.

"I am fully confident that this festival of goodness and humanity will help in bringing peace, understanding, brotherhood and happiness in Kashmir Valley and pave the way for a new dawn there," he said.

In the national capital, Muslims visited mosques and eidgahs, including the historic Jama Masjid, Fathepuri Masjid and Hazrat Nizamuddin, to offer prayers.

The narrow lanes near the Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk were filled with the aroma of kebabs.

In Haryana's Khandwali village, whose resident Junaid (17) was killed on June 22, Muslims wore black armbands during the special morning prayers.

"We could not have celebrated Eid with the usual sense of joy considering how Junaid was killed. So we decided to mark our protest by wearing black bands around our arms," Shakeel, a resident of Khandawli in Ballabgarh near Delhi, said.

He claimed Muslims of neighbouring villages were also protesting by wearing black armbands during prayers.

In West Bengal, the celebrations were low-key in Darjeeling hill areas which have been witnessing protests and bandhs over the demand for separate Gokhaland state.

The Gorkha Jan Mukti (GJM), which has been spearheading the agitation, had given a 12-hour relaxation in bandh to facilitate Eid celebrations.

Muslims in other eastern and Northeastern states like Bihar, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram also celebrated the festival.

But for the exiled Rohingya Muslims in Delhi, it was just any other day.

There are nearly 900 Rohingya refugees in camps in Shaheen Bagh, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla and Vikaspuri. While some work as ragpickers and sweepers, others find small time jobs in NGOs and private offices. They fast but do not feast.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India's implementation of the "complex" Goods and Services Tax (GST) could be studied by US business schools, Prime Minister has said, as he invited top American companies to invest in the country which has initiated major reforms.

"The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools," Modi said yesterday while interacting with 20 top American CEOs at a roundtable here ahead of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump.

On GST, the Prime Minister said that this is becoming a reality after years of effort, ahead of the roll out of the landmark tax reform measure from July 1.

He added that its implementation is a "complex" task and went on to suggest that this could be the subject of future case-studies.

Implementation of the GST shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly, the prime minister said at the interaction with the group of CEOs that included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Modi told them that his government was working on principles such as Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.

The Prime Minister spoke of the recent reforms, and noted that the Union Government alone has initiated 7,000 reforms. He said this indicates India's quest for global benchmarks. He mentioned the Government's emphasis on efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.

Pichai told reporters after the meeting that American businesses were excited about investing in India.

Praising the steps being taken by the Indian government in the last three years, he said the US companies are looking forward to the roll out of the GST.

"Good," said Cook as he emerged out of the meeting.

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) president Mukesh Aghi said the CEOs praised the reforms being undertaken by the Prime Minister and underscore his efforts to make India a business-friendly destination.

Prime Minister Modi also said that if America becomes stronger, India will be a natural beneficiary. He also added that India believes that a strong America is good for the world.

He sought enhanced attention from the CEOs in areas such as women empowerment, renewable energy, start-ups and innovation. He suggested linking sanitary practices, products and technologies with the requirements of school going girls.

He reiterated that his primary interest is improving the quality of life in India.

Touted as the biggest taxation reform since Independence, GST will unify 16 different taxes including excise, service tax and VAT, and transform India into a single market for seamless movement of goods and services.

The powerful GST Council, comprising Centre and states, has recommended a four-tier tax structure -- 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. On top of the highest slab, a cess will be imposed on luxury and demerit goods to compensate the states for revenue loss in the first five years of GST implementation.

GST rates would depend upon whether the commodity is used by a rich person or a common man.

State and Union Territory GST laws were passed by all the states and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir, paving the way for smooth roll out of the tax from July 1.
A Tamil film comedian was allegedly assaulted and relieved of valuables, including a gold chain and mobile phone, by an autorickshaw driver and two of his accomplices in Salem, about 160 km from here, early today, police said.

The incident occurred when Kottachi, who was returning to Chennai after a film shoot here, reached Salem at around 1 a.M and took an autorickshaw to go to the omni bus stand, police said.

Two persons were already in the vehcile when the actor, who has also featured in Malaylam and Telugu films, got in. They took away his mobile phone, two-sovereign gold chain and cash and also assaulted him, police said.

Later, the actor was dropped off in Kuranguchavadi area after which the autorickshaw sped away, they said.

Stranded at the unknown place, Kottachi narrated the incident to passers-by and managed to inform fellow actor, Benjamin in Salem, who arrived at the spot and took him to Pallapatty police station.

However, his woes didn't end there as he was allegedly asked to go to another station on jurisdictional grounds.

After shuttling between the two stations, Kottachi managed to lodge a complaint at Suramangalam station around 1 p.M.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Textile traders in Telangana today called for a three-day bandh beginning tomorrow protesting against the 5 per cent tax on them under GST.

Ammanabolu Prakash, president of the Telangana State Federation of Textiles Association (TSFTA) said the new proposal to tax 5 per cent GST is against the initial decision of the GST Council.

Attributing the levy to lobbying by 10 large textile manufacturers, he said the Council imposed tax on textiles at the last moment which is unfortunate.

"We are opposing the government decision," Prakash told PTI.

This is part of the nationwide strike call given by the All-India Textile Traders Associations and the bandh will be observed by majority of the around 40,000 textile trades in the state, he added.

Noting that to comply with GST, a trader has to have a computer, he said in the textile business only 11 per cent of shops have computers.

------------------------------------------------------------ NeSL first to get ok to form information utility under IBC



Mumbai: National e-Governance Services (NeSL), an arm of NSDL, has got the approval to form an information utility under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code.

This is the first information utility-owned and promoted by LIC, Canara Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, CDSL, HDFC, Axis Bank, Union Bank and Nabard -- to be formed by a government entity under the bankruptcy law, NeSL said in a statement.

The information utilities would perform the function of databases of financial information, duly authenticated by borrowers/creditors, which is accessible in a universal format. Information utilities will be regulated by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India.

Once operational, the IUs will expedite decision- taking processes for IBC and assist the National Company Law Tribunal.

------------------------------------------------------------- ICICI Pru launches new fund



Mumbai: ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund today launched a value fund, which is a 3.5 year close-ended equity fund.

The series 15 NFO, which will open from June 27 to July 11 will invest in infrastructure, banks focused on corporates, technology, and pharma among others.

The fund aims at providing long-term capital appreciation by taking exposure to turnaround stocks/sectors which are likely to benefit from the larger improvement in the economy.

--------------------------------------------------- SME ACE fintech accelerator launched



Mumbai: ISME ACE, the country's largest fintech accelerator, was launched by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here today.

"Fintech is one industry that will change the face of the country. There was a time we used to think that fintech was for the affluent, and not inclusive. That's not right. Fintech ensures there is inclusion, and disruption," he said.

ISME ACE provides a host of benefits to fintech startups including a gross seed funding of USD 100k, access to financial services partner firms, mentorship, marketing and technology support.

The accelerator has been set up in partnership with KPMG, Indian Angel Network, AWS, IBM, Awfis and TiE among others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thousands of protesters are demanding that Belgium immediately shut down two nuclear reactors because of safety concerns.

German agency dpa reported that people from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands formed a human chain across the border triangle of the three countries today.

Protesters are concerned over the safety of the pressure vessels at the Tihange 2 and Doel 3 reactors in Belgium. Germany, which plans to switch off all of its nuclear reactors by 2022, is sensitive to concerns about nuclear plants outside of the country.

German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks urged Belgium last year to take the two reactors offline "until open safety questions are cleared up."



Berlin also has called on France to shut down its oldest plant, at Fessenheim on the German border.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least three people died and 30 were missing after a boat carrying some 150 tourists sank in a reservoir in northwestern Colombia, police said today.

Officials did not say what caused the four-deck Almirante to go down in the El Penol reservoir in the tourist town of Guatape, where Colombian and foreign tourists take leisure cruises.

"So far we have three people deceased" and "approximately 30 missing," police commander Jorge Hernando Nieto said on BluRadio.

The air force said a helicopter was on its way to help in rescue operations.

The reservoir is 68 kilometers from the city of Medellin and one of Antioquia department's main tourist draws.

Video circulating on social media shows the ship going down and dozens of other vessels approaching it to try to rescue people.

"The situation looks serious," said an official with the Antioquia government.

The official said rescued people were being sent to the local hospital in Guatape.

"It sank extremely quickly. It all happened in a few minutes," said a fire service captain involved in the rescue effort, Luis Bernardo Morales.

"What we have seen in the videos is that the boat was very close to the port... And we do not know whether it was a mechanical failure, an overloading or something to do with the currents that caused it to sink."



Guatape fills with tourists on long weekends like this one, since Monday is a holiday in Colombia.

The national fire service said it was despatching firefighters from seven towns to help.

Medellin's mayor Federico Gutierrez said he was sending a team led by a firefighting crew captain and five scuba divers.

"The area is a bit difficult to reach and various rescue and emergency teams have started joining in," he said on BluRadio.

President Juan Manuel Santos said on Twitter the air force and emergency services were deploying to deal with the emergency in Guatape.

"We are ready to provide the assistance required," he wrote.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Top stories from the southern region at 2100 hrs today.

MDS6 KL-KOCHI METRO-PROBE



Kochi: An internal probe by Kochi Metro Rail Limited has found 'violation' of the Metro Act by former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy and other Congress leaders during their "protest journey" against Chandy's non-invitation to the recent inauguration of metro services.

MDS8 KA-CROCODILE



Bengaluru: A bid to save his dogs that had strayed into a lake in neighbouring Ramanagar district has cost a city-based entrepreneur his arm as a crocodile ripped off his left forearm.

MDS9 KA-IFTAR-UDUPI TEMPLE



Bengaluru: In a gesture of communal amity, a group of Muslims broke their Ramzan fast and took part in a harmony feast in the complex of the ancient Udupi Sri Krishna temple for the first time in its history.

MDS10 KL-MBBS-FEES



Thiruvananthapuram: The fees for MBBS course at private self-financing medical colleges in Kerala is fixed at Rs 5.5 lakh for the 2017-18 academic year by a government-appointed committee.

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Sivakasi (TN): Fireworks manufacturing units in Tamil Nadu will begin an indefinite strike from June 30 in protest against levy of 28 per cent GST on fireworks.

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Hyderabad: Ahead of the roll-out of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu says there may be some initial "hiccups", but the new tax regime will help consumers and traders in the long-term.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A trader was critically injured after unidentified assailants shot at him in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district, police said today.

The incident happened around 11.25 pm at Dhanbad's Purana Bazar under the jurisdiction of Bank More police station yesterday, the police said.

The injured trader, Pappu Khan was taken to a hospital in Durgapur in the neighbouring state of West Bengal.

Pappu Khan alias Pappu Pachak along with his children had gone to Purana Bazar for shopping.

Two assailants approached his car, shot at him and fled the scene.

At least 12 to 15 shots were fired at Pappu, police sources said.

The City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Piyush Pandey, DSP Naval Sharma and the officer in-charge of Bank More police station, Akhileswar Chaubey reached the spot immediately after the incident.

The police will take appropriate action against the accused, Piyush Pandey, the CSP said.

"The suspected assailants are being traced," he said.

Involvement of Wasseypur gangs cannot be ruled out since the incident of firing appeared to be related to extortion, police sources said.

Wasseypur is a locality in Dhanbad known for mafia activities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump is eager to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin with full diplomatic bells and whistles when the two are in Germany for a multinational summit next month.

But the idea is exposing deep divisions within the administration on the best way to approach Moscow in the midst of an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the US elections.

Many administration officials believe the US needs to maintain its distance from Russia at such a sensitive time and interact only with great caution.

But Trump and some others within his administration have been pressing for a full bilateral meeting. He's calling for media access and all the typical protocol associated with such sessions, even as officials within the State Department and National Security Council urge more restraint, according to a current and a former administration official.

Some advisers have recommended that the president instead do either a quick, informal "pull-aside" on the sidelines of the summit, or that the US and Russian delegations hold "strategic stability talks," which typically don't involve the presidents. The officials spoke anonymously to discuss private policy discussions.

The contrasting views underscore differing views within the administration on overall Russia policy, and Trump's eagerness to develop a working relationship with Russia despite the ongoing investigations.

Asked about the AP report that Trump is eager for a full bilateral meeting, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Monday that "the protocol side of it is secondary."



The two leaders will be attending the same event in the same place at the same time, Peskov said, so "in any case there will be a chance to meet." Peskov added, however, that no progress in hammering out the details of the meeting has been made yet.

There are potential benefits to a meeting with Putin. A face-to-face meeting can humanize the two sides and often removes some of the intrigue involved in impersonal, telephone communication.

Trump the ultimate dealmaker has repeatedly suggested that he can replace the Obama-era damage in the US-Russia relationship with a partnership, particularly on issues like the ongoing Syria conflict.

There are big risks, though. Trump is known to veer off- script, creating the possibility for a high-stakes diplomatic blunder.

In a brief Oval Office meeting with top Russian diplomats last month, Trump revealed highly classified information about an Islamic State group threat to airlines that was relayed to him by Israel, according to a senior administration official.

The White House defended the disclosures as "wholly appropriate."



In addition, many observers warn that Putin is not to be trusted.

Oleg Kalugin, a former general with Russia's main security agency, known as the KGB, said Putin, a shrewd and experienced politician, has "other priorities" than discussing the accusations that Russia hacked the US election with Trump, such as easing sanctions, raising oil prices, as well as next year's presidential elections in Russia.

"Putin knows how to redirect a conversation in his favor," Kalugin said.

Nina Khrushcheva, a Russian affairs professor at the New School, said Trump is in an "impossible position."



"He can't be too nice to Putin because it's going to be interpreted in a way that suggests he has a special relationship with Russia," she said.

"He can't be too mean because Putin has long arms and KGB thinking. So Trump needs to have a good relationship with him but he also needs to fulfill his campaign promises of establishing better relations with Russia."



The White House said no final decision has been made about whether a meeting will take place. It did not respond to questions about the opposing views within the administration.

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Police have arrested two persons for allegedly robbing a Mumbai-based jeweller last month of gold worth over Rs 2 crore.

The duo hails from Rajasthan, police said.

One Manohar Singh Jodha, used to work as courier for a jeweller of Kalbadevi in Central Mumbai, DCP Zone XII, Vinay Kumar Rathod, said.

For about last three years, Jodha had been ferrying gold from Hyderabad for the jeweller. On May 30, he left with a gold consignment of 7.5 kg stuffed in his jacket from Hyderabad in a bus, the official said.

Upon arriving in Mumbai, Jodha told the jeweller that somebody had drugged him in the bus and fled with the jacket containing gold, Rathod said.

On June 3, a case in this regard was registered against unknown persons at Samtanagar police station.

However, police got suspicious about Jodha's involvement in the crime as he fled Mumbai after the case was registered, the DCP said.

"Upon investigation it was revealed that Jodha, along with one businessman from Rajasthan Narayan Singh Rathod had committed the crime. He had cooked-up a false story of robbery to mislead his employer and police," the official said.

Police then launched a manhunt and sent teams to Hyderabad and Rajasthan.

Fearing arrest, Jodha and co-accused Rathod kept changing their locations, he said.

The duo was, however, nabbed from suburban Borivali on June 23, another official said.

They have been sent to police custody till June 30.

Police have recovered 6.3 kg of stolen gold, worth Rs 1.9 crore from their possession, he said.

Further investigation into the matter was underway, said the official.

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US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his first meeting with President Donald Trump and discussed ways to further boost the Indo-US strategic ties.

Mattis met Modi amid reports that America will sell 22 Guardian drones to India to bolster its surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities.

The separate meetings between Mattis as well as Tillerson and Prime Minister Modi came ahead of the latter's maiden meeting with President Trump at the White House.

The meetings took place at the Hotel Willard Intercontinental, where the Indian prime minister is staying.

Senior Indian officials, including National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were present during the meetings.

"Preparing the ground for the meeting between the leaders. Mr. Rex W. Tillerson, Secretary of State calls on PM," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted on the meeting with the top US diplomat.

While the deal on the 22 Guardian worth between USD two to three billion has not been formally announced, it is considered to be a "game changer" for the US-India relations as it operationalises the status of "major defence partner".

The designation of India being a "major defence partner" was decided by the previous Obama Administration, and formally approved by the Congress.

According to General Atomics, the Predator Guardian UAV, a variant of the Predator B, can be used for wide-area, long- endurance maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

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Pakistan-based Hizb-ul- Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin was tonight declared as a global terrorist by the US, just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first meeting with President Donald Trump.

The State Department took the step against Salahuddin, who hails from Kashmir, as he had "vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir Valley into a graveyard for Indian forces".

The action against the Kashmiri militant group's 71- year-old head, whose original name is Mohammed Yusuf Shah, comes against the backdrop of upsurge in terror activities and recruitment in the Valley.

The US decision, which was welcomed by India, marks a serious blow to Pakistan where he has been taking refuge for the last 28 years, allegedly with the help of Pakistani authorities.

He is also the head of United Jihad Council, a conglomerate of several terror outfits like LeT and JeM which operate out of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The announcement came just a few hours before Modi's meeting with Trump.

As a consequence of this designation, US citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with 71- year-old Salahuddin and all of Salahuddin's property and interests in property subject to United States jurisdiction are blocked.

"Under Salahuddin's tenure as senior HM leader, HM has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people," the State Department said in a s.

Following the designation of Salahuddin as a global terrorist, the State Department in a notification said he has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.

India welcomed the US' move and said it vindicated its long-standing position that cross-border terrorism has been behind the disturbances created in Kashmir since last year.

"India welcomes this notification. It underlines also quite strongly that both India and the US face threat of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said here.

"This notification has just come, we will look at the notification and what its specific provisions are," he said.

"The outfits that Syed Salahuddin leads have perpetuated from the territory of Pakistan and PoK. Cross-border terrorism against India including in the state of J-K for several years. In that sense we would welcome this notification.

"It underlines also quiet strongly the fact the both India and the US face threat of terrorism and they are working together to counter this threat, not in one particular area, but globally because terrorism knows no boundaries," he said.

The US decision significantly came on a day Salahuddin issued a video message calling for a week-long agitation to mark the first death anniversary of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was killed by security forces in an encounter on July 8 last year.

Before taking to militancy, Salahuddin had contested assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in 1987. He had lost in the polls which were widely believed to be rigged.

Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organisations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system.

"Designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations," the State Department said.

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American exports to India support more than 260,000 jobs directly and indirectly in the US and the cumulative investment from the country into India reached USD 28.3 billion in 2015, a new report said today.

India's foreign direct investment (FDI) in the US totalled USD 9.2 billion as of 2015, up more than 500 per cent since 2006, said the report 'India Matters for America/ America Matters for India', which was released by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and East- West Centerat an event on the sidelines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here.

"Every US state exports to India, these exports support more than 260,000 jobs directly and indirectly," the report said.

Thirty-one states have more than 1,000 jobs dependent on exports to India, while an additional six states have 10,000 jobs or more," said the report, adding that the cumulative investment from the US into India reached USD 28.3 billion in 2015.

Noting that the US is one of the largest sources of investment into India, the report said since 2000, the US invested over USD 20 billion in India,more than sixper centof India's total inflow of investment.

According to the US Trade Representative, India's direct investment in the US is led by professional, scientific, and technical services; depository institutions and manufacturing.

Among the Asia Pacific countries, India is the 7th largest investor in the US, it said.

"The study clearly brings out the multi-faceted relationship between India and the US and which has only been strengthening with time. Be it trade, investments, tourism, student exchanges or engagement in strategic sectors like defence, India and the US have continued to contribute a lot to each other's economy," said Pankaj Patel, FICCI president.

Stating that the defence trade between the US and India increased from USD 1 billion to over USD 15 billion, it notes that India was named a 'Major Defence Partner' of the United States in 2016, a status which was created to facilitate technology sharing with India to a level at par with that of the United States' closest allies and partners.

The signing of defence agreements such as the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) furthered cooperation.

India conducts more bilateral exercises and personnel exchanges with the US than with any other country, 50 formal events annually, it said.

According to the report, the two-way trade between the US and India increased nearly 200per centsince 2005, with total value from USD 37 billion in 2005 to USD 109 billion in 2015.

US exports amounted to USD 21.5 billion in goods and USD 18.1 billion in services to India in 2015.

The US is the top destination for Indian goods, 14 per cent of India's export.

Also the US is India's 2nd largest trading partner while India is the 9th largest goods trading partner of the US.

Further US goods imports from India increased from USD 1 billion in 2000 to almost USD45 billion in 2015, a fourfold increase, it said.

Nearly 2,000 American multinational enterprises (MNEs) operate in India, more than from any other foreign country, and employ over a million people, according to US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimates, it said adding that sales by these companies amounted to USD 76.7 billion in 2014.

There are also over 200 Indian companies in the United States. These companies have invested over USD 15.6 billion across 37 states and employ over 100,000 people. Sales by Indian MNEs totalled USD 25 billion in 2014, the report said.

More than 1.2 million US tourists visited India in 2015, accounting for over 15 per cent of all international visitors, and contributing over USD 3 billion to the Indian economy, it said.

In the same year, over 1 million Indians traveled to the United States.

As the 7thlargest source of visitor spending in the United States, Indian tourists contributed USD 11.4 billion to the US economy.

Thirty-one US states saw an economic impact of USD 100 million or greater from spending by Indian visitors, the report noted.

The United States is also the top destination for Indian students studying abroad, with US schools hosting half of all Indian international students.

Almost 166,000 Indian students studied in the United States during the 2015/16 academic year, a 25per cent increase over the previous year, and contributed over USD 5 billion to the economy.

Indian students make up 16 per cent of all international students in the US.

A majority of Indian students study at the graduate level, and 35per centstudy in a math or computer science field.

American students in India numbered over 4,000 during the 2014/15 academic year.

India is the 4th most popular destination for US students studying abroad in the Asia Pacific, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Influential US lawmakers today welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US and reiterated their commitment to strengthening the India-US ties.

"I welcome Indian PM Modi to the US. Strong US-India ties are in our long-term interest, but religious freedom must also remain a priority," Senator Marco Rubio tweeted.

The Republican Senator from Florida is a strong supporter of relationship between the two countries.

"Glad to see Prime Minister #Modi visiting Washington to maintain strong ties between the US & #India," Congressman Frank Pallone, a former chairman of Congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans, said.

"I welcome India's PM @narendramodi back to the US. I hope our friendship continues to grow," said Congressman Eliot Engel in a tweet.

"I welcome Indian PM @NarendraModi to the United States and reaffirm the unbreakable bonds between our two nations," Senator Kamala Harris said in a tweet earlier.

"Welcome back to DC, @narendramodi! Excited by opportunities for US & India to work together to achieve common goals. #ModiInUS," said Congressman Steny Hoyer, the Democratic Whip in the US House of Representatives.

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A 40-year-old woman was today arrested from Gurugram in Haryana by the city police for allegedly extorting money from a lawyer.

The accused, Anita Chaudhary (40), had got in touch with Sandeep Gupta, a lawyer from Kota, through a social networking website, the police said.

Gupta, in his complaint to the police, stated that the accused had expressed interest in investing in immovable assets.

Last week, she came to Jaipur and stayed overnight at a hotel with him, the complainant added.

The next morning, the accused, allegedly posing as a Crime Branch officer, demanded Rs 5.5 lakh from Gupta.

She got Gupta to sign a stamp paper to pay Rs 5 lakh to her and to deposit Rs 10,000 in her account through internet banking, said Brijbhushan Agarwal, SHO, Adarsh Nagar.

"Acting on the information, we arrested the accused from Gurugram and secured her police remand from the court. A case has been registered and she is being interrogated regarding her past involvement in similar cases," he added.

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A katib (calligrapher) by profession, Mohammad Galib sits calmly in his quaint shop in old Delhi, amidst piles of books on Urdu .

Galib, 55, who is struggling to keep the traditional art form alive, which was once the pride of his community, was photographed by Mumbai-based artist Sagar Shiriskar for an art residency.

Titled "Peers Emerging Artists 2017", the exhibition at the Khoj Studios, that came to a close yesterday, featured art works by five emerging artists from across India.

Being the last member of Delhi's brigade that is shrinking in numbers, Galib made for an intriguing subject for Shiriskar, who clicked the scribe at work in over fourteen frames.

"Till date, he writes certificates in beautiful and what attracted me was that he is the only remaining person doing this work.

"With calligraphy being computerised, the 'katibs' of old Delhi have been shrinking in number with time," the photographer told PTI.

The four-week residency also resulted in several thought provoking sculptures and models by other participating artists who showcased different aspects of urban life in their works.

Taking cue from his home town of Ponda in Goa, where he witnessed safety drills near busy temples, Sahil Naik, in his works, explored the urban neighbourhood here, as sites of trauma.

The city's Khirkee extension proved to be a perfect muse for the 25-year-old artist, who projected the vulnerability of the space to "man-made catastrophes" in a miniature model of Khirkee.

"When I came to Khoj, I saw that the congested, dense area of Khirkee is vulnerable. I investigated urban neighbourhoods as sites of trauma, largely bringing to conversation the nature of housing structures, their proximity and thereby their vulnerability to man-made catastrophes," Naik said.

Aimed at providing mentorship to young artists, the programme in its 14th edition, is attempting to create a platform for young artists to dialogue, experiment and exchange.

If Tanya Kundu, 28, captured the changing character of the Khirkee area in her photographs and videos, 27-year-old Vrishali Purandare used clay sourced from the potter's colony here to make a comment on land mining.

"I am documenting the glimpses of the locale and their lives to understand why this place is distinct," Kundu said.

Curated by senior artist Mario D'Souza, the jury that selected the participants comprised of Arunkumar HG, Gigi Scaria, Rakhi Peswani and Rohini Devasher.

"Peers has been one of Khoj's pioneering programmes and continues to create a network of young artists from various art, architecture, media and design disciplines and put them in spaces of interaction with the larger creative community," D'Souza said.

Ashish Dhola, 23, the youngest of the lot, created a sensor-controlled kinetic mic that turned in the direction of the viewer on its own.

"The idea is that whenever one person begins to start a political discussion, whether in metro, bus, train or even roadside, others join in too, even if they are strangers. That is the power of politics," he says.
By Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel's specialised chemicals division would expand quickly and profitably if it gets an injection of capital after being sold or listed, its chief executive Thierry Vanlancker told .

As part of its successful defence against a takeover by U.S. rival PPG Industries, Akzo said it would create value for shareholders by splitting off its speciality chemicals business by April next year.

The Dutch company, best known for its paint brands such as Dulux, also forecast increases in earnings and sales for chemicals that left some analysts scratching their heads as to how a standalone company would achieve them.

"If we came across as pretty self confident it's because we are," Vanlancker said in his office in Amsterdam, arguing that major improvements could come about through independence.

The division produces an array of chemicals used in plastic packaging, tissue paper, cleaning materials, pharmaceuticals, food products, salts and adhesives, among others, and reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 953 million euros ($1.1 billion) last year.

Vanlancker said the parent company was constrained in how much capital it could allocate to chemicals, which accounts for about a third of Akzo's sales and profits, but an injection of funds would produce significant returns.

"As a paints and coatings company, as Akzo Nobel is seen, there's a certain limit to how much you can shift to one third of the company, because you also need capital allocation for the paints and coatings business," Vanlancker said.

The chemicals division reckons it can boost EBITDA by 200 million euros a year by 2020 by spending 100 million annually from 2018-2022 to boost capacity at existing plants running at near full tilt. That's in addition to a target to boost EBITDA by 250 million euros through a mix of growth and cost cutting.

Major competitors include the likes of Solvay, Clariant, Huntsman, BASF, Croda, Evonik, Kemira and others, depending on the product category.

"HIGH PAYBACK"

Vanlancker said the company had a clear view of the needs of its customers, who often depend exclusively on Akzo for products that are hard to manufacture, and was confident that customers would buy more if it could supply more.

"Why is the pay-back that high? ... Because it goes into the products that are getting close to capacity utilisation," he said. "We also see that the businesses have a unique competitive position where you see it's almost curtailing demand."

Among the predictions that have raised eyebrows are forecasts for 4 percent annual revenue growth in 2017-2020, as revenue fell 4 percent in 2016. That forecast outstrips IMF economic growth forecasts of 2 percent for Europe, where the chemicals division does more than 40 percent of its business.

The division has also said it will increase its EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin to 16 percent in 2020 from 13 percent in 2016, by saving money in procurement and on capital spending through partnerships with chemicals companies.

Overall, it expects EBITDA to rise 47 percent, or by 450 million euros, from 953 million now, by 2022.

Vanlancker said Akzo's confidence about annual revenue growth - 3 percent of which would come from volume increases - was down to its close relationship with customers, many of which are physically attached to Akzo plants by pipeline.

"They really share full-book what their expansion plans are," he said. "It's not so much blue sky, 'we think we're going to do this', it's very much based on direct input from customers."

Analysts say the chemicals business is worth eight to 12 times 2016 EBITDA, giving it a price tag of roughly 10 billion euros. They say it would be valued on the low side if Akzo Nobel opted for an initial public offering but on the high side if the business was sold outright, depending on the terms.

Akzo has said it will consider both strategic and private equity buyers.

($1 = 0.8945 euros)

(Editing by David Clarke)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Apple CEO on Sunday highlighted the economic impact the company is having on India in a meeting with its prime minister as the iPhone maker seeks deeper access to the world's third-largest smartphone market behind the United States (US) and China.

Cook met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a business summit in Washington at a time when Apple Inc is targeting the nascent Indian market as a revenue source after its sales in China slipped.

Apple has asked Indian government officials for a range of tax and policy changes to help build out its iPhone assembly work in the country. It is seeking permission to open its own retail stores in India where it currently sells iPhones through resellers.

In his meeting with Modi, Cook disclosed that Apple expected its Indian operations to be run completely from renewable energy within the next six months, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

Cook reiterated that Apple had generated 740,000 jobs in India through its so-called "app economy" and Indian developers had created nearly 100,000 apps for the App Store, the person said.

Modi talked with Cook and the other US corporate leaders ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday.

Apple, working with contract manufacturer Winstron, began assembling the iPhone SE in Bengaluru last month. Indian authorities have offered Apple tax concessions for the work with the requirement that more local components be used over time.

The company is looking to India after sales in the greater China region, once a major factor in Apple's rise, fell 14% year over year to $10.7 billion in the most recent quarter.

Apple has not disclosed how much revenue it generates in India but said that sales grew by "strong double digits" there in the most recent quarter.

"We have a tonne of energy going into the country on a number of fronts," Cook told analysts about Apple's efforts in India during the company's most recent earnings call. "We believe, particularly now that the 4G infrastructure is going in the country and it's continuing to be expanded, there is a huge opportunity for Apple there."
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will steadily push forward with destocking in the property market, the official Xinhua Agency said on Monday, citing a report made by Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli to the country's political advisory body.

China will also push ahead with a debt-to-equity swap programme, and gradually lower the corporate leverage ratio, Xinhua said.

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

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US President and Indian Prime Minister met for the first time on Monday, seeking to develop a warm relationship despite differences over trade, immigration and the Paris climate accord.

The two leaders went into their relatively low-key summit looking to bolster the US-India strategic partnership but an equally important goal was simply to break the ice and get to know each other.

As they met, a Pentagon agency said the US State Department has approved the possible sale to India of a Boeing C-17 transport aircraft with an estimated cost of $366 million.

Trump, in Oval Office remarks as Modi sat beside him, said Modi "has been such a great prime minister" and noted that he had been reading about India's economic success under his leadership.

"Economically, India is doing very well," he said.

Modi, on his fifth visit to the United States since becoming prime minister in May 2014, thanked Trump for a warm welcome.

Later, as he and Modi joined for talks with senior officials, Trump said the two leaders were making great progress.

"We agreed on most things and I would say by the end of the day well agree on everything," Trump said.

Trump administration officials have pointed to both leaders' impact on social media  each has more than 30 million Twitter followers  as proof that they are cut from the same cloth, and predicted the two would get along well.

The president's name is on a Trump Tower property in Mumbai and he spoke warmly of India during his presidential campaign last year.

"The White House is very interested in making this a special visit," said one senior official. "Were really seeking to roll out the red carpet."

Modi will try to strengthen ties that have appeared to loosen. Indian officials, noting both men's tendency to speak their mind, were anxious to see how they got along.

First White House dinner

They will have one-on-one talks followed by statements to the media without taking questions. They will then have a working dinner, the first time Trump has played host to a foreign dignitary at a White House dinner.

"If the chemistry is good, everything else gets sorted," said an Indian official. "The only way is up. How much up we go depends on the leaders. If they click, we go up higher."

Five US senators signed a letter to Trump expressing concern about violations of religious liberty in India, including discrimination against religious-based aid groups, and asking him to make the issue a top priority during Modi's visit.

The letter was signed by Republicans John Kennedy, Roy Blunt, Mike Crapo and James Lankford, and Democrat Amy Klobuchar.

Sikh organisations planned a protest in front of the White House on Monday.

While progress is expected in defence trade and cooperation, there are frictions elsewhere between the United States and India.

Trump, who campaigned on an "America First" platform, has been troubled by the growing US trade deficit with India. He has called for reform of the H-1B visa system, which has benefited Indian tech firms.

He set the United States on a path to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and accused India of negotiating unscrupulously for the accord in order to walk away with billions of dollars in aid.

Meanwhile, Indian officials reject suggestions that Modi's "Make in India" platform is protectionist and complain about the U.S. regulatory process for generic pharmaceuticals and rules on fruit exports to the United States.

They stress the importance of the huge Indian market to US companies and major growth in areas such as aviation, which offer significant opportunities for US manufacturers.
GST has brought a fresh wave of sales, with most companies offering discounts as they try to finish off their stocks before the roll out of the new tax system on July 1. The end of season sales usually begin in the end of June, but this year brick-and-mortar retailers started offering discounts from the beginning of June. There are Buy 2 Get 2, Flat 40-50% off and many other discounts on top clothing, footwear companies including top brands such as Nike, Adidas, Levi's. While these companies have not revealed when these discounts will end, the strategy could change after July 1 when the GST is rolled out.

Here are the offers on top brands in Delhi-NCR:

Pantaloons: In Delhi-NCR, Pantaloons, which sells products from multiple brands, is offering 50% off when buyers shop worth Rs 10,0000. There are also discounts starting from 20% on different brands. The discount stretches to 50% on some brands.

Nike: Sporting brand Nike is offering up to 50 % discount on some products. Some products are being sold at the discount of 25% and 35%. The sales started early in Nike with the company offering discount from June 1.

Levi's: Jeans brand Levi's is offering flat 40% discounts on most of the items with some selected items on 50 % off. An earlier scheme that ran from June 7 to June 23 had a Buy 2 Get 2 offer.

Adidas: Adidas Originals is offering 50% flat discount on purchase of 3 or more items. Buyers can choose both shoes and clothes to avail the offer. On single items, the company is offering up to 40 percent off depending on the products. The sales at Adidas started in the first week of June.

Puma: Sportswear company Puma is offering a discount of up to 40 % on select merchandise. Sales started on 1 June.

Arrow: Clothing brand Arrow, like some of the other brands, also has an ongoing Buy 2 Get 2 Offer in Delhi-NCR. There's a discount of 20 % on single items. Those who shop 5 or more items can avail flat 40 % off on the total bill. There's a 30 % discount on suits and blazers.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi returning to India from his Washington visit and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley already back from his Russia trip, the Union Cabinet is most likely to discuss allowances for central government employees in its next meeting.



The changes in allowance structure under Seventh Central Pay Commission have been a matter of suspense and annoyance. The reforms have been awaiting Cabinet approval since they were handed over to Jaitley by Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) on June 1.



Central government employees have been waiting even longer. The modified allowance structure has been awaiting approval almost for a year now since the pay and pension provisions awarded by the 7th Pay Commission were approved by the Cabinet. The extensive changes and dissatisfaction expressed over them by the central government employees urged Modi government to take a second opinion in the matter. The Pay Commission had recommended that out of a total 196 allowances, 52 be discontinued entirely whereas 36 other allowances should be subsumed under other allowances.



Reports also suggest that House Rent Allowance (HRA), which constitutes a substantial part of the central government employees' salaries, could be approved at 27 per cent of the basic pay. The pay panel called for cutting down HRA which constituted the bulk of an employee's paycheck. The Pay Commission suggested HRA to be brought down to 24 per cent, 16 per cent and 8 per cent of the basic pay, to be paid according to the city the employee is positioned in.



The preceding Pay Commission had pegged the same at 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent. The Cabinet formed the Committee on Allowances under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa in June last year after the central government employees expressed their dissatisfaction against them. The motive of this Committee was to look into the extensive changes suggested by the 7th Pay Commission.



The Lavasa Committee handed over its review report to Jaitley in April after consulting representations from various government departments and agencies. After approved by the Department of Expenditure, this report was forwarded to E-CoS for their consideration and consolidation.



The Empowered Committee submitted the report once again to the Finance Minister on June 1. Reports state that the E-CoS has capped HRA rates between 25 per cent and 27 per cent. The Cabinet may, however, approve rates higher than that to compensate for the delay in paying allowances as per new rates according to the 7th Pay Commission.



The final move now for Cabinet to approve the recommendations about the allowance structure has been awaited for two weeks now.

Also watch:




Taxpayers who missed the chance to register for GST have another chance to come aboard after Goods and Services Network (GSTN) opened registration from yesterday morning. Tax payers and tax practitioners have next three months to register under GST.



GST Network re-opened registration on June 25 for existing taxpayers registered under central excise, service tax and value added tax (VAT), as well new tax payers who recently made it to the tax bracket. Tax practitioners, Tax Deductors at Source (TDS) and e-commerce operators can also enrol under the ongoing registration run.



Here's a look at the procedure involved and documents required to register under GST.



ALSO READ: GST effect: Be ready for confusion, disputes at restaurants from July 1

Documents Required



Getting the paperwork arranged beforehand will make the process a lot easier. Traders and tax practitioners will need their PAN cards, documents related to their trade and bank details to enrol on the GST network for filing tax returns once the new tax regime comes into effect.Here's what you will need:



Permanent Account Number (PAN) card is essential for being a part of the upcoming tax regime. Traders applying for GST registration will have to furnish PAN card of their company for registering.



Tax payers will have to submit a proof of constitution, like partnership deed or registration certificate of the business,

Memorandum of Association (MoA)/ Article of Association (AoA) or certificate of incorporation, along with details and proof of place of business like rent agreement or electricity bill.

A cancelled cheque of the tax payer's bank account has also to be submitted with their names, MICR code, IFSC code, and bank branch details.



Authorised signatories of the company will also have to put in their details. Partners, in case of a partnership, and directors, if it is a company, will have to submit their identity and address proofs.



Tax practitioners should have their PAN, Aadhar number handy. They should also have their mobile phone and e-mail account within reach as they will be used to receive several One Time Passwords (OTPs) during the enrolment process.



The registration form will also require scans of tax practitioner's photograph, his or her degree certificates, STP/ITP registration proof and ICPA membership certificate. These scans need to be in JPEG or PDF format and under 100 KB in size.



ALSO READ: Last week of pre-GST sales: Heavy discounts on TVs, DSLR cameras, heavy appliances, laptops and more

Enrolling under GST Network is a two-step process which begins with the new registration. This will be carried out at the GST website www.gst.gov.in for both tax payers and tax practitioners.



Traders will have to go to the website and click on the Login button. Here they will find a First Time Login option, clicking on which will take to the sign up page. Now, existing tax payers will have to key in their Provisional IDs provided by competent tax authority.



On the other hand, new taxpayers will have to enter their GST Identification Number (GSTIN). The next field is for the temporary password provided with the Provisional ID or the GSTIN.



Applicants will have to pick a username and password in the next page for logging in to the GST portal in the future. After logging in, the tax payer will have to fill in the in the enrolment application and provide the business details asked for. After this the trader will have to verify available and auto-populated from the VAT system. This will have to be signed digitally, and Aadhar is mandatory for this.



ALSO READ: GST effect: Nike, Adidas, Levi's offer discounts as sales season comes early

For tax practitioners, they will have to again to the GST webpage (www.gst.gov.in), where they can apply for new registration. Here they will have to GST Practitioner, followed by state, district, legal name of business, PAN, e-mail address, and mobile number. Click on Proceed when done.



Two different OTPs will be sent to the entered mobile number and e-mail address and will have to be entered on the next page. This generates the new Temporary Reference Number (TRN) which will be used to complete in the second part of the registration.



Going back to the registration page, now applicants will have to select the TRN option. On entering the TRN, an OTP will be sent to the registered mobile numbers and e-mail address. Entering the OTP allows the applicant access to saved application which can now be opened and edited. This has to be done within 15 days of generating the TRN.



The saved application is divided into four sections - General details, Applicant Details, Professional Details and Verification. A pop-up will warn that all the information is subject to verification and scrutiny. Accepting it will complete the process.

Also watch:




There's been huge anticipation for the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump ever since Trump's surprise win in the presidential elections. The two leaders will finally meet on Monday to discuss " strategic issues" related to security and economy. Modi, on Sunday, met CEOs of top US companies, including Time Cook of Apple and Sunder Pichai of Google. Trump has set a positive tone for the upcoming meeting by calling Modi a "true friend" in a tweet. The meeting, however, comes soon after Trump openly blamed India and China before pulling out of the Paris climate pact. But, as the two leaders meet for the first time, there are many other issues that are likely to be discussed, including progress on civilian nuclear deal between the two countries.

Look forward to welcoming India's PM Modi to @WhiteHouse on Monday. Important strategic issues to discuss with a true friend! - President Trump (@POTUS) June 24, 2017

The Indo-US civil nuclear deal is expected to figure during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump today, but a pact between the NPCIL and Westinghouse to build six power reactors in Andhra Pradesh is unlikely to be signed. A host of strategic issues are expected to be discussed during the parleys between the leaders of the world's two largest democracies, including the progress on the 2008 civil nuclear deal, according to official sources here.

They said a financial turmoil in Westinghouse and absence of a functional reference atomic plant were the main impediments behind the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited's (NPCIL) unwillingness to sign the agreement with the American nuclear giant. According to a joint statement by Modi and the then US president Barack Obama in 2015, both the sides had resolved to work towards "finalising the contractual agreement by June 2017".

However, a lot of water has flown under the bridge since then. Westinghouse, which was acquired by Japanese conglomerate Toshiba in 2007, filed for bankruptcy in March. Apprehending uncertainty, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the NPCIL are unwilling to go ahead with any agreement with the beleaguered company till it comes out of the financial turmoil.

"It is unlikely that we will sign an agreement with Westinghouse when the prime minister visits the US. However, we are making good use of time to hold discussions on techno- commercial aspects," a senior government official said.

The Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement was signed in 2008, under which Westinghouse and GE Hitachi were to build six power reactors each in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Initially, Westinghouse was allocated the Mithi Virdi site in Gujarat, but was later given the Kovvada site in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. The company was to build six AP-1000 atomic reactors with a capacity of 1,208 MW each at Kovvada.

With a total capacity of 7,248 MW, the government had a plan to make it one of the largest nuclear parks in south Asia. The official said any foreign company need to demonstrate a functional nuclear plant using the same technology. This is a pre-requisite to obtain permission from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the nuclear watchdog in the country.

Westinghouse's AP-1000 technology plants are at various stages of construction in different countries and are yet to start commercial operations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met CEOs of top US companies on Sunday during his ongoing visit to the US. Prime Minister Modi urged the CEOs to invest in India and emphasised that his government has taken many reform measures for ease of doing business. Among the top CEOs present at the event were Apple chief Tim Cook and Google's Sunder Pichai. John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon were also part of the round table interaction.

Modi said that his country had attracted the largest amount of foreign direct investment after several policies were implemented to make the atmosphere business-friendly. More than 7,000 reforms were made for "ease of (doing) business and minimum government, maximum governance," Modi said.

Meanwhile, the CEOs reportedly praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effort for taking India's economy towards a digital path through demonetisation. Indian officials present at the meeting said the CEOs expressed their interest to be partners in skill development and education initiatives in India. They also highlighted the social initiatives their companies were involved in India on issues such as women empowerment, digital technology, education and food processing. The CEOs also expressed support for 'Make in India', 'Digital India', 'Start Up India' and other flagship initiatives of the government.

Google CEO Sunder Pichai also praised the steps PM Modi had taken during his three-years in power and that his company was excited at the prospect of investing in India. He also said that the the US companies were looking forward to the historic reform in Indian tax system with the roll out of the GST.

In his speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a special reference to the implementation of GST.Modi had said that the GST implementation was a complex task but India was able to pull it through. He further said that the implementation of GST in India could be "a subject of studies in US business schools."

"This shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly," he said.

Among other CEOs present at the meeting were Shantanu Narayen from Adobe, Ajay Banga from Mastercard, David Farr from Emerson, Doug McMillon from Walmart, and Punit Renjen from Deloitte Global, Jim Umpleby from Caterpillar, Alex Gorsky from Johnson and Johnson, Jamie Dimon from J P Morgan Chase, and Marillyn Hewson from Lockheed Martin. USIBC president Aghi was also present.

Many US companies have investment plans in India. Top companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple see India as a market with huge potential. Sunder Pichai of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Time Cook of Apple have visited India in recent years to strategise investment options.

(With inputs from PTI)


Chartered Accountancy students in the country are in for a big surprise as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is all set to introduce a revised syllabus from July 1 this year.







PM Narendra Modi will launch the revised syllabus for CA students on July 1 this year, said former president of ICAI G Ramaswamy. The number of students pursuing CA will increase in the next few months due to tax reforms, Ramaswamy said, according to an Indian Express report.







There are more than two lakh CAs in India and at least one lakh more professionals are in demand, said Ramaswamy in Coimbatore. The new syllabus will be reviewed regularly and all levels of the course will witness changes.







The course will be divided into phases for easier comprehension of students, ICAI council member Supriya Kumar said.







The new scheme is in accordance with International Education Standards of the International Federation of Accountants. Around 1300 students participated in a two-day conference held in Coimbatore from Saturday.
Do not expect any compensation for theft or burglary of valuables in safe deposit boxes of public sector banks as the locker hiring agreement absolves them of all liability. This bitter truth was disclosed in an RTI response by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and 19 public sector banks.

Stung by the revelation, the lawyer who had sought information under the transparency law has now moved the Competition Commission of India (CCI) alleging cartelisation and anti-competitive practices by the banks in respect of the locker service.

He has informed the CCI that the RTI response from the RBI has said it has not issued any specific direction in this regard or prescribed any parameters to assess the loss suffered by a customer.

Even under the RTI response, all public sectors banks have washed their hands of any responsibility. According to the information availed by the lawyer, the unanimous reason given by the 19 banks, including Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank, UCO and Canara, among others, is that the relationship they have with customers with regard to lockers is that of lessee (landlord) and lessor (tenant).

The banks have contended that in such a relationship, the lessor is responsible for his or her valuables kept in the locker which is owned by the bank. Some banks, in their locker hiring agreements, have made it clear that any item stored in the locker is at the customer's own risk and he or she may, in their own interest, insure the valuables.

The common feature of all locker hiring agreements states : As per safe deposit memorandum of hiring locker, the bank will not be responsible for any loss or damage of the contents kept in the safe deposit vault as a result of any act of war or civil disorder or theft or burglary and the contents will be kept by the hirer at his or her sole risk and responsibility.

While the bank will exercise all such normal precautions, it does not accept any liability or responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever sustained to items deposited with it. Accordingly, hirers are advised in their own interest to insure any item of value deposited in a safe deposit locker in the bank, they have said.

Aggrieved by the responses, the lawyer --Kush Kalra -- raised questions before the CCI -- why not just keep the valuables at home after insuring them, instead of paying rent to the bank for a locker when it is not going to take any responsibility for the contents.

He alleged that all these banks, also including State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank, Allahabad Bank and others, have formed a cartel to indulge in such anti-competitive practices.

He further alleged that the bank by forming an association or cartel are trying to limit the improvement of services which is directly affecting the competition in the market and interests of the consumer. The lawyer has sought a probe under the Competition Act into the allegation of cartelisation by the banks in respect of the locker service.


British lender Royal Bank of Scotland said today that it is cutting 443 UK jobs dealing with business loans, and plans to shift many of the roles to India.

The UKs largest government-owned bank said it was moving the jobs, which help handle loans for small businesses, as part of an ongoing cost-cutting drive.

"As we become a simpler, smaller bank, we are making some changes to the way we serve our customers. Unfortunately, these changes will result in the net reduction of 443 roles in the UK," a spokesperson for the bank said.

The bank said it would support staff affected by the "disappointing news", including by moving them into new roles where possible.

Workers union Unite said British workers and taxpayers would lose out from the move.

"By shipping these jobs to India, RBS will be getting that work done more cheaply at the cost of jobs and livelihoods here in the UK," the spokesperson said.

RBS is 73 per cent owned by the UK government after a 45- billion-pound bailout in 2008.

Last month also, the bank had announced some job cuts and plans to move some of them to India.
Nokia launched the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 in India and made Nokia 3 available in offline stores earlier this month. According to the company's schedule, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 were supposed to hit the Indian market in the first week of July but owing to the mega tax reform, GST, the phone's launch might get delayed.

Though HMD Global is ready with the supply, the stores are hesitant to stock up the goods considering the initial fluctuations under GST. According to a report by India Today Tech, there will be a delay as much as a few weeks after GST is launched in the country.

Introduction of the new tax structure will affect the retailers directly, leading to extra caution at their end. According to the report, the shopkeepers want to keep a clear slate (no stocks in this case) as a measure of precaution. However, HMD Global has assured that they have considered GST while pricing the devices and will stick to the current pricing despite the new taxes.

"The Nokia 6 and the Nokia 5 prices already take into account the GST tax rates. The GST rollout will not affect the prices of the Nokia phone that have been announced so far," said a senior Nokia executive. The Nokia 6 is priced at Rs 14,999 while the Nokia 5 will be sold with a price tag of Rs 12,899.

Since the delay is more on the retailer end, it's hard pin-point a specific date when the devices will be launched. However, once the tax structure is well received and understood by the retailers, the devices will be made available to the consumer. The company is all ready with the infrastructure in place and is solely waiting for retailers to start taking delivering.

In a bid to clear stocks many offline and even online retailer are launching pre-GST sales during the last week of this month. The new tax structure will be implemented on July 1 and is expected to take around a month to settle with entire market flow.
Hon. Wirba Screen Capture

The SDF MP for Jakiri Special constituency in Bui division, in the North West region says he will continue to fight for his people even if it will undermine party discipline.

He made the statement Sunday June 25, 2017 in a program called The Inside Equinoxe Television. The firebrand MP who came to the limelight last November session of Parliament during the Anglophone crisis sais, If you see a man ready to die for his people, then he is not afraid of anything.

He said even though he has respect for party leaders and his comrades, his priority now is to defend those who sent him to Parliament which is the people of Jakiri.

Hon Wirba Joseph said some of his colleagues are saying he has carried the case of former West Cameroon on his head, but he challenged them that it is the same way he carried the case of SDF some 27 years ago which they are now feeding on.

The vibrant MP said he was not ready for any position in the SDF contrary to what many say he might take over from Ni John Fru Ndi.
| BY Ricki Green |

Ogilvy Melbourne has been appointed the full service local agency for Cadbury ANZ and will take on local Cadbury and Cadbury Dairy Milk campaign responsibilities in Australia and New Zealand.

The brands include Favourites, Roses, Coco, Old Gold, Cherry Ripe, Picnic, Twirl, Crunchie, Boost and Moro.

Over the coming weeks, the businesses will work through the transition from existing Australia and New Zealand partner, Saatchi and Saatchi.

Ogilvy remains Cadburys partner agency in Asia, Middle East, Africa and Canada. This now consolidates partners working on the Cadbury brand in the region and globally.

Ben Wicks, global brand director, said the business was looking forward to evolving the creative direction of the brand and creating some truly exceptional work.

Says Wicks: Cadbury is one of our most iconic brands and were excited to partner with VCCP and Ogilvy to write the next chapter in the brands famous advertising history.

For the past five years Saatchi & Saatchi has been a valued partner and delivered many successful campaigns including Cadbury Dairy Milk Joyville and Dominos, Easter Dawn Bunny, Cadbury Coco Where will you go? and more recently Cadbury Favourites Everyone gets their favourites.

We wish them all the very best for the future and thank them for all the great creative work we have delivered together.
| BY Ricki Green |

Following the launch of Coca-Cola No Sugar earlier this month, Coca-Cola South Pacific via Ogilvy Sydney, is continuing to build momentum behind the product with an innovative new sampling platform. The sampling campaign  Coca-Colas largest ever -officially commenced this month at an influencer-led activation that featured international recording superstar Kelly Rowland.

Rowland was joined at the activation by Madison and Lana from Australian comedy team SketchShe, gaming and tech YouTuber ChampChong and pop star Tom Jay Williams. More than 3,000 samples of the very first cans of Coca-Cola No Sugar in Australia were handed out as the influencers travelled around Parramatta in a Coke-branded truck while interacting with consumers through Facebook Live.

Coca-Cola No Sugar has also unveiled its new TVC, which was broadcast for the first time yesterday (25 June), offering consumers an interactive sampling experience. To receive a free Coca-Cola No Sugar, viewers can use the Shazam mobile app to download a voucher digitally when the TVC appears.

Extending this to outdoor, in a first for Coca-Cola, the team has created a voice-activated panel that enables consumers to verbally Say YES and redeem a free sample vended directly from the refrigerated panel. The voice-activated interactive outdoor advertising panel will be deployed in Sydneys Pitt Street Mall on from Tuesday June 27 to July 4.

More than two million free samples of the new product will be distributed in the coming months. Fans will be able to see more content and have more opportunities to try the product during this time through further influencer activity, Snapchat ads and digital content via Coca-Colas social channels. The national campaign also includes stadia sampling at major sporting events including the State of Origin and a takeover at the MCG during Richmond vs Carlton AFL match yesterday.

To ensure they are active where Australians are out and about during the winter months, the Coca-Cola No Sugar sampling crews will also be at Thredbo from July 1-4 and in Jindabyne on July 5. Coca-Cola will also partner with GoCatch in July to offer something special to their customers with more details to be revealed soon.

Says Marina Rocha, group marketing manager, Coca-Cola South Pacific: Launching Coca-Cola No Sugar in Australia this month generated a huge amount of attention and conversation. The second phase of our campaign builds on this momentum. This is primarily led through our sampling activity providing multiple opportunities for consumers to interact with the brand across a number of touch points.

We have looked to fold technology into our campaign wherever relevant for consumers to help us create an engaging way to get the product in their hands. We have created a wealth of stunning content and partnered with a range of talent which consumers will continue to see in coming weeks.

Connections Agency  UM

Creative Agency  Ogilvy Sydney

PR Agency  Pulse Communications

Experiential Agency  Maverick

Social Media Agency  Coca-Cola Social Centre & One Green Bean
| BY Ricki Green |

Kristofer Taylor (right) has come on board as Edges new group account director in Sydney bringing years integrated advertising agency experience.

Kristofer worked previously at McCann Erickson Melbourne on brands such as Holden and RMIT, followed by a role as senior account director at DDB Sydney working on Tourism Australia and Westpac. Most recently he was at The Royals.

Kristofer is joined by Drew Reid (above, left) in Edges Melbourne office as senior account manager to service the growth of work from Suncorp Group including new wins with Apia, Terri Sheer and Asteron Life. The Melbourne team continues to grow after new wins this year with University of Melbourne, Pearson Education, Simply Energy and Mitre 10.

Says Fergus Stoddart: Edges team in Sydney is growing on the back of some new wins and the ongoing growth of content. The group account director role was created to give clients consistent access to more senior strategic support and help Edge evolve away from our pure content focus. We target people who understand broad comms and can add to our content expertise. We need strong digital experience not necessarily content. Kristofer knows where marketing is heading  its great to have his talent onboard to oversee the AAMI, Lendlease, Petbarn and Nulon accounts.

Says Taylor: The demand for content creation is greater than ever. The beauty is you can generate effective results for business without huge budgets in a dynamic and agile way. Content marketing allows us to work with and challenge brands that arent looking for the big brand campaign but instead use different creative solutions and tech to connect 1-to-1 with consumers. Its an exciting time to lead the team here at Edge.

Reid comes from Clemenger BBDO Melbourne where he worked on NAB and CUB accounts.
| BY Ricki Green |

Brisbane-based marketing and advertising agency Khemistry has today announced the promotion of Michelle Tungate (left) to chief experience officer and Lindsay Thompson (right) to creative director.

Formerly Khemistrys general manager, Tungate will lead the strategy, client service and innovation teams and develop a new transformation practice that will help clients reimagine their customers experiences.

Previously senior art director, Thompson will head up the organisations rapidly expanding creative department and oversee the development of exciting brand experiences by the companys in-house content, design, technology and virtual reality teams.

Khemistrys managing partner, Andy Fyffe, said the two promotions recognised the hard work of both Tungate and Thompson and were part of the organisations long-term strategy to develop home grown talent.

Says Fyffe: Michelles commercial acumen has been intrinsic to Khemistrys growth and success over the past six years. Now that shes added a transformation degree to her toolkit with QUTs Masters of Business Process Management, shes more than ready for the CXO role.

Similarly, I have seen Lindsay apply his extensive experience from tenures at Y&R, SapientNitro and Clemenger BBDO to create award-winning campaigns for our clients, so I am excited to see what he can achieve in this new role.

The promotions align with Khemistrys goal to grow a global business from a Brisbane base by investing heavily in local talent.

Says Fyffe: We want to keep the brightest business and creative minds here in Queensland and ensure they dont have to move to Sydney or London to build a world class career.

Tungate is looking forward to transforming the experience for Khemistrys clients and their customers.

Says Tungate: For business leaders to future-proof their companies, they need to make choice easy, and make their brands the easy choice. Its that simple.

Making choice easy has transformative outcomes if you know how to combine creativity, branding, digital solutions and the right process architecture to sustain competitive advantage.

Thompson said he was incredibly proud and excited to lead the creative team at Khemistry and is looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.

Says Thompson: Its a privilege to be heading up such a talented and ambitious team, working on such a diverse range of campaigns and projects.

I can think of no other agency where Id rather be creative director. Khemistrys independent spirit has energised me to champion its creative and develop the organisation well beyond the borders of Queensland.

After more than 20 years in the industry, Im ready to step up to a new challenge, and this role will allow me to play to my strengths.
| BY Ricki Green |

Paul Yole has written for Campaign Brief at the last eleven Cannes Lions. Here, Yole gives his final wrap on Cannes Lions.

Well, that was interesting.

Im not going to get into the politics of #Publicisity but I will say this.

Sort it out guys. Please.

Sir Martin Sorrell has been reported as questioning whether Cannes is losing its focus on celebrating creativity, and suggesting that the whole affair is becoming too much about money.

Hes right on both counts.

For me, Cannes Lions 2017 ranks about 11th of all the Festivals Ive attended. Which is 11.

I found this year to be chaotic, fragmented and diluted in quality.

Twice, I literally lost track of where I was supposed to be and missed sessions.

A friend overheard a comment from a tech company delegate that suggested he didnt realise there were awards given here too.

Seriously? Dude, get back to SXSW.

Anyway, despite everything, there was still much to love.

Brilliant work, amazing innovations, great connections made, friendships formed and renewed, and lots to learn.

My message to everyone is to keep entering, and keep attending.

Who knows, the price may come down. Or maybe not.

I went to a WARC session about The Future of Strategy.

My main take out was that good Planners can still do stuff the management consultants cant. The key talent they can bring is their ability to understand human relationships and behaviour.

The last session I went to was the best. It was hosted by Creative Marketer of the Year Burger King on How to suck less as a client.

Their presentation had all the pizzazz and theatre of the great Cannes shows of the past, but it had a lot of substance too.

They talked about making your brands distinctiveness, values and personality absolutely clear.

They urged clients to create great briefs by being very simple. For example, with one line briefs like, Lets show that Burger King welcomes everybody.

Result? The brilliant Proud Whopper campaign. Heres the case study.

Or, Rebel chicken to launch chicken fries. How did they come up with that? (Trainee planners, please discuss in 50 words or less.) Have a look at the result here.

Burger King also talked about letting ideas grow through your uncertainty, because you wont know if it will work until you try.

The biggest risk, they said, is not taking a risk. Yes, thats a client talking. They admitted they are afraid all the time, but they know if they dont cut through, they are just adding to the noise.

For the third year in a row, this has been my final Cannes. Every year, Ive learnt something new, and Ive also heard unchanging truths, reinforced over and over.

None was more important than the message in small type at the end of Burger Kings presentation.

Weve all heard it before, but it has never been more true than now:

Clients get the work they deserve.
Sunday, June 11, 2017 at 5:30AM

For fans of the shows The Get Down and Sense8, the recent news that Netflix canceled them is a devastating blow. And even with clamor from fans to get the shows renewed, it looks like the streaming service isnt changing its mind. According to the companys Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, they had to cancel the shows because the cost of production wasnt being justified by its viewership. According to The Wraps story on Sarandos statement, the chief content officer said, We couldnt support those economics. If you put all your money into something that a very few people are watching, eventually youll have nothing for people to watch.  But relative to what it cost to make [The Get Down], we couldnt put together enough audience to support those economics.  Similarly, the audience [for Sense8] was very passionate but just not large enough to support the economics of something that big, even in our platform.

Netflix isnt one to release its viewership data but its the first time Netflix has announced such high-profile cancellations. And this isnt the end. CEO Reed Hasting said recently, we could expect a higher cancel rate for the services original series in the futurewhich ones this will be we dont know yet.

Source: Screen Rant
Monday, June 26, 2017 at 8:46AM

Canadian technology startup EventMobi, the global leader in conference and meetings technology, is launching a new program, 150 Days of Action, which kicks off July 1st  Canada's milestone anniversary, to provide employees with meaningful opportunities to give back to their communities. As part of the program, EventMobi will offer and incent employees to contribute to a total of 150 company days dedicated to volunteer work of their choice.

As a Canadian company with clients and staff around the globe, we could not be more proud to be headquartered in one of the most innovative and inclusive countries in the world, said Bob Vaez, President, EventMobi. The new 150 Days of Action program is one of the ways EventMobi can commemorate Canadas milestone anniversary by giving back to the communities we work and live in. We are excited to launch this program on Canada Day and inspire our staff to be Helpful and Empathetic  values that are core to our company and part of Canadian culture.

The EventMobi 150 Days of Action program empowers employees to pursue volunteer experiences tailored to their interests and passions, and will rally the company to reach the 150 day goal with initiatives including: a recognition program; real-time 150 day online dashboard gauge; blogging and social sharing; and ongoing internal communications. In addition, employees are able to pursue team-based volunteer opportunities to support team building and engagement.
Monday, June 26, 2017 at 4:58AM

A new update thats started to roll out for Google Photos is something that Android users arent happy with. The app has lost the option to back up image collections only while charging. This means, youll have to either manually back photos up or accept thatll backup anytime youre connected to a cellular or Wi-Fi network (the latter is thankfully something you still have control over). While Google hasnt explained the reason behind this update, its bound to annoy some users. Having Photos backing up while charging a device seems like a logical step as it really isnt doing much then.

It looks like the feature hasnt rolled out to all users yet but it should be coming your way soon. Keep your eyes out for version 2.17.0.159033354. If you want to share your thoughts on this latest update, you can leave some feedback in the link here.

Source: The Next Web
Monday, June 26, 2017 at 1:07PM

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Google Home is Googles smart speaker which connects via WiFi (or, even better, via Google WiFi) to Googles smart assistant in the cloud. Designed to be connected at home, Google home uses voice as the primary means of control. It is available in Canada from Best Buy and online from Google.

For $ 179.00, Canadians can get their hands on Google Home, a voice-activated smart speaker, powered by the Google Assistant in English and French.

This diminutive speaker has a rather charming zen-like design. Some say it looks like an aromatherapy gadget, which is fine since it is created to sort of blend in to your home. I Installed Google Home in my kitchen/breakfast nook area and it is ideal for query and control situations when I have my hands full from preparing food or washing dishes.

I can ask Google home to play music from my Spotify and Google Play Music subscriptions. I can ask it to play songs by title, genre, artist and even ask music trivia. I already have various Spotify playlists and it is easy enough to access them directly by voice.

Google Home is smart enough to scour other services, it can play live radio (using the TuneIn app), play my favourite podcasts and even NPR, CBC, BBC and ESPN news bytes. Converesely, you can have it play sounds of the sea, or white noise as well as various animal sounds which children find entertaining.

Google Home can set multiple alarms (for when youre cooking various dishes), it can quickly compute, calculate and convert. If you have a nearby TV with a Chromecast, you can ask it to play recipes from YouTube, or control Netflix by voice.

The control for video and audio can be granular, you can tell it to play back the past 5 minutes or fast forward 30 minutes and it will do so without issue. It must be mentioned that much of the development of the Google Home app was done right here in Google's Waterloo campus, so Canadian innovation is definitely present here.

Google Home can work as the hub for Philips Hue lights which can be open, closed and dimmed. Moreover, using IFTTT (If This Then That), it is easy to set moods and various colour coordinated lighting situations (i.e. get the lights to have similar theme or mood to the show youre watching).

Having used the device at home for around a week, it has evolved from a curiosity to a part of our routines. I use Google Home to keep me updated on my schedule. It gives us news briefs and even plays my sons favourite music playlists to put him to sleep. Theres a lot that Google Home can do out of the box, the feature set can be expanded using various third party services and if features from the US version trickle in, it should be able to even make Canadian and US VoIP phone calls free of charge.

For Canadians, Google Home remains the only true home assistant technology thats designed for Canadian users. While you can use Amazon Echo and it will work, it hasnt been localized for Canada so you miss out on a lot of features with no guarantee that Amazon will ever bring them in.

Apples HomePods arent coming to Canada until 2018. Even then, the device is focused more as a connected speaker than as a Siri-connected device. HomePods will certainly offer the best audio quality and at a more premium price, but as for smarts and ability to interact with various services and IoT devices, that remains to be seen. Apple is more likely to use Apple-vetted services, which might limit the HomePods range of capabilities.

Google Home does okay as a speaker. I use it mainly for podcasts and news so I dont mind that it sometimes sounds muffled or heavy on lower frequencies. Theres no way to tweak sound settings via an app, which is a missed opportunity. Still, you can get various Google Home smart speakers for various rooms in the home and even cast to speakers or TVs using Chromecast devices which offer inexpensive expansion and reach.

Conclusion:





Google Home is a demonstration of Google's awesome collection of knowledge sources, from the latest news, weather information, podcasts, music and various smart home and automation services, this is the first smart speaker that opens up a world of possibilities for Canadians.

Th best thing about Google Home is that today we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg of what this impressive and potentially game-changing voice-driven conduit to various cloud-based services and technologies.

Rating: 4 out of 5
The celebration for friends and family - and simply supporters who had followed his progress on Facebook - gathered at the Erindale Neighbourhood Centre. The party was full of the sound of kids and lots of cooing over super-cute Dolton who now weighs an impressive 8kg. His birthday cake featured a Fox (Kylie's maiden name) and an elephant (his dad's nickname).
"Again we are looking at places where the public gather, particularly places where children and young people gather as well but it's really important we do what we can to encourage people who are already smoking to give up," Ms Fitzharris said.
That means people end up paying sign-on fees, maintenance fees and what can be called deferred-maintenance fees, more usually called exit fees. And there's plenty of trouble there. For some strange reason, buying into a retirement village isn't like buying any other kind of real estate. You are likely to be charged a lot when you buy  but not get anything like that amount when you sell. With Australia's resilient property market, that kind of real estate deal seems too weird for words. It should work this way: you buy, the unit increases in value, and you get some of that benefit. Instead, if you leave or die, you may end up paying for the privilege.
End Rape on Campus Australia director Sharna Bremner is not convinced. She says her organisation has had repeated run-ins with 1800RESPECT, including student survivors either not getting through or being told to call back if they want to speak to trauma experts. As a result, End Rape on Campus has stopped referring survivors they work with to 1800RESPECT, directing them to state-based services instead. This comes ahead of a landmark report into university sexual assaults, which is due in August and expected to prompt many people to contact services for help.
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 ...
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
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.
Just as Toyota Motor Philippines updated the specs of the Hilux pickup truck , theyve done the same for the Fortuner as well.
Tesla Motors has boosted its borrowing capacity for the second time in six months as the company is currently spending heavily in order to launch its entry-level Model 3 into the market.



The EV maker has expanded its credit line by a combined $800 million to $3.825 billion, according to a regulatory filing as reported by Bloomberg.

Last December Tesla did the same, raising money with equity and debt offerings in March before starting production of its cheapest electric car yet, the Model 3.

Tesla is expected to put the Model 3 into production this July, with the first owners only capable of choosing the exterior color and size of wheels in a bid to ramp up the production numbers more quickly.

Buyers of the Tesla Model 3 will start next month configuring their cars according to Elon Musk but more choices will be added to the models range down the line, such as an all-wheel drive option.

So far we know that the Model 3 will offer a driving range of over 215 miles, a 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds and fewer than 100 configurations for its future owners.

Images courtesy of Thomas Preisler/Facebook

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: Castanet File Photo

UPDATE 6 p.m.

Kelowna city council has unanimously endorsed the next step in the fight against homelessness in the city.

The Journey Home task force is being asked to come up with a made-in-Kelowna solution to homelessness using best practices, proven methods and situations unique to the city.

Mayor Colin Basran called it a large community initiative, "and, we have got to get it right."

Coun. Brad Sieben said he is happy to see the city taking a lead role as far as accountability is concerned. Saying the city is "kind of the tie that binds here. I think it's key."

Sieben asked about common and unique challenges facing the city and other communities when it comes to homelessness.

"Common challenges seen across the county is the understanding that the services that support people who are housing vulnerable have been developed over a long period of time and have been responsive to needs. Not necessarily has there been a structure that co-ordinates all of those services," said social development manager Sue Wheeler.

"I think that has been experienced across Canada. I think bringing a systems approach has been proven in other communities to work. It will assist us in addressing those challenges."

As for unique challenges, Wheeler says the task force will be undertaking research to determine the unique challenges and priorities in terms of both individual and system needs.

"We will have the data and the consultation. We will have people's stories and understand the pathwaays to help understand what the priorities should be."

Wheeler also says there will also be a specific youth focus within the Journey Home strategy.

"I think the youth focus is particularly important because it's an opportunity to focus on prevention. We are seeing there is a huge opportunity here," she said.

The task force will be assembled over the summer and begin meeting in September.

A final report is expected to reach the council table next June.

ORIGINAL STORY: 5 a.m.

The City of Kelowna is set to take the next step in what it calls a "made-in-Kelowna solution" to homelessness.

Council will be asked Monday to approve terms of reference for what is being called the Journey Home task force.

The task force, which is expected to be co-chaired by Martin Bell, CEO of Urban Systems and Okanagan College professor, Dr. Kyleen Myrah, would be tasked with guiding development of a long-term strategy to address homelessness.

In December of last year, council approved a systems planning framework designed to provide direction on several key elements critical in reducing the incidence of homelessness, and, when it does occur, reducing the duration.

The terms of reference for the task force would draw on best practices demonstrating positive results in addressing homelessness, according to a report prepared for council.

"The intent of this task force is to focus on applying best practice principles to the local context, to achieve a redesign of the functioning system of homeless-serving services," the report states.

"Current best practices demonstrate that collaboration and co-ordination of services designed to address the root causes of vulnerability is at the foundation of building a safe, healthy, and sustainable community.

The objective of the task force will be to develop a strategy that must:

Be based on a Homeless-Serving Systems Planning approach

Be driven by local and lived experience knowledge in the application of best practices principles through a community-wide collaborative process

Present a locally-informed solution-focused approach that is: person-centred,co-ordinated, and outcome-focused to guide decision-making on addressing affordable housing and homelessness issues.

A team of 11 to 13 members will be selected to sit on the task force.

A final report is expected to be presented to council by June of next year.
Photo: linkedin.com

By Tracy Head

Why not make their house your dream home?

Have you thought about a home that has most of the items on your wish list, but needs a little TLC?

Many lenders offer a Purchase Plus Improvements program that is designed for people who want to buy a home that needs a little work. Maybe it needs a new roof, central air, a new furnace, new siding, doors, windows, a new kitchen, flooring or any other renovation that would increase the value of the home.

This can be a great option if you find a house you love, but realize that it will take some time to save for the renovations you want to do.

Lets assume that you are a first-time buyer and have a five per cent down payment. The way it works is this  before the mortgage financing is arranged, you gather written quotes from licensed contractors or suppliers for the work to be done.

Your mortgage application is for 95 per cent of the total cost  purchase price plus the improvements.

At closing time, the lender will send the money needed to purchase the home as well as the money for the renovations to your lawyer.

The lawyer will take care of the purchase, and you will receive the keys to your new home. The lawyer holds the money for the renovations in trust until the work is finished.

Now the fun starts; you get going on the renovations. You will need to cover the costs for the short term. Most people use either a credit line or a zero-interest hardware store card to help with cash flow.

Once the work is done, an appraiser will come through to confirm that everything is finished. At this time the lender will give the lawyer the OK to give you the rest of the money to pay off the credit line or charge card and pay your contractor.

Lets go through an example

Purchase price: $400,000 X 95% = $380,000

Cost of improvements: $ 40,000 X 95% = $38,000

Total mortgage: $440,000 X 95% = $418,000

Down payment: $440,000 X 5% = $22,000

In this case, your mortgage will be $418,000, which is 95 per cent of the purchase price plus 95 per cent of the improvements.

On the closing date, your lawyer will receive $418,000 from the lender. You will have already brought in your down payment of $22,000. ($418,000 + $22,000 = $440,000, which is the purchase price plus the cost of improvements).

Your lawyer will transfer $400,000 to the sellers lawyer, and you are the proud owner of a new home. Your lawyer will hold the money for renovations in trust ($40,000) until you are finished the work.

If you bought this home and planned to do the renovations later, your down payment would be $20,000, your mortgage would be $380,000, and your monthly payment would be about $1,700. Somewhere down the road you would need to find $40,000 to do the renovations.

Using the Purchase Plus Improvements program, your down payment would be $22,000 and your monthly payment would be about $1,870.

At the end of the day, you have a mortgage of $418,000 and a beautifully renovated home.

Everybody wins. The lender is happy because the value of your home has increased. More importantly, you are happy because you were able to do major renovations to your home ($40,000) with a cash outlay of only $2,000 (five per cent of $40,000) upfront.

You get to enjoy an updated home right away.

The process generally goes very smoothly. If you have any questions about the Purchase Plus Improvements program, Id love to go over it with you.

Tracy Head is a mortgage consultant with Verico Complete Mortgage Services. She can be reached at 250-826-5857.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Kristy Russell Ellie-Mae, a three-year-old bulldog, was inside Kristy Russell's truck when it was stolen in Oliver Saturday.

UPDATE: 9:20 p.m.

A happy ending to a nightmare of a weekend for a Prince George couple.

Ellie-Mae, Brad and Kristy Russell's stolen three-year-old bulldog, was found on the side of an Oliver road Sunday evening.

"She was just leaning up against a tree in the orchard a little bit there," Brad said. "She seems fine, probably a little bit hungry and thirsty, but otherwise she's fine.

"She wasn't too sure at first about anybody, but once she recognized me she had lots of energy, that's for sure."

The Russells' truck was stolen from El Sabor De Marina in Oliver Saturday, with Ellie-Mae inside it. The Russells' plea for her return was put out over social media, prompting hundreds of shares and comments.

The publicity worked wonders. Ellie-Mae was found on Fairview Road by people who didn't even know the Russells, but were out searching nonetheless.

"Thanks to everybody that's been contacted through Facebook and every other media," Brad said.

The Russell's stolen truck, a 2015 Nissan Titan, is still missing.

ORIGINAL: 6:10 p.m.

Ellie-Mae's owners are now offering a $5,000 reward for her safe return.

The three-year-old bulldog was stolen Saturday, along with Kristy Russell's lifted 2015 Nissan Titan, in Oliver.

Russell and her husband had stopped at El Sabor De Marina, a small Mexican food restaurant on the side of Highway 97, after spending the day renovating their condo in Osoyoos.

The couple are from Prince George, and brought Ellie-Mae along on their trip south, as she's prone to depression when her owners leave her with others.

Russell left their truck running with the air conditioning on for Ellie-Mae, as they waited for their food.

A few minutes after ordering, they noticed someone was driving off in their truck.

They drove off like crazy down the road, heading towards Osoyoos, Russell said.

The loss has been devastating for Russell and her family.

I can't even function, I can't even eat, I can't even sleep, she said. I just want her home.

She says Ellie-Mae doesn't cope well with change, and won't eat when she's scared.

She's quite the quirky dog, Russell said through tears. She's the best travelling dog, but she's scared of a lot things.

She's the most loving dog ever, but she doesn't like change in her life.

Russell says police believe they spotted the stolen truck in Oliver Saturday night, heading towards Penticton, but they were unable to catch up to it.

Through this devastating incident, Russell says she's been amazed by the support they've received from others, sharing pictures of Ellie-Mae on social media and even offering hundreds of dollars to go towards a reward.

The stolen truck has B.C. licence plate number KW 8890. Anyone with any information about the stolen truck or dog can call police, or Russell at 250-613-0198.

I feel like somebody stole my kid, Russell said. I just want her back.
Photo: Kamloops RCMP Police are looking for 34-year-old Clarice Krause, who was last seen by family Friday.

Police in Kamloops are looking for a woman who was last seen by her family on Friday.

Clarice Krause left her home Friday in her white Ford Explorer and has not returned.

The family is concerned for her welfare and would like her to be returned safe, said Sgt. Darren Michels of the Kamloops RCMP.

Krause, 34, is described as a 5-foot-4, 130 pound woman with shoulder-length, blonde hair and hazel eyes.

The B.C. licence plate on her Explorer is 209 MLT.

Police have asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to call the Kamloops RCMP at 250-828-3000.
UPDATE 11:45 A.M.

The Penticton Fire Department says several staff and guests at the Gods Mountain Retreat had to be evacuated on Sunday night due to the nearby wildfire.

The impacted people were left in the care of the local emergency social services team. Phone calls to the bed and breakfast this morning have gone unanswered.

Chief Larry Watkinson says his crews were first on scene, and managed the fire until provincial wildfire crews arrived, when they transferred ownership of the fire and returned to Penticton.

UPDATE 10:15 A.M.

The B.C. Wildfire Service says six firefighters remain on the ground, fighting the .63 hectare wildfire.

The blaze, located on steep and rocky mountainside directly above Eastside Road, is within one kilometre of homes. However, the province doesnt believe they are at risk at this time.

The fire was sparked Sunday night, most likely by humans, and was responded to by a seven-person initial attack wildfire crew supported by the Penticton and Okanagan Falls Fire Departments. The now smouldering fire is currently being held.

A FortisBC technician was also at the scene Monday morning, checking power lines that pass directly over the fire. A Fortis spokesperson said at this point, none of their infrastructure is at risk, but staff remain in the area to monitor.

ORIGINAL 6:00 A.M.

A wildfire broke out late Sunday just south of Penticton.

Penticton and Okanagan Falls firefighters were called to the rapidly moving fire near God's Mountain on the east side Skaha Lake about 11:30 p.m.

BC Wildfire Service firefighters also joined them on the scene, with two initial attack crews trying to get to the fire to gain control before there was any more serious spread of the flames.

The fire is just south of Penticton city limits, north of the Heritage Hills subdivision, and appeared to witnesses to be a few hectares in size. A bed and breakfast is also near the fire.

It's unclear so far if any evacuations were necessary overnight, but Emergency Social Services was said to be headed to the scene to offer support.
Photo: News5

Hurricane Dora has formed in the Pacific off Mexico's southwestern coast.

The hurricane's maximum sustained winds early Monday are near 80 mph (129 kph) with some strengthening likely before weakening is expected to begin Tuesday.

The hurricane is centred about 274 kilometres south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, and is moving west-northwest near 21 km/h.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Dora's forecast track shows its centre staying offshore of Mexico's southwestern coast. But swells from the storm are affecting parts of Mexico's coast and are expected to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
Photo: The Canadian Press A police officer arrives at the provincial court building in Lethbridge, Alta.

The Crown in the triple-murder trial of a southern Alberta man says his actions were planned and deliberate.

Photini Papadatou is delivering her final argument to the jury in the trial of Derek Saretzky.

Saretzky is facing three counts of first-degree murder in the 2015 deaths of Terry Blanchette, his two-year-old daughter Hailey and Hanne Meketech five days earlier.

Saretzky is also charged with committing an indignity to Hailey's body.

Papadatou says Saretzky confessed to all three murders with details only the killer would know.

"He told you that he did it," she said.

Saretzky has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Ontario is promising to clamp down on online ticket scalping, a source of frustration and anger for fans who have often been unable to secure tickets to their favourite sport or music events.

The Liberal government said Monday it will introduce new legislation this fall that will make automated ticket-buying "bots" illegal. It would also cap markups on resold tickets at 50 per cent of their face value.

Under the proposed law, ticket resellers would have to disclose more information, including the face value of tickets and any surcharges.

The so-called "scalper bots"  software programs designed to purchase online a large number of tickets for a concert, show, or other event, enabling the person running the software to sell those tickets at a profit  made headlines last year when many Tragically Hip fans were unable to buy tickets to the band's farewell tour.

"By the time any real fan is able to log on and search for tickets the best seats are gone," said Yasir Naqvi, Ontario's attorney general, as he made the announcement.

"Many events sell out completely in minutes, even seconds, and many of these tickets end up on resale sites for huge mark ups, of course."
Photo: The Canadian Press Security officials say they're ready for the huge crowds set to descend on Parliament Hill for Canada's 150th birthday.

Security officials say they're ready for the huge crowds set to descend on Parliament Hill for Canada's 150th birthday celebration Saturday.

But that doesn't mean federal researchers are done thinking about how to better protect the country's seat of democracy in the months and years ahead.

Advisers are gathering data on everything from crowd flows to video-camera placement to ensure both security and openness in the parliamentary precinct.

Rami Youssef of the federal Centre for Security Science says Parliament Hill security is a "tough nut to crack" because of the fine balance between guarding the most important democratic institutions while keeping the grounds open to people.

After a gunman stormed the Hill in October 2014, the centre completed two studies  one on the physical security of Parliament's Centre Block and another on procedures for handling visitors and employees in the parliamentary precinct.

However, Youssef says the researchers need more information before making the next set of recommendations to decision-makers.
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
tnAchieves, the partnering organization that administers Governor Haslams Tennessee Promise scholarship program in 84 counties, invites community members to attend the State of Tennessee Promise community tour beginning on May 22, and continuing through Aug. 10.

tnAchieves will host community meetings in each of the 84 counties it serves. The purpose of these meetings is to provide stakeholders with county-level student data in an effort to increase student completion. These meetings will also provide an opportunity to have any questions answered about the Tennessee Promise program.



When tnAchieves launched Tennessee Promise, we vowed to keep the program local in an effort to best serve students, said Krissy DeAlejandro, executive director of tnAchieves. The tour is tnAchieves keeping its promise to our stakeholders by offering a local, data-driven conversation about student success. We will be celebrating our successes while also discussing solutions for increased student completion.



With 40 counties completed, those who wish to attend should register for their preferred meeting time and location at https://tnachieves.org/tour/.



Tennessee Promise is a last-dollar community and technical college scholarship that provides students with up to 5 semesters (8 trimesters at a technical college) at a community college and/or eligible four-year institution with an associate degree program. Each Tennessee Promise applicant is assigned a tnAchieves volunteer mentor that works with the student to provide encouragement, promote deadlines and answer questions. In its first year, Tennessee Promise resulted in a 4.6 percent increase in the states college-going rate. This increase represents unprecedented growth.



tnAchieves, the model for Tennessee Promise, launched in 2008 as a last-dollar scholarship and mentoring program designed to give every student the opportunity to earn a post-secondary credential. Prior to the launch of Tennessee Promise, tnAchieves sent more than 10,000 students to post-secondary, each paired with a volunteer mentor. From 2008-2016, private donors provided more than $16 million in student scholarships. To date, tnAchieves students have given back more than 1 million hours of community service.



For information on tnAchieves or its tour, contact Ms. DeAlejandro at 865 621-9223 or krissy@tnachieves.org.


Grubhub co-founder Mike Evans is back in the business world with Fixer, a service that sends handymen and women on demand. (Mike Evans)

Grubhub co-founder Mike Evans, who stepped down after the company went public in 2014 and has stayed out of the spotlight since, made an announcement Monday: He's started a new company.

Fixer, which is in private beta, provides an on-demand platform for skilled handymen and women who perform small jobs in homes and businesses. It's an answer to the problem of struggling to get a trained electrician or plumber to show up on time for minor repairs, Evans said. The company is supported by $1 million in seed funding from private investors, whom he declined to name.

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"People expect to be able to use their phone as a remote control for their lives," Evans said. With Fixer, he said he hopes to apply that to smaller jobs, such as plumbing and electrical repairs that take less than six hours.

After three years out of the tech world  during which he accomplished some goals including a cross-country bike trip, staying home with his newborn daughter and writing a science fiction novel called "Inferno of Eden"  Evans said he was ready to start his second business. The first, Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB), was worth $2.7 billion the day it turned public.

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The protagonist of "Inferno of Eden" is an engineer named Eliana, who in a post-climate catastrophe world uses her talents to fix essential items such as air conditioners. Sound familiar?

"This is not unrelated," Evans said, laughing. "I've been thinking about fixing broken things for, like, three years."

In that time, Evans said, he realized that there is a frequent need for skilled workers who can repair household items. Plus, he missed being in the business world, he said.

He started Fixer eight weeks ago with four fellow Grubhub alums and they've hired seven full-time fixers so far. The entire team is based out of the mHub innovation space.

So far, fixers have completed about 200 jobs, including some for repeat customers, Evans said. Fixer's current footprint covers all of Chicago north of Roosevelt Road; he says workers arrive within an hour of booking.

Workers aren't necessarily licensed plumbers or electricians, though Evans said each fixer has the ability to tackle basic tasks along those lines. He said some of the company's employees are licensed in those trades in other municipalities, though not in Chicago.

The company is about to introduce a free app through which customers can request and pay for repairs, Evans said. For now, customers can request access to the private beta through Fixer's website, then message photos of what they need repaired to a dedicated phone number.

The company charges a flat rate of $80 per hour, and prorates partial hours. Fixers use a dedicated app to log their work.

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Unlike companies such as TaskRabbit, which lets customers hire independent contractors to do odd jobs, Fixer hires its workers full-time with benefits. Evans said that's necessary to attract and retain people with the skill level the company needs. That also helps the company fully vet employees through background checks and other means to ensure security for customers, Evans said.

Later this year, Fixer aims to introduce a program for training and certification that will help interested people gain necessary skills for this kind of work and boost the ranks of the company's workforce. Evans said the exact model for that program is still in the works, but that Fixer would hire such people at entry-level salaries and offer them instruction and on-the-job training through apprenticeship. He said he sees such a program as having the potential for social impact because it could create new career pathways for people who need them.

Evans said his current focus for Fixer is not yet on the kind of scale his first company, Grubhub, achieved. For now, he wants to blanket Chicago with fixers who arrive within an hour and do high quality repairs. That will involve opening dispatch centers around the city and figuring out how to best get fixers to the jobs. For now, they drive their own vehicles, he said.

"It's so important to get the quality and timing of the fixers getting to the locations correct before we try to replicate it elsewhere," Evans said. "That is enough of a challenge that it's worth getting it really right before we expand."

aelahi@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @aminamania
Google is intensifying its campaign to fight online extremism, saying it will put more resources toward identifying and removing videos related to terrorism and hate groups. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP)

Google just went under the knife with its removal policies.

On Thursday, the search engine added private medical records to its small list of things that it won't include in its search results, according to Bloomberg. While the company has yet to release a statement on the decision, "confidential medical records of private people" is now listed under the search engine's Removal Policies page, which confirms the decision.

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Credit card numbers, images of signatures and bank account numbers are some of the other select things Google elects to keep out of its search results to prevent identity theft. The company usually doesn't remove dates of birth, addresses and telephone numbers but will do so depending upon the situation, according to its removal policies.

"In the medical space, though, there is nothing more invasive towards one's privacy than having a medical record indexed in a Google search that millions of people can see," said Hemu Nigam, the chief executive of SSP Blue, a company that specializes in cybersecurity affairs. "This is a great move, but why did it take so long?"

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Health records can show up on the Internet without patients' consent. According to Bloomberg, in December, an Indian pathology lab accidentally uploaded the blood test information of 43,000 patients, which included names and HIV test results. Google indexed them all.

Google usually takes a hands-off approach with its content. It manually removes URLs on a case-by-case basis if there is a complaint about something that may fall under its removal policies.

But the search giant has made some adjustments the last few years. In 2015 the company bent its well-established approach and said it would accept requests to remove "revenge porn" - nude images uploaded to the Internet without the subject's consent - from its search results. Google explained that, although it believes that its search should reflect the entire web, revenge porn is highly personal and emotionally damaging.

In another move, Google released a set of new tools in April to help combat "fake news," allowing users to flag misleading or disrespectful content to help improve search results that come from its algorithm.

"I think there's a definite shift happening in Google, albeit very slowly," Nigam said. "That's being driven by advertisers who pull their ads when they don't like certain policies their brand. When customers complain, advertisers listen, and therefore Google listens."

Google declined to comment for this story.
Chicago-area grocery store shoppers may soon encounter a red, furry cyclops in the produce section or near the bakery: Jewel-Osco's first mascot.

Over the last couple of weeks the supermarket chain has started introducing customers to its newest team member, JoJo, who has a name that riffs on the company's initials and is red to reflect the company's logo.

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JoJo has made appearances at grand re-openings  on Tuesday the mascot is to attend the opening of a store in Old Town  and other events as a way to connect with children and entertain customers while they shop, said spokeswoman Mary Frances Trucco.

Jewel's internal marketing team created JoJo as a gender-neutral mascot with one eye "to illustrate a fun make-believe character rather than an animal or person," Trucco said.

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The furry, rotund costume resembles a cross between Benny the Bull and characters from the popular "Minions" and "Monsters, Inc." movies.

A mascot can appeal to children, said Jon Hauptman, senior director of retail for grocery consulting firm Willard Bishop, noting the most valuable store shoppers are families with young children because they spend the most on groceries.

JoJo also started a club, providing children with a card that gets them a free piece of fruit to encourage healthy eating and offers a free cookie too, Trucco said.

Jewel-Osco is not the first supermarket chain to enlist a mascot as part of a marketing campaign, Hauptman said. For example, Fiesta Mart based in Texas has Pepe the Parrot.

"It is not very common, but also, supermarket retailers are trying all types of new things to stand out a little bit from the crowd of all different stores that sell food," Hauptman said, including stores such as Aldi, Target and Walmart as well as other grocery competitors like Mariano's and Whole Foods.

Jewel conducted internal employee focus groups and JoJo was a hit, Trucco said. "We love the look and the overall feedback has been positive," she said.

Comments were mixed on Jewel-Osco's blog.

One woman wrote, "This mascot is terrifying looking." Another chimed in and wrote, "Sorry, I also think he is scary looking! LOL"

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Others were more supportive. "I think JoJo is cute, and I love the idea to help kids eat healthy but also k(n)ow its ok to have a cookie once in a while," one woman wrote. A man agreed, writing, "The Kids Will Love JoJo Just Take A Look At Sesame Street."

lvivanco@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lvivanco
United Airlines has won a lawsuit against a Canadian professor who for the past 20 years has cataloged complaints against the airline on Untied.com.

A judge in Canada's Federal Court in Ottawa, Ontario, on Friday found the website violates the Chicago-based airline's trademarks and copyright and granted United an injunction preventing Jeremy Cooperstock, who runs the website, from using the airline's intellectual property.

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"We are pleased with the court's decision. We have always maintained that Mr. Cooperstock should be able to voice his opinions, and our case was to protect United customers and avoid confusion by asking him to not use our intellectual property on his website and related channels," United said in an email.

Cooperstock, an engineering professor at McGill University in Montreal, accused the airline of using the case to try to shut down a source of criticism and vowed to appeal.

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It's unclear what the ruling means for the future of Untied.com, which Cooperstock launched in 1997, disgruntled by the airline's "form letter" response to one of his own complaints.

Since then, he said he's collected 31,000 complaints from United's passengers and several hundred from its employees. The website also advises readers on how to complain to, or sue, the airline.

The court said Cooperstock can keep the Untied.com web address, but he said he's uncertain whether he will be able to continue to use it to post passenger complaints. The judge directed United and Cooperstock to submit reports to begin negotiating the terms of the injunction within 45 days.

. United filed the lawsuit in 2012, alleging the website infringed on its intellectual property and claiming a redesign that more closely mimicked United's own site could trick consumers into thinking they were filing a complaint with the airline.

At Untied.com, United's globe logo appears with a frowning face, and the airline is listed as an "evil alliance member," rather than a "star alliance member." United has since updated its website, but Cooperstock has also created a "beta" version of Untied that more closely matches the airline's current website.

Cooperstock said he chose to parody the airline's website, logos and slogans to "co-opt the original and subvert it."

"I think there's great value in humor in getting people to step up and take notice," he said.

But he's skeptical travelers could mistake his website for the real thing, especially after he added a pop-up window requiring readers acknowledge they understand the website isn't United's before continuing to browse.

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In a second lawsuit filed in 2012 in the Superior Court of Quebec, United successfully petitioned to have some senior airline employees' contact information removed from Untied.com.

When he created Untied.com, Cooperstock said, he posted a statement saying he looked forward to shutting it down when the airline showed it was "treating passengers with a little more dignity." He did not expect to still be running the website 20 years later, he said.

United CEO Oscar Munoz promised to work on the airline's reputation with passengers after taking over for Jeff Smisek in 2015. At the time, the airline ranked dead last in customer satisfaction among traditional North American airlines, according to J.D. Power's 2015 North America Airline Satisfaction Study.

United brought back free snacks, upgraded its international business class and reduced delays. But its reputation took a hit again in April when David Dao, a passenger who refused to give up his seat to make room for airline employees, was dragged from a plane at O'Hare International Airport and Munoz fumbled an initial apology.

Cooperstock, who represented himself in the intellectual property lawsuit, said the lawsuits have not been worth the costs, but "it's a matter of principle."

lzumbach@chicagotribune.com

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Don Morrison, chair of the Libertyville School District 70 Ethics Commission, points to Josh Gordon, who filed complaints against district officials and employees, while asking a question during a June 20 meeting. (Rick Kambic / Pioneer Press)

A Libertyville School District 70 Ethics Commission decided June 20 to hold a hearing to examine the actions of three district employees in the run-up to April's school board election.

The ethics complaints were made by Libertyville resident Josh Gordon, who unsuccessfully ran for the school board in April. Gordon filed his first letter on April 21 and submitted an addendum on May 16.

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Gordon's complaints, which were acquired under the Freedom of Information Act, claim the school board president, superintendent and teachers union president violated district prohibitions against political activities and used district email accounts for political activities.

"It's my understanding that if we find more likely than not that the allegations show an employee or board member violated the policy, then we have to do one or both of two things: we have to either refer to the state's attorney's office, make a recommendation of discipline or both," said Don Morrison, the chair of the Ethics Commission, on June 20.

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The employees were identified as Superintendent Guy Schumacher; Cheryl Crenshaw, the teachers union president and a first-grade teacher at Rockland School; and Robin Kollman, the district's public relations facilitator.

The commission first met on May 31 and discussed operating procedures after members said they could find no prior instance of an ethics commission in the district.

Morrison is a district resident and a former prosecutor. The two other members of the commission are former school board member Laura Beltchenko, and current school board member Chris Kennedy, who was not up for reelection this past cycle.

Morrison previously stated that Schumacher assembled the group. However, during the June 20 meeting he said that he was mistaken and that Kennedy in fact put together the commission independently of Schumacher.

Commissioners reconvened on June 20 after independently reviewing Gordon's materials outside of the meeting. During the meeting, the panel asked Gordon follow-up questions and decided to issue notice of a hearing to the three employees.

Gordon accused Board President Tom Vickers of being complacent while the other alleged incidents occurred, as well as having involvement with the teachers union endorsement proceedings.

The commission decided Gordon did not provide evidence that Vickers, who was also named in the complaint, used his board title inappropriately during dealings with the teachers union over endorsement proceedings.

Fellow board member Wendy Schilling also was mentioned on June 20 regarding similar claims.

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"On the base of the complaint, I don't see, Mr. Gordon, that those allegations warrant any further investigation or action by the commission, as it relates to Mr. Vickers and Ms. Schilling," said Darcy Kriha, a lawyer with Franczek Radelet P.C. who was hired to advise the ethics commission.

When contacted June 22, Vickers said he wasn't surprised by the decision.

"I always felt his allegations were unfounded, and to use a fancy legal term, a bunch of hooey," Vickers said. "The fact that he said I was part of some cabal that conspired against him and the commission doesn't even want to hear from me, that sheds a lot of light on whether or not Mr. Gordon's claims have any merit."

Kriha later told Pioneer Press that she was hired to advise the commission because the district's regular attorney is involved in a separate dispute relating to Gordon and the district wants to avoid a conflict of interest.

Kollman was identified during the June 20 discussion as the staff member who wrote a Facebook post that Gordon claims was used to "promote school board candidate Marc Grote."

The post pictured Grote at a March school board meeting while noting his appreciation for being part of the regional training for future school board members. It also said incumbent candidates Vickers and Schilling attended the training as well, and then named the other candidates for school board.

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Kollman previously told Pioneer Press that the post was "both accurate and factual and in no way a political endorsement." She referenced her 20 years as an objective news journalist prior to being hired by the school district.

Gordon believes Crenshaw improperly sent emails to board candidates regarding endorsement interviews while using a district-provided account during the workday, according to his complaint.

The commission on June 20 said Crenshaw will be allowed to make a statement or provide evidence and witnesses of her own during the July 20 hearing.

In an earlier interview, Crenshaw told Pioneer Press that all teachers have "duty-free" periods throughout the day during which they're allowed to conduct personal business.

Gordon in his complaints said Schumacher, the district's superintendent, exerted his influence into the election while using district resources.

Gordon submitted emails he acquired through a FOIA request that show Schumacher talking about election topics with Crenshaw, a few other employees, community members and the Illinois Association of School Boards.

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"To the extent that you have questions about Dr. Schumacher, his communication with district staff or any mandates he gave them or use of resources, we'll call that out at the hearing," Kriha told Gordon. "Otherwise, we won't be reviewing records beyond what you've provided."

In an earlier interview, Schumacher told Pioneer Press that he's a prominent figure in the community and he was merely answering questions and doing his due diligence. Schumacher said he doesn't think he did anything wrong.

Crenshaw, Kollman and Schumacher will be allowed to bring lawyers on July 20, according to Kriha. She said they will be able to review Gordon's materials and cross examine any witnesses he might bring. The commission does not have subpoena powers, so all witnesses will need to be persuaded to attend and testify, Kriha said.

In the event that any of the three accused do not attend the hearing, Kriha said the ethics commission will continue the process anyway.

The commission plans to conduct its hearing at 2 p.m. on July 20 at the district office, 1381 W. Lake St.

rkambic@pioneerlocal.com

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A judge canceled an August trial date as a Lake County police officer undergoes mental health evaluations, but the judge said he still wants the case resolved within the next few months.

Guy Mikulich, 38, is facing multiple felonies and misdemeanors, including operating a vehicle while intoxicated, after an alleged hit-and-run on July 10 at last year's Gary Air Show.

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Mikulich, while in uniform and in his county-issued unmarked Ford Crown Victoria, is accused of hitting Derrick Dircks, of Frankfort, Ill., after Mikulich had worked security at the air show, according to a probable cause affidavit. Mikulich was pulled over in the 5900 block of Hemlock Street, about 1 1/2 miles from where Dircks was hit, after fleeing the scene, the affidavit states.

In the months since, Mikulich has faced his criminal case, as well as civil and disciplinary cases.

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Last month, Mikulich's criminal attorney, Paul Stracci, informed the court that his defendant plans to raise an insanity defense. He "intends to raise the defense to all counts that he is not responsible as a result of mental disease or defect which left him unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct, if any, at the the time of the alleged offenses," according to court records.

At a hearing Monday, Stracci compared the case to an onion and the more attorneys "peel back" the discovery and evidence, the more there is to go through. A trial date was previously set for Aug. 21, but Stracci asked that be canceled because Mikulich will go undergo mental health evaluations in light of his plan to raise an insanity defense.

Lake Superior Court Judge Clarence Murray granted Stracci's requests, but said that he intends "to get this case resolved" in the next few months, whether with a trial or a non-trial resolution.

Murray set Mikulich's next hearing for Aug. 10, and the judge said that as soon as the evaluations are completed, Murray plans to set another trial date.

The Lake County sheriff's police merit board held its two-day disciplinary hearing for Mikulich earlier this month. Merit board members heard from law enforcement on the scene of the day of the alleged hit-and-run and those involved in the investigation.

The board also watched surveillance footage from a home that captured the reported incident, and the wife of the man injured, Mauren Dircks, described the day to the board, including how she rushed to her husband's side once she realized what happened.

Sheriff John Buncich and Mikulich each briefly testified, although Mikulich invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The merit board is scheduled to make a decision at its July 20 meeting.

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Derrick Dircks filed a civil case against Mikulich, as well as the Lake County Sheriff's Department, Lake County Board of Commissioners and the City of Gary. A specific monetary amount was not listed in court records, but Dircks is asking for a judgment in punitive damages "in an amount that is fair and reasonable" and "demands trial by jury," according to a complaint.

Mikulich's counsel in the civil case denies "the allegation that there was negligent conduct by Mikulich," instead arguing that the negligent conduct was by Lake County and its sheriff's department, according to court records. Cooper argues that the Sheriff's Department "was negligent in assigning" Mikulich to the air show because the department knew "Mikulich was not fit to practice as patrol police officer," court records show.

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Twitter @ruthyjacobs
Veronica Mora and Roxanne Garza of Hammond wait to board the South Shore Line Sunday for their third trip as a couple to the annual Chicago Pride Parade. ( Carrie Napoleon/Post-Tribune )

Elisa Sauseda of Hammond and her family and friends were among the first people to arrive at the South Shore Line station in East Chicago on Sunday to catch the train to the 48th annual Chicago Pride Parade.

Sauseda and her friends Isabella Torres, Krysta Rogers, Angela Perez and Jesse Gomez, all wearing rainbow accents, waited in the station for more of their group to arrive.

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"We're gay, everybody else is supporting us," Sauseda said of herself and Gomez.

Gomez said he went to his first Pride Parade last year and was moved by the experience. It meant a lot to be somewhere with so much support, he said.

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"It was so happy and accepting," Gomez said.

Going to the parade shows the support that exists for the LGBT community, Torres said.

"It's just great to show equality," she said.

Rogers said she has some concerns in the current political climate.

"People might feel like they can say or do what they want," but that did not stop the group from making its annual trek to the city.

"Despite all the hate, it makes it more important to make a statement," Torres said.

The parade is about more than making a statement; it is also a celebration, they said.

"It's fun," Perez said. "People are dressed the way they want to be dressed without judgment."

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Manny Tucson of Hammond, Sauseda's father, said each year a large group gathers to head to the city for the event, and each year the size of their group grows.

"It's family," Tucson said.

He thinks bringing his kids to the event is a valuable lesson. His other daughter Angelina was also in the group.

"I want them to learn as human beings we are all equal. I keep telling them this is your generation. We are all humans. No old, no young, only human," Tucson said.

This was the third trip Roxanne Garza and Veronica Mora of Hammond were making to Chicago Pride.

Mora was wearing a rainbow tutu and a tank top emblazoned with "I'm Hers" under a rainbow-colored Mickey Mouse-style glove pointing at her partner, while Garza's tank top bore the response "She's Mine" with the finger pointing toward Mora.

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"It feels like the one time of year you can be out in the open and not be so concerned somebody will be making a comment," Mora said.

Garza said when you are part of the LGBT community and you meet someone new, inevitably, one day, the person will ask, and you have to come out. At events like the Chicago Pride Parade, the couple agree you just get to be yourself without questions.

Mora said she also likes going to the parade to see what businesses sponsor the event and support the LGBT community.

The pair said they stayed home last year in the wake of the June 12 Pulse Night Club shooting in Orlando, but refuse to let fear, even in today's politically charged climate, prevent them from attending.

"There is always somebody picketing something," Mora said, adding the pickets do not bother them.

She said it is not just the LGBT community that is angry about the negativity toward its members.

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"You can't be scared and stay quiet forever," Garza said.

Chris Lacy of Crown Point said he was attending his first Chicago Pride event to support his friend Caden Pociask of Lowell.

"I'm transgender," Pociask said.

This was his third Chicago Pride Parade.

"The most important thing is to show up so people see we exist. You can't push us away," Pociask said.
What do you get when you put a four-star chef in a one-star concept?

In the case of Bottlefork, you get a solid two stars.

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I thought chef/partner Kevin Hickey (who pulled down four stars as chef at the late Ritz-Carlton Dining Room) was crazy for leaving the Four Seasons Chicago, where he oversaw a multimillion-dollar food-and-beverage operation, to dream up concepts for Rockit Ranch Productions. But it's starting to look as though the chef knew what he was doing.

"I admire so much the great chefs that had the one restaurant  Le Bec-Fin, Charlie Trotter's, Le Bernardin," Hickey says. "But I never wanted to pigeonhole myself into one style. We're going to do a lot of interesting venues in the next few years; I have lots of ideas."

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Hickey has started out with a good one. Bottlefork sits in the old Dragon Ranch space, whose dimensions put one in mind of a 2,000-square-foot bowling alley. It is, literally and figuratively, a niche operation, a tiny space vying for attention in perhaps the most restaurant-dense area in the city. Frontera Grill and Bub City are its neighbors to the north and south, Roka Akor and Naha are across the street, and Sunda, another Rockit restaurant, is a few steps farther away.

Given the dining area's 80-something seats (the best are the five front-and-center bar stools looking straight into the kitchen), there's not much room left for cooking and even less for storage. Of necessity, the menu is pretty tightly focused, even more streamlined than Bottlefork's original February menu.

Execution takes this simple, small-plates American restaurant to unexpected heights. A layer of shrimp "cracklins" (ground and fried prawn crackers) adds crunch and extra flavor to tuna crudo with avocado, and bite-sized nuggets of crisped sweetbreads, with a lively pickled-pepper aioli, are absolutely addictive. Even the charcuterie plate, whose components come from other places (but they include the fine nduja spread from Nduja Artisans in Chicago), is brightened by a housemade, authentically spicy giardiniera.

One could question the authenticity of the so-called beef cheek poutine; despite the presence of squeaky-fresh cheese curds, there's far too much meat and the excellent fries far too crispy to be the real thing.

The fun starter is the bag of crisps, and what arrives at the table is a brown bag of housemade, malt vinegar-powdered potato chips, into which your server drops a poached egg, reseals the bag and shakes it as though it were a cocktail-in-progress. The resultant mess is gooey and bizarre and, trust me, you'll eat it all.

Vegetables and salads are lumped together on the menu. Unless your main course already provides them, try the Kennebec-potato fries with malt vinegar aioli. Wild-boar bacon and a sunny-side duck egg lift the creamed kale from utter blandness. I particularly like the Mediterranean salad, a Greektown-on-a-plate assemblage of romaine, olives, oil-glossed tomatoes, eggplant hummus (hummus and baba ghanoush combined) and saganaki-style cheese.

Among the larger plates, the fascinating choice is the spam and octopus, because, really, who doesn't like spam and octopus? The plate holds tender poached octopus with a grilled finish, alongside housemade cubes of ground pork shoulder, belly and ham, crisped in a pan moments before it arrives. Add some kimchi-style Brussels sprouts (more lightly pickled than full-on fermented) and you have a fascinating dish that I'm confident can't be found anywhere else.

Then there's the porchetta "pastor;" it's called pastor because the preparation is more Latin than a true Italian porchetta, and the quote marks are there because it's not a true pastor, either.

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The braised pork belly is stuffed with chorizo and seasoned with achiote, and there's a fried disk of masa and some deep-fried chicharron along for the ride. It's terrific.

Also good is the gnocchi, with seasonal mushrooms and goat cheese; orecchiette with rapini, spicy chicken sausage and espelette peppers is a special that I hope returns. The roasted half-chicken, its skin stuffed with nduja, is wonderful, spooned with a black-truffle chicken jus that I would happily eat with a straw.

There are a couple of sandwiches on the dinner menu (repeated on the lunch menu), and one will save you money. The one that won't is the indulgent $25 Rich Man Po' Boy, which combines lobster meat, foie gras and crisped oysters in a toasted lobster-roll bun.

The more modest effort is the $17 bacon burger, made with a 70-30 mix of grass-fed Tallgrass beef and topped with Vermilion blue cheese. It's a good, hefty burger that is every bit as salty as it sounds (and maybe more; approach with caution).

Again, owing to the tiny prep area, desserts are simple. "I had a pastry chef at first," Hickey says, "and after five days, she ran screaming out the back door." There are soft serve sundaes, including a hot fudge version with caramel, pretzel streusel and beer foam, and a strawberry-rhubarb sundae with creme de menthe syrup and sugar cookie crumble.

The day's "hot and gooey" dessert is always a good bet; one visit featured raspberry-blueberry crumble with sweetened whipped cream, and another visit a sensational near-liquid cheesecake with streusel crumble and early season cherries.

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There's a brief but well-chosen wine list, augmented by a chef's list of premium wines in the I-got-my-bonus price range. Cocktails are a real strength; I've grown fond of the Satan's Whiskers over the course of my visits, and for a real experience, try the $30 Brandy & Cigars, a premium brandy cocktail that arrives inside an upended snifter filled with cigar smoke. It's the closest thing to a cigar-and-cognac meal finisher than one can get  legally  in any area restaurant.

Bottlefork

441 N. Clark St.; 312-955-1900; bottlefork.com

Tribune rating: 2 stars

Open: Dinner Monday-Sunday, lunch Monday-Friday, brunch Saturday-Sunday

Prices: Large plates $16-$29

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Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V

Reservations: Strongly recommended

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Noise: Conversation-challenged

Other: Wheelchair accessible; valet parking

Ratings key:

Four Stars: Outstanding

Three Stars: Excellent

Two Stars: Very good

One Star: Good

No stars: Unsatisfactory

The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.

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Watch Phil Vettel's reviews weekends on WGN-Ch. 9's "News at Nine" and on CLTV.

pvettel@tribune.com

Twitter @philvettel
Grilling steak this summer? Try one of these Argentine malbecs, all priced at $25 or less. ( Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune )

Mendoza is a giant in many ways.

In the most obvious way, it is the largest and most important wine region in one of the largest countries on earth  a prodigious, wine-producing nation that consistently hovers around the No. 5 spot worldwide.

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Metaphorically, the Mendoza region of Argentina is a giant for what it has done with, and for, malbec, its adopted and most-prized grape variety. Mendoza lies in western Argentina, at the foot of the Andes mountain range, about 650 miles west of the capital city of Buenos Aires.

The Andes give Mendoza its altitude, with some of its best vineyards rising to roughly 3,000 feet in elevation, and others soaring past 5,000 feet, providing a sunny, dry climate with cool nights. The province of Mendoza is divided into regions, one of which, Lujan de Cuyo, was named Argentina's first protected wine appellation in 1993. Another is the legendary Uco Valley (or Valle de Uco, as it often appears on labels), which includes the Tupungato, Tunuyan and San Carlos districts.

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Argentina has been home to winemaking operations since the late 1500s, due in part to both friendly and hostile visitors from across the Atlantic Ocean in Spain. But it wasn't until the mid-1800s that malbec arrived in Argentina from France. This is when the sleeping giant's eyelids began to flutter, though it would be another century and a half before the giant was fully awake. They move slowly, giants.

In Cahors, the wine region in southwestern France where malbec was born, it's often a big wine full of heft and tanninsa good partner for the rich, local cuisine, such as cassoulet, duck confit, game meats, foie gras and black truffles. Argentine malbec is generally fruitier and less tannic than it is in Cahors, with hints of plum, blackberries, chocolate, earth and spice, plus a supple, velvety mouthfeel. Still, though, it's a great complement to big foods: steaks, burgers and just about any seared meat plucked from a flame-kissed grate. Argentines eat their locally grown, grass-fed beef like it's the only food there is, after all.

Malbecs from Argentina are no longer the across-the-board bargains that they once were (due, presumably, in part to an influx of foreign interest in the region), but there are still plenty of affordable bottles out there. While other grapes, including cabernet sauvignon and bonarda, are sometimes blended with malbec, many Mendoza malbecs are 100 percent varietals. Even in the case of blends, to be labeled a malbec in Argentina, the bottle must contain at least 85 percent of the grape.

Argentine malbecs, especially from within Mendoza, are relatively easy to find in shops and restaurants. Below are brief notes from a recent tasting. The bottles are listed in ascending order, according to price.

2015 Alamos malbec: This blend of 90 percent malbec, 6 percent syrah and 4 percent bonarda offers plum, blackberry, black cherry, smoke and vanilla, with a silky, soft texture. $13

2015 Bodega Argento malbec: Blackberry, plum, ripe dark cherry and a hint of toast are all present in this 100 percent malbec, aged 4 months in French and American oak. $14

2014 Kaiken Reserva malbec: Bright and jammy cherry and blackberry commingle with sweet oak and spice in this 96 percent malbec, 4 percent cabernet sauvignon blend. $14

2015 Don Miguel Gascon malbec: This 100 percent varietal offers bursts of blueberry, plum, herbs and mocha, plus a velvety texture and a long finish. $15

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2014 Zuccardi Serie A malbec: Full of sweet black cherry, blackberry, herbs, minerality, tobacco and chocolate, this wine clocks in at 14.7 percent alcohol. $15

2014 Tomero malbec: From the Uco Valley, this easy-drinking 100 percent varietal offers plum, tobacco, cherry, chocolate and a touch of spice on the finish. $17

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2014 Terrazas de los Andes Reserva malbec: Ripe and juicy dark fruits are accompanied by zingy acidity, spice and vanilla in this elegant, floral wine. $20

2014 Vina Cobos Felino malbec: Blackberry, vanilla and loads of cedar come through in this beautiful wine, which is surprisingly fresh and lively with a lingering finish. $20

2014 Trivento Golden Reserve malbec: Made of 100 percent malbec, this one starts with ripe dark fruits and leads to savory herbs, tobacco, tangy acidity and grippy tannins. $21

2014 Achaval-Ferrer malbec: Plum, earth, herbs, cigar box, ripe and vibrant dark fruits, tobacco, tangy acidity and a long, layered finish sum up this 100 percent varietal. $25

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2014 Bodega Septima Septima Obra malbec: Cherry-strawberry bubble gum, a tiny note of banana taffy, silky texture and vibrant acidity made this one of the tasting's best. $25

food@chicagotribune.com

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From Jade Sotack, head bartender at Wassail in New York, Summer of Rambo is a spin on a classic Pimm's cup, subbing sidra (Spanish cider) for the usual ginger soda. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Hard cider consumption is on the rise in the U.S. as thirsty bar and restaurant (and ballgame and liquor store) patrons increasingly order the crisply sweet alternative to beer and wine. No surprise, then, that mixologists are crafting cocktails from the fruit-based beverage.

"Cider gives cocktails that beautiful fruity backbone," says Ambrosia Borowski, a bartender at Chicago's Fountainhead who is developing a hard cider cocktail program for the Northman, a "ciderpub" opening this fall in Lincoln Square. Ciders also provide bubbles, plus "a more boozy experience" as a mixer than soda and many beers due to their higher alcohol level.

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The three major types of cider offer their different qualities to a cocktail for the bartender's consideration. British-style ciders (which most American ciders are based on) lean toward a dry and tannic style, while French tend to be more funk- and fruit-forward. Spanish sidras, which are still, possess a high acidity and a slight salinity that brightens the cocktails they are mixed into.

Classic examples of cider cocktails include the Snakebite (a 50-50 mix of beer and hard cider) and the colonial Stone Fence (2 ounces bourbon or rum plus 12 ounces hard cider over ice, topped with a dash of Angostura bitters). Bartenders are not only mixing up their versions of these classics, but also subbing cider in new takes on old bar favorites.

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At Wassail, a cider bar in Manhattan's Lower East Side that offers 12 ciders on draft, head bartender Jade Sotack says she "uses sidra to act as the citrus element" in her Gin and Juice, a bottled riff on a gin and tonic that also features Yeoman Tonic Syrup. She also has three Stone Fence variations on her drink list, spiking American cider with French cognac, sidra with pear brandy, and French pear cider with apple brandy. Her Summer of Rambo (recipe below) substitutes sidra for the usual ginger soda in a fruity Pimm's cup.

On the West Coast, Cathy Ferrante, bar director at Seattle's Capitol Cider, crafts cocktails from all types of hard ciders. "Their bright fruity character offers a whole different dynamic to a drink than other mixers," says Ferrante, "more fun, and playful." The Hopito, her hoppy take on a mojito, introduces hopped hard cider (made with hops, a key ingredient in beer), and her Apple Collins brings apple brandy and cider to the classic Collins. Her recipes (below) should inspire some autumn cocktail shaking at the home bar.

Lisa Futterman is a freelance writer.

Summer of Rambo

Makes: 1 cocktail

From Jade Sotack, head bartender at Wassail in New York.

1 strawberry

1 blackberry

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1 raspberry

1 slice cucumber

3/4 ounce lemon juice

3/4 ounce simple syrup

1 ounce blended scotch

1 ounce Pimm's

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1 dash Angostura

Sidra (Spanish cider)

Muddle fruit and cucumber slice in a shaker tin. Add remaining ingredients, except the sidra, and ice. Shake. Double strain over ice into a Collins glass. Top with sidra. Garnish with additional fruit, cucumber and mint.

Hopito

Muddle a few mint leaves with 1/2 ounce agave syrup and 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice, then add 1 1/2 ounces rum. Shake and pour all ingredients with ice into a pint glass; top with hopped cider. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

Apple Collins

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1 ounce apple brandy, 1 ounce fresh lemon juice, splash simple syrup. Shake together and pour over ice into a Collins glass; top with hard apple cider. Garnish with lemon peel and brandied cherries.
Ravyn Lenae perfors at the Mamby on the Beach festival at Oakwood Beach in Chicago on June 24, 2017. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)

In its third year, Mamby on the Beach once again boasted some of the best city views offered at a Chicago music festival alongside a thoughtfully curated lineup Saturday and Sunday at Oakwood Beach. An eclectic cast of bands, electronic-based musicians and hip-hop artists  from homegrown artists including Saba, Sir the Baptist and Green Velvet to album-charting acts including MGMT and Walk the Moon  complemented the fest's theme of chill, danceable vibes.

According to organizers, an estimated 30,000 fans attended over the weekend. Conceived as a boutique festival, Mamby included beachfront stages and free activities including yoga sessions and wellness workshops. Each day, the musical lineup generally progressed with relaxing grooves that melded into more anthemic fare. "I kind of look at it as providing a soundtrack for a person's day," React Presents' Matt Rucins, one of the three Mamby bookers, said of the programming philosophy.

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The sonic landscape also showcased a bevy of strong Chicago talent. Saturday's lineup included recent high school graduate Ravyn Lenae's sultry, old-soul vocals mingled with romantic yearning on her jazz-tipped numbers such as "Blossom Dearie."

Rapper Saba's fiery set spanned his collaborative efforts including performing Chance the Rapper's "Angels," which Saba is featured on, and he brought out his brother and fellow Pivot Gang member Joseph Chilliams for turns at the mic for songs including "Westside Bound 3." Saba also dedicated his moving "Church/Liquor Store" to his late cousin and Pivot Gang member John Walt, who was stabbed to death in February.

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Rapper Smino was a guest during both Lenae and Saba's sets, and Joey Purp made a surprise appearance during producer oddCouple's slot. BJ the Chicago Kid injected his smooth R&B, which included "Roses," into the afternoon during an abbreviated performance.

The city was well-represented Sunday, too. A couple of dozen-strong Dexter Walker & Zion Movement gospel choir members ushered in events with "Oh Happy Day," and Sir the Baptist took the crowd to an alternative church where playful swearing in songs and onstage was forgiven. His rousing set included "Heaven," and "Creflo Almighty Dollar." Gospel great Donald Lawrence joined in a cameo as Sir the Baptist and his talented artist congregation ventured into the audience for a reprise of "Raise Hell" for the set's finale. Later, Green Velvet brought the worship of house to the fore with a dance party that closed out the DJ tent.

Danceable grooves dominated both nights' programming. On Saturday, Miike Snow kicked the dance party into full gear with "Genghis Khan" and "Animal" before headliner MGMT delivered hits such as "Kids" alongside new songs including "James."

On Sunday, Cut Copy's buoyant set had beach dwellers kicking up sand for "Lights and Music," and the band gave a shoutout to Chicago Pride weekend before delivering "Meet Me in a House of Love."

Thundercat thrilled fans with his awe-inspiring bass-and-falsetto-buoyed, funkified R&B jams, which included "Friend Zone."

Mamby culminated with Walk the Moon, Green Velvet and Flying Lotus. Those looking for singalong hits seemed to migrate to the former and the club crowd to Green Velvet's overflowing tent. Flying Lotus displayed the most intriguing visuals of the weekend. Flanked by two video screens displaying trippy visuals and lights, he delivered a vibrant, experimental mix, which included him live rapping on songs such as "Dead Man's Tetris."

Althea Legaspi is a freelance critic.

ctc-arts@chicagotribune.com

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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)
On Sunday's "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver became the latest late-night personality to take aim at the anti-vaccine movement.

Oliver devoted nearly a half-hour to debunking the various fears surrounding childhood immunizations, which he described as "one of humanity's most incredible accomplishments."

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As seemingly everything is these days, the segment was inspired by President Trump, who has stoked unfounded fears about vaccine safety on both the debate stage and social media.

But, as Oliver noted, Trump is hardly alone in buying into these baseless theories. He's joined by prominent figures from across the political spectrum including Alex Jones, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and, um, Rob Schneider. Not to mention parents in 11 states where the unvaccinated rate continues to climb.

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As Oliver explained, many of these fears stem from a study that suggested a link between autism and the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). The study has since been retracted and its author, Andrew Wakefield, has had his license revoked and been accused of distorting his findings.

"He's basically the Lance Armstrong of doctors," said Oliver.

And yet Wakefield still gives talks around the world, including in Minneapolis, where the plummeting vaccination rate among the Somali community has led to a major outbreak of measles, a disease Oliver described as "infectious as 'Happy' by Pharrell." (He also cited an outbreak in France where 15,000 people became ill and six died.)

Though numerous subsequent studies have failed to find a link between vaccines and autism, the fear persists, leading to lower vaccination and also taking away resources "from studying actual causes and treatments," Oliver noted.

The host also had some harsh words for Dr. Bob Sears, the Orange County physician who's built an empire based on vaccine skepticism, while admitting that his alternative vaccination schedule is not based on any peer-reviewed studies.

"Your job is to make sure children don't get deadly diseases, not to make parents feel comfortable," he said. "You're a pediatrician, not a flask of whiskey tucked into a Baby Bjorn."

Oliver argued that Sears likes to have it both ways, seeming to support science-based medicine while once in a while saying things like "vaccines don't cause autism except when they do."

The line inspired Oliver to fire back with this: "Don't worry, opportunist quacks writing books that fan the flames of people's unfounded fears don't cause a legitimate public health hazard, except when they do."

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Oliver ended the segment on a personal note, acknowledging that parenting can be "terrifying" and that his natural inclination is to be afraid of everything  including, as he put it, "the dark, the light, heights, depths, confined spaces, wide-open spaces, intimacy, spiders and a sudden and mysterious lack of spiders."

But as Oliver explained, he is also a parent whose 19-month-old son was born prematurely.

"I've worried about his health, and I still worry about his health a lot," Oliver said. "We are vaccinating him fully and on schedule, and if I can overcome the temptation to listen to the irrational shouting of my terrified lizard brain, then I believe that everyone can."

While Hollywood has a reputation as a bastion of "anti-vaxx" sentiment, Oliver seems to be among the majority in late-night TV in siding with the scientific community. Several other shows  including "The Colbert Report," "The Daily Show," "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Conan"  have also mocked vaccine critics.

You can watch Oliver's segment here.

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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)
For years, the Gutierrez family maintained a low profile to avoid attention from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That changed in 2006 , when Gutierrezs father received a notice summoning him for a meeting with Immigration officials.

For years, the Gutierrez family maintained a low profile to avoid attention from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That changed in 2006 , when Gutierrezs father received a notice summoning him for a meeting with Immigration officials. (Samantha Max/Hoy Chicago)

In a few days, John Gutierrez will accompany his father to the Immigration offices in Chicago for a check-in. The 16-year-old has endured the fear of his parents possible deportation for his entire life. As his fathers meeting date approaches, Gutierrezs dread has grown.

"Our family might be separated," he said. "Just, it's always on my mind."

Gutierrez and two of his siblings were born in the U.S. and are citizens. But his parents and his older brother are Mexican citizens. After the birth of their first son, who still lives with family in Mexico, Gutierrezs parents decided to move to the U.S. in search of better opportunities for their family. They have lived in the country since 1997, raising a family in Chicago.

For years, the Gutierrez family maintained a low profile to avoid attention from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That changed in 2006, when Gutierrezs father received a notice summoning him for a meeting with Immigration officials.

Gutierrez doesn't know what might happen when his dad meets with ICE officials, on July 11. But he's preparing for the worst.

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"We have more fear that my father may be deported, with what's going on right now and with Trump," he said. "Before, we weren't really that worried, but, now, with all that's been going on, we're worried."

Gutierrez is one of approximately 5.9 million minors under the age of 18 living with an undocumented family member, according to census data from 2010-2014. During the height of deportations under the Obama administration, between 2011 and 2013, half a million U.S. citizen minors experienced the detention and deportation of at least one parent, according to ICE statistics.

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Steve Cortes, a member of Trump's Hispanic Council, said that the administration plans to implement comprehensive immigration reform that could possibly prevent the separation of families. However, such reforms most likely wouldn't be enacted until 2018 at the earliest, he said. Cortes acknowledged that kids like Gutierrez don't have time to wait on the political process in Washington.

"It won't be soon, unfortunately," Cortes said. "I wish it were."

Gutierrez is about to finish his second year at Benito Juarez Community Academy in the Pilsen neighborhood, on the Lower West Side, and hopes to graduate from high school and attend college. But if his father is deported, realizing such a dream would be improbable, he said. Without his father's support, Gutierrez will have to work and help his mom take care of his younger siblings.

"I would like to go to college and, yeah, help my family out, give an example to my siblings for finishing school and being successful, which is something that might not happen," he said. "If my dad is deported, it will be difficult for me to accomplish that."

Gutierrez said his parents immigrated to the U.S. to give their kids a better life. He doesn't understand why politicians want to deport immigrants like his dad.

"We're all the same. We're all just trying to make our lives better, like everyone else," he said. "We're not criminals. We're not here to harm anyone. We're just trying to be happy, and no one should really be separated from their family  growing up without a father or mother. It's just not right."
Karim McIntosh, Moises Martinez and Juwan McClain of DRW College Prep performed a spoken word piece inspired by the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. (Samantha Max/HOY)

Moises Martinez had never stepped foot on such a big stage when the spotlight shined on him for the first time at PrivateBank Theatre on Wednesday morning. He and two friends, Karim McIntosh and Juwan McClain, all juniors at DRW College Prep in Homan Square, needed a few rehearsals to get used to the space, the longtime home of Broadway in Chicago. But before long, they started to feel more comfortable.

"We were excited to perform," Martinez said. "And when it came to it, we just did the best we could."

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On May 31, about 2,000 high school students and teachers from 17 different Chicago Public Schools gathered downtown for a day of performance through the lens of history. The event was one of ten installments this year of the Hamilton Education Program, in which U.S. history students at low-income Title I public schools complete a week-long curriculum about Alexander Hamilton, the inspiration for the hit musical Hamilton, and then get to attend a performance of the show.

As part of the curriculum, each student crafts an original poem, skit or other piece of performance art set in the historic period when the show takes place. The spoken word poem that Martinez, McClain and McIntosh presented was one of 12 works chosen to be performed onstage in the morning, before a matinee production of Hamilton.

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Teachers participating in the program have access to teaching guides, video clips from the show, interviews with cast members and historians and a collection of essays and primary source documents, according to Director of Development for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Susan Zuckerman.

"The program started because Jeffrey Seller, the producer of Hamilton, and Lin Miranda had the vision of an education program for students who would not have access to the show," Zuckerman said.

Their goal is to reach 250,000 inner-city students over the course of five years, she added.

Together with the Gilder Lehrman Institute, Seller and Miranda developed a program that allows children to create their own Hamilton, incorporating research and historical artifacts to produce a work of art.

For Martinez, learning about history from textbooks doesn't often resonate with him personally.

"But once you start reading more into it, you realize that these were actual people fighting for their beliefs, fighting for what they thought was right," he said. "And it just blows me away thinking, 'I could know that person.' It could be any one of us who could write history."

In addition to its critical acclaim, Hamilton has sparked conversations about race and representation. Its cast, portraying the white Founding Fathers of the U.S., is made up almost entirely of minority actors. In a panel following the student performances, several ensemble members spoke about their experiences acting in the show.
The first-ever regionwide Latin music and arts festival in the Midwest area will be September 2-3 in southern Wisconsin, Billboard reported.

In its inaugural edition, the Los Dells Festival will include big names in reggaeton, norteno, rock, and pop, with a lineup to be announced in the coming weeks.

The event will be held at Woodside Ranch Resort and Conference Center, in Mauston, WI, which will make more than 1500 acres of private land available for on-site camping.

The property is one of the best sites Ive ever seen for a potential music festival, said Damon Zumwalt, Woodsides owner, in a statement. And we feel that a lot of the Latinos in this region havent had the opportunity to see much great music in the right environment, and we want to bring great music to them combined with an unforgettable festival experience.

Besides the music, Zumwalt confirmed, Los Dells Fest will also feature art installations, a Ferris wheel and diverse culinary options. There will also be VIP packages, with detailed information to be released soon

-With information from Billboard
The founders of a new rapid response team to confront Immigration raids in Pilsen arent new faces in the neighborhood. Theyre longtime activists like Mary Gonzales, a community organizer who led the fight to build Benito Juarez High School for Latino youth in the neighborhood 40 years ago, and Rosalva Ruiz, of the Federation of Zacatecans in Chicago.

The struggle to protect the undocumented is fundamental to their neighborhood, which has always been a "point of entry," they say. Out of fear that the worst is yet to come, they've come up with an innovative strategy to tackle whatever challenges may come their way.

Called Compassion Volunteers, their group of parishioners from three Pilsen Catholic churches is in the process of establishing an emergency hotline, which neighborhood residents will be able to call if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are following them, knocking on their doors or circling their streets, they explained.

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Members of the organization will verify the report, advise the affected family, and organize to bring public attention to ICE's action, explained Rita Aguilar, president of the Parochial Council of San Paul's Church and coordinator of the effort.

"We're trying to be proactive, because our community tends to be reactive," she said. "We haven't seen it (Immigration enforcement) yet in Pilsen, but we wanted to be ready if a situation emerges."

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Responses to ICE presence in their neighborhood could include bringing peaceful protesters or members of the media to the scene, and spreading photos and videos of agents on the internet, Aguilar said.

Citing "reasons of public safety," ICE will not comment about exactly how its agents would respond to the actions the Pilsen group is considering.

The group will also host "Know your Rights" workshops, and is preparing a registry of parishioners who would be willing to take in a U.S. citizen child whose parents were to be deported.
Barbara Bennett shows some of the information she received when booking a home visit doctor's appointment for her daughter. (Katherine Frey / The Washington Post)

Alison Mintzer and her family were on a flight from New York to Los Angeles when her daughter complained that she felt sick. By the time they landed, Mintzer's normally uncomplaining 6-year-old said that her neck and ears hurt. When a fever soon followed, it was enough to convince her parents that she needed to see a doctor.

Thousands of miles from their pediatrician, and unable to find one quickly in L.A., Mintzer didn't know what to do. Then a family friend suggested an app called Heal that could use new technology to drum up a relic from the past: doctors who make house calls.

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Once upon a time, a visit with the doctor meant welcoming one into your home, rather than heading out to a clinic or hospital waiting room. But around the 1960s, the house call fell out of favor as doctors' offices sought to become more efficient, and the doctor-patient relationship changed from "Marcus Welby" to something less personal with the rise of hospitals and modern insurance plans.

Now, however, the trend for on-demand service in the age of Uber could revive the house call. Services such as Heal - which launched in the District in June after operating in California since 2014 - and competitors such as Pager and Curbside Care are expanding their footprints across the country. And research suggests that house calls can provide a better standard of care for some patients than a hospital visit. A University of Southern California study of a house call program in the state found that hospitalization rates dropped for patients who were enrolled in the program for six months: Of 1,000 patients, 96 were hospitalized after being enrolled, down from 159 before the program.

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Costs can also drop, since patients can avoid hospital visits. A 2013 Brookings Institution report said a Department of Veterans Affairs analysis of its home-based care program found a "25 percent reduction in hospital admissions, a 36 percent reduction in hospital days, and a 13 percent reduction in combined costs."

The chief executive of Heal, Nick Desai, co-founded the start-up with his wife, Renee Dua, a physician. Their own parental trip to the emergency room inspired the service, after the couple, unable to contact their regular pediatrician, sat in an emergency room for seven hours with their feverish 3-month-old son.

"My wife turned to me and said, 'There's got to be a better way,' " Desai recalled. So Heal was born - a service that can work with patients' insurance. For those without insurance, a visit costs up to $99.

"Our number one, main goal is that, five years from now, you won't have to go to the doctor's office," Desai said.

That's certainly been the case for Tony Rogers, a 57-year-old Heal patient in Orange County, Calif., whose health problems have made it progressively more difficult for him to leave his home. Just after Christmas in 2015, he decided he'd paid his last visit to the doctor he'd seen for 35 years, because it was too hard to get to the office. His sister found out about Heal online and recommended it to him.

Rogers said it has been a revelation. He can now see a doctor on his front porch; he even had an ultrasound taken in his own bed. When he received a diabetes diagnosis, his physician took an immediate audit of his kitchen, pointing out which foods were fine to eat and which weren't. She was also able to look at the laundry detergent he was using and recommend brands that would not irritate his skin.

"She told me, 'This is good, this is not.' It was a really nice teaching experience," Rogers said.

For others, the fact that Heal appointments can easily fit into their lives is key. Barbara Bennett, director of the D.C. market for Heal, recently used the service to schedule a last-minute physical at her Great Falls, Va., home for her daughter, Claire. An appointment with her normal pediatrician would have required waiting at least a week - past the deadline to submit forms for summer camp. With Heal, Bennett scheduled a same-day appointment.

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The convenience was a big plus, she said. "I didn't feel drained. I hadn't sat in traffic. I just picked up and kept going on with the day," she said. And the forms? They arrived that night, allowing her to turn everything in on time.

---

There are many things Heal and other on-demand doctor apps can't deliver. For one, apps are not a substitute for emergency care. (They can cut down on unnecessary trips to the emergency room - which advocates say is a benefit of the service.) If patients input symptoms into Heal that indicate an emergency, they will be directed to call 911. At a patient's home, doctors can provide a range of standard care but can't cart around heavier or more complex equipment, such as an MRI machine. Nor can they do something major, such as surgery or procedures that require highly specialized equipment or expertise.

Heal also isn't a solution to providing care in places where doctors are scarce, as its current markets are heavily urban. Desai said Washington is an attractive market in part because of its density and its transient population, which means there are probably a lot of people in the area who don't have a regular primary-care doctor.

And finally, while some people, such as Rogers, have used Heal for consistent care, Heal isn't specifically designed for intense, long-term care in the home. But other house-call programs, such as Hospital at Home at Johns Hopkins University's medical school, have demonstrated many of the same benefits that Heal claims for its patients.

Mattan Schuchman, a Johns Hopkins physician specializing in geriatrics, makes regular monthly or bimonthly house calls to homebound patients. Programs such as his, he said, are more specialized to treat those with chronic conditions.

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"I do think we are set up to be more of a primary-care service," he said, particularly for homebound patients who need consistent attention. He agrees that house calls give doctors more context and can help them build better relationships with patients, if a service allows for them to see the same physician regularly. In his experience, house calls always give doctors more time with patients than appointments in a clinic.

Desai said Heal doctors see an average of 14 patients a day, which works out to slightly less than the weekly average estimated by the American Academy of Family Physicians. For Schuchman and other doctors who make house calls, that's a positive. But it can be an economic challenge for doctors who give up practices where they can charge by service and see patients in rapid succession.

Plus, house calls involve travel, which can feel like wasted time, said Eric Topol, a physician and director at the Scripps Translational Science Institute. While Topol is a strong proponent of house calls, he notes that this was one reason they fell out of fashion in the first place.

"Efficiency was a big part of the equation," Topol said. "And it's not efficient for doctors to be roving around like an Uber or Lyft driver."

---

Advances in medical technology have made house calls easier again, Topol said, particularly the increased portability of electronic health-care records and the medical equipment that doctors use. Doctors can now also do paperwork on the go.

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Still, the problem of efficiency will be difficult for any program to get around, said Glenn Melnick, a health-care economics professor at the University of Southern California. Melnick co-authored the USC study.

House call programs can reduce overall costs for the health-care system, if patients use house calls rather than heading for expensive emergency room care. But recruitment and retention can be tricky for house-call programs, he said. Melnick's study of a house-call program in Los Angeles found that, over time, costs associated with the program went down - but only because the services began relying more on other types of medical professionals, such as nurse practitioners and physical therapists. That's not necessarily a negative, but it could be less appealing to patients who specifically want to see a doctor.

Desai said that Heal hasn't had problems recruiting doctors. Many, he said, are craving a deeper connection with patients.

"Doctors are coming to us to practice a better brand of medicine," he said.

For Mintzer, the close relationships emphasized by Heal turned out to be a potential lifesaver - though in conjunction with a more traditional hospital experience. The on-demand physician not only treated her daughter but also was concerned enough to come back the next day and urge the family to seek further treatment for their 6-year-old from a specialist.

The doctor told Mintzer about a lump and said he believed an ear and throat infection had caused an abscess in her daughter's throat that needed further inspection. Without the Heal doctor's advice - something more personal than she might have gotten in urgent care, Mintzer said - she would not have known to take her daughter in as quickly.

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"We got her into the hospital and onto her IV antibiotics earlier than we would have," Mintzer said. "Without that, it would have gotten worse much faster."






When buying an engagement ring online, verify the return policy. Even the best online photos aren't the same as seeing the ring in person. (Getty Images)

Getting ready to pop the question, but not sure where to buy an engagement ring?

The traditional method of engagement-ring shopping is to go to a brick-and-mortar store and pick one out in person, but like many facets of shopping, online options are changing the landscape. Online jewelry sales remain only about 4 to 5 percent of the market today, according to McKinsey Group, but that figure may rise to about 10 percent for fine jewelry by 2020.

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What's held back online fine-jewelry sales is consumer concerns about legitimacy, said Jennie Pastor, chief executive officer and founder of Kavador, an online jewelry marketplace that represents independent jewelry stores.

That's starting to change, and experts have tips on how to buy properly.

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The level of trust between consumer and retailer must be significantly higher than with other types of retail, Pastor said. It's not like buying a toaster; people spend thousands of dollars buying an engagement ring.

"Obviously the internet is rife with scams and fake sites, but with fine jewelry specifically, buyers really do rely heavily on the integrity of the seller because even when they receive the piece, how many will look at the stone and  know for sure it is a diamond and not a cubic zirconia or crystal?" she said.

Kavador's Pastor and George Peralta, jewelry sales manager at M.S. Rau Antiques, in New Orleans, which sells fine jewelry online and at its physical location, said purchasers should use common practices to verify an online retailer  read social-media reviews, see if it is registered with the Better Business Bureau, find out how long the site has been around, check that the articles on the press page are legitimate.

Also make sure the gemstones  i.e. diamonds, emeralds  are certified by a third party, like the Gemological Institute of America, they said.

Josh Holland, director of brand experience for Blue Nile, a leading online diamond and fine jewelry retailer, said certification from GIA is "the gold standard of diamond certification."

"The quality of diamond with that report is considered guaranteed," he said.

After verifying the store, the steps for buying a ring are similar, online or offline, Holland said.

"It's very easy to get smart about buying a diamond. I'm not talking about being a gemologist. Knowing the basic four C's (carat weight, cut, color, clarity) and where you can play a little bit  if I get a lesser color grade, I can get a better cut to sparkle more. Those things are easy to understand by doing basic research online," he said.

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Reputable online sellers give as much information as possible and invest in high-quality photography to show as many aspects as possible of the ring and gemstone, and a store should be able to answer questions, they said.

Security during shipping is critical. Verify the seller is insuring the ring in transit, using major couriers and that someone must sign for the package. If the company doesn't offer free shipping, Peralta said, this is one time when it is worth it to pay for expedited or overnight shipping.

Verify the return policy. Even the best photography isn't the same as seeing the ring in person.

"Like a fingerprint, each single diamond has its own life. That's what makes it special," Peralta said.

Be aware of the return-policy period, Pastor and Holland said. If the return period is before the proposal, Pastor said ask the seller to agree to extend that return period. "Any reputable fine jeweler will be happy to do that. It has to be liked; she can't have to keep it because you missed the return date," Pastor said.

Pastor and Holland said their returns are very low, under 10 percent. Holland said buyers can return the ring for any reason, although he said one of the top reasons for returns has nothing to do with the product.

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"(It's) she says no," he said.

Debbie Carlson is a freelance writer.

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HANOI, Vietnam  Hanoi teems with sidewalk life. Motorbikes beep as they zoom past, pushing you closer to the woman washing chickens on the sidewalk who's crouched in front of a cafe packed with people drinking egg coffees or local beer.

It's also a city where the crammed sidewalks will have you tripping over tiny blue chairs. The plastic seats are ubiquitous on streets where food is made on grills and carts and tops of buckets, just waiting for someone to plop down with a bowl of food from one of the myriad vendors.

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For someone who would not self-describe as an adventurous eater, the prospect of street food was both exhilarating and frightening. That's why we decided to start our trip with a guided street food tour, leaving it to an expert to pick the gastrointestinal-friendly places and explain the unfamiliar options.

We opted for the Hanoi Street Food Tour (hanoistreetfoodtour.com), a well-reviewed company that runs tours in the city's buzzing Old Quarter. We chose the three-hour Hanoi Street Food Tour By Walking at a cost of $20 a person. The company also offers morning and nightlife-focused tours.

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If you want the full Hanoi experience, they also sell scooter tours. But after nearly being hit by these fast-moving motorized bikes on more than one occasion, we thought it wise not to imperil others (or ourselves) with our rookie driving.

The walking tour starts at the office at 74 Hang Bac St., where you can buy tickets. We recommend swinging by in person; we easily got tickets for that day, and going there ensured we were at the right place. In Hanoi, businesses sometimes copy another business's name, like a hotel or restaurant, and set up shop. Unsuspecting tourists can end up at the copy cat place instead of the real deal.

Standing back on a corner from the wave of scooters, our guide, Teddy, started by asking about food allergies. She checked to see if we were comfortable sharing our eats. To help us survive the manic traffic, she'd yell "sticky rice" as a cue for us to wade in together to stay out of harm's way.

We meandered to our first stop through an alley full of hanging lingerie for sale, typical for a city where shopping is organized by blocks with similar stock.

Arriving at Bun Cha Ta, Teddy explained that most restaurants are known by numbered addresses. Many are named solely by their dish  like bun cha, a pork and noodle dish  and locals remember that dish, and where to find it. In this case, locals would describe it as the place serving bun cha at 21 Nguyen Huu Huan St., as opposed to "Bun Cha Ta."

Climbing winding stairs, we arrived at a small room on the upper floor, where we dined on soup filled with fragrant barbecued pork. Our guide explained how to eat it  add a chile or two, but "just leave it" for flavor, don't eat it  and detailed the broth's mix of vinegar, honey and water.

It didn't take long for us to appreciate the challenge of a food tour with eight stops.

One thing missing from the night's menu? The Vietnamese rice noodle soup pho, which, in our tour guide's opinion, isn't the city's main delicacy.

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"Tomorrow you can have pho, but not today," she told us.

In Vietnam, eating is a process. Small bowls accompany each meal so that diners can perfect the taste to their liking.

It's normal, Teddy said, to spend 10 minutes fiddling with add-on ingredients to get it exactly right.

Balance is key. Diners tweak their culinary concoction to get the ideal mix of sweet and sour, salty and spicy.

Next, we made our way to a place serving papaya and beef salad. A bit different from other papaya salads in the region, this one was light on spice and big on crunch thanks to the peanuts.

Not only did we get to learn about Vietnamese food and how to eat it; we also got to see how it's made. At the next stop, a woman preparing a steamed rice pancake called banh cuon waited patiently as our guide explained the process. Then, in front of our disbelieving eyes, she picked up a bamboo stick to effortlessly create an ethereal sheet from the batter.

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Some in our group attempted the same. None succeeded.

Walking to the tiny room behind her, we sat at a table to eat the finished product, dipping it in fish sauce and vinegar with individually added garlic.

Here is where stomach-space rationing began. After just three stops, we were all stuffed. And next on the list? A plate with four different fried foods, including the sweet doughnuts that vendors sell on the street.

We diligently ate one of each. Our guide explained their provenance, along with tidbits on which people like certain foods. Her parents, for example, love crunchy fried spring rolls. But she and her friends consider that the food of an older generation.

Sensing our filling stomachs, Teddy started dishing out tips. The next place, we'd be eating crab noodle soup. The money, she said, was in the broth. Skip the noodles if need be.

For dessert we tried sticky rice and ice cream.

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Flexibility was an asset for this food tour. When, for example, an American currently teaching in Bangkok mentioned how she loved black sticky rice and yogurt, our guide subbed that in. And when jackfruit came up, she asked a proprietor to slice some samples of the giant tree-borne treat.

Beer, of course, was also on tap. Our guide joked that the bia hoi, or draft beer, could be likened to water. Nonetheless, we tried some on a slim street filled with tiny tables and waiters proffering menus. Cups of beer in hand, we drank en route to our final stop for banh mi sandwiches.

We ate them with egg coffee, a local favorite. The whipped egg, Teddy explained, keeps the coffee underneath warm.

Stuffed with food, information and restaurant recommendations, I considered this a great crash course for understanding the nuances of local cuisine  one that took trial and error out of the equation. People on a food tour can typically trust they'll be taken to stomach-friendly places. After all, happy tourists aren't sick tourists.

That said, if you accidentally swallow a chile after the guide's warning not to, that adventure's on you.

abowen@chicagotribune.com

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Twitter @byalisonbowen

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Gov. Bruce Rauner talks with a supporter after speaking during the Illinois Republican Party Governor's Day Events at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill., on Aug. 17,2016. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)

First the Rauners had to share their temporary Springfield digs with a family of foxes  now it's a family of hedgehogs that has moved in.

But the quaint life Gov. Bruce Rauner and first lady Diana Rauner have been enjoying since April in makeshift lodgings within sniffing distance of the goat pens on the state fairgrounds will soon be a lot noisier and smellier.

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That's because the Rauners, who own nine homes, have no plans to decamp from the modest state-owned bungalow in August, when hundreds of sheep, goats, pigs and cattle  and hundred of thousands of well-lubricated, deep-fried-food-eating Illinoisans  are expected to descend on the fairgrounds for the state fair.

"Oh no, we're going to be there until next summer," Diana Rauner told Chicago Inc. on Monday, after giving a speech on early childhood development at the City Club of Chicago.

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Long-overdue renovations to the 162-year-old governor's mansion forced the couple to move this spring into the bungalow on the fairgrounds, where they have encountered a family of foxes, and now, Diana Rauner said Monday, a family of hedgehogs.

But last year's state fair drew substantial protests during the Republican day of the fair, when GOP pols spoke in what is now essentially Rauner's front yard. Democrats also rally in the same spot.

So won't living within a cow chip toss of a seething mass of sunburned humanity this August be a little crazy?

"I guess so!" the first lady said, her eyes bulging.

More serious topics of conversation, alas, were deemed out of bounds. The first lady declined to discuss her husband's oft-repeated story, in which she informs the governor that she has not seen him happier in 20 years. Democrats this weekend seized on the governor's latest recitation of the tale as evidence he was "out of touch" with ordinary people during the state's ongoing budget crisis.

Diana Rauner told Inc. that "I'm not going to discuss that today." She was whisked out of the building before she could be cornered by a gaggle of TV camera crews.

 Kim Janssen
Baraa Haj Khalaf gets a kiss from her mother, Fattuom Bakir, after arriving at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Feb. 7, 2017. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)

Refugees in Illinois who are hoping to reunite with loved ones still overseas felt a small bit of relief Monday when the Supreme Court announced that only foreigners who have no family, business or other ties could be denied entry into the U.S. as part of President Donald Trump's revised travel ban.

While advocates still worry that foreigners fleeing war-torn regions will not meet the court's criteria or will have to jump through more hoops to show that they do, some say the justices actually carved out a very narrow restriction that will have a minimal impact when it goes into effect Thursday, 72 hours after the ruling.

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Trump's revised executive order, issued in March, limited travel from six mostly Muslim countries for 90 days and suspended the nation's refugee program for 120 days. Two federal appeals courts blocked those portions of the order, which the Supreme Court partially lifted Monday for anyone who had "a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."

"The people for whom the stay was lifted ends up being a very small group," said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "Anybody who is coming here as a refugee or in any kind of situation like that will have been in contact with an organization or individuals for quite some period of time. ... The administration didn't get much out of this."

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Still, immigration advocates say the ruling sends the wrong message about the character of the U.S. and uses national security as an excuse to violate immigration laws and diminish core American values. The ruling's ambiguity about what qualifies as a bona fide relationship also creates concern. Whether a connection to a resettlement agency counts remains in question.

"This decision will continue to make the work of resettling refugees harder," said Sam Tuttle, director of policy and advocacy for Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights. "We continue to be concerned that the administration's executive orders make refugees and other people seeking safety in this country feel unwelcome and not wanted. And that shouldn't be the message from the United States of America."

Heartland Alliance was expecting about a dozen arrivals of refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Myanmar between now and the end of July. It wasn't clear on Monday how the ruling would affect those arrivals.

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Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center, said even though people with family members, job offers, academic appointments or acceptance letters from schools in the U.S. should be permitted to come, they "will face new evidentiary burdens in order to establish travel eligibility."

Immigration attorney Ian Wagreich, a co-founder of the Travelers Assistance Project, an opportunity for people heading to Chicago to register their itineraries for tailored legal support, said the confusion and lack of consistent enforcement in the past will almost certainly generate a flood of new calls and registrants for the project.

"It's really going to raise the question of what is a bona fide relationship or entity in the U.S.," he said. "It's completely ambiguous."

Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the fact that the court agreed to hear the case in the fall is disturbing.

"For the court to revisit the injunctions is another disturbing step," he said. "To narrow the injunctions in the way that they did raises as many questions as it answers."

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mbrachear@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @TribSeeker
Lawyers and advocates for domestic violence victims say under President Donald Trumps stricter immigration policies that immigrant women experiencing domestic violence are more afraid than ever to come forward. (Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Maria never called the police, even when her boyfriend clutched her neck and squeezed hard enough to leave bruises, she said.

Because he is in a gang, she said, she feared he would kill her if she reported him. Because she lives in the U.S. illegally, she feared the government would deport her to Mexico, where she hasn't lived since 1998.

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Lawyers and advocates for domestic violence victims say under President Donald Trump's stricter immigration policies, which include plans to expand deportations of people here illegally, immigrant women experiencing domestic violence are more afraid than ever to come forward. Some victims fear their partner, often the father of their children, will be deported and taken away from their family. Others, like Maria, fear being deported themselves.

After Maria left her abusive partner, he alleged in a report to the Department of Children and Family Services that her new boyfriend was abusing their daughter. DCFS found no evidence that the claims were true, she said. But Maria  fearing that a prolonged court battle could put her at risk of deportation and separation from her daughter forever  recently decided to give up primary custody of the girl.

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"Every time I feel safe," he comes up with another reason to go to court, said Maria, who asked that her last name not be used. "It's nonstop."

Since federal immigration agents do not consider courthouses off limits, some women are afraid to apply for orders of protection or to testify, which could qualify them for a special visa issued to crime victims. Others, particularly Muslims, want to avoid calling attention to their communities, especially given the rise of anti-Islamic rhetoric since Trump's election.

"A lot of clients are afraid to come to the courthouse and have to choose if they want to proceed with their court cases," said Ginger Devaney, a staff attorney with Chicago's Domestic Violence Legal Clinic. "They could have a chance of getting a (special) visa but risk being detained at the courthouse."

Dropping the case "could put them in danger, and then they've lost their chance at immigration relief," she said. "It's a really bad bind for a lot of folks."

To minimize the risk for domestic violence victims who are here illegally, Devaney said the clinic has been working to relocate its non-emergency services to an undisclosed location. But since most clients seek emergency orders for protection, the clinic itself must be located at the courthouse. Callers who dial the hotline are cautioned before they come, she said.

"We think it's a very small risk, but we can't give assurances that the courthouse is safe," she said.

In addition, applications for U-visas, the special visa issued to crime victims, have declined among Devaney's clients, she said. Though women are granted a deferral from deportation while they wait for their visas to be approved, that process could take years due to an annual national cap of 10,000 visas  and women are not eligible for work permits during the waiting period. Many can't afford to wait and don't want to put themselves on the government's radar for that long, Devaney said.

"Making victims more afraid to come forward is bad for everyone," Devaney said. "A reason law enforcement supported the U-visa program is if immigrants are afraid to come forward, the people who commit the crimes go free. Who's not to say the next victim won't be a citizen?"

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While protecting victims of domestic violence largely has been a bipartisan issue, some legislators have been wary of too many provisions for individuals living here illegally. Some have argued for more anti-fraud measures to prevent immigrants who live here illegally from making false allegations of abuse to get out of a marriage and secure a green card.

Maria, whose last name is withheld because she fears being deported, spends time with her children in a reading room at a Chicago church May 4, 2017. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

The Rev. Chuck Dahm, pastor of St. Pius V Catholic Church in Pilsen, said women who came to the U.S. illegally have always feared coming forward about an abusive partner, as that person is often the father of their children and their financial lifeline. But the trepidation is even stronger now.

"Because of Trump's real changes in the implementation of the law  going after people, knocking on their doors, waiting outside their homes  they're even more reticent than they already were because they're afraid they might come looking for the abusive spouse and take her (instead)," Dahm said. "You can't underrate the fear that is going through the community."

For one 30-year-old suburban woman from Mexico, a special petition available to victims of spousal abuse became her only path to citizenship. When her husband withdrew his support of her green card application and threatened to kill her, she said, lawyers suggested she petition for eligibility to apply without him under the Violence Against Women Act.

Every time the woman left their daughter with her grandparents to appear in court for divorce proceedings, she gave instructions about what to do if she didn't return.

"Even going to the courthouse was extremely fearful, with the president making all of these threats," said the woman, who asked that her name not be used. "Just going there drained me."

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While there is no cap on Violence Against Women Act petitions, and women who successfully petition can apply for work permits, couples must have been legally married and the abusive spouse must be a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. If the couple only lived together, only had children or entered only a religious marriage, domestic violence victims are not eligible for relief under the act, which Congress will review again next year.

That can be a problem for some Muslims whose religious marriages aren't recognized in the U.S., said Aisha Rahman, executive director of Karamah, a national group of Muslim women and legal experts who train other lawyers on balancing American and Islamic law and provide referrals to women in search of legal counsel.

Rahman and other advocates also point to a clause in Trump's executive order  which calls for barring refugees from six Muslim-majority countries  that has further isolated some victims of domestic violence.

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The order, which is tied up in court, directs the Department of Homeland Security to track so-called honor killings committed by foreign nationals in the U.S. Muslims say the practice, which refers to the murders of women who shame their families with some form of sexual impropriety, is not justified by their faith.

Victims' advocates say highlighting honor killings in the executive order contributes to anti-Islamic sentiment and makes some Muslim victims of domestic violence more afraid to come forward.

"A lot of times the reason why Muslim women do not report or seek services is they are met with that kind of Islamophobic interaction," said Nadiah Mohajir, co-founder and executive director of HEART Women & Girls, a Chicago agency that promotes sexual health and sexual violence awareness in Muslim communities. Women hear comments like "'This wouldn't have happened if you had just left the community, or weren't Muslim or hadn't married a Muslim man.' Their case workers, or case manager or law enforcement is blaming their faith community and blaming their faith tradition for the situation they're in."

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Neha Gill, executive director of Apna Ghar, a Chicago agency devoted to ending gender violence in immigrant communities, said victims' reluctance to involve the criminal justice system has led her organization to emphasize other options for women, such as counseling and housing.

"Our way of responding is doing outreach, specifically toward the survivors, helping them understand what's available," Gill said. "Their protection is not always tied to punishment for the abuser."

mbrachear@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @TribSeeker
A man found dying early Saturday in an Austin neighborhood home was killed in a stabbing, authorities determined Sunday.

Andre Baker, 44, was pronounced dead at 5:27 a.m. Saturday at Loyola University Medical Center after the attack in the 1600 block of North Menard Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Following an autopsy Sunday, the office determined Baker died after suffering multiple sharp force injuries.

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Police were called to North Menard about 4:50 a.m. to check someone's well-being and found the man, who had stab wounds and was unresponsive in a home, police said.

The man suffered the stab wounds during a verbal and physical fight involving another man and a woman, according to police.

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Baker lived in the 1000 block of North Monticello in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, according to the medical examiner's office.

No one was in custody, and Area North detectives were investigating Sunday evening.
On the Far South Side, Deshawn Martin, 15, was fatally shot in the 1000 block of West 103rd Place in the Washington Heights neighborhood June 26, 2017. Authorities originally had said he was 13. (Brian Jackson / Chicago Tribune)

On the Far South Side, Deshawn Martin, 15, was fatally shot in the 1000 block of West 103rd Place in the Washington Heights neighborhood June 26, 2017. Authorities originally had said he was 13. (Brian Jackson / Chicago Tribune) (Brian Jackson / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

A 15-year-old boy was among four people killed and 10 others wounded in shootings in Chicago between Monday and Tuesday mornings, according to police.

Deshawn Martin was shot in the 1000 block of West 103rd Place in the Washington Heights neighborhood about 7:35 p.m. He suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. Authorities originally said he was 13.

Updated 4:42 p.m. June 28, 2017  About 10:10 p.m. on the South Side, a 23-year-old man was fatally shot in the head in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Police found him lying on the sidewalk in the 5400 block of South Bishop Street after responding to a call of a person shot. The man was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead.

He was identified as Arthur McGraw, of the 5100 block of South Laflin Avenue. He was pronounced dead at 10:52 p.m.

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About 7:55 p.m. on the West Side, a man was fatally shot in the 4800 block of West Gladys Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, police said.

The man, 23, was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital after suffering gunshot wounds to the chest and right thigh. He was in a parked vehicle when someone drove past in another vehicle and shot him, police said.

He was identified as Romeo Edwards, of the 1200 block of South 15th Avenue in Maywood, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was pronounced dead at 8:23 p.m. at Mount Sinai.

About 6:30 p.m. in the South Chicago neighborhood, a 26-year-old man was fatally shot in the 7900 block of South Ridgeland Avenue. The man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, a police spokeswoman said.

The man was identified as Anton Jackson, of the same block where he was shot, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The man was on the sidewalk when he got into a dispute with someone who shot him and fled in a light-colored sedan, police said. Investigators were speaking to a "person of interest" but "no offenders" were in custody, according to police.

About a mile east from where Jackson was killed, a 29-year-old man was shot during a robbery about 1:20 p.m., police said. The man was shot in the 7900 block of South Kenwood Avenue and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the leg. Police originally had said that the man had been shot in the chest and died, but later corrected that information.

Other shootings

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 Just before 2:10 a.m. Tuesday on the South Side, a 21-year-old man was shot in the back and the arm in the South Shore neighborhood. He was walking in the 7000 block of South Merrill Avenue when two people came up to him and one fired a gun. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

 About 10:10 p.m. Monday on the South Side, two men were shot in the Gresham neighborhood. A 25-year-old man was shot in the right arm when someone wearing a brown hoodie came up to him in the 8500 block of South Carpenter Street and opened fire. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized. A second man, 18, walked into Loretto Hospital with a gunshot wound to the left leg from the same incident. His condition was stabilized.

 About 10 p.m. on the West Side, a 25-year-old man was shot in the left arm in the Homan Square neighborhood. The man was walking in the 3700 block of West Flournoy Street when he heard shots and realized he was hit. He got himself to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

, where his condition was stabilized, officials said.  About 1:15 p.m. on the West Side, a 25-year-old man was shot in the 3000 block of West Arthington Street in the Lawndale neighborhood, police said. He was shot in the left arm and taken to Rush University Medical Center , where his condition was stabilized, officials said.

 About 12:40 p.m. in the West Side's Austin neighborhood, an 18-year-old was shot in the foot and another man, 23, was shot in the left thigh in the 4900 block of West Adams Street, according to police. The men were standing on the sidewalk when a dark vehicle approached and an occupant shot the men, before driving off west on Adams, officials said. Their conditions were listed as good at the scene, according to police.

 About 10:40 a.m. on the South Side, an assailant in a dark-colored SUV shot a 26-year-old man in the 2500 block of East 78th Street in the South Shore neighborhood with a semi-automatic handgun, police said. The man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was listed as good, according to police.

 About 6:40 a.m. on the Southwest Side, another man was shot in the buttocks in the Little Village neighborhood, police said. The 44-year-old man was shot in the 2800 South Springfield Avenue, police said. He went on his own to St. Anthony Hospital, according to police, who did not release information on his condition.

The Chicago Tribune's Liam Ford contributed.
A woman found dead in a Logan Square neighborhood gangway in March died in a homicide, the Cook County medical examiner's office has determined.

Joanna A. Stawiarska, 43, was found injured in the 2900 block of North Hamlin Avenue and pronounced dead at 7:50 a.m. March 17, according to the medical examiner's office.

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An autopsy following her death was marked pending further studies. On Monday, the office said she died in a homicide from multiple injuries suffered in an assault.

Stawiarska was found fatally injured in a gangway, according to police records. Officers were called to the area about 7:30 a.m. March 17 when a woman was found unresponsive, according to police.

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It was believed she was injured sometime between 10 p.m. March 16 and the time she was found.

She had lived in Palatine, according to the office, but Chicago police records from an unrelated March 4 arrest at the same location where Stawiarska was found dead two weeks later indicated she lived at the address where she was found.

Area North detectives reclassified the case as a homicide investigation June 2, according to police. No one has been charged.
Thousands of pedestrians lined the streets to watch the 48th annual Chicago Pride Parade on June 25, 2017. (Alyssa Pointer/ Chicago Tribune) (Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Marchers waving rainbow flags, dressed in drag or wearing costumes of colorful balloon sculptures paraded in Chicago on Sunday, celebrating the strides the LGBT community has made and protesting the hurdles that have been put up against them.

The city's 48th Annual Pride Parade got started more than six hours ahead of its noon kickoff, when drivers towed empty and unfinished floats to their starting points at Montrose Avenue and Broadway. The drivers' pickup trucks and SUVs were dwarfed by the oversized, sparkling chariots they would later pull down the parade route.

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"You've got to wake up early," said Cassandra White, who arrived with a float at 4 a.m. and was grilling bratwurst and peppers for breakfast. "But it's worth it. You get to meet so many interesting people."

Richard Goss said he has been towing floats in Chicago for more than 30 years.

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"When they're throwing candy, that's the nightmare scenario for drivers, because you have to watch out for kids jumping in front to get it," Goss said. "Don't even think about looking in your rearview mirror. You look forward."

For White, the view from behind the steering wheel is as good as being in the crowd.

"Just because you're the driver, you think the people in the parade don't see you," White said. "But they're giving you beads, giving you water. You're part of it. It's amazing."

With less than 20 minutes to go before the parade began, marchers began forming lines. Some were told to stick together  they would look their best if they stayed in a pack. Others, though, came to stand out from the crowd.

David Scherer composed himself. He moved his hands down his dress, checked his makeup and bent down to inspect his shoes: a pair of bright red, suede high heels.

"They don't fit me," he laughed. "The toe is stuffed to the brim with tissue."

Scherer was one of the hundreds of parade-goers dressed in drag Sunday. Many spent hours on their makeup (some even got it done professionally). They chose the glitziest dresses. There were '50s sock hop-style swing dresses, tight-fitting miniskirts and sequined mermaid evening gowns.

But the outfit isn't complete without a pair of stilettos.

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"If you're going to do it, do it right," said Arielo Vento, who planned to walk the 4-mile parade route in his pair of 2-inch, sparkly shoes.

"I'll be all right," he said. "They're sensible heels. I left my big girls at home."

As parade floats moved onto Broadway, Jacquiline Perry gave the cheering crowds a regal wave.

Perry had arrived early in the morning with other members of the Chicago Gender Society, a transgender support group, to perfect their float.

"This is our 30th anniversary, and it's amazing because we are No. 13 in the parade  and we're normally in the back," said Perry, who is transgender and served as president of the society for five years.

Last year, Perry said, her float was the only one flying the transgender flag of five light blue, light pink and white stripes. Before the parade began, she said she hoped there would be more recognition for transgender people this year.

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"People know more now than they used to," Perry said. "For years and years, we were on the front lines of the fight for LGBT equality. Alone. People care more now."

With multicolor balloons strapped to her back to look like wings, Dawn Lacy batted her rainbow-hued eyelashes and took pictures with strangers.

Lacy has marched in about 20 pride parades to support her brother, who is gay.

"It's wonderful how over the years the city has come to embrace this parade," she said.

The Chicago parade was just one of many gay pride celebrations scheduled this weekend in cities across the U.S., including Nashville, New York, St. Louis and San Francisco.

As in the past, officers from the Chicago Police Department were omnipresent along the parade route. They walked up and down congested sidewalks and leaned against storefronts. Groups of half-dozens manned barricades at intersections, controlling the flow of spectators on Halsted Street.

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City officials told the Tribune last week that the visible police were just a fragment of the security. Officers with long guns could be seen on the rooftops of buildings that lined the parade route, while plainclothes officers wandered among the crowds below.

Ald. Tom Tunney, whose 44th Ward is home to most of the parade route, said the city followed a security playbook similar to last year's, when hundreds of additional police officers bolstered the security presence following the shootings at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

"They're too numerous to count," Tunney said.

Near the corner of Broadway and Diversey Parkway  the beginning of the parade's final stretch  a group of religious protestors had made camp. They carried signs that read "Homo sex is sin."

Any objections they voiced, though, were muffled by members of the Chicago Coalition of Welcoming Churches, a group of christian churches that support members of the LGBT community. The group sang the song "This Little Light of Mine" as they passed the protestors.

"These people are suffering because of their anger and their fear," said the Rev. Jacki Belile, a Baptist minister and member of the organization.

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"We want to make sure that members of the LGBT community know that these people, who say they speak the word of God, that they do not represent all Christianity."

In the Dyke March on Saturday in Little Village, some Jewish participants were asked to leave, according to a statement by the AJC, a Jewish advocacy group. Organizers had not issued a statement Sunday. But numerous Jewish Star of David flags flew in the Pride Parade without incident.

Near the end of the parade route, the stream of floats and marchers flowing into Lincoln Park slowed to a trickle. But the jubilee was expected to continue into the early morning hours, as marchers migrated to Boystown neighborhood bars to celebrate.

At the corner of Diversey Parkway and Lakeview Avenue, one spectator turned to a police officer and asked: "What happens now?"

"Now," she responded, "they party."

jsteinbauer@chicagotribune.com

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Alexandra Nelson, sister of victim Grant Nelson, speaks to reporters May 31, 2017, after a hearing at the Skokie courthouse. Assistant States Attorney Michelle Cunningham gave a detailed account of the machete and knife attack. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune) (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

The family of an Uber driver who was hacked to death while on the job has sued Walmart, where authorities said the driver's teenage attacker stole weapons  a machete and knife  moments before the killing.

Grant Nelson's family filed suit in Cook County court Monday against Walmart and two companies that handled security for the retailer's Skokie store. Authorities allege that 16-year-old Eliza Wasni stole the machete and the knife from a Walmart about 3 a.m. May 30, then got into Nelson's car and hacked and stabbed him to death moments into the ride.

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The wrongful death lawsuit said Walmart's security contractors were negligent because they failed to stop Wasni, question her or ask her to show a receipt as she allegedly left the store carrying the weapons.

According to the lawsuit, two Walmart employees or contractors were standing immediately in front of the door as Wasni exited, passing within feet of them.

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Walmart said in a statement that its associates "acted properly."

Following the attack in Lincolnwood, Nelson, a 34-year-old Wilmette resident, was able to exit his car and run to a nearby condo building and press door buzzers pleading for help before he died.

The Nelson family's attorney, Robert Bingle, said the suit was filed to preserve and examine the evidence, which he said includes surveillance video of Wasni leaving the store.

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"We feel strongly that Walmart had an obligation to stop this young person at 3 in the morning who had been walking around in their store with an 18-inch machete and 5-inch hunting knife and didn't purchase them and ... no one did anything to stop her," Bingle said.

"It doesn't take much to figure out that someone leaving (the store) at 3 in the morning, and leaving without a receipt with a machete and knife, is not going to be up to anything good," said the attorney, of the Chicago firm Corboy & Demetrio.

The Tribune earlier reported that Skokie police were not immediately made aware of the alleged thefts. It's not clear when the thefts were reported to local authorities.

Wasni, of Chicago, has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder and is being held without bond in a juvenile detention facility while she awaits trial. She did not speak at either of her two court hearings so far, and her public defender has yet to hint at what sort of defense is planned.

The two security companies named as defendants, Monterrey Security Consultants and Allied Universal Security Service, could not immediately be reached for comment.

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A Walmart spokesperson released the following statement: "We continue offering our deepest condolences to Mr. Nelson's family for their loss. Out of respect for everyone involved, we believe it's not appropriate to discuss the specifics of this matter, but we can say that we believe our associates acted properly, including alerting third party security to a possible shoplifting incident. We will respond appropriately with the court."

Chicago Tribune's Steve Schmadeke contributed.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is talking to entrepreneur Elon Musk about the possibility of the technology investor and SpaceX founder using a high-tech digger to bore out an underground high-speed rail line connecting downtown to O'Hare International Airport.

On Monday, Emanuel described the discussions as preliminary, but said he plans to have Musk's team here to see if digging a rail line makes more sense than other possibilities like using an existing railroad right-of-way or double-decking the CTA Blue Line to speed travelers to and from the airport.

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The mayor resurrected the long-discussed high-speed train in early 2016, a dream predecessor Richard M. Daley had talked about off and on since the early 1990s. Emanuel sees it as a way to improve Chicago's profile with business travelers who don't mind spending $20 or more for a quick trip downtown from the airport on a European-style fast train, as well as continue his own efforts to build a legacy as a transportation infrastructure leader.

Emanuel has given scant details on the funding for such a huge transportation endeavor, though his administration said in February that it had hired former federal transportation official Bob Rivkin to "provide legal expertise in identifying a clear path forward and working with potential partners" with the goal of starting the project within the next three years. Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans has said the administration would like to go out for bids by the end of this year.

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It's unclear how soon Musk's futuristic digging company could get to work, but an underground rail line would likely take many years to construct, at great cost.

Speaking to reporters Monday after an event with police recruits, Emanuel confirmed there had been talks with Musk about the project.

"The other day, because of contact I've had with Elon Musk and his operation for a kind of a tunnel project rather than an existing rail project to be taken over, I sent a team out to look at his tunnel digger as part of this project," Emanuel said.

"He has expressed an interest in what Chicago's doing. And I think that it would be a tremendous investment and job creator, an economic engine for the city that will pay dividends for decades ahead," Emanuel added. "They have shown interest, and now I've asked them to come to the city of Chicago, after I sent my team out to California, Southern California to explore it and explore their interest. They are very interested, and we're going to have them now out to the city to explore further what we are doing and planning, and too see if the tunnel approach is an alternative to the ones we've been discussing."

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_johnbyrne
Aldermen advanced a plan Monday to close the lakefront Ohio Street pedestrian underpass overnight following a recent fatal shooting nearby in the tony Streeterville neighborhood, but one City Council member said the move creates a double standard when it comes to violence in other neighborhoods.

The Finance Committee passed downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly's order for city workers to lock the underpass between midnight and 5 a.m. from April through October. Reilly, 42nd, said he was simply trying to use his local authority to make the area safer at a time there aren't enough police officers to cover every part of the lakefront.

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But Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, called the move a "knee-jerk reaction" to the recent shooting of Raven Lemons and wondered why the council doesn't show similar swift action when young Chicagoans get shot on the South or West sides.

"It's about a double standard. It's about the fact we're stopping the world, we're reacting, we're over-reacting because something happened downtown," Beale said. "Let me get that same reaction when people of color are killed out in the communities. Let me see that same reaction."

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Mayor Rahm Emanuel was noncommittal when asked last week whether he supports the closure in such a high-profile area where he wants tourists and young professionals to feel safe visiting the lake and nearby clubs and restaurants.

"Look, I think, we're going to make sure every part of the city has access, we're going to also work with aldermen to make sure that their neighborhoods are safe," Emanuel said then. "So we're going to figure out a way to do it. I know you want a yes or no, but it's not that simple."

After the committee vote Monday, mayoral spokesman Adam Collins didn't answer directly when asked if the mayor will support Reilly's move or try to stop the full council from enacting it. "Police, CDOT and the Park District were already working with the Alderman on his concerns  and a host of other public safety investments  well before today," Collins said in a statement.

The Finance Committee voted on the order, but there was some question about whether it had been added to the agenda in time to comply with the state Open Meetings Act. Committee Chairman Ald. Edward Burke said if there's a problem, they will vote again Wednesday morning so the full City Council can consider it that day.

Lemons, 25, was shot in the head around 2:40 a.m. June 18 while standing with someone she knew in the 500 block of East Ohio Street, according to police. Reilly said area residents have long had concerns about late-night activities near the underpass, on a dead-end section of Ohio Street where there is relatively little foot traffic.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_johnbyrne
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., threw himself off a political cliff last week when he declared full-throated opposition to the Senate version of the Obamacare repeal bill, and it remains to be seen if Heller is hanging by a limb out of sight and can climb back to electoral sanity or has hit rock bottom in his public career.

Individual Senate Republicans face different political realities, but the caucus must somehow get the votes necessary to return the revised Obamacare "repeal and replace" bill to the House. To fail to do so is to condemn not only Heller and Arizona's Sen. Jeff Flake to certain doom but probably others among the eight GOP senators up for reelection. The grass roots' disgust with this betrayal will be so deep as to endanger every senator, even in deep red states such as Mississippi, Texas and Utah.

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The political crosswinds and upheavals in the country are already beyond predicting anything, so to add even more cause for grievance by betraying the central promise of the congressional GOP is beyond irresponsible. It is political insanity. Shut the door to the consultants, and throw out the polling senators. If the GOP defaults on its core promise, it is doomed as a party to minority status, probably as early as 2018 and certainly in 2020.

To fail this week almost certainly forfeits the House majority in next year's midterm elections but perhaps also the Senate's, and with the latter, the ability to confirm Supreme Court justices and lower court judges, pass budgets under reconciliation, have any chance at serious tax reform and of course approve the crucial repeal of the Defense Department sequestration.

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This is of course an imperative vote on saving American health care. Next year, for example, there potentially will be at least 18 counties in Ohio without even a single option for an individuals seeking coverage. The swaths of America where there is only one provider are large and growing. "Choice for consumers" is a delusion, and soaring deductibles have made health care an illusion to millions more.

Obamacare is a catastrophe on its own terms, but the consequences of not passing its repeal are worse even beyond those awful health-care outcomes. It will forfeit every other Republican goal because failing to deliver on the central promise of eight years of debates and campaigns will shatter the credibility every Republican, not just those who block the bill. The party as a whole will be gravely wounded, perhaps beyond healing for a generation or more.

I don't have to guess about this. I have been talking to the center-right of the country for three hours a day Monday through Friday for the past 17 years. I know the central argument of the conservative activists everywhere in the United States is that Beltway Republicans cannot be trusted to do anything hard. That argument was dented by the discipline with which the GOP put up with the mainstream media and Democrats' slings and arrows in the fight over replacing Justice Antonin Scalia. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) rightly calculated that to surrender that hill would be to lose not just a political battle but the political war stretching long into the future. It was that big of a deal to the base.

The same is true of Obamacare. To vote "no" on whatever compromise arrives is to express contempt for the Republican Party as a whole  and its grass-roots activists and base voters  and for those ideas it stands for on all major matters, from a strong defense to low taxes to an originalist Supreme Court.

Thus Heller seemed to declare himself a hollow man when he said he could not vote for it, a man without any core beliefs because with his rambling statement he endangered all alleged core GOP beliefs, and thus the GOP will not support him. It isn't about primaries; primary opponents need not materialize. It is about millions of conservatives who will simply give up on politics.

This is a make-or-break moment for Senate Republicans and the party itself. Sadly, for this conservative, the tone-deafness of Heller may not be unique. It may not even turn out to be particularly rare. We will know in a week. And not one GOP senator will be able to say he or she wasn't warned.

Washington Post

Hugh Hewitt, a Post contributing columnist, hosts a nationally syndicated radio show and is author of "The Fourth Way: The Conservative Playbook for a Lasting GOP Majority."

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President Ronald Reagan salutes as he tells a joke during his address to the leadership of the American Legion, on Feb. 10, 1987, at the White House in Washington, D.C. (Mike Sargent / AFP/Getty Images)

The internal GOP debate on how to replace Obamacare is essentially one of priorities. Which is more important, saving money or saving lives? Senate and House Republicans may be surprised to learn that for their idol, Ronald Reagan, this was never a question at all. Throughout his life, Reagan always cared more about saving lives than saving money.

Conservatives might find this shocking and argue that Reagan would never have approved of federal subsidies such as those contained in Obamacare. But, to paraphrase Reagan himself, it's not so much that our conservative friends are ignorant, it's that so much of what they know just isn't so. In fact, throughout his career, Reagan expressed strong support for government-subsidized medical care for people who couldn't otherwise afford it.

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In researching my book on Reagan's political philosophy, I came across his speeches and letters from the days before he became famous in 1964 for endorsing Barry Goldwater in a nationally televised address.

There was then no Medicare or Medicaid, but there were plenty of proposals to create a federally run or funded program to provide health insurance to all Americans. Reagan opposed those ideas, to no one's surprise, but the surprise is why he did and what he wanted to do instead.

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Reagan did not oppose national health care plans out of a belief they violated the Constitution, were improper roles for government to play or cost too much. Rather, he opposed them because they weren't necessary to solve the legitimate humanitarian concerns that evoked Americans' compassion.

Reagan's principle was simple: As he told the Conservative League of Minneapolis in 1961, "as one conservative, let me say any person in the United States who requires medical attention and cannot provide it for himself should have it provided for him." To that end, he enthusiastically supported a recently enacted bill called the Kerr-Mills Act. That bill provided federal funds to states to set up programs to pay for medical care for poor senior citizens. This targeted intervention allowed government to meet the true need without creating what he called a compulsory, one-size-fits-all model that "forc(es) all citizens, regardless of need," into a single program.

Cost was not a concern for him. He wrote a longtime friend, Lorraine Wagner, in July 1961 to elaborate on his view. "Very simply," he wrote, "I'm in favor of helping those who need help." After describing Kerr-Mills, he wrote, "Now I'm in favor of this bill  and if the money isn't enough I think we should put up more." Saving lives was always more important than saving money to Reagan.

And he did not retreat from this stance when he became governor or president. Despite inheriting a terrible budget crisis upon taking office, Reagan refused to push to repeal California's recently enacted participation in Medicaid. He called it "help" for people who otherwise could not afford their medical bills, and raised taxes by a then-record amount rather than slash the program. He reiterated his support for the principle of government-financed health insurance for those who needed it in letter after letter, including one he wrote in mid-1979.

Applying these principles to the current debate, it's clear that Reagan would ensure that no one with genuine need would lose his or her ability to get needed medical care regardless of the cost. The newly released Senate bill does a much better job of fulfilling his ideals than does the House bill. It slows the phaseout of federal support for the Medicaid expansion and retains Obamacare's income-based subsidies for people on the federal exchange, while the House bill's age-based subsidies would probably have led to many people dropping coverage. In each case, the Senate approach places life over cost. Senators who came out against the plan Friday on grounds that it doesn't fully repeal Obamacare may think of themselves as conservative, but on this issue they aren't acting as Reagan conservatives.

Reagan would not have ignored cost concerns. As he told the nation in 1981, "we can be compassionate about human needs without being complacent about budget extravagance." It's just that meeting human needs always came first for the Gipper. If he were convinced, as Senate bill critics argue, that this bill's Medicaid changes will keep people from getting the care they need, Reagan would surely have worked to find a solution.

Republicans have long suffered from the self-inflicted wound of misunderstanding Ronald Reagan. By adopting the liberal caricature of him as an anti-government zealot, they have hurt their ability to win elections and hindered their ability to govern when they did. The current debacle over health care reform is simply the latest example of this three-decade trend. The GOP should use the coming debate over an Obamacare replacement to finally rid themselves of this false idol and follow the real Reagan into the promised land.

The Washington Post

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Henry Olsen, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is the author of "The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism."
Then-President Richard M. Nixon and his wife Pat Nixon are shown standing together in the East Room of the White House on Aug. 9, 1974, where he made a farewell address to the members of the White House staff after resigning the presidency. (Charlie Harrity / AP)

Bill Ruckelshaus knows White House skulduggery. A former deputy attorney general who is the last prominent survivor among the Watergate investigators who brought down President Richard Nixon, Ruckelshaus has some advice for President Donald Trump.

"There is only one person that could shut down all the current speculation and that is Trump," he said the other day in an email from Seattle, where he practices law. "If he would turn over all the information he has and instruct his minions to do the same, and there is no incriminating evidence involving him, the speculation would end."

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Oh, and one other thing: Don't even think about firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel looking into Trump connections to Russia and related matters.

Ruckelshaus resigned from Nixon's Justice Department in 1973 after refusing to follow the president's order to fire special counsel Archibald Cox, who was leading the Watergate probe. That happened hours after the departure for the same reason of Attorney General Elliott Richardson.

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Ruckelshaus, now 84, also had been an acting director of the FBI when it was conducting the early inquiry into the break-in by a team of Republican operatives at the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate complex near the White House. He has an acute sense of how these matters evolve.

In the current scandal, he notes that Trump "after all, says he has done nothing wrong." If that's true, Ruckelshaus says, it's a good reason to release everything that might be relevant to the investigation.

"There is a time limit on his ability to do this," Ruckelshaus warned, "and it is rapidly approaching."

Harking back to his earlier experience, he recalls: "Nixon could have done the same thing if he had acted immediately upon learning of the Watergate break-in in June of 1972. Instead he led the coverup."

Ruckelshaus, a Republican then and now, warns that Trump "will be in real trouble" if he tries to remove Mueller: "The dismissal of Cox in October of 1973 led to the Rodino Committee (the House impeachment committee) and then ultimately the resignation of Nixon in August of 1974."

Ruckelshaus was appointed to four top posts by Nixon. In addition to the Justice Department jobs, he was the first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, where he was widely praised for creating an effective new agency. He had an unsurpassed reputation for integrity. He was considered as President Gerald Ford's running mate in 1976; some Ford strategists still think that if he had been chosen, rather than Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, the Republicans could have won the presidential election that year.

If Trump respects experience, you'd expect him to heed this Watergate hero's advice. Ruckelshaus says he isn't holding his breath:

"I do not personally believe," he wrote, that "Trump is capable of taking the approach I am suggesting, any more than was Nixon."

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Bloomberg

Albert R. Hunt is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was executive Washington editor at The Wall Street Journal.
People are seen outside the U.S. Supreme Court after it was announced that the court will allow a limited version of President Donald Trump's travel ban to take effect June 26, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Eric Thayer / Getty Images)

Because President Donald Trump failed to devise a reasonable and effective short-term travel ban, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in Monday to help. And a good thing too. The checks-and-balances system exists to handle these moments.

Here we have a mess that goes back to the first week of Trump's presidency, when he issued a sweeping executive order on national security grounds that would have shut down travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries for 90 days. The order, meant to protect America from terrorism, was overly broad. The rollout was thoroughly botched too. Remember those chaotic scenes from O'Hare and other airports when some legal U.S. residents were detained?

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Federal courts blocked the program, which represented the first step in guiding Trump back onto solid constitutional ground. Trump tried again with a narrower order targeting citizens of six countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen (Iraq was omitted). That order also was blocked  until the Supreme Court's Monday action.

The high court said it will hear arguments on the ban in October, but until then split the difference between Trump's wishes and lower court concerns: The ban on visitors from six countries can be enforced, except on individuals who have an ongoing relationship with the United States. They still can enter. Those individuals include, for example, someone with close family here or acceptance to an American university. The same ground rules apply to another part of the order putting a 120-day stop to the U.S. program for admitting refugees.

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Trump has legitimate cause to look closely at how the U.S. screens travelers and refugees to determine whether the system keeps the country safe or has deficiencies. The profile of a would-be terrorist has changed since the rise of Islamic State, with Europe suffering a number of serious attacks by individuals who had connections to Syria. Trump's decision to freeze travel from certain countries and suspend refugee arrivals could have been within his purview, if he had implemented his order responsibly. He didn't.

The problem with Trump's effort is that it looked like the U.S. government was discriminating against a broad group of people based on their religion, in violation of the First Amendment. Trump, in the eyes of federal courts in Hawaii and Maryland, wasn't so much protecting America as targeting Muslims. Both courts reached their conclusions in March in part by examining Trump's record as a candidate, which included his 2015 statement "calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." Appeals courts upheld the rulings, with one questioning whether Trump's actions breached the scope of authority granted by Congress.

The issue of whether one can divine a presidential order's intent by parsing a presidential candidate's heated rhetoric is an interesting one, but the Supreme Court may not even need to go there. We don't like Trump's bombast, including his Twitter rants, because he often sounds irresponsible. But often his verbosity is irrelevant to his job responsibilities. In this situation, the details of Trump's immigration order are what count. Lower courts saw enough to sideline Trump's order. The Supreme Court will hear the full arguments. In the meantime, the administration doesn't have to sit on its hands. Officials can get on with the task of vetting U.S. immigration policy while blocking from entry foreigners without any U.S. ties.

From a national security perspective, Trump could have been done with this process by now. If the president had gotten the details right the first time, the U.S. could have been admitting foreigners under newly tightened rules. Trump failed that early test of issuing rules within the confines of the law. Now the Supreme Court will have its say.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.

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I looked up in the night sky Saturday evening on a walk home from dinner with my partner of 36 years and saw the rainbow lights of the John Hancock Center celebrating gay pride. I was taken aback recalling my coming-out years in the 1970s and appreciating  really marveling  at how far we have come.

Despite the inequities and injustices that still challenge all of us, that rainbow beacon in the sky made me grateful for progress illuminated and quietly broadcast for all Chicago to see.

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 Charles Holland, Chicago
"Sweet Thang," a chicken taco with grilled pineapple, pico de gallo, queso fresco and a specialty sauce, is displayed on a table at Love Taco Friday, April 7, 2017, in Chicago. (Allison Terry / Chicago Tribune)

Whoa-ah-oh-a-oh. Sweet thiiing!

Go ahead. Try to take a bite of the Sweet Thang taco ($3.50) from Bronzeville's Love Tacofeaturing roast chicken, grilled pineapple, red onion, queso fresco, jalapeno and pico de gallo slathered in the house secret sweet saucewithout the chorus of Chaka Khan and Rufus's 1975 single clanging around inside your brain.

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I hum because the juicy meat, the smoky pineapple, the tang and acid of the onion and the fire of chili perfumed with wafts of corn blasting from the freshly griddled El Milagro tortilla makes me blissful. It's like a honey-kissed al pastor taco without the pork.

The Sweet Thang is not the only great thing at this new Bronzeville taco shack. I love the Bob Marley taco ($3.50). And even if the "I Believe I Can Fries" ($3.35) (drizzled with Sriracha mayo, topped with ground beef and nacho cheese) didn't taste good, which it does, I'd forgive that, because the name rules.

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Owner Raymond Jones, once an MC for the hip-hop group HotStylz and also a former writer for Comedy Central's "Key & Peele," grew up in the area. A student of tacos, he said, "There's this breakfast taco at Velvet Taco I love. I don't just eat it for breakfast. I'm usually eating at 1 a.m. after going to the club."

So far, the success of Love Taco has surpassed Jones' expectations.

"I talked to a lot of restaurant people before doing this, and they said how many places fail in the first year or don't make money for at least a year. So, you can imagine how surprised I am that we're already making money so quickly. There's been a lot more traffic than I expected."

Though he still works in comedy and splits time between Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles, opening the taco spot was the fulfillment of a dream.

"I grew up in Bronzeville. This community had a bad reputation for violence, but mom always said all the neighborhood needed was a little love," Jones said. "I wanted to do something meaningful here, and so that's what I'm doing: bringing the love."

Love Taco

109 E. 51st St. 312-650-9635

Michael Nagrant is a RedEye special contributor. Reporters visit restaurants unannounced and meals are paid for by RedEye.
A program in Aurora this summer is offering lunches for children through the Northern Illinois Food Bank. ( Cathy Janek/The Beacon-News )

Once each week, the Aurora Public Library bookmobile parks at William V. Plum Park on Aurora's West Side and kids climb aboard and grab a few books and a box lunch under a new partnership between the Aurora Public Library and Northern Illinois Food Bank.

As part of the Summer Food Service Program, the bookmobile partnership is the "first-ever for the Northern Illinois Food Bank," according to Elizabeth Gartman, communications manager for the food bank.

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"It is an exciting new model for us," she said.

It likely won't be the last, Gartman said. The Northern Illinois Food Bank has a Child Hunger Corps fellow on staff through Feeding America, which has been working to expand its summer meal program to additional library and bookmobile sites.

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Daisy Porter-Reynolds, Aurora Public Library's executive director, said the library immediately jumped on board with the program, helping to identify which site would be best suited to host the program.

On its first week in operation, the site ran out of lunches during the first 15 minutes.

"Our goal is for libraries/sites like Plum Park to eventually serve meals five days per week," Gartman added.

Each Thursday from 3 to 4 p.m. through Aug. 10, children can eat a lunch with items including yogurt, fresh fruit, chicken, cheese, and milk.

"We know that once school is out for the summer, many of these children may not have access to the healthy, nutritious foods they receive through school lunch programs, which is why the Summer Food Service Program is so important for us at the food bank," Gartman said.

The Summer Food Service Program, as sponsored by the Northern Illinois Food Bank, is a national program funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered by the Illinois State Board of Education. It is designed to provide meals to children in at-risk areas during the summer when they do not have access to free or reduced price lunches at school.

Aurora Ald. Mike Saville, who was on hand recently to greet his constituents and hand out lunches, says the transformation of the park, which at one time had been a site of gang activity, to a place where kids can grab a book and eat a nutritious meal, is satisfying.

In Aurora, more than 19,000 children qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Across northern Illinois, one in five children face hunger, including more than 16 percent of the children in Kane County, Gartman said.

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In total, Northern Illinois Food Bank works with more than 800 food pantries, feeding sites, and programs across a 13-county service area in northern Illinois. Last year, its summer meal program provided more than 285,000 nutritious meals to children in need across the service area, food bank officials said.

"We currently work with more than 10 libraries to serve lunch through the summer program and they have been some of our strongest partnerships," Gartman said. "It can be difficult for children to attend summer lunch sites, but having the bookmobile present allows them to come for both the books and the meals."

For adults and families in need of food assistance, information can be found at www.SolveHungerToday.org/GetHelp.

Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
After well over a year of planning, final preparations are underway for the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall to arrive in Oswego this week.

"Oswego is truly honored to have the privilege of hosting the Moving Wall. It will be a time to remember, reflect and honor those who served in Vietnam," Oswego Village President Gail Johnson said.

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The Vietnam traveling memorial will be on display in Prairie Point Community Park from Thursday to Monday , with events planned for each day, including a fireworks display after the closing ceremonies on Monday.

The Moving Wall is a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It carries the names of 58,308 U.S. servicemen and women who lost their lives during the Vietnam War. The memorial was built in 1984 and is 253 feet long.

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Bringing the Vietnam Moving Wall to the village has been a collaborative effort by the village of Oswego, the Oswegoland Park District, Oswego School District 308, Oswego Chamber of Commerce and the Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club over the past several months, organizers said.

Johnson said it is important to ensure the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice and those that served and returned home, along with their family members, are respectfully honored and remembered while the memorial is in Oswego.

"Recently designated a Purple Heart Community, Oswego acknowledges the tremendous sacrifice that veterans and their families make for our freedoms. We don't take that for granted," she said.

Johnson recognized the Moving Wall committee for having organized and energized volunteers and groups, in particular co-chairmen Navy veteran Herschel Luckinbill of Montgomery who applied to get the memorial in Oswego and Oswegoland Park District President Dave Krahn, who has been involved in the planning.

"The outpouring of support for our Vietnam veterans has been overwhelming," Johnson said, referencing the volunteer and financial support for the project.

Organizers said from the opening ceremonies and reciting of the names of the individuals whose names are on the memorial to the closing ceremonies, hundreds of volunteers have stepped forward. They expect the Moving Wall will draw approximately 150,000 people to Oswego over five days.

The arrival of the memorial will begin with what organizers describe as a "wall procession" that will begin at 8 a.m. Thursday with a motorcade escort comprised of hundreds of motorcycles.

The procession will step-off from the Goodrich Kendall 11 GDX parking lot on 95th Street, make its way to Douglas Road and Route 34 and then pass by the Veterans Memorial on Main Street in downtown Oswego. From there, it will travel up Washington Street to its home at Prairie Point Park at Plainfield and Woolley roads, organizers said.

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As part of the memorial, 2,017 American flags will be erected for the Healing Field that will be open to the public at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Opening ceremonies will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Prairie Point Park with speakers and music as well as a flyover. The United States Air Force Band of Mid-America and the Oswego Fire Protection District Pipe and Drum Corps will perform. Dick Duchossois, a World War II veteran, and Sgt. Allen Lynch, a Medal of Honor recipient, will participate in the ceremony, as will the voice of the Chicago Blackhawks Jim Cornelison, who will sing the national anthem.

At 1 p.m. Saturday there will be a Gold Star and Blue Star Recognition Ceremony. Gold Star Families represent those who have lost family members in the service, and Blue Star Families represent current military members.

There will be a 9:30 a.m. Sunday service in the park. The closing ceremonies will be at 8 p.m. Monday, followed by "A final walk of the Wall" by those in attendance. The fireworks display will begin at dusk.

Luckinbill, who was instrumental in bringing the Moving Wall to Aurora in 2013, was also instrumental in bringing the wall to Oswego this year. The Navy veteran was on the USS O'Brien DD-725 when it received three direct hits from enemy fire on Dec. 23, 1966. Two of his shipmates were killed.

"When the Moving Wall came to Aurora, it was like being able to spend time with my two shipmates who died nearly 51 years ago. I thought we should be able to bring it back again close to home," Luckinbill said.

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Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
Oak Brook police detective and Felony Investigative Assistance Team swat member Reid Foltyniewicz shows JT Tumbarelli, 7, of Lisle his handcuffs. (Mike Mantucca/Pioneer Press )

There were plenty of wide eyes and smiling faces Friday when the Clarendon Hills Park District hosted its second Touch-A-Truck event outside of its community center, 315 Chicago Ave.

About 200 people showed up, which gave children the opportunity to see, touch and get in and on a variety of vehicles, among them a fire truck, tractor, school bus, dump truck, ambulance and police squad.

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"It's a cute community event, and my son is obsessed with trucks," said Christy McCormick of Clarendon Hills, who came with her three children, Lucy, 8, Alice, 4, and John, 1.

Alice had no problem choosing her favorite of the trucks.

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I like the fire truck best," she said. "I like the color."

Chris and Jen Zappas of Clarendon Hills attended Touch-A-Truck with their kids, Adrianna, 5, and Nicholas, 2.

"I think this is great," Jen Zappas said. "They do so many great activities here, and it's nice to live in a town that has these options."

Adrianna didn't play favorites when asked which truck she liked best.

"I like all of them," he said.

Sgt. Ed Leinweber of the Clarendon Hills Police Department visited with children and parents, as some of the kids took a turn sitting in a squad vehicle.

"This is a good event for us because we can show the kids that we're approachable," Leinweber said. "It helps to make a connection with them."

cfieldman@pioneerlocal.com

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Twitter @chuckwriting
A group of elected leaders representing the south suburbs has joined together to call on Gov. Bruce Rauner to find a partner to help the state finally move forward on development of the long-sought, third Chicago-area airport.

We stand with these leaders in support of the decades-old proposal, which has long been blocked by political rivalries between Chicago interests and the rest of the state.

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The last five governors, members of both political parties, have supported the project, to one degree or another. As a result, the Illinois Department of Transportation has acquired some 4,400 acres of land surrounding Bult Field, an airstrip near Monee and Peotone, at a cost of some $96 million. Bult Field has been renamed the South Suburban Airport and is envisioned by supporters as the centerpiece of the proposed project.

IDOT earlier this year solicited proposals from six development firms in hopes of finding a partner to help Illinois move forward with the project.

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The majority of the firms said they would need a commitment from state political leaders before they would make their own. Among the officials who signed the letter to Rauner are nine state legislators, three U.S. representatives and 19 mayors representing south suburban communities.

We urge Rauner to take a break from the political in-fighting over the state budget impasse and make a commitment to residents of the south suburban region and their elected representatives that he will "move quickly," as the letter urges him, to enlist a development partner on the airport.

In their letter to the governor, the local leaders made a strong argument for the project. They noted that O'Hare and Midway airports reached their operation capacity years ago and lack the ability to grow. The South Suburban Airport would give the Chicago region an opportunity to increase its standing as the nation's busiest inland port as well as the United States' transportation hub. They noted that some 2 million people live within 45 minutes of the proposed airport site, forming a customer base in addition to the industrial and commercial aviation needs of the south suburbs. For more than 30 years the Federal Aviation Administration has been urging Illinois government leaders to come together on a third airport in the interest of not just the state's economy but also for the national aviation system's needs.

As with every issue in Illinois these days, there is a danger that the political stalemate in Springfield will take precedence over this new push for the airport project. But Rauner has an opportunity here to take a stand that would benefit this region as well as the rest of Illinois. And in doing so Rauner might put some pressure on House Speaker Michael Madigan and his Democratic colleagues to join the governor in working for a positive accomplishment on behalf of all of their constituents. In other words, it might be good politics as well as good government to get on board.
Deerfield may be about to welcome another apartment project, this one geared toward senior living.

The Deerfield Plan Commission unanimously recommended a 240-unit senior living development near the intersection of Lake Cook and Wilmot roads for consideration by the Village Board of Trustees June 22.

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The multi-family apartments will bring the number of new apartments built or proposed in Deerfield in the last two years to 728.

Unlike the first two projects for the general marketAmli Deerfield and Woodviewthis development would be for people over age 65, according to a memorandum to the commission from Principal Planner Jeff Ryckaert and Planner Dan Nakahara.

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The proposed project is an addition to the existing Weinberg Community development on the south side of Lake Cook near Wilmot, according to Michael Viner, an attorney for the petitioner. The site has housed an assisted living facility operated by CJE Senior Life for approximately 20 years.

"This is designed to help people move from independent to assisted living," Viner said.

Along with a mix of studio, one and two-bedroom apartments with full kitchens, residents will receive two meals a day prepared in a central kitchen and served in a dining room along with a host of amenities, according Mark Weiner, the president and CEO of CJE Senior Life.

The apartments will be on the top five floors of the six-story building, according to Richard Mann, a project architect who gave details to the commissioners. He said five percent of the units will be studios, 60 percent either one bedroom or one-bedroom units with a den and the rest will be two bedrooms or two bedrooms with a den.

Monthly rent will range from $3,200 for a studio to $6,950 for the largest units, according to the memo. Along with valet parking, there will be spaces for 290 cars including a 177-space indoor garage, according to Mann. He said it is also pedestrian friendly.

"They will be able to visit friends at Weinberg on foot," Mann said.

The second floor will also contain an indoor swimming pool and a large landscaped terrace, according to the memo. There will be a general store, coffee shop, a beauty/barber shop, a library, computer room, a coffee shop, exercise facilities and a wellness room.

Daniel Brinkman, senior transportation engineer with Gewalt Hamilton Associates, Inc., who assisted with the presentation, said he does not anticipate parking or traffic problems. He said those issues were considered in the planning.

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"If you rent an apartment and have a car you want to be able to park it and count on parking it," Brinkman said.

Two members of the public who spoke at the meeting wanted to know if adjustments could be made to the traffic lights to ease congestion on streets that flow into Lake Cook. Larry Berg, the commission chair, said timing of the lights is controlled by the Cook County Department of Transportation.

"We can make recommendations but they control it," Berg said.

CJE Senior Life is affiliated with the Jewish United Fund and Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, according to the JUF website.

Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter.
This puggle, Misty, survived being thrown out a moving SUV Sunday night in Round Lake Park and was reunited with her family on Monday. (Round Lake Park Police)

Dawn Boyd of Round Lake Park was walking to work at Thorntons Sunday night when she saw something thrown from a window of a moving white SUV.

At first, she said, she thought it was just a brown crumpled bag, but she noticed it didn't blow away in the wind. She added that when she got to the bag, she saw it was a dog  a puggle, which is a mix of a pug and beagle.

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She gathered the female dog in her arms, took her to work and called police.

"It was just tossed from the car. I thought that was one of the cruelest things," Boyd said on Monday. "I figured an angel caught her on the way out the window.

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"All she wanted to do was stay in my arms," she added. "I fell in love with her in 20 minutes. I cried when I gave her to the police."

Mary Neals, whose family owns the dog  whose name is Misty  and had spent a good part of Sunday night looking for the puggle after she got out of the house, was thankful their family dog was safe and sound.

"We're just so happy for her to be home," Neals said on Monday. "We are so grateful to the good Samaritan that found her."

As for the idea that someone threw Misty out of a moving vehicle, Neals said, "I just can't believe someone would do this. We need to get this person off the street."

Round Lake Park Police Chief George Filenko said he came into the station Monday morning and began reading reports when he came across the account of a dog tossed from a window on Washington Street near Fairlawn Drive just after 6 p.m. Sunday.

Filenko said he became angry.

"They threw it out a window of a moving car. It's obvious what the intent was," he said. "We're looking for any information on the white SUV. We are definitely going to charge this person."

Filenko added that he has his own 12-year-old puggle, saying, "They are a hybrid and very popular right now. They can be expensive. They are as cute as can be."

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According to Filenko, physics will tell you that someone jumping from a car at 30 mph hits the ground with a force that is double the speed.

"That person could have taken it to a shelter if they didn't want it," he added. "There are so many options out there. To do this is utterly unbelievable."

Filenko said he and another officer realized Monday morning that they had been to a house with a puggle not long ago, and he had taken pictures of it to send to his wife. He pulled out the pictures and did a photo lineup, and it looked like the same dog, which led to contacting the family.

Adding that, "We still wanted to make sure everything was legit," Filenko said the puggle's owners were advised of their rights before talking to officers, "and their story checked out."

Neals said that sometimes Misty will sneak out if her four boys aren't careful, and that is what happened Sunday night.

"We couldn't believe she was gone this time," she said, adding that the family searched on foot and then searched using their vehicle, but they found no sign of the dog.

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She called her older sister to ask what to do, and she told her to call police in the morning. She added that she was just going to call police Monday morning when they called her. Filenko said the family told him they thought they needed to wait 24 hours.

"It doesn't matter if it's a person, dog or ferret  you can call right away," he said.

Neals said she wanted to emphasize to people that when their animal is lost or someone finds a lost animal, they should call police immediately.

The family decided to get a pet about a year ago, and Neals said that since she has all males in her family  Sheerba Anthony, 15, Basheer Anthony, 13, Calvin Jackson, 9, Clarence Jackson, 7, and her husband Christopher Miller  a female dog made sense.

"But I got to pick," she said laughing.

"And I fell in love with her the first time I set eyes on her," said Neals, adding Misty will be a year old on Aug. 4. "I'm so grateful for the lady (Boyd) and the Police Department."

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This year has seen a couple of cruelty to animal incidents in the Chicago region, including a fisherman finding a bag full of very young coyote pups that were tossed in a pond at a Cook County Forest Preserve near Barrington on May 11, with only one of the seven surviving. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police is still seeking information related to that incident.

Then at the end of May, a man who claimed two poodles off of craigslist as his own took them to a hospital's five-story parking garage in Oak Lawn and threw them off. One died and the other survived with badly broken legs.

The suspect in the Oak Lawn case, Edward Hanania, 22, was charged with two felony counts of animal cruelty in connection with the incident, and for violating the conditions of his probation on an unrelated March conviction for delivering a controlled substance, according to reports.

fabderholden@tribpub.com

Twitter @abderholden
Lake County State's Attorney, Mike Nerheim speaks during a July groundbreaking ceremony for a new Healing Garden at the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center. (Brian O'Mahoney / Lake County News-Sun)

Unfortunately, there was no lack of pain on display in Lake County Circuit Court last week as three men were sentenced in local murder cases. As Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes said during one of the sentencing hearings Wednesday, "There is no joy here."

Each case, as usual, brought two sets of friends and relatives to the polished wooden benches of felony court.

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Often sitting on opposite sides of the benches, one group is mourning the loss of a family member  a father, a son, a cousin, a spouse. A special friend. Nothing will bring that person back, but usually loved ones will bear numerous hearings and trial appearances before a sentence is determined.

They may or may not hear an apology from the defendant.

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The second group is there to see how long a friend or family member will be spending in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Calculating the months, years and sometimes decades that will pass before, if ever, their son, daughter, father, friend, will come home.

Often, soft crying can be heard from members of both groups, sometimes the painful emotions can't be contained and lead to outbursts, inevitably followed by someone leaving on their own or being escorted out of the courtroom.

There is no joy here.

Charged with maintaining order among tragedy are the court security officers, who increase in numbers with the severity of the case.

Before a murder sentencing Monday, a security officer addressed the audience with a plea for restraint. "We know this will be an emotional hearing," he said, and asked those in attendance to remember that despite the tragic subject matter, order and quiet must be preserved in the courtroom. He asked in advance that those who may feel themselves losing control of emotions to leave the court at that point.

"We're all human," he said. "We all have emotions."

One onlooker followed those instructions after the hearing started, leaving as her crying increased to sobs.

Sgt. Erwin Drummond of the Lake County Sheriff's Office Court Security Division said security officers are trained to handle all aspects of possible problems in court. Whether confronted by sadness or anger, their job is to "preserve the process," he said.

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Drummond said goal number one is to ensure the safety of everyone in the court, from the judge, to attorneys, witnesses, defendants and observers. He said in some cases in which previous hearings have involved disruptions, or intelligence has been gained that there may be problems, staffing is increased.

Officers are trained to respond with compassion when the situation calls for it, as well as enforcement duties when needed.

"We need to make sure everyone is safe and the judicial process doesn't get disrupted," Drummond said.

In court, even following the most extreme disruptions, order will win out.

But during some busy weeks, one thing is also clear. Some observers may leave the courtroom with a measure of satisfaction or the feeling that justice has been done. But joy is nowhere to be found.

Nerheim hits top honors again

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For the second time in four years, Lake County State's Attorney Michael Nerheim has been named State's Attorney of the Year by the Illinois State Crime Commission.

Nerheim received this year's honor at a Crime Commission award ceremony Wednesday. He said Thursday he was surprised to claim the award a second time.

"I can't believe it. It's humbling," Nerheim said.

He first took the honor in 2014 for his efforts with initiatives to reduce heroin and opioid deaths and the supply and demand for illicit drugs, as well as the unlawful use of prescription drugs.

In announcing Nerheim as State's Attorney of the Year for 2017, officials again cited his work on addressing the opioid epidemic as well as battling human trafficking, often involving minors.

"State's Attorney Michael Nerheim has been a national leader in the battle against the opioid and heroin epidemic," Illinois State Crime Commission Executive Director Jerry Elsner said in announcing the award. "In addition, he has been a leader in combating child sex trafficking, thereby saving families from the despicable horror of their children being exploited."

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Nerheim, who was first elected state's attorney in 2012, cofounded the Lake County Opioid Initiative that same year.

The group has partnered with other agencies and law enforcement to equip police, often the first responders to an overdose call, with Naloxone, a heroin and opioid antidote credited with saving 167 lives in Lake County since Christmas Day 2014.

In addition, The Illinois Crime Commission credited Nerheim for collaborating with task forces that focus on the battle against child sex trafficking and exploitation, from Internet sex crimes to prostitution.

"I am extremely honored to receive this award by the Illinois State Crime Commission for the second time since taking office," Nerheim said. "The award is a testament to the exceptional team of prosecutors, investigators, victim coordinators and staff members at the Lake County State's Attorney's Office who go to work every day committed to seeking justice and serving our community."

Lake County News-Sun reporter Jim Newton.

Nerheim also credited local law enforcement and community agencies and partners who help advance the local initiatives.

jrnewton@tribpub.com

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Pleasant Prairie police are asking the public for help in identifying a man who was found dead on the Soo Line railroad tracks on the western side of the southeast Wisconsin town in 1993. This forensic image attempts to re-create what the victim looked like. (Pleasant Prairie Police / News-Sun)

Pleasant Prairie police are asking the public for help in identifying a man who was found dead on the Soo Line railroad tracks on the western side of town in 1993.

When discovered by a photographer, the body was in an advanced state of decomposition, according to a news release from the Police Department.

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Forensic work, including dental exams and a reconstruction of a tattoo found on the man, were unable to provide authorities with his identify or any other leads in the case, the release said.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office is checking its records to determine if there is any possible information relevant to the John Doe case across the state line, Sgt. Christopher Covelli said.

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In January 2009, police say, case information was entered into the national Missing and Unidentified Persons System database with no results. In December 2014, the man's skull was sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for a secondary forensic anthropology examination, forensic odontology exam and DNA extraction.

In June 2016, tests conducted there showed John Doe to be a male between 40 and 60 years of age, and possibly Hispanic, Native American or of Caucasian ancestry, or possibly a combination of those ancestries, according to Pleasant Prairie police.

That DNA analysis was uploaded into the FBI's national database, and a facial reconstruction of the man was made by the Michigan Sate Police Biometrics and Identification Division, according to the release.

Anyone with information regarding the identity of this John Doe and the case is asked to contact the Pleasant Prairie Police Department at 262-694-7353, or Kenosha Area Crime Stoppers at 262-656-7333.

Yadira Sanchez Olson is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
This mid-20th century brick bungalow at Rockland Road and Kenwood Avenue in Libertyville is facing demolition and could be replaced by something out of reach for most prospective homeowners. (Charles Selle / Lake County News-Sun )

There it sits, forlornly surrounded by chain-link fencing. Once somebody's home, it is being readied for demolition.

Like dozens of others in Libertyville 's Copeland Manor subdivision, the brick bungalow home at Rockland Road and Kenwood Avenue will be replaced by a McMansion. Razing of the home will leave one less entry-level house in a community where young homeowners can find starter places for $250,000 and up.

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The kindly burghers of Libertyville want to be a welcoming town, although they can't seem to agree on how welcoming. Their recent clash over putting on the record that Libertyville really is a village of inclusion pointed out it is a community losing more of its middle-class roots and affordable housing every year.

From turning the old Central School into an in-town upscale development, to demolishing the old Brainerd Building, to losing vintage Copeland Manor homes, Libertyville is getting to like using wrecking balls to change the face and faces of the village. In addition, now it is rumored the Liberty Theatre at Milwaukee and Newberry avenues is next on the list of future teardowns.

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Aging homes, like one listed on North Stewart Avenue as a fixer-upper or more likely a teardown in Realtor advertisements, are going the way of landlines. Some may say it's time to update the village's housing stock, although officials had a chance to approve a new development at Winchester and Butterfield roads until nearby residents objected.

Then there's Copeland Manor  between Fourth Avenue and the Des Plaines River  where GIs coming back from World War II planted roots with $500-down mortgages, getting good-paying jobs at Frank G. Hough, Anchor Coupling or the "noodle college," as locals called Foulds Macaroni Co.

The house at Rockland and Kenwood was built in 1949, according to realty records. Over the years, the Copeland Manor homes became too small, so homeowners added a second floor. Now, those too are being torn down. One replacement home in the area is on the market for more than $800,000.

Copeland Manor was first platted in 1925, just a few years before the Great Depression. When the Depression took hold, work stopped on the houses on the onetime property of gentleman farmer Charles C. Copeland.

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Copeland, a native upstate New Yorker who came to Libertyville in the 1860s, bought the land on what is much of the Copeland Manor area. He dubbed the 360 acres between what is now Milwaukee Avenue and St. Mary's Road as "Forest Spring Farm."

Before the turn of the 20th century, it must have been an idyllic setting, which finally drew developers to bulldoze the area and erect solidly built homes. The cycle continues with wrecking of barely midcentury Copeland Manor houses to make way for jumbo homes on tiny lots.

Highland Park officials became so alarmed in 1998 at the teardown activity in the city that they developed the first demolition ordinance in Illinois. It carries a $10,000 teardown fee, with money going into an affordable housing trust fund. The city's historical commission needs to sign off on teardowns of historically significant properties.

I'm not sure if Copeland Manor houses qualify as historically worth saving. But they have worth for those looking for affordable homes in a town where they are becoming relics for future historians to study.

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Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.

sellenews@gmail.com

Twitter @sellenews
Stop spraying

How is it that the school board can continue to rubber stamp money to have True Green spray all the schools at $15,246 per application because the superintendent doesn't like dandelions? That's 30 applications at $45,000 a year. Think of all the school books that can be bought. What a waste of money.

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Be truthful

How about all these people, Jared Kushner and Jeff Sessions, that don't know how to fill out security forms. In the 1960s, I was a crew chief on a B46 and as such I carried a top secret clearance. I had to fill out a security form. The questions are very detailed, but not difficult. All you have to do is answer the questions truthfully. If you chose not to answer it truthfully, at the back end before you sign your name they are basically telling you it is like being under oath. If you lie on this form, you could go to jail maybe four or five years, whatever the time frame. It is not that difficult. This goofy Kushner can't remember. Let me bring you up to speed, this is nonsense. The questions are detailed. They cover a lot of areas. All you have to do is answer truthfully.

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Sticking up for seniors

I'd like to say something to the senior citizens. I'd like to stick up for them. We need some attorneys to stick up for them and get the school system off the tax bills because they can't keep paying the schools when they haven't been in school for 30 years or more. But they keep paying. Why? Why do they keep giving these teachers and superintendent raises, and giving them big salaries.

Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Problem with Waukegan

This is the whole problem with the city wanting to get their nose in the front doors. Pretty soon it will be like North Chicago. You are going to start charging me to take care of my own property. You are going to charge me for repairing a square of cement on my side of the sidewalk, not the city's sidewalk. Pretty soon, Waukegan is going to look exactly like North Chicago when you drive through because you can't afford to pay the city to fix up your own stuff. You have to pay for the permit, then pay for someone to fix it.

Bye AT&T

Bye, bye AT&T. After 50 years of having a home phone landline, you cut off my phone because I didn't have email to confirm your appointment. Nor was I up at 11:58 p.m. when you called. You cut off my phone with a flip of a switch, but it takes eight days to reactivate and two more days to install your new equipment in our home. I have cancelled their phone service. Good luck AT&T customers. Good bye AT&T. You have lost our business and I am smiling all the way to the bank.

No Planned Parenthood funding

Let's think about funding Planned Parenthood and the U.S. taxpayer. Especially those of us from the political right, not extreme right. Just the conservative right. In the run for the spot in Georgia earlier this month, Planned Parenthood put in about $750,000 for Mr. Ossoff, the Democrat, of course. If Planned Parenthood thinks all Americans should fund their abortion mills, they should just ask the Democrats to fund them because most Republicans don't want our taxpayer money going to kill babies. We wouldn't need all these illegal aliens in our country, illegal immigrants, if it wasn't for the 50 million-plus babies killed in abortion mills since Roe v. Wade. It is more than 50 million, so we probably have 50 million illegals in our country doing the jobs Americans will still do, depressing our wages. It won't stop the Democrats. They just want more people on the public doles because they don't care about America, they care about power.

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Editor's note

Talk of the County is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-4554 or email talkofthecounty@tribpub.com. For a continuously updating blog of Talk of the County comments, go to newssunonline.com/talk.
No tree fee

Responding to "Tree Fee Outrageous": There are no fees in Waukegan to cut down a tree on your property. You do have to apply for a no-charge permit and request the tree to be taken or cut down. If you are going to cut one down in the parkway, you need to notify the city. If you are going to cut one down on your property, you have to notify the city. Again, there are no charges to cut down a tree. The charges are cutting down a tree without permission or a permit, so let's get your facts straight.

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Speak up

As our state reaches junk status, including now some of our schools, it's obvious that politics is the core reason why we cannot get a budget. If the media is correct, even if it does get resolved the outcome is still grim. So what does that mean to us the taxpayer? I think the writing's on the wall that we will pay one way or another. And the politicians who are making the decision? Not us. They still are getting paid to do what? What will we do when they start taxing our pensions, raise taxes etc. I for one learned in the military to fight the enemy, so for us the solution is easy. Move. Speak up.

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Both sides misbehaving

The Democrats have created a culture of fear in America? I will tell you what is truly scary  13 members of Congress hastily crafting a health care bill behind closed doors with no transparency, and no time for others to review that will cancel health coverage for 24 million Americans. To say that Trump supporters did not freely wear T-shirts or others items (remember the Make America Great Again hats) in fear of physical assault is simply delusional. Fake news is a GOP creation, and since June 2015 there are over 50 documented instances of where Donald Trump, his supporters or his staff have harassed or attacked Latinos, Muslims, African Americans and other minority groups. But you say the Democrats have incited violence. It is fair to say both sides have not behaved ethically, but to blame the left entirely is simply irresponsible and needed to be balanced out.

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Who are you listening to?

To the reader who talked of fear of Democrats: You are obviously watching too much Fox so-called News. Listen to a conservative talk show host and you hear high-volume rants about "alternative facts." Listen to a liberal talk show host, and they present their viewpoint calmly and they cite sources. By the way, I was fearful of expressing my preference for Bernie because of all the hate and violence that Trump perpetuated.

Stop buying tickets

With no state budget, the residents of Illinois need to stop buying all types of lottery tickets. Lottery tickets are a poor man's wish to wealth and it doesn't happen very often. There are also the casinos, which are another way to suck the money out of your pockets and fill up the politicians' pockets. Wake up citizens of Illinois and stop supporting a lost cause that you will never get rich from.

Kudos and criticism

Kudos to the Gurnee Police Department. Not only will they properly install a child's car seat, they will also recycle it when it is no longer needed, no questions asked. I am a Waukegan resident and wish our Police Department offered safe installation of car seats. On second thought, that would require being able to easily locate the entrance to the department and hope the postage stamp size of the lobby isn't filled to capacity.

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Editor's note

Talk of the County is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-4554 or email talkofthecounty@tribpub.com. For a continuously updating blog of Talk of the County comments, go to newssunonline.com/talk.
Harwood Heights police are advising residents to take precautions against an upsurge in vehicle break-ins reported in the area over the last month. (Pioneer Press)

Harwood Heights police are advising residents to take precautions against an upsurge in vehicle break-ins reported in the area over the last month.

As a first step, car owners need "to lock their vehicle doors," Harwood Heights Detective Sgt. Jolanta Smith said on Friday.

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The department has been investigating a spate of car burglaries over the past month, involving male juveniles, going down streets, jiggling door handles and testing for unlocked vehicles, she said.

Once inside, the youthful offenders scoop up change and other valuables. If the vehicle owner left a key or key fob inside, there is potential for them to steal car, she said.

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Detectives are still reviewing images captured on surveillance cameras outside one home one night recently in a west Norridge neighborhood. The video shows multiple individuals darting in and out of a minivan and jiggling door handles, as the minivan proceeds down the darkened street.

In some instances, offenders have gone up "to people's driveways, not just streets" to check for unlocked vehicles, Smith noted.

Harwood Heights police arrested two suspects in one case that underscored the challenge police face breaking up the activity. On June 20, at approximately 2 a.m., an officer on patrol observed two male juveniles on the east end of town, in the vicinity of Montrose Avenue and Forest Preserve Drive, Smith said.

Police ended up questioning the youths, both 15, from the South Side of Chicago, about a possible curfew violation, Smith said. One of the teenagers was found in possession of a bag of coins and a man's watch. However, police were not able to connect the items at that time with any burglaries in the area, and the youths were released to family members, she said.

The following day, though, police received calls from residents reporting that someone had rummaged through their vehicles during the night, with one reporting a bag of coins was missing, Smith said. However, the victims did not want to pursue criminal charges, she said.

Police are asking residents to practice vigilance, by locking their vehicles overnight and by not leaving any valuables inside, including key fobs.

Even in cases where only minor items are taken, police ask the public to contact them about the loss, Smith said.

"The more information we have, the better we can work to solve this crime," she said.

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She said a number of other towns are reporting similar incidents, including Arlington Heights, Northfield, Northbrook, Glenview, Winnetka, Carpentersville, Oak Park and Elk Grove Village.
Hobart resident Mary Adams received the Golden Hoosier Award on Friday, in recognition of her decades of volunteerism at St. Mary Medical Center and establishing the Hobart Food Pantry. (Photo Provided by St. Mary Medical)

Hobart resident Mary Adams received the state's top honor for seniors, the Golden Hoosier Award, on Friday.

Adams was honored alongside 21 other recipients from across the state at a ceremony at the Indiana Statehouse.

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Adams, 91, is one of the founders of the Hobart Food Pantry, now in its 35th year, where she still volunteers at least twice a week. She has volunteered for decades at her church, St. Bridget Roman Catholic Church in Hobart, and at St. Mary Medical Center, where she works in the Pastoral Care Department and fills in as needed at the Information Desk.

"It's quite an honor. I am very honored and humbled," Adams said in a release. "I've just been doing the things that I normally do and take for granted and enjoy doing. It's not a chore for me. It's not something I force myself to do. It just comes naturally."

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The Golden Hoosier Award honors seniors who serve other Hoosiers in an exemplary manner.

"Over 25 years, Mary Adams has dedicated more than 15,000 hours of service to St. Mary Medical Center, to our Pastoral Care chaplains, and to our patients and their families," said St. Mary Medical Center CEO Janice Ryba. "Mary exemplifies the spirit of service and caring that our auxiliary volunteers bring to our hospital every day."

Adams began volunteering at St. Mary Medical Center in 1992. As of Friday, she had logged more than 15,700 volunteer hours for the hospital.

Adams also participates in monthly memorial services for the families of patients who have died. She served for many years as a Eucharistic minister who would deliver Communion to Catholic patients.

Adams helped establish the Hobart Food Pantry in 1982, in support of the families of striking local mill workers.

"It was supposed to be a temporary thing. It didn't turn out to be that way," she recalled. "We take care of about 150 families a week, and that's just in Hobart."

Adams attributed her decades of volunteerism, in part, to surviving cancer. She underwent cancer surgery at St. Mary Medical Center 25 years ago and made a full recovery. Once she had recovered, Adams began volunteering at the hospital.

"This is kind of my way of saying, 'Thank you for the opportunity.' I feel I am one of the lucky ones," Adams said. "You shouldn't ignore that or take things for granted."
The Porter County Sheriff's Department is investigating a fatal crash involving an officer with the Kouts Police Department in which a man was killed, the officer was injured and a 4-year-old girl was ejected from a passenger car.

The accident occurred shortly after 9:15 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Indiana 8 and Baums Bridge Road in Pleasant Township, according to a news release from Sgt. Jamie Erow, public information officer for the Sheriff's Department.

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Robert Lindsey, 45, of Winamac, died of his injuries shortly after 11:30 p.m. Sunday at Porter Regional Hospital, according to Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris.

Brock Moore, 24, an officer with the Kouts Police Department, was transported to Porter Regional Hospital for treatment of head lacerations and released.

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The 4-year-old was transported via Samaritan Medical Transport helicopter to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne with serious injuries.

Whether Officer Moore will be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the collision investigation is unknown.

"He has to be medically cleared to return to work, so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Kouts Police Chief James Smith. Moore has been with the department since February.

The last time a Kouts officer was injured in a car accident while on duty was 10 years ago, Smith said, when Patrolman John Guthrie's patrol car struck a utility pole while he was pursuing a suspect. Guthrie, who suffered multiple injuries, was off duty for seven months, he added.

Based on witness statements and an initial investigation by officers on the scene, Moore, in a 2008 white Chevrolet Impala squad car, was eastbound on Indiana 8 approaching Baums Bridge Road, and Lindsey, in a green, 1998 Buick Regal, was northbound on Baums Bridge Road.

The initial investigation, Erow said, showed Lindsey failed to yield the right of way to Moore's squad car and was struck on the driver's side by the squad car.

The Sheriff Department's accident reconstruction team was called to the scene and continues its investigation, and additional toxicology results are pending, Erow said.

Assisting at the scene were the Hebron Police Department, Kouts Fire Department, Porter EMS, Samaritan Medical Transport and H&A Towing.

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Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Sarah Steinhilber, left, volunteer and event coordinator at the Porter County Animal Shelter, leads a tour of the new facility Saturday during a public open house. (Amy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)

Surrounded by her family, Stephanie Kadletz, director of Moraine Ridge Wildlife Rehab Center, filled out adoption papers Saturday at the Porter County Animal Shelter.

"We're looking to adopt another dog," she said, adding the family's dog, a rescue, recently died. "We're looking for a German shepherd."

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The family went to the shelter's open house to see the new facility and potentially adopt a new pet.

Kadletz said they want to support the shelter.

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"It's a very nice shelter. It's great," said Kadletz. "It's absolutely an upgrade, and a needed facility for the domesticated animals of Porter County."

The shelter, at 3355 Bertholet Blvd., between the Porter County Sheriff's Department and the Expo Center off of Indiana 49, opened May 30, but shelter officials wanted to wait until the animals and employees settled in before hosting an open house.

In the few weeks the shelter has been open, adoptions, donations and interest in volunteering are up, said Toni Bianchi, shelter director. She and county officials had hoped all three things would increase with the new shelter.

"People have come in ready to adopt," she said.

The next volunteer orientation takes place July 12, and more information is available on the shelter's Facebook page and its website, www.porterco.org/pcas.

At least 25 people lined up to get into the shelter shortly before it opened at noon on Saturday, Porter County Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, said.

"They just keep coming, so I'm glad they're getting in here," said Blaney, who helped spearhead the new shelter. "I'm hearing lots of positive comments and lots of community engagement."

Inside, people lined up in the lobby to take formal tours, which ended with light refreshments.

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Sarah Steinhilber, the shelter's volunteer and event coordinator and an employee there for two years, led one of the tours, pointing out the shelter's various amenities.

She noted the shelter's air exchange system, to minimize odors; a kitchen, which makes food preparation for dogs and cleanup easier than in the old shelter; and a dog grooming room, which had a ramp to the cleaning tub so shelter employees don't have to pick dogs up.

She also pointed out a room that will be used to do spay and neuter procedures on site.

Things have been hectic since the shelter first opened, she said, but "this is up next."

Barb Schaefer, who owns the Pet Resort, a boarding and grooming facility in Washington Township, said she came to see the shelter because a lot of people wanting to adopt pets call her.

"I want to know to give them the right information now that we have this nice facility," she said.

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Her business often boards rescues, she said, adding the county badly needed a new shelter.

"I'm impressed," Schaefer said. "Everything is utilitarian, easy to clean, durable, and will last a long time."

Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Judge Julia Jent speaks during the 2016 Porter County Veterans Court graduation program at Woodland Park in Portage. Jent has announced that she will be retiring this year. (Kyle Telechan/Post-Tribune )

Two Porter County judges have announced plans to retire by year's end.

Porter Superior Judge William Alexa has set Oct. 3 as his final day, leaving a little more than a year left in his term that was set to expire Dec. 31, 2018.

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Porter Superior Judge Julia Jent has not set a date for her retirement but plans to leave around the end of the year, leaving five years left in her term, she said.

Alexa, 76, said he's set that specific date "just because it's convenient and it's time."

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He's spent much of his career in public service, including three years in the Porter County Prosecutor's Office and about 14 years as a state senator

Jent, 70, said her husband, Jack Jent, has some health issues, "And I want to spend some quality time with him."

She's contacted Gov. Eric Holcomb to talk with him about appointing a replacement that will understand the importance of three problem-solving and rehabilitation courts she established: Drug Court, Veterans Court and Re-Entry Court.

Alexa was appointed by Gov. Frank O'Bannon to fill the position vacated by Thomas Weber on Dec. 2, 2002.

Alexa's wife, Joyce Alexa, retired in January after 40 years with the Visiting Nurse Association.

"We've been here a long time, and it's time to do something different  as she says, it's time to reinvent ourselves," he said.

Alexa has served as a Porter County deputy prosecutor and chief deputy prosecutor from 1975 to 1978, then moved to private practice until 2002, when he became a judge, he said.

He was elected to the Indiana State Senate in 1988 and served until 2002.

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Alexa said he enjoyed working with the judges, attorneys and his staff and trials were a favorite duty.

"More happens quickly. You have to keep your mind attuned," he said.

Jent was sworn in Jan. 21, 1997, the last appointment made by Gov. Evan Bayh.

She oversees mostly minor felonies, misdemeanors, traffic violations and small claims, with the biggest crimes being theft or operating while intoxicated, she said.

"It doesn't get that exciting," Jent said. "It's more a 'People's Court.'"

Jent moved to Northwest Indiana after she married her husband 52 years ago at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis while they served in the Army.

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In Lake County, she had a private practice and served as prosecutor in Hobart and Lake Station and was Merrillville's first prosecutor in 1995 before she and Jack Jent moved back to Porter County, she said.

She established Drug Court 16 years ago to give defendants with substance abuse problems a chance to clear charges if they passed a strict therapeutic program.

She started Veterans Court six years ago to help veterans reintegrate into society, and she began Re-entry Court about two years ago to help those getting out of prison reintegrate, she said.

"I take a lot of pride in what I do," Jent said. "I'm used to going 90 mph, and (it will) probably take me some time to wind down."

Holcomb will appoint replacements for the two retiring judges.

James D. Wolf Jr. is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen serves up some lunch Friday, June 23, 2017 during the grand opening of Real Urban Barbecue in Skokie. The new restaurant continues a trend of busy economic development been seen in the Touhy Corridor on the west end of Skokie. (Mike Isaacs/ Pioneer Press )

Skokie welcomed a new addition to village's bustling Touhy Avenue corridor, with a barbecue chain opening in the area Friday.

Real Urban Barbecue, the successful local restaurant chain, held a grand opening to celebrate opening its fourth franchise restaurant and another key addition to the village's Touhy Corridor on the west end of town.

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Skokie Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Howard Meyer said Skokie has been as productive as any municipality in the state when it comes to economic development since the recession ended.

According to Meyer, the village has now issued at least 5,000 building permits three years in a row, even more than before the recession.

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And no area in the village has been more active than the west end of Touhy over the last couple years, he said.

Meyer said he believes the development on the east end of Touhy about five years ago  including opening a Walmart and a Mariano's grocery store among other big retailers  gave an economic boost to the entire length of Touhy in Skokie.

"I think it's a connectedness," he said. "It's not only people traveling the street, but it's investors and developers seeing what happened on the east end and really seeing the potential on the west end."

The area of Touhy west of the Edens Expressway to the village's border of Niles has seen a flurry of economic development activity in relatively short time. Jack's Restaurant, which sat as a fixture at Touhy and Laramie Avenue for decades, cut its hours to daytime-only years ago and then finally sold its property and closed its doors.

Now, a new Starbucks and other stores are located in a strip shopping center named  for history's sake  Jack's Corner. Across the street is the new Real Urban Barbecue, 5238 Touhy, which sits next to Orangetheory Fitness, another relatively recent addition.

Properties further west and across from the Village Crossing Shopping Center have been targeted for recent retail development in under-used industrial sites that have diminished over the years, village officials said.

A new prototype Panera Cafe and a Mod Pizza opened in this stretch of Touhy, and other developments are in progress, village officials said.

Meyer said a Jewel grocery store once occupied the site where the new barbecue franchise and other retailers are located, but it closed after Village Crossing was developed in the '80s. The area was fairly dormant for some time, he said.

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"Then the successes on the east end created an environment and an atmosphere for developers and investors to realize the potential of the under-developed properties on the west end," he said.

Skokie Village Trustee Ralph Klein maintained that developers have also found Skokie to be a welcoming location for development, which has also helped bring other developers to the area.

Real Urban Barbecue Owner Jeff Shapiro said he opened his first restaurant in 2010 and since then, has slow-smoked and served more than 156,000 slabs of ribs and over 391 tons of brisket.

"We're excited to be a little bit closer to Chicago," he said. "We'll get all the Chicago fans driving down the Edens and now they can stop in Skokie."

At Friday's grand opening, Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen said he had driven by the site every so often to keep tabs on the progress because he eagerly awaited the opening.

"This is the one spot I always stopped at to see how they (were) doing," he said.

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misaacs@pioneerlocal.com

@SKReview_Mike
John Glimco, left, is retiring as principal of Pleasantdale Middle School. Matt Vandercar, right, is retiring as principal of Pleasantdale Elementary School. (Kevin Beese / For the Pioneer Press)

Pleasantdale Elementary District 107 will see nearly 20 years of district experience depart this week as both principals are retiring.

Matt Vandercar, who has led Pleasantdale Elementary School for 15 years, and John Glimco, who has led Pleasantdale Middle School for four years, will leave their respective positions on Friday.

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Both said they will miss the interaction with students.

"Some of my fondest memories are the first days of school. They are probably some of my favorite days," Vandercar said. "I love the programs that kids do  the concerts, the band and orchestra, poetry parties in the classrooms. I love all that stuff."

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"I love walking down the hallways when the kids are working on their chalk drawings and hearing how kids collaborate and share and talk at a level that middle school students shouldn't be at," Glimco said. "They are having professional dialogue. They are doing great things together like that. That's one thing that always strikes me."

Vandercar said he made a habit of interacting with the students before the school day starts and during recess and lunch times.

"I like greeting them in the morning. I try to get out there every day," he said. "The whole staff does. We all try to make sure kids feel welcome here, feel safe and happy."

Glimco said he is always touched by the respect that Pleasantdale Middle students show for each other.

"If I had to pick any term that fits them, they are 'just good, kind young people,'" Glimco said. "Every place has its challenges, but these kids are here to support each other, they watch out for each other, they care for each other."

"I don't think I could ever cover all the things that I will miss about this group," Glimco said of the students who were fifth-graders when he started as principal and graduated this year as he departs.

Vandercar will be replaced by Kathleen Tomei, principal at Lincoln Elementary School in Elmhurst.

Vandercar said he has met with Tomei a few times and thinks she will be a good addition for the school.

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Glimco will be replaced by Griffin Sonntag, principal of Clarendon Hills Middle School. Sonntag's hiring was just approved at last week's school board meeting.

Vandercar credited former district superintendent Mark Fredisdorf with being a great mentor.

"I learned a lot from Mark," Vandercar said. "I owe him a lot."

Vandercar said Pleasantdale Elementary students continue to do great academically and says the district, under superintendent Dave Palzet, will keep excelling, focusing on the student as a whole and not getting caught up in standardized testing.

Both said that Pleasantdale families have been amazing to deal with over the years.

Glimco said he will take with the memory of fifth-grade students making cards for his birthday this year and bringing them to his office.

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"They were coming in through one door, walking through and out the next-door office," Glimco said, "handing me the cards, just walking through. It was such a cute moment, such nice kids."

Both Vandercar and Glimco expect to stay involved in education. Vandercar has a year left in the Ph.D. program at Concordia University in River Forest and is contemplating a role in the university's new-principal mentor program. He also plans to get more involved in the Chicago Area Alternative Education League, a group he has volunteered with for about a decade.

Glimco said he may be more involved with his college's alumni organization or help out at some private schools in the area.

"I have different opportunities and options," said Glimco, who started his education career at Lyons Township High School 32 years ago. "I am seeing what will be a good fit."

Kevin Beese is a freelance writer for Pioneer Press.
Man charged in connection to fatal shooting in rural Pueblo County

The Pueblo County Sheriffs Office has arrested a man on suspicion of murder in connection to the fatal shooting of a 73-year-old woman in rural Pueblo County.
Luxun Academy of Fine Arts Sunday signed an agreement in Beijing with the University of Salford from the United Kingdom to launch an education project.

The two sides will jointly run the major of digital media arts, according to the agreement.

The cooperation would benefit students and promote cultural exchanges between the two countries, said Li Xiangqun, president of Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang.

Helen Marshall, president of the University of Salford, said that students under the cooperation project will receive degrees from both schools and this could lead to better employment opportunities.

The University of Salford in Manchester is said to keep close contacts with renowned media organizations including BBC and ITV and can offer good learning and intern opportunities.
Award-winning actress Jiang Wenli is back in the spotlight with a role in a Chinese stage adaptation of a Western romantic comedy.

Chinese actress Jiang Wenli will play the lead in the theater production Same Time, Next Year. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Award-winning Chinese actress Jiang Wenli, best known for her roles in Chen Kaige's film Farewell My Concubine and in the 2004 TV drama Chinese Divorce, will star in Same Time, Next Year, a Chinese adaptation of the 1975 romantic comedy by Canadian playwright Bernard Slade.

Directed by Russian director Yury Yeremin, the play will premiere in Tianjin on Friday and will tour seven cities nationwide, including Beijing, Shenzhen and Xiamen, through September.

The story is about accountant George Peters, who lives in New Jersey, and Oakland-based housewife Doris. They meet by chance at an inn in northern California in 1951.

After a one-night stand, they agree to meet once a year at the same inn and on the same day. Since both are married and have families, they develop a kind of relationship beyond that of lovers over the next 25 years.

As society and their lives change, they talk about everything from politics to marital problems and their relationships with their children.

The play was first staged as a Broadway production directed by Gene Saks from 1975 to 1978, during which time there were nearly 1,500 performances. It won a Tony Award for best actress and nominations for best play and best direction.

In 1978, the play was adapted into a film by US director Robert Mulligan. It won Oscar nominations.

Hong Kong director Clifton Ko made a film based on the play in 1994, titled I Will Wait for You, starring Tony Leung Ka-fai and Anita Yuen.
A Philippine drama film last night won best feature film at the Golden Goblet awards ceremony of the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival.

Director Paolo Villaluna receives the best feature film award for "Pedicab" during the awarding ceremony of the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival in Shanghai, east China, June 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Pedicab, directed by Paolo Villaluna, revolves around an ordinary Philippine family trying to survive in the big city.

Accepting the award at the Shanghai Grand Theater, Villaluna said that the film does shock. He dedicated the award to all Philippine people who were in need of good news.

Polish director Maciej Pieprzyca earned the best director award for "I'm A Killer," a psychological thriller adapted from events occurring in Poland in the early 1970s. Pieprzyca said he was honored and touched.

Chinese actor Huang Bo won best actor for his portrayal of an ordinary man who struggles at the bottom of society in "The Conformist." The jury highly praised Huang's successful depiction of the character's complicated and delicate emotions.

Huang who rose to fame from comedy movies said that in recent years he has branched out to portray other kinds of characters. "My first directorial film is also under shooting," Huang said.

The best actress award went to Sareh Bayat for her portrayal of a woman who bravely faces up to an accident in the Iranian film "Yellow," a heartwarming look at friendship. The film also took the Jury Grand Prix.

Cinematographer Shandor Berkeshi won the best cinematography award for "Kharms," a coproduction by Russia, Lithuania and Macedonia. The film's director and screenwriter Ivan Bolotnikov also received the best screenplay award.

Romanian movie "Fault Condition" won the award for outstanding artistic achievement.

Best documentary went to German production "When Paul Came Over the Sea  Journal of An Encounter," while "Loving Vincent," a coproduction by Britain and Poland, took the award for best animation film.

A total of 24 films were nominated this year for the Golden Goblet awards in the categories of feature film, documentary and animation. The film festival will close today with public screening of the winning pictures.
Chinese consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and brand-savvy, underpinning a fast-growing market for luxury products, according to an Italian luxury material manufacturer.

"The Chinese consumer market is promising not only because of its volume but also because local consumers are very reactive, enthusiastic about new things and sensitive to brands and quality," said Andrea Boragno, chief executive officer and chairman of Alcantara, which makes a leather substitute used in fashion, accessories, automotive interiors and consumer electronics.

The company opened its second international store in Shanghai in April following a concept store in Milan where the company's headquarters are based.

China is one of the two fastest-growing markets for Alcantara and the second largest market after the European Union, in terms of sales last year, according to Boragno.

In his view, Chinese designers have taken big strides in recent years by shifting from copying to developing their own identity based on their creativity and culture. The company is already working with Chinese designers.

The company will stick to "Made in Italy" to maintain exclusive quality while planning to work with Chinese brands in the future, he said.

Boragno attributed Alcantara's popularity in China to Chinese consumers' willingness to pay for exclusivity as well as the recognition of a green lifestyle.

The carbon-neutral-certified material producer has been able to reduce and offset its greenhouse gas emissions to zero since 2009 through advanced and efficient production processes and participation in global sustainable initiatives.

Last year, Alcantara invested 22 million euros ($24.64 million), of which more than $7 million was devoted to sustainability-related activities. It plans to invest 28 million euros this year, with over 25 percent of spending on health, safety and environmental activities, according to the company's annual report.

"Going green will not hurt profits in the long run. Instead, we strongly believe that the generation of value for stakeholders can become a driver to generate value for shareholders," Boragno said.

Using its material, Alcantara organized an exhibition on the sustainability theme in Italy last week, which included works from Chinese calligrapher Qin Feng.

Sustainability is a necessary factor that will help materialize the long-term objective of increasing the company's financial value, Boragno said.
CreditEase, a leading Chinese inclusive finance and wealth management company, suggested on June 24 that investing in a fund of funds (FOF) would be the most reliable way of increasing ones capital.

Tang Ning, founder and CEO of CreditEase, delivers a keynote speech on June 24, 2017, at the First Capital Market Forum held by the company in Beijing. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]

"The most reasonable way to invest the capital market is to do that through a multi-strategy FOF  a fund that invests several elite fund management companies," said Tang Ning, founder and CEO of CreditEase, speaking at the company's First Capital Market Forum held in Beijing.

The reason, he explained, was that each fund management company had "its own way of making profits, as well as its different strategy to coping with risk." More importantly, a multi-strategy FOF, by investing in several good-standing fund management companies, would naturally tend to maximize returns and minimize risk.

"A stock market crash may be a 'torrent' to long stock investment strategies, but only a 'drizzle' to short stock ones; in fact, it may even be 'sunshine' to short strategies of synthetic futures," said Tang. "In other words, the world of multi-strategy FOF doesn't have to face extreme weather."

CreditEase warned potential investors off short-term speculation in capital markets. It expressed full confidence to China's future capital market structure, but declined to presume how the two major stock markets of the country would move in short term.

This also amounted to an explanation why CreditEase recently prolonged the lockdown period for some financial products to three years  from the initial one year.

"Three years is, nonetheless, a short time for capital market investment. However, in the three-year lockdown period, investors don't have to worry about market fluctuations, including sudden and drastic falls, which in the eyes of our professional are quite normal," said Tang.
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Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong Sunday called for more efforts to promote solidarity and progress among various ethnic groups in China.

Authorities should greatly improve the education, healthcare and employment for the ethnic minorities and give them equal access to basic public services, Liu said at a conference on ethnic solidarity in Hohhot, capital city of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

They should promote the communication among and integration of ethnic groups, creating a social environment where ethnic people live, study, work and share joy together, according to Liu.

Local governments should handle ethnic affairs according to law, and safeguard ethnic solidarity and harmony by laws and the Constitution, She said.

During an inspection in the region, Liu also asked ethnic groups to respect and communicate with each other, making joint efforts to safeguard ethnic solidarity and social stability.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was founded 70 years ago as China's first minority autonomous region under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
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Beijing police on Sunday destroyed 1.4 tonnes of narcotics, which had been seized in various operations between 2014 and 2015.

The haul included heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, ketamine, and caffeine.

The drugs were destroyed at Beijing Cement Plant, incinerated in furnaces up to 2,700 degree Celsius.

In 2016, Beijing police arrested more than 10,000 suspects in 1,366 narcotics cases.

Beijing has over 36,000 registered drug addicts, most of whom use synthetic drugs like methamphetamine, according to Liu Yi, deputy director with the municipal narcotics control commission.

"Beijing police face a tough battle against drugs and therefore have 'zero tolerance' for drug-related crimes," said Liu.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for more coordinated efforts in reform and for a review of all current major reform programs.

Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the 36th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, which he heads.

All departments and localities should be devoted to delivering reforms and should ensure that all results are reviewed, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The group called for swift correction of problems uncovered during inspections and of lax implementation of reform. Departments and authorities should track reform implementation and assess overall outcomes, the statement said.

The meeting passed a plan to establish the Qilian Mountains National Park and explore coordinated ways to protect the environment, improve local standards of living and supervise the exploitation of natural resources.

The group stressed that mixed-ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOE) is important to SOE reform, with mixed-ownership to be well-established by the end of this year. Mixed-ownership should protect employees, prevent erosion of state assets and ensure the leading role of the CPC, said the statement.

Emphasizing the roles of Chinese enterprises overseas and outbound investment in maintaining China's overseas interests, the group called for improved regulation of overseas investment.

China will continue innovation-driven development following two successful years of the Fujian, Guangdong and Tianjin pilot free-trade zones.

The group also discussed homogenizing local GDP calculations and experiences in the Fujian national ecological experimental zone.

Liu Yunshan, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the group, attended the meeting.
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The first "spaghetti road" constructed in Botswana will reduce traffic congestion in the city of Francistown, a Botswana senior official said Sunday.

Transport and Communications Minister Kitso Mokaila said the interchange bridge, constructed by China Railway Seventh Group (CRSG) Botswana (Pty) Ltd, is expected to be officially unveiled to the public late next month.

The interchange is located in the country's second largest city Francistown, and features many links leading into and out of Francistown's central business district (CBD).

Widely believed to be the diamond-rich nation's new landmark, the spaghetti junction is expected to bring much relief to motorists in the Botswana city, according to Mokaila.

In an interview with Xinhua after touring the project Sunday, Mokaila said the spaghetti road is a transformative infrastructure project that has the potential of wooing prospective investors to Francistown.

"The spaghetti will (definitely) be a boon to the economy of Francistown and the general livelihoods of Botswana (citizens of Botswana) living in the northeastern part of the country," Mokaila said.

The minister said the spaghetti road will help expand the capacity of major and secondary roads that bisects Francistown's CBD and to initiate rapid traffic transit systems.

With this project, Mokaila said the process of reforming the urban transport has just begun, as Botswana aspires to be counted among the top countries with good transport system.

Mokaila said the Chinese government and some institutions from the world's most populous nation are playing a significant role in Botswana's infrastructural growth.

Construction of the spaghetti road started in 2015, as part of a 30-km dual road project, at a cost of 100 million U.S. dollars.

CRSG Botswana is a subsidiary of the construction firm China Railway Group Limited (China Railway Engineering Corporation) and has operations in Africa and Saudi Arabia.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for stronger relations with Sweden and closer cooperation on clean energy, life sciences, green finance, high-speed rail and space technology.

Xi made the remarks while meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who is in China for the Summer Davos Forum scheduled for June 27-29 in northeast China's Dalian.

Recalling that Sweden was the first western country to forge diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China, Xi said a healthy, stable and sustainable China-Sweden relationship not only met the national interests of both countries, but also helped the development of China-Northern Europe cooperation and China-Europe relations.

He called on both sides to find novel ways to cooperate and boost China-Sweden ties. Xi proposed to combine China's 13th Five-Year Plan, its innovation-driven development strategy and Made in China 2025 plan, with Sweden's Smart Industry strategy.

The two countries should also work together on smart cities, tourism and winter sports, said the president.

China hopes to strengthen coordination with Sweden in the United Nations and the Arctic Council, he added.

Regarding China-Europe ties, Xi said China expects more policy coordination with Northern European countries including Sweden, and new progress in China-Northern Europe cooperation.

Lofven expressed condolences for losses in the recent landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

He said Sweden values China's influence in major global and regional affairs, as well as cooperation with China in multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations.

Lofven vowed closer cooperation with China in trade, innovation, culture, sports, tourism and arctic affairs.
China Aid Association

Pastor Zhang Shaojie



(Nanle, HenanNov. 17, 2013) More than 20 believers from Nanle County Christian Church, a Three-Self sanctioned church, were detained between yesterday morning and today.

The series of detainments began yesterday when, around 9:30 a.m., Pastor Zhang Xiaojie met with the Nanle County Public Security Bureau Chief and a deputy at the church in what appears to have been a trap set to detain Zhang.

During the meeting, approximately a dozen police officers entered the church and tied up Zhang without showing any formal documents, according to the church.



Church members and Zhangs family members gathered in front of the police station to protest Zhangs detainment. The group was denied entry to the building and some where beat, causing Pastor Zhangs old age parents hospitalization for high blood pressure, church members said. Zhangs two sisters were detained during the protest.

Over the course of the night, local government officials had church members come to a local government building where officials lectured them, threatened them and instilled fear in them, the church said.

This morning, every gate to the church was guarded and anyone who tried to enter was detained, an unnamed church member said.

No information on the location of any detainees is available; however, it is known that they are being tortured, according to the church. Additionally, no arrest notices have been given to the families of the detainees.

Government workers disguised as Zhang have published comments from Zhang on the Internet in order to calm the public.

Since Zhangs detainment, church funds have been frozen.

ChinaAid condemns the government violence against these peaceful Christian leaders and believers. This case against even the officially approved churches again shows the current Chinese regime has no intention to relent its increasing persecution on citizens for religious freedom, Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, said. The mere proclamation of a blueprint for economic reform cannot make the Chinese Dream fully realized unless the Chinese government respects its citizens fundamental rights and freedom of religion and conscience. We call upon the Chinese top leaders to intervene immediately and release these leaders and hold abusive officials accountable.

China Aid Contacts

Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Zhang Shaojie

China Aid Association





Updated at 2:06 p.m., Sept. 5, 2014

(Nanle County, HenanAug. 21, 2014) China Aid learned today that Pastor Zhang Shaojies final appeal against his 12-year sentence for gathering a crowd to disrupt public order and a fabricated fraud charge was rejected by the Puyang Intermediate Court in Chinas central Henan on Aug. 21.

Li Fangping, one of Zhangs attorneys, confirmed that he received a phone call from Judge Ma, who presided over the case, saying that the original verdict was being upheld. Ma told Li on Aug. 21 that the second verdict had already been sent to Zhang.



This decision came despite Lis official request that the Henan Provincial Peoples Court appoint a third court to conduct the second appeal trial for Zhangs case because the Puyang Intermediate Court is already disqualified for its mishandling of the first trial, Li told China Aid. Lis request, made on Aug. 1, was never acknowledged. The request is translated below.

The only other procedure left to file is a judicial review, said China Aid founder and president Bob Fu.

By issuing a verdict in a hastily-arranged, secret mock-trial against Pastor Zhang Shaojie, Henan authorities have delivered a new low for the rule of law in China, Fu said. The continuing harassment and persecution against Pastor Zhangs family members and his church members shows the total disregard of religious freedom. We urge the Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Pastor Zhang and the other arrested church leader and restore the churchs normal worship and other services.

Zhang was initially detained in November 2013, along with more than 20 fellow Nanle County Christian Church members. Since that time, many of the other believers have been released. While all but five, including Zhang, have been released, Zhang is the only believers to have been tried (see https://chinaaid.org/2014/08/nanle-county-christian-church-land.html and https://chinaaid.org/2014/07/nanle-county-authorities-release-2-from.html).

Zhangs oldest daughter, Zhang Yunyun Huixin, said she felt angry at the occurrence and result of the secret trial of second instance. I think this is a typical case in which the local government is persecuting my father, other Christians and our church with groundless charges, she said. I will never give up my efforts in overseas countries to get my father released from prison on innocence, and I will fight until my father regains freedom.

China Aid will never stop appealing for Nanle County Christian Church, Pastor Zhang Shaojie and the two other Christians, whose cases will soon be tried, until all the people here have gained their freedom, Fu said. I call on the Chinese government to come back, in the true sense of the word, to the rule of law [governing] that President Xi [Jinping] proposed and to truly safeguard every citizens right to religious freedom.

Dear Puyang Municipal Intermediate Peoples Court,

I am the defense counsel for Zhang Shaojie, whose fraud and gathering a crowd to disturb public order case is being handled by this court. After a preliminary reading of the records and meetings with the appellant, I believe there to be serious problems with the facts and evidence in this case, so serious that they have affected conviction and sentencing. In accordance with law, I hereby request that the court for the trial of second instance be changed and that the case be tried in public for the following reasons:

1. In the trial of first instance of this case, the court failed to exclude the illegal evidence obtained through torture for the so-called fraud.

When the appellant Zhang Shaojie was in detention in the Nanle County Detention Center, it was already winter. Under the careful arrangements of the investigating departments, for a period of more than an entire month, Zhang Shaojie had no padded cotton shoes or a comforter for the bed. During this time, his family members were unable to deposit money [into Zhangs account in the detention center so that he could buy padded cotton shoes and a comforter] and his lawyer was not allowed to visit. Meanwhile, he was interrogated intensively (the interrogations often began at 11 a.m. so that he missed the lunch). For a long time, he was both freezing and starving. Investigator Song Qingze demanded that Zhang Shaojie cooperate with him before he would buy padded cotton shoes and a comforter for him. He took advantage of Zhang Shaojies desire to protect intermediaries by putting into his confession [content] that worked against him. Then he used Zhang Shaojies confession to induce his so-called victims, Liu Yankun and Li Cairen, to confess, thus creating misunderstandings and even resentment on the part of Liu Yankun and Li Cairen for the appellant.

2. The appellant in this case has consistently asserted his innocence in both the trial of first instance and the trial of second instance, and also raised objections to the facts and evidence presented in the trial of first instance. These facts and evidence have already affected the conviction and the sentencing. Therefore, in accordance with the law, the case should be tried in court.

Article 223 of Chinas Criminal Procedural Law stipulates that For the following cases, a peoples court of second instance should form a collegial panel and should try the case in court: (1) the defendant, the private prosecutor and their legal representative put forth their objections to the facts and evidence determined at the trial of first instance.

Li Cairen, the so-called victim and also a witness in this case, is a direct witness in this so-called fraud case. However, after she was kidnapped by Nanle authorities, she was unable to return to living a normal life for eight long months. There is definitive evidence to prove that Li Cairen was illegally detained from late December 2013 to early March 2014. Though Nanle County Public Security Bureau clearly knew that Li Cairen was being illegally detained, nonetheless, it concocted the so-called witnesss testimony, which is completely invalid. The request by the defense counsel in the trial of first instance for witness Li Cairen to appear in court was not granted by the court. When the court opens for the trial of second instance, we will continue to seek the appearance of the witness Li Cairen to give her testimony.

3. This court is no longer qualified to be the court for the trial of second instance. I hereby request that this court continue to instruct the High Court of Henan to designate an intermediate peoples court in a third location to try this case.

Page 395 of trial transcripts of the Nanle County Peoples Court has the following content: This court will no longer officially reply to the case in which the defendant Zhang Shaojie is charged with fraud and gathering a crowd to disturb the public order. We request your court to instruct Nanle County Court to investigate the facts thoroughly and handle the case in a prudent manner in accordance with law and to pay attention to the following issues

The contents above from the trial transcript is sufficient to prove that the Puyang Municipal Intermediate Peoples Court has repeatedly asked the Henan Provincial High Peoples Court for instructions and specific guidance in handling this case. This act violates the principle that the [outcome of the] trial of first instance is final, resulting in the trial of second instance becoming the trial of first instance. Furthermore, as soon this case arrived in this court, the judge from the collegial panel wanted the defense counsel to take a statement. After giving defense counsel only seven days to read 16 volumes of the case [records], they asked him to submit his legal opinion, clearly leaning toward a quick trial and quick verdict. Its clear that this court can no longer maintain its objectivity and neutrality, and [therefore] in accordance with the law, cannot try this case as a court of second instance. I hereby request that this court continue to ask the Henan Provincial High Peoples Court to designate an intermediate peoples court at a third location to try this case.

Defense counsel: Lawyer Li Fangping, of the Beijing Ruifeng Law Firm in Beijing

August 1, 2013

Cc: Henan Provincial High Peoples Court





ChinaAid Contacts

Bob Fu, President

Tel: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Cell: (267) 205-5210

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.ChinaAid.org | www.MonitorChina.org
Workers install solar panels in Golmud, Qinghai province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Qinghai province will cut its carbon emissions to zero for the first time and power the entire province by renewable energy for seven days as a trial, said a top leader of the province.

"From June 17 to June 23, the power supply for the entire Qinghai province will rely on clean energy from wind, hydropower and solar power, and achieve zero emissions for 168 hours non-stop," Wang Liming, deputy governor of Qinghai, said at the 18th Qinghai China Investment & Trade Fair For Green Development.

"It will break the current record of four days held by Portugal."

The province, with a population of 5.8 million people, is rich in natural resources, thanks to its plateau location and over 3,000 hours of daylight every year. It has attracted a number of wind power plants and photovoltaic companies as well as major hydro-power stations.

During the seven day program, 78.3 percent of the power supply will come from hydropower and the rest will be generated by new alternative sources.

"This is the first time in China that a province will run solely on renewable energy for a long period of time. We believe it will raise awareness of emission reduction and promote the development of clean energy nationwide," said Han Ti, vice-manager of the provincial power grid company.

"Qinghai is the country's important warehouse of natural resources and it plays a vital role in the development of the nation's green industry," said Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said at the trade fair.

"With such profound potential in green industry, Qinghai needs to make better use of its natural resources and promote energy-saving equipment manufacturing."

Last year China consumed 4.36 billion metric tons of coal, of which 70 percent was for industrial use. Industry accounted for a quarter of total water consumption, he added.

Thanks to its unique geographical advantages, Qinghai is making rapid progress in the development of clean energy.

According to the provincial power grid company, Qinghai had a total installed capacity of 23.45 million kilowatts by this May, of which half was supplied by hydropower. It is now China's second-largest solar power base, with a solar capacity of 6.8 million kilowatts, almost a third of the province's total.
BEIJING - Sun Lingjun, 35, is looking forward to the upcoming Summer Davos meeting in Northeast China's port city of Dalian, Liaoning province.

Representing Dalian locals at the forum, the entrepreneur will have access to nearly all conferences but the closed-door sessions, a rare opportunity for him to rub shoulders with global opinion-makers.

"I am eager to hear new insights and incorporate them into our strategies and operations," he said.

Sun believes the meeting will give a push to his company, Dalian CheeringTech, which made more than 6 million yuan ($900,000) from sales and services of its primary product, the world's smallest smart camera controller, in Europe, the United States and other overseas markets last year.

Favorable trade winds blowing strong

Sun's enthusiasm for Summer Davos, officially the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, is echoed across the country. Over 2,000 figures from politics, business, civil society, academia and the arts will assemble in the city from June 27 to 29 to discuss topics from inclusive growth to the new industrial revolution.

Established by the World Economic Forum in 2007, the meeting is held each year in China, alternating between Dalian and Tianjin.

Summer Davos has been good for Dalian, reshaping the landscape of regional economy and strengthening the port's trade with other markets. The city has become a financial, shipping and logistics center for northeast China and beyond.

"By hosting Summer Davos, Dalian has become an international city, a showpiece of reform and opening up and a center of economic growth," said Guo Xikun, an official coordinating the meeting.

Dalian registered 6.5 percent economic growth in 2016, the only city with any significant growth in the whole province. The city imported nearly 180 billion yuan of goods last year, and exported over 160 billion yuan, more than half of the province's total.

Summer Davos has brought the world to doors of many local firms.

"We are based in Dalian but think of ourselves as a global business," Sun said. Around 95 percent CheeringTech business came from overseas last year and Sun is now helping other companies raise funds via websites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter.

A local manufacturer of numerical control machines, Dalian Guangyang Science & Technology Engineering has products that compete with global leaders.

"We have mastered the core technology of an area once seen as a weak link in China's manufacturing sector and we are now expanding into the international arena," Guangyang's chairman Yu Dehai said.

Smooth sailing ahead

"Foreign firms see Summer Davos as a bellwether of China's economy and external policies," said Lawrence Lin, managing director of Orix Corporation's China branch.

The Tokyo-based financial multinational set up its China headquarter in Dalian in 2009 when the meeting was held there for the second time. In 2015, it increased its registered capital by $300 million, encouraged by growth prospects.

"The decision to invest more in China has been very good for our company," Lin said. Orix's global revenue grew 13.1 percent in the last fiscal year and net profits rose by 5 percent.

Following Orix, other foreign investors began to set up businesses in Dalian. Temasek, a Singapore investment company, established a joint venture and spent 1 billion yuan building an IT park, which is now home to branches of IBM and Konica Minolta, among others. Woon Yun Ling, senior general manager of the park, said the company plans to spend another 200 million yuan on expansion.

During the Meeting of the New Champions two years ago, Dalian reached investment agreements worth $3.4 billion with foreign companies, including Goodyear, Maflow, Pfizer and SoftBank Group, in areas including finance, manufacturing and e-commerce. To date, 18,600 foreign-funded companies have invested more than $100 billion in Dalian.

Lin's company is considering patent cooperation with a local research institute and hopes to assist in the reorganization of state-owned enterprises.

"The industrial potential and R&D capability of the city and broader northeastern China are attractive to overseas investors," he said.
Staff of Goldwind check the operation of the intelligent power producing system in Yancheng, Jiangsu province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Goldwind's big localization and training brighten US state Wyoming

The wind energy industry is one of the fastest-growing in the United States, and a Chinese company hopes to get ahead of the curve by creating a workforce: It will be launching a training program in Wyoming for coal miners to teach them to be wind farmers.

Goldwind Americas, the US arm of the Beijing-based Goldwind, is expecting to start a training program this fall in Carbon County, Wyoming. The county is known for its extensive coal deposits and is in the state that produces the most coal in the US. The program will target coal miners who the company strongly believes can take their transferable skills to the wind energy sector.

"We're trying to be proactive to address what we think will be a challenge in the future, because there will be a demand for wind technicians," said David Halligan, CEO of Goldwind Americas.

"And as to whether it's coal miners or oil and gas workers, these types of industries are where people generally have skills that are transferable to the wind industrythey've already been safety-trained, they have electrical skills, they have mechanical skills, they're used to working perhaps in hazardous situations. So we think that this worker base can make a good transition to the wind industry," he said.

The program, which was announced at an energy summit in Wyoming in May, is still in its planning phases. But the company hopes to introduce participants to wind farming through visits to Goldwind's wind farms in Montana, meeting local wind workers, getting safety trained, and experiencing wind turbines before entering the training program in earnest at a training facility in Wyoming.

Goldwind already has wind projects going in Central Texas, Montana, and Ohioand hopes to eventually take the training program across the countrybut Wyoming is the company's starting point because of the access to training facilities that are not readily available in the other states, said Halligan.

The company is in talks with Viridis Eolia, a Wyoming-based renewable energy company, for a wind project in Carbon County, where it hopes to recruit workers from the training program once they finish their training.

"If we're training folks in Wyoming, we'd like to be in a position to have projects up and going there and potentially bring them on to work on those wind farms," Halligan said.

The Wyoming project will serve the western US energy market and will provide up to 1,870 megawatts of Goldwind wind turbines. The CEO of Viridis said in a statement that the project will bring "substantial economic support to the state of Wyoming for years to come".

"The whole basis of our strategy is really Goldwind's localization strategy; this comes from our Chairman Wu Gang, his idea to localize and have local wind experts be the workforce for Goldwind in these markets. So likewise, we're trying to hire local folks in the states that we have projects," he said.

Halligan said that the point of the training program isn't to replace all the jobs that have been lost in the coal industry, but to potentially create hundreds of new jobs in the wind energy sector, which would further be complemented by the thousands of construction jobs that will be part of building out these wind farms. The company doesn't do the actual construction work on the farms, but works with contractors to fill those roles.

"It's always been our strategy to localize, and we think it's obviously good for business because you're tapping into the local experts, but it'll also bring local employment, and regardless of whether you're a Chinese company or a French company or whatever international company working in the US," he said.

US wind installations have surged over the last decade, with new wind turbines being installed every 2.5 hours, according to a May report from the American Wind Energy Association. Wind provided 5.6 percent of all electricity across the US in 2016, and the figure has more than doubled since 2010.

Goldwind Americas, with headquarters in Chicago, began operating in the US in 2010 and has more than 10 running wind farms in the country. Most recently, it acquired the 160-megawatt Rattlesnake Wind Project from Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc in McCulloch County, Texas, its largest in the US.

The company also received investment from a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, the investment company backed by Warren Buffett, in May.

Goldwind's parent company, Xinjiang Goldwind Science and Technology Co Ltd, reported total revenue of 26.4 billion yuan($3.8 billion) in 2016, and net profits increased by 5.39 percent, in part due to the company's internationalization plan.

It has 38 gigawatts of wind power installed worldwide and was the third-largest supplier of wind power in the world last year, based on the number of installations.

Goldwind is also participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, having acquired a series of wind projects in Pakistan.
Elaine Chang, president of Amazon China, says she takes "a lot of pride in hiring people smarter than me in specific areas". [Photo provided to China Daily]

Elaine Chang helps Amazon to find the sweet spot in China market

How would you sell a foreign online marketplace to Chinese consumers who are used to buying everything from e-commerce behemoths such as Taobao, Tmall and JD, and other local niche players?

For Elaine Chang, president of Amazon China, the key is the rising popularity of cross-border online shopping, a business that Amazon dominates globally.

"The demand for international brands is rising rapidly, thanks to cross-border online shopping, which is probably one of the fastest rising trends in e-commerce," Chang said.

Perhaps, nowhere is the trend more evident than in China. Majority of Chinese consumers are part of the country's huge, upwardly mobile, increasingly brand- and quality-conscious middle class.

China's cross-border online shopping grew 23.5 percent to 6.3 trillion yuan ($924 billion) in sales last year, according to iiMedia Research, a market consultancy.

At the same time, more than 15 percent of Chinese consumers made purchases worth $85.76 billion from abroad, according to consultancy eMarketer.

By 2020, a quarter of the Chinese population, or more than half of all digital buyers, will be shopping either directly on foreign-based websites or through third parties.

"China is a very important market for Amazon. We're committed to growing our business here," said Chang, adding she is very optimistic about Amazon's prospects in China.

Being a vice-president of parent Amazon as well, Chang is quick to spot global trends, technologies and practices in e-commerce and explore if they could be applied in China.

As head of strategy, business development, e-commerce management and the Kindle business in China, she is driven by the challenge of making authentic overseas products available to Chinese consumers.

Chang believes Amazon has big opportunities in this respect. So, she is not unduly intimidated by the big reputations and entrenched presence of local giants.

Amazon's global network is another advantage, especially for Chinese sellers who "are not only willing to serve domestic customers but want to take their high-quality products globally" through Amazon's marketplaces in nine countries, including the US, the UK, Germany and Japan. This helps build their brands globally, which results in better product quality down the line.

Chang said China's Belt and Road Initiative has injected new energy into cross-border e-commerce. Guided by the initiative, an increasing number of quality-minded Chinese enterprises are expanding their overseas businesses.

"Through Amazon Global Selling, tens of thousands of China-based sellers can now sell via Amazon marketplaces in nine countries. In addition, Amazon's global logistics network across 185 countries and regions has helped to establish an effective 'Online Silk Road' for Chinese enterprises going global," said Chang.

So, cross-border e-commerce will play an increasingly important role in the country's economic growth, she said. "We need to focus on customers' demands and drive local innovations to provide better support."

Toward that end, Amazon launched Amazon Prime in China, the first unlimited free cross-border shipping membership program globally in October 2016, in an attempt to lure the rising number of quality-conscious Chinese buyers to buy foreign products.

From Amazon's perspective, cross-border e-commerce is expanding customer bases and encompassing different age-groups, including younger and older generations.

So, Amazon China is expanding its city coverage, moving beyond first- and second-tier cities to third- and fourth-tier cities.

It has a presence in cross-border e-commerce, books, e-books, e-book readers (Kindle devices), logistics and web services.

Chang said Amazon China will continue to innovate in response to the demands of local customers, sellers, developers and enterprises.

In the past, Chang had introduced selections from Amazon UK and Amazon Japan to Amazon Global Store. Some of the categories included are shoes, toys, baby products, personal care, apparel, jewelry, camera, kitchenware, cosmetics, watches and luggage. "We'll continue to grow selections and categories," she said.

Launched in November 2014, Amazon Global Store is the first localized global e-store that offers a selection of millions of items across 30 categories.

In China, it provides a localized shopping experience. Users can log in by way of their existing Amazon user ID and password, use the same shopping cart and local payment systems, and benefit from China-based customer service.

All this hectic activity at Amazon China happened in a little over four years.

Chang joined Amazon as vice-president and general manager of Kindle China in 2013. In the following three years, with the Kindle China management team, she integrated the Kindle with Amazon's digital publishing ecosystem in China.

She brought the Kindle's full product portfolio and the Fire tablet to China. The Kindle e-book selection has expanded from 24,000 titles to 420,000 on the back of partnerships with more than 660 publishers.

Prior to Amazon, Chang worked for Intel for nearly 20 years, holding several management positions in the US, Asia Pacific and China.

For her, team building is important. "I feel my success is not on how smart, great or hardworking I am, but how strong my team is. I take a lot of pride in hiring people smarter than me in specific areas. My job is to help talent grow and let the team go in a certain direction."
Primary school students who took part in a summer camp in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Come August, Li Kaikai, 8, who lives with his parents in downtown Beijing, will be off to a capital suburb to take part in a five-night, six-day science summer camp where only English will be the medium of communication.

The camp will set Li's parents back by 6,680 yuan ($980). It will cover subjects like virtual reality or VR, augmented reality or AR, 3-D printing and architectural design. It will also include social activities like pool-side parties, movies and games.

At the end of the camp, Li will be required to make a presentation on what he thinks of the city's future. Using sand, he will need to build and present a model of the city he visualizes.

The camp is one of many summer activities Li's parents have earmarked for him for the next two months. Compared with overseas summer camps that require people to travel long distances and afford high prices, domestic summer courses are popular among certain sections of the society, especially working parents.

Domestic camps, too, offer various courses with focus on subjects or themes like travel, child-friendly destinations, science, technology, English language and aerospace.

MoncyClub, an outdoor child center located at the Olympic Park in north Beijing, has developed a new summer camp this year, its second one since it was established last year.

The course includes drama, climbing, safety knowledge and music. It is taught by English-speaking teachers and professional tutors, all experts in one of subjects, said Kuang Xiaoyu, marketing director of the club.

"It's very hard for working parents to find an outdoor camp within the city with a structure designed for them to send in their kids in the morning and pick them up at night," she said.

Each camp lasts five working days, and takes in no more than 20 children. "We want to fill the gap in the traditional school education, which only focuses on knowledge rather than experience and practice that we provide here," she said.

Each camp costs 5,199 yuan upward. There are eight camps in two months.

Lin Jialu, a mother of a 7-year-old, sent her son to a military camp in Guangzhou last summer. The children there practised living like real soldiers. For the first time in their life, brats learnt to wash their clothes and clean their rooms.
A woman is working at a drying area of a sisal hemp plantation in Morogoro region, Tanzania. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Continent seen as major beneficiary of B&R Initiative

The China-Africa Development Fund will create new investment and financing models, and work with third parties to ensure sustainable development in Africa to tackle challenges such as poverty, weak infrastructure and developing the continent's industrial foundation, the head of the China Development Bank on Monday.

For a decade, the CADFund, the first equity investment fund sponsored by the CDB, has been serving a national development strategy as its top priority and has made use of its extensive experience and skills in comprehensive investment and financing in Africa.

The fund has contributed to China-Africa economic and trade cooperation in a market-oriented way and invested more than $4.4 billion in 36 African countries.

Hu Huaibang, chairman of China Development Bank. [Photo provided to China Daily]

It has also encouraged domestic companies to invest over $20 billion, making it the main platform for Chinese investment in Africa.

China Development Bank Chairman Hu Huaibang said the Belt and Road Initiative would continue to make African economies more competitive, narrowing development gaps between landlocked countries and coastal regions.

"Major sectors in Africa including agriculture, electricity power supply, manufacturing and infrastructure, require large funds but it can take up a long time for investors to see returns," Hu said.

"Therefore sufficient financing needs to step in."

The CADFund marked its 10th anniversary on Monday, serving as an indispensable platform for Chinese investors eying opportunities in developing economies.

Hu said a lack of experience and fiscal capacity was another hurdle that emerging economies were struggling to overcome, especially those related to the Belt and Road Initiative, and their market mechanisms and regulations needed improvement.

"As a result, the entry of financial capital has been restricted," Hu said.

"We will focus on bottlenecks that Africans face and help them set up a healthy, efficient and sustainable financing mechanism."

A number of infrastructure projects spanning ports, aviation and electricity power plants have progressed smoothly, Hu added.

A key power plant in Ghana, for example, was one of the projects the bank had supported. Its installed electricity capacity accounted for over 20 percent of Ghana's entire electricity capacity and had effectively eased the western African country's shortage of power supply.

"The fund has also boosted international collaboration on industrial capacity," Hu said. "It has not only accelerated Africa's progress toward industrialization, but also helped Chinese companies to expand their market presence abroad."

According to Hu, every year a wide range of Chinese products have streamed in the African market. Chinese companies were able to produce 11,000 trucks, 300,000 air conditioners, 450,000 refrigerators, 560,000 televisions and 1.6 million metric tons of cement in the continent annually.

Hu added that it had set a practical example of international industrial capacity cooperation.

Chi Jianxin, chairman of the CADFund, said the fund supported the development of local industrial projects, especially in some weak areas such as agriculture, forestry, small and medium-sized business development.

"This effectively activates the vitality of a substantial economy, creates job opportunities and improves people's livelihoods," Chi said.
After straws are manufactured at Fuling Plastic USA's plant in Allentown, Pennsylvania, they are wrapped individually for sanitary reasons. [Photo/China Daily]

Government officials and lobbyists in Pennsylvania want Chinese investors to know that the state is more than just a neighbor to New York and New Jersey.

"Thanks to our strategic, central location on the United States East Coast, companies who locate here can reach 60 percent of the Canadian and US consumer population, including six of the top 10 US markets, within a long day's drive," said Dennis Davin, Pennsylvania's secretary of community and economic development.

"This combination as well as the variety of supply chain companies in diverse industries enables companies to efficiently source material, develop their workforce, manufacture products, and sell these goods and services in the United States and beyond," added Davin, who responded in writing to questions.

China is the state's third-largest trading partner. Pennsylvania exported $2.2 billion in goods there in 2015, and $1.4 billion in services in 2014, according to latest figures from the US-China Business Council.

Davin pointed out that the state is looking for Chinese investment to help promote Pennsylvania products and services to the second biggest economy in the world.

He said that foreign investment created more than 334,000 jobs, with 186,000 of those being in the manufacturing sector.

According to foreign direct investment tracker Rhodium Group, Pennsylvania has been the recipient of $800 million in Chinese FDI from 2000 to the first quarter of 2017, with most of it going toward Philadelphia, the largest city in the state.

The city and the state have been big supporters of the EB-5 visa program, which grants a green card to a foreign investor that invests at least $500,000 to $1 million in a project that creates at least 10 jobs for American workers.

Pennsylvania has completed five EB-5 projects at a total cost of $225 million, which include the Valley Forge Convention Center in Philadelphia and Bakery Square in Pittsburgh.

"(The EB-5 projects) are important to Pennsylvania thanks to the job creation and beneficial economic impact they bring to communities across the commonwealth," Davin said.

Lauren Swartz, senior director of international business investment at Philadelphia's Department of Commerce. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Lauren Swartz, senior director of international business investment at Philadelphia's Department of Commerce, said that Philadelphia has received approximately $1 billion in EB-5 money in the last decade, with the Chinese being predominant investors.

"Our stance is that the program has been beneficial to Philadelphia as a whole," she said. "Most of the EB-5 projects are on things people would not expect. We are very open to working with the rest of the world, welcoming the international community and doing business together."

Swartz made it clear that the city is eager to work with Chinese investors to further trade ties and strengthen investor relationships.

Speaking before she led a delegation of about two dozen people on a trade mission to China, she said that Philadelphia feels "a bit overlooked" in the shadow of New York when it comes to investment opportunities.

"We realize that we're the fifth-biggest city in the US, but that's still quite small in the whole world, so we have some work to do and to tell people about Philadelphia and why it's a good opportunity," Swartz said.

After returning from the two-week, six-city mission, Swartz said in an email that Philadelphia signed an MOU with the city of Zhuhai in China's southern Guangdong province to work together on fostering business and cultural exchange.

She met with life science companies looking to create operations in the US, and venture capitalists targeting the science and technology sectors in Philadelphia.

"The city has significant opportunity to attract Chinese investment across our leading sectors," Swartz said.

She plans to work with multiple Chinese companies to help them explore Philadelphia as a place to set up their US offices.
A Ford Mustang attracts visitors at this year's Shanghai auto show. [Photo/China Daily]

Ford vehicles to be shipped to North America, US factories to build other models

China-made Ford Focus vehicles will be exported to the United States starting in 2019, as part of Ford Motor's new global production strategy, released one month after Jim Hackett was appointed as CEO.

Production in China will begin in the second half of 2019, while the Michigan assembly plant - which is now producing Focus cars for North American markets - will not cease production until mid-2018, said the US carmaker in a news release.

It said that no hourly employees in the US will be out of a job as a result of the new manufacturing plan, because its Michigan plant will instead produce the Ranger pickup truck in late 2018 and the Bronco SUV in 2020.

Ford is now producing its Focus vehicles sold in China via its joint venture Changan Ford.

Representatives at Ford China said the details, including where to base production within China and how large the investment will be, would not be released until closer to the date operations are set to start.

While most Focus cars sold in the US will be made in China from 2019 onward, Ford said additional variants will come from Europe later.

The new plan aims to improve the company's operational efficiency.

Ford said the move is expected to save $1 billion in investment costs versus the original plan of building a $500 million manufacturing facility in Mexico. "Finding a more cost-effective way to deliver the next Focus program in North America is a better plan, allowing us to redeploy the money we save into areas of growth for the company - especially sport utilities, commercial vehicles, performance vehicles as well as mobility, autonomous vehicles and electrified vehicles," said Ford Executive Vice-President Joe Hinrichs.

Hinrichs also said he expects the move to better use the company's production facilities in China. Changan Ford has plants in Chongqing, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, and Harbin in Heilongjiang province, with a total production capacity of roughly 1.6 million vehicles a year.

Ford's China sales have been falling this year, following a bumper year in 2016. It sold 436,961 vehicles in the first five months of the year, an 11 percent fall year-on-year.

Changan Ford sold 940,000 vehicles in 2016, for 17 percent growth year-on-year. Yet it seems that the joint venture has also lost its momentum this year.

Five of its seven models sold in China have fallen behind this year, with the exceptions being its sedan Taurus and SUV Edge.

Ford is not the first international automaker to export China-made cars.

General Motors started shipping Envision SUVs made at SAIC GM to the US in late 2015.

Sweden-headquartered Volvo began exporting S60 sedans made at its Chengdu plant in Sichuan province to the US market in May 2015.
The Qoros 3 sedan, produced by Qoros Automotive, a joint venture between Chery Automobile and Quantum, is seen on display on an auto show in Geneva, Switzerland. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Strategic injection shows it is moving into second stage of development, according to the company

Everyone loves birthday gifts, and Chinese automaker Qoros Automotive is receiving a big one as it turns 10 years old this year.

Qoros, together with its parent companies Quantum and Chery Automobile, has signed an agreement with a China-based investor, which will inject 6.5 billion yuan ($950 million) for a controlling stake.

Qoros Chairman Chen Anning, who also serves as Chery's general manager, said Quantum and Chery will remain as stakeholders of the automaker after the investment is made. He added that Chery and Qoros will strengthen their cooperation in technological platforms and purchasing.

No details about the new investor have been made public, as the investment is subject to a number of conditions that must first be satisfied by a certain date, said a company representative.

Quantum's parent company Kenon Holdings said in a statement that the conditions include regulatory approvals, consent from lenders and further documentation, including entry into additional agreements, some of which are beyond the parties' control and some the parties may be unable to satisfy.

Kenon's statement also said the deal Qoros signed with the Yibin city government in Sichuan province earlier this year to build a car plant in the city will not take effect, and the government will not make an equity investment in Qoros.

Looking ahead

Qoros said introducing strategic investment is an important move that indicates it is entering the second stage of its development, featuring new energy vehicles and smart mobility solutions such as autonomous driving.

Qoros CEO Leon Liu said the automaker will seize the trend of electric, smart and connected cars to boost its development.

Some analysts have said 6.5 billion yuan for a controlling stake is a good deal for any investor, because Qoros has five models, including sedans and SUVs, a plant with annual production capacity of 150,000 cars, and new energy vehicle ambitions.

Its first model, the Qoros 3 compact car, was the first China-built model to receive a five-star rating under European new car safety standards.

Qoros is joining hands with European racecar maker Koenigsegg to improve its powertrains.

Its first electric concept car, the Qoros 3 QLECTRIQ EV, which was shown at the Guangzhou auto show in November, can travel 350 kilometers on one charge. Yang Yan, a public relations manager at Qoros, said the first production model of Qoros' new energy vehicle will hit the market later this year or earlier next year.

Despite these products, the brand has not seen strong acceptance in the market. Qoros sold 24,188 cars last year, a 70 percent rise year-on-year, but not a laudable number in the world's largest auto market. Financial statements from Kenon show the automaker's revenue in 2016 surged by 72 percent to reach 2.51 billion yuan. But still Qoros ended up in the red.

Liu told reporters in March that Qoros will strive to see "positive cash flow" this year.

Some other analysts do not believe that what the company needs most is money.

John Zeng, managing director of LMC Automotive Consulting (Shanghai), said it has not been in urgent need of money since its establishment. Qoros used to rent one of the most expensive offices in Shanghai and lured people from other automakers with the offer of much higher salaries.

"I think the number one task for Qoros is to cut the prices of its models, which carry a price tag similar to international brands like Volkswagen."

But Qoros spokesman, Michael Ning, has a different opinion: "Cutting prices is not the right way. Instead we need to boost our brand image, which is the most important thing for Qoros' long-term development."

Zeng also suggested the automaker could make more of Chery's sales network, which is much larger than its own. Currently, Qoros has around 115 dealerships, with each selling about 200 cars a year. The industry average is around 500 cars annually.

"That shows there is a lot we can do," said Liu in an earlier interview. He said Qoros will launch at least one new model each year to attract more customers and plans to increase the number of dealerships to 200 by the end of this year.
Two men chat beside a logo of Alibaba at its headquarters on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Agencies]

Internet powerhouse Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has appointed a seasoned scientist at Amazon.com Inc to spearhead its efforts in artificial intelligence, a move that will propel its so-called "NASA plan" to double up on technology research.

Alibaba in March announced a major project at its first technical meeting in Hangzhou, to galvanize the group's technological capabilities, code-named NASA.

Since June, Ren Xiaofeng, former senior principal scientist at Amazon and a Chinese citizen, has taken on the role as chief scientist and deputy dean at Alibaba's Institute of Data Science and Technologies, its global research and development center, the company confirmed on Monday.

Ren is recruiting a world-class computer vision team at a fast-expanding site in Bellevue, in the United States.

Ren Xiaofeng, former senior principal scientist at Amazon and a Chinese citizen, has taken on the role as chief scientist and deputy dean at Alibaba's Institute of Data Science and Technologies, its global research and development center.[Photo/cs.com.cn]

That's according to Ren's updated resume on the website of the University of Washington, where he also serves as an affiliate assistant professor of computer science and engineering.

In his four years at Amazon, Ren was the lead scientist at Amazon Go, using computer vision and machine learning, to transform retailing. The research led to the launch of an automatic check-out system that eliminates unnecessary and annoying customer waiting.

Prior to Amazon, Ren also had deep experience in vision-related projects at Intel Lab, working on computer vision and its applications in activity recognition and monitoring, robotics, and human-computer interaction. Ren holds a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Alibaba said that Ren's coming onboard indicated an accelerated pace to carry out the NASA project, proposed by founder Jack Ma in March, to boost the firm's technological capacity in 20 years.

Ma said at the time that to meet the group's strategic goal of serving 2 billion customers, creating 100 million jobs and enabling 10 million businesses to become profitable, Alibaba should invest in technological infrastructure featuring machine learning, chips, the internet of things and biometric identification, among others.

As a new entrant to the international cloud market, Alibaba is off to a good start, being included for the first time in a Gartner Inc report this month as being "well-positioned to take on bigger players such as Amazon and Microsoft Corp".

Since the start of the year China's tech majors have been plowing in billions of dollars into consolidating a technical arsenal and talent pool to outgun their rivals.

Search engine Baidu Inc hired former Microsoft executive Lu Qi as group president and rolled out its Apollo Project to help drive the development of autonomous cars.

Tencent Holdings Ltd is also betting on cloud technologies and AI, doubling its offshore data centers this year and identifying AI as being synonymous with its services.

Shanghai-based Gartner Research Director Sandy Shen said that Chinese tech firms were becoming a hot draw for talent globally, given the market fluidity, fast pace and the receptive attitude toward new technologies among Chinese consumers.
Editor's note: In the run-up to the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress, China Daily will cover a series of key projects of national importance, showcasing the country's huge improvement and relentless efforts in manufacturing upgrades and innovation.

A photo taken on June 25 shows the newly launched bullet train in Beijing. [Photo by Zhao Lei/chinadaily.com.cn]

China will put two new bullet train models into operation on Monday on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.

The CR400AF will depart from the Beijing South Railway Station at 11:05 am, traveling toward Shanghai, while the CR400BF will leave Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station bound for Beijing at the same time, according to China Railway Corp, the State-owned rail operator.

The line is the nation's busiest high-speed link, carrying on average some 505,000 passenger trips a day.

At a naming ceremony at a maintenance facility in Beijing's Daxing district on Sunday morning, Lu Dongfu, general manager of China Railway Corp, said the new trains would be called "Rejuvenation".

The word rejuvenation has been widely employed by the central leadership to refer to its goals of achieving the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation". Prior to the new trains, all of the country's bullet trains carried the designation "Harmony".

The new trains were developed mainly based on China's railway standards and technologies and were designed to be better adapted to China's environment and rail transportation patterns, Lu said.

They will travel at a speed of about 350 kilometers per hour, though their maximum speed is 400 km/h, according to designers at the China Academy of Railway Sciences.
Firefighters try to rescue a villager after torrential rain flooded the roads in Jiujiang, East China's Jiangxi province, June 24, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

BEIJING  Days of torrential rain triggered floods and landslides in many parts of South China, forcing the evacuation of more than 450,000 people.

Over 3,000 rescuers are searching for 93 persons still buried under rocks and mud by a landslide in Southwest China's Sichuan province.

Rain-triggered disasters have also left at least 22 people dead and six missing in provinces of Jiangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan and Anhui.

In Jianxi, heavy rain that started to lash on Thursday has affected 1.8 million people and forced 270,000 people to be relocated to safe places in 47 counties and districts, the provincial flood control authorities said.

Flash floods and landslides have left six people dead and three others missing in Jiangxi.

The rain is forecast to weaken on Monday and Tuesday but to get heavier again on Wednesday and Thursday.

In Guizhou, nine people were killed and two remained missing after torrential rain pounded the region over the past few days. Heavy rain also damaged 35,418 hectares of crops and inflicted a direct economic loss of 610 million yuan (89 million U.S. dollars).

In Hunan, 151,900 people were evacuated and 642 small and medium-sized reservoirs overflowed in wake of the largest rainfall this year.

Three people of a family in Luxi County of Hunan were found dead in a landslide that occurred on Saturday.

The water in 14 rivers along the Yangtze River valley has risen above warning levels and heavy rains in the coming few days could further raise the water level in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Changjiang Water Resources Commission said Sunday.
Provincial-level governments will be assessed each year on their efforts to develop local education, according to a circular released by the central government.

The authorities should conduct self-inspections and have their performance assessed by a third-party organization annually in areas such as boosting educational quality and equity, implementing national education projects and reforms, and ensuring campus safety, the circular said.

The results of the assessments will be used for judging the overall performance of provincial-level officials, it said.

"Those who fail to perform their duties in improving local education will be held accountable," He Xiuchao, director of the Ministry of Education's Supervision Bureau, said on Wednesday. "That means, for example, in provinces where serious accidents occur at schools or education data is found to be fabricated, officials involved will be publicly criticized and punished."

The bureau is responsible for supervising provinces' self-inspections and third-party assessments, and will list issues that should be rectified and track remedial measures taken by local governments.

The circular aims to give provincial governments more influence in the development of local education. It flows from a 2010 development plan by the State Council, China's Cabinet, that provincial governments should strengthen their administration and supervision of education.

Du Xiaoli, director of the Shanghai Institute of Human Resources Development, said the circular will allow provincial governments to set their own goals for educational development in accordance with their specific situations.

"In addition, through rewards and punishments, provincial governments will make the development of local education a priority, bringing improvements in the capacity and quality of education," Du said.

Tian Huisheng, director of the National Institute of Education Sciences, said the measure indicates that greater attention from provincial governments means problems and deficiencies existing in local education systems will be easier to find.

"China has the world's largest number of people receiving education. Strengthening provincial governments' administration of education is likely to accelerate the development of education from the grassroots," Tian said.
Hong Kong leaders and a wide spectrum of the community have warmly hailed President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to the city, saying it demonstrates the significance the central government attaches to the special administrative region.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and incoming leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor expressed their welcome and gratitude for Xi's three-day trip from Thursday to Saturday, during which the president will preside over the swearing-in of the fifth-term HKSAR government and join in the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

It will be Xi's first visit to the HKSAR since he became head of state in 2013.

"President Xi's visit to the HKSAR at this important moment to attend the celebration activities and the inauguration ceremony (of the new-term administration of the Hong Kong government) fully shows the importance the central authorities attach to and their support for Hong Kong. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the president," Leung said.

Starry Lee Wai-king, legislator and chairperson of Hong Kong's biggest political party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said Xi's visit underlines the central government's care for Hong Kong and shows it values Hong Kong and its people.

She urged members of different political affiliations to grasp the opportunity to interact with the president, saying this would help build mutual understanding, better implement "One Country, Two Systems" and boost the city's development.

The Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA), which represents the city's professionals and businessmen, extended its sincere welcome to Xi, saying Hong Kong people greatly look forward to the visit and that it once again proves the central government's determination to support Hong Kong.

The BPA said its members believe that Xi's visit would bring new insights into the implementation of "One Country, Two Systems".

Meanwhile, Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said on Sunday Hong Kong has sufficient police manpower to handle any emergency that might arise during Xi's visit, describing the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the country as an event of great importance.

Noting that the terror threat level still remains "moderate" in Hong Kong, he said the police will continue to be on high alert. He appealed for the public's understanding of the special security arrangements that will be in force for the president's visit and the anniversary's activities.

The city will kick off a series of major celebration events this week, ranging from a fireworks display to themed exhibitions, performances and street carnivals.

The fireworks display is slated to start at 8 pm on Saturday over Victoria Harbour and is expected to last about 20 minutes.

An exhibition, showcasing more than 200 exhibits from the Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin Dian)  one of the most popular attractions at the Palace Museum in Beijing  will be held from Thursday to Oct 15 at Hong Kong Heritage Museum. The exhibition will be jointly presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Palace Museum.

Another exhibition featuring the nation's achievements in aerospace, science and technology will be held at Victoria Park from Thursday to Sunday.

A street carnival called "Heritage VogueHollywood Road" will be staged from Saturday to Sunday in Central. Visitors can enjoy local foods while watching performances by street dances, as well as magic and fashion shows, and attend various workshops.
The Long March 5-Y2 rocket was moved to its launch pad at Wenchang Space Launch Center in the island province of Hainan on Monday morning. [Photo/CCTV News]

China will conduct the second flight of its Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket sometime between July 2 and 5, according to the China National Space Administration.

The administration said in a news release that the Long March 5-Y2 rocket, with the Shijian 18 communications satellite atop it, was moved to its launch pad at Wenchang Space Launch Center in the island province of Hainan on Monday morning. The Y2 in its designation means it is the second mass-production rocket in the Long March 5 family.

The news release said engineers will conduct the final tests before pumping fuel into the rocket.

The rocket was transported by the Yuanwang 21 and Yuanwang 22 ships to Wenchang from its production facility in the northern coastal city of Tianjin in April.

As Chinas first-generation heavy-lift rocket, the Long March 5 has a liftoff weight of 870 metric tons, a maximum payload capacity of 25 tons to the low Earth orbit and 14 tons to geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The rocket has two core stages and four boosters. It uses liquid oxygen/kerosene and liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen as propellants for its engines, which means the rocket is friendlier to the environment than previous Long March types, according to the its developer, China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing.
A notice released by the general office of the State Council on Monday said that 122 officials, including 16 at department-director level and 58 county-level officials, were called to account for substandard cables in a subway project in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province.

Among them were the city's Executive Vice-Mayor Lyu Jian, while another 17 have been filed for investigation. The notice said local leaders and supervisors engaged in the case received disciplinary or criminal punishments or were fired.

Tang Hongbo, former deputy director of the office of Xi'an Subway Construction Headquarters, was dismissed from the Party and the government. His case involving suspected crimes has been transferred to the judiciary departments.

From Aug 2014 to the end of last year, inferior cables manufactured by Shaanxi Aokai Cable Co were purchased for Xi'an Subway Line 3 posed potential security threats, according to a joint investigation led by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The investigation defined the case as one involving producing and selling shoddy goods, as well as collusion between the company and local officials.

The case, first exposed by internet users in March, was confirmed by the city's metro company. Earlier this month, the Shaanxi provincial government was ordered to submit a reflective, written self-criticism to the State Council and invalidate the company's authentication certificates, trademarks and licenses.
BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for more coordinated efforts in reform and for a review of all current major reform programs.

Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the 36th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, which he heads.

All departments and localities should be devoted to delivering reforms and should ensure that all results are reviewed, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The group called for swift correction of problems uncovered during inspections and of lax implementation of reform. Departments and authorities should track reform implementation and assess overall outcomes, the statement said.

The meeting passed a plan to establish the Qilian Mountains National Park and explore coordinated ways to protect the environment, improve local standards of living and supervise the exploitation of natural resources.

The group stressed that mixed-ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOE) is important to SOE reform, with mixed-ownership to be well-established by the end of this year. Mixed-ownership should protect employees, prevent erosion of state assets and ensure the leading role of the CPC, said the statement.

Emphasizing the roles of Chinese enterprises overseas and outbound investment in maintaining China's overseas interests, the group called for improved regulation of overseas investment.

China will continue innovation-driven development following two successful years of the Fujian, Guangdong and Tianjin pilot free-trade zones.

The group also discussed homogenizing local GDP calculations and experiences in the Fujian national ecological experimental zone.

Liu Yunshan, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the group, attended the meeting.
BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for stronger relations with Sweden and closer cooperation on clean energy, life sciences, green finance, high-speed rail and space technology.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven in Beijing, capital of China, June 26, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi made the remarks while meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who is in China for the Summer Davos Forum scheduled for June 27-29 in northeast China's Dalian.Recalling that Sweden was the first western country to forge diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China, Xi said a healthy, stable and sustainable China-Sweden relationship not only met the national interests of both countries, but also helped the development of China-Northern Europe cooperation and China-Europe relations.He called on both sides to find novel ways to cooperate and boost China-Sweden ties. Xi proposed to combine China's 13th Five-Year Plan, its innovation-driven development strategy and Made in China 2025 plan, with Sweden's Smart Industry strategy.The two countries should also work together on smart cities, tourism and winter sports, said the president.China hopes to strengthen coordination with Sweden in the United Nations and the Arctic Council, he added.Regarding China-Europe ties, Xi said China expects more policy coordination with Northern European countries including Sweden, and new progress in China-Northern Europe cooperation.Lofven expressed condolences for losses in the recent landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province.He said Sweden values China's influence in major global and regional affairs, as well as cooperation with China in multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations.Lofven vowed closer cooperation with China in trade, innovation, culture, sports, tourism and arctic affairs.
President Xi Jinping and Leung Chun-ying, vice-chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief executive of HKSAR, visit an exhibition at National Museum of China in Beijing on Monday.LAN HONGGUANG / XINHUA

President calls on SAR to join in growth, further implement one country, two systems

President Xi Jinping called on compatriots in Hong Kong on Monday to join hands with the whole nation to "grasp the opportunities of the country's development" and further implement the one country, two systems principle.

Xi commented while visiting an exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing on achievements since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Concerted efforts are expected in exploration and innovation, with the goal being to maintain the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and to ensure a better future there, he said.

Multimedia presentations at the museum featured memorable moments in Hong Kong, including its return, and its reinforced role as an international financial center and rising star in the building of the Belt and Road.

Speaking of the past 20 years, Xi said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, with the strong support of the central government and the mainland, has witnessed comprehensive development in a variety of fields and has made achievements recognized by the world.

The great vitality of one country, two systems has been demonstrated, Xi added.

Experience during the two decades has proved that one country, two systems is not only the best solution to the Hong Kong issue, but also the best institutional arrangement for long-term prosperity and stability after the return of Hong Kong, Xi said.

The nation should further implement one country, two systems in an unswerving, all-out and accurate manner, and act in strict accordance with the country's Constitution and the Basic Law of the HKSAR to better promote Hong Kong's development, Xi said.

From Thursday to Sunday, Xi will be in Hong Kong to attend a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return.

During his stay in Hong Kong, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, will also witness the inauguration of the fifth administration of the HKSAR.

As he toured the exhibition on Monday, he shook hands with both Leung Chun-ying, vice-chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief executive of HKSAR, and Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the incoming chief executive.

Other Chinese leaders including Premier Li Keqiang also toured the exhibition on Monday.
China would like to strengthen intelligence sharing and joint law enforcement with other nations to combat drug offenses committed by foreigners, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

This includes China's plans to provide more technical support and help with personnel training for countries in the Golden Triangle, an area straddling Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, and the Golden Crescent, including Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.

The two areas are the world's two biggest production areas for heroin and methamphetamine, said a senior official in the ministry's Narcotics Control Bureau.

Information sharing and tip exchanges with other key countries, such as the United States and some African and European countries, will also be enhanced to help smash cross-border drug trafficking, said the official, who declined to be named.

"The number of drug cases involving foreigners handled by Chinese police was stable last year compared with 2015, but the situation remains grim, particularly in some key regions such as Shanghai, Guangdong, Yunnan and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region."

The official spoke ahead of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which fell on Monday.

The ministry did not release details on the number of foreign suspects detained last year, but said most of them came from West Africa, Southeast Asia and North America. Many entered China illegally and did not have legal status, lawful residence or employment in China.

Prosecutors in Shanghai said that the number of drug-related crimes in which foreigners are involved has been on the rise in the city. Forty-five expats have been involved in such cases since the beginning of 2015. There were 14 cases in 2015, 19 last year and 12 so far this year, the Shanghai People's Procuratorate said on Sunday.

"Most of these expats are between 20 and 30 years old, and many were overseas students who studied in Shanghai," said Gu Xiaomin, who directs the procuratorate's prosecution of major and influential cases.

Most of these suspects were involved in cases of trafficking a small amount of drugs and transporting drugs from overseas, Gu said.

"As most of them were drug addicts themselves, they relied on selling small amounts of drugs, usually less than 1 gram at a time, to afford their drug habits. They didn't sell drugs to earn high profits," he said.

These suspects came from 23 foreign countries, including Australia, Canada, South Korea, Guinea and Ghana, according to the procuratorate.

Nationally, the ministry said there has also been a tendency for drug traffickers to make use of "special vulnerable groups", such as minors, pregnant and breast-feeding women, drug addicts or people with infectious diseases to help with the smuggling to take advantage of their desperation or lessen the chance of punishment if they are caught.

Under the Criminal Law, if suspects are elderly, at or above age 80, minors, or pregnant or breast-feeding women, they will face more lenient punishment or be released pending trial.

Contact the writers at zhangyan1@chinadaily.com.cn
President vows to advance ties, projects with Sweden, Finland

President Xi Jinping vowed to push forward China's cooperation with northern Europe while meeting leaders of two countries from the region on Monday.

Xi made the remark in meetings with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila.

The two prime ministers are in China to attend the Summer Davos Forum, scheduled in Dalian, Liaoning province, through Wednesday.

Both prime ministers expressed condolences over China's losses in the massive landslide that occurred in Maoxian county, Sichuan province, on Saturday and buried more than 100 people.

When meeting Lofven, Xi noted that Sweden was the first Western country to set up diplomatic ties with China.

He expected the two sides to view bilateral ties on a long-term basis and to be innovative when exploring cooperation in various fields.

China appreciates Sweden's adherence to the one-China policy and expects the two sides to respect each other's social systems and development paths as well as to look after the core interests and major concerns of the other side, Xi said.

China is willing to strengthen policy communication with northern European countries and push forward China's cooperation with the region, the president said.

Sweden is committed to deepening cooperation with China in various fields as well as on Arctic affairs, Lofven said.

When meeting Sipila, Xi said China expects to work with Finland to implement the consensus reached in April when he visited Finland.

The two sides should meet their development strategies and forge ahead with more demonstration projects in fields including electronic communication, intelligent manufacturing, bio economy, environmental protection technology, energy-saving building and clean energy, Xi said.

Sipila said Finland expects to strengthen cooperation with China under the Belt and Road Initiative and push forward China's cooperation with northern European countries.

Chen Fengying, a senior researcher on world economy at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the two leaders came to Davos partially because it is a platform featuring innovation and industrial revolution.

"Innovation is the feature of northern Europe, which helped shelter the region from the impact of the European debt crisis," Chen said. "They attach great importance to chances at the summer Davos, which will also help tap the huge potential of cooperation with China."

Zhou Jin contributed to this story.
An MTR train approaches University Station in Hong Kong.Wang Xin / Xinhua

As part of the celebrations to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the financial hub is hoping to gain momentum from the Chinese mainland to orchestrate Belt and Road Initiative undertakings.

"After years of theory and the construction of a mechanism, this year, we have seen the grand plan essentially get off the ground," said Cheng Shi, head of research at ICBC International Holdings.

The development was underscored by the high-level Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, held in Beijing last month and attended by 29 head of states and delegates from more than 130 nations, which saw 270 agreements concluded.

The Belt and Road Initiative, first mooted in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, involves 60 countries and regions. It aims to build an interconnected network of expressways, along with rail and logistics lines to link land and sea ports, special economic zones, industrial corridors and transportation hubs, from the Chinese mainland to Europe, Africa and other parts of Asia.

At the two-day summit, MTR Corp, which operates Hong Kong's public transport network, unveiled a plan to partner with the State-owned China Railway Corp to bid for a contract to build a high-speed railway that will link Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

The move is the first Belt and Road-related investment project for MTR, which has a long track record of global business expansion, including winning the franchise to run South West Trains in the United Kingdom for seven years. It also underscores Hong Kong's potential as a leading exporter of public services management and operational expertise along the route.

Yet, the flagship MTR brand is not the whole story of Hong Kong's involvement in the initiative. As a world-renowned financial hub, the city's role in the initiative is defined by its leading edge in the financial sector - one of the pillars of its economy, Cheng said.

Global markets

The massive trade and infrastructure project will deliver China's recipe for today's global markets, where rhetoric and mentality point to the rise of neoconservatism, isolationism and populism and threatens to set back the decades-long trend of globalization, he added.

The nature of finance, known for its flexibility, soft power and potential high efficiency, may stand as a driving force for all parties to put aside political and cultural differences and get back to the negotiating table.

"This is where the Chinese mainland could come as it looks for a leading role in the Belt and Road push," Cheng said. "As a world-famous financial center, in particular, Hong Kong has what it takes to play a bigger part in this megaproject."

In the past three years, China has poured more than $50 billion into countries and regions participating in the initiative, setting up 56 economic and trade cooperation zones across more than 20 countries, generating more than $1 billion in tax revenues and creating 180,000 jobs for the nations involved.

At the Beijing summit, Xi pledged an additional 780 billion yuan ($114 billion) for the initiative, including 100 billion yuan for China's Silk Road Fund and 380 billion yuan in new lending for participating nations.

China's promises of infrastructure financing echo a widening funding gap that's predicted to rise to as much as $20 trillion by 2030 across the globe, an issue with great resonance in developing countries. Such a gap could translate into financing needs of roughly $2 trillion every year, half of which cannot be satisfied.

"The Belt and Road Initiative is anything but a lavish philanthropic program. With a huge raft of infrastructure projects ready for construction or on the table, the initiative brings ready capital and expertise, delivering a winning growth formula for infrastructure-hungry countries along the route and with other participating nations," Cheng said.

He believes the pioneering role of finance in defining the mainland's leading position in the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative fits well with Hong Kong's edge as a financial hub.

Peter Wong, deputy chairman and chief executive at HSBC Asia-Pacific, said: "As a member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Hong Kong is playing a leading role in delivering the financing and expertise that Belt and Road projects need.

"Enterprises from the Chinese mainland 'going out' are accessing Hong Kong's capital markets, bank liquidity, private equity funds, treasury services and professional talents across a range of sectors.

"As the Belt and Road Initiative promotes greater international use of the renminbi for trade and investment, Hong Kong is ideally positioned to benefit as the world's leading offshore renminbi centre," he added.

Potential obstacles, if any, may come from a lack of understanding of the grand plan itself.

"The Belt and Road Initiative comes as a national policy calling for the hard work of generations. If Hong Kong cannot dispel prejudice and look at the initiative on a long-term basis, it could miss out on the golden opportunities close to hand," Cheng said..
Construction of the 55-kilometer-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is expected to be completed by the end of the year.Photo By Xinhua

A plan to replicate success of other clusters could promote the emergence of a regional powerhouse, as Luo Weiteng reports from Hong Kong.

A grand plan to create a globally competitive cluster of metropolises in the Pearl River Delta is one of the highlights of the celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the return of Chinese sovereignty to Hong Kong.

The move will provide a point of focus for the city, which has long sought to find its place amid the rapid development of the world's second-largest economy, according to experts.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, poised to replicate the glowing success story of the world's three leading bay areas - in New York, San Francisco and Tokyo - will be developed into an economic powerhouse reminiscent of the country's earlier phase of development.

"The past 20 years have seen growing economic and financial ties between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. Yet, that's far from enough," said Cheng Shi, head of research at ICBC International Holdings in Hong Kong. "As the central government has reinforced the theme of high-level, cross-border cooperation this year, Hong Kong cannot afford to miss out on such a historic opportunity."

The concept of the Greater Bay Area was envisioned years ago, but it made its official debut in the Government Work Report delivered in March to the National People's Congress in Beijing.

"After three decades of rapid economic growth, the Chinese mainland has once again put structural economic reform at the top of the agenda, looking to shake up bloated industries and absorb overcapacity in its quest for the next growth engine," said Dominic Wu Sze-yin, chairman of the Asia Financial Risk Think Tank in Hong Kong.

"The Greater Bay Area plan is testing the region's potential to be the next highlight of the country's economy."

As a frontrunner in China's reform and opening-up policy, the Pearl River Delta has long been the showpiece of a greater story unfolding in the mainland.

Last year, the combined GDP of 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area, including Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai in Guangdong province, reached $1.4 trillion. The area - which has less than 0.6 percent of China's land and about 5 percent of the population - contributed about 12 percent to the national economy.

Last year, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, generated combined GDP of $880 billion, making them the three leading metropolises in the area.

Regional cooperation and integration has been underway for years in the bay area. The high-profile move includes the 55-kilometer-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, a six-year megaproject slated to be completed by the end of year, which will reduce the journey time between Hong Kong and the two other cities to 30 minutes from more than three hours.

The bridge falls under the concept of "60-minute transport circles" to link the delta's main cities and facilitate the free flow of capital, human resources, goods and services within the urban cluster.

"The grand plan puts the region on course to benefit from synergies whereby cities will give full play to their competitive edges and focus on developing industries in which they have comparative advantages," Wu said.
Yang Sheng says central government's support for 'One Country, Two Systems' will never waver

President Xi Jinping will pay a three-day visit to Hong Kong from Thursday to Saturday to join in the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of China's resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong. The much-anticipated visit is yet another demonstration of the importance Xi attaches to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It's appropriate at this juncture to review the president's past relations with the city and, more importantly, how he has helped "One Country, Two Systems" stay on course over the years.

Xi's bonds with Hong Kong were first established during the 22 years he had worked since 1985 in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces and in Shanghai, where much of the investments from Hong Kong were concentrated at the time. In January 2005, when he was Party secretary of Zhejiang province, Xi led a provincial delegation to Hong Kong to promote the province's trade and commercial ties with the city.

Xi's official relations with Hong Kong began when he took charge of the Central Coordination Group for Hong Kong and Macao Affairs after being elected a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee at the Party's 17th National Congress in 2007. During the two sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) subsequently held in Beijing, Xi had met with Hong Kong's NPC deputies and CPPCC members many times and given them invaluable advice on the SAR's development.

Under Xi's leadership, the first crucial step toward achieving universal suffrage in the Chief Executive and Legislative Council elections was accomplished when the method of selecting the CE and LegCo members in 2012 became law. New ground was broken in the implementation of "One Country, Two Systems". It was clarified that the arrangement is designed to maintain the nation's sovereignty and security while ensuring the long-term stability and prosperity of the HKSAR. Complete and precise implementation of "One Country, Two Systems", "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy require adhering to "One Country" principle at all times, while respecting the differences between "Two Systems"; maintaining the central government's power while sustaining the HKSAR's high degree of autonomy; and letting the mainland provide strong support while increasing Hong Kong's competitiveness. And none of these can be neglected in favor of another.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in November 2012, when Xi was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, he has introduced a series of important policies on implementing "One Country, Two Systems".

Some Hong Kong residents lost sight of the political future after the opposition camp in June 2015 vetoed the government's constitutional reform bill designed to elect the CE by universal suffrage in 2017. In December 2015, Xi told CE Leung Chun-ying at a meeting in Beijing: "The exercise of 'One Country, Two Systems' in Hong Kong has faced some new circumstances in recent years. My emphasis is on the fact that the central government will always insist on two things in maintaining 'One Country, Two Systems'. One is absolute determination that will never change or waver. The other is absolute precision that makes sure the implementation of 'One Country, Two Systems' in Hong Kong will never lose its original shape and form, and will always proceed along the right course down the road."

In his speeches in recent years, Xi had emphasized three main points concerning the implementation of "One Country, Two Systems" in Hong Kong in the last five years or so. Firstly, exercising "One Country, Two Systems" must serve the common interests of Hong Kong as well as the nation; secondly, advancing the cause of "One Country, Two Systems" is a common wish of all people of Chinese descent; and, thirdly, the central government resolutely supports the CE and the HKSAR Government in administering Hong Kong according to the Basic Law and Hong Kong laws.

Xi has acted as the beacon light for the implementation of "One Country, Two Systems". Hong Kong people expect to hear from him again his personal invaluable advice in a few days' time.

The author is a current affairs commentator.
Many victims' bodies burned beyond recognition in fireball

LAHORE, Pakistan - An oil tanker crashed on a road in Pakistan on Sunday and 146 people, many of whom had rushed to collect leaking fuel, were killed when it exploded, apparently after someone lit a cigarette, officials said.

The tanker overturned on a sharp bend on a highway on the outskirts of the city of Bahawalpur. The driver lost control when the vehicle blew a tire, a provincial government spokesman said.

A large crowd of people gathered, many to collect fuel in containers, and the tanker exploded in a huge fireball about 45 minutes later. Rescue workers said about 80 people had been injured.

"People of the area and passers-by had started gathering fuel when it exploded, burning everybody," provincial government spokesman Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan said.

An estimated 20 children were among the dead, he said.

Doctor Aurangzeb, medical superintendent of Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur, said that 120 bodies and more than 100 injured people had been received by different hospitals in the district.

The accident happened the day before Pakistan celebrates the Eid al-Fitr festival, when families get together to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Many bodies were burned beyond recognition and television pictures showed piles of burned out motorbikes, apparently those of people who arrived to collect fuel or just to have a look.

Police had tried to clear the area before the explosion but people ignored them, Khan said, adding that the initial crash had blocked the road causing a backup of traffic.

The driver of the tanker survived the accident and had been taken into police custody, he said.

About 50 people were killed in separate bomb attacks in Pakistan on Friday but there was no suggestion of an attack on Sunday.

"According to initial reports, somebody tried to light a cigarette," said a spokesman for the rescue services, Jam Sajjad Hussain.

Firefighters took two hours to douse the flames.

Police in the area could not immediately be reached for comment.

About 40 people with serious burns were airlifted to hospitals in the nearby city of Multan.

Reuters - Xinhua

A soldier stands guard amid the wreckage of burnt-out cars and motorcycles at the scene of an oil tanker explosion in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, on Sunday.Reuters

(China Daily 06/26/2017 page12)
URUAPAN, Mexico - When talk turns to China, the destination of avocados, Elena Roman lights up, carefully packing the fruits at a plant in the west-central Mexican state of Michoacan. "It's nice to think they are going to travel as far as there, it's exciting to know that," Roman, 40, said in the small verdant town of Uruapan.

The mother of four works at Avo Hass, one of eight avocado packing plants in Uruapan that export to China, a market that producers are increasingly striving to conquer.

Avo Hass alone aims to ship as many as 300 tons of avocado to China this year, double the 150 tons it exported in each of the past two years, when it began to trade with the Asian giant.
Chinese actress Jiang Wenli will play the lead in the theater production Same Time, Next Year. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Award-winning actress Jiang Wenli is back in the spotlight with a role in a Chinese stage adaptation of a Western romantic comedy. Chen Nan reports.

Award-winning Chinese actress Jiang Wenli, best known for her roles in Chen Kaige's film Farewell My Concubine and in the 2004 TV drama Chinese Divorce, will star in Same Time, Next Year, a Chinese adaptation of the 1975 romantic comedy by Canadian playwright Bernard Slade.

Directed by Russian director Yury Yeremin, the play will premiere in Tianjin on Friday and will tour seven cities nationwide, including Beijing, Shenzhen and Xiamen, through September.

The story is about accountant George Peters, who lives in New Jersey, and Oakland-based housewife Doris. They meet by chance at an inn in northern California in 1951.

After a one-night stand, they agree to meet once a year at the same inn and on the same day. Since both are married and have families, they develop a kind of relationship beyond that of lovers over the next 25 years.

As society and their lives change, they talk about everything from politics to marital problems and their relationships with their children.

The play was first staged as a Broadway production directed by Gene Saks from 1975 to 1978, during which time there were nearly 1,500 performances. It won a Tony Award for best actress and nominations for best play and best direction.

In 1978, the play was adapted into a film by US director Robert Mulligan. It won Oscar nominations.

Hong Kong director Clifton Ko made a film based on the play in 1994, titled I Will Wait for You, starring Tony Leung Ka-fai and Anita Yuen.
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Lancang-Mekong logistics platform agreed 2017-06-26 11:15:21 chinadaily.com.cn The fifth meeting of the GMS Logistics Enterprise Cooperation Committee was held in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province on June 11, aimed at developing logistics by integrating internet technology.

The fifth meeting of the GMS Logistics Enterprise Cooperation Committee was held in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province on June 11, aimed at developing logistics by integrating internet technology.

Representatives of logistics associations and enterprises as well as experts from China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand attended the event, and agreed on using internet technology to facilitate multi-level logistics cooperation in the Lancang-Mekong cooperation mechanism.

A cooperation framework agreement on building an internet plus logistics platform was signed during the meeting between Southeast Area Transportation Alliance and Yunnan's cross-border transport and the international logistics association.

Nearly 10 logistics enterprises and associations from Thailand, Laos and Burma joined the project deciding to combine efforts to establish an international platform to provide cross-border big data.

According to the agreement, the platform will be operated by Yunnan Grandstar Logistics Holding Co Ltd and support multi-language operations for users from six countries along the Lancang-Mekong River.

The building of such an intelligent platform will help share transport capacity so that win-win cooperation can be achieved among logistics enterprises, said a spokesperson.

The meeting took place as part of the ninth GMS Week for Economic Corridor, which is in company with the 2017 South-Southeast Asia Commodity Expo and Investment Fair in Kuming from June 12-18.
Down-to-earth endeavors key to poverty alleviation goal 2017-06-25 19:09:34 China Daily President Xi Jinpings remarks on poverty alleviation on Friday show the CPC leadership is not only confident of achieving that goal, but also well aware of what needs to be done to lift the remaining about 40 million rural villagers out of abject poverty in the next three years.

Setting a deadline for eradicating poverty requires confidence; especially, setting a very short one for eliminating "abject poverty".

However, the country has a proud record in poverty alleviation in the past more than three decades, which has given the current Communist Party of China leadership the confidence to set the deadline to eliminate any enduring poverty by 2020ahead of its 100th anniversary in 2021.

President Xi Jinping's remarks on poverty alleviation on Friday show the CPC leadership is not only confident of achieving that goal, but also well aware of what needs to be done to lift the remaining about 40 million rural villagers out of abject poverty in the next three years.

As Xi pointed out, most of the poverty-stricken villagers now reside in very underdeveloped areas, where the ecological environment is fragile, natural disasters occur frequently, the proportion of destitute rural residents is very high and the local collective economy is weak. As a result, the task ahead is extremely tough and demanding.

It is not just inputs of both financial support and human resources by local governments that will enable these villagers to escape poverty, but also the way such inputs are distributed and used. That explains why targeted poverty alleviation measures have been emphasized.

What is particularly important, as Xi emphasized in his speech, is that the poverty alleviation targets for local governments must be realistic, based on local realities and local conditions. Specifically, the rural poor should no longer have to worry about safe shelter, food and clothing, their children's education and basic healthcare services.

The new emphasis placed on precision  taking the right measures, at the right time, in the right way  will add to the efficiency of specific relief efforts. But the introduction of the strictest report and supervision mechanism that Xi is initiating to prevent corruption and fraud, and his call for an enhanced support system of upgraded infrastructure and improved public services, will make the difference in efforts to ensure those rural residents still struggling to shake off poverty can do so.

A long-term support system is essential in this regard since poverty alleviation achievements in some localities have proven fragile in the past, as there have been cases where people have slid back in poverty due to sudden illness or their efforts to meet the burden of children's education expenses.

Translating Xi's proposals for better support and more effective measures into down-to-earth endeavors at the grassroots level is the guarantee for conquering the stubborn residual poverty in the country.
Where wealthy families frolic 2017-06-26 08:08:38 China Daily Yang Feiyue Affluent families travel with their children about twice a year on average and cite learning experiences for their kids as their main motivation, says a report by HHtravel, a luxury-tour operator affiliated with China's biggest online travel agency, Ctrip.

Luxury travelers are willing to spend big bucks on trips with their kids. Yang Feiyue reports.

Affluent families travel with their children about twice a year on average and cite learning experiences for their kids as their main motivation, says a report by HHtravel, a luxury-tour operator affiliated with China's biggest online travel agency, Ctrip.

HHtravel's family clients' average spending per trip ranges from 80,000 yuan to 120,000 yuan ($11,728 to $17,593).

The Belt and Road Initiative has also made it easier for Chinese to travel, and families are taking advantage of the new opportunities, HHtravel's chief operating officer Guo Ming says.

China and 46 countries and regions have liberalized visa requirements, and 19 offer visas on arrival to Chinese, the National Tourism Administration reports.

Over 40 percent of recent inquiries received by HHtravel have been about family tours for the summer, Guo says.

Wealthy parents tend to favor natural areas, cultural relics and elite schools as destinations for their kids.

Favorites of those heading abroad include Easter Island, African savannas, Disney parks, Ivy League schools and NASA's aviation center. These attractions are particularly preferred by parents planning to educate their children overseas, Guo explains.

Many wealthy kids are widely traveled.

They're the type to have likely watched a Broadway show in New York or an opera in Sydney. Some take equestrian classes at British estates.

They've also likely visited the likes of Oxford, Harvard and Yale, the British Museum, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guo says.

Chile and Peru have become new hot spots for affluent Chinese families, who make long-haul journeys.

Chinese with US or Schengen visas can enjoy visa-free entry in both countries.

Many shops and restaurants in Peru support UnionPay and AliPay.

Families wander among the stone statues of Chile's Easter Island and ride the Belmond Hiram Bingham, which ranks among the world's most luxurious trains, to explore the ruins of Peru's Machu Picchu.

High-end family tours of the South American nations can feature archeology experts, who explain the history and folklore behind the heritage at such sites as a private museum in Peru's capital, Lima, and a pre-Columbian gallery in Chile.

Nearby Brazil's culture and landscapes are also an emerging draw for well-heeled Chinese families.

They come to enjoy Copacabana's white-sand beaches, Sugarloaf Mountain's cable car and the verdant Amazon Rainforest.

"(Amazon) activities can inspire children to admire nature and build character," Guo says.

Rich outdoors-adventure seekers also favor Africa.

They pile into all-terrain vehicles to watch gnu running in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve, and see elephants, lions and rhinos in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park.

They also enjoy the island paradise of Tanzania's Zanzibar. The Stone Town of Zanzibar blends the cultures of Africa, the Arab region, India and Europe.

Speaking of Europe, Switzerland is moving toward the top of wealthy families' itineraries because of its pristine nature and temperate climate.

They hike in Zermatt and ride trains over Jungfrau's mountains to see glaciers.

Alaska's glaciers, climate and wildlife are also popular among wealthy Chinese parents.

HHtravel offers a family package that includes visits to a native village, the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary and offshore rafting.

It also offers popular trips to Sri Lanka's Ceylon black tea plantations, where parents take children to pick leaves, watch processing and savor brews on the Nuwara Eliya Plateau. Affluent families also often visit the country's heritage sites, such as the Sigiriya Lion Rock and Galle Fort.

Japan appeals to families who seek luxury travel abroad but close to home.

They enjoy camping on the Miura Peninsula and visiting the Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise theme park.

The market for affluent family travel is set to boom with more sophisticated products and eased visa policies, Guo believes.

That's not to mention larger and wealthier families, as the second-child policy's effects continue to manifest and the economy grows in the coming years.

Hot spots

Top outbound destinations for families

1. Singapore

2. Phuket Island

3. Osaka

4. Tokyo

5. Bangkok

6. London

7. Bali

8. Hong Kong, China

9. Rome

Top domestic destinations for families

1. Sanya, Hainan province

2. Xiamen, Fujian province

3. Beijing

4. Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region

5. Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan province

6. Lanzhou, Gansu province

7. Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region

8. Lijiang, Yunnan province

9. Xi'an, Shaanxi province
Mexican officials keen to bolster agricultural trade with China 2017-06-26 09:57:43 Xinhua Mexican officials agree that it is high time to bolster agricultural trade ties with China, as the country needs to diversify its trade, given the uncertainty of its relationship with its northern neighbor.

MEXICO CITY - Mexican officials agree that it is high time to bolster agricultural trade ties with China, as the country needs to diversify its trade, given the uncertainty of its relationship with its northern neighbor.

"Opening and strengthening the channels of trade with powers such as China is very important for us," and so is "not relying on a single trade relationship," Federal Deputy Cristina Gaytan Hernandez told Xinhua.

Hernandez, a member of the opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party, urged producers and business owners from Mexico and China to forge closer ties, especially in the agricultural sector, which offers "great" potential.

The only thing missing is to foster "friendship, trust and respect so that in the field of trade our countries can find great economic advantages for their communities and for the comprehensive development of both nations," said Hernandez.

Agricultural trade with China continues to center on soybean, but as China's economy expands, so does the purchasing power of its urban middle class with accompanying changes in lifestyle and consumption, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Hernandez's remarks were echoed by Adriana Herrera Moreno, director of international trade negotiations at the Ministry of Agriculture, who emphasized the importance to "talk about increasing trade and creating opportunities for China and for Mexico."

"Agriculture is one of the sectors that would win (from expanded trade ties), because China offers a growing market that demands products that Mexico can supply, such as meats, fruit and high value-added products that offer our producers opportunities to diversify their incomes," said Moreno.

Though Mexico has no trade agreement with China in the area of agricultural commodity, it is working to meet China's phytosanitary requirements with an eye to opening the Asian market to Mexican-made produce.

"We will continue to work hard to strengthen our sanitary protocols towards China, and that is important because it provides us with the guidelines to be able to export and create real market opportunities" for the national industry, said Moreno.

The ministry is also committed to investing in promoting any new export products in the Chinese market, as it has with tequila and avocados, she said.

Mexico's China-bound agricultural exports mainly consist of cotton, beer, tequila, pork, avocados, cranberries, raspberries and blue berries.

Mexico City's Secretary of Labor Amalia Garcia Medina admits that bilateral trade with China is currently minuscule, offering great potential.

"Trade exchange is still very small. The agricultural figures ... can still grow enormously. That is to say, the potential to expand it is great and that is why the opportunity exists," said Medina.

What's more, Mexico's government has shown its willingness "to strengthen trade ties with China," in mind of its current over-reliance on its northern neighbor, according to Medina.

"A substantial portion of Mexico's trade is with the United States. If it does not diversify, it will weaken our country because any political flux in the country with which we have the largest part of trade, has an impact on us," she said.

"The positive side of our current situation is the possibility of opening up trade exchange and building substantial ties with China," said Medina, a leading voice of the Mexican left.

According to official figures, 80 percent of Mexico's agricultural exports go to the United States and Canada.

However, geographic convenience is no longer enough to sustain the country's trade ties, said Sergio Palacios, head administrator at Mexico City's Central de Abastos, Latin America's largest wholesale market of produce and foodstuffs.

"China and its provinces represent important markets where Mexico must consolidate its presence," said Palacios, adding that Mexico can offer the Asian market "many high-quality products."

To expand bilateral ties, it is essential for Chinese trade delegations "to come to Mexico more often and for Mexican delegations to go to China and learn what the opportunities are. I think they are two nations that, despite distance, have much in common and share a great friendship," added Palacios.

Earlier this week, Mexico's Chamber of Deputies hosted a bilateral agricultural exchange and cooperation forum between Mexico City and the southwestern province of Sichuan to strengthen trade between the two regions, the very first of many such encounters.
TEN PEOPLE have been confirmed dead after a landslide buried more than 100 people from more than 62 homes in Maoxian county, Southwest China's Sichuan province, on Saturday morning. President Xi Jinping has urged that no effort be spared in the search and rescue operations, and has instructed the State Council, China's Cabinet, to send a work team to the site. As China has entered its flood season, governments across the country should strengthen disaster prevention to ensure people's safety and protect property, he said. Beijing News commented on Sunday:

A massive landslide from a high part of a mountain in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture smashed into Xinmo village, making all preventative efforts in vain. Triggered by the heavy rainfall, the catastrophic consequences are a reminder of how unpredictable natural disasters can be and the fact that it is never too much when it comes to making necessary preparations.

Given its location such natural disasters are probably not rare in Maoxian county, so the risks must be taken into account and professional risk assessments made before any reconstruction begins. The basic rule is that slopes containing too many moveable rocks are not suitable for buildings. As for the weather hazards, there are identifiable patterns which local authorities can use in their efforts to prevent such disasters from happening. Last year the Ministry of Land and Resources disclosed some 280,000 sites prone to such hazards nationwide, meaning that extra inspections are needed in these areas, not least when large parts of the country are in flood season.

Local government officials, especially those in the affected areas, have to put more efforts into forecasting and preventing landslide disasters. They also need to make sure the dangerous spots are inspected regularly and any changes reported. Residents must be evacuated in a timely and orderly manner, and the family members of the missing and those suffering losses in the disaster must be given appropriate care. The local authorities must also be on the alert and make maximum efforts to prevent secondary disasters.
ACCORDING TO REPORTS, more than 45,000 Chinese apps, of which over 15,500 were games, were removed from the Apple App Store from June 13 to June 22, as part of a cleanup to prevent hot patching, which enables software developers to bypass Apple's vetting process to update users' apps, offering the possibility for hackers to embed malicious code. Beijing News commented on Friday:

Chinese-made apps were not the direct target. Earlier this month Apple warned iOS developers by email that any code, frameworks or software development kits that can change an app's behavior or functionality after App Store Review approval must be removed before June 12. And more than 27,000 apps in the United States were also pulled from App Store in June.

However, that is not all. The multinational's new App Store policies allow tipping to content creators as in-app purchases, of which it keeps 30 percent as commission. Two months ago, China's Tencent Holdings Ltd was forced to shut down its tipping service on WeChat, a Tencent-backed instant messaging tool, which allowed iPhone users to tip content creators.

External links like WeChat's tipping service might be a novelty to Apple, which has a strong record of keeping its system and users safe, thanks to the strict App Store review policies. But dedication to security does not justify the company's move.

The Chinese market now contributes more revenues than any other market to the Apple Store, which might tempt the behemoth to grab a share from the digital tip jars of Chinese app developers. The rise of local rivals such as Huawei is no doubt responsible for the waning sales of Apple products, yet making questionable profits from Chinese app developers without good reason risks backfiring.
Employees of an online store process orders in Qingyanliu village, East China's Zhejiang province on Dec 29, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

The annual taxable revenue threshold for businesses will be raised from previous 300,000 yuan ($43,895) to 500,000 yuan from July 1.

Businesses whose taxable revenue is below this threshold will enjoy a 20 percent tax discount, according to a decision made by the State Council, China's Cabinet, in late April.

The April decision, which included a series of major tax incentives, came after numerous measures to cut the tax burden on smaller companies were adopted in the first quarter.

The benefit small and micro enterprises will gain from these preferential tax policies may not be that big, but the tax incentives will be of great importance to the development of such enterprises as a whole. Due to their meager profits and lack of experience, especially in their early stages, any tax cuts will provide a boost to the growth and development of smaller companies.

Given the booming development of e-commerce in China in recent years, the preferential tax policies will effectively lighten the tax burden on the numerous small e-tailers and providers of e-services. Under the government campaign for mass entrepreneurship and innovation, the emergence of these small e-commerce companies has given a huge impetus to China's economic transformation and sustainable growth. However, these small businesses have been under taxation pressure and this explains why Jack Ma, founder of the internet giant Alibaba, has been calling for preferential tax policies to support them. A tax environment that gives them more room to grow will not only facilitate the rise of small e-businesses with greater development potential, but will also create a platform for the development of enterprises in the real economy as well.

Big players such as Alibaba alone are not enough to bolster China's booming new economy. The preferential tax policies already adopted and due to be adopted will help China create a favorable business environment for the growth of more Alibabas.

-Southern Metropolis Daily


China seeks to expand the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative and seize new trade opportunities abroad while Hong Kong is called upon to play a "super-connector" role. This lets the city leverage its position in cultivating ties with nations along the B&R. The city likewise automatically gains invaluable prestige in the process.

As the project is designed to reach out to more than 4.4 billion people spanning 65 economies on three continents with an overall GDP of US$20 trillion, this is a game-changing and ambitious goal. Hong Kong definitely can contribute to making this goal achievable if it commits to it unreservedly.

As the B&R develops Hong Kong will become a springboard for mainland companies seeking to expand business abroad and a platform for foreign ones eager to engage the mainland. Meanwhile the initiative is starting to gain ground. According to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority 64 percent of foreign direct investments into the mainland and 62 percent of the mainlands outward direct investments in 2015 were already made through Hong Kong.

But B&R should be perceived not just as a purely economic initiative. If carried out smoothly, with Hong Kong going along for the ride, it would project Chinas soft power through the financial assistance offered to all participating countries. The Hong Kong brand is already well-respected as a leading financial and logistics hub, with expertise in project management and trade development. This truly is an excellent opportunity for Hong Kong to shine and benefit by playing an active role in ensuring the success of B&R.

While the mainland plays the role of a "global factory", Hong Kong emerges as an experienced and more advanced trader selling goods worldwide. It can only expedite the day when the mainland is crowned as the worlds biggest economy. Again Hong Kong stands to gain some glorious fallout from the event.

The pattern of a mother economy relying on a smaller but more agile and sophisticated center to push forward could be highly applicable to others. Other major countries can learn from this symbiotic relationship to make further progress economically without introducing sweeping painful reforms by establishing advanced regional hubs operating on a different set of rules, as in the case of the mainland and Hong Kong. In other words, some countries can clearly benefit enormously by adopting the proven "One Country, Two Systems" formula to stimulate progress. Just imagine the goodwill and prestige both the mainland and Hong Kong would gain along the B&R.

As a matter of fact, two major economies in Central Asia and Middle East  Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates  already rely on institutional patterns similar to "One Country, Two Systems" in promoting trade and development.

UAE is driven by the success of one of its seven sheikhdoms  Dubai. The city operates on a different set of rules and now 60 percent of all Chinas goods to the region pass through its ports. It is also the most politically stable and innovative city in the region with 70 percent of its revenue coming from non-resource exports, a stunning achievement from a region where the export of oil and gas on average delivers 90 percent of revenue.

Astana, the capital of resource-rich Kazakhstan, is another example where relying on advanced hubs could deliver magnified benefits. The recent governmental 100 Concrete Steps initiative, a comprehensive national reform package, distinguishes Astana from the rest of Kazakhstan. Hence Astana seeks to appeal to foreign investments through attractive tax concessions, an English system of law and the Astana International Financial Center which copied many of Hong Kongs best practices. This will undoubtedly further stimulate the Central Asian nations growth.

Clearly Hong Kong has much to gain by following mainlands B&R Initiative. The city has much to teach most nations along the routes and will derive many financial and reputational gains in the process. By sharing its principles of governance, financial services, project management, legal compliance, intellectual property protection, fair judicial arbitration and mediation, and many of its other best practices, Hong Kong will most certainly attract more business for itself and in the process help to realize the goals of the B&R Initiative.

The author is an independent consultant with experience in Asian and Middle Eastern markets. He also writes for leading publications worldwide about international trade development and diplomacy.
Rescuers search for victims after a tourist boat sanks with 150 passengers in the Guatape reservoir, Colombia, June 25, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

BOGOTA - Nine people died and 28 are missing after a multi-decked tourist boat carrying about 170 passengers sank in Colombia's Penol-Guatape reservoir on Sunday during the long holiday weekend, a government official said.

Officials did not disclose the cause of the accident and provided few details.

Videos posted on social media showed motorboats coming to the aid of passengers on the upper decks as the boat rocked from side to side. Ninety-nine people were rescued, Margarita Moncada, the head of disaster relief for Antioquia province, told journalists.

"At the moment we have nine people found dead. Another 99 people were rescued immediately and 40 more got out on their own," she said.

Survivors on local television reports said they heard a loud noise before the boat began to sink and that not all of them had life jackets. Rescue operations were ongoing.

Rescue workers and the air force were helping passengers at the scene, President Juan Manuel Santos said in a Twitter post.

The large reservoir, about an hour from the central city of Medellin, is a popular tourist destination.

Reuters
LONDON - Protesters held a march here over the death of a young black man killed by police, setting fires and throwing bricks, Sky TV reported Monday morning.

Campaigners alleged Edir Frederico Da Costa, also known as Edson, was "brutally beaten" after he was stopped in a car by Met Police officers in Newham, east London on June 15.

It is believed the officers used force and sprayed the 25-year-old with CS gas, before he was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died six days later on June 21.

Firefighters, protected by police, put out a fire which had been set by the protesters in a bin in Richmond Road. Other bins were set alight near a McDonald's in Romford Road.

Sky TV quoted a witness as saying that the situation is under control. BBC said that there have been no arrests, but some officers had suffered minor injuries.

Demonstrators protesting Da Costa's death shouted "We want justice" and "Justice for Edson" as they clashed with officers outside Forest Gate police station.
NEW YORK - Tens of thousands of New Yorkers hit the streets of Manhattan Sunday for the city's annual LGBT Pride March.

With multi-hued banners, and multi-faceted backgrounds, the parade started at 36th Street and Fifth Avenue, ended in the West Village, in America's east coastal city of New York.

"This is a moment where we have to really be there for each other in this city and in this country," said NYC Mayor de Blasio, who attended the the event.

"The LGBT community contributes so much to this city... People are feeling pride, but they're also worried about the atmosphere that's been created over the last year or so in this whole nation. This is why this pride takes on a special meaning."

The NYC Pride March, started in 1970, is one of the world's best known LGBT events. This year's theme is "We Are Proud."

Talking about the theme, NYC Pride March director Julian Sanjivan told local media in a recent statement: "There's a lot of uncertainty that people are feeling. We must come together and feel, 'This is who we are, and we are proud of being who we are.'"
Election officials start counting the votes from the parliamentary elections in Tirana, Albania June 26, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

TIRANA - Albania voted Sunday for its new parliament which will elect a new government for the next four years.

The parliamentary election is seen as a key for the country to its European Union (EU) membership talks that it has been aspiring since 2014 when it was granted the candidate country status.

For this reason, the elections process here has been under the constant monitoring of the EU bodies which have stressed on their part that the standard of these elections is going to shape Albania's relationship with the EU.

The polling booths opened at 7:00 am local time and were closed at 8:00 pm. The initial deadline for polls closing was 7:00 pm but was postponed by Albania's central elections commission (CEC) due to the low turnout.

Nearly 3 million Albanians were eligible to cast their ballots at 5,362 polling stations across the country but only scant half of them exercised such right.

CEC informed that as of 8:00 pm, 44 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots, lower turnout than in 2013 general elections.

CEC attributed the low turnout to the heat and celebrations of Eid-al-Fitr.

During the day, the main political leaders, namely the head of ruling Socialist Party Edi Rama, the head of the co-ruling Socialist Movement for Integration Petrit Vasili and the head of oppositions largest party Democratic Party Lulzim Basha appealed to Albanian citizens to massively go to polls and have their say.

Also the head of election body appealed to citizens to report any incident as well as asked the administrators of voting process to act according to the laws and electoral code.

Meanwhile, some 6,000 police officers were on duty for election security, while more 300 international observers came to monitor the vote.

The voting process was considered as quiet and normal despite several incidents reported by local media and police.

The Interior Ministry reported hundreds of attempts to buy votes, a crime that may result in a jail term while media published different photos and video footage of clashes in the polls or vote photographing cases.

Thus despite such incidents, police sources informed that no injured person had to take specialized treatment at hospital while the cases were considered as isolated, thus did not disrupt the voting process.

The preliminary results from the vote are expected early Monday.
ULAN BATOR - Mongolians went to the polls Monday to elect a new president for the landlocked country with a population of 3 million.

There are 1.978.298 eligible voters who will cast their votes in the presidential elections, which mainly involve candidates from three leading parties.

Voting began at 7:00 am local time (2300 GMT, June 25) nationwide and will end at 10:00 pm (1400 GMT).

Candidates vying for the top post have offered different measures to ease the government's mounting debt pressure during the presidential campaigns.

Miyegombyn Enkhbold of the ruling Mongolian People's Party and Battulga Khaltmaa of the opposition Democratic Party are considered the main contenders.

The new president will inherit a 5.5 billion US dollar International Monetary Fund-led bailout aimed to stabilize the country's economy.
China and India, both large economies developing at a fast pace, should enhance their cooperation and dialogue to promote their ties and better contribute to the global economy, scholars from both countries said at a weekend forum.

Chinese and Indian academicians gathered at the Second China-India Think Tank Forum on Saturday and Sunday in Beijing to discuss "strategic cooperation and developmental partnership".

The forum, sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and India's Ministry of External Affairs, covered issues of strategic communication, trade and investment, people-to-people exchanges and science and technology.

At its opening ceremony, CASS President Wang Weiguang said China and India are "two important forces in the world's process of multipolarization" and their think tanks should participate in strengthening their bilateral cooperation.

China-India cooperation benefits not only the two countries, but also Asia and the world, Wang said.

India's delegation consisted of 17 experts and scholars from 11 Indian think tanks and institutions, said Nalin Surie, delegation head and director general of the Indian Council of World Affairs.

The two countries "are expected to play a much greater role in international affairs", said Surie, who is also a former Indian ambassador to China.

"We have a variety of reasons to cooperate and collaborate, rather than entering into needless competition or rivalry," he said. The two countries should ensure that differences between them do not become disputes, he said, but are converted into opportunities for greater cooperation.

China and India established the forum in 2015, and it was first held in December the following year in New Delhi. The two countries will alternate as host of the annual event.

Indian Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale said, "The genesis of this platform lies in our shared belief in the need for greater and more sustained dialogue among our scholars and academics."

The ambassador called for "sustained and in-depth dialogue" at the governmental as well as societal levels in order to sustain ties between the two countries.

China and India are the world's two most populous countries and are regarded as important players in the global economy.

Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said on the sidelines of the forum that the two countries should focus on cooperation in development.

They "have many similar aspects in their national conditions", and communication on developmental issues will help build a more solid foundation for the bilateral ties, Hu said.

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn
Ambassador Terry Branstad greets Chinese people in this still image taken from a video sent from the US embassy. [Video courtesy of US embassy in Beijing]

The new US ambassador to China vowed to build up Washington's ties with Beijing before making his debut in the Chinese capital.

A statement that the US embassy in Beijing provided to China Daily said Ambassador Terry Branstad "will arrive in Beijing", without giving the time and details.

Bloomberg said Branstad was scheduled to arrive in China this week after meetings in Honolulu.

In a video that was sent with the US embassy statement, Branstad greeted the Chinese people.

"I'm Terry Branstad, and I'm excited to be the new US ambassador to China," he said in the minute-and-a-half video.

Branstad said he first traveled to China in 1984, shortly after becoming governor of Iowa.

The following year, he hosted President Xi Jinping, then a county leader, during Xi's first trip to the United States. Their friendship has since grown, and Branstad has visited China multiple times.

"More than three decades and five more visits to China later, I now look forward to working with you, the people of China, to build the future of US-China ties," the ambassador said.

A strong US-China relationship can contribute to solutions to many challenges facing both countries, he said, such as jobs, education, aging population and healthcare.

Branstad said the Korean Peninsula issue and expanding people-to-people ties will also be among his priorities.
NEW YORK - Over 10,000 Chinese Americans gathered downtown here Sunday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

"We American Chinese in NYC rallied exactly here on July 1, 1997 when China resumed exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong. The parade (before the rally) lasted several kilometers. It's such a touching moment that all of us will never forget," said Liang Guanjun, head of the US East Coast Chinese Association Federation, in his opening remarks to the gathering at the Foley Square in Lower Manhattan Sunday afternoon.

Liang also praised Hong Kong's continued economic and social growth while speaking to a big round of cheers and applauses from Chinese Americans waving both China's national flags and flags of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

Liang's remarks were echoed by all other speakers during the event including Zhang Qiyue, Chinese consul general in New York and Margaret Chin, member of New York City Council, and Felix W. Ortiz, assistant speaker of the New York State Assembly.

Zhang said it has been proven the implementation of the Basic Law of the HKSAR helped the "Peal of the Orient" remain competitive.

Enacted in accordance with China's Constitution, the Basic Law specifies the guidelines of "one country, two systems" and "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy.

The Chinese diplomat said she believes Hong Kong will enhance its role as international finance center taking advantages of the vast opportunities brought about by China's development programs, including the Belt and Road Initiative.

Chin said, "Hong Kong has changed a lot over the past two decades, it is a much better place than the one I lived in."

"As a native of Hong Kong, I am very grateful to the central government; I believe, too, Hong Kong's tomorrow will be better," Chin added.

Ortiz, who has been to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai many times, said he is confident that Hong Kong will maintain its momentum of economic growth.
BERLIN - Germany was bracing for panda mania as two furry ambassadors arrived from China on Saturday, destined for a new life as stars of Berlin's premier zoo.

The pair, named Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, flew in on a special Lufthansa cargo plane, accompanied by two Chinese panda specialists, the Berlin Zoo's chief vet and a ton of bamboo.

After a long trip the new zoo stars were greeted by Chinese Ambassador to Germany Shi Mingde and Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller.

"This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Germany. I wish that the pandas as the 'ambassador of friendship' would be adored by German people," Shi said while greeting the pandas at the airport.

"We are delighted that Berlin has gained another fantastic attraction with these bears," Mueller added.

After just over a week's acclimatization, they will be unveiled to the public by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, most likely two days before the G20 summit of world leaders hosted by Germany.

Germany and China have nurtured increasingly close economic ties, and over the last year have also taken on the leading role in championing free trade as President Donald Trump shifts the United States away from market liberalization with his "America First" push.

The excitement over the pandas was evident in the run-up to their arrival, with the zoo publishing a daily blog about the pair.

The 12 hour, 20 minute journey to Germany was carefully prepared, with "bamboo snacks" to keep the pandas happy and absorbent mats to ensure the transport box stays dry and odorless.

And their new home at Berlin's zoo will measure about 5,500 square meters and comes fitted with a wooded climbing area and an artificial stream.

Meng Meng means "dream" in Chinese, while Jiao Qing translates as "darling", though the Chinese characters are a composite of "tender" and "festive" or "celebration".

And the pandas' main dish - bamboo - will cost tens of thousands of dollars each year.

The zoo will look to offset part of its outlays through merchandising.

China has previously given three pandas to Germany, but the last one, 34-year-old Bao Bao, died in Berlin in 2012, having become the oldest male panda in the world.

Afp - Xinhua

Giant panda Meng Meng looks out of her container after arriving in Germany from China on Saturday. Meng Meng and her companion Jiao Qing will be presented to the public at Berlin Zoo on July 6.Provided By Associated Press

(China Daily 06/26/2017 page11)
DPRK says US war bombs still a danger

China Daily | Updated: 2017-06-26 07:02

PYONGYANG - Unexploded bombs, land mines and shells left over by US troops in the 1950-53 Korean War are still endangering the lives of people, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said on Sunday.

Since 2000, the DPRK said it has dismantled more than 200,000 land mines left over from the war, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

"In the last 60-odd years since wartime, over 800,000 pieces of explosives have been removed in different parts of the DPRK. In the new century alone, more than 200,000 explosives were detected and removed," it said.

At least 58,000 mines were removed when acquiring hundreds of hectares of new land and reclaiming about 1,000 hectares of tideland in South Hwanghae province bordering the military demarcation line, said the report.

About 2,800 explosives dropped along railway beds in North Phyongan province and tens of thousands of explosives dropped on in South Phyongan were removed, it said.

In the capital Pyongyang, a bomb weighing 1 ton was found in the city's central Taedong River, while more than 70 bombs and 900 shells were removed from construction sites from 2012 to 2014, the report added.

Meanwhile, the DPRK has urged the Republic of Korea to start dialogue without making Pyongyang stopping its nuclear and missile programs as a precondition.

The Consultative Council for National Reconciliation made the appeal on Friday, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Saturday.

The DPRK official body in charge of dealing with inter-Korean relations said ROK authorities "do not hesitate to reveal their scheme for sanctions against and pressure on the DPRK, finding fault with its legitimate step for bolstering the nuclear force for self-defense."

Other demands for working on national reconciliation include stopping military exercises with the United States, ending collaborations with foreign countries on inter-Korean issues, rejecting UN sanctions and releasing a dozen DPRK women allegedly kidnapped by the ROK intelligence services, said the council.

ROK President Moon Jae-in has said that he would start dialogue with Pyongyang if the latter stops its nuclear and missile programs.

(China Daily 06/26/2017 page11)
LONDON - The United Kingdom said 27 high-rise apartment blocks had failed fire safety checks carried out after the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze, including several in north London where residents were forced to evacuate amid chaotic scenes late on Friday.

British officials have conducted tests on some 600 high-rise buildings across England after fire ravaged the Grenfell social tower block in west London on June 14, killing at least 79 people in the capital's most deadly blaze since World War II.

The Department for Communities said 27 apartment blocks had failed tests in Camden, Manchester, Plymouth, Hounslow, Portsmouth and Brent.

A spokesman for the department said: "As soon as results of tests are received we share the information with building owners and the fire service for them to decide the next steps."

Prime Minister Theresa May, who was forced to apologize for the government's initial slow response to the tragedy, said the authorities were now racing to establish what needed to be done.

"In some cases it's possible to take mitigating action", she told Sky news. "In others it's been necessary for people to move out on a temporary basis and that is what happened in Camden last night."

Some 4,000 residents of the Chalcots Estate in Camden, north London, were told to vacate their apartments on Friday after the Fire Brigade ruled that their tower blocks were unsafe.

"I know it's difficult but Grenfell changes everything," Georgia Gould, leader of Camden Council, said in a statement.

May said the local authority would be given all the means necessary to make sure people had somewhere to stay.

Combustible cladding

Six emails sent by and to an Arconic Inc sales manager raise questions about why the company supplied combustible cladding to a distributor for use at Grenfell Tower, despite publicly warning such panels were a fire risk for tall buildings.

The emails, dating from 2014 and seen by Reuters, were between Deborah French, Arconic's UK sales manager, and executives at the contractors involved in the bidding process for the refurbishment contract at Grenfell Tower.

When asked about the emails, Arconic said in a statement that it had known the panels would be used at Grenfell Tower but that it was not its role to decide what was or was not compliant with local building regulations. The company manufactures three main types of Reynobond panel - one with a polyethylene core, one with a fire retardant core and another with a noncombustible core, according to its website.

Diagrams in a 2016 Arconic brochure for its Reynobond panels describe how PE core panels are suitable up to 10 meters in height. Panels with a fire resistant core - the FR model - can be used up to 30 meters, while above that height, panels with the noncombustibleble core - the A2 model - should be used, the brochure says.

Grenfell Tower is more than 60 meters tall.

The brochure also issued a blunt warning that cladding can be a fire risk.

"When conceiving a building, it is crucial to choose the adapted products in order to avoid the fire to spread to the whole building. Especially when it comes to facades and roofs, the fire can spread extremely rapidly," the brochure said.

"As soon as the building is higher than the firefighters' ladders, it has to be conceived with an incombustible material." Nonetheless, between May and July 2014, French, who was based at Arconic's factory in Merxheim, France, responded to requests from the companies involved in refurbishing Grenfell Tower on the availability of samples of five different types of Reynobond aluminium-covered panels, all of which were only available in the combustible PE and FR versions, according to Arconic brochures.

In the end, Arconic said on Friday, the company provided PE panels. "While we publish general usage guidelines, regulations and codes vary by country and need to be determined by the local building code experts," the company said in an emailed statement in response to the Reuters enquiry.

Reuters - Xinhua

Firefighters stand outside Burnham Tower in London, as residents were evacuated as a precautionary measure following concerns over the type of cladding used.Hannah Mckay / Reuters

(China Daily 06/26/2017 page12)
World's largest exporter sees promising prospects in China

SAO LOURENCO, Brazil - A small Brazilian city once famous for its mineral water springs is now welcoming tourists with a new attraction - a specialty coffee with unique taste and quality.

In addition to enjoying the natural beauty of Sao Sourenco, in Brazil's southeastern state of Minas Gerais, tourists from around the world are also flocking to a coffee shop at the city center to take a sip of the local coffee, which has a history dating back more than 100 years.

The coffee sold in Junior's shop was grown at a farm located in the mountainous region of southern Minas Gerais, the soil and climatic conditions of which are favorable to coffee growth.

Sao Lorenco is famous for its natural spring water, which also helps to explain why the region produces much of the best coffee in the country.

"The coffee here has acidity and sweetness, and does not need sugar," said Helcio Junior, director and the fourth generation coffee farmer running the shop Unique Cafes.

The high quality of local coffee has greatly boosted the development of tourism in the region, said Junior, who dedicated himself after graduating from university to transforming his family business from a coffee bean exporter to a specialty coffee producer.

In 2005, a coffee sample from the farm won the first place in the "Cup of Excellence", an annual competition held in several countries to identify the highest quality coffee produced, with a world record of 95.85 points on a scale of 0 to 100.

Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee. Coffee plantations are mainly located in the southeastern states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and Parana.

According to the Brazilian Association for the Coffee Industry, every single major coffee brand uses Brazilian coffee in its blend.

However, Brazil has, for decades, oriented its export of coffee as a commodity instead of a specialty product, meaning it has lost the marketing game when it comes to promoting its own brand.

"I started to roast our own coffee in 2005, when I entered our family business," Junior said.

"Before that, our company had only planted and produced green coffee beans, and starting to roast coffee means that our own coffee product enters the domestic market," Junior said.

According to Junior, his family has been exporting coffee beans to Japan, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Canada, Australia and the United States.

"We have entered the Chinese market in the past four to five years, and we have opened a coffee shop in Shanghai," he said.

Junior believes that his specialty coffee has a promising prospects in the Chinese market.

Xinhua

A worker sieves coffee beans on a farm near the city of Sao Lourenco in southeastern Brazil.Xinhua

(China Daily 06/26/2017 page10)
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(Photo : Christianity Daily) Reverend Hyeon Soo Lim was arrested and detained by the North Korean government in January of 2015.

The family of Reverend Hyeon Soo Lim, a Korean Canadian pastor who is detained in North Korea, expressed urgent concern regarding his health and detainment following the recent death of American student Otto Warmbier.

"We are desperate to see our husband and father home, and we are pleading for an active escalation in diplomatic efforts," the family said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Lim was sentenced to hard labor for life, and has been detained since January of 2015. Though he has had much exposure to the reclusive country and has been to North Korea more than 100 times on humanitarian endeavors, he was detained during his visit into the country in December of 2014 on accusations that he was attempting to overthrow the government.

Since Lim's detainment, there have been reports of Canada's contact with the North Korean government, and Lim himself also appeared in a CNN interview.

However, Warmbier's death following his return from his detainment in North Korea, has ramped up a sense of urgency from the family.

"The family is very concerned at this point," Lisa Pak, a spokeswoman for Lim's family, was quoted as saying by Reuters. "They are hoping the Canadian government will turn (efforts) up a few notches in terms of active diplomacy and really start engaging."

Pak added that the last time Lim's family was able to receive any update on his situation was in February, when Lim was able to speak to them through a Swedish ambassador's phone.

"We have not had an update on his whereabouts or his condition in several months," she was quoted as saying by the Toronto Sun.

"Reverend Lim's sentence is, in essence, a death sentence; and with each passing day, the family, the church, Canadians and people around the world fear for his life."

Lim served as the senior pastor of Light Presbyterian Church in Toronto, and also has formed relationships with key Korean Christian leaders in the U.S. and South Korea. Multiple prayer gatherings on his behalf have taken place in Canada and the U.S. since his detainment.

    press@cdaily.co.kr



- Copyright ,    

#HyeonSooLim
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Image: World Relief

The Refugee Ban Is Back, But Church Connections Might Trump It

Its been a tumultuous year for refugee resettlement, and the latest ruling on President Donald Trumps highly contested travel ban introduces more questions about the prospects for foreigners seeking asylum in the United States.

After months of holdups in lower courts and declining refugee admittances, today the US Supreme Court partially reinstated Trumps executive order that bars refugees and travelers from certain Muslim-majority nations from entering the country. The high court will rule on the case this fall.

Mondays court decision included some notable exceptions to Trumps initial ban, including allowing refugees with bona fide relationships with a person or entity in the United States to enter the country and allowing such connected refugees into America even after totals reach Trumps limit of 50,000 this fiscal year.

World Relief, an arm of the National Association of Evangelicals that serves as one of nine refugee resettlement agencies in the US, is waiting to hear more about the new qualifications. How the State Department interprets the decision will determine whether it will halt the flow of refugees or, possibly, allow in even more than planned.

Matthew Soerens, US director of church mobilization, said World Relief expects to receive guidance later this week, since the decision goes into effect Thursday.

Between 50 percent and 75 percent of refugees resettled through World Relief have some sort of tie to family or other contacts living in the US; however, some of these relationships may not meet the government standard for bona fide relationships. For example, close familial relationshipsa term used in the decisioncould ...
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As same-sex marriage became legal in more and more states and then across the country, evangelicals and others with religious objections have worried about their obligations to accommodate gay and lesbian couples. After several state-level disputes involving florists, photographers, and bakers, Americas highest court will finally rule on the issue.

On Monday, the US Supreme Court announced it will take on the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which involves a Christian baker defending his decision to turn down wedding cake orders for same-sex couples.

The case exemplifies the tension between upholding religious freedom rights and protecting LGBT individuals from discrimination. Americans are evenly split on the issue: about half (49%) say wedding vendors should be required to serve same-sex couples, while nearly as many (48%) say they should be able to refuse on religious grounds, according to the Pew Research Center.

In a similar PRRI poll, majorities of every major religious tradition, including white evangelicals, said they did not believe small business owners should be allowed to refuse services to gay and lesbian people.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) represents Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado. The Christian religious freedom group argues that, as a person of faith and as an artist, Phillips has the right to use discretion in the projects he works onparticularly when they oppose his religious beliefs.

He was found guilty of violating Colorados antidiscrimination policy for turning down an order to make a cake for a gay couples wedding reception in 2012. Colorado has upheld the penalty, while courts in ...
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In its biggest religious freedom case of the year, the US Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of a conservative Lutheran congregation seeking a state grant for improving its playground. New Justice Neil Gorsuch sided with the majority in the 72 vote.

The landmark decision in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer addresses the religious freedom principles at the core of the First Amendment and potentially paves the way for certain government funding for religious institutions (such as school choice vouchers), an issue the court hasnt ruled on since 2000.

The express discrimination against religious exercise here is not the denial of a grant, but rather the refusal to allow the Churchsolely because it is a churchto compete with secular organizations for a grant, wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, in the courts opinion, from which Justices Sonya Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented. In this case, there is no dispute that Trinity Lutheran is put to the choice between being a church and receiving a government benefit. The rule is simple: No churches need apply.

The case was about more than the playground resurfacing grant in questionespecially since Missouris state government had already amended the program to include religious groups. Instead, the Trinity Lutheran playground dispute pitted religious freedom against the separation of church and state.

It's a strong win for equal participation of religion, and free religious choice, in government benefits, said Thomas Berg, a church-state expert at the University of St. Thomas law school in Minneapolis. This is the first time the court has held that a religious organization, indeed ...
home World Pope Francis sends monetary aid to South Sudan following postponement of proposed trip

Pope Francis will send nearly half a million dollars to South Sudan to help fund church-run projects following the postponement of his trip to the war-torn country last month.

The Vatican has announced on Wednesday that the pontiff will be aiding projects in the areas of education, healthcare, and agriculture as part of the "Pope for South Sudan" initiative.

According to Catholic News Agency, the initiative will be coordinated through the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, headed by Cardinal Peter Turkson, and by Caritas International.

Turkson told reporters at a Vatican press conference on Wednesday that while Francis' planned trip to South Sudan could not happen this year, the pope still "wants to make tangible the presence and closeness of the Church with the suffering people" in the country through the initiative,

"He fervently hopes to be able to go there as soon as possible on an official visit to the nation; the Church does not shut hope out of such an afflicted area," the Cardinal stated, as reported by Catholic Herald.

The project will be providing aid to the Wau Hospital in the Western Bahr el-Ghazal state, and Nzara Hospital in the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, both of which have fewer than 130 beds between all of the departments.

The cardinal said that the initiative should not be seen as the only and first time the pope had shown interest in the situation in South Sudan.

Turkson, who had visited the country twice on behalf of the pontiff, said that the program was just the pope's "latest gesture."

"The Holy Father stays very close to the situation in South Sudan to try to a help, to be paternal to the situation over there and to try to afford the help that he can," he said.

A civil war erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, just two years after it became independent from Sudan in 2011.

In February, some parts of the war-torn country have been declared to be under conditions of famine. The classification was lifted on Wednesday following an increase in aid, but the situation remains desperate as an increasing number of people are still at risk of starvation.

An estimated 3.8 million people have been displaced and at least 28 million are in need of food aid.

Turkson asserted that the intervention of the international community is needed to help end the conflict and bring about peace in South Sudan.

He said that Francis is a "universal shepherd who crosses borders," adding that the pontiff "feels the pressing need to raise awareness of the international community about this silent drama, calling for greater and renewed efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict."
home World Sudanese churches pen open letter protesting the government's 'systematic violation of Christian religious freedoms'

Sudanese churches have written an open letter to the government to condemn the demolition of church buildings in Sudan's capital of Khartoum, describing the act as "the systematic violation of Christian religious freedoms."

The letter, dated May 16, was penned by the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC), which represents about 220,000 of about two million Christians in Sudan. It highlighted the "hard conditions" faced by Christians in recent years, including the demolition of churches, confiscation of church property, government failure to allocate land for the construction of new churches, and travel restrictions on senior church leaders.

A worker closely involved in working with the Church in Sudan remarked that the letter was the "boldest move the SCOC leadership has yet made against the constant pressure they have been facing from the government."

"Over the past years they have complained against all violations of religious rights to all pertinent government bodies, but it is the first time such a letter is distributed on social media," said the worker, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons.

According to World Watch Monitor, the letter was sent the day before the government demolished an SCOC building, which has been standing in Algadisia, east Khartoum, since 1983.

The authorities reportedly ordered the church to vacate the land after an individual claimed ownership but did not provide any accompanying evidence. The church had produced ownership documents, but the officials refused to hear the case, saying they had orders to carry out the demolition.

Twenty-five other churches have been scheduled for demolition, with the government claiming they violate designated purposes for these plots of land.

"We feel deeply sorry and strongly condemn these abusive procedures against the holy places, and we hold the National Intelligence and Security Services [NISS] responsible for the damages and other consequences [that] can be caused due to their confiscation of documents," the letter stated.

"We also hold the land authorities of the Ministry of the Planning and Infrastructure Development of the Khartoum state responsible for the attacks against the Church and [for] the financial damages caused," it added.

The SCOC urged the presidency to allocate land to churches and guarantee Christians their constitutional right to own land in Sudan. It also called on President Omar al-Bashir to order the NISS to return all confiscated land ownership and travel documents to Christians and prevent the agency from committing further violations of Christians' rights.

In 2013, the Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Endowments announced that it will no longer grant licenses for the construction of new churches in the country, claiming there is no need for new church buildings as many of the Christian South Sudanese people have returned to their own country following South Sudan's secession in 2011.

Since then, the authorities have continued the gradual confiscation of properties belonging to churches.

The SCOC also called on local and international human rights organizations to intervene on behalf of the churches to ensure that the Sudanese government puts an end to the violations of religious freedom of Christians.
It may be too soon to write OPEC's obituary, but the oil producer club appears in urgent need of late-life care. It shows little understanding of where it is, how it got there or where it's going. While it still manages to collect new members here and there, its core group looks more fragile than at any point in nearly 30 years.

The historic output agreements, put together so painstakingly last year, are failing. Nearly 12 months of shuttle diplomacy culminated in two deals that would see 22 countries cut production by nearly 1.8 million barrels a day. Implementation has been better than for any previous output cut, with compliance put at 106 percent in May. A resounding success? Hardly.

We're now in the final month of those deals and oil prices are lower than when they were agreed. Not only have producers sacrificed volume, but they earn less for each barrel they do produce.

The recent extension of the deals just leaves output restraint in place for another nine months, the best response OPEC could muster. Deeper cuts were barely mentioned. Assertions to do "whatever it takes" ring hollow.

Indeed, there's no appetite for the big cuts that would demand real sacrifices in countries such as Russia, where normal seasonal factors helped it lower production in the first half of the year. Just sticking to current output levels could be difficult for the rest of 2017: early maintenance work has helped several OPEC members meet their targets but that can't continue. Then there's the problem of recovering output from Libya and Nigeria, both exempt from the cuts.

The malaise runs much deeper, though. Beneath a veneer of unity, rifts are developing among core Middle East members. The Saudi-led confrontation with Qatar could create the most serious split since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. As I wrote last week, Iraq might be in Mohammed bin Salman's sights next, as Iran's influence there grows and Baghdad lags the rest in implementing output cuts.

As if the internal failings weren't enough, OPEC seems to have lost touch with reality. Ministers say higher prices are needed to pay for investment in future production capacity, issuing dire warnings of a future supply crunch. They said the same thing to justify prices soaring above $100 a barrel in 2008. It wasn't true then, and it may not be true now.

The oil industry has responded to the price slump by slashing costs. Projects that needed $100 crude to break even have magically been redesigned to be profitable at half that level.

OPEC has completely misjudged the North American shale industry and seems not to understand how it is still evolving rapidly. It's a little like trying to explain the internet to my 85-year-old mother, or my 12-year-old daughter trying to explain social media to me. As consultant Morten Frisch tells me, drilling horizontal sidetracks from abandoned wells in the Permian Basin is yielding a 91 percent internal rate of return on a $7 million investment and delivering 1,500 barrels a day of crude. He predicts large production increases from vertical wells in previously produced areas in the Permian.

Having failed to use the good times to invest for a future of low oil prices, OPEC is facing a crisis of old age. It is falling apart internally, confounded by the world and increasingly irrelevant.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Julian Lee is an oil strategist for Bloomberg First Word. Previously he worked as a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.
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Spamela Hamerson is in need of a new home.

She looks nothing like her namesake, Pamela Anderson, because she's a very large pig, but Spamela is still adorable, and she's one of seven swine in the Houston area that are up for adoption at Houston shelters.

Not just anyone can appear at the shelter and bring home a barnyard animal.

At the Houston SPCA, where five pigs are available, applicants must show they have adequate facilities to keep a pig, and specify which veterinarian will care for the animal.

(story continues below video)

Lisa Avant of New Best Friend Rescue in Magnolia has two pigs up for adoption.

Avant said she is looking for people committed to keeping the pigs, Kevin (Bacon) and Phoebe, for the rest of their lives.

OUTBREAK: Highly contagious disease is spreading fast in Texas dogs

"People love to adopt the baby pigs, but once they get growing, the novelty wears off and they dump them," Avant said.

She added that irresponsible breeders will breed runts or starve larger breeds of pigs to keep them small and sell them as mini breeds to the public.

WATCH: Texas girl recreates family photos with her Chihuahua

Breeding to get smaller animals can cause genetic defects, Avant said. "Some of these issues will be major and result in early death or euthanization."

In addition, some cities in the Houston area do not allow residents to own swine. When a pig named Hammy was up for adoption at the Pearland Animal Shelter in February, shelter staff sought adoptive families outside city limits.

Hammy wound up going to a nice new home with two other pigs in Rosharon.

The seven pigs currently up for adoption in the Houston area are available on PetFinder.com.
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Texas hospitals stand to lose billions under the Republican-backed health plan, as federal Medicaid dollars shrink, leading to a rise in uncompensated care, according to a new analysis by the Commonwealth Fund, a national health policy foundation.

The study looked only at the U.S. House plan passed last month. It has not yet examined the impact of the U.S. Senate's version unveiled late last week, which experts have predicted will bring even deeper cuts to Medicaid.

RELATED: Senate version of health-care law gets mixed reviews in Texas

In Texas, uncompensated costs in the state's 304 acute care hospitals could increase by 7 percent, rising to $38.4 billion over the next decade, the study found.

That compares with an estimated $35.8 billion over the next decade under the current Affordable Care Act.

At issue is a spike in the number of the nation's uninsured whose care is often absorbed by hospitals.

On Monday the Congressional Budget Office predicted 22 million more Americans will be uninsured by 2026 than under the current law-- with 15 million without coverage by next year under the Senate bill. That spike is expected because of reductions in Medicaid funding, and the recalculation of insurance plan structure and how people afford them, the report said.

That prediction is mostly consistent with how the CBO scored the House version last month which had estimated 23 million more would become uninsured in the next decade compared to the ACA.

The Senate had hoped to vote on the measure this week but on Tuesday leadership announced it would delay the action until after its July 4 recess.

Texas already leads the nation in the number of uninsured and hospital executives have cautioned that their institutions would be hard pressed to take a bigger hit should the uninsured rate go higher.

"If people think Harris Health can absorb this, that is a miscalculation," said George Masi, president and CEO of Harris Health System, in a January interview with the Chronicle.

RELATED: Obamacare repeal and replacement could come with hidden costs

Harris Health is one of the nation's largest public hospital systems with more than 62 percent of its 330,000 patients across the systems already uninsured.

The Commonwealth study found that the biggest jolt to the nation's hospitals under the Republican's House plan will come in the 31 states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. Texas is one of 19 states that did not.

Those states could see an average increase of 78 percent in uncompensated care. One of the sharpest increases is in Kentucky, which could shoulder a 165 percent rise, the study found.

The CBO report on the Senate bill said it could save the the federal government $321 billion over a decade -- seen as a victory for supporters who say the nation needs to reign in spending. That compares with an estimated $119 billion under the House plan.

RELATED: Different sides see CBO report differently

Much of that will come in deep reductions to Medicaid, especially in expansion states. While Texas will not feel the brunt in the same way, the state could still lose as much as $1.5 billion per year over the next decade.

That will mean states will have to make up the differences one way or another. Those could come either through program cuts, stricter qualifying standards for Medicaid recipients or less money to providers, said study author Allen Dobson.

His study also showed that the reduction in Medicaid dollars will hurt rural hospitals, many of which are already struggling to stay afloat. In Texas' 110 rural hospitals, operating margins could weaken by a full percentage point over the next decade.

Dobson said it is not just Medicaid patients at those rural hospitals that stand to lose. "Everybody in the community is impacted," he said.

This story was updated Tuesday afternoon to reflect the decision to delay the vote and with information about the CBO report.
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Today marks the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states.

In many ways, the 2015 ruling also validated decades of cinematic efforts to overcome government censorship of films that touched on, or were based on, LGBT subject matter. And for that reason, we've gathered a list of the most iconic movies with LGBT themes and leads.

It wasn't until the late '60s that films with gay-related themes even had a chance of making it into a movie theater. The "X" rating were handed out if films had any type of "homosexual" context, no matter how subtle.

"Victim," a British film released in 1961, was quite literally an open protest against Britain's anti-gay laws until 1967, prosecuted gay males. The film was the first English language to use the word, "homosexual." And even the Motion Picture Production Code in the U.S. denied "Victim's" seal of approval meaning, it didn't meet the Hollywood's moral guidelines.

ICYMI: Thousands flock to Houston Pride parade

However, history was made when "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) starring Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, became the first "X"-rated film to receive an Academy Award. In fact, the film won three Academy Awards was nominated for four others.

Nowadays, audiences can enjoy films that were once given suppressible ratings and kept from theaters merely because a character in the film is gay. Subsequently, filmmakers can delve deeper and introduce audiences to more complex LGBT issues.

Many of these movies we have gathered showcased gay or lesbian topics for the first time in film history. Others of the same nature, won the biggest awards in cinema for their screenplays, character depictions, and directors.

In honor of the two-year anniversary of legalized same-sex marriage, check out the gallery above for a list of iconic movies with LGBT-related themes and lead characters.
Two former University of Houston students who said they were unfairly expelled for sexual misconduct received another blow on Monday in a federal court opinion that sided with UH.

Circuit judges in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed Monday a district court ruling that UH did not violate due process in its expulsion of Ryan McConnell and Natalie Plummer after a high-profile filmed sexual assault in a dorm room in 2011.

Plummer filmed her then-boyfriend touching an unconscious female student one night in November of that year. She posted a photo to Facebook of McConnell, who is now her husband, and the female student, who was naked and unconscious on the dorm room floor. She showed friends the videos, which she claimed were filmed to catch McConnell cheating.

Plummer and McConnell argued that the university didnt follow due process in investigating and adjudicating the complaint and was unfairly biased toward the female victim.

But the appeals court panel sided with UH, which pursued the sexual assault complaint when the female student decided not to move forward.

"The Universitys discipline was predicated on what the two charged students did, and during the discipline process they  a male and a female  were treated equally, the majority opinion read. There is no sound basis for an inference of gender bias.

Mondays ruling found that UH did not show deliberate indifference to the students constitutional rights, a very high standard of misconduct," the opinion found.

UH, McConnell and Plummer did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

A dissenting opinion from judge Edith Jones said that despite the undisputed evidence of the sexual misconduct, Plummer and McConnell did not receive proper due process.

Richard Baker, a UH administrator who was tasked with investigating and advocating for the victim, had a conflict of interest that "cannot be overstated," Jones wrote in her dissent.

"Even though these students deserved punishment," she wrote, "they also deserved more protective procedures given the seriousness of the charges."
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UHCL students win RESEARCH grants

University of Houston-Clear Lake students Stephanie Smothermon and Fernanda Oda were recently awarded grants from the Society for the Advancement for Behavior Analysis for their respective research projects.

Smothermon, who received her master of arts in behavior analysis from UHCL in May, won the $1,000 SABA 2016 Innovative Student Thesis Grant for her project titled, "Teaching Children with Autism to Talk about Private Events."

Oda, who is working on a master's degree in behavior analysis, was awarded $1,000 for the SABA 2017 International Development Grant. Since 2015, she has been developing a project called "The Fountain and the Bridge," reflecting her goal as an international student from Brazil to build a bridge of communication about behavior analysis between the United States and Brazil.

To find out more the behavior analysis program, email behavioranalysis@uhcl.edu, call 281-283-3300 or visit www.uhcl.edu/human-sciences-humanities/departments/clinical-health-applied-sciences/behavior-analysis.

COM Teachers of the Year make science fun

Passion and compassion were two essentials that students cited when voting for professors Jessica Jemison-Williams and Jennifer Robinson College of the Mainland Teachers of the Year.

Jemison-Williams, who has taught at COM for three years, teaches Anatomy and Physiology 1 and 2. She and her students perform experiments, such as graphing on a computer the electrical currents in muscle contraction of the forearm and blood typing using artificial blood.

"She is the best professor I have ever had," student Erin Workman said. "Without her, I have no idea if I could have survived the million and one breakdowns from nursing school and prerequisites"

Robinson, who previously worked in pediatric nursing and at clinics, works with students throughout their time in the one-year Licensed Vocational Nursing program.

"Nursing school is very challenging but having an encouraging teacher makes it a little easier," student ShaVonte Verrett said.

For more about COM nursing programs, visit www.com.edu/nursing.

Skipworth elected to COM board of trustees in runoff

Melissa Skipworth will take a seat as a new member on the College of the Mainland board of trustees after winning the June 17 runoff election.

Skipworth, a resource manager for accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP, defeated Sharon Mitchiner for the seat, previously held by Roney McCrary. Though it is her first run for political office, Skipworth has been involved in the community as a member of her neighborhood homeowner association and volunteer during through her company. Skipworth pledged to work with college President Warren Nichols and the board to improve facilities and resources for faculty, staff, students and the community. Skipworth first became involved with COM after moving to Dickinson. Her husband, Sean Skipworth, is a COM government professor.

Also serving on the board of trustees are Rachel Delgado, Kyle Dickson, Rosalie Kettler, Bennie Matthews, Alan Waters and Don Gartman.

Santa Fe winery wins big in contest

Haak Vineyards & Winery in Santa Fe won five gold medals and two top category honors in the recent 2017 Lone Star International Wine Competition. The competition comprises three competitions in one - a Texas Competition, an International Competition and a Limited Production Competition. To qualify for the Texas Competition, the wine must be 75 percent volume from Texas grapes. Haak's winning wines included: 2015 Tres Tintos, 2016 Semi Dry Blanc du Bois, 2013 Madeira Blanc du Bois and 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Two of the wines were made with the Blanc du Bois grape, which Raymond Haak, owner and director of wine, has been growing for more than 30 years in south Texas. The grape varietal was developed to be resistant to vine diseases such as Pierce's Disease, which are fatal to many grape varietals.

Established in 2000, Haak Vineyards & Winery is an award-winning, family-owned winery located in Santa Fe. With founders Gladys and Raymond Haak at the helm, Haak has become most known for producing unique wines from two grapes that are new to the wine world - Blanc du Bois and the Black Spanish or Jacquez grape. The first and only working vineyard in Galveston County, Haak is open to the public for tours and tastings daily. For more information, visit www.haakwine.com or call 409-925-1401.

social work program reaccredited

The Council on Social Work Education has reaccredited University of Houston-Clear Lake's Bachelor Social Work degree program for another eight-year cycle. It is the third time the Commission on Accreditation has affirmed the program since its inception, and, unusually, without question. Accreditation was about a three year process, involving scrutiny of everything from the curriculum to how students are admitted.

Accreditation means expanded opportunities for graduates. To be a licensed social worker, students must graduate from an accredited program. Graduates from the program are eligible to attain the State of Texas title Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker, LBSW. It means students can go straight into the work force as social workers and have an almost guaranteed chance of getting into a graduate program.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of social workers is projected to grow 12 percent from 2014 to 2024, driven by increased demand for healthcare and social services.

The university is seeing increased interest in the social work program with more requests to go out to high schools to talk about the program.

In 2016, 24 students graduated from the social work program  the largest cohort. For more information on the program, visit www.uhcl.edu/academics/degrees/social-work-bsw.aspx

Grand opening of PostNet store set June 29

Mustansir "Moose" and Alifia Abbas, are celebrating the grand opening of their PostNet design, printing and shipping franchise, 6725 Fairmont Parkway in Pasadena, 1-2 p.m. June 29. The event will feature a ribbon-cutting ceremony, prizes and special guest Beth Young, who will speak on how to grow a successful business.

"The grand opening celebration is a great way for us to welcome in our new neighbors and local businesses," Alifia said. "We're excited to serve the design, printing and shipping needs of the local business community."

St. Thomas the Apostle appoints interim director

Mary Latulippe is taking over as interim director of St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal School for the 2017-18 school year following her recent appointment by the board of trustees. Latulippe has 32 year of experience in Clear Creek Independent School District, 24 of those in the classroom and eight as a campus administrator. Her connections and experience at CCISD in all areas of instruction were said to greatly benefit St. Thomas, which serves children from prekindergarten to fifth grade, in its bid to grow. Meanwhile, Candace Silcott will continue as director of enrichment, building on the successful program she began last year. The school, located at 18300 Upper Bay Road, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.

Pearland ISD, Dell partner for laptop discounts

Pearland Independent School District and Dell have partnered up to offer families laptops at a discounted rate.

Dell is offering the Inspiron 11 3000 Series Base, Dell Latitude 3180 BTX and Inspiron 13 5000 Series to students, parents, faculty and staff at or below $499. These laptops are configured like the computers students use at school and the ones the district purchases for classrooms and labs.

To make a purchase, visit www.dell.com/pearlandisd.

Pearland ISD dedicates Virgil Gant Education Center

The late Pearland Independent School District school trustee Virgil Gant was honored by district officials June 13 with the naming of the Education Support Center to the Virgil Gant Education Support Center. Gant was killed in an auto accident nearly a year ago.

Board president Rebecca Decker said at the dedication they wanted to honor Gant for the 16 years he served with Pearland ISD. Gant served on the board of trustees from 1997 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2016. He held many leadership roles, including board president and as a member of the long-range planning steering committee.

Superintendent John Kelly presented a personalized proclamation from U.S. Congressman Pete Olson to the Gant family along with a portrait of the 2016-17 school board in which they sit around his portrait. Previously, State Rep. Ed Thompson presented a proclamation, which hangs inside the center, located at 1928 N. Main St. in Pearland.

Unique Buildersannounces winner

Unique Builders & Development recently selected Phillip Prater of Pearland as this year's winner of its "Vision and Dreams" Scholarship out of more than 500 applicants.

Prater received $1,000 to go toward his expenses at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he plans to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering.

Unique Builders & Development selected Prater for demonstrating excellence in academics and service to the community. Prater volunteered with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Care and Share Street Ministries, Goodwill Industries and the Houston Food Bank. An Eagle Scout, Prater also was involved in the National Society of High School Students, Teen Leadership Academy of Pearland and the Congressional Youth Advisory Council.

In addition, he played basketball for his school.

Unique Builders & Development is a full-service design and building company located in Houston.

Learn more at www.uniquebuilderstexas.com.

Friendswood July 4 celebration bring traffic changes

To accommodate the July Fourth celebrations, the City of Friendswood is putting in parking restrictions from 8 a.m. July 3 until 8 a.m. July 5 for the Lakes of Falcon Ridge subdivision for residents and non-residents. Parking will be limited to one side of the roadway for all streets in the subdivision. Vehicles blocking the roadways will be towed at the owner's expense. Compliance will be strictly enforced by Friendswood police. There are also temporary parking restrictions from 8 a.m. July 2 until 8 a.m. July 5 on both sides of FM 518 between Eagle Lakes Drive and Old Road and on Falcon Ridge, between Hawkhill Drive and West Boulevard.

The 122nd celebration begins at 10 a.m. on S. Friendswood Drive (FM 518) at Heritage Drive and concludes at Stevenson Park, where festivities will continue through the afternoon. Friendswood police will shut down FM 518 at FM 2351 and FM 518 at Whispering Pines at around 9:45 a.m. Traffic will be stopped with barricades on all of the secondary streets between FM 2351 and Whispering Pines until the conclusion of the parade.

Evening events at Centennial Park begins at 7:30 p.m. There is no public parking at Centennial Park. A shuttle service will be provided from Friendswood High School and Clear Brook High School from 6:30-8:45 p.m. Friendswood police officers will provide security services at the shuttle locations.

ACC to host STEM family night

With a $1,000 grant from the ACC Foundation, Alvin Community College is planning to host STEM family nights to show students the advantages of pursuing a career involving science, technology, engineering and math. As careers with a STEM background continue to surge - they are growing at a rate of 17 percent compared to 9.8 percent for all other occupations - the college wants to expose students to related career opportunities.

STEM Family night, one to be conducted in the fall and the other in the spring, will include hands-on activities in a variety of topics for students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The evening will feature engaging activities that show how real-life implications of science, technology, engineering and math can pull together the ideas presented in schools and help to show how they benefit society. The college will partner with local school districts, area industry, the Brazoria County Library System and local engineering firms. The family night will be open to 80 to 100 students and their families

The foundation awarded a total of $12,038 under the Innovative Initiative Grants to eleven projects this past spring. The funding is designed to encourage, facilitate, recognize and reward innovative and creative approaches to fulfill the mission of the college.

San Jacinto College has impact on long-time employee

The Solterdijk family can happily say San Jacinto College has had a lasting impact on two generations of their family. Laura Sloterdijk, her sister Charlotte Cheatham and two children, Michael and Amy, all attended the college. And recently Laura Sloterdijk was recognized for 30 years of service to the college, where she currently serves as Coordinator of Division Operations for Business and Technology on the Central Campus.

As a struggling young mom, Sloterdijk earned her GED from San Jacinto in 1978 and later returned to a job training program, from which she received a secretarial certificate. She was hired by the same program to work as a book keeper. She later went on to earn an associate degree in office administration. Since that early start, Sloterdijk has held several positions during her 30 years - as an administrative assistant in various departments.

Meanwhile, Sloterdijk's sister took classes at the college and is now working on a master's degree in business, while son Michael Chapa earned a welding certification and daughter Amy Sloterdijk earned an associate's degree in nursing and is working towards a bachelor's degree in nursing.

"I instilled the need for education, not only in my kids and family members, but also in friends and strangers I would meet," Laura Sloterdijk said.
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A new state law that allows police to ask legally detained or arrested people about their immigration status has garnered varied responses from Bay Area law enforcement and government officials.

Houston City Councilman Dave Martin cast a dissenting vote in his council's 10-6 decision on July 21 to join Austin, San Antonio and Dallas in a lawsuit contesting the law, known as Senate Bill 4.

The law also says that sheriffs and police chiefs who refuse federal requests to hold immigrants detained for other alleged crimes could face jail time and fines.

The city of Houston's attorney's office recommended that the city sue the state over the law, claiming that it authorizes unconstitutional searches, seizures and detentions and unlawfully limits local authority.

President Donald Trump's administration has sided with Texas in the lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio is considering whether to block the law.

Attempts to reach Martin, whose District E includes Clear Lake, for comment were unsuccessful.

City Councilman Larry Green, who voted in favor of joining the lawsuit against SB4, said the bill has major flaws.

"Obviously our objective is to make sure cities have the right to make decisions in the best interest of cities and not be subjected to laws that don't allow that," Green said.

Clear Lake community activist Sherrie Matula supports the council's decision, saying that the law would have a negative impact on law enforcement resources in some communities.

"Areas like Clear Lake are already short-staffed (by police) because we are not a 'high-need' area, and anything that is going to pull away police officers and extra duties such as conducting police work for SB 4 is concerning to me having lived in area since 1974," she said. "We are a large city with an enormous amount of coverage, and we are always operating short of police staffing. We don't need other duties to call officers away when we're barely getting coverage as far as District E is concerned."

The lawsuit was filed in May against Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The bill was introduced in the most recent Texas legislative session by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, after the new Travis County Sheriff, Shelly Hernandez, announced plans to limit the county's cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The lawsuit charges that SB 4 is a violation of constitutional free speech and equal protection.

State Sen. Larry Taylor of District 11, which includes portions of Brazoria, Galveston and Harris counties, had this to say about municipalities that limit cooperation with federal authorities to enforce immigration law: "I think when a city openly chooses not to obey federal law or cooperate with immigration officials, I think that's a problem. As for the particulars of the bill, we'll have to see how that works out."

Law enforcement agencies assured that the law wouldn't alter how officers do their jobs.

"We aren't looking to stop people to find out their status," said Jason Spencer, public affairs director for the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "We've never had a policy that prohibits our deputies from asking about anyone's status; so not much will change in that regard."

Brazoria County sheriff's Lt. Varon Snelgrove said that the legislation wouldn't interfere with business-as-usual in the county.

"Someone's status doesn't typically affect the direction we take when investigating a crime," he said. "If someone has committed a crime, we stop them and we ask for identification for everyone - that's common procedure. We don't go out actively seeking people who might be illegal."

"Anyone that is stopped is required to give identification. All we want is their ID," Snelgrove said. "We're not going to go out and seek people who might be here illegally to send them to jail because of this new law. We don't do that anyway."

Concerns have also been raised by lawmakers, residents and some law enforcement agencies who believe the bill could increase instances of racial profiling.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has discussed potential drawbacks with the bill.

"Our sheriff has been pretty outspoken about what he feels could happen as a result of (SB 4)," said Spencer. "He believes strongly that it could potentially harm our efforts to keep folks safe. There's a possibility that victims of crime or people who know something about a crime are far less likely to come forward for fear of deportation, and when you get into that territory, it's not good for public safety."

Spencer said that ultimately, regardless of the bill, the department will continue to serve the people of the county.

"At the forefront of our minds is the safety of our residents," he said. "Our decisions and our priorities are driven by our desire to keep all of our residents safe, and that's where our focus is going to be, regardless of laws or mandates that the state hands down."
A 2-year-old Houston boy who died Saturday was burned, hit and beaten with a belt before his death, according to court documents.

The toddler's mother, Lynette Gasper-Washington, and her boyfriend, Rajfik Keating, were jailed over the weekend on aggravated assault of a child charges.
STAFFORD  The Missouri City NAACP and a number of local officials and activists are planning to redouble efforts to change the way that the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees is elected in order to increase representation for minority communities.

The local NAACP chapter hosted a panel discussion entitled "Achieving Adequate Representation in FBISD Reflective of our Diverse Community" Thursday in Stafford to address the issue of changing the Board of Trustees from being elected essentially at-large to single-member districts, which would restrict voting for each seat to a specific geographic area.

"This is a civil rights issue," said State Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City), who was one of the panelists. "There is no reason we don't have single-member districts in Fort Bend ISD ... they allow for equal representation."

Reynolds, a past president of the NAACP chapter, pointed to a lack of minority trustees  two of the seven are minorities  and a disproportionate discipline rate for African American students as examples of why he believes the change to single-member districts is necessary.

"We need more like-minded people to Addie and KP," Reynolds said, referring to the two minority board trustees, Addie Heyliger, who is African American, and KP George, who emigrated from India. Heyliger was present at the panel discussion. George was not present, but supports the change to single-member districts.

"I think every community should be represented," George said. "Every community's issues are different."

"We have a crisis in our schools," said Regina Gardner, a Fort Bend ISD alumna and social worker who serves as a community liaison between minority communities and the school district. "Schools on the east end are terrible."

According to the latest rankings by Children At Risk, a Houston-based non-profit, nine Fort Bend ISD schools got F-ratings. All of the F-rated schools were majority African American and/or Hispanic schools with more than half of students considered economically disadvantaged. Meanwhile, most of the district's highly rated schools were located in the more affluent Sugar Land area and had higher rates of Asian and white students.

"The only way we're going to fix it is if we're honest," Gardner said. "I think single-member districts are the way to go."

This isn't the first time that the issue has arisen. According to some longtime community members at the meeting, the current election system is a relic of the days when Fort Bend County was "just a cow town," as one attendee described it. As the population  and diversity  grew exponentially over the past few decades, the system remained unchanged. Fort Bend is now the most diverse county in the nation and is expected to grow by 2.1 million in population by 2050, according to a recent University of Houston study.

An effort by the NAACP to take legal action to change the election system nearly two decades ago was thwarted when an individual hijacked the lawsuit and was unable to follow through financially, said Joel Clouser, a county justice of the peace who moderated the panel discussion.

Reynolds added that he had filed several bills to change the system during his tenure in the State House of Representatives that got little traction. He also said that he had spoken with trustees on the board and doesn't believe the board will move on the issue without legal obligation.

Fort Bend ISD Board President Kristin Tassin said that the issue has not been discussed by the board in open meetings.

"I have had meetings with a few community members interested in moving to single member districts, but have not seen or heard widespread community support for this," Tassin said, in an email. Tassin said that she recommended that the voters start a petition to call and election on the issue.

Advocates for the change to single-member districts plan to rally the community and pursue legal action to affect change.

"It's really about representation," said State Sen. Borris Miles (D-Houston), who was a panelist. "There should be more people that look like us on that school board ... we're going to wake them up."
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A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Nathan Reese Smith, 39, on Thursday in connection with a double drive-by shooting in Willis last February.

The Houston man faces two second-degree felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the Feb. 18 shooting in the 400 block of Paddock Drive. Two men, 27 and 22, were shot with a shotgun but survived. They remembered the shooter was not wearing shoes and the shooter's vehicle had loud aftermarket exhaust on his truck.

ILLEGAL GAMBLING: Deputies raid several establishments in East Montgomery County

Officers said those details helped make Smith the main suspect in the case.

The victims told Willis Police detectives that Smith asked one of them whether they were selling crack cocaine, according to court documents. Police say the victims insisted they did not sell drugs, at which time they say Smith left the conversation and got back into his truck.

The victims claims he circled around the block five or six times before pulling out a shotgun and firing twice, striking the two men, court documents show.

Smith is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a total of $300,000 in bonds. He is also being held with no bond on a warrant from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

He will be back in Judge Patty Maginnis's 435th state District Court for an arraignment Monday.

Montgomery County grand jury indictments for June 22:

Shaun Thomas Kent, forgery and theft

Tony Daniel Parker, illegal dumping of 1,000 pounds or more

Justin Tyme Talley, illegal dumping commercial

Garrett William Fife, assault causing bodily injury family enhanced

Brian Anthony Gutierrez, assault causing bodily injury family enhanced

Wesley Vernon Neil Miles, unauthorized use of motor vehicle and possession of controlled substance

Keith Allen Golden III, unauthorized use of motor vehicle

Manuel Cantu Jr., DWI  third or more

Roger Dale Davison, failure to register as sex offender

Kenneth Barnett Jr., forgery

Ryan Lance Bostin, aggravated assault with deadly weapon

Brandon J. Bautista-Barajas, possession of controlled substance

Rolando Gonzalez-Martinez, DWI  with a child

Cameron Wade Johnson, possession of controlled substance

Jerrell Christopher Pannell, possession of controlled substance and possession of controlled substance (LSD)

Shalonda Monique Bright, theft

Erick Fraga Hernandez, possession of marijuana

Catrina Monique Massey-Holmes, possession of controlled substance

Jeffrey Ryan Domostoy, possession of controlled substance

Toni Marie Allen, evading arrest detention w/ vehicle

Garrett Wade Howard, possession of controlled substance

Jay Cantu Jr., possession of controlled substance

Sean Mikel Rogers, unauthorized use of motor vehicle

Holly Mae Dunn, theft

Kathleen Frances Steinbruner, possession of controlled substance

Ronan Dale Terry, unlawful carrying of weapon restricted premises and theft of firearm

Ruby Ann Brewer, possession of controlled substance

Cory Nicholas Perez, unauthorized use of motor vehicle and possession of controlled substance

Justin Ryan Walsh, possession of controlled substance
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that President Donald Trump's contentious travel ban should go into effect ahead of a full hearing, though they limited its scope.

In its brief ruling, the court said the ban could not apply to foreigners with a "bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States" such as a relative, job offer or university admission.

Here are Houston voices in reaction:

Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of the Houston branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Monday's ruling "hasn't changed anything. We're still not happy about the ban itself. So different phases of it don't make us happy unless they just cancel it altogether."

"We don't like it, and there never should have been a travel ban," Carroll said. "It does nothing to make us safer."

"This is a significant decision that I didn't expect and most people didn't expect," said Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law-Houston. "This is a pretty big victory for the Trump Administration."

Blackman, speaking on a conference call hosted by the conservative Federalist Society, added that he was surprised there were no dissents from Democratic appointees. He noted that, unlike the lower courts and appeals courts, the Supreme Court justices did not weigh Trump's campaign rhetoric, Twitter posts and public interviews that lower-court judges said revealed a biased motive.

The leader of a major refugee resettlement agency in the region reacted negatively to the news about the order, which includes a 120-day pause of all refugee resettlement.

"We're disappointed in the decision today," said Martin B. Cominsky, CEO of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, "but we respect the decision of the Supreme Court. We hope that the hearing in October will allow all parties to express their points of view in a more compassionate way, and to consider our responsibility as a world leader in the resettlement of refugees."

READ MORE: Greater Houston resettles more refugees than any other American city. A former refugee who now oversees resettlement explains why.

"We feel for the refugees who are waiting years to come to the United States as a safe haven for them and their families. We'll be looking to any eligible family-reunification cases that are exempted from the travel ban," Cominsky added. "At this point we can only be prayerful and look to the compassion of other countries ... that continue this work in refugee resettlement."

The CEO said the interfaith organization would redouble efforts to help already-arrived refugees become citizens, and to build support for tolerance and acceptance through their "Respect Thy Neighbor" program, which is funded by the private Houston Endowment.

Institutions in the Texas Medical Center have previously expressed concern about how the travel ban affects its employees, researchers and others.

On Monday, Baylor College of Medicine general counsel Bob Corrigan released this statement:

"We are heartened that the Supreme Court's order protects our faculty and students who hold green cards or otherwise have a bona fide relationship with the College. That was our primary concern with the original order. However, there remains a concern about the impact the executive order will have on the ability of the College to continue to recruit and retain the best and brightest students and faculty going forward. We will closely follow updates on this case."

READ MORE: Baylor College of Medicine CEO slams Trump's travel ban

Mark Jones, a Rice University political scientist, said universities that opposed the executive orders likely would not be fully satisfied even though students won an exemption.

"A near-universal view among the universities is that this resolves the bureaucratic concern that students would not be allowed to attend universities here in the United States," he said. "But it does limit (those students') travel, which they view as discriminatory and not in what they consider the best interests of the United States."

Jones said the ruling was largely a victory for the Trump Administration.

"This legitimates the ban, at least in part. And (it) reinforces claims made by the president that the appeals courts were effectively incorrect. ... Opponents of the ban are going to be upset because while there's going to be a carve-out, the Supreme Court has said that at least temporarily the ban will apply to people who don't have a bona fide relationship. ... From a political optics perspective, the decision benefits Trump."

He also theorized about how the decision was crafted.

"This was clearly a compromise decision between one group of justices that wanted to reinstate the ban, and another group of justices that wanted to keep it from going into effect in any form whatsoever. What they've come up with is a compromise: Anyone who has a legitimate relationship ... will not have to be enforced. The ban has been reinstated, but they've carved out a major exception."

READ MORE: Texas' congressional representatives react to the Supreme Court's decision

A leader of a local Muslim group emphasized that many Muslims here and abroad see the ban as intentionally targeting people based on their religion, citing Trump's campaign rhetoric about a ban on visiting Muslims.

"We encourage the government to rule based on justice, not religious discrimination," said Dr. Amir Malik, a neurosurgeon who leads the Houston-South chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. "A lot of it unfortunately has to do with what we feel is religious discrimination against the countries. In the past few years, most of the terrorist acts that have happened, none of the terrorists were from any of these countries. ... That underscores the fact that just having a religious litmus test for a ban obviously does nothing to protect us. ... We believe extreme vettting is better than a religious test (and) we feel that that kind of vetting is already going on in the immigration system."

However, a national advocacy group that pushes for strict enforcement of immigration laws contested the idea of a religious bias.

"It was a much-needed temporary timeout to give us a chance to examine our vetting system to make sure that those who are coming to attack the nation or hurt innocent Americans will be prevented," said Dave Ray, a Federation for American Immigration Reform spokesman. Ray said the vast majority of the world's Muslims live outside the six restricted countries, and that the freeze affects non-Muslims in those six countries as well.

"This is a national security step that was much-needed," Ray added. "It's sad that one federal judge who has no access to national security briefings was able to trip this up for a number of months while possibly questionable people from these countries were allowed to enter the country. ... The president of the United States, whoever that person is at that time, is the only person who has access to daily security briefings from the national intelligence agencies. Not the courts."

More reactions will be added as they come in. Check back for updates.
Texas State University police are searching for a man who they said entered a classroom on Friday and ranted about 9/11, eventually scaring off students.

Authorities said the suspicious individual "wanted to talk to the highest authority over the attack" and even asked for Texas State President Denise Trauth to "make a statement" over the 2001 terror attack.
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WASHINGTON  Texas Republicans in Congress cheered Monday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling partially lifting injunctions against President Donald Trump's revised travel ban.

Texas Democrats said the ruling sends the wrong message, even as they held out hope that the high court will ultimately invalidate the ban.

"This unanimous decision is a win for national security and a major check on the power of overreaching activist judges seeking to push their own agenda," said U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady of The Woodlands.

Woodville congressman Brian Babin also weighed in, calling the ruling "a major victory for America's national security."

Lawmakers in both parties were still digesting the court's move, which pushes into October a final ruling on the legality of the controversial executive order, one of the administration's first major initiatives.

Until they hear the case later in the year, the justices allowed the Trump administration to put much of its ban into effect, though with restrictions against acting against foreign travelers who have credible claims of family, business, or personal relationships in the United States.

Trump's ban, revised in March, sought to bar foreign travel for 90 days from six majority-Muslim countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It also would suspend all refugee entry into the U.S. for 120 days.

The decision at least temporarily reverses two federal-appeals court injunctions that blocked the travel ban on constitutional grounds. The Supreme Court has yet to hear oral arguments in the case.

Babin, like other Republicans in Congress, said Trump's order is "absolutely necessary" to vet foreign travelers to keep potential terrorists out of the country. "We cannot allow our refugee and immigration programs to serve as a 'Trojan Horse' threat to the American people," he said.

Houston Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee called on the high court to "ban" Trump's ban, which said is directed Muslims.

"The Trump ban's blatant bias toward Muslims runs counter to American values and fuels a dangerous narrative that provides terrorists with an effective recruiting tool," she said. "It does not make America safer and alienates the very allies we need most to combat terrorism."
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a Fort Worth, Texas death row inmate on Monday who claimed that he received ineffective counsel in his appeal.

Erick Davila is on death row after he was sentenced for the killing of a rival gang member's mother and a 5-year-old girl at a children's birthday party.
Jason Hoekema/MBO

AUSTIN -- New student report cards will go out this week that Education Commissioner Mike Morath promises will go a long way toward demystifying content on the state's standardized tests.

Groups such as Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment, or TAMSA, have long advocated for minimizing, or even eliminating, state standardized tests. The agency and lawmakers have offered feeble justification for the tests in the face of rising opposition.
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AUSTIN -- Second time's the charm.

Texas Boys State, the famed American Legion program that started in 1935 to allow high school-aged boys to participate in a mock government, voted to have Texas leave the union in the first vote of its kind in the organization's history. A similar proposition narrowly failed last year.

The student legislators, who met at the Capitol in Austin this month, also created a new constitution and declaration of independence, according to a news release from the group.

"This is the first time in Texas Boys State history that the government body decided to secede from the United States," it read. "The gallery of each chamber were cheering and celebrating because they have now made history by becoming a nation."

GET A LIFE: Texas responds to California's travel ban

One attendant tweeted a video from the Senate floor after the secession bill passed.

Story continues below...

Not unlike the real Texas House and Senate, the mock state legislators disagreed on the issue during their gathering last summer. Last June, the Boys State Senate approved a secession bill in a 33-10 vote, with two abstentions. The Boys State House, however, defeated the measure by four votes, 64-60, with eight abstentions.

They are not the only ones who have considered the idea.

Some delegates to the Republican Party of Texas convention last year tried unsuccessfully to add a provision to the state party's platform to allow for a statewide vote on secession. The move made national headlines and sparked fierce debate among attendees, particularly veterans who said they served the United States, not any single state.

ON THE FIELD: California's travel ban could impact sports in Texas

Story continues below...

While it may excite among some right-wing activists in Texas, secession in practical terms is a legal impossibility. In 1869, the U.S. Supreme Court in a case coming from Texas ruled that no state can unilaterally depart the Union, no matter if a state legislature votes to leave. The Civil War ultimately settled that question, historians and jurists largely agree.

"I cannot imagine that such a question could ever reach the Supreme Court," former Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in 2006 when asked about a Maine secession proposal. "To begin with, the answer is clear. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede."
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.
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Hiring enough software engineers, DevOps managers, cloud computing specialists and other roles required to facilitate IT transformations remain tall tasks for CIOs. But the talent crunch isnt limited to those with coding skills and algorithmic thinking: Enterprises are also struggling to hire staff with soft skills who can help shape the user experience around digital services.

For a digital transformation to be successful, companies need storytellers, UX designers and product managers, among other roles. These skill sets help round out the human experience required to support emerging digital services. And these roles will only become more important as organizations increasingly lean on artificial intelligence and other technologies in which humans and machines must augment each other, says Paul Daugherty, CTO and chief innovation officer at Accenture.

We need more coders, Daugherty says. However, five years from now, we wont be worried about coders, but the lack of people with soft skills. Were short on people who can understand the human experience.

Daughtery, who tackles the need for organizations to beef up on what he calls missing middle digital skills in a new book, Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, says enterprises require a rethinking of how to leverage people and technology.

Digital talent deficits are real. While 51 percent of employers identified an absence of hard digital skills in their organization, 59 percent recognized a lack of soft digital skills among employees, according to a 2017 survey of 753 employees and 501 executives conducted by Capgemini and LinkedIn. But while many CIOs focusing on hiring agile programmers, DevOps engineers and data scientists, many havent begun to scout, let alone build up, soft skills yet. Consultants say CIOs must work with marketing, sales and HR cohorts to fill the following positions.

UX designers

Building a chatbot is impossible without UX designers. Once a business case has been established, you will need UX designers to help figure out how the product will look and feel. Many UX experience designers can code, though their main role is shaping how end users will consume the product.

Digital trainers

To help your chatbot strike the right tone you need someone to train the bot in a way that embodies your corporate culture. Trainers can help natural-language processors and language translators make fewer errors, and teach AI algorithms how to mimic human behaviors. For example, a media company may opt for a chatbot with a snarkier tone, while an insurance company might require a more formal-sounding virtual assistant. Whatever the use case, humans are required to help train the bots how to demonstrate empathy for humans.

Such no-collar skills may require someone with a liberal arts background  think sociology, anthropology, psychology, drama or journalism  who can help train the chatbot how to speak in ways that reflect the companys business objectives, Daugherty says. Regardless of their training, such talent should be able to communicate and articulate corporate culture.

Writers

Enterprises need writers, or storytellers, to help shape digital experiences such as chatbots, or even how employees and consumers should interact with new augmented reality services youre building, says Todd Rovak, CEO of Capgemini Consulting North America. Home improvement retailer Lowes, for example, has hired writers to craft narratives around robots and other digital services.

Conversational brand strategist

Say a consumer packaged goods company wants to tap into the conversational messaging zeitgeist by building a new chatbot. This will require a fresh approach and talent, namely, someone who can convey and reimagine the companys culture. Doing this in the proper context and tone is key to cultivate the right experience, but the conversational brand strategist must also be able to explain how this works to the CEO, CMO, CIO, CDO and other business functions. This whole obsession with customer experience and centricity requires context, Rovak says. There has to be a why to understand the experience.

Forensics analysts

Enterprises are concerned about the so-called black box challenge of explaining the results of AI, a challenge that may grow as governments expect more transparency regarding decisions algorithms make. For that you need a sort of CSI for AI. Algorithm forensics analysts, for example, might help enterprises explain the genesis of outcomes to business executives. Such analysts might work with coders and data scientists to understand how an algorithm reached its conclusion, Daugherty says.

Ethics compliance manager

Ethics compliance managers will help ensure that your AI systems are operating as designed and that unintended consequences are addressed post haste, Daugherty says. Such a manager would, for example, intervene in the event an AI system for credit approval was discriminating against people in certain professions or specific geographic areas. The ethics compliance manager could work with an algorithm forensics analyst to uncover the underlying reasons for such results and then implement the appropriate fixes, Daugherty says.

Digital product managers

IT and trainers got the chatbot up and running. PwC partner John Karren says a digital organization needs product managers to position the bot for consumers. Digital product managers roles could include responsibility for storytelling, crafting product narratives, but ideally they will own the entire product from top to bottom, ensuring the UX is crisp and that the appropriate compliance boxes have been checked with legal. You need to know how to take a digital product and apply that to the market, or even within an organization, Karren says.

Workplace technology manager

Its no longer enough for a CIO to have lieutenants with such titles as vice president of end user computing. CIOs need VPs who manage the digital experiences of employees. Such a role will help architect user experience, ensuring anything from the proper ergonomics of chairs and desks, to the appropriate floorplans and conference rooms, as well as the collaboration platforms and other tools employees use to do their work.

The importance of training

To address the so-called missing middle, enterprises will also need to train employees on medium digital skills. In a column published in NBCNews.com earlier this month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai noted while coding is important it isnt the be-all, end-all media makes it out to be.

With technology changing rapidly and new job areas emerging and transforming constantly  we need to focus on making lightweight, continuous education widely available, Pichai wrote. This is just as crucial to making sure that everyone can find opportunities in the future workplace. For instance, an enterprise may train office employees to use online programs to run budgets, scheduling, accounting and other crucial tasks. Such basic digital skills training is essential in ensuring employability at a time when automation may cannibalize several office functions.

Ultimately, new digital tools mean new ways of thinking that require reskilling or fresh infusions of talent. Daugherty says Accenture is investing $1 billion a year in reskilling the consultancys 425,000 employees to be comfortable with emerging digital tools and processes. Rather than leaving workers stranded, we invest in people and skills so that we can navigate [digital transition] a lot more smoothly, Daugherty says. Its striking how companies arent investing yet in the right way in this.

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Copiii cu nevoi speciale din Stefan Voda au conditii de reabilitare mai bune, datorita UE si Fundatiei Soros Moldova
The scope of Britains fire-safety crisis broadened Saturday as London officials scrambled to evacuate four public housing towers due to concerns about fire doors and insulation around gas pipes.

Hundreds of residents hastily packed their bags, with many angry and confused about the chaotic situation. Some refused to leave.

Camden Council said it decided to evacuate the buildings on the Chalcots Estate late Friday after fire inspectors told officials that the blocks were not safe for people to sleep in overnight. Inspectors uncovered problems with gas insulation and door stops, which combined with the presence of flammable cladding meant residents had to leave immediately, council leader Georgia Gould said in a tweet.

The evacuation comes amid widening worries about the safety of high-rise apartment blocks across Britain following the inferno that engulfed Grenfell Tower in west London on June 14, killing at least 79 people. Public attention has focused on the external cladding material blamed for the rapid spread of that blaze  but now it appeared that multiple other fire risks have been identified in some blocks.

Britains government said Saturday that cladding samples from 27 high-rise apartment blocks in 15 areas have failed fire safety tests. It did not specify the locations of the buildings.

So far, Camden Council has been the only local authority known to have asked residents to leave as a precaution. It said about 650 apartments were evacuated, though initial reports had said that as many as 800 were affected.

I know some residents are angry and upset, but I want to be very clear that Camden Council acted to protect them, Gould said in a statement. Grenfell changed everything, and when told our blocks were unsafe to remain in, we acted.

Residents trooped out of the buildings Friday night with suitcases and plastic bags stuffed with clothes as council workers guided them to a local leisure center, where some spent the night on inflatable mattresses packed into a gym. Others were being put up in hotels and other housing projects.

The council said residents would be out of their homes for three to four weeks while it completes fire-safety upgrades.

Many residents complained of a lack of information and confusion. Officials first announced the evacuation of one building, then expanded it to five and later reduced it to four. Some said they learned about the evacuation on television news before officials came knocking on doors.

Renee Williams, 90, who has lived in Taplow tower since 1968, told Britains Press Association: No official came and told us whats going on, I saw it on the TV so I packed an overnight bag.

Its unbelievable. I understand that its for our safety but they cant just ask us to evacuate with such short notice. Theres no organization and its chaos, she added.

Dozens refused to leave their homes. Carl McDowell, 31, said he took one look at the inflatable beds offered on the floor of the leisure center and went back to his own apartment.

Flammable external cladding that is widely used to provide insulation and enhance the appearance of buildings has been identified as the culprit in the Grenfell disaster. But fire-safety experts have said the blaze was probably due to a string of failures, not just the cladding.

Police said Friday that they were considering filing manslaughter charges in the Grenfell disaster and they were conducting a wide-ranging investigation that will look at everything that contributed to it.

The Metropolitan Police said cladding attached to the 24-story public housing project during a recent renovation failed safety tests conducted by investigators, and that they have seized documents from a number of organizations.

We are looking at every criminal offense from manslaughter onwards, Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack told reporters. We are looking at all health and safety and fire safety offenses, and we are reviewing every company at the moment involved in the building and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.

The government has ordered an immediate examination of the refrigerator model that started the blaze. McCormack said the Hotpoint model FF175BP refrigerator-freezer had not been subject to any product recalls before the fire.

Hotpoint said it was working with authorities to examine the appliance, adding words cannot express our sorrow at this terrible tragedy.

The government has called on all building owners, public and private, to submit samples of cladding material used on their buildings for testing.

Fears about cladding are not limited to apartment buildings. One hotel chain, Premier Inn, is calling in experts to make certain its properties meet safety regulations.

Police says 79 people are either dead or missing and presumed dead in the blaze, although that number may change. To encourage cooperation, Prime Minister Theresa May said the government wont penalize any fire survivors who were in the country illegally.

(Sheila Norman-Culp, Gregory Katz and Alastair J. Grant contributed to this report.)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The $1.5 million awarded this week to the parents of Michael Brown is the latest of several large settlements involving black suspects who were killed by police, but its far from the largest.

A federal judge in St. Louis on Tuesday approved the settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michael Brown Sr. and Lezley McSpadden. Their 18-year-old son was unarmed on Aug. 9, 2014, when he was fatally shot by white officer Darren Wilson during a street confrontation in Ferguson, Missouri.

The shooting launched months of protests and led to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found racial bias in Fergusons police and court system. But a St. Louis County grand jury and the Justice Department declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November 2014.

Browns parents sued the city, former Police Chief Tom Jackson and Wilson in 2015, citing a police culture hostile to black residents and claiming Wilson used excessive force. Ferguson, Jackson and Wilson denied the allegations.

The case is among many in which huge settlements have been reached out of court, including many in which officers, like Wilson, were cleared of criminal wrongdoing.

U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber did not release the amount of the settlement, citing unspecified safety concerns. But Ferguson City Attorney Apollo Carey said in an email Friday in response to an open records request from The Associated Press that the citys insurance company paid out $1.5 million.

While settlements are expensive, cities facing lawsuits in wrongful death cases are aware of the danger of going to trial, said James Cohen, a professor at Fordham University School of Law. He said the settlement amount could be dwarfed by an award granted by a jury sympathetic to the family.

The city is afraid that someone on that jury is a member of Black Lives Matter, even if the juror is Caucasian, Cohen said.

Settlements in some other recent high-profile cases have been much higher than the amount awarded to Browns parents.

In 2015, the city of North Charleston, South Carolina, paid $6.5 million to the family of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was killed by a white police officer while running from a traffic stop. The officer, Michael T. Slager, pleaded guilty in May to a civil rights violation.

A month earlier, Baltimore paid $6.4 million to the family of Freddie Gray, who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody. No officers were convicted.

New York City reached a $5.9 million settlement in July 2015 with the family of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after being put in a chokehold by a white police officer. The officer was cleared by a grand jury.

Cleveland agreed to pay $6 million last year to the family of Tamir Rice. The 12-year-old had an airsoft gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets when a white officer shot him in 2014. A grand jury did not charge the officer.

Also last year, Pleasantville, New York, paid $6 million to the family of Danroy Henry Jr., a 20-year-old black college student shot to death by a white officer in 2010. No charges were filed against the officer.

Some award amounts this year have been lower. Madison, Wisconsin, agreed to pay $3.35 million to relatives of 19-year-old Tony Robinson Jr., who was unarmed when he was fatally shot. Milwaukee reached a $2.3 million tentative settlement with the family of Dontre Hamilton, a man with schizophrenia who was shot by police. Arlington, Texas, reached an $850,000 settlement with the family of 19-year-old Christian Taylor, who was shot by an officer while allegedly vandalizing cars at a dealership. Police were not charged in any of those cases.

Peter Joy, a professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, said the evidence of a case is a big factor in determining the settlement amount. While some of the other cases had video evidence, there was no video of the confrontation between Brown and Wilson in Ferguson = a potential factor in the lower payment.

Cohen said the allegations against Brown may have reduced leverage for his attorneys. Brown was accused of stealing from a store on the same day he died, and he was accused of reaching into Wilsons police vehicle and attacking him, leading up to the shooting.

You can see the story the defense attorney would tell at trial, Cohen said.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In the three years since fatal police shootings of unarmed black people launched the Black Lives Matter movement, few officers have been charged and none has been convicted by juries in the highest-profile deaths that inspired protests across the country.

Experts cite a confluence of factors, including racial bias, attitudes toward law enforcement and the challenge of showing precisely what an officer was thinking in a high-pressure situation. In the end, many jurors are simply reluctant to reject the accounts provided by police.

They just dont want to second-guess officers in those life-or-death decisions, said Philip Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. They think, What if that was me? What if that was my child who was the police officer?

A jury last week acquitted the Minnesota officer who fatally shot Philando Castile, whose girlfriend livestreamed the moments after the shooting on Facebook. Then on Wednesday, jurors acquitted a black police officer of first-degree reckless homicide in the killing of a black Milwaukee man who threw away the gun he was carrying during a brief foot chase after a traffic stop.

A closer look at some factors that work against the prosecution or conviction of officers:

RACIAL BIAS

Studies have shown conscious and unconscious fear of African-American men plays out in numerous ways, including in exchanges between police and blacks.

People think that black men are violent and dangerous, said Georgetown University professor and former federal prosecutor Paul Butler. What the law does is respond to that fear by trying to contain the threat. The issue is always, `Did the police act reasonably?

When the question is put before a jury, jurors must decide whether it was reasonable for an officer to think his or her life was in danger.

That bias makes it much more reasonable to think that the black man posed a threat, Butler said.

PERCEPTIONS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Race also plays a role in how people view the role of police. A recent Pew survey found that fewer than half of blacks surveyed felt the police did an excellent or good job of protecting people from crime compared with nearly 80 percent of whites.

The same poll found that 75 percent of whites believed police used the right amount of force for each situation compared with 33 percent of blacks, and that 70 percent of whites believed the law holds officers accountable when misconduct occurs compared with 31 percent of blacks.

Policing is structured in a way that favors the officer over the civilian, said Sam Sinyangwe, co-founder of Campaign Zero, which seeks to reduce police killings. In many ways, the laws and institutions that have been created in this country have been in the context of those beliefs. Its not a coincidence that those two things align.

PROOF VS. INTENT

A conviction on charges of homicide or murder often requires prosecutors to establish the suspects intent, which can be difficult in the split-second exchanges between police and civilians.

Many police shooting trials center on a self-defense strategy. Stinson found that almost 40 percent of cases in which officers were charged with murder or manslaughter since 2005 ended in mistrials or acquittals when officers testified they feared for their lives.

Its about your character, about what you meant to do, said Phil Goff, president and co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity. These are not officers who got up that day looking to shoot black people.

In Tensings trials, both sides called use-of-force experts and other witnesses to testify about police training. The prosecution said Tensing could have de-escalated the situation and did not need to shoot. Defense witnesses said officers are trained to stop the threat if they believe they are in danger.

Tensing, 27, testified in both trials, tearfully saying that he feared he could be dragged or run over as DuBose tried to drive away from what began as a stop for missing a front license plate.

I meant to stop the threat, he told jurors Friday. I didnt shoot to kill him. I didnt shoot to wound him. I shot to stop his actions.

A video-analysis expert hired by prosecutors said his frame-by-frame review of the former officers body camera video showed Tensing was not being dragged by the car.

In her closing argument Monday, prosecutor Stacey DeGraffenreid said Tensing repeatedly used stop the threat and feared for my life in his testimony as buzzwords he learned in training to justify the shooting.

Donyetta Bailey, president of the Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati, said she understands how jurors could have difficulty convicting in some cases. But in others, she added, juries seem to disregard the facts, such as in the shooting of Walter Scott in South Carolina as he was running away from officers, and in the Castile slaying.

The police officer in the South Carolina case, Michael Slager, was tried on murder charges, but the jury deadlocked. He later pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating Scotts civil rights and is awaiting sentencing.

We dont view police officers the same in our community, Bailey said Wednesday. I think (white jurors) view them as not being capable of any wrong even when the facts  show the other side.

Some activists and criminal justice reform advocates say there are legal and systemic factors that can predetermine the outcome.

Law enforcement is one of the most protected groups in our country, said Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors. We dont have a judicial system that is set up to hold them accountable.

(Sewell reported from Cincinnati.)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The workers comp industry is in for big changes as older workers continue to stay on the job longer and more Latinos are employed in the workplace. These changes to the U.S. workforce present employers with challenges to safety and retention, according to Rich Ives, Travelers vice president of workers compensation claims.

According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017 career outlook report, older employees (ages 65 and up) are staying on the job longer and, as a labor group, are expected to grow the fastest of any other age group through 2024. Employees between the ages of 25-54 are expected to grow at a much slower rate during that time. Ives said the slow growth is likely due to a slowdown in birth rate, as well as people opting or needing to work longer.

Older workers are staying in the workforce longer because they either cant afford to retire or people are living longer, so they are choosing to work longer, Ives said. Today, when you think about it, roughly one out of every four people in the workforce is retirement eligible.

Besides workers staying on the job longer, Hispanics will account for a significant portion of the workforce, according to statistics provided by the BLS. As of 2011, there were nearly 23 million people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity representing 15 percent of the U.S. labor force. By 2020, Hispanic and Latinos are expected to comprise 19 percent of the U.S. labor force, according to the BLS.

Risks of an Evolving Workforce

These changes will be especially challenging for millennials, as well as for Hispanic employees, who will be expected to replace retiring baby boomers, the largest demographic group in todays workforce.

Experienced workers being replaced by less skilled workers pose a challenge for employers that are already investing less time training new employees. One expectation is that there will be an increase in serious first year accidents.

I think people think, generally, that the workforce is going to start to get a little younger with 10,000 people becoming retirement eligible everyday over the next 17 years, Ives said. We believe the workforce is going to continue to age.

With an older workforce, the risk of injury is greater. The frequency of workplace injury increases with an older worker, said Ives.

In addition, the average American worker is not as healthy as they once were, Ives said.

We find roughly 50 percent of every workplace claim today comes with an instance where the injured worker had a chronic condition prior to that injury, which certainly adds to the rising cost of medical, said Ives.

As a result, its no longer a matter of getting older workers back to work, he said. A chronic condition changes everything.

That all goes out the window depending ontheir state of physical condition before the injury. When an injured worker has at least one chronic condition, things like obesity, smoking, diabetes, cancer, those types of things, chronic pain will be another one, said Ives. When an injured worker has at least one chronic condition, the workers compensation claim cost doubles. If they have two or more, the cost of the work comp claim goes up fivefold.

When a catastrophic injury happens to a younger worker, Ives said the payout will be for a much longer period of time.

Therefore, the frequency of the injuries for the younger demographic is actually less, but the severity is a lot higher, he said.

Stakeholder Considerations

Ives said there are things stakeholders, government agencies, employers and insurers can do to address these changes.

For example, having employees who are fluent in Spanish and other languages offers insurers and others the ability to engage with foreign business owners and workers. Ives said it will be increasingly important for employers to culturally connect and communicate with employees.

We find that aligning our Hispanic accounts and those Hispanic injured workers with claim professional and nurses whose natural language is Spanishis very significant, Ives said.

Thats why, he said, many insurers have language lines.

If theres a language barrier, theyll dial the language line. Then, through that translation service, theyre able to communicate, Ives said. Weve seen out of that program, an eight percent reduction in overall claim cost. Eighty four percent of those injured workers return to work in the first 30 days, which compares to 66 percent of all the rest of our claims in the first 30 days.

He said Travelers has 670 claims professionals fluent in other languages.

For insurers, having both pre- and post-injury tools to identify problematic claims early and to maintain engagement with the injured worker after an injury can be valuable tools, he said. Workforce engagement is important, he added, especially in a labor market shortage.

Ives said current buying behavior needs to be examined since some larger businesses are shifting toward a focus on fixed expense cost.

Its a lot easier to make that fixedannual period of time cost decision. We think thats very dangerous, Ives said. Especially in workers compensation, those decisions will play out over a longer period of time and the fixed expense is much less of a ratio to the total cost of risk.

Regional safety conferences offer an opportunity for businesses to acquire additional safety education.

Insurance company risk control engineers can work directly with customers, fine tuning their needs and training specifically to their businesses, Ives said.

As you can imagine, not all industry types are going to have the same types of injuries or the same types of risks, said Ives.

In addition, he said determining the right corridor of care is important. Its a term for a Travelers program that identifies the medical provider and type of specialty for the injury sustained in the customers local area.

Then theres the opioid issue. Ives reiterated the need for specific guidelines that need to be in place for the treatment of chronic pain. During a conversation with Claims Journal last month on Travelers Early Severity Predictive Model, he said guidelines need to address the initial prescription, active administration and ween-off period.

To be more effective, we believe further guidelines are needed to address the continual prescribing of opioids and also to provide direction for the eventual weaning from opioids, said Ives. There also needs to be some way to enforce those guidelines.
An Oregon, man who purchased a dashboard camera found himself in demand after a June 3 road rage incident that ended with a car suspended on the cable stay of a power pole.

The surprise incident became a viral sensation online, and revealed a strange market for such footage.

Mike Mathews, a former video producer who works as an events coordinator at Oregon State University, was waiting to merge into traffic when a late model Chevrolet Malibu blasted out of nowhere, traveling at what Mathews estimates was about 60 mph. It was Mathews turn to pull into traffic, which put him behind the driver.

For a couple of blocks the Malibu driver sped up, switched lanes, pumped his brakes, and generally acted aggressively toward Mathews as he followed. Stopped at a light, Mathews said he was prepared for a confrontation when the driver sped off again, this time swerving onto the sidewalk and straight up a power pole cable, trapping the car in a nearly vertical position. (The driver of the car is facing charges of reckless driving, DUII and failure to perform the duties of a driver.)

When Mathews got home and had a look at the video, he said he was literally dying with laughter, and so he posted it on his Facebook page and left for a fishing trip.

When he got back on Facebook following the fishing trip, friends asked him to make the footage public. Thinking nothing of it, he changed the setting to let more than just his Facebook friends see it.

I had no idea about viral videos, he said.

But he was about to learn.

When I got to work on Monday, my office phone was full of messages, he said. The messages were from TV news stations, websites and other media entities from across the world, all asking to purchase his video. Apparently the public footage had gained 5 million views in a 48-hour period.

It was incredible because they all somehow tracked me down to my work phone number, he said.

So now Mathews had a bunch of offers for his video, and he decided hed better educate himself on how such transactions work. Through that process, he found a 3-year-old company out of Bozeman, Montana, called Viral Hog. By Tuesday, hed signed a contract with them to license the footage for sale on a profit-sharing basis.

It seemed more advantageous to license it, rather than just selling it to somebody, he said.

Viral Hog has 12 office employees, and about 20 researchers across the globe, said licensing and contract manager Wendy Sly in a phone interview. The company employs a legal team to verify that the footage in fact belongs to the seller before licensing, and then it sells the rights to the licensed footage for anywhere from $50 to $700, depending on the user and the intended use.

Mathews, like others who contract with Viral Hog, gets 60 percent of each sale. To put that in perspective, the views for his video peaked at about 9 million worldwide. Of course, views are different from licensed content, but Mathews said he is surprised about the windfall.

I knew it was going to be something, he said of having captured the crazy incident on camera. But I had no idea how big it was going to be.

He also was surprised by the variety of comments, some of them negative, that were posted with the video.

There are so many opinions, he said. From He caused this because he was driving as crazy as the other guy was, to Hes just making money off somebodys misfortune.

Mathews said he warned his family against arguing with people who are posted comments. One friend, he said, warned him that the internet is a pit of vipers.

Now I understand the viral part in viral video, he said.

But he also understands the pure luck element that comes with having captured such footage and then finding it in such demand. But in terms of quality, as a video producer, he is amazed.

Ive spent hundreds of hours shooting video, and hundreds behind an editor, he said, but this ridiculous video clip has far exceeded anything else Ive ever done.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
CMU Delegation at World Economic Forum in China

June 26, 2017

By Heidi Opdyke



Robotics Professor Illah Nourbakhsh leads a discussion on Asias Industrialization using visualizations created by his CREATE Lab from Landsat imagery in 2015 at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions.

Carnegie Mellon University researchers and scientists will play an important role in global discussions at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions, June 27-29, in Dalian, China.

Often called "Summer Davos," to differentiate it from the forum's annual winter meeting in Switzerland, the meeting brings together world leaders in business science, technology, innovation and politics. This year's theme is "Achieving Inclusive Growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

CMU experts have since 2011 led conversations at the World Economic Forum in fields ranging from robotics to artificial intelligence. CMU scientists often lead discussions, give talks, demonstrate technology and provide their distinctive expertise.

This year's CMU delegation includes:

Erica Fuchs, professor of engineering and public policy;

Madeline Gannon, a research fellow with the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry;

James McCann, assistant professor in the Robotics Institute;

Tom Mitchell, the E. Fredkin University Professor in the Machine Learning Department;

Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics; and

Gabriel O'Donnell, principal research programmer and analyst in the Robotics Institute.

CMU will host a panel discussion called "The Future of Production with Carnegie Mellon University," in which Fuchs, Gannon and McCann will discuss rethinking behavior and purpose of industrial robots beyond factory floors, reimagining how large companies can integrate disruption themselves, and reconfiguring how automation collides with human skills.

Nourbakhsh and O'Donnell will make multiple presentations at the Global Situation Space exhibition. The presentations combine NASA time-lapse satellite imagery and geospatial and econometric data with predictive modelling to explore issues such as emerging megacities, man-made changes to the oceans and trade with China.

Nourbakhsh's CREATE Lab and its spinoff BirdBrain Technologies will be part of a workshop on building interactive sculptural robots. He will contribute to sessions on the fourth industrial revolution, the digital economy, the creative economy and platforms for artificial intelligence.

Mitchell will participate in a panel discussion about how the social safety net can respond to the fourth industrial revolution. He recently co-chaired a study of the future work for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. He will present a session on how big data can affect policymaking.



Madelyn Gannon works with industrial robots and is working to invent better ways to communicate with machines.

Gannon was one of 20 researchers selected to the World Economic Forum's Cultural Leaders advisory community. As part of the programming, she will be participating in sessions that discuss the impact of human-centered robotics on the future of work.

Three Named Young Scientists

CMU faculty members Laura Dabbish, an associate professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute with a joint appointment in the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy; Louis-Philippe Morency, an assistant professor in the Language Technology Institute; and Tim Verstynen, an assistant professor of psychology, have been named 2017 Young Scientists by the World Economic Forum.

Fifty-two scientists under the age of 40 are recognized this year for exhibiting exceptional creativity, thought leadership and high growth potential, and will be at the Dalian conference.

CMU is one of only 27 universities in the world, 12 in the U.S., that make up the Global University Leaders Forum (GULF), which provides a unique platform for the world's top universities to discuss higher education and research while helping to shape the World Economic Forum agenda. GULF fosters discussion on global policy issues between member universities, the business community and a broad range of stakeholders.
1. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies

If you've been following the news, you know the price of the cryptocurrency bitcoin has soared recently. But if you've really been following the news, you know that bitcoin is just the tip of the iceberg for a technology with much more potential: the blockchain. The blockchain is the distributed digital ledger that records all transactions in the cryptocurrency universe, making payments faster and more secure. It's now being adopted by major banks like JPMorgan that are looking to modernize their banking systems. (Still not sure what it is? This video explains it really well.) Coursera has partnered with Princeton to offer a free 11-week bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies class that will teach you everything from how bitcoin mining works to the hottest up-and-coming alternative cryptocurrencies  known as altcoins. Stanford and Berkeley both offer similar courses for enrolled students, and MIT is planning one as well. "The number of blockchain ads on LinkedIn is growing at more than 40 per cent a quarter," the Financial Times noted. "Almost 10,000 people on the site list blockchain as a skill, half of them in the technology industry and a quarter in the financial services sector." This is one class that can definitely pay off. Average salary: $122,000

Christian Science Monitor | Getty Images

2. Machine learning

Machine learning involves teaching computers how to think. What that really means is programming them to analyze large data sets  for example, how to interpret a large set of images to find faces, analyzing reviews of goods and services and processing health data. Coursera's 11-week, Stanford-designed class in machine learning (which costs $79) is one of its most popular: It's rated 4.9 out of 5 from 37,579 ratings. Through a series of video lectures, you'll learn the linear algebra you need to get started, how to optimize algorithms and implement neural networks  all with the goal of designing a program that can identify and recognize objects, words and digits in an image. If you want to go really deep, you can take a free class in deep learning on the online site Udacity. Deep learning involves programming computers to come up with even more sophisticated analyses of data sets. Designed by Google, Udacity's deep-learning course has some prerequisites. So make sure to take those before diving in. Average salary: $160,000

3. Virtual reality video production

More of a creative type than a math-head? Inc recently proclaimed 2017 "the year of online video," citing the advent of "miniature HD video cameras embedded in handheld, mobile smartphones," not to mention cloud-based storage and ultra-fast Internet. One 2014 forecast they cite predicts 74 percent "of all Internet traffic in 2017 will be video." One need only look around the media landscape to see this playing out. After online media site Vocativ laid off all its editorial staff, it issued a statement saying it would exclusively focus on video content. "The tremendous success we've experienced since our launch in both long- and short-form video has positioned us well for this evolution," they said. There are loads of courses (though not all of them are free) offered online and in-person teaching video editing and production. Lynda, LinkedIn's tutorial platform, offers a 35-hour course as part of its subscription plan. Want to really get ahead of the curve? If you hope to specialize in virtual reality, Udemy has a free course that will help you select the right 360 camera rig, and learn scripting, shooting and distribution of content over 10 lectures with a VR industry pro. Average salary: $78,850

Breakdancer Kazuki 'Kazuki Rock' Kuwabara

4. Fitness instruction  for the future

For those hoping to spend less time in front of screens, and more time doing physical activity, the future is full of possibilities  fueled by new workout trends popping up all the time. And you can get ahead of the pack (and earn more money) by training to be an instructor in fresher, less saturated skills. Pound, which was just voted the hottest new fitness course by Shape, turns drumming into exercise, using Ripstix, which are lightly weighted drumsticks engineered specifically for exercising. "Instead of listening to music, you become the music in this exhilarating full-body workout that combines cardio, conditioning, and strength training with yoga and Pilates-inspired movements," the Pound website says. Learn how to become an instructor here. Besides Pound, there are other new fitness movements on the horizon: "Animal Flow" incorporates gymnastics, acrobatics, Parkour, capoeira and breakdancing, "all while staying low to the ground and engaging many muscles at once (think of the way a lion stealthily stalks his prey)," Shape says. Finally, "Groove" is for dance lovers who just want to get funky and do cardio. Learn how to take classes here and here. Average salary: $40,000+

5. Cannabis growing or "budtending"
It makes sense that the man who found big success in a small sponge got his start washing cars in college.

Scrub Daddy founder Aaron Krause credits the eventual founding of his business to time spent as an undergraduate at Syracuse University, a school he nearly stumbled into.

"My father came into my room in 11th grade with a protractor and a map, and he put it on Philadelphia, drew a circle and ... said, 'Anywhere in here, I pay for, and anywhere outside, you pay for'"  and Syracuse was on the very edge of that limit," Krause said.

More from College Game Plan:

WNBA's president: 'I got called racial slurs every day'

Paper baron's advice to college-bound freshmen

Girl Scouts CEO urges girls to try STEM careers

"It turned out to be really good," he added. "Instead of laying out on the beach in Miami, I bundled up and went to class every day." But, Krause also made better use of his time outside of class.

This future inventor by trade spent his free periods washing cars with friends to make extra money and soon began tinkering with better foam buffing pads, which he would later market to the auto industry.

Although Krause went to the private college with the intention of studying business and is now a successful entrepreneur, he recalls having loaded up on so many psychology classes that at one point he realized he would not be able to graduate in just four years with a business degree, as originally planned.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway says people on Medicaid who will lose coverage under the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare could find jobs that provide health insurance.

When the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid coverage, that "opened it up" to healthy people who could theoretically work, Conway told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.

"Obamacare took Medicaid, which was designed to help the poor, the needy, the sick, disabled, also children and pregnant women, it took it and went way above the poverty line to many able-bodied Americans," she said. They "should probably find other  at least see if there are other options for them."

Conway went on: "If they are able-bodied and they want to work, then they'll have employer-sponsored benefits like you and I do."

TWEET

As Jonathan Cohn points out in the Huffington Post, however, Conway's reasoning is faulty: "The majority of able-bodied adults on Medicaid already have jobs. The problem is that they work as parking lot attendants and child care workers, manicurists and dishwashers  in other words, low-paying jobs that typically don't offer insurance. Take away their Medicaid and they won't be covered."

Research from the Kaiser Family Foundation bears that out: "Among Medicaid adults (including parents and childless adults  the group targeted by the Medicaid expansion) nearly 8 in 10 live in working families, and a majority are working themselves." Fifty-nine percent of them work either part or full time. Their jobs, however, do not offer health insurance.

Under former President Barack Obama's ACA, companies with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance to employees working at least 30 hours a week or pay a penalty. That leaves a loophole large enough to drive a truck through.
In their first face-to-face meeting, President Donald Trump and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attempt to build trust and a rapport in what some are calling a "bromance in the making."

If they don't, billions of dollars could be a stake.

When Modi meets Trump on Monday at the White House for the first time, a big elephant will be in the room: immigration and the hotly contested H-1B program.

India continues to be a big beneficiary of this popular visa program, a key way Indian IT talent makes its way to the U.S. to work for Silicon Valley's biggest companies, such as Apple , Google and Accenture , among others.

But over the past three months, Trump unveiled the "hire American buy American" initiative, which has put the current H-1B program under review. Any dramatic changes could hurt India's IT outsourcing industry, which plays a significant role in driving India's economic growth.

A senior Indian government official said Modi is prepared to dive into this complicated discussion by highlighting the value Indian-Americans have contributed to the U.S. economy, including an estimated 64,000 jobs.

Modi may also use Indian IT firm Infosys as a poster child for investment from the outsourcing industry. Infosys recently announced it's planning to hire 10,000 Americans over the next two years to demonstrate a willingness to invest in U.S. jobs.
The fate of the Republican Obamacare replacement effort is now in the hands on the five GOP senators who say they cannot vote for the bill as it stands. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is starting to make some real noise about Democrats joining the negotiating process.

Is he dreaming?

It's possible that he and the rest of the Democrats aren't completely in fantasy land, especially with the Trump White House goading them to get involved in the process. The question is: Are there any areas where Democrats and Republicans could actually work together?

The answer is yes, but doing so would require both sides casting off something that's usually even harder for them to shed than political partisanship. That would be political patronage.

To explain that contention, let's look at the three main areas where both sides in Congress could and should cooperate:

1) Allow for insurance sales across state lines

Republicans have wanted for years to allow health insurance companies to sell their plans across state lines. But given a chance to write that measure into the House and Senate Obamacare replacement bills, that notion was conspicuously absent. This omission sure seems like a sign of crony capitalist protections for the biggest insurers who don't want competition from smaller firms that would benefit from the provision.

Of course, the Democrats' Obamacare law was also set up to help entrenched insurers with everything from the coverage mandate to generous subsidies to prop up premium costs.

These protections from both parties aren't about partisanship, but lobbying and cronyism. And while it would be naive to expect either party to cast off this relationship entirely, some kind of paring of the cozy arrangement between insurers and legislators should be possible in the face of an angry electorate.

That's where a relatively modest, but likely effective change like allowing insurance sales over state lines comes in. The Democrats can even shame the Republicans into finally putting their money where their mouths have been in this issue by proposing it on their own.

2) Reduce the hospital pricing premium

In a blatant anti-competitive advantage, hospitals have long been legally allowed to charge insurance companies and Medicare and Medicaid more money for the same services provided to patients at private practice facilities. The reasoning behind this is that hospitals give patients access to a wider array of services and deserve some kind of added compensation for being forced to treat anyone who shows up an emergency room in need of urgent care.

Okay, some of that logic is solid. But hospitals have exploited this advantage most egregiously by buying up private practices and then charging more for the exact same service provided in the exact same building by the exact same doctors.

Another major result of this skewed pricing schedule is that hospital consolidation has exploded in recent decades, sending the cost of health care soaring, insurance or no insurance.

Again, none of this is because of partisanship. It's all about the power of the hospital industry in Washington and in state capitals across the country to sway both Democrats and Republicans. But if both parties buck that industry's pull with just a minor reduction of its pricing advantage, that move could go a long way towards lowering overall costs.

3) Rethink the Medicaid reduction

This issue may not seem like it's about cronyism. But when you consider that hospitals lobbied harder and got most of the benefits from the Medicaid expansion, it covers much of the same territory mentioned above.

Instead of demanding that the Republican bill keep the entire Obamacare Medicaid expansion in place, both sides should come to a new agreement on how each state can deal with this entitlement. This is another case where a lot of Republicans have balked when it comes to walking the walk to go along with their anti-government spending talk.

For one thing, several Republican governors accepted the Obamacare Medicaid expansions in their states, and there are a good number of GOP senators and representatives who are downright terrified of what will happen in their states and districts if millions of people suddenly don't qualify for the plan. So while the Medicaid expansion is supposedly a partisan issue, in reality not as many Republicans and Democrats are divided over it. Money talks.

With that in mind, the Medicaid roll reductions in the current Senate bill could be scaled back or phased in over a much longer period of time. This will give the Democrats a victory of sorts while a lot of Republicans would be quietly happy about it too.

So what about those true conservatives in Congress who are dead set on getting this Medicaid reduction? The good news for them is the fact that individual states actually administer Medicaid anyway. Conservative governors, like Rick Scott of Florida, rejected the Medicaid expansion of Obamacare and he and his peers could simply continue to do.

Meanwhile, if the rest of the GOP Obamacare replacement bill helps to lower overall health costs, especially the hospital pricing advantage mentioned above, then the cost of an expanded Medicaid will be greatly reduced anyway. This reasoning should allow a critical number of Medicaid opponents to vote for a scaled back Medicaid reduction or phase out process.

Both sides need to give a little something here. The Democrats should accept some of the Medicaid roll reductions, and the Republicans should give up their dreams of rolling back the Obamacare Medicaid expansion entirely.

But whether they do it or not, each of these three areas are where members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have acted less like partisans and more like crony capitalists and borderline corrupt politicians.

Most politicians won't throw off those crony connections for nothing. But with this health bill carrying the fate of so many incumbents in both parties come next year's elections, there's definitely a powerful force pushing for some compromise here. And if there's one thing congressional incumbents care about more than partisanship and cronyism, it's self-preservation.

Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Numerous leaders across industries agree: Robots are coming for our jobs. SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk says technology will replace so many human jobs, people will eventually have to rely on a universal basic income. Jack Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, says automation will make the next few decades "painful" for many people. Research supports their concerns. But there is a silver lining. These same futurists say professionals, especially young ones who will be more affected by these changes, can stay on top of workforce changes and earn good money by learning certain skills. To get a high-paying job in the future, business leaders suggest focusing your students in these four areas:



1. Data analytics

Jack Ma, Chairman of Alibaba Group at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. David A. Grogan | CNBC

Ma says that in the next 30 years, artificial intelligence will outpace human knowledge. "The new wave is coming. Jobs will be taken away," Ma says. "Some people, who catch up [with] the wave, will be rich, will be more successful." To keep up, Ma suggests professionals learn as much about data as they can. According to his projections for the future job market, skills associated with data and its analysis will become extremely valuable. "The world is going to be data," Ma says. "I think this is just the beginning of the data period." Top Google executives agree. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google's parent company Alphabet and Jonathan Rosenberg, adviser to CEO Larry Page, say that data analytics will become increasingly important in workplaces.

Eric Schmidt, chairman of Alphabet Inc. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

"I think a basic understanding of data analytics is incredibly important for this next generation of young people," Schmidt tells CNBC in a March interview. "That's the world you're going into." "By data analytics," the executive chairman says, "I mean a basic knowledge of how statistics works, a basic knowledge of how people make conclusions over big data."

2. Science, engineering and economics

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and self-described futurist, says that people with backgrounds in three things will be the most in-demand going forward: science, engineering and economics. Workers proficient in those subjects will be "the agents of change for all institutions," Gates tells LinkedIn Executive Editor Daniel Roth. "I do think of basic knowledge of the sciences, math skills, economics  a lot of careers in the future will be very demanding on those things," Gates says.

Bill Gates Adam Berry | Getty Images

"[It's] not necessarily that you'll be writing code," he notes, "but you need to understand what can engineers do and what can they not do."

3. Coding

General Motors CEO Mary Barra say coding is a "core skill" that will only become more important in the future. According to Barra, who's revamped a company that employs more than 200,000 people and has spent a lot of time focusing on job creation, that's not likely to change. Coding will remain "necessary in every industry," she says in an interview with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Today, skills like mobile app development, software engineering and Java development are among the 10 most in-demand skills, according to a 2017 LinkedIn survey that monitored recruiting activity on the platform.

4. Liberal arts

While many business leaders encourage professionals to look to degrees related to technology, serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban believes the opposite. The investor on ABC's "Shark Tank" who's made his billions in technology, says that if he was starting college right now, he would choose philosophy as his major over accounting.

Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Dallas Mavericks basketball team, speaks at the 2017 South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, U.S., on Sunday, March 12, 2017. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

That's because he believes artificial intelligence will automate many jobs involving technical tasks, such as an accountant's. Jobs that rely more on personal judgement, critical thinking and creativity  skills more often associated with a liberal arts degree  are less at risk, he says. "Knowing how to critically think and assess [situations] from a global perspective I think is going to be more valuable," Cuban said, speaking at SXSW in March, "than what we see as exciting careers today which might be programming or CPA or those types of things." While liberal arts majors such as philosophy, sociology or English have been deemed some of the worst in terms of job prospects, Cuban says that they will be more valuable in the future, and Google's Rosenberg agrees.

Mahmut Atanur | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Former chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke said Monday that economists have a "responsibility" to help address populist frustrations.

"The credibility of economists has been damaged by our insufficient attention, over the years, to the problems of economic adjustment and by our proclivity toward top-down, rather than bottom-up, policies," Bernanke, now distinguished fellow in residence, Brookings Institution, said in prepared remarks for a dinner speech called "When growth is not enough."

"Nevertheless, as a profession we have expertise that can help make the policy response more effective, and I think we have a responsibility to contribute wherever we can," the former Fed chair said.

In the last 18 months, growing populist sentiment contributed to the UK's surprise vote to leave the European Union last June, and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump last November. Trump promised to bring jobs back from China and Mexico to the U.S., winning him support.

The U.S. Census Bureau's latest report on household income showed the Gini index of income inequality for the U.S. in 2015 of 0.482 was significantly higher than the prior year's 0.480. "This increase suggests that income inequality increased across the country," the report said.

"Policymakers in recent decades have been slow to address or even to recognize those trends, an error of omission that has helped fuel the voters' backlash," Bernanke said. He was speaking at the European Central Bank's Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal.

On the U.S. economy overall, the former central bank chair said, "The nation's cyclical recovery is entering its ninth year this month and appears to have room to run."
Black Medicare patients are being readmitted to hospitals at a much higher rate than are white patients, according to a recent study.

The study, which surveyed New York state residents age 65 and older, is the latest in a series of reports that suggest minorities are getting shortchanged on quality care.

The study in the June issue of Health Affairs compared racial disparities in 30-day readmissions between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who underwent one of six major surgeries in the state in 2013.

Black patients in traditional Medicare were 33 percent more likely than white patients to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days, according to the study. For Medicare Advantage patients, the likelihood nearly doubled, to 64 percent.

Medicare Advantage is controlled by private insurers rather than the government. The companies take what the government would normally pay for health care and bet that they can treat patients at a lower cost.

The study cited multiple possible factors that could be causing this racial disparity.

One is that black patients are not receiving adequate initial treatment compared with white patients. A different Health Affairs study found that blacks and Hispanics are more likely than whites to get low-value health care, getting both less effective treatment and being over treated with unnecessary, ineffective tests.

Another possibility is that more black patients are going to low-quality hospitals than are whites, the researchers said. Also, black patients could lack access to adequate transitional and ambulatory care after they are discharged, with less appropriate social and community support, and lower health literacy.

The New York study, however, did not shed light on why there is a disparity between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage patients. One possibility could be that the profit-incentive private insurers of Medicare Advantage are aggressively managing their patients, by encouraging faster, less adequate  yet cheaper  treatment from doctors, which would cause a higher chance of that patient having to be readmitted.

One of the report's authors  Yue Li, a professor of health policy at the University of Rochester Medical Center  said that although the study cannot confirm that theory, it could very well be a possibility.

"The short answer is it is possible, but it cannot be confirmed by this study," said Li. "The finding that the disparities are more evident among the [Medicaid Advantage] group may suggest that the private insurers may have stronger incentives to cut expensive and effective services, which may hurt vulnerable patients more."

"Our findings of persistent racial disparities in surgical readmissions despite the national trend are troubling, and they may suggest that recent readmission reduction efforts were broadly targeted," the researchers said.

The industry association America's Health Insurance Plans did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
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BMW's biggest plant in the world is about to get a little bigger. The German automaker said Monday it will add another 1,000 jobs and invest $600 million in the plant as part of a plan to boost annual production to as many 450,000 vehicles. "It's a great day for us here in Spartanburg and South Carolina and for the BMW group," said Harald Krueger, chairman of BMW. "The workforce will be well above 10,000 people, which is, in my view, clearly a symbol of success." BMW's facility in Spartanburg is already the company's largest final assembly plant in the world, employing more than 9,000 workers and building more than 411,000 SUVs and crossovers last year. Krueger marked the 25th anniversary of announcing plans to build the South Carolina plant by unveiling the newest version of the X3 crossover utility vehicle.

BMW X3 unveiled in South Carolina. Phil Lebeau | CNBC

While BMW's investment and plan to hire more workers in South Carolina will be welcomed by President Donald Trump, the move comes just months after the president blasted German automakers as part of a broader complaint about Germany's trade surplus with the U.S. "You can build cars in the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay a 35 percent tax," Trump told the German newspaper Bild earlier this year. Krueger denies BMW is spending and hiring in South Carolina as a way to placate the president. "There was already planning before [Trump's election], because we have long-term strategic planning, but also the success of the U.S. market is something that was, for us, important," he said. Krueger, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, met with Trump in March and he is well aware these are delicate times for automakers in the U.S. The president is moving to renegotiate NAFTA and many are wondering what type of tariff, if any, could be slapped on autos imported from Mexico and Canada. Last year, those two countries supplied about 20 percent of the 17.5 million vehicles sold in the U.S.

BMW X2 unveiled in South Carolina. Phil Lebeau | CNBC

Under pressure from the White House, Ford has scrapped plans to build a new small car assembly plant in Mexico, but BMW is not changing its expansion plans south of the border.

The company is building a final assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, scheduled to open in 2019 that will manufacture the company's most popular vehicle, the 3 Series. As for a possible tariff on imported vehicles, Krueger is not worried after his conversations with the president. "We explained, when I was in Washington with the German chancellor and had the opportunity to talk about our business here in Spartanburg, and the president acknowledged how successful our operation is here in South Carolina," said Krueger. "I could argue and explain that one to the president that our success is based on free trade because we are the biggest net exporter for the United States."

Ford Motor plans to start importing the Ford Focus in 2019
The Senate's Obamacare replacement bill would lead to 22 million more Americans uninsured in 2026, while average premiums are expected to fall after climbing at first, according to a Monday report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO's estimate of the plan's effect on the number of uninsured Americans could influence whether Republican senators support it, as GOP leaders walk a thin line in trying to win the votes needed to pass their plan. The estimated growth in the number of uninsured Americans is slightly lower under the Senate plan than the bill that passed the House last month, which the CBO said would lead to 23 million fewer covered in 2026.

Average premiums for single individuals would rise by 20 percent and 10 percent in 2018 and 2019, respectively, relative to current law, according to the CBO. By 2026, average premiums in most of the country are expected to be about 20 percent lower under the plan than they would be under current law.

Senate Republicans last week released a draft of their secretive Obamacare replacement bill, called the "Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017." The plan would repeal Obamacare taxes, restructure subsidies to insurance customers that are based on their incomes and phase out Medicaid's expansion program. It contains some key differences from the version the House passed last month.

Shortly before the CBO released the score, Senate Republicans unveiled a revised version that appears aimed to deter younger, healthier people from dropping insurance. The updated bill would impose a six-month waiting period on individuals who buy insurance but let their coverage lapse for more than 63 days in the prior year.

That provision, an apparent response to Obamacare's individual mandate, would start in 2019. It would "slightly increase" the number of people with insurance in the 2018 to 2026 period, the CBO said.

Before the CBO released the score for the Senate plan, five GOP senators said they will not back it in its current form. Republicans, who control 52 seats in the Senate, can only lose two votes to pass the plan. They face difficulties in winning over skeptical senators, as tweaks to appease conservatives could alienate moderates, or vice versa.

Here are some of the key conclusions from the CBO report:
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It's now 2017  you work in coffee shops, your smartphone controls your home and car, and your business trips are short, two-day jaunts with a bit of leisure thrown in.



Why can't your hotel be the same way?



New hotels seek to capitalize on that question. Out are the large but dark rooms, the voluminous dressers and utilitarian corner gyms, replaced by cozier rooms, bright common spaces, natural lighting and centerpiece gyms. New designs emphasize common areas both intimate and public at once, evocative of a restaurant dinner or coffee shop meeting. Rooms are shrinking, but lobbies are growing, providing ample seating and tables  and even cabanas, for those who want more privacy.

At Tru properties, Hilton has stripped away closets and dressers in favor of wall hooks and open pipe shelving. Hilton

Modern hotels are "creating home away from home for road warriors," said Guy Langford, U.S. leader of the travel, hospitality and leisure practice at consulting firm Deloitte. "Some of the boutique brands, in some of the hotel lobby and common areas, they feel like they're in someone's living room."



It's "the concept of having an experience," Langford said.



Yotel, a British chain that began with compact, 75-square-foot "cabins" attached to London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports in 2007, was an early entrant into the space. The properties' compact designs were inspired by a trip to Japan by Yotel CEO Simon Woodroffe.



"In Asia, what they're really good at is mixing contemporary and tradition," says Jo Berrington, vice president of brands at Yotel. "They have a lot of challenges with space in a small area. "There's no reason why that can't be adapted to the Western market," she added.



Japan may have inspired Woodroffe, but the actual catalyst was, in fact, an upgrade on a British Airways flight that left him "amazed at how luxurious design could be in a compact space," said Berrington. "Instead of paying for hotel space you didn't utilize, make a smaller space, making sure owners and developers were getting better value for money."

Some of the boutique brands, in some of the hotel lobby and common areas, they feel like they're in someone's living room. Guy Langford U.S. leader, Deloitte's travel, hospitality & leisure practice

Industry incumbents are starting to pick up on the trend. In May, Hilton introduced its Tru brand with the opening of its first location at Oklahoma City Airport. For its part, Best Western is planning a one-two punch, rolling out both the upper-scale Vib and budget-friendly Glo brands.



Technology at this new breed of hotel is both pervasive and personal, with an emphasis on using your own devices rather than a provided (and oftentimes outdated and clunky) in-house device. Both Tru and Vib will offer "digital keys," allowing guests to unlock doors directly from their smartphones. Yotel includes LED mood lighting, while Vib lets guests stream music and movies to the room's smart TVs and sound system.



Rooms are smaller but cozier. Tru has stripped away its closets and dressers in favor of wall hooks and open pipe shelving. Yotel integrates a small desk directly into the headboard of the bed and offers a "smart bed" that converts into a couch at the touch of a button. "We want to be very strategic on where we make compromises or sacrifices at the price point," said Alexandra Jaritz, global head of Tru by Hilton. "How do we make it aesthetically pleasing and functionally efficient?"



This revolution in guest-room design is not due to costs but competition: According to industry statistics, the hotel industry has been experiencing steady growth for 84 months as new entrants in this sector are introducing innovative brands and designs that are the combined result of changing consumer trends, hospitality research and the "Airbnb effect," Deloitte's Langford said.

Lobbies at Best Western Glo properties, pictured in this rendering, will feature stylish design and focus on convenience and technology integration. Best Western
Costco shares have tumbled over worries the Amazon and Whole Foods Market merger will hurt the retailer's business. However, one Wall Street firm says it is time to buy the dip.

Raymond James raised its rating for Costco shares to outperform from market perform, predicting the retailer's business will not be "materially impacted" and its sales growth will remain solid.



Costco shares fell 13 percent through Friday after Amazon announced its $13.7 billion deal to buy Whole Foods Market on June 16. Multiple Wall Street firms downgraded the retailer following the news.



"Admittedly, even with the recent pullback, Costco still trades at a premium valuation to the overall market and its large retail peers. Nonetheless, its business model remains intact with healthy membership growth and strong renewal rates," analyst Budd Bugatch wrote in a note to clients Monday. "While Amazon's agreement to buy Whole Foods, when consummated, will add a new dimension to the grocery business, it does not materially impact Costco's unique business model, and we would be buyers on COST's recent weakness."



The analyst initiated his price target for the retailer at $173, representing a 10 percent upside from Friday's close.



Bugatch noted the potential positive catalyst of Costco's monthly June sales release on July 5th. In addition, he said the retailer's business is "vastly different" from Whole Foods as Costco's customers tend to buy in bulk.



"In addition, the 'treasure hunt' aspect of a Costco shopping trip is unique to its business model and creates a very loyal customer following," he wrote. "Furthermore, there remains a long runway for Costco to drive top-line growth and further market share through new club openings in the United States and internationally."

The analyst estimated Costco will increase its sales to $139 billion in 2018 from $129 billion this year.



Costco shares rose 2 percent in midafternoon trading Monday after the report.

 CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this story.
Dan Loeb's Third Point, which has more than doubled the S&P 500's return the last two decades, just made its largest investment ever with a multibillion-dollar bet on Swiss food giant Nestle .



Loeb's hedge fund firm owns around 40 million shares of Nestle, according to an investor letter published Sunday. The position totals over $3.5 billion and includes options. It is held in Third Point's hedge funds and a special purpose vehicle specifically raised for the investment, according to the manager.



A Third Point spokesperson said the SPV is "close to $1 billion."



"Third Point invested in Nestle because we recognized a familiar set of conditions that make it ripe for improvement and change: a conglomerate with unrealized potential for margin improvement and innovation in its core businesses, an unoptimized balance sheet, a number of non-core assets, and a recent history of meaningful under-performance versus peers," Loeb wrote in the note to clients. "It is rare to find a business of Nestle's quality with so many avenues for improvement."



Meetings between Nestle and Third Point have been going on for a while, according to CNBC's David Faber.

The hedge fund manager believes the stock has the most upside, versus downside, he's seen in almost anything, according to sources close to the fund who talked to CNBC's Scott Wapner.



Nestle is a Swiss packaged foods company and owns brands such as KitKat, Nespresso and Butterfinger. It is the largest food company in the world with a market value of more than $270 billion, according to FactSet.



The manager shared more details on his proposal for Nestle in the letter:

1. "Improving Productivity: We believe Nestle should adopt a formal margin target  Nestle's CY16 EBIT margin 15.3% (16% ex-items) is at the low end of its peers, nearly all of which are now targeting high-teens to low 20's margins. Our work suggests Nestle should be able to improve margins by as much as 400 basis points over the next several years."



2. "Capital Return: We believe capital return in conjunction with a formal leverage target makes sense as well  Share repurchase is a particularly attractive option at the moment since the company has the potential to grow earnings considerably over the next few years as sales growth reaccelerates and margins expand."



3. "Re-Shaping the Portfolio: It is past time for Nestle to undergo a comprehensive portfolio review. The company operates today with over 2,000 brands in Food & Beverage and Health Science. Management must determine which of these businesses are key pillars of growth for the future and then strategically reduce exposure to those that are not."



4. "Monetizing the L'Oreal Stake: It is also time for Nestle to sell its stake in L'Oreal  having L'Oreal in the portfolio is not strategic and shareholders should be free to choose whether they want to invest in Nestle or some combination of Nestle and L'Oreal."

During a meeting with CEO Mark Schneider a couple weeks ago in Switzerland, nothing led Loeb to believe the CEO is averse to doing many of the suggestions laid out by Third Point, according to sources who spoke to CNBC's Wapner.

Loeb estimates Nestle earnings-per-share will rise more than 50 percent by 2020 versus last year if his plans are implemented.



"We believe our recommendations to Nestle management, if taken together, would dramatically improve both the growth profile and earnings power of the company," he wrote. The shares then will "command a premium not just to the market but also to the broader staples group, generating attractive returns for shareholders."



To be sure, not everyone on Wall Street is optimistic on Loeb's proposals.



"We counsel caution from here, reflecting our view that Third Point's targets will be non-trivial to achieve  their influence is relatively dilute," Jefferies analyst Martin Deboo wrote in a note to clients Monday entitled "Counselling Caution on Third Point."



Deboo reiterated his hold rating on the shares and also noted Nestle's valuation is "already anticipating a healthy degree of change."



Loeb's hedge fund Third Point Offshore is up 9.9 percent through the end of May this year compared with the S&P 500's 8.7 percent return in the same time period, according to an investor report. From inception in June 1995 to May the fund generated annual returns of 15.9 percent versus the market's 7.8 percent.

In regard to Loeb's investment strategy, Third Point materials describe its philosophy as "event-driven, value-oriented," with an "emphasis on special situation equities." The firm "seeks to identify situations where we anticipate a catalyst will unlock value."

The firm currently has $18 billion of assets under management, according to a Third Point spokesperson.



L'Oreal did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Third Point declined to comment on the Nestle investment.



A Nestle spokesperson sent the following statement: "As always, we keep an open dialogue with all of our shareholders and we remain committed to executing our strategy and creating long-term shareholder value. Beyond that, we have no specific comment."



Nestle shares rose more than 4 percent in Europe after Dan Loeb's investment news was released. An ADR trades in the U.S. in the over-the-counter market under the ticker NSRGY.



 With reporting from CNBC's Leslie Picker, David Faber and Scott Wapner.

WATCH: How Warren Buffett makes long-term investments
Just two days after a successful launch and landing of a reused rocket, SpaceX pulled off another Falcon 9 landing Sunday afternoon.

The rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sunday afternoon, and its first stage made its way back to Earth, successfully landing on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean less than eight minutes later.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had warned ahead of the launch that the ship, named "Just Read the Instructions," had to be moved due to "extreme weather":

@elonmusk Launch at 1:25 delivering 10 satellites for Iridium. Droneship repositioned due to extreme weather. Will be tight. http://spacex.com/webcast

This mission, SpaceX's second in just 48 hours, delivered 10 new Iridium Communications satellites. On Friday, the company launched and landed a reused rocket for the second time to put a Bulgarian TV broadcast satellite into orbit; that mission, originating in Florida, had been delayed to give the team there time to replace a valve, setting up this weekend's "doubleheader."

On a company webcast, loud cheers could be heard when the first-stage rocket landed on the drone ship despite fears that low visibility would make the maneuver too difficult. On Twitter, Musk praised the Falcon 9's new, larger titanium fins that should be able to survive re-entry from space without needing to be repaired or replaced:

@elonmusk New titanium grid fins worked even better than expected. Should be capable of an indefinite number of flights with no service.

All 10 of the Iridium satellites were successfully deployed from the Falcon 9's second stage, SpaceX said on its webcast.

By Eric Johnson, Recode.net.

CNBC's parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Recode's parent Vox, and the companies have a content-sharing arrangement.
A man jogs past the skyline of lower Manhattan at sunrise in New York City.

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:

Whole Foods  Whole Foods continues to be a stock to watch, with speculation continuing about a possible competing bid to Amazon's $13.7 billion deal. Reuters reported late Friday that Wal-Mart is not actively considering a bid, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Facebook  Facebook is talking to Hollywood Studios about producing original TV-quality shows, according to The Wall Street Journal. The paper said Facebook has indicated a willingness to pay as much as $3 million per episode. Separately, food giant Unilever is reportedly threatening to pull ad spending from Google and Facebook. The Sunday Times reports Unilever is demanding better information on the performance of online ads.

Nestle  Dan Loeb's Third Point has taken a more than one percent stake in the Swiss packaged foods maker, and is urging it to buy back stock and sell non-core businesses.

Arconic  Arconic supplied flammable panels to a distributor for use in London's Grenfell Tower, according to a Reuters report. Emails sent by and to an Arconic sales manager question why the combustible panels were used even amid brochure warnings that such panels were a fire risk, Reuters reported. Seventy-nine people died in a fire at the tower earlier this month.

Canada Goose  The outerwear maker began a 12.5 million secondary offering for shareholders, including Bain Capital and some members of management. The company will not receive any proceeds from the sale.

Pandora  Founder and Chief Executive Officer Tim Westergren plans to step down, according to a Recode report. A new CEO hasn't yet been chosen, and Recode said Westergren would remain at the helm of the streaming music service until a replacement is found.

SeaWorld  SeaWorld said it has received subpoenas from the government involving trading in its stock, as well as statements made by executives about the impact of the "Blackfish" documentary. The theme park operator said it is cooperating with the inquiries from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.

STORE Capital  Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway took a 9.8 percent stake in the real estate investment trust, investing $377 million.

Red Hat  Red Hat got a positive mention in this weekend's edition of Barron's, which said the Linux software provider could grow double digits this year as order momentum remains hot.

Children's Place  Children's Place was upgraded to "outperform" from "market perform" at Telsey Advisory Group, which said the children's apparel retailer is undervalued.

21  Fox will get a preliminary decision from the U.K. government this week on its proposed deal to buy the 61 percent of broadcaster Sky that it doesn't already own, according to the Guardian newspaper.

Lowe's  The home improvement retailer completed its $512 million acquisition of Maintenance Supply Headquarters, a distributor of maintenance and repair products for the multi-family housing industry.

GrubHub  The food delivery service was downgraded to "equal-weight" from "overweight" at Morgan Stanley, which notes increasing online competition from Amazon and others.

Credit Suisse , Barclays , Deutsche Bank  European banking stocks are rallying today, after the Italian government said it was willing to spend up to 17 billion euro to shut down two regional banks. Italian banks have weighed on the entire European banking sector, because of concerns about profitability and liquidity.
The former chief executive officer of Barclays has warned that banks could be faced with their own "Kodak moment" by falling into irrelevance if they fail to keep up with the pace of rapidly developing fintech technologies. Antony Jenkins, who was the group CEO of Barclays from 2012 until he was sacked in 2015, said that the opportunities produced by digital ledger technologies such as blockchain could result in efficiency savings of between $80 billion-$110 billion. But he also warned that banks which failed to keep up with the pace of such technology could be faced with an existential crisis.

Antony Jenkins, former chief executive officer of Barclays Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

"We're really at the end of the beginning of what we see as a revolution driven by technology with financial services and fintech is really a too narrow categorization of what's going on here," Jenkins told CNBC at the Money 20/20 Europe fintech conference in Copenhagen on Monday. "As the technologies develop and season, they're going to create a totally different way of doing banking and financial services." In 2015, the former Barclays boss warned that banks were approaching an "Uber moment" because of new financial technologies. He predicted that the financial services would see a decline in staff and branches "by as much as 50 percent over the next 10 years". Today he warned of a similar threat. "Now we will see the possibility  not necessarily the probability  of what we call a 'Kodak moment', where increasingly banks become irrelevant to their customers," he said. "Banks can avoid that, but they have to act now, and what they really need to do is think about innovation, but also transformation, doing something radically different."

'A world where banks don't really exist anymore'

Jenkins added that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and even artificial intelligence, were only the beginning for the "transformation" in banking he envisages. "This is just in the footprints of what's going to happen here. As these technologies season and develop, we can imagine total transformation of the banking system, using blockchain for example, in a world where banks don't really exist anymore." He was joined by Oliver Bussmann, the former chief information officer of UBS. Bussmann echoed Jenkins's comments, adding that blockchain was transforming finance by removing the need for middle men. "It's a new business model emerging which is decentralized, where the middle man is disappearing and this has been now introduced as an equity, so a lot of startups are now using the cryptocurrency to get funding and using this as a currency to get paid and also provide services," Bussman said. "So there's a different incentive now being set up that didn't exist before, and this is the reason we are seeing a rapid increase of this kind of business right now." Among the recommendations Jenkins and Bussman have made for this banking 'transformation' are open banking platforms which allow third parties to manage their finances, blockchain technologies like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, and headhunting for experts in areas of AI, big data, distributed ledger technology, and cybersecurity.
"[T]he real problem with trying to tax our way out of the climate crisis is that taxes can be eliminated with the stroke of a pen."

But this proposal falls short, and is potentially dangerous fool's gold if adopted, in several critical ways. First, we have run out of time for experiments. In the mid-2000s, California and other states sued the Bush administration to prove that greenhouse gases were pollutants as defined by the federal Clean Air Act. We prevailed in a Supreme Court decision in 2007, but the Bush EPA stalled on its statutory duties and simply ran out the clock until President Obama took office in 2009 and acted on that landmark legal decision.

Back then, scientists said we had 20 to 30 years to peak global carbon emissions and begin to lower them, if we hoped to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Now, almost a decade later, the science suggests we have no more than 10 years to accomplish this monumental task. It's worth noting that the 2015 Paris climate agreement, if fully implemented, would only accomplish about half the task, so there is a lot of work to do in a very short time frame.

The CLC proposal offers no way to cap emissions or otherwise ensure the tax would reduce carbon pollution on a predictable timeline. By contrast, the vehicle tailpipe emissions limits, that California regulations require, provide certainty as cars get cleaner and more fuel-efficient, reducing asthma and other lung disease, while saving consumers money along the way, without a complicated adjustment of the tax code and rebate program to consumers (side note: conservatives always advocate for smaller government, so regulating cleaner, more efficient cars are a way to cut out the bureaucratic middle man that would be needed by the cap-dividend approach).

The second problem with the CLC approach is politics. Let's not fool ourselves that many politicians of both parties will oppose any new taxes, even if there's a rebate program attached. Conservatives want lower taxes of all kinds; liberals will criticize a regressive tax that hurts the poor while they wait for their rebate check once a year (and the basic unfairness of rebates going to the wealthy and poor alike).

But the real problem with trying to tax our way out of the climate crisis is that taxes can be eliminated with the stroke of a pen. Congresses and presidents are very good at changing single-issue taxes in annual budget legislation, whereas making or breaking regulations take time to draft and set goals, gather public comment, and implement across affected parties. If the CLC plan were to go ahead, the hard work of agencies, the public, and companies would be lost and very difficult to re-create, if Congress changes its mind in a year or two and scraps the program.

Because the Paris agreement doesn't do the whole job, I agree that to truly tame climate change before it's too late we need a price on carbon, but there are better ways to do it. Ten states in the U.S., along with Canadian provinces, states in China, and the whole European Union, have cap-and-trade systems that are already working. Yes, there have been growing pains, but the big difference between a tax and a carbon trading program is certainty. The "cap" in cap-and-trade is the crucial missing ingredient in the CLC proposal and, as noted, we don't have time to fiddle while the planet burns.

Mr. Shultz and Mr. Summers contend that a $40/ton carbon tax would "achieve substantially greater reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions than all of the regulation now on the table," but offer no evidence. Would $40/ton equate to $1/gallon tax on gasoline? If it did, would drivers use so much less that emissions would fall, or would they simply grumble about the price and cut back on other spending (as has happened in the past when gasoline prices rose and fell wildly). Would people use less electricity if they saw a few dollars a month added to their electric bills? And if they don't change these behaviors, would Congress be willing to double or triple the tax until emissions declined?

Sure, the CLC plan rebates the tax to people each year, but might that just encourage someone to buy an SUV instead of an electric car? The point is that we don't know and we don't have time  or the probable political backbone  to tinker with the tax code to find out.

The contention was also made that regulating carbon puts us at a disadvantage in global markets, but evidence suggests otherwise. It is clean, fuel-efficient cars from Asia and Europe that outsell gas-guzzling U.S. brands in overseas markets. Making our cars cleaner and more efficient will increase their competitiveness worldwide, not reduce it. And manufacturers that pay for electricity may have to increase the price of goods slightly, but 195 other nations that signed the Paris agreement (and have not withdrawn, as the U.S. has done) will be imposing the same limits on their energy systems.

When I was EPA Secretary, business leaders always asked me for one thing  certainty and time to prepare. Our regulations and the cap-and-trade system of pricing carbon pollution do both. The CLC plan does neither.

For those who disagree, suggesting politics are more predictable than painstakingly crafted regulation and competitive carbon markets, I point to the recent presidential election as Exhibit A that you are blinded by fool's gold.

In many ways, fossil fuels and carbon emissions are not the enemy  time is the reason we can't afford to fool around with glittery proposals over hard-won, proven solutions that are already beginning to work.

Commentary by Terry Tamminen, Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency in the Schwarzenegger administration. He is president of Seventh Generation Advisors, an operating partner at Pegasus Capital Advisors and the CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. He is also the author of "Cracking the Carbon Code: The Key to Sustainable Profits in the New Economy." Follow him on Twitter @terrytamminen.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Airlines would no longer have to include taxes when initially advertising their fares, under House legislation a committee will vote on Tuesday.

The provision, the source of a long-running conflict between consumer advocates and airlines, is part of Federal Aviation Administration legislation at the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The House has approved similar measures in the past, but the Senate hasn't acted on them.

The legislation would overturn a Transportation Department requirement that airlines include all taxes in the first mention of fares in their advertising. The department's goal was to prevent bait-and-switch ads featuring low fares that then grew with taxes.

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The rule approved under the department's authority to regulate unfair and deceptive practices went into effect in January 2012.

But airlines have long fought the requirement, arguing that no other industry has to include taxes when advertising prices for their products. Taxes add about 20% to the cost of an average ticket, according to the trade group Airlines for America.

Carriers led by Spirit Airlines fought the provision all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case in April 2013.

The bill from Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., states that it is not an unfair or deceptive for airlines to advertise their base fares so long as they clearly disclose taxes through a link or pop-up box on their web sites.

Travel agents have opposed similar legislation in the past out of concern it would be harder to compare prices. Charlie Leocha, president of the advocacy group Travelers United, called the provision a "poison pill" for travelers.

"Back in 2012, before DOT set rules to control deceptive advertising, airlines advertised transatlantic flights for $65. Of course, after reading the fine print a consumer found that the most inexpensive ticket cost more than $750," Leocha said. "The FAA bill will allow airlines to return to that kind of anti-consumer misleading advertising."
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Sunday with the creme de la creme of corporate America, in a CEO roundtable that contrasted sharply with a U.S. President Donald Trump's recent tech roundtable.

Modi, who was expected to meet with Trump on Monday, attended the high-profile meetings set up via the Indian embassy, in which executives were said to have expressed concerns over India's current regulatory environment, which has made it difficult to invest and expand on the subcontinent.

Some mentioned bureaucracy and a tough business climate as concerns as well.

In the World Bank's annual report for 2017 on the ease of doing business globally, India ranked at 130 out of 190, with poor scores on factors including starting a business, resolving insolvency and paying taxes.

Silicon Valley was well-represented at the meeting, with Apple 's CEO Tim Cook, Amazon 's CEO Jeff Bezos, Google's Sundar Pichai and Adobe' s Shantanu Narayan attending.

When CNBC asked Cook how the meeting went, the Apple CEO responded by saying "fantastic."

Other sectors were represented as well.

Walmart' s Doug McMilon also attended. McMillon was said to have sought a 1:1 meeting with Modi after the roundtable to convey his interest in continuing to expand his company's retail presence across India.

Other attendees included Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld, Mastercard's Ajay Bhanga, Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein, IHS Markit's David Yergin and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

Dimon, who after the meeting with Modi was spotted having lunch with former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, was also positive about his interactions with the Indian leader.

"He [Modi] is always very receptive, he is open. He is very smart, very receptive, very actuary.I don't think there were any sticking points," said Dimon to CNBC.

JPMorgan, Uber and Kalanick didn't immediately return CNBC's emailed requests for comment, sent outside office hours, on the topics discussed at that meeting.

The CEOs' praise of Modi was a sharp contrast to Trump's meeting last week with tech CEOs.

Photographs of that event spread across social media, largely because Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos all looked less than happy to be there.

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The encounter comes days after the Trump administration authorized the sale of unarmed surveillance drones to India , according to the manufacturer, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had his first face-to-face talks with President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon.

"The last couple of years India has become one of the largest buyers of U.S. defense equipment, roughly $15 billion. I believe this trajectory will continue," Mukesh Aghi said in an interview with " Closing Bell ."

India is planning to invest over "a quarter of a trillion dollars" on defense in the next few years, and it will likely continue to turn to the U.S. to buy its materials, the president of the U.S.-India Business Council told CNBC on Monday.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they begin a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on June 26, 2017.

India initiated its request to buy 22 Guardian MQ-9B unmanned aircraft for maritime surveillance last year. The deal is estimated to be worth about $2 billion. The transaction is still subject to congressional approval.

Since 2008, India has signed U.S. defense contracts for things like C-130J and C-17 transport aircraft, P-81 maritime patrol aircraft, Harpoon missiles, and Apache and Chinook helicopters.

Defense spending isn't the only topic presumably at the table between the two leaders. Immigration and the hotly contested H-1B program may also be discussed.

The prime minister also spent time with U.S. CEOs during his visit, meeting with high-profile leaders on Sunday and earning rave reviews.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos were among those in attendance. When CNBC asked Cook how the meeting went, he responded by saying "fantastic."

Rick Rossow, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNBC the corporate relationships may somewhat overshadow the one between the two governments.

The two countries "haven't been able to find common ground," he said in an interview with "Closing Bell."

"But CEOs are still investing. India's the largest destination for foreign investment in the world this year. It's becoming one of America's largest trading partners," he added.

Companies that would benefit from a growing trade relationship with India would be ones that the Indian or its key state governments have highlighted, said Rossow.

"Right now they have really liberalized the oil and gas sector, they've liberalized coal production. They're also undertaking a massive renovation of the broke electric power grid. So if you're a company that sells electric power equipment or related services, you've got a great opportunity out there," he said.

 CNBC's Seema Mody and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Israel's self-styled image as a global innovation hub got a bit of a knock last week with the appearance of the European Union's annual European Innovation Scoreboard.



The review has ranked it quite stable in recent years but highlighted a more than 8 percent decline since 2010. This seemingly contradicts a broader Global Innovation Index ranking that appeared the previous week, in which the country climbed four spots compared to last year.

While Israel performs strong on a variety of aspects, such as R&D (research and development) and especially attracting venture capital, familiar weaknesses in some parts of the education system and low productivity and efficiency in its traditional industries seem to hold back higher innovation rankings.

"Trying to reduce the innovation ecosystem into one number is by definition an exercise which we have to take with a few grains of salt," Uri Gabai, chief strategy officer at the Israel Innovation Authority, formerly the government's Office of the Chief Scientist, told CNBC via telephone.

When looking at the larger trends, it's clear that Israel is still performing strongly, he says:



"We're doing extremely well and we're in the midst of one of the best period of Israeli high-tech, talking about the last five years since the bouncing back from the global financial crisis."

On the European Innovation Scoreboard Israel is ranked a "strong innovator", just above the EU average but well below the pack designated as "innovation leaders". That appears to be in contradiction to what seems to be its position in several high-tech industry fields and certainly its own self-image.

The same can be said of the Global Innovation Index (GII), published by the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, together with INSEAD and Cornell University. It's moving up partly due to improvement in one of its weaker areas, tertiary education. It maintains strong or top positions in research and venture capital attraction.

"Israel has always hovered just below the top-20 or just inside and this has been a source for discussion for awhile because Israel is perceived in many respects in the top five," Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, senior economist at the WIPO and co-editor of the GII, told CNBC via telephone.



Israel's image is very much determined by its performance in some eye-catching and deals-driven fields.



"If you're thinking about world class innovation clusters, in which university-industry technology transfer and associated spillovers work, Israel is clearly among them with U.S., Switzerland and maybe Germany," said Wunsch-Vincent.



"On VC (venture capital) and business angels etc. Israel is probably the only country in the world that looks as efficient and functional as the U.S.," he noted.

Yet, there exist familiar weaknesses that bring down the country's ranking on the GII, some that have to do with OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)-wide phenomena such as low investment rates across the economy.

But there are some areas in which the country underperforms relative to other industrial countries, says Wunsch-Vincent: "In Israel you see some outliers, which show things can be improved. In particular, the data on education and also particular items in the area of knowledge impact, for instance the number of new companies created, high-tech manufacturing or computer software spending across the economy and there suddenly they have results that are below the OECD average."

Meanwhile, Gabai of the Israel Innovation Authority argues that in many aspects, innovation in Israel is already at a very high-level and that this is affecting indexes that measure progress or relative position, with other countries working to catch up.

He agrees that education is an issue, with the high-tech sector needing more people than the system can provide. The authority is therefore working hard to bring in groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in high-tech, mainly the ultra-orthodox Jewish and the Arab populations.
Yoyo Wallet, Europe's fastest growing mobile payments app, raised 12 million ($15.3 million) in a Series B round, it announced on Monday. The deal was led by German retail giant Metro Group, and awaits approval from the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority.

The U.K.-based fintech app began life four years ago, servicing dozens of U.K. and Irish universities. It now allows its 400,000 registered users to pay for goods using their smartphones in over 1,700 outlets, including Caffe Nero and Planet Organic.

"Yoyo is now delivering proven benefits to a rapidly growing number of merchants and their customers in universities, corporate campuses and the High Street," Alain Falys, Yoyo Wallet's co-founder and chief executive officer, announced on Monday.

"This new funding will allow us to provide the benefits of customer identification and mobile engagement to a wider array of retailers, large and small, in the U.K. and across Europe. We could not have found a better combination of Investors to support us through this next stage of growth."

The app is one of many mobile payment apps replacing physical payment, with its own personalized loyalty and rewards programs. It uses customer data to help retailers tailor rewards programs that appeal to individual consumers.

"Consumers are spending more than three hours a day on their smartphones and 40 percent buy more when subject to a personalized shopping experience," Falys added. "Yoyo simply provides all retailers with an accessible way of tapping into these behaviors."
Researchers from several leading institutions in the United States say they have discovered a new kind of naturally occurring underwater bacteria that has eaten a considerable portion of the oil that spilled out of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform.

The microbe is one of many species that helped mitigate damage from one of the worst environmental disasters in history. The scientists also say their work gives insights into how future oil spills could be mitigated.

In April 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 people and caused more than 4 million barrels of oil to shoot out of the well one mile below the surface of the ocean.

Recovery teams poured millions of barrels of chemicals into the ocean to disperse the oil.

Previous research has suggested the dispersants actually slowed microbes' ability to degrade the oil. But this new paper, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the dispersants broke up the oil into tiny droplets, which made them less buoyant and unable to float to the surface. Thus, the chemicals kept the oil in a kind of three dimensional cloud below the surface, making it more available to the microbes that live in the deeper portions of the ocean.

In particular the fact that the oil formed a cloud of droplets meant more of the oil's surface area was exposed to the microbes, making it easier for the bacteria to degrade it than the portions of the oil that floated to the surface or spread out on the ocean floor.

The exact amount the microbes have degraded is difficult to determine, said the study's senior author, Gary Andersen, a microbial ecologist at the University of California.

The team took water samples from the area around the spill, and recreated the conditions of the spill in a computer simulation to mimic what would have happened in the ocean following the accident.

In their examinations of the water samples and their simulation, they found one particularly dominant bacterium  called Candidatus Bermanella macondoprimitus  that previous research teams had not seen. The team sequenced the bacterium's genome and were even able to identify the genes responsible for degrading various components of oil.

"Laboratory experimental studies by other groups have not replicated the suspension of dispersed oil droplet conditions observed in deep-water plumes," wrote the team in their paper, "which may explain why these studies have been unable to enrich the early responding Bermanella and recreate the succession of bacteria observed in the field."

In fact, Andersen said, researchers can identify which genes in potentially any such microbe can degrade components of oil, and which specific components they can degrade. The simulation he and his colleagues devised shows how those bacteria would behave in a spill.

These fast-growing, rapidly replicating bacteria that previous research had not seen led the team to conclude that the dispersants had not in fact prevented bacteria from degrading the oil.

This does not mean that this bacterium can be dropped into the middle of an oil spill anywhere on the planet, Andersen said. It cannot practically be removed from its native ecosystem. In addition, the bacterium cannot be cultured in a lab.

But scientists can travel to areas around oil rigs and use water sampling and genome sequencing to find bacteria that could degrade oil, should a spill ever occur in those regions. That could tell what the rates of oil degradation are likely to be, and how it would be best to manage or respond to an oil spill in that area, he said.

Scientists debate just how much oil from Deepwater Horizon is still out in the environment, Andersen said, but there are no visible signs of the oil in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico right now. The oil that made it to the surface is degrading far more slowly, he said, and it is hard to tell how much oil from that spill is on the floor, because other chemicals leave similar signatures in the environment.

"But the actual marine life has recovered well from that spill, and fishing has resumed, so it has improved," Andersen told CNBC in an interview.

In the future, it would be best to put a system in place to understand the ecology of any area where prospectors drill for oil, Andersen said. Understanding the area would allow drillers to optimize their strategy so that if a spill does occur, naturally occurring bacteria would be able to best respond to it.

"They should be looking everywhere they are drilling for oil, and doing these types of simulations to see what the natural oil-degrading organisms would be and how quickly they would degrade oil," Andersen said.
No wonder Napoleon and Hitler both failed. The Siberian wind is a lazy wind, because it doesn't bother going round you: it goes straight through you. And I felt its mercilessness in February as I arrived in Moscow to realise my ambition of meeting Vladimir Putin.

I was there thanks to my old friend Oliver Stone, the veteran film director, who had persuaded Russia's president to let him follow him for months. As executive producer on Stone's series on Putin for US cable network Showtime, I hung hard to my locus standi for an audience with the Russian "tsar".

We arrived at 8pm at what seemed to be the smallest door in the Kremlin. A single lamp dimly lit the unassuming entrance. There was no grand staircase. Instead, a set of narrow spiralling steps took us up to a long corridor. We were ushered into a brightly lit room with imitation Versailles furniture that surrounded a utilitarian, four-metre-long bar stocked with every imaginable drink, attended by two corpulent waiters in ill-fitting black suits. Adjacent were two larger rooms, at the end of which were positioned two vast ornate armchairs, facing each other.

We had waited all day for the appointed hour and, now that it had come, it didn't matter that our place of rendezvous was disappointingly devoid of any KGB atmosphere: no sinister signs, no alluring intrigue, no musty smell of suspense.

Then, finally, a sudden silence descended, broken only by marching footsteps. The president, shorter than I expected and  even more unexpectedly  carrying a slight paunch, came striding into the room, with one interpreter and one security guard who immediately retreated to a corner. Stone shook Putin's hand. I was ignored. Putin sat down with his interpreter beside him. Had Putin interfered with the US election and, in particular, helped Donald Trump to win? Stone asked him. Putin discarded the idea contemptuously. But what about the CIA report that there was overwhelming evidence of Russian interference? Putin sharply reminded Stone of the CIA's "intelligence" on Saddam Hussein's WMDs, which turned out to be completely wrong. Had Putin read the actual CIA report on the US election? Yes, Putin replied bluntly. All 200-odd pages of it. And he quoted the report's conclusion that the interference was "highly probable" at best, and not incontrovertible. Stone could not catch Putin out on detail.

After more than an hour of deep conversation, they got up for a break. This was the moment I had been waiting for: I was finally introduced and pressed the flesh. It was nearly a firm handshake. I watched his face: rugged and angular, but no discernible tyrannical features, and I detected no scars. I told him I was Chinese and lived in Hong Kong. He had not been to Hong Kong, but he liked the Chinese, he said. I was expecting him to mention the Chinese president Xi Jinping, but instead he said he liked Chinese food and fashion. He confessed to preferring spicy Chinese food. He also proudly told me he was in possession of two Chinese jackets, one of which, his favourite, was deep blue. Was this stratospherically powerful man really making small talk about Chinese food and jackets?

Our break ended. Serious discussion resumed: Chechnya, Ukraine, Crimea, Afghanistan, Syria, the US and the prevailing world order. Each answer Putin gave was considered and extensive. He had no one else to confer with. His press secretary, Dimitry Peskov, was present for a short time but did not interject once. At one point Putin wagged his finger at Stone saying he knew Stone was anti-American, but that he should not try to make Putin himself appear anti-American.

This second session went on for two hours, meaning Putin had hardly drawn breath for almost four hours, yet he seemed to have stamina for more. I was utterly exhausted just staying silent and listening. There were no distractions, no vaulted ceilings with eerie lighting; no desks piled with sinister files stamped "Top Secret".

It was 2am. The encounter came to an end and I was pleased to add the Kremlin experience to my dinners with Mugabe, Castro and Chavez, and a fleeting moment with Kim Jong Un.

All of us stood up and stretched. I felt I had been on a film set. I had been. Except that the protagonist was not a film star, but a real man who denied he had any real money; a tough man who smiled rarely. And, yes, I noticed one thing about Putin: he only drank one brand of Russian water from a plastic bottle. We were not invited to share it.

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Shares in Nestle rose more than 4 per cent on Monday morning after the Swiss consumer group became latest target of US activist investor Daniel Loeb.

Mr Loeb's Third Point has taken an investment position of roughly 40m shares, or 1.3 per cent, in the company, and has begun "productive conversations" with management, the US-based hedge fund said on Sunday. The stake, including options, is worth about $3.5bn, it said.

Nestle, whose products include baby milk, pet food, Nespresso coffee and KitKat chocolate bars, is under pressure to boost profitability as the global food industry reacts to pressures unleashed by Kraft Heinz 's failed $143bn takeover approach this year for Anglo-Dutch group Unilever .

A spokesman for the company said: "As always, we keep an open dialogue with all of our shareholders and we remain committed to executing our strategy and creating long-term shareholder value." It declined to comment further.

Investors have broadly welcomed the arrival of Mark Schneider, who took over as Nestle's chief executive in January. But Third Point said the company is "ripe for improvement", and is "stuck in its old ways".

The hedge fund is proposing Nestle set a formal profit margin target of 18-20 per cent by 2020, boost its debt to buy back shares, put non-core products in its portfolio up for sale and sell its 23 per cent stake in cosmetics maker L'Oreal. Nestle's current operating margin is about 15 per cent.

Its shares jumped 4.2 per cent to a record high of SFr85.50 in morning trading in Zurich on Monday. The stock has risen 17 per cent so far this year.

The company announced this month that it would quit the US confectionery business and put up for possible sale brands including Butterfinger, Baby Ruth and Crunch chocolate bars which generated sales of SFr900m ($923m) last year. Analysts believe Nestle's revamped US frozen food business could also be put up for sale by Mr Schneider.

Nestle has also taken a stake in Freshly, a New York-based online ready meals company, as it seeks to build expertise in distribution and shore up its position in America's fast changing food retail market.

Those changes may not be enough for Third Point. It said Mr Schneider "will need to articulate a decisive and bold action plan that addresses the staid culture and tendency towards incrementalism that has typified the company's prior leadership and resulted in its long-term underperformance".

Mr Loeb, whose fund also has a large portfolio of credit investments, has returned to activism after a hiatus in 2016 when he thought there were too few opportunities. Third Point is also agitating for a change to plans at Dow Chemical and DuPont, which are preparing the restructuring that will follow their merger.

Nestle's businesses model has traditionally focused on leveraging its sales growth, and its size acts as a defence against possible takeover attempts. Organic growth has slowed in recent years as a result of changing consumer trends and a sluggish global economy, and Kraft Heinz's actions have fuelled speculation that Nestle would not be immune to upheaval in the global food industry.

Unilever, under pressure from the aborted Kraft Heinz bid in February, increased its operating profit margin target to 20 per cent by 2020, up from 16 per cent.

In one of his few public appearances since taking over, Mr Schneider has hinted he will put greater emphasis on boosting profits.

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And while there are currently tax credits in place to help offset costs, the current bill reduces those tax credits, he noted. "There's a double whammy here."

"Right now, health care is barely affordable for those people who are over age 50. Raising it any more is just what we call an 'age tax' and would just make it unaffordable for them," David Certner, legislative counsel and legislative policy director for government affairs at AARP, said in an interview with " Power Lunch ."

Under the new legislation, insurers would be allowed to charge older adults up to five times more than younger people. Under Obamacare, rates were capped at three times more.

A patient is monitored in an examination room inside the Clinical Decision Unit at Kaiser Permanente's Capitol Hill Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Senate Republicans released their bill, called the "Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017" last week. On Monday, they released changes to the legislation, including a six-month waiting period for people who have let their insurance coverage lapse for more than 63 days.

Among other things, the bill calls for younger people to pay less of a share of their income toward their individual health plans compared with what they pay now under Obamacare. Older adults would end up paying a larger share of their income.

Jeff Miron, director of economic studies at the Cato Institute and legislative policy director for government affairs at Harvard, believes it's the right policy to make the system work efficiently.

"Letting the insurance premiums reflect the riskiness of the people who are being insured across different ages or possibly other groups is entirely rational," he told "Power Lunch."

While he acknowledged the policy would be bad for those who are already elderly, he pointed out that over a long period it wouldn't necessarily harm anyone.

"When you're young you'll pay the relatively low rates. When your middle age you'll pay somewhat higher rates and when you are old you'll pay the very high rates. But on average that should be the same for everyone," Miron said.

"It is only current near elderly who are going get particularly penalized by this transitional effect," he added.

The bigger issue, said Certner, is what can be done to control the cost of health care.



"Everybody wins, no matter what the age is if we help hold down health-care costs in this country," he said. "The bills that have been put forward by both the House and the Senate do absolutely nothing to address the underlying issues of high health-care costs and high prescription drug costs."

 CNBC's Bertha Coombs, Dan Mangan and Reuters contributed to this report.
Senate Republican's health-care reform bill is worse than the House version, Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp told CNBC on Monday.

The North Dakota senator said the GOP health bill is not an Obamacare replacement but "entitlement reform." Nothing in the new bill "adds up," she said.

"You have to look at it from a mile high and they're trying to tell you we're going to keep coverage the same, no one's going to get hurt, and we're going to take billions of dollars out of health care," Heitkamp said on "Squawk Box."

"Once it's parsed and people have a chance to look at it, it is only going to get more difficult," she added.

At least five Republican senators have announced public opposition to the Senate GOP plan as of Monday morning, with some claiming the bill does nothing to deal with rising health-care costs. To assure passage, Republicans cannot lose more than two GOP votes.

Still, Heitkamp said: "I never bet against Mitch McConnell. I think you're a fool if you do."

Heitkamp spoke a day after President Donald Trump said congressional Republicans are not "that far off" on a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Senate Republicans, led by McConnell, released the Senate health bill on Thursday, proposing a phase out of Medicaid's expansion program and cap on Medicaid spending, a repeal of Obamacare taxes and restructuring subsidies to insurance customers.
"Restrictions in the ACA prevented states from passing single-payer and other new innovative models of healthcare without special permission before 2017. Now that the restriction has expired, states can, in theory, create their own ACA alternatives."

The cost could be fully offset through the elimination of premiums, copays, deductibles and other healthcare expenses, as well as the ability for the state to negotiate lower rates with healthcare providers and by managing the steep rise in healthcare costs more aggressively and with more precision. At 15 percent of state GDP, single-payer healthcare spending in California would be 3 percent lower than the amount the U.S. as a whole is currently sinking into healthcare.

A focus on improving the health outcome of individuals will be critical. The Senate passed the bill on June 1 by a vote of 23-14; it now heads to the State Assembly.

Restrictions in the ACA prevented states from passing single-payer and other new innovative models of healthcare without special permission before 2017. Now that the restriction has expired, states can, in theory, create their own ACA alternatives using a Sec. 1332 Waiver for state innovation. Some states, including Washington, have already filed waivers and submitted initiatives.

In Washington, several House representatives have sponsored a bill this year that would establish a single-payer healthcare system using the ACAs Innovation Waiver. The plan opts to combine Medicaid and Marketplace plans into one single-payer solution, with no deductibles or premiums, but in trade presents rather high payroll and income tax hikes.

And in New York, an ACA repeal could leave up to 2.7 million without coverage. In response, an Assembly member (who first proposed and passed a bill in 1992, and then again in 2015 and 2016) reintroduced a bill this year that would finance a universal Medicare expansion through progressive taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers. General savings on the program would come from the state's ability to buy pharmaceuticals in bulk, while the legislation would be written so that everything currently covered by Medicaid and Medicare, like eye care and dental, will also be covered under the expansion. The bill has passed through the State Assembly and is currently headed to the Senate where it may get blocked. For now.

Measures can be voted on by state legislators in voting cycles, including off-year and mid-term elections, and programs can be enacted as early as this year. In order to create a state-based coverage alternative, coverage quality and the number covered must be comparable to the current ACA standards, and the program can't add to the federal deficit. It can also only replace private coverage and not public programs like Medicaid. Technically, states are now in a position to create an ACA replacement using, at least in part, federal funding already provided.

States that are looking to implement the single-payer model must address a number of challenges.

First, the financing of a single-payer system typically requires replacing private insurance premiums with broad-based individual and corporate tax increases. Small businesses that don't currently insure their workers could be worse off because their taxes will increase without a reduction in premiums, and higher income, well-insured people, as well as many businesses (who pay more tax in general) will end up shouldering the majority of the funds needed to support such a model. They may see a reduction in the level of benefit currently being enjoyed. This will prove difficult to digest in many states and the messaging would have to be finely tuned to garner broad support. For example, in Colorado, voters overwhelmingly rejected ColoradoCare in November 2016, viewing the initiative as a tax-hike rather than the elimination of insurance premiums.

Next, special interest groups would have to be expertly navigated and stakeholders aggressively engaged. There are clear losers from the introduction of single-payer plans. The most heavily impacted group, and potentially the most vocal and powerful, are health insurance companies. While some insurers would still do well by administering the system to pay provider claims, many would become irrelevant within states that implement a single-payer model. Local payers that have traditionally focused on the low-margin, but have a lean business of administering Medicaid (such as Managed Care Organizations), would have an advantage over the larger, commercially focused national firms.

Additionally, a large single-payer network has substantial negotiating leverage to set and control healthcare reimbursement rates. This poses a significant threat to the profitability of large hospital systems, pharmaceutical companies, physicians, and other healthcare entities. In the short term, this may result in staff cutbacks and job losses. Therefore, supporters would need to stress the potential long-term benefits of moving to single-payer, which include a shift from provision to prevention, as well as the new job creation that this will enable.

Finally, large employers with self-funded healthcare are unlikely to drop coverage for their existing employees in only one state. Therefore, they are unlikely to be supportive of an increase in corporate tax (essentially paying twice for healthcare). States have no regulatory authority over self-funded health plans; they can only be regulated at the federal level under a law known as ERISA. States will be powerless from intervening to restructure how these companies manage employee benefits. A shift over time to private exchanges and employee stipends to purchase their own coverage would lessen this complication.

While states should renew their drive to reform health care on a local basis, the extent of the challenges means it is unlikely that any state (except possibly California) will move to a single-payer or a similar model in the short-term, even though these models could certainly result in a more equitable and fair provision of health care for Americans.

That doesn't mean that those states with momentum won't be able to establish the necessary building blocks to succeed in the long term. New models could be tested using federal innovation grants and states can start putting in place the population health management prerequisites that will enable single-payer to thrive in the future.

Commentary by Proteus Duxbury, managing consultant for PA Consulting Group, a global consultancy working in the U.S. health-care industry. He has also served as CTO of Connect for Health Colorado and director of technology strategy for Catholic Health Initiatives.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
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Italy's banking stocks led European equity markets higher on Monday as investors reacted with enthusiasm to confirmation that the Italian government would ride to the rescue of two flailing regional banks. However, detractors of the deal agreed principally between the European Commission, the Italian government and the country's second-largest lender, Intesa Sanpaolo (which will accept state help to buy the banks' sound assets), have criticized the liberal interpretation of the European Union's rules, saying it has destroyed the credibility of the bloc's banking union. "With this decision, the European Commission accompanies the Banking Union to its deathbed. The promise that the taxpayer will not stand in to rescue failing banks anymore is broken for good," bewailed German MEP (member of European Parliament) Markus Ferber in a statement on Sunday. Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan told reporters on Sunday, however, that the critics should pipe up with a better solution if they could see one  which he himself couldn't. Indeed, the recent purchase of failing Spanish lender Banco Popular by larger peer Santander is being contrasted with Italian situation by observers who note the principal differences between the two resolutions  namely, the protection of Spain's taxpayers contrasted with the protection of some of Italy's private investors.

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The Italian government could be on the hook for up to 17 billion ($19 billion) having saved senior bondholders and depositors in the failing Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca and ensuring that Intesa Sanpaolo's investors would suffer no worsening of capital ratios. This again contrasts with Santander whose shareholders had to endure a multi-billion euro equity dilution. Despite the cries of double standards, Marco Elser, head portfolio manager at Lonsin Capital, told CNBC's Street Signs on Monday that "This is arguably a template of how restructurings should be done." Indeed, the European Central Bank (ECB) actually learnt a lot from the Banco Popular situation in Spain, according to Kian Abouhossein, head of EMEA Banking Research at JPMorgan, namely: "That it is in the interests of involving the government to take on some of the capital hits in order to clean up the system and give up the good assets of a banking system back to the overall private banking system," he said, speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box on Monday.

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Agreeing that this was a positive development for Italy's overall banking system which is still weighed down by around 300 billion of bad loans, Eric Lonergan, fund manager at M&G, argued that the emphasis placed by the deal's proponents on the need to safeguard the Venetian economy is overplayed but necessary in this case. "Finally there's some pragmatismthey have to exaggerate significance to get away with state aid," he contended, referring to the justification being cited for protecting senior bondholders and depositors, many of whom are local customers of the failing banks which are located in the relatively prosperous north-eastern corner of Italy. "Italy is in the early stages of an economic recovery. They absolutely should not do anything to threaten that, they need to encourage it," he added. However, while the outcome is positive overall, according to Lorenzo Codogno, founder & chief economist at LC Macro Advisors, the terms could have been tweaked to allow senior debt investors to have weathered some pain without destabilizing the system. "A small haircut of senior bondholders would have been acceptable in my view - it would have not undermined financial stability," Codogno posited to CNBC's Squawk Box on Monday.

Alessia Pierdomenico | Bloomberg | Getty Images
"Not one of the stalwart liberals on the Supreme Court, including Justice Ginsburg, Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Breyer could bring themselves to agree with any of the lower court rulings enough to even write a dissent to this decision and push for keeping the stays in place."

So how did the lower courts get away with that? The majority of the judges in those cases struck down the Trump travel ban based on statements then-candidate Trump made about wanting at least a temporary "Muslim ban" on entry into the U.S. The decisions referred to those comments as evidence that the travel ban was not an example of a constitutional executive power, but was the product of an illegal discriminatory practice.

That meant that if the very same travel ban had been imposed by President Obama, the same court would have upheld it as legal. And as legal scholar Alan Dershowitz said at the time: "In my view, that is a bridge too far. It turns constitutional analysis into psychoanalysis, requiring that the motives of the president be probed." That kind of scrutiny is not what the Constitution calls for in its separation of powers clauses. And it's encouraging that someone like Dershowitz, who still opposed the ban on policy grounds, had the great integrity to point this out publicly.

It should be noted well that Monday's Supreme Court decision disagreed with the immediate alarm the lower courts assigned to the arguments about due process and President Trump's true intent, and let the ban go into effect until at least October when the justices will hear the case in full. Thus, the only slightly-modified travel ban was just allowed by what amounts to a unanimous decision. Only the three most conservative justices on the court wrote that they think the ban should be upheld in its entirety.

Think about that for a second. Not one of the stalwart liberals on the Supreme Court, including Justice Ginsburg, Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Breyer could bring themselves to agree with any of the lower court rulings enough to even write a dissent to this decision and push for keeping the stays in place. That just shows how far to the left some of the federal courts have become in America.

Now for the dicier question: Will this ban actually make us safer? It's true that refugees and and immigrants from the banned countries haven't spawned a rash of terrorist attacks in the U.S. However, it was a Somali refugee who plowed into people and then went on a stabbing spree at Ohio State University last November. And no police or military force worth its salt is only concerned about who has carried out attacks in the past. All of us expect some level of protection from plausible future attacks. What's going on in Europe and what happened last year at Ohio State provide plenty of credibility for guarding better against this threat.

Hopefully, none of us will even have to find out exactly how many lives are endangered when these kinds of travel bans aren't in effect. But what we do know is that the Trump team and established U.S. immigration law both won major victories that will at least provide the nation needed clarity for years to come.

Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
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Filing for bankruptcy protection may not be enough to help troubled Japanese auto-parts maker Takata untangle itself from what is considered one of the biggest recalls in automotive history, analysts told CNBC. The Japanese airbag manufacturer on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan and the United States. U.S.-headquartered auto parts supplier Key Safety Systems (KSS) said it reached an agreement with Takata to purchase most of its global assets and operations for $1.588 billion. Takata's faulty airbags have resulted in at least 17 deaths and more than 180 injuries globally over the years, according to Reuters. This led to global transport authorities ordering about 100 million inflators to be recalled and Reuters said industry sources estimated costs for the recall could climb to about $10 billion. Takata also faces numerous lawsuits in the United States, Canada and other countries, said Reuters. The problems developed into a scandal after it emerged that Takata allegedly hid the issues for years before recalling the dangerous airbags. "You're talking about tens of millions of bags and they are still responsible for doing that and carrying out those replacements even in a bankruptcy filing," Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, told CNBC's "The Rundown on Monday, referring to the ongoing recall and replacement process. Brauer said Takata executives were likely hoping there would be enough money from the sale of its assets to carry out the rest of the recall, but he was skeptical.

A man walks past a sign board of Japanese auto parts maker Takata Corp's Annual General Meeting in Tokyo June 26, 2014. Yuya Shino | Reuters

"A lot of people are suspecting that it won't cover the total cost. They're saying it's going to be about $5 billion in cost to get all these airbags replaced. There's only $2 billion worth of assets," Brauer said. This would leave affected automakers to cover the rest of the recall and replacement costs. Earlier this year, Takata agreed to pay $1 billion in criminal penalties stemming from its allegedly fraudulent conduct over the sales of defective airbag inflators. At the time, it announced it would establish two restitution funds: A $125 million fund for individuals physically injured by the faulty airbags who have yet to reach a settlement with Takata, as well as a $850 million fund to shoulder the airbag recall and replacement costs incurred by affected auto manufacturers. Janet Lewis, head of industrials research in Asia at Macquarie Capital Securities, said that for automakers, it wasn't just about paying for the recall. They also need to ensure Takata keeps producing the replacement airbags, she told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday. "The fact that they appear to have reached an agreement to sell the assets to KSS should enable this to continue," she said. "The (automakers) have been expecting that ... Takata was not going to recover sufficiently to pay them back." "They have provisioned already for the losses related to the recalls," Lewis added. Honda said in a statement on Monday that it has not reached any agreements with Takata about how much of the recall cost it would bear, but it would continue to seek to recover the costs from the troubled parts-maker. But it added that it expected it will become difficult to recover the majority of the claims.

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Australia's Great Barrier Reef is a household name worldwide, known as a hotspot for thousands of coral and marine species. But now, the iconic natural feature has been ascribed the monetary value of A$56 billion ($42.5 billion), according to a report released Monday by Deloitte Access Economics.

The report also calculates the reef as supporting 64,000 jobs in Australia in the financial year 2015-16, and contributing A$6.4 billion directly to the national economy in the same time frame.

The monetary value Deloitte links to the reef with contrasts with its precarious future. The Great Barrier Reef has repeatedly fallen victim to bleaching in recent years, a phenomenon in which increased sea temperatures  blamed by some on climate change  result in the coral which make up the reef emitting photosynthetic algae. When this occurs, the coral can "bleach," or turn white. If it does not recover from this process, it can die.

The number of jobs linked to the reef easily exceeds that of some of Australia's biggest corporations such as flag carrier airline Qantas, which supports 26,000. Meanwhile, the country's oil and gas industry sustains the livelihoods of 19,000 people according to Deloitte.

The Great Barrier Reef, encompassing an area equivalent to that of Japan, employs people in the tourism, fishing, recreational activity and scientific research industries.

Highlighting how integral it is, the report pointed out that the Great Barrier Reef's contribution to jobs and businesses was more than that of other industries considered "too big to fail."

Breaking down the A$56 billion figure, A$29 billion is due to tourism; A$24 billion is attributed to "non-use value"; and A$3 billion is linked to recreational activities.

According to Deloitte, quantifying the reef's worth reveals the extent to which it is "an Australian economic, social and iconic asset," which it cites as being worth "more than 12 Sydney Opera Houses."

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President Donald Trump vented about the probe into Russia's role in the 2016 election in a series of Monday morning tweets, hammering predecessor Barack Obama for his response.

Asking for an "apology," Trump denied that his campaign associates colluded with Russia or that he obstructed the federal investigation into Moscow's actions. He argued that Obama's delayed response is "the real story."

Trump has repeatedly lashed out and deflected criticism following reports that special counsel Robert Mueller, who is overseeing the FBI's Russia investigation, is looking into whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice. The president has faced increasing pressure since he abruptly fired former FBI Director James Comey last month.

Trump: The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win..

Trump: ...and did not want to "rock the boat." He didn't "choke," he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good.

Trump: The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling. With 4 months looking at Russia...

Trump: ..under a magnifying glass, they have zero "tapes" of T people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology!

Comey testified that Trump asked him for loyalty  which an FBI chief does not owe a president  and made a statement that he interpreted as a request to "drop" a probe into former national security advisor Michael Flynn. Trump denied making those statements.

Trump's criticism of Obama has increased since The Washington Post published a detailed report about Obama's reluctance to speak publicly about, or retaliate against, Russia's actions after the CIA informed him of them in August. Obama worried that any response before the election could "provoke an escalation" from Russian President Vladimir Putin or "be perceived as political interference in an already volatile campaign," according to the Post.

One former senior Obama administration official told the newspaper that "we sort of choked."

WATCH: Former Defense Secretary warns U.S.-Russian relations could descend into nuclear war
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks outside 10 Downing Street after an attack on London Bridge and Borough Market left 7 people dead and dozens injured in London, Britain, June 4, 2017.

British Prime Minister Theresa May struck a deal on Monday to prop up her minority government with the support of a small Northern Irish Protestant party.

After May lost her majority in parliament on June 8 with a failed gamble on a snap election, she tried to secure the backing of the small Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and its 10 lawmakers, though talks had dragged on for more than two weeks.

May and DUP leader Arlene Foster presided at the signing of a deal at Downing Street on Monday. They smiled and joked as negotiators from both sides, the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson and the Conservatives' Gavin Williamson signed the deal.

The details of the deal were not immediately released. A deal would allow May to pass legislation with the backing of the DUP in the 650-seat parliament, and stay in power as she attempts to negotiate Britain's exit from the European Union.

But May's position remains insecure. Her Brexit strategy is under scrutiny and her future as prime minister is the subject of public debate. Some senior Conservatives have voiced unease at a deal with the DUP, saying it could put at risk the 1998 peace settlement in Northern Ireland, known as the Good Friday Agreement. Foster said a deal with May could help drive a second

deal on power sharing in the province.
Prince Harry waves as he leaves Nottingham's new Central Police Station on October 26, 2016 in Nottingham, England.

Britain's Prince Harry has revealed he once considered relinquishing his royal title in order to have the chance of leading an "ordinary life".

"I felt I wanted out but then decided to stay in and work out a role for myself," the prince  who is fifth in line to the throne  said during an interview with the Mail on Sunday.

Harry, who is 32-years-old, described his time with the British Army as the "best escape" he'd ever had and subsequently felt "very resentful" when he was compelled to leave.

Having spent 10 years in the Army, serving in Afghanistan on two separate occasions, the prince was made to leave in 2008 after his whereabouts was reported by the media and his presence was adjudged to have become a security issue.

"I felt very resentful  I felt as though I was really achieving something," Harry said.

Since leaving the Army, the prince has been heavily involved in various charitable projects, including supporting wounded veterans and mental health groups.
Technology stocks rebounded last week from a two-week swoon, rising 2.27 percent. The sector has been the stalwart of the U.S. stock market this year, advancing more than 20 percent.

Dave Lutz, head of ETF trading at JonesTrading, said tech was led lower by a fall in semiconductor stocks, including last year's best-performing S&P component Nvidia. The stock traded about 1 percent lower.

The Nasdaq composite lagged, ending 0.3 percent lower as Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet gave up initial gains to close lower.

The Dow Jones industrial average snapped a five-day losing streak, advancing about 15 points in choppy trade, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains. The 30-stock index briefly rose more than 100 points earlier in the session.

U.S. equities closed mixed on Monday as a rise in the financials sector helped offset losses from large-cap technology stocks.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City.

The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq opened Monday's session higher, with tech and bank stocks leading the charge.

Bank stocks rose after the Italian government said it reached a deal to wind up Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca, two regional banks. The announcement lifted the Stoxx Europe 600 Banks index by about 0.9 percent, with U.S banks following.

"The fact that Italy is salvaging those two banks is a positive and that's partially why the market is higher," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial."That removes one concern from the euro zone."

Shares of Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase both rose, while the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) advanced 0.6 percent. U.S. big banks have been underperforming this year, with the KBE falling 3 percent in the period.

"The bailout of the Italian banks was very positive, in addition to the stress test results from U.S. banks," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) , widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, traded near 9.7, breaking below 10 for the first time since June 9.

Wall Street also kept an eye on Washington as President Donald Trump was set to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time. The two leaders are expected to discuss immigration and a visa program that lets Indian IT talent work in the U.S.

In economic news, durable goods fell 1.1 percent in May, more than the expected 0.6 percent drop. The data pushed Treasury yields lower, with the 30-year bond yield breaking below 2.7 percent.

"I'm seeing more stories about the market with a negative tilt to them and I think they're echoing what investors are thinking," said Crit Thomas, global market strategist at Touchstone Investments. "We need more positive news to get the market going again."

Meanwhile, U.S. crude rose 0.86 percent to settle at $42.38 a barrel, but the relentless increase in U.S. supply and little evidence of a widespread drop in global inventories capped gains.

Oil fell 3.8 percent last week, marking its fifth straight week of losses. The drop weighed on energy stocks, which turned in their worst week since September 2016.
Chief Justice John Roberts (seated C) leads Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (front row, L-R), Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Elena Kagan (back row, L-R), Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch in taking a new family photo including Gorsuch, their most recent addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington.

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to issue the final rulings of its current term on Monday, including one on religious rights, amid talk that swing voter Justice Anthony Kennedy is considering retirement.

The court in the coming days is also expected to act on President Donald Trump's emergency request seeking to revive his travel ban on people entering the United States from six Muslim-majority countries, which was blocked by lower courts.

Although there are no firm indications that Kennedy, 81 in July, will step down, some of his former law clerks have said he is considering it. Any announcement could come after the court has finished issuing its rulings on Monday morning.

Kennedy has repeatedly declined to respond to media requests seeking comment on his plans. He joined his former law clerks at a reunion event on Saturday night, with several attendees saying he did not address the rumors.

If Kennedy were to retire, Trump, a Republican, would have a historic opportunity to recast the court in a more conservative posture, possibly for decades to come. He has already appointed one conservative justice, Neil Gorsuch. But Gorsuch replaced a conservative in a similar mold, Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last year. Replacing Kennedy, the swing vote for the last decade on the closely divided court, would be more significant. Kennedy has sided with the court's four liberals on some major issues, most notably gay rights.

Speaking on ABC's "This Week" program on Sunday, Kellyanne Conway, a Trump adviser, declined to say if there has been any communication between the White House and Kennedy.

The nine justices are due to rule in six cases, not including their decision expected in the coming days on the travel ban.

Of the remaining cases argued during the court's current term, which began in October, the most eagerly awaited one concerns a Missouri church backed by a conservative Christian legal group. The ruling potentially could narrow the separation of church and state.

The church sued after being denied state taxpayer funds for a playground improvement project because of a Missouri constitutional provision barring state funding for religious entities.

Trinity Lutheran could be headed for a lopsided win, with two liberal justices joining their conservative colleagues in signaling support during the April oral argument. It was one of the first in which Trump's conservative appointee to the court, Neil Gorsuch, participated.

The most notable of three immigration-related cases in which rulings are due on Monday is a dispute over whether immigrants detained by the U.S. government for more than six months while deportation proceedings unfold should be able to request their release. The case takes on additional significance with Trump ratcheting up immigration enforcement, placing more people in detention awaiting deportation.

The court also is set to decide a case that could clarify the criminal acts for which legal immigrants may be deported. Another involves whether the family of a Mexican teenager shot dead while standing on Mexican soil by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Texas can sue for civil rights violations.

As the justices look to finish work before their summer break, they must decide what to do with Trump's travel ban, which was blocked by lower courts. The administration wants the ban to go into effect while the litigation continues.

The March 6 executive order called for a 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to let the government implement stronger vetting. Trump has said the order is needed for national security.
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Two years ago to the day, a 5-4 decision in the U.S. Supreme Court required all states to grant and recognize same-sex marriages. This legal change made it possible for more married same-sex couples to take advantage of Social Security claiming strategies previously unavailable to them. "One of the biggest challenges for same-sex couples when it comes to retirement planning is simply keeping current with ever-evolving laws and rules," said Mark Kemp, a certified financial planner and CEO of the Kemp Harvest Financial Group in Harleysville, Pennsylvania. The Social Security Administration now recognizes same-sex couples' marriages in all states and some nonmarital legal relationships, such as some civil unions and domestic partnerships, to determine entitlement to Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Same-sex couple rides in the Pride Parade on June 25, 2017 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images

A single person only has to consider nine different scenarios when claiming retirement benefits. For married couples, the available options for filing strategies grow to 81, said David Freitag, a financial planning consultant at the MassMutual Financial Group. "It's time for married, same-sex couples to start replanning their future if they haven't done so already," Freitag said. Here's what you should consider when developing your game plan: Generally speaking, for singles, the longer you wait to claim benefits, the more you'll receive. Claiming before your full retirement age, which ranges between 66 and 67 depending on when you were born, permanently reduces your benefits. Each year you delay from your full retirement age until you turn 70 will boost your benefits by 8 percent. Most people file before they can receive their maximum Social Security benefits. (See table below.)

Claiming strategies for married couples, or divorced people who were married to their ex-spouse for at least 10 years, can differ drastically from those employed by singles.

Spousal benefits

Here are the basics of spousal benefits: Those who were married for at least 10 consecutive years can claim either their own benefits based on their earnings or half of the spouse's (or former spouse's) benefits, whichever is higher, once they reach full retirement age. That means that a higher earner in the couple may wait to file at 70 while the lower earner can claim at full retirement age to maximize their total benefits as a couple. Even if you have never contributed to Social Security, you may be able to get spousal benefits if you are at least 62 years old and your spouse is receiving retirement benefits. However, claiming spousal benefits before your full retirement age will permanently reduce your Social Security payouts. An ex-spouse may be entitled to benefits based on your earnings, but it doesn't affect your payouts. Half of older workers recently surveyed by Fidelity thought their benefits could be reduced if an ex made a claim. That's not true. "These types of rules are important, particularly for same-sex, stay-at-home parents who may otherwise have very limited retirement income options," said Beth McClelland, a CFP and managing principal of Lamorinda Financial Planning in Berkeley, California.

Survivor benefits

Survivor benefits add to the complexity of your Social Security planning. The amount of the survivor benefit is based on the earnings of the person who died. Your widow or widower can receive full benefits at their full retirement age or at any age if they take care of your children who are younger than age 16 or disabled. People can claim reduced survivor benefits at age 60. That's not all. People who remarry at age 60 or later can collect survivor benefits from an ex, if that former spouse is deceased. Neal Van Zutphen, a CFP and president of Intrinsic Wealth Counsel in Tempe, Arizona, tried to persuade one same-sex couple who are his clients to consider the merits of getting married based on the advantages of survivor benefits. "If the higher wage earner pre-deceases, the survivor loses out on the higher wage earner's higher survivor benefits," Van Zutphen said.

Figure out your claiming strategy
A signet ring from the grave of the Frankish king Childerik I, with his portrait. He fought for control of area that is now part of the Netherlands in the 460s.

The obverse of a gold solidus of emperor Majorian (457 to 461 A.D.) from the Netherlands National Numismatic Collection. The emperor is the latest ruler represented in the 2016 hoard.

The excavation of the hoard location in a fruit orchard in Lienden, the Netherlands, during November 2016 by Vrije Universiteit and Public Service for Cultural Heritage.

This map shows the distribution of Late Roman gold hoards in the Low Countries and surrounding regions in northwestern Europe.

All together, 31 gold solidi coins were found in 2012 and 2016 at an orchard in the Netherlands.

A hoard of gold coins found in the Netherlands in 2016 has recently come to light.

In 2016, treasure hunters discovered 23 gold coins from the late Roman Empire in an orchard in Lienden, in the Dutch province of Gelderland.

The gold solidi were struck in the late fourth and fifth centuries.

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The Lienden treasure is the largest known solidus treasure from the Netherlands and represents the latest issue of Roman coins that circulated in the Netherlands, having been buried around 460 A.D.

The treasure serves as a unique document of the transition from Roman times to early Middle Ages and marks the end of Roman authority in southern Netherlands.

It may have also been buried in a tomb hill from the Bronze Age, which would add additional significance.

The treasure find marks one of the first instances where the Netherlands new system for documenting treasures was employed.

In 2016, the Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands system, PAN, was launched by Vrije Universiteit as a means for recording archaeological findings made by private individuals searching with metal detectors.

Officials confirmed that two searchers in 2012 had located eight gold coins at the same site when the area was plowed to allow planting of the orchard.

Through additional research, officials determined that a number of gold coins were found in the same site in the 1840s.

The 2016 discovery brings the total of known pieces located at the site to 42 coins, but surely others exist that are unknown, according to Stijn Heeren, the coordinator of Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands.

The coins were issued from 375 to 457, and the treasure was reportedly buried around 460, just 16 years before the western Roman Empire ended.

Constantinus III, who reigned from 407 to 411, is the most-represented ruler in the hoard, with 12 coins from his tenure.

Context of the hoard

After being alerted to the 2016 find, archaeologists with the Vrije Universiteit and the Rijksdienst for the Cultural Heritage excised a small excavation at the same spot, attempting to determine if more coins or jewelry was at the site.

Additionally, searchers hoped to determine whether the coins had been buried in a jar, pouch or other container, and in what context the treasure was buried, in a house or with a person. The latter scenario was a possibility, because the finder of the 2016 treasure also located human bones near the coins.

The archaeologists failed to find additional coins, or jewelry, or evidence of a pottery or metal container, suggesting that the treasure was hidden in a pouch (long since disintegrated).

Unburned bone fragments from three distinct humans were located at the site, as well as a cremation grave with an urn. In a development that surprised archaeologists, some of the bones were carbon-dated to circa 1800 B.C., meaning there was no relation between the bones and the coin hoard.

The cremated remains are much younger, probably from the Iron Age.

Evidence suggests that the site was once on the outskirts of a settlement, and that it could have been a burial mound.

If that were the case, the identifiable hill would explain why the site was chosen for secreting the hoard by someone who had hopes to locate and retrieve it later

Historical Significance

The treasure of Lienden must be understood within the context of gradual disintegration of the western Roman empire in the fifth century, according to Stijn Heeren.

The increasing dependence on Germanic groups in the region, including the Franks, played an important role in this regard.

Lowest mintage American Eagle, a counterfeit 1902-O Morgan dollar struck to circulate: Another column in the July 10 Coin World examines a ghostly Kennedy half dollar

Roman emperors could have paid the Frankish leaders with the gold coins in exchange for their military support during the late fourth century. Those leaders could then distribute the coins under their own authority.

The latest find aligns with earlier treasure knowledge in the Netherlands. Much of the gold coin hoards previously discovered were located north, south and west of the Rhine River.

The spread of these gold discoveries reflects final attempts by Roman authorities to control the Maas and Rhine Valley, attempts which relied upon an extremely late influx of Roman gold.

That influx can be explained by the relationship between Emperor Majorianus and Aegidius, an Anglo-Gallic leader in Gaul under the emperor.

Aegidius supported Majorianus, who was deposed by Ricimer, at which point Aegidius began waging war against the Visigoths. Aegidius refused to work with Ricimer and soon faced allies of Ricimer who forced him to retreat to an area around Paris where Aegidius formed an independent Gallo-Roman Empire called Soissons.

In 463, with the assistance of Frankish allies under the leadership of Childerik, Aegidius defeated the Visigoths in battle at Orleans. Aegidius likely used the discovered coins to pay his Frankish allies, according to Heeren.

The next year Aegidius was poisoned, but the kingdom he had founded continued until it was taken in 486 by the Franks under Clovis.

Processing Treasures

According to Heeren, the Dutch approach to found treasure is quite similar to the United Kingdoms (which also has what it calls a Portable Antiquities Scheme), although there is no treasure trove law in the Netherlands.

In the United Kingdom, handing over important finds (for money in return) is mandatory, and the declaration of other finds for scientific recording is voluntary. In The Netherlands, declaration of all finds is mandatory  all finds must be shown to archaeologists. After that, the finder and owner of the property share the value, and they can either keep or sell the find at will; there is no obligation to sell the treasure to museums as required in the United Kingdom.

In the current case, all the finders followed all the rules, plus they offered all the finds to a museum for at least five years (they may sell later). The owner of the property and the finders contributed to an excavation.

Full details of the system can be found online at a dedicated website.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Nadhim Zahawi is MP for Stratford On Avon.

The Queens Speech is always an important day in Westminster, as Ministers sets out their plans for the next Parliament. However, last weeks speech took even greater significance, because contained within it is the Governments plan for Brexit as we face a rare two-year Parliament, as well as the policies to tackle so many other pressing issues we face as a nation.

Events like the Queens Speech provide concrete facts to grip on to and analyse, and a clear indicator of how the Government intends to lead our country. It is vital to pay attention to these facts, especially when all of us in politics can get too caught up in gossip and rumour, or the popular narrative of the day. We should beware being sucked into these narratives, since they seem to guide us wrongly more often than they are right of late. Perhaps well find it more useful to just look at the facts rather than listen to the punditry.

I hoped that Britain would leave the European Union: however, I am sure that even most Brexiteers found themselves too often swayed by the popular narrative that leaving couldnt happen. We all know how that turned out. After the referendum, everyone seemed equally certain that angry Remainers would unite behind anti-Brexit parties like the Liberal Democrats and fight the result. Instead the Lib Dems lost votes, and 85 per cent of the electorate voted for parties that embraced Brexit. YouGov data shows that only 21 per cent of people still do not support leaving the EU.

Now after the Conservatives unexpectedly underperformed in the election, the narrative has switched again. The current flavour of the week is the idea that the general population has suddenly embraced Chavista socialism, and the nation stands ready to sweep Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street. Beware the narrative. The facts are so much more important.

Our party did not fail to retain our majority because of a tidal wave of youthful revolutionaries, who wish to seize the means of production and spend until the nation drops. Everyone knows there is no magic money tree, and people are rightly suspicious of Labours policies. Everyone knows you need a strong economy to build strong public services. And everyone knows that increasing debt only leaves the next generation with greater bills to pay.

Instead, what truly damaged us was that we did not fully convince those who worry about how theyre going to make their next paycheck last until the end of the moth. Those who have long given up on hope of saving for a deposit for a house, because prices rise so fast it would take decades to save the tens of thousands needed for a deposit. Those who wonder if the Government has a plan to prioritise jobs and growth through a difficult Brexit negotiation.

Corbyns dismal performance last week from the dispatch box was a helpful reminder, to those who have forgotten, of how incapable he is in his current job and how unfit he would be as a Prime Minister. And the Speech set out how the Conservatives have the policies to help those people.

But we need to become better at selling them to the British people. The Speech contains plans to ban unfair tenant fees, promote fairness and transparency in the housing market and ensure that homes can be built. It contained plans to tackle unfair practices in the energy market to help reduce energy bills. It promised good, properly funded schools, the provision of skills so our children can achieve in the high skilled, high wage jobs of the future, and an increasing living wage for those in work.

And, just as importantly, it set out the start of our plan to transition from the European Union. The Speech started by addressing Brexit, and gave the subject its due prominence. We need to create the widest possible consensus for our future outside the EU, while providing certainty for business and individuals. I thought the Prime Ministers offer on the rights of European citizens in the UK that has followed on Thursday is a good start. We need the deep and special partnership the Government that talks about as we set ourselves on a new path in a globalised world. Although I firmly believe we must not allow ourselves to be distracted from the other vital tasks we must undertake, and injustices we must tackle, it is right that the Government gives Brexit the attention it needs. If we do not get this right, then little else will be able to fall into place.

The Queens Speech provided us with facts. This is what the Government has told us it wants to do. I think its a convincing offer to the British people, but we have to make sure its not just an offer: it has to be delivered. If we make the Britain set out by the Government last week a reality, well soon see the narrative change again.
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Teenagers are finally getting the safe sex message.

A new report by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics finds that just over half of the teens surveyed (55%) have had sex before age 18. The study covered 4,100 teens between 2011 and 2015. These numbers are not down significantly from 1988. What is significant is that almost all of the female teenagers (99.4%) reported using contraceptives at some point. This number is up from the previous decade. In 2002 the rate of contraception use in the same group was 97.2%.

"The teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. is higher than most other developed countries and it often has negative consequences as well individual and societal costs," study author Joyce C. Abma, Ph.D., of the National Center for Health Statistics commented. "That in addition to sexually transmitted infections, these are public health issues that we need to get a hold on what the causes are. Sexual activity and contraceptive use are the direct mechanisms that drive these trends."

Over 80% of girls interviewed said that they used contraception the first time they had sex. This number is much improved from the past. It was a long established belief among teenagers that you could not get pregnant your first time having sex. Remember that one? It ranked right up there with the lie about feeding alka-seltzer to seagulls and watching them explode.

"These trends make sense in light of the reduction over time since the 1990s in the rates of teen pregnancy and childbearing," Abma said.

Still there is some risky behavior going on out there. A large percentage (60%) of teenagers say that they have used the "pull out method" as a form of birth control. This, of course does nothing to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Experts say that even with "perfect use" 4 percent of couples relying on withdrawal will become pregnant within a year. Of course "perfect use" is difficult to attain, and more realistic estimates suggest that about 18 percent of couples using this method will become pregnant within a year.

"The overall trends [in the CDC report] are positive. We have more kids choosing not to have sex and that's great news," said Dr. Ellen Rome, head of Cleveland Clinic Children's Center for Adolescent Medicine. "We have more kids using some form of contraception, but the problem is that lumped into that is the group [using] withdrawal as that method. So we have room for improvement in how we counsel kids on effective contraception."

As safe sex advocates have been saying for years, communication is the key. Shaming kids and making them sign abstinence pledges does not work -- in fact, such strategies are linked to an increase in pregnancies by teens. Giving teenagers the proper information about sex has shown to have a far greater effect on teen pregnancy than abstinence only programs.

"Talking about sex and responsible sexuality does not make kids suddenly become rabbits and start having more sex," Rome added. "It makes kids more thoughtful about their decisions."

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In a little less than two months, the much-awaited total solar eclipse will happen again after 99 years. Get to know more about details about this naturally occurring phenomenon. The last one, which happened on June 8, 1918, crossed from Washington to Florida.

How Often Do Total Solar Eclipses Happen?

According to Phys.org total solar eclipses happen every year - sometimes two or three. Usually they don't occur somewhere specific but more of random, for example, the South Pacific or Antarctic.

What makes this one on Aug. 21 special? Well, this eclipse will reportedly cut diagonally across the entire U.S.

What Is Expected To Happen?

Agencies like the Federal Highway Administration, NOA, NASA, and the National Park Service have all come out with guidelines on how to safely view the eclipse, as well with updated weather forecasts, crowd management, and navigating traffic and parking. "Never before will a celestial event be viewed by so many and explored from so many vantage points: from space, from the air and from the ground," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

Researchers will take this opportunity to look into the sun and the Earth with the use of instruments on the ground and in space. During the event, the moon will pass between the sun and the Earth, looking like it is block the sun for almost an hour and a half.

Best Places To Watch The Total Solar Eclipse

Per Fox17 News, Salem, Oregon, is one of the first locations to witness the eclipse, while Charleston will be one of the last. Cities like St. Louis, Nashiville, and Kansas are said to have a good chance of catching a glimpse of the sun being totally covered.

Are you excited to witness the "Great American Eclipse"? What are your plans for this momentous event?

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
It's sad to say, but not every hilariously creative fan theory out there is a winner. We're reasonably sure John McClane can't be a Time Lord and a Jedi, and all of human history probably isn't a dream of the dog from Frasier. But as we've explored before, some of these theories improve their movies -- like the cherry on top of the sundae, only you got this cherry from a random stranger you met on the internet. What could possibly go wrong?

6 Star Wars -- C-3PO Is An Unwitting Imperial Spy

C-3PO has always been the most puzzling character in Star Wars. A "protocol" droid who's programmed to be as annoying as all hell? Can you imagine if Google Translate sassed you every time you needed help? Well, one theory posits that C-3PO is in fact one of the most important characters in the series. Why? Because he's a goddamn Imperial spy.

This may sound ridiculous, but it helps clear up some of the inconsistencies in the franchise. For instance, in the recent Rogue One, Princess Leia's ship goes into hyperspace to escape from Darth Vader:

Lucasfilm

Lucasfilm



And you felt badass for storming off on your dad when he didn't let you listen to Insane Clown Posse.

And yet, as seen in the original Star Wars, Vader's ship immediately finds Leia approaching Tatooine, which we learn is the galactic equivalent of an abandoned outlet mall. How the hell? In every other movie, when someone goes to light speed, they can't be followed. It's as if someone on board transmitted the info on their location. Now factor in that one of the droids on the ship was built by the guy who's chasing them ...
The FIA has clarified the reasons as to why it didn't find fault with Lewis Hamilton 'slowing' under the safety car, triggering the clash with Sebastian Vettel that led to their so-called 'road rage' incident during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Just prior to the safety car coming in, data shows Hamilton slowed from 80kmh to 54kmh as the cars rounded Turn 15, catching Vettel unawares and resulting in contact between the pair.

Vettel then proceeded to pull alongside Hamilton and 'deliberately' strike the Mercedes' front left wheel in an act of aggression.

With Vettel receiving a 10secs stop-go penalty for the incident, the German was furious to receive his own punishment when he feels Hamilton was the driver at fault for what he termed as 'brake-testing'.

However, the FIA explains Hamilton conducted himself in a correct and 'consistent' manner on all restarts, thus requiring no investigation

"The Stewards examined Hamilton's car data in the Vettel collision. It emerged that Hamilton correctly maintained a consistent speed and behaved in the same manner on that occasion as in all other restarts during the race."

Hamilton himself says he used identical methods on each safety car restart and was surprised it caught Vettel out the second time around.

"By Turn 7 I'm told the Safety Car is going to come in, I'm only allowed a ten car-length gap between myself and the Safety Car whilst the lights are on. Going into Turn 15 I'm more or less around that gap and when I'm going down the hill I can see the lights switch off and at that point I don't need to accelerate and speed up to keep that gap.

"So I kept a consistent pace, a consistent deceleration down to the apex and just didn't speed up... I did that the first time and did that the second time. It was just the second time I got a nudge.

The incident is considered to have been compounded by the unusually long, high-speed run down to the first safety car line around the Baku City Citcuit, forcing drivers to leave a larger gap than usual to the safety car before it peels into the pit lane.

Hamilton was warned by his team on the first safety car restart to be more cautious prior to returning to full speed as he risked catching the safety car before it returned to the pit lane.

Last year's GP2 race was marred by chaotic restarts when Nobuharu Matsushita sped up and slowed down on the run to the line after almost catching the safety car, causing confusing and contact from rivals behind. He was given a one-race ban for the incident.
We keep seeing a common theme when it comes to spyware sold exclusively to governments, surveillance spyware which is marketed as lawful tools to help governments fight crime and terrorism; those remote intrusion solutions are increasingly used to spy on people who the governments consider to be a threat because those people are revealing the truth to the public. The latest example comes from Mexico, showing how powerful spyware was used to target journalists investigating high-level official corruption and human rights defenders investigating government-sponsored human rights abuses.

The surveillance spyware Pegasus (pdf), sold by the Israel-based NSO Group, is meant to remotely take complete control of mobile phones. While this isnt the first time the stealthy Pegasus has been abused by governments for purposes other than preventing and investigating crimes, Citizen Lab said it is the first time a minor has been targeted with infection attempts using governmental spyware. Why target a kid? To spy on his mother.

Mexico is already one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Reporters covering sensitive issues often face threats of kidnapping, intimidation, or physical violence as a result of their work. But organized criminal groups arent the only ones trying to intimidate journalists; one report revealed that at least half of the threats were linked to government officials. Since sophisticated spyware is designed to stay invisible, and even self-destruct to avoid detection, the digital surveillance can be hard to document.

Yet Citizen Labs newest report about the reckless use of NSO surveillance spyware explains how 10 Mexican journalists and human rights defenders, as well as one minor child, were targeted. Citizen Labs investigation, in collaboration with three other groups, revealed:

The targets received SMS messages that included links to NSO exploits paired with troubling personal and sexual taunts, messages impersonating official communications by the Embassy of the United States in Mexico, fake AMBER Alerts, warnings of kidnappings, and other threats. The operation also included more mundane tactics, such as messages sending fake bills for phone services and sex-lines. Some targets only received a handful of texts, while others were barraged with dozens of messages over more than one and a half years.

The NSO Group uses the same blah-blah-blah statements as other companies which sell surveillance spyware to governments that the company complies with laws and regulationsthat the malware is only to be used lawfullyto help make the world saferto be used solely to prevent and investigate crimes. The NSO Group included a statement absolving it from responsibility if its stealthy spyware is used unlawfully as it is a tech company and doesnt operate the systems it sells to governments.

Of the 11-total people targeted, six were Mexican journalists and TV reporters, one was a kid, and five people were part of civil society organizations. They all received phishing messages, some impersonating the United States Embassy with warnings about problems with VISAs, others included taunts to click on the link to see their partner having sex with someone else, or to click to see the unlicensed vehicle stalking the victim, as well as others such as the usual type of fake billing or purchase notifications meant to make the victim click.

If a target nibbles on the bait by clicking, the phone is infected with malware which turns it into a digital spy in the pocket of a victim, fully under the control of the operator. An infected phone can be configured to report back all activities on the device, from messages and calls (even those via end-to-end-encrypted messaging apps), to recording audio and taking pictures.

Its all sickening, but when the attackers couldnt get a highly respected journalist to take the bait for over a year, they switched to targeting her minor son with at least 21 text messages which included links to the NSOs Exploit Framework. He was targeted for three months, before the attackers switched back to targeting both mother and son. Regarding the alarming text messages impersonating the US Embassy, Citizen Lab suggested impersonating a United States Government communication while he was located in the United States may have violated US Law.

In light of the newest investigation and report, Citizen Lab believes there is evidence of an informal principle of misuse for government-exclusive spyware: when the technology is sold to a government without sufficient oversight, it will eventually be misused. This principle highlights the need to hold spyware manufacturers accountable for their contributions to global cyber insecurity.

I highly recommend reading Citizen Labs full report.
At the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy 2017, researchers from the College of Management Academic Studies in Israel presented an interesting paper on bad password reset processes, The Password Reset MitM Attack (pdf). It explains how a weak attacker could take over accounts by exploiting vulnerabilities in password reset procedures.

They dubbed the attack: password reset man-in-the-middle (PRMitM). The researchers said Google is extremely vulnerable to PRMitM, but Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Yandex and other sites and email services are also vulnerable as well as mobile apps like Whatsapp, Snapchat and Telegram.

To pull off a password reset man-in-the-middle, an attacker only needs to setup a website that requires users to register for the site in order to access whatever bait the site is using; it might be free services, free software, or some other freebie that can only be downloaded by logging in. The registration process may ask for differing bits of basic information, but as soon as a victim enters his email address, the automated attack can begin.

The attacker goes to the specified email provider or site and starts the forgot my password process. If a CAPTHCA challenge is presented, the attacker forwards it to the victim and forwards the answer back to the site where the attacker is trying to break into an account.

The remaining security questions presented to the registering victim are the security questions which the attacker is being asked to answer during the password reset procedure. The attacker forwards the asked security questions to the victim and then forwards the victims answers back to the site where he initiated a password reset.

Some sites use answers to security questions for a password reset, so in one experiment, the researchers asked participants to register on a website and to give their mothers maiden name as a security question. Nearly 77 percent went ahead and handed over the real answer to a low-importance website. Since it is a bit like handing over the keys to your digital kingdom, it is better to give the correct answer to security questions such as mothers maiden name only to highly important sites (think banking). As long as you can remember what you answered, it is better security to not answer truthfullyand not to use that same exact answer on other sites.

PRMitM can defeat 2FA

PRMitM can defeat two-factor authentication. In this scenario, an attacker doesnt need to trick a wireless provider into porting a phone number to a different mobile device under his control. If the victims account which the attacker is trying to take over requires authentication (2FA) via mobile device, the attackers site will ask for the victims phone number during registration. The attacker will then claim to have sent a code which the victim needs to enter, but it is really the code the attacker is being asked to provide during the password reset procedure.

You would think a victim would notice the security code sent to her phone is the verification code for a different service, but not sites identify themselves when sending SMS. The code might just come from a phone number without indicating which service sent it. Other times, users might not be paying enough attention to the sender; if they are waiting on a code, they might enter it as soon as it is received instead of actually reading the full message.

The researchers found that Google, for example, sends a code saying it is a Google verification code, but does not say it is for a password reset. Netflix sends a verification code without identifying it came from Netflix, just showing the number from where it sent. eBay sends a PIN without indicating it is from eBay. Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter indicate in the SMS that it is an account password reset code.

PRMitM vulnerabilities in Whatsapp, Snapchat and Telegram

The researchers found similar password reset vulnerabilities in messaging apps when it comes to SMS messages sent during a password reset. Whatsapp, Snapchat and Telegram also offer a phone call method for a password reset. However, the researchers noted, In the phone calls of Whatsapp, Snapchat and Telegram, there is neither indication to the source of the call nor explanation about the meaning of the received code nor warning about not giving away the code.

The researchers present numerous countermeasures and guidelines which would help protect against PRMitM attacks. The suggested rules and recommendations can be used by vulnerable sites to improve password reset procedures.

As for the vulnerable vendors identified in the paper, the researchers said they reported their findings to each.
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The Fourth of July  the holiday that celebrates the birth of our nation in 1776  has for decades been a time for fireworks and and a celebration of summer with outdoor picnics with friends and family.

And for many, it still is. If, however, youre looking for additional ways to get into the holiday spirit, here are a few suggestions.

Revolutionary Litchfield

A walking tour through Litchfields Revolutionary history is set for Saturday, July 1, at 10 a.m., led by the Litchfield History Museum.

Litchfield was a hotbed of activity during the Revolutionary War. Prisoners of war were jailed in this safe town, a military presence guarded stores and provisions, families were divided by those seeking their independence from the British crown, according to a museum news release.

For the walk, meet at the museum, 7 South St. Bring a bottle of water and wear comfortable shoes. Registration is required. $5 per person. 860-567-4501, litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org

Trumbull dress-up

The Trumbull Arts and Senior Citizen commissions want everyone to dress up in Colonial costumes for their special July Fourth celebration.

The sixth annual reading of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain will reenact John Adams reading the document before the Second Continental Congress. It will take place on the holiday at 10 a.m. on the steps of the Trumbull Town Hall, 5866 Main St.

This (free) event is for the entire family, and Colonial costumes are encouraged, said Emily Areson, of the arts commission, adding those attending should bring beach chairs. In the event of rain, the reading will take place in the Town Hall courtroom.

Burning of Fairfield

The Fairfield History Museum conducts Burning of Fairfield walking tours on Sunday, July 9, that will bring the Fairfield Town Green to life and (those attending will) experience the towns burning as if you were there.

Stroll back in time while exploring the history and events surrounding the attack on Fairfield by the British on July 7 and 8, 1779. Listen to the Proclamation from British General William Tryon and Admiral Collier, to the people of Connecticut.

Tours are every half hour from noon to 2 p.m. Fairfield History Museum, 370 Beach Road. Adults $10, students $5. Register at fairfieldhistory.org

Mystic traditions

July Fourth is always a special day at Mystic Seaport. The holiday celebration is set in 1876 on the 100th anniversary of Americas birth.

An exciting morning of boat races on the river and military exercises with the boys in blue culminates in an old-fashioned spelling bee for children. Picnic alongside your 19th-century neighbors on the Village Green at noon and then cheer for your favorite display in the Independence Day Parade at 1 p.m. sharp, said seaport staff.

In the afternoon, a rousing 1876 Independence Day ceremony is followed by an elegant concert featuring the Mystic Silver Cornet Band on the Village Green. Also offered will be 19th-century lawn games on the green and theatrical performances by the Mystic Seaport TaleMakers.

Mystic Seaport, 75 Greenmanville Ave., Stonington. All activities are free with admission. For hours and fees, visit mysticseaport.org

Art of war

Historic U.S. and Royal Naval Ships and Battle Scenes  from the 1700s to 2015  is the theme of a new art exhibition at the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery throughout the summer.

The show features some of the worlds finest maritime artists, past and present, Jinishian says. Each painting is presented with text, describing the ships historic context in protecting Americas freedom and independence, he said.

J. Russell Jinishian Gallery, 1899 Bronson Road, Fairfield. Gallery admission is always free. 203-259-8753, jrusselljinishiangallery.com

pasboros@ctpost.com; Twitter: @PhyllisASBoros
Ted Kennedy Jr. has ruled out a run for Connecticut governor, unwilling to inherit billion-dollar deficits, potential confrontations with unions and a polarized political climate to go along with his famous name.

The second-term state senator from Branford and son of the late liberal lion Edward M. Kennedy ended months of speculation Monday that he would jump into the race to succeed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who is not running for re-election.

I will not be a candidate for statewide office in 2018, Kennedy said in a statement. I am deeply grateful to everyone who has contacted me and encouraged me to run. I value the contribution I am able to make as the state senator for the 12th District.

Kennedy has been a national curiosity because of his lineage and the lack of a clear front-runner for governor, with Republicans, fellow Democrats and the media fixated on his every move to see if he would leverage the Kennedy name, fortune and connections.

The Camelot references were dusted off. The narrative had written itself for Republicans, who were prepared to cast Kennedy as a tax-and-spend limousine liberal who would push for a carbon tax and legislation requiring drivers licensees to opt-out of organ donation programs.

State GOP Chairman J.R. Romano said Kennedy didnt want to risk a political setback for the Kennedy brand.

I think what Senator Kennedy realized is the likelihood of fighting through this disaster of a Connecticut economy to win an election for a Democrat is going to be extremely difficult, and politicians dont like to lose, Romano told Hearst Connecticut Media.

Kennedy, 55, a health care lawyer, roamed the state gauging support for a potential candidacy from Democrats in Stamford, Litchfield, New Britain and the Quiet Corner. But it was not to be, with Kennedy passing on budget strife, highway toll fights and casino development showdowns that will face the next governor.

I believe that if we put aside our partisan politics and find common ground, we can overcome our challenges and move Connecticut forward, Kennedy said. I remain committed to making our state a better place to live, do business and raise a family.

Kennedys pass on the race leaves Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, Middletown Mayor Dan Drew, former consumer protection Commissioner Jonathan Harris and former prosecutor Chris Mattei as the highest profile Democrats eyeing 2018. Each has set up an exploratory committee to raise funds for a presumptive run.

The potential GOP field is even more crowded, with Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti and state Rep. Prasad Srinivasan, R-Glastonbury, as declared candidates. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, former U.S. Comptroller General Dave Walker, 2014 secretary of the state candidate Peter Lumaj and Westport businessman Steve Obsitnik have set up exploratory committees.

Next year appeared to be lining up as a revival for Kennedys, with Kennedy entertaining a run for governor and his cousin, Chris Kennedy, vying for Illinois governorship. But his cousin is learning a name only goes so far in politics, with the union machine reportedly trying to shove the Robert F. Kennedy son out of the race.

nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
MONROE - A former substitute teacher at Masuk High School is facing a year in prison after pleading guilty Monday to having dozens of images of little boys having sex as well as videos police said he made.

Kenneth Raftery, 55, of Stonecroft Way, who also worked as an accountant in town, pleaded guilty before Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin to third-degree possession of child pornography and voyeurism.
The SunJune 23, 2017One of the jailed members of the murderous Manson Family cult of the 1960s is back in the headlines again.Patricia Krenwinkel was denied parole by a court in the US after nearly 50 years behind bars. Heres everything we know about her and her horrendous crimesWho is Patricia Krenwinkel?Patricia Krenwinkel, now 69, was one of the notorious Manson Family cult, led by Charles Manson, who preached a bizarre philosophy incorporating Christianity, Scientology and the hippy movement.She was a 19-year-old secretary living with her older sister when she met the 33-year-old Manson at a party in the 1960s.She testified that she left everything behind three days later to follow him because she believed they had a budding romantic relationship.Krenwinkel said in December that her feelings faded when Manson became physically and emotionally abusive, and trafficked her to other men for sex.She said she left him twice only to be brought back, adding that she was usually under the influence of drugs and rarely left alone.She said: I thought I loved him. I thought it started with love, and then turned to fear.What were the Manson Familys crimes?In the summer of 1969, Manson directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people in what prosecutors said was part of a plan to incite a race war.In May of that year Manson shot a black drug dealer named Bernard Lotsapoppa Crowe, who survived but never reported the crime.On August 8, the feared cult leader ordered four of his blood-thirsty disciples  Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles Tex Watson  to the Beverly Hills address of movie actress Sharon Tate with the instruction to kill everyone in the house.As well as Tate, who was married to director Roman Polanski and pregnant with his child, they murdered four other people at the property that fateful night.Less than 24 hours later, the deadly gang  plus Leslie Van Houten and Steve Clem Grogan  savagely tortured, murdered and mutilated wealthy LA couple Rosemary and Leno LaBianca.Manson and his accomplices were all sent down for the murders, apart from Kasabian who testified against them and played no direct part in the killings.What was Krenwinkels part in the killings?Speaking in in December 2016, Krenwinkel recounted how she chased down and repeatedly stabbed Abigail Folger, 26, at Tates home on August 9, 1969.She also told how she helped Manson and other followers kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary the following night.Manson and his right-hand man, Charles Tex Watson, told her to do something witchy, she said.So Krenwinkel stabbed LaBianca in the stomach with a fork, then took a rag and wrote Helter Skelter, Rise and Death to Pigs on the walls with his blood.Why was Krenwinkel denied parole?Krenwinkel was denied parole for five more years on June 22 after officials in California investigated whether battered womans syndrome affected her state of mind during the slayings.State law requires commissioners to give great weight to whether physical, emotional or mental abuse affected offenders to the point that it appears the criminal behaviour was a result of that victimisation.But officials denied her application for bail, apparently agreeing with Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who praised the decision and insisted she was still dangerous.In remarks for her parole hearing, Anthony DiMaria, the nephew of victim Thomas Jay Sebring, said: Sadly, there are millions of intimate partner battery (domestic violence) victims in this country.But fortunately, its safe to say, that almost none of them suddenly become a maniacal predator that stalks, pounces, butchers and mutilates her victims.Krenwinkel has been refused parole 14 times now, and on this occasion the board did not release its reasons for the recommendations.
Pa. Dems could flip the House of Reps. Here's what that might mean

elections
Some are comparing the current state of the country with the final phase of the Callaghan government in 1979. Dominic Lawson says this period is nothing like it

We British have a propensity for self-deprecation. In personal matters, it is quite attractive, in the way that modesty always is. But when it applies to the nation as a whole, this characteristic can degenerate into defeatism, which is much less attractive.

Unfortunately we  or at least some of those in positions of moral authority, from the Archbishop of Canterbury downwards  are now in the midst of just such a spasm of near-despair.

Some of the causes are understandable. A series of murderous terrorist acts. The loss of at least 79 lives in a fire engulfing a tower block in the heart of our capital. A general election which produced a Government with a weak mandate, at a time when it is embarking on immensely difficult negotiations with the European Union over our exit.

Some are comparing this with the state of the country when we were last led by a minority government  the final phase of the Callaghan administration which fell in 1979. I can remember that period well  this is nothing like it.

Confidence

That was a time when the dead went unburied, because of strike actions across the public sector. Far from this country being attractive to inward migration and investment, there was a brain drain of Britons to America. At the same time, unemployment was rising inexorably. The country did seem ungovernable  and was seen as such across the world.

Now, however, the UKs unemployment rate is just 4.6 per cent  well below the European average, and half the rate of our neighbour, France. Employment is at the highest, as a proportion of the adult population, ever recorded.

While the former Chancellor, George Osborne, warned that unemployment would increase by half a million within a year  allegedly as a result of businesses cutting back on investment if we voted to leave the EU  the movement has been in precisely the opposite direction.

And today, Lloyds Bank releases a survey showing business confidence at its highest for 18 months.

The only one of Osbornes Brexit warnings to have come true is the fall in the pound. But this is far from an unmitigated disaster: after all, the Bank of England itself had (without success) been trying under Osbornes appointee as Governor, Mark Carney, to bring the value of the pound down, as it was felt to be too high for the good of British business.

Mark Carney and the Bank of England had been trying to bring the value of the pound down before Brexit without success

Now look: last week the Confederation of British Industry revealed that order books in the countrys factories were at their highest in three decades, and demand for British exports at a 22-year high. The CBI declared that British manufacturers are continuing to see demand for made in Britain goods rise with the temperature. Total and export order books are at highs not seen for decades, and output growth remains robust.

It is true the 12 per cent fall in sterlings trade-weighted index since the Brexit vote a year ago has increased prices for British consumers, and this will have some dampening effect on demand in our shops. But for years economists have lamented that our growth has been consumer-led, rather than export-led.

Now we finally seem to be achieving what they called for and successive governments aspired to create: why should this be the cause of gloom?

We are also fortunate that while oil is priced in dollars  and is therefore more expensive for Britons when the pound falls  the oil-producing cartel OPEC is completely failing in its attempts to boost the price through cuts in output.

Last week, crude oil on the world markets dropped below $45 a barrel, making a total fall since the start of the year of more than 20 per cent. Contrast that with the Seventies, when OPEC had its foot on the Wests throat: there was panic-buying at the pumps in this country, as prices rose inexorably amid fears of a shortage.

That was a problem for the West as a whole. The current gloom seems partly based on the (false) idea that we are less politically stable than our neighbours. It is fashionable to contrast the state of British politics with that in France, where the dynamic 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron has just triumphed with his own newly created party (En Marche!) in the French national assembly elections.

Part of the current gloom appears to be based on the false idea Britain is less politically stable than our neighbours. This is despite an election turnout of 68% compared to 42% for Emmanuel Macron's victory in France

Yes, his party has gained a tremendous majority, exactly what Theresa May had hoped to achieve, but failed to do, in our own parliamentary elections.

But look at turnout, and you will see that the body politic in this country is actually much healthier than that across the channel. Turnout at our ballot boxes was 68 per cent, the highest in 20 years. But the turnout in France was a lamentable 42 per cent, the lowest ever recorded.

The French trades unions  bitterly opposed to Macrons stated intention of liberalising the countrys enterprise-strangling employment laws  have pointed to that figure as justification for any strike action they will mount in opposition to the new government. And France has a long tradition of street action, sometimes violent, obstructing the elected government of the day from carrying out its policies.

In fact Labours leading duo, Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell, would prefer it if we, too, were a nation in which demonstrations, and even riots, compelled Parliament to bend the knee to the mob.

Febrile

McDonnell, who has often praised the political value of violence, called on a million to join last weeks so-called Day of Rage: a march on Parliament to challenge the legitimacy of the newly elected government (and lets not forget that the Tories actually increased their vote share, to a figure not seen since the Eighties).

No need to worry: The 'Day of Rage' proposed by John McDonnell attracted only a couple of hundred demonstrators

That day I had to visit Westminster, and I was a little nervous about encountering the front line of the million combatants summoned by McDonnell. I need not have worried  and neither, as it turned out, did the police, who were there in force. A mere couple of hundred demonstrators showed up. I could just about hear a little clump of them chanting shame on you, but only by straining my ears.

Seriously  and this is above all a message to the febrile parliamentary Conservative Party  there is no need to push the panic button.

Glasto's just a festival of litter louts

Corbyn bares his soul at Glastonbury and speaks directly to the dispossessed. That was the headline on a eulogistic article about the Labour leaders address to the pop festival, which so captivated one of the countless BBC staff attending that he tweeted a photo of Corbyn taking the crowds applause with the caption When you ace the chorus line. In reality, Glastonbury is about the least appropriate place in Britain to speak directly to the dispossessed. Tickets to enter are 238. And while comrade Jeremy spoke to them of building bridges, not walls, there are barriers all around the festival site to keep out the riff-raff.

Mess: After last year's Glastonbury festival it took 500 workers three weeks to clear up the rubbish at a cost of 800,000. 57 tonnes of re-usable items were left behind

The dispossessed of the world would be scandalised by the waste of the types (whether Corbyn fans or not) attending this self-indulgent shindig. After last years festival, it took 500 workers three weeks to clean up the mess, at a cost of almost 800,000.

One of those involved in this unpleasant job put out a film on YouTube, and described the scenes of casual devastation: Alcohol, gas bottles, tents, camping chairs, trolleys, airbeds . . . these are horrible people, using other peoples energy to clear up after themselves.

According to the Glastonbury Free Press, last year 57 tonnes of re-usable items were left behind. They may be termed the dispossessed  but only of what theyd thoughtlessly discarded.

Youre welcome to Glasto, Jeremy: Id rather spend a weekend anywhere else.
Two women who started making healthy treats in their kitchen when they gave up sugar as a New Year's Resolution are now running one of the country's most popular sugar-free cake companies.

Housemates Daisy Kristiansen, 31, and Leah Garwood-Gowers, 28, from London, gave up sugar for New Year in 2014 and started making their own healthy takes on cakes and chocolates in the kitchen when they were uninspired by what was on the shelves.

After giving them out to their friends, the women, who worked late nights in bars and hotels to fund their fledgling business, started selling them at healthy food markets.

The Hardihood quickly took off - and three years later, they are stocked in Planet Organic and Harrods, count Kate Moss as a fan and have catered backstage at Paris Fashion Week.

Housemates Daisy Kristiansen, 31, and Leah Garwood-Gowers, 28, from London, run healthy treat company The Hardihood. They came up with the idea after they gave up sugar for New Year in 2014 and now their cakes are stocked in Planet Organic and loved by Kate Moss

The women have also released a cookbook filled with 100 recipes of handcrafted raw confectionery that's made with all natural ingredients and is completely free from refined sugar, gluten, wheat, dairy and soya.

Speaking to MailOnline about their healthy brainchild, the pair said: 'We couldn't find anything sugar-free that was exciting on shop shelves so we started experimenting at home by creating beautiful looking cakes.

'We bought the cheapest blender from Argos and just got going really. Looking back it was a huge experimentation to see how these new ingredients worked together.'

The women started off their brand by buying the cheapest blender they could find and experimented with different ingredients

Their handcrafted raw confectionery is made with all natural ingredients and is completely free from refined sugar, gluten, wheat, dairy and soya

The best friends have catered backstage at Paris Fashion Week after walking around all the modelling agencies giving them cake

The first thing the women made was something with dates, beetroot and desiccated coconut (which they admit 'looked horrendous') but the more they experimented, the easier it became.

The treats were such a hit with their friends that they started selling them at health shows and catering at events, such as the XX's album launch party.

They have since catered backstage at Paris Fashion Week after walking around all the modelling agencies giving them cake.

Health guru Deliciously Ella was one of the brand's first advocates and whenever she shared something on Instagram, Daisy and Leah's inboxes would 'blow up'.

The women are pictured in their kitchen making their treats, which they want to sell in every single supermarket in the UK

The company is still completely self-funded by the women, who both worked two jobs to fund it in the early stages

The women have now sold over 50,000 pieces of cake and made over 1,000 bespoke celebration cakes and their treats are sold in Daylesford, Harrods and Planet Organic.

Their cakes, which start at 70 for an entire handcrafted raw cake, and around 4 for a slice of cake, are loved by Mel C, Immy Waterhouse, Rosie Fortescue, Kate Moss and Michael Fassbender.

THE HARDIHOOD'S ADVICE TO OTHERS Go for it Ask a million question Read all the books on starting a business you can find and then make decisions from your heart and trust your gut Advertisement

The ladies were introduced to their literary agent by a friend and have since released a best-selling cookbook.

'We have a victory song that we dance to like dorks every time something great comes off,' the duo say about their successes.

The women are now focussing on 'disrupting' the cake market in the same way that alternative snacks disrupted the traditional crisp market.

'Were still completely self-funded, we both had two jobs for the first year of The Hardihood as we were adamant about boot strapping until wed proved traction.

'Were going to go through our first rounds of investment at the beginning of 2018 as part of our marketing plans for expansion.

'In five years' time wed like our products to be on the shelves of every supermarket, offering people a choice and an alternative but never a compromise.'

Lead is pictured, left, selling the cakes in Planet Organic and, right, packaging the treats in the studio. 'Were going to go through our first rounds of investment at the beginning of 2018 as part of our marketing plans for expansion,' they say

The women are pictured at a publishing event with Russel Brand and Joe Wicks
An Australian woman who was struck down by aggressive cancer has permanently lost her hair after receiving treatment to tackle it.

Jacinta Schofield, 33, was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 25 and underwent intensive radiation and chemotherapy which 'killed' her hair follicles.

'I felt so lost despite people constantly telling me how lucky I was to be alive,' Ms Schofield told Daily Mail Australia candidly about her struggle with hair loss.

'I know that I am lucky to be here but the feeling was so dark and painful. I was traumatised in my own grief,' she said.

Jacinta Schofield, 33, was lucky to survive cancer but the treatment she received led her to permanently lose her hair

Lauren (right) hopes to raise money for a medical suction wig from Angel Wings in Melbourne for Jacinta (left) which ring in at AUD $5,090 and last for three to five years

'I was very scared and in denial and kept thinking - no my hair was so thick it will grow back, until I went in to Advanced Hair Studio and they did a head scan and confirmed my hair follicles had been killed,' she said.

Jacinta said that other cancer survivors she knows have had their hair grow back.

Jacinta initially underwent brain surgery to remove her tumour - which was later found to be an aggressive Malignant Brain tumour called meduloblastoma, which was very close to her brain stem.

The treatment plan was to hit it hard and hit it fast, supplying her with the maximum radiation and chemotherapy her body could handle and build it back up with stem cell reinfusions and blood transfers, which left her with many long term effects, including permanent hair loss.

Jacinta Schofield (left), 33, was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 25 and now her friend Lauren Hammett (right) wants to raise money to buy her a wig

'I was devastated and I hated wearing synthetic wigs, they are uncomfortable,' Jacinta told Daily Mail Australia.

'Having a human hair medical suction wig has helped me come to terms with my hair loss by giving me freedom to enjoy most things with my own hair that I once took for granted.'

Not only is Jacinta going public about her experience to help herself, but also to help anyone else who has suffered hair loss at the hands of cancer.

'There is no financial support for medical wigs, even more concerning is that the government charges GST on them. Medical wigs are the only medical prosthesis that have no GST exemption,' she said.

'My heart goes out to families with low incomes and how cruel its is to charge GST on medical wigs especially for young adults trying to start their life who suffer hair loss.'

To help cover the cost of a wig Jacinta's friend Lauren Hammett has started a GoFundMe campaign.

Her current wig is currently balding and the fundraiser states that buying a new one would mean she can do the things that the rest of us take for granted

'Jacinta (centre) did wear a regular front lace synthetic wig for two years,' Lauren said

'Wigs are so expensive and I as a hairdresser know how important hair is and the feeling it gives you when your hair looks good you feel better. It's the only thing I can do to help her and we are both overwhelmed at the response,' Lauren told Daily Mail Australia.

'I just wanted her friends to be able to give her a hand as it's been tough after cancer for her in so many ways... her main reason for wanting this to be shared is to somehow have at least the GST removed,'

Within the last seven years she has become no longer fertile and is permanently deaf in her left ear due to the tumour and treatment.

'My heart broke for her the day she told me her hair would never grow back, something most of us take for granted everyday as our hair is our crowning glory,' Lauren wrote on the campaign page.

'I was so happy to see the changes, and that I could style her hair on her wedding day - it was heart-warming to see how thrilled and grateful she was

Lauren hopes to raise money for a medical suction wig from Angel Wings in Melbourne, which ring in at AUD $5,090 and last for three to five years.

'Jacinta did wear a regular front lace synthetic wig for two years before she changed to her first Human Hair Suction Wig, in which she confided in me how much it had changed her life'.

Her current wig is currently balding and the fundraiser states that buying a new one would mean she can do the things that the rest of us take for granted, like going to the beach and swimming, styling her hair and hugging a baby without worrying it will pull her wig off.

'As her friend I have seen her confidence rise, become happier and less anxious about having to spend the rest of her life without her own hair or having to wear an uncomfortable synthetic wig,' Lauren explained.

'I was so happy to see the changes, and that I could style her hair on her wedding day - it was heart-warming to see how thrilled and grateful she was. With a regular synthetic wig this would not have been possible'.

Lauren explained that suction wigs are only available in mainland states, meaning that Jacinta, who lives in Tasmania, has to travel twice during the making of her medical wig

Lauren explained that suction wigs are only available in mainland states, meaning that Jacinta, who lives in Tasmania, has to travel twice during the making of her medical wig.

Jacinta has also experienced a loss of income as cancer has affected her ability to return to full time work

'Disappointingly there is no financial support for medical wigs, even more concerning the government charges GST on them,' Lauren wrote.

'Medical wigs are the only medical prosthesis that have no GST exemption. For people living in Tasmania there is no medical wig subsidy'.

Lauren said that Jacinta is now lucky enough to call herself a survivor and appreciates life to the fullest, despite everything that has happened.

'Having a Suction wig gives her the freedom to feel as normal as she possibly can, easing her anxiety about her hair loss and to do most things she used to with her own natural hair'.
Crown Princess Mary is 'poised' to announce her pregnancy, according to this week's New Idea magazine.

A 'European royal expert' told the publication that they had heard the Princess was pregnant, adding 'this would be very exciting news for Australians'.

The expert claimed the royal press office had been told to prepare for an announcement on the subject.

A 'European royal expert' told New Idea that they had heard the Australian-born Princess was 'pregnant', adding: 'This would be very exciting news for Australians'

The source told New Idea Princess Mary was ready for a new bundle of joy now that her youngest children are in school (Princess Mary is pictured here with Crown Prince Frederik)

Princess Mary, 45, is already a mum to Christian, 11, Isabella, 10, and six-year-old twins Vincent and Josephine.

The source told New Idea Princess Mary was ready for a new bundle of joy now that her youngest children are in school.

'No one saw this coming!' the source reportedly said. 'But of course everyone's very happy - now the twins are at school she felt she was finally ready for another one.'

Earlier this month, it appeared as if the Australian-born princess may have had something on her mind as she was pictured looking intently at her Gianvito Rossi nude heels at Copenhagen airport while waiting to meet the Crown Prince of Japan with her husband Prince Frederik.

Dressed in an oriental-inspired floral Erdem gown, at one point, the Princess appeared momentarily distracted, staring downwards with her hands clasped across her beige handbag and gloves.

Princess Mary, 45, is already a mum to Christian, 11, Isabella, 10, and six-year-old twins Vincent and Josephine (all pictured)

The Prince and Princess famously met in a Sydney bar called the Slip Inn during the 2000 OIympics.

The then-28-year-old Mary had no idea she was talking to a royal at the time.

'The first time we met we shook hands I didn't know he was the prince of Denmark,' she has previously said. 'Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, "Do you know who these people are?"'

The pair got engaged in October 2003 and married at Copenhagen Cathedral in May 2004 - with Mary dressed in a gown by Danish designer Uffe Frank.

'From today, Mary is mine and I am hers,' Prince Frederik said at the altar. 'I love her and I will protect her with all my love.'
Prince Charles is often criticised for extravagance, but one royal is taking austerity to extremes.

Lady Amelia Windsor, who joined the Queen on Buckingham Palace's balcony for Trooping the Colour, has started shopping at Oxfam.

To prove it, the 21-year-old Edinburgh University student, who has been described as the 'most beautiful royal', shared this photograph from a changing room at a branch of the charity shop.

'Summer supplies  found in Oxfam,' explained the Duke of Kent's granddaughter, as she shared this picture online of her in the long, floral dress.

Last week the Queen abandoned her crown and robes for the State Opening of Parliament.

No doubt, if Jeremy Corbyn becomes PM, Her Majesty will be prevailed upon to turn up in a charity shop outfit.

Lady Amelia Windsor, who joined the Queen on Buckingham Palace's balcony for Trooping the Colour, has started shopping at Oxfam

Glastonbury is now for the rich and their offspring, but comic Dom Joly plans to hold his own festival at home in the Cotswolds.

Court jester to the Chipping Norton set, Joly will celebrate his 50th birthday with performances by rockers Babybird and Nineties rapper Betty Boo.

'I couldn't hack the idea of camping and mud and chemical loos and free-range hippies,' he admits.

'I'm never going to beat Clarkson, who had Squeeze and The Who at his 50th.'

Vogue Williams, whose three-month romance with Spencer, 27, is one of his most enduring, posed in a huge pair of red clogs in the Netherlands this weekend

Marrying Made In Chelsea's most incorrigible womaniser, Spencer Matthews, would be a risky move, but his girlfriend, Vogue Williams, has shown she's not afraid of taking big steps.

The 31-year-old Irish model, whose three-month romance with Spencer, 27, is one of his most enduring, posed in a huge pair of red clogs in the Netherlands this weekend.

Vogue joked: 'Dancing shoes on for my Friday night off in Amsterdam.'

Worrying news for British fans of War And Peace's Lily James.

The 28-year-old actress plans to quit these shores for America.

'I've always longed to live in New York, and I'm hoping to move there this year with a friend, and maybe do a show on or off Broadway,' reveals Lily, whose boyfriend is former Doctor Who star Matt Smith.

'London will always be my home, but it's important to try out different places.'

Tate Gallery boss Maria Balshaw has been seriously injured after a fellow yogi stumbled on top of her. Posting a picture online of her injury, Balshaw explained: 'My not so happy hand. Cracked wrist from big man falling on me in yoga class. First World Problem'

Yoga is meant to help one achieve a tranquil mind and body, but try telling that to new Tate Gallery boss Maria Balshaw.

The 47-year-old has been seriously injured after a fellow yogi stumbled on top of her.

Posting a picture online of her injury, Balshaw explained: 'My not so happy hand. Cracked wrist from big man falling on me in yoga class. First World Problem.'

Perhaps Balshaw, right, could offer her wrist support as a future exhibit? I've seen worse.
William Tyrrell's campaign page has shared a heartbreaking Facebook post to mark the little boy's sixth birthday.

The June 26 birthday is the third that the family has spent without William by their side after he disappeared from his grandmother's home in Kendall, New South Wales, in September, 2014.

'Today is William's 6th birthday and millions of people from around Australia and across the globe are thinking of William and his family,' the post, which was shared on the official Where's William campaign Facebook page, read.

William Tyrrell's campaign page has shared a heartbreaking Facebook post to mark the little boy's sixth birthday

In the lead up to his birthday, the group shared another tribute to William (pictured in 2014) and called on Australians to light a candle to recognise his birthday

'Today is William's 6th birthday and millions of people from around Australia and across the globe are thinking of William and his family,' the post (pictured) which was shared on the official Where's William campaign Facebook page, read

'Some will say a prayer. Others will join us in lighting a candle for William - A candle of love and hope that soon William will be found and returned to the loving arms of his family where he belongs.

'Today marks 1019 days since William's Mum and Dad last held their precious little boy.

'Today, we will think of William, his family and all the children who are missing, and when we light a candle for William, we'll be sending a message of love, support and continued hope to them all.'

'1019 sleeps since he was taken from those he loves and who love him. 1019 sleeps since he felt their loving arms around him and 1019 sleeps of unimaginable heartbreak, fears and countless tears,' it read

The post was shared with a photo of William at age three next to a photograph of how he would look today.

In the lead up to his birthday, the group shared another tribute to William and called on Australians to light a candle to recognise his birthday.

'On the 26 June, William's 6th Birthday, it will be 1019 sleeps since he was abducted,' the post read.

'1019 sleeps since he was taken from those he loves and who love him. 1019 sleeps since he felt their loving arms around him and 1019 sleeps of unimaginable heartbreak, fears and countless tears.

William's parents took the toddler and his sister to visit another grandmother in Kendall on the NSW Mid North Coast on September 12, 2014 when he went missing

'On his special day, please join us in lighting a candle for William - a candle of love for this little man and a candle of hope.'

'NSW Police are offering a $1 Million reward for information that will lead police to William. That's 1 Million reasons to make the call! If you know anything of William's abduction, make the call to Crime Stoppers NOW! 1800 333 000.'

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin said his team felt frustrated each time William's family marked a milestone without their little boy.

'But this makes us more determined to bring him home.

'I'll remind those who have information about William's disappearance: Now is the time to come forward.

'Our team will not give up until we solve this matter. If you are withholding information, you are committing an offence'.

William's parents took the toddler and his sister to visit their grandmother in Kendall on the NSW Mid North Coast on September 12, 2014 when he went missing.

Efforts to locate the boy included an extensive search of nearby bushland and surrounds and a taskforce was set up at the time to investigate a suspected abduction

The then three-year-old boy was playing in the yard in a Spiderman suit when police believe he was abducted and nobody has been found since.

Efforts to locate the boy included an extensive search of nearby bushland and surrounds and a taskforce was set up at the time to investigate a suspected abduction.

A $1 million reward was announced in September, 2016, for any information that leads to William's discovery.

If you have seen William or have information relating to his disappearance, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at Crime Stoppers online reporting page. You can remain anonymous.
A little boy celebrating Eid with some very nifty dance moves has left the internet grinning, after a video of his routine went viral.

The youngster, from Turkey, twirled and clapped his way through traditional music in the short clip.

After being posted online by Twitter user @I7sannFt with the caption 'Eid mubarak everyone', the super-cute video has been shared millions of times, with J K Rowling among those tickled by the dancing.

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Let me show you how to dance! The little boy, from Turkey, has captivated viewers with his twirling Eid dance routine

The joyous 40-second clip sees the pre-schooler showing off his best moves. Viewers loved his precision timing too, as he clapped in all the right places

In the clip, the little boy, wearing a blue top with cartoon characters and yellow trousers, begins his dance on a Persian rug.

He clearly knows every beat of the song and concentrates as crucial hand-claps come up.

At one point he rolls his sleeves up to keep cool before singing along.

One viewer suggested it was 40 seconds of 'sunshine' while another called it 'mesmerising'.

@CateS61370102, tweeted: 'What a little mover!' and @RochelleFrench added: 'I want to watch this kid all day.'

Harry Potter author J K Rowling re-tweeted the video to her 10.8million followers, with many then sharing it on.

Saturday marked the end of Ramadan, with Eid - a period of celebration and feasting beginning yesterday

It was later revealed that the little boy, seen with a family member, lives in Turkey

Muslims throughout the world are today celebrating the Eid al-Fitr festival which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Fasting for Ramadan began on May 27th and ended at midnight on Saturday.

Worshippers now enter into the month of Shawwal and welcome it with a feast that breaks the Ramadan fasting.
Back in the '90s an 'It Girl' conjured up images of a party girl who specialised in hitting the town in very glamorous fashion, and possibly very little else.

But today's crop of millennial It Girls are a rather more talented bunch, including a multi-skilled actress and poet who made her debut in Harry Potter and Lady Diana's niece Kitty Spencer who effortlessly combines modelling, high society socialising and philanthropy.

Kitty and her cohorts feature on Tatler's list of 2017 English Roses - 26 of the most 'exciting, interesting and beautiful' young women in the UK and have been photographer by David Burton in and around Lady Pamela Mountbatten's home, The Grange, for a new exhibition.

Lady Kitty, 26, smoulders in her portrait wearing a plunging silver jumpsuit, as she perches on an antique chair in the library.

Lady Diana's niece Kitty Spencer smoulders in silver for her library shot

Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, daughter of the Queen's cousin, strikes a thoughtful pose

Of course, the list wouldn't be complete without Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, the daughter of the 4th Marquess of Milford Haven.

The dressage rider and model cuts a thoughtful figure for her portrait, posing barefoot in a fur trimmed coat.

Greta Bellamacina also went for relaxed flamour in her shot, perching on top of a gate post in a plunging gold dress.

The actress, poet and film-maker made her film debut playing a Slytherin school girl in Harry Potter

Greta Bellamacina wows in a plunging gold dress. The multi-talented blonde is an actress, poet and film-maker

Socialite Bea Fresson, daughter of hotelier Michael Fresson, added edge to her pretty white dress with black knee length boots

Thursday night sees Kate Reardon and Michael Kors host an exclusive opening party at London's Saatchi Gallery to open the exhibition.

'As the oldest magazine in the world, Tatler has long been dedicated to chronicling the most fabulous members of British high society,' Kate said.

'More than anything, we understand the special alchemy that creates an It-girl  that rare combination of beauty, charisma and timeliness which, happily, is synonymous with Michael Kors and their tradition of championing young rising stars the world over.'

See the full portfolio of Tatler's English Roses in association with Michael Kors at Saatchi Gallery from 30th June  2nd July, and in the August issue of Tatler'
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A Canadian soldier has made history by becoming the first female officer to command the troops guarding the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

The diminutive Captain Megan Couto, 24, upended more than 300 years of history when she led some 40 Canadian troops through the Changing of the Guard this morning.

Captain Couto and her unit, The Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were invited to serve as the Queen's Guard on a temporary basis as part of events to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada.

A ban on women serving in ground close combat roles in the British Armed Forces, which was lifted in July last year, means no woman has served as Captain of the Queen's Guard.

However in Canada, all Armed Forces roles have been open to women since 1989.

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Honour: Canadian Captain Megan Couto, right, makes history by becoming the first female Captain of the Queen's Guard. The diminutive soldier looked calm and collected despite admitting she was feeling 'stressed' before the event

Captain Couto, right, broke with more than 300 years of tradition when she led her troops through the Changing of the Guard

Pioneer: Captain Megan Couto, centre, today became the first woman to command the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace

Duty: Captain Couto, centre, leads out troops of the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry from Wellington Barracks heading for the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace this morning

Humble: Ahead of the historic occasion, Captain Couto, centre, said she was focusing on 'doing her job as best as she can'

Captain Couto, who has been with the military for seven years, told the Daily Telegraph she had been 'blind' to the fact that she was in the minority as a woman in the Armed Forces.

She said: 'Im treated just like any other infantry officer: if I do my job well Im rewarded and if I mess up then Im corrected. Its been fairly normal.'

While she admitted she was feeling a 'healthy bit of stress' ahead of the ceremony today, Captain Couto looked calm and composed as she led her troops to Buckingham Palace from nearby Wellington Barracks.

How Canada's military rules allow Captain Couto to make history Captain Couto's unit are serving as the Queen's guard on selected dates until July 3, stepping in to protect St James's Palace, the Tower of London, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. The Queen invited Canada to send troops as a way of marking 150 years since Confederation. The role of Mounting the Queen's Guard usually falls to the British Army's Household Division, which is largely made up of male troops. Restrictions on women in close combat roles mean none has ever served as Captain of the Queen's Guard. However in Canada all roles are open to women, allowing Captain Couto to take up the position of responsibility. Advertisement

The 35-piece Royal Canadian Artillery Band led the way as crowds gathered to witness the historic events, CBC News reported.

The news outlet noted the Canadians could be distinguished from the British foot guards as they wore grey headwear, called pith helmets, rather than the bearskin hats.

Ahead of the event, Captain Couto said she was focusing on doing her job to the best of her ability.

'I'm just focusing on doing my job as best I can and staying humble,' she said.

'Any of my peers would be absolutely delighted to be Captain of the Queen's Guard and I'm equally honoured.

'I'm not feeling too nervous. We've practised enough and all the guys have been through their paces. I've just to focus on saying the right commands.'

Captain Couto's unit, known as The Patricia's, has been invited to the UK to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada.

The role of Mounting the Queen's Guard usually falls to the British Army's Household Division, which is largely made up of male troops.

Units from the British Empire and the Commonwealth have also been invited to take up the post.

While women have served on frontline duties in the British Army in a variety of roles, until July last year they were banned from ground close combat roles, so no female officer has served as Captain of the Queen's Guard.

Final preparations: Captain Couto, right, with her troops before leading them out of Wellington Barracks this morning

Acceptance: Captain Couto, left, said she has never felt like she is a minority as a woman in Canada's Armed Forces

Confident: Captain Couto appeared calm as she took part in the ceremony with a member of the Coldstream Guards, left. Right, the captain ahead of the event

Honour: Captain Megan Couto, against the gate back right, makes history during the ceremony at Buckingham Palace today

Captain Megan Couto, left, led her troops as the took part in the ceremony with soldiers from the Coldstream Guards, right

Prestigious: Soldiers from the Coldstream Guards and of the 2nd Battlion of Princess Patricia's Canadian light infantry

The Government is opening up combat roles to women over a phased three-year term.

In November last year, some units of the Royal Armoured Corps were opened to women. Roles in the infantry, including those in the Queen's Foot Guards, will be opened by the end of next year.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: 'I have always wanted roles in our armed forces to be determined by ability, not gender.

'Women have already given exemplary service in recent conflicts, working in a variety of highly specialised and vital roles. By opening all combat roles to women, we will continue to build on these successes and improve the operational capability of our military'.

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Manitoba, Canada, was named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, daughter of the then-Governor General of Canada.

Princess Patricia had special links with Buckingham Palace, the place of her birth on March 17 1886. Her father was Prince Arthur, the third son of Queen Victoria.
She's been showcasing some flamboyant headwear over the past week and Monday's outing was no different for Queen Maxima.

The Queen of the Netherlands stepped out in some rather quirky neon green accessories in Amsterdam.

Resplendent in a black and white graphic dress, the royal added a splash of colour in the form of a vibrant green headpiece, scarf, tote and stilettos.

Queen Maxima donned bizarre neon accessories as she arrived at a neurology congress in Amsterdam on Tuesday

The Queen was in high spirits as she arrived for the annual Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN).

The congress sees topics surrounding neurological research being discussed by leading international experts in the different neurological fields.

The event brings together thousands of scientists and clinicians from all over Europe and the rest of the world.

The Queen was in high spirits as she arrived for the annual Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN)

The royal added a splash of colour to her black and white outfit in the form of a vibrant green headpiece, scarf, tote and stilettos

Known for her love of flamboyant headgear it was no surprise to see Queen Maxima sporting a rather ostentatious piece of millinery once again on Friday.

The Queen of the Netherlands stepped out in an oversized straw hat on day four of her royal tour of Italy.

The 46-year-old monarch looked resplendent in a gold silk dress printed with a floral design and complete with lace detailing.

Known for her love of flamboyant headgear it was no surprise to see Queen Maxima sporting a rather ostentatious piece of headwear

She showcased her flair for coordination by pairing her ensemble with tan accessories, including a suede clutch and a pair of leather gloves.

The mother-of-three swept her golden locks back into a stylish chignon in light of the warm weather.

Maxima was joined by husband King Willem Alexander for a tour of the Galleria Rossanna Orlandi in Milan.

The Queen showcased her trim figure as she stepped out just days after returning from her Italian tour

Queen Maxima looked resplendent in a golden ensemble for her fourth and final day of her Italian tour

She and husband King Willem Alexander visited he Galleria Rossanna Orlandi in Milan

The Dutch Queen met with the Italian designer who had bought along her granddaughter who wore the same shade of orange as her grandmother - possibly a nod towards the national colour of the Netherlands.

The Argentinian-born royal spent several minutes chatting to the enchanted young girl before making her way inside the gallery.

The royal couple could be seen admiring an enormous light installation complete with intricate glass work.

The couple later took time to pose for a group photograph with members of staff at the gallery.

Maxima and King Willem-Alexander enjoyed a four day state visit to Italy.

On Thursday the couple went to a vintage car event in Rome where she posed with classic vehicles.

The couple later made a trip to Milan, where they joined Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, at the Cenacolo Vinciano in the Refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Earlier on Thursday Queen Maxima wore all black to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican with her husband, King Willem-Alexander.

As is customary - though not mandatory - at Papal audiences, the Queen, who is Roman Catholic, covered her head with a traditional black lace mantilla to meet the Pontiff.

On Wednesday they made a whirlwind trip to Sicily to browse a street market, and attend a concert by a Dutch violinist in Rome.
He's a notorious workaholic who rarely tears himself away from running his empire, but Zara founder Amancio Ortega has finally found time to take a break with his family.

The notoriously private businessman, 80, who is worth 65 billion, still goes into work and puts in nine hours most days at Inditex - the parent company of brands such as Zara, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti.

But he's finally been persuaded to take some time out on his 67.27 metre yacht Drizzle where he was spotted soaking up the sun in St Tropez with family members.

The unassuming billionaire, who is the richest man in Europe and the world's third wealthiest man, looked low key as ever in red swimming trunks as he took a refreshing shower after a dip in the sea.

He was joined on board by his wife Flora and daughter Marta, as well as two of his grandchildren

Billionaire Zara founder Amancio Ortega, 80, takes a shower on his 41.2 million yacht in St Tropez

The billionaire's daughter Marta, was spotted on board, relaxing in a green bikini top and denim shorts

Ortega was joined by his second wife Flora, who he met when she worked for the high street chain Zara

Ortega and Flora began their relationship when she was an attractive young member of staff and he was still married to his first wife Rosalia.

When his wife learned of the affair, Flora was sent to manage the Zara in Vigo, 110 miles from La Coruna.

But Ortega would visit her there and, after he and Rosalia divorced, Flora became his second wife.

Their daughter, Marta, was born in January 1984 and attended a Swiss boarding school, where she learned to ride and ski.

Oretega, 80, still puts a nine hour day in most of the times and is reluctant to tear himself away from the office

Ortega took time out on his relatively modest 67 metre yacht, Drizzle, with family members

Ortega usually shuns the spotlight and holidaymakers would not have guessed they were in the presence of one of the world's richest businessmen

Marta then studied business management in London, and trained as an assistant in Zara on Oxford Street (where Kate Moss, who modelled there, reportedly rebuffed her friendly overtures).

ORTEGA'S DRIZZLE YACHT Built by Feadships De Vries yard in the Netherlands 2005, Drizzle sold for There's room for 10 guests in a master suite on the main deck, while the lowers deck hosts four more double cabins. Crew quarters can accommodate a maximum of 18 people. Advertisement

This led to inevitable speculation that she was being groomed to take over the company.

Perhaps with that in mind, the obsessively private Ortega  who reluctantly allowed his photograph to be released for the first time in 2001, when Inditex was floated on the stock exchange  strove to keep Marta out of the spotlight.

However, by dint of her film-star looks, her friendship with jet-setters such as Athena Onassis and a penchant for show-jumping, Marta is a magnet for the Spanish papers.

In 2012, after dating several eligible men, she married top rider Sergio Alvarez Moya.

The ceremony, at her fathers estate, befitted a billionaires daughter. The altar was designed by sculptor Anish Kapoor, 20 make-up artists were flown in from New York, and Martas gown was created not by Zara, but her couturier friend, Narciso Rodriguez.

The billionaire businessman prepares to enjoy a refreshing dip in the Mediterranean

Ortega's second wife Flora soaked up the sun in a black swimsuit

Ortega cahts to his wife Flora while family members splash about in the paddling pool on the yacht's sun deck

The son of a railway worker from La Coruna in Spain, Ortega transformed clothing group Inditex from a tiny family dressmaker into Spain's biggest company

ZARA BY NUMBERS There's over 2,200 Zara stores in 93 countries

Known for its fast fashion and can get clothes onto shop shelves in two weeks

There's 436 Zara stores in Spain alone

Zara is valued at 8.87bn ($11.3bn) Advertisement

Marta and Alvarez have a four-year-old son. But last summer the Spanish newspapers said Marta was involved with handsome designers son Carlos Torretta.

Further eyebrows were raised when a photo of Marta, topless with her back to the camera, was posted on Instagram.

It was taken in Barbados on a shoot for Zara Woman, where she has a senior role.

The son of a railway worker from La Coruna in Spain, Ortega transformed clothing group Inditex from a tiny family dressmaker into Spain's biggest company.

Ortega, pictured showering on the deck of his yacht, can certainly afford to enjoy the trappings of a lavish lifestyle but even at 80 he can still be found hard at work in the office most days

Workaholic Ortega takes advantage of the rare opportunity to put his feet up on holiday

Ortega shielded his eyes from the sun with a white baseball cap as he enjoyed a family holiday

The unassuming billionaire may be the world's third richest man, but he rarely does anything to show off his vast wealth in public

Ortega climbs back on board the 57 metre yacht after taking a dip in the sea in the South of France

Within a few years he had set up a workshop making nightgowns, lingerie and babywear, and the first Zara opened in Spain in 1975.

Ortega never gives interviews and is rarely photographed. He did not even attend the inaugural ringing of the stock marketbell at the Madrid exchange when Inditex floated in 2001.

In person, Ortega is a persuasive and enthusiastic businessman, who despite progressively handing over the day-to-day management of the company over the last decade continues as an active part of it, people familiar with Inditex say.

He is known for selecting designs based on feedback fromshop assistants who zero in on shoppers' reactions.

'If he speaks to a shop assistant and he likes what they had to say, he will pay more attention to that than to any of his managers,' a former Inditex director told Reuters.

Ortega never gives interviews and is rarely photographed. He did not even attend the inaugural ringing of the stock marketbell at the Madrid exchange when Inditex floated in 2001

Ortega recently donated 320 million euro to public hospitals to fund equipment to treat cancer

Ortega met his spouse Flora (centre) when she worked for Zara and the pair married after he split from his first wife

Battle to become the Zara Zillionaire: How a reclusive fashion boss's two daughters from different marriages are vying to inherit the 58bn empire... by David Jones In La Coruna, North-west Spain For The Daily Mail Since its ageing protagonist wont be around for ever, despite daily walks and gym sessions, there is also the question of who might succeed him. Which brings us to his glamorous younger daughter, Marta, and her racy circle of friends. His marriage to Rosalia brought two children, Sandra, now 48, and Marcos, 45. He had hoped his son would be his heir, and was devastated when Marcos was born with cerebral palsy. The two daughters had very different upbringings. Sandra, pictured, attended state school Biographer Blanco says they then drifted apart, and Ortega started a relationship with Flora Perez, an attractive young member of staff. When his wife learned of the affair, Flora was sent to manage the Zara in Vigo, 110 miles from La Coruna. But Ortega would visit her there and, after he and Rosalia divorced, Flora became his second wife. Their daughter, Marta, was born in January 1984 and she became the apple of her fathers eye, while her half-sister gravitated towards her mother. The two daughters had very different upbringings. Sandra attended state school, but Marta finished her education at a Swiss boarding school, where she learned to ride and ski. Marta then studied business management in London, and trained as an assistant in Zara on Oxford Street (where Kate Moss, who modelled there, reportedly rebuffed her friendly overtures). This led to inevitable speculation that she was being groomed to take over the company. Perhaps with that in mind, the obsessively private Ortega  who reluctantly allowed his photograph to be released for the first time in 2001, when Inditex was floated on the stock exchange  strove to keep Marta out of the spotlight. After all, Sandra has maintained her anonymity, despite becoming Spains richest woman in 2013, when her mother died and she inherited her seven per cent stake in the company. In 2012, after dating several eligible men, Marta, pictured, married top rider Sergio Alvarez Moya However, by dint of her film-star looks, her friendship with jet-setters such as Athena Onassis and a penchant for show-jumping, Marta is a magnet for the Spanish papers. In 2012, after dating several eligible men, she married top rider Sergio Alvarez Moya. Marta and Alvarez have a four-year-old son. But last summer the Spanish newspapers said Marta was involved with handsome designers son Carlos Torretta. Further eyebrows were raised when a photo of Marta, topless with her back to the camera, was posted on Instagram. It was taken in Barbados on a shoot for Zara Woman, where she has a senior role. Among Ortega watchers, all this cemented a view that began forming several years ago, when he entrusted the day-to-day running of Inditex to former cigarette company boss Pablo Isla: that Marta probably wont succeed him, much as he dotes on her. But, for now, the octogenarian who made glamour accessible to a generation seems content to keep working, and walking his dog along La Corunas bleak promenade. Advertisement




Queen Letizia is well known for her love of tailoring so it was no surprise to see her showcasing her slender legs in a fitted pair of pants last night.

The Spanish royal looked her chic best as she arrived at awards ceremony in Madrid on Sunday.

The 45-year-old made a style statement in her bright orange cigarette pants which she paired with matching rust coloured accessories in the form of suede pumps and a skinny belt.

Queen Letizia looked chic in a nautical style ensemble as she attended an awards ceremony in Madrid on Sunday

The former journalist opted for a nautical style silk shirt in blue, white and red which provided an elegant touch to her ensemble.

The mother-of-two had her hair blow dried to perfection wearing it in glossy waves for her engagement on Sunday.

Letizia was attending the 'Discapnet' awards 2017 at the Somontes Club in the Spanish capital.

The 45-year-old made a style statement in her bright orange cigarette pants which she paired with matching rust coloured accessories

The Spanish royal delivered a short speech before the prize giving ceremony on Sunday

The annual awards celebrate the ONCE Foundation for Accessibility Commitment to ICT and Persons with Disabilities.

Letizia delivered a speech to both nominees and guests before later presenting the winner with their distinguished prize.

She later posed for a group photo with the winners following the prize giving ceremony.

She then posed for a group photo with fellow guests and nominees at the awards

The awards celebrate the ONCE Foundation for Accessibility Commitment to ICT and Persons with Disabilities

The Spanish monarch was last spotted out and about on Friday when she visited the opening of an arts centre in Santander.

The 44-year-old was last spotted in the stand-out jacket last month, but she reinvented her look today with alternative accessories.

The former journalist could be seen carrying a chic clutch which complemented her fitted pants and opted for a pair of wine coloured court shoes to complete her look.

The couple paid a visit to the Spanish city if Santander today in order to attend the opening of the Centro Botin.

Designed by Renzo Piano, construction of the gallery space overran by three years and had a total budget of 80 million.

Queen Letizia of Spain cut an edgy figure on Friday dressed in a Cranberry coloured leather jacket for her engagement in Santander
Next month, Charlize Theron is set to star in the action flick Atomic Blonde, in which she plays an undercover MI6 agent and gets into her share of fight scenes.

Those movie fights are usually carefully choreographed, and this time around, she nailed the movements, which she described as being 'like dance'.

But posing for the cover of the latest issue of W magazine, the 41-year-old revealed that she wasn't always so masterful  in fact, in a fight scene filmed earlier in her career, she accidentally decked star Teri Hatcher right in the face.

Blonde ambition: Charlize Theron stars on the cover of the August issue of W magazine

Vitnage appeal: The 41-year-old posed for an '80s-inspired shoot; her upcoming film takes place in the decade

Va-va-voom! Charlize looks sexy with bleached-blonde hair, smoky eyes, and red lips

Charlize looks stunning and hones her '80s goddess on the new cover, sporting slightly teased bleach-blonde hair, a la Debbie Harry, and red lipstick.

She rocks a series of '80s-inspired outfits too  her new film is set in the decade  like a metallic dress sans bra and pink tights under metallic shorts.

In an interview with the magazine, she discusses her 'bada**' character in a new film and explains that she's come a long way to mastering action sequences.

In the 1996 film 2 Days in the Valley  Charlize's first-ever acting credit  Charlize gets into a physical fight with Teri Hatcher, who was a huge star at the time (and the female lead of the film).

New to professional acting, Charlize didn't have enough discipline during their fight scene, and says she was like 'a wild animal'.

Tough: Charlize admits that when she was younger and working as a model, she punched a woman in a bar

Flashback: In the interview, she shares details of a fight scene she shared with Teri Hatcher in 1996's 2 Days in the Valley, her first film credit

Whoops: She says she was like an 'animal' and got a little too wild, accidentally socking Teri in the face

So while the punches they threw were not supposed to make real contact, Charlize got a bit carried away.

'Back then I didn't know how to hone in my energy and I was knocking over lights. I had no concept of a set,' she explained. 'I connected right with Teri Hatcher's face. I felt terrible about it. I had no money and sent her some cheap beer the next day. Sorry, Teri.'

She added that while she didn't knock any teeth out, she did bruise her up a bit.

Now, she has plenty of fight scenes in Atomic Blonde, but she's got it down a bit better.

'It's like dance, and I grew up taking ballet. I love discipline,' she said. 'I function really well within the parameters of discipline and knowing what to do.'

On the go: Charlize was spotted departing JFK Airport in New York City on Monday morning for a flight with her daughter

Action star: She talks about her July film, Atomic Blonde, in which she plays a spy

Dark side: The star also said that she is attracted to playing villains and is 'fascinated by abhorrent behavior'

Surprisingly, though, Charlize admitted that Teri wasn't the only woman she'd punched in the face in her life.

'I was working in Milan as a model, and this girl got very aggressive with me at a bar,' she recalled. 'She pushed me and started talking smack, and that was it. My body just took over, and I thought, I didn't just do that, did I?'

This tough streak may explain why Charlize is attracted to hard characters and villains, like the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Huntsman and serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster.

'Look, I've always been fascinated by abhorrent behavior. I have a real interest in why people do horrible things,' she said. 'I read a lot of books and am fascinated by whether deviant behavior is caused by nature or nurture. There's a part of me that wants to understand that darkness, but I can't really understand it.

'So, it is cathartic to play a character who is evil. It's a free pass for your soul: Nothing bad is going to happen, and you can explore what it would be like to be in that skin.'
Ivanka Trump may be living in Washington, D.C., but she looked ever bit the New Yorker when she stepped out of her home in an all-black ensemble and flashy sunglasses on Monday.

The 35-year-old first daughter kicked off the work week in a sleeveless military-inspired dress by Altuzarra, pairing the look with stylish sunnies, strappy block-heel sandals laced up to her calves, and a $395 handbag from her eponymous collection.

Ivanka also added a touch of patriotism to look, wearing an American flag pin on the lapel of her dress while heading to work for the day.

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Kicking off the work week! Ivanka Trump flashed a smile as she walked out of her Washington, D.C. home on Monday morning

New York sense of style: The 35-year-old donned all black as she headed to work

Picture perfect: Ivanka accessorized her sleeveless military-inspired dress by Altuzarra with lace-up block-heel sandals and a $395 handbag from her eponymous collection

And while she was sporting some complicated looking footwear, one of her staffers was seen putting comfortable flats and a newspaper in her awaiting SUV before she left for the day.

Ivanka flashed a smile for the photographers waiting outside of her Kalorama home as she made her way to the SUV.

The mother of-three's blond hair was side parted and loose around her shoulders, and she added a pop of color to her outfit by sporting a bright red lip as she headed to work.

Although she has an office in the West Wing of the White House, Ivanka insists she steers clear of engaging in politics.

On trend: Ivanka shielded her eyes from the sun with a flashy pair of gold sunglasses

Different schedules: Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner flashed a dimpled smile as he left the house by himself

The assistant to the president  her dad  gave a memorable speech at least year's Republican National Convention and spoke at a few campaign rallies, but hasn't engaged in the tit-for-tat mud fights that typify Washington.

'I try to stay out of politics,' she told Fox & Friends, noting that President Donald Trump's political instincts are phenomenal. He did something that no one could have imagined he'd be able to accomplish.'

'I feel blessed just being part of the ride from day one and before. But he did something pretty remarkable. But I don't profess to be a political savant.'

Ivanka also revealed that her children call Air Force One 'the candy plane' because they get M&Ms whenever they fly with their grandfather.

Looking dapper: The senior adviser to President Donald Trump donned a navy suit and a maroon tie for his day of work

Back up plan: One of Ivanka's assistants was seen putting a spare pair of Ivanka Trump-brand shoes and a newspaper into her SUV before she left for the day

Arabella, 5, and Joseph, 3, understand their singular situation 'in a limited capacity,' she said. And 'they always exit the plane a lot more hyper and on a sugar high than when they enter. There's almost no controlling it.'

Being part of the first family is 'a surreal and remarkable experience, and I really hope that they'll be able to look back and reflect even on these very early years with such gratitude for having been able to be part of this unique experience,' she said.

Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner, 36, was also photographed heading to work on Monday morning.

President Trump's son-in-law showed off a dimpled smile as he left the house separate from his wife wearing a navy suit and maroon tie.

Rare appearance: Ivanka recently filmed an interview with Fox & Friends, speaking about her life as first daughter

Speaking her truth: Ivanka insists that she steers clear of 'politics' even though she works on policy in the West Wing of the White House

Ivanka and Jared had a busy weekend, but before heading to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's lavish wedding Saturday evening, the couple enjoyed some quality time together.

The two gazed into each other's eyes as they walked around their high-end neighborhood holding hands.

Jared donned a sky-blue button-down shirt with khaki pants, while Ivanka wore a white tank top with a high-low yellow skirt, and they both donned matching white sneakers.

The couple looked blissfully in love as they laughed at each other's jokes and strolled through the streets.

At one point, Jared even wrapped his hand around Ivanka's waist as they stood on the sidewalk before heading back home to get glammed up for Mnuchin's wedding.

Handsome couple: Jared and Ivanka attended U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's lavish wedding to Scottish actress Louise Linton, 36, in D.C. on Saturday evening

Simply stunning: Ivanka paired her strappy pink dress with chandelier earrings and a gold clutch. She had her blonde hair swept into an updo

Mnuchin wed his Scottish actress fiancee Louise Linton in front of President Trump and First Lady Melania at the star-studded ceremony in D.C. later that night.

It's the third marriage for ex-banker Mnuchin, 54, who is reportedly worth upwards of $300 million, and the second marriage for Linton, 36, an Edinburgh-born actress who has appeared in several Hollywood films.

She was married to Hollywood lawyer Ronald Richards until they divorced in 2009.

The pair exchanged vows on Saturday evening at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on the National Mall.

All smiles: President Trump, First Lady Melania, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen posed with the newlyweds following the ceremony on Saturday

Quality time: Ivanka and Jared walked around their neighborhood holding hands on Saturday morning before getting ready for the wedding

The 300-person guest list included Trump, Melania, Ivanka Jared, and Vice President Mike Pence, who officiated the couple's wedding.

Jared and Ivanka arrived on a private bus reserved for wedding guests after they were earlier spotted leaving the Trump International Hotel, where the guests were being picked up.

Ivanka opted for a pink dress that almost perfectly matched the bridesmaid's gowns. The first daughter styled her strappy dress with chandelier earrings and she had her blonde hair swept into an updo, while her husband looked dapper in a dark tux and bow tie.

The president and first lady were spotted leaving the White House shortly before the ceremony. Their motorcade entered the wedding venue through a tunnel in the building.

Melania was dressed in a sleeveless, pale pink Gilles Mendel silk chiffon gown and Manolo Blahnik pumps, wearing her hair down in loose waves.
Over the last four decades, one couple have adopted 88 children with special needs in an effort to give each of them a better life.

Mike and Camille Gerardi of Ellijay, Georgia, met back in 1973 at the at the Miami Childrens Hospital where Camille worked as a nurse and Mike as a pediatrician. Both bonded over their dedication to help those children who, through disease or disability, were left needing special care.

When the two met, Camille had already brought three children into her home to care for them. Then, when she and Mike decided to get married two years after meeting, he told her that he too wanted to do more.

Good work: Mike and Camille Gerardi (first and second right) of Ellijay, Georgia, have adopted 88 children with special needs over the last 40 years

In it together: The couple met back in 1973 at the Miami Childrens Hospital where Camille worked as a nurse and Mike as a pediatrician

Happy home: When Mike asked Camille to marry him, she revealed she wanted to make a home for special needs children

'When Mike asked me to marry him, I told him I want to make a home for handicapped kids, and he said "I want to follow your dream,"' Camille told CNN.

Mike sadly passed away in 2016 after a cancer battle, but over his life with Camille they adopted dozens of special needs orphans from the hospital, giving the children a happy, supportive home they may not have otherwise had.

Some were born with disabilities, others had suffered serious injury and some, sadly, had terminal conditions.

'The children I took in were expected to die,' said Camille. 'But so many of them have lived.'

Lots of love: Mike passed away in 2016 after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer

Going strong: The couple lost 32 children over the years, but many have gone on to lead full and happy lives

They lost 32 children over the years, but others have gone on to lead full and happy lives, such as the couple's oldest living adopted child, Darlene, who is 32 and lives in a group home in Florida.

While adopting dozens of children in need, Camille and Mike also welcomed three of their own biological children, with the eldest of their two daughters now 40 and working as a nurse.

In addition to the struggle of losing so many children, the couple didn't have things easy. They lost their home to a hurricane in 1992, and were forced to move again in 2011 when their North Carolina home was struck by lightning and burnt down.

Then, last year, the family also had to suffer through the loss of Mike to an aggressive form of cancer.

Leaning in: After adopting 18 children, the couple created the Possible Dream Foundation

Rounding things out: The foundation has helped the couple with resources as well as other families with disabled children

More work to do: Camille currently lives in Georgia with 20 of the couple's adopted children

'I couldnt cry, or my children wouldve fallen apart,' said Camille.

Back when they had adopted 18 children, the couple created the Possible Dream Foundation, which helps disabled children and their families with everything from education to job training.

The foundation has also assisted the couple with their work, and even helped to hire two employees to supplement help from volunteers.

Camille is still committed to the cause, and currently has 20 children in her home in Georgia to look after.
A student who believed she had food poisoning was left devastated when she was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour.

Charlotte Green, 25, from Solihull, was in her final year studying at Worcester University when she began experiencing constant nausea and began to shake down one side of her body.

After a GP initially put her symptoms down to stress, Charlotte was eventually diagnosed with the cancerous growth.

Charlotte Green was in her final year at university when she began vomitting and thought she had food poisoning - but months later she was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour

The teaching assistant now travels with her 'supportive partner', Nick Guise, and 'lives life to the full' - but is constantly aware that she 'does not know when her time will come', as there is currently no cure for her type of tumour.

Charlotte has been living with her rare Grade Three anaplastic astrocytoma since 2014, and has undergone a biopsy.

She received the devastating diagnosis in March that year, after her mother took her to Solihull Hospital A&E when she could not stop shaking.

She had been nauseous since a New Year's Day party and they no longer thought she could be suffering from food poisoning.

Charlotte explained: 'I can barely recall that time. I couldn't get out of bed I was so sick. I assumed I had food poisoning.

Charlotte (pictured with her boyfriend Nick Guise) has been living with her rare Grade Three anaplastic astrocytoma since 2014

'At the time I was in my third year at university and had quite a lot of assignments to hand in, and I was applying for a PGCE course.

'I can't really explain it, but I just felt really strange. During lectures I wouldn't hear words or parts that my lecturer had said- it was like I'd lost my normal focus.

'When my mum took me to A&E it was the first time a medical professional had seen the shaking first hand. That's when they gave me a scan.'

Initially Charlotte was referred to a doctor who told her he was unable to operate due to the location of the tumour, and he wished to monitor it.

The teaching assistant had six weeks of radiotherapy to shrink the incurable tumour, at which time she left university and her life 'got put on a complete stop'

But Charlotte and her parents sought a second opinion and met with a second doctor. He performed a biopsy operation and Charlotte was told her tumour was cancerous - a rare Grade Three anaplastic astrocytoma.

She went onto have six weeks of radiotherapy at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to shrink the incurable tumour. She left university and her life 'got put on a complete stop'.

Charlotte said: 'I was in total shock. I was devastated when I had to leave university.

'The type and location of the tumour I have means it is very difficult to operate without causing permanent damage.

'The way I coped with it, as well as with my partner Nick, family and friends, was to know everything I could about it.

'I would do my own research and have a long list of questions when I went to see my doctor.'

But Charlotte is determined not to let the tumour stop her living her life, and just months after finishing her radiotherapy went back to university and graduated the following year with a First Class honours degree

Charlotte and Nick are spending time together travelling the world, and she is also spending time going to the gym multiple times a week and working hard

She says she has come to terms with the fact she will have to 'rewrite' her own story

But Charlotte was determined not to let the tumour stop her living her life.

Just months after finishing her radiotherapy Charlotte went back to university and graduated the following year with a First Class honours degree.

Since then she has been stable, continues to have scans every three months and is now an ambassador for The Brain Tumour Charity.

She is determined to live life to the full, travelling the world with her boyfriend Nick Guise, going to the gym multiple times a week and working hard.

'My type of tumour doesn't have a cure at the moment,' Charlotte said. 'Since my diagnosis, I have been to a number of amazing places in the world, including Australia, which I have been lucky enough to experience with my brilliant, supportive partner Nick.

Charlotte (pictured at a charity event) says that it is the support of her friends and family that keep her motivated despite her uncertain future

'I also work full time as a teaching assistant and go to the gym four or five times a week. I'm always go, go, go.

'Along the way, I have come to terms with the fact that I have had to rewrite my own life story and that it's OK if it's not the same as everyone else's.

'I don't know when my time will come. I've researched the statistics and asked medical professionals but I have realised that nobody can give me an exact prognosis.

'It's a terrible thing for my family, partner and my friends. But we cope with it by dealing with it together and supporting each other.'

To find out information about fundraising events, including how to sign up for the 10km Warwick Twilight Walk, visit The Brain Tumour Charity


For some high schoolers, prom is the highlight of senior year  a night for dressing up, dancing with friends before graduation, and maybe a little romance.

But not everyone has the time of their life at prom, which can be an uncomfortable evening for some teens who don't conform or just feel different from their classmates.

That's why the New York Public Library in Manhattan host an anti-prom every year, where anyone  including those teens who feel like outcasts  can come and be themselves without fear of judgement.

Dance the night away: The New York Public Library hosted its annual anti-prom earlier this month

Party time: It's held in the historic library on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and is open to all New York City teens

Royalty: The staff picks a the king and queen every year; this year, they picked a same-sex couple

The NYPL first started hosting the event back in 2004, inspired by some of the librarians' own lackluster prom experiences, as well as things they were hearing from library card-owners in the Young Adult section.

'Prom is a big theme in young adult books, and the reaction we got from a lot of teens is that they hated the prom and wanted to do something else,' Chris Shoemaker, who formerly oversaw teenagers programming for the NYPL, told the New York Times in 2011.

'The reaction we got was that "prom isn't for us". Some teens felt that because they might want to attend with a same-sex partner, they wouldn't be accepted at their prom.'

So the staff got to addressing that, putting together a party over a decade ago that's been growing ever since.

The party 'provides an alternative, safe space for teens regardless of your sexuality, gender identity, the way you dress, or any other reason'

Teen fete: Attendees are between the ages of 12 and 18 and come from all five boroughs

It's held in the historic Schwartzman building on Fifth Avenue, certainly one-upping any traditional prom in a high school gym or hotel event space.

'Anti-Prom provides an alternative, safe space for teens regardless of your sexuality, gender identity, the way you dress, or any other reason,' the invitation for the event read.

This year's dance was heldon Friday, June 16 from 6:309:30 for New Yorkers aged 12 to 18. Admission was free.

Every year, a theme is selected, with this year's being 'Gods & Goddesses'  which certainly inspired some of the costumes.

Dress up: The theme this year was Gods and Goddesses, and some came in costume

Good clean fun: A DJ was on hand for the hundreds of attendees

Fairy tale: The party started in 2004 when librarians were hearing that teens were disappointed that their own prom wasn't like the ones they were reading about

Revelers came dressed in togas, as gladiators, and as Roman and Greek deities. Others wore traditional prom dresses, while some let their unique personal style shine.

And there was no one there to give anyone a judgey one-over, including the boys who wore lipstick, the girls who dressed as warriors, or the same-sex couple that was named king and queen.

'Nobodys judging you. We're all nerds here, no one is going to judge,' one freshman told Racked, though the Racked reporter noted that not everyone would necessarily identify with the word 'nerd'.

The teens could dress however they wanted; some picked costumes, others wore traditional prom attire, and others went casual

Entertainment: The party is also home to a yearly fashion show put on by High School for Fashion Industries

'We need things that are going to bring kids together... and realize that differences are okay and not everyone's going be the same,' added Hannah Peterson, an upcoming high school junior.

Despite the name, the staff explained that the NYPL party wasn't necessarily meant to replace traditional high school proms, but complement them, so kids who don't conform to certain societal norms  they're not straight or cisgender, they like to dress differenly, and so on can be free to be whoeever they want.

The party is also home to a yearly fashion show put on by High School for Fashion Industries, which designs that were made by students.
Lauren Bush Lauren rang in her 33rd birthday at the beach on Sunday with her husband David Lauren and their one-and-a-half-year-old son James by her side.

The FEED founder took to Instagram Stories to share her 'birthday highlights' along with some pictures of her day with her family, including an adorable snapshot of her little boy wearing a blue romper, cardigan, and a white sun hat.

When sharing the photo, Lauren explained that 'dressing baby James in this adorable outfit and kissing him all day long' was the first highlight on her list.

Stunning view: Lauren Bush Lauren celebrated her 33rd birthday at the beach on Sunday. Her husband David Lauren, 45, shared this photo of her in honor of her special day

Doting mom: Lauren counted down her birthday highlights on her Instagram Stories, and number one on her list was kissing her one-and-a-half-year-old son James

Making memories: The FEED founder also listed dune walking with David and catching an 'other-worldly sunset' while away from their New York City home

Next up was dune walking with her husband, David, 45, and she happily shared a snapshot of him carrying his sandals while she walked behind him.

In the picture James is wearing little sneakers to protect his feet from the rocks while he looks out at the ocean in front of him.

Lauren went on to post a stunning image that sees her lovingly resting her cheek on the top of David's head while they posed in the sand.

The final highlight of Lauren's birthday was the 'other-worldly sunset' that she watched with her loved ones.

Lauren was so moved by the sunset that she shared multiple photos of it, including one on her Instagram page.

Look of love: Lauren posted this snapshot of herself lovingly resting her cheek on David's head

Beautiful day: 'Feeling beyond blessed and excited for the year ahead!' Lauren wrote

Far away from home: Last week, Lauren was in Africa with her FEED team and Christian Courtin-Clarins (last row)

'Just watched the most beautiful birthday sunset on a dune with my love! Feeling beyond blessed and excited for the year ahead! #33,' she wrote.

David also took to Instagram to pay tribute to his wife's birthday, sharing a stunning snapshot of her lying in the sand while watching the sunset.

'Happy Birthday to my One!! #nofilter,' he captioned the image, which sees Lauren wearing a breezy wrap dress.

Just a week ago Lauren was in Africa with her FEED team to visit some of the feeding programs her company helps fund with the World Food Programme.

Lauren shared plenty of photos from her trip, and while she was away for Father's Day, she made sure to post a snapshot of beloved husband.

'Sending love from Africa': While she was gone, Lauren shared this photo of David with James in honor of Father's Day

Looking back: After she returned home, Lauren posted this photo of her and the FEED team swimming in the Indian Ocean

Happier than ever! Lauren and David celebrated the 13-year anniversary of their first meeting at the Met Gala in May

'Happy Daddy Day! Missing these two so much,' she captioned an image of David with their son. 'Sending love from Africa to @davidlauren who is the most amazing and loving Daddy to James!

'He is the rock of our little family and supports us both in more ways than can be mentioned here. Also a special shout out to my own life-affirming Dad, Neil!'

After the trip, Lauren shared a photo of the FEED team cooling off at the beach while explaining how she will never forget her recent trip.

'The FEED Team takes a dip in the Indian Ocean after many days of travel,' she wrote. 'Although I am no longer in Africa, I feel a piece of me remains there.

'I am changed from this trip and I feel a renewed energy and connection to humanity and the important work that lies ahead.'
Robots could soon be able to help children with autism in ways that doctors are unable to, researchers claim.

It is hoped a special machine will work as a therapist and improve the ability of young sufferers to hold conversations.

The device, designed by a team of international experts, will also be able to teach them how to take turns - a skill that many patients often lack.

It works by scanning children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for their facial expressions and body movements in certain scenarios.

These images are then assessed by the robot, called Nao, to determine the most effective way of getting a child's attention.

This allows doctors to create a personalised therapy plan based on what keeps them engaged for the longest, opening up channels of communication that didn't previously exist.

It is hoped a special machine, called Nao, will work as a therapist and improve the ability of young sufferers to hold conversations and take turns (pictured: the robots created by a team of scientists led by Portsmouth University)

Developed by a French robotic firm, the machine will also function as a diagnostic tool by collecting data in the future.

Who has created it?

Currently in trials, the project which has cost 5.9 million (6.7 million) so far, was started by researchers at the University of Portsmouth two years ago.

But they and the Swiss, Belgian, Swedish and Romanian universities they are working with expect a fully working model available on the market by 2019.

Professor Honghai Liu, who is behind the project, told MailOnline of his excitement towards the potential new therapy.

He said: 'The robot is expected to effectively assess the behaviour of ASD children and infer their psychological disposition in order to select valid therapeutic actions.'

What stage are they at?

The team is currently capturing and analysing data from children to help the robot understand what they could possibly doing.

HOW DOES IT WORK? The robot works by scanning children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for their facial expressions and body movements in certain scenarios. This is then automatically assessed by the device, called Nao, to tell doctors which kind of therapy would be most effective. Developed by a French robotic firm, the machine will also function as a diagnostic tool by collecting clinical data during therapy. Advertisement

This information will then be developed into more specific categories, that allow the robot to decipher how to help autistic children.

But the robot must prove successful in its final stage of testing on a study of 40 children with ASD before it can be rolled out.

Autistic children prefer robots

Research has already shown that autistic children engage more readily with robots rather than with humans.

Scientists involved in the project have previously said this was because robots are simple and much more predictable because human beings are too complex due to their wide range of facial emotions.

Others already exist

Other robot models already exist, including one currently underway in a two year-long trial with the Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust.

However, current robots are simply remote-controlled by the therapists and require a lot of time, energy and human resources.

This is a problem shared by current therapy methods, such as which take a lot of effort to boost the child's social interaction skills.

Professor Liu added: 'Therapeutic interventions require significant human resource over extended periods.

'Robotic agents have proven to be an particularly effective and an important tool for mediating between therapists and children with ASD.'
Abby and Aaron Breyfolgle were more than excited to take home their premature twin daughters from the hospital after the girls spent a month in the NICU.

However, the Breyfolgles discovered three weeks later the identical newborns had sores covering their tiny bodies and rushed them to the hospital in August 2015.

Both Kendal and Kenedi were diagnosed with a strain of leukemia typically found in adults and began chemotherapy at three months old at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Kendal is an identical twin and both she and her sister Kenedi (pictured together) were diagnosed with cancer after their mother Abby Breyfolgle noticed sores on their bodies

WHAT IS ACUTE MYELOID LEUKEMIA? Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow with excess immature white blood cells. Most cases develop from cells that would turn into white blood cells (other than lymphocytes), but some cases of AML develop in other types of blood-forming cells. AML starts in the bone marrow, but in most cases it quickly moves into the blood. AML progresses rapidly, with myeloid cells interfering with the production of normal white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Symptoms include fatigue, recurrent infections, and bruising easily. Treatments include chemotherapy, other drug therapy, and stem-cell transplants. Source: American Cancer Society Advertisement

After a round of treatment on the babies, the girls were in remission as of September 2015 and discharged from the hospital after a second round that November.

The happiness was temporary - Kendal's cancer was back after 19 months this February but Kenedi was still in remission.

Now the devastated family is raising funds, desperately looking for a way to save two-year-old Kendal.

They are also fighting against changes to the Affordable Care Act and argue their toddler could possibly die if she was denied coverage.

Abby Breyfolgle spent three weeks on bed rest at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hospital before giving birth to the girls prematurely at 33 weeks.

She was relieved when she was able to take home her daughters, but it was short-lived after she discovered the sores on the girls.

The mother-of-three, who has an older daughter named Teagan, said the open wounds looked like bug bites and kept getting worse.

Abby brought her infants to the hospital for a skin biopsy and results showed they had malignant cells, which eventually led to the diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The cancer had already spread to their bone marrow and it was only a matter of time before it made its way to their blood stream, Abby said.

Kendal Breyfolgle, two, had her acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cancer return after 19 months in February. The toddler from Pierre, South Dakota, was diagnosed with the cancer at three months old in August 2015

Acute myeloid leukemia is a rare strain of cancer and is uncommon in patients before the age of 45. The average lifetime risk of developing the disease is less than one percent.

The disease is serious, with acute indicating if the cancer is not treated quickly it could be fatal within months.

AML starts in the bone barrow and then generally moves into the blood stream.

The survival rate for adults with AML is 50 to 60 percent.

There are no figures for infants because it is so rare.

Aaron and Abby Breyfolgle are hoping to get Kendal into a medical trial. Pictured: The Breyfolgle family with the couple's oldest child Teagan (center)

Kendal and Kenedi were tiny when they started chemotherapy, weighing only eight pounds. They had to be tube fed and were very susceptible to infection

Upon the news of the diagnosis, the Breyfolgles immediately launched into action and began chemotherapy for Kendal and Kenedi.

Since the girls were so tiny, weighing eight pounds at the start of treatment, they had to be tube fed and were very susceptible to infection.

After nearly six months in the hospital receiving treatment, both girls were in remission and could return home in late 2015.

Then in February of this year, Kendal relapsed, something Abby said was hard to admit.

The Breyfogles are fighting against the changes of the Affordable Care Act because they said they risk losing their healthcare coverage, which is essential in treating Kendal (pictured Abby and Kendal)

Abby wrote on her blog, Twice the Fight: 'Not only did Kendal have cellulitis in her face, sinusitis, and terrible ear infections, but there were seven percent leukemia blasts in Kendal's blood.

'Her cancer was back. How quickly it moved. Two weeks prior there wasn't a trace of it. Even the Friday before, two days prior, there weren't any blasts in her blood.

'I will tell you that a relapse of cancer is so much harder than the initial cancer diagnosis. With the initial diagnosis, you are just surviving. You don't know enough to have the fears that you have once there is a relapse.'

The family is currently raising funds for Kendal's treatment, in hopes that a medical trial will help find a cure for the toddler.

For now, they want to take a family trip, somewhere where they can put cancer in the back of their minds.

Abby said to WCNC: 'It would be nice to have a family vacation where we don't have to worry about germs or medicines or being in the hospital or lines because the last six months that's all we've known.'

The Breyfogles are also joining the fight against the changes of the Affordable Care Act because they said they risk losing their health care coverage, which is essential in treating Kendal.

In a video story posted on The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Advocacy Facebook page, Abby proclaimed that Kendal has preexisting conditions, which could eliminate her coverage in the future.
Thousands of patients have been left at risk of chronic pain after being fitted with hernia mesh repairs by NHS doctors, experts have warned.

NHS England said mesh implants are the 'recommended method' for treating a hernia, which occurs when an organ or fatty tissue protrudes through an area of weak muscle in the body.

The treatment, which is carried out on thousands of patients every year, involves pushing the hernia back into the abdomen and covering it with mesh material.

But almost half of those who have received mesh implants are at risk of developing chronic pain, according to a new investigation by the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.

Surgeons warned that the risks of the treatment are 'so bad' that a mesh-free alternative method must be found to prevent thousands from being left in agony.

The warning comes just weeks after 800 women announced that they are suing the NHS over the use of vaginal mesh implants, which left many unable to walk, work or have sex.

Mother-of-two Leila Hackett (pictured) received umbilical hernia mesh repair four years ago

VAGINAL MESH IMPLANTS LEAVE HUNDREDS IN AGONY More than 800 women are suing the NHS and device manufacturers after being left in permanent pain thanks to their vaginal mesh implants, it was revealed in April. Implants cut into women's vaginas, causing discomfort so severe that one sufferer was nearly driven to suicide. Others have been left unable to walk, work or have sex. The implants are intended to treat incontinence after childbirth and pelvic organ prolapse, which occurs when the bladder pushes against the vagina's walls. Between April 2007 and March 2015, over 92,000 women had vaginal mesh implants fitted in England. Of which, around one in 11 have experienced problems, according to NHS data from the Hospital Episodes Statistics. Advertisement

'I could feel the mesh'

Mother-of-two Leila Hackett received umbilical hernia mesh repair four years ago.

'Straightaway I could feel the mesh,' she told the BBC.

'It was like somebody scratching you from inside your body, it's so unpleasant and constant.'

Ms Hackett went to her GP in agony many times, but was assured that mesh was not causing her pain.

After two years, she was admitted to hospital after the mesh implant became attached to her internal organs, which caused her bowel to twist.

She said she was left 'screaming' in agony and surgeons took four hours to pick the pieces of mesh from around her organs.

Up to half of patients at risk of chronic pain

One in ten people in the UK develop a hernia in their lifetime.

Now experts have warned that thousands of patients could be living with chronic pain after being fitted with mesh implants.

Peter Jones, a former general surgeon from Kent, told the BBC he spent much of his career removing mesh implants from hernia patients.

Experts warned that up to half of patients fitted with mesh implants to treat hernias could be left in constant agony. Pictured is a stock image of mesh being used in inguinal hernia repair

He warned that many hernia patients aren't aware of the risks of chronic pain.

'At least half of patients who have a mesh repair will have a smooth recovery, but in my opinion the risks of a poor outcome are so bad, I wouldn't want to take that risk,' he told the BBC.

He added that more people should come forward to talk about their suffering, saying this could put a 'dent' in the NHS' commitment to hernia mesh repairs.

Alternative treatment

Some surgeons have called for the NHS to offer its patients a mesh-free alternative treatment for hernias in the groin.

Doctors in Canada have pioneered a technique called Shouldice hernia repair, which involves covering bulges with overlapping layers of the abdominal wall.

The treatment was developed at the Shouldice Hernia Centre in Toronto and has a 99.5 per cent lifetime success rate for groin hernias.

In comparison, mesh repair treatment has a 90 per cent success lifetime success rate, according to NHS Choices.

But the NHS said Shouldice repair was hard to replicate in its hospitals and that mesh repairs had proved successful for patients over many decades, according to the BBC.
Patients are being 'belittled' and left 'bewildered' in struggling hospitals, a top doctor warns.

Mark Porter, chair of the British Medical Association, said that 'too many' patients are being failed by the NHS 'too often'.

He accused the Government of forcing the health service to 'run on fumes' because it has run out of fuel - or cash, as a survey showed the number of people unhappy with the NHS doubled in just a year.

In a speech, he attacked ministers for 'wilfully ignoring' the warnings of doctors and the clear deterioration of patient care.

In front of 500 doctors at the British Medical Association's annual conference in Bournemouth, Dr Porter warned that the NHS is at 'breaking point'.

He told delegates: 'We have a Government trying to keep the health service running on nothing but fumes.

Mark Porter, chair of the British Medical Association, said that 'too many' patients are being failed by the NHS 'too often'

'After years of underinvestment, with a growing, ageing population, and despite the extraordinary dedication of its staff, it is failing too many people, too often.

'The lack of beds, the lack of doctors, and the queues for treatment that grow and grow are not inevitable. It doesn't have to be this way. It is the result of an explicit political choice.

'How many people does the government think should have to suffer like this? Waiting more than four hours for admission to a bed?

'Would 129,000 in a single year be too many? That's what it was five years ago. Last year it was more than half a million, a four-fold increase. How many patients belittled and bewildered in this way is acceptable to ministers?'

Meanwhile, a survey by the BMA of 1,031 adults shows the number unhappy with the NHS has doubled in two years.

Some 43 per cent reported being 'dissatisfied', up from 21 per cent a year ago, with many fearing they will soon have to pay for care.

A second poll of 422 doctors showed that 71 per cent believed fewer patients were being offered care compared to a year ago.

Worst financial crisis

The NHS is facing its worst financial crisis in a generation as it struggles to meet the needs of the rising and aging population.

Routine operations are being rationed, waiting lists are growing longer and most hospitals are severely understaffed.

In a speech, Dr Porter attacked ministers for 'wilfully ignoring' the warnings of doctors and the clear deterioration of patient care

The situation came to a head this winter when A&E units across the country became extremely overcrowded and patients were left lying on trolleys or sitting on the floor.

The Government has promised to address the crisis by injecting an extra 8 billion into the NHS over the next five years and hiring extra doctors and nurses.

But many health professionals believe these measures are not enough and fear ministers are simply turning a blind eye.

Scapegoat doctors

IS THERE REALLY A LACK OF FUNDING? Health spending is running at the highest level in history, a report found in May  despite Labour claims that the Tories have presided over years of 'cuts'. The study by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) found that annual spending on the NHS has reached 2,160 per person  up from just 500 in 1970. The figures have also continued to rise steadily in terms of a fraction of Britain's total income, increasing from 4.7 per cent in 1997 to 7.4 per cent last year. The report said evidence also suggested that 'patient satisfaction with the NHS is higher than it has ever been'. Jeremy Corbyn has repeatedly claimed that the Tories have presided over deep 'cuts' to health spending  blaming reductions in spending for lengthening waiting times and even the recent NHS cyber attack. But the NIESR report makes it clear that the accusation is wrong, saying: 'The claims of the current government, and recent past governments is true  namely  that there has been a considerable extra investment in the NHS.' Advertisement

Dr Porter also accused Theresa May of trying to scapegoat doctors in January when A&E units were at breaking point.

At the time, the Prime Minister shifted the blame onto GPs for closing surgeries too early meaning patients were forced to go to A&E.

Dr Porter criticised the Government for deploying 'ugly' tactics by trying to pit staff against each other.

He also pointed out that there is little hope of recruiting the promised 5000 extra GPs by 2020 as latest staffing figures show numbers are falling.

Why blame doctors?

'Seriously? The Prime Minister sees a health service at breaking point and blames GPs?

'The Prime Minister blames doctors, when her own Government is so conspicuously failing to keep its side of the bargain and recruit the much-trumpeted 5,000 new GPs by 2020.

'Three years ago, it was a pledge. Then it became an ambition. Now it seems more like a mirage. And a language of evasion and failure.

'Passing the buck is not a solution. Blaming staff is not a solution. Giving the NHS the resources that patients have told us they need - that's a solution.'

'We're not asking for the world. We're asking for the average. For a fair chance to create the health service our patients need and deserve.

'Ignore the NHS at your peril'

'Prime Minister  you ignore the NHS at your peril.'

A Department of Health spokesman said: ' This does a disservice to the achievements of NHS staff - the highest cancer survival rates ever, mental health care expanding at the fastest rate in Western Europe, and 17 million people getting evening and weekend GP appointments, which is why genuinely independent research shows public satisfaction is now the highest for all but three of the last 20 years.'
GPs have been accused of wasting millions of pounds of NHS money on 'rubbish' homeopathic treatments.

NHS figures reveal 30 such prescriptions are made each day, which has cost the tax-payer in excess of half a million pounds over the last five years.

But the true bill could run into millions when the cost of consultations is taken into account.

Homeopathy, which is based on the principle that 'like cures like', has many high profile supporters  including Prince Charles and celebrities Catherine Zeta Jones and Sir Paul McCartney  but there is little evidence proving its effectiveness,

Yet some local NHS boards are continuing to spend a six-figure amount on the controversial medicines, despite the cash-strapped health service facing 1 billion in cuts over two years.

Some NHS boards are spending up to 165,092 each year on homeopathic therapies (file)

While homeopathy is not available on the NHS in all areas of the country, two hospitals in England  Bristol and in London  and some GP practices do offer it.

This is despite the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which advises the NHS on proper use of treatment, not recommending that it should be prescribed for any health condition.

According to a previous report by a charity, the health service could be spending around 5 million per year on such remedies.

Good Thinking Charity warned in 2015 that this could pay for the salaries of 239 nurses.

Campaigners have hit out at the practice, at a time when NHS budgets are being squeezed and mental health spending is being reduced by 4.5 million.

Prince Charles has campaigned for the NHS to provide homeopathy treatments

The true cost

Figures show in the last five years a total of 54,216 homeopathic prescriptions were issued costing the health service 577,529, according to The Sun.

Several local health boards spent at least five figures on homeopathy each year, according to Freedom of Information requests.

In 2015/16, Enfield, London spent 165,092 on the treatments while Bristol handed out 102,408 worth of prescriptions.

Somerset spent 36,402, South Gloucestershire 21,859 and Wirral 13,970.

Yet one visit to a GP costs an estimated 45 and typically one treatment will involve an outpatient appointment and up to four follow-ups to check on a patient's progress.

WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? Homeopathy is classed as a 'complementary alternative medicine', setting it apart from conventional Western medicine. It was 'discovered' by Samuel Hahnemann, a German doctor, in the 1790s. Its central principle is that 'like cures like', that is a substance which causes certain symptoms can help cure those symptoms. For example, caffeine (homeopathic name, Coffea Cruda) is a stimulant, and is used to treat insomnia. And hayfever sufferers take a very weak solution of pollen. Another concept is based around a process of dilution in alcohol or distilled water and shaking, called succussion. Advocates believe that the more a substance is diluted in this way, the greater its power to treat symptoms. Many remedies contain substances that have been diluted many times over until there is none or almost none of the original substance left. Advertisement

'Waste of money'

But England's chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has said homeopathic remedies are 'rubbish' and do not serve as anything more than placebos.

And the head of NHS England Simon Stevens has called the treatments a waste of money.

It comes after an announcement that the NHS will no longer pay for everyday medicines, including painkillers and cough mixture.

Basic items, such as hay fever drugs, indigestion pills and gluten-free food, will not be available for free on prescription as part of a cost-cutting drive in the NHS, which is under pressure from a rising and ageing population.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance told the paper: 'It's completely wrong that the NHS is still wasting huge amounts of money funding homeopathy.

'Barely a day goes by without the health service crying out for more money but this just goes to show there is still waste in the system that needs to be removed.

'Every penny of taxpayers' money that is spent on this quackery is a penny that can't go on other proven and effective life-saving treatments.'

'Scientifically implausible'

The NHS Choices website states 'there is no good-quality evidence that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any health condition'.

A 2010 House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report on homeopathy said that the remedies perform no better than placebos.

It found that the principles on which it is based are 'scientifically implausible'.

Prince Charles had demanded the controversial therapies be made widely available on the NHS and in 2007 lobbied the then Health Secretary Alan Johnson to fund them.

Liverpool health bosses said they will no longer prescribe homeopathic treatments following a public consultation.

It reported patients viewed them as 'utter nonsense' and 'quackery', while one said the NHS might as well return to 'leeches'.
GP surgeries are demanding to turn away patients when they are too busy in controversial new plans.

Dubbed a 'black-alert' system, the proposal would prevent doctors from missing key symptoms when they are over-stretched, experts stress.

It mimics that already used in hospitals, which cancel operations when thousands of people knock on their doors.

The motion, which will be voted on this week by doctors, already has the support of the Royal College of GPs.

Government approval isn't needed to force through the system if it's accepted at the British Medical Association's annual conference in Bournemouth.

Dubbed a 'black-alert' system, the proposal would prevent doctors from missing key symptoms when they are over-stretched, experts stress

Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, backed the plans under discussion, The Times reports.

A warning signal

She said: 'We certainly need some sort of warning signal to sound in general practice when things are getting too much.'

Peter Holden, a GP from Matlock in Derbyshire, who is behind the plans, said: 'There has to be a limit on what you can do in a day - what it is reasonable to ask a human being to do in a day.

'It is not about money, it is about patient safety. Closing doors? I think somebody somewhere one day ought to, just to give the government a bloody lesson.'

Yorkshire's regional branch of the BMA backed the plans due to concerns over patient safety in under-staffed surgeries.

National Pharmacy Association chairman, Ian Strachan, said: 'A healthcare access storm is gathering in primary care, and there is no sustainable resolution to it without engaging local pharmacies.

'Where else in the health service can you simply walk in off the street and be seen within minutes by a healthcare professional?

'With consistent support from Government, community pharmacy can do much more to relieve pressure on GPs and hospitals.'

Dwindling GPs

Numbers of GPs across England are known to be dwindling in recent years, placing even more pressure on a tired health service.

ONLY RAISE 1 ISSUE AT A TIME... GPs are insisting that patients raise only one problem per appointment because they are so short of time, it was reported in January. And those with multiple illnesses are being banned from booking longer 20-minute consultations  instead being told to book a standard ten-minute appointment for each condition they want to discuss. Surgeries are increasingly introducing the controversial policy to cope with rising demand. But campaigners described the rules as 'outrageous' and warned they would put off patients from discussing potentially important health worries. Dozens of practices have imposed the 'one problem per appointment' policy, including the Chorley Surgery, in Lancashire, which claimed it is to improve 'clinical safety'. A message on its website stated: 'We kindly ask that all patients try to stick to our one problem per consultation policy. Advertisement

Official figures released in May showed the problem continues to worsen, with more than 900 family doctors leaving the NHS last year, despite a special programme aimed at recruiting more.

This continued crisis has left many patients at risk, with staff unable to cope with the rising demand and slashed funding, experts warn.

It showed the NHS is falling well-short of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's pledge of recruiting 5,000 extra GPs by 2021, which was said to be the answer to the staffing shortage.

While at the same time, the number of patients registering with GPs has soared by more than two million in recent years, due to the effects of migration and a lack of doctors.

Cut price doctors

In answer to the growing doctor crisis, thousands of new cheaper versions are being trained to prop up the cash-strapped NHS.

An army of 'physician associates' will work in GP surgeries and hospitals to diagnose patients, recommend treatments and perform minor procedures.

There are currently just 300 of the physicians - who train for just two years and earn only a third of a doctor's salary - working in the health service.

But new figures yesterday indicated that there would now be more than 3,000 by 2020 - and at least 1,000 per year graduating after that.
Antibacterial soaps are useless at killing germs and may be harmful to pregnant women, experts have warned.

A report published by more than 200 scientists has warned that antibacterial chemicals found in soap, lunchboxes and exercise mats could be causing 'more harm than good'.

Previous experiments have shown that antibacterial chemicals used in household products are unable to kill off germs that cause harmful diseases and plain soap and water could be far more effective.

Experts are now warning that many antibacterial products could cause harm, particularly to pregnant women and those who are breastfeeding.

It's believed antibacterial chemicals alter the activity of hormones in the body, many of which contribute to a baby's development.

Scroll down for video

Antibacterial soaps are useless at killing germs and may even be harmful to pregnant women

ANTIBACTERIAL SOAPS BANNED IN US Antibacterial soaps were banned in the US last year after claims they do 'more harm than good'. The Food and Drug Administration (FDS) introduced the measure after stating there is no scientific evidence that they are better than plain soap and water when it comes to preventing illness and the spread of certain infections. Dr Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's center for evaluation and research, said: 'Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water. 'In fact, some data suggests that antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long term.' The new rule affects any soap or antiseptic product that has one or more of 19 chemical compounds, including triclocarban, found in bar soaps, and triclosan, which is often used in liquid soaps. Advertisement

Current measures do not go far enough

The experts said 'plain soap and water' is a more effective way of getting rid of harmful bugs.

Dr Barbara Sattler, environmental health professor at the University of San Francisco, said: 'People think antimicrobial hand soaps offer better protection against illness, but generally, antimicrobial soaps perform no better than plain soap and water.'

Previous experiments have shown that antibacterial chemicals used in household products are unable to kill off germs that cause harmful diseases.

And using the chemicals may increase antibacterial resistance, which is known to make antibiotics less effective.

Last autumn, the US banned 19 different antibacterial chemicals, including triclosan and triclocarban, saying they were not effective at killing bugs.

British firm Unilever said it will phase out the two chemicals by the end of this year, replacing them with 'natural and nature-inspired' antimicrobes.

But scientists said these measures have not gone far enough to protect customers.

Harmful antibacterial chemicals are found in a wide range of products, including exercise mats

'I was happy that the FDA finally acted to remove these chemicals from soaps,' said Dr Arlene Blum, executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute.

'But I was dismayed to discover at my local drugstore that most products now contain substitutes that may be worse.

Risk to pregnant women

The chemicals could be putting pregnant women and those who are breastfeeding at risk of infection from bugs, experts warned.

'Environmental and human exposures to triclosan and triclocarban are widespread, affecting pregnant women, developing fetuses, and breast-feeding babies,' said Rolf Halden, professor of engineering at Arizona State University.

'We must develop better alternatives and prevent unneeded exposures to antimicrobial chemicals.'

Antibacterial chemicals could be harmful to pregnant women as they alter the activity of hormones in the body, many of which contribute to a baby's development.

Antimicrobials are found in a wide range of products, including paints, exercise mats, flooring, clothes, food storage containers, home textiles, electronics, kitchenware, school supplies, and countertops, he added.

'No evidence' for protection against infections

'Customers may think added antimicrobials are a way to reduce infections, but in most products there is no evidence that they do,' said Dr Ted Schettler, science director of the science and environmental health network.

Despite the risks, sales of products containing antimicrobes are expected to grow if no action to ban them is made by US and British authorities, the experts warned.

'Added antimicrobials are marketed as beneficial in building products from countertops to doorknobs and light switches' said Bill Walsh, president of healthy building network.

'Antimicrobial preservatives are useful in certain products like paints, but we found claims about health benefits to be largely invalid.'

The report was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Living near noisy roads could make it harder to get pregnant, according to new research.

A study of 65,000 people found that couples living close to busy streets take from six months to a year longer to conceive than those living in quiet areas.

Researchers analysed information from birth records and traffic noise data to study the link between fertility and noise pollution.

They found that every extra 10 decibels of traffic noise increases a woman's chances of taking more than six months to get pregnant by eight per cent.

Experts said constant exposure to noise pollution can disrupt the natural pattern of ovulation for women.

Living close to noisy roads could make it harder to get pregnant, according to new research

WALNUTS MAKE MEN MORE FERTILE Men struggling to have children could boost their fertility by eating walnuts, a study published in February claims. Scientists say that eating a walnut-enriched diet may improve sperm quality. Research found that the nut reduces lipid peroxidation, a process that can damage sperm cells. This form of cell damage harms sperm membranes, which are primarily made up of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Walnuts are the only tree nut that are predominantly comprised of these fatty acids - meaning they are uniquely powerful for replenishing sperm cells. Advertisement

What did the study find?

For the study, researchers analysed data from 65,000 women living in Denmark who had taken part in a six-year project called the Danish National Birth Cohort.

They then gathered data on traffic noise for the streets that the women lived on.

The researchers found that women who lived close to noisy roads took from six to 12 months longer to get pregnant.

And every extra 10 decibels of traffic noise increases a woman's chances of taking more than six months to get pregnant by five to eight per cent.

The link between noise and difficulty conceiving was relevant even when factors such as poverty and air pollution were accounted for.

'Road traffic noise may affect reproductive health,' Jeppe Schultz Christensen, from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen, told New Scientist.

It is still unclear whether noise pollution affects the fertility of men or women, or both sexes

Does noise affect male or female fertility?

The researchers said it is still unclear whether noise pollution affects the fertility of men or women, or both sexes.

But they suggested that traffic noise may cause sleep disturbance, which is known to reduce fertility for both men and women.

Previous research has also shown that constant exposure to airplane noise can stop women from ovulating properly.

Rachel Smith, a researcher at Imperial College London, told New Scientist that the damaging health effects of noise pollution could be having a 'worrying' impact on national birth rates.

She suggested that worried couples should try to choose bedrooms facing away from the road and should close their windows at night.

Marie Pedersen, from the University of Copenhagen, told New Scientist that the findings should inform town planning decisions.

'It is a matter for urban planners and politicians,' she said.
Patients with mental health conditions are being sent up to 600 miles away to Scotland as there are no free beds close to home, an investigation has found.

Some 5,876 adults were referred to another health trust for treatment in 2016/17, a 40 per cent rise on the year before.

Figures also show that some areas of England have no free beds for women with mental health conditions.

Women and men are increasingly being sent to care facilities in another county making it difficult for family and friends to visit.

In the worst case a patient from Somerset Partnership NHS trust was sent 587 miles away to be cared for in a mental health facility in Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands.

A second patient from Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust was referred to the New Craigs Hospital, also in Inverness, 532 miles away.

Some 5,876 adults were referred to another health trust for treatment in 2016/17, a 40 per cent rise on the year before, figures show

Where were the figures from?

The shocking figures were uncovered by the British Medical Association through Freedom of Information requests to the 209 health trusts in England known as Clinical Commissioning Groups.

They will be presented to doctors later today attending the BMA's annual conference in Bournemouth.

Dr Andrew Molodynski, an NHS consultant psychiatrist in Oxford and mental health policy lead of the BMA's consultants committee said: 'The practice of sending patients with severe mental health problems to beds hundreds of miles away from their home and families has become endemic in the NHS.

'The Government needs to get a handle on this situation because patients are being routinely failed by a system at breaking point, with tragic consequences.

'Being sent long distances for treatment has an impact on patients' care and recovery.'

'Tragic cases'

He added: 'There have been tragic cases where coroners have ruled that the difficulties families have visiting a relative receiving care, as well as poor communication between hospitals in other regions and local mental health services contributed to deaths.

'NHS RUNNING ON FUMES', SAY GPS Patients are being 'belittled' and left 'bewildered' in struggling hospitals, a top doctor warns. Mark Porter, chair of the British Medical Association, said that 'too many' patients are being failed by the NHS 'too often'. He accused the Government of forcing the health service to 'run on fumes' because it has run out of fuel - or cash, as a survey showed the number of people unhappy with the NHS doubled in just a year. In a speech, he attacked ministers for 'wilfully ignoring' the warnings of doctors and the clear deterioration of patient care. In front of 500 doctors at the British Medical Association's annual conference in Bournemouth, Dr Porter warned that the NHS is at 'breaking point'. He told delegates: 'We have a Government trying to keep the health service running on nothing but fumes. Advertisement

'It is easier to slash NHS mental health beds to keep waiting lists down in A&E and for routine operations than to address the scale of the problem, and the budget cuts just keep on coming.

'We would never tolerate a situation in which a stroke victim in Somerset had to travel to the Highlands for treatment, and yet this is the reality for some mental health patients.

'The fact that there are some areas of the country without any beds for some female patients is extremely concerning.'

Seven hour round trips

The figures showed that on average, families visiting a patient out-of-county had a seven hour round trip from their home.

Last year a coroner wrote to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt alerting him to the shortage of mental health beds in Cornwall after a patient committed suicide.

David Knight, 29, took his life in June 2016 whilst on leave in St Austell Cornwall, when he was being treated in Somerset.

Dr Emma Carlyon, the coroner, urged Mr Hunt to review the mental health beds in the region to avoid so-called 'out of county' placement.

The Government has promised to make mental health a priority and ensure patients receive the same level of care as if they had a physical condition such as cancer.

But the head of the BMA, Dr Mark Porter, said the ambition was a 'very distant prospect.

Addressing the conference, he said too many patients were being 'shuttled around the country' with some ending up in police cells.
Hundreds of patients are having to crowdfund their own wheelchairs as the NHS wont pay, doctors leaders warn.

They are being forced to appeal to members of the public to raise money for more mobile wheelchairs that can enable them to live independently

Although the NHS pays for basic wheelchairs, they are heavy, cumbersome and difficult to manoeuvre without being pushed.

Patients become reliant on family members or carers and struggle to return to work or go about their normal routines.

The astonishing situation was raised by a junior doctor at the British Medical Association's annual conference - who herself crowdfunded her own wheelchair.

Hannah Barham-Brown, 29, was diagnosed with a genetic condition Ehlers Danlos-Syndrome two years ago, which means her joints dislocate very easily.

The astonishing situation was raised by junior doctor Hannah Barham-Brown at the British Medical Association's annual conference - who herself crowdfunded her own wheelchair

Worsened her condition

Although the NHS paid for a basic 140 wheelchair, it was very heavy and made her joints even more susceptible to dislocation.

She subsequently raised 2,000 to buy a lighter wheelchair which has enabled her to work normally and complete her training as a junior doctor.

Dr Barham-Brown said hundreds of patients were doing the same  and it was becoming increasingly common.

The situation is one of the most extreme examples so far of the extent of NHS rationing.

Local health trusts are less willing to pay for more expensive wheelchairs as they are deemed low priority when budgets are under such severe pressure.

Wasting money

Yet at the same time they are wasting money by failing to claim back crutches, Zimmer frames and wheelchairs when patients no longer need them.

Some hospitals are losing 50,000 a year having to replace items which have never been returned.

Yesterday, up to 500 doctors voted for patients to have 'timely' access to wheelchairs at the British Medical Association's annual conference in Bournemouth.

The union will now adopt this as their official policy and lobby the Government to change NHS guidelines.

Dr Barham-Brown said hundreds of patients were doing the same as her  and it was becoming an increasingly common problem

The motion was put forward by Dr Barham-Brown, who told doctors how hundreds of patients were crowdfunding wheelchairs.

Basic wheelchairs are 'heavy'

'The standard NHS chair can weigh up to around 20 kilos and it's very poorly designed - it's not remotely ergonomic.

'NHS chairs are very heavy and very hard to manoeuvre easily.

'The guidelines for getting chairs now are so strict, wheelchair services across the country are being privatised and it's just getting harder and harder to get access.

THE DOCTOR WON'T SEE YOU NOW GP surgeries are demanding to turn away patients when they are too busy in controversial new plans. Dubbed a 'black-alert' system, the proposal would prevent doctors from missing key symptoms when they are over-stretched, experts stress. It mimics that already used in hospitals, which cancel operations when thousands of people knock on their doors. The motion, which will be voted on this week by doctors, already has the support of the Royal College of GPs. Government approval isn't needed to force through the system if it's accepted at the British Medical Association's annual conference in Bournemouth. Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, backed the plans under discussion, The Times reported. She said: 'We certainly need some sort of warning signal to sound in general practice when things are getting too much.' Advertisement

'More and more I'm seeing on social media pleas from people begging for support to buy wheelchairs, not only chairs like this - lightweight self-propelling chairs - but electric chairs.'

'Postcode lottery'

Dr Barham-Brown  who is currently on a placement at several South London hospitals  said there was a 'postcode lottery' in whether the NHS would pay for more mobile wheelchairs.

'The standard NHS chair can weigh up to around 20 kilos and it's very poorly designed - it's not remotely ergonomic. NHS chairs are very heavy and very hard to manoeuvre easily.

'In terms of public transport I wouldn't be able to go anywhere in an NHS chair unless there was someone with me helping me. You need to be pushed.'

Other crowdfunders

Disabled actress Samantha Renke  who starred in the Maltesers advert  recently raised 1,140 for a new electric wheelchair.

Several patients are trying to crowdfund wheelchairs on the GoFundMe website, including a ten year old boy, Oliver, who also suffers from Ehlers Danlos-Syndrome.

A stroke victim Andy is also trying to raise money on the same website to pay for a wheelchair to allow him to return to work.

'Wheelchairs are vital'

Robert Meadowcroft, chief executive of Muscular Dystrophy UK, a charity representing patients with muscular wasting diseases said: 'Wheelchairs are vital for people to live independently, but there are substantial gaps in wheelchair provision, the suitability of chairs and delays in delivery.

'This is about more than just mobility. People with muscular dystrophy have complex needs, so the right chair helps improve posture, breathing, limb movement and provides access to a social life, which is essential for wellbeing.

'Delays in providing the appropriate wheelchair can result in a detrimental impact on the quality of life for people, and can increase the possibility of unplanned emergency admissions to hospital.'
Young adults with a history of asthma are at a greater risk of developing heart failure, research shows.

The common respiratory disease was found to lead to a thickening of the left ventricle, which can cause the heart muscle to lose elasticity and eventually fail to pump.

It is the first study to link asthma from childhood with the cardiac condition, known as left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), in adulthood.

Rates of asthma  caused by inflammation of the air passages  have been growing during the past decade, affecting over 8 percent of children and 7 percent of adults.

An increases in air pollution is often blamed, but part of the reason could be better diagnostic methods now in use.

Teenagers with asthma are more likely to have heart problems later in life, new research finds

Key findings

The research, published in JACC: Heart Failure, examined 1,118 patients who answered a questionnaire on their asthma history.

After a 10 year follow-up, those with asthma had a higher left ventricular mass compared to those without.

The link was stronger in patients with high and raised blood pressure, the researchers discovered.

The right and left sides of your heart do different jobs.

Because the left side of the heart has to work harder to get blood round the body, it is usually this side that becomes enlarged when your blood pressure is too high or you have a health condition that causes the heart to work harder than normal.

LVH can cause shortness of breath, chest pain and fainting.

Thickening of the heart's left ventricle (tissue in the bottom right-hand corner of the organ) can cause shortness of breath, chest pain, fainting, and may eventually lead to heart failure

ASTHMA LINKED TO MOTHER'S POLLUTION AND STRESS LEVELS Women who are exposed to polluted air and stressful situations during their pregnancy are more likely to have children with asthma, a study published this month found. Boys whose mothers were exposed to both of the risk factors were more likely to develop the condition by age six. The study by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai looked at more than 700 women who were primarily African-American and Latina, and were pregnant and living in urban settings. Researchers said there was already a known link between the race of the mother and the likelihood of being exposed to air pollution. Now the experts say these factors contribute to the respiratory health disparities that ethnically mixed urban populations commonly have. A previous study by experts at the University of California, Berkeley, found a correlation between children and teenagers exposed to high levels of traffic pollution and premature ageing and asthma. Advertisement

An enlarged heart can be treated and, for some people, it is possible to reduce the enlarged area over time.

People with high blood pressure and an enlarged left side of the heart have four times the risk of a heart attack than someone with the same blood pressure but a normal-sized heart, according to Blood Pressure UK.

Similarly, people with thickened left heart muscles have 12 times the risk of a stroke, and are more likely to have irregular heartbeats.

What the experts say

'Our findings suggest aggressive lifestyle modifications or even pharmacological treatment may be applied to people with a history of asthma, especially those also affected by high blood pressure, in order to lower cardiovascular risk,' said study author Lu Qi, director of the Tulane University Obesity Research Center.

However, a limitation of the study was that no baseline echocardiograms were available.

In a comment accompanying the study, John Gottdiener, adjunct professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, wrote that the findings therefore leave several unanswered questions,

'We look forward to further studies which will accurately determine the association of asthma with death, heart failure, myocardial infarction and stroke,' he said.

'Of particular value will be learning how severe and long the asthmatic exposure needs to be to pose significant risk.

'This will help to intelligently design effective prevention interventions validated by randomized controlled trials.'
Despite the rise in complaints made against certain cosmetics, these potentially harmful products are still on shelves, a study revealed.

A Northwestern study reported that complaints made against beauty goods more than doubled from 2015 to 2016, with hair care products topping the list.

However, these notices go largely without consequence because the FDA does not require the products to be pre-approved before they are released to consumers.

Experts are warning these vastly unregulated products can lead to serious injury, disability and even death for customers.

Rates of complaints made against cosmetic products doubled in the past year, sparking concern among experts at Northwestern University. They claim these products can cause serious injury to consumers

The report was issued by Northwestern University School of Medicine in Evanston, Illinois.

According to the university, there was more than 5,000 events reported to the FDA from 2004 to 2016, with 1,591 incidents reported in 2016 alone.

Researchers said cosmetic manufacturers aren't required to notify the FDA of the adverse health concerns, meaning consumers are largely unaware of the dangers certain products can cause.

Dr Steve Xu, a resident physician in dermatology at the university said: 'The FDA has much less authority to recall cosmetics from the market in stark contrast to drugs or medical devices.

'It's harder for the FDA to get harmful cosmetics off the shelves. This is really a wake-up call.

'The point of the paper is to broaden the awareness of this database and the need for everyone to participate in reporting adverse events from cosmetics.'

THREE MORE TOXIC CHEMICALS FOUND IN BEAUTY PRODUCTS 1. Oxybenzone (benzophenone) USED IN: Sunscreens, lip balms, products with SPF This chemical may mimic hormones, cause endometriosis and can pose a risk to reproductive systems. 2. Toluene USED IN: nail varnish and remover This volatile petrochemical solvent and paint thinner is also used in nail products. It is neurotoxic and an irritant that can impair breathing and cause nausea. Human epidemiological studies and animal studies have linked this ingredient with toxicity to the immune system and certain cancers. 3. Phenoxyethanol USED IN: Perfume, makeup, hand sanitizer, deodorant, toothpaste, baby wipes, sunscreen, lotion It has been linked to skin irritation and eczema and can even affect central nervous system function. It has been shown to cause bladder damage in animal studies. Advertisement

The study found the largest number of complaints came from hair care products, skincare products or tattoos.

Dr Xu is most concerned with the way cosmetic companies are marketing their products, claiming to have 'drug-like' results but skirt around FDA approvals by labeling the product as a cosmetic.

He added: 'Although not explicitly studied, this cosmetic product class is becoming a growing problem. At the very best, these products are making unsubstantiated marketing claims for products that may or may not work.

'At the very worst, there are actual drug components in these products that can cause real harm.'

Chemicals and substances that are found in beauty products have been linked to cancer, respiratory and organ toxicants, build up in fatty tissues and allergic reactions.

A report revealed in April that the average woman uses 12 personal care products a day containing a staggering 168 different chemicals.

In a alarming study by the Herb Research Foundation, it was revealed the skin absorbs up to 60 percent of the chemicals in products that it comes into contact with directly into the bloodstream.

Leading naturopathic doctor Trevor Cates encourages people to analyze the labels of body washes, lotions, shampoos, cosmetics and even toothpastes because these ingredients are associated with a host of health problems.

Dr Cate said: 'What we put on our skin should be as clean as what we eat. But for most people, its not.

'Even in tiny amounts, many of the chemicals commonly found in our cosmetics can have a tremendous health and hormonal impact, and we are only beginning to understand the consequences.'

He said that nearly one in five cosmetic products contains a substance that generates formaldehyde, which is linked to causing cancer.

This irritant can be found in nail products, hair dye, hair straighteners, false eyelash adhesives, and some shampoos.
Survivor: David Hawkes has been developing medical imaging technology for 40 years

For more than 40 years, David Hawkes has been developing medical imaging technology which has helped thousands of patients, including those with prostate cancer.

But two years ago, he unexpectedly became a participant in a trial of a more accurate form of the technology that hed worked on, when it was used to diagnose his own prostate cancer  and then again to treat it.

Ive helped test our technology in the past as a volunteer, says David, 64, a physicist based at University College London (UCL). But its a very different experience when youre the patient.

David was director of the universitys Centre for Medical Image Computing. A team there have been working on ways of more accurately locating cancerous lesions in mens prostate glands.

Since 2007, they have been developing Smart Target, one of several systems which offer a more detailed image of the prostate than a standard MRI scan.

Smart Target uses whats called multi-parametric MRI, which combines three different MRI scans to create a better picture of the prostate.

Its software then aligns these scans with the image of the prostate gathered using ultrasound to give a complete image.

The system, launched in 2016, guides the urologist when placing the biopsy needle in any potential cancer seen on the MRI scan and more accurately guides treatment.

Its now being used at several NHS London hospitals including University College London Hospitals NHS Trust and other private clinics in England.

Our overall aim was to develop a much less invasive and more effective method of biopsy, together with treatment for those with localised, low or intermediate risk prostate cancer  that is, those that are not currently life threatening, says David.

We hoped to use better imaging to guide the biopsy and any subsequent focal treatment  the kind thats directed at the cancer, causing minimal damage to the surrounding tissue and fewer harmful side-effects.

Equality drive: In the UK, there are more than 46,000 new cases of prostate cancer each year

In the UK, there are more than 46,000 new cases of prostate cancer each year and more than 11,000 men die from it.

The disease is hard to diagnose. A raised level of PSA (prostate-specific antigen  a protein produced by prostate tissue) can be detected in blood during a test by a GP. But while this can indicate cancer, levels can rise owing to other factors, including infection.

A rectal examination of the prostate can also detect an abnormality.

Patients with suspected prostate cancer will then be referred for a biopsy. In the past, this has involved taking samples from random areas all over the prostate with a thin needle using an ultrasound-guided probe inserted into the back passage.

But this test  known as a transrectal ultrasound biopsy  can miss the cancer, as the entire prostate isnt analysed. Theres an infection risk, too, as the needle passes from the back passage into the prostate.

Having cancer came as a big shock. The next two weeks were the hardest of my life as its enormity hit me. I knew the probability of the disease progressing, but I had no idea how to translate that into a personal decision

Although it can locate an area of concern, the ultrasound doesnt provide a clear enough image to detect exactly where disease is.

Alternatively, a biopsy can be carried out through the skin into the prostate. Less widely used, this is called a trans-perineal biopsy and is carried out in the area between the patients back passage and testicles, using ultrasound. This is a better route for accessing the prostate, enabling a more targeted approach  important for smaller tumours.

Smart Target always uses a trans-perineal biopsy, combined with the multi-parametric MRI images to create its map of the prostate to biopsy and treat.

Earlier this year, results from the ground-breaking research study PROMIS showed that giving men a multi-parametric MRI scan before a biopsy improved the accuracy of diagnosing prostate cancer.

David was tested with the Smart Target software in September 2015 as part of a clinical trial. On the Monday after my youngest daughters wedding, my GP phoned and asked me to see him immediately, recalls David, whos married to Liz and lives in London.

With the wedding, Id almost forgotten that Id had my blood test for the NHS over-60s health check the week before.

His PSA was 15  anything above 3 is a cause for concern.

On Davids request, he was referred to his colleagues, who were carrying out a clinical trial of the technology. This way, he knew hed be helping with the vital research.

PROSTATE CANCER: THE FACTS 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with during their lifetime. That tquates to nearly 50,000 new acses each year. There are nearly 12,000 Deaths from prostate cancer in the UK, each year Incidence rates are projected to rise by 12% in the years between 2014 and 2035, to 233 cases per 100,000 males by 2035. 1 in 4 black men will get prostate cancer at some point in their lives. Source: Cancer Research UK Advertisement

A multi-parametric MRI scan revealed he had a pea-size but significant lesion in his prostate. With a trans-perineal biopsy guided by the Smart Target system, the results pointed to a cancer needing treatment. The biopsy was painless  I remember being heavily sedated before waking up, but nothing in between, says David.

Having cancer came as a big shock. The next two weeks were the hardest of my life as its enormity hit me.

From my work, I knew the probability of the disease progressing and the harmful side-effects of the various available treatments. But I had no idea how to translate that into a personal decision.

Radiotherapy and surgery, where the prostate is removed, can cause side-effects including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. It was finally agreed that Id have focal treatment using cryo-ablation. This is where very cold gas is passed down a tube inserted into the prostate. This freezes and kills off the cancerous tumour.

For a second occasion the Smart Target system was used on David, this time to guide the urologist who carried out the procedure, to improve the accuracy. Again this was part of a clinical trial. Afterwards, his PSA went down to 9 and he didnt suffer any significant side-effects.

Davids level rose six months later and he was given a repeat multi-parametric MRI and biopsy, again guided by Smart Target. But no further lesions were found and his level subsequently dropped. Hes now on active surveillance, having regular blood tests and scans.

Richard Hindley, a consultant urological surgeon at the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and a lead investigator on the PROMIS study, welcomes the Smart Target system and hopes it could help many other men, too.

David benefited from the use of this software both in terms of his biopsies and treatment, he says. I believe in the future that imaging and fusion targeting software will help provide us with a more accurate diagnosis of cancer. Its less likely to miss anything and more likely to identify if its aggressive. This will help with the decision making.

It will help to reduce the side-effects of any of the treatment options given, including surgery and radiotherapy.

For more information, visit prostatecanceruk.org
Best foot forward! Linda Geddes who has thread veins removed with new surgery

FOR as long as I can remember, Ive had small, spidery thread veins on my legs and ankles.

While friends wore summer shorts and dresses, Id cover my legs. Shortly before marrying, aged 30, I had microsclerotherapy  where a liquid is injected to make the tiny veins collapse and disappear. It meant I could spend my honeymoon confident on the beach.

But eight years and two children later, the thread veins returned, along with knobbly blue veins and brown stains on my left foot. Its not just the appearance that bothers me.

About six months ago, I started being woken at night with a cold ache in the top of my foot. Ive also since felt a baggy sensation above my left ankle, as if there was jelly under the skin that wobbled when my foot struck the floor.

I visited my GP, who assured me my legs and feet looked normal but thought ligament damage (perhaps from stumbling into a pothole six years earlier) seemed a more likely cause of my aches. Yet an ultrasound appeared normal.

I thought the problem could be vascular, and consulted Professor Mark Whiteley, a vascular surgeon who runs the private The Whiteley Clinic. He scanned my legs using duplex ultrasound, which shows the direction the blood is flowing. When he said I have serious varicose veins in both legs I was flabbergasted. Im only 38, with no obvious lumpy veins.

So how could this be? Veins return blood to the heart from organs and tissues, but in the legs and feet, this is literally an uphill struggle, Professor Whiteley explained.

To prevent the blood from falling back down our legs, the larger veins contain one-way valves. But these can fail due to wear and tear. Obesity and pregnancy can make valves wear out sooner, but hereditary factors play a role. Failing valves cause venous reflux, where blood pools in the veins.

But this doesnt always lead to visible bulging veins, Professor Whiteley explained. Around half of patients with refluxing veins get visibly bulging veins. Others get red or brown stains around the ankles and swelling instead.

Such symptoms are caused by pressure in the veins, which backs up into the capillaries that supply blood to your feet and ankles.

Discomfort: Linda suffered from the sudden on-set of pain caused by her rogue veins

This creates low-grade inflammation, characterised by itching and aching, says Dominic Dodd, a consultant vascular surgeon based at the Sheffield Vascular Institute. Over time, this can cause scarring and thickening around capillaries and tissues.

Brown patches are caused by blood leaking out of capillaries. Reduced circulation can result in ulcers. Those with visible varicose veins are at risk of these complications too, but as doctors are more likely to associate leg aches or itchy skin with the varicose veins, they are more likely to be offered pre-emptive treatment.

About six months ago, I started being woken at night with a cold ache in the top of my foot. Ive also since felt a baggy sensation above my left ankle, as if there was jelly under the skin that wobbled when my foot struck the floor.

Theres a cohort of people with aching, pain, itching or ulceration, but theres an issue with diagnosing them as you cant see the varicose veins, says Alun Davies, a professor of vascular surgery at Imperial College London.

They may not realise theres a problem until a leg ulcer develops. Studies suggest 30 to 40 per cent of adults have hidden varicose veins, but not all develop symptoms, and only a minority get ulcers.

An early sign of venous reflux is thread veins  small blood vessels in the skin which become dilated.

A 1993 study in the Journal of Dermatologic Surgery and Oncology found 89 per cent of people with leg and ankle thread veins have an underlying leg vein problem  often the result of defective valves in larger veins, i.e. hidden varicose veins.

Taking action: To cure her ailment she underwent 90-minute surgery which was successful

Many clinics treat thread veins using microsclerotherapy, but this is generally only a temporary solution. Most people need several treatments costing 150-250 each. Tackling them in isolation when theres an underlying reflux is usually unrewarding, says Mr Dodd. You can get some improvement, but generally they come back.

Thread veins are often harmless, but if you also get symptoms such as aching, heavy legs, or skin changes, NICE recommends referral to a vascular expert and a duplex ultrasound assessment.

If venous reflux and hidden varicose veins are to blame, NICE says you should be treated  preferably with endothermal ablation or endovenous laser ablation (EVLA), using heat to destroy the defective vein from the inside.

Venous reflux often grows worse as pressure causes more valves to fail, and more blood to pool. The unknown is how quickly you would progress, says Professor Davies, a member of the NICE committee that issued this guidance.

THE SYMPTOMS - Edema in the legs and ankles occur when veins become overly full with blood, causing fluid to leak, and legs and ankles to swell. - Venous stasis ulcers are slow or non-healing wounds around the legs and ankles which form when blood pools in the veins. Overly full veins can create high pressure and cause breaks in the skin which are slow to heal due to compromised circulation. - Varicose veins are created when veins become engorged with blood, producing thickened, twisted rope-like veins visible close to the surface of the skin. Varicose veins can be painful. - Reticular veins are thin, red colored veins noticeable at the surface of the skin. Telangectasias, also known as spider veins, are thin, reddish, web-like veins noticeable on the surface of the skin. Both reticular veins and spider veins are rarely painful or problematic to the health. Patients are more often concerned with their cosmetic aspect. - Pain is often accompanies the symptoms of venous reflux. Sometime legs can feel itchy or sore. SOURCE: Veindirectory.org Advertisement

Once you see skin changes, youre considered at high risk of leg ulcers. Since 2 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on leg ulcers, it makes sense to try to prevent them, says Professor Davies.

But NHS treatment funding is a postcode lottery. Treating one leg with EVLA privately costs 1,550 to 2,375. If symptoms dont bother you, it may be worth waiting before getting expensive treatment, says Mr Dodd, as leg ulcers are not inevitable.

Professor Whiteley offered to scan and treat me for free. My mother had NHS treatment as she was deemed at high risk of a leg ulcer. Scans showed my veins were in a worse state than hers, and Im 30 years younger (only one of her great saphenous veins in each leg, was incompetent; both of mine were). Youre a leg ulcer waiting to happen, he warned.

A nurse used ultrasound to map the defective veins and marked them with a pen to guide the local anaesthetic injections  the most painful part.

Tiny incisions were made in my calf and the top of my thigh, and a plastic sheath was inserted in the vein, followed by the laser. This was pulled down the vein, then offshoots of the great saphenous vein were destroyed, pulling sections out with a hook. It was painless, but I did feel tugging.

Surgery took 90 minutes and my legs were then bandaged, with compression stockings on top. I felt bruised, but with painkillers I could walk and even cycle. It took six weeks for my ankle bruising to subside fully.

I need to go back for follow-up treatment in a few months. A chemical foam will be injected into parts of branching veins that couldnt be pulled out (to stop veins growing back), and microsclerotherapy will deal with remaining thread veins.

But already theres an improvement. I no longer wake with ankle cramps, or leg aches. The brown patches on my foot remain, but the blue lumps and visibly swollen veins have gone. For the first time in years, Im looking forward to wearing a summer dress and sandals.
Scientists said there is promise in an anti-epilepsy drug that restores normal brain activity in those with mild Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers at a Harvard teaching hospital said there has been evidence that links seizure-like activity to cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's.

By treating these erratic brainwaves with the drug, experts said it could have a beneficial effect on patients with diminishing mental capabilities.

Now the scientists hope this new discovery can lead to a potential cure in treating Alzheimer's at an early stage.

Experts at a Harvard teaching hospital said an anti-epilepsy dug could help those with mild Alzheimer's. The medication helps restore normal brain activity in patients

The study was conducted by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, a Harvard teaching hospital.

Researchers said those with Alzheimer's disease have an increased risk of epilepsy.

Almost half can experience subclinical epileptic activity, which is disrupted electrical activity in the brain that doesn't result in a seizure but which can be measured by EEG technology.

Study participants were connected to an EEG machine and given a placebo or anti-seizure drug, either at a low dose or high dose.

Scientists then measured participants' brain scans while having them do a variety of tasks.

They concluded that those given a higher dose of the anti-epilepsy drug 'appeared to normalize abnormalities' in the patients' brain scans.

By treating erratic brainwaves of Alzheimer's patients with the drug, experts said it could have a beneficial effect. Pictured: Diagram of the brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE DEATH RATES Deaths from Alzheimer's disease have soared by 55 percent since 1999 in the US, a report from the CDC showed last week. A similar trend can be seen in the UK, with the most recent official statistics published in November displaying a significant jump. It is believed they have more than doubled over the last five years due to people living longer and therefore developing the condition. There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common form of dementia. Alzheimer's accounted for 3.6 percent of all US deaths in 2014. Yet the figure was much higher in the UK in 2015, as the disorder was responsible for 11.6 percent of total deaths. Researchers have long predicted increased cases of Alzheimer's as the baby boomer generation passes the age of 65, putting them at higher risk for the age-related disease. Medical advances also make them less likely to die from other diseases. Advertisement

Author Dr Daniel Press said: 'If this abnormal electrical activity is leading to more damage, then suppressing it could potentially slow the progression of the disease.

'It's worth noting, we did not demonstrate any improvement in cognitive function after a single dose of medication in this study.

'It's too early to use the drug widely, but we're preparing for a larger, longer study.'

The exact cause of Alzheimer's is unknown, although a number of factors, including age, are thought to increase the risk of developing the progressive disorder.

Scientists know that risky changes in the brain begin decades before symptoms of the disease and other dementias become apparent, suggesting there's a window when people might bolster their cognitive health.

Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, affects 5.4 million people in the US and 850,000 in the UK.

The prestigious National Academies said three lifestyle changes could help guard against mental decline, these include:

-Getting high blood pressure under control, especially in middle age. People with hypertension need treatment anyway to prevent heart disease and strokes.

-Increased physical activity. Similar to the blood pressure advice, what's good for the heart has long been deemed good for the brain.

-Cognitive training, specific techniques aimed at enhancing reasoning, problem solving, memory and speed of mental processing. While immediate task performance may improve, the committee said it's not clear whether there's lasting, meaningful benefit.
Event gives you twenty weird and wonderful facts from the last two decades of JK Rowling's reign as the queen of children's literature

1. Five hundred

The initial hardback print run of Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone when it was first published on June 26, 1997 by Bloomsbury.

2. Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon

The meaning of the Hogwarts school motto, Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus.

The seven Harry Potter books have sold 500 million copies worldwide

3. Global traveller

If all the Harry Potter books sold were placed end to end they would circle the planet six times.

4. Dictionary corner

In 2003 the word Muggle, meaning a non-magical person in the Harry Potter series, was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

5. Goblet of fire

In 2003, members of the Jesus Non-Denominational Church in Greenville, Michigan, publicly demonstrated their concern over what they perceived to be evil in the Harry Potter books by gathering around a bonfire and burning them.

6. Words never fail her

For the entire Harry Potter series JK Rowling wrote 1,100,086 words. Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone contains 77,887 words.

7. Touching tribute

Natalie McDonald, who appears on page 159 of Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, was a real person. She was a nine-year-old girl from Toronto, Canada, who was dying of leukaemia. She wrote to JK Rowling asking what was going to happen in the next Harry Potter book because she would not live long enough to read it. The kindly author emailed back but Natalie had died a day earlier. In tribute she became a first-year student at Hogwarts named by the Sorting Hat in Gryffindor  the house for the brave at heart  in the fourth book. When Rowling was in Canada for a book tour she visited the McDonald family.

8.Bumblebees

in Old English were known as Dumbledores. JK Rowling said she chose the name because she pictured Dumbledore humming to himself.

9. King of magic

Voldemort (below) was given Elvis as a middle name in the French edition. The change was necessary so that his full name  Tom Elvis Jedusor  would be an anagram of je suis Voldemort.

10. On the buses

Ernie and Stanley, the driver and conductor of the Knight Bus, are named after JK Rowlings grandfathers.

11. K is for Kathleen

Several publishers rejected the first Harry Potter book, saying it was too long and literary, but Bloomsbury Publishing finally accepted it in 1996. The company suggested that Rowling use the name JK rather than her real name, Joanne Rowling, to appeal more to male readers. She took the K from her grandmothers name Kathleen, but neither Kathleen nor K are part of her legal name.

Michael Jackson once approached JK Rowling about making a musical based on the books. She declined

12. Code name Potmaker

To prevent Harry Potter And The Deathly Hollows from being leaked, it was given code names, such as Edinburgh Potmakers and The Life And Times Of Clara Rose Lovett: An Epic Novel Covering Many Generations.

13. Birthday girl (and boy)

JK Rowling and Harry Potter share a birthday: July 31.

14. Sold!

The seven Harry Potter books have sold 500 million copies worldwide.

15. Harrys Herbal remedies

The wizarding worlds plants come from a real 17th-century book by botanist Nicholas Culpeper, which includes the plants flea wort, toadflax and grommel.

16. Dog Star Sirius

Sirius Black is named after the brightest star in the Earths night sky, also known as the Dog Star. This is very apt since when Sirius used his skills as an animagus he turned into a big black dog.

17. Her dark materials

The dementors are based on Rowlings struggle with depression after her mothers death. Her mother died in 1990 from multiple sclerosis.

18. Eighty

The number of languages including Welsh, Latin and Ancient Greek that the Harry Potter books have been translated into.

Voldemort was given Elvis as a middle name in the French edition. The change was necessary so that his full name  Tom Elvis Jedusor  would be an anagram of je suis Voldemort

19. The Philosophers phone

Arthur Weasley enters 62442 into a telephone keypad when he takes Harry and his pals to the Ministry of Magic. The letters underneath those numbers on a standard mobile phone spell out the word magic.

20. Jacko cast no spell

Michael Jackson once approached JK Rowling about making a musical based on the books. She declined.

The 20th anniversary editions of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone are available now from Bloomsbury

Take a look at me now

The Albanians dressed him as a mouse, the Finns gave him a huge nose and the Swedes went all trippy. Just look how Harry Potter cast his spell over the book world...

Catelonia (left) and Japan (right)

Spain (left) and Poland (right)

Ukraine (left) and Sweden (right)
The Secret Life: Three True Stories

Andrew OHagan

Faber 14.99

Rating:

If ever you feel down in the dumps, the perfect way to cheer up is to remind yourself that at least you are not the Ecuadorian Ambassador to the Court of St James.

In what might possibly be the longest sleepover in diplomatic history, Julian Assange has been resident in the cramped Ecuadorian Embassy in London for the past five years.

For all his international fame and glamour, Assanges personal hygiene leaves a lot to be desired. A few years ago, his one-time friend and colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg wrote a memoir in which he revealed that Assange often wore two pairs of trousers at the same time, and several pairs of socks. According to Domscheit-Berg, he eats everything with his hands, and then wipes his fingers on his trousers. I have never seen pants as greasy in my whole life.

Apparently, he is also very greedy. If there were four slices of spam, he would eat three and leave one for me.

Andrew OHagan has written a delightfully beady and unforgiving account of the months he spent with Julian Assange attempting to ghost-write a doomed autobiography

For the poor old Ecuadorian Ambassador, it must be a bit like having Albert Steptoe to stay. Nor do Assanges manners stretch to a proper thank you. When the distinguished writer Andrew OHagan went to visit him there, Assange complained to him that the ambassador was mad, and spent too much time stalking the corridor and fretting about being too fat.

At the beginning of 2011, OHagan was signed up to ghost-write Julian Assanges autobiography, which had already been sold to publishers around the world for $2.5 million. No shrinking violet, Assange had high hopes for the book. I hope this will become one of the unifying documents or our generation, he announced on signing the contract.

Needless to say, it all ended in tears. After recording more than 50 hours of interviews with OHagan, Assange decided that he no longer wanted to go ahead with the project, declaring that all memoir is prostitution. On the other hand, he didnt want to pay back his advance, either. He claimed to have already spent it on legal bills. Against Assanges wishes, his British publishers decided to publish what they had, wittily calling it The Unauthorised Autobiography and rushing it out without the authors consent. In turn, Assange denounced them as profiteering and added them to his fast-growing list of enemies.

OHagan has written a delightfully beady and unforgiving account of the months he spent with Julian Assange attempting to ghost-write that doomed autobiography.

He had first encountered Assange when he watched him delivering a lecture in London, some months before. His first impressions were mixed. He was really interesting but odd, maybe even on the autism spectrum.

At their first one-to-one meeting, OHagan had the impression that Assange saw himself less as a campaigner than as a rock star. He found this baffling. Assange referred a number of times to the fact that people were in love with him, but I couldnt see the coolness, the charisma he took for granted.

At that point, Assange was living under virtual house arrest in Ellingham Hall, a stately home in Norfolk, wearing an electronic tag and having to report to the local police once a day. He spent a good deal of time ranting against his enemies, many of whom  journalists on The Guardian and The New York Times  had once been his friends.

He had a strange inability to realise when he was becoming boring or demanding. He talked as if the world needed him to talk and never to stop. He also exhibited what OHagan wryly terms an unending capacity to worry about his enemies and to yawn in ones face.

Assange seems to have a sort of superhero complex, regarding himself as the saviour of planet Earth. His entry in the visitors book at Ellingham Hall, written on the day WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of leaked US embassy cables, read: Today with my friends we tried to bring modern history to the world. Its all a far cry from Thank you for having me.

The role of the ghost-writer is difficult at the best of times. He must conjure words out of subjects who are often too lazy or stupid to write them for themselves. If the subject is too timid, he must encourage him to open up, and if the subject is too boring, he must coax him into more profitable pastures.

From early on, OHagan realised that Assange only felt comfortable when delivering long-winded world overviews that no one would ever want to read. I was trying to get him to stop his undergraduate lecturing about freedom. I knew there was nothing I could use: it was all standard-grade Voltaire with a smattering of Chomsky.

But whenever OHagan attempted to shepherd him into the details of his own life, Assange would shy away. He somehow imagined he could write an autobiography with all the autobiographical bits taken out. His sentences were too infected with his habits of self-regard and truth manipulation. The man who put himself in charge of disclosing the worlds secrets simply couldnt bear his own.

OHagan rented a house nearby, and Assange would come over. His account of Assanges piggish table-manners accords with Daniel Domscheit-Bergs. I made lunch every day and hed eat it, often with his hands, and then lick the plate. In all that time he didnt once take his dirty plate to the sink... I found his egotism at the dinner table to be a form of madness more striking than anything he said If you told him to do the dishes he would say he was trying to free economic slaves in China and had no time to wash up.

As for the book itself, it became clear early on that Assange had no real intention of ever properly setting his mind to it. Somehow, OHagan was able to assemble a rough draft from the 50 hours of tapes. It wasnt by any means great, he writes, but it had a voice, a reasonable, even-tempered, slightly amused but moral voice, which was as invented as anything Id ever produced in fiction.

At this point, one starts to question the artistic morality of ghosting a book that is so far from the truth. Was OHagan conniving in a lie? Does the role of ghost really remove you from any obligation towards authenticity? OHagan doesnt tackle these questions, but it strikes me that he, too, may be prone to some of the self-denial of which he so sharply accuses Assange. At one point in his book, OHagan complains that Assange somehow thought I was his creature. But wasnt he? Is the ventriloquists doll ever his own master?

Assange couldnt get round to reading the rough draft. At a guess, Id say he had read the first three pages. But this didnt stop him from declaring it unpublishable. He then began to rant against the very notion of writing about oneself, saying that the art of autobiography was hateful. Men who reveal their private lives in books are weak. Furthermore, men who write about their family are prostitutes.

He then denied ever saying several things to OHagan. I would never say my stepfather was an alcoholic.

But you did say it, Julian You said it to me in dozens of interviews. I have them all on tape.

I was tired.

From early on, OHagan realised that Assange only felt comfortable when delivering long-winded world overviews that no one would ever want to read

Assange then wanted to turn it into more of a manifesto, less of an autobiography. He claimed to have worked on OHagans draft, but then claimed he couldnt find it. There was something pathetic about the search: it was clear he had never marked up any version.

By now, OHagan was at the end of his tether. Ive never been with anybody who made me feel so like an adult. And I say that as the father of a 13-year old. Assanges lying finally convinced him that he is probably a little mad, sad and bad.

This vivid, damning essay on Assange takes up just under half of the book. The rest is given over to two pieces on vaguely related topics. The first is about the ease with which one can invent an alter-ego on the internet, and the second tells of another doomed ghosting job undertaken by OHagan, this one for Craig Wright, who claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin. Somehow, they both feel like pale shadows of what has gone before. Who would have thought we could ever miss Julian Assange?
Deputy superintendent of police Mohammad Ayub Pandith was killed by a mob in Kashmir

The brutal lynching of a police officer in Kashmir has left people in the Valley shocked and has triggered widespread revulsion across the country.

Deputy superintendent of police Mohammad Ayub Pandith was on 'access security' duty. According to reports, an angry mob caught hold of the officer outside the mosque and beat him to death.

'It is an inhuman act. The official was killed by the mob while he was performing his duties,' said SP Vaid, DGP of J&K Police.

Asked whether the slain officer was there for the security of Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the DGP said, 'Mirwaiz does come there. It was a sacred occasion yesterday, thousands of people were expected at the mosque and security was made for them.'

Farooq, who is also the religious leader at the grand mosque, delivered his scheduled sermon. He, however, said that he reached there after the incident.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti laying a wreath at the coffin of slain DSP Mohammed Ayub Pandith during a ceremony at District Police Lines in Srinagar

'Media mill found grist in this sad death to further its propaganda against the resistance leadership and movement,' he said. The cleric came under heavy fire from detractors.

Actor and BJP MP Paresh Rawal tweeted, 'Mirwaiz only can hear firecrackers on the other side of the border but not the piercing screams of Ayub Pandith across the room!'

Some witnesses say a few men saw Pandith, who was wearing civilian clothes, carrying a weapon as he entered the mosque to offer prayers for a few minutes.

Senior separatist leader of Moderate Faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Molvi Umar Farooq

When he was surrounded by a crowd outside, he took out his pistol and fired, injuring two people.

This made the mob angrier and people started beating him till he died.

Farooq delivers sermons at Jamia Masjid every Friday. Criticising the restriction on the movement of people near the mosque imposed by the government on Thursday, he said, 'For the whole year, Muslims of the Valley wait to offer prayers in Jamia Masjid on this most important last Friday of the holiest month of Ramadan... even that right has been snatched from us by our oppressors.'

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti termed the lynching 'murder of trust'. Family members of the slain cop said that he left from home to do his duty.

Relatives of police officer Mohammad Ayub Pandith mourn at his home in Srinagar

The killing has led to many unanswered questions, the biggest one being why was the officer, apparently, alone when thousands of people were expected to be there?

Did Farooq walk into the mosque minutes after the lynching only to go on with the prayers? Sources say many of these mysteries will only be solved when the probe pieces together the exact sequence of events.

Police have registered a case and arrested two people. A third person has also been identified but is yet to be arrested, said sources.

Indian security forces beef up their presence ahead of Burhan Wani's death anniversary

Burhan Wani was a commander of the Kashmir-based militant outfit the Hizbul Mujahideen

Expecting a turbulent fortnight starting with the last Friday prayer of the Ramadan up to the death anniversary of slain terrorist Burhan Wani in Kashmir on July 8, the security forces have beefed up their presence along national highways and the hinterland to prevent separatists from carrying out attacks in the state.

'There will be a spurt in attempts to create disruption across the state till Wani's death anniversary and because of this, many measures have been taken including deployment of 2,000 Army troops in South Kashmir, while troop size has been increased along the national highways also,' army sources said.

In view of the developing situation, the Combing and Search Operations have also been intensified in the state while Company Operating Bases (from where troops operate) have also been increased in the hinterland, they said.

Sources said the Pakistan-backed terror groups will now make an attempt to keep up the noise high till the first anniversary of killing of Burhan Wani who was heading the Hizbul Mujahidden in the Kashmir valley and had become popular using social media.

'We are expecting the violence to rise in this fortnight,' the sources said. The Army headquarters have also ordered the five battalions, which have been moved to Kashmir, to stay alert during the Amarnath Yatra.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police S P Vaid and other senior officers carrying the coffin of DSP Mohammad Ayub Pandith

The battalions were rushed to provide protection on the route from Jammu and on both sides of the Jawahar tunnel along the yatra route.

The Army has been carrying out relentless operations both along the Line of Control and the Kashmir valley with eight militants getting killed in this week till now.

A Pakistani Border Action Team action was also foiled in Poonch, where a Pakistani Special Forces operative was eliminated by the Army troops while two Indian soldiers were martyred.

Following the death of Md Ayub Pandith, Army sources see an indication of what the future will bring along, as the terror masters wanted to use Shahdat Ali to raise the level of frenzy amongst the mobs against police and Army.
While blood and unrest smear Kashmir's landscape today, an ancient past buried deep beneath the ground has surfaced to remind of glorious times.

Over four decades after extensive excavations at Burzahom, 16 km north-east of Srinagar city, an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on the unpublished data suggests that Kashmiris in olden times were traditionally an artisan community, adept at weaving and intricate craftsmanship.

The findings submitted this week by outgoing additional director general of the government body, RS Fonia, also link the Neolithic (or New Stone Age) site to the contemporary Indus Valley civilisation and establish the inhabitants' regular trade with the Harappans.

The dig site at Burzahom

Ranging from 3000 BC to 1000 BC, the culture in Burzahom illustrates various stages of evolution from food gathering to food producing

Ranging from 3000 BC to 1000 BC, the culture in Burzahom illustrates various stages of evolution from food gathering to food producing.

Evidence of bone needles, cotton, wool and other fabric point to a fairly dominant textile industry.

The report also details how the community adapted to the adverse climatic conditions with innovations such as underground dwelling pits and use of wool.

The findings throw up signs of sophistication in technology with the introduction of new tool types such as double-edged picks, spindle whorls, spear-heads, copper arrowheads, harvesters, celts and knife blades.

Items such as pendants, beads, terracotta bangles suggest cultural and commercial contacts with the people of neighbouring regions of Pakistan, Tibetan Plateau and other sub- Himalayan areas.

The manufacturing of stone and bone tools show professional competence, skilled technique and cultural contacts.

Particular mention is made of harvesters (both in stone and bone) with two holes for handling it, indicating contacts with China.

'The Harappan civilisation cannot be studied in isolation. There were several contemporary cultures and the Kashmir Neolithic culture not only was impacted by the Harappan civilisation but it in itself also impacted them.

Neolithic Kasmiris were skilled artists who kept cultural contacts with neighbouring regions

'It will not be incorrect to say the Kashmiris had artisanry in their genes. They innovated and eventually it became their tradition,' vice-chancellor of Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute Prof Vasant Shinde told Mail Today.

'The pit dwellings of Burzahom, the dog burials, discovery of beads are all key findings of the site.'

The report conclusively establishes the 'special' position of dogs and goats as pets that were interred with the human body.

The wolf and Himalayan Ibex (goats) receive special attention and there is ample evidence to substantiate that animals were sacrificed to honour the dead.

Sometimes pet animals such as dogs and wolves were buried singly or in twos.

Some of these burial pits were plastered with chunam (lime plaster) and the dog burials were sometimes within the house compound.

In pursuit of finding traces of early man and associated human culture in the Kashmir valley, the site of Burzahom was discovered by H. De. Terra and TT Peterson of a Yale-Cambridge expedition in 1935.

The trial diggings suggested further excavations that were undertaken by TN Khazanchi between 1960 and 1971.

As Khazanchi passed away without being able to complete the report, Fonia, who served as the superintending archaeologist in Jammu and Kashmir from 1985 to 1997, took it upon himself to carry out further excavations.

Days before his retirement, he submitted the report that took over another decade of drafting.

'The present report will help scholars in settling the issue of 'The Inner Asia Complex' with a view to reconstructing the various stages of evolution of human society in South Asia, beginning with food gathering/producing communities in surviving with new technology to the changing climatic conditions of the new age,' Fonia added.

'Burzahom is a very important archaeological site and that the much-delayed report is finally being submitted is a welcome move,' said former ASI director general Gautam Sengupta.
The Election Commission has ruled that it will continue to hear a case against 21 AAP MLAs for allegedly holding two offices of profit.

In further bad news for the Delhi chief minister, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal directed principal secretary (vigilance) against CM Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged PWD scam.

Sparking panic in the AAP ranks, the Election Commission on Saturday ruled that it will continue to hear the case against the 21 parliamentary secretaries setting aside the party's argument that the High Court had declared the appointment null and void.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal came to power on a promise of ending corruption

'The Commission is thus, of the considered opinion that the respondents did hold de facto office of parliamentary secretaries from March 13, 2015 to September 8, 2016, and the interpretation as sought to be put by them on the order dated September 8, 2016 of Delhi High Court that they did not hold any office is not legally tenable,' the EC observed on Saturday.

So far the AAP has toughed it out, claiming that 'all remedies are available to challenge this order'. But the party leadership is now seriously worried about the future of these 21 MLAs.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal

'The Election Commission's recent order should not be misinterpreted. High Court of Delhi had declared very order of appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries as null and void. Therefore there is no question of hearing a petition for 'office' which never existed as per Delhi High Court.

'However, Election Commission has ordered that it will still hear the petition. All remedies are available to challenge this order of EC. We respect the orders of High Court as well as the Election Commission,' an official AAP statement read.

The Opposition lashed out at the AAP demanding the resignation of the 21 MLAs. 'Arvind Kejriwal, in order to give VVIP status to the 21 MLAs illegally appointed them as Parliamentary Secretaries and gave them facilities like car, plush office space, staff.

'Kejriwal was in stark contrast with the 'aam aadmi' plank he played to secure votes in the Delhi elections,' alleged Delhi Congress unit chief Ajay Maken.

'If the 21 AAP MLAs have any ethics, they should immediately resign so that the uncertainty that haunts these assembly constituencies is removed and the people of these constituencies are not put to any difficulty.'

Meanwhile, the L-G directed principal secretary (vigilance) to take action as per rules in a plea seeking prosecution sanction against Kejriwal in the alleged PWD scam.

Earlier last month the Anti-Corruption Branch had lodged three separate FIRs on the basis of a complaint filed by founder of Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO) Rahul Sharma alleging irregularities in grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines in Delhi in 2015-16.

One of the FIRs has been registered against the company of Kejriwal's late brother-inlaw Surender Kumar Bansal. Kejriwal was, however, not named in any of the FIRs.

On June 7, Sharma had filed an application to the L-G seeking prosecution sanction pertaining to these FIRs against Kejriwal and the executive engineer of the PWD under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The L-G's Special Secretary R N Sharma, in a written communication to Principal Secretary (gigilance) Ashwani Kumar, said a representation from Rahul Sharma, founder of RACO, Ghonda in Delhi has been sent for necessary action as per rules.

After registration of FIRs based on Sharma's complaint, ACB chief Mukesh Kumar Meena had then said, since there are three separate companies, three separate FIRs for forgery, cheating and under Prevention of Corruption Act have been registered.

Meena had also said that during investigation, it has been found that fake bills were attached for materials that were not even supplied and some of the bills were of companies that do not exist.
Sunny Nehra had thousands of fans thanks to his 'ethical hacking' tips

His YouTube lessons on responsible hacking drew thousands of techies. Meanwhile, his Facebook page, where he imparted similar tips, had more than 10,000 followers.

But Sunny Nehra, a 24-year-old engineering dropout, could not resist the lure of easy money, police say.

According to Delhi Police cyber cell records, Nehra's list of victims reads out the who's who of e-commerce companies, from MakeMyTrip and Yatra.com to Amazon, Flipkart, Big Bazar, Reliance Digital, Myntra. com, Dominos Pizzas, Prestige, Titan, Provogue and Shoppers Stop.

Nehra's game was up last week when a team of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force busted a gang of five alleged hackers for allegedly duping thousands of international account holders by shopping through leaked data of credit cards.

He is now in judicial custody. 'This is a classic case of a gifted mind taking up the criminal path,' said UP STF's additional superintendent Triveni Singh who arrested Nehra last week.

'There are many young techies who are inspired from him. We have several such young criminals on our radar and will soon start a crackdown against them.'

Describing his functioning, Singh said after finding loopholes in a payment gateway, Nehra would misuse the leaked data of international credit card users.

The 24-year-old engineering dropout was arrested by a Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force

'They got international credit card details from darknet and some open forums, which are leaked by hackers by compromising card number, CVV and expiry date. Nehra and his gang misused these cards for shopping goods from online portals,' Singh told Mail Today.

This is not Nehra's first brush with the law, police said. A Delhi Police team also arrested Nehra from a five star hotel in Gurugram in January this year, for allegedly stealing e-vouchers worth Rs one crore.

Interestingly, Delhi cops echoed UP STF sentiments on Nehra.

'He is a brilliant coder and can easily find shortcomings in online websites and banking channels. He is known for devising newer modus-operandi to hack into classified data. Nehra also has a weakness for five-star hotels and lavish holidays,' said a member of the Delhi Police raiding party.

Police claimed that Nehra had found loopholes in a payment gateways and was misusing the leaked data of international credit card users

'He loves travelling, staying in high-end hotels or resorts and travelling by air. Even his gang members maintains luxurious life and splurged money on expensive cars,' said the officer.

The officer claimed that Nehra and his team digitally shoplifted e-vouchers, allegedly causing a loss of several crore to online shopping sites, payment gateways and credit card holders.

His followers on the internet still swear by him. Some of the netizens Mail Today spoke to said Nehra was inspired from international hacker Snowden.

But police suspect that instead of ethical hacking, Nehra was active in darknet community and assisted hackers in detecting vulnerable codes.

The gang sold a large chunk of high-end gadgets to the members of their closed network at a cheaper rate, police said.

Nehra has also developed an online association with various hackers in India as well as abroad. He allegedly tied up with professional hackers in India, the Netherlands and Indonesia to hone in his skills.

Bangalore Police suspect Nehra was involved in a recent case where a hacker had given a 72-hour deadline to an online company asking it to cough up $5,000 (Rs 3.22 lakh), failing which he would share their confidential information.

The company received a threat mail from a person who claimed himself as Sunny Nehra who claimed he had hacked and downloaded the vouchers.

The online firm is in the trade of issuing vouchers to the employees of various IT firms. The investigations are still on.
After the lynching of Jammu and Kashmir police officer Mohammed Ayub Pandith in Nowhatta and murder of Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz, there are indications in the Kashmir valley that common people are resenting the brutal killings of own people by the militant groups.

According to intelligence reports received by the army on the communication between local terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the local community heads and especially women, are raising questions over the 'spilling of blood of own people' in the fight with government.

'The women are questioning the local terrorists on this issue as a large number of Kashmiris are working in the police force, the army and other government services, and this can lead to a blood bath in the future,' a source said.

Thousands of villagers poured onto the streets for the funeral, chanting slogans (pictured - Kashmiri women comfort the sister of Tauseef Ahmed)

Indian army personnel arrive at the site of an attack by suspected rebels on a paramilitary vehicle at Pantha Chowk on the outskirts of Srinagar

Sources indicated that the killing of Lt Fayaz and Pandith could be a result of the ongoing feud between different factions of the terror groups to increase control over terrorism in the state.

In view of the incident, the security forces have also warned their men about possible attacks from different terror groups on them or their families, as the relentless operations by the security forces against the terrorists have made them desperate.

The killings of both Fayaz and Pandith have created a sense of insecurity among the Kashmiris and these killings are being resented by the common people as an attack on own people.

Relatives of police officer Mohammad Ayub Pandith mourn at his home in Srinagar

Army personnel paying tribute to army officer Lt. Ummer Fayyaz (inset) during his funeral at his native village Sudsona in Kulgam district

Fayaz was on leave when he was abducted from his family home in Shopian district and killed

The police force has also been told to keep a check on the incidents of terrorists attending funerals of militants and also take action against those attending with AK-47s and other weapons.

The security arrangements in the state have been increased, additional forces are being rushed and existing ones are being redeployed at many places to take on the terrorists' attempts to attack the Amarnath Yatra.

Meanwhile, the security forces killed two terrorists who had attacked a CRPF convoy in Srinagar's Pantha Chowk area and had gone into hiding inside a school on the outskirts of the city.

The late night encounter started after the terrorists attacked a CRPF convoy, after which security forces surrounded and eliminated them.

Two army troops, including one officer from the Para (Special Forces), were injured in the gun battle and have been shifted to the military hospital there.

In the last six months, more than 85 terrorists have been eliminated by the security forces in operations both on the Line of Control and the hinterland.

Kashmiri women comfort wailing sister of Tauseef Ahmed, a civilian killed during a protest, at his funeral procession in Tengpun, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir

Kashmiri villagers shout pro-freedom slogans during the funeral of a suspected rebel Shiraz Ahmed
Nirbhaya has become a symbol of many things: the depth of human atrocity, the vulnerability of women in India, Nirbhaya's courage, the legislation and remedial instructions that followed.

The scope of death penalty was expanded by the Criminal (Amendment) Act of 2013. But In incident after incident, the atrocities continue.

We neutralise them into various compartments: Incident compartments - buses, Uber, roads, in the home and work place.

Significantly, Ramachandran had also argued that the four convicts - Mukesh (24), Pawan (20), Vinay (22) and Akshay (29) were too young to be hanged

Remedy compartments - speedy investigation, speedy trial, speedy appeals and punishment.

Actions - the continuous pressure of civil action for a nation that has blown its conscience to bits.

On gender and atrocity, India remains amongst the most uncivilised in the treatment of women and vulnerable.

Death sentence

In the Supreme Court, the death penalty was ordered by justices Mishra, Bhanumati and Bhan. The main accused, Ram Singh, committed suicide in jail in 2013.

All courts condemned Akshay Thakur (a school dropout), Pawan Gupta (a fruit seller), Mukesh Singh (a bus cleaner) and Vinay Sharma (a fitness trainer).

Mukesh thought the woman deserved to be raped. All judges agreed this offence was within the 'rarest of rare' instances, mandating the death penalty.

This is how the Supreme Court put it. This offence was 'diabolic', to shock the 'collective conscience'. It was 'human lust' that took a demonic form.

The emphasis on 'appetite for sex', 'hunger for violence' and 'unchained carnal desire and slavery to the loathsome bestiality of passion'. Was this the root of the problem?

And if this is a product of an inevitable human condition, is that an excuse or a reason?

That is a much more serious allegation that 'rape' is natural. If so, will the death penalty and social vigilance cure the disease? Punishing rape is one thing, but all sexual passion?

The rape threw fresh light on the problem of misogyny and rape in India

Justice Bhanumati thought the mass moment and case would 'end violence against women'.

And with it, lust and carnal desire. With everyone's blood boiling, there is a consensus that death penalty is the only answer; and, for some, even that will never compensate the individual and collective agony; or the belief that a deterrent alone can set an example.

The legal basis of the Supreme Court's 'rarest of rare' test has a sliding standard applied to the action rather the offender with arbitrary results.

All murderous rapes or those with grievous body harm are 'rarest of rare'. If we say look at the 'offender' the retentionists wants death.

The exception is illusory and intuitional. The social basis is as unforgiving. Nor is peoples' law or 'mob adjudication' (Gopal Krishna Gandhi's phrase).

Delhi bus gang rape convicts Mukesh Singh (left), Vinay Sharma (center) and Akshay Thakur (right) have challenged in the Supreme Court the death sentence awarded by the trial court and later confirmed by the Delhi High Court

Recall a prisoner detained on a suspicion of rape being paraded naked and clubbed to death on March 3, 2015 in Dimapur.

In a JNU study of 2009, it was found that successive presidents had acted differently on mercy petitions. India voted against abolition of death penalty in the UN in 2007.

The Supreme Court ordains a rehearing of the death penalty cases. This is a step towards fairness and not where one defies fundamental considerations.

An abolitionist's plea

In India, retentionsts have out-trumped abolitionists.

True, No one has a right to murder; but the Death Penalty is 'legal murder', as gruesome and unacceptable.

Internally, the law accords a defensive right to kill. Externally only the State, with its frail of legal system exacerbated by the social and public media can kill.

The ascending voice is 'kill, kill, kill'. A liberal feminist faces a dilemma: As a liberal, she believes in the sanctity of life. Yet at the same time justifies the death penalty on the usual grounds of retribution, deterrence and lack of redemption.

As Gopal Gandhi quoting Amartya Sen puts it 'killing for killing is like the market economy  a system of exchange (but must we be) under a market scaffold'.

Gopal Gandhi commenting on the postNirbhaya law for death penalty in non-homicidal cases, plaintively reminds 'Feminism is radical, as it has to be. Indian feminism has to be more than radical, it has to be revolutionary... The amendment (poses) a defensive show of strength, rather than progressive feminist action'.

Some victims wanted the rapist hung 'or burnt alive'.

Right to kill

Apart from rape cases, death penalty applies equally to women as men. It is a moral issue on the state's right to kill through law reflecting the most bloodthirsty.

Likewise in secularism one part of a liberal speaks to allow communities to follow the freedom of belief and conscience and claims of gender equality.

This has been at the centre of the 'triple talaq' controversies.

Equally poignant is the hate speech issue exemplified in cases such as of Rushdie. In a society which is vitriolic, divided and revengeful, India has not found an honest method to resolve these controversies which are soaked in revenge.

India may well say that a due process sifts out the rarest. The real issue is still the state's right to kill on behalf of people to give vent to populist anger as a therapeutic release with only one moral justification and no other: tit-for-tat.

There is no deterrent justification. Reported rapes in India have increased from 22,172 in 2010 to 34,051 in 2015.

I mourn deeply for Nirbhaya and the agony of her parents, friends and all of us. But I will mourn in a different way for the executed.

Abolition may be out of sync with society's most murderous retribution. But society is out of sync with humanity rather than the sanctity of life.
In the biggest takeaway from the first meeting of India and the new dispensation in the United States of America, both countries agreed that Hizbul Mujahideen's chief Syed Salahuddin is a terrorist.

Sources told Mail Today that the designation of Syed Salahuddin, one of India's long standing demands, was made hours ahead of the bilateral talks so it could figure in the Indo-US joint statement.

The development is the biggest diplomatic achievement for India at a time when the country is fighting Pakistani elements to restore peace in Kashmir. Burhan Wani, who was also a Hizbul commander, has been called a 'martyr' by the top leadership in Pakistan.

Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin, shown here in 2013, has pledged to block any peaceful resolution to the conflict in disputed Kashmir

President Donald Trump meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Oval Office

Ahead of the talks, the state department put out a press release which stated: 'Department of State has designated Mohammad Yusuf Shah, also known as Syed Salahuddin, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Section 1(b) of Executive Order (EO) 13224, which imposes sanctions on foreign persons who have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of the US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.

'As a consequence of this designation, US people are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with Salahuddin and all of Salahuddin's property and interests in property subject to the United States' jurisdiction are blocked.'

US people have been prohibited from interacting with Syed Salahuddin as part of the sanctions

This decision of the US government was welcomed by India.

MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay, addressing the media said: 'India welcomes this notification. It underlines also quite strongly that both India and the US face threat of terrorism.'

The state department also stated that Salahuddin, a senior leader of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) had vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley 'into a graveyard for Indian forces.'

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi addressing at the United States Community Reception in Washington DC - news of sanctions against Salahuddin is a positive step for Modi as he looks to get the US on side in the fight against Pakistan-based terrorists

Under Salahuddin's tenure as senior HM leader, the outfit has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Indian-administered J&K, which injured 17 people, the state department said.

Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organisations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system.

Moreover, designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has highlighted the economic impact the company is having on India in a meeting with its prime minister as the iPhone maker seeks deeper access to the world's third-largest smartphone market behind the United States and China.

Cook met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a business summit in Washington at a time when Apple Inc is targeting the nascent Indian market as a revenue source after its sales in China slipped.

Apple has asked Indian government officials for a range of tax and policy changes to help build out its iPhone assembly work in the country. It is seeking permission to open its own retail stores in India where it currently sells iPhones through resellers.

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple

President Donald Trump meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Oval Office of the White House

In his meeting with Modi, Cook disclosed that Apple expected its Indian operations to be run completely from renewable energy within the next six months, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

Cook reiterated that Apple had generated 740,000 jobs in India through its so-called 'app economy' and Indian developers had created nearly 100,000 apps for the App Store, the person said.

Modi talked with Cook and other U.S. corporate leaders ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday. Apple, working with contract manufacturer Winstron, began assembling the iPhone SE in Bengaluru last month. Indian authorities have offered Apple tax concessions for the work with the requirement that more local components be used over time.

The company is looking to India after sales in the greater China region, once a major factor in Apple's rise, fell 14 percent year over year to $10.7 billion in the most recent quarter.

Cook met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a business summit in Washington (pictured - Trump and Modi)

Apple has not disclosed how much revenue it generates in India but said that sales grew by 'strong double digits' there in the most recent quarter.

'We have a ton of energy going into the country on a number of fronts,' Cook told analysts about Apple's efforts in India during the company's most recent earnings call.

'We believe, particularly now that the 4G infrastructure is going in the country and it's continuing to be expanded, there is a huge opportunity for Apple there.'
A new video from Jamat-ud-dawa headquarters in Lahore has exposed Pakistan's support to terror in the Kashmir valley again.

India Today has accessed a video of JuD remembrance ceremony for the two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists killed after the overnight siege at Delhi Public School (DPS) Srinagar.

The encounter in Srinagar started after LeT terrorists attacked a CRPF convoy resulting in the death of a CRPF sub inspector and serious injuries to two other CRPF personnel.

India Today has accessed a video of JuD remembrance ceremony

The J&K police, CRPF and the army immediately mounted a counter offensive. The terrorists fled and hid in the near by DPS.

'Our mujahid bravely fought the Hindu army for over 24 hours. They were martyred in fighting the army. If nothing else hold them in your Eid prayers,' the speaker at the JuD congregation was caught on camera saying.

All this while Abdul Rahman Makki, brother-in-law of Hafiz Saeed sat on the stage listening.

Makki is the current head of banned terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.

He took control of the terrorist organisation after Hafiz Saeed, a designated global terrorist was put under a sham house arrest following intense scrutiny by the financial action task force (FATF).

Intelligence agencies believe terror in the Kashmir valley is being fuelled by the Pakistani forces through terrorist organisations like LeT and JeM.

Bullet proof vehicles stationed in the premises of Delhi Public School (DPS) where two militants were holed up during an encounter with the security forces

'This latest video is clear evidence of the direct support terrorists in Kashmir get from Pak based terror groups. Makki and other LeT terrorists had real time information about terrorist movement and the terror attack on the CRPF convoy at Pantha chowk and the counter terror operations mounted by the security forces,' sources told India Today.

'They were hoping that the Army will bring down the school to flush out the terrorists. However, the Army succeeded in killing the two LeT terrorists without damaging the school,' sources added.

A prayer for the killed terrorists in Pakistan moments after the encounter showed how closely the terrorists across the LoC were monitoring the operation. Even on Eid, Pakistan sponsored elements resorted to stone pelting.

The worse part is that some youth protested with posters of Hafiz Saeed and slain terrorist Burhan Wani. Hizbul Mijahideen terrorist Syed Salahuddin announced a protest to mark one year of terrorist Burhan Wani's death in an encounter with the security forces.

'This is an evidence of terror in the Kashmir valley, being organised and manipulated by terrorists in Pakistan and PoK,' said an official.

Indian army soldiers conduct a patrol during an operation against suspected rebels in Turkwangam Lassipora in Shopian south of Srinagar

Intel 'bomb' ahead of Amarnath Yatra

by Anindya Banerjee

The chemistry lab still smelled of gunpowder and the library of Delhi Public School, Srinagar was a mess after a day long siege, ended with gunning down of two Lashkar terrorists Abu Talha and Abu Huraira.

But before the security forces could breathe a sigh of relief, there came a bombshell.

A fresh intel report from the SSP Anantnag, warns of attacks on Amarnath Yatra which begins from 29th of this month.

Indian paramilitary troopers stand guard during a curfew in downtown Srinagar

A report from Mail Today says, there can be 100 to 150 pilgrims who are targeted to kill.

What's even more shocking is the claim that terrorists from across the border intend to 'eliminate' 100 J&K Police personnel, keeping with the latest trend of targeting the force that has been historically ignored by terror organisations.

The intel input is more specific this time.

'The attack may be in form of a standoff fire on yatra convoy', 'Possibility' of a 'Sensational attack' can't be ruled out,' reads the report.

Sources say that there are many more reasons other than this paper to put the entire Kashmir under high alert. Primarily, there are two routes for Amarnath pilgrimage.

One is Sonamarg-Baltal route and the other is Pahelgaon-Chandanwari route. Both these routes will see 7500 pilgrims each day.

And needless to mention that this no. is apart from the cops, Army and paramilitary personnel Which makes it a very attractive option for any terrorist to strike at.

Pahelgaon route cuts through some of the most volatile area of south Kashmir that has been through multiple encounters and attacks on security forces.

Though, the Sonamarg route is less problematic, but it crosses through the tense Ganderbal area.

Just before Republic Day, two Pakistani terrorists were gunned down in this area, who, according to security input, sneaked in to execute an attack on January 26.

Just yesterday, the Special Secretary of Internal Security in Ministry of Home Affairs Rina Mitra, along with joint secretary Gyanesh Kumar met Governor NN Vohra in Srinagar to discuss the security arrangements.

A day earlier the J&K Core Group Security held a meeting to coordinate security for the pilgrimage.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Deputy CM of the state Nirmal Singh said, 'J&K government and police are doing their best to ensure the security of the people.

Thirty thousand security personnel have been deployed for travelers and pilgrims.
While Eid has been a part of the Indian cultural fabric since time-immemorial, the 'politics' around the festival seems to be on the wane.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had never attended the Iftar party hosted by Congressman-turned-President of India Pranab Mukherji, in the last two years of his captaincy of the nation.

However, this time even his ministers were conspicuous in their absence from the Head of the State's annual affair.

Yogi Adityanath did not host an Iftar party, breaking from what had become a tradition for UP's CMs

Muslims offer prayers during Eid al-Fitr at Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi

On the other hand, the second half of the now famous duo, who have been talked about in the same breath since the BJP's sweep of the UP elections, chief minister Yogi Adityanath too did not host an Iftar party, breaking from what had become a tradition for UP's CMs.

While such parties hosted by BSP chief Mayawati and SP father-son duo of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav used to boast of the presence of who's-who, BJP CMs - Rajnath Singh and OBC stalwart Kalyan Singh had indulged in such festivities.

Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee too held Iftar party, but Modi has refrained from doing so till now.

Bollywood actress Ileana D'Cruz attends the Iftar Party hosted by Congress leader Baba Siddique in Mumbai

While Yogi has been absent from the Iftar circuit, deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, who is former Lucknow mayor, and UP governor Ram Naik did reach the Eidgah after the Namaz and greeted the Muslims.

'As I am a resident of Aishbagh, I had never skipped the celebrations. I extend my warm wishes to my brothers and sisters', Sharma said.

However, he parried questions on the CM's absence and silence. While no minister went to the President's party, Muslim faces in the BJP, such as Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, did hold individual Iftar parties, which were well attended.

While attending an Eid function at the Luckow's fabled Aishbag Eidgah, Akhilesh on Monday tried to pick a bone with Yogi, saying despite not being the CM, he had come to greet the Muslim congregation, whereas Yogi had not even tweeted a greeting.

Bollywood actor Salman Khan attends the Iftar Party hosted by Congress leader Baba Siddique

However, while on June 19 Akhilesh had hosted an Iftar party at the party's headquarters, unlike previous years, his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, uncle Shivpal Yadav and senior party leader Azam Khan had skipped it.

'Our philosophy is liberal and we believe in living with social harmony and brotherhood.

'I would not like to comment on the stand of the present BJP government', SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhndary told Mail Today.

'Iftar parties were introduced in the body-politic of India in the Nehruvian era.

Jawaharlal Nehru as the PM used to host a party each year at the Congress Party office at Jantar Mantar Road. When Lal Bahadur Shastri became the PM, the practice fell into disuse though.
A Russian oligarch with a reputation for scrapping with rivals has bought High Street chain Holland & Barrett for 1.8bn.

Billionaire Mikhail Fridman, 53, snapped up the health food stores as he embarks on his first foray into British retail.

Under the deal, the tycoon will buy Holland & Barrett from US private equity group Carlyle through his holding company L1 Retail.

Eye on the prize: Billionaire Mikhail Fridman snapped up the health food stores as he embarks on his first foray into British retail

The Americans bought Holland & Barrett seven years ago and had initially wanted to sell the business alongside US vitamins and health business Natures Bounty. However, it is believed they abandoned the move after it became clear Holland & Barrett could fetch a tidy sum on its own.

The swoop is Fridmans latest effort to leave his Russian past behind and take his place in British society. It is also first deal under his L1 vehicle, which has an advisory board featuring former Argos boss John Walden, Dunnhumby founder Clive Humby, and former chief executive of Lidl, Karl Heinz Holland.

Fridman is also known for his public tussle with BP over their jointly held Russian oil producer TNK-BP which he owned alongside tycoons Len Blavatnik and Viktor Vekselberg.

The spat led to TNK-BPs boss Bob Dudley fleeing Russia in 2008 after what he called a campaign of sustained harassment.

Fridman, who is worth an estimated 11.5bn, first made his mark on the business world in 1989 as the Soviet Union collapsed into chaos after the failure of communism.

He formed Alfa Group together with fellow students German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev, selling computers, perfumes, cigarettes and carpets before branching into oil trading.

They amassed a fortune selling cheap Russian crude abroad at a mark-up, and by 1991 the trio had set up Alfa Bank, which is now Russias largest private lender. Alfa Group is now one of Russias biggest conglomerates and has interests in telecoms, banking, retail and oil.

Despite the success, Fridman and his associates have not been without controversy.

In a US cable published by Wikileaks, a TNK-BP executive said he had been invited by Khan on a hunting trip and the Russian had shown up with a girlfriend, as well as six other glamourous women.

At dinner, which Khan allegedly attended armed with a chrome-plated pistol, he had described Francis Ford Coppolas Oscar-winning film The Godfather as a manual for life.

THE VITAMIN PIONEER Holland & Barrett was formed in 1870 by Alfred Slapps Barrett and Major William Holland when they bought a store in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Alfred Button & Sons took it over in the 1920s, keeping the Holland & Barrett name. In 1970 it was acquired by convenience store operator Booker. Lloyds Pharmacy purchased it in 1992, later selling it to US health goods chain NBTY which rebranded it as a health and wellbeing store. US private equity firm The Carlyle Group later took control after buying NBTY for 3bn. Last year Holland & Barrett posted sales of 610m.

It was the clash of cultures that caused relations to sour between Fridman and Dudley.

Tensions came to a head in 2008 when it emerged that BP had been holding secret talks with state gas company Gazprom to buy Fridman and his partners out of TNK.

TNK-BP soon found itself facing a wave of intrusive inspections, while its foreign staff were stripped of their Russian visas and work permits.

BP accused Fridman and his associates of orchestrating the administrative nightmare, though Fridman denied having anything to with the official harassment.

The spat ended with Dudley fleeing Moscow and control of the company effectively passing to the Russians.

Divorced father-of-four Fridman and his partners eventually sold their 50 per cent stake in TNK-BP for 22bn in 2013 to Rosneft, Russias state-owned energy group.

Since then Fridman has diversified and set up L1 Technology, L1 Health and L1 Retail.

His Holland & Barrett deal will see him take control of more than 1,150 shops in 11 different countries, including Kuwait, Malta, Singapore and China, where it has 34 franchise stores.
There are fears that Sicily could see the return of mob rule, as former Mafia bosses are released from prison.

Mafia boss Giuseppe Dainotti, 67, was shot dead in broad daylight in Palermo, Italy, at the end of last month.

The motive for the murder is not clear, but police say the first high-profile Mafia hit in the Sicilian capital since 2010 suggests there may be renewed internal strife.

Mafia boss Giuseppe Dainotti, 67, was shot dead in broad daylight in Palermo, Italy, at the end of last month. Pictured is a forensic officer at the crime scene

Prior to his death, Dainotti had been released from prison in 2014 after serving more than two decades behind bars for murder.

He was shot dead on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Mafia killing of magistrate Giovanni Falcone, leaving police and politicians wondering whether the date was specially picked to signal that the criminal gang was back in action.

Following the murder, people claimed to have seen nothing and only one person admitted to even hearing the gunfire. No arrests have been made so far.

Palermo police chief Renato Cortese said: 'The Mafia today is in search of a new leadership at a time when a lot of the old bosses are coming out of prison.

'The danger is that some bigwig will be released and try to put the Mafia back together again.'

Once all-powerful on Sicily, the world's most famous crime gang, known as Cosa Nostra, 'Our Thing', has been squeezed over the past two decades.

The motive for the murder is not clear, but police say the first high-profile Mafia hit in the Sicilian capital since 2010 suggests there may be renewed internal strife

Prior to his death, Dainotti had been released from prison in 2014 after serving more than two decades behind bars for murder

Many bosses were put behind bars, many of its businesses isolated and many locals ready to defy the gang.

However, after years of decline - with the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta overtaking it as Italy's most powerful mobsters - prosecutors believe it is trying to rebuild, starting with its drug trade.

Matteo Frasca, the head of Palermo's Appeals Court, said in a speech in January: 'The mafia organisation is once again looking to develop and maintain a total monopoly on the extremely profitable narcotics market.'

Italian prosecutors say the 'Ndrangheta has a stranglehold on cocaine trade, but Cosa Nostra is a major player in the Italian cannabis market, often importing the drug from northern Africa and selling it throughout Europe.

In March, police found 400kg (880lb) of cannabis, worth an estimated 3 million euros ($3.4million), floating just off the Sicilian coast after a drop-off went awry.

In May, police seized around 300kg of cannabis in a single raid in Palermo.

The state's fight against the Mafia got serious in 1992 after the Cosa Nostra murdered two of Italy's top magistrates, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino (pictured in a tribute on the 25th anniversary of their deaths)

A senior anti-Mafia magistrate, who declined to be named, said: 'For a while, the Mafia depended on public work scams and extortion rackets for much of their money, but with the economy in such a dire straits here, they are returning to their old drug habits,'

Sicily's economic output fell more than 13 percent between 2008 and 2015 and is only slowly recovering, while the unemployment rate is 22 percent, twice the national average.

The deep recession has made it much more difficult for hard-up businesses to pay protection money, or 'pizzo' in Italian, to the Mafia and more than 1,000 firms have revolted against paying that in Palermo alone in little more than a decade.

In May, the trial started of nine men accused of extorting cash from a dozen stores in the city's central Via Maqueda, which were all run by foreigners, mainly Bangladeshis.

Salvatore 'Toto' Riina, the Boss of Bosses, who ordered the murders of Falcone and Borsellino will likely die in jail

Daniele Marannano, coordinator of the Addiopizzo (Goodbye pizzo) movement, said: 'It is an extraordinary affair. For the first time in Palermo, a group of foreign storekeepers rebelled. They rebelled together. It was a collective action.

'Lots of businesses still pay the pizzo, but they now want something back from the Mafia for their money - help fixing prices in their neighbourhood, help keeping difficult employees in check, help collecting unpaid bills.'

A local businessman, who did not wish to be named, said one of the consequences of the Mafia's decline was a rise in petty crime.

He complained that fruit groves operated by his family food company were regularly raided at night by small-time thieves.

'That never used to happen in the past. A fly couldn't land on a fruit tree without permission first from the Mafia,' he said.

Palermo police chief Renato Cortese said there could be a power struggle following Riina's (pictured) death

The state's fight against the Mafia got serious in 1992 after the Cosa Nostra murdered two of Italy's top magistrates, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, triggering national outrage.

Successive governments introduced waves of anti-Mafia laws, allowing the state to seize mob assets, keep imprisoned members of the Mafia incommunicado and far from Sicily, and develop protection programmes for informers.

As a result, hundreds of mafiosi have been arrested over the past 25 years, including Salvatore 'Toto' Riina, the Boss of Bosses, who ordered the murders of Falcone and Borsellino. He is 86 and believed to be terminally ill and likely to die in jail.

However, many other less prominent mobsters who were caught up in the big anti-Mafia trials of the last two decades have either been freed, like Dainotti, or else are coming up for release, like Riina's nephew Giovanni Grizzaffi.

Police chief Cortese said: 'The last Boss of Bosses was Riina. He was never formally replaced and people felt kept in check by him, even when he was in jail. When he dies, you might see a power struggle.'

Rosario Crocetta, the governor of Sicily and anti-Mafia crusader, has been the target of at least three mob plots to kill him, most recently in 2010. He says the group is much reduced, but ever evolving.

'They are chameleons,' he said, with two bodyguards standing alongside his table at an outdoors cafe.

'You are never going to win total victory over the Mafia, just as you can never totally defeat evil.'

Hundreds of mafiosi have been arrested over the past 25 years, including Leoluca Bagarella (pictured), the brother-in-law of Salvatore 'Toto' Riina
A huge section of Dubai Marina turned orange after what is thought to be a spillage caused the water to change colour.

The mysterious transformation happened on Thursday and inspectors were still scratching their heads on Friday trying to work out how the water had been stained.

But now an official believes it was caused by a substance used by construction workers to strengthen soil upstream.

The water in Dubai Marina turned orange by what is thought to have been a spill from a construction site

Talib Julfar, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Environment and Public Health Services Sector, said the nearby construction site was most likely the reason and told Khaleej Times: 'It is probably a substance that contactors use to strengthen weak soil.

'The substance is used as contractors pour the casting after they clear water from the area.'

Residents became worried it was a huge oil spill, but the authorities have insisted the water is still safe to drink.

A spokesperson from Dubai's Municipality said they had not yet officially identified the cause and a team of officials had been sent to inspect the site for a conclusive reason.

Resident Shereen Hafidh told The National: 'I woke up this morning and can still see the discolouration of the water, there was no smell, however, by late afternoon it seems to clear up.'

Dubai Municipality said 'the orange colour that appeared was due to excavation works related to a construction project at Qarn Al Sabkha'.

'The discolouration in the water poses no threat to marine life or human health. It also has plans and processes in place to protect to health of people and preserve the environment'.
Two alleged Islamic State group militants stabbed a police officer to death in western Indonesia in the latest assault targeting officials in the world's most populous Muslim country.

The two attackers shouted 'Allahu Akbar', or God is great, as they entered a security post in North Sumatra's police headquarters in Medan city before Eid prayers to mark the end of Ramadan.

Several police officers fought back against the two militants, killing one and critically injuring another.

An Indonesian policeman stands guard by the armoured vehicles at a security post in North Sumatra's police headquarters in Medan city on June 25 after two attackers shouted 'Allahu Akbar', or God is great, as they entered and stabbed a police officer.

A group of policemen stand outside the security post in North Sumatra's police headquarters

Police officers carry the coffin of Aiptu Martua, the Indonesian police officer who was killed in an alleged terrorist attack, to an ambulance in the police hospital in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia,

Two people drive away on a motorbike as a police officers stands by with a bomb disposal truck in the background

National police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said: 'We suspect the attackers have links with ISIS and Bahrun Naim, because we found a ISIS flag, books and CDs linked to ISIS in the house of one attacker.'

The victim was named locally as Aiptu Martua.

Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian who is fighting with ISIS in Syria, has been accused of directing a series of mostly botched terror plots in his homeland in recent years.

Hundreds of radicals from Indonesia have flocked abroad to fight with ISIS, and the country has seen a surge in plots and attacks linked to the jihadists over the past year.

The attack happened just hours before Eid prayers were held, including at the North Sumatra police headquarters, as part of the Eid al-Fitr celebrations that mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Indonesia has long struggled with Islamic militancy and has suffered a series of fatal attacks in the past 15 years

Police are also investigating whether Sunday's incident was linked to the recent capture of three militants accused of plotting to attack police, Wasisto added.

In May suicide bombers killed three police officers at a bus station in Jakarta in the deadliest attack in Indonesia since January 2016, when a suicide blast and gun assault claimed by IS left four assailants and four civilians dead in the capital.

Indonesia has long struggled with Islamic militancy and has suffered a series of fatal attacks in the past 15 years, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

A sustained crackdown weakened the country's most dangerous networks but the emergence of IS has proved a potent new rallying cry for radicals.
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Millions of Muslims around the world are taking part in Eid prayers as the war-torn Iraqi city of Mosul celebrates its first religious holiday without ISIS in three years.

Worshippers gathered en masse in countries including Pakistan, India, China, Nepal and Iran for the Eid al-Fitr festival, which marks the end of Islam's holy month of Ramadan.

The Arabic name translates to 'festival of the breaking of the fast' in English. The start of Eid is dependent on the sighting of the moon and is usually marked by early morning prayers, followed by family gatherings and feasting.

While it is an annual event for most Muslims, people in Mosul have been able to celebrate their first Eid holiday without ISIS for three years after militants were finally ejected from much of the city.

Children gathered in squares on the eastern side of the city. Some played on old swings and others with toy guns and rifles, which were among the toys allowed by ISIS fanatics after they took over the city in June 2014.

An Iraqi girl smiles as she prepares to celebrate Eid al-Fitr in Mosul. City residents have been barred from celebrating the festival in recent years during ISIS rule

Children in Mosul cheer and celebrate as they catch a ride on the back of a pick-up truck. It is the first time in three years they have been able to enjoy the Eid al-Fitr festival

Eid al-Fitr festival marks the end of Islam's holy month of Ramadan. Thousands gathered for prayers at the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India this morning

Offering prayers: Iranian worshippers take part in an Eid al-Fitr ceremony in Tehran as they mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan

Chinese children were pictured kneeling and saying their prayers in the historic Niujie Mosque after Eid al-Fitr prayer services in Beijing

The militants implemented an extreme version of Islam which associated toys with a face, like dolls, with idolatry.

They encouraged youngsters to train on weapons and changed text books to reflect their military ideology. Children were asked to add up bombs or bullets in maths exercises.

Eid prayers were allowed under ISIS but festivities were not.

But for many, Sunday's Eid celebrations were overshadowed by the destruction of their historic leaning minaret, blown up by the militants on Wednesday, and fears for thousands of civilians trapped in the Old City in western Mosul still under Islamic State control.

'It won't be real Eid before we return home,' said a man in his sixties, displaced from the western side of the city, across the Tigris river, where fighting continues.

Some expressed sadness over the destruction of the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri mosque and its leaning 150-foot minaret.

While it is an annual event for most Muslims, people in Mosul have been able to celebrate their first Eid holiday without ISIS for three years after militants were finally ejected from much of the city

An Iraqi girl covers her mouth as she prepares to take part in Eid al-Fitr celebations in Mosul. Large parts of the city have now been freed from ISIS control

Worship: Muslims offer Eid al-Fitr prayers as they gather at the ruins of Feroz Shah Kotla mosque in New Delhi, India this morning

Indian Muslims also descended on a mosque in Mumbai, India as they offered Eid al-Fitr prayers this morning. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslims' holy fasting month of Ramadan

Muslim girls run across the grass as worshippers offer Eid al-Fitr prayers at the ruins of Feroz Shah Kotla mosque in New Delhi this morning

Preparations: A Muslim girl adjusts her make-up before taking part in Eid al-Fitr prayers at the ruins of Feroz Shah Kotla mosque in New Delh

A photo taken with a multiple exposure shows Indian Muslims offering prayers at Jama Masjid for Eid-al-Fitr in New Delhi

'Eid is not the same,' said a man who declined to give his name as fear is still present even though Iraqi forces dislodged the insurgents from the eastern part of the city months ago.

Iraqi forces took the eastern side from ISIS in January, after 100 days of fighting, and started attacking the western side in February. The militants are now besieged in Mosul's Old City.

'As our heroic forces are closer to declaring final victory over the Daesh (ISIS) gangs, I offer my most sincere congratulations for Eid al-Fitr,' Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of people crammed on to this train in Bangladesh as they tried to get home in time to celebrate the festival

Hundreds resorted to sitting on the roof of the train at a station in Dhaka, Bangladesh as they attempted to get home in time

Overcrowded trains are a common sight in Bangladesh but demand was even higher ahead of Eid al-Fitr prayers

Helping hand: Passengers help each other up on to the roof of a train as it prepares to leave Dhaka's airport railway station

A US-led international coalition is providing air and ground support in the eight-month-old offensive to drive the militants from their de facto capital in Iraq.

About 350 ISIS fighters, most of them non-Iraqis, are defending their remaining stronghold in Mosul's densely populated Old City, an Iraqi general said on Sunday. He expected the battle for the city to end in days.

'Most of the dead bodies are foreigners, most of the fighters are foreigners, we see some trying to escape across the Tigris,' said Major-General Sami al-Arithi, a Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) commander.

The US-trained urban warfare units are leading the fight in the narrow alleyways of the historic district which lies by the western bank of the Tigris.

Iranian Muslim women perform Eid al-Fitr prayers in a western neighbourhood of the Iranian capital Tehran this morning

Cooling off: A fan keeps the air moving as Pakistani Muslim women offer Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore this morning

Iraqi Shiite Muslims perform Eid al-Fitr prayers as they celebrate the end of the month of Ramadan this morning

Pakistani Muslim women embrace as they exchange Eid greetings after prayer sessions at the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore

Iranian Muslim women perform Eid al-Fitr prayers in western Tehran. Eid al-Fitr translates as 'the festival of breaking the fast'

Muslims offer prayers during Eid al-Fitr at the velodrome de Champ-Fleuri in Saint-Denis de la Reunion on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion

More than 50,000 civilians, about half the Old City's population, remain behind ISS lines, complicating the troops' advance, Arithi told state TV.

The civilians are trapped in crumbling old houses in harrowing conditions, with little food, water or medicines, according to those who have escaped.

Aid organizations say ISIS has stopped many from leaving, using them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.

The start of Eid is dependent on the sighting of the moon and is usually marked by early morning prayers, followed by family gatherings and feasting. This was the scene as worshippers gathered at the Niujie Mosque in Beijing, China

Ceremony: Indonesian Muslims perform Eid Al-Fitr prayer on 'sea of sands' at Parangkusumo beach in Yogyakarta

Muslim men attend Eid al-Fitr prayers to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Kathmandu, Nepal this morning

A boy yawns as he attends the Eid al-Fitr prayers among others to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

A Muslim man uses his mobile phone to take a photo during preparations for prayer at the Niujie Mosque in Beijing, China today

Chinese Muslims offer prayers during Eid al-Fitr at the Niujie mosque in Beijing. The event marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan

Atmospheric: Hundreds of Muslims gathered among the ruins of Feroz Shah Kotla mosque in New Delhi, India to mark the occasion with prayers

Iraqi authorities were hoping to declare victory in the northern city by Eid, a three-day festival which started on Sunday for Mosul's Sunni Muslim population and many Iraqi Shi'ites, celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Arithi said the CTS were about 25 yards from the Nuri mosque, from where ISIS's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his 'caliphate' over parts of Iraq and Syria three years ago.

The Iraqi government once hoped to take Mosul by the end of 2016, but the fighting has dragged on as the militants reinforced positions in civilian areas, launched suicide car bomb attacks, laid traps and kept up sniper and mortar fire.

The fall of Mosul would mark the end of the Iraqi half of the 'caliphate'. ISIS remains in control of large areas of both Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and has been assumed to be hiding in the Iraqi-Syrian border area. There has been no confirmation of Russian reports over the past week that he has been killed.

In Syria, the insurgents' 'capital', Raqqa, is nearly encircled by a US-backed, Kurdish-led coalition.

Dressing up: Two girls in new attire embrace each other as men in the background offer Eid al-Fitr prayers in Karachi, Pakistan today

Iraqi Shiite women take part in prayers in Baghdad, Iraq, earlier today. In Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, residents were able to celebrate the festival for the first time in three years
A number of Ohio state government websites have been hacked by groups displaying pro-Islamic State messages.

Republican Gov. John Kasich's page and nine other sites were targeted in cyber attacks on Sunday.

The hackers broke into the webpages and left a message saying: 'You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people, for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries.'

The message left by Team System Dz on the website said: 'Anti: Govt all word. You will be held accountable. Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries. I love the Islamic state'

Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich's website was hacked on Sunday along with first lady Karen Kasich's, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and more from the govt

All websites were immediately taken down once the messages were discovered on Sunday

The websites hacked with the message include Kasich's, first lady Karen Kasich's, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the Office of Workforce Transformation, the Casino Control Commission, Medicaid, the Office of Health Transformation and LeanOhio.

All websites were immediately taken down once the messages were discovered on Sunday.

In a Facebook post, Ohio Treasurer John Mandel said: 'OH Dept of Corrections website right now, this is what you see. Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland'

ODRC spokeswoman JoEllen Smith released a statement saying that her agency was aware of the hack.

'We are aware of the situation and we are working aggressively to correct the situation,' she said.

'A thorough investigation will be conducted to determine how this occurred and how it can be prevented in the future.'

On Facebook, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel posted his own message regarding the hack.

Mandel said: 'OH Dept of Corrections website right now, this is what you see. Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland.'

According to the New York Post, Team System Dz also hacked the Brookhaven, Long Island website on Sunday.

The group has also claimed responsibility for hackings at the Richland County Sheriff in Wisconsin and the Aberdeen City Council in Scotland.
The long-time love of Schapelle Corby has revealed he is lonely since the convicted drug dealer returned to Australia and speaks longingly of reuniting with his girlfriend and having children.

Ben Panangian, 36, told New Idea he has spent many days trying to keep busy at his surf shop since his girlfriend of 11 years was deported from Bali on May 27.

'It is lonely with her not here,' Panangian said as he reminisced about the time the couple spent together surfing, fishing and cooking.

Ben Panangian, 36, the long-time love of Schapelle Corby, has revealed he is lonely since the convicted drug dealer returned to Australia and longs to reunite with his girlfriend (pictured)

Panangian, a fellow convicted drug offender who Corby met in Indonesia's Kerobokan prison in 2006, revealed he has not made plans to meet with his girlfriend since she left but holds out hope they will soon (pictured together)

Corby returned to Australia for the first time in 12 years in May 27 (pictured at the airport). She severed nine years in prison before being released on parole

Panangian, a fellow convicted drug offender who Corby met in Indonesia's Kerobokan prison in 2006, revealed he has not made plans to meet with his girlfriend since she left but holds out hope they will soon.

'I really hope we can see each other again in the future, but we don't know. It's all uncertain and so it's difficult to make any plans.'

'We dream of getting back together,' he said.

Panangian said he and Corby, 39, don't speak of marriage or children but could broach the subject if they are able to meet again.

A reunion may be a ways away, if not impossible, for the couple.

Despite their ups and downs during Corby's time in Bali, the 39-year-old and Panangian's relationship may be set to face its toughest test, with their criminal histories meaning the pair are unlike to be reunited in Australia or Indonesia.

Corby and her boyfriend seemingly spent one final night together in Bali (pictured), as she took to Instagram to share a photo of her family and loved ones inside her family home

While a pack of media sat outside her home in late May, Corby was reportedly inside 'upset' at having to leave Panangian behind.

Having been convicted of drug trafficking, Corby is likely to never be allowed back to Indonesia.

Similarly, the Australian government could block Panangian entering the country to see Corby because of his two drug convictions.

He was first arrested in 2006 and then again in 2014, with three marijuana packages.

Their criminal records leave the two lovers most likely needing a third country, one happy to take both in, for the pair to reunite.

Their criminal records leave the two lovers most likely needing a third country, one happy to take both in, for the pair to reunite

Similarly, the Australian government could block Panangian (pictured) entering the country to see Corby because of his two drug convictions

Released years before his girlfriend, the Indonesian would regularly return to jail to meet up with Corby at the visitor centre, Mamamia reports.

In 2014, when Corby was paroled, the pair stayed together inside her brother's Bali beachside home.

The pair were often pictured together at a beach near her brother's home and were well known by locals.

A stand-up paddle board instructor in Kuta, Panangian is said to be passionate about his role and is reportedly keen to stay and develop his business.

Corby and her boyfriend seemingly spent one final night together in Bali, as she took to Instagram to share a photo of her family and loved ones inside her family home.

Corby has posted several images of herself in Australia since her return
A gun collector known as the Dragon Man boasts himself as the most armed man in America.

Mel Bernstein, 71, has more than 200 machine guns, 80 military vehicles and countless grenade launchers to his name.

In fact, Bernstein, originally from Brooklyn, New York, is so obsessed with guns that his bedroom has hundreds of firearms hung up on the wall - a situation that makes him feel 'comfortable'.

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Mel Bernstein, 71 (pictured), also known as the Dragon Man, considers himself to be the most-armed man in America

Bernstein has more than 200 machine guns, 80 military vehicles (pictured, one of his tanks) and countless grenade launchers to his name.

His entire collection sits on a 260-acre plot of land in El Paso County, Colorado, named Dragon Land

He earned his nickname from his dragon-inspired bicycle (pictured) that he fashioned in the 1970s in New York at his brother's motorcycle shop, affixing a dragon's head to a Harley Davidson

Bernstein has more than 37,000 followers on Facebook, who watch as he chronicles his life on his 260-acre plot of land in El Paso County, Colorado, which he calls Dragon Land.

He earned his nickname from his dragon-inspired bicycle (pictured) that he fashioned in the 1970s in New York at his brother's motorcycle shop, affixing a dragon head atop a Harley Davidson.

And it's earned Bernstein quite the reputation. Hundreds of weekend visitors come to shoot firearms at his range or to visit his military museum.

It takes two hours to go through the huge complex, according to the Colorado Gazette, which houses a collection worth upwards of $10million, with memorabilia ranging from World War I to Vietnam.

Bernstein's gun collection alone, he estimates, is worth around $8million.

There's also an authentically reimagined World War II bunker, which shows off bullet-riddled pots and pans and uniformed mannequins stationed at anti-aircraft bazookas.

Bernstein's military museum (pictured) - about the size of a Walmart - takes about two hours to walk through

Bernstein's military museum collection is worth upwards of $10million, with memorabilia ranging from World War I to Vietnam

Bernstein estimates that his entire gun collection alone (pictured) is worth around $8million

Bernstein was hit by tragedy when his wife of 33 years, Terry, died in an accident while filming for her Discovery Channel reality show.

Terry was hit by two smoke bombs in June 2012, which were travelling at a speed of 150mph, while the crew was trying to create smoky environment for the show to depict a war.

Bernstein says that he lost his best friend that day.
A fraud that wrecked dozens of businesses was covered up by bosses at Lloyds and HBOS for nearly a decade, a police commissioner has claimed.

A gang of criminal bankers at the Reading branch of HBOS, led by Lynden Scourfield, used a loan scam to deliberately destroy firms they were employed to save.

Dubbed 'Britain's Wolves of Wall Street', they plundered the businesses to enjoy a lifestyle of luxury goods, holidays on a superyacht and sex parties with prostitutes.

Scourfield, another ex-HBOS banker and four associates including David Mills and Michael Bancroft were jailed for a total of 47 years in February for fraudulent trading, corruption and money laundering.

Lynden Scourfield (right), another ex-HBOS banker and four associates including David Mills (center) and Michael Bancroft (right) were jailed for a total of 47 years in February for fraudulent trading, corruption and money laundering

Lloyds, which bought HBOS during the 2008 financial crisis, has always insisted it knew little about the fraud until an investigation by Thames Valley Police.

But the force's commissioner Anthony Stansfeld says he has evidence showing bosses knew about it as early as 2008.

He believes senior bankers let families' livelihoods go to the wall rather than call in police for fear of adverse publicity. Thames Valley Police is understood to looking into other allegations in relation to the HBOS case.

The claims will pile pressure on Sir Victor Blank, who was Lloyds' chairman at the time, and then chief executive Eric Daniels. Both have always insisted they did not realise the extent of what was going on.

Mr Stansfeld says he has an internal email from the bank's risk department that proves senior staff were aware of what had happened. He is particularly angered by the fact that victims appeared to have been pursued by Lloyds for money they owed even after bosses allegedly knew the details.

Some entrepreneurs lost their homes because they had signed personal guarantees putting their property on the line if their companies failed.

Dubbed 'Britain's Wolves of Wall Street', they plundered the businesses to enjoy a lifestyle of luxury goods, holidays on a superyacht and sex parties with prostitutes. Pictured above, the Powdermonkey yacht once owned by David and Alison Mills

'The cover-up went on for ten years,' Mr Stansfeld said yesterday. 'An internal email in February 2008 within the risk department of HBOS clearly says that a major fraud had taken place within the Reading branch of HBOS, and that at least 200million had been defrauded from HBOS customers.

'Yet despite this evidence, the board of Lloyds continued to refuse to accept that a fraud had taken place and pursued the victims.'

Mr Stansfeld said details of the alleged cover-up came to light only thanks to the victims and Lloyds whistleblowers, who had been subjected to 'disgraceful' treatment by the bank.

The bank denies mistreating whistleblowers, and said Mr Stansfeld was referring to a single report by an ex-employee that 'contains many unsubstantiated allegations'.

Lloyds has set aside 100million to compensate victims, although Mr Stansfeld said this would not be enough. The bank has also launched an internal investigation, led by retired judge Dame Linda Dobbs.

The Financial Conduct Authority is also investigating.
Actor and funnyman Will Ferrell says George W. Bush looks like an 'adult' in the room compared to Donald Trump regarding their polarizing reactions to being impersonated on Saturday Night Live.

Ferrell, who impersonated Bush on SNL back when he was president, said he can't understand why Trump is so thin-skinned about comedy and being made fun of.

The 49-year-old comedian told the New York Times that Bush loved his SNL impersonations, which is in stark contrast to Trump who has frequently lashed out at Alec Baldwin's impression of him on the show.

Actor and funnyman Will Ferrell, who impersonated George W. Bush on SNL (above) when he was president, said he can't understand why Donald Trump is so thin-skinned about comedy

'He said: ''I loved it. That's part of the gig. You're going to get made fun of. That's freedom of speech",' Ferrell said, recounting a previous interview Bush had given about the SNL impersonations.

Ferrell added: 'And at that moment, he really looked like the adult in the room compared to the current guy (in office).

'I get the narcissism because I feel like every president has an element of that, whether they hide it or not. But the thin skin part? That's amazing. You're kind of like: "Really? Can't you just go with it?"

'When (President Trump) wasn't going to have any part of the correspondents' dinner you wanted to go: "Do you realize that at that dinner you get to make fun of people too? They'll make fun of you, but you get to punch back."

Ferrell said that Bush loved his SNL impersonations, which is in stark contrast to Trump who has frequently lashed out at Alec Baldwin's impression (above) of him on the show

Ferrell said Bush (right) looks like an 'adult' in the room compared to Trump (left) regarding their polarizing reactions to being impersonated on Saturday Night Live

'I think it hurts so much so even the allure of getting to punch back isn't enough.'

Trump has often lashed out at SNL since Baldwin started impersonating him last year during the election campaign.

The current President has repeatedly called the NBC show 'a hit job' on Twitter.

In one tweet, Trump said: '@NBCNews is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!'

Ferrell's impersonation of Bush was widely praised at the time and the ex-president laughed it off during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel earlier this year.

'The best humor is when you make fun of yourself,' Bush told the late night TV host.

Kimmel laughed: 'Tell that to the president. He doesn't think so.'
NHS hospitals are charging desperate couples up to 40 per cent over the odds for private IVF treatment, an investigation reveals today.

Many would-be parents are opting to pay in order to cut lengthy queues.

But fees are often much higher than the cost of providing the fertility service, raising suspicions that patients are being exploited with rip-off charges.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals asks 3,390 for one course  or cycle  of IVF, while the cost to the NHS is 2,416.

Private couples are paying 3,475 for one course of IVF at Chelsea and Westminster hospital (pictured) in London

At Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals in Central London, private couples pay 3,475 per cycle, a third higher than the 2,950 footed by the NHS.

And University Hospitals Coventry and Warwick charges couples 2,650 if they self-pay, whereas the cost to the NHS is 1,972.

One IVF consultant said he was constantly under pressure from managers to raise fees  and told the 'whole point' was to bring in extra cash. The findings come after a probe we carried out earlier this month that exposed the practises of fertility clinics in the private sector.

Around one in seven couples in the UK suffer from problems conceiving and infertility is rising as more leave it later to start a family.

But the NHS is steadily cutting back on its funding for IVF under budget constraints. The majority of health trusts only pay for one cycle  despite guidelines saying women should have three. They also have strict eligibility criteria and couples will be refused if they are over 42, obese or smokers or have a child from a previous relationship.

Others choose to self-fund if the single IVF cycle they had on the NHS failed or because they want to avoid lengthy waiting lists.

The Mail sent Freedom of Information requests to 155 NHS hospitals. Of the 26 who run fertility centres and allow patients to self-fund, a total of nine confirmed that the charges for private care was higher than the locally-arranged NHS price.

They include Central Manchester University Hospitals where couples can pay 5,856 for an IVF cycle while the cost to the NHS is 4,324. Royal Devon and Exeter charges all patients 3,235 a cycle. But those going private have to pay an extra 1,000 for drugs.

The figures also reveal there is a huge variation between the private costs of IVF at different hospitals.

Dr John Parsons, director of an IVF clinic at King's College Hospitals in London until 2010, said he was constantly told by managers to raise prices.

He said: 'It's terribly unfair. The whole point of having a clinic in the NHS grounds is to make money from it.

'I was always furious. We initially made a point of only charging people what it costs in the NHS but the managers were always pushing us to raise it.' Susan Seenan, of the Fertility Network charity, urged the NHS to provide more IVF so couples didn't have to pay themselves.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals asks 3,390 for one course  or cycle  of IVF (pictured), while the cost to the NHS is 2,416

On top of fees, patients also have to pay extras for appointments with a consultant as well as scans, which can be up to 200. Some trusts managed to get a discount if they bought treatment cycles in bulk from local health trusts, or Clinical Commissioning Groups. Shadow Health Secretary John Ashworth said the 'best possible NHS service should be available to everyone'. Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem's health spokesman, said: 'All too often, people awaiting IVF treatment face devastatingly long waits, causing untold anxiety.

'NHS doctors, who are already under serious time and resource pressures, having to split their time between NHS and private patients will only make this situation worse.' Several hospitals said the costs were higher because of 'admin fees'.

A spokesman for Central Manchester University Hospitals said fees were 'in line with the rest of the sector'.

The Mail's investigation into the private sector found that doctors were encouraging couples to take out hefty loans for treatment.
Family and friends will gather to farewell South Australian woman Kirsty Boden, who was killed in the London Bridge terror attack.

Ms Boden's parents Christina and Ken Boden, brother Chris and partner James Hodder will join with other relatives and friends at the Loxton Swimming Pool for a service to commemorate the 'Angel of London Bridge' on Monday.

She will be buried at the nearby cemetery.

Ms Boden, 28, is being remembered by her family as being 'brave' in her final moments as she went to the aid of one of the injured during the London terror attack

An online fundraiser set up by her partner James 'Jimbo' Hodder has raised $A32,409 in donations from around the world, which will be donated to charities reflecting Ms Boden's interests

An online fundraiser set up by her partner James 'Jimbo' Hodder has raised $A32,409 in donations from around the world, which will be donated to charities reflecting Ms Boden's interests.

On the fundraiser page, Mr Hodder said 'Kirsty would be smiling' as he thanked people for their generosity.

'Helping people was what she loved to do in her job as a nurse and in her daily life,' the page says.

Kirsty Boden (pictured), from Loxton, in South Australia, will be honoured at a swimming pool close to her family's home

A keen traveller when not at work, a haunting post from Ms Boden on her online travel blog read: 'At risk of sounding cliche, life is short and we should all use the time we have wisely'

'We are so proud of Kirsty's brave actions which demonstrate how selfless, caring and heroic she was, not only on that night, but throughout all of her life.'

'Kirsty - we love you and we will miss you dearly.'

Kirsty Boden, 28, from Loxton, in South Australia, was attacked by knife-wielding terrorists while coming to the aid of other injured people on the London Bridge.

Colleagues of Ms Boden at Guys' and St Thomas' NHS Federation Trust have paid tribute to 'an outstanding nurse and a hugely valued member of the staff'

A keen traveller, she is pictured here outside famed music pub The Cavern in Liverpool, UK

Graduating from Flinders University in 2009, Ms Boden moved to the UK and began working as a health professional a few years later.

But when not at work Ms Boden often travelled, detailing trips to Liverpool, Germany, Bulgaria, Switzerland and Lithuania through her blog.

Recently she also journeyed to Kiev, in Ukraine, to attend Eurovision - supporting her home nation by wearing an Australian flag T-shirt.
Footage has emerged showing the terrifying moment an AirAsia flight with 359 people on board started to shake violently/

Flight D7237 departed Perth Airport shortly before 7am on Sunday on its way to Malaysia but was forced to turn back when the engine 'seized up' less than two hours into the trip.

Passengers on the flight reportedly heard a loud bang before the plane started to tremble. One later reported seeing that a blade had 'come off the turbine' of one of the engines.

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'The plane was really really limping home, it was shuddering, shuddering, shuddering. We all thought, you know, we're just going to go down,' Malik Mascarenhas said

Footage taken by one passenger shows him staring into the camera with a stunned look on his face as the plane shakes through the air.

Speaking to Channel Seven, Malik Mascarenhas said he feared for his life.

'The plane was really really limping home, it was shuddering, shuddering, shuddering. We all thought, you know, we're just going to go down,' he said.

Fellow passenger known only as Tim said there were 'lots of people crying, lots of people pulling out their life jackets'.

'Pretty much preparing. We thought there was a good chance we were going to go down,' he said.

Fellow passenger known only as Tim said there were 'lots of people crying, lots of people pulling out their life jackets'

Emergency services were at the scene waiting for the AirAsia plane to land on Sunday

In terrifying on-board footage, the AirAsia captain can be heard asking passengers to stay vigilant

In terrifying on-board footage, the AirAsia captain can be heard asking passengers to stay vigilant.

'Please pay attention and also please listen to everything, our survival depends on your cooperation,' he said.

Passenger Sophie Nicolas said she could tell the situation was 'really bad' judging by the cabin crew's reaction.

'He said 'I hope you all say a prayer, I will be saying a prayer too and let's hope we all get back home safely',' she said.

The plane is understood to have suffered 'technical issues', discovered more than an hour into the journey

The plane was pictured shaking in footage taken by passengers on-board the flight

Passenger Brenton Atkinson told ABC News the plane had been shaking 'pretty bad' when the plane decided to turn back 'about an hour and a half' into the journey.

'It was essentially the engine seized up I think, that's what they told us anyway,' the 24-year-old said.

He reported there was a small explosion before the plane returned to Perth.

Pictured: AirAsia flight D7237 took off from Perth but turned around about an hour and a half later, due to 'technical issues'

Perth teachers Damos Stevens and Mitch Jamieson filmed themselves sitting on the aeroplane as it shook through the air

'The whole thing, the plane started vibrating and shaking pretty bad, and we had to turn around and come back,' he said.

'It was literally like you were sitting on top of a washing machine.'

When the plane landed and passengers disembarked, Mr Atkinson says he realised 'one of the blades had actually come off the turbine'.

Perth teachers Damos Stevens and Mitch Jamieson filmed themselves sitting on the aeroplane as it shook through the air.

Mr Stevens is heard on the video, which shows the harsh vibrations of the plane, saying: 'We'll be having 60million beers when we get back'.

Passengers were left stranded at Perth Airport, with AirAsia unable to provide any information about a recovery flight until 3.30 that afternoon

He told Daily Mail Australia the pilot said to 'say a prayer for us' as the plane returned to Perth.

'No one was hysterical but people were really scared. Some people needed medical attention when we landed,' he said.

While the teacher says communication on the plane was fantastic, he was less enthused about the airline's ability to communicate with passengers when they disembarked the plane.

'[There has been] no support for passengers, there is still a long line of people here, no word on replacement flights,' he said.

Mitch (left) and Damos (right) told Daily Mail Australia they were 'hopefully' going on a trip to Myanmar

A recovery flight was organised to take the passengers from Perth to Kuala Lumper at 8.30pm on Sunday, but many passengers said they were left stranded due to missed connecting flights.

Iran national Rasool Zareie told Nine News he was given a $20 voucher at the airport and two nights' accommodation, but was left in the dark about when he and his family could fly.

'We were standing in queues for three and a half hours,' he said.

'When I asked them, "What should we do?" they had nothing to say. That was very annoying.'

Video shows the plane uncontrollably shaking as it begins its return to Perth

Passenger Saya Mae shared a video of the shaky footage to Instagram and captioned it: 'I thought I might die'.

A spokesman for Perth Airport told Daily Mail Australia the pilot reported technical issues and decided to return to Perth.

'We had emergency services on site as a precaution, and the plane landed safely around 10am this morning,' he said.

'The passengers have disembarked.'

The airline said investigations were ongoing.

It has been reported the plane suffered from 'technical issues', and passengers reported an explosion

Flight Radar shows the plane had reached Carnarvon when it decided to return to Perth Airport.

A statement from AirAsia said passengers were being attended to by ground staff and 'all necessary assistance' was being provided.

'Flight crew are taking precautionary measures to check the aircraft and some guests on board the flight will be transferred to the next available flight today,' the statement said.

'Other guests will be informed of the progress of the flight.

'The safety of our guests are our utmost priority.'

Passenger Brenton Atkinson said he saw the plane was missing a turbine when he disembarked

The technical issues on-board the flight are the most recent in a string of incidents to plague AirAsia.

An AirAsia aircraft plummeted into the sea when it stalled on a flight from Surabaya to Singapore on December 28, 2014, killing all 162 passengers on board the flight.

An AirAsia flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur flew in the wrong direction and crossed paths with an adjacent parallel runway at Sydney Airport on March 10, 2015.

The captain of the flight reportedly entered the wrong longitude into the system.

On February 19, 2016, an AirAsia aircraft flying from Bali to Perth, flew 300m too low in severe turbulence.

The aircraft fell by 60km/h to just above stalling speed.

In March the same year there was a near miss reported between an AirAsia flight and Jetstar plane.

This graphic shows the flight path of the AirAsia plane on Sunday morning
Russia and China were last night named as the prime suspects behind the unprecedented cyber attack on Parliament.

Up to 90 email accounts were 'compromised' after hackers launched the crippling strike  understood to be the biggest against Westminster.

MPs and peers, including Cabinet ministers, were warned they could be exposed to blackmail or a heightened terror threat after a 'determined and sustained' effort to break into the sensitive files.

Officials insisted national security was not harmed by the 'brute force attack' on the Parliamentary computer system on Friday. The Prime Minister was not affected as she does not use her Parliamentary account.

Up to 90 email accounts were 'compromised' after hackers launched the crippling strike  understood to be the biggest against Westminster

A senior security source said: 'This appears to have been state-sponsored. Investigations are focusing on Russia or China.'

Because the cyber attack was not targeted at individuals, the motivations are 'a little obscure', said the Whitehall official.

WEST IS TARGETED ON THE WEB Hacking on a grand scale by current and former Communist states has hit Western nations recently. The WannaCry virus which crippled the NHS in May is believed to have been sponsored by North Korea. Hacked emails from US presidential candidate Hillary Clintons campaign boss were given to WikiLeaks last year, allegedly so Vladimir Putin could ensure a victory for Donald Trump. Confidential emails from French President Emmanuel Macrons campaign were thought to have been leaked by Russian hackers in May. A Russian group took down TV station TV5Monde in 2015. Even Brexit may have been hit after the voter registration website crashed days before the referendum. Advertisement

They added: 'We are keeping an open mind. It could have been blackmail, to gain access to compromising information, to seek influence or simply to show us that it could be done.'

The attack came after repeated claims that the Kremlin has sought to interfere in foreign elections, including last year's US presidential campaign.

Russia also orchestrated an attack on UK government departments and broadcasters before the 2015 general election, which was thwarted by intelligence agency GCHQ.

If Moscow's involvement is confirmed, the incident will further cool diplomatic relations, which have been in the deep freeze since Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in a London hotel in November 2006 in a Kremlin-sponsored 'hit'. Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said the episode appeared to be 'an attack on the nation by another nation'.

He told ITV's Peston on Sunday show: 'It is concerning. It would have been more concerning if it had been the Ministry of Defence that had been hacked. This is an attack on the nation by another nation and that's really tricky in terms of foreign affairs.'

Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society security think-tank, said: 'This has all the hallmarks of a state-sponsored cyber attack. Given recent, similar incidents, suspicion is quite rightly falling on the Russian government.'

It comes a month after hackers in North Korea crippled the IT systems of 48 NHS trusts, locking doctors and nurses out of their computers and causing thousands of operations to be cancelled.

The electronic assault on Parliament lasted more than 12 hours as hackers repeatedly probed the passwords of 9,000 politicians, staff and officials. A computer programme bombarded email accounts with messages to find a gap in security and gain entry.

When the hack was discovered on Friday morning, security chiefs stopped MPs, peers and staff from remotely accessing emails via mobile phones and computers.

Up to 90 accounts were compromised  fewer than one per cent. But Whitehall officials said it was 'inevitable' some personal information would have been stolen.

MPs and peers, including Cabinet ministers, were warned they could be exposed to blackmail or a heightened terror threat after a 'determined and sustained' effort to break into the sensitive files

A spokesman said Parliament would meet as planned today. They said the network was compromised due to 'weak passwords' which did not conform to Parliamentary Digital Service guidance.

The spokesman added: 'As they are identified, the individuals whose accounts have been compromised have been contacted and investigations to determine whether any data has been lost are under way.'

The National Cyber Security Centre and National Crime Agency are probing the incident, which comes after it emerged that passwords for Cabinet ministers and MPs were being sold online by Russian hackers.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said: 'We know that our public services are attacked so it is not at all surprising that there should be an attempt to hack into parliamentary emails. It is a warning to everybody.'

It also emerged that concerns about Parliament's cyber defences were raised seven months ago. A report on cyber security said there were 'gaps in high-level governance of information issues'.
Pauline Hanson's popularity is increasing as voters turn away from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in every state of Australia.

The Queensland senator's One Nation party has 16 per cent support in her home state, the latest Newspoll shows.

Across Australia, the Turnbull Government continued to trail Labor 47 per cent to 53 per cent after preferences, which means it would lose an election held now, with the Coalition's primary vote support dropping six percentage points since last year's election.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party has 16 per cent support in her home state of Queensland

The backlash against the prime minister was most pronounced in Queensland and South Australia with his Coalition government also behind Labor in every state, the poll published in The Australian found.

Mr Turnbull has already lost 14 Newspolls in a row and the latest analysis of poll averages, from April to June 2017, is more bad news for the prime minister, who lives in Sydney's ritzy eastern suburbs.

South Australian voters have turned against the government more than in any other state over the past six months, putting Labor ahead 56 to 44 per cent in two-party terms.

This is the state where Holden is winding up local car manufacturing later this year.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull crosses his arms as another Newspoll has bad news for him

The Coalition has also lost 10 percentage points in Queensland since last year's July election to drive its primary vote down to 33 per cent, as One Nation wins over 16 per cent of state voters.

Labor's primary vote support in Western Australia has surged almost 10 percentage points since last year's election to 42 per cent while the Coalition's support has fallen by nine percentage points to 40 per cent.

However, the Turnbull Government has lifted its primary vote in Victoria by three percentage points over the past three months, where African Apex gangs are hitting the popularity of the state Labor government.

After preferences, though, the Coalition still trails Labor 47 per cent to 53 per cent in Victoria.

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's Australian Labor Party leads the Coalition in every state

The survey of 6843 voters from April to June shows Labor leading the Coalition by 53 per cent to 47 per cent in two-party terms at a national level, marking a 2.6 per cent swing against the government since it was narrowly re-elected last year with a one-seat majority.

Nationwide, both Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition have a primary vote of 36 per cent, but the ALP would be likely to win an election with preferences from the Greens who have nine per cent support, compared with 11 per cent for One Nation.

The Coalition's primary vote support has fallen by six percentage points since last year's election.

Mr Turnbull was regarded as the better prime minister with 44 per cent support compared with 32 per cent for Labor leader Bill Shorten.
A mysterious object found washed up on a Queensland beach has left one beachgoer curious enough to turn to the Internet for answers.

Matt Druce posted a picture of the strange object on the Sunshine Coast Community Board Facebook page on Sunday asking strangers for help shedding some light on his recent discovery.

The grey object, which looks like a worm made out of sand, stumped scores of people as they tried to figure out what the bizarre object was.

What is this? A social media user has turned to Facebook to shed some light on the object

'After all my years on beaches I've never seen anything quite like this before who can tell me what makes these - feeling curious at La Balsa Park, Point Cartwright,' Mr Druce wrote.

One social media user thought it might have been pelican faeces, but another rebutted that theory quickly by saying: 'No - pelican poo are a white mess.'

'I see them heaps down at Golden Beach. I too am curious as to who makes these... sting ray?' asked another social media user.

Another commentator thought it might be worm faeces or soldier crabs.

Some social media users gave several wild guesses and believed it be pelican or worm waste

The strange object was found by the beachgoer at La Balsa Park, Point Cartwright on Sunday

Several social media users who knew a thing or two about marine life believed that the strange object was sandworm or lugworm castings.

The lugworm or sandworm (Arenicola marina) is a large marine worm of the phylum Annelida.

Its coiled castings are a known sight on the beach during low tide, but the animal itself is hardly seen except by those who use it as fishing bait when they dig the worm out from the sand.
Most children who were born prematurely do as well at school as those who were carried to full term, according to a study.

Researchers, who followed more than 1.3million youngsters, found parents' fears that premature babies would struggle are largely unfounded.

Even those born earliest were not at a significant disadvantage compared with their full-term peers, the US scientists said.

Little fighters: Researchers at a university in Illinois, who followed more than 1.3m youngsters, found parents' fears that premature babies (file pic) would struggle are largely unfounded

Two in three of those born as early as 23 or 24 weeks into the pregnancy were ready for kindergarten on time around the age of five, and almost 2 per cent achieved 'gifted' status.

Those born between 25 and 28 weeks performed only slightly worse than full-term counterparts born at around 40 weeks.

And as the length of pregnancy increased after 28 weeks, the differences in test scores by the time they were aged between 11 and 14 became negligible.

Four years ago a British study suggested boys and girls born early were 50 per cent more likely to fail reading, writing and maths tests at the end of their second year in school.

Children born before 37 weeks of pregnancy were also more likely to be diagnosed as having dyslexia, deafness and other problems that class them as having special educational needs.

Tiny differences: as the length of pregnancy increased after 28 weeks, the differences in test scores by the time they were aged between 11 and 14 became negligible (file pic)

But the latest findings are the most comprehensive, analysing babies born in Florida from 1992 to 2002 and following them into their teens. Their gestational ages ranged from 23 to 41 weeks and they later entered Florida state schools between 1995 and 2012.

Professor David Figlio, director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said: 'While some people might be troubled that very premature infants tend to score well below their full-term peers on standardised tests, I believe the glass is more than half full. Most infants born at 23 to 24 weeks still demonstrate a high degree of cognitive functioning at the start of kindergarten and throughout school.'

But the data does not account for some of the infants' medical issues related to premature birth or provide information about why they did well in school.

Four years ago a much smaller study of less than 12,000 children by researchers at Bristol University said that by the age of seven, a third of those born before 37 weeks were at an 'educational disadvantage' compared with those born at around 40 weeks.
An Oklahoma doctor has been charged with murder after five of her patients died from an 'horrifyingly excessive amount' of painkillers and other drugs she had prescribed them.

Dr Regan Nichols was charged with five counts of second-degree murder on Friday in the deaths of the patients she was caring for when she worked at the Sunshine Medical clinic in Midwest City.

The osteopathic physician is accused of prescribing more than 1,800 opioid pills to the patients who died even though they didn't need them. The patients were all given the prescriptions in the same months that they died.

Dr Regan Nichols was charged with five counts of second-degree murder on Friday in the deaths of the patients she was caring for when she worked at an Oklahoma clinic

She prescribed three of the five patients a lethal combination of painkillers, muscle relaxants and anti-anxiety drugs, according to a probable cause affidavit. All of the prescriptions were signed by Nichols.

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's reports stated all five deaths were the result of multi-drug toxicity.

The victims died between 2010 and 2013, and they ranged in age from 21 to 55.

A state investigation also found that Nichols prescribed more than three million doses of controlled dangerous drugs from 2010-2014.

'The dangers associated with opioid drugs have been well documented and most doctors follow strict guidelines when prescribing opioids to their patients,' Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said.

The osteopathic physician is accused of prescribing more than 1,800 opioid pills to the patients who died even though they didn't need them

'Nichols prescribed patients, who entrusted their well-being to her, a horrifyingly excessive amount of opioid medications.

'Nichols' blatant disregard for the lives of her patients is unconscionable.'

Nichols was stripped of her prescribing authority of controlled dangerous substances following a September 2015 hearing before the Oklahoma State Board of Osteopathic Examiners.

She voluntarily surrendered her credentials with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

Nichols was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail on Friday afternoon on a $50,000 bond.
Rapists, murderers and other serious criminals from EU states face deportation after Brexit, under rules to be outlined today.

Theresa May will unveil details of a generous offer to the 3.2million EU citizens living in the UK, designed to reassure them that their rights will not be threatened.

The majority will automatically qualify for a new settled status once they have been in Britain five years, which will guarantee their rights to access public services for life.

Theresa May will unveil details of a generous offer to the 3.2million EU citizens living in the UK, designed to reassure them that their rights will not be threatened

But Government sources said the package would allow officials to identify serious and persistent criminals from EU states who would then be considered for deportation.

Brexit Secretary David Davis yesterday said he did not expect anyone to be deported unless theyve committed a crime or [pose] some sort of security problem.

Government sources said the threshold for deportation had not yet been established, but would include those convicted of serious crimes, such as rape and murder, and those deemed a potential threat.

We want to see people who have murdered or raped deported, and this gives us an opportunity to do it, the source said.

We will be running criminal checks against people as they seek settled status and where serious or persistent criminal offences are identified they will be considered for deportation.

This is an opportunity to set our own rules on who we allow to live here and we are going to take it.

The move came as:

Mr Davis said tourists visiting the EU could be offered basic medical insurance by the Government after Brexit if current EU arrangements cannot continue;

A Panelbase survey for The Sunday Times showed 52 per cent of voters still back Leave, compared with 48 per cent Remain;

Labours Brexit stance was put into further doubt as Shami Chakrabarti said the party would not seek to end free movement;

Senior Tories dismissed calls from the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby for a cross-party commission on Brexit as naive;

Mr Davis warned Tory plotters to fall in behind the Prime Minister, saying a leadership contest would be catastrophic for the hopes of negotiating a good Brexit deal.

Around 5,000 EU nationals are currently in British jails for serious offences.

UK law states any person who is sentenced to more than 12 months in prison should be subject to automatic deportation.

THUGS WHO SHOULD BE FIRST TO GO: Italian Learco Chindamo (left) came to the UK at the age of six with his family. Murdered headmaster Philip Lawrence in a stabbing in 1995. Could not be deported because of EU immigration rules and human rights laws. Romanian Mircea Gheorghiu (right) was jailed for six years in his homeland for rape. Later moved to UK illegally and was convicted of drink-driving. Deported in 2014 but let back in after a tribunal ruled his deportation breached EU law

But Brussels rules mean the law is often not applied to EU criminals. The 2004 Free Movement Directive, which takes precedence, says: Previous criminal convictions shall not in themselves constitute grounds for taking such measures. Instead the individuals conduct must represent a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat.

The rule has allowed many criminals to avoid deportation, including Italian-born killer Learco Chindamo, whom the Home Office was unable to remove despite his conviction for murder.

UK courts, citing Brussels rules, have said an individuals right to live where they like usually trumps the Governments desire to kick them out.

Left: Slovakian Eduard Peticky came to Britain for a better life after being jailed for the rape of two women in his homeland. Now serving a life sentence in this country for abusing and trafficking children in Rotherham. Right: Andrzej Stankiwicz moved to UK from Poland in 2006. Four years later, he mowed down and killed a cyclist in West Lothian while over drink-drive limit. But immigration tribunal said no likelihood of a repeat offence

UK TO OFFER TRAVEL INSURANCE

British tourists in EU countries could be offered basic medical insurance by the Government after Brexit. Brexit Secretary David Davis said ministers were keen to retain the existing deal allowing all EU citizens to receive emergency treatment in every member state. Operated through the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), in most cases treatment is free at the point of use, with the bill sent to the patients home nation. Theresa May will today call for the EHIC system to continue as part of a wider deal with Brussels on EU citizens rights. But Mr Davis said Britain would offer similar cover unilaterally if the talks fail. The EHIC scheme only covers basic medical costs and is not a substitute for travel insurance. But ministers fear its loss could sour public support for Brexit and lead to British tourists being refused treatment. Mrs May also wants a reciprocal deal to cover access to health for EU and British citizens living in each others countries. Advertisement

EU rules have also made it far harder to prevent criminals from Europe moving to Britain, even when their past convictions are known about.

Under the new regime, EU citizens who have lived in Britain for five years will have their records checked for criminal convictions when they apply for settled status.

Last night Tory MP Philip Davies said: Free movement of people involves free movement of criminals  you only have to look at the number of EU citizens clogging up our prisons to see that  I welcome the fact that David Davis is being robust about this.

' We dont want these people in our country. We want them kicked out at the earliest opportunity and we need robust procedures to prevent them getting back in again.

Left: Dawid Tychon, from Poland, led a gang of criminals who savagely attacked a father of four after breaking into his home. Given 13 years for the aggravated burglary, which left Professor Paul Kohler with appalling injuries. Right: Romanian Ciprian Stanescu let into the UK despite having been jailed in his home country for a revenge killing. Within a year, carried out 90-minute rape of a woman who missed last train home in London. Jailed for eight years.

LABOUR'S IMMIGRATION U-TURN A future Labour government could let the free movement of people from the EU continue indefinitely, the partys shadow attorney general said yesterday. Shami Chakrabarti said Labour would put the economy first, even if it meant mass EU immigration continued unchecked. Labour tried to adopt a tough stance on Brexit before the General Election to stop Leave supporters defecting to the Tories. The partys manifesto stated: Freedom of movement will end when we leave the European Union. But Baroness Chakrabarti said yesterday: We havent said well have control of free movement of people. We want to be able to have fair migration that avoids peoples jobs being undercut. Her comments add to Labour confusion on Brexit. Straight after the election, Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell insisted Labour remained opposed to staying in the single market, which requires free movement to continue. But 50 Labour MPs, MEPs and peers have urged the party to fight unambiguously for membership of the single market. Advertisement

The plan will be included in a 15-page document on citizens rights to be unveiled by Mrs May today.

The Prime Minister hopes it will form the basis of a reciprocal deal to protect the rights of 1.2million British citizens living in Europe.

Yesterday, Mr Davis said he was pretty sure the UK would be able to negotiate a good exit deal, but told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show that no deal would be better than a punishment deal.
One of Australia's most wanted fugitives has been found hiding under a child's bed after a four-year search for him.

Police began searching for Jayde Alfred Schackow after he failed to report for his parole duties.

The last time Queensland police recorded his whereabouts was in 2013.

According to The Australian, Mr Schackow was sentenced to prison in Queensland in 2010 for a series of burglary, driving and violent offences.

He was released on parole but failed to report his whereabouts on a weekly basis. He was known to have connections in NSW.

Jayde Alfred Schackow (pictured) was released on parole but failed to report his whereabouts on a weekly basis. He was known to have connections in NSW

The 29-year-old had been on the run for four years before he was arrested on Saturday night shortly after 10pm at a house in Nightingale Street, near Windsor.

It is believed that he was concealed under a child's bed in the house.

Windsor police charged him with assault occasioning actual bodily harm because of a crime that occurred on NSW soil in 2016, reported the Daily Telegraph.

The charge relates to an alleged domestic violence incident that happened in July last year.

Shortly after the reported domestic dispute involving Mr Schackow Crime Stoppers Australia launched Operation ROAM: Fugitive Hunt.

It's an annual pull of the force's resources which attempts to apprehend more than 19 of Australia's most wanted criminals.

The 29-year-old was found hiding under a child's bed at a Nightingale Street address, near Windsor

Most of the offenders, including Mr Schackow, are wanted for serious crimes including drug trafficking and assault.

In 2016 a $1,000 reward was offered for any information that led to Mr Schackow's whereabouts. It is not clear if police received a tip-off that saw him discovered on Saturday in NSW.

The 29-year-old was taken to Windsor Police Station after he was removed from the Nightingale Street address and charged with assault.

He has been refused bail twice and will reappear before Blacktown Local Court on Monday.
Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) made a speech on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury

The BBC has been accused of producing 'left-wing propaganda' with its coverage of Jeremy Corbyn's appearance at the Glastonbury Festival.

He became the first opposition leader to speak from one of the event's stages when he addressed tens of thousands from the Pyramid Stage on Saturday.

After his 15-minute speech, BBC Radio One's Twitter account posted that the Labour leader had 'aced' it  before the comment was swiftly deleted.

There was also a segment on Radio 4's PM show on Saturday dedicated to a discussion about Mr Corbyn's speech. It came after BBC Radio 6 Music reporter Gemma Cairney told Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Corbyn's performance would be 'brilliant'.

Last night critics claimed the BBC had ditched any pretence of impartiality. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: 'Glastonbury and the BBC think there is one more push and they can get their man into No 10.

'If the BBC feel Labour are potentially close to power, any semblance of impartiality can be disregarded because with the Left, the ends always justify the means.'

Yesterday the festival, broadcast across the BBC, gave a stage to shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who called on Labour supporters to 'demoralise and divide' Tories. The veteran Labour MP was given a rapturous welcome by a 1,000-strong crowd packed into the Left Field Tent to hear him on the final day of the festival.

Mr McDonnell told them: 'Never underestimate the ability of the Tories to keep their grip on power by whatever means.

'But I tell you, be ready for it any day because we are going to try to not just defeat them in parliament but we have got to mobilise in every community to demoralise, divide them and force them to the electorate, force them into democracy. And once we get that democratic vote, we'll mobilise and this time we'll have a majority.'

Mr Corbyn spoke about the need to help the 'poverty-stricken' in society as he addressed tens of thousands of music fans

On Saturday Mr Corbyn was introduced on the Pyramid Stage by festival founder Michael Eavis (pictured together)

Mr McDonnell spoke at the festival as part of a debate titled Is Democracy Broken?, chaired by Guardian journalist John Harris, alongside Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley, Momentum activist Rachel Godfrey Wood and economist Faiza Shaheen.

On Saturday Mr Corbyn was introduced on the Pyramid Stage by festival founder Michael Eavis. Mr Corbyn spoke about the need to help the 'poverty-stricken' in society as he addressed tens of thousands of music fans, who had each paid 238 for a full weekend ticket.

After the speech the BBC Radio 1 account wrote on Twitter, 'When you ace the chorus', with a picture of Mr Corbyn on the Pyramid Stage. The tweet was deleted shortly after. Radio 4 also devoted a segment of its Saturday PM show to Mr Corbyn, in which a guest described his appearance as bigger than previous headliners Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen.

After his 15-minute speech, BBC Radio One's Twitter account posted that the Labour leader had 'aced' it  before the comment was swiftly deleted

Music journalist Peter Paphides, who has produced documentaries for BBC radio, said: 'The crowd I saw was, by a comfortable margin, the biggest Glastonbury audience I've ever seen.'

PM presenter Shaun Ley added: 'They weren't just standing there waiting for the next act to come on... He didn't have to sing or play anything and he still got a reaction.'

On Friday Miss Cairney, 32, a reporter covering the event for BBC Radio 6 Music, had told Radio 4's Today of the Labour leader's visit: 'I think it's going to be brilliant... He might stay on and maybe whop out a few rap lyrics.'

Tory MP Philip Hollobone said last night: 'The BBC is riddled with Left-wing bias from the Today programme downwards.'
Jeremy Corbyn has boasted that he will enter Number Ten by Christmas and scrap Trident as soon as possible, the founder of the Glastonbury Festival said yesterday.

Michael Eavis, the bearded dairy farmer who owns the land on which the event takes place, said the Labour leader told him be believes he will be prime minister within six months.

The comments about axeing Britain's nuclear deterrent will worry moderate members of the Labour Party, who fear the policy would put the UK at risk.

Mr Corbyn received a hero's welcome when he addressed crowds at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday.

Michael Eavis (pictured with Jeremy Corbyn) said the Labour leader told him be believes he will be prime minister within six months

Thousands of fans watched Jeremy Corbyn's speech and one woman was holding up a 'JD hope' sign

During a question and answer session yesterday, Mr Eavis described the Labour leader as 'fantastic'.

But Mr Corbyn has now denied saying he would scrap Trident 'as soon as possible' and a Labour source said Mr Eavis was 'paraphrasing' the conversation.

Asked what Mr Corbyn said to him before appearing on stage, the farmer said: 'I said to when are you going to be prime minister? He said, 'In six months'.'

Mr Eavis said he then asked the politician: 'When are you going to get rid of Trident?' to which he replied: 'As soon as I can.'

The Labour manifesto confirmed the party would support Trident, even though Mr Corbyn is known to want to scrap it.

Mr Corbyn had to give way after the unions insisted his party's support for the nuclear deterrent should be maintained.

But his new strengthened position within Labour could see Mr Corbyn push ahead with an end to Trident if he is elected PM in another snap election.

Yesterday Mr Eavis questioned the Corbynite Momentum movement's actions before the EU referendum.

A member of the audience asked about increasing numbers of young voters who voted in the 2017 general election, helping to gain seats for Labour.

Mr Eavis replied: 'Why didn't they vote in the referendum? Momentum should have done more to persuade them to vote.'

In an interview with the Glastonbury Free Press, the festival founder said he was 'thrilled' with Mr Corbyn's result at this month's general election.

'Millions of young people, Glastonbury people, voted for him. I think he has a fundamental sense of justice, of real political change, of being anti-war and anti-nuclear. That's what we've spent our lives campaigning for too,' he added.

Also speaking at the Glastonbury Festival yesterday, Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell demanded an end to the power of hereditary peers in the House of Lords.

He drew cheers by saying dozens of the members of the Lords were only there because they were descendants of one of Charles II's mistresses.

Mr Corbyn received a hero's welcome when he addressed crowds at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday

Asked what Mr Corbyn said to him before appearing on stage, the farmer said: 'I said to when are you going to be prime minister? He said, 'In six months'

Mr McDonnell called for a 'progressive intellectual alliance' between parties to rebuild what is needed for a democracy.

'The House of Lords  92 of them are there on the basis of who Charles II shagged at some point in the past,' he said.

'It can't be right that we have a House of Lords that's based upon those people appointed rather than elected.'

But he defended Mr Corbyn for nominating human rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti for a peerage.

If Labour wins the next election, it will place 1,000 members in the House of Lords to vote on its future, he vowed.

A Labour government would also rip up the Trade Union Act of 2016 in just 10 days, he pledged.

Mr McDonnell told the audience that they had inspired him, Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party.

'We have been beating our heads against a brick wall for 30 years,' he said. 'We are on the edge of a huge victory.'

Last night a senior Tory source pointed out that Mr Corbyn attended Glastonbury on Armed Forces Day, while Theresa May commemorated the event in Liverpool.

'Corbyn chose to spend the weekend hanging out with pop stars rather than showing support for our armed forces,' the source said.

'His latest raising of the white flag at Glastonbury shows you can't trust Corbyn to defend this country, or those who risk their lives to defend it.'
An aggressive road rage driver has repeatedly sworn at another motorist and threatened to stab him in a terrifying confrontation outside a Melbourne school.

A bearded man is seen getting out of a red Holden sedan while threatening to stab the driver of the car in front, who the person filming claims is disabled.

The person filming the shocking road rage attack is heard saying, 'He's got a knife in his hand,' and claiming the 'disabled' man's car was rammed.

Scroll down for video

A aggressive driver (pictured) was caught on camera threatening to stab another motorist

A video posted on Youtube shows the man appearing to be holding a metal object (pictured)

The bearded driver is seen in the video getting out of his car in a rage, before unleashing a torrent of abuse at the driver of the car in front.

'This c*** wants to f***ing go!'

'Get the f*** out of my f***ing face before I stab ya, ya f***ing dog,'' he shouts while charging towards the driver's side of the car in front.

'I'll f***ing stab you!' The rage rage incident took place inside a school zone in Melbourne

The aggressive man (pictured) continued to make threats as he and another man drove away

'I'll f***ing stab ya, ya dog.'

'Come on, this is a school zone,' says a woman nearby, to which the man replies, 'Tell these f***heads to get out of the way mate!'

Leaning into the driver's side window, the driver of the Holden shouts, 'Move your car out of my f***ing way c***s!'

The woman implores the angry man to calm down, 'Dude please, I appreciate your anger right now mate, I really do, but please this is a school zone, please mate, let's defuse the situation.'

'He's got a knife in his hand!' warns the man filming.

'Then defuse it!' she yells back, sounding panicked.

The attacker then gets back into his car and drives away, as the passenger yells more abuse out of the window.

A Victoria Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that they are unaware of where and when the incident took place, and will not be looking into it unless it is reported.
A disruptive passenger was dragged off a Southwest Airlines flight after she tried to open the emergency exit.

The flight from Los Angeles to Houston, was forced to make an emergency landing at Corpus Christi International Airport on Sunday afternoon.

The woman, who has not been identified, was seen earlier in the terminal yelling at other passengers and pacing up and down the plane before the dramatic event occurred.

Flight 4519 was delayed for two-and-a-half hours before finally touching down at Hobby Airport around 4pm.

A disruptive passenger was dragged off a Southwest Airlines flight after she tried to open the emergency exit (pictured, left and right). The flight, en route from Los Angeles to Houston, was forced to make an emergency landing at Corpus Christi International Airport on Sunday afternoon

The woman (in red), who has not been identified, was seen earlier in the terminal yelling at other passengers and pacing up and down the plane before the dramatic event occurred

A statement from Southwest Airlines read:'Following an uneventful landing, local authorities met the aircraft at a gate and removed the disruptive passenger.

'The safe operation of every flight is our highest priority and we expect the aircraft to depart shortly to complete the journey to Houston.'

Video taken by passenger Kristy Gillentine showed the woman being wheeled off the flight by police.

In another video she took, a fellow passenger told her that the woman was up against a wall in the airport terminal yelling at passersby about how 'the government was unfair to her and her family' and that they 'experimented on her and forced her to walk backwards'.

In a video taken by passenger Kristy Gillentine, a fellow passenger told her that the woman was up against a wall (pictured) yelling at passersby about how 'the government was unfair to her and her family' and that they 'experimented on her and forced her to walk backwards'

The pilot of flight 4519 bought Domino's pizza for the passengers (pictured) to apologize for the delay

Gillentine later tweeted she was very concerned that the woman was allowed to board the flight.

In response to her tweet, Southwest tweeted that the airline was working to comply with directives.

Passengers who witnessed the incident were held aside for questioning, while others waited in the airport ate Domino's pizza provided by the pilot.

The FBI is currently investigating the incident, according to Corpus Christi International Airport.
Shocking revelations from the Department of Education have revealed a string of allegations of abuse towards disabled students that included one teacher throwing a chair at an autistic pupil.

In all, there were 64 allegations of abuse over three years towards disabled students, with one incident involving a principal chasing fleeing disabled students in her car.

In only 13 of the cases teaches were disciplined while just one was sacked as the debate over the treatment of Australia's most vulnerable pupils continues, The Daily Telegraph reports.

In a statement made at an inquiry into abuse last week Mark Scott admitted to his department's own failures in protecting vulnerable children

There were 64 allegations of abuse over three years towards disabled students, with one incident involving a principal chasing fleeing disabled students in her car (stock image)

New South Wales Education department boss Mark Scott moved to explain the worrying incidents of abuse at a parliament inquiry last week claiming that any large organisation would have 'moments of human and systematic failure.'

He confirmed that some teachers had 'failed to act responsibly and professionally, resulting in learning environments that have not been constructive and productive, or even worse, putting children in harm's way.'

In a statement made at the inquiry he also admitted to his department's own failures in protecting vulnerable children.

'At times, the department will not have identified risk early enough or appropriately,' he said.

Worryingly, Children and Young People with Disability Australia chief executive Stephanie Gotlib suggested the department's examination of abuse were 'the tip of the iceberg' for a 'system in crisis'.

'We're getting alarming rates of reporting of restraints, seclusion and harm being experienced by students with disability,' she said.

It comes as teachers have called for more support when dealing with vulnerable children in their classrooms.

Children with mental illness and behavioural disorders that need special attention are unable to get the required care as 212 principals in Sydney's southwest have revealed the their disabled pupils are forced to attend mainstream classes instead.

'At times, a child's safety may be at risk due to an inappropriate placement,' the principals told the hearing last week.

One Nation Leader Senator Pauline Hanson has received strong support for her calls to remove autistic pupils from mainstream classes despite Mark Scott dismissing her remarks

Mark Scott labelled Senator Hanson's comments as 'ill-informed, simplistic and facile.'

The revelations the abuse of pupils comes after Queensland senator Pauline Hanson called for autistic students be pulled from mainstream classes.

Mark Scott labelled Senator Hanson's comments as 'ill-informed, simplistic and facile,' yet she claimed she was inundated with messages of support from teachers and parents thanking her for her remarks.

Schools throughout New South Wales have urged for more funding to address the issue and offer the professional help needed to care for disabled pupils.

One Sydney primary school revealed their stretched resources after confessing to only being able to offer partial support to only four of their 15 disabled students.

One particular autistic student at the school, who is prone to violent outbursts, was limited to just two hours a day support from an aide.

The NSW Primary Principal's Association suggested that violent behaviour from vulnerable children left their mark on both staff and students not just physically but mentally as well.

According to an Education Department spokesman, $1 billion a year was being spent to support 105,000 pupils with a disability across 2200 public schools.

The education boss said he welcomed debate around the best way to provide quality education to children with disabilities (stock image)
A karate teacher and his elderly father were lured into an isolated forest and left for dead after they were violently bashed by up to 20 men armed with bottles and bars.

Vocal anti-corruption campaigner Jim Dodrill says he and his 73-year-old father were ambushed in Collingwood Park, west of Brisbane, on Sunday afternoon.

Mr Dodrill, also area coordinator for Neighbourhood Watch, said a local resident had led the pair deep into bushland claiming to be concerned with trail bikes in the area.

But when they reached a dirt road, the man fled and a large group of strangers riding trail bikes attacked them, with one screaming: 'Kill the c***s, kill the c***s'.

Karate teacher Jim Dodrill is pictured after he was attacked by a group of up to 20 armed men

The vocal anti-corruption campaigner says a man claiming to be concerned about trail bikes in the remote bushland duped the pair into walking deep into the forest

The 52-year-old said he could have died had it not been for his martial arts experience

'I told them to calm down and back off but they just attacked  and they didn't stop until they got the camera,' Mr Dodrill, 52, told the ABC.

'While they [had] me on the ground and stomping on me, one of them was yelling "kill him, kill him".'

The brutal beating left Mr Dodrill with a dislocated collar bone, bruised ribs, a broken finger and deep bloody gashes to his head.

'I defended myself as best I could, but they got me on the ground. There were at least 15 of them, aged from late teens to early 30s,' he told the Brisbane Times.

'I was getting hit with bars and bottles on the ground - they didn't ease up for even a second.'

He says he could have died had it not been for his martial arts experience.

The attackers allegedly fled with his camera, car and house keys and glasses.

The brutal beating left Mr Dodrill with a dislocated collar bone, bruised ribs, a broken finger and deep bloody gashes to his head. Pictured is Collingwood Park, west of Brisbane

Mr Dodrill, who also acts as the president of the Ipswich Residents and Ratepayers' Association, was an opponent of former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale (pictured)

Queensland Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia they were investigating reports of an alleged assault, but said no one had been charged.

Mr Dodrill, who also acts as the president of the Ipswich Residents and Ratepayers' Association, was an opponent of former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale.

Mr Pisasale resigned earlier this month after 25 years in local government, citing ongoing health concerns.

But the long-standing former mayor is reportedly facing an investigation by Queensland's Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) for large political donations he received.

Mr Dodrill helped compile a dossier of allegations against Mr Pisasale and several colleagues that independent MP Rob Pyne tabled in the state Parliament earlier this month.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Mr Pisasale had anything to do with the alleged assault.
Prince Andrew (pictured) is thought to have clocked up more air miles than any other member of the royal family in the past year

He's no longer Britain's roving trading envoy, but the Duke of York continues to live up to the nickname Air Miles Andy.

Over the past year Prince Andrew is thought to have clocked up more air miles than any other member of the royal family with his globe-trotting duties.

He is said to have travelled nearly 100,000 miles  the equivalent of four times around the globe  primarily on official royal engagements and promoting his Pitch@Palace charity.

Since June last year he has visited China, Malaysia, Mozambique, Botswana, Mexico, Turkey, the USA, France and Singapore.

And this month he announced another long haul trip with a visit to Australia in September to promote his initiative to help start-up businesses and entrepreneurs.

'I am delighted to be able to bring Pitch@Palace to Australia,' the Duke of York said. 'I am looking forward to visiting all the locations where Pitch is to take place, and wish the Entrepreneurs, wherever they may be in Australia, a successful time engaging with Pitch@Palace.'

He is expected to go to New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, adding another 25,000 miles to his tally of travel miles.

The Pitch@Palace scheme was set up to give entrepreneurs 'the opportunity to meet the people who can help make their business dreams become a reality.'

Prince Andrew and his team help connect businesses with promising ideas with mentors and influential business executives.

And as well as promoting entrepreneurs at home he has now taken his idea to the far corners of the world as well.

Over the last month he has been pressing the flesh in China and Singapore. While other events planned this year are to be held in the United Arab Emirates and Mexico.

Prince Andrew is expected to go to New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, adding another 25,000 miles to his tally of travel miles

The Duke of York was the fourth busiest royal with 112 days of public engagements in 2016, also travels the world representing the Queen at public expense.

Over the last year his trips have included official visits to Mozambique and Botswana in September.

Usually the Duke is accompanied by his private secretary and a bodyguard.

The Court Circular states his May trip to California included a two-day conference at the 400-a night Beverly Wilshere hotel in Beverly Hills, which was featured in the 1990 hit film Pretty Woman.

It is not known how much the Duke of York's travel has cost the taxpayer.

In 2011 he stood down as Britain's 'special representative' for trade and investment. He had held the role for 10 years, promoting UK business interests abroad, but the lavish nature of his official foreign trips attracted criticism.

But since then other activities have enabled the Duke to continue travelling the world.

John O'Connell of TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'Taxpayers will be surprised the Duke is still enjoying so many foreign jaunts at their expense.'

The Duke's spokesman said: 'The Duke of York has travelled overseas on official FCO-sponsored visits in the past year, along with other Pitch events. The official visits are undertaken at the request of the British Government. A number of these were to represent The Queen.'
Tony Abbott has accused Christopher Pyne of disloyalty after the South Australian MP was heard boasting about voting for Malcolm Turnbull.

The former prime minister also told Sydney's 2GB radio Mr Pyne was not being 'fair dinkum' with the Australian public.

'It's important that you show loyalty,' Mr Abbott said.

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Speaking on 2GB on Monday, Tony Abbott accused cabinet minister Christopher Pyne of not being loyal to him during his prime ministership

'But if [Mr Pyne is] to be believed on Friday night that loyalty was never there which is incredibly disappointing.'

The former prime minister reminded 2GB's Ray Hadley Mr Pyne was not just in cabinet, but also a member of the leadership team when he was in office.

After hearing Mr Pyne's 'confession', Mr Abbott insisted MPs need to be honest with the Australian people.

'This is one of the reasons why the public doesn't trust politicians, because we don't tell them what we think,' he told 2GB on Monday.

'You've got to be fair dinkum with the Australian people.

'It looks like that's not been true of Christopher.'

Defence Industry minister Christopher Pyne (pictured) has been recorded at a reception attended by Liberal Party colleagues

After hearing Mr Pyne's 'confession', Mr Abbott insisted MPs need to be honest with the Australian people

Mr Pyne had been recorded boasting he voted for Malcolm Turnbull in every federal Liberal leadership ballot the now prime minister had contested, and so had Attorney-General George Brandis.

The tape, released by News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt, captures Mr Pyne celebrating the success of the left faction of the Liberal Party during its federal council meeting on Friday night.

Speaking with Ray Hadley on Monday, Mr Abbott was also questioned about his relationship with Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison.

Mr Abbott said there was 'an issue' between the pair, citing 'long-term bad blood'.

Mr Morrison helped to bring down Mr Abbott during his tenure almost two years ago.

'It takes time for those wounds to heal,' Mr Abbott said.

Treasurer Scott Morrison (pictured) helped to bring down Mr Abbott during his tenure almost two years ago

In explosive audio leaked from Friday, Mr Pyne also revealed same-sex marriage could be legalised sooner than people think.

Defence Industry minister Christoper Pyne was reportedly heard making the claim at an event in Sydney attended by moderate Liberal Party colleagues on Friday night.

Mr Pyne was addressing the 'Black Hand reception' when attention turned to the marriage equality debate, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Mr Pyne reportedly said in his speech marriage equality in Australia needed to be delivered 'before too long'.

On Monday Mr Pyne clarified the remarks, insisting marriage equality would be reality now if Labor backed a plebiscite.

The government has no plans to alter the policy to hold one, he said.

'You've got to be fair dinkum with the Australian people. It looks like that's not been true of Christopher,' Mr Abbott said

Mr Pyne's boast about delivering same-sex marriage 'before too long' was captured on a tape which was leaked to the media (Pictured is a marriage equality rally in Sydney)

'We're going to get it. I think it might even be sooner than everyone thinks. And your friends in Canberra are working on that outcome,' Mr Pyne said.

But when his comments were made public, a spokesman for Mr Pyne told The Daily Telegraph the minister 'did not say action on marriage equality is imminent'.

Guests at the reception included Liberal Party City of Sydney councillor Christine Forster, the sister of former prime minister Tony Abbott, and Attorney-General George Brandis.

Mr Pyne has publicly declared he is a supporter of same-sex marriage on numerous occasions in recent times.

'I want same-sex marriage in this country,' Mr Pyne said in a 2016 interview with ABC's 7.30 program when discussing a plebiscite on the issue.

Mr Pyne has previously declared on numerous occasions in recent times that he is a supporter of same-sex marriage (Pictured is a marriage equality rally in Sydney)

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (foreground, with Christopher Pyne to his right) introduced a same-sex marriage plebiscite bill to parliament in September last year. The bill was scuttled in the Senate in early November

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull introduced a same-sex marriage plebiscite bill in the House of Representatives in September last year.

It narrowly made it through the lower house but failed to clear the Senate about two months later.

The legislation to enable a national vote on same-sex marriage was defeated 33 votes to 29, with Labor, Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team and independent Derryn Hinch opposing it in the upper house.

The government had promised to hold the plebiscite during the 2016 federal election campaign.
A driver has been punched in the head and had his car kicked and windows smashed by two men in a vicious daylight attack on a busy Melbourne street.

Ali Al Khalidi, who blacked out during the attack, was also allegedly racially abused during the unprovoked outburst of violence.

The victim, 28, believes that he may have been set upon by the thuggish tradesmen for driving the speed limit.

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One attacker smashes the driver's side window before punching him repeatedly in the head

Ali Al Khalidi (pictured) blacked out during the unprovoked attack, and says he was racially abused

'I was doing the speed limit and there was a truck behind me. It started beeping, ''Go! Go!'''

The attack began when Mr Khalidi was stopped at the lights, after drivers from two trucks got out, one of them smashing Khalidi's window with a single punch, Seven News reported.

The thug then rains down punches on the hapless drivers, and is then joined by another man who also begins striking Mr Khalidi in the head.

'My head was, I was receiving punches and just black (sic) out... I couldn't see anything,' said the alleged victim of the brazen road rage assault.

A witness wrote down the number plate of one of the trucks and police are looking for the men

The men also racially abused Mr Khalidi during the shocking attack.

'I put the window up and they were like: ''You f***ing Indian, you f***ing Indian''.'

Shocked witnesses on Sydney Road in Brunswick could not believe that such an incident could take place during the middle of the day on a Monday.

'How can anybody be so angry enough to have smashed someones window and attack them in the middle of the street,' said Meryem Kirmizi, who took down the licence plate number of one of the trucks involved.

Police are investigating the incident, but have not yet caught the suspects.
The AirAsia group has had a troubled history of technical failures and human error over the last five years.

The Indonesian airline's latest mishap was on Sunday, when a flight carrying 359 people from Perth to Kuala Lumpur was forced to turn back with engine failure.

Flight D7237 departed Perth Airport shortly before 7am on Sunday on its way to Malaysia but was forced to turn back due to 'technical issues' less than two hours into the trip.

Pictured: AirAsia flight D7237 took off from Perth but turned around about an hour and a half later, reportedly due to a single engine failure

Perth teachers Damos Stevens and Mitch Jamieson filmed themselves sitting on the aeroplane as it shook through the air

Passengers reported hearing a loud bang before the aircraft shook like 'you were inside a washing machine.'

In terrifying on-board footage, the AirAsia captain can be heard asking passengers to stay vigilant.

'Please pay attention and also please listen to everything, our survival depends on your cooperation,' he said.

Passenger Sophie Nicolas said she could tell the situation was 'really bad' judging by the cabin crew's reaction.

'He said "I hope you all say a prayer, I will be saying a prayer too and let's hope we all get back home safely",' she said.

A recovery flight was organised to take the passengers from Perth to Kuala Lumper at 8.30pm on Sunday, but many passengers said they were left stranded due to missed connecting flights.

A statement from the airline said passengers were being attended to by ground staff and 'all necessary assistance' was being provided.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau reported on the incident and found the crew didn't pick up the error and their attempts to fix it caused more problems

'The safety of our guests is our utmost priority,' the statement said.

Issues began for the world renowned airline when an AirAsia plane carrying 123 people skidded off a runway at Kuching international airport in Borneo.

The incident, which happened in 2011, didn't injure any of the passengers and the plane was salvaged.

Another plane carrying 123 people skidded off a runway at Kuching international airport in Borneo. Nobody was injured in this incident

Just after Christmas in 2014 an AirAsia A320 plane crashed into the Java Sea after a high-altitude stall on a flight from Surabaya to Singapore killing all 162 on board.

According to an Indonesian National Transport Safety Committee report, the airline found 23 faults with the rudder travel limiter on the plane, which helps control the rudder on the vertical tail, reported Perth Now.

The report also blamed pilots not being trained in correct stall recovery for the devastating end result with former member of the National Transportation Safety Board John Goglia calling it 'utterly preventable.'

Just after Christmas in 2014 an AirAsia A320 plane crashed into the Java Sea after a high-altitude stall on a flight from Surabaya to Singapore killing all 162 on board

In 2015 the captain of an AirAsia X flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur entered the wrong longitude into an Airbus A330's navigation system causing the plane to fly in the wrong direction.

Normally it's not recommended that figures be entered manually in this way.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau reported on the incident and found the crew didn't pick up the error and their attempts to fix it caused more problems.

According to an Indonesian National Transport Safety Committee report, the airline found 23 faults with the rudder travel limiter on the plane, which helps control the rudder on the vertical tail

'AirAsia X would like to stress that we have in place robust management systems to monitor and prevent similar incidents from reoccurring,' a statement from the company said following the issue.

There was also a near-crash between an AirAsia and Jetstar vessel in early 2016 near Coolangatta airport that was only just averted.

Despite repeated controversies AirAsia has been named as the world's best low cost carrier for nine years in a row including the latest award in 2017.
A popular American supermarket chain is being slammed by Brits for their new invention 'Puff Dogs' - because they are exactly the same as sausage rolls.

Trader Joe's announced a new treat on Monday which are exactly the same as the trademark snack across the pond, which have been in Europe since the 19th century.

In a description on their website, the grocery store claimed they had taken the 'dog-meets-dough' paring to the 'next level'.

'Hot dogs are, of course, typically served on a bun; Trader Joe's Puff Dogs takes this classic dog-meets-dough pairing to the next level: each uncured, all-beef dog is instead swaddled in a perfectly flaky-when-cooked puff pastry,' the description reads.

'Hot dogs are, of course, typically served on a bun; Trader Joe's Puff Dogs takes this classic dog-meets-dough pairing to the next level: each uncured, all-beef dog is instead swaddled in a perfectly flaky-when-cooked puff pastry,' Trader Joe's said in a post on their website

Trader Joe's announced a new treat on Monday called the Puff Dogs that is almost exact replicas of English sausage rolls

'We don't mean to hot dog here, but this marriage of beefy and buttery is pretty genius.'

And people on social media definitely noticed the grievance, voicing their pure disdain at the chain's boldness.

A man called Stuey wrote: '@TraderJoesList these are sausage rolls. We have had them years now go away and invent your own stuff. #TraderJoes #SausageRoll'

'Dear USA, Sausage rolls have been around since the Romans. They literally predate your entire country by over a thousand years,' shared another user.

Another Twitter user added: 'Pah! The USA think they've invented the #sausageroll and called it a #puffdog. Sorry guys, it predates the USA by about 1000 years.'

One person slammed the grocery chain for claiming it as their own invention.

'Look! @TraderJoesList it's your 'new invention' #puffdogs @GreggsOfficial #SausageRoll,' they wrote.

Matt Angelo added: 'America you did not invent the poxy sausage roll! Yes a sausage puff is a sausage roll! Now keep off scotch eggs and pork pies! #SausageRoll.'

Andy Elsender said: 'Don't worry, here in the U.K., sausage rolls have been around longer than the entirety of your country. *drops the mic*'

A Twitter user called Dan Aurora wanted to add some historical context to the debate.

He posted: 'Sausage rolls in the modern sense appear to have been conceived in early 19th century France. #SausageRoll #PuffDog #PuffDogs #TraderJoes.'

Another Twitter user pointed out that some variation of the sausage roll has been out prior in the States.

She said: 'Sorry, these aren't sausage rolls, nor are they anything new in the US. They're bigger version of the ubiquitous 'Pigs In a Blanket'.'

People in the UK were not happy with the news. @Stusatirical said: '@TraderJoesList these are sausage rolls. We have had them years now go away and invent your own stuff. #TraderJoes #SausageRoll'

One post said: 'Dear USA, Sausage rolls have been around since the Romans. They literally predate your entire country by over a thousand years'

'Pah! The USA think they've invented the #sausageroll and called it a #puffdog. Sorry guys, it predates the USA by about 1000 years,' said user @JamesBellx

'Look! @TraderJoesList it's your 'new invention' #puffdogs @GreggsOfficial #SausageRoll,' said @iColonelChicken

@Matt_angelo_84 cosigned the sentiment and said: 'America you did not invent the poxy sausage roll! Yes a sausage puff is a sausage roll! Now keep off scotch eggs and pork pies! #SausageRoll'

Andy Elsender said: 'Don't worry, here in the U.K., sausage rolls have been around longer than the entirety of your country. *drops the mic*'

@DanAuroraX took a more educational approach and said: Sausage rolls in the modern sense appear to have been conceived in early 19th century France. #SausageRoll #PuffDog #PuffDogs #TraderJoes'
A young mother desperately waiting for a double lung transplant has been left furious after an anonymous letter-writer slammed her for parking in a disabled spot.

Toni Parkin, from Sydney's west, had parked in the restricted spot at Nepean Square on Saturday and had her permit in full view - but that didn't stop one passerby from labelling her an 'inconsiderate b***h'.

'You inconsiderate b***h, how dare you park in disabled parking, one day you might need this spot,' the note said.

A young mother desperately waiting for a double lung transplant has been left furious after an anonymous letter-writer slammed her for parking in a disabled spot

Toni Parkin, pictured, from Sydney's west had parked in the restricted spot at Nepean shopping centre on Saturday and had her permit in full view

But the mother who has Cystic Fibrosis hit back at the note-writer on social media labelling them an 'ignorant idiot'.

'If only you knew my story. I guess you could not take the two seconds to note my disabled parking permit,' she wrote.

'You obviously saw me get out of my car but yet could not have the balls to approach me.

'I really hope you learn that disabilities come in all shapes and sizes, hopefully one day you will not know what is like to need one of these.'

'If the person who placed this note on my car is on here if you were so concerned with me parking there then maybe who should have approached me and I could have informed you about CF.'

The post has been shared 60 times with many people agreeing with the woman.

'People are so judgmental unfortunately. Which is why it's so important to raise awareness about Cystic Fibrosis as we look so normal on the outside,' one person said.

'That's disgusting. Wish i was there and saw it,' said another.

The mother was abused after parking in a disabled only spot

'Cards are given out for a reason , doesn't matter what reason if there is one in your car it should be respected, sorry to hear of such bad behaviour, but humans of today's race are not so caring,' said another.

The mother also had a lot of people coming forward admitting they had been abused in similar ways.

'People are just so ignorant. I got shit at a McDonald's car park, seven weeks fresh from transplant and still so skinny with no muscle tone and got told being a dumb skinny anorexic isn't being disabled. Was fuming.

'I asked her had she ever seen someone who just had a double lung transplant?! She said no. I said...today is your lucky day because you are currently telling one off. That shut her up in two seconds and she awkwardly apologized and shuffled away.'

Another woman explained how people would glare at her until noticing her daughter's wheelchair.

'I bounce out of my car..folks often pull up and watch me walk around the boot of the car, I lift out a wheelchair, they'll still watch in a disapproving manner, I look and smile at them..this is when I usually cop abuse..I walk to passenger door opening it, unloading my daughter and then assisting her into her wheelchair...that's the moment they drive off..no apology just gone!'

The mother who was told off wants to raise awareness for Cystic Fibrosis and other disabilities which might not be visible.




The Australian Federal Police will receive a $321 million boost in funding to prevent terrorism attacks and tackle gangs terrorizing Victoria.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Monday the AFP will hire hundreds of intelligence experts, forensic specialists, undercover police officers and negotiators with the largest increase the AFP has 'seen in a long time.'

Following the latest terrorist attacks overseas and gang activity across the country, Mr Turnbull said it was more important now to give the AFP additional funding.

The Australian Federal Police will receive a $321 million boost in funding to prevent terrorism attacks and tackle gangs terrorizing Victoria, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Monday

Mr Turnbull said the AFP will hire hundreds of intelligence experts, forensic specialists, undercover police officers and negotiators with the largest increase the AFP has 'seen in a long time'

Members of the Sudanese Apex gang (pictured) are believed to be responsible for a series of crimes across Victoria

'It has never been more important to invest in the AFP and give them the resources they need to keep us safe and to always be one step ahead in disturbing and preventing crime,' he said in a live press conference from Melbourne.

Mr Turnbull said the AFP have thwarted 12 terrorist plots in Australia since the Lindt Cafe Siege in Sydney in 2014, which left two people dead.

The prime minister said the money will not only go toward preventing terror attacks but will also help authorities halt gang activity  including a string of thefts and home invasions allegedly committed by Sudanese youth gang Apex in Victoria.

Mr Turnbull said the gang problem would also be addressed through immigration.

'We have increased the number of cancelled visas for reasons of character  bad character obviously  since 2014 by 12 fold,' Mr Turnbull said.

Victoria Police will also get access to sophisticated digital and surveillance tools in order better understand criminal networks and trends (pictured are armed officers during the Lindt Cafe siege)

Mr Turnbull said the gang problem would also be addressed through immigration

Mr Turnbull said 140 visas have been either cancelled or refused for those who have 'bad character'

'This is being used when we identify members of outlaw motorcycle gangs, or other gangs, or criminal activity who are then brought to justice and convicted  their visa can then be cancelled and if they're not Australians, they can be sent back to their country of origin.'

Mr Turnbull said 140 visas have been either cancelled or refused.

The prime minister said the $321 million will fund at least 100 new intelligence experts, 100 forensic specialists and analytical experts.

An AFP officer will also be based with the Victoria police department full-time.

Victoria Police will also get access to sophisticated digital and surveillance tools in order better understand criminal networks and trends.
A shocked Sydney man has been left outraged after finding a 20cm hair in his takeaway pizza before the restaurant allegedly laughed at him when he asked for a refund.

Paddy Brodie had ordered a pizza at the restaurant in Sydney's west on Sunday evening yet when his delivery finally arrived he discovered a black hair embedded in the cheese on top of his Italian dish.

But when he called the restaurant to inform them of the unwanted addition in his food, he claims the employee at the eatery laughed at him down the phone.

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Paddy Brodie was shocked to find a 20cm hair embedded in his pizza on Sunday evening

Paddy Brodie had ordered a pizza on Sunday yet when his delivery finally arrived he discovered a black hair embedded in the cheese on top of his Italian dish

Despite the hygiene failure, Mr Brodie gave the restaurant the opportunity to explain when he called them up to inform them of the unwanted addition

Taking to Reddit in a post titled 'Bad hygiene, no responsibility, no refund', the appalled customer recalled his ordeal with the restaurant and slammed them for their supposed lack of hygiene as well as their arrogant attitude to the complaint.

'After waiting a fairly long time for the order to arrive - My wife and I sat down to enjoy the pizza - This piece was the first piece I picked up - it was connected to two other pieces and dragged them up with a 20cm hair.'

Despite his horrified reaction, Mr Brodie was willing to hear the response of the restaurant's staff when he called them to reveal the slip up.

'We were grossed out understandably, however as someone who has worked in the food preparation industry, I understand slip-ups like this, and called the restaurant immediately and politely informed them of the situation, and asked what they were willing to do about it.'

But Mr Brodie was shocked when he was met with a hostile response from an employee of the restaurant who failed to recognise their alleged wrongdoing.

'They didn't actually believe they had slipped up. Refused to get the pizza back, refused a picture, to pick it up or to give a refund.

'Abundantly rude and arrogant on the phone, and I'm kind of shocked that they've managed to survive with that sort of mindset to complaints,' he wrote.

The staff member even had the audacity to tell the Mr Brodie he 'didn't understand that this food was so good it didn't matter there was a hair in it!'

Mr Brodie claimed that the hair was so long it connected three slices of pizza together

Mr Brodie was shocked when he was met with a hostile response from an employee of the restaurant who failed to recognise their alleged wrongdoing

Either way, after laughing at us down the phone, he refused a refund. He told me very specifically there was nothing I could do about it, and that I could write all the reviews I wanted, so let's have at it.

His damning post has been inundated with comments of support as other Reddit users highlighted the restaurant's long history of failure to adhere to hygiene standards.

One user pointed out several reviews of the restaurant also had references to hair found in their food.

Another shared an image of a notice a disgruntled resident had placed on the restaurant's door mocking the build up of rubbish behind the property.

The restaurant was issued with a $880 fine in January by The Department of Primary Industries after being unable to control their waste after several warnings.

The restaurant's TripAdvisor page doesn't make for pleasant reading either with 60 per cent of customers rating the restaurant as poor and the remaining 40 per cent ranked it as terrible.

One review even went as far to suggest their food had left her with diarrhea.

Mr Brodie told Daily Mail Australia that he was shocked to find the restaurant worker thought he was making it up.

'I swear he was that flippant, I offered to show him a picture or for them to pick up the pizza but he said there was no point, I was lying,' he said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the restaurant for comment.
A New Zealand man who had his deportation order overturned in 2016 was arrested by a 'heavily armed SWAT team' when the decision was broadcast on A Current Affair, his employer claims.

Lionel Allan had his visa cancelled last year following a string of offences including a one-punch style attack in Kings Cross. He was imprisoned and then sent to Villawood Detention Centre.

In December 2016, the decision to deport him to New Zealand was overturned, and Allan returned to his young family and continued working for a construction company.

His employer, Julia Sampo, says he has not since re-offended, but after A Current Affair aired an episode titled Gangster Paradise - which questioned the AAT decision - in May this year, she says he was detained again, in a brutal and public manner.

Lionel Allan (right, pictured with his wife Laura) was allegedly taken back to Villawood Detention Centre by a SWAT-style team in June, despite having his deportation order overturned in May last year

'A SWAT team of heavily armed men ascended on his family home, lining his street with armoured vehicles, forcing him to the ground as he returned from an honest day's work, not resisting arrest, whilst his young family observed in fear and shock,' she wrote on a Linkedin post.

Ms Sampo, who runs Empower Construction with her husband Ryan, says the father-of-one was arrested about a week after the episode went to air and now remains in maximum security detention.

Allan's sister, Courtney said her brother had been 'out and free working and providing for his family, continuing his parole', when the story aired.

She claims the episode set off alarm bells at the Department of Immigration and Border Security, and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton personally called for something to be done.

'Peter Dutton himself signed to cancel my brothers visa again... the visa my brother won his case having it overturned in December at The Administrative Appeals Tribunal,' she wrote on Facebook.

'He should be out right now.'

His sister Courtney (pictured) shared the family's plight to social media, and claimed Peter Dutton had personally signed off on a new order

Allan's employer claims the man had been working and taking care of his family (pictured right with extended family) when he was arrested by a 'heavily armed SWAT team'

Allan was allegedly arrested about a week after an A Current Affair episode used his case in a segment regarding criminals who had their deportation orders overturned

Ms Allan says her brother was arrested about a week after the story aired and is now being held in the maximum security area of Villawood Detention Centre.

Lionel Allan told Daily Mail Australia the officers who came to collect him entered his house.

'There were about 10 cops and one of them ran up to me but once he saw I was complying they all eased off,' he said.

'It still feels like a bad dream. I just wanted to change and be a family man  I've had my partying days.'

The father-of-one said he was not previously told the Current Affair segment would be airing, and was scared for his future when he saw it.

'I was scared of losing my job, my wife's job was in jeopardy, and my neighbors would have thought there was a murderer or rapist living next door,' he said.

'I just took it on the chin, hoping that it would just blow over, but about a week later they came and got me.

'Now I'm back in the maximum security part of Villawood - back to square one.'

Allan was arrested in 2014 after punching three men in Kings Cross after one man made an anti-New Zealand slur.

Of the three men, one was left with brain damage and Allan was jailed for two years.

His criminal record also shows multiple break and enter charges and assault charges over the 12 years he has lived in Australia.

'I wish every day that I could go back and just walk away from that fight,' he said.

'I never thought that night would affect my life this bad. I've done my jail [time] and feel I deserved the sentence given to me.'

Though Allan says he deeply regrets his actions, he says it is not fair that A Current Affair banded him up with more violent criminals, most who have re-offended since their deportation orders were overturned.

'I don't deserve to be portrayed as a murderer or a rapist on prime time television - especially as I was one of the only ones on that show that never re-offended,' he said.

Despite his previous poor behaviour, an AAT Senior Member found he had made a real attempt to rehabilitate.

'Were it not for the fact that Mr Allan was on bail for 13 months between the last offence and his imprisonment, and on work release for five days each week from September 2015 and allowed home visits on weekends, his assurances that he will not re-offend would be entirely untested,' Senior Member J F Toohey said in her conclusion.

When he had his original deportation order overturned, the AAT Senior Member presiding over the case said he had made a real attempt to rehabilitate and was 'determined not to reoffend'. Allan's sister claims he is now in a maximum security section of Villawood Detention Centre

'Given his history and the increasing seriousness of his offending, the risk to the Australian community would be, in my view, unacceptable, and the Australian community would expect the cancellation of his visa to stand.

'However, I am satisfied that Mr Allan has genuinely seen the error of his ways and is determined not to re-offend.

'He has taken substantial steps in that direction and has the strong support of his family, and full-time employment with a supportive employer to go to on his release.

'He has the incentive of his young son to encourage him and the determination of his wife to keep him to his word.

'I am satisfied that, despite his history of offending, the Australian community would be prepared to give Mr Allan this final chance. However, he should be under no illusion as to what is likely to happen if he re-offends.'

Allan says he spent his family's savings on a lawyer when he had his deportation order overturned, and is now relying on legal aid to stay in the country.

Despite his own hardships, he is most concerned about his wife Laura and his eight-and-a-half-month-old son.

'It's not me they're punishing - I can do the time but my wife and son are struggling out there. Not having them again is killing me,' he said.

Allan claims he is in the detention centre with others who are being detained for trivial reasons and says changes to visa laws, which allow the men to be held in such a way, should be reversed.

'I just want this immigration law breaking families up to be over,' he said.

'If I have to go home no worries, but there are people in here for the most pathetic reasons. It's just a real s*** go.'

Daily Mail Australia asked the Department of Immigration to confirm or deny the allegations made against it by Allan's family and employer, and asked if Allan had been detained without an offence.

A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration responded: 'The Department is aware of this case but cannot comment on specific details of individuals'.
Three Australians employed by James Packer's Crown Resorts faced court over charges relating to gambling and pleaded guilty at the Baoshan District People's Court in Shanghai on Monday.

The trio appeared with 16 other employees who were of Chinese nationality, and who also pleaded guilty. Casino gambling, the marketing of casinos and organizing overseas gambling trips involving 10 or more people are illegal in China.

Jason O'Connor, the head of Crown's International VIP programs, was sentenced to ten months behind bars, and Australian-Chinese dual nationals Jerry Xuan and Jenny Pan were each sentenced to nine months.

Australian and Chinese casino employees stood trial Monday on charges relating to gambling, in a case that highlights the sensitivity of doing certain businesses in China

Australian Consul General Graeme Meehan (pictured) revealed the sentences of the Australian defendants to waiting media

Australian Consul General Graeme Meehan told media the sentences were backdated to begin on the day the employees were detained - October 14.

This means O'Connor can expect to be released mid-August, and Xuan and Pan in mid-July.

At least half of the 19 had been on bail awaiting trial, according to an officer from the court's propaganda office who only gave his surname, Li.

Crown's vice-president in China, Malaysian Alfread Gomez, was also among the defendants.

Crown resorts employees wore face masks and hats to conceal their faces (pictured)

Security was seen escorting an unidentified employee out of the Baoshan People's Court

In total, 19 Crown Resorts employees were charged with offences relating to gambling. Three of them were Australian, and will be released from prison in the coming weeks

Casino gambling and the promoting of gambling are illegal in mainland China and agents are banned from organizing groups of more than 10 Chinese citizens to gamble abroad.

According to Chinese law, anyone who 'runs a gambling house or makes gambling his profession' can face up to three years in prison.

However, gambling is allowed in the Chinese enclave of Macau - Asia's gambling center - and Chinese are often coveted by foreign casinos.

The industry has been known to skirt China's ban by touting destination packages rather than gambling, particularly as Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing corruption crackdown has deterred some gamblers from Macau.

Casino gambling and the promoting of gambling are illegal in mainland China and agents are banned from organizing groups of more than 10 Chinese citizens to gamble abroad
A Labor senator who fled Iran as a boy has described the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan as something that is 'as Aussie as it gets'.

Sam Dastyari made the comments on the steps of Lakemba Mosque in western Sydney's Islamic heartland to commemorate the Eid festival in front of hundreds of Muslims.

'Eid Mubarak. How Aussie is this?' he said to cheers in the presence of New South Wales Liberal Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

'The steps of Lakemba Mosque on a Sunday morning. As Aussie as it gets.

'Celebrating Eid amongst politicians from both Labor and Liberal.'

Scroll down for video

Labor senator Sam Dastyari has described the end of Ramadan as something very Aussie

Hundreds of Muslims gathered in the streets of Lakemba to mark the end of holy Ramadan

However, some of his Facebook followers had other ideas, with one man asking him if he would make a speech on the steps of a Catholic church.

'Can you post the video of you and all your political mates outside a Catholic church on Christmas or Easter?' he said.

'I haven't seen that video yet.'

Another man suggested Senator Dastyari's support for Muslims was driving traditional Labor supporters towards One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's party, which is opposed to Muslim migration.

'You, Sam Dastyari, are doing so much damage to the ALP with this Islamic and halal takeover and promoting that,' he said.

Labor senator Sam Dastyari has declared a Muslim celebration to be 'as Aussie as it gets'

Another man said Sam Dastyari's comments were driving Labor voters towards One Nation

However, one man wondered if Senator Dastyari would be making a speech outside a church

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is opposed to Muslim migration into Australia and Islam

'So many grassroots, traditional Labor voters are now turning to Pauline Hanson and that's a fact.'

Conservative Jewish activist Avi Yemini also slammed Senator Dastyari's comments, saying there were plenty of things more Australian than Eid Mubarak.

'Really? Bunnings sausage sizzle on a Saturday morning is as Aussie as it gets,' he told his Facebook followers.

'A beer at the footy is as Aussie as it gets. Understanding and freedom of expression and freedom of religion and freedom of everything, freedom for women is as Aussie as it gets.'

Men hug each other outside Lakemba Mosque to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan

Mr Yemini, a former Israeli soldier, said it was disturbing for any politician to describe the end of Ramadan as something quintessentially Australian.

'Lakemba mosque is probably as far from as Aussie as it gets,' he said.

'This is the same Lakemba Mosque, in 2012 I believe, which issued a fatwa against Christmas.

'As Aussie as it gets, eh, mate?'

However Senator Dastyari, who was born in Iran and moved to Australia as a boy in 1988, said he was a proud supporter of multiculturalism.

One woman praised the senator, saying she was very proud to live in multicultural Australia

One man joked that Senator Dastyari should have had a Bunnings sausage sizzle in sight

'What I want to say is this: there are those out there, and we know who they are, that try and denigrate multicultural Australia, that try and denigrate our communities and I just want to say one thing today: 'Our love and our unity will always defeat their hate and their division,' he said.

Several of his Facebook followers also expressed their support.

'I'm extremely proud to live in Australia's multicultural society,' one woman said.

One man joked that Senator Dastyari should have had a Bunnings sausage sizzle close by.

'Sam, your claim to be as Aussie as it gets is false. I see no Bunnings sausage sizzle even remotely near you - jokes aside, you're doing an amazing job,' he said.
He burst out of a Balinese prison via a muddy hole and now Australian escapee Shaun Davidson claims he's on a Catch Me If You Can style global tour.

If his Facebook page is anything to go by, in the past few days, Davidson has partied in an Amsterdam nightclub, sank some drinks at the Copenhagen Marriott, been treated to a massage in Dusseldorf and chilled out in Dubai.

The Perth born bandit has 'checked in' at each of those European and Middle Eastern locations since breaking out from Kerobokan Prison last Monday.

Escaped! Shaun Davidson's Facebook claims he has travelled around the world at a dizzying pace - but he may just be taunting police

Club Air, Amsterdam: A dance party at the club is pictured above. Davidson asked 'where's all the ladies at' while checking into the bar last week

Dubai, UAE: Davidson checked in at Dubai recently. A manmade UAE island is pictured above

Drinking at the Marriott, Copenhagen: Davidson claimed he was having some beverages at the hotel above

Dusseldorf, Germany: Davidson claimed he got a massage in the German city

Police now claim Davidson and three other foreign inmates may have had the help of an international crime syndicate in their escape.

The prisoners broke out of the jail through a 50cm by 75cm hole under the walls, with their escape route connecting to a water tunnel and out to a main street.

Two of the men, Bulgarian Dimitar Nikolov Iliev and Indian Sayed Mohammed Said, were caught at luxury resort Novo Turismo in Dili East Timor on Thursday.

They were 2,000km from the prison. Davidson and Malaysian national Tee King Kok remain on the run.

Bali's police chief Inspector General Petrus Golose told AAP an investigation was continuing into who helped the group escape.

If his Facebook is anything to go by, Davidson is having a great time globetrotting

Around the world! Davidson's Facebook 'checks in' at Dusseldorf (left) and Copenhagen (right)

This is the tiny muddy hole Davidson allegedly escaped from Kerobokan through last Monday

Indonesian police officers escort two of the prisoners (pictured in orange), Dimitar Nikolov Iliev, left, and Indian Sayed Mohammed Said, right, upon their arrival at Bali international airport

'We want to know whether there's (a syndicate) to take people out of Bali,' he was quoted saying.

Friends of Davidson joked on Monday he was travelling at a dizzying pace.

'Looks like he moves quick,' one told Daily Mail Australia.

But he may not have gotten as far as western Europe, given Facebook users can check in at any location around the world no matter whether they are nearby.
Former top Liberal Party staffer Peta Credlin has revealed those meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull have about 10 minutes before he 'loses interest and starts to fidget' with his iPhone.

Credlin, who served as chief of staff to former prime minister Tony Abbott, made the claims in a column published in The Australian on Monday.

'Anyone who has sat in a meeting with the Prime Minister knows they have 10 minutes to get to the point before he loses interest and starts to fidget for his technological fix,' Ms Credlin said.

'Anyone who has sat in a meeting with the Prime Minister knows they have 10 minutes to get to the point before he loses interest and starts to fidget for his technological fix,' Ms Credlin said about Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

Ms Credlin described the Prime Minister as a 'fiend with a smartphone, tablet, or whatever hot new thing is "it"'.

'It used to be the BlackBerry as he scrolled through emails with the addiction so pronounced we used to warn people that as soon as it was in his hand, the meeting was in "wind-up" mode and they had to pitch like an ad executive about to lose their biggest client,' she wrote.

'Now it's the iPhone and the warning's still the same.'

Mr Turnbull has previously downplayed criticism from Ms Credlin.

Ms Credlin described the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (left and right) as a 'fiend with a smartphone, tablet, or whatever hot new thing is "it"

Peta Credlin (pictured) served as Chief of Staff to former prime minister Tony Abbott

Political adviser Peta Credlin (left and right) claimed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull 'loses interest' in meetings and 'fidgets' with his iPhone after 10 minutes

Speaking to Adelaide radio 5AA in May, Mr Turnbull said: 'Well she is a frequent and consistent critic of the government'.

WHAT IS PHUBBING? The term phubbing was coined in 2013 and is a portmanteau of the words 'phone' and 'snubbing'. It is defined as 'the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention.' There is even a Stop Phubbing campaign group, which started in Australia and was set up to address the problem. Advertisement

Ms Credlin said on Sunday Mr Turnbull played 'policy acrobatics' which did nothing for his party

She also claimed Mr Turnbull's personal ambition served as a detriment to his party.

In April Ms Credlin also criticised the Turnbull government for its 'woman problem'.

'Not only is it likely that the Coalition will suffer a generational wipe-out of female MPs at the next election, but women voters are leaving the Coalition in droves,' she said.

There are currently 13 female MPs compared to 63 male.

Peta Credlin and Malcolm Turnbull pictured during Question Time in 2015 when she was the Liberal Party Chief of Staff and he was Australia's communications minister

Peta Credlin also slammed Mr Turnbull in September 2016 when she said his only achievement as Prime Minister was defeating Labor Party leader Bill Shorten 'by the skin of his teeth'.

Speaking with political commentator Andrew Bolt two months earlier, Ms Credlin said Mr Turnbull was 'the man who broke the liberal party's heart'.

Peta Credlin was a part of Mr Abbott's staff until the Liberal Party leadership ballot in 2015 when Mr Abbott was defeated and replaced by Mr Turnbull as prime minister.
An American citizen has been arrested in Nigeria after he allegedly duped three Nigerian men in a $565,000 green card scam.

Marco Antonio Ramirez is being held at Kirikiri Maximum Prison in the city of Lagos, the Nigerian Herald reports.

Ramirez, believed to be from Dallas, Texas, is accused of scamming tens of thousands of dollars from each of the three Nigerian men with the promise of securing them an American green card or US passport.

He faced the country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to a 16-count charge of obtaining money under false presences.

American citizen Marco Antonio Ramirez has been arrested in Nigeria after he allegedly duped three Nigerian men in a $565,000 green card scam

According to the commission's website, Ramirez was arrested in April over the alleged scam.

The court heard he was the managing director of three American companies - USA Now Plc., Eagleford Instalodge Group and USA Now Capital Group.

He is accused of duping the men between February 2013 and August 2013.

Prosecutor V. O. Aigboje told the court that Ramirez was paid $545,000 by Amb. Godson Echejue. The alleged victim thought he was investing in one of Ramirez's companies in exchange for a US green card.

Ramirez, believed to be from Dallas, Texas, is accused of scamming tens of thousands of dollars from each of the three Nigerian men with the promise of securing them an American green card or US passport

Another man, Abubakar Umar, allegedly paid the American $10,000 for a non-existent investment program that would make him eligible for a US passport.

The third alleged victim, Olukayode Sodimu, paid Ramirez $10,000 thinking the money was part of the fees for a green card.

Ramirez's attorney Chukwudi Maduka told the court on Thursday that his international passport had been forfeited as part of a bail application.

The judge opposed bail and ordered him to be held in the prison.

His next court appearance in July 3.
A woman has been arrested after being found with a baby bottle fashioned into a bong and emblazoned with a swastika.

The unusual device was found by police when they arrived at home in Banksia Grove, in Perth's north, about an unrelated matter on Sunday night.

Wanneroo police senior sergeant Simon Hazell told WA Today the baby bottle bong was spotted by officers placed on a table at 7pm.

A strange looking bong has taken the WA police by surprise following a chance discovery

Mr Hazell said the baby-bottle bong was 'certainly not something we see every day'.

'With anyone who has substance abuse issues, they do anything to satisfy their addiction,' Mr Hazell said.

'They turn everything into a smoking implement.

'It doesn't surprise us.'

Police discovered the baby bottled bong when inspecting a house on a unrelated matter

Several social media had posted cheeky comments following the discovery by WA police

Several social media users had posted cheeky comments on Facebook following the discovery of the bong.

'Hi guys will this be at all available at the next police auction? asked one user.

Another social media user posted asking if the police had arrested the baby.

A woman in her mid-thirties has been charged with the possession of the bong since.
'Pharma Bro' just won't keep his mouth shut.

Even with his federal securities fraud trial set to begin Monday, Martin Shkreli has blatantly defied his attorneys' advice to lay low.

The former pharmaceutical CEO, who became a pariah after raising the cost of a life-saving drug 5,000 percent, has been preening for cameras and trolling on social media, potentially complicating his defense.

'I'm excited,' Shkreli said of the trial in a brief phone call last week to The Associated Press. 'I can't wait.'

Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli arrives at Brooklyn federal court with members of his legal team, in New York, for a pretrial conference in his securities fraud trial

Since his high-profile arrest in late 2015 when he was led into court in a gray hoodie, Shkreli has been free on bail and free to speak his mind.

He went on Twitter to label members of Congress 'imbeciles' for demanding to know why his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis and HIV, from $13.50 to $750 per pill.

He took to YouTube for a series of lessons on chemistry and stock market analysis.

His Twitter posts mocking a freelance journalist turned so creepy - one showed a fake photo of him canoodling with her - that his account was shut down. And on Facebook, he mused about the possibility of being 'unjustly imprisoned.'

The 34-year-old Shkreli 'travels to the beat of a very unique drummer,' exasperated-sounding defense attorney Benjamin Brafman said at a pretrial hearing this month.

The former pharmaceutical chief executive will face charges of securities fraud in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, more than a year and a half after he was arrested in Dec 2015

Legal experts say there are obvious reasons lawyers want clients facing serious criminal charges to keep quiet.

'It's twofold: You don't want to antagonize the judge and you don't want to get the attention of the jury in a way that hurts your case,' said veteran New York City defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt.

Columbia law professor John Coffee compared the situation to President Donald Trump's unruly tweeting habits. 'A lawyer can caution him,' he said. 'But just like Trump, he doesn't have to listen.'

Though Shkreli's notoriety came from Daraprim, the federal securities fraud case is unrelated.

Shkreli, 34, will confront an eight-count indictment for cheating the drug company Retrophin, which he founded, out of millions of dollars to pay investors in two hedge funds he ran. He is also accused of defrauding those investors in what prosecutors are calling a Ponzi scheme

Prosecutors say that after Shkreli lost millions of dollars through bad trades through his side business hedge fund, he looted a second pharmaceutical company for $11 million to pay them back.

The defense has argued that he had good intentions.

'Everybody got paid back in this case,' his lawyer said. 'Whatever else he did wrong, he ultimately made them whole.'

The defense has floated the possibility that it would put Shkreli on the witness stand to try to highlight how he grew up in a working-class Albanian family in Brooklyn, taught himself chemistry, interned at a financial firm founded by CNBC's Jim Cramer and struck out on his own to become a rising star in biotechnology startups.

He wanted to develop new life-saving drugs after seeing 'several classmates and other children he knew struck down by debilitating disease,' court papers say.

Prosecutors call it a ploy to portray the boyish-looking Shkreli as 'a Horatio Alger-like figure who, through hard work and intelligence, is in a position to do great things if only the jury would ignore the evidence and base its verdict on sympathy.'

The real Shkreli was a con man often undone by his own mouth, they say.

The government has cited claims by one of Shkreli's former employees that Shkreli harassed his family in a dispute over shares of stock.

'I hope to see you and your four children homeless and will do whatever I can to assure this,' Shkreli wrote the employee's wife, according to court filings.

Shkreli rose to prominence after he drastically increased the price of a drug called Daraprim while he was the chief executive of Turing. He pushed the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill,

Prosecutors also used his boasts about some of his purchases of eccentric collectibles to undermine efforts to reduce his bail from $5 million to $2 million. If he needed to raise cash to pay legal fees and back taxes, they argued, why not sell the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album that he brought for $2 million or his Nazi-era Engima code-breaking machine?

Also cited were his offers to pay a $100,000 bounty for finding the killer of a Democratic National Committee staffer and $40,000 in tuition for a Princeton student who solved a math problem he posed during a guest lecture at the school earlier this year.

Shkreli 'is not the demon he's been made out to be,' the student, Yuan Wang, told the AP.

Still, he added, 'I haven't received the money yet.'
A party girl who kept meth in her bra during the height of her drug addiction and narrowly escaped jail hopes her story will inspire others to quit ice.

In a note penned for Daily Mail Australia, Amanda Arbib from Bellevue Hill, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, said 'If I can kick the habit you can to'.

'I'd just like to say it's fantastic to be almost 7 months clean from ice, and that I'd like to give courage to those still suffering that if I can kick the habit you can to,' the 26-year-old wrote.

Amanda Arbib, 26, avoided jail in Downing Centre Local Court on Monday after pleading guilty to a string of offences

A letter Amanda Arbib penned for Daily Mail Australia in which she hoped her story would inspire others to quit ice

Former private schoolgirl Amanda Arbib has a cigarette break outside Downing Centre Local Court on Monday after avoiding jail

Former ice addict Amanda Arbib, pictured posing on a motorcycle, has turned her life around

'I'd also like to thank my mother who has shown me unconditional love and support & say I know my father may he R.I.P. that he would be proud of me today.'

Arbib avoided jail for a string of offences on Monday despite a magistrate finding her crimes reprehensible, unjustifiable and inexcusable.

The former private schoolgirl was subjected to an 18-month intensive corrections order for crimes including stealing credit cards she stashed in her Gucci handbag.

'Thank you so much,' the 26-year-old told magistrate Greg Grogin when she learnt she had avoided prison.

Arbib had pleaded guilty in Downing Centre Local Court to offences including dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, possessing a prohibited drug, possessing identification to commit an indictable offence and another of goods in custody.

Mr Grogin told Arbib her past conduct had been 'reprehensible', 'unjustifiable' and 'inexcusable' but she seemed to have rehabilitated.

'You are now on a knife's edge and you are in charge of that knife,' Mr Grogin said.

'If you fail to comply with every single aspect of the intensive corrections order these sentences can crystalise and you can go in to jail.

Amanda Arbib was subjected to an 18-month intensive corrections order at Downing Centre Local Court on Monday

A magistrate warned Amanda Arbib on Monday that jail was no place for 'a young lady like you'

'Jail is not a place for anybody to be, especially a young lady like you.'

An intensive corrections order is an alternative to imprisonment under which an offender is supervised in the community by Corrective Services NSW.

At an earlier hearing Mr Grogin told the former private school girl she could 'no longer hold her head high in society' as a result of her criminal record.

'Her behaviour while committing these offences was one of complete disregard to other people, the offences were done with complete disregard to their possessions,' Mr Grogin had said.

Former Moriah College student Amanda Arbib has been clean of ice for seven months

Downing Centre Local Court heard Amanda Arbib had suffered severe depression following the death of her father

Onetime party girl Amanda Arbib has given up ice after a stint in rehabilitation and turned her life around

'She must understand if she is not suitable for intensive correction then the court is bound by a term of imprisonment.'

Arbib's ice addiction had been so bad she admitted to police she kept 'a bag of meth' in her bra.

In April her lawyer Eidan Havas told the court he was 'utterly proud' of his client, saying she had been a 'quintessentially drug addict' in the 'worst of the worst' situation when they met. Her days revolved around getting her 'next fix'.

'She's since got herself into rehab, she's got herself cleaned up and in 10 days it'll be five months since the day she took drugs,' he told the court.

That time has now extended to seven months.

Amanda Arbib was supported during her court case by her mother, who she thanked in a note penned for Daily Mail Australia

Having avoided jail for a string of offences, Amanda Arbib says she intends completing more rehabilitation

Mr Havas said it was 'very hard' to kick the habit, 'and that's where these offences arose.'

Another one of her lawyers, Ahmed Dib, had previously told the same court Arbib suffered severe depression following the death of her father.

In January, Mr Dib told the court his client 'fell in with the wrong crowd' and became addicted to ice.

Police facts tendered to the court show she was also once found out the front of a 'well known drug den' with a plastic Coke bottle which reeked of GHB.

Arbib, who attended the exclusive $30,000-a-year Jewish school Moriah College, previously made headlines in 2015 when a Mercedes 4WD belonging to her family was firebombed on her street.
Amber Warner, 31, of Vero Beach, approached a couple leaving the Old Dixie Highway restaurant Saturday morning and said, I cant do it.

A woman from Florida is accused of trying to pass her toddler off to strangers outside a restaurant telling them, 'I can't do it.'

It's alleged that 31-year-old Amber Warner felt she could no longer raise the child, who is just two-years-old and got into a truck leaving without her son.

According to the TC Palm the incident occurred in the parking lot of Kountry Kitchen in Vero Beach.

Witnesses told police that Warner approached a couple outside the restaurant, put her barefoot child on the ground and told them, 'I can't do it,' before leaving.

Warner was later found at her home and when police asked her about what happened she burst into tears telling officers she loved her son.

The woman allegedly left her son outside the Kountry Kitchen restaurant in Vero Beach, Florida

She now faces a charge of unlawful desertion of a child.

Warner was released from state prison in May 2016 after serving time for dealing in stolen property and credit card fraud.

Warner is out of jail under a $6,000 bail, according to jail records.

The boy was taken into protective custody and is apparently in 'relatively good health.'
A 17-year-old North Carolina girl who's been missing for more than a year has been found in a Georgia home with a 31-year-old man.

A special agent in Charlotte learned was tipped off that teenager Hailey Burns was in a house in Duluth.

She was rescued just before midnight on Saturday, while Michael Ren Wysolovski, 31, was taken into custody.

He is now facing a number of state charges, the FBI said, including aggravated sodomy, cruelty to children and false imprisonment.

Hailey Burns, now 17 (left and right), from Charlotte, North Carolina, who has been missing for more than a year was found alive in Georgia just after midnight Saturday. Hailey's parents say the teenager, who has Asperger's syndrome, met her captor online

Hailey was found at a home in Duluth belonging to Michael Ren Wysolovski (pictured), 31, who is now facing a number of charges including cruelty to children and false imprisonment.

Hailey's parents say the teenager, who has Asperger's syndrome, met Wysolovski online.

'[He] got her in the car, brought her straight to his house and she pretty much had to stay there the whole time,' her mother, Shaunna Burns, told WSOC-TV on Sunday.

According to IJR.com, before Hailey vanished, she had started 'using a pacifier and wearing her hair in pigtails'.

The news site also reported that her parents learned through a classmate that she had 'been talking to' a then-30-year-old man and exchanging phone messages with him in which she called him "Daddy".'

Shaunna said that while being held captive, Hailey met a woman online from Romania. The two started to chat when Hailey told the woman she was missing.

After researching the case, that woman contacted Hailey's parents Friday night.

'We got the first message at 8:09[pm] and then, by 12:32[am], they had her,' Shaunna said.

Shaunna Burns, Hailey's mother, said that while being held captive (pictured), Hailey met a woman online from Romania. The two started to chat when Hailey told the woman she was missing

After researching the case, that woman contacted Hailey's parents (pictured, Hailey, left, and her mother, right, on Sunday) on Friday night

Hailey's parents said a tipster reached out to Hailey to find out where she was. Hailey didn't know, so she took a photo from the house window and within hours, she was rescued (Pictured, Hailey's father, Anthony Burns, informs social media that Hailey has been found)

Hailey's parents said a tipster reached out to Hailey to find out where she was. Hailey didn't know, so she took a photo from the house window and within hours, she was rescued.

Last month, the Charlotte Division of the FBI offered a $15,000 reward for anyone who could help located Hailey.

'We know that this happy ending is not the norm, it is the exception to the rule,' Shaunna said.

'We want people to know that there are happy endings to this kind of a story. It was a dream come true.'
A man who repeatedly denied he was responsible for impregnating a teenage girl has been jailed for more than five years after DNA tests proved he was the father.

New Zealand man Raymond Steiner, 45, disputed the child was his until medical tests confirmed it, the NZ Herald reported.

Steiner was sentenced in the Whangarei District Court on Monday after previously pleading guilty to four charges of sexual connection with a young person.

Steiner shared a sexual relationship with the teenage girl for two years, the court heard (stock photo)

Steiner shared a sexual relationship with the teenage girl for two years, the court heard.

Judge Duncan Harvey told Steiner his behaviour was 'intolerable'.

Crown prosecutor Bernadette O'Connor told Judge Harvey there were many aggravating features of Steiner's offending including the impact on his young victim and the fact he was warned about her age.

Ms O'Connor said the age disparity between 45-year-old Steiner and his teenage victim was also an aggravating feature.

Steiner was sentenced in the Whangarei District Court (pictured) on Monday after previously pleading guilty to four charges of sexual connection with a young person

She said 'grooming' was also a factor, the NZ Herald reports.

Defence lawyer Chris Muston told the court Steiner saved the girl from giving evidence when he submitted a guilty plea.

Steiner was sentenced to five years and seven months in jail.

The victim's family shouted obscenities at Steiner as he was led out of the courtroom.
An inquest has heard amphetamine addict Kevin Norris, who died in police custody in NSW, had assaulted a police officer and was acting aggressively before he was tasered.

A man who died in police custody after he was tasered while on an 'ice' bender in a fast food restaurant in the NSW Southern Tablelands yelled 'we are going to burn in hell' in the hour before his death, an inquest has heard.

Kevin Norris was found unconscious in a Bowral Police Station cell on January 11, 2015 after his arrest.

An inquest into the death of Kevin Norris (pictured) has heard he yelled 'We are going to burn in hell' in the hour before his death

Norris assaulted a police officer in a McDonald's (pictured) at Mittagong while on an ice bender

Police had to use capsicum spray and a Taser to subdue him when he was rowdy and abusive at the Mittagong McDonald's.

In his opening statement at the inquest into Mr Norris' death, counsel assisting Peter Aitken said although pathology results did find methylamphetamine toxicity in the 38-year-old's blood, the cause of his death was unclear.

Several witnesses including one of the men who helped hold Mr Norris down at the McDonald's said he was acting aggressively toward the police officers and was rambling incoherently, the inquest at Moss Vale Court heard on Monday.

Before the police officers arrived, Mr Norris was also yelling and becoming abusive inside the McDonald's restaurant, Mr Aitken said.

Kevin Norris died after being found unconscious in his cell at Bowral Police Station (pictured)

Kevin Norris lived at this property (pictured) in Mittagong, south of Sydney, prior to his death

Police officers used capsicum spray and a Taser to subdue Norris after he assaulted an officer

'He began to yell out, ''we are all going to burn in hell'',' Mr Aitken said.

Once the two female police officers arrived, they attempted to calm him down, but Mr Norris became aggressive and assaulted one of the officers, which prompted the second officer to use capsicum spray and a taser to subdue him, Mr Aitken told the inquest.

However, the taser appeared to have no affect on Mr Norris and he was tasered a second time, but Mr Aitken said the police officers involved in the altercation claim a battery and spark issue with the second taser meant it had no effect.

Two male witnesses who saw the altercation then helped bring Mr Norris to the ground until he was arrested and then taken to Bowral Police Station where ambulance officers were waiting, the inquest heard.

The Taser appeared to have no affect on Mr Norris and he was tasered a second time by police

The inquest is looking into Mr Norris' death to determine whether ambulance and police procedures were appropriate

Mr Norris was put in a holding cell while a police officer who was completing paperwork, recognised he 'didn't look too good,' and called the ambulance paramedics in to check on him, the inquest heard.

'His movement appeared to stop, an ambulance officer checked him and various resuscitation measures were taken,' Mr Aitken said.

Mr Norris was transported to Bowral Hospital with two police officers continuing CPR, but was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.

'The initial opinion was the significant concentration of methylamphetamine toxicity caused him to die,' Mr Aitken said.

However, this has been questioned and there is no consensus on his cause of death, Mr Aitken told the inquest.

The inquest heard Mr Norris was a regular methylamphetamine user and had experienced regular psychotic episodes as a result.

The inquest will consider the appropriateness of ambulance and police procedures that led to Mr Norris' death.
An Asian immigrant to Australia has called on the government to ban Chinese language shop signs.

The man in his sixties said the shop signs around Sydney's Chatswood mall were of no use to the majority of English-speaking Australians.

'They put in Chinese, nobody know,' he told the ABC's The Link program.

'I suggest the government put all the English writing.'

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An Asian immigrant has called on the government to ban Chinese language shop signs

Asked by interviewer Stan Grant if that meant banning Chinese writing on shop signs, the man declared: 'Of course.'

'When you fall in love with the country, you need to learn English,' he said.

'When you come here, you have to obey the law here.'

A young African woman who moved to Australia during her high school years, however, disagreed with the need for migrants to learn English when interviewed on Sydney's North Shore on Thursday.

'They shouldn't put the label, 'You have to learn English'. They should be like, 'Be comfortable'. If you want to learn English, learn it, if you don't it's your choice.'

An African woman (right) says it's unfair to force migrants to learn English, as it could be hard

The woman, who became a citizen four years ago after arriving in Australia with no English as a year seven student, said it would be unfair to force people to learn the national language.

'There are a lot of communities here and if you feel comfortable in the community you're in, like the Chinese commmunity, then you should live there,' she said.

'They shouldn't force you to learn English because people have different capacities of learning languages and it might be hard for them.'

A Laotian-born woman, who migrated to Australia in 1975 to escape communism, voiced her support for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's plan to make prospective Australians wait four years for citizenship.

Two friends of Vietnamese heritage migrated to Australia during the 1960s and the 1970s

'When I came to Australia, it took me three years to become an Australian citizen and when I got three years up I felt so overjoyed, I really was,' she said.

'Make people wait and appreciate.'

However, she joked that 42 years in Australia hadn't changed her Asian appearance.

'Still flat nose,' she said.

Her Vietnamese-born friend, who moved to Australia as a teenager in 1968, joked about her English skills when asked how long it took her to learn the language.

'I'm still learning,' she said. 'It's still very hard for me.'
A car crash sparked a wildfire in Santa Clarita that quickly spread 750 acres.

The blaze that engulfed parts of Southern California prompted the evacuation of 1,500 people from several neighborhoods and caused 76 homes to lose power.

The huge fire broke out around 1pm near the 14 Freeway and Placerita Canyon Road when a driver slammed her car into a pole.

The driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, said fire department spokesman Joey Marrone.

Residents in homes in the path of the blaze went to desperate lengths to try and protect themselves.

Some even used water from their swimming pools to try and douse the flames from their back yards.

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The fire burned down a structure used as a prop house at Golden Oak Ranch - an 890-acre Disney and ABC studios filming location - said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Christopher Craft.

Better weather conditions have limited the growth of a wildfire in Utah that has prompted the evacuation of 1,500 people from hundreds of homes and cabins, officials said Sunday night.

Utah wildfire Incident Commander Tim Roide said in a statement that Sunday was 'a good day for firefighters, who were able to have success securing areas of particular concern, including the many structures affected by the Brian Head Fire.'

Firefighters on Sunday put in barriers against the flames and air tankers dropped fire retardant in anticipation of winds coming in from the southwest on Monday, officials said.

The blaze, which is being battled by about 1,000 firefighters, covers nearly 67 square miles (174 square kilometers) and is 10 percent contained.

After a driver crashed her car into a tree, the fire broke out around 1pm near Santa Clarita and quickly spread throughout California. 76 homes in the area lost power

The fire burned down a structure used as a prop house at Golden Oak Ranch - an 890-acre Disney and ABC studios filming location - said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Christopher Craft

Families even went as far to use their own pool water to try to calm some of the flames that was nearing their property

KUTV reported that a few Utah families were allowed back to their homes near the resort town of Brian Head to survey damage and retrieve essential items, but most were left waiting and wondering when they would be able to come home. The fire has also burned in the Dixie National Forest.

Evacuation orders were also issued for nearby mountain communities generally known for weekend getaway homes for Las Vegas residents.

'This is a catastrophic fire, no two ways about it,' Garfield County Sheriff Jim Perkins said.

The fire in California started Sunday afternoon in Santa Clarita north of Los Angeles, prompting authorities to shut down all lanes of a highway and send crews to fight the blaze that quickly grew to more than one square mile (2.6 square kilometers), fed by tinder-dry brush and driven by winds in stifling heat. One structure was destroyed but authorities did not say if it was a home.

Huge plumes of smoke are seen rising over Santa Clarita, California

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were helping residents of some homes evacuate 'out of an abundance of caution'

The Utah firefighters could face more challenges on Monday because the National Weather Service warned of critical fire weather conditions with gusty winds, high temperatures and low humidity

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were helping residents of some homes evacuate 'out of an abundance of caution.' The sheriff's office in a statement did not say how many people had been evacuated.

The Utah firefighters could face more challenges on Monday because the National Weather Service warned of critical fire weather conditions with gusty winds, high temperatures and low humidity. There's also a chance for thunderstorms that could add more sparks.

The Utah blaze was accidentally started June 17 by someone using a torch to burn weeds. It intensified over the past week because hot and windy weather conditions fanned the flames.

Authorities on Monday will send a second team of firefighters to help try to put it out. The National Interagency Coordination Center's latest report showed it was the largest wildfire in the U.S.
The 'Twilight killer' who fatally stabbed his girlfriend's mother and sister confessed to his crimes with a chilling lack of emotion, in a police recording that will air tonight.

Lucas Markham killed Elizabeth and Katie Edwards, aged 49 and 13, before going downstairs and watching vampire films with Kim at her home in Spalding, Lincolnshire, making them Britain's youngest-ever double murderers.

Despite both being just 14 at the time, the pair hatched the gruesome plot after Elizabeth tried to break them up, and also as revenge for Katie getting more of her mother's attention.

On the Channel 5 show Murdered By My Daughter, airing this evening, the boyfriend of Ms Edwards likens his partner's daughter to Moors murderer Myra Hindley.

Lucas Markham and Kim Edwards, then both aged 14, became the youngest double murderer couple in UK history when they were found guilty of murder last October

Liz Edwards with daughter Katie Edwards who were both found dead in their house in Spalding, Lincolnshire

Tapes from Markham's police interview will be heard by the public for the first time on the programme.

Markham can be heard calmly describing the details of how he snuck into Mrs Edwards' bedroom and carried out the vicious attack.

'I went into her mum's room and stabbed her in the neck while she was asleep and smothered her face with a pillow,' he told officers.

'After I knew she had gone, I went into Katie's room and I thought I stabbed her, but I'm not a hundred per cent sure if it was her or the mattress and then I smothered her face with a pillow too.'

He later admits that the double killing had been agreed and planned with Kim's full co-operation.

Kim was described as a 'goody two shoes' whereas Markham was a violent, angry young man who held a grudge and would plan on exacting revenge meticulously

Also featuring in the documentary is Mrs Edwards' boyfriend Graham Green, who likened his partner's daughter to Moors murderer Myra Hindley.

The lorry driver said: 'I think she's another Myra Hindley as far as I'm concerned. She should never, never, never be let out.'

'Shes trying to put herself on the map. How would you go about planning to kill your mother and sister? How can you plan that?'

The teenagers were jailed for murder for a minimum of 20 years in November for what a judge described as the 'executions' but could not be named for legal reasons.

A police recording will air tonight on Channel 5, highlighting the chilling lack of emotion with which Markham admitted his crimes

Markham's lack of the remorse or emotion as he recounted the brutal killing stunned the officer who led the investigation.

Det Supt Martin Holvey told Channel 5: 'You recount the story to your team and everyone sits there, hardened detectives, and thinks, I can't believe what you're hearing.

'Over 30 years as a cop, you look at this case and there's nothing that rivals it. A really brutal, chilling, cold and callous act that was carried out by these two children on two defenceless victims.'

Murdered By My Daughter airs on Channel 5 at 9pm.
A teenage girl cried alongside family members following her grandfather's death and made comments like 'my poor poppa' - even though she killed him.

Brittney Jade Dwyer, 19, from the Gold Coast, has been described as 'cruel and deceitful' after allegedly killing 81-year-old Robert Whitwell in his Adelaide home and feigning innocence.

The young woman was forced to listen to Mr Whitwell's brothers and her own parents victim impact statements on Monday in South Australia's Supreme Court. She has pleaded guilty to the murder but the court has yet to hear how it was carried out.

Brittney Jade Dwyer, 19, from the Gold Coast, has been described as 'cruel and deceitful' after allegedly killing 81-year-old Robert Whitwell in his Adelaide home and feigning innocence

Geoffrey Whitwell described welcoming Dwyer into his home after she travelled to South Australia following her grandfather's death

Geoffrey Whitwell described welcoming Dwyer into his home after she travelled to South Australia following her grandfather's death, Adelaide Now reported.

'We welcomed you into our home, embraced you and comforted you, all the while you wept with your fake tears and made comments like 'my poor poppa',' he said.

'I now know that I had been embracing and comforting my brother's killer. You are a master of deception, I will give you that.

'I will never forgive you. You're a cruel, deceitful person with no regard for human life  I believe you are dangerous and evil and deserve the highest penalty.'

The young woman was forced to listen to Mr Whitwell's brothers and her own parents victim impact statements on Monday in South Australia's Supreme Court

Prosecutors claimed Dwyer and Holmes had driven from Queensland to Adelaide on April 30 and spent days 'observing' Mr Whitwell's suburban property

Dwyer's friend Shelby Lee Angie Holmes pleaded guilty to home invasion after she allegedly attempted to steal $30,000 from Mr Whitwell.

Tonya Dwyer, the victim's daughter, only addressed Holmes' actions in her statement by calling her 'unbelievable.'

Dwyer's father merely asked the court to impose an appropriate prison sentence on his daughter the ABC reported.

Tonya Dwyer - whose daughter killed her father (pictured Mr Whitwell) - only addressed Holmes' actions in her statement by calling her 'unbelievable'

Prosecutors claimed Dwyer and Holmes had driven from Queensland to Adelaide on April 30 and spent days 'observing' Mr Whitwell's suburban property.

It is alleged the pair were hoping to steal from him, and discussed their interactions with Mr Whitwell over text messages.

When Holmes admitted the 81-year-old was 'lovely' Dwyer said: 'Don't get attached to him he might have to die.'

The court previously heard more than 19,000 text messages which were sent over a two year period between Dwyer and Holmes had been recovered during investigations.

Mr Whitwell's body was found inside his Craigmore home, north of Adelaide, on August 8, 2016.

Another of Dwyer's friends Bernadette Burns, 21, has been charged with murder but she maintains her innocence.
A dog and koala have been rescued after spending four hours trapped in a sinkhole.

Ipswich city Cr David Pahlke told Daily Mail Australia he received a distressed call from the dog owner at 9 am on Monday saying a Rosewood sinkhole, west of Brisbane, had opened up on a property next door to them.

Both animals were found trapped along with a dead kangaroo.

Emergency crew members have rescued a dog and a koala trapped in a sinkhole for four hours

Emergency services planning their move carefully to help the koala and dog out of the sinkhole

'The dog was chasing the koala and that was how both animals ended up in there,' Cr Pahlke said.

It took three fire brigades from Ripley and ten emergency crew members to get the animals out.

'They have put ladders across the hole,' he told the Sunshine Coast Daily.

'The sinkhole is about 30 feet deep.

'The koala and dog look alive but they are a bit stunned I suppose.'

Mr Pahlke said it took about two to three hours to get the dog out.

Both animals were found trapped in the Rosewood sinkhole with a dead kangaroo on Monday

It took another hour to rescue the koala.

Mr Pahlke is unsure about the conditions of both animals.

He said the koala was taken by the RSCPA and Koala Carers to undergo further examination.

Mr Pahlke added that authorities were looking at the sinkhole which was situated in an old mining area.

Emergency services had to use ladders to get the dog and koala out from the sinkhole

The rescue mission had taken the crew close to four hours with both animals coming out alive
A disgraced lawyer who represented a convicted rapist and murderer will now marry the 'evil and dangerous predator' in prison.

Former lawyer Davina Murray was struck off the legal roll when she was found guilty of smuggling an iPhone, cigarettes and a lighter to her client Liam Reid.

Reid is serving a 23-year sentence for the brutal rape and murder of a deaf woman in 2007, as well as the attempted rape and murder of a student just over a week later.

Murray, who represented Reid and was reportedly convinced of his innocence, will marry the violent criminal in Auckland Prison at Paremoremo on Tuesday.

Convicted rapist and murderer Liam Reid (pictured) will marry the lawyer who represented him behind prison bars as he serves out a 23-year sentence

Disgraced former lawyer Davina Murray (pictured) was struck off the roll when she was found guilty of smuggling an iPhone, cigarettes and a lighter to Reid. The pair will get married on Tuesday in Auckland Prison

According to the NZ Herald, weddings are allowed inside prisons if they have been approved by the prison authorities and are deemed to not be a safety concern.

'Although a rare occurrence, weddings or civil union ceremonies are not restricted in prisons and each application is considered on a case by case basis,' deputy prisoner Tom Sherlock told the publication.

'The appropriate security measures will be in place tomorrow. There is no cost to the prison.'

During his sentencing hearing in 2008, Justice Lester Chisolm described Reid as an 'evil and dangerous predator'.

During his sentencing hearing in 2008, Justice Lester Chisolm described Reid as an 'evil and dangerous predator'

'You are arrogant. You seek to dominate particularly women. You are not without intelligence that is one of the dangers that underlies your activities. Sadly, there is not the slightest flicker of remorse,' he said.

Justice Chisolm said his victim's deafness left her 'vulnerable to your evil designs'.

'You were not deterred. You raped her and you murdered her. I am perfectly satisfied it was violent in the extreme. These were callous and despicable acts, Mr Reid.'

The court heard Reid had 61 previous convictions, including robberies and assault.

Reid reportedly bowed to the High Court gallery and raised his hands in celebration as he was led from the courtroom after receiving the second-longest jail term in New Zealand history.
Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams today claimed the 1billion deal for the DUP to prop up Theresa May in No 10 threatens the Good Friday Agreement.

The Tories finally signed an agreement for the party founded by Ian Paisley to prop up Mrs May's minority government this morning.

In return for 10 DUP votes on crucial legislation - including on Brexit - Westminster will pour an extra 1billion into the coffers of Northern Ireland's devolved executive.

But it has emerged the Tories will keep control of the cash from London if talks to broker a new power-sharing deal in Belfast fail this week.

On a chaotic afternoon, Tory sources first said the money would not be transferred at all if power-sharing is not restored, then said it would be controlled by a Tory-DUP committee if no executive is formed in Belfast.

It was later clarified the money would be controlled via the Northern Ireland Office or the Treasury if direct rule is re-imposed for the first time in a decade.

A deadline is looming on Thursday for the DUP and Sinn Fein to agree a deal or face the return of direct rule from London.

Sinn Fein have for months refused to re-join an executive headed by DUP leader Arlene Foster amid her involvement in a public spending scandal.

But the republican party refuses to take its seats in Westminster meaning it would be frozen out of the money if Northern Ireland is ruled from London.

Tory sources insisted Mrs May wanted the 1billion to be spent by a restored Northern Ireland Executive and insisted the deal was not a 'transaction' with the DUP.

Gerry Adams (pictured in Stormont last week) today claimed the 1billion deal for the DUP to prop up Theresa May in No 10 threatens the Good Friday Agreement

The Tory and DUP chief whips signed the deal in Downing Street today as Theresa May and Arlene Foster looked on. Pictured left to right, DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds, Mrs Foster, DUP chief whip Jeffrey Donaldson, Tory chief whip Gavin Williamson, Mrs May, First Secretary of State Damian Green

Sinn Fein collapsed the executive earlier this year after demanding Mrs Foster resign over her role in a renewable energy scandal.

Mrs Foster will now enter talks with Sinn Fein warning the republican party will only be able to help spend the new cash from Westminster if it agrees to her staying on.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said: 'The price of today's DUP-Tory deal is DUP support for continued Tory Austerity and cuts to public services.

'It provides a blank cheque for a Tory Brexit which threatens the Good Friday Agreement.'

Mr Adams signalled Sinn Fein could eventually support the deal but warned 'the devil is in the detail'.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn today condemned the deal as a stitch up to help Mrs May 'cling to power'.

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP first minister in Scotland, said the 'grubby' agreement was unfair to Scots.

Senior Conservative sources today denied the deal was about handing money to the DUP, insisting the money was for Northern Ireland.

The source said: 'Both the Conservative Party and the DUP are committed to getting the Executive re-established because we both believe that decisions about funding for different public services in Northern Ireland should be taken by politicians in Northern Ireland.

'We want the additional funding identified in this agreement to go to a new Executive.

'However, if despite our collective efforts it proves impossible to re-establish the Executive, the Conservative Party, in signing this agreement, has recognised the case for the higher funding Northern Ireland needs.'

After more than two weeks of intense wrangling, the Tories and the Northern Ireland party put the stamp on a deal that shores up the PM's majority in the Commons

Mr Adams is likely to have to accept Mrs Foster continuing as First Minister if powersharing is to be restored - something Sinn Fein have shown no sign of doing since the executive collapsed and forced new elections in the spring.

THE COST OF POWER: WHAT IS IN THE TORY-DUP DEAL Overall an extra 1billion of funding will be ploughed into Northern Ireland's schools, NHS and infrastructure over the next two years.

of funding will be ploughed into Northern Ireland's schools, NHS and infrastructure over the next two years. This includes 200million in each of the next two years on infrastructure projects, including the York Street Interchange. It also includes 75million in each of the next two years for ultra fast broadband.

in each of the next two years on infrastructure projects, including the York Street Interchange. It also includes in each of the next two years for ultra fast broadband. Another 20million a year for five years will be spent to alleviate poverty in poor areas of the province.

a year for five years will be spent to alleviate poverty in poor areas of the province. Health and education services will be handed an extra 50million in each of the next two years to tackle 'immediate pressures'.

in each of the next two years to tackle 'immediate pressures'. The NHS in Northern Ireland will also be reformed via 100million in each of the next two years.

in each of the next two years. Tory manifesto plans to scrap the triple lock for the state pension and curb winter fuel payments to wealthy pensioners are abandoned.

Commitment to keep defence spending at 2 per cent of GDP, and extending the armed forces covenant to Northern Ireland.

Promise to secure a Brexit that benefits the whole of the United Kingdom. Advertisement

The new arrangement dramatically boosts Mrs May's chances of clinging on as PM after the disastrous election that stripped her of her overall Commons majority.

But it has come at a significant price - with around 1billion of extra funding on schools, hospitals and infrastructure for the province over the next two years.

The DUP is also claiming credit for the Tories ditching two key manifesto pledges - which would have seen the end of the triple lock on pensions and curbs to winter fuel payments for pensioners.

Tory sources denied the deal was a 'transaction' with the DUP but admitted the money would still be steered by the party from Westminster if power sharing is not restored at Stormont.

The deal will run until the next election - and be reviewed at the start of every parliamentary session.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn condemned the deal as a stitch up to help Mrs May 'cling to power'.

Nicola Sturgeon said it was 'grubby' and 'unfair' on Scotland.

The Tories have scrambling to secure a 'confidence and supply' arrangement since voters dealt Mrs May a bloody nose on June 8.

The smaller party will remain outside Government but ensure the Tories stay in office by supporting them on financial measures and no-confidence votes.

It means that Mrs May now has an effective majority of 13 in the House of Commons, once the 10 DUP MPs are added to the 317 Tories.

After initial signs of progress, the Conservatives were embarrassingly forced to row back on an announcement that agreement had been reached.

Talks dragged on for more than a fortnight before finally reaching a conclusion this morning.

A beaming Mrs Foster spoke to journalists in Downing Street after the signing, flanked by deputy Mr Dodds (pcitured left) and Mr Donaldson

After talks around the Cabinet table this morning (pictured), the Prime Minister said the DUP and the Tories 'share many values' and the agreement was 'a very good one'

Mrs May and DUP leader Arlene Foster smiled as their respective chief whips, Gavin Williamson and Jeffrey Donaldson, signed the document in No10 this morning.

Mrs Foster said she was 'delighted' an arrangement had been agreed.

The Prime Minister said the DUP and the Tories 'share many values' and the agreement was 'a very good one'.

HOW THE TORY-DUP DEAL HAPPENED June 8: The general election takes place and Theresa May fails to win the majority she expected. June 9: May goes to see the Queen to say she can form a minority Government. On her return to No 10, the PM says she will ask the DUP for help. June 10: No 10 appears to announce it has struck an 'outline agreement' with the DUP. The DUP deny a deal is done and new talks are convened within hours. June 12: Chief Whip Gavin Williamson flies to Belfast to hold talks with the DUP. It emerges the Queen's Speech may have to be delayed while talks continue. June 13: DUP leader Arlene Foster visits No 10 for face to face talks with May. June 14: The devastating Grenfell Tower fire halts all political talks as the Government struggles to respond to the crisis. June 21: The Queen's Speech finally takes place, two days later than planned and without any agree deal in place. Reports emerge the DUP's price for a deal is 2billion. June 26: Foster returns to No 10 to sign a deal, which she announces in Downing Street. May issues a written statement without going in front of the cameras. Advertisement

Speaking in No 10, Mrs May said that parties 'share many values in terms of wanting to see prosperity across the UK, the value of the union, the important bond between the different parts of the United Kingdom'.

'The agreement we have come to is a very, very good one, and look forward to working with you,' she told the DUP politicians.

Speaking in Downing Street after signing the deal, Mrs Foster said the agreement would deliver 'stable government in the UK's national interest at this vital time'.

The DUP leader said she had secured a 1billion investment for the province over two years plus new flexibility on 500million already committed.

That is equivalent to an increase of around 4 per cent on the current annual budget for Northern Ireland.

The Tories have given up manifesto pledges to axe the triple lock on pensions and cut winter fuel allowance payments to wealthy pensioners.

The Armed Forces covenant will be extended to Northern Ireland and the two parties have recommitted to spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence.

Mrs Foster said: 'Throughout these discussions our guiding principle has been our commitment to acting in the national interest, in accordance with our shared objective of strengthening and enhancing our precious union.

'In concluding this agreement, we have done so to secure our nation, building the prosperity of all and supporting our exit from the European Union to benefit all parts of the United Kingdom.'

She added: 'Our aim in this negotiation has been to deliver for all of the people of Northern Ireland

'The measures we are announcing will be to benefit all of our people.

'They will boost the economy, invest in new infrastructure as well as investing in the future of our health and education sectors and a range of other measures.'

CASH FOR ROADS, SCHOOLS AND HEALTH... AND THEY'LL BACK BREXIT IN RETURN Analysis by Jason Groves for the Daily Mail - Under the 'confidence and supply' arrangement, the DUP's ten MPs will vote with the Government not just on the Queen's Speech and the Budget, but also on security policy and, crucially, all aspects of Brexit. - They will also back Theresa May on all confidence motions, meaning it is far less likely that her Government will fall. The Conservatives' 318 MPs and the ten DUP MPs make 328  more than half of the 650 MPs in the House of Commons. - In reality, the support of the DUP will give the Prime Minister an effective working majority of 13, given that Sinn Fein does not take up its seven seats, while Speaker John Bercow and his three deputies  two of whom are Labour MPs  do not take part in votes. - The DUP will get 1billion in additional funding over two years  equal to a 5 per cent rise in the province's budget  with the option to come back for more. - The deal breaks down as 400million for infrastructure, including a new motorway interchange; 150million to provide 'ultra-fast' broadband; 300million for health and education; 100million to tackle deprivation; and 50million to be spent on mental health. - Conservative pledges to scrap the triple lock on pensions and means-test the winter fuel allowance will not go ahead. But both of these measures were already heading for the dustbin in the wake of the general election. - Defence spending will continue to meet Nato's 2 per cent target and cash support for farmers will remain at current levels until the next election. - The open-ended nature of the deal could see the DUP coming back for more money in the next few years  or even holding the Government to ransom over key votes. - Cuts to air passenger duty at Ulster's airports and special corporation tax status could also be demanded. - Some Tories also fear the alliance with the DUP could prove 'toxic' because of the party's deeply conservative stance on issues such as gay rights and abortion. However, these do not come under the deal as powers are devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Advertisement

The signing was attended by First Secretary of State Damian Green (pictured left), Mrs May, and chief whip Gavin Williamson for the Tories

Mr Dodds, Mrs Foster and Mr Donaldson (pictured left to right) were present for the DUP

Mrs Foster said agreement would be subject to review between the parties before every new parliamentary session.

The DUP leader said she would return to the province this afternoon to resume talks with Sinn Fein on getting power sharing in Belfast back up and running.

Demands for significant increases in funding for Northern Ireland were among the main sticking points in the talks.

WHAT IS CONFIDENCE AND SUPPLY? In a hung parliament, no party can command a majority in the Commons alone. But the Tories' 'confidence and supply' deal with the DUP means that the Northern Ireland party will prop them up in key votes. When governments cannot pass financial packages or a Queen's Speech they usually have to resign. But the DUP has committed to vote with them when such issues arise, hugely enhancing the chances of Theresa May's administration surviving in power. Advertisement

There was speculation the DUP were asking for around 2billion extra.

Despite the hard bargaining, the DUP was always likely to support Mrs May, not least because they are strongly opposed to Jeremy Corbyn due to his links to the IRA.

Some Tories - including ex-PM John Major and former Cabinet minister Lord Patten - have been alarmed that an arrangement with Ian Paisley's former party could damage the UK government's claim to be impartial in the Northern Ireland talks.

The province has been in crisis since Sinn Fein pulled out of government in January, prompting an election in March and a series of missed deadlines to restore power-sharing.

Mrs May renewed her appeal today for the parties in the province to resume power sharing.

'Time is running short for the parties to come together and reach agreement to re-establish a power-sharing Executive by 29 June. I hope the parties will look beyond their differences and come together with a shared sense of common purpose to serve all communities in the best interests of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland needs a functioning devolved government at this important time,' she said.

'Her Majesty's Government will continue to do everything we can to work with the parties in Northern Ireland, alongside the Irish Government, to bring back a strong voice at Stormont for a positive future for everyone in Northern Ireland.'

But Labour leader Mr Corbyn said: 'Austerity has failed. Cuts to vital public services must be halted right across the UK, not just in Northern Ireland.

'The government must immediately answer two questions. Where is the money for the Tory-DUP deal coming from? And, will all parts of the UK receive the much needed additional funding that Northern Ireland will get as part of the deal?

'This Tory-DUP deal is clearly not in the national interest but in May's party's interest to help her cling to power.'

Miss Sturgeon said: 'Any sense of fairness sacrificed on the altar of grubby DUP deal to let PM cling to power, & Scots Tories influence in No10 shown to be zero.'

Welsh First Minister Carwen Jones said the agreement was 'outrageous'.

The Labour politician said: 'Today's deal represents a straight bung to keep a weak prime minister and a faltering government in office.

'It is outrageous that the prime minister believes she can secure her own political future by throwing money at Northern Ireland whilst completely ignoring the rest of the UK.'

Nicola Sturgeon (pictured in Edinburgh today), the SNP first minister in Scotland, said the 'grubby' agreement was unfair to Scots.

There are also concerns that the DUP's stance on issues like gay rights could be toxic for the Conservative brand.

Lord Patten suggested yesterday that 'every vote' from the DUP would cost the country money and suggested voters in the other parts of the UK would be angry that Ulster was getting special treatment.

The peer told ITV's Peston on Sunday: 'The DUP is a toxic brand and the Conservative Party has got itself back into the situation where there's a danger of it looking like the 'nasty party' to borrow from Theresa May.'

Mrs May told Tory conference in 2002 that 'some people call us the nasty party' and warned of the need for an image overhaul.

Details of the agreement between the two parties will be 'totally transparent', Mrs Foster insisted before it was sealed in No 10.

'I think that this agreement will bring the prospects of doing a deal at Stormont closer because this will have a positive impact in relation to Northern Ireland,' Mrs Foster said.

She voiced hopes that a second deal on power sharing in the province could be reached this week too.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was a 'grubby' deal and 'unfair' on Scotland

Former minister Grant Shapps jibed that the Tories would have won an overall majority if its current policies had been in the manifesto

The agreement was finally sealed in Downing Street after more than a fortnight of behind the scenes wrangling

The Prime Minister welcomed Mrs Foster to No10 earlier with a warm handshake

Mrs Foster, her deputy Nigel Dodds (left) and chief whip Jeffrey Donaldson (right) posed for photographs with Mrs May outside No10 before the signing

The Prime Minister needs the support of the DUP's 10 MPs to guarantee her majority in the House of Commons

'I very much hope that this week we will be able to conclude on two agreements,' she said.

In an article for the Belfast Telegraph overnight, Mrs Foster complained that progress in settling the deal had been 'slow'.

'Since the general election, we have been engaged with the Prime Minister and her team to explore how we can work together,' she wrote.

'Progress has been slow at times but we continue to work through the issues.

'I believe we are close to concluding an appropriate agreement with the Conservative Party to support a minority government on a confidence and supply basis.'

DUP leader Arlene Foster smiled as she arrived for talks at Downing Street with her deputy Nigel Dodds shortly after the election resulted in a hung parliament. But talks have dragged on for more than a fortnight

Alex Wild, Research Director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Taxpayers resent politicians cooking up deals behind closed doors that invariably end with their cash being thrown wherever is politically advantageous rather than where it could be best spent.

'The unfair way in which money is allocated between the Home Nations has been clear for decades, best illustrated by the significantly higher levels of public spending in Scotland than in considerably poorer parts of England.

'But until there is a major decentralisation of tax raising powers, Westminster politicians will always have ultimate control of the purse strings and be able to dish out taxpayers' cash in a way that benefits them more than the general public.'
This is the outfit Kate Hannah was wearing when she was allegedly fired from her job

A furious barmaid has claimed that she was sacked after turning up for a shift without a bra after being 'sexually harassed'.

Kate Hannah, 22, posted a furious rant on Facebook, accompanied by a picture of the grey, crew neck t-shirt that she says was deemed unacceptable by her boss.

She said that she wore the t-shirt to Bird and Beer in Beverley, East Yorkshire, after her manager's brother allegedly made an inappropriate remark to her.

There were even calls for her to take legal action after she shared her side of the story on social media.

She said on Facebook: 'So I've just got home after being sacked from my job, for refusing to wear a bra.

'Yesterday an inappropriate sexual remark was made to me, by my managers brother, and in the presence of her. I felt uncomfortable, objectified and shocked that this had happened.

'Unfortunately she saw fit to deal with the situation by telling me that I'm not allowed into work in future unless I'm wearing a bra. This was said to me in front of three other staff members and customers.

'Leaving me feeling body shamed and completely shocked that the blame was being put onto me that I had been sexually harassed at work. She called me stupid, silly and over the top when I told her I was upset.'

Most people appeared to agree she had been unfairly treated, with one person even suggesting an 'En masse bra-less protest' outside the American-themed venue.

Another added: 'I would seek legal advice, totally appalling'.

However, others sided with her employers, suggesting that abiding by uniform was a standard part of working.

Miss Hannah said that she wore the t-shirt to Bird and Beer in Beverley, East Yorkshire, after her manager's brother allegedly made an inappropriate remark to her

The American-themed bar says it 'takes any comments towards our employees very seriously'

Ms Hannah said that she was 'so sad' because of the incident, although Bird and Beer deny anyone was fired

One Facebook user replied: 'Just looking it up it seems you haven't a case. Dress codes are commonplace in UK workplaces and their staff handbooks; case law overwhelmingly supports the right of employers to impose dress codes on staff to ensure conventional standards of appearance at work.'

A spokesman for Bird and Beer said: 'We can confirm that no employees have been dismissed from the company regarding these allegations.

'We have a duty of care to protect all of our employees from any discrimination or sexual harassment within the work place and we take any comments towards our employees very seriously and act upon them immediately in a professional manner.'
Brainwashed children brandishing handguns shoot prisoners in the back of the head in a brutal new ISIS execution video.

The two boys, both dressed in black, force their captives to kneel in front of them in front of the doorway of a building in Afghanistan.

Footage shows them aggressively pulling back the heads of the two terrified 'spies' before the younger of the two jihadists starts ranting at the camera. They then point their handguns at their prisoners and carry out the killings.

The children are so-called 'cubs of the caliphate' - the name given to youngsters who have been brainwashed with ISIS ideologies and trained to fight and kill for the terror group.

Shocking footage shows the moment children brainwashed by ISIS shoot two prisoners in the back of the head for being 'spies'

The two boys, both dressed in black, force their captives to kneel in front of them in front of the doorway of a building in Afghanistan before carrying out the executions

In another scene, three more men are murdered, this time by four heavily-armed adults standing in a clearing next to an ISIS flag.

It is not yet clear where exactly in Afghanistan the footage was captured.

ISIS has released several videos, including one earlier this year, showing young children carrying out brutal executions of adults, training with weapons, and pledging allegiance to ISIS.

Last month it emerged that the head of ISIS in Afghanistan was killed in a raid carried out by Afghan and US special forces, the country's president said.

Abdul Hasib died during an attack by 50 US special forces and 40 Afghan commandos overnight on April 27, President Ashraf Ghani said.

In another scene, three more men are murdered, this time by four heavily-armed adults standing in a clearing next to an ISIS flag

A statement by United States Forces - Afghanistan, said the raid also killed several other high-ranking members of the organisation along with 35 fighters.

Hasib took over as leader of ISIS-K, an ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, last year after predecessor Hafiz Saeed Khan was killed by a US drone strike.

Hasib was responsible for directing the Kabul National Military Hospital attack on March 8 which killed more than 100 Afghan civilians, the statement said.

He was also responsible for beheading tribal elders in front of their families and kidnapping women and girls before forcing them to marry his fighters, according to the statement.




A British tourist was filmed risking his life in Magaluf as he climbed between balconies to escape a massive brawl which erupted inside his apartment.

The unnamed holidaymaker edged along the ledge of the second-storey balcony as onlookers cheered from the ground in the early hours of Saturday morning.

A woman on the balcony to the right - believed to be another tourist staying at the same hotel - then began desperately shouting at him to 'Get off, get off', after seeing him standing precariously on the ledge.

Initially it was thought he was a drunk reveller just trying to get to the woman at a holiday apartment block overlooking notorious party strip Punta Ballena, but it later transpired he was getting away from the brutal punch-up which resulted in three arrests and two men being taken to hospital.

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A drunk British tourist was filmed risking his life in Magaluf as he climbed between balconies to reach a screaming woman shouting at him to 'get off'

Onlookers watching him from the ground shone lasers in his face and cheered him on as he came perilously close to tumbling.

An island paper described the unnamed man at the centre of the extraordinary footage as a 'drunk Brit'.

But a Civil Guard spokesman confirmed: 'The man being filmed was not trying to jump off the balcony or jump between balconies.

'He was in a room where a very nasty fight started and was trying to get away from it.

'Three British men suspected of involvement in the altercation, two of whom required hospital treatment, were arrested and taken to court after questioning.

'The man in the footage that has appeared, that everyone on the ground assumed was trying to jump from one balcony to another, was a witness and wasn't arrested.

'His original intention was to get away from the fight and then when he saw people on other balconies, try to seek help.'

The woman, believed to be a tourist staying at the same hotel, was seen walking towards him and continued urging him to get back to safety

A source said: 'It was a pretty nasty fight and involved bottles.

'The three Brits arrested were all released on bail after being hauled to court.'

The incident happened in the early hours of Saturday morning at the Coconut Apartments in Magaluf, a block comprising 33 different rooms right on the Punta Ballena strip.

It was not immediately clear if the men videoed pulling him back to safety after his dice with death were those involved in the altercation he had been fleeing, or were unconnected to the violence and not in the room he had escaped from.

The apartments where the incident happened are thought to be popular with Magaluf seasonal workers.

One holidaymaker who stayed there last year wrote on TripAdvisor: 'Disgusting. No room service. Was there a week and they didn't change the towels.'

Another added: 'Terrible apartments. My son and his friend got robbed and left with no money. Terrible security. Couldn't find anybody for ages to report it to.'

A couple who stayed in July last year said: 'The apartments are very basic but this is what you pay for.

'The staff are very friendly. Your room does not get cleaned while you are there and you have to ask for toilet paper.

'On our first night we came home to find someone breaking into our room via the balcony. Luckily we caught him in time.'

Other websites describe the apartments as 'affordable' and describe the block as being in a 'resort area of Magaluf.'

A receptionist said today she couldn't comment and all inquiries should be sent to a manager by email.

Several Britons have died in recent years in falls from hotels in Magaluf.

Three young Brits - two men and a woman - died in less than a month in the holiday hotspot in 2012 in falls at their hotels.

The 64 things you can't do in Magaluf this summer The 64 rules that were drawn up in October last year are finally going to be acted on as authorities push to make the party island 'family friendly'. 1 Not to argue or fight in public places 2 No abusive language 3 Respect others 4 Don't damage street furniture 5 Co-operate with the police or officials 6 Respect tourist facilities 7 Don't cause any interference to public events 8 Must not give false information about your identity 9 Carry any sort of prohibited weapon 10 Must not disrespect police officers A man lies passed out on the floor of one of the strip's many take-away restaurants 11 No shining of laser beams 12 Respect any physical barriers put in place by the police 13 Event organisers to guarantee people's safety 14 Bar and cafe owners have to ensure good order 15 They mustn't serve anyone already drunk 16 And not to anyone under 18 17 Never serve drink or food to consume on the street 18 Stop customers going out in the street with glasses or bottles 19 Don't damage litter bins, statues, parks, gardens and so on 20 Forbidden to rip off branches from trees 21 Mustn't carve names or initials into the bark 22 Don't climb trees An ambulance makes its way through the busy streets of Magaluf which is packed with drinkers 23 Don't throw litter into the road 24 Mustn't damage flowers in parks 25 Don't cause discomfort to others with skateboards or balls 26 No defecating, urinating or spitting in public places 27 Don't throw down chewing gum, cigarette butts, cans, papers, containers etc 28 Interfere with street lighting 29 Ban on any type of graffiti 30 No scratching surfaces 31 Public event organisers must ensure proper conduct of guests 32 Adhere to safety rules on the beaches 33 Don't swim when red flag flying 34 Or bathe anywhere it is prohibited 35 Wash any sort of item or garment under the beach showers 36 Leave jars, buckets or containers under them 37 Drink directly from the showers 38 Absolutely forbidden to have sexual relations in a public place or anywhere visible from public places 39 No begging 40 No collecting money for sand castles unless structures are approved by council Two girls - one with heavily sunburned legs - lie on the floor of a fast food restaurant in Magaluf 41 Any activity which might cause obstruction on public highway or interfere with other people's mobility 42 No begging in the street 43 No authorised services in the public space, such as tarot, clairvoyance, massages or tattoos. 44 No tipping off anyone about the presence of the police 45 Comply with noise limits ie with music on the beach 46 Don't drink alcoholic beverages in public spaces when it may cause discomfort to people who use the public space and in living locally (unless at a previously authorised event). 47 Don't drink alcohol if it is going to harm the peacefulness of an area or lead to drunkenness. 48 Or if drinking alcohol is done in a demeaning way which would upset other people 49 Or if there are children around. 50 Behave at organised events or it is the duty of the organiser to call the police. New laws banning music louder than a laugh have also come into force. Officials are trying to quieten the holiday destination down - by limiting music volume to just 65 decibels 51 Put drink containers into bins 52 Don't throw down bottles or cans etc on the street 53 Bottle parties in the street in public places are banned 54 Respect the right of people to rest, especially between 8pm and 8am 55 No taking away drinks, whatever containers they are in, to have in the street. Owners should have warning signs in various languages, including English 56 Commercial establishments can't sell you alcohol between midnight and 8am 57 Illegal to take drugs or other substances in public places 58 Forbidden to go naked or semi-naked in the street 59 Must wear tops ie no bare chests in public places away from the beach 60 Forbidden to use any glass vessel or glass in the sand and adjacent areas 61 Can't use soap or gel under the public showers 62 Balconing (jumping from a balcony into a swimming pool) 63 Coering others to do balconing 64 Gambling in the street Advertisement

Charlotte Serginson, from Middlesbrough, cheated death but was left seriously injured after plunging from a sixth-floor balcony in May 2012 at the Hotel Marina Barracuda in Magaluf.

Several people have been fined for anti-social behaviour this year over balcony incidents, following a tougher response from authorities.

The no-tolerance approach is part of a wider crackdown on British tourists in the popular Spanish resort.

Earlier this month, the local council issued a list of 64 things that holidaymakers cannot do.

The banned measures includes things such as using shower gel in public showers, climbing trees, walking round the street topless and having sex in public.

Anyone caught breaking one of the 64 rules will face hefty fines ranging from 100 to 3,000 Euros.

The move to make the resort more family-friendly started in 2015 with a five-year, 214million regeneration programme.

Police were called to the scene, with an officer (top right) ordering him back to his room from the floor above him. The man was eventually filmed being pulled back over the railings into his apartment by two friends

In addition to the new rules that will be imposed for the first time this summer, the number of police officers in the resort will be doubled during the busy months.

Alfonso Rodriguez Badal, the mayor of Magaluf, recently hit out at British tourists that are hurting his town hall's attempt to improve the resort's image, declaring 'We don't want you here'.

He also called on party bars and hotels to do away with free drink and 'Happy Hours' offers.

Earlier this month, three Britons were fined following a shocking street fight in Magaluf's Punta Ballena strip after the England-Scotland match.

Meanwhile, police last week were attempting to track down two British women filmed naked at the resort after a night out partying.

One was completely nude, while the other was wearing just a G-string and carrying her clothes in her arms.

The resort has long attracted negative headlines, most famously in 2014 when an 18-year-old British girl was filmed performing a sex act on 24 men in two minutes at Magaluf bar to win a 4 cocktail.
A man accused of using cyanide-laced orange juice to murder his friend's husband once joked to his housemate that killing someone was 'easy to do', a court has heard.

Arun Kamalasanan, 35, is accused of murdering Sam Abraham by pouring the poison down his throat while he was asleep in his Epping home, north Melbourne, in October 2015.

The victim's wife Sofia Sam is also charged with Mr Abraham's murder.

Kamalasanan and Sam are originally from India and they were friends before coming to Australia.

Sofia Sam (left) faced a committal hearing on Monday charged with the murder of her husband Sam Abraham (right). Arun Kamalasanan is also accused of murdering Mr Abraham

Arun Kamalasanan allegedly murdered Sam Abraham (pictured) by pouring cyanide-laced orange juice down his throat while he was asleep

They faced Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday for a committal hearing, which heard from Kamalasanan's former housemate.

Aji Parameswaren said he had often spoken to Kamalasanan about news stories from their motherland India.

One day, they were discussing a high-profile murder case as they went for a walk along the beach.

'I was asking, "How is it possible to kill someone?'',' Mr Parameswaren said.

'And he said, "It's easy to do... there are plenty of things medical science can't find out".

'But it was like a joke. It wasn't a serious conversation.'

Kamalasanan is also accused of attempting to murder Mr Abraham three months before his death.

But Mr Abraham survived the alleged attack in the car park of the Lalor train station and even took his attacker's balaclava.

Sam Abraham, who died in October 2015, is pictured here with his wife Sofia Sam, who is charged with her husband's murder

Sofia Sam, pictured with her hand on the casket, is shown grieving at the funeral of her husband Sam Abraham, months before she was charged with his murder

He reported the attack at a police station, dropping the head garment on the counter before he was taken to hospital.

At the time of the alleged train station attack, Kamalasanan was working as a cleaner at a Mercedes-Benz dealership.

He did not go to work the day after the alleged attack and he claimed he had hurt himself at work.

Mr Parameswaren was asked if he had seen the accused with a balaclava at their St Kilda apartment.

'Yeah, it was a funny thing. He was trying to scare me,' Mr Parameswaren said.

'He popped his head out from the room [while wearing it].'

Arun Kamalasanan and Sofia Sam faced Melbourne Magistrates' Court (pictured) on Monday for a committal hearing

The court also heard evidence from officers who inspected Sam and Mr Abraham's home after his death.

Those officers photographed many items, including a purple cup containing orange liquid, but they did not seize it.

They found no unusual stains on the bed or signs of a hurried clean-up.

The criminal investigation team was not called to the scene.

'I didn't feel there was a forced entry,' Constable Fay Henezes-Moras said.

'I didn't go looking for it.'

The committal hearing continues on Tuesday.
The father of an 11-year-old autistic boy who was found dead at a famous beauty spot claims that he drew the scene of his death several years earlier.

Ognjen Rakocevic, from Podgorica, the capital city of Montenegro, was found dead last year on the shores of Lake Skadar, the largest lake in southern Europe.

His father, Branko Rakocevic, believes the tragic youngster had a premonition of his death as he had drawn a picture of himself in the exact spot he died.

The place where Ognjen Rakocevic's body was found on the shores of Lake Skadar, Montenegro

Ognjen Rakocevic's drawing which his father says shows a halo and depicts his son in the exact spot they found his body

Ogi,as the boy was affectionately known, had wandered off from his home and is believed to have fallen in the city's Moraca River and drowned. The boy, pictured, was born on December 28, the birthday of Saint Basil of Ostrog, and his body was found outside the Church of St Nicholas, something his father believes is symbolic

Ogi, as the boy was affectionately known, had wandered off from his home and is believed to have fallen in the city's Moraca River and drowned.

His body was later found where the river flows into Lake Skadar.

Mr Rakocevic said: 'He almost drew a photograph of the place where he was found.

'There is the island of Vranjina. He painted a cross on the top of the hill, and above him the sky as a sacred halo, at the foot of the green reed.

'And what is brutal, is that Ogi drew himself right in the place where he was found.

'I do not believe in coincidences, God's hand brought him here.'

Mr Rakocevic said that his son was born on December 28, the birthday of Saint Basil of Ostrog, and his body was found outside of the Church of St Nicholas.

He has written a book, The Barefooted Prince, in which he has collected stories and songs dedicated to Ognjen, as a tribute to his son's short life.

Mr Rakocevic added: 'It is as if he sacrificed himself for his small friends with autism.

'Ogi burned the fire all over Montenegro and alerted everyone, both firefighters and reservists, believers and atheists, and no one remained asleep, everyone woke up.'

Branko Rakocevic, the tragic boy's father, who believes his son had predicted his own death

Psychologists are cautious about Mr Rakocevic's belief that his son foresaw his own death but they agree that autistic children often have special gifts.

Citizens of Podgorica have launched an initiative for the street which led Ogi to the river to be named after him.

'I'd like this street to be named after Ognjen.

'It does not have to be a full name, it can be called Ogi's Street,' said Mr Rakocevic.
The quango that has failed combustible Grenfell-type cladding on all 95 UK towers it has tested told the Government a year ago that its high-rise fire regulations were 'adequate', it was revealed today.

The Building Research Establishment, which sets safety regulations in the construction industry, told ministers in April 2016 there was more 'combustible' materials on tall buildings but 'no evidence' the safety rules were compromised.

Now BRE is being paid to test the fire safety of cladding from 600 towers across the UK and so far has failed every one of the 95 processed.

Today the quango refused to speak to MailOnline, explain what has changed since its advice a year ago or reveal the exact nature of new tests being performed on Grenfell-type panels.

In addition to this confusion, it has emerged today:

Britain's 'convoluted' fire regulations were last reviewed in 2005 and are a 'total mess', according to experts

A loophole allows projects to be approved by fire safety inspectors based on the 'opinion' of an expert and more stringent tests can be avoided if they use a ' desktop study';

Downing Street has even admitted it is still trying to 'get to the bottom of' whether flammable cladding found on 95 blocks is illegal in Britain;

The German city of Wuppertal is to evacuate an 11-storey building because of exterior insulation similar to Grenfell Tower

It came as Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a 'major national investigation' into the use of potentially flammable cladding on high-rise towers across the country over a period of decades.

Cladding specialists abseil down the side of the evacuated Bray Tower in Camden today to check the metal panels that have proved so dangerous

Camden Council will rip off the cladding from its Bray (pictured), Burnham, Taplow, Dorney and Blashford towers and workers appear to have been measuring them first

Workmen in Doncaster, West Yorkshire remove window capping at one of 60 buildings found to be a fire hazard. Tests are being carried out on around 600 buildings in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze

Tower blocks in Sunderland became the latest to have cladding removed as it emerged all 95 of the buildings tested by the government have failed new tests

Footage has emerged of cladding tests from 2010, pictured, but fire safety experts claim there has been a 'lack of transparency' around the testing process by the Building Research Establishment

The BRE Group was a Government Agency set up in 1917 to help find suitable materials and building methods to put up houses across Britain after the First World War.

In 1997 it was privatised and became a quango paid to give the Government advice on safety and also assess and approve fire products as safe.

Forest of red tape and a loophole means deadly cladding was passed to be installed on Britain's tower blocks Regulations for tower blocks last reviews in 2005 in have been branded 'convoluted' and a 'total mess' creating loopholes allowing tinder box cladding to be installed across Britain. Developers have a 'loophole' to get out of carrying out stringent fire safety tests on cladding used on high rise blocks, Mail Online can also reveal. The fire safety rules in Britain have not been reviewed for 12 years and have allowed contractors to use materials which are dangerous. One expert today described rules around cladding as 'all over the place' as the manufacturer of the panels used on Grenfell Tower stopped global sales of the product due to the 'inconsistency of building codes'. Current building regulations are said to be 'open to interpretation', meaning potentially combustible cladding has been fixed to homes around the UK for years. Fire expert Arnold Turling told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'The building regulations are convoluted. They are all over the place. My particular reading of them is that this is not banned.' He added: 'This is just the tip of the iceberg. It's not just social housing. I see it in private housing... and of course schools and hospitals.' Because it has been so long since the last review it appears have been able to install cladding only tested for safety using computer software. Combustible cladding has been passed as safe if it is proved that the system encasing a building is considered safe overall. The panels on Grenfell were given a 0 classification which meant they were of low combustibility. The key section of the UK regulations, called BS8414, states: 'The external walls of the building shall adequately resist the spread of fire over the walls and from one building to another.' Niall Rowan, Chief Operations Officer for the Association of Specialists Fire Protection, said the 'loophole' was a glaring error that needed to be closed. He said that while cladding used on Grenfell Tower had been given a fire rating of low combustibility the public inquiry into the tragedy would need to look at how the classification was reached. The regulations also state that cladding should be 'composed throughout' of materials of 'limited combustibility'. It also appears that developers could install cladding that had never been properly tested as long as it theoretically would withstand a major fire. Guidance issued in 2014 by the Building Control Alliance (BCA) reveals that the 'opinion' of an expert would be enough to get the project approved by fire safety experts. The guidance says: 'If no actual fire test data exists for a particular system, the client may instead submit a desktop study report from a suitable independent United Kingdom Accreditation Service accredited testing body stating whether, in their opinion, BR135 [fire performance] criteria would be met with the proposed system. Experts have called for a complete overhaul of fire regulations and said that they should never have been left unrevised since 2005. Jon O'Neill, head of the UK's Fire Protection Association said: 'It's been 12 years since we had a building regulations review for fire safety. In Australia they are unhappy at only reviewing regulations every three years.' Advertisement

Any profits it makes are ploughed back into the business to research projects 'for the public benefit'.

Its highest paid staff, believed to include chief executive Dr Peter Bonfield and non-executive chairman Chris Earnshaw, earn up to 250,000-a-year.

It comes amid mounting anger over the growing number of tower blocks found to be encased in combustible cladding after the first 95 examined by the government all failed fire safety tests.

Further revelations today include:

95 samples of cladding from tower blocks in 32 English local authority areas have failed fire safety tests - a 100% failure rate

Theresa May told Cabinet that there needed to be 'a major national investigation' into the use of cladding over a number of decades, which aides indicated could come as a second phase of the Grenfell Tower public inquiry;

Minister suggests councils are dragging their heels over examining material and had hoped all 600 would have tested by now;

Taxpayers set to foot 600million bill for councils installing dangerous cladding

US manufacturer Arconic, the firm that supplied cladding for Grenfell Tower refit, has stopped sales of Reynobond PE panels - sending shares plummeting

Many have branded the regulations 'convoluted' and blamed the deadly fire, which has killed at least 79 people, on them being 'open to interpretation'.

David Smith, of the Residential Landlords Association, said the system is a 'total mess'.

They state external walls of buildings which are 60 feet tall or more should 'adequately resist' the spread of fire and be made from materials of 'limited combustibility'.

Meanwhile fire safety experts have questioned the testing methods previously used on cladding and claimed there was a 'lack of transparency' around how they were deemed to be of limited combustibility.

According to Sky News, the BRE report to the government said there had been an 'increase in the volume of potentially combustible materials being applied to buildings' due to companies seeking 'more innovative' insulation that complied with sustainability and energy efficiency rules.

The document from last year says: 'There is currently no evidence from BRE Global's fire investigations for DCLG to suggest that current building regulation recommendations, to limit vertical fire spread up the exterior of high rise buildings, are failing in their purpose.'

Despite previous serious fires, the report said the regulations were deemed fit for purpose.

The report said: 'With the exception of one or two unfortunate but rare cases, there is currently no evidence from these investigations to suggest that the current recommendations to limit vertical fire spread up the exterior of high rise buildings are failing in their purpose.'

Some experts have questioned how materials were tested under these recommendations and whether construction firms were being made to comply with safety standards, given the loose wording of the terms.

Footage has emerged of BRE testing on cladding from 2010, showing the material being hung above a fire, although the substance shown appears to be incombustible, leading to more questions over how the flammable cladding was tested.

It comes as the Association of British Insurers said it had been calling for a review of building regulations from the Government for eight years and had flagged up the dangers of cladding in May.

In a consultation response on housing policies, it said: 'External cladding made from combustible material can often cause significant fire to spread upwards and between buildings, which is a particular concern for areas of high building density.'

The ABI went on to warn the installation of large quantities of flammable cladding 'increased the probability of fire and potential scale of loss'.

BRE's highest paid staff, believed to include chief executive Dr Peter Bonfield, left, and non-executive chairman Chris Earnshaw, right, earn up to 250,000-a-year

95 samples of cladding from tower blocks in 32 English local authority areas including Camden (pictured) have failed fire safety tests - a 100% rate so far

Cladding was ripped from five tower blocks in Sunderland over the weekend in a move described as a 'precautionary measure' by housing association Gentoo.

Buildings around the country have been found to be clad in combustible materials. The number of dangerous buildings in each area is shown above, with more being tested. Other councils have yet to announce where the remaining blocks which have failed tests are

Fire safety expert Stephen MacKenzie said branded the cladding controversy a 'can of worms' and said the BRE 'lacked transparency' around the previous testing it performed.

Downing Street still has no idea if flammable cladding is legal 14 days after Grenfell fire Downing Street is still trying to find out if the flammable cladding used at Grenfell Tower and 95 others is illegal. US manufacturer Arconic, the firm that supplied cladding for the Grenfell Tower refit, has halted sales for high rise blocks. It has blamed 'inconsistencies in building codes' for problems with its Reynobond PE. And it appears the Government is still unsure if cladding that went up like a match at Grenfell was illegal. The PM's spokesman said yesterday: 'The job for the public inquiry will be to find out how and why this happened.' And when asked it if was illegal or not he said it is 'one of the issues we are urgently trying to get to the bottom of'. Advertisement

He said: 'We think what they are currently doing is a new test regime. We don't know what they were doing previously because there was no transparency.

'What we think is happening now is that the BRE is asking local authorities to send in 20cm-25cm samples of cladding and then they are putting it on a kiln looking at how the fire spreads over the surface and seeing if the material is combustible.'

Architect and fellow fire expert Sam Webb told Sky News: 'This is actually the biggest failure in British construction history.'

An investigation into the Grenfell Tower disaster must leave 'no stone unturned', a residents' group has told Prime Minister Theresa May in an open letter.

Inquests into the deaths of four people who perished in the north Kensington inferno were opened and adjourned at Westminster Coroner's Court on Monday.

Meanwhile, cladding on 95 tower blocks across 26 local authority areas has failed fire safety tests, the Government said.

A letter written on behalf of the residents of Hurstway, Testerton, Barandon and Grenfell Walks on the Lancaster West estate to Mrs May and Home Secretary Amber Rudd, said they wanted to ensure 'justice is served for everyone on the estate'.

The group, part of the Justice4Grenfell campaign, wrote: 'It must identify each and every individual and organisation who must bear responsibility and accountability for this tragedy and the mishandling of the aftermath.

'There must be swift recommendations to ensure there can be no chance of a repeat of this disaster elsewhere;

'Bereaved families and survivors will require time to recover and grieve, not least in view of the paucity of support they have been afforded by the state and its agencies in the immediate aftermath.'

Workers moved in to strip materials from housing blocks around the country as Theresa May urged councils to get their buildings tested quickly.

None of the cladding samples sent to the government by local authorities have passed new tests, which appear to be more stringent than the 'convoluted' regulations which have been in place.

A five-year-old boy choked to death in the smoke-filled staircase of Grenfell Tower after letting go of the hand of a neighbour who was trying to lead him to safety, it has emerged.

The body of five-year-old Isaac Paulos, who lived with his family on the 18th floor of the tower, was found in the lobby of the 13th floor, Westminster Coroner's Court was told as the first inquests into the victims of the blaze were opened yesterday.

Harrowing evidence described how an artist and her mother were found dead many floors below their flat, and the body of another victim was discovered in the shadow of the burning building.

Papers on 2009 Lakanal House fire to be released to inquiry Ministers expect all correspondence and 'relevant files' from a previous tower block fire to be released to the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Communities minister Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth was responding in the Lords to a call to publish papers relating to the 2009 Lakanal House fire. He said work on 'simplifying' guidance supporting building regulations on fire safety was under way but the Government needed to look again at that in the light of the Grenfell Tower fire. Green peer Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, a former member of the London Assembly, said there were 'striking similarities' between the two fires. 'Is it the building industry failing, or is it this Government failing to do its job by updating building regulations and guidance in proper time?' she asked. Tory Lord Naseby said there was evidence from Camden of missing fire doors and gas leaks in some tower blocks, suggesting this was a failure of inspection. Labour Lord Kennedy of Southwark said the power to take enforcement action expired one year after construction and the power to prosecute after two years. Lord Bourne said it was right these issues should be looked at by the independent advisory committee. Liberal Democrat Baroness Brinton said she was 'slightly bemused' that work had not yet started on the revision of fire regulations as a review was due to report back to Parliament in 2016-17. Lord Bourne confirmed work was under way on the review recommended by the Lakanal coroner but it had been 'halted' to take evidence in relation to the Grenfell Tower fire. The advisory committee could come up with urgent recommendations and the public inquiry would want to consider making an interim report. Advertisement

Isaac Paulos (pictured, right, with his mother Genet Shawo) lived with his family on the 18th floor of Grenfell Tower but was found dead on the 13th floor, his inquest heard

Isaac's mother and a neighbour were attempting to help him out of the smoke-filled tower when he let go of the neighbour's hand, his mother has previously said

Isaac, who vanished in the dense fumes as his family attempted to escape the blaze, was identified by his dental records.

'Vague' rules to blame for all 95 tower blocks failing safety tests A strict Government interpretation of building regulations has been blamed for scores of high-rise towers failing fire tests. An expert has alleged the current round of safety assessments pose a 'massive inconsistency' with industry standards, which are vague on whether cladding should be non-combustible. Flammable cladding has been found on 95 tower blocks across 26 local authority areas, leading to calls for councils to urgently send samples for assessment. The so-called combustibility test, carried out by the Building Research Establishment, has been failed by every building examined so far, Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid said on Monday. But David Metcalfe, head of the Centre for Window and Cladding Technology, a body which works with hundreds of contractors, architects and manufacturers, claimed samples were being tested 'severely'. He added that the apparent scale of the building safety crisis risked being inflated by the cladding being scrutinised in isolation, rather than as part of a whole design system which could be safe. The exact nature of the Government-backed tests has not been made public, but Mr Javid confirmed samples were being ranked on a scale of one to three - with those in categories two and three considered a failure. Mr Metcalfe told the Press Association: 'All these products are failing, which I don't think is any great surprise; the bigger issue is that it is not entirely clear whether or not the products, in accordance with the regulations, have to be of limited combustibility in the first place. 'In terms of combustibility, the regulations refer to insulation products and filler materials. I don't know what a filler material is, that is not defined anywhere in the regulation, so the regulations don't say specifically the cladding should be of limited combustibility. 'Timber isn't an insulation product, it's not a filler material, so there's nothing stopping you using timber on a high-rise building, but the Government now are saying that all cladding should be of limited combustibility - there is a massive inconsistency there. 'With the Government's new strict interpretation of the rules, we can say these products do not meet the prescriptive requirements. We have this approved document which gives you some simple rules you could follow, and if you follow these rules you are deemed to have complied with the regulations; it's that document which is unclear. 'They are interpreting that document to say the cladding should have been of limited combustibility but it doesn't actually say that; they are testing it more severely than might have been done in the past because people didn't think it required that level of testing.' Advertisement

Coroner's officer Eric Sword told the short hearing Isaac's preliminary cause of death had been given as 'inhalation of fire fumes'.

Isaac's mother Genet Shawo previously told London's Evening Standard: 'He told us during the fire that he didn't want us to die.

'We opened the door and there was thick smoke which came into our home. You couldn't see anything it was so dark. The fire was so hot.

'I was helping my neighbour to put towels on his children, and started helping them down. I had put a wet towel already on Isaac.

'My neighbour said he had lost hold of him inside and couldn't find him. It was so dark, you couldn't see anything in the smoke.'

Dr Wilcox told the court she had met with his parents and passed on her condolences to them. All four inquests were opened and adjourned yesterday.

She added that some 18 of the at least 79 victims had so far been formally identified.

The other three victims whose inquests were opened included artist Khadija Saye, 24.

Miss Saye died alongside her 52-year-old mother Mary Mendy who had a 'pure' heart and her soul was 'one of a kind', according to her grieving family.

Their inquests were opened and adjourned today after they were formally identified.

Her sister Betty Jackson said in a statement on behalf of the family: 'My beloved sister, words can never describe the pain of losing you.

'I can't believe you are gone. You were a wonderful sister, an incredible aunt, the best mother any child could have wished for.

'You were an amazing friend to all those who knew you. Your heart was pure, your soul was one of a kind. You will be missed for a life time. You will remain forever in our hearts, you and your beautiful daughter Khadija Saye.

'From your sister, brothers, nieces and nephews.'

Miss Saye, hailed as a 'wonderful young woman' by Tottenham MP David Lammy, was due to appear on a BBC documentary about her work, which was on show in Venice as part of a collection on the theme of diaspora.

The inquest heard Miss Saye, also known as Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, was found on a hallway on the ninth floor, 11 floors below her 20th floor home.

The heard was told her preliminary cause of death was 'inhalation of fire fumes and burns'.

The body of Ms Mendy, 54, also known as Sissy Mendy, was found on the 13th floor.

Her provisional cause of death was 'fire fumes, pending further investigation', Mr Sword told the inquest. She was also identified via dental records.

The fourth inquest was that of Mohamednur Tuccu, 44, whose body was recovered from close to the nearby leisure centre.

He had been reported missing alongside his wife Amalahmedin and his three-year-old daughter after visiting relatives in Grenfell Tower, his employer previously said.

His provisional cause of death was also inhalation of fire fumes.

Inquests into the death of artist Khadija Saye and her mother, Mary Mendy, were also opened by Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox today

Khadija Saye and her mother Mary Mendy (pictured together) died in the Grenfell Tower inferno

Mohamednur Tuccu, 44, was found dead outside the building from inhalation of fire fumes

Grenfell Tower cladding manufacturer Arconic stopped global sales of its Reynobond PE cladding for tall buildings yesterday, citing the 'inconsistency of building codes across the world'.

17,000 care homes, hospices told to urgently check fire safety More than 17,000 care homes, hospices and private hospitals have been told to check their fire safety procedures in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has written to care providers to remind them to review their fire safety processes 'to ensure they are up to date and are being applied consistently in practice'. It comes after NHS Improvement wrote to all NHS hospitals and premises last week telling them to check fire safety and cladding. Around 200 NHS trusts in England have been told to report back when safety checks have been completed. They have been told to pay particular attention to tall buildings on hospital estates and those with in-patients. In the latest letter, the CQC said particular attention should be paid to the needs of people with mobility issues or learning disabilities. Attention should also be paid to the 'fabric and size' of the building, it said. The CQC said it knew from its inspections that fire safety issues do occur, such as blocked fire exits, fire doors wedged open and escape routes used as storage areas. The CQC has also found examples of low awareness among staff of what to do in a fire. Advertisement

A statement said: 'We believe this is the right decision because of the inconsistency of building codes across the world and issues that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy regarding code compliance of cladding systems in the context of buildings' overall designs.'

CEP Architectural Facades, which produced rainscreen panels for Grenfell Tower previously insisted Reynobond PE was not banned in the UK.

The government is being urged to review fire regulations now rather than wait for the Grenfell Tower inquiry or more test results.

Shadow housing secretary John Healey told the Commons: 'There really should be in place a triple fire safety lock around buildings and works on them.

'First, the materials must be fit for purpose and meet safety specifications.

'Second, fire safety systems must be in place and fire risk assessments done regularly.

'Third, building regulation and control must make sure the design, construction and any further works are fully safe.

'Instead, the update (Mr Javid) has given us this afternoon suggests a collapse of the system of fire safety control and checks system.'

Work to remove cladding is expected to cost public authorities around 600million.

Jim Fitzpatrick, of the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group, said: 'We don't need to await the public inquiry to say 'oh, building regulations need to be reviewed'. That work should be going on in tandem with the public inquiry'.

Housing Minister Alok Sharma today called on councils to urgently submit samples for testing and to act now to protect residents.

Middeo de Biaggio and his partner Angela Pascchini leave their home in Taplow Tower Camden after it was declared unsafe

Residents leave their homes in Camden with pet fish in large buckets during the evacuation

Mr Sharma told Radio 4's Today programme: 'Certainly, some councils are acting very quickly. We want all of them to be acting urgently on this.

Cladding manufacturer pulls product amid confusion over rules Sales of the panels attached to Grenfell Tower have been halted for high-rise buildings by its manufacturer. Arconic stopped global sales of its Reynobond PE cladding for tall buildings, citing concerns about the 'inconsistency of building codes across the world'. Coated in aluminium, the material has a plastic core which is suspected to have accelerated the spread of the deadly blaze on June 14. Reynobond PE is subject to stricter regulation on towers in countries such as Germany and the US than it is in the UK. The company today claimed there is an 'inconsistency of building codes across the world'. Advertisement

'People should not wait for the checks to come back from these (tests). They should act now, get the fire service in, check the buildings that they think may be affected, put in place mitigation measures if required, or, as in the case of Camden, if they need to evacuate, that needs to happen.'

There are 600 tower blocks with cladding around Britain, although only those with so-called 'aluminum composite' panels need to be tested. Councils are examining which have this type before sending samples off for testing.

Workers have started removing cladding from buildings in 26 areas around the country after materials on housing blocks failed government tests.

Housing Minister Mr Sharma refused to be drawn on whether the cladding used on the Grenfell tower was illegal, despite repeated questions today.

Mr Sharma was asked at least five times whether the cladding was illegal or banned, telling viewers 'from what we've seen it would suggest that the material used was combustible'.

Workers remove cladding from the Whitebeam Court tower block in Salford, north west

Did the building's new cladding make the fire much worse? The cladding used on Grenfell Tower exacerbated the fire. Rainscreen cladding, which was added during the block's refurbishment, can act as a 'chimney' for fires because of its ventilated cavities. Many have speculated as to whether this could have made the fire worse, and led to it spreading quickly and trapping residents. Chartered surveyor and fire expert Arnold Tarling, from Hindwoods, said that the process can create a 25mm-30mm cavity between the cladding and the insulation. 'It produces a wind tunnel and also traps any burning material between the rain cladding and the building. 'So had it been insulated per se, the insulation could fall off and fall away from the building, but this is all contained inside.' He said not all insulation used in the process is the more expensive non-flammable type 'So basically you have got a cavity with a fire spreading behind it.' Rydon carried out an 8.6 million project, completed in May 2016, to modernise the outside of the building, which saw new cladding and windows installed. In a statement, the Sussex-based firm said it was shocked by the 'devastating' blaze, adding: 'Rydon completed a refurbishment of the building in the summer of 2016 for KCTMO (Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation) on behalf of the council, which met all required building control, fire regulation, and health and safety standards'. Advertisement

The building regulations, he said, were 'very clear' that that type of cladding was 'non-compliant' on buildings over 60 feet.

Asked if a builder putting up a tower block today would be allowed to use this type of cladding, Mr Sharma replied: 'The building regulations are very clear. Any building above 18 metres, this would be non-compliant.'

Pressed again on whether the Grenfell cladding was illegal, he replied: 'Well, you are not allowed to do it, it is non-compliant.

'The regulations are very clear on this point, and clearly the public inquiry has been set up to investigate precisely what happened and we will get to the bottom of this.'

He later assured insisted the Government was 'literally working around the clock' to test samples that were being sent in from across the country.

The government is set to be quizzed on the growing scandal later today.

A Downing Street spokesman said: 'What is apparent is that this is on buildings across the country in local authorities run by all sorts of different parties.

'The job for the public inquiry will be to find out how and why this happened. I would expect that to be part of the terms of reference.'

A Downing Street spokesman was unable to confirm a date for the announcement of a judge to head the Grenfell inquiry and the publication of the terms of reference.

'We are making good progress in the appointment of a judge, in co-operation with the Lord Chief Justice, and we hope to be able to make an announcement as soon as possible,' he said.

The spokesman said the authorities had the capacity to test 100 samples of cladding material a day and were nowhere near reaching that number.

'We are testing this material as soon as it comes to us and we request that landlords get this material to us urgently,' he said.

It comes after it emerged the insulation and narrow stairwell at Grenfell Tower could have proved just as deadly as the block's cladding.

Whitebeam Court became the latest of buildings around the country to have panels removed

This morning, cladding installed on two blocks of flats in Portsmouth were removed by workers

Workers remove panels of external cladding from the facade of a building in the Wythenshawe area of Manchester this morning

Combustible cladding has now been removed from at least 29 buildings around the country with tests still being carried out, including here in Sunderland

How MailOnline readers can donate to a charity helping the Grenfell Tower fire victims The Grenfell Tower fire has prompted an extraordinary outpouring of support from Britons as they try to help the victims both financially and with gifts of food, clothing and other essentials. And MailOnline readers can donate to a charity co-ordinating efforts to help those whose lives were devastated by clicking here. The money will go to the Kensington & Chelsea Foundation, the company's local charity partner. The foundation is coordinating a major funding appeal with support from London Funders and the London Emergency Trust Fund, and has set up a donation page on its website. Every penny raised on the site will go directly to charities funding the relief effort in the local community, both for those who lost loved-ones and those who lost their homes and all their possessions. Readers can also donate via cheque. Please make cheques payable to 'The Kensington & Chelsea Foundation' and send to: Grenfell Tower Appeal, The Kensington & Chelsea Foundation, 111117 Lancaster Road, London W11 1QT. The gutted block is just over a mile from the MailOnline and Daily Mail offices in Kensington, West London, known as Northcliffe House. Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) chairman Lord Rothermere and chief executive Paul Zwillenberg announced a 100,000 donation to the charity. Advertisement

Detective Chief Superintendent Fiona McCormack said the insulation at Grenfell combusted soon after the fire started, adding that it proved 'more flammable than the cladding'.

It has led to cries from those in fire safety over the lack of mandatory testing of insulating materials by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Up to 40,000 people from 34 tower blocks now face evacuation after cladding in 17 council authorities throughout England failed new fire tests.

Council face huge bills for putting up families The spiralling cost of evacuating London tower blocks emerged today as a family of four revealed Camden council is paying 4,800 for them to stay in a Holiday Inn. The family have been put up in two rooms at the hotel for two weeks and are also being given 20 each a day to cover expenses. The occupants of 600 flats on the Chalcots Estate were being moved into temporary accommodation, with officials warning they may not be able to return for up to a month while remedial work is carried out. Camden Council said concerns over cladding on the buildings had led to further fire safety issues being identified in the blocks and the evacuation was ordered following consultation with fire officers. Advertisement

The number of evacuations currently stands on 20,000, with about half of the 600 potentially-dangerous high rises had been tested by Friday evening.

The official death toll of the Grenfell Tower fire currently stands at 79, after a fridge fire broke out on the lower floors of the west London high rise earlier this month.

However a drive to establish who was killed in the blaze is being launched by campaigners amid growing distrust of the official death toll.

Campaign group Justice 4 Grenfell is to set up an unofficial database cataloguing victims, which they hope can be shared with families.

Fears that many more people died than the 79 confirmed by police has been fuelled by speculation that the tower contained a considerable number of undocumented residents.

On Monday Labour MP David Lammy suggested the true number of dead could have been covered up over fears of rioting.

The death toll established by campaigners will be presented to the public inquiry if there proves to be any contradictions with official figures, Mr Blagrove said.

It comes as an investigation by the Sunday Times showed how the tower's stairwell was turned into a vertical tunnel of thick smoke, making it almost impassable.

As the only designated means of escape, the staircase should have provided a haven from the smoke, however toxic air 'stacked' inside the tower's narrow spaces.

A resident is helped by a council official as she leaves Burnham Tower residential block with some of her things in a carrier bag

4,000 people left the Chalcots Estate in Camden on Friday night and were placed in temporary accommodation, hotels or with family

Workmen use a cherry picker (pictured) to access panels at a high rise in Bootle, Merseyside

Workers remove panels of external cladding from the facade of a building in the Wythenshawe area of Manchester

Horatia House in Portsmouth is among several high rises throughout England deemed to be unsafe due to cladding concerns
A group of friends have turned a canal towpath into a home complete with a bookcase, barbecue, carpet and lounge area.

Father-of-four Stuart Potts was evicted from his flat after having a breakdown and losing his family.

But faced with living on the streets, the 35-year-old and his girlfriend Georgia Twemlow decided to set up camp beside a canal in Eccles, Manchester.

Stuart's makeshift home boasts a sofa and two chairs and a bed thrown out by a furniture dealer, as well as a tent to shelter from the rain.

Scroll down for video

Father-of-four Stuart Potts and his girlfriend Georgia Twemlow have made their home beside a canal

Stuart's makeshift home boasts a sofa and two chairs and a bed thrown out by a furniture dealer, as well as a tent to shelter from the rain

Stuart also uses a fishing rod to try and catch meals and jumps into the water with his shower gel when he needs a wash

He also uses a fishing rod to try and catch meals and jumps into the water with his shower gel when he needs a wash.

Stuart, Georgia and their friend John have even planted chilli, garlic, apples, turnips and onions in a patch of soil by the canal.

Stuart says he has worked as a cobbler, locksmith, painter and decorator and in factories.

But after suffering a breakdown and losing his family, he was kicked out of his rental property two months ago.

Before moving to the canal path, he lived in a tent in Manchester City Centre and in a bus shelter.

He said: 'I've made it my home, until the system changes. I chose this spot because it's in my home town, it's close to church, and it's near the doctor's - although I wasn't allowed to register because I've got no address.

'It's not near housing so we're not bothering anyone. It's all right, hopefully I'll be able to feed myself and anyone else who needs it. I can totally Ray Mears it.'

However while some locals have been impressed by the resourceful camp, police say it has sparked some 14 complaints in two days.

Before moving to the canal path, he lived in a tent in Manchester City Centre and in a bus shelter

Having lived in the city all his life, Stuart is well known in the area and friends who do have a home take washing off him and bring him food and cigarettes.

One friend said: 'Stuart's a good guy, we've known him from growing up together on the Winton estate - he'd do anything for anyone.

'It's sad he's fallen on hard times and we want to help him out.'

Throughout the day Stuart, Georgia and John are joined by more friends, many of whom have mental health issues and come to pass the time, as well as to draw support from each other's company.

At night they will take it turns to keep watch while the others sleep. Georgia, 28, who suffers with depression, says she just needs a base to get her life back on track - but claims the council isn't helping her because she's classed as a 'single person'.

She says she's worked in the past but claims her landlord changed her locks to get her out, and without an address, she can't get a bank account and is struggling to find work.

Faced with difficulties in her family estranged, she doesn't like to ask friends for help.

Stuart, known by pals as 'Pottsy', insists he's tried to get help from Salford Council but says he was told that he 'was not a priority'.

'Look, I've got a criminal record,' he said. 'I've done some bad things in my life, but it's all been petty crime. Drugs have been my problem but I don't take them any more.

'But I'm in this situation for helping a homeless man. I met him in Rochdale and he needed somewhere to stay. I was on benefits, was living in a flat and I let him stay in my lounge. I wanted to give the lad a chance.

'But the landlord found out and kicked me out. He was a good landlord, he just couldn't deal with it at the time.

'We were both made homeless. I sofa-surfed for a while, tried to find somewhere new but I couldn't. Without an address, I can't get a bank account, it's the system.'

Having lived in the city all his life, he is well known in the area and friends who do have a home take washing off him and bring him food and cigarettes

Stuart catches fish from the canal to feed himself and his friends, as he continues to wait for a permanent home

Both Stuart and Goergia say they've appealed again to Salford Council for housing.

'They said we aren't a priority. When will we be? When we're beaten up, stabbed? They wouldn't even tell me what their criteria is,' said Stuart.

'It's just got worse and worse. People end up in prison because it's the only place they have somewhere to live. The system isn't working, someone needs to shake it up.

'I'll keep living here until I get my life back.

'I want everyone to have a nice home. Everyone says there's enough fish in the sea - and I know for sure there's enough land and houses for everyone to live in but there are still people starving while at the supermarkets there are bins brimming with food.

'We caught our first fish last night - a roach. We had it for dinner. We're dropping bread in and we hope that will attract the little fish.

'And then those little fish will bring in the pike, then we'll eat. I'll feed anyone who needs it.

'It's about playing the long game. The slowest horse wins the race.'

Salford Council has been contacted for comment about Stuart and Georgia's situation.
The University of Delaware has cut ties with a part-time professor who said Otto Warmbier 'deserved' to die for stealing a poster in North Korea.

Katherine Dettwyler, who taught anthropology at the university, caused outrage with a since-deleted Facebook post in which she said Warmbier 'grew up thinking he could get away with anything.'

She accused the University of Virginia student of having the 'typical mindset of a lot of young, rich, clueless males who come into my classes' adding that he had 'acted like a spoiled, naive, arrogant, US college student who has never had to face the consequences of his actions.'

The University of Delaware has cut ties with part-time anthropology professor Katherine Dettwyler (pictured) after she said Otto Warmbier 'deserved' to die

Dettwyler caused outrage with a since-deleted Facebook post in which she accused Warmbier of being 'a spoiled, naive, arrogant US college student'

Warmbier was jailed in North Korea in 2016 for stealing a propaganda poster, and served 17 months of his 15 year sentence before being handed back to US authorities in a coma - dying less than a week later

Tragic: Otto Warmbier breaks down in tears during his show trial in North Korea during which he was sentenced to 15-years hard labor

Dettwyler was not employed by the university at the time she made her statement, a spokesman said, and they will not be renewing her contract in the future.

A spokesman had previously condemned Dettwyler's statement, saying it did 'not reflect the values or position of the university.'

'Our sympathies are with the Wambier family,' the statement added.

Otto Warmbier died on Monday, less than a week after he was returned from North Korea in a coma.

He was imprisoned there for 17 months while on a school trip in January 2016, accused of stealing a propaganda poster and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

While Warmbier's family was dealing with the grief of never speaking to their son again, the professor eviscerated his memory online.

'These are the same kids who cry about their grades because they didn't think they'd really have to read and study the material to get a good grade. His parents ultimately are to blame for his growing up thinking he could get away with whatever he wanted,' the post read.

The post quickly sparked anger on social media, with many people sharing it with the school and calling for the University to fire her. On Friday, the University of Delaware released a statement in response to the adjunct-professor's remarks

'Maybe in the US, where young, white, rich, clueless white males routinely get away with raping women. Not so much in North Korea. And of course, it's Otto's parents who will pay the price for the rest of their lives,' she continued.

Prominent politicians attacked North Korea following Warmbier's death, including John McCain who accused Kim Jong-un of state-sponsored murder

The post quickly sparked anger on social media, with many people sharing it with the school and calling for the University to fire her.

On Friday, the University of Delaware released a statement in response to the adjunct-professor's remarks, which reads: 'We condemn any and all messages that endorse hate and convey insensitivity toward a tragic event such as the one that Otto Warmbier and his family suffered.

'The University of Delaware values respect and civility and we are committed to global education and study abroad; therefore we find these comments particularly distressing and inconsistent with our values. Our sympathies are with the Warmbier family.'

The University also replied to a tweet by Ann Coulter and Paul Joseph Watson of the conservative news site 'Prison Planet' who asked if it condemned the professor's comments.

The tweet was shared by thousands, many of whom said Dettwyler should either resign or be fired. Some people even said they would not send their children to the University of Delaware following the remarks.

The University's student government also issued a statement Friday, according to the New York Daily News, which says: 'While we are supporters of free speech, we believe that the comments made by Dettwyler are assumptive and offensive.

'It is not our duty to make assumptions on the case of Otto Warmbier without all the facts necessary, but we believe that stating he deserved death is highly inappropriate and lacks both professionalism and empathy.'

A funeral for the 22-year-old was held in his hometown of Wyoming, Ohio, on Thursday.

A funeral for the 22-year-old was held in his hometown of Wyoming, Ohio, on Thursday, and is pictured above
An alleged drug lord who grew a large beard and changed his appearance while on the run from police has been arrested.

Darren Rispen was able to evade police since October 2014, when he was granted a $200,000 bail following an arrest in July of that year.

He had been charged with 26 drug-related offences including money laundering and seven charges for commercial supply.

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An alleged drug kingpin (pictured) who was been on the run since 2014 has been arrested

The man evaded police for three years by changing his appearance and name

Darren Rispen was released on bail in October 2014 while facing drug charges

Police believe he was involved in a criminal network who purchased a plane to import drugs, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The 42-year-old was one of 19 wanted people by CrimeStoppers under Operation Roam.

Following his release on October 15, Rispen checked in to the Campbelltown police station each day before he went on the run.

Around 11am on Monday he was seen leaving a property in Nelson Bay with a woman before parking in the centre of town.

He had been charged with 26 drug-related offences including money laundering and seven charges for commercial supply

The 42-year-old was captured by police on Monday as one of 19 wanted men

Following his release on October 15 Rispen checked in to the Campbelltown police station each day before he went on the run

Police attempted to apprehend Rispen who ran away from police when he saw officers approaching.

Unit members from the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad arrested him at approximately 11:30am.

He was moved to Raymond Terrace Police Station and will face charges.

Police say the woman he was with was not aware of his proposed criminal past.

Rispen had been living in a rented home in Nelson Bay, distinctly different from his former $1200-a-week luxury Sydney apartment he enjoyed until his arrest in 2014.

Around 11am on Monday he was seen leaving a property in Nelson Bay with a woman before parking in the centre of town

Unit members from the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad arrested him at approximately 11:30am

Police say the woman he was with was not aware of his proposed criminal past

Rispen had been living in a rented home in Nelson Bay, distinctly different from his former $1200-a-week luxury Sydney apartment he enjoyed until his arrest in 2014

The alleged kingpin was known to drive high-end vehicles and often eat at The Star Casino, where he regularly gambled.

It all came to an end when he was charged with money-laundering and was linked to a group co-operating with a major international crime syndicate to import guns and drugs to then sell.

Police froze his assets and was again arrested two months later when authorities found meth labs and cannabis plants understood to be his.


King Harold II ruled England for just nine months

A pair of amateur historians believe they may have uncovered the real grave of England's last Anglo-Saxon king who was killed in the Battle of Hastings.

Harold Godwinson, who is famously depicted in the Bayeaux Tapestry taking an arrow in the eye from William the Conqueror's army, is long believed to have been buried at Waltham Abbey, Essex.

However, solicitor Kevin McKenzie and former police officer Terry Muff now believe that the monarch may in fact have been laid to rest under St Michael's Church, in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire.

The cousins' theory stems from the fact that the 'remains' believed to be Harold's that were found at Waltham Abbey could not have been human bones as they had turned into dust.

It is possible that he could have had a 'heart burial' - common for high status individuals - where their heart was buried at a separate location to the rest of their body.

Harold Godwinson, who is famously depicted as taking an arrow in the eye from William the Conqueror's army, is long believed to have been buried at Waltham Abbey, Essex

But two amateur historians think that that the monarch may in fact have been laid to rest under St Michael's Church (pictured), in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire

KING HAROLD II: KEY FACTS Born: c.1020 Parents: Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and Gytha of Denmark Relation to Elizabeth II: husband of the 30th great-grandmother House: Wessex Ascended to the throne: January 5, 1066 Crowned: January 6, 1066 at Westminster Abbey, aged c.43 Married: (1) Eadgyth (Swan-neck), Daughter of Earl of Mercia (2) Ealdyth widow of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Children: 1 or 2 sons and a number of illegitimate children Died: October 14, 1066 at Senlac Abbey, Sussex, of wounds following the Battle of Hastings Reigned for: 9 months, and 8 days

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The investigation led them to Bishop's Stortford, where Harold's wife is known to have resided.

There are four surviving, intact Norman stone coffins which have not even been seen since the 19th century in a vault under the church.

Mr McKenzie told the Telegraph: 'Edith The Fair, Harold's common law wife, is recorded in the Domesday Book as the owner of the Manor of Stortford.

'So I think at the very least, we're going to find Edith  the coffins are too rare for ordinary individuals. Whether we've found the king and his brothers  it's eminently possible.'

However, the team at St Michael's have turned down their request for initial radar tests and are forcing the pair to apply for the Christian equivalent of planning permission.

Waltham Abbey Church in Essex (pictured) which is commonly known as the resting place of King Harold

The cousins are convinced King Harold's body was carried to Bishops Stortford, in Hertforshire, by his grieving lover Edith the Fair and buried at St. Michaels' Church

It the intrigue surrounding his burial place is not the first theory about King Harold to surface in recent years.

Archaeologists claimed in 2014 that he may have survived the Battle of Hastings, and lived out his years before quietly dying of old age.

An alternative version of events, put forward in a 12th century document housed in the British Museum, discounts the Normans' portrayal of his death in the Bayeux Tapestry.

The same team of historians who discovered the remains of Richard III in a municipal car park in Leicester in 2012, also took an interest in King Harold.
New figures have revealed Tigerair is once again the most complained about airline in Australia when it comes to the top five most raised issues.

The Airline Customer Advocate's 2016 annual report revealed Tigerair received 31.9 of the most common complaints per million passengers.

The top five complaints regard refunds, delays and cancellations, baggage services, fees or charges and airport customer services.

New figures have revealed Tigerair (stock image) is once again the most complained about airline in Australia when it comes to the top five most raised issues

Tigerair's customer complaint record more than doubled second place on the list, which was sister carrier Virgin Australia (stock image)

Tigerair's customer complaint record more than doubled second place on the list, which was sister carrier Virgin Australia.

Virgin jumped ahead of budget airline Jetstar in the rankings, receiving 13.5 of the complaints per million passengers.

Jetstar cut complaints across the issues to 12.3 per million passengers, while Qantas had the lowest figure of 7.2, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

Despite comfortably topping the list, Tigerair also cut customer complaints from 2015 by 5.8 per million passengers.

Jetstar (stock image) cut complaints across the issues to 12.3 per million passengers, while Qantas had the lowest figure of 7.2

Qantas (stock image) cut customer complaints across the top five issues in 2016 by 1.2 per million passengers

Virgin was the only major carrier in Australia to register an increase in customer complaints across the top five issues, after posting only 10.5 per million passengers in 2015.

A total of 1055 eligible complaints were made to the ombudsman in 2016, with the most common issue being requests for refunds.

This was followed by delays or cancellations, then baggage services, fees or charges and airport customer service.

A Tigerair spokesperson said 0.0035 per cent of their passengers in 2016 complained to the ombudsman which was 'extremely low', according to Sydney Morning Herald.

Daily Mail Australia has requested further comment from Tigerair.
A nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic was pelted with criticism for holding a bikini beauty contest to win an internship.

Women stripped down to their swimwear to pose up for photographs in the plant's cooling tower and Facebook users were asked to vote for their favourite.

Activists and critics reacted furiously to the the competition at CEZ Temelin plant, calling it an 'ignorant and stupid' move.

Two of the 10 entrants of the competition in the bikini beauty competition pose up for pictures

A woman in pink shows and a matching bikini top stands on a rusty walkway for a photograph

A blonde woman (left) and a brunette (right) sport hard hats and matching trainers for their shots

A tattooed brunette grips two rusting railings at the power plant and smiles for the camera

Ten school graduates signed up for the competition in the South Bohemian region of the country.

The plant claimed the women had enjoyed the experience, but when the pictures went live on its Facebook page, the backlash started.

Bara Becvarova said: 'This is a huge ignorance and a miserable move from the management.

A woman in a pink bikini stands in front of two rusted steps painted white for her photograph

Two women stand inside the cooling tower of the power plant in the Czech Republic

A woman in an orange bikini top holds onto a rusted railing inside the power plant's cooling tower

'At a time when the company is finally starting to move towards the fact that women are not judged on appearance once aspiring to choose an internship, it now depends on how she looks in a bathing suit?

'Do not really not think that's even a little stupid? Shame on you.'

Petr Jirsak said: 'Are you kidding? The internship must be a girl in a bathing suit? What is that?

'Gaining the attention of half-naked female body is vileness. Dirty, disgusting sexism.'

Many questioned why boys were not allowed to compete, and eventually the company issued an apology, stating all 10 applicants had won.

In a statement on the Facebook page, entitled Info Temelin, the plant said: 'We didn't want to offend anyone.

'The purpose of the competition was to promote technical education.

'But if the original vision raised doubts or concerns, we are very sorry.'
The family of a murdered mother-of-four believe a compulsory mental health check would have saved her life.

Teresa Bradford, 40, was stabbed to death by estranged husband David in January this year in front of their children.

Mr Bradford had been released after allegedly choking and beating his wife in November, 2016.

Friends said Mrs Bradford was desperately looking for a new house in fear he would return and attack her again.

'She was like, 'Nobody is helping me. I'm scared for my life, I'm scared for my children's lives and I don't know what else to do,' Mrs Bradford's sister-in-law Narelle O'Brien told Nine News.

Teresa Bradford, 40, was stabbed to death by estranged husband David in January this year in front of their children

Mr Bradford, 52, had been diagnosed with depression and was not given medication while spending 44 days in custody. He was out for two weeks before breaking into the family home at night and murdering Mrs Bradford

The family are calling for a new law, 'Teresa's Law, which would make it compulsory for people convicted of domestic violence to pass a mental health examination before they can be granted bail - something they believe could have saved her life

The family are calling for a new law, 'Teresa's Law, which would make it compulsory for people convicted of domestic violence to pass a mental health examination before they can be granted bail - something they believe could have saved her life.

'He doesn't have his wife anymore, he doesn't have his children, so basically he thinks his life has ended anyway. He's already tried to kill her once, what has he got to lose?' Mrs O'Brien said.

'They should have to go through a mental health assessment before they can even be considered for bail.'

Mr Bradford had been released after allegedly choking and beating his wife in November, 2016

Mrs O'Brien has started an online petition to garner support for the changes to help victims of domestic violence and prevent further tragedies occurring

Mr Bradford, 52, had been diagnosed with depression and was not given medication while spending 44 days in custody.

A specialist Gold Coast domestic violence magistrate allowed Bradford to be released on bail after his lawyer argued there was no criminal history and no independent witnesses.

He was out for two weeks before breaking into the family home at night and murdering Mrs Bradford.

Mrs O'Brien says his eldest son had attempted to commit Mr Bradford to a mental health facility because 'he could see his father was just not right.'

The Queensland Government passed laws in March that give courts the power to equip offenders with GPS tracking anklets and put the onus on the criminal to prove they are mentally fit to be given bail.

Mrs O'Brien has started an online petition to garner support for the changes to help victims of domestic violence and prevent further tragedies occurring.
An American medical student who disappeared on hike in Peru has been found dead.

Seth Thomas, 24, from South Carolina went missing on Friday near the Peruvian city of Cusco.

He had said he was going for a hike near the local Cerro Picol mountain trail.

Seth Thomas was reported missing when he did not return from a hike on Friday afternoon

But when he did not return after eight hours the alarm was raised and mountain rescue crews began searching for him, local media reported.

A team of twelve officers found his body on Sunday at approximately 1.30pm local time.

The Peruvian police are now investigating the cause of Mr Thomas' death, although it is currently believed that he died in a hiking accident.

Mr Thomas, a second year was in Peru working with a local non-profit to help improve woman's healthcare.

Kathryn Thomas, Seth's cousin, posted on Facebook: 'We are devastated. Seth only wanted to help people less fortunate. He was brilliant. He spoke fluent Spanish and was an experienced hiker.

Peruvian rescue teams found his body on Sunday afternoon near a Cusco hiking trail

'On behalf of Seth's family, we would like to thank the search teams, rescue workers, friends and colleagues who searched for Seth this weekend and recovered his body. We are very grateful to you.'

He was scheduled to return to the U.S. next week, WNCN reported.

In a statement, the University of South Carolina said: '[We] have been informed by U.S. and Peruvian officials that the body of Seth Thomas, a second-year medical student, has been found.

Mr Thomas was a keen traveler, and volunteering at a medical non-profit in Peru

'While specific details are not available at this time, indications are that he died in a hiking accident.

'It is so tragic that someone who was dedicating his life to helping those in need was taken from us before he could achieve his life's dreams.'

Mr Thomas' social media show him as a keen traveler, with photos taken in Barcelona and Paris.
A Muslim immigrant accused of kidnapping an 18-year-old Sydney girl and forcing her to marry him in a secret Islamic ceremony is set to be deported.

The 31-year-old, from Lebanon, allegedly snatched the teenager from her bedroom in Bankstown before forcing her to a home in Lakemba to be married by a sheikh.

He then allegedly assaulted the young woman and drove her about 400km towards Melbourne before police swooped and made a dramatic arrest.

The accused, who was released on bail last week, is now being held at Villawood Detention Centre and will be deported because he holds the wrong visa, Seven News reported.

A Muslim immigrant accused of kidnapping an 18-year-old Sydney girl and forcing her to marry him in a secret Islamic ceremony is set to be deported

The 31-year-old, from Lebanon, allegedly snatched the teenager from her bedroom in Bankstown

It is unclear what will happen to the serious charges the man faces should he be sent back to Lebanon.

The horrifying 43-hour ordeal began when the man allegedly forced the victim out of her bedroom window and took her to the Novotel at Brighton Le Sands.

They stayed together at the hotel until the following night when the Islamic wedding ceremony is said to have taken place.

The man was arrested in Gundagai, about 400km from Sydney, and was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and indecent assault.

The accused, who was released on bail last week, is now being held at Villawood Detention Centre and will be deported because he held the wrong visa

The man told a magistrate he had done nothing wrong because he believed he was lawfully married to his victim

He told a magistrate he had done nothing wrong because he believed he was lawfully married to his victim, reported Nine News.

The young woman, who knew the man, claimed he wanted to use the marriage to secure an Australian citizenship.

'He lives overseas, but he doesn't have a visa here, so if he gets married here, the girl gets to put him here... he can stay here,' she told Seven News earlier this month.

'It was scary. I just wanted to come back home to my family and not be with him.'

The horrifying 43-hour ordeal began when the man allegedly forced the victim out of her bedroom window (pictured)

The young woman, who knew the man, claimed he wanted to use the marriage to secure an Australian citizenship
Secret documents signed by Winston Churchill have revealed his 1914 plans to build a Channel Tunnel with a drawbridge in case Britain went to war with France.

The dossier, titled 'The Channel Tunnel' was drafted up by the ex-British Prime Minister as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1914.

The note, signed and printed by Churchill, considers the possibility of a tunnel between Britain and France, but included emergency measures to be taken if the French became an enemy.

In the documents, dated June 12, 1914, Churchill suggests that an emergency drawbridge is built as part of the tunnel project.

The dossier, titled 'The Channel Tunnel; was drafted up by the ex-British Prime Minister as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1914

The note, signed and printed by Churchill, considers the possibility of a tunnel between Britain and France, but included emergency measures to be taken in the French became an enemy

In the documents, dated June 12, 1914, Churchill suggests that an emergency drawbridge is built as part of the tunnel project

Extracts from the papers, labelled 'secret' read: 'A drawbridge should be fitted in one of the spans of the bridge.

'Means of flooding the tunnel should be provided, but it would not be necessary to use these means until war had actually begun between Britain and France.

'The guns of a single small cruiser could break down the bridge and absolutely prevent the passage of trains or troops along the railway line by night or day.'

'On the other hand, if France is our friend and we want to keep the tunnel communication open, the command of the sea gives us the power to do so.'

Signed by Churchill to the base with full version of his signature. The document also bears the initials of various members of the Committee of Imperial Defence who sponsored the document.

The lot will go to auction on July 6 Mullocks Specialist Auctioneers & Valuers in Shropshire.

Pictured is a Eurostar train coming out of the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles, France

Also available in the sale is an historic letter accepting the post as President of the Board of Trade, this was Churchill's first Cabinet post, and at the age of 34 he became the youngest ever serving Cabinet Minister

Signed by Churchill to the base with full version of his signature. The document also bears the initials of various members of the Committee of Imperial Defence who sponsored the document

Another note from Churchill up for auction in Shropshire praises the America's connection with Britain

Ben Jones a Mullocks Auctions Consultant said: 'We are very pleased to offer such a unique set of Winston Churchill related documents.

'As far as we are aware no other version of the Channel Tunnel document signed by Churchill is in existence.

'The Churchill Archives in Cambridge have a copy of this document but is unsigned.'

He added: 'Also available in the sale is an historic letter accepting the post as President of the Board of Trade, this was Churchill's first Cabinet post, and at the age of 34 he became the youngest ever serving Cabinet Minister.

'A scarce item with great historic relevance and certainly an item scarce on the market.'
This is the horrifying moment a man smashes a nine-year-old girl over the back of the head with a paving slab as she played on her bike in a random attack.

The girl was left unconscious when she was hit from behind by the thug outside her home in Turkey.

Security footage picked up the sickening attack, which police are treating as an attempted murder due to the force he hits her with the solid stone.

It took officers two months to track the suspect down, and only arrested him after he attacked another young girl at a bus stop in the Atakum district of Samsun Province on northern Turkey's Black Sea coast.

The predatory attacker is seen holding the paving slab behind his back, ready to pounce on his victim

The first incident was caught on CCTV footage which shows the man - thought to be Osman C, 33, walking with the slab in his hands behind his back as three young girls ride their bikes in circles.

Suddenly the predatory attacker hits one of the girls on the back of her head with the stone and then runs off as she is knocked flying from her bike and lands on the ground.

The injured girl, who was named by police by her initials AMA, was playing with friends outside of her family's home at the time of the attack which left her unconscious.

Passers-by called emergency services and police and paramedics quickly arrived on the scene.

AMA was rushed by ambulance to the Samsun Research and Training Hospital for treatment to her injuries.

Doctors described her condition as stable and allowed her to go home after keeping her in hospital for observation for a few days.

The moment the attacker smashes the girl over the back of the head with the paving slab

The cowardly attacker runs away having smashed the girl over the back of the head in Turkey

The girl is left unconscious on the floor outside her home having been knocked off her bike

Police launched an inquiry and two months later arrested Osman C, a construction worker, after he attacked another young girl at a bus station in Atakum.

Osman C was grabbed by eyewitnesses of the attack who pinned him down until police arrived.

He was arrested and taken to a nearby police station where he was identified as a suspect for the attack on AMA.

Osman C told police he had no memory of the earlier incident but he was charged with both attacks and has already appeared in court.

He is currently being held in the Samsun Mental Health and Illnesses Hospital for observation and to decide whether or not he is fit to stand trial.

Prosecutors want to see him jailed for up to 20 years for the attempted murder of a child.

Lawyer Firat Epozdemir said: 'The suspect hits the child in the head with a huge stone very hard and then runs away.

'It is very clear from the way he hits the girls head so hard that he was trying to deliberately kill the victim.'

The investigation is ongoing.
Thousands of people who fled to Canada to escape President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal migrants have become trapped in legal limbo because of an overburdened refugee system, struggling to find work, permanent housing or enrol their children in schools.

Refugee claims are taking longer to be completed than at any time in the past five years, according to previously unpublished Immigration and Refugee Board data provided to Reuters.

Those wait times are set to grow longer after the IRB in April allocated 'up to half' of its 127 tribunal members to focus on old cases.

The number of delayed hearings more than doubled from 2015 to 2016 and is on track to increase again this year.

All welcome: Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said in January, just after Trump took office: 'To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith.'

Fleeing: Canada says 3,500 people crossed from the U.S. to claim refugee status since January - among them the family of Erkan Cuce, from Turkey, who crossed in Lake Champlain, NY, in February

Hearings are crucial to establishing a claimants legal status in Canada. Without that status, they struggle to convince employers to hire them or landlords to rent to them.

Claimants cannot access loans or student financial aid, or update academic or professional credentials to meet Canadian standards.

Canada's refugee system was struggling to process thousands of applications even before 3,500 asylum seekers began crossing the U.S. border on foot in January.

It lacks the manpower to complete security screenings for claimants and hear cases in a timely manner.

Often there are not enough tribunal members to decide cases or interpreters to attend hearings, the IRB said.

More than 4,500 hearings scheduled in the first four months of 2017 were cancelled, according to the IRB data.

The government is now focused on clearing a backlog of about 24,000 claimants, including people who filed claims in 2012 or earlier.

That means more than 15,000 people who have filed claims so far this year, including the new arrivals from the United States, will have to wait even longer for their cases to be heard.

Asylum cases are already taking longer to finalize, on average, than at any time since Canada introduced a statutory two-month time limit in 2012. This year, it has been taking 5.6 months on average, compared to 3.6 months in 2013.

Mohamed Daud, 36, left his family and a pending refugee claim in the United States and walked into Canada in February after hearing rumors of U.S. immigration raids.

Daud, originally from Somalia, had been living and working legally in Nebraska but feared he would be detained and then deported at an upcoming check-in with immigration officials.

His May 8 hearing with a Canadian refugee tribunal was cancelled three days beforehand. He has not been given a new date.

'I dont know when they will call me. I cant work. It isn't easy,' said Daud. While waiting for a work permit, he gets approximately C$600 ($453) a month in government social assistance and shares a room in an apartment with six other asylum seekers.

Still, Daud doesn't regret abandoning his life in the United States.

'The worry, the fear is the same,' he said.

To try to speed cases through, Canada's refugee tribunal has put people from certain war-torn countries such as Syria and Yemen on an expedited track that requires no hearings.

Border agents are working overtime to address the backlog in security screenings, said Scott Bardsley, spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, who oversees the Canada Border Services Agency.

Asylum claimants are eligible for work permits while awaiting hearings, but employers are often reluctant to employ people with temporary social insurance numbers whose future is uncertain, refugee lawyers told Reuters.

'How do you establish yourself when your status is unknown?' said Toronto-based lawyer Aadil Mangalji.

This year is on track to be the highest year for refugee claims since at least 2011, according to government statistics.

The stresses on the Canadian system mirror those of other countries with an open door policy. In Sweden, rising financial strains involved in resettlement were partly behind a move to introduce tough asylum laws.

Honduran Raul Contreras, 19, who walked across the Quebec border in March and whose hearing has been postponed indefinitely, is staying in a government-subsidized Toronto hotel with his mother, step-father and uncle.

Contreras, who spends his days at a local library or working out in the hotel gym, says he has been repeatedly rejected by landlords.

'They just said that they didn't rent places to refugee claimants,' he said. '(They) said that refugees don't have jobs and probably wouldn't pay.'
A little girl has died and her twin brother is in a critical condition after they were found unconscious in a swimming pool at their home in Virginia.

The the two-year-olds were found in the familys backyard pool on Saturday morning in Acorn Court, Sterling by a family member, Loudoun County police report.

Both children were taken to Inova Loudoun Hospital in Leesburg.

The girl died at the hospital and her brother remains in a critical condition.

Family members said the twin two-year-olds snuck out of their house before their mother found them unresponsive in the pool, WUSA reports.

Family members said the twin two-year-olds snuck out of their house before their mother found them unresponsive in the pool, Michael Quander from WUSA reports

Their mother called for help at 10:43a.m. but it is not known how long the children were in the water.

The twins were inseparable and their mother is devastated and remains at the hospital with her young son, family told WUSA.

The sheriffs office is investigating the incident.

People sent their condolences to the grieving family on Facebook.

Marlene Fultz Cooper wrote: 'That's so scary how children, even as young as two can get away from you so quickly!! Prayers for the family. Truly heartbreaking!!'

Elaina McFadden wrote: 'This is why I'm on the fence about having a pool done while we're building our house. There's too many things that could go wrong with my grandkids or someone else's kids. So sorry for their loss.'

Genie Williford wrote: 'So sorry for this family. What can we learn from this tragedy?'

Laurie Swain wrote: 'So sad, this is no place to be critical. Family needs support at this time.'
The parents of a toddler who suffers from a rare condition which leaves her needing help to breathe are calling on the government to provide financial assistance.

Heidi-May Honess, 22 months, is reportedly believed to be the only child in Australia with micrognathia which has stopped her jaw from growing.

Heidi's parents say they are unable to receive financial assistance because her condition does not qualify her for disability payments, 7 News reported.

But the Department of Human Services said they had contacted the parents to ensure they were receiving all the help they were eligible for.

They also stressed that only people aged 16 or over with a permanent disability were legally entitled to receive disability pension payments.

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Heidi-May Honess (pictured), 22 months, has the rare condition micrognathia, which has left her with an undersized jaw

Heidi-May had an urgent tracheostomy where a tube was placed in her wind pipe to help her breathe

'The social worker at the Princess Margaret [Hospital in Perth] has got all the knockbacks and then has advised us we don't classify as getting the support from the government,' Heidi-May's mother Belinda Honess said.

'We just want the government to change the system.'

Heidi-May's parents have been seeking financial help in the wake of mounting medical costs for their young daughter.

The toddler, from Baldivis, south of Perth, had an urgent tracheostomy where a tube was placed in her wind pipe to help her breathe after being rushed to the hospital in April, the Mandurah Coastal Times reported.

Heidi-May also had a feeding peg placed in her stomach to help her eat and she will undergo a series of surgeries from July to help expand the size of her jaw.

'This is beyond a joke; we're trying to find support, not just for right now but the future as well,' Ms Honess told the newspaper.

'We would like to pay nurses to help me. If we got some government support, it wouldn't be as stressful.'

The Department of Human Services told Daily Mail Australia they had contacted the family to ensure they were receiving all the support for which they are eligible.

'Carer Payment provides income support of up to $888.30 to eligible carers who provide constant care to an adult or child with a severe disability,' DHS said in a statement.

'Claimants for Disability Support Pension (DSP) must be aged 16 years or older and have a permanent physical, intellectual or psychiatric condition which prevents them from working.

'DSP eligibility is not condition based. The department assesses claims based on the functional impact of conditions which are permanent, defined in legislation as likely to last more than 2 years, fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised.'
Germany has warned bodyguards for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to attend G20 over fears they will assault protesters like they did in Washington last month.

Nine were hurt and two arrests made amid ugly scenes outside of the residence of the Turkish ambassador in the US capital in May when Erdogan's suited security agents clashed with demonstrators.

It has now emerged that the German Foreign Ministry has warned the bodyguards involved in the scuffles not to attend the G20 summit in Hamburg in July.

Germany has warned bodyguards for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) not to attend G20 over fears they will assault protesters like they did in Washington last month

Nine were hurt and two arrests made amid ugly scenes outside of the residence of the Turkish ambassador in the US capital in May when Erdogan's suited security agents clashed with demonstrators

According to Die Welt, those warnings were made clear again to Bundestag members behind closed doors on Sunday.

The newspaper quotes Hamburg Senator Andy Grote as saying: 'On our streets, only the Hamburg police have a say - and no one else. This includes foreign security forces.'

It is understood that the Turkish Embassy informed the Foreign Ministry that 50 people would accompany Erdogan to Hamburg. This list reportedly included a number of agents caught up in the Washington incident.

In the May altercation, disturbing video showed protesters being knocked to the ground and then kicked - sometimes repeatedly in the head - by men in suits.

Footage from the scene showed two elderly men, believed to be protesters, bleeding from the head - their clothing covered in blood.

Erdogan met President Donald Trump at the White House to hold talks aimed at improving strained ties.

In the May altercation, disturbing video showed protesters being knocked to the ground and then kicked - sometimes repeatedly in the head - by men in suits

Flint Arthur, one of those at the protest against Erdogan, said the demonstration was about '(Erdogan's) policies in Turkey, in Syria and in Iraq'.

Some 7,000 anti-capitalist protesters are expected to converge on Hamburg next month for the G20 summit and police are bracing for violence, a German security official said on Friday.

Leaders of the G20 leading economies will hold a July 7 and 8 summit in Germany's second-largest city posing a challenge for the 20,000 police officers who will secure the event.

Their task will be compounded by a planned demonstration against Erdogan by supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the official added.

Turkish nationalists who support Erdogan are also expected to hold a rival demonstration in support of the Turkish leader, raising the prospect of violence, the official said.

Police expect some 3,000 pro-PKK activists and rival Erdogan supporters to show up in the city.

The Higher Administrative Court of Hamburg on Friday banned a camp that anti-capitalist protesters had planned to set up in a park in the city, using up to 3,000 tents and offering beds and food to demonstrators.

The court ruled in favour of the City of Hamburg and police, who had rejected a request to set up the protest camp from June 30 until July 9.

Police will also have to secure the summit against a possible attack by Islamist militants. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to attend the talks.
A rubbish collector in China has saved a newborn baby after finding the tiny boy abandoned in a public bin.

He brought the baby to a hospital near the bin for a check-up and doctors managed to find his parents.

According to the boy's mother and father, they decided to throw away the baby because he had been born prematurely and they thought he would not grow up healthily. The parents have expressed their regret.

A man found a newborn baby while digging for valuable goods in a bin near a hospital in China

According to a report on qq.com, the scavenger made the discovery on June 23 while searching for valuable goods from a rubbish bin outside the Fuling Centre Hospital in Chongqing.

The man, whose name has not been revealed, took out a newborn baby boy from the bin at around 10am.

Onlookers and hospital staff suggested the man bring the baby to the hospital for health inspection.

Upon a check-up, doctors said the infant had been born prematurely. They said the baby, weighing only 1.5kg (3.3 lbs), had been born at around 30 weeks.

His body was about a size of an adult's arm.

The inspection showed the baby was healthy.

The mother was still staying at the Fuling Centre Hospital in Chongqing when she and her husband decided to throw away their baby in a bin outside

The doctors also found records of a baby recently born at the hospital which fits the features of the abandoned boy.

They immediately alerted the police, and the police contacted the parents of the boy on the record.

According to a report on Sohu.com, the police confirmed that the couple were indeed the boy's parents and the mother was still hospitalised.

The police said that her husband carried the baby out from the hospital and placed him in the rubbish bin.

The couple told a reporter from Sohu: 'We were afraid he [the baby] wouldn't live long because he was born prematurely.

'We didn't think carefully before throwing him in the rubbish bin.'

The incident occurred in Chongqing (picture), a modern mega-city in south-west China

The couple expressed their regret to the police. They promised to take care of the baby from now on.

The police did not file charges against the couple, but they gave them a verbal warning.

According to NHS, one out of every 13 babies could be born prematurely. This means they are born at or before 37 weeks.

Babies born before 34 weeks may need extra help with breathing, feeding and keeping warm, therefore they will be sent in for special care.
Jon Platt fought and lost a two-year legal battle after being fined for taking his daughter on a term-time holiday. He now admits he should have just paid the 60

A father who fought and lost a two-year legal battle after being fined for taking his daughter on a term-time holiday now admits he should have just paid the 60.

Jon Platt's lengthy dispute cost him 30,000 and the taxpayer 200,000 but it ended last week when he was convicted of failing to secure his daughter's regular attendance at school in a hearing at Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court.

The 46-year-old was handed a criminal record with a 12-month conditional discharge but called it 'a badge of honour'.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning, he told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby: 'I'm quite happy to be a criminal for taking my daughter on holiday. If its a price I have to pay, it's a price Ill accept.'

When asked if he wished he'd just paid the fine in the first place, Platt said: 'If I could go back in time and I knew what I know today, absolutely I would have paid 60.

'This has been a ridiculously expensive process, but you don't have hindsight, and sometimes you've got to stand up for yourself and sometimes you've got to stand up for what you believe is the right thing.'

Platt, who took his daughter on the Florida trip to Disney World without the school's permission, was prosecuted by Isle of Wight Council after he refused to pay a penalty - which turned into a major legal battle as it was dragged through the courts.

At the Supreme Court hearing in April, five justices unanimously allowed an appeal by education chiefs against an earlier ruling that Platt had not acted unlawfully.

But local magistrates found there was no case to answer.

Jon Platt (pictured with wife Sally at an earlier hearing) lost a landmark legal battle at the UK's highest court earlier this year over taking his daughter to Disney World during school time

Two High Court judges in London upheld the magistrates' decision, declaring Platt was not acting unlawfully because his daughter had a good overall attendance record of over 90 per cent.

The council urged the Supreme Court to overturn the High Court decision, saying it raised important issues over what constitutes 'regular attendance' at school.

The justices ruled in the council's favour, in a judgment clarifying what 'regular' attendance at school means.

FATHER'S MISSION TO TAKE ON 'UNFAIR' SCHOOL FINES April 2015: Jon Platt refuses to pay a 60 fine to Isle of Wight Council for taking his daughter out of school on holiday to Florida

October 16 2016: Platt successfully overturns the fine at magistrates' court after the council prosecute him

May 13 2016: High Court judges rule in favour of Platt and Isle of Wight Council announce it will appeal the High Court's judgement in favour of Platt

April 6 2017: The Supreme Court upholds the council's decision to fine Platt

June 23 2017: The case is returned to Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court, where Platt's plea of having no case to answer was rejected. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay 2,000 costs plus a 20 surcharge Advertisement

When asked how he felt after being found guilty, Platt said: 'To be honest, I had a sense of relief. I know it sounds ridiculous after a two-year battle, but 30,000 of my money and about 200,000 of taxpayers money has been thrown at this.

'I gave it my best fight, but eventually somebody has to be wise enough to say this has to stop.

'I have perfectly legitimate grounds to appeal that magistrates decision but Im going to do what the Isle of Wight Council shouldve done and respect it and walk away from this.'

Asked if he would do it again, he said: 'I wouldnt now, but at the varying stages, the situation at the Magistrates Court, and after the High Court, I was proved correct.

'The High Court said I hadnt broken the law, that interpretation of the law was correct. The Supreme Court changed the law, so now the law is very different and its very, very much worse for parents, and parents have to hear this loud and clear, be very, very careful.

'Its not about term-time holidays, any absence from school that the school records as unauthorised, if its illness and they dont believe you, its unauthorised and its a criminal offence and its entirely up to the local authority whether they prosecute you.'

When asked if his family hadnt just asked him to stop, Platt said: 'There has been no opportunity to.

'Ive been saying "Just stop now, enough," because at every point in this I have fought to stop it at every stage in this, I have fought to stop the appeal process. But now the balls in my court, because Ive lost, I choose whether we appeal or not, and Im not going to appeal. It has to stop.'
Matthew Christian admitted voyeurism after recording himself having sex and uploading the footage to a porn site

A celebrity PR boss 'outed' a man he met on Grindr by secretly filming their sex and uploading the footage to a porn website.

Matthew Christian, whose firm worked with the likes of Dawn French and Paul McKenna, recorded the sexual encounter at his home and posted it on Xtube without his knowledge.

The victim, whose face is clearly visible in the footage, was effectively outed by Christian as only a few close family and friends knew he was bisexual.

Christian said he was high on cocaine and crystal meth when he posted the film.

Wearing a blue suit, black shirt and green tie Christian admitted voyeurism for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification at Thames Magistrates Court.

Christian met the man on gay dating site before chatting on Grindr, the court heard.

Prosecutor Peter Alexandrou said: The victim, or complainant in this case is a man who has been outed regarding his sexuality.

The complainant is a homosexual man who had not at the time revealed his sexuality to his family.

Mr Alexandrou said that the mans close friends and family knew he was gay but Christian had seriously breached his trust by outing him in a video that could be watched by unknown number of people.

Christian (far left) with EastEnders actors Adam Woodyatt and Michelle Collins, who play husband and wife Ian and Cindy Beale

He met Mr Christian using an online dating account in late 2014, said Mr Alexandrou.

They spoke on Grindr and then on WhatsApp and they finally met, first in May 2015 for the purpose of casual sex together.

The men met three times for casual sex in 2015 and on the second occasion Christian took the opportunity to secretly indulge his fantasies.

Christian got sexual pleasure from knowing other people had seen the video.

It wasnt until January 2016 that the man knew of the video when he was contacted by a friend of his saying he had seen it on a porn website showing him and Mr Christian having sex.

The man contacted Christian asking him to remove the video but he refused to take it down, said Mr Alexandrou.

Christian (far right) with television presenter Alison Hammond and Scottish rugby player Thom Evans

A short while later he seems to have come to his senses and the video was taken down, he said.

Christian removed his entire profile from the website, Xtube.

But by that point it was too late, the damage done, and the video had been widely shared by many others and was still available to view online.

Once the video was uploaded to a sharing website Christian lost control of it, said Mr Alexandrou.

The man was not aware that he was being filmed and that film was uploaded to the Internet.

It is still in the public domain and the mans face clearly can be seen in the video, said Mr Alexandrou.

The prosecutor said the offence was a planned and targeted breach of trust.

The mans life had the potential to be ruined by his private sexual life being exposed and his identity as a gay man revealed to his friends and family.

It was for sexual gratification, for others to see the video.

He said the video had caused the man significant damage.

In a statement read in court the victim said was forced to seek medical help and had treatment for depression and anxiety.

He said it had affected his career.

Christian (far right) with ice skaters (left to right) Jayne Torvill ,Christopher Dean and Karen Barber

Christian, who has no previous conviction other than a caution for ecstasy possession in 1997, told police he had put the laptop a few meters away when he recorded it.

The defendant was an account manager at Neil Reading PR, which works with celebrities including Dawn French, hypnotist Paul McKenna, Mackenzie Crook, Matthew Wright, Nick Knowles and Dr Miriam Stoppard.

He has also worked personally with celebrities on the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tours.

Christian previously worked for Impressive PR, where he worked on The Chortle Comedy Awards 2010, with Rick Astley and arranged interviews with Matt Lucas and Vivienne Westwood.

Before entering the PR world Christian was a TV researcher working on The Jeremy Kyle Show, Wife Swap and The Paul OGrady Show and was a production runner on Top Gear.

He told police he had done it before with men who had consented to being filmed liked it so much he thought he would try it again.

Christian (far left) and a group of others with television presenter Gaby Roslin (middle)

But this time he did not ask permission before filming the sex and uploading the video for all to see.

He said he was high on coke and crystal meth when he uploaded the video, as he wanted positive comments about his own sexual ability.

Christian, who is now engaged, says he is very different person from the person he was two years ago and is due to get married next month.

He lost his PR job when the victim sent a group email to his work colleagues telling them what Christian had done.

Christian, of Hackney, North London admitted voyeurism and will be sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court on 14 July.
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Fascinating photos have revealed the weather-worn faces of the lumberjacks tasked with collecting wood to support the military in the Second World War.

Images show the men in between tough shifts as some relax on the huge logs they are sluicing and others use them as a table to eat their packed lunch.

The black and white photographs were taken in May 1943 by Office of War Information photographer John Collier when he traveled to the timber holdings of the Brown Company in western Maine.

There, he camped out with woodsmen who were tasked with guiding thousands logs on the spring pulpwood drive down the Kennebago River and Mooselookmeguntic Lake toward distant pulp and paper mills.

Collier's trip came after the 1942 film Wood for War, which stressed the importance of protecting national forests so the trees could be used in the war effort.

Wood was often used to replace domestic items as materials were diverted to the troops - such as metal cutlery, cotton clothes and plastic chairs, all of which were made with wood substitutes.

Woodsmen use pikes to guide logs down the Kennebago River and through Mooselookmeguntic Lake in western Maine in 1943. These images were captured by Office of War Information photographer John Collier to stress the importance of logging efforts to America's military in the Second World War

'Old George' Hill (left), the camp horse and cart driver who was aged 80 when this picture was taken, is seen alongside an unknown worker in 1943. Collier captured the men both at work and at rest in order to put a human face on the effort to supply America's military with wood

An unnamed lumberjack sits down on a felled tree for lunch. These images were taken a year after public information film Wood for War had been released, stressing the importance of timber for the American military, and encouraging Americans to take care of national forests and avoid forest fires

The same lumberjack helps himself to a slice of butter to go with his lunch. Wood was used by the Airforce to make the frames for gliders, by the Army for barracks for their troops, and by the Navy to construct small vessels such as supply ships

All of the men featured in Collier's photographs worked at the Brown Company, which logged trees in western Maine. Here two unnamed lumberjacks are pictured. The one on the right leans on a sign warning of the dangers of forest fires to the logging effort, a danger which was pressed home in public information films

Woodsman, putting logs into stream below a jam, in 1943. By the outbreak of the First World War, the Brown Company owned land that stretched from Canada to Florida that they used for logging, along with several sawmills and paper mills

One lumberjack gets a haircut, while another tucks into his lunch. Because their work was deemed essential to the war effort, these loggers largely escaped rationing and were provided with four meals per day to give them enough calories to complete the hard task of shipping timber downstream

Woodsmen relax outside their bunkhouse in western Maine. The Brown Company was an integral part of the war machine, and invented wooden powder containers - which were used to keep gunpower dry while it was transported

A woodsman wearing spiked shoes opens up an empty boom at the upper end of Mooselookmeguntic Lake so it can be filled with more logs from the Kennebago River. The Kennebago was capable of transporting cut logs more than 30 miles from the Canadian border down to Mooselookmeguntic, where they could be sent on to Vermont or New Hampshire

Lakes and river in Main, where this worker was pictured, was just the start of the supply chain for Brown Company, which in 1943 was capable of transporting lumber all the way to Florida using a system of rivers that it owned - though later the same decade it suffered from bankruptcy and never recovered

Woodsmen winching up the boom on Long Pond, in Maine. The boom was a 'net' used to catch logs as they floated down stream. But pulling in the boom, it dragged the logs closer to the dam through which they would be sluiced

Two lumberjacks take a break during the spring pulpwood drive on the Brown Company timber holdings in Maine. As well as being used directly by the military, wood was also used as a replacement for materials used in many household items as they were used in the war effort. Brown Company was responsible for inventing Onco, a synthetic leather used to make shoes

Two men relax against logs they have just cut in Maine. By the end of the war food containers, dishes, cutlery and even clothes were being made out of wood or pulp replacements as the military used huge amounts of cotton and metal

A woodsman take a break from 'driving' logs downstream.Using rivers to float logs largely died out after the Second World War thanks to the spread of railways, and the fact that certain types of wood too heavy to float - or was located away from rivers. It was all-but killed off in America and Canada in the 1970s by environmental regulation

Woodsmen playing cards in the bunk-house after thirteen hours of driving logs - the usual working day of the drive season

A woodsman's bunkhouse radio provides the only direct contact between the woods and the outside world. The men would work long days in remote regions, isolating them from the outside world and news of the war they were contributing to

Spring pulpwood drive on the Brown Company timber holdings in Maine, 1943. The Great Depression had caused a slump in the timber industry, but the Second World War saw more work than the industry could handle, and caused men to flock to logging jobs thanks to the lucrative pay on offer

Loggers take a break to read the newspaper in 1943. Such was the demand for timber during the Second World War that the then-Under Secretary of War, Robert P. Patterson, issued a poster that read: 'Lumber production is falling behind our war needs. To save American soldiers' lives, we must provide the lumber our armed forces need - now!'

More money flowing into the lumber industry also meant sawmill owners were able to mechanise using new technologies. Here a bulldozer clears a log jam at Dennison Bog Creek. The chainsaw was also introduced to logging in this period, changing the industry forever
Jeweler-to-the-stars Jeffrey Rackover has been accused of helping cover up the murder of the man allegedly killed by his young boyfriend.

The father of victim Joey Comunale, 26, claims 57-year-old Jeffrey provided cleaning supplies to his lover James - who went by the same last name and claimed to be his 'son' - after the murder which took place in the earlier hours of November 13,2016.

The lawsuit also says that Jeffrey let James borrow his Mercedes-Benz to dispose of Joey's dismembered remains on the Jersey Shore.

Jeffrey Rackover (left) has been accused of helping cover up the murder of 26-year-old Joey Comunale (right), who was allegedly killed by James Rackover in November

Earlier this month, James and alleged co-conspirator Lawrence Dilione were charged with murder in Comunale's death, but so far no such charges have been levied against Jeffrey, a jeweler with clients including Oprah Winfrey and President Trump.

But Mr Comunale's attorney Abrams Fensterman told the New York Post that he's 'very confident that once were done prosecuting this civil action' there will be 'sufficient evidence' to bring criminal charges against Jeffrey.

Comunale was reportedly killed at the Upper East Side apartment that Jeffrey rented for James after a night of clubbing in Chelsea.

James Rackover (pictured in court on June 6) took Jeffrey's last name in 2015, and claimed to be his 'son' though the two reportedly had a sexual relationship

Rackover (right) and Lawrence Dilione (left) were charged with Comunale's murder earlier this month

Surveillance footage shows Comunale and Dilione escorting three women out of the Grand Sutton co-op tower shortly before 7am the morning he was killed.

The two were then seen going back into the building, and up to James' fourth-floor apartment.

According to Dilione's confession, Comunale was killed after returning to the apartment, when he got into an argument over cigarettes.

Dilione hit Comunale first, but James soon joined in and started pummeling Comunale before strangling him and stabbing him in the head, it is alleged. James then tried to dismember his body with a serrated knife, it is claimed.

According to the new lawsuit, there's surveillance footage which shows Jeffrey, who lives on the 32nd floor, going downstairs to visit James later in the day, bringing paper towels and other cleaning supplies to help scrub the scene.

Court papers say that the apartment would have 'smelled from cleaning chemicals and the stench of death' when Jeffrey visited.

He then let James borrow his 2015 Mercedes-Benz to take Comunale's body to the Jersey Shore where it was burned and buried in a shallow grave, it is claimed.

Comunale's father Pat (pictured left at his son's funeral, with his wife on the right) says the lawsuit isn't about money

Surveillance footage also shows James leaving the building that day with several bags of luggage, where the body parts were presumably hidden.

The remains were found three days later.

The lawsuit demands unspecified damages from Jeffrey for violating 'the right of the sepulcher,' or denying Comunale's body to his family.

The lawsuit accuses Jeffrey of 'intentional infliction of emotional distress' for covering up the murder and for causing 'mental and physical anguish'.

Mr Comunale, who is the president and CEO of a security-products distributorship which he and investors sold for more than $420million in 2014, said the lawsuit 'is clearly not about the money'.

'I dont need the money  anything that comes from this goes to charity,' he told the Post. 'But these people should rot in hell.'
Firefighters in China have rescued a girl who got her head stuck between two poles on a bus after an emergency brake.

The seven-year-old was leaning on the poles when the bus came to a sudden stop in Fuzhou on June 24.

Rescuers used tools to widen the gap between the posts to free the girl.

A girl in China became trapped between two bus poles after the vehicle came to a sudden stop

A 23-second-clip, posted by Fuzhou's firefighting bureau, shows the child's agony after getting her head wedged between the metal posts.

The girl's parents were accompanying her as she remained in an awkward squatting position.

The video then shows a group of firefighters using a power cutter to expand the gap between the two poles in order to release her.

A clip posted by Fuzhou's firefighting bureau shows the child (left), accompanied by her mother (right), was stuck between two posts by the neck on the bus

Firefighters arrived at the scene with specialist equipment to rescue the seven-year-old girl

Firefighters used an electric cutter to expand the gap between the posts to free the girl

A report by state media CCTV said the girl was leaning on the poles during a bus ride in Fujian province on Saturday evening.

As the bus came to a sudden halt, the momentum sent her at the poles, causing her neck to be stuck between two poles.

The report did not state whether the girl sustained any injuries.

A report by state media CCTV said the girl was leaning on the two posts when the bus came to a sudden halt. The momentum threw her into the gap between the poles

Online users have discussed the incident on Weibo, China's micro-blogging platform.

One user said: 'I guess the bus was running fast before coming to a halt.'

Another one said: 'This is so embarrassing.'

A third one said: 'The child must have suffered great neck pain.'
Google has been slapped with a record 2.1billion fine for skewing search results in favour of its own shopping services in a fresh blow to the US web giant.

The European Commission's decision to levy the record penalty for breaking anti-trust laws is likely to anger US President Donald Trump.

And the web giant now faces a string of legal cases from rivals claiming their business has been harmed by its actions.

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EC competition chief Margrethe Vestager said Google had 'abused its market dominance' as the world's most popular search engine

Google was slapped with a record 2.1billion fine for skewing search results in favour of its own shopping services in a fresh blow to the US web giant

EC competition chief Margrethe Vestager said Google had 'abused its market dominance' as the world's most popular search engine.

'Google has come up with many innovative products and services that have made a difference to our lives,' she said.

'That's a good thing. But Google's strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn't just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals.

'Instead, Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors.

'What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate.

'And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation.'

The European Commission's decision to levy the record penalty for breaking anti-trust laws is likely to anger US President Donald Trump

The watchdog launched an investigation into Google Shopping seven years ago amid complaints it gave the service a prominent position on the internet search engine, while rival services were demoted.

The EC gave the Mountain View, California, company 90 days to stop or face fines of up to 5 percent of the average daily worldwide turnover of parent company Alphabet.

Google could face claims by consumers, says expert Oliver Fairhurst, Associate and competition law specialist at law firm Lewis Silkin told MailOnline: 'The decision is a real kicking for Google. The fine is around double the amount of the previous largest fine issued by the Commission, showing how seriously the behaviour is viewed. 'Google will now have to work out how it is going to comply. It will probably change the way in which its "Shopping" results are shown, so consumers may find that they have to choose who provides the comparison at the top of a Google search. The end result might be similar to the default search engine option provided in Internet Explorer. 'It may also mean that Google faces legal claims arising out of competitors (and even consumers) who say that they lost out because of the behaviour. 'One major caveat to all this though is that Google is very likely to appeal, and any such appeal process may take us well into the 2020s'. Advertisement

Anti-trust cases against US companies have stoked anger in Washington and the EU could now face the wrath of Mr Trump, who won office on a pledge to adopt a more protectionist stance towards US companies.

The case comes a year after Vestage angered the Obama administration with an order that Apple repay 13 billion (11.5m) euros in back taxes in Ireland.

The case is one of three against Google and of several against blockbuster US companies including Starbucks, Apple, Amazon and McDonalds.

The EC said Google was the most dominant search engine across the 31 countries in the European Economic Area (EEA).

It found that Google had handed its comparison shopping service an illegal advantage in 13 EEA countries, including in the United Kingdom and Germany where it was launched in 2008.

The abuse caused traffic to Google's shopping service to jump 45-fold in the United Kingdom, 35-fold in Germany and 19-fold in France.

However, the demotions to rival websites triggered sharp reduction in traffic, with some UK sites seeing visitor numbers plunge 85%.

While an EU record, the fine is well below the maximum possible of about 8 billion euros (7m) or 10 per cent of Google's total revenue last year.

It follows the internet search giant's controversial 130 million deal with HM Revenue & Customs in January 2016 to settle a 10-year tax inquiry into its UK business.

Battle of the big beasts: How the EU and Google have fought over the Internet As the European Union fines Google for abusing its dominance in online searches, here is a look back at the key dates in the bloc's legal tussle with the technology company. November 2010 - The EU opens formal inquiry into whether Google manipulates search results in a way that favours its own business. The probe includes whether the search results favour Google's services, such as its price comparison business, how it displays the contents of rivals, and how it manages ads. April 2013 - Google offers change to its practice in the hope of ending the investigation. The EU has been a constant thorn in Google's side over the years. Pictured: Flags fly at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels July-December 2013 - After feedback from complainants, the EU twice rejects Google's offer to change its search results as not good enough. Feb 2014 - The EU and Google reach a tentative agreement on how to fix the search results. This keeps Google from paying a fine. May 2014 - In a separate case, the European Court of Justice rules that Google must consider EU citizens' requests to remove irrelevant or embarrassing personal information that pops up on a search of their names. Sept 2014 - After receiving complaints from Google's competitors, the EU appears to make a U-turn on its settlement with Google on search results, declaring it insufficient. April 2015 - After five years of investigations and talks, EU formally charges Google with abusing its dominant position in search results, a step up in the legal battle. It also opens a preliminary investigation into whether Google uses its Android mobile operating system to rig the market for apps. April 2016 - The EU charges Google with using Android to gain market advantage in mobile apps. June 2017 - The EU fines Google a record 2.42 billion euros ($2.72 billion) for breaching antitrust rules with its online shopping service. It says Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to another Google product, its comparison shopping service. Advertisement

But the penalty is likely to leave a bigger dent in Google's pride and reputation than its finances.

Alphabet has more than $92 billion (82 billion euros) in cash, including nearly $56 billion (50 billion euros) in accounts outside of Europe.

Vestager said Google had 'abused its market dominance' as the world's most popular search engine

In the other Google cases, the EU is examining Google's AdSense advertising service and its Android mobile phone software.

The Commission, which polices EU competition policy, launched an initial investigation into Google in 2010 following complaints from rivals such as Microsoft and Trip Advisor that it favoured its own shopping services when customers ran searches.

Vestager's predecessor, Joaquin Almunia, made three attempts to resolve the dispute but in each case intense pressure by national governments, rivals and privacy advocates scuppered the effort.

In a statement, Google said: 'When you shop online, you want to find the products you're looking for quickly and easily.

'And advertisers want to promote those same products. That's why Google shows shopping ads, connecting our users with thousands of advertisers, large and small, in ways that are useful for both.

'We respectfully disagree with the conclusions announced today. We will review the commission's decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case.'
A British couple have revealed how they were robbed at gunpoint by a 'gang of migrants' on the outskirts of Paris.

Grandparents Peter and Jill Stubbs were stuck in traffic in Saint-Denis on Saturday evening when the gang blocked their BMW and circled them.

The couple, from Helston in Cornwall, claim the thugs smashed the passenger window of their car before making off with Mrs Stubbs' handbag.

Border force officials told the pair they were 'targeted' for their British registration plate which the gang hoped to steal so they could get into the country.

Peter and Jill Stubbs claim they were robbed at gunpoint as they sat in traffic in Saint-Denis, Paris

Mrs Stubbs' bag contained both passports, a camera, 400 and the equivalent of 300 in Euros.

Mr Stubbs, 55, said: 'We were trapped in congestion caused by motorcyclists in the gang, they stopped the traffic ahead so we couldn't escape.

'Three cars then wedged us in, one from the behind, another in front and one from the right-hand side. We couldn't move.

'We had seen migrants on scooters and motorbikes clocking people, they were riding up and down looking into the cars, so I told my wife "for goodness sake put your handbag on the floor" because it was on her lap.

'I then became aware of two men on foot either side of the car. I looked into the mirror and the one on my side was carrying either a gun or a knife.

'While I was watching him, the front passenger window came through. The other man had smashed it in with a brick or rock.

'He then reached into the car where my wife was sitting and then pulled his arm out again so he could clear more of the glass. He then grabbed my wife's handbag. We were shocked, just frozen in fear.'

The passenger window of the couple's BMW was smashed, before thieves made off with their belongings

Other vehicles began honking their horns and the couple managed to escape in their car down a side road near Saint-Denis on Saturday night.

Dover MP Charlie Elphicke said: 'We cannot have a situation where Brits are being targeted by ruthless people traffickers'

They knocked on a stranger's door who offered to call police, but Mr Stubbs claims officers refused to investigate the crime.

The self-employed father-of-five said: 'We managed to get back to the Eurotunnel but my wife was covered in glass.

'We were really shook up. When we got to border control we explained what happened and were told it is very common.

'I said to him, "I've got a new car, it's a BMW" but he told me, "it's not your car they're after, it's your number plate, you were targeted by migrants because you're British and they want to get into the country.'''

Mr Stubbs added: 'We're not going to bother getting new passports. It's frightened us so much we don't want to ever leave Britain again.

'It all happened so quickly. We are lucky because it could have been much worse. I thought they might smash in all the windows and take the car or hurt us.

'I still can't believe the police wouldn't help us and nobody came to our aid.'

The couple managed to get back to the Eurotunnel where officials said they had been targeted

The damage to the car has cost the couple 200 in excess but they didn't have travel insurance so are unable to claim back the stolen goods. Insurers said they can cover up to 200 to cover items stolen.

Dover MP Charlie Elphicke said: 'This shocking attack underlines why we must do all we can to protect tourists.

'We cannot have a situation where Brits are being targeted by ruthless people traffickers - whether it be in Paris or Calais.

'That's why it's more important than ever that our borders are strong and secure - particularly at the Dover frontline.'
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Tourists have been spotted dangerously posing on the cliff-edge of the Birling Gap near the iconic Seven Sisters just days after a second cliff collapsed.

Shocking images show one sightseer fearlessly sitting on top of the cliff face while taking a selfie, a few miles from where 50,000 tonnes of chalk gave way and collapsed into the sea, claiming the life of a woman in her 20s.

Another photograph shows several people standing on the beach below the cliffs at Seaford Head in East Sussex, which were hit by three unexpected collapses in two days last week.

The first happened on Wednesday afternoon, taking a huge section of the coastline with it. The next day there was another collapse, before a giant crack tore into an 80ft chalk-face leading to the third cliff fall.

Rescuers found the body of a woman in her 20s who is believed to have fallen from a clifftop around the time of the dramatic rockfall.

And as the Coastguard has issued a warning urging people to avoid the area, photographs have come to light which show a person teetering near the edge despite the imminent danger.

A girl sits on the edge of the cliff taking a selfie, most likely unaware of the sudden rockfalls experienced on the chalk cliffs last week

Another photograph showed several people standing on the beach below the cliffs at Seaford Head in East Sussex, which were hit by three unexpected collapses in two days last week

Tourists have been spotted dangerously posing on the cliff-edge of the Birling Gap near the iconic Seven Sisters just days after a second cliff collapsed

Seaford Town Councillor Phil Boorman said there was a real danger of further collapses and those people close to the edge were risking their lives.

He said: 'Having visited the site with the coastguard emergency team it is clear there could be further cliff falls.

'As a safety precaution the emergency services have cordoned off a large section of Seaford Head.

'But all we can do is appeal to people to not put themselves in danger or be tempted to risk their personal safety for the sake of a simple photograph. Regrettably a lot of people still ignore anything even the coastguard say.'

THREE CLIFF FALLS IN JUST TWO DAYS Coastguards are warning the public to keep away from the unstable cliffs at Seaford following three separate cliff falls over the last 48 hours. Wednesday, 4pm: Coastguard alerted to reports of cliff fall at Seaford Head, near Newhaven Thursday, 1.26pm: Second cliff fall at Seaford Thursday, 8.12pm: Third cliff fall at Seaford Head Advertisement

He said described the people seen enjoying picnics on the cliff edge and visitors walking in the beach beneath the crumbling cliff face as 'complete idiots'.

'They do it all year round and that is bad enough with the erosion of these cliffs but to do it now is just madness.'

The scene of the cliff collapses has created a mini tourist boom in the East Sussex town with some sightseers admitting they had travelled long distances to view the spectacle.

James Longford and his wife Mary, both 35, watched the drama on the news and decided to drive 60 miles from South London to see for themselves.

'The force of nature of quite awesome at times. It is a stunning bit of the coastline but we won't be going onto the cliffs.

'The winds are very strong and it looks far too risky to be up there.'

Seaford resident Sarnia Pooley watched the figures at the top of the cliff through binoculars with disbelief.

She said: 'Living here we know the dangers. They emergency services have roped off a large area but people still ignore all the warnings.'

Barry Miles, 67, an amateur photographer from Beckenham, London, was taking pictures when the cliff collapsed.

He said: 'Someone said "look, look what's happening" so I just kept taking photographs.

Dozens of people were seen happily having picnics and exploring the cliff's edge last week, while two other explorers were seen walking on the beach underneath

Last week, a sightseer was just feet away from death as 50,000 tons of chalk gave way and a cliff collapsed into the sea in East Sussex

While the Coastguard has issued a warning urging people to avoid the area, photographs have come to light which show a person teetering near the edge despite the imminent danger

The picturesque cliffs at Seaford Head in East Sussex have now been hit by three unexpected collapses in just two days

A second cliff collapsed in East Sussex - just 24 hours after 50,000 tonnes of chalk and earth crashed on to the shore

A third cliff (pictured) then came crashing into the sea, leading to the Coastguard issuing a warning

'It wasn't until someone said later that it was a cliff collapsed, that I fully realised what had happened.

'When I took the photos I thought it was a large wave and spray. There was no noise that I could hear of the cliff collapsing.'

Cliff falls, but nothing on this scale, are known to happen along the stretch of coastline with warning signs and taped-off areas in place to prevent tourists from getting too close to the edge and taking selfies.

Coastguards are now warning the public to keep away from the unstable cliffs at Seaford.

Why do cliffs collapse? Cliffs collapse for a range of reasons. While the most common reason is weathering, there are other factors to consider, such as water crashing against the cliff face, what the cliff is made of, and the climate of the area. For example, softer materials, such as clay are more likely to collapse than harder materials like granite. Bad weather naturally erodes the foundations of a cliff, and can cause it to collapse. One of the most common examples of weathering is when rain fall affects the composition of the cliff. As rain falls, it seeps into the permeable gravel and soil at the top of the cliff, adding weight to it. At the same time, colder winter temperatures can cause the face of this cliff to freeze, as frozen areas weaken as they thaw. If a cliff is against a body of water, such as a sea or ocean, waves crashing on the cliff can also weaken it over time. Cliffs can also collapse as the result of rock slides, when whole slabs of rock detach from an inclined face and collapse, or as a result of mud slides, when wet soil and weak rocks fall. Advertisement

However last night people were witnessed getting close to the edge despite a number of warnings issued by HM Coastguard that the area is 'extremely unstable'.

Authorities have now urged bathers and ramblers to steer clear of the cliffs for fear more sections may continue to collapse.

A spokesman for East Sussex Fire and Rescue said they were called at 2.22pm on Thursday to reports a person had fallen from a cliff in the Seven Sisters Country Park. The death is not being treated as suspicious.

He said: 'Two fire engines from Newhaven and Eastbourne were sent to the scene along with officers and the Bexhill and Battle rope rescue units. Coastguard and Sussex Police were also in attendance.'

A Coastguard spokesman added: 'East Sussex Fire Service requested UK Coastguard assistance at an incident at Seven Sisters.

'Birling Gap and Eastbourne Coastguard Rescue Teams and the UK Coastguard search and rescue helicopter based at Lydd were sent to the scene, alongside the South East Ambulance Service and the Sussex Fire Service.'

It comes as a girl in a pink top seen moments before the Seaford Head cliff collapse on Thursday afternoon was found safe and well.

In a tweet the Maritime and Coastguard said: '#SEAFORD UPDATE - Report received on scene that the female in pink top was seen walking away from the cliff fall safe and well.'

Mark Rodway OBE, Maritime Commander, said: 'We are warning beach goers to keep away from the Seaford cliffs area so the emergency services can carry out their work.

'The cliffs along the UK coastline are continually eroding and we've seen a number of cliff collapses in recent months - last night's fall was several thousand tonnes and we are unsure at the current time of the exact scale.

'It's impossible to predict when the next piece might fall or how big it will be.

'It's very clear that cliffs are unstable in places and we really can't stress enough how important it is to keep back from the edge.'

The coastguard warned there is no safe place to be and taking selfies on the cliffs endangered life.

Commander Rodway added: 'Don't be tempted to go and investigate recent falls and don't risk going to the edge to get a dramatic photo.
One of the men who was selected to serve on the jury during Bill Cosby's recent sexual assault case showed his face for the first time on Monday in an interview with Good Morning America.

Bobby Dugan, 21, revealed in his sit-down that he voted guilty on all charges, but said he and his fellow jury members agreed that there was not enough evidence to get a unanimous verdict in the case.

He also described the lengthy deliberations that left a number of the jurors in tears as the group spent 54 hours trying to come to an consensus before Judge Steve O'Neill granted the defense's motion for a mistrial.

Dugan also said that the jury members have remained in touch, and that they made one pact after leaving the Montgomery County Courthouse nine days ago - not to reveal the final vote.

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Opening up: Bobby Dugan (above) was one of the 12 jurors who cast a vote in Bill Cosby's sexual assault case

Behind the scenes: Dugan said that the deliberations left 5 jurors in tears and visibly upset at one point, with the group growing frustrated over their lack of a consensus (Cosby above leaving court on June 16)

WATCH: @ABC News Exclusive: Bill Cosby juror speaks out on mistrial; new details from inside the deliberations: https://t.co/jGJ0mfxdGD pic.twitter.com/bkqPGT57nx  Good Morning America (@GMA) June 26, 2017

During the interview, Dugan stressed how serious and he and his fellow jurors took their job, and the heavy emotional toll that played on them during the six days they deliberated the verdict.

'The most intense moment I think was when there was about four people crying in the room, said Dugan.

He then added that a fifth juror was pacing outside the room 'visibly upset' at the same time.

The frustration and tears Dugan explained were caused because the jury could not 'get anything down' and come to an agreement.

'I have regret I, guess, when we came to the final deadlock decision and it kind of has been in my mind like this could all be said and done,' said Dugan.

And despite the fact that he voted guilty on all three charges of felon aggravated indecent assault, Dugan also understood why the group was unable to ultimately convict Cosby.

'Evidence,' said Dugan.

'We all said it a million times in the room. If there's other evidence, more substantial evidence, we would have had a better verdict than deadlock.'

He then confirmed that he went into the trial with no clear opinion about the guilt or innocence of Cosby, and was swayed after hearing testimony and the actor's 2005 deposition in the case.

'What he said himself, I think it was the 2005 deposition, when they were asking him would you use the word consent, he said: "I wouldn't use that word,"' said Dugan.

'And I was like you pretty much said it there yourself man. Somebody brought it up inside the room the deliberation room and so when we went back out to hear it just like lit up a light bulb in my head.'

He admitted that in the end however, it was a 'he said, she said' case that boiled down to one issue: 'Who are you going to believe more?'

For Dugan, it was Constand, 44, who was the more trustworthy and reliable person, and not Cosby.

Dugan did say that he was aware of who Cosby was before the trial, and even admitting to being a 'fan' of the actor, but that did not impact his vote.

Plaintiff: Dugan revealed that he voted guilty on all three counts, but he and his fellow jurors all agreed there was not enough evidence to garner a unanimous guilty vote (Andrea Constand above after the mistrial was declared in the case)

Dugan stated at one point in the interview that he did believe that Cosby's fame played a big part in why the deliberations in the case went on for so long.

'I think if it was like a regular, average Joe it wouldn't wouldn't have taken that long,' said Dugan, who seemed to be suggesting that in a similar case with no famous people the result would still have been a mistrial.

Dugan also said that the deliberations became more difficult with each passing hour, especially since he and the other sequestered jury members were forced to sit in a room that seemed to be getting 'smaller every day.

'You're stuck in a small room with 11 other people and even if you do become good friends with them, it's still like the one little thing that one person might do will drive you insane,' said Dugan.

Despite thier anger and annoyance, Dugan said that the group was just as serious about their job in that first hour of deliberation as they were in the final minutes before they were dismissed by Judge O'Neill.

'You don't want to quit right away. If you quit, just like that, he could be getting away with something,' said Dugan.

'You want to be that extra sure whether he's guilty or not guilty.'

Dugan said his hope now is that the case will be tried again in the near future, but he has no idea if another jury will fare any better than him and his deadlocked peers.

'I can't say for definite. I mean I hope there is one because the mistrial I don't think was right,' said Dugan.

'You should always have a verdict, one way or another.'

Big news: Cosby's spokesperson Andrew Wyatt announced that the comedian wanted to go on tour to educate young people about sexual assault

Reason: 'The laws are changing, the statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault are being extended, so this is why people need to be educated,' said Ebonee Benson (above)

Cosby meanwhile is eager to get back to work now that his sexual assault case has ended in a mistrial, and the disgraced comedian already has a tour in the works according to his spokesperson.

Andrew Wyatt appeared on Good Day Alabama last Wednesday, and announced that the 79-year-old actor plans to host a series of town halls educating teenagers, young athletes and even married men about how to avoid being charged with a sex crime.

It was then revealed by Wyatt that one of those town halls would be taking place 'some time in July' in Birmingham.

Wyatt appeared on the show along with Camille Cosby's spokesperson and fellow Alabama native Ebonee Benson in their first televised interview since the case ended in a mistrial on Saturday.

At one point, the host of the show, Janice Rogers, said of these proposed town halls: 'Is it sort of a do as I say not as I do thing?'

The reference to Cosby's infidelities with a number of other women and admission to giving some of those women Quaaludes caused both Wyatt and Benson to burst out in laughter.

'We're going to talk to young people because this is bigger than Bill Cosby,' explained Wyatt.

'This issue can affect any young person, especially young athletes of today, and they need to know what they're facing when they're hanging out and partying, when they're doing certain things that they shouldn't be doing.'

He then added: 'And it also affects married men.'

Benson then hopped in to explain the dangers facing young people when ti comes to the subject of sex crimes.

'The laws are changing, the statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault are being extended, so this is why people need to be educated on a brush against the shoulder,' said Benson.

'Because anything at this point can be considered sexual assault and it is a good thing to be educated about the laws.'

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment about Cosby's planned tour.
Former Big breakfast start Paul Sadler, 53, is on trial for possessing thousands of indecent images of children. He appeared in skits such as 'Carpet Monster' on Channel 4's Big Breakfast in the 1990s

Former Big Breakfast star Paul Sadler has gone on trial accused of possessing thousands of indecent images of children.

Sadler, 53, appeared in skits such as 'Carpet Monster' on Channel 4's Big Breakfast in the 1990s alongside presenters Johnny Vaughan and Liza Tarbuck.

He is accused of amassing a collection of nearly 1,400 child abuse images on laptops, at his home in New Barnet, north London.

Of those images, 124 are alleged to have fallen into the most severe 'category A' of explicitness.

Sadler, who denied the charges during an earlier hearing at Hendon Magistrates Court, appeared at the Old Bailey wearing a dark suit, purple tie and thick-rimmed glasses.

Jury members were asked by the counsel in the case to consider several questions before they were sworn in.

Prosecutor George Heimler read the jury a list of witnesses' names to check whether any were known by members of the jury.

Defence counsel Nicholas Corsellis then said: 'The first question for the jury to consider:

Sadler, who appeared alongside Johnn Vaughan, is charged with possessing more than 1,300 child abuse images on laptops after police conducted a search of his New Barnet home

'This case is going to attract public attention and press. He [Sadler] has been involved in the media for some years and presented various programmes of some notoriety publicly.

'The Big Breakfast between 1997 and 2002.

Mr Corsellis also said Sadler was involved with ITV morning show This Morning between 2002 and 2010.

He said to the jury: 'If you were employed by Planet24 or Channel 4 between 1997 and 2002, bring it to the court's attention.

Sadler, who denied the charges during an earlier hearing at Hendon Magistrates Court, appeared at the Old Bailey wearing a dark suit, purple tie and thick-rimmed glasses

'If you were employed at ITV, in particular corncerning This Morning, between 2002 and 2010, bring it to the court's attention.'

None of the 12 jurors who were selected flagged any issues to the court.

They were sent home before the trial resumes tomorrow, with the chance some minor legal arguments will take place today.

The case before Her Honour Judge Anne Molyneux will continue tomorrow (June 27) at 10am.

The trial continues.
Chistopher Pyne has defended his comments on marriage equality following the release of an explosive leaked tape in which he suggested the Liberal Party's left-wing faction was 'winning' the battle against the right.

Mr Pyne claimed same-sex marriage would soon be legalised in Australia during a speech secretly recorded at an event attended by moderate Liberal Party colleagues in Sydney on Friday.

On Monday night, Mr Pyne defended his comments and denied the leaked tape had the potential to reopen internal divisions within the party.

Chistopher Pyne has defended his comments on marriage equality following the release of an explosive leaked tape

In the tape, Mr Pyne (pictured in Parliament last week) suggested the Liberal Party's left faction was 'winning' the battle against the right

'I'm in favour of marriage equality. I always have been. That's not remarkable. I've said for many years that I want marriage equality in Australia,' he said on QandA.

'I spoke to a group of supporters - generally - of marriage equality on Friday night and told them what I've said many times before in the media, which is to have hope that there will be marriage equality in Australia. That it will come eventually.'

Mr Pyne played down the significance of the tape and denied the Liberal Party was in crisis over same-sex marriage.

'Everybody in the party room has an outcome on the policy. They feel very much a part of the team. Obviously there are issues about which we don't agree,' he said.

'And there are conscience issues where we're not required to have to agree. Why would we have to agree? That doesn't mean the government is in crisis if we have different views.'

'I'm in favour of marriage equality. I always have been. That's not remarkable. I've said, for many years that I want marriage equality in Australia,' Mr Pyne said on QandA. Pictured, supporters attend a marriage equality rally in Sydney last year

Mr Pyne played down the significance of the tape and denied the Liberal Party was in crisis over same-sex marriage

In the secretly recorded speech on Friday night, Mr Pyne told the audience same-sex marriage would be legalised in Australia 'before too long'.

'We are in the winner's circle, but we have to deliver a couple of things and one of those we've got to deliver before too long is marriage equality in this country,' he said in the recording, aired on Sky News.

'We've got to be honest about it. But we are working on it. And your friends in Canberra are working on that outcome. It might even be sooner than everyone thinks.'

Mr Pyne was also recorded boasting that he voted for Malcolm Turnbull in every federal Liberal leadership ballot the now Prime Minister had contested.

Mr Pyne's voting habits were news to Tony Abbott on Monday morning.

The former Prime Minister reminded 2GB Radio that Mr Pyne was not just in cabinet, but also a member of the leadership team when he was in office.

'It's important that you show loyalty,' he said.

'But if (Mr Pyne is) to be believed on Friday night that loyalty was never there which is incredibly disappointing.'

Mr Pyne's voting habits were news to Tony Abbott (pictured) on Monday morning (stock image)

The former prime minister reminded 2GB Radio that Mr Pyne was not just in cabinet, but also a member of the leadership team when he was in office

After hearing Mr Pyne's 'confession', Mr Abbott insisted MPs need to be fair dinkum with the Australian people.

'It looks like that's not been true of Christopher.'

Following the release of the tape, Liberal defector Cory Bernardi launched an extraordinary attack on his former colleague.

The founder of the Australian Conservatives party labelled Mr Pyne 'the most untrustworthy person' he has ever met in politics.

'Character is everything in politics. I've known Christopher Pyne longer than anyone in that Parliament and he is not a good person of character,' he told Sky News.

Following the release of the tape, Liberal defector Cory Bernardi launched an extraordinary attack on his former colleague

Mr Pyne's remarks have the potential to trigger a seismic internal coalition row

'He is the most untrustworthy person I have ever met in this business.'

The leaked tape, which came on the eve of the Liberal Party's federal council meeting, has the potential to trigger a seismic internal coalition row.

The Prime Minister insisted his government would not be abandoning its same-sex marriage plebiscite.

'Our policy is clear, we have no plans to change it, full stop,' Mr Turnbull said in Melbourne on Monday.

'That is the policy that we took to the election and we are sticking to it.'

The founder of the Australian Conservatives party labelled Mr Pyne 'the most untrustworthy person' he has ever met in politics
Endris Mohammed, from Birmingham, pleaded not guilty to killing his children and attempting to kill their mother

A father has denied suffocating his two children before setting fire to the family home.

Endris Mohammed, from Birmingham, pleaded not guilty to killing Saros Endris, aged eight, and his six-year-old sister Leanor after their 'lifeless' bodies were pulled from the blaze last October.

He also pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder their mother Penil Teklehaimanot.

Appearing at Birmingham Crown Court Mohammed, 46, spoke only to confirm his name and enter his pleas.

He sat hunched forward as he watched the proceedings.

He was dressed in a blue-grey jumper and trousers and had a large white bandage wrapped around his head.

Friends of Teklehaimanot watched in the public gallery.

Outlining the prosecution's case, Mr Jonas Hankin QC alleged tests had found the children had died after being unable to breathe.

He said: 'A complex examination of the bodies reported the cause of death was airway obstruction.'

Emergency services were called to the family home in Handsworth in the early hours of October 28.

Neighbours managed to rescue the children from the house as a fire raged in the hallway, but firefighters found them 'lifeless' on the front lawn.

The youngsters were tragically pronounced dead in hospital.

Saros Endris, aged eight, and his six-year-old sister Leanor's 'lifeless' bodies were pulled from the blaze last October

Saros Endris, eight, and six-year-old Leanor Endris. The children were killed in a house fire

After the incident neighbours described hearing a horrible wailing and people frantically trying to perform CPR on the children.

Penil Teklehaimanot, 36, sustained minor injuries in the incident while Mohammed was arrested 40 miles away in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Judge Melbourne Inman QC, Recorder at Birmingham Crown Court, set a trial date for November 6.

Penil Teklehaimanot, 36, sustained minor injuries in the incident while Mohammed was arrested 40 miles away in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Mohammed, who was remanded in custody, faces two murder charges, and one charge of attempted murder

Mohammed, who was remanded in custody, faces two murder charges, and one charge of attempted murder.

In January, he was interviewed by police for the first time after his release from hospital.

He was being treated for burns suffered in a car fire in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.
Nikki Haley claims she was booed by and had 'hateful things' said to her and her son by people attending a Pride Parade in New York City.

The UN Ambassador tweeted out on Sunday night she and the people she was lunching with were met with abuse from other diners as they left a Manhattan eatery.

'We, incl my son, were booed by patrons saying hateful things as we left lunch @ Pride Parade. Our country is better than this. #HateNeverWins,' she wrote on Twitter.

Haley followed that up by posting a picture on Instagram showing her standing with 11 other people - her teenage son, Nalin, included. She added the caption: 'Fun hanging out with this group today as we took on the Pride Parade in NYC. #SCTakesOnNYC #TeamHaleyUN #BooedButSmiling.'

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley claims she and a group she had lunch with on Sunday - including her teenage son - were booed during Pride Week celebrations in New York City

It is not known what was allegedly said to Haley and her lunch companions.

One of the reasons why the Ambassador to the UN was booed could be her previous stances on the issue, including in November 2013 when - as Governor - she opposed a federal lawsuit challenging an amendment in South Carolina's constitution that banned same-sex marriage.

'The citizens of South Carolina spoke  spoke something that I, too, believe, which is marriage should between a man and a woman,' she said at the time.

'I'm going to stand by the people of this state, stand by the constitution, I'm going to support it and fight for it every step of the way.'

Haley and her son, Nalin (both pictured last month), were allegedly booed on Sunday in New York

The United Nations Ambassador tweeted this message on Sunday night after the alleged incident

However, comments made in January 2016 suggest Haley has come around to the idea of marriage equality, when she promised a Republican president would: 'respect differences in modern families'.

Many on social media pointed to Haley's voting history, as well as her current political allegiances, in an attempt to explain why she was booed.

'Your party has done nothing to advance LGBTQ rights. Sorry but guilt by association. @mike_pence supported conversion therapy,' one person wrote to Haley.

Haley posted this picture on Instagram of the group she had lunch with, along with the caption: 'Fun hanging out with this group today as we took on the Pride Parade in NYC. #SCTakesOnNYC #TeamHaleyUN #BooedButSmiling'

Mike Pence swears in Nikki Haley as the US Ambassador to the United Nations on January 25, 2017 in Washington

Donald Trump shakes hands with Nikki Haley during a meeting at the White House on April 24

Many on social media pointed to Haley's previous voting record and the actions of her party as justification for why she was booed

'Yes, you did not deserve it. But think about the company you keep and look who you are currently surrounding yourself with. They represent you,' Danny Deraney said.

'I understand, but you represent an administration that is suppressing their rights. Pence is vocal about his adverse views,' SJ Price wrote.

'So sorry. Hope you explained to your son this was frustration & anger w/Trump admin, of which you are a part. Learning moment, for you both,' Karen Germaine tweeted.

People cheer as floats travel along Fifth Avenue during the New York City Pride Parade on Sunday

New York City revelers waved rainbow flags and carried colorful balloons during the 48th annual pride that saw an estimated 40,000 people

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (bottom center) marches during the New York City Pride Parade on Sunday

'Well, @nikkihaley opposes trans protections, tried to oppose SSMs from other states, and now works for Trump. So yeah, she was booed,' Zach Ford wrote.

Another added: 'GOPs only whine when injustice is directed at them. Where was she during birther lies pizzagate or chanting Lock her Up? #StandUpForEVERYONE.'

Pride Week celebrations are being held at the same time as the LGBT community and its supporters are concerned about the Trump administrations policies, including the rolling back of federal guidance advising school districts to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice.

The Republican and former reality television show host also broke from Democratic predecessor Barack Obama's practice of issuing a proclamation in honor of Pride Month.

Video courtesy KUTV
Soviet leader Josef Stalin has been named the most outstanding person in history in a Russian poll despite executing more than a million people in political purges.

The survey by the Levada Center in Moscow released Monday showed 38 percent of those two took part chose Stalin.

The figure is in stark contrast to the mere 12 percent who picked him in 1989 when Russians were beginning to discover the crimes of the Stalin regime.

Soviet leader Josef Stalin, who has been voted the most outstanding person in history by a recent opinion poll in Russia

Scholars estimate under Stalin more than a million people were executed in political purges.

Millions more died in the vast prison camp system or as a result of mass starvation and deportations.

But an increasing number of Russians now admire Stalin as a strong leader who led their country to victory in World War Two.

Vladimir Putin was pushed into joint second place

Stalin pushed current President Vladimir Putin into joint second alongside poet Alexander Pushkin.

In the poll conducted in April by the independent pollster, Russians were asked to pick the ten greatest individuals of all time.

While Stalin came out on top with 38 percent, Putin shared second place on 34 percent with Russia's beloved national bard Pushkin.

Revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, Tsar Peter the Great and first man in space Yury Gagarin came next in the list of 20 people, with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in last place on six percent.

The list includes famed statesmen, writers and scientists but only three foreigners -Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton.

Stalin topped a similar poll back in 2012 with an even higher score as Russians focus on his role in winning World War Two rather the millions who were executed or sent to prison camps under his rule.

Putin's percentage was the highest since he began appearing in the poll in 2003.

The poll of 1,600 people has a 3.4-percent margin of error.
Japan has broadcast a television warning urging citizens to lie on the ground or seek shelter in the event of North Korea launching a nuclear attack.

The government advice also tells people to stay away from windows, protect their heads if they are indoors and to hide behind solid objects if an attack is imminent.

Instructions triggered by Japan's satellite-based J-Alert public warning system will be sent out through speakers installed across the country, the 30-second clip confirms.

The broadcast comes amid heightened tensions between the West and North Korea under dictator Kim Jong-un.

Japan has broadcast a television warning urging citizens to lie on the ground or seek shelter in the event of North Korea launching a nuclear attack (file picture)

Earlier this year, Japanese civilians were told to expect a mere ten-minute warning if Kim Jong-un launches a nuclear attack. A North Korean test rocket launch is pictured

According to Kyodo News, the advice is being aired by 43 television stations across Japan form now until early July. Instructions are also being issued in 70 newspapers.

Earlier this year, Japanese civilians were told to expect a mere ten-minute warning if Kim Jong-un launches a nuclear attack.

Tokyo officials advised people to seek shelter underground or in a strong concrete building in the event of a North Korean missile strike.

It was also reported that a national system of safety drills may also be rolled out while there has been a spike in demand for home nuclear bunkers.

North Korean missile tests have fired with increasing frequency. Last month, three fell into waters within Japan's exclusive economic zone, some 185 miles off the coast of northern Akita prefecture.

The broadcast comes amid heightened tensions between the West and North Korea under dictator Kim Jong-un (pictured)

In May North Korea warned Japan can expect to be 'blanketed with radioactive clouds' if nuclear war breaks out.

Pyongyang issued a threat to US allies in the region in a newspaper commentary called 'Japan's Reckless Act Which Drives Itself into Ruin.'

It warned Japan to expect the biggest impact should any conflict arise out of the crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

The Rodong Sinmun state newspaper said: 'First of all, Japan, which is the U.S. forces' logistics, launch and sorties bases, would be blanketed with radioactive clouds if a nuclear war occur on the Korean Peninsula.'
Donald Trump lashed out at his predecessor on Monday, saying Barack Obama knew about Russia's election meddling but sat on his hands because he hoped it would benefit his party's presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.

And he asked for an apology from Democrats who have accused him of conspiring with Vladimir Putin's regime to swing the White House contest in his favor.

'The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win and did not want to "rock the boat",' the president wrote on Twitter.

'He didn't "choke," he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good.'

'The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling,' he added. 'With 4 months looking at Russia under a magnifying glass, they have zero "tapes" of T[rump] people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology!'

Donald Trump lashed out at Barack Obama, saying he knew about Russia's election meddling but did nothing because he hoped it would benefit Hillary Clinton.

'He colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good,' the president tweeted

The jab about collusion and obstruction was an attempt to confound his critics, who have accused him of the same things.

Trump first blasted Obama over the weekend following a report that the former president had knowledge of Moscow's efforts to undermine the presidential election but failed to step in.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that the CIA had top-level intelligence last August that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered an operation to help Trump win the White House.

Trump questioned on Fox & Friends Weekend why Obama refused to act.

'I just heard today for the first time that Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it,' he told Fox News contributor Pete Hegseth.

'But nobody wants to talk about that. The CIA gave him information on Russia a long time before the election.

'And I hardly see it. It's an amazing thing. To me, in other words, the question is, if he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? He should have done something about it. But you don't read that. It's quite sad.'

The president said Democrats owe him an apology for casting blame in his direction

Obama ordered a review of Russia's actions and imposed new sanctions  but not until after the election.

Trump's tweeted reference to 'Russian meddling' in November's election drew focused attention as it was widely seen as a new acknowledgment that Moscow specifically was responsible.

Speaking during an off-camera briefing at the White House, press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Trump had said in January 'that he believes that Russia probably was involved with potentially some other countries as well could have been equally involved, but could have been involved, not equally.'

Spicer also spoke to the question of what the Obama administration failed to do once it had intelligence about Russia's involvement.

'If you believe that, then they did know about this. And there's some serious questions about what they did or did not do in terms of acting,' he said.

Spicer said he has never asked the president whether he accepts the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that have found Russia's government sought to intervene in the election.

'To the extent that it's not classified I can at least ask the intelligence communities for an update on that,' he suggested.

Spicer pointed to Trump's executive order on cyber security 'to strengthen our ability to combat anybody from interfering,' and to his election commission, as examples of his determination to protect the integrity of the American ballot box.

Trump has acknowledged that Russia may have tried to interfere in the election, but has denounced investigations into possible Russian collusion with his campaign as a 'witch hunt.'

Leakers have claimed Obama knew that Putin had ordered election hacks, but he failed to act because he thought Hillary Clinton would win anyway.

But amid confidence that Clinton still had the election in the bag and worries over Obama himself being seen as manipulating the election, the administration delivered warnings to Moscow but left countermeasures until after the vote.

Leakers have claimed Obama knew that Putin had ordered election hacks, but he failed to act because he thought Hillary Clinton would win anyway

One anonymous former Obama administration official told the Post that Obama's failure to respond to Putin was 'the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend. I feel like we sort of choked.'

After Trump's shock victory, there were strong regrets among administration officials that they had shied away from tough action.

'From national security people there was a sense of immediate introspection, of, 'Wow, did we mishandle this,' another former administration official said.

The Post reported that as soon as the intelligence on Putin came in, the White House viewed it as a deep national security threat. A secret task force was created to firm up the information and come up with possible responses.

The focus later turned to whether Moscow could disrupt the November 8 vote itself by hacking voter registration lists or voting machines, undermining confidence in the vote tallies.

Worried about making the situation worse, the administration put off retaliating, and instead delivered stiff warnings directly to the Russians to 'cut it out,' in Obama's words.

The CIA knew in August that Vladimir Putin had ordered a operation to help Trump win the presidency, The Washington Post reported

At least four direct warnings appeared to have an impact, officials told the Post. They believe that Moscow pulled back on any possible plans to sabotage U.S. voting operations.

'We made the judgment that we had ample time after the election, regardless of outcome, for punitive measures,' a former senior administration official said.

Options to retaliate were on the table early: more crippling sanctions on the Russian economy, leaking information that would embarrass Putin diplomatically, and launching cyber attacks on Russian infrastructure were high on the list.

But Trump's shocking victory dampened the response.

Obama took modest measures at the end of December, expelling 35 Russians and adding to existing sanctions. He also, according to the Post, authorized a plan to place cyber attack implants in the systems of critical Russian infrastructure.
A gay rights organization which staged a pride march in Chicago on Saturday asked participants who were carrying the LGBT rainbow flag with a Jewish star in the middle to leave, it was reported on Monday.

Three Jewish women activists who turned up to the Dyke March in Chicago on Saturday were banned from the event after they showed up with the flag.

The Dyke March is a separate gay pride event that bills itself as 'more inclusive' than the official parade held annually by the City of Chicago.

The activists were told that the march was an explicitly 'anti-Zionist' event and that the Jewish Pride flag was inconsistent with the 'pro-Palestinian' message it sought to convey, according to Windy City Times.

The incident has caused controversy both within the gay rights community as well as the Jewish community  with the parade organizers being accused of anti-Semitism.

One of those asked to leave, Laurie Grauer, is the manager of A Wider Bridge Midwest, an organization that bills itself as 'a movement of pro-Israel LGBTQ people and allies, with strong interest in and commitment to supporting Israel and its LGBTQ community.'

Three Jewish women activists who turned up to the Dyke March in Chicago on Saturday were banned from the event after they showed up with the rainbow flag emblazoned with a Star of David. One of the banned women, Laurie Grauer, is pictured above

Grauer is manager of A Wider Bridge Midwest, an organization that bills itself as 'a movement of pro-Israel LGBTQ people and allies, with strong interest in and commitment to supporting Israel and its LGBTQ community.' She is seen above holding the flag during a parade

The Dyke March is a separate gay pride event that bills itself as 'more inclusive' than the official parade held annually by the City of Chicago

Grauer said she was told that the flag 'made people feel unsafe.'

'It was a flag from my congregation which celebrates my queer, Jewish identity which I have done for over a decade marching in the Dyke March with the same flag,' Grauer said.

She said she lost count of the number of times she was harassed at the march, an annual event that draws up to 1,500 participants in the Windy City.

Another activist who was banned from the march is Eleanor Shoshany-Anderson, who describes herself as a Jewish woman of Iranian descent.

'I was here as a proud Jew in all of my identities,' Shoshany-Anderson said.

'The Dyke March is supposed to be intersectional. I don't know why my identity is excluded from that. I felt that, as a Jew, I am not welcome here.'

Dyke March Chicago released a statement on social media defending the decision to remove the Jewish pride flag-bearing activists.

'Sadly, our celebration of dyke, queer and trans solidarity was partly overshadowed by our decision to ask three individuals carrying Israeli flags superimposed on rainbow flags to leave the rally,' the organization said in a statement on its social media accounts.

The incident has caused controversy both within the gay rights community as well as the Jewish community  with the parade organizers being accused of anti-Semitism. A Jewish man is seen above draped with the flag during a march in Jerusalem last year

Dyke March Chicago released a statement on social media defending the decision to remove the Jewish pride flag-bearing activists

'This decision was made after they repeatedly expressed support for Zionism during conversations with Dyke March Collective members.'

Grauer said she did not hide her pro-Israel sentiments when asked about it at the march.

'People asked me if I was a Zionist and I said "Yes, I do care about the state of Israel but I also believe in a two-state solution and an independent Palestine",' Grauer said.

'It's hard to swallow the idea of inclusion when you are excluding people from that.

'People are saying "You can be gay but not in this way." We do not feel welcomed. We do not feel included.'

Grauer's organization, A Wider Bridge, said Dyke March was heading down a slippery slope.

'The Dyke March has failed to live up to their goal of 'bridging together communities',' it said in a statement.

'That the organizers would choose to dismiss long-time community members for choosing to express their Jewish identity or spirituality runs counter to the very values the Dyke March claims to uphold, and veers down a dangerous path toward anti-Semitism.'

The LGBT community has grappled with the highly charged debate over Israel and Palestine.

Critics of Israel say that pro-Zionist members both within the community and beyond engage in 'pinkwashing'  or touting Israel's tolerance of homosexuality as a means of deflecting attention away from its policies toward the Palestinians.

The organizers of the Chicago event deny that anti-Semitism played a role in the ejection of the three women.

'The Chicago Dyke March Collective is explicitly not anti-Semitic, we are anti-Zionist,' the organization said.

'The Chicago Dyke March Collective supports the liberation of Palestine and all oppressed people everywhere.'

Supporters of the organization note that American flags were also barred from the event as the Stars and Stripes are considered 'a symbol of oppression.'

Video footage of the march shows participants holding flags of other countries.

The Anti-Defamation League, one of the most influential American Jewish organizations in the country, condemned the march organizers.

'It is outrageous that while celebrating LGBQT pride, Jewish participants carrying a rainbow Star of David flag were asked to leave the Chicago Dyke March,' ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt said.

'The community of LGBQT supporters is diverse and that is part of its tremendous strength.

'Both the act and the explanation were anti-Semitic, plain and simple.'
Martin Shkreli, the 'Pharma Bro' who raised the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 per cent, arrived in Brooklyn federal court on Monday.

Even with his federal securities fraud trial set to begin, Shkreli has blatantly defied his attorneys' advice to lay low and keep quiet.

The former pharmaceutical CEO, who became a pariah after raising the cost of a life-saving drug 5,000 per cent, has been preening for cameras and trolling on social media, potentially complicating his defense.

'I'm excited,' Shkreli said of the trial in a brief phone call last week to The Associated Press. 'I can't wait.'

Martin Shkreli, the 'Pharma Bro' who raised the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 per cent, arrived in Brooklyn federal court on Monday

Even with his federal securities fraud trial set to begin, Shkreli has blatantly defied his attorneys' advice to lay low and keep quiet. He is seen on the left alongside his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman

The former pharmaceutical CEO, who became a pariah after raising the cost of a life-saving drug 5,000 per cent, has been preening for cameras and trolling on social media, potentially complicating his defense

'I'm excited,' Shkreli said of the trial in a brief phone call last week to The Associated Press. 'I can't wait'

Since his high-profile arrest in late 2015 when he was led into court in a gray hoodie, Shkreli has been free on bail and free to speak his mind.

He went on Twitter to label members of Congress 'imbeciles' for demanding to know why his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis and HIV, from $13.50 to $750 per pill.

He took to YouTube for a series of lessons on chemistry and stock market analysis.

His Twitter posts mocking a freelance journalist turned so creepy - one showed a fake photo of him canoodling with her - that his account was shut down.

And on Facebook, he mused about the possibility of being 'unjustly imprisoned.'

Since his high-profile arrest in late 2015 when he was led into court in a gray hoodie, Shkreli has been free on bail and free to speak his mind

He went on Twitter to label members of Congress 'imbeciles' for demanding to know why his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis and HIV, from $13.50 to $750 per pill

The 34-year-old Shkreli 'travels to the beat of a very unique drummer,' exasperated-sounding defense attorney Benjamin Brafman said at a pretrial hearing this month.

Legal experts say there are obvious reasons lawyers want clients facing serious criminal charges to keep quiet.

'It's twofold: You don't want to antagonize the judge and you don't want to get the attention of the jury in a way that hurts your case,' said veteran New York City defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt.

Columbia law professor John Coffee compared the situation to President Donald Trump's unruly tweeting habits.

'A lawyer can caution him,' he said. 'But just like Trump, he doesn't have to listen.'

Though Shkreli's notoriety came from Daraprim, the federal securities fraud case is unrelated.

Prosecutors say that after Shkreli lost millions of dollars through bad trades through his side business hedge fund, he looted a second pharmaceutical company for $11 million to pay them back.

The 34-year-old Shkreli 'travels to the beat of a very unique drummer,' exasperated-sounding defense attorney Benjamin Brafman said at a pretrial hearing this month

The defense has argued that he had good intentions.

'Everybody got paid back in this case,' his lawyer said. 'Whatever else he did wrong, he ultimately made them whole.'

The defense has floated the possibility that it would put Shkreli on the witness stand to try to highlight how he grew up in a working-class Albanian family in Brooklyn, taught himself chemistry, interned at a financial firm founded by CNBC's Jim Cramer and struck out on his own to become a rising star in biotechnology startups.

He wanted to develop new life-saving drugs after seeing 'several classmates and other children he knew struck down by debilitating disease,' court papers say.

Prosecutors call it a ploy to portray the boyish-looking Shkreli as 'a Horatio Alger-like figure who, through hard work and intelligence, is in a position to do great things if only the jury would ignore the evidence and base its verdict on sympathy.'

The real Shkreli was a con man often undone by his own mouth, they say.

The government has cited claims by one of Shkreli's former employees that Shkreli harassed his family in a dispute over shares of stock.

'I hope to see you and your four children homeless and will do whatever I can to assure this,' Shkreli wrote the employee's wife, according to court filings.

Prosecutors also used his boasts about some of his purchases of eccentric collectibles to undermine efforts to reduce his bail from $5 million to $2 million.

If he needed to raise cash to pay legal fees and back taxes, they argued, why not sell the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album that he brought for $2 million or his Nazi-era Engima code-breaking machine?

Also cited were his offers to pay a $100,000 bounty for finding the killer of a Democratic National Committee staffer and $40,000 in tuition for a Princeton student who solved a math problem he posed during a guest lecture at the school earlier this year.

Shkreli 'is not the demon he's been made out to be,' the student, Yuan Wang, told the AP.

Still, he added, 'I haven't received the money yet.'
The TSA has announced it will be going through travelers' books and magazines in a new security screening measures - but critics are skeptical it will be used as a tool to target people carrying books of other faiths or languages.

The Transportation Security Administration began screening for paper products at airport checkpoints in Missouri last month.

But now the agency has unveiled even more invasive procedures at the airport in Sacramento, California, which requires passengers to remove all reading material and food from their carry-on luggage to place in a separate bin for screeners to fan through to see if anything is hidden inside the pages.

Officials insist that agents will not pay attention to the content of the books and reading material.

The TSA has announced it will be going through travelers' books and magazines in a new security screening measures (stock image)

But many people on Twitter have been skeptical of the promise and have questioned how an agent would react to a passenger carrying the Koran or an Arabic language book.

Others have shared their own experiences of being taken for 'extra screening' after agents noticed their unusual reading material.

The American Civil Liberties Union have criticized the new protocol, saying that no one should have to reveal what they are reading.

Academics also raised concerns and shared stories of students and professors stopped over their reading material, such as the Arabic language student detained over their Arabic flash cards, or the University of Pennsylvania professor whose flight was delayed after a passenger saw him writing out mathematical equations and believed they could be a terrorist code.

'It's always been a series of insults,' Julie Sze, a University of California, Davis, professor, told InsideHigherEd after she experienced the test procedure at Sacramento. 'Books, magazines, food, those are like my three treasured things. It feels personal on a whole different level.'

The Transportation Security Administration began screening for paper products at airport checkpoints in Missouri last month (stock image of the TSA in St Louis, Missouri)

One Twitter user, a criminal defense lawyer, warned that the new book policy 'will lead to some strife.'

'It reminds me of an incident I had with TSA around a decade ago', he wrote, describing how he had been flying to Oakland to defend a man charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun when his hearing notes binder was taken out and fell open to the page with a diagram of the machine gun.

'I'm thinking, 'this has long day written all over it,' he wrote.

The lawyer said that after an awkward silence, a supervisor was called and he had to explain he was a a criminal defense attorney which he said 'does not exactly soothe.'

After being 'thoroughly searched' and having his driving license copied, he was finally allowed to leave.

'Encouraging the TSA to have ANY duty to look at books and papers will go badly. Very badly,' he added.

Barry Scott Will also claimed that the FBI investigated TSR Games - who produce games such as Dungeons and Dragons - because 'somebody dropped 'Top Secret' game material detailing an assassination in Beirut.'

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Sunday he is considering rolling out the new searches nationwide.

Many people on Twitter have been skeptical of the promise and shared experiences of themselves or others being taken for 'extra screening' after agents noticed their unusual reading material

Officials say that tightly packed paper items, like book and magazines, can sometimes resemble explosives through the X-ray machine. The new screening process will order travelers to separate the books from their luggage, and allow agents to rifle through them to see if anything is hidden within.

The TSA may also roll out the ban on laptops and electronic tablets, which currently only applies to inbound international flights to the US from certain countries, to all international flights in and out of the United States.

Other new security measures being tested include screening some carry-on bags with 3-D scanning technology.

The TSA said that it is testing computed-tomography, or CT, scanning at one checkpoint at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The technology is already used for screening checked luggage, but the cost and larger size of the CT scanners has held back their use for carry-on bags. CT scanners create a 3-D image that can be rotated to give screeners a better look. Suspicious bags can be pulled aside and opened by screeners.

American Airlines, which is participating in the test, said the technology could let passengers leave laptops, liquids and aerosols in their carry-on bags, speeding up the trip through the airport.

The test comes as U.S. officials scramble to deal with potential new threats, including reports that terrorists are developing bombs that can be disguised as laptop batteries. That fear led the government to ban laptop and tablet computers from the cabins of airliners headed to the U.S. from some Middle Eastern and African nations.

The ban on laptops in the cabin is based on the belief that a bomb in the cargo hold would need to be bigger than one in the cabin, and capable of remote detonation. Plus, checked luggage already goes through computed-tomography screening while carry-on bags don't.

New TSA technology also allows a traveler's fingerprints to serve as a boarding pass and an identity document, in the place of a passport

CT scanners use better technology that screens bags faster and reduces the number of bags that must be searched by hand, said Jeffrey Price, an aviation security professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver. But they are more expensive.

'I think TSA thought if they can just upgrade the X-rays that they had already, they would be fine,' Price said. 'What they are finding now is that's not the case, because the bad guys continue to evolve and adapt. The reason we're looking at the whole laptop ban is because the X-ray equipment throughout the world can't necessarily find the existing threat.'

TSA will use smaller CT scanners than the machines used to peer inside checked baggage, but they should produce the same level of security, said the agency's acting administrator, Huban Gowadia.

Another security measure is new checkpoint screening technology that could mean the end of the boarding pass in airports in Atlanta and Denver.

The technology allows a traveler's fingerprints to serve as a boarding pass and an identity document, in the place of a passport.

It works by matching a traveler's fingerprints to those that have previously been provided to the TSA by travelers who have enrolled in the TSA Pre program - an expedited security screening program.
A Spanish judge has ordered for Salvador Dali's body to be exhumed so that DNA tests can be carried out to establish if he is the father of a tarot reader.

Pilar Abel, 61, from Girona, north east Spain, claims the artist had a secret affair with her mother while she was working as a maid for his friends.

A previous paternity test in 2007 using skin and hair remains obtained from a death mask of the painter proved to be inconclusive.

A Spanish judge has ordered for Salvador Dali's body to be exhumed so that DNA tests can be carried out to establish if he is the father of tarot reader Pilar Abel (pictured right)

Mrs Abel, who describes herself as 'Dali without the moustache', says she never received the results of a second test carried out in Paris five months later with the help of Dali's friend and biographer Robert Descharnes.

She filed papers at a court in Madrid to request the results of the second DNA test, asking for the exhumation of Dali's body if they were not handed over.

Mrs Abel has insisted she is not motivated by money, saying: 'I just want to know who I really am, where I come from and who I belong to.'

In her ruling, the judge said: 'Biological testing to investigate Maria Pilar Abel Martinez's paternity claim is necessary in respect of Salvador Dali Domenech.'

She said she had made her decision because 'there were no biological remains or personal objects which Spain's National Institute of Toxicology could use to carry out the test.'

At the time of the alleged affair, Dali was married to wife Gala. They had no children.

She claims Dali (pictured in 1971) had a secret affair with her mother while she was working as a maid for his friends

Dali died of heart failure in January 1989 aged 84. He is buried in a crypt at a museum named after him in his hometown of Figueres in Catalunya

Dali died of heart failure in January 1989 aged 84. He is buried in a crypt at a museum named after him in his hometown of Figueres in Catalunya.

Mrs Abel's lawyer is thought to have also represented a Belgian housewife claiming to be the daughter of former Spanish King Juan Carlos.

Ingrid Sartiaus paternity claim was thrown out by Spains Supreme Court two years ago after the ex-monarchs lawyers appealed an earlier decision to study the case.

However, she still wished the royal Happy Fathers Day earlier this month from one of her social media accounts.

A previous test carried out to establish whether Dali is Mrs Abel's father was inconclusive. The artist is pictured in 1957 with Princess Fawzia, the sister of ex-King Farouk of Egypt
New anti-terrorism bollards have seemingly unfazed Australians who are using the concrete 'symbols of fear' as new urban lounging areas and bike racks.

A series of concrete slabs were installed in Sydney's Martin Place and in Melbourne's city centre last week to guard against a vehicle-ramming terror attack, similar to those in London and Stockholm.

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett said people no longer felt safe on the streets which have become a 'symbol of fear'.

But photos show Australians have taken the new-look pathways in their stride as they refuse to cower in fear.

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New anti-terrorism bollards have seemingly unfazed Australians who are using the concrete 'symbols of fear' as new urban lounging areas and bike racks

A photo taken in Martin Place - next to the scene of the Lindt Cafe siege - shows a woman looking laid-back as she leans up against one of the newly installed slabs

Concrete slabs were installed in Sydney's Martin Place (pictured) and in Melbourne's city centre last week to guard against a vehicle-ramming terror attack

Australians have taken the new-look pathways in their stride as they refuse to cower in fear

One photo shows a woman looking relaxed, having a cigarette and using her phone while perched on top of a bollard, designed to protect her life from a terrorist attack, outside Flinders Street Station.

Just several metres away in January, Dimitrious 'Jimmy' Gargasoulas was filmed doing burnouts in his mid-1990s Holden Commodore before allegedly driving into dozens of people - killing six.

Another photo taken in Martin Place - next to the scene of the Lindt Cafe siege - shows a woman looking laid-back as she leans up against one of the newly installed slabs.

Other photos show the concrete bollards blending into everyday life and even being used as bike racks.

Concrete bollards have been placed in Bourke Street Mall (pictured), where Dimitrious 'Jimmy' Gargasoulas allegedly drove his car into dozens of people

The blocks on the steps of Melbourne's Flinders Street Station have seemingly blended into everyday life as they are even used to rest bikes on

Newly installed anti-terror barriers are seen in Martin Place, next to the scene of the Lindt Cafe siege

Pedestrians walk pass the newly installed bollards in Martin Place on Monday

Police told Daily Mail Australia on Friday the barriers in Martin Place were installed as a measure to ensure people's safety while in a public area.

'While there is no specific threat, the New South Wales police force works with a variety of government bodies, owners and operators providing advice on security measures,' a NSW spokesperson said.

'Ultimately, the advice from police is managing the balance of risk against the need for the public to enjoy access to public spaces.'

Concrete barriers now line the busy pedestrian plaza after concerns it may be susceptible to a vehicle-ramming terror attack

Police told Daily Mail Australia the barriers were installed as a measure to ensure people's safety while in a public area

The bollards have been set up just outside the scene of the December 2014 Sydney siege (pictured)

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett described the concrete bollards as symbols of fear

The spokesperson said the world's best 'vehicle mitigation' practices were studied and then shared with the council, before the concrete barriers were put in place.

Makeshift barricades, such as buses and cars, have previously protected Martin Place during events with large crowds such as Anzac Day and Vivid Sydney.

The installation of the slabs came just as 140 concrete blocks were placed across Melbourne's city centre on Thursday night.

Roads lining Federation Square, Flinders Street Station and other central sites have been lined with the heavy, cement barriers.

New blocks were placed along Southbank Boulevard, near Queensbridge Street and Crown Casino, and at Southern Cross Station.

A NSW Police spokesperson said the world's best 'vehicle mitigation' practices were studied before the concrete barriers were put in place

An image of Dimitri Gargasoulas driving a mid-1990s Holden Commodore in Melbourne outside Flinders Street Station

Dimitrious 'Jimmy' Gargasoulas, 26, was charged with six counts of murder for driving a car into crowds in Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall in January
A 13-year-old girl was gang-raped by a group of youths on a Spanish beach during a festival in the holiday hotspot of Alicante.

The attack took place during the San Juan festival and the assailants were described by local witnesses as Moroccan teenagers, according to The Olive Press.

Those in the area described how the gang had tried to sexually assault a second girl before her father stepped in to stop the attack.

A man carries a fire torch during the San Juan night in the small Pyrenees village of Sahu. The night of San Juan, which welcomes the summer season, is an ancient tradition celebrated every year in various towns in Spain

One witness told The Olive Press: 'The police arrived and the boys were detained. Several people said they were between 13 and 15 years old.

'They looked like they were Moroccans.'

The initial assault happened on the beach before the gang made their way through Cabo de las Huertas - a high-end area in Alicante - to carry out more attacks.

The father of the second girl stopped the rampage and called the police, leading to arrests.

Another witness said: 'Several shouts were heard and in a few minutes the police were already in the area.

'I could see several children sitting together on a police motorcycle.

'Several people said that in addition to attacking the girls, they also stole mobile phones. '

The night of San Juan, which welcomes the summer season, is an ancient tradition celebrated every year in various towns in Spain.
Milton Richards (pictured with his wife Debbie), 53, from Klondike, Texas is recovering after he was bitten by a rattlesnake he tried to kill

A man who tried to kill a rattler is fighting to survive after the venomous snake retaliated and bit him.

Milton Richards, 53, from Klondike, Texas, was so severely poisoned that doctors had to administer 80 doses of anti-venom, KCBD reported

Richards saw the deadly rattlesnake - a species which bites up to 8,000 Americans a year - in his backyard around 9pm on June 18 and attempted to kill it.

The snake bit his hand and within minutes, he suffered seizures and was eventually paralyzed while relatives rushed him to the nearest hospital, which was 25 miles away.

Doctors administered several doses of anti-venom upon arrival before airlifting him to the University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, where he has received 80 doses of anti-venom.

'I think he's doing a little better,' his wife Debbie Richards told Lamesa-Press Reporter.

Texas hosts eight of the 11 types of rattlesnakes in America. The types known to attack people are the Diamond, Mojave - the type experts believe may have bitten Richards - and the Prairie rattlesnakes.

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This is the Mojave snake - one of the three types of rattlesnakes in Texas that attacks people - that bit Richards with a poison so strong that doctors have had to administer 80 doses of anti-venom
The Supreme Court is taking on a new clash between gay rights and religion in a case about a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in Colorado.

The justices said Monday they will consider whether a baker who objects to same-sex marriage on religious grounds can refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

The case asks the high court to balance the religious rights of the baker against the couple's right to equal treatment under the law. Similar disputes have popped up across the United States.

Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, will have his day at the Supreme Court, as he refused to bake a same-sex wedding cake because of his Christian religion

Charlie Craig (left) and David Mullins (right) will have their case heard by the Supreme Court. They were denied a wedding cake by a Colorado-based baker because his Christian religion says homosexuality is a sin

The decision to take on the case reflects renewed energy among the court's conservative justices, whose ranks have recently been bolstered by the addition of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the high court.

The court will review a Colorado court decision that found baker Jack Phillips and his Masterpiece Cakeshop discriminated against the gay couple under Colorado law.

Phillips told the Supreme Court he has free speech and religious rights under the First Amendment that should protect him.

He said he should not be compelled to bake a cake specifically to honor a same-sex marriage.

Colorado's anti-discrimination law protects people on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Charlie Craig and David Mullins filed a complaint against Phillips and his suburban Denver shop after Phillips said he would not create and decorate a cake in honor of their marriage.

Colorado did not permit same-sex couples to marry until 2014.

Two years earlier, Craig and Mullin were planning to fly to Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage was legal, and host a reception in Denver upon their return to Colorado.

They wanted a cake for the occasion.

The couple is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Colorado.

'This has always been about more than a cake. Businesses should not be allowed to violate the law and discriminate against us because of who we are and who we love,' said Mullins in a statement released by the ACLU.

Craig added, 'While we're disappointed that the courts continue debating the simple question of whether LGBT people deserve to be treated like everyone else, we hope that our case helps ensure that no one has to experience being turned away simply because of who they are.'
Before taking their long summer break, the Supreme Court justices are poised to act on the Trump administration's travel ban and a separation of church and state dispute involving a Missouri church playground.

But something could overshadow rulings in those high-profile cases: If Justice Anthony Kennedy were to use the court's last public session on Monday to announce his retirement.

Kennedy has given no public sign that he would step down this year and give President Donald Trump his second high court pick in the first months of his administration. Kennedy's departure would allow conservatives to take firm control of the court.

But Kennedy turns 81 next month and has been on the court for nearly 30 years. Several of his former law clerks have said they think he is contemplating stepping down in the next year or so.

There are rumors that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, 80, could announce his retirement from the bench as soon as this Monday. Kennedy is seen above at the White House on April 10, 2017

Washington was abuzz with talk this weekend that President Donald Trump may soon have another chance to nominate a judge to the highest court in the land.

If the speculation pans out, that would give Trump his second high court pick in the first months of his administration.

Kennedy did not address the retirement rumors when he and his clerks gathered over the weekend for a reunion, according to three clerks who were there. The decision to push up the reunion by a year helped spark talk he might be leaving the court.

Kellyanne Conway, senior counselor to President Trump, declined Monday to join in on the conjecture.

'That is totally Justice Kennedy's decision and he has served for 30 years, almost 30 years, with distinction and care on the Court and that is entirely his decision,' she said on Fox & Friends.

'I do know that the president, when he appointed Neil Gorsuch, made very clear that at any time that he gets a federal appointment, whether it's the Supreme Court level of the District courts the circuit courts, he will appoint people who have fidelity to the Constitution, they won't legislate from the bench, make it up as they go along.'

Conway had declined to say in a Sunday interview whether the president and Kennedy had discussed retirement.

'I will never reveal a conversation between a sitting justice and the president or the White House, but we're paying very close attention to these last bit of decisions,' she said on ABC News.

Justice Kennedy, who is known as a moderate Republican, was nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan (right) in 1987

Justice Kennedy, who is known as a moderate Republican, was nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1987.

Since Sandra Day O'Connor retired in 2006, Kennedy has been the key swing vote on a number of 5-4 decisions.

In 2015, Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark case whose ruling mandated that same sex marriage be made legal nationwide.

The concluding paragraph of Kennedy's 28-page majority opinion was even used by many same sex and heterosexual couples alike as their wedding vows.

'No union is more profound than marriage,' Kennedy's opinion says, 'for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.'

Several of his former law clerks have said they think he is contemplating stepping down in the next year or so.

Kennedy and his clerks were gathering over the weekend for a reunion that was pushed up a year and helped spark talk he might be leaving the court.

'Soon we'll know if rumors of Kennedy's retirement are accurate,' one former Kennedy clerk, George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr, said on Twitter Friday.

If Kennedy does retire, that means President Donald Trump would be able to nominate a second justice to the bench. Trump is seen above during the swearing-in of his first nominee, Neil Gorsuch, at the White House on April 10, 2017

Since Sandra Day O'Connor retired in 2006, Kennedy has been the key swing vote on a number of 5-4 decisions

In 2015, Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark case legalizing same sex marriage be made legal nationwide. Madeleine Troupe of Houston, Texas, wipes tears of joy after the Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage on June 26, 2015

When the justices take the bench Monday, they are expected to decide the case of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri, which was excluded from a state grant program to pay for soft surfaces on playgrounds run by not-for-profit groups.

The case is being closely watched by advocates of school vouchers, who hope the court will make it easier to use state money to pay for private, religious schooling in states that now prohibit it.

Also expected in the next few days, though there's no deadline by which the court must decide, was a ruling on whether to allow the administration to immediately enforce a 90-day ban on visitors from six mostly Muslim countries.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump's first Supreme Court nominee, could play a pivotal role in both the travel ban and church playground cases.

In all, six cases that were argued between November and April remain undecided. Three of those, all involving immigrants or foreigners, were heard by an eight-justice court, before Gorsuch joined the bench in April.

If the eight justices are evenly divided, those cases could be argued a second time in the fall, with Gorsuch available to provide the tie-breaking vote.
Two Marines were badly burned during what US Marine Corps officials are calling a 'ground flash fire' on Sunday night.

The Marines were engaged in routine aircraft maintenance on a F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California at about 10.18pm when the fire started, according to a media release from the base's public affairs office.

The two injured Marines were taken to UC-San Diego Regional Burn Center for treatment of their severe burns. A spokesperson told the Marine Corps Times that one of the Marines is in critical condition.

Two Marines from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 112 were badly burned during a 'ground flash fire' while performing maintenance on a F/A-18 at Miramar airfield in San Diego, California

The ground flash fire took place at 10.18pm on Sunday at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California (pictured). One of the Marines is in critical condition, authorities said

Marine Corps officials initially described the incident as having been an 'explosion,' but later amended the statement to reflect that it was actually a 'ground flash fire' that had occurred. The incident is under investigation.

Flash fires  a sudden and intense fire  typically happen when flammable substances, such as jet fuel, mix with air.

The San Diego area is currently experiencing its second major heatwave this month, with inland temperatures reaching in the 100s, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The injured Marines belong to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 112, a reserve unit based out of Fort Worth, Texas.

Air Station Miramar currently houses the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

The Miramar airfield gained international recognition in the '80s  back when it was known as Naval Air Station Miramar  for housing the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, which inspired the movie 'Top Gun.'

During an interview in May with Sunrise, Tom Cruise revealed that a 'Top Gun' sequel is officially in the works and is expected to begin filming in 2018.
A man who plays 'Taps' outside of his Pennsylvania home every night on a loud speaker has been ordered not to by his city council.

Joshua Corney could be found saluting while playing the tribute song every night at 8pm to honor those who served in the U.S. military.

'(I take) 57 seconds out of each day to show our community and our country that we stand behind the men and women of this country and what they do on a day-to-day basis, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, that's what this is for,' Corney told WPMT.

Corney, a member of the Glen Rock borough council, was unable to attend the last meeting because he was having surgery.

The issue about Corney playing 'Taps' was also not included on the agenda for the meeting, but the council voted to restrict him to only play on Sundays and holidays.

Joshua Corney (pictured) could be found saluting while playing the tribute song every night on a loud speaker at 8pm to honor those who served in the U.S. military

Corney, a member of the Glen Rock borough council, was unable to attend the last meeting because he was having surgery. But the council (above) still voted to restrict him to only play on Sundays and holidays

Of the decision, Corney is upset that he was not included as a council member in the vote.

He has now started a petition asking residents to support him playing the song every night.

'The playing of Taps has been designated a nuisance ordinance violation by the Glen Rock Borough Council as of 6/21/17,' the petition statement reads.

'We are creating this petition to protect the continued play of Taps due to the outpouring of community support.

Of the decision, Corney (above) is upset that he was not included as a council member in the vote. He has now started a petition asking residents to support him playing the song every night

'It is played as an audio memorial to honor our country, service members, and those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

'It is also an opportunity to reflect on and be thankful for the sacrifices it took to obtain our freedoms.'

Since creating the petition two days ago, Corney has received more than 817 signatures of the 1,000 he requested.

Glen Rock borough council president David Young told WPMT in a statement that Corney is not prohibited from playing 'Taps' and the solution would not violate a nuisance ordinance.
Kevin Maxwell (pictured at a London Art Auction) faces being declared bankrupt at the High Court in London for a second time

Two of Robert Maxwell's sons are again embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings after being given a month to pay back debts owed to a company.

A specialist judge gave businessmen Kevin and Ian Maxwell a month to pay money owed to a company.

Neither Kevin, who is aged in his late 50s, nor his brother, who is in his early 60s, was at a Bankruptcy & Companies Court hearing in London, where the judge, Deputy Registrar Tina Kyriakides, heard the brothers owe money to DCF (UK).

Barrister Ryan Hocking, who represented DCF, asked for the hearing to be adjourned.

He said the brothers wanted proceedings to be adjourned to give them time to settle debts.

Mr Hocking said company bosses were happy with that plan and the judge said the case would be reconsidered on July 24.

He did not reveal the amount the brothers owe at the hearing, but outside-court sources said the sum was less than 1 million.

DCF (UK) Ltd is based in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, and provides "various business services", according to specialist financial and media information company Bloomberg.

Ian (left) and Kevin (right) were investigated after their father's death over an alleged conspiracy to defraud his company's pension fund. Both were cleared of fraud in 1996 (pictured outside court)

Robert Maxwell (pictured at a football writers event) was found drowned after apparently falling from his yacht off the Tenerife coast aged 68 in November 1991

The two brothers have featured in listings of bankruptcy cases a number of times in recent years.

Robert Maxwell was found drowned after apparently falling from his yacht off the Tenerife coast aged 68 in November 1991.

The brothers, who were on the board of Maxwell Communications Corporation, were investigated after their father's death over an alleged conspiracy to defraud the company's pension fund.

Both were cleared of fraud in 1996.

Kevin Maxwell was made insolvent in 1992 after declaring debts of 400 million.
Barnaby Joyce has taken aim at his nemesis Johnny Depp once again, this time claiming the Hollywood actor may have 'perjured himself.'

Court documents have revealed former business managers said Depp was 'fully aware that he was illegally bringing his dogs into Australia' and allegedly lied to authorities when he claimed to have accidentally smuggled the pups into the country.

'If the allegations that have been made against him are correct, and Im not saying if they are or arent, then that would be perjury, the deputy prime minster told the Herald Sun.

Barnaby Joyce has taken aim at his nemesis Johnny Depp once again, this time claiming the Hollywood actor may have 'perjured himself'

Johnny Depp (left at UK music fest and right in 2015) was 'fully aware that he was illegally bringing his dogs into Australia' and allegedly lied to authorities when he claimed to have accidentally smuggled the pups into the country, according to his former business managers

Johnny Depp and then-wife Amber Heard appeared in an unusual and awkward video supporting Australian bio-security laws

The star was filming the latest installment to the Pirates of the Caribbean series in May 2015 when he was publicly confronted by Australian authorities about his dogs, Pistol and Boo.

According to legal documents obtained by People filed by his former business managers, The Management Group (TMG), Depp 'falsely claimed' to authorities and the press that the incident was a misunderstanding.

He told the public that he 'believed his staff had obtained the necessary paperwork'.

The legal documents are a part of a court battle between Depp and TMG, the group he claims defrauded him out of millions of his earning.

But TMG says that Depp's wild spending left him unable to pay debts.

According to People, when Depp was confronted by Australian authorities, TMG claimed that he 'pressured one of his long-term employees to 'take the fall.''

Depp's ex-wife Amber Heard avoided jail time when she pleaded guilty to falsifying border protection documents when when she imported the teacup Yorkshire terriers into Australia.

Heard was handed a one-month good behavior bond and fined $1,000.

'If the allegations that have been made against him are correct, and Im not saying if they are or arent, then that would be perjury, the deputy prime minster told the Herald Sun

Heard was given a one month good behavior bond and fined $1,000. The couple also made an apology video that was played in court, and later went viral. 'When you disrespect Australian law,' Depp deadpans in the video, 'they will tell you firmly'. Depp and Heard during trial in 2016

When Depp was confronted by Australian authorities, TMG claimed that he 'pressured one of his long-term employees to 'take the fall'. Depp's ex-wife Amber Heard avoided jail time when she pleaded guilty to falsifying border protection documents for the pooches

The couple also produced an apology video that was played in court, and later went viral. 'When you disrespect Australian law,' Depp deadpans in the video, 'they will tell you firmly'.

The incident sparked global headlines when Joyce said the dogs had better 'bugger off' back to the US or he'd arrange to have them put down.

It was alleged the pooches were not declared to customs officials on arrival.

The presence of the A-list canines was only discovered when their visit to a Gold Coast dog grooming salon was made public.

The dogs were quickly whisked out of the country before a 72-hour deadline lapsed when the canines would have to be seized.

The dogs were quickly whisked out of the country before a 72-hour deadline lapsed when the canines would have to be seized. Depp and Heard pictured during trial in April 2016

Regret: Depp apologized on Friday for his incendiary comments about an actor assassinating Trump - the actor is pictured on stage at the Glastonbury music festival in the UK

Under strict Australian laws designed to keep disease at bay, dogs entering from the United States must be declared and have to spend 10 days in quarantine.

Penalties for contravening the Quarantine Act range from fines to a maximum of 10 years in prison for the worst cases.

Depp was never charged over the incident.
Churches and other religious entities cannot be flatly barred public money even in states where constitutions explicitly ban such funding, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a major religious rights case that narrows the separation of church and state.

The justices, in a 7-2 ruling, sided with a Missouri church that had been denied state funding for a playground improvement project.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court's majority, said that the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Missouri 'solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution.'

Churches and other religious entities cannot be flatly barred public money even in states where constitutions explicitly ban such funding, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday. Justices, in a 7-2 ruling, sided with a Missouri church that had been denied state funding for a playground improvement project

In denying Trinity Lutheran Church access to a state grant program that helps nonprofit groups buy rubber playground surfaces made from recycled tires, Missouri cited the funding bar enshrined in its constitution.

Its constitution prohibits 'any church, sect or denomination of religion' or clergy member from receiving state money, language that goes further than the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state.

Three-quarters of the U.S. states have provisions similar to Missouri's barring funding for religious entities.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called it a 'significant victory for religious liberty and an affirmation of the First Amendment right of all Americans' during a briefing he held off-camera.

'The court recognizes the clear difference between the government supporting a particular religion and the government simply treating all people the same fairly regardless of their religion,' he said. 'This ruling reaffirms that the government cannot discriminate against individuals or organizations simply because they or their members hold religious beliefs.'

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion saying the court had swept away legal precedents that allow for limits on state funding of churches. Fellow liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg also dissented.

'This case is about nothing less than the relationship between religious institutions and the civil government - that is between church and state. The court today profoundly changes that relationship by holding for the first time that the Constitution requires the government to provide public funds directly to a church,' Sotomayor wrote.

The ruling could help religious organizations nationwide win public dollars at least 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 rather than public schools.

'Our religious institutions must be able to contribute to education and the public goodthat is part of their core mission,' House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement celebrating the decision. 'When the government places special burdens on churches specifically because they are religious institutions, that is discrimination, plain and simple.'

A challenge to a 2015 court decision invalidating a Colorado voucher program was pending before the justices, awaiting the Trinity Lutheran case's outcome.

Republican President Donald Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a prominent supporter of such 'school choice' plans.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court's majority, said that the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Missouri 'solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution'

DeVos said in a statement after the Supreme Court announced its decision that it was 'a great day for the Constitution and sends a clear message that religious discrimination in any form cannot be tolerated in a society that values the First Amendment.

'We should all celebrate the fact that programs designed to help students will no longer be discriminated against by the government based solely on religious affiliation.'

The dispute pitted 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.

'The Supreme Court's decision today affirms the commonsense principle that government isn't being neutral when it treats religious organizations worse than everyone else,' said David Cortman, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom conservative Christian legal group who argued the case.

'Equal treatment of a religious organization in a program that provides only secular benefits, like a partial reimbursement grant for playground surfacing, isn't a government endorsement of religion,' Cortman added.

Trinity Lutheran, which runs a preschool and daycare center, wanted a safer surface for its playground.

Trinity Lutheran argued that Missouri's policy violated its right to exercise religion as well as the U.S. Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law. Missouri argued there was nothing unconstitutional about its grant program, noting that Trinity Lutheran remained free to practice its faith however it wants despite being refused state funds.

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion saying the court had swept away legal precedents that allow for limits on state funding of churches. Fellow liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg also dissented

Just before the April oral argument, Missouri's Republican governor, Eric Greitens, 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.'

Nonetheless, Missouri and the church both urged the justices to decide the case because of the important issues involved and because the governor's action was not irreversible.

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. The church then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Daniel Mach, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's program on freedom of religion and belief, expressed disappointment in the ruling.

'Religious freedom should protect unwilling taxpayers from funding church property, not force them to foot the bill. The court's ruling, however, focuses specifically on grants for playground resurfacing, and does not give the government unlimited authority to fund religious activity,' Mach said.
Residents of tower blocks evacuated over fire fears have hit out at the heavy-handed tactics of their local council.

Many of the occupants of 600 flats on the Chalcots Estate in Camden, north London have been moved into temporary accommodation, with officials warning they may not be able to return for up to a month while remedial work is carried out.

But residents who want to stay in the building say they feel bullied by officials, while those who have left say conditions in the hotels they have been placed in are 'disgusting'.

Two elderly residents of Taplow Tower in Camden peer out of their window today after most of their neighbours were evacuated over fears the buildings are a fire hazard

Rajwant Ludher said those who stayed in their homes feel intimidated by council workers

Fire marshals at the site where some residents are determined to stay in their homes

More than 200 residents are refusing to leave the tower blocks in Camden after evacuations

A couple put their belongings into a taxi today as the evacuation of the site continued

Pensioner Rajwant Ludher, a former court interpreter who owns a flat in one of the blocks, said her car was towed away by council workers.

She told the Evening Standard: 'The security here is like an army  it's like a war zone here. They are a law unto themselves. It's terrible the way we have been treated.'

Those who did move out say some residents are now living three to a single room in nearby hotels.

Stuart Phillips, 47, said: 'None of us are happy, we are staying for an absolute minimum of 28 days.

'I didn't want to move, I suffer from strokes. I got moved yesterday evening and they put me in the basement with no windows.

'The receptionist was complaining about some of the others yesterday, saying "someone's dog is barking you know, we have paying customers here".

'My basement room has a flooded toilet, I can use it but you get your feet wet when it floods.'

A couple who live on Camden's Chalcot's Estate wheel away their belongings in suitcases

Middeo de Biaggio and his partner Angela Pascchini leave their home in Taplow Tower Camden after it was declared unsafe

Residents leave their homes in Camden with pet fish in large buckets during the evacuation

A fish tank is removed from one of the towers as residents are moved into nearby hotels

A resident leaved with her cat today as the local council said it will take around a month to fix

Mr Phillips added: 'Last night it was really busy, people were panicking and people were upset because there is a lack of communication.'

Another resident said: 'The rooms are disgusting, my bed is broken. There are over one hundred people living here.'

A family of five, including a 14-year-old, 18-year-old and two dogs, were said to be stuffed into one room and later moved when they complained.

Thousands of tenants from more than 600 flats in Camden were evacuated on Friday after firefighters said they could not guarantee the safety of the buildings. Around 200 people are thought to be still refusing to leave the blocks.

Local council leader Georgia Gould was confronted by angry locals who demanded to know why they had not been told their homes could be unsafe sooner.

The four towers have been found to be covered with the same type of cladding as used at Grenfell, where at least 79 people died in the June 14 disaster.

On top of internal issues surrounding gas pipes, insulation and fire doors, combined with the flammable panelling, the building has been declared unsafe by firefighters.

Camden Council leader Georgia Gold was confronted by angry residents, pictured, who demanded to know why they weren't told about safety issues earlier

One upset mother told Cllr Gould, pictured, her children had been left distraught after abandoning their home

The leader said the reason families were refusing to leave was because they wanted to go straight to temporary flats rather than a rest centre

Hostile residents confronted the council leader outside the rest centre where many of them had been forced to sleep.

One upset mother told Cllr Gould her children had been left distraught after abandoning their home, and asked how she was expected to look after her crying baby in a room with no cooking facilities.

She said: 'You've put us in a hotel with no fridge, no cooker, nothing, and I've got young children under seven years old.

'We're staying in Wembley, it's not nice to see children crying, they're eating takeaway and they are suffering.

'Tomorrow they have to go to school and we don't want to send them, we don't know what to do.

THE CAMDEN COUNCIL CHIEF WHO IS A RED PRINCESS Labour council leader Georgia Gould has been plunged into the limelight after ordering the evacuation of hundreds of residents from tower blocks. She is one of the most prominent of the so-called Red Princes and Princesses  aspiring young politicians whose careers have been boosted because they are the offspring of senior party figures. Miss Gould's father, the late Philip Gould, was an adviser to Neil Kinnock and was later Tony Blair's chief pollster. Her mother, Gail Rebuck, is chairman of the publisher Penguin Random House and sits on Labour benches in the Lords. Miss Gould became leader of Camden Council in North London only weeks ago at the age of 31. Cllr Gould became leader just weeks ago and is said to harbour ambitions to become an MP Her connection with politics started early; as a baby she was held aloft by Mr Kinnock at a party rally in 1986. With such an auspicious start, her path to power seemed assured. But it stuttered after attempts were made to parachute her into the safe Labour seat of Erith and Thamesmead in South-East London in 2009, when she was 23. A local backlash led by the unions meant her candidacy did not succeed. Instead she concentrated on local government, rising to become leader of Camden Council last month. She is understood to still harbour ambitions of becoming an MP. Her pedigree led to her being linked to other Red Princes and Princesses such as Will Straw, Stephen Kinnock and Emily Benn. In April she said: 'My dad was very involved in the Labour Party and I was brought up with very strong Labour values, leafleting as a kid. 'I was taught to try and make a difference in the world  those are the values that my dad gave me and that absolutely influenced me, but that doesn't mean I agree with absolutely everything he stood for.' Miss Gould was confronted at the weekend by a 72-year-old resident who was evacuated from her home but told accommodation could not be found for her because she had a dog. The Labour politician's hopes of one day becoming an MP may depend on how well she responds to the tower block issue. She was educated locally, studying at the comprehensive Camden School for Girls, before going on to study history and politics at St Catherine's College, Oxford. She also holds a master's degree in global politics from the London School of Economics. Her fellow Red Princes and Princesses have had mixed success. Will Straw, son of the former foreign secretary Jack, went on to head up the Remain campaign. Stephen Kinnock, the son of Lord Kinnock, is now an MP in Wales. And Emily Benn, the 27-year-old granddaughter of Tony, has tried and failed twice to be elected as an MP. Advertisement

'They're just taking people's details and saying we'll get 100 but we're not here to get money, even if you gave me 10,000 my children are not happy and it wouldn't make me any happier.'

Around 20 households are yet to vacate their homes, with Mandy Ryan claiming a security guard tried to intimidate her as she took her dogs for a walk on Sunday.

Ms Ryan, who shares her 22nd-floor flat in Dorney with her son, said the whole experience of the evacuation so far was 'disruptive'.

'I was bullied trying to leave the building, [the security guard] stood in front of the door and guys surrounded him and he said 'we need to know who you are'.

The council are furnishing 100 new council flats to move residents into for a more long term solution, which will be ready tomorrow.

Other residents say they have been 'bullied' into leaving their homes but the council leader, pictured, said authorities were trying to deal with all issues raised

Cllr Gould, pictured speaking to a resident, urged everyone to leave the buildings on the fire service's advice

Cllr Gould said: 'It's a big priority to move people out.

'I've been talking to many of those people overnight and they've told me a number of issues which we're dealing with.

'People are now coming back from family and friends so the rest centre will fill up again, which we expected.

'We're getting to the point of having temporary flats rather than hotel rooms, and there will be 100 new council flats ready on Monday.

'Having spoken to a lot of people, they do want to leave, but they don't want to spend a night in the rest centre.

'We've got people with special needs, people with agoraphobia or those who need special medication, and we want to get those people directly into secure accommodation.

'They can't stay in the building while we do the work, that's the fire service's advice.'

Steve Perolli, 49, is still refusing to leave his fourth floor flat in the Taplow block even though it has been declared unsafe to live in

As well as spending more than 500,000 on hotel rooms, the council are giving residents 100 cash in hand, and a 20 daily food voucher for every person.

The new-build flats are on the Maiden Lane estate near King's Cross, a troubled estate undergoing extensive regeneration.

Gould says she is going to visit residents who are refusing to leave and attempt to resolve any reservations which they have about leaving.

The young leader, who has been in her job for just six weeks, is hoping the council does not have to resort to legal action against defiant residents.

She added: 'It's unsafe, the fire service have told us that, and we're going to have to work very very closely with them on this.

'Our advice to them is clear and if it comes to the point when they really won't leave, that is absolutely our last resort, the last thing we want to do is force people out of their homes.

'The most important thing is that we work with them to do this, we want to keep having this conversation.

'We've started work, and to complete that work as quickly as possible and get residents back in, we need those buildings to be empty.

'We already have people who have been staying with friends and family and they're coming back now to the rest centre, we expected that and we've said to everyone that if they've stayed elsewhere but now need accommodation, to come back here and register so we can look for a more permanent solution.

'We think that the rest centre will still have to be open tonight, some people will have to stay the night here.

'We had 60 people here from 23 families last night but we think that because people are coming back from friends and family that it will still have to be open tonight and we'll have to be reviewing that every day.'

Up to 14,000 people across the country are facing evacuation from their homes after tower blocks failed fire safety tests

Already, 4,000 residents in Camden, North London, have been forced to abandon their homes without warning

This morning, cladding installed on two blocks of flats in Portsmouth were removed by workers

Horatia House in Portsmouth is among several high rises throughout England deemed to be unsafe due to cladding concerns

A man was seen carrying a headboard from the Dorney Tower residential block, as residents were evacuated as a precautionary measure

The same man was later seen shifting a mattress from the evacuated residential block

Some residents have refused to leave the block despite concerns about fire safety

Another man was pictured carrying a puppy covered in a blanket away from the evacuated block

'I was so scared, he got so close to me - I could feel his breath on my face.

'We are not the villains here, we are the victims. We are not trying to impede any work whatsoever, we just want suitable accommodation.

'We are all scared, we are disrupted, we don't know how we are going to cope, cook, wash or anything at the moment.'

Steve Perolli, 49, is still refusing to leave his fourth floor flat in the Taplow block even though it has been declared unsafe to live in by firefighters.

He said he has consulted his solicitor amid the council's repeated attempts to force him, wife Kerry and his two step-daughters out of their home by stopping key fobs from working.

But he has resolved to stay put despite being handed a letter yesterday telling him to leave.

Steve said: 'I haven't heard anything else from the council, they've not sent us another letter that I'm aware of.

'I've consulted my solicitor because I've been living here for seven years with these risks, paying my rent and council tax, and it's not safe.

Two high-rise blocks on St James Drive in Bootle, Merseyside failed fire safety tests carried out this week, leading to panels being taken down this afternoon

Workmen use a cherry picker (pictured) to access panels at a high rise in Bootle, Merseyside

A police officer stood guard at the site of the evacuated residential block earlier today

A man with a plastic shopping bag walks up the stairs toward the entrace of the Dorney Tower residential block

Evacuated residents walk into the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre and Library, which is being used as a refuge by residents

Residents were seen wheeling large suitcases into the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre

'We need someone to act on behalf of us and I'm happy to do that. If they serve us legal notices that we have to leave then we will, but I'm away for work all week.

'They're trying to get us out, the key fobs aren't working any more, but I'll just get my wife to let me in if they won't open the door.'

Paula Schofield, a resident of Dorney for more than 24 years, said she will not be leaving her ninth floor flat until she has to.

'I want to stay in my home, I am prepared to leave if and when I have to, I have got somewhere to go and my suitcase is packed, but I would rather sleep tonight in my own bed,' the 54-year-old said.

Ms Schofield said it would require a court order for her to leave, and that she believes the council and fire service do have it within their powers to remove her and other tenants.

Council officers remained at the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre this morning, but there were few of the 50 residents there.

Workers remove panels of external cladding from the facade of a building in the Wythenshawe area of Manchester this morning

Some 34 high-rise buildings in 17 local authorities in England have already failed urgent fire tests conducted after Grenfell (pictured is a tower block in Manchester this morning)

Camden council leader Georgia Gould said she would be knocking on doors herself to persuade those remaining in their flats to leave.

She explained some residents have issues, including agoraphobia, and want to be sure they have got suitable accommodation before moving out of their flats.

'I'm going myself back to the blocks to knock on doors and have those conversations,' she told BBC News.

But asked if residents would be forced to leave, she said: 'If it comes to the point where people really, really won't leave, I mean, that is absolutely the last resort, the last thing I want to do is force people out of their homes, and the conversations I have been having with residents in these buildings is that they are happy to work with us.'

A man carrying shirts leaves Taplow Tower residential block on the Chalcots Estate. A fire safety expert branded the evacuation an 'ungodly mess'

At least 20 officials milled around the lobby of the building, with four sat at a registration desk waiting for residents to sign in.

The government has also been accused of a ludicrous failure after admitting it had failed to order compulsory testing of insulation materials, The Telegraph reports.

Already, 4,000 residents in Camden, North London, have been forced to abandon their homes without warning.

Some 650 households were evacuated from the Chalcots Estate with less than an hour's notice on Friday following a meeting between council officials and the London Fire Brigade.

Many families were forced to spend the night at the nearby Swiss Cottage leisure centre on airbeds amid what displaced resident described as 'chaotic' scenes.

And with other tower blocks now found to have been refurbished with the same combustible cladding as Grenfell, similar evacuations are expected elsewhere.

A cleric helped a family move from their home in the Dorney Tower residential block

Workers yesterday began removing the cladding from Burnham Tower on the Chalcot Estate

With Theresa May facing demands to declare a civil emergency last night, it was estimated the nationwide cost of housing residents while council-owned towers are made safe will hit tens of millions. Camden Council spent 500,000 on hotel rooms for just a single night, and another 100,000 on food and drink.

Government cost-cutting plans to ease fire safety standards in new schools have been dropped, according to The Observer.

It reported there has been a rethink at the Department of Education (DoE) which had started a consultation on new draft guidance last year.

A suggestion that 'school buildings do not need to be sprinkler protected to achieve a reasonable standard of safety' is to be stripped out of the revised draft guidance, according to The Observer.

A DoE spokesman said: 'There will be no change to the fire safety laws for schools or our determination to protect children's safety.

'It has always been the case, and remains the case, that where the risk assessment required for any new building recommends sprinklers are installed to keep children safe, they must be fitted.

'Alongside the rest of Government, we will take forward any findings from the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire.'

A man was seen carrying a mattress to his car as residents were evacuated from the Bray block on the Chalcots Estate

Steve Pirolli, 49, is a lorry driver who lives on the fourth floor of Taplow Tower with his partner and her two daughters

As safety fears widened on a day of chaos and confusion:

Birmingham's council leader urged the Government to intervene with emergency funds, warning that people 'up and down the country are going to bed afraid';

Camden residents refusing to evacuate were threatened with removal by police;

Others were promised temporary flats in a development workmen said was 'still a building site';

It emerged Grenfell could have been prevented had fire safety rules in England been as tough as in Scotland;

One of the nation's leading businessmen, who is behind a Grenfell fundraising initiative, said the 'chaotic' response to the disaster had led to a 'breakdown of trust' between politicians and people.

A vicar carries luggage as he helps residents evacuate the Dorney Tower residential block on the Chalcots Estate in north London on June 24

Residents were evacuated from the Dorney Tower residential block as a precautionary measure following concerns over the type of cladding used on the outside of the building

4,000 people left the Chalcots Estate in Camden on Friday night and were placed in temporary accommodation, hotels or with family

AFTER 39 YEARS, WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED! France Chan, 85, who is partially sighted and deaf, is staying put with his wife Amparo Amper in their first-storey flat in Dorney Tower They are among Camden residents still refusing to leave their high-rise homes. France Chan, 85, who is partially sighted and deaf, is staying put with his wife Amparo Amper, a 79-year-old retired nurse who has owned their first-storey flat in Dorney Tower since 1978. She said: 'The thought of having to leave everything behind is terrible. I don't know how we'd cope if we had to go.' Advertisement

Birmingham council leader John Clancy said 'we have to do what it takes' to ensure the safety of the city's 213 tower blocks.

'This is a national emergency,' he said. 'The Government needs to accept it's a national emergency and it needs to focus on this. As each day has gone by since this crisis started, there has been less clarity.'

Not all blocks found to have dangerous cladding similar to that used on Grenfell will need to be evacuated. The Prime Minister said it was possible for some councils to take 'mitigating action' enabling residents to stay put. But speaking in Liverpool yesterday, Mrs May said the Government would ensure councils take 'immediate action' over the failed tests, adding: 'Absolutely our first priority is people's safety.'

Camden Council said people from 83 households refused to leave on Friday night  and yesterday, despite the threat of legal action, 50 were still vowing to stay in their homes.

Steve Pirolli, 49, a lorry driver who lives on the fourth floor of Taplow Tower with his partner and her two daughters, said: 'They put up the cladding around us so surely they can take it down around us?'

Camden council leader Georgia Gould is questioned by resident Shirley Phillips outside the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre after Ms Phillips had to leave her home last night

Taplow resident Shirley Phillips' (C) daughter (R) voices her concerns to Camden Council leader Georgia Gould (L)

Some residents described being awoken by council staff in the early hours and warned that police would remove them if they didn't leave.

Lauren Mitchell, 30, who has lived in one of the towers since she was two weeks old, said: 'There was a knock at the door at 2am. It was a council official in an orange jacket.

'He said if you don't come out, the police will come and remove you.'

COUNCIL LEADER IS THE LEFT'S GOULD-EN GIRL Camden council leader Georgia Gould The woman at the centre of the Camden crisis, council leader Georgia Gould, above, boasts impeccable Blairite credentials. The Oxford-educated 31-year-old is the daughter of the late Philip Gould, Tony Blair's polling guru, and Labour peer Gail Rebuck. One Labour insider said they would be 'amazed' if she didn't make it to the Commons benches. Advertisement

Along with her mother and stepfather, she spent the night in a nearby leisure centre.

Camden Council leader Georgia Gould said: 'There are various legal routes that Camden Council could explore to require people to leave their homes  however, we really don't want to do this.'

Panels of cladding were removed from the five towers on the Chalcots Estate on Wednesday and sent off for lab tests. Camden hired the same firm that refurbished Grenfell Tower and the results revealed the cladding was highly combustible.

Ms Gould said: 'Originally our plan was to remove the cladding and that residents could stay in their homes while this was done. We had lined up a contractor to do the work.

'But the fire service was not happy with the insulation around the gas pipes in the buildings and how the pipes are joined. They also said there were issues with some of the fire doors being made out of unsatisfactory material.'

Miss Gould said the council was attempting to rehouse all its displaced residents, with many spending Friday night in hotels.

'We think the work will take four to six weeks. We have also been looking at student halls accommodation and we want to get people into 100 new flats by Monday.'

Asked about the 'new flats', an aide said they were in a new development two miles away.

Residents were seen looking out of windows in the Dorney Tower residential block

Left, the letter sent to residents on June 23, which some appear to have received after they were evacuated. Right, the fire safety advice inside the Camden block

But a Mail on Sunday reporter who visited the site was told by a builder: 'It doesn't seem likely to me that they will be in by Monday  the place is still a building site. These aren't due to be ready until later this year.'

Meanwhile, the council faced criticism for failing to publish the contents of a fire risk assessments carried out on the towers in the Chalcots Estate 18 months ago. Sian Berry, an opposition councillor and Green Party member, said: 'Issues inside the building should already have been dealt with by Camden.'

Last night, experts suggested the Grenfell Tower tragedy could have been prevented had fire safety rules in England been as tough as in Scotland.

Current building regulations for England, Wales and Northern Ireland are said to be 'ambiguous' when it comes to cladding facades and insulation on the walls of high-rises.

People leave Taplow Tower in north London after returning for extra possessions. The council has put a fund of 100,000 aside to help those who need funds during the next few days

A man carries his pet cat as he and a woman leave the Taplow building on Saturday afternoon. Thousands of people will have to move out of four buildings for around two to four weeks

A woman carries bags out of the tower block after the sudden announcement last night. The council leader explained that they had to act quickly when the firefighters warning came

Despite the warning from the firefighters, some 83 people have decided to stay in their homes and are resolute in their determination not to go

A resident (L) is helped by a council official as she leaves Burnham Tower residential block with some of her things in a carrier bag

Two residents pick up more from their homes after being told they will be out for around two to four weeks for the fire safety work to be carried out

But rules north of the border are far simpler and state clearly that all external wall cladding on high-rise domestic buildings should be 'constructed of non-combustible material' .

Meanwhile the chairman of recruitment giant Reed, who is spearheading a campaign to raise millions of pounds for victims, said the lack of quick and decisive action following Grenfell had led to a 'breakdown of trust' between politicians and local people.

James Reed, 54, who has lived in the Kensington area with his family for years and can see the Tower from his house, said people like him had stepped into the breach to ensure that victims got the help they needed.

'I think they will remain angry and suspicious of officialdom for some time to come,' he said.

Additional reporting: Michael Powell, Padraic Flanagan, Charlotte Wace and Sanchez Manning

They were hastily put up in the leisure centre after safety checks were carried out all day and the decision was made late in the evening

Rows and rows of inflatable single mattresses were lined up on the floor of the leisure centre where thousands of residents were placed for the night

Left Tallow Tower on Saturday morning, after the residents were told to leave as quickly as possible, and right, one of the narrow mattresses at the centre with an Ambulance Pack on top

Residents complained they were given little notice about the evacuation and some were sent to a 'rescue centre' full of airbeds

Tallow Tower on Saturday morning after the residents were evacuated and moved to the leisure as temporary accommodation. 83 people have stayed

The Grenfell, in which at least 79 people are believed to have died, has raised questions about cheap, flammable cladding. The plastic panels that were fitted to the outside of the 24-storey tower block were blamed for the fire spreading

Councils across Britain race to test their tower cladding Burnham residential tower on the Chalcots Estate, Camden, where cladding is being removed CONFIRMED CAMDEN The cladding was tested this week and, although different to that used in Grenfell, was found to be made up of 'aluminium panels with a polyethylene core'. The council has since said it will seek legal advice and accused contractors of fitting flammable materials below the commissioned standard. It also pledged round-the-clock fire safety patrols on the estate's corridors. DEVON Three high-rise tower blocks in Devon have been found to be clad in the same combustible material to the Grenfell Tower in London. Occupants of the 16-storey Lynher, Tamar and Tavy buildings in Plymouth were told of the potential fire risk to their buildings yesterday (Wed). Fire precautions at the buildings were checked urgently and the towers will now be monitored round the clock by security teams. MANCHESTER Wythenshawe Community Housing Group said 78 panels were being removed from a small area of the Village 135 development. Wythenshawe Community Housing Group (WCHG) said: 'We can confirm following early fire safety actions taken we have been able to detect that our Village 135 scheme has been identified as having 78 feature panels which are located in a small area of the overall development, works to remove these panels will commence today.' ISLINGTON Islington Council said cladding was to be removed from Braithwaite House, one of eight blocks tested, after it was found to have aluminium composite material. Test results from the other blocks, Harvist Estate and Brunswick Estate, are yet to be returned, a spokesman said. Councillor Diarmaid Ward said: 'Last night we received results of tests on cladding on the side of Braithwaite House, and they have confirmed the presence of Aluminium Composite Material (ACM). 'We're arranging to have the cladding, which is only on the sides of the building, removed as soon as we possibly can by a specialist contractor. BEING TESTED BARNET Barnet Homes, the council-owned company which runs 24 high-rise blocks in the borough, is reviewing safety in 10 blocks. Three blocks - Granville Point, Harpenmead Point and Templemead point - were reclad in 2012 and have similar panels to Grenfell Tower. They were inspected on Monday and the insulation materials were found to be non-combustible. The other seven blocks have different cladding to Grenfell but are being inspected as a 'precautionary' measure, the council said. NEWHAM Three of the borough's 88 tall buildings have so-called ACM cladding which could be a fire risk. The cladding on these three buildings is now being tested. A spokesman for the council said: 'Once the results are known, we will take whatever action is necessary to ensure our residents are safe. Rivers Apartments in Tottenham, north London, where a review is being carried out of the cladding 'We have already written to tenants and leaseholders in the three blocks explaining what is going on and will keep them informed of all developments.' HARINGEY The London Borough of Haringey owns 54 blocks over six storeys high. None of our blocks have the Reynobond aluminium cladding system that was used on Grenfell Tower. Rivers Apartments, a 22-storey block owned by a Housing Association, is being tested over fears it has the same cladding as Grenfell Tower. HOUNSLOW Only one of the borough's 35 high-rise buildings has the cladding of the type being tested. It is called Clements Court. A council spokesman said: 'We have now taken a sample of this cladding and submitted it to the Building Research Establishment (BRE) and the DCLG as part of its national inspection exercise, which will examine the detail composition of the outer ACM aluminium cladding. Behind the cladding, however, the system is insulated with a 'rockwool' material which is a non-combustable product, and the installation of the system is solely external and did not interfere with the interior of the building. SUTTON The council has eight blocks in its borough - the highest of which is 16 storeys - and has pledged to undergo a 'comprehensive review of fire safety'. Two blocks have cladding but using different materials than what was used in Grenfell. WESTMINSTER Harley Facades, who refurbished Grenfell Tower, supplied the over-cladding at six tower blocks on the Little Venice estate, but the type of cladding used is different, with non-flammable insulation. As a precaution, urgent checks are being carried out on the cladding system and the way it was installed. The local authority has visited all 41 of its tower blocks to review their fire evacuation plans. HAVERING The council has no tower blocks which are higher than 14 storeys. Inspections are being carried out on the other blocks they have in the borough. SALFORD The council says nine of its tower blocks have cladding that is similar to the material used on Grenfell Tower. Tests are being carried out to check whether it is combustible. BELIEVED TO BE SAFE BARKING AND DAGENHAM There are four blocks in the borough which have cladding, but the council said it is not the same type as used on Grenfell Tower. CROYDON 16 cladded blocks have been found not to have been clad with the same materials as Grenfell Tower. However, they are being tested as a precaution. GREENWICH The council said that none of the 105 high-rise buildings in Greenwich are clad in the same way as Grenfell Tower. Grenfell's fire has led to councils across the UK testing if their cladding is dangerous HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM The council owns three tower blocks which have cladding, but the materials used are different to Grenfell Tower. RICHMOND The council has two 15-storey blocks which have both been recently over-clad with fire resistant cladding. WANDSWORTH There are three blocks in the borough with cladding. The council is carrying out tests but officers are confident they are safe. DONCASTER Cladding different but 'capping' under windowsills is the same, so they are being checked and tests urgently taken. Statement from St Leger Homes: 'The cladding system we have used in Doncaster is an External Wall Insulation (EWI) Render System which is not the same as was used at Grenfell Tower. The core cladding system we have used is different to that used in Grenfell Tower. 'However, we are aware that a small capping detail under the windows of Silverwood House is similar to that used on Grenfell Tower. Whilst this minor capping work (not the window frames or external cladding) is a different make and supplier to that used in London, we are seeking expert advice and ensuring that extensive further testing is urgently undertaken.' NEWCASTLE Your Homes Newcastle, which manages 38 high rise blocks on behalf of the Newcastle City Council, has reassured tenants that the type of cladding used on the Grenfell Tower has not been used on any of its buildings. The council said it is still reviewing building regulation records for existing high rise residential buildings over 18m in height. They said the priority was 'to identify buildings which have been retrofitted with external cladding and to check if the cladding specified is 'aluminium composite material'.' LEEDS The council said there are 22 blocks with cladding but none are made from flammable material NOTTINGHAM They have 13 blocks, none of which use aluminium cladding LIVERPOOL Council said it is still investigating whether privately owned properties have the cladding  the council does not have any housing stock itself ROTHERHAM There is only one block, but it has no external cladding HARTLEPOOL There is only one council block, owned by social housing provide 13. Investigations are taking place to see what the situation is with the cladding WAKEFIELD None of the 2 high rise blocks  managed by company WDH - are clad with the aluminium panels. Statement said: 'Only five have had external wall insulation, which is not a cosmetic treatment and is fixed directly to the super structure, rendered with no air gap, is non-combustible and we have the relevant manufacturer's guarantees confirming the safety of all products used.' Advertisement




Italy's right celebrated Monday after big victories in local elections, with all eyes on a potential comeback for former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi - just months before the country holds national elections.

The 80-year-old billionaire's Forza Italia (Go Italy) party and the far-right Northern League won 16 of the 22 cities up for grabs Sunday.

Their victory was a shock setback for the governing centre-left Democratic Party.

Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the far-right Northern League dominated the local elections

The loss of the city of Genoa was a particularly big blow. The northern city has traditionally been a bastion of the left, but it passed to the centre-right for the first time.

Former centre-left prime minister Matteo Renzi, dismissed the wins as having little bearing on national voter sentiment.

But the mood on the left was sombre. Editorialist Riccardo Barenghi wrote in the left-leaning Italian newspaper La Stampa that it 'couldn't have gone worse'.

He added: 'Not just for Matteo Renzi, not just for the [Democratic Party]. But for the whole of the Italian left.'

'[It was] as if we'd gone back 23 years to when the left was beaten by the Cavaliere ('The Knight', Berlusconi's nickname), who appeared on the scene like a rabbit from a magician's hat, and today reappears like a castigating ghost.'

The next general election must be held by spring 2018, but the coalition supporting Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni is fragile and many experts say the government could call elections for late in the year.

Left-leaning Italian newspaper La Stampa that it 'couldn't have gone worse' for the left

At the national level, the PD and the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) are running neck-and-neck in the polls, each with about 30 percent of voter intentions, while Forza Italia and the Northern League are each hovering at around 14 percent.

Political commentator Stefano Folli called Sunday's results 'a searing and very painful loss for the left.'

He wrote in the left-leaning La Republica: 'Berlusconi reveals himself to be politically immortal.

Berlusconi, 80, had been largely absent from politics - though not the gossip pages - following his ousting in 2011 and his party had since struggled with internal divisions and corruption scandals.

Berlusconi's 'Bunga Bunga' parties Silvio Berlusconi's lurid sex parties became infamous all around the world Silvio Berlusconi's return might have seemed like an impossibility two years ago when details of his lurid sex parties surfaced. The 'elegant dinners' would take place at the tycoon's mansion in the outskirts of Milan. An Italian court heard that they'd involve pole dancing, strip teases and erotic games performed for Berlusconi by troupes of young women. The girls all received cash and rewards in return for attending the parties. Two women invited to a 'bunga bunga' party - Ambra Battilana and Chiara Danese - claimed women at the notorious events would grope the media tycoon's genitals while singing 'Thank Goodness for Silvio'. They said that at one point Berlusconi brought in a statue of a little man with a huge penis. Berlusconi then 'began passing it around the girls, and he asks them to kiss the penis.' Advertisement

On Sunday it benefited in part by picking up votes from supporters of Five Star, which performed poorly in the first round and failed to make it into run-offs in any of the largest cities.

But he boasted that he injected energy into his party's efforts. He said: 'I'm back and you can see the results.

'If we remain united we will win the general election. And we will do so with a programme that I'm drawing up and will make public soon.'

Renzi, 42, limited himself to admitting that 'it could have gone better.'

Silvio Berlusconi was previously found guilty today of paying Moroccan Karima-El Mahroug, nicknamed 'Ruby the Heart-Stealer' for sex at a 'bunga bunga' party

The former media tycoon, who was also up until recently the owner of AC Milan, served nine years in three separate terms as Italian Prime Minister - making him the third-longest Italian PM since the country unified.

In 2013 he was sentenced to seven years in jail for sex and corruption offences - including having sex with 'Ruby the Heartstealer', a Moroccan nightclub dancer who was just 17 at the time.

Berlusconi was accused of using his influence to get Ruby, real name Karima-El Mahroug, released from Police custody.

The conviction, however, was later overturned.
Security footage shows the moment two robbers broke into a Brentwood, California home and were shot dead by the owner.

The video, which was released by neighbor Reggie Nichols, shows the two men entering the home on the 200 block of Birch Street a little after 11pm on June 21.

Shortly after entering, flashes of light are seen inside the garage as the homeowner shoots at the two.

The homeowner is then seen chasing the two men outside and shooting at them more.

Video shows the moment two robbers broke into a Brentwood, California home last week and were shot dead by the owner

The two men are seen looking around the home's garage right before they are shot

Soon after entering the garage, bright flashes of light are seen as the homeowner shoots at the two men

The homeowner then chased the two men outside and continued shooting

When police arrived at the scene, the two robbers were pronounced dead.

Their names have not yet been released, as authorities are trying to inform their families first. Police have only described them as two men in their 30s from Antioch.

Nichols said he saw a car drive off after the shooting, suggesting that a getaway driver may be at large. But police wouldn't say whether they are seeking more suspects.

The homeowner - who is also not being identified - was briefly detained by police and then released. He was not injured in the incident.

The two men were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identities have not yet been released. Above, the home where the shooting took place

A bullet hole is seen in the windshield of a truck that was parked in the driveway at the time of the shooting

Police say they do not plan to charge him as he acted in self defense.

'The preliminary information shows it to be a home-invasion robbery,' Brentwood police Lt. Walter OGrodnick told the East Bay Times. 'Two suspects. One with a firearm. They presented a threat, and the shooting was prompted in self-defense.'

The homeowner told police that the two men burst into his home and then demanded that he open his safe.

Tarp was set up at the scene to hide the bodies of the two men while police investigated

The home was located just 100 yards from a middle school.

Neighbors were shocked since the area is considered quiet and safe. In fact, the incident marked the first time in more than five years that there has been a homicide in the town.

'I'm ticked off, because this kind of stuff doesn't happen around here,' Nichols told the East Bay Times. 'It's a good neighborhood. It's been a really long time since something like this.'

Anyone with information on the incident is being asked to contact Det. Eric Huesman at 925-809-7735.
President Trump and daughter Ivanka may have attended an A-list DC wedding on Saturday, but it was Donald Trump Jr. who seemed to be having all the fun this weekend.

For the third straight year, Don Jr. celebrated the start of summer by heading down to the Bahamas for some sun, surf and a whole lot of fishing.

Don Jr. also proudly posted photos of a few of the aquatic animals he manged to wrangle out of the sea while on vacation, despite past outcry over his hunting of animals.

In one photo, he is seen holding a giant Grouper that is more than five-feet long, giving the fish an approximate weight of 140 lbs.

In another picture posted to Instagram, Don Jr. smiles in his snorkel gear while holding two giant conch shells.

That image is followed by one of some fried conch, with Don Jr. writing: 'Before and after.'

PETA president Ingrid Newkirk sresponded to Don Jr's photos in a statement on Monday, saying: 'We wish that Donald Trump Jr. would heed what his father has said about "not" being "a believer in hunting" or in fishing, because it's "painful for the fish."'

Big fish: Donald Trump Jr. posted a photo of a Grouper he caught that was over five-feet long, which would have an approximate weight of 140 lbs. (above)

Junior league: A family photo shows only Don Jr.'s three youngest children - Tristan, Spencer and Chloe - with their mom Vanessa (above)

Look at this stuff, isn't it neat: In another photo he smiles in his snorkel gear while proudly displaying two conch shells he dredged up from the ocean floor (above)

All fried out: The conch shells picture was followed by an image of some friend conch (above), with Don Jr. writing: 'Before and after'

Don Jr. was joined on the trip by his wife Vanessa and their three youngest children: 5-year-old Tristan, 4-year-old Spencer and 3-year-old Chloe.

Oldest daughter Kai, 10, and son Donald III, 8, were noticeably absent from this year's family photo.

Don Jr. was also missing from the picture her posted, which showed Vanessa with Chloe on her lap and the two boys by her side on a boat.

'Family boat day. Good times on the water. #family #weekend #familytime #water #sports,' wrote Don Jr.

The family previously vacationed down in the Bahamas in June of 2015 and July of 2016, taking an additional trip in December of 2015 during which they rang in the New Year on the islands.

Each year the group seems to enjoy the same activities, with Kai and Donald III seen fishing alongside their father in years past.

In a photo from 2016, dad and his two oldest kids can all be seen holding Snappers, which are much smaller than the Grouper reeled in by Don Jr. over the weekend.

'Deep jigging some snapper for dinner with Kai and D3. My version of organic eating, wrote Don Jr.

The trip last year fell on Fourth of July weekend, with the family opting to go earlier this time around.

Locals: Don Jr. posted a photo of the feral pigs on Exuma, writing: ''Had some visitors come say hello at the beach today. #family #beach #weekend #bacon'

Into the blue: Don Jr. kicked of the morning ion Saturday with a scuba diving excursion (above)

The end: Don Jr's last post of the weekend showed the suns setting over the water (above)

Weekend wedding: Don Jr.'s thrice-married father joined wife Melania (left) and Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen (right) for the wedding of Steve Mnuchin and Louise Linton (center) on Saturday

Think pink: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner also attended the wedding, despite the fact that it fell before sundown on Saturday

The Trumps also take a trip to the famous Pig Beach every year, located on the island of Exuma.

This year was no different, and once again Don Jr. shared a photo of the experience.

A colony of feral pics live on the uninhabited island, and they have become a big tourist attraction for those who make the trip to the Bahamas and can find a way to take a boat out to the destination.

Don Jr. posted a photo of two of these pigs on his Instagram, writing: 'Had some visitors come say hello at the beach today. #family #beach #weekend #bacon.'

In last year's photo, Vanessa could be seen posing on the bow of a boat while a disinterested pig strolled by in front of her.

President Trump's ever-active namesake also posted a photo of himself enjoying 'a little morning dive to kick off the day' and one of the sunset on Sunday.

'Sun going down in a great weekend,' wrote Don Jr.

Blast from the past: On the family's last trip to the Bahamas, Don Jr. posted a photo as he went fishing with Donald III and Kai (above in July 2016)

Letting loose: Vanessa posed for a photo on the bow of the boat while a disinterested pig walked by on the 2016 trip (above)

The whole gang (and pig): Spencer and Chloe with Don Jr., Kai and Donald III and Vanessa with Tristan back in 2016 (above)

It was not just family on the trip either, as the photo of Vanessa with her three youngest children appears to show Joshua Jorgensen from BlacktipH in the background.

Jorgensen is the man who was by Don Jr.'s side back in March when he caught a Blacktip shark off the coast of Florida.

In a video that was later posted on the BlacktipH YouTube channel, Don Jr. could be seen battling with the noble marine creature for 10 minutes on the beach before managing to pull the shark ashore.

He then posed for a few photos next to and on the animal before releasing it into the water.

On his Facebook page this week, Jorgensen has been posting videos about past grouper catches, which suggests that Don Jr. may once again be seen doing battle with a very large aquatic animal in a video later this week.
President Donald Trump smacked Democrats again on Monday for obstructing changes to the national healthcare law that Republicans say is crashing and burning.

Trump said the opposing party has 'no policies or ideas' and just wants to 'delay and complain.'

'Republican Senators are working very hard to get there, with no help from the Democrats. Not easy! Perhaps just let OCare crash & burn!' the president said on Twitter.

His message was seemingly at odds with his own press secretary's claim Friday that Sen. Joe Manchin was amendable to 'getting some Democrats together' to discuss the Senate GOP's health care plan.

Manchin subsequently said, in an interview Sunday on Face the Nation, that neither the Senate's GOP leader nor the president had reached out to him.

President Donald Trump smacked Democrats again on Monday for obstructing changes to the national healthcare law that Republicans say is crashing and burning

His message was seemingly at odds with his own press secretary's claim Friday that Sen. Joe Manchin was amendable to 'getting some Democrats together' to discuss the Senate GOP's health care plan

Most Democrats have come out against the Republican plan that includes a tax cut for the wealthy at the expense of Medicare, the government-funded health program for the elderly.

'This healthcare bill IS mean,' Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said last week on Twitter, railing against a draft of the bill that leaked on the eve of a formal announcement. 'Cutting Medicaid to the bone is mean. Cutting treatment for opioid abuse is mean. Cutting support for people in nursing homes is mean!'

The bill that's currently under consideration in the Senate rolls back an Obama-era expansion of Medicaid, the government's health program for the poor, slower than the House GOP's plan, in a concession to moderates.

But Democrats are against a plan to send states their Medicaid money in a lump sum - a move that the Trump administration has stressed will give governors more flexibility even though it cuts their federal funding for means-based program.

Republicans have made it their primary goal this year to repeal and replace the existing health care law with one that's built on conservative principles. The House passed a new law in May that Trump later chastised as 'mean.'

Lawmakers from the president's party revised the law to mandate that insurers cover consumers with pre-existing conditions and maintain insurance subsidies in Obamacare for middle-class Americans.

The changes were made in secret and revealed last Wednesday, with a vote set for this week, irking Democrats and Republicans in the Senate who wanted more time to debate the legislation and have hearings.

Trump spent the last several weeks beating Democrats over the head for refusing to participate in the reform process.

Schumer said Sunday that his party has sent 10 letters asking a meeting and they were rebuffed.

'They want to try it themselves first. If they fail, hopefully theyll come sit down. Theyll stop sabotaging Obamacare and sit down with us and well make Obamacare better,' he said.

Five conservative senators have said they cannot support the bill in its current form. They want stricter changes to the law that the White House has said it will pursue later after it completes phase one of a planned overhaul.

With a slim 52-48 majority, Republicans must win three of them back or begin working on moderate Democrats.

Sen. Joe Manchin says that neither the Senate's GOP leader nor the president had reached out to him about the health care repeal bill. He'd be willing to talk if they drop the term 'replace' and use the word 'repair'

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that Trump had been in touch with multiple senators, including three of the holdouts.

Trump spoke to Republicans Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Ron Johnson, he said. The president also put in a call to Shelley Moore Capito and several others the Trump spokesman could not name off the top of his head.

Paul said in a CNN interview shortly after that he told Trump he could get on board with the bill if we narrow the focus.

Let's just say we aren't going to fix everything, he said. Let's say we're going to try to repeal as much of we can of Obamacare.

Once its no longer a debate about repeal, Paul predicted more people would be willing to engage in a discussion about fixing it.

Spicer had played it cool in a briefing last Friday where he said that Trump intends to work with GOP lawmakers who have concerns about the bill to turn their nays into yeas.

'But I know Senator Manchin talked about potentially getting some Democrats together, and the President welcomes that,' he added.

Confronted by DailyMail.com about the president's numerous claims that no Democrats would vote the bill no matter how good it is, Spicer said Trump 'doesnt believe that well end up getting any.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had noted in briefing last Friday that Manchin was willing to have a discussion - undermining the president's health care claims

'I think its encouraging that, as we evolve through this process, that you see someone like Senator Manchin say, I agree that the system is broken and Im willing to fix it,' the president's spokesman said. 'Now, whether or not we ultimately can get his vote, thats another question. But I think its encouraging that someone like him wants to step forward and engage in a discussion.'

Manchin said Sunday on CBS News' Face the Nation that the president still had not spoken with him. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had not reached out either as of the appearance, he told host John Dickerson.

'Now they're going to get rid of it with not one Democrat. And, John, if they don't have me sitting down, someone is who is in the middle, who wants to work with them to get good policy, they are in serious problems,' the moderate West Virginia senator who was added this year to his party's leadership team said.

The senator said he'd be willing to talk if Republicans step back from Obamacare repeal. Manchin says he told Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy, 'If you take repeal off the table, sit down and talk about repair and fixing what we have and how to make it better, I'm with you, and I said we will get more Democrats that will sit down.'

If that were the case, Manchin said he'd have Schumer's blessing to start a working group.

Trump signaled Monday that he was not willing to engage on those terms.

'The Democrats have become nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS, they have no policies or ideas. All they do is delay and complain.They own ObamaCare!' he stated.

Spicer told DailyMail.com later in the day, at an off-camera briefing, that he did not know if the president had spoke to Manchin - or any other Democrats - about supporting the legislation, yet.

'That being said, you know, we've made it very clear for seven plus years that we're gonna repeal and replace' Obamacare, he added.

The White House official indicated with his answer that Manchin's demand is a non-starter.
A heroin user has denied telling fellow prison inmates not to call for help as her best friend overdosed for fear staff would ruin her 'stone'.

Paigh Bartholomew died on a mattress from a mixture of heroin and Alprazolam (or Xanax) toxicity in the common area of the minimum security Emu Plains Correctional Centre, in Sydney's west, in the early hours of June 16, 2012.

A former inmate, who also admitted taking heroin that night, told an inquest she stayed up until 2.30am with Ms Bartholomew, who appeared 'pretty stoned', 'really pale' and 'at the beginning, her eyes were rolling'.

A heroin user has denied telling fellow prison inmates not to call for help as her best friend overdosed for fear staff would ruin her 'stone' (stock image)

The woman, who slept on a couch at the Coroner's Court before giving evidence because she 'had a big night', denied telling other prisoners that if Ms Bartholomew hadn't overdosed in one-and-a-half hours she would be fine.

'Do you remember saying 'I don't want staff to ruin my stone'?' counsel assisting Joanna Davidson asked on Monday.

'No,' the woman, who cannot be named, replied.

Ms Bartholomew was blue around the mouth, eyes and arms when she was found by a prison officer in the lounge room about 7am, Ms Davidson said.

Her prison friend denied initially telling police Ms Bartholomew had taken so much heroin she was 'going to drop'.

'I was asking her 'You're a bit stoned, I'm worried about you, I think we need to buzz up',' she told the inquest.

Paigh Bartholomew died on a mattress in the common area of the minimum security Emu Plains Correctional Centre (pictured) in the early hours of June 16, 2012

'But she wouldn't have it.'

She said a third heroin-taking inmate threatened others into not alerting prison officers by saying 'If anyone buzzes up, I swear....'

The inquest heard Ms Bartholomew's cell window had been pushed out and she'd tried to escape the day before or on the day she died.

The former inmate said Ms Bartholomew had kicked the window and jumped out with the intention to escape, but returned not long after with bruises on her legs.

She went out the window a second time to speak to some people at the perimeter fence, then came back and injected drugs, she said.

Ms Davidson said correctional officers didn't conduct the required security check on the doors and windows on June 15 despite initially stating they had.
A Thomas Cook plane heading to Cuba has been forced to turn back and land back in Manchester with a broken wing after a low oil alert.

The flight landed around 3pm and was pictured with the tip of its left wing missing.

A spokesman for Manchester Airport told MailOnline the flight left for the Caribbean at 12.20pm with 322 passengers on board, and was forced to turn back while flying over Ireland.

A Thomas Cook plane heading to Cuba has been forced to turn back and land in Manchester with a broken wing after a low oil alert

The flight landed around 3pm and was pictured with the tip of its left wing missing

A spokesman for Manchester Airport told MailOnline the flight left for The Caribbean at 12.20pm and was forced to turn back while flying over Ireland

Thomas Cook said the plane had a 'suspected technical fault' in mid-air and had to return.

A spokesman told MailOnline: 'Thomas Cook Airlines flight MT2652 to Holguin returned to Manchester as a precaution after a low oil indication, unrelated to the wing.

'Safety always comes first and the aircraft will undergo a full safety check before returning to service.

'We are sorry to our customers for the delay and will get them back on the way as soon as possible.'

He added: 'The plane's wingtip is currently being repaired. In the interim the aircraft is safe and legal to fly in this condition.'

The flight to Hoguin was meant to have left Manchester at 9.55am, but was delayed by more than two hours.

It was scheduled to arrive in Cuba at 2.35pm local time (7.35pm in the UK).

Thomas Cook has arranged overnight accommodation in a hotel for the passengers, while the plane is undergoing maintenance.

Thomas Cook said the plane had a 'suspected technical fault' mid-air and had to return

Thomas Cook flight from Manchester to Holguin in Cuba turned back after about an hour of flight and land back at Manchester Airport with the tip of one of its wings missing
Norwegians have raised 20,000 euros (17,600) to re-erect the 'Troll penis' rock after the popular tourist attraction was hacked off by vandals.

The crowdfunding campaign was launched after joggers discovered the phallic rock formation in Egersund, southern Norway, had been damaged on Saturday.

Experts say that drilling holes in the rock suggest that the attraction, known as the Trollpikken in Norwegian, was deliberately vandalised.

Norwegians have raised 20,000 euros (17,600) to re-erect the 'Troll penis' rock after the popular tourist attraction was hacked off by vandals. Pictured is the Trollpikken rock formation before it was damaged

In just two days, the crowdfunding campaign has already received donations from more than a thousand people and is just shy of its 20,500 euro (18,000 target).

After starting the the campaign, Kjetil Bentsen told public broadcaster NRK that he was convinced the Trollpikken 'will be rebuilt' with donated money.

Meanwhile, Olav Magne Egebakken, who noticed that the rock formation had been damaged, said he was convinced it was vandalised.

He told Norways TV 2 network: 'It looks like someone has used a drill on top. This is vandalism, there is no doubt.'

Photographs of the damaged rock formation were quickly posted on social media over the weekend.

Police are appealing for information to find the person or persons who did it.

If caught, they could face a one-year prison sentence for a serious environmental crime.
A doctor who 'inappropriately examined the breasts and buttocks of a 12-year-old girl' has been found guilty of professional misconduct.

Dr Elvin Suet Pang Cheng has now had his medical practitioner's registration cancelled after the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal handed down its findings.

In a decision published this month, the Tribunal said the western Sydney doctor's conduct 'arose out of examinations... on five female patients'.

The New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal has found a western Sydney doctor guilty of professional misconduct (stock image)

'In February 1993 he inappropriately examined the breasts and buttocks of a 12-year-old girl without an adult being present and continued to conduct inappropriate physical examinations of a sexual nature on this patient in 1995 and 1997,' the published decision read.

'In 1993, he conducted examinations on a 13-year-old girl without the presence of any adult person in an inappropriate manner touching intimate parts of her body.'

That same year, Dr Cheng conducted an examination of an adult female in an inappropriate manner, the tribunal said, while two adult female patients were examined inappropriately in September 2012 and in 2013.

The decision went on to say there was no other reason to explain Dr Cheng's conduct other than he did it 'for sexual gratification'.

Tribunal said Dr Elvin Suet Pang Cheng conduct 'arose out of examinations... on five female patients' (stock image)

It later added 'his conduct arguably constitutes recurrent predatory sexualised behaviour that is aimed to satisfy his own personal needs and not the assessment or treatment of his patients'.

The Tribunal said Dr Cheng is unable to seek a review of the cancellation of his medical practitioner's registration for seven years from the date of its finding.

He told The Daily Telegraph: 'We are very disappointed [at the decision]. It is a difficult time. I suppose we have to push on'.

The paper reported police have launched an investigation following the Tribunal's decision.

Dr Cheng said he would appeal the Tribunal's decision.
Jared Kushner's real estate company received a $285million loan just a month before the election, it has been revealed.

Deutsche Bank lent Kushner's firm the money as part of a refinancing package for its property near Times Square in Manhattan, the Washington Post reports.

At the time, the bank was facing charges from New York state regulators that it aided a possible Russian money-laundering scheme. The case was settled in January.

Kushner's deal with the bank is now expected to form part of the probe being carried out by special counsel Robert Mueller into possible Russian influence in the election.

Jared Kushner's real estate firm received $285m from Deutsche Bank a month before the election, and amid allegations the bank aided a possible Russian money laundering scheme

Deutsche Bank is also Donald Trump's largest single lender, and his companies owe $364million to the institution, the Post reports.

Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee previously asked the bank to disclose the results of an internal investigation it carried out into whether Trump benefited from improper Russian money transfers.

The same letter raised the possibility that Kushner had been subjected to a similar investigation, though did not mention him by name.

Deutsche Bank refused to disclose any information, citing privacy laws.

Kushner also provided a personal guarantee on the loan which he did not to disclose to the Office of Government Ethics.

In a statement to the Post, Kushner's lawyer said he was under no obligation to disclose the guarantee.

News of the loan emerged as President Trump, Kushner's father-in-law, lashed out at the Obama administration over possible Russian meddling in the election.

Deutsche Bank is the biggest lender to businesses owned by Donald Trump. The Trump family's interactions with the bank are expected to be scrutinized by special counsel Robert Mueller as he investigates possible Russian interference in the election

Trump accused his predecessor of knowing about Russian interference but failing to do anything about it because he thought it would help Hillary Clinton.

'The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win and did not want to "rock the boat",' the President wrote on Twitter.

'He didn't "choke," he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good.'

'The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling,' he added.

'With 4 months looking at Russia under a magnifying glass, they have zero "tapes" of Trump people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology!'

Trump has acknowledged that Russia likely tried to interfere in the election, but has denounced investigations into possible Russian collusion with his campaign as a 'witch hunt.'

Obama did deliver warnings to Moscow during the election, but waited until afterward to take action - including a fresh round of sanctions.
Kevin Adams, 54, arrives at Bristol Crown Court before he is jailed for two years for the manslaughter of friend Dohoon Kim

A man has been jailed for two years after he fell asleep during a drug-fuelled sex game and left his tied-up partner to die with a gas mask around his face.

Kevin Adams, 54, was found guilty last week of the gross negligence manslaughter of his friend Dohoon Kim, 36, who died when the pair met for casual sex.

Mr Kim wore a gas mask and was tied up by his neck, wrists and ankles during the 'extreme' sex session, Bristol Crown Court heard.

The pair had taken mephedrone and GHB before engaging in the consensual session at Adams' home in Swindon, Wiltshire, in June 2015.

Mr Kim died from a combination of the restriction of his airways and the effect of drugs both he and Adams had taken.

Prosecutors said Adams had failed to ensure Mr Kim's safety during and after sex and then fell asleep without removing the gas mask or restraints.

Adams, who had denied manslaughter, was jailed for two years by Judge Neil Ford QC.

The judge told him: 'I have been urged to pass a sentence that falls within the sentences that could be suspended.

'I regret to say I cannot agree with this submission. Even though this death can be regarded as a tragic accident it nonetheless was caused by your gross negligence and I cannot lose sight of the fact a life was lost.'

Judge Ford described the case as 'very unusual' and told Adams: 'You and the deceased had met on a website for those who are interested in what can be properly described as 'extreme homosexual practices'.

'You were the dominant partner and Mr Kim the submissive.'

Adams had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of Class A, B and C drugs and Judge Ford imposed no separate penalty.

Pavlos Panayi QC, defending, said Adams was the main carer for his 84-year-old father who was in poor health.

'It is a phrase that is often overused in a crown court but this is a case that can be described as a tragedy,' he said.

'Nobody intended any harm to come to anyone that night. It is a tragedy for Dohoon Kim, his family, his partner and friends.

'It is tragedy that this defendant failed to flick a carabiner and if he had, Dohoon Kim would have lived.'

Prosecutors said Adams had failed to ensure Mr Kim's safety during and after sex and then fell asleep without removing the gas mask or restraints

During the trial, the court heard the emergency services attended Adams' terraced home after he called 999, reporting that he had found Mr Kim unresponsive and not breathing.

Paramedics attended and found Mr Kim, from Slough, Berkshire, had been dead for some time and could not be resuscitated.

A post-mortem examination found Mr Kim had low levels of GHB in his body and an 'excessive' level of M-Cat.

Mr Kim was born in South Korea and moved to the UK in 2001, meeting his partner Mark Ciccone a short time later. The couple began living together in 2012.

Jurors heard Mr Kim was a 'submissive' who regularly met 'dominant' men - including Adams - for sex, with the permission of Mr Ciccone.

The defendant and the deceased had met 12 times before and on the 13th occasion, Mr Kim had travelled from Slough to Adams' home.

Text messages between the pair, who had met about two years previously on a dating website, refer to being 'chemmed-up' - having sex while taking drugs.

Adams maintained he had not fallen asleep but had 'passed out' due to the effects of drugs and physical exhaustion.

Detective Chief Inspector Jeremy Carter, of Wiltshire Police, said: 'This was a tragic and needless death of a man described by his work colleagues as an industrious and ambitious person who clearly had a bright future ahead of him.

'Kim had spent the evening at Adams' home address in Swindon where the pair had taken a cocktail of drugs before engaging in sexual activity involving restraint and bondage activity.

'Adams had a responsibility to look after Kim's welfare and he failed to do so with tragic consequences. The restrains which had been placed on Kim, together with the mixture of drugs both men had taken that evening, proved fatal.'

He plans to appeal.
A young couple said their month-old son saved them from a deadly landslide that buried more than 100 people in south-west China.

Xiao Chunyan and her husband Qiao Dashuai, both 26 years old, were woken up by their crying son when they realised their house was shaking.

They fled their home with their baby on the early morning of June 24, seconds before their village was wiped out.

Xiao Chunyan (right) and her husband Qiao Dashuai (left) were woken by their cry baby (held by Ms Xiao) seconds before the landslide hit the Xinmo Village in China on June 24

Doctors were examining little Qiao Daochun after he and his parents were sent to the hospital

The picture shows the Xinmo village before it was buried by the landslide on Saturday

Qiao Dashua, Xiao Chunyan and their son Qiao Daochun are the only survivors from the landslide which devoured the entire village of Xinmo (pictured) in south-west China

The massive landslide buried the entire village of Xinmo in a mountainous region of Sichuan province at around 6am on Saturday.

Ten bodies have been found, and 93 people remain missing.

Qiao Dashua, Xiao Chunyan and their son Qiao Daochun are the only ones rescued so far.

According to Chengdu Business Newspaper, the mother, Ms Xiao, was woken up by little Daochun at around 6am.

Household goods are scattered among the debris as rescue workers search for victims

Rescue workers line up along a giant pit as they prepare to search for victims on June 25

A sniffer dog waits with other rescue workers at the site of a landslide in Maoxian County

The woman said she got up and changed nappies for her son before trying to go back to bed. Suddenly, she felt the mountain was shaking. So she carried her son and fled the house.

Boulders and mud had already hit her home as she and her husband tried to escape, according to her accounts.

Seconds after Ms Xiao, her son and her husband fled to safety, the whole village was wiped out.

At around 9am, the family of three were taken to the hospital.

The adults are in a stable condition, while the baby has been sent to an intensive care unit with pneumonia induced by mud inhalation.

Ms Xiao said her grandmother, parents and two-year-old daughter remain missing.

Heavy machinery is deployed to move debris during the search for victims in Xinmo village

Rescue workers use a lifeboat to access some areas at the site of the landslide in Xinmo village

Saturday's landslide carried an estimated 18 million cubic meters (636 million cubic feet) of earth and rock - equivalent to more than 7,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools - when it slid down from steep mountains.

Some of it fell from as high as 1.6 kilometers (1 mile).

More than 2,500 rescuers arrived in Xinmo village in Mao County to search the rubble for survivors.

Rescue dog were sent in by a zipline to save people trapped under the debris.

On Saturday, Wang Yong, a member of China's State Council, or cabinet, was dispatched to the disaster site.

He urged an all-out search-and-rescue effort and measures to prevent further disasters by monitoring geological activity, Xinhua reported.

Women grieves near a bodies covered by tarp after it was recovered from the landslide site. Rescuers have found 10 bodies from the debris, but 93 people remain missing

Rescue crews were ordered to evacuate the site today amid fears over a second landslide

Relatives burn incense and paper offerings to appease the dead at the site of the landslide

After working for around 48 hours non-stop, rescue crews were ordered on Monday to evacuate the site, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The order was issued after radar detected shifts in the ground where the mountains collapsed on Saturday, Xinhua said.

It wasn't clear if the rescue efforts had been suspended.

Pictured: An extremely composd rescue dog is transported on the zip line across a river at the accident site after a landslide in Xinmo village of Maoxian County

Pictured: A firefighter braves the zipline himself as rescuers search for survivors

Pictured: A woman cries after losing her elder brother during the landslide. So far 9 bodies have been found but more than 100 people are still missing

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in offering his condolences, said in a statement that the United Nations is prepared to offer any support.

The spokesman for the UN secretary-general said that the secretary-general 'salutes the efforts of the national relief and recovery teams.

The United Nations stands ready to support the authorities in any way it can if needed'.

Experts say the mountains flanking the village of more than 100 residents are structurally damaged and prone to landslides.

The mountain had been weakened by two major earthquakes, including a magnitude 7.9 quake that killed nearly 90,000 people in 2008 in Wenchuan, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.
This is the heartbreaking moment two wildebeest come back to help their friend after he nearly lost a hoof in a violent scuffle.

In the clip, which was filmed in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa, the severely injured creature is seen writhing in pain on the ground as the rest of the herd continue on their way.

But the wildebeest isn't ready to give up just yet, and manages to pull itself out of the mud and to its feet.

An image taken just after the scuffle show the wildebeests surrounding the wounded animal

Animal was injured during brawl at a waterhole in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

As it attempts to catch up with its herd, its bloodied hoof is seen hanging by a thread of skin

As it attempts to catch up with its herd, its bloodied hoof is seen hanging by a thread of skin.

In a remarkable show of solidarity, two wildebeest come back to help their friend, and the trio walk off side by side.

The clip was filmed on October 15 last year by 54-year-old Portuguese freelance photographer Rute Martins, who was on a two-week holiday with a friend.

The pair were sight-seeing at the park when they came across the brawl, which lasted about 30 minutes.

Grim struggle with injury was filmed by photographer Rute Martins while on holiday
Outspoken author and former political aide Alastair Campbell has compared Donald Trump's presidency to Adolf Hitler's rule in Nazi Germany.

Mr Campbell said Trump is even more willing than the infamous dictator to attack democratic institutions which oppose him, namely the free press and the judiciary.

Speaking on the ABC's QandA program, the one-time press secretary to Tony Blair recalled a recent conversation he had with the former British Prime Minister.

'I made the point, I said that Hitler, he took a few years before he started to go for journalists and judges. Trump did it in week one,' Mr Campbell said.

Outspoken author and former political aide Alastair Campbell has compared Donald Trump's presidency to Adolf Hitler's rule in Nazi Germany

Mr Campbell said Trump is even more willing than the infamous dictator to attack democratic institutions which oppose him

Mr Campbell pointed out that Mr Blair thought he 'was going over the top' with his analogy.

He went on to describe what he called Trump's 'bizarre relationship' with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

'What is an endless fascination to me is this bizarre relationship with Putin, who he has never met,' he said.

'I made the point, I said that Hitler, he took a few years before he started to go for journalists and judges. Trump did it in week one,' Mr Campbell said

Mr Campbell went on to describe what he called Trump's 'bizarre relationship' with Russian President Vladimir Putin

Mr Campbell is pictured as he made the comments about Trump's presidency on the ABC's QandA program on Monday night

'I'll tell you what I think it's about. I think Trump is one of those people who... sees the world as something that big guys carve up between them.

'And he looks at Putin and he's jealous. Because Putin does have control of the media.

'He does have control of his parliament. He doesn't allow opposition. I think that's the model that Trump is basing it on.

'We've actually got to hope that the American institutions do stand up to it.'

'What is an endless fascination to me is this bizarre relationship with Putin, who he's never met,' Mr Campbell said
Pennsylvania police chief Michael Diebold (pictured) has lost part of his arm following a fireworks accident in his small town

A Pennsylvania police chief has lost part of his arm following a fireworks accident at the town's fireman's carnival.

Michael Diebold, 39, is recovering in a stable condition after the accident at the Leechburg Volunteer Fire Company's annual carnival in the town 35 miles northwast of Pittsburgh about 10:30pm on Saturday.

Police said the 39-year-old chief was lighting a mortar when one misfired and exploded into him.

He lost his arm below the elbow as a result of the accident, the Valley News Dispatch reports. The incident could have been much worse, if not for an unknown man who tightened a belt around Diebold's arm so it would act as a tourniquet and stop the bleeding.

Diebold, who also runs a local fireworks business, had celebrated the christening of his two-month-old son just hours earlier on Saturday.

He had been at a small party with his fiance, Danielle Reinke, to celebrate the christening for a few hours before leaving to get ready for the fireworks carnival.

His mother, Karen, spoke to locals and well-wishes who gathered for a candlelight vigil in the small Pennsylvania town.

'It's amazing... Last night (Saturday), he looked like he would never make it,' she said, according to the News Dispatch.

Diebold (right) had been at a party with his fiance, Danielle Reinke (left), to celebrate the christening of their two-month-old son just hours before the shocking accident

The incident took place during the Leechburg Volunteer Fire Company's annual carnival on Saturday night. Pictured are fireworks during the event

'But today, he is doing great and half of it is because of all the people in Leechburg that supported him from last night til (sic) now.'

She added: 'He's a little bummed about the arm, and I said, "they're already talking (about) a prosthetic".'

The chief is being treated at UPMC Mercy hospital in Pittsburgh.

State police are continuing to investigate the accident.

People are seen gathered for a candlelight vigil in the small town for the wounded police chief
Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, is headed back to the motherland, with BuzzFeed reporting the controversial diplomat has been recalled.

Kislyak's next post was rumored to be the United Nations in New York, but now he's heading home as his name has repeatedly been linked to Trump administration officials  who seemingly forgot that they met with the diplomat  amid election collusion accusations.

'He could use some time away,' a U.S.-based diplomat told BuzzFeed.

Russian Amb. Sergey Kislyak is heading back to the homeland, after being recalled as ambassador to the United States

Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the United States, will head home to Russia instead of being placed at the United Nations, which had been rumored previously

Sergei Kislyak (right) famously met with President Trump (center) in the Oval Office, alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left), but American journalists weren't allowed in

Sergei Kislyak (right) met a number of times with Donald Trump's (left) associates, which they seemingly forgot

Kislyak has tripped up a number of Trump officials including son-in-law Jared Kushner, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, none of whom reported meeting or speaking with Kislyak on several occasions.

Until it turns out they did.

The ambassador's presence has tripped up Democrats too with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying she had never met the D.C.-based ambassador until photos of them together turned up.

In turn, as BuzzFeed points out, Kislyak has been given a number of nicknames including 'spymaster,' 'Typhoid Mary,' and 'the most radioactive man in Washington.'

The White House tried to keep Kislyak's presence in the Oval Office, one day after President Trump decided to fire FBI Director James Comey, under wraps, but that, too, didn't pan out.

While American journalists were not allowed in the room, a Russian photographer was, and the Russians quickly posted the images online.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was also in the meeting.

Kushner and Flynn had met with Kislyak during the transition in December, with the Washington Post reporting that Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, had suggested setting up a secret back channel between the transition team and the Kremlin, using Russia's diplomatic facilities in order to escape U.S. government eavesdropping.

The White House has denied the Post's account.

Kislyak was taken aback by the request and notified his superiors in Moscow.

Sources told the Post the conversation is now of investigative interest to the FBI.

When a BuzzFeed reporter encountered Kislyak at a D.C. party recently, the Russian ambassador refused to talk about his conversations with Kushner.

'We have a policy,' the ambassador said. 'We do not comment on our daily contacts in America or anywhere else because we need to respect our interlocutors.'

Flynn was later fired for not disclosing meetings with Kislyak and misleading Vice President Mike Pence on the matter.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from Russian-related investigation at the Justice Department after failing to disclose a meeting with Kislyak.

Kislyak is expected to be replaced by Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Antonov, according to BuzzFeed, who will need final approval by Russia's parliament.
A Massachusetts man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the killing two-year-old Bella Bond, who was nicknamed 'Baby Doe' after her unidentified body washed up on a beach in the Boston area.

Michael McCarthy was charged with second-degree murder in the 2015 killing of his girlfriend's daughter. A computer-generated image of the girl was shared by millions on social media after she was dubbed Baby Doe by authorities trying to determine her identity.

The widely shared image showed a chubby-cheeked, brown-eyed girl.

Her body was found inside a trash bag on Deer Island in Winthrop in June 2015 by a woman walking a dog.

The jury had been deliberating since June 20.

Michael McCarthy (above on Monday) was charged with second-degree murder in the 2015 killing of his girlfriend's daughter. On Monday a jury found him guilty of killing the two-year-old girl named Bella Bond

Bella Bond (right) became known as Baby Doe after her remains washed up on the shores of a Boston Harbor island. McCarthy (left) seemed to be in shock after the jury found him guilty of her murder on Monday

Her body was found inside a trash bag on Deer Island in Winthrop in June 2015 by a woman walking a dog. A computer-generated image (above) of the girl was shared by millions on social media after she was dubbed Baby Doe by authorities trying to determine her identity

Prosecutors had charged the heroin addicted McCarthy with first-degree murder, but the judge said jurors could also consider two lesser charges  second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.

Under a second-degree murder conviction, a person is eligible for parole after serving 15 years in prison.

The judge recessed after the verdict was read to see if there were any objections to McCarthy also being sentenced Monday.

Bella's mother, Rachelle Bond, and McCarthy were arrested in September 2015 after Bond told a friend McCarthy had killed her daughter.

Bond pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact for helping McCarthy dispose of the girl's body.

The judge recessed after the verdict was read to see if there were any objections to McCarthy also being sentenced Monday. Above Michael Sprinsky, far left, gets a hug from his sister Laura Sprinsky, as the guilty verdict is read

Bella's mother, Rachelle Bond (pictured together), and McCarthy were arrested in September 2015 after Bond told a friend McCarthy had killed her daughter

Bond pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact for helping McCarthy dispose of the girl's body. She is pictured above testifying in court earlier this month against McCarthy

Under a plea deal with prosecutors, Bond is expected to be released after McCarthy's trial, serving less than two years in jail.

McCarthy's lawyer said Bond was the real killer. He called her a 'monster' who made up a 'web of lies' to put the blame on McCarthy.

The trial included testimony about the girl's short and tragic life. Both Bond and McCarthy were heroin addicts. A friend testified that McCarthy would lock the girl in a closet to discipline her.

He said McCarthy had been obsessed with the occult for years.

Under a plea deal with prosecutors, Bond is expected to be released after McCarthy's (above on June 5) trial, serving less than two years in jail. A person is eligible for parole after serving 15 years in prison under a second-degree murder conviction

Bond testified that on the night Bella died, she walked into the girl's bedroom and saw McCarthy leaning over her and punching her.

She said she saw McCarthy punch her in the abdomen so hard she bounced off the mattress.

'He said it was her time to die, she was a demon,' Bond said.

McCarthy's lawyer aggressively cross-examined Bond about why she didn't call police or report her daughter's death to anyone. She claimed McCarthy threatened to kill her.

The defense also said prosecutors 'made a deal with the devil' in offering Bond time-served in exchange for her testimony against McCarthy.
An 18-year-old sailor who died at Pearl Harbor has finally been laid to rest 75 years after the Japanese attack.

Seaman First Class George Anderson Coke Jr. died aboard the USS Oklahoma after it was sunk by Japanese torpedoes as it lay at anchor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

He was buried on Hawaii along with the bodies of other unknown sailors, but new DNA techniques allowed his remains to be identified in December last year.

George Anderson Coke Jr, a sailor who died aboard the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbour in 1941, has been laid to rest in Texas 75 years after the attack

Coke's remains were disinterred twice before - in 1947 and 1949 - in an attempt to identify them, but his identity was described as non-recoverable

Advances in DNA techniques means that his remains were finally identified in December last year, and his relatives decided to have him brought home to Texas for a burial

On Saturday his remains were buried in his hometown of Arlington, north Texas, next to the graves of his mother and father.

He received a 21 gun salute, while Taps, Amazing Grace and the Battle Hymn of the Republic were played as his coffin was lowered into the ground.

Cousin Sherry Coke Dorn told Fox4: 'I was very elated but at the same it's very sobering to hear this news. I so wish his mother had been alive to know this.'

She is one of just two relatives of Coke who are still living in Arlington - the other being her brother.

Coke's remains were twice disinterred to try and identify them, but both attempts failed, Dallas News reports.

The first, in 1947, identified 35 of his shipmates but failed to return a match for Coke, and so he was reburied.

After the second, in 1949, Coke's identity was recorded as 'non-recoverable', but were examined a third time in 2016 using new techniques.

On Saturday Coke was laid to rest in a cemetery in his hometown of Arlington, alongside the graves of his mother and father, who never lived to see him return

More than 400 sailors died on board the Oklahoma after it was hit with five torpedoes during the Japanese attack and capsized

In December Coke's relatives were told he had been identified, and decided they wanted to bring him home.

More than 2,400 US personnel were killed and another 1,000 were wounded in the surprise Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor base, which saw America enter the Second World War.

All eight battleships at anchor in the port were damaged, with four sunk - the USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS West Virginia, and USS California.

The majority of the deaths occurred aboard the Arizona, which was hit by four armor-piercing bombs before exploding, with a loss of more than 1,000 lives.

Coke's ship, the Oklahoma, saw more than 400 killed. It was eventually raised along with the West Virginia and California and played an active part in the rest of the war.
A man had to have metal rings removed from his penis by the firebrigade when a sexual experiment went wrong.

The 33-year-old man - who would only give his first name of 'Wirat' - had been pleasuring himself at home when he slipped two small metal rings onto his manhood.

But they became stuck and his penis began to swell - leaving Wirat in pain as the circulation was cut-off to parts of his organ.

He went to Pattaya City Hospital in Thailand on Saturday and pleaded with medics to remove the make-shift sex toy which he said he had been 'experimenting' with.

A man had to have metal rings removed from his penis by medics and the firebrigade when a sexual experiment went wrong

Wirat initially feigned implausible innocence, saying that he did not know what the rings were or how they had miraculously appeared there.

But then he admitted he had put them on himself.

Doctors tried to remove the device but had to call the local rescue group for backup - who arrived with a selection of plier, cutting tools and a reporter who had picked up the emergency call.

The 33-year-old man - who would only give his first name of 'Wirat' - had been pleasuring himself at home when he slipped two small metal rings onto his manhood

Eye-watering pictures show the man laid out on a hospital bed as a nurse holds a lamp and two doctors and rescue worker Luang Watcharapong battle to cut away the rings.

But the rings got stuck and had to be cut off by a team of medics and rescue workers

As the man wailed in pain, the doctors used a metal sheet to protect his penis and the rings were eventually removed at around 1.30pm.

Luang Watcharapong from the Sawang Boribun Fire Rescue Center who attended the incident at the hospital said the man was in 'less pain' after the rings were removed.

Luang, 40, said: 'We had to be careful not to hurt his penis because the rings were stuck very tightly.

'We don't know how long he had the ring on his penis before he went to hospital.

'The doctors tried first then we arrived at 1pm and it took us around 30 minutes to remove it. We used small cutters.'

'The man said thank you and he left. He felt much better. He would not give details of exactly what happened.

'He said he was experimenting sexually and the rings got stuck. He also did not want to tell his family name.'

Luang Watcharapong from the Sawang Boribun Fire Rescue Center who attended the incident at the hospital said the man was in 'less pain' after the rings were removed
Michigan may still be reeling from severe flooding last weekend, but one local decided to bring a smile to his neighbors during the extreme weather.

Cellphone footage shows Midland city resident Travis Spry wearing a full dinosaur costume - with a terrifying, huge head and tiny T-Rex arms, while sitting in a kayak on June 23.

The video, shot by his wife Katrina from their home, shows him casually paddling down the flooded city street to the astonishment of neighbors - and confusion of a dog who swims out to meet the 'dinosaur'.

Cellphone footage shows Midland city resident Travis Spry wearing a full T-Rex costume while sitting in a kayak on June 23

The bizarre sight brought a smile to the faces of locals, some of whom were facing devastating damage to their homes and belongings in the flood.

Authorities issued a flood warning on Friday which continued through the weekend for the Tittabawassee River, in Midland and Saginaw counties, and the Saginaw River in Saginaw and Bay counties,after heavy rainfall say seven inches of rain on June 22.

The deluge, on top of an already wet month, saw rivers burst their banks in some of the worst flash flooding in recent memory.

The video, shot by his wife Katrina from their home, shows him casually paddling down the flooded city street to the astonishment of neighbors

The kayaker was joined by a rather confused dog who swam out to greet him

By Saturday, the Tittabawassee River near Midland had reached the highest flood levels, cresting at 32.13 feet, in thirty years.

The floods have reportedly wiped out local crops, closed main roads and caused damage to hundreds of houses and basement apartments.

Bay, Midland and Isabella counties all declared a state of emergency over the flooding and Michigan also declared the area a disaster.

Spry isn't the first to son a T-Rex costume to liven up proceedings.

In May, a person in the dino costume surrendered to police after they were seen scaring carriage horses in South Carolina.
This is the moment a laboratory-made puppy comes face to face for the first time with its natural mother in Siberia.

The cloned Laika dog was bred using a small fragment of its mum's ear by South Korean scientists who are also working on bringing the extinct woolly mammoth back from the dead.

Puppy Kerechene was born three months ago in Seoul, and the picture shows her meeting her mother Suutuk - who knew nothing of her existence and had no chance to suckle her baby - on a farm in Yakutia, the coldest region in Russia.

Mummy? Puppy Kerechene was initially a bit wary when she met her surrogate mother

But mother Suutuk was quickly straining at the leash to meet her 'puppy'

Belekh (left) and Kerechene (right) were both cloned by South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation

The young dog's name mean's 'beautiful' in the local Yakut language.

One photograph shows mother and daughter eyeing each other somewhat warily, but Suutuk was soon straining at leash to get closer to her offspring.

The pair rapidly hit it off and were soon playing together happily, reported The Siberian Times.

'I can't really believe that it [the puppy] is a clone. If you look at the original, you can see that they both look alike,' said owner Dmitry, seen in the picture holding Kerechene.

Kerechene (left) was bred using a small fragment of her mother's ear

The scientists are also working on using the same cloning technology to bring back extinct animals like the woolly mammouth

Scientists also cloned a three-month-old male called Belekh, which means 'present'.

The aim is to save the Laika sledge-pulling species which is under threat from cross breeding, say experts.

The puppies, cloned by South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, arrived in Yakutsk, the capital of Siberia's Yakutia Republic, in recent days.

The research was led by Dr. Hwang Woo Suk and his team, which are seeking to clone extinct Siberian animals such as the woolly mammoth.

Kerechene was sent in the last few days from South Korea to Yakutsk in northern Siberia

A file photo of Sooam Biotech Research Foundation. Scientists say the puppies' development will be studied for genetic research

He is using preserved remnants of the hairy beasts preserved for thousands of years in the permafrost.

Scientists from North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk say the puppies' behaviour 'corresponds to the norms of development, and the specialists note that they have a high ability to learn and communicate'.

The puppies' development will be studied for genetic research.

A file photo showing the cloning procedure in South Korea. The cloning foundation offers the procedure for private citizens who want to prolong their dog's lifespan

Pictured: Dr Hwang Woo Suk, who leads the research into the cloning procedure
The brother of legendary boxer Julio Cesar Chavez was killed in his home in western Mexico, state authorities said Monday.

Sinaloa state prosecutor Juan Jose Rios said in a news conference that two men entered the rear of Rafael Chavez Gonzalez's house in Culiacan on Sunday night.

One was armed and demanded money.

Some amount of money was handed over, but they demanded more, Rios said. When Chavez resisted he was shot.

Another brother, Roberto Chavez Gonzalez, confirmed that account Monday and said his brother was shot in front of his family.

Rafael Chavez Gonzalez (seen middle in orange shorts and lifting his finger in the air) died on Sunday night after he was reportedly killed during a home invasion

Gonzalez, the brother of legendary boxer Julio Cesar Chavez (seen above in 2013), was killed in his home in western Mexico, state authorities said Monday

Chavez is considered the greatest Mexican boxer of all time and one of the greatest boxers who ever competed

Rios also said that overnight about 10 armed men kidnapped a still undetermined number of people from a restaurant in Culiacan.

One of the victims has already been released, he said. The restaurant is popular with local politicians.

Murders are up significantly in Mexico this year.

During the first five months of 2017, there were 9,916 killings nationwide - an increase of about 30 per cent over the 7,638 slain during the same period last year.
A dog-lover had his arm bitten off by a crocodile when he rescued his dogs from an infested lake in India, but was then fined for trespassing in the area.

Mudit Dandwate, 26, followed his dogs into the crocodile-filled lake when he was attacked by the crocodile at Thattekere Lake in Ramanagaram in south Indian state of Karnataka on Sunday.

The reptile clamped its jaws around the engineer's left forearm and tried to drag him into the deeper waters, but the businessman was able to fend off the beast - but not before it ripped off his arm.

Mudit Dandwate, 26, followed his dogs into the crocodile-filled lake when he was attacked by the crocodile in Ramanagaram in south Indian state of Karnataka on Sunday

The reptile clamped its jaws around the engineer's left forearm and tried to drag him into the deeper waters, but the businessman was able to fend off the beast - but not before it ripped off his arm. Dandwate is pictured above with one of his dogs

Four forest officials patrolling the area rescued Dandwate after hearing his cries for help.

Dandwate was taken to hospital where he was treated for his injuries. He lost his arm below the elbow.

'Since the crocodile may have eaten that part there was no possibility of reattachment,' Medical Director of Hosmat hospital, Dr Ajith Benedict Rayan, told NDTV.

Dandwate was later fined by the officials for trespassing into the waters of the lake.

Locals said that the government workers claimed he was in breach of boards around the lake which warned of crocodiles.

Dandwate was on a walk with his dogs (pictured above) when the incident happened on Sunday

Dandwate was later fined by the officials for trespassing into the waters of the lake. Locals said that the government workers claimed he was in breach of boards around the lake which warned of crocodiles

Dandwate told friends that he was in a rush to get his dogs out of the water and did not see signs warning against crocodiles.

Dr Thomas Chandy, orthopaedics chief at Hosmat Hospital, where Mudit was treated, said: 'Mudit has been shifted to the Intensive Care Unit.

'Crocodile jaws are very strong and their bites are poisonous hence the arm has suffered much impairment.

'Damaged tissue has been removed from the wound to prevent infection.

'We will repeat the procedure on Monday and attach an artificial limb.'
This hungry raccoon proves that public transportation isn't just for people anymore.

Off-duty Australian model Brooke Hogan captured, then shared via Snapchat, the unbelievable moment when she saw a woman feeding a pet raccoon out of a bowl on the New York City subway system.

The video, which Hogan captioned 'Raccoon on the subway,' has been viewed more than 162,000 times since it was reposted on the SubwayCreatures Instagram page.

Model Brooke Hogan was riding uptown on the New York City subway when she saw a woman feeding a raccoon out of a plastic bowl. Hogan shared the scene with her Snapchat fans

In the short clip, a woman can be seen feeding the raccoon, which is snuggled up to her right side, out of a clear plastic bowl. The raccoon happily tucks into its snack, clutching both sides of the bowl with its front paws as it licks the bowl clean.

In the background, a man sitting on the other side of the raccoon  although safely separated from the animal by a cloth bag  can be seen taking a picture of the absurd scene.

Hogan told NBC 4 New York that saw the curious sight on June 20, as she was traveling uptown, from 42nd Street, on a Lexington Avenue-line train.

People who viewed the video appeared to have mixed reactions to the idea of a hungry raccoon hopping a ride on the train.

Hogan, an Australian model who has been sightseeing in New York City, was on a Lexington Avenue line train when she saw the shocking sight of a woman feeing a hungry raccoon

Hogan Snapchatted the raccoon, which was licking clean a bowl it clutched in its paws

'This is why the NYC subway is the best, and worst,' wrote Instagram user schoobinator.

'I'm not sure if I'm laughing or throwing up,' wrote melissaannstephenson.

'Guess I'm the only one that'd want to pet it?' wrote luigipunch.

'omg, I pray I see this in person one day,' wrote cemurph.

Instagrammer munozonum wrote, 'omg he's eating out of a bowl AND taking the subway... what a sophisticated raccoon!!!!!'

Meanwhile, user sfbranmuffin raged, 'No, b****, no! Now you wanna add rabies to the mix!?'

'so glad I don't take the train anymore.. lady tryna kill everybody,' wrote wtfisazulie.

One Instagrammer, pompommopmop, even tagged New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, begging him to, 'please do SOMETHING about the NYC subway.'

New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation notes that, 'Keeping raccoons as pets may be harmful to both humans and raccoons, and is illegal'  raccoons are protected by law and the state does not issue licenses to people to keep wildlife as pets.

The department also notes that raccoons can transmit rabies and roundworm to humans.

This isn't the first time a subway-riding raccoon has caused a stir among bipedal riders.

In February 2016, a Canadian raccoon hitched a ride on Toronto's subway system, causing a train delay. The raccoon was captured on camera, sniffing at people's shoes and looking inside bags, Time reported.
A Michigan couple face up to 15 years in prison after admitting to sexually assaulting two teen girls.

John Louise-Perkins Brown, 41, and his wife Ashley Nicole Brown, 30, reportedly had teens over to their home in rural Eaton County, Michigan, where they supplied them with marijuana and alcohol.

One 15-year-old victim told police that Ashley picked her up from her home and brought her to the couple's house in November 2015.

Ashley Nicole Brown (left) and John Louise-Perkins Brown (right) face up to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting underage girls

After drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, the teen 'expressed interest' in John to his wife.

The wife then reportedly got a condom and went over to her husband, whispering 'in his ear that (the victim) was interested in having sex with him'.

John took the girl upstairs and sexually assaulted her. He later admitted to having sex with the girl on three occasions.

About a month after their first sexual encounter, the girl ran away from home to stay with the Browns.

The Browns hid the girl in their attic when Eaton County Sheriff's Deputies came by to ask if they knew where she was.

Another underage female victim told police that John sexually assaulted her in 2015 on a couch in his living room.

The couple reportedly had teens over to their house in 2015, supplying them with marijuana and alcohol. Two teens say they were sexually assaulted by John at the couple's Michigan home. Ashley pictured above in a Facebook photo

Both teens said that minors 'frequented' the home during a six-week period in 2015.

'Everyone partaked and was partaking in the smoking of the marijuana and the drinking of the alcohol,' a trooper testified, according to what teens told him.

John pleaded no contest to five counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in court recently.

His wife pleaded no contest to a charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and harboring a runaway.

She also pleaded no contest to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. In exchange for that plea, prosecutors dropped three similar counts.

Each face up to 15 years in prison when they are sentenced on August 10.
DeMario Jackson has spoken out for the first time since he was accused of sexual assault on the Mexican set of Bachelor in Paradise earlier this month.

Last week, Warner Bros. concluded that DeMario did not assault his fellow contestant Corinne Olympios, but he says the scandal has been nonetheless hard on his family.

'I can't even imagine what it would feel like to be accused of something so serious - sexual misconduct - that you did not do,' E! News' Melanie Bromley tells DeMario in a preview of their three-part interview, released Monday morning.

'It was stressful. For me, mostly for my mother. It's hard to see your mom cry every single day. It was very difficult,' DeMario replied.

Scroll down for video

DeMario Jackson has spoken out for the first time since becoming engulfed in the Bachelor in Paradise scandal earlier this month

Corinne Olympios has hired a legal team to investigate the incident, but appears to be focused on pinning blame on the production company for negligence

DeMario became emotional and had to wipe away a tear before continuing.

'You know, my dad he kept me extremely strong. He kept me grounded and humbled,' DeMario added.

Filming on Bachelor in Paradise was suspended earlier this month, when a producer filed a formal complaint about a scene he or she witnessed between DeMario and Corinne on the first day of filming.

DeMario admits he performed oral sex on Corinne when she put her genitals in his face. Corinne says that she was blackout drunk and could not have given consent.

But an internal review of the incident conducted by Warner Bros., with the help of an outside law firm, concluded that Corinne was lucid enough during the scene and that DeMario did nothing wrong.

DeMario was even invited back to Bachelor in Paradise when filming resumed, but he turned down the offer.

DeMario and his mother are pictured in a throwback photo posted to his Instagram

Corinne was reportedly not invited back to the set. She has hired a legal team to investigate the incident independently, but appears more focused on pinning blame on the production company for not breaking up the hook-up when she was drunk.

Corinne and DeMario have reportedly been in contact and are said to be on good terms.

Both landed on the reality show after headline-making runs on recent seasons of the Bachelor and Bachelorette.

DeMario was kicked off the Bachelorette in an episode that aired just before filming for Bachelor in Paradise started at the beginning of June, when Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay discovered he was still in a relationship with another woman.

Corinne made it to the final four on Nick Viall's season of the Bachelor, and was considered a villain for her increasingly physical relationship with Nick and antagonistic relationship with the other women.

E! News' exclusive three-part interview with DeMario will air over two nights, Monday and Tuesday, at 7pm and 11pm.
This is the moment a tank driver lost control and brought a streetlamp crashing down at the side of a main road.

The tank had been taking part in a rehearsal for a military parade through the streets of Minsk, in Belarus.

But the roads were slick with rain and as the armoured vehicle sped down an avenue, it skidded and began to spin before barrelling into the white pole.

Nightmare day at the office: This is the moment a tank driver lost control and brought a streetlamp crashing down at the side of a main road

Needs more practice: The tank had been taking part in a rehearsal for a military parade through the streets of Minsk, in Belarus

Incredible footage taken by a bystander enjoying the parade rehearsal captured the entire scene.

The streetlamp had no chance of survival and was completely flattened by the military vehicle.

The left side of the huge tank was thrown off the ground for a heart-stopping moment before it re-balanced and crashed back down to earth.

Off-script and off-road: But the roads were slick with rain and as the armoured vehicle sped down an avenue, it skidded and began to spin before barrelling into the white pole

Incredible: Footage taken by a bystander enjoying the parade rehearsal captured the scene

The driver, who appeared unharmed, looked bewildered as he watched his colleagues process past him.

They kept calm and carried on, continuing their rehearsal with true military discipline as the driver inspected the damage done to the expensive piece of equipment.

The tank reportedly had to be towed away and parts of the pavement were also ripped up in the ordeal, according to news.com.au.

Keep calm and carry on: The driver, who appeared unharmed, looked bewildered as he watched his colleagues process past him with true military discipline
Charles Adam Muzic, 22, died after falling off of North Carolina's the Upper Catawba Falls

A North Carolina man has died after falling from a waterfall while hiking.

The McDowell County Sheriff's office said that Charles Adam Muzic, 22, was out hiking with two people on Saturday afternoon in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest when he slipped and fell from the top of Upper Catawba Falls.

One of his two companions said that she and Muzic, of Nebo, North Carolina, had hiked to the top of the falls. Once there, she said that she turned around for a moment and when she looked back, she saw that Muzic had disappeared, according to WSPA.

When she hiked back down, she found an injured Muzic and called 911 for help.

Authorities said that the emergency call came in at 4.32pm and that Muzic had fallen from a distance of more than 70 feet.

Emergency crews had to navigate rough terrain when carrying Muzic out of the woods at about 7.28pm, and then he was taken by helicopter to Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, where he died on Sunday morning.

Authorities are investigating the incident, but Muzic's family members told News 13 that they believed his fall was accidental  that he'd slipped on the rocks  and that he had been hiking with his girlfriend and his best friend at the time.

Authorities said that Muzic fell more than 70 feet off of the Upper Catawba Falls (pictured)

Muzic's family believes that his fall was an accident. Muzic (in yellow hat, with his family) leaves behind an eight-month-old son, Daxton

The family noted that Muzic had slipped earlier in the day while hiking in the forest, but had regained his footing on that occasion.

They said that the trio had been discussing dinner plans and were about to leave the forest shortly before he slipped.

Muzic's family said that he made a living by cutting trees, had a slight daredevil streak and enjoyed being outdoors, hunting and fishing.

Muzic is survived by his eight-month-old son, Daxton.
A security guard who posed as a Miami police officer has been arrested after attempting to pull over a real cop.

Milton Morales-Perez, 46, pulled up alongside Officer Kenia Fallat as she drove along Southwest Seventh Street, near 13th Avenue, at 7.30pm last Wednesday, according to police reports.

Morales-Perez had rolled down his white Ford Mustang window and flashed a silver badge at Fallat, a spokeswoman for the Miami Police Department.

Milton Morales-Perez, 46, (left) pulled up alongside Officer Kenia Fallat (right) and ordered her to pull over - despite not being a cop himself

He had ordered her to stop using her cellphone and pullover, saying in Spanish: 'Police, stop the car!'

Fallat had been driving an unmarked vehicle but was in uniform at the time.

Realizing Morales-Perez was not a real cop, Fallat called for back up and two more officers arrived at the scene to arrest him.

Officer Kenia Fallat was driving along Southwest Seventh Street, near 13th Avenue, (pictured) at 7.30pm last Wednesday when the security guard told her to pull over

Realizing Morales-Perez was not a real cop, Fallat (pictured) called for back up and two more officers arrived at the scene to arrest him

When asked why he had been impersonating an officer, and had a badge, the Hialeah security guard said he had seen Fallat using her cellphone while driving, the Miami Herald reports.

He added that he had wanted to stop her as 'it is very dangerous to be on the phone while driving.'

Morales-Perez was charged with one count of impersonating a police officer.
Teacher arrested: Nataly Lopez, 27, a middle school teacher from New Jersey, has been charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child

A substitute teacher working at a New Jersey middle school has been charged with repeatedly having sex with one of her male students.

Nataly Lopez, 27, of Elizabeth, was taken into custody last week and booked into jail on charges of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

Lopez taught classes at Nicholas S LaCorte-Peterstown School No 3 in Elizabeth but was employed by a private company called Source4Teachers, which provides substitute teachers to school districts.

Prosecutors Meghan Tomlinson said Lopez engaged in sexual acts with the male victim inside her car on two separate occasions, and the pair also exchanged sexually explicit messages online.

The Elizabeth Police Department learned of the allegations concerning Lopez last week and on Wednesday contacted the prosecutor's office, triggering an investigation by the special victims unit, reported NJ.com.

Lopez was arrested at home on Thursday afternoon and taken to Union County Jail to await her initial court appearance.

Lopez taught classes at Nicholas S LaCorte-Peterstown School No 3 in Elizabeth but was employed by a private company

Elizabeth Schools Superintendent Olga Hugelmeyer said the district immediately barred Lopez from entering its facilities when officials learned of the allegations.

Lopez was hired by Source4Teachers in 2012 after passing standard background checks, none of which raised any red flags, according to a company spokesperson.

The suspect has now been banned from working as a substitute teacher for the service pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.

According to MyCentralJersey.com, if convicted of the criminal counts filed against her, Lopez could face up to 20 years in prison.
Ohio officials have restored 11 government websites that were hacked with a message purporting to be supportive of the Islamic State terrorist group.

A group called Team System DZ hacked the websites on Sunday and left a message that included: 'I love the Islamic state.'

The hack affected websites for Governor Kasich and his wife Karen, the lieutenant governor and the inspector general, as well as Ohio's Medicaid.

'You will be held accountable Trump,' the hackers wrote on the page with a black screen. 'You and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries.'

Another read: 'I love you Islamic State and Jihad. Islamic State remain and expand, God willing. We will restore the dignity of Muslims. Glory will return to Islam. The dispute will return to the outdated. Be prepared.'

A group called Team System DZ hacked government websites including Government Kasich's official page and his wife's. The Ohioan first couple are pictured here in 2016 at the New Hampshire presidential primary night

The list of affected websites also included Ohio's casino and facilities commissions, the offices of Health Transformation and Workforce Transformation, and the government streamlining effort Lean Ohio and the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.

The same message infiltrated government websites in Brookhaven, New York, and Howard County, Maryland.

State Treasurer Josh Mandel posted about the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections website on his Facebook page: 'Wake up freedom-loving Americans, radical Islam infiltrating the heartland.'

At the time of the hacking, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services said in a statement: 'State of Ohio IT staff are working to restore the computer systems that were impacted today.

'All affected servers have been taken off line and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites.

'We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened.'

The websites were restored by Monday and the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security are investigating the hacking, the Department of Public Safety says.

The hackers infiltrated 11 websites on Sunday and left a message that included: 'I love the Islamic State'. The hackers included their logo, which is a symbol of Shahada, one of the five pillars of Islam

On the group's Facebook page - which the hackers posted a link to on the websites they hacked - Team System DZ wrote: 'It is strange that the sites do not talk about what the American government is doing in the Arab countries of killing and displacement in the Arab countries and believes that the distortion of some sites and penetrate to raise the message of terrorist action.

'The American government is a scum of the earth.'

Team System DZ are a group of anti-Israeli Arab teenagers, the USA Today reports.

The group has hacked other websites, although this is the first time they've infiltrated government webpages.

DailyMail.com reported two years ago that the group hacked into the website of the English rugby team, the Keighley Cougars.
Magazine will pick from dozens of images - from lightning in Manhattan to trams on a rainy day in Japan

The competition, which ends June 30, invites photographers to send in images that captivate and astonish'

In August, National Geographic will announce the winner of its 2017 travel photographer of the year contest

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In a matter of days, National Geographic will announce the winner of its 2017 travel photographer of the year contest.

The competition, which ends June 30, invites photographers to send images that captivate and astonish.

The three categories are nature, cities, and people.

This image was shot from the top outdoor observation deck at Rockefeller Center in New York City

A new city in the desert is seen above Muhafazat al Buraymi, Oman

The winner of the contest gets a 10-day trip for two to the Galapagos Islands as well as $2,500 in cash.

The second place runner-up receives $750 and the third place photographer gets $500.

The magazine will have its pick from among dozens of stunning images - from lightning strikes in lower Manhattan to trams on a rainy day in Nagasaki, Japan.

Another breathtaking pictures shows how sea fog enshrouds the Kwai Chung Container Terminal in Hong Kong.

This building is an apartment complex in the Gifu Prefecture of Japan. It is very colorful, but it is a collective housing where people can live

This photo captured the stunning view of the sea fog at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal in Hong Kong

The Kowloon Walled City was the densest place on Earth. Hundreds of houses stacked on top of each other enclosed in the center of the structure. Many didnt have access to open space. This notorious city was finally demolished in 1990s

This photo was taken in Jujing, a small ancient village in China. Jujing is known as the roundest village in China. On the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration, the village has traditional dragon dancing activity

Lightning strikes lower Manhattan as a summer storm approaches a moonlit New York City skyline

Uummannaq is a small island in Greenland, home to about 1,200 people. It was really a treat waking up with such views on the colorful houses, with the icebergs in the fjord as backdrop

This is a view of the main street from a city tram in Nagasaki, Japan on a rainy day
Romans Krilovs (pictured) killed a father and left his daughter seriously injured

A drink-driver had been using his mobile phone for more than eight minutes before killing another motorist in a head-on crash.

Romans Krilovs had been bingeing on Jack Daniel's whiskey and was on the wrong side of the road when he hit the other car.

A court heard that the call he was making on his hand-held phone ended just before or at the point of impact.

Neville Bogg, 61, was killed and his daughter Kerry Bamforth, 31, was seriously injured in the crash as they returned from a concert by the singer Birdy. Miss Bamforth, a teacher, bought the tickets as a Father's Day treat.

Police found an open bottle of Jack Daniel's in the footwell of 41-year-old Krilovs' borrowed Volvo. A doctor later described him as 'stinking of alcohol'.

Krilovs, a Latvian, had only been in the UK for three months and was unemployed. He pleaded guilty to causing greengrocer Mr Bogg's death through dangerous driving and was jailed for nine years yesterday.

Judge Michael Heath told Krilovs he had 'extinguished' the life of Mr Bogg and caused his daughter catastrophic injuries.

The sentence came three months after the Daily Mail's End The Mobile Madness campaign led to the penalty for being caught using a phone at the wheel being doubled to six points.

The campaign was launched last autumn after an RAC survey revealed a shocking increase in mobile phone use by drivers.

Neville Bogg, 61, (centre) was killed when he headed home from a concert with his daughter Kerry Bamforth, 31, (right)

Mr Bogg, a father of three and grandfather from Spilsby, Lincolnshire, had to be cut from his Honda Civic after the crash last October. He died from multiple injuries. Miss Bamforth, also of Spilsby, spent a week in a coma following the crash at Sibsey, Lincolnshire. She had her spleen, gall bladder, pancreas and part of her bowel removed during four life-saving operations and has been left with type 1 diabetes.

'CAR WAS A LETHAL WEAPON' In her witness statement Kerry Bamforth criticised the way Krilovs was able to refuse permission for his blood sample to be analysed and was given bail. She said: 'We feel let down by the system of justice. For the last seven months we've been left feeling demolished and Krilovs continues with his normal life. 'If he has nothing to hide then surely the sample could have been tested. As a family we can only assume he'd been drinking or taking something. If this is the case and he then got in a car and drove, the moment he got in that Volvo it became a lethal weapon. 'Krilovs made a conscious decision to drive, a decision that ultimately killed my dad and mutilated me. To us that car is no different to picking up a gun and firing it. We'll never know what Krilovs had in his system that night but there should be a zero tolerance to it and a zero limit.' Advertisement

In a witness statement read to Lincoln Crown Court she said Krilovs had utterly obliterated her family and destroyed any sort of normal life for her.

Krilovs was taken to hospital after going into a coma but when discharged refused to allow a blood sample taken from him the night he caused the crash to be tested. Prosecutor Gordon Aspden told the court the whiskey bottle found by police was only three-quarters full. He added: 'As well as being drunk he was using a hand-held mobile phone.

'He made a call at 11.42pm that lasted eight minutes and 14 seconds. It ended either seconds before or at the point of impact.

'For reasons best known to himself he was driving on the wrong side of the road, the right hand side, (which is) the correct side for Latvia.'

Shortly before the crash Krilovs also came to the attention of a motorist who said he was 'tailgating' her and driving in an aggressive manner.

Krilovs, who was living in Boston but now lives in Wolverhampton, also admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and refusing to allow a blood sample to be tested. He was banned from driving for 14 and a half years.

Neil Sands, defending, said Krilovs had no recollection of the crash. Mr Sands added: 'He will be removed from the UK and almost certainly not be allowed back in.'
Federal agents found homemade bombs in a Montana home they believe are linked to a rash of bank robberies by the AK 47 Bandit.

Cops found the devices during a search of the home of Richard Gathercole, who was recently arrested for allegedly shooting at a Kansas State Trooper.

They are now investigating whether Gathercole is the career criminal known as the 'AK 47 Bandit', KRTV reports.

Cops found the devices during a search of the home of Richard Gathercole (pictured) who was recently arrested for allegedly shooting at a Kansas State Trooper

The Bandit is wanted by federal authorities for a series of robberies carried out with an AK 47 assault rifle, dating back to 2012, across numerous states including Washington and California.

He also hit banks in Idaho and Nebraska carrying the same assault rifle and wearing body armor and a ski mask.

The robber shot and wounded an officer in Chino while trying to escape one robbery, according to FBI officials.

The FBI previously offered up to $100,000 reward for information leading to the man's arrest and conviction.

Gathercole was first arrested after an 'interaction' with the Musselshell County Sheriff's department and the Montana Highway Patrol on June 14.

The Bandit is wanted by federal authorities for a series of robberies carried out with an AK 47 assault rifle, dating back to 2012, (pictured is the AK 47 Bandit in surveillance footage from one of his bank robberies in Nebraska)

He also hit banks in Idaho and Nebraska carrying the same assault rifle and wearing body armor and a ski mask (pictured is the AK 47 Bandit in a California heist)

The 39-year-old was bailed and less than a week later, was arrested again, this time at a gas station in Lexington, Nebraska on June 20, in connection with the shooting of a Kansas State Trooper the day before.

He was stopped after he was found driving a stolen vehicle that was linked to that shooting.

On Saturday, police and BI agents searched his Roundup home, about 50 miles north of Billings, and had to call in the local bomb squad after finding several improvised explosive devices.

FBI Los Angeles spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said the search was connected to a bank robbery investigation.

'Multiple departments are investigating whether evidence found during the search in Montana may be linked to a series of bank robberies currently under investigation in California and other states,' she said.

Eimiller did not immediately confirm or deny that was the focus of the Montana search.
Doggone it! A pup in a dog day care was busted after one of the caretakers caught the guilty little glutton right after he ransacked the treats drawer.

The video taken in Washington shows the pup refusing to face his accuser or the evidence he left behind- a chewed through empty treats bag.

The worker says to little Marshall the dog: 'Did you make a mess Marshall? Did you make a mess? Whats all this, what is this? You're gonna pretend you don't see it now?'

BUSTED! Marshall can't see to bring himself to face the now empty treats bag which he knows he ate all the treats out of

If I don't look up, I can't get in trouble... maybe it works for dogs

A clearly caught, and very guilty looking Marshall refuses to turn to the worker, or the empty bag: 'Look at this this is your mess, yeah you did this, you made this mess- look at all that. Look at all this.'

The worker posted the video and said in the caption 'I work at a dog day care and boarding facility. I left Marshall in the room for about 5 minutes while I went to go take care of another dog.'

Somehow the little guy managed to open the drawers!

Marshall seems to be thinking: 'If I don't look at the chewed bag I can't get in trouble for it'

The worker can be heard saying to the pup 'Look at this this is your mess, yeah you did this, you made this mess- look at all that. Look at all this.'

'There were no handles on any of the drawers yet he somehow got a drawer open and chewed up the bags that had treats in them and left the mess for me to find.'
Julie Sayles, 59, was jailed for nine years after being found guilty of fraud by stealing almost 300,000 from a 102-year-old woman she was supposed to be a carer for

A 'merciless' carer who stole nearly 300,000 from a vulnerable 102-year-old woman has been jailed for nine years.

Julie Sayles, 59, of Bridlington, East Yorkshire, took advantage of 'frugal' Edith Negus after discovering the centenarian had saved a 'considerable fortune' during her lifetime.

Sayles, who worked for a charity providing care for the elderly, bought two houses with the money and wrote herself into a new will in which the majority of Ms Negus's remaining assets were left to her.

A jury at Hull Crown Court took around two hours to find the defendant guilty of fraud by abuse of position, buying properties with the proceeds of crime, making a fraudulent will and presenting it to a solicitor.

Sentencing her on Monday afternoon, Recorder Anthony Kelbrick said Sayles had coveted the wealth Ms Negus had amassed through hard work and saving.

He said: '(Edith Negus) lived through the reigns of three kings and a queen, she was born before two world wars and survived twice being bombed in London.

'When she was born, horse-drawn vehicles were still being used on our streets, televisions had not been invented, computers were a thing of the future, there was no welfare state.

'It was a different world and it produced different people.

'She had a strong work ethic and a strong save ethic. She was frugal, she wasn't lavish. She and her husband must have saved much of what they earned.'

Sayles took the cash from Edith Negus, pictured, and used it to buy two homes in Wiltshire and north Yorkshire

He continued: 'You became aware this was no poor, old lady with no assets but a lady who had saved a considerable fortune.

'You coveted that wealth and set about acquiring it for yourself.'

Recorder Kelbrick added: 'For merciless fraudsters like you there can be only one sentence: prison.'

Ms Negus began receiving care from Friends of the Elderly Bridlington, a charity run by Sayles and with no connection to the national charity of the same name, after her physical and mental health began to deteriorate and her family were unable to provide care due to their own health issues.

Recorder Kelbrick said: 'They believed you, Julie Sayles, had taken over the mantle of caring for Edith Negus.

'They trusted you and Edith Negus trusted you.'

In 2014, Sayles set up a joint account with Ms Negus, into which transfers were made from the elderly woman's savings accounts.

Sayles, pictured, worked through charity Friends of the Elderly Bridlington in Yorkshire and even wrote herself into the will of Ms Negus giving herself the majority of the assets

Between February and July 2014, Sayles made a number of withdrawals totalling 287,688, which she used to buy properties in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, and Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Recorder Kelbrick said: 'You took advantage of her frailty time and time again.'

The authorities became involved after a neighbour overheard Sayles talking to Ms Negus about making a new will leaving her estate to her.

Ms Negus, who had no children but treated one niece as her own daughter, had a will in which she left her belongings to her family.

But, in the days after her death, in October 2014, Sayles presented two new wills to a solicitor, in which the majority of Ms Negus's assets were left to the carer and which referred to 250,000 already gifted to her as a thank-you.

Sayles, who was seen laughing and joking at the funeral she organised for Ms Negus, was later arrested.

She denied any wrongdoing throughout her police interviews - claiming Ms Negus had offered her the money and that the wills were created on her instructions.

Speaking outside court after the sentencing, Ann Ruthven, Ms Negus's great niece, said they had been unable to grieve properly for Ms Negus and said the situation had caused them 'stress, anxiety and heartache'.

A judge told Sayles she 'took advantage of Ms Negus' frailty time and again' and called her a 'merciless fraudster'

They described Ms Negus as a 'beautiful, kind, warm and loving woman with many friends and family who loved her dearly' and asked for her to be remembered as 'caring, smiling, full of life and always calling you darling'.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Superintendent Matt Baldwin, of Humberside Police, said he believed the charity, which was founded by Sayles, was legitimate, but urged people to report any suspicions they might have about care received by elderly friends or relatives.

He said: 'I would say to any family that are concerned or even want some reassurance about the people who are caring for their elderly relatives to ask those inquisitive questions and, if they're concerned, to report the matter to the police.

'The victim in this case, Edith Negus, was a vulnerable lady of 102 years of age.

'She placed her trust and confidence in Julie Sayles to look after her best interests.

'She was betrayed by Julie Sayles, who saw an opportunity to steal the life savings of the victim for her own benefit. In doing so, she deprived the victim from leaving the money to her family.

'The jury's decision has now given the family some justice for their loved one and will hopefully provide them with an opportunity to grieve and remember Edith for the right reasons.'
The Missouri NAACP issued a travel advisory against the state, telling travelers to be careful due to a danger their civil rights won't be respected, state chapter President Rod Chapel said Monday.

Chapel and the state NAACP have cited a bill sitting on the desk of Republican Gov. Eric Greitens that would make it more difficult for people to sue for housing or employment discrimination.

The NAACP also highlighted a recent attorney general's report that shows black Missouri drivers were 75 percent more likely to be stopped than white drivers last year.

'At this point, I think everybody's' civil rights are now in jeopardy,' Chapel said.

Missouri NAACP President Rod Chapel (left) has criticized a bill sitting on the desk of Gov. Eric Greitens (right) that would make it more difficult for people to sue for discrimination

Greitens has not said whether he'll sign the bill although he has supported other efforts to rein in lawsuits in an attempt to improve the legal climate for businesses in the state. A spokesman for the governor didn't immediately comment Monday.

The bill would raise the standards for workers filing wrongful termination lawsuits, for example, requiring them to prove that bias was an explicit reason for their dismissal rather than a contributing factor.

Chapel said the bill could make it tougher to hold people accountable for harassment and discrimination against women, people with disabilities and others.

But some Republican lawmakers and supporters including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry argued the change will help to reduce the number of 'frivolous lawsuits' they say have made it challenging to do business in the state.

Chapel said the advisory follows a 'culmination of issues that are critical to civil rights in Missouri,' which include the recent report showing black drivers getting pulled over at dramatically higher rates than white drivers.

Chapel also cited a recent states attorney general report that found black Missouri drivers were 75 percent more likely to be stopped than white drivers last year. Pictured, protesters in Ferguson after the death of Michael Brown sparked an attempt to end racial bias in the state

Chapel also said the organization's state chapter is considering a full boycott, a tactic that's been used against other states that have adopted conservative policies.

The NAACP in February launched an economic boycott in North Carolina over the state's so-called bathroom bill as well as ongoing legal fights over voting rights.

In May, the American Civil Liberties Union issued a warning about traveling to Texas because of the state's new law banning so-called sanctuary cities.

The Missouri NAACP and other opponents of the bill on discrimination are rallying Tuesday at the Capitol to urge Greitens to veto the legislation.
A man has been pinned underneath his truck in Sydneys north-west, causing massive traffic delays on the M1 Motorway.

The truck driver, ages in his 60s, is believed to have stopped to check his car at the entrance to M1 in Wahroonga when it rolled on top of him and crushed his legs, according to 9News.

It has been reported one of the man's legs may have been severed off and he has been rushed to the Royal North Shore Hospital in critical condition.

One of the two northbound lanes to the M1 from Pennant Hills Road is open.

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A man has been pinned underneath his truck on the M1 in Wahroonga after stopping to check on his car, causing massive traffic delays

The man, who is in his 60s, is believed to have been crushed by his truck after stopping to check something underneath (pictured)

Police and the driver's vehicle are still at the scene and are expected to be there for some time

One of the two northbound lanes to the M1 from Pennant Hills Road is open

Southbound traffic on M1 Pacific Mwy is queued around 16km, according to Live Traffic Sydney.

Commuters are encouraged to account for extra time and use alternate routes instead.

A rescue helicopter was sent to the scene.

Police and the driver's vehicle are still at the scene and are expected to be there for some time.

A live traffic camera showed the heavy traffic delays soon after the accident

Commuters are encouraged to account for extra time and use alternate routes instead
The hunt is on for a young couple accused of shooting a man in the chest after abducting his female friend in Tennessee, before driving to New York and injuring a man during a brazen home invasion.

Jarret Cole Heitmann, 24, and Makayla Danielle Stilwell, 22, allegedly started their crime spree in Kingsport, Tennessee - about 100 miles northeast of Knoxville on Tuesday, June 20.

The couple is accused of abducting a young woman - who has not been named - while she was walking home. They then drove her to a mobile home where her boyfriend, 34-year-old Dustin Bishop, lived and forced her at gunpoint to knock on the door, the Times Herald-Record reports.

After Bishop opened the door, Heitmann and Stilwell allegedly dragged him back into the mobile home and shot him in the chest, before fleeing the scene and leaving him for dead.

Police are searching for Jarret Cole Heitmann (left), 24, and Makayla Danielle Stilwell (right), 22, for allegedly shooting a man in the chest after abducting his female friend in Tennessee, before driving to New York and injuring a man during a brazen home invasion

Bishop was rushed to hospital and survived the attack, but the couple allegedly was not done.

Heitmann and Stilwell then allegedly made the almost 700 mile drive from northeast Tennessee to a small village in New York state and attacked a man in the early hours of Saturday morning.

They are accused of forcing their way into the home of 61-year-old Robert Grumet about 3am in Bloomingburg - about 80 miles northwest of Manhattan.

The Herald-Record states the duo left Grumet with a head injury that required stitches and for the 61-year-old to spend a night in hospital.

The alleged victim told the newspaper he was recovering well, and thankful to neighbors who were worried about him in the wake of the invasion.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is offered a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of each suspect

'I'm touched by the kind things that my neighbors are saying, and their concern, and I'm looking forward to getting past this,' Grumet said, before adding that he did not want to explain how his head was injured during the incident.

Neighbors told the newspaper the 61-year-old owned a lot of guns, which they claimed have been stolen by the duo.

Mark Antonoff, a 68-year-old neighbor of Grumet's, said he believes he had a near miss with the alleged attackers.

He explained to the newspaper he was woken up by what he thinks was a knock at the door, but after his immediate neighbor turned their front light on, the duo drove to Grumet's house instead.

'After that, I thought, "Wow, they couldve picked my house",' he said.

'It couldve been any one of us in the hospital yesterday.'

Brittney Ferrier, a 28-year-old who lives nearby, said: 'This is such a private area... It's so secluded. You wouldn't think this would happen here.'

State police would not confirm if the couple was still in New York, but said the hunt is ongoing.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is offered a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of each suspect. The bureau also added both Heitmann and Stilwell to its Ten Most Wanted list.
A surveillance camera captured the moment when two tourists were brutally beaten and robbed in New Orleans' French Quarter on Saturday night.

The tourists, identified as James Curran and Tim Byrne of Boston, were leisurely walking through the French Quarter on their way back to their hotel just before 9pm, when they were jumped from behind and then robbed by four men.

What appeared to be a well-coordinated attack  lasting all of 20 seconds  was captured by a surveillance camera. The footage was released by the New Orleans Police Department on Sunday.

New Orleans police are searching for these four men who brutally beat and robbed two tourists as they were walking through the French Quarter on Saturday night at about 9pm

In the video, one of the men hits Curran in the head, before putting him in a headlock while dragging him down to the ground and holding him there. Simultaneously, a second man punches Byrne in the head.

Byrne appears to be knocked out cold and falls face first onto the pavement.

Once Curran and Byrne are immobilized, two additional men run over and proceed to rummage through Curran and Byrnes' pockets, robbing them of their cell phones and wallets. Then all four assailants run off.

While a seemingly dazed Curran looks around for the glasses that were knocked off his face, Byrne's initial assailant runs back to yank him bodily off the ground, revealing what appears to be a growing pool of blood, before dropping Byrne and leaving the scene for good.

Curran then crawls over to Byrne, who appears to heave his right shoulder with each breath, but otherwise remains limp. Half a minute later, two passersby walk over and attempt to help Curran and Byrne, presumably calling police.

Robbery victims James Curran (left) and Tim Byrne (right), of Boston, were in New Orleans to attend the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association

The attack started when two muggers jumped Curran (left) and Byrne (right)

Curran (left) is put in a headlock, while Byrne falls forward face first onto the sidewalk

Byrne (right), seemingly unconscious, has his pockets picked by the mugger who hit him

The two muggers were joined by two additional men, who helped rob Curran and Byrne

Seconds after all four assailants ran away, one of the muggers returned to the scene, yanking Byrne off the sidewalk to reveal what appears to be a pool of blood, before running away again

Authorities told CBS Boston that police arrived on the scene about two minutes later and that 50 NOPD officers were patrolling the French Quarter that night.

Curran and Byrne were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Curran's relative told WWL-TV that the attack left Curran with a fractured nose and stitches in his face, but he was released from the hospital on Sunday.

Byrne, however, remained in critical condition at the hospital today.

'If you look at the video, it seems evident they were attacked from behind, they didnt see it coming and they did not fight back. They simply were victimized,' New Orleans police commander Nick Gernon told reporters Monday.

Authorities are searching for the assailants and asking the New Orleans community for help in identifying the muggers, who will face second-degree robbery charges due to the extent of Curran and Byrne's injuries.

After picking up his glasses, a seemingly stunned Curran crawled over to Byrne

Thirty seconds later, two passersby arrive and appear to help the victims and call the police

In Louisiana, convictions for second-degree robbery  defined as taking anything of value from someone and intentionally causing serious bodily injury  result in a minimum sentence of three years hard labor, with a maximum sentence of 40 years.

Curran and Byrne were visiting New Orleans to attend the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association and are information technology staff members for the association.
A new video has revealed how specially-trained pilots will carefully land fighter planes on the Royal Navy's biggest ever warship.

Pete Wilson, a BAE systems test pilot, shows how staff have been specifically trained to land the F-35B fighter on board HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The vessel, which weighs a staggering 65,000 tonnes, set sail for the first time on Monday when it left the Rosyth dockyard in Fife, Scotland.

The aircraft carrier, which cost an eye-watering 3.1billion, will start trials around Scotland before travelling to its new home in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

During the video, a plane can be seen coming in to land on board the huge 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier

The realistic simulator allows staff members practice and train before they have to land planes on the ship

It took a total of 51 million hours to design and build and is set to become the Royal Navy's flagship vessel.

A total of 1,000 sailors and contractors will be onboard for the first six weeks of testing.

And a new video has shown how pilots will land planes on the 920ft-long aircraft carrier.

The simulator has two rooms, a cockpit and a control tower, and gives staff members a chance to practice how to land on the life-like and 'virtual' ship.

Mr Wilson said: 'So you can see an extremely realistic seascape out there that just looks like we're in the middle of the ocean.

'Inside this space we've got the physical hardware which is the tables, the desks and the computer systems that the landing safety officer would use.

'We have a view that is so realistic - not just in shape but in size - in just magnitude of the experience of being at sea - so I find it incredibly believable right now that I'm at sea.'

The plane they use in the simulator is an F-35B fighter which is a Short Take Off and Vertical Landing plane

The video also shows the runway on HMS Queen Elizabeth which set sail for the first time on Monday

He then starts to use the simulator and appears to be sitting inside the F-35B, which is a STOVL (Short Take Off and Vertical Landing) supersonic fighter plane.

Mr Wilson added: 'This is an F-35B which has been purchased by the UK Government to operate onboard these carriers.

'If we took the F-35V to sea and that was the first time we'd brought them together we would have to take tiny little steps.

'We have saved years and therefore millions of pounds in getting these to the point where we can be ready to go.'
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First Lady Melania Trump stepped out Monday wearing a bright yellow Emilio Pucci gown to greet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the White House.

The mother-of-one stunned in the floor-length dress that retails for $2,160, as she walked alongside the president before stepping out to greet Modi, who is visiting the US for his first face-to-face meeting with the new first family.

The former Slovenian model effortlessly wore the belted floral-print crepe gown and was all smiles once Modi arrived outside the South Portico of the White House.

President Donald Trump is seeking to forge a chemistry that can add new fizz to a flourishing relationship between the world's two largest democracies.

He joked Monday that he and Modi are both 'world leaders in social media' during a joint news statement that served as an interlude to an Oval Office meeting and a dinner.

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First Lady Melania Trump stepped out Monday wearing a bright yellow Emilio Pucci dress to greet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the White House

The mother-of-one stunned in the floor-length dress that retails for $2,160 as she walked alongside the president before stepping out to greet Modi, who is visiting the US for his first face-to-face meeting with the new first family

Melania and President Donald Trump wave goodbye to the Indian Prime Minister after they hosted him for dinner at the White House

Prime Minister Modi and President Trump shake hands as they say goodbye on the South Lawn

Another hug: Trump and Modi embrace again as they say goodbye Monday evening

Modi and Trump exit the White House to the South Lawn after Trump hosted the Indian Prime Minister for dinner

Trump waves as Modi leaves the White House from the South Lawn

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania arrive to a dinner with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House

Monday's dinner is President Trump's first for a foreign dignitary hosted at the White House

Trump delivers remarks before dinner with India's Prime Minister at the White House

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's place setting shown before dinner with President Donald Trump at the White House

Trump and Melania listen as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers remarks during dinner at the White House

Melania accompanied her husband inside the Oval Office as he chatted with Modi, who did not bring his wife, during their first meeting.

FLOTUS seemed at ease while sitting attentively on a couch, as the two world leaders sat in chairs nearby.

During their brief Oval Office remarks, Trump congratulated Modi for leading his country toward economic prosperity and praised him for being 'such a great prime minister.'

The president said, 'Economically, India is doing very well.'

Modi said the two have a lot to discuss in their meetings Monday. He recalled Trump's visits to India long before he was president and said he was looking forward to collaborating with him now.

Despite differences over issues such as immigration and climate change, Modi was expected to assure Trump that the United States has nothing to fear from India's growing economic clout.

Trump, who described Modi as a 'true friend!' on Twitter after his weekend arrival in the US, should find much in common with the Indian leader, with both men having won power by portraying themselves as establishment outsiders.

The US president jested with Modi in the White House's Rose Garden that they were both 'world leaders in social media.'

Jared Kushner, left, also attended the White House dinner welcoming Indian Prime Minister Modi

The former Slovenian model effortlessly wore the belted floral-print crepe gown

She was all smiles once Modi arrived outside the South Portico of the White House

The trio seemed exceptionally happy to greet one another outside of the White House on Monday

Trump, who described Modi as a 'true friend!' on Twitter after his weekend arrival in the US, should find much in common with the Indian leader, with both men having won power by portraying themselves as establishment outsiders

They shared an awkward hug in the White House's Rose Garden in the middle of a joint appearance, showing off their newfound friendship

'Im proud to announce to the media, to the American people and to the Indian people, that Prime Minister Modi and I are world leaders in social media,' Trump said of Modi's 31 million Twitter followers to his 32.8.

Trump added, 'Were believers, giving the citizens of our countries the opportunity to hear directly from their elected officials, and for us to hear directly from them. I guess its worked very well in both cases.'

A White House official had bragged on the topic at a briefing Friday, as well, noting that Trump was 'slightly ahead' in the count.

'They are the worlds two most followed political leaders on social media,' the official told reporters during a background briefing.

Trump said later in his remarks on Monday that the the U.S. and India are working to grow their respective economies.

The president said in his Rose Garden statement that trade between the two global powers must be 'fair and reciprocal' and he is hoping barriers will be removed to the exports of U.S. goods to Indian markets so that the US can reduce its trade deficit with the country.

Modi in turn said that he's eager to welcome the senior White House advisor to India later this year

The U.S. is looking forward to exporting more American energy, including natural gas, to India, he said.

Trump also announced that his daughter, Ivanka Trump, has accepted an invitation to travel to India this fall for an entrepreneurship summit, he announced.

Modi in turn said that he's eager to welcome the senior White House advisor to India later this year.

While ties with some traditional allies have been strained by Trump's complaints that Washington has been the loser in trade agreements, Modi appears alert to his host's sensitivities and emphasis on transactional diplomacy.

Writing in a Wall Street Journal editorial published just ahead of their meeting, Modi said that in 'an uncertain global economic landscape, our two nations stand as mutually reinforcing engines of growth and innovation.'

This is Modi's fourth visit to the US as Prime Minister of India. This trip he did not bring his wife to the White House during his initial meeting with Trump

Once inside the White House, Melania accompanied her husband inside the Oval Office as he chatted with Modi during their first meeting

She seemed at ease while sitting attentively on a couch, as the two world leaders sat in chairs nearby

After an Oval Office meeting mid-afternoon, Trump and Modi will dine together at the White House, though no press conference is schedule

India is currently the world's fastest growing major economy, a status that Modi is hoping to cement by drawing in more foreign investment - in part by encouraging manufacturers to do business in Asia's third-largest economy.

'The transformation of India presents abundant commercial and investment opportunities for American businesses,' said Modi whose government is about to implement a new nationwide tax system designed to scythe through red tape.

'The rollout of the Goods and Services Tax on July 1 will, in a single stroke, convert India into a unified, continent-sized market of 1.3 billion people,' he wrote.

Ahead of his talks with Trump, Modi was meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as India eyes the purchase of more military equipment from the US.

Trump and Modi will dine together tonight at the White House, making Modi the first world leader to be hosted for such a meal since Trump took office.

At their joint statement, Trump said that both the U.S. and India have been affected by the 'evils of terrorism' and the 'radical ideology that drives them.'

'We will destroy radical Islamic terrorism,' the American president declared.

Trump also called for the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and ballistic programs to be 'rapidly' tackled, as he thanked Modi for rallying behind sanctions on Pyongyang.

'The North Korean regime is causing tremendous problems and is something that has to be dealt with, and probably dealt with rapidly,' Trump said. 'Working together, I truly believe our two countries can set an example for many other nations, make great strides in defeating common threats, and make great progress in unleashing amazing prosperity and growth.'

The US president has made halting Pyongyang's weapons program a top foreign policy priority.

Despite international condemnation and sanctions, North Korea has a small nuclear arsenal and is developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that threaten Japan and South Korea -- and one day could even hit some US cities.

Washington has 28,000 troops deployed in South Korea and a naval armada in the region.

Trump and Modi were addressing a small audience at the White House following a bilateral meeting with senior members of their administrations.

They did not take questions during the event that has traditionally served as a joint news conference.

That decision - a contrast with high-profile visits from other leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe - may reflect a White House effort to avoid a flurry of questions over the probe into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which has dogged Trump's young administration.

Modi (left) will be the first foreign dignitary to be hosted for dinner by President Trump at the White House

The First Lady sent the above tweet welcoming Prime Minister Modi to the White House on Monday afternoon

Relations between India and the US were generally cool until the 1990s but they warmed under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, as India sought greater foreign investment and trade ties.

But it was not long after Trump's election that obstacles emerged on issues such as trade and visas for Indians wanting to work in the United States.

Then Trump accused India of seeking to profit from the Paris climate accord as he announced the US withdrawal from the deal this month - drawing sharp denials from New Delhi.

A proposed overhaul of H-1B visas - used by thousands of Indian software engineers to work in the United States - has caused concern in New Delhi.

But Indian officials have played down those differences, insisting that Modi was sensitive to his counterpart's concerns over American jobs and trade, and there were 'no major sticking points' that could sour the talks.

'If there's one thing we want (from the talks), it's chemistry... If the chemistry is good, then frankly everything else gets sorted,' a senior Indian official who is traveling with the prime minister told reporters in Washington.

Modi said in the Rose Garden that he had been warmly welcomed and the talks with Trump had been extremely productive.

'President Trump, I thank you for your feelings of friendship towards India and myself. I deeply appreciate your strong commitment to the enhancement of our bilateral relations,' he told him.

'I am sure that under your leadership, our mutually beneficial strategic partnership will gain new strength, new positivity, and will reach new heights, and that your vast and successful experience in the business world will lend an aggressive and forward-looking agenda to our relations,' the Indian leader said.
EU citizens wanting to bring close family to the UK after Brexit will be forced to pass tough immigration tests, Theresa May revealed yesterday.

Rules on bringing in spouses, children and parents would be tightened up once Britain quits the bloc, she said.

But she sought to reassure EU nationals living here by saying no families would be broken up when ties are cut with Brussels.

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EU citizens wanting to bring close family to the UK after Brexit will be forced to pass tough immigration tests, Theresa May revealed yesterday

In a measure which could cause extra friction with the EU, if relatives arrive after Britains departure there will be strict curbs.

A Briton must earn more than 18,600 before a husband or wife from outside Europe can join them and the incomer must also pass an English language test. The Prime Minister announced the measures during a statement on the Governments proposals for EU citizens after Brexit.

She said EU citizens who have lived in the UK lawfully for at least five years will be granted settled status  giving them full access to schools, hospitals, pensions and benefits.

This could be transferred into citizenship at a later date. Those who have been resident for a shorter period they will be allowed to stay on until they have reached the five-year threshold.

However, there will be a cut-off date after which EU nationals who come to Britain will no longer automatically get these rights.

Mrs May said: No families will be split up. Family dependants who join a qualifying EU citizen here before the UKs exit will be able to apply for settled status after five years. After the UK has left, EU citizens with settled status will be able to bring family members from overseas on the same terms as British nationals.

Under Mrs May's new immigration plans, a Briton must earn more than 18,600 before a spouse from outside Europe can join them

The 18,600 minimum income threshold for Britons who want to bring in a spouse from outside the European Economic Area rises to 22,400 if the couple have a child who does not have British citizenship  and then by an additional 2,400 for each subsequent child.

Mrs May made clear that the fair and serious proposals would be adopted only if the same rights are guaranteed to UK citizens living in the other 27 EU states.

She said the cut-off date had yet to be decided but would be no earlier than when Article 50 was triggered in March this year or later than when Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

All EU residents who qualify for settled status must apply to the Home Office  and will be breaking the law if they do not.

They will be given residence documents to demonstrate to employers, doctors, teachers and other service providers that they are allowed to be in the UK.

Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier said the Government's Brexit proposals needed to show more ambition, clarity and guarantees

The Home Office said it wanted to avoid a cliff edge in applications the day after Brexit and EU citizens will have a grace period of two years to settle their future status.

Mrs May also promised the immigration system will be streamlined.

EU nationals who have applied for permanent residence status documents since the referendum  thought to number more than 150,000  will be asked to apply again, paying another 65 fee.

The paper stresses the Governments determination that the continuing rights of EU nationals in the UK should be enforceable through the British courts and not the European Court of Justice as the European Commission is demanding.

Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier said the proposals needed to show more ambition, clarity and guarantees. EU nationals already here will be able to continue sending 30million a year child benefit home.

David Davis last night said Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will have to approve Brexit legislation before it can become law.

The Brexit Secretary said gaining their support was crucial for a smooth and orderly departure.
A police officer had something of an 'extraterrestrial encounter' when he pulled over a speeding driver.

The motorcycle police officer in Alpharetta, Georgia, stopped a driver for speeding on a suburban highway Sunday, and found what appeared to be an alien in the passenger seat.

George Gordon, a spokesman for police in Alpharetta, said a life-size alien doll with big eyes and a large skull was sitting in the passenger seat of the car.

The alien doll was even buckled in on the highway north of Atlanta.

A motorcycle police officer in Alpharetta, Georgia, stopped a driver for speeding on a suburban highway Sunday, and found what appeared to be an alien in the passenger seat

The driver was clocked at 84mph, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Though it wasn't quite warp speed, Gordon told The Associated Press: 'He did not mention as to "why" he had an out of this world passenger'.

The driver got off with a verbal warning - and some laughs from the officer - who took photographs of the safety-belted alien police later posted on social media.

The Alpharetta Department of Public Safety tweeted two pictures of the alien on Sunday.

'Umm, the things you see during everyday patrol. #ET #doesthisqualifyforHOV #IndependenceDay' the department wrote.

Though there are no HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lanes in Alpharetta, there are many throughout other parts of Atlanta.

The lanes require that two or more living and not pre-infant persons are in a car using the lane, according to WSBTV.

After one Twitter user asked if the alien did help count towards the requirements for using an HOV lane, the Alpharetta DPS replied: 'Not on this planet.'

The driver was allegedly going 84mph, but got off with a verbal warning and some laughs from the officer who took pictures of the alien doll, which was even buckled in
Two men aged in their 60s have been arrested over the cold-case execution-style murder of Gold Coast businessman Philip Carlyle, with a woman also taken into custody.

Mr Carlyle's former business partner Neil Pentland and another man were seen being escorted by police into the Southport watchhouse on Tuesday morning.

Mr Pentland's wife was also taken into custody, but it's understood she's not been directly linked to the slaying.

The trio will be questioned of the 20-year-old cold case murder.

On Tuesday, police confirmed two men - aged 66 and 68 - had been arrested in relation to the killing. They are yet to be charged.

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Three people have been arrested over the 1997 execution-style murder of Gold Coast businessman Philip Carlyle (pictured), including his business partner Neil Pentland

Mr Carlyle's former business partner Neil Pentland and another man were seen being escorted by police into the Southport watchhouse on Tuesday morning (pictured)

A second man (pictured) was seen being escorted by police to the watchouse later on Tuesday morning

Mr Carlyle, 47, was shot in the head four times with a .32 calibre weapon on Sunday, April 13, 1997. His body was found that night, in the plant room of his internet access company Atnet Pty Ltd at Robina.

Two years after the father of three was murdered, police offered a $50,000 reward to help solve the crime.

At the time police said they believed Mr Carlyle may have known his killer, or killers, and that the crime looked like a professional hit.

Earlier this year, the ABC reported police were closing in on a suspect, after making a breakthrough relating to the uncommon ammunition used to kill Mr Carlyle.

Mr Carlyle, 47, was shot in the head four times with a .32 calibre weapon on Sunday, April 13, 1997 (pictured)

The father-of-three had been shot in the head four times with a .32 calibre weapon

He was repeatedly shot with Norma brand bullets, imported from Sweden and rare in Australia at that time.

Lead investigator Detective Sergeant Rod Seaman told the broadcaster he believed the church-going businessman knew his killer, and that he'd "been marched into the air-conditioning plant room at gunpoint at which point he's been shot".

Mr Carlyle's wife raised the alarm when she was unable to reach her husband, and she and her husband's business partner went to the Robina business to look for him.

A security guard who was aiding the search found the businessman's body.
A Dallas police officer handed himself in to police on Monday to face charges for shooting dead a 21-year-old pregnant woman.

Daniel Hess, a 10-year veteran of the force, is charged with aggravated murder for shooting Genevive Huss in her SUV on January 18.

The young woman was in the stolen vehicle with her boyfriend when Hess and a partner approached them.

Police say they rammed the vehicle into a patrol cruiser and ignored commands, prompting Hess and his partner to fire 13 shots into the car through the passenger window.

Dawes's family says she was asleep. They called for Hess to face murder charges and have filed a lawsuit against Dallas Police Department and the two officers.

Daniel Hess, 39, turned himself in to police on a single count of aggravated assault on Monday. He is wanted in connection to the death of 21-year-old Genevive Dawes (right) who died in January after being shot

On Monday, Hess posted $250,000 bond and was released on bail. It is not yet known when he will first appear in court.

What exactly happened in the seconds before the shooting is being disputed by both sides.

No bodycam footage has yet been released by the police department but a single image of the scene was leaked. It only shows Dawes's vehicle next to a car and one of the officers involved.

The young mother was struck by four bullets and died in hospital. Her partner, Virgilio Rosales, was injured but survived.

According to police reports, officers approached the car at around 5am after being called to where their car was parked by a member of the public who reported them as being suspicious.

No body cam footage has been officially released by this single image was leaked by law enforcement sources. It shows the SUV Dawes was in (left) when she was shot and one of the officers (left)

Dawes's boyfriend Virgilio Rosales was in the SUV with her at the time. He was injured but survived and was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm. Her family say his weapon was not visible to the officers when they opened fire

The woman's family has filed a lawsuit against the city and the police department. At a press conference last week, her mother Mary is seen breaking down as she sits next to lawyer Daryl Washington

Authorities say that when the officers ordered them to get out of the car, they began reversing into the police cruiser and also backed into a fence.

When they tried to drive away is when the officers started shooting, they said.

But Dawes' family undermined their version of events in their lawsuit. They say the young mother was asleep at the time.

They say that when she woke up, disoriented and unaware of the officers' commands, she began moving her vehicle forward at 'a very slow rate of speed'.

Rosales had a gun on him that was not registered to him, but the family says it was not visible to police when they opened fire.

Daryl Washington, an attorney working on behalf of the family, described Dawes's death as 'egregious' and told The Guardian that it was 'preventable'.
A prominent New Jersey rabbi was one of eight people who have been charged in a conspiracy to defraud Medicaid and other public assistance programs of around $1.3million, according to police.

Rabbi Zalmen Sorotzkin, of Lakewood, who runs the synagogue Congregation Lutzk and businesses linked to it, was taken into custody and faces charges of theft by deception.

His wife, Tzipporah, and three other couples were also taken into custody during early morning raids of their homes on Monday morning, reported CBS New York.

Rabbi Zalmen Sorotzkin, of Lakewood and his wife, Tzipporah, were taken into custody Monday morning and face charges of theft by deception

It is believed that all four couples made tens of thousands of dollars more a year than they reported to public assistance programs, such as Medicaid, police have said.

The couple were charged in a state court with collecting more than $338,000 in benefits they weren't entitled to, according to prosecutors.

Also charged were a second couple, Mordechai and Jocheved Breskin, who prosecutors accused of collecting more than $585,000 in benefits.

Also charged were a second couple, Mordechai and Jocheved Breskin, who prosecutors accused of collecting more than $585,000 in benefits

It is believed that all four couples made tens of thousands of dollars more a year than they reported to public assistance programs, such as Medicaid, police have said. Pictured center is Mordechai Sorotzkin, brother or Rabbi Sorotzkin, leaving a hearing with two others on Monday

Sorotzkin's brother, Mordechai and his wife Rachel were also charged in a federal complaint with one other married couple with fraudulently conspiring to obtain Medicaid benefits.

Specifically, they were charged with trying to obtain Section 8 housing benefits, and food assistance benefits.

Mordechai and Rachel Sorotzkin have been accused of making more than $1million in 2012 and 2013, but using Medicaid to pay for roughly $22,000 in medical expenses when they had their sixth child in November 2013.

The complaint also alleges that another couple, Yocheved and Shimon Nussbaum, hid their income by creating new companies run by relatives ,but under their control.

The couple made an estimated $265,000 in 2011, which is more than double the maximum amount allowed to receive Medicaid benefits. It is also more than triple the maximum to receive Section 8 benefits, according to the complaint.

Mordechai and Rachel Sorotzkin (pictured left), brother and sister-in-law of Rabbi Sorotzkin, were also charged in a federal complaint with one other married couple with fraudulently conspiring to obtain Medicaid benefits

Mordechai (pictured) and Rachel Sorotzkin have been accused of making more than $1million in 2012 and 2013, but using Medicaid to pay for roughly $22,000 in medical expenses when they had their sixth child in November 2013

The complaint also alleges that another couple, Yocheved (left) and Shimon Nussbaum (right), hid their income by creating new companies run by relatives ,but under their control

All four couples appeared in court Monday afternoon.

'Financial assistance programs are designed to alleviate family hardships for those truly in need,' Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said in a statement, according to CBS.

'My office gave clear guidance and notice to the Lakewood community in 2015 of what is considered financial abuse of these programs. Those who choose to ignore those warnings by seeking to illegally profit on the backs of taxpayers will pay the punitive price of their actions,' the statement continued.

Coronato said more arrests are expected as a result of the investigation, which was initiated by the FBI and the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller.
Labour MP John McDonnell, pictured, claimed at Glastonbury that the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy were murdered by political decisions

Labour MPs last night rounded on John McDonnell for claiming the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy were murdered by political decisions.

They branded it the language of the hard-Left, while the shadow chancellors claim was also disowned by the partys housing spokesman.

The backlash came as a Labour council was accused by ministers of a massive failure of fire safety.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said inspectors found 1,000 missing fire doors in five tower blocks in Camden.

He said the reason that tower blocks in the North London borough were evacuated on Friday night was multiple fire safety inspection failures, not just the discovery of flammable cladding.

Inspections revealed concerns about gas pipe insulation and inaccessible stairways and breaches of internal walls, he told the Commons.

Most astonishingly there were hundreds  literally hundreds  of fire doors missing, Mr Javid said.

The estimate by Camden Council itself is that they need at least 1,000 fire doors because they were missing from those five blocks.

Mr McDonnell, a close ally of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, made his comments at the Glastonbury festival at the weekend.

He blamed housing policies, cuts to the number of firemen and pay caps for firemen for contributing to the West London inferno.

Dozens of people died and hundreds more lost their homes in the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, pictured

Those families, those individuals  79 so far and there will be more  were murdered by political decisions that were taken over recent decades, he said.

But London Fire Brigade said there were no problems with resources or staff levels when it battled the blaze.

Yesterday John Healey, the partys communities spokesman and a former housing minister, distanced himself from the claim.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, pictured, said inspectors found 1,000 missing fire doors in five tower blocks in Camden

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: I wouldnt use the word murder. Its not yet possible to point to direct cause and effect. We dont know the full details.

Former Labour cabinet minister Margaret Hodge told BBC2s Daily Politics: I agree we should listen to the tenants and we clearly didnt there.

'I disagree with the language and I think that is the language of the hard-Left which is not done in my name. I think it was inappropriate.

US manufacturer Arconic, the firm that supplied cladding for the Grenfell Tower refit, yesterday halted sales for high rise blocks.

The aluminium panels, Reynobond PE, have a plastic core which is believed may have been a factor in accelerating the spread of the fire.

Meanwhile, the Government said that schools and hospitals are to be tested urgently for flammable cladding.
Many households are still being forced to endure woefully slow broadband speeds.

The Orkney Islands, Ryedale in Yorkshire and Purbeck in Dorset are among the worst affected, a report revealed.

The fastest speeds are in Tamworth in Staffordshire and Reading.

Eleven local authorities failed to reach a proposed legal minimum speed of ten megabits per second (mbps), analysis by consumer group Which? found.

It means the average household in Ryedale with a 9mbps speed would wait 14 and a half minutes to download the latest Hollywood blockbuster, twice as long as it takes with the average UK speed of 17mbps.

The government plans to enforce the minimum speed by 2020, which is in line with a recommendation by telecoms watchdog Ofcom.

Most of the worst speeds are in remote parts of Scotland and Wales, although one glaring exception is Southwark in London.

The London boroughs of Westminster, Lambeth, Hackney and the City of London were also found to be below average.

Those living in the Orkney Islands in Scotland have most to complain about, with an average speed of 6.3mbps.

The local authorities with the fastest speeds were Tamworth with 30.4mbps, followed by Reading with 30mbps and Adur in West Sussex with 29.2mbps.

MPs and campaigners say as well as being inconvenient, slow broadband speeds make businesses less productive, holding back the economy.

At the centre of the criticism is BT. It has been attacked for failing to invest enough in its arm Openreach, which controls the fibre connections, ducts and pipes behind the UK's broadband infrastructure.

The government plans to enforce the minimum speed by 2020, which is in line with a recommendation by telecoms watchdog Ofcom

It sells access to rivals such as TalkTalk and Sky. Broadband providers have also been accused of misleading customers by exaggerating speeds.

Alex Neill, managing director of home services at Which?, said: 'Far too many households across the UK are suffering from slow broadband speeds, which can stop you being able to carry out essential daily tasks.'

Senior Tory MP Grant Shapps, who led a cross-party campaign to boost Britain's broadband speeds, said: 'It is unacceptable that so many UK households still receive appalling broadband speeds, which rest well below the proposed minimum standards.

'This demonstrates that broadband companies are still not taking action towards improving speeds for those receiving the worst coverage.'

But the government said the report is misleading because it focuses on average speeds, rather than the best speed available to households if they switched to a better service.

A spokesman for Ofcom said: 'We're already taking firm, wide-ranging action to protect broadband customers, such as ensuring providers commit to giving more accurate speeds.'
Taxpayers face a bill of up to 154,000 for the first official trip on the new 'cost-cutting' royal jet, Buckingham Palace accounts reveal today.

The invoice, for Prince Charles and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall to go on a tour to Romania, Italy and Austria this March, is expected to be the single most expensive journey taken by a member of the Royal Family in the past year.

Their plane, an RAF-operated converted Voyager  nicknamed Cam Force One after former prime minister David Cameron, who sanctioned it  was refitted at a cost of 10million to provide official transport for Government ministers and members of the Royal Family.

Pictured: Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall arrive in Vienna after flying on their plane, an RAF-operated converted Voyager

Royal officials have 'not yet received the bill' from the RAF for Charles's nine-day trip but have been given three estimates. The highest of the three, which features in the royal accounts released today, is 154,000.

In all, 4.5million was spent on royal travel in 2016/2017  a rise of 500,000 or 12.5 per cent, on the previous year.

Senior royals clocked up 65 overseas visits between them, to places as far flung as Bhutan, Malaysia and Bahrain.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge racked-up the second most expensive trip when they visited India and Bhutan in April last year. Scheduled flights for the couple and their entourage cost 35,372 with a further 62,331 spent on hiring a private jet to travel inside the two countries.

A further 24,241 was spent on hiring a jet for the couple and Prince Harry to travel to the Somme commemorations in France. Prince William spent 37,334 on flights for a two-day visit to Vietnam in November.

A two-day visit to Paris for William and Kate saw them hire a private jet for 20,330 rather than go by the much cheaper Eurostar.

Left, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge take part in archery during a visit to Bhutan and right, the royal couple pose in front of the Eiffel Tower while on a trip to Paris

A two-day visit to Paris for William and Kate saw them hire a private jet for 20,330 rather than go by the much cheaper Eurostar

Despite giving up his globe-trotting role as a 'special ambassador' for trade, Prince Andrew continued to rack-up significant travel bills. Scheduled flights to Malaysia cost 21,831 and a private jet to Turkey 36,990. A visit to Mozambique and Botswana cost 56,470  27,770 on scheduled flights and 28,700 on a private jet.

A royal aide said: 'We are satisfied that the cost of the trip offered value for money. These visits are all determined by the Royal Visit Committee according to set priorities of political, geographical and economic importance.'

Charles and Camilla spent 42,960 on planes for an official visit to Ireland and Northern Ireland in May, while the Queen hired a private jet to take her from Balmoral to Buckingham Palace the same month at a cost of 16,963.

Charles also spent 73,297 to charter a plane to take him to the funeral of former president Shimon Peres in Israel, while an official visit to the Middle East cost 92,605.

Left, Prince Charles arrives in Israel for the funeral of former president Shimon Peres, right, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit India

Charles and Camilla spent 42,960 on planes for an official visit to Ireland and Northern Ireland in May this year

Princess Anne's visit to Archangel in Russia cost 40,655 for a private jet. Asked whether it had been suggested that the Royal Family fly Business Class instead of First Class, a senior aide replied: 'It is not only suggested but they do occasionally travel business class.'

The royal train, which costs almost 900,000 a year, was used just 14 times in the 12-month period.

One single journey for Prince Philip to attend a dinner in Devon cost 18,690, a trip to Wales to open the National Assembly a further 19,080 and a journey from London to Scotland for the Queen and Prince Philip 20,135. It also cost 46,038 for a trip to Lancashire by Prince Charles.

An aide said: 'We believe that although it's not the cheapest way to travel, it does represent many of the features we look for in terms of safety, security, minimal disruption and convenience.'

Officials argue that the dedicated use of Cam Force One, based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, will save taxpayers at least 775,000 a year on the cost of private charters.

When it is not on official use, the Airbus A330  which is fitted with 58 seats  will be used for its original purpose, air to air refuelling missions.

An aide said of the 154,000 possible cost for Charles's March trip: 'The figure that is quoted is an estimate but we are expecting the final figure to be lower.

'We are all looking at the Voyager as, hopefully, a cost-effective way to undertake official visits overseas.'

Another official added: 'We are also satisfied the use of Voyager will prove to be value for money against the cost of commercial charters, particularly for these longer overseas visits.'
More than three quarters of drivers plan to steer clear of diesel cars amid a string of pollution warnings and fears of swingeing penalties, according to a report.

Despite evidence that diesel cars are becoming less popular, motor manufacturers have rejected warnings about the demise of the fuel.

But a poll conducted for popular motoring magazine Autocar suggests this may be wishful thinking on the part of the car industry.

It warned of a 'major sales slump' after finding that less than a quarter of drivers plan to buy a diesel next time they change car.

An Autocar magazine poll found that the popularity of diesels, which currently make up around 40 per cent of cars on UK roads, is set to drop sharply as just 23 per cent plan to buy diesels next time

Over half of current diesel owners plan to defect to a petrol engine or a greener alternative such as hybrid or electric vehicle.

More than 1000 motorists were polled for the study.

It found that the popularity of diesels, which currently make up around 40 per cent of cars on UK roads, is set to drop sharply as just 23 per cent plan to buy diesels next time.

Petrol is set to dominate, with 60 per cent of buyers predicted to opt for unleaded - while more than a sixth are set to swap from a diesel to a hybrid or electric car at their next purchase.

The report said drivers have been spooked by the negative publicity surrounding the VW 'dieselgate' scandal, when the German car giant was caught cheating emissions tests.

But the overwhelming reason given by drivers for shunning diesel is health warnings about diesel fumes  particularly nitrogen oxides and sooty particulates which can cause respiratory disease.

Almost three quarters (73 per cent) said this would put them off.

Uncertainty over what a diesel car might be worth in the future was the second biggest factor, with 41 per cent saying they were concerned about a diesel car depreciating more rapidly in value.

The value of diesel cars on the second hand market has already been hit by the adverse publicity, according to What Car? Autocar's sister magazine.

For years new diesel cars have commanded a premium because they tend to be more fuel efficient and cheaper than run than petrol cars.

This was around 8 per cent - or 1500  on average, according to What Car?.

But it says say this premium is not being recouped when diesel cars are sold on the second hand market, leaving owners out of pocket.

The drop in the value of diesel cars has been accelerated by health warnings and the threat of extra penalties and higher taxes, with local councils under pressure to cut air pollution.

They have been told by the government to focus on reducing toxic nitrogen oxides, which diesel engines produce more of than petrol engines.

Petrol is set to dominate, with 60 per cent of buyers predicted to opt for unleaded - while more than a sixth are set to swap from a diesel to a hybrid or electric car at their next purchase

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been at the forefront of this, with aggressive plans to clobber mainly diesel drivers with a charge of up to 24 a day just to use their cars in the centre of town.

Autocar editor Mark Tisshaw said: 'These findings are a testament to the public battering diesel has taken over the last few years.

'We've already seen figures showing a diesel sales slowdown but what is clear from this survey is that there will be a major shift towards petrol, hybrid and electric cars.'

The growing nervousness about diesel is reflected in recent sales.

Latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufactuers and Traders found that diesel registrations in May fell by a fifth, year on year.

Some 81,489 newly registered diesel cars were sold, down 20 per cent from 101,844 in May 2016.

Sales of petrol cars edged up 0.4 per cent to 96,518 while sales of alternatively fuelled vehicles, such as electric cars and hybrids, soared 46.7 per cent to 8,258.

The car industry claims new diesel cars are cleaner than ever and that much of the adverse publicity about the fuel is unfair.

It points out that new diesels comply with the latest Euro 6 emissions standards and would not be hit by the penalties imposed in London and potentially elsewhere.

Mr Tisshaw said: 'While some vilification of diesel is justified, there is a major gulf between the perception and the reality.

'It is concerning that the majority of buyers now believe diesel is a wholly dirty fuel, pumping out the most CO2 and NOx into the atmosphere.

'The reality of modern Euro 6 diesels is very different.'

But a report published by Emissions Analytics yesterday claimed that new diesel cars are emitting up to eight to 12 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxides.

It said the worst offenders were the BMW 2-Series Active Tourer and the Kia Rio.

The cleanest new diesel cars were the BMW 5-series and the Mercedes E-Class.

A spokesperson for the SMMT said: 'Diesel cars continue to be a popular choice for consumers in the UK. Almost one in every two new cars registered is a diesel, with buyers valuing their high performance and low fuel consumption.
A spokeswoman for Hurley Medical Center says Lt Jeff Neville - who had what has been described as a 12-inch laceration from the front of his neck to the back - was released Monday in Flint, Michigan

The hero cop who was stabbed in the neck during what authorities believe was terrorist attack at a Michigan airport has been discharged from a hospital.

A spokeswoman for Hurley Medical Center says Lt Jeff Neville - who had a 12-inch laceration from the front of his neck to the back - was released on Monday.

Neville was slashed last Wednesday at Bishop International Airport in Flint, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, during the rampage.

Authorities have said 49-year-old Amor Ftouhi cut Neville with a large knife after saying something similar to 'you have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die.'

Ftouhi, a Canadian from Tunisia, was immediately taken into custody and was charged in a criminal complaint with committing violence at an airport.

Doctors have said Neville's wound caused significant bleeding, but narrowly missed major arteries and a nerve.

Mark Young, the Genesee County Commissioner, posted a photo of Lt Neville on Facebook in the hospital with a cup of coffee from his favorite place Tim Hortons on Sunday.

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Neville was stabbed Wednesday at Bishop International Airport in Flint, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Detroit by 49-year-old Amor Ftouhi

He gave a thumbs up as he stood in front of a 'prayer wall' covered in get-well messages from supporters.

'Lt Jeff Neville, the hero that thwarted the terrorist attack at Bishop International Airport, said he misses his morning Tim Horton's coffee,' said Young in the post.

'Jeff is pictured here in front of a 'Prayer Wall' from a Tim's from Bay City.

'SHARE THIS IF YOU THINK JEFF SHOULD BE THE NEW SPOKESMAN FOR TIM HORTON'S! #JeffForTimHortons #TimHortons!

Neville seemed to be in good spirits.

Mark Young, the Genesee County Commissioner, posted a photo of Lt Neville on Facebook in the hospital with a cup of coffee from his favorite place Tim Hortons on Sunday
Trapped and bewildered, a gannet is entangled in rope, fishing gear and pieces of plastic that have been thrown into the sea.

It's just one of a string of distressing sights researchers found while studying the impact of waste on marine birds.

Elsewhere, a puffin holds a blue strip of plastic in its beak  showing how our rubbish has become a deadly part of life for British wildlife.

Experts predict an estimated 99 per cent of native seabirds will have plastic in their stomachs by 2050.

Greenpeace crew members find a gannet entangled with plastic in the Treshnish Isles, Scotland. They manage to capture the bird and remove the plastic and then release it

Plastic waste and gannets at Bass Rock in Scotland. Greenpeace is there working on the campaign to highlight the problem of ocean plastics. Studies have shown that 90 per cent of seabirds have ingested plastic

The animals are enticed into eating it because the algae that accumulates on it gives off a smell like the tiny krill that many marine birds feed on.

The pictures come from Greenpeace, which has been researching ocean plastic around the coast of Scotland.

The environmental group found bottles, bags, packaging and plastic fragments on every one of the 30 beaches it studied on the mainland and islands.

Waste made its way into the feeding grounds of basking sharks, the nests of seabirds and even the habitats of seals and whales.

Tisha Brown, of Greenpeace UK, said: 'It cannot be right that our beaches, seas and the stunning wildlife they are home to should become the final dumping ground for throwaway plastic bottles and other plastic trash.

The Shiant Isles are home to large populations of seabirds, including thousands of Puffins, Guillemots and Razorbills found on the cree slopes of the island Garbh Eilean. A puffin is pictured above with rubbish in its mouth

The islands are uninhabited apart from the island of Eilean Taigh which houses a small bothy open to researchers and visitors. Currently nature conservation charity the RSPB are working on the island monitoring bird populations and the success of the recent rat eradication effort

'With a truckload of plastic entering the ocean every minute, we need urgent action from governments and from major soft drinks companies which produce billions of single-use plastic bottles every year, to stop the flow of plastic into the sea.'

The Daily Mail has long campaigned to stop plastic waste polluting the environment. We have already successfully called for a charge on plastic carriers with our Banish the Bags campaign.

Our Take Back Your Bottles drive focuses on a deposit scheme to stop the items spoiling our seas, beaches and countryside.

The Greenpeace research trip found plastics worn down into pellets, which are easy to ingest by animals which mistake them for food.

Experts predict an estimated 99 per cent of native seabirds will have plastic in their stomachs by 2050. Pictured above, plastic waste and gannets at Bass Rock in Scotland

Marine litter harms 600 different species and experts say there will be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050.

Plastic is so dangerous to wildlife because it soaks up toxic chemicals from seawater, poisoning the creatures that swallow them.

Items can also get trapped in their throat, damage the stomach lining or starve them by filling their stomachs so that they do not feel hungry.

Researchers were forced to rescue the gannet after it became tangled in the Treshnish Isles, near Mull.

Last week it was revealed that a whale stranded off the coast of Skye had more than 40 pieces of plastic including bin liners lodged in its stomach.
Dr Adam Rutherford said 'literally' every European is related to Charlemagne (above)

Many a celebrity has sought to further boost their credentials by revealing they are descended from kings and queens on genealogy programmes.

But according to a leading geneticist, their boasts are nothing special  because we are all related to royalty.

BBC broadcaster Adam Rutherford said shows like BBC1's Who Do You Think You Are? often try to identify someone in a celebrity's family tree with 'fame or infamy'.

Last year EastEnders actor Danny Dyer said he could 'not compute' it after the show revealed he was a descendant of 14th-century king Edward III.

And after featuring on a genealogy show in the US, Sir Richard Branson last year boasted of the 'extraordinary family fact' that he was related to Charlemagne, who ruled much of Western Europe from 768 to 814.

But yesterday Dr Rutherford, who has a PhD in genetics, said that actually this was not remarkable at all.

Royally exciting: The only difference between us and celebrities is that most of us don't have the means to prove it. Pictured: Danny Dyer in BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?

Speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival, sponsored by the Daily Mail, he said that 'literally' everyone in Europe had a direct lineage to Charlemagne, while there was a 'significant' chance most people in Britain are a descendant of Edward III.

The only difference between us and celebrities is that most of us don't have the means to prove it.

He said he and a team at University College London had worked on the notion that you have two parents, who also had two parents, and so on, working backwards to form an ever expanding family tree.

From this, they were able to work out that everyone living in Europe in the 10th century, and so before, was somehow related to everyone who now lives on the same continent.

Dr Rutherford, who presents BBC Radio 4's Inside Science, said: 'When you do family trees and in things like Who Do You Think You Are? ... the real key comes in managing to identify someone of fame or infamy in your family tree.

'And the reason I quip that story is because this is fundamentally not how genetics works.

Sir Richard Branson last year boasted of the 'extraordinary family fact' that he was related to Charlemagne, but Dr Rutherford said the revelation is actually unremarkable

'Richard Branson last year announced that he had looked into his family tree and found he was 40 generations away from Charlemagne.

'Literally every person in Europe is directly descended from Charlemagne. Literally, not metaphorically. You have a direct lineage which leads to Charlemagne.'

He added: 'Looking around this room, every single one of you ... is directly descended between 21 and 24 generations from Edward III.'
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China today unveiled its next generation bullet train 'Fuxing', which boasts a top speed of 400kmh (248mph).

Fuxing, whose name means 'rejuvenation', is the first bullet train designed and manufactured by Chinese engineers without help from the West, according to Chinese state media.

Chinese companies spent just 13 years learning to build world-class high-speed trains after acquiring know-how from leading firms in developed countries, such as Japan, France, Germany and Canada.

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All aboard! China's new high-speed train 'Fuxing' waits to depart from Beijing South Railway Station on June 26

Attentive: An attendant stands by China's 'Fuxing' as the bullet train is ready to serve travellers between Shanghai and Beijing

Made by China: Fuxing, whose name means 'rejuvenation', is the first bullet train designed and built by Chinese engineers

Fuxing bullet trains are expected to travel between Shanghai and Beijing, which is the busiest railway line in China and serves 505,000 passengers daily.

There are currently two models under the Fuxing series, namely CR400AF and CR400BF.

Both models were unveiled today.

A CR400AF model departed from Beijing South Railway Station at 11:05 am local time for Shanghai. At the same time, a CR400BF model left Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station for Beijing.

According to People's Daily Online, the new bullet trains, also known as electric multiple units (EMU), travelled up to 400kmh during experiment.

In daily operation, they would run at a consistent speed of 350kmh (217mph), which means it would take the train three and a half hours to travel between Shanghai and Beijing, or an hour and 20 minutes between London and Paris.

Currently, the travel time between Shanghai and Beijing is around five hours by train.

The sleek and super-fast bullet trains are also more comfortable as they provide free Wi-Fi coverage and more legroom in all carriages.

Fuxing's on-board monitoring system has been described as 'sophisticated'. It could automatically slow the train in case of emergencies or abnormal conditions, according to People's Daily Online.

Long journey ahead: Fuxing is expected to serve the Shanghai-Beijing railway, which is the busiest railway line in China

Lightning speed: The train boasts a top speed of 400kmh (248mph) and a consistent speed of 350kmh (217mph)

That's fast! Fuxing is expected to shorten the journey between Shanghai and Beijing from five hours to three and a half hours

China's high-speed railway network measures a staggering 22,000 kilometers (13,670 miles), which is about 60 per cent of the world's total.

Prior to Fuxing, China's bullet trains were called 'Hexie', or Harmony.

It's understood that China has managed to develop and build their own bullet trains in such a short time because Western firms had to sell their know-how to Chinese companies in order to enter the huge market, according to High Speed Rail in Colour, a book explaining the fast growth of China's high-speed railway industry.

The book said that Western companies, including Siemens from Germany, Bombardier from Canada and Alstom from France, had to ink deals with the only two Chinese companies allowed by the Chinese government to build bullet trains - in exchange for the huge market.

Workers from more than 20 Chinese companies joined forces to form a core team in order to build Fuxing in the past three years. The operator of the new trains is the China Railway Corporation, based in Beijing.

Modern and spacious: Fuxing provides free Wi-Fi coverage and more legroom in first and second-class carriages

Going global: Experts said Fuxing was expected to be exported to foreign countries once they're put into use in China

The launch of Fuxing is thought to herald a new era for the Chinese high-speed railway as the train has been billed 'the Chinese standard bullet train' by the authority.

Lu Dongfu, the general manager of the China Railway Corporation, said Fuxing underpinned a unique role which high-speed railway had played in China's economic and social development.

He added that the new train models were developed based on China's railway standards and technologies, and they were more suitable to China's environment and rail transport patterns, reported China Daily.

The launch of Fuxing (left) is thought to herald a new era for the Chinese high-speed railway. Prior to Fuxing, the Chinese bullet trains were called Hexie, or Harmony, and were built with the help of Western technology

As China put its latest train model into use, the country is also eyeing on the overseas market.

Jia Limin, a senior researcher with the nation's high-speed rail program, told CGTN last year that Fuxing was expected be to exported to foreign countries, such as Russia.

Mr Jia said that the Fuxing Bullet Trains would operate on the Chinese networks as well as on the Moscow-Kazan high-speed line in Russia.

The 770-kilometre-long (480 miles) rail line between Moscow and Kazan is designed for trains that could travel at 400kmh.

CGTN reported that the rail line was a joint venture between China and Russia.
A builder in the Polish town of Hrubieszow was in for a surprise when he discovered a sword while draining a bog filled with peat.

The sword is incredibly well-preserved, and is believed to date back to the late 13th or mid-14th century.

While the sword's owner remains unknown, researchers believe that a cross in the shape of a shield on the back of the sword would have served as the blacksmith's brand mark.

One theory is that it belonged to an unlucky medieval knight who may have fallen into or lost his sword in a bog filled with peat 600 years ago.

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A builder in the Polish town of Hrubieszow was in for a surprise when he discovered a sword while draining a bog filled with peat

THE SWORD The sword is almost entirely preserved, aside from the hilt. It is around 1.2 metres (four-foot) long, and researchers estimate that it weighed around three pounds at the time it was made. A cross in the shape of a shield on the back of the sword would have served as the blacksmith's brand mark. Advertisement

The sword is almost entirely preserved, aside from the hilt.

It has since been donated to the local Stanisaw Staszic Museum.

Speaking to science journal PAP, Bartomiej Bartecki, director of the museum, said that the sword is a 'unique find in the region' but would have been a typical weapon for knights 600 years ago.

Researchers from the museum estimate that the sword, which is around 1.2 metres long, weighed about three pounds at the time it was made.

The sword is almost entirely preserved, aside from the hilt. It is around 1.2 metres long, and researchers estimate that it weighed around three pounds at the time it was made

Speaking to National Geographic, Mr Bartecki said that a cross in the shape of a shield on the back of the sword would have served as the blacksmith's brand mark.

He said: 'It's kind of a medieval company name.'

The sword has now been sent to Warsaw for analysis in the hopes of revealing more about the identity of its owner.

Experts believe that a cross in the shape of a shield on the back of the sword would have served as the blacksmith's brand mark

The sword was found in a bog in the Polish town of Hrubieszow. After analysis, it will return to Hrubieszow to go on display

It will then be returned to Hrubieszow to go on display in Septemeber.

While the location of the bog has not been revealed to prevent looting, archaeologists plan to return there to see if it heralds any other artefacts, or even bones.
A fourth great white shark has washed up dead on a beach believed to be the latest victim of killer whales off the coast of South Africa.

Scientists say all four great whites have had their livers removed with 'surgical precision' prompting claims that pods of orcas in the area, south of Cape Town, are to blame.

Last month three sharks  one 15ft long  were washed up dead within four days of each other on a popular tourist beach all uneaten but with their livers missing.

Experts believe orcas are purely removing and feasting on the organ which is rich in a compound called squalene.

Great white sharks are being killed in bizarre fashion off the coast of South Africa. Pictured is one of the mutilated carcasses. South Africa's Dyer Island Conservation Trust have posted a series of photos of the sharks on Facebook

This week Marine Dynamics, a conservation body which also runs shark cage diving trips, confirmed the latest great white had died of wounds indicative of an orca attack.

The Department of Environmental Affairs ordered dissections last month and confirmed orcas were to blame for the attacks.

Pods of killer whales were spotted around Gansbaai at the time the three great whites were killed in May and around Dangerpoint when the fourth great white was killed this week.

A fourth great white shark has washed up dead on a beach believed to be the latest victim of killer whales off the coast of South Africa

Pictured is the fourth shark - a 12ft-long male great white with its liver neatly removed and nothing else eaten

KILLER WHALES HUNTING Killer whales, or orcas, are perhaps the greatest, most cunning and organised predators on the planet. Intensely agile, they hunt in groups and attack at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour (50kph), tearing at their quarry with teeth that are 3in long. Killer whales have previously been spotted flipping sharks onto their backs to put them into 'tonic inability'. Advertisement

Biologist Alison Towner confirmed on Twitter on Saturday that that the latest death was that of a 12ft male great white shark with its liver neatly removed and nothing else eaten.

In another tweet Marine Dynamics stated an elusive orca pair, Port and Starboard, had been spotted close to Dangerpoint on Saturday morning near the time of the latest attack.

Towner said: 'Obviously this is a very sad time for us. Nature can be so cruel but the dexterity with which these killer whales are capable of is mind blowing  almost surgical precision.

'That is the way in which they have removed the squalene-rich livers and dumped the shark carcass. We have never seen anything like this before in great white deaths.

Killer whales are believed to be responsible for the strange predatory pattern, in which four shark carcasses have washed ashore missing only their livers, with one expert noting that the organs were removed with 'surgical precision'. Pictured is one of the first three carcasses

At least four white shark carcasses have washed up near popular tourist town Gansbaai, South Africa, so far in an unprecedented set of killings

The shark killings occurred near the popular shark diving town of Gansbaai, South Africa

'In the attacks there is left a large gaping hole between her pectoral fins where they were torn apart to reveal her body cavity and that their large livers were completely missing.

'This information, combined with the recent sightings of orca and disappearance of white sharks in the area,provides convincing evidence that the orcas are responsible' she said.

The first dead shark - a massive 15ft one-ton great white - washed up on the shore in Gansbaai on May 3 and the following day a 12ft shark washed up nearby.

Three days later a third dead great white was washed up and its injuries matched the other two cementing the theory that these were not random isolated attacks but targeted.

Gansbaai is widely considered one of the best regions in the world for shark diving. White sharks generate millions in tourist revenue for the town, but the killer whales' spree appears to have driven many of the sharks away

Though mysterious great white deaths have appeared in the past, they have not been confirmed to have been the work of killer whales

Killer whales are the only known predator of the great white and are extremely intelligent and specialised hunters which also feed on seals, dolphins, turtles and squid.

According to the DEA statement, the orcas were targeting the squalene rich livers. It said this type of selective feeding on livers is extremely rare in orca whales.

How the orcas are able to extract the livers so neatly from the sharks is a bit of a mystery.

But footage off the coast of California showed team-work between orcas pushing a great white to the surface belly up then biting into its flesh which let the buoyant, oil-rich liver float out of the cavity.
You are more likely to be a 'Great Briton' if your handwriting slants to the right and you extravagantly cross your 't's, according to an analysis of British historical greats.

The handwriting of keen letter-writers such as Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, and Florence Nightingale were inspected as part of the study, which reveals how our calligraphy can give away our character traits.

By scrutinising the scrawls of some of Britain's best ever minds, handwriting experts claim to have found the telltale signs of greatness in someone's writing.

You are more likely to be a 'great Briton' if your handwriting slants to the right and you extravagantly cross your 't's, according to an analysis of British historical greats. Pictured is a letter written by Queen Victoria (right)

In the study, conducted by the Royal Mail and Tracey Trussell, a leading handwriting analyst at the British Institute of Graphologists, the handwriting of 10 famous letter and note writers was analysed.

Common traits found in the writing of historic greats include narrow right margins, a marked right slant and long and high 'T-bars'.

Slant is an emotional barometer that measures people's social stance, and a marked right slant indicates that a person is enthusiastic and responsive.

It also shows that they don't want to hold back and tend to be highly proactive.

Queen Victoria, mathematician Issac Newton, civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and composer and activist Ignatius Sancho were all found to have a right slant in their writing.

The 'T-bar' is the horizontal stroke that crosses the 't', and a person with long and high T-bars likes to take charge of a situation, the researchers said.

A common trait found in the calligraphy of British greats was a narrow right-hand margin. This is when the end of a sentence leaves no space on the right hand side of the page. Words appear to fall off the edge of the page or dip down like in the cases of Millicent Fawcett, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin (pictured)

As well as Queen Victoria, writer and feminist Millicent Fawcett - known for her work as a campaigner for women's right to vote - was found to have high 'T-bars', signifying the two were decision makers and perfectionists.

Another common trait found in the calligraphy of British greats was a narrow right-hand margin.

This is when the end of a sentence leaves no space on the right hand side of the page.

Words appear to fall off the edge of the page or dip down like in the cases of Millicent Fawcett, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

The size of the right hand margin shows the writer's real feelings towards the future, Ms Trussell said.

Those that leave no right margin are outgoing and engaging and are also impulsive, goal-orientated and driven.

Another feature the expert picks out is connectedness in joined up writing, which reflects the writer's thinking process and ability to function in social relationships.

Slant is an emotional barometer that measures people's social stance, and a marked right slant indicates that a person is enthusiastic and responsive. Famed English mathematician Isaac Newton (right) had a right slant in his handwriting (left)

If a person's writing is connected they are likely to be purposeful, single-minded and opinionated, with an indomitable spirit.

All the samples have connectedness, but an example is particularly noticeable in Brunel's writing.

The team said that various handwriting features can reveal a range of character traits.

Broadness in writing - where the letter 'n' is stretched horizontally across the page - reveals people who are open minded, unprejudiced and generous.

Joined up writing can show a person is purposeful, single-minded and opinionated.

Ms Trussell said: 'Handwriting is like "brain writing" because it comes through the central nervous system - it's a snapshot in time.

The 'T-bar' is the horizontal stroke that crosses the t-bar, and a person with long and high t-bars likes to take charge of a situation, the researchers said. Social activist Elizabeth Fry wrote with high t-bars (left) as did Florence Nightingale (right), the founder of modern nursing

'Graphology is a little bit like piecing together a jigsaw to build a complete picture.

'While it is difficult to be too prescriptive, these samples have thrown up some strong clues as to what underpins a Great Briton.

'Letters make up part of our history - they are a memoir of our individuality and presence - ensuring that we don't disappear forever.

THE STUDY'S RESULTS According to Tracey's findings, the most common handwriting traits of a Great Briton are: 1. Marked right slant Slant is an emotional barometer that measures people's social stance. A marked right slant such as that in the writing style of Queen Victoria, Issac Newton, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Ignatius Sancho indicates that a person is enthusiastic and responsive. It also shows that they don't want to hold back and tend to be highly proactive. 2. Rhythmical writing style This is the movement, or lively flow of handwriting across the page. If writing is rhythmical the writer is mature, well balanced and generally comfortable in their own skin, like Elizabeth Fry and Millicent Fawcett. 3. Large 'upper zone' Writing consists of three zones - upper, middle and lower - and each zone reveals a different section of the writer's inner character. The upper zone focuses on the parts of the letters that extend upwards like b, d, f, h and k. People with a large and dominant upper zone have rich imaginations, creative mind-sets and big aspirations and are intellectually savvy, ethical and have high standards - like Claudia Jones, Ignatius Sancho and Charles Darwin. 4. Narrow or non-existent right margin This is when the end of a sentence leaves no space on the right hand side of the page. Words appear to fall off the edge of the page or dip down like in the cases of Millicent Fawcett, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. The size of the right hand margin shows the writer's real feelings towards the future. Those that leave no right margin are outgoing and engaging and are also impulsive, goal-orientated and driven. 5. Small and diminished 'middle zone' The middle zone covers everything that sits on the baseline and reflects how people view themselves internally - the ego area. People with disproportionately small middle zones are selfless, productive, and much more interested in things that are going on around them. All of the 'Great Britons' have small and diminished middle zones. 6. Broadness This is where the letter 'n' is stretched horizontally across the page so it becomes wide and rectangular-shaped, revealing people who are open minded, unprejudiced and generous, willing to embrace change. Broadness is a common denominator between all our 'Great Britons', and particularly noticeable in Elizabeth Fry's handwriting. 7. Large 'lower zone' Lower zone is the space underneath the baseline and can be seen in the letters that extend downwards such as g, j, p, q and y. The lower zone is a deeply personal area focusing on people's primal instincts. People with exaggerated lower zones - such as extended curls like Florence Nightingale, Queen Victoria and Rosalind Franklin - are practical. People who have lots of variation in the size of their lower zone tend to be restless and like keeping busy. 8. T-bars long and high This is the horizontal stroke that crosses the t-bar. A person with long and high t-bars is a take-charge sort of person, like Queen Victoria and Millicent Fawcett. They are decision makers and perfectionists. 9. Large letter 'k' A noticeably large (or inflated) letter 'k' shows people who are resourceful and defiant like Charles Darwin, Ignatius Sancho and Claudia Jones. They like to get their own way and follow their own path in life. 10. Joined up writing with connectedness between words Connectedness in joined up writing reflects the writer's thinking process and ability to function in social relationships. If a person's writing is connected they are likely to be purposeful, single-minded and opinionated, with an indomitable spirit. When words are connected too, this means the writer is articulate, outstandingly logical and thrives on adventure. All the samples have connectedness - an example is particularly noticeable in Brunel's sample. Advertisement

If a person's writing is connected they are likely to be purposeful, single-minded and opinionated - an example of this can be seen in civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel's writing (left), but less so in British composer Ignatius Sancho's writing (right)

'These samples have done exactly that - they are a fascinating way of connecting with individuals that have helped define and shape the way we live today.'

Samples used in the study include the handwriting of journalist and activist Claudia Jones, mathematician Isaac Newton, who discovered gravity, and British composer Ignatius Sancho, who was the first known black Briton to vote in a British election.

Handwriting from Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, the English naturist who wrote the theory of evolution, Florence Nightingale, Rosalind Franklin, an English chemist who helped us understand the molecular structures of DNA and viruses, and civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was also studied.

Samples from English prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, who featured on the old 5 notes, and Millicent Fawcett, a writer and feminist known for her work as a campaigner for women's right to vote.

David Gold, director of public affairs and policy at Royal Mail, said: 'It is amazing to think that something we do every day can reveal so much about us.

'There have been many Great Britons throughout the years and we hope this list can help identify the next Great Britons.'

This letter was written by Rosalind Franklin an English chemist who helped us understand the molecular structure of DNA
Avis is teaming up with Waymo on a self-driving car program.

The partnership aims to support Waymo's ever-growing fleet of autonomous vehicles and its early rider program, which has a public trial in Phoenix.

Under the agreement, Avis will provide support and maintenance services for Waymo's program at its car rental locations.

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Avis is teaming up with Waymo on a self-driving car program. The partnership aims to support Waymo's ever-growing fleet of autonomous vehicles and its early rider program, which has a public trial in Phoenix

WAYMO TIMELINE - 2009: Google launches its self-driving car project - 2012: With over 300,000 miles of highway driving, vehicles start to explore more complex city street - 2015: Firefly driving 'pods' tested with no pedals, steering wheel or driver - December 2016: New project Waymo launches with a range of larger 'minivan' type vehicles, which can perform three point turns and other difficult maneuvers - January 2017: Waymo announces it will start testing the self-driving vehicles on public roads - April 2017: Waymo seeks volunteers to take part in first public tests of the vehicles Advertisement

Under the multiyear deal, Waymo's cars will receive automotive services such as cleanings, oil changes and tire rotations and will also be allowed to part the autonomous vehicles at Avis locations.

Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet Inc., will continue to own and run its self-driving cars and will continue with its existing partnerships.

'We are excited to partner with Waymo, the self-driving technology leader that is changing the mobility landscape in a profoundly transformative and beneficial manner,' said Larry De Shon, president and chief executive officer, Avis Budget Group.

'Not only does this partnership enable us to leverage our current capabilities and assets, but it also allows us to accelerate our knowledge and hands-on experience in an emerging area as Waymo-enabled self-driving cars become available in the marketplace.'

The Alphabet owned company recently said it was adding hundreds of Chrysler Pacifica minivans to build a 600-vehicle fleet.

'With members of the public using our growing fleet of self-driving cars, our vehicles need standard maintenance and cleaning so they're ready for our riders at any time of the day or night,' said John Krafcik, chief executive officer, Waymo.

'Avis Budget Group is an ideal partner to provide fleet support and maintenance.'

'With thousands of locations around the world, Avis Budget Group can help us bring our technology to more people, in more places.'

Under the multiyear deal, Waymo's cars will receive automotive services such as cleanings, oil changes and tire rotations and will also be allowed to part the autonomous vehicles at Avis locations

Avis also owns Zipcar, which is an on-demand car rental service, making it very appealing to Waymo, said Krafick.

Not only does the partnership provide Waymo with a 'network of traditional cars and customers that could be transformed into an autonomous transport service over time', but it is an opportunity for Avis to make its way into the self-driving car business.

'It's coming our way. So it's important for us to get involved now,' Avis Chief Executive Officer De Shon told Bloomberg.

'This just demonstrates that we can extend our business into fleet-management-as-a-service.'

Avis' shares rose as much as 21 percent to $29.32 in morning trading, recording their biggest intraday percentage gain in more than five years.

Alphabet's shares were little changed at $984.88, Bloomberg shared in a report.
The rise in global sea levels has accelerated since the 1990s amid rising temperatures, according to a new study.

The annual rate of sea level rise has increased by 50 per cent to 3.3 millimetres each year in 2014 from 2.2 millimetres each year in 1993.

Researchers hope the findings will act as a 'major warning' about the dangers of sea level rise for centuries if global warming isn't stopped.

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The rise in global sea levels has accelerated since the 1990s amid rising temperatures, according to a new study. The annual rate of sea level rise has increased by 50 per cent to 3.3 millimetres each year in 2014 from 2.2 millimetres each year in 1993

KEY FINDINGS Sea levels have risen by about 20 centimetres in the past century and many scientific studies project a steady acceleration this century as man-made global warming melts more ice on land. Early satellite data had exaggerated the rate of sea level rise in the 1990s, masking the recent acceleration. A thaw of Greenland's ice sheet accounted for more than 25 per cent of the sea level rise in 2014 against just five per cent in 1993. Other big sources include loss of glaciers from the Himalayas to the Andes, Antarctica's ice sheet and a natural expansion of ocean water as it warms up from its most dense at 4C (39.2F). Advertisement

Sea levels have risen by about 20 centimetres in the past century and many scientific studies project a steady acceleration this century as man-made global warming melts more ice on land.

Until now, scientists have found it hard to detect whether the rate has picked up, is flat or has fallen since 1990.

The study, by researchers from the Ocean University of China, found that early satellite data had exaggerated the rate of sea level rise in the 1990s, masking the recent acceleration.

The confirmation of a quickening rise 'highlights the importance and urgency' of working out ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to protect low-lying coasts, the scientists, led by Qingdao Xianyao Chen, wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change.

A thaw of Greenland's ice sheet accounted for more than 25 per cent of the sea level rise in 2014 against just five per cent in 1993.

Other big sources include loss of glaciers from the Himalayas to the Andes, Antarctica's ice sheet and a natural expansion of ocean water as it warms up from its most dense at 4C (39.2F).

A UN panel of climate scientists said in 2014 that sea levels could rise by up to about a metre by 2100.

Several climate experts who were not involved in the study welcomed the findings.

A rise in sea levels will threaten low-lying coasts from Miami (pictured) to Bangladesh, cities from Shanghai to San Francisco and small island states such as Tuvalu in the Pacific

'This is a major warning to us about the dangers of a sea level rise that will continue for many centuries even after global warming is stopped,' Peter Wadhams, a Professor of Ocean Physic at the University of Cambridge, said in a statement.

'A big question in climate science has been whether the rise in global sea level rise is accelerating. Now there is strong evidence that this is indeed the case,' said Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, Chair of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.

A rise in sea levels will threaten low-lying coasts from Miami to Bangladesh, cities from Shanghai to San Francisco and small island states such as Tuvalu in the Pacific.
A security weakness that left more than 800,000 Virgin Media routers vulnerable to attack by hackers also affects other devices, security experts suggest.

Virgin Media's Super Hub 2 was found to use short default passwords that could easily be cracked by attackers.

Now experts have warned that older routers provided by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and others are also at risk.

They have advised customers of these providers to switch their router password from the default.

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A security weakness that left more than 800,000 Virgin Media routers vulnerable to attack by hackers also affects other devices, security experts suggest (stock image)

VIRGIN HUB HACK Although the term 'Internet of Things' (IoT) first appeared in 2005, there is still no widely accepted definition. IoT includes gadgets bought by consumers, as well as products and services designed for businesses to help machines 'communicate' with each other. Ethical security researchers SureCloud gained access to the Super Hub 2 last week as part of the investigation into 15 IoT connected devices. Virgin Media said the risk to router was small, but it has advised customers to change both their network and router passwords if they are still set as the default shown on the attached sticker. Advertisement

'It's a bit unfair that Virgin Media has been singled out here,' Ken Munro from security firm Pen Test Partners told BBC News.

'They made a mistake - but so have many other internet service providers.

'This problem has been known about for years, yet still ISPs [internet service providers] issue routers with weak passwords and consumers don't know that they should change them.'

Virgin Media's router vulnerability was discovered last week after a Which? investigation found home networks and connected appliances could be accessed in as little as four days, including its Super Hub 2.

The finding added to growing concerns over security flaws in the 'internet of things' (IoT), the world of internet connected home devices.

Ethical security researchers SureCloud, based in London, gained access to the Super Hub 2 as part of an investigation into 15 internet connected devices

Virgin Media said the risk to router was small, but it advised customers to change both their network and router passwords if they are still set as the default shown on the attached sticker.

It suggested that passwords should be unique and contain at least 12 characters using a mixture of upper and lower case letters and numbers.

Last week Virgin Media's Super Hub 2 (pictured) was found to use short default passwords that could easily be cracked by attackers. Now experts have warned that older routers provided by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and others are also at risk

Virgin Media also said the issue existed with other routers of the same age, not just its model.

A Virgin Media spokesman said: 'The security of our network and of our customers is of paramount importance to us.

'We continually upgrade our systems and equipment to ensure that we meet all current industry standards.

'To the extent that technology allows this to be done, we regularly support our customers through advice and updates and offer them the chance to upgrade to a Hub 3.0 which contains additional security provisions.'

The finding comes as manufacturers routinely install technology into new household products that allows them to connect to the IoT.

Although the term 'Internet of Things' first appeared in 2005, there is still no widely accepted definition.

HALF OF SMART HOUSEHOLD GADGETS TESTED BY WHICH? WERE VULNERABLE TO ATTACK From devices that order our groceries to smart toys that speak to our children, high-tech home gadgets are no longer the stuff of science fiction. But even as they transform our lives, they put families at risk from criminal hackers taking advantage of security flaws to gain virtual access to homes. The Which? study tested whether popular smart gadgets and appliances, including wireless cameras, a smart padlock and a children's Bluetooth toy, could stand up to a possible hack. The survey of 15 devices found that eight were vulnerable to hacking via the internet, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections. Scary: Which? said ethical hackers broke into the CloudPets toy and made it play its own voice messages. They said any stranger could use the method to speak to children from outside The test found that the Fredi Megapix home CCTV camera system operated over the internet using a default administrator account without a password, and Which? found thousands of similar cameras available for anyone to watch the live feed over the internet. The watchdog said that a hacker could even pan and tilt the cameras to monitor activity in the house. SureCloud hacked the CloudPets stuffed toy, which allows family and friends to send messages to a child via Bluetooth and made it play its own voice messages. Which? said it contacted the manufacturers of eight affected products to alert them to flaws as part of the investigation, with the majority updating their software and security. Advertisement

IoT includes gadgets bought by consumers, as well as products and services designed for businesses to help machines 'communicate' with each other.

Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, said: 'There is no denying the huge benefits that smart-home gadgets and devices bring to our daily lives.

'However, as our investigation clearly shows, consumers should be aware that some of these appliances are vulnerable and offer little or no security.

'There are a number of steps people can take to better protect their home, but hackers are growing increasingly more sophisticated.

'Manufacturers need to ensure that any smart product sold is secure by design.'
Social media giants Facebook , Google, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft said on Monday they were forming a global working group to combine their efforts to remove terrorist content from their platforms.

Responding to pressure from governments in Europe and the United States after a spate of militant attacks, the companies said they will share technical solutions for removing terrorist content, commission research to inform their counter-speech efforts and work more with counter-terrorism experts.

The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism 'will formalise and structure existing and future areas of collaboration between our companies and foster cooperation with smaller tech companies, civil society groups and academics, governments and supra-national bodies such as the EU and the UN,' the companies said in a statement.

Facebook,YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft are were forming a global working group to combine their efforts to remove terrorist content from their platforms

The move comes on the heels of last week's call from European heads of state for tech firms to establish an industry forum and develop new technology and tools to improve the automatic detection and removal of extremist content.

The political pressure on the companies has raised the prospect of new legislation at EU level, but so far only Germany has proposed a law fining social media networks up to 50 million euros ($56 million) if they fail to remove hateful postings quickly. The lower house of the German parliament is expected to vote on the law this week.

HOW FACBOOK SPOTS TERROR Facebook's AI is using several techniques to try and spot terror groups online. Image matching: When someone tries to upload a terrorist photo or video, systems look for whether the image matches a known terrorism photo or video. Language understanding: AI is learning to understand text that might be advocating for terrorism. 'Were currently experimenting with analyzing text that weve already removed for praising or supporting terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda so we can develop text-based signals that such content may be terrorist propaganda' Facebook says. The machine learning algorithms work on a feedback loop and get better over time. Removing terrorist clusters: When the system identifies Pages, groups, posts or profiles as supporting terrorism, it also use algorithms to fan out to try to identify related material that may also support terrorism. It uses signals like whether an account is friends with a high number of accounts that have been disabled for terrorism, or whether an account shares the same attributes as a disabled account. Recidivism: 'Weve also gotten much faster at detecting new fake accounts created by repeat offenders' Facebook says. Cross-platform collaboration: Facebook is working on systems to enable it to take action against terrorist accounts across all our platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram. Advertisement

The companies will seek to improve technical work such as a database created in December to share unique digital fingerprints they automatically assign to videos or photos of extremist content.

They will also exchange best practices on content detection techniques using machine learning as well as define 'standard transparency reporting methods for terrorist content removals.'

Earlier this month Facebook opened up about its efforts to remove terrorism content in response to criticism from politicians that tech giants are not doing enough to stop militant groups using their platforms for propaganda and recruiting.

Google announced additional measures to identify and remove terrorist or violent extremist content on its video-sharing platform YouTube shortly thereafter.

The social media firms said they would work with smaller companies to help them tackle extremist content and organisations such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies to work on ways to counter online extremism and hate.

All four companies have initiatives to counter online hate speech and will use the forum to improve their efforts and train civil society organisations engaged in similar work.
A study has valued the Great Barrier Reef at US $42 billion, with its value as an ecosystem and economic driver labelled 'too big to fail.'

The reef is bigger than Britain, Switzerland and the Netherlands combined and supports 64,000 tourism-related jobs.

The study comes as the reef suffers an unprecedented second straight year of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.

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The study, based on six months' analysis, comes as the reef suffers coral bleaching, as well as facing pressure from farming run-off, development and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish populations, which eat corals

WHAT IS CORAL BLEACHING? Corals have a symbiotic relationship with a tiny marine algae called 'zooxanthellae' that live inside and nourish them. When sea surface temperatures rise, corals expel the colourful algae. The loss of the algae causes them to bleach and turn white. While mildly bleached corals can recover if the temperature drops and the algae return, severely bleached corals die. Advertisement

The report, published by the Deloitte Access Economics group and commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, calculated the reefs economic and social value for the first time.

According to the report, the reef is worth about US $22 billion to tourism, US $18.2 billion in 'indirect' or 'non-use' value - from people that have not yet visited the reef, with the rest of the value coming from recreational users such as boaters.

The study, based on six months' analysis, comes as the reef suffers coral bleaching, as well as facing pressure from farming run-off, development and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish populations, which eat corals.

These problems have been compounded by a powerful cyclone hitting the area this year.

'At AUS $56 billion (US $42 billion), the reef is valued at more than 12 Sydney Opera Houses,' said Great Barrier Reef Foundation director Steve Sargent.

Sargent also said that the study shows that no single Australian asset contributed as much to international perceptions of 'Brand Australia.'

'This report sends a clear message that the Great Barrier Reef  as an ecosystem, as an economic driver, as a global treasure  is too big to fail.'

US presidential candidate turned conservationist Al Gore said the study was a 'much needed, holistic view of the incredible economic value and opportunities provided by the Great Barrier Reef.' Picture is an aerial view of at Hook and Hardy Reef, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

US presidential candidate turned conservationist Al Gore said the study was a 'much needed, holistic view of the incredible economic value and opportunities provided by the Great Barrier Reef.'

'Any failure to protect this indispensable natural resource would have profound impacts not only to Australia but around the world,' he said.

The study included a survey of 1,500 Australian and international respondents from 10 countries, finding that people value the reef for a range of reasons, including its tourism value and the belief that Australia would not be the same without it.

The lead author of the study, Deloitte Access group's John O'Mahony, said it was clear the reef was 'priceless and irreplaceable'.

THE DEADLY STARFISH KILLING THE GREAT BARRIER REEF In the past 40 years, waves of crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks have had a major impact on the many reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef. Crown-of-thorns starfish (also known as COTS) are marine invertebrates that feed on coral. They occur naturally on reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and when conditions are right, they can reach plague proportions and devastate hard coral communities. A 2012 study revealed that crown-of-thorns starfish, along with tropical cyclones, have been the two leading cause of coral cover losses over the past 27 years. Vinegar has been used to kill venomous crown-of-thorns starfish Advertisement

'But we've been able to look at it as an 'asset' that has incredible value on multiple fronts  from its biodiversity and job creating potential to its support for critical industries and standing among international visitors to Australia,' he said.

Last month, Australia hosted a summit of more than 70 of the world's leading marine experts to work on a plan to respond to the threats facing the reef.

Some of the options looked at included developing coral nurseries, strategies to boost the culling of crown-of-thorns starfish, expanding monitoring systems and identifying priority sites for coral restoration.

Another key component of the talks was the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to prevent rising sea temperatures.

Australia's capital Canberra narrowly avoided UNESCO placing the reef on its endangered list, and has committed more than US $1.5 billion to protect it over the next ten years.

According to the report, the reef is worth about US $22 billion to tourism, US $18.2 billion in 'indirect' or 'non-use' value - from people that have not yet visited the reef, with the rest of the value coming from recreational users such as boaters

But sectors of the government have been criticized for backing a US $16 billion coal project near the reef by Indian mining company Adani, which some environmentalists warn could harm the reef.

Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said that protecting the reed was a priority.

'It is critical for reefs worldwide, including the Great Barrier Reef, that international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are effective,' he said in response to the study.

'Australia is taking strong action to address the global threat of climate change having ratified the Paris Agreement which will see Australia reduce its emissions by 26 to 28 percent on 2005.'
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Throughout the years, NASAs Cassini spacecraft has viewed Saturns rings in just about every way imaginable, from faraway looks at the stunning bands of cosmic material, to up-close observations of their peculiarities.

In a breathtaking new image, Saturns rings now appear just a ghostly brushstroke in front of the planets sunlit atmosphere.

The view was captured from roughly 620,000 miles away, revealing the unilluminated side of Saturns rings.

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Throughout the years, NASAs Cassini spacecraft has viewed Saturns rings in just about every way imaginable, from faraway looks at the stunning bands of cosmic material, to up-close observations of their peculiarities. In a breathtaking new image, Saturns rings now appear just a ghostly brushstroke in front of the planets sunlit atmosphere

SATURN'S RINGS Saturn's rings consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometres to metres, that orbit the planet. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material. They also contain features known as straw and propellers, which are caused by clumping ring particles and small, embedded moonlets, respectively. Advertisement

In the image, most of the planet and its rings are in shadow, with just a small crescent of the surface bathed in light.

NASAs Cassini spacecraft peers toward a sliver of Saturns sunlit atmosphere while the icy rings stretch across the foreground as a dark band, the space agency explains.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 7 degrees below the ring plane.

According to NASA, it was captured in green light using Cassinis wide-angle camera on March 31.

The Cassini spacecraft has circled Saturn for nearly 13 years, gathering unprecedented insight on the ringed planet and its many moons.

A dramatic video shared by NASA looks back at some of the early highlights of the Cassini mission, compiling clips from several flybys and set to eerie music.

The result is a breathtaking new perspective reminiscent of science fiction, showing some of Cassinis most remarkable observations as never seen before.

The Cassini spacecraft has circled Saturn for nearly 13 years, gathering unprecedented insight on the ringed planet and its many moons. A dramatic new video shared by NASA looks back at some of the early highlights of the Cassini mission, compiling clips from several flybys and set to eerie music

THE SCALE OF SATURN When it comes to space, it isn't always easy to understand how big objects really are. To put things into perspective, if Earth was the size of a tennis ball, the moon would be the size of a marble. Saturn would be the size of a beach ball and the sun would be the length of seven football fields away from Earth. Advertisement

The video, set to Nine Inch Nails Ghosts I-IV, begins with views of Saturns rings, before moving on through moons, clouds, and even glimpses of the massive planet itself.

In the first time-lapse sequence (00:07), a vertical line appears that is really Saturns thin rings seen nearly edge-on, according to NASAs Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).

Soon some of Saturns moon shoot past. The next sequence (00:11) features Saturns unusually wavy F-ring that is constrained by the two shepherd moons that are also continually perturbing it.

Soon much of Saturns extensive ring system flashes by, sometimes juxtaposed to the grandeur of the immense planet itself. Cloud patterns on Titan (00:39) and Saturn (00:41) are highlighted.

Cassini has been gathering observations of Saturn for over a decade, after arriving at the massive planet back in 2004.

Now, its running out of fuel, and scientists have planned to end its mission by crashing to craft into Saturn itself.

This dramatic new video created by Vimeo user Chris Abbas shows yet another look at the extensive data collected by the craft over the years, as scientists prepare for its death.

Clips from flybys of several of Saturns moon are then shown, including Phoebe, Mimas, Epimetheus, and Iapetus, the APOD explanation notes.

In other sequences, moons of Saturn appear to pass each other as they orbit Saturn. Background star fields seen by Cassini are sometimes intruded upon by bright passing moons.

Cassini has been gathering observations of Saturn for over a decade, after arriving at the massive planet back in 2004. Now, its running out of fuel, and scientists have planned to end its mission by crashing to craft into Saturn itself

This dramatic new video created by Vimeo user Chris Abbas shows yet another look at the extensive data collected by the craft over the years, as scientists prepare for its death

The video offers a breathtaking new perspective reminiscent of science fiction, showing some of Cassinis most remarkable observations as never seen before

As the video suggests, Cassini has played a major role in scientists understanding of Saturn.

Recent observations by Cassini have revealed new insight on some of the features first detected by the craft not long after its arrival to Saturn.

The spacecraft recently sent back the most detailed look yet at a sprinkling of propeller belts, for example, spotted in Saturns A ring.

Cassini previously observed propellers when it arrived at Saturn in 2004, but the low resolution of the images made them difficult to interpret.

Soon some of Saturns moon shoot past,' in the new video, NASA's APOD explains. And, features such as 'Saturns unusually wavy F-ring that is constrained by the two shepherd moons that are also continually perturbing it' can be seen throughout

CASSINI'S 'GRAND FINALE' Cassini has circled Saturn for 13 years since reaching its orbit in 2004, spearheading remarkable discoveries about the ringed planet and its icy moons  but now, it's running low on fuel. On April 22 the spacecraft began to transition into its grand finale orbits, taking one last close flyby of Saturn's massive moon Titan. Titan's gravity bent Cassini's flight path, causing the orbit to shrink until it was on course to pass between Saturn and the inner edges of its rings. Cassini began the first of 22 dives through an unexplored gap on April 26. Cassini's mission will officially terminate on September 15, after a planned plummet through Saturn's atmosphere. And all the while it will transmit data from several instruments until the signal is finally lost. Cassini began the first of 22 'Grand Finale Orbits' through an unexplored gap on April 26 before it eventually takes its final plunge into the planet. This graphic shows these orbits alongside the Ring-Grazing orbits the craft has undergone over the past 13 years. The orbit of Titan, one of Saturn's moons, is shown in dark green and the direction of Earth is shown in white Advertisement

Recent observations by Cassini have revealed new insight on some of the features first detected by the craft not long after its arrival to Saturn. An up close look at Saturn's rings can be seen above

In other sequences, moons of Saturn appear to pass each other as they orbit Saturn,' the description explains. 'Background star fields seen by Cassini are sometimes intruded upon by bright passing moons

Now, for the first time, Cassini has spotted propellers of all different sizes, revealing an unprecedented look at these features, which will help to unravel the mysteries of propeller moons  or, unseen embedded moonlets.

The robotic Cassini spacecraft has been revolutionizing humanitys knowledge of Saturn and its moons since 2004, NASAs APOD explains.

In September, Cassinis mission will be brought to a dramatic conclusion as the spacecraft will be directed to dive into [the] ringed giant.
It could be the end of laundry.

Panasonic has developed a clothes hanger that deodorizes shirts and jackets by releasing nano-sized negatively charged particles into the air around the garment.

Called Deodorant Hanger MS, the gadget is said to reduce odor intensity within 5 hours and the Japanese firm claims it works especially well to eliminate the smells of smoke, sweat and grilled meats.

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It could be the end of doing laundry. Panasonic has developed a clothes hanger that deodorizes shirts and jackets by releasing nano-sized negatively charged particles into the air around the garment

HOW DOES IT WORK? The system requires a power source and is equip with a unique cable that is plugged into a wall outlet, but the device also includes pack for batteries in case users are without an electrical socket. There is a normal mode that operates for about five hours to eliminate smells from the garments and there is also a seven hour mode for more suborn odors such as pollen. Consumers simply place with shirt or jacket on the hanger and push the on button. There is also a clothing over that can be draped over the garment while it is being cleaned to ensure it receives a thorough cleaning. Advertisement

The hanger uses a proprietary technology called nanoe, which are so small, they are invisible to the human eye  and the firm has used this in range of devices such as its hair dryer.

The system requires a power source and is equip with a unique cable that is plugged into a wall outlet, but the device also includes pack for batteries in case users are without an electrical socket.

There is a normal mode that operates for about five hours to eliminate smells from the garments and there is also a seven hour mode for more suborn odors such as pollen.

Consumers simply place with shirt or jacket on the hanger and push the on button.

There is also a clothing over that can be draped over the garment while it is being cleaned to ensure it receives a thorough cleaning.

The Deodorant Hanger is available for 20,000 yen, which is about $180, but it is only available in Japan at the moment.

Another Japanese firm has unveiled an innovation to help eases the laundry burden.

The Laundroid was developed by Seven Dreams, which is a Tokyo-based group of technologists dedicated to creating novel, world-first products.

Called Deodorant Hanger MS, the gadget is said to reduce odor intensity within 5 hours and the Japanese firm claims it works especially well to eliminate the smells of smoke, sweat and grilled meats.

And the team has been developing its robotic laundry folder since 2005.

'Laundroid is not just a laundry folding machine nor another ordinary house hold electronics like the others,' Seven Dreamers shared on its website.

'It is a new household robot that will bring evolution to every house, having headache with laundry folding. It is a new service we provide to the world to make daily life's easier for everybody.'

Users simply load the machine with clean dry clothes and the robot arm inside will do the rest.

The system requires a power source and is equip with a unique cable that is plugged into a wall outlet, but the device also includes pack for batteries in case users are without an electrical socket

Prior to the latest announcement, the machine operated via an app or control buttons on the device.

However, by Seven Dreamers teaming up with Cerevo, an IoT consumer electronics firm, the collaboration will make folding laundry even easier.

Under this partnership, Seven Dreamers will integrate Laundroid with Cerevo's Lumigent, a robotic desk lamp with voice recognition and transformation functions.

Another Japanese firm has unveiled an innovation to help eases the laundry burden. The Laundroid (pictured) was developed by Seven Dreams, which is a Tokyo-based group of technologists dedicated to creating novel, world-first products

Lumigent lights up automatically when spoken to, enabling Lumigent to command the basic Laundroid operations.

By connecting with various IoT devices in the home, Laundroid will facilitate the establishment of a new relationship between people and robots.

However, the announcement has noted that the technology will not work with Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant or any other virtual, Engadget reported.

Laundroid is also designed with artificial intelligence, so it is able to learn the characteristics of clothing.

Since Lumigent (pictured) lights up automatically when spoken to, the integration will enable the lamp to command the basic Laundroid operations

It can fold, depending on the user's preference, fold clothes by item or by family member  it will create separate piles for each person living in the house.

By remembering and organizing clothing that has been worn, Laundroid can serve as an online closet.

Seven Dreamers is planning to offer a 'clothing concierge' service that will help users enjoy fashion by providing opportunities for them to wear an almost limitless range of new clothing.

By connecting with various IoT devices in the home, Laundroid will facilitate the establishment of a new relationship between people and robots

The Japanese firm has proposed 2017 for when it will have a working Laundroid for the market.

It has also suggested pairing the machine with Panasonic washers and dryers by 2018, as Panasonic has invested some 60 million into the folding robots.

And Seven Dreamers has also suggested building its Laundroid with every new home constructed in Japan in 2020.
Snapchat is taking users on an underwater adventure.Royal Caribbean has designed a modified a unique scuba mask that houses Snapchat Spectacles, which can be submerged for 30 minutes and operate up to 150 feet below the surface.

Called 'SeaSeekers', the device uploads footage to the diver'sSnapchat 'Memories', allowing them to instantly share their deep sea experience with those on land.

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The Royal Caribbean has designed a modified a unique scuba mask that houses Snapchat Spectacles, which can be submerged for 30 minutes and operate up to 150 feet below the surface

HOW DOES IT WORK? The Royal Caribbean has developed a custom-designed scuba masks that is capable of holding a pair of Spectacles. The device is interchangeable, allowing users to operate their own unit. Called 'SeaSeekers', the device uploads the footage to the diver's Snapchat 'Memories', allowing them to instantly share their deep sea experience with those on land. prototype that can be submerged for 30 minutes and operate up to 150 feet below the surface. It can be submerged for 30 minutes and operate up to 150 feet below the surface. Advertisement

'The SeaSeeker will enable all adventure-seekers to get a front-row seat to the thrilling adventures found underwater in a way that has never been possible before,' said Jim Berra, CMO and SVP of marketing at Royal Caribbean International.

'Snapchat continues to be a favorite channel for curious travelers and is the ideal platform for this first-of-its-kind undersea exploration.

'We are excited to find an innovative way to use the Snapchat Spectacles with our SeaSeeker mask so that we can bring the underwater experience to our guests as they visit the incredible destinations we sail to.'

'We've even taken the added step of applying for a patent for the SeaSeeker mask so that we can bring it to our guests exclusively.'

The unit consists of a pair of Spectacles that are housed in a waterproof casing that doubles as googles for the diver  the Spectacles snap in and out of the custom-designed scuba mask, DesignBoom reported.

SeaSeekers are currently being tested in Mexico with a group of professional divers, but Royal Caribbean has plans to release the technology to its guests  the firm is also looking to patent the googles which it will target at 'maturing millennials'.

The mask was also designed to encourage people to spend more time exploring the oceans, as 95 percent has yet to be seen by human eyes, and as a way to promote conservation.

Called 'SeaSeekers', the device uploads footage to the diver's Snapchat 'Memories', allowing them to instantly share their deep sea experience with those on land

SeaSeekers goggles are currently being tested in Mexico with a group of professional divers, but Royal Caribbean has plans to release the technology to its guests  the firm is also looking to patent the googles which it will target at 'maturing millennials'

Although Spectacles are fairly new to the market, Snapchat seems to not be wasting anytime in modifying them to be more appealing to users.

Earlier this month, rumors have surfaced that the firm was developing a second pair that would be 'quite different' from its predecessor and include built-in augmented reality features, TechCrunch reported.

The rumor was brought to light a month after Snapchat published a patent for the technology, which overlays digital images in the real-world environment captured by the glasses.

The unit consists of a pair of Spectacles that are housed in a waterproof casing that doubles as googles for the diver  the Spectacles snap in and out of the custom-designed scuba mask

The mask was also designed to encourage people to spend more time exploring the oceans, as 95 percent has yet to be seen by human eyes, and as a way to promote conservation

Snapchat released its Spectacles in the US market this past November, which are a range of sunglasses which users can film 10 second video clips and upload them straight to the picture messaging app.

And earlier this month, the firm launched the device in the UK.

The $129 (130) sunglasses record 10-second video clips which are then sent to the user's Snapchat account, where they can be shared with friends. The report was gathered by Jon Russell with TechCrunch, who said he spoke with people familiar to the matter.

The mask was developed using a 3D printer and Royal Caribbean hopes to soon patent the design

The sources said that this development has been a major secret among Snapchat and only 'a few of Snap's' employees know the details and shipping date.

And although it was noted that the second model will be 'quite different' from the original, the source did not hint at any other details.

However, Snapchat may have given away its own secret last month with a patent for Spectacles that support augmented reality (AR) capabilities.

Although Spectacles (pictured is the original pair)are fairly new to the market, Snapchat seems to not be wasting anytime in modifying them to be more appealing to users. Earlier this month, rumors have surfaced that the firm was developing a second pair that would be 'quite different' from its predecessor and include built-in augmented reality features

The patent, entitled 'Image based tracking in augmented reality systems' was filed by Snapchat in October 2015 and published on Thursday.

According to the document, the technology would have the users capture their surrounding environment by taking shooting a video via the Snapchat app.

The rumor was brought to light a month after Snapchat had published a patent (pictured) for the technology, which overlays digital images in the real-world environment captured by the glasses

This data would then be used as 'an initial rough location estimate to identify facade data about local buildings' which would be determined by GPS or another location service, the patent explains in regards to what the environment looks like.

HOW TO GET A PAIR Current locations of Snapbots: - London Eye in London - Rambla del Mar in Barcelona - MountMitte in Berlin - Campo San Barnaba in Venice - Port de Suffren in Paris - The American at Bran in Glendale - The Grove in Los Angeles These vending machines move to a new location every day. To check where they are go to the website, where they can also be bought online. Advertisement

The system then searches through its data base for an image that matches with what the users is seeing, which would then be placed in the scene.

And the patent gives a few examples including virtual animals, robots and dinosaurs.

'Augmented reality, as described herein, refers to systems and devices that capture images, enhance those images with additional information, and then present the enhanced information on a display,' the patent explains.

'This enables, for example, a user to hold up a phone to capture a video stream of a scene, and an output display of the phone to present the scene as visible to the user along with additional information.

'This information may include placing virtual objects in the scene so the virtual objects are presented as if they existed in the scene.'

'Aspects of such virtual objects are processed to occlude the virtual object if another real or virtual object passes in front of the virtual object as shown from the perspective of the image sensor capturing the environment.'

Although the patent does not outright list 'Spectacles' as the tool that would transport users to an augmented work, there is a drawing (pictured) of a pair of glasses that looks almost identical

The patent shows an illustration where the user is walking down the street of a city.

In the drawing, it shows a massive Tyrannosaurus Rex standing in the middle of the road walking towards them.

'In an AR event, virtual objects such as virtual object may move within a virtual environment matched to the real environment, so that as a camera perspective changes, virtual object is not static, but moves over time whether or not virtual object is within the perspective area captured by a sensor,' Snapchat shares in the patent.

Users capture their surrounding environment by shooting a video via the Snapchat app while wearing Spectacles. This data would then be used as 'an initial rough location estimate to identify facade data about local buildings' which would be determined by GPS

So, the augmented reality dinosaur could appear as if it is charging for you, while you are wearing the Spectacles.

Although the patent does not outright list 'Spectacles' as the tool that would transport users to an augmented work, there is a drawing of a pair of glasses that looks almost identical.

The patent suggests that the firm would fit the 'glasses' with two cameras and a range of sensors to 'see' the user's reality.

SNAPCHAT SPECTACLES To take a Snap, just press the button on Specs once to take a ten-second video Snap. There's no need to pair Spectacles with your phone first. Spectacles are always 'on' and ready to capture the moment, but they're not always recording. The LED ring on the front of Specs will illuminate when you press the button to start recording. One you pair a phone, the snaps will automatically appear in your memories tab. From there, they can be edited and shared as normal. Advertisement

However, the document also describes other device that could be used such a visor or helmet.

The firm notes that it could use 'specialized image and location capture equipment' to gather more information about the outside world.

This would include 'locations, keypoints of buildings, and building facade data with high accuracy'.

Doing so will give the system more 'accurate references for image based location systems'.

However, like many tech firms before, just because Snapchat has published a patent for new technology, does not mean it will become a reality.

But it may not be too far off, as the firm foresees this device being a $5 billion market by 2020.
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Offering a glimpse into how the magic began, an original hand-drawn map of Disneyland from 1953 sold for a record $708,000 at auction over the weekend.

The artwork, hand-inked and hand-colored, was created by Walt Disney and artist Herb Ryman and used to present to investors in order to secure funding to build the first theme park in Anaheim, southern California.

It clearly shows the layout of the park with the now iconic Sleeping Beauty castle and railroad, and sections for Fantasy Land, Land of Tomorrow, and Frontier Land.

Big draw: An original hand-drawn map of Disneyland from 1953 sold for $708,000 at auction over the weekend

The price set a record for a Disney map and was among the highest ever paid for a piece of Disney ephemera at auction, organizers said. Still, it fell short of the predicted $900,000.

'After some pretty exciting bidding, the map sold for $708,000, making it the most expensive Disneyland map ever sold,' said Mike Van Eaton, co-owner of Van Eaton Galleries.

'We are beyond thrilled that the map will continue to be appreciated and cherished just like it has been for all these years,' he said.

Sunday's buyer was not revealed.

Mike Van Eaton, co-owner of Van Eaton Galleries, with the first color drawing of Disneyland

Fast forward: What the park map looks like today. There are some similarities to the original sketch, with the iconic Sleeping Beauty castle visible in both

The seller - who acquired the map after it was passed down through employees and friends - also wished to remain anonymous.

Mr Van Eaton said the detailed visual was created by Walt and Ryman over a single weekend. It was then taken by Walt's brother, Roy Disney, to New York for a presentation to get the financing needed to build Disneyland.

The presentation proved a success, with ABC shaking hands on a deal in return for access to Disneylands movie archive.

Commenting on the map's value and layout, Mr Van Eaton said: 'Its a very important piece in Disneyland history.

'Its very similar to what it looks like now. Main Street is the same, Fantasy Land is very similar, the Rivers of America looks very much the same.

A photograph from the 60th anniversary of Disneyland in Anaheim. The theme park, which is the only one designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, opened on July 17, 1955

'Some things have been moved around, but the whole concept of the park was right there in 1953, two years before the park opened.'

The map was one of the highlights of some 700 lots at the Collecting Disney auction, held by Van Eaton Galleries in Los Angeles.

The sale of items drawn mostly from private collections was expected take in between $2 million and $3 million.

Disney co-founded an animation studio in 1923, which eventually grew into a feature film production studio with films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi and Cinderella.

The company then ventured into theme parks. The Anaheim location, which is the only one designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, opened on July 17, 1955.

Walt died in 1966 aged 65.

The Walt Disney Company is now one of Hollywood's top players, producing live action and animated feature fare.
Keith Urban, 49, has sent a gushing tribute to wife Nicole Kidman on the couple's 11th wedding anniversary.

Keith took to Instagram on Sunday to share four candid selfies of the couple snuggling close, with Nicole, 50, lovingly wrapping her arms around Keith.

In the sweet tribute, the country crooner said he still feels like the actress is his 'girlfriend'.

In love: Keith Urban, 49, has sent a gushing tribute to wife Nicole Kidman on the couple's 11th wedding anniversary

'Happy Anniversary Babygirl. Eleven years and you still feel like my girlfriend!!!' he captioned the post.

In the images, the couple look smitten as Keith plants a kiss on Nicole's cheek.

The adorable post was met with a flurry of well wishes from Keith's fans, with more than 87,000 people registering their fondness for the photos.

Wedded bliss: Keith took to Instagram on Sunday to share four candid selfies of the couple snuggling close, with Nicole, 50, lovingly wrapping her arms around Keith

'Such an inspiration to all couples!!! Keep your love strong and beat the odds,' one follower commented, while another offered: 'Congrats guys xxx keep being each other's best friend and love will never fail.'

Speaking to Who in April, Nicole, who also celebrated her 50th birthday last week, revealed that the secret to her successful marriage was that her and Keith were friends first and foremost.

'That's what Keith and I have as well,' she said. 'as much as we have a love, we also have an incredible friendship and trust.'

Smitten: In the images, the couple look smitten as Keith plants a kiss on Nicole's cheek

Couple goals! The adorable post was met with a flurry of well wishes from Keith's fans, with more than 87,000 people registering their fondness for the photos

Further, Keith admitted to Woman's Day in 2016 that Nicole makes him a better person, saying: 'Because of her, if I open up, every day, Im listening and growing and learning. If Im a better man, its because of her.'

After splitting with first husband Tom Cruise in 2001, Nicole was romantically linked with musicians Lenny Kravitz and Robbie Williams before starting a relationship with Keith in 2005.

The pair were married in the beachside Sydney suburb of Manly in 2006 and welcomed their first child Sunday Rose into the world in 2008, with sibling Faith Margaret arriving in 2010.
Danny Dyer's marriage is said to be on the rocks after his wife Joanne Mas was left 'humiliated' by reports of a six-week affair with Sarah Harding.

Their relationship is reportedly under 'serious pressure' just weeks after Danny returned from an extended break from work, according to The Mirror.

Despite the rumoured tryst taking place five years ago, friends of the couple have revealed Jo feels humiliated by the news.

Troubled water: Danny Dyer's marriage is on the rocks after a source revealed his wife Jo was left 'humiliated' following reports of the actor's six-week affair in 2012

The source said: 'Jo has been left humiliated by the reports over the weekend of Danny's fling with Sarah.'

Joanne also recently reportedly kicked Danny out of their marital home, for becoming involved with a shifty crowd.

The source continued: 'She is already unhappy with some of the crowd Danny is hanging round with again and things are not rosy between them.

'It is fair to say their marriage is under serious pressure again. Jo has forgiven a lot of things Danny does, but it can't go on forever.'

A representative for Danny Dyer has been contacted by MailOnline for further comment.

Despite the drama, Danny, who plays Mick Carter in the long running BBC soap, is said to be carrying on as normal.

Steamy scenes: It is said to have happened when the pair filmed the 2012 flick Run for Your Wife together

The pair allegedly had a six-week fling when the pair filmed the 2012 flick Run for Your Wife together.

It is claimed Sarah, 35, didn't know the EastEnders' hunk, 39, had a long term partner at the time, according to The Sun.

A source told the publication of their affair: 'For a while they were head over heels and had a wild sexual relationship. He fell in lust with her.'

'They had a wild sexual relationship': Danny Dyer (pictured at BAFTA 2017) and Sarah Harding allegedly had a six-week fling

The insider, and so-called friend of Sarah, further claimed: 'She was flattered by him and soon they had become an item.

'She's really not the kind of girl to get involved with someone with a partner. Things would never have gone so far.'

Danny is said to have told Sarah he was single and living with his father in Canning Town at the time.

Sarah's representative refused to comment when contacted by MailOnline, while a representative for Danny has been approached.

The shocking revelation comes just days after it emerged his wife Joanne, 40, 'sent him packing' from their home.

Moving apart: It was reported last week that Danny has been living in a hotel in Hertfordshire while he films BBC soap EastEnders, despite only living 19 miles away

It was reported last week that Danny has been living in a hotel in Hertfordshire while he films BBC soap EastEnders, despite only living 19 miles away.

Danny, who plays Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter on the BBC soap, previously stayed at the same hotel alone in 2015 after claiming the show had 'rinsed the life out of him'.

However a BBC spokesperson told the paper: 'He's filming as usual  nothing has changed. Sometimes, if cast members have an early or late call, they stay nearby.'

Not impressed: The shocking revelation comes just days after it emerged his wife Joanne, 40, 'sent him packing' from their home after becoming involved in the wrong crowd

His alleged affair with Sarah occurred while they filmed Run For Your Wife, which saw them play a married couple on set.

The 2012 movie tells the story of John (Danny) who lives a double life despite being a married man but his secret is let out the bag when he does something heroic.

For the role, the actor and actress were required to practice their lines together and share smooches.

But it is reported the couple found themselves unable to deny the sexual chemistry between them when they were off set.

The alleged fling is said to have kicked off when they couldn't resist locking lips when they weren't filming.

Sarah was reported to be 'devastated' when she was faced with the reality the soap star was dating someone long-term.

Danny and Joanne have shared a 20-year relationship - and share three children together - but only wed in September 2016.

The actor has been led astray by other woman during their long-term relationship.

In June 2014, it was reported he had 'spent the night with a 21-year-old student after meeting her in a club and was allegedly pictured naked on her mobile phone.

Exposed: The alleged fling is said to have kicked off when they couldn't resist locking lips when they weren't filming

Earlier that year, Cara Chamberlain, 29, came forward after a night out she reportedly spend with the actor in 2010, which involved partying in a nightclub, and then going back to his hotel room.

But he vowed to change and in 2015 said: 'I don't want to go there again. I have cheated in the past and I suffered the consequences quite badly.

'Jo's always been the girl for me. Those things happened a long time ago and what we've got together is much more important than that.'

In February 2017 he was embroiled in another cheating scandal after allegedly sending pictures of his penis to a fan.

According to the young mother, who he met at an Essex book signing event the previous year, he told her 'bend over and show me that bottle' - cockney rhyming slang for her backside.
Reps for Brad Pitt have denied claims made by Australian magazine New Idea that the actor went on an 'intimate date' with Elle Macpherson recently, following her split from husband Jeffrey Soffer.

The publication wrongly alleged that the supermodel was seen 'cosying up' to the 53-year-old actor during a rendezvous in Hollywood.

'They definitely seemed cosy together, like a couple on an intimate date,' a source 'allegedly' told the publication.

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'This is not true': Reps for Brad Pitt have denied a magazine's claims he went on an 'intimate date' with Elle Macpherson following her split from husband Jeffrey Soffer

'She was touching his arm a lot and flicking her hair over her shoulder. There was a lot of flirting going on.'

Reps for the Hollywood star told Daily Mail Australia: 'This is not true. Brad Pitt isn't even in the country.'

Reps for the Hollywood star told Daily Mail Australia: 'This is not true. Brad Pitt isn't even in the country'

The pair first met on the set of Friends in 1999, while Brad was still married to Jennifer Aniston, who also starred on the sitcom.

Meanwhile, Elle has allegedly split from property developer Jeffrey.

The mother-of-two and her sons Flynn, 19, and Aurelius, 14, are said to have moved out of the Miami mansion they previously shared with the 44-year-old billionaire.

Newly-single? Elle has allegedly split from her billionaire husband Jeffrey Soffer (pictured)

Previously based in London, Elle moved her entire family to Miami in 2014 to be closer to Jeffrey one year after their wedding.

Elle and her two children, who are from her previous relationship with billionaire Arpad Busson, have been residing in the sprawling Indian Creek mansion for the past three years.

Meanwhile, Brad has seemingly been enjoying his bachelor lifestyle following his split from Angelina Jolie, 42.

Bachelor life: Meanwhile, Brad has been enjoying single life as he attended the UK's Glastonbury festival over the weekend

The father-of-six was spotted attending the UK's Glastonbury festival over the weekend where he was reportedly spending time with Sienna Miller.

The Fight Club star has been embroiled in a divorce battle with Angelina since their split was announced in September.

The mother-of-six was awarded primary custody at the time with Brad allowed supervised visitation.

It is not clear what the arrangement is now, but it's been reported by numerous outlets that the Troy star has been seeing the children regularly.
Her husband Oliver Curtis was released from prison on Friday after serving a year for conspiracy to commit insider trading.

And on Monday, PR maven Roxy Jacenko was back to business as usual, spotted heading to work in Sydney.

The blonde socialite picked up some coffees and beamed as she made her way to her Sweaty Betty offices, while Oliver enjoyed breakfast with their daughter Pixie, five, before going to work himself.

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Business as usual! Roxy Jacenko heads back to work as her husband Oliver Curtis has breakfast with their daughter Pixie, five, following his release from prison

Not slowing down? Oliver enjoyed breakfast with their daughter Pixie, five, before going back to work himself

Back to the office! Roxy looked incredibly stylish in a long white coat and leather trousers, which she teamed with a blue and white striped shirt

Roxy looked incredibly stylish in a long white coat and leather trousers, which she teamed with a blue and white striped shirt.

She completed her look with white Louis Vuitton sneakers and wore dark sunglasses over her face.

The mother-of-two carried her patterned Chanel handbag and juggled her coffees, keys, mobile phone and a brown paper bag as she walked in the street.

On the day, she revealed the 'children are very happy' to have Oliver back with them, and said she was also happy that's he's out of prison.

However when asked if she and Oliver were still together, Roxy kept silent.

Dad and daughter day? Seen is their daughter Pixie, at their table before they enjoyed breakfast

Walking out: Oliver (centre) was released from prison on Friday after serving a year for conspiracy to commit insider trading (pictured leaving Cooma Correctional Centre on Friday)

Suited up: Oliver looked smart in a navy suit before he headed off to work

No bling! Roxy was not pictured wearing her diamond wedding bands on the day

Behind the wheel: Oliver drove the family's luxury Range Rover on the day

Oliver enjoyed breakfast with their daughter Pixie, five, with a snap being shared to Pixie's Instagram account which tagged Oliver.

'Breakfast date with @1903oprc,' Pixie's post read, showing Oliver's Instagram handle.

Pixie beamed in the snap, clearly thrilled to be spending time with her father.

Oliver was later seen in Sydney in a suit, and is believed to have gone to work himself.

Coffee run: Roxy picked up some coffees before heading to her Sweaty Betty offices

Keeping busy: It was said that Oliver would imminently begin working as a business development officer at his father's company, medical technology start-up business, E-Nome

He's back: On Friday, Oliver was released from prison 12 months early on a good behaviour bond

Straight into it! A family friend told The Daily Telegraph he is hastening back to work under the insistence of Roxy, who bore the weight of the family in his absence (pictured on the weekend

It was said that Oliver would imminently begin working as a business development officer at his father's company, medical technology start-up business, E-Nome.

A family friend told The Daily Telegraph he is hastening back to work under the insistence of his wife Roxy, who bore the weight of the family in his absence.

On Friday, Oliver was released from prison 12 months early on a good behaviour bond, after serving a year for insider trading following his conviction in June 2016.

Making headlines: During his year behind bars, he maintained a subscription to The Australian Financial Review, but it remains unclear if he read about his wife in Sydney's gossip columns

Controversial: In late April, Roxy was pictured kissing her ex-boyfriend, multi-millionaire property developer Nabil Gazal

Daddy duties! Oliver and Pixie sipped cold drinks as they enjoyed the early morning sunshine

Ladies first: Oliver held the door open for his daughter as they walked inside the cafe

During his year behind bars, he maintained a subscription to The Australian Financial Review, but it remains unclear if he read about his wife in Sydney's gossip columns.

In late April, she was pictured kissing her ex-boyfriend - multi-millionaire property developer Nabil Gazal - at his Sydney apartment following a night out with friends.

It was previously reported that Nabil, who dated Roxy before her relationship with Oliver began, had been enjoying intimate dinner dates with his former flame.

Chatting away: Roxy was seen chatting to a couple of people at the cafe before heading in

Opening up: On the day, Roxy revealed the 'children are very happy' to have Oliver back with them and said she was also happy that's he's out of prison

Chilly morning: Oliver put his suit jacket on as he got out of the vehicle
The Kyle And Jackie O Show's red carpet prankster 'Intern' Pete has revealed he was an unwelcome guest outside Cooma Correctional Centre last week.

The camera phone-wielding troublemaker drew criticism and eye rolls from 'serious' journalists reporting on insider trader Oliver Curtis' release from prison on Friday.

Speaking on KIIS FM's breakfast show on Monday, Pete revealed that the more 'high brow' members of the media pack were less than impressed by his antics.

Oh, no! Kyle And Jackie O's prankster 'Intern' Pete revealed he was an unwelcome guest outside Comma Correctional Centre when Oliver Curtis was released on Friday

A frustrated journalist reportedly asked Pete outside the prison gates: 'Are you going to ruin it for everybody else?' And, never one to disappoint, he did just that.

As Oliver walked out of Cooma a free man, having been released 12 months early on a good behaviour bond, Pete scrambled to update him on the events of the last year.

Referencing the fact Oliver's children believe he had been on a business trip to China, he shouted: 'How does it feel to be free Oli? Welcome back to the country.'

Prankster! A frustrated journalist reportedly asked Pete outside the prison gates, 'Are you going to ruin it for everybody else?' And, never one to disappoint, he did just that

Media elites: Speaking on KIIS FM 's breakfast show on Monday, troublemaker Pete revealed the more 'high brow' members of the media pack were less than impressed by his antics

He added: 'While you've been in lock-up, fidget spinners are the big thing, Sophie Monk is the new Bachelorette - and the floor is lava, by the way!'

He yelled again, 'The floor is lava!' as Oliver ignored him and stepped into a Range Rover before being driven away to a nearby airfield to meet his wife Roxy Jacenko.

'The Floor Is Lava' is a childhood game where players have only five seconds to jump onto the closest surface off the ground when somebody shouts the phrase.

'Fidget spinners are big!' As Oliver walked out of Cooma, having been released 12 months early on a good behaviour bond, Pete scrambled to update him on the events of the last year

Journalism 101: Pete yelled, 'The floor is lava!' as Oliver ignored him and stepped into a Range Rover before being driven away to a nearby airfield to meet his wife Roxy Jacenko

Pete has played the bizarre prank on his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson and several celebrities, including Prince Harry during his recent visit to Sydney.

Meanwhile, Oliver Curtis is adjusting back to domestic life after reuniting with his publicist wife and their two children, Pixie, five, and Hunter, three.

The former investment banker's 'welcome home' party was cancelled over the weekend and the family instead ordered take-away to their Bondi apartment.
Young people lack the imagination to have fun. Look at them at Glastonbury this weekend (BBC2 and BBC4), crammed into a cluster of fields  drink and drugs and toilet queues, and a speech by Jeremy Corbyn for extra excitement.

Many of these festival-goers probably work in office cubicles at call centres. Why do they want to recreate that experience with half- a-million tents off the M5?

If you want fun and adventure, ask an octogenarian... or a pair of them, in the case of husband-and-wife travellers Timothy West and Prunella Scales.

Where the fun is at: Last week Timothy West and Prunella Scales (pictured centre and right) were at the southern tip of the sub-continent. Now they were north of Bangladesh at the other end of the country, gadding about on elephants and learning traditional dance steps

Aged 83 and 85, they were exploring the Brahmaputra river and its backwaters in Great Canal Journeys: India (C4).

Last week they were at the southern tip of the sub-continent, investigating the old commercial waterways.

SUPERVILLAIN OF THE WEEKEND Dripping evil, John Simm returned as The Master in Doctor Who (BBC1). This series, with its dreadful new companion Bill (Pearl Mackie), has been wretched, but Simm makes it worth watching again. Advertisement

Now they were north of Bangladesh at the other end of the country, gadding about on elephants and learning traditional dance steps with silk weavers.

When Tim and Pru started this series three years ago, they didn't expect to do more than visit a few of their favourite holiday haunts on a narrow-boat. Their idea of far-flung voyaging was the other end of the Kennet and Avon canal.

But audiences loved their affectionate flirting and laid-back joie de vivre, and especially the matter-of-fact way they dealt with the infirmities of age.

Pru suffers from Alzheimer's, though you'd hardly guess it from her lively exchanges with her husband. It's clear that travel doesn't only broaden the mind, it helps keep it sharp.

She makes no secret of her difficulties. 'It's true,' she says, 'some days I don't know if it's Monday or Lewisham.'

Pru (pictured left in her role as Sybil in the iconic 1970s British comedy, Fawlty Towers) suffers from Alzheimer's, though you'd hardly guess it from her lively exchanges with her husband. It's clear that travel doesn't only broaden the mind, it helps keep it sharp.

No wonder the country has fallen in love with this couple, and cheered as their wanderlust took them all over England, then to Ireland, Scandinavia and now Asia.

Nothing could make them quail. After spending the night on a tea trader, listening to the splash of river dolphins outside their cabin, they pulled up by the bank and saw there was no landing jetty. 'Bloody hell!' snorted Pru, preparing to take a flying leap.

Where next? Don't be surprised to see them pootling up the Amazon in search of El Dorado, or donning space helmets to navigate the canals of Mars.

Let's hope their future travels are granted a full series, instead of being compressed too tightly into a couple of episodes as these were.

Steamy session: All the drama in Poldark is so surreal that I'm beginning to wonder whether this series will turn out to be a dream sequence

Cap'n Ross was away on his adventures too in Poldark (BBC1), on a mission to rescue his old friend Doctor Enys (Luke Norris) from the French Revolution and Madame Guillotine.

He was so intent on teaching Frenchie a lesson that he dived fully dressed from his ship into the Bay of Biscay (which was abnormally calm, like a duckpond), swam ashore in coat and boots, and emerged as dry as a Cornish cracker.

The accent of sidekick Tholly Tregirls (Sean Gilder, pictured), ricochets around like a rubber bullet in a pinball machine

If that seemed unbelievable, it was nothing compared to new sidekick Tholly Tregirls (Sean Gilder), whose accent ricochets around the British Isles like a rubber bullet in a pinball machine.

Twang! He's Irish. Boing! That's Manchester. Peow! Down to Devon. Whoosh! Up to Scotland.

Tholly is a part-time pirate, which might explain why he wears a hook over his hand. It isn't a genuine prosthetic  his fingers are visibly stuffed inside, which makes the hook hang down below his knee.

All this is so surreal that I'm beginning to wonder whether this series of Poldark will turn out to be a dream sequence.

If so, it's probably because Elizabeth (Heida Reed) is now a laudanum junkie. Someone snap the girl out of it!
While all eyes were set on Lotan Carter's explosive departure from Big Brother.

Housemate Tom Barber, 21, caused a furore of his own after he was given his final formal warning on Sunday night's episode following an incident that involved the Dreamboys stripper and house newbie Savannah O'Reilly.

Show bosses ruled that the Welsh man - who entered the series as the People's champion - was given the warning after he forced 'Lotan to nakedly grind on Savannah and shove his genitals at the Irish native's face.

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Warned: Tom Barber, 21, caused a furore of his own after he was given his final formal warning on Sunday night's episode following an incident that involved the Dreamboys stripper and house newbie Savannah O'Reilly

Taking place while they were in bed, the boys' sexual intimation saw them fall on top of a surprised Savannah, who was asleep at the time.

Until able to move under the sheets when they both fell on her, the beauty began screaming for them to get off her while Lotan lay upon her.

Speaking after the incident, Savannah insisted: 'I mean they were just joking, if anyone did it on purpose it would be different, Boys being boys.

'I had the covers to protect me. If I didn't it would have been a different story. The weight of the two of them on me was why I was screaming for.'

Shocked: Show bosses ruled to give the Welsh man - who entered the series as the People's champion - the warning after he forced 'Lotan to nakedly grind on Savannah and shove his genitals at the Irish native's face (Pictured L)

Uncalled for: Their boisterous behaviour saw him on top of a scared Savannah from Saturday's instalment, forcing Lotan to 'nakedly grind on her and shove his genitals' in her face

Asleep: Taking place while they were in bed, the boys' sexual intimation saw them fall on top of a surprised Savannah, who was asleep at the time

After discussing with his fellow housemate, the Welsh man was called to Big Brother's Diary Room to be given the warning as it goes against the Channel 5 series' rules on behaviour and conduct.

He was later told his actions were an example of sexual intimidation and was given a formal warning.

Big Brother said: 'You forced someones genitals in someone's else personal space. A serious breach of the rules.'

Following the warning, Tom explained: 'OK. Everyone was laughing about it so, it wasn't malicious, everyone was laughing and giggling about it but I understand why. As long as you know that yeah, I won't do it again.'

'Joking': Speaking after the incident, Savannah insisted: 'I mean they were just joking, if anyone did it on purpose it would be different, Boys being boys'

What a frenzy! Many viewers shared their feelings on Tom's final warning

Fans touched upon Tom's scolding as they highlighted that it has so far been a season of warnings.

A viewer shared: 'How many final warnings has Big Brother given all the housemates?'.

'Big Brother getting strict, love it,' another posted. 'Big Brother is issuing out warnings left, right and centre this season'.

It was an explosive night for the house after Lotan Carter was kicked out of the bungalow for his fiery exchange with show newbie Isabelle.
There was excitement in the air when Pixie and Hunter flew to be reunited with their father Oliver Curtis upon his release from prison on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, the children's mother, PR queen Roxy Jacenko, saw the private jet flight as the perfect opportunity to spruik her favourite high-end fashion brands.

Roxy, 37, shared an Instagram photo of her kids en route to Cooma Correctional Centre this week, and notably 'tagged' the pair's outfits by Gucci and Burberry.

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No such thing as bad publicity! Roxy Jacenko saw the private jet flight to collect Oliver Curtis from prison as the perfect opportunity to spruik her favourite fashion brands via her children

In the caption, she also promoted Pixie's Bows - the fashion accessory brand which features her five-year-old daughter as its poster child.

The photo was posted on Monday to three-year-old Hunter's Instagram account, which Roxy manages and boasts over 23,000 followers.

She captioned the snap: 'When your mum says you need to coordinate with your sister and you are required to pretend you think It's a superb idea... but you really think the only thing she didn't ask me to wear was buns and #pixiesbows.'

Roxy shared an Instagram photo of her kids en route to Cooma Correctional Centre on Friday, and 'tagged' their Gucci and Burberry outfits. Pictured: Pixie and Hunter greeting their father

Roxy's Instagram post appears to confirm the Sweaty Betty founder still believes in the old PR saying, 'There's no such thing as bad publicity'.

There has been national media attention on the Jacenko-Curtis family since Oliver, 31, was released from prison on Friday after serving 12 months for insider trading.

But while Roxy has previously said her business 'took a hit' due to the bad press surrounding her husband's conviction, her latest photo proves she hasn't been discouraged from taking advantage of her kids' moment in the national spotlight.

Cashing in on controversy? There has been media attention on the Jacenko-Curtis family since Oliver, 31, was released from prison last week after serving 12 months for insider trading

Also on Monday, Pixie 'posted' an image from her 'breakfast date' with her father Oliver on her own Instagram page, which has 110,000 followers.

Never one to miss an opportunity for self-promotion, the pint-sized social media star was wearing on her signature Pixie's Bows in her hair.

Meanwhile, it was previously reported Oliver would be returning to work this week at his father Nick Curtis' medical technology business E-Nome.
He's just returned to work after a short getaway to Bora Bora with girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough.

And on Monday, Karl Stefanovic looked like he was reminiscing about being on holiday, as he donned thongs and a bucket hat.

Taking to Instagram, Karl shared a snap of himself with some locals as he filmed with Today in Winton, in Queensland.

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Reminiscing about Bora Bora? Karl Stefanovic (M) wears THONGS and a bucket hat as he films for Today in Queensland after his tropical vacation with girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough

'Cold day in Winton the locals reckon,' Karl wrote under the snap.

In the picture, the Today co-host wore a black T-shirt with blue board shorts, and covered his face with sunglasses.

Karl's fans loved the post, with one saying Karl was 'funny as.'

Getting in on the action: Kyle Sandilands' girlfriend Imogen Anthony meanwhile, jokingly called Karl a 'd**k'

Red hot! Jasmine is seen relaxing recently, while on vacation

Kyle Sandilands' girlfriend Imogen Anthony meanwhile, jokingly called Karl a 'd**k.'

The Today Show team were up in Queensland filming, with Karl having returned from Bora Bora on Friday morning.

He had 'disappeared' from the program mid-broadcast a week earlier to escape to Bora Bora with Jasmine.

The new couple were all smiles as they took to the waters of the South Pacific on jet skis in photos published last week.

Back to the day job: The Today Show team are up in Queensland filming, with Karl having returned from Bora Bora on Friday morning

The pair beamed as they lapped up the luxuries while holidaying with Karl's billionaire friend James Packer aboard his Arctic P yacht.

Karl disappeared from the Today set to jet off to Bora Bora to meet up with his model girlfriend last week.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that Karl's sudden 'disappearance' was a 'well-orchestrated plot' to avoid paparazzi as he boarded a flight to Auckland en route to Bora Bora.

At the time, a Nine spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: 'Karl is on leave for the next few days. He will be back on air at the end of next week. Ben Fordham will be filling in for him.'

Smitten: Karl is pictured with Jasmine at Sydney's fashion week last month

Quality time: Meanwhile, on Friday morning, Karl took a swipe at Australia's politicians for taking winter breaks, just as he's returned to work from his third break this year

Meanwhile, on Friday morning, Karl took a swipe at Australia's politicians for taking winter breaks, just as he's returned to work from his third break this year.

Karl made the comments during a discussion with journalist Ross Coulthart about the recent 2 per cent wage increase given to federal politicians this week.

'This is a bit of a bill to swallow for the taxpayer, but do you think pollies paid enough?' asked Karl, who sported a golden tan from his getaway.

Ross responded by arguing that the pay rise is justified, saying: 'I don't think we understand just how hard they work. I think they're worth the money,' responded Ross, in part.

'Now they're going on a winter break though. They don't work that hard, do they Ross?' Karl interjected.
He's the former host of The Voice and VJ for MTV Australia.

And Darren McMullen has revealed that a cheeky moment on the red carpet, where he bared his derriere, threatened to derail his career.

The Scottish-born hunk wore a kilt for the 2007 MTV Australia Music Video Awards, hiking it up for photographers and bearing his buttocks - proving once and for all what a Scotsman wears under the country's national dress.

Hitting a bum note: Former Voice host Darren McMullen has revealed that a cheeky moment on the red carpet, where he bared his derriere, threatened to derail his career

Speaking to TV Week, the 35-year-old revealed that the stunt had cost him dearly, with Darren missing out on a lucrative deal with a Swiss watch manufacturer just last year because of the offending photographs.

'Their legal department had Googled me and seen that photo,' he told the publication.

'On the basis of that, they said I wasn't the right fit for the brand - it was one of those moments where your past comes back to haunt you.'

Scrutiny: The 35-year-old revealed to TV Week that the stunt had cost him dearly, with Darren missing out on a lucrative deal with a Swiss watch manufacturer just last year because of the offending photographs

Potential financial and career ruin aside, Darren also revealed the 'bum note' also threatened his chances with his current girlfriend of three years, US actress Crystal Reed.

He explained that, shortly after meeting Crystal, the pair went out to a bar LA with a group of Crystal's girlfriends.

However, on the way to the bar, she Googled her potential beau and the offending picture reared its ugly head once again.

Too rude: 'On the basis of that, they said I wasn't the right fit for the brand - it was one of those moments where your past comes back to haunt you'

'She said "I wanted to make sure you were legit and not some creep - and there you are with your b***s out,"' he said.

Despite the fallout from the cheeky stunt, Darren also admitted that he would still 'probably do it now.'

Darren will be back on Australian screens hosting Behave Yourself which premiers on Channel Seven on Tuesday.
They're the geek twins and fan favourites on home renovation series, House Rules.

But in upcoming episodes, aired this week, Andrew and Jono shed their nice-guy attitude, beginning a war of words with married couple Aaron and Daniella.

In an interview with New Idea magazine, Jono, 27, told the publication: 'We're very competitive people.'

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'We're very competitive people': House Rules' Andrew (left) and Jono, 27, shed their nice-guy attitude, as twins go head-to-head with married couple Aaron and Daniella, in upcoming episodes aired this week

'If we're in a competition we're in it to win and we'll always give our all, right to the end,' Jono stated of he and brother Andrew.

'I think we have been competitive the whole time,' Andrew added.

'Just because we didn't get heated (this far in the competition) doesn't mean we weren't competitive,' he continued.

War of words: The comments come prior to this week's episodes which see Andrew and Jono going head-to-head with married couple Aaron and Daniella

Refusing to budge: With Aaron, 31, refusing to give up space in his dining room to the boys, in the shared common room, Andrew vents his frustration

The comments come prior to this week's episodes which see Andrew and Jono going head-to-head with married couple Aaron and Daniella.

With Aaron, 31, refusing to give up space in his dining room to the boys, in the shared common room, Andrew vents his frustration.

'People think we're easy to work with. But we need to get points now, we want to win. We're taking your space guys,' Andrew says on-camera.

In it, to win it: 'People think we're easy to work with. But we need to get points now, we want to win. We're taking your space guys,' Andrew vented on-camera

Aaron refuses, quipping: 'I don't think we're going to be giving you some space. I'm sorry mate, it won't be happening.'

Andrew then calls Aaron, a chippie, 'an idiot' and likens him to US President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time a feud has aired out on the Channel Seven program.

Just two weeks prior, Ella, 24, lashed out at rival Harry, venting: 'Harry keeps taking our f**king concrete,' accusing her male co-star of repeat theft.

Drama: Meanwhile, this is not the first time a feud has aired out on the Channel Seven program. Just two weeks prior, Ella, 24, lashed out at rival Harry, venting: 'Harry keeps taking our f**king concrete,' accusing her male co-star of repeat theft

'It's gone missing. I had 15 bags of concrete here. We did have 15 bags of concrete nicely stacked under the tarp, out of the weather, and the whole pile had gone.

'Harry keeps taking our f**king concrete, and now there's none,' the Tasmanian continued to vent.

'Well, where is ours? I literally left and then the pile moved,' Harry, 32, responded.

Not having it! 'Ella. I don't appreciate us being...you accusing me of stealing your concrete. I haven't,' Harry, 32, stated back

'Ella. I don't appreciate us being...you accusing me of stealing your concrete. I haven't,' the South Australian stated.

'No, but my pile was right there, and I went round and came back and then it was gone. I had a whole... I had 15 in the wheelbarrow, that was undercover,' Ella quipped back.

Ella's partner Sean, 24, also had his say, sharing on-camera: 'The alliance is off now.'
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Donald Trump's liberal foes have lined up to honor his nemesis and impersonator Alec Baldwin in a tribute night for the actor in New York.

Baldwin, 59, was the man of the hour as Spike TV hosted a One Night Only special at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on Sunday night.

A long list of stars who have ridiculed Trump and his administration in the past flocked to show their support for Baldwin, including the likes of Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore, Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski.

Former president Bill Clinton also attended and gave a glowing tribute to the 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live funnyman.

Clinton reminisced of Baldwin's brief stint in politics at university and, at one point, appeared to have a dig at the current Commander in Chief's rise into the political realm.

Jack McBrayer, Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore, Jane Krakowski, Tracy Morgan, Bill Clinton, Ireland Baldwin, Alec Baldwin, Hilaria Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin and Billy Baldwin pose on stage on Sunday at the Apollo Theater in New York

Former president Bill Clinton also attended the event in honor of Baldwin and gave a glowing tribute to the 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live funnyman

'He was making movies in his backyard when he was five,' the former president told the star-studded crowd.

Clinton spoke of how Baldwin was already running for student president in elementary school, before joking that he, himself, at least waited until middle school.

'He ended up going to George Washington University for two years, ran for student body president,' Clinton said.

'Then came back home to New York where he followed the then-classic path - from politics into soap operas.

'... Now we know it works the other way round.'

Clinton had earlier said that he had first met Baldwin more than 20 years ago, but had long been a 'huge fan' of his acting work.

'Tonight we've been reminded of this astonishing range of his career. With highlights that include his Tony nominated performance in a Street Car Named Desire, his Oscar nominated portrayal in the Cooler... and his great roles on 30 rock and Saturday Night Live,' he said.

But Clinton said what he loved most about Baldwin was 'his story'.

Baldwin spoke to the star-studded crowd at New York's Apollo Theater on Sunday during Spike's One Night Only: Alec Baldwin special

Baldwin was joined by his wife Hilaria and their daughter Carmen, as well as the actor's daughter Ireland Baldwin for the event at the Apollo Theater on Sunday night

Clinton reminisced of Baldwin's brief stint in politics at university, before he opted to drift into the world of showbusiness

Two of Baldwin's brothers, Daniel (left) and Billy (right), also appeared on stage. Their other brother Stephen, a known Trump supporter, didn't appear to be in attendance

Baldwin laughed alongside Tracy Morgan (center) and Julianne Moore (right) during the tribute event

'My most enduring memory of all the conversations we've ever had is the first time I came to his home and he told me his story. A great American story of a boy growing up in a big Irish Catholic family,' he said.

'(His parents) taught him that every person has an obligation to be a good and caring citizen.'

At one point during the night, Baldwin posed for photos on stage with a number of the celebrity-attendees - most of whom are known for having a dig at President Trump.

Actors Robert de Niro and Julianne Moore have both been outspoken critics of the current president and spoke at anti-Trump rallies in New York shortly after he was elected.

de Niro even called Trump an 'idiot' and described modern America as 'a tragic, dumb*** comedy' when he gave a commencement speech at Brown University last month.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actor Jane Krakowski said she had packed on the 'Trump 10' after the election because she had gained weight dealing with anxiety caused by the current White House.

Like Baldwin, 30 Rock star Jack McBrayer has also taken to impersonating the President on late night TV.

Two of Baldwin's brothers, Daniel and Billy Baldwin, also appeared on stage on Sunday night. Their other brother Stephen, who is a known Trump supporter, didn't appear to be in attendance at the tribute night.

Buddies: Alec and De Niro starred together in the 2006 thriller The Good Shepherd and seemed to have a good laugh during the special titled One Night Only

Baldwin's wife Hilaria also took to the stage with their adorable daughter Carmen

Paid tribute: During the evening, Robert De Niro took the stage to showcase Alec's work in movies

Hands on: When Alec joined Morgan on stage, things got a little touchy feely

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actor Jane Krakowski sang on stage during the event. She has previously said she had packed on the 'Trump 10' after the election because she had gained weight dealing with anxiety caused by the current White House

Man of the hour: Alec Baldwin, accompanied by wife Hilaria, was the focus of a Spike TV tribute on Sunday night at the Apollo Theater in New York's Harlem

BIg night: The actor, 59, was in great spirits as he planted a kiss on his 33-year-old wife's cheek as they posed for photographers

Alec was accompanied to the black tie event by his 33-year-old wife Hilaria.

The mother of his three youngest children looked summery in a strapless gold and white striped frock. The number had embellishments on the bodice and a semi sheer full skirt and she added towering beige heels.

Julianne Moore, who worked with Alec in the drama Still Alice, showed up to help sing his praises. The Oscar winner wore a knee-length black dress with bell sleeves and a pair of black sandal heels.

On hand, too, were his actor brothers Billy, 54, and Daniel, 56, both looking dapper in tuxedos.

Alec's 30 Rock co-stars Jame Krakowski and Jack McBrayer were also part of the proceedings at the event that was taped for broadcast on Spike TV next month.

During the evening, Robert De Niro took the stage to showcase Alec's work in movies.

He has a string of big screen credits dating back to the early 1980s including The Hunt For Red October, Malice, The Edge, Pearl Harbor and Blue Jasmine.

He and De Niro starred together in the 2006 thriller The Good Shepherd.

Dramatic: Julianne Moore, who starred with Alec in the film Still Alice, showed up to sing his praises, wearing a knee-length black dress with bell sleeves

Siblings: On hand, too, were his actor brothers Billy, 54, and Daniel, 56, looking dapper in tuxedos

His best accessory: Daniel brought along his wife Joanne Smith who wore a stylish sleeveless full-length black dress with halter neck and side split

Support: Alec's 30 Rock co-stars Jame Krakowski and Jack McBrayer were also part of the proceedings at the event that was taped for broadcast on Spike TV next month

Didn't get the black tie memo: Tracy Morgan goofed around as he arrived for the taping in a blue pinstripe suit with white shirt and white tie

Paying tribute: The comedian and SNL alum, 48, was with wife Megan Wollover who looked lovely in a black dress with semi sheer sleeves and skirt
The killer of Travis Manawa was revealed as a native man called Walker on Sunday's episode of Fear The Walking Dead.

Madison Clark discovered who shot down his helicopter as she carried out a dangerous mission with Troy, only to be captured by Walker and his armed group of snipers.

After taking Madison and the group's weapons and shoes he forced them to walk back to the Broke Jaw Ranch and told them they would be giving back the land to his people.

On a mission: Madison Clark learned who killed her boyfriend Travis Manawa during Sunday's episode of Fear The Walking Dead

The fifth episode of the third season, titled 'Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame' started with an elderly man called Russell waking up to find his infected wife, Martha, up and about, but with her false teeth removed she could not bite him.

But Russell, a founding father of the camp, soon ended things by shooting himself in the head as he held his wife in a tight embrace.

As he slumped to the floor a lamp was knocked over setting the house ablaze.

Madison and Nick were woken as the camp members rushed to put out the fire with buckets of water.

New threat: Walker emerged as a new threat as Madison was on an armed mission

Husband and wife: Martha was infected but harmless to her husband without her dentures

Last hug: Russell gave his wife a final hug before shooting himself in the head and knocking over a lamp

On fire: The camp residents formed a bucket brigade in an attempt to put out the fire

Jeremiah Otto soon intervened and told them to save the water and let the cabin burn.

Madison then joined Troy on an armed mission.

'I survived the wasteland without you and your guns, I know exactly what I'm getting into,' said Madison as she was warned of the dangers they faced.

Let it burn: Jeremiah Otto called off the firefighting effort

Luciana and Nick ate breakfast as she told him the old couple's death was 'sad but beautiful.'

'They were together until the end,' she told Nick as she told him they should leave Broke Jaw Ranch.

'You're not ready yet,' he told her as he insisted they could not just walk to Tijuana without a plan.

Time to go: Luciana was healing and ready to leave the ranch but Nick was conflicted

'You are afraid to leave your family. I can't live here,' she told him as Nick promised he would eventually leave with her.

Victor Strand and Daniel Salazar were then seen in a parked car as Strand told his partner that his violence at the dam had been 'impressive.'

Daniel told him that Ofelia needed him as Strand warned him to be prepared that she may have left the hotel.

Doting dad: Daniel Salazar was on a quest to see his daughter Ofelia

The trained killer reminded Strand he had told him Ofelia was waiting for them and Strand admitted he could not be certain.

'I trust that she will be there but this is the apocalypse Daniel, or have you forgotten that?' said Strand as he drove his car through a group of infected.

Alicia and Jake Otto then spent time together at the camp and she told him that she had realized that they 'would never be normal again, like we thought.'

Not normal: Alicia told Jake Otto that she realized they 'would never be normal again'

'I had all these things I was going to do, I had plans and they made sense,' she told him before kissing him passionately.

Troy and Madison then came across a crashed prison bus full of infected and the armed group stopped to take them out with knives and axes.

Madison was soon overpowered by two infected and needed help to regain the upper hand before dispatching her attackers.

New couple: Jake and Alicia got up close and personal before kissing

Infected prisoners: Troy made a mission detour to take out a group of infected inmates near an overturned prison bus

Neck shot: Madison took out one of the prisoners with a neck shot

Two against one: Two infected inmates attacked Madison simultaneously

In the eye: Madison ended the struggle with a well placed shot to the eye

'That's a beautiful, beautiful thing,' said Troy after they wiped out the infected quickly.

After Alicia and Jake slept together he tried to hand her the book of poems 'Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame' by Charles Bukowski.

'I used to love all of this, poetry and art, but now what is the point?' she said.

Hooking up: Alicia and Jake got dressed after sleeping together

Poetry book: Jake gave Alicia a book of poems by Los Angeles writer Charles Bukowski

Selected poems: Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame also was the title of the episode

Jeremiah then found Nick trying to repair the charred cabin and Jeremiah reminisced about living there before Nick handed over a charred photo of the couple.

When Jeremiah found the weapon Russell had used to shoot himself and told Nick it was a 'work of art.'

'I don't think a gun is a work of art,' said Nick coldly as he asked if Jeremiah had taught Troy that guns were tools.

Gun talk: Nick and Jeremiah debated whether a gun was a work of art

'Troy is trying to understand himself. Do you know who you are?' asked Jeremiah.

'I have no idea but I know I'm not that,' Nick replied.

Jeremiah told Nick that Russell had been there for him 'at his worst.'

Good question: Jeremiah asked Nick if he know who he was

'You know how that is, when you and your soul have left the world that everyone else knows,' said Jeremiah.

'Yeah, I know,' Nick told him as they continued to work on the cabin.

When Madison and Troy got to the rendezvous spot there was nothing but spent bullets from a gunfight.

Spent casings: Madison and Troy at the rendezvous spot found spent bullets from a gunfight

In the truck Troy told her that he had not grieved for the loss of his mother and that there was no time for mourning.

'If someone is dead they are dead, you know? There is no point dwelling. All you can do is take out the a**holes that did you wrong,' he told her.

Troy denied that it was a game to him and instead told her 'it's my calling.'

Not playing: Troy insisted that his approach to the apocalypse wasn't a game to him

Daniel told Strand that he had been spared from the fire and that as there was no place for him in heaven the devil must want him on earth.

Strand told Daniel that he was no longer the same person he had been in Mexico and told Daniel that if he wanted to kill him he should go right ahead.

Back at the camp Nick told Jeremiah that Luciana thought the 'monsters' in the camp were worse than the ones outside of it.

Road trip: Daniel was starting to doubt Victor's story about the hotel and Ofelia

Jeremiah told Nick that Luciana should leave and Nick bluntly asked him if that was 'because she is brown.'

'No she should go because she can't get right with what happened. Can you?' he asked.

Jeremiah then told Nick that Troy had suffered from fits as a youngster and had even been locked in the basement by his mother where they forgot about him for a day.

Basement incident: Jeremiah also told Nick about the time Troy was locked up in the basement after having a fit and forgotten about for a day

He revealed that the incident had not changed him or made him quit drinking, which he only did after a hunting accident.

Madison and Troy then arrived at the outpost but despite seeing blood it appeared deserted.

They then discovered a smoking pile of bodies and an injured Phil McCarthy sitting in a chair having his brains pecked by a crow.

Brain food: Phil sat in a chair repeating himself as a crow pecked at his brain

Too much: Mike Trimbol was grossed out and puked

Madison took a knife and put the man out of his misery, before the group was confronted by Walker and his armed group.

He made them drop their weapons and take off their boots before telling Troy he needed to return the land they lived on.

'That is not going to happen, too much has been sacrificed,' Troy told him.

Mercy killing: Madison took out her blade and mercifully killed Phil

Daniel and Strand eventually arrived back at the hotel and found it in darkness with no security guard.

Inside Daniel hit the front desk bell which brought infected to them as he pointed the gun at Strand and demanded to know where the group was.

Daniel then left Strand fighting off the infected as he took the car and sped away.

Time for justice: Walker told Troy to abandon the ranch and threatened to feed them all to the crows

Tough situation: Victor was left at the hotel after Daniel attracted zombies

Taking off: Daniel left Victor behind and took the car

At the ranch Nick prepared a romantic candle-lit picnic for Luciana as Troy and Madison limped back towards the ranch without their shoes.

Madison urged Troy to stop and let the men rest but he refused and urged them on as she told him that being a leader 'means knowing when to stop.'

She told Troy that he had a strange fixation with her own son and asked him if his own mother had hated him.

Strange fixation: Madison confronted Troy about his leadership

'Even in the end when you cared for her and bathed her she still didn't love you did she?' asked Madison as she took charge and got the group to vote to stop.

As she lay by the fire she suddenly felt the blade of a knife against her throat and Troy loomed over her with the weapon.

Knife to throat: Troy at night put a knife to Madison's throat

'You're better than this,' she told him as he pulled the blade away and stormed away.

At the camp Nick woke up to find that Luciana had gone, leaving him just a note, as Madison and her group slowly trudged home.

The final scene saw Alicia stand on the edge of a rock cliff before diving into a lake, while Nick was given a gun by Jeremiah as he processed Luciana's departure.

Farewell note: Luciana left Nick a farewell note

Up there: Alicia stood at the edge of a high ledge
She's the daughter of the late Michael Jackson, forging a career in the modelling industry.

And Paris Jackson simply stuns in her first global Vogue photo shoot, covering Australia's July issue.

The 19-year-old flaunts her toned torso and belly piercing in a midriff sweater with oversized sleeves and distressed slim-fitting jeans.

Abs-olutely fabulous! Paris Jackson stuns in her first Vogue shoot as she flaunts her toned torso and belly piercing in a two-piece ensemble

A black midriff sweater with oversized sleeves finishes just under the bust, drawing attention to the star's incredibly toned stomach and belly piercing.

The statement-worthy top is teamed with a pair of distressed jeans that accentuates her trim pins.

With several strands of her blonde locks framing her striking face, Paris appears to sport a minimal makeup palette, allowing her natural beauty to shine through.

Making a statement: The black and white photo is in contrast to the cover shot, which sees Paris in a bolder ensemble

A flawless complexion, defined brows, subtle kohl-rimmed liner, lashings of mascara, along with a silver nose ring, completes the personality's look.

The black and white photo is in contrast to the cover shot, which sees Paris in a bolder ensemble.

A blue low-cut crop with yellow floral beading reveals the Los Angeles-based star's cleavage and slender waist, and she teams it with a high-waisted skirt in a coordinating fabric.

Heartfelt: On Saturday, Paris shared a close-up shot of her left foot to Instagram that beared the word 'Applehead' in cursive, a tattoo in honour of her late father Michael Jackson

Tragic: Michael, the King Of Pop, died after going into cardiac arrest at age 50 at his Los Angeles home

Paris is no stranger to sharing her love of tattoos with her 1.7 million Instagram fans.

On Saturday, the daughter of the late Michael Jackson, shared a close-up shot of her left foot bearing the word 'Applehead' in cursive.

The inking marked the eight-year anniversary of her father, the King Of Pop's death, on Sunday.

'Applehead' was a term of endearment the icon would often call his loved ones and those closest to him.

'With every step I take, you lift my foot and guide me forward. love you,' Paris captioned the Instagram photo.

Michael died at age 50, when Paris just 11 years old, going into cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home.
She's the daughter of Australian actor Chris Hemsworth who plays the most powerful super hero in the universe - Thor.

And India Rose Hemsworth, 5, displayed her own feat of superhuman strength recently when she made short work of a climbing pole during a family trip to the playground.

The adorable tot was enjoying a day out with twin brothers Tristan and Sasha, 3, mum Elsa Pataky, 40, and Elsa's mother Christina and brother Christian when the climbing bug took hold.

Powerful progeny: Chris Hemsworth's daughter India Rose, 5, displayed her own feat of superhuman strength recently when she made short work of a climbing pole during a family trip to the playground

What a work-out! The adorable tot was enjoying a day out with twin brothers Tristan and Sasha, 3, mum Elsa Pataky, 40, and Elsa's mother Christina and brother Christian when the climbing bug took hold

Arriving at the playground, Elsa appeared to direct her cherubic daughter to climb the structure as India smiled with her arm wrapped around the yellow pole.

India, who was dressed in a cute pair of patterned leggings and a pink long sleeve T-shirt, then proceeded to effortlessly climb the pole, barely struggling as she made it to the top.

With her arms gripping the pole tightly, India's feet dangled in the air as she towered over her mother.

It was a case of 'seen it all before' for Elsa, Christina and Christian, who chatted nonchalantly as India took on the feat that would have most adults break out in a cold sweat.

Cute: India, who was dressed in a cute pair of patterned leggings and a pink long sleeve T-shirt, then proceeded to effortlessly climb the pole, barely struggling as she made it to the top

Cute: Elsa and India also shared an adorable moment at the park with mum bundling her daughter up lovingly in her arms

Clearly looking chuffed with the playful stunt, India waled away triumphantly, smiling as she casually brushed her long golden locks away from her face.

Elsa and India also shared an adorable moment at the park with mum bundling her daughter up lovingly in her arms.

It seems India may be taking after her Hollywood heartthrob dad, who recently took to Instagram to show off his massive guns while filming The Avengers in Scotland.

Buff: It seems India may be taking after her Hollywood heartthrob dad, who recently took to Instagram to show off his massive guns while filming The Avengers in Scotland

The black and white photo captured the bearded Thor actor from a side profile as he vigorously pumped weights.

His trainer asked people to tag their 'mate who wants the workout to make their arms look like horses legs.'

'Meanwhile Chris Evans is at craft services eating a cupcake,' joked one fan in reference to his co-star in the film, who plays Captain America.
Roxy Jacenko has faced persistent rumours she has quietly split from husband Oliver Curtis, the disgraced investment banker who was released from prison on Friday.

And the Sydney publicist, 37, did not confirm they are still together on Monday morning when she twice refused to answer questions about her relationship status.

Roxy kept silent when a photographer asked her, 'Are you and Oli still together?' as she returned to her Sweaty Betty PR offices in Paddington following a coffee run.

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Gossip: Roxy Jacenko has faced persistent rumours she has quietly split from husband Oliver Curtis, the disgraced investment banker who was released from prison on Friday

Roxy stepped out in style in a white coat, leather trousers, Louis Vuitton sneakers and her signature $260 Celine sunglasses.

The mother-of-two carried a black and white Chanel handbag as she strolled out of a local cafe carrying a paper bag and several take-away coffees.

The PR queen appeared in happy spirits as she offered the paparazzi hot drinks before driving away in her luxury black Bentley.

What's going on? The Sydney publicist, 37, did not confirm they are still together on Monday morning when she twice refused to answer questions about her relationship status

During the encounter, she finally addressed Oliver's return when a photographer asked her, 'Roxy, is it good to have Oliver home?'

Roxy replied: 'Yes the children are very happy.'

'Are you happy?' they asked again. She responded: 'Yes, of course.'

Later, after Roxy drove from the cafe to Sweaty Betty PR and Ministry Of Talent's offices she kept silent when asked about her marriage.

She ignored a question about her and Oliver still being 'together' and walked straight into the 7-13 Elizabeth Street premises.

Rumours: Roxy kept silent when a photographer asked her, 'Are you and Oli still together?' as she returned to her Sweaty Betty PR offices in Paddington following a coffee run

It has been reported Roxy and Oliver quietly split before he began his sentence for insider trading in June 2016, however the couple has not confirmed this.

Roxy has previously claimed in interviews she is still 'married', but has also described herself as a 'single mother' during Oliver's incarceration.

The pair, who married in a lavish ceremony in Sydney in 2012, are currently staying at their Bondi apartment following his release from Cooma Correctional Centre.

Business as usual? Roxy stepped out in style in a white coat, leather trousers, Louis Vuitton sneakers and her signature $260 Celine sunglasses
He walked free from Cooma prison on Friday after serving out one year of his sentence for conspiracy to commit insider trading.

And according to The Telegraph, disgraced stockbroker Oliver Curtis appears ready to look to the future with his wife Roxy Jacenko following his release.

The newspaper reported that Oliver told an inmate while behind bars that he would forgive the PR queen for her 'indiscretions' over the past year if she would look past his 'mistakes that put him in jail'.

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In a forgiving mood? Oliver Curtis reportedly told a prison inmate that he would 'forgive' wife Roxy Jacenko for her 'indiscretions' while he was in jail if she would look past his mistakes that saw him convicted of conspiracy to commit insider trading

It comes just weeks after Roxy, 37, was photographed kissing her ex-boyfriend Nabil Gazal.

The Sweaty Betty PR founder was pictured wrapping her arms around her ex's neck whilst the pair kissed during celebrations at the millionaire's lavish apartment in May.

Roxy - whose wedding and engagement rings from Oliver were notably missing during the encounter - declined to comment on the images when approached by Daily Mail Australia at the time.

Pictured: The reports of Oliver's forgiving mood comes just weeks after Roxy was photographed kissing her ex-boyfriend Nabil Gazal at his apartment

Case of the ex: Roxy's intimate photos with Nabil came following reports that the former flames had been enjoying intimate dinner dates while Oliver was behind bars

It was previously reported that Nabil, who dated Roxy before her relationship with Oliver began, had been enjoying intimate dinner dates with his former flame.

Meanwhile, Oliver walked out of the gates of Cooma prison in NSW just before 9am on Friday morning.

The father-of-two was released from prison 12 months early on a good behaviour bond.

Freed: Oliver walked through the gates of Cooma prison in NSW on Friday morning after being released 12 months early on a good behaviour bond

Back in business: Just days after his release, Oliver reportedly returned to work on Monday for his father's medical technology startup

Oliver was pictured swapping his prison gear for a navy blue suit on Monday morning as he enjoyed breakfast with his daughter Pixie, five.

It appears the former private schoolboy was heading back to work, with The Daily Telegraph reporting that he'd be taking on a business developer role at his father Nick's medical technology start-up business, E-Nome.

A family friend told the publication he is hastening back to work under the insistence of his wife Roxy, who bore the weight of the family in his absence.

Staying mum: Roxy refused to comment on the status of her relationship with Oliver when prompted on Monday

It was also back to business as usual for Roxy, who was spotted making her way into the Sweaty Betty offices on Monday.

The businesswoman refused to respond when a photographer asked: 'Are you and Oli still together?'

She did, however, insist that her children are 'very happy' with their father's homecoming.

It has been reported that Roxy and Oliver quietly split before he began his sentence for insider trading in June 2016, however the couple have not confirmed this.
An All Eyez On Me script penned by director John Singleton, before he left the Tupac Shakur biopic, included a scene in which the famed rapper was assaulted by a group of 'predatory and degenerate' prisoners.

The 49-year-old filmmaker, who's been outspoken in his disdain for the project since exiting it two years ago, submitted a draft of the script in July of 2014 titled REVISION EIGHT, excerpts of which were posted by TMZ Sunday.

The controversial scene in question took place during Shakur's nine-month stay at Clinton Correctional Facility in New York in 1995 following his December 1994 sex abuse conviction.

Revelation: An All Eyez On Me script penned by director John Singleton included a scene in which Tupac Shakur (played by Demetrius Shipp Jr., above) was assaulted by a group of 'predatory and degenerate' inmates

In the scene, the guards vacated every prisoner in the library of the facility except for Shakur, then locked him in there with 'about six inmates' described as 'the worst prisoners in this facility.'

One of the prisoners 'licks his lips eyeing Pac,' at which point the group attacks Shakur. In the next frame, Shakur was described as felled on the floor with his prison uniform 'ripped to shreds.'

Another scene the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker wrote, that didn't make it into the film, showed Shakur looking on as his mother joined friends for 'adult fun.'

No-go: Singleton, who left the project in a bitter split two years ago, said he refuses to see the movie

Morgan Creek's Greg Mielcarz confirmed to the outlet that the script was 'one of several versions' the Boyz n the Hood filmmaker submitted during his time on the project. Insiders linked with the director told the outlet that Shakur's mother Afeni had given her blessing over his scripts.

Singleton publicly announced his exit from the project in an April 2015 Instagram post in which he said that 'people involved aren't really respectful of the legacy of Tupac Amaru Shakur,' adding that 'they have no true love 4 Pac so this movie will not be made with love!'

Singleton, who worked with Shakur on the 1993 film Poetic Justice, said that 'if Tupac knew what was going on he'd ride on all these fools and take it to the streets...'

Left out: In another scripted sequence that didn't make it into the film, Shakur's mother (played by Danai Gurira, above) was depicted in a sex scene

Singleton said in November that he refused to watch the film or its trailers.

'I know that they f----- it up so Im not even trying to give it any attention,' he told HipHopDx while appearing at ComplexCon in Long Beach, California. 'I did a great script and I thought they were going to go forward with it, but because Im so mouthy and opinionated, some people dont like to work with a black man in Hollywood who has an opinion.

'I knew they werent going to make a good movie at all and they didnt.'
They discussed their family plans in a tell-all interview for New Weekly.

And now Cheryl Maitland's boyfriend has mocked the magazine's front cover for what he believed implied the couple were expecting a child.

Dean Gibbs, 30, shared a video to his Instagram story on Monday, zooming in on the couple's picture and the words 'Cheryl's having a baby!'

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Sarcastic: Cheryl Maitland's boyfriend Dead Gibbs has a dig at New Weekly over suggesting the couple are expecting a baby

He can be heard making sarcastic commentary as he flicks from the front to the pair's four-page spread inside the publication.

'So apparently me and Cheryl are having a baby,' he said.

'That's news to me,' the ex-felon joked.

Having a baby? The plumber joked about the cover being 'news to me'

The plumper makes a subtle pass at the magazine, seemingly surprised by what was written and slightly amused.

On turning the page over, he takes another swipe at the suggestive headline.

'Let's just have a quick look and see what we're gonna call it (the baby), hang on.'

While the couple revealed they weren't expecting children in the immediate future, they discussed their desire to have eight of them one day.

But it seems a wedding might not be so far away, with Cheryl hinting she'd like to tie the knot soon.

'I've been thinking 'Where's my ring!?' Yeah, I can definitely picture myself marrying him,' she said.
Rumours have swirled for months that The Bachelorette's Sam Frost is dating Dave Bashford.

Things appear to be getting serious, with the pair looking to have spent a quiet weekend together, in a clip shared to the starlet's Instagram Story on Sunday.

And the romance continues to heat up, with 'new beau' Dave gushing over Sam's latest social media snap, shared to the site on Monday.

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Things heating up? Sam Frost's 'new boyfriend' Dave Bashford gushed over The Bachelorette star's flirty social media snap on Monday, after the pair spent a quiet weekend together

He approves: Dave commented underneath the flirty snap, offering a simple but effective flame emoji

Sam, 28, took to Instagram on Monday, sharing a snap of a lace and leather ensemble, that flashed her bra.

Reflecting on the weekend that was, the reality star wrote: 'Dear weekend. It was fun while it lasted,' before going into a run-down on her outfit.

Sam sported a black lace top that revealed a glimpse of her bra, teamed with a high-waisted leather skirt that showed off her trim pins.

The Hell's Kitchen star allowed her blonde locks to frame her striking facial features, that were enhanced with a dewy complexion, defined brows and a bold red lip.

Speculation: Rumours have swirled for months that The Bachelorette's Sam Frost is dating Dave Bashford

Dave's comment comes shortly after the pair looked to have enjoyed a quiet weekend together.

Taking to her Instagram Story on Sunday, Sam shared videos in which Dave appeared to be in the background, comfortably hanging out in a lounge room.

In one clip, Dave could be seen patting Sam's dog Rocky, while eating a bowl of food.

Feeling at home? Dave's comment comes shortly after the pair looked to have enjoyed a quiet weekend together. Taking to her Instagram Story on Sunday, Sam shared videos in which Dave appeared to be in the background, comfortably hanging out in a lounge room

'This is the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life': In a video where Sam focused on a tasty-looking burger, glimpses of Dave in the background could be seen

In another video, which was posted earlier and captioned 'clean eating', a glimpse of Dave could be seen in the background, as Sam zeroed in on a tasty-looking burger.

'This is the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life,' the reality TV star could be heard saying.

Sam and Dave are yet to officially confirm their relationship but were romantically linked several months after they were introduced in October last year.

The Bachelor beauty was recently spotted with Dave during what appeared to be a romantic stroll on Bondi Beach.

The pair were also previously seen getting close on Australia Day, sparking rumours of a secret romance.

Splitsville: Sam and Sasha Mielczarek (pictured) called time on their relationship in December last year after dating for 18 months

Unlucky-in-love Sam split from Sasha Mielczarek in December last year.

The couple had met on The Bachelor but called time after 18 months together.

While his ex was spending the weekend indoors, Sasha was enjoying a boys trip to New Zealand with model Kris Smith.

The pair, alongside another male companion, managed to rack up a whopping $800 bar tab during their holiday.
Master Ross had A Cunning Plan in Poldark.

Unfortunately, it proved as useless as one of Baldricks, confirming the shows hero had not been blessed with brains as well as beauty.

Poldark was undercover in France on a dangerous mission to rescue his best (and seemingly only) friend, despite not really knowing where he was  or if he was alive.

Not a great start...

Saving him: Ross Poldark was undercover in France on a dangerous mission to rescue his best (and seemingly only) friend, despite not really knowing where he was  or if he was alive

In fact Doctor Dwight had been seized by the gendarmes. (Nasty!) He was festering in a prisoner of war camp so barbaric he had grown a long beard and now resembled Robinson Crusoe rather than a floppy-haired blonde from MiC (Made In Cornwall).

Poldarks endeavours in espionage gave Aidan Turner the chance to treat the episode as his own private audition to be the next Bond  albeit as 007 if he came from Cornwall.

Sadly, instead the adventure turned out more like the 1790s version of Allo Allo and proved a disaster  not just for Doctor Dwight but Poldarks wife Demelza, his nephew Geoffrey Charles, and everyone else except George Warleggan, his supposed enemy.

Poldarks ploy was to get information by blending in was frankly comical.

Time to shine: Poldarks endeavours in espionage gave Aidan Turner the chance to treat the episode as his own private audition to be the next Bond  albeit as 007 if he came from Cornwall

For he start he had the good looks of a film star (specifically Aidan Turner) and was dressed as Adam Ant, strutting round, scowling at the French soldiers, as they thrashed or shot the local peasants, who were revolting.

As for Poldarks accomplice on the mission Tholly was a loud, drunken, rogue with a metal hook for a hand and a face covered by a web of scars worthy of Spider-Man. He looked like one of The Wurzels in fancy dress as a pirate (or vice versa).

They hardly stood out at all.

Just like old times ! cheered Tholly as they mingled in the nearest tavern to Doctor Dwights prison. Confess young captain. Do ee not long for those days? Thee, me, and your father up to no good!

Ive had my fill of sailing close to the wind, muttered Poldark. I have a wife, a child, and another on the way.

Two peas in a pod: As for Poldarks accomplice on the mission Tholly was a loud, drunken, rogue with a metal hook for a hand and a face covered by a web of scars worthy of Spider-Man. He looked like one of The Wurzels in fancy dress as a pirate (or vice versa)

Very noble. Strangely he chose not to mention Valentine - the baby Elizabeth had just given birth to, conceived when Master Ross virtually raped her.

With every French wench in the bar flashing Poldark suggestive glances (and not just glances), he ostentatiously acted natural when they finally met their informant.

Most of ze prison-heurs are Een-gleesh, whispered the spy. Many are seek and wound-haired.

Poldark needed a list of prisoners names  ingeniously figuring he needed to see Doctor Dwight was alive before attempting to rescue him.

For ze right price... their contact said with a Gallic shrug, taking off his beret, and lighting a Gitanes. Une hundred.

Surprisingly un-streetwise, without haggling Poldark handed over his Euros  twice, after their contact came back and made the same demand again.

Putting plan into action: Poldark needed a list of prisoners names  ingeniously figuring he needed to see Doctor Dwight was alive before attempting to rescue him

Every hour you remain puts you in greateur dangeur, he warned Poldark. They will not turn a blind eye to spies.

We are not spies, Poldark insisted feebly, not even convincing himself. They certainly werent very good ones.

The combined forces of the police and the army hauled Poldark and Tholly in almost immediately, without great difficulty.

Their leader saw through Poldarks story that he was there on business in a second. He informed him simply for failing to report their arrival they could be imprisoned. A second offence was punishable by execution.

Possibly a bit harsh...

Drama: Their leader saw through Poldarks story that he was there on business in a second. He informed him simply for failing to report their arrival they could be imprisoned. A second offence was punishable by execution

He was prepared to waive the charges as long as they left France on the next sheep.

Poldarks attempt to bribe him, like the rest of his mission, was an embarrassing failure.

On the boat home, as soon as Tholly praised the way Poldark had been sensible we knew he would do something that wasnt.

Sure enough, he handed Tholly his hat and dived overboard, swimming like The Milk Tray Man back to France.

Not just rash but a missed opportunity for Aidan Turner to take his shirt off.

No chance: Poldarks attempt to bribe him, like the rest of his mission, was an embarrassing failure

Poldarks second attempt to spring Dwight proved equally short-lived, escaping arrest by punching his way out of trouble like the Cornish DArtagnan.

The next thing we knew he was galloping up to the farm and Demelza, proudly waving the list with Doctor Dwights name on that confirmed he was alive but notably without Doctor Dwight himself.

It never seemed to even cross his mind to ask after his son (Jeremy), his nephew (Geoffrey Charles), his aunt (Agatha) or illegitimate baby (Valentine), let alone wonder how Demelza had coped, as she put it (often) with a farm and the mine to run, a child and a baby on the way.

Heroine: The next thing we knew he was galloping up to the farm and Demelza, proudly waving the list with Doctor Dwights name on that confirmed he was alive but notably without Doctor Dwight himself

Sometimes I wonder why I wed him, she complained ominously. I promised to love, honour and obey him but why should I?

Instead he cast his success and survival as a heroic triumph.

There were times when I doubted Id come back alive. If you knew what conditions are like...France is a desperate place.

Clearly not a Remainer...

Poldark had only been back ten minutes before they were having a domestic  about an old, church-shaped, store house she had given her brothers to use as a church.

Personal life: Poldark had only been back ten minutes before they were having a domestic  about an old, church-shaped, store house she had given her brothers to use as a church

Why would you take such a decision without asking me?! he demanded, affronted, sounding alarmingly as pompous and sexist as George Warleggan.

While Poldark had been off in France playing spies, his nemesis had been making plans to move Elizabeth away to Truro heartlessly abandoning Jeff.

Poldarks refusal to become a magistrate had also allowed Warleggan to take up the position and become power-crazed, pardoning the rich and punishing the poor feverishly.

Doctor Dwight meanwhile was still languishing in the prisoner of war camp.

Am I dead? Is this hell? a fellow soldier begged him.

Youre alive my friend, diagnosed Doctor Dwight. But youll wish that you were not. Were all in hell now!

For his part, Poldark had got over his guilt about all of them and was back in the lap of luxury  or rather of Demelza, who had quickly forgiven him and was putty in his hands once again.

Smitten: For his part, Poldark had got over his guilt about all of them and was back in the lap of luxury  or rather of Demelza, who had quickly forgiven him and was putty in his hands once again

No doubt you were plagued by French beauties ! she suggested tentatively.

No doubt I was, Poldark preened.

No doubt you availed yourself, she countered, more pointedly, knowing his history with Elizabeth.

No doubt I did, he teased again, rather cruelly.

Despite her protests and speeches, whatever he did Demelza rolled over. Literally.

Perhaps if you behave well you may be warmer than you deserve! she cooed coquettishly.

In fact, as Poldark lay in bed passionately kissing Demelza he was so warm he had to take his shirt off.

Mission accomplished as far as he and the viewers were concerned.

Doctor Dwight could wait for now.
Back in April Sienna Miller hit out at speculation she was enjoying a secret romance with Brad Pitt.

But two months later the rumour mill is churning again amid reports the two stars got cosy during a VIP party at the Glastonbury music festival over the weekend.

Both Sienna and Brad were among the A-list contingent who descended on the UK's Somerset event for a weekend of music, but according to The Sun, the two also enjoyed each other's company.

A-list romance? Back in April Sienna Miller hit out at speculation she was enjoying a secret romance with Brad Pitt. But two months later the rumour mill is churning again amid reports the two stars got cosy during a VIP party at the Glastonbury music festival over the weekend

According to the paper the stars were seen holding hands and stroking each other as they partied with mutual pals including Bradley Cooper and Noel Gallagher in the early hours of Saturday.

The report claims Sienna and Brad met up at 3am in the festival's Rabbit Hole area where onlookers spied them looking very cosy.

A source claims: 'Brad and Sienna couldn't keep their hands off each other, touching and stroking each other at every opportunity. They seemed really intimate.'

'Intimate': Both Sienna and Brad were among the A-list contingent who descended on the UK's Somerset event for a weekend of music

The insider added that Brad, who up until then was keeping a low profile at the world famous festival, looked delighted to meet up with Sienna, explaining:

'They seemed keen to get away from prying eyes and made a dash for the Rabbit Hole, the festival's underground and exclusive venue, with a group of friends and were inseparable as they waited to go inside.

'The party was cut short and they had to leave after five minutes because the venue was closing. Bradley Cooper left and Brad and Sienna headed back arm in arm to their private Winnebego.'

Party girl: Sienna headed to Glasto with her pals including Poppy Delevingne but according to a new report she met up with Brad in the early hours of Saturday

Another onlooker told Daily Star Online: 'Brad and Sienna were looking very cosy. I couldn't believe it - they were kissing in the VIP section of the Rabbit Hole.'

A representative for Brad declined to comment when approached by MailOnline. Sienna's representatives have also been contacted.

Back in April Sienna lashed out at 'silly' reports claiming she was spotted flirting with Brad, who is in the midst of divorcing Angelina Jolie.

The 35-year-old Brit insisted she would not 'dignify it with a response', in an interview with the New York Post just days after Page Six claimed the duo enjoyed a dinner date in Los Angeles.

Bachelor life: Brad has been enjoying single life as he attended Glastonbury with pals including Bradley Cooper

Music fan: Brad was seen checking out the weekend's acts side of stage on Friday

Having previously dated her Alfie co-star Jude Law and and enjoyed a 'brief' encounter with Layer Cake's Daniel Craig, she conceded that the Brad reports were 'predictable', as his production company is behind her new movie The Lost City of Z.

Page Six reported that Sienna and Brad were reportedly seen getting flirty in LA, after which they attended the premiere of The Lost City Z separately but insiders claim at a dinner after the screening the pair got close.

Brad, whose company Plan B is behind the film, was said to be doing some 'serious flirting' while surrounded by about 25 people. A source told Page Six: 'They were heavily enjoying each other's company and 'they were talking to each other all night.'

Rendezvous: The report claims Sienna met up with Brad at 3am in the festival's Rabbit Hole area where onlookers spied them looking very cosy

It was claimed that soon to be divorced Brad seemed to perk up after the interaction with Sienna as he was 'in very high spirits, which he hasn't been for a long time. He seems to be over a hump'.

Shortly after the reports emerged, Sienna spoke to The New York Post, where she vehemently denied the reports - insisting she would not entertain the prospect. She said: 'I'm not going to even dignify it with a response. It's predictable and silly'.

Prior to her denial, another source close to Sienna downplayed the possible flirtation and said the pair were part of a larger group so there were a lot of conversations going on throughout the night.

Party people; Sienna, a new recruit to Instagram, shared a snap of her swish ride to the festival on Friday with her pals

Back when the movie was filming, Sienna was forced to deny that there was another going on with a then-very married Brad.

She called a suggestion they were flirting 'insane' on Sway In The Morning on SiriusXM's Shade 45. The star said: 'The brilliant thing about that rumor is that yeah I haven't really read too much about it.

'So this is the truth about that, Brad Pitt is producing the movie that I just wrapped but I didn't see him, he's not been to the set. You know he's the producer of the film and I've met him twice - it's insane.'

Meanwhile according to New Idea, Elle Macpherson has also been spotted cosying up to actor Brad during a recent rendezvous in Hollywood.

Another rumour: Meanwhile according to New Idea, Elle Macpherson has also been spotted cosying up to actor Brad during a recent rendezvous in Hollywood

'They definitely seemed cosy together, like a couple on an intimate date,' the publication's source claimed on Monday.

'She was touching his arm a lot and flicking her hair over her shoulder,' the onlooker said of the 53-year-old supermodel, adding: 'There was a lot of flirting going on.'

It appears Brad, 53, also enjoyed the Australian bombshell's company during their meeting at the LA nightclub.

'He was laughing at everything she said and leaning in really close,' the source claimed.

The pair first met on the set of Friends in 1999, while Brad was still married to Jennifer Aniston, who also starred on the sitcom.

Reports of the genetically-blessed pair's meet-up comes just weeks after Elle supposedly split from billionaire property developer Jeffrey Soffer.

The mother-of-two and her sons Flynn, 19, and Aurelius, 14, are said to have moved out of the Miami mansion they previously shared with the 44-year-old billionaire.
She has been a Victoria's Secret Angel for more than 10 years and has walked the catwalk for Prada, Chanel and Marc Jacobs.

And Alessandra Ambrosio showed off her statuesque figure on a family fishing trip in Brazil on Sunday.

The model, 36, flaunted her toned legs in a blue polka dot playsuit as she watched her children play around with the fishing lines at the edge of the lagoon in Florianopolis.

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Flying free: Alessandra Ambrosio wore a navy polka dot playsuit as she took her family on a fishing trip at a lagoon in Florianopolis, Brazil

The mother-of-two's playsuit was form-fitting around the bodice, flaring out from the waist down.

Alessandra protected herself in the evening sun with a wide-brimmed straw sun hat, with a thick navy ribbon around the band.

She shaded her eyes from the evening sun with a large pair of tinted sunglasses.

The Victoria's Secret Angel visited the lagoon with her fiance Jamie Mazur, children Noah, five, and Anja, eight, and some of her wider family.

Cooling down: Alessandra, 36, paired her summer look with a wide-brimmed straw sun hat with a thick blue ribbon around the band

The star perched on the side of the jetty holding her fishing rod as she stared out across the open water.

A family member sat with her, dangling her bare feet over the side of the platform.

Alessandra's chestnut locks blew in the wind as she watched the world go by at the side of the lagoon.

Son Noah appeared especially interested in the traditional pastime as he lifted up a fishing rod, while staring into the water.

Anja appeared more interested in seeing how other people did it and stood aside to watch the others fish.

It appears that Alessandra enjoys the sport as she spent the Memorial Day weekend fishing in Malibu.

The Brazilian beauty shot to fame in the early 2000s when she graced the covers of glossy magazines such as Vogue, GQ and Elle.

She was handed her Victoria's Secret wings in 2006 and has been chosen to wear the Fantasy Bra twice in her 11-year tenure.
Simon Cowell is set to be honoured on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The music mogul and X Factor founder, 57, was announced as one of three British stars to be lauded on the coveted list, in recognition of his TV work in the States.

Sex Pistols star Steve Jones and Sir Richard Branson are also set to scoop the prestigious accolade.

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He's made it! Simon Cowell is set to be honoured on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in recognition of his TV work in America

Iconic: Those sponsoring an honouree have to pay an eye-popping 31,500 ($40,000) for the slate, which covers the cost of building the star, installing and its upkeep

Simon soared to prominence in 2001, when he sat on the judging panel of trailblazing reality show Pop Idol, which was created by Simon Fuller.

The star, worth an eye-popping 300million, later brought the Idol franchise to America in 2002, with the show running for 15 series before coming to a close in 2015, leaving X Factor US in its wake.

Steve Jones is being honoured for work in US radio, of which he fronts US station KLOS' show Jonesys Jukebox.

What an honour: Fellow Brit, Sir Richard Branson, 67, (pictured) is also set to scoop the accolade

He's got company: Sex Pistols star, Steve Jones is also set to receive a star

Winner! Simon soared to prominence in 2001, when he sat on the judging panel of trailblazing reality show Pop Idol, which was created by Simon Fuller

Sir Richard will receive a nod for his work in the record industry as he founded Virgin records.

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Simon for comment.

The selection committee's chairman, TV producer Vin Di Bona made the announcement, as he delightedly welcomed the newbies.

He said: We look forward to their big day as the Walk of Fame Class of 2018 becomes cemented one by one on the most famous sidewalk in the world.

The Walk of Fame currently boasts 2,600 brass stars embedded in pavements running along 18 of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street's roads.

Among the stars listed on the tourist attraction are musicians, directors, theatre stars, producers, actors among many more.

Nomination is open to anyone, yet the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce make the deciding vote for the star worthy of the prize.

Those sponsoring the star or the honouree themselves have to pay an eye-popping 31,500 ($40,000) for the slate, which covers the cost of building the star, installing and its upkeep.
She has a penchant for British men and he's reportedly newly single.

And Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and Katy Perry certainly seemed to get on like a house on fire as they partied together at the UK's Glastonbury music festival over the weekend, following Katy's set.

According to The Sun, an onlooker spied the two musicians holding hands as they watched Stormzy together on Saturday night.

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Cosy? Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and Katy Perry certainly seemed to get on like a house on fire as they partied together at the UK's Glastonbury music festival over the weekend

Chris and Katy, who raved about UK artist Stormzy on Instagram during his performance, both stood side of stage to watch his set, before apparently putting on a cosy display as they headed back to the VIP Winnebago area together.

A source said: 'Chris and Katy were walking hand in hand through the hospitality area and looked like they were really enjoying each other's company.

'She was wearing a big coat and hood to hide her face but kept whispering in his ear and laughing.

Party people: According to The Sun, an onlooker spied the two musicians holding hands as they watched Stormzy together on Saturday night, following her set at the festival

'As soon as a fan recognised her, though, she dropped Chris's hand and they both raced into the Winnebago area,' adding that 'they were sticking together for the whole evening.'

A representative for Chris had no comment when approached by MailOnline. A representative for Katy has also been contacted.

The two have run in the same circles for years and back in 2014 Chris revealed one of Coldplay's hit was inspired by Katy. The frontman explained that he was 'listening to a lot of Katy Perry' while writing the band's hit, A Sky Full of Stars.

She's a fan! Chris and Katy, who raved about UK artist Stormzy on Instagram during his set, both stood side of stage to watch his set, before reportedly walking off hand in hand

Joker: Katy quipped to her Instagram followers that she was romancing Stormzy

'I'll tell you the truth: I was listening to a lot of Katy Perry,' he told Beat x Beat webcast produced by Beats by Dre.

'A lot of her songs have the same chord sequence the whole time. Your body feels comfortable with them and then the melody's changing on top so there's a groove you really get in to and then also you're kept interested so I was like, "that's an amazing way of doing songs."'

The alleged Chris and Katy spot comes as Chris blasted rumours he kissed rising star Dua Lipa, 21, at the festival on Friday night.

According to The Sun, the 40-year-old Coldplay frontman was 'openly making out' with the pop star in the packed VIP area, however both parties have since blasted the claims.

Friendly: A source said: 'Chris and Katy were walking hand in hand through the hospitality area and looked like they were really enjoying each other's company'

A spokesman for Chris stated the rumours were completely untrue, while Dua's representatives denied to comment when asked by MailOnline.

The paper had reported that the pair, who worked together in the recording studio earlier this year, looked incredibly close and appeared not to have a care who saw them.

The insider revealed: 'Loads of people were around at the time and they were openly making out.

'Dua has been telling people she and Chris have texted a lot recently, but most of them assumed it was for work reasons.

This is my moment: The British starlet flaunted her killer abs for the masses in a scanty mesh bra, that left her toned torso on show, as she wowed excited crowds at the John Peel stage

'They were certainly not kissing for work reasons  they looked pretty into each other.'

The musicians have known each other for a number of months, having collaborated earlier this year on her song Homesick, which features on her debut album.

Dua had been openly complimentary of Chris at the time, and gushed that the opportunity to work with him had fulfilled one of her life-long goals.

Hooking up? The alleged Chris and Katy spot comes as Chris blasted rumours he kissed rising star Dua Lipa, 21, at the festival on Friday night

She explained: 'It was a really magical experience. Such a 'pinch me' moment to sit next to him by the piano, to hear and perform so closely with a voice I've heard on the radio my whole life.'

The rumours come after the starlet appeared to confirm her relationship with Dutch producer Martin Garrix.

They were seen putting on an amorous display as they holidayed in Miami together, in between Dua Lipa shooting for her latest music video.

Meanwhile the clinch also follows Chris' reported split from Peaky Blinders actress Annabelle Wallis.

Chris, who was formerly married to Gwyneth Paltrow, has never confirmed his romance with the blonde beauty, 32 - but the pair have been romantically linked ever since his divorce was finalised in 2015.
She's recently returned to Australia after spending some time away with her Neighbours star boyfriend Harley Bonner.

But since coming back Natalie Roser has spent the past few days battling an infection at the Royal North Shore Hospital.

The 25-year-old took appeared strong enough to take to Instagram and share a makeup free selfie as she recovered in bed.

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'I get to go home soon!' Natalie Roser has spent the past few days battling an infection at the Royal North Shore Hospital but she took the opportunity to thank the nurses and doctors at the hospital for taking care of her

Natalie looked far from her usual glamorous self in the snap in her white scrub, but she took the opportunity to thank the nurses and doctors at the hospital for taking care of her.

In her caption, the blonde beauty wrote: 'I am a very happy girl because I get to go home soon!'

'I wanted to post a photo to express my appreciation for all the nursing staff & doctors that took such good care of me,' she continued.

New flame: She's recently returned to Australia after spending some time away with her Neighbours star boyfriend Harley Bonner

'See you soon'! A few weeks ago, Natalie Roser took Instagram to share a busty selfie as she prepared to jet off to America to visit her beau Harley Bonner

'From emergency, to my ward, I was really cared for and I saw how long and tedious their days can be. They do such a tough job and do it so gracefully,' Natalie said.

The grateful model also added the hashtags '#supportournurses' and '#nursesrock' to her heartfelt post.

Just over a week ago, Natalie shared a busty selfie as she prepared to jet off to America to visit her actor beau.

The blonde beauty flashed her perfect pearly whites broadly in the photo while her head was tilted playfully to one side.

Split: Natalie and Dan had been scheduled to marry in October 2016 but postponed the wedding just weeks before the special day

She captioned her snap with: 'So much Friday happiness! I'm flying back to LA for a few days tomorrow!! See you soon @harleympbonner!'

Natalie confirmed her new romance Harley earlier this year, despite never having announced that her engagement to personal trainer Dan Adair had been called off.

Natalie and Dan had been scheduled to marry in October 2016 but postponed the wedding just weeks before the special day.

A spokesperson for the couple said at the time: 'Their wedding's been moved not due to a third person in the relationship problem.'
He famously claimed that he's never read any of the Harry Potter books - but Piers Morgan was forced to dress up as the wizard wonder boy for a hilarious Good Morning Britain segment on Monday.

To celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the first book release, Piers donned the famous round framed glasses and waved a wand as he spoke with co-host Susanna Reid about J.K. Rowling's iconic works.

Reluctantly looking the part of the bespectacled wizard, Piers discussed the Potter novels - but still slammed them as 'a load of old hogwash'.

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You're a wizard, Piers! Piers Morgan, 52, was forced to put his opinions aside - as Susanna Reid convinced him dress up as the bespectacled wizard for a hilarious Good Morning Britain segment on Monday

Laughing, Susanna said: 'I finally convinced Piers to dress up as Harry Potter. There's no lightning bolt tattoo, though.'

Waving his wand, Piers joked: 'You shall worship and obey your co-host!'

Piers had famously got into a spat with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, with the broadcast journalist admitting that he had never read any of the iconic books.

Uncanny resemblance: Reluctantly donning the famous round frame glasses and waving a wand, Piers comically looked the part - but still slammed the books as 'a load of old hogwash!'

Seeing the light: 'I finally convinced Piers to dress up as Harry Potter. There's no lightning bolt tattoo, though'

Not a fan: Piers had famously got into a spat with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, with the broadcast journalist admitting that he had never read any of the iconic books

Upon hearing this, bookseller Simon Key had famously taken on the task of attempting to convert Piers into a Potter fan by tweeting him every single line of the Philosopher's Stone - until 865 tweets later, when Piers eventually blocked him.

Invited on to the show, Simon was keen to quiz Piers on why he refused to be bought into the magic of Hogwarts.

He asked him: 'What don't you like about Harry Potter?'

Cheeky: Piers didn't look best pleased about dressing up as Potter, but still managed a cheeky smile

Determined: Upon hearing this, bookseller Simon Key had taken on the task of tweeting him every single line of the Philosopher's Stone - until 865 tweets later, Piers eventually blocked him

Potterlicious: When asked why he was a Potter fanatic, Simon explained that he wasnt fanatical about the series but just read the books and love the books

Piers responded by quipping, 'I think it's a load of old Hogwarts! I think it's badly written... It's a load of hogwash.

What does it do to you that makes you all just go nuts like this?

Simon explained that he wasnt fanatical about the series but just read the books and love the books.

Not having it: When Simon countered that the books were read by millions of fans, Piers shot back: '600 million people saw the Hangover, doesn't make it an Oscar winner!'

All in jest: After Simon noted that his Twitter spat with Piers had boosted attention for his bookshop in Wood Green, Piers said 'Go down to his bookshop. He's a good guy. It was all a bit of fun'

Explaining his decision to serialise Rowlings book to Piers via the micro-blogging site, he joked: I like Twitter.

When Simon countered that the books were read by millions of fans, Piers shot back: '600 million people saw the Hangover, doesn't make it an Oscar winner!'

As the brief interview came to an end, Susanna concluded of the Harry Potter books: 'They've encouraged so many children to read and embrace the joy of reading.'

Celebration: In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the first ever Harry Potter book being published, Evanna Lynch made an appearance on ITV show Lorraine later in the morning

Catching up: She sat down with host Lorraine Kelly to talk about her experiences on the film

Overcoming: She also recounted how her friendship with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling blossomed as the young actress battled an eating disorder

Big fan: She also revealed that she was a Harry Potter fan before appearing in the films

Piers noted that the real crux of Simon's visit was to promote small bookstores, which have been suffering from a sharp decline in customers.

After Simon noted that his Twitter spat with Piers had boosted attention for his bookshop in London's Wood Green, Piers quipped: 'I sprinkled my bookselling magic on you, simply by saying how diabolical it all is.'

Proving that his gentle ribbing was all in jest, Piers then seriously added: 'Go down to his bookshop. He's a good guy. It was all a bit of fun.'

The role of a lifetime: She played the role of Luna Lovegood in the monster hit movies

New production: Evanna discussed her new stage play Disco Pigs, which is scheduled to open at London's Trafalgar Studios in July

Stylish: The Irish beauty looked stylish in a blue striped sweater with short sleeves
Her upcoming comedy The House, with fellow Saturday Night Live alum Will Ferrell, is due for release at the end of the month.

And Amy Poehler looked low-key chic as she arrived back at LAX International Airport in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The 45-year-old actress ensured to don a stylish, yet comfortable, ensemble as she listened to her music while carting her suitcase out of the airport.

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Touchdown! Amy Poehler, 45, looked low-key chic as she arrived back at LAX International Airport in Los Angeles on Sunday

The American beauty looked sensational in a figure-skimming black top and skinny jeans which were slightly rolled up.

After being up in the air, Amy - who shares two sons with her ex husband Will Arnett, kept her feet firmly on the ground in a pair of black and white flat shoes.

Amy's blonde locks were side parted and casually tousled and she covered her make-up free features with a pair of cool blue tinted shades.

The comedic actress looked in good spirits as she listened to her music as she rolled along her suitcase.

Low-key chic: The actress ensured to don a stylish, yet comfortable, ensemble as she listened to her music while carting her suitcase out of the airport

Casual: The American beauty looked sensational in a figure-skimming black top and skinny jeans which were slightly rolled up

A tote, with the number 5, was casually draped on her shoulders and harboured all of her essentials.

Amy, who used to date comedian Nick Kroll for two years but they split in 2015, is soon to reunite with her Parks & Recreation co-star Nick Offerman will reunite to host The Handmade Project competition reality show.

The series has received a six-episode straight-to-series order by NBC.

Relaxed: After being up in the air, Amy - who shares two sons with her ex husband Will Arnett, kept her feet firmly on the ground in a pair of black and white flat shoes

Fun project: Amy is soon to reunite with her Parks & Recreation co-star Nick Offerman will reunite to host The Handmade Project competition reality show

Amy and Nick, who played Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson on the hit NBC sitcom affectionately known as Parks & Rec, will oversee the unscripted show, which celebrates artisanship and the makers who can create amazing things with their hands and tools.

She is also set to star in The House - a comedy is about a couple who accidentally spend their daughter's college fund and open an illegal casino to get the money back.

The House hits theatres June 30 in the US.
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She is a self-professed exercise fanatic, who often takes to social media to share both sizzling bikini snaps and her gruelling workouts with fans.

And Louise Thompson was certainly confident to show off the fruits of her fitness labours on Sunday, as she stripped to her swimwear for a relaxing beach day in Ibiza with her beau Ryan Libbey.

The Made In Chelsea star, 27, flaunted her impressively toned stomach and derriere in a tiny snakeskin thong two-piece as she soaked up the sunshine by the sea, during her ninth holiday of the year so far.

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Beach babe: Louise Thompson was certainly confident to show off the fruits of her fitness labours on Sunday, as she stripped to her swimwear for a relaxing beach day in Ibiza

Relaxed: Louise topped up her tan by the beach with her beau Ryan Libbey (L) - marking their NINTH holiday of 2017 so far

The reality star confidently showed off her slender physique in the quirky snakeskin two-piece, from co-star Frankie Gaff's new collection with Grace Jacob.

The triangle top, patterned with multi-coloured snakeskin all over, secured into halterneck string straps and plunged into a deep V at the chest, to steal a look at her delicate cleavage underneath.

Paired with nothing but the matching bottoms however, Louise therefore left her impressively rippling abs and and gym-honed waist on show as she strolled along the beach with her boyfriend of almost one year.

Only making the look saucier, the briefs then cut into a skimpy thong style at her rear - giving a flash of her enviably peachy and rounded derriere to all as she relaxed in the blazing sunshine of the White Isle.

Model material: The reality star confidently showed off her slender physique in the quirky snakeskin two-piece, from co-star Frankie Gaff's new collection with Grace Jacob

Skimpy: The triangle top, patterned with multi-coloured snakeskin all over, secured into halterneck string straps and plunged into a deep V at the chest, to steal a look at her delicate cleavage underneath

Ripped: Paired with nothing but the matching bottoms however, Louise therefore left her impressively rippling abs and and gym-honed waist on show as she strolled along the beach with her boyfriend

Proving her trendy sense of style extended to her beachwear, the MIC star tied her look together with grungy Adidas sliders and a boho crochet dress, which she slipped in to later on to protect her from the heat.

Leaving her hair in loose, tousled waves and adding retro rounded shades, Louise let her clear, sun-kissed skin and natural beauty shine through as she topped up her tan on yet another sun-soaked holiday.

Joined by her muscular beau Ryan, clad in vibrant yellow swim shorts, the pair appeared more relaxed and loved-up than ever as they caught some rays from the comfort of sunbeds right beside the sea.

Later tiring of their tanning session however, the couple were then seen heading back to their car and venturing to a local restaurant, where they enjoyed an al fresco lunch together.

Boho babe: She also sported a boho crochet dress, which she tied around her shoulders to protect them from the heat

Radiant: Leaving her hair in loose, tousled waves, Louise let her clear, sun-kissed skin and natural beauty shine through as she tred on sunglasses from a local beach seller

Loved-up: The couple, who have been together for almost one year, looked more loved-up than ever as they shared a giggle together while trying on various pairs of shades

While they are regulars on the London party scene as cast members of Made In Chelsea, it seems the couple are keen to be anywhere but the capital this year.

Their trip to Ibiza marks their ninth holiday in 2017 alone, having already enjoyed luxurious trips to Mykonos, Dubai, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in just six months.

Louise has been dating personal trainer Ryan since last summer, and recently revealed he was part of the reason she decided to embark on her fitness journey.

Admitting to Women's Health she has ditched alcohol since finding love, she said: Getting in shape has been a combination of being with Ryan, the timing and changing my outlook.

Taking in the view:Joined by her muscular beau Ryan, clad in vibrant yellow swim shorts, the pair appeared relaxed as they caught some rays from the comfort of sunbeds right beside the sea

Accessories: She finished her look with retro rounded Ray Ban sunglasses

Toned and tanned: Louise, who showed off her impressive abs on the beach, has been dating personal trainer Ryan since last summer, and recently revealed he was part of the reason she decided to embark on her fitness journey

'Im done drinking. Before, I would go wild once a week. But I mean wild.

'Then I realised that I dont actually enjoy drinking and its taken me the past few months to see how much better my life is without it.'

Thanks to their impressive physiques, the couple are known for sharing endless bikini and shirtless snaps to their social media pages during their breaks away - although this caused them to come under fire from fans in the past.

Earlier this month, Ryan faced backlash for posting a 'tactless' snap of himself in tribute to the London terror attack.

Diva: She later swapped her Ray Bans for a more glamorous pair of shades, and jokingly added a gold chain to her neck

Common interests: Thanks to their impressive physiques, the couple are known for sharing endless bikini and shirtless snaps to their social media pages

Enough for one day: Later tiring of their tanning session however, the couple were then seen heading back to their car and venturing to a local restaurant

Slender: She slipped into her crochet cover-up to head for lunch - with it skimming her enviable figure all the way down

Ryan apologised when his Instagram followers slammed him for sharing an image of himself, with clothing brands tagged, as part of his tribute to the London Bridge terror attack victims.

The hunk, 26, shared a photo on Instagram of himself posing in the sunshine - just one day after seven people were killed in London Bridge.

After receiving a stream of negative comments, the reality star uploaded a video on his Instagram page on Monday afternoon apologising for his choice of photo, and admitting he has 'to learn from this.'

'I just wanted to apologise formally and officially for what was a clumsy post on my Instagram over the weekend,' Ryan said in the video. 'I really didn't mean to cause upset or offence.

Back to their old tricks: Louise and Ryan have been posting snaps from their getaway on social media all week - despite coming under fire for doing so earlier this month

'Tactless': Ryan (L) was forced to apologise when his Instagram followers slammed him for sharing an image of himself, with clothing brands tagged, as part of his tribute to the London Bridge terror attack victims earlier this month

'It was a clumsy choice of photo from myself and I shouldn't have tagged any brand in that photo.'

'The words that I wrote, I do mean them,' he went on. 'It was supposed to be a genuine and heartfelt message. I just wanted to reach out and offer my condolences to everyone in London who's been affected by what's been a terrible event.'

'I got it wrong this time and I am sorry. I've got to learn from this, I'm still getting used to being in the public eye and it's not easy.'

Ryan's post also came just two weeks after Louise was slammed for sharing a bikini Instagram hours after the Manchester terror attack left 22 people dead last month.
Mel Grieg has had a rough 2016 after finalising her divorce from her ex-husband Steven Pollock.

And on Monday night's episode of The Project, the 34-year-old shared her experience with endometriosis and her fertility fears.

'My chance of getting pregnant naturally is one per cent,' she told the program on Monday.

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'My chance of getting pregnant naturally is one per cent': Radio personality Mel Grieg has shared her experience with endometriosis and fertility fears on Monday's The Project

'My husband and I, at the time, went through IVF - we created these embryos. But then what you don't plan for is your marriage to end and your time to basically disappear,' she said.

Since signing her divorce papers last year, she has struggled with deciding what to do with her embroys she created with Steve.

'This is a battle that will haunt me for life,' she said in a piece for Mamamia.

'I can't bring myself to destroy them, that doesn't feel like the right thing to do, and I don't want to donate them and see a little Mel running around if I haven't had my own children.'

Hard decisions: Since signing her divorce papers last year, she has struggled with deciding what to do with her embroys she created with Steve

Mel revealed to the panel that she was 23-years-old when she started taking The Pill to ease the pain, on the recommendation from her gynaecologist.

After seven years, Mel stopped taking the contraceptive medication, but suffered from even more pain.

The radio personality also revealed that she had suffered severe pain while hosting her dream job at the time, the Hot 30 Countdown.

'There was no way I would call in sick. I pushed through and masked the pain. That's all you can do,' she said.

Heartbreaking: 'My husband and I, at the time, went through IVF - we created these embryos. But then what you don't plan for is your marriage to end and your time to basically disappear'

The disease eventually spread to other parts of her reproductive organs, causing her complications.

She recalled: 'Once [the doctors] went in there and had a look, they said, 'You need major surgery. Your ovary and your bowel are attached to each other.

'We'll have to do a resection on your bowel. You're in serious trouble here. You might lose one of your reproductive organs,' Mel continued.

Career first: The radio personality also revealed that she had suffered severe pain while hosting her dream job at the time, the Hot 30 Countdown

Since then Mel has had surgery twice and will need more.

Mel, who is an Endometriosis Australia Ambassador, urged female viewers to visit their doctor.

'If something doesn't go right, go to your doctor. Push to see a gynaecologist. If it's interfering that much with your everyday life, that is not normal.'
Her character has plenty of drama going on thanks to daughter Bethany's horrific ordeal.

And Tina O'Brien's Sarah Platt is fuming in an upcoming Coronation Street scene when boyfriend Gary, played by Mikey North, fails to meet her for a therapy session.

Photos from the set show soap veteran Sarah looking angry at her man after she discovers his taxi has broken down on the way to their meeting.

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Dramatic scenes: Tina O'Brien's Sarah Platt is fuming in an upcoming Coronation Street scene when boyfriend Gary, played by Mikey North, fails to meet her for a therapy session

Tina looks chic in a smart grey dress for the scene, teamed with black pumps.

But any hope of a successful therapy session with her man comes to a crashing halt when Gary's taxi breaks down.

Sarah and Steve, played by Simon Gregson, come to the aid of Gary and driver Tim (Joe Duttine) but a fiery argument between the couple soon breaks out.

Fuming: Photos from the set show soap veteran Sarah looking angry at her man after she discovers his taxi has broken down on the way to their meeting

Smart: Tina looks chic in a smart grey dress for the scene, teamed with black pumps

Despite the drama, Mikey North told RadioTimes.com recently that he is betting on Gary and Sarah going the distance.

The pair of character are currently involved in Corrie's high-profile storyline that has seen Sarah's daughter Bethany groomed by older boyfriend Nathan.

Mikey admits he hopes the trauma will unite Sarah and Gary, telling Radio Times at the British Soap Awards: 'I love Gary and Sarah together. I think they work really nicely. Hopefully, they're going to stay together long-term and come through this a stronger couple.'

Stopped in his tracks: Any hope of a successful therapy session with her man comes to a crashing halt when Gary's taxi breaks down

To the rescue: Sarah and Steve, played by Simon Gregson, come to the aid of Gary and driver Tim (Joe Duttine)

Anger: Sarah soon lets rip at her boyfriend as they sit in the car

Happy ending? Despite the drama, Mikey North told RadioTimes.com recently that he is betting on Gary and Sarah going the distance

Asked whether he'd like to see them head down the aisle, he added: 'I'd love that. It'd be great, you never know. That family is never happy, so fingers crossed for a Platt wedding next year.'

There might not be much respite for the Platt family yet though as actor Chris Harper has hinted his character's grooming plotline could run on.

Shrugging off the criticism over the soap's shocking abuse scenes, Chris says he is glad the storyline has 'made an impact' on viewers.

Shock plot: The pair of character are currently involved in Corrie's high-profile storyline that has seen Sarah's daughter Bethany groomed by older boyfriend Nathan

That's a wrap! Sarah kept warm in a padded coat in between takes

Chris told the Press Association: 'It's clearly made an impact. It's been wonderful how many people have come up and talked to me... People who've had abuse in their life or their families' lives.'

Viewers have been gripped by the popular soap's grooming storyline which saw Bethany Platt, played by Lucy Fallon, routinely abused by perverted older fiance Nathan and his wider circle of friends and associates.

Chris also admitted that although his character Nathan seemed to be bang to rights after his arrest last week, and has to reach a 'sticky end', writers still haven't decided how they will end the sex abuser's storyline.

Shocking: Coronation Street's Chris Harper, who plays sex abuser Nathan Curtis, has shrugged off the criticism over the soap's shocking abuse scenes, saying he is glad the storyline has 'made an impact' on viewers (pictured with Lucy Fallon who plays Bethany Platt)

'He's going to have to go down. It's not been written yet but we're doing it with full responsibility and awareness,' he said.

Chris added that the next twist in the shocking storyline would follow Bethany's journey as she comes to terms with the abuse

'That's going to be the next turn of the story, following Bethany's strength and courage in discovering and then facing what's happened to her.We'll see him go to trial, that's a really important thing to see.'

Scandal: Chris also admitted that although his character Nathan seemed to be bang to rights after his arrest last week, and has to reach a 'sticky end', writers still haven't decided how they will end the sex abuser's storyline

Next twist: Chris added that the next twist in the shocking storyline would follow Bethany's journey as she comes to terms with the abuse

Last week the schoolgirl ran away with her older beau who plans to sell her to strangers in Belgium as a sex slave.

And fans rejoiced as Nathan was finally arrested before he could traffic the teenager abroad.

But Bethanys salvation was short-lived as once she arrived at the station she was confronted by bent copper Neil (Ben Cartwright), a key player in Nathans sex ring.

Whats more, Bethany will soon be forced to re-live her abuse when she testifies adjacent the pack of perverted gang members in court.

As part of raising awareness about child abuse Chris spoke after visiting Heathfield Nursery and Infant School, in Twickenham, where he saw in person the NSPCC's Speak Out Stay Safe service.

Through interactive assemblies, it aims to educate children about the different forms of abuse and where they can get help.
After his much-publicised vigilante heroics, which saw him successfully chase down a moped thief in April, it seemed there was little more he could do to win over fans.

But on Saturday, Tom Hardy showed that the simple act of posing for selfies with star-struck devotees is also enough to leave them breathlessly gushing.

The 39-year-old Mad Max: Fury Road star was in the midst of taking motorbike lessons with Nuneaton-based Tim Smith of Two Wheels Motorcycle Training, when he was spotted stopping for a breather in an Esso garage in Whitestone.

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Fans: Tom Hardy thrilled fans - (l-r) Debbie Edmonds, Charmaine Edmonds-Blades, Joanne Vowles and Gayle Nelnes - when he posed with them in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, on Saturday

Joanne Vowles, who had called in at the petrol station on the way to a Tom Jones gig at Sherwood Forest, said: 'I asked him if he really was Tom Hardy and he said yes.'

She added of the screen star: 'He was so humble, drop-dead gorgeous and a lovely bloke. I spotted him and I thought it just cant be, so I looked again and he smiled.

'After I checked he really was Tom Hardy, he came over, had a chat and we asked if we could take photos. He said, "No problem, put them on Facebook." He was so lovely. I asked him why he was here and he said he was taking his bike test.'

Lessons: The screen hunk was in the midst of taking motorbike lessons when he was spotted

Tom's instructor Tim Smith was equally complimentary, telling The Sun Online: 'Hes a really nice guy, hes down to earth and hes not a celebrity with us.

'Hes good to work with, he doesnt come across as celebrity status. Hes a normal guy, hes a very nice chap.'

As for how the star, who is one of the favourites to become the next James Bond, fared with his bike lessons, Tim noted: 'Hes good at it. Hes really taken it on board.'

The screen hunk's outing came after he posted a heartfelt tribute to his pet dog Woody, announcing the pooch had sadly passed away aged six.

Dressed for the occasion: He was in the full appropriate gear - including a high-visibility vest

He took to his blog to tell his fans about his loss, explaining that Woody died earlier this month after a six-month battle with polymyositisis, which is a muscle disorder.

Tom called Woody his 'best friend', revealing how he rescued the animal when he was filming his 2012 movie Lawless in Atlanta.

In the lengthy post Tom detailed the night he and Woody first met, when the Labrador-cross ran across a road the actor was driving down one night in Georgia with his Lawless co-star Jessica Chastain.

When Tom had to return home to London after the movie wrapped, Jessica's parents took care of Woody in California until the actor returned to the US to shoot Dark Knight and took him home.

Heroic: In April, the star attracted headlines when he chased down a moped thief in London

Detailing their adventures together, Tom calls Woody his 'best friend', gushing that 'we went through so much together,' and revealing how the pooch helped him after the death of his dog Max.

The actor adds that Woody had a close bond with his wife, actress Charlotte Riley, explaining: 'Charlotte worked tirelessly with him to get him through a rough case of separation anxiety. He loved her like his Mum. And when she was pregnant he guarded her fiercely.'

The actor points out how Woody had also won the heart of his fans and Hollywood colleagues, after he bought him onto sets and to movie premieres and events.

'He has been on many sets. Met many crews. Photo shoots premieres made many many friends he was #73 most influential animal in TIME magazine.

Love and marriage: Tom is happily married to stunning actress Charlotte Riley

'He beat JAWS. Something we all thought was brilliant. He's been in peaky blinders. Legend everyone who met him loved him. He didn't have a bad bone in his body. All he knew was love,' he writes.

'I don't normally speak out about family and friends but this is an unusual circumstance. Woody affected so many people in his own right,' he adds.

Tom ends his essay by telling Woody he was 'the bestest friend ever. To me and to a family who loved him beyond words and whom he loved without doubt more than I have ever known. Woody was the bestest of journey companions we ever could dream of having. Our souls intertwined forever.'
She's the PR queen whose criminal husband Oliver Curtis was released from Cooma Correctional Centre on Friday after serving 12 months for insider trading.

And it appears Roxy Jacenko could be soon jetting off to Europe for a luxury holiday after the 37-year-old posted a swimwear selfie earlier this month captioned 'Euroready'.

The lingering question though, is: will Roxy be joined by her newly free husband on her trip?

Need a vacation? Roxy Jacenko (pictured) appears to be gearing up for a holiday to Europe, however it is unclear whether her criminal husband Oliver Curtis, who was released on Friday will be taking the trip with her

The headline-grabbing couple's relationship is rumoured to be rocky with the pair both spotted without their wedding rings in the days since Oliver's release.

Roxy has been snapped on several occasions throughout the year sans wedding ring - the earliest being as far back as February.

On Monday, Roxy was questioned by journalists whether she was planning to divorce the disgraced investment banker.

The blonde publicist refused to confirm her current relationship status, keeping silent as a photographer asked, 'Are you and Oli still together?'

Taste of freedom: Oliver (pictured with wife Roxy and children Hunter and Pixie) spent 12 months in prison after being convicted of insider trading

The mother-of-two broke her silence about Oliver's return during the same encounter when a photographer asked, 'Roxy, is it good to have Oliver home?'

Roxy replied: 'Yes the children are very happy.'

'Are you happy?' they asked. She responded: 'Yes, of course.'

On Saturday Roxy reportedly cancelled a 'welcome home' bash for her husband at the 11th hour, instead opting for a quiet night at home.

On the same night, Oliver was spotted picking up a takeaway dinner with his mother-in-law Doreen.

Stepping outside: The disgraced businessman was released from Cooma Correctional Centre on Friday after he spent time inside for illegal business practices

Single? Since his release, both Oliver and Roxy have been spotted without their wedding rings

The rumours of marriage woes were not helped by images that emerged in April of Roxy kissing her ex-boyfriend and multi-millionaire property developer Nabil Gazal.

Nabil reportedly fled Sydney for Lebanon to avoid the media circus surrounding Oliver's release from prison.

Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph reported that Oliver told fellow inmates he would forgive the PR queen for her 'indiscretions' over the past year if she would look past his 'mistakes that put him in jail'.

Left the country: Roxy's ex Nabil Gazal (pictured) reportedly fled Sydney for Lebanon to avoid the media circus surrounding Oliver's release from prison

It has been reported that Roxy and Oliver, who share five-year-old daughter Pixie and two-year-old son Hunter, quietly split before he began his sentence in June 2016,.

However, the couple has not confirmed this speculation.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Roxy for comment.
He's the fame-hungry socialite best known for attending red carpet events with his A-list dad Richard Wilkins.

So many will be shocked to learn that Christian Wilkins spent time begging for change and dumpster-diving for food on the mean streets of Melbourne.

However, it won't surprise anybody to learn that the entire experience was just for a new reality series on SBS called Filthy Rich and Homeless.

Shining star! Christian Wilkins lived as a homeless person for ten days as part of a new SBS reality series

Speaking about the series to TV Week, the 22-year-old said: 'I never felt so humiliated.'

'All they saw was a beggar.'

He added: 'I'd been dropped off at a local park, left to fend for myself with nothing more than donated clothes and a sleeping bag.'

'I never felt so humiliated!' The 22-year-old socialite opened up to TV Week about the experience

'I'd been dropped off at a local park, left to fend for myself with nothing more than donated clothes and a sleeping bag,' said the aspiring model

The blonde bombshell, who spent ten days roughing it on the streets without his mobile phone, got so hungry that he was left with no choice but to dig through a dumpster behind a supermarket for food.

Unfortunately, Christian and a few real homeless people he was hanging out with were all chased away by staff members.

The aspiring model recently opened up about the experience on his Instagram page.

Hungry? The blonde bombshell got so hungry that he was left with no choice but to dig through a dumpster behind a supermarket for food

'Homelessness was an issue I was ignorant about, until I took part in an incredibly intense documentary for SBS,' he wrote.

'It was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I only had to do it for 10 days.'

The burgeoning activist added: 'This is an issue that affects over 100,000 Australians on any given night and we need to start a larger discussion about how we can help them.'
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She has been enjoying a summer of fun, already hitting the celeb-favourite destinations of Saint Tropez and Cannes in recent days.

And now Gwyneth Paltrow has moved onto Marbella, where she was spotted enjoying a splash-around in the sea with her children Moses, 11 and Apple, 12 on Saturday.

The 44-year-old actress showed off the results of her healthy lifestyle in a tiny black bikini for her family day at the beach.

Summer jaunt: She has been enjoying a summer of fun, already hitting the celeb-favourite destinations of Saint Tropez and Cannes in recent days. And now Gwyneth Paltrow has moved onto Marbella

The actress looked phenomenal in her skimpy choice of swimwear, with the halter-neck design flaunting her chest.

The tie-side bottoms of the black bikini sat low on Gwyneth's hips, showing off her toned torso and long legs.

Ever stylish, Gwyneth matched the gold detail on her bikini to her jewellery, accessorising with a chunky chain bracelet and delicate pendant.

Looking great: The 44-year-old actress showed off the results of her healthy lifestyle in a tiny black bikini for a family day at the beach with her children

beach day: After her dip Gwyneth wrapped up in a turquoise towel, seeming to go largely unnoticed on the beach

She kept cool in the Spanish heat by slicking her blonde locks up into an effortless top knot, and slipping on a pair of dark shades.

The doting mum was in her element as she headed into the water with her children, laughing and splashing around.

After her dip Gwyneth wrapped up in a turquoise towel as she retreated to the shade of her sun lounger for a spot of relaxation.

Trim: The actress looked phenomenal in her skimpy choice of swimwear, with the halter-neck design flaunting her chest

Bathing beauty: The tie-side bottoms of the black bikini sat low on Gwyneth's hips, showing off her toned torso and long legs

Splashing around: The A-list actress laughed as she cooled down with a dip alongside her children Apple, 12, and Moses, 11, and their friend

It's been a sun-soaked couple of weeks for the actress who was spotted on a luxury yacht in Cannes last week with her children and ex husband Chris Martin, following a jaunt along the coast to Saint Tropez.

While Coldplay frontman Chris returned to his native UK for a spot of partying at Glastonbury festival over the weekend, Gwyneth has been enjoying the sun in Spain.

Her summer break comes after Gwyneth recently revealed she is planning on giving up acting to focus on her lifestyle company Goop.

Effortless: She kept cool in the Spanish heat by slicking her blonde locks up into an effortless top knot, and slipping on a pair of dark shades

Hollywood meets Marbella: Gwyneth strolled across the beach in her bright blue towel and tiny bikini

In an interview with Extra she shared: 'I'm not sure how I'll feel about acting going forward. I'm doing just a teensy little bit here and there when I have time, but I am loving running my business.'

Gwyneth admitted she's instead relishing the challenge of running her own company.

'You know, my life has been skewing far more heavily towards my business, and it has to right now that we have so much going on,' she explained.

'We're growing so fast (at my company), and it's such an exciting time to be doing what I'm doing.'

All about the accessories: Ever stylish, Gwyneth matched the gold detail on her bikini to her jewellery, accessorising with a chunky chain bracelet and delicate pendant

This is the life! Gwyneth flashed a big smile as her summer jaunt continued in a new location over the weekend

Road tripping: It's been a sun-soaked couple of weeks for the actress who was spotted on a luxury yacht in Cannes last week with her children and ex husband Chris Martin, following a jaunt along the coast to Saint Tropez

Gwyneth's most recent role was an appearance in 2016 TV series Nightcap, while her last movie was the 2015 flop Mortdecai, opposite Johnny Depp.

The actress comes from Hollywood stock, being the daughter of director and producer Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner.

But she cut back on her work when she became a mother and since 2008 has been focused on her website Goop, which started as a weekly lifestyle newsletter.

Speaking about her move away from acting, she also told Today: 'I'm still going to do a little bit here and there, but [Goop] really requires almost all of my time.'

'I'm in the office all day, every day. I have a pretty big team  we're almost 85 people  so I kind of need to be at work.'

Family time: Gwyneth flashed a big smile at her brood as she watched over the kids' playtime in the surf

Solo: Gwyneth was joined by her ex husband Chris Martin last week but he headed to Glastonbury while she was in Marbella
Charlize Theron cut an effortlessly chic figure when she was photographed on Monday at John F Kennedy International Airport with her son Jackson.

The 41-year-old Academy Award winner had pulled on a black tank top with a sloping neckline, tucking it into a high-waisted pair of wide-set black trousers.

The beauty has been promoting her new action film Atomic Blonde.

Mom on the move: Charlize Theron cut an effortlessly chic figure when she was photographed on Monday at John F. Kennedy International Airport with her son Jackson

A bulging purse slung over one arm, she held with her other hand a small suitcase that was splattered with comic panels starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Directed by David Leitch, Atomic Blonde is an action-packed Cold War thriller starring Charlize as a ruthless and talented British spy on a mission in Berlin.

With a cast also featuring Sofia Boutella, John Goodman and James McAvoy, Atomic Blonde will be out in American movie theaters July 18 and British cinemas August 9.

The look: The 41-year-old Academy Award winner had pulled on a black tank top with a sloping neckline, tucking it into a high-waisted pair of wide-set black trousers

Incoming: Her next movie is David Leitch's Atomic Blonde, an action-packed Cold War thriller starring Charlize as a ruthless and talented British spy on a mission in Berlin

Covering the latest issue of W, Charlize has said of her Atomic Blonde character Lorraine: 'I didnt just want to play a girly spy who depends on her flirty ways.'

She's explained: 'It would be so boring to just be "the girl" and wait for the guys to come in when theres a fight. Instead, I thought about Atomic Blonde the way I imagine men think about parts in action films. I was intrigued and challenged.'

Charlize also said of her character: 'Lorraine is a little bit like Bond. He drinks a lot of martinis, doesnt he? Shaken or not stirred, or whatever they are,' she recalled.

'Yeah, Lorraine and James are equally messed up. Maybe they should marry! Maybe they should have a baby! That would be an interesting baby,' the actress quipped.

Breaking the mold: Covering the latest issue of W , Charlize has said of her Atomic Blonde character Lorraine: 'I didnt just want to play a girly spy who depends on her flirty ways'

Retro chic in a pleated shining pink miniskirt, yellow scarf, black blazer, purple stockings and silver shoes, she evoked the Cold War in her W photo spread.

Having adopted Jackson in 2012, Charlize also adopted a daughter called August in 2015, and the film star's gushed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this April that her children are 'so in love with each other. It's really beautiful.'

There's been a swirl of rumors lately - fanned by OK! magazine - that Charlize has been dating Halle Berry's ex Gabriel Aubrey, whom she was spotted hanging out with on the Santa Monica Pier last month.

Charlize was also seen in New York City in a pale green blazer over a crimson dress, pounding the pavement and at one point holding an ice cream cone.
She is known for her sensationally slender figure, as a huge fan of all things health and fitness.

And Lucy Mecklenburgh was certainly not afraid to show off her killer body on Wednesday, as she shared further sizzling snaps from her sun-soaked trip to Santorini.

The former TOWIE star, 25, displayed her enviably toned stomach and impossibly tiny waist in a stylish monochrome bikini, as she continued to top up her tan on the idyllic island location.

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Beach body: Lucy Mecklenburgh was certainly not afraid to show off her killer body on Wednesday, as she shared further sizzling snaps from her sun-soaked trip to Santorini

While Lucy appeared to be cooling off from the heat in the snap, she certainly got her followers hot under the collar as she posed in another skimpy two-piece.

Cutting into a wide V neckline, her triangle top gave a glimpse of her delicate cleavage to all as she posed, before it cut off just below her bust - to leave her impressive washboard abs and flat stomach on show.

Paired with nothing but barely-there bottoms, which tied into single strings at the side, the star then drew attention to her enviably long and slender legs as she posed seductively for her followers.

Slender: She posed at the very edge of a boat with her back to the camera in another sizzling shot, once again displaying her incredibly petite waist in her high-waisted shorts

Looking good! Lucy has been teasing fans with a number of jaw-dropping holiday snaps

Letting her incredible body take centre stage, the brunette simply left her hair in loose waves and sported minimal make-up, to leave her clear, glowing skin on show.

Not stopping there however, she later uploaded even more envy-inducing snaps for her fans, as she made the most of her idyllic getaway.

One saw her posing at the very edge of a boat with her back to the camera, once again displaying her incredibly petite waist in her high-waisted shorts.

Ideal: She also posted a more glamorous image of her sat beside her swimming pool with a glass of wine, which she simply captioned: 'In heaven'

Proving to be fully relaxing while away, she also posted a more glamorous image of her sat beside her swimming pool with a glass of wine, which she simply captioned: 'In heaven'.

Lucy had already set her fans' pulses racing in strapless orange swimsuit on Friday, as she posed on a yacht in another stunning Instagram.

The reality star showed off her incredible figure in the high cut swimming costume as she got bronzed in the Mediterranean.

Beach babe: Lucy had already set her fans' pulses racing in strapless orange swimsuit on Friday, as she posed on a yacht in another stunning Instagram

The brightly coloured number featured a zip, which came down to her navel as she posed seductively by the hot springs.

The reality star shielded her eyes with a pair of mirrored aviator sunglasses and wore her tousled raven locks down.

Lucy jetted into Greece on Thursday and seems determined to make the most of her stay.

On Thursday, the former TOWIE star visited Athens and Vouliagemi, just down the coast from the capital.

Fun in the sun: The former TOWIE star, 25, jetted into Greece on Thursday and showed off her bronzed figure in a striped bikini in Voula

Lucy showed off her toned physique in a striped bikini as she relaxed in the town of Voula.

The strapless bikini top featured a ring in the middle, which joined the skimpy material together.

The reality star lay in a floral swing seat and laughed as she posed next to an iced coffee and some fresh fruit.

Beach babe: Lucy Mecklenburgh was reminiscing about her Dubai trip as she shared a stunning throwback snap on Instagram

The jet-setting star has visited Ibiza, LA and Rome over the last few months.

In February, Lucy posted a stunning throwback snap to her holiday to Dubai.

Clad in a tiny red bikini, Lucy showed off her enviable figure as she enjoyed a cocktail on the beach.

The scanty two piece offered a look at her impeccably toned abs and perky bust as she smiled down the lens.

The reality starlet turned fitness guru captioned the shot: 'Summer bodies are made in winter girlies!!!'

It comes after Lucky showed off the fruits of her labour with a sexy lingerie selfie.

Slipping her incredible body into racy matching pink bra and knicker set, the star seductively smiled into the mirror as she slipped her gown off her shoulders.

She wrote: 'Behind the scenes shooting!'

While Lucy has moved on to her exercise empire, her former fiance Mario Falcone is said to be going back in time and returning to TOWIE.

Holy Meck! Fitmess guru Lucy certainly showed off the fruits of her labour last week as she showed off her incredible body into racy matching pink bra and knicker set

Two years after his dismissal for touting slimming pills - a banned act for castmembers - sources tell The Sun that the hunky star has been vying for a comeback on the ITVBe reality show, leading to interest from producers in bringing him back in 'cameos' where storylines permit.

Despite reports, the 28-year-old tailor previously lashed out at producers for trying to 'dumb him down' by restricting his vocabulary - after which he claimed he had 'sold his soul to the devil'.

Mario has reportedly been attempting a comeback, meaning insiders claims will no doubt delight fans, particularly with his new girlfriend Becky Miesner.

A source said: 'Mario has been quite keen to come back for a while and 'TOWIE' have invited him back to film the odd cameo and will use him where story permits.'

Mario, who proposed to his ex-girlfriend Lucy Mecklenburgh on the show - a decision he later lamented, recently hinted about a return to the show but admitted his girlfriend Becky isn't interested in the limelight.

Of his return, he said: 'There may be a development on that front but I can't actually say anything about it. I love that Becky isn't interested in the public eye. It's nice to keep one thing to yourself that you really enjoy and cherish.

Hello Mr Falcone? Sources tell The Sun that the hunky star has been vying for a comeback on the ITVBe reality show, leading to interest from producers in bringing him back in 'cameos' where storylines permit

'She's so grounded. The world I'm from doesn't interest her. I can't stand to think about upsetting her like I have with other girls in the past. In my eyes, she's perfect.'

Atop the information from sources, his former co-star and love interest Chloe Sims, with whom he enjoyed a number of steamy kisses, penned an apparent confirmation in her Star magazine column.

She wrote: 'I was thrilled when Mario Falcone hinted that he might be returning to TOWIE. I love old cast coming back, and hes so funny.

'Mind you, I reckon it will only work if he comes on the show with his girlfriend Becky Miesner, and Im not sure if hell do that, as being on TV hasnt worked for his relationships in the past.'

That was then: Despite reports, the 28-year-old tailor previously lashed out at producers for trying to 'dumb him down' by restricting his vocabulary - after which he claimed he had 'sold his soul to the devil'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Mario and TOWIE for comment.

Back in June 2014, the handsome star was filmed snorting what appeared to be cocaine in shock footage, leading to his suspension.

He released a statement reading: 'I would like to publicly apologise to my loyal family and friends, all of my co-stars on TOWIE, to ITV and most importantly to all of the fans.

'After a few personal issues, I went off the rails. I have been seeking professional assistance and am now fit and well.'

Sorry: Back in June 2014, the handsome star was filmed using what appeared to be cocaine, leading to his suspension. He released a statement reading: 'I would like to publicly apologise to my loyal family and friends, all of my co-stars on TOWIE, to ITV and most importantly to all of the fans

In 2015, Mario was banned from joining the cast in filming the TOWIE special in Marbella after he was seen promoting slimming pills on social media - a barred stipulation in the TOWIE contract.

Despite reports of a return, on Tuesday the handsome star took to Instagram to promote fat burning tablets - the same brand he was reported to have been removed for.

After departing the programme four months after the ban he gave an impassioned interview, in which he claimed he was too intelligent for his co-stars and was discouraged by producers from using polysyllabic language.

He told The Mirror: 'I had to dwindle it down a bit when I did TOWIE. Once I said the word discombobulated and the whole crew said: "Mario you cant say that", and I was like why?

'They said: "The people who watch TOWIE wont know what youre talking about". I confused Tommy Mallet! I was a bespoke tailor before so I cant speak to wealthy clients like Aw right me geezer  it sounds horrible.

'When I was on This Morning for a segment, Holly Willoughby said: "Mario I mean this in the nicest way possible, youre really intelligent, I had no idea!" Thanks for the backhanded compliment. I am normal. (coming back) I dont do it anymore, I bought my soul back from the devil.'
She's a former model and she likes to keep her body in good shape.

And Kimberly Stewart showed it off when she was spotted running errands in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday.

The 37-year-old looked like she had just left the gym in her very revealing outfit.

Barely there: Rod Stewart's daughter Kimberly looked like she had just left a gym when she was spotted out running errands in this revealing outfit in LA's Studio City on Sunday

The blonde pulled on a black vest with a plunging neckline and strings crossing her cleavage, clearly showing she wasn't wearing a bra.

She teamed it with black exercise leggings with translucent panels and black Nike sneakers for a barely there look.

The daughter of rocker Rod Stewart, 72, who had a huge hit with Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, covered her tresses with a black cap and protected her eyes from the bright sunshine with a pair of aviator-style shades.

Genetically blessed, the former model owes her blonde hair and slender 5ft 10ins frame to her mother, Alana Stewart, 72, a model herself. who was married to Rod from 1979 to 1984.

Fabulous figure: The 37-year-old clearly wasn't wearing a bra under her vest which featured a plunging neckline held together by strings which she teamed with translucent leggings

Devoted dad: Benicio Del Toro and Kimberly took their five-year-old daughter Delilah to the California Science Center in Los Angeles in January

Meanwhile, there was no sign of Kimberly's five-year-old daughter Delilah whom she shares with actor Benicio Del Toro, 50.

She and the Sicario star had a brief fling and parted before Delilah was born. But he is very much a part of his daughter's life and they continue to co-parent their child.

In January the friendly exes were spotted taking their little girl to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Puppy love: Alana caption this cute Instagram snap of the daughter she shares with Benicio Del Toro, 'Visiting Samson with Delilah.. #purejoy #sundayfunday #dogsofinstagram'

Kimberly previously revealed to Hello! magazine that Benicio was at her bedside while she gave birth.

'The whole family, including Benicio, was at the hospital and my mom and Benicio were in the delivery room with me,' she dished.

'Benicio's very involved; he and Delilah have a very special bond.'

She added: 'She definitely looks like her dad, but she has my legs and eye color.'
She has been in Europe since Thursday, attending the biannual Fashion Week extravaganza in Paris.

But Bella Hadid took three days off to visit her cancer-stricken grandmother who lives in Holland.

The 20-year-old beauty made the surprise visit to her 'Oma' Ans van den Herik for her birthday.

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'Nothing will ever beat this love': Bella Hadid, 20, visited her cancer-stricken grandmother Ans van den Herik in Holland

In the sweet video, Bella - who holds a bouquet of fresh yellow flowers - quietly sneaks down the hallway towards her Dutch grandmother's room.

Mom Yolanda, 53, follows her daughter as she holds onto the back of the Nike model's jeans.

Once inside, the Los Angeles-born looker sweetly greets her grandma. 'Hi Oma,' she says, smiling, using the German word for grandmother.

Surprise: Once inside, the Los Angeles-born model sweetly greets her grandma. 'Hi Oma,' she says, using the German word for grandmother

Her Oma firmly embraced her granddaughter and appeared to cry.

In the video clip's caption, the brunette sister of Gigi shared a heartfelt message.

'Nothing will ever beat this love. I took off of work for the past 3 days to surprise my beautiful Oma in Holland on her birthday,' she began.

'She is going through the hardest struggle of her life battling cancer again but I know for a fact she is the strongest woman i have ever met. Today is my last day with my family here in Holland and the last thing I want to do is leave...But I will, so I can work my hardest and come back soon.'

The Elle model added: 'Times like these are so important to me and I wouldn't give them up for the world. Happy birthday Oma...Thank you for birthing and raising my perfect mother into the woman she is today.'

'She is going through the hardest struggle of her life': Her Oma, Ans, firmly embraced her granddaughter and appeared to cry

Sadly, dealing with family illness is not uncommon to Bella.

She and her mother Yolanda suffer from Lyme disease.

Yolanda, who lost her father at seven years old in a car accident, will release a book on her health ordeal in September titled: Believe Me: My Battle With The Invisible Disability Of Lyme Disease.
Most people bring soda pop or apple juice to a picnic.

But Reese Witherspoon isn't like most people. The blonde Oscar winner clearly likes to have a little fun when enjoying lunch al fresco.

On Sunday the 41-year-old siren held up a bottle of champagne as she headed out to a picnic in Los Angeles.

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What a fun gal! Reese Witherspoon said she was taking champagne on a picnic in this Sunday Instagram post; the Draper James dress costs $225, while her straw tote can be found for $165

She captioned her photo: 'Sunday Funday essentials with Draper James' and she added a hastag for 'picnic.'

The Big Little Lies star looked sensational in a form-fitting summer dress from her line Draper James, retailing at $225.

The floral frock was patterned with yellow and hot pink hydrangeas and boasted a flirty frilled hem that sat just above the knee.

Chic: The Big Little Lies star looked sensational in her floral frock that perfectly showcased her enviable frame

Stunning: Hours before popping open the champagne, Reese had been spotted shopping - where she teamed her number with a monochrome hat and stylish shades

Thirsty lady: Here the doll is also seen holding up a beverage while in Draper James that sells for $350

It cinched in at the waist, showcasing Reese's enviable figure, and she teamed the number with a pair of tan-hued wedges - sporting a monochrome fedora hat and stylish shades hours earlier as she indulged in a spot of retail therapy.

The wife of power agent Jim Toth appeared to be leaving her home, but the property could have been a proper for a DJ shoot.

The Vogue doll is also seen holding up a beverage while in black-and-white Draper James that sells for $350.

Reunion: Also on IG over the weekend Reese shared a photo with her old Wild cast including Laura Dern and the writer of the book the film is based on, Cheryl Strayed. The girl in the photo is Cheryl's daughter who played a young Reese in the acclaimed drama

Also on IG over the weekend Reese shared a photo with her old Wild cast including Laura Dern and the writer of the book the film is based on, Cheryl Strayed.

The girl in the photo is Cheryl's daughter who played a young Reese in the acclaimed drama, about a drug addict who walks the Pacific Coast Trail alone to give up drugs and change her life by finally emotionally dealing with her mother's death.

Her caption read: '#WildWomen reunion!!!!  Loved catching up with @cherylstrayed, @lauradern and Cheryl's daughter Bobbi who played young Cheryl in the film. #WildMovie.'
It was recently announced that the award-winning period drama is set for a big screen adaptation.

And it appears that Lily Collins, 28, is gunning for an opportunity to star in the highly-anticipated feature - which is likely to begin shooting in 2018 - admitting that she has already flagged the project with her agent.

The Golden Globe nominated actress - who is the daughter of musician Phil Collins - expressed her desire to land a part in the much-loved ITV series after it came to an end in 2015.

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Setting her sights: Lily Collins, 28, is gunning for an opportunity to star in the highly-anticipated feature - which is likely to begin shooting in 2018 - admitting that she has already flagged the project with her agent

Speaking candidly to Radio Times, the alabaster-skinned beauty admitted she has already inquired about getting involved in the cinematic project.

She excitedly revealed: 'Oh, believe me, I have looked into that! Ive said to my agent: "How can I be involved in that movie?"

'Big houses in the countryside? Ive done research for that all my life!'.

Her comments comes after it was announced last week that a Downton Abbey movie is in the works, with production likely to begin in 2018.

Exciting times: Her comments comes after it was announced last week that a Downton Abbey movie is in the works, with production likely to begin in 2018 (Pictured Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley and Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley in series six)

It's back! Michael Edelstein, president at NBCUniversal International Studios, said it hopes to assemble 20 cast members from the popular TV series

Michael Edelstein, president at NBCUniversal International Studios, said it hopes to assemble 20 cast members from the popular TV series.

'There's a movie in the works. It's been in the works for some time,' the studio boss, 49, said in Singapore at a red carpet event for Downton Abbey: The Exhibition.

'We are working on getting the script right and then we've got to figure out how to get the [cast] together,' he continued. 'Because as you know, people go on and do other things. But we're hopeful to make a movie sometime next year.'

Rumours of a film have been rife ever since Downton bowed out on Christmas Day in 2015.

Swirling: Rumours of a film have been rife ever since Downton bowed out on Christmas Day in 2015

In April, Jeremy Swift - who played butler Septimus Spratt in the period drama - revealed production plans have been held up by the show stars' hectic work schedules.

Speaking on Lorraine, the 56-year-old actor admitted: 'Its supposed to be filming this year but it hasnt been locked down yet.'

'And with the young ones - Michelle Dockery and people like that - have flown off into the world and are away doing American pilots and things like that... we need to get everyone together!'

Discussing the secrecy surrounding the project, he quipped: 'There is a film script which weve all been sent but then it disappeared Mission Impossible style from our emails.'

Thrilling: Fans will be thrilled to see a film version of the much loved show

Screenwriter Julian added fuel to the fire in January, when he told the Daily Mail: 'We are all hoping it will happen. It hasnt been confirmed or commissioned but we are all hoping it will happen. Thats all I know.

'Obviously I have been thinking about it because if they suddenly give the go-ahead I dont want to be completely caught standing. But I wouldnt take it as more than that.'

It's unknown what the highly-anticipated Downton movie would focus upon, especially as creator Fellowes gave all his beloved characters their fairytale endings in the series finale back in 2015.

Devoted fans praised the surprisingly cheerful end, which saw Lady Edith finally tie the knot, Lady Mary expecting her second child and Anna and Bates welcomed their first baby together.

'Hoping': Screenwriter Julian added fuel to the fire in January, when he told the Daily Mail: 'We are all hoping it will happen. It hasnt been confirmed or commissioned but we are all hoping it will happen. Thats all I know' (pictured in 2015)

Last seen: Devoted fans praised the surprisingly cheerful end, which saw Lady Edith finally tie the knot, Lady Mary expecting her second child and Anna and Bates welcomed their first baby together

In the past: Following her confession to appear in the show, Lily touched upon her unique childhood with the publication. Her parents - Genesis frontman Phil and her American mother Jill Tavelman - split when she was five-years-old which saw her leave her native England for the bright lights of Los Angeles (Pictured in 1991)

Following her confession to appear in the show, Lily touched upon her unique childhood with the publication.

Read the full interview in this week's Radio Times

Her parents - Genesis frontman Phil and her American mother Jill Tavelman - split when she was five-years-old which saw her leave her native England for the bright lights of Los Angeles.

Albeit a Californian girl now since spending her formative years in Hollywood, her mother still retain ownership of her childhood Surrey home, Lakers Lodge, admitting that it's her 'happy place'.

'I still go there for Christmases, and during the summer sometimes,' she explained. 'Its my happy place.'

'Its really, really magical  that vibe of the English countryside. Its like Downton Abbey meets Pride and Prejudice!'

While touching upon her love of the ITV period drama one-again, Lily admitted that although she has spent the majority of her life in the United States, she considers herself still an English woman and feels instantly at home when she touches UK soil.

She happily shared: 'Yeah. I still feel English at heart. When I land here Im like, "Oh, Im home"'
The Vanderpump Dog Foundation threw its second annual World Dog Day bash on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Lisa Vanderpump, who has eight dogs as personal pets, looked summery chic in a camel-colored blazer that matched the bow-tied ribbon on her pristine straw hat.

According to the event's page on the organization's website, the fete was held on a blocked-off part of 3rd Street in front of the Vanderpump Dog's rescue center, which 56-year-old Lisa has opened with her husband of 35 years, Ken Todd.

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Fun in the sun: The Vanderpump Dog Foundation threw its second annual World Dog Day bash on Sunday in Los Angeles - with Lisa Vanderpump herself in attendance

Posing on World Dog Day with a slew of canine pals, the Real Housewife Of Beverly Hills star showcased her enviably trim torso in a plunging white top.

A walnut brown belt cinched her off-white slacks about her svelte waistline, and she'd folded the hems up, allowing a full view of her nude ankle-strap wedges.

As she got in a bit of seated posing, she showed the camera her purse, which featured a spray of white, red and blue patterning across a brown field.

Chic as ever: Lisa, who's got eight dogs as personal pets, looked summery chic in a camel-colored blazer that matched the bow-tied ribbon on her pristine straw hat

Locale: The fete was held on a blocked-off part of 3rd Street in front of the Vanderpump Dog's rescue center, which 56-year-old Lisa's opened with her husband of 35 years Ken Todd

Keeping it light: Posing on World Dog Day with a slew of canine pals, the Real Housewife Of Beverly Hills had showcased her enviably trim torso in a plunging white top

The sharp-tongued London native, who's once told Bravo she's 'always looking for the latest necklace,' accessorized her ensemble with a tangle of them on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Ken, who has passed his 70th birthday, had worn an endearing pair of pale pink slacks with a white short-sleeved shirt that had several buttons undone.

Lisa and Ken stood for photos with Tom Schwartz and cast member of the Real Housewives spin-off series Vanderpump Rules.

Hello, gorgeous: A walnut brown belt cinched her off-white slacks about her svelte waistline, and she'd folded the hems up, allowing a full view of her nude ankle-strap wedges

On display: As she got in a bit of seated posing, she showed the camera her purse, which featured a spray of white, red and blue patterning across a brown field

Tom had worn a stylish pair of blue sunglasses with a V-neck World Dog Day T-shirt flung over charcoal trousers, and both he and Ken had, like Lisa, worn straw hats.

As it happens, Tom's married to his Vanderpump Rules castmate Katie Maloney, and whilst at World Dog Day, Lisa dished to E! News about her tips for the couple.

'Oh, God, well, I have a lot,' said Lisa, acknowledging: 'I have a plethora after 35 years. I think, to respect each other, that's a good place to start. To have humor.'

A bit of glitz: The sharp-tongued London native, who's once told Bravo she's 'always looking for the latest necklace,' accessorized her ensemble with a tangle of them on Sunday

1970s chic: Meanwhile, Ken, who's past his 70th birthday, had worn an endearing pair of pale pink slacks with a white short-sleeved shirt that'd got several buttons undone

Trio: As well as posing with the claque of dogs, Lisa and Ken stood for photos with Tom Schwartz of Vanderpump Rules fame

Lisa, who was also photographed speaking onstage at World Dog Day, held forth to People about Vanderpump Dogs this March, shortly after the center had opened.

Said she: 'I think opening a rescue center was kind of our idea of reinventing the wheel for the rescue dogs,' indicating her preference in starting up the joint was to 'create a situation where it wasnt so depressing.'

Lisa's pointed out: 'People are sometimes slightly reluctant to immerse themselves and go walking into he kill shelters when rescuing dogs. It can be very upsetting.'

Plugging the place: Lisa, who was also photographed speaking onstage at World Dog Day, held forth to People about Vanderpump Dogs this March, shortly after the center had opened

Having a rethink: Said she: 'I think opening a rescue center was kind of our idea of reinventing the wheel for the rescue dogs'

By contrast, she's compared Vanderpump Dogs to 'a puppy palace,' vaunting 'the chandeliers, the music, weve got a lot of great, kind beautiful people who are volunteering, the velvet couches, the coffee table,' and effervescing that 'everything about it is so different, but yet it feels so right.'

In that setting, 'People can come in, have a cup of tea, sit there and play with the puppies and really interact with them. It was something so different to anything else that was around. It was the final piece of the jigsaw.'

She's also plugged: 'The puppies can get Vanderpuffed here! We have groomers here. We sell Vanderpump Pets merchandise, which is also sold in Petco, and everything thats sold in our shop, all the profits go to supporting the center.'

Lisa's added: 'We have a little cafe with doggy biscuits. We have tables and chair outside. Its like a one-stop shop for our furry friends.'

Revising the idea: She's indicated her 'preference in starting up the joint was to 'create a situation where it wasnt so depressing'
They're certainly not short of a buck or two.

But Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber had extra reason to push the boat out when they were spotted going for dinner at the pricey Nobu Malibu on Sunday.

On Wednesday, the entrepreneur and his partners George Clooney and real estate developer Mike Meldman sold their Casamigos Tequila company to British beverage company Diageo for a cool $1 billion.

Time to celebrate: Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber had extra reason to push the boat out when they were spotted going for dinner at the pricey Nobu Malibu on Sunday

That means a whopping $700,000 windfall now - split three ways, of course - and an extra $300,000 to come based on the brand's performance.

No doubt the couple raised a glass or two of their tequila at the ocean-side celebrity haunt to celebrate.

Cindy, 51, and Rande, 55, were casually dressed for dinner.

Bottoms up: The 55-year-old entrepreneur had just sold the Casamigos Tequila brand he shares with George Clooney and real estate developer Mike Meldman for a cool $1 billion

The former model looked chic in a black cardigan and white linen trousers with a narrow black stripe plus black wedge sandals.

Her brunette tresses were styled in soft waves that cascaded over her shoulders.

Rande wore a blue, short sleeved shirt with grey pants.

Plenty to smile about: He and former model Cindy, 51, were casually dressed for their date

The couple, who have been married for 19 years, were not joined by their son Presley, 17, or 15-year-old daughter Kaia.

Rande, George and Mike launched Casamigos in 2013 after Rande and his Hollywood star pal bought nearby homes in Mexico and developed a taste for tequila.

'There came a point where George turned to me and said, "Why don't we create one that's perfect for us?'' ' Rande told Business Insider in March.

The plan was to create a tequila that would not leave an unpleasant aftertaste or a hangover. At first they had the agave-based spirit made for themselves, friends and family,

But when they started importing 1,000 bottles a year into the UK, their distiller in Mexico told them they would have to secure an alcohol license.

Along with Meldman, they officially bowed Casamigos in 2015.

How it started: From left, Michael Meldman with girlfriend Monica Gambee, George Clooney and wife Amul, along with Rande and Crawford hosted the official launch of Casamigos Tequila at Ushuaia Ibiza Beach Hotel on the Spanish island of Ibiza on August 23, 2015

Gorgeous: The supermodel proved on trend as ever in her stylish denim jacket
Her capsule collection for women's plus size clothing brand Torrid was a smash hit two years ago.

And now Rebel Wilson, 37, has announced the launch of her own eponymous fashion line, Rebel Wilson x Angels.

The Australian actress took to Instagram to announce the exciting news this Tuesday, uploading a photo of herself modelling a black V-neck top with choker detailing.

'Available in department stores this Summer!' Rebel Wilson, 37, is launching clothing line for plus-sized women called REBEL WILSON x ANGELS

'I'm very excited to announce that I'm starting my own plus size clothing line called REBEL WILSON x ANGELS,' she wrote in the caption.

'Available in department stores this Summer!! More info soon x [sic],' she added.

Speaking to InStyle about her debut collection, Rebel said: 'I've had to create my own plays, television roles, and movie projects in order to play the parts I've wanted.'

Trailblazer: Speaking to InStyle about her debut collection, Rebel said: 'I've had to create my own plays, television roles, and movie projects in order to play the parts I've wanted'

'It's what I've always done as an actress, but I never thought as a teenager that I'd someday have a fashion line,' she explained.

The brand will cater to women between sizes 14- 24 and will be stocked at US department stores Nordstrom, Dillards, Lord & Taylor and Dia & Co.

Rebel's foray into the world of fashion comes just weeks after she won her defamation court case against Bauer Media in Australia.

New venture: The brand will cater to women between sizes 14- 24 and will be stocked at department stores Nordstrom, Dillards, Lord & Taylor and Dia & Co

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court in Melbourne found that the Pitch Perfect star was defamed by the publisher when they accused her of lying about her real name, age and childhood.

The publisher was found to have defamed her in eight articles in May 2015 by claiming she was a serial liar about her real name, age and childhood to make it in Hollywood.

Rebel believed the articles were a result of 'tally poppy syndrome' and she now hopes she can return to making films.
Donald Trump delivered a message of "friendship" to Muslim leaders when he and First Lady Melania visited Saudi Arabia in May

US President Donald Trump on Saturday sent "warm greetings" to Muslims celebrating the end of Ramadan, after his administration broke with the tradition of hosting a White House event to recognize the holy month.

"On behalf of the American people, Melania and I send our warm greetings to Muslims as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr," Trump said in a statement. "During this holiday, we are reminded of the importance of mercy, compassion, and goodwill."

"With Muslims around the world, the United States renews our commitment to honor these values."

Since the Bill Clinton administration, the White House has each year hosted either an event to mark the Eid al-Fitr feast -- which ends the fasting month of Ramadan -- or a meal breaking the dawn-til-dusk fast, known as an iftar.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly rejected a request by his department's office of religion and global affairs to hold an event for the holiday.

Trump has come under fire for his history of anti-Muslim rhetoric on the campaign trail, that included calls for surveillance of US mosques and an outright ban on Muslims entering the country in the name of national security.

A week after becoming president he issued a ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, which has been frozen by the US courts after sparking global chaos and outrage.

Yet during a visit to Saudi Arabia last month, Trump softened his tone on Islam, rejecting the idea of a battle between religions in an address before dozens of leaders of Muslim countries.
The aftermath of a huge landslide in southwest China that has left 118 people missing

A droopy-eyed white dog apparently looking for its owner has been found in the rubble of a landslide that buried a village in southwest China, a state broadcaster said Sunday.

A rescuer was seen on English-language channel CGTN trying to coax the downcast canine away from the mound of rocks and earth that has left more than 100 people missing in Xinmo, Sichuan province, but the animal refused to leave.

"Anyone here? Little doggie, where is your owner?" a rescuer could be heard saying off camera as the dog sits with its ears dropped down.

"Dog waiting for its owner refuses to leave rubble, capturing the hearts of a nation after #Sichuan #landslide," CGTN said on its Twitter account.

Hundreds of people on China's Twitter-like Weibo social media website expressed concern for the dog, with at least one person offering to adopt it.

"So this shows dogs really do have love," one commenter said.

Others took the opportunity to criticise people who eat dog in the wake of a notorious Chinese dog meat festival held in the southern city Yulin this week.

"Refuse dog meat! This is so heartbreaking. He is staying at home guarding his owner!" another person wrote.

The dog's appearance was a bright spot in an increasingly bleak search for people who have been missing since heavy rain brought down the side of a mountain on Saturday, crushing more than 60 homes.

At least 15 bodies have been pulled from the rubble while only three survivors have been found.
New Zealand All Blacks' Rieko Ioane (R) scores a try in front of Anthony Watson of the British and Irish Lions during their first Test match, at Eden Park in Auckland, on June 24, 2017

A stranded British and Irish Lions supporter has told how a stranger's act of kindness resulted in him bunking down at the home of All Blacks sensation Rieko Ioane and his brother Akira.

The stranger was the players' mother Sandra, who took pity on Lions fan Alex Edwards when he turned up at the Ponsonby Rugby Club in Auckland, where she works, asking to park his van overnight.

Rather than leave him to sleep in his vehicle on a bitter winter's night, she opened her home to the Englishman, who had no idea who his hosts were.

"Her two lads came in and she said: 'This is Akira and Rieko'," he told Radio Sport of the incident, which took place before the Lions-Blues match earlier this month.

"I still didn't twig, I just thought: 'Blooming heck, these are big units, I'd best not do anything too bad in the house'."

Sandra said Edwards began to have his suspicions, but she decided to string him on a little longer.

"He didn't click, then we were having a cup of tea and he says: 'Those boys, I've seen them before.' I said: 'Nah mate'," she said.

It was only when chatting about rugby over a cup of tea with the brothers' father Ed and asking if the boys played for local club Ponsonby that realisation dawned.

"He said they're starting for the Blues and I was like, 'ah OK, the penny's dropped. I feel like a lemon," Edwards said.

Winger Rieko was a surprise starter in Saturday's opening Lions Test, grabbing two tries to justify his selection in sensational fashion, while highly rated flanker Akira is on the cusp of international honours.

"They were really cool, said: 'How's it going, bro.' Shook hands... talked rugby, just nice, really really good blokes," Edwards said.

Sandra said she extended a "marae-style" welcome, referring to the traditional Maori communal meeting house.

"It was mattress on the floor, I had the fire going, showed him where the toilet was, where the shower was and said: 'You help yourself for a feed mate, this is all do your own stuff.' Yeah it was cool," she said.

Edwards said the encounter was "mental" and would be a treasured memory of his trip to New Zealand.

"I can't imagine it happening back home, it's been brilliant," he said.
Oracle Team USA skippered by Jimmy Spithill race against Emirates Team New Zealand helmed by Peter Burling on Day 4 of the America's Cup, in Hamilton, Bermuda, on June 25, 2017

Helmsman Peter Burling and Emirates Team New Zealand defeated two-time defenders Oracle Team USA twice on Sunday to move within one victory of seizing the America's Cup.

The 26-year-old Burling bested Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill in both pre-starts as he steered New Zealand to a pair of dominant victories that gave the Kiwis a 6-1 lead in the first-to-seven points series.

On Monday they'll try to claim the Cup for New Zealand for a third time, after Black Magic's victories in 1995 and 2000.

By doing so they could expunge the bitter memory of 2013, when they led Spithill and the USA 8-1 before falling 9-8 in San Francisco.

"We're just going to keep pushing forward," Burling said. "Nothing changes for us."

He said the young New Zealand crew -- with just one holdover from that crushing defeat four years ago -- are "enjoying the pressure" of a match they started with a one-point deficit -- thanks to Team USA's topping the round-robin qualifying.

Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling talks to teammates after their first race of the day against Oracle Team USA during the 35th America's Cup, in the Great Sound in Hamilton, Bermuda, June 25, 2017

"We're a pretty tough bunch," Burling said. "We got asked some questions yesterday. I feel like we answered them with our performance on the water."

Spithill, meanwhile, was conceding nothing.

"Clearly the plan wasn't to be in this position again, let me tell you," said Spithill, who became the youngest skipper to win the America's Cup when he piloted Oracle to victory in 2010.

Now an elder statesman at 37, he vowed Oracle would respond.

"It's a tall mountain to climb, no question," said Spithill, who confirmed the team would consider a significant crew change if they thought it would help.

"The team we roll out tomorrow, that'll be the team we think gives us the best chance of winning."

Spithill acknowledged that New Zealand just sailed better on Sunday as they ensured Oracle didn't build on their first victory of the series a day before.

In the opener, Spithill swerved slightly as the dueling catamarans headed for the start line, allowing Burling to blast across the line with a one-second lead.

Leading at the first mark, New Zealand were never really threatened en route to a 12-second win.

- 'Big mistake' -

In the second race, Burling out-foxed Spithill in the pre-start box to hit the startline a mammoth 14 seconds in front -- appearing to offer a wave to the rival crew.

New Zealand then displayed masterful control of their innovative cycle-powered boat, staying on their foils all the way around en route to a 30-second win.

"It makes life a little easier when you get off the start 14 seconds ahead," said Burling, who some thought would struggle when it came to pitting wits against match-racing master Spithill.

"We had a really good understanding of what they were trying to be able to do with their starts and a good strategy to oppose it.

"Full credit to the guys, holding it tight not giving them any chances to get back in the race."

Under pressure in the shifty winds, Oracle produced a series of mistakes that further doomed their chances, including a penalty for sailing through the boundary and a splash-down off their foils that saw them slow dramatically.

"We just had a hard time hooking up," Spithill said. "We thought we'd be able to pull the maneuver off. It was a big mistake and that really handed it to Pete.
Nepal's Madhesi community protested against last month over border changes they say will leave them politically marginalised

Ganesh Yadav was shot by police during deadly protests that roiled southern Nepal in 2015, but he is ready to return to the streets -- a mark of the intense anger still felt as the area prepares to go to the polls.

Nepal last month began holding its first local elections in 20 years, a key stage in the country's post-war transformation from feudal monarchy to federal democracy.

On Wednesday, voting is due to take place in the southern plains, home to the country's Madhesi ethnic minority, who demonstrated in huge numbers two years ago to protest new federal borders they say will leave them politically marginalised.

The Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RPJ-N), the main party representing the Madhesi community, has already said it will boycott Wednesday's polls, raising doubts about their legitimacy and fears of a resurgence in the violence.

"This is a fight for equality and dignity," 31-year-old Yadav, a farmer, told AFP as he cradled his one-year-old son at his home on the outskirts of Janakpur in southern Nepal.

"I was shot, but I am still joining protests."

More than 50 people died in the months-long protests, most of them shot when police fired into crowds of demonstrators -- a response condemned by rights campaigners.

Ganesh Yadav bears the scar of a bullet wound after being shot during 2015 protests over the marginalisation of his ethnic community

Analysts say the government's failure to address the grievances of the community, which makes up around 20 percent of Nepal's population, could be holding back the country's progress.

Parties representing the Madhesi have already forced several postponements of the local elections, which are supposed to pave the way for provincial polls and then national elections by January, when the mandate of the current parliament expires.

The government recently postponed the polls in the voting area that includes Janakpur -- seen as a potential flashpoint -- until September following local protests.

"The unaddressed agendas of the Madhes are in a way holding the country hostage, keeping it from smoothly completing its democratic processes," said lawyer and Madhesi activist Dipendra Jha.

The Madhesis, who live in Nepal's populous southern lowlands known as the Terai and share close linguistic and cultural ties with India, have long complained that the existing federal borders deprive them of fair political representation.

Many were denied citizenship, rendering them stateless, until a 2006 law that allowed non-Nepali speakers born and raised in the country to become naturalised citizens.

- 'Sidelined again' -

Yadav said he grew up watching his neighbours mistreated by powerful landowners from the hills of central Nepal and faced racism when he went to study in the capital.

"There has always been an attitude of discrimination towards people from the plains," he said.

The row that blew up in 2015, shortly after a deadly earthquake in the country, stemmed from a new national constitution that set federal boundaries.

The row flared in 2015 after a new national constitution set federal boundaries

The Madhesi say these will leave them underrepresented in parliament and have demanded an amendment that would allow the boundaries to be redrawn.

The government has drawn up an amendment, but it is unclear whether it has the numbers it needs to pass the bill in the face of opposition from rival parties.

Senior RJP-N leader Rajendra Mahato said his party would hold out even after rival parties said they would take part in the elections.

"The government and major political parties have an opportunity to amend the constitution before the September polls, which could make a conducive environment for the election," he said.

Mass protests in the Tarai first broke out in 2007, forcing leaders to promise greater regional autonomy and representation in state bodies.

The Madhesis, who live in Nepal's populous southern lowlands and share close linguistic and cultural ties with India, have long complained of discrimination

That was supposed to be included in the constitution, but Madhesis say its provisions fall short of the promises they were made.

In the dusty streets of Janakpur, many hope the government responds before more radical secessionist voices gain support.

"If the main parties become sincere, then the constitution amendment would not take so long," said Saroj Mishra, a shopkeeper and community leader.

"But our demands have been sidelined again and again."
"Family honour is like a glass of water. One speck of dirt ruins it," said Aimal, a former bacha in his 30s who was abandoned by his parents. "If I were a woman my family wouldn't leave me alive."

Adorned in makeup, fake breasts and bells, Jawed whirls around middle-aged men at Kabul's underground bacha bazi, or "boy play" parties, where the former child sex slave finds freedom of sorts as a dancing boy.

Jawed was kidnapped by a former jihadi commander in Shomali, north of Kabul, when he was barely 14, a victim of a hidden epidemic in Afghanistan of culturally-sanctioned male rape.

He is one of three former "bachas" traced by AFP who managed to escape their abusers. Their testimonies shed searing light on the stolen lives of boy sex slaves, often seen as caricatures of shame and cast out of their families, with many like Jawed falling prey to a new cycle of abuse.

Four years after he was kidnapped, Jawed's commander replaced him with a new boy slave, and "gifted" him to another strongman.

The 19-year-old says he escaped one night amid the chaos of a gunfight at a wedding where his new captor took him to entertain guests.

Afghanistan "bacha bazi" kidnappings

But dancing is the only skill he has that can earn a livelihood, having had no education and with virtually no protection offered in Afghanistan for bacha bazi survivors.

Now he performs for powerful male patrons at dance parties, where the evening often ends in sex -- underlining how, even when they are free, victims struggle to break out of the role that has been forced on them.

"Fights usually break out over who will take me home" after the parties, 19-year-old Jawed told AFP, requesting that his real name not be revealed.

- 'Transform into a woman' -

Bacha bazi is not seen as homosexuality in Afghanistan's gender segregated society -- instead the possession of young boys decked out as pretty women symbolises power and primacy. It is carried out with impunity often within Western-backed Afghan forces.

After two failed attempts that resulted in a beating, 15-year-old Gul escaped barefoot at the end of three months of captivity in a police outpost in Helmand's Nad Ali district.

But there was no going home again. Gul lives constantly on the move, chased by the paralysing fear he will be kidnapped once more.

His parents and brothers, meanwhile, have been forced to flee their home over fears the powerful commander will come looking for him.

Many former bacha bazi know nothing other than dancing and sex work, even after they escape from their captors

"'Transform yourself into a woman,' the checkpoint commander would tell me" with makeup and ankle bells, Gul told AFP by telephone from his hiding place.

Gul was one of three bachas at the checkpoint. Troublingly, he said, the policemen prowled for more victims -- especially effeminate boys from poor families unable to fight back.

"They tried to outdo each other: 'My boy is more handsome than yours, my boy is a better dancer'," he said.

For some the only escape is to forge a secret deal with the Taliban, who have successfully recruited boy sex slaves hungry for revenge to kill their abusers within police ranks, AFP revealed last year.

- 'Save my boy' -

Unlike many other victims, Gul is relatively fortunate in that his family was ready to take him back.

"Family honour is like a glass of water. One speck of dirt ruins it," said Aimal, a former bacha in his 30s who was abandoned by his parents. "If I were a woman my family wouldn't leave me alive."

The shame also stalks parents who try to help their children, say medical professionals in southern Afghanistan who treat the brutally violated survivors.

"Increasingly parents will bring boys saying they have bowel problems," said a surgeon in Helmand province, where bacha bazi is widespread, corroborating what two other health officials told AFP.

"But a closer examination shows the boys were raped and need to be stitched up. The parents break down in tears: 'We want no publicity, just save my boy.'"

Aimal, who requested his real name be withheld, was discarded after years of enslavement to a jihadi commander in northern Balkh province as he began sprouting a beard.

Powerful men prowl for effeminate boys to keep as their bacha bazi, snatching vulnerable youngsters from poor families whome they will be able to keep as sex slaves

Now a youth activist in Kabul, he said he did not want to end up the way that many other victims do -- becoming predators themselves.

President Ashraf Ghani this year laid out stringent penalties against bacha bazi for the first time in a revised penal code, but the government has given no time frame over when they will be enforced.

Instead, authorities in February launched a massive raid on a bacha bazi party in Kabul, jailing not the organisers but a handful of dancing boys, multiple witnesses told AFP.

"For me dancing is not a crime," said Aimal. "This culture of victimising the victim must end."

In a country with little legal protection or psychosocial support, victims might be lucky to escape their abusers but not their past. Almost by default, prostitution has become a common fallback for many abused boys.

"Dancing has become too risky" since the raid, Jawed told AFP before he sidled back into his underground life. "Now I might only do sex work."
The abusive custom of bacha bazi, banned under Taliban rule, has seen a resurgence in recent years

AFP has traced three former victims of "bacha bazi", or the sexual exploitation of boys, whose testimonies lay bare one of Afghanistan's most egregious human rights violations.

Here are some key answers about the abusive practice.

What is it?

"Bachas" are boy sex slaves, often kept by powerful warlords, commanders, politicians and other members of the elite as a symbol of authority and affluence.

Sometimes dressed as women, they are often sexually exploited. They can also be used as dancers at private parties.

Bacha bazi, or "boy play", is not widely seen as homosexual behaviour, which is popularly demonised and perceived as prohibited in Islam. Instead it is largely accepted as a cultural practice.

How common is it?

"Women are for child-rearing, boys are for pleasure" is a common saying across many parts of Afghanistan.

The custom, banned under the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule, has seen a resurgence in recent years. It is said to be widespread across southern and eastern Afghanistan's rural Pashtun heartland, and with ethnic Tajiks across the northern countryside.

How has it been allowed to flourish?

The lack of contact with women in gender-segregated Afghanistan has contributed to the spread of bacha bazi, rights groups say.

Other factors such as an absence of the rule of law, corruption, limited access to justice, illiteracy, poverty, insecurity, and the existence of armed groups have also helped the practice spread, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said in a report in 2014.

AIHRC points out that Afghanistan's criminal law prohibits rape and pederasty, but so far there are no clear provisions on bacha bazi.

Where do the boys come from?

Bachas are typically aged between 10 and 18. Many of them are kidnapped, and sometimes desperate poverty drives their families to sell them to abusers.

"The victims of bacha bazi suffer from serious psychological trauma as they often get raped," AIHRC's report said.

"Such victims suffer from stress and a sort of distrust, hopelessness and pessimistic feeling. Bacha bazi results in fear among the children and feelings of revenge and hostility develop in their mind."

Many victims are said to grow up to take bachas of their own, repeating the cycle of abuse.

What is being done about it?

This year Afghanistan moved to criminalise bacha bazi for the first time, laying out penalties up to capital punishment in a revised penal code -- but it has given no time frame over when they will be enforced.

Afghanistan also has a poor record of enforcing such provisions, especially when the perpetrators are powerful.

Many have connections with the security institutions, and use influence and bribes to get exempted from punishment.

The lack of enforcement means "the government is sending a very clear message: protection of children is a low priority," said Charu Lata Hogg, a London-based fellow at Chatham House think tank.

The international community's failure to act means it is "similarly prioritising security over the wellbeing of children," she said.

How is bacha bazi impacting Afghan security?

AFP reported last year how the practice, institutionalised in security ranks, was helping the Taliban to infiltrate provinces such as Uruzgan, using bachas desperate for escape to kill hundreds of police.

The abusive tradition undermines support for NATO-trained Afghan forces, who had received more than $60 billion in assistance from the US as of 2015, according to Congress.

"Predatory sexual behaviour by Afghan soldiers and police could undermine US and Afghan public support for (Afghan forces), and put our enormous investment at risk," Congress has stated.

Bacha bazi also helps fuels support for the austere Taliban and their bid to reassert sharia law in Afghanistan.

Such abuses by the mujahideen forces in the early 1990s are part of what helped sweep the Taliban to power, a Western official in Kabul told AFP.

"Similar behaviour of the government forces after 2001 is also helping to inspire the insurgency."
Crown operates casinos across Australia and the world, although this year it has undergone restructuring amid China's gambling crackdown, which has driven away many big-spenders and hurt revenues

A Chinese court on Monday convicted 19 current and former employees of Australia's Crown Resorts company on gambling-related charges, handing jail terms to 16 of them, including three Australians.

The defendants pleaded guilty and 16 were given nine- and 10-month sentences, which include time served since they were arrested in October, meaning they could be released over the next two months.

They were fined a total of $1.25 million. Three others who were granted bail in November were neither fined nor jailed.

The casino company and Australia's consul general in Shanghai announced the verdicts after the half-day trial was held behind closed doors at Baoshan District Court. A court official confirmed the ruling to AFP.

Gaming is illegal in China and companies are not allowed explicitly to advertise gambling but few details of the accusations have been released since last year's arrests.

"The Australian government has monitored this case very closely," Consul General Graeme Meehan told reporters outside the courthouse.

"We will be continuing to provide consular assistance to the Australians and their families for as long as that's required," he said.

Two of the 19 who were put on trial are former staff members. In addition to the Australians, 15 are Chinese and one is Malaysian.

Five were sentenced to 10 months while 11 received nine-month jail terms.

Jason O'Connor, the executive vice president of Crown division VIP International in charge of luring rich Chinese to Australia, was given a 10-month jail term and a two million yuan ($292,000) fine.

The two other Australians, Pan Dan and Jerry Xuan, were given nine-month sentences and 400,000 yuan ($58,000) and 200,000 yuan ($29,000) fines, respectively.

The Crown staffers were suspected of arranging junkets overseas for wealthy Chinese gamblers.

Meehan said their sentences start from the day of their detention on October 14, 2016. This would mean they have already served at least eight months.

The marketing employees were detained in raids across China last year as Beijing cracks down on high-roller gambling promotions.

- Overseas junkets -

The court schedule showed the 19 were on trial for "suspected gambling".

Crown said in a statement on Monday that it was informed that the 19 were convicted of violating a law that calls for prison sentences for "anyone who organises gambling parties or is engaged in gambling as one's main business for the purpose of making profits".

"Crown remains respectful of the sovereign jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China and does not intend to comment further at this time," the company said.

Crown operates casinos across Australia and the world, although this year it has undergone restructuring amid China's gambling crackdown, which has driven away many big-spenders and hurt revenues.

Last month Crown sold a remaining stake in its Macau operation to joint venture partner Melco International, after shelving plans late last year for a Las Vegas casino to concentrate on Australian luxury hotel and casino businesses.
Kendrick Bailey is standing outside the tent he has pitched on a filthy sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles and points to the American flag he served proudly during the Vietnam War.

'I didn't have education back then,' says Bailey, recalling his time in combat. 'So most of us shot guns. Sometimes you could see people get shot by guns. It was horrible.'

Bailey, who is in his sixties, is among an ever-growing population of veterans in Los Angeles who face challenges readjusting to civilian life and eventually become homeless.

Homeless veteran Kendrick Bailey steps out of his tent on a streetcorner near Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles

'I never had a job,' he says, standing in the searing California sun on a recent day and struggling to explain his predicament.

Though friends initially would offer their couch, he said he quickly overstayed his welcome and got sucked into the same vicious circle facing many veterans who struggle with PTSD, unemployment, alcoholism, family issues, and end up on the street.

Many have also served prison time.

Homeless veteran Joseph Shokrian speaks to AFP on a streetcorner near Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles

The infamous Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles that Bailey now calls home has the largest concentration of homeless people in America, many of them veterans with mental issues and battling addiction.

Their plight has been at the center of debate for decades in an America that loves to glorify its 'heroes,' with successive administrations vowing to tackle the problem and pledging millions of dollars in assistance, including for housing.

But despite some 3,500 veterans finding housing last year in the Los Angeles area, recently released statistics serve as a sobering reminder of the scale of the problem.

According to a new count released in May, the number of homeless people in the Los Angeles area jumped by 23 percent in the last year to reach nearly 58,000. Of those, some 5,000 are veterans, the highest number of homeless veterans of any city in the country and a near 60 percent increase over the previous year.

- Moving in wrong direction -

'There is little doubt that veteran homelessness is now moving in the wrong direction,' said Gary Blasi, a law professor at the University of California Los Angeles who has studied the issue.

After dropping some 30% from 2015 to 2016, the population of homeless veterans living on Los Angeles streets increased in the official 2017 count to 4,828 from 3,071

'We do not house veterans as quickly as veterans are becoming newly homeless,' he added. 'The result is entirely predictable, tragic, and -- in the larger context of this country's wealth and military expenditures -- outrageous.'

Blasi said one of the key obstacles to getting veterans off the streets is the lack of affordable housing in a city where rents are skyrocketing. Many landlords in addition are hesitant to rent to a veteran trying to get out of homelessness even though the state usually acts as a guarantor.

Veterans' advocates also denounce a drop in the number of case workers at the Veterans Affairs office in Los Angeles, which has led to delays in the processing of case files, despite hundreds of thousands of dollars in pledges to tackle the issue.

Several associations have meanwhile been engaged in a lengthy legal battle with Veterans Affairs, a government body, to force it to implement a plan to refurbish a run-down campus in Los Angeles for the purpose of housing veterans.

General Dogan, whose given name is Steve Richardson, lashes out at Los Angeles officials, saying they are making empty promises that only look good on paper

'The question everybody is asking is where is the money?' said General Dogon, an activist with the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN).

Dogon, whose given name is Steve Richardson, lashed out at city officials, saying they were making empty promises that only look good on paper.

Alex Comisar, a spokesman for Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, counters that he 'has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in housing and services for homeless Angelenos' and led a campaign to secure 'more than a billion dollars in new funding to do even more.'

- Shameful predicament -

Activists also accuse officials of getting rid of buildings with affordable rents in favor of multi-million dollar high rises that are transforming the skyline of downtown Los Angeles.

Added to that, they say, are the numerous obstacles facing homeless veterans, many of whom are handicapped and don't know how to navigate the system to seek assistance.

'I don't have money on my credit card to get my birth certificate in San Antonio, Texas, so I can't get an ID,' said Joseph Shokrian, 33, a US Army veteran who has been homeless for 14 months. 'And because I don't have an address I'm having trouble getting identification, and without my ID it's very difficult to go to the VA and prove that I was part of the military.'

As for Bailey, he says he has been accumulating citations -- to the tune of $1,200 -- for pitching his tent and few belongings on a sidewalk.

'These people have fought for this country and they come back and they have to camp out on the ground like they are still in Vietnam,' said Dogon. 'Now they don't combat in uniform, they fight the police who want to move them because they're bad for business.'
Smoke billows after bombing by Philippine air force planes of Islamist militants in Marawi

A Roman Catholic priest abducted by Islamist militants who seized parts of a southern Philippine city has been seen alive, the military said Monday, as troops pressed on with their offensive.

Air and artillery bombardment of enclaves occupied by the militants in the largely Muslim city of Marawi resumed after an eight-hour truce Sunday to allow residents to celebrate the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

Fires erupted and plumes of dark and white smoke billowed against a blue sky as the bombs slammed into their targets, AFP journalists in Marawi said.

But military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera said the militants were also deliberately burning houses and using improvised bombs, booby traps and hostages as human shields to delay the troops' advance, five weeks into the fighting.

Hundreds of gunmen flying the black flag of the Islamic State (IS) group occupied parts of Marawi on May 23, triggering bloody fighting that has claimed nearly 400 lives according to an official count.

- Priest seen alive -

Father Teresito "Chito" Suganob, a Catholic priest assigned to Marawi, was taken hostage along with some parishioners early in the siege on the largely Catholic Philippines' most important Muslim city.

Fighting resumed with renewed fury on Monday, with government fighter jets and other aircraft seen carrying out bombing attacks while sustained bursts of gunfire could be heard.

Herrera, spokesman for the military forces in Marawi, said the priest had been seen alive on Sunday in a part of the city still in the hands of the extremists.

"We don't have details of his health. We were just told that he was sighted alive," he told reporters in Marawi, citing accounts from civilians rescued from the battle zone.

He also said there were about 100 civilian hostages still in the hands of the gunmen, being used as "human shields", ammunition carriers and stretcher-bearers.

Most of Marawi's 200,000 residents have fled the fighting and the lakeside city, a favourite summer vacation destination in the south due to its cool climate, is now a ghost town.

Fighting resumed with renewed fury on Monday, with government fighter jets and other aircraft seen carrying out bombing attacks while sustained bursts of gunfire could be heard.

"Our offensive operations have resumed and will continue so we can liberate Marawi at the soonest time possible," Herrera added.

- Foreign bomb experts -

He said the bodies of two militants believed to be from the Middle East because of their physical features were found at the scene of an earlier airstrike, another sign that foreign fighters had joined the battle.

"These foreign terrorists involved in the hostilities are bomb experts. They are the ones facilitating the rigging of the buildings and houses with bombs," Herrera said.

This handout photo from the Philippine Army shows rescuers escorting trapped residents (left) and carrying the body (right) of a dead resident from ground zero of the fighting between government forces and Islamist militants in Marawi

Eight foreign fighters, including those from Chechnya, Indonesia and Malaysia, were killed in the early days of the battle, the government has said.

In May Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Marawi and the southern region of Mindanao to quell what he described as a rebellion aimed at establishing an Islamic State caliphate in the area.

Herrera said they were still trying to confirm reports that Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant said to be the leader of the Islamic State group in Southeast Asia, had escaped Marawi despite a military and police cordon.

An attempt by troops to arrest Hapilon in Marawi on May 23 triggered the rampage by the militants.

Hapilon was indicted in Washington for his involvement in the 2001 kidnapping of three Americans in the Philippines. He has a $5 million bounty on his head from the US government and is on its "most wanted" terror list.

The army has said it was checking reports that Omarkhayam Maute and Malaysian militant Mahmud Ahmad, both leaders of the Marawi offensive, had been killed in the fighting.

Colonel Edgard Arevalo, a Manila-based military spokesman, said two other militants leaders -- Maute's brothers Abdullah and Madi -- are still alive.

The pair met with peace emissaries during the truce on Sunday to discuss the release of hostages, he added.

The Maute brothers are leaders of the Maute Group, which joined forces with Hapilon's Abu Sayyaf faction to carry out the Marawi attack. Both groups have pledged allegiance to the IS.
This handout picture released by the family of Liu Xiaobo taken on March 14, 2005 shows 2010 Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo (L) and his brother Liu Xiaoxuan

China's Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has been transferred on parole from prison to a hospital for terminal cancer treatment, his lawyer said Monday, but concerned supporters called for his unconditional release.

Liu, who has about three years of his 11-year sentence to serve, was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer on May 23 and granted medical parole days later, lawyer Mo Shaoping told AFP.

The 61-year-old democracy campaigner was being treated at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, where he was imprisoned.

The Liaoning Prison Administrative Bureau confirmed Liu's parole, saying in a statement he was being treated by "eight renowned Chinese oncologists" at China Medical University No 1 Hospital.

While it confirmed he was being treated for liver cancer, it did not say whether it was terminal.

"He has no special plans. He is just receiving medical treatment for his illness," Mo said.

The writer was sentenced in 2009 for "subversion" after spearheading a bold petition for democratic reforms. He was awarded the Nobel prize while in jail a year later and was represented by an empty chair at the ceremony in Oslo.

Supporters demanded that Liu be granted the best medical care and criticised his treatment so far.

While the Nobel Committee said it was "delighted" to learn that Liu was finally freed, it "strongly regrets that it took serious illness before Chinese authorities were willing to release him from jail".

"Chinese authorities carry a heavy responsibility if Liu Xiaobo, because of his imprisonment, has been denied necessary medical treatment," it said in a statement.

The committee called for his unconditional release and said he should be offered the best possible treatment in China or abroad.

Patrick Poon, China researcher at rights group Amnesty International, urged authorities to ensure Liu has access to his family.

Poon also called for Liu and "all others imprisoned solely for exercising their human rights" to be immediately and unconditionally released.

"Adding injury to insult, Liu Xiaobo has been diagnosed with a grave illness in prison, where he should never have been put in the first place," Poon said.

Liu was arrested after co-writing Charter 08, a bold petition that called for the protection of human rights and the reform of China's one-party system

- Bold petition -

Asked about Liu's parole, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing: "I am not aware of the situation you're talking about."

Liu is one of only three people to have won the Nobel award while jailed by their own government.

China strongly condemned the prize as foreign interference in its internal affairs.

Diplomatic ties and trade talks between Beijing and Oslo were frozen, with China halting Norwegian salmon imports. Relations were only normalised last December.

The international community has for years been calling for Liu's release.

Liu Xiaobo was unable to attend the 2010 ceremony when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but his face was projected on a hotel facade in Oslo

Liu was arrested in 2008 after co-writing Charter 08, a bold petition that called for the protection of basic human rights and reform of China's one-party Communist system.

Charter 08, which was posted online, specifically demands the abolition of subversion as a criminal offence.

Liu's wife Liu Xia has been under house arrest since 2010. She suffered a heart attack in 2014, when she was diagnosed with depression after years of detention, a rights group said at the time.

She could not be reached for comment on Monday and an automated message said her phone was no longer in service.

- Tiananmen role -

Liu is also known for his efforts to help negotiate the safe exit from Tiananmen Square of thousands of student demonstrators on the night of June 3-4, 1989 when the military bloodily suppressed six weeks of protests in the heart of Beijing.

He was arrested immediately after the crackdown and released without charge in early 1991.

Liu was rearrested and served three years in a labour camp from 1996-1999 for seeking the release of those jailed in the Tiananmen protests and for opposing the official verdict that their actions amounted to a counter-revolutionary rebellion.

Liu, who holds a doctorate in Chinese literature, was once a professor at Beijing Normal University, but was banned from teaching at state institutions after his involvement in the 1989 demonstrations.

He was also banned from publishing in China but many of his writings advocating greater democracy and respect for human rights appeared in Hong Kong and overseas Chinese publications.

Some of these articles served as evidence in his most recent trial.

Liu was a leading member of the Independent China PEN Centre, a grouping of Chinese writers. PEN Hong Kong called for his unconditional release.

"At a time when China wants to have a greater international role, it is only fitting that it should show humanity and compassion towards a man who has never committed any violent crime, but has dedicated his life to literature and free expression," it said on its website.
Gay male sex is punishable by life imprisonment under Tanzanian law, but there is no such ban on lesbian relations

Tanzania has threatened to arrest and deport those campaigning for gay rights and de-register organisations protecting homosexual interests, local media reported Monday.

"I would like to remind and warn all organisations and institutions that campaign and pretend to protect homosexual interests ... we are going to arrest whoever is involved and charge them in courts of law," the state-owned Daily News quoted Interior Minister Mwigulu Nchemba as saying.

In the country's latest attack on its homosexual community, Nchemba also said foreigners involved in such campaigns would be "deported within no time ... they will not have even the time to unplug their mobile phones from the socket."

"Those who are interested in homosexuality should go and live in countries that entertain such businesses. If there's any organisation in the country that supports and campaigns for homosexuality ... it shall be deregistered."

Nchemba's comments come just days after President John Magufuli slammed NGOs who campaign for gay rights, saying they should be countered even if this meant losing foreign aid.

"Those who teach such things do not like us, brothers. They brought us drugs and homosexual practices that even cows disapprove of," Magufuli said in a speech last Thursday.

Gay male sex is punishable by anything from 30 years to life imprisonment under Tanzanian law, but there is no such ban on lesbian relations.

However, politicians have largely ignored the gay community -- which has not experienced the levels of discrimination seen in other countries such as neighbouring Uganda -- until a recent spike in anti-gay rhetoric by the government.

Last July, the regional commissioner for the port city of Dar es Salaam, Paul Makonda, announced a crackdown which was followed by arrests in clubs.

Dozens of men suspected of being gay have been detained and taken to hospital for anal exams to confirm their homosexuality.

In the same month, the government banned the import and sales of sexual lubricants, which Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said encouraged homosexuality that led to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

And in February, the government said it was stopping many privately-run health centres from providing AIDS-related services after they were accused of providing services to homosexuals.

The government also said it would publish a list of gay people selling sex online, but retracted this threat several days later.

Homosexuality is illegal in 38 of 54 countries in Africa, and is punishable by death in Mauritania, Sudan and Somalia, according to Amnesty International.
An Iraqi forces member is seen patrolling the area of the industrial zone in Mosul on June 23, 2017

Iraqi forces on Monday were searching neighbourhoods of west Mosul they retook weeks ago after a surprise jihadist attack on their rear that left several dead, officials said.

The attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, sowed panic among residents who returned to live in the Tanak and Yarmuk neighbourhoods of west Mosul.

A top commander in the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), which sent forces to fight the IS gunmen, said the attackers had infiltrated the area by blending in with returning displaced civilians.

"The group came with the displaced and settled in the Tanak district. They regrouped and launched counter-attacks," Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi told AFP.

"Yarmuk is being searched house to house," he said, adding that two groups of IS attackers were still believed to be in the area, which lies on the western edge of the city.

A CTS medic said the attack had caused several victims but he could not say how many.

"There are martyrs who were killed by Daesh," the medic said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

He said 15 to 20 jihadist fighters were also killed in the battle.

Iraqi forces, led by the CTS, have for a week been pressing a perilous assault into the Old City in central Mosul, the last pocket still controlled by the jihadists.

Federal forces backed a US-led coalition launched an offensive to retake the country's second city from IS more than eight months ago.

The east bank of Mosul, a city divided by the Tigris River, was retaken in January and a push to wrest back the western side was launched in mid-February.

More than 800,000 people have been displaced from the Mosul area since October last year and the security forces are struggling to carry out effective screening.

While the exact circumstances were unclear, Sunday night's attack was described as a diversionary tactic by west Mosul "sleeper cells" to ease the pressure on the Old City, where the jihadists appear to be on their last legs.

"The sleeper cells carried out a surprise attack against the security forces, in an attempt to ease the siege on the Old City," a local official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Operations to flush out pockets controlled by Daesh are ongoing," he said.

Hundreds of families, who in some cases had returned to their homes weeks ago, fled the area again overnight, fearing the return of jihadist rule.
Hong Kong activist and legislator Leung Kwok-hung (R) holds a placard at a 2016 protest calling for the release of Liu Xiaobo

Liu Xiaobo, who won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize from behind bars, was for decades a vocal champion of democracy and human rights until Chinese authorities locked him up for speaking out.

The 61-year-old, who was previously jailed for his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, was sentenced in 2009 to 11 years in prison for subversion -- a punishment that earned international condemnation.

To Beijing's fury, he was awarded the Nobel prize a year later -- and was represented by an empty chair at the ceremony in Oslo.

Last month the prominent activist was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and released from prison on medical parole, his lawyer Mo Shaoping said Monday.

He is being treated in a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang, where prison authorities said he was being treated by "eight renowned Chinese oncologists".

Liu was arrested in late 2008 after co-authoring Charter 08, a widely circulated petition that called for political reform in the Communist-ruled nation.

The bold manifesto, which was signed by more than 10,000 people after it went online, calls for the protection of basic human rights and the reform of China's one-party system.

A text by Liu entitled "I have no enemies - my final statement" was read during the Nobel ceremony.

In the text written before his sentencing, Liu said he felt no hostility towards his jailers and said he hoped "to counter the regime's hostility with utmost goodwill, and to dispel hatred with love".

The statement was also a love letter to his wife, poet Liu Xia: "Even if I were crushed into powder, I would still use my ashes to embrace you."

Liu Xia told AFP after he was honoured by the Nobel Committee that Beijing opposed the prize "because they fear that it will draw more attention to Liu Xiaobo and to China's situation" on democracy and human rights.

"If they didn't fear this, then they would not have sentenced him to 11 years for writing an essay."

Liu Xia herself was placed under house arrest at the time of the Nobel award. She suffered a heart attack in 2014, when she was diagnosed with depression after years of detention, a rights group said at the time.

- Words seen 'as crimes' -

Charter 08 specifically demands the abolition of subversion as an criminal offence.

"We should make freedom of speech, freedom of the press and academic freedom universal, thereby guaranteeing that citizens can be informed and can exercise their right of political supervision," it says.

"We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes."

Liu is also known for his efforts to help negotiate the safe exit from Tiananmen Square of thousands of student demonstrators on the night of June 3-4, 1989 when the military bloodily suppressed six week-long protests in the heart of Beijing.

He was arrested immediately after the crackdown and released without charge in early 1991.

Liu was rearrested and served three years in a labour camp from 1996-1999 for seeking the release of those jailed in the Tiananmen protests and for opposing the official verdict that their actions amounted to a counter-revolutionary rebellion.

Liu, who holds a doctorate in Chinese literature, was once a professor at Beijing Normal University, but was banned from teaching at state institutions over his involvement in the 1989 demonstrations.

As a leading member of the Independent China Pen Centre, a grouping of Chinese writers, Liu remained in close contact with key intellectuals and had been largely free to attend meetings and writer group activities despite constant police surveillance.

Although he has been banned from publishing in China, many of his writings advocating greater democracy and respect for human rights have appeared in Hong Kong and overseas Chinese publications.

Some of these served as evidence in his most recent trial.

- Award under arrest -

Liu still commands great respect among Chinese intellectuals, a fact that some say was central to the Communist Party's decision to bring charges against him.

Western governments, rights groups, scholars, and a coalition of Nobel prize winners have repeatedly called for his release.

Liu is the first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel peace prize and one of only three people to have won it while detained by their own government.

A human rights activist at a Hong Kong rally in 2015 marking the 60th birthday of Liu Xiaobo

The Nobel announcement sparked renewed calls for his release, led by fellow peace laureates and later by then-US President Barack Obama. Washington has also called on Beijing to end its house arrest of Liu Xia.

Liu has been honoured by Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and other rights groups. His essay "The Noble Paradise of Power, the Hell for the Meek" won the Hong Kong Human Rights News Prize in 2004.
Pakistani residents carry an injured man after a twin blasts at a market in northwest Pakistan's Parachinar

Shiites in Pakistan's restive northwest protested Monday as the death toll from twin blasts three days earlier rose to 69, marking a grisly Eid for the town worst hit by militancy so far in 2017.

Dozens of protesters offered their Eid prayers wearing black armbands in the market in Parachinar, where the bombs tore through crowds of shoppers on Friday, local officials said.

"The death toll from Friday's blasts has reached 69," local administration official Basir Khan Wazir told AFP.

He said the local administration was trying to negotiate with the protestors.

Parachinar, capital of Kurram district, a mainly Shiite area of Pakistan's tribal belt, had already suffered two deadly bomb blasts in its markets this year.

It was the site of the first major attack in the country in 2017 when a bomb killed 24 people in January, an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. In March, a second Taliban attack in another market killed a further 22 people.

Friday's assault brought the town's loss of life due to extremist attacks up to 115, more than any one city in Pakistan has suffered so far this year.

It was claimed by a little known group believed to be linked to Lashkar-e-Janghvi, one of Pakistan's bloodiest sectarian outfits.

Kurram, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts, is known for sectarian clashes between Sunnis and Shiites, who make up roughly 20 percent of Pakistan's population of 200 million.

"We have been a constant target of the Taliban but the government has always failed us," Muzamil Hussain, a Shia activists from Parachinar told AFP Friday.

Authorities have said that after the first two attacks checkposts and barriers were set up around the city's markets. Hussain said that suggested Friday's attackers had insider help.

"I don't understand how can someone drive a bomb-laden vehicle through all the checkposts of the military and other paramilitary troops and reach here, it simply isn't logical, and this is what we are protesting against," he said.

Northwest Pakistan's Kurram, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts, is known for sectarian clashes between Sunnis and Shiites, who make up roughly 20 percent of Pakistan's population of 200 million

"We are demanding the government end supporting militant groups," he added.

Pakistan has long had a policy of offering covert support to militant groups it believes can further its own ends, particularly in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Shiites in other parts of the country also wore black bands in solidarity with those grieving in Parachinar, the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan Shia political party said in a statement.

The Parachinar blasts were the deadliest in a series of militant attacks across Pakistan Friday which killed a total of 77 people, unnerving citizens ahead of Eid, one of Islam's holiest festivals which closes the fasting month of Ramadan.

In Quetta, capital of southwestern Balochistan province, 14 people including 10 policemen were killed in a blast targeting police that was claimed by both Islamic State's local affiliate and an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban.

While in Karachi four policemen were killed in a drive-by shooting as they ate dinner at a roadside restaurant in the port city.
A man leaves after voting in the Mongolian presidential election at the Erdene Sum Ger (Yurt) polling station in Tuul Valley

At 6:55 a.m. on Monday, a man in rural Mongolia stood outside a yurt and looked down at his watch.

Five minutes remained until presidential election polls opened in the country of just three million wedged between Russia and China. Clad in a bright green traditional "deel" gown, Sharkhuu Gerelt-Od was ready.

The 39-year-old public servant was the chief organiser of a mobile polling station in Erdene Sum, a small city situated in Mongolia's sprawling steppes, where nomadic herders parked their yurts -- circular, collapsible tents -- and let their livestock graze among the rolling hills.

The polling station was set up to accomodate these herders, who move with the changing seasons to find the best pastures for their goats, horses and yaks.

"We have to provide the conditions for the herders to vote," said Gerelt-Od.

"We have to give them access -- it's their constitutional right."

Soon he was joined inside the yurt by other polling booth officials, all garbed in colourful traditional outfits.

At the centre of the tent was a tall stack of bread carrying curd sweets, cheese pieces and a thick cream.

It is Mongolian tradition to offer guests with the best food that one has on hand. Among herding communities, that food is often dairy.

"The voters are our guests in this yurt," Gerelt-Od said with a smile.

The first voters, a husband and wife herder pair whose yurt was stationed in the area, arrived wearing a suit and a printed dress.

- Dressing up -

Mongolia's national statistics office estimates that herders make up about a third of the country's population

Voting is a special event in the young democracy, which started holding elections in 1990 after decades of Soviet control. The day of the presidential elections is a national holiday, and Mongolians dress up for the occasion.

Aside from Western-style business casual and traditional Mongolian attire, several voters also came clad in fedoras and tall leather boots.

Gerelt-Od and the other officials greeted many of the arrivals with a small bottle containing a mixture of herbs and tobacco powder, which the voters passed around and sniffed in turn -- another traditional form of greeting.

This year's election campaign, however, was mired in corruption scandals plaguing all three candidates: Mieygombo Enkhbold of the parliament-ruling Mongolian People's Party, Khaltmaa Battulga of the outgoing president's opposition Democratic Party and Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.

- Searching greener pastures -

Although the national statistics office estimates that herders make up about a third of Mongolia's population, their nomadic way of life is increasingly threated by "dzuds" -- summer droughts followed by severe winters.

Mongolians cast ballots to choose between a horse breeder, a judoka and a feng shui master in a presidential election rife with corruption scandals and nationalist rhetoric

The growing frequency of the extreme weather phenomenon, which causes livestock to freeze to death, is attributed to climate change.

Gerelt-Od's full-time job for the Erdene Sum government involves monitoring the environmental impact of local businesses.

"I wanted to protect my country's natural environment," he said, "and to preserve the land as it was".

Environmental issues were foremost on voters' minds at the yurt polling station.

Vanganjal Tsendmaa drove 13 kilometres from her yurt to vote for Enkhbold.

"This year has been very dry," said Tsendmaa, 60.

A polling station official waits for people to arrive to vote in the Mongolian presidential election at the Erdene Sum Ger (Yurt) polling station in Tuul Valley

"The government can help herders by making sure there are enough wells, especially in remote areas. The most important thing for raising animals is water."

Sundui Nemekhtuya, 58, said the next president should prioritise "issues concerning pasture land."

"If you respect the environment, nature will revive itself," she said.

After the voters filled out their ballots and placed them into a machine, they sat under a canopy and ate snacks with the election officials, who poured them salty Mongolian milk tea.

By 10 a.m., more than 50 people had passed through the station -- about 12 percent of the 443 who were registered for that location.

More voters were expected to arrive at noon, after most herders had finished tending to their animals.

When the polls close later that night, the voting machine will be transported to the city centre for ballot counting.

Until then, Gerelt-Od will tip his fedora at voters, sip his milk tea, and wait.
High-profile student campaigner Joshua Wong and a dozen demonstrators attached the black cloth to the giant golden bauhinia flower on Hong Kong's harbourfront in an early morning protest

Hong Kong saw multiple protests Monday ahead of a visit by President Xi Jinping to mark 20 years since the city was handed back to China by Britain.

Pro-democracy activists including high-profile student campaigner Joshua Wong draped a black flag over a statue symbolising Hong Kong's return to China in an early morning act of defiance.

Dozens more campaigners marched to China's representative office in the city in the afternoon in a rally against the detention of hundreds of human rights lawyers on the mainland, while a group of protesters also gathered in central Hong Kong to "sing for democracy".

Xi's visit will be his first since becoming president in 2013 and will culminate with the inauguration of Hong Kong's new leader, Carrie Lam, on Saturday.

It comes as there are increasing concerns Beijing is trampling the handover agreement guaranteeing Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status by interfering in a range of areas, from politics to education and media.

In the morning demonstration, a dozen activists attached a black cloth to the giant golden bauhinia flower on Hong Kong's harbourfront as security tried to stop them climbing on the famous tourist attraction.

The sculpture of the bauhinia, which became the emblem of Hong Kong after the handover, was a present to the city from China in 1997 and stands outside the convention centre where Xi will attend anniversary events during a three-day visit starting Thursday.

Police were called to take the flag down while the protesters chanted "democratic self-determination for Hong Kong's future" and "one country, two systems has been a lie for 20 years", referring to Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status.

- 'Barbaric' treatment -

Campaigners like Wong are calling for democratic reforms, promised in the handover deal, to change a system where the city leader is still chosen by a pro-China committee and the legislature is weighted towards Beijing.

Wong led mass Umbrella Movement rallies calling for fully free leadership elections in 2014, but they failed to win concessions.

Since then calls for self-determination or even full independence from China have emerged.

The sculpture of the bauhinia, which became the emblem of Hong Kong after the handover, was a present to the city from China in 1997

Wong's party Demosisto wants a public referendum on Hong Kong's future in 2047, the year the handover agreement protecting the city's way of life and liberties expires.

Veteran politician and former legislator Emily Lau was among those who gathered in a separate protest Monday afternoon against the detention of lawyers by China, which she called "barbaric".

"We firmly believe that a regime that does not respect basic human rights... cannot maintain stability and cannot secure legitimacy," added activist Joseph Cheng.

Another group of around 20 protesters, including pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo, sang "Do You Hear the People Sing?" outside the Court of Final Appeal in central Hong Kong in the late afternoon.

The song from the musical "Les Miserables" was a popular chant for the tens of thousands who gathered during the 2014 Umbrella Movement which brought parts of Hong Kong to a standstill for over two months.

Protesters say they are preparing further actions during the handover celebrations and Xi's visit will be shrouded in a huge security operation.
Chad is part of a five-nation regional force fighting Boko Haram

Eight Chadian soldiers were killed in fierce fighting with Boko Haram insurgents at the weekend on islands on Lake Chad, the army said Monday.

"Our forces attacked Boko Haram elements on five islands near Nigeria on June 24 and 25," said Chad army spokesman Colonel Azem, indicating eight soldiers had died and another 18 were wounded.

He also claimed troops had killed 162 jihadists from the Nigeria-based group, and destroyed six vehicles along with many of the motorcycles often favoured by Boko Haram fighters in their raids.

Chad is part of a five-nation regional force -- also comprising Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Benin -- fighting Boko Haram, which is blamed for killing at least 20,000 people and leaving another 2.6 million homeless.

Chad's President Idriss Deby threatened on Sunday to pull the country's troops out of peacekeeping operations in Africa because of a lack of foreign financial support.

Chad has contributed the third-largest contingent to MINUSMA, the UN peacekeeping mission deployed in Mali in response to Islamist insurgency, with 1,390 soldiers.

Deby indicated that N'Djamena lacks help to pay for its 2,000 men in the Joint Task Force battling Boko Haram, which emerged in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 and has in recent years attacked across borders.

"We have not at all been supported on the financial, economic side," he said in an interview with several French media.

"If nothing is done, if that goes on, Chad will be obliged to withdraw," he added. "We can't keep being everywhere -- in Niger, in Cameroon and in Mali. All that is excessively expensive."

Chad's army is one of the most battle-hardened in the region, but the country faces a major economic crisis made worse by low oil prices, its main source of revenue.

There have been frequent clashes on the many small islands of Lake Chad since the Boko Haram conflict began in 2009. The lake borders four countries on the edge of the Sahara: Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.
Fogging for mosquitoes in Sri Lanka, which has suffered a record 200 deaths from dengue this year

Sri Lanka has suffered a record 200 deaths from dengue fever this year, the health minister said Monday, blaming a garbage disposal crisis in Colombo.

Rotting garbage has been piling up in many parts of the capital since the country's main rubbish tip collapsed in April, crushing dozens of homes and killing 32 people.

With nowhere to take the trash, municipal collection has drastically slowed and led to huge piles on the streets which authorities say are encouraging mosquito-breeding.

"The situation could get worse if we don't tackle the garbage problem quickly," Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne told AFP as official figures showed 210 people had died from dengue so far this year -- well over double the figure for the whole of 2016.

"It is not something my ministry can do alone but we need a collective effort."

The number of infected people in the first six months of this year was nearly 70,000 compared to about 55,000 cases for the whole of last year, official figures showed.

Military spokesman Roshan Seneviratne said troops had been deployed to help tackle the crisis, while police said they had prosecuted 454 people for illegally dumping garbage.

Stagnant water left behind after last month's flooding was also seen as contributing to the spread of dengue, a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men (L) and women (R) pray in different sections of the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on February 2, 2016

Israel's shelving of a deal to allow men and women to pray together at the Western Wall echoed far beyond religion Monday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused of abandoning reform efforts for political gain.

Netanyahu's cabinet voted Sunday to back out of the hard-won deal, provoking a flood of criticism and warnings it could damage Israel's relationship with the United States' influential Jewish community.

That followed pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties who are part of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition and follow a strict interpretation of religious rules.

Such parties have often played a kingmaker role in Israeli politics and have opposed years of efforts by more liberal Jews to win equal rights for women at the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism.

Women and men currently pray in separate areas at the site in Jerusalem's Old City, where religious affairs are overseen by Israel's ultra-Orthodox establishment.

A member of the liberal Jewish religious group Women of the Wall wears a "Tallit", a Jewish prayer shawl traditionally worn by men, as she holds up a Torah scroll at the Western Wall on March 11, 2016

A compromise reached more than a year ago and hailed as "historic" at the time would have created a third space near the wall, open to both women and men.

Sunday's cabinet vote froze the deal -- effectively cancelling it -- despite the government having earlier endorsed it.

In a sign of the tensions the decision provoked, the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental organisation that helped mediate the deal, heavily criticised the move and cancelled an event with Netanyahu scheduled for Monday evening in response.

Yair Lapid, an opposition figure and leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said the decision meant Israel was "the only democracy in the world without equality for Jews."

- 'Political pressure' -

"Did Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers decide to cancel the framework because they thought it was the right thing for the people of Israel?" Lapid said on his Facebook page.

"Of course not. They did it because the only thing which motivates them is political pressure."

Netanyahu had not publicly commented on the decision, but his cabinet secretary, Tzachi Braverman, said the premier had ordered that a solution should still try to be reached through dialogue.

Netanyahu's coalition, seen as the most right-wing in Israel's history, holds 66 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament.

Ultra-Orthodox parties control 13 of the coalition's seats. Some 10 percent of Israel's population are considered ultra-Orthodox.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prays at the Western Wall on February 28, 2015

The Western Wall, located in Jerusalem's Old City, is venerated by Jews as a remnant of a wall supporting the Second Temple complex, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

It is the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.

Israel's cabinet initially approved the mixed prayer plan in January 2016 after careful negotiations.

It was however never implemented, as ultra-Orthodox parties, under pressure from their supporters, moved to block it.

A case being examined by Israel's top court has put pressure on ultra-Orthodox parties to move to have the deal revoked.

The supreme court is expected to rule soon on a petition filed by more liberal religious movements to force the government to implement the agreement and create the mixed prayer space.

- 'Insult to the majority' -

Sunday's move to back out of the deal prompted anger among Jewish movements in the United States, home to more than five million Jews, most of whom are not Orthodox.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu's decision to say 'no' to his previous 'yes' is an unconscionable insult to the majority of world Jewry," Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the US-based Union for Reform Judaism, said in a statement.

Jacobs said later he had cancelled a meeting with Netanyahu that had been scheduled for Thursday.

It is a sensitive issue for Israel, which relies on the United States as its most important ally, providing it with strong diplomatic support and more than $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) per year in defence aid.

Many Israelis see support from Jewish communities in the United States and worldwide as essential.

"We cannot let narrow-minded politicking threaten the unity of the Jewish people," Yohanan Plesner, president of the respected Israel Democracy Institute think tank, said in a statement.

"If we expect Jews abroad to support the state of Israel, we must also ensure their religious equality. Israel's national security is at stake."

But for Israel's ultra-Orthodox establishment, changes such as mixed prayer betray Jewish tradition.

"There was and shall remain one Western Wall to one people," Religious Affairs Minister David Azoulay of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party told army radio.

Orthodox Jewish men read the Torah during prayers at the Western Wall to mark the annual Tisha B'Av (Ninth of Av) day of fasting and memorial on August 14, 2016

"I won't accept attempts to impose a different Jewish law or Torah."
Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa attends a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Egypt's resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on March 26, 2015

Bahrain's foreign minister on Monday accused Qatar of a "military escalation" in the Gulf diplomatic crisis, an apparent reference to Doha's allowing Turkish troops on its territory.

"The disagreement with Qatar is a political and security dispute and has never been military," Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said on Twitter.

"But the deployment of foreign troops with their armoured vehicles is a military escalation for which Qatar will bear the consequences."

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are among several countries which announced on June 5 they were suspending all ties with Qatar, accusing it of support for extremist groups -- a claim Doha denies.

They have also closed their airspace to Qatari carriers and blocked the emirate's only land border, a vital route for its food imports.

The countries have presented a 13-point ultimatum to Qatar but Doha has rejected their demands as unrealistic.

Turkey has given some support to Doha, with a bill fast-tracked through the Turkish parliament allowing Ankara to send as many as several thousand troops to a base in Qatar.

Ankara sent a contingent of 23 soldiers and five armoured vehicles to its Gulf ally on Thursday, adding to around 90 Turkish troops already stationed there.

"Certain regional powers are mistaken if they think that their intervention will resolve the problem," Sheikh Khalid said on Twitter.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends a reception to meet members of the Indian community in the United States, in Washington DC on June 25, 2017

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the increasing "convergence" of US-Indian interests and values, as he prepared for his first face-to-face meeting Monday with President Donald Trump.

Modi brimmed with optimism about the future of trade and diplomatic relations between the world's two largest democracies in an opinion piece appearing in Monday's Wall Street Journal.

Following a visit to the United States one year ago, when he addressed a joint session of the US Congress, Modi wrote that he returns "confident in the growing convergence between our two nations."

"This confidence stems from the strength of our shared values and the stability of our systems," the Indian leader wrote.

"In an uncertain global economic landscape, our two nations stand as mutually reinforcing engines of growth and innovation," he said in the daily.

"Whenever India and the US work together, the world reaps the benefits."

Modi and Trump are due to hold afternoon talks and a working dinner at the White House, though no press conference is scheduled.

On Sunday, the Indian leader met with top American executives, painting for them a picture of a business-friendly India with "minimum" governmental encumbrances.

That message is expected to resonate with Trump, who has proposed streamlining what he calls business-hampering US regulations and cutting the budgets of several US government agencies.

"India believes that a strong America is good for the world," Modi told the CEOs, according to the foreign ministry in New Delhi.

Despite the upbeat rhetoric, the relationship between the two leaders has hit some initial snags.

Trump accused India of seeking to profit from the Paris climate accord as he announced the US withdrawal from the deal this month -- drawing sharp denials from New Delhi.

A proposed overhaul of H-1B visas -- used by thousands of Indian software engineers to work in the United States -- has also caused concern in New Delhi.
Swede Johan Gustafsson, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 together with South African national Stephen McGown and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke

A Swede who had been held hostage by Al-Qaeda in Mali since 2011 has been freed and has returned home, the Swedish government said Monday, but the fate of a fellow hostage from South Africa remains unknown.

"I'm very pleased to announce that Johan (Gustafsson) has today been able to return to Sweden and be reunited with his family," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told reporters late Monday as she showed a picture of Gustafsson surrounded by his family after he arrived home.

"I welcomed him home, and I can say that he is in good health and is holding up well, given the circumstances," she said.

Wallstrom refused to provide details about how Sweden secured Gustafsson's release, saying only that it occurred "a couple of days ago" and was the result of "several years of efforts" by police, politicians, diplomats and Swedish and international authorities.

She also did not comment on whether a ransom was paid. She said only that "Sweden's policy is to not pay ransoms in the event of kidnappings."

A Malian security source meanwhile told AFP that Mali officials "helped secure the release of the Swedish hostage. He was released in the Mali desert."

Gustafsson, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 along with South African national Stephen McGown and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke.

Rijke was freed in April 2015 by French special forces.

The Swedish foreign ministry provided no details about McGown's fate.

His father, Malcolm McGown, told AFP from his home in Johannesburg that their family had no news of Stephen.

"We have heard nothing about our son. It would have been good for both of them to be released at the same time, but there's nothing much we can do about it," he said.

"I have no details of how the release (of Johan) took place. It's Eid and maybe Johan's release was a good gesture. I'm just not sure what the plan is with Stephen."

Gustafsson was on a motorcycle trip from Sweden to South Africa when he was kidnapped.

He, Rijke and McGown were seized along with several other Westerners by a group of armed men while on the terrace of their hotel.

Rijke's wife managed to escape, but a German who tried to resist the abduction was killed.

- String of kidnappings -

Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. It was one of several jihadist groups that took control of Mali's north in 2012 before being ousted by a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

A South African charity appointed by the families to negotiate the release of Gustafsson and McGown said it also had no news of McGown.

"We have no information... I don't think Stephen has been released," said Imtiaz Sooliman, head of Gift of the Givers.

The charity said in May 2017 it was giving up its negotiating efforts after hitting a "dead end".

According to Swedish media reports, Gift of the Givers had been negotiating a ransom with the hostage-takers.

AQIM had released several videos of Gustafsson and McGown over the years, but very little has been known about the kidnappers' demands.

Stephen Gustafsson's family had repeatedly pleaded for his release in statements to the media, but on Monday his father Goran Gustafsson refused to comment on Stephen's release.

"I don't want to talk right now, I can't. You'll have to excuse me," he told news agency TT.

Several other Westerners have been kidnapped in Mali in recent years.

In January 2016, Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly was kidnapped by AQIM, also in Timbuktu, after she had received repeated threats from jihadists. The group released a proof of life video in January showing Stockly saying she was in good health.

Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti, a Colombian nun, was kidnapped in February of this year in southern Mali by armed men from an unidentified jihadist group, and her whereabouts remain unknown despite several arrests.

French aid worker Sophie Petronin was abducted in the northern Malian city of Gao in late 2016. No group has claimed responsibility for her disappearance.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has been on medical leave in London since the beginning of May

Nigeria's ailing President Muhammadu Buhari marked the end of Ramadan with an audio broadcast to the nation, his first public message since heading to London on medical leave nearly two months ago, the president's office said.

The recording attributed to the president was played on Nigerian radio channels over the weekend and featured a tired hesitant voice that appeared to be his, speaking in the Hausa language used in the Muslim-majority north, where Buhari is from.

"I am immensely grateful to God for his mercy in guiding us successfully to conclude another Ramadan fast," he said, according to a translation provided by his office. "My greetings to all Nigerian Muslims and our brother Christians on the occasion of Eid-al-Fitr."

Some Nigerians questioned the use of Hausa for Buhari's first message since departing for London on May 7, accusing him of addressing only his kinsmen rather than the nation as a whole.

Tensions are currently high between different ethnic groups, including Hausa-speaking Fulani herdsmen, who have clashed with farmers in the central state of Taraba recently, killing dozens.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has also appealed for unity in the face of a call by northerners in Kaduna for Christian Igbos living there to return to the southeast, where they are dominant.

Eid, a normally joyous occasion, marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"I, again, appeal to all Nigerians to avoid reckless statements or actions against our fellow countrymen," he said.

"We should all resolve to live in peace and unity in our great country," he added in the recording. It was not possible to determine when it was made.

There has been much speculation about the state of Buhari's health and despite reassurances from the government there have been reports on local media and social networks that the 74-year-old has difficulty speaking and suffers from memory loss.

He spent nearly two months in London for health reasons at the beginning of the year and on his return said he underwent blood transfusions and "couldn't recall being so sick since I was a young man".

No information was provided on his medical condition but he appeared extremely weak during his last appearances in public.

The government has said there is no cause for alarm over Buhari's health and that the reason for his departure was a follow-up medical consultation.
US President Donald Trump Trump has hit out in a string of tweets and a televised interview following the publication of a Washington Post account of Barack Obama's response to intelligence on Russia election meddling

US President Donald Trump on Monday demanded an apology over the Russia investigation rocking his presidency, as he kept up a days-long attack on Barack Obama for his handling of intelligence about election meddling by Moscow.

In a storm of morning tweets, Trump charged that his predecessor "colluded and obstructed" by failing to act after the CIA informed him Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered an operation to help defeat Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the November vote.

"The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling," Trump wrote. "With 4 months looking at Russia under a magnifying glass, they have zero 'tapes' of T [Trump] people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology!"

"The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win, and did not want to 'rock the boat.'"

"He didn't 'choke,' he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good," Trump tweeted, alluding to a Washington Post article that laid out the timeline of Obama's response to the Russian threat.

Trump hit out in a flurry of weekend tweets and a televised interview following the Friday publication of the behind-the-scenes account by the Post.

The paper reported that the previous administration issued four warnings to Moscow -- including one Obama delivered directly to Putin -- causing Moscow to pull back on possible plans to sabotage US voting operations.

But it said Obama opted to leave countermeasures for later, for fear of being seen as interfering in an election he was confident Clinton would win.

After Trump's shock victory in November, some Obama administration officials expressed regret at the lack of tougher action.

Some Democrats saw abundant irony in Trump blaming Obama for indecisiveness against a Russian operation he himself has long seemed to play down -- including when he fired FBI chief James Comey in May over his handling of allegations of meddling, and possible collusion with Trump's campaign.

But others have joined in the criticism, including Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who said at the weekend that Obama's administration had made a "serious mistake."
Plumes of smoke rise from the Old City of Mosul on June 26, 2017 as Iraqi forces search for jihadists following a surprise attack

Iraqi forces launched a house-to-house search operation Monday in parts of west Mosul after a surprise attack by Islamic State group jihadists recently expelled from the area.

Diehard IS fighters are putting up fierce resistance as an Iraqi offensive for Mosul's Old City, where a few hundred jihadists are believed to be holed up, entered its second week.

On Sunday the jihadists launched a string of counter-attacks on the Tanak and Yarmuk neighbourhoods of west Mosul from which they had been routed, leaving several people dead, officials said.

A top commander in the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), which sent forces to fight the IS gunmen, said the attackers had infiltrated the area by blending in with returning displaced civilians.

"The group came with the displaced and settled in the Tanak district. They regrouped and launched counter-attacks," Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi told AFP.

"Yarmuk is being searched house to house," he said, adding that two groups of IS attackers were still believed to be in the area, which lies on the western edge of the city.

A member of the Iraqi forces looks on during their advance through the Old City of Mosul on June 25, 2017

A CTS medic said the attack had caused deaths but he could not say how many.

"There are martyrs who were killed by Daesh," the medic said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

He said 15 to 20 jihadist fighters were also killed in the battle.

A local official told AFP the attacks were carried out by "sleeper cells" as a diversionary tactic to ease the siege on the Old City, where commanders say jihadists only control about one square kilometre.

"Operations to flush out pockets controlled by Daesh are ongoing," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

- Forces hoist the flag -

A member of the Iraqi forces advances through the streets of the Old City of Mosul on June 25, 2017

Iraqi forces, led by the CTS, launched a perilous assault on the Old City in central Mosul on June 18, eight months into an offensive to retake Mosul, the country's biggest military operation in years.

The latest fighting has focused on the neighbourhood of Faruq on the northern edges of the Old City and part of the district, known as Faruq al-Ola has been taken by the Iraqi forces.

"CTS forces liberated Faruq al-Ola neighbourhood in the Old City," said Lieutenant General Abdul Ami Rashid Yarallah of the Joint Operations Command coordinating the battle against IS.

"The Iraqi flag has been raised over buildings after large losses to the enemy," he added.

AFP reporters who toured the area gave a harrowing account of the devastation in the narrow alleyways of the Old City.

Buildings have been levelled entirely with electrical cables dangling from them and debris from blown up cars found on the upper floors of those still standing.

Carcasses of motorcycles and scooters that had been rigged with explosives and blown up are scattered along the sides of the narrow streets -- a legacy of IS suicide bombers who used them to slow the advance of the Iraqi forces.

And reporters spoke of the stench of decomposing bodies that permeated, including from the bloated remains of a jihadist half buried under the ruins of a building who died holding his weapon.

Members of the Iraqi federal police flash V-for-victory signs in the Old City of Mosul on June 26, 2017

Hundreds of IS fighters have been killed since the operation started in October 17, and hundreds of civilians have also died.

More than 800,000 people have had to flee their homes and many are still housed in overcrowded camps.

- 'Hunchback' -

CTS Lieutenant Colonel Salam al-Obeidi told AFP that 65 to 70 percent of the Old City "has been liberated".

"There is less than a square kilometre left to retake," he said on Sunday, speaking inside the Old City near what is left of the Hadba leaning minaret the jihadists blew up last week.

The Old City resonated with the sound of gunfire from automatic rifles, exploding rockets and the thuds of mortar rounds.

This combination of images created on June 23, 2017 and grabbed from a video provided by Iraq's Joint Operation Command shows the moment Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback) was destroyed in the northern city of Mosul on June 21, 2017

The ornamental brickwork on the base of the 12th century Hadba (Hunchback) minaret, which was Mosul's symbol and one of the most recognisable landmarks in Iraq, was visible in the background.

The cylindrical shaft of the minaret came tumbling down when IS on June 21 detonated explosives the jihadists had rigged to it.

The jihadists simultaneously blew up the nearby Nuri mosque, where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave his first sermon as IS leader in July 2014, his last public appearance to date.
Maiduguri is the capital of Nigeria's northeastern Borno state and has a population of more than two million

Nine people have been killed in a string of suicide attacks in Maiduguri, a city in Nigeria's restive northeast where Boko Haram Islamists began a deadly insurgency in 2009, police said.

The attacks occurred as Nigeria began a two-day public holiday for Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Police said the bombings, which began late on Sunday, were carried out by seven suicide bombers, six of whom were women.

They targeted the campus of Maiduguri University and residential buildings in a district just northeast of the city, which is capital of Nigeria's Borno State.

State police spokesman Victor Isuku said the violence began when a male bomber blew himself up on campus, killing himself and wounding three security guards, one of whom later died.

Minutes later, four female suicide bombers entered a community on the northeastern outskirts of the city, with two of them blowing themselves up inside two residential buildings, killing eight and wounding another 11.

Another detonated her explosives without injuring anyone, while the fourth tried to do the same but was injured and arrested, later succumbing to her wounds, Isuku said.

Several hours later, two more female bombers staged another attack on the university, blowing themselves up without causing any casualties.

"In all, 16 people -- including the (seven) suicide bombers -- died in the multiple explosions while 13 people were injured," Isuku said.

- Eid attack plans -

On Friday, Nigeria's intelligence service said it had thwarted a plan to carry out a series of coordinated attacks targeting Muslims celebrating Eid in several cities, including Maiduguri.

Nigeria's military has said the group, whose insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead and more than 2.6 million homeless, is on the verge of defeat.

But Boko Haram has continued to mount sporadic raids and suicide bombings, including on June 19, when its militants killed at least 16 people near a camp for the displaced just outside Maiduguri.
South Africa is holding a new inquest into the 1971 death of Ahmed Timol, an anti-apartheid activist who fell from the 10th-storey window of police headquarters in Johannesburg.

A policeman who was with a South African anti-apartheid activist when he fell from a 10th-storey window in the 1970s could be questioned over the fatal incident, a new inquest into the death heard Monday.

Ahmed Timol, a 30-year-old activist, was arrested in Johannesburg on the night of October 22, 1971 and after five days in detention he plunged to his death from the city's police headquarters.

Following an investigation by authorities at the time, the anti-apartheid activist was found by a judge to have taken his own life -- but following a long campaign by his family the case has been re-opened.

It was revealed in the Johannesburg High Court as the case began on Monday that a police sergeant, Joao Rodrigues, who was in the room with Timol before he fell is alive and talking to investigators.

The Timol family had previously speculated that all of the police officers linked to the case may already have died.

"Whether he was pushed out of the window or whether he was forced to jump, one can't tell. But over the years I have always said that Ahmed was killed in police custody," Ahmed's younger brother Mohammad Timol previously told AFP.

- 'Massive punch in the stomach' -

Imtiaz Cajee, the nephew of Ahmed Timol, an anti-apartheid activist who died in police custody in South Africa in 1971, holds a portrait of his uncle.

Saleem Essop, a fellow activist who was with Timol when he was arrested, told the inquest that they were both brutalised by police following their detention for possession of banned political literature.

"They took Ahmed to the back and I remained handcuffed in the front. I was given a massive punch in the stomach which really knocked me," he said.

Essop was then accused of involvement in conspiracy to kill South African soldiers.

He claimed that during his own interrogation on the police building's 10th floor, he saw a hooded figure struggling to walk who he believed was Timol.

"My memory of this is absolutely vivid. He was hooded but I knew more or less that it was Ahmed," he said.

Essop said he was shown the stairwell by his guards and asked how many stairs there were and told that he could die if he fell.

He added that because of his own mistreatment, he slipped into a coma.

Dozens of anti-apartheid activists died in police custody or at the hands of the security services. Many of the crimes were examined for the first time by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a public forum established to air the horrors of apartheid South Africa that was chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"There is no doubt in my mind that during these proceedings we, as South Africans, are about to enter a door that will rekindle painful memories," wrote judge Billy Mothle in his order opening the new inquest. "That door will only close once the truth is revealed."

The inquest continues.
Trump said the US Supreme Court's ruling "allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective"

The US Supreme Court on Monday partially reinstated Donald Trump's controversial travel ban targeting citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries, prompting the president to claim a victory for national security.

The court said it would examine the case in full in October but said the ban could now be enforced for travelers from the targeted countries "who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."

The court tempered its ruling by saying the ban could not be implemented for now against people who have personal links to the US, citing the examples of foreign nationals wishing to visit family or students accepted to attend university.

But the Supreme Court's decision nonetheless marks a win for the Republican leader, who has insisted the ban is necessary for national security, despite criticism that it singles out Muslims in violation of the US constitution.

Trump had suffered a series of judicial defeats over the ban, with two federal appeals courts maintaining injunctions on it by arguing that his executive order discriminated against travelers based on their nationality.

Reacting to Monday's ruling, Trump said he felt vindicated by what he called "a clear victory for our national security."

"It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective," he said in a statement.

"As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm."

- Middle course -

But opponents welcomed the fact that the court had tempered the reach of the ban, as well as the prospect of the case being heard in the fall.

US President Donald Trump has insisted that a travel ban is necessary for national security, despite criticism that it singles out Muslims in violation of the US constitution

David Cole, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the ruling's impact would be limited and the real crunch would come in October.

The judges "essentially adopted a middle course" between the government's request to uphold Trump's order and the ACLU's appeals to stay the ban, he told AFP.

"The court went out of its way to not tip its hand as to how it will rule on the ultimate issue, which is whether the president has the power to do this."

The New York Immigration Coalition, another fierce opponent, said the ruling created more confusion by referring to 'bona fide relationship' which "agencies and individuals will struggle to make sense of."

Trump's revised measure, announced in March, seeks to bar from US entry travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, as well as suspend the entry of refugees for 120 days.

The original measure, issued by executive order in January and almost immediately blocked by the courts, also included Iraq and an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees.

Earlier this month, Trump said in a presidential memorandum that the travel ban could be expected to go into effect within 72 hours of relevant court rulings.

But rights groups said they did not expect any chaos at airports, as was seen when the first executive order was put in place.

- Discrimination -

In an ruling earlier this month, the three justices of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that "immigration, even for the president, is not a one-person show."

The Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the injunctions on the ban, saying the government could enforce its measure against "foreign nationals unconnected to the United States" without causing injury to the parties who filed suit.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the administration was confident that it would prevail when the nation's top judges hear the case in full.

"Groups like ISIS (the Islamic State group) and Al-Qaeda seek to sow chaos and destruction in our country, and often operate from war-torn and failed countries," he said.

"It is crucial that we properly vet those seeking to come to America from these locations, and failing to do so puts us all in danger."

The countries targeted were on a list drawn up by Barack Obama's government of places whose authorities had very poor data on their own citizens, making it difficult to vet the identities of visa applicants.

While the ban itself did not single out Muslims, judges in lower courts had cited Trump's repeated statements during last year's presidential race that he intended to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

- 'Extreme vetting' -

After the initial legal setback for the ban, the White House slightly revised the order to try to address concerns raised in the courts, but the second measure also was shot down.

Even without the ban in place, arrivals from the six countries has dropped sharply, in part due to the "extreme vetting" approach of US authorities, toughening their scrutiny of visa applicants.

Arrivals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen were down by nearly half in March and April from a year ago -- 6,372 for the two months compared to 12,100 in 2016, according to recent official data.
Public friction between the Vatican and China has been rare recently against the backdrop of discussions aimed at improving relations

The Vatican expressed "grave concern" on Monday for one of its bishops in China, saying he was being held in an unknown location after being "forcibly removed" from his diocese.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the Holy See was "profoundly saddened" by the situation of Peter Shao Zhumin, who he said has been missing for some time from his diocese in Wenzhou in southeastern China.

"The diocesan Catholic community and his relatives have no news or reasons for his removal, nor do they know where he is being held," Burke said.

According to the specialist religious website Asianews.it, Shao Zhumin has been in detention since May 18.

His friends fear the authorities are trying to force him to switch from the underground church recognised by the Vatican to the state-run Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA).

Burke said the cleric's treatment, and similar episodes, would not help the efforts to reach an understanding with the Chinese authorities on the status of the Church in the communist state.

"The Holy See hopes that Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin may return as soon as possible to his diocese and that he be allowed to carry out his ministry in peace," Burke said.

Such public friction between the Vatican and China has been rare of late against the backdrop of discussions aimed at improving relations long strained by differences over who has the authority to appoint bishops in the country.

Complicating matters, CPCA clergy chosen by the Communist Party are sometimes accepted by Rome, while Vatican-appointed bishops are not recognised by the government but are sometimes tolerated.

China is estimated to have about 12 million practising Catholics divided between the official and the underground branches of the Church.
The aftermath of Philando Castile's fatal shooting was captured on video recorded by his girlfriend and broadcast on Facebook Live

The family of a black motorist fatally shot by a Minnesota police officer, whose dying moments were livestreamed on Facebook, said Monday it had reached a nearly $3 million civil settlement with the US city that employed the acquitted cop.

The death of Philando Castile -- one in a series of high-profile shootings of African-Americans by police -- stunned the nation. His girlfriend Diamond Reynolds took to Facebook to livestream his agony as blood spread on Castile's shirt and the officer continued to yell orders with his gun drawn.

Jeronimo Yanez, 29, was found not guilty of manslaughter earlier this month for shooting the 32-year-old Castile during a traffic stop last year, after the driver informed the officer that he was carrying a gun, for which he had a legal permit.

The $2.995 million settlement with St Anthony, a suburb of the state capital St Paul, avoids a federal civil rights lawsuit, "which may have taken years to work its way through the courts, exacerbating the suffering of the family and of the community," according to a joint statement released Monday by the city and Castile family attorneys.

"No amount of money could ever replace Philando," the statement said, adding that the money -- to be paid by the city's insurance and not through taxpayer funds -- would be used to fund a foundation in Castile's name.

Police car video of the shooting released last week shows the exchange between Yanez and Castile lasting less than a minute before the officer shoots Castile at close range.

Following Yanez's acquittal, St Anthony said it would no longer employ him as a police officer.

The verdict, which sparked renewed protests in Minnesota, was the first of a string of three trials in one week in which US prosecutors failed to secure convictions of police officers in questionable shootings -- revealing the difficulty of prosecuting such cases, even with video evidence.

The trial of a former University of Cincinnati police officer accused of killing motorist Sam DuBose ended in a mistrial on Friday after the jury could not reach a unanimous decision.

And a Wisconsin jury last week acquitted a former police officer in the murder of Sylville Smith, a 23-year-old man who was carrying a pistol during a brief foot chase that ended with Dominique Heaggan-Brown fatally shooting him.
About 1.3 million people have fled their homes to escape the deadly violence in the DR Congo's central Kasai region, according to UN figures

The UN on Monday criticised a decision by a Congolese military tribunal not to prosecute seven Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers for crimes against humanity.

"We regret" the tribunal's decision, Jose Maria Aranaz, director of the United Nations joint human rights office (UNJHRO) and representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the DRC, told AFP.

"Prosecuting these crimes is a way of preventing other legal violations and further excessive use of force by the armed forces," Aranaz said.

The seven soldiers were already on trial for war crimes and other offences -- including murder, mutilation and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment -- apparently committed in the Kasai region.

They are being prosecuted over a video that emerged in February showing a group of uniformed men opening fire on civilians, then walking among at least 20 bodies.

The alleged incident occurred during an operation in a village called Mwanza Lomba in Kasai, according to the government.

On Saturday, prosecutors in the trial, which began on June 5, dropped the war crimes charges, but kept the murder charge and others.

"You can justify dropping the war crimes charges because there is no declared conflict in the Kasai," Aranaz said.

But it would have been important to prosecute the officers for crimes against humanity because it would send "a strong signal in the direction of those who are implicated in the violence in Kasai".

The central Kasai region has seen an explosion of deadly violence in recent months, with reports of gross rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and the use of child soldiers.

More than 3,300 people have been killed in eight months of spiralling unrest, a papal envoy to the country said last week, and UN figures show that 1.3 million people have fled their homes.

The UNJHRO believes "officers should guarantee the proportional use of force by military and police elements under their command" and dismiss all efforts to try to put these acts onto "isolated members in the army," Aranaz said.

The unrest in Kasai began when a local tribal chieftain, known as the Kamwina Nsapu, who was rebelling against the authority of President Joseph Kabila's government, was killed during clashes with the security forces in August 2016.

On Saturday, the UN urged Congolese authorities to pare back their military presence in the region "to prioritise dialogue".
Zimbabwean pastor Evan Mawarire addresses students at Wits University in Johannesburg in July 2016

Zimbabwe police arrested prominent protest pastor and anti-government campaigner Evan Mawarire on Monday after he spoke to a group of striking medical students, his family and lawyer said.

Mawarire, who last year led a mass anti-government movement dubbed "#ThisFlag" after he appeared on social media draped in the national colours, was arrested at the University of Zimbabwe, his sister Teldah Mawarire told AFP.

"I am with him at the police station," said his lawyer Harrison Nkomo, adding that Mawarire had been charged with "disorderly conduct in a public place".

Mawarire had earlier posted a video clip of his arrest on social media saying it was linked to his speech to students.

"I have been arrested. I am at Avondale police station," Mawarire said in the 42-second video clip.

"The reason I have been arrested is that I addressed university students whose fees had been increased. I have done nothing wrong."

Scores of placard-wielding students assembled at the main student union building to protest fee increases.

"The students are holding a peaceful protest against the decision to increase their fees two weeks before they sit for their examinations," Allister Pfunde, president of the Zimbabwe National Students' Union told AFP.

"The majority of these students can't afford decent accommodation and proper meals."

The university accused the students of throwing stones and responded by ordering all medical students out of their university halls of residence.

Mawarire's anti-government movement shut down major cities and paralysed public transport and prompted the government to ban public protests.

He was arrested and and charged with "attempting to subvert a constitutionally-elected government" though he has yet to face trial over those charges.
Since its landmark 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage, the US Supreme Court's makeup has shifted to the right, raising the possibility that it could rule in favor of Colorado baker Jack Phillips

The US Supreme Court agreed Monday to review whether a Colorado baker discriminated against a gay couple by refusing to make their wedding cake on religious grounds.

The high court took up the case exactly two years after it legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Lower courts had ruled against Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, saying his right to exercise religious freedom did not outweigh the couple's protection under anti-discrimination laws -- decisions seen by activists as victories for gay rights.

But since its landmark 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court's makeup has shifted to the right, raising the possibility that it could rule in favor of Phillips.

Masterpiece Cakeshop is one of a number of businesses that have been successfully sued for discriminating against gay couples.

Charlie Craig and David Mullins filed a complaint under Colorado's anti-discrimination laws after Phillips told them in 2012 he wouldn't make them a wedding cake due to his religious objections to gay marriage.

Phillips argued that being required to make wedding cakes for gay couples violated his right to freedom of religion and his free speech rights as a cake "artist."

In 2015, an appeals court in Colorado rejected Phillips' stance, saying that requiring someone to comply with the law is not the same as compelling them to "endorse" something they don't agree with.

"Masterpiece remains free to continue espousing its religious beliefs, including its opposition to same-sex marriage," the court ruled.

However, it said, as a public business, it is prohibited "from picking and choosing customers based on their sexual orientation."

A number of lower-court cases in recent years have consistently rejected people's claims of their right to refuse services to same-sex couples getting married.

An Oregon bakery was ordered to pay $135,000 in damages in 2015 after refusing to bake a cake for a 2013 same-sex wedding.

In 2014, the Supreme Court refused to review a judgment against a New Mexico wedding photographer who refused to work for a lesbian couple in 2008.
Trump travel ban proposal

The US Supreme Court on Monday partially reinstated Donald Trump's controversial travel ban ahead of a full hearing on the case, the latest twist in one of the defining battles of the president's young administration.

Trump's revised executive order -- which bars access to the United States to all refugees and to travelers from six mainly Muslim countries -- replaced a broader ban that was blocked by US courts days after its chaotic rollout.

The decision by the nation's highest court to examine the travel ban in full in October this year could put the embattled measure on a path to final resolution.

Here is a timeline of the ban's legal journey:

-- January 27, 2017: Just one week after his inauguration, Trump unveils his original executive order on immigration with no prior warning, sowing travel chaos and igniting worldwide outrage. Legal challenges are quickly filed against the ban, which denies entry to all refugees for 120 days, and travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Refugees from Syria are blocked indefinitely.

-- February 3: A federal judge in Seattle, James Robart, suspends the ban nationwide after two US states ask for it to be overturned on grounds of religious discrimination and that it had caused "irreparable harm." Trump mocks the decision, calling Robart a "so-called judge."

-- February 5: A San Francisco-based federal appeals court rejects a Justice Department request to immediately reinstate the travel ban, scheduling a hearing for both sides to present additional documents.

-- February 7: A panel of three judges hears arguments in a contentious hearing that focuses on whether to immediately lift the lower court's stay, rather than on the decree's constitutionality.

-- February 9: The San Francisco federal appeals court refuses to reinstate Trump's controversial order, meaning the lower court's stay remains in place. The president vows a legal fight, tweeting: "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"

-- February 10: Trump denounces the previous day's ruling as a "disgraceful decision," vowing his decree will ultimately go into effect as the White House mulls its next steps.

-- February 16: Trump says he will announce a "new and very comprehensive" executive order on immigration the following week in a bid to work around hurdles blocking the initial decree, rulings the government opts not to appeal before the Supreme Court.

-- March 6: The president signs a scaled-back version of the travel ban, exempting Iraqis and permanent US residents.

-- March 16: A federal judge in Hawaii freezes the second version of the ban, while a US judge in Maryland issues a separate block on the core provision of travel from the Muslim world, saying it amounts to discrimination. The Trump administration vows to challenge the rulings.

-- May 8: The Trump administration defends the decree at an appeals court hearing in Virginia, with judges questioning whether Trump had acted in "bad faith," disguising an order targeting Muslims as one intended to prevent terrorism.

-- May 15: The order again faces judicial scrutiny, this time at an appeals court in Seattle. The US Justice Department's lawyer says the president is targeting "Islamic terrorist groups and the countries that sponsor or shelter them," not Muslims.

-- May 25: The appeals court in Virginia upholds a lower court's decision to block the measure, dealing a fresh setback to the president.

-- June 2: The Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to take on the case.

-- June 12: In a new defeat for Team Trump, an appeals court in San Francisco rules against the ban, saying the president exceeded his authority to make immigration-related national security judgments without justification.

-- June 26: The Supreme Court agrees to examine the travel ban case in full in October, and in the meantime rules that it can be immediately enforced for travellers from the targeted countries "who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin, shown here in 2013, has pledged to block any peaceful resolution to the conflict in disputed Kashmir

The US State Department imposed sanctions Monday on Syed Salahuddin, the senior leader of the Kashmiri militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

The move means the United States now considers Salahuddin, also known as Mohammad Yusuf Shah, a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist," the State Department said in a statement.

Salahuddin in September vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, officials said, threatened to train more suicide bombers, and turn the disputed valley "into a graveyard for Indian forces."

The designation slaps sanctions on "foreign persons who have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States," the statement read.

The new sanctions mean American citizens are generally barred from doing business with Salahuddin, and all his assets subject to United States jurisdiction are blocked.

Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is one of several homegrown militant groups that have for decades been fighting around half a million Indian troops deployed in the region, calling for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

The State Department said that under Salahuddin, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for several attacks.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

The designation was announced just before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was due at the White House for his first face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump.
Bob Corker, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he wanted assurances that Gulf countries were working to end their standoff before approving further arms sales to the region

A top Republican lawmaker on Monday threatened to block US arms sales to members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council including Saudi Arabia until their escalating rift with Qatar is resolved.

"All countries in the region need to do more to combat terrorism, but recent disputes among the GCC countries only serve to hurt efforts to fight ISIS and counter Iran," Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

"For these reasons, before we provide any further clearances during the informal review period on sales of lethal military equipment to the GCC states, we need a better understanding of the path to resolve the current dispute and reunify the GCC."

US law requires the State Department to notify Congress 30 days before it sells major military equipment. Congress in turn has the power to vote to block the sale.

In addition, the chairs and vice chairs of the Senate and House committees on foreign relations must give their "preliminary approval," according to Corker's office.

Corker's block threatens to put the Trump administration's Middle East diplomacy efforts at risk.

Trump has allied Washington more closely to Saudi Arabia since taking office in January, as a way to boost the fight against the Islamic State extremist group.

But earlier this month in a bid to reassure Qatar, the United States agreed to a $12-billion sale of F-15 war planes to the emirate.

Saudi Arabia severed ties with gas-rich Qatar on June 5, with Riyadh accusing the emirate of links to terrorism and of supporting groups, including some backed by Iran, that aim to destabilise the region.

Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and the Maldives also cut diplomatic ties with Doha.

The small emirate has been isolated economically through a trade blockade.

Qatar houses the largest US airbase in the Middle East and the command headquarters for US military operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, and Tillerson has been engaged in seeking to resolve the row.

During Trump's recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Washington inked a massive, $110-billion arms deal with the kingdom.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is pictured prior to his meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria in Moscow on June 8, 2017

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday urged US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to prevent "provocations" against Syrian government forces, the foreign ministry said.

In a phone call initiated by Tillerson, Lavrov "called on Washington to take steps to prevent provocations against Syrian government forces carrying out operations against terrorists," it said in a statement.

The communique was issued after Israel said it had fired on Syrian regime positions on Sunday in response to projectiles from Syria that landed in the occupied Golan Heights.

The incident occurred close to a zone of fierce clashes between regime forces and rebels.

Lavrov and Tillerson also spoke of the need to "strengthen the ceasefire in Syria" and "intensify the fight against terrorist groups," the statement added.

A new round of peace negotiations on Syria is scheduled to take place in the Kazakh capital of Astana on July 4-5.

The six-year conflict has killed more than 320,000 Syrians and forced millions from their homes.
The US Supreme Court is re-hearing a case on the rights of detained immigrants, weighing whether they can be held indefinitely without being offered bail

The US Supreme Court said Monday that it would re-hear a case on the rights of detained immigrants, weighing whether they can be held indefinitely without being offered bail.

The case could be crucial in the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration and its efforts to deport legal immigrants with criminal records.

The decision to essentially re-try the case suggested justices may have been deadlocked four to four, and that conservative justice Neil Gorsuch, newly added to the court by President Donald Trump, could be the swing vote in deciding whether immigrants have protections from indefinite detention.

The court first heard arguments over the pivotal case in November amid a crackdown on illegal immigration by president Barack Obama's government.

But the case has taken on more weight under Trump, who has pledged to arrest and expel legal immigrants with crime records.

With immigration court cases averaging around 670 days, and conditions in detention centers facing criticism, the authorities have been forced to acknowledge detainee rights issues.

In the original class action suit, brought in the name of two immigrants held for long periods with no hearing, a district court and an appeals court ruled they should have rights similar to citizens who are guaranteed protections against indefinite detentions.

The case cited the experiences of two key plaintiffs. One was Alejandro Rodriguez, who arrived from Mexico as a child and attained legal permanent resident status.

After he was convicted for driving a stolen car and arrested for drug possession, the authorities sought to deport him, and he was held for three years without a hearing.

The other was Ahilan Nadarajah, a Sri Lankan who sought asylum in the United States in 2001 but ended up in detention for four years and five months due to secret evidence claiming he was a Tamil separatist fighter.

Both eventually were allowed to stay in the country, but their cases became the core of a lawsuit representing many others in the same situation and backed by rights groups.

Ruling for the plaintiffs, lower courts suggested that such detainees should be given bond hearings every six months, and released if shown not to be a flight threat.

The Obama government challenged the case to the Supreme Court, arguing that such people already have certain rights to protect them and that expanding those rights requires Congress to act with new legislation, not a court ruling.
SEATTLE (AP) - Two Seattle police officers who shot and killed a 30-year-old pregnant woman each say they fired their weapons after the woman suddenly pulled a knife and came after them.

The Seattle Police Department late Friday released transcripts of interviews with the officers involved in the June 18 fatal shooting of Charleena Lyles, the Seattle Times reported (http://bit.ly/2p7zusN).

The two officers say they had no choice but to use lethal force after Lyles, a mother of four, tried to stab Officer Jason Anderson in the stomach and cornered Officer Steven McNew in the kitchen.

People attend a vigil outside the apartment where Charleena Lyles lived, Sunday, June 18, 2017. Seattle police are investigating the fatal shooting by two officers of the woman family members say was pregnant and struggling with mental health issues. (Genna Martin/seattlepi.com via AP)

Family members, who previously expressed concerns about her mental health after Lyles threatened officers with long metal shears less than two weeks before the shooting, question why the officers didn't use nonlethal methods to subdue the petite woman and have suggested race played a role. Lyles was black, and the officers were white.

The officers responded to the apartment on June 18 after Lyles reported a burglary. Anderson told investigators that the officers were talking with Lyles and he was looking at his notebook when Lyles pulled a knife from about 3 feet away.

Anderson told investigators, according to the transcript, that he "was jumping back, uh, kind of sucking my abdomen in trying to avoid getting stabbed in the stomach."

Anderson said "just the look on her face changed completely from when I had been talking to her a second early."

Anderson said Lyles advanced from around a counter into the kitchen toward McNew, telling investigators that "at that moment I was in, in fear that she was gonna try and kill my partner, um, 'cause she was going after him," according to the transcript. "I don't know at what point she changed her focus from, from me to Steve, um, but as she started turning the corner to go after Steve, that's when I, um, that's when I shot."

McNew told investigators Lyles had him trapped in the kitchen and was closing the distance between them.

"And at that point, fearing for what was about to happen, what she would do to me, um, being stuck in that spot, I fired my handgun," he told investigators, noting he remembered hearing shots coming from Anderson's location.

"She hit the floor," McNew said. "She, I didn't see her movement, but when she landed on the floor she landed face down."

Lyles had four children, and three of them - ages 11, 4 and 1 - were at home when she called police.

After the shooting, McNew said, "one of the little babies crawls out from behind and right on top of her . her . upper body, you know resting his head against her."

McNew picked up the child, and a third officer who arrived began giving first aid to Lyles.

Along with the transcripts, police also released images of what appear to be kitchen knives as well as a diagram of Lyles' apartment.

Anderson told investigators he wasn't carrying a Taser because the battery had died two weeks earlier. But he said that he wouldn't have used it in that situation because he was trained to use lethal force when being attacked by someone with a knife.

McNew's transcript is about 29 pages, while Anderson's transcript is about 60 pages.

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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - An Afghan official says the Taliban have attacked a security post in western Afghanistan, killing at least 10 police and wounding another three.

Jelani Farhad, spokesman for the governor of the western Herat province, said the Taliban attacked late Saturday, setting off a gunbattle in which five insurgents were killed.

No one immediately claimed the attack.

The Taliban have steadily expanded their reach across Afghanistan since U.S. and international forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014, switching to a support and counterterrorism role.

In an address Sunday marking the start of Eid al-Fitr, a major Muslim holiday, President Ashraf Ghani reiterated his call for the Taliban to return to peace talks.
DETROIT (AP) - Detroit police say a pregnant woman is in critical condition after being ambushed and shot four times outside her home.

Police say the 32-year-old woman was struck late Saturday in the abdomen, thigh, right forearm and right lower leg. The shooting's effect on the baby was not immediately known.

The woman had just arrived home and exited her car when she was ambushed by someone inside her home. Police say the home's front door slung open and someone who'd been inside opened fire and then fled the scene.

The wounded woman ran to her car and began to drive to the hospital, but she made it only a short distance before she collapsed.

Medics took her to a hospital, where she remained in critical condition.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Back on the mound, Roberto Osuna settled into his comfort zone.

The Toronto closer struck out three in a scoreless ninth inning a day after saying he was dealing with anxiety issues, and the Blue Jays avoided a sweep by beating the Kansas City Royals 8-2 Sunday.

"I felt really good and I felt better than yesterday and the day before," Osuna said through a translator. "I'm just ready to work on that and get over it."

Toronto Blue Jays' Jose Bautista, left, and pitcher Roberto Osuna, right, celebrate at the end of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

Jose Bautista homered and drove in a season-high four runs and Francisco Liriano earned his 100th career victory.

Osuna didn't pitch in a save situation on Friday night, and the Blue Jays' bullpen let a game get away. On Saturday, the 22-year-old reliever said he was out of sorts mentally and feeling lost.

Osuna has received an outpouring of support on social media.

"I didn't read everything, but I hear about it," he said. "I really appreciate the support of the people, but I have other stuff to think about right now. I just thank the fans for that, but I'm just trying to work on that by myself."

"I'm just trying to do my best when I go out there and I'm trying to follow directions, whatever the doctors and trainers here tell me to do. I just follow directions and hopefully it's going to get better," he said.

Osuna, who has 19 saves, returned to the mound in a non-save spot and gave up an infield single while getting the last three outs.

"If there comes a time or day he doesn't feel he could, he would let us know," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "But that's personal stuff. You guys need to stay out of that."

Bautista hit a two-run, 450-foot homer in the fifth that tied it. He walked with the bases loaded in a five-run sixth and singled home Kevin Pillar, who had three hits, in the seventh.

Bautista did a little celebration dance with Osuna after the final out.

"Hopefully he can continue to come out there when we need him," Bautista said. "It's encouraging to see him just go out and pitch well."

Liriano (4-3) allowed two runs on six hits while pitching into the seventh. He improved to 100-95 in 12 seasons with Toronto, Minnesota, the White Sox and Pittsburgh.

The Blue Jays scored five runs off relievers Scott Alexander (0-2) and Peter Moylan, who combined to face six batters and retire none. Josh Donaldson's two-run double was the key hit in the sixth.

Royals starter Jason Hammel left after five innings and 105 pitches. He gave up five hits and struck out six.

Jorge Bonifacio homered in the first for the Royals. He doubled in the fourth and scored on Eric Hosmer's single.

"You win the first two games, you're obviously disappointed you don't sweep," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "The fact we won the series is a little bit of a consolation."

MOYLAN EJECTED

After Moylan was pulled in the sixth, he had a few choice words on the way to the dugout for plate umpire John Tumpane and was ejected. Moylan had issues with Tumpane's strike zone.

"I don't know whether you noticed my reaction, but I felt a couple of them could have been called strikes in that situation," Moylan said when he walked Bautista. "A 2-2 count as opposed to a 3-1 count changes the whole at-bat and the whole game really."

NOT GOOD IN DIVISION

The Royals will play their next seven games against AL Central opponents Detroit and Minnesota. Kansas City is 9-18 within the division. The Royals are 12-7 against AL East clubs, 11-10 against AL West and 5-2 against the National League.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (right oblique strain) made his first minor league rehab start Saturday for Triple-A Omaha. He allowed two runs on three hits, including a home run, struck out three and walked one. "He felt good. His stuff was good," Yost said. Duffy threw 48 pitches. His next scheduled start will be Thursday at Colorado Springs.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: After an off-day Monday, RHP Kevin Gausman (3-7, 6.47) will start Tuesday against visiting Baltimore.

Royals: LHP Matt Strahm (2-4, 4.80) will start Tuesday at Detroit.

Toronto Blue Jays' Jose Bautista reacts after scoring with bases loaded in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano throws against a Kansas City Royals batter in the first inning of a baseball game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Better weather conditions have limited the growth of a wildfire in Utah that has prompted the evacuation of 1,500 people from hundreds of homes and cabins, officials said Sunday night. In Southern California, a wildfire broke out after a car crashed on a freeway and prompted evacuations of nearby homes in the city of Santa Clarita.

Utah wildfire Incident Commander Tim Roide said in a statement that Sunday was "a good day for firefighters, who were able to have success securing areas of particular concern, including the many structures affected by the Brian Head Fire."

Firefighters on Sunday put in barriers against the flames and air tankers dropped fire retardant in anticipation of winds coming in from the southwest on Monday, officials said. The blaze, which is being battled by about 1,000 firefighters, covers nearly 67 square miles (174 square kilometers) and is 10 percent contained.

The Brian Head Fire continues to grow and has burned more than 27,700 acres, Friday, June 23, 2017 in Brian Head, Utah. A wildfire menacing a southern Utah ski town for nearly a week flared again, doubling in size for the second night in a row and torching more homes after residents fled the flames, officials said Friday. The blaze was one of several burning in the U.S. West as extreme heat challenges firefighters. (Stuart Johnson/The Deseret News via AP)

KUTV reported that a few Utah families were allowed back to their homes near the resort town of Brian Head to survey damage and retrieve essential items, but most were left waiting and wondering when they would be able to come home. The fire has also burned in the Dixie National Forest.

Evacuation orders were also issued for nearby mountain communities generally known for weekend getaway homes for Las Vegas residents.

"This is a catastrophic fire, no two ways about it," Garfield County Sheriff Jim Perkins said.

The fire in California started Sunday afternoon in Santa Clarita north of Los Angeles, prompting authorities to shut down all lanes of a highway and send crews to fight the blaze that quickly grew to more than 1 square mile (2.6 square kilometers), fed by tinder-dry brush and driven by winds in stifling heat. One structure was destroyed but authorities did not say if it was a home.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were helping residents of some homes evacuate "out of an abundance of caution." The sheriff's office in a statement did not say how many people had been evacuated.

The fire was 70 percent contained by 7 p.m., official said.

The Utah firefighters could face more challenges on Monday because the National Weather Service warned of critical fire weather conditions with gusty winds, high temperatures and low humidity. There's also a chance for thunderstorms that could add more sparks.

The Utah blaze was accidentally started June 17 by someone using a torch to burn weeds. It intensified over the past week because hot and windy weather conditions fanned the flames.

Authorities on Monday will send a second team of firefighters to help try to put it out. The National Interagency Coordination Center's latest report showed it was the largest wildfire in the U.S.

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This version corrects that Santa Clarita is north, not south, of Los Angeles.

A fast-growing brush fire burns in Santa Clarita, Calif., Sunday, June 25, 2017. The fire sparked when a car crashed on a Los Angeles County freeway. (AP Photo/John Antczak)

The Brian Head Fire continues to grow and has burned more than 27,700 acres, Friday, June 23, 2017 in Brian Head, Utah. A wildfire menacing a southern Utah ski town for nearly a week flared again, doubling in size for the second night in a row and torching more homes after residents fled the flames, officials said Friday. The blaze was one of several burning in the U.S. West as extreme heat challenges firefighters. (Stuart Johnson/The Deseret News via AP)

The Brian Head Fire continues to grow and has burned more than 27,700 acres, Friday, June 23, 2017 in Brian Head, Utah. A wildfire menacing a southern Utah ski town for nearly a week flared again, doubling in size for the second night in a row and torching more homes after residents fled the flames, officials said Friday. The blaze was one of several burning in the U.S. West as extreme heat challenges firefighters. (Stuart Johnson/The Deseret News via AP)
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

1. WHAT TRUMP SAID ABOUT REPEALING OBAMACARE

President Trump says he doesn't think congressional Republicans are "that far off" on a health overhaul to replace "the dead carcass of Obamacare." Some GOP critics, meanwhile, are expressing doubt over a successful vote this week.

People march in the Oklahoma City Pride Parade on Sunday, June 25, 2017, in Oklahoma City. (Sarah Phipps/The Oklahoman via AP)

2. WHY GAY PRIDE PARTICIPANTS WERE MARCHING

Parades in New York, San Francisco and other cities were spotlighting resistance to what marchers see as new pressure on gay rights.

3. OVER 150 DEAD IN PAKISTAN EXPLOSION

Villagers were racing to the scene of an overturned tanker truck with fuel containers to gather the oil as the wreck exploded, engulfing people in flames as they screamed in terror.

4. HOW PARTISAN GERRYMANDERING AFFECTS ELECTIONS

An Associated Press analysis shows Republicans have a real advantage, with four times as many states with GOP-skewed state House or Assembly districts than Democratic ones.

5. REDISTRICTING AFFECTS UNCONTESTED RACES

Political scientists say a big reason for the lack of candidates is the way districts are drawn - gerrymandered, in some cases, to ensure as many comfortable seats as possible for the majority party.

6. WHERE GOVERNMENT WEBSITES WERE HACKED

Several Ohio state sites appeared with a message that purports to be supportive of the Islamic State terrorist group.

7. HOW MANY LONDON HIGH-RISE TOWERS FAILED FIRE SAFETY TESTS

British officials say the list of high-rise apartment towers that have failed fire safety tests has grown, revealing the mounting challenge the government faces in the aftermath of London's Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.

8. TAKATA FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY IN JAPAN AND U.S.

The Japanese air bag maker has been overwhelmed by lawsuits and recall costs related to its production of faulty air bag inflators that are linked to the death of at least 16 people.

9. GIRL'S SAFE FALL FROM AMUSEMENT RIDE CAUGHT ON VIDEO

A man and his daughter caught a young girl who fell after dangling from a slow-moving gondola ride.

10. WHO GOT PROMOTED, DESPITE A BAD BATTING AVERAGE

Former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow got called up to the New York Mets' high Class A affiliate in Florida, despite hitting just .222.

Pakistani rescue workers examine the site of an oil tanker explosion at a highway near Bahawalpur, Pakistan, Sunday, June 25, 2017. An overturned oil tanker burst into flames in Pakistan on Sunday, killing more than one hundred people who had rushed to the scene of the highway accident to gather leaking fuel, an official said. (AP Photo/Iram Asim)
A look at what's happening all around the majors Monday:

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CALIFORNIA CRUISIN'

Los Angeles Dodgers' Cody Bellinger, right, celebrates with Justin Turner after a two-run home run against the Colorado Rockies during the third inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

The Los Angeles Dodgers try for their 11th straight win, which would match the team's best string since 2006. Rich Hill pitches for the NL West leaders when the Los Angeles Angels visit Dodger Stadium - Angels starter Ricky Nolasco has lost seven decisions in a row.

RANGER READY

Cole Hamels (2-0, 3.03) is expected to return from the disabled list for Texas in the opener of a series at Cleveland. The left-hander has been out for eight weeks with a strained oblique muscle. The Rangers are ready for the help with Martin Perez, Andrew Cashner and A.J. Griffin all on the disabled list - Perez landed there Saturday after catching his non-throwing right thumb in the hinge of a hotel door. Carlos Carrasco (8-3, 2.99) is set to pitch for the Indians.

ALL SET?

Yankees outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury has been out a month because of a concussion, and could come off the disabled list to play vs. the White Sox in Chicago. New York needs another outfielder after Aaron Hicks injured his ribcage on a check swing Sunday, sidelining him at least three weeks.

ROCKY ROAD

San Francisco righty Jeff Samardzija hopes for better results when he faces the visiting Rockies. He is 0-3 with a 9.33 ERA in three outings against Colorado this season.

AILING

Cubs shortstop Addison Russell might miss the series opener at Washington because of a sore throwing shoulder. He left Sunday's loss at Miami with a sharp pinching pain, which has bothered him at times since last season.

STUDY THEM

LSU and Florida begin the best-of-three College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Both teams will save their aces for later - Gators righty Alex Faedo, a recent first-round draft pick by Detroit, and LSU career wins leader Jared Poche, a ninth-round choice by Oakland.

Fans cheer after Los Angeles Dodgers' Austin Barnes scores the go ahead run on a wild during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
HARTLAND, Vt. (AP) - Each spring and summer, a Vermont bog yields a rare spectacle - hundreds of wild orchids in bloom, drawing visitors from around the country.

The bulbous pink and white showy lady's slippers (Cypripedium reginae) are on full display among the ferns, bushes and chirping birds at Eshqua Bog in Hartland.

This particular orchid, considered rare in Vermont and a number of other states and different from the more common pink lady's slipper, thrives in Eshqua, because of the wet, sunny conditions, with soils containing peat and lime.

In this Thursday, June 22, 2017 photo, a rare wild orchid blooms in the Eshqua Bog in Hartland, Vt. This particular orchid is considered rare in Vermont. It thrives in the area that is technically defined as a fen because of the wet, sunny conditions, with soil containing peat and lime. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

Mary English drove about an hour from Landgrove, Vermont, to see the orchids on Thursday. When she arrived, she had the bog to herself.

"I just wandered through by myself. It was very special. It's like being in a South American country," she said.

A boardwalk allows visitors of all ages and abilities access to the bog and an up-close look at the plants.

"Gosh, aren't they beautiful?" said Heather Crawley, of Maryville, Tennessee, as she studiously photographed the orchids with a special lens on Thursday. "To think it's natural, too."

Visitors can also walk a half-mile trail.

The area is technically a fen because it's less acidic than a bog and fed by groundwater containing nutrients like calcium and magnesium from the area bedrock, according to the Nature Conservancy, which owns and manages the preserve along with the New England Wild Flower Society. The sanctuary includes an 8-acre (3.2-hectare) wetland and 33 surrounding acres (13.4 hectares).

Other orchids also bloom, like yellow lady's slipper in late May and early June and the white bog orchid around now.

The lime-rich groundwater also helps to yield pitcher plants, insectivorous sundew and other plants.

But the orchids are typically the main show for visitors.

"The orchids love it at Eshqua, and people love to see the orchids," said Rose Paul, of the Nature Conservancy.

In this Thursday, June 22, 2017 photo, rare wild orchids bloom in the Eshqua Bog in Hartland, Vt. This particular orchid is considered rare in Vermont. It thrives in the area that is technically defined as a fen because of the wet, sunny conditions, with soil containing peat and lime. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

In this Thursday, June 22, 2017 photo, visitors photograph rare wild pink and white showy lady's slippers orchids in bloom at the Eshqua Bog in Hartland, Vt. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

In this Thursday, June 22, 2017 photo, rare wild orchids bloom in the Eshqua Bog in Hartland, Vt. This particular orchid is considered rare in Vermont. It thrives in the area that is technically defined as a fen because of the wet, sunny conditions, with soil containing peat and lime. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

In this Thursday, June 22, 2017 photo, rare wild orchids bloom in the Eshqua Bog in Hartland, Vt. This particular orchid is considered rare in Vermont. It thrives in the area that is technically defined as a fen because of the wet, sunny conditions, with soil containing peat and lime. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

In this Thursday, June 22, 2017 photo, rare wild orchids bloom in the Eshqua Bog in Hartland, Vt. The pink and white showy lady's slippers draw visitors from around the region to watch them bloom. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
SHANGHAI (AP) - The Latest on the criminal trial of Australian and Chinese casino workers in a Chinese court (all times local):

1:30 p.m.

An Australian official says Australian and Chinese employees of a casino company have pleaded guilty to charges relating to gambling in a Chinese court and that the three Australians have been sentenced to nine and 10 months' imprisonment.

Australian Consul General Graeme Meehan, left, arrives at the Baoshan District People's Court in Shanghai, China, Monday, June 26, 2017. Australian and Chinese casino employees stood trial Monday on charges relating to gambling, which is illegal in mainland China, in a case that highlights the sensitivity of doing certain businesses in China. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

The 19 employees of Australia's Crown Resorts Ltd. stood trial at a court in Shanghai on Monday.

Australian Consul General in Shanghai Graeme Meehan says Jason O'Connor, the head of Australia's Crown Resorts international VIP programs, was sentenced to 10 months in prison. He says Jerry Xuan and Jenny Pan received sentences of nine months' imprisonment.

Meehan said outside court that the sentences start from the date they were detained, which was Oct. 14.

Casino gambling and the promoting of gambling are illegal in mainland China.

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11 a.m.

Australian and Chinese casino employees are standing trial on charges relating to gambling, in a case that highlights the sensitivity of doing certain businesses in China.

Three Australians from the sales and marketing team of Australia's Crown Resorts Ltd. are among the 19 listed on trial at the Baoshan District People's Court in Shanghai. The Australians are Jason O'Connor, the head of Crown's International VIP programs, and Australian-Chinese dual nationals Jerry Xuan and Jenny Pan.

Crown's vice-president in China, Malaysian Alfread Gomez, is also on trial.

Casino gambling and the promoting of gambling are illegal in mainland China and agents are banned from organizing groups of more than 10 Chinese citizens to gamble abroad. According to Chinese law, anyone who "runs a gambling house or makes gambling his profession" can face up to three years in prison.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Why are Republicans struggling mightily to reach a consensus on how to overhaul the nation's tax system?

The GOP is supposed to be really good at cutting taxes. President George W. Bush cut taxes. So did President Ronald Reagan, though he also raised them.

Why is President Donald Trump, who has promised the largest tax cut ever, having so much trouble accomplishing one of his main initiatives?

FILE - In this March 31, 2017, file photo, The U.S. Capitol is seen in the distance as rain falls on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Why are Republicans struggling mightily to reach a consensus on how to overhaul the nation's tax system? The GOP is supposed to be really good at cutting taxes. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, file)

Some questions and answers about why tax overhaul is hard and why Republicans have been unable to reach a consensus.

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WHAT'S THE HOLDUP?

After weeks of private negotiations, the White House and congressional Republicans still don't agree on exactly what they want to accomplish.

House Republican leaders are firm that they want to completely overhaul the tax system for businesses and individuals. They want to make the tax law simpler and more efficient, and they want the changes to endure beyond the next decade.

They want to cut tax rates, but they don't want the changes to add to the federal government's long-term debt. That means Congress would have to eliminate a lot of exemptions, deductions and credits, and probably come up with a new source of revenue.

The White House is all about tax cuts. Administration officials have talked about simplifying the tax system and getting rid of deductions, but have offered few specifics.

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WHY NOT JUST CUT TAXES?

A growing number of Republicans say they would rather cut taxes than tackle the difficult task of overhauling the tax system. House Speaker Paul Ryan vehemently opposes this approach.

Here's why:

Republicans are working to pass a tax plan under a procedure that requires only a simple majority in the Senate, preventing Democrats from blocking it. But to use this procedure, the package cannot add to the government's long-term debt.

That means simple tax cuts would have to be temporary, like the ones passed under Bush.

"Every expert agrees that temporary reforms will only have a negligible impact on wages and economic growth," said Ryan, R-Wis. "Businesses need to have confidence that we will not pull the rug out from under them."

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WHY IS RYAN PUSHING FOR A TAX ON IMPORTS?

Ryan is pushing a plan that would increase taxes on imports and cut taxes on exports. It's called a border adjustment tax.

One reason Ryan likes it is because it would raise enough revenue - about $1 trillion over the next decade - to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent without adding to the government's debt.

The tax would provide strong incentives for U.S.-based companies to keep their operations in the United States and perhaps persuade companies to move overseas operations to the U.S.

The tax, however, has no support in the Senate because senators fear it would increase the cost of consumer goods.

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HOW WOULD RYAN'S TAX WORK?

The border adjustment tax is a cash-flow tax in which corporations could deduct business expenses immediately instead of depreciating them over time. But interest on debt would no longer be deductible, though current debt would be grandfathered.

A U.S. company that makes a product and sells it domestically would pay a 20 percent tax on the profit. A U.S. company that makes a product and exports it would pay no taxes on the proceeds from the sale.

Both of these companies could deduct the cost of making their products as a business expense.

The tax is often described as a tax on imports because companies that import goods would also pay the tax, but they could not deduct the cost of imported goods as a business expense.

For example, if a U.S. retailer imports a product from China for $5 and sells it for $10, the retailer would have to pay tax on the entire $10.

If a U.S. retailer buys a domestically-produced good for $5 and sells it for $10, the retailer would only pay tax on the $5 profit.

Retailers that rely on imports hate the proposed tax. U.S. exporters love it.

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WHY NOT JUST CUT LOOPHOLES?

A popular idea on Capitol Hill is to cut tax rates for everyone - individuals and corporations - and make up the lost revenue by eliminating special-interest loopholes.

The numbers, however, don't add up.

On the corporate side, if Congress eliminated just about every tax break enjoyed by corporations, it would raise only enough revenue to lower the corporate tax rate to 28.5 percent, according to an analysis by Scott Greenberg, a senior analyst at the conservative Tax Foundation.

Ryan wants to lower the tax rate to 20 percent; Trump wants to lower it to 15 percent.

Greenberg modeled the effects of eliminating 54 different tax breaks enjoyed by corporations, including the widely used domestic production credit and the popular credit for research and development.

"If lawmakers are interested in paying for a large corporate rate cut solely by 'closing corporate loopholes' or 'repealing special preferences,' then they will be greatly disappointed," Greenberg wrote.

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Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter at http://twitter.com/stephenatap
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Republican health care bill would leave 22 million more Americans uninsured in 2026 than under President Barack Obama's health care law, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Monday, complicating GOP leaders' hopes of pushing the plan through the chamber this week.

Minutes after the report's release, three GOP senators threatened to oppose a pivotal vote on the proposal this week, enough to sink it unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., can win over some of them or other GOP critics. The bill will fail if just three of the 52 Republican senators oppose it, an event that would deal a humiliating blow to President Donald Trump and Senate leaders.

The 22 million additional people without coverage is just a hair better than the 23 million who'd be left without insurance under the measure the House approved last month, the budget office has estimated. Trump has called the House version approved last month "mean" and told Senate Republicans to approve legislation with more "heart."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. walks from his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, June 26, 2017. Senate Republicans unveil a revised health care bill in hopes of securing support from wavering GOP lawmakers, including one who calls the drive to whip his party's bill through the Senate this week "a little offensive." (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

In good news for the GOP, the budget office said the Senate bill would cut the deficit by $202 billion more over the coming decade than the House version. Senate leaders could use some of those savings to attract moderate support by making Medicaid and other provisions in their measure more generous, though conservatives would prefer using that money to reduce federal deficits.

The White House lambasted the nonpartisan budget office in a statement, saying it has a "history of inaccuracy" projecting coverage. Democrats said the report confirmed their own analysis of the GOP measure.

"This bill is every bit as mean as the House bill," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Of the 22 million without coverage by 2026 under the Senate plan, 15 million would be without it next year, the budget office said. That could be a particular concern to moderate Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who faces perhaps the toughest 2018 re-election race of any Senate Republican and has said he can't support the measure if huge numbers of people lose coverage.

The budget office report said coverage losses would especially affect people between ages 50 and 64, before they qualify for Medicare, and with incomes below 200 percent of poverty level, or around $30,300 for an individual.

In one example, the report says that in 2026 under Obama's law, a 64-year-old earning $26,500 would pay premiums amounting to $1,700 a year, after subsidies. Under the Senate bill, that person would pay $6,500, partly because insurers would be able to charge older adults more.

Moderate Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she would vote against a GOP procedural motion, expected Wednesday, to begin formally debating the legislation. She tweeted that she favors a bipartisan effort to fix Obama's 2010 statute but added, "CBO analysis shows Senate bill won't do it."

In addition, conservative Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he would oppose that motion unless the bill was changed. And fellow conservative Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he had "a hard time believing" he'd have enough information to back that motion this week.

Those two - plus fellow conservatives Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas - have said the current measure doesn't do enough to erase Obama's law and reduce premiums. All four said last week they'd oppose the bill without changes, as did Heller.

Most of the disgruntled senators have left the door open to backing the measure if it's changed.

"It's going to be very close, but we're working with each one of them in trying to accommodate their concerns without losing other support," said No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas.

Vice President Mike Pence invited four GOP senators to dinner Tuesday to discuss the bill, his office said: Lee and Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ben Sasse of Nebraska.

The Senate plan, aimed at rolling back much of Obama's 2010 statute, would end the tax penalty that law imposes on people who don't buy insurance, in effect erasing Obama's so-called individual mandate. It would let states ease Obama's requirements that insurers cover certain specified services like substance abuse treatments, and eliminate taxes on wealthier people and medical companies that Obama's law used to expand coverage.

It would also phase out extra federal money that law is providing to 31 states to expand Medicaid to additional low-income earners. And it would put annual caps on overall Medicaid money the government until now has automatically paid states, whatever the costs.

CBO said that under the bill, most insurance markets around the country would be stable before 2020. It said that similar to the House bill, average premiums around the country would be higher over the next two years - including about 20 percent higher in 2018 than under Obama's statute - but lower beginning in 2020.

But the office said that overall, the Senate legislation would increase out of pocket costs for deductibles and copayments. That's because standard policies would be skimpier than currently offered under Obama's law, covering a smaller share of expected medical costs.

In another troublesome finding for the legislation, the budget office warned that in some rural areas, either no insurer would be willing participate in the individual market or the policies offered would be prohibitively expensive. Rural America was a stronghold for Trump in the presidential election.

The American Medical Association, the nation's largest doctors' group, said it opposed the Senate bill because some people would lose coverage and others would find it too costly. They wrote that the measure violates the physicians' dictum, "First, do no harm."

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Associated Press writers Erica Werner, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Ken Thomas and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., talks with Secretary for the Majority Laura Dove, as he walks to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, June 26, 2017. Senate Republicans unveil a revised health care bill in hopes of securing support from wavering GOP lawmakers, including one who calls the drive to whip his party's bill through the Senate this week "a little offensive." (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
BEIJING (AP) - Imprisoned Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo has been transferred to a hospital after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, authorities and his friends say.

The deteriorating health of China's best-known political prisoner was immediately met with dismay and anger by the country's beleaguered community of rights activists and lawyers, who called it a blow to the democracy movement.

Liu, 61, is receiving treatment at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang, lawyer Mo Shaoping told The Associated Press. Liu was diagnosed on May 23, and prison authorities in a statement said Liu was granted a medical parole and placed in the care of cancer experts, although it was not clear exactly when he was transferred to the hospital.

FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2010 file photo, a police officer stands guard beside a picture of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo outside the Chinese government liaison office in Hong Kong. Jailed Chinese Nobel peace laureate Liu has been released on medical parole after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, his lawyer said Monday, June 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

His cancer appears to be severe. "No surgery, no radiation, and no chemotherapy will do," a sobbing Liu Xia, his wife, said in a video phone call recorded on a cell phone. The clip has been shared in circles of supporters and verified by the couple's friends, who said she was at the hospital.

Liu's supporters and international human rights advocates are urging China to provide the best care to Liu and allow him to seek medical treatments abroad.

"The Chinese government's culpability for wrongfully imprisoning Liu Xiaobo is deepened by the fact that they released him only when he became gravely ill," said Sophie Richardson, China director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a statement. "The government should immediately allow Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, to seek proper treatment wherever they wish."

Liu, a literary critic and China's most prominent democracy campaigner, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 after being convicted of inciting state subversion for writing and disseminating Charter '08, a manifesto calling for an end to single-party rule.

The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by a Norway-based Nobel committee, which cheered China's fractured, persecuted dissident community and brought calls from the U.S., Germany and others for Liu's release, but also infuriated Beijing. In April, Beijing finally normalized relations with Oslo after a six-year hiatus.

The Liaoning Provincial Prison Administrative Bureau, which oversees the prison where Liu was incarcerated, confirmed in a statement on its website Monday that Liu had received a medical parole. It said the China Medical University No. 1 Affiliated Hospital in Shenyang formed a team of eight nationally known experts in the field of tumors that drew up a treatment plan for Liu.

It was unclear exactly what treatment Liu was receiving but as of 10 days ago his condition was stable, Mo said, citing Liu's family. He noted, however, that medical parole is only granted to prisoners who are gravely ill and unable to be treated at the prison's medical facilities.

Mo said Liu was likely to be closely guarded at the hospital in Shenyang and unable to receive visits from friends or return home. "Normally, most people will be allowed to go home, or to be with their families, or hospitals, but Liu Xiaobo is a special case," Mo said.

"I don't think he will be allowed to meet with people other than close relatives," he added.

At Liu Xia's apartment building in Beijing, AP journalists were accosted Monday by half a dozen plainclothes and other security officers and physically blocked from going beyond the first floor.

Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said Monday he was not aware of the latest development in Liu's case.

The news of Liu's diagnosis shocked and saddened fellow human rights activists who have admired the sacrifices Liu and his wife have made in the hope of achieving peaceful political change. Activists have also been alarmed by Liu Xia's gradual descent into depression after the soft-spoken poet and artist was forcibly sequestered by state security at home during her husband's imprisonment.

"It's known that Liu Xiaobo and his family have made a tremendous sacrifice for the cause of freedom and democracy in China," said Shanghai-based legal scholar Zhang Xuezhong. "This is unfortunate news for him and his family, and it's a blow to China's democracy movement, as so many people have placed hope in him, and rightfully so."

Zhang said Liu must go abroad for medical treatment. "I doubt he will get the treatment that is timely, sufficient and attentive in China," Zhang said. "The international community has a moral obligation to fight for him to get the treatment outside China."

Guo Yuhua, a professor of sociology at the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing, said she was angered by the news. "Those with conscience have given so much to this country, yet they are persecuted by the totalitarian rule," she told AP. "Those who have done evil will sooner or later be held accountable and written into the history to be spat on forever."

She urged Beijing to provide the best medical treatment for Liu and facilitate his travel if he and his family wish to seek treatment overseas. "Life and dignity should be first and foremost in this case," Guo said.

In Washington, Liu's international lawyer, Jared Genser, said he was deeply concerned by the circumstances of the dissident's parole.

"It is unconscionable that the government neglected Dr. Liu's health, despite repeated calls from the international community to ensure proper care. The Chinese authorities must provide Liu Xiaobo open access to his counsel and to the international community so that his wishes at this difficult time can be ascertained and honored," he said in a statement.

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Associated Press journalists Isolda Morillo and Mark Schiefelbein contributed to this report.

FILE - In this Dec. 6, 2012 file photo, Liu Xia, wife of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, poses with a photo of her and her husband during an interview at her home in Beijing. Jailed Chinese Nobel peace laureate and dissident Liu has been released on medical parole after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, his lawyer said Monday, June 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

Mo Shaoping, the former lawyer of Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, speaks during an interview in his law offices in Beijing, Monday, June 26, 2017. Jailed Chinese Nobel Peace laureate and dissident Liu has been transferred to a hospital following a diagnosis of late-stage liver cancer, Mo said Monday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
WASHINGTON (AP) - In Afghanistan's turbulent Helmand province, U.S. Marines are rekindling old relationships and identifying weaknesses in the Afghan forces that the Trump administration hopes to address with a new strategy and the targeted infusion of several thousand American forces.

Returning to Afghanistan's south after five years, Marine Brig. Gen. Roger Turner already knows where he could use some additional U.S. troops. And while he agrees that the fight against the Taliban in Helmand is at a difficult stalemate, he said he is seeing improvements in the local forces as his Marines settle into their roles advising the Afghan National Army's 215th Corps.

Turner's report on the fight in Helmand will be part of a broader assessment that Gen. Joseph Dunford wlll collect this week from his senior military commanders in Afghanistan.

FILE - In this March 22, 2107 file photo, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. In Afghanistan's turbulent Helmand province, U.S. Marines are rekindling old relationships and identifying weaknesses in the Afghan forces that the Trump administration hopes to address with a new strategy and the targeted infusion of several thousand American forces. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Dunford landed in Kabul Monday with a mission to pull together the final elements of a military strategy that will include sending nearly 4,000 more U.S. troops into the country. He will be meeting with Afghan officials as well as U.S. and coalition military leaders and troops.

The expected deployment of more Americans will be specifically molded to bolster the Afghan forces in critical areas so they can eventually take greater control over the security of their own nation.

The Taliban have slowly resurged, following the decision to end the combat role of U.S. and international forces at the end of 2014. The NATO coalition switched to a support and advisory role, while the U.S. has also focused on counterterrorism missions.

Recognizing the continued Taliban threat and the growing Islamic State presence in the county, the Obama administration slowed its plan to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the end of last year. There are now about 8,400 there.

But commanders have complained that the sharp drawdown hurt their ability to adequately train and advise the Afghans while also increasing the counterterror fight. As a result, the Trump administration is completing a new military, diplomatic and economic strategy for the war, and is poised to send the additional U.S. troops, likely bolstered by some added international forces.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will be in Brussels later this week and is expected to talk with allies about their ongoing support for the war.

While Turner said he has already seen improvements in the Afghan's 215th Corps, he said adding more advisers would allow him to pinpoint problems at the lower command levels, including more brigades.

"The level and number of advisers you have really gives you the ability to view the chain on all the functional areas. The more areas you can see -- you can have a greater impact on the overall capability of the force," he told the Associated Press in an interview from Helmand Province. "If we had more capacity in the force we would be able to address more problems, faster."

He said that although the Afghan forces have improved their ability to fight, they still need help at some of the key underpinnings of a combat force, such as getting spare parts to troops with broken equipment.

The seemingly simple task of efficiently ordering and receiving parts -- something American forces do routinely -- requires a working supply chain from the warehouse to the unit on the battlefield.

And Turner said that's an issue that could be improved with additional advisers.

Other improvements, he said, include increasing the size of Afghanistan's special operations forces and building the capacity and capabilities of its nascent air force.

The Afghan ground forces in Helmand, he said, have been able to launch offensive operations against the Taliban, including a recent battle in Marjah.

"I don't think last year they could have taken the fight to Marjah like they just did," he said. "They're in a much better position that they were a year ago."

But they are facing a resilient Taliban, whose fighters are newly financed, now that the poppy harvest is over.

"Once they draw their finances, they start operations," said Turner. "What we've seen so far since the end of May, when they made that transition, is a steady grind of activity across a number of places in the province."

What has helped a lot, Turner said, is his Marines' ability to renew old relationships with Afghan tribal elders, provincial ministers and military commanders they worked with six or seven years ago.

Battalion officers they knew then are now commanders; many government leaders are still in place.

"We obviously have a long commitment here in Helmand. It's been good for the Marines to come back here," he said. "This is a really meaningful mission. I think people realize that we don't want to get into a situation where the kinds of pre-9/11 conditions exist again."
LONDON (AP) - A Canadian captain made history Monday by becoming the first female infantry officer to lead the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London.

Megan Couto led her unit -the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry or "The Patricia's" - in the ceremony, an event witnessed by thousands of tourists annually.

"I'm just focusing on doing my job as best I can and staying humble," said Couto, 24. "Any of my peers would be absolutely delighted to be captain of the queen's guard and I'm equally honored."

Canadian Captain Megan Couto, right, makes history by becoming the first female Captain of the Queen's Guard as she takes part in the Changing the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London, Monday, June 26, 2017. Couto and her unit, The Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI), known as "The Patricia's", took part in the ceremony Monday to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Canada and the sesquicentennial anniversary of Canadian Confederation. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

The unit was invited to Britain to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada's confederation.

The role of Mounting The Queen's Guard usually falls to the British Army's Household Division, which is part of the male-dominated infantry division.

"While Captain Megan Couto of Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is the first female infantry officer to undertake the role, it has been performed by female officers before," the army said in a statement. "We look forward to seeing a British Army female infantry captain of the queen's guard when roles are opened up to women by the end of next year."

Canadian women have been allowed to serve in the infantry since the 1980s.

The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is based in Manitoba, Canada. The unit is named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, a granddaughter of Britain's Queen Victoria.

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This story has been corrected to give the spelling of captain's last name as Couto instead of Cuoto, and to specify that Couto is the first female infantry officer, not the first woman.

Canadian Captain Megan Couto, right, makes history by becoming the first female Captain of the Queen's Guard as she takes part in the Changing the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London, Monday, June 26, 2017. Couto and her unit, The Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI), known as "The Patricia's", took part in the ceremony Monday to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Canada and the sesquicentennial anniversary of Canadian Confederation. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Demand for long-lasting U.S. factory goods fell by the most in 18 months, and a key category that tracks business investment also slipped, evidence that manufacturing output is barely growing.

Orders for durable goods - items meant to last at least three years - slid 1.1 percent in May, the Commerce Department said Monday. It was the second straight decline.

U.S. manufacturing production has slowed after a solid start to the year. Business investment in new equipment jumped in the January-March quarter but has leveled off since then. Orders for capital goods, excluding aircraft and military equipment, slipped 0.2 percent last month, a sign businesses are trimming their spending.

In this Tuesday, June 13, 2017, photo, Mark Miller Toyota salesman Doug Lund shows the engine of a Prius C hybrid to customer Mary Jean Jones, in Salt Lake City. On Monday, June 26, 2017, the Commerce Department releases its May report on durable goods. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Most of the bad news in the report was concentrated in the volatile civilian and military aircraft categories, where orders plunged. Excluding transportation goods, orders actually ticked up 0.1 percent, after dropping the previous month.

There were some other positive signs: Orders for new cars rose for the second straight month. Orders also increased for industrial machinery, steel and other metals, and appliances.

Still, other recent data suggests manufacturing has stumbled after a strong winter. Factory output fell modestly in May, according to the Federal Reserve. Americans have tempered their recent enthusiasm for new cars: Auto sales have fallen for five straight months after reaching a record level last year. That suggests the May increase in automotive orders may not be sustained.

Manufacturers generally have a positive outlook about future demand, according to a survey by the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group. That survey, released earlier this month, found that factory activity expanded in May at a faster pace than the previous month, spurred in part by an acceleration in hiring and a sense that orders were growing more quickly.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The mother of Philando Castile, a black motorist killed by a Minnesota police officer last July, has reached a nearly $3 million settlement with the city that employed the officer, avoiding a federal wrongful death lawsuit that attorneys said could have taken years to resolve.

The settlement to be paid to Valerie Castile, who is the family's trustee, was announced Monday and comes less than two weeks after officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter and other charges connected to her son's death.

Castile, a 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker, was shot five times by Yanez during a traffic stop after Castile informed the officer he was armed. Castile had a permit for his gun. The shooting gained widespread attention after Castile's girlfriend, who was in the car with her then-4-year-old daughter, livestreamed its gruesome aftermath on Facebook.

FILE - In this Friday June 16, 2017, file photo, Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, a black motorist who was killed by Officer Jeronimo Yanez, speaks about her reaction to a not guilty verdict for Yanez at the Ramsey County Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn. Valerie Castile reached a nearly $3 million settlement in Philando Castile's death, announced Monday, June 26, by attorneys for Valerie Castile and the city of St. Anthony. (Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP, File)

The acquittal of Yanez, who is Latino, prompted days of protests, including one in St. Paul that shut down Interstate 94 for hours and ended with 18 arrests.

The $2.995 million settlement for Valerie Castile will be paid by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, which holds the insurance policy for the city of St. Anthony. The plan for distribution of funds requires approval by a state court, which could take several weeks.

Robert Bennett, who along with attorney Glenda Hatchett is representing Valerie Castile, said a decision was made to move expeditiously rather than have the case drawn out in federal court, a process that would "exacerbate and reopen terrible wounds." The settlement will also allow the family, the city and community to work toward healing, Bennett said.

"No amount of money could ever replace Philando," a joint statement from the attorneys and city of St. Anthony said. "With resolution of the claims the family will continue to deal with their loss through the important work of the Philando Castile Relief Foundation."

Bennett said the foundation's mission is to provide financial support, grief counseling, scholarships and other help to individuals and families affected by gun violence and police violence.

Bennett said Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, is not part of the settlement. Reynolds has also hired an attorney, but it's not clear if she is still planning a lawsuit or has any standing for a federal claim. Reynolds' attorney did not return messages Monday.

Darin Richardson, claims manager with the League of Minnesota Cities, said St. Anthony's insurance coverage is $3 million per occurrence. If Reynolds were to file and win a claim, the city's remaining $5,000 in coverage would be paid to her, and St. Anthony would have to cover any additional money awarded.

The settlement happened faster than others stemming from the killings of black men by police officers elsewhere. Last week, a $1.5 million settlement was reached in the case of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old who was killed by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri. That settlement came nearly three years after the death of Brown, whose parents sued the city.

Bennett said his decades-long relationship with Joe Flynn, the attorney who represented St. Anthony in Castile's case, helped bring a quick resolution. He also said the city of St. Anthony has a commitment to make positive changes to their police department.

The city is undergoing a voluntary review by the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, with the goal of improving trust between the police department and the communities it serves.

During his trial, Yanez, 29, testified that Castile ignored his commands not to pull out his gun. The officer said he feared for his life. According to squad-car video that captured the shooting, Castile said: "I'm not pulling it out" before Yanez fired seven rapid shots. Castile's last words after the shooting were "I wasn't reaching ..."

Reynolds later said Castile was reaching for his wallet.

The squad-car video shows the shooting, but does not show what happened inside the car or what Yanez saw, leaving room for reasonable doubt.

After Yanez's acquittal, the city of St. Anthony said it was offering Yanez a "voluntary separation agreement" from the police department, and he would no longer be an on-duty officer. The department serves the cities of St. Anthony, Lauderdale and Falcon Heights, where the shooting occurred.

The status of that separation is unknown. Messages left with the city were not immediately returned.

Monday's joint statement said no taxpayer money will be used to fund Valerie Castile's settlement. The League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust is a cooperative in which Minnesota cities contribute premiums into a jointly owned risk pool that is used to pay claims.

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Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti . More of her work can be found at: https://apnews.com/search/amy%20forliti
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal in the case of a Somali farmer who alleges he was tortured by a former Somali military officer now living in Virginia.

The justices on Monday left in place an appeals court ruling that said part of Farhan Warfaa's lawsuit against Yusuf Abdi Ali could move forward.

Warfaa claims Ali tortured him for three months in 1987 and 1988 before shooting him and leaving him for dead. Ali settled in northern Virginia in 1992.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the lawsuit to proceed under the Torture Victim Protection Act. But it dismissed another claim under the Alien Tort Statute.

Both men appealed. Ali said he was immune from the lawsuit for acts performed on behalf of a foreign nation.
NEW YORK (AP) - There's Greek yogurt, Icelandic yogurt and Australian yogurt. Now, the U.S. maker of Yoplait is hoping to revive its declining sales by marketing yet another culture in the yogurt section.

Enter "Oui," which General Mills is hailing as the arrival of "French-style" yogurt in the United States. Like the yogurts that channel the heritages of other countries, however, the company says there is no official definition for French yogurt.

"French is more a standard we have created," said David Clark, head of the U.S. yogurt unit at General Mills.

FILE - This Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, file photo shows Yoplait Greek yogurt on display at a supermarket in Port Chester, N.Y. There's Greek yogurt, Icelandic yogurt and Australian yogurt. Now, the U.S. maker of Yoplait says it want to bring even more culture to the dairy case. General Mills is hoping a new line of French-style yogurt can help boost its sales. Its Oui line will add to the growing variety in the yogurt case. (AP Photo/Donald King, File)

The attempt to cultivate a trendy new yogurt comes as overall U.S. sales are slumping. Yogurt sales are down 3 percent so far this year compared to a year ago, according to Nielsen. General Mills Inc. has been particularly hard-hit, with its yogurt sales down 20 percent in its latest quarter. The company attributes the industry-wide weakness to a lack of exciting new options since Greek yogurt upended the market.

Though Yoplait's usual yogurts also have French roots, they come in flavors like key lime pie and contain ingredients such as modified corn starch and sucralose. That may not be exactly what comes to mind when people think of authentic French food.

To create the pricier Oui, General Mills said it imagined how yogurt might have been made in "French farmhouses 100 years ago." The resulting product has a simpler list of ingredients and is cultured in the glass jar in which it is sold. The company says the jars preserve the yogurt's texture and are a nod to the desire for "artisanal" foods.

It would be the latest option in the yogurt case that promises a taste of faraway lands.

Greek yogurt, for instance, is widely known for being strained to have more protein and a thicker texture. Icelandic yogurt, or skyr, is strained to have an even thicker consistency, says Siggi Hilmarsson, the founder of Siggi's yogurt. Another skyr maker, Icelandic Provisions, says it uses "heirloom cultures" from Iceland and doesn't even consider its skyr to be yogurt.

Wallaby features a kangaroo on its containers and says it is Australian-style yogurt. Parent company WhiteWave declined to specify what makes it Australian, though Wallaby's website says the product was created after its founders traveled to Australia.

Yet another popular version is Noosa, which plays up its Australian roots online. But co-founder Koel Thomae says Noosa doesn't reflect an Australian yogurt tradition, and that the product is based on a local Australian brand she discovered that is made with whole milk and infused with honey.

"The Australian-ness is me, and the fact that the recipe came from Australia," she said.

As with the other newer yogurts, General Mills plans to charge more for Oui. A 5-ounce jar will sell for around $1.49. Yoplait Greek has 5.3 ounces for around $1, while regular Yoplait has 6 ounces for around 70 cents.

And while yogurt makers spin the globe, what would define an American yogurt? Clark notes that many yogurts sold in the United States have artificial sweeteners - something he said he could "never envision" for a French-style version.

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Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi
BERASTAGI, Indonesia (AP) - Rescuers in Indonesia are searching for a German hiker who has been missing for five days since he began climbing a dormant volcano, an official said Monday.

Wolter Klaus, 49, from Oldenburg city, registered his name last Wednesday when he started climbing Mount Sibayak in North Sumatra's Berastagi district on what should have been a day hike, said Budiawan, who is heading the search operation.

Budiawan, who uses a single name, said Klaus was reported missing by his hotel a day later when he did not return from the 2,200-meter (7,200-foot) mountain.

Rescuers walk near the crater of Mount Sibayak during a search for missing German hiker Wolter Klaus in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, June 26, 2017. Klaus was reported missing on Thursday while climbing the 2,200-meter (7,200-foot) volcano in western Indonesia on what should have been a day hike. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

He said 150 soldiers, police and volunteers divided into six teams were mobilized to look for Klaus, but the search has been hampered by the rugged, forested terrain and bad weather. A police helicopter supported the search efforts on Monday, he said.

"We heard a very weak sound like 'aah' came from a ravine when we called his name," Budiawan said. "We've been rappelling with ropes to the estimated location of the sound, but have not found him yet."

In 2013, rescuers found a Japanese hiker alive in a ravine four days after he fell from a cliff on Mount Sibayak.

Mount Sibayak is one of about 130 volcanoes in Indonesia. Its last major eruption was in 1881, but its geothermal activity remains high.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Romanian President Klaus Iohannis met with Liviu Dragnea, the powerful leader of Romania's biggest political party, before formally nominating a new prime minister after the previous government was dismissed by the ruling party.

The Social Democratic Party announced its choice for prime minister, lawmaker Mihai Tudose, the 50-year-old economy minister in the previous government. Tudose, an ally of Dragnea, was also economy minister from 2014 to 2015.

Dragnea and political ally Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who heads the junior Alliance of Democrats and Liberals, later met Iohannis and presented their choice.

Romanian President Klaus Ioannis, left, shakes hands with leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea, center, as Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who heads the junior Alliance of Democrats and Liberals, stands by at the Cotroceni presidential palace in Bucharest, Romania, Monday, June 26, 2017. The Social Democratic Party nominated lawmaker Mihai Tudose, a 50-year-old economy minister in the previous government and an ally of Liviu Dragnea, to be the next prime minister. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

If Tudose is formally nominated by the president, Parliament could approve him this week, Dragnea said.

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WHAT'S GOING ON?

As party leader, Dragnea normally would be prime minister, but in 2016 he was convicted of vote-rigging which disqualifies him from holding the post.

He is also on trial for instigating abuse in office, something he denies. The Social Democrats withdrew support for Premier Sorin Grindeanu after just six months in office saying he'd underperformed.

He refused to resign and the party and its allies removed Grindeanu in a no-confidence vote last week.

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WHAT'S AT STAKE?

As things stand, the prime minister has less power than Dragnea, and the candidate would do well to remember that. Dragnea says he wants an "honest, correct person" who is not an "adventurer." Commentators say he wants a loyalist, who will relax anti-corruption laws, and not use the post to create a power base.

Iohannis says he will nominate a person of "integrity," meaning someone who isn't the subject of a corruption probe. Parliament needs to approve his nomination.

Despite losing popularity, the Social Democrats still have a loyal base in rural areas, and opposition parties are weak.

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WHAT DO THEY WANT?

Neither Iohannis nor Dragnea want a protracted political crisis which, at this stage, would not benefit their political careers.

Dragnea is losing popularity, despite his party overwhelmingly winning December's parliamentary elections. Massive street protests in February over a move to decriminalize abuse in his office dented Dragnea's ratings and the party took a further hit after it dismissed its own government.

Iohannis recently traveled to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump, was in Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and wants to stay above political bickering, with an eye on re-election in 2019.

Head of the Ruling Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea waves to supporters at the Romanian parliament in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Romania's Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu and his government were ousted Wednesday in a no-confidence vote submitted by the ruling Social Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

In this photo taken on May 12, 2017, economy minister Mihai Tudose, right, looks at former prime minister Sorin Grindeanu in Caravelle, Romania. The Social Democratic Party announced its choice for prime minister, lawmaker Mihai Tudose, 50-year-old economy minister in the previous government and an ally of Liviu Dragnea, the powerful leader of Romania's biggest political party. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Romanian President Klaus Ioannis, left, gestures next to the leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea, center, as Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who heads the junior Alliance of Democrats and Liberals, stands by at the Cotroceni presidential palace in Bucharest, Romania, Monday, June 26, 2017. The Social Democratic Party nominated lawmaker Mihai Tudose, a 50-year-old economy minister in the previous government and an ally of Liviu Dragnea, to be the next prime minister. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Romanian President Klaus Ioannis, left, during consultations on new prime minister nomination with leaders of the Liberal Party at the Cotroceni presidential palace in Bucharest, Romania, Monday, June 26, 2017. The Social Democratic Party nominated lawmaker Mihai Tudose, a 50-year-old economy minister in the previous government and an ally of its leaser, Liviu Dragnea, to be the next prime minister. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the Supreme Court ruling for a Missouri church (all times local):

3:45 p.m.

Supporters of school vouchers say they hope today's Supreme Court ruling lays the groundwork for a future decision on whether states can let parents choose to send their children to religious schools through publicly funded programs.

The court today found that Missouri violated the First Amendment by denying public money to a church for a playground because of its religious status.

Michael Bindas, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, says the principle of "religious neutrality" applies "whether the government is enabling schools to resurface their playgrounds or empowering parents to direct their children's education."

Civil liberties groups called the ruling a blow to the principle of church-state separation.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says it "threatens to open the door to more taxpayer support for religion."

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1:15 p.m.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is praising a Supreme Court decision that found the state of Missouri violated the First Amendment by denying public money to a church for a playground solely because of its religious status.

DeVos says the ruling makes clear that "programs designed to help students will no longer be discriminated against by the government based solely on religious affiliation."

DeVos is a strong proponent of school voucher programs, which use public money to help low-income students attend private schools, including religious ones. Some critics argue using public money for religious school tuition is a violation of the Constitution's separation of church and state.

The Education Department budget proposal includes more than $1 billion to expand school choice, including $250 million for a nationwide voucher program.

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10:17 a.m.

The Supreme Court has ruled that churches have the same right as other charitable groups to seek state money for new playground surfaces and other non-religious needs.

The justices on Monday ruled 7-2 in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri. The church sought a grant to put a soft surface on its preschool playground, but was denied any money even though its application was ranked fifth out of 44 submissions.

Chief Justice John Roberts said for the court that it "is odious to our Constitution" to exclude the church from the grant program. Roberts said that's true even though the consequences are only "a few extra scraped knees."
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The son of a Nigerian farm laborer who rose out of poverty to earn graduate degrees in agricultural economics and spent his career improving the availability of seed, fertilizer and financing for African farmers is the winner of this year's World Food Prize announced Monday.

Akinwumi Adesina, president of African Development Bank, says the future of global food security relies on making farming in Africa a profitable business and developing local food processing that adds value to agricultural products to help move farmers out of poverty.

"I believe that what Africa does with agriculture and how it does it is not only important for Africa but it's important for how we're going to feed the world by 2050 because 65 percent of all the uncultivated arable land left in the world is in Africa," he said. "To help Africa get it right in agriculture is also going to be a key part of securing food for the world."

This undated photo provided by The World Food Prize Foundation shows Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank. Akinwumi the son of a Nigerian farm laborer who rose out of poverty to earn graduate degrees in agricultural economics and spent his career improving the availability of seed, fertilizer and financing for African farmers is the winner of this year's World Food Prize. Adesina, was named this year's recipient Monday, June 26, 2017 in a ceremony at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington.(The World Food Prize Foundation via AP)

World Food Prize President Kenneth Quinn, a former U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, said those goals are one reason the organization's board chose Adesina this year for the $250,000 prize.

An official announcement for the World Food Prize came in a ceremony Monday at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, with USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue hosting the event. Adesina, 57, works in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where the African Development Bank is based. He will receive the prize in a ceremony Oct. 19 at the Iowa Capitol.

"Dr. Adesina knows that our work is not done. The challenge of feeding 9 billion people in just a short time will continue as we address the hunger issue," Perdue said. "At USDA we keep that in mind as the world population grows and we want to be a huge contributor in providing the food needed to resolve and to supply the global demand for that vital noble resource."

The World Food Prize was created by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 to recognize scientists and others who have improved the quality and availability of food. The foundation that awards the prize is based in Des Moines, Iowa.

The award recognizes several of Adesina's accomplishments including:

-Negotiating a partnership between commercial banks and development organizations to provide loans to tens of thousands of farmers and agribusinesses in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana and Mozambique.

- Creating programs to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production and to help cassava become a major cash crop while serving as Nigeria's minister of agriculture from 2011 to 2015.

-Helping to end more than 40 years of corruption in the fertilizer and seed sectors in Nigeria by launching an electronic wallet system that directly provides farmers with vouchers redeemable for inputs using mobile phones. The resulting increased farm yields have led to the improvement of food security for 40 million people in rural farm households.

Adesina said it's vitally important to show young people in rural regions of Africa that farming can be profitable and can improve their lives as a way to stem terrorist recruitment efforts. He said high unemployment among young people, high or extreme poverty, and climate and environmental degradation all contribute to conditions in which terrorists thrive. He said these factors make up "the disaster triangle."

"Anywhere you find those you find terrorists operating. It never fails," he said.

Adesina grew up in poverty in a rural area of Nigeria and said his father and grandfather walked fields as laborers. After his father was chosen for a government job, Adesina was able to go to college. He earned agriculture economics degrees - both a master's and a doctorate - from Purdue University in Indiana.

As a student, he said he saw that classmates were able to attend school when agriculture afforded them the opportunity, but they dropped out when it didn't. He said from that experience he learned making agriculture profitable so families can provide their children with an education was a key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

He said he often thinks of the hundreds of millions of young, rural African people whose opportunities are limited because of what is happening with agriculture.

"So in a way for me this is not a job," Adesina said. "This is a mission. And I believe that in getting agriculture to be a business - turning our rural areas from zones of economic misery to zones of economic opportunity - therein lies the future of Africa's youth, especially those rural youths."

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Follow David Pitt on Twitter at https://twitter.com/davepitt
NEW YORK (AP) - A U.S. government lawyer told jurors Monday that a monthlong trial has revealed the secret long-time owner of a Manhattan skyscraper: Iran.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard expressed confidence that the government had proven through witness testimony, documents and other evidence in Manhattan federal court that the Alavi Foundation must give up its 60 percent stake in the 36-story office tower near Rockefeller Center.

He said Iran's secret ownership of the building and Alavi's complicity in a conspiracy to hide what was really going on has violated sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Iran for the last 22 years.

FILE - This May 30, 2017 file photo shows 650 5th Avenue in New York. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard on Monday, June 26, 2017 urged a jury to conclude a charity must give up majority ownership the a Manhattan skyscraper, saying it is secretly controlled by Iran. Lockard told New York federal court jurors in closing arguments that testimony proves the Alavi Foundation violated sanctions imposed in 1995.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file)

"You've seen that secret laid bare," Lockard said.

But attorney John Gleeson, representing Alavi, belittled the government's certainty over the building's history when he took his turn before the jury.

He said the U.S. government launched a biased investigation of Alavi from the start with conclusions reached well before it had collected the facts.

It was certain that Alavi had violated sanctions against Iran that were imposed in 1995, Gleeson said.

Anyone who disputed that scenario "was not telling the truth," he said the government concluded.

"Blend everything together, paint everything, everyone, with the same brush," Gleeson said of the government's approach.

As early as Tuesday, the jury will begin deciding whether Alavi violated sanctions and if it did, whether it must surrender all, some or none of its stake in the skyscraper.

A large but mostly silent presence in the courtroom are lawyers representing victims of terrorism, including the estates of victims killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The U.S. government plans to turn over proceeds from a sale of the building and other properties to holders of more than $5 billion in terrorism-related judgments against the government of Iran.

The government also is seeking the forfeiture of buildings in Houston; Carmichael, California; Catharpin, Virginia; and Rockville, Maryland, that are owned by the foundation, which was formed in the 1970s by then Iranian leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in 1979.

Gleeson has said the Alavi Foundation's charity has spent millions of dollars over several decades to promote the history and culture of Iran, including through the Islamic Institute of New York and a high school in Queens attended by 300 students from 30 countries.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The Latest on a New Jersey public welfare benefits fraud case (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

A judge has ordered a rabbi and his wife charged in a public welfare fraud scheme to be released from jail pending trial.

Rabbi Zalmen Sorotzkin and his wife, Tzipporah, were charged Monday with collecting more than $338,000 in benefits prosecutors say they weren't entitled to.

Their attorney, Edward Bertucio, said the couple is pleading not guilty and will seek exoneration in court.

The judge also ordered another couple who prosecutors say wrongly collected more than $585,000 in benefits released pending trial.

All four defendants who appeared in state court were ordered to surrender their passports.

Two other couples were charged in federal court with similar charges.

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2:40 p.m.

One of the four couples charged with taking public assistance benefits they weren't entitled to has appeared in federal court.

Yocheved and Shimon Nussbaum appeared in front of a judge in Trenton.

They will be released on $100,000 bond each and their travel will be restricted to the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors say they hid their income by creating companies that they controlled but that were run by relatives. They say they received Medicaid, Section 8 and food benefits they weren't entitled to.

Their lawyer declined to comment after the hearing.

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10:30 a.m.

Authorities say four couples, including a New Jersey rabbi and his wife, have been charged in a conspiracy to defraud Medicaid and other public assistance programs of over $1 million.

Prosecutors said Monday the state and federal charges were the first of many arrests in the investigation.

Rabbi Zalmen Sorotzkin of Congregation Lutzk in Lakewood and his wife were charged with collecting more than $338,000 in benefits prosecutors say they weren't entitled to. They were charged in state court along with another couple, who prosecutors say collected more than $585,000 in benefits.

They were scheduled to appear in court Monday. No one answered the phone at the synagogue.

A separate federal criminal complaint charges two other married couples with conspiring to fraudulently obtain Medicaid and housing and food assistance benefits.
DENVER (AP) - The Latest on the U.S. Supreme Court taking up a case about whether bakers can discriminate against same-sex couples (all times local):

1:25 p.m.

A Colorado baker says that a law requiring him to make cakes for same-sex marriages amounts to taking his artistic freedom.

FILE - In this March 10, 2014 file photo, Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips cracks eggs into a cake batter mixer inside his store in Lakewood, Colo. The Supreme Court is taking on a new clash between gay rights and religion in a case about a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in Colorado. The justices said Monday, June 26, 2017, they will consider whether a baker who objects to same-sex marriage on religious grounds can refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear Jack Phillips' lawsuit challenging Colorado anti-discrimination laws.

The suburban Denver baker argues that he did not turn away the gay couple in 2012 because they were gay, but because their marriage violated his religious belief. Jack Phillips says that artisans cannot be compelled to produce works celebrating an event that violates the artist's religion.

A lawyer for Jack Phillips says that he also declines to make cakes for Halloween because the holiday violates his religious belief.

About a half-dozen other artists in the wedding industry are challenging state laws requiring them to produce work for same-sex ceremonies.

1:00 p.m.

A same-sex couple from Colorado that is headed to the highest court in the land says they're flabbergasted that a Facebook message they posted five years ago has become a potential landmark case about discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Charlie Craig and David Mullins say they were deeply hurt when a suburban Denver baker refused their request for a cake to mark their 2012 wedding. The couple had married in Massachusetts but wanted a reception in Colorado, which did not allow gay marriage at the time.

Mullins said Monday that he is pleased that his 2012 Facebook post turned into a legal challenge that could affect same-sex couples everywhere.

He said that gays and lesbians "deserve to receive equal service in places of public accommodation."
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The Latest on a fugitive arrested in Kansas and an investigation into a series of bank robberies. (all times local):

1:05 p.m.

Federal agents say a weekend search of a south-central Montana residence that turned up homemade bombs was connected to a bank robbery investigation.

FBI Los Angeles spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says numerous agencies were investigating whether evidence found in the search in Roundup, Montana, was connected to a series of bank robberies in California, Washington state, Idaho and Nebraska.

In 2012 and 2014, a man the FBI called "the AK-47 bandit" robbed several banks. The robber shot and wounded a police officer in Chino, California.

Officials with the Musselshell County sheriff's office in Montana say the weekend search was linked to 39-year-old Richard Gathercole, who was arrested last week in Nebraska. He was wanted after someone fired shots at a Kansas trooper. The trooper wasn't injured.

Officials did not say how Gathercole was connected to the residence where the bombs were found.

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11:10 a.m.

Montana authorities say they found homemade bombs in a home after the arrest of a man accused of shooting at a Kansas state trooper.

Richard Gathercole of Roundup, Montana, was arrested Tuesday at a gas station in Lexington, Nebraska, a day after a man fired at the trooper on Interstate 70. The trooper wasn't injured.

The Musselshell County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Monday that deputies assisted FBI agents and officers from California and Idaho in searching a Roundup home on Saturday.

They found numerous improvised explosive devices that were removed by a bomb squad.

A dispatcher who answered the phone at the sheriff's office's Monday could not immediately confirm that it was Gathercole's home.

Gathercole is being held in Nebraska on charges of theft and possession of stolen firearms.
PHOENIX (AP) - Jurors say they have a verdict in the murder trial of an Arizona woman charged in the death of a 10-year-old girl who was locked in a small plastic storage box.

The jury was set to announce its decision on Monday afternoon in the case against Sammantha Allen, who is accused of helping her husband lock Ame Deal in a box that was left outside overnight as punishment in July 2011. Maricopa County Deputy County Attorney Jeannette Gallagher told jurors the bin only had small holes near the handles for air.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Authorities said Deal suffocated and was found dead the next day as temperatures surpassed 100 degrees.

Jurors began deliberating on Monday morning in the trial that began two weeks ago.

Allen's attorney argued the form of punishment was commonplace in the household and was done at the request of Deal's aunt, Cynthia Stoltzmann, her legal guardian.

The defense argued that Sammantha Allen was almost certainly guilty of child abuse but not murder.

Authorities allege Deal's death came after a long history of abuse at the hands of multiple relatives. Deal lived with at least 10 adults and children in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in south Phoenix.

In opening statements, both sides referred to a question about whether Sammantha Allen told her husband to let Deal out of the bin before she fell asleep.

John Allen's trial is expected to start on Aug. 7.

Both defendants are charged with first-degree murder and child abuse. Three other relatives were convicted of abusing Deal and are currently in prison.

David Deal, the girl's father, previously pleaded guilty to attempted child abuse and was sentenced to jail. Stoltzmann was sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempted child abuse.
Pepe the Frog is coming back from the dead.

Los Angeles-based cartoonist Matt Furie told The Associated Press on Monday that he intends to resurrect the character he killed off last month in what appeared to be a rebuke to racist, anti-Semitic internet trolls who hijacked his creation, transforming it into a hate symbol.

Furie and his brother, Jason, launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $10,000 for a new comic book featuring Pepe. He also has an attorney, Kimberly Motley, exploring possible litigation against those profiting off Pepe's image without Furie's permission.

A cartoon released in May showed Pepe in an open casket. Furie said he created that cartoon as "art therapy" shortly after November's presidential election and nearly forgot about it.

Furie said he was surprised by the wave of publicity generated by Pepe's "death."

"It was supposed to just be a joke," he said.

The "Save Pepe" campaign that Furie launched Monday on Kickstarter says its aim is "reclaiming his status as a universal symbol for peace, love, and acceptance." If the campaign meets its goal, Furie said he would see that as "proof that Pepe is still a positive thing."

Furie's "chill frog-dude" debuted in a 2006 comic book called "Boy's Club." Pepe's likeness became a popular canvas for benevolent internet memes.

But the user-generated mutations became increasingly hateful and ubiquitous more than a year before the 2016 presidential election. Furie was horrified to see his creation become a mascot for the "alt-right" fringe movement, a loosely connected mix of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists.

"It all just happened so fast," he said. "Make no mistake: They're basically the new (Ku Klux Klan)."

The Anti-Defamation League branded Pepe as a hate symbol in September 2016 and promoted Furie's efforts to reclaim the character.

Furie said his plans for Pepe's resurrection - in the first "Boy's Club" comic book since 2010 - are top secret.

"Once we get the money together, we're going to do it from scratch," he said.

In the meantime, Furie said he's also trying to "gain some entrepreneurial control" over Pepe with his attorney's help.

"It's a very American tale, trying to control that which cannot be controlled," he said.

Motley, Furie's Milwaukee-based lawyer, said all of the characters in his comic book are copyright-protected. She said she is still in "research mode" and hasn't sued anyone yet for using Pepe's image without permission to sell merchandise such as T-shirts, posters and hats.

"This isn't about crushing people's rights to free speech," she said. "This is about taking Pepe back to where he belongs as a positive image."
GLEN ROCK, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania town councilman who broadcasts taps at his home through loudspeakers every night must limit the activity.

The Glen Rock Borough Council voted Wednesday to restrict Councilman Joshua Corney's broadcast of the song to Sunday nights and to certain flag holidays like the Fourth of July, Memorial Day and Patriot's Day, The York Dispatch reported (http://bit.ly/2td1f5D ). Corney didn't attend the meeting because he was recovering from knee surgery.

Several people who live near Corney complained that the nightly broadcasts violate the borough's noise ordinance and create a disturbance, according to Councilwoman Victoria Ribeiro. One of Corney's neighbor's believes the nightly broadcasts are aggravating the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease and dementia, Ribeiro said.

The Navy lieutenant commander who served in Iraq and Afghanistan said he plays the recording of the bugle call for "lights out" to honor those in the armed forces. He said he's willing to work the situation out.

"I am willing to compromise, I am willing to work it out, but I can only do it within reason," Corney said. "And I'm not going to do it at the sacrifice of my constitutional rights."

The taps play automatically around 8 p.m., and Corney said he has a home security concern.

"You're kind of sending a signal out there - 'Hey, I'm not home because I'm not playing it,'" he said.

Corney may stop the ritual altogether.

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Information from: The York Dispatch, http://www.yorkdispatch.com
MOSCOW (AP) - The top diplomats of Russia and the United States have focused on the Syrian crisis in a phone call.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson talked Monday about the need to secure a cease-fire in Syria, fight extremist groups and to prevent the use of chemical weapons.

It added that Lavrov "urged Washington to take steps to prevent provocations against Syrian government forces battling terrorists."

Moscow reacted angrily when the U.S. downed a Syrian jet last week after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against the Islamic State group.

Russia warned its military would track aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition as potential targets over Syria and suspended a hotline intended to avoid mid-air incidents.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration is poised to declare China among the world's worst offenders on human trafficking, U.S. officials said Monday, putting the world's most populous country in the same category as North Korea, Zimbabwe and Syria,

China's downgrade is to be announced Tuesday at the State Department when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson unveils the annual Trafficking in Persons Report to Congress, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment publicly ahead of the announcement and demanded anonymity. Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser, planned to attend the ceremony.

The determination marks the first major, public rebuke of China's human rights record by the Trump administration, which has generally avoided direct, public criticism of Beijing while seeking its cooperation in combatting North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. The report is likely to draw strong protest from China's communist government.

FILE - In this June 21, 2017 file photo, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at the State Department in Washington. The Trump administration is poised to declare China among the world's worst offenders on human trafficking, U.S. officials said Monday, June 26, 2017, putting the world's most populous country in the same category as North Korea, Zimbabwe and Syria, China's downgrade is to be announced Tuesday, June 27, 2017, at the State Department when Tillerson unveils the annual Trafficking in Persons Report to Congress. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

China will be listed under "Tier 3," the ranking system's lowest category, which applies to countries failing to meet minimum standards to prevent human trafficking or making significant improvement efforts. Other countries that have recently been on that list include Sudan, Iran and Haiti.

In last year's annual report, the U.S. placed China on its "watch list" of countries that aren't meeting minimum standards and could be downgraded to the lowest classification. The U.S. described China as devoting "sufficient resources" to a written plan for addressing trafficking. But it said that the Asian power hadn't increased its anti-trafficking efforts from the previous year.

It wasn't immediately clear what changes are leading the Trump administration to downgrade China to the lowest tier. The State Department declined to confirm the designation or to comment ahead of the report's release Tuesday, saying it "does not discuss details of internal deliberations."

In the 2016 report, the U.S. called China a "source, destination and transit country" for forced labor and sex trafficking. That report described internal migrants in China as particularly vulnerable, with some forced to work with little government oversight in factories and coal mines. It said men, women and children from other Asian countries and from Africa also are exploited.

The report also raised concerns about forced begging in China that particularly affects children. It said that girls and women from rural areas are at higher risk of being recruited for sex trafficking in cities.

Countries placed in Tier 3 can be penalized with sanctions, including the withholding of non-humanitarian aid and assistance that could affect agreements with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Officials from countries designated in that tier can be barred from participating in U.S. government educational and cultural exchange programs.

However, the president retains the authority to waive the sanctions in U.S. national interest or if the penalties could adversely affect vulnerable populations. In practice, countries given the worst designation have often been granted waivers under previous U.S. administrations.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., one of several lawmakers who had pressed the Trump administration to downgrade China, praised the move but urged the administration to follow through by imposing sanctions. He said he hoped the downgrade would "lead to reforms that will save women and children's lives and ensure that Chinese exports are not made with slave labor."

Ivanka Trump planned during Tuesday's ceremony to honor eight people from around the world "whose tireless efforts have made a lasting impact on the fight against modern slavery," the State Department said. She wrote on Twitter that she was "honored to join the Department of State" for the report's release.

"It's time to #EndTrafficking," she wrote.

Though Ivanka Trump has emphasized human trafficking issues as an adviser to her father, her fashion brand has come under scrutiny over its work with a Chinese company that produced shoes for her brand and others. New York-based China Labor Watch has accused that company of excessive overtime, low wages and verbal abuse of employees, though not of human trafficking. The brand says it stopped using the factory months ago. Ivanka Trump has stepped back from running the company, but retains ownership.

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Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP and Matthew Lee at https://twitter.com/APDiploWriter
WOODSTOCK, Ontario (AP) - A former nurse convicted of killing eight elderly people in her care was sentenced Monday to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for 25 years.

Elizabeth Wettlaufer pleaded guilty last month to eight counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault in the notorious serial killings. The 50-year-old told the court on Monday that she is truly sorry and hopes her victims' families can find peace and healing.

Authorities have said the 14 assaults on patients took place over the last decade in three Ontario long-term care facilities where Wettlaufer worked as a registered nurse, and at a private home. Wettlaufer admitted to using insulin in all of the cases from 2007-2016.

Elizabeth Wettlaufer is escorted by police from the courthouse in Woodstock, Ont, Monday, June 26, 2017. Wettlaufer, a former Ontario nurse who murdered eight seniors in her care, was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. The 50-year-old pleaded guilty last month to eight counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault. (Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press via AP)

"It is a complete betrayal of trust when a caregiver does not prolong life, but terminates it," Justice Bruce Thomas said. "She was the shadow of death that passed over them on the night shift where she supervised."

Susan Horvath, a daughter of victim Arpad Horvath, said she did not read her victim impact statement because she couldn't trust herself being too physically close to Wettlaufer in the courtroom.

"I am too angry," she said. "I didn't trust myself up there."

Laura Jackson, the friend of one of the victims, said Wettlaufer "should spend the rest of her life in a small box contemplating what she's done. It wasn't rash. It was thought out. It was calculated."

Shannon Emmerton, the granddaughter of another victim, said other nurses could potentially commit the same crime. The Ontario government launched a public inquiry soon after the sentence was announced.

"We want to assure the public that Ontario's 78,000 long-term care residents are safe in their homes," Ontario's attorney general said in a statement. "It is our hope that through the inquiry process, we will get the answers we need to help ensure that a tragedy such as this does not happen again."

Elizabeth Wettlaufer is escorted by police from the courthouse in Woodstock, Ont, Monday, June 26, 2017. Wettlaufer, a former Ontario nurse who murdered eight seniors in her care, was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. The 50-year-old pleaded guilty last month to eight counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault. (Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press via AP)
CANTON, Miss. (AP) - A judge on Monday agreed there was enough proof to continue holding three Mississippi teens in the shooting death of a 6-year-old boy, who authorities say was abducted in a car stolen from a supermarket parking lot.

Madison County Justice Court Judge Bruce McKinley ruled that 19-year-old Byron McBride, 17-year-old D'Allen Washington and 17-year-old Dwan Wakefield should remain jailed until a grand jury meets to consider indictments in the May 18 death of Kingston Frazier. All three are charged with capital murder and faced separate hearings Monday.

However, lawyers for Wakefield and Washington questioned whether their clients had actively participated in the May 18 death in a way that merits murder charges. Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest said officials could seek lesser charges against them, based on what the evidence shows.

Dwan Wakefield, one of three men charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Kingston Frazier, leaves the Madison County Justice Court on Monday, June 26, 2017, in Canton, Miss. A judge said there is probable cause to hold Wakefield and the two other Mississippi teenagers in the shooting death. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Testimony by Mississippi Bureau of Investigation agent Trent Weeks sketched in some of the details of what officials believe happened. He testified that Wakefield told authorities the three teens went to the parking lot of a Kroger supermarket so Wakefield could sell marijuana to another person. There, Wakefield told investigators, McBride found a car unlocked and running and decided to steal it.

A key point of contention is whether the three knew Frazier was asleep in the back. Weeks testified that Wakefield told investigators that he and Washington didn't know until they had separated from McBride and that McBride called them to say he was going to "off" Frazier. In Wakefield's version of events, Wakefield asked McBride to instead drop Frazier off alive. Later, Wakefield and Washington picked McBride up after McBride abandoned the car on a dead-end road.

McBride, though, gave conflicting statements to investigators, Weeks testified. In one of those statements, McBride said he told Wakefield and Washington that a boy was in the car before he stole it. He said Washington and Wakefield encouraged him, telling him "You've got this, you can do this," according to Weeks' testimony. Also, in one of McBride's versions of events, Weeks said, Wakefield and Washington followed him and that when McBride pulled over on the side of Interstate 55, it was Washington who shot Frazier. But Weeks testified that in a later statement, McBride acknowledged killing the boy.

Tom Fortner, Wakefield's lawyer, dismissed the claims that Wakefield and Washington had accompanied McBride, noting there are two witnesses and two video recordings that support Wakefield's story that he and Washington went elsewhere - after McBride stole the car - to complete Wakefield's marijuana sale.

"There's no evidence to indicate my client participated before the fact in this killing," Fortner said.

Fortner asked McKinley to set bail for Wakefield, but McKinley denied that request. Fortner said it was likely he would appeal that ruling, possibly before the grand jury meets.

Guest said investigators could finish analyzing evidence within the next four weeks, and that he intended to seek indictments between August and October.

Frazier's mother, Ebony Archie, attended Monday's court proceeding. She did not speak to reporters.

"We just want justice for Kingston and his mom and dad because they are still hurting," said Kristy Archie, who identified herself as Ebony Archie's cousin.

Guest said prosecutors will decided after indictments are issued whether they wish to seek the death penalty against McBride. Prosecutors are banned from seeking the execution of Wakefield and Washington because they are younger than 18.

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Follow Jeff Amy at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy . Read his work at https://www.apnews.com/search/Jeff_Amy .

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Information from: WAPT-TV, http://www.wapt.com

D'Allen Washington, one of three men charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Kingston Frazier, leaves the Madison County Justice Court on Monday, June 26, 2017, in Canton, Miss. A judge said there is probable cause to hold Washington and the two other Mississippi teenagers in the shooting death of Frazier. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Madison and Rankin Counties District Attorney Michael Guest, speaks about a Madison County justice court judge sending the kidnapping and murder case against three Mississippi teenagers charged in connection with the shooting death of a 6-year-old boy, to the grand jury, during a press briefing outside the Madison County Justice Court in Canton, Miss., Monday, June 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Ebony Archie, mother of Kingston Frazier, a 6-year-old boy who was fatally shot, enters the Madison County Justice Court with relatives, in Canton, Miss., Monday, June 26, 2017. A judge said Monday there is probable cause to hold three Mississippi teenagers in the shooting death of Frazier. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Madison and Rankin Counties District Attorney Michael Guest, right, speaks about a Madison County justice court judge sending the kidnapping and murder case against three Mississippi teenagers charged in connection with the shooting death of a 6-year-old boy, to the grand jury, during a press briefing outside the Madison County Justice Court in Canton, Miss., Monday, June 26, 2017. Also attending the news conference was Pamela Hancock, Madison County Prosecuting Attorney, left. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Ebony Archie, second from left, mother of Kingston Frazier, a 6-year-old boy who was fatally shot, enters the Madison County Justice Court with relatives, in Canton, Miss., Monday, June 26, 2017. A judge said Monday the three Mississippi teenagers should remain jailed until a jury meets to consider charges in the May 18 death of Frazier. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Dwan Wakefield, one of three men charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Kingston Frazier, enters the Madison County Justice Court on Monday, June 26, 2017, in Canton, Miss. Madison County Justice Court Judge Bruce McKinley will consider the case against Byron McBride, Wakefield and D'Allen Washington, deciding whether there is enough evidence to bind the case over to a grand jury. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli military says a projectile fired from the Gaza Strip has landed in southern Israel.

The military said Monday the projectile fell in an open area and no one was hurt.

The attack broke a period of relative calm and raised the possibility of Israeli retaliation.

Israel holds Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible for all fire out of the seaside strip - even rockets launched by any of the various militant groups challenging Hamas.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the Islamic militant group took control of Gaza a decade ago, most recently in 2014. A cease-fire has largely held since then.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A civil rights historical marker in Mississippi has been vandalized, obliterating information about black teenager Emmett Till, who was kidnapped and lynched in 1955.

The slaying galvanized the civil rights movement when Till's mother, Mamie Till Mobley, had an open-casket funeral in Chicago to show how her 14-year-old son had been brutalized while he was visiting the Mississippi Delta.

Allan Hammons, whose public relations firm made the marker, said Monday that someone scratched the marker with a blunt tool in May. During the past week, a tour group discovered vinyl panels had been peeled off the back of the metal marker in Money, Mississippi. The panels contained photos and words about Till.

In this June 2017 photo, released by Allan Hammons, a civil rights historical marker in Money, Miss. is seen. The marker remembers black teenager Emmett Till, who was kidnapped before being lynched in 1955. Allan Hammons, whose public relations firm made the marker, said Monday that someone scratched the marker with a blunt tool in May.(Allan Hammons via AP)

"Who knows what motivates people to do this?" Hammons said, noting that traffic signs are common targets for vandals and shooters in rural areas. "Vandals have been around since the beginning of time."

The sign was erected in 2011 for the Mississippi Freedom Trail, a series of state-funded markers at significant civil rights sites.

The damaged sign is outside the long-closed Bryant's Grocery & Meat Market, where a 21-year-old white shopkeeper, Carolyn Bryant, said Till whistled at her in August 1955. The teenager was kidnapped, tortured and killed because of her accusation. An all-white jury acquitted Bryant's husband, Roy Bryant, and his half brother, J.W. Milam, in the killing, but the two men later confessed in a paid interview with Look magazine.

A separate Till marker, near the site where his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River several miles away, has been repeatedly shot. It was erected by a private group, and money has been raised to replace it.

Hammons said the Freedom Trail marker in Money cost more than $8,000, and repairs will cost at least $500.

Roy and Carolyn Bryant divorced. He and Milam have died. She remarried and became Carolyn Donham.

She told Timothy B. Tyson, a Duke University research scholar, in 2008 that she falsely testified, when jurors were outside the courtroom, that Till had physically and verbally threatened her. Tyson first revealed her interview in "The Blood of Emmett Till," a book he published this year.

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Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus .
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Alaska Airlines said Monday it will charter a flight over the Pacific Ocean this Aug. 21 so select passengers can view the astronomical event from the sky.

The flight will take off at 7:30 a.m. Pacific from Portland, Oregon and is by invitation-only for about 50 astronomers and serious eclipse chasers. The airline is also holding an online contest starting July 21 for the general public with a prize of two seats on the flight.

The total solar eclipse is the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse to hit the continental U.S. in 99 years.

FILE--In this July 9, 2009, file photo, Washington's Mount St. Helens is seen through a layer of smog as an Alaska Airlines plane comes in for a landing at Portland International Airport in Portland, Ore. Alaska Airlines is offering a charter flight off the Oregon coast during the solar eclipse Aug. 21, 2017, that will allow select passengers to view the astronomical event from the sky. The flight will take off at 7:50 a.m. from Portland, Ore., and is by invitation-only for astronomers and other experts. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)

A total eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, blocking the sun's light.

The path of totality -- the area of complete darkness where the moon's shadow completely obscures the sun -- begins in the U.S. on the Oregon coast before traveling east across the U.S.

The idea behind the flight began last year, when a group of avid eclipse chasers booked tickets on an Anchorage-to-Honolulu flight during an eclipse that could be seen over the Pacific Ocean. They successfully lobbied Alaska Airlines to adjust the flight path so they could see the event from the air, said Halley Knigge, an airline spokeswoman.

The carrier is now reaching out to those same people for this flight, as well as other astronomers, she said.

The trip in the Boeing 737 will take between four and five hours and is limited to about 50 people to make sure everyone gets a good view, Knigge said.
FLINT, Mich. (AP) - The Flint, Michigan, airport officer stabbed in the neck during what authorities are investigating as a terrorist act has been discharged from a hospital.

A spokeswoman for Hurley Medical Center says Lt. Jeff Neville was released Monday.

Neville was stabbed Wednesday at Bishop International Airport in Flint, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. Authorities have said 49-year-old Amor Ftouhi stabbed Neville with a large knife after saying something similar to "you have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die."

Hurley Trauma Surgeon, Dr. Donald Scholten, M.D. points to his neck to illustrate where Lt. Jeff Neville was stabbed during a press conference Friday, June 23, 2017, at the Merliss Brown Auditorium, in Flint, Mich. The Flint, Michigan, airport officer stabbed in the neck during what authorities are investigating as a terrorist act is recovering well from a 12-inch "slash" that caused significant bleeding but spared major arteries and a nerve by "millimeters," Scholten said Friday. (Shannon Millard /The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

Ftouhi, a Canadian from Tunisia, was immediately taken into custody and was charged in a criminal complaint with committing violence at an airport.

Doctors have said Neville's 12-inch wound caused significant bleeding but narrowly missed major arteries and a nerve.
QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (AP) - A teenage girl's actions, not mechanical malfunctions, caused her to slip under a restraining bar on an amusement park gondola ride before falling into the arms of bystanders below, police said Monday.

Warren County sheriff's Lt. Steven Stockdale told The Post-Star of Glens Falls (http://bit.ly/2s9pG46 ) that "human error" on the part of the 14-year-old Delaware girl caused her to slip out of the two-person gondola while riding with her younger brother Saturday at Six Flags Great Escape. The ride was stopped, and the girl dangled briefly before dropping about 25 feet (about 8 meters) into a crowd poised to catch her.

Onlookers, many of them recording the incident with their cellphones, broke into cheers when the girl landed in the arms of several people. She was taken to Albany Medical Center for unspecified injuries.

In this June 24, 2017, image made from a video provided by Leeann Winchell, a 14-year-old girl falls from an amusement park ride at Six Flags Great Escape Amusement Park in Queensbury, N.Y. After she lost her grip on the slow-moving gondola ride Saturday she fell into a crowd of park guests and employees gathered under the ride to catch her before she hit the ground. The teen, from Greenwood, Delaware, was taken to Albany Medical Center in stable condition with no serious injuries, the Warren County Sheriff's Office said. (Leeann Winchell via AP)

Stockdale said in an email that the girl, whose name hasn't been released, "looks like she's going to be OK."

Authorities said further investigation was being done to determine the exact circumstances surrounding the fall.

State inspectors cleared the Sky Ride for resuming operation, but officials at the park 55 miles (88 kilometers) north of Albany said the gondolas would remain idle for at least a second day Monday, pending an internal review.

Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, a Cincinnati-based industry consultant, said he was familiar with the Sky Ride from previous visits to the park.

"It's not something that you could just slip out of," Spiegel said. "If a rider wants to circumvent the safety stipulations, they can do it. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they put additional safety restrictions on this ride, maybe safety belts."

After the girl began dangling from the gondola, word was relayed to the operator to stop the ride. As the teen helplessly flailed her legs, people on the pavement below yelled for her to let go and they would catch her. Matthew Howard Sr., a contractor from Schenectady visiting the park with his family, was among those who broke her fall.

"I couldn't let that little girl die," Howard told The Associated Press on Sunday.

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Information from: The Post-Star, http://www.poststar.com
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - The getaway driver in a deadly carjacking at an upscale New Jersey mall has been sentenced to life in prison.

A judge likened Basim Henry to a predator when he handed down the sentence Monday.

The 36-year-old South Orange man had been convicted in March on several counts, including felony murder, carjacking and weapons offenses.

Prosecutors say Henry was among four men involved in the December 2013 carjacking and fatal shooting of Dustin Friedland at The Mall At Short Hills in Millburn. Friedland's wife had testified at trial about seeing her husband gunned down in front of her.

The defense had argued that Henry wasn't responsible for the shooter's actions.

But prosecutors said Henry "knew force was necessary" to get the couple's Range Rover.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Federal agents found homemade bombs in the Montana home of a man they suspect is the "AK-47 Bandit," who is wanted for a string of bank robberies and is accused of shooting at a Kansas state trooper, according to authorities and court documents filed Monday.

FBI agents were tipped off when Richard Gathercole, 39, called his mother from a Nebraska jail following his arrest in the attempted shooting of the trooper who was trying to pull him over on Interstate 70 last week, according to a search warrant application to a federal judge. The trooper wasn't injured.

According to a transcript of the call, Gathercole told his mother, who is unnamed, to "get all the guns out" of the house. The woman agrees, then says, "Um, this is recorded. You know that."

FBI agents, along with officers from Chino, California; Rexburg, Idaho; and Montana's Musselshell County searched Gathercole's home in the town of Roundup, about 50 miles north of Billings, on Saturday, according to officials with the Musselshell County Sheriff's Office. Inside, they found "numerous" improvised explosive devices that were removed by a bomb squad, the officials said in a statement.

FBI Los Angeles spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said the search was connected to a bank robbery investigation.

"Multiple departments are investigating whether evidence found during the search in Montana may be linked to a series of bank robberies currently under investigation in California and other states," she said.

FBI officials have been looking for years for the man they call the "AK-47 Bandit," wanted for bank robberies in Chino, Rexburg and others in California, Washington state and Nebraska dating back to 2012. He typically wore a balaclava mask and carried an AK-47 rifle with a drum magazine during the robberies, according to FBI officials.

The robber shot and wounded an officer in Chino while trying to escape one robbery, according to FBI officials.

The application to search Gathercole's home by FBI Special Agent Andrew Ubbelohde details one bank robbery by the "AK-47 Bandit" that FBI officials said was carried out by Gathercole: A 2014 Nebraska City, Nebraska, robbery in which $90,258 was stolen.

The application also accuses Gathercole of stealing $126,000 from a bank in Mason City, Iowa, in 2015. During that incident, the robber pulled out an explosive device that contained powder, metal pieces and a fuse, according to Ubbelohde.

A similar explosive was removed from the trunk of the car Gathercole was driving when authorities say he fired on the Kansas trooper with an AK-47 rifle. It is not clear if the homemade bombs taken from his Montana home were of the same type.

The search warrant application does not describe the other "AK-47 Bandit" robberies.

One of those may occurred at a bank in Vacaville, California, in 2012.

"We haven't confirmed that he's our AK-47 bandit," said Vacaville police Lt. Matt Lydon. "But we're certainly looking at that possibility."

Gathercole is being held on charges of theft and possession of stolen firearms. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.

He was arrested last Tuesday at a gas station in Lexington, Nebraska. He had stolen a truck and guns as he was trying to get away from the Kansas trooper, according to the search warrant application.

Gathercole has a court hearing in Nebraska on July 6, according to the transcript of his phone call with his mother.

Federal charges have not been filed, Eimiller said.

Gathercole also was named as a resident of San Jacinto, California, after his arrest in Nebraska. The discrepancy could not be immediately resolved.

___

AP writer Don Thompson in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (AP) - A longtime Donald Trump ally named chief of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's regional office in New York and New Jersey is defending her qualifications.

The agency announced Monday that Lynne Patton, who served as a personal assistant to Trump's son Eric Trump, had been named to the post. She initially joined HUD last winter as a senior adviser to the agency's secretary, Ben Carson. Before that, she worked for Trump's Republican presidential campaign.

Word of Patton's likely appointment was first reported earlier this month by the Daily News . That brought a wave of criticism from Democrats who questioned whether she had the work experience necessary for the job. Before joining HUD, she had no experience in housing or urban development.

Much of Patton's recent career was spent working for the Trump family, including organizing charity events for the Eric Trump Foundation.

In an interview with The New York Times , Patton said she thought her critics were merely trying to embarrass the Trump family.

"Had I represented a different administration, my narrative likely would have been that I rose through the rank and file in one of the most successful companies in the world from assistant to senior executive and was subsequently handpicked by the president of the United States," she told the newspaper. "The misdirected discontent with my boss has prevented people from seeing the obvious fact that I am, more than anyone, best suited to serve as this liaison because, after all, I have a direct line to both the secretary and the president of the United States."

HUD, in the news release announcing Patton's appointment, said she "comes to HUD after nearly a decade of experience as a senior executive at a large non-profit in New York City."

That didn't match the resume information listed on Patton's LinkedIn page or with public filings by the Eric J. Trump Foundation.

On her LinkedIn page, she lists herself as working as a vice president at the foundation from February 2011 to the present, a span of no more than six years, not nearly a decade.

The foundation, in its annual filings with the IRS, listed Patton in 2015 as an unpaid vice president who worked approximately one hour per week. The filings for 2014 and 2013 list her as an unpaid director volunteering one hour per week. She is not listed as being an executive, officer or key employee of the charity in 2012.

A HUD spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for an explanation.

Patton's title on the Eric Trump Foundation's website and her profile on the LinkedIn service were changed to "vice president of the Eric Trump Foundation" last year after The Associated Press questioned the campaign's description of her as a Trump Organization executive.

At the time, the executive director of the foundation, Paige Scardigli, told the AP the charity's IRS filings understated her role.

Patton's resume on LinkedIn also misstated details about her education. She wrote on LinkedIn that she attended Quinnipiac University Law School from 1998 to 2000. The university says she attended the law school for just seven months in 2000 and did not receive a degree.

Patton has said she never claimed to have graduated from Quinnipiac, noting that her LinkedIn page carries the notation "N/A" next to the abbreviation for juris doctor to indicate she never earned the degree.

___

Associated Press writers David B. Caruso and Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - A man was denied bail Monday in the case of a North Carolina teenager who was found in a Georgia home Saturday after disappearing more than a year ago.

Local news media report that 31-year-old Michael Wysolovski (weye-suh-LAHV'-skee) sat emotionless in a Gwinnett County, Georgia, courtroom as a magistrate judge read the charges. He did not enter a plea.

Wysolovski is charged with false imprisonment, interference with custody, aggravated sodomy, and first degree cruelty to children. It's not clear if he has an attorney to speak for him. Supporters declined to speak to reporters as they left court Monday. His next court appearance is July 7.

FBI spokeswoman Shelley Lynch said Sunday that the victim, now 17, was reunited with her parents after being found in Duluth, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta. The Associated Press isn't naming her or her parents because it doesn't usually identify victims of sexual assault.

Police say the girl made contact Friday with a woman online in Romania and told her she was being held against her will. The girl didn't know where she was, but the Romanian woman contacted her parents in North Carolina. Later, the girl sent a picture taken looking out of a window of the house. Authorities somehow pieced together that she was being held at a two-story house in Duluth, and the FBI raided it early Saturday morning, retrieving the girl and arresting Wysolovski.

"They did enough research and gumshoe work to figure out where that young woman was being held. That's a nice piece of work," former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker told Charlotte's WSOC-TV.

Many things about the case remain unclear, such as how the teen initially reached Wysolovski, as well as whether he held her the whole time in Duluth.

Her mother said Wysolovski enticed the daughter into his car and took her to Georgia "and she pretty much had to stay there the whole time."

According to the Gwinnett County property records, Wysolovski bought the home in Duluth on April 14 of this year. It's unclear if he lived there before then.

Her parents said the girl has a form of autism and they weren't sure they would ever see her again.

"She is just so happy to be home. Even the littlest things make her happy," the mother said.

Neighbors said they had seen brief glimpses of the girl, such as unloading groceries once, but had no real contact with her.

"It makes me sick to my stomach, actually that someone could do that," said Jennifer Elmore, who lives next door to the home.

In addition to the charges Wysolovski faces in Georgia, federal charges are possible as well as more state charges in North Carolina.
Theresa May has defended her 1 billion deal with the Democratic Unionist Party amid Labour claims it will see most of the UK miss out on billions in additional funding for infrastructure and public services.

The deal announced on Monday was branded a bung after it emerged the Prime Minister had approved an additional 1 billion in spending on infrastructure and health in Northern Ireland, along with new flexibility over 500 million of previously allocated cash, as part of an arrangement which will see the DUPs 10 MPs prop up her minority administration.

Scottish and Welsh politicians have demanded equivalent sums are handed over under the so-called Barnett formula, which normally guarantees proportional rises in the different nations of the UK.

Labour has now released figures from the House of Commons Library suggesting that if the formula was applied to the funding announced on Monday, it could see as much as 68 billion spent in the rest of the UK.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the deal could eventually be worth as much as 2 billion, which would normally imply 59 billion of additional spending in England, 6 billion in Scotland and 3 billion in Wales, under the system known as Barnett consequentials.

The coalition of chaos that was set up yesterday risks increasing division in our society by easing austerity in one part of the UK alone.  John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) June 27, 2017

We need to see an end to austerity throughout the UK not just in Northern Ireland & not just to prop up Theresa May's failed government.  John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) June 27, 2017

But senior Conservative sources have insisted the Barnett formula does not apply to the money because it is an addition to the Northern Ireland Executives block grant. They pointed out that similar exemptions affected cash for city deals in Scotland and Wales.

Speaking during a visit to Bristol, Mrs May said: Weve seen across Scotland, Wales and England Government investing in those parts of the country. If you look at Scotland weve seen city deals, weve seen the same in the south west of England with the Bristol city deal, weve seen the local growth deal.

The Government recognises the importance of investing in all parts of the country. Thats what I want to ensure  a country that works for everyone and ensuring that we are seeing growth and prosperity spread across the whole country.

Prime Minister Theresa May during a visit to Orchard School in Bristol (Matt Cardy/PA)

Under the confidence and supply deal signed in 10 Downing Street after negotiations stretching 18 days after the June 8 General Election, the DUP guaranteed its 10 MPs will vote with the Government on the Queens Speech, the Budget, and legislation relating to Brexit and national security.

Together with the 317 Tory MPs remaining after Mrs Mays disastrous decision to call a snap election, this will allow the Prime Minister to pass the 326 figure required for an absolute majority in the House of Commons, ensuring her victory in key divisions and protecting her Government from collapse.

The DUPs support in votes which are not covered by the arrangements will be agreed on a case-by-case basis.
Holland & Barrett has been acquired for 1.8 billion by a retail investment fund controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman.

L1 Retail, an arm of the tycoons holding company LetterOne, said that it has snapped up the retailer from its parent firm Natures Bounty, which is owned by private equity giant Carlyle.

The funds managing partner Stephan DuCharme said: Holland & Barrett is a clear market leader in the UK health and wellness retail market, with attractive growth positions in other European and international markets, and growing online presence, with a leading customer loyalty programme and 10 million active cardholders.

He added that the group will look to take a bigger slice of the growing 10 billion health and wellness market, adding that L1 Retail will continue to work with Holland & Barrett chief executive Peter Aldis.

The Holland & Barrett store in the Trafford Centre in Manchester (Dave Thompson/PA)

Headquartered in Nuneaton, Holland & Barretts annual revenues in 2016 exceeded 610 million.

Founded in 1870, it is now Europes largest health food chain, has outlets in more than 1,150 locations and employs a workforce of more than 4,200.

Mr Aldis said: We have upgraded much of our core store portfolio to concept stores to deliver additional in-store theatre and increased customer engagement. New products launched through our ethical sourcing programme have also been a key growth driver.

Led by Mr DuCharme, L1s advisory board is made up of Karl-Heinz Holland and John Walden, the former bosses of Lidl and Home Retail Group respectively.

They are joined by Clive Humby, co-founder of customer data company Dunnhumby.
Jailed Chinese Nobel Peace laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo has been released on medical parole after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, his lawyer said.

Mr Liu was in stable condition at the China Medical University No 1 Affiliated Hospital in the north-eastern city of Shenyang, Mo Shaoping told The Associated Press.

He was diagnosed on May 23, Mr Mo added. It is not immediately clear if Mr Liu was being allowed to have visitors.

A police officer stands guard beside a picture of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (Kin Cheung/AP)

Hearing that #LiuXiaobo has been freed but is seriously ill--glad if he is out, but he never should have been in. #China @hrw @hrw_chinese pic.twitter.com/QbNi9UYfZ3  Sophie Richardson (@SophieHRW) June 26, 2017

Mr Liu, Chinas best-known political prisoner, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of inciting state subversion in 2009 for writing and disseminating Charter 08, a document calling for democracy.

The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norway-based Nobel committee, a move that has greatly angered the Chinese government.

In April, Beijing normalised its relations with Oslo after a six-year hiatus.
Pedro Caixinha has given his biggest hint yet that he sees no future for a clutch of his Rangers first-team stars after leaving them out of his squad for their opening Europa League qualifier.

The names of defender Rob Kiernan, midfielders Andy Halliday and Matt Crooks and forwards Harry Forrester, Michael OHalloran and Joe Dodoo are all missing from the list Gers submitted to UEFA ahead of Thursdays Ibrox clash with Luxembourgish minnows Progres Niederkorn.

Reports on Monday morning claimed Halliday is the latest player to be informed by Caixinha his time is up in Govan.

Rob Kiernan has not been selected for Thursday's match (Craig Watson/PA)

According to the Scottish Sun, the boyhood Light Blues supporter has been told he is free to leave the club on loan this summer.

Caixinha is looking to clear out some of the dead wood left behind by predecessor Mark Warburton after signing up eight new recruits in recent weeks.

Kiernan has featured just once for the Portuguese boss since he was appointed back in March.

OHalloran, meanwhile, was made to report for a fortnights worth of 6am training sessions after failing to turn up for an under-20s clash while Forrester has also been told to find himself a new club after failing to impress since the new manager arrived.

SOLD OUT The Ticket Centre has confirmed that the game on Thursday is now a sell out. Please pick up your tickets before Thur #RangersLoyal.  Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) June 26, 2017

Meanwhile, Gers have confirmed Thursdays clash against Niederkorn  the clubs first European fixture in six years  is a complete sell-out.

The supporters turning out for the tie will hope to catch a first glimpse of recent arrivals like Ryan Jack, Fabio Cardoso, Dalcio, Carlos Pena, Eduardo Herrera and Alfredo Morelos.

However, Bruno Alves will not feature despite being registered with UEFA for the tie, with the veteran Portugal defender still on Confederations Cup duty after his nation qualified for Wednesdays semi-final showdown against Chile.

And his compatriot Daniel Candeias also misses out after his registration papers from former club Alanyaspor failed to arrive in time from Turkey to have the winger registered for this weeks qualifier.
Nathan Redmond and Nathaniel Chalobah will have late fitness tests as they battle to be ready for England Under-21s Euro 2017 semi-final with Germany.

The pair trained on Monday, although some of it was away from the group, and the Young Lions are hopeful they will be fit.

They came off in Thursdays 3-0 win over Poland, which clinched top spot in Group A, with Chelseas Chalobah nursing a groin problem and Southamptons Redmond suffering a hamstring scare.

Nathan Redmond is a doubt for England Under-21s (Nick Potts/PA)

England face Germany in Tychy, Poland, on Tuesday and boss Aidy Boothroyd must play the waiting game.

He said: Both players will have fitness tests and they have improved significantly since we took the precaution of bringing them off and Nathaniel played a part in the session towards the end.

They will both be assessed tomorrow morning for the game.

England have been practising penalties but the Germans have not ahead of their last four showdown, a repeat of the 2009 final which the Young Lions lost 4-0.

It is the first time England have qualified from the group stages since that tournament in Sweden but Boothroyd knows they still need to improve.

He said: We want to make sure that we arent a team that are good at qualifying and getting out of groups. We want to be known as teams that win tournaments.

The under-20s have done that and the under-17s came really close and thats what we want to do.

And then there were four!



 Tuesday 27 June

Tychy/Krakow#U21EURO pic.twitter.com/unYlUDJu5L  UEFA U21 EURO (@UEFAUnder21) June 24, 2017

But we know weve got a very tough opponent and we have a great deal of respect for the German team and it will be a very difficult game for us as well.

But I hope that we can execute the game plan. If we can we will have a good chance.

Germany Under-21 boss Stefan Kuntz scored in normal time and also netted a penalty in his countrys semi-final shoot-out win over England at Euro 96.

Boothroyd believes that game at Wembley 21 years ago was a big moment in the rivalry but admitted he was in less glamorous surroundings than Kuntz during the semi-final.

It wasnt the ending we wanted but a lot of people of that generation have a real affinity with England v Germany games, he said.

Back then I wasnt taking a penalty on the pitch. I was in Baildon Social Club somewhere in Yorkshire watching it. (We had) slightly different career paths.

Defender Alfie Mawson is prepared to take a penalty should he need to but believes the Young Lions can win in 90 minutes.

The Swansea man said: Im confident enough to step up and take one. Hopefully it doesnt get to that and we finish the game in normal time. If we did come to that we feel we have enough character to go through.

Weve got to go out there with the confidence we came to this competition with.
Sir Jackie Stewart believes Lewis Hamilton must take some of the blame for an on-track bust-up with title rival Sebastian Vettel during Sundays Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Vettel hit the back of Hamiltons Mercedes as the pair weaved behind the safety car, with the German claiming he had been brake-tested by the three-time world champion.

The Ferrari man responded by pulling up alongside Hamilton, gesticulating and then seemingly driving into the side of the Mercedes before falling back in line.

Sir Jackie Stewart

 Feel that title rivalry heating up? Watch Lewis and Seb's on-track scrap  and the aftermath in front of the world's cameras #F1 pic.twitter.com/zWVn23ZXJ8  Formula 1 (@F1) June 26, 2017

Hamilton denied braking suddenly and labelled his rival a disgrace - with Vettel hit with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty and handed three penalty points on his licence following his actions.

But, while Stewart feels Vettel has tarnished his reputation with the stunt, the Scot  world champion in 1969, 1971 and 1973  reckons Hamilton should accept a portion of the responsibility for the flashpoint.

His reputation is certainly tarnished, Stewart told Press Association Sport when asked about Vettels actions.

The penalty points on his licence could become an issue... #F1 #AzerbaijanGP

https://t.co/JceDmUxxdi  Formula 1 (@F1) June 26, 2017

But at the same time what created the incident is what occurred when Lewis slowed down so quickly in a very unlikely place. You have got to take that into account.

That was a shock to Sebastian, and that is why he came alongside Lewis to ask what the hell are you doing? What Vettel then did was to unquestionably collide with Hamilton. There is no room for that, no excuse for that and it is wrong. It is inappropriate behaviour.

It would be very simple to put the complete blame on one man, but what initiated the bad behaviour was what happened before.

Title Rival Reaction Part 2: Hamilton



"He disgraced himself today, to be honest"#F1 #AzerbaijanGP https://t.co/RjgThGHb6D  Formula 1 (@F1) June 25, 2017

It was totally unexpected. I am not trying to hook Lewis into this the wrong way, but that was the whole crux of what happened.

Lewis put his brakes on so hard that Vettel hit him. I am not blaming Lewis for the accident but I have to say I have never seen anyone come off the throttle so quickly. You either to do it to surprise them, but what happened was the surprise was too severe.

Telemetry from Hamiltons car which was studied by the FIA cleared the British driver of any wrongdoing.

Stewart also questioned Formula Ones current set-up for dealing with such occurrences.

The FIA, motorsports governing body, currently has three to four race stewards per grand prix, with one former driver making up part of the panel.

They are rotated on a regular basis and most are drivers who ended their racing careers some years ago - with the likes of Nigel Mansell, Derek Warwick, Mark Blundell and Mika Salo having filled the role.

In Baku it was American Danny Sullivan who was the appointed former driver, having raced in 15 F1 races for Tyrrell in 1983.

RACE HIGHLIGHTS: Missed it? Just want to relive it? Here's the best of a stunning #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/2nlNmHrjoj  Formula 1 (@F1) June 26, 2017

Stewart wants to see a regular position for an ex-driver from an era closer resembling that of todays racing.

Asked if Vettel should face FIA sanctions, the 78-year-old said: There is room for more disciplinary action, but I have criticism about the stewarding at races.

There are a different set of stewards at almost every grand prix. In my opinion, the FIA should choose a retired grand prix driver, give him a proper salary, and a position that he is the authority.

They should sign him to a two-to-three year programme so he has full knowledge of all the drivers behaviour. It would take somebody that has been in the business recently, who has retired.
By Liam Taylor

BUGABO, Uganda June 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - " This land is peaceful," said Abdul Seryazi, standing in his family fields in Bugabo, a village in central Uganda.

But a charred bulldozer alongside tells a different story.

In April, three bus loads of men carrying sticks and machetes arrived in the village with the bulldozer.

Angry residents fought back, fearing the land would be cleared, and the machine was set alight.

While violent evictions are not unusual in Uganda, the case is notable because the landlord is Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II - the king, or 'kabaka', of Buganda, the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda.

Mutebi himself is revered as a cultural figurehead for more than 6 million Baganda, the country's largest ethnic group.

However growing competition for land is fuelling bitter disputes in the region, which includes Kampala, the capital.

The latest flashpoint is a new land titling scheme which is bringing the kingdom into conflict with both the national government and local tenants, who fear they will lose the fields they have farmed for generations.

The kingdom began urging people to apply for leasehold titles on its land in April, saying it will protect tenants, offer security and encourage investment.

According to Abdul Nadduli, a minister without portfolio in the national government, the campaign fanned local anxiety that the kabaka wants to "confiscate the people's land".

But Dennis Bugaya, legal officer at the Buganda Land Board, which manages the kingdom's estates, dismissed the fears, saying tenants had been misled by "a pack of political opportunists".

HISTORIC CONFLICT

The debate over tenure revives old tensions between the government and the Buganda kingdom, which has long pushed for greater autonomy.

President Yoweri Museveni restored the historic kingdom in 1993, but has long quarrelled with the kabaka over land reform, political autonomy and the return of Buganda's assets.

In 2009, more than 40 people were killed when police blocked the kabaka from visiting a disputed part of his territory and security forces acted to quell unrest.

Although the kingdom still holds great symbolic appeal, it is unable to raise taxes and has limited powers, relying on its own businesses and patriotic fundraising drives for revenue.

The move to leaseholds with titles would allow it to charge more, earn more from its property and so boost its coffers.

"With financial independence comes some element of political independence," said Bugaya. "There are some powers which do not want the kingdom to have a financial base."

The kabaka owns 350 square miles of 'official' estates as part of his title, as well as smaller parcels of land as a private individual.

Hundreds of thousands of people live and work on the kabaka's land, on small plots known as 'bibanja'.

Buganda Land Board officials say formal titles will help tenants get planning permissions and provide them with the security to apply for bank loans. The scheme is voluntary and the new, 49-year leaseholds are renewable, they say.

"People should title their property," said Bugaya. "It's only then that they can interact with market forces and the economy can grow."

But while those who do not apply for leases have been assured they will retain their bibanja, many are not convinced.

"I can die without leaving any penny to prolong that lease - what next?" said Nadduli. "My family to be displaced, and another family, a tycoon, may come to occupy it."

SCHOOL FEES

While the most recent evictions may not be directly linked to the titling scheme, residents say the problems have added to their fears.

Back in Bugabo, the men with machetes were accused of damaging crops, stealing tomatoes and blocking a water well.

Seryazi, 21, said the loss of his family's land would end his education: "Where are we going to get what to eat? Where are we going to get school fees?" he said.

John Kitenda, the Buganda royal treasurer, said the men who came with the bulldozer were sent by a private investor who had leased land from the kabaka.

"Those villagers are falsely claiming land," he said, and had only recently begun to cultivate it.

Bugabo residents insist they have never met the investor and were paying rent to the kabaka.

"I like my king, because that's what the culture says," explained Seryazi.

But he said the mood is shifting with many becoming suspicious of the kabaka's motives.

Betty Amongi, the national minister of lands, has herself called on a new land inquiry to investigate the titling scheme.

Meanwhile the kingdom has been forced to defend several court cases challenging its ownership and land holdings.

"I want a court declaration that the kabaka does not own [his official estates]," said Male Mabirizi, a lawyer in one high-profile case.

"He's holding it in trust for the people of Buganda." (Reporting by Liam Taylor, Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths.; 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)
BUCHAREST, June 26 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Monday.

NEW PRIME MINISTER

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis holds consultations with political parties over a new prime minister from 1200 to 1530 GMT.

The ruling Social Democrats meet at 0730 GMT to approve their proposal for prime minister after they toppled their own premier Sorin Grindeanu in a parliamentary no confidence vote earlier this month.

A Social Democrat Party senior said on Sunday the party had a list of eight potential prime ministers.

BUDGET DATA

Romania's finance ministry may release consolidated budget data for May. The budget ran a surplus of 0.2 percent of gross dometic product at the end of April.

DEBT TENDER

Romanian debt managers tender 700 million lei ($171.37 million) worth of March 2022 treasury bonds.

GENERAL ELECTRIC

General Electric has won a large contract to supply gas power equipment for a new 430 megawatt Romanian power plant, the first major deal in the region to result from its $10.6 billion 2015 acquisition of Alstom's power business.

POWER PRICES

Romanian energy regulator ANRE said on Friday electricity tariffs for households will rise by up to 8 percent on average from July 1.

CEE MARKETS

The Romanian leu regained some ground and stabilized on Friday after the ruling Social Democrats toppled their prime minister this week and now plan to form a new government.

For the long-term Romanian diary, click on

For emerging markets economic events, click on

For an index of all diaries, click on

For other related news, double click on: --------------------------------------------------------------- Romanian equities RO-E E.Europe equities .CEE Romanian money RO-M Romanian debt RO-D Eastern Europe EEU All emerging markets EMRG Hot stocks HOT Stock markets STX Market debt news DBT Forex news FRX For real-time index quotes, double click on: Bucharest BETI Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX ---------------------------------------------------------------- ($1 = 4.0847 lei)
By Andrew Cawthorne and Victoria Ramirez

CARACAS, June 26 (Reuters) - One was knocked off his feet by a water cannon. Another was pushed into a drain. Most have been pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed, beaten and hit by pellet shots.

A group of young Venezuelan lawmakers has risen to prominence on the violent front line of anti-government marches that have shaken the South American country for three months, bringing 75 deaths.

On the streets daily leading demonstrators, pushing at security barricades and sometimes picking up teargas canisters to hurl back at police and soldiers, the energetic National Assembly members are heroes to many opposition supporters.

But to President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government, they are the chief "terrorists" in a U.S.-backed coup plot aimed at controlling the vast oil wealth of the OPEC nation.

The dozen or so legislators, all in their late 20s or early 30s, belong mainly to the Justice First and Popular Will parties, which are promoting civil disobedience against a president they term a dictator.

They march largely without protective gear - unlike the masked and shield-bearing youths around them - though supporters and aides sometimes form circles to guard them.

They do not receive salaries since funds to the National Assembly were squeezed, living instead off gifts from relatives and friends. And some still reside at home with parents.

One of the best known, Juan Requesens, 28, has taken more hits than most. He nurses a scar in the head from a stick thrown by government supporters, wounds around his body from pellets and gas cannisters and bruises from being shoved into a deep drain by National Guard soldiers.

"The worst thing for me is when comrades die, when they fall at my side," the burly, bearded Requesens told Reuters, saying he had been near nine fatalities since April.

Protesters have been demanding a presidential vote and solutions to hunger and medical shortages. The deaths have included not only demonstrators, but also Maduro supporters, bystanders and members of the security forces.

There have been thousands of injuries too, and nearly 1,500 people remain behind bars, according to local rights groups, after roundups around the country.

Requesens, who represents western Tachira State where there is radical opposition to Maduro, freely admits his role as an "agitator" for the opposition. But despite his tough image, he obeyed his mother's order to stay at home after the head injury.

"For four days, she wouldn't let me go out - but it was fine because I rested and recovered quicker, then back again of course," he said.

Some have dubbed the band of lawmakers "the class of 2007" for their roots in a student movement a decade ago that helped the opposition to a rare victory against Maduro's popular predecessor Hugo Chavez in a referendum.

"It's a group born in the street during the 2007 protests. We're meeting up again 10 years later doing the same," said Harvard-educated Juan Mejia, 31.

"EXISTENTIAL STRUGGLE"

Mejia, lawmaker for Miranda State, which includes part of the capital Caracas, has lost one friend in a protest and another in an accident on the way to a march.

"For us, this is an existential struggle," he added, saying his generation grew up under socialist rule and was fed up with economic hardship, crime and political repression.

"I'm 31 and I'd like to live off my work, but I can't ... I don't want to depend on my parents all my life," he added in a hotel where opposition politicians were strategizing during a brief lull in their daily street activities.

Officials accuse the lawmakers of paying youths and even children as young as 12 to attack security forces, block roads and burn property. They have threatened to jail them.

State airlines refuse to sell them tickets, and private carriers are under pressure to do the same, meaning they cannot fly around the country, the lawmakers say. Some have also had passports confiscated or annulled, blocking foreign travel.

In a typical recent speech, Maduro blasted Freddy Guevara, a 31-year-old lawmaker who leads the Popular Will party in the absence of its jailed leader Leopoldo Lopez, as "Chucky" in reference to a murderous doll in a horror film.

He also singled out Miguel Pizarro, 29, a drum-playing lawmaker with the Justice First party who recently wept at a news conference minutes after a 17-year-old was shot dead close to him during a protest in Caracas.

"He puts on that dumb face and behind it, he's ordering them to kill and burn," Maduro said. "Pizarro, you're listening to me; you'll carry this with you all your life."

The lawmakers scoff at that, saying they now carry the nation's dreams for change while an ever-more desperate Maduro is clinging to power against the majority's will.

Their mantra is peaceful protest, and indeed when marches have not been blocked - such as to a state TV office and the Catholic Church headquarters - there has been no trouble.

But some admit to tossing back gas cannisters or throwing the odd stone, and there has been criticism the legislators have not done enough to restrain violence within opposition ranks, from burning property to lynching someone.

Jose Manuel Olivares, a 31-year-old lawmaker for coastal Vargas State, is a doctor and says his profession makes it all the more important to avoid violence. He recently required 12 stitches after being hit in the head by a tear gas cannister, and has often given first aid during clashes in the streets.

Yet he defends protesters' rights to "self-defense" and admits to wearing gloves to pick up gas cannisters.

"If I'm surrounded by old people, adults or even my family, and teargas falls nears us, it's legitimate defense to throw it back. Stones? Yes. But stones against bullets ... The battle is disproportional," he said.

"I'm not saying we're martyrs ... but we're trying to give the best example we can, fighting for the country, saying 'Here I am, taking risks just like you and you'." (Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Cynthia Osterman)
By Tova Cohen

TEL AVIV, June 26 (Reuters) - When Alexey Chalimov founded software design firm Eastern Peak in Israel four years ago he knew he would not find the developers he needed at home.

He went to Ukraine and hired 120 people to develop mobile apps and web platforms for international clients and smaller Israeli startups.

"I worked for years in the Israeli market and I knew what the costs were in Israel and I knew there was a shortage of workers," he told Reuters.

Driven by startups, Israel's technology industry is the fastest growing part of the economy. It accounts for 14 percent of economic output and 50 percent of exports.

But a shortage of workers means its position at the cutting edge of global technology is at risk, with consequences for the economy and employment.

The government's Innovation Authority forecasts a shortage of 10,000 engineers and programmers over the next decade in a market that employs 140,000. Israel has dropped six spots in three years to 17th in the World Economic Forum's ranking of the ease of finding skilled technology employees.

The shortage is particularly painful for Israel's 5,000 startups which compete for talent with development centres of technology giants such as Google, Intel, Microsoft and Apple. They offer big incentives that a startup cannot afford.

Israel will lose its edge if the shortage isn't tackled, said Noa Acker, head of policy at the societal challenges division at the Innovation Authority.

"Salaries will be very high and the industry will shrink to only very high level R&D while much of the work will be exported," she said.

MATHS LESSONS, BOOT CAMPS

The main reason for the shortfall is a sharp drop in the number of computer science, maths and statistics graduates, down from a peak of 3,000 in 2005 to a low of 1,600 in 2008.

This is partly due to problems in secondary and primary schools where lack of funding means some classrooms do not have computers and advanced maths teachers are in short supply.

"Why do we still have classes where there are no computers?" said Yifat Turbiner, a researcher in entrepreneurship and innovation at Ben-Gurion University.

"If more budgets aren't allocated to generate a technological state of mind ... from elementary school, I believe all industries will suffer, not just high-tech."

Another reason for the shortage of computer science graduates is that after the dotcom bubble burst in 2000 many Israeli high tech workers lost their jobs, Acker said.

This meant that students lost interest in tech careers and university applications declined.

The Education Ministry has announced plans to boost studies of maths and science, especially in high-schools outside the cities where advanced classes are not always available. But Turbiner said initiatives are also needed for a higher standard of maths at a younger age including training more teachers.

The government also has long-term initiatives to integrate ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs -- two fast-growing segments of the population with low labour participation -- into the industry.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 11 percent of the population and many prioritise religious studies over science and maths.

Military technology expertise gained by soldiers during their service has been behind several successful Israeli firms including the countrys biggest tech company, Check Point Software Technologies.

The government is also running "boot camps" of up to 18 months to train tech workers without technology degrees.

GOOD CONNECTIONS

While the government takes steps to stimulate organic growth of workers at home, it is also making changes to visas for a quick fix of importing foreign workers.

The government is preparing 500 visas for students from abroad who studied science and engineering at Israeli universities so they can stay to work at tech firms for a year. It is also working on easing bureaucratic hurdles to unlimited "expert visas".

In the meantime, many Israeli startups are looking abroad.

Ukraine is the top destination with about 100 Israeli development centres. A strong tradition of maths and computer science teaching that is present in many countries in former Soviet Union countries means Ukraine has more than 20,000 IT graduates each year.

The 1990s arrival of a million immigrants from former Soviet countries, many of them scientists who went to work for technology companies, has also created strong ties.

Israeli companies have also recruited workers in other eastern European countries such as Poland and Bulgaria.

Wix.com, which helps small businesses build websites and is one of Israel's hottest tech companies, employs 120 workers in two development centres in Ukraine and another 80 at a site in Lithuania.

"They are in the same time zone, they have a good level of English and all are Russian speakers. Some of our people here are former Russians," said Boaz Inbal, general manager of Wix's development centres. "We have direct flights to both countries. It's easy for us to collaborate and communicate."

Salaries for software developers in Ukraine are about 40 percent lower than in Israel, said Andrey Link, an executive vice president at Ukrainian software engineering firm Infopulse.

But he said: "The key argument in our favour is not the cost but availability. To find 2-3 people (in Israel) is not a problem, but if they need...an R&D centre for 100 people, it is very difficult in Israel." (Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; editing by Anna Willard)
LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - The leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Arlene Foster, has returned to London and hopes to finalise a deal to prop up British Prime Minister Theresa May's government, she told Sky News on Monday.

"We're back in London again and my hope is that we will be able to finalise the deal between ourselves and the Conservative Party," Foster told Sky in an interview.

"I think that this agreement will bring the prospects of doing a deal at Stormont closer because this will have a positive impact in relation to Northern Ireland," she said, adding that a second deal on power sharing in the province could be reached this week too.

"I very much hope that this week we will be able to conclude on two agreements," she said.

Foster will meet with May on Monday in London, Sky said.

A spokesman for the DUP confirmed Foster was in London. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Padraic Halpin)
By Agnieszka Barteczko

WARSAW, June 26 (Reuters) - Poland hopes a visit from U.S. President Donald Trump next month will pave the way for liquefied natural gas (LNG) deals with U.S. producers, a Polish government energy official said.

Poland opened its first LNG terminal a year ago in the Baltic city of Swinoujscie, near the German border, as part of an effort to cut its dependence on Russian gas and has ambitions to become a regional gas hub.

State-run Polish gas firm PGNiG received its first and only U.S. spot delivery of LNG from Cheniere Energy earlier this month.

U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to lay the groundwork for new deals to sell LNG to Poland and possibly elsewhere in Europe during a visit to Warsaw next month, a senior Polish official said.

"Energy issues are seen as a significant element of security both in Warsaw and Washington," Piotr Naimski, the government's official responsible for key energy infrastructure, told Reuters this week.

"In this sense, for sure the issue of energy cooperation will be discussed. In particular, this will concern the possibility of LNG supplies perhaps even to Europe, and definitely to Poland and the region," Naimski added.

Trump will visit Poland on July 6 on his way to a G20 summit in Germany. Military and energy security are expected to be the main topics of talks in Warsaw.

Naimski reiterated that Poland, which consumes around 16 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually, could be reselling the LNG it takes in Swinoujscie to Ukraine, when a cross-border link is developed, and then further to southern Europe.

"The highest political level talks are not the ones during which the issues of specific trade agreements are resolved. They rather create a certain climate for cooperation," Naimski said.

The only long-term deal PGNiG has regarding LNG supplies is with Qatargas, which in March agreed to double deliveries to Poland to 2 million tonnes (3 bcm) per year.

"I would expect that in future, apart from further spot deliveries, mid- and long-term agreements on U.S. LNG supplies will also be signed," Naimski said.

The capacity of the Swinoujscie terminal is 5 bcm, which will be expanded to 7.5 bcm. Considering the 3 bcm of LNG deliveries from Qatar, there is still room for shipments from the U.S., Naimski said.

He reiterated that if U.S. LNG supplies are competitive enough to hit the European market, they could "significantly" undermine Russia's Gazprom position.

Poland fears Gazprom's plans to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline to Europe will further strengthen its influence in Europe. It has therefore welcomed proposed U.S. sanctions on Russian energy projects, including Nord Stream 2.

"The U.S. Senate's proposal is an expression of concern of the American politicians by the strengthening Russian domination when it comes to gas supplies to Europe. In Poland we appreciate that there is an understanding of our stance in the U.S.," Naimski said.

(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
PRAGUE, June 26 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial markets on Monday. ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 2 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA========================== Real-time economic data releases.................... Summary of economic data and forecasts........... Recently released economic data.................. Previous stories on Czech data............. **For a schedule of corporate and economic events: http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/2E/events-overview =========================NEWS=================================== VW: Volkswagen's Slovak unit said on Sunday it had reached a wage deal with a trade union to end a six-day strike that has hit production at the country's biggest private employer. Story: Related stories: MACRON: French President Emmanuel Macron and four eastern European Union leaders sought to smooth relations on Friday after publicly trading barbs over jobs and democratic values. Macron, in power for little more than a month, has vowed to protect French workers from what he sees as "social dumping", in which companies employ cheaper labour, and unfair competition from the poorer eastern European states. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic say they should be allowed to compete on lower prices - just as more developed western EU nations compete on quality products and know-how - to catch up after decades of communist stagnation. Story: Related stories: EBA: With little support for a European Union-backed bad bank to clean up the huge pile of soured loans in Europe, national authorities should at least get a common blueprint to deal with the problem, the banking sector watchdog's head said on Friday. Speaking on the sidelines of a consumer protection conference in Prague, EBA Chairman Andrea Enria said there remained a misperception that the bad loan problem was only concentrated in a few countries. Story: Related stories: CEE MARKETS: The Romanian leu regained some ground and stabilized on Friday after the ruling Social Democrats toppled their prime minister this week and now plan to form a new government. Story: Related stories: ---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------ Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct change close on day in 2017 vs Euro 26.253 26.29 0.14 2.79 vs Dollar 23.467 23.516 0.21 8.5 Czech Equities 980.68 980.68 -0.77 6.41 U.S. Equities 21,394.76 21,397.29 -0.01 8.26 Pvs close or current levels vs prior domestic close at 1500 GMT ========================PRESS DIGEST============================ CENBANK: Central bank Vice-Governor Mojmir Hampl defended the bank's steps to get ahead of strong credit growth in the mortgage sector. He said critics say the bank is trying to put out a fire it started but said this is a false argument as nothing is 'burning, so it is not necessary to put it out'. He said the bank is only warning about the risks of a fire in the mortgage market and working toward its prevention. Hospodarske Noviny, page 8 ZOOT: Online fashion retailer Zoot aims to raise 150 million crowns with the issue of a bond due 2021. E15, page 6 (Reuters has not verified the stories, nor does it vouch for their accuracy.) For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX For updates on CEE currencies TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets Prague Newsroom: +420 224 190 477 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (Reporting by Prague Newsroom)
By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST, June 26 (Reuters) - The Romanian leu held steady on Monday, unrattled by the ousting of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu last week, and stocks markets in the region opened higher, led by Polish banks. Poland's index led gains, trading 1.2 percent higher at 0809 GMT. The country's second-largest lender Bank Pekao SA jumped 3 percent, while mBank surged 2.4 percent. Traders said this was due to JP Morgan raising the target price for Pekao, and putting it to "overweight" from "underweight". The ruling party in Romania is expected to propose a new prime minister to President Klaus Iohannis, a centrist, on Monday to replace Grindeanu who was ousted last week in a no-confidence vote initiated by his own party. Once Iohannis endorses the candidate, a new government could be formed within days. The political uncertainty follows jitters over the government's loose fiscal policies, but it was not expected to have a major impact on policy. "In our view, changing a prime minister will not entangle any major shifts in the current government policies except from the possibility of deviating further away from the anti-corruption path than under Grindeanu's leadership," analysts at Nordea bank said in a note. "Regardless of who will be the new Romanian PM, the political and fiscal risks will remain in place with the government policies continuing to be quite hasty and sometimes unpredictable ... we are not too optimistic about the RON in the medium-term," they added. The leu was steady at around 4.57 to the euro but was still hovering around its weakest levels since 2012 of 4.599 hit last week. "A possibly fast implementation of a new government... and the resolving of the political uncertainty could in our view induce a quick return of EUR/RON into the 4.50-4.55 range," Raiffeisen analysts said. The Hungarian forint and the Polish zloty were both 0.1 percent firmer in early, slow trade. CEE MARKETS SNAPSH AT 0940 CET OT CURRENCIES Latest Previo Daily Change us bid close change in 2017 Czech crown n/a 26.261 n/a n/a 5 Hungary 309.30 309.68 +0.12 -0.16% forint 00 50 % Polish zloty 4.2207 4.2255 +0.11 4.34% % Romanian leu 4.5710 4.5721 +0.02 -0.79% % Croatian 7.4120 7.4155 +0.05 1.93% kuna % Serbian 121.41 121.67 +0.21 1.60% dinar 00 00 % Note: daily calculated previo close 1800 change from us at CET STOCKS Latest Previo Daily Change us close change in 2017 Prague 969.08 980.68 -1.18% +5.15 % Budapest 35780. 35599. +0.51 +11.8 40 51 % 0% Warsaw 2334.8 2304.4 +1.32 +19.8 1 8 % 6% Bucharest 8270.2 8347.5 -0.93% +16.7 2 5 3% Ljubljana 795.27 792.22 +0.38 +10.8 % 3% Zagreb 1867.4 1864.5 +0.15 -6.39% 4 8 % Belgrade 0.00 705.79 +0.00 -100.0 % 0% Sofia 687.77 687.67 +0.01 +17.2 % 8% BONDS Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs change Bund in Czech spread Republic 2-year 0.049 0 +068b +2bps ps 5-year -0.014 0.048 +036b +4bps ps 10-year 0.896 0 +064b +0bps ps Poland 2-year 1.937 -0.07 +256b -5bps ps 5-year 2.628 0.007 +300b +0bps ps 10-year 3.245 0 +299b +0bps ps FORWARD RATE AGREEMENT 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interb ank Czech Rep <PR 0.34 0.41 0.49 0 IBOR=> Hungary <BU 0.185 0.2 0.23 0.15 BOR=> Poland <WI 1.75 1.766 1.82 1.73 BOR=> Note: FRA are for ask quotes prices ********************************************************* ***** (Additional reporting by Luiza Ilie and BArtosz Chmielewski; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
By Marius Bosch and Khaled al-Ramahi

MOSUL, Iraq, June 26 (Reuters) - The battle to take full control of Mosul from Islamic State will be over in a few days and an attempted fight-back by the militants failed, an Iraqi general told Reuters on Monday.

"Only a small part remains in the city, specifically the Old City," said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, commander of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) elite units in Mosul.

"From a military perspective, Daesh (Islamic State) is finished," Assadi said. "It lost its fighting spirit and its balance, we are making calls to them to surrender or die."

The area now under Islamic State control in Mosul, once the militant group's de facto capital in Iraq, is less than 2 sq kms, the Iraqi military said.

An attempt by Islamic State militants late on Sunday to return to neighbourhoods outside the Old City failed, Assadi said, adding the city would fall "in very few days, God willing".

The CTS is leading the fight in the densely populated maze of narrow alleyways of the historic Old City which lies by the western bank of the Tigris river.

A U.S.-led international coalition is providing air and ground support in the eight-month-old offensive.

The militants last week destroyed the historic Grand al-Nuri Mosque and its leaning minaret from which their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate spanning parts of Iraq and Syria three years ago. The mosque's grounds remain under the militants' control.

Iraqi troops captured the neighbourhood of al-Faruq in the northwestern side of the Old City facing the mosque, the military said on Monday.

PUSHING EAST

Iraqi forces took the eastern side of Mosul from Islamic State in January, after 100 days of fighting, and started attacking the western side in February.

Up to 350 militants are estimated by the Iraqi military to be besieged in the Old City, dug in among civilians in crumbling houses and making extensive use of booby traps, suicide bombers and sniper fire to slow down the troops' advance.

Assadi said Iraqi forces had linked up along al-Faruq, a main street bisecting the Old City, and would start pushing east, toward the river. "It will be the final episode," he said.

More than 50,000 civilians, about half the Old City's population, remain trapped behind Islamic State lines with little food, water or medicines, according to those who escaped.

Aid organizations say Islamic State has stopped many from leaving, using them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.

Islamic State has carried out sporadic suicide bombings in parts of Mosul using sleeper cells. It launched a wave of such attacks late on Sunday, trying to take control of a district west of the Old City, Hay al-Tanak, and the nearby Yarmuk neighbourhood.

Social media carried posts showing black smoke and reports that it came from houses and cars set alight by the militants. Witnesses said residents had fled the two neighbourhoods.

Assadi said the attempt to take over the neighbourhoods had failed and the militants were now besieged in one or two pockets of Hay al-Tanak. A curfew was in force over western Mosul, a Reuters correspondent reported.

The fall of Mosul would mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate", but Islamic State remains in control of large areas of both Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and has been assumed to be hiding in the Iraqi-Syrian border area. There has been no confirmation of Russian reports over the past days that he has been killed.

In Syria, the insurgents' "capital" Raqqa, is nearly encircled by a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
BUCHAREST, June 29 (Reuters) - Romanias ruling Social Democrats plan to replace a flat 16 percent corporate tax on profit with a multi-leveled tax on turnover from 2018, as well as introduce "a solidarity contribution," a revised governing programme showed.

Designated Prime Minister Mihai Tudose will ask for parliaments vote of confidence later on Thursday, which he is likely to receive given the comfortable parliamentary majority held by the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) and their junior partner ALDE.

The turnover tax, solidarity contribution and an additional tax on products with a negative health impact are new measures compared with the governing programme presented in December. So is postponing a 1 percentage point value added tax cut to 18 percent by one year to 2019.

Other measures, such as cutting the income tax to 10 percent from the current 16 percent, cutting social security contributions and shifting their burden solely on workers, not their employers have been carried over from the initial version of the programme.

The government also aims to raise pensions and minimum wage, as well as introduce a slew of smaller tax cuts. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie)
BANGKOK, June 26 (Reuters) - A Thai activist was charged on Monday with defying the orders of the military government, the latest critic to be arrested for activities outlawed since a 2014 coup.

Rangsiman Rome, 25, who was arrested on Sunday, was charged by a military prosecutor in Bangkok. He faces four charges including taking part in an illegal gathering in 2015 and defying a junta order by distributing leaflets against a constitutional referendum in 2016.

The military overthrew an elected government in May 2014, saying it had to restore order after months of at time violent protests against the ruling populist party.

Since then, the junta has issued edicts aimed at censoring the media and preventing public gatherings of more than five people, among others, in an attempt to impose order in the politically divided country following years of unrest.

Rangsiman, a former student at Bangkok's Thammasat University, told reporters as he entered a military court that he believed he was arrested over questions he had raised over a $5 billion Thai-Chinese railway project rather than his political activity.

The rail project has been promoted by the junta as an ambitious infrastructure project that will revamp Thailand's aging rail network and boost regional trade but it has been mired in delays.

"I think this is about my plan to go to the Government House to ask for details on the Thai-Chinese project," said Rangsiman.

Some people have criticised the rail project saying China should shoulder more of the costs. The government is sensitive about such criticism.

Yaowalak Anupan, a lawyer for Rangsiman, said her client had been granted bail on condition that he did not leave the country or participate in political activities.

Authorities on Saturday detained an activist attempting to mark a 1932 revolution that ended absolute monarchy, a development celebrated by pro-democracy activists but which has become increasingly taboo under the junta, which has taken a tough stand against critics of the monarchy.

The activist was later released.

Voters overwhelmingly approved a military-backed constitution in August 2016. Rights groups say the military government used repressive tactics to undermine critics of the new constitution.

Some say the charter will consolidate military rule by ensuring the generals have a say in political life, even after a general election tentatively set for 2018. (Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Robert Birsel)
BELFAST, June 26 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May struck a deal on Monday to prop up her minority government by agreeing to 1 billion pounds (1.3 billion) in extra funding for Northern Ireland in return for the support of the province's biggest Protestant party.

Below is a breakdown of the planned investment agreed with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that May is prepared to fund through the province's power-sharing executive.

The executive collapsed in January and parties have until Thursday to agree a deal for to restore it. [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/621797/UK_Govt__financial_support_for_Northern_Ireland.pdf ]

Infrastructure: 400 million pounds

- The UK government will allocate 200 million per year for two years and with sufficient flexibility as to the choice of project.

- The only project mentioned is the York Street interchange, a scheme that would replace a junction in Belfast linking three of the busiest roads in Northern Ireland. The regional department of infrastructure estimates its cost at 120 million to 165 million pounds.

Health and education: 350 million

- The UK government will allocate an additional 50 million pounds per year for two years to enable the Northern Ireland executive to address immediate pressures in health and education.

- Recognising the longstanding focus on securing a modern, sustainable health service in Northern Ireland, the UK government will allocate 100 million pounds per year for two years to support health service transformation.

- The UK government will provide 10 million pounds per year for five years to support the delivery of mental health services in Northern Ireland, recognising the historical impact of the province's past on its communities.

Broadband: 150 million pounds

- The UK government will contribute 75 million per year for two years to help provide ultra-fast broadband for Northern Ireland.

Social projects: 100 million pounds

- The UK government will provide 20 million pounds per year for five years to target pockets of severe deprivation so that all can benefit from growth and prosperity.

Corporation tax

- The UK government notes that one of the first tasks for Northern Ireland's new executive will be to work towards the devolution of corporation tax rates, the timetable for its introduction, and how this might best be flexibly managed, with options being developed for the Autumn Budget 2017.

- The UK government will work to utilise its networks of embassies and high commissions to promote Northern Ireland as a location for foreign direct investment.

VAT/Airport Passenger Duty

- A detailed consultative report will be commissioned into the impact of VAT and Airport Passenger Duty on tourism in Northern Ireland. The Irish Republic scrapped its passenger duty in 2014 and has introduced a lower rate of VAT for the tourism sector.

Legacy

- The UK government will work with the Executive to seek the implementation of the legacy bodies set out in the Stormont House Agreement that was adopted by Northern Ireland's parties in 2015.

- The bodies are to be established so as to operate in ways that are fair, balanced and proportionate and which do not unfairly focus on former members of the armed forces or police. ($1 = 0.7861 pounds) (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by Michael Holden)
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria June 26 (Reuters) - Suicide bombers killed nine people and wounded 13 others in multiple blasts in northeast Nigeria's Maiduguri, police said on Monday, the latest in a spate of attacks in the city worst hit by the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency.

A number of suicide bomb attacks by suspected members of the jihadist group have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its environs in the last few weeks, including blasts that killed 12 people on June 19 and a June 7 raid which left 14 dead.

Borno police said a male suicide bomber killed a security guard after entering the University of Maiduguri, near the city centre, on Sunday evening at 10:20 p.m. (2120 GMT).

Four female suicide bombers killed eight people around an hour later on the outskirts of the city in Zannari community, in the Gwange district of Jere local government authority after detonating devices in residential buildings.

Two female suicide bombers were the only people to die in two blasts at the University of Maiduguri on Monday morning at around 4:20 a.m. (0320 GMT).

"In all, 16 persons including the suicide bombers died in the multiple explosions while 13 persons were injured," said the Borno Police commissioner, Damian Chukwu.

Nigeria's state security agency on Friday said it had foiled plans to detonate explosives in four northern cities - Maiduguri, Kano, Sokoto and Kaduna - during celebrations to mark the end of Islam's holy month of Ramadan.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest blasts in Maiduguri but the use of suicide bombers - particularly female attackers - in the region is a hallmark of Boko Haram.

The militant group, which has killed more than 20,000 people in Africa's most populous nation and forced more than two million to flee their homes since 2009, is trying to create an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

Nigeria's army, with the help of troops from neighbouring countries, pushed the group out of most of a swathe of land around the size of Belgium which it controlled until early 2015.

But suicide bombings and gun raids in mostly busy public areas, such as mosques and markets, have continued in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon and Niger.

The frequency of suicide bombings has increased in the last few weeks, although a large proportion of the attacks result in only the bombers being killed.

(Reporting by Lanre Ola and Ahmed Kingimi,; writing by Alexis Akwagyiram, editing by Ed Osmond)
By Michele Kambas

NICOSIA, June 26 (Reuters) - Rival Cypriot leaders meet in the Swiss Alps this week in a make or break summit to find a peace deal ending decades of division for the partitioned island. The omens are not good.

The United Nations has called estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides to open-ended talks in the Alpine resort of Crans-Montana on June 28.

Their goal is a peace deal uniting Cyprus under a federal umbrella and which could also define the future of Europe's relations with Turkey, a key player in the conflict.

Two issues stand out; Turkish Cypriot demands for a rotating presidency, and Greek Cypriot demands that Turkey pull all its troops off the island, and renounce its intervention rights.

Publicly, neither side is willing to budge. Greek Cypriots, in a further complication, have issued an advisory to drill for natural gas in mid-July, plans vehemently opposed by Turkey which says the island nation has no jurisdiction .

"My expectations are rather low," said Hubert Faustmann, Professor of History and Politics at the University of Nicosia.

Divided in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by an abortive coup by seekers of union with Greece, mediators say the two sides have come closer than they ever had to a deal, but the hard chapters have been left until last.

Diplomats hope leaders Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci can strike a deal with the backing of Greece, Britain and Turkey. Those three countries are guarantor powers of Cyprus under a treaty which granted the former colony independence in 1960.

Greece and the Greek Cypriots want the guarantor system dismantled. The system allows any of the three countries to intervene to restore constitutional order.

Turkey and Turkish Cypriots want the guarantor system, or some vestige of it, to remain in place. But if there is a compromise on that, everything else should fall into place.

"It will all depend on the security chapter ... If they agree it will be a success, a breakthrough. If it doesn't it will be a failure," Faustmann said.

On the eve of the summit, both sides have stood their ground. A Turkish Cypriot official engaged in talks told Reuters that sharing a rotating presidency was a 'sine qua non', or non-negotiable, for their side.

Christoforos Fokaides, the Greek Cypriot defence minister, reiterated the position of his side on Sunday.

Any deal, he said, must allow peaceful co-existence on the island "without occupation troops, and the anachronism of guarantees". Turkey has some 30,000 troops in northern Cyprus, a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state. Greeks want them gone.

Stars have been on alignment over Cyprus before, only to be blown spectacularly apart.

Any deal must pass separate simultaneous referenda in both communities. A previous endeavour by the UN in 2004 flopped when Greek Cypriots rejected the reunification blueprint.

"There have been 50 years of negotiations. We have to make up our minds," said the Turkish Cypriot official involved in negotiations.

"Are we going to tell people we have a good deal? It might not be perfect but if you want to reach perfection you can talk a few more decades." (Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
By Giulia Segreti

PARIS, June 26 (Reuters) - The new chief executive of Italy's defence and aerospace group Leonardo will target the Gulf and Far East as part of an aggressive expansion drive to boost its international presence, according to company and government insiders.

After years of cuts to defence budgets that have curbed demand for military equipment, including in Italy, Alessandro Profumo is looking to establish joint ventures with peers and seal more deals with higher spending countries.

The 60-year old veteran banker, who is credited with turning Milan-based UniCredit into a pan-European player during his years as CEO, was appointed to the helm of state-controlled Leonardo by Italy's government in May.

Giovanni Soccodato, Leonardo's head of strategy and development, said the group, among the top 10 companies by revenue in the global defence sector, aimed to expand in emerging markets, particularly those with deeper pockets and higher security demands, such as the Gulf or the Far East.

"In coming years we will have to make strong decisions on where to position ourselves to grow further," he told Reuters.

Leonardo's hunt for new market opportunities comes after a three-year restructuring programme kick-started by Profumo's predecessor Mauro Moretti, who cut the group's debt by a third to 2.8 billion euros last year and streamlined its operations.

Moretti was criticised for not winning big deals, and for not focusing outside of Italy, which accounted for more than 2 billion euros of total revenue of 12 billion euros last year. Europe represented 27 percent of sales and North America just under a quarter.

"Leonardo has been static in the last years... it's been a long chain of lost opportunities," an industry insider said.

Rome is pushing Leonardo to open new headquarters in the United States, where it operates through subsidiary DRS, and to expand its UK offices in order to closely monitor any fallout from Brexit, a government source said.

Unlike Moretti, tasked to focus on Leonardo's books and simplify its structure, Profumo was picked by the government to outline a broader and longer-term strategy for the group.

"Profumo's mission is to make Leonardo a big international company again, opening it further to foreign markets and diversifying its clients in Italy," a government source said.

People familiar with the defence group said Profumo should help raise its profile after the firm's reputation was severely tarnished by a big corruption case over a 2010 helicopter deal in India, involving top managers before Moretti took over.

Speaking at last week's Paris Air Show, his official debut as CEO, Profumo told Reuters that he was studying the company and sector in depth. The manager has given himself 100 days to set out key guidelines for the company.

He will also focus on improving Leonardo's credit rating, currently one notch below investment-grade level with all three major rating agencies, people with knowledge of the matter said.

That could include controlling costs and scaling down its portfolio of products, which range from helicopters to military aircraft, training jets and communication systems.

But sources say that Profumo won't want to sell assets nor embark on an acquisition drive like that he oversaw at UniCredit but rather combine lines of business that use similar industrial processes and skills to produce economies of scale.

Leonardo expects new orders to total between 12 billion and 12.5 billion euros this year after it reached 19.9 billion euros in 2016, lifted by a major contract with Kuwait.

"The group certainly intends to continue on the path of financial stability, to compete with its peers. We need a profitable business, this is a priority," Soccodato said. (Editing by Catherine Evans)
By Michael Holden

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - British royal aides said on Tuesday that Queen Elizabeth and her family provide excellent value for money as accounts showed the amount of taxpayer funds they will get this year will almost double to cover essential repairs to Buckingham Palace.

Official figures show that the royals received 42.8 million pounds ($54.5 million) in 2016-17 from the "Sovereign Grant", the government handout that covers the running costs of the queen's household and travel expenses.

That figure is set to rise to 76.1 million pounds after the government agreed an increase to pay for a 369-million-pound, 10-year refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, whose ageing electrical wiring, water pipes and heating system are in urgent need of repair.

Alan Reid, the queen's treasurer known as Keeper of the Privy Purse, said the cost of the monarchy to every Briton last year amounted to 65 pence - the cost of a first-class postage stamp. When you consider that against what the queen does and represents for this country, I believe it represents excellent value for money," Reid told reporters.

The royal family carried out more than 3,000 official engagements last year, with the 91-year-old queen attending 162 and her husband Prince Philip performing 196, Reid said.

Philip, 96, who needed hospital treatment for an infection last week, announced in May he would retire from public life later this year.

Opinion polls show the 91-year-old queen remains hugely popular with Britons and at least two-thirds indicate they want the monarchy, which traces its royal line back to a Norman invasion in 1066, to continue.

Anti-monarchy republicans in Britain say the true annual cost of the royals to taxpayers is hundreds of millions of pounds because security expenditure is not included, while newspapers have often been critical of the amount spent on minor royals and travel expenses.

The Sovereign Grant is calculated based on 15 percent of surplus revenue from the Crown Estate - a property portfolio belonging to the monarchy - two years previously and has grown rapidly since the system was introduced five years ago, with the royals receiving 31 million pounds in 2013.

The money covers staffing costs and upkeep of royal palaces like 1.2 million pounds spent on replacing the Orangery Doors at Windsor Castle that had become inoperable due to rot and decay.

Last November, the government agreed to raise the grant to 25 percent of Crown Estate surplus to pay for the overhaul of Buckingham Palace while allowing it to remain occupied.

The bill for travel in 2016-17 amounted to 4.5 million pounds, with heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles's visit to Italy, Romania and Austria at the end of March the most expensive at 154,000 pounds. Meanwhile the royal train, which was used about 14 times last year, cost some 900,000 pounds. ($1 = 0.7855 pounds) (Editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Umberto Bacchi

ROME, June 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - International trade in food relies on a small number of key ports, straits and roads, which face increasing risks of disruption due to climate change, a report said on Tuesday.

Disruptions caused by weather, conflict or politics at one of those so-called "chokepoints" could limit food supplies and push up prices, the study by British think-tank Chatham House warned.

"The risks are growing as we all trade more with each other and as climate change takes hold," Laura Wellesley, one of the study's authors, said in a statement.

Almost 25 percent of all food eaten around the world is traded on international markets, the report said.

The amount of maize, wheat, rice and soybean moved across the world each year is enough to feed some 2.8 million people and more than half it passes through at least one of 14 inland routes, ports, and straits, like the Panama and Suez canals.

About 20 percent of global wheat exports, for example, transit via the Turkish Straits, while more than 25 percent of soybean exports is shipped across the Straits of Malacca.

But infrastructure at these junctures is often old and ill-suited to cope with natural disasters, which are expected to increase in frequency as the planet warms, said Wellesley.

Roads in Brazil, the world's largest exporter of soy bean, for instance, were exposed to the risk of flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains, while U.S. Gulf Coast ports could suffer more storm surges boosted by rising seas, she said.

That posed risks for the food security of importing countries and the economies of those exporting food, she added.

The report called on governments to invest in "climate-resilient" infrastructure as well as taking other precautionary measures such as diversifying food production and stocks. (Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Ros Russell.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)
A British woman has been left stranded in Sri Lanka after selling her home and marrying a Sri Lankan man who was shot dead, Daily Mail reported today.

The 59-year-old Diane De Zoysa says she gave 100,000 to 26-year-old husband Priyanjana when she moved to live with him in Ahungalla last year.

She had met the hotel worker when she was on holiday in the country six years ago, before returning seven months later to marry him.

However, her husband was tragically killed last month after being shot three times at a friend's house.

Mrs. De Zoysa says her husband was killed by men trying to blackmail him for money.

She has told the Daily Record that the killers thought he was a rich man as he had a nice house, a minibus and a tuk-tuk. He paid them but they wanted more she said.

'My husband and his family are very poor, so I have helped them. I gave up everything to join my husband here, she said.

She says she is now desperate to return to Scotland, but is unable to do so due to her financial situation.
The Central Bank last week expressed concern over the prolonged diplomatic spat between Qatar and its Arab neighbours as the spillover effects of the development could hurt Sri Lankas biggest foreign exchange earner, worker remittances.

The ongoing Qatar-Gulf crisis could pose a risk to workers remittances as Qatar is a key migrant employment destination for Sri Lankans, said Central Bank Economic Research Unit Head Y. Indraratne.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE spearheaded a campaign earlier this month with Egypt and Bahrain to sever ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and Iran. Despite being oil rich, this has put immense pressure on Qatars economy.

The cautious tone of Sri Lankas Central Bank comes at a time when the worker remittances have already started their downward trend.

During the first four months of this year, the worker remittances declined by 6.3 percent year-on-year (YoY) to US $ 2,221.67 million while during April alone, the decline was as acute as 15.6 percent YoY to US $ 487.89 million.

Qatar accounts for a quarter of Sri Lankan migrant workers and according to the data compiled by the Economic Intelligence Unit of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, 65,139 departures, out of the total migrant worker departures of 263,389, had been to Qatar in 2015.

This could probably be the highest departures to Qatar in a single year because there are about 150,000 Sri Lankan migrants workers in Qatar out of a total of 1.6 to 1.7 million Sri Lankan migrant worker population.

Although a country breakdown of remittance flows is still not available, the Middle-East accounted for 54 percent of the US $ 7.2 billion of total remittances received by Sri Lanka, last year.

Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy opined that although there is still no significant impact to Sri Lanka from the diplomatic row between the members of the Gulf Corporation Council, an intensified and prolonged crisis would likely to have negative implication on Sri Lanka.

However, Dr. Coomaraswamy attributed the decline in the remittances during the first four months to the decline of housemaids, which is policy-driven, as the government made it mandatory for the women seeking foreign employment under the housemaid category to fulfil certain requirements to qualify for migration.

Apart from that the austerity measures adopted by the Gulf countries by way cutting of subsidies, laying off of foreign workers, etc. due to lower oil prices, would have also contributed to this downward trend.

In 2016, remittances from migrant workers to South Asia fell 6.4 percent YoY after years of steady increase. Remittance to India fell by 8.9 percentthe second decline in a rowto US $ 62.7 billion from US $ 72 billion two years earlier.

Remittance income to Bangladesh, which accounts for 6 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), declined by 11 percent YoY while the remittance income to Nepal, which accounts for 30 percent of its GDP, fell by 6.7 percent YoY.

Some analysts are of the view that remittance to South Asia have peaked as the oil industry, which fuelled the Gulf boom, is now in a long-term decline.
esterday was the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, with the United Nations in a statement saying its intention is to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.

Supported each year by individuals, communities and various organizations all over the world, this global observance aims to raise awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs represent to society. This years theme is, Listen First - Listening to Children and Youth is the first step to help them grow healthy and safe, the UN says.

According to the world body it is an initiative to increase support for prevention of drug use. It is based on scientific evidence and is thus an effective investment in the well-being of children and youth, their families and their communities.

In April last year, the UN General Assembly held a Special Session on drugs. It was an important milestone in achieving the goals set in the policy document of 2009, Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem. The policy defines action to be taken by member states and goals to be achieved by 2019. The outcome document recommends measures to address demand and supply reduction, and to improve access to controlled medicines while preventing diversion. The recommendations also cover the areas of human rights, youth, children, women and communities; emerging challenges, including new psychoactive substances; strengthening international cooperation; and alternative development.



The UN says the text puts new emphasis on proportionate national sentencing policies and practices for drug-related offences and features a strong focus on prevention and treatment.

Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a message says that last year the international community took steps to mobilize a multifaceted, collective response to the full range of issues related to drug abuse and illicit trafficking. Governments came together to chart a new path that was more effective, humane and leaves no one behind.

Together, we must honour the unanimous commitments made to reduce drug abuse, illicit trafficking and the harm that drugs cause. We need to ensure that our approach promotes equality, human rights, sustainable development and greater peace and security, he says.

The UN chief adds that he knows from his personal experience how an approach based on prevention and treatment can yield positive results. As Portugals Prime Minister, I used the flexibility afforded by the three international drug control conventions to introduce non-criminal responses to the possession of drugs for personal use. Greater resources were allocated to prevention, treatment, and social reintegration programmes, including harm reduction measures. Portugal now has one of the lowest death rates for drug use in Europe. In 2001, Portugal had the highest rate of HIV among injecting drug users in the region; since the introduction of the new policy, this rate, and rates of all sexually-transmitted diseases, have decreased dramatically. Overall drug use rates have also fallen, he says.



In Sri Lanka, despite various claims by the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board and other agencies, it is an open secret that the drug mafias are still powerful and that among their main targets are schoolchildren. Latest reports indicate that if not mainstream drugs such as heroin or cannabis schoolchildren are tempted to use various other substances while principals are even afraid to talk about them for fear of reprisal to them and their families. It is known that top officials or detectives of anti-drug agencies, politicians and other officials are in the pay or trapped in the web of the drug mafias.

This years theme, Listen First - Listening to Children and Youth is the first step to help them grow healthy and safe is vitally important for Sri Lanka. We hope that school authorities, education officials, religious leaders, parents and others will listen to the children and help them to grow healthy and safe.
Vista Rooms, South Asias largest chain of affordable stays, is expanding operations to include apartments and villas in their portfolio of properties. Following a wave of success with standardizing and branding budget hotels across the island, Vista Rooms is now set to be a complete turnkey solutions provider for the private stays segment. They offer end to end support to villa and apartment owners  right from tech, to sales, to regulatory and operational support. This expansion into the informal tourism sector comes as the sector is experiencing a surge in popularity in recent years.

We are seeing a greater desire from tourists for more authentic stays. Travellers are seeking localized, personal experiences and apartments and villas are great alternatives to hotels that can help meet this need. Hence we are excited to move into this segment where we see a lot of potential for growth. We believe the key to unlocking this potential is in building trust with the customer by providing them with a quality stay. This is where our turnkey solutions will help hosts navigate the usual pitfalls of the hospitality industry, said Ankita Sheth, Vista Rooms Co-Founder.

Vista Rooms has already tied up with over 50 apartments and villas across the island and has begun providing an off the beaten path experience to tourists. This burgeoning segment is only set to grow further with the increase in global awareness of Sri Lanka as an excellent holiday destination thanks to a concerted push from the tourism board. Locals, too, find it easy to book a quick weekend getaway with Vista Rooms.

We work on a franchise or a complete turnkey model with property owners where we offer our brand, technology and sales network in serving global travellers. Our property owners have on average seen their occupancy increase by 15-20% in the first 3 months of operations by accessing our global distribution network of over 100 online and offline travel agents, corporates and repeat customers said Vista Rooms Co-Founder, Amit Damani

Vista Rooms follows an asset and people-light model. Having opened operations in Sri Lanka in March 2016, Vista Rooms has already built the largest network of branded stays in the country with over 300 properties across 25 cities. The same swift growth can be expected from the brand going forward, as they begin catering to a large, untapped demand segment. The online startup believes that their technological prowess, the ability to offer good quality, standardized experiences and stellar customer service will uplift the segment and create greater demand.
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) rejected the President Maithripala's statement on SAITM and vowed to continue its struggle.

After talking to GMOA representatives, the president's office said in a statement that SAITM was instructed to stop enrolling new students until the government issued the gazette notice stipulating the standards to be adopted for private medical education.

GMOA's newly-appointed Secretary Haritha Aluthge told a news conference that they were in no way agreeable to legalizing SAITM in any form. He said the only option was to nationalise it.

He said they believed that Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne had intervened alter the agreement reached at the meeting with the President.

Instead of abolishing SAITM, the statement paves the way to legalise it, Dr. Aluthge said.

He said the GMOA and the students union demanded that SAITM be abolished or nationalised.

The President told us to believe his word and call off the strike. We respected his word and had hoped he will mete out justice. We are looking forward to his explanation. He should correct the contradictions if we are to stop any further action, Dr. Aluthge said.

Meanwhile, he warned that the next couple of hours would be crucial and the GMOA will continue its strike and under no circumstances would they stop their trade union action until the government ends the SAITM issue and safeguards the patients' right to live and the future of the medical sector. (Thilanka Kanakarathna)

Video by Danushka
A plane chartered by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection has left the Australian territory early yesterday with about 20 people  some of them guards and interpreters  onboard, The Australian reported..

The Sri Lankan nationals were led up the steps of the plane with a guard on each side.

The return of Sri Lankans from Christmas Island to Colombo overnight on a government charter jet has fuelled speculation that Australian Border Force has intercepted a suspected asylum vessel in the past week.

Christmas Island residents yesterday linked the deportations to an unusual spectacle last Thursday when two of the navys rigid inflatable vessels were seen towing a small boat close to the horizon.

The last known intercept of an asylum vessel on its way to Australia was in March.

The March monthly update on the departments website stated: During this period, Australian authorities worked with the government of Sri Lanka to return 25 people who were detected and intercepted attempting to reach Australia illegally by boat, in accordance with Australias protection obligations.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton yesterday declined to confirm any new intercept.

The Sri Lankan government has been willing for some years to swiftly take back failed asylum-seekers stopped en route to Australia.

During the sustained wave of boats between 2008 and 2013, Christmas Island sometimes held more than 6000 immigration detainees.

It now operates one detention centre with fewer than 1000 men, but many of them are not asylum-seekers. Instead, the centre has become a place to hold mostly men who are citizens of other countries and have committed crimes while living in Australia. Once their jail term ends, they are transferred to immigration detention to await deportation.
Apart from poverty and corruption, violence rooted in religious intolerance has become a hallmark of South Asian countries. And, as in the case of poverty and corruption, the State and the polity are complicit in violent religious intolerance.



In Hindu-majority North India, cow protection vigilantes called Gau Rakshaks lynch Muslims with impunity, alleging that they ate beef or were taking cattle for slaughter. In Sunni-Muslim majority Pakistan, a loosely worded blasphemy law is used to arrest, prosecute and sentence to death non-Sunni Muslim minorities and non-Muslims like Christians and Hindus. Mobs have no compunction about lynching suspects and society and polity view lynching as natural justice.



In Muslim-majority Bangladesh, secular bloggers, atheists and gay rights activists were branded as enemies of Islam and murdered in cold blood till last year when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came down on the perpetrators with an iron hand. In Sri Lanka, the State machinery and the polity are silent spectators as a Buddhist monk freely indulges in hate speech and exhorts his followers to burn Muslim shops and mosques.



Majoritarianism

Despite claims to the contrary and the existence of democratic structures and laws, the South Asian state is quintessentially an institution of the majority community for the majority community. The State looks on nonchalantly or even approvingly, as members of the majority community attack and even kill minorities and dissenters. The State tacitly approves these acts in the belief that stopping the attackers or punishing them will alienate it from the majority community.



In India, murdering Muslims for trading in cattle or eating beef is seen by the ruling dispensation as implementation of its Hindutva ideology - the ideology of Hindu nationalism which seeks to establish Hindu supremacy through the subjugation of minorities and dissenters. The perpetrators of violence are either not arrested or are let off the hook.



In Pakistan, a simple allegation of blasphemy (even in the slightest form), is enough for arrest and prosecution. Since the accuser has the upper hand, the accused is sentenced to death as the law makes it mandatory. The courts themselves deem it a religious duty to be harsh on the accused as blasphemy is deemed an unpardonable crime in Pakistan.



Alleged blasphemers are sometimes lynched by self-righteous mobs or are killed by fellow prisoners or jail guards. These murders go unpunished as they are deemed by society and the polity to be meritorious.

"In a society where primordial loyalties are strong, religious affinity proved to be a more attractive and effective rallying point than class interest"



Deep Rooted Communalism

Communalism has been at the core of politics in the Indian sub-continent from pre-independence days and was the basis of the division of the Indian sub-continent into a largely Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan. But under the enlightened leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India chose to be secular and was largely so, till economic crises and Indira Gandhis authoritarian rule set off political and social unrest which spawned communalism.

Hindu chauvinistic/nationalist forces, which were dormant after independence, began to find favour among a section of the middle class as the Left of Centre Congress and the Leftist parties jaded in the 1970s and 1980s. In a society where primordial loyalties are strong, religious affinity proved to be a more attractive and effective rallying point than class interest.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Hindu chauvinistic forces drew sustenance from the rise of fundamentalist Islam emanating from the oil-rich Middle East. In the mid-1980s, Indias arch enemy Pakistan, got highly Islamized under the rule of Gen.Zia-ul-Haq. Its fall out was felt in the Muslim-majority Indian state of Kashmir, where protests against Indian rule reached new heights.



However, it took several years for the Hindutwa forces to capture State power. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to come to power at the Centre virtually on its own, only in March 2014.

"Sharpening the Hindu-Muslim divide, Modi as Prime Minister, has given up the long established tradition of holding Iftar parties during Ramazan"

Once ensconced in power, the BJP and its ideological allies called Sangh Parivar set about whipping up Hindu nationalism to consolidate and expand its political base. The easiest way of doing so was to target the Muslims, the quintessential other in India, and the community which broke up India to establish a separate Muslim Pakistan.



The ancient concept of the Holy Cow and the ban on beef eating were revived, not to safeguard the cow, but to target the Muslims who eat beef and slaughter cows.



Gau Rakshaks or cow vigilante groups mushroomed to number several thousands by 2016. When tipped off, these vigilante groups would attack and lynch the suspected Muslims. Those killed so far range from 58 year old Mohamand Ikhlaq from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, to 15 year old Hafiz Junaid in Ballabhgarh near Delhi.



The State apparatus sides with the vigilantes under the cloak of the Indian constitution which bans the slaughter of milch cattle, though cattle taken for slaughter dont yield milk. A recently passed law, which makes it very difficult to sell cattle in the market, is meant to destroy the meat industry which is largely in the hands of Muslims. According to the Economist armed Gau Rakshaks prey on cattle transporters on highways, extorting money at the rate of Indian Rs. 200 per head of cattle.

"Communalism has been at the core of politics in the Indian sub-continent from pre-independence days and was the basis of the division of the Indian sub-continent into a largely Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan"



Marginalization of Muslims

Alienating the Muslims is no longer considered politically costly. Modi proved in the Uttar Pradesh State Assembly elections recently that polls can be won comfortably without fielding a single Muslim candidate.

Sharpening the Hindu-Muslim divide, Modi as Prime Minister, has given up the long established tradition of holding Iftar parties during Ramazan. He also makes it a point not to attend Iftar parties, even if hosted by the President of India. Taking the cue from him, other parties are also giving up the practice, thus giving up even a symbolic acknowledgment of Indias largest minority and its second largest religious community.

"The perpetrators of violence are either not arrested or are let off the hook"



Blasphemy in Pakistan

Meanwhile in Pakistan, efforts to revise the blasphemy law, which have led to a rash of convictions and lynching, have failed in the face of opposition from ultra radical Islamic groups and Mullahs who consider it inviolable.



Those seeking reform or pleading for mercy towards alleged blasphemers are murdered. Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti were assassinated for this, and the assassins were publicly lauded. This despite the fact that a survey conducted by the Nation newspaper found that 68% wanted the blasphemy law repealed.



In Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas zero tolerance of religious killings after the July 1 ,2016 massacre in a posh restaurant in Dhaka, has put an end to such killings, clearly showing what the State could do if it wanted to control religious killings.

(P.K.Balachandran is a senior Colombo-based journalist currently writing on South Asian countries)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which held back the second tranche of the US $ 1.5 billion bailout package last year until the value-added tax (VAT) was raised from 11 percent to 15 percent, is now delaying the release of the third tranche until the government tables the new Inland Revenue Bill in parliament.

The third tranche of the three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) was due this April but has been delayed by the IMF as the government failed to fast track the bill, which was said to have been designed with the expertise of the IMF but with little or no consultation with the public, the

stakeholders allege.

The disbursement of the EFF occurs in seven tranches followed by programme reviews and there are prior actions the government must fulfil in order to ensure timely and smooth continuation of the programme until the completion of the three years.

Tabling of the new Inland Revenue Bill in parliament is one such prior action, which the government has so far failed

to deliver.

There is only one prior action that has to be completed. That is the tabling of the Inland Revenue Bill in parliament, Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said. Addressing the media after releasing the June monetary policy review last Friday, Dr. Coomaraswamy said the bill had already been gazetted on June 19 and is expected to be tabled in parliament in about 10 days.

He however said the IMF only wants the bill to be tabled in parliament as the multilateral lender respects the parliamentary procedure in legalizing a bill in a sovereign state.

Some senior Finance Ministry officials have alleged that the government is rushing the bill with no consultations whatsoever and some senior Inland Revenue Department officials have complained that they have been kept completely in the dark with regards to the drafting of the bill.

Meanwhile, the tax experts who have seen the draft bill have reportedly said that the new tax legislation is nothing but only a carbon copy of Ghanas new tax law prescribed by the IMF some years back. The IMF advocates for higher state revenues and has repeatedly cited Sri Lankas extremely low revenue to gross domestic product as a key macroeconomic shortcoming.

The expectation is that with the new Inland Revenue Bill, the governments tax income will get a significant boost, thereby allowing it to phase out the indirect tax burden placed on the public over a period of time. Sri Lankas current tax revenue mix (indirect and direct taxes) stands at 80:20. The proponents of the new tax law argue that it reduces the discretion of the finance minister to make ad hoc decisions on tax by transferring that power to parliament.

The IMF Executive Board is expected to meet during the second week of July and our expectation now is that, that (third tranche) should be approved (and) the review will go through and the next tranche (fourth tranche) would be forthcoming, Dr. Coomaraswamy said.
Dikgang Moseneke, the former Deputy-Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa will deliver a lecture today at the ICES (International Center for Ethnic Studies) Auditorium at No. 2, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8 at 4.00 pm. In the lecture titled The Role of the Constitutional Court in South Africa Judge Moseneke will be discussing the role of the Constitutional Court, judicial review of legislation, the interpretation and enforcement of fundamental rights, center-periphery relations, and judicial appointments under the 1996 Constitution.

"Judge Moseneke served 15 years in the Constitutional Court, 11 years of which was as the Deputy-Chief Justice. He was part of the technical committee that drafted the interim constitution of South African in 1993"



Judge Moseneke served 15 years in the Constitutional Court, 11 years of which was as the Deputy-Chief Justice. He was part of the technical committee that drafted the interim constitution of South African in 1993. He was the deputy-chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, which conducted the first democratic election in South Africa in 1994. He has authored the book My Own Liberator which unfolds his story of how he contributed to make the South African constitution a living constitution.



Lal Wijenaike, Chairperson of the Public Representation Committee on Constitutional Reforms will preside.
In contravention of the circulars pertaining to the politicians visiting foreign countries, the Foreign Ministry had given instruction to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Japan to accord protocol assistance and courtesies to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his recent private visit to Japan, it is learnt.

Sri Lanka Ambassador in Japan Dhammika Ganganath Dissanayake in a reply to a query by President Maithripala Sirisena had stated that he had to follow the instructions of the Foreign Ministry in this regard.

Explaining the circumstances that led to the according of protocol assistance and courtesies to the former President and his entourage during a private visit by them, the ambassador said that he received a fax message from the Foreign Ministry on May 29 informing him to accord protocol assistance and other courtesies to former President and his 12 member delegation on their arrival, stay and departure, citing two circulars.

However, as the only circular that dealt with the private visits by politicians had said that the protocol assistance and other courtesies could be accorded only to the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the Parliament, Chief Justice, Cabinet Ministers, Opposition Leader and the State Ministers, the ambassador said he sought further clarification and instructions from the foreign ministry.

He had also cited to the Ministry the fact that the instructions given by the Ministry during a visit to Japan by Mr. Rajapaksa in 2016 had differed from the latest instructions.

Mr. Dissanayake had informed the President that since he had not received any more instructions embassy provided protocol assistance to the former President and his entourage only at the arrival, departure and with Japanese customs.(Dayaseeli Liyanage)
When will political parties fight over sending a Dalit to the South Block?

Outsmarted by the BJP in the race for the presidents election, the Congress-led opposition can still outwit the Modi-Shah duo.

They can declare their commitment to choose a Dalit for the prime ministerial race in the 2019 election against Narendra Modi. No names, just a commitment.

That will put the duo of Gujarats chatur banias on the back foot. That will energise the restive Dalit population against the BJPs blatantly anti-Dalit actions.

That will energise the minorities, tribal and the marginalised sections to coalesce into an anti-upper caste combine against the BJP leadership.

The presidential election will come and go, one of the two Dalits will be elected to sit in the Rashtrapati Bhavan  for the second time after KR Narayanan  for the next five years.

The presidential election will come and go, one of the two Dalits will be elected to sit in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The commitment to elect a Dalit as the prime ministerial candidate will have the potential to upend the national politics. It can turn the caste pyramid of Hindu society that has held sway over the politics and power on its head.

But they wont. No party leader will risk losing casteist hold by choosing a Dalit for the most powerful position. The 2019 elections prime ministerial choices are more or less clear: Modi versus Rahul Gandhi. There could be a third candidate in the event of a hung Parliament, anyone but a Dalit.

Declaring their intent to choose a Dalit for the PMs chair will be a sure way of breaking the upper castes stranglehold on the politics by the secular, pro-Dalit, pro-subaltern opposition parties. That will be a sure way to put the RSS-led BJP on the mat.

The hard reality is that the physical distance between Raisina Hill and South Block is a furlong, but the chasm political parties have to traverse for a Dalit to reach the Prime Ministers Office is vast and seems, at least for now, unbridgeable.

In competitive politics, therefore, political parties have to feign a fight over ceremonial presidents office to perpetuate the pro-Dalit tokenism.

The BJPs decision to choose Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit, as NDAs presidential candidate and the Congress-led opposition parties response to put Meira Kumar, another Dalit, in contest is a ludicrous and silly tokenism.

Neither the Congress that has thrived for long on tokenism nor the BJP that has shed even pretensions of being an inclusive party is Dalit-friendly.

Dalit cause is far from their mind. Dalit votes are on their agenda.

The votes are in danger of slipping away. With increasing radicalisation of Dalit voters who have begun to challenge the existing social order in more meaningful manner than ever, parties have little choice. The tokenism that guides political parties to woo Dalit votes may not pay dividends in future.

Even Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati is facing Dalits wrath for her tokenism or for her compromised ideological stances. She has empowered Dalit population to great extent and she has made them aware. At the same time she has failed to keep the Dalits' aspirations alive.

Mayawatis helplessness can be gauged by the fact that she has to sail with upper caste-led parties to keep her Dalit credentials intact. She has to jump from one bandwagon to another in the service of silly tokenism even after having been chief minister of the largest state of UP on four occasions.

She altered her decision to support Kovind in favour of Meira Kumar after the Congress-led opposition announced its candidate. None of the two Dalits is her choice. She has again proved that she is just an appendage of upper caste-led BJP and the Congress.

Mayawati should have been in the lead to set the agenda if Dalit politics were to be at the centre of the presidential election. The Congress-led joint opposition should have declared that Mayawati as a Dalit will be part of a committee to select a candidate for the presidents post. That could have taken the wind out of sails of the BJP if she had announced the oppositions presidential candidate before the BJP did.

All the brouhaha over BJPs masterstroke versus the oppositions masterstroke in making the presidential election a contest between two Dalits is a political tamasha and nothing more.

Sadly, the theatre of the absurd is being played over the presidents office. Political parties should have left the office of the president to remain above partisan politics, above a slugfest over tokenism.

The politics over origin of birth and caste labelling of presidential candidates amounts to trivialisation of the institution of the president.

To expect that a Dalit president will bring Dalits votes bears no evidence. Presidents have never influenced votes. Three Muslim presidents  Zakir Hussain, Fakhriuddin Ali Ahmad and APJ Abdul Kalam  did nothing to influence votes. They contributed little to make the community confident and secure citizens. They all had their contributions to public life, but none could politically transform the community.

Likewise, Narayanan could have transformed Dalits status in the society if the office of the president could be instrumental.

The fact that the Muslim and Dalit communities today feel insecure and are being victimised for their choice of as basic need as food firmly disapproves the idea that presidents origin of birth could be transformative.

The politics over origin of birth and caste labelling of presidential candidates amounts to trivialisation of the institution of the president. The entire gamut of political spectrum is guilty of lowering the dignity of the office.

Well, the time is not lost. The NDA has majority in the electoral college to elect Kovind. Meira Kumar can give good fight, but cant hope to win in the given arithmetic.

So, why not set the agenda for the 2019 election. If indeed the Congress-led opposition parties are serious to advance the Dalits cause, they can declare that a Dalit will be their joint candidate against Modi.

In the meanwhile, the Congress can elect Meira Kumar as party president, not send her to retirement as a defeated presidential candidate.
In a piece written by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for The Wall Street Journal yesterday, June 25, he said that he returns to the United States a year after he and former president Barack Obama jointly overcame the hesitations of history in the India-US ties. As he dines with current president of the United States, Donald J Trump, PM Modi is expected to sing paeans to shared and cherished democratic values.

In his recent tweet, President Trump has declared India as a true friend, something he had reiterated before a gathering of Hindu Americans led by tycoon Shalabh Kumar, himself a great supporter of Trump. Fringe Hindu groups have celebrated Trumps birthday in India, turning him into a deity of sort, even as Indians in the United States have become victims of hate crimes, and the department of homeland security, as well as the immigration authorities in the US, put a curb on the all-important H-1B visa thats the capillary network of Indias vast tech diaspora in the United States. But for Trump, "Make America Great Again" was a refrain thats blind to such inconvenient truths.

Yet, the two leaders are meeting later today in a much-hyped, officially bilateral and one-on-one capacity, and Modi is the first world leader to be formally hosted in the White House, and be accorded the honour of a White House dinner. This is continuity because even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh became the first state guest to be hosted in the White House in 2009 when a callow Obama became the first African-American president of the US.

Since then, the talks of Indo-US strategic partnership, the following through of the civil nuclear deal, maritime cooperation in Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Paris Climate pact, which India ratified  had been fruits of a really growing relationship between two mature democracies embracing each other. However, with the Trump administration overturning many of the achievements of the previous Obama regime, and pursuing more of direct bilateral ties, which are heavily dependent on President Trumps personal chemistry with the global leaders, this is indeed a tricky path for PM Modi.

Though often compared on the basis of their similarities, Modi and Trump have many crucial differences.

The murmurs of spruced-up defence cooperation, especially after last years LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement) between India and US, are the only slices of reassurance in the political and diplomatic circles. PM Modis op-ed in The WSJ notwithstanding, the bilateral trade figures wouldnt matter to Trump, whose populism is premised on his notorious America First motto, one of the primary reasons why he pulled the United States out of the all-important Paris Climate deal, one of the high points of the Obama regime.

Though often compared on the basis of their similarities  riding the populist waves to secure major electoral mandates  Modi and Trump have many crucial differences. While the former is extremely cautious with his public utterances, and wants desperately to be counted as a statesman even though his party indulges in the most heinous form of electoral Darwinism, the latter is a 3am tweet, crying over FAKE NEWS on most days. Though both Trump and Modi have a difficult and adversarial relationship with the non-tabloid media in the two countries, and both the regimes have been caught intimidating free press, asking openly for regime-friendly nicer stories, they are being given a tough time, more in the US than in India, of course.

The congratulations over phone on electoral victories aside, what would connect the two is evidently hinged on high-end defence deals, less so on defence cooperation because Trump cannot be said to have a vision on anything beyond immediate and myopic economic interests. Already, reports that the US has agreed to sell India 22 Guardian drones have been all over the Indian media, and its expected that in the joint statement later tonight, the POTUS and the Indian PM would make a formal announcement on this. We can expect some boost for Modis Make in India initiative as a fighter aircraft-hungry India either agrees to buy, or partially/jointly manufacture with US help, some much-needed fleet.

Yet, as The Economist put it, Narendra Modi has been found to be a constant tinkerer, but not much of a reformer, a firebrand nationalist under whose reign Indias raucous democracy has been much subdued. The Make In India initiatives are sinking, even as his new-day-new-scheme gimmick has been exposed as more or less a rehashed version of UP-era initiatives. So much for those who bet on the strongmans ability to take hard decisions and put India on the smart path to development.

Come to think of it, the two leaders representing the worlds largest and the oldest democracies, would meet today, and all we can talk about with limited enthusiasm is a set of possible defence pacts, minus long-term vision, and only hinged on shared Islamophobic tendencies of both the current administrations. If Trumps stalled executive order on preventing entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries for a period of 90 days  one of the very first decision he took as he assumed office  is anything to go by, can we discount the fact that there was no Iftar dinner in the White House this year, breaking a long tradition of official secularism in the United States?

What an echo it has in India, where the last Iftar party organinsed by President Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan wasnt attended by a single Union cabinet minister serving the Narendra Modi government! This, in the wake of a spate of lynchings, mostly of Muslims and Dalits in the country, is really the official nod to an emboldened lynch mob that sees state sanction in its communally motivated orgies of violence.

Its extremely disconcerting that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald J Trump, while reaping the fruits of boisterous democracies in both the countries, are presiding over a catastrophic attempt to disembowel democracy from its roots.

As dire prognosis of Hindu Rashtra in India and triumphalist return of White nationalism in the United States happen together, we see the two leaders of the two most important democracies in the world, make a bonfire of civil rights, putting muscular militarism at the very centre of their cramped worldview, even as they desperately covet attention, adoration and admiration from all.

This was evident in the manner PM Modi paraded the surgical strike before an audience of eager NRIs and prominent business heads in the US, as something for which India gained diplomatic stature in the international stage. His confidence was placed in India successfully de-hyphenating itself from Pakistan and being able to front terrorism as an issue that must be tackled head-on, separating it from the Kashmir crisis, which Pakistan both foments and latches on to.

We see the two leaders of the two most important democracies in the world, make a bonfire of civil rights, putting muscular militarism at the very centre of their cramped worldview.

Yet, with the beef lynchings becoming a veritable national(ist) epidemic, comparisons with Pakistan and its draconian blasphemy law, are becoming the new normal. Mirrored tendencies in the United States, with Indians becoming victims of Islamophobic hate crimes perpetrated by White neo-nazis who are unable to tell apart a brown Arab from a brown Indian or South Asian, show a common stream of majoritarinism gripping both the countries, both of which are lands of immigrants, with civilisations built upon each other as waves of incoming peoples settled down. Both Modi and Trump are indifferent to such layered history of their respective countries, the foundations of the democracies in life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, as well as being true to the Constitution of the Secular, Democratic Republic. While Trump sees nothing beyond myopic monetary gains and is ready to upset painstaking work done by previous regime for quick bucks, as evident in his courting of Saudi Arabia and signing the 110 billion dollar defence deal with the monarchy that seeks to achieve a complete overhaul of the Middle East, securing maximum control at the expense of Iran, Modi desires a lasting impression on the world stage.

This, however, doesnt sit well with his Sangh-driven political ideology and the vision of turning India into a Hindu Rashtra. Modis odes to Indias entrenched secularism in foreign soil are a sore contrast with his deafening silence on the exploding graph of anti-minority and anti-Dalit violence, even though his regime is never short of erecting token Dalits and Muslims in key posts to beat the larger groundswell of resistance.

We need to ask if Modi seeks unquestioned power for India in the international theatre, is he living up to it? In the world stage, yes, because hes keen to establish personal rapport with most, and can be counted on to say the right words at the right time, singing homilies of Indias civilisational greatness.

The International Yoga Day that was just observed in several countries of the world is a significant yardstick of Modis soft power, as is New Delhis creditable role in Afghanistan, which the US has been forced to acknowledge and how.

But thats more about far bigger diplomatic wheels that couldnt be upset by individual demagogues, though Trump is way too irresponsible and unpredictable to cock a snook on longstanding ties and alliances. Europe, for one, is devising policies keeping Trump out of the picture, or expecting the least from him. Of course, India isnt in a position to do that, and certainly its not even what should be advised. Over the past two decades, many global anchors have held together and brought closer India-US ties. Trump and Modi are acutely aware how they need each other in a volatile international theatre of too many players, and a diminished importance of the USA in calling the shots. China is a common hiccup for both, but then China is no democracy. The vibrancy of an India-US partnership was as much cultural as strategic, and both New Delhi as well as Washington couldnt be less aware of each others role in propping the other up.

Can a lack of historical consciousness be the bedrock of a future of two countries that had hitherto vouched for their democratic foundations?

The gaffes from the current White House administration  the latest one being press secretary Sean Spicer wishing India a "Happy Independence Day" two months too soon  parallel the ones from New Delhi under Modi regime, and that betrays a lack of engagement with the past, or to see it as something that must be wiped clean to create a future of muscular certainties, of nationalist homogeneity and destructive militarism.

Can Modi and Trump put democracy first, as they meet over dinner tonight?
125 Years of Progress takes you inside The Daily Progress' archives every day in celebration of our 125 years serving Charlottesville and the rest of Central Virginia. Sponsored by Hanckel-Citizens Insurance Charlottesville

A mid-air collision between two Air Force F104 Starfighter jets made the headline of the June 26, 1961 edition of The Daily Progress. Captain Daniel Klix parachuted from his plane that plowed 12-foot hole in Daniel Van Cliefs pasture near Esmont. Pieces of the fuselage were burning in separate fires about the main wreckage.

Klix told a Daily Progress reporter the collision occurred at about 37,000 feet, and that he rode his plane down to about 12,000 feet before ejecting, in order to clear and populated areas.

The fate of the pilot of the second jet that crashed near Wintergreen was not immediately known. One Nelson searcher reported the pilot wasnt in the plane which crashed in the Beech Grove Community of Nelson, between Cub Run and Three Ridges Mountain.

The following Day, The Daily progress reported: The cockpit and part of the fuselage containing the body of Capt. Richard Derrick, 30 of Salt Lake City, were found by the same farm boys who earlier had found the main part of Derricks smashed plane a mile and a half away on Three Ridges Mountain. Wendell K. Dodd, 14, who saw the second jet crash into the mountain told the Daily Progress he saw the plane swirling around and then crash into the mountain. He said he called his brother and the two boys rode horses up the steep mountainside to the wreckage.

The two pilots were part of a flight of five jets on its way from Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base in Kansas to Andrew Air Force Base in Maryland.
About Rs 495 crore of long-term loan will come up for repayment in the current financial year.

New Delhi: State-owned telecom corporation Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) today said it expects to repay about Rs 125 crore of debt before June-end.

The debt-laden company - which offers landline and mobile telephony services in Delhi and Mumbai areas - said it will be able to make the repayment due to "one of the public sector banks", a few days before the June-30 deadline.

"About Rs 125 crore is due for repayment, which we will be paying three days before the deadline...As far as the financing is concerned we do not see a challenge," MTNL Chairman and Managing Director, PK Purwar told PTI.

Stating that about Rs 495 crore of long-term loan will come up for repayment in the current financial year, Purwar said the telecom PSU is confident of meeting its obligations in this regard.

"We have our own revenue to the extent of about Rs 3,000 crore, and the repayment modalities are based on availability of funds. Sometimes we use the internal accruals and sometimes we use fresh line of credit," he said.

Purwar, who recently met the interministerial group (IMG) on financial stress in the telecom sector, has been seeking "government support" for availability of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore capital over a period of time.

Earlier this month, Purwar - after a meeting with the IMG officials - told reporters that since government is the promoter of MTNL, it "should not be found wanting" in support with regard to its capital requirements. MTNL has also sought government aid for its high employee cost - a tab of Rs 2,800 crore.

The PSU has shot off a letter to the telecom department seeking extension in the validity of its mobile licence for the Delhi and Mumbai circles by two more years till 2021, at no extra cost. It has argued that the mobile licence for the two service areas remained underused in the first four years of the permit's lifespan, for various reasons.

The cellular licence of MTNL is valid till April 2019, after which the telecom corporation would be required to renew it.

As per data by the telecom regulator, MTNLs wireless subscriber base stands at over 36 lakh in the two metros put together. The wireline subscriber base of MTNL stands at over 34 lakh for the two circles.

A household telephony brand in the 90s and early 2000, MTNLs revenue and profitability has come under tremendous pressure with intensified competition in mobile and landline services.
Mumbai: The strong steps taken by Reserve Bank to resolve NPAs are likely to raise provisioning by a whopping 25 per cent this year as lenders will take up to 60 percent hair cut while resolving these accounts.

"Based on our assessment of the embedded value in the top 50 NPA cases, we estimate a 60 per cent haircut would be needed on these loan assets. That would mean banks will have to increase provisioning by another 25 per cent this fiscal, compared with nine per cent in the last fiscal," Crisil senior director Krishnan Sitaraman said.

The RBI over a fortnight back referred the 12 largest bad loans for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (IBC), which provides for these companies to be referred for liquidation. The apex bank took the decision based on the recommendations of its internal advisory committee (IAC) that also mandated a time-bound resolution of these cases.

The largest 12 accounts the RBI named are  Bhushan Steel (Rs 44,478 crore), Lanco Infra (Rs 44,365 crore), Essar Steel (Rs 37,284 crore), Bhushan Power (Rs 37248 crore), Alok Industries (Rs 22,075 crore), Amtek Auto (Rs 14,075 crore), Monnet Ispat (Rs 12,115 crore) Electrosteel Steels (Rs 10,274 crore), Era Infra (Rs 10,065 crore) Jypaee Infratech (Rs 9,635 crore), ABG Shipyard (Rs 6,953 crore) and Jyoti Structures (Rs 5,165 crore).

Of these, six have already been referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

The SBI, which is the lead banker to six of these 12 accounts, has already referred Bhushan Steel, Essar Steel and Electrosteel Steels to the NCLT, while PNB has sent Bhushan Power to the same body last week.

Besides, the IDBI Bank referred Lanco Infratech, which is in default of Rs 44,364.6 crore to a clutch of lenders, to the NCLT for possible liquidation. The state-run Corporation Bank also last week sent the Delhi-based auto ancillary maker Amtek Auto, which is in default of Rs 14,075 crore, to the NCLT.

Crisil, in a report today, described it as a big and positive move for the banks' balance sheets. It said that the banks have already provisioned 40 per cent for these accounts worth Rs 2 trillion, which is equal to a quarter of the total NPAs in the system.

Sitaraman, however, said the move may provide some breather to the hapless lenders by way of amortisation. "The impact of this huge haircut can be mitigated if banks are allowed to amortise the provisioning across six to eight quarters," he said.

The RBI has reviewed the top 500 exposures that are partly or wholly classified as NPAs, and has given its recommendations, which include referral of the top 12 NPAs for resolution under the IBC. The Reserve Bank also recommended that for other large NPAs, banks should figure out a resolution within six months and if a viable resolution is not reached withing six months, the banks must begin liquidation proceedings.

The report said with these steps, RBI has addressed the reluctance of banks to further mark down asset values of these NPAs by having an oversight committee to offer guidance. "Also, it sends a strong signal to borrowers to adhere to credit discipline and also encourages banks to break resolution deadlocks with definite timelines," he said.

According to Crisil director Rama Patel, "While the IBC route can entail a substantial markdown of loan assets by banks, the ability, especially of public sector banks (more than 70 per cent of all NPAs are with them), to absorb such losses and the resultant impact on their capital position will need to be monitored closely in the road ahead.
New Delhi: Cellular operators body COAI has opposed a proposal for mandatory testing of telecom products, saying the move will "cripple" the debt-ridden sector and increase cost of telecom services hurting end-consumers.

In a letter to the Telecommunication Engineering Centre, which is proposing compulsory testing and certification of telecom gears, the COAI said the proposal should be "abolished" as it may act as a "technical barrier to trade". "The mandatory testing of telecom products proposal should be abolished, as this mandatory local screening will create potential supply chain disruptions, increasing the cost of telecom services and hurting end consumers," COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said in the letter.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) is the apex body of telecom service providers and its members include large operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio. "The proposed mandatory testing by TEC is a technical barrier to trade and is not in sync with Government of India objective on improving the ease of doing business," the COAI said, adding the move would restrict market access, leading to import delays.

It warned that the business disruptions could be huge if the proposal is taken forward. It also pointed out that the products have already been meeting legal and regulatory requirements in over 180 markets, including India. Moreover, the proposal will act as a "direct deterrent" to the Make in India initiative of the government, the association claimed.

The body said that declining revenue, mounting debt, hyper competitive marketplace have posed tremendous pressure on network investments and expansions. The financial pressure is leading to further debt and the industry is already going through a "rough patch", the COAI said.

The proposal "is surely going to cripple the entire telecom sector ecosystem, which is already debt ridden, overburdened with regulatory and policy interventions and multiple government/sectoral compliances", the COAI argued. The TEC has proposed that any original equipment manufacturer (OEM), importer and dealer who wishes to sell, import or use any telecom equipment in India, would have to obtain certificate from it and affix the product with its certification label.
New Delhi: The government has started an anti-dumping probe into a select Chinese polyester yarn following complaints from SRF Ltd and Reliance Industries.

The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), under the commerce ministry, has "sufficient" evidence of dumping of 'high tenacity polyester yarn' from the neighbouring nation.

SRF Ltd and Reliance Industries have alleged dumping of the yarn and asked for an investigation into the matter. If established that dumping has caused material injury to domestic players, the DGAD will recommend imposition of anti-dumping duty.

Anti-dumping duties are levied to provide a level playing field to local industry by guarding against cheap, below-cost imports.

The probing authority "hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry", the DGAD said in a notification. The investigation will cover the period from April 2016 to March this year. These yarns are used for manufacture of tyre cord fabric, seat belt webbing, slings, ropes, coated fabric and conveyor belt fabric.

Increasing imports and dumping of goods from China have always been an area of concern for Indian companies. Exports to China were only USD 9 billion in 2015-16, but imports totalled USD 61.7 billion in the fiscal. The DGAD is also probing dumping of several other products such as chemicals from China.

India is one of the most attractive markets for global producers due to its large middle class population. Imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime. Both India and China are members of the Geneva-based body.
New Delhi: Eminent economist Raghuram Rajan was initially offered the job of deputy governor in the Reserve Bank of India which he did not accept, and a decade later he joined the central bank as a governor.

In his autobiography 'Advice and Dissent: My Life in Public Service', former RBI Governor Y V Reddy said he had offered Rajan deputy governor's post in the apex bank. "When Rakesh Mohan went as Economic Affairs Secretary (in October 2004), we had to look for a successor. I requested Raghuram Rajan to join me as deputy governor when he happened to call on me in Mumbai...He agreed to give a thought of it. However, after going back to the US, he expressed his regret," Reddy wrote.

Reddy further wrote he explained to Rajan that "we would require somebody like him so that the country could avail of the valuable services over the long run, virtually hinting that he could one day be the governor". Rajan at that time was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund.

Rajan, who is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth currently, joined RBI as the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in September 2013.

Reddy was the Governor of RBI from 2003 to 2008. He was also Chairman of the Fourteenth Finance Commission in 2013-14. Rakesh Mohan held the position of deputy governor of the RBI from September 9, 2002 to October 31, 2004 and also from July 2, 2005 to June 10, 2009. During the period October 31, 2004 to July 2, 2005 he was Secretary Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance.

Raghuram Rajan was the 23rd Governor of the RBI between September 2013 and September 2016. Between 2003 and 2006, Rajan was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund.
Washington: American business schools could study India's implementation of the "complex" Goods and Services Tax (GST), Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested, ahead of the roll out of the landmark tax reform measure from July 1.

"The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools," Modi said yesterday while interacting with 20 top American CEOs at a roundtable here ahead of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump.

On GST, the Prime Minister said that this is becoming a reality after years of effort. He added that its implementation is a "complex" task and went on to suggest that this could be the subject of future case-studies.

Implementation of the GST shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly, the prime minister said at the interaction with the group of CEOs that included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Modi told them that his government was working on principles such as Minimum Government, Maximum Governance. The Prime Minister spoke of the recent reforms, and noted that the Union Government alone has initiated 7000 reforms. He said this indicates India's quest for global benchmarks. He mentioned the Government's emphasis on efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.

Touted as the biggest taxation reform since Independence, GST will unify 16 different taxes including excise, service tax and VAT, and transform India into a single market for seamless movement of goods and services.

The powerful GST Council, comprising Centre and states, has recommended a four-tier tax structure -- 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. On top of the highest slab, a cess will be imposed on luxury and demerit goods to compensate the states for revenue loss in the first five years of GST implementation.

GST rates would depend upon whether the commodity is used by a rich person or a common man. State and Union Territory GST laws were passed by all the states and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir, paving the way for smooth roll out of the tax from July 1.
As the July 1 GST roll out draws closer, Vizag-based Steel City Securities Ltd (SCCL), like other e-governance service providers in the country, is stepping on the gas to expand its footprint across India.

Visakhapatnam: As the July 1 GST roll out draws closer, Vizag-based Steel City Securities Ltd (SCCL), like other e-governance service providers in the country, is stepping on the gas to expand its footprint across India. The reason: GST-related services will now be added to their existing bouquet of offerings. SCCL, which raised Rs 27 crore through an initial public offering (IPO) and got listed on the national stock exchanges in February last, is spending Rs 15 crore from the IPO proceeds to almost double its pan-India network in the next 12-18 months.

We see huge potential in GST-related services, as over 80 lakh traders and dealers in the country, who are currently under VAT, are migrating to the new tax regime, Dr Satish Kumar Arya, Director of the company, told this newspaper. The company, which has about 4000 e-governance service centres across India, intends to cross the 7,000 mark in the next 12-18 months. As it already has a strong presence in the South, it plans to focus on the North in its expansion programme.

Expecting significant economic gains after the GST roll-out, SCCL, which notched up Rs 5.95 crore revenue from its e-governance vertical alone last fiscal, expects a 80-100 per cent growth this fiscal. It currently offers 13 e-governance products, including services related to PAN, Aadhar and Form 24G. Launched in 1995, it primarily provides a trading platform for Capital Market, futures and options, commodities and currency derivatives products.
Mumbai: Actor Ravi Teja, who lost his 46 YO brother B Bharath Raj to a car accident on Saturday night, did not attend the final rites in spite of being in Hyderabad. The deceaseds body, which was at the Osmania General Hospital mortuary, was taken directly to the crematorium.

Ravi Teja did not go to see the body as well.

Only Bharaths younger brother, Raghu, was present from the Teja family for his final rites. Uttej, an actor himself and a close friend of Ravi teja, said the family was too shocked and shattered at this sudden loss. The family members did not attend the last rites as they were struggling to come to terms with his untimely death and the deplorable condition Bharaths body was found in.

The car that he was driving was registered under his mother Rajyalakshmis name.

Ravi Teja, who is known to be extremely close to his family, skipped the funeral as it would have only aggravated his grief.

Bharath, who was leading a bachelor life in a flat in Madhapur area of Hyderabad, had followed his big brothers footsteps and joined Tollywood. But unlike Ravi Teja, he only got supporting roles to play on screen.

Ready, Aa Mugguru, Jump Jilani, Rama Rama Krishna Krishna, Okkade, Athade Oka Sainyam, Peda Babu and Dochai are some of the films he has acted in.

Bharaths family and friends were reportedly informed that his body would be taken directly to the mahaprasthanam, where the cremation took place, and kept there for half an hour for everyone to pay their last respects to the deceased actor.

Raghu Babu, Ali, Jeevitha, few film producers, some people from the film fraternity and some close friends attended the funeral.
Mumbai: Bryan Cranston, who earned critical acclaim for playing Walter White in hit TV series Breaking Bad, was honoured with the CineMerit lifetime achievement award at Munich film festival for his outstanding contribution to the film arts.

Peter Jonas, the former head of the Bavarian State Opera, who insisted on being the one to give the speech for Cranston, credited him for leading the calvary charge of a new form of television, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Jonas finished his speech by proving he was a true fan as he unzipped his jacket to reveal a Breaking Bad T-Shirt featuring an image of Cranston as Walter Whites sunglasses- and-black-hat-wearing alter ego Heisenberg from the AMC series.

"When you see your likeness tattooed on someone elses bu*t, you know youve made it," Cranston joked as he accepted the honour.
Mumbai: An audio recording of a purported telephonic talk by the main accused in the sensational abduction and assault of a South Indian actress 'blackmailing'

Malayalam actor Dileep through his aide surfaced today.

The audio clip was aired by Malayalam TV channels a day after the actor disclosed he has filed a police complaint on April 20 alleging blackmail by a man, who claimed to be a friend of Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the case.

In the audio, Suni, currently lodged in the Ernakulam District jail near here, purportedly told Dileep's manager that money should be given if the actor's name should not be dragged in the case.

Incidentally, this conversation was alleged to have taken place before April 20 when Dileep had filed the police complaint along with evidences of blackmailing based on the telephonic talk of one Vishnu, who claimed himself to be Suni's friend, with his friend and film director Nadirshah.

Vishnu had allegedly demanded huge money from the actor.

Police remained tightlipped about the 'blackmail' audio.

When contacted, a top police officer dismissed as speculation media reports that the police did not take much interest in investigating into Dileep's complaint alleging blackmail.

"We have been on job since the actor lodged the complaint. It got public attention now only after the media came to know about it two days ago", the official, who declined to be named, told PTI.

The official evaded a direct answer to a question whether Vishnu has been taken into custody for interrogation.

"All those who are connected with the case were interrogated", the official said.

Nadirshah had said, Vishnu claimed to have shared a cell with Suni in jail, told him that some people in the Malayalam film world have offered to give money to Suni if he implicated Dileep in the abduction of the actress on February 17.

The revelation came in the wake of media reports that police is planning to reopen the abduction and assault case.

Dileep had earlier slammed a section of the media for "targeting" him in connection with the alleged abduction and harassment of the actress by a gang of men.

Dileep, who recently got married to Malayalam actress Kavya Madhavan, had said he did not have any contact, directly or indirectly, with any of the accused involved in the "heinous crime."

Six persons, including 'Pulsar' Suni, Martin and Vigeesh were arrested by police in connection with the incident in which the actress was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by the accused, who had forced their way

into the vehicle and later escaped in a busy area here.
From country to country, breast implant surgeries tend to vary widely in technique, as well as in type and size of implant, according to an international survey of surgeons.

The procedures should be standardized using best practices, the study authors argue in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal.

Breast enlargement is the most commonly performed cosmetic surgery worldwide, the authors write, with more than 1.5 million procedures done in 2015.

Breast augmentation surgery remains one of the most frequently performed aesthetic surgical procedures, with trends increasing, said senior author Dr. Niclas Broer of Technical University Teaching Hospital in Munich, Germany.

However, there exists a plethora of possible technical approaches, and the procedure is not very standardized, he told Reuters Health by email. This is very interesting but also almost a little bit concerning.

Broer and colleagues analyzed responses from 628 surgeons around the world to a 38-question online survey. The surgeons were asked about current controversies, new technologies, common practices, technical considerations, and characteristics of their patients.

In most countries in Europe, Asia and Oceania, surgeons use anatomically shaped implants, whereas in the United States and Latin America, 90 percent use round implants. Surgeons ranked the higher cost and lack of proof of aesthetic superiority as the top reasons why they dont use anatomical implants more often.

The different use of round versus shaped implants is striking, Broer said. Is the U.S. slow to embrace the use of a new technology, or do patients in the U.S. prefer a different look?

Worldwide, more than 80 percent of surgeons only use 100 percent silicone implants. In the U.S., just 22 percent of surgeons use them.

More than two-thirds of surgeons in the U.S. and Australia use implants larger than 300 cc, or approximately two cup sizes, and in the U.S., more than a third use implant sizes larger than 350 cc, the study also found.

Practices differ by technique and post-surgery treatment as well. Many use similar incisions to create an implant pocket, and most use antibiotics as anesthesia begins. In the U.S. and Asia, however, more than half of surgeons recommend a postoperative implant massage, while surgeons in all other countries dont.

The study authors found one worldwide agreement - the majority of surgeons said implants don't make it harder to detect abnormalities on mammograms.

It is important for patients to have high quality information during the decision-making process to reduce the inherent risk that surgery has, said Dr. Carlos Rubi Ona of IMED Hospitals in Valencia, Spain, who wasnt involved in the study.

Aesthetic surgery is a cosmetic procedure, but we should not forget that it carries the same risk of complications, if not even more, as many other non-aesthetic procedures, he told Reuters Health by email.

In most other surgical procedures, certain operative approaches are considered standard universally. Slight variations exist, but for the most part, a consistent standard draws from current research and accepted practice, Broer said.

Why should breast augmentation surgery be any different? he said. If, for instance, it has been shown that silicone implants provide superior outcomes, why are so many women still receiving an inferior product?

Broer and colleagues suggest creating an international task force that meets yearly to evaluate best practices and new evidence to standardize the procedure. This should include guidelines about antibiotics, incision technique and location, and implant pockets, Broer said.

Augmentation surgery should be taken as seriously as a colon resection or gallbladder removal, he said. If we found international practice differences for those, it would almost be a scandal.
A new cancer treatment, in the form of pills may be far kinder to its victims than chemotherapy, according to a new study recently published (Photo: Pixabay)

A new cancer treatment, in the form of pills may be far kinder to its victims than chemotherapy, according to a new study recently published.

According to the study, patients treated with immunotherapy enjoyed a vastly improved quality of life and suffered fewer side effects like pain and loss of appetite.

However, the drug, already being hailed as a new era in the fight against cancer was rejected by the NHS funding in April.

Immunotherapy has already proven to be hugely effective against some deadly cancers extending the lives of patients up to five years. On the other hand, chemotherapy targets all fast-growing cells, including healthy ones, which can cause debilitating side effects.

The study was conducted by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London involving patients with advanced head and neck cancers. Some were given chemotherapy while others received nivolumab, a type of immunotherapy administered in a drip every two weeks.

Both groups were assessed at nine and 15 weeks into treatment and those on nivolumab were in significantly less pain and did not suffer as much from fatigue, nausea and weight loss.

With many of these patients terminally ill and determined to enjoy their final months as much as possible, the findings  published in the Lancet Oncology journal  represent a major breakthrough.

In January, the same research team found this form of immunotherapy doubled the survival rate for head and neck cancer patients. Around 36 per cent were still alive a year after starting treatment, compared to 16 per cent of those on chemotherapy.

Despite this success, drugs watchdog Nice has ruled the 5,300-a-month treatment is not cost effective. The body will make a final decision later this year and campaigners hope the NHS will be able to negotiate a cheaper price with the US manufacturers Bristol-Myers Squibb.
On Sunday noon, the girls mother had gone out for shopping and she was reportedly alone at home. Meanwhile, the accused went to the house and locked the door and allegedly misbehaved with the girl. As the girl started screaming for help, neighbours gathered and caught the accused red handed and thrashed him before alerting the police. (Representational image)

Bengaluru: A 62-year-old retired government employee was beaten up and handed over to the police after he allegedly sexually harassed a 12-year-old girl in Chandra Layout police station limits on Sunday.

The accused has been identified as Chinnamaraiah. He has been booked under the provisions of POCSO Act.

According to the police, the accused person knew the parents of the girl, whose family lived just a few metres away from his house. On Sunday noon, the girls mother had gone out for shopping and she was reportedly alone at home.

Meanwhile, the accused went to the house and locked the door and allegedly misbehaved with the girl. As the girl started screaming for help, neighbours gathered and caught the accused red handed and thrashed him before alerting the police. The accused has been booked under the POCSO Act and is arrested. His wife has filed a counter complaint against the girls relatives accusing them of barging into her house and assaulting her and her husband, the police said.
The victim was threatened of dire consequences he did not give in to her demand. (Representational Image)

New Delhi: A 23-year-old woman who allegedly chopped off the genitals of her boyfriend after he refused to marry her was arrested in Delhi on Sunday.

Ravi (35), a street vendor, was allegedly attacked at his girlfriend's house in outer Delhi's Mangolpuri late on Wednesday, where he was called by her relative, police said.

When he reached their home, his girlfriend of four years, broached the topic of marriage. However, Ravi refused, saying his family was against it.

The victim told police that the woman then pushed him inside the bathroom, undressed him and forced him to have sex with her.

She allegedly threatened him of dire consequences if he did not give in to her demand.

Enraged at his refusal, the accused chopped off the man's genitals with a kitchen knife.

The victim said the woman's brother and sister-in-law were present in the house when the incident took place. He alleged that they did nothing to stop the woman from attacking him.

After the attack, Ravi rushed out of the house shouting for help. Some neighbours informed the police and rushed him to hospital. After a surgery, he was referred to the Jaipur Golden Hospital.

The woman and her family members had fled their house after the attack. Her brother and sister-in-law were found on Saturday and questioned.

The woman was arrested and police have also recovered the weapon of offence.
New Delhi: Unidentified men looted Rs. 37 lakh from a Flipkart dispatch centre in the Jhilmil Industrial Area of Delhi on Sunday.

Ramu Kushwaha, who was working as cashier in the Flipkart office in the Jhilmil Industrial Area, said three to four unknown boys committed the robbery. They also removed a digital video recorder (DVR) from the centre and the guard sustained a head injury, he added. He said the robbers had their faces and heads covered to avoid identification.

The CCTV of the area is being analysed by the police. Further details are awaited.
The CCTV footages in Novotel Hotel showed Bharath entering the hotel at 2.55 pm and going to the first floor to attend a party organised by a friend.

Hyderabad: While the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport police is investigating whether actor Bharath had consumed alcohol it was found from CCTV grabs that he entered Novotel hotel in Shamshabad at 2.55 pm on Sunday and partied with friends till 4.30 pm on the first floor.

It was also found that he came to the hotel with one Raja, whom the police is now trying to question. Meanwhile,his brother Raviteja who did not attend his final rites on Sunday, resumed shooting of his film on Monday.

The CCTV footages in Novotel Hotel showed Bharath entering the hotel at 2.55 pm and going to the first floor to attend a party organised by a friend.

At 4.30 pm, Bharath came down and went to the swimming pool where he relaxed consuming alcohol till night. At 9.25 pm he left the hotel and started towards ORR.

At 9.35, he entered Outer Ring Road at Kishanguda village and was proceeding towards Gachibowli and had the accident at 9.50 pm on Saturday night. According to sources at the hotel, Bharath consumed alcohol in the hotel along with friends and at the pool when he was alone.

However, police said they are awaiting for the viscera report to know if he was drunk or not. Meanwhile, they are also searching for the lorry driver who is absconding.
New Delhi: The Congress Party on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talking about the 1975 Emergency in his 'Mann Ki Baat' programme, saying that the NDA-led Government at the Centre has imposed an 'undeclared emergency' on the country.

Citing the CBI raids on NDTV owners Prannoy Roy and wife over alleged 'bank fraud' and the deteriorating situation in Jammu and Kashmir as examples, Congress leader Tom Vadakkan said, "Yes, we have not forgotten Emergency, but there is an undeclared emergency in the country. The fact is that there is a muzzling of the media and the raids on media which can only be listed as undeclared emergency."

Vadakkan further said the Prime Minister failed to raise issues of internal and external security, which he alleged, is in jeopardy.

"The Prime Minister raised various issues in his 'Mann Ki Baat', but I wish issues of internal security also would have been raised. Internal security in this country is under jeopardy, why? This broad shoulder government said they will put it in order. This is for the first time that internal and outer security are running parallel simply for reason when there is firing and incursion is coming in from Pakistan and terrorist and separatist are actively engaged inside the country," he said.

He claimed that the separatists are increasingly growing disdainful over the present state of affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, and are opting for terrorism.

"The so called separatists have grown up to be terrorists in the valley. We have situation where counterfeit currency is being printed and the case of lynching mobs and romeo squads are emerging. What are they?"

The Congress' strong rebuttal came after Prime Minister Modi reminded people about the 'horrors' of Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on June 1975, and asked people to rededicate themselves towards the goal of strengthening democracy.

He said the former government took away people's liberty and freedom, and did not spare any section of society, be it political, economic, media, students, communities, or even the judiciary.

"The Emergency will be remembered for the way in which people of India came together and safeguarded democratic values. Democracy is not only a system, but also our ethos as - 'Eternal vigilance is the life of liberty'. We need to remember the things which harm democracy and move forward in a positive direction," Prime Minister Modi said.

"Those who love democracy can never forget the dark night of June 25, 1975, when the entire nation turned into a prison, all voices of dissent were muzzled, where senior leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan were imprisoned. Not even the judiciary was spared from the shadow of authoritarianism," he added.

He asked the students of journalism and political activists to remind themselves of the 'dark phase'.

"Newspapers were rendered ineffective, students of journalism and political activities must continuously remind themselves of this dark phase. They must work towards creating awareness about democracy. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also imprisoned during this period. When he completed one year in prison, he wrote a poem describing his feelings," the Prime Minister said.
A flag meeting was also held between senior army officers of both the sides on June 20, but the tension still continues. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: Tension mounted in a remote area of Sikkim after a scuffle broke out between personnel of the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), leading to Chinese troops damaging bunkers on the Indian side of the border.

The incident happened in the first week of June near the Lalten post in the Doka La general area in Sikkim after a face-off between the two forces, which triggered tension along the Sino-Indian frontier, official sources said.

After the scuffle, the PLA entered Indian territory and damaged two make-shift bunkers of the Army, the sources said.

After the India-China war of 1962, the area has been under the Indian Army and the ITBP, which guards the area and has a camp 15km from the international border.

In a bid to defuse the tension along the LAC, the Indian Army had twice asked the Chinese to join a flag meeting, which they turned down. Finally, the Chinese side agreed to a meeting on June 20.

In the meeting, the Chinese side conveyed to their Indian counterparts that Indian pilgrims, who were on a yatra to Kailash Mansarovar, would not be allowed to cross into Tibet, the sources said.

The pilgrims were kept waiting till June 23 after which they returned to Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, which is the only region where the border between India and China is demarcated.

According to the sources, the Chinese side said a bridge had broken because of which the pilgrims could not cross into Tibet for the annual yatra.

The Sikkim route to Mansarovar, which is in Tibet, was opened in 2015.

It is not the first time that such a transgression has happened at Doka La, on the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction. The Chinese forces had in November 2008 destroyed some makeshift Indian army bunkers there.

Earlier this year, Chinese helicopters had entered the airspace in the Barahoti area of Uttrakhand, called the middle sector. Sikkim is a part of the sector and experts have been warning the government of increased Chinese activities in this area.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed by the people of Indian community, on his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Washington DC, on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi/Washington: Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a true friend, United States President Donald Trump has said he looks forward to the Indian leaders visit to the US, which began on Sunday.

Look forward to welcoming Indias PM Modi to @WhiteHouse on Monday. Important strategic issues to discuss with a true friend! Mr Trump posted from his official (@POTUS) Twitter handle.

Mr Modi meanwhile arrived in Washington on the second leg of his three-nation tour for his first bilateral meeting with Mr Trump, as the two leaders are set to hold discussions on a set of strategically important issues.

Mr Modi, in his reply to Mr Trump, thanked him for the warm personal welcome and said he was greatly looking forward to the meeting and discussions at the White House.

Despite Mr Trumps targeting of India over the Paris climate change accord and fears over his maverick nature, the US Presidents tweet now has raised hopes that Indo-US ties would continue to remain strong and continue its momentum from the time of the Obama Administration.

Over dinner, Modi, Trump to discuss civil nuclear deal

Mr Trump will host Mr Modi at the White House on Monday afternoon (Tuesday early morning IST) and the two leaders will spend about five hours together in various settings beginning with their bilateral discussion, delegation level talks, a reception and a working dinner, the first of its kind hosted by this administration.

Speculation is rife that India will focus on areas of convergence with the US like defence, the strategic partnership, ways to tackle terrorism that emanates from Pakistan and increasing Chinese assertiveness in the Asia Pacific. According agency reports, the Indo-US civil nuclear deal is also expected to figure during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump on Monday, but a pact between the NPCIL and Westinghouse to build six power reactors in Andhra Pradesh is unlikely to be signed.

According to these reports, financial turmoil in Westinghouse and absence of a functional reference atomic plant were the main impediments behind the NPCILs unwillingness to sign the agreement with the American nuclear giant. The White House is very interested in making this a special visit. Were really seeking to roll out the red carpet. In fact, the two (leaders) will have dinner, a working dinner at the White House. This will be the first dinner for a foreign dignitary at the White House under this administration, a senior administration official said.
Chennai: After resurfacing from a flood in 2015, Chennai is now ironically bracing itself for an imminent drought as all four lakes around the city have dried up leading to shortage of drinking water.

According to an NDTV report, the four main reservoirs -- Poondi, Red Hills, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam -- have almost gone dry, a major cause for the drought like situation.

Tamil Nadu is facing its worst water crisis situation in 140 years where the drinking water supply to the state's capital has been cut down by 50 per cent whereas the city requires atleast 830 million litres of water everyday, water supply officials said. Authorities have pressed called for 300 water tankers in the city to ease the situation.

Parallels to the droughts in 2003, considered to be the worst in the recent years, have been drawn. Notably, rain harvesting was made a norm then to manage the crisis.

The report further added that Veeranam Lake in Neyveli, a town more than 200 km away from Chennai which receives supply through a huge pipeline, is parched too. Authorities are taking all efforts to try and pump at least 80 million litres a day through the same pipeline.

Apart from desalination plants in Chennai, water is also being brought in from stone quarries in Kancheeputam and Thiruvallur, the authorities added.

Green activists have said the drought like situation is due to the ill-maintenance of thousands of water bodies in Chennai and its neighbouring districts.
Kolkata: Former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan, jailed on an order of the Supreme Court, has moved a petition before the governor of West Bengal seeking bail or parole.

Karnan, 62, who was lodged at the Presidency Correctional Home in Kolkata on June 21 following his arrest in Tamil Nadu a day earlier, is at present undergoing treatment at the state-run SSKM Hospital.

He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for contempt of court by a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, on May 9.

Questioning the constitutionality of the order of imprisonment of Karnan by the apex court, the petition said, "It is requested that the applicant may please be enlarged on bail/parole till the said lacunae are remedied and constitutional supremacy restored."

Making the appeal through his lawyers, Karnan said, "The applicant is ready and willing to abide by any terms and conditions that may be imposed for granting bail/parole to him."

He appealed to Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi that he should "exercise the jurisdiction invested in your excellency and enlarge the prisoner Shri Justice C S Karnan on bail/parole in the interest of justice and equity".

"The appeal has been sent by speed post to the governor," Karnan's counsel Mathew J Nedumpara said today.

"Copies of the representation have also been sent to the West Bengal chief minister, the home minister and the law minister of the state," Nedumpara said over phone.

Karnan, who retired as a judge of the Calcutta High Court on June 12 as a fugitive, was arrested on June 20 from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu after evading the police for more than a month.

Karnan, who was on a warpath with the Supreme Court for the last several months, has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court.

Despite several attempts, Karnan has failed to get any relief from the apex court's vacation benches which refused to hear his plea seeking a stay of its jail term order.

His lawyers have also claimed to have approached President Pranab Mukherjee for exercising his power to stay the apex court's order, but no relief has come to the ex-judge so far.

After being sentenced to a six-month jail term, Karnan had on May 12 moved the apex court for relief, saying neither the high courts nor their judges, were "subordinate" to it.

He had sought recall of the apex court's order, contending he could not be held guilty of contempt of court.

Karnan had said the Contempt of Courts Act was a "cathartic jurisprudence which belonged to the Dark Ages, the era of inquisition and torture, distinct from the classical Roman Law which constitutes the foundation of modern jurisprudence".
New Delhi: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) can now probe allegations of corruption in private sector banks and against their employees.

Vigilance Commissioner TM Bhasin said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given the necessary approval to the CVC on this.

The move comes after the Supreme Court last year ruled that the chairman, managing directors and other officers of a private bank could be seen as public servants when it came to the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.

The anti-corruption watchdog is the statutory body which probes cases of graft involving central government departments, public sector organisations (including banks and insurance companies) and their employees.

"The CVC can now also look into cases of corruption involving private sector banks and their managements like CMDs and MDs," Bhasin said.

He said the RBI and the Department of Financial Services had recently approved the provisions in this regard.

"The necessary mechanism has been put in place and cases of corruption in the private sector banks are now being looked into," Bhasin said.

The apex court had said all officials working in banks operating under an RBI licence would be defined as public servants under the PC Act.

It had said bank employees, private or public, were on public duty and therefore came under the law.

The Supreme Court had also referred to Section 46A of the Banking Regulation Act and said that such bank officials were considered public officials.

The CVC has also started sharing cases of criminal conspiracy and corruption with agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for probes.
Chennai: Accusing the AIADMK government of surrendering itself before the BJP-led Centre for the sake of continuing in power for full five-year term, Opposition Leader M.K. Stalin on Sunday predicted that Assembly elections would be held after the July 17 Presidential elections.

Speaking to reporters at various locations in Tiruvallur district where he oversaw the desilting work in ponds taken up by DMK workers, Stalin alleged that the Tamil Nadu government did not forward a resolution passed in the Assembly opposing NEET, as a result of which the current admission process to medical courses will be based only on the score in the entrance exam.

The Leader of Opposition also attacked Speaker P.Dhanapal for not allowing the DMK to raise issues of importance for the people and sought to know why the content of the letter Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao wrote to him was not made public in the State Assembly.

Without even the BJP asking for their support, all three factions of the AIADMK surrendered themselves before the Centre and pledged their support for the ruling party's Presidential candidate. Why such behaviour? The government has also surrendered itself just for the sake of continuing in power. The Chief Minister is busy staying in power and he does not have time to think about the people, Mr Stalin said.

Why did not the AIADMK demand that it would support the BJP in Presidential elections only if the Centre exempts Tamil Nadu from NEET? Instead of pressuring the Centre, the AIADMK has completely surrendered before it. This government has failed on all accounts. It is interested only in power, he said.

While alleging that the government did not even forward copy of the resolution passed in the Assembly against imposition of NEET, Stalin also termed the new system of allotting only 85 of seats for state board students as injustice to students from the rural background.

He also said the State government should immediately pressurise the Union Government to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET and conduct medical counselling based on plus-2 marks.

I am sure elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly would take place after the Presidential elections, Stalin said, in response to a specific political question.
Coimbatore: The Tamil Nadu Government will continue to exert pressure on the Centre to exempt the State from NEET, Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan said today.

The government's stand in this regard was clear and it would continue to fight for exemption from NEET for the benefit of the students, he told reporters in Coimbatore.

Besides, there were plans to release a book containing 54,000 questions being asked at the national-level examinations conducted by the Centre, he said.

Stating that new announcements for the benefit of students from economically backward classes would be made before the end of the current Assembly session, Sengottaiyan said that 3,000 smart schools were on the anvil in the State.

To a question with regard to fees structure in place in private schools, he said that it was being looked into.

Similarly, a committee would look into the issues concerning part-time teachers, he said.
The feature is most likely aimed at cellular laptops which are always connected.

We know how stealing a phone has become a lot more difficult that it was 10 years ago. The reason is multiple security features which allows owners to track down their devices and also allows remotely sending of commands like locking or data-wiping.

One of the companies which have focused mostly on a lot of anti-theft technology is Apple. The Find My iPhone feature for instance, is now being widely adopted on a variety of phones, and it looks like Microsoft is now planning to bring in the something similar on the lines of Find My iPhone feature.

This news comes after a patent was discovered recently by MSPU which indicated that Microsoft wants to equip Windows 10 devices, such as laptop, with a technology which would allow an owner to find them even when an internet connection is not available.

The feature is most likely aimed at cellular laptops which are always connected. Basically, it will support any device with LTE support. Microsoft explains in the patent:

At least some embodiments described herein relate to the restricted use of a cellular network to facilitate disablement of a device that is suspected lost or stolen. Accordingly, even if the device is not capable of general use of the cellular network (e.g., due to a physical authentication module, such as a subscriber identity module, being absent and/or due to a software restriction on cellular network access), disablement communications are still permitted across the cellular network.

Accordingly, the device may receive a disable command from the disablement service over the cellular network, and acknowledge processing of the disable command to the disablement service also over the cellular network. Thus, efforts by an unauthorized possessor of the device to prevent disablement by removing the physical authentication module are thwarted. Likewise, turning the cellular service off using software settings at the device also does not prevent the device from being disabled via cellular network communication.

With this feature, Microsoft is planning to get the tracking to work even if there is an absence of cellular network. However, Microsoft will most likely have to sign a partnership agreement with carriers across the world to make this happen.

One major thing here is that the new tech from Microsoft is still at its nascent stage, so there is no surety that the idea will see the daylight. But as the company is looking into these features, there are certain improvements in this regard which are likely to be released soon.

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Passengers will have hover their phones over the cover or the pictures within the magazine. The app then shows the behind the scenes videos of the new convoy.

Airline company Vistara will be offering augmented reality experience to its passengers with the new Airbus A320Neo aircraft. The airline giant integrated augmented reality on the cover of its magazine.

In order to experience the AR, users will have to download the Vistara app available on both iOS and Android. Passengers will have hover their phones over the cover or the pictures within the magazine. The app then shows the behind the scenes videos of the new convoy.

This also marks as the first time an airline company has integrated AR in India. However, worlds first AR was offered by Emirates for the economy class. The kit utilises AR technology as a visual browser to unlock content on mobile devices. Passengers have to download the Blippar mobile phone app and scan the patterns provided on the kit bag.

Although Vistaras new AR magazine cover isnt as exciting as one would expect, but it sure will be interesting how the company will further contribute in expanding the reach of the budding technology.

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Rating:

In that classic Grimm's fairy tale, the Sleeping Beauty slumbers for a hundred years, until a passing prince wakens her. In the world of tablet PCs in India, it has taken just a 100 days for Samsung to deliver the kiss of life to the tablet format, which an analyst told us recently, was slowly shrinking in size.

The analyst in question, Cyber Media Research, also suggested that buyers demanded large format tablets, with 4G connectivity and detachable keyboards. In launching a new tablet in India last week, Samsung who is currently the market leader in the tablet business here, has cannily put a uptick mark against all three items on buyers' wish list: The Galaxy Tab S3 is a 9.7-inch, 4G LTE device with an optional carry case-cum- plug-in-keyboard.

Having covered all bases  user preference wise  Samsung has then gone on hedge its bets: Market feedback suggests that corporate users, rather than lay consumers, are big tablet buyers. But in putting together the specs for the S3, Samsung suggests cheekily, that business buyers will embrace a device that mixes work apps with some cool play tools. Consider:

The S3 has a quad core Snapdragon chip under its hood and runs the latest Android 7.0 version with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage expandable to 256GB via microSD. A large 6000mAh battery is claimed to be good for some 12 hours of video viewing  food for a long international flight. The 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution is what is known as QXGA  somewhere between 2K and 4K. And with four , rather than two speakers, the experience when watching movies  I picked randomly from YouTube  is outstanding. The display supports HDR or High Dynamic Range, which ensures a balance between the darkest colors on the screen and the brightest . But the only HDR content available currently is with an Amazon Prime video subscription. Another nice touch: When you twist the tablet from portrait to landscape mode to view a video, the speakers go through an auto rotate function to re-orient.

I am not a great fan of using a stylus with touch screens  but the 'S Pen' that comes free with this tablet made me change my mind: Its tip is the closest I have used, to an actual felt pen. Whether you are taking hand written notes or creating art with the brush palette, the pen feels as natural as putting pen to paper. Simply hovering the pen over the screen, opens a menu of options which includes translating handwritten text.

A graphics processor works with the CPU to beef up games and video. And there is a 'do not disturb' mode that stops interruptions when you are deep in a game.

Software -wise, Samsung provides three neat folders for Google, Samsung and Microsoft apps. Samsung Flow makes for easy syncing of tablet with an Android phone. You can shift files and respond to phone messages on the tab. This is a single nano SIM device, so when outside a WiFi zone , you can use the SIM  or the one on your phone, to create your own hot spot. I also liked Samsung Sound Camp app which has a galaxy (pun intended!) of music-composing tools. The inclusion of a full Microsoft Office suite is useful for doing some office work.

I tried out the Pogo keyboard-cum- carrying case and feel this is a crucial part of the Galaxy S 3 functionality  which is why it is sad that Samsung charges an additional Rs 8,499 for it, over and above the basic price of Rs 47,990. Maybe they want to advertise a basic price very close to that of the iPad Pro (9.7-inch) which it matches in almost every specification.

But comparisons aside, the Galaxy S3  for those who can afford it  is the epitome of how far down the evolutionary path the Android Tablet has come, if you want to work-n-play in your own way. I'm guessing it will ALTer the downward slide of the large TABlet business.

IndiaTechOnline

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Washington: United States President Donald Trump will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday for a first tete-a-tete aimed at building a personal rapport in spite of very real divergences between the two leaders, whether on climate change or immigration.

A senior Indian official said he hoped for "chemistry," while a US official said the two leaders had a lot in common, noting that Modi will be the first foreign dignitary to have a working dinner at the White House under the new administration.

Initial signs were upbeat, with President Trump describing Modi as a "true friend!" on Twitter, and the Indian leader posting that he "greatly looked forward" to the one-on-one.

Some commentators have suggested Modi and Trump should have a natural affinity, having both risen to power in part by castigating the traditional ruling elite while offering a strongly nationalistic vision.

"Both have portrayed themselves as outsiders, promised jobs and to make their countries respected (again), and used or taken advantage of identity politics," wrote Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution.

Both prefer to reach out directly to their base via social media, where PM Modi's nearly 31 million Twitter followers rival Trump's 32 million.

Relations between the world's two largest democracies had warmed under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, as India sought greater foreign investment and trade ties. But it was not long after Trump's election that obstacles emerged on issues such as trade and visas for Indians wanting to work in the United States.

A proposed overhaul of H-1B visas -- used by thousands of Indian software engineers to work in the United States -- has caused concern in New Delhi.

Then the US President accused India of seeking to profit from the Paris climate accord as he announced the US withdrawal from the deal this month -- drawing sharp denials from New Delhi.

After an Oval Office meeting mid-afternoon, the leaders will dine together at the White House, though no press conference is scheduled. That decision -- a contrast with high-profile visits from other leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- may reflect a White House effort to avoid a flurry of questions over the probe into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which has dogged the young Trump administration.

On Sunday, Narendra Modi told top American executives that India is a business-friendly country of "minimum government" -- a message expected to resonate with Mr Trump, who has proposed streamlining what he calls business-hampering US regulations and cutting the budgets of several US government agencies.

His protectionist instincts, however, are at odds with India's efforts to boost exports and encourage Western manufacturers to "Make In India" -- Modi's flagship scheme.

Modi's core goals for the meeting, analysts say, are simple. "Ensure that India is on the US' radar, and that the new US administration maintains policy continuity with the last one," said Shailesh Kumar of the Eurasia group.

"PM Modi will arrive at the White House with a full-on charm offensive aimed squarely at Donald Trump," he said.

"Modi will try to give Trump some tweetable wins," Tanvi Madan said, which in the defense arena could see the announcement of a $2 billion deal by US manufacturer General Atomics to supply unarmed drones to India.

The White House refuses to comment on US arms sales before Congress has been officially notified, but a senior administration official underscored that "this defense relationship is extremely important for both countries".

Regional security is expected to be high on the agenda as Washington considers deploying up to 5,000 extra troops in Afghanistan to help local forces fighting insurgent groups and seeks to encourage what an administration official describes as India's "positive role" in the country.

President Trump's administration has meanwhile indicated it could take a tougher stance on Pakistan over harbouring terrorist groups.
Washington: Changing their stances, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Donald Trump will take one question each from reporters during their meet on Monday.

Earlier, the US and India leaders had declared that they will not answer any questions. However, the question will be selected in advance, after their joint statement has been issued.

Haryana (India) village takes on Trumps name for free toilets

According to an NDTV report, Modi and Donald Trump will commence a 20-minute one-on-one interaction that will be followed by delegation discussions and a press briefing. Modi will be the first foreign dignitary to be hosted at a White House dinner by the Trump government.

United States President Donald Trump will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday for a first tete-a-tete aimed at building a personal rapport in spite of very real divergences between the two leaders, whether on climate change or immigration.

A senior Indian official said he hoped for "chemistry," while a US official said the two leaders had a lot in common, noting that Modi will be the first foreign dignitary to have a working dinner at the White House under the new administration.

Initial signs were upbeat, with President Trump describing Modi as a "true friend!" on Twitter, and the Indian leader posting that he "greatly looked forward" to the one-on-one.

Some commentators have suggested Modi and Trump should have a natural affinity, having both risen to power in part by castigating the traditional ruling elite while offering a strongly nationalistic vision.

"Both have portrayed themselves as outsiders, promised jobs and to make their countries respected (again), and used or taken advantage of identity politics," wrote Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution.

Both prefer to reach out directly to their base via social media, where Modi's nearly 31 million Twitter followers rival Trump's 32 million.

Relations between the world's two largest democracies had warmed under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, as India sought greater foreign investment and trade ties. But it was not long after Trump's election that obstacles emerged on issues such as trade and visas for Indians wanting to work in the United States.

A proposed overhaul of H-1B visas -- used by thousands of Indian software engineers to work in the United States -- has caused concern in New Delhi.

Then the US President accused India of seeking to profit from the Paris climate accord as he announced the US withdrawal from the deal this month -- drawing sharp denials from New Delhi.

After an Oval Office meeting mid-afternoon, the leaders will dine together at the White House, though no press conference is scheduled. That decision -- a contrast with high-profile visits from other leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- may reflect a White House effort to avoid a flurry of questions over the probe into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which has dogged the young Trump administration.

On Sunday, Narendra Modi told top American executives that India is a business-friendly country of "minimum government" -- a message expected to resonate with Mr Trump, who has proposed streamlining what he calls business-hampering US regulations and cutting the budgets of several US government agencies.

His protectionist instincts, however, are at odds with India's efforts to boost exports and encourage Western manufacturers to "Make In India" -- Modi's flagship scheme.

Modi's core goals for the meeting, analysts say, are simple. "Ensure that India is on the US' radar, and that the new US administration maintains policy continuity with the last one," said Shailesh Kumar of the Eurasia group.

"PM Modi will arrive at the White House with a full-on charm offensive aimed squarely at Donald Trump," he said.

"Modi will try to give Trump some tweetable wins," Tanvi Madan said, which in the defense arena could see the announcement of a $2 billion deal by US manufacturer General Atomics to supply unarmed drones to India.

The White House refuses to comment on US arms sales before Congress has been officially notified, but a senior administration official underscored that "this defense relationship is extremely important for both countries".

Regional security is expected to be high on the agenda as Washington considers deploying up to 5,000 extra troops in Afghanistan to help local forces fighting insurgent groups and seeks to encourage what an administration official describes as India's "positive role" in the country.

President Trump's administration has meanwhile indicated it could take a tougher stance on Pakistan over harbouring terrorist groups.
Security staff at certain US airports have started for items made of paper at checkpoints under a pilot scheme that could see screening measures for US flights become ever more invasive.

Washington: A book is one of the most essential item to pack for a long flight. However, soon passengers may have to remove them from their hand luggage when passing through airport security, media reports said. The Telegraph reported that security staff at certain US airports have started for items made of paper at checkpoints under a pilot scheme that could see screening measures for US flights become ever more invasive.

Passengers in Missouri and a few other test airports, including Los Angeles, Detroit, Boston and others, were made to undergo separate checks for books and food items last month. The screenings reportedly began in May, but have since then expanded to more airports, the Sacramento Bee said. Passengers screened under the new process were asked to take all reading material and food out of their carry-on luggage and place them in a separate bin.

Officials of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) told the Bee that some books make it difficult to see the contents of a bag with X-ray machines. They also said agents only fan through books to check for hidden weapons and other contraband without reading the content. Its always been a series of insults, Julie Sze, a University of California professor who experienced the test procedure at Sacramento, told The Bee. Books, magazines, food, those are like my three treasured things. It feels personal on a whole different level.

Last week the Wall Street Journal had reported that TSA officials had said screeners will be more engaged with passengers at the tables where people put items into bins before passing through the X-ray machines. Officials told the Journal that some items, such as chocolate and books, are dense and can obscure other items when passing through the X-ray.
Despite the upbeat rhetoric, the relationship between the two leaders has hit some initial snags. (Photo: AP)

Washington: US President Donald Trump welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House for their first face-to-face meeting, seeking to forge a chemistry that can add new fizz to a flourishing relationship between the world's two largest democracies.

Despite differences over issues such as immigration and climate change, Modi is expected to assure Trump that the United States has nothing to fear from India's growing economic clout.

After they began their afternoon talks in the Oval Office likely to center on issues such as trade and war in Afghanistan, the two leaders are expected to give a joint statement to reporters.

Trump, who described Modi as a "true friend!" on Twitter after his weekend arrival in the US, should find much in common with the Indian leader, with both men having won power by portraying themselves as establishment outsiders.

While ties with some traditional allies have been strained by Trump's complaints that Washington has been the loser in trade agreements, Modi appears alert to his host's sensitivities and emphasis on transactional diplomacy.

Writing in a Wall Street Journal editorial published just ahead of their meeting, Modi said that in "an uncertain global economic landscape, our two nations stand as mutually reinforcing engines of growth and innovation."

India is currently the world's fastest growing major economy, a status that Modi is hoping to cement by drawing in more foreign investment -- in part by encouraging manufacturers to do business in Asia's third-largest economy.

"The transformation of India presents abundant commercial and investment opportunities for American businesses," said Modi whose government is about to implement a new nationwide tax system designed to scythe through red tape.

"The rollout of the Goods and Services Tax on July 1 will, in a single stroke, convert India into a unified, continent-sized market of 1.3 billion people," he wrote.

Busy day of meetings

Ahead of his talks with Trump, Modi met with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as India eyes the purchase of more military equipment from the US.

Although there are not expected to be any major defense announcements, the California-based contractor General Atomics said it had been given clearance by the US government to sell drones to the Indian army. The State Department also announced that it was slapping sanctions on a senior figure in the Kashmiri separatist group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

The designation of Syed Salahuddin (also known as Mohammed Yusuf Shah) as a global terrorist marks a diplomatic victory for India which has been battling a decades-long insurgency by separatist groups in Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both.

Relations between India and the US were generally cool until the 1990s but they warmed under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, as India sought greater foreign investment and trade ties. But it was not long after Trump's election that obstacles emerged on issues such as trade and visas for Indians wanting to work in the United States.

Then Trump accused India of seeking to profit from the Paris climate accord as he announced the US withdrawal from the deal this month -- drawing sharp denials from New Delhi. A proposed overhaul of H-1B visas -- used by thousands of Indian software engineers to work in the United States -- has caused concern in New Delhi.

But Indian officials have played down those differences, insisting that Modi was sensitive to his counterpart's concerns over American jobs and trade, and there were "no major sticking points" that could sour the talks.

"If there's one thing we want (from the talks), it's chemistry... If the chemistry is good, then frankly everything else gets sorted," a senior Indian official who is traveling with the prime minister told reporters in Washington.

Afghanistan on agenda

Regional security is expected to be high on the agenda as Washington considers deploying up to 5,000 extra troops in Afghanistan to help local forces fighting insurgent groups and seeks to encourage what an administration official describes as India's "positive role" in the country.

Trump's administration has meanwhile indicated it could take a tougher stance on Pakistan, which India has long accused of harboring militant groups.
Bacha bazi is carried out with impunity often within Western-backed Afghan forces. (Photo: AFP)

Kabul: Adorned in makeup, fake breasts and bells, Jawed whirls around middle-aged men at Kabuls underground bacha bazi, or boy play parties, where the former child sex slave finds freedom of sorts as a dancing boy.

Jawed was kidnapped by a former jihadi commander in Shomali, north of Kabul, when he was barely 14, a victim of a hidden epidemic in Afghanistan of culturally-sanctioned male rape.

He is one of three former bachas traced by AFP who managed to escape their abusers. Their testimonies shed searing light on the stolen lives of boy sex slaves, often seen as caricatures of shame and cast out of their families, with many like Jawed falling prey to a new cycle of abuse.

Four years after he was kidnapped, Jaweds commander replaced him with a new boy slave, and gifted him to another strongman.

The 19-year-old says he escaped one night amid the chaos of a gunfight at a wedding where his new captor took him to entertain guests.

But dancing is the only skill he has that can earn a livelihood, having had no education and with virtually no protection offered in Afghanistan for bacha bazi survivors.

Now he performs for powerful male patrons at dance parties, where the evening often ends in sex -- underlining how, even when they are free, victims struggle to break out of the role that has been forced on them.

Fights usually break out over who will take me home after the parties, 19-year-old Jawed said, requesting that his real name not be revealed.

Bacha bazi is not seen as homosexuality in Afghanistans gender segregated society -- instead the possession of young boys decked out as pretty women symbolises power and primacy. It is carried out with impunity often within Western-backed Afghan forces.

After two failed attempts that resulted in a beating, 15-year-old Gul escaped barefoot at the end of three months of captivity in a police outpost in Helmands Nad Ali district.

But there was no going home again. Gul lives constantly on the move, chased by the paralysing fear he will be kidnapped once more.

His parents and brothers, meanwhile, have been forced to flee their home over fears the powerful commander will come looking for him.

Transform yourself into a woman, the checkpoint commander would tell me with makeup and ankle bells, Gul said by telephone from his hiding place.

Gul was one of three bachas at the checkpoint. Troublingly, he said, the policemen prowled for more victims -- especially effeminate boys from poor families unable to fight back.

They tried to outdo each other: My boy is more handsome than yours, my boy is a better dancer, he said.

For some the only escape is to forge a secret deal with the Taliban, who have successfully recruited boy sex slaves hungry for revenge to kill their abusers within police ranks, AFP revealed last year.

Unlike many other victims, Gul is relatively fortunate in that his family was ready to take him back.

Family honour is like a glass of water. One speck of dirt ruins it, said Aimal, a former bacha in his 30s who was abandoned by his parents. If I were a woman, my family wouldnt leave me alive.

The shame also stalks parents who try to help their children, say medical professionals in southern Afghanistan who treat the brutally violated survivors.

Increasingly parents will bring boys saying they have bowel problems, said a surgeon in Helmand province, where bacha bazi is widespread, corroborating what two other health officials said.

But a closer examination shows the boys were raped and need to be stitched up. The parents break down in tears: We want no publicity, just save my boy.

Aimal, who requested his real name be withheld, was discarded after years of enslavement to a jihadi commander in northern Balkh province as he began sprouting a beard.

Now a youth activist in Kabul, he said he did not want to end up the way that many other victims do -- becoming predators themselves.

President Ashraf Ghani this year laid out stringent penalties against bacha bazi for the first time in a revised penal code, but the government has given no time frame over when they will be enforced.

Instead, authorities in February launched a massive raid on a bacha bazi party in Kabul, jailing not the organisers but a handful of dancing boys, multiple witnesses told AFP.

For me dancing is not a crime, said Aimal. This culture of victimising the victim must end.

In a country with little legal protection or psychosocial support, victims might be lucky to escape their abusers but not their past. Almost by default, prostitution has become a common fallback for many abused boys.

Dancing has become too risky since the raid, Jawed said before he sidled back into his underground life. Now I might only do sex work.
London: British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives signed a deal Monday with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party that will allow them to govern after losing their majority in a general election this month.

"An agreement has been signed," May's spokesman said without revealing the details.

Northern Irish DUP leader Arlene Foster said she was "delighted" that a deal had been struck, while May said the Conservatives and the DUP "share many values" and Monday's agreement was "a very good one".

The agreement was signed by senior Conservative official Gavin Williamson and senior DUP member Jeffrey Donaldson, as May and Foster looked on.

The Conservatives have 317 seats in the 650-seat parliament after the June 8 election and need the support of the DUP's 10 MPs to be able to govern.

Discussions between the two began immediately after the election and centred on a "confidence and supply" deal in which the DUP would support the government in any confidence votes and to pass budgets.

The prospect of a deal with the ultra-conservative DUP has caused consternation in Britain since the party opposes gay marriage and abortion.

Some of its representatives have also been criticised in the past for homophobic comments, climate change denial statements and sectarian rhetoric.

Ireland's former premier Enda Kenny has warned that a deal with the Protestant and pro-British DUP could upset Northern Ireland's fragile peace.

London's neutrality is key to the delicate balance of power in Northern Ireland, which was once plagued by violence over Britain's control of the province.
The UKs National Cyber Security Centre said that it is working with the UK Parliamentary digital security team to know what has happened. (Photo: AP)

New York: A spokesperson for the Houses of Parliament has confirmed that the UK Parliaments computer system has been hit by a cyber attack. This comes in the wake of the ransomware attack that crippled over 200,000 computers across 150 countries, among which the UKs National Health Service was a victim and was forced to cancel surgeries and divert ambulances.

We have discovered unauthorised attempts to access accounts of parliamentary networks users and are investigating this ongoing incident, working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre, the spokesperson said Saturday, reports CNN.

Parliament has robust measures in place to protect all of our accounts and systems, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect and secure our network.

Meanwhile, as a precaution, the Parliament has temporarily restricted remote access, which has led to some members of Parliament having trouble accessing their emails remotely.

The UKs National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is aware of incident and working around the clock with the UK Parliamentary digital security team to understand what has happened and advise on the necessary mitigating actions, a spokesman said.

Parliament has shut down remote access to email, describing it as a deliberate decision as part of their mitigation measures, the NCSC spokesman said.
Tehran: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday said his country wants to bolster ties with Qatar and rejected a Saudi-led blockade of the Gulf Arab emirate.

"Iran's policy is to develop more and more its relations with Doha," Rouhani said in a phone conversation with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, according to the presidency website.

"Tehran stands alongside the people and government of Qatar and we believe that... pressure, threats and sanctions are not a good solution to solve problems" between countries of the region, Rouhani added.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are among several countries which announced on June 5 the suspension of all ties to Qatar, accusing it of support for extremist groups, a claim Doha denies.

They have also closed their airspace to Qatari carriers and blocked the emirate's only land border -- vital for its food imports.

Shiite dominated Iran, an arch-rival of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, has stepped in by shipping to Qatar tonnes of fruit and vegetables.

"Helping Qatar economically and developing ties, particularly in the private sectors of both countries, could be a common goal," Rouhani said on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Egypt, have issued 13 demands which they want Qatar to meet in return for an end to the nearly three-week-old diplomatic and trade "blockade".

Doha has said denounced the demands -- including the closure of Al-Jazeera news channel and downgrading ties with Tehran -- as unreasonable.
The Chinese officials said they were concerned about the safety of the Indian pilgrims which is why they were stopped from proceeding further. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

Beijing: China on Monday said it was in talks with India over the denial of entry to 47 Indian pilgrims who were scheduled to travel to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet through the Nathu-la pass in Sikkim.

"According to my information, the two governments are in touch over this issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Suhang told reporters, declining to elaborate whether it was due to any weather-related issues like landslides and rains the Pilgrims were stopped by the Chinese officials at the Sino-India border.

He said the issue was being discussed by the two foreign ministries. China last week refused entry to 47 Indian pilgrims who were scheduled to travel to Kailash Mansarovar through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim.

The pilgrims were scheduled to cross over to the Chinese side on June 19 but had failed to do so due to inclement weather. They had waited at the base camp and tried to cross again on June 23 but were denied permission by the Chinese officials.

In New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay had said that some difficulties were being experienced in the movement of pilgrims through Nathu La and that India is taking up the matter with China.

The development has cast a shadow of uncertainty on the annual yatra as Chinese officials maintained that it would take some time to repair the roads and the Indians would not be able to make the pilgrimage any time soon.

The Chinese officials said they were concerned about the safety of the Indian pilgrims which is why they were stopped from proceeding further.

The pilgrims, who were stopped by the Chinese officials at the border from proceeding further, have now returned to their respective states. Hundreds of Indian pilgrims undertake Kailash Mansarovar yatra in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China every year negotiating the mountainous terrain.

This year, a total of 350 yatris had registered for the yatra via Nathu La route and they were to travel in seven batches. The denial of permission to the first batch of 47 Indian pilgrims was a surprise as the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through the new route via Nathula Pass in Sikkim was launched with a fanfare by the two countries in 2015.

This was the second route agreed by the two counties for the Kailash Yatra.

Till 2015, the Yatra was being organised by External Affairs Ministry only through Lipu Pass in Himalays connecting the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand in India with the old trading town of Taklakot in Tibet.

The Nathulla route enabled pilgrims to travel 1500 km long route from Nathulla to Kailash by buses. The route through Nathula reduced the hardship and journey time enabling many more pilgrims, in particular aged pilgrims, to undertake the Yatra.

The development comes amid tensions in bilateral ties between the two countries over a host of issues including the CPEC and India's NSG bid. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Kazakh capital Astana.

In the meeting Modi had said the two sides should tap their potential in cooperation, strengthen communication and coordination in international affairs, respect each other's core concerns and appropriately handle their disputes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today praised External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for giving a "human face" to diplomacy and effectively using social media to deliver good governance and help Indians in distress in any corner of the world.



"Social media has become very powerful. I am also connected with it. But the External Affairs Ministry and Sushma Swaraj have set the best example of how a department can be strengthened through its use," Modi said in his address to the Indian diaspora during a community event in Virginia.



Praising Swaraj for promptly responding and acting on tweets by Indians in distress anywhere in the world, Modi said the External Affairs Ministry is now connected with the poorest of the poor in the country.



The prime minister lauded Swaraj for giving a "human face" to diplomacy and effectively using social media in delivering good governance.



"If any Indian in distress tweets from anywhere in the world to the External Affairs Ministry, even at two in the night, within 15 minutes Swaraj replies to it, the government takes prompt action and delivers results. This is good governance," Modi said.



He said in the last three years, India's External Affairs Ministry has achieved new heights in human diplomacy.



He said that over 80,000 Indians were facing some trouble or the other in different corners of the globe but the Indian government was able to bring them safely back home.



He referred to the incident of Uzma Ahmad, a young Indian woman who returned to India from Pakistan after she alleged that she was forced to marry a Pakistani man at gun point.



"A daughter of India, who landed in distress in Pakistan, returned to India through efforts of Indian High Commission. Sushma Ji deserves credit for this," Modi said.


Several people, including policemen, were injured in clashes between stone pelting protesters and security forces in various parts of Kashmir post-Eid-ul-Fitr prayers on Monday as authorities placed separatist leaders under house arrest.

Reports said soon after Eid prayers, stone pelting youth carrying Pakistani flags and raising anti-India slogans, clashed with security forces in Anantnag town of South Kashmir in which five police men, including a Dy SP, were injured. Several protesters were also injured in the clashes.



Reports of similar clashes were also received from Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir in which several policemen and protesters were injured.



Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were injured in Srinagar's Old City area where youths threw stones at security forces after Eid prayers. In Sopore town of north Kashmir forces used tear smoke shells and pellet shotguns to disperse the protesters in which over a dozen demonstrators sustained injuries.



Police didn't allow moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar, who is also head priest of Kashmir to deliver traditional Eid sermon at Eidgah in old city by placing him under house arrest. Hardliner Syed Ali Geelani was also barred from offering Eid prayers while pro-independence JKLF chief Yasin Malik was arrested.



The separatist leaders later issued a statement to media in which they termed the NIA raids on the houses of 'pro-freedom' leaders and a few Kashmiri businessmen as "illegal" and maintained that these are new ploys being used by New Delhi to defame the 'freedom struggle' in Kashmir. If such raids don't stop, there will be serious repercussions and the entire responsibility will lie with the State government and Delhi itself, it read.



For security reasons, several ministers, senior civil and police officers offered prayers at the district police lines Masjid in Srinagar at 6.30 am. In the backdrop of a lynching of a senior police officer by a mob outside the Jama Masjid in Srinagar on Thursday, Jammu and Kashmir Police had advised its personnel and VIPs not to offer Eid prayers in public places.
Deviating from the usual practice, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath did not visit the eidgah here today on the occasion of Eid, prompting his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav to take a swipe at him.



However, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma visited the eidgah.



Reacting to Adityanath's absence, Samajwadi Party president Yadav told reporters, "I am a former chief minister... I am here. He (Adityanath) should tell why he did not come."



It has been customary for Uttar Pradesh chief ministers to visit an eidgah on the occasion of Eid, which marks the culmination of the holy month of Ramazan.



Adityanath, however, greeted the people on Eid and noted that the festival is a special occasion where the message of joy and peace is spread to the world.



"This festival of happiness enhances the spirit of mutual brotherhood as well as strengthening social unity. It gives everyone a message of peace and harmony in society," he said.



Governor Ram Naik also visited the eidgah and extended greetings to the Muslim community on the occasion of Eid.



The deputy chief minister said, "On one side there is eidgah and on the other Ramlila is played (in Aishbagh). This is an area of Ali and Bajrangbali and when both unite it gives strength to democracy."
Former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan, jailed on an order of the Supreme Court, has moved a petition before the governor of West Bengal seeking bail or parole.



Karnan, 62, who was lodged at the Presidency Correctional Home here on June 21 following his arrest in Tamil Nadu a day earlier, is at present undergoing treatment at the state-run SSKM Hospital.



He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for contempt of court by a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, on May nine.



Questioning the constitutionality of the order of imprisonment of Karnan by the apex court, the petition said, "It is requested that the applicant may please be enlarged on bail/parole till the said lacunae are remedied and constitutional supremacy restored."



Making the appeal through his lawyers, Karnan said, "The applicant is ready and willing to abide by any terms and conditions that may be imposed for granting bail/parole to him."



He appealed to Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi that he should "exercise the jurisdiction invested in your excellency and enlarge the prisoner Shri Justice C S Karnan on bail/parole in the interest of justice and equity".



"The appeal has been sent by speed post to the governor," Karnan's counsel Mathew J Nedumpara said today.



"Copies of the representation have also been sent to the West Bengal chief minister, the home minister and the law minister of the state," Nedumpara told PTI over phone.



Karnan, who retired as a judge of the Calcutta High Court on June 12 as a fugitive, was arrested on June 20 from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu after evading the police for more than a month.



Karnan, who was on a warpath with the Supreme Court for the last several months, has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court.



Despite several attempts, Karnan has failed to get any relief from the apex court's vacation benches which refused to hear his plea seeking a stay of its jail term order.



His lawyers have also claimed to have approached President Pranab Mukherjee for exercising his power to stay the apex court's order, but no relief has come to the ex-judge so far.



After being sentenced to a six-month jail term, Karnan had on May 12 moved the apex court for relief, saying neither the high courts nor their judges, were "subordinate" to it.



He had sought recall of the apex court's order, contending he could not be held guilty of contempt of court.



Karnan had said the Contempt of Courts Act was a "cathartic jurisprudence which belonged to the Dark Ages, the era of inquisition and torture, distinct from the classical Roman Law which constitutes the foundation of modern jurisprudence".
With the on-going ugly spat between the two ruling partners in Bihar - the RJD and the JD (U)  reaching a flash-point, the JD (U) on Monday asked Lalu Prasad to rein in his foot soldiers spewing venom on Nitish Kumar, or be ready to face the consequences.



In the last 48 hours, its not only the RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and the party legislator Bhai Birendra who have made uncharitable remarks against Nitish for backing NDA presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind, but Lalus son Tejaswi Yadav too has taken a dig at the Bihar CM.



Questioning his immediate Boss, the Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi made a veiled attack on Nitish by mentioning about the latters blatant opportunism and ego-centric behaviour on social media.



Pained over the spat, Nitish fielded his erudite spokesperson Ajay Alok to rebuff the youngest son of Lalu. Our leader Nitish has made his stand clear on Kovind. But the RJD leaders are constantly adding fuel to the fire. Its now up to RJD president to douse the flames..... otherwise in this scorching summer, it (bitter acrimony) will spread like wildfire, said the JD (U) spokesperson.



Aloks statement came at a time when even the Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad questioned Nitishs wisdom in New Delhi on Monday. If Nitish says Bihar ki Beti (Meira Kumar) has been fielded by the Opposition only to lose the presidential race, then its Nitish who will be responsible for this loss of face, as its he who betrayed us, said Azad.



NCP sole MP from Bihar and former Union Minister Tariq Anwar too supported the Congress on this issue. Nitish should have waited for a day before announcing his support to either of the presidential nominees. By taking a divergent stand, he has sent a wrong message to all the Opposition parties, said Tariq, the veteran Lok Sabha MP from Katihar.
China's jailed Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has been granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer last month, his lawyer said today, worrying supporters who pleaded for his unconditional release.



Liu, who has about three years of his 11-year sentence to serve, was diagnosed on May 23 and was released days later, his lawyer Mo Shaoping told AFP.



The 61-year-old democracy campaigner was being treated at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang. "He has no special plans. He is just receiving medical treatment for his illness," Mo said.

The writer was sentenced in 2009 for "subversion" after spearheading a bold petition for democratic reforms. He was awarded the Nobel prize a year later and was represented by an empty chair at the ceremony in Oslo.



Supporters voiced concerns about his health and criticised the way he has been treated by Chinese authorities.



"Adding injury to insult, Liu Xiaobo has been diagnosed with a grave illness in prison, where he should never have been put in the first place," Patrick Poon, China researcher at global rights group Amnesty International, told AFP.



Poon called on Chinese authorities to ensure Liu "receives adequate medical care, effective access to his family and that he and all others imprisoned solely for exercising their human rights are immediately and unconditionally released".



Su Yutong, a Chinese journalist and activist in exile in Germany since 2010, said she was "very shocked and saddened" that her friend had fallen ill in prison, and urged authorities to let him travel overseas for treatment.



"We still do not know whether in prison he was subjected to severe torture and inhumane treatment," Su said.



"But for a scholar, when he was imprisoned in prison, he could not write, could not speak, could not gain the freedom of thought, which must have been the greatest torture," she said.



Liu is one of only three people to have won the Nobel award while jailed by their own government.

China strongly condemned his Nobel prize as unwanted foreign interference in its internal affairs, and refused to allow him to attend the ceremony in Oslo.



Diplomatic ties and trade talks between Beijing and Oslo were frozen after Liu was given the award, and Norway's salmon industry suffered as exports to China were halted.



Relations were only normalised in December 2016. Asked about Liu's parole, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing: "I am not aware of the situation you're talking about."



The international community has been calling for his release for years. Liu was arrested in 2008 after co-writing Charter 08, a bold petition that called for the protection of basic human rights and the reform of China's one-party Communist system.



Charter 08, which was posted online, specifically demands the abolition of subversion as an offence in China's criminal code -- the very crime for which Liu has been jailed.



His wife, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest since 2010. She suffered a heart attack in 2014, when she was diagnosed with depression after years of detention, a rights group said at the time.



She could not be reached for comment on Monday and an automated message said her phone was no longer in service.
With the Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav and his father and SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav taking a diametrically opposite stand, the party may witness cross voting in the forthcoming presidential poll, much to the liking of the BJP.



Mulayam has indicated that he will support the NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind while Akhilesh has declared that he will back the opposition's nominee Meira Kumar.



According to the sources in the SP here, the MLAs and MPs, who are loyal to Mulayam, may throw their lot behind the NDA candidate. Senior SP leader and Mulayam's younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav has already made it clear that he will follow the directive of the SP patron on whom to support in the presidential polls.



Sources said that barring Mulayam all the other four SP Lok Sabha members belonged to the Akhilesh camp and were likely to heed the latter's advice on the issue. The situation is somewhat different in the SP group in the Rajya Sabha. While expelled SP leader Amar Singh is likely to go by the advice of Mulayam, a few more RS members may ditch Akhilesh.



SP currently has five members in Lok Sabha and 18 in the Rajya Sabha. Its strength in the UP assembly is 47. Sources said that around half a dozen SP legislators may also go with Mulayam on the issue. SP leadership has warned that voting in defiance of the party direction could attract disciplinary action.



Sources said that efforts were on to persuade Mulayam to change his stand on the issue. The SP patron, however, on Monday indicated that he was still in favour of Kovind.



''The better candidate will win.....there is a need to rise above party politics on this issue,'' Mulayam said in an informal chat with reporters here.
A day after seven persons died in a tragic cable car crash in Gulmarg in Kashmir, officials incharge of the ropeway claimed that safety norms were followed and the accident can be best explained as an "act of God".



The Jammu and Kashmir government had yesterday ordered a probe into the incident in which four of a Delhi family and three local youth had lost their lives.



"There was no deviation from the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The weather suddenly turned bad and strong winds caused the uprooting of a tree that fell on the cable," Director, Tourism, Mehmood Shah said.



General Manager of the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation, Reyaz Ahmad, said the accident was an "act of God".



"We always follow the safety manual and never operate the cable car if any risk is involved. The uprooting of the tree due to abrupt blowing of high velocity wind, which led to the accident, can at best be explained as an act of God," Ahmad said.



Police have registered a case into the incident and started investigations into whether there was any violation of SOP.



Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has yesterday ordered a probe and also announced ex-gratia relief of Rs five lakh in favour of next of kin of the killed.



Meanwhile, the bodies of the four members of a Delhi- based family, who died in the accident, have been brought today evening to Nagpur, the city the deceased hailed from.

Jayant Andraskar (42), his wife Manisha (38), their daughters Anagha (4) and Janhvi (7), and three local tourist guides had died in the Gulmarg accident.



Their bodies were brought to Nagpur around 5.15 pm in a Jet Airways flight for last rites.

The Andraskars hailed from Nagpur, but had shifted to the national capital seven years ago after Jayant started working in the Directorate of Technical Education there.



His wife was a homemaker. One of their daughters was a student of class I, while the other was in playschool.



With the news of their death, a pall of gloom descended on Old Subhedar layout area here, where his family members, including his parents and siblings, live.



Jayant's brother-in-law Saurabh Wandhare told PTI that they were supposed to come to Nagpur on June 29 to attend his (Jayant's) mother-in-law's death anniversary.



"Jayant and his family members were on a vacation in Nagpur between May 12 and June 6 and they also attended my marriage last month," he said.



One of the neighbours remembers Jayant as a good and humble person.

"He was very respectful towards others," he said.



Sachin, one of Jayant's cousins, said, "Before joining the Directorate of Technical Education in Delhi seven years back, Jayant had taught in an engineering college in Nagpur and had also worked in Nagpur Improvement Trust."



Assistant professor Mahendra Umre, who had worked with Jayant when he was teaching in the engineering college, said, "He was a very hardworking and ambitious person with a lot of technical knowledge. His untimely demise is saddening."



The Andraskars, who lived in Shalimar Bagh in northwest Delhi, had gone to Kashmir for holidaying on June 22.
A group of men, wearing helmets and armed with pistols, allegedly decamped with Rs 37 lakh from a Flipkart dispatch centre in Jhilmil Industrial Area here after injuring a security guard.



The incident happened around 8.30 pm yesterday. Around three-four men barged into the office and held six employees hostage, police said.



Police were informed about the incident around 9 pm. A police team reached the spot where Ramu Kushwaha, a cashier, said the robbers took away Rs 37 lakh at gunpoint.



The cash was kept at the office since Sunday and Monday were holidays. The cash was to be deposited in the bank tomorrow.



According to the staff members, there were six employees in the office.

Naveen, a security guard, tried to raise an alarm. He was hit with the butt of a gun and left bleeding, they added.



Before leaving the office, they also took away hard disk (storage device) of CCTV cameras to avoid identification.



Police said that they would scan footage of CCTV cameras installed in the area to identify the accused.



They are also questioning the employees and have asked the management to share details of former employees who might be aware of the days when the cash is kept at the dispatch centre.



The company representatives remained unavailable for comment.
The US tonight declared Syed Salahuddin, the chief of Kashmiri militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, as a "global terrorist", dealing a major blow to Pakistan just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first meeting with President Donald Trump.



In a notification, the State Department said Salahuddin, who hails from Kashmir and is based in Pakistan for the last 28 years, "has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism."



The US took the step against the militant group's 71- year-old head, whose original name is Mohammed Yusuf Shah, as he had "vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir Valley into a graveyard for Indian forces".



The action came against the backdrop of upsurge in terror activities by Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir over the last several months.



The US decision, which was welcomed by India, marks a severe blow to Pakistan which has been projecting him as a "freedom fighter".



He is also the head of United Jihad Council, a conglomerate of several terror outfits like LeT and JeM which operate out of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.



The announcement came just a few hours before Modi's meeting with Trump.



As a consequence of this designation, US citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with 71- year-old Salahuddin and all of Salahuddins property and interests in property subject to United States jurisdiction are blocked.



"Under Salahuddins tenure as senior HM leader, HM has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people," the State Department said in as.



Following the designation of Salahuddin as a global terrorist, the State Department in a notification said he has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.



India welcomed the US' move and said it vindicated its long-standing position that cross-border terrorism has been behind the disturbances created in Kashmir since last year.



"India welcomes this notification. It underlines also quite strongly that both India and the US face threat of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said here.



"This notification has just come, we will look at the notification and what its specific provisions are," he said.



"The outfits that Syed Salahuddin leads have perpetuated from the territory of Pakistan and PoK. Cross-border terrorism against India including in the state of J-K for several years. In that sense we would welcome this notification.



"It underlines also quiet strongly the fact the both India and the US face threat of terrorism and they are working together to counter this threat, not in one particular area, but globally because terrorism knows no boundaries," he said.



The US decision significantly came on a day Salahuddin issued a video message calling for a week-long agitation to mark the first death anniversary of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was killed by security forces in an encounter on July 8 last year.



Before taking to militancy, Salahuddin had contested assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in 1987. He had lost in the polls which were widely believed to be rigged.



Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organisations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system.



"Designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations," the State Department said.
Differences between Reserve Bank of India Governors and finance ministers over the key policy issue are common but for a finance minister to say that he would not work with any other person than the same governor despite disagreement can only happen in the case of Y V Reddy as RBI Governor and P Chidambaram as his boss.



Reddy, 75, in his memoir  Advice and Dissent: My Life in Public Service  to be released on Tuesday, has said that in his tenure as RBI Governor from 2003-2008, he wanted to quit twice and both under Chidambaram's regime. But Chidambaram insisted, even if Venu wants to go, I would like him to stay.

The major disagreement between Chidambaram and Reddy were over financial sector reforms. Chidambaram's concern was that the RBI was not adequately reciprocating by progress with reforms. Reddy felt that skill levels in organisations and the government arrangements were not in a position to respond appropriately to the reforms of the financial sector without serious damage to their balance sheets.

Despite the unwillingness of the finance minister to relieve me, I felt that there was a growing distance between us as months passed by. His image as a reformer pushing for double-digit growth was, in his view, being dented by any caution to the extent of resisting implementation of some of his policies, Reddy writes in his book.

He goes on to say, at one stage, he (Chidambaram) said he was cancelling his foreign tour because he could not face them with nothing to report on reforms. His frustration was confirmed later, I think in early 2008.

Reddy says even as Chidambaram and he would have consultations on monetary policy, there were occasions on which Chidambaram would express his opinions in public.

This meant, first, if I were to announce measures that were contradictory to the minister's public statement, it would send confusing signals. Second, it would mean that, by the time my policy was announced, his statements had already influenced expectations  and therefore my policy then became less effective.

He says, he raised the issue several times with the minister who would sympathise with Reddy's point of view but still thought it was legitimate for him to express his opinion as a finance minister in a democracy.

Reddy and Chidambaram who worked together on four Union Budgets from 2004 to 2008 gave the highest priority for banking and financial sector reforms.

He was generally supportive of structural and governance changes in public sector banks. But i could recognise his political constraints in reforming the public sector banks, Reddy write about Chidambaram in his book which devotes a full chapter on working with Chidambaram.
The Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) based United Jehad Council (UJC), Monday called for a week-long agitation to mark the first death anniversary of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.



Burhan was killed in an encounter by security forces on July 8 last year. His death triggered one of the worst periods of unrest in Kashmir, in which more than 90 civilians were killed in five months of street protests.



The PoK based Syed Salah-ud-Din, who heads the UJC, an umbrella of militant organisations, said 'Hafta-e-Shuhuda' (martyrs week) would be observed beginning July 7 on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC).



"To pay tributes to Burhan Wani and the 1931 martyrs, there would be state-wide shutdown on July 8 and July 13. Also, public gatherings would be held, especially in Tral township, to pay homage to Wani," he said in first video message. 22 Kashmiris were killed while they were protesting against the autocratic regime of Maharaja Hari Singh outside Central Jail in Srinagar on 13 July 1931.



On July 10 and 11, people will visit the families of martyrs to express solidarity with them and help them financially, he said and asked people to offer special namaz for the freedom movement and destruction of the enemy" on July 12.



Last year after Burhan's killing separatists issued weekly 'protest calendars' almost for six months. During the 2008 and 2010 unrests, they would do the same. However, it is unusual for the UJC to issue such an agitation programme.



It comes at a time when 40-day long Amarnath yatra to south Kashmir Himalayas is set to begin on June 29 from twin routes of Baltal and Chandanwari. The announcement of agitation programme in the midst of the yatra by a top militant commander from PoK has thrown a new challenge for security forces.



"In view of the prevailing situation, the security was already a concern during the yatra period. However, the UJC announcement has made it clear that Pakistan wants to create disturbance during the pilgrimage time which is a challenge for us," a senior police officer told Deccan Herald.



He said they have started bracing for the death anniversary of Burhan by increasing security deployment in south Kashmir and along the highways. More than 45 people - including civilians, security forces and militants - have been killed in the month of Ramzan in the Valley, which ended on Sunday.






Higher educational institutions offering open and distance learning (ODL) courses with the approval of the University Grants Commission (UGC) will now have to apply afresh with it for grant of recognition.



The higher education regulator has made it mandatory for all universities, notifying revised regulations for the institutions offering undergraduate and post-graduate level ODL programmes in various disciplines.



The UGC (Open and Distance Learning) Regulations, 2017 came into immediate effect from June 23, with the commission notifying it in an official gazette.



Higher Educational Institutions in India do not have the Government's permission to offer degree programmes in engineering, medicine, dental, pharmacy, nursing, architecture, physiotherapy and other technical disciplines in the ODL mode.



Every higher educational institution offering a programme in ODL mode in pursuance of an approval granted to it for the purpose by the then Distance Education Council or by the Commission or by any other regulatory authority or intending to offer a programme in ODL mode from the academic session immediately after the notification of these regulations shall, for grant of recognition, make an application to the Commission, the revised regulations stipulate.



Only last month, the UGC granted approval to more than 100 higher educational institution's ODL programmes for the academic session of 2017-18.



The institutions will have to make an on-line application in the format specified by the UGC and upload the same on its portal along with scanned copy of the documents required at least six months before the commencement of the academic session of the programme intended to be offered by them, the regulations sought.



Under the revised rules, the UGC will grant approval to the ODL programmes of only those higher educational institutions which have a valid accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and has completed five years of existence.



Provided that this clause shall not be applicable to Open Universities until the time they become eligible for the NAAC accreditation and it shall be mandatory for Open Universities to get NAAC accreditation within one year of their becoming eligible for the same, the UGC regulation provides.



Besides, an institution deemed to be a university so declared by the Central Government shall offer the ODL courses or programmes as per the extant Deemed-to-be-a University Regulations of the UGC, it further clarifies.



If a higher educational institution does not obtain UGC recognition under the revised regulations for offering ODL programmes, the degrees granted by them to their students will not be treated as valid.



For violation of the regulations, the institutions may have to face de-recognition of their ODL programmes.



If a higher educational institution is found continuing the violations, a First Information Report (FIR) may be lodged against the officials or management of the errant institution to take action as per law, the UGC regulation stipulates.
With only three days to go for the closure of bars and pubs near highways within the city, a team of officials from the state government will meet officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Delhi on Tuesday to save the watering holes in the city.



Law Minister T B Jayachandra said a team of officials from the Finance and PWD departments will visit Delhi. If the officials do not succeed in getting the highways in the city denotified, then we will explore legal options, the minister added.



Govindaraj Hegde of Federation of Wine Merchants Association said the state government had written a letter to the NHAI back in 2015 seeking denotification of roads in city limits but did not follow it up. We could have avoided with this needless worry had it not been for the officials negligence, he added.



Many roads at taluk and district levels have already been denotified Officials thought highway tags of city roads will also be removed eventually. Nobody foresaw this situation, he said.



Asked about any interim measure, Jayachandra said the Supreme Court had allowed Telangana to extend the deadline till September 30. Though Karnatakas chances are very slim, we will see if we can plead for some time after taking a legal opinion, he said.

The Supreme Court extended the deadline for bars in Telangana considering that the validity of many licences extended beyond the June 30 deadline with some running till September. Considering that the licences in Karnataka expire on June 30, the state government has less chances of getting the extension.



Bar owners are meeting on Tuesday to decide on their next step. We are banking on the state government. We cant move the Supreme Court at this stage. We will take a decision after consulting other stakeholders, said Ananth Narayanan, a core committee member of National Restaurant Association of India.






As the Supreme Court deadline of June 30 for closure of pubs and bars along highways nears, pubs in the heart of the city are still uncertain about their future. A total of 31.8 km of highways pass through the city, putting pubs and bars along these roads in the city in dire straits.



With Brigade Road, MG Road and Church Street having the highest density of bars and pubs, owners of these establishments are hoping that the state government would find a solution to the impending problem.



Owners and customers are equally worried and feel MG Road, Church Street and Brigade will lose their sheen. Raghunath, manager of Russh Gastropub on Church Street says he is hopeful that the state government can work something out with the Centre, We are waiting for the government notification. We hope things will change and a denotification order will be issued.



He added that they might have to shut down for a few of days since the denotification order may not be issued before July 1.



Another popular joint, Hard Rock Cafe, received the notification a couple of days ago. Monish, the assistant branch manager, said they were pursuing the order to get a stay. This is not just a big problem for bar and pub owners but also for their employees, whose jobs will be jeopardised, he said.



Monish added that if nothing works out, they will have to shut shop and wait. If the Liquor Shop Owners Association fails to obtain a stay on the order, we will have to close our shutters for a few days.



Srinivas Gowda, the manager of Pecos, one of Bengalurus oldest bars, said he was shocked to hear that MG Road was a highway. We have three outlets on Brigade Road and Church Street. Our customers dont come here for food alone but for the beer. We have been serving beer for the past 30 years. We have no option but to move to another area which is not a state or national highway.



Liquor vends on Ballari Road, Tumakuru Road, Hosur Road, Mysuru Road, K R Puram and Indiranagar also face closure.



Pecos my favourite 



Archana Deshmukh, an occasional drinker said, Pecos is my favourite. Trumps all the new 100 bars that have come up recently. It has always been our spot and it would really break my heart to see it go.




Bengaluru police who had come to SDM Hospital at Sattur here on Monday to arrest journalist Ravi Belagere, who has been sentenced to one year imprisonment by the Legislative Assembly, could not arrest him. But, they followed the car in which he was travelling.



The Kumaraswamy Layout police asked Belagere to come with them after his discharge from the hospital. But he refused. The police brought him to the ground floor of the hospital, but he refused to board the police vehicle. Inspector Vajramuni asked him to come in the police vehicle or travel in his own car accompanied by a policeman. At this juncture, an angry Belagare said, Who are you? I will file an FIR against you.



When he started walking barefooted, the police tried to convince him to board their car. Belagere got into his car. When the car in which Belagere was sitting moved, ignoring the police who tried to stop the car, the police followed his car.



Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Pandurang Rane stated that the Bengaluru police had not taken Belagere along with them, and he lacked information as the local police were on bundobust duty for Eid-ul-Fitr.



Another journalist, Anil Raj, editor of Yelahanka Voice, who too has been senetenced by the Assembly, is still at large, the police said in Bengaluru.



On Sunday, a team of police from Bengaluru which had camped at the SDM Hospital returned empty handed as Belagere was not discharged.



As many as eight police officials had come to Dharwad on learning that Belagere was admitted at the hospital after he complained of chest pain and high blood pressure. The doctors had told the police that Belagere was stable but several tests had been conducted, including those to check brain and heart health, and these reports were awaited.



On getting this information, the Bengaluru police, as per instructions from the Home department, returned to Bengaluru.






Rape victims need a specialised agency to get single-window, comprehensive support services right from filing the FIR till the end of the trial.



The report of a study released by the Union law ministry also underlined the need to address vulnerabilities in other aspects of their lives, besides helping them fix the damages caused by the incident.



(The agency) is necessary to facilitate the victims full participation in the criminal justice machinery... it must have the expertise and training in sexual and gender-based violence, said the report, prepared by the Partners for Law in Development.



Besides filing an FIR, the agency is envisaged to handhold victims through the medical examination, treatment, counselling and applying for compensation.



It could also monitor the trial and coordinate with the investigating agencies.

The study, held under the aegis of the Department of Justice and United Nations Development Programme, also called on the need for the victims daily deposition in the case to avoid hasty conclusion of the trial. The current statutory stipulation of completing the trial within a period of two months is unrealistic, given the organic lifetime of the trial.



Hastily concluding trials within an unrealistic timeline is inimical to the fair trial rights of the accused. It is important, therefore, to not delineate a mandatory time limit to complete the trial, but instead, strive to complete it within a reasonable timeframe.



It also called for coordinating with agencies linked to the trial such as the forensic science lab, besides increasing case docket in at least two cases under observation.



Completing the deposition of the prosecutrix (victim) on a daily basis, right from the beginning of the trial, would ensure superior testimony since there is less time lapse between the incident and the trial, the report said, adding that this would also reduce chances of pressure on the victim from the accused during the trial to change her testimony.



The study also suggested routing of questions to the victim through the trials presiding officer (judge) to prevent sexually explicit questions from the defence council aimed at causing embarrassment or insinuate consent.



The study, conducted on the direction of the Delhi High Court with a sample size of 16 cases from the capital, called for a witness protection programme with the help of support persons since the accused are known to the victims in most cases.
The BJP is taking the Presidential poll as a political battle, despite an assured victory.

A day after Union minister Sushma Swaraj questioned Opposition candidate Meira Kumars ability to be non-partisan after functioning as Lok Sabha speaker under the UPA regime, her Cabinet colleague M Venkaiah Naidu joined the chorus.



Naidu on Monday stated the country needs a constitutional President and discounted the need to drag ideology into the battle which the Opposition has been attempting from the beginning.



The minister for information and broadcasting said in Hyderabad that it was more important to have a President who believes in the Constitution as the nation just observed the 42nd anniversary of the Emergency. Taking a dig at the Congress, he recalled, In 1975, the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed a proclamation imposing Emergency... simply on the basis of a letter written by the then prime minister and, thus, trampled upon all democratic rights of the people.



On Meira Kumars appeal to the electorate to vote with their inner conscience, the former BJP president stated, conscious vote is a matter of convenience for the Congress. Let us recall that it has used conscience to defeat its own official candidate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy.



The Opposition has been targeting NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind for his RSS background. Naidu countered it by saying protection of the Constitution should be the only ideology.



Kovind, who is on a campaign tour, will meet Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar on Wednesday to seek support of her PDP MPs and MLAs in the election. The Dalit BJP leader will address PDP lawmakers at the chief ministers residence, said party sources.



Naidu, another Union minister Jitendra Singh and BJP leader Ram Madhav will accompany Kovind in his reach out to the state BJP and PDP MLAs and MPs. The visit is planned to add to the perception that the NDA candidate is not averse to knocking on doors of the Muslim-dominant state for the election.



The former Bihar governor will similarly visit Panchkula to interact with the electoral college members of Punjab and Haryana. Sushma and BJP general secretary Anil Jain  both from the same state  will aid Kovind in Haryana.



His other stopovers would be in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. The BJP, claim sources, is working to get two to three more parties to its side even though 28 parties have extended support to the NDA in the fight for Rashtrapati Bhavan.



Apart from NDA allies, Opposition parties such as JDU, BJD, AIADMK, TRS, YSR Congress and INLD have announced their support, making it comfortable for Kovind in the poll.




A scuffle broke out between the Indian Army and Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) at a remote area in Sikkim recently, after which the PLA entered Indian territory and damaged two makeshift bunkers.



The incident occurred in the first week of June near Lalten post in the Doka La general area of Sikkim, triggering tension along the border, official sources said. A flag meeting between senior army officers of the two nations on June 20 failed to ease the tension.

This is apparently the reason why China stopped a batch of 47 Indian pilgrims on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra from crossing through Nathu La border in Sikkim into the Tibet Autonomous Region.



The PLA, however, accused the Indian Army of stopping the construction of a road in its sovereign territory in the Sikkim section of the India-China border and said the move has seriously damaged border peace and tranquillity.



On Monday, the Chinese defence ministry spokesman, Ren Guoqiang, said China had recently started constructing a road in DongLang region but was stopped by Indian troops which crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC)  the de facto border. In this context, the Indian troops unilaterally provoked trouble which was in violation of the relevant agreement between the two sides and the mutual consensus between the leaders of the two countries, it said.



Beijing also said it was in touch with New Delhi over the suspension of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via Nathu La.



However, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese government, Geng Suhang, declined to comment on the reasons for suspending its much-hyped Confidence Building Measure (CBM) with India just two years after it was launched with much fanfare.



A source told DH that Beijings recent moves along the LAC in Sikkim signal hardening of its position in response to New Delhis decision in April to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh  the frontier state which has been at the centre of the border dispute between India and China.



Beijing had then warned New Delhi that it would retaliate with necessary measures to defend its territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights and interests.



The airspace violation by two Chinese helicopters in Uttarakhand earlier this month also signalled that Beijing had hardened its position even on the less contentious middle sector of the disputed Sino-India boundary. Interestingly, China had acknowledged Sikkim to be an integral part of India in 2003 and even published maps accordingly.



But it started claiming about 2.1 sqkm area around Doka La since 2008.

China accepted Indias request to open another route for the pilgrimage via Nathu La as an alternative to the old route via Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand at a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in September 2014.



Travelling via the old route requires trekking for several days and sometimes through inclement weather. Beijing allowed Indian pilgrims to enter China through Nathu La in 2015 and 2016, even as bilateral relations between the two nations deteriorated.


The anger against the JD(U) for breaking ranks with the Opposition by announcing its support to BJPs Presidential candidate is growing with allies, the Congress and the RJD, attacking Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.



The Congress on Monday questioned Nitishs principles while the RJD has been relentless in its attack on the chief minister for the past few days, prompting the JD(U) to warn that fire would spread if not doused.



The Congress, which has so far avoided strong words against Nitish, said the JD(U) chief made the first call to defeat a Dalit candidate from his own state.



Nitish, despite mooting the idea of a united Opposition candidate in the Presidential polls, had announced his partys support to BJP nominee Ram Nath Kovind. The Opposition then chose former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, the daughter of Dalit icon Jagjivan Ram, who is from Bihar, to counter the Dalit card played by the BJP as also to put Nitish in a tight spot.



This prompted Nitish to say that the Opposition was fielding the daughter of Bihar only to lose. In a sharp retort, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Monday, People who believe in one principle make one decision, but those who believe in many principles make different decisions.



Our aim is not to get (our candidate) defeated, he (Nitish) is doing it. He made the first announcement to defeat a Dalit leader, Azad added.



So far, no senior Congress leader has commented on Nitishs move in public and Azads reference to principles showed the anger in his party. The Opposition leaders also indicated that such comments showed that it would not be easy for Nitish to crawl back to a prominent position among the Opposition.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav also waded into the controversy as he made a veiled attack against Nitish on social media, describing his move blatant opportunism and ego-centric behaviour. RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that Nitishs decision has come as a setback to the efforts to put up a grand alliance at the national level.



An upset Nitish fielded party spokesperson Ajay Alok to warn the Opposition. Our leader has made his stand clear on Kovind. But RJD leaders are constantly adding fuel to the fire. It is up to the RJD president to douse the flames. Otherwise, in this scorching summer, it (bitter acrimony) will spread like wildfire, Alok said.



The NCP's sole MP from Bihar, Tariq Anwar, also supported other parties saying, "Nitish should have waited for a day before announcing his support to either of the presidential nominees.
Men take in more than just the scenic beauty when gaze at the waterfalls, tourism officials suspect.



Thats the reason signboards are coming up at Karnatakas picturesque cascades, warning men not to gape at women.



The idea is to make women tourists feel safe, a top tourism official said. The department hasn't decided how to phrase the warning, but it is clear about what the signboards should do: explicitly warn men not to eye bathing and frolicking women. In other words, this ain't Baywatch, dude. Women have the right to enjoy the waterfalls as much as men, and this should be respected. We are putting up these boards to ensure women get some privacy, Naveen Raj Singh, tourism secretary, told DH.



Other boards warn tourists against taking photographs in no-selfie zones.



Printed handbook



The department is preparing a guidebook about the many lush waterfalls in Karnataka.

Waterfalls are a star attraction during the monsoon and towards the end of the tourist season. Through the handbook, many less known waterfalls will become popular, Singh said.



The book gives the location of each waterfall and details about how to get there.

People can reach the waterfalls on cycles and motorbikes, and through trekking routes and trails.




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JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book celebrates its 20th anniversary - and witches, wizards and muggles across the world will be joining in on the celebrations.

Over the last two decades the Harry Potter franchise has captured the minds of millions and the fan frenzy shows no signs of slowing down, even though the last book the Deathly Hallows was released ten years ago in 2007.

But if you've been a die-hard follower, since the beginning, then your life is about to change - we can only liken it to the day Hagrid gave Harry his Hogwarts acceptance letter.

If you're the owner of a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone you could be sitting on a gold mine even Gringotts would be envious of.

The book was first published in 1997, and only 500 were printed - 300 copies went to the British Library whilst the remaining 200 went to bookstores.

At the time the publisher, Bloomsbury, had no idea how popular the story would be, which is why so few were printed. This means the books that went on general sale twenty years ago are now very valuable.

Rare bookseller Peter Harrington estimates that first edition hardbacks could be worth up to 50,000 - this is because not many hardback versions were originally printed, making them extremely rare to come across.

However paperbacks are also worth a pretty penny and could earn you a four-figure sum, one is currently on sale for 4,800 on literary website stmarysbooks.com

How can I tell if my book is valuable?

At the bottom of the title page the publisher must be listed as Bloomsbury

The date listed in the copyright information should say 1997

The print line on the copyright page must read "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"

On page 53 "1 wand" must be written twice in the list

The book should say it was printed in the UK, not any other country

But JK Rowling's the Philosopher's Stone isn't the only valuable book. First editions of the Chamber of Secrets, the Prisoner of Azkaban and the Goblet of Fire are also valuable.

A first edition paperback of Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets is on sale for 4,200 on rare books seller site Shapero .

First editions of the last three books - Order of the Phoenix, the Half-blood Prince and the Deathly Hollows - are far less valuable.

If you have a Harry Potter book signed by JK Rowling herself, this could also be worth some money.
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Retailers offer workouts and wellness to attract customers back into stores

Come on down for meditation lectures with Deepak Chopra at ABC Carpet & Home in New York, a yoga class at Bloomingdale's or a wellness getaway with Free People.



By KELLI KENNEDY

Associated Press

Urban Outfitters' five-story Space Ninety 8 in Brooklyn scheduled a chakra meditation and sound bath this month.

NEW YORK  Stores like Saks and Urban Outfitters are looking to work out more than your wallet.

As retailers struggle to draw in shoppers who have migrated online, stores are seizing on one of the few bright spots in the industry  fitness and wellness  in hopes of engaging consumers. That means meditation lectures with Deepak Chopra at ABC Carpet & Home in New York, a yoga class at Bloomingdale's or a wellness getaway with Free People.

One recent Wednesday, a dozen women walked into Saks on Fifth Avenue, tucked their purses into lockers and got to work performing squat thrusts and jumping jack intervals during an hourlong boot camp. After class, they could browse through a rack of $85 Phat Buddha leggings and try Glow Recipe's $58 oil essence with cactus extract.

Mila Petrova, who wasn't part of the class that day but has attended other sessions at Saks, says it's the location more than the shopping that has drawn her  it's closer to her office. I probably would have gone (to the workout) wherever they put it, she said.

The 27-year-old browsed the store only on the first night and hasn't made any purchases  she's usually rushing to the class from work and anxious to get home afterward. Still, though she's not a big shopper in general, she can see herself buying holidays gifts at Saks' Wellery section because she's already in the store.

Several stores have opened stand-alone locations with vast areas carved out for exercise classes and seminars. Urban Outfitters' five-story Space Ninety 8 in Brooklyn scheduled a chakra meditation and sound bath this month.

None of the chains are talking about how much the wellness business has increased sales  or if it has. It may be soon to tell. But while clothing stores struggle, U.S. activewear sales have increased. In 2016, they rose 11 percent over the previous year to nearly $46 billion, according to The NPD Group, a consumer tracking service, and are up from $36.9 billion in 2014. So it's no surprise retailers want to offer those customers more and keep them in the stores longer.

Saks' New York flagship has devoted an entire floor to the 16,000 square-foot wellness sanctuary that opened in May and offers fitness classes, a salt chamber and meditation alongside other merchandise. Celebrity fitness guru Tracy Anderson was the marquee name on opening night. After a sweat session, fitness aficionados can test the latest home gym equipment like a Peloton bike, get custom-fitted for golf clubs or get their nails done  a day's worth of self-care in one spot.

We need to be their sanctuary, whether they need retail therapy or want to feel good about themselves, says Saks President Marc Metrick. After a good workout it's a big rush, so it's great. We want people to feel good in our stores ... it doesn't always have to be because you bought a killer pair of shoes.

The Wellery is full circle for the upscale chain that constructed an indoor ski slope at its flagship store in 1935, and offered skiing lessons for a time as a novelty activity to bring customers in.

Before the wellness trend, department stores like Sears and J.C. Penney positioned themselves as destinations through photo studios and beauty salons. Penney has also had success with small Sephora locations inside stores.

The wellness trend taps into what analysts and retailers say is people's desire for experiences. Magdalena Kondej, head of apparel and footwear at Euromonitor, characterized it as the prioritization of doing, seeing and feeling over having more stuff.

No one comes to the store anymore to buy something. They can do that on the phone, in the cab, at home at night ... our stores have to become much more experiential, Metrick agreed.

Fitness retailers have also capitalized on this trend. Adidas opened its Runbase store in Berlin last year, which includes training facilities and a healthy restaurant. At Nike's SoHo store, consumers can test a pair of sneakers on the in-store basketball court, on a synthetic football field or on a treadmill that gives real-time feedback.

Stores are also focusing on selling nontoxic makeup, vitamins and powders for skin and hair. Free People, a bohemian apparel line popular among yogis, now sells wellness products. Some of the products and clothes are included in their retreats, like a five-night retreat at Glacier National Park that starts at $1,800.

Clean beauty queen and actress Gwyneth Paltrow had a partnership with Nordstrom this year for a series of pop-up shops. Paltrow's Goop brand curated the items, including non-toxic masks and serums, spiralizers for zucchini noodles, meditation pillows and yoga gear.

Bloomingdale's is also seeking to attract yogi dollars. It worked with wellness website Grokker for an online challenge, in-store events like yoga classes and a free subscription to Grokker for the month of May.

ABC Carpet & Home has offered seminars with meditation guru Gabrielle Bernstein. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, led chanting with 100 fellow monks. Consumers can peruse sustainable and fair-trade jewelry, fitness apparel and maybe buy a tonic. It's part of an effort to draw like-minded consumers into the store and hopefully deepen their loyalty to the brand.

Bringing more consumers through the door  for whatever reason  can only help the stores, says NPD retail analyst Marshal Cohen.

Impulse shopping happens more than double the amount in store than it does with an online purchase, he says.




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KENAI, Alaska (AP)  A new report by the Army Corps of Engineers states the cost of alleviating the Alaska city of Kenai's erosion along a nearly 1-mile bluff would exceed its economic benefit, but can still be done.

The Corps will hold two public meetings about the report, the first on July 5 with the Kenai City Council and the second for the general public on July 6, The Peninsula Clarion reported.





. . .
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SEATTLE  A small apartment building at 1711 12th Ave. has sold for $11.76 million, according to King County records.

The seller was Capitol Park LLC, which acquired the property upon completion in 2014 for $10 million.





. . .
A Chipley man has been arrested and charged with murder after police said he admitted to stabbing another man to death at a Washington County assisted living facility.

According to a release from the Washington County Sheriff's Office, police arrested and charged Christopher Brett Kelley, 34, of Chipley, with one open count of murder Saturday.

According to the release, Sheriff's deputies and Washington County EMS responded to a 911 call from the owner of the Tropical Paradise Assisted Living Facility on Brickyard Road in Chipley. The release indicated the owner said one of the facility's clients had attacked another.

According to the release, deputies were approached by Kelley upon arrival to the facility. He had what appeared to be blood on his hands and clothes and told deputies "I killed him." The release indicated Kelley went on to say he believed the victim stole money from him.

The victim, 53-year-old Wendell Holmes, was found on the floor with what appeared to be multiple stab wounds, according to police. Holmes was pronounced dead on the scene. Kelley was taken to the Washington County Jail where he is being held without bond. The case remains under active investigation.
Home Four wheelers GM Begins Exports Of Chevrolet Beat Sedan From India oi-Kennedy Paul

General Motors (GM) announced the commencement of shipping the sedan version of the Chevrolet Beat to Latin America from India.

GM began production of the Beat sedan at its Taelgaon plant in Maharashtra from June 5, 2017, and the American company loaded a consignment of 1,200 Chevrolet Beat sedans for shipping to Latin America.

As per GM, the Talegaon plant has been one of the major export centres for the car manufacturer and has supported GM India to become the third largest passenger exporter in May 2017.

The Beat sedan was first revealed at the 2016 Auto Expo in Delhi and was to be sold in India as the Chevrolet Essentia. However, earlier this year GM decided to stop selling cars in India by the end of 2017, ending any hopes of buying a Chevrolet Beat sedan in India.

The decision comes in the backdrop of GM restructuring its business around the globe. The company though said that it would continue to manufacture cars in India for exports only.

Apart from the Beat sedan, the Beat hatchback is also being manufactured and shipped from India to international markets. The company has been exporting cars to Mexico since 2016.

Commenting on the company's export growth, Asif Khatri, VP - Manufacturing, GM India said, "GM India's exports have more than tripled in the past year. GM was India's third largest passenger vehicle exporter in May - recording our highest monthly total of vehicle exports at 8,297 units."

DriveSpark Thinks!

It might be a blow to India's ambition domestic manufacturing, but with GM still utilising its plant to produce cars for exports to global markets will indeed underline the significance of India's manufacturing expertise.
New episode of the EBRD podcast available for download

The latest episode of the Pocket Economics podcast looks at the new social contract for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). What is the relationship between the powers that be and those they govern? Did the uprisings that started in Tunisia and spread to several countries in the Arab world in 2010-11 come as a surprise to economists?

The social contract is an idea that refers to the implicit agreement among members of a society that defines their relationship with each other and the state.

The EBRDS Chief Economist Sergei Guriev and the World Banks Chief Economist Shanta Devarajan discuss how the idea of a social contract has been interpreted in the Middle-Eastern and North African countries.

Mr Devarajan highlights the particular characteristics of the social contract in the MENA region and explains how they affected the uprisings.

Mr Guriev notes that the main frustration was coming not from the very poor or left behind, but rather from the educated middle class and that the current problem is to a great extent the legacy of not reforming the system for many years.

But what is the way forward? How could be a new social contract?

The state needs to promote competition in domestic markets, as a way of generating jobs and growth, explains Mr Devarajan.




Canada traces PED woes to US wash stations

The porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus may have spread to Canada from neighbouring US via the wash stations visited by Canadian trailers transporting exported hogs.

Canadian Pork Council (CPC) chair Rick Bergmann claimed that Canada had remained relatively disease-free until trailers carrying hogs for export to the US were directed to go to US wash stations that may have had contact with PED virus before returning to Canada.

Before this, according to CPC, Canadian trailers carrying hogs for export to the US did not have to go to US wash stations. "Instead they returned to Canadian wash stations that had stringent biosecurity measures in place".

Bergmann said that when the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) cancelled this practice in 2015 and trailers were required to go to US wash station before returning to Canada, "we knew it was a matter of time before PED was identified on Canadian hog farms".

"Unfortunately, we have it now and we need to focus on recovery. This means putting containment and surveillance measures in place to prevent the spread of the virus any further", he said. "We need to work together to find workable solutions to deal with the situation and assist the Canadian pork producers coping with the emotional stress while dealing with PED on their farms."

Addressing PED virus issue

Bergmann said Canada's pork sector wants to work with federal and provincial government to address the issue of PED virus in Canada. Western Canadian hog producers took this message to the House of Commons standing committee on agriculture and agri-food on June 15.

PED causes severe dehydration and diarrhea in pigs. It is generally fatal in very young animals with over 80% mortality rates, though older animals can recover. PED is not transmitted to humans or other animals and is not a food-safety risk. The first cases were reported in the US in 2013 and in Canada in 2014. CPC did not explain how Canada got the virus in 2014, before Canadian hog-export trailers were directed to pass by wash stations in the US.

CPC said that the disease is endemic in the US, where it is estimated there were 200 to 300 cases per week between 2013 and 2014.

Canada, it added, has been successful in minimizing PED's impact. Ontario reported 101 cases since the first case in January 2014, while Manitoba has had 28 cases since its first case in February 2014.

Canada's pork industry produces more than 25.5 million animals a year. Last year it exported over 1 million tonnes of pork and pork products, valued at over $3.2 billion, to 90 countries.-Rick Alberto
Police call for end to social media speculation over assault on child



The incident took place at the Manx Museum in Douglas

Police are urging the Manx public not to speculate about an incident that took place at one of the Island's museums.

Officers say they're aware of a social media post about an alleged assault on a young child at the Manx Museum yesterday.

A man was arrested following the incident and an investigation is taking place.

The police are working with the museum to ensure measures are in place to keep children safe at the site.

Those in charge of the investigation are aware of speculation on social media, but are calling for this to be refrained from due to the nature of the investigation.
Is the Tunisian Arab Spring about to repeat in Morocco? By Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah

The Moroccan press reported that King Mohammed VI decided not to attend the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting in Monrovia on June 4, 2017, because he was reluctant to meet Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu who had been invited by the President of Liberia to address the forum. King Mohammed, it was reported, thought he would be the only speaker at the gathering. However, that is a very dubious explanation for the kings absence especially since Morocco has been very active during the past year lobbying to regain its position in the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and never missed a forum to recruit African members to support its candidacy. The fact is that the domestic tensions in Morocco are brewing; unrest and protests have been noted in the northern part of the Kingdom, and the regime is unable to control the situation and calm down the passions. In many ways, events in Morocco since late October are a reminder of those that preceded the ousting of the Tunisian President Zein El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. On December 17, 2010, the police of a small, forgotten, and deprived town called Sidi Bouzid in southern Tunisia confiscated the scales of a 26 years-old street vendor, Mohammad Bouazizi, under the false claim he had infringed upon the law by illegally selling vegetables at a mobile stand. In truth, Bouazizi had refused to pay a bribe to the police. Adding insult to injury, it was reported that a policewoman hit him in the face and insulted his deceased father. In the aftermath, Bouazizi was banned from the provincial government building to file a complaint. Outraged by his public humiliation, Bouazizi poured kerosene on himself and set himself ablaze in front of the governors house. This was the beginning of what was then named the Arab Spring. The wave of popular protest ultimately led to the demise of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia and his escape to Saudi Arabia. The protest wave did not spare other regimes such as Libya, Egypt, Syria, and others. In some countries, the wave transformed into a tsunami and brought down well-established regimes such as Egypts Mubarak, Libyas Qaddafi while in others it became a prelude to civil wars in Syria and Iraq. The shockwave was felt in all Arab countries. Still, most of them survived at the price of ceding power to the opposition and initializing political reforms. Morocco survived the tsunami by adopting a series of liberal laws that were enough to calm the popular unrest in 2011 while pursuing a very harsh policy against Muslim extremists. Morocco had become one of the main contributors of volunteers who joined the fighting ranks of ISIS and al-Qaida in the Middle East and Europe. Their threat, however, was predominantly beyond Moroccos borders. The Horrifying Death of a Moroccan Fishmonger With this background, the surface calm was broken by a harrowing incident on October 28, 2016, in the northern town of Al-Hoceima on Moroccos Mediterranean coast. The police threw Mouhcine Fikris whole fish catch worth $11,000 into the bin of a waste truck. They claimed the 31-year-old fishmonger had been selling 500 kilograms of swordfish, a protected species in Morocco. The fishmonger tried to save his catch and jumped into the waste bin. He was crushed to death by the grinder after the order to activate the machine was allegedly given by the police. The gruesome event ignited a series of protests which have been ongoing since then, creating an unprecedented tense situation in a region. In the immediate aftermath of the event, protests began in the coastal town of Al-Hoceima but very quickly spread to other northern cities such as Nador and even in Moroccos main cities  Rabat, Casablanca, and Tangier. Very quickly the protests turned against the central government and endorsed Berber nationalist slogans: Amazigh (Berber) flags were flown high, anti-corruption banners unfurled, and open accusations of the corrupted government appeared. A deep resentment of the neglect of the Al-Hoceima region was persistent; it is a region suffering a deep economic crisis with one of the highest rates of unemployment.4 With this background, a hitherto unknown figure, the unemployed 39-year-old telephone technician Nasser Zefzafi became the leader of a protest movement called Hirak (Movement) riding the tide of discontent against the central government. Singling out Zefzafi and some of his followers, the Moroccan regime accused him and his followers of being part of the Islamic Jihad, agents of the arch-enemy Algeria. The Moroccan authorities stressed the claim that Zefzafi and his supporters are being manipulated from abroad to destabilize the Kingdom. Accordingly and unsurprisingly, on May 29, 2017, the Moroccan authorities arrested Zefzafi and 40 of his followers. The immediate cause was a disturbance three days earlier in a mosque where he shouted at a preacher, stopping him from giving his sermon to the audience and giving a speech instead with religious coloring. He was charged with hindering religious freedom. Considered a terrorist, Zefzafi was transferred to a prison in Casablanca and put under the responsibility of the Brigade Nationale de la Police Judiciare (BNPJ). On May 29, 2017, the attorney general declared that Zefzafi and his companions were accused of undermining national security which in the Moroccan codex of law is punishable by five years in jail. Since his arrest, protests have been held around the country and even in European cities almost nightly, with protesters demanding the immediate release of Zefzafi and his companions. The Moroccan Authorities justified the harsh repression stating that the state had no choice but to impose the law and to quell those traitors who received funds and logistical support from abroad to undermine the unity of the kingdom. The northern Rif region of Morocco, a Berber region, has been historically a challenge to the central authority. Twice the regime had to quell riots that broke in the region with the power of arms and with a heavy price of countless lives shed in merciless repression. The most famous rioting occurred in 1958-1959 which was repressed by the then-Heir Prince Hassan, assisted by the notorious General Oufkir. Other riots broke out in 1984 under the name of the bread riots of 1984. Although claiming he was apolitical, Nasser Zefzafi, in all his appearances in the media, was very meticulous to appear in front of the portrait of Abd el-Karim al-Khattabi, the mythical figure of the RIF resistance against the Spanish and French colonizers. Al-Khattabi proclaimed the independence of the Confederation Republic of the Tribes of the Rif in 1922, a republic that lasted five years before being defeated in a bloodbath by a joint Spanish-French intervention force. Al-Khattabi was sent in exile to the La Reunion Island from where he escaped to Egypt. He died in 1963. Morocco has been struggling since the beginning of the millennium to maintain its stability while facing a steady attack by jihadists, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda, organizations whose ultimate goal is to destabilize the kingdom and create havoc in this north African state. Moroccan Jihadists Return to Morocco According to Abdelhak Khiame, the chief of the Bureau Central dInvestigations Judiciaires (BCIJ) (the Moroccan parallel of the American FBI), more than 1,600 Moroccans have joined the ranks of the jihadists in Syria, Libya, and Iraq, while 200 to 240 out of that number have returned either to Morocco or European countries. According to Khiame, 132 terrorist cells have been uncovered in Morocco since 2002, and more than 2,720 terrorists arrested. In the last three years, the number of uncovered terrorist cells have tripled. Between 2011 and 2013, 18 such terrorist cells were dismantled while between 2013 and 2015, 27, and in the year 2016, 24 terrorist cells were discovered, together with signs of terrorists planning biological and chemical attacks. Facing the growing danger of extreme Islam, the Kingdom under the directives of King Mohammad VI has embarked on a special religious education program aimed at neutralizing all extremist interpretations of the Koran. Mohammad VI instructed the ministry of education to remove from school books all references to Jihad and killing while initiating an innovative program for the training of religious clerks, preachers, imams, and kadis. This new approach to Jihadism follows a historic speech given by Mohammad VI on August 20, 2016, on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People. As the Commander of the believers and Gatekeeper of the Sunni school, he denied the appellation of Muslim to the Jihadists whom he qualified as criminals. How does Jihad permit the killing innocent people? asked the King. Jihad can be envisaged only as an act of self-defense, and the taking of life in the name of Jihad is illegal Is it conceivable that God orders an individual to blow himself or to kill innocents? Islam forbids all forms of suicide for whatever reason Those who incite to murder and those who use the Koran and the Sunna (oral law) to their goals are but generating lies All Muslims, Christians and Jews should create a joint front to stand against fanaticism, hatred and the proliferation of ignorance spread in the name of religion. It is crystal clear that the Moroccan regime cannot yield to the Berber protest and will have to repress it. Facing the threat of extreme Islam, the Moroccan regime has a paramount interest to subdue the northern social and political eruption and adopt all necessary measures to prevent the interaction between the Jihadist organizations, the Algerian subversive activities via the Polisario and other organizations, and the Amazigh protest. Infiltration of the Rif by the Jihadists could destabilize the kingdom. Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, a special analyst for the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was formerly Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Deputy Head for Assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence. Home
The dark origins of communism: Part 3 of 3 By Joshua Philipp

The French Revolution from 1789 to 1799 had a large influence on Karl Marx, and on the origins of communism. Weve written previously about Gracchus Babeuf, regarded as the first revolutionary communist, and his direct influence on Marx; and weve also written about Maximilien Robespierre, whose violent Reign of Terror had a strong influence on both Babeuf and Vladimir Lenin. But what were the ideas that incited Robespierre to start his Reign of Terror? What was the environment that would inspire the atheistic hatred behind the French Revolutions dechristianization movement? And what was it that inspired the revolutionary revolts that would continue into the 19th and 20th centuries? To understand these, we need to look at the cultural and philosophical environment in Europe at the time of the French Revolution. Religion and Politics Communism grew out of an age in which everything was being reconsidered, and the mid-to-late 1700s was a time of massive religious and political shifts. The growth of Protestantism led to the First Great Awakening in the 1730s and 1740s, and it captured many discontents within the Catholic Church. Likewise, the American Revolution between 1775 and 1783 showed there was an alternative to the rule of kings. People came to believe they could live lives independent of the existing hierarchies, and they sought new ideas and alternatives to the prevailing religious and political systems. The political paths Europe inevitably took, however, were opposite to those of the United States. The new American system attempted to create personal liberties by limiting government. It allowed people to build wealth and choose how to live their lives with a greater allowance for free will. The emerging European systems aimed to strip the individual of adherence to traditions, to replace the practice of individual faith with state-sponsored beliefs, and to begin playing with the idea of achieving equality through state redistribution. They would soon find these goals were only possible through a totalitarian system that could force its will on the individual. Just a few years after Lenins Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the famous essayist G.K. Chesterton wrote on March 21, 1925, that the new communist systems are not rebelling against an abnormal tyranny; they are rebelling against what they think is a normal tyrannythe tyranny of the normal. They are not in revolt against the king, he wrote. They are in revolt against the citizen. Author Michael Walsh wrote in his book The Devils Pleasure Palace that these problems persist in modern Western societies and lie almost entirely in our rejection of myth, legend, and religion as unscientific and in our embrace of barren process to deliver solutions to the worlds ills. Communism is not just a political movement, but also an ideology with its own sense of moral structure and allegiance. Walsh writes, During the Cold War, critics in the West remarked that the Soviet Union and its doctrine of Marxism-Leninism resembled nothing so much as a new religion. He notes this new religion of communism mirrored the structures of traditional religionswith its own scripture in the writings of Marx and Engels, with its leaders raised as prophets of the system, and with a clerical caste in the Politburo committee and communist apologists in the West. To understand this new religions occult and violently anti-religious nature, its important to understand the ideological environment from which it emerged. Secret Societies While the history of Illuminism has unfortunately been overshadowed by conspiracy theories and popular fiction, there really were Illuminati, and their role in influencing the modern ideologies of communism cannot be overlooked. Leon Trotsky, a leader of the Russian Communist Party alongside Lenin, noted the importance of this in his 1930 autobiography, My Life. Trotsky wrote, In the 18th century, freemasonry became expressive of a militant policy of enlightenment, as in the case of the Illuminati, who were the forerunners of revolution. He noted that those to the left of the Illuminati culminated in the Carbonari, referring to the Carbonari secret revolutionary societies in Italy. These societies were prominent during the Napoleonic wars and were partly credited with the spread of socialist ideas. Illuminism was among the many occult philosophies of the time, with influences from the ancient belief systems of Gnosticism and Hermeticism. It was based on a loose idea of personal enlightenment through reason, with a heavy focus on materialism and the nature of manand often with strong anti-religious and anti-government overtones. The Order of the Illuminati was among the more influential institutions of the philosophy, and was founded by occult revolutionary Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria in 1776. His organization was known for its many writings calling for the overthrow of religion and government, and its ideological battle with the Rosicrucians, another occult sect that was popular at the time. Weishaupts order didnt last long, however. In 1786, the elector of Bavaria, Charles Theodore, banned all secret societies and seized the correspondence and writings of Weishaupt and his followers. The government would later publish these in order to further incriminate the groups of conspirators seeking to overthrow the governments of Europe. Abbe Augustin Barruel, a French Jesuit priest, wrote in his 1797 book Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism that the ideas of Weishaupt were later carried out by the Jacobin Clubsthe group behind the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution, of which both Robespierre and Babeuf were members. Barruel wrote that the Jacobins preached the idea that all men were equal and free, but that in the name of equality and liberty, they trampled under foot the altar and the throne; they stimulated all nations to rebellion, and aimed at plunging them ultimately into the horrors of anarchy. Weishaupt himself called for the abolition of all ordered government, inheritance, private property, patriotism, family, and religion. In Weishaupts writings, we can find many of the same core beliefs preached by Marx. Weishaupt also developed the idea of stages of civilization, later mirrored by Marx in his theory of the six stages of society, with communism the final stage. Under communist leaders that would follow, their belief that their ideas were Utopian was used to justify their destruction of all other traditions and beliefs. Occult historian Nesta Webster wrote in her 1924 book Secret Societies and Subversive Movements that neither the French Revolution nor the Bolshevist Revolution arose from merely the conditions of their times or the direct teachings of their leaders. She wrote, Both these explosions were produced by forces which, making use of popular suffering or discontent, had long been gathering strength for an onslaught not only on Christianity, but on all society and moral order. Dark Occultism There were popular discussions on the nature of religion and politics in France at the time of the French Revolution, and in this, all ideologies from Europe and abroad were being observed and discussed. Many French began to question the church, with their doubts fueled in part by the churchs attempt to suppress doubtparticularly under the Inquisition, which continued trying heretics until 1834 in Spain. In the debates about religion, the French began abandoning Catholicism for other variants of Christianity and also turned to many dark occult beliefs. Ideologies of the time were influenced by Hermeticism, as well as dark occult sects of Gnosticism. The Gnostic cults often incorporated parts of Christianity and other faiths, yet largely opposed the Christian moral order. Their core beliefs played a key role in shaping the moral philosophies in the French Revolution. Some of these beliefs were more upfront in their nature. The Gnostic sect called the Cainites, for example, pushed for a direct rebellion against moral order, and called on followers to destroy the creations of Gods and to engage directly in sin. Others took a less direct path and masked their nature with a veil of reason. The sect known as the Carpocratians, for example, denied the divinity of Jesus and believed they should not be held to laws or to moralitythings they regarded as human constructs. Jacques Matter, a 19th-century author of ecclesiastical history, wrote about the Carpocratians in his 1828 book Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme, noting that the sect opposed religion and that its followers believed their abandonment of restraints made them equal to God. Its belief in human nature, rather than moral aspirations, was something that mirrored the materialist ideologies that communism would later adopt. It was the idea that if nature takes precedence, anything that springs from human nature is then correctincluding any crime and any sin. Militant Atheism Russian author and historian Alexander Solzhenitsyn said in his 1983 Templeton Address that within the philosophical system of Marx and Lenin, and at the heart of their psychology, hatred of God is the principal driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions. He added, Militant atheism is not merely incidental or marginal to communist policy; it is not a side effect, but the central pivot. All of this comes back to the roots of communist ideologythe promotion of human nature over divine aspirations, and the destruction of moral restraint. And this deification of human nature was a key element in the social philosophies and occult institutions of the French Revolution. The first state religion of the French Revolution, the Cult of Reason, carried the same anti-religious fervor, and deified the concept of human reason in place of a belief in the divine. Under it, Jacques Hebert and his Hebertist followers carried out the dechristianization movement to slander and destroy Christianity. Part of the anti-Christian obsession under the Cult of Reason can be attributed to the prevalence of the teachings of Voltaire, an influential philosopher of the time. In his letters, Voltaire frequently referred to Christians and Christ as the wretch, and frequently called for crushing the wretch. He urged one his key followers, Jean-Baptiste le Rond dAlembert, to accomplish this using a tactic where he called to strike but conceal your hand. In a 1765 letter, he wrote, Victory is declaring for us on all sides, and I can assure you, that soon, none but the rabble will follow the standard of our enemies, and we equally condemn that rabble whether for us or against us. And in a 1768 letter, he wrote that the monster of religion must fall, pierced by a hundred invisible hands; yes, let it fall beneath a thousand repeated blows. John Robinson, the first general secretary to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1783, wrote about the conspirators behind the French Revolution in his 1797 Proofs of a Conspiracy, and noted Voltaires effects. Robinson wrote that the darling project of Voltaire and his followers was to destroy Christianity and all Religion, and to bring about a total change of government. He wrote that Voltaire took the approach of ideological influence, and mass produced writings equally calculated for inflaming the sensual appetites of men and for perverting their judgments. Solzhenitsyn believed this concept is at the root of many ills the world has witnessed under communism. He said, The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century. When people lose a sense of moral responsibility, and when human reasonwith similarly unrestrained will and desires behind itbecomes the sole foundation of understanding right and wrong, what then motivates people to choose right over wrong? Solzhenitsyn noted this was a core loophole within communist ideology. When external rights are completely unrestricted, why should one make an inner effort to restrain oneself from ignoble acts? he said. Or why should one refrain from burning hatred, whatever its basisrace, class, or ideology? Such hatred is in fact corroding many hearts today. Atheist teachers in the West are bringing up a younger generation in a spirit of hatred of their own society. Social Virtue A similar ideological source was found in the teachings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a political philosopher who was a major influence on the French Revolution and modern socialism. Similar to the Gnostic sects, Rousseau held that character and identity were formed post-natally, and he preached a new virtuous social vision that he believed would bring people closer to unbridled human nature. Among his key texts was The Social Contract, published in 1762. The book contains Rousseaus theories on how to establish a political society, which aimed to free people from his concept of slavery by having people all equally surrender their rights. Robespierre was heavily influenced by Rousseau, although Robespierres belief in using terror is not found in Rousseaus thought. Among the other major beliefs of the Enlightenment was deism, a core belief in Robespierres Cult of the Supreme Being and a philosophical religion that believed the universe was reasonable and could be understood by unassisted human reason. While deism didnt go as far as atheism, its morality was centered on man rather than the divine. Behind all these beliefs was a shift in religious thinking. It would look to personal reason in place of traditional faith and belief. From this grew a new concept of the deification of man, and a tolerance of all evils that arise from unrestrained human desire. Leading 19th-century French occultist Eliphas Levi explained the nature of some of these sects in his 1860 book, Histoire de la Magie. He referred to them as rebels to the hierarchic order and said in place of the moral sobriety of traditional religion, they sought sensual passions and debauchery, which fed their desire to destroy all social hierarchy, down to even the family structure. Nesta Webster wrote that these sects had two focuses: the esoteric and the political. They used perversion to bind men to a system, which then acted to obscure all recognized ideas of morality and religion. The writings of Marx and Friedrich Engels would mirror this assessment. They said in The Communist Manifesto that their new system abolishes all religion, and all morality. Solzhenitsyn said that before the communist revolution in Russia, Faith was the shaping and unifying force of the nation, and the religious culture was the moral foundation that held society together. He said when he was a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; thats why all this has happened. After his more than 50 years of researching, conducting interviews, and writing about the history of the communist revolution, he said, If I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; thats why all this has happened. Joshua Philipp is an award-winning investigative journalist at The Epoch Times where he covers national security relating to China. He is an expert on hybrid warfare, including Chinas roles and approaches in espionage, organized crime, and unconventional warfare. Reprinted with the kind permission of The Epoch Times. Home
New Palestinian attempt at UNESCO to claim Hebron and the Patriarchs Tomb as a Palestinian site By Amb. Alan Baker

The town of Hebron, situated in the biblical region of Judea, is the site of the oldest Jewish community in the world, and since Bible times has been considered the second holiest city in Judaism after Jerusalem. The Canaanite city was founded around 1720 BCE, and the ancient Canaanite and Israelite city was situated at Tel Romeida. The most famous historic site in Hebron is the Cave of the Patriarchs (Mearat Hamachpela) which, as described in the Book of Genesis Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite for over 400 silver shekels to bury his wife, Sarah. Subsequently, the cave became a family tomb in which Abraham himself, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah were also buried. For this reason, Hebron is also referred to as the City of the Patriarchs and regarded as one of Judaisms holiest cities. King David was anointed in Hebron, where he reigned for seven years. As the burial place of Abraham (Ibrahim), Hebron (Al-Khalil in Arabic) is also revered by Muslims. Perhaps the first and most fundamental example of, and precedent for Jewish land-purchase in the Holy Land and specifically in the town of Hebron, was indeed that land purchase carried out four thousand years ago by Abraham. Rather than merely relying on the promise given by God as described in the Book of Genesis, according to which to you I will give this land, Abraham nevertheless insisted on actually purchasing the Machpela meadow and cave through a publicly witnessed, legal transaction in the presence of all residents of the town. The presence and residence in the city of Hebron by Jews, including ownership of property, has been recorded throughout the various periods of the citys history including the Canaanite, Israelite, Islamic, Crusader, Kurdish Ayyubid and Mamluk period, Ottoman, and British periods. Eviction and massacres of Jews and the confiscation of their property was prevalent throughout these periods. More recently, during the 1929 Hebron massacre, Arab rioters slaughtered some 67 Jewish men, women and children and wounded 60, and ransacked Jewish homes and synagogues; 435 Jews survived. Two years later, 35 families moved back into the ruins of the Jewish quarter, but on the eve of the Palestinian Arab national revolt (April 23, 1936) the British Government moved the Jewish community out of Hebron as a precautionary measure to secure its safety. During the post-1948 Jordanian rule, all Jewish presence was removed. Throughout the world, for generations, the holiness of Hebron as a major Jewish historic and religious center has remained steadfast. Properties that had been purchased by Jews in those earlier periods and later confiscated by the various ruling authorities are now gradually being restored to their descendants, including through re-acquisition and purchase from their present occupants. To this end, Jews throughout the world seek to purchase property in the city and restore its honor and its significance to the Jewish world as a major Jewish center. Most Jewish-owned properties are in fact registered in the Jordanian land register as property abandoned by the Zionist enemy. This register still exists as proof of Jewish ownership. Abuse of UNESCO and the International Community According to the founding Constitution of UNESCO adopted in 1945 (as amended from time to time): The purpose of the organization is to contribute to peace and security through promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations. In its constitutional principles, the organization views ignorance, suspicion, and mistrust to be the main causes of prejudice, inequality, and war. The UNESCO Constitution heralds the wide diffusion of culture and the education of humanity for justice, liberty, and peace as indispensable to the dignity of man, constituting a sacred duty which all the nations must fulfill in a spirit of mutual assistance and concern. Intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind, and unrestricted pursuit of objective truth are declared to be the basic components of peace. Sadly, since the Palestinian leadership has subverted what was intended to be a professional and educational organization, UNESCO can no longer be regarded as an objective, universal, and professional specialized agency. As such, its special character as the educational and cultural organ of the UN has been gravely and irreparably polluted and prejudiced. For this reason, one might expect that serious and responsible states disassociate from and reject such resolutions and review their positions regarding continued membership of UNESCO. Violation of Agreements with Israel The Palestinian attempt to mislead the international community regarding the Jewish history and heritage in the town of Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs runs contrary to the PLO commitment to foster positive and supportive public atmosphere, mutual trust, and good faith in the relations between the two peoples set out in Article XVI of the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II). Article VII of the Protocol annexed to the agreement concerning redeployment and security arrangements, together with the 1997 Hebron Protocol, agreed-upon pursuant to it, sets down agreed guidelines for Hebron within the context of Israels redeployment of forces and joint governance of the holy places. It is high time that the international community wakes up to the blatant abuse and manipulation of its specialized international bodies by the Palestinian leadership. The damage caused by such irresponsible and abusive Palestinian political exercises  all with the aim of delegitimizing Israel and nullifying Jewish history and heritage  will be irreparable. Amb. Alan Baker is Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center and the head of the Global Law Forum. He participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, as well as agreements and peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. He served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israels ambassador to Canada. Home
My Pilgrimage, Chapter Twenty: Lets Just Stop Being Americans! By Michael Moriarty

There are times, as you might expect, when editorial writers such as myself have really nothing significant to say and should just not write a thing! This, however, is not one of those moments. Why? Many Americans and much of the world are wondering if the United States, by the end of this summer, will still have a President. Many Americans, traitors in my own mind they dont want a President by the end of the summer! At least, not a Chief Executive out of the Trump Administration. They dont merely want Donald Trump impeached, they want the Vice-President gone as well. Its the worst state of affairs I have ever seen America in. And Im 76 years old. Yes, I saw the Sixties and the Vietnam protests and, no, things werent as ugly and vicious as they are now. War of any kind is always fair game for protests! But a President that you just dont like?! So what? Live with it. Grow the hell up and try to vote him out of office the next election. Why do I think things have become so bad? Bipartisan treason. Yes! Downright betrayal. Twenty years ago? Our President at that time had this planned for us! Not just America and Americans but the entire human race was going to be run by the United Nations! And dont fool yourself! They havent given that idea up yet!! Since that public pronouncement, both parties, the Democrats and the RINO Bush Republicans set their sights upon transforming America and the entire human race into a New World Order. Brainstorms like that, to my mind, were, are and always shall be treasonous. Lets just put a match to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights! Why? America is a major part of the problem! Why? Most of the human race wont accept the American style of doing things! Why? It depends too much on individual freedom and individual initiative and individual energy! Most people are just not American! Okay. That doesnt mean that America must commit suicide. Well yes apparently and, in way yes, it does. I beg your pardon. We Americans have tried to wake the human race up to our ways of thinking but obviously Mankind just doesnt want to go that way. But that doesnt mean we Americans have to stop being American. Well yes, it does. And why is that? The human race just doesnt like to compete! Its too much hard work! There are a lot of Americans and even many new Americans saying that!! So?! That doesnt mean I have to change my way of thinking. Yes, it does. And unless you change your way of thinking to well lets call it The New World Order Way of Thinking you are going to wake up without a sense of your own identity! Without a sense of my own identity?!?! Where the hell did you come up with that cocka-mamie idea?! You just wait and see. And so we wait and see if, indeed, President Trump and Voice-President Pence can remain in office to the end of this year. I had a hunch bad things were coming so I left America for Canada. I never thought things could become this bad! We havent really had a pro-American President since Ronald Reagan that is until Donald Trump showed up and now?!?! A huge number of Americans dont want Donald Trump because they not only dont like Donald Trump they have never really liked America! They not only dont want

America

Great Again! They want America

GONE! As was most likely said in America, back in the late 1850s, Them are fightin words! Could there possibly be a Second American Civil War? Sure looks like it. Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Contact Michael at rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com. He can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/@MGMoriarty. Home
On the Sesquicentennial of Canadian Confederation  the managerial-therapeutic regime in Canada, an insoluble dilemma for real democracy? By Mark Wegierski

Examining the arrival of soft-totalitarianism on the Sesquicentennial of Canadian Confederation The Sesquicentennial (150th Anniversary) of Canadian Confederation is being celebrated in 2017 (July 1). Nevertheless, it is clear that Canada today is diametrically different from what it was in 1967 (the Centennial), let alone 1867. Canada was founded in 1867 as a union of two, long-pre-existent, historic nations  English (British) Canada, and French Canada (centred mostly in Quebec). The Aboriginal peoples were included insofar as they had been traditionally considered under the special protection of the Crown. Until 1896, Canada was dominated by an alliance of English Canadian Conservatives and Quebec Bleus. After 1896, however, the preponderance of federal governments were held by the Liberal Party. The success of the post-1896 Liberal Party was predicated on combining virtually every federal parliamentary seat from Quebec, with a minority of seats from English Canada. Nevertheless, it was a formula for power which manifestly worked. Until 1963, perennial Liberal rule did not have radical social implications, as all three main parties shared in a traditionalist-centrist social consensus. The Conservatives had changed their name in 1942 to Progressive Conservative but the party remained home to many different conservative factions. The third main party was the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), which, although social democratic in economics, was quite socially conservative. They changed their name to New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961, and have successively become ever more politically correct. The crucial 1963 election pitted the staunch Tory, John Diefenbaker, against the Liberal Lester B. Pearson. Lester Pearson, supported by the electioneering and pollster expertise of the U.S. managerialist classes, who resented Diefenbakers refusal to deploy U.S. nuclear weapons on Canadian soil, swept into power. (As described by Canadian traditionalist philosopher George Parkin Grant in his Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism (1965).) In 1965, Pearson engineered the change of Canadas flag from the Red Ensign (a flag which had, like Australias today, the Union Jack in the upper-left corner), to the current Maple Leaf flag. The flag was seen by some critics as a new Liberal Party banner. Although it was not extensively debated at the time, many political theorists have considered a change of a countrys flag as a marker of regime change. Pearson was followed in 1968 by Pierre Elliott Trudeau, when Trudeaumania swept the country. However, in subsequent elections, Trudeau never received a majority of seats in English-speaking Canada. Nevertheless, he remained in power from 1968-1984 (except for nine months in 1979-1980). Trudeau inaugurated massive, transformational change that continues to this day  official bilingualism (promotion of French); official multiculturalism; mass, dissimilar immigration; high deficits; official feminism; and multifarious social liberalism. In 1982, Trudeau brought in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms into the Canadian constitutional structure  which essentially enshrined virtually his entire agenda as the highest law of the land. The enactment of the Charter was seen by both its supporters and opponents, as a virtual coup detat. The Charter was quickly backed up by an activist judiciary and a Canadian Supreme Court where it was difficult to find even one identifiable conservative. In 1984, Progressive Conservative Brian Mulroney won one of the largest majorities in Canadian history. However, he governed with unusual timidity, and was himself mostly a small-l liberal viscerally. Indeed, he brutally kept down small-c conservative tendencies within the P.C. party. The term small-c conservative refers to so-called ideological conservatives. Mulroney once snidely said that you could fit all the ideological conservatives in Canada into a phone-booth. Indeed, they were widely derided as cashew-conservatives, i.e., nuts. Mulroney won the 1988 election by making it a referendum on Free Trade with the U.S. Ironically, Free Trade with the U.S. had in Canadian history been opposed by Conservatives (who looked to Britain), and supported by the Liberals. John Turner, the leader of the federal Liberal Party in 1988, was probably more of a traditionalist conservative than Mulroney. Indeed, Mulroney had raised immigration levels to a quarter-million persons a year, whereas they had fallen to 54,000 in Trudeaus last year in office. They have basically remained at a quarter-million persons a year, since that time. The immigration rate was about twice as large per capita as that of the United States. Also, Mulroney did nothing when the vestigial restrictions on abortion were struck down by the Canadian Supreme Court in 1988. Small-c conservatives had had enough, and in 1987, Preston Manning co-founded the Reform Party. Initially a Western Canadian regionalist party, it became a country-wide party in 1991. In the 1993 federal election, while the Liberals won a comfortable majority, the Reform Party won 52 seats, while the separatist Bloc Quebecois won 54. The Progressive Conservatives were reduced to two seats! In the 1997 election, the Reform Party won 60 seats (all of them in Western Canada). The Progressive Conservatives refused to fold, when Preston Manning launched the United Alternative movement, which culminated in the creation of the Canadian Alliance. (The full name of that party was the Canadian Reform-Conservative Alliance.) Preston Manning lost the leadership of the Canadian Alliance to Stockwell Day, who mobilized social conservatives. However, in the 2000 federal election, Stockwell Day was pejoritized as a fundamentalist Christian extremist and Liberal Jean Chretien handily won another majority. (The CA won 66 seats, 64 in Western Canada, and 2 in Ontario.) As a result of a caucus revolt against Stockwell Day, a leadership race ensued, which was won by Stephen Harper. Finally, in December 2003, a merger was finally enacted between the Canadian Alliance, and the federal Progressive Conservative party. The new party was called the Conservative Party, significantly dropping the Progressive adjective. Harper won the leadership of the new party. In the 2004 federal election, the Liberals were reduced to a minority government (a plurality of seats in the House of Commons). Harper was able to win minority governments in 2006 and 2008, and finally the long-awaited Conservative majority in 2011. However, the combination of an unexpected timidity, and a brutally hostile social context in Canada, meant that Harper wasnt able to achieve much. Certainly, there was no whiff of massive, transformational change in a different direction. In the October 2015 federal election, the Liberals came roaring back with a strong majority, under the leadership of Justin Trudeau (Pierres son). The coming to power of another Trudeau presages another era of massive, transformational change in Canada. Indeed, immigration has already been raised to 300,000 persons a year, and there have been serious suggestions to raise it as high as 450,000 persons a year. Abortion rights and same-sex marriage have also been tightly entrenched. Also, doctor assisted suicide is now legal, and complete marijuana legalization appears to be inevitable. Without considering the broader social and cultural context of current-day Canada, it is not easy to see how very difficult the situation for small-c conservatives and social conservatives, actually is. It has been argued that there has emerged today, in most Western societies, something called (by its critics) the managerial-therapeutic regime. The term is derived from a combination of the ideas of James Burnham (author of The Managerial Revolution (1941)), and Philip Rieff (author of The Triumph of the Therapeutic (1966)). Similar critical observations were echoed by George Parkin Grant (1918-1988)  Canadas leading traditionalist philosopher. It could be argued that Canada today is among the fullest embodiments of such a regime  which is mainly socially liberal and economically conservative. As George Grant had aphoristically put it -- The directors of General Motors and the followers of Professor [Herbert] Marcuse sail down the same river in different boats. The managerial-therapeutic regime is based on relatively new structures of social, political, and cultural control. The structures of a regime of this kind are usually able to exercise power in a soft fashion. These consist mainly of: the mass media (in their main aspects of promotion of consumerism and the pop-culture, not to mention the shaping of social and political reality through the purveying of news); the mass education system (an apparatus of mostly unidirectional instruction from early-childhood-education to post-graduate studies); and the juridical system (generally speaking, by way of the judicialization of important political questions and, more specifically, through restrictions on political and religious speech, and on freedom of religion, by human rights commissions/tribunals). The diffuse presence of these structures in society throws into question longstanding, classic understandings of government, politics, and democratic self-governance. The right to exercise freedom of speech  a supposed bedrock of democracy -- is no longer valued much, even in theory  as opposed to the imperative of being politically correct. Democracy today is no longer understood as a vehicle for choosing between somewhat differing visions of politics and life  but rather as one, all-encompassing system of democratic values  that must be upheld and imposed on everyone in society. The word democratic is usually used with the implied meaning of socially liberal. The tendentious social and legal instruments of the regime are so deeply entrenched in Canadas social/cultural fabric, moreover, that they are more than adequate when it comes to containing any popular challenges to the regime, whether these stem from the resistance mounted by residual traditionalist enclaves or from more thoroughgoing and deeply rooted channels of ecological or social democratic thought. It could be argued that the regime is strengthened further by a pseudo-dialectic of opposition between an official Left and Right, which serves to exclude from the very outset many truly serious issues from public debate and consideration. Thus, elections may bring different parties and candidates into office, but the managerial-therapeutic regime endures. The end-result of such a regime is a tendency towards so-called soft totalitarianism  of which the best known literary foreshadowing is probably the dystopia portrayed by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World (1932). In contradistinction to George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), an apparatus of violent coercion has proven unnecessary to maintain the regime. However, the points Orwell made about the importance of the use of language  Newspeak is Ingsoc, and Ingsoc is Newspeak -- remain pertinent. When a regime controls the mass media, the mass education system, and the juridical apparatus  it does not need to exercise massive coercion to keep itself in power. Opponents of the system are frequently enough derided as haters or Luddites. Unlike in the case of the former Eastern Bloc, there is no groundswell of tacit popular support for dissidents  indeed, quite pronounced feelings of seemingly popular outrage appear to be directed against them. Despite an ostensibly free society, they find very few public defenders. Ironically, soft totalitarianism may in fact arise in the most ostensibly free and formally democratic systems.



Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home
We should be glad the US is out By Paul Driessen and David R. Legates

Ten states, some 150 cities, and 1,100 businesses, universities and organizations insist We are still in  committed to the Paris climate agreement and determined to continue reducing carbon dioxide emissions and preventing climate change. In the process, WASI members claim, they will create jobs and promote innovation, trade and international competitiveness. Its mostly hype, puffery and belief in tooth fairies. Lets begin with the climate. When Delaware signed on to WASI, for example, Governor Carney cited rising average temperatures, rising sea levels, and an increase in extreme weather events. In Delaware, sea level rise is almost entirely due to subsiding land resulting from compaction of glacial outwash, isostatic response from the retreat of the ice sheets more than 12,000 years ago, and groundwater extraction. The biggest threat to homes, roadways and wildlife habitats lies not in sea level rise  but in the effects of noreasters, tropical storm remnants and other weather events that impact Delawares sand-built barrier islands. Moreover, not a single category 3-5 hurricane has struck the US mainland for a record 11.5 years. Climate models have long overstated the supposed rise in air temperature. Recently, even alarmist scientists like Ben Santer have agreed that a warming hiatus has kept air temperatures unchanged for over 15 years, even as plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide levels in Earths atmosphere rose to 400 parts per million. No trends exist in tropical cyclones, tornadoes, floods, droughts or other weather extremes. Contentions that these changes will pose health risks and threaten our economy are purely scare tactics. Climate has always changed and weather is always variable, due to complex, powerful natural forces. Insisting that these events must be caused or exacerbated by human activity reflects a denial of basic climate science. Full adherence to the Paris Treaty by all nations would prevent an undetectable 0.3F (0.2C) rise by 2100  assuming that all climate change is driven by humans and not by natural forces. This meaningless achievement, by switching to 100% renewable energy, would cost $12.7 trillion to $93 trillion by 2030. Surely, WASI members and the rest of the world have better uses for that money than chasing climate chimeras. Paying their massive state debt, pension, welfare and retirement obligations, for instance; in developing nations, getting electricity and safe water to people and ending their poverty and disease. But substantially reducing CO2 emissions will create jobs, wont it? For every job these mandates and subsidies create, multiple jobs will be lost in businesses that require affordable, reliable energy. Your local or statewide CO2 emissions may decrease. But in 150+ countries that are under no obligation under Paris to reduce their fossil fuel use, emissions will increase. WASI groups may take pride in resisting Trump, but their actions really hurt Americas working class families, who had no vote on the matter. WASI members California, Connecticut, Hawaii and New York already have among the worst unfunded pension liabilities. Their residential electricity prices are already outrageous: 17 cents a kilowatt-hour in NY, 19 in CA, 20 in CT and 29 in HI  versus 9 cents in North Dakota. Honoring Paris commitments would send rates skyrocketing to German and Danish levels: 37 cents per kWh. Expensive energy will hurt poor and minority families the most and send jobs to countries where energy costs less. Just imagine what your WASI actions would do to households, hospitals, businesses, factories, malls and schools. How it would kill jobs and swell unemployment and welfare rolls  while creating a lot of low-pay, largely part-time jobs. Rather than producing jobs, the Paris Treaty is a job-killer for the USA. For all these reasons, we should be glad we are out! We ask those who have told their constituents they are still in, How exactly will you meet your Paris commitments, and what exactly will you achieve? How will you slash your CO2 emissions by 26-28% by 2025, as required for the USA under the Paris pact? The United States reduced CO2 emissions by 12% between 2005 and 2015. But that was accomplished by a downturn in the economy and increased reliance on natural gas, most of which is produced by hydraulic fracturing. Will you support fracking and build more gas-fired power plants? Or will you build new nuclear and hydroelectric power plants to reduce your fossil fuel dependence? You cannot rely on wind and solar, as they currently account for barely 2% of overall US energy needs and the mining required to get rare earth metals, cadmium, iron, copper, limestone and other raw materials for these technologies has extensive, often horrendous environmental, health and human rights impacts. Growing populations mean more energy will be needed. Do you expect wind and solar to grow to cover the new demand? These highly expensive technologies require vast land areas, much of it taken from wildlife habitats  and huge government/taxpayer subsidies. From whom will you take this money? What will you get for your efforts? The cost is enormous, for minimal benefits. Higher electricity prices will affect businesses, hospitals, jobs and families in your state. The impact of 30, 40 or 50 cents per kilowatt-hour electricity will be devastating  especially for the poor, minority and blue-collar workers and families you say you care deeply about. They will be forced to choose among energy, food, clothing, shelter, health and safety. How will this serve climate and environmental justice? By contrast, a change in global air temperature of about 0.01F will have zero impact. Thats how much reduced warming the world is likely to see from all the sacrifices imposed by We are still in programs. Storms, floods and droughts are not linked to CO2 concentrations, so your actions will have no effect in these areas. Avoidance of an un-measurable increase in air temperature is simply not worth the cost. Governors who have committed their states to this climate-centered resistance movement have done so without approval from the legislature or their constituents. How do you propose to pay for this unilateral executive decision? With tax increase and soaring energy costs? How will your constituents react to that? The We are still in press release proudly proclaims that its members contribute $6.2 trillion a year to the US economy. Thats one-third of the United States $18.5 trillion GDP in 2016. Under the Paris formula, the United States is to contribute $23.5 billion per year initially to the Green Climate Fund  with the US contribution rising to some $106 billion per year by 2030, based on the same percentages. Your one-third WASI share of that would be $7.8 billion in 2017, rising to $35 billion a year by 2030. Is this part of your vaunted commitment to the Paris treaty? How do you anticipate paying that? Can individual cities and counties opt out of your pact, and become sanctuary cities or counties, to protect their jobs and families against runaway energy costs, climate fund payments and more autocratic actions? By deciding that their schools will stay in the Paris Treaty, college and university presidents will drive up energy and other costs on their campuses. Did you consult with and get approval from your boards of trustees, legislators, taxpayers, students and parents  or was this simply another executive decision? Delaware gets 95% of its electricity from natural gas, coal and oil. How exactly will the University of Delaware slash its fossil fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions by the 26-28% required by Paris? How will George Mason University, with Virginia getting 63% of its electricity from fossil fuels? Have you calculated how much this will cost? Will you make up the difference by increasing tuition? How will you compensate those who can least afford these increasing expenses? In the interest of integrity, accuracy, transparency and ethics, have you made those analyses public (if they exist)? Did all you socially responsible companies and organizations in WASI get approval from your boards of directors, shareholders, customers and clients before committing to stay in Paris? Did you analyze and discuss the likely economic and employment ramifications? Or are you the real climate deniers  denying the costs of anti-fossil fuel, renewable energy commitments, regulations, subsidies and mandates? Finally, for the millions of voters, taxpayers, citizens, students, workers and consumers who are being impacted by We are still in states, cities, colleges, universities, businesses and organizations, we ask: Are you still in with expending trillions of dollars to have an undetectable effect on Earths future climate? If not, perhaps its time you made your voices heard  and started resisting The Resistance. Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org) and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power - Black death. David R. Legates is professor of climatology at the University of Delaware and a former Delaware State Climatologist. Home
EPAs suspect science By John Rafuse

President Trumps budget guidance sought to cut $1.6 billion from the Environmental Protection Agencys $8.1 billion expectation. Shrieks of looming Armageddon prompted Congress to fund EPA in full until September 2017, when the battle will be joined again. Then EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said he would prioritize Superfund cleanups based on toxicity, health-impact and other factors. The ensuing caterwauling suggested that EPA had no priorities since Bill Ruckelshaus (EPAs first administrator, 1970-1975). But consider some standard EPA practices: 1. EPA advocates claim the US is unhealthy and dirty. They wont admit that US water quality has improved dramatically since 1970. They deny that factories, cars and power plants are far more efficient and clean. They ignore that, while most nations continue to cut down forest habitats for fuel, the Lower 48 states have more forest coverage than when the Pilgrims landed in 1620. They never mention that the US did not sign the 1992 Kyoto Accord, nor that it is the only nation to meet its Kyoto targets. Is it ignorance? malignance? eco-professional propaganda? Yes, yes, and yes. The United States is one of the cleanest, healthiest nations on earth. Our progress will continue because we rejected the Paris Accord and thus will not cripple our economy, jobs or environmental progress. Other nations must work hard to catch us. They may work hard, but they wont catch up, and theyll blame us. 2. Eco-militants at EPA tricked the Supreme Court into letting it label plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide a pollutant. Meanwhile, professional enviros demand zero tolerance for pollutants  because they claim any dose kills. However, CO2 is plant fertilizer, the trace gas that makes plant and animal life possible on our planet. Atmospheric CO2 is just 400 parts per million (ppm), or 0.04% of the air we breathe, compared to 21% oxygen and almost 1% argon. Classrooms average 1,000 to 2,000 ppm; US nuclear submarines average 5,000 to 8,000ppm. We inhale 400 ppm and exhale 40,000 to 50,000 ppm. That means 100 to 125 times the fatal dose of a zero tolerance pollutant is always in our lungs. We dont die, because CO2 is not a pollutant and because real scientists know that dosage, not microscopic presence, is the key. EPA keeps cheating, but dosage always determines poisonous impact. In fact, EPA experiments illegally exposed human test subjects to 10 and even 30 times the levels of fine soot particles that EPA claims are lethal. No one got sick or died, and yet EPA continues its standards and lies. 3. DDT saved millions in World War II from death by typhus. By 1970 DDT had helped wipe out malaria in 99 countries, including the USA. Administrator Ruckelshaus appointed a scientific committee to examine claims that the pesticide caused cancer and other problems. The experts said it did not, because dosage determines effect. Ruckelshaus ignored them, never attended a minute of their hearings, never read a page of their extensive report. He simply banned DDT in 1972. He later said he had a political problem due to Rachel Carsons misinformed book Silent Spring and pressure from the Environmental Defense Fund, and he needed to fix it. Other nations followed suit, banning DDT. Since 1972, some 40 million children and parents have needlessly died from malaria. Today DDT is partially reinstated, but P.A. Offit, Pandoras Lab, Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong, quotes Michael Crichton, MD: Banning DDT is one of the most disgraceful episodes in twentieth century America. We knew better, and we did it anyway, and we let people around the world die, and we didnt give a damn. 4. EPA knowingly relies on fake science. Data from point-source pollution are used to project thousands of asthma cases and cancer deaths. EPA validates the analyses by assuming that each projected death and illness happened to someone who had spent every second of a 70-year life at the point-source  within 6 feet of the measurement point. But Newtons Law of Inverse Squares proves that dosage wanes by the inverse square of the distance; 5 units of distance cuts dosage impact to 1/25 what it was at its source. At 10 units, the impact is 1/100th. EPAs analysis is a dishonest, purposeful scam. The 70-year/6-foot/no-movement assumption makes a joke of all its calculations and projections. EPA has relied on that scam for decades to prove need for a non-scientific regulatory remedy for every newly invented threat. 5. EPA colludes with professional environmentalists to fix inadequate draft regulations. EPA then settles cases, pays co-conspirators fees with taxpayer funds and wins excessive regulatory powers it sought from the beginning. Parties who oppose the decision never get a day in court, and the sue-and-settle cases ensure high costs but provide no health or environmental benefits. 6. EPA covers up crimes. As the auto industry cratered since 2000, Flint, Michigan has lost 25,000 citizens and become poorer and more minority. The 2010 Census Report concluded that 42% of the population was in a level of poverty and health  not comparable to other geographic levels of these estimates. Yet EPA (and state and local authorities) did nothing to protect them. What happened? The 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act delegated compliance to EPA, which typically approves a State Compliance Plan, re-delegates authority, and oversees State and local enforcement. Flints drinking water has been lead-poisoned for three years  ever since state and local officials switched water sources to save money with no hearings, approvals or notifications to EPA or affected citizens. Drinking, tasting and smelling nauseating newly-brown water alerted residents to potential dangers. An EPA expert tested the water in 2014 and wrote repeated warnings to Agency officials. A February 2015 Detroit News report said EPAs Regional Administrator knew the facts but claimed her hands were tied. Then-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy forbade the staff expert from meeting, writing or speaking about the issue, and reassigned him. Thus the two most senior and directly responsible EPA officials washed their hands of the problem. But Flint Medical Center tested for lead in the water and sounded the alarm. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added powerful voices. Flints mayor and Michigans governor took heat until the states attorney general initially charged five Flint and Michigan officials with wrongful issuance of permits, and tampering, altering and falsifying evidence. That has now expanded to more than 50 criminal charges against 15 state officials; including one of involuntary manslaughter (an outbreak of Legionnaires disease took 12 lives). The two clean-handed EPA officials kept mum until June 12, 2016, when Gina McCarthy wrote to Michigans governor and Flints mayor. Citing major challenges and her long-term clean water goal, she blamed state and local staffs and old and (newly) over-large piping. She said EPA had no money to help. Will Michigans AG indict EPA officials involved in the EPA cover-ups? That would be logical, but dont bet on it. McCarthys was a nasty letter from a culpable official. Later in 2016, Congress voted $110 million to repair Flints drinking water, no thanks to EPA. The work will go on for years as Flint residents get bottled water from EPA and the state. President Trumps budget guidance exposed decades-old EPA abuses. The evidence exposes EPAs lack of mission, commitment and integrity. If EPA would use honest, evidence-based science to protect the nations health, it would be a welcome and long overdue change  perhaps a miracle. Whats your bet? Independent consultant John Rafuse worked for government agencies, a think-tank and an international oil and gas company on energy, trade, environmental, regulatory and national security issues. Home
Shades of quickly fading blue  the decline of the Tory tradition in Canada since the 1980s (Part Four) By Mark Wegierski

The notion of Canada ever being a more conservative society than America has largely disappeared from the perception of both the general public and the media and intellectual elites of Canada. Yet, until the 1960s, it could be argued that Canada was indeed a more substantively conservative society. In contrast to the United States, however, Canada was almost always in its history characterized by a far greater degree of niceness and politeness than America, mostly avoiding such aspects of American society as racism and excessive commercialism. It is not too popular today to say that the roots of Canadian politeness may actually lie in an earlier social conservatism. The attempts by the current-day politically correct to demonize Canadas past and even some current-day realities would be outrightly ridiculous if they were not so deeply entrenched now among the Canadian intellectual and media elites. One would want to laugh at politically correct persons who claim to be Canadian nationalists, while characterizing Canada historically, and to some extent even today, as a presumed nexus of white evil. Nothing confident, socially healthy, or truly tolerant can be built on the ground of ever more pronounced self-hatred. It should also be considered that Canadians have been typified as being deferential to authority. In the pre-1960s, when the traditionalist-centrist consensus was in place, this contributed to making Canada more socially-conservative. However, once the ruling paradigm was changed from the top, this has meant that many Canadians have become among the most ardent exponents of political-correctness in the world. (1) It should be remembered that, insofar as America remained more liberal than Canada, the Liberal Party pushed for "Free Trade", increased contacts with the United States, and advocated continentalism (typified by Frank Underhill and, to some extent, Mackenzie King). Now, when America appears to be more conservative than Canada (owing to a variety of reasons), the Liberal Party has suddenly discovered what it calls Canadian nationalism (what is called "the unique socially-compassionate political culture of Canada"). What is also somewhat ironic is that there has apparently occurred a similar dialectical flip between the United States and Europe, as the United States and Canada. It has been argued that America today (frequently characterized by its willingness to exercise power) is a considerably more conservative society than those seen in Europe, and especially in the Western European countries (characterized as a so-called postmodern paradise). (2) However, it could be argued that Canada, America, and the European Union are today, to a large extent, just three super-states of somewhat different forms of the managerial-therapeutic regime. What appears to have occurred is the near-total reconstruction of what it means to be a European, an American, and a Canadian today. It is an interesting question which of those societies is best equipped to weather the coming storm of the conflict with Islam, the challenge of such powers as China and India, and the burgeoning rise of what was during the Cold War named the Third World. Its possible to argue that what remains of Western civilization will mostly become localized in Eastern Europe (3) and Russia. Considering that possible context, the reconciliation of the Western, Eastern, and Southern Slavic nations may become a matter of world-historical importance. Footnotes: (1) A similar point has been made in a recent column of Ted Byfield in Western Standard (A Society of Yes Men. June 4, 2007, p.14). He also makes the point that the current-day elites in Canada are still mostly WASPs. Presumably the WASP elites still remain prominent because they are the most ultra-politically-correct grouping.



(2) This argument was probably most prominently made by Robert Kagan, in his book Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. (3) The term Eastern Europe, although disliked by considerable numbers of people living in those countries, continues to persist to a large extent. The dividing line between Western and Eastern Europe is said, according to some historians, to run roughly from Szczecin on the Baltic Sea to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea. It can be seen that many of the Eastern European countries are resisting the trends to de-nationalization today. Thus, what is considered the supposed backwardness and parochialism of those countries (from the standpoint of politically correct left-liberalism) may indeed be their greatest strength for the future. Why should they adopt the worst aspects of such Western European societies as Holland? To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home
The unhinged left By Rachel Alexander

The American left is currently undergoing a phase of greatly exaggerating its responses to the right. Everything is treated as if its at a crisis level, frequently necessitating the use of violence in response. Billionaires on the left like George Soros encourage and enable this, by paying to educate young leftists on how to use violence against the right. The Daily Caller News Foundation compiled a shockingly long list of violent acts that have been committed since Donald Trump was nominated for president by the GOP at the Republican National Convention. Former President Barack Obama helped bring about this rise in hostility, by dividing the country with inciteful rhetoric. He was the first president to bring Saul Alinskys Rules for Radicals into the mainstream as normal political discourse. Setting the groundwork for the creation of the violent organization Black Lives Matter may be Obamas most prominent accomplishment. That group has done more to destroy race relations in this country than anyone in at least 50 years. Yet how dire are circumstances for the left today? Trump isnt much of a conservative. I like the way hes run the country since becoming president, but hes not right wing. Ted Cruz and several others who ran against Trump in the GOP primary qualify as right wing. Instead, Trump is a populist, reflective of his background which is much more moderate and included being a Democrat for several years. Many conservatives have deserted him already because of what they see as capitulation on the border wall with Mexico, repealing Obamacare and more. Trumps daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner arent conservatives either. They have both taken significant roles in the Trump administration. The left went after Ivanka quite viciously, pressuring Nordstrom to drop her clothing line. But lets look at her politics. Vanity Fair said she sounded like a Democrat in her speech at the Republican National Convention. She and her husband reportedly pressured her father not to pull out of the Paris climate agreement. She advocates for womens issues that feminists champion. She tweeted in honor of LGBT month. In 2007, she donated $1,000 to Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. She contributed $40,000 to Democratic New Jersey Senate candidate Cory Booker in 2013, and even threw a party for him. She has always been a registered independent, and didnt switch her voter registration in time to Republican in order to vote for her father in the New York primary election last year. Ivankas husband is a lifelong Democrat. Kushner supposedly had an ideological conversion in 2015 when he began supporting Trump. But recently, he reportedly met with key senators to discuss criminal justice reform, which is usually just a euphemism for loosening up criminal laws. The violent protests in academia are at an all-time high, not seen since the 1960s and early 70s. Yet academia has lurched to the left in recent years. Conservative courses and professors continue to dwindle. Left-wing groups on college campuses have increased. Policies have been put in place silencing conservatives and expanding the presence of left-wing speech. So where was the massive reaction by the left during the 1980s and 1990s in academia, when the universities hadnt moved as far to the left yet? Thats right, there wasnt any, because the reaction now is fake outrage. The left successfully got what it wanted in academia, mostly stamping out conservatism. Theres nothing left to do but squash a handful of remaining dissenters here and there. Label the right Nazis and fascists in order to incite rioting. The left knows if it doesnt use drastic comparisons like that, students wont believe them that the universities are really horrendously oppressive. There are so few vocal conservatives left in academia that the left has been forced to broaden its crosshairs to target black conservatives, gay conservatives and libertarians. Incredibly, even this broader brush is still being expanded; now to their own, left-wing professors who dare to speak out against the targeting. Michael Rectenwald, a self-described left-liberal activist and professor at New York University, almost lost his job over an anonymous Twitter account he ran denouncing left-wing censorship. He has since left his former comrades, declaring, Goodbye to the left, goodbye. There are many more instances like this. This use of violence is frankly a slap in the face to black protesters like Martin Luther King, Jr., who engaged in generally peaceful civil disobedience in order to take on a righteous cause, the second-class treatment of blacks. Todays unhinged violence by spoiled leftist Millennials who are surrounded by echo chambers everywhere in society is embarrassing, dangerous and out of control. Where is it going to end? Rounding up conservatives and prosecuting them, suing them out of business and destroying their reputations so they can no longer make much of a living? Theyre already doing that. And dont forget physically injuring them. What it comes down to is the radical left is deliberately trying to incite law enforcement, in order to say, See, we were right, this is fascism destroying our free speech. But the reality is, violence and shooting conservatives is not free speech. Law enforcement stopping anarchy is not shutting down free speech. So far, the left has undergone most of its violent rampages in large blue cities and left-wing universities, where law enforcement has been told to mostly ignore the violence. But at some point, the left is going to figure this out, and take on a conservative venue... Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative. She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, and other publications. Home
1/ Looooong tweetstorm on use of contingent valuation method in Exxon Valdez case & what it says on how economics science & expertise work pic.twitter.com/SohMYTwnh7  Beatrice Cherrier (@Undercoverhist) June 25, 2017

These 48 tweets cover the article that Tim posted earlier and also this one by Spencer Banzhaf (who alerted us to the Maas and Svorcencik article):

Banzhaf , H. Spencer, Constructing Markets: Environmental Economics and the Contingent Valuation Controversy (October 21, 2016). History of Political Economy, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2959427.

Having lived through it [see below], I thought I knew everything about the CVM debate but still learned something new. For example: Diamond, Hausman and McFadden did not collect any of the Exxon-funded data (i.e., write the surveys, focus group, pretest and field the surveys). It seems that it was collected by others [*.pdf] and then, given their prominence in the profession, Diamond, Hausman and McFadden did the econometrics.

Tweets 4 and 5 say:

4/Rather than countering w/ alternative estimates, Maas&Svorencik explain, Exxon casted doubt on method itself: contingent valuation (CV) 5/Unlike tobacco/climate cases, Exxon did NOT manufacture doubt, but tapped into EXISTING debates on scientific character of CV among econs

Being economic history, neither of these articles mention the brand new BP funded critique of CVM. It is clear that BP is following the same game plan as Exxon. Here is my recommended readings on the CVM Debate - Part Deux:

Carson, Richard T. "Contingent valuation: A practical alternative when prices aren't available." The Journal of Economic Perspectives 26, no. 4 (2012): 27-42. Hausman, Jerry. "Contingent valuation: from dubious to hopeless." The Journal of Economic Perspectives 26, no. 4 (2012): 43-56. Kling, Catherine L., Daniel J. Phaneuf, and Jinhua Zhao. "From Exxon to BP: Has some number become better than no number?." The Journal of Economic Perspectives 26, no. 4 (2012): 3-26. [*] Desvousges, William, Kristy Mathews, and Kenneth Train. "Adequate responsiveness to scope in contingent valuation." Ecological Economics 84 (2012): 121-128. Haab, Timothy C., Matthew G. Interis, Daniel R. Petrolia, and John C. Whitehead. "From hopeless to curious? Thoughts on Hausman's dubious to hopeless critique of contingent valuation." Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 35, no. 4 (2013): 593-612. [*] Desvousges, William, Kristy Mathews, and Kenneth Train. "An adding-up test on contingent valuations of river and lake quality." Land Economics 91, no. 3 (2015): 556-571. Dickinson, David L., and John C. Whitehead. "Dubious and dubiouser: Contingent valuation and the time of day." Economic Inquiry 53, no. 2 (2015): 1396-1400. [note: published in the Miscellany section] [*] Desvousges, William, Kristy Mathews, and Kenneth Train. "From Curious to Pragmatically Curious: Comment on From Hopeless to Curious? Thoughts on Hausman's Dubious to Hopeless Critique of Contingent Valuation." Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 38, no. 1 (2016): 174-182. Haab, Timothy C., Matthew G. Interis, Daniel R. Petrolia, and John C. Whitehead. "Interesting Questions Worthy of Further Study: Our Reply to Desvousges, Mathews, and Train's (2015) Comment on Our Thoughts (2013) on Hausman's (2012) Update of Diamond and Hausman's (1994) Critique of Contingent Valuation." Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 38, no. 1 (2016): 183-189. Whitehead, John C. "Plausible responsiveness to scope in contingent valuation." Ecological Economics 128 (2016): 17-22. [note: this is a comment on DMT (2012) that grew into a full length paper with original content] Chapman, David J., Richard C. Bishop, W. Michael Hanemann, Barbara J. Kanninen, Jon A. Krosnick, Edward R. Morey, and Roger Tourangeau. "On the adequacy of scope test results: Comments on Desvousges, Mathews, and Train." Ecological Economics 130 (2016): 356-360. [*] Desvousges, William. "Reply to On the adequacy of scope test results: Comments on Desvousges, Mathews, and Train." Ecological Economics 130 (2016): 361-362. Poe, Gregory L. "Behavioral Anomalies in Contingent Values and Actual Choices." Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 45, no. 2 (2016): 246-269. Whitehead, John C. "A Comment on 'An Adding Up Test on Contingent Valuations of River and Lake Quality'. Appalachian State University Department of Economics Working Paper No. 17-01. 2017. Bishop, Richard C., Kevin J. Boyle, Richard T. Carson, David Chapman, W. Michael Hanemann, Barbara Kanninen, Raymond J. Kopp et al. "Putting a value on injuries to natural assets: The BP oil spill." Science 356, no. 6335 (2017): 253-254. [*] McFadden, Daniel, and Kenneth Train, eds. Contingent Valuation of Environmental Goods: A Comprehensive Critique. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017. Whitehead, John C. "A Replication of Willingness-to-pay Estimates in An Adding Up Test on Contingent Valuations of River and Lake Quality (Land Economics, 2015)." unpublished manuscript, June 2017.

BP funded research is indicted by the [*].

Other than this:

Whitehead, John C., "Natural Resource Damage Assessment  May be Hazardous to Your Health," AERE Newsletter 36(2):32-38, November 2016. [Download Aere newsletter november 2016 finalmv revised -essay]

What have I missed on my reading list?
Written by ACM







*Brussels/EU-Summit/Angelo Marcopolo/- When "Eurofora" asked French and German Delegations whether they had sufficiently "Coordinated" the Timing for the Press Conferences of the German Chancelor and of the French President on the Conclusions of this June 2017 EU Summit, so that European Journalists wishing to attend Both, in order to have an overall view on the Franco-German EU "core", could have at least some Minutes from each, successively, (according to a Practice which had Started some Years ago, after several such queries and suggestions), Nobody didn't yet expect what followed :

(Before)....





For the 1st Time in EU Brussels' Summits, new French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Angie Merkel, suddenly Decided, at the Last Minute, to hold a ...Joint Franco-German Press Conference, (which, for "space" reasons, took place at a hastily refurbished, former "French PressRoom", traditionaly located Side by Side with the "German" one) !

(After)...





But, these "Good News" for European Journalists, was partly OverShadowed by anOther, Different, and even More UnExpected, relevant Incident, (which, apparently, did Not depend so much from the Will of the Franco-German couple itself, but rather from a Wider Context : See Infra) :



- Initialy Scheduled for around "12.30" this Noon, (accordng to the Official EU Council's Press Agenda, confirmed Earlier Today), nevertheless, this Meeting of the French and German Leaders with the Press, including "Eurofora", on the overall Results of June 2017 EU Summit, (the 1st to be attended by Macron), suddenly was ...de facto Postponed for an UnDetermined Time-frame, Later-on, Obliging a lot of Journalists to spend almost ... 2,5 Hours into Waiting, ... Standing Exhausted, at EU Council's corridor, in front of a Closed Door, (reportedly due mainly to some "Technical" issues related to Material Changes from a "Single" to a "Double" Press Conference's installations, Air-Conditioning/Ventilation matters, etc), i.e. up to, approximatively ... 15 H.!



This was an Occasion for at least some well-known faces of Collegues usually following the "Elysee" Palace events in Paris, to Complaint that, Recently, the incoming Macron's Press Administration would have Multiplied, according to them, several UnPrecedented Changes in the way various Press points were practicaly Organized, so that they'd often Obliged them, f.ex., to stay Out of the main Building's Rooms, at the CourtYard, until, finaly, this or that New Set up was completed for this or that event, (as, inter alia : the Weekly Pres-point on the Regular Meeting of the Governement, each Wednesday, etc), now Presented in a "New" manner to "Communicate", reportedly due to "Mark" a "Different" approach from the Past...



But, soon, it became Evident that, in fact, the Real Reason, standing Behind that 12.30 - 15H, almost 2,5 Hours-long Delay, was anOther, quite Different Factor :



- Indeed, while the EU Summit's 1st Day's Press Conferences took all place at an Unusually ... Early stage : around 16-17 o'clock in the Afternoon, i.e. just 1 or 2 Hours after the Beginning of EU Leaders' meeting, to the point that, (added also to some other, also Unprecedented, UnWarned Changes in the "Security" Blockades around the EU Council's Buildings and roads, apparently not so well organized or communicated to Accredited Journalists this time), some, even among the most "faithfull", were, in real practice, Exceptionaly Hindered to attend on Time, on the Contrary, during this 2nd Day of Brussels' Summit, that Unprecedented collective "Waiting" Stand-up (Comp. Supra), was Too Long to be due merely to a simple "Technical" modification...



Inevitably Exhausted, the Numerous Journalists who were, thus, practicaly Obliged to Stand Up, Waiting for almost 2,5 Hours at the Corridor (Comp Supra + relevant Photo, attached herewith), - during which, even the Only available Snack was Closed, without any possibility to have any Lunch at all, (not even with a humble sandwich, since also the EU Council's Bar had been, in the meantime, exceptionaly ... Emptied from any kind of "normal" food, until its Late Evening closure !), except from a Brief refreshing ..Glass of Water, graciously offfered, once, by an "Elysee" Press officer - realized that it was the EU Summit itself which had been, UnExpectedly, Delayed, at this Last Part of its work, Postponing its overall Conclusions for Later-on...



But Why ?



Not even so Thorny, Serious and Complicated Issues as, f.ex., the recently Growing Need to Face Deadly Islamist Terrorist Attacks even against innocent Civilian People throughout Europe, or the Development of EU's own Security and Defence policy, as well as the Economic Situation, including several Free Trade Deals, the Fight against "Dumping", but also "Climate Change", "BREXIT" Negotiations' Start, and various Topical Foreign Policy issues, (such as, f.ex. : Ukraine, Russia, USA, Turkey, etc., did Not Delay at all this June 2017 EU Summit, which, surprisingly, Succeeded to End its 1st Day (Thursday) at a ...Record Short Time-frame, letting everyne Free to Go, already as Early as since 11.30 Last Evening, (instead of Prolonging it all up to, around 3 or 5 a.m. in Early Morning, as it used to be the case, Most of the times in the Past) !



On the Contrary, it seems that it was Only issues linked to that mainly Turkey-imported, Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants' sudden Giant "Tsunami"'s aftermath, (and particularly a Controversial Re-Distribution and Re-Allocation of such Migrants between all EU Member Countries, according to a mechanism which seeks to Oblige the recalcitrant ones), which Provoked, alone, so many Contradictions, that it practicaly Divided EU Council, Delayed it, and exceptionaly HIndered it even from Publishing the slightest Conclusion on that matter...



Indeed, (according to the Official "Remarks" made, and the "Invitation Letter" send, by EU Council's President, Donald Tusk, to the 28 EU Member States), this June 2017 EU Summit in Brussels had, initialy, Aimed to Start Responding, with Concrete Measures, to the 3 Main Promisses that EU Leaders made to "Protect" the European People, at their exceptional, 9/2016 Summit in Bratislava (Slovakia : Comp. "Euofora"s relevant NewsReports from the spot, then, f.ex.: ...) :



(1) Security/Defence, (2) mass Migration, and (3) uncontrolled Globalisation, (etc).



* Thus, f.ex., EU Leaders immediately Endorsed (already from Yesterday Afternoon) a set of Measures for "Internal Security and the Fight against Terrorism", as well as in order to Boost "External Security and Defence", including, f.ex., to "Fight the Spread of Radicalisation On-Line", at the Web, "Thwart the Financing of Terrorism", and facilitate the "Inter-Operability of Data-Bases" for this purpose. After the establishement at Helsinki of a "European Centre of Excelence for Countering Hybrid Threats", A "European Defense Fund" (both for High-Tech "Research ", and for "Capabilities"), is due to be Added to a relevant "Industrial Development Program", while the EU launched a "permanent "Structured Cooperation", and decided that "BattleGroups" 'Deployment should be born "permanently" by EU-Managed "Athena" mechanism.



* This June 2017 EU Summit also fixed a 1 Year Deadline, for "Deepening, Implementing and enforcing the Single Market in All its aspects", (i.e.: Digital, Capital, Energy, etc). Extend and Reinforce the European Fund for Strategic Investment". Called for Action to ensure "a strong and competitive Industrial Base". As well as for "WTO-Compatible Trade Defence Instruments" (TDI) against "UnFair or Discriminatory Trade Practices and Distortions", in Addition to "Analyzing Investment from 3rd Countries in Strategic Sectors"'. It also "encouraged progress" in Trade Deals with "Maxico, Mercosur and Asian-Pacific region", while, in the meantime, Talks with "Japan ...pave the way for a Political Agreement" soon (etc).



* Moreover, EU Member States "ReAffirmed their Commitment" to the 2015 "Paris Agreement" in the Fight against Climate Change", and "Highlighted the OverArching Importance of an ambitious Digital Vision for Europe, its Society and Economy, with an Holistic approach", (particularly on the Occasion also of the Incoming rotating EU Presidency by Estonia : July - December 2917).



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



* Astonishingly, all these various Issues, related to Europe's strengthening and development, were Dealt with, almost as Scheduled, quite Harmoniously, and in a Record-Short period of Time, (Comp .Supra),



while, on the Contrary, it's only ... on Mass Migration matters, that June 2017 Summit appeared deeply Divided, almost as Never Before, Did Not manage to Complete at all its Conclusions, and Provoked a Surprizingly, big Delay, Wasting a lot of Time, unexpectedly (Comp. Supra).



In fact, it's Not about the now Obvious Need to ensure an "Effective Control of (EU's) External Borders", in order "to stem and Prevent illegal Flows", with "Vigilence on All Migration Routes, including the Western Balkans' route", and "making Full Use of ... the European Border and Coast Guard, and other Agencies, "Training and Equiping the Libyan Coast Guard". Neither of the "Key Objective" that remains "the Disrupting of he Business models of Human Smugglers and Traffickers", as June 2017 EU Summit's Conclusions stress.



+ EU's Move in Brussels came at the Same Day that PanEuropean CoE in Strasbourg was organizing an International Conference, including UN Officials, on the Fight against Smugglers of Migrants : - "Smuggling Costs Lives !", reportedly warned, inter alia, CoE's Secretary General, Thornbjorn Jagland, an experienced former Prime Minister from Norway and Head of Oslo's Nobel Peace Prize Committee.



- Indeed, "there is always Progress on the Issue of the Fight against the Cause of the Flight, and the SafeGuarding of the External Borders" of the EU, because - "We (EU Leaders) are very, very United !", as German Chancelor Angie Merkel clearly stressed during her Press Conference with Emmanuel Macron, (See Infra).



* But all that well Organized, Natural and Well Functioning European "Unity", among all 28 EU Member States, who had just Succeeded, these 2 Days in Brussels, into Dealing quite Efficiently with Numerous and Manifold, Various other Topical Issues, from Terrorism and Defence up to Trade, Climate and Digital Technologies, etc., (Comp. Supra),



suddenly was Undermined, seriously Threatened, and, at least momentaneously, Smashed, by the Conseqences of ... Turkish Smugglers' sudden Massive Move to brutaly Throw an UnPrecedented Giant "Tsunami" of Mass Asylum Seekers/Irrefular Migrants, notoriously Mixed up also with several Thugs, petty Criminals or even outright ISIL's disguised Deadly Islamist Terrorists (as many Facts proved), without any Warning inside a wholy UnPrepared EU, up to More than 1 Million of densely packed-up individuals and/or Mobs, from whom Ankara's Government had systematical Excluded Qualified Persons, (as an EU Report has revealed in Brussels, Leaked to the mainstream German Press), almost All Heavily Islamized, Most Christian Minorities (who are, notoriously, facing the Most Grave Oppression by Armed islamist Gangs ISIL's Terrorists, etc) having been curiousky Excluded from that Turkish road, (to the point that even Pope Francis, who Wished to Invite 1 Christian Family of Refugees to the Vatican, Tgether with 2 Muslim Families, when he visited the overloaded Greek Islands, was Unable to Find not even one (1) such Christian Family, and was Obliged to take with him Only 3 out of 3 Muslim Families, (as if Christians did Not exist in Syria, where, nevertheless, they Traditionaly represent about 15% of the Population)...



The Turkish Government has notoriously Exploited those UnPrecedented Incidents, by exerting a Blackmail pressure on the EU, until it got Promises for ...3 Billions  during the next three Years, a relaunch of Turkey's controversial and unpopular EU bid, a claim for "Free Visa" Status to 80 Millions of Turks, (that would allow them to stay into the EU durng at least 6 Months each Year, whenever they like), and even a mechanism accordng to which, for any such Migrant Returned Back into Turkey, Ankara would choose itself anOther one, among the many "Camps" it has set accross its Borders to Syria, (known for their "permeability" to ISIL's Islamist Terrorists' networks, logistics, recruits, etc). So that, at any case, the Total Number of Irregular Migrants Smuggled into the EU through Turkey, would Never be lowered !)...



But Several European Countries, mainly the Central-Eastern EU Member States of the "Visegrad" Group, (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc), particularly after the Recently Growing Deadly Islamist Terrorist Attacks against Civilian People inside Europe, committed by various such Pseudo-"Refugees", or even mere Thugs, throughout Europe, (from Paris to Berlin, Munich, Salzbourg, Copenhagen, Brussels, Nice, Saint Petersburg, Manchester, London, etc), but even in the USA, have notoriously Refused to Yield to a Controversial EU Comission's mechanism for "Relocation" by "ReDistribution" of such Immigrants throughout All European Countries, (even those who Never had before any kind of "Muslim" Groups in their Land).



Poland, moreover, has been Shocked also by the Horrible spectacle of a Poor Polish Woman Atrociously Massacrated with a huge Manchette by a so-called Syrian Refugee hired at a Turkish Kebab Shop in Nearby Germany, (Reutlingen), which apparently belonged to an Islamist Fondamentalist Network, to the point that it made Publicity for ...Islamist Prayers (inside the Kebab Shop !). She was one among 6 various Victims also Brutaly Attacked by her Killer with that Manchette, and, after Critical Questions were raised by the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister of Poland, while even Public Demonstrations were Orgabized by Polish People at the spot where the Bloody Murder took place.



This was, notoriously followed also by the recent Murder of a Polish Truck Driver in Berlin by an Irregular Migrant coming from (and soon Returning Back to) Italy, after abusing of the Stolen Truck in order to Massacrate Dozens of Innocent People at the "Christmas Market", before fleeing at his usual Mosque, run by the Turkish DITIB.



As for Hungary, it has already received More such Mass Migrants in percentage of its own Native Population, than any other EU Member Country, (since almost All of that 2015-2016 Giant "Tsunami" of 1 Million People crossed its Borders)...



The Czech Republic, (which currently Chairs CoE's PanEuropean Organisation for Human Rights, Democracy, and Rule of Law : May - November 2017), had Earlier accepted 12 such Mass Migrants, who had arrived in Europe at Greece through Turkey. But, after that Experience, Prague refused to receive not even one (1) more of the same, reportedly prefering to eventualy pay a Fine !

As for Slovakia, its Prime Minister, Robert Fico, inter alia, had reportedly Warned that if Groups ofradicaly Islamized Mass Migrants from Turkey enter the Country, they will be soon Asking to have also a Muslim Mosque there, so that, soon, even a over-Millenary Christian State would have Problems also from a Fast-Growing and Troublesome Muslim Minority hastily imported from the Turkish Borders close to areas controlled by various Islamist Armed Gangs until the Recent Advances of the Syrian Army. When Slovaks asked to Welcome, instead, some Christian Refugees from Syria, they Faced a Refusal, (since Not even the Pope himself wasN't able to find at least 1 Christian Refugee Family there : Comp. Supra).



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



+ Curiously, instead of Thanking at least those Visegrad (particularly Hungary) and Western Balkan FrontLine Countries (as FYROM, etc), which managed to, at last, Stop an Otherwise irresistible, UnPrecedented sudden Giant "Tsunami" unleashed against Europe through Turkey, i.e. succeeded, in fact, to Protect Europe by taking Control of their Borders without any Help, (See UN - IMO relevant Data, for the 1st Time revealed by "Eurofora", as early as, already since May 2016 : f.ex. .....), on the Contrary, some parts of the Establishment didn't find anything better to do than to Threaten and even Attack these European Countries still Resisting to Forced Islamization, by pushing, recently, to launch a series of Legal Prosecutions to the Courts against them...



- "I Warned" them, "They didn't Believe it". But,"now they can see it", soberly observed EU Commission's President Juncker, only 2 Days ago in Brussels, speaking on the sidelines of an EU Parliaments' High-Level Conference on Migration management, to Journalists, including "Eurofora", (See:....) ....



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



+ So, instead of speaking about High-Tech, Satellite or other Space Exploration Modern and Ambitious Technologies, a Decisive European, brand New Initiative on Strategic TeleCommunications and/or other Innovative Digital Technologies, etc., (or, at least, searhing to find how to Protect European People from even more Islamist Terrorists' Deadly Attacks, which persisted even recently),



on the Contrary, this EU Summit of June 2017 suddenly started to Lose Time and Energy in a long and counter-productive Dispute, attempting to exert Pressure on Central-Eastern European Countries, where, in Fact, it all boiled down into the Question whether, or not, even More Muslim Mosques should be built, mostly for the 1st Time, in ..."Mittel - Europa",

probably Funded by Foreign States, such as, f.ex, ...Qatar, (that even Arab Countries, as Egypt, Jordany, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, etc., have just Denounced as Accomplice to Terrorism, and New USA President Don Trump Criticized for Funding Islamist Radicalisation and Hate, even Islamist Terrorism !)



Like, f.ex., that Strasbourg' Western Suburbs' new Mosque, (that Qatar decided to Fund just after the "Charlie Hebdo" Massacre of critical Journalists in Paris, January 2015 !), recently inaugurated on May 2017 by an out-going "Socialist" Mayor... Perhaps, in order to make ...Competition to that Other, Saudi Arabia - Funded Mosque in ...Brussels, astonishingly Near the Top EU Institutions at Schuman Square, (mainly EU Commission, but also EU Council, etc), where "New York Times" reported at least one Deadly Islamist Terrorist recently ?



Isn't really a Pity that Europe was almost Divided into Opposite Camps, and Quarelled these Days, over such Issues,



instead, f.ex. to Inspire itself, united, from the pre-existing, Positive Example of Spain and Morocco, (Geopolitical "Bridge" between Europe and Africa), which have notoriously succeeded, all this Time, to keep Mass Irregular Migrants far Away from Tresspassing into Europe, (and quite Safe, away from Smugglers' shaky Boats which already killed a lot of People trying desperately to cross the Mediterranean, for Italy, or the Aegean, for Greece, etc) ?



Paradoxically, at least until now, it's only ...Turkey who got more than 3 Billions  per Year from the EU, in relation with that Mass Irregular Migratio of 2O15-2016, while, on the Contrary, almost Nothing Similar wasN't yet given to the Well-Functioning Spain-Morocco, pre-existing Positive example...



However, it would be much "Better" if EU helped to Keep the Mass irregular Migrants from the African continent, usefuly occupied, somewhere around "here", told recently "Eurofora" a Morocco delegate at the CoE in Strasbourg. _ "I think that we could do it"...



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



But, instead of Focusing, all Together, into a concerted EU effort to Help Neighouring Countries keep irregular Mass Migrants closer to their Homeland and Cultural space (Comp. Supra), while also Protecting EU's External Borders, and starting really to Rectify the Harm provoked by that sudden, unprecedented, Giant "Tsunami" through Turkey, since back on 2015-2016,



on the Contrary, the Divisions between EU Member States, provoked by that latter fact, appeared quite Hard during this June 2017 EU Summit in Brussels...



The Quarrel, notoriously Started to emerge in Public by an Exceptional INTW that Macron gave to 6 or 7 Traditional Newspapers, (as his Press Attaches had informed also "Eurofora"), in which, he made a very "Hot" Criticism of the Recalcitrant EU Member Countries, accused, inter alia, for "chery-picking" among EU's various aspects, as if it was "a Super-Market", taking EU "Money" but droping some EU "Values", etc., in line, and even Harder than his known stance asking from all Central-Eastern EU Countries to apply all EU Rules, including on the Controversial issue of Migrants' "ReLocation", etc.

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, reportedly replied that Macron was "a Newbie" in EU Summits, wrongly believing that he could "kick" on Central-Eastern EU Member States, and found that this was a "deception". Polish Prime Minister, Beata Szydlo, reportedly found that Macron would feel an "Antipathy" vis a vis Central-Eastern Europe, and invited him to focus on "Facts", instead, calling for a Meeting between the New French President and the "Visegrad" Countries, which took place briefly, Earlier Today Morning.



All this led to a reported Break, during Friday's EU Summit's working session, which restarted Later-on, provoking the above-mentioned 2,5 Hours unexpected Delay (Comp. Supra), but also a "Blank" amidst this June 2017 Summit's official Conclusions :



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

JOINT FRANCO-GERMAN PRESS CONFERENCE IN BRUSSELS : RELEVANT PARTS

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- "Unfortunately, we have Not made Any progress on the issue of reDistribution (of Migrants) within the EU", acknowledged the German Chancellor Angie Merkel, in Reply to a relevant Question, during Today's Joint Press Conference in Brussels, on the Conclusions of the latest EU Summit. .



- "It was clear that we (the EU Summit of June 2017) Could Not achieve Any progress", on this notoriously Disputed matter, she observed.



- According to "My Vision of Europe", we should "sit Together at a Table", putting ourselves in the Situation of the Others, and "Find Compromises", Merkel soberly suggested.

In this regard, even if she spoke about "Solidarity", and reiterated her favorite reference to EU "Values", (earlier made also by Macron), Nevertheless, she ddn't say anything about Coercion.



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



- Macron was much More Critical - "We (EU Council) Failed" to see "always Solidarity and Responsibility in Europe... There was No Balance ... in the area of ... Migration", he Denounced. "I am Not sure" that "we had always enough Solidarity". And, "from this ImBalance, the Doubt has been born", in his view.



- Even "France did Not act very Gloriously", he acknowledged. But "this is a Symptom of ...the Fact that we have 10% of UnEmployment", Macron pointed out.



>>> - "From that time on, there was a Lack of Solidarity to Distribute the Burden. That's a fact", he stressed.



- Therefore, "what we are Working on Today is to achieve a real Solidarity, a real Responsibility... for these Refugee Flows", Macron concluded on this point, Highlighting but Not Repeating here (at least Not Explicitly) some Harsh Words previously launched against those EU Member Countries which are Recalcitrant to a Controversial, Imposed "ReDistribution" mechanism, (Comp. Supra), any reference to which, was, finaly, ommitted in EU Summit's Conclusions.



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



+ But, when he vas Specificaly Questioned about the fact that, "with Other EU Leaders - f.ex. the Poles", he had "Not Hesitated to make things Very Clear, and Say that they are Turning their Backs on EU Values", as Macron had reportedly Accused them to do, in a joint Interview to "Figaro" and some Other Countries' Newspapers Earlier, (Comp. Supra), he did Not Deny that, (even if he did Not Repeat Explicitly similar Harsh Words, No More :



- "Regarding the Interview you have mentioned, ... I stand behind my statements, just as I said", Macron insisted.



- Since "I've seen what the (EU) Commission itself has said : It has Triggered a Procedure against Infringement", (allegedly made by Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, etc). Because "Statements were made, that are Not on our (EU) line, and which are also likely to Trigger a Breach of (EU) Treaty", he Denounced.



He was refering to the Legal Procedures against "Visegrad" Group Countries of Central-Eastern Europe, that EU Commission's President Juncker evoked Wednesday Evening, during a Press Conference in EU Parliament, by Simply saying : - "I had Warned them. They did Not Believe me. But Now they can See it"...



- "I have seen the Visegrad States this Morning", added now Macron. - "We have defined points where we have a Difference, and where we will Continue to see an Exchange, in order to see and understand how one or the other is, and which are the constraints", ....We can have quite Different opinions on certain topics and values ....Nevertheless, we can continue to Work ....to Reduce the Differences", he concluded.





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



=> Finally, the June 2017 EU Summit's Conclusions, on the Chapter regarding "Migration", do Not even Mention that Controversial obligatory "Re-Location" schema...



- EU Countries' Leaders simply "invited" EU "Commission ... to Explore possible solutions to Alleviate the Burden on Frontline Member States", in a way Open also to Various Other possibilities in the foreseable Future, according to the Official Text.



+ However, EU Parliament's New President, Antonio Tajani, official proposal, made Yesterday to EU Council, for the "Creation of Reception Centres", f.ex. "South of the Sahara", to "guarantee the Safety of Migrants", "provide Medical care, Water and Food", as well as "Properly apply the rules on Asylum and ReAdmission", (i.e. something which could, obviously, be duplicated also to South-Eastern Turkey, etc), at least for the moment, apparently fell also Victim to that Division among EU Leaders on the crucial Issue of how to Tackle Mass Irregular Migration, since Nothing similar exists in EU Council's Conclusions.



Similarly for EU Parliament's suggestion to "Build a New Partnership with Africa", including "on Major Opportunities for Growth in that Continent" : A point which was made, Recently, at the G7 Summit's Conclusions in Taormina (Italy), and suggested Nowadays by Tajani also for the EU Council, but was Ommitted Today, perhaps also because it might be taken over by the Forthcoming "G 20" Summit in Hambourg (Germany), on July 2017.



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



+ Meanwhile, however, new US President Don Trump, will visit Poland, at the Eve of that "G20" Summit, where he will also participate actively to a special Meeting with the "Visegrad" and Other EU Member Countries, making a keynote Speech which is due to be "very Important", according to the Press service of the "White House" ...
Nacional

Gobierno deroga sedicion y rebaja las penas del nuevo delito: de 15 a 5 anos de carcel y de 15 a 8 de inhabilitacion
The first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was held from 2-12 May 2017 in Vienna. As the sessions chair Ambassador Henk Cor Van der Kwast announced the end of the session, a round of applause erupted and a sense of relief prevailed. But as one delegate described it, this years meeting was calm from the outside but boiling beneath the surface.

There are various reasons for the tensions. Disagreements between the 191 parties to the treaty on several key issues are sharp and deep-rooted. In the last review conference in 2015, discussions on nuclear disarmament and the Middle East proved to be too divisive, and the conference failed to adopt a consensual outcome document. Since then, little tangible progress has been achieved on either issue.

On the topic of nuclear disarmament, most of the non-nuclear weapons states remain deeply frustrated by the gap between rhetoric and action. This frustration has fuelled questions about the commitment of nuclear weapons states to disarmament. Perhaps the clearest sign of this frustration is that many such states have decided to seek action outside the NPT framework by backing negotiations for a legally binding treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons.

Similar frustration is felt on the issue of the Middle East. Five years earlier, Egypts walk-out of the 2012 Prepcom was a manifestation of a growing discontent in Cairo about the lack of seriousness in bringing Israel under the fold of the near-universal treaty. Over the years, this issue has been a constant strain on the NPT regime. Efforts to achieve progress through convening a Conference (planned initially for 2012) on the establishment of a weapons of mass destruction-free zone in the Middle East faltered during the previous review cycle. Disagreements on who to blame for this, and how to move forward, was key to the failure of the 2015 Review Conference.

Many of these differences and frustrations were visible during the 2017 Prepcom. Yet, none of the main actors were in for a fight. In the United States, the Trump administration had just started its nuclear policy review, the outcomes of which could only be a matter of speculation. In France, the elections brought a new president to the Elysee Palace. In the UK, all the energy was focused towards the nations first post-Brexit elections in early June 2017. The combination of these factors made the delegations from these three countries unable to strongly advocate any new position, opting instead to restate their long-standing positions. Russia and China both took the back seat, save for select interventions on the Middle East for Russia and on the DPRK for China. The nuclear weapons states and many of the non-nuclear weapons states seemed resigned to agree to disagree on the issue of the nuclear ban.

A similar dynamic was at play on the Middle East issue. Egypt has long been a prominent voice on the issue in the NPT context. But in the 2017 Prepcom, although Cairo knew what it didnt want, what it did want was less clear. The Egyptian delegation fought off efforts to resurrect what were seen to be half-hearted attempts to re-launch the 2012 conference. Egypts statement and working paper on the issue explicitly expressed frustration on that failure. Yet, Cairo kept its cards close to its chest. During the Prepcom, it was silent on how to move the issue forward save for asking the co-sponsors of the 1995 Resolution (US, UK and Russia) to seek a way out of the impasse. Other regional states, including many Arab states, shared Cairos frustration but not its approach. Many of these states expressed support for continuation of efforts to launch the conference promised in the 2010 Review Conference action plan. On this issue, small cracks and differences, which had started to appear in the 2015 Review Conference, grew deeper. The clearest manifestation of these differences was the absence of a common Arab statement and the lack of consensus within NAM on producing a working paper on the Middle East issue.

On other issues, this was not a Prepcom for new or radical ideas but one where caution was prevalent. Support for entry into force for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, calls for progress on fissile material ban were frequently repeated but no new proposals or ground breaking initiatives were proposed. On nuclear disarmament verification, a multi-year arms control simulation initiative between two nuclear weapons states (UK and US) and two Nordic states (Norway and Sweden) was announced. A short statement on North Korea drafted by France and South Korea gained wide support. The statement denounced DPRKs nuclear tests and missile launches and urged Pyongyang to return to the NPT and IAEA safeguards. Key NAM states were noticeably absent from support to the statement.

In a break from previous tradition, the five nuclear weapons states did not deliver a common statement during the meeting or hold a conference before the Prepcom. This is mainly due to the political changes occurring in three out of the five states. The New Agenda Coalition, the Nuclear Non-proliferation Disarmament Initiative and Non-aligned Movement continued to be visible and active through common statements and working papers. New voices at this Prepcom included the Nordic states which coalesced on a common statement despite their differences on proposals for a legally binding nuclear ban, and the Gulf Cooperation Council states which gave a common statement delivered by Kuwait. Ambassador Adam Bugajski (Poland) was smoothly elected to chair the second 2018 session of the Prepcom in Geneva. Ambassador Raphaelle Grossi (Argentina) was nominated as President of the 2020 Review Conference: the position traditionally allocated to a country from the Non-aligned Movement.

The Prepcom benefited from the steady and calm approach of its Chair. Before the start of the Prepcom, Ambassador Van der Kwast engaged in a series of regional consultations and some bilateral visits allowing him to move forward efficiently when the meeting started. He presented his draft factual summary and procedural report on the penultimate day of the meeting, firmly establishing his intention that the discussion on the first and adoption of the second would end by 1 pm on the final day. The Chair also applied several innovations. For example, throughout debates, he implemented a traffic light system to warn speakers going over their allocated time. However, his efforts to encourage interactive debates were not very successful in shaking established diplomatic practice that gives priority to pre-prepared interventions.

The 2017 Prepcom provides ground for some optimism for the 2020 Review cycle. That optimism, however, can only be guarded. The relatively smooth operation of this Prepcom masks wide substantive differences in core areas. These differences, if not addressed, will continue to cast their shadow on the treaty as well as on global nuclear governance more broadly. The 2017 Prepcom also raises questions on whether the promise of a strengthened review process reached in 1995, and further elaborated in 2000, has been fulfilled. The purview of Prepcom meetings has expanded to include consideration of substantial matters in addition to matters of procedure. Unfortunately the 2017 meeting, like previous Prepcoms, was unable to leverage these discussions into a much needed effective or results-oriented review of the Treaty.



The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security challenges of our time.
On the 18th June 2017 a US strike aircraft shot down a Syrian government fighter jet shorty after it had engaged US-backed rebel fighters in northern Syria. Russias reaction was swift. Moscow once again threatened to suspend the deconfliction agreement that manages encounters between US-led coalition aircraft and Russian aircraft in the skies above Syria. The Russian Ministry of Defence declared on the 19th June that Any aircraft, including the international coalitions planes and drones, discovered west of the river Euphrates, will be tracked by ground and air-based anti-aircraft defences as aerial targets. As a result Australia briefly suspended operations over Syria.

Repercussions were also swiftly apparent over the Baltic Sea. On the 19th June a Russian jet flew within 1.5m of a US reconnaissance aircrafts wingtip, whilst a Polish aircraft was warded away from an aircraft carrying Russian Defence Minister Shoigu by the latters fighter escort. The Swedish Ministry of Defence soon after noted a close encounter between one of its own reconnaissance aircraft and a Russian fighter. All three incidents took place in the international airspace adjacent to Russias Kaliningrad exclave.



Russian SU-27 Drives Away Polish F-16 Shadowing an Aircraft Carrying the Russian Defence Minister

Ahead of an expected Putin-Trump meeting on the fringes of the G20 summit in Hamburg on the 7-8 July Russia-West relations remain tense. A meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and US Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon, planned for the 23 June, has already been cancelled as a response to the overall atmosphere created by the Americans, compounded by the expansion of the US sanctions against Russia. In such an atmosphere it is essential that unintended escalation is avoided.

Since 2014 the European Leadership Network has warned extensively about the escalatory potential of under-regulated encounters between Russian and western aircraft and ships. The agreements that cover such encounters are outdated, whilst most states that actually border Russia, including Sweden and Poland, have no such agreements at all. A November 2016 ELN report examined this danger in detail, concluding that the lack of incident management agreements between Russian and its immediate neighbours and the complete lack of effective mechanisms to manage civilian-military encounters must be addressed immediately. Failure to do so risks a military accident or incident, in turn triggering an escalation spiral that may well end in a conflict. The shooting down of a Russian aircraft by a Turkish fighter in November 2015 shows this is not a fallacy.

The possible suspension of the Syrian deconfliction agreement is equally dangerous. [1] The Russian military has regularly targeted its air defence radar systems on coalition aircraft that strayed too close to its operational air bases, but the extension of this targeting across the Syrian battlespace, combined with an increasing US willingness to engage Russian-backed Syrian regime forces on the ground in the air dramatically increases the risk of direct Russia-US engagement. There is no alternative to the existing deconfliction agreement. Agreements between Russia and leading members of the coalition on the management of air and sea incidents only apply to international airspace and waters, they have no validity in the fast moving and legally opaque situation in the skies above Syria.

Based on previous ELN proposals, below is a set of recommendations on de-escalating the tensions and strengthening the existing mechanisms for avoiding incidents:

1. The parties should ensure that all communications channels mandated by the Syrian deconfliction agreement remain active and refrain from treating their implementation as a bargaining chip.

2. There should be zero tolerance for reckless behaviour of individual military commanders, pilots and other personnel, especially by the Russian leadership. Use of dangerous military brinkmanship tactics for political signalling is a high-risk strategy, which may backfire in case of an incident.

3. The parties to the existing agreements (INCSEAs and DMAs) need to ensure that their provisions are known to and applied by their armed forces.

4. It is necessary to begin work on a thorough review and update of existing bilateral agreements in the Euro-Atlantic space, as well as to conclude additional agreements between Russia and the states most exposed to the danger of dangerous incidents and with relevant military capabilities.

5. Expert-level dialogue on the safety of military-civilian encounters over the Baltic Sea, under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) cover, should be continued and expanded to other regions.

6. Re-activating or adapting the Cooperative Airspace Initiative may be helpful for preventing incidents and monitoring regional activities.

7. As long as Russia-West relations remain tense, the conclusion of multilateral agreements on preventing incidents remains difficult. Still, the modalities of such arrangements for avoiding and managing hazardous incidents should be examined in more detail by joint groups of experts, possibly as part of Track 2 effort. This includes the update of the OSCEs Vienna Document and work towards a NATO-Russia agreement on managing dangerous incidents.

8. Political leaders should become more closely interested in the issue of avoiding incidents, and authorise civilian bureaucracies and militaries to work to improve management of incidents.

[1] Note: At the time of writing the agreement still appears to be operational.

Related ELN Content:

The interactive map below showcases the geographical distribution of Russia  West military encounters between March 2014 and March 2015.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security challenges of our time.
On June 1 2017, ELN Director Sir Adam Thomson delivered the keynote speech at the UK Project on Nuclear Issues [PONI] 2017 Annual Conference in London. You can find the video here of Sir Adams keynote speech. The full speech is below.



*****

I have been asked to say something brief about NATO and nuclear in a changing security landscape, including the role of the UK deterrent in NATO given Brexit. Ill do so. But I hope you will not mind if I range more widely too. As I do so, please understand that I now speak in an entirely personal capacity and as Director of the European Leadership Network, and not as a representative of HMG.

Context

As usual, we feel ourselves to be at an inflection point in international affairs. We always do. And this applies as much to nuclear as to other security matters.

First, things are headed in directions that give nuclear issues more profile. The majority of states are fed up waiting for the P5 and are negotiating a nuclear ban treaty. North Korea and Putin in their different ways are rattling nuclear sabres, more than in recent years. A new US President wants the US to remain top of the pack.

Second, things seem particularly fluid. The Iran nuclear deal still hangs in the balance. Early stages of major modernisation for at least the UK, US and French nuclear deterrents are being worked on. Things are being decided now that will influence for many years to come. New technologies are disrupting old equations. Theres an uncertain and unsafe outlook in the NATO-Russia deterrence relationship.

So what direction will NATO and the rest of the world now take? Answers in the next 12 or 18 months could determine the next few decades.

First a few observations about where we are. Then some thoughts about where we might go.



Where has NATO got to?

NATO is not immune from the greater prominence that nuclear capability is re-acquiring internationally. There is no area of NATO life that has not been affected by the annexation of Crimea. And that includes nuclear policy.

But the Alliance has moved cautiously on nuclear since 2014. True, modernisation that was already under considerationhas been continued. The prospect of serious consideration of B-61 withdrawal from Europe has receded. The Alliance remains an explicitly nuclear one. On the other hand, NATO has not yet  so far as I know  taken some of the steps that might seem to be in the logic of a renewed deterrence relationship with Russia: no resumed linkage between conventional and nuclear to create a more explicit escalation chain; no consequent exercising of nuclear with conventional; and none of the conscious signalling of nuclear determination in the many ways that Moscow is so good at and so stupid about. There has been no desire at NATO, still less any attempt, to rewrite the hard fought 2012 Deterrence and Defence Posture Review.

Its illuminating that there has, if anything, been more focus in the Alliance in the last 2 years or so on cyber than on nuclear. Rightly or wrongly, hybrid is the preoccupation. Unlike the last Cold War, NATO at least technically has conventional superiority and doesnt need to dwell as heavily as Russia on the nuclear dimension. And after a 25 year holiday from hard security, most Allies have no appetite for doing so.

So my experience at NATO was that the UK is currently respected more for its diplomacy and its conventional military power than for its nuclear status. And, for all the uncertainties around President Trumps commitment to the Alliance, the recent talk of a European nuclear deterrent and all the upheavals of Brexit, my sense is that this is unlikely to change. In other words, yes the UK is recognised as one of the Alliances three nuclear powers but that is not going to be a prominent feature of the UK position and positioning in NATO.

True, NATOs Warsaw Summit communique had new language about the UK and French nuclear deterrents as separate centres of decision making. But this was not new doctrine. And although Brexit may tempt the British government to place greater political weight on its NATO roles, I see no easy UK wins from dwelling particularly on the nuclear dimension. That is where I think we are.



So where do we go from here: the UK and NATO?

If I am right that our choices in the next year or two  say between now and the 2018 UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament  may determine much about nuclear weapons policy for the next few decades, then I feel bound to ask not just what I think, but what my children may think about our choices. Nuclear is a very long haul proposition.

The probability of getting rid of nuclear weapons in our lifetimes seems vanishingly small. The probability of a nuclear device being used in anger somewhere in the world at some point in the next 70 years  my childrens lifetime  seems to me high. Clock should be at 1.5 not 2.5 minutes to midnight.

So what would my children wish I had done in my professional career to lower that probability of nuclear weapons use? Or that NATO had done? I think perhaps four things and I just want to quickly run through those.

1) Mitigating risk

The easiest path  even if not an easy one  for NATO and for the USA as it refreshes the triad, for France as it modernises and for the UK as it pursues the Trident successor, will be to slip into rather 20th century style of deepening nuclear action and reaction with Russia.

If that is going to be the case, my children would want me at least to have made the modern NATO-Russia deterrence relationship as safe as possible, to have mitigated the known risk. There is much to be desired  for example, caring about nuclear postures as per your first and third sessions [of the PONI conference]; clear nuclear signalling, accurate reading of the other, coherence and stability of military plans, and a disciplined NATO-Russia dialogue. I repeat, in my view, the NATO-Russia deterrence relationship is not safe. It is less safe than in the second half of the 20th century Cold War. Something needs to be done about that.



2) Reducing risk

Thats already a large agenda. But knowing my children, I dont think they would be satisfied for me to stop there. They would feel that it was not enough to have mitigated known risks. I should have tried to reduce the nuclear risk more absolutely. And at the moment things are headed in the wrong direction. The INF treaty is fraying. Russia has suspended last year its participation in the Plutonium Disposal agreement. Trump has declared New START to be a bad deal. The Iran nuclear deal may be the last gasp of classic nuclear diplomacy. Not so much the future for the 21st century but a hold-over from the 20th.

There are things NATO could do here. It wont be particularly unilateral. Although humans can be altruistic, states rarely are. It is the job of NATO allies to give something for nothing. So stepping back from nuclear risk is far more likely to be a multilateral process not a unilateral one. That is a pity, because multilateral is far more difficult to achieve. But it does mean that nuclear dialogue has to be encouraged.

As far as NATO is concerned, it just isnt sensible for there to be no nuclear dialogue with Russia. Dialogue would not be a return to business as usual but rather a start to business that needs to be done.

There is space here for a much stronger voice from European Allies, above all on INF, which affects Europe so directly. But also on the impact of new technologies such as the possible vulnerabilities of nuclear capabilities to cyber attack or cyber manipulation. And its not hard to see a clear role here for London or Paris or both, if they chose to take it. But NATO is not talking about this right now. Nor, so far as I know, is London.

3) New technologies

A third thing, after mitigating risks and trying to reduce them by tackling some of the basic classic arms control, is to look at new technologies.

Both people and states find it easier to give up birds in the bush than birds in the hand. So addressing nuclear modernization and disruptive new technologies ought to be easier than reducing capabilities and technologies in which states and their military-industrial complexes are already heavily invested. The absence of arms control around ballistic missile defence or prompt global strike or drones or many other emerging technologies strikes me as shockingly casual. So I am glad that UK PONI are discussing technologies, hats off to President Steinmeier for at least trying on conventional arms control and lets work to get the policy community more mobilised on multilateral new technology arms control, including nuclear. NATO again may be doing the basics of a deterrence relationship with its potential adversaries but there is no sense at the moment of innovation, imagination, or forward-thinking.

4) Policy culture

Which brings me to my final and major, if modest, point that I think would make to me: policy culture. The mindsets we swim in make it unlikely that merely being careful about our own and others nuclear postures, or pursuing constructive dialogue about existing risks, or negotiating down the future risks, is going to achieve more than inadequate muddling forward.

As they sit dying with their children on the beach in a radioactive wasteland, my children would wish that I and my kind at NATO had taken the risks a bit more seriously  accepting always, as the reasonable people that they are, that we were hampered by having to treat as a mere probability what for them had suddenly become an actual fact.

To change an international strategic culture on something as close to national sovereignty and as emotional as nuclear  for nuclear have nots as much as haves  would take some awfully big shifts. I wonder whether step by step will ever be enough, even though the international culture would change with each step. Chernobyl wasnt enough to affect nuclear weapons planning. Even the Cuban Missile Crisis, although it fed US-Soviet arms control, did not stop an extremely dangerous arms race. And right now the bandwidth in most NATO governments for serious attention to nuclear risks or even nuclearmanagement is not growing and is in some capitals shrinking. Maybe a horrific outcome on the Korean peninsula or an accident between India and Pakistan would completely change the political weather. But I dont think my children would really countenance disaster, even in someone elses back yard, as a very satisfactory way forward. So Im particularly interested in your Session Two on Communicating Nuclear. Communicating nuclear is obviouslydifficult. And yet its a high and rising priority.

Whats happening on social media? When did a nuclear meme last go viral? If we want more risk management, more attention to disruptive change, more respect for the adversary, we need to foster a popular and strategic international culture  so both in the public and in government  that is as serious about nuclear risks as about climate change. I hope you will do that.

A closing suggestion: when I was a child in Washington DC after the Cuban Missile Crisis my school class had to practice diving under our flimsy, wooden-topped, metal-framed desks to shelter ourselves from imagined nuclear blasts. Even at the age of seven this seemed to me a plan unlikely to be very successful. But at least the memory has stayed with me.



The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security challenges of our time.
The British pound has plunged 0.6% against the euro on Tuesday afternoon after Mario Draghi's upbeat outlook for the European economy boosted the common currency.

The euro also rallied over one percent against the US dollar after the president of the ECB spoke at a conference in Portugal.

Here is a snapshot of the euro's performance on the foreign exchange ,markets:

- The Euro to Australian Dollar exchange rate converts +0.84 per cent higher at 1 EUR is 1.48697 AUD.

- The Euro to Canadian Dollar exchange rate is +0.38 pct higher with a conversion rate of 1 EUR equals 1.48833 CAD.

- The Euro to Swiss Franc conversion rate is +0.15 pct higher at 1.08917 EUR/CHF.

- The Euro to Pound Sterling conversion rate is +0.53 pct higher at 0.88356 EUR/GBP.

- The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate converts +0.92 per cent higher at 1 EUR is 1.12864 USD.

- The Euro to South African Rand conversion rate is +1.48 pct higher at 14.60510 EUR/ZAR.

The GBP/EUR, GBP/USD exchange rates rallied on Monday after the UK government finally agreed a deal with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to help it form a minority government today, boosting the Pound Sterling to Euro exchange rate.

GBP/EUR has climbed 0.3% to 1.1389 on the back of the news, gaining further support from a resurgence of the Italian banking crisis and the controversial steps the Italian government is taking to resolve it.

Theresa May Finally Secures Majority; GBP Rises on News of DUP Deal

An end to one of the biggest sources of uncertainty for Pound exchange rates is finally in sight, after Theresa May was able to secure a confidence & supply deal with the DUP which means she now has enough seats in Parliament to approve her Queens Speech.

The deal sees the government promising an additional 1 billion in funding to Northern Ireland, which the DUP claim will be spent on roads, hospitals and schools.

Theresa May can now count on the support of the DUPs ten MPs on major votes in Parliament, although many of her campaign pledges - such as the scrapping of the triple lock pension scheme and winter fuel payments to well-off pensioners - have been abandoned as part of her Queens Speech.

While a minority government is far from ideal, it is preferable to the political deadlock a hung parliament would have seen the UK facing, especially at such a critical time as Brexit.

Also boosting the Pound today are suggestions that Japan wishes to start informal trade talks with the UK as soon as possible in order to stave off the negative impact Brexit could have upon its companies.

This would mean that the UK would already have much of the groundwork complete in a deal with Japan when it leaves the European Union, lessening the potential economic damage from the divorce if an agreement can be reached and implemented quickly.

EUR Weakens as Italian Government Steps in to Bailout Banks

The Italian government has been forced to step in to deal with two regional banks after the European Central Bank (ECB) declared on Friday that Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza were failing, or likely to fail.

After an emergency meeting on Sunday, the Italian government has now agreed to restructure the two banks, in a process that will cost taxpayers up to 17 billion.

The two banks will be separated into good and bad assets, with the former being acquired by Intesa Sanpaolo - Italys largest retail bank.

The government will provide Intesa with 5 billion in order to ensure its capital reserves remain strong enough to service the demand of the additional customers.

The bad assets will be liquidated, with the government footing the cost from a 20 billion fund set up in 2016 to help Italys struggling lenders.

While this is overall a positive move, as it has prevented a potential run on the two floundering banks, which could have caused them to collapse and send shockwaves through the entire banking system, the plan has not been met with enthusiasm from the Eurozone.

Officials are questioning whether the move is legal under the European banking unions rules, which stipulate that bondholders, not the taxpayer, should bear the brunt of a failing bank.

German MEP Markus Ferber commented;

I am very disappointed that the commission has approved this course of action. By doing so the Commission has massively undermined the credibility of the Banking Union. If the common set of rules governing banking resolution is so blatantly ignored, there is no point in negotiating any further on a common deposit insurance scheme.

GBP/EUR Forecast; BoE Carney Speech to Unsettled Markets?

There is no Eurozone data set for release tomorrow, leaving UK developments to drive the GBP/EUR exchange rate.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) will release retail data for June - the Pound could weaken given that the retailing reported sales index is expected to remain stuck at 2 and the total distributed reported sales index is expected to fall from 18 to 15.

At the same time as the data is announced, Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney will give a speech at the Financial Stability Report press conference, so there is the potential for further dovish comments from him to further accelerate the Pounds decline.
Hello



I'm moving to Dubai for a job with Emirates in September.

I'm married and my wife has a 6 year old son from a previous unmarried relationship.



I'm aware of the procedure and the extra documents required for sponsoring stepchildren.



WE will obtain the No objection Letter without difficulties from her ex and get it notarised.



However,



Because they were unmarried and had an "amicable" breakup they never went to court and my wife has never obtained an official document giving her "full custody"



Here is my query, I'm looking for feedbacks from families who were in a similaire situation ( who had the "NOL" , but no court order )



Has it been a problem for anyone ?

I have been advised by Emirates colleagues the "NOL" was sufficient and the Court order was optional , can anyone confirm this information ?



Thank you very much for your advises



Floxman


Discussions are under way as to the status of expats, both in the UK, and in European Union, after Brexit and the details revealed so far have been criticised as underwhelming.British Prime Minister Theresa May has proposed that EU country expats who have lived in the UK for five years should maintain their rights to healthcare, education, welfare and pensions.The Prime Minister told a European Council summit in Brussels that she wanted to offer certainty to the estimated three million EU expats in the UK and ensure that families are not split up by Brexit.But she made clear that the proposals would be adopted only if the same rights are granted to UK citizens living in the remaining EU states in a reciprocal settlement and also stated that she would not accept a Brussels demand that the European Court of Justice retaining powers to enforce rights after Brexit.May outlined that there would be a specific cut-off date for EU expats to take up the offer if they had lived in the UK for five years up to that point and that those resident for a shorter period would have the chance to stay on until they have reached the five-year threshold.She proposed a two-year grace period for those arriving after the cut-off date but before the date of Brexit to regularise their immigration status with a view to later seeking settled status.But British expats hit out and said that the offer falls far short of more detailed proposals from the EU.Sue Wilson, a Briton who lives in Spain and who chairs the Remain in Spain group, said one of the main concerns was the rejection by May of the European Court of Justice being the ultimate legal arbiter of all legal disputes including breaches of EU citizens rights.Theresa May is acting as though she is making the first move, and we should all be impressed and grateful at her generosity. The offer already made by the EU was far more generous, for both EU and UK citizens living abroad, she pointed out.British expats in France are also underwhelmed. We find it bizarre that she expects the EU to reciprocate to her offer which falls short of their own. Does she expect the EU to water down its offer to match hers? said Dave Spokes, a spokesman for Expat Citizen Rights in EU.This not a negotiation to get the lowest possible price. It is, or should be, a negotiation to gain the best support for real people. It seems a very odd strategy for the UK to offer less support for citizens than that being offered by the EU. Should they not be encouraging the EU to give more? he added.European Council President Donald Tusk was also less than impressed and said that the British proposals would effectively reduce the citizens' rights of EU nationals living in the UK. My first impression is that the UK offer is below our expectations and risks worsening the situation of citizens, he added.More details of the offer are about to be published and Tusk said they will be analysed line by lineHe added that the offer would be subjected to line-by-line analysis by the Brexit negotiation team after details are published in London on Monday.According to sociologist Dr Michaela Benson of Goldsmiths College at the University of London, equal rights is the very bottom line. At the very least, any terms which the UK seeks for its own citizens would have to be offered to EU citizens wishing to come or stay, she said.
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The multimillion-dollar telemedicine industry is poised for a lucrative run across Texas now that some of the toughest restrictions in the nation finally have been lifted by the state.

A new law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, who has championed the issue, opens a huge market that potentially could connect millions of Texans to doctors who now can diagnose patients more easily by video chat.

This is welcome news in a state where elbow room is measured in the hundreds of miles and doctor shortages are chronic. Texas dwells near the bottom nationally in per-capita access to a physician, and 35 counties  with a combined population of about 115,000 people  have no doctor at all.

About 1.8 million Texans, or roughly the population of West Virginia, live in a county with no obstetrician-gynecologist.

I see patients who drive an hour and a half to see me, said Dr. Katie Blalock, a family practitioner in Navasota, population 7,500.

Often, her patients work on farms or live in remote areas. A trip to the doctor eats up much of the day, so they skip it. That, in turn, can mean a minor ailment gets worse.

I deal with that on a daily basis, Blalock said.

The new law was written to address the shortage.

This is a huge step forward, a real positive for Texas, said Dr. Nancy Dickey, executive director of the Rural and Community Health Institute at Texas A&M University.

She recently co-authored a report about the health crisis facing rural Texans amid hospital closings and other barriers to access.

Texas was one of the last holdouts in the rapidly evolving world of virtual medicine by requiring an in-person visit between doctor and patient in most cases before allowing diagnosis.

That requirement was at the heart of a bitter, six-year legal battle between the Texas Medical Board, which cited concerns of insufficient patient care, and Teladoc, a national leader in telemedicine.

3 million Texans

Teladoc, headquartered in Lewisville, has more than 20 million customers nationwide, including 3 million in Texas. Previously in Texas, the company used phones and high-resolution photos for diagnoses, as did other telemedicine companies in the state.

Teladoc has spent about $13 million in legal fees alone in the fight. The new state law presumably renders the fight moot.

The Texas Medical Board, made up of 19 regulators, declined to comment directly on the new law.

The litigation, although abated, is still pending, a spokesman said in an emailed statement.

The need in Texas carried the day, said Jason Gorevic, CEO of Teladoc. This paves the way to expand.

Or at least catch up with the rest of the country.

When it comes to per-capita access to a physician, Texas usually ranks between 46th and 48th in the nation, Dickey said.

In fact, 158 of Texas 254 counties do not have a single surgeon. In 185 counties, representing more than 3 million people, there is not a single psychiatrist. Eighty counties have five or fewer physicians.

While the traditional picture of telemedicine is one of linking a doctor to a patient in some isolated dot on the map, Dickey said its equally useful for those in small towns who might be 30- to 45-minute drive from a specialist in a larger city.

Those patients, often older and poorer, may not have the time or energy to make a drive on rural roads, Dickey said.

It is a way to take very specialized medical skills out to towns of 10,000 to 20,000 people, she said.

Telehealth has become a force in medicine impossible to ignore.

Kaiser Permanente, the national health system powerhouse, announced recently that its patients now are connecting with health care professionals virtually more than they do through traditional office visits.

Flip the switch

But its more than just patients who stand to gain from the new law.

Weve been building a network for seven years. Now we can flip the switch, said Ron Gutman, CEO of HealthTap, a privately held California company that touts its network of 100,000 doctors that patients can access online and through video chats.

Previously, his Texas clients could do an online search of symptoms or pose questions but could not connect with a live doctor.

The new virtual service went live in Texas on June 1. It can be purchased through a subscription for $99 per month for unlimited consultation, but it is not covered by insurance. It also offers a one-time chat starting at $49 that the company said can be covered, depending on the doctor.

Teladoc offers its services through insurance plans and doesnt include a direct-to-consumer option.

Other industry leaders, such as American Well, also applauded the new law. American Well announced plans to enter the Texas market with its direct-to-consumer app called Amwell, which also went live June 1. The service is covered by some insurance plans or can be bought directly for $59 per visit.

We join the industry in congratulating Texas on entering the telehealth era, Dr. Roy Schoenberg, CEO of that privately held Boston-based company, said 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.

Care at retail stores

Meanwhile, Hello Alvin, a mobile health care network, plans to expand its footprint in Texas by offering prepaid access to medical care at retail stores.

For $100 per year families can purchase unlimited online or phone access to a health professional at select stores. A video chat will cost $45 per visit.

The financial rewards appear as bright as the ground is fertile.

Texas is a big state. It represents enormous opportunity for Hello Alvin, said Arif Razvi, CEO and founder of the New York-based company.

Before the new law  and any business bump it may create  Teladoc was already forecasting $180 million to $185 million in revenue for 2017, up 50 percent over last year.

While the reach into underserved areas is being lauded, concern remains that it is not a cure-all

Simply deploying technology is not going to fix all our health care challenge, said Dr. Thomas Kim, an Austin psychiatrist and internist.

While a telemedicine enthusiast, he acknowledges it will never completely replace a traditional exam.

It also will do little to curb the uninsured rate in a state that already leads the nation.

Often, the uninsured in Texas live in the very regions that telehealth seeks to help. But if the subscription is too expensive or comes only through insurance plans, those people remain left out, Dickey said.

Still, she said, any boost in access to care is important and symbolizes a rethinking of how medical needs are met.

I think the day has come when every little town cannot expect a bricks-and-mortar hospital, Dickey said.

But we have to find a way to not only get them access to care but quality access to care.

jenny.deam@chron.com
For the better part of the past half-century, Vietnam veteran Bob Luckett has been working in the construction industry.

Luckett, 69, started out as a laborer in a masonry company after completing his military service in 1971.

It was tough work at first. His boss was great, but he worked you to death, he said, and soon Luckett developed an allergy to the lime in mortar.

My hands were like hamburgers.

So Luckett took on a supervisory role and steadily rose through the ranks before starting his own contracting company in 1998. He took charge of projects from designing and building homes from scratch to doing remodels and additions.

He sold the company in 2015 and did some consulting and project management for local construction companies. But he knew he wanted something different, something more.

Then Luckett heard a report on the radio one day about the challenges veterans face finding a job after leaving the service, and the idea for a new venture was born.

In November, Luckett founded Veterans Next Mission, a nonprofit that offers veterans a paid four-year training program to prepare them for a career in the construction industry.

One recent afternoon on a quiet, tree-lined cul-de-sac in Arlington, Virginia, Luckett was hard at work with his first group of trainees. The crew was working on a $185,000, 12-by-16-foot addition to a home Luckett designed and built 12 years ago for a newlywed couple.

Now that the family has grown to include three kids, extra space was needed. And Luckett was back to help his old clients  and some veterans looking for an opportunity.

Put a nail in, right there, Luckett said, pointing at a corner where two wooden boards needed to be held together.

Gripping a gray nail gun tightly, Brian Mandes fired once.

Well, that was refreshing, Mandes, 44, said as the nail gun gave off a poof of cool air.

Mandes spent 14 years in the infantry in the Army National Guard. He had completed a tour in Iraq, where he was armed with an M4 rifle and an M2 .50-caliber machine gun. But hed never fired a nail gun.

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.

I love it. Every chance I get to use it, I use it, Mandes said.

Under Lucketts close guidance, his trainees put up form boards along the perimeter of the concrete base of the structure. They painstakingly measured out the wood, sawed it to the precise length and affixed it to the concrete slab.

At each step, Luckett would first demonstrate what to do, then have Mandes and Derek Lett, another trainee who served as a cavalry scout in the Army from 2011 to 2013, repeat the procedure. A third trainee, Lisa Duan, 24, was off that day.

Construction is a very natural transition for veterans, Luckett said, because it shares so many elements of military life: working outdoors, teamwork, discipline.

And Luckett thinks that veterans bring an additional element of grit to construction work.

A lot of other construction sites, its raining, and the guys are gone, he said. For these guys, its just water.

The veteran unemployment rate stands at 3.4 percent, lower than the national average of 4 percent for nonveterans, according to the latest May figures from the Labor Department. But some veterans face greater challenges finding employment than others. Those ages 18 to 24 have an unemployment rate of 10.7 percent, more than 2 percentage points higher than nonveterans the same age, Labor Department statistics show.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is reviewing whether the state should sign on to a new federal initiative aimed at giving police, firefighters and other first responders access to a dedicated high-speed wireless network.

Dallas-based AT&T is spending about $40 billion over the life of a 25-year agreement to build, operate and maintain The First Responder Network Authority, or FirstNet, a dedicated high-speed, reliable wireless LTE (Long Term Evolution) network designed to allow first responders to send and receive information no matter how crowded, or rural, the location.

Right now, first responders use the same wireless networks as everyone else, which often drives them to rely on radios instead of cellphones, laptops or other wireless devices during events that might make networks congested, like sporting events or natural disasters. First responders also dont always have cellphone coverage in rural areas.

I just think its so important that were going to be able to provide this capability to public safety that allows them to leverage the same kind of tools that you and I may take for granted, you know, having a smartphone, having applications that help us do our job each day, FirstNet President TJ Kennedy said.

FirstNet, an independent authority within the Department of Commerce, is providing 20 megahertz of spectrum to support the project and success-based payments of $6.5 billion over the next five years to support the Network buildout, according to a news release at the time.

State officials are reviewing the plan for Texas. FirstNet and AT&T announced June 19 that they were releasing customized state plans via an online portal to U.S. states and territories. Only three territories hadnt yet received their plans as of Tuesday, Kennedy said, because they were still working with the team to address their needs.

About 80 percent to 85 percent of the content across all the state plans is the same, but what is unique is the coverage plan for each state, Chris Sambar, senior vice president of AT&T FirstNet, said in a joint phone interview with Kennedy.

You think about Texas, the governor, I know, has an interest in covering rural areas, covering schools, covering the border areas, helping Customs and Border Patrol and the local authorities there, Sambar said. So those are all the unique things that Texas is looking for. Weve been engaged in conversations with them, and were in the process of satisfying, we believe, all of the concerns that they have and all of the desires that they have, for the most part.

Texas is interested in better covering areas around schools because those are often used as evacuation centers, Kennedy said.

On June 19, officials were told that they would have 45 days to review their state plans and give feedback. Then an official 90-day clock starts ticking for all state leaders, and Abbott has to decide whether Texas will opt in.

Public safety professionals across the state, the Department of Public Safety and the governors office are reviewing the FirstNet state plan, Todd Early, Texas statewide interoperability coordinator, said via email. Early is the point of contact for Texas with FirstNet.

The governors office will make the decision to opt in or out, Early said, adding via email Thursday that no decisions have been made. A few states have issued requests for proposals to keep their options open, but Early wrote Thursday that Texas had not issued any RFPs.

This 45-day period is where the  in Texas wed call it horse trading  is going to happen, said Tom Sorley, deputy chief information officer of public safety for the city of Houston. I think that the state, the group will look at it and theyll have concerns in certain areas and theyll make comments, push back, negotiate, if you will, with FirstNet and AT&T to try to get the plan closer to what they want it to be before it goes to the governor. So thats exactly, in my opinion, what the 45 days is for.

The most-often voiced concern about FirstNet, Sorley said, is about coverage.

Many of the states, including Texas, have an awful lot of rural areas that dont have coverage now, Sorley said. And theyre not going to have coverage on day one of this plan either. You know its a 25-year contract, but  the first five years is where theyre going to do a lot of the building. And so I think thats where youre going to see most of a) the concern and b) the negotiation happen.

If Abbott opts in, AT&T will be responsible for building, maintaining and upgrading the network for the state for the next 25 years. But if Abbott chooses for Texas to opt out, that does not mean the Lone Star State would be off the hook.

Governors who opt out commit their state to building an equivalent network and maintaining it for 25 years. And that network still has to be interoperable with FirstNet.

Its a little early in the process to know one way or the other, Sorley said about whether Abbott will opt in.

Sorley also chairs the Public Safety Advisory Committee, a group that represents public safety and government groups nationwide in FirstNet discussions, offering its expertise and guidance to the planning process.

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.

From my perspective, I think it would be very challenging for the state of Texas to take on the responsibility of building and operating our own, whats called a radio access network, or a RAN, because its a 25-year commitment, and it would take an inordinate amount of resources to do that, Sorley said. If I were the governor, I would have a hard time committing the state to that long-term obligation.

If states opt in, they dont have to pay for the building of the network, or for maintaining or upgrading it for the length of that 25-year-contract, Kennedy said, and states would pay only the service fees through the FirstNet offering, such as those that consumers pay for cellphone service.

We do have LTE, but its not prioritized, said Anthony Trevino, assistant chief of the San Antonio Police Department. And so this will create a public safety broadband that has priority communications so during critical incidents, things of that nature, officers will still be able to communicate critical information to each other via this broadband network.

Trevino said that during crowded events such as the Alamo Bowl, for example, it would be helpful to be able to text officers pictures or other information on a suspect, instead of having to rely on verbal descriptions by radio.

If we try to send anything out, we just fall in queues like everybody else, and so that really put us at a disadvantage when it comes to being able to use broadband technology as a force multiplier in fighting crime, Trevino said.

The lack of a dedicated network for first responders could also be a problem in the event of a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

Lets say, heaven forbid, if there was a terrorist event, any cellphone communications would basically be useless because the LTE network would be inundated with traffic and calls, and things of that nature, Trevino said. We couldnt utilize that. Wed have to solely depend on police radios to be able to communicate.

Many discussions went into preparing the Texas plan, and the data that FirstNet and AT&T received from the state covered thousands and thousands and thousands of public safety agencies, putting in their input, Kennedy said.

Todd (Early) and the team have invited us down, Kennedy said. Ive literally been on the border, in aircraft as well as in boats, you know, looking at the needs and requirements of the Texas Department of Public Safety and local public safety providers on the border. Theyve done a really great job of making sure we understand  the rural Texas needs as well as the different metro areas across the state.

sehlinger@express-news.net

Twitter: @samehlinger
Opponents of Texas so-called sanctuary cities bill, the most restrictive piece of state immigration legislation in the past five years, will try to persuade a federal judge in San Antonio today to put the law on hold before it goes into effect Sept. 1.

Lawyers for eight Texas cities and counties  including San Antonio, Austin, the border community of El Cenizo and Maverick County  and for several advocacy groups will argue that U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia should block Senate Bill 4, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law last month.

Its the first major piece of state immigration legislation passed during the presidency of Donald Trump, whose Justice Department on Friday filed a statement of interest saying it supports the law. Trump has taken a hard line on immigration: Hes called for a wall on the southern border and has signed executive orders limiting travel from certain countries and expanding who can be targeted for deportation.

I know its hard to believe, but when Donald Trump campaigned, he said he was going to do certain things, said Luis Vera, an attorney for the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is representing El Cenizo. Well, this is his first big push toward the states. Donald Trump is supporting everything that Greg Abbott wants to do under SB 4.

Portions of other state immigration laws, such as those in Arizona, Alabama and Georgia, were declared unconstitutional or watered down under court challenges by the Justice Department under then-President Barack Obama. The department had argued that the state bills violated the supremacy clause of the Constitution and were pre-empted by existing federal immigration law.

Today, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which challenged the Arizona law and is representing the city of San Antonio, will make that argument without the weight of the federal government behind it.

Thomas Saenz, MALDEFs president and general counsel, called the Justice Departments position a great disappointment, and a grave retreat and even betrayal of the 50-year history of the federal government under the administrations of both parties.

This administration is not going to play the traditional role of defending the civil rights of everyone, Saenz said. Theyre going to withdraw from participation in litigation to defend folks civil rights, and if this is any indication, theyre going to intervene on behalf of state governments rather than folks whose rights are violated.

Lawyers for both the plaintiffs and the state of Texas are expected to present oral arguments and live witness testimony that will last all day. Garcia has asked for additional briefing after the hearing and is unlikely to make a decision today.

The state filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against Austin and Travis County the day after Abbott signed the bill, asking a judge in Austin to declare the law constitutional. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks will hold a hearing Thursday to hear arguments on whether that case should continue. Texas has asked that the San Antonio challenge be consolidated with its lawsuit in Austin.

SB 4 targets city and county policies that limit police officers ability to enforce immigration laws. In the case of San Antonio, the city could be fined and officials could be removed from office under the new law if the police department doesnt change its policy preventing officers from asking about immigration status.

County officials can face criminal charges if they dont honor requests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold in jail for 48 hours people who would have been released after an arrest on state criminal charges and who are suspected of being eligible for deportation.

In an unrelated case this month, Garcia ruled that such detainers are unconstitutional. Bexar County violated the rights of Julio Trujillo Santoyo, an immigrant living in San Antonio who was arrested on an assault charge, when it held him after his criminal case was dismissed so ICE officers could investigate his immigration status, the judge found.

I think it is very, very telling that the same judge ruled the detainer was not mandatory and to hold (Trujillo) in violation of the Fourth Amendment would result in damages, Geoffrey Hoffman, director of the University of Houston Law Centers immigration clinic. Hoffman cautioned, however, that Garcias ruling on an individual ICE detainer does not mean hell find SB 4 unconstitutional.

In order to succeed in the case, the cities and counties have to show that the law is harmful and that they would be likely to succeed in proving its unconstitutional. If Garcia rules against SB 4, hell set a new hearing to determine the laws constitutionality. His decision can be appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The legal battles brought on by Trumps immigration policies arent likely to go away.

I think its part of a broader shift on both sides of the issue, Hoffman said. So for example, you have California considering action to protect sanctuary cities. Theres going to be legislation brought by the states on both sides of this issue. I dont think its just states trying to enforce immigration laws, its going to be states trying to protect immigrants. I think theres going to be further legislation and litigation.

jbuch@express-news.net

Twitter: @jlbuch
WASHINGTON  Texas Democrats in Congress remain confident about the 2018 elections despite a stinging loss in a Georgia congressional race last week that highlighted a string of deflating defeats.

A remark by Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, that only an idiot would believe that Democrats can recapture the House under Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was an isolated eruption in a delegation resolute about maintaining united opposition to Trump administration policies.

I think some of the comments are very harmful and only serve to encourage our opponents, said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-San Antonio.

Special elections often get overinterpreted, but the GOP success in holding a seat in the Atlanta suburbs may have reached new heights in excessive commentary.

Republicans trumpeted the 3.9-percentage-point victory by Karen Handel over Democratic newcomer Jon Ossoff in the turf once represented by GOP luminary Newt Gingrich as another sign of their expanding fortunes and proof that Democrats are clueless when it comes to taking on President Donald Trump in the new political landscape.

It was a reality check for Democrats, who invested upward of $25 million in the contest at the behest of the partys restless base. A San Antonio phone bank assisted Ossoffs campaign.

Despair by some in the party was compounded by other losses in other contests to replace Trump nominees in South Carolina, Montana and Kansas.

Ossoffs centrist strategy  heavy on fiscal responsibility and light on taking on Trump  added to the second-guessing from Democrats girded for a pitched fight to regain the House.

Nonetheless, many Democrats looking ahead to 2018 took solace in fundamentals of midterm elections and the reality that the four special elections were fought in districts they seldom have won.

All those were heavily Republican districts, asserted Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.

I dont think this is the time to be debating among ourselves, he said, referring to a call from a small segment of House Democrats to bounce Pelosi, D-Calif., from leadership. We can always talk about that after 2018. But right now, we have to stay focused, and if President Trump keeps giving us a lift, I think were going to be very successful.

Democrats, who need a net pickup of 24 seats to win the House, are buoyed by knowing that the party of a president typically loses seats in midterm elections  an average of nearly 30 seats over the past 21 midterms. Much of that history was recorded before the extreme gerrymandering of recent times.

There is no doubt that the House is in play, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told reporters Thursday while trying to buck up demoralized Democrats.

Lujan supplemented his words with polls showing support eroding for Republicans in more than two dozen House districts, presumably because of Trump.

Analysts note that a presidents popularity often is a key factor in congressional contests.

The most important leading indicator for 2018 is not the special elections but President Trumps approval rating, which is 40 percent or lower, said Alan Abramowitz of Emory University. Thats a big, bright red warning sign that is flashing.

Abramowitz, author of several books on elections, recalled that George W. Bushs positive rating hovered at about 40 percent in 2006, when Democrats gained 31 seats, twice what they needed to regain control of the chamber.

If Trumps approval ratings remain that low or go even lower, I think Democrats are going to have a pretty good year in terms of recruitment and have a shot at picking up the House and several governorships, he said.

The view of Trump could well improve if the president enables Republicans to succeed in the goals of repealing the Affordable Care Act and revising the income tax code in ways that lower rates and simplify filing.

Yet Democrats thus far havent settled on a strategy, as the congressional race in Georgia suggested. The loss fueled an internal debate over what message Democrats ought to present to voters.

There isnt a message right now, but so what? said Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of NDN, a Democratic-aligned think tank in Washington

Democrats dont need to have a message at this point other than theyre fighting to stop the worst excesses of the Trump agenda. Thats all they can do. Theres time to develop a message, he said.

Democrats are banking that pass or fail, the GOPs newly drawn health insurance legislation unveiled in the Senate last week, with its Medicaid reductions and effective tax cuts for high-income earners, will provide plenty of campaign fodder.

As ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means tax-writing panel, Doggett will have opportunities to convey his partys opposition when the GOP gets serious about tax reform, probably in the fall.

Doggett said he thinks that Democrats main focus needs to be the economy and encouraging job growth. He also believes that fiscal responsibility needs to be a pillar of the Democratic message.

Republicans seem to use fiscal responsibility only as an excuse to undermine social and educational programs that theyve been opposed to for other reasons, to forget it when they come up with huge tax bills, he said.

Cuellar said that in the aftermath of Georgia, Democrats need to make certain they recruit the best candidates to carry the partys message in districts regarded as winnable.

With Barack Obama gone from office, Democrats have no obvious leader to set an agenda. Pelosi would have been better able to fill that role if she hadnt fallen victim to routine GOP demonization.

In Georgia, voters saw the latest round of ads tying the Democratic candidate with Pelosi, similar to what Republicans and aligned super PACS have aired in recent campaigns.

We already have Nancy Pelosi as our congresswoman, the announcer in one such ad said. Now youre going to give us Jon Ossoff as our congressman.

After the Georgia election, the National Republican Congressional Committee sent out a mocking video that began: To someone who has been such a wonderful contributor, thank you Nancy Pelosi.

Trump got into the act with a tweet that included Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

I certainly hope the Democrats do not force Nancy P out. That would be very bad for the Republican Party  and please let Cryin Chuck stay! Trump wrote.

U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, chairman of the National Republican Committee, remarked that while Pelosi motivates Republicans, the Democrats problem has to do with their message.

They are talking about distractions, theyre talking about obstruction, theyre talking about resistance, while Karen Handel was talking about fixing our economy, getting people back to work, rebuilding our infrastructure and fixing health care, he said on Fox News.

Pelosi, 77, replied defiantly Thursday to criticism from Vela and others.

My decision about how long I stay is not up to them, she said at a news conference.

So you want me to sing my praises, is that what youre saying? Well, Im a master legislator. Im a strategic, politically astute leader.

Her words signaled that she plans to stick around, which appears acceptable to a majority of Democrats who remain hopeful about 2018.

I dont think divisions are as great as perhaps have been reported, Doggett said. We need to stay focused on getting a Democratic House majority next year. Thats the one check we have on Trump and the excesses that are out there.

blambrecht@express-news.net
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DEL RIO  In his closing argument to the jury in the public corruption case against two former Crystal City officials, a federal prosecutor turned the words of defendant James Jonas against him.

He said, Welcome to South Texas, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hulings reminded jurors Friday, saying it was a lawless attitude that pervaded the case.

They meant, thats the way things are and always have been, Hulings said in a later interview. Nothing has ever been investigated or prosecuted. Well get away with it.

But, Hulings went on to tell the jury, The last time I checked, South Texas is still in the United States of America. And were a country built on the rule of law.

After four hours of deliberation that went into Monday, the jury apparently took the message to heart and convicted Jonas, a former Crystal City manager and city attorney, and former Mayor Ricardo Lopez, on all 18 counts they faced in indictments handed up in February 2016.

In returning the guilty verdicts on charges including fraud, bribery and conspiracy, the panel apparently put aside defense claims that the two men were unfairly targeted by the government.

After reading the verdict in the weeklong trial, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses ordered the pair taken into custody. Jonas, 55, and Lopez, 41, both in gray suits, were handcuffed and led away by U.S. marshals.

Some of the charges carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison. A sentencing date hasnt yet been set.

On hand to observe the verdict were a handful of Crystal City public officials, several of whom had fought against a group that supported Jonas.

Its been a long, hard journey to get to this point. Weve come to the end of another chapter, Mayor Frank Moreno said

Hopefully, this will allow our community to come together, added Moreno, who four years ago began complaining of illegal conduct among city officials, including Jonas.

Another official, City Councilman Joel Barajas, recalled serving on the council as the only member who was not loyal to Jonas.

I was ignored. I got no information, no reports, no agendas. I always felt he was in charge, Barajas said of Jonas.

The only person among the spectators to support Jonas was Abner Rodriguez, 42, pastor of the Laredo English Seventh Day Adventist Church.

I dont know very much about the case, but I do know Mr. Jonas. Hes a very caring man, a righteous man and a God-fearing man, said Rodriguez, who said he has been counseling Jonas and his wife by telephone in recent months.

Jonas was a former prominent Republican lobbyist who was down on his luck and who owed $12,000 a month in child support when he was hired as city attorney in 2012, despite having no municipal experience.

He soon added the role of city manager, and his salary eventually climbed to $216,000 a year, about three times what the low-income city of 7,500 had been spending on the two positions previously.

Jonas quickly alienated a sizable faction in Crystal City, and toward the end of his tenure, he was receiving threats and required armed policemen at council meetings.

Other defendants in the case  three councilmen and an 8-liner operator  had already pleaded guilty and have yet to be sentenced. Jonas and Lopez declined plea offers and elected to go to trial.

While neither Jonas nor Lopez took the stand, they were very much present as the case unfolded, in secret recordings that provided irrefutable evidence for the governments case.

In one recording, which captured an exchange between Jonas and civil engineer Dan Hejl, who was working undercover for the government, there is little ambiguity about what was happening.

I brought some cash here to help you out, Hejl says on a recording as he hands Jonas an envelope of money.

Well, your timing could not have been more exquisite, Jonas replies.

Later, the two discussed the payment arrangement, which Hejl insists is merely an expression of his friendship.

Its never conditional on you being helpful, but its all part of the relationship, he says, to which Jonas replies, Its the glue that keeps the team together.

Jonas was also caught in recordings trying to set up a $20,000 kickback from Manny Pelaez, the new District 8 councilman in San Antonio, who was cooperating with authorities.

The kickback was supposed to come from a $60,000 fee that Jonas wanted Pelaez to charge a solar energy company seeking to do a project in Crystal City, best known for being the birthplace of the Raza Unida Party.

During a series of recorded conversations, Jonas and Pelaez brainstormed on how to hide the $20,000 payment with false bookkeeping. The proposed schemes ranged from Jonas becoming an unnamed legal assistant to the purchase of expensive show dogs.

Ultimately, the solar project fell through before any legal fees were paid, but not before the kickback scheme was documented in recordings.

In one particularly ironic wrinkle, Pelaez said Jonas wanted him to present the project to the council, instead of the solar company president, who happened to be Anglo.

He wanted me to be the face of the project when it came to dealing with the City Council. He said the City Council pretty much only speaks Spanish and they dont trust Anglos down there, Pelaez testified.

But the city conducts most of its public business in English, and Jonas was its most prominent Anglo official.

jmaccormack@express-news.net
As the so-called sanctuary cities faced scrutiny inside a federal court downtown Monday, hundreds including elected officials and the areas leader of the Catholic Church, gathered outside to protest Senate Bill 4.

When you have entire swaths of our community that are afraid to work with out police departments ... that does not advance public safety, Mayor Ron Nirenberg told the crowd. That makes it more likely to have an intolerant community where people are afraid to talk to the police and we have a broken down community relations.

As least 100 people had queued in front of the John H. Wood Federal Courthouse awaiting entrance to U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcias court for the hearing on a preliminary injunction request on Senate Bill 4, which punishes local governments who prevent police from asking about immigration status and requires jails to honor immigration detainers

Outside the courthouse, about 750 protesters were addressed throughout the day by various organization leaders.

Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller prayed to the crowd and then addressed the protesters.

We are already divided. There is a lot of violence and a lot of anger, Garcia-Siller said in an interview after the prayer. A law like this, SB4, it just deepens the scenario.

The hearing to block SB4, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law last month, might take up to two days for oral arguments, according to a judges order in the case.

The United States, which filed a request late last week to be heard, will have 30 minutes to present its statement. The City of Dallas may have 15 minutes to make a statement and proposed intervenors the City of Houston and Texas Association of Hispanic County Judges and County Commissioners will have 10 minutes each to make a statement, the judges order said.

Nirenberg was joined by other officials including Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Austin Councilman Greg Casar and Houston Councilman Robert Gallegos.

Councilman Rey Saldana and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff were inside testifying against the bill, Nirenberg said.

A few people occasionally chanted Hey-hey, ho-ho, SB4 has got to go! as a stage was set up for speakers, with rain dousing the crowd at around 11:30 a.m.

At one point, a man identified only as Alex, who wore a Trump 2020 campaign t-shirt caused an uproar when he began chanting No illegal immigrants!

San Antonio Alliance union organizer Katy Bravenec shouted in response Im an immigrant, as he chanted.

The man tried to get around her, but she would not move when he put his hands on her shoulders and slightly attempted to push her back.

The man was escorted out of the area by Department of Homeland Security officers, who said he was agitating the crowd. They added that he could be escorted away because the group protesting there had a permit for use of the area.

Michelle Tremillo, executive director of the Texas Organizing Project, recalled Proposition 187 when it was introduced to California legislation in 1994.

She said the bill was introduced in response to Latinos gaining influence in the area.

They thought (Latinos) would leave the state and retreat into the shadows, she said, comparing it to the bill . That is why SB4 was passed. That is why it was an emergency item.

During his prayer, Garcia-Siller asked for God to help all sides involved in SB4.

We ask you to hear our prayer for reconciliation, that the separation between us may be overcome, he said.

State and local organizations addressing the audience included the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, MOVE San Antonio and La Union del Pueblo Entero.

State Sen. Charles Perry, author of SB4, released a statement Monday afternoon saying that the law is not about taking on a federal immigration role, but partnering with law enforcement to keep those who commit dangerous crimes off the streets.

The public understands that law enforcement officials should not help those found guilty of serious crimes, such as sexual assault and burglary, evade immigration detainers, Perry said in the statement, saying there is much misinformation and fear-mongering surrounding the bill.

During the rally, state Senators Diego Bernal and Jose Menendez said members of the senate voted no to amendments that would narrow down the scope of SB4 such as exempting victims of domestic abuse, giving a border patrol exam to law enforcement, and exempting crimes of traffic stops and jaywalking.

We asked for compliance with the civil rights act, what do you think they said?, Menendez asked. No, the crowd responded.

This bill is really a law thats looking for a solution, Menendez said.

San Antonio Express-News staff writer Jason Buch and E-N photographer Bob Owen contributed to this report.

jbeltran@express-news.net

Twitter: @JBfromSA
Opponents of SB4 will amass near the federal courthouse today to show their support for plaintiffs suing Texas for establishing a restrictive, anti-immigrant, anti-Latino and anti-public safety law that, without intervention, will take effect Sept. 1.

Inside the courthouse, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia will hear lawyers for several organizations fighting SB4, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Standing with them outside will be groups such as the Texas Organizing Project, Texas Civil Rights Project, Mi Familia Vota, RAICES, Unite Here San Antonio, the Workers Defense Project and a lesser-known group with some of youngest activists.

MOVE San Antonio represents the much-maligned millennial generation, now equal in size to baby boomers but yet to show power at the polls. Its members represent hope for a new generation and has arrived to the growing anti-SB4 movement.

MOVE (mobilize, organize, vote, empower) has become a training ground for activism. Though not monothetic, several national and local events sparked a group on campus. It spread to five more campuses and created an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan group with two full-time professionals. Its now affiliated with the national Bus Project Foundation, self-described as giving people their first taste of delicious democracy.

For some, the Black Lives Matter Movement was a catalyst. Environmental and public transportation issues have been an impetus for others. The City of San Antonios non-discrimination ordinance spiked their activism nerve, too.

Some are African American, but theyre also Latino, white, gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. Theyre U.S. citizens, permanent residents and people from families with various immigration statuses. Theyre students covered by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals who are concerned with those who arent.

Theyre students and recent graduates worried about the undocumented and the refugee, travel bans and anti-Muslim hate. Theyve become energized by civic engagement, some of it the nerdiest, wonkiest kind: Think charter review commission.

Executive Director Drew Galloway, at 34 the oldest person in the room, says MOVE has registered voters and got them to the polls. In 2013, the founding UTSA group registered 1,000 new voters, getting 800 to vote. He called it a great lesson in democracy, adding they didnt tell fellow millennials how to vote but to think about the issues they care about when voting.

A lot of other groups focused on registering millennials, and statistics show it made a difference. In May 2015, Bexar County voters under 35 made up 3.4 person of voters, he said. It hit 9.2 percent this year.

MOVE worked on increasing polling places on college campuses and promoted Know Your Rights workshops for immigrant students. Theyve attended council meetings and spoke during citizens to be heard proceedings. Theyve also shown up at VIA Metro meetings. They care about public transit because they want to live downtown, get rid of their cars and focus on paying down debt.

MOVE has helped them understand the structure and the way government works, Galloway says.

Among them is a DACA who wants to run for office someday. She wants campuses to become sanctuaries for undocumented and refugee students. Shell help lead a campus group this fall and comes from a family made up of people with a range of immigration statuses.

Viktoria Zerda was among MOVEs founders at UTSA. She graduated in 2016 and is now a social worker working with unaccompanied minors in foster care, among them the Central Americans children who showed up at the border in 2014.

That moment triggered her involvement, as did the gubernatorial candidacy of Sen. Wendy Davis. It was the first election that I saw Texas moving in a progressive path, she said.

Millennials might have felt defeated then. The election of a progressive mayor and council may have energized them, and theyll be out today to make their voice heard on SB4.

Galloway says hes speechless about their bravery, given the hits theyve taken  a recession, extreme debt, climate change and inequalities across communities. But among them are future organizers who may be candidates someday. If were lucky, some will be elected, and that gives me hope.

eayala@express-news.net
AUSTIN - When Rep. Diego Bernal visited school campuses across his district, he heard a story that shook him to his core.

The topic was hunger, and the story was this one:

I didnt always know what to do with the hungry students who came to see me later in the day because were not allowed to give them cafeteria food after the lunch period. There was one young man who came to see me more than a few times a week, so with him, I took to us walking back and forth between the main campus and one of the portables in the back. There was a pecan tree there, so wed walk back and forth and stop so he could pick and eat a few until he felt better.

Bernal, a Democrat who represents San Antonios District 123, promised not to identify educators or their campuses as he compiled a report on school issues. He wanted to ensure they could speak frankly. But he said the school in question was in one of his districts more affluent areas.

It was the one time in all of my visits where I almost lost my composure, Bernal told me. It struck me as being immoral. We have food on campus to give the kid, and we were unable to, and so then the students and the teachers and the staff resort to picking pecans It haunts you.

It wasnt the only story that struck Bernal. He also heard about a 7-year-old girl who walked by herself four blocks to school every Monday morning before the doors opened, waiting for breakfast.

Bernals report said that on a daily basis, campuses throw away untouched, unopened, ripe, perfectly edible food. He blamed the complexities of overlapping district, state, and federal policies, along with a collection of myths and cautionary tales.

At the same time, 25.6 percent of Texas children were food insecure in 2014, according to a Feeding America analysis of census data provided by the Center for Public Policy Priorities.

So Bernal did something about it.

He championed legislation in the regular session to allow schools to set up food pantries using good cafeteria items that otherwise would be thrown away  such as unopened, packaged food and unpeeled fruit. The schools also can use items collected in food drives. They can distribute it at any time during the day. The measure, carried by Bernal and Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.

A number of schools already partner with nonprofits to provide food for students to take home for the weekend, but that doesnt address waste. Some schools have set up sharing tables to make available leftover good food, but according to testimony when the bill was considered in committee, its only available during mealtimes  and in some areas, health authorities have shut them down.

Under the new state law, school pantries will fall under a law that protects those who donate food, and non-profit organizations that distribute it, from liability as long as they act in good faith. Health and safety standards still have to be followed.

Schools can implement their food programs in any way they see fit, Bernal said. Some may want to have refrigerated items, while others may offer bottled water, wrapped granola bars and cereal in peel-top containers.

People who oversee nutrition services in San Antonio school districts testified in favor of the proposal when it was considered in a House committee.

Sharon Glosson, executive director of school nutrition services at North East Independent School District, said her district serves breakfast, lunch and supper. Some food is wasted at every meal, she said, despite officials efforts to minimize waste. The amount is too small for the food bank to come pick up, but it would be enough to help students.

Jenny Arredondo  senior executive director of child nutrition services with San Antonio ISD, where 92 percent of students are economically disadvantaged  said her district does a good job of feeding students while they are in school. She said the law would allow them to extend that into the evening.

When we talk about feeding a child, it should not end when the school bell rings, Arredondo said.

The interfaith social justice network Texas Impact is enthusiastic about the new law

Our people love it, said the groups executive director Bee Moorhead.

She praised Bernal for coming up with a super-practical idea to deal with a part of Texas terrible hunger problem.

Its a small piece of the total picture of hunger in Texas, but everybody who advocated for and supported this bill can walk away from the 85th session confident in the knowledge that although it is small, it really will fill some empty tummies, Moorhead said. And that is more than a lot of people get to say in their legislative career  that they filled hungry tummies.

pfikac@express-news.net
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the suspension of all imports of fresh beef from Brazil because of recurring concerns about the safety of the products intended for the American market. The suspension of shipments will remain in place until the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture takes corrective action which the USDA finds satisfactory.



Since March, USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has been inspecting 100 percent of all meat products arriving in the United States from Brazil. FSIS has refused entry to 11 percent of Brazilian fresh beef products. That figure is substantially higher than the rejection rate of one percent of shipments from the rest of the world. Since implementation of the increased inspection, FSIS has refused entry to 106 lots (approximately 1.9 million pounds) of Brazilian beef products due to public health concerns, sanitary conditions, and animal health issues. It is important to note that none of the rejected lots made it into the U.S. market.



The Brazilian government had pledged to address those concerns, including by self-suspending five facilities from shipping beef to the United States. Todays action to suspend all fresh beef shipments from Brazil supersedes the self-suspension.



Secretary Perdue issued the following statement:



Ensuring the safety of our nations food supply is one of our critical missions, and its one we undertake with great seriousness. Although international trade is an important part of what we do at USDA, and Brazil has long been one of our partners, my first priority is to protect American consumers. Thats what weve done by halting the import of Brazilian fresh beef. I commend the work of USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service for painstakingly safeguarding the food we serve our families.

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La Bergerie is leased by WGH to Wellard and it is expected the lease will continue under a new owner, allowing Wellard to use the property as a pre-export feedlot for at least four more years and possibly up to eight years before the site is redeveloped for housing.
A UK court sentenced a former banker at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to six years in prison for taking $3.5 million in bribes from a Pennsylvania-based consultant.

Andrey Ryjenko, 44, a dual UK and Russian citizen, was convicted by a jury at Londons Old Bailey of a bribery conspiracy.

At the London-based development bank, Ryjenko reviewed applications for loans and investments submitted by eastern European oil, gas and mining firms.

Between July 2008 and November 2009, he agreed to take 50 percent of the commissions the Pennsylvania consultant would earn when the loans were approaved.

The consultant paid paid the money into accounts held by Ryjenkos sister, Tatjana Sanderson. She was charged but later declared unfit to stand trial.

In the United States, the DOJ charged the consultant with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Dmitrij Harder, 42, a Russian national living in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in 2016 to two counts of violating the FCPA. He appeared in federal court in Philadelphia.

Harder, a U.S. legal permanent resident, owned Chestnut Consulting Group Inc.

In return for $3.5 million in bribes to Ryjenko, one of Chestnuts clients won approval for an EBRD investment of $85 million and a 90 million ($100 million) loan.

Another client secured a $40 million EBRD investment and a $60 million convertible loan.

Harder and Chestnut earned about $8 million in success fees from the EBRDs approval of the two applications.

Harder is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18 by Judge Paul Diamond. He faces up to ten years in prison.

In the FCPA, the term foreign official means any officer or employee of a foreign government or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, or of a public international organization . . .  (15 U.S.C.  78dd-2(h)(2)(A))

The DOJ said the EBRD was a public international organization and Ryjenko was a foreign official. Harder argued the point in court but lost a motion to dismiss.

The DOJ said in 2016 it had help in the case from the City of London Police and from authorities in Germany, Jersey, and Guernsey.

The UK Crown Prosecution Service charged Ryjenko and his sister in 2012.

Ryjenko was also convicted of money laundering and sentenced to two years in prison, which will run concurrently.

_____

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
Foo Fighters dedicated a song to a late fan during their Glastonbury performance on Saturday (24.06.17).

Dave Grohl

The group performed 'Everlong' in tribute to Laura Plane - a teacher from Devon, South West England who lost her eight-year battle with cancer in May - after Laura's husband Jon contacted frontman Dave Grohl on Twitter.

Introducing the song, Dave said: "I'd like to dedicate this song to someone named Laura, who couldn't be here tonight.

"But we should all dance to this one for her, and that's what I think."

Jon and Laura chose 'Everlong' as their first dance at their wedding and were due to watch Foo Fighters this year to celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary but had to cancel as she was too ill to attend the gig.

Jon had contacted the band after Laura died asking if they could dedicate 'Everlong' and his request was picked up on social media and retweeted more than 12 million times, leading to Dave penning a handwritten note to Jon, which he shared via a photo uploaded to Twitter.

Dave, 48, wrote: "Jon - Dave here. Heard about Laura. Sending you much love and hope and light. Will be thinking of yous at Glasto. Take care mate. (sic)"

Speaking to the Plymouth Evening Herald newspaper, Jon - who watched the festival on TV - said: "I was in Cornwall at a friend's house so I didn't have any reception but I'm glad I didn't. I hadn't seen the Canadian interview where he talked about it so it ended up being a surprise.

"I watched the show and when it got the end I thought 'they're not going to do it on the last song not on such a huge show as this'.

"Then they did. It was amazing."

Speaking previously about Dave's letter, Jon said: "I can picture Laura's little face smiling about it. It is incredible. I am over the moon.

"Laura must have engineered this somehow as I was having a really bad week after her funeral when it hit me like a wave. I was a mess all of Sunday and Monday and then I saw Dave's message on Tuesday. I was blown away. The power of social media is crazy but incredible."

After Laura was diagnosed with cancer, she raised more than 70,000 for CoppaFeel - a charity dedicated to breast cancer awareness.
Gwyneth Paltrow's European vacation was a "victory" for a "homebody" like herself.

Gwyneth Paltrow (c) Instagram

The 'Mortdecai' star took to Instagram to share a picture from the two-week adventure, where she admitted it was tough being away from home for so long.

Captioning the picture, she wrote: "Two week trip complete #conildelafrontera #victorydanceofahomebody (sic)"

Through the last couple of weeks, Gwyneth shared pictures from her travels including photographs of her time in Cannes, St. Tropez and Villefranche-sur-Mer, and as she hung out with her ex-husband Chris Martin on a yacht in France's Cote d'Azur.

Meanwhile, Gwyneth Paltrow recently confessed she is "at a point" in her life where she quite likes herself and feels blessed to be "liberated from the chains" of other people's perceptions about her.

Asked how she trusts her Goop audience to go along with what she says without making any judgements about the content, she said: "They're not without judgement. When you're at the forefront of something that's new, people can get really reactive, 'This is crazy! Why are you doing this?' Then, five years later, everyone's fine with it.

"So I have a bit of pattern recognition in hand at this point - which is helpful. Also, when someone doesn't like something you do, or doesn't share your interest in something, that doesn't have anything to do with you. One of the best things someone ever said to me was that the only time criticism hurts is if you have a judgement about yourself about that very thing.

"If someone's like, 'You d**k, you have red hair!' and you've got brown hair, it doesn't bother you. It's a blessing to be liberated from the chains of other people's perceptions of you. It's part of wellness, working at that. I've gotten to a point where I like myself. I do my best as a person. I also have nothing to hide."
My psychologist Vivienne once said to me Sometimes compassion is grabbing someone by the scruff of the neck and pulling them out of the fire. I literally had to do that once with my friend Tom Palmer. He was dancing in a bonfire, wearing a dress. Tom had mental health issues. 1 in 4 people are affected and because like attracts like. I make friends with all the 1s.

Samantha Pressdee

I met Tom at what was the Sweets Way Estate in Barnet, its now a luxurious new development unaffordable to its former residents. Activists, squatters and residents had united and taken the estate under political occupation. We were resisting social cleansing; the idea that the poor are being pushed out of London by gentrification. The campaign was lead by women, but backed up by good men. Tom was one of those men, but not everyone saw him that way. He arrived on the estate like a wrecking ball, which is exactly what we were trying to avoid. It was July 2015, wed been in occupation since February. Tom came in with a squatting crew, The Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians, but they preferred the acronym ANAL. Known for their mischief they were very different to the core group at Sweets Way, who had a safe space policy. That was never going to wash with ANAL, most of them didnt like washing at all.

Tom was a kindred spirit. I could see past his wild ways as I was only a year into my recovery from a mental breakdown myself. I understood his frustration at the mental health system and wanted to help him. Id invited him to come stay with me in September 2016, when I would return from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The plan was to get him under my mental health team and help him apply for the disability benefit Personal Independence Payment. Getting my basic financial and support needs met has helped me maintain mental stability, I was hoping it would do the same for Tom.

Tragically. I was too late. Tom died on the 22nd of August last year. He was only 28. The cause of death was a heroin overdose, hed taken the drug impulsively. Many believe he was self medicating.

Tom believed in revolution, hes the inspiration for my show this year. Back 2 Basics is about creating equal ground, the firm foundation of basic security we all need in order to maintain mental health. I cant bring him back but I can honour his life by doing my little bit to create the future that he, myself and many others imagine.

What happened to Tom, was the ultimate social cleansing. He fell through our disintegrating welfare safety net. I like the idea of an Unconditional Basic Income, which is currently being trailed in Finland. Essentially it means no matter what, people have enough money to cover their basic needs. We also need safe social housing.

The consequences of austerity are starting to show. Its not saving us money, its costing lives. Social Housing, not social cleansing was the core message of Sweets Way Resists. Im angry that its taken the tragedy of The Grenfell Tower fire to bring social housing issues into the mainstream conversation. I dont believe it was the fire that killed the victims of Grenfell. It was an absence of compassion within our political system, leading to a lack of resources to pull them out before it was too late. As the gap between the rich and the poor continues to increase, its time we asked ourselves as a society. How much is enough?

Samantha Pressdee: Back 2 Basics

Venue: Laughing Horse @ 48 Below

Time: 19:30pm

Dates: Aug 3rd-27th
Will Arnett is texting buddies with Prince Harry.

Will Arnett

The 47-year-old actor has revealed he often texts the flame-haired royal after getting the chance to "very briefly" get to know him a little while ago.

Speaking on 'The Late Late Show with James Corden', Will said: "We actually have a mutual friend over there in the UK. His name is Harry, he's a redhead. Prince Harry, that's right. I couldn't think of his first name!

"I actually got to know him very briefly a little while ago, and I was working with my writing partner and we took a break and were walking through Green Park. And we crossed the mall and you could see Buckingham Palace. And I was like, 'Oh, I should text Prince Harry.'

"So I took my phone out, this is a true story, and I text him and said 'Hey man. I'm just in London for a few days and I thought of you, I'm walking in front of your gran's house.'"

And the 'LEGO Batman' actor added that the 32-year-old royal appreciated the joke, as no-one had ever referred to the Palace as his "gran's house" before.

Will added: "He appreciated it. Not many people have referred to Buckingham Palace as his gran's house."

But the 'Arrested Development' star missed out on the chance to meet with the royal, as he was out of the country at the time.

He said: "He was in Afghanistan or something. He's the real deal, that dude. He's a real prince of a guy."
The office of the US trade representative (USTR) has announced the initiation of an out-of-cycle review of the eligibility of Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda to receive benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The launch of the review is in response to a petition filed by the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART).

The petition files by SMART asserts that a March 2016 decision by the East African Community, which includes Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, to phase in a ban on imports of used clothing and footwear is imposing significant economic hardship on the US used clothing industry.

Through the out-of-cycle review, USTR and trade-related agencies will assess the allegations contained within the SMART petition and review whether Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are adhering to AGOA's eligibility requirements.

The office of the US trade representative (USTR) has announced the initiation of an out-of-cycle review of the eligibility of Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda to receive benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The launch of the review is in response to a petition filed by the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART).#

Signed into law in 2000, the AGOA promotes trade and investment in sub-Saharan Africa, including through substantial trade preferences.

In order to qualify for AGOA trade benefits, partner countries must meet certain statutory eligibility requirements, including making continual progress toward establishing market-based economies, the rule of law, political pluralism, and elimination of barriers to US trade and investment, among others.

US AGOA imports from Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda totalled $43 million in 2016, up from $33 million in 2015. US exports to Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda totalled $281 million in 2016, up from $257 million in 2015.

A public hearing will take place on July 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Enterprise Mauritius is leading a delegation of local apparel manufacturers to participate for the second time at Fashion SVP during June 27-28 June 2017 in London. Thirteen manufacturers comprising four large enterprises and nine SMEs will showcase to UK buyers the latest collections of products including t-shirts, shirts, knitwear, denim, and jersey wear.Fashion SVP is Europes unique sourcing event, with an international show presenting over 120 leading fashion producers from the UK and 21 overseas countries, as well as training seminars, trend focus features, product demonstrations, fashion clinics, a jobs forum and prime networking with the fashion industry.

Enterprise Mauritius is leading a delegation of local apparel manufacturers to participate for the second time at Fashion SVP during June 27-28 June 2017 in London. Thirteen manufacturers comprising four large enterprises and nine SMEs will showcase to UK buyers the latest collections of products including t-shirts, shirts, knitwear, denim, and jersey wear.#

The fair attracts buyers from large famous European retailers to smaller chains, clothing brands, wholesalers and boutique labels. In 2016, the fair attracted buyers from leading upmarket companies such as Debenhams, Monsoon, Marks & Spencer, House of Fraser, Boden, Jaeger, River Island, and Harrods, amongst others.Local operators participating in Fashion SVP have benefitted from the expertise of Trendstop, a consultancy firm based in London whose expertise lies in forecasting latest trends and creating new designs for the UK market, to help in the realisation of new collections.Given the dynamic nature of the fashion industry, Enterprise Mauritius has solicited assistance from Trendstop so that Mauritian operators can anticipate what is coming for the next season. Renowned retailers have already confirmed visits to the Mauritian stands to take cognizance of the products offered.The textile and apparel industry has been a major contributor to Mauritian GDP. The UK remains an important market for Mauritian exports, accounting for over 15 per cent of total domestic exports. Over the years, textile and apparel has emerged as a flexible sector adapting to latest technologies to be competitive. Mauritius has been working with top UK retailers such as Arcadia Group, NEXT, Debenhams, Harrods, and River Island, among others.To further encourage exportation, government has introduced the speed-to-market scheme which is being implemented by Enterprise Mauritius. The aim is to give a boost to textile and apparel exports to European countries and to enhance product delivery in terms of speed-to-market. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
E-commerce operators and TDS (tax deducted at source) deductors can now register with the goods and services tax network (GSTN) with the portal re-opening for fresh registration from June 25, 2017. Existing excise, service tax and VAT assessees can migrate to the GSTN portal as registration for them too opens for three months, an agency report says.The GSTN portal has started accepting fresh registrations from 25 June. The registration has also started for GST practitioners, TDS and e-commerce operators, which are required to collect tax at source, GSTN said in a statement, according to an agency report.

E-commerce operators and TDS (tax deducted at source) deductors can now register with the goods and services tax network (GSTN) with the portal re-opening for fresh registration from June 25, 2017. Existing excise, service tax and VAT assessees can migrate to the GSTN portal as registration for them too opens for three months, an agency report says.#

GSTN, the company providing information technology (IT) backbone for the new tax regime, will offer another opportunity to existing taxpayers to migrate, five days before the rollout of the GST. Out of the 81 lakh existing assessees, over 65.5 lakh have already migrated to the portal, the report said.Registration with the GSTN is necessary for doing business in the GST regime as businesses will have to upload monthly supply data as well as file return forms on this portal.People should not panic. If you are left out, you will get another opportunity because the law says anybody who is registered under taxes which are subsumed under GST, if they have a valid PAN (permanent account number), then they will be given a valid registration, GSTN chairman Navin Kumar said.The portal has also opened for enrolment of GST practitioners on June 25. The GSTN portal was open from November 8 till April 30 and then again for 15 days in June for enrolment of existing taxpayers.It has opened again from June 25 for a period of three months for existing taxpayers registered under central excise/service tax/VAT (value-added tax) etc, the statement said. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
ITV Denim, a leading manufacturer of premium denims, presented three innovative and highly successful collaborations with famous Dutch designers at the recently concluded Global Denim Awards Italian/Dutch Edition, focused on Italian/Dutch collaborations showing best co-creation practices between the two countries, from June 17 to 23, 2017, in Milan.The event focuses on highlighting the most virtuous co-creations by these two countries, underscoring the exceptional value of cross-contamination between two countries where denim is a lifestyle and point of reference for a large number of players and many consumers.

ITV Denim, a leading manufacturer of premium denims, presented three innovative and highly successful collaborations with famous Dutch designers at the recently concluded Global Denim Awards Italian/Dutch Edition, focused on Italian/Dutch collaborations showing best co-creation practices between the two countries, from June 17 to 23, 2017, in Milan.#

ITV Denim was selected to present three of the five collections which have been on display all week long at the Triennale in Milan, two of which won the prestigious Global Denim Awards in 2014 and 2016. These successes bear witness to the unique expertise acquired by ITV, consisting of great technical capabilities, 100 per cent Made in Italy production and ongoing search into new possibilities and territories. All these elements were brought together by Paolo Gnutti, R&D head of the Italian mill.The first partnership was the one with Jonathan Christopher, the young designer currently creative manager at Blue Concept. This collection is called Nomadum and was awarded first prize at the Global Denim Awards 2014. The work together is based on two key concepts: innovation and sustainability.It was a unique collection in its kind, something cool and offering a totally new outlook on the product. These garments cannot be defined by a specific status quo, because they are inspired by nomadism and travelling lifestyle, dark and well-defined colours which reveal romantic veins, with a focus on ethics and on achieving true sustainability.The second selected project was the one completed with Alexandra Frida in 2015. Lenka is the name of the collection resulting from the fruitful partnership between ITV Denim and the young designer from Amsterdam, which was presented at the Global Denim Awards 2015.The third co-creation project was developed with Anbasja Blanken and is called Glow in the dark. It is literally a glowing collection, which was awarded first prize at the Global Denim Awards 2016. Viewing denim from a semi-couture perspective, the garments speak directly to women, communicating strength, elegance, and beauty.The creative concept is based on innovative experimentation with the yarn, to achieve a real glow in the dark effect. This idea results from the designers intention to reproduce oceanic depths, where the absence of light is actually an encouragement for transformation, reminding us of the phosphorescence and luminosity typical of many marine species. (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The export promotion schemes will continue under GST regime, said commerce secretary Rita Teaotia. The government is committed to continue with the incentive schemes while upgrading the system to resolve the issues of the exporters and importers. There are chances that the deemed export benefits may discontinue for level playing field in the GST regime.

These clarifications were given by Teaotia at the open house session organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) on mid-term review of foreign trade policy at Bangalore. The session witnessed participation of exporters from various organisations including textiles, silk, engineering and defence among others. At the programme, the exporters argued for continuation of all schemes to make Indian products competitive as well as the need for exemption route instead of tax payment and then take refund. Karnataka silk industry stated that introduction of 5 per cent GST for the industry will harm their growth as they were facing competition from countries like China and the process is done by marginal worksman.

"The major global trade is happening in high and medium technology sector where Indias share is absolutely low. China is constantly increasing its share in this sector and thereby showing quantum jump in exports," said Ganesh Kumar Gupta, president, FIEO. He urged the commerce secretary to provide fiscal stimulus to high and medium technology sector in the mid-term review of the foreign trade policy. Further, he also stressed the need to build India's reputation of being the leader in software to sell our hardware and software embedded hardware.

Dr A Sakthivel, regional chairman, FIEO(southern region) said that paying GST and taking refund will block working capital of exporters which is costly compared to our competing countries. He also highlighted various anomalies like non-inclusion of garments manufacturers in the 5 per cent GST announced for textiles industry job works. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) has increased 27ac/clean kg or 1.8 per cent for the week ended on June 22, 2017 to bring the closing level to 1533ac/clean kg. When measured in US dollar terms, EMI rose to 1159usc/clean kg. Gains were achieved in both Australian and US dollar terms with the market almost 20 per cent higher than 12 months ago.

Wool auctions in Australia continued to advance price levels strongly. The Merino sector wools were once again the most sought after with good gains of 1.5 to 2 per cent being commonplace, the Australian Wool Innovation said in its wool market report dated June 23, 2017 for the 51st week. Crossbreds and cardings were not neglected by any means, as those wools placed a further 5 to 15ac upon their previous values.

The weakening Australian dollar (AUD) against the US dollar (USD) was also a positive influence as rates went 0.8 per cent in favour of over-seas buyers, said the report. Contrary to the rising market levels and favourable currency, buyers and exporters reported a widespread lack of fresh business being achieved. The purchasing at auction was therefore being dominated by those buyers looking to close out any out-standing forward positions.

The indent buying orders from China were initially aggressive on Merino fleece, but on the final day, particularly in Melbourne, the orders seemed to dry up almost instantaneously. This pull back put a shudder through the auction room, and towards the close, most buyers were reporting a market at 15 to 20 lower on the last sections of the sale day. Sydney was far stronger throughout on this final day and closed at levels 15 to 20 higher but that market had traded at least 15-20 cents below Melbourne on the first day of trade, so market alignment was more of the story arising from the opposing market results. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The Tiruppur Exporters' Association (TEA) has again urged Union textiles minister Smriti Irani to expedite releasing Rebate on State Levies (ROSL) pending claims. The ministry of textiles had announced ROSL in lieu of Value Added Tax (VAT) while releasing the special package for apparel sector and the scheme came into effect from September 20, 2016.

As per the scheme, the Central government had taken into consideration all the taxes paid by the exporters, like VAT, electricity duty, octroi, entry tax, etc., and it is to be noted that some of the taxes like electricity duty, octroi and entry tax were not being refunded earlier to the exporters. The ROSL rate for the respective garment items exported varies from 2.65 per cent to 3.9 per cent, said TEA in a press release.

Raja M Shanmugham, president of TEA said that ROSL has been pending for more than nine months for most of the garment exporting units and only a few units got the ROSL amount partially till December month. The total ROSL amount for all india readymade garment exports (woven and knitwear) estimated for the period September 20, 2016 to June 20, 2017 is Rs 3,025 crore and out of this, till date only Rs 400 crore has been disbursed and the balance to be given is Rs 2,625 crore. He said for Tirupur exporting units alone the ROSL amount pending is about Rs 550 crore.

The Tiruppur Exporters' Association (TEA) has again urged Union textiles minister Smriti Irani to expedite releasing Rebate on State Levies (ROSL) pending claims. The ministry of textiles had announced ROSL in lieu of Value Added Tax (VAT) while releasing special package for apparel sector and the scheme came into effect from September 20, 2016.#

Though in the Union Budget 2017-18, Rs 1,555 crore was allotted for ROSL claim, till date it has not been disbursed, added Shanmugham. He said representations have been made to textile minister, commerce minister, finance minister, MSME minister, road transport and highways, shipping minister, textile secretary, finance secretary, commerce secretary, DGFT, joint secretary (drawback), PMO and NITI Aayog to help for releasing the ROSL pending claim. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India


Huma Qureshi:



Eid is a special occasion in my house. Everyone fasts during Ramzan. So after a whole month of fasting, its like three days of feasting.Its the time the whole family gets together. All my cousins and uncles come over these three days. We make all the traditional Musalmani dishes. My favourite is kheema, kaleji, korma, biryani and of course sweets, especially sheer korma.



I have lots of childhood memories of Eid in Delhi. Earlier when my grandfather was alive, we used to visit his house. The first day of Eid used to be spent over there. When my father and uncles returned from offering the Eid namaz in the mosque, we children would get Eidi (money). All the kids would stand in a line to receive it. That was a huge excitement. After which followed food and more food. My mothers kheema paratha and sheer korma are the best in the world.



Saqib Saleem:



The first image of Eid that comes to my mind is that of all the male members of the family visiting the mosque in Nizamuddin in Delhi to perform namaz at sharp 8:30 am. We would then go to our grandfathers place and binge on mutton biryani and korma. The most special memory of Eid is when all the cousins would get together in the evening and count who received the maximum Eidi. My mother cooks everything superbly - biryani, Rogan josh, Achari chicken, mutton seekh kebabs, kakori kebabs, bheja fry. Her kheer is out of the world. Im crazy about mutton biryani and she makes the yummiest biryani ever. She makes an extra quantity for me every Eid.
Actress Kajol, who will next be seen in the Tamil film Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 titled Lalkar in Hindi, thanked her co-star Dhanush and director Soundarya for breaking her language barrier in the movie.

"I thank them as they broke this myth which was in my head that I can't speak in another language and I can't act in another language. 'Velaiilla Pattadhari 2' has been one of the most professional experience and the credit goes to Dhanush and Soundary," Kajol told the media at the trailer and music launch of the film here on Sunday.

"I was lied upon saying that you don't have to speak in Tamil. They proved me wrong the first day because they gave me a long script with two scenes and huge dialogues. They said at least try," she added.

UGLY FIGHT! Sridevi Is Upset With S S Rajamouli, Reprimands Him For Hurting Her!

Filmmaker R. Balki and director Anand L. Rai launched the trailer of the film.

Asked if she was headed towards southern cinema because she was not getting offers in Bollywood, she said: "I always look forward for good script. It doesn't mean I haven't got good script in Hindi. It was just that I loved this one."

Denying plans on wearing a director's hat in the near future, Kajol says she loves acting.

The event also saw Dhanush, Soundaryaa Rajnikanth, Lata Rajnikanth, Kalappuli Thanu(producer), Amala Paul and Rakesh Omprakash Mehra while actresses Taapsee Pannu, Huma Qureshi came later.

"Velaiilla Pattadhari 2" or "Lalkar" is an upcoming bilingual action-comedy-drama film directed by Soundarya Rajnikanth. The story and dialogue has been written by Dhanush. The film will release on July 28.
Jenna Jenovich

Jenna Jenovich holidays in Belize.

Belize

She's taking a vacation with her girlfriends.

Hot Bikinis

The girls are seen sporting hot bikinis by the beach.

Zoo Magazine

She was a part of Zoo Magazine and her pictures were super hot.

Hot Girls

She has also graced the cover page of Zoo Magazine.

Weekly Magazine

Zoo Magazine was UK's weekly men's magazine.

Sad!

Sadly, Zoo Magazine shut down in 2016.

European Babes

The last edition of Zoo Magazine had girls from all over Europe.

Bra Wars

The famous and funny edition of Zoo Magazine was 'Bra Wars'!

Bust To Bust

The final edition of Zoo Magazine read 'Ashes to ashes, bust to bust'!

Hot!

Jenna Jenovich has a body to die for.

The Last Issue

The cover picture of the last edition of Zoo Magazine showed bikini clad girls dropping their's bra's inside the coffin.

Bra's

The coffin covered with bra's was then lowered inside the grave.

Huge Loss

Zoo Magazine's sudden exit was a loss to so many people.

Basking In The Sun

The sunny Belize's temperatures have risen up due to Jenna's presence.

Smoking Hot

She's one of the hottest models from the UK.

Huge Following

Jenna Jenovich has a sea of followers on Instagram.

LIkes

She gets tons of likes and comments on every picture she posts.

Hard Worker

She's worked really hard to get this much fan following.

India Tour?

We hope she'll visit India someday for a shoot too.

Sizzling Hot

Jenna Jenovich is blessed with a sizzling hot body.

Who Wants To Meet Her?

Her fans dream of meeting her atleast once in their lifetime.

FHM

She was also a part of FHM.
SINGAPORE, June 23, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - BlackGold Natural Resources Ltd (SGX:41H), a mining Company targeting Indonesia and her rapidly growing power plant industry, is pleased to announce a share placement agreement (the 'Placement') by which it will issue up to 66,703,000 new ordinary shares at S$0.123 per share, to raise gross proceeds of up to S$8.2 million.BlackGold will use the net proceeds for business investment purposes, including development expenses relating to the Riau 1 Project, and to further strengthen its working capital position. The placement price at S$0.123 per share represents a discount of 9.36% to the weighted average BlackGold share price on June 19 at the Singapore Exchange ('SGX'), Catalist Market.Riau 1 is the Project proposed by BlackGold and China Huadian Engineering Co., Ltd. (together the 'Consortium') to develop a 2 x 300 MW coal - fired power plant in Riau province, Indonesia, as announced on December 28, 2015. The Consortium had participated in a bidding process to provide electrical power to Indonesia state-owned company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara ("PT PLN").Further to a Ministerial Regulation by Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in February 2017, the Bid can now be awarded by direct appointment. Subject to winning the Bid, and entry into the relevant power purchase agreement with PT PLN, the Consortium will construct and commission the Project, enabling it to produce and supply the electrical power to PT PLN.Mr Philip Cecil Rickard, BlackGold Executive Director and CEO commented: "We are very heartened by the strong interest and support demonstrated by the investors who are participating in this placement. These proceeds will further augment our readiness for the Project as we await the outcome of the Bid from PT PLN."SAC Capital Private Ltd has been appointed Placement agent to procure subscribers on a best efforts basis. The Placement is subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions, including approval by the SGX.The sponsor of the Company, SAC Advisors Private Ltd, will be making an application on behalf of the Company to the SGX for the listing, quotation and dealing in the Placement Shares on the SGX Catalist. This Release should be read in conjunction with the Company Release posted at SGX-Net on June 23, 2017.About BlackGold Natural ResourcesBlackGold Natural Resources Ltd (SGX:41H; SP:BHR, SI:BLAC) is an Indonesia-focused coal mining company targeting the country's rapidly growing power plant industry. Through long term, fixed offtake agreements with its principal customers, the Company has a customer portfolio consisting of state-owned and independent power plants and factories.Through its local subsidiaries, BlackGold has rights to three coal concessions in Riau, Indonesia. Through its subsidiary PT Samantaka Batubara, the Company has a coal concession for an area of 15,000 hectares, and has over 200 million tonnes of Coal Resources (JORC Code compliant). For more information, please visit www.blackgold-group.com.Contact:BlackGold GroupT: +65 6884 4418E: investor.relations@blackgold-group.comThis Press Release was prepared by BlackGold Natural Resources Limited (the "Company"). Its contents have been reviewed by the Company's sponsor, SAC Advisors Private Limited (the "Sponsor"), for compliance with the relevant rules of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (the "SGX-ST"). The Sponsor has not independently verified the contents of this release. SAC Capital Private Limited is the parent Company of SAC Advisors Private Limited.This Release has not been examined or approved by the SGX-ST, which assumes no responsibility for the contents of this Release, including the statements, opinions, or information contained herein. Contact for the Sponsor is Mr. Sebastian Jones, Director, SAC Advisors Private Ltd, 1 Robinson Road, #21-02 AIA Tower, Singapore 048542. Tel +65 6532 3829.Source: BlackGold Natural Resources LimitedCopyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan, June 26, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - JCB International Co., Ltd. (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., announced the launch of the J/Speedy JCB card in the Philippines with BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO), the largest bank in the Philippines in terms of consolidated resources, customer loans, deposits, assets under management and capital, as well as branch and ATM network nationwide. Card issuance has started this month, for the first J/Speedy JCB card to be launched in the ASEAN region. J/Speedy, JCB's EMVCo compliant contactless scheme, provides a convenient and easy payment solution to valued customers of BDO.JCB brand cards are currently issued in 23 countries and territories with over 100 million cardmembers around the globe. BDO has cooperated with JCB for JCB card acceptance at BDO merchants from 1998 and started issuing JCB card in the Philippines in the same year. The launch of this new product, entering the contactless payment market, is the next step for the partnership between BDO and JCBI. BDO will also start acceptance of J/Speedy JCB card from July 2017 at BDO merchants.Mikihisa Asano, Country Manager of JCBI Philippines, said, "We are very excited and appreciative of BDO's launching the new contactless card. Together, we will aggressively expand and grow our business in this country. In fact, BDO and JCB will soon launch another card product in the market, which is a response to the increased competition of credit cards in the Philippines".About BDOBDO is a full-service universal bank which provides a wide range of corporate and retail banking services. These services include traditional loan and deposit products, as well as treasury, trust banking, investment banking, private banking, rural banking, cash management, leasing and finance, remittance, insurance, retail cash cards and credit card services.BDO has one of the largest distribution networks, with more than 1,100 operating branches and over 3,600 ATMs nationwide. It also has a full-service branch in Hong Kong as well as 25 overseas remittance and representative offices in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.BDO ranked as the largest bank in terms of total assets, loans, deposits and trust funds under management based on published statements of condition as of December 31, 2016.In the credit card industry, BDO issues the most brands in the country, including corporate and tie-up cards with different companies. The bank likewise dominates the merchant acquiring business in the Philippines with BDO POS terminals being the only terminals in the industry to accept the six (6) credit card brands and all locally issued ATM/Debit Cards.For more information, please visit www.bdo.com.ph.About JCBJCB is a major global payment brand and a leading payment card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase merchant coverage and card member base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to provide responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.global.jcb/en/ or http://ph.jcb/Note: Statistics in About JCB are as of March 2017.Contact:JCB International Co., Ltd.Kae MitsudaGlobal Business PlanningTel: 81-3-5778-7963Email: jcbinternational-pr@info.jcb.co.jpSource: JCBCopyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
VEVEY (dpa-AFX) - Billionaire activist investor Daniel Loeb's Third Point LLC hedge fund has taken $3.5 billion stake in Nestle SA (NSRGY.PK, NSTR.L). The stake amounts to about 1.25% of Nestle's shares. Third Point outlined an array of changes it believes the consumer-goods giant could make, including improving margins, innovating in its core business and selling noncore assets and its 23% stake in French cosmetics company L'Oreal SA (LRLCY). 'Despite having arguably the best positioned portfolio in the consumer packaged goods industry, Nestle shares have significantly underperformed most of their US and European consumer staples,' Third Point wrote in a letter to investors on Sunday night.'It is rare to find a business of Nestle's quality with so many avenues for improvement.' Nestle owns about 23.2 percent of cosmetics giant L'Oreal, a stake with a market value of about $27 billion. In addition, Third Point wants Nestle to scour its portfolio of more than 2,000 brands for possible sales and consider 'accretive, bolt-on acquisitions in high growth and advantaged categories.' The firm also called on Nestle to set a formal operating margin target of 18 percent to 20 percent by 2020. 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.
Regulatory News:

Novacyt (EURONEXT GROWTH: ALNOV; AIM: NCYT), an international specialist in clinical diagnostics, is pleased to announce the admission of the Company's Shares (the "Enlarged Share Capital") to trading on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange ("AIM Admission"), from 8:00 a.m. (GMT) today under the ticker "NCYT" (ISIN: FR0010397232).

Unless otherwise defined, capitalised terms in this announcement shall have the same meaning as those within the 'Definitions' section of the Company's AIM Admission Document and/or the Company's press release dated 18 October 2017, which, along with the information required by AIM Rule 26, is available on the Company's website, http://novacyt.com/.

Summary of the Fundraising

9.7 million (before expenses) raised through the Fundraising

The Fundraising consisted of 4.7 million of Placing Shares and 5.0 million of Subscription Shares, both at an issue price of 59.38 pence per Share (0.66) (the " Issue Price

The number of Ordinary Shares in issue on AIM Admission will be 37,664,341, giving the Company an anticipated market capitalisation of approximately 22.4 million (approximately 24.9 million) at the Issue Price

Expected timetable of principle events

AIM Admission becoming effective and dealings in the Enlarged Share Capital expected to commence on AIM 8.00 a.m. (GMT) on 1 November 2017 Subscribers to be credited with the balance of 137,232 Subscription Shares 3 November 2017 CREST accounts expected to be credited with CDIs and settlement of Placing Shares 3 November 2017 Admission of the balance of 137,232 Subscription Shares and the Placing Shares becoming effective on Euronext Growth Paris 9.00 a.m. (Paris time) on 3 November 2017

Details of the Fundraising

As already mentioned in the previous press release dated 18 October 2017, the Fundraising has been made through the issuance of 14,739,579 new shares of which 7,550,757 have been issued on 18 October 2017 and 7,188,822 are issued today.

These new shares have been issued with removal of the preferential subscription rights to the benefit of a category of persons in accordance with and within the limits of the 1st and 2nd resolutions of the shareholders meeting held on 5 December 2016.

After the issuance of the 7,550,757 new shares on 18 October 2017, shareholders who did not participate have been diluted by approximatively 24.8%. Following the issuance of the 7,188,822 new shares today, shareholders who did not participate have been diluted by approximatively 19.1% and together with the first dilution by approximatively 39.1%.

Total voting rights

The total number of Shares in the Company with effect from today is 37,664,341. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company pursuant to Article L. 223-7 of the French Commercial Code and the Company's Articles.

The total number of Shares in the Company which are held in treasury, as at close of business on 30 October 2017, being the latest practicable date ahead of this announcement, are 94,203 therefore the total voting rights in the Company are currently 37,570,138.

Disclaimer

This press release does not constitute or should not be considered as a public offering, an offer to subscribe to the company's securities or a public solicitation in preparation of a public offering of Novacyt's securities. No public offering of Novacyt's securities will be made, inside or outside of France, pursuant to Article L. 411-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. Consequently, no Prospectus will be published nor approved by the AMF.

About Novacyt Group

The Novacyt Group is a rapidly growing, international diagnostics group with a growing portfolio of cancer and infectious disease products and services. Through its proprietary technology platform, NOVAPrep, and molecular platform, genesig, Novacyt is able to provide an extensive range of oncology and infectious disease diagnostic products across an extensive international distributor network. The Group has diversified sales from diagnostic reagents used in oncology, microbiology, haematology and serology markets, and its global customers and partners include major corporates.

For more information please refer to the website: www.novacyt.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171101005143/en/

Contacts:

Novacyt SA

Graham Mullis, Chief Executive Officer

Anthony Dyer, Chief Financial Officer

+44 (0)1223 395472

or

Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker)

Jonathan Senior Fred Walsh Ben Maddison

+44 (0)20 7610 7600

or

WG Partners (Joint Broker)

Nigel Birks Claes Spang

+44 (0) 203 705 9330

or

International

FTI Consulting

Brett Pollard Victoria Foster Mitchell

+44 (0)20 3727 1000

brett.pollard@fticonsulting.com / victoria.fostermitchell@fticonsulting.com

or

France

FTI Consulting

Arnaud de Cheffontaines Astrid Villette

+33 (0)147 03 69 47 +33 (0)147 03 69 51

arnaud.decheffontaines@fticonsulting.com / astrid.villette@fticonsulting.com
ASCHHEIM, Germany, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

- Chinese tourists can now pay at Zwilling using Alipay

- Wirecard brings China's leading mobile payment method to Zwilling stores in Germany

Wirecard, a leading provider of Internet technology and mobile payments, has gained high-quality knife and cookware specialist Zwilling as a customer. The company operates across almost 100 countries worldwide and is one of the largest kitchen and household goods chains in Germany. The kitchenware specialist will now offer the new payment method Alipay in ten branches across Germany via Wirecard's 'Scan Alipay' app. This will enable Zwilling to capitalise even further on the tourism boom emanating from China.

Almost two million Chinese tourists make their way over to Germany each year, above all buying renowned luxury brands. During their travels, the average Chinese tourist spends around EUR 3,000 on shopping, with strong brand names in particular being of considerable importance. Some of the most popular products among Chinese tourists are household goods and kitchenware. By accepting Alipay payments, Zwilling is appealing to a large and lucrative target group. Experiences from other Wirecard customers have shown that offering Alipay as a new payment method via the ready-to-use Scan Alipay app has led to a 40% increase in transactions made by Chinese tourists after one quarter. Each transaction totals EUR 270 on average.

Patrick Rosenthal, Retail Manager at Zwilling: "Thanks to Wirecard, we are able to tap into a new and promising target group. By accepting Alipay we will ensure that we meet the high requirements of our mobile-loving Chinese customers."

Rita Liu, Head of Alipay EMEA: "We are happy to see Wirecard bringing more and more choices to Chinese tourists. With Alipay's in-app shopping guide Discovery platform, merchants are able to connect with millions of potential customers even before their journey to Europe depart."

Marion Laewe, Vice President Sales Consumer Goods at Wirecard: "We are very proud to have won Zwilling as a customer. With the Wirecard app Scan Alipay, we are supporting our retailers with an easy introduction to Alipay acceptance and, as such, are offering significant added value to customer acquisition in terms of the Asian target group. We look forward to expanding upon our collaboration with Zwilling in future."

Wirecard's Scan Alipay app offers retailers the opportunity to benefit from the advantages of Alipay payment acceptance: a customer making a cashless payment with their Alipay app simply needs to show the retailer the barcode on their smartphone display. The retailer then just enters the amount payable into the Scan Alipay app using a mobile device and scans the QR code on the customer's smartphone. Wirecard assumes payment acceptance and transaction processing.

About Wirecard:

Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on Twitter @wirecard.

About Zwilling:

In 1731, Peter Henckels registered the now world famous ZWILLING as a trademark with the Cutler's Guild of Solingen, thereby laying the foundation for an international company. The white ZWILLING symbol on a red background is today an expression of a sophisticated lifestyle. Whether high-quality kitchen products, cutlery or beauty instruments: the outstanding success of one of the oldest brands in the world is based on customer satisfaction, which crossed national borders at a very early stage. The products are innovative and, to this day, have been setting international standards, as they are always geared towards customers' wishes.



Wirecard media contact:

Wirecard AG

Jana Tilz

Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363

E-Mail: jana.tilz@wirecard.com



Zwilling media contact:

ZWILLING J.A. Henckels Retail GmbH

Patrick Rosenthal

E-Mail: p.rosenthal@zwilling.com




MELBOURNE (dpa-AFX) - BHP (BHP.AX, BLT.L, BBL, BHP) announced approval of US$184 million in initial funding for the South Flank sustaining mine project in the central Pilbara, Western Australia.



BHP President Operations, Minerals Australia, Mike Henry, said the funding would generate several hundred construction jobs and provide exciting opportunities for Western Australian suppliers.



The company noted that the South Flank project, which will leverage and expand the existing Mining Area C hub, is BHP's preferred option to replace production from the 80 Mtpa (100 per cent basis) Yandi mine when it reaches the end of its economic life in the early-to-mid 2020s.



The project is expected to be submitted for Board approval in the middle of the 2018 calendar year, with first ore targeted in the 2021 calendar year and ramp-up timed to coincide with the ramp-down of Yandi. Full development of South Flank would generate several thousand jobs during construction.



The initial funding will be used primarily for the expansion of accommodation facilities to support current and future workforce requirements.



The capital cost for South Flank is expected to be in the range of US$30 to US$40 per tonne, with expenditure fitting within WAIO's previously indicated average sustaining capital expenditure of US$4 per tonne over the next five years.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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MUNICH, January 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Combines individual travel services with payment flows

Customer journey evaluation via various service providers

Comprehensive customer analyses to optimize service portfolio

Wirecard, the leading specialist for digital financial technology, has today announced an expansion to its Omnichannel ePOS Suite data analysis tool by integrating new functionalities for tourism companies.Wirecard's fully integrated solution for self-learning analyses will now be supplemented by innovative technology which is adapted to the tourism sector. Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) software allows the ePOS Analytics Suite to conduct complex data evaluation of customer purchasing behavior and helps to optimize the service portfolio for tourists.

The new package contains a wide range of innovative analytical functions, which analyzes individual travel services with the aid of payment data across various service providers on a single platform, thereby creating highly specific customer profiles. This will help individual service providers to customize their offerings to tourists on a case by case basis.

Furthermore, the tool provides an overview of tourists' purchasing behavior, allowing companies to customize their sales strategies and loyalty offers.

Jorn Leogrande, Executive Vice President Mobile Services at Wirecard: "Over the next few years, the use of AI will be of great importance across many industries. We are proud to expand our innovative Omnichannel ePOS Suite with this cutting-edge package. We are striving to leverage our expertise in order to offer our customers operating in the tourism sector the ability to uniquely understand the requirements and purchase behavior of their target groups."

Thanks to Wirecard's new technology, tourism companies can increase their customer conversion rates while at the same time optimizing their product portfolios. With its expansion of the ePOS Suite for the tourism sector, Wirecard is underlining its position as the first payment service provider to offer a fully integrated solution for self-learning analyses on the basis of payment data in combination with further data sources.

Markus Braun, CEO of Wirecard AG, will today discuss how the travel and mobility sector stands to benefit from technologies such as AI and the effects this will have in the future together with OBB-Personenverkehr AG at the DLD innovation conference in Munich, Germany. The panel discussion will take place on Monday, 22 January 2018 at 11.30 am and will also be broadcast live.

About Wirecard:

Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on Twitter @wirecard.

Wirecard media contact:



Wirecard AG

Jana Tilz

Tel.: +49 (0) 89 4424 1363

Email: jana.tilz@wirecard.com




LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Responding to recent press speculation, Aerospace & Defense company Ultra Electronics Holdings plc (ULE.L) confirmed it is in advanced discussions to acquire the whole of the issued share capital of New York Stock Exchange listed Sparton Corp.



Sparton's Engineered Components & Products or 'ECP' division is Ultra's 50/50 partner in the long-standing ERAPSCO joint venture. Should Ultra acquire Sparton, it intends to sell Sparton's other business, the Manufacturing & Design Services or 'MDS' division.



In 2014, ERAPSCO was awarded an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract by the US Navy which runs until 2019; US$664 million of purchase orders have been received in the first four years and a further $160 million of purchase orders are expected to be added in fiscal year 2018.



Ultra's participation in the ERAPSCO joint venture has brought an extensive knowledge, experience and proven performance to a major customer, the US DoD. Ultra is in a unique position to 'preserve the status quo' for the US Navy and help to ensure that the delivery of critical assets to this major customer is not interrupted.



The acquisition, if agreed, is expected to be funded by Ultra's existing debt facilities and an equity placing of new shares representing up to 9.99 per cent. of Ultra's existing ordinary share capital.The acquisition of Sparton and the disposal of MDS, if completed, are not expected to alter Ultra's objective of returning to a through-cycle target of 85% cash conversion in the medium term.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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RAPPERSWIL, Switzerland, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The 8-year follow-up results of a randomized phase 3 multicenter trial in adult patients with hematologic malignancies clearly showed more favorable results in the Grafalon group

Severe GvHD-free and relapse-free survival was 34% in the Grafalon group versus 13% in non-Grafalon group

The probability of being alive and free of immunosuppressive therapy was 47% in Grafalon group versus 11% in non-Grafalon group

Relapse mortality was not increased by Grafalon, supporting the long-term safety of Grafalon

Neovii is pleased to announce the publication of the long-term outcomes of a multicenter parallel-group randomized trial conducted in Europe and Israel. The study looked at patients after standard GvHD prophylaxis with cyclosporine A and methotrexate with or without Grafalon (anti-human-T-lymphocyte immunoglobulin- ATLG) (60 mg/kg total dose) in adult patients receiving myeloablative conditioning prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from matched unrelated donors. Published in the June edition of The Lancet Haematology, the results showed the probability of being alive and free of immunosuppressive therapy at 8 years was 47% in the ATLG group and 11% in the non-ATLG[1] group.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/527086/Neovii_Pharmaceuticals_Logo.jpg )



"The significantly improved composite endpoint 'Severe GvHD free and relapse free survival' clearly indicates the impact of ATLG in the cure of patients without ongoing morbidity, which is the main aim of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. This is supported by the fact that the vast majority of patients alive after ATLG-containing GvHD prophylaxis are free of immunosuppressive therapy," said Professor Jurgen Finke, the principal investigator of the study and Deputy Head of the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Professor Finke is also Chairman of the German Stem Cell Transplant Working Group (DAG-KBT). He added, "The results clearly demonstrate the importance of ATLG administration in matched unrelated stem cell transplantation and will certainly influence decision-making and patient counselling in the long run."

Alexandre Sudarskis, CEO of Neovii, commented, "These ground-breaking results undoubtedly prove the long-term efficacy of Grafalon administration as part of a myeloablative conditioning regimen." He added, "Neovii strives to better meet the needs of our patients and to improve their quality-of-life with our effective antibody therapies, allowing physicians to apply a safe and robust therapy." Neovii supports research and development activities in the fields of stem cell transplantation, solid organ transplantation, and immune and hemato-oncological disorders.

About the study

Prospective, multicenter, open-label, randomized, phase 3 study of Grafalon comparing standard ciclosporin A and methotrexate containing GvHD prophylaxis. Patients were randomized to either receive or not receive Grafalon. The study was conducted in 9 European countries and Israel in 31 study centers, enrolling 202 patients. Patients had acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome or myeloproliferative disease in an early (n=107) or advanced disease status (n=94). After myeloablative conditioning, patients received transplantation of blood stem cells (n=164) or bone marrow grafts (n=37). Study results were published in 2009[2] and 2011[3].

About GvHD

Graft versus host disease (GvHD) is a serious, life threatening complication after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. It develops when the new immune system, which arises from the transplanted stem cells (graft), attacks tissues and organs of the recipient (host). It can be classified as acute or chronic, depending on the time of occurrence and/or the pathology.

About Grafalon

Grafalon (formerly commercialized as ATG Fresenius), is a rabbit anti-human T-lymphocyte immunoglobulin, used as part of immunosuppressive regimens for the prevention of graft versus host disease in stem cell transplantation, prevention and treatment of rejection in solid organ transplantation or as immunosuppressive in the treatment of aplastic anemia (according to country-specific approved indications). With more than 200,000 treated patients to date in more than 50 countries, Grafalon enjoys worldwide recognition among solid organ and stem cell transplant teams and has transformed the way transplant teams manage the care of their patients around the world.

About Neovii

Neovii is an independent, dynamic and rapidly-growing global biopharmaceutical company with a patient-focused mission to develop and market novel life-transforming therapies. Neovii has been dedicated for over three decades to improving outcomes in transplantation medicine, hemato-oncological and immune disorders.

Neovii Pharmaceuticals AG global headquarters is in Rapperswil, Switzerland, with offices in Massachusetts, USA. Its biologics manufacturing facility is in Grafelfing, Germany.

Neovii has a global reach with products sold in over 50 countries worldwide.

References

[1] Finke, Jurgen et al. Long-term outcomes after standard graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis with or without anti-human-T-lymphocyte immunoglobulin in haemopoietic cell transplantation from matched unrelated donors: final results of a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Haematology, June 2017; 4(6):e293-e301.

[2] Finke, Jurgen et al. Standard graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis with or without anti-T-cell globulin in haematopoietic cell transplantation from matched unrelated donors: a randomised, open-label, multicentre phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncology, September 2009; 10(9):855-64.

[3] Socie, Gerard et al. Chronic graft-versus-host disease: long-term results from a randomized trial on graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis with or without anti-T-cell globulin ATG-Fresenius. Blood, June 2011; 117(23):6375-82.

For further information

Contact info@neovii.com or call us at +41 55 210 05 00. For details on the full publication, visit http://www.thelancet.com.
BARCELONA, Spain, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Under the theme Empower Cities, Empower Citizens, Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), the leading international event on smart cities will host on 2017 its biggest edition. From November 14 to 16, Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue will gather 650 cities, 600 exhibitors and 420 speakers. The event will focus on the strategies to empower metropolises and their citizens through active participation, critical reflection, awareness and access and control over important decisions and resources.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367297LOGO )

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/527419/Smart_City_Expo_World_Congress.jpg )



Many agree that digital technologies are the backbone of the cities of the future and that without them urban transformation would be impossible. But SCEWC 2016 will also focus on the fact that cities are run and inhabited by people and these citizens are more so the future of cities.

Six months before the event, SCEWC has already booked 92% of its floorspace, exceeding last year's figures by 20%. The 600 companies exhibiting at the 2017 edition - among which are CAF, Deutsche Telekom, Engie, Huawei, Mastercard, Microsoft, Siemens, Suez and ZTE - will cover more than 15,000 net square metres and among the list of cities and countries showcasing their projects are Denmark, Dubai, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Holland, Israel, London, New York, Norway, Quebec, Spain and the United States.

Smart Mobility World Congress

One of the key issues that cities face is Mobility. The ability to provide safe and easy movement both within a city and from one metropolis to another is one of the cornerstones of smart cities. On 2017, SCEWC will host the first Smart Mobility World Congress (SMWC), a smart transport summit that will be held yearly and will showcase the most innovative advances in urban and inter-city mobility. SMWC will have its own space within SCEWC, its auditorium and will host the congress of ALAMYS, the Latin American Metro and Underground Railway Association.

An international benchmark

Over the last 6 years, SCEWC has become the world smart cities benchmark event gathering over 16.000 attendees from 126 countries on its last edition. Its international impact has grown with regional events in Casablanca (Morocco), Istanbul (Turkey), Kyoto (Japan) and Puebla (Mexico) and soon Buenos Aires (Argentina) further consolidating SCEWC as the international leading event in smart urbans solutions and drawing more attendees and interest toward the global event held in Barcelona every year.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 26, 2017) - Jaxon Minerals Inc. (TSXV: JAX) (FSE: 0U3) announces the appointment of John King Burns as Chairman and Lead Director. Mr. Burns' knowledge in corporate governance, geological strategies and all aspects of mining finance will contribute strongly to the continued development of Jaxon. Mr. Burns is former Chairman and founder of Northern Orion, which was subsequently acquired by Yamana Gold in a $1 billion transaction. He also served as Global Head and Managing Director of the Derivative Trading and Structured Finance Group at Barclays Metals London, a unit of Barclays Bank PLC, from 1991-1997, which provided over $3 billion to the mining industry during his tenure. It was Mr. Burns and his Barclays team that first proposed the combination of Minas Luismin S.A. with Wheaton River Minerals, which later became Goldcorp.

Mr. Burns currently serves as Independent Director of China Gold International Resource Corp ($800 million market capitalization) and to Simba Essel Energy and was an Advisor to Western Potash in the $32 million investment by a subsidiary of China National Overseas Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Mr. Burns' prior accomplishments working within the mining industry include being former Chairman and Lead Director of Athabasca Potash (before it was sold to BHP for $341 million); as well as former Chairman of Dolly Varden Silver which, like Jaxon, is focused on the Golden Triangle in BC.

Jason Cubitt, President of Jaxon Minerals, stated "We are deeply pleased to have the counsel of John King Burns as Jaxon builds into a significant exploration company. Not only will his experience in mining finance be invaluable, as Chairman he will ensure that the Board governs and advises the Company appropriately. John's merger and acquisition experience will open significant opportunities with institutional investors, developing strategies as we develop Jaxon's assets."

John King Burns, as Chairman of Jaxon Minerals, noted "As a junior minerals exploration and development company, Jaxon has assembled both a strong team and enviable land positions within British Columbia. These projects are located on some of the most prospective orogenic, mineral-rich areas in the world and the Company has the opportunity to advance a number of significant discoveries in 2017 and 2018. First results from the field program underway are expected shortly, and we are truly excited, based on reports from the field."

Jaxon Technical Advisory Board

The Company would also like to announce that three senior geotechnical experts have agreed to serve on Jaxon's Technical Advisory Board - Alastair Waddell, Dennis Moore and Carl Swensson. Jason Cubitt, President of Jaxon Minerals noted "these professionals are a testament to the quality of Jaxon's projects, and to Bruce Ballantyne's skill and experience in acquiring and exploring these exciting targets. Together with John King Burns, we now have an exceptional team to take Jaxon to the next level."

Alistair Waddell

Alistair is a Geologist with over 20 years of diverse resource industry experience, including senior roles with both junior and senior mining companies providing a broad vision of many aspects of the business. He was a founder and former President and CEO of TSX-V listed GoldQuest Mining Corp. principally focused on exploration in the Dominican Republic. More recently, he was Vice President - Greenfields Exploration for Kinross Gold Corp. responsible for global Greenfields exploration. Alistair has lived and worked as an expatriate in Australia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and the Dominican Republic.

Carl Swensson

Carl is a mineral exploration Geologist with extensive experience in mineral exploration and resource assessment having more than 20 years in a leadership capacity. He has managed numerous exploration projects over five continents in most commodities and deposit styles for gold, base metals, lithium, uranium, diamonds, coal and graphite. Carl has a proven record for company management from juniors to multinationals, including Chief Geologist, Exploration for Normandy Mining from 1989 to 2002 (from less than $100m to $4.9 Billion market cap).

Dennis Moore

Dennis Moore is a mineral exploration Geologist and entrepreneur with over 35 years' experience in Australasia and South America. Dennis identified the Tocantinzinho deposit, acquired it, vended it to Brazauro Resources and drilled out a 2.2m oz deposit, leading to Brazauro being bought out by Eldorado for $122M. Dennis co-founded Magellan Minerals in 2005 and took it public via IPO in 2008. He put together a 120,000 hectare property package in northern Brazil including Cuiu Cuiu, his second discovery, which currently stands at 1.5M oz Au. Magellan Minerals was acquired by Anfield Nickel in 2016. Currently, Dennis is president and CEO of Fremont Gold, a new Nevada-based, TSX-V listed company and a director of Cabral Gold, a private Canadian company with mineral properties in Brazil.

About Jaxon

Jaxon is a base and precious metals exploration company with a regional focus on Western Canada. The company is currently focused on advancing its Hazelton Project in north-central British Columbia and the Wishbone/Foremore property in BC's Golden Triangle.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

JAXON MINERALS INC.

"Jason Cubitt"

Jason Cubitt, President.

For further information regarding Jaxon Minerals Inc., please contact Jason Cubitt at 604-608-0400, Toll free: 1-877-608-0007.

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.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/26/17 -- ICC International Cannabis Corporation ("ICC" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: ICC), a fully licensed producer and distributor of medical and recreational cannabis and cannabinoid extracts, today announced the promotion of Mr. Alejandro Antalich to Chief Executive Officer, and the appointment of Mr. Diego Taranto to Senior Financial Controller. These management changes come at a time when the Company is transitioning from an early stage licensed producer to a fully licensed producer and distributor of recreational cannabis in Uruguay. Mr. Guillermo Delmonte has stepped down as CEO effective today and will assist Mr. Antalich in the transition of responsibilities.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of ICC, I would like to thank Guillermo for his efforts in establishing ICC as a leading international cannabis producer. We wish him the very best in his future endeavours. I would also like to congratulate Alejandro on assuming the role of CEO, and Diego on joining ICC as our new Senior Financial Controller," commented Michael Galego, Director of the Company. "ICC is entering a stage of rapid growth, with recreational sales in Uruguay commencing in early July and the anticipated expansion into new jurisdictions globally in the coming months. With these management changes ICC now has a senior leadership team with the experience to support both our current business and the successful execution of our long-term strategy of becoming the world's largest and lowest cost producers of cannabidiol ("CBD")."

Mr. Antalich joined ICC in March 2017 as Senior Operations Manager overseeing all research and development team initiatives. In his short tenure with ICC to date, he and his team have successfully constructed the first CBD extraction and oil formulation laboratories in South America. Mr. Antalich brings over 25 years of leadership and operations experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry in Uruguay. Mr. Antalich's appointment as CEO is subject to TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") approval.

Mr. Diego Taranto has been appointed to Senior Financial Controller and will assist our Chief Financial Officer, Oscar Leon, with overall responsibility for financial reporting and planning, treasury, and taxation. Mr. Taranto is a Certified Public Accountant with over 20 years of finance and accounting experience in private companies, with particular expertise in the pharmaceutical and manufacturing sectors.

ICC is also pleased to announce that it has engaged Venture North Capital Inc. ("Venture North") to provide strategic investor relations and shareholder communications services. Venture North is a full service capital markets consulting firm, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario and has experience executing strategic investor relations outreach campaigns on behalf of TSX, TSX-V and CSE listed growth companies. Venture North will be focused on increasing investor awareness while introducing ICC to its network of investment advisors, investment dealers, institutions and other financial professionals. Under the terms of the engagement, which is for an initial six month term, Venture North will be paid $6,000 per month. It will also be granted 150,000 options having an exercise price of $1.40, vesting at a rate of 37,500 immediately and 37,500 thereafter quarterly in arrears. This engagement is subject to TSX-V approval. This engagement is subject to TSX-V approval.

ABOUT ICC INTERNATIONAL CANNABIS CORPORATION

The Company has operations in Uruguay, and is focused on the licensed production, development and sale of recreational cannabis, cannabinoid extracts and other derivatives used for medicinal purposes and industrial hemp. For more information, please see the Company's filings on www.sedar.com and www.intcannabiscorp.com.

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain information in this press release may constitute forward-looking information. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, including the Company's ability to obtain any requisite regulatory approvals. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to the Company. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.

Contacts:

ICC International Cannabis Corporation

Alejandro Antalich

Chief Executive Officer

598-2900-0000

ir@intcannabiscorp.com



Bill Mitoulas

Investor Relations

416-479-9547

billm@intcannabiscorp.com




Expanding the profile of its Science and Research teamPROS (NYSE: PRO), a cloud software company powering the shift to modern commerce, today announced that Darius Walczak, Ph.D., will deliver remarks at the upcoming 2017 INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Conference in Amsterdam. Walczak, a senior director on the company's Science and Research team, has been selected to present research on his work in dynamic pricing science.

Walczak's presentation "Pricing Competition When Some Customers are Loyal" analyzes a market model where two airlines compete for price-sensitive customers vs. loyal customers. He will provide insights into how the presence of loyal customers affects market equilibrium.

The annual INFORMS RMP conference is the premier forum for practitioners and academics actively engaged in pricing analytics and revenue management. It is scheduled this year for June 28-30 in Amsterdam's famed Science Park Center for Mathematics Computer Science.

"The pace of business change across the globe continues to drive dramatic shifts in how companies serve their customers," said PROS Senior Vice President of Science and User Experience Jeff Robinson. "Airlines look to PROS for our decades of experience in developing revenue management software and solutions with real-time dynamic pricing. This new research allows companies to better optimize their prices with speed, precision and consistency. Darius Walczak is an industry expert, and we are honored that he's been selected to present next-generation revenue management research at this prestigious industry event."

To learn more about the conference, visit www.pros.com or follow PROS on Twitter at @PROS_Inc.

About PROS

PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PRO) is a cloud software company powering the shift to modern commerce by helping companies create personalized and frictionless buying experiences for their customers. Fueled by dynamic pricing science and machine learning, PROS solutions make it possible for companies to price, configure and sell their products and services in an omnichannel environment with speed, precision and consistency. Our customers, who are leaders in their markets, benefit from decades of data science expertise infused into our industry solutions. To learn more, visit pros.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the functionality and benefits of revenue, profit realization and modern commerce software to organizations generally as well as the functionality and benefits of PROS software products. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon PROS historical experience with revenue, profit realization and modern commerce software and its current expectations of the benefits of revenue, profit realization and modern commerce software for organizations that implement and utilize such software. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described herein include the addressability of an organization's revenue, profit realization and modern commerce software needs, the risks associated with PROS developing and enhancing products with the functionality necessary to deliver the stated results and the risks associated with the complex implementation and maintenance of revenue, profit realization and modern commerce software such as PROS software products. Additional information relating to the uncertainty affecting the PROS business is contained in PROS filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements represent PROS expectations as of the date of this press release. Subsequent events may cause these expectations to change, and PROS disclaims any obligations to update or alter these forward-looking statements in the future whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170626005097/en/

Contacts:

PROS

Yvonne Donaldson, 713.335.5310

ydonaldson@pros.com


JOHNS CREEK, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/26/17 -- Sirrus Corp. ("Sirrus" or the "Company") (OTC PINK: SRUP), an emerging cybersecurity solutions provider, today provided this discussion regarding business development opportunities for the Company's Time Verification Services Strategic Partnership with RelifyTIME LLC ("RelifyTIME").

"With any given digital transaction, whether it's an ATM cash withdrawal or a credit card purchase at a local retailer, there are dozens of potential timestamps that could need to be tested and verified in real-time to validate the event," commented Sparrow Marcioni, Sirrus Corp. CEO. "This mandatory secondary verification of each transaction is not a simple task and currently available solutions include expensive hardware requirements that make them economically impractical."

RelifyTIME Verification Services platform provides certifiable digital time stamping which constantly verifies the accuracy of certain network events and transaction devices such as credit card machines and ATMs, validating them with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) time servers.

Marcioni continued, "Because our innovative and proprietary time verification services platform is predominantly software based with dramatically lower hardware requirements, Sirrus and RelifyTIME could be the first to market with a more cost-effective, versatile, and secure solution."

Sirrus Security and RelifyTIME are currently working closely with contacts within the healthcare and financial sectors to build awareness and interest in the RelifyTIME Verification Services platform. The Company anticipates that RelifyTIME will establish pilot programs with select high volume transaction processors over the next several weeks.

Sirrus Security will receive a royalty fee of 40% of the gross profit from the Strategic Partnership with RelifyTIME.

About Sirrus Corp.

Sirrus Corp. (OTC PINK: SRUP) provides security technology products and services to assist companies with protecting their assets and information. The Company is primarily focused on providing cybersecurity services to healthcare companies in the United States, which are required to be in compliance with government regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA").

Additional information regarding Sirrus Corp. and Sirrus Security can be found at www.sirrussecurity.com.

About RelifyTIME

Founded by cybersecurity industry veterans, RelifyTIME is dedicated to changing the way that organizations think about time as a security control. The company's sole focus is establishing a unique and secure method for providing time as a service.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release by Sirrus Corp. ("Sirrus") may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words such as expects," "plan," "believes," "will," "achieve," "anticipate," "would," "should," "subject to," or words of similar meaning, and by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Although Sirrus management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Known risks and uncertainties include those identified from time to time in the reports filed by Sirrus Corp. with the SEC. Sirrus assumes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements contained in this press release.

Sirrus Corp. - Investor Relations:



Toll-Free: (888) 263-7622

E-mail: investors@sirrussecurity.com

Website: www.sirrussecurity.com




SHANGHAI, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/01/17 --Cushman & Wakefield announced that it has partnered with MetaProp NYC, the world's premier real estate technology nexus, to provide the global real estate services leader with exclusive worldwide strategic advice and corporate development across business lines and support services.

The Cushman & Wakefield-MetaProp tech partnership provides qualified startups with:

Single point of entry to the global Cushman & Wakefield ecosystem

Insight into Cushman & Wakefield operational and client business needs

Fast tracked technology and business diligence

Matching with appropriate Cushman & Wakefield client and business champions

Pilots, partnerships, investments, and acquisition opportunities.

Brett White, Chairman and CEO, Cushman & Wakefield, welcomed the partnership with the following: "With the pace of change in the world today, we have to remain quick and agile to deliver value to our customers. We favor new organizational models that leverage strategic partnerships and reject our industry's convention to self-perform every aspect of the value chain. By partnering with some of the best and brightest minds in real estate technology, our partners succeed, and our clients succeed."

"We believe in a 'partner first' approach when it comes to the next generation of real estate innovation," said Adam Stanley, Global CIO and Chief Digital Officer, Cushman & Wakefield. "MetaProp immediately gives our professionals the broadest vision into the property tech space and supercharges our platform for analyzing, partnering and implementing best-in-class real estate technologies from around the world. Top startup partners can now offer our clients, as well as our brokerage, consulting, management, and valuation professionals, the most forward-thinking software, hardware and tech-enabled services to improve their businesses."

"From top-to-bottom, Cushman & Wakefield is now laser focused on the future of real estate," said Aaron Block, Founding Partner and Managing Director, MetaProp NYC. "They are in touch with client needs, they know their internal strengths and they have begun to establish deep relationships with the broader PropTech community to take advantage of the best new real estate technologies. MetaProp is thrilled to help Cushman & Wakefield scale and expedite its global tech activities."

Mr. Stanley added: "We continue to find partnering the most advantageous strategy for this rapidly changing space. With hundreds of start-ups entering the commercial real estate ecosystem each year, the ability to pivot and exploit the best solution is greater if you are able to partner.

"Optimizing productivity requires diversity at the edge and our relationship with MetaProp supports this philosophy. In a few months, we have been able to evaluate more than 100 potential partners, selecting about 10 percent of the relationships to cultivate. Our talent and energy is focused on our clients and not in the evaluation, acquisition and integration of technology platforms."

"Real estate has lagged other industries in adopting technology, but that is now changing at digital speed in every area of our industry. Cushman & Wakefield is in a position to lead the charge."

PropTech startups interested in partnering with Cushman & Wakefield can visit metaprop.org/cw-partner.

About Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield is a leading global real estate services firm that helps clients transform the way people work, shop, and live. Our 45,000 employees in more than 70 countries help occupiers and investors optimize the value of their real estate by combining our global perspective and deep local knowledge with an impressive platform of real estate solutions. Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest commercial real estate services firms with revenue of $6 billion across core services of agency leasing, asset services, capital markets, facility services (C&W Services), global occupier services, investment & asset management (DTZ Investors), project & development services, tenant representation, and valuation & advisory. 2017 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Cushman & Wakefield brand. 100 years of taking our clients' ideas and putting them into action. To learn more, visit www.cushwakecentennial.com, www.cushmanwakefield.com or follow @CushWake on Twitter.

About MetaProp NYC

MetaProp NYC is the world's premier real estate technology nexus. Based in the heart of Manhattan's Silicon Alley, the MetaProp NYC 22-week Accelerator and 8-week Pre-Accelerator at Columbia University are the leading programs for high growth PropTech start-ups. Each year, up to 20 of the best technology driven real estate industry ideas are selected to participate in intensive education, mentorship and growth hacking programs, culminating in exclusive Graduation Defense panels and bi-coastal Demo Days for partners, investors, VCs and media. Founded in 2015, the accelerator boasts 100+ mentors, 10 renowned corporate partners and widespread media coverage from the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, New York Post, TechCrunch, Inman, Bisnow, Real Estate Weekly, and more. MetaProp NYC's team and strategic seed stage funds have invested in 60+ technology companies across the real estate value chain. The companies have raised more than $2 billion and employ 1,500+ people globally. MetaProp Advisors provides strategic advisory services, growth consulting, communications, event management and market research for real estate companies that are serious about innovation.

Media Contacts:

Elisa Yiu

Associate Director

Marketing and Communications, Hong Kong

+852 2507 0637

Email Contact



Peggy Mak / Penn Leung

Creative Consulting Group

+852 9482 3144 / +852 6077 7342

Email Contact /

Email Contact




SMILE minimally invasive laser eye surgery, using advanced refractive technology from ZEISS, reaches 1M milestone worldwide

JENA, Germany, Sept. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Medical Technology business group of ZEISS announced today that doctors performing laser vision correction surgery using its revolutionary SMILE refractive technology have now surpassed one million procedures worldwide. ReLEx SMILE is now being performed regularly around the world by over 1300 surgeons in over 65 countries with patients reporting high satisfaction with the efficacy and results of this minimally invasive procedure.

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/564089/ZEISS_SMILE_1_Million_LVC.mp4

"Patients want quality of vision and a high level of safety. That's why we choose SMILE. Small incision - great patient satisfaction," says refractive surgeon Dr. Joaquin Fernandez from Qvision, Almere, Spain.

SMILE, using the VisuMax femtosecond laser, has quickly proven its clinical effectiveness and demonstrates a variety of clinical advantages, studies have shown1. As an FDA-approved procedure, SMILE provides surgeons an additional proven laser vision correction option to offer their patients.

"We are thrilled that SMILE, the first major advancement in laser vision correction since the 1990's, has reached this important milestone and that ZEISS has played an integral role in ushering in a new era in refractive surgery with this proven technology," says James V. Mazzo, Global President Ophthalmic Devices at Carl Zeiss Meditec. "We are honored to see SMILE, our latest refractive procedure, so widely accepted by doctors and their patients, and that SMILE has helped doctors restore and improve the vision for so many people around the world."

ZEISS provides surgeons one of the most comprehensive laser refractive surgery technology portfolios in the industry. For over 30 years, since ZEISS introduced the first commercially available excimer laser system for vision correction surgery in 1986, the company has continued to provide laser eye surgery systems and applications, as well as integrated corneal diagnostics designed to safely, effectively and efficiently support the range of corneal surgery and refractive surgery procedures. SMILE (small incision lenticule extraction), the latest advancement in laser vision correction, was first performed in 2007 by Prof. Dr. med Walter Sekundo on a sighted patient and became commercially available with the launch of ReLEx SMILE in 2011.

During a ReLEx SMILE minimally invasive eye surgery procedure, doctors correct patients' refractive errors using the VisuMax femtosecond laser. With the laser, surgeons create a thin disc-shaped lenticule within the cornea which is then removed through a small incision on the surface of the cornea, also created by the laser, thereby achieving the desired vision correction. SMILE is a minimally invasive procedure, adding to the great choices for laser vision correction that surgeons already have. It requires only one laser to perform the entire treatment, and due to the small incision it leaves the outer corneal layer largely intact, thus potentially contributing to the cornea's stability after surgery - both biomechanical and refractive - and to fast visual recovery.

"This one-millionth SMILE procedure represents not only a major milestone for refractive technology, it represents the dedication of surgeons around the world in advancing ophthalmic care for their patients," said Dr. Ludwin Monz, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss Meditec. "We are pleased that so many patients around the world have been able to benefit from ZEISS' technology and that ZEISS continues to support doctors with innovations to help them improve their patients' vision and quality of life."

For more information, watch the SMILE video at www.zeiss.com/smile

1 Jesper Hjortdal (Aarhus Universitetshospital und Kommunehospital, Denmark), Rupal Shah (New Vision Laser Centers, India), Osama Ibrahim (Roayah Vision Center Alexandria, Egypt), Controlled Multicenter Study, data on file, 2011.

www.zeiss.com/med

www.zeiss.com/press

Brief profile

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (ISIN: DE 0005313704), which is listed on TecDAX of the German stock exchange, is one of the world's leading medical technology companies. The Company supplies innovative technologies and application-oriented solutions designed to help doctors improve the quality of life of their patients. It provides complete packages of solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases, including implants and consumable materials. The Company creates innovative visualization solutions in the field of microsurgery. With approximately 2,900 employees worldwide, the Group generated revenue of 1,088 million in financial year 2015/16 (to 30September).

The Group's head office is located in Jena, Germany, and it has subsidiaries in Germany and abroad; more than 50 percent of its employees are based in the USA, Japan, Spain and France. The Center for Application and Research (CARIn) in Bangalore, India and the Carl Zeiss Innovations Center for Research and Development in Shanghai, China, strengthen the Company's presence in these rapidly developing economies. Around 41 percent of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG's shares are in free float. The remaining approx. 59 percent are held by Carl Zeiss AG, one of the world's leading companies in the optical and optoelectronic industries.

For more information visit our website at: www.zeiss.com/med

Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/564088/ZEISS_ReLExSMILEtreatment.jpg

Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/564087/ZEISS_Brand_RGB.jpg
Document management systems are mainly used for the storage and retrieval of self-contained electronic data sources in the document form. These systems are designed to help organizations manage the creation and flow of documents through a centralized repository. Document management systems play a pivotal role in sourcing, monitoring, and managing content and extracting intelligible strategic business insights from the voluminous content generated by enterprises. Owing to this, there is an increased demand for document management systems mostly among enterprises as data is regarded as a corporate asset in enterprises.

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) - Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman received a heavy verbal punch from former Vice President Joe Biden at a private dinner in Las Vegas last month. Ackman, the hedge fund manager popular for losing money on investments in Herbalife and Valeant, got into a verbal tussle with Biden after he made rude comment on the tragic death of Biden's son. The incident stunned an A-list group of attendees who witnessed Biden verbally scolding Ackman, the Fox Business reported citing three people who were present. During a private VIP dinner at this year's SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference, Biden was asked why he did not run for president in 2016 by former Florida governor and 2016 GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush. Biden explained that he decided not run for president largely due to the death of his son Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015. Biden became emotional and said: 'I'm sorry.I've said enough.' That's when Ackman blurted out 'Why? That's never stopped you before.' 'Who is this a-hole,' Biden reportedly asked a seatmate. 'Look, I don't know who you are, wiseass, but never disrespect the memory of my dead son!' The hedgie attempted an apology but was told by Biden to 'just shut the hell up.' 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.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/26/17 -- Kootenay Zinc Corp. (the "Company") (CSE: ZNK)(CSE: ZNK.CN)(CNSX: ZNK)(OTCQB: KTNNF)(FRANKFURT: KYH) announces that its drilling contractor, FB Drilling of Cranbrook, BC has mobilized to the E3 Target on its Sully Project and has commenced drilling. Exploration efforts are focused on discovery of zinc SEDEX mineralization.

Having recently completed detailed gravity surveying and mass modeling, as well as outcrop sampling, the project team is excited to drill hole SY17-15 to test the E3 gravity anomaly area for the first time. Initially, two holes will assess the near surface (less than 300m deep) portions of the target to potentially identify, and provide proof of concept as to the source of what causes the gravity anomalies identified at Sully.

About the Company

Kootenay Zinc Corp. is a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, British Columbia that is presently targeting the Sully Property. The Company is focused on discovering large-scale sedimentary-exhalative ("SEDEX") deposits.

The Sully Property comprises 1,375 hectares located approximately 30 kilometres east of Kimberley, B.C., and overlies rocks of similar age and origin as those which host the world-class Sullivan deposit, owned by Teck Resources Ltd. Sullivan was discovered in 1892, and is known to be one of the largest SEDEX deposits in the world. Over its 100-year lifetime, Sullivan produced approximately 150 million tonnes of ore, including approximately three hundred million ounces of silver, eight million tonnes of zinc and eight million tonnes of lead. The equivalent level of strata as at Sullivan and that formed on the margin of that same basin are present at the Sully Property. The Company cautions that past results or discoveries on proximate land are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the Sully Property.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by the Company's Project Manager, Paul Ransom, P.Geo., a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Forward Looking Information

This news release includes certain statements that constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law, including without limitation, statements that address the Sully Property, comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, costs and timing of future exploration and development, requirements for additional capital, other statements relating to the financial and business prospects of the Company. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved), and variations of such words, and similar expressions are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statement are necessarily based upon a number of factors that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performances or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performances or achievements express or implied by such statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of zinc and other metals, anticipated costs and the ability to achieve goals. While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and regulatory uncertainties and risks.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual events, level of activity, performance or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: (i) risks related to zinc, base metal and other commodity price fluctuations; (ii) risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of exploration results; (iii) risks related to the inherent uncertainty of exploration and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; (iv) that resource exploration and development is a speculative business; (v) that the Company may lose or abandon its property interests or may fail to receive necessary licences and permits; (vi) that environmental laws and regulations may become more onerous; (vii) that the Company may not be able to raise additional funds when necessary; (viii) the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; (ix) exploration and development risks, including risks related to accidents, equipment breakdowns, labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in exploration and development; (x) competition; (xi) the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of geologic reports or studies; (xii) the uncertainty of profitability based upon the Company's history of losses; (xiii) risks related to environmental regulation and liability; (xiv) risks associated with failure to maintain community acceptance, agreements and permissions (generally referred to as "social licence"); (xv) risks relating to obtaining and maintaining all necessary government permits, approvals and authorizations relating to the continued exploration and development of the Company's projects; (xvi) risks related to the outcome of legal actions; (xvii) political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; (xix) risks related to current global financial conditions; and (xx) other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business strategy. These risks, as well as others, could cause actual results and events to vary significantly.

There can be no assurance that planned exploration will be completed as proposed or at all, or that economic resources will be discovered or developed at the Sully Property. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, the loss of key directors, employees, advisors or consultants, equipment failures, failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations and fees charged by service providers. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Contacts:

Kootenay Zinc Corp.

Hugh Rogers

Director

info@kootenayzinc.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/26/17 -- First Cobalt Corp. ("First Cobalt") (TSX VENTURE: FCC)(OTCQB: FTSSF) and Cobalt One Limited ("Cobalt One") (ASX: CO1) are pleased to announce that following the non-binding, conditional proposal by First Cobalt to acquire 100% of the shares in Cobalt One, as announced by First Cobalt on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") dated June 21, 2017, both parties subsequently signed a letter of intent on June 23, 2017, pursuant to which First Cobalt intends to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Cobalt One by way of a court approved scheme of arrangement (the "Arrangement").

Highlights:

-- Creates a leading pure-play cobalt exploration company ("MergeCo") with a portfolio of high quality exploration assets and the only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in the Cobalt, Ontario mining camp (the "Cobalt Camp") -- Experienced management team based in Toronto, with a proven track record of discovery, development, and finance, and located in close proximity to the Cobalt Camp -- MergeCo will be the largest listed cobalt exploration company with a pro-forma market capitalization of $110 million -- MergeCo will be listed on the TSXV, the ASX and the OTCQB, subject to regulatory approval -- Increased scale of the combined company will enhance its capital markets profile, liquidity, provide greater access to capital across the exchanges and provides for strong rerating potential -- Following completion of the Arrangement, it is intended that the Company's Board will be reconstituted to include Cobalt One chairman Paul Matysek, Cobalt One Executive Director Jason Bontempo and Bob Cross

Cobalt One Executive Director Jason Bontempo commented,

"This proposal represents an attractive opportunity for Cobalt One to expand and allow shareholders to benefit from being part of a larger company that is expected to have greater liquidity and access to capital from two of the world's leading capital markets. Cobalt One shareholders would have a meaningful position in the merged company."

Trent Mell, First Cobalt President and CEO commented,

"I look forward to welcoming Jason, Paul and Bob to the Board of Directors. By creating what we believe to be the largest cobalt exploration company in the world, the new company will provide strong leverage to the growth of the electric vehicle market."

Benefits to Cobalt One Shareholders:

-- Presents an opportunity to leverage First Cobalt's management team's strong in-country mining expertise to ensure optimal exploration and development strategy -- Positions MergeCo as the dominant landholder in the Cobalt Ontario mining camp, consolidating almost 50% of the prospective properties in the camp -- Greater liquidity and prospect of market re-rating with enhanced scale, capital markets profile and increased access to capital across two listed markets -- Cobalt One shareholders will maintain a majority stake in MergeCo, allowing for greater upside as MergeCo progresses with exploration programs

Terms of the Arrangement

Under the terms of the Arrangement, Cobalt One shareholders will receive 0.145 of a First Cobalt common share for each Cobalt One ordinary share (a "CO1 Share"), representing the equivalent of A$0.11 per CO1 Share, based on the last trading price (C$0.76) of First Cobalt shares on the June 23. This exchange ratio implies a total transaction value of approximately $140 million on a fully diluted in the money basis.

The Arrangement is an arms' length transaction, and will constitute a reverse-takeover of First Cobalt under the policies of the TSXV following which it is anticipated that First Cobalt would remain listed on the TSXV as a Tier 2 Mining Issuer. Completion of the Arrangement is subject to a number of conditions, including the entering into of definitive documentation, approval by the shareholders of Cobalt One and First Cobalt and receipt of all required regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSXV and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The Arrangement cannot close until these conditions are satisfied and the required approvals are obtained. Trading in the common shares of First Cobalt will remain halted pending further filings with the TSXV.

Management and Directors

Following completion of the Arrangement, it is intended that the Company's Board will be reconstituted to include Cobalt One chairman Paul Matysek, Cobalt One Executive Director Jason Bontempo, Mr. Robert (Bob) Cross and some or all of the current First Cobalt Board members.

Mr. Paul Matysek is a corporate entrepreneur, professional geochemist and geologist with over 30 years of experience in the mining industry. He was previously CEO of Lithium One, which merged with Galaxy Resources of Australia via a $112M plan of arrangement to create an integrated lithium company. He also served as CEO of Potash One, which was acquired by K+S Ag for $434 million in a friendly takeover in 2011. Mr. Matysek was also the founder and CEO of Energy Metals Corporation, a uranium company that grew from a market capitalization of $10 million to approximately $1.8 billion when sold in 2007.

Mr. Jason Bontempo has 18 years' experience in public company management, corporate advisory, investment banking and public company accounting, qualifying as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young. Mr. Bontempo has worked primarily providing corporate advice and the financing of resource companies across multiple capital markets including resource asset acquisitions and divestments. Mr. Bontempo has also served on the board and the executive management of minerals and resources public companies focusing on advancing and developing mineral resource assets and business development.

Mr. Robert (Bob) Cross is an engineer and Harvard MBA with 25 years of experience as a financier in the mining and oil & gas sectors. He co-founded and serves as Chairman of B2Gold, which has a $3.7 billion market cap and produces almost one million ounces of gold per year. He was also co-founder and Chairman of Bankers Petroleum Ltd., co-founder and Chairman of Petrodorado Energy Ltd., and until October 2007, was the Non-Executive Chairman of Northern Orion Resources Inc. Between 1996 and 1998, Mr. Cross was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yorkton Securities Inc. From 1987 to 1994, he was a Partner, Investment Banking with Gordon Capital Corporation in Toronto.

Advisors and Counsel

Canaccord Genuity Corp. is acting as financial advisor to First Cobalt, Cassels Brock and Blackwell LLP and Jackson McDonald are acting as legal counsel to First Cobalt.

Gilbert + Tobin and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP are acting as legal counsel to Cobalt One.

About First Cobalt

First Cobalt is focused on building a diversified global portfolio of assets that are highly leveraged to the cobalt market. The Company's current assets include almost 3,000 hectares and three former mines in the Cobalt camp in Ontario, Canada. Cornerstone assets include an option for the former producing Keeley-Frontier mine, a high-grade mine that produced over 3.3 million pounds of cobalt and 19.1 million ounces of silver from 301,000 tonnes of ore, as well as a joint venture on a fully permitted cobalt refinery in Cobalt, Ontario. The Company also has interests in seven prospective copper-cobalt properties covering 190 square kilometres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all with known surface mineralization.

About Cobalt One Limited

Cobalt One Limited is a cobalt exploration company with high grade projects and the only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction, Ontario, Canada. It has seven high-grade cobalt properties in Cobalt, Ontario which includes; Cobalt Town claims, Lorrain Valley Cobalt claims, Silver Centre Cobalt claims and Silverfields mine property, which has four patented mining claims near Cobalt Town.

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. The TSX Venture Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the Arrangement, and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this release.

Completion of the Arrangement is subject to a number of conditions, including the entering into of definitive documentation, acceptance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the TSX Venture Exchange and disinterested Shareholder approval. The Arrangement cannot close until the required Shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Arrangement will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Information Circular to be prepared in connection with the Arrangement, any information released or received with respect to the Arrangement may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include the reliability of the historical data referenced in this press release and risks set out in First Cobalt's public documents, including in each management discussion and analysis, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although First Cobalt believes that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, First Cobalt disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

First Cobalt Corp.

Heather Smiles

Investor Relations

+1.416.900.3891

info@firstcobalt.com

www.firstcobalt.com



Cobalt One Limited

Jason Bontempo

Executive Director

jasonb@equatorresources.com.au

www.equatorresources.com.au




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/26/17 -- As a way of giving back this Canada Day, Shaw Communications Inc. today announced that it is providing complimentary access to its Shaw Go WiFi network at over 80,000 hotspots across Western Canada. From June 26 to July 3, all Canadians and visitors to Canada will be able to tweet, post, snap and share using Shaw Go WiFi at no charge.

"This Canada Day long weekend, people want to share in the festivities with their family and friends," said Chethan Lakshman, Vice President, External Affairs, Shaw Communications. "Whether you're posting pictures, looking up a place to go or getting directions, Shaw Go WiFi will help keep people connected while saving on cellular data usage."

The Shaw Go WiFi guest network can be accessed by selecting 'ShawGuest' from the list of available networks on any WiFi-enabled device. For a full list of Shaw Go WiFi hotspots, visit www.shaw.ca/wifi or download the Shaw Go WiFi Finder app.

Providing complimentary access to the Shaw Go WiFi network over the long weekend is one of Shaw's ways to give back in celebration of Canada 150. Shaw is also granting 150 wishes with monetary gifts to support the people and organizations who are doing exceptional work to improve the lives of children and youth in our communities.

More information about Shaw's Canada 150 initiative is available at www.shaw.ca/Canada150.

About Shaw Communications

Shaw Communications Inc. is an enhanced connectivity provider. Our Consumer division serves consumers with broadband Internet, Shaw Go WiFi, video and digital phone. Our Wireless division provides wireless voice and data services through an expanding and improving mobile wireless network infrastructure. The Business Network Services division provides business customers with Internet, data, WiFi, telephony, video and fleet tracking services. The Business Infrastructure Services division, through ViaWest, provides hybrid IT solutions including colocation, cloud computing and security and compliance for North American enterprises.

Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (TSX: SJR.B)(TSX: SJR.PR.A)(TSX: SJR.PR.B)(NYSE: SJR)(TSX VENTURE: SJR.A). For more information, please visit www.shaw.ca.

Contacts:

For media inquiries: Shaw Communications Inc.

Chethan Lakshman

VP, Communications and Public Relations

(403) 930-8448

chethan.lakshman@sjrb.ca

www.shaw.ca




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures nudged higher Monday, improving from 10-month lows as buyers found value after the recent collapse. August WTI oil settled at $43.38/bbl on Nymex, up 37 cents, or 0.9%. Prices plunged 20 percent over the past few weeks to the lowest since mid-2016. The stubborn global supply glut shows little signs of abating, particularly if U.S. production remains rampant. Baker Hughes said U.S. drillers added 11 oil rigs last week, the biggest increase in three weeks. The rig count has risen 23 weeks in a row, the longest streak on record. Analysts also say Libya production has been surprisingly resilient. The North Africa nation is exempt from OPEC's supply quota plan with Russia. New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods fell by more than expected in the month of May, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Monday. The report said durable goods orders tumbled by 1.1 percent in May after slumping by 0.9 percent in April. Economists had expected orders to drop by 0.6 percent. 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.
Announcing a step toward combining the portfolios and operations of its four international financial guaranty insurance companies, Assured Guaranty Ltd. (together with its subsidiaries, Assured Guaranty) said that Assured Guaranty Europe plc (AGE) has acquired the other three companies involved in the combination, Assured Guaranty (London) plc (AGLN), Assured Guaranty (UK) plc (AGUK) and CIFG Europe SA (CIFG EU). The ultimate result of the planned combination will be the merger of AGLN, AGUK and CIFG EU with and into AGE, with AGE as the surviving entity. Upon the merger, obligations and bonds insured by AGLN, AGUK and CIFG EU will become insured obligations of AGE and, therefore, receive AGE's financial strength ratings. AGE is working to complete the combination by the end of 2017.

The combination is subject to various insurance regulatory approvals and, in addition, the approval of the U.K. High Court is required for the transfers of the AGUK and AGLN portfolios to AGE.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Any forward-looking statements made in this press release reflect Assured Guaranty's current views with respect to future events and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, difficulties executing Assured Guaranty's business strategy; and other risks and uncertainties that have not been identified at this time, management's response to these factors, and other risk factors identified in Assured Guaranty's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are made as of June 26, 2017. Assured Guaranty undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

*Assured Guaranty (Europe) plc (AGE) (formerly Assured Guaranty (Europe) Ltd.) (company number 2510099) is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. AGE provides its financial guarantee together with a co-guarantee from its affiliate Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. (AGM).

Through its subsidiaries, Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGL and, together with its subsidiaries, Assured Guaranty) is the leading provider of financial guarantees for principal and interest payments due on municipal, public infrastructure and structured financings. Its subsidiary AGM guarantees international infrastructure and U.S. municipal bonds and was previously named Financial Security Assurance Inc. (FSA) before becoming an Assured Guaranty company in July 2009. AGE, a subsidiary of AGM, is Assured Guaranty's European operating platform. AGL is a publicly traded (NYSE: AGO), Bermuda-based holding company. Its operating subsidiaries provide credit enhancement products to the U.S. and international public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. More information on Assured Guaranty Ltd. and its subsidiaries can be found at AssuredGuaranty.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170626006148/en/

Contacts:

Assured Guaranty Ltd.

Investor Relations:

Robert Tucker, +1-212-339-0861

Senior Managing Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

rtucker@agltd.com

or

Media:

Ashweeta Durani, +1-212-408-6042

Vice President, Corporate Communications

adurani@agltd.com
Regulatory News:

Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (NA:PSH) today announces that it has purchased, through PSH's agent, Jefferies International Limited ("Jefferies"), the following number of PSH's ordinary shares of no par value (ISIN Code: GG00BPFJTF46) (the "Shares"):

Date of purchase: 26 June 2017 Number of Shares purchased: 11,991 Shares Highest price paid per Share: 1,203 pence 15.32 USD Lowest price paid per Share: 1,195 pence 15.22 USD Average price paid per Share: 1,197.17 pence 15.24 USD

PSH intends to cancel these Shares. The net asset value per Share related to this Share buyback USD 18.27 GBP 14.47 which was calculated as of 20 June 2017. After giving effect to the above Share buyback, PSH has 239,138,697 outstanding Shares. The prices per share in USD were calculated by Jefferies.

The number of PSH Management Shares and the 1 special voting share (held by PS Holdings Independent Voting Company Limited) has not been affected.

About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.:

Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (NA:PSH) is an investment holding company structured as a closed-ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170626006152/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Maitland

James Devas, +44 20 7379 5151

Media-pershingsquareholdings@maitland.co.uk
Allegion plc (NYSE: ALLE), a leading global security products and solutions provider, will release its 2017 second-quarter financial results on Thursday, July 27, 2017, before the market opens.

Later that morning, David D. Petratis, chairman, president and CEO, and Patrick Shannon, senior vice president and chief financial officer, will conduct a conference call for analysts and investors, beginning at 8 a.m. ET, to review the company's results.

A real-time, listen-only webcast of the conference call will be broadcast live, through the company's website at http://investor.allegion.com. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 877-883-0383 in the United States or 412-902-6506 internationally and entering Conference ID 9577801. Listeners should dial in at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.

For those unable to listen to the live event, a replay will be available on the company's website later that day.

About Allegion

Allegion (NYSE: ALLE) is a global pioneer in safety and security, with leading brands like CISA, Interflex, LCN, Schlage, SimonsVoss and Von Duprin. Focusing on security around the door and adjacent areas, Allegion produces a range of solutions for homes, businesses, schools and other institutions. Allegion is a $2.2 billion company, with products sold in almost 130 countries.

For more, visit www.allegion.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170626005936/en/

Contacts:

Allegion plc

Media Contact:

Maria Pia Tamburri Director, Public Affairs

317-810-3399

Maria.Tamburri@allegion.com

or

Analyst Contact:

Mike Wagnes Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations

317-810-3494

Michael.Wagnes@allegion.com
BAAR, Switzerland, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Weatherford International plc (NYSE: WFT) (the "Company" or "Weatherford") announced today the pricing of a private offering (the "Offering") of an additional $250 million aggregate principal amount of its 9.875% senior notes due 2024 (the "New Notes") at 101% of par to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and to certain non-U.S. persons in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. The New Notes will be senior, unsecured obligations of Weatherford International Ltd. ("Weatherford Bermuda"), a Bermuda exempted company and indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. The New Notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed, on a senior, unsecured basis, by the Company and by Weatherford International, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and indirect subsidiary of Weatherford Bermuda. The Offering is expected to close June 29, 2017, subject to customary closing conditions.

The New Notes will be issued as additional securities under an indenture pursuant to which Weatherford Bermuda previously issued $540 million aggregate principal amount of its 9.875% senior notes due 2024 (the "Initial Notes", and together with the New Notes, the "Notes"). The New Notes will have identical terms, other than the issue date, as the Initial Notes, and the New Notes and the Initial Notes will be treated as a single class of securities under the indenture governing the Notes.

The purpose of the Offering is to repay amounts outstanding under the Company's revolving credit facility, give the Company additional liquidity throughout 2017, and provide assurance it will comply with the financial covenants set forth in its senior revolving and term loan credit facilities.

The New Notes will not be registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described above, 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 such state or jurisdiction.

ABOUT WEATHERFORD INTERNATIONAL PLC

Weatherford is one of the largest multinational oilfield service companies providing innovative solutions, technology and services to the oil and gas industry. The Company operates in over 90 countries and has a network of approximately 880 locations, including manufacturing, service, research and development, and training facilities and employs approximately 29,500 people.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release includes forward-looking statements, including those related to the Company's anticipated compliance with the financial covenants in its revolving and term loan credit facilities after the Offering and the use of proceeds therefrom. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "may," "should," "could," "will," "would," and "will be," and similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Such statements are subject to significant risks, assumptions and uncertainties. Known material factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by such forward-looking statements are described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the subsequent quarterly periods and those risk factors set forth from time-to-time in other filings with the SEC. Weatherford undertakes no obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except to the extent required under federal securities laws.

Investor Contacts:

Christoph Bausch +1.713.836.4615 Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer





Karen David-Green +1.713.836.7430 Vice President - Investor Relations, Marketing and Communications



Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/73933/weatherford_international_logo.jpg
GRAND CAYMAN, CAYMAN ISLANDS -- (Marketwired) -- 06/26/17 -- Tethys Petroleum Limited ("Tethys" or the "Company") (TSX: TPL) HEREBY GIVES NOTICE THAT the extraordinary general meeting (the "Meeting") of the holders of ordinary shares of the Company which the Company previously announced would be held at the offices of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower, 22 Adelaide St W, Toronto, ON, M5H 4E3, Canada on July 28, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time - local time in Toronto, Canada) has been postponed until further notice as a result of Olisol Petroleum Limited's ("Olisol") failure to provide certain information regarding its proposed directors that the Company has requested and which the Company is required to include in the management information circular to be sent to shareholders (the "Required Information").

The Meeting was convened pursuant to a Member's requisition made by Olisol Petroleum Limited ("Olisol") in accordance with Regulation 35(B) of the Articles of Association of the Company (the "Articles").

The Company has requested that Olisol provide the Required Information, however, to date, Olisol has failed to provide this information. The Required Information includes the following relating to each proposed director:

1. Five year employment history; 2. Number of ordinary shares in the Company beneficially owned or controlled; 3. Whether the proposed director has been an executive officer of a company in the last 10 years which has been the subject of a bankruptcy or similar proceedings; 4. Whether the proposed director has been a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer of a company in the last 10 years which has been the subject of a cease trade order or similar order; 5. Whether the proposed director has in the last 10 years been the subject of bankruptcy or similar proceedings; and 6. Details of penalties or sanctions imposed on the proposed director by a court or regulatory body relating to securities legislation (or other important matters) or any settlement agreement entered into by the proposed director with any such body.

The Board believes that the Required Information could be material to shareholders in deciding whether to vote for a proposed director and has therefore decided to postpone the Meeting under Regulation 38 of the Articles.

The Board will announce a new date for the Meeting if Olisol provides the Required Information in a timely manner.

Contacts:

Tethys Petroleum

info@tethyspetroleum.com

www.tethyspetroleum.com




Fintonic, a Madrid, Spain-based provider of a mobile app to optimize personal finances, closed a 25m round of funding.

Backers included ING Group and insurance group PSN, amongst other investors.

The company intends to use the funds to drive its growth in Spain and LatAm and increase its value proposition.

Founded in 2012, Fintonic allows users to organize in a single platform all their banking transactions no matter how many banks they are using, featuring an advice and alert system. With no need to switch banks, users can directly contract loans from four different banks and insurances amongst 40 companies, tailored to their profile in the best conditions.

Fintonic has recently introduced Finscore, a free index through which users know what their credit profile is, which enhances their negotiating capacity when contracting financial products.

The app has over 400.000 users in Spain and Chile.

The company, which consists of a team of over 50 professionals, experts in financing and new technologies, is also backed by Ideon Financial Solutions, Inception Capital, Onza Capital, Atresmedia, and other business leaders.

FinSMEs

26/06/2017
Iris Capital, a Paris, France-based pan-European venture capital firm, has launched its new fund, with a first 250M closing.

Corporates investing in IrisNexts first closing include Orange, Publicis, Valeo, Bpifrance and BRED Banque Populaire.

IrisNext is the firms second generation multi-corporate vehicle, and combines strategic corporates, financial investors, individuals and institutions under a fully independent management.

It will focus on digital transformation opportunities investing in fast growing companies that are reshaping entire industries from Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, Cybersecurity and 5G networks, to Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Computing and Software Design.

The fund will make investments from seed to growth stage, from 1m up to 30m, with a focus on France and Germany.

Led by Antoine Garrigues, Pierre de Fouquet, Erkan Kilicaslan, Erik de la Riviere, Iris Capital is a European venture capital funds manager specialized in the digital economy with with investments including, among others, Adjust, Careem, Kyriba, Marco Vasco, Mister Auto, Mopub, Netatmo, ReBuy, Searchmetrics, Scality, Shift Technology, and Talend.

The firm has offices in Paris, Berlin, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Dubai and Tokyo.

FinSMEs

25/06/2017
New Delhi: Do not expect any compensation for theft or burglary of valuables in safe deposit boxes of public sector banks as the locker hiring agreement absolves them of all liability.

This bitter truth was disclosed in an RTI response by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and 19 PSU banks.

Stung by the revelation, the lawyer who had sought information under the transparency law has now moved the Competition Commission of India (CCI) alleging "cartelisation" and "anti-competitive practices" by the banks in respect of the locker service.

He has informed the CCI that the RTI response from the RBI has said it has not issued any specific direction in this regard or prescribed any parameters to assess the loss suffered by a customer.

Even under the RTI response all public sectors banks have washed their hands of any responsibility.

According to the information availed by the lawyer, the unanimous reason given by the 19 banks, including Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank, UCO and Canara, among others, is that "the relationship they have with customers with regard to lockers is that of lessee (landlord) and lessor (tenant)".

The banks have contended that in such a relationship, the lessor is responsible for his or her valuables kept in the locker which is owned by the bank.

Some banks, in their locker hiring agreements, have made it clear that any item stored in the locker is at the customer's own risk and he or she may, in their own interest, insure the valuables.

The common feature of all locker hiring agreements states, "As per safe deposit memorandum of hiring locker, the bank will not be responsible for any loss or damage of the contents kept in the safe deposit vault as a result of any act of war or civil disorder or theft or burglary and the contents will be kept by the hirer at his or her sole risk and responsibility.

"While the bank will exercise all such normal precautions, it does not accept any liability or responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever sustained to items deposited with it. Accordingly, hirers are advised in their own interest to insure any item of value deposited in a safe deposit locker in the bank," they have said.

Aggrieved by the responses, the lawyer -- Kush Kalra -- raised questions before the CCI -- why not just keep the valuables at home after insuring them, instead of paying rent to the bank for a locker when it is not going to take any responsibility for the contents.

He further alleged that all these banks, also including State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank, Allahabad Bank and others, have formed a "cartel" to indulge in such "anti-competitive" practices.

He further alleged that the bank by forming an association or cartel are "trying to limit the improvement of services which is directly affecting the competition in the market and interests of the consumer".

The lawyer has sought a probe under the Competition Act into the allegation of cartelisation by the banks in respect of the locker service.
New Delhi: UK's Cairn Energy, which became the first company to face coercive recovery in retrospective tax action, had created a maze of subsidiaries in a span of just six months to transfer Indian assets, an event that led to a demand of Rs 10,247 crore as dues.

According to documents accessed by PTI, Scotland-based Cairn Energy till 2006 held Indian assets, including the prolific Rajasthan oil fields, through nine Indian subsidiaries. What followed was creation of layers of subsidiary firms and transfer of Indian assets. The tax department said the company made capital gains out of the restructuring, hence the tax demand.

When contacted, Cairn Energy spokesperson justified the structure, saying the company chose India listing over the option of getting the Indian company listed on UK bourses. The structure it built had been presented to Sebi, the erstwhile Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the Reserve Bank of India in 2006 in a "transparent" manner.

On 26 June 2006, Cairn first created Cairn UK Holding Ltd (CUHL) and transfered the Indian assets to it. In return, it got 221.44 million shares of CUHL on 30 June, 2006. It also got another 29.78 million shares for sale of 29.78 million pound debt on 1 September 2006. On 3 August 2006, Cairn India Holding Ltd (CIHL) was incorporated in Jersey, Channel Islands -- a tax haven -- as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CUHL.

The Indian assets were transfered to CIHL which issued 221.44 million shares to CUHL, UK, on August 7, 2006. CUHL also sold debt of 29.78 million pound to CIHL, for which the Jersey firm issued another 29.78 million shares. So, CUHL in all acquired 251.22 million shares of CIHL at one UK pound sterling apiece. Thereafter, CUHL, UK, on October 12, 2006, sold 41.49 million shares of CIHL to newly-incorporated Cairn India Ltd, which transfered to the British firm Rs 5,037 crore for the same.

Three more such share transfers happened between November and December 2006. In all, the four transactions put together, 251.22 million shares of CIHL were sold to Cairn India for Rs 26,681 crore.

The income tax department, documents showed, calculated the cost of acquisition as 251.22 million pound (Rs 2,178 crore) considering the price at which the debt was transfered. So, the capital gains CUHL made were calculated at Rs 24,503 crore (Rs 26,681 crore gained minus acquisition price of Rs 2,178 crore), the documents showed.

The tax department felt that a short-term capital gain tax should apply as CUHL had acquired 251.22 million shares of CIHL at the cost of 251.22 million pound in August-September 2006. The same was then sold to Cairn India within few months. Cairn India was thereafter listed on stock exchanges through an initial public offering (IPO) that raised Rs 5,261 crore.

The short-term capital gain of Rs 24,503 crore at the hand of CUHL was confirmed by income tax tribunal ITAT in March, following which a demand note was sent seeking Rs 10,247 crore. With the British firm not paying, the tax authorities first appropriated the Rs 1,500 crore of past tax refund that was lying and then took over US $104 million of dividend income due to it from Cairn India.

"The interactions with multiple agencies of the Indian government underscores the extent to which Cairn transparently disclosed all elements of the contemplated transaction in India. Cairn is of the view that the company conducted the transaction in complete candour and openness with the Indian government," Cairn Energy spokesperson said.

Cairn, he said, "can demonstrate that the 2006 transaction structure and the formation of holding companies was a function of the mandatory Indian securities and other regulations and they had definite economic purpose".

"Cairn's case is that none of the 2006 transactions was taxable in India according to the law in force at the time, which was also evident from the Indian government's past practice, and that the detailed steps of those transactions were fully disclosed," he said.
New Delhi: State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has joined the Indian consortium negotiating buying a 49 percent stake in Russia's Vankor Cluster oil fields in the Arctic region.

Originally, ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), signed an MoU to explore buying a stake in Suzunskoye, Tagulskoye and Lodochnoye fields -- collectively known as Vankor Cluster.

Later, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Oil India (OIL) and Bharat PetroResources (BPRL), a unit of Bharat Petroleum Corporation, came in using the influence of the oil ministry.

Now, HPCL has shown interest and has joined the talks, sources privy to the development said.

Rosneft, Russia's national oil company that owns the fields, wants to retain a majority stake and is keen to sell only up to 49 percent stake.

Sources said OVL is keen to take the largest share of 20 -26 percent as the project had originally come to it and others joined in later.

If OVL takes 26 percent stake, OIL-IOC-BPRL-HPCL may have 23.9 percent, they said.

Vankorneft, a subsidiary of Rosneft, is developing the Vankor oil and gas condensate field, situated in the northern part of eastern Siberia.

In 2013, Vankorneft was chosen as an operator on development of new fields of Vankor Cluster located close to the Vankor field. The reserves of Suzunskoye field exceed 56 million tonnes of oil and condensate and 35 billion cubic metres of gas.

Last year, OVL first acquired 15 percent in Russia's second-biggest oil field of Vankor for US $1.27 billion and then bought another 11 percent for US $930 million. The 26 percent stake would give OVL 7.31 million tonnes of oil.

The consortium of OIL-IOC-BPRL acquired 23.9 percent stake in the field at a cost of US $2.02 billion, giving them 6.56 million tonnes of oil. Rosneft continues to hold the remaining 50.1 percent shares of JSC Vankorneft. The field has recoverable reserves of 2.5 billion barrels.

Besides, the OIL-IOC-BPRL consortium has taken another 29.9 percent stake in a separate Taas-Yuryakh oil field in East Siberia for US $1.12 billion. The investments have taken the total outlay in Russia this year to US $5.46 billion.

These investments will give India 15.18 mt of oil equivalent. These compare to US $28.48 billion investment by Indian companies overseas in the past 50 years, leading to about 10 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

While Vankor produces about 4,42,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) -- that is, 4 percent of Russian crude oil production -- Taas produces about 21,000 barrels per day of oil, and a peak of 1,00,000 bpd is expected by 2021.
New Delhi: With IT sector witnessing subdued sentiment amidst pressure on hiring and annual pay rise for employees, the country's software and services hubs such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Noida-Gurgaon are expected to see 10-20 percent reduction in housing rents over the next three-quarters an Assocham paper said here on Monday.

Unlike in the past when the fresh inflows of young professionals were pushing the demand for rentals in Bengaluru, the house owners in India's 'Silicon Valley' seem to have done a reality check and are accordingly slashing the rentals, while offering better amenities, the study said.

"Even in the existing rental deeds, the tenants are seeking better options and no hike in the monthly outgo, quoting the adverse industry outlook. With better options, the market is tilting in favor of the tenants, especially those paying above Rs 50,000 per month," it added.

Going forward, the rentals may ease at least by 10-15 percent in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, while the decline may be steeper, up to 20 per cent in Pune, in the next three-quarters. Gurgaon and Noida are also witnessing a correction in rentals up to 10-15 percent, the study forecast.

According to the Assocham's latest estimates, while the IT sector continues to employ over four million people, mostly in the four to five big cities, the hiring growth has subdued.

"The IT and other services like financials are among the sectors which pay well. Besides, the age profile of these employees is quite tempting for the marketers. They are good spenders and want a good life. These factors kept the markets for rentals pushing up, especially in gated and well-equipped housing complexes and societies in Bengaluru, Gurgaon, and Hyderabad. There is certainly a pause visible," said D.S. Rawat, Secretary General, Assocham.
It has been roughly 24 hours since Narendra Modi set foot in Washington and his skills as a master communicator are once again plainly evident. Two events on Sunday where he interacted with vastly different audiences  America's top CEOs and representatives of the Indian disapora  reflect the practiced ease with which the prime minister can charm his listeners.

Some of the most hard-boiled businessmen came out purring after the Willard Hotel round table with Modi. The easily excitable diaspora admittedly didn't need too much convincing of 'Modi's greatness', yet the intensity of their enthusiasm and choice of topics in the prime minister's speech threw up some interesting takeaways.

The so-called similarities between Modi and Donald Trump have been a topic of much discussion. A spate of articles has predictably emerged ahead of their maiden face-to-face meeting. The similarities are grossly exaggerated and in fact, are quite misleading. In their background, personality, road to power, administrative experience and acumen, lifestyle, ideology, beliefs and leadership approach, Modi and Trump are as similar as chalk and cheese. Most articles that project Modi and Trump as each other's 'mirror image' are poorly conceptualized and lack in basic interpretation of facts.

One similarity, though, is hard to miss  their distrust of mainstream media. Once again, both have taken vastly different approaches to dealing with it: Modi generally avoids the media whereas Trump enjoys locking horns with them. But both leaders display an underlying belief that media is "unfair" to them and scribes try everything from "misleading public" to "fabricating facts" to deny them the credit they deserve.

It is interesting to note that both leaders have indicated they won't take questions post their tete-a-tete on Monday followed by a joint statement. This is an obvious attempt to manage the headlines and keep those focused on the outcomes of the meeting than on areas of friction.

It is here where Trump and Modi show a remarkable similarity. Arising out of the belief that they are regularly targeted by a media which invents fake news and tries to undermine their effort, both leaders make extensive use of social media and speak to their bases at every given opportunity.

A brief look at Modi's topics of discussion at Ritz Carlton where he met around 700-odd members of Indian diaspora reveals this pattern. The prime minister, looking visibly jet-lagged, started off by addressing the NRIs as his family members and soaked in the raucous applause. In picking up the Ujjwala scheme of distributing LPG cylinders to the poor, opening up of bank accounts, neem-coating urea for farmers and surgical strikes, the active effort to portray himself as a man of action who is out to transform India was evident.

None of these are new and in fact, have been repeated ad infinitum by Modi at various fora but in repeating his achievements, the prime minister feels he is performing two important functions  addressing the sense of fulfillment in NRIs and reinforcing his effectiveness to an audience back home.

Modi understands well enough the psyche of Indian Americans. This is an extremely successful bunch of immigrants whose political clout is beginning to match their considerable financial clout and they are increasingly finding themselves in a position to have a greater say in US domestic politics and foreign policy.

Modi considers them an important part of his tool to shape America's outlook towards India. In order to woo them, Modi appeals to their pride  the one area where they are vulnerable, having originated from a country considered a laggard in every parameter of prosperity and development index.

The prime minister tries to place himself as a change agent who will finally deliver the India which they associate themselves with pride. "I promise that I will fulfill your dreams of the kind of India that you wish to see in your lifetime," drew riotous applause. His reference to surgical strikes: "When India conducted surgical strikes the world experienced our power and realised that India practices restraint but can show its muscle when needed," was yet another example.

Modi also narrated the story of Uzma Ahmed, an Indian national trapped in Pakistan before being rescued by a proactive ministry of external affairs, carried forward this theme of a government that cares and one that is untainted by corruption  a point he made at length. Overall, the effort was to hammer into shape the image of a transformational leader who is working hard to make dreams possible.

During his interaction with America's top CEOs, the same theme was reinforced  albeit in a markedly different style. Modi, according to reports, took copious notes when business leaders such as Sundar Pichai (Google), Tim Cook (Apple), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan Chase), Shantanu Narayen (Adobe), Ajay Banga (Mastercard), Doug McMillon (Walmart), Alex Gorsky (Johnson and Johnson), Marillyn Hewson (Lockheed Martin), among others were holding forth on their experience of conducting business in India.

The PM reportedly showcased GST as a 'game changer'. He claimed that GST is a crucial part of the 7,000 reforms undertaken by the government to increase 'ease of doing business' and stressed hard on the digitization of Indian economy. Modi's job here was to show that India isnt really the protectionist regime that it is touted to be, but a place friendly for business and an opportunity willing to be tapped that will ensure inclusive growth in India and will be mutually beneficial for both countries.

"Growth of India presents a win-win partnership for India and US, both. US companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that", Modi reportedly said.

It is unrealistic to expect that top American business honchos will have bought readily into the image that Modi portrayed of India  there are too many variables at work  but he seems to have already made a mark.

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase who is counted among world's most influential bankers, appeared effusive in Modi's praise. While talking to Shereen Bhan of CNN News 18, he called Modi an "action-oriented man who has a great eye for detail" and expressed his optimism about India.

#ModiInUS: He is very action oriented.We are quite optimistic about India: Jamie Dimon, CEO, @jpmorgan to @ShereenBhan about meeting PM Modi pic.twitter.com/2pXCL5X2i4  News18 (@CNNnews18) June 25, 2017

Google CEO Sundar Pichai described the interaction as "very good". According to a report in India Today, he said: "The prime minister was looking for insights into how India can attract more foreign investment and I think there were many, many good ideas to discuss Everyone is excited to more invest in India and I am excited we can all do it together."

Pichai, according to the report, made special mention of GST. ""We are all looking forward to the July 1 rollout. I know it has been a very difficult thing to so. So, I am excited to see it happen. It shows that you can achieve reform by pushing hard for it and I hope its just the beginning."

Modi's role as an inspirational leader and a master communicator is well-documented. Where his role is still up for evaluation is implementation of big ideas and his ability to transform his vision into reality. The effusive praise of diaspora and the hope and expectations that he managed to raise among business leaders in America will evaporate if he fails to bring about the changes that he talks about. Many of these changes will need tough resolve and political risk-taking of a kind Modi has shown he is still loathe to take.
New Delhi: What strong political will and having governments of the same political ideology at the Centre and the state can do is apparent from the swift decision on a second airport in the Delhi-NCR region. Just a few months after the Yogi Adityanath government took charge in Uttar Pradesh, the long-delayed second airport at Jewar was accorded an in-principle approval over this weekend. Remember, a proposal for this airport was first submitted way back in 2002 by the Mayawati government but remained pending for 15 years. A decade of this waiting period was under the UPA rule, as the Centre and the state governments indulged in political manoeuvres. Things finally began moving only when the MP from Gautam Buddh Nagar, Mahesh Sharma, became the junior Civil Aviation Minister in the Modi government and reached fruition when Adityanath took over the reins in UP.

It is well known that Indias airport infrastructure has been severely constrained by twin factors: unprecedented domestic air traffic growth in recent months and the inability of the government to optimally use available infrastructure. The growth rate of Indias domestic air traffic has been in double digits for 34 consecutive months now; in 2016-17 alone the traffic grew 20 percent year on year. Now, with the governments ambitious UDAN scheme which aims to connect the hinterland, this traffic growth will only increase further. In May this year, domestic passenger numbers crossed the one crore mark.

An analysis by ratings agency Crisil recently found that airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, which cater to nearly 55 percent of Indias air traffic and which are operating near-full capacity, will need to spend heavily on expansion through 2021. The agency said airline passenger traffic growth of 20 percent in fiscal 2017 was a big leap over the sedate 9 percent average seen since 2011. Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports have clocked even faster growth of over 24 percent. Rising private consumption and healthy economic growth would continue to provide tailwind to traffic growth at airports.

Gurpreet Chhatwal, President, Crisil Ratings, said Because of surging footfalls and high capacity utilisation of over 90 percent, we estimate the four airports would need to invest Rs 27,000 crore for expansion. Will airport operators be up for such massive investments? It makes sense in this scenario to rapidly also scale up airport infrastructure by approving Greenfield airports, at least in the metros.

Take the case of Mumbai, which handles almost a fifth of the countrys air traffic and has one of the most congested airports since the approved second airport at Navi Mumbai continues to face inordinate delays. In this backdrop, the in-principle approval granted to a second airport in the Delhi-NCR region is a very significant move. The Union Cabinet has approved the first phase of Jewar airport which should become operational in the next 4-5 years.

Why a second airport in the NCR region is critical for Indias continued aviation sector growth becomes clear also when we look at some other airport statistics. According to IDFC analysts, India has 450 airports/airstrips, of which only 75 have scheduled operations currently. This alone means that over 350 airports/airstrips are lying unused. Also, the top six airports (Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore among them) account for 64.5 percent of Indias total air passenger traffic (domestic plus international). These airports have increasingly become congested on strong traffic growth.

The IDFC analysts said that airports at Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad are already operating above their designed capacities, while those at Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata operate at 93 percent, 80 percent and 66 percent, respectively. As a result, airlines find it hard to secure slots at these airports, especially for peak hours. If the Jewar airport does become a reality by the turn of the decade, this would help Delhi prevent the saturation and delays that Mumbai has been struggling with, for years.

That air traffic in the Delhi-NCR region is growing very fast is not in doubt. The government estimates that from the current level of 62 million passengers per annum, the Indira Gandhi International Airport will handle 91 million per year by 2020  which means 30 million more or 50 percent growth in just three years. Further, the traffic is expected to cross the 100 million mark to 109 million per year by 2024, which the government says is the saturation point for IGI Airport. So Delhi will require a second airport any which way in the next 7-10 years.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on Saturday that the government of Uttar Pradesh had submitted a proposal for construction of a new greenfield international airport at Jewar in Greater Noida and his ministry accorded in-principle approval for the project, based on the recommendations of the Steering Committee on Greenfield Airports, headed by the secretary.

The Noida International Airport will be located 72 km from IGI Airport and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) is the implementing authority of the project. An area of 3000 hectares has been notified for the airport, which will be developed in phases with 1000 hectares developed in the first phase at an estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore. There will be one runway in the first phase, three more runways will be developed subsequently. The total cost of development of all phases is expected to be around Rs 15,000-20,000 crore.

The new airport is expected to cater to 30-50 million passengers per year over the next 10-15 years.

Now that a second Delhi-NCR airport is being talked of, perhaps the government also needs to take a long and hard look at Indias overall pitiful airport infrastructure and utilisation of current airport assets. Majority of Indias airports are managed by state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) and many of these remain un-served, a majority are loss making. As explained earlier, only 75 of the 400 airports/airstrips are being put to use. So not only is there airport capacity where there is no demand, we also lack airport infrastructure at several places where demand actually exists. In the past, Civil Aviation Minister Raju has laid the blame at airlines' door and compared them to horses who can be taken near the water but cannot be made to drink it. As many as 9 out of 10 AAI airports are loss making.

According to Raju, airlines not mounting flights to many existing airports are the biggest reason for patchy air connectivity in India. But look at this: there is a long list of airports run by AAI  97 out of 122 - incurred losses in 2015-16. Not all of these are un-served. In fact, the Raja Bhoj airport in Bhopal, Sri Guru Ram Dass ji airport in Amritsar and the one in Aurangabad together accounted for over Rs 150 crore in losses but both these airports service flights regularly. They are not ghost airports at all. So should airlines solely shoulder the blame for the unused airports and loss making ones?

There is a historical method to the airport madness in India. Under previous governments, airports which are turning in losses and those which remain un-served, were built partly to pander to local politics, partly because of inability of the AAI to judge where an airport should be in a state so that airlines find it viable to operate flights there and again, partly in the hope that airlines will get smaller aircraft to operate on these routes.

Now that the ambitious regional connectivity scheme UDAN is in operation and being expanded further, perhaps this gross mismatch between traffic potential and airport capacity will be somewhat narrowed.
The Tamil version of the popular TV reality show Bigg Boss has finally kicked off on 25 June, Sunday, on Vijay Television (Star Vijay) with the first episode. With superstar Kamal Haasan hosting the show, expectations from the show are high indeed.

In the first episode, Haasan introduced the inmates of the Bigg Boss. How these housemates make their way in the show for 100 days remains to be seen.

Here are the 15 contestants from Bigg Boss Tamil:

Shree:

He made his feature film acting debut with Vazhakku Enn 18/9 (2012) and became a popular face. Since then, he has acted in movies like Vil Ambu (2015), Soan Papdi (2016) and Maanagaram (2017). He was the first contestant to enter the house.

Anuya:

Anuya Bhagvath has acted in Tamil films. This FTII graduate debuted with Kranti Kanade's acclaimed children's film Mahek (2007) and later stepped into the Tamil film industry with films like Siva Manasula Sakthi (2009), Madurai Sambavam (2009), Nanban (2012) and Naan (2012), to name a few.

Vaiyapuri:

He is a comedian and actor in the Tamil film industry. He has acted in nine films with Kamal Haasan including Mumbai Express (2005) and Dasavatharam (2008). He has also shared screen space with superstar Rajinikanth in 2008 film Kuselan.

Gayathri Raghuram:

Daughter of the famous choreographer Raghuram, Gayathri is a choreographer and actor in Tamil industry. She made her acting debut with Prabhu Deva in Charlie Chaplin (2002). She has choreographed Jayam Kondaan (2008), Ko (2011), etc.

Bharani:

Bharani made his debut with Samudrakani's 2009 acclaimed film Naadodigal. He has made a mark for himself as a comedy actor and has his fair share of popularity among the Tamil cine-audience.

Raiza:

Raiza Wilson is a model and a former contestant of Miss India. She is the only one who has no connections to the Tamil film industry, as reported by scooptimes.com.

Snehan:

Snehan is a noted Tamil poet and lyricist; he has written lyrics for more than 2,500 songs and won many awards for his work. He began his journey as a song writer with 1997 film, Putham Pudhiya Poove. He also marked his acting debut with Yogi (2009).

Oviya:

She is a model and film actress who rose to fame with the film Kalavani (2010). She has acted in over 20 movies in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada languages. She has also made a guest appearance in Kamal Haasan's Manmadan Ambu which released in 2010.

Harathi Ganesh:

Harathi Ganesh is a popular face in Tamil cinema and television. She made her acting debut as a child artist in the film Vanna Kanavugal (1987) and went on to do many other films. She is known for her comic acting in films like Arul (2004), Kutty (2010), Kayal (2014) and much recently in Kaththi Sandai (2016). Her popularity rose with the stand up comedy show, Asatha Povathu Yaaru?

Aarar:

Aarar is a model and actor. He has played a small role in Vijay Antony's 2016 film, Saithan. He has featured in more than 100 advertisements. He is also a non-celebrity contestant, as reported by scooptimes.com.

Ganja Karuppu:

Ganja Karuppu is an actor known predominantly for his comedy roles in Tamil films like Raam(2005), Paruthiveeran (2007), Subramaniyapuram (2008), and Naadodigal (2009, Kalavani (2010).

Juliana:

Juliana came into the limelight during the jallikattu protests in Chennai. She is a nurse by profession and is again a non-celebrity candidate.

Ganesh Venkatram:

Ganesh is a model-turned-actor is indeed one of the most well-known faces of the lot. This successful model had been a winner of Gladrags Mr India 2003 and also represented India in Mr World 2004. Later, he entered films with the cult comedy film The Angrez (2006) and went on to doing supporting and lead roles in many Tamil films like Abhiyum Naanum (2008), Panithuli (2012) and Thani Oruvan (2015).



Sakthi:

Sakthi Vasudevan is the son of noted director P Vasu. He bagan his film journey as a child artist in his father's super hit film Chinna Thambi in 1991. He later starred in Ninaithale Inikkum (2009) and is expected to be seen in the Tamil remake of his father's Kannada film Shivalinga.

Namitha:

Namitha is an established film actress who began with modelling after she was crowned Miss Surat in 1998. She has acted in a number of films in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

With such a heterogenous mix of participants, this season of Bigg Boss Tamil should definitely be a treat to watch. The show airs at 9 pm on weekdays and 8.30 pm on weekends on Star Vijay.
Firstpost had earlier reported that Ajay Devgn will be producing a television show based on Baba Ramdev's life. However, according to Deccan Chronicle, the project has gone through a few changes. Devgn might be seen playing Ramdev in the biopic after Vikrant Massey opted out of the project which was meant for the small screen, originally.

Massey had been approached for the role and had started prepping for it, too. He was scheduled to meet Ramdev and pick up his mannerisms during the course of their interaction.

However, the A Death in the Gunj backed out of the project as he was not too keen on doing television after having ventured into films.

As per the same Deccan Chronicle report, after Massey's withdrawal, Devgn stepped in and that is when the thought of making a big screen biopic took shape.

The numerous controversies surrounding the yoga guru, his Patanjali business empire, and his turbulent tryst with politics could lend a lot of colour to the biopic, if it is made. Devgn, who owns the production company Ajay Devgn FFilms, is keen on bringing the yogi's life to the forefront, according to The Quint.

Devgn is currently busy with the promotions of Milan Luthria's Baadshaaho. The film has an ensemble cast consisting of Ileana D'Cruz, Emraan Hashmi, Vidyut Jammwal and Esha Gupta.
What's more fun than passing off stalking celebrities on social media as work?

Very little, right?

And so, we scanned the Instagram and Twitter accounts of celebs from India and abroad, to bring to you weekly updates from the interwebz. Who tweeted to whom? Who reposted last night's party pics? Who went on a rant about-... well, whatever it is Kanye West rants about. Whatever it is, don't worry, we've got you covered.

We stalk, you read. Deal?

The Thugs of Hindostan stars take a break

THUGS OF HINDOSTAN in a short respite from the gruelling shoot in Malta A post shared by Amitabh Bachchan (@amitabhbachchan) on Jun 25, 2017 at 2:12am PDT

Me and the deep blue sea ... #malta #thugsofhindostan #shootlife A post shared by Katrina Kaif (@katrinakaif) on Jun 24, 2017 at 10:51am PDT

The cast of Thugs of Hindostan is in Malta, where a large ship has been constructed for the shoot of their film. Amitabh Bachchan, who is part of the cast with Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Dangal actress Fatima Sana Shaikh, described the shoot as being gruelling, but said that he also got a short respite. Kaif and Shaikh also put out pictures of their free time, where they wandered in the streets of Malta and its seaside.

Priyanka Chopra chills on a summer weekend

Summertime twinning with @mubinarattonsey #weekendvibes  photo credit @jazmasri A post shared by Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) on Jun 24, 2017 at 6:39pm PDT

Malibu life! #friendsforlife @mubinarattonsey @jazmasri #liam #carfie A post shared by Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) on Jun 24, 2017 at 3:13pm PDT

Priyanka Chopra works hard, but she parties hard too. The actress took time off from her A Kid Like Jake schedule to spend time with her friends actress Yasmine Al Massri and filmmaker Mubina Rattonsey. She was Los Angeles and Malibu, where she soaked in some sun on a deck and went for a drive, too.

Karisma Kapoor enjoys sunny days at the French Riviera

Sunny days #frenchreviera#holidaytime #summer2017 A post shared by KK (@therealkarismakapoor) on Jun 23, 2017 at 3:45am PDT

Bollywood really seems to be in vacation mode, and Karisma Kapoor decided to bring in her 43rd birthday in Europe. She recently posted a picture from the French Riviera, where she brought on her summer vibes with her black bikini, sunglasses and oversized hat! Arjun Kapoor celebrates his birthday with his gang of boys

#arjunkabirthday #ranbir @sanjaykapoor2500 @arjunkapoor @ranveersingh A post shared by Karan Johar (@karanjohar) on Jun 25, 2017 at 2:08pm PDT

Arjun Kapoor turned 32 on Monday, and he brought in his birthday with pals Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Ranbir Kapoor. Just a few hours before his own special day, he partied with Ranveer and Shanoo Sharma for Shanoos birthday.

Guys thank you for making it so so special !!!!! @ranveersingh @arjunkapoor A post shared by Diwaah! (@shanoosharmarahihai) on Jun 24, 2017 at 4:15pm PDT

Mouni Roy poses in Chicago and Lake Michigan

Like a heroine in a romance novella A post shared by mon (@imouniroy) on Jun 23, 2017 at 8:16pm PDT

I mean A post shared by mon (@imouniroy) on Jun 24, 2017 at 8:32pm PDT

Now that she has wrapped up the shoot of Naagin 2, Mouni Roy decided to head to Chicago, where she posed at the Navy Pier, and Lake Michigan, where she spent some time at the Belmont Harbor, at the beach. Known for her fashion sense, Mouni donned a white off-shoulder dress in Chicago and a more casual look at Belmont Harbour, wearing a bralette and matching checked skirt and shrug.
Kochi: An audio recording of a purported telephonic talk by the main accused in the sensational abduction and assault of a South Indian actress 'blackmailing' Malayalam actor Dileep through his aide surfaced today.

The audio clip was aired by Malayalam TV channels a day after the actor disclosed he has filed a police complaint on 20 April alleging blackmail by a man, who claimed to be a friend of Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the case.

In the audio, Suni, currently lodged in the Ernakulam District jail near Kochi, purportedly told Dileep's manager that money should be given if the actor's name should not be dragged in the case.

Incidentally, this conversation was alleged to have taken place before 20 April when Dileep had filed the police complaint along with evidences of blackmailing based on the telephonic talk of one Vishnu, who claimed himself to be Suni's friend, with his friend and film director Nadirshah.

Vishnu had allegedly demanded a huge sum of money from the actor. Police remained tight-lipped about the 'blackmail' audio.

When contacted, a top police officer dismissed as speculation media reports that the police did not take much interest in investigating into Dileep's complaint alleging blackmail.

"We have been on job since the actor lodged the complaint. It got public attention now only after the media came to know about it two days ago", the official, who declined to be named, told PTI.

The official evaded a direct answer to a question whether Vishnu has been taken into custody for interrogation.

"All those who are connected with the case were interrogated", the official said.

Nadirshah had said Vishnu claimed to have shared a cell with Suni in jail, and told him that some people in the Malayalam film world have offered to give money to Suni if he implicated Dileep in the abduction of the actress on 17 February.

The revelation came in the wake of media reports that the police is planning to reopen the abduction and assault case.

Dileep had earlier slammed a section of the media for "targeting" him in connection with the alleged abduction and harassment of the actress by a gang of men.

Dileep, who recently got married to Malayalam actress Kavya Madhavan, had said he did not have any contact, directly or indirectly, with any of the accused involved in the "heinous crime."

Six persons, including 'Pulsar' Suni, Martin and Vigeesh were arrested by police in connection with the incident in which the actress was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle and later escaped in a busy area in Kochi.
Bharath, the brother of Ravi Teja, a known face of the Telugu film industry, died in a road accident on the night of 24 June. His funeral was held at the Jubilee Hills Mahaprasthanam. Teja reportedly did not attend it.

Teja was in Hyderabad at the time of the funeral, reports Times of India, and did not see the body when it was placed at Osmania General Hospital mortuary either. With the exception of his younger sibling Raghu, none of Teja's family members attended the last rites, as they were unable to cope with Bharath's death and the condition in which his body was found, said actor Uttej, who is close to Teja.

Ravi Teja is said to be close to Bharath as well as the rest of his family. The last rites were performed in a hurry, says the same Times of India report, and the body was not taken to any of the family members' houses. It was transported straight from the mortuary to the crematorium.

The last rites were overseen by Uttej, and the funeral was attended by Jeevitha, Ali, Raghu Babu, as well as some producers and members of the Telugu film fraternity.

The car Bharath was driving crashed into a stationary lorry at Kotwalguda, which is on the outskirts of Hyderabad. He was driving the car alone. It is registered under his mother's name.

While Ravi Teja is the more famous actor, Bharath appeared in cameo and supporting roles in films such as Aa Mugguru, Rama Rama Krishna Krishna and Jump Jilani.
Both the railroads and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way  Employes Division say the extension will help all parties make the best decision on how to proceed with the outstanding tentative labor agreements.
By Martinne Geller and Michael Flaherty

| LONDON/NEW YORK

LONDON/NEW YORK U.S. activist shareholder Third Point LLC has targeted Nestle (NESN.S) by taking a $3.5 billion stake in the food maker and urging Europe's most valuable company to boost returns as demand for its products weakens.Nestle shares jumped as much as 4.8 percent on Monday, touching a record high after Third Point disclosed its position late on Sunday in a letter to the hedge fund's investors.In the letter, Third Point said it was urging the Swiss group to improve margins, buy back shares and get rid of non-core businesses, including its $27 billion stake in L'Oreal (OREP.PA).Third Point's 40 million shares - or 1.3 percent of the total - make it Nestle's eighth-largest shareholder, according to Thomson Reuters data. The $10 billion added to Nestle's market value on Monday showed that shareholders hoped the investment would spark change at a company which has a reputation for being slow-moving and insular."Nestle has arguably been lackadaisical and complacent and underperformed its potential," Bernstein analysts said. "It might now be stirred into action by an external force." New York-based Third Point is an $18 billion hedge fund run by American billionaire Daniel Loeb. Loeb runs a multi-strategy portfolio though he is known as an aggressive, bare-knuckled shareholder activist who has taken on major companies such as Yahoo Inc YHOO.O and Japan's Sony Corp (6758.T). Loeb and Nestle CEO Mark Schneider met in Switzerland earlier this month to discuss Third Point's ideas, according to a person familiar with the matter.Senior managers at Third Point, which started buying Nestle shares at the end of the first quarter, plan to meet again with Nestle leaders in the next few weeks, said the person, who wished to remain anonymous.Third Point's investment comes as Nestle and its packaged goods rivals grapple with slowing emerging markets, pressure on prices and consumers shifting from traditional brands toward healthier, fresher fare. Nestle has missed its long-term sales target for four straight years, but so far has eschewed radical moves like Danone's (DANO.PA) $12.5 billion purchase of WhiteWave or Reckitt Benckiser's (RB.L) $16.6 billion Mead Johnson deal.

The company has instead pushed slowly into healthcare, with a series of small investments and acquisitions that blur the boundaries of food and medicine.Nestle, which is based on the shores of Lake Geneva and makes Nescafe coffee, Maggi noodles and Gerber baby food, said it was committed to its strategy under new Chief Executive Schneider, who joined from German healthcare group Fresenius (FREG.DE)."As always, we keep an open dialogue with all of our shareholders and we remain committed to executing our strategy and creating long-term shareholder value," a Nestle spokesman said. "Beyond that, we have no specific comment."One top-40 investor said Nestle has done a good job adapting over the years to a changing industry, selling its stake in eyecare company Alcon and buying pet food business Ralston Purina and Wyeth Nutrition."The new CEO has been brought in with a mandate for change," the investor said, pointing out that Schneider is Nestle's first external CEO hire in nearly a century. "We would prefer to let Schneider make his own decisions and judge him on the outcome than try to dictate what should happen."

RECURRING PRESSURES

The move by Third Point cranks up pressure on Schneider, who arrived in January just before the sector was rocked by Kraft Heinz's (KHC.O) abortive $143 billion approach for Unilever (ULVR.L). He has already been looking at ways to reignite growth. He has already scrapped the company's long-standing sales target and said it might sell its U.S. confectionery business, which includes brands such as Baby Ruth and Butterfinger.Nestle had a market value of $263 billion on Friday, making it the biggest traded company in Europe. The consumer goods sector, home to usually reliable sales and dividends, has seen its share of investor activism in the past with mixed results. Before Nestle, the latest big bet was the $3.5 billion stake in Procter & Gamble (PG.N) disclosed by Trian Partners in February.

U.S. activist hedge funds have slowly cast their nets wider as corporate America becomes saturated with dissident shareholders seeking rapid changes to boost share prices. "We feel strongly that in order to succeed, Dr. Schneider will need to articulate a decisive and bold action plan that addresses the staid culture and tendency towards incrementalism that has typified the company's prior leadership and resulted in its long-term underperformance," Third Point said in the letter.It argued that Nestle should sell its 23 percent stake in French cosmetics firm L'Oreal. Nestle shares closed 4.3 percent higher and L'Oreal shares rose 3.9 percent.The letter also said Nestle should set a formal profit margin target of 18 to 20 percent by 2020 to help improve productivity. Nestle's current margin is 15.3 percent, below Unilever's 16.4 percent but higher than Danone's 13.8 percent.Third Point also recommended Nestle more than double its debt load, as well as sell the L'Oreal stake, in order to generate the capital to buy back stock.Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy said Third Point's suggestions echoed proposals long made by other shareholders."Previous management was not too open to listen to critics," he said. "Now with Mr. Schneider, one of his top priorities was to improve shareholder communication and investor relations. I think he's listening carefully to what investors are saying."Nestle's previous CEO, Paul Bulcke, is now its chairman.Nestle will report half-year results on July 27 and host an investor meeting on Sept. 26. Its next annual meeting is April 12, 2018. (Additional reporting by Simon Jessop and Maiya Keidan in London, Michael Erman in New York and Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Keith Weir and Adrian Croft)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Aadhaar (UID) card is not a valid identification document for Indians travelling to Nepal and Bhutan, the Union home ministry has said.

Indians can travel to Nepal and Bhutan both countries for which they don't need visas if they possess a valid national passport or election ID card issued by the election commission.

Moreover, to ease travel, persons over 65 and below 15 years can show documents with photographs to confirm their age and identity. These include PAN card, driving licence, Central Government Health Service (CGHS) card and ration card but not Aadhaar.

"Aadhaar is not an acceptable travel document for travel to Nepal and Bhutan," a communique issued by the ministry said.

The advisory assumes significance as Aadhaar is mandatory for a host of things, including government subsidies on LPG and other social welfare schemes.

The Aadhaar card, which has a 12-digit unique identification number and personal details like name and address, acts as a proof of identification and residence.

Indians entering Bhutan by road are required to obtain an 'Entry Permit' on the basis of a valid travel document from the immigration office of Royal Government of Bhutan at Phuentsholing, located on the Indo-Bhutan border opposite Jaigaon, West Bengal.

The border with Nepal is an open one with people who enter the country needing to show any valid identity card. Nepal shares borders with five Indian states such as Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Around six lakh Indians are living or domiciled in Nepal. Bhutan, which shares borders with Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal, has about 60,000 Indian nationals, employed mostly in the hydroelectric power and construction industry.

In addition, between 8,000 and 10,000 daily workers enter and exit Bhutan everyday in border towns.
By Ila Ananya

In April this year, at the end of her four years at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, 23-year-old Arushi Kesarwani saw something that she had rarely seen in her time there. At exactly 7 pm, the electricity was turned off, deliberately.

She remembers that some exams had ended that day. And now suddenly, there were no lights and no WiFi, so instead of sitting in their rooms and working as they usually did, students came out of their hostels in large numbers and spent their time doing nothing in particular. Some were playing antakshari. Many of them were walking around campus, and some were sitting in small groups outside their hostels, chatting and laughing loudly. Kesarwani walked around the stadium with her friends, listening to a DJ who was playing music there. There was big junta there and it was fun, she says laughing.

When the electricity was turned on 40 minutes later, everyone went back to their hostels and continued with what was left of their day. But Kesarwani remembers thinking that being outside like that felt different. She had got caught up on other things, other than assignments and reading.

This decision for a deliberate blackout came after the painfully sad stories of three students from the campus committing suicide this year (there have been two more suicides at IIT Delhi), obviously telling of a deep problem in educational institutions that weve known exists, but have never stopped to seriously address, perhaps until this year.

The perceived success of this one-day event at IIT Kharagpur convinced authorities that they should bust out impromptu decisions like this more often. The institute, in what is being seen as an unusual move, has decided to make these blackouts a regular practice.

Students say that the blackout/digital Sabbath is not yet an everyday session as a lot of websites have reported. But hostel wardens are going to turn the power off for an hour occasionally (not to save electricity or cut costs, Hindustan Times said helpfully), encouraging students to leave their rooms, devices and books and go out and talk to their friends. As Manish Bhattacharya, the dean of student affairs at IIT Kharagpur put it, this rule is for every student. Once the lights are turned off, all the students are expected to come out of their room. Normally those students who spend maximum time in their room and do not interact with others, they are also forced to come out of their room and mingle with others, he told Quartz.

When I first told friends about IIT Kharagpurs new idea, most of them laughed. Some of the comedy came from us not having any idea what these sessions would be like  would students simply be forced to sit in the courtyard of their hostels and talk to each other while their warden watched over them? Would they go to sleep? Would they rather work?

Satinder Kaur, who is in her second year at the college clears up quite a bit of my confusion about the logistics. She says the blackout happened once (in April), where students were encouraged to go to the stadium on their campus while a DJ played music there. It hasnt happened again since then, but Kaur has heard this is going to be done once a month, starting in the new academic year.

To Kesarwani, her colleges decision to have such sessions instinctively seems like a good idea. When you start talking to your friends, theres a very high chance youll realise that theyre going through something similar, or that theyre facing the same kind of pressures. Its a reminder that these things will pass too, she says. She believes theyre important conversations, especially when youre in such a competitive place with hardly ever a moment when you don't come under pressure. And that pressure doesnt have to be only academic. We saw this in the disturbing death of Manjula Devak, a 29 year-old IIT-Delhi PhD scholar who killed herself late last month, who was harangued for dowry by her in-laws. But the Kharagpur initiative hasn't necessarily found a lot of takers.

The idea of being encouraged to go listen to a DJ at the college stadium makes Kaur uncomfortable. There are too many people, she says, and thats not her idea of fun. At the April event, she had stayed back in the hostel courtyard with her friends and had her own fun there. What was nice was having that alone time with them.

Kaur doesnt think having an evening like this, where there is a DJ night, is necessarily a solution to depression and stress; she says people who are depressed arent going to go for the DJ night, and seeing a counsellor on campus would work better. Kesarwani herself knows students who say that theyd much rather be finishing their work, since the assignment deadlines arent going to go away. Even at the one day event in April, some people were irritated because the electricity was turned on after 40 minutes (rather than 30, like theyd been informed).

Its (the blackout) something weve been thinking about too, says Prerna Singh, whos in her final year at IIT Gandhinagar and will graduate later this year. But like Kaur, Singh isnt so sure, and nor are her friends. Most students were concerned about the time to finish their submissions, Singh says. Then, after a pause, she adds to what has seemed a bit comical to everyone outside of the IITs reading about the enforced socialising aspect of this rule, We arent so sure about this idea of a forced interaction either. What if someone just prefers keeping to themselves? What they would like to see are more open spaces for people to interact in, places that theyd automatically add to their daily rhythm and visit with friends.

According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, there were 8,934 student suicides in 2015. Of these, 2.8 percent were at the graduate level (including IITs). Back in April, various IITs across the country had suddenly woken up to the growing number of student suicides when an IIT Council met to discuss new initiatives that would help students deal with stress and depression.

The solutions ranged from the more standard parent-teacher meetings and counselling at IIT Delhi, to the setting up of centres for music, dance and art at IIT Guwahati, and then extended to less common initiatives like tree hugging, alternative therapy, and Reiki (with courses on the theory and practice of happiness) at IIT Kharagpur. Theyre different from initiatives that some institutions abroad have taken  following multiple suicides in 2015, University of Pennsylvania for instance started a blog for students to discuss problems related to mental health, started a peer counselling programme, and encouraged the posting on ugly selfies on Instagram as a response to the perfectionism otherwise expected of students. In the same year, many colleges in the United States also showed a travelling exhibit to students, where over a 1,000 empty backpacks were arranged with stories and photographs of students who had committed suicide.

I went to a boarding school that had what we called 'Asthachal' every evening. Wed all climb up to a spot, and everybody would sit down, some on rocks and some under trees, and we would all watch the sunset in silence. It was calming in a way that not many other things were. IIT Kharagpur is probably right in choosing to give its students breaks like these, but perhaps institutions need to think beyond them. Colleges would do better if they asked students what theyd like, because theyre the ones dealing with the pressure to stay afloat and appear like they have every aspect of their lives together. And to most, IIT Kharagpurs plan is welcome but not enough.

The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online womens magazine delivering fresh and witty perspectives on politics, culture, health, sex, work and everything in between.
New Delhi: The Congress said on Monday that abusing the opposition on foreign land has become the government's "foreign policy" and is in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's DNA.

The party also took potshots at prime minister Modi over his corruption-free regime claim, saying it would be better if he talked about the corruption of Vyapam, public distribution system and mine scams in BJP-ruled states.

The Congress flayed Modi, who at present is in the US for his first bilateral summit with President Donald Trump, for criticising the opposition on foreign soil and addressing public meetings like political rallies.

Party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said when the prime minister boasts about his government's "blot-free" three years abroad, he should also tell the people about scams like Vyapam in BJP-ruled states and how Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya fled India.

PM Modi, while addressing a gathering of Indian-American community members at a reception in Virginia, said there has been "not even one taint or blot" on his government in the past three years and remarked that "corruption" was the main reason why governments in India were voted out in the past.

The Congress sought to know if the prime minister would raise with Trump the issues of H-1B visa, India's membership to Nuclear Suppliers Group, racial attacks on Indians in the US and America's financial support to Pakistan, which it was using against India for aiding terrorism.

"Prime Minister Modi is on his 64th foreign travel. Unfortunately, abusing the opposition has become the foreign policy (of the government), diverting from issues the strategy and working with 'jumlas' rhetorics their working style, while claiming credit for Congress started works their politics," Surjewala said.

He said the claim of neem-coated urea that Modi has raised was an experiment started by the Congress in 2011, while the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme was launched in 2013 by the UPA government.

"Modiji you are the country's prime minister and not of the BJP or the RSS. The issue is criticising the opposition has become the prime minister's DNA. But the country wants to talk about the nation's interest and issues linked with the people of the country," he said.

Surjewala said when Modi mentions about "no scams" in his government, he should also tell the Indians living abroad about how all agencies which have been "caged by you" and "are misused against your opponents - be it political or even the media".

"When he (Modi) talks of corruption, he should also mention about the Vyapam scam in which many innocent people lost their lives and should have mentioned the GSPC scam in Gujarat, the PDS scam in Chhattisgarh and the mining scam in Rajasthan.

"He (Modi) should have also mentioned about the Sahara diaries in which his own name figures. He should have also talked about the land scam by Anar Patel in Gujarat and should have talked about who allowed Lalit Modi and Vijaya Mallya to flee the country," Surjewala said.

Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and businessman Vijay Mallya are both accused of corruption and believed to be staying in England.

The Congress leader asked the prime minister to raise the issue of H-1B visa with the US President as also India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which is being blocked by China.

"Will Modiji raise with the US President the issue of American aid of USD 743 million aid to Pakistan which has been increased and is used against India after diversion?"

"Will Modiji raise the issue of India's concerns over Climate Change deal? Will he show the courage to ask these questions to the US President? Will he ask the US President why F-16 technology transfer is not being made and stopped from being transferred," he wondered.

Surjewala also asked whether Modi will ask Trump about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and help it get stopped.
New Delhi: A parliamentary panel examining a bill, which seeks to accord constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, has reached a consensus, paving the way for its likely passage in Rajya Sabha in the monsoon session.

With the passage of the bill, the NCBC, a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, will get a constitutional status.

The bill was referred to the Rajya Sabha's select committee after the opposition prevailed on the government to do so.

It was passed by the Lok Sabha in April this year, but the opposition blocked its consideration in the upper house.

Consensus has been reached in the committee with MPs of all parties in the panel agreeing for the constitutional status to the commission, a member of the panel said.

The member added that the panel, led by BJP MP Bhupender Yadav, will submit its report in the first week of the monsoon session, which will commence on 17 July.

The 25-member Rajya Sabha select committee includes senior members like Sharad Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Satish Misra and Praful Patel.

Yadav has in the past also successfully managed all parties into agreeing for many controversial legislations, including the GST bill, the Mines and Minerals bill and the Enemy Property bill.

The BJP general secretary was also chairman of the Joint Committee on Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015.
Kolkata: The BJP does not support GJM's demand for creation of a separate state, the party's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya made it clear once again.

However, Vijayvargiya said that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee should apologise to the people of the Darjeeling hills for her failure to address their need for development.

"I do not support the creation of Gorkhaland, but I do support the development of the Gorkha people and their culture and heritage," Vijayvargiya said on Sunday participating in a Rathayatra programme.

"The state government has created Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) to address the need for the development of the hill people. But, the state government did not meet their expectations," he had said.

Vijayvargiya also alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government failed to give the hill people financial as well as administrative rights.

"This is why Gorkhas have grudge against the chief minister and as a result, they resorted to organising protest movements," Vijayvargiya had said.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh had said earlier that the creation of states on the basis of ethnicity and language would divide the country into pieces.

"We did not raise any objection when it came to the creation of states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. But we can never support the demand to turn a village or municipal corporation into a state," he said.

"We do not support the demand for creation of a state on the basis of ethnicity or language of the people. If such things happen, then the country will be divided into pieces," Ghosh had said.
Kumbakonam: CPI on Monday said that it would organise a national level movement on 24, 25 and 26 July demanding redress for agriculturists problems and implementation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations.

Stating this, Communist Party of India (CPI) National Secretary told reporters in Kumbakonam that the movement would be in various forms, including 'fill the jails stir'.

D Raja said the agricultural sector was facing a crisis as there have been increasing incidents of farmers' suicides. Their economic status was grim as they obtain loans, face pressure to repay them and when they cannot do so, take the extreme step.

The farmers also do not get remunerative prices for their produce and the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed is not adequate, he said.

Tamil Nadu, like some states, was also facing an unprecedented drought, he said.

Raja alleged that the Modi government had not attended to farmers' problems even three years after coming to power.

There was no answer from the centre on setting up Cauvery Management Board, Neduvasal issue, price stabilisation fund and other issues.

In a veiled reference to Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu's statement that loan waivers have become a fashion now, he said it was condemnable and the government should address the plight of agriculturists.

Demanding that the government implement the Swaminathan committee recommendations, he alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken several decisions over the last three years 'experimentally.'

Public sector companies were under threat of being privatised, there was under employment and job losses and the IT sector was in crisis, he alleged.

On GST rollout on 1 July, he said one has to wait and see about its benefits and defects as it is new to all.
Kolkata: A three-member delegation of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) met Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Monday to formally submit their resignation letters from the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the developmental board in the northern West Bengal hills.

"MLA from Darjeeling, Amar Singh Rai, ex-GTA chairman Roshan Lama and deputy chairman Aravind Lama are in Kolkata to hand over their resignation letters to the Governor of West Bengal," Binay Tamang, GJM's assistant general secretary, told IANS.

Tamang said the delegation, led by Amar Singh Rai, also handed over the resignation letters of 43 GJM leaders, including party chief Bimal Gurung who resigned en masse from the board on 23 June.

"The other GTA member Satish Pokhrel, who is in judicial custody, had handed over the resignation letter to Roshan Lama," he added.

The GJM, spearheading the movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills, announced it would resign from the GTA over its differences with the Mamata Banerjee government.

The GJM chief, who had been in hiding since a police raid at his residence in Darjeeling's Patlebas locality on June 15, had resurfaced on Friday and vowed to burn the GTA Regulation Act documents before the public on 27 June as a symbolic protest against the board.
New Delhi: The Congress and Left parties on Monday remained non-committal about their participation in a special meeting at the Central Hall of Parliament on 30 June to rollout the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Congress was considering whether to attend the meeting and suggested that it had not given any concrete assurance to the government on its participation.

As per earlier reports, former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda are expected to share the dais with incumbent Narendra Modi.

"The Congress party is examining various aspects of the issue including the manner in which GST is being implemented causing harassment to the common people, the unorganised sector and small businessmen," Surjewala said.

According to sources, the Congress leadership is divided on its participation with a section of the party feeling that it should abstain.

Other Opposition parties, including the Left parties, were yet to decide on whether to participate in the event.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat until May 2014, had opposed the system.

"Why this unseemly hurry with GST before putting systems in place? After all, BJP opposed it for several years, especially then chief minister, Gujarat (sic)," Yechury tweeted.

The historic Central Hall of Parliament will host a midnight function on 30 June to launch the sweeping tax reform measure, reminiscent of India's tryst with destiny on the midnight of 15 August, 1947.

The government will use the circular-shaped Central Hall, perhaps for the first time, to launch a new taxation system that is set to dramatically re-shape the over $2 trillion economy.

The launch event will in all probability start at 11 pm on 30 June and extend into midnight, coinciding with the roll-out of GST regime, official sources said.

A gong will be sounded at midnight to signify that GST has arrived. Modi will be the key speaker at the function. President Pranab Mukherjee is also likely to attend the function.

The GST Bill was originally piloted by Mukherjee when he was the finance minister in the previous UPA regime.
Jind: A group of men entered a mosque at Anchra Khurd village in Haryana's Jind district and allegedly injured three people including an imam, police said on Monday.

The incident took place on Sunday night, police said, adding the injured were taken to a hospital in Safidon.

According to police, a named FIR was registered by one of the injured following which a person was arrested. At least six more persons have been booked in this connection.

The arrested man was produced before a court on Monday and sent to two-day police custody.

After the incident, Senior Superintendent of Police Shashank Anand reached the village along with administration

officials and spent the whole night there to keep the situation under control.

Though it was a tense Eid on Monday but the village did not witness any untoward incident due to presence of police.

SDM Virendra Singh has said that it would be wrong to give any communal colour to the incident and assured that the accused will be brought to book soon.
New Delhi: The HRD ministry has appointed a new nine-member panel, headed by space scientist Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, to work on a New Education Policy (NEP), sources said.

The Prakash Javadekar-led HRD ministry has chosen experts and educationists from wide-ranging backgrounds to be part of the panel that is expected to recast India's education policy.

Besides Kasturirangan, who headed India's space agency ISRO, the panel includes former IAS officer K J Alphonse Kanamthanam. He had played a key role in helping Kerala's Kottayam and Ernakulam districts achieve 100 percent literacy, sources said.

Ram Shanker Kureel, vice chancellor of the Baba Saheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences, Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, who has wide experience in the field of agriculture sciences and management, has also been appointed.

Dr M K Shridhar, former member secretary of the Karnataka State Innovation Council, Dr T V Kattimani, an expert on language communication, Dr Mazhar Asif, professor of Persian at Guwahati University, and former director of education, Uttar Pradesh, Krishan Mohan Tripathi also bring a wealth of experience to the panel, the sources said.

Besides, the committee also comprises mathematician Manjul Bhargava from Princeton University and Vasudha Kamat, former vice chancellor of Mumbai's SNDT University.

"The panel has been appointed keeping in mind that the members bring expertise related to the diverse areas of education. Significantly, the panel also reflects the diversity of the country as the members belong to different sections as well as regions," an official said.

This diversity, the ministry hopes, would help the committee understand the varied issues that have to be kept in mind for the formulation of such a key policy document, he added.

"The panelists belong to different age groups which should be helpful as they would be able to bring experience, innovation and also global exposure which are so vital for such an important policy formulation."

The HRD ministry had a couple of years ago formed a panel under former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian on the New Education Policy. Sources said inputs from the Subramanian panel report would also be utilised.
In a first of its kind gesture, the famed Sri Krishna Temple in Udupi hosted an iftar meal for the Muslim community on Sunday, The Hindu reported.

According to the report, Sri Vishvesha Tirtha, the head of the Udupi-based Pejawar Mutt, organised iftar (the traditional feast of Muslim community to break the daily Ramzan fast) at the mutt's Annabrahma Dining Hall, which was attended by at least 100 members of the Muslim community.

The report added that after the group of Muslims broke their fast at 6.59 pm on Sunday, they were served with banana, watermelon, apple, dates and cashewnut along with kashaya', a drink made of black pepper. The 86-year-old seer also took part in the proceedings at the event, aptly named Souharda Upahara Koota (harmony breakfast meet), and distributed dates to those gathered for the iftar.

The News Minute reported that after breaking the fast, Muslims gathered for the event also offered namaz in the mutt premises itself, under the guidance of Maulana Innayatullah, Imam of a local mosque.

Urging communal harmony among the various communities of coastal Karnataka, the seer was quoted by the The News Minute as saying, Karnataka, especially in the coastal areas, must become an area which is peaceful and set an example for the state to be tolerant. All of us are children of the same creator.

Pejawar Mutt is one of the eight major mutts established by Sri Adhokshaja Tirtha, a disciple of Madhavacharya, the founder of Dvaita school of Vendanta philosophy. Tirtha, the current head of the mutt, is well known for his association with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and his advocacy of cow protection.

Move lauded by various quarters

The move to hold iftar in the mutt premises was lauded by the Muslim community in Karnataka.

MA Gafoor, the chairman of the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation, welcomed the move. The Iftar koota and offering of namaz at a temple is a historic decision and a great sign of communal harmony shown by the Pejawar Mutt, he told The News Minute.

The ruling Congress party too praised the seer for his initiative, with Karnataka minister for food and civil supplies, UT Khader, hailing him as an role model for communal harmony.

"Coming from a person of his stature, the gesture will have ripple effect in fostering communal amity not just in the district or the state, but across the country as well," The Times of India quoted the minister as saying while taking a dig at the rising intolerance across the country.
In a strategic shift, militants are now turning their attention to a relatively-quieter Srinagar city, the summer capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Srinagar has largely remained militancy free till now as renewed face of insurgency remained confined to south Kashmir.

A district-wise mapping of militants prepared by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, accessed by Firstpost, revealed that Srinagar district alone is home to more than two dozen militants now.

So, when two militants appeared in front of a bank ATM, adjacent to the main gate of the Delhi Public School at Pantha Chowk on the outskirts of Srinagar and fired a volley of bullets at a CRPF vehicle, killing an officer and injuring two others, on Saturday evening it hardly surprised the security establishment.

The attackers, wearing police uniforms, fired indiscriminately at the vehicle before entering the campus of the school where they took refuge, eyewitnesses told Firstpost. It took a while for the security forces to zero down in on their location. Zulfikar Hassan, IG (Ops) CRPF, said one of his officers, Sahib Shukla, a sub-inspector level officer, took bullets but also fired back at the militants. He always led any operation from the front.

After the firing, a large contingent of police, CRPF and the army arrived in the area, a highly fortified zone barely few hundred meters away from the Army's 15 Corps headquarters. During the search operation, sources told Firstpost, security forces were told by the staff of the school that two militants were in one of the buildings. The tip-off proved right.

The school was immediately cordoned off but no contact was established with the suspects. After the night-long siege, the firing and sounds of shells started resonating in the area till pre-dawn. On Sunday, the gun battle entered its second day, as forces fired intermittently at the building trying to find the exact location of the hiding militants.

By afternoon, both the militants were cornered in one of the rooms of the school and killed. A police official said security forces launched full-fledged offensive to flush out the militants on Sunday morning.

The 17-hour gun battle was an indication that militants are taking the battle from south Kashmir to the capital city Srinagar. Sources in security agencies said it was a well-planned strategy by militants to prolong the encounter by taking refuge inside the Delhi Public School, which has a sprawling campus of more than 400 rooms and over five building, police officials said.

It seemed the intention was to take refugee in high-rise, like the EDI complex where militants took refugee twice, to prolong the gunfight and get maximum attention, a senior police officer at the site of the encounter, said.

On Sunday, two militants were killed and three para commandos were injured while leading the operation. The attack triggered a serious crisis on the highway forcing its closure for many hours on Saturday and Sunday, one day before the Muslim festival of Eid begins in the Valley.

The fresh attack in Srinagar has only confirmed intelligence reports that militants are trying to launch a major attack in Srinagar for a long time, but the strict security arrangements at the national highway perhaps prevented such an attack. Given the increase in number of active militants, such an attack can't be ruled out in immediate future.

The date about the presence of militants in Srinagar city with Kashmir police revels that Srinagar, which were zero-militancy districts till 2015, have more then two dozen militants out of which 11 locals have joined after a unrest an began last year following the killing of a militant commander.

There is a likelihood of militants lunching more attacks in coming days. This will done to attract more, another police officer in Srinagar said.

Last year in October, before the militants launched second attack in one year, from the same location in Sempora, militants had been trying to enter Srinagar city to carry out attacks but were forced to retreat after noticing frisking and checking of vehicles at all the entry and exit points of the city.

However, they did manage to gain entry into Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) in Sempora twice during last year, but by roving a boat across Jhelum river. Both the attacks proved costly for the state as well as the security forces.

Intelligence agencies here have been long been apprehensive of hit and run style attack by militants on the National Highway between Pampore to Panth Chowk. The highway is a place where militants can strike and disappear easily. It is also an attention grabbing place since the vehicular movement comes to a halt due to any disturbance.

"It is impossible to keep vigil all along the 302 km long highway from Srinagar to Jammu. We have identified vulnerable stretches where vigil is mounted 24x7 so as to thwart any militant attack. It was due to our alert troopers that the militants were surrounded and killed," a senior Army official said.
Kolkata: Former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan, jailed on an order of the Supreme Court, has moved a petition before the governor of West Bengal seeking bail or parole.

Karnan, 62, who was lodged at the Presidency Correctional Home on 21 June following his arrest in Tamil Nadu a day earlier, is at present undergoing treatment at the state-run SSKM Hospital.

He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for contempt of court by a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, on 9 May.

Questioning the constitutionality of the order of imprisonment of Karnan by the apex court, the petition said, "It is requested that the applicant may please be enlarged on bail/parole till the said lacunae are remedied and constitutional supremacy restored."

Making the appeal through his lawyers, Karnan said, "The applicant is ready and willing to abide by any terms and conditions that may be imposed for granting bail/parole to him."

He appealed to Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi that he should "exercise the jurisdiction invested in your excellency and enlarge the prisoner Shri Justice CS Karnan on bail/parole in the interest of justice and equity".

"The appeal has been sent by speed post to the governor," Karnan's counsel Mathew J Nedumpara said on Monday. Copies of the representation have also been sent to the West Bengal chief minister, the home minister and the law minister of the state," Nedumpara told PTI over

Copies of the representation have also been sent to the West Bengal chief minister, the home minister and the law minister of the state," Nedumpara told PTI over the phone.

Karnan, who retired as a judge of the Calcutta High Court on 12 June as a fugitive, was arrested on 20 June from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu after evading the police for more than a month.

Karnan, who was on a warpath with the Supreme Court for the last several months, has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court.

Despite several attempts, Karnan has failed to get any relief from the apex court's vacation benches which refused to hear his plea seeking a stay of its jail term order.

His lawyers have also claimed to have approached President Pranab Mukherjee for exercising his power to stay the apex court's order, but no relief has come to the ex-judge so far.

After being sentenced to a six-month jail term, Karnan had on 12 May moved the apex court for relief, saying neither the high courts nor their judges, were "subordinate" to it.

He had sought a recall of the apex court's order, contending he could not be held guilty of contempt of court.

Karnan had said the Contempt of Courts Act was a "cathartic jurisprudence which belonged to the Dark Ages, the era of inquisition and torture, distinct from the classical Roman Law which constitutes the foundation of modern jurisprudence".
Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa on Monday said a survey would be conducted by an external agency for ticket distribution for the 2018 assembly polls and added that the party was preparing for early elections.

As he predicted early assembly polls by December, the former chief minister also claimed that several sitting legislators from rival parties are willing to join the BJP.

The elections are due early next year.

"We are planning things. A survey needs to be conducted to find out who the best available candidate is," Yeddyurappa said in response to a question about the process for selection of candidates.

In an interaction with PTI, he said, "Our workers are on a Vistarak Yojna (Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Vistarak Yojana). Once they come back we will get the feedback; then we may conduct a survey so that it will benefit the party."

Yeddyurappa said the survey would be conducted by an external agency and it may start in about two months.

"The survey will be held throughout the state to get a correct picture and find out our probable candidate," he added.

In May, there were reports that a "secret survey" was being conducted through a private agency at the behest of BJP chief Amit Shah in the 224 assembly constituencies in the state, based on which the saffron party's election plan, including selection of candidates, was likely to be finalised.

Following this, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had also announced that the Congress would carry out a survey about the performance of its government and legislators to formalise its strategy in the run up to the Assembly election.

Yeddyurappa also claimed that several sitting legislators from the rival party were keen on switching over to the BJP six months before the Assembly polls.

"Many are approaching us, the only problem they have is if they join the party now the development in their constituency would stop and elections are approaching, and by-polls will have to be held. They want to join when six months are left for assembly elections to avoid any by-polls," he said in response to a question.

He said there are also MLAs from ruling Congress who wanted to join the BJP, but declined to specify any numbers.

"Many have expressed interest. We are looking to encourage them wherever we don't have a good candidate. We don't want to promise everyone and bring them in," he added.

Yeddyurappa said by looking at the sudden spurt of activities in the ruling party, it was clear that the state might go in for Assembly polls in December.

"Looking at the activities of Congress' new in-charge of the state  MLAs being directed to focus on respective constituencies, sudden increase in pressure on officials to look into developmental activities  the sudden spurt indicates to me that early elections may be called by December. We are preparing for it," he said.

Questioned about the reasons for the Congress possibly calling for early polls, Yeddyurappa said there was fear among them that the drought situation may worsen.

Also, he claimed, the party felt that by holding elections along with Gujarat they would benefit, thinking that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah's focus would be on winning their home state.

Claiming that the crop loan waiver of Rs 8,165 crore was announced by the Congress government in the state under the BJP's pressure, he said the move would in no way impact the party.

"Other state governments have announced waiver of loans by upto Rs one lakh per farmer, here it is just Rs 50,000. They should have done it much earlier as the state is facing severe drought," he added.

Yeddyurappa claimed that the BJP would contest all 224 assembly seats independently and secure a clear majority.

He maintained that there are no differences within the BJP and everyone was working together for the party's success in the 2018 assembly polls.

Recently, Yeddyurappa had faced a factional feud from within, led by senior party leader KS Eshwarappa, over his "unilateral style" of functioning as party's state unit chief.

The former chief minister, who expressed his intentions to contest from Shikaripur assembly constituency, has been projected as the BJP's chief ministerial face by the party high command.

He also said the BJP, if voted to power, would shift certain government departments to Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi in northern part of Karnataka to reduce the disparity between the north and the south.

"That will be our first preference", he said.

Currently Yeddyurappa is on a state-wide tour as part of BJP's 'Jana Samparka Abhiyana' where he has been addressing a series of public meetings and visiting Dalit colonies and houses.
Jammu: An eerie silence prevailed on the occasion of Eid along the LoC, which has witnessed 20 ceasefire violations, a Pakistani Border Action Team (BAT) attack and two infiltration bids in the month of June in which four people, including three jawans, were killed.

The lack of the rattle of guns came as some good news.

"Guns are silent today. There is no report of any firing and shelling by the Pakistani Army along the LoC," a senior

army officer said.

The Pakistani Army breached the truce thrice on Sunday by firing small arms and shelling mortars on army posts along the

LoC in Rajouri and Poonch sectors, drawing strong retaliation from the Indian side.

There have been 20 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the International Border in Jammu region in the month of June

in which three jawans and one civilian were killed.

Pakistani troops had on Saturday fired automatic weapons on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Poonch sector.

These violations came just days after an attack by a Pakistan special forces team that sneaked across the LoC into Poonch taking cover of heavy fire and killed two jawans while losing one of their men.

Pakistan's Border Action Team comprises its army's special forces personnel and terrorists.
Eid ul-Fitr was celebrated on Monday across Kashmir as people thronged mosques, shrines and Eidgahs for special prayers, but incidents of stone-pelting and clashes between protestors and security forces were reported in the Valley.

According to Greater Kashmir, Kashmir's Baramulla district saw over a dozen protesters injured in the ensuing clashes with government forces. As per the report, security forces turned to shelling of tear gas and firing pellets after scores of protesters attempted to march towards the main chowk.

IANS mentioned that at least 10 protesters were injured in the clashes in Anantnag, Sopore, Kulgam, Pulwama and Pattan towns, the state police said.

The Indian Express reported that to contain the stone-pelting incidents, police used teargas to disperse crowds after locals resorted to stone-pelting in Anantnag. The sporadic clashes continued in Anantnag for over an hour.

The Indian Express report further mentioned that Sopore and Srinagar also witnessed clashes.

Protests were feared in the Valley on Eid ul-Fitr, when as per The Kashmir Monitor, the government directed senior police officers and civil administration to be available in their district headquarters to closely monitor the situation during the holy month.

Muslims from all walks of life started making a beeline to Eidgahs (prayer grounds) or mosques to offer Eid prayers as a thanksgiving after the month-long fasting of Ramazan.

The biggest gathering was witnessed at Hazratbal shrine where more than 50,000 faithful offered prayers, officials said.

They said the second largest gathering was held at the Eidgah in the old city in which more than 40,000 people participated.

Big gatherings were also reported from Sonawar and Soura shrines in the heart of the city, officials said, adding that similar gatherings were held at all districts headquarters and major towns of the Valley.

Clashes between protestors and law enforcing agencies were reported from Sopore, Anantnag, Rajpora, Shopian towns and Safakadal area of the city.

There were no reports of anyone getting hurt in these clashes.

The authorities have placed top separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest, fearing that their presence at large Eid gatherings could spark violence, the officials said.

JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik has been taken into preventive custody and lodged at the Central Jail, Srinagar.

With inputs from agencies
"Not In My Name" protest marches shall be held in various cities across the country on Wednesday to protest the killing of Hafiz Junaid.

The campaign started with a Facebook post by a filmmaker against the lynching of Muslim teenager Junaid on a local train in Haryana. Thousands have pledged to hit the streets in support of the campaign.

On Tuesday, Firstpost carried an article about why this protest is making the headlines.

Citizen protests will be held in different cities including Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru on Wednesday. The complete list of the venues is as follows:

Delhi: Jantar Mantar

Kolkata: Dakhinapan premises, next to Madhusudhan Mancha, Dhakuria

Hyderabad: Tank Bund

Thiruvananthapuram: The Secreatariat

Bengaluru: Bangalore Town Hall

Mumbai: Promenade, Carter Road

Pune: Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Statue, near Pune Station

Boston: Harvard Square

Chennai: Gandhi Statue on Marina Beach

London: SOAS University of London on Thornhaugh Street

Chandigarh: Sector 17

Toronto: 356 Bloor Street East (Sherborne and Bloor)

Karachi: Outside Karachi Press Club

Lucknow: Gandhi Park, GPO

Patna: Outside Kargil Chowk

The filmmaker, Saba Dewan, said, adding that it reflected the "anger and grief" of the people.

"I never realised the response would be so overwhelming. Despite the debilitating violence, these protests will make us feel we are alive and spark hope," Dewan told PTI. The campaign sought to "reclaim the Constitution" and "resist the onslaught" on the right to life and equality, the Gurgaon-based documentary filmmaker said.

The protest in Delhi will be held at the Jantar Mantar at around 6 pm. The family of 17-year-old Junaid, killed by a mob when he was on his way home to Ballabhgarh after shopping for Eid in Delhi, will also be invited to join the demonstration, Dewan said.

An image designed by graphic artist Orijit Sen featuring blood-stained chappals, a metal rod and the message "Not In My Name" is being shared by hundreds on social media sites along with an appeal to join the protest.

"Please carry banners with the slogan - Not in My Name. This is a citizens' protest open to all. Everyone is welcome but without party or organisational banners," the invite reads.



It all started on 24 June with Dewan's post calling for protests against the spate of lynchings that have taken place in different parts of the country in recent weeks, the latest being the murderous attack on Junaid on 22 June.

"If not now, then when? Why wait for political formations to organise a demonstration? Why can't all of us as citizens repulsed by the violence get together in protest at the earliest next week at Jantar Mantar under the banner - Not in my Name," it said.

Junaid was stabbed to death on a Mathura-bound train, which he had taken with his two brothers after shopping at Delhi's Sadar Bazar. A group of men hurled communal slurs at the boys and attacked them after an altercation, allegedly over seats.

With inputs from PTI
Bhopal: A farmer and a farm labourer committed suicide reportedly due to debt burden and a financial crunch in two separate incidents in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Monday.

According to police, Barelal Ahirwar, 65, of Phutera village in Tikamgarh district committed suicide on Sunday by hanging himself from a tree in his farm.

The deceased, who had six acres of land, had taken a loan to dig three wells for irrigating his field but water never flowed from them, his family said.

The condition of Barelal, who had two sons, did not improve even after he got money under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. As people started coming to his place for debt recovery, he apparently committed suicide under stress.

"His family members say that his mental condition was not good and that is why he committed suicide. But we are yet to ascertain whether he actually had a loan on him," TK Singh, the officer incharge of Kharga police station, told IANS.

In the other incident, a farm labourer, Bhawanideen alias Bhaiyyalal Kushwaha, 36, committed suicide on Sunday by hanging himself from a tree in Chhatarpur district.

He used to do sharecropping, but due to recurring loss, he later took to working as a labourer, his family said.

He was in tension for the last few days due to a financial crunch, Ward Councillor Kanchhedi Kushwaha and neighbours said.

Rajnagar police station officer incharge KS Paraste, however, said the reason for the suicide was yet to be established.
Mumbai: Maharashtra women and child development minister Pankaja Munde on Monday said that local Self Help Groups (SHGs) will provide sanitary pads to school girls at Rs 5 per pack.

The move comes at a time when there are demands from various sections of the society to reduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) being levied on sanitary napkins.

Munde said the work to provide napkins will be given to village women in self-help groups.

Meanwhile, NCP and MNS leaders have raised this issue with Union and state finance ministry and demanded exemption of sanitary napkins from the GST.

Munde said women and child development department has introduced 'Asmita', a scheme for school going girls in which they will be provided sanitary napkins inside their school premises.

"Asmita means pride and we want girls to take care of themselves during their periods," said Munde.

She added that it was not possible for girls residing in villages to afford sanitary napkins.

Munde said that not using sanitary napkins creates hygiene related issues and her department is working on to resolve the ignorance among women on the usage of the essential commodities.

"Price of sanitary napkins available in the market is more than Rs 40 and it was a challenge before us to make it affordable. Our experience of using locally made sanitary napkins failed due to quality issues and hence we decided to subsidise them," Munde said.

"Women SHGs will procure it from the manufacturer which will be enlisted by the state government and we will provide a subsidy to the SHGs.

"The bidding to shortlist and enlist manufacturer of sanitary napkins is under process. Once, it is finalised, SHGs will approach them to procure napkins.

"The department has identified such SHGs that are working at the village level, have a sound financial position and can afford to procure and provide sanitary napkins to girls studying in standard 8 to 10," she said.

"We will ensure that the price does not go beyond Rs 4 to Rs 5," Munde added.

Meanwhile, Chitra Wagh, state president of women wing of NCP and Shalini Thackeray met state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and asked him to request Arun Jaitley, Union finance minister to exempt sanitary napkins from GST.

Munde too has written a letter to Jaitley over the issue.
Marawi (Philippines): A Roman Catholic priest abducted by Islamist militants who seized parts of a southern Philippine city has been seen alive, the military said on Monday, as troops pressed on with their offensive.

Air and artillery bombardment of enclaves occupied by the militants in the largely Muslim city of Marawi resumed after an eight-hour truce on Sunday to allow residents to celebrate the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera said the militants were deliberately burning houses and using improvised bombs, booby traps and hostages as human shields to delay the troops' advance, five weeks into the fighting.

Hundreds of gunmen flying the black flag of the Islamic State (IS) group occupied parts of Marawi on 23 May, triggering bloody fighting that has claimed nearly 400 lives according to an official count.

Father Teresito "Chito" Suganob, a Catholic priest assigned to Marawi, was taken hostage along with some parishioners early in the siege.

Herrera, spokesperson for the military forces in Marawi, said the priest had been seen alive on Sunday in a part of the city still in the hands of the extremists.

"We don't have details of his health. We were just told that he was sighted alive," he told reporters, citing accounts from civilians rescued from the battle zone.

He also said there were about 100 civilian hostages still in the hands of the gunmen, being used as "human shields", ammunition carriers and stretcher-bearers.

Fighting resumed with renewed fury on Monday, with government fighter jets and other aircraft seen carrying out bombing attacks.

"Our offensive operations have resumed and will continue so we can liberate Marawi at the soonest time possible," Herrera said at a news conference in Marawi.

He said the bodies of two militants believed to be from West Asia because of their physical features were found at the scene of an earlier airstrike, another sign that foreign fighters had joined the battle.

"These foreign terrorists involved in the hostilities are bomb experts. They are the ones facilitating the rigging of the buildings and houses with bombs," Herrera said.

Eight foreign fighters, including those from Chechnya, Indonesia and Malaysia, were killed in the early days of the battle, the government has said.

Herrera said they were still trying to confirm reports that Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant said to be the leader of the Islamic State group in Southeast Asia, had escaped Marawi despite a military and police cordon.

An attempt by troops to arrest Hapilon in Marawi on 23 May triggered the rampage by the militants.

Hapilon was indicted in Washington for his involvement in the 2001 kidnapping of three Americans in the Philippines. He has a $5 million bounty on his head from the US government and is on its "most wanted" terror list.
Chennai: DMK working president MK Stalin on Sunday said securing the presidential nod for the bill passed in the Assembly to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET examination was the only solution to safeguard the interests of students from the state.

"The recent announcement by Edappadi K Palaniswami government about medical admissions being solely based on NEET scores is an attempt to divert the issue away from the spectacular failure of this government", he said in a statement in Chennai.

"The only solution to safeguard the interest of the students in the state is to work towards securing the presidential assent to the NEET bill passed unanimously in the state legislature," he said.

"DMK had pointed out that thousands of poor and rural students would be affected if NEET-based admission is implemented," he said.

Noting that the AIADMK government introduced a bill to address the issue and it was unanimously passed in the state assembly, he said, AIADMK failed to establish its rights and lend voice to the unanimous resolution passed in the Assembly.

The three factions of the AIADMK should have put forth a condition that they would offer support to NDA's presidential candidate only if the Centre accepted the NEET bill passed by the legislative assembly, he said.

Stalin asked Palaniswami why his government remained silent when Central government did not send the NEET bill to the president to get his "assent".

"How is the state government going to protect the interests of the students who had performed exceedingly well in the board examinations conducted by the state government?" he asked.
Bhopal: The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh is launching a farmer outreach programme from Tuesday, weeks after the state was hit by a widespread agitation by cultivators.

The saffron outfit, which faces assembly polls in late 2018, is starting a Kisan Sandesh Yatra under which its public representatives will meet farmers and listen to their grievances.

"Our public representatives are going to go in the midst of farmers from Tuesday under a 10-day long Kisan Sandesh Yatra.

"We are going to hear their grievances and apprise them about the welfare schemes being run by the state and central governments," Madhya Pradesh BJP general secretary VD Sharma told PTI on Monday.

"We are going to dispel misconceptions spread among farmers by vested interest," he said.

The basic aim of the programme is to connect farmers with the government's policies and remove any doubt they have about the state administration, Sharma added.

The BJP leader maintained the yatra was planned much before the agitation which started in the first week of June and later turns violent.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was a `kisan putra' (the son of a farmer) and was very sensitive to problems of the cultivator. The BJP government is working very hard to double the income of farmers by 2022, a goal set by prime minister Narendra Modi, Sharma said.

Madhya Pradesh witnessed farmer unrest in the first fortnight of June. The stir made headlines when police fired at farmers, killing five of them in Mandsaur district on 6 June.

The agitation was launched to demand a loan waiver and better prices for farm products. Since the unrest, more than 20 farmers, most of them debt-ridden, have committed suicide in the state.
Kohima: Nagaland police has arrested 560 people for smuggling liquor and banned drugs during the last 18 months, a senior police officer said on Monday.

The police had also seized 9,711 kg of ganja, 63.75 kg of opium, 12 grams of heroin, 4.5 kg of brown sugar, 1 kg of Yaba, 5,27,626 spasmo proxyvon capsules, 12,297 bottles of cough syrup and 2,02,919 bottles of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) during this period.

This was revealed by Inspector General of Police (Crime) Kewetso Mero while speaking on the occasion of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking here.

The IGP said the seizures may be the tip of the iceberg only while much more must be entering the state, but "we do not have the manpower, gadgets and the knowledge to identify and detect such materials".

Mero stated that Nagaland is primarily used as a conduit route by drug traffickers due to its close proximity to the Golden Triangle, especially with Myanmar.

"The onus on the law enforcement agencies is not only to undertake preventive work by apprehending drug traffickers but also to sensitise the masses against the effects of drug abuse," he said.

The IGP said not only is the state being used as a route for trafficking but local people in the state are slowly and discreetly turning to cultivation especially the cannabis.

This trend needs to be addressed urgently and taken seriously by all sections of society, he said.

Speaking at the seminar project director of Nagaland State AIDS Control Society, Dr Nganshimeren said the problem of drug trafficking needs to be tackled on two fronts by reducing the supply chain by the law enforcement agencies and also to reduce the social demand of the abusive drugs by creating awareness about the ill effects of drug abuse among the population both at government and NGO levels.

Director of Kripa Foundation, Abou Mere urged the state government to put into the force the Nagaland State Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Policy 2016.

Dr Niekiesalie Nicky Kire, MLA in his address suggested that all the legislators need to be briefed about the menace of drug abuse and support from the government towards the establishment of detox and drug treatment centres in all the districts of the state.
New Delhi: Ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump, Amnesty International has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising concern over human rights violations in the US.

As an ally of the United States, India has a responsibility to raise concern over human rights violations, the international rights watchdog said in a letter dated 24 June to the prime minister, urging him to take up the matter with the representatives of the US government.

It also appealed to the prime minister to talk to his US counterpart and raise the issue of accountability of Dow Chemical and Union Carbide Corporation towards the victims and survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

The Prime Minister should call on the US government to ensure that Dow and UCC comply with Indian court orders, it said.

Dow Chemical, which bought Union Carbide Corporation in 2001, has allegedly evaded hearings in a case related to the tragedy at a Bhopal court.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Bhopal has already issued four notices, summoning Dow to explain why UCC never appeared before it.

The notices were served under the mutual legal assistance treaty between India and the US concerning criminal matters.

Amnesty has asked Modi, who is himself facing flak over his silence on atrocities inflicted upon minorities, to call on the Trump administration to immediately revoke the executive order banning refugees and visa holders from Syria and five other Muslim-majority countries.

It has also urged the PM to raise the issues of hate crimes targeting African-Americans, closure of the infamous Guantanamo Bay and a moratorium on executions to ensure that people with mental or intellectual disabilities are not subjected to the death penalty, pending its full abolition.

Modi is in Washington as a part of the second leg of his three-nation tour, which started in Portugal. This will be his maiden meeting with Trump.

Both the leaders are expected to hold discussions on "strategically important" issues related to defence, economy and business.
As we count hours before Narendra Modi sits down with Donald Trump for the maiden face-to-face meeting, India-US bilateral tie faces an interesting paradox under the new incumbent at White House. The Indian prime minister must solve this paradox, or at least have a workaround at disposal if he wants to make this tete-a-tete a success.

The argument carries an implicit assumption that the bilateral relationship, at this juncture of history, carries more importance for India than it does for the US, and therefore it is in India's interest to have Trump in its corner. This shouldn't have been necessary. After all, from Bill Clinton, George W Bush to Barack Obama, from PV Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh to now Modi, successive leaders from both nations have walked the extra mile to turn the Cold War-era coldness into a warm strategic embrace.

If that is so, why does Modi need to do the extra work that he is being made to do to ensure continuity in relationship? The answer lies in the unpredictable nature of the current US president whose candidature has been a reaction against established theorems of US domestic and foreign policies. Bent on disengaging US from the world, denouncing global leadership and disrupting key tenets of its terms of engagement, Trump has forced a recalibration of ties with allies, partners and enemies alike. India cannot be an exception.

This writer has argued variously in the past that while India's broader relationship with the US remains stable and insured by structural, strategic bulwarks and though the trajectory of that relationship is likely to outlast any occupant at White House or 7 Race Course Road, New Delhi nevertheless cannot afford to antagonise Trump or let the ties drift. For these considerations, it must have a Donald Trump policy.

As part of this policy, India must embrace Trump's style of viewing everything through the prism of quid-pro-quo. Some factors weigh against India. The transition period is painfully slow and there is an acute shortage of Trump administration officials conversant with India. New Delhi is outside the perimeter of Trump's two immediate focus areas  Islamic State and North Korea and only tangentially relevant to the third one  Afghanistan. Last, India has been busy stitching up a coalition of middle powers to hedge against major deviation in America's behaviour and has not shown the same urgency as a Japan or China to court Trump.

For all these reasons, India has remained peripheral to Trump's interest and Modi faces a challenge in grabbing his attention and sustaining his interest. While communicating with a transactional president who suffers from attention-span issues, Modi needs to convey a message that India's rise as a nation and a closer relationship is in US interest. Unless this key point is hammered fast, India is unlikely to remain at the frontal lobe of Trump consciousness  notwithstanding his tall campaign promises about US and India being "best friends".

So how could Modi do it in the very first meeting, one that is being billed as a 'mutual assessment' exercise? It is here that Modi must find a solution to the paradox. One of the easiest ways to get a point across to Trump is to appeal to the businessman in him. India is uniquely placed. In fact, as Trump looks to create American jobs and looks to post instant "wins" on Twitter, all that the prime minister needs to do is to sell India as an investment destination for American businesses that will create jobs for both countries.

And it is here that Modi faces his biggest problem. Despite the countless assurances and notwithstanding the claims of India fast improving as a business destination, US lawmakers and American businesses still remain unconvinced about Modi's reform credentials and point towards an excessive command-control regime that is still extremely protectionist in nature.

A bipartisan panel of influential US Congressmen have urged Trump to raise the issue of India's trade barriers during the meeting. News agency Reuters reports that in a letter to Trump, the US lawmakers have said the bilateral economic partnership  a core focus area for Trump  is struggling due to India's failure to usher in reforms.

"Many sectors of the Indian economy remain highly and unjustifiably protected, and India continues to be a difficult place for American companies to do business," they wrote in the letter, according to Reuters. Other points highlighted include high tariffs, inadequate protection of intellectual property rights, non-transparent licensing and regulatory practices are affecting solar and information technology products, telecommunications equipment and biotechnology goods.

These are not areas where Modi can offer Trump a quick fix. In another report, Chidanand Rajghatta writes in The Times of India that US pharma companies have bitterly complained to Trump about Modi government's decision to cut stent prices by about 75 percent and have warned that India's medical-technology marker will lose out on cutting-edge research and development.

So how may Modi counter these charges if Trump team raises them, as they very well might? Since Modi is not in a position to address these gripes anytime soon  most are political hot buttons that he is loathe to touch  he may offer inducements in defence deals: Another Trump focus area.

The Trump administration has already okayed the selling of 22 unarmed surveillance drones at a cost of $2 billion and more such deals or the promise of it may offer Trump some carrots to post on Twitter. In other tricky areas, such as H1B and climate, India and US appear keen to avoid friction and foreign secretary S Jaishankar's early visit to iron out the agendas of joint statement would have ensured that these do not stick out like sore thumbs.

Geopolitics, however, is one area where Modi and Trump may sing together. The rise of China affects both and Modi would be very interested to know whether Trump's bromance with Xi Jinping extends beyond the deliverables on North Korea.

There are some encouraging signs in the way Trump administration has resumed navigational activities in South China Sea and in selling of drones to India, has shown an intent in aligning with India's strategic interest. Predictably, the transfer of 22 predator Guardian drones has raised Chinese hackles though not in a very pronounced way.

There is unlikely to be any immediate firming up of military-strategic ties and the focus is likely to remain on continuity. On terrorism, India will seek clarity from Trump administration whether its interest in meeting the challenge lies only to the extent of mitigating the Taliban, IS, Haqqani Network or whether it also includes outfits that are antagonistic towards India such as Hizbul Mujaheedin or Lashkar-e-Taiba. In this respect, India might want a better understanding of Trump administration's stand on Pakistan, whether or not it matches its actions to rhetoric.

However, all these calculations may go awry depending on one factor that could override everything else  personal rapport. If Modi succeeds in charming Trump and pandering to his ego, India may come out of the meeting with at least some deliverables. Don't rule that possibility out.
Washington: Addressing the Indian diaspora in Washington as the "members of family", prime minister Narendra Modi promised of a developed India in their lifetime.

Interacting with the Indian diaspora on Sunday, Modi said their success is due to the supportive environment in the US, and his government is working to provide the same environment back home.

"Your heart always asks when would our country become like this (the US)... I assure you that this will happen in your lifetime," Modi said.

Saying that Indians in America have not just helped India progress but also the US, Modi said that success and action of the Indian diaspora is still echoing in the world.

"You are the same people but your success story has a simple reason, it's because you got supportive environment here," he said.

The prime minister added that "125 crore equally talented Indians are there back in India, they are now getting supportive environment and soon we will develop India soon".

"The biggest change in India today is that every Indian want to do and is already doing something with resolution to change and develop the nation," he said.

"Today, 125 crore people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari have resolved to do something for their country. With such a resolve, the country is developing in a pace never seen before."

Calling corruption as the root cause due to which "the previous governments were changed in India", Modi said his government has emerged corruption-free in the last three years.

"Governments were changed because of corruption. The common people hated this... There has been not a single blot on our government in the past three years. And governance is being modified so that honesty becomes an in-build process.

"Technology is helping with that," Modi said.

"Increased usage of technology brings transparency in systems. When I think of a developed India, I think of a healthy India, particularly the good health of the women and children of our nation," he added.

The prime minister also said, "Transparent policies create an environment of trust among the people. The youth of India understands technology and the importance of technology very well. Through technology driven governance we are creating an 'Adhunik Bharat'."

"With proper policies and governance, aspirations of people of India can become achievements. We are already seeing the results of this," said Modi

"Innovation, technology and talent are crucial in this age," he added.

The prime minister also said the warmth, the Indian community gave is memorable. "All my family members are settled in America... The happiness we get after meeting the family is what I am feeling right now," Modi said.

He also said: "If you want to give back to India, this is the best time to do so. Keep the bridge with India. Your younger generations must continue the strong bond with India."
Multan: Pakistan's prime minister cut short a trip abroad to rush to the side of victims of a massive fuel tanker fire as authorities on Monday raised the death toll from the blaze to 157.

The truck, carrying some 25,000 litres (6,600 gallons) of gasoline, was travelling from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore, the Punjab provincial capital when the driver lost control and crashed on a highway outside the town of Bahawalpur early on Sunday.

Alerted by an announcement over a mosque loudspeaker that an overturned tanker truck was leaking fuel, scores of villagers rushed to the scene to collect the spilled fuel when the blaze ignited. The wreck had exploded, engulfing people in flames as they screamed in terror.

Dr Nahid Ahmed at the Nishter Hospital in the city of Multan, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) away from the site of the fire, said four of the victims that were brought from Bahawalpur had died overnight, bringing the death toll to 157. Ahmed said 50 more severely burned victims were being treated at his hospital.

Rescue official Mohammad Baqar at the Bahawalpur hospital said 20 more victims were transported on Monday by a military C-130 plane to Lahore for better medical care.

Prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who visited the Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur on Monday, ordered that more of those most critically hurt be transferred to bigger hospitals in the area, Baqar said.

Sharif cut short his trip abroad and rushed back home, reaching Bahawalpur on Monday to visit the victims and console the affected families. Sharif also announced 2 million rupees  almost $20,000  as financial assistance for each family that had lost a family member in the highway inferno. Sharif also handed over checks of 1 million rupees ($10,000) for each burned victim being treated at the hospital in Bahawalpur.

"This is not compensation, no compensation is possible for precious human life, but it is to help the affected families in distress," Sharif said, expressing his prayers for those killed and for a speedy recovery of the burned victims.

Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and will have to be identified through DNA testing, said Baqar.

"I have never seen anything like it in my life. Victims trapped in the fireball. They were screaming for help," said Abdul Malik, a police officer who was among the first to arrive on the scene of horror in Pakistan's Punjab province.

When the flames subsided, he said, "we saw bodies everywhere. So many were just skeletons. The people who were alive were in really bad shape."

Some of the most badly burned were immediately evacuated by army helicopters to Multan. The dead included men, women and children.

The disaster struck on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr that follows the holy month of Ramadan. While Saudi Arabia and most other Muslim countries started celebrating the holiday Sunday, Pakistanis are marking it on Monday.

The scope of Sunday's tragedy was a first in Pakistan but in cases of massive oil leaks in impoverished countries, many of the poorest and least educated often rush to the scene to collect the spilled fuel, unaware of the grave danger they face. In recent years, such incidents have been reported in Nigeria and Sudan.
Jammu: In the second ceasefire violation on Sunday, Pakistani troops resorted to firing from automatic weapons and shelling mortars along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district.

In the latest violation, the Pakistan army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from small arms, automatic weapons and mortars from 5.50 pm on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Naushera sector, a defence spokesmansaid, adding, the Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively.

As per reports, one Pakistani post was destroyed in the Indian Army's retaliatory action.

Pakistan has now violated the ceasefire thrice in the past 27 hours, targeting forward posts and civilian areas with mortar bombs and automatic weapons.

Earlier on Sunday, Pakistani troops had opened unprovoked fire from 6.30 am to 9.30 am on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Naushera sector, even as Indian troops returned fire.

Pakistan Army had also initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from small arms, automatic weapons and mortars from 11.30 am to 2.10 pm on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Poonch sector.

Sunday's violations came just days after an attack by a Pakistani special forces team that sneaked across the LoC into Poonch under cover of heavy fire and killed two jawans while losing one of their men.

On Thursday, in the third such attack this year, a team of Pakistani special forces men sneaked 600 metres across the LoC into the Poonch sector and killed two Indian jawans and lost one Border Action Team (BAT) member in retaliatory action by the Indian Army.

The BAT comprises special forces personnel of the Pakistan army and terrorists.

It had carried out the attack on an Indian Army patrol party in the Gulpur belt of Poonch on 22 June under heavy cover fire by Pakistani troops.

In the firefight, two Indian soldiers  34-year-old Naik Jadhav Sandip of Aurangabad and 24-year-old Sepoy Mane Savan Balku of Kolhapur  were killed.

The Pakistani BAT members were armed with headband cameras to record the attack on the Indian Army patrol.

Earlier, on 16 June, Pakistan violated the ceasefire by firing on forward posts along the LoC in Naushera sector of Rajouri district of J&K, killing an Indian Army jawan.

There have been 19 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the international border in Jammu region in June in which one civilian also lost his life while seven others were injured.
Hyderabad: Referring to the proclamation of Emergency in 1975, signed by the then president, without a Cabinet decision, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday took a dig at the Congress saying the country needs a "constitutional president".

He also said it was unfortunate that the Congress and Left parties are trying to rake up an unseemly controversy, where none exists, by terming the upcoming presidential polls as an ideological battle.

"I do not see any reason for ideology to be dragged into the presidential election which should be kept above the routine of accusatory politics being indulged in by political parties," Naidu told PTI in Hyderabad.

Having a president, who goes by the Constitution, is all the more important as the country just observed the 42nd anniversary of Emergency, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister said.

"In 1975, then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed a proclamation imposing Emergency without even a Cabinet decision, simply on the basis of a letter written by the then prime minister and thus trampled upon all democratic rights of the people," he said.

"Conscious vote is a matter of convenience for the Congress. Let us recall that it has used conscience to defeat its own official candidate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy," Naidu said.

Raising the pitch for the NDA's pick for the presidential polls, he said the country needs a "constitutional president" who simply adheres to the Constitution in its letter and spirit of and who is above politics.

"Protection of the Constitution should be the only ideology that he should be committed to and nothing else," Naidu said.

He said it is pertinent to mention that the President has no powers to make policies as they fall in the domain of the government, which comes to power on the basis of its ideology.

On the NDA picking Ram Nath Kovind as its nominee for the top post, Naidu said commitment to the Constitution is the sole criterion for a presidential candidate along with character, calibre and conduct.
Flooding is still a problem in northern Cayuga County, but it won't prevent the village of Fair Haven from celebrating America's independence.

Fair Haven's Fourth of July events will be held this weekend and early next week. The celebration is organized by the Save Our Fourth Association.

The theme for this year's slate of Fourth of July events: "The American dream lives on." The festivities will begin Friday with the mile-long parade, a carnival, chicken barbecue and live music.

On Saturday, the two-day craft fair will begin in the Village Park and a 5K run and walk will be held to benefit Hospice of the Finger Lakes. One of the other day-long events is the Bayside Cruisers Classic Car Show. Fair Haven Mayor Jim Basile said last year's show drew nearly 175 cars.

The carnival and craft will conclude Sunday. On Monday, the wall of fire around Little Sodus Bay will begin at 9:15 p.m. The fireworks display will follow at 10 p.m.

The five-day celebration wraps up Tuesday with the boat parade.

Basile said the Fourth of July weekend is important for the village's bottom line.

"It's a pretty huge economic boost to the businesses to have these things go on this weekend," he said. "Fortunately, unlike Sodus Point, we're a little bit different where our Main Street is not at our lowest point next to the water like some of their areas are.

"This helps the foot traffic ... This is our summer push, July and August, and this will really help the businesses and the community as a whole that we're having the event."

Basile said he's heard from residents asking whether the Fourth of July events would be held. The village has dealt with flooding and high water levels since April. Cayuga County is one of several Lake Ontario communities under a state of emergency that was issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in May.

But the show will go on. Pete Hanford, a member of the Save Our Fourth Association, noted that the only major change needed was a new spot for shooting off the fireworks. In past years, a location in the middle of Little Sodus Bay was used, but that's now under water.

"Everybody around the bay can see it and it'll be like normal," Hanford said.

The community has shown its support for SOFA's Fourth of July celebration. Hanford said donations are almost double what the group received last year.
New Delhi: NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind will meet Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar on Wednesday to seek the support of lawmakers from the state for the 17 July election.

Mehbooba, who was not present when Kovind filed his nomination papers, will convene a meeting of MPs and MLAs from the state at her residence, which will be addressed by the former Bihar governor and Dalit activist, BJP sources said.

Her party, the PDP, has assured the BJP, with which it shares power in the state, of its support.

Kovind will be accompanied by union minister M Venkaiah Naidu and the party's general secretary, Ram Madhav.

The ex-Rajya Sabha member will meet NDA MPs and MLAs from Haryana and Punjab in Panchkula, Haryana, on Thursday.

External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and BJP's general secretary Anil Jain will be among the leaders who will be with Kovind in the Haryana town, the sources added.

The BJP hopes that the INLD, led by former Haryana chief minister OP Chautala, will extend its support to him, the sources said.

Later this week, Kovind will visit Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in the south.

So far 28 parties have extended their support to the NDA's presidential candidate.

"We are expecting that in next few days, two or three more parties will come forward to support him," a BJP leader said.

Though he will meet only MPs and MLAs from supporting parties, the NDA's presidential pick will urge other members of the electoral college to back him, the sources said.

With over 62 percent of the votes firmly behind him, Kovind's election as the next president is almost certain. Besides the BJP and its NDA allies, the TRS, YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD and the JD(U) have also announced their support to him.

Kovind filed his nomination in the presence of prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 23 June. His opponent, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, is yet to file her papers.

The votes will be counted on 20 July.

If elected, Kovind will be the second Dalit president after KR Narayanan.
The Indian public displays selective memory as far as state-led (or state-facilitated) attacks on minorities and oppressed communities are concerned.

We tend to focus on the 2002 Gujarat massacre or the 1984 anti-Sikh riots where police stood by as mute spectators or even allegedly facilitated the mob frenzy. We discuss these moments as if these were unique, and the most terrible points in our history.

But the 1984 killings were just another chapter in a decade where Sikhs were routinely harassed and subjected to fake encounters by police. We have also forgotten the numerous state-sponsored massacres of tribals.

And we've conveniently forgotten that Muslims have been murdered by the state throughout these seven decades of independent India.

From the Muslim perspective, such selective memory has led to a widespread but false belief that BJP is the only political party in India which has Muslim blood on its hands. This is a blatant distortion of history.

Recently, Partha Chatterjee compared Major Leetul Gogoi, who strapped a Kashmiri man to a jeep and used him as a human shield, with the actions of General Dyer who was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

We believe that he is way off the mark. Independent India has witnessed many Jallianwala Baghs. The Moradabad police firing is perhaps the most fitting example. On 13 August, 1980 as Muslims were celebrating Eid throughout India, the police and Provincial Armed Constabulary opened fire on the Moradabad Eidgah where around 40,000 Muslims had gathered to offer prayers. Around 300 Muslims were killed.

Compare that to Jallianwala Bagh, where thousands had gathered on the day of Baisakhi to celebrate and protest. The army under the command of Dyer opened fire, killing around 400 people. The similarities do not end there. In both cases, the victims were fired upon and confined to closed spaces with only one exit point which was blocked. Then MP Syed Shahabuddin called the Moradabad firing the Jallianwala Bagh of independent India. And rightly so.

BJP leader and external affairs minister MJ Akbar, who was a young journalist at that time, reported from Moradabad. He wrote in his book Riot after Riot: Men of the Provincial Armed Constabulary opened fire on about 40,000 Muslims while they were at Eid prayers. No one knows exactly how many people died. What is known is that the incident at Moradabad was not a Hindu-Muslim riot but a calculated cold-blooded massacre of Muslims by a rabidly communal police force which tried to cover up its genocide by making it out to be a Hindu-Muslim riot.

If someone of the stature and calibre of Akbar offered this insight, how did we forget this gruesome example of police brutality in modern India? Part of the answer lies in Akbar's analysis: The police tried to cover up its genocide by making it out to be a Hindu-Muslim riot.



The media also played a huge role in ensuring that this appeared to be a communal conflict rather than what it was: Murder in cold blood. The English and Hindi media were controlled primarily by the Congress and the Left, who were responsible for giving the police narrative legitimacy that the Muslims' communal tendencies led to conflict.

Let us look at the main examples of such coverage.

The Times of India made the claim that the faithful were armed and attacked the police. The newspaper even claimed that Muslims died after the police were forced to retaliate. They shifted the blame on the Muslims' "communal tendencies" and reminded readers that funds from foreign countries were flowing freely in to Moradabad.

One English newspaper even published fake news: Saying four BSF jawans had been killed, and five were missing and blamed the Muslims. The BSF, reacting quickly not only refuted the news, but also took the press around to show them that none of their personnel had been injured. This was the line that the police and the Congress government took even as they tried to retain Muslim votes and defend their secular image. On the other hand, the media followed, as has been its tradition, the Congress government's anti-Muslim narrative. Economic and Political Weekly, famed for its leftist credentials, published many articles which lay the blame for the incident, whether partially or completely, on Muslims. Except for a letter from Syed Shahabuddin, nothing the EPW published disagreed with the police narrative.

In an article by Romesh Thapar, brother of Romila Thapar, the Muslims were blamed for getting themselves killed by police bullets. Thapar also argued that the Muslims were being funded to destabilise India by foreign powers like Saudi Arabia. He ended his analysis with a statement which sought to put the blame on the Muslims, and which was an apologetic defence of majority communalism: Attitudes to the trends in the Muslim community are very important because of the size of the community (larger than the population of Pakistan!), and because these trends create reactions which influence the majority communitys attitude to all minorities.

EPW correspondent Krishna Gandhi claimed that the "group of criminals supported by ML leaders" were responsible for the massacres. According to him, the firing occurred after Muslims beat up policemen, and the excesses committed by the police were, according to him, a reaction to Muslim attacks.

How cute: That 300 Muslims had to be killed by police in retaliation to brick-batting. In short, the leftist media laid the blame on Muslims, defended the secular Congress and the police. Even the otherwise careful K Balagopal forgot to mention the elephant in the room: Systemic communalism of the Indian state.

On the other hand, Akbar and Shahabuddin gave a completely different account of the incident. They pointed out flaws in the establishment narrative. Shahabuddin stated that the claims that Muslims were armed were a complete fabrication. He wrote:

1. No firearms were seen coming into the Eidgah

2. No spent cartridges were found

3. No policeman received any bullet or pellet injury

4. No building opposite the Eidgah has any bullet marks

5. No firearms were left behind, despite the stampede

6. If the provocateurs were armed, why should they have brick-batted?

Akbar wrote in Riot after Riot:

Moradabad was a case of police brutality, pure and simple. The forces of law and order unleashed their fury on thousands of Muslims who had come to offer prayers on their day of joy and celebration. Hundreds, including many children, died in the massacre and stampede. Hundreds more were critically injured. For them, death came slowly.

Both Moradabad's Hindus and Muslims will tell anyone who will listen that what happened on 13 August, 1980 in their city was not a communal riot. It was a clash between the police and Muslims. But the police, in order to throw a cover on their brutal misdeeds, told lies about what precisely happened, and built up false trails that would shift focus of attention from the incidents of the namaz. Moradabad was not communal on 13 August, but the police might have made it communal later.

Akbar also pointed out that the policemen were attacked after the firing, and angry Muslims attacked a police chowki and killed five people in retaliation. The chowki was 5 kilometres away from the Eidgah. The mob that marched towards it left every Hindu house and shop unmolested. Any reasonable observer will agree with Akbar and Shahabuddin's analysis.

Besides the fact that we have forgotten this massacre and the blatantly communal coverage it received by the Left, we must also consider another important point.

Minorities in general, and Muslims in particular must realise that, despite their claims, Congress and their leftist allies are not secular and never have been.

On another Eid, let us remember all those who were massacred by the police when the Congress were in charge.

Focusing squarely on the BJP lets us forget the crimes of the so-called secular parties, which only works to the Congress' and Left's benefit.

The authors are research scholars of Modern Indian History at JNU
Patna: Amid a raging war of words with the JD(U), the RJD on Monday removed one of its spokesmen and cautioned its "loose-tongued" MLA Bhai Birendra, who had been targeting chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Bihar RJD chief Ramchandra Purbe removed Ashok Sinha, who was often seen on the news channels putting across the party's points of view, as a spokesman.

Maner MLA Bhai Birendra was also summoned to the 10, Circular Road residence of Rabri Devi.

The war of words between the two partners of the Grand Alliance government in the state began with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad describing JD(U)'s decision to back NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind as a "historic blunder".

JD(U) chief Kumar too made it clear that he was not going back on his decision to support the former Bihar governor's candidature in the presidential poll and attacked the Congress over its "Bihar ki Beti" barb targeting him.

RJD vice president Raghubansh Prasad Singh and MLA Bhai Birendra never missed an opportunity to make statements against Kumar and the JD(U) whenever some issue cropped up within the Grand Alliance, but the matter took a serious turn this time after the assertions of deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav on the social media, which were seen as an oblique dig at Kumar.

Tejaswi's "blatant opportunism and egocentric behaviour of some people" statement in his 'Dil ki Baat' programme on Sunday was read as a veiled attack on Kumar, who had on Friday attacked the opposition over "drawing a strategy for a sure loss for the Bihar ki beti", a reference to its candidate in the upcoming presidential poll, Meira Kumar.

'Dil ki Baat' is a counter by Lalu's younger son to prime minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann ki Baat' radio programme.

The JD(U) reacted sharply to the "loose utterances" by the RJD leaders against Kumar, with its secretary general KC Tyagi asking the RJD leadership to rein them in.

State JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar claimed that they had provided a "political sanjivani" (a life-saving herb) to the RJD.

"It would be better if the RJD realised this, otherwise it would be suicidal for them," the MLC said.

With the sharp exchange of words between the two constituents of the Grand Alliance, which also comprises the Congress, posing an ominous sign to the future of the coalition, the RJD on Monday initiated action against some of its leaders.

Bhai Birendra, emerging from Rabri Devi's residence, told reporters that there was nothing like he was issued a summons by the party leadership.

"I had come to extend Eid greetings to Laluji and discuss the party's August 27 rally," he said and added that Kumar was the chief minister of the Grand Alliance.

The MLA, however, said that the "RJD is in the role of a big brother" in the Grand Alliance.

With 80 MLAs, the RJD is the biggest constituent of the Grand Alliance with 71 of the JD(U) and 27 of the Congress.

Tejaswi also issued a statement to assert that the unity was "intact" in the ruling coalition.

He blamed the BJP and a section of the media for "stoking a controversy" within the Grand Alliance.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi issued a statement and asked the JD(U) to "fix some deadline...Lalu Prasad is not going to initiate any action on his loose canon leaders making statements against the chief minister very often".
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday expressed concern over the "alarming increase" in number of "attacks" on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and sought the Centre's intervention for release of 42 of them.

Referring to a spate of "distressing" arrests of Indian fishermen from his state in the last few days, Chief Minister K Palaniswamy said such apprehensions have a "demoralising impact" on fishermen as well as the people of the state.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he raised the issue of arrest of 14 fishermen in two separate instances by the Lankan navy on Saturday.

"In spite of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) between India and Sri Lanka being sub-judice due to the ceding of Katchatheevu islet, the Sri Lankan Navy is continuing its marauding attacks on and abductions of our fishermen," he said.

He recalled the state urging the Centre to use diplomatic measures to "prevail" upon Colombo "and reverse this trend".

"These instances, occurring on an everyday basis, in which our boats with innocent fishermen are being apprehended with impunity by the Sri Lankan Navy has a demoralising impact not just on the fishermen, but also on people of Tamil Nadu," he said in the letter.

The people of the state "strongly believe" that the fishermen have a genuine claim to the Palk Bay fishing grounds from where they "are being apprehended," he added.

The chief minister also pointed out that Sri Lanka has not released any of the fishing boats apprehended since January 2015, adding, that this "inhumane strategy" was causing great loss of livelihood to the fishermen.

"There was wide expectation among the people of Tamil Nadu that the boats apprehended since 2015 would be released as an outcome of your meeting with the Sri Lankan prime minister in April," Palaniswamy said, referring to Modi's meeting with Ranil Wickremesinghe in Delhi.

"The alarming increase in the frequency of abductions by the Sri Lankan Navy is a matter of utmost concern for the (state) government and the people of Tamil Nadu. An immediate intervention at the highest level is sought to resolve this long standing livelihood issue of our fishermen," he said.

The Tamil Nadu government was taking "multifarious" steps to convert trawling boats to long liners and gill netters in the shortest possible period, Palaniswamy said, adding all transitions take time.

"The Sri Lankan policy of abduction of boats in this transition period without respite only indicates its increasing intolerant attitude and the scant respect for the Indian diplomatic efforts," he said.

The chief minister urged Modi to take the matter up with the highest authorities in the Sri Lankan government and

ensure the immediate release of a total of 42 fishermen and 141 boats.
Coimbatore: The Tamil Nadu government will continue to exert pressure on the Centre to exempt the state from NEET, education minister KA Sengottaiayan said on Monday.

The government's stand in this regard was clear and it would continue to fight for exemption from NEET for the benefit of the students, he told reporters.

Besides, there were plans to release a book containing 54,000 questions being asked at the national-level examinations conducted by the Centre, he said.

Stating that new announcements for the benefit of students from economically-backward classes would be made before the end of the current Assembly session, Sengottaiayan said that 3,000 smart schools were on the anvil in the State.

To a question with regard to fees structure in place in private schools, he said that it was being looked into.

Similarly, a committee would look into the issues concerning part-time teachers, he said.
Ghaziabad: A team of health department from Sonipat, Haryana, along with police and other officials raided a diagnostic centre in Loni town and nabbed an "unqualified" person who was allegedly conducting sex determination tests, a senior official said.

According to Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Atul Kumar, two doctors - Dr Adarsh (nodal officer of health department, Sonipat) and Dr Avantika - reached upon information that a diagnostic center in Loni was determining the gender of fetuses.

The Haryana officials had information that several women from their state were being referred to the diagnostic center in Loni (which falls in Uttar Pradesh), by touts, the official said.

To check the veracity of the information, the team arrived here and with due permission of Ghaziabad district authorities following which a raid was conducted this morning, Kumar said.

A pregnant woman was sent as a decoy customer to the ultra sound centre for sex determination, the official said.

According to the SDM, a quack asked Rs fifteen thousand from the woman for finding the sex of the foetus.

"As and when the lady deposited the money, the team caught him red-handed, as the numbers of currency notes were already noted by the officials," SDM Kumar said.

A case has been lodged at the Loni police station against the person and also the doctor, who is the registered owner of diagnostic centre in the records of health department.

Community health centre incharge of Loni Dr GP Maturia has confirmed the incident.

The diagnostic centre has been sealed, officials said.
Dehradun: A debt-ridden farmer on Sunday allegedly committed suicide by hanging at Haldi Pachpera village of Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district.

Congress alleged that the farmer, Ram Awtar, committed suicide as banks were pressuring him to repay a loan and said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state has no sensitivity.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat condoled the farmer's death and ordered the district administration to conduct a magisterial inquiry into the matter.

State government spokesperson and minister Madan Kaushik said the chief minister prayed for the departed soul.

Udham Singh Nagar district collector said the farmer had taken loan through Kisan credit card.

However, he said, the reason behind the farmer's step would be known after the Khatima SDM submits his inquiry report.

According to the farmer's family member, Awtar had taken a loan of Rs 1.8 lakh from State Bank of India's Khatima branch and a farmers' loan of Rs 1.23 lakh from the Nanakmatta branch of Bank of Baroda, but as his financial condition deteriorated, he failed to repay the loans.

On 6 June, the SBI sent him a notice to repay the loan and its interest following which he was in a state of shock, his family members said.

They claimed that the farmer, father of six girls and a boy, committed suicide due to mental stress.

Uttarakhand Congress chief Pritam Singh alleged that farmers in the state are committing suicide as banks are pressuring them to repay loans.

He claimed that besides Ram Awtar, a farmer from Tehri Garhwal district, Dinesh Prasad Semwal, also committed suicide due to pressure from banks to repay loan.

Expressing sorrow over the deaths, Singh said he has sent teams of party leaders to the spot to investigate the death.

He said the state government should take stern action about the matter.

"While the farmers are committing suicide in the state, the BJP government is busy in celebrating its 100 days in office," Singh said.

He demanded that the state government give compensation to the kin of the deceased farmers and prevent banks from pressuring farmers to repay loans.
Ahmedabad: Attacking the National Commission for Minorities' (NCM's) move to start a helpline for Muslims, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday demanded that the commission, as well as the Ministry of Minority Affairs, should be scrapped.

NCM chairman Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi had recently said that Muslims could give a call on the helpline number in case any atrocity is committed against them. VHP leader Surendra Jain on Monday alleged this move of the NCM would eventually strengthen feelings of separatism among "Muslim and Christian extremists" in the country.

He said a resolution supporting the demand for dissolution of the commission and the ministry was passed at the VHP's central governing council meet, held at Vadtal in Kheda district on 24 and 25 June.

"This announcement of starting a helpline would give a message that atrocities against minorities  Muslims and Christians  have reached such proportion that the extreme step of launching a helpline had to be taken," the VHP international joint general secretary told at a press conference.

Stating that Muslims and Christians are not victims, the VHP leader said the commission should keep in mind that the "Jihadists and Christian missionaries are involved in attacking other minorities, such as Buddhists and Sikhs".

"The decision to open the helpline would eventually strengthen the feeling of separatism among Muslim and Christian extremists.

"The very genesis of the minority commission is an encouragement to separatism. We feel that the human rights commission is competent enough to safeguard the rights of citizens. Thus, VHP demands that both the NCM as well as the ministry should be scrapped," he said.

When asked about the violence allegedly committed by gau rakshaks in name of protecting cows, Jain said they are "respectable citizens" of this country.

"Nowadays, gau rakshaks are being portrayed in poor light and even humiliated for saving cows. They are not goons. They are the protectors of law. They deserve respect for what they do. We want the Centre to bring a law to ban cow slaughter across the country," said Jain.
This is the matter of our existence. We dont know how long we will have to suffer if we dont resist now, says S Sivarajan, the local leader for the Dalits in Ambedkar colony.

The border village of Govindapuram, in the Palakkad district of Kerala, has been in the news for the past month, following reports of discrimination by caste Hindus  both upper and backward castes. The trouble began on 27 May, when a Chakliar (Dalit) girl married an Ezhava (backward caste) boy. Their wedding was solemnized in the presence of police officials, but the husband and wife were reportedly ordered to live separately without any communication for six months.

Since the wedding, the village is tense fearing a caste clash. The fray, which followed the inter-caste marriage, has united the caste Hindus against the Chaklia community.

The Chakliars have been bullied and threatened into living in groups day and night. The men sleep in the temple in the night, and the women in the houses nearby. They all camp near the temple during the day, prepare food in the open and eat together.

This discrimination has not surfaced suddenly. Dalit women, in particular, counted different forms of caste discriminations they face daily. There are two taps attached to the water tank. One is for the caste Hindus. The Gounders (caste Hindus) keep the tap open and go to their homes. If we close the tap because their buckets are filled, they shout at us, drain out the water and fill again. They also serve us tea in separate glasses in the hotel of the Chettiyar caste, said Shanthi.

However the upper castes denied the accusations of caste discrimination. They say that there are two taps on the tank for managing the crowd. The hotel owner, Thankamma, said that the she serves tea in the same glass to everyone except for kids, who may break glass.

The Dalits say they are denied entry into the local temple as well. In response, they have constructed a temple for themselves, which is not dedicated to any god, but to a historic warrior who is believed to have fought for the Dalits.

The panchayat vice-president, Radhakrishnan M, is accused of being the main perpetrator of discrimination in the village. He has managed to keep many Dalits in his political arena. So whenever a politician or an official visits the colony, he keeps them in front and say there is no caste discrimination, accused Sivarajan.

Panchayat president Baby Sudha, said that they are not responsible for the poor living conditions of the Dalits, since they came in power only last year and, United Democratic Front was ruling the panchayat till then.

Kerala state SC/ST commission chairman P N Vijayakumar visited the village on Friday. The commission will submit a special report on 30 June to A K Balan, the Minister for Welfare of SC/ST.

According to Nithya Kalyani, a researcher working in the area, members of the Chaklia community were attacked by Communist Party of India (Marxist) followers on Saturday night, leaving three men, including Sivarajan, injured.
During my childhood, Eid was more than that extra holiday you got from school. Before the monsoons unleashed their full fury, there was this festive surprise called Eid-ul-Fitr. My father was a central government employee and we travelled a lot; as a consequence, the upbringing we had was fairly cosmopolitan. What this meant was, we observed even those festivals that didn't fall under the umbrella of our religion.

Moving from place to place, the neighbourhood becomes the extended family. So for my family, Holi, Eid, Christmas, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Diwali, were celebrated with equal gusto. Of course, being Bengali, a special fervour was reserved for Durga Puja  a time for indulging in the most delectable of non-vegetarian food. It was quite a contrast to other festivals where one saw people abstaining from meat, or even fasting.

Eid was the only other festival where you also saw a celebration of food, and not of the vegetarian sort. From kebabs, to biriyanis and desserts like sheer khurma (sevai) and phirni  I would be invited to partake in all of these at the homes of my Muslim friends during Eid. I'd wait for the sun to set, then set off for Khan uncle's (a family friend) house to sample the lip-smacking food.

This post is a shout-out to all those foodies who're looking to sample a little slice of heaven during Eid-ul-Fitr. While few restaurants/eateries can match up to the wholesome goodness of the fare I'd taste at the homes of friends, here are some places you can visit to try the best kebabs, biriyanis and sheer khurmas. Oh, and before you dive in  Eid Mubarak!

Karim's, Old Delhi

If you wear a foodie badge with pride, then not going to Karim's would probably count as a sin. The place is legendary anyway  people from different parts of the country and even the world, flock here to enjoy the kebabs here. This iconic place serves a range of barbecued meat  smoky-dry and crisp mutton burrah kebabs, mutton seekh to chicken tikkas, tandoori fish and a lot more. Visit this place to experience the succulent flavours yourself.

Tunday Kababi, Lucknow

If one is in Lucknow and doesn't go to Tunday Kababi at Aminabad, near Akhbari Gate, then it's a huge miss. Lucknowi kitchens symbolise the amalgamation of cuisines  authentic Awadhi and Mughlai. Tunday Kababi is primarily known for its mutton kebab and their flagship dish  galauti kebab with ulte tawe ka parantha. Bliss!

Hotel Shadab, Hyderabad

Many food lovers would be surprised to see this mentioned over the famous Paradise biryani in Hyderabad. But trust me, Hotel Shadab is way better than any other biryani joints in the city of the Charminar. The restaurant is incidentally (maybe strategically) located near the monument. Going by locals' recommendations, it is one of the oldest places where one can taste the authentic Hyderabadi biryani. High-brow foodies may find the ambience a bit disappointing but the moment the first morsel enters your mouth, it'll compensate any lack you feel otherwise. Other signature dishes include the famous Hyderabadi haleem, paya, bheja fry and kheema.

Arsalan, Kolkata

For ages now, Arsalan has been catering to the gastronomic demands of the citizens of the City of Joy. It started with the branch at Park Circus and now it has many branches spread across Kolkata. It is and has been always known for the authentic Kolkata biriyani (yes, with that huge potato in the dish which absorbs all the flavours and at times takes over all the other items). The Kolkata biriyani (mutton, not chicken  as any Bengali worth his/her salt will tell you) has a dash of the Awadhi style and a pinch of Mughlai aromas and some colonial influences, just like the city of Kolkata. An absolute-must-visit for all biriyani fans.

Mohammed Ali Road, Mumbai

No list on Eid food could possibly be complete without mentioning this iconic place in Mumbai. Mohammed Ali Road has been the to-go place for every one who visits Mumbai during Eid. The entire alley around Minara Masjid is adorned with colourfully lit canopies under which hordes of people come to enjoy the best of Eid foods  be it kebabs, rolls, shawarmas, biriyani  everything. But the sweet treats are the real draw. From egg malpuas (fried pan cakes) to sheer khurma, jalebi, faludas, thandais and rasmalais, this place has it all. In fact, at no other place can one find a congregation of so many palate-tickling items under one roof (metaphorically).

So make what's left of this Eid a memorable one. Eid Mubarak!
Agartala: Citing last week's clashes with CPM workers, the BJP on Monday demanded the imposition of AFSPA in Tripura while the ruling Left accused it of unleashing hostility to discredit the government in view of 2018 assembly polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised the demand for promulgation of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) following clashes between its workers and those of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) in a few places in southern Tripura since last week.

"During the past few days, CPM activists attacked BJP workers in some places in southern Tripura, killing one and injuring 50 others. The CPM used the police against BJP workers in these incidents," BJP state vice-president Subal Bhowmik told reporters.

He said his party has demanded that the Centre promulgate the disturbed areas act in Tripura to maintain peace. "Our state president Biplab Kumar Deb went to Delhi on Sunday to apprise the Union home minister about the state's situation and to reiterate the demand for imposition of disturbed areas act," he added.

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), popularly known as "disturbed areas act" empowers the Indian Armed Forces to maintain law and order and to arrest anyone without prior notice.

The CPM has strongly criticised the BJP for raising the demand ahead of the assembly elections, due in February next year.

"The BJP workers on the pretext of a concocted issue are attacking CPM workers and damaging government property leading to deterioration of the law and order situation in some places," CPM state secretary Bijan Dhar said.

According to the Left leader, several CPM workers were injured in the BJP attack.

Dhar, also a CPM Central Committee member, said: "As the BJP thinks that they would not be able to defeat CPM in 2018's assembly elections they have started various types of conspiracies against the Left Front government."

"The people of Tripura will not allow any kind of conspiracy against the present Left Front government," the CPM leader warned.
Hundreds of Gorkha activists gathered at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday to stand in solidarity with their people in Darjeeling.

'Jai Gorkha', they chanted. 'Mamata Banerjee murdabad', others cried. All of them united in their demand for a separate Gorkhaland.

As some activists shouted 'We want Gorkhaland', others stood next to them wearing T-shirts and holding placards which read 'Justice for Gorkhas'.

However, they were quick to point out that their movement is not political but a people's movement. No political party has yet joined us, some said.

Activist Vandana Rai, who has been closely associated with the Gorkha movement in Delhi, told Firstpost that their movement is reformist in nature and once they have their own state, it will be more inclusive.

"We want the Gorkhaland for India and not just Gorkhas. The Bhutia, Marwari and Lepcha community will also benefit if we our own state. We want to be inclusive," she said.

Expressing their disappointment with the West Bengal government, activists claimed that even after 70 years of independence, the Gorkha community has not been afforded the opportunity to pull themselves out of poverty.

There are no super speciality hospitals or IITs in Darjeeling because the state government is scared, the activists claimed. They think if they give us these facilities, we will produce hundreds of doctors, IITians and also have representation in the civil services, they added.

On Friday, Rai submitted a memorandum to the National Human Rights Commission, requesting them to investigate police firing in Darjeeling. Three activists of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha died in firing and stone pelting last week.

GJM assistant secretary Binay Tamang alleged that they were gunned down by the police. Hindustan Times quoted Tamang as saying, "We want a judicial inquiry into the firing. Police did not fire rubber bullets or water cannons. They opened fire using .303 bullets."

The activists claimed no Gorkha has resorted to violence, except for defending themselves when the Mamata Banerjee government sent forces to check on the peaceful protests in Darjeeling. "We want a proper investigation into who is spreading violence," Rai said.

Even as police sources said that GJM supporters tried to break barricades and hurled bricks at police while trying to march to the venue of a Cabinet meeting convened by Banerjee in Darjeeling, Gorkha activists in Delhi insisted that the security forces used violent means to disperse the crowd. They further alleged that the police used tear gas shells on peaceful protesters.

Activists have also demanded the restoration of internet and local cable channels. "Our students are suffering. They have to give their exams," one activist, who did not wish to be named, said.

However, even if their demands are met, the activists are still uncertain about how they will realise their dream of Gorkhaland. When asked who will take charge of Gorkhaland if the movement succeeds, activist Palzor Tamang said that the people would have to take the final call.

While Banerjee had alleged terrorist links behind this movement and charged the GJM with connections to underground insurgent groups of the North East, Rai has rubbished her claims.

"We are not terrorists or separatists," Rai said. "We want our own state in accordance with the Constitution."

With Banerjee accusing the Gorkhas of fanning ethnic tensions, the chances of the government giving in to the demand for a separate Gorkhaland seem bleak.

But activists say that that the people have spoken and that their voices will only get louder. They say they will not accept any temporary solutions and have vowed to fight peacefully until their demands are met.

They also said that the demand for a separate Gorkhaland isn't a recent one and that the request for a separate administration from Bengal was first raised in 1907. But the agitation gained momentum after Banerjee tried to impose Bengali language in their schools in the hills, they said.
Kolkata: Amid the ongoing agitation for the separate state of Gorkhaland in West Bengal's hills, the BJP on Sunday alleged that the Mamata Banerjee-led government has not fulfilled the conditions of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)

"We are not supporters of Gorkhaland but culture and customs of Gorkhas should be protected. The GTA was formed with the objective to protect the culture of Gorkhas," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.

"The conditions of GTA were not fulfilled. Neither administrative nor financial right was given to them. They are angry over Mamata and that is why the agitation unfolded. Mamata should apologise to them," Vijayvargiya said.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) called for indefinite strike in the hills for their Gorkhaland demand.
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said there is an environment of intolerance in the country and urged the people to stay united.

"I know the atmosphere of intolerance has given this country a lot of pain. But we do not think that way. We are here for all. We are united," Banerjee told an Eid-ul-Fitr ceremony in the city.

Banerjee added amid cheers: "Stay together. No one will be able to do anything to you."

The Trinamool Congress chief, who returned from the Netherlands on Sunday after attending a United Nations event, said: "We are humans first. Then we are Hindus, Muslims and Christians. We all stand united. We are for all and we fight for all."
Ahmedabad: MLAs of opposition Congress party met on Monday to support the candidature of UPA presidential nominee Meira Kumar.

Kumar would file her nomination on Wednesday.

More than 35 legislators out of a total 56 Congress MLAs in the state assembly turned up for the meeting where 20 candidates were required to subscribe her nomination, state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki said.

Solanki and Shankersinh Vaghela will go to Delhi on 28 June with the letter supporting presidential candidate Meira Kumar's nomination by state party MLAs, they said.

The meeting was held at Gandhinagar circuit house with both Solanki and Leader of Opposition in State Assembly Vaghela present there.

Nomination of a candidate for election to the post of president is required to be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 as seconders.

"The Congress and allies have supported the candidature of former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, daughter of Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram.

"She is a well-qualified candidate. We needed 20 MLAs from our party to subscribe her nomination, but more than 35 MLAs turned up for the meeting," Vaghela said.

"On 28 June, Bharatsinh Solankiji, and other MLAs, if required, will go to Delhi with me and hand over the letter of support for Meira Kumar's nomination to the returning officer," he said.

"The country's president should be well qualified, intelligent, responsible, and the Congress and alliance parties have shortlisted a candidate who is well qualified, responsible, and has performed her duty as a Lok Sabha speaker in a very responsible manner," Solanki said.

"We required support of 10 candidates in each of the two nomination support forms (as proposers and seconders)," he said.

The presidential election is scheduled for 17 July and the counting of votes will take place on 20 July.

NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind had on 23 June filed his nomination in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Chandigarh: Haryana's main opposition party Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has left the decision on whom to support for the forthcoming presidential election, to party supremo and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.

INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala said though the Working committee of the party, which met here today under his chairmanship, felt NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind and opposition candidate Meira Kumar had excellent credentials, it has decided to leave the final decision to Om Prakash Chautala.

Party chief Om Prakash Chautala is currently serving a prison term in connection with a teachers' recruitment scam.

"Chautala sahib will take a final decision in this regard and we will inform you about it when it is finalised," he told reporters when asked INLD's stand on the presidential polls.

At the meeting, Abhay noted that long after former deputy prime minister late Devi Lal had expressed his desire to see a Dalit in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the two leading parties of the country were "constrained by vote bank politics to propose Dalits as their representatives".

INLD is in opposition in the BJP-ruled Haryana. Over a decade ago it was an ally of the BJP and both shared power in the state.

Kovind is scheduled to meet NDA MPs and MLAs from Haryana and Punjab in Panchkula, Haryana, on Thursday.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and BJP's general secretary Anil Jain will be among the leaders who will be with Kovind in the Haryana town.

Meanwhile, the INLD has threatened to block all types of vehicles coming from Punjab on national highway at Patiala-Ambala border, besides other points in the state on July 10 to protest against what it termed as the "failure" of the BJP governments in state and at Centre to get the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal constructed despite verdict of the Supreme Court in Haryana's favour.

At the INLD meeting, Abhay reiterated his party's demand to get Haryana's share of river waters through the SYL.

He exhorted the party workers to stop all vehicles entering Haryana from Punjab near Ambala as well as Gulha Chika (district Kaithal) and Dabwali (Sirsa) from wee hours on July 10, if the government would not take any concrete step on the issue by then.

At the meeting, the party resolved to demand waiver of farmers debt, implementation of the recommendations of the

Swaminathan Commission report and improvement in law and order in Haryana.
Dehradun: The NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind on Monday held a meeting with MPs and MLAs of the ruling BJP in Uttarakhand at Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat's official residence to canvass support for himself.

The closed-door meeting, chaired by the chief minister, lasted for two hours, official sources said.

All 57 party legislators and two out of the five party MPs from the state and one independent MLA, Pritam Singh Panwar, were present at the meeting, they said.

BJP MPs and former chief ministers Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank could not attend the meeting due to their personal engagements.

Earlier in the day, Kovind was received at the Jolly Grant airport by the chief minister who took him to his official residence. The NDA's presidential pick was gifted a shawl, an urn filled with water from the Ganga river and a book on the history of Uttarakhand.

Kovind had on Sunday embarked on a nationwide tour from his home state Uttar Pradesh to garner support of various political parties for him in the 17 July presidential election.

Sources in the BJP had said a Union minister, a senior party leader and two MPs would accompany Kovind on his nationwide tour to reach out to all the members of the electoral college.

Though he would be meeting only with the MPs and MLAs who have pledged their loyalty with him, the NDA's presidential pick would appeal to all the members of the electoral college to support his candidature, they had said.

With over 62 percent of the votes firmly behind him, Kovind's election as the next president is almost certain. Besides the BJP and its NDA allies, the TRS, YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD and the JD(U) have also announced their support to him.

The presidential election is scheduled for 17 July and the counting of votes will take place on 20 July.

Kovind filed his nomination in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 23 June, while opposition candidate Kumar is yet to file hers.

If elected, Kovind will be the second Dalit president after KR Narayanan.
Madurai: The decision to support NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind by all three factions of the AIADMK was in line with what late chief minister Jayalalithaa would have thought if she was alive, said O Panneerselvam, former chief minister and one of the leaders of a faction of the party.

"If Amma (Jayalalithaa) would have been alive, she would have supported the NDA candidate and that is what we have done (to support the NDA candidate)," he said at Usilampatti, about 50 km from Madurai.

Panneerselvam also ruled out the possibility of the AIADMK factions merging, saying the seven-member panel constituted by his faction to hold merger talks had been dissolved.

"Just because all factions of the AIADMK are supporting the NDA candidate, we cannot say we will merge," he said.

The former chief minister said they had asked the Election Commission to hold elections for the post of AIADMK general secretary.

"We will take the next step after the Election Commission decides on our request," he said.

Referring to DMK working president MK Stalin's statement that elections would soon be held in Tamil Nadu, he quipped "that is his view".

All three AIADMK factions, led by Chief Minister K Palaniswamy, O Panneerselvam and TTV Dinakaran had announced their support to the NDA presidential nominee last week.
About 10 days back, MK Stalin made a call to someone whose counsel he trusts in matters of Tamil Nadu politics, even though the person concerned is not a member of his party. The DMK working president wanted his opinion about Rajinikanth and what impact his impending political entry is likely to have. Stalin told him that his party leaders say the superstar won't be able to create much of an impact.

"You should in fact be extremely worried,'' the person told Stalin. The DMK, the Congress and a few smaller parties together polled 37 percent in the May 2016 elections. Rajinikanth alone is expected to take away a significant chunk of the 40 percent AIADMK vote and along with his fan base, BJP, Vijaykanth and perhaps even PMK, could hit 30 percent vote share at the starting point itself. How much the rest of the AIADMK vote disintegrates will determine the eventual winner, whenever elections are next held in Tamil Nadu.

Stalin has led the DMK in two elections so far  the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the Assembly election last year. He came a cropper in the former, with the DMK failing to win even a single seat. A sartorial change followed, with Stalin undergoing a makeover, trading the white veshti for trousers and displaying a swag not associated with Tamil Nadu politicians. He used social media extensively to impress the younger voters. But inability to forge alliances to avoid a split in the anti-AIADMK vote, meant he could not prevent Jayalalithaa from returning to power in 2016.

The next election then looks set to be fought between Stalin and Rajinikanth as the two chief ministerial aspirants. Stalin has been hardselling the image of an administrator-politician, someone who knows his job and has the experience. He has been focusing on the people connect, trying to reach out. Over the last month, he has asked his party cadre to engage in desilting works of tanks and ponds, to drive home the point that the Opposition is taking up public works as the government has abdicated its role.

Stalin is doing this to emphasise that since September, when Jayalalithaa was hospitalised, the AIADMK government has been operating on auto pilot. The split in the party and the political upheaval that followed has impacted administration. Industrial investment has been hit and the state is experiencing its worst drought in 140 years, with a repeat of the dispute with Karnataka over release of Cauvery waters likely this year. Stalin is thereby positioning himself as the leader who can take Tamil Nadu out of this mess.

The DMK also believes that the state has trusted itself with one of the two Dravidian parties for five decades and a 'north Indian' party like the BJP would not find traction in Tamil Nadu, even if it rides on Rajini's star power.

But given Tamil Nadu's fascination with politicians imported from Kollywood, Stalin's best laid out plans could come unstuck. Rajinikanth's arithmetic looks like falling into place and if he gets his chemistry right as well, the rising sun may be eclipsed.

With the verdict in the 2G case is expected soon, an adverse judgement against A Raja and Kanimozhi can once again label the DMK as a corrupt party. The younger generation does not relate to the DMK of old but knows it more as a party that had something to do with the 2G scam. Stalin will need to neutralise that impression and establish that the DMK is now his party.

The DMK at the moment, seems to be underestimating the potential of the Rajinikanth-Narendra Modi combo. Though Stalin has been critical of the BJP for the manner in which he alleges it is controlling the AIADMK, he will find it difficult to attack the actor directly. That is because Rajinikanth has been close to Karunanidhi and it was his comment that "Even God cannot save Tamil Nadu if Jayalalithaa comes back to power'' that helped the DMK come to power in 1996.

Stalin is not the only person who needs to be worried. O Panneerselvam's hopes of returning to Fort St George as chief minister will be dashed forever if Rajini is projected as the chief ministerial candidate of the BJP + Rajinikanth party + OPS AIADMK alliance. Which perhaps explains his terse "I don't think there is any attempt by BJP to bring Rajinikanth into politics'' comment last week. Panneerselvam would be only too aware that Rajini's entry will finish off the OPS story.

While the Edappadi Palaniswamy faction had no option but to fall in line and agree to vote for the NDA candidate in the presidential election, an interesting twist in the tale has been how TTV Dinakaran has reached out to the BJP leadership. Sources in Delhi say Sasikala's nephew has made overtures to the BJP, keeping the anger over his arrest in the bribery case aside, but has not been entertained so far. The three factions of the AIADMK know all efforts are being made to reduce the party to a has-been in Tamil Nadu and they have no one to blame but themselves for this state.
On Sunday, when Sushma Swaraj tweeted, "This is how (the then) Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar treated the Leader of Opposition" and posted a 6.23 minute video of the Budget Session of 2013 along with the link of a newspaper report headlined 'Speaker interrupted Sushma 60 times in 6-min speech', she let go of her self-imposed restriction that as the Minister of External Affairs she should not air her views on domestic political issues.

This is how Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar treated the Leader of Opposition - https://t.co/hxHWHaJ4D9  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 25, 2017

She may argue that elections of any kind bring an entirely different scenario into play where political executives, irrespective of their official position in the government, assume the role of a party campaigner and the presidential election is no exception. Journalists who covered Parliament have been witness to frequent rows between Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in 15th Lok Sabha, and Kumar, Speaker of Lok Sabha, during the same period. They never had a good working relationship. Swaraj is a powerful orator and a feisty parliamentarian, however, the nation has not heard much of her assertive trademark speeches ever since she became the external affairs minister in May 2014. Though she has proved to be an efficient foreign minister, she has consciously kept a low profile in public space. Except for a few occasions in Parliament on subjects related to her ministry where she gave her detailed responses, she has chosen to be economical with words  tweet more, speak less. Her Sunday's tweet was a reminder of her forgotten oratory skills and how aggressively she used to take on the UPA as the Leader of Opposition. With the tweet highlighting Kumar's partisan attitude, while she held the post of a Speaker, Swaraj has done her bit as a BJP leader by taking on the joint Opposition's presidential candidate. The Pioneer piece substantiated her point.

Speaker interrupted Sushma 60 times in 6-min speech https://t.co/am8tiCJ4Iu via @TheDailyPioneer  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 25, 2017

Incidentally, it came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his interactions with Indians in the US, profusely praised Swaraj's abilities as a minister and as someone who has made the best use of social media  Twitter in particular  to help distressed Indians abroad. She has responded to tweets at 2 am and ensured help reached the people concerned within 20 hours  a manifestation of good governance. Modi also said that the Ministry of External Affairs used to be for people in suits, but under the current government, it has connected with the poor Indians on foreign soil. It should be recalled that Modi and Swaraj in May 2014 had began with a perceived trust deficit.

Our foreign ministry and in particular our foreign minister, @SushmaSwaraj has shown the way in helping people: PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/NtJ7ShaJDB  PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 25, 2017

Swaraj's name was taken in some quarters as a possible presidential candidate of the BJP. However, the honour was given to Dalit leader and former Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind. She may not regret missing out the opportunity of occupying the highest constitutional post in the country where she is one of the senior most ministers.

Before the presidential candidate was decided by the BJP, the names of Swaraj and some of the other senior party colleagues were being considered for the post of president and vice-president. After the new president takes over on 25 July, the question of vice-presidential nominee would open. Swaraj again would be one of the contenders for the post. The vice-president is also the Rajya Sabha chairman. She had been in the Rajya Sabha and has good working relationships with the Opposition leaders and all NDA allies.

BJP sources suggest that while deciding on the name of the vice-presidential nominee, the key criteria before Modi and Amit Shah would be to pick a person who would ensure smooth functioning of the Upper House. The Modi government has only two years to go and it is important that the Upper House functions rather smoothly and pass key laws without much of a hassle.

The question then arises what does Modi's praise for Swaraj mean. It is open to interpretations  first, she is very useful as a foreign minister and should not be spared for other assignment; second, she is a smart leader who can adapt to new challenges.
Patna: Amid war of words between ruling Grand Alliance partners JD(U) and RJD over their choice of different presidential poll candidates, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday cautioned coalition leaders to maintain 'restraint' while issuing statements.

"Leaders and workers of Grand Alliance should maintain restraint while making any statement," Tejashwi said. Tejaswhi, the younger son of RJD president Prasad, also asserted that "the Grand Alliance is rock solid like the Himalaya."

"So far, no offensive statement has been made by JD(U) against RJD national president Lalu Prasad," he said. Tejashwi's statement comes in the backdrop of statements and counter statements being made by RJD and JD(U) leaders in the wake of the two parties deciding to back different candidates in the presidential poll.

JD(U) has expressed its support for NDA presidential nominee Ramnath Kovind, former Bihar governor, while RJD and Congress are backing opposition candidate Meira Kumar, former Lok Sabha speaker.

RJD sources said that Prasad has also asked his party spokesmen to dispel 'confusion' being run in media about the two coalition partners taking different paths on this issue.

Senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that Nitish Kumar's decision to support Kovind has come as a setback to the efforts to put up a nationwide 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) as an alternative to BJP.

"We are tolerating them (JDU) and we will continue to tolerate them just to contain BJP," Singh said. JD(U)'s state unit president Bashishtha Narayan Singh expressed displeasure over such a statement terming it as a clear violation of alliance's dignity.

"I will request Lalu Prasad ji to control such leaders," state JD(U) chief spokesman Sanjay Singh said.

The war of words started on 22 June after Prasad stated that he would appeal to Nitish Kumar not to commit "a historical blunder" by supporting Kovind. Prasad had made the comment after attending the opposition's meeting that picked Meira Kumar as its candidate for President's poll.
The month of peace and introspection among the believers, Ramadan, ironically witnessed one of the deadliest times in recent history this year with more than 230 Afghans losing their lives in different parts of the war-torn country, reported TOLO News, the Afghani 24x7 news channel.

Apart from the dead, around 800 people were also reportedly injured in terrorist attacks spread over the country in Kabul, Paktia, Herat and Helmand provinces.

Citing official figures, AFP reported that this was the deadliest Ramadan Afghanistan has seen since the US-led invasion in 2001.

At the beginning of Ramadan on 27 May, a Taliban car bomber targeting a CIA-funded Afghan militia group left 13 people dead and injured six in eastern Khost province.

A sewage tanker filled with explosives detonated just days later in the city's fortified diplomatic quarter, killing more than 150 and wounding hundreds  marking the deadliest attack in Kabul in recent years.

The carnage left the Afghan capital shaken and hundreds of protesters took to the streets following the bombing, calling for officials to resign.

Clashes between protesters and authorities left at least six people dead while at least seven more were killed when suicide bombers tore through a row of mourners at a funeral for one of the protesters.

On 22 June as Ramadan was drawing to a close, a Taliban car bomb struck a bank in Lashkar Gah, capital of the volatile Helmand province. Around 34 people queuing to withdraw their salaries died.

The conflicting scenario of a marked increase in militant attacks during Ramadan was somewhat explained by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in his tweet, Our fight is Jihad & obligatory worship, reward for every obligatory act of worship is multiplied x70 in #Ramadan, he wrote on 27 May.

Calls for stopping Jihad in this holy month is ignorance of religion. Hurting civilians during #Ramadan & otherwise is a crime, he added.

The group has been launching attacks on Afghan security outposts, military bases, government buildings, and civilians who back the government.

While Taliban claims that their targets are the government officials and its forces, a considerable number among the affected however happen to be ordinary Afghans.

Apart from Taliban, Islamic State (IS) has also made a significance inroads into Afghanistan in the last year or two, and has been vying with Taliban to become the pre-eminent militant group in the South Asian country.

Taliban has denied responsibility of the Kabul bombing, making IS a possible suspect behind the attack, reported CNN.

Considered to be even deadlier and more savage in their approach than Taliban, leaders of IS, have twisted the meaning of Ramadan to encourage their followers to kill civilians.

According to the terror group, the killing of so-called infidels any time is a spiritual opportunity, however, doing it during Ramadan offers even greater rewards, wrote postguam.com.

Meanwhile, peace seems to be a distant dream in Afghanistan, as Washington is soon expected to announce an increase in the US military deployment to bolster Afghan forces, and Taliban, Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, all are planning to make 2017 the deadliest year as a warning for the US, General Abdul Wahid Taqat told AFP.

US troops in Afghanistan now number about 8,400, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago. They mainly serve as trainers and advisors.

With inputs from AFP
Hong Kong: Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters draped a black flag over a statue symbolising the city's return to China by Britain on Sunday, days before a visit by President Xi Jinping to mark 20 years since the handover.

High-profile student campaigner Joshua Wong and a dozen demonstrators attached the black cloth to the giant golden bauhinia flower on Hong Kong's harbour front in an early morning protest as security tried to stop them climbing on the famous tourist attraction.

The sculpture of the bauhinia, which became the emblem of Hong Kong after the handover, was a present to the city from China in 1997 and stands outside the convention centre where Xi will attend anniversary events during a three-day visit starting on Thursday.

Police were called to take the flag down while the protesters chanted "democratic self-determination for Hong Kong's future" and "one country, two systems has been a lie for 20 years", referring to Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status.

A guard shouted at them, "You are insulting our country! You are Chinese!"

The "one country, two systems" deal made when Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 allows the city rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech.

But there are increasing concerns Beijing is trampling the agreement by interfering in a range of areas, from politics to education and media.

Campaigners like Wong are calling for democratic reforms, promised in the handover deal, to change a system where the city leader is still chosen by a pro-China committee and the legislature is weighted towards Beijing.

Wong led mass Umbrella Movement rallies calling for fully free leadership elections in 2014, but they failed to win concessions.

Since then calls for self-determination or even full independence from China have emerged for the first time.

Wong's party Demosisto wants a public referendum on Hong Kong's future in 2047, the year the handover agreement guaranteeing the city's way of life and liberties expires.

"The protest action aims to express our anger and disappointment against the administration for the major political blunders since 1997," Demosisto said in a statement.

It accused China of failing to honour promises made in the handover agreement, "depriving Hong Kong people of civil and political rights to free elections and democracy".

Xi's visit will be his first since becoming president in 2013 and will culminate with the inauguration of Hong Kong's new leader, Carrie Lam, on Saturday.

Protesters say they are preparing to gather during the handover celebrations and Xi's visit will be shrouded in a huge security operation.
Stockholm: A Swede held hostage by Al-Qaeda in Mali since 2011 has been freed to head home, and is doing well although he is "overwhelmed" by his release, Sweden's foreign ministry said Monday.

"It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Johan Gustafsson has been released and can return to Sweden," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement, giving no details about how his release was secured.

Gustafsson, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 together with South African national Stephen McGowan and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke.

Rijke was freed in April 2015 by French special forces. The Swedish foreign ministry provided no details about McGowan's fate.

"I've already spoken with Johan and he is doing well and is overwhelmed by everything going on," Wallstrom told Swedish Radio.

Swedish daily Expressen reported meanwhile that Gustafsson was already on a plane bound for Sweden.

The trio were kidnapped by a group of armed men on the terrace of their hotel along with several other Westerners, including Rijke's wife who managed to escape. A German who tried to resist the abduction was killed.

AQIM claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. It was among several jihadist groups that took control of Mali's north in 2012 before being ousted by a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.
Dhaka: Bangladesh on Monday celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr with religious fervour amid tight security, marking the end of Ramadan.

Dressed in traditional attire, people offered prayers in Eid congregations across the country, reports Xinhua news agency.

President Abdul Hamid with ministers and lawmakers offered prayers in the capital city.

The country's largest congregation was held at Sholakia in Kishoreganj district which came under a terror attack last year that killed two people.

Bangladeshi Police chief Shahidul Hoque said the entire country has been brought under stringent security measures, with the deployment of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police force for peaceful and smooth Eid celebrations.

The government has declared a nine-day holiday for the festival.

Special foods were offered in hospitals, government-owned welfare centres and shelter homes for children, socially-handicapped people and the destitute.

President Hamid hosted an Eid reception in honour of foreign diplomats and top government officials at his residence.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has also exchanged Eid greetings with foreign diplomats, politicians, professionals and other officials.
A Canadian nurse who used insulin to kill eight elderly patients in long-term care facilities has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, the provincial justice department said on Monday.Elizabeth Wettlaufer pleaded guilty this month to killing five women and three men in the Ontario towns of Woodstock and London between 2007 and 2014. The victims ranged in age from 75 to 96.

Wettlaufer, who was 49 when she was charged last year, admitted in court this month in Woodstock, about 140 km (87 miles) west of Toronto, that she fatally injected the victims with insulin for no medical reasons.A spokeswoman for Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General said in an email Wettlaufer had been handed eight life sentences along with two assault and four attempted murder sentences of seven and 10 years each, respectively.

All sentences are to be served concurrently, according to the spokeswoman

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported that Wettlaufer had apologised in court to the victims' families on Monday, although her motive remains unclear. Homicide cases with multiple victims are uncommon in Canada. The Wettlaufer case is the largest in Ontario province since 2006, when five men were charged with murdering eight members of a biker gang. They were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. (Reporting by Ethan Lou in Calgary, Alberta; Editing by Tom Brown and Sandra Maler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: President Donald Trump Sunday stepped up his criticism of Barack Obama's response to concerns Russia was trying to disrupt the 2016 election, and some Democratic lawmakers agreed, with one calling the former leader's handling of the threat a "serious mistake."

In a flurry of weekend tweets and a prerecorded television appearance, Trump said his predecessor failed to act after the CIA informed him in August that Russian president Vladimir Putin had personally ordered an operation to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the November election.

"Since the Obama administration was told way before the 2016 election that the Russians were meddling, why no action?" he asked in one tweet:

Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2017

In another, alluding to a Washington Post article that laid out the Russia timeline, he tweeted: "Obama Administration official said they 'choked' when it came to acting on Russian meddling of election. They didn't want to hurt Hillary?":

Obama Administration official said they "choked" when it came to acting on Russian meddling of election. They didn't want to hurt Hillary?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2017

A top Trump aide, Kellyanne Conway, was more blunt still. "It's the Obama administration responsible for doing absolutely nothing from August to January with the knowledge that Russia was hacking into our election. They did nothing. They're responsible," she said Sunday on ABC.

Some Democrats saw abundant irony in Trump blaming Obama for indecisiveness against a Russian operation that Trump himself has long seemed to play down  including when he fired FBI chief James Comey for pursuing his investigation of "this Russia thing."

But one influential Democratic lawmaker joined in the criticism of the previous president. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN that he understood that the Obama administration was worried about being seen as "trying to tip the scales for Hillary Clinton." But he went on: "The American people needed to know. I didn't think it was enough to tell them after the election... I think the administration needed to call out Russia earlier, needed to act to deter and punish Russia earlier and that was a very serious mistake."

Another Democrat, Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the intelligence committee, expressed similar disappointment. "I am troubled learning this new information that the Obama administration didn't do more," he told CNN on Friday.

Such matters should transcend politics, he added. The Washington Post, in a behind-the-scenes account of the Obama response to reports of Russian meddling, said that amid confidence that Clinton would win and for fear of Obama being seen as interfering, the administration warned Moscow but left countermeasures for later.

The Washington Post said Obama issued four warnings to the Russians  including one he delivered directly to Putin  causing Moscow to pull back on possible plans to sabotage US voting operations.

But after Trump's shock victory in November, some Obama administration officials expressed regret at the lack of tougher action. "Wow, did we mishandle this," a former administration official told the newspaper.

In an interview with Sunday's "Fox and Friends" program, Trump groused about Obama's response, saying: "If he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? He should have done something about it. But you don't read that. It's quite sad."

Following Trump's election win, Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats and added new sanctions.

While Schiff criticised Obama, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer pushed back hard.

The New York lawmaker helped steer a bill through the Senate this month to toughen sanctions against Russia and bar Trump from weakening them on his own.

The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, but Trump administration officials have been working to weaken the House version.

"If Donald Trump wants to do something about Russia and Russia meddling, instead of saying Obama didn't do enough, support our sanctions bill," Schumer said on ABC.

Criticism of Trump's failure to sharply condemn Russian interference has continued to vex his administration.

As recently as Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer could not give a clear answer when asked repeatedly whether Trump believes the Russians interfered in the 2016 elections. "I have not sat down and talked to him about that specific thing," Spicer said. "Obviously we've been dealing with a lot of other issues."
Belfast: Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, which struck a deal with the Conservatives on Monday aimed at keeping British Prime Minister Theresa May in power, has caused alarm in some circles over its incendiary views and virulent past.

The self-styled "Christian fundamentalist" party has softened its fiery anti-Catholicism and other harsh stances over the years  it no longer calls for padlocking children's playgrounds and closing cafes and bars on Sundays.

But the party that in 1977 launched the "Save Ulster (Northern Ireland) from Sodomy" campaign still holds tight to what critics call its puritanical views, particularly on social issues such as abortion and sexual equality.

And its negotiations with May's government had prompted warnings in the Republic of Ireland of a disrupted balance of power in Belfast that could in turn upset a delicate peace struck after decades of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.

In mainland Britain, protests have erupted over the DUPs opposition to gay marriage and abortion, as well as many senior members' support for teaching creationism, and a history of links to paramilitaries who fought Catholic nationalists during the Troubles.

The DUP has blocked same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland's assembly five times in recent years, with senior members threatening to leave the party if it ever votes in favour.

"Peter will not marry Paul in Northern Ireland," senior party member Jim Wells said earlier this year.

'Anti-Irish bigotry'

Some senior DUP members  many of whom belong to the right-wing, avowedly anti-Catholic Orange Order  even advocate the literal biblical teaching of creationism in every school at the expense of evolution.

Jon Tonge, a professor of history at Liverpool University who has written extensively about the DUP, has said that while the party has become less dogmatic, it certainly cannot be described as pluralist.

In his 2014 book "The DUP: From Protest To Power", Tonge found that 54 percent of party supporters "would mind a lot" if someone from their family married a person of another religion and 58.4 percent would not want their child to go to a non-Protestant school.

So it was a surprise to many political commentators in 2005 when the party agreed to enter a power-sharing arrangement with its bitter enemy Sinn Fein, once the political mouthpiece of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which fought an armed campaign for Irish unity over three decades.

Although the Belfast assembly appeared to operate with reasonable cordiality for much of a decade, it collapsed spectacularly in January over DUP leader Arlene Foster's involvement in a botched renewable heating scheme.

The clash led Sinn Fein to warn of a breakdown in trust, charging the DUP with "arrogance and a lack of respect" for minorities, particularly Irish nationalists.

"It is disappointing that the deep and overlapping anti-Irish and anti-Catholic bigotry of so many DUP-supporting unionists appears to still play a significant role in Northern life and politics," Andy Pollak, former director of the Centre for Cross-Border Studies, said at the time.

Foster has condemned political violence, but her party has long been criticised for sharing platforms with paramilitaries and for an apparent willingness to endorse armed resistance against perceived attempts to "sell out Ulster".

While the DUP promised to vote in favour of legislation linked to Brexit, it could prove a difficult partner during the negotiations.

The party campaigned for Brexit in last year's referendum but is faced with growing concern in Northern Ireland about the prospect of checks being reimposed the border with the Irish Republic  a reminder of the bad old days of the Troubles.

In pro-EU circles, that has led some to hope that Foster could moderate May's stance on Brexit.

"The Democratic Unionists have chosen to prop up a government that remains intent on a hard and destructive Brexit," James McGrory, head of the Open Britain campaign, said on Monday.

"It is crucial that they do not betray the voters by going back on their manifesto promises and caving in to ministers' obsession with an extreme and chaotic exit from the EU.
BRUSSELS The European Union's top Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier responded coolly on Monday to London's offer on EU citizen rights in Britain after it leaves the EU, saying Brussels wanted to get the same level of rights as under EU law."EU goal on citizens rights: same level of protection as in EU law. More ambition, clarity and guarantees needed than in today's UK position," Barnier said in a tweet.Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled details of her plan to protect the rights of EU citizens living in Britain, saying the government would work to offer them the same health, medical and educational benefits as British citizens.

An agreement on the post-Brexit rights of EU nationals is one of the easier issues for the two sides to agree on, with both Britain and the rest of the bloc wanting to provide assurances to millions of their citizens living abroad.But the British proposal says that once Britain leaves the EU, the EU's top court, the Court of Justice of the European Union, would no longer have jurisdiction in the United Kingdom in cases involving EU citizens.

This is problematic for the EU, because EU citizens in Britain, who now can appeal decisions of British courts to the European Court of Justice, would lose that right with Brexit, meaning they would be worse off than now.Some EU officials welcomed some elements of the proposal.

"At first glance, there is at least one element which makes a difference - namely the commitment to simplify the existing administrative procedures," the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, said."However, a number of limitations remain worrisome and will have to be carefully assessed," he said in a statement."The European Parliament will act to protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK and defend the integrity of European Union law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights and its enforcement framework," he added. (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski and Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Julia Fioretti)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Paris: President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that France refuses to recognise Russia's "annexation" of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

Speaking after talks with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko in Paris, Macron said: "France is committed to Ukraine's sovereignty with its recognised borders."

Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday visited Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, in a trip that Kiev condemned as a violation of its sovereignty.

Western powers accuse Russia of failing to honour its commitments under the Minsk accords framework for ending the violence between government forces and Kremlin-backed rebels in Ukraine's east.

EU leaders agreed last week to extend stringent economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, saying Moscow had failed to meet its commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine.

The French foreign ministry said OSCE observers in Ukraine were being subjected to "unacceptable intimidation and obstacles".

When Macron met Putin in May, shortly after the new French leader took office, he admitted the two had "disagreed on a number of things".
By Alister Doyle

| OSLO

OSLO The rise in global sea levels has accelerated since the 1990s amid rising temperatures, with a thaw of Greenland's ice sheet pouring ever more water into the oceans, scientists said on Monday.The annual rate of sea level rise increased to 3.3 millimetres (0.13 inch) in 2014 - a rate of 33 centimetres (13 inches) if kept unchanged for a century - from 2.2 mm in 1993, according to a team of scientists in China, Australia and the United States.Sea levels have risen by about 20 cms in the past century and many scientific studies project a steady acceleration this century as man-made global warming melts more ice on land.Until now, however, scientists have found it hard to detect whether the rate has picked up, is flat or has fallen since 1990. The study found that early satellite data had exaggerated the rate of sea level rise in the 1990s, masking the recent acceleration.

The confirmation of a quickening rise "highlights the importance and urgency" of working out ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to protect low-lying coasts, the scientists wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change.A thaw of Greenland's ice sheet accounted for more than 25 percent of the sea level rise in 2014 against just 5 percent in 1993, according to the study led by Xianyao Chen of the Ocean University of China and Qingdao National Laboratory of Marine Science and Technology.Other big sources include loss of glaciers from the Himalayas to the Andes, Antarctica's ice sheet and a natural expansion of ocean water as it warms up from its most dense at 4 degrees Celsius (39.2F).

A U.N. panel of climate scientists said in 2014 that sea levels could rise by up to about a metre by 2100. Several climate experts who were not involved in the study welcomed the findings.

"This is a major warning to us about the dangers of a sea level rise that will continue for many centuries even after global warming is stopped," Peter Wadhams, of the University of Cambridge, said in a statement."A big question in climate science has been whether the rise in global sea level rise is accelerating. Now there is strong evidence that this is indeed the case," said Brian Hoskins of Imperial College, London.A rise in sea levels will threaten low-lying coasts from Miami to Bangladesh, cities from Shanghai to San Francisco and small island states such as Tuvalu in the Pacific. (Reporting By Alister Doyle; Editing by Gareth Jones)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Dubai: Bahrain's foreign minister on Monday accused Qatar of a "military escalation" in the Gulf diplomatic crisis, an apparent reference to Doha's allowing Turkish troops on its territory.

"The disagreement with Qatar is a political and security dispute and has never been military," Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said on Twitter.

"But the deployment of foreign troops with their armoured vehicles is a military escalation for which Qatar will bear the consequences."

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are among several countries which announced on 5 June that they were suspending all ties with Qatar, accusing it of support for extremist groups - a claim Doha denies.

They have also closed their airspace to Qatari carriers and blocked the emirate's only land border, a vital route for its food imports.

The countries have presented a 13-point ultimatum to Qatar but Doha has rejected their demands as unrealistic.

Turkey has given some support to Doha, with a bill fast-tracked through the Turkish parliament allowing Ankara to send as many as several thousand troops to a base in Qatar.

Ankara sent a contingent of 23 soldiers and five armoured vehicles to its Gulf ally on Thursday, adding to around 90 Turkish troops already stationed in Qatar.

"Certain regional powers are mistaken if they think that their intervention will resolve the problem," Sheikh Khalid said on Twitter.
Washington: The United States says some demands on Qatar by its West Asia neighbours "will be very difficult to meet."

But the US isn't rejecting the demands outright.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says in a statement that a list of demands from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates includes major areas that "provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to a resolution."

He's calling for Qatar and the other Arab countries to "sit together" to work through the list.

Tillerson is also calling for a "lowering of rhetoric" to "help ease the tension."

He says the US is supporting Kuwait's efforts to mediate. The demands include shuttering Al-Jazeera and severing ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Tillerson had previously insisted any demands be "reasonable and actionable."
Maharajganj (UP): India's border with Nepal was sealed on Monday, 48 hours before the municipal polls in the neighbouring country, to prevent anti-social elements from crossing the international boundary and vitiating the election atmosphere, officials said.

The border at Sonauli was sealed at 8 am Monday morning, preventing vehicles from crossing the check-post, leading to long queues of trucks on both the sides.

Pedestrians were, however, being allowed to cross the border, but only after thorough checking, officials said.

Municipal elections will be held in Nepal on 28 June.

Some Madhes-centric parties have opposed the elections seeking that the Constitution be amended to accommodate their demands for more representation in parliament and redrawing of provincial boundaries.

"A decision to seal the border was taken at a high-level meeting of a coordination committee," said VK Singh, District Magistrate, Maharajganj.

The meeting was attended by officers of the local administration, police, border guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), army, customs, immigration and other departments of both the countries.

SSB, which works under the command of the Union home ministry, guards the 1,751 kilometre long India-Nepal border.

Uttar Pradesh shares a 599.3 kilometre long open border with Nepal touching seven districts - Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Sidhharthnagar and Maharajganj.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave President Donald Trump a victory by allowing his temporary ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and all refugees to go into effect for people with no strong ties to the United States while agreeing to decide the order's legality this fall.KEY POINTS:

The case is a major test of presidential powers.The justices granted parts of the Trump administration's emergency request to put the order into effect immediately while the legal battle continues.The court, which narrowed the scope of lower court rulings that had blocked his March 6 executive order, said it would hear arguments in October on the lawfulness of the ban.COMMENTS

ERIC SCHWARTZ, PRESIDENT OF REFUGEES INTERNATIONAL AND FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR POPULATION, REFUGEES, AND MIGRATION

Schwartz said he was disappointed by the court's decision. The suspension of refugee resettlement will impact the most vulnerable of the worlds populations, including refugee women and girls, survivors of violence and torture, and refugee children, among many other groups at considerable risk." he said. "The options for organizations like ours are now limited as the Supreme Court reviews this case.BECCA HELLER, DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE ASSISTANCE PROJECT

Heller said the parts of the travel ban allowed to go into effect are actually incredibly narrow.Almost anyone coming into the U.S. who has a visa or has been in the refugee program for a while ... has some kind of tie to a U.S. person or a U.S. entity, she said. The hope is that this really only impacts a very small number of people."PRESIDENT TRUMP

Trump praised the court's decision in a statement released by the White House. "Today's unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security," he said. "Today's ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our nation's homeland."

DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ED MARKEY OF MASSACHUSETTS, MEMBER OF THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

Markey said in an interview with CNN that the top court made it clear the Trump administration had overreached when it came to businesses, family members and students but expressed concern that the court did not issue a more fundamental ruling. "I'm disappointed that the court just didn't rule that a Muslim ban in and of itself is unconstitutional," Markey said.OMAR JADWAT, DIRECTOR OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION'S IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS PROJECT

Jadwat, who argued the appellate case on the executive order, said in a statement: "President Trumps Muslim ban violates the fundamental constitutional principle that government cannot favor or disfavor any one religion. Courts have repeatedly blocked this indefensible and discriminatory ban. The Supreme Court now has a chance to permanently strike it down.

WILLIAM STOCK, OUTGOING PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION LAWYERS ASSOCIATION

Stock said the "bona fide connections" to the United States cited by the court as a requirement for admission to the country might include those on employer-sponsored visas, family-sponsored green card applications, people who are admitted by schools in the United States as students and those collaborating on research with people in the United States. "The court seems to be saying if a family in Iran had prepaid for Disneyland, they probably have a demonstrable connection to the United States that might allow for issuance of a visitor visa, Stock said. If a person says Ive heard of Disneyland and Id really like to see it, that probably doesnt get them in.DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR TOM PEREZ

In a statement, Perez vowed to keep fighting the ban, which he called unconstitutional and an assault on American religious freedom. "As a nation, our diversity is our greatest strength, and we cannot allow such prejudice to shut the doors of progress. Democrats will continue to fight this hatred every step of the way, Perez said. REPUBLICAN SENATOR LUTHER STRANGE OF ALABAMA

"Great news for our national security, the rule of law and @POTUS," Strange said on Twitter, referring to Trump. (Compiled by Taylor Harris; editing by Grant McCool and Jonathan Oatis)

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Monday, or 26 June, is observed as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The General Assembly decided to observe this day, in 1987, as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.

According to a report by The News, each year the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime (UNODC) selects a theme to mark the day. This year it is 'Listen First.' This is an initiative to increase support for prevention of drug use that is based on science and is thus an effective investment in the well-being of children and youth, their families and their communities.

Last year, at the UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS), the international community took steps to mobilise a multifaceted, collective response to the full range of issues related to drug abuse and illicit trafficking. Governments came together to chart a new path forward that is more effective and humane, and leaves no one behind, said a statement released by UNODC.

UNGASS was a ground-breaking moment that provided a detailed and forward-looking blueprint for action. "Together, we must honour the unanimous commitments made to reduce drug abuse, illicit trafficking and the harm that drugs cause, and to ensure that our approach promotes equality, human rights, sustainable development, and greater peace and security," UN Secretary General Antonio Guteress said in a statement released by UNODC.

Guterres, marked the occasion with another statement released on the UNRIC website. "I recently established a task force to develop a UN system-wide strategy to coordinate and strengthen our responses to illicit drugs and organized crime by building them into all UN peacekeeping, peace building, security, development and disarmament activities. In this way, the United Nations can integrate the fight against drug trafficking and other forms of organised crime into the global security and development agenda."

Drug trafficking has grown in prominence globally in the last decade. "Around 1,90,000 people die due to illicit drugs every year. But the damage visited upon lives and communities does not stop there. Drug use damages health in the form of debilitating HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis, while drug trafficking nourishes money laundering, and deadly terrorism. Corruption, the great enabler of organized crime, exists throughout the drug supply chain," UNODC executive director Yury Fedotov was quoted saying in a UNODC report.

According to the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC), the $61 billion Afghan opiates trade is funding insurgency, international terrorism and wider destabilisation. In West Africa, the $85 billion global cocaine trade is exacerbating addiction and money-laundering while fuelling political instability and threats to security. Every $1 billion of pure cocaine trafficked through West Africa earns more than ten times as much when sold on the streets in Europe.

The problem just seems to grow exponentially year after year as more people get into this vicious cycle than those who leave.

A survey conducted by the government along with AIIMS said that till 2001 India had an estimated 7.21 crore drug addicts. A report in The Indian Express in 2016 said that under the The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 2012, the department is obligated to conduct surveys on drug use and abuse every five years. However, no data exists since August 2001.

Several countries have tightened up their operations against drugs on this day. The Myanmar government on Monday vowed to step up drug prevention and services, calling on people to listen to the concern and need of youth and support their development and health by reducing drug abuse said a Global Times report.

Minister of Home Affairs Kyaw Swe made the remarks in his message on the occasion of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. To reduce drug abuse rate, he said, students are directly and indirectly should be educated at an early age on the subject of drug prevention.

UNODC, on this day, remains committed to peacefully and effectively addressing the challenge of illicit drugs based on the international drug control conventions, and their key principle of protecting the health and welfare of humankind.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei bashed the attacks at Bahrain, Kashmir and Yemen that occurred during the holy month of Ramadan, saying that the Muslim world must "express their disdain against the oppressors." Khamenei reportedly made these comments during Eid ul-Fitr prayers in Tehran's Great Musalla.

Muslim world should openly support people of #Bahrain, #Kashmir, #Yemen, etc and repudiate oppressors& tyrants who attacked ppl in #Ramadan.  Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 26, 2017

While this is not a verified Twitter account, Iranian online news aggregator AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA), states that the Iranian leader made these assertions. The website associated with the account, khamenei.ir, states that Khamenei advised Muslim nations to take a clear stance on issues in the Muslim world, even if it causes "dissatisfaction of arrogant individuals." His speech focused on the rising bloodshed during the holy month, "Islamic Nations are covered in wounds: Conflicts in Yemen, Bahrain, problems in all Islamic countries, are major wounds on the body of Islam. The world of Islam should explicitly support the people of Yemen, and express their disdain against the oppressors who've attacked the people in such horrible ways during the month of Ramadan."

Regarding Kashmir, he went on to say that, "The same is true for the people of Bahrain and Kashmir: Our people can back this great movement within the World of Islam. Just as we explicitly express our position against enemies and adversaries, the world of Islam  especially the elites in it  should follow this path and take a position towards seeking to please God, absolutely, even if it leads to dissatisfaction of the arrogant front."

As News18 reports, Khamenei's comments come at an opportune time. These remarks come when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC. Trump sees Iran under the current government under Hassan Rouhani as "opposed to US interests." Rouhani has also openly denounced the Trump administration. The reemergence of unrest in the Valley also adds to the inflammatory nature of these comments.

This isn't the first time Khamenei has spoken about the Kashmir issue. In May 1990, he stated on his website: Look how everywhere in the world where there is a Muslim community, they receive a much harsher treatment compared with others. Kashmir is a contemporary example for this. Muslims there speak out their rights. Anyone who is informed of what Kashmir has gone through, knows what Muslims of Kashmir express is nothing but truth and justice. Those who silence them have an unjust cause. Those who attack them are the ones who are doing the wrong action. Sadly the world watches all this in cold blood.
Mosul, Iraq: People in the Iraqi city of Mosul celebrated their first Muslim Eid holiday without Islamic State in years on Sunday after the militants were ejected from much of the city, and hoped the battle to recapture the remaining area would soon be over.

Children gathered in squares on the eastern side of the city. Some played on old swings and others with toy guns and rifles, which were among the toys allowed by Islamic State militants after they took over the city in June 2014.

The militants implemented an extreme version of Islam which associated toys with a face, like dolls, with idolatry. They encouraged youngsters to train on weapons and changed text books to reflect their military ideology. Children were asked to add up bombs or bullets in maths exercises.

Eid prayers were allowed under Islamic State but festivities were not.

But for many, Sunday's Eid celebrations were overshadowed by the destruction of their historic leaning minaret, blown up by the militants on Wednesday, and fears for thousands of civilians trapped in the Old City in western Mosul still under Islamic State control.

"It won't be real Eid before we return home," said a man in his sixties, displaced from the western side of the city, across the Tigris river, where fighting continues.

Some expressed sadness over the destruction of the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri mosque and its leaning 150-foot (45-metre) minaret.

"Eid is not the same," said a man who declined to give his name as fear is still present even though Iraqi forces dislodged the insurgents from the eastern part of the city months ago.

Iraqi forces took the eastern side from Islamic State in January, after 100 days of fighting, and started attacking the western side in February. The militants are now besieged in Mosul's Old City.

"As our heroic forces are closer to declaring final victory over the Daesh (Islamic State) gangs, I offer my most sincere congratulations for Eid al-Fitr," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement.

A US-led international coalition is providing air and ground support in the 8-month-old offensive to drive the militants from their de facto capital in Iraq.

About 350 Islamic State fighters, most of them non-Iraqis, are defending their remaining stronghold in Mosul's densely populated Old City, an Iraqi general said on Sunday. He expected the battle for the city to end in days.

"Most of the dead bodies are foreigners, most of the fighters are foreigners, we see some trying to escape across the Tigris," said Major-General Sami al-Arithi, a Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) commander.

The US-trained urban warfare units are leading the fight in the narrow alleyways of the historic district which lies by the western bank of the Tigris.

More than 50,000 civilians, about half the Old City's population, remain behind Islamic State lines, complicating the troops' advance, Arithi told state TV.

The civilians are trapped in crumbling old houses in harrowing conditions, with little food, water or medicines, according to those who have escaped.

Aid organizations say Islamic State has stopped many from leaving, using them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.

Iraqi authorities were hoping to declare victory in the northern city by Eid, a three-day festival which started on Sunday for Mosul's Sunni Muslim population and many Iraqi Shi'ites, celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Arithi said the CTS were about 25 meters (yards) from the Nuri mosque, from where Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his "caliphate" over parts of Iraq and Syria three years ago.

The Iraqi government once hoped to take Mosul by the end of 2016, but the fighting has dragged on as the militants reinforced positions in civilian areas, launched suicide car bomb attacks, laid traps and kept up sniper and mortar fire.

The fall of Mosul would mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate". Islamic State remains in control of large areas of both Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and has been assumed to be hiding in the Iraqi-Syrian border area. There has been no confirmation of Russian reports over the past week that he has been killed.

In Syria, the insurgents' "capital", Raqqa, is nearly encircled by a US-backed, Kurdish-led coalition.
Irbil (Iraq): Iraq's Ministry of Defense says Islamic State (IS) fighters have launched a string of counterattacks in a western Mosul neighborhood that was previously declared free of IS.

The attacks come as Iraqi forces continue to move in on the last pocket of territory the militants hold in the Old City.

Army spokesman Brigadier General Mohammed al-Khodari says IS sleeper cells set fire to houses and cars on Sunday afternoon.

Fighting lasted into the night in the Tanak neighborhood on Mosul's far western edge.

He says by Monday morning the situation was under control.

Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake the Old City  the IS group's last stronghold in Mosul  just over a week ago, more than eight months after the fight to retake Iraq's second-largest city officially began.
Irbil (Iraq): Iraq's Ministry of Defence says Islamic State fighters have launched a string of counterattacks in a western Mosul neighbourhood that was previously declared free of Islamic State.

The attacks come as Iraqi forces continue to move in on the last pocket of territory the militants hold in the Old City.

Army spokesman Brigadier General Mohammed Al-Khodari says Islamic State sleeper cells set fire to houses and cars on Sunday afternoon. Fighting lasted into the night in the Tanak neighbourhood on Mosul's far western edge.

He says by Monday morning the situation was under control.

Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake the Old City  the Islamic State group's last stronghold in Mosul  just over a week ago, more than eight months after the fight to retake Iraq's second-largest city officially began.
Istanbul: At least 44 people were detained during a march for LGBT rights that the governor of Istanbul had banned, Turkey's state-run news agency reported on Monday, while Europe's top human rights organization criticized the country for barring the event for a third year running.

Anadolu Agency said 20 people who "reacted against" the march were among those detained on Sunday. Ultra-nationalist and religious groups had threatened the 15th Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride March in the week leading up to it.

Organisers said 25 people who tried to go on with the banned event were also detained, including two minors and a Danish activist. They were released after questioning.

The governor's office banned the Pride for the third year in a row, citing safety and public order grounds. It also listed "serious reactions by different segments of society" as a reason for the ban.

Police set up checkpoints to prevent people from entering Istanbul's main thoroughfare and marching en masse. Police also used tear gas and plastic bullets on groups of participants.

"Although a demonstration may annoy or cause offense to persons opposed to the ideas or claims it seeks to promote, this cannot serve as an admissible ground for prohibiting a peaceful gathering," the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, said in a statement on Monday.

The commissioner also said there were "worrying reports of disproportionate use of force" by police against a small number of peaceful demonstrators.

"By banning the event, the Turkish authorities have failed to fulfill their positive obligation to guarantee both public security and the freedom of assembly, to which everyone is entitled, including LGBTI persons and other supporters of their rights," Muiznieks said.
Kathmandu: Nepal's agitating Madhesi parties have agreed to participate in the second phase of local-level elections to be held on Wednesday, the government said.

Rastriya Janta Party Nepal (RJPN), Madhesi party and Biplab-led Maoist party have fielded candidates for the polls, home minister Janardan Sharma said.

"The government has made a foolproof security plan for conducting the second phase of local polls slated for 28 June in a successful manner," he said.

The second round of local-level elections is taking place in 334 local units in 35 districts of provinces number 1, 5 and 7.

The government is fully prepared to provide necessary security and required number of all security forces including Armed Police Force and Nepal Army personnel will be mobilised to ensure the voters' security, Sharma told reporters.

There will be three-tiered security arrangements, the first by Nepal Police personnel guarding the polling stations and outside of the polling station, Sharma said, adding that Armed Police Force and Nepal Army personnel will be mobilised as per need.

He also appealed to the general public to cast their votes without any fear as the government has mobilised all the security agencies and civil servants accordingly in all the polling booths across the three provinces.

"We have not seen any problem in smoothly conducting the polls," the minister said.

The successful completion of the local polls was necessary "for the development of the country, for promoting competitive politics and it is the stepping stone for the task of constitution implementation," Sharma said.

Like the first phase of local election, the second phase of polls will also become a success, he said.

"Local-level elections in the province number two was deferred after mutual consent between Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and RJP-N," Sharma said, adding that no forces can foil the upcoming local polls as government has made full-proof arrangements for making them a success.

The third round of local-level elections in province number two is slated for 18 September.

Madhesis were earlier divided over participating in the second phase of local body polls, with one faction insisting on taking part in the process to foil the reactionary forces' conspiracy against federalism while other announcing fresh protests to disrupt elections.

Some Madhes-centric parties have opposed the elections until the Constitution is amended to accommodate their views- more representation in parliament and redrawing of provincial boundaries.

The Nepal government has tabled a new Constitution amendment bill in Parliament to address the demands of the agitating Madhesi parties ahead of the local elections.

Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, launched a prolonged agitation between September 2015 and February last year against the implementation of the new Constitution which they felt marginalised the Terai community.

Meanwhile, the US has urged all political parties in Nepal to mutually respect the freedom of non-violent expression and assembly and individual's voting rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.

"The United States remains committed to working with all stakeholders for a peaceful, inclusive, broadly-supported, and credible election process," the US embassy in Kathmandu said in a statement.

The UK has also called on all stakeholders to create the necessary conditions to allow the people to exercise their right to vote peacefully.
MEXICO CITY Mexico's attorney general said on Monday it will request help from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate accusations the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto spied on private citizens.Activists, human rights lawyers and journalists in Mexico filed a criminal complaint alleging their smartphones had been infected with spying software sold to the government to fight criminals and terrorists. Pena Nieto called the charges "false" and asked the attorney general's office to investigate."We will ask the FBI for help," said Ricardo Sanchez of Mexico's attorney general office, known locally as the PGR.

The PGR will ask the alleged targets of the spying to hand over their phones for analysis, said Sanchez. "All those persons who have formally stated or through the press that their mobile phones have been hacked will be asked to hand in their phones to the investigation in order to carry out a forensic analysis," said Sanchez.

It will also request telecommunications companies to hand over the records of calls of the cellphones that have been allegedly infected by the spyware. Those records are kept on file for two years, according to Mexican law.Those claiming to be targeted by the software included Carmen Aristegui, a journalist who in 2014 helped reveal that President Enrique Pena Nieto's wife had acquired a house from a major government contractor, as well as Carlos Loret de Mola, a journalist at leading television network Televisa (TLVACPO.MX).

Others included in the complaint were anti-corruption activists and lawyers representing the families of 43 trainee teachers who disappeared and were apparently massacred in 2014.The disappearance of the 43 and the government's handling of the investigation sparked international condemnation of law and order in Mexico, creating a major headache for Pena Nieto.Apart from concerns of government spying, Mexico was one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in 2016. At least six reporters have been killed this year.On Monday, authorities confirmed the death of Mexican journalist Salvador Adame, who was kidnapped last month in the violent western state of Michoacan. (Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez, writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by David Gregorio)

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An Irish naval ship rescued 712 people including pregnant women and infants off the coast of the Libyan capital of Tripoli as part of an international migrant rescue effort, Ireland's Defence Forces said on Monday.

The LE Eithne ship led the rescue of multiple vessels in distress 40 kilometres north-west of Tripoli throughout Sunday. Six migrants, including one baby, were revived from states of unconsciousness.

The ship will transport the people, including 14 pregnant women and four infants below the age of four months, to a designated "port of safety" to be handed over to Italian authorities.

"I'm very proud to say all lives were saved, no lives were lost. It was a complex operation where lives were at stake at every turn over a full eight-hour period," Commander Brian Fitzgerald told national broadcaster RTE from the ship.

"Overall, they were really in a wretched condition but in all cases healthy enough to undertake the journey to a port of safety."
Maiduguri: Suicide bombers killed nine people and wounded 13 others in multiple blasts in northeast Nigeria's Maiduguri, police said on Monday, the latest in a spate of attacks in the city worst hit by the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency.

A number of suicide bomb attacks by suspected members of the jihadist group have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its environs in the last few weeks, including blasts that killed 12 people on 19 June and a raid on 7 June which left 14 dead.

Borno police said a male suicide bomber killed a security guard after entering the University of Maiduguri, near the city centre, on Sunday evening at 10:20 pm local time.

Four female suicide bombers killed eight people around an hour later on the outskirts of the city in Zannari community, in the Gwange district of Jere local government authority after detonating devices in residential buildings.

Two female suicide bombers were the only people to die in two blasts at the University of Maiduguri on Monday morning at around 4:20 am local time.

"In all, 16 persons including the suicide bombers died in the multiple explosions while 13 persons were injured," said the Borno Police commissioner, Damian Chukwu.

Nigeria's state security agency on Friday said it had foiled plans to detonate explosives in four northern cities  Maiduguri, Kano, Sokoto and Kaduna, during celebrations to mark the end of Islam's holy month of Ramadan.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest blasts in Maiduguri but the use of suicide bombers  particularly female attackers  in the region is a hallmark of Boko Haram.

The militant group, which has killed more than 20,000 people in Africa's most populous nation and forced more than two million to flee their homes since 2009, is trying to create an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

Nigeria's army, with the help of troops from neighbouring countries, pushed the group out of most of a swathe of land around the size of Belgium which it controlled until early 2015.

But suicide bombings and gun raids in mostly busy public areas, such as mosques and markets, have continued in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon and Niger.

The frequency of suicide bombings has increased in the last few weeks, although a large proportion of the attacks result in only the bombers being killed.
Virginia: The much anticipated first bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump is not a policy summit but a "start" of a "great friendship" between the two leaders, a top Indian-American Republican supporter said on Sunday.

Shalabh Kumar, founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC), said the meeting will be a platform for the two leaders to get to know each other and set the pace for strengthening Indo-US ties.

"The bilateral meeting is the start of a great friendship, it's really not meant for any policy implementation," Kumar told PTI in Virginia as he arrived in the city suburb for the community event to be addressed by Modi.

About 700 members of the Indian diaspora arrived in Virginia, dressed in their cultural finery to hear Modi.

"This is not a policy summit. This is a feel good meeting between the two leaders to get to know each other and establish the relationship. Both leaders are on the same page," Kumar said.

He noted that in the RHC rally held in New Jersey in October last year, the then presidential candidate Trump had declared that India and the US will be best friends and this meeting is "just the start of that."

Terming the future of Indo-US relations as "phenomenal", Kumar expressed confidence that bilateral trade between the two nations will reach four trillion dollars in the years to come, "much bigger than the US trade with Saudi Arabia."

"India is a strong player in Asia and in establishing peace and security in the region," Kumar said.

Modi arrived in the US capital on Sunday for his three-day visit during which he will also interact with members of the Indian diaspora at a relatively low-key community event.
Washington: Five American Senators have asked US president Donald Trump to use his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an opportunity to discuss India's "discriminatory" policies against foreign religious and humanitarian organisations.

"Discriminating against foreign organisations that help the citizens of India is counterproductive, and it needs to change. I ask that President Trump addresses this serious issue with Prime Minister Modi during his trip to Washington," Senator John Kennedy had said in a statement.

Joined by Senators Roy Blunt, Mike Crapo, James Lankford, and Amy Klobuchar, Kennedy sent a letter to Trump ahead of the White House meeting between the two leaders.

"Over the past few years, the Indian government has made it difficult  if not impossible  for religious and humanitarian organisations to get funding to their charitable operations in India," Kennedy had said.

"Many of these organisations are simply trying to meet the basic needs of the citizens of India. Compassion International even had to leave India. This humanitarian aid organisation had helped feed and provide health care to children in India for nearly 50 years. Now thousands of innocent children will be left without this critical support," he had alleged.

Referring to the issues of Compassion International, Ford Foundation, Amnesty International and Greenpeace among others, the Senators had said, "Based on these troubling developments, we ask that you make religious liberty a top priority when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the United States."

"We request that you use the United States strong, longstanding relationship with India to encourage Prime Minister Modi to alleviate the discrimination against these organisations, particularly religious-based aid groups, and to take steps to advance religious liberty for all of Indias citizens," they had said.

In the letter, the Senators had said that they are particularly concerned about violations of religious liberty in India.

"India is the worlds largest democracy and therefore holds a position of importance on the world stage, making the ongoing violations even more disturbing. Despite Indias size and religious diversity, violations of religious liberty have existed for years, they wrote.

Every year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) releases a report outlining the state of religious freedom across the world.

India has consistently remained a 'Tier 2' country, meaning that USCIRF believes it requires close monitoring based on evidence of violations of religious freedom.

These include violence, discrimination, and forced conversions, as well as harassment and intimidation, the letter noted.

"Of significant concern is Indias recent use of its Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA) to target humanitarian and religious organisations. Any foreign religious organisations, including missionaries, working in India must comply with this law. In 2011, the amended FCRA to allow the government to block funds for foreign organisations that conduct any 'activities detrimental to the national interest'," the Senators had said.

The Senators alleged that the Indian government has since used this broad provision to target foreign humanitarian and religious organisations that serve the Indian people, such as Compassion International that was forced to leave India and the 1,45,000 Indian children it served.

"Other organisations that have come under scrutiny include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Amnesty International, and Greenpeace. Other evangelical Christian organisations, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, have also faced discrimination of various kinds. The number of organisations that have lost their licenses has exceeded 10,000 since Prime Minister Modi took office," they alleged.
New Delhi: Saying both India and the US are determined to defeat the "scourge" of terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that "the logic of our strategic relationship is incontrovertible".

Modi, ahead of his meeting with President Donald Trump, also said in comments published in The Wall Street Journal that he expected bilateral ties in the next few decades to be "an even more remarkable story of ambitious horizons, convergent action and shared growth".

"The past two decades have been a productive journey of engagement for our mutual security and growth. I expect the next few decades to be an even more remarkable story of ambitious horizons, convergent action and shared growth.

Modi recalled how he told the US Congress in June 2016 that the bilateral relationship had overcome the "hesitations of history". "A year later, I return to the US confident in the growing convergence between our two nations.

"This confidence stems from the strength of our shared values and the stability of our systems. Our people and institutions have steadfastly viewed democratic change as an instrument for renewal and resurgence."

He said the two countries stand as mutually reinforcing engines of growth and innovation in an uncertain global economic landscape.

"Confidence in each other's political values and a strong belief in each other's prosperity has enabled our engagement to grow."

Saying defence was another mutually beneficial sphere of their partnership, Modi said both India and the US had an overriding interest "in securing our societies, and the world, from the forces of terrorism, radical ideologies and non-traditional security threats.

"India has four decades' experience in fighting terrorism, and we share the US administration's determination to defeat this scourge."

The two countries, he said, were working together to address the existing and emerging strategic and security challenges that affect them in Afghanistan, West Asia, the large maritime space of the Indo-Pacific and the new and unanticipated threats in cyberspace.

"We also share an interest in ensuring that sea lanes  critical lifelines of trade and energy  remain secure and open to all," Modi said, without referring to the South China Sea by name.

Indo-US trade, which totals about $115 billion a year, was poised for a multi-fold increase, the Indian prime minister said.

"The transformation of India presents abundant commercial and investment opportunities for American businesses. The rollout of the Goods and Services Tax on July 1 will, in a single stroke, convert India into a unified, continent-sized market of 1.3 billion people.

"The planned 100 smart cities, the massive modernization of ports, airports and road and rail networks, and the construction of affordable housing for all by 2022  the 75th anniversary of India's independence  are not just promises of great urban renewal within India.

"These plans also showcase the enormous fruits of our relationships with enterprising US partners  worth many billions of dollars over the next decade alone  together with concomitant new employment opportunities across both societies.

"India's rapidly expanding aviation needs, and our increasing demand for gas, nuclear, clean coal and renewables, are two significant areas of increasing convergence.

"In coming years, Indian companies will import energy in excess of $40 billion from the US, and more than 200 American-made aircraft will join the private Indian aviation fleet."

Modi said the combination of technology, innovation and skilled workers had helped forge an exciting digital and scientific partnership between the two countries.

"The creative and entrepreneurial energy of our engineers, scientists and researchers, and their free movement between both countries, continue to help India and the US retain their innovation edge and maintain competitiveness in the knowledge economy."

Modi underlined that whenever India and the US work together, the world reaps the benefits.

He also paid his tribute to the three-million-strong Indian-American community, "which represents the best of both our countries (and) has played a crucial role in connecting and contributing to our societies".
Washington: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, DC on Monday and discussed ways to boost Indo-US strategic ties ahead of the Indian leader's first meeting with President Donald Trump.

"Preparing the ground for the meeting between the leaders. Mr Rex W. Tillerson, Secretary of State calls on PM," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted on the meeting.

Preparing the ground for the meeting between the leaders. Mr. Rex W. Tillerson, Secretary of State calls on PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/tGfeVDT3YD  Gopal Baglay (@MEAIndia) June 26, 2017

Tillerson met Modi at the Hotel Willard Intercontinental, where the Indian prime minister is staying. Earlier, US Defence Secretary James Mattis had also called on Modi.

Ahead of Modi's visit to Washington, Tillerson had said that the trip would strengthen the Indo-US relationship and help advance the common interest in fighting terrorism and promoting economic growth.

Tillerson had said this during a meeting here with visiting Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar last week.

"The Secretary noted the Prime Minister's visit will strengthen ties between the United States and India and advance our common interest in fighting terrorism, promoting economic growth and prosperity, and expanding security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region," a State Department spokesperson had said.

The two agreed that the two countries have a deep and growing strategic partnership and hope to work more closely on regional and global issues, the official had said.

Ahead of his visit, Modi had said he looked forward to the opportunity of having an in-depth exchange of views.

"My USA visit is aimed at deepening ties between our nations. Strong India-USA ties benefit our nations & the world," he had tweeted.

My USA visit is aimed at deepening ties between our nations. Strong India-USA ties benefit our nations & the world. https://t.co/UaF6lbo1ga  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 23, 2017

"I look forward to this opportunity to have an in-depth exchange of views on further consolidating the robust and wide-ranging partnership between India and the United States," the prime minister had said.
When the pennies are really counted after President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold talks this week, would India gain or lose pounds? Er, make that US dollars! Whatever the currency, there is a case to measure the outcome of Modi's landmark US visit carefully, because the atmospherics and body language suggest unusual warmth but final outcomes may not necessarily go India's way.

It all depends on which headlines you notice -- and how they all come together in the final analysis.

While Modi is going gaga over the impending introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) -- both as a magnet for foreign investors and a case study for US business schools, domestic news suggesting teething troubles in the most revolutionary taxation leap in India since Independence may cause an eyebrow or two to go up.

More important are hardcore bilateral trade issues already on the table.

Modi met a galaxy of tech titans including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Google's Sundar Pichai, but they are not exactly Trump administration's key movers and shakers . They are among business leaders already partying in India. So the question to ask is: Can these CEOs influence the American presidency to bring back the visa mojo that India's software sector has lost in the tighter H-1B regime under Trump? Commentators tend to agree that Modi is unlikely to even try to make a headway on this issue during his US visit.

While Modi readied up for talks, sobering news came from Dr Reddy's (which you could call the Infosys of Indian pharma), cautioning investors that the end of "Obamacare" policies under Trump is a risk to business in the US. In fact, all of India's pharma sector has been put on the backfoot by Trump, even as the media focus has largely been on information technology.

While we worry about two of our prime knowledge-driven sectors, further concessions seem to be on the way for US business entities.

Amazon is expected to get government approval for entering the food retail business in July, becoming the first foreign giant to enter the category. This is happening even as Flipkart, Amazon's only real competitor in India, struggles to acquire rival Snapdeal. And we have not really heard much about whether the competition between them is uneven, hindering a level-playing field.

Modi's "Make In India" dream has indeed got a symbolic boost from a planned joint venture between the Tatas and Lockheed Martin to make F-16 fighter jets in India, but we are not sure how many jobs it will create. More important are doubts that the US may be dumping some outdated stuff in the name of a manufacturing boost in India.

That brings us to drones, the latter-day cousin of the fighter jets. India has a $ 2 billion (that's nearly Rs 13,000 crore) budget to buy drones and the US has approved the sale of drones that can help India spy but not engage in combat.

This happens even as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) places more satellites in space during a year of breathtaking milestones in rocket science. Er, would it be too much to ask if India should try making its own super drones and how the US can help? It must be noted ISRO already makes drones that help track weather.

We could also bring strong climate change disagreements between New Delhi and Washington to the cost-benefit equation, but, as they say on Facebook status messages, "It's complicated".

As they say in the Silicon Valley, "net net" India seems to have lost more than gained in economic relations since Trump came to power. After all, the blond US president has been a deal-cutting real estate billionnaire in his colourful past.

When we take a deep yoga breath and ask ourselves what India has given and what it has got beyond the photo opportunities and power meetings, a clearer picture may emerge. The jury is out.

(The author is a senior journalist. He tweets as @madversity)
Prime Minister Narendra Modis face-to-face chat with CEOs of major US firms didnt deviate from the usual script. Modi made a strong case for the moneybags to not lose time to get into the Indian-bound queue citing the return of the reform-momentum, the power of 7,000-reforms for ease of doing business and plenty of opportunities the country offers to investors.

The arrival of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) shows India can take big decisions and implement swiftly, Modi said. The rest of the script so far has remained the same as any other Modi foreign tripshowmanship, exuberant NRI crowds and cheering bureaucrats to support the PMs claims and the constant message from the PM to the rest of the worldIndia is the place to be at this point of time, if you miss its your loss. So far, so good.

As far as the magic number of 7,000 reforms, the methodology used to arrive at the number isn't clear. Unless and until someone in Delhi sits down and adds each and every decision signed by this government in the past three years as reforms, it is impossible to have that count. But, for an impartial observer, all of that might not count as reform, per se. That should be an original idea that can have a palpable, lasting impact on the society and economy. Going by that definition, yes, Modi has presided over the completion of a series of incremental reform steps.

The big ones in the list are the GST about to get rolled out from 1 July, the progress made on direct benefit transfer using the Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile trinity, efforts to rationalize the process of channelizing subsidies and enactment of the crucial Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, among others. These indeed offer the Modi-government the aura of a pro-reform government, but only in areas where it doesnt hurt its political prospects. There are a slew of critical issues all global CEOs are worried about in India but no one would talk about it in the open fearing the wrath of the right wing government that isnt very open to criticism. Remember the government taking on global rating agencies for not extending rating upgrades.

For instance, in Modis three years in office, there has not been much progress on the much needed reforms in critical areas such as acquisition of land and labour for business--one of the big deterrents for businesses looking at India and resolution of problems in the banking sector. The promise of the government has no business to be in business remains a promise as far as the banking sector is concerned. Still, 70 percent of the banks in the country by assets remain under the control of the government. Many of them are bleeding with high bad loans and low capital--problems which have been puzzling the government with no real solution in sight.

The GDP is faltering post-demonetisation, with a percentage point dip in the economic growth caused by slowing manufacturing growth and bank lending to industries at the lowest pace in decades indicating a not-s0-rosy-picture. The farm sector is facing a major crisis with many states being forced to go in for loan waivers that together surpass the 2008 disastrous Rs 70,000 crore by UPA by a big margin. Employment generation has been declining raising a big question mark about millions of youngsters entering the workforce every year. These are facts no investor can ignore before putting the money on the table.

In a recent article, the The Economist magazine launched a scathing attack on Modis reform claims, saying he is not much as a reformer as he seems.

The article said. he has not come up with many big new ideas of his own (the GST and the bankruptcy reforms date back long before his time). His reputation as a friend to business rests on his vigorous efforts to help firms out of fixesfinding land for a particular factory, say, or expediting the construction of a power station. But he is not so good at working systematically to sort out the underlying problems holding the economy back.

The Economist goes on a step further to say that Modi will not hesitate to create communal tensions to cover up his failures in building the economy.

The fear is that, if the economy falters, Mr Modi will try to maintain his popularity by stirring up communal tensions. That, after all, is how his Bharatiya Janata Party first propelled itself to government in the 1990s. Mr Modi himself was chief minister of Gujarat in 2002 when rioting there killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. To this day, he has never categorically condemned the massacre or apologised for failing to prevent it, the magazine said.

Further, under Modi, critics of his policies, particularly about communal issues, have been dealt with unfairly, the paper argues. Hindu nationalist thugs intimidate those who chide the government for straying from Indias secular traditionOne of the few media companies that dares to criticise the government has been raided by police on grounds that would not normally attract such heavy-handedness, the piece says.

To progress on his path, Modi has to first fight these perceptions and acknowledge the faulty areas before going on to chest thump the governments achievements, many of which are ideas from the past. Hard-selling India story overseas is the first priority of any prime minister, but it needs to be backed with credible progress on areas that really require action.

Coming back to the context of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump today (Monday) afternoon, there are two tasks cut out for Modi. One, to make a pressing case in Indias favour with respect to the HI-B visa problem that has put many Indian IT firms and workers under severe stress. The second is to bring the issue of climate change on the table where India has openly contradicted US stance by supporting the Paris climate accord.

The issue of work permits in US is most critical for India. With 60 percent of total revenues of Indian IT firms coming from US, this should be the big priority of Modi more than photo-ops and mere optics. According to a report in the Financial Express, any progress is unlikely on this front. But, one needs to wait and watch.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis signed op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Sunday packs expert timing and constructive ideas. And the choice of WSJ over, say, The New York Times or Washington Post, hits a sweet spot for a US President who routinely skewers news media.

'For the U.S. and India, a convergence of interests and values' by PM @narendramodi https://t.co/05KcI40MRQ via @WSJ  PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 26, 2017

WSJ content is one of the few targets Trump does not impale on his lethal midnight tweets. In fact, Trumps crew takes the trouble of clipping out and mailing it to select, high priority lists as a must read.' (To be fair to arch-rival Financial Times, they did the same for recent piece on how Trump is pushing for US-produced LNG export and why thats good for America).

But as anecdotal material will confirm, the WSJ lustre remains special.

Back in 2008 when Trumps daughter Ivanka was dating Jared and they broke up over a messy intra-family issue about Ivanka not being Jewish while Jared cared deeply about religion, how the couple come back together brings in a intensely personal Murdoch angle in Ivankas life. Wendi Deng, the glamourous, Chinese-born (ex) wife of Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp publishes WSJ, played cupid version 2.0, inviting Jared for a weekend boat trip and not revealing to him that Ivanka was also invited. The couple got back together, they married in 2009 and Ivanka converted to Judaism.

Its no secret that the worlds most powerful First Daughter is Trumps favourite among his many kids from three marriages, Trump makes no secret of his fondness for Ivanka and Jared. It follows from this that people and businesses which matter to Ivanka and Jared would get a soft landing on Planet Trump.

Even if we discount the Ivanka Trump-Jared Kushner-Wendi Deng angle in the appeal of WSJ to Trump as dated - consider the ever growing clout of the Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump association which goes back decades.

The Murdoch-owned Fox News played a crucial role Trump's 2016 election win. The two men came closer as the race got tighter. Trump gave his first foreign newspaper interview to Murdochs UK paper The Times with Murdoch sitting in the same room.

The WSJ owner and POTUS also share deep connections with one of Americas most successful defense attorneys Roy Cohn. Both Trump and Murdoch have been Cohns clients during choppy seasons in their lives so far.

Murdoch is effusive in his praise of Trump and the US President reciprocates it openly.

The man Im about to introduce believes, as I do, in challenging conventional wisdom, because conventional wisdom is often not wise at all, Murdoch said at a New York event last month event while ushering Trump on stage.

The Trump-Murdoch bromance - and Fox News positive view of the President and therefore the channels easy access to on-record Trumpian soundbites -swaddles the WSJ too from the slings and arrows of Trumps fake news tweetstorms.

Despite all this background, there are endless ways to pore over a signed piece by Indias PM ahead of an Indo-US summit - experts are drawing parallels between the content of Narendra Modis op-ed and K Subrahmanyams report on US-India relationship in 2006.

Wall Street Journal has dropped its famed paywall for the Modi copy headlined For the U.S. and India, a convergence of interests and values which opens in full on social links and has funneled a fresh spiral of American media interest on the Monday of the Indo-US summit meeting.

For its underlying strategy and closure, the Modi op-ed is to the credit of South Block media strategists.
Attock to Cuttack?

When have we heard that before?

Twenty four hours ahead of his summit meeting with US president Donald Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dressed in a grey bandhgala suit, used a Sunday afternoon speech to Indian diaspora in McLean, Virginia to blast Pakistan and riffed on Indias rising clout: Kashmir se Kanyakumari tak, Attock se Cuttack tak (from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Attock to Cuttack), sparking temporary bewilderment and permanent adoration among the NRI audience.

After Partition, Attock, a northwestern city, became part of Pakistan.

Nearly 600 people drawn from almost every corner of America packed into a ornate ballroom were treated to 40 minutes of Modis vaunted oratory in chaste Hindi minus a teleprompter or even prepared notes.

Whether the "Attock se Cuttack tak" reference was a mix-up or a carefully crafted ace on the red eye from Portugal, the line of attack rang clear: Modi ratcheted up the tone for his re-election bid in the 2019 general election as live cameras whirred.

This speech was not about India-US relations, it was about a master storyteller narrating how India is doing to Indians who have embraced foreign lands; not just America.

Last year, Modi praised America for giving Indians raw materials for success; this time he told Indian-Americans that if they have found the right ingredients to prosper here, his government can do the same for the teeming millions back home in India.

Theres no better time for you to give back to your country than now, Modi said, with a palpable sense of urgency.

Modi stitched together a tale of an India that is both aspirational and struck by inequality. About how women who once cooked on wood fires now have gas cylinders. How farmers who struggled for urea fertilizer year after year are no longer in want and how a government that embraces technology can make the business of day to day governance corruption free.

Modi heaped praise on foreign minister Sushma Swaraj for transforming the Ministry of External Affairs from one known for "bade log" (important, unreachable elite) wearing suits and shaking hands to one where humanity comes first, where Indians in any corner of the globe can send an SOS and know that India has their back.

Jamin Brahmbhatt, 35, a urologist who traveled from Orlando to hear Modi speak said he was delighted that he was getting a chance to get involved with the diaspora. Ive not been involved in politics but to be able to give back to society is important. It is truly inspiring to be able to be in the same room with the Indian PM, he told Firstpost.

As is typical of many of his speeches, Modi did the pinch hitting after the midway point, whipping out strong, unambiguous messages on the surgical strikes (against Pakistan, which he did not mention by name) late last year.

He said this would have invited a lot of criticism in the past and many countries could have come down hard on India but not a single country in the world raised a finger against us he declared, to ringing applause all around.

The world is convinced of Indias case, we dont need to do the convincing anymore, he said.

''Jinko bhugatna pada, woh alag baat hain" (Those who were at the receiving end felt differently, thats another matter entirely ) he said, dripping sarcasm.

Without a moments pause, Modi also took aim at India's Opposition. In teen bemisaal saal mein humaare sarkaar par ek bhi daag nahin laga (In these three wonderful years, our government has been unblemished), he said to wild cheers from a Sunday crowd dressed to the nines.

Women in silk and chiffon, men in expensive suits, saffron-clad monks and yoga teachers, doctors, lawyers and fundraisers came together for another expertly orchestrated Modi moment in the US. They left beaming because the Indian Embassy had ingenuously figured a way to get the entire crowed of 600 into multiple groups for group photographs with the PM.

No body touching please, the master of ceremonies helpfully reminded (the coiffed ladies).
Manila: The Philippine armed forces and Islamic State-linked militants on Monday resumed fighting in Marawi region after an eight-hour ceasefire to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Sunday.

Military spokesperson Restituto Padilla told Efe news that the armed forces had launched new offensives to recover the area taken by the terrorists after a relatively quiet Sunday.

The army is trying to recover four neighbourhoods in the city centre - still under control of so-called Maute group and members of other terror organisations that are part of the rebellion that started a month ago - through bombings, airstrikes and field operations.

The offensive follows the ceasefire so that civilians trapped in the fighting zone could celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr by offering morning prayers and having midday feast marking the end of Ramadan.

During the eight-hour truce, six people, including an elderly man and a boy, were rescued, said the spokesperson.

The Marawi crisis began on 23 May when the Maute terror group, aided by local and foreign militants, took up arms in the city on Mindanao island, raised black Islamic State flags and set fire to a police station, a school, a prison and a church.

So far, the conflict has killed 290 militants, 69 security personnel and 27 civilians, the latest victim being a local imam who was found dead on Sunday.

However, the civilian death toll is expected to be much higher, since between 300 and 500 are still trapped in the combat zones.

On the other hand, more than 2,60,000 inhabitants of Marawi and surrounding areas have fled or been evacuated to shelters in the nearby towns of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

President Rodrigo Duterte has declared martial law since the conflict began on the entire island of Mindanao, home to some 20 million people.
By Andrea Shalal

| BERLIN

BERLIN A list of 13 demands submitted by four Arab states to Qatar as a condition to lift their boycott on the Gulf country is "very provocative" because some items challenge Doha's sovereignty, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday.Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a boycott on Qatar three weeks ago, accusing it of backing militants - then issued an ultimatum, including demands that it shut down a Turkish military base in Doha.Qatar denies the allegations against it and says the demands are aimed at curbing its sovereignty. A government spokesman last week said Doha was reviewing the list of demands, but did not view them as reasonable or actionable.Gabriel told an event hosted by the European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin that Germany remained in close touch with all sides to try to reduce tensions resulting from the biggest diplomatic crisis in the region in years.

He said some of the demands being made of Qatar were negotiable, but others clearly challenged its sovereignty.The Arab states are demanding, among other things, that Doha close Al Jazeera television, curb ties with Iran, shut a Turkish base and also pay reparations.Gabriel said it would be tough for Qatar to accept all 13 items on what he described as "a very provocative list".

He said efforts were under way to define which conditions Qatar could accept, and which it viewed as problematic.Gabriel is due to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Berlin on Tuesday.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has voiced support for Qatar in its confrontation with the four states. Qatar says it is being punished for straying from its neighbours' backing for authoritarian hereditary and military rules.Mainly Shi'ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia have long been at loggerheads over religion and political influence in the Middle East. Zarif told the group earlier on Monday that Europe should use its influence to defuse tensions in the Gulf, arguing that those countries that blamed Iran or Qatar for terrorism were trying to avoid taking responsibility for their own failures. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Alison Williams)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Seoul: South Korea's dovish new President Moon Jae-in  who backs engagement with the nuclear-armed North  heads to Washington this week for talks with his hawkish US counterpart Donald Trump, as Pyongyang defies international sanctions to accelerate its missile programme.

Centre-left Moon suggested on the campaign trail that as president he would be willing to go to Pyongyang before Washington, but he is making the US his first foreign destination since he was sworn in last month after a landslide election win.

Washington is the South's security guarantor and has more than 28,000 troops in the country to defend it from its neighbour, which has been intensifying missile tests  including five since Moon's inauguration  as it seeks to develop nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that could reach the continental United States.

US Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has labelled North Korea as "the most urgent and dangerous threat" while Trump has made halting Pyongyang's weapons programme a top foreign policy priority.

There have been misgivings about the first tete-a-tete between Moon and Trump, who is pushing for tougher sanctions against Pyongyang to curb its nuclear ambitions and whose administration has said military action was a possibility.

That would put Seoul on the front line of any retaliation from the North.

But analysts say their first encounter is likely to be low on drama with the two getting a sense of each other, rather than displaying jarring differences.

Trump's policy of "maximum pressure and engagement" has a wide range from diplomacy to sanctions, allowing for an "overlap" with that of Moon, who has never denied the need for sanctions even while seeking dialogue, said John Delury, a professor at Yonsei University.

"So there doesn't have to be a train wreck over North Korea policy," he told AFP.

Also high on the agenda is likely to be a controversial US missile defence system that has been installed in South Korea to guard against missile threats from the North.

Though parts of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system are already in place, Moon suspended further deployment following a furious campaign of economic sanctions and diplomatic protests by Beijing against the US missile shield, dealing a blow to Washington's regional security policy.

Officially, the delay is to allow for a new, comprehensive environmental impact assessment, but analysts say the move is a strategic one by Moon to delay the tricky diplomatic situation he inherited.

'Ruffled feathers'

Earlier this year, Moon raised many eyebrows when he said in a new book that Seoul should learn to say "no" to Washington.

But analysts say the South Korean leader  whose parents were refugees evacuated from the North by US forces  will endeavour in Washington to portray their decades-old alliance as intact.

"Moon will seek to smooth ruffled feathers in Washington and give an impression that there is no daylight between the two allies," Sejong Institute analyst Hong Hyun-Ik told AFP.

Hong said that Moon "initially appeared to walk a tightrope between China and the United States" but was forced back to "the US orbit" under enormous pressure from his conservative political opponents.

The South Korean president advocates a two-phased approach to the North's nuclear issue, with Pyongyang first freezing its nuclear and long-range missile tests in return for the scaling back of annual US-South Korea military exercises.

In the second stage, the North's nuclear programmes would be completely dismantled in return for diplomatic ties and economic assistance.

The idea is similar to China's standing proposal of "dual suspension" of US-South Korea war games and the North's nuclear and missile tests, which Washington has already rejected.

For Moon, analysts say pursuing such an approach has been made more complicated by last week's death of American student Otto Warmbier, who had been jailed by the North.

Warmbier fell into a mysterious coma after being in prison for 18 months for stealing a political poster. He died days after being evacuated home, sparking outrage in the US.
Juba: As South Sudan's civil war creates the world's largest refugee crisis and widespread allegations of sexual and ethnic violence, the government is clamping down on the news media, journalists charge.

This is starkly evident in the country's newspapers, which the government in May started censoring by blanking out articles it deems critical.

In addition, 15 South Sudanese journalists have been arrested, beaten, jailed, threatened or denied access to information in the past four months, according to the Union of Journalists in South Sudan.

At least 20 members of the foreign press have been banned from or kicked out of South Sudan in the past six months, the Foreign Correspondents' Association of East Africa says.

With the civil war more than three-and-a-half years old, journalists say they are hard-pressed to report on alleged atrocities amid warnings by the United Nations and others of "ethnic cleansing."

In her first public statement on the issue, US Ambassador Molly Phee told The Associated Press that the pattern of denying visas to foreign journalists violates international standards.

"US law prohibits assistance to the government of South Sudan until they take effective steps to protect freedoms of expression, association and assembly," Phee said. Such direct financial assistance to a government doesn't include humanitarian aid, which this year amounts to $391 million.

Since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, the media landscape has become grim. Reporters without Borders ranks the country 145th out of 180 states in its 2017 World Press Freedom Index, down five slots from the previous year.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says South Sudan has muzzled the media for too long and is urging President Salva Kiir not to use the accreditation of foreign journalists "as a new tool of censorship and retaliation against foreign media."

In March, Austrian freelancer Simona Foltyn was told to leave the country by the Media Authority, a regulatory body created by South Sudan's government.

"The (Media Authority) managing director told me that I'd only been reporting about conflict and sexual violence," Foltyn said. "And that I hadn't been writing anything positive about South Sudan."

The blocking of journalists is getting worse, said Alfred Taban, a veteran South Sudanese reporter and chairman of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan.

"Who at this time, if he's a real journalist, would write articles that aren't critical about South Sudan?" Taban asked.

A spokesman for South Sudan's government, Ateny Wek Ateny, said the government doesn't interfere with the Media Authority's activities.

"I don't entirely agree with the decision to reject journalists, but anyone who is trying to incite the people of South Sudan is not wanted in this country," Ateny said.

The government established the Media Authority in February to regulate journalistic practices. It is funded by the government and some board members are government officials.

"Hate speech, defamation and incitement are three things we don't tolerate," said Media Authority managing director Elijah Alier. He said it isn't his intention to restrict journalists or throw them out of the country, but said unbalanced reporting can be harmful and misleading. The Media Authority said it has issued more than 200 press passes out of roughly 250 applications between February and June.

British freelance journalist Ashley Hamer reported in South Sudan between 2014 and 2016. She said the visa process was seamless until she applied for renewal in March. She was told she had failed her background check.

"I understand why they don't want us here," Hamer said. "There are horrific atrocities going on and they'd prefer us not interfering and making them look bad."
A Spanish court has ordered that the remains of Salvador Dali be exhumed after a woman who claims to be the daughter of the world-famous artist filed a paternity claim.

If the woman, identified as Pilar Abel and reportedly a psychic, is confirmed as the only child of Dali, she could be entitled to part of the huge fortune and heritage of one of the most celebrated and prolific painters of the 20th Century.

The Madrid court said on Monday the exhumation aimed "to get samples of his remains to determine whether he is the biological father of a woman from Girona (in northeastern Spain) who filed a claim to be recognised as the daughter of the artist."

"The DNA study of the painter's corpse is necessary due to the lack of other biological or personal remains with which to perform the comparative study," it added.

The Dali Foundation which manages the artist's estate said in a statement it would lodge an appeal against the exhumation "in the coming days," without giving further details.

Psychic

Dali is buried in his eponymous museum in Figueras, a city in the northeastern region of Catalonia where he died in January 1989 of heart failure after a life marked by the genius of his work and his own eccentricities and extravagances.

According to media reports Abel is 61 and a psychic.

She says her mother had an affair with Dali when she worked as a nanny for another family that vacationed in Port Lligat, a tiny fishing hamlet near Cadaques on the coast where the painter lived and worked for years with his muse Gala.

"My grandmother told me: 'I know that you're not my son's daughter, I know that your father is a great painter and she told me his name, Dali," Abel told Catalonia's TV3 television channel in 2015, adding her mother later admitted this was true.

She said she had already done DNA tests with a mask that belonged to Dali, but that she did not have the results.

Her lawyer Enrique Blanquez told AFP that the affair was "known in the village, there are people who have testified before a notary."

He said one person "worked for Dali and Dali paid her to investigate what she did and where the plaintiff's mother went."

Relationship with Gala

Born on 11 May, 1904 in Figueras to a bourgeois family  his father was a legal clerk  Dali developed an interest in painting from an early age.

In 1922 he began studying at the Fine Arts Academy in Madrid, where, despite being expelled twice, he developed his first avant-garde artistic ideas in association with poet Federico Garcia Lorca and the filmmaker Luis Bunuel.

Soon he left for Paris to join the surrealist movement, giving the school his own personal twist and rocketing to fame with works such as "The Great Masturbator."

Dali also made forays into the world of surrealist filmmaking.

Returning to Catalonia after 12 years, he invited French poet Paul Eluard and his Russian wife Elena Ivanovna Diakonova to Cadaques.

It was love at first sight between Dali and the woman to whom he gave the pet name Gala.

She became his muse and remained at his side for the rest of her life.

The couple never had children and there have been testimonies that the artist was confused about his sexuality and that he was more of a voyeur than a performer where sex was concerned.

But despite the reportedly unusual relationship, Gala was still his soulmate.

When she died in 1982, he was shattered, on both a human and artistic level.

Dali himself died in 1989 in a Figueras clinic.
Nairobi (Kenya): Tanzania has threatened to arrest and deport those campaigning for gay rights and de-register organisations protecting homosexual interests, local media reported on Monday.

"I would like to remind and warn all organisations and institutions that campaign and pretend to protect homosexual interests ... we are going to arrest whoever is involved and charge them in courts of law," the state-owned Daily News quoted interior minister Mwigulu Nchemba as saying.

In the country's latest attack on its homosexual community, Nchemba also said foreigners involved in such campaigns would be "deported within no time ... they will not have even the time to unplug their mobile phones from the socket."

"Those who are interested in homosexuality should go and live in countries that entertain such businesses. If there's any organisation in the country that supports and campaigns for homosexuality ... it shall be de-registered."

Nchemba's comments come just days after President John Magufuli slammed NGOs who campaign for gay rights, saying they should be countered even if this meant losing foreign aid.

"Those who teach such things do not like us, brothers. They brought us drugs and homosexual practices that even cows disapprove of," Magufuli said in a speech last Thursday.

Gay male sex is punishable by anything from 30 years to life imprisonment under Tanzanian law, but there is no such ban on lesbian relations.

However, politicians have largely ignored the gay community  which has not experienced the levels of discrimination seen in other countries such as neighbouring Uganda  until a recent spike in anti-gay rhetoric by the government.

Last July, the regional commissioner for the port city of Dar es Salaam, Paul Makonda, announced a crackdown which was followed by arrests in clubs.

Dozens of men suspected of being gay have been detained and taken to hospital for anal exams to confirm their homosexuality.

In the same month, the government banned the import and sales of sexual lubricants, which health minister Ummy Mwalimu said encouraged homosexuality that led to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

And in February, the government said it was stopping many privately-run health centres from providing AIDS-related services after they were accused of providing services to homosexuals.

The government also said it would publish a list of gay people selling sex online, but retracted this threat several days later.

Homosexuality is illegal in 38 of 54 countries in Africa, and is punishable by death in Mauritania, Sudan and Somalia, according to Amnesty International.
London: British prime minister Theresa May said on Monday that she wanted to end the anxiety of EU nationals fearful of their future after Brexit, promising to protect their rights and saying: "We want you to stay."

But she was heckled by critics in the House of Commons, while opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said her plan was "too little, too late".

The futures of 3.2 million EU citizens living in Britain were thrown into doubt by last year's referendum vote in Britain to leave the 28-member bloc.

Resolving the issue is a priority of the Brexit talks that began last week, but it also threatens to cause major rows between Britain and Brussels.

"I know there's been some anxiety about what would happen to EU citizens at the point we leave the European Union," May said, prompting jeers from opposition lawmakers.

"Today I want to put that anxiety to rest. I want to completely reassure people that under these plans no EU citizen currently in the UK lawfully will be asked to leave at the point the UK leaves the EU."

May set out the principles of her plan to European leaders at a Brussels summit last week in what was intended as a goodwill gesture - only to see them rejected as insufficient and vague.

In a 17-page policy document published on Monday, she set out further details, including the rights envisaged for family dependents of EU citizens that fall short of what Brussels had called for.

She also confirmed that she would not accept the oversight of the European Court of Justice on citizens' rights, saying it would fall to British courts to enforce the new rules - setting up another clash with the EU.

"This is a fair and serious offer," May said, adding that it would provide "reassurance and certainty".

But she repeated that the offer was conditional on a reciprocal deal for the estimated one million Britons living elsewhere in the EU.

Corbyn accused her of using European citizens as "bargaining chips", adding: "This isn't a generous offer."

"This country needs a new approach to Brexit," he said.
London: British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives signed a deal Monday with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party that will allow them to govern after losing their majority in a general election in June.

"An agreement has been signed," May's spokesman told AFP without revealing the details.

Northern Irish DUP leader Arlene Foster said she was "delighted" that a deal had been struck, while May said the Conservatives and the DUP "share many values" and Monday's agreement was "a very good one".

The agreement was signed by senior Conservative official Gavin Williamson and senior DUP member Jeffrey Donaldson, as May and Foster looked on.

The Conservatives have 317 seats in the 650-seat parliament after the 8 June election and need the support of the DUP's 10 MPs to be able to govern.

Discussions between the two began immediately after the election and centred on a "confidence and supply" deal in which the DUP would support the government in any confidence votes and to pass budgets.

The prospect of a deal with the ultra-conservative DUP has caused consternation in Britain since the party opposes gay marriage and abortion.

Some of its representatives have also been criticised in the past for homophobic comments, climate change denial statements and sectarian rhetoric.

Ireland's former premier Enda Kenny has warned that a deal with the Protestant and pro-British DUP could upset Northern Ireland's fragile peace.

London's neutrality is key to the delicate balance of power in Northern Ireland, which was once plagued by violence over Britain's control of the province.
Belfast: Arlene Foster, the woman who struck a deal to prop up British prime minister Theresa May on Monday, is a tough leader who experienced the bloodiness of the Northern Ireland conflict firsthand at an early age.

When she was just eight years old, her policeman father was shot in the head by Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitaries at their farmhouse near the border with the Republic of Ireland, which was then highly militarised.

At 16, Foster's school bus was blown up in another attack by the IRA aimed at killing its driver - a part-time member of the security forces.

Now aged 46, Foster holds the balance of power in British politics despite being dismissed as a has-been just a few months ago because of an ongoing scandal over a government scheme for renewable energy.

Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, and Conservative chief May looked on as their two parties signed an agreement in Downing Street on Monday that will offer the vital support of the DUP's 10 MPs.

That will give May just enough votes to be able to govern by a razor-thin margin after she lost her majority in a disastrous general election showing on 8 June.

The deal gives the DUP unprecedented influence, including on the international stage as Britain negotiates the terms of its exit from the European Union.

While her party supported Brexit in last year's referendum, it also wants an open border with Ireland and is aware of growing concern in Northern Ireland about the consequences of a "hard Brexit".

'Part of who I am'

Dismissing widespread concerns since the election over her ultra-conservative party's opposition to gay marriage and abortion, as well as its scepticism over climate change, Foster has said the DUP will confound its critics.

This may be uncharted territory for Foster and her party, but the former solicitor and veteran Northern Ireland assembly member is well versed in tough negotiations, and is no stranger to adversity.

In a 2015 interview with The Belfast Telegraph, she acknowledged that the attacks she witnessed in her childhood had shaped her outlook on life.

"It is part of who I am and can't be denied. It informed my teenage years, it informed my political decisions, but at the same time I don't think we should let the past define what we do in the future," she said.

Her father, John Kelly, survived the 1979 attack but it forced the family to move from the small farm where they lived to the relative security of the nearby town of Lisnaskea.

After secondary school in Enniskillen, Foster graduated from Queen's University in Belfast with a law degree.

During university she joined the Young Unionist Association, the youth wing of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which had ruled Northern Ireland virtually unchallenged since the state was created in 1922.

While practising as a lawyer she met her husband Brian. They have three children.

Polarising politics

Foster was elected to the newly formed local assembly in 2003 but like many UUP members she defected the following year to the rival upstart DUP in protest over the terms of the Good Friday Agreement negotiated by UUP leader David Trimble.

At the time Foster, an Anglican, acknowledged the perceived difficulties of joining a male-dominated party with its roots in the fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, both of which were founded by the evangelical minister Ian Paisley.

But she described it as meritocratic and welcoming, and quickly rose through its ranks.

The 1998 Good Friday accord ended three decades of political violence that cost 3,500 lives and paved the way for a devolved assembly but it also infuriated many, including Paisley's DUP, who opposed any amnesty for IRA prisoners as well as police reforms.

But after the IRA arms decommissioning, Paisley in 2007 formed a power-sharing executive with Sinn Fein, with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness as his deputy.

As first minister, Foster had a fraught relationship with McGuinness before he resigned in January and died a few weeks later after a short illness.

Her attendance at McGuinness's funeral in the heart of the Irish nationalist city of Derry was greeted with applause from the congregation, and many hoped it would signal the beginning of a new chapter.

But those hopes quickly dissipated after local and national elections in which both the DUP and Sinn Fein increased their vote, showing that almost two decades after the peace agreement was signed Northern Ireland remained as polarised as ever.
Columbus: Government websites, many of them in Ohio, were hacked with a message that purports to be supportive of the Islamic State terrorist group. A message posted on the website of Republican Ohio governor John Kasich said, "You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries."

The message, left by "Team System Dz," also ended, "I love the Islamic state."

The same message also infiltrated government websites in the town of Brookhaven, New York, as well as the website for Howard County, Maryland. In the past, the group also claimed responsibility for similar hacks in the past in Richland County, Wisconsin, and in places such as Aberdeen, Scotland, and Sweden.

Several other government websites were hacked in Ohio, including that of first lady Karen Kasich, Medicaid, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and the Casino Control Commission.

Tom Hoyt, chief communications officer for Ohio's Department of Administrative Services, was among Ohio officials who confirmed the hack.

"All affected servers have been taken offline and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites," he said. "We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened."

He said the hacking in Ohio happened at about 11 am. He hoped the websites would be up and running sometime Monday.

The websites in Brookhaven and Howard County also remained down Sunday.

The hack is part of ongoing cyberterrorism that has impacted governments and corporations across the globe.

Some see these types of hacks  sometimes called "defacement"  as simply a nuisance, though in some instances, they have been disruptive to work and government life.

But others see cause for alarm. "Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland," Josh Mandel, the Ohio treasurer and a Republican candidate for US Senate, said in a tweet Sunday.

Authors of the website "Cryptosphere," which tracks hackers worldwide, have detailed dozens, if not hundreds, of similar hacks in recent years by the so-called Team System DZ, which they called a "pro-Islamic State hacker crew" and claim are based in Algeria.

Impacted websites, they said, have included those for a synagogue in Florida, the student union at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, for UK Rugby and a number of websites on WordPress.
Washington: The Supreme Court is letting the Trump administration mostly enforce its 90-day ban on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries, overturning lower court orders that blocked it.

The action Monday is a victory for President Donald Trump in the biggest legal controversy of his young presidency.

The court did leave one category of foreigners protected, those "with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States," the court said in an unsigned opinion. The justices will hear arguments in the case in October.

Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by courts.

The ban would apply to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The Trump administration said the ban was needed to allow an internal review of the screening procedures for visa applicants from those countries. That review should be complete before 2 October, the first day the justices could hear arguments in their new term.
Washington: The US Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by allowing his temporary bans on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and all refugees to go into effect for people with no connection to the United States while agreeing to hear his appeals in the closely watched legal fight.

The court, which narrowed the scope of lower court rulings that had completely blocked his 6 March executive order, said it would hear arguments on the legality of one of Trump's signature policies in his first months as president in the court's next term, which starts in October.

The justices granted parts of his administration's emergency request to put the order into effect immediately while the legal battle continues.

The court said that the travel ban will go into effect "with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."

The Supreme Court left the lower-court injunctions against the ban in place, but only with respect to the challengers to the ban themselves and others in similar circumstances, meaning they involve people in the United States who have relationships with foreign nationals abroad and whose rights might be affected if those foreigners were excluded from entry.

But the court said the injunctions were too broad to also include barring enforcement of the ban against foreigners who have no connection to the United States at all. "Denying entry to such a foreign national does not burden any American party by reason of that party's relationship with the foreign national," the court said.

The court also said it would allow a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to go into effect on the same grounds, allowing the government to exclude from the United States refugee claimants who do not have any "bona fide relationship" with an American individual or entity.

Three of the court's conservatives said they would have granted Trump's request in full, including Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch.

The case is Trump's first major challenge at the Supreme Court, where he restored a 5-4 conservative majority with the appointment of Gorsuch, who joined the bench in April. There are five Republican appointees on the court and four Democratic appointees.

The 6 March order called for a 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to enable the government to implement stronger vetting procedures. It was blocked by federal judges before going into effect on 16 March as planned.

Trump issued the order amid rising international concern about attacks carried out by Islamist militants like those in Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin and other cities. But critics have called the order a mean-spirited, intolerant and un-American "Muslim ban."

The state of Hawaii and a group of plaintiffs in Maryland represented by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the order violated federal immigration law and the Constitution's First Amendment prohibition on the government favoring or disfavoring any particular religion. Regional federal appeals courts in Virginia and California both upheld district judge injunctions blocking the order.

Trump signed the order as a replacement for a 27 January order issued a week after he became president that also was blocked by federal courts.

The revised order was intended to overcome the legal issues posed by the original ban, which also included Iraq among the nations targeted and a full ban on refugees from Syria. The revised order also jettisoned language that gave preferential status to persecuted religious minorities, which critics said could be taken as favoring Christians and other religious groups over Muslims.

Trump has called the March order a "watered down, politically correct" version of the January one. But the order still embodied his "America First" nationalist message and reflected his views of the dangers posed to the United States by certain immigrants and visitors.

The administration has said the travel ban is needed to allow time to implement stronger vetting measures, although it has already rolled out some new requirements not blocked by courts, including additional questions for visa applicants.
Washington: The White House did not host a traditional iftar dinner to commemorate Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, for the first time in nearly two decades, a media report said on Monday.

Despite events held by previous administrations, this year's Ramadan passed nearly unobserved by the White House. It was marked only by a statement published late Saturday coinciding with the end of the holy month, reports The Guardian.

The first White House iftar dinner was hosted by President Thomas Jefferson in 1805.

Hillary Clinton resurrected the event when she was First Lady in February 1996, hosting about 150 people for a reception for Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month.

The sunset dinner, attended by legislators, diplomats and leaders within the US Muslim community, went on to become an annual tradition from 1999, observed by the past three administrations.

George W Bush held an iftar dinner every year of his two terms, including just after the September 2001 terror attacks.

President Barack Obama hosted his first Ramadan dinner in 2009 and subsequently every year of his presidency.

The Washington Post reported that Saturday's White House statement was signed by Donald and Melania Trump and was not posted to the president's social media presences.

It read: "Muslims in the US joined those around the world during the holy month of Ramadan to focus on acts of faith and charity.

"Now, as they commemorate Eid with family and friends, they carry on the tradition of helping neighbours and breaking bread with people from all walks of life. During this holiday, we are reminded of the importance of mercy, compassion and goodwill. With Muslims around the world, the US renews our commitment to honour these values. Eid Mubarak."

Last year, then presidential candidate Trump said in an ABC News interview that he would be open to continuing the tradition of hosting the dinner if he were in the White House.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also broke with tradition by not hosting an iftar dinner at the State Department.
Coffee inventories in South America are declining so badly that reserves are forecast to be dangerously low. Global coffee prices are increasing and will continue to do... Read More
Scientists have found a substitute for one of the most expensive spices in the world, saffron. The spice, known as red gold" often gets overlooked in terms... Read More
Only in Essex steamer clam cakes with traditional New England tartar sauce

Medium

For the clams: 1) Add the olive oil to a large pan over medium heat. Chop the onion into large chunks and saute in the oil until lightly cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the beer and the clams. Cover and cook until all of the clams are opened, about 10
Government websites, many of them in Ohio, were hacked Sunday with a message that purports to be supportive of the Islamic State terrorist group.

A message posted on the website of Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich said, "You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries."

The message, left by "Team System Dz," also ended, "I love the Islamic state."

The same message also infiltrated government websites in the town of Brookhaven, New York, according to news reports in that state, as well as the website for Howard County, Maryland. In the past, the group also claimed responsibility for similar hacks in the past in Richland County, Wisconsin, and in places such as Aberdeen, Scotland, and Sweden.

Several other government websites were hacked in Ohio, including that of first lady Karen Kasich, Medicaid, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and the Casino Control Commission.

Tom Hoyt, chief communications officer for Ohio's Department of Administrative Services, was among Ohio officials who confirmed the hack.

"All affected servers have been taken offline and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites," he said. "We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened."

He said the hacking in Ohio happened at about 11 a.m. EDT. He hoped the websites would be up and running sometime Monday.

The websites in Brookhaven and Howard County also remained down on Sunday. When asked about the outage on the Brookhaven site, a spokeswoman who answered the phone at the New York town's police department simply offered a "no comment."

The hack is part of ongoing cyberterrorism that has impacted governments and corporations across the globe.

Some see these types of hacks  sometimes called "defacement"  as simply a nuisance, though in some instances, they have been disruptive to work and government life.

But others see cause for alarm. "Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland," Josh Mandel, the Ohio treasurer and a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said in a tweet Sunday.

Authors of the website "Cryptosphere," which tracks hackers worldwide, have detailed dozens, if not hundreds, of similar hacks in recent years by the so-called Team System DZ, which they called a "pro-ISIS hacker crew" and claim are based in Algeria.

Impacted websites, they said, have included those for a synagogue in Florida, the student union at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, for UK Rugby and a number of websites on Wordpress.
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In a vote of confidence for the Senateas health care bill Monday, one of the United Statesa largest health insurance companies endorsed the legislation, citing the positive impact it would have on the individual market and premium costs.

aWe believe the Senate discussion draft will markedly improve the stability of the individual market and moderate premium increases through substantial stability funding, appropriating cost sharing reduction funds, aligning premium subsidies with premium costs, and eliminating the health insurance tax,a the company said in a statement.

The Senate health care bill, among other things, continues funding for cost-sharing reduction subsidies (CSRs), or reimbursement for discounted care provided to low-income individuals. In a direct effort to stabilize the insurance market, the bill also proposes providing $15 billion per year in 2018 and 2019 and then another $10 billion per year through 2021 to offset rising costs.

While the Senate's bill has been criticized over its proposal to slow the expansion of Medicaid, Anthem indicated Monday that was an issue it would be willing to work with the administration on.

aWe are committed to working with our government partners now and into the future to navigate the challenges the current bill proposes to the Medicaid program knowing how important it is to achieve the necessary funding and access to healthcare services and supports are for the individuals and families who rely on them to live healthy meaningful lives in their communities,a the company said.

Anthem has already announced plans to withdraw from the ObamaCare exchanges in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin next year. One piece of the bill the insurer did not mention is the proposal to eliminate the individual and employer mandates, which could potentially remove more Americans from the insurance market.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the bill could be up for a vote in the chamber as early as this week.
BMW plans to invest another $600 million in its South Carolina factory, a move that will add 1,000 jobs.

The German luxury automaker said Monday the investment will support future production of BMW X sport-utility vehicles in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The investment will carry from 2018 to 2021.

Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of BMWs decision to build the plant, executives were in Spartanburg on Monday to unveil the redesigned X3 compact SUV, which will arrive in showrooms by the fall. The Spartanburg factory will also build the X7, a new three-row SUV coming to the BMW lineup in late 2018.

BMW recently spent roughly $1 billion to expand manufacturing capacity in Spartanburg. The plant, which currently employs more than 9,000 people, built 411,000 vehicles in 2016, according to BMW. Spartanburg is now home to the largest BMW factory in the world.

We will keep investing in our people and in our business in the US, BMW CEO Harald Krueger said in a statement. Therefore, I remain confident that our footprint and commitment will continue to grow not only in the great state of South Carolina, but also in the United States in the years to come.

Krueger was among the German CEOs who attended a meeting in March with President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. BMW was also one of the automakers that came under fire from Trump, who has criticized Ford (NYSE:F), General Motors (NYSE:GM) and others for building vehicles outside the U.S.

BMW exports about 70% of the vehicles it makes in Spartanburg, the company says.
A private spaceflight company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to build a powerful new rocket engine in Alabama for space flight, the company and state officials announced Monday.

Blue Origin President Robert Meyerson said his company is seeking a production contract with United Launch Alliance, a private company that provides satellite launches for the U.S. government and others. He said the company will locate a production factory for the BE-4 rocket engine in Huntsville upon a contract being signed. According to the company's website, the powerful BE-4 engine is designed to end dependence on Russian-built engines for launching payloads into space.

"Alabama is a proven leader in aerospace manufacturing with the highest-skilled workforce, business climate and leadership that we need to produce low-cost rocket engines that we need to protect the nation, (and) explore the universe," Meyerson said at a news conference in Huntsville.

Blue Origin is considered a leading contender for the contract after it and ULA entered into a partnership last year with the U.S. Air Force to develop a new rocket propulsion system to power Vulcan, ULA's new rocket designed to carry heavy payloads into space.

A spokeswoman for ULA declined by email to discuss the status of the project, saying it is an ongoing procurement.

In making the announcement, Blue Origin said it would invest $200 million in the Huntsville facility and expects to employ up to 350 people producing as many as 30 engines a year.

"Blue Origin, welcome to Alabama," Gov. Kay Ivey said in an announcement Monday. "We thank you for investing in our people."

The Alabama Development office said in a release that the state offered an incentive package of more than $50 million, including a $30 million tax credit for investment and up to $10 million in reimbursements for eligible capital costs.

Ivey said the project would build on the historic role that Huntsville and Alabama have played in the development of the American space program.

The BE-4 is fueled by liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas to produce 550,000 pounds (250,000 kilograms) of thrust and is intended to be used in both government and commercial missions. The engine is designed for both the Vulcan rocket being developed by ULA and Blue Origin's New Glenn orbital rocket and capsule, which is under development.

One political leader praised the project as a way to give space flight in the U.S. independence from Russian-made rocket engines.

"You are going to do well here, and we're going to replace that Russian engine," Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama told Blue Origin officials at the event in Huntsville.
Oil prices settled more than half a percent higher on Monday as some traders found bargains after last week's seven-month lows, but rising crude supply in the United States and other countries limited gains.

Brent crude futures settled up 29 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $45.83 a barrel. The benchmark was still set to end the first half of the year down nearly 20 percent.

U.S. crude futures were up 37 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $43.38 a barrel.

"I think its mostly bottom fishing at this point," said John Kilduff, partner with energy hedge fund Again Capital in New York, who noted there was some "book squaring" with the end of the quarter approaching.

"After how much weve fallen, prices are attractive here as a result, so its not surprising that we're getting some buying, just on a valuation perspective."

In the week to June 20, investors in U.S. crude futures and options increased their short positions, or bets against rising prices.

"On a speculative basis its arguably worth going long here and playing for a bounce," Kilduff said. "The market is taking a breather here before we take a next move, which I think will be lower."

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners have been trying to reduce a global crude glut with production cuts. OPEC states and 11 other exporters agreed in May to extend cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until March.

However, Nigeria and Libya, OPEC members exempt from the cuts, have raised output. Iran was allowed a small increase to recover market share lost under Western sanctions. It said its production has surpassed 3.8 million bpd and is expected to reach 4 million bpd by March.

U.S. shale oil output is up around 10 percent since last year, with the number of U.S. oil rigs in operation at the highest in more than three years.

U.S. production could jump to 10, maybe 10.5 million barrels a day by the end of the year, and when you add Libya, Nigeria and North Sea production, that will negate the Saudi-led cuts," said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "Were looking to make a run at the 40 dollar market."

Analysts at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said demand had not grown quickly enough to absorb excess output.

"Looking into the second half of 2017, we now doubt that demand growth will accelerate sufficiently," they wrote.

(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London, Jane Chung in Seoul; Editing by David Gregorio and Steve Orlofsky)
Music streaming service Pandora Media's founder and chief executive, Tim Westergren, plans to step down, Recode reported citing people familiar with the company's plans.

The company has not yet selected a replacement for Westergren, who is likely to stay on at Pandora until a new chief executive is in place, Recode reported on Sunday.

Westergren, who co-founded Pandora in 2000, served as its Chief Executive and president from May 2002 to July 2004, before returning to the company as its chief executive last year.

The company could not be immediately reached for comment.

Earlier this month, Sirius XM Holdings said it would invest $480 million in Pandora, giving the satellite radio company better exposure to internet music streaming while providing financial footing to Pandora.

Pandora faces stiff competition from services such as Sweden's Spotify, Apple's Apple Music, Google Play Music and Amazon.com's Amazon Music Unlimited, which dominate the on-demand music service market.

(Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
The co-owner of a pharmacy responsible for the deaths of 76 people was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison after he tearfully apologized to victims who described watching their loved ones die or enduring excruciating physical pain from a 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated steroids.

"I am so sorry for your extraordinary losses," Barry Cadden said, wiping his eyes. "I am sorry for the whole range of suffering that resulted from my company's drugs."

The sentence was far less than more than a dozen victims asked for while making emotional victim impact statements to U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns. Many asked the judge to send the 50-year-old Cadden to prison for the rest of his life.

"His actions have caused my life to be shattered and my family so much pain," said Rachelle Shuff, of Elkhart, Indiana, who received steroid shots for back pain while trying to recover from serious injuries she received in a car accident.

Shuff said she nearly died after contracting meningitis from the contaminated steroids five years ago. Since then, she continues to suffer from severe, chronic pain and an assortment of other symptoms, including vomiting, nosebleeds, frequent falls and memory loss.

"I will die imprisoned in my body," she said.

During trial, prosecutors said Cadden, the co-owner and president of the now-closed New England Compounding Center in Framingham, ran the company in an "extraordinarily dangerous" way, sending out the steroids when he knew there was mold present in the room where the steroids were made and skirting industry standards on cleanliness and sterility to step up production and make more profit.

"Make no mistake about it  what Barry Cadden did was evil, and he should be punished accordingly," said Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese, urging the judge to sentence Cadden to 35 years in prison.

Cadden's lawyer, Bruce Singal, asked for a three-year sentence and said prosecutors were trying to punish Cadden for murder, a charge that was rejected by the jury.

Jurors acquitted Cadden of 25 second-degree murder charges under the federal racketeering law but found him guilty of fraud and conspiracy. Singal said there was no evidence Cadden knowingly shipped contaminated drugs.

Besides the 76 people who died, more than 700 were sickened. Illnesses and deaths in 20 states were traced to the contaminated steroids. Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee were hit hardest. One of those who died was longtime Kentucky judge Eddie C. Lovelace, whose widow, Joyce Lovelace, told her story to Congress.

The judge ordered Cadden to report to federal prison on Aug. 7 to begin serving his term. Cadden will remain free on bond until he reports to prison.

Penny Laperriere, whose husband died after receiving a contaminated steroid shot, said Cadden destroyed her family.

"Who gave him the right to play God?" the Michigan woman said.

She said her husband, Lyn Laperriere, received the shot to try to get relief from his back pain.

The outbreak of fungal meningitis and other infections was traced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contaminated injections of medical steroids, given mostly to people with back pain.

The CDC put the death toll at 64 as of October 2013. Federal prosecutors said 12 more people have died since then, raising the total to 76.

The scandal prompted increased scrutiny on compounding pharmacies, which differ from ordinary drugstores in that they custom-mix medications and supply them directly to hospitals and doctors. In 2013, in reaction to the outbreak, Congress increased federal oversight of such pharmacies.

Federal prosecutor Amanda Strachan told the jury during the two-month trial that the deaths and illnesses happened because Cadden "decided to put profits before patients."

The pharmacy used expired ingredients and falsified logs to make it look as if the so-called clean rooms had been disinfected, prosecutors said. After the outbreak, regulators found multiple potential sources of contamination, including standing water and mold and bacteria in the air and on workers' gloved fingertips.

Cadden's lawyer pointed the finger at Glenn Chin, a supervisory pharmacist who ran the clean rooms where drugs were made. Chin has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in September.

The pharmacy filed for bankruptcy after getting hit with hundreds of lawsuits. It and several related companies reached a $200 million settlement with victims and their families.
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It has been a fantastic year for specialty chemical manufacturer Chemours (NYSE: CC). The stock is up 67% year to date. Part of those gains is due to improving market conditions for its leading product groups: titanium dioxide and fluoroproducts. The company increased manufacturing volumes and prices in the first quarter of 2017, which pushed operating income for the period higher than the previous eight quarters combined. Not bad.

The other part of the stock's gain this year is owed to the removal of legal uncertainty. In February, Chemours and DuPont (NYSE: DD) announced they had reached a $670 million settlement with thousands of residents in Ohio and West Virginia relating to chemical pollution of waterways. While that's a relatively large amount, investors and funds were fearing a much larger financial agreement in the court battle that lasted over a decade, which had put downward pressure on the stock. Now that the issue is resolved, and market conditions for its lead products are improving, Wall Street doesn't appear to have any reservations.

Unfortunately, that is probably all about to change.

Socially responsible investors beware

The legal settlement centers on a highly toxic chemical known as PFOA, which was previously used in the United States to manufacture various fluoroproducts, including the famous non-stick coating Teflon. While it had been used since the 1950s, it only drew the scrutiny of scientists and public health officials in the last 15 years. It has since been strongly linked to a host of health issues including pregnancy-induced hypertension, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, and even high cholesterol. The lawsuit was specifically for the company's Washington, West Virginia, fluoroproduct facility, which is one of nine in the United States operated by Chemours and one of 18 it owns globally.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency eventually took action, essentially forcing American chemical manufacturers to stop using PFOA by the end of 2015. It also set a recommended exposure limit in drinking water to 0.07 parts per billion. To put that -- and the dire health concerns of PFOA -- into perspective, the EPA exposure limit for lead in drinking water is 15 ppb.

While it's another unfortunate example of the unknown risks of legacy chemicals from the 20th century that are rarely tested by the EPA, Chemours and DuPont have Wall Street thinking that the legal settlement announced in February is the end of the story. After all, they say they no longer use nor create PFOA during the manufacturing of fluoroproducts.

A report in a local newspaper in North Carolina should make investors begin to reconsider the risks posed to the business from its fluoroproducts manufacturing operations, which make significant contributions to the overall business.

On June 22, the Port City Daily shed more light on an ongoing dispute between the EPA and a chemical manufacturing site in Fayetteville, North Carolina, that is discharging high levels of PFOA into the local waterways. Three companies share a wastewater facility and wastewater permit at the site: Kuraray, DuPont, and Chemours. In fact, there's only one pipe discharging processed water from the site into the local waterways, which is making it difficult to tell exactly who is responsible.

Some simple deduction points a finger in one direction. DuPont is only listed on the permit because it was the predecessor to Chemours, which still manufactures fluoroproducts at the site. Meanwhile, Kuraray acquired laminated glass manufacturing facilities at the site from DuPont, but those production processes don't use PFOA, according to the company. That only leaves one possible polluter.

This may be a "he said, she said" dispute at the moment, but even if Kuraray is the culprit, in the end, Chemours investors shouldn't breathe a sigh of relief just yet. There are two reasons.

First, Chemours and DuPont could still face legal cases for other fluoroproduct manufacturing sites in the United States or elsewhere in the world, namely in Europe, Brazil, and Asia. The $670 million settlement reached in February only covered one manufacturing site.

Second, the Cape Fear Watershed in North Carolina -- where the Fayetteville site discharges water -- has become a hotspot for studying the new chemicals being used to replace PFOA. For DuPont and Chemours, that's usually a chemical they call GenX, which is similar to PFOA and not as well studied.

What is available in the scientific literature isn't adding up very favorably for Chemours. Scientists from respected universities and the even the EPA have found levels of GenX in Cape Fear that greatly exceed levels of PFOA (which still exceed EPA-mandated limits). While research on the possible health effects of GenX is underway, it has demonstrated toxicity in lab animal studies that warrants additional study. The EPA even raised concerns about the chemical, stating that it "will persist in the environment, could bioaccumulate, and be toxic to people, wild mammals, and birds" based on its similarities to PFOA. Yet, the agency approved it for use anyway and currently does not impose drinking water limits for GenX.

Should that happen in the future, DuPont and Chemours could be on the hook for additional fines and legal liabilities. The latter's fluoroproduct business could also face increased competition if consumers and customers decide to turn away from the unique class of chemicals. Given their importance and (as of today) unmatched properties, that could be a long shot without harsh restrictions handed down by the EPA or international treaties (which already exist for fluoroproduct precursors). Then again, there is a precedent for eliminating toxic and environmentally harmful industrial chemicals on a global scale. PFOA and its replacements harm both.

What does it mean for investors?

The incredible toxicity of PFOA has brought increased regulatory and scientific scrutiny to fluoroproducts and the chemicals used in their production. With multiple studies underway researching potential links to Gen X and health issues and the similarities to PFOA, investors should know that the odds of additional hefty fines or legal settlements are much greater than zero. Wall Street isn't currently pricing this additional risk into the stock, but I wouldn't want to be a shareholder when analysts wake up and see storm clouds on the horizon.

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Updated

Takatas bankruptcy filing will make it more challenging for automakers to recoup the cost of repairing millions of vehicles with defective air bags.

Honda (NYSE:HMC), General Motors (NYSE:GM), Ford (NYSE:F) and nearly every other major automaker have recalled around 42 million vehicles in the U.S., making it the largest automotive recall in history. Faulty Takata air bag inflators, which can cause air bags to explode with shrapnel-like material, sparked a global recall spanning 100 million parts. The weight of the massive recall sent Takata into bankruptcy on Monday, a move that executives said was necessary to continue production of replacement parts.

So far, automakers have shouldered the brunt of the cost. Most manufacturers have estimated how much money they will spend in total on repairs, whether or not any costs are ultimately shared with Takata. However, the odds of being reimbursed by the now-bankrupt the Japanese supplier are likely slim, according to automakers.

Honda, which accounts for roughly half of the affected vehicles worldwide, has already booked charges amounting to 556 billion yen ($5 billion) for its air bag recalls. Honda officials in Japan said the company had expected it would be difficult to secure compensation from Takata, according to Reuters. A spokesperson told FOX Business that Honda has already accounted for what it believes to be the total cost of completing the recalls on its own.

Our focus remains on taking care of our customers by ensuring an adequate supply of replacement parts and encouraging owners of affected vehicles to complete necessary repairs, the Honda spokesperson said.

Ford isnt disclosing the cost of its Takata air bag repairs, saying it included the estimates in its overall financial outlook.

We are following NHTSAs coordinated remedy to phase in vehicles by model, model years, and regions, over the next few years, a Ford spokesperson said.

In a statement, GM said any material financial impact related to the Takata recalls would be reflected in its public financial reports. GM has estimated that it will cost $320 million to replace inflators in 2.5 million vehicles. The company also could spend $550 million on another 4.3 million vehicles that may need repairs, but it was working with the National Highway Traffic Safety administration to prove those vehicles have air bags that work properly.

GM added that does not anticipate any supply disruptions as a result of Takatas bankruptcy. The company was part of a group of global automakers that held discussions with Takata and Key Safety Systems prior to Mondays filing.

Nissan warned that it doesnt expect Takata to provide reimbursements, but the Japanese car maker has already set aside reserves to pay for the recalls.

Although we have acquired the right to be reimbursed for the costs of both past and future recalls from Takata and its affiliates, following Takatas filing, it is likely that we will not be able to exercise this right in most cases, Nissan said in a filing with the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Nissan issued a separate statement saying its working as quickly as possible to ensure that affected owners can visit their dealer for corrective action as soon as possible. Nissan is working with alternative suppliers to make new inflators for a prompt rollout in future vehicles.

Takata officials said it remains unclear how much all of the recalls will cost, according to the Associated Press. There is still a long way to go before repairs are finished. Dealers have replaced inflators in 36% of the affected vehicles in the U.S.

Key Safety Systems, a Michigan-based supplier, has stepped in with an offer to buy Takatas assets for $1.6 billion, although the sale must be approved by the court. Takata is expected to use $1 billion of the proceeds to cover its settlement of criminal charges with U.S. authorities. The settlement includes $850 million that would go to automakers, but that sum is expected to cover just a portion of the industrys recall expenses.

In its filing for Chapter 11 protection, Takata said its liabilities currently exceed $10 billion.
The United States, China and India, the worlds largest coal users, have increased coal mining this year by 6 percent following 2016s record global decline.

Among the three countries, production through May is up by at least 121 million tons compared to the same period last year, according to data reviewed by The Associated Press. The change is most dramatic in the United States where production is up 19 percent within just the first five months of 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The new data is a reversal from last years trend, where tonnage mined worldwide fell 6.5 percent, the largest drop on record, according to data from BP. China and the U.S. accounted for almost all of the decline.

The reasons for this year's turnaround include policy shifts in China, changes in U.S. energy markets and India's continued push to provide electricity to more of its poor, industry experts said. President Donald Trump's role as coal's booster-in-chief in the U.S. has played at most a minor role, they said.

Earlier this month President Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement intended to curb global emissions. The president said the agreement impacted his ability to fulfill his "America First" campaign promise to revive jobs and the economy in the United States. Trump's advocacy for reviving the coal-mining industry stands as an exception among the three top coal producing nations' leaders. Yet the U.S. also is where coal's rebound could be briefest.

Cheap natural gas, a growing appetite for renewable energy and stricter pollution rules spurred utilities to shut down or announce retirements for several hundred U.S. coal plants. Many companies made investments based on the shift toward cleaner energy and many experts believe market forces will continue to push the trend in that direction.

The fuel's popularity waned globally over the past several years as renewable power and natural gas made gains and China moved to curb dangerous levels of urban smog from burning coal.

Whether coal's comeback proves lasting has significant implications for long-term emission reduction targets, and for environmentalists' hopes that China and India could emerge as leaders in battling climate change.

While the U.S. reversal is expected to prove temporary, analysts agree that India's use of coal will continue to grow. They're divided on the forecast for China over the next decade.

Industry representatives say the mining resurgence underscores coal's continued importance in power generation, though analysts caution its long-term growth prospects remain bleak.

The U.S., China and India combined produce about two-thirds of the coal mined worldwide, and the latter two nations also import coal to meet demand. India's production expanded even during coal's global downturn.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A U.S. government lawyer told jurors Monday that a monthlong trial has revealed the secret long-time owner of a Manhattan skyscraper: Iran.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard expressed confidence that the government had proven through witness testimony, documents and other evidence in Manhattan federal court that the Alavi Foundation must give up its 60 percent stake in the 36-story office tower near Rockefeller Center.

He said Iran's secret ownership of the building and Alavi's complicity in a conspiracy to hide what was really going on has violated sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Iran for the last 22 years.

"You've seen that secret laid bare," Lockard said.

But attorney John Gleeson, representing Alavi, belittled the government's certainty over the building's history when he took his turn before the jury.

He said the U.S. government launched a biased investigation of Alavi from the start with conclusions reached well before it had collected the facts.

It was certain that Alavi had violated sanctions against Iran that were imposed in 1995, Gleeson said.

Anyone who disputed that scenario "was not telling the truth," he said the government concluded.

"Blend everything together, paint everything, everyone, with the same brush," Gleeson said of the government's approach.

As early as Tuesday, the jury will begin deciding whether Alavi violated sanctions and if it did, whether it must surrender all, some or none of its stake in the skyscraper.

A large but mostly silent presence in the courtroom are lawyers representing victims of terrorism, including the estates of victims killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The U.S. government plans to turn over proceeds from a sale of the building and other properties to holders of more than $5 billion in terrorism-related judgments against the government of Iran.

The government also is seeking the forfeiture of buildings in Houston; Carmichael, California; Catharpin, Virginia; and Rockville, Maryland, that are owned by the foundation, which was formed in the 1970s by then Iranian leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in 1979.

Gleeson has said the Alavi Foundation's charity has spent millions of dollars over several decades to promote the history and culture of Iran, including through the Islamic Institute of New York and a high school in Queens attended by 300 students from 30 countries.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Government websites, many of them in Ohio, were hacked Sunday with a message that purports to be supportive of the Islamic State terrorist group.

A message posted on the website of Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich said, "You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries."

The message, left by "Team System Dz," also ended, "I love the Islamic state."

According to the New York Post, the same message also infiltrated government websites in Brookhaven, New York, on Long Island. In the past, the group also claimed responsibility for similar hacks in the past in Richland County, Wisconsin and in places such as Aberdeen, Scotland.

Several other government websites were hacked in Ohio, including that of first lady Karen Kasich, Medicaid, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and the Casino Control Commission.

Tom Hoyt, chief communications officer for Ohio's Department of Administrative Services, was among Ohio officials who confirmed the hack.

"All affected servers have been taken offline and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites," he said. "We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened."

He said the hacking in Ohio happened at about 11 a.m. EDT. He hoped the websites would be up and running sometime Monday.

The hack is part of ongoing cyberterrorism that has impacted governments and corporations across the globe.

Some see these types of hacks as simply a nuisance, though in some instances, they have been disruptive to work and government life.

Others see cause for alarm.

"Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland," Josh Mandel, the Ohio treasurer and a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said in a tweet Sunday.
Sen. Jerry Moran said Sunday he is uncertain if Republicans will be able to pass health care reform, as opposition builds, potentially derailing the Senates chances.

I just don't know whether the votes will be there by the end of the week, said Moran, R-Kan., during an interview on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.

The Senate, which unveiled on Thursday its plan for repealing and replacing President Obamas signature health care legislation, known as the Affordable Care Act, is facing an increasing number of lawmakers coming out against the proposal.

On Friday, Dean Heller, R-Nev., became the fifth senatoralong with Rand Paul from Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, Utahs Mike Lee and Ron Johnson of Wisconsinto oppose Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells, R-Ky., proposal.

In an effort to pass health care legislation, Sen. Moran said hes willing to give up his summer recess in order to get the job done.

I think Congress has a responsibility of doing more work in a timely fashion than what weve been able to do so far, he said. I think it's better than it was in the days gone by, we're working now five days a week, generally, and were in Washington, D.C., five days a week  if it takes being in Washington, D.C., in August, let's do it.
A new study reveals Seattles minimum wage increase to $15 an hour is actually having a negative impact, with low-wage workers earning on average $125 less a month due to the minimum wage hike.

Bar Rescue host Jon Taffer said the wage increase led to fewer hours for some, and unemployment for others.

So heres the result, employment growth was at 6%-7% in the restaurant sector for employees, its now down to 1.2%," Taffer told FOX Business Network's Stuart Varney. "A lot of restauranteurs have cut back staffing by 10%, reduced employees to part time, the employees lost on this.

Taffer looked to the statistics in New York as an example of why the increased costs for restaurants due to the minimum wage increase is leading to job cuts.

In New York, Stuart, tipped employees got a 50% increase in pay, thats a serious impact on operating costs for business. In fast food, non-tipped employees got a 20% increase."

Taffer said comparing the employment data in the industry to the state of the job market during the recession, proves the wage hike has hit restaurants harder. So the restaurant decline in employee growth is greater than during the recession as a result of this.

As restaurants turn to technology such as tablets now in an effort to reduce their costs, Taffer says employees will continue to be targeted for cost savings. "And the fact is, you know, machines can flip hamburgers too in fast food restaurants, you know, machines can package.
As the Senate health care bill continues to be opposed by a seemingly growing number of Republican senators, conservatives worked through the weekend with Senate leadership to offer alternatives to the controversial legislative text.

After voicing their disapproval of the bill on Friday through a joint statement, Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have opened up negotiations with Senate leadership, including Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and are proposing significant changes to the legislative text in the hopes they can vote yes on a bill that they dont believe does enough to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, FOX Business has learned.

Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Rand Paul, confirmed to FOX Business that the four opponents to the bill are working with leadership on altering the discussion draft in the hope that they can come to an agreement.

One of the concerns the group has goes back to the debate on whether health insurance companies should be required to provide coverage for people who fall under the title one section of the Affordable Care Act, which includes individuals with pre-existing conditions, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Similar to the House health care bill, the American Health Care Act, conservative senators are proposing that states should be given the option to waive Title One coverage in the hope that insurance companies would be able to save money and become unshackled from government regulations, according to those close to the discussions. The House passed their ObamaCare replacement bill in May after months of negotiations.

With 52 seats in the Senate, leadership is going to need the support of at least two of the four conservative members if they intend to pass their new health care legislation by the July 4 deadline. There are currently five Republicans against the bill with the recent addition of Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who acknowledged on Friday he would not vote for the bill in its current form.

A spokesman for Mike Lee had no comment but did not deny the conservative senators working together and referred to Lees op-ed posted on his website, where he specifically asks for the bill be amended to include an opt-out provision, for states or even just for individuals. Lee also notes he would not vote the bill in its current form.

A spokesman for McConnell also didnt deny conversations with the four conservative senators, telling FOX Business Senate Leadership has been engaged with the entire Conference.

A spokesman for Cruz did not return calls for comment, and a spokesman for Johnson had no comment.

The bill in its current form has concerned others within the Republican conference due to the phasing out of Medicaid funds and, similar to the House bill, putting the Medicaid program on a budget by winding down the open-ended entitlement.

Susan Collins, (R-Maine), addressed her concerns with the bill's cuts to Medicaid on ABC on Sunday.

Im very concerned about the cost of insurance for older people with serious chronic illnesses, and the impact of the Medicaid cuts on our state governments, Collins said.

Until Monday, President Trumps administration didnt appear to be directly involved in the discussions on the Senate's health care bill. However, that changed when White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his daily press briefing that Trump had positive discussions with several Republican senators over the weekend, including two who are working directly with Senate leadership, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by allowing his temporary ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and all refugees to go into effect for people with no strong ties to the United States while agreeing to decide this fall the legality of the order.

The case represents a major test of presidential powers. The justices, in their unsigned decision, granted parts of the Trump administration's emergency request to put the order into effect immediately while the legal battle continues.

The court, which narrowed the scope of lower court rulings that had completely blocked his March 6 executive order, said it would hear arguments in October on the lawfulness of one of Trump's signature policies in his first months as president

The March 6 order called for a 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees to enable the government to implement stronger vetting procedures. It was blocked by federal judges before going into effect on March 16 as planned.

Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com

Both bans are now due to partly go into effect in 72 hours, based on a memorandum issued by the Trump administration on June 14.

Even before the Supreme Court action the ban applied only to new visa applicants, not people who already have visas or are U.S. permanent residents, known as green card holders. The executive order also made waivers available for a foreign national seeking to enter the United States to resume work or study, visit a spouse, child or parent who is a U.S. citizen, or for "significant business or professional obligations." Refugees "in transit" and already approved would have been able to travel to the United States under the executive order.

The case is Trump's first major challenge at the Supreme Court, where he restored a 5-4 conservative majority with the appointment of Neil Gorsuch, who joined the bench in April.

There are five Republican appointees on the court and four Democratic appointees.

Three of the court's conservatives said they would have granted Trump's request to reinstate the order in full, including Gorsuch. Justice Clarence Thomas warned that requiring officials to differentiate between foreigners who have connection to the U.S. and those who do not will prove unworkable.

"Today's compromise will burden executive officials with the task of deciding - on peril of contempt - whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country," Thomas wrote.

The justices said that the travel ban will go into effect "with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States." That indicates that people from the six countries and refugees who have family, business or other ties would not be barred from entry. But those seeking visas to enter the United States with no such ties could be barred.

The decision endorsed the Trump administration's contention that the president deserves greater deference from the courts on national security matters.

The court said that Trump's executive order distinguished between foreigners who have "some connection to this country" and those who do not, and said the government had committed to review cases for those with some connection to the United States on a case-by-case basis.

The Supreme Court left the lower-court injunctions against the ban in place, but only with respect to the challengers to the ban themselves and others in similar circumstances, meaning they involve people in the United States who have relationships with foreign nationals abroad and whose rights might be affected if those foreigners were excluded from entry.

But the court said the injunctions were too broad to also include barring enforcement of the ban against foreigners who have no connection to the United States at all. "Denying entry to such a foreign national does not burden any American party by reason of that party's relationship with the foreign national," the court said.

The court handled the refugee ban in a similar way, allowing the government to exclude from the United States refugee claimants who do not have any "bona fide relationship" with an American individual or entity.

Thomas said this will lead to a flood of litigation as courts try to figure out who has a bona fide relationship with the United States.

Trump issued the order amid rising international concern about attacks carried out by Islamist militants like those in Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin and other cities. But critics have called the order a mean-spirited, intolerant and un-American "Muslim ban."

The state of Hawaii and a group of plaintiffs in Maryland represented by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the order violated federal immigration law and the Constitution's First Amendment prohibition on the government favoring or disfavoring any particular religion. Regional federal appeals courts in Virginia and California both upheld district judge injunctions blocking the order.

Trump signed the order as a replacement for a Jan. 27 order issued a week after he became president that also was blocked by federal courts. The revised order was intended to overcome the legal issues posed by the original ban, which also included Iraq among the nations targeted and a full ban on refugees from Syria. The revised order also jettisoned language that gave preferential status to persecuted religious minorities, which critics said could be taken as favoring Christians and other religious groups over Muslims.

Trump has called the March order a "watered down, politically correct" version of the January one. But the order still embodied his "America First" nationalist message and reflected his views of the dangers posed to the United States by certain immigrants and visitors.

The administration has said the travel ban is needed to allow time to implement stronger vetting measures, although it has already rolled out some new requirements not blocked by courts, including additional questions for visa applicants.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley. Additional reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)
Retired Gen. Jack Keane on Monday said President Trump will announce an arms deal between the United States and India involving the sale of unarmed surveillance drones.

In an interview with FOX Business Stuart Varney, Keane said the sale of the U.S. militarys primary drone used in Afghanistan and Iraq is about India's concerns over China.

They [India] want to use that for their own defensive of security as China begins to rise in the area and begins to have influence in the Indian Ocean and the countries that border it, he said.

According to Keane, India is concerned with Chinas increasing presence in the region as it continues to expand its naval base near the Indian Ocean in Djibouti.

The Trump administration is expected to authorize the sale of 22 Guardian MQ-9B unmanned aircraft for maritime surveillance, worth an estimated $2 billion.

The arms deal is in advance of Trumps first meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Monday.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee raised concerns about the Republican health care bill in the Senate and its potential impact on Medicaid, telling the FOX Business Networks Stuart Varney, What is the end game here? And if the end game is to save money then the Republicans might be on the right track, but thats not the end game that Donald Trump campaigned on and it is not the end game Americans care most about.

Huckabee said Americans want access to affordable and reasonable, realistic health care. But he says the GOP has to be more honest about the financial impact of the bill, saying, I think Republicans are going to have to suck it up and say, This isnt going to get a lot cheaper, it cant, it wont.

Huckabee also raised concerns about the challenges facing Americans enrolled in Medicaid programs.

How many people out there in the states who now have been enrolled in Medicaid-related programs are not going to be able to access them?

Huckabee then warned about the financial impact on states across the country from the costs of Medicaid under the health care bill.

Unless you give some cost controls on the Medicaid program it will bankrupt every state.

But despite putting more of the financial burden of Medicaid on the states, they are arent given any more flexibility.

The feds basically in the Senate bill are washing their hands of Medicaid and saying to the states, good luck, were going to give you a sliding scale, less money, but you still have all of the responsibilities and were not going to give you the level of flexibility.

On the other hand, Huckabee sees governors as willing to accept less money for Medicaid in exchange for greater flexibility.

I guarantee you every governor in America would take less money if they were given great levels of flexibility to meet the needs of their individual populations, that is a real fix.
The United States Supreme Court on Monday sided with a church that was denied public funding by the state due to its religious affiliation, a decision that will not alter how religious institutions overall are funded.

The Court saw this as an easy case whereby the government improperly denied a public benefit because of religious status, Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, told FOX Business. This doesn't mean that taxpayer funds can now be used to fund religious instruction or any of [the] other parade of horribles that was raised by Trinity Lutheran's opponents.

The high court ruled 7-2 that the church was illegally denied access to the state grant program and while critics of the ruling believe the Supreme Court is overriding the countrys longstanding tradition of separating church and state by making it easier for states to directly fund religious institutions, Shapiro said this case doesnt go that far. It also doesnt address the ability of businesses or taxpayers citing religious freedom to claim exemption from certain laws.

The case doesn't touch the issues of taxpayer standing to challenge government grants or exemptions for businesses from generally applicable laws, he said.

At the center of the debate was a church located in Missouri (Trinity Lutheran) that operates a preschool and daycare center with a playground open to students when school is in session, and open to the public when school is out. The state of Missouri offers a grant program to nonprofits and government entities that Trinity Lutheran applied to for help with the cost of resurfacing the blacktop on the playground. While the church was otherwise completely qualified for the program, its application was denied because of the schools religious affiliation. The church successfully argued this was an infringement upon its First Amendment rights.

The two major dissents came from Justices Sotomayor and Ginsburg. In her dissent, which she read from the bench, Justice Sotomayor wrote: The Court today profoundly changes that relationship by holding, for the first time, that the Constitution requires the government to provide public funds directly to a church. Its decision slights both our precedents and our history, and its reasoning weakens this countrys longstanding commitment to a separation of church and state beneficial to both.

This was the first major case President Donald Trumps appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Neil Gorsuch, participated in after joining the Supreme Court in April. There is speculation Trump could soon have another open spot to fill as rumors swirl about how much longer Justice Kennedy, who turns 81 years old next month, will continue to serve.
President Donald Trump hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House Monday, where trade and economic investment took center stage between the leaders of the worlds largest democracies.

President Trump said Monday he looked forward to continuing a relationship with India where the leaders would work together to create jobs in our countries, to grow our economies and to create a trading relationship that is fair and reciprocal.

India, one of the worlds fastest growing economies, offers huge economic opportunities for American manufacturers. In 2017, the countrys economy is expected to grow by 7.2 percent, according to the World Bank. On Monday, retired four-star U.S. Army Gen. Jack Keane told FOX Business that the U.S. will likely announce a $2 billion unmanned surveillance aircraft deal with the country. This comes as Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) seeks a government contract to build F-16 fighter jets for the Indian air force.

Furthermore, President Trump said the United States will be exporting more energy to India as the two countries work on finalizing contracts.

Still, creating a fair trade relationship with India remains a priority for Trump. The United States had a $24 billion trade deficit with India in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and so far this year has racked up a deficit worth $7 billion. President Trump said Monday, during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi, that it is necessary for India to remove economic barriers on exports into its markets.

One issue that could be tense for the pair as they continue private discussions is President Trumps focus on reforming the United States H-1B visa program. Indian technology firms are a big beneficiary of the program, but Trump issued an executive order in April designed to review how the program is impacting American workers and whether companies are exploiting loopholes and undercutting the domestic labor force.

Ahead of his meeting at the White House Monday, Prime Minister Modi took part in a gathering with U.S. CEOs Sunday, focusing on economic cooperation between the two large global economies. The Indian Prime Minister tweeted a picture of the group after the meeting Sunday.

Interacted with top CEOs. We held extensive discussions on opportunities in India. pic.twitter.com/BwjdFM1DaZ  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2017

Among the CEOs in attendance were Mastercard (NYSE:MA) CEO Ajay Banga, JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos and Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson.

The meeting with Prime Minister Modi today was very productive and I appreciated the opportunity to discuss ways we can strengthen the ties between our two countries, Hewson said in a statement Sunday. Lockheed Martin has a strong history of working in partnership with Indian government and industry to deliver products and technologies that support national security for India and the region, while generating economic benefit and jobs in U.S. and India.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tweeted that he was excited about continued opportunities to work with India on economic projects Sunday.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld the dismissal of a securities fraud lawsuit by a big California pension fund against banks in the wake of the 2008 collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers, ruling the fund waited too long to sue.

The justices ruled 5-4 at a New York federal appeals court was correct in throwing out the California Public Employees' Retirement System's suit because a class action case the fund had temporarily participated in did not extend the deadline for it to sue on its own.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)
Lou Ferrigno came to the rescue when a fan was suffering from a seizure.

In a Facebook post published Friday, Frank McAlister wrote he and his son Ted attended the Fanboy Expo Comic Con in Knoxville to meet their beloved superheroes, including the 65-year-old who starred in the 1970s TV series The Incredible Hulk.

Ted had his picture taken with Ferrigno before the two spoke with the actor. However, Ferrigno told McAlister Ted was shaking and trying to tell him something that he couldnt understand. It was then the father realized his son was having a seizure.

Ferrigno quickly cleared his booth as McAlister gently seated his son on the floor. The star then called for medics and stood by the familys side while Ted received aid.

When Ted started to come around and started to get up the Big Man reached down his hand and assisted me as Ted stood, wrote McAlister. I took Ted to the restroom along with an EMT. Mr. Ferrigno came and insisted that I bring Ted back after he recovered for another picture. Talk about a real life Action Hero! This man is the real deal. It was an absolute honor to shake his hand and a greater honor to say Thank You to a gentle Giant. I pray that God will bless this man and keep him safe and out of harms way.

Ferrigno, who volunteers as a reserve deputy for both the Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo county sheriffs departments 20 to 30 hours per month, told USA Today he immediately jumped to action when Ted started to collapse and fall backwards. He wasnt sure if the young fan was having a stroke or a diabetic attack.

I ran to grab him and make sure he wouldnt injure himself, and his father immediately said it was a seizure, said Ferrigno. Im glad he sat down and we got a support on his head and got the paramedics in right away and kept him calm. I told him, Come on back later and take another picture. Thank God he was OK.

The publication added Ferrigno is also deputized in eight other states.

Its funny it happened at my table and its like Im glad it happened here because he was at the right place, he said. If it was a strange environment, like the street, he could have died.
A photographer who snapped royals for four decades claims in his book that Princess Grace of Monaco was the most difficult to photograph while Britain's Princess Margaret was his favorite person to shoot.

Reginald Davis, a revered photographer known for his work with royals, wrote a tell-all called My Life Photographing Royalty and the Famous, according to People.

BRITAINS GOT TALENT SINGER SUSAN BOYLE REPORTEDLY ASSAULTED BY TEENS NEAR HER HOME

Davis told the Daily Express that Princess Grace of Monaco was without doubt the most difficult royal I ever photographed.

She only agreed to a private audience because I had previously had a private audience with the Queen of England (Elizabeth II), Davis said.

Davis said he asked the former actress to play the piano for a photo but she hesitated and said she could not play the instrument. After some encouragement, the princess agreed to play, but Davis said he was shocked when she began to play like a concert pianist.

Everyone wanted to shoot Grace, Davis continued. She was such an attractive woman, why be so haughty, arrogant and awkward?

CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD GETS PERSONAL FOR HOST STEVE HARVEY

Davis stated that his favorite royal to work with was Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeths youngest sister.

She was just so vibrant  and had these beautiful azure eyes, he said. She really was the Diana of her day. Everything I took of her was in demand.

Davis began his royal photography career in 1949 when he trained to be a photographer in the Royal Navy. He got his first big break in 1959 when he shot Queen Elizabeth II. He went on to shoot other royal family members as well as famous celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren.
The Waltons has garnered lasting success for delivering a gripping TV drama about a Depression-era family living in Virginias rural Blue Ridge Mountains, but not everyone on set felt appreciated for their work.

Eric Scott, who appeared as middle child Ben in the series, told Closer Weekly he felt intense pressure to deliver his lines, and yet he never received encouragement as an actor from the studio.

'THE BRADY BUNCH' REUNITES

It was disappointing that no one even called to say, By the way, thank you, said the 58-year-old. We were loved by the public, but we never felt the studio appreciated us.

'THE WALTONS' STAR MARY MCDONOUGH: I WAS 'STARVING' MYSELF TO FIT IN

Scott claimed that despite the show's growing popularity, no one was paid what they were worth.

We did not get rich from that show, he said.

Judy Norton, who played eldest daughter Mary Ellen, claimed the shows younger stars didnt receive the same acknowledgement for their efforts as the older actors. She remembered how Michael Learned, who starred as beloved matriarch Olivia Walton, was gifted a large arrangement of flowers from the producers, but was shocked to discovered nothing was sent to her on-screen children.

She went to the producers and said, These kids have given you years of their lives and you cant even get them something? said Norton. We ended up getting a little muffin basket with, like, three muffins in it.

Despite their feelings toward the studio, the cast enjoyed working alongside each other. Learned described how the chemistry she shared with Ralph Waite, who played John Walton, Sr., was real. It compelled them to try dating at one point, but the match wasnt meant to be.

'THE WALTONS' RONNIE CLAIRE EDWARDS DIES

We were both single, said the 78-year-old. So I drove out to Malibu, but we just looked at each other and said, Nah, I dont think so. So all of our lovemaking was on-screen!

As for Waite, Norton said The Waltons inspired him to give up drinking.

He credited the show for being the reason he got sober, said Norton. He said, I sat there one day at the kitchen table with all of you kids and I felt like such a fake. He took himself into AA and got sober.

Today, the cast has zero regrets for being part of The Waltons, which aired from 1972 until 1981.

They will say John-Boy dies in the news when Im gone, said Richard Thomas, who starred as the iconic eldest child. And that is fine with me. The Waltons stands out as not only an important part of my life and career, but also a wonderful part.

'THE WALTONS' CAST REVEALS SECRETS FROM SET

Learned previously told Fox News she has grown closer with her former cast-mates over the years.

Were still so close, said Learned. We love each other, and we cant wait to be together. Its like time hasnt passed. We were close at the time, and were even closer today Theyre like my second family.
What can you expect from one of Americas longest-running restaurants? A timeless design and a menu concept thats build to last, a roster of famous clientele (often including former presidents), and sometimes even a disaster or two (a number of places in this collection were rebuilt after devastating fires and floods).

But more than these quantitative characteristics, the oldest restaurants in the country have lasted this long because of unique qualities that are much tougher to define.

For instance, Breitbachs Country Dining opened in Balltown, Iowa, in 1852 and is one of the oldest family-run restaurants in the nation. Breitbachs suffered a fire in 2007 that destroyed the building, and immediately the community rallied to help rebuild the structure. Exactly 10 months later the restaurant burned down again, but again the community rebuilt Breitbachs. Clearly the livelihood of this restaurant is extremely important to the people of Balltown.

While not a definitive list, the following restaurants are some of nations oldest. From White Horse Tavern in Newport, R.I., to The Buckhorn Exchange in Denver, consider this a checklist for dining in some of Americas most time-honored spots.

Louis' Lunch (1895) New Haven, Conn.

Take a trip to Louis Lunch for a burger of historic proportions, cooked to order just like it was when Louis made the very first "hamburger sandwich" in 1900  hand-shaped patties served between toast with cheese (and onion if youre lucky and its not too crowded). The burgers are even cooked on the original cast-iron grills that date back to 1898.

Buckhorn Exchange (1893) Denver

Henry "Shorty Scout" Zietz opened the Buckhorn Exchange during a time when cattlemen, miners, railroad workers, silver barons, Indian chiefs, drifters, and businessmen all dined under the same roof. The restaurant was given the first liquor license in the state of Colorado and the food menu remains mostly unchanged to this day.

McGillins Olde Ale House (1860) Philadelphia

The oldest continually operated restaurant and tavern in Philadelphia, McGillin's opened its doors the same year Lincoln was elected (in 1860, just a few years after the Liberty Bell cracked). The spot was originally called The Bell in Hand, but patrons began calling in McGillins after the owner, William McGillin. He and his wife raised their 13 children upstairs from the tavern, but eventually the restaurant expanded to include their living space as well as the oyster house next door.

Breitbachs Country Dining (1852) Balltown, Iowa

Breitbachs, the oldest restaurant in Iowa, was established in 1852 in Balltown under a permit issued by President Millard Fillmore. Employee Jacob Breitbach bought the restaurant from the original owner in 1862 and its been run by the family ever since (now on the sixth generation of ownership). The first of two fires that destroyed the building happened in 2007, and the restaurant was rebuilt immediately with the help of hundreds of volunteers from the community. Ten months later the second fire struck, but the community rallied together once again to rebuild Breitbachs.

Tadich Grill (1849) San Francisco

The Tadich Grill opened in 1849 during the height of the Gold Rush in California, when thousands headed west in hopes of striking it rich. Initially opening as a coffee stand, Tadich Grill has been a full-service restaurant since employee John Tadich bought it in 1887. The eatery claims to be the first U.S. restaurant to grill seafood over mesquite charcoal, a cooking method the Croatian owner used while growing up.

Antiones Restaurant (1840) New Orleans

Located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Antoines has been serving up authentic Louisiana Creole fare since it opened in 1840. The restaurant was founded by Antoine Alciatore and has been run by his family ever since, making it the oldest family-run restaurant in the country. Alciatore claimed to have invented Oysters Rockefeller in the Antoines kitchen. The original location of the restaurant was one block away from the current spot; they moved in 1868 due to popular demands for expansion.

Union Oyster House (1826) Boston

Before turning into a restaurant in 1826, this building held "At the Sign of the Cornfields," a formal dress store  in 1771 a printer named Isaiah Thomas used the second floor to publish a newspaper called The Massachusetts Spy. The original name of the restaurant was the Atwood and Bacon Oyster House, but quickly changed to the Union Oyster House.

The restaurant claims that the toothpick was popularized here after a businessman imported the picks from South America and hired eager Harvard University students to dine at the Union Oyster House and request the convenient teeth-cleaning tools. Union Oyster House is registered as a National Historic Landmark.

Griswold Inn (1776) Essex, Conn.

The Griswold is one of the oldest continuously run restaurants in the nation. The restaurant and inn was founded in 1776 to provide shelter and sustenance for shipyard workers building vessels for the war. The Griswold has served such esteemed guests as George Washington, Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, and Katharine Hepburn. The restaurant continues to serve rustic American fare and is decorated with many of the building's original fixtures.

Fraunces Tavern (1762) New York City

The first building constructed on this property (currently located in New York Citys financial district) was the home of New Yorks mayor Stephanus Van Cortlandt in 1686. Cortlandt gave the house to his son-in-law in 1700, who eventually sold it to Samuel Fraunces. Fraunces renovated the building and turned it into a tavern and restaurant in 1762.

Fraunces Tavern was a frequent meeting place of the Sons of Liberty before the American Revolution. Perhaps the most famous historical event to take place in the restaurant was on the evening of December 4, 1783, when the tavern held a congratulatory dinner for George Washington and his troops after they pushed the British army out of New York.

White Horse Tavern (1673) Newport, R.I.

The building that houses the White Horse Tavern was constructed earlier than 1673, but it didnt open as a tavern and restaurant until that year, when William Mayes bought the property. The name "White Horse Tavern" didnt come along until Jonathan Nichols bought the restaurant in 1730 and renamed it. It is registered as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.

Click here for more of Americas oldest restaurants.

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The premium malt beverage category is a pretty crowded field these days, with Smirnoff Ice, Mikes Hard, and a handful of other drinks having staked their claim years ago.

But if you remember the 90s, you remember there being only one clear beer on the market: Zima.

Introduced in 1993, the lemon-lime flavored drink stayed on the shelves until fizzling out in October 2008. But nostalgia is a powerful force, and just like with Crystal Pepsi, a longing for the past has brought Zima out of retirement; it's hitting shelves again around Fourth of July weekend.

But before you take a trip down bad memory lane and crack open your first bottle in over a decade, read up on five things you didnt know about Zima:

Its owned by MillerCoors.

The company (which was just called Coors Brewing Company back then) spent $50 million marketing it during its first year on the market.

It means winter.

Zima translates to winter in Slavic languages. The name was created by a company called Lexicon Branding, who had a Russian linguist on staff.

It was a massive success in its first year.

Thanks in part to the huge marketing campaign surrounding its release, it sold like hotcakes from day one. In fact, during its first year on the shelves, nearly half of all alcohol drinkers in America tried it at least once.

Lots of different Zima flavors were released.

In order to convince more men to try the product, Zima Gold (which claimed to have the taste of bourbon) was released in 1995, and it was a huge failure. During the products decline in the 2000s, several other flavors were introduced as well, including pineapple citrus, tangerine, citrus, blackberry and green apple.

It never stopped being sold in Japan.

Even though it was discontinued in the U.S., it never left store shelves in Japan.
Barry Cadden, co-founder of the New England Compounding Center (NECC), the now-defunct pharmaceutical company linked to a 2012 deadly meningitis outbreak, was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday for his role in the spread of the disease.

Cadden was cleared by a jury in March of second-degree murder charges  likely avoiding spending the rest of his life in prison  but was convicted of multiple counts of fraud, conspiracy and racketeering. Cadden, was once was the president and head pharmacist of the New England Compounding Center.

Read on to find out more about this case.

What happened in 2012?

As many as 13,000 people nationwide may have received injections with contaminated medicine from NECC of Framingham, Massachusetts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated.

At least 700 people were sickened by fungal meningitis and other infections in 2012, and 64 people died. Still others live with chronic pain from the tainted injections.

The outbreak affected people in 20 states with Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee being the hardest hit.

Why would Cadden be responsible?

Prosecutors accused Caddens company of using expired ingredients and falsifying logs in an attempt to show that rooms had been cleaned when they were, in fact, not.

Prosecutors said Cadden and his employees knowingly shipped tainted steroids  usually prescribed to patients with back pain  across the country.

EX-PHARMACY EXEC ACQUITTED OF MURDER IN MENINGITIS OUTBREAK

Following the outbreak, multiple instances of contamination  including standing water, mold and bacteria in the air and on workers gloved fingertips  were found.

Prosecutors also accused Cadden of running his pharmaceutical company in an extraordinarily dangerous way as he allegedly ignored sterility and cleanliness regulations in lieu of churning out product faster to make more money.

"It was preventable, but it happened because this man, Barry Cadden, decided to put profits before patients," Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan said during the trial.

In turn, Caddens lawyers argued that he was not directly responsible for the unclean rooms; instead, the lawyers argued, supervisory pharmacist Glenn Chin was responsible for the rooms where the drugs were made.

Chin pleaded not guilty to similar charges. He is expected to face trial in September.

As horrible as each of these stories is, there is nothing that shows that Mr. Cadden did something that the government can link to the death of that person, attorney Bruce Singal said.

So what is he actually guilty of?

Cadden was acquitted in March 2017 of causing the deaths of the people infected. But a jury did find him guilty of some racketeering and fraud charges.

GOVERNMENT SEIZES $18 MILLION FROM OWNERS OF PHARMACY TIED TO MENINGITIS OUTBREAK

Jurors convicted Cadden of sending out the contaminated drugs but would not say he was guilty of purposefully misleading customers by providing them with contaminated products, according to the Boston Globe. The jury also refused to convict Cadden of willingly and knowingly mislabeling drugs.

The jury also cleared Cadden of charges that he defrauded the US Food and Drug Administration by using NECC as a pharmacy instead of a manufacturing center, the Boston Globe reported.

What could happen to Cadden and his company?

NECC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2012. At the time, it said it wanted to establish a fund to compensate those affected by the deadly meningitis outbreak.

By 2015, the company had more than 3,400 claims filed against it  including more than 1,000 claims from those who were seriously injured during the outbreak or relatives of those who were deceased.

MENINGITIS OUTBREAK: MURDER OR PUBLIC HEALTH TRAGEDY?

A federal bankruptcy judge approved a $200 million settlement in 2015 that would compensate NECCs creditors  including the victims.

Each of Caddens fraud and racketeering convictions carry a potential sentencing of up to 20 years in prison, but multiple sentences can often be served at the same time, the Boston Globe reported.

Caddens sentencing will be based on the nature of the crime, his personal character and his lack of a criminal record, according to the Boston Globe.

But prosecutors are hoping for a harsher sentence from the judge due to a quirk in the trial verdict.

Instead of simply checking guilty or not guilty when filling out their verdict slip, prosecutors said jurors wrote the numbers of those who thought Cadden was guilty or not of the 25 counts of murder he faced, according to Reuters.

"While they failed to reach unanimity on these racketeering acts, the jury's verdict confirmed that the murder racketeering acts were proven by a preponderance of the evidence in this case, and can be properly considered at sentencing," prosecutors wrote in a motion filed after the verdict trial.

Is anyone else facing charges for the deadly outbreak?

Aside from Chin  who faces similar charges to Cadden  multiple other NECC employees may face consequences for the companys role in the deadly outbreak.

In all, 14 people were originally charged.

LAWYERS TRADE BLAME IN MENINGITIS OUTBREAK TRIAL

Carla Conigliaro, the majority owner of NECC, pleaded guilty in July to illegally transferring assets after the outbreak. Her husband did the same. The pair was sentenced. They also had to pay fines.

Robert Ronzio, who was the companys sales director, also pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Food and Drug Administration. Ronzio is expected to be sentenced in September, WBUR reported.

Two pharmacists, Kathy Chin and Michelle Thomas, were cleared of any criminal liability by a judge in October, according to WBUR. The judge said that while the pair checked and shipped orders, they did not dispense the drugs.

Alla Stephanets, another pharmacist, was also cleared of similar charges but still faces a fraud charge, according to WBUR.
A handful of drugmakers are taking their first steps toward developing marijuana-based painkillers, alternatives to opioids that have led to widespread abuse and caused the U.S. health regulator to ask for a withdrawal of a popular drug this month.

The cannabis plant has been used for decades to manage pain and there are increasingly sophisticated marijuana products available across 29 U.S. states, as well as in the District of Columbia, where medical marijuana is legal.

There are no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved painkillers derived from marijuana, but companies such as Axim Biotechnologies Inc, Nemus Bioscience Inc and Intec Pharma Ltd have drugs in various stages of development.

The companies are targeting the more than 100 million Americans who suffer from chronic pain, and are dependent on opioid painkillers such as Vicodin, or addicted to street opiates including heroin.

Opioid overdose, which claimed celebrities including Prince and Heath Ledger as victims, contributed to more than 33,000 deaths in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Earlier this month, the FDA asked Endo International Plc to withdraw its Opana ER painkiller from the market, the first time the agency has called for the removal of an opioid painkiller for public health reasons. The FDA concluded that the drug's benefits no longer outweighed its risks.

FIGHTING THE EPIDEMIC

Multiple studies have shown that pro-medical marijuana states have reported fewer opiate deaths and there are no deaths related to marijuana overdose on record.(http://reut.rs/2r74Sbe)

But marijuana-derived drugs could take longer than usual to hit the market as the federal government considers marijuana a "schedule 1" substance - a dangerous drug with no medicinal value - making added approvals necessary. Any drug typically takes at least a decade from discovery to approval.

It could be worth the wait.

An FDA-approved marijuana-based painkiller would ensure consistent dosing and potency, and availability across the country, analysts and experts said.

"Doctors like to be able to write a prescription and know that whatever they wrote is pure and from a blinded, placebo-controlled trial," California-based Nemus's CEO Brian Murphy told Reuters.

Nemus is testing its product - a synthetic version of the non-psychoactive CBD compound found in cannabis - on rats with chronic pain and expects to report data later this year.

Rival Axim, whose North American headquarters is in New York, is conducting preclinical studies on a chewing gum containing synthetic CBD and THC, a psychoactive compound found in marijuana. The company expects to submit an FDA application to start a trial on opioid-dependent patients this year.

Leading the pack is Israel-based Intec, which recently announced the start of an early-stage study testing its painkiller made of natural CBD and THC extracts.

OTHER OPTIONS

Independent scientists are also looking to find natural, non-pharmaceutical alternatives to opioids, but many have said it is difficult to access government-approved marijuana to conduct research due to supply restrictions.

"It's taken me seven years to get the DEA license," said Dr Sue Sisley, who is planning to conduct an FDA-regulated study evaluating whether marijuana can help opioid-dependent patients.

There could soon be other alternatives as well. Pfizer Inc and Biogen Inc are among a clutch of drugmakers developing non-opioid painkillers that are in advanced clinical studies.

Still, opioid painkillers are here to stay and will continue to be widely prescribed, especially for patients with acute and post-surgical pain.

The Republican healthcare bill unveiled on Thursday has proposed a drastic cut to the Medicaid budget and could gut, what advocates say, is essential coverage for drug addiction treatment, potentially hampering the fight against opioid abuse.
Martin Shkreli, the embattled pharmaceutical CEO, was sentenced to seven years in prison for securities fraud.

The so-called Pharma Bro was convicted last year on charges that he deceived investors through failed hedge funds. Weeks later, he had his $5 million bail revoked when he posted what was a considered a threat to Hillary Clinton.

The 34-year-old, who is probably best known for hiking up the price of a life-saving drug, was charged with securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud; a jury found him guilty on three of eight counts.

From his social media presence to his leadership of pharmaceutical companies, heres a look at Shkrelis life and controversies.

March 2018

A federal judge sentenced Shkreli to seven years in prison on March 9 for for defrauding investors in two failed hedge funds.

Shkreli, in a break from his usual assured persona, cried as he told U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto he made many mistakes and apologized to investors.

"I want the people who came here today to support me to understand one thing, the only person to blame for me being here today is me," he said. "I took down Martin Shkreli."

He was also fined $75,000 and received credit for the roughly six months he has been in prison.

September 2017

Shkrelis bail was revoked and he was sent to prison the night of Sept. 13 because of what was perceived as a threat to a former presidential nominee he posted on social media.

Shkreli offered on Facebook $5,000 to anyone who could grab Hillary Clintons hair while she was on her book tour. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said the post could be seen as a solicitation of an assault as she revoked his $5 million bail.

The Clinton Foundation is willing to KILL to protect its secrets. So on HRCs book tour, try to grab a hair from her. I must confirm the sequences I have. Will pay $5,000 per hair obtained from Hillary Clinton, his post said.

Shkrelis defense argued that the post was simply political satire, but the judge didnt buy it.

The government told the judge that the message alarmed the Secret Service detail that protects Clinton, a former Democratic presidential candidate and first lady. It also argued that it fit a pattern of veiled threats against female journalists who rebuffed Shkreli's social media advances and of taunts aimed at prosecutors in his case.

Shkreli will now await his sentencing at a federal jail in Brooklyn instead of his Manhattan apartment where he would often live stream parts of his day. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years.

August 2017

A Brooklyn jury found Shkreli guilty on three counts on August 4.

The jury deliberated for five days before reaching a verdict.

June 2017

Shkrelis trial began on June 26, and he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Several potential jurors told the New York judge they couldn't be fair toward Shkreli.

One woman said that she knew the former executive as "the most hated man in America" for his price gouging. The judge dismissed her and several other potential jurors after they made negative comments about Shkreli during jury selection.

Shkreli "travels to the beat of a very unique drummer."  Defense attorney Benjamin Brafman

Despite advice from his lawyers, Shkreli didnt lay low ahead of the trial. He was active on social media, particularly on YouTube and Facebook.

Shkreli "travels to the beat of a very unique drummer," his defense attorney said.

April 2017

Brooklyn U.S. District Court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto ruled that Shkreli and his former lawyer be granted separate trials.

Both Evan Greebel and Shkreli requested separate trials and both have pleaded not guilty. Greebel is charged with one count of conspiracy for allegedly helping Shkreli. He would later be found guilty of conspiring to commit securities fraud and wire fraud.

As Greebel has called Shkreli a serial liar, Matsumoto said trying the two men together would present a serious risk that Shkreli will not receive a constitutionally fair trial.

January 2017

After consistently harassing a female journalist on Twitter, Shkreli was eventually banned from the social media site.

Shkreli changed his Twitter page background to images of freelance journalist Lauren Duca and photo-shopped himself over her husband in one photo.

How is this allowed, Duca tweeted along with a screenshot of Shkrelis account.

However, Shkreli made additional accounts since his ban.

September 2016

After Hillary Clinton left a 9/11 memorial service due to illness, Shkreli tracked down the presidential candidate to shout at her a question.

Why are you so sick? Shkreli shouted at Clinton as she left her daughters apartment.

I enjoyed screaming 'why are you so sick' and 'go trump' at @HillaryClinton. Get well soon bae! he tweeted later.

This same month, Shkreli raffled off a chance to punch him in the face.

February 2016

Shkreli refused to testify in front of Congress  instead invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while smirking at lawmakers who peppered him with questions about why he so drastically raised the price of Daraprim.

"It's not funny, Mr. Shkreli. People are dying and they're getting sicker and sicker."  Rep. Elijah Cummings

"Drug company executives are lining their pockets at the expense of some of the most vulnerable families in our nation," Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said during the hearing. "It's not funny, Mr. Shkreli. People are dying and they're getting sicker and sicker."

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., a pharmacist, said he was disgusted by price-hiking drug companies.

December 2015

Shkreli was arrested on securities fraud and wire fraud charges  unrelated to the rising drug price while he headed Turing Pharmaceuticals  in December 2015.

Prosecutors said when Shkreli ran a different pharmaceutical company, Retrophin, he would use the companys cash and stock to pay back hedge fund investors for money that Shkreli lost. These actions allegedly took place between 2009 and 2014, according to court documents.

Shkreli engaged in multiple schemes to ensnare investors through a web of lies and deceit, U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said at the time of Shkrelis arrest.

Shkreli was released on a $5 million bail.

The day of his arrest, KaloBios Pharmaceuticals terminated Shkreli as its CEO. The company announced that the young pharmaceutical executive also had resigned from its board of directors.

September 2015

Shkreli first became a contentious household name at the end of 2015 when he was chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals.

His company drastically jacked up the price of a potentially lifesaving drug, Daraprim, from $13.50 to $750 per pill. Turing acquired Daraprim in August 2015.

The drug is the only approved treatment for toxoplasmosis, an infection which is especially risky for pregnant women, people with AIDS and cancer patients.

Shkreli defended the price hike, saying it was necessary in order for his pharmaceutical company to make a profit, spend money on research and keep up with operational costs.

If there was a company that was selling an Aston Martin at the price of a bicycle, and we buy that company and we ask to charge Toyota prices, I dont think that should be a crime, Shkreli told CBS This Morning.

Then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton encouraged Shkreli to do the right thing and lower the cost of the drug to its original price.

Clinton also promised to hold accountable anyone who is price gouging American families and jacking up costs for no good reason.

Donald Trump, also a candidate at the time, called Shkreli a "spoiled brat."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Oklahoma doctor was charged with second-degree murder in the death of five patients after she allegedly over-prescribed dangerous opioids. Dr. Regan Nichols, 57, is accused of prescribing more than three million doses of painkillers between January 2010 and October 2014, KFOR reported.

OPIOID EPIDEMIC: FUNERAL DIRECTOR WEIGHS IN

The charges against Nichols were announced by Oklahomas attorney general on Friday, and an Oklahoma County judge also issued a warrant for her arrest. Nichols, an osteopathic physician working at Sunshine Medical Clinic, is accused of dolling out powerful prescriptions for patients in horrifyingly excessive amounts.

She allegedly prescribed a 47-year-old patient 450 painkillers, muscle relaxants and anti-anxiety drugs six days before the patients death. Prosecutors said 10 of her patients died of overdoses in a span of four years, with the charges for five of them stemming from a multi-agency investigation.

PHARMACY EXECUTIVE TIED TO 2012 US MENINGITIS OUTBREAK TO BE SENTENCED

Nichols prescribed patients, who entrusted their well-being to her, a horrifyingly excessive amount of opioid medications, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said. Nichols blatant disregard for the lives of her patients is unconscionable.

Investigators believe that Nichols, who practiced medicine for more than 20 years and had her ability to prescribe dangerous controlled substances stripped in 2015, prescribed the five patients whose deaths she is charged in more than 1,800 opioids in the months leading up to their deaths.

In February 2012, investigators said, a 46-year-old patient was prescribed 240 painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs, despite not being by Nichols for a full medical evaluation since 2008. The patient died by March.

'PHARMA BRO' MARTIN SHKRELI HEADS INTO FRAUD TRIAL

Martina Troy, who became addicted to opioids while under Nichols care, went to investigators with concerns about her prescribing practices, KFOR reported. At one point, Troy said she received over 500 pills a month, according to the report.

I had times I almost wrecked my car getting back to her office to get a prescription, Troy told the news site. I had a couple times I woke up gasping for breath and slobbering and I knew I was very lucky that I hadnt died.

OPIOID ANTIDOTE: HOW DOES NALOXONE REVERSE OVERDOSES?

She told KFOR Nichols arrest was a relief.

Nichols was being held at the Oklahoma County jail and reportedly was released on a $50,000 bond.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A surge in an aggressive type of tick that triggers a meat allergy in humans has health officials on alert. While the tick is most commonly found in the southeastern and south central areas of the U.S., data has tracked its movements as far north as Duluth, Minnesota, and Hanover, New Hampshire.

The lone star tick, which is named for the white dot found on adult females and can be as small as a poppy seed, triggers an allergy to alpha-gal in victims, leaving patients unable to consume meat. Wired reports at least 100 cases have been reported in the eastern tip of New Yorks Long Island.

DRUG RESIDUE FOUND IN SANDERSON FARMS '100% NATURAL' CHICKEN PRODUCT, COMPLAINT CLAIMS

We have three ticks here, Rebecca Young, a nurse who assists at the Tick-Borne Disease Resource Center at Southampton Hospital in New York, told Fox News. The dog tick, the deer tick, and now theres a huge surge in the lone star tick in the last six to seven years.

While the lone star tick is not thought to transmit Lyme disease, a bite can result in itchy hives, stomach cramps, breathing problems and even death.

You have to be aware youve been bitten, Young said. If you eat meat and you notice a rash and shallow breathing then you can deduce that you have this allergy.

OKLAHOMA DOCTOR CHARGED IN OPIOID DEATHS OF 5 PATIENTS

Part of Youngs role at the hospital is helping people understand how to properly remove a tick, and to identify what type of tick it is. The lone star tick is able to transmit the allergy at all stages of its lifespan, causing health officials to urge people who spend time outdoors to be vigilant.

Mosquitos are better when it comes to letting you know that youre being bitten, Dr. Scott Campbell, of the Suffolk County Health Department, told My Long Island TV. Ticks are a little more stealthier. What they do is they quest. They actually will sit on vegetation and put their front legs out and wait for something to come by and they latch on.

To avoid tick bites while outdoors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), advises using repellent that contains 20 percent or more of DEET, picaridin or IR3535, and to walk in the center of trails.
A Texas teens story has gone viral after claiming on Facebook that she was verbally attacked for wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Madison Herber of Lubbock stopped at a gas station to get a cold drink on a 106-degree day. When she was walking back to her car, an older woman approached her to comment on her very trashy look, Yahoo Style reports.

I couldnt believe it, Herber told Yahoo Style. I was in total shock this person went out of their way to attack and condemn me for no reason at all.

COLLEGE STUDENT SAYS SHE WAS KICKED OUT OF HER SCHOOL GYM FOR WEARING A CROP TOP

The 19-year-old wrote in her post that the woman, who was between ages 50 and 60, said that her outfit was whats wrong with her generation.

Herber told Yahoo Style the woman also accused her generation of not having any morals or values.

In photos of Herber's outfit, which accompanied her Facebook post, shes wearing a baggy pink t-shirt and running shorts. She wrote that even though her shirt covered up her shorts, when the woman first confronted her, she pulled up her t-shirt for the woman to see.

She also said that even though there were witnesses, no one stepped in to help. There was a guy in his pickup truck that ignored the whole situation and went about his business, she told Yahoo Style.

Herber posted that she isnt sorry for her choice of clothing. I do not apologize for what I am wearing, it's hot outside and I was looking for comfort. That is all, she wrote.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

A similar incident occurred last week when a woman in Tennessee was kicked out of her apartment complex pool because her one-piece swimsuit was deemed inappropriate, her fiance claimed. She was told by management that there were a lot of teenage boys around and she didnt need to excite them.
The Supreme Courts decision to hear arguments in October regarding President Trumps second travel ban may not itself tell us much about the likely outcome of the case. But the high courts decision to allow parts of the ban to go forward now  even before hearing the argumentsstrongly suggests that there are a majority of justices who will uphold the most important parts of the ban.

The Supreme Court decided to permit enforcement of the ban with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relations with a person or entity in the United States.

The Justices thus drew the distinction I have been urging since the president issued his initial ban. In a series of columns and TV appearances, I urged the president to withdraw the first ban and substitute a version that excludes only individuals who do not have a green card or other connections to the United States. The Constitution accords very different protections to U.S. persons --including green card holders -- than to individuals with no legal status in the United States. The example I gave was of a man from Yemen who had never visited this country and has no connection to it, but would like to take a trip to Disneyland. Such a person has no constitutional right to come into our country and he can be excluded for virtually any reason.

This does not mean that the courts would uphold a ban that expressly discriminates against Catholics, Jews, or Muslims. But a ban that applies to countries that have a serious problem vetting potential terrorists would be valid even if all of those countries had Muslim majorities. The president has a right to focus on Islamic terrorism as a primary source of danger to Americans, and Islamic terrorism comes disproportionately from Muslim majority countries.

When Willie Sutton was asked Why do you rob banks? his answer was Because thats where the money is. Of course, not all the money is kept in banks, and not all terrorists come from Muslim majority countries. But the president has wide authority to pick and choose among countries. Moreover, the countries selected by President Trump were all previously selected by President Obama for a related purpose.

It is impossible to know whether this will have any positive effect on reducing terrorist attacks in the U.S. But under our law, the president has no burden to prove that he is right as a matter of policy  only that he had the authority to make the decision.

President Trump recently announced that he regretted substituting the second executive order for the first one, calling the second one a politically correct watered down version. The Supreme Courts decision shows that he was wrong, and that I was right in urging the administration to make the substitution. It also shows that many of the pundits, including lawyers and law professors, were wrong when they predicted that the entire ban would be found unconstitutional. These good and decent people tend to substitute wishful thinking for hard constitutional analysis. But as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once put it: The job of the lawyer is to predict what the courts will do in fact.

But it is always difficult to predict how the justices will divide over a contentious issue such as the travel ban. The lower courts relied heavily on what Donald Trump had said as a candidate with regard to banning Muslims from entering. The Courts decision to allow part of the ban to go forward suggests that Trumps statements will not be accorded the same weight by the Supreme Court that they were accorded by the lower courts. The high court will recognize the implications of striking an otherwise legitimate ban because of what a president said when he was a candidate. To follow the lower court reasoning, the very same ban could be constitutional if issued by one president and unconstitutional if issued by another. That is not the way the law generally operates in this country.

So the travel ban will now go into effect with regard to non-American persons. It is impossible to know whether this will have any positive effect on reducing terrorist attacks in the U.S. But under our law, the president has no burden to prove that he is right as a matter of policy  only that he had the authority to make the decision.

The Court is likely to find that he had that authority. There are parts of the travel ban that may face some criticism from the justices. But it is likely that the core of the ban will be upheld.

The president should not take this as a sign that he was correct in wanting to reissue the initial ban. The Supreme Court has signaled that at least parts of the initial ban would raise serious Constitutional issues.

Notwithstanding these early signs, it is still impossible to predict with certainty what the Supreme Court will do after hearing arguments in October. We cannot even be certain of the composition of the Supreme Court in light of persistent rumors regarding resignations. But right now, if I had to bet widows and orphans money on the outcome of the case, I would bet that the high court would uphold those parts of the travel ban that applies to persons with no connection to the United States.
The Supreme Court announced Monday it will tackle a culture war powder keg  should a Christian baker who opposes gay marriage on religious grounds be forced to participate in a gay wedding?

In other words, do gay rights trump everyone elses rights?

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The justices said they will consider a case involving Jack Phillips, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado. The issue: can the government coerce a person to create artistic expression that communicates a message with which he fundamentally disagrees?

There are a number of artists across this nation who are being coerced into violating their religious convictions or having to choose between their right to create artistic expression that is consistent with their faith, Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Kristen Waggoner told me. This kind of government coercion is unconstitutional.

I wrote extensively about Mr. Phillips in my latest book, The Deplorables Guide to Making America Great Again.

In 2012, Mr. Phillips was approached by Charlie Craig and David Mullins. The men were going to be married in Massachusetts and they wanted the cake shop to bake a cake for their reception which was to be held in Colorado.

Mr. Phillips politely declined  explaining to the gentlemen that he would make them any other type of baked item they wanted  but he simply could not make a cake promoting a same-sex ceremony because of his faith.

Mr. Craig and Mr. Mullins pitched a hissy fit and filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

It did not seem to matter that the gay couple was able to obtain their rainbow-themed cake for free from another nearby cake artist.

Lower courts ruled that Mr. Phillips discriminated against the gay couple under Colorado law. He was ordered to make cakes for homosexual newlyweds and to file reports for two years to show that he was abiding by anti-discrimination laws. He was also ordered to reeducate his staff on discrimination.

Its hard to imagine a time in American history where Christians were treated with such disregard and shuttled off to reeducation camps so they can be deprogrammed.

Ms. Waggoner said this could be a history-making decision for the Supreme Court.

At issue is whether an American has a right to speak and live consistent with his beliefs on what marriage is  and consistent with his religious convictions, she told me.

Its been a difficult time for Mr. Phillips and his family-owned bakery.

Ms. Waggoner said the states civil rights commission compared the bakers stance to slave owners and perpetrators of the Holocaust.

He lost nearly 40 percent of his business based on what the Colorado courts did, she told me.

And there are many other Christians across the fruited plain who are suffering much like Jack Phillips has suffered  simply for following the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I would urge them not to violate their religious convictions because not only is it their duty to God to be acting consistent with their conscience, but it is their First Amendment right secured by the Constitution, Ms. Waggoner said.

And it is our responsibility as God-loving patriots to stand alongside Jack Phillips as they wage this legal battle. We must stand together in the face of adversity.

First, the LGBT activists came for the flower shops and the photographers. Then, they came for the bakers. And unless we draw a line in the sand, they may one day come for you and your business.
Government should not be able to unjustly discriminate against any religious organization or its members, period. The state of Missouri did just that. Thankfully, the Supreme Court on Monday emphatically affirmed religious freedom and rejected anti-religious discrimination in its 7-2 decision in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer.

The court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the government to exclude religious organizations from government programs that provide secular benefits. A Missouri government program partially reimburses groups for money spent promoting public safety by installing rubber surfaces on their playgrounds. Unreasonably, though, the state slapped a No religious groups allowed sign on the door by banning the preschool that Trinity Lutheran Church owns from the program. Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the majority opinion, said that discrimination against religious people and institutions is odious to our Constitution.

The Missouri restriction was discriminatory because it had nothing to do with the programs purpose. Children playing on land that religious groups own arent impervious to harm. All kids  whether pious, atheist, or somewhere in betweenare very obviously susceptible to injury from hard surfaces.

Nor should the state have a greater interest in protecting young ones playing on nonreligious premises. Religious children  be they Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu  are no less worthy of the states concern than those who dont affiliate with a particular faith.

So why did Missouri treat people of faith and their organizations as if they were inferior? Because of anti-religious bigotry embedded in the Missouri Constitution. Because many years ago, dislike and mistrust of Catholics led the people of Missouri to stamp religious hostility into their states founding charter.

The courts ruling in this matter helps restore religion to equal footing with other constitutionally protected classifications. Just as the government cant withhold a secular benefit from all Latinos or all women, the Supreme Court confirmed that the state cant fence out the faithful.

But now, the Supreme Court has decided that anti-religious Missouri law  and others like it throughout the country  can no longer be used to keep people of faith from accessing secular benefits. The Courts ruling in favor of Trinity Lutheran forbids government from being able to so aggressively wield these laws to treat religious people as second-class citizens.

The courts ruling in this matter helps restore religion to equal footing with other constitutionally protected classifications. Just as the government cant withhold a secular benefit from all Latinos or all women, the Supreme Court confirmed that the state cant fence out the faithful.

The court stopped, dead in its tracks, a tactic that governments use to marginalize people of faith and the organizations they run. When bureaucrats announce that the religious are ineligible for secular benefits available to others, it sends the message that religion and its adherents are lesser. As those exclusions have become widespread, people of faith find themselves always on the outside looking in  having been ostracized by the collective force of countless closed doors. But the courts decision sets the states on a different course: one that treats people of faith as equal to their nonreligious neighbors.

The Supreme Courts decision protects religious freedom, childrens safety, and promotes basic civility. Most fundamental of all, the court affirmed the foundational American ideal that we dont discriminate against groups or individuals seeking public benefits because of their religious beliefs. Even in our contentious political climate, thats something most Americans should still be able to rally around.



Michael Farris is president, CEO, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia and its preschool.
Police in Cheyenne are searching for a man wanted in connection with the killing of a 21-year-old woman.

Authorities have identified the suspect as 32-year-old Emigdio Lara of Cheyenne. Investigators have not identified the victim pending notification of her family.

Police say the homicide occurred at 620 Central Ave.

Lara was seen on surveillance cameras Tuesday wearing a red sweater with a dark stripe on the front.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 307-637-6525. Authorities say people should call 911 if they see Lara and not approach him.

The case remains under investigation.
Editor's note: The following column originally appeared in The Resurgent.

How do we know Donald Trump is not under an FBI investigation? Well, James Comey told us. He not only told us, but he told Chuck Schumer who, even after being told, still claimed President Trump was being investigated.

But we also know the president is not being investigated because everything has been leaked except that. The media, which has even leaked lies that they had to retract, has not leaked this. The president is not under investigation for collaborating with the Russians.

The irony here is rich. Democrats have rallied to Bernie Sanders as the leader of the opposition against Donald Trump. He attracts huge crowds across the nation. One of his acolytes tried to assassinate members of Congress. And Bernie Sanders is under investigation by the FBI, unlike the president.

In fact, Sanders and his wife are both under investigation stemming from a bank loan. The FBI is investigating whether Sanders used his position to pressure the bank to give a college in Vermont a loan. His wife is the president of the college and signed the paperwork.

So President Trump did not pressure James Comey, but Bernie Sanders might have pressured a bank. The FBI is now investigating. And still the left will rally to Sanders because they really do not care about the allegations.

They just hate Donald Trump.
Another prominent Democrat has come forward to voice concerns about allegations ex-Attorney General Loretta Lynch may have sought to keep a lid on last years Hillary Clintons email probe, with California Rep. Adam Schiff saying hes queasy at the thought.

Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, aired his concerns in an interview Sunday and said he wants to hear from Lynch personally.

I'd like to hear what Loretta Lynch's explanation for that is, either by having her come to the Hill or by having her speak publicly, he said.

The call significantly ups the pressure on Lynch, as the push to scrutinize her conduct in last years Clinton email investigation becomes more bipartisan.

LYNCH SHOULD TESTIFY, GRAHAM SAYS

The renewed attention stems from fired FBI Director James Comeys testimony earlier this month that Lynch had instructed him to describe the probe as a matter  not an investigation. Comey said this confused him and cited that directive, along with Lynchs unusual tarmac meeting with former President Bill Clinton while the investigation was ongoing, in his decision to announce the FBIs findings on his own.

Comeys handling of the case later would be cited by the Trump administration in the decision to fire him, though speculation remains widespread over to what extent the probe of Russia meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign may have played.

Yet even as Democrats focus heavily on the Russia allegations, a handful of high-powered lawmakers like Schiff now want to hear from Lynch. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN earlier this month that Comeys charges gave her a queasy feeling.

Schiff said Sunday he agrees.

It does give me a queasy feeling as well, he told CNNs State of the Union. There may be a perfectly accurate explanation by Loretta Lynch about why she thought 'matter' was the appropriate term rather than 'investigation.' So I wouldn't assume James Comey's characterization is the last word on it even although though I'm sure it's accurate.

Asked if he would have Lynch come to the House intelligence panel, he said hes not sure thats part of the Russia probe.

But I would like to hear what her explanation for that was. But I certainly wouldn't want that to distract us from what we need to do to get to the bottom of the Russia allegations, he said.

The comments come after a bipartisan letter was sent last week to Lynch and others regarding allegations of political interference in the Clinton case.

The inquiry was prompted, in part, by a series of media reports raising questions about whether Lynch tried to stifle the investigation into former Secretary of State Clintons use of a private email server.

The reports come amidst numerous allegations of political inference in controversial and high-profile investigations spanning the current and previous administrations, Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley's office said in a statement.

Grassley, R-Iowa; Feinstein; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., penned the letter.

The reports they cited were based on hacked documents whose authenticity has not been confirmed. This includes an April New York Times article about a batch of hacked files obtained by the FBI, including one reportedly authored by a Democratic operative who voiced confidence Lynch would keep the Clinton probe from going too far.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch issued a scathing dissent Monday to a Supreme Court decision turning away yet another gun rights case.

On a busy morning of decisions, the court on Monday rejected a challenge out of California regarding the right to carry guns outside their homes, leaving in place a San Diego sheriff's strict limits on issuing permits for concealed weapons.

But Thomas, in a dissent joined by Gorsuch, countered that the case raises important questions  and warned that Second Amendment disputes arent getting the attention they deserve from the Supreme Court.

The Courts decision  reflects a distressing trend: the treatment of the Second Amendment as a disfavored right, they wrote.

The case in question involved a San Diego man who said state and county policies requiring "good cause" -- a specific reason or justifiable need to legally carry a concealed weapon -- were too restrictive. A federal appeals court had ruled for the state, and now those restrictions will stay in place.

A LOOK AT CALIFORNIA GUN LAW

But Thomas and Gorsuch  the courts newest member  called the appeals courts decision to limit its review only to the good cause provision indefensible.

The Court has not heard argument in a Second Amendment case in over seven years, they wrote.  This discrepancy is inexcusable, especially given how much less developed our jurisprudence is with respect to the Second Amendment as compared to the First and Fourth Amendments.

The justices concluded by warning the court is in danger of acting dismissive toward the right to bear arms:

For those of us who work in marbled halls, guarded constantly by a vigilant and dedicated police force, the guarantees of the Second Amendment might seem antiquated and superfluous. But the Framers made a clear choice: They reserved to all Americans the right to bear arms for self-defense. I do not think we should stand by idly while a State denies its citizens that right, particularly when their very lives may depend on it. I respectfully dissent.

The high court decided in 2008 that the Constitution guarantees the right to a gun, at least for self-defense at home.

But the justices have refused repeated pleas to spell out the extent of gun rights in the United States, allowing permit restrictions and assault weapons bans to remain in effect in some cities and states.

More than 40 states already broadly allow gun owners to be armed in public.

The high court also turned away a second case involving guns and the federal law that bars people convicted of crimes from owning guns.

The Trump administration had urged the court to review an appellate ruling that restored the rights of two men who had been convicted of non-violent crimes to own guns.

The federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled for the two men. The crimes were classified as misdemeanors, which typically are less serious, but carried potential prison sentences of more than a year. Such prison terms typically are for felonies, more serious crimes.

The administration says that the court should have upheld the blanket prohibition on gun ownership in the federal law and rejected case-by-case challenges.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have heard the administration's appeal.

Fox News Bill Mears and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Seattle's first-in-the-nation $15 per hour minimum wage law is hurting the workers it aimed to help, a new study has found.

The working poor are making more per hour but taking home less pay. The University of Washington paper asserts the new wages boosted worker pay by 3 percent, but also resulted in a 9-percent reduction in hours and a $125 cut to the monthly paychecks.

The law also cost the city 5,000 jobs, the report said.

Seattle's minimum wage ordinance, passed by the Seattle City Council and signed by Mayor Ed Murray in 2014, was sold as a way to close the income inequality gap and help those struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder. More than a dozen cities and counties, mostly in California and New York, followed suit.

MINIMUM WAGE HIKES MAY MALIGN FAST-FOOD JOBS AND DISCOUNT SHOPPERS

"This is a two-edged sword," said Jacob Vigdor, one of the team of researchers studying the issues for Seattle. "And if you raise this minimum wage the way Seattle did you run the risk of actually taking money away from the people you are trying to help."

The study was published as a "working paper" on Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

A national campaign called "Fight for $15" aims to bring higher wages across the country by worker strikes and demonstrations.

The Seattle mayor tweeted his rebuttal of the study, and previously cited Seattle's growing economy and low unemployment as evidence that higher wages are not bad for the city.

SEATTLE SEES FALLOUT FROM $15 MINIMUM WAGE, AS OTHER CITIES FOLLOW SUIT

"The facts: Seattle's economy is booming, with wages increasing & restaurants & retail among our fastest growing job sectors," he wrote on Twitter.

But Louise Chernin, CEO of the Greater Seattle Business Association, said jobs should be increasing at a higher rate.

"You'd think with the amount of people moving into Seattle and the number of businesses and restaurants that are opening, we'd be hiring more people," she said. "It just shows me they are struggling."

The study shows not everybody is struggling, however. Job growth in the city is strong, up 13 percent in the past year  but only for those making more than $19 per hour.
Senate Republicans health care bill would reduce the federal deficit and eventually lead to lower premiums, but would result in millions more Americans being uninsured a decade from now, according to a fresh analysis from Capitol Hills nonpartisan budget scorekeepers.

The bills highly anticipated score was released Monday afternoon and immediately became part of the Senates raging health care debate as GOP leaders scramble to win over reluctant Republicans and tee up a vote to repeal and replace much of ObamaCare as early as this week.

The Congressional Budget Office estimate is an important factor, but its impact could be mixed.

In terms of coverage, the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation report said the proposal would increase the number of uninsured by 22 million in 2026 relative to current law.

This is primarily because the penalty for not having insurance would be eliminated, the analysis noted, adding lower Medicaid spending and smaller subsidies also would reduce enrollment in later years.

But the budget impact could be appealing to fiscal conservatives. In large part due to Medicaid changes, the report said the legislation would cut deficits over the next decade by $321 billion.

"Our plan will help address Obamacare's ballooning costs for consumers by lowering premiums over time and cutting taxes, and today's estimate confirms that," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. "I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues this week as we get closer to finally replacing this failed law with better care at a cost that Texans will be able to afford."

The White House immediately took issue with the CBO estimate, saying in a statement that the office "has consistently proven it cannot accurately predict how healthcare legislation will impact insurance coverage.

"This history of inaccuracy, as demonstrated by its flawed report on coverage, premiums, and predicted deficit arising out of Obamacare, reminds us that its analysis must not be trusted blindly," the statement went on.

The report said the bill would increase average premiums in the nongroup market leading up to 2020 and lower average premiums after that year, relative to the current law.

In 2020, average premiums for benchmark plans for single individuals would be about 30 percent lower than under current law. A combination of factors would lead to that decreasemost important, the smaller share of benefits paid for by the benchmark plans and federal funds provided to directly reduce premiums, the estimate says.

In some ways, the score was better for the Senate bill than for the related House bill that passed last month, projecting more deficit savings and better enrollment.

But foes were not impressed.

Saying the Senate health care bill is less mean than the House bill is like saying you prefer small pox over the bubonic plague, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement.

Shortly after the CBO score came out, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, "This bill is every bit as mean as the House bill. This CBO report should be the end of the road for Trumpcare. Republicans would be wise to read it as a giant stop sign."

Right now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., faces a steep climb getting the votes for the bill.

At least five Republicans have come out against the bill in its original form, meaning McConnell would have to offer changes for the plan to have a chance at passage. Republicans hold a slim 52-seat majority and would need a minimum of 50 senators  plus Vice President Pence as the tie-breaker  to pass the bill.

Power players in the health care fight already were taking sides even before the CBO estimate was released. The American Medical Association (AMA) sent a letter to McConnell on Monday expressing concerns with Medicaid provisions of the bill.

It would be a serious mistake to lock into place another arbitrary and unsustainable formula that will be extremely difficult and costly to fix, AMA CEO and Vice President James Madara, M.D., wrote. We believe that Congress should be working to increase the number of Americans with access to quality, affordable health insurance instead of pursuing policies that have the opposite effect.

On the other side, Anthem Inc., the nations second-largest health insurer, endorsed the Senate plan.

We believe the Senate discussion draft will markedly improve the stability of the individual market and moderate premium increases, an Anthem statement read. The company announced last week it plans to pull out of ObamaCare exchanges in Indiana and Wisconsin next year.

Some Republicans have downplayed the CBOs reliability on health care from the start.

In a move widely criticized by Democrats, the House brought its version of the health care bill to the floor before a CBO score was even released. The House narrowly passed its version on May 4.

Weeks later, the CBO estimated the House bill would reduce the federal deficit by $119 billion by 2026, but also leave at least 23 million more Americans uninsured than under ObamaCare over that same time period.

Moments after the CBO score on the House bill was released last month, Republicans downplayed the figures. The Republican National Committee released a statement at the time slamming the CBO, saying they have a long track record of being way, way off in their modeling.

Senate Republicans rolled out modest revisions to their health care bill on Monday, including a penalty for Americans who have a lapse in insurance coverage.

McConnell is hoping to hold a vote before the July 4 holiday but currently does not have them.

Republican Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; and Dean Heller, R-Nev., have come out against the bill in its current form.

Paul told reporters on Capitol Hill last week the he didnt run on ObamaCare lite.

I think we can do better than thismy hope is not to defeat the bill, but to make it better, Paul said. Now the discussions beginI think it could take longer than a week.

Fox News' Chad Pergram and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.
Senate Republicans health care bill would reduce the federal deficit and eventually lead to lower premiums, but would result in millions more Americans being uninsured a decade from now, according to a fresh analysis from Capitol Hills nonpartisan budget scorekeepers.

The bills highly anticipated score was released Monday afternoon and immediately became part of the Senates raging health care debate as GOP leaders scramble to win over reluctant Republicans and tee up a vote to repeal and replace much of ObamaCare as early as this week.

The Congressional Budget Office estimate is an important factor, but its impact could be mixed.

In terms of coverage, the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation report said the proposal would increase the number of uninsured by 22 million in 2026 relative to current law.

This is primarily because the penalty for not having insurance would be eliminated, the analysis noted, adding lower Medicaid spending and smaller subsidies also would reduce enrollment in later years.

But the budget impact could be appealing to fiscal conservatives. In large part due to Medicaid changes, the report said the legislation would cut deficits over the next decade by $321 billion.

"Our plan will help address Obamacare's ballooning costs for consumers by lowering premiums over time and cutting taxes, and today's estimate confirms that," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. "I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues this week as we get closer to finally replacing this failed law with better care at a cost that Texans will be able to afford."

The report said the bill would increase average premiums in the nongroup market leading up to 2020 and lower average premiums after that year, relative to the current law.

In 2020, average premiums for benchmark plans for single individuals would be about 30 percent lower than under current law. A combination of factors would lead to that decreasemost important, the smaller share of benefits paid for by the benchmark plans and federal funds provided to directly reduce premiums, the estimate says.

In some ways, the score was better for the Senate bill than for the related House bill that passed last month, projecting more deficit savings and better enrollment.

But foes were not impressed.

Saying the Senate health care bill is less mean than the House bill is like saying you prefer small pox over the bubonic plague, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement.

Shortly after the CBO score came out, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, "This bill is every bit as mean as the House bill. This CBO report should be the end of the road for Trumpcare. Republicans would be wise to read it as a giant stop sign."

Right now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., faces a steep climb getting the votes for the bill.

At least five Republicans have come out against the bill in its original form, meaning McConnell would have to offer changes for the plan to have a chance at passage. Republicans hold a slim 52-seat majority and would need a minimum of 50 senators  plus Vice President Pence as the tie-breaker  to pass the bill.

Power players in the health care fight already were taking sides even before the CBO estimate was released. The American Medical Association (AMA) sent a letter to McConnell on Monday expressing concerns with Medicaid provisions of the bill.

It would be a serious mistake to lock into place another arbitrary and unsustainable formula that will be extremely difficult and costly to fix, AMA CEO and Vice President James Madara, M.D., wrote. We believe that Congress should be working to increase the number of Americans with access to quality, affordable health insurance instead of pursuing policies that have the opposite effect.

On the other side, Anthem Inc., the nations second-largest health insurer, endorsed the Senate plan.

We believe the Senate discussion draft will markedly improve the stability of the individual market and moderate premium increases, an Anthem statement read. The company announced last week it plans to pull out of ObamaCare exchanges in Indiana and Wisconsin next year.

Some Republicans have downplayed the CBOs reliability on health care from the start.

In a move widely criticized by Democrats, the House brought its version of the health care bill to the floor before a CBO score was even released. The House narrowly passed its version on May 4.

Weeks later, the CBO estimated the House bill would reduce the federal deficit by $119 billion by 2026, but also leave at least 23 million more Americans uninsured than under ObamaCare over that same time period.

Moments after the CBO score on the House bill was released last month, Republicans downplayed the figures. The Republican National Committee released a statement at the time slamming the CBO, saying they have a long track record of being way, way off in their modeling.

Senate Republicans rolled out modest revisions to their health care bill on Monday, including a penalty for Americans who have a lapse in insurance coverage.

McConnell is hoping to hold a vote before the July 4 holiday but currently does not have them.

Republican Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; and Dean Heller, R-Nev., have come out against the bill in its current form.

Paul told reporters on Capitol Hill last week the he didnt run on ObamaCare lite.

I think we can do better than thismy hope is not to defeat the bill, but to make it better, Paul said. Now the discussions beginI think it could take longer than a week.

Fox News' Chad Pergram and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.
Senate Republicans rolled out modest revisions to their health care bill on Monday, including a penalty for Americans who have a lapse in insurance coverage.

The changes come as Senate Republican leaders try to garner more support from inside the party for their ObamaCare overhaul, with several members voicing reservations. The changes announced Monday, though, are not necessarily part of those negotiations.

Under the updated version, those who have a break in insurance coverage for 63 days or more in the prior year would face a six-month waiting period to start new coverage. During that six-month window, consumers would not have to pay premiums. The penalty would start in 2019.

This was a gray area in the initial version of the Senates Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. The original draft made it clear that the individual mandate -- the ObamaCare tax penalty imposed on those who do not purchase health insurance -- would be eliminated, but included no penalty for people who let coverage expire.

While the individual mandate is widely opposed by conservatives and libertarians, it was originally included as a way to push healthier people into the insurance system -- to help cover the cost of insuring sicker customers.

The House version likewise did away with the mandate's tax penalty but included a substitute.

The House's American Health Care Act, which passed narrowly on May 4, allowed for insurance companies to impose a 30 percent surcharge on those who purchase a new plan after letting their previous coverage lapse.

Senior Republican aides told Fox News the changes represent a technical correction to the bill, and not a compromise to win over GOP senators who have expressed wavering support.

Last week, five Republican senators came out against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells, R-Ky., plan, making it nearly impossible for the package to pass the chamber in its current form.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said on Friday that the bill is simply not the answer, joining Republican Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in opposition.

McConnell, who introduced the legislation last week, needs 50 votes to pass the bill out of the Senate and to the House, with Vice President Mike Pence serving as the tie-breaking vote. But without the support of Paul, Cruz, Lee, Johnson and Heller, passage of the bill in its current form is nearly impossible, unless Republicans can manage to draw Democratic votes, which is highly unlikely.

I didnt run on ObamaCare lite, Paul said last week. I think we can do better than thismy hope is not to defeat the bill, but to make it better.

The Congressional Budget Office is likely to release a score on the Senates bill on Monday afternoon, and McConnell is pushing to get the bill onto the floor for a vote before the July 4 recess.

Fox News' Mike Emanuel and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Some Republican senators expressed doubt Sunday about holding a vote on the health care bill to repeal and replace Obamacare until the Congressional Budget Office releases its analysis on the legislation and changes are considered.

Five Republicans have expressed opposition to the Senate GOP health care plan. It would be more than enough to torpedo the measure developed in private by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and deliver a huge defeat for President Trump who promised to repeal President Barack Obamas signature bill.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said in interviews they would like to wait and review the CBO score before pressing ahead to vote. The CBO score could come as early as Monday.

Collins said in an interview with ABC that seven to eight more senators were troubled by provisions in the Senate bill that may cut Medicaid for the poor even more than the Houses version of the bill. Collins, who also opposed proposed cuts to Planned Parenthood, said she was awaiting the CBO analysis before taking a final position on the bill.

"It's hard for me to see the bill passing this week," Collins said, adding it would be extremely difficult for the White House to be able to find a path to attract conservative and moderate votes.

Johnson, one of five senators opposing the bill, said he also would like to review the CBO score.

"I would like to delay," he said in an interview on NBC. "These bills aren't going to fix the problem. They're not addressing the root cause," he said, referring to rising health care costs. "They're doing the same old Washington thing, throwing more money at the problem."

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters passing a health care bill won't get any easier if Republican leaders delay a Senate vote on the GOP health care plan. He added there is a sense of urgency to push forward but acknowledged the outcome is going to be close.

President Trump express optimism earlier Sunday, but told Fox & Friends in a taped interview that more deal making needs to be done to get enough votes.

The Senate bill resembles legislation the House approved last month. A CBO analysis of the House measure predicts an additional 23 million people over the next decade would have no health care coverage, and recent polling shows only around 1 in 4 Americans views the House bill favorably.

The legislation would phase out extra federal money that more than 30 states receive for expanding Medicaid to additional low-income earners. It would also slap annual spending caps on the overall Medicaid program, which since its inception in 1965 has provided states with unlimited money to cover eligible costs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Supreme Court on Monday sent a case involving the cross-border shooting of a Mexican teenager back to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals -- leaving the question of whether the teens parents can sue the U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot him in the lower courts hands.

The facts alleged in the complaint depict a disturbing incident resulting in a heartbreaking loss of life, the Supreme Court majority wrote. Whether petitioners may recover damages for that loss of life in this suit depends on questions that are best answered by the Court of Appeals in the first instance.

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, and said he would have affirmed the lower court decision to dismiss the parents lawsuit.

The case  Hernandez v. Mesa  centers on the 2010 shooting death of 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, who was playing with friends in a cement culvert that separates El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

In June 2010, Border Patrol Agent Jesus Mesa Jr., who was on U.S. soil, shot and killed Guereca, who was on Mexican soil.

The teens parents sought to sue the border agent in an American court for allegedly violating their sons rights.

Hernandezs family argues that their son and his friends were simply playing a game in which they ran down the culvert from the Mexican side and up the American side to touch an 18-foot fence.

Mesa and the Justice Department argue that the agent was trying to stop "smugglers attempting an illegal border crossing" and fired his gun after he came under a barrage of rocks.

Had Hernandez had been killed inside the United States, the case against Mesa could proceed. It would have also proceeded if he had been a U.S. citizen.

But the courts so far in Hernandezs case have said the Constitutions power does not extend to people across the border or to those without a previous connection to the U.S.

What actually happened during the incident isnt what the Supreme Court was asked to rule on. The justices were asked to decide whether to uphold the ruling of two lower federal courts that Hernandez was killed by Mesa without any possible legal recourse for his parents or allow the border agent to be sued for damages for violating the boy's constitutional rights.

The details of the case have played out against the backdrop of President Trumps repeated statements that he will construct a southern border wall and make Mexico pay for it.

The court also said Monday it would rehear a case that looks at whether immigrants detained by the government have the legal right to a bond hearing or to challenge their detention.

In that case, Alejandro Rodriguez, who came to the U.S. as a child and was employed as a dental assistant, was convicted of joyriding. He also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance. He was then locked up for three years without the right to appear before a U.S. judge to ask for bond.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit and won his release.

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of a Missouri church that sued the state after being denied taxpayer funds for a playground project because of a provision that prohibits state funding for religious entities.

The ruling was 7-2.

The case, one of the most closely watched of the term, pitted two parts of the First Amendment against one another  freedom of religion and separation of church and state.

The dispute involved Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo., and the state of Missouri.

In 2012, the state launched an initiative to encourage schools to use recycled tires to produce softer playground surfaces. Trinity, which runs a preschool, was denied a state grant to participate in the program -- and lawyers for Trinity argued the state discriminated against the school based on religion.

Chief Justice John Roberts agreed.

The exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand, Roberts wrote.

During oral arguments in April, Justice Elana Kagan also questioned the church's exclusion.

"You're denying one set of actors from competing [for the grant money] because of religion," Kagan said. She called it a "clear burden on a constitutional right."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a strong dissent  and said Mondays decision profoundly changes the relationship between church and state.

Sotomayor, who read a portion of her dissent from the bench, said the ruling slights both our precedents and our history, and its reasoning weakens this countrys longstanding commitment to a separation of church and state beneficial to both.

The state program gives grants to nonprofits seeking a safer recreational environment for children. But Missouri's law at the time -- similar to those in roughly three-dozen other states  prohibited direct government aid to educational institutions that have a religious affiliation.

James Layton, Missouris former solicitor general, said Trinity Lutheran "remains free, without any public subsidy, to worship, teach, pray, and practice any other aspect of its faith however it wishes. The state merely declines to offer financial support."

He argued that while the Constitution prevents the government from discriminating against religion, it does not guarantee churches opportunities for public financing.

Since then, Republican Gov. Eric Greitens has changed the state policy to allow religious institutions to participate in the program but Mondays opinion could have an impact on other cases.

The Supreme Court accepted the church's petition for review back in January 2016, when Justice Antonin Scalia was still the senior conservative. His death a month later kept the case on hold, possibly because the eight justices believed they would ultimately tie.

Maureen Ferguson, senior policy advisor with The Catholic Association, called the ruling a significant victory for fairness and government neutrality towards religious institutions.

The Supreme Court is sharply signaling in this decision that the government must stop its growing hostility towards religion and religious institutions, and that antiquated and anti-Catholic Blaine Amendments should not be used as a weapon to discriminate against people of faith.

Fox News' Bill Mears contributed to this report.
City Engineer Debi Meling says the amount of summertime road construction  mainly with the goal of replacing the pipes below the roadway  is average this year.

But some of the work is in places that are causing headaches for thousands of Billings motorists  and things will only get worse as the summer heats up.

Fortunately for daytime travelers on the West End, the project that would have affected 25,000 carloads every day  a waterline replacement under South 24th Street West between Central and Monad  is being done at night, although there will also be periods of daylight work.

Meling advises motorists to watch the signs for when that daytime work will occur, and to visit the citys website, www.ci.billings.mt.us/557/Current-Projects, where updates are posted every Friday.

Because daytime alternates would have been 19th or 32nd Streets  neither of them a good option for detours, Meling said  engineers chose to have the work done at night, even though it means the contractor, Western Municipal Construction, must light the project and face the challenge of accessing materials while the rest of Billings sleeps.

If you dont have water, its hard to run a business," she said. "Weve been talking to businesses (along South 24th Street) for a year now. We will do our best to make it easy for people to get to their destinations.

In Billings, water lines are replaced, on average, every 100 years. But with the city's aging infrastructure and a limited amount of available funds, replacement is occurring at an even slower pace recently, every 150 years of so. Because of GIS mapping, Meling can access a digital grid of every pipe in the city. The map shows everything from the pipes circumference and the material its made from to the year it was installed.

Another current construction bottleneck is occurring along Division Street at Fourth Avenue North, but thats super exciting, Meling said, since a second right turn lane being added to Division onto Fourth Avenue North will even out traffic turning left on Division. That work should be done in two weeks.

More concerning for Meling is water and sewer line replacement along Sixth Avenue North from Division to N. 27th Street.

That is a rough, rough project, and it cant be done at night, because theres no way to put it back together during the day, she said. That work will continue into September, with a detour in place to direct Grand Avenue eastbound traffic to Division Street.

Work to widen Grand Avenue and add paths and pedestrian crossing signals between 52nd Street West and 58th Street West in anticipation of the opening of Ben Steele Middle School is scheduled for completion Aug. 4, and theyre working hard to hit that deadline, Meling said. So far work by Knife River Construction is on schedule.

One Montana Department of Transportation project includes replacing traffic signals along First Avenue North and Montana Avenue. Another state project includes the installation of sidewalks along the south side of Laurel Road.

A mill and overlay along Central Avenue from Division to 24th Street West will be pretty fast, but its a long project. The impacts will change almost hourly, Meling said. Work will begin in mid-July, with a single lane of traffic available in sections. Itll move fast, Meling said.

Looking ahead to 2018  well, maybe its better not to. Construction along Central from 32nd Street West to Shiloh Road will slow traffic along one of Billings busiest routes.

That, Meling said, will be ugly.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will hear the case of a suburban Denver baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple on faith-based grounds, in the latest religious freedom case to be considered before the nation's highest court.

Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, had refused to sell a customized cake for a gay couple's union, claiming a religious exemption to the state's anti-discrimination law.

State courts had ruled against the businessman.

The high court will now decide whether applying Colorado's public accommodations law to compel the baker to create "expression"-- a wedding cake -- violates his constitutionally protected Christian beliefs about marriage.

Phillips told the Supreme Court he has free speech and religious rights under the First Amendment that should protect him. He said he should not be compelled to bake a cake specifically to honor a same-sex marriage.

Colorado's anti-discrimination law, though, protects people on the basis of their sexual orientation. Charlie Craig and David Mullins had filed a complaint against Phillips and his suburban Denver shop after Phillips said he would not create and decorate a cake in honor of their marriage.

Colorado did not permit same-sex couples to marry until 2014. Two years earlier, Craig and Mullin were planning to fly to Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage was legal, and host a reception in Denver upon their return to Colorado. They wanted a cake for the occasion.

The case will be another in a series of "religious liberty" disputes the justices have reviewed in recent years, and could be an important First Amendment test of the extent anti-discrimination laws apply to gay Americans.

Oral arguments will likely be held in court's term beginning in the fall.

The case is Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (16-111).

In a separate decision on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled for same-sex couples who complained an Arkansas birth certificate law discriminated against them.

The justices on Monday issued an unsigned opinion reversing an Arkansas high court ruling that upheld a law stating married lesbian couples had to get a court order to have both spouses listed as parents on their children's birth certificates.

Meanwhile, the court on Monday declined to review a California law restricting permits to carry handguns outside of the home for self-defense.

A San Diego man had filed suit, saying state and county policies requiring "good cause" -- a specific reason or justifiable need to legally carry a concealed weapon -- were too restrictive. A federal appeals court had ruled for the state and now those restrictions will stay in place.

Fox News Bill Mears and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In a victory for the Trump administration, the Supreme Court on Monday lifted key components of an injunction against President Trump's proposed ban on travel from six majority-Muslim nations, reinstating much of the policy and promising to hear full arguments as early as this fall.

The court's decision means the justices will now wade into the biggest legal controversy of the Trump administration -- the president's order temporarily restricting travel, which even Trump has termed a "travel ban."

"Today's unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security," Trump said in a statement. "...As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive."

He added: "My No. 1 responsibility as commander in chief is to keep the American people safe. Today's ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nation's homeland."

The court made clear that a limited version of the policy can be enforced immediately with a full hearing to come in the Fall.

"An American individual or entity that has a bona fide relationship with a particular person seeking to enter the country as a refugee can legitimately claim concrete hardship if that person is excluded, the court wrote. As to these individuals and entities, we do not disturb the injunction. But when it comes to refugees who lack any such connection to the United States, for the reasons we have set out, the balance tips in favor of the governments compelling need to provide for the Nations security.

The justices decided to review the broader constitutional issues over executive authority on immigration with oral arguments to be held in the fall.

Trump has been incensed since his original executive order, signed on Jan. 27, was partially blocked by a federal court.

"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?" Trump tweeted on Feb. 4.

He added on Feb. 11: "Our legal system is broken!"

In early March, Trump issued a revised executive order -- which also had key provisions blocked by federal courts.

Trump has been spoiling for the Supreme Court to take up the case and eager to get it out of the hands of what he sees as more liberal appellate judges.

Four days after signing the original ban, Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated when Antonin Scalia died. Gorsuch, who has since been confirmed, is largely seen as a conservative, originalist justice in the Scalia mold and could help Trump claim an even more definitive victory after arguments.

The government has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits  that is, that the judgments below will be reversed, wrote Justice Thomas, supported by Alito and Gorsuch. The Government has also established that failure to stay the injunctions will cause irreparable harm by interfering with its compelling need to provide for the Nations security.

At issue is whether the temporary ban violates the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and 14th Amendments, and the ban on nationality discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas contained in a 65-year-old congressional law.



Federal appeals courts in Virginia and California in recent weeks have ruled against the administration. A majority of the 4th Circuit appeals court cited then-candidate Donald Trump's campaign statements proposing a ban "preventing Muslim immigration."



The White House, on the other hand, frames the issue as a temporary move involving national security. A coalition of groups in opposition call the order blatant religious discrimination, since the six countries involved have mostly-Muslim populations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

A major sticking point for the justices will be navigating how much discretion the president really has over immigration. Courts have historically been deferential in this area, and recent presidents dating back to Jimmy Carter have used their discretion to deny entry to certain refugees and diplomats -- including those from nations such as Iran, Cuba and North Korea.



A 1952 federal law -- the Immigration and Nationality Act, passed in the midst of a Cold War fear over Communist influence -- historically gives the chief executive broad authority.



"Whenever the president finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may, by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary," Section 212 (f) of the law states, "suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."

In his opinion, Thomas criticized the majority for the compromise nature of Monday's ruling, indicating he would have allowed the order to be enforced in full. Thomas said he feared "the Court's remedy" would inspire a flood of new litigation.

"Todays compromise will burden executive officials with the task of deciding -- on peril of contempt -- whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country," Thomas wrote. "The compromise also will invite a flood of litigation until this case is finally resolved on the merits, as parties and courts struggle to determine what exactly constitutes a 'bona fide relationship,' who precisely has a 'credible claim' to that relationship, and whether the claimed relationship was formed 'simply to avoid 2(c)' of Executive Order No. 13780.

Fox News' Bill Mears contributed to this report.
The U.S. militarys top officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., arrived in Afghanistan Monday to finalize plans for adding several thousand more troops there.

Two weeks ago, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress he will present a new plan for Afghanistan and the region in mid-July.

We are not winning in Afghanistan right now, and we will correct this as soon as possible, said Mattis, who called the new plan a fundamental change from the Obama administrations policy.

Mattis told lawmakers part of the change involves moving U.S. troops closer to the fight to help Afghan forces -- decimated with record casualties last year -- to call in airstrikes against the Taliban. In this way, officials say the new strategy in Afghanistan will look like the current fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, with more American troops calling in airstrikes to support local forces.

Earlier this month, President Trump gave his defense secretary the authority to determine how many more troops were needed in Afghanistan.

Defense officials say Mattiss authority from the president to increase troops is in the 3,000-5,000 range and not above that number. While not a blank check, the move would enable Mattis to make small changes without having to ask permission from the White House each time to speed up the process, officials say.

The Pentagon is also asking for NATO contributions as well.

In February, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill he needed a few thousand more troops including from allies, less than two months after then-President Obama ordered roughly 1,500 U.S. troops out of Afghanistan at the end of December. Officials say the increase in forces in the coming weeks makes up for cut at the end of 2016.

Dunford was the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan from 2013-2014.

There are roughly 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan right now. Unofficially, officials say that number is closer to 10,000.
Twelve House Republicans signed a letter calling for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to recuse herself from the upcoming travel ban case due to her comments about President Trump during the election.

In the letter, the congressmen call for Ginsburg to recuse herself in the case International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump. The case centers on President Trump's travel ban, which seeks to restrict refugee settlement in the U.S. as well as prohibit travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The congressmen argued Ginsburg's previous public comments about Trump, which included calling him a "faker" and saying he has an "ego," merited her recusal from the case.

The letter, issued on Monday, was signed by Reps. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., Brian Babin, R-Texas, Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., Don Bacon, R-Neb., Scott Desjarlais, R-Tenn., Neal Dunn, R-Fla., Jack Bergman, R-Mich., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Rob Blum, R-Iowa, and Thomas Garrett, R-Va.

On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, scheduling oral arguments for the first session in October.

Click for more from The Washington Examiner
An eviscerated great white shark has washed up on a South African beach, the latest fearsome predator to fall victim to killer whales in that area.

Last month, reports emerged that great white sharks were becoming prey for orcas off of South Africas coast.

A spokeswoman for Marine Dynamics, a shark cage diving company in Kleinbaai on South Africas Western Cape, told Fox News that the great white that washed up over the weekend was another victim of orca predation. The 13.5 foot shark, which washed up on Saturday, is the fourth recent grisly great white find, she added.

ORCAS PREY ON GREAT WHITE SHARKS IN SOUTH AFRICAN WATERS

The great white, like the other sharks that washed up, had its liver removed with "almost surgical precision", according to South Africa's Sunday Times. A shark's liver, which weighs as much as a person, is highly nutritious, the Sunday Times reports.

In a Facebook post Saturday, Marine Dynamics explained that the latest shark autopsy was completed by the Dyer Island Conservation Trust team, led by white shark biologist, Alison Towner. The deceased male shark measured 4.1m in total length. He was missing his liver, his testes and stomach, it said. The carcass may be a few days old but it seems relatively fresh and bled out massively. All necessary samples have been taken for the various scientific projects.

"This is the 4th documented deceased white shark since May that we can connect to Orca predation, said Towner, in the Facebook post.

TERRIFYING DRONE VIDEO SHOWS GREAT WHITE SHARK STALKING SURFERS

A pair of orcas are believed to be responsible for the killing, according to Marine Dynamics. The killer whales were sighted offshore off of Danger Point on Walker Bay, then again near the coastal village of Franskraal Saturday. Marine Dynamics cage diving boat tracked the pair. Subsequently all cage diving boats failed to see white sharks today, and it is believed the sharks may have fled the area once again, explained Marine Dynamics.

Orcas have been seen attacking cow sharks off of Cape Town, New Zealand and South America. Additionally, orcas were filmed attacking great white sharks around the Farallon islands off of California and Neptune islands off of Australia.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
Snapchat wants to allay privacy concerns over its new Snap Map feature.

Launched last week, Snap Map lets users share their location with friends on a map. Its easy to get started  just pinch to zoom out and view the Map! it explained, in a blog post.

Snap Map, however, has sparked concerns over users privacy, particularly when children are using the feature.

SNAPCHAT IS TAKING A CRACK AT MAPS WITH NEW SNAP MAP FEATURE

Snapchat says users can control who, if anyone, sees them on Snap Map. The safety of our community is very important to us and we want to make sure that all Snapchatters, parents and educators have accurate information about how the Snap Map works, explained a Snapchat spokeswoman, in a statement emailed to Fox News.

The spokeswoman explained that with Snap Map, location-sharing is off by default for all users and is completely optional. Snapchatters can choose exactly who they want to share their location with, if at all, and can change that setting at any time, she added. Its also not possible to share your location with someone who isnt already your friend on Snapchat, and the majority of interactions on Snapchat take place between close friends.

Users can interact with Snap Map in three ways. The first, Ghost Mode, lets users enter into the map and look for content, without being visible on the map themselves. The second option, Select Friends, lets users choose their friends who they want to see their location. The third, My Friends, gives users the option of letting all their friends see their location.

MOM HORRIFIED WHEN DAUGHTER TELLS HER ABOUT NEW SNAPCHAT BULLYING GAME  BUT IS LEFT PROUD BY HER RESPONSE

Snapchat says that if users choose to share their location on the Map, the location is only updated when the Snapchat app is open -- not in the background.

Nonetheless, fears about users privacy have prompted warnings about Snap Map. Rosenberg Police Department in Texas, for example, urged parents of children using Snap Map to pay close attention to the features settings. In order to prevent your child's location from being shared, they should put the setting into "Ghost Mode". To view the map and switch the mode, pinch the screen while you're on the Snapchat camera. From there you can change the settings.In order to prevent your childs location from being shared, they should put the setting in Ghost Mode, it said, in a Facebook post. To view the map and switch the mode, pinch the screen while youre on the Snapchat camera. From there you can change the settings.

The U.K.s Preston Police also posted a similar warning on Facebook.

FOLLOW FOX NEWS TECH ON FACEBOOK

The minimum age for using Snapchat is 13.

Location sharing features are offered by tech giants Apple, Google and Facebook, with Apple Maps and Google Maps among the most popular.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
As if airport security wasnt stressful enough, an airline passenger in Florida has had to confront a TSA officer who tried to steal money from her luggage.

A TSA agent working at the Orlando International Airport was arrested on Thursday for taking cash out of a female passengers bag while she went through security, reports WFTV Orlando.

The passenger, Kathleen Duddleston, had reportedly been selected for a pat-down after entering one of the airports TSA checkpoints. During her screening, Duddleston says she was initially positioned in a way so that she could not see her bag. The pat-down agent moved Duddleston closer, and thats when she noticed a separate TSA agent  later identified as 22-year-old Alexander Shae Johnson  lurking near her luggage.

WHY MORE TSA AGENTS ARE HEADING TO AIRPORTS THIS YEAR

After her screening, Duddleston opened her bag to find that her money was missing. However, she also noticed a wad of cash bulging through Johnsons shirt pocket.

According to WFTV, Duddleston then accused Johnson of stealing the money, but he claimed he obtained it from the bank. She then complained to the pat-down agent, who escalated the matter to a supervisor.

Security footage from the checkpoint later determined that Johnson did indeed extract the cash from Duddlestons bag and stuff it into his pocket.

Johnson was subsequently arrested and charged with third-degree grand theft. He was also terminated from the Transportation Security Administration. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Johnson had only been employed with the TSA for a few months.

The TSA has since released a statement reiterating their zero tolerance policy for misconduct.

The TSA immediately reported the allegation to [the Orlando Police Department] and we aggressively investigated the incident with our law enforcement partner, wrote the TSA in a statement obtained by WFTV. TSA officers represent a professional and honorable workforce that is trained to treat passengers and their personal belongings with care and respect. No exceptions will be tolerated. We immediately ended the federal career of this individual.

Johnson was reportedly taken to the Orange County Jail, although he has since been released after posting bail.

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This isnt the first incident of the TSA stealing from the people theyre supposed to protect: In a 2012, a TSA agent at JFK International Airport was accused of stealing $5,000 from a passengers jacket. That same year, another former TSA employee told the New York Daily News that stealing from passengers is very commonplace.

In 2012, the Daily News also reported that since 2003, just under 400 TSA officers had been fired for stealing from passengers.
LGBT Pride festivities in Chicago took an ugly turn over the weekend when three women were ejected from a march because their rainbow flags bore a Jewish Star of David.

The Chicago Windy Times, the city's LGBT paper, reported that the women were told that they could not take part in the city's Dyke March because their flags" made people feel unsafe."

The Dyke March is separate from Chicago's main Pride Parade and is described by organizers as being "more inclusive" and "more social justice-oriented" than the main event.

One of the women told to leave the march, Laurie Grauer, said her so-called Jewish Pride flag was "from my congregation which celebrates my queer, Jewish identity which I have done for over a decade marching in the Dyke March with the same flag.

"They were telling me to leave because my flag was a trigger to people that they found offensive," Grauer went on. "Prior to this, I had never been harassed or asked to leave and I had always carried the flag with me."

The Dyke March organizers issued a statement on Twitter Sunday afternoon, which said the women were told to leave the March "after they repeatedly expressed support for Zionism." The statement went on to say that the organizers are "explicitly not anti-Semitic, we are anti-Zionist" and "support the liberation of Palestine and oppressed people everywhere."

"People asked me if I was a Zionist and I said 'Yes, I do care about the state of Israel but I also believe in a two-state solution and an independent Palestine,'" Grauer told the Windy Times. "It's hard to swallow the idea of inclusion when you are excluding people from that. People are saying 'You can be gay but not in this way.' We do not feel welcomed. We do not feel included."

Grauer is listed as the Midwest Manager of Programs and Operations for A Wider Bridge, an organization supporting the LGBT community in Israel. The Dyke March statement condemned A Wider Bridge for allegedly "using Israel's supposed 'LGBTQ tolerance' to pinkwash the violent occupation of Palestine."

"An annual march celebrating inclusion and acceptance was hijacked ... by those who believe Jews do not belong to the LGBTQ community," said American Jewish Committee Chicago Director Amy Stoken. "Shame on the organizers of the Dyke March for not ensuring Jewish marchers can participate as freely as any other participant.

"Where is the collective outrage over this despicable targeting of Jews?
Two corrections officers were among four people arrested in a contraband smuggling operation at the county jail in Kansas City, Missouri, after roughly 200 law enforcers searched the facility early Monday.

The U.S. attorney's office said the indictment naming Jackson County Detention Center corrections officers Andrew Lamonte Dickerson, 26, and Jalee Caprice Fuller, 29, was unsealed after their arrest and the search. Also indicted last week in the bribery scheme are Carlos Laron Hughley, a 32-year-old inmate, and Janikkia Lashay Carter, a 36-year-old friend of Fuller and Hughley.

Prosecutors said in a news release that Hughley is purportedly the father of Fuller's recently born child. Dickerson is no longer employed with the county, and Fuller is on unpaid administrative leave.

The hourslong search was so large that law enforcement officers from the FBI and several other agencies were bused to the jail. An FBI investigation that began two years ago focused on excessive use of force by guards on prisoners before expanding to other areas. Previous searches uncovered drugs, weapons and other contraband.

Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said the suspects don't yet have attorneys who can speak on their behalf. He said prosecutors are seeking to have Dickerson held without bond and that Hughley isn't eligible to be released on bond because he's a jail inmate. Fuller has been released on bond, and Carter has been granted bond, but federal officials aren't releasing her until they determine whether other municipalities have outstanding arrest warrants against her.

Hughley had been awaiting trial on charges of domestic assault, armed criminal action, resisting arrest and multiple counts of distributing controlled substances.

According to the affidavit, an inmate's relative who was acting as an informant paid bribes and provided cellphones and cigarettes that Dickerson and Fuller smuggled into the facility in May and June. The contraband then was delivered to an inmate who also was acting as an informant, the affidavit said.

The affidavit said the relative paid Dickerson $500 to smuggle two packs of contraband cigarettes, a cellphone and a phone charger into the jail. Dickerson is accused of placing the items on the bed of the informant inmate and asking if he would be interested in paying a monthly fee of $2,500 in exchange for being the only inmate on that floor of the jail to receive contraband cigarettes, narcotics and telephones.

Separately, Hughley told the informant inmate that he could get contraband inside. The informant relative then coordinated with Carter and someone else, paying $300 and providing a cellphone and charger. Fuller was seen on surveillance video delivering a paper bag containing the phone and 15 Xanax pills though a cell block door hole to the informant inmate, according to the affidavit.

Jackson County Executive Frank White Jr. said jail officials are cooperating with the investigation and that millions have been spent on safety and security upgrades.

"We have dedicated and well-trained associates working hard inside the jail each and every day, but we must hold those who are breaking the rules accountable if we want to make forward progress," White said in a statement. "We will not tolerate such reckless behavior."
Police found bombs in the home of a Roundup man who was arrested recently in Nebraska and may be under investigation for a string of bank robberies in several states.

Richard L. Gathercole, 39, is suspected of shooting at a Kansas state trooper, according to a statement released by the Musselshell County Sheriff's Department, and an FBI spokeswoman confirmed that evidence found during the search of Gathercole's home "may be linked" to a series of bank robberies in California and other states in 2012 and 2014. The spokeswoman said the investigation is ongoing and declined to comment further.

Police from Chino, California, and Rexburg, Idaho, participated in the search, according to the Musselshell County Sheriff's department. A 2014 posting on the FBI website seeks help catching "the AK 47 Bandit," who robbed banks in Rexburg and Chino, shooting a police officer in the latter. The man also hit banks in Nebraska and Idaho, carrying an assault rifle and wearing body armor and a ski mask.

The FBI had offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the man's arrest and conviction. Laura Eimiller, the FBI spokeswoman, did not confirm if the "AK 47 Bandit" robberies were the investigations linked to Gathercole.

Gathercole was arrested for driving under the influence on June 14 at about 2:45 a.m. on Highway 87 in Montana. He pleaded not guilty to that and obstructing a peace officer, driving without insurance and driving without a license in Musselshell County Justice Court on June 15. He was released after appearing in Musselshell County Justice Court and posting bail.

Gathercole was then arrested on June 20 in south-central Nebraska while in possession of the stolen vehicle that was linked to the shooting incident in Kansas.

A jailhouse phone call transcript shows that Gathercole asked a relative to clear his Montana home of guns after his arrest.

The transcript of the call between Gathercole and a relative, who is unnamed, was submitted to a judge by federal officials seeking a search warrant for the Roundup home.

According to the transcript, Gathercole tells his mother to get all the guns out of the house. She agrees, then reminds him that the call is being recorded.

On Saturday, local law enforcement helped the FBI and police from California and Idaho search Gathercole's Roundup home at 121 Sixth Ave. W. Gathercole is not listed as the property's owner in online Montana property records. The Billings Police Department bomb squad removed several improvised explosive devices.

The application to search Gathercole's home by FBI Special Agent Andrew Ubbelohde details one bank robbery by the "AK-47 Bandit" that FBI officials said was carried out by Gathercole: A 2014 Nebraska City, Nebraska, robbery in which $90,258 was stolen.

The application also accuses Gathercole of stealing $126,000 from a bank in Mason City, Iowa, in 2015. During that incident, the robber pulled out an explosive device that contained powder, metal pieces and a fuse, according to Ubbelohde.

A similar explosive was removed from the trunk of the car Gathercole was driving when authorities say he fired on the Kansas trooper with an AK-47 rifle. It is not clear if the homemade bombs taken from his Montana home were of the same type.

The search warrant application does not describe the other "AK-47 Bandit" robberies.

One of those may have occurred at a bank in Vacaville, California, in 2012.

"We haven't confirmed that he's our AK-47 bandit," said Vacaville police Lt. Matt Lydon. "But we're certainly looking at that possibility."

There is no current danger to the public, the statement said. Musselshell County Attorney Kevin Peterson said that he doesn't currently plan to file any local charges against Gathercole in addition to the misdemeanors charged in justice court.

Gathercole was previously identified as being from San Jacinto, California, after his arrest in Nebraska at a gas station in Lexington. A sheriff's deputy had spotted a pickup that Kansas authorities had said was stolen by a man who fired at a state trooper Monday along Interstate 70.

Gathercole is charged in Nebraska with theft and with possession of stolen firearms. He was being held at the Dawson County jail in Nebraska. His court hearing is set for July 6.
A Massachusetts man has been convicted of second-degree murder Monday in the 2015 death of 2-year-old Baby Doe, after her remains washed up on the shores of a Boston Harbor island, sparking a month-long investigation to identify her.

Michael P. McCarthy, 37, was charged in the killing of Bella Bond, the daughter of his former girlfriend Rachelle Bond. A computer-generated image of the girl was shared by millions on social media after she was dubbed Baby Doe by investigators who were trying to identify her.

MASSACHUSETTS MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING BABY DOE WONT TESTIFY

The widely shared image showed a chubby-cheeked, brown-eyed girl. Her body was found inside a trash bag on Deer Island in Winthrop on June 25, 2015 by a woman walking a dog.

BREAKING: Moms Boyfriend Convicted of Murdering Baby Doe, 2, Whose Remains Were Found Along Mass. Shoreline https://t.co/8Z5a8AYXvX  People Magazine (@people) June 26, 2017

The Suffolk County Superior Court jury had been deliberating since June 20.

Prosecutors had charged McCarthy with first-degree murder, but the judge said jurors could also consider two lesser charges  second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, Boston 25 News reported. Under a second-degree murder conviction, a person is eligible for parole after serving 15 years in prison.

McCarthy will be sentenced Wednesday.

Bond and McCarthy were arrested in Sept. 2015 after Bond told a friend McCarthy had killed her daughter.

Bond pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact for helping McCarthy dispose of the girl's body. Under a plea deal with prosecutors, Bond is expected to be released after McCarthy's trial, serving less than two years in jail.

MASSACHUSETTS STORE CLERK FIGHTS OFF ARMED ROBBER

McCarthys lawyer claimed Bond was the real killer. He called her a monster who made up a web of lies to put the blame on McCarthy.

Both Bond and McCarthy were heroin addicts. A friend testified that McCarthy would lock the toddler in a closet to discipline her. Prosecutors alleged that McCarthy murdered Bella because he thought she was possessed by evil spirits. He had allegedly been obsessed with the occult for years.

"He said it was her time to die, she was a demon," Bond said.

Bond testified that on the night Bella died, she walked into the girls bedroom and saw McCarthy leaning over her and punching her. She said she saw McCarthy punch her in the abdomen so hard she bounced off the mattress.

McCarthy's lawyer aggressively cross-examined Bond about why she didn't call police or report her daughter's death to anyone. She claimed McCarthy threatened to kill her.

The defense also said prosecutors "made a deal with the devil" in offering Bond time-served in exchange for her testimony against McCarthy.

Click for more from Boston 25 News.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Border patrol agents saved an illegal immigrant on Wednesday near the southern Texas border after they found her suffering from heat stroke when temperatures hit over 100 degrees.

The agents were tracking a group of suspected illegal immigrants near a ranch in El Cenizo, Texas when they encountered the unresponsive woman, U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrote in a news release.

The woman, said to be from Guatemala, reportedly was abandoned by her guide and left out in the hot Texas heat. The agents called for medical attention and carried her to their vehicle parked several hundred yards away. They provided her with medical assistance, bringing her core body temperature down until EMS arrived.

BORDER PATROL CONCERNS OVER HUMAN SMUGGLING IN EXTREME HEAT

The fact that these smugglers abandoned this young lady in the unforgiving terrain and left her to die with temperatures sweltering over one hundred degrees demonstrates how callous and heartless these smuggling organizations are," Laredo sector assistant chief patrol agent Gabriel Acosta said in the news release.

BORDER AGENTS: MAN SMUGGLED IN CAR TRUNK AS TEMPS TOPPED 100 DEGREES

Agents have been warning border residents about the dangers of smuggling illegal immigrants in extreme weather conditions, particularly the heat. People could suffer from dehydration, lack of oxygen and heat stroke.

Last week, a woman was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle a Mexican man in the trunk of her car, when temperatures hit over 100 degrees. The man, 25, was hidden behind boxes and blankets. He was found in good health and did not need medical attention.
A young child is recovering in the hospital after another child shot them Sunday evening.

Police said that a child, under the age of 10, was shot at a playground near 23rd and Wheeling Avenue around 7 p.m.

Sgt. Kari Thompson with KCPD said the child's injuries were considered life-threatening.

A source told Fox 4's Kathy Quinn the child underwent surgery and is in critical condition as of Monday morning.

It is unclear how the seven-year-old boy who allegedly fired the shot obtained a gun, but police say it's disturbing.

"If this doesn't help you understand the importance of placing your gun either in a safe, or placing a gun lock on your gun, then we don't know what will do it," Thompson said. "We have had several instances of children in the past couple of years that have been shot by other juveniles just playing with guns. Guns that were not maintained. Guns that parents and/or guardians just left out without supervision."

The seven-year-old boy and his mother were interviewed by investigators. Police also spoke with witnesses on the scene to try and get a clearer picture of what happened.

Read more from FOX 4 Kansas City.
Two thousand years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, faithful Christians are still standing strong.

In the U.S. in particular, Christianity remains the dominant religion.

"Overall, U.S. adults with college degrees are less religious than others, but this pattern does not hold among Christians," a recent study by Pew Research Center found. "Americans with college degrees are no less likely than others to report attending religious services on a weekly basis."

So regardless of education level, Christian commitment to the faith appears consistent across the spectrum.

"Overall, 70 percent of Christians with college degrees have a high level of religious commitment on a scale incorporating four common measures of religious observance (worship attendance, frequency of prayer, belief in God and the self-described importance of religion in one's life), as do 73 percent of those with some college and 71 percent of those with no college experience," according to Pew, which released its study at the end of April.

The group found that individuals with a college degree are more likely than others to identify as atheist or agnostic.

While roughly 71 percent of Americans consider themselves Christians, some 20 percent of the population , Pew noted.

HOW A CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY, NEARLY 100 YEARS OLD, BROUGHT HOPE TO ALASKANS

Back in 2015, the group reported, "An extensive new survey of more than 35,000 U.S. adults finds that the percentages who say they believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church or other religious services all have declined modestly in recent years ... But the Pew Research Center study also finds a great deal of stability in the U.S. religious landscape. The recent decrease in religious beliefs and behaviors is largely attributable to the 'nones' -- the growing minority of Americans, particularly in the millennial generation, who say they do not belong to any organized faith."

NPR weighed in on this as well: "While church attendance has declined sharply in western Europe, secularization has been less evident in the United States. The number of Americans who list their church affiliation as 'none' has certainly increased, but more than 70 percent still identify generally as Christian."

WHY RELIGIOUS 'NONES' MAY HAVE SO MUCH POWER

"Among mainline Protestants, for example, college graduates were actually found to be more likely than non-college graduates to report weekly church attendance," NPR.com noted.

Across the globe, Christianity is still the most popular religion. An estimated 2.2 billion Christians live around the world. Islam, the second largest religion in the world, has an estimated 1.5 billion followers.
An adjunct anthropology professor at the University of Delaware who drew anger by criticizing Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died after being held captive in North Korea, will not be returning to teach.

Katherine Dettwyler, who last taught in the spring as an adjunct faculty member, will not be rehired to teach at the University in the future, a statement from University of Delaware read.

Dettwyler said in a since-deleted Facebook message and comment on an article about the late college student on the website of conservative magazine, the National Review, that Otto Warmbier got exactly what he deserved.

He went to North Korea, for f***'s sake, and then acted like a spoiled, naive, arrogant, US college student who had never had to face the consequences of his actions, Dettwyler wrote. I see him crying at his sentencing hearing and think What did you expect?"

Dettwyler added: How about a few moments of thought given to all the other people in North Korea who are suffering under the repressive government there? Just because they are North Koreans, and not US citizens, we shouldn't care about them?

Warmbier, a student at the University of Virginia, was arrested in 2015 on accusations that he tried to steal a propaganda banner during a visit to North Korea and was later convicted of subversion. His family said they were told that Warmbier had been in a coma since he was sentenced to prison with hard labor in March 2016.

When Warmbier returned to Ohio last week after U.S. officials secured his release, doctors determined that he had suffered a "severe neurological injury" of unknown cause. He died on Monday.

Fox News Andrew OReilly contributed to this report.
They sought safety on the shores of Cuba from American justice.

Now Joe Connor wants them back.

"Get these guys back, as a starting point for any further opening up of Cuba," Connor insists.

CUBA DEAL ROLLBACK: TRUMP SAYS HE'S NIXING OBAMA'S 'ONE-SIDED' PACT

An estimated 70 fugitives, including terrorists, murderers, bank robbers and hijackers, sought refuge in Cuba and remain protected to this day by the government. The notorious F.A.L.N. Puerto Rican terrorist group bomb maker Willie Morales, and convicted New Jersey State Trooper killer Joanne Chesimard, are among the most infamous who have enjoyed the benefits of decades of Cuban protection and generosity.

Connor, whose father was killed in a New York City F.A.L.N. terrorist bombing, says President Trump needs to add the return of the fugitives to any new agreement with the President Raul Castro's regime.

Morales, whose hands were blown off when a bomb accidently exploded, escaped from jail and found haven in Cuba in 1988. He is on the F.B.I.'s Most Wanted List and charged with "Unlawful flight to avoid prosecution/escape."

OPINION: MY FATHER'S KILLER ROAMS FREE IN CUBA, HARBORED BY MR. OBAMA'S NEW FRIENDS

Joanne Chesimard, a member of the extremist Black Liberation Army, was convicted of murder in 1977 and received political asylum in Cuba in 1984. She is also on the F.B.I's Most Wanted Terrorist List, wanted for "act of terrorism, domestic terrorism and unlawful flight to avoid confinement/murder."

Joe's father, Frank, was killed in the terrorist bombing of Fraunces Tavern, the historic restaurant and museum in Lower Manhattan that served as a headquarters for George Washington and where on December 4th,1783, he bid farewell to his troops. The attack, carried out by the F.A.L.N., killed four people and wounded 44 on January 24, 1975. Frank Connor was only 33 years old, Joe was 9. The attack was one of more than 100 bombings in the United States that the F.A.L.N. claimed responsibility for during a wave of terror in the 1970s and 80s. Connor has since dedicated his life to fighting for justice for his father and other victims of terrorism.

When President Trump announced the rolling back of some of his predecessor's Cuban policies on June 16th, he called on the Castro regime to return the fugitives.

"To the Cuban government, I say, put an end to the abuse of dissidents, release the political prisoners, stop jailing innocent people, open yourselves to political and economic freedoms, return the fugitives from American justice, including the return of the cop killer Joanne Chesimard."

REMOVING CUBA FROM US TERROR LIST IS PERSONAL, PAINFUL FOR SOME

Connor says he is encouraged by the president naming Chesimard and raising the issue, but says: "I wish he would mention Morales' name, he is no less a terrorist than Chesimard."

When President Obama announced the new U.S. Cuban policy in 2014, and restored diplomatic ties with the hardline Communist island nation, the State Department said that it would "discuss" the issue of the fugitives with the Castro government. But the status of the wanted criminals was not made a part of the agreement, which Connor says is a glaring and insulting oversight.

"It was a capitulation by the Obama administration, they didn't get anything in return," Connor said. "As a matter of fact, they took Cuba off the state sponsor of terror list, and that is one of the points I think Mr. Trump needs to add Cuba back to the state sponsor of terror list, because clearly they are sponsoring terrorists by having them in their country and that would be a big economic hit to Cuba."

Connor said that he doesn't think officials in the Obama administration "were trying to get them back, I don't think they had any intention of getting them back. The only way to get people back is having leverage. Obama gave away all of our leverage."

He said the U.S. now has leverage, and can correct the oversight that has left several dozens of wanted criminals living without consequence, just 90 miles from our shores.
A prominent Kentucky disability attorney who is at the center of a nearly $600 million Social Security fraud case has reportedly fled the country using a fake passport and has been set up with a job overseas.

Eric Conn told The Lexington Herald-Leader in an email exchange over the weekend he flew to a country that does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S.

The Herald-Leader reported it tried to verify Conns identity by asking him questions that only he could answer, including his Social Security number, which it obtained from court documents, and details about one of his marriages. He answered the questions correctly, the paper said.

Scott White, Conn's attorney, said that he also received emails that originated from the same address and from a person he believed to be Conn.

Many believed that Conn, who fled home detention on June 2, had stashed money overseas to live on but the email said that was not the case.

"The money I sent overseas was money that has long since been spent," Conn wrote.

Conn said the day after cutting off the monitor he used the passport to fly out of the U.S. He made a reference in one email to being on another continent but did not say which. He added he boarded a commercial flight without any significant problems but did not say where he caught the flight.

He did say he worked to misdirect authorities. For example, Conn said he used his credit card to buy a ticket to fly out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He said however that he never intended to go there because of the likelihood the FBI was monitoring his transactions.

He used a different, pre-paid credit card to buy a second ticket and used that one to leave the country, he said.

Conn said his leaving required preparation. A key factor was to not ask anyone left behind for help so they would not get in trouble, he said.

"I had to ask for help from an individual or individuals who were effectively immune from the government's persecution," Conn said. "Fortunately, I had previously made alliances with such individual or individuals."

The FBI did not say whether it believes the emails are from Conn. A person claiming to be Conn has sent the newspaper several emails since fleeing. Unlike the latest emails, it was not possible to reply to the initial emails, the paper reported.

Conn pleaded guilty in March to stealing from the federal government and bribing a doctor and a judge to approve disability claims based on fake medical evidence.

Conn speaks multiple languages, has crossed the border 140 times in the past decade and had told at least six people he would flee the country instead of going to jail.

He surrendered his passport in April 2016 after being indicted. An accomplice outside the country obtained a fake passport for him, an email said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A former Arizona sheriff is slated to go on trial Monday for allegedly disobeying a judges order to stop traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, 85, faces a criminal charge stemming from his immigration enforcement actions. The eight-day trial in federal court in Phoenix will determine if the retired lawman is guilty of misdemeanor contempt of court for disobeying a judges 2011 order to stop racially profiling Latinos in traffic stops.

Arpaios legal troubles played a major role in voters pushing him out of office in November after a campaign in which he appeared alongside then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at several rallies in Arizona.

ARIZONA GOVERNOR SEEKING MORE WILDFIRE FUNDING

The former six-term sheriff, who dubbed himself Americas toughest sheriff, has acknowledged defying the judges order in a racial profiling lawsuit by prolonging the patrols for months. But he insists it was not intentional. To win a conviction, prosecutors must prove he violated the order on purpose.

If convicted, Arpaio could face up to six months in jail, though lawyers who have followed his case doubt that a man of his age would be put behind bars.

Unlike other local police leaders who left immigration enforcement to U.S. authorities, Arpaio's department made hundreds of arrests in traffic patrols that sought out immigrants and business raids in which his officers targeted immigrants who used fraudulent IDs to get jobs.

His immigration powers were eventually stripped away by the courts and federal government, culminating with the 2013 ruling that Arpaios officers profiled Latinos.

BORDER PATROL RAIDS ARIZONA DESERT CAMPS THAT HELPS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Arpaio's defense centers around what his attorneys said were weaknesses in the court order that failed to acknowledge times when deputies would detain immigrants and later hand them over to federal authorities.

Arpaios attorney, Jack Wilenchik, said he is being charged with cooperating with U.S. immigration officials although the Trump administration encourages that.

This is really just a fight about immigration law and what it means," Wilenchik said. "And Arpaio is trying to do what a good cop does, which is to enforce the law."

Arpaios critics hope the case will bring long-awaited retribution for the sheriff who led crackdowns that divided immigrant families and escaped accountability. The judge concluded that Arpaio ignored the order because he believed his immigration tactics would help his 2012 campaign.

The TV interviews, news releases and tough talk about Americas border woes that Arpaio used over the years to boost his popularity are now being used against him in court.

Arpaio lost a request to prohibit prosecutors from mentioning comments he made about immigration during his last three campaigns.

It is not clear if Arpaio will testify.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A man in Georgia is set to faced a judge Monday in connection with teenager Hailey Burns disappearance over a year ago.

Burns had been missing for over a year when she was found in 31-year-old Michael Ren Wysolovski's home over the weekend.

Wysolovski has been charged with Aggravated Sodomy, False Imprisonment, Interference with Custody, and Cruelty Children-Deprivation 1st degree (all of which are felonies), with no bond, according to the Gwinnett County Sheriffs Office Docket Book.

HAILEY BURNS: MISSING NORTH CAROLINA GIRL FOUND ALIVE AFTER MORE THAN A YEAR

According to Burns diary, she had planned to run away with a man she had met online.

Family members say that Burns had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and that she didnt take her medication with her, USA Today reported.

A neighbor told WSB-TV that he had seen Burns unloading groceries out of the car and that she waved back to say hello and that he had no clue she was being held captive.

SETH THOMAS, MISSING USC MEDICAL STUDENT, FOUND DEAD IN PERU

After a Romanian woman had connected with Burns online and learned that she was missing, she got Burns to take a photo from a window in the house and she was found later that day.

Hailey Burns, now 17, has been reunited with her parents in North Carolina.

The FBI in Charlotte and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department will be working closely with the FBI in Atlanta and the Gwinnett County Police Department and will continue investigation.

Wysolovski faced a judge during his first appearance hearing on Monday, WSOC-TV reported. During the five-minute appearance, he heard his charges and was appointed a counsel.

Wysolovski is set to appear at his prelimenary hearing on Friday, July 7 at 1:30 p.m.
Christian missionaries who are called to share their faith with others often embark on the journey of a lifetime -- and leave a lasting impact on the communities they serve.

Some missionaries may minister to others in their neighborhood or on a college campus, while others may travel overseas or to unknown territory.

For 99-year-old Alice Green, the missionary journey started an incredible 72 years ago -- when she moved from Denver, Colorado, to the remote village of Savoonga, Alaska.

"She made God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus loving and understanding," said Jenny Alowa, a retired woman living in Anchorage, Alaska. She recalled celebrating Christmas at the church that Green helped build in the 1950s, the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

Located on the St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, Savoonga is home to an estimated 700 people.

WHY RELIGIOUS 'NONES' MAY HAVE SO MUCH POWER

The Alaska Dispatch News featured a profile of Green this week, which is how her story came to light.

"Carol Combs, a teacher in Savoonga in the 1970s, introduced me to Green," wrote an Anchorage resident, Charles Wohlforth, in the column.

HOW WELCOMING REFUGEES SAVED A DYING CHURCH

Wohlforth hosts radio shows on Alaska Public Media and noted that Green turns 100 next month. She now lives at the Anchorage Pioneer Home.

She went to seminary to become a Presbyterian church worker. There was no church in Savoonga when she arrived, so she helped build the Savoonga Presbyterian Church and it is still in use today.

Click for more from LifeZette.
The Latest on the Supreme Court's decision on the Trump administration's travel ban (all times local):

6:20 p.m.

The State Department says it will start implementing President Donald Trump's ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries 72 hours after it was partly reinstated by the Supreme Court.

That means the temporary ban will go into effect Thursday morning.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says her agency will provide more details about how it will be implemented after consulting with the Justice and Homeland Security departments. She says the U.S. government will keep people traveling to the U.S. and members of the travel industry informed "in a professional, organized and timely way."

She says the U.S. is also working with its partners to implement the part of the ban that affects refugee admissions to the U.S. She says the State Department will keep the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program updated about changes "as they take effect."

___

3 p.m.

The imam of a Hawaii mosque who is a plaintiff in the state's challenge to the travel ban says he hopes his Syrian mother-in-law will be granted a visa.

Ismail Elshikh (EES-my-ayl-el-sheek) said Monday he's not optimistic because of the delays in his mother-in-law's application and the additional paperwork being requested.

He says his children are disappointed their grandmother couldn't be in Hawaii to celebrate Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

The nation's highest court on Monday said it would let a limited version of Trump's ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries take effect. The ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen can be enforced as long if those visitors lack a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."

___

1:16 p.m.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the Justice Department looks forward to defending the travel ban when the Supreme Court hears arguments in the case in October.

Sessions says Monday's decision is "an important step toward restoring the separation of powers between the branches of the federal government" by recognizing the president's right to protect national security.

The court is letting the administration mostly enforce its 90-day ban on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries. The court's opinion said two federal appeals courts that had blocked the policy went too far to limit Trump's authority over immigration.

Sessions says the travel ban case "raises profound questions about the proper balance of these constitutional powers."

Sessions says vetting of those seeking to come to the U.S. is crucial for national security.

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12:15 p.m.

President Donald Trump is hailing Monday's Supreme Court decision on his controversial travel ban as a "clear victory for our national security."

Trump says in a statement that his "number one responsibility" is to keep the American people safe.

The nation's highest court on Monday said it would let a limited version of Trump's ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries take effect. The ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen can be enforced as long if those visitors lack a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."

The justices will hear full arguments in the October.

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10:33 a.m.

The Supreme Court is letting the Trump administration mostly enforce its 90-day ban on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries, overturning lower court orders that blocked it.

The action Monday is a victory for President Donald Trump in the biggest legal controversy of his young presidency.

The court did leave one category of foreigners protected, those "with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States," the court said in an unsigned opinion.

The justices will hear arguments in the case in October.

Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by courts.

The ban would apply to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The Trump administration said the ban was needed to allow an internal review of the screening procedures for visa applicants from those countries.

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3:10 a.m.

The focus is on the Supreme Court as the high-stakes legal fight over President Donald Trump's travel ban awaits action by the justices.

The court is expected to decide within days whether the Trump administration can enforce a ban on visitors to the U.S. from six mostly Muslim countries  Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Trump rolled out a travel ban just a week after his Jan. 20 inauguration, but lower federal courts have blocked it and a revised version  and one court also has blocked a 120-day halt on refugee arrivals in the United States.

The president casts the travel ban as critical to deterring possible terrorist attacks in the United States. Opponents say it targets Muslims in violation of federal law and the Constitution.

_
Human remains discovered at a California warehouse on Saturday are believed to be connected with a missing San Francisco Uber driver who was last seen in May.

Investigators and canine teams found several bags of human remains at the warehouse in Hayward about 10 a.m. Saturday, San Francisco Police Department said. Workers reported smelling an awful stench inside the warehouse, KTVU reported.

Police said the medical examiner's office will be using DNA testing to identify the remains due to their condition.

HAILEY BURNS CASE: GEORGIA MAN FACES CHARGES IN DISAPPEARANCE OF TEEN FOUND A YEAR LATER

Though the remains have not been identified, investigators believe they could be of Piseth Chhay, an Uber driver who disappeared on May 14. That day Chhay was meeting Bob Tang, a family acquaintance who also worked at the warehouse where the remains were found, KTVU reported.

"We knew his friend owns apartment buildings," Chhay's cousin Sovanarath Chi told KTVU. "He thought he was going there to help, fix stuff up, but we heard he never showed up and was never heard from again."

MAN CONVICTED OF 2ND-DEGREE MURDER IN KILLING OF BABY DOE

Chhay's car was discovered stripped to its framework in the Bayview district. His wife also told the news station that she had a feeling "something bad had happened" because her husband wouldn't leave their two sons, ages 8 and 11. His family created a GoFundMe account in their efforts to find him.

Investigators believe Tang, 48, also known as "Bob Tov," has fled the U.S. to Cambodia. His car was found in the parking lot at San Francisco International Airport on May 25.
AINSLEY EARHARDT GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH IVANKA TRUMP

Ivanka Trump joins Fox News Ainsley Earhardt for an exclusive interview, beginning at 6 a.m. ET on Fox & Friends. Ivanka, who serves in the White House as an assistant to the president, appeared on Fox & Friends on June 12 discussing the James Comey hearing, her role in the White House and the treatment by the media.

SENATES HEALTH CARE PLAN IN TROUBLE?

After five Republicans announced they would not support the current version of the Senates health care plan, others said Sunday they want to wait for the Congressional Budget Offices analysis before pressing ahead for a vote. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said in interviews they would like to wait and review the CBO score before pressing ahead to vote. "It's hard for me to see the bill passing this week," Collins said, adding it would be extremely difficult for the White House to be able to find a path to attract conservative and moderate votes.

TRUMP UPBEAT ABOUT PASSING OBAMACARE OVERHAUL, AMID GOP SENATORS' CONCERNS

PRICE BACKS SENATE HEALTH CARE BILL, ADMITS GETTING VOTES WILL BE TOUGH

TOP DEM: OBAMA SHOULD HAVE DONE MORE TO COUNTER RUSSIAN ELECTION-MEDDLING

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday the Obama administration should have done more to counter Russias meddling in the U.S. election. "I think the administration needed to call out Russia earlier, needed to act to deter and punish Russia earlier, and that was a very serious mistake," Schiff, of California, said. Schiff added that President Barack Obama may have been worried that doing more against Russia would have looked like he was trying to tip the scales for Hillary Clinton and did not want to give in to the notion that the election was rigged against Donald Trump

PIRRO: I AM AFRAID SOME CRAZY LEFTY IS GOING TO TRY AND ASSASSINATE TRUMP

SPICER: TRUMP'S REMARKS ABOUT POSSIBLE COMEY TAPES BROUGHT OUT TRUTH

PHARMA BRO STILL IN THE PUBLIC EYE DESPITE ADVICE

Martin Shkreli, also known as the Pharma Bro, defied his attorneys advice to lay low before his federal securities fraud trial starts. Shkreli, who became a pariah after raising the cost of a life-saving drug 5,000 percent, has been preening for cameras and trolling on social media, potentially complicating his defense in the trial, which begins Monday. "I'm excited," Shkreli said of the trial in a brief phone call last week to the Associated Press. I cant wait.

PILOT TELLS PASSENGERS TO 'PRAY' AFTER PLANE SUFFERS SERIOUS ENGINE TROUBLE

NIKKI HALEY AND SON HECKLED AT NEW YORK RESTAURANT

PROF WHO CRITICIZED OTTO WARMBIER WONT RETURN TO SCHOOL

An adjunct anthropology professor at the University of Delaware who drew anger by criticizing the American college student who died being held captive in North Korea will not be returning to teach. Katherine Dettwyler, who last taught in the spring as an adjunct faculty member, will not be rehired to teach at the University in the future, a statement from University of Delaware read. Dettwyler said in a since-deleted message on Facebook and in the comments section of an article about the late college student on the website of conservative magazine, the National Review, that Otto Warmbier got exactly what he deserved.

COMING UP ON FNC

1:30 p.m. ET: Press Secretary Sean Spicer will hold an off-camera press briefing.

5:15 p.m. ET: President Trump and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give joint statements. Watch live on Fox News Channel.

FOX BUSINESS COVERAGE

Japanese airbag maker Takata files for bankruptcy: Japan's Takata, the firm at the center of the auto industry's biggest ever product recall, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States and Japan. (Click for more)

Wall Street week ahead: Oil's drop could leave a stain on earnings (Click for more)

8:30 a.m. ET: Dan Marron, former acting director of the CBO, appears on Mornings with Maria.

11:00 a.m. ET: Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, will sit down for an exclusive interview with Fox Business Adam Shapiro.

3:00 p.m. ET: Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., will appear on Closing Bell.
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Yingying Zhang, the daughter of a working-class factory driver from China, took the same career path as many other young Chinese academics before her: She travelled to a university in the U.S. with dreams of one day landing a professorship and being able to help her parents financially.

But just weeks after arriving at the University of Illinois, the 26-year-old visiting scholar in agriculture sciences stepped off a bus on a sunny afternoon and got into a black hatchback. She hasn't been seen since.

Her disappearance June 9 on her way to sign an apartment lease is being treated as a kidnapping. The case has shaken staff and students at Illinois' flagship public school in Urbana-Champaign. And it's led some parents of the more than 300,000 Chinese students currently studying at American universities to question whether it's safe to send to their children to the United States.

Zhang's father, Ronggao Zhang, travelled to the university from the family's home in Nanping, China, to await word on his daughter. He had a message for whoever might have abducted her.

"We will forgive you," he said in a telephone interview. "But please, let Yingying go."

The 53-year-old, speaking through a translator, had a message for his daughter, too: "Yingying, please be strong."

Local police and the FBI say Zhang's case is a top priority, though they have withheld details of their investigation, even from the father, said Yingying Zhang's boyfriend, who sat in on the weekend interview with the father from the 44,000-student campus about 140 miles south of Chicago.

"So you can imagine the anxiety," Xiaolin Hou said. "It's almost torture ... not knowing anything."

Chinese media have covered Zhang's disappearance, with her friends and acquaintances drawing attention to her case on Chinese social media sites such as WeChat.

"There's so little we can do at home, but we'd like the local police in the United States to stay on top of the case and not to let it slide," said Zhao Kaiyun, a roommate of Zhang's at Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. Zhang graduated last year with a masters' degree in environmental engineering.

The University of Illinois has the largest Chinese student population of any U.S. college, with 5,600 students enrolled, according to U.S. government data.

By chance, U of I representatives recently held a previously scheduled orientation session in China for students headed to the school and their parents. Several attendees asked about Zhang's disappearance, said Robin Kaler, the associate chancellor for public affairs.

"Parents were very concerned," she said. "We obviously tell them that it is a very safe community in general, but that there are instances when horrible things can happen. And this is one instance."

Urbana-Champaign, with a population around 250,000, typically records no more than a few homicides each year.

The university's reputation as a leader in agriculture studies attracted Zhang to the school. She's been doing research on crop photosynthesis, Kaler said. The expectation was that she would begin work on her Ph.D. in the fall.

One central motivation for everything she did was a desire to help her parents in Nanping, a city in a picturesque part of China amid mountain ranges and forests, her boyfriend said. She set aside part of her research income to buy her parents devices to make their lives easier, including a microwave and a cellphone.

Her boyfriend and her father described Zhang as bright and studious, fun-loving and outgoing. She plays the guitar and was the lead singer in band called "Cute Horse" at college in China. One of her favorite songs, her boyfriend said, was "The Rose," a hit in 1980 for American singer Bette Midler.

Zhang, they added, is also street-smart and cautious and would not normally get into a car with a stranger unless somehow duped or forced.

"She is good at protecting herself," Zhao said.

Some reports suggested she may have called a ride-sharing service because she was running late, though investigators have not confirmed that. Local police said they received a separate report of someone posing as a police officer trying to lure women into his car, but have not said if it could be related.

The 5-foot-4, 110-pound Zhang, wearing a baseball cap and carrying a backpack, was seen on a surveillance video standing by the black Saturn Astra for a few minutes before getting in. Investigators say the driver appeared to be a white male.

Henry Chang-Yu Lee, a Connecticut-based criminal forensics expert who was born in China, said Zhang's case stands out because she disappeared in daylight hours. Abductions often occur at night and frequently outside bars and clubs, he said.

Illinois investigators are probably focused on identifying the owner of the car, trying to enhance surveillance video to read the license plate. They would also be combing Illinois sex-offender registration lists to see if anyone on it can be tied to the vehicle.

"But you are racing against time," he said. "If this car left Illinois and went to California or Texas, you'll have an even harder time finding her."

Zhang's father refuses to let himself think she won't be found alive. Addressing her in the interview, he said he won't leave Illinois during the search.

"I will wait for you," he said. "And we will definitely find you."

___

Tang reported from Beijing.
A New Mexico man was arrested Friday after he stabbed and threatened his parents over the lack of air conditioning in their home, court documents showed.

Robert Generosa, 49, allegedly got angry because there was no air conditioning at their Albuquerque home, WCMT-TV reported. He yelled at his parents while swinging a knife in the air, according to court documents.

AUTHORITIES: MOTHER LEFT KIDS IN HOT CAR TO TEACH A 'LESSON'

Generosa then threatened to stab his parents and cut his father's face several times with the knife, court documents showed. He also hit his father on the top of his head with the knife's handle. Generosa eventually surrendered to police about 3 a.m. Friday after a brief standoff.

His parents were taken to the hospital and treated for their injuries.

STEVEN DISHMAN: ARKANSAS INMATE RECAPTURED 32 YEARS AFTER ESCAPE

Generosa's father told KOAT that his son suffered a "mental episode" the night of the incident.

Generosa was charged with assault on a household member with intent to commit a violent felony and aggravated battery against a household member, according to Bernalillo County Detention Center.

He is being held on $5,000 bond.
Police in New Orleans are searching for four suspects involved in a brutal beating of two tourists during a robbery Saturday night in the city's famed French Quarter that left one victim critically wounded.

Surveillance video released by police late Sunday shows the victims attacked by four men who beat them, stole their wallets and cell phones, and then fled, according to FOX 8.

The violent attack took place on the 200 block of Bienville Street, one block from Canal Street, just before 9 p.m., according to police.

One of the victims is seen being punched by one of the assailants from behind, which knocks him out cold. He is then seen lying motionless face-down on the sidewalk as blood begins to pool around his body and one suspect goes through his pockets.

WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO BELOW

The other victim was tackled and robbed, but not knocked unconscious. The group of suspects then run away, as the conscious victim goes to help his motionless friend.

Several bystanders then arrive before the video ends.

New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Michael Harrison said Monday the two men from the Boston area were walking back to their hotel and "didn't see it coming."

Harrison described the assault as a "vicious attack" which was caught on multiple cameras in the area.

"These people committed this crime out of the eyes of the

police, nearly 50 police officers were working in this area that night, but they did not commit this crime out of the eyes of the community," he told reporters. Authorities plan to release more images and video of the attack captured from cameras on nearby businesses.

"We're coming for you," Harrison said to the suspects in the assault.

"In just a little while, everybody is going to see you. Everybody is going to know who you are," he said. "We're going to make you pay and hold you accountable for what you did."

Both victims were transported to a local hospital, where one of the victims was listed in critical condition and the other victim was listed in stable condition.

Anyone who recognizes the suspects in the surveillance video or has any information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111, according to FOX 8.

Read more from FOX 8.
A Pennsylvania borough council voted to restrict a man who plays Taps outside his home every night to Sundays and holidays only.

Joshua Corney, of Glen Rock, plays Taps every night at 8 p.m. to honor the people who have served the U.S. Five of the six council members voted to restrict Corney.

Corney, who is the sixth council member, did not attend the meeting. He told Fox 43 on Sunday that he knew he would not be in the meeting because he was having surgery and the issue was not on the agenda.

(I take) 57 seconds out of each day to show our community and our country that we stand behind the men and women of this country and what they do on a day-to-day basis, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, thats what this is for. Corney told the station.

Corney started a petition urging Glen Rock residents to sign to allow him to keep playing every night.

Glen Rock borough council president David Young told Fox 43 in a statement that Corney is not prohibited from playing Taps and the solution would not violate a nuisance ordinance.
A New Jersey rabbi and his wife and three other couples defrauded state and federal public assistance programs out of more than $1 million by underreporting their incomes, according to criminal complaints released Monday.

One of the couples continued to receive Medicaid assistance for their children despite making more than $1 million in both 2012 and 2013, according to one criminal complaint. Another continued receiving benefits in 2014, even though they made $1.8 million the year before, prosecutors said.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said more arrests are expected as a result of the investigation centered on Lakewood, a New Jersey shore town that is home to a large and growing ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

Rabbi Zalmen Sorotzkin, of Congregation Lutzk, and his wife, Tzipporah, were charged with collecting more than $338,000 in benefits prosecutors said they weren't entitled to. Their attorney said they will plead not guilty.

They were charged in state court along with Mordechai and Jocheved Breskin, who prosecutors said collected more than $585,000 in benefits they weren't entitled to.

Zalmen Sorotzkin's brother, Mordechai, and his wife, Rachel, were one of two couples charged in separate federal complaints with conspiring to fraudulently obtain Medicaid benefits.

They made more than $1 million in 2012 and in 2013, the complaint alleges, but still received more than $96,000 in Medicaid benefits, including $22,000 to pay for medical expenses when their sixth child was born in November 2013.

"Everything is going to work out and all will be vindicated," said Rachel Sorotzkin's attorney, Fred Zemel.

The couples charged in federal court were released on $100,000 bond and their travel limited to New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, while the couples charged in state court were released without bail, but had to surrender their passports.

According to a federal complaint, Yocheved and Shimon Nussbaum hid their income by creating companies that were run by relatives on paper, but that they actually controlled. They made a total of $1.8 million in 2013, but still received Section 8, Medicaid and food benefits into 2014, prosecutors said.

The investigation was initiated by the FBI and the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller. It later expanded to include U.S. Social Security Administration, the state Department of the Treasury and the Ocean County prosecutor's office.

"Financial assistance programs are designed to alleviate family hardships for those truly in need," Coronato said in a statement. "My office gave clear guidance and notice to the Lakewood community in 2015 of what is considered financial abuse of these programs.

"Those who choose to ignore those warnings by seeking to illegally profit on the backs of taxpayers will pay the punitive price of their actions."

___

Contact Porter at https://www.twitter.com/DavidPorter_AP . Contact Shipkowski at https://www.twitter.com/BruceShipkowski

___

Porter reported from Newark.
A mall in San Francisco briefly went on lockdown after a brawl erupted Sunday, leaving one officer injured.

Video of the event showed officers trying to stop the fights breaking out at the mall on Sunday night. Many people were seen running from the mall, which ultimately closed early.

Police said one juvenile was taken into custody; the person's age was not released.

The officer suffered minor injuries.

MASSACHUSETTS MALL INTRUDER CAUGHT AFTER SEARCH, POLICE SAY

The skirmish followed San Francisco's Pride parade but police said they did not think it was a hate crime or linked to the days events, KPIX reported.
A former substitute teacher in southwestern Missouri was arrested Sunday and charged in connection with alleged sexual contact with one of her students.

Loryn Barclay, 24, faces charges in two counties as a result of the alleged relationship with the 17-year-old boy while she worked as a substitute teacher at Monett High School.

According to court documents, Monett City Police Officer Jay Jastal, who works at the high school, was tipped off about the relationship in April. The officer said the student confirmed the relationship with Barclay on May 3. The following day, Barclay admitted having "an inappropriate relationship" with the boy.

According to the affidavit, Barclay said she performed oral sex on the boy in a car at a park located in Lawrence County, Mo. She also admitted she had intercourse with the teen at the boy's home in neighboring Barry County.

The Monett Times reported that Barclay was hired as a substitute teacher this fall and was promoted to a paraprofessional in November. She became a teacher assistant in January and was removed April 27, the day the relationship was first reported to police.

"When we became aware of potential involvement with a student, we followed all procedures" Monett Superintendent Brad Hanson told the paper. "We had a conversation with her and she was not employed from then on ... We dealt with it swiftly ... and now, we'll let the legal side do its work."

Barclay was released after posting $25,000 bond in Lawrence County, where her next appearance is set for July 24. Her bond is set at $10,000 in Barry County, where she has yet to appear.
Authorities in New York and Tennessee are looking for a man and woman who kidnapped a Tennessee woman at gunpoint last Tuesday then used her as bait to shoot someone else.

Jarret Cole Heitmann, 24, and Makayla Danielle Stilwell, 22, then drove to New York, where on Saturday they broke into a home in a private community and left the homeowner with a deep gash on his head, according to the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y.

MAN DIES AFTER FALLING FROM NORTH CAROLINA WATERFALL

Police say last week, the pair went to a womans home and forced her out at gunpoint. They drove the woman to another house, forced her to knock on the door, and when someone emerged, they shot the man in the chest, police said. Dustin Bishop is recovering from his wounds and is expected to survive.

The homeowner in New York told the Herald-Record that the pair entered his home at about 3 a.m. and stole a gun. He did not say how he was injured.

Heitmann and Stilwell, who faced attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping charges, were later spotted in Pine Bush, N.Y. They are considered armed and dangerous.

There is a $1,000 reward for information leading to their arrest.
A houseboat ran over and killed a 4-year-old Texas girl and the vessels operator has been charged with criminally negligent homicide.

Jason Bernal, 47, of Killeen, failed to keep a proper lookout while backing up the boat, according to the complaint obtained by Fox News Monday.

Kaitlyn Oliver, of Temple, was swimming behind the boat on Temple Lake Friday.

Court papers say she drowned after the propeller struck her. It also severed Patrick Olivers legs when he jumped in to rescue his daughter, KXXV-TV reported.

Doctors amputated both his legs, KWKT-TV reported.

MISSING 5-YEAR-OLD CALIFORNIA BOY'S FATHER CHARGED WITH MURDER

Temple police said in court papers that Bernal told an officer that he put the boat in reverse and was backing up when someone told him to stop.

Jason Bernal stated from the captains position in the boat he could not see behind him because the boat is three-stories tall, the papers state.

He told the officer before he back up he yelled clear and no one responded.

CONVENIENCE STORE OWNER WHO KILLED SHOPLIFTER IS SENTENCED

A female witness told police said that previously she had told Bernal not to park in this area because there are children swimming in this area, according to the court papers.

The papers quoted another female witness as saying that when the houseboat began to back up she shouted to Bernal to say there were people behind the boat.

A GoFundMe page for Kaitlyn and her father says Kaitlyn was a sweet, vivacious, beautiful girl.

"This innocent child loved her dog, Kion, singing along to Frozen, and cuddling with her family. Kaitlyn was deeply loved by her parents, Patrick and Mary Ann, as well as her grandparents," the page says.
Two separate brown bear attacks were reported on Saturday at two different locations in Alaska, officials said.

Fortunately, the two people injured were expected to survive.

The first attack took place in the Clunie Lake area at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, according to a Department of Fish and Game spokesperson.

James Fredrick and Alex Ippoliti were riding bicycles when a bear pushed Fredrick off the bike and attacked him, the Alaska Dispatch News reported. Ippoliti said he came prepared after last weeks news of two deadly black bear attacks in the state.

BLACK BEARS KILL 2 IN ALASKA, INCLUDING TEEN IN EXTREME RACE

With all the things that had been going on, I made sure I had my bear bell on and bear spray with me, Ippoliti told Alaska Dispatch News.

"Alex straight up saved my life," Fredrick said. "I'd be dead right now without Alex."

Ippoliti used his shirt for a tourniquet and asked me to hold it on my neck while he stood there, yelling at the bear, Fredrick said.

Fredrick had to receive stitches on his eyebrow and nose, lost a portion of his muscle and sustained major lacerations to his neck. Ken Marsh, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game spokesman said the mauling is being investigated as a defensive attack.

The second attack occurred in Hope, about 100 miles from the first mauling. That attack included a brown bear and her cub.

Joshua Brekken, 45, was walking to get some firewood when a bear spotted him.

ALASKA BEAR KILLS TEEN DURING RACE, TROOPERS SAY

Brekken tried to climb a tree but the bear swatted him out of the tree and injured him, according to a dispatch log from the Alaska State Troopers. The bear took off running into the woods with its cub.

Brekken suffered minor injuries, according to the troopers.

Marsh said Saturdays attacks are different from last weeks maulings that killed two people.

There are two distinctive types of attacks  one thats more troubling than another, Marsh said.

Last week, a 16-year-old boy Anchorage boy was killed by a black bear he encountered while running a race. A second person was killed by a black bear last week nearly 300 miles northeast of Anchorage when they were taking geological samples at Pogo Mine.

"There's no denying we've had a high number of attacks in a very short span of time, Marsh said. I've talked to a couple biologists about this and the answer is  nobody really knows why yet."
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to review a California law restricting concealed carry permits.

After postponing the order multiple times, the nations highest court rejected a review of Peruta v. California. In the case, gun rights activists argued that a good cause requirement on concealed carry permits is too restrictive.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch said the court should have reviewed the appellate ruling. Thomas said the decision not to hear the case "reflects a distressing trend: the treatment of the Second Amendment as a disfavored right."

What is this case about?

At issue in this case is concealed carry and whether a county can define good cause to carry a weapon outside of ones home as strictly as some California counties  specifically San Diego  do.

Edward Peruta and other gun owners reportedly attempted to obtain concealed carry permits in San Diego County, Calif. However, the sheriffs department  which handles permit requests  requires a specific good cause to obtain the permits, Fox News previously reported.

That good cause must be more specific than just a general concern for wellbeing; a person must list a precise fear, such as domestic violence or carrying a large amount of money.

What were other rulings?

A three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in 2014 that the policy stood in violation of the right to self-defense.

However, 11 judges in the same circuit later ruled 7-4 in a new hearing that the restrictions were permissible.

Whats next for this case?

The nations highest court hasnt always been so willing to take up Second Amendment cases, Law Newz reported earlier this month. And this particular case has been rescheduled multiple times.

The high court decided in 2008 that the Constitution guarantees the right to a gun, at least for self-defense at home.

But the justices have refused repeated pleas to spell out the extent of gun rights in the United States, allowing permit restrictions and assault weapons bans to remain in effect in some cities and states.

More than 40 states already broadly allow gun owners to be armed in public.

With the Supreme Court declining to review the case, the California law will remain in place.

The high court also turned away a second case involving guns and the federal law that bars people convicted of crimes from owning guns.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who declined to make a wedding cake for a same-sex ceremony.

The case  Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission  asked the high court to balance the religious rights of the baker against the couples right to equal treatment under the law. Similar disputes have popped up across the U.S.

The decision to take on the case reflected renewed energy among the court's conservative justices, whose ranks have recently been bolstered by the addition of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the high court.

Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., declined to make a cake for the wedding celebration of two gay men in 2012. Phillips told the couple that he would make a birthday cake but could not make a cake that would promote same-sex marriage due to his religious beliefs.

July 2012

Shopping for a cake for their upcoming wedding and celebration, couple David Mullins and Charlie Craig stopped into Masterpiece Cakeshop.

Jack Phillips, the bakerys owner, informed the couple that he did not provide cakes for same-sex weddings and celebrations due to his religious beliefs.

What should have been a joyous occasion had turned into a humiliating occasion, Deborah Munn, the mother of Craig, wrote in a blog post for the American Civil Liberties Union about the experience.

The ACLU of Colorado represented the same-sex couple in their complaint against Phillips.

December 2013

Judge Robert Spencer of the Colorado Office of Administrative Courts decided  in line with the Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD)  that the bakeshop had violated a Colorado law which prohibits businesses from refusing service due to a persons sexual orientation.

Masterpiece Cakeshop appealed the decision.

May 2014

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission decided at a public hearing that Masterpiece had violated Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act, or CADA.

COLORADO BAKER RECEIVES DEATH THREATS AND HATE FOR REFUSING TO MAKE GAY WEDDING CAKE

Phillips was ordered to change its company policies as well as offer comprehensive staff training to employees. The cake shop was also required to provide quarterly reports about how it handled prospective customers.

August 2015

The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that Phillips cannot cite his religious beliefs in his refusal to provide a service to same-sex couples.

With the ruling, Phillips could face a penalty if he continues to deny wedding cakes to same-sex couples.

April 2016

The Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal from Phillips.

July 2016

On behalf of Phillips, the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal nonprofit, petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case.

SUPREME COURT IS IN SESSION WITH GORSUCH ON BOARD, GAY WEDDING CAKE CASE ON DECK

We are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure that government understands that its duty is to protect the peoples freedom to follow their beliefs personally and professionally, not force them to violate those beliefs as the price of earning a living, ADF senior counsel Jeremy Tedesco said in a statement at the time.

June 2017

The Supreme Court agreed to consider the case during its next term, which began in the fall.

June 2018

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Masterpiece Cakeshop.

"The laws and the Constitution can, and in some instances must, protect gay persons and gay couples in the exercise of their civil rights, but religious and philosophical objections to gay marriage are protected views and in some instances protected forms of expression," the Court said in its decision. "While it is unexceptional that Colorado law can protect gay persons in acquiring products and services on the same terms and conditions as are offered to other members of the public, the law must be applied in a manner that is neutral toward religion."

Justice Anthony Kennedy said when the Colorado Civil Rights Commission made its decision "it did not do so with the religious neutrality that the Constitution requires." The opinion says the Commission "violated the Free Exercise Clause, and its order must be set aside."

In its decision, the Supreme Court did not decide whether a business has the right to refuse to serve gay and lesbian people outright.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, two of the Court's more liberal justices, dissented.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A 31-year-old Washington convenience store owner was sentenced Friday to just over eight years in prison for the fatal shooting of a shoplifter trying to flee his shop last year.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge John Hickman sentenced Min Sik Kim, 31, owner of the Pacific Quick Shop in Spanaway. Kim had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

On March 25, 2016, Kim went outside to tell a group of men loitering outside his store to leave. Video surveillance from inside the store shows that while Kim was outside, a man later identified as Jakeel Rashon Mason, 21, attempted to steal cigarettes from behind the counter.

As Kim re-enters the store, surveillance video shows Kim with a handgun in his right hand. Kim points the gun at Mason and physically grabs Mason and forces him further into the store. Mason puts both hands up and is not resisting. Kim then holsters the gun before punching Mason in the face. The two men engage in a physical fight where both men exchange punches. Kim gets taken to the floor by Mason as both men continue to fight for several seconds.

VERDICT REACHED IN BELLA BOND CASE

The video shows Mason was able to free himself and attempted to flee the store. Kim stood up and removed the firearm from the holster, positioned himself behind Mason, raised the gun, and shot Mason twice in the back as Mason fled.

Mason collapsed in the doorway and died before medical aid arrived.

Im here to take responsibility for my actions in taking Masons life, Mr. Kim said during sentencing. I accept the consequences. I did not have the right to take his life.

Click for more from Q13 Fox.
More than 16 million residents in three Western states face heat warnings or advisories as wildfires scorched 100,000 acres and temperatures sizzled over 100 degrees.

That heat, plus high winds, helped Mother Nature get the upper hand in two large fires burning in Utah and Arizona.

Nine days ago in Brian's Head, a resort town in southern Utah, a man was burning weeds in his backyard. The winds picked up, and soon a hillside was on fire. That fire has now burned 67 square miles and forced the evacuation of 1,500 residents in 13 communities. So far, 21 buildings  13 of them residential  were destroyed. Many owners are from Las Vegas who head to the mountains on weekends.

ARIZONA GOVERNOR SEEKING MORE WILDFIRE FUNDING

"You know there`s risk when you buy something in a forest, but you don`t anticipate it," said Pam Junge, who owns a home in Deer Creek. "You especially don`t anticipate it twice. We lost our home in Las Vegas in 2009 to a fire and had to rebuild. Lightning shouldn`t strike twice."

In Los Angeles, a motorist crashed into a tree Sunday, sparking a fire that quickly spread to 750 acres in about three hours. Police closed Highway 14 in both directions while firefighters attacked the flames from the ground and air.

But the National Interagency Fire Coordination Center says moisture in the southeast and snowpack in Rockies and Sierra mountains should keep fire activity below normal for July. But those massive winter rains in California means forests and the high desert are loaded with brush and weeds. That goes up like paper, meaning a single spark can turn into a big fire fast.

FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE INTENSE WILDFIRES IN UTAH, CALIFORNIA

The U.S. Forest Service says a drone Sunday grounded helicopters fighting a fire in northern Arizona near Prescott. It also happened Friday at a fire in New Mexico and four times in May at various fires, prompting the U.S. Forest Service to put out a public service announcement warning people not to fly drones near fires.
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A Chinese court sentenced 16 Australian and Chinese employees of a casino company to nine to 10 months in prison on Monday after they pleaded guilty to gambling-related charges, the company and an Australian official said.

Nineteen defendants, including three Australians from the sales and marketing team of Australia's Crown Resorts Ltd., were convicted by the court in Shanghai. Three defendants, who had been released on bail last Nov. 11, were not fined or sentenced to prison, Crown Resorts said.

Casino gambling, the marketing of casinos and organizing overseas gambling trips involving 10 or more people are illegal in mainland China. The case against Crown Resorts' staff came as authorities crack down on gambling as part of a wide campaign against official corruption.

Eleven defendants were sentenced to nine months' imprisonment and five to 10 months, Crown Resorts said. Their time spent in detention since Oct. 14 will count toward their sentences.

The 16 were also fined a total of 8.62 million yuan ($1.3 million), which Crown Resorts is paying ex gratia, the company said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

"The three Australians and the other defendants pleaded guilty," the Australian Consul General in Shanghai, Graeme Meehan, said outside the Baoshan District People's Court.

According to Crown Resorts, the 17 current and two former employees were convicted of offenses including organizing gambling parties or being engaged in gambling as one's main business, which carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

Jason O'Connor, head of Crown Resorts' international VIP programs, was sentenced to 10 months in prison, and Australian-Chinese dual nationals Jenny Pan and Jerry Xuan received sentences of nine months, Meehan said.

The company said the court fined O'Connor 2 million yuan ($293,000), Pan 400,000 yuan ($59,000) and Xuan 200,000 yuan ($29,000). O'Connor, who is based in Melbourne, Australia, was also ordered deported.

"Crown remains respectful of the sovereign jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China and does not intend to comment further at this time," the company said.

Crown Resorts' vice president in China, Malaysian Alfread Gomez, was also among the defendants. The Malaysian consulate in Shanghai didn't respond to a request for comment.

Following the arrests in October, Crown Resorts began withdrawing from its Chinese business to concentrate on the Australian market. Last month it said it raised $987 million after it sold off the last of its stake in a decade-long joint-venture casino operator in Macau, a Chinese enclave where gambling is legal.

Casino operators across Asia have sought to lure Chinese high-rollers who have avoided Macau  the world's biggest gambling market  because of Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing corruption crackdown. At the same time, the government has been trying to stop the flow of Chinese money into foreign casinos.

In 2015, police arrested 13 South Korean casino managers and 34 Chinese agents for allegedly selling packages with free tours and free hotels. At least seven South Korean managers later received prison sentences of 13 or 14 months, according to court verdicts posted online. They were also ordered to pay fines up to 150,000 yuan ($22,000).

The industry has been known to skirt China's ban on promoting gambling trips by touting destination packages rather than gambling, or by advertising Macau resorts as venues for events like boxing matches.

"So long as you don't mention gambling, or credit, you're fine, but that's a very thin line," said Sudhir Kale, CEO of GamePlan Consultants, who has previously done consulting work for Crown Resorts.

He said there are two ways for foreign casino operators to serve Chinese customers, who face restrictions on the amount of money they can take overseas. The first is through junkets, essentially by being middlemen who lend money and collect on debts. The second is by lending money directly to customers, a model which Crown Resorts appeared to be pursuing, said Kale, who is also a professor of marketing at Australia's Bond University.

"I think it was the lure of cutting out the middlemen that got them a bit into trouble," Kale said.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said consular officials would continue to provide assistance to the Australians and their families until they are released.

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Watt reported from Beijing. Associated Press business writer Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong and researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.
A hostage held by Al Qaeda in Mali since 2011 has been freed, the Swedish government said Monday.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement "extensive efforts have been made" to secure the release of Johan Gustafsson, 42, who's situation "has touched many of us."

"I would urge everyone to show respect in relation to John and his family and let them choose for themselves whether and when they speak," Wallstrom said.

Wallstrom told local media she has talked to Gustafsson, who is "in good spirits and overwhelmed by everything that is happening." A news conference is planned for later Monday.

Gustafsson was kidnapped in Timbuktu on Nov. 25, 2011 by Al Qaeda's North Africa branch along with South African Stephen McGown and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke, according to the BBC.

Rijke was freed by French special forces in April 2015 after he was found during a raid in northern Mali.

Earlier this month, Stephen McGown's mother Beverly died after an illness, with her hopes unfulfilled.

McGown, 69, was remembered during a church service on June 2 at which mourners recalled her lively demeanor but also the emotional toll that the abduction of her son had over years of uncertainty and reports of ransom demands.

"I promised my wife in the last day or two  we're going to get Stephen out," husband Malcolm McGown told mourners. He said the memorial service was being filmed so that his son can watch the video in the event of his release.

Gift of the Givers, a South African charity, has worked to secure the release of McGown and Gustafsson since 2015, sending a negotiator into remote parts of Mali and Niger. The families of the hostages can't afford a ransom of millions of dollars, and the South African and Swedish governments will not negotiate, it said. "We have reached a dead end," Gift of the Givers said in a May 17 statement. An appeal to Qatar, which has been involved in hostage releases, is among efforts that are still underway, according to the group. McGown's fate remains unclear as of Monday.

Islamic extremists seized control of Mali's north in 2012. While they were forced out of strongholds a year later by a French-led military intervention, jihadists continue to attack Malian and French soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Organizations

Susan Abney, Buddy Poppy Chairman of VFW Post and Auxiliary 7311 of Absarokee, was awarded first place at the recent Department of Montana Veterans of Foreign Wars 95th State Convention Billings, for a Buddy Poppy display representing the lost lives of Native Americans throughout the United States during the Vietnam Conflict from 1959-1975.

Inspired by State President Snoma Meagher, Abney wove 232 poppies into a Purple-Heart shaped dream catcher, one for each Native American who lost his life, to bring awareness and compassion for these young warriors. The display will go on to compete at The VFW Auxiliary's 104th National Convention in New Orleans, July 22-26, after being displayed at Fishtail Days on June 24, and the Montana BBQ Cook-Off in Absarokee on June 25.

In the schools

Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, recently named students to three spring semester honor rolls.

Area students who completed at least 12 semester hours of college-level coursework with a 4.0 grade point average and named to the presidents honor roll are: Haley Shrinarine, Nicole Valdez and Nicolas Wahl, all of Billings; Jordan Eidem, of Hardin; and Shayla Deming, of Laurel.

Area students who completed at least 12 semester hours of college-level coursework with at least a 3.5 grade point average and named to the vice presidents honor roll are: Mikayla Darnell, Trenton Flager, Hannah Kraft, Rebecca Kron and Nora Minch, all of Billings; Anthony Kellogg, of Belfry; Emma Kelly, of Fishtail; Alec Arana, of Joliet; Ashtyn Archer, of Laurel; Aubrey Payne, of Molt; and Kyla Deutsch, of Worden.

Area students who completed at least six semester hours of college-level coursework with at least a 3.5 grade point average and named to the dean's honor roll are: Kasey McClane, of Belfry; Brody Adams and Jessica Kraft, of Billings; and Jessica Taliento, of Edgar.

Caden Moore, a sophomore at West High and piano student of Palma Wolverton, was awarded the Gerald Davidson Honorary Award for senior piano, during the Red Lodge Music Festival.

Shane Milton, son of Joldi and Paul Milton, and recent graduate of Joliet High, has been awarded a $2,000 college scholarship by Northwest Farm Credit Services.

The P.E.O. Sisterhood awarded a $15,000 Scholar Award to Cordelia Erickson-Davis, a Ph.D student of cultural anthropology at Stanford University and M.D. student of neurology at Stanford School of Medicine, is one of 100 doctoral students in the U.S. and Canada to receive the award. She was sponsored by Chapter S of Billings.

Wolfgang Sandridge, of Billings, recently attended Space Academy at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Centers Official Visitor Center. The weeklong educational program promotes science, technology, engineering and math, while training students and adults with hands-on activities and missions based on teamwork, leadership and problem solving. Sandridge was part of the Space Academy program, which is designed for trainees who have an interest in space exploration. Sandridge spent the week training with a team that flew a simulated space mission to Mars. The crew participated in experiments and successfully completed an extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalk, and returned to Earth in time to graduate with honors.

Natalie Ruegsegger, of Billings, was named to the second semester 2017-18 dean's list at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. To qualify, undergraduate students must earn a 3.6 minimum grade point average.

Lauren Griffin, a 2013 graduate of Central High, graduated from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, with a bachelors degree in economics and history.

Kaylyn Freeman, of Billings, was recently named to the deans list for spring semester of the 2016-2017 academic year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Caitlin Schanz, 2013 Skyview High valedictorian, has graduated cum laude from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor's degree in biology. Schanz is currently studying at Boise State University before attending graduate school for a degree in clinical pharmacy.
Two botched attacks in Europe in recent days signal that Islamist terror has reached a new phase, security officials say, one that is more disorganized and less sophisticated but risks spawning more assailants eager to kill with any means at hand.

When an Islamic State sympathizer tried to set off a bomb Tuesday night at a train station here, it failed to detonate with the intended force. Investigators suspect he used a faulty explosives recipe found online. The intended victims were able to flee, and the attacker was shot dead.

On June 19, another would-be terrorist drove a sedan packed with guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and two canisters of propane gas onto the Champs-Elysees in the heart of Paris. He rammed the lead vehicle of a police convoy, apparently intent on an attack. Instead, police said he died when he was overcome by fumes after the collision, and no one else was killed or injured.

The lack of direct training and know-how of many of this new breed of attacker means many fail. But their lack of connection to terror networks makes them hard to track, and their often unsophisticated weapons -- such as knives or cars -- are easy to get. So authorities fear the attacks will grow.

"We may be entering an era not of lone wolf, but stray dog attacks," said one Western security official.

The man who fumbled the attack in Belgium, Oussama Zariouh, attempted to prepare the hydrogen-peroxide-based explosive TATP in his Brussels apartment, the official said. He managed to make a flammable substance, but one lacking serious explosive power, and the initial detonation only started a fire. The explosion then went off, but without the intended force.

"The guy was able to build a bomb, but the bomb failed," said Claude Monique, a former French intelligence official who leads the Brussels-based European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, a think tank. "Most of these attacks fail because these guys are not trained."

Such terrorism marks a shift from the kind of large-scale attacks carried out by extremist cells that have hit the Continent in the past, including Islamic State militants' gun-and-bomb attacks in Paris in November 2015 and March 2016 attacks on Brussels airport and subway.

Authorities across Europe say they have seen an uptick in terror activity -- often of the small-scale, less --organized kind -- since a May 2016 call by Islamic State for its supporters to kill non-Muslims in the West.

The changing nature of the attacks also reflects improved security in Europe, where the European Union and national governments have stepped up surveillance, tightened borders and deployed more police and soldiers. Military campaigns against Islamic State in the Mideast have also made it more difficult for terror leaders to organize and carry out attacks.

But officials warn it would be reckless to underestimate the continuing threat of extremist groups even if they may be conducting operations that are more frequently smaller-scale. "It is too easy to say they are too degraded, they are not capable anymore," said a European official. "That would be a mistake."

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
The chilling confessions of two teenage killers believed to be Britains two youngest double murderers have been revealed, after judges allowed the pair to be identified last week.

Three Court of Appeal judges in London lifted a prohibition banning the identification of Kim Edwards, 15, and her 15-year-old boyfriend Lucas Markham, in the murders of Elizabeth and Katie Edwards, Katie's mother and sister, as they slept at their home in Lincolnshire in April 2016. The two hatched the plan after her mother tried to break them up, according to The Sun.

Investigators said the teens, both 14 at the time of the murders, had sex after the killings, then shared a bath before watching the "Twilight" movies, according to The Sun.

In a portion of the police interview with Kim Edwards released earlier this month, the teen said one of the reasons behind the killing were her mother "favored my sister more than me."

A new documentary to air Monday about the killings called "Murdered By My Daughter" features exclusive access to the confession by Markham.

In the audio obtained by Channel 5, Markham confessed in a calm, undramatic voice, saying I went into her mums room and stabbed her in the neck while she was asleep on her side and smothered her face with a pillow," according to The Sun.

And after I knew she had gone, I went into Katies room  which is the same room as Kims  and I thought I stabbed her, but I thought I stabbed her, but Im not a hundred per cent sure  it was, like, her on a mattress and then I smothered her face with a pillow too.

Markham admits killing Elizabeth then says he killed Katie because he thought she would call the police.

Authorities in Lincolnshire have said the newly released information will "undoubtedly focus attention" on the horrific case once again.

The murders of Elizabeth and Katie Edwards were horrific and brutal and the whole country shared a sense of shock that two juveniles, who were only 14 years old at the time, could have carried out such a horrendous act," Lincolnshire Detective Superintendent Martin Holvey said in a statement.

Im sure that sense of disbelief and horror will be deepened now it is known that it was Elizabeths own daughter who was responsible for plotting with her boyfriend to carry out the murders."

The teenagers were given a 20 year prison sentence in November.

Read more from The Sun.
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A Canadian captain made history Monday by becoming the first female infantry officer to lead the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London.

Megan Couto led her unit the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry or "The Patricia's"  in the ceremony, an event witnessed by thousands of tourists annually.

"I'm just focusing on doing my job as best I can and staying humble," said Couto, 24. "Any of my peers would be absolutely delighted to be captain of the queen's guard and I'm equally honored."

The unit was invited to Britain to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada's confederation.

The role of Mounting The Queen's Guard usually falls to the British Army's Household Division, which is part of the male-dominated infantry division.

"While Captain Megan Couto of Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is the first female infantry officer to undertake the role, it has been performed by female officers before," the army said in a statement. "We look forward to seeing a British Army female infantry captain of the queen's guard when roles are opened up to women by the end of next year."

Canadian women have been allowed to serve in the infantry since the 1980s.

The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is based in Manitoba, Canada. The unit is named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, a granddaughter of Britain's Queen Victoria.

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This story has been corrected to give the spelling of captain's last name as Couto instead of Cuoto, and to specify that Couto is the first female infantry officer, not the first woman.
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Further peace talks over the Ukrainian crisis will be held in the coming days, French president Emmanuel Macron said Monday, following a meeting in Paris with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko.

Macron said in a joint news conference that a phone call between the leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia will be scheduled by the end of next week in an effort to make tangible progress.

He insisted the so-called "Normandy Format" talks between the four countries are still the best forum to discuss the situation, as the conflict between Ukraine's government and pro-Russia separatists drags on.

"What can certainly be tried is to change the approach somewhat," Macron said.

He suggested setting "clear" objectives prior to the talks in order to get "concrete results even if those can appear limited."

He notably proposed the withdrawal of all armed forces from the front line between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces, with observers from Europe's OSCE security organization to monitor the situation.

Poroshenko said he feels "much more optimistic" following his meeting with Macron. He said his country is ready to implement all the points of the peace agreements.

"As far as the withdrawal of troops is concerned, we are prepared to respect this but we want an OSCE presence 24/7 on the line of contact," Poroshenko said.

During his presidential campaign, Macron vowed to renew peace talks to stabilize the situation in eastern Ukraine in order to gradually diminish sanctions against Russia.

Last week, the leaders of European Union nations agreed to extend sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine for another six months, following the annexation of Crimea three years ago.
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Rescuers in Indonesia are searching for a German hiker who has been missing for five days since he began climbing a dormant volcano, an official said Monday.

Wolter Klaus, 49, from Oldenburg city, registered his name last Wednesday when he started climbing Mount Sibayak in North Sumatra's Berastagi district on what should have been a day hike, said Budiawan, who is heading the search operation.

Budiawan, who uses a single name, said Klaus was reported missing by his hotel a day later when he did not return from the 2,200-meter (7,200-foot) mountain.

He said 150 soldiers, police and volunteers divided into six teams were mobilized to look for Klaus, but the search has been hampered by the rugged, forested terrain and bad weather. A police helicopter supported the search efforts on Monday, he said.

"We heard a very weak sound like 'aah' came from a ravine when we called his name," Budiawan said. "We've been rappelling with ropes to the estimated location of the sound, but have not found him yet."

In 2013, rescuers found a Japanese hiker alive in a ravine four days after he fell from a cliff on Mount Sibayak.

Mount Sibayak is one of about 130 volcanoes in Indonesia. Its last major eruption was in 1881, but its geothermal activity remains high.
It has come to be known simply as the Speicher Massacre." But three years on, families whose loved ones were mercilessly murdered in the Iraq attack are calling on the U.S. to help them find some closure.

ISIS called me from my sons phone and humiliated me. They said: Your son is killed and we threw his body in the river so come and get him, then they hurled abuses at me, Um Hussein, the mother of a victim identified only as Hussein, recalled to Fox News from her home in a poor part of the southern Iraq city of Nasiriyah. I didnt hang up. I held on. I held on with the small hope that they might tell me where to find my sons body.

While dozens have been held responsible for the attack, the families say thats not good enough. They want high-ranking government officials  including the former prime minister  to also be held responsible because, they claim, the officials abandoned and betrayed the mostly low-ranking military recruits killed in the attack.

On June 12, 2014, right after ISIS seized the countrys second-largest city, Mosul, the Sunni Muslim group claimed responsibility for what would become one of the countrys bloodiest single attacks on military members. As many as 1,600 unarmed Iraqi Air Force cadets outside Camp Speicher near Tikrit, the hometown of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, were massacred.

Part of what made the massacre so stunning was that ISIS had yet to take official control of Tikrit; after all, Tikrit lies 150 miles away from Mosul where the bulk of the ISIS fighters were celebrating a fresh victory. Yet, despite the distance from Mosul, ISIS was able to slaughter hundreds of Tikrits young men.

MORE THAN 180,000 IRAQI CIVILIANS KILLED SINCE 2003, REPORT

ISIS supporters and sleeper cells were ready and came out, taking advantage of a security vacuum, Col. Mohammad Abdullah, a high-ranking Iraqi military officer, explained. What happened was a response to the hidden hatred that was buried inside those close to Saddams personal guards. They found themselves without jobs or authority after 2003. Their hatred led them to act in revenge.

The fateful day began calmly enough. The cadets, who were unarmed, were starting a break and walking along a road to their homes. Two buses -- one driven by a son of Saddam Husseins half-brother -- pulled up near the cadets. The men inside the buses said that they were from local Tikrit tribes and would assist them in getting to Baghdad. Instead, the cadets, mostly between ages 19 and 25, were kidnapped, taken to the Al-Qusour Al-Re'asiya region and one-by-one killed. The assailants made a particular effort to kill Shiite and non-Muslim cadets.

ISIS subsequently released videos of the massacre, showing a line of young recruits blindfolded, tied-up and marched to what would become their own mass graves in the desert. Photos of cadets being beheaded, having entire magazines emptied into their heads or being strangled to death against the fanfare of jubilant militants became fodder for online ISIS recruitment.

For 10 months after the slaughter, families had no word of what happened to their sons, nephews, husbands and cousins. Iraqi forces finally re-captured the base from ISIS in March 2015, and some family members were able to give DNA samples to assist authorities in identifying the bodies. But still today, a large portion of families are begging for answers.

I still see him in my sleep, my son tells me not to cry and that he is in a better place, Um Hussein noted softly, with the type of hoarseness that can only be felt by a mother that has lost her child in the unknown. But I cant change his bed covers, nobody can sleep in his bed because maybe he will come back one day.

The Iraqi government eventually blamed both ISIS and members of Saddams dismantled Iraqi Baath Party for the killings, but by then some alleged perpetrators had fled. In late 2015, two suspects were arrested in Finland, having been identified from the propaganda videos. The Finnish government denied an extradition request from Iraq, and instead the twin brothers were acquitted on all charges this past May.

TALIBAN USING RAPE, BLACKMAIL TO RECRUIT YOUNG TERRORISTS

And last August, the Iraq government  despite opposition from human rights groups  sent 36 people to the gallows for taking part in the massacre. But that is far from justice for many left in anguish. According to military official Abdullah, The authority figures in charge have not been charged due to political reasons. To avoid having to go after large figures, the investigation barely touched the surface.

There were huge political and administrative mistakes such as sending young military cadets to train in an area that was not safe, and left them without weapons or commanders and communications, he said. What needs to happen now is a real investigation that is unbiased, with the help of foreign specialists. Without charging the terrorists and also the authority figures who were in charge, will leave a huge gap among the Iraqi people and make the national reconciliation very hard.

Earlier this month, on the third anniversary marking the day the horror, demonstrators swarmed through Baghdads Tahir Square and called for the prosecution of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his failure in leadership and demanded he take responsibility. Maliki, now one of three vice presidents, and is believed to be building his support base to regain the premier post once again.

These soldiers went to Tikrit to protect the people and were instead betrayed by the people there. They were sold out to ISIS by local tribes. They were told that they would be helped to get back to their families but instead were handed straight to ISIS, Mohammed, who hails from the south-eastern Iraqi town of Amarah and lost his brother in the Speicher massacre, lamented. Every commander all the way up the chain to the prime ministers office bears some responsibility for this. We want legal charges against every party responsible.

He, too, is calling on the U.S. and international community to help them re-open the case.

It has been three years and the majority of families dont know what happened. We dont know who was working and coordinating this attack with the new (post-Saddam) Iraq government, Mohammad added. This massacre has become a wound that wont close. We feel like our brothers and sons were sold out in a political bargain between corrupt officials and that is why they are trying to hide and close it forever.

Last week a spokesman for Inherent Resolve said in an email to Fox News that the Speicher massacre was "an internal matter for the government of Iraq."
The Jewish Agency, the world's largest Jewish nonprofit group, will reevaluate its relationship with the Israeli government after two decisions that have sparked outrage in the Jewish world, according to the organization's new chairman of the board of governors.

"Support for Israel doesn't necessarily mean support for the Israeli government," the new chairman, Michael Siegal, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The rare and stunning statement followed a cabinet vote on Sunday to suspend its plan to create a new and permanent place for egalitarian prayers at the Western Wall. A ministerial committee also voted to move forward on a bill that would deny any recognition of conversions performed by other than the state-sanctioned Orthodox Rabbinate system.

Both decisions were in response to pressure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus ultra-Orthodox coalition partners.

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis strictly govern Jewish practices in Israel such as weddings, divorces and burials. The ultra-Orthodox religious establishment sees itself as responsible for maintaining traditions through centuries of persecution and assimilation, and it resists any inroads from liberals it often considers to be second-class Jews overly inclusive toward converts and interfaith marriages.

ISRAEL FREEZES WESTERN WALL MIXED-PRAYER PLAN

Despite some inroads, the liberal pushes have encountered a wall of ultra-Orthodox resistance when it comes to breaking their monopoly on religious practices.

On Monday morning, the heads of the Reform movement in the U.S. and in Israel decided to cancel their Thursday meeting with Netanyahu in protest of the government's decision.

The board of governors of The Jewish Agency, a nonprofit that works closely with the Israeli government to serve Jewish communities worldwide, said it was calling off its dinner with Netanyahu and altering the agenda of its annual meetings to address the crisis.

ISRAEL STRIKES TARGETS IN SYRIA FOR 2ND DAY

In a statement, the agency's board warned the governments decision would deeply divide Jewish people around the world, and declared they would not allow it to happen.

"We made a mistake. We believed the government, we believed the prime minister, we believed that we needed at last to end this squabbling among ourselves over the Western Wall, and we agreed to a compromise arrangement," Yizhar Hess, head of the Conservative movement in Israel, wrote in the Israeli Newspaper Yediot Ahronot.

"But the Cabinet's decision last night -- a cynical, even wicked decision -- took this historic agreement and threw it in the faces of millions of Jews around the world," Hess added.
The list of demands Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations issued to Qatar last week will be difficult to meet, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday.

The list delivered Thursday includes demands that Qatar shut down Al-Jazeera, scale back ties to Iran and close a Turkish military base. The United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain co-signed the list.

While some of the elements will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution, Tillerson said, according to The Wall Street Journal. A productive next step would be for each of the countries to sit together and continue this conversation.

Tillerson called on Saudi Arabia and other nations last week to issue a list of demands that were reasonable and actionable after the State Department questioned the motives of the nations boycotting Qatar.

Some of Qatars Gulf neighbors have blockaded the tiny nation for the last three weeks, closing borders and canceling airline flights while accusing it of supporting extremists and strengthening ties with Iran.

We believe our allies and partners are stronger when they are working together towards one goal which we all agree is stopping terrorism and countering extremism, Tillerson said. Each country involved has something to contribute to that effort. A lowering of rhetoric would also help ease the tension.

He added the U.S. supports Kuwaits efforts to mediate the conflict and the U.S. will keep in close contact with all parties.

In the 13-point list brought to Qatar, the Arab nations demand the country sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and with other groups including Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Qatar must refuse to naturalize citizens from the four countries and expel those currently in Qatar, in what the countries describe as an effort to keep Qatar from meddling in their internal affairs.

They are also demanding that Qatar hand over all individuals who are wanted by those four countries for terrorism; stop funding any extremist entities that are designated as terrorist groups by the U.S.; and provide detailed information about opposition figures that Qatar has funded, ostensibly in Saudi Arabia and the other nations. Qatar was given 10 days to comply with the list of demands.

Qatars neighbors have voiced loud concerns over its ties with Iran and it is echoed with the demands. Qatar is told to shut down diplomatic posts in Iran, kick out from Qatar any members of the Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, and only conduct trade and commerce with Iran that complies with U.S. sanctions.

The demands regarding Al-Jazeera, the Doha-based satellite broadcaster, state that Qatar must also shut down all affiliates. That presumably would mean Qatar would have to close down Al-Jazeera's English-language affiliate. Qatar's neighbors accuse Al-Jazeera of fomenting unrest in the region and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.

If Qatar agrees to comply, the list asserts that it will be audited once a month for the first year, and then once per quarter in the second year after it takes effect. For the following 10 years, Qatar would be monitored annually for compliance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
North Korea plans to create a large beach resort in one of the country's port cities, a knock-off of a Spanish getaway that's a hotspot for drinking tourists, a report said.

The beach resort, planned to be built in Wonsan, will mimick the Spanish city of Benidorm, The Telegraph reported. The secretive regime became infatuated with Benidorm after 20 North Korean officials took a fact-finding trip to the beach resort and were "amazed by the dimensions" of the towers and holiday parks, a spokesman for the North Korean embassy in Madrid said.

NORTH KOREAN HORROR: NEWLY EXPOSED VIDEO REVEALS BRUTAL TACTICS OF OTTO WARMBIER'S SADISTIC TORTURERS

Travel analysts point out that Benidorm has plenty of places to drink, and prices are cheap, although officials have tried to tamp down the so-called "binge tourism." A tourist there reportedly was arrested last year and accused of abandoning her nine-year-old twins so she could keep drinking.

The North Korean delegation looked closely at Marina d'Or, a resort in Oropesa del Mar that claims to have "endless luxury services at your fingertips" and Europe's largest scientific seawater spa. They also eyed the theme park Terra Mitica, hinting at a possible replica being built in Wonsan.

They loved the recreation of the various ancient Mediterranean civilisations. It would be very interesting to apply that concept in our theme park, maybe with Asian civilizations," the embassy spokesman told The Telegraph.

North Korean officials reportedly took little interst in Barcelona, also a popular tourist destination for its nightlife and architectural works by famous artists.

The regime might first begin the resort city by accomodating people in campsites rather than skyscraping hotels, similar to a campsite found near Benidorm, according to The Telegraph.

The North Korean beach resort is an attempt to increase the country's tourism. Leader Kim Jong Un hopes to welcome 1 million tourists into North Korea by the end of 2017. Currently about 100,000 foreign visitors go to the country yearly, The Telegraph reported.

NORTH KOREA CLAIMS IT IS 'BIGGEST VICTIM' IN OTTO WARMBIER'S DEATH, VOWS TO GET TOUGH WITH THE U.S.

However, the recent death of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died last week after returning from North Korea where he was serving his 15-year prison sentence, could deter that goal. The regime claimed the 22-year-old contracted botulism and slipped into a coma shortly after he was sentenced in 2016. Warmbier was accused of stealing a propoganda poster.

The State Department strongly discourages travel to North Korea, but is reportedly mulling a full travel ban for U.S citizens to the increasingly hostile dictatorship.

North Korean officials claimed they were the "biggest victim" in Warmbier's death, adding that the tragedy was a "smear cmapaign against" the country.
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Romanian President Klaus Iohannis met with Liviu Dragnea, the powerful leader of Romania's biggest political party, before formally nominating a new prime minister after the previous government was dismissed by the ruling party.

The Social Democratic Party announced its choice for prime minister, lawmaker Mihai Tudose, the 50-year-old economy minister in the previous government. Tudose, an ally of Dragnea, was also economy minister from 2014 to 2015.

Dragnea and political ally Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who heads the junior Alliance of Democrats and Liberals, later met Iohannis and presented their choice.

If Tudose is formally nominated by the president, Parliament could approve him this week, Dragnea said.

___

WHAT'S GOING ON?

As party leader, Dragnea normally would be prime minister, but in 2016 he was convicted of vote-rigging which disqualifies him from holding the post.

He is also on trial for instigating abuse in office, something he denies. The Social Democrats withdrew support for Premier Sorin Grindeanu after just six months in office saying he'd underperformed.

He refused to resign and the party and its allies removed Grindeanu in a no-confidence vote last week.

___

WHAT'S AT STAKE?

As things stand, the prime minister has less power than Dragnea, and the candidate would do well to remember that. Dragnea says he wants an "honest, correct person" who is not an "adventurer." Commentators say he wants a loyalist, who will relax anti-corruption laws, and not use the post to create a power base.

Iohannis says he will nominate a person of "integrity," meaning someone who isn't the subject of a corruption probe. Parliament needs to approve his nomination.

Despite losing popularity, the Social Democrats still have a loyal base in rural areas, and opposition parties are weak.

___

WHAT DO THEY WANT?

Neither Iohannis nor Dragnea want a protracted political crisis which, at this stage, would not benefit their political careers.

Dragnea is losing popularity, despite his party overwhelmingly winning December's parliamentary elections. Massive street protests in February over a move to decriminalize abuse in his office dented Dragnea's ratings and the party took a further hit after it dismissed its own government.

Iohannis recently traveled to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump, was in Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and wants to stay above political bickering, with an eye on re-election in 2019.
A University of South Carolina Medical School student who vanished in South America's Andes Mountains was found dead over the weekend, school officials announced.

Seth Thomas apparently died from a hiking accident, WIS reported. The second-year medical student was on a medical outreach mission trip in Peru when he disappeared during a hike Friday afternoon.

It is so tragic that someone who was dedicating his life to help those in need was taken from us before he could achieve his lifes dreams, USC President Harris Pastides said in a statement.

ANGUISH AS TRAPPED WORKERS CALL FOR HELP IN PERU FIRE

Thomas father, Heyward, asked for prayers on Facebook when he was informed that his son was missing. Local investigators and friends searched for Seths body.

Heyward posted on Facebook Sunday night that Seth was hiking up to a cross on a mountain in Cuzco on Friday. He added, Seth fell off a cliff near the cross. It could be that it had gotten dark or he lost his footing.

The student was working to improve womens health in a clinical program at a Peruvian non-profit. The program was through Augusta University.

The 24-year-old was scheduled to return to the United States next week.
The U.S. Navy destroyer that slammed into a cargo ship in Japanese waters in mid-June, killing seven crew members, failed to react to warning signals in the moments leading up to the crash, the Phillippine-flagged ships captain said Monday.

The captain of the ACX Crystal said the container ship flashed lights toward the USS Fitzgerald after it suddenly began heading on a collision course near Tokyo Bay on June 17, Reuters reported, citing a copy of Ronald Advincula's account to Dainichi Investment Corporation, the ships owner.

The U.S. Navy didn't comment to Fox News. Reuters reported it viewed a copy of Advinculas account but was not able to independently verify it.

REAR ADMIRAL TO INVESTIGATE DEADLY CRASH

Advincula said in the account that his ship steered hard right to avoid the Fitzgerald but hit it 10 minutes later, around 1:30am local time.

The resulting collision created a large gash on the side of the destroyer. When the listing ship was returned to a U.S. base in Yokosuka, divers recovered the bodies of seven sailors, The Associated Press reported.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Reuters.
The Vatican expressed "grave concern" on Monday for a Chinese bishop who it says was "forcibly removed" from his office several weeks ago and whose whereabouts are unknown.

The matter is the latest episode in a wider, decades-old dispute between the Vatican and China's communist authorities over papal authority to appoint bishops.

"The Holy See is observing with grave concern the personal situation of Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou, forcibly removed from his episcopal see some time ago," the Vatican said in a written statement.

"The diocesan Catholic community and his relatives have no news or reasons for his removal, nor do they know where he is being held," the statement said.

Shao was appointed by the pope in September and posted to Wenzhou, an eastern city which has a large Christian community. Last week, a Vatican-affiliated missionary news service said Shao's disappearance is believed to be part of an attempt to persuade him to join the Communist-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association church.

Chinese authorities don't recognize Shao's appointment by the Vatican.

Last week, Germany's ambassador to China said the bishop appears to have been forced by Chinese authorities to move to unknown locations four times over the past year. The diplomat called for restoration of the bishop's "full freedom of movement."

The Holy See on Monday described itself as being "profoundly saddened for this and other similar episodes that unfortunately do not facilitate ways of understanding."

China cut relations with the Holy See in 1951, after the Communist Party took power and set up its own church outside the pope's authority. Pope Francis has said he wants to improve relations with Beijing.

The Vatican expressed hope that Shao may return as soon as possible to the diocese and "be assured the possibility of serenely exercising his episcopal ministry."

"We are all invited to pray for Bishop Shao Zhumin and the path of the Catholic church in China," the Holy See's statement concluded.

China has an estimated 12 million Catholics, many of whom worship in non-state sanctioned congregations that often overlap with the government-sanctioned church.

Separately, the Vatican said on Monday that the 89-year-old bishop of Tsining, in Inner Mongolia, part of continental China, died of illness on June 9. Ordained in 1956, Monsignor Giovanni Liu Shigong, earlier in his clerical career, was forced to do farm labor to support himself, and during part of the Cultural Revolution had to do forced labor.

___

Frances D'Emilio is on twitter at www.twitter.com/fdemilio
Corporate culture is one of those buzz-phrases that is bandied about as businesses attempt to keep employees happy while still turning a profit.

But how does one cultivate a workplace that attracts and retains talent? Is it free gourmet cafeterias like Google? Maybe the much-lauded beer bashes Apple throws for its employees? What about bean bag chairs or standing desks?

According to Tom Keogh, founder and CEO of Corps Solutions in Stafford, the answer is simple and doesnt require gimmicks: treat your employees well.

Keoghs company was named one of Inc. Magazines top 50 Best Workplaces for 2017, the publications second-annual ranking of the best private companies in the United States to work for.

The company was one of 50 profiled in Inc.s June issue. An expanded list online names the 200 best workplaces in America, which includes Fredericksburg government contractors RPI Group and IST Research.

All three have certain things in common: comprehensive benefits, flexible work schedules and support for staff through training and incentives.

Corps Solutions has provided training and education services to the Department of Defenseprimarily the Marine Corpsand United States National Security clients since 2009.

The magazine profile reads: Our CEO sets a goal to engage with every individual ... We have faith in our recruiting practices and trust our employees, which allow everyone to work under big-kid rules. We give our employees space to work within their own means so long as the mission is completed.

The profile also notes the companys incentive programs and Keoghs handwritten notes of gratitude to employees.

With more than 180 employees at locations across the U.S. and Japan and 2016 revenue in the $20 million to $50 million range, the company is by no means small. But Keogh takes the time to get to know each employee and find a way to support their needs.

He has a personal goal of keeping his companys family feel through never growing it past the point where he can write handwritten notes to everyone on special occasions.

Inc.s Best Workplaces celebrates companies that strive to build vibrant and engaging cultures. More than 1,600 companies applied this year. Along with Quantum Workplace, an employee-feedback software company, Inc. assessed applicants by sending out confidential employee surveys.

The findings show that best workplaces have a few key traits in common. All the top companies had a set of baseline employee benefits. Health insurance, dental insurance and retirement plans are a given. Employers are also innovating with benefits like longer maternity leave, paternity leave, innovative health and wellness initiatives and flexible scheduling.

In fact, 86 percent of the top companies offered flexible work arrangements. 48 percent offered tuition reimbursement and many worked together on volunteer projects and reported having ethical employee code books.

IST Research, based in Fredericksburg, offers software and support for organizations dealing with Ebola outbreaks, insurgency activities and human trafficking operations.

Along with employees feeling like they do important work, they are allowed to live and work where they choose.

And Fredericksburgs RPI Group offers national security, cybersecurity and training services to the Defense Department and other government clients. The company prides itself on its family culture. A personal approach to employees, wide-ranging benefits and a focus on training elevated RPI to the top 200.

Bowen Richwine, director for business management at Corps Solutions, became one of the companys first employees after he retired from the Marine Corps.

He said back then it was hard to think of himself as a businessman, but the company provided the proper training and made sure he was in the right job for his talents.

This year, on Feb. 12his birthdayhe received a note from Keogh that read, Thanks. I couldnt do this without you.

Theres a lot of autonomy, he said. You work the hours you want to work and if you need to take a day, you take it.

He said that trust goes a long way to making employees content in their work. The company hires primarily retired and former military personnel, so he said they are already mission-driven and believe in the work Corps Solutions does.

We feel valued and supported because we are trusted absolutely to get the work done, he said.

He credits Keoghs leadership style with the companys success. He said engaging employees through bi-annual meetings to ask what else the company can do to support workers goes a long way.

Toms the kind of person who would rather do the right thing than the wrong thing and make a buck, he said.

He said there are small programs that also make a difference, like having the office volunteer together and taking recommendations from employees about which charitable organizations the business should support.

Keogh noticed there was a need for education and training support when was an active-duty Marine. He set up company immediately after retiring from the Marine Corps in 2009.

Our strategy is to hire good people and take care of them, he said. Then, theyll take care of military folks they train and their example creates the companys good reputation. That results in new contracts and renewed contracts.

He said he tries to lead by example, showing that he also prioritizes a work-life balance.

He said by prioritizing employee satisfaction and treating the client in his case the military well by providing a good value, profit follows.

This is the best accolade weve received in the eight years Corps Solutions has been in business, he said. It is what employees feel about this company, and thats what is most important.
The mother of a 4-year-old Spotsylvania County boy who died in May with a large amount of THC in his system was arrested Wednesday evening.
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On Wednesday, I will host my 17th telephone town hall to get your input on the health care draft proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare. The draft bill was released on June 22nd, and I immediately posted the text on my website for all Montanans to read. I am digging into this legislation myself and look forward to hearing the thoughts of Montanans as we consider this important issue together.

While there is an effort to move legislation out of the Senate this week, Ive been urging my colleagues to get this legislation right. My dad taught me it is better to measure twice, cut once. We have a real opportunity to help the American people and Im optimistic that we can find a solution that addresses the failings of our current health care system.

As I travel across all 56 counties, I have heard story after story about Montanans experiences with health care. The countless meetings Ive had with families, health care providers, pharmacists, small business owners, labor unions and tribes about health care are too numerous to count. And sadly, I have heard the countless horrible stories about how Obamacare has hurt hardworking Montana families.

It pains me to get emails that share how one Montana family was nearly forced to sell their home to pay for insurance and how another had doubling insurance premiums. This isnt acceptable.

We have had seven years since the Democrat-controlled Congress and Obama administration signed into law the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known by most as Obamacare. This laws promises to bring health care costs down and preserve current doctor-patient relationships were proven false almost immediately.

President Obama said, youll find more choices, more competition, and in many cases, lower prices  Going on four years later, insurers are leaving the market and premiums are rising. In 2017, one-third of all counties across the nation had just one insurer. And in Montana alone, insurance premiums have risen 133 percent from 2013 to 2017. To make matters worse, insurers are already beginning to ask for permission to raise individual market premiums for 2018.

Without insurers, no one has access to health insurance, including those with pre-existing conditions.

Obamacare has created a train wreck with thousands of pages of legislation. Montanans have made it clear in election after election: They want to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a health care system that provides more affordable choices, protects those with pre-existing conditions and puts Medicaid on a sustainable path. With your input, Im going to carefully scrutinize this proposal to determine if it secures these outcomes for Montanans.
Swiss agrochemical giant Syngenta has been ordered to pay $217.7m (171m) in compensation to more than 7,000 farmers in Kansas over its decision to commercialise GM maize before it was approved by China.

Syngenta began selling its Agrisure Viptera line of biotech maize to US farmers in 2010. But at that time, the variety (MIR162) had not received approval from the Chinese for imports.

Chinese officials started to refuse US maize shipments in 2013 after traces of the unapproved trait were detected in batches.

See also: Chinas 32.5bn takeover of Syngenta gets go-ahead

Lawyers acting on behalf of the Kansas farmers said they suffered $5bn (3.93bn) in losses after China began rejecting shipments of US maize and prices plummeted.

The plaintiffs argued Syngenta marketed the biotech seed despite knowing it had not been approved by Chinese authorities.

China approved Viptera, which has been genetically engineered to kill various pests and insects that feed on maize, in December 2014

The trial, seen as a test case, was heard in Minneapolis on 19 June and involved four farmers who represented about 7,300 growers in the state. It remains to be seen how the compensation money will be divided.

In a statement, lawyers acting on behalf of the farmers said the verdict was great news. They added: We look forward to pursuing justice for thousands more corn farmers in the months ahead.

Syngenta to appeal

Meanwhile, Syngenta said it would appeal the courts decision.

A statement released on the day of the verdict said: We are disappointed with todays verdict because it will only serve to deny American farmers access to future technologies even when they are fully approved in the US.

Syngenta said Viptera is in full compliance with US regulatory and legal requirements.

The company added: American farmers shouldnt have to rely on a foreign government to decide what products they can use on their farms.

Lawyers are pursuing claims involving some 350,000 maize growers in the US. A second trial involving about 60,000 growers in Minnesota will take place next month.
Using a five-star rated system to assess herd performance is increasing a Simmental herds profitability and efficiency.

Clonakilty farmer Tommy Moyles has increased his herd size 60% by selecting easy-calving cows with low birthweights and reducing mature cow size by 10%.

Average cow weight in the spring-calving herd is 671kg, with the deadweight producer aiming for a herd at 650kg.

See also: Is bigger better when it comes to cow size?

Moyhan herd facts 80 head of Simmental based herd including pedigrees

Closed herd since 1999

Natural service, breeding heifers at 13-15 months

Spring calving 29 January to 5 April (10 weeks)

Housed from October to February

Minimal concentrates on breeding stock

Supplying culls to Dawn Meats and bulls to Kepak

Annual rainfall: 1,300mm

Alongside increasing grassland production by rotational grazing, moderate-framed cattle are enabling the Moyhan herd, Ardfield, to be farmed more efficiently.

There are now 80 females on the Cork coast farm, all rigorously recorded as part of the national BDGP programme paying farmers involved a subsidy tied to the land.

The system rates cows on milk performance, fertility performance and carcass progeny, with all abattoir and farm data pooled centrally in the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) database.

Over half the herd is five-star rated (within the top 20% of the breed) by the BDGP, which Mr Moyles says includes some of his biggest and smallest cows.

We have five-star cows that are more than 800kg, the key thing is finding them, he explains. A seven-year-old is 840kg and rated highly but then again so is a four-year-old only weighing 586kg.

Mr Moyles focus has been to find the lighter and more efficient star performers.

Industry backlash

By subsidising farmers 80-95 (70-83) a cow on average, the BDGP requires breeders to rate cattle performance objectively and only use four or five-star bulls.

It has caused a bit of upset in the industry for sure, admits Mr Moyles. People are being told their favourite cow is their worst cow, which is hard to accept.

People are being told their favourite cow is their worst cow, which is hard to accept Tommy Moyles

When people realised you didnt need all your cows to be four or five-star cows things calmed down.

But for the Moyhan herd, involvement in the data programme is a no brainer where easy calving credentials, managing good weaning weights and fertility are priorities.

The programme stipulates that by 2018 and 2020 the Moyhan herd must contain 12 and then 29 four or five-star cattle to qualify for payments with the BDGP. However, because Mr Moyles is ahead of the curve, 52 cows rating four and five star (90%) at the start of 2016.

Six requirements of the BDGP Farms enter the programme for six years and receive 142.5 (125.61) for the first 6.6ha of forage land and 120 (105) thereafter. Calving details: Calf, calving ease and sire number to be registered within 27 days of birth. All persistently infected stock with bovine viral diarrhoea must be removed Surveys: Cows, calves and bulls need specific surveys on calf vigour, docility, culling reasons, performance, pneumonia and scour Genotyping: Mr Moyles genotypes all stock under the scheme. Can be only 60% according to herd size Replacements: Sires must be at least 80% four or five stars if AI or have one four of five-star stock bull. Farms given three years to reach 20% of cows rated at four or five stars and five years to have 50% rated four or five stars Carbon Navigator: Farms must complete a carbon navigator assessment with an advisor to estimate financial and emissions savings possible on your holding for example, grazing season length, slurry spreading, fertiliser use Attend a training course on the scheme

How Mr Moyles uses the scheme

All Moyhan stock are genotyped with a tissue tag under the BDGP. Information is fed back from the ICBF to the farm which is considered and helps inform breeding decisions.

See also: Genomic breeding value to shake up Limousin bull rankings

If I was using more AI and my herd wasnt closed then this information would be even more useful to me, explains Mr Moyles.

Generally, I pick bulls with calving ease in mind. They must be high replacement index as well as being polled as Im trying to go down that route.

He says the BDGP puts pressure on herds grading up their proportion of four or five-star cows to 20% and then 50% but because of the farms commercial focus, this was easily achieved.

All main breeds have star ratings, including; Aubrac, Parthenaise and Piedmontese and star ratings are also given across all breeds. All stock in the scheme are split into 20% increments, with a five-star cow being in the top 20% for the breed and a one star cow being in the bottom 20%.

Star ratings are checked by inserting an animals AI code or tag number into the ICBF website. Ratings are updated in April, August and December.

To qualify for payment under the BDGP all calves have to be weighed and a calving ease (1-4) and vigour score is also given. A caesarian earns 4, 3 is a calving jack, 2 is some assistance and 1 is unassisted.

Calving scores this year stand at 1.38 on average. A camera is fixed in the calving shed, which has allowed the cows to be monitored easily.

Since recording average birthweight has been lowered from 40kg to 38kg.

Calving ease and fertility are essential for a good rating in the scheme, which targets a beef cow having a calf every year.

You cant see fertility so the priority is a short breeding window, adds Mr Moyles. We usually manage 95% of cows in calf within 10 weeks.

A small number of the pedigree cows are AId to pure Simmental, while Simmental stock bulls carry out 90% of services on the farm.

Benefits of the scheme

As well as being able to increase herd size, the herd is becoming more productive. In 2016, 66 cows calved weaning 47% of their weight off grass, silage and only 1.07kg of concentrates a head, mostly which went to train heifers. This was above their three-year average of 43%.

Stocking more cows and higher weaning weights mean the farm has weaned 4,394kg (liveweight) more calves in 2016 than in 2013.

And while efficient cows are giving more calves to sell each year, they also meet the deadweight specifications at Kepak, says Mr Moyles.

The last kill sheet showed 86% of bulls achieved R+ grade and 75% U grade from an ad-lib silage/straw and a 13ME 17CP finisher pellet diet for 100 days at 8.5kg a head a day in the final month with an average slaughter age of under 14 and a half months, earning the farm 2.29/day before costs.

Moyhan weaning weights Year Herd weight Calf weight Weaning % 2013 35,585kg 15,938kg 44.7% 2016 42,055kg 20,332kg 48%
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You don't know.

They don't want you to know.

But, they'll gladly take your money. And, by the way, they need your money. But you can't know. It's a secret. A multi-million dollar secret.

That's the message a group of investors had for the Billings City Council last week as it wanted to extend the time to put a deal together for One Big Sky Center. The group wants tax-increment financing from the city to get the project completed. However, the group and the Downtown Billings Alliance wouldn't say who these mystery investors are -- at least with the public listening.

On Wednesday, Downtown Billings Development Director Greg Krueger wrote the Billings City Council members, offering to meet with them each individually and give them all the information about potential investors.

This was after his attempt to shut the public out of the conversation failed on Monday night.

You may recall that Krueger is working with the group of investors who want to put up a new development that will be Montana's tallest building at an estimated cost of more than $165 million.

TIF funding request

In that meeting Monday, the council bristled when the investment group asked for a six-month extension for the group to come up with a solid plan in order to open the door for tax-increment financing funds. Keep in mind that the amount that this group is seeking  more than $30 million  should be a non-starter as it is beyond the tax increment financing district's projected capacity.

The council wisely postponed a final decision on the extension until Monday, expressing concern that there wasn't enough transparency and the hush-hush nature of this mystery firm was a study in poor communications.

Krueger had wanted the council to go into executive session which would have cleared the public from the room so that he give all the details. City Administrator Tina Volek correctly noted that meeting privately to discuss the details was a violation of Montana's strong open meetings laws, and said the city may be sued for doing that.

There's a good reason shutting the public out of the decision-making process is not lawful: It's the city's money and the city's business. The council is merely representing the public and the public has a right to not only watch the voting process, but to give input during the deliberations. And the citizens can't give input if they're barred from participation.

Volek's good advice

Thankfully, the council listened to Volek's wise counsel.

That didn't stop Krueger, though.

On Wednesday, he offered to meet with each one of the council members individually  essentially doing an end-run around the meeting and trying to keep the public from seeing what he and the group he's working with are doing.

Again, this is clearly in violation of Montana's public open meetings laws. It's called "a serial meeting" and it's illegal precisely because it thwarts public scrutiny.

"I would really like to meet or at least visit with each of you before the Monday Business Meeting. I would especially like the opportunity to visit with you, Mayor Hanel," Krueger wrote. "I will happily share every bit of information that I have on this major redevelopment opportunity. ...and I vow to share everything I know about (One Big Sky Center) and any other TIFD project in pipeline."

In other words, Krueger will tell everything he knows to the council, but won't share it with the public.

Those council members whom he wants to lobby in advance of Monday's meeting and out of the public limelight represent the same people he wants to keep in the dark. He wants the council to be fully informed, but not the public.

That is not acceptable.

We hope the City Council members do not take Krueger up on his offer, complete with his cell phone number. We hope that they send a unified message that keeping the public in the dark is not how good government is operated even if One Big Sky is good for business here.

Your right to know

We have supported the idea of the One Big Sky Center and we continue to believe the project could help transform Billings and grow our economy and base.

However, we cannot support the right project which uses the wrong means to get there.

If the council were to go down the road of serial meetings, cutting the public out of the information loop, we would have no choice but to sue the city to obtain the information. That would be an unfortunate waste of taxpayer money and a big distraction from what should be an exciting economic development.

Krueger and the development arm of Downtown Billings must redouble its efforts to be transparent. Deals like this, which appear to be sneaky or done in a backroom, give citizens such a strong distaste for these tax deals. Of course, businesses and investors are only too happy to take the public subsidies, but then don't want the public prying too deeply into the business.

Krueger told The Gazette that he didn't mean the request to be seen as inappropriate. In fact, he said, if he had wanted to do anything underhanded, he wouldn't have emailed the entire council where it would be posted publicly.

"There has never been a 'plan' on the part of the Alliance or the developers to subvert the public rights in any fashion," Krueger said.

He was just trying to assuage concerns and educate them about the project, he said.

That's not how it appeared to us, though. Not when it happened a twice.

It appears as if there's something to hide, even though it may be completely above-board. The One Big Sky Center developers say that this potential partner has demanded to remain unnamed in public. Everyone who knows the name has obliged.

We urge the Billings City Council not to accept any one-on-one meeting invitation from Krueger because doing so could put the city in the position of being sued for violating open meetings laws. We would also urge the city to deny the extension unless Krueger offers to "happily share every bit of information" he has, just as he said.

This time, though, he needs to share that information in public. No secret meetings. No cell phone numbers. Meet in the open, with the public, at city council chambers with names of investors and financial numbers.

Anything less, and the council should walk.
Last week's announcement that Democratic leaders were throwing in the towel on tax reform during this session didn't really come as much of a surprise, considering the various legislative forces that had aligned against the idea.

But it still came as a disappointment  and, if Oregon citizens are growing weary of legislative promises that this important topic or that important topic will be top of the agenda during the next session, you can understand that weariness: It's not the first time these particular cans have been kicked down that particular road.

This session, yet another can got kicked down the road: Reforms to the state's public pension fund, with its $22 billion unfunded liability, also appear to be joining that tax discussion: Democrats said all session long that pension reforms would be tied to tax reform; with tax reform off the table, so is the PERS discussion.

It still remains to be seen whether the last big-ticket item on this year's legislative docket, the bill that identifies major transportation projects around the state and ways to pay for them, will also be kicked over to 2019; our hope is that legislators still see a path forward in this session for the transportation bill.

Of course, all of this always comes with an asterisk: The Legislature is scheduled to remain in session until July 10, its mandated adjournment date. It is not completely out of the question, during the final weeks of the Legislature, to see proposals given up for dead lurch into unexpected life, like in a George Romero horror movie.

But a statement last week from three key Democrats  Gov. Kate Brown, Senate President Peter Courtney and Speaker of the House Tina Kotek  certainly suggested they weren't anticipating reanimation.

The statement read, in part, that the three had worked "for months with legislators in both parties, business leaders, and labor leaders, to identify ways to reduce state spending, contain costs going forward, and finally reform our revenue system. While we are moving forward on several major cost containment measures, it has become clear that the Legislature will not have the necessary support to achieve structural revenue reforms this session."

That is partially because Democrats are one vote short in both the Senate and the House of the supermajorities required to pass tax increases. Senate Republicans, in particular, have maintained a united front against any tax increase  and their position only seemed to harden as the session went along.

Other pockets of opposition have risen this session: Sen. Mark Hass, the Beaverton Democrat who's been carrying the flag of tax reform for at least the last couple of sessions, last week pitched an idea to simply increase corporate income taxes. The plan enjoyed some support from businesses. But the idea didn't go anywhere, in part because House Democrats objected to the fact that it didn't include a tax on corporate gross receipts.

No wonder that a frustrated Hass warned in a speech last week that failure to address these issues would trigger the sort of pension crisis that's facing Illinois: "It will eventually wreck our schools and swallow our state," he said.

It now seems that the Legislature will be able to patch together a budget that will allow the state to limp along for the next two years, with a combination of cost cuts and measures such as a tax on health care providers that will raise $550 million.

It also seems likely that the Legislature's failure to act will trigger yet another wave of citizen initiatives. Legislators complain about how those initiatives complicate their work in Salem. But it's hard to fault citizens for wanting to see if they can do something about the can before legislators get the chance to give it yet another kick. (mm)
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.
New construction works at platform 1 : Bike stands at Bonn main station will be cleared

Bonn Deutsche Bahn is starting further construction works on platform 1 of Bonn main station, near the taxi roundabout south of the station building. Numerous bike parking places will be cleared as a result.

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Last week, Deutsche Bahn set up a zone where it is prohibited to leave bikes. However, not all bikes owners have adhered to the ban. Deutsche Bahn has not yet responded to the GAs question about what will happen to bikes left at the station and whether there is a time limit for collection. According to information signs, the temporary ban started last Wednesday.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn said an equally large area would be provided further south, towards the Poppelsdorf underpass, to replace the bike parking area being removed. He also said there are no plans at the moment for additional bike parking spaces at Bonn main station beyond those already provided. Markus Schmidt from the city press office confirmed such an agreement with Deutsche Bahn.
Settlement sum of one million Euros : City of Bonn wants to pay up in Metropol dispute

Bonn The longstanding listed buildings dispute surrounding the former Metropol cinema, which now houses the Thalia bookshop, is drawing to a close. The city is advising local politicians to settle for a price of one million Euros.

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The longstanding listed buildings dispute surrounding the former Metropol cinema is drawing to a close. The city administration is advising local politicians to settle with the investors, who converted the building on the Marktplatz into a bookshop.

The price to be paid by the local authority is one million Euros, as stated in a confidential draft resolution to be voted on by the finance committee on Tuesday and by the council on 6 July. It is still uncertain whether there will be a majority for the settlement suggested by the Bonn district court.

The opposing side, the property management company Metropol GmbH, has already signed. I am not at all happy with the outcome, said Bonn businessman Klaus Topfer, who carried out the project with partners. But I will soon be 70 and I simply no longer want further, lengthy proceedings. If the council also agrees, it will be the end of a political issue that caused a stir in the city ten years ago.

Topfer and his partners bought the poorly attended cinema in 2005 for around 3.1 million Euros after a forced sale. They applied to have the buildings listed status removed. There was an outcry from residents and 47,000 signatures were collected to rescue the Art Deco cinema.

The city administration refused the investors application. However, they finally won after the case went through several courts. In the end, only the facade of the Metropol was classified as listed and had to be preserved. Thalia has leased the building since October 2010. It was sold in 2011 to an insurance company for around 19 million Euros.

Topfer & Co demanded damages from the city for the years long delays and consequent increased building costs. The Higher Regional Court in Cologne agreed in 2012 and since then the local authority and investors have been arguing about the actual amount.

Topfer does not dispute that the Metropol project was profitable despite the dispute with the city. But I also like the result, emphasised the Bonner. It has probably become the nicest book shop in Germany. There are lots of details that remind people the building used to be a cinema: the red curtains where the screen used to be; the lamps on the walls; the old ticket office; and the blue chairs in which customers can comfortably browse books. It is a real crowd puller because of its special atmosphere, reports shop manager Stefanie Willaredt. There are even tour guides who come. Thalia Bucher GmbH says the Bonn bookshop is one of its most successful in the Rhineland.
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xspraise at 26-06-2017 08:56 AM (5 years ago) (m)

Billionaire kidnapper, Chukwumeme Onwuamadike aka Evans, yesterday recanted his story that the bullet wound on his shoulder was from a drug war in South Africa.

Billionaire kidnapper, Chukwumeme Onwuamadike aka Evans, yesterday recanted his story that the bullet wound on his shoulder was from a drug war in South Africa.

The suspect withdrew his earlier narrative after investigators presented him with allegations made against him by a retired police officer in a national daily.



Evans told his interrogators that he got the wound from a gang member during a disagreement in the sharing formula of the heist from a bank raid in 2006.



The suspect also admitted he was arrested by the police after the shootout among his robbery gang members.



He added that his mother, with the help of a policewoman, got him released from police custody 11 years ago.



The retired officer was once the former officer in charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command.



According the policeman, in 2006, Evans was arrested for bank robbery, but his release was later facilitated by a female superintendent of police.



Asked why he didnt prosecute Evans back then, the officer retorted that there was a female Superintendent of Police (SP), identified simply as Tina, at the Band Section of the Police College, Lagos, who insisted that the police should drop the case and that Evans was her brother.



But when she was unable to achieve her aim, she travelled to Imo State. Not long after, we got a message from the Imo State Police Command that they had been searching for Evans and asked us to transfer the case to them so they could continue from where we stopped. Since that time, we did not hear anything. We heard he was later released there, he was quoted as saying.



The police officer explained that in 2006, robbers attacked a commercial bank in Lagos and went to Iganmu, to share the money.

One of those later arrested was Evans. He was shot by one of his gang members. He was arrested because he couldnt run. He had lost so much blood.

The senior officer said that back then, Evans was known as Chukwudi.



According to the retiree, there was also a time that Evans gang robbed three banks at Alaba International Market in 2005.

He urged the leader of the investigators, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, not to rush Evans investigation.

According to him, Evans has links in South Africa, Ghana and other places.



Bank robbery and hijacking of bullion vans are easy for him and his gang members, he was quoted as saying.

He alleged that Evans had a penchant for shooting and killing any member he suspected.



One of the police investigators, who interviewed Evans following the newspapers report, said: The bullet wounds are from disagreement over sharing of loot after bank robbery in Lagos in 2006. Evans and his gang members shot one another. Many gang members died, while Evans survived with bullet wounds. Evans has confessed to the bank robbery, shooting and bullet wounds.



Evans had been lying about how he got that bullet wound for long. But when we showed the newspaper report, he caved in and confessed that the report was true. He said they robbed banks and started shooting one another over sharing of the money. He said that it was his mother, working through the policewoman, who got him out of police custody. The suspect withdrew his earlier narrative after investigators presented him with allegations made against him by a retired police officer in a national daily.Evans told his interrogators that he got the wound from a gang member during a disagreement in the sharing formula of the heist from a bank raid in 2006.The suspect also admitted he was arrested by the police after the shootout among his robbery gang members.He added that his mother, with the help of a policewoman, got him released from police custody 11 years ago.The retired officer was once the former officer in charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command.According the policeman, in 2006, Evans was arrested for bank robbery, but his release was later facilitated by a female superintendent of police.Asked why he didnt prosecute Evans back then, the officer retorted that there was a female Superintendent of Police (SP), identified simply as Tina, at the Band Section of the Police College, Lagos, who insisted that the police should drop the case and that Evans was her brother.But when she was unable to achieve her aim, she travelled to Imo State. Not long after, we got a message from the Imo State Police Command that they had been searching for Evans and asked us to transfer the case to them so they could continue from where we stopped. Since that time, we did not hear anything. We heard he was later released there, he was quoted as saying.The police officer explained that in 2006, robbers attacked a commercial bank in Lagos and went to Iganmu, to share the money.One of those later arrested was Evans. He was shot by one of his gang members. He was arrested because he couldnt run. He had lost so much blood.The senior officer said that back then, Evans was known as Chukwudi.According to the retiree, there was also a time that Evans gang robbed three banks at Alaba International Market in 2005.He urged the leader of the investigators, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, not to rush Evans investigation.According to him, Evans has links in South Africa, Ghana and other places.Bank robbery and hijacking of bullion vans are easy for him and his gang members, he was quoted as saying.He alleged that Evans had a penchant for shooting and killing any member he suspected.One of the police investigators, who interviewed Evans following the newspapers report, said: The bullet wounds are from disagreement over sharing of loot after bank robbery in Lagos in 2006. Evans and his gang members shot one another. Many gang members died, while Evans survived with bullet wounds. Evans has confessed to the bank robbery, shooting and bullet wounds.Evans had been lying about how he got that bullet wound for long. But when we showed the newspaper report, he caved in and confessed that the report was true. He said they robbed banks and started shooting one another over sharing of the money. He said that it was his mother, working through the policewoman, who got him out of police custody.

Post Reply I am Victor, I write reportage on sport news and latest metro happenings in Nigeria. Posted: at 26-06-2017 08:56 AM (5 years ago) | Hero
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.
Trump an 'avid consumer' of intelligence with 'difficult questions,' says CIA chief

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 24, 2017 11:55PM

CIA Director Mike Pompeo says US President Donald Trump has "difficult questions" for the agency and is an "avid consumer" of intelligence.

Trump has been blamed for pushing back against reports of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

"I cannot imagine a statement that is any more false than one that would attribute President Trump of not being interested in the intelligence community. He is an avid consumer of the products the CIA provides," the head of the CIA said in an interview aired Saturday on MSNBC. "President Trump is incredibly demanding of the intelligence community (and) asks incredibly difficult questions."

Trump is particularly concerned about what the US refers to as North Korea's nuclear threat, Pompeo said in his first media interview since his appointment at the helm of the CIA.

"I hardly ever escape a day at the White House without the president asking me about North Korea and how America is going to respond," he said during the interview, held at CIA headquarters. "It's very much at the top of his mind."

Pompeo further commented on the issue of leaks, which has further harmed the American intelligence community recently.

"There have been failures You have not only nation states trying to steal our stuff but ... folks like Wikileaks," asserted the head of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. "We and all of President Trump's government are focused on stopping leaks."

He made the comments as the Republican president was being investigated for possible collusion with Russia, an allegation dismissed by both Trump and the Kremlin.

In a declassified report released in January, the intelligence community concluded that Russia helped with the New York billionaire's campaign effort ahead of winning the White House.

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'Doomsday' Alert: Tornado Struck Hard Blow on US Nuke-Proof Planes

Sputnik News

18:17 24.06.2017(updated 18:22 24.06.2017)

A fierce tornado damaged at least 10 US jets including the US Air Force "Doomsday" plane at Offutt base (Nebraska). A representative of the US Air Force reported that the incident occurred on June 16 but was made public on June 24.

The tornado struck a hard blow at half of the Pentagon's fleet of four E-4B Nightwatch aircraft  popularly known as the "Doomsday" plane.

The Boeing E-4B Nightwatch is intended for national emergency situations or an attack.

It is specifically designated for the security of the US president, defense minister and other members of the US military leadership in the event of a nuclear war.

The US was the first to create such aircraft and test atomic weapons. The US felt that the beginning of a third world war with Russia was just around the corner after the USSR gained victory over Germany.

The first 'Doomsday' aircraft was built on the basis of the Boeing 747-200. It was called the Boeing E-4B.

There are four such aircraft with the US Air Force at present. The "Doomsday" aircraft can stay in the air for a whole week, subject to air refueling.

All the equipment onboard is protected from the damaging effects of a nuclear explosion. Furthermore, each jet can accommodate a hundred people.

However, it seems that the invincible jet is no match for Mother Nature. It was knocked off service during the recent tornado.

"The June 16 tornado also damaged eight of the 55th Wing's fleet of 29 RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, which fly critical surveillance missions in the Middle East, the western Pacific and the Far East," Drew Nystrom, a 55th Wing spokesman told media.

He added that according to a "very preliminary" estimate, the storm caused between $7 million and $10 million worth of damage to other Offutt facilities.

The mighty storm at Offutt Air Force Base also downed many large trees, damaging some facilities and knocking down power lines.

 Sputnik

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Counter-ISIS Strikes Continue in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 25, 2017  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 37 strikes consisting of 79 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 34 strikes consisting of 50 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, three strikes destroyed 15 ISIS oil storage tanks, eight ISIS oil barrels, six ISIS oil stills and a vehicle.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, six strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed three ISIS-held buildings, two command-and-control nodes, an ISIS staging area, a mortar system, a tactical vehicle and an ISIS oil refinery.

-- Near Raqqa, 25 strikes engaged 17 ISIS tactical units; destroyed 16 fighting positions, five vehicles, two ammo caches, a recoilless rifle, a supply cache and an unmanned aerial system launch site; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted three strikes consisting of 29 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; destroyed 11 fighting positons, a medium machine gun, a heavy machine gun and a mortar system; damaged two fighting positions; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit and a sniper team.

June 22-23 Strikes

Additionally, 13 strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on June 22-23 that closed within the last 24 hours.

-- On June 22, near Raqqa, Syria, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed two fighting positions, two vehicles, a weapons cache and an ISIS staging area; and damaged 14 fighting positions.

-- On June 23, near Abu Kamal, Syria, a strike destroyed 29 vehicle-borne bombs and damaged a front-end loader.

-- On June 23, near Raqqa, Syria, seven strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and suppressed two ISIS tactical units.

-- On June 23, near Mosul, Iraq, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed three fighting positions, two medium machine guns, a sniper position and a rocket-propelled grenade system; and suppressed four mortar teams and a sniper position.

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.

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Iran-Qatar ties benefit regional nations: Rouhani

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 5:46PM

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the Islamic Republic's policy is based on strengthening relations with Qatar, stressing that "brotherly and friendly" Tehran-Doha ties will be beneficial to regional nations.

In a telephone conversation with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Sunday, Rouhani said the Iranian government and nation would stand by Qatar.

He added that Iran sought continued cooperation with Qatar and stressed the importance of making use of the enormous bilateral capacities to further strengthen relations.

"[Iran's] help for Qatar's economy and the expansion of ties, particularly between the two countries' private sectors, can be among our common goals," Rouhani said.

The Iranian chief executive added that the Islamic Republic wanted the rule of moderation and rationality in relations among countries in the region and expressed hope that the existing regional issues would be solved through dialogue.

"We believe that if there is a dispute among regional countries, pressure, threat or sanctions are not an appropriate way to settle disputes," Rouhani said.

He expressed the Islamic Republic's readiness to contribute to and help the establishment of peace in the region.

Rouhani further criticized as unacceptable the Saudi-led embargo on Qatar, saying, "Our country's airspace, land and [territorial] waters will always be open to Qatar as a brotherly and neighboring country."

The Iranian president also highlighted the significance of unity and integrity in the Muslim world and said Tehran and Doha can undoubtedly cooperate with each other in this field.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the UAE severed ties with Qatar on June 5, officially accusing Doha of supporting "terrorism" and destabilizing the region. Qatar, however, has slammed the measures as unjustified, saying they are based on false claims and assumptions.

In their apparent bid to secure US support and that of Israel, Riyadh, Manama, Cairo and Abu Dhabi suspended all land, air and sea traffic with Qatar, expelled its diplomats and ordered Qatari citizens to leave their countries.

To further pressure Qatar, Saudi Arabia has totally closed its land border with its tiny neighbor, through which much of Qatar's food supply crossed.

The Qatari emir, for his part, extended his congratulations to the Iranian president on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Al Thani praised Iran's support for his country and expressed Doha's readiness to bolster cooperation with Tehran and help solve problems in the Muslim world.

Iran and Turkey are now providing Qatar's required food supplies.



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Israel airstrikes hit Syrian army positions in Golan Heights for 2nd day

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 5:31PM

The Israeli military has carried out a string of aerial assaults against the positions of the Syrian government forces in Golan Heights for the second consecutive day after several projectiles allegedly fired from Syria landed in the occupied territory.

Lebanon-based Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news network reported on Sunday that the airstrikes hit an amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle of the Syrian army in Syria's strategic southwestern region of Quneitra near the border with Israeli-controlled Palestinian territories.

The Israeli said in a brief statement that the air raids were in response to alleged errant fire from Syrian factions fighting each other, which hit the northern part of occupied Palestinian lands earlier in the day.

The statement added that the Israeli military "targeted two artillery positions and an ammunition truck belonging to the Syrian regime." There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The development came a day after Israeli fighter jets struck a number of Syrian army targets near the Golan Heights after some 10 mortar shells exploded in an open area in the region.

The Israeli army said its airstrikes had struck two tanks and a post from which the mortars were allegedly fired.

Following the attack, the Syrian army announced that several civilians were killed and several more injured in the bombing raid, which hit a residential building.

During the past few years, Israel has frequently attacked military targets in Syria in what is considered as an attempt to prop up terrorist groups that have been suffering heavy defeats against Syrian government forces.

Back in April 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially admitted for the first time that the regime's military had conducted strikes in Syrian territory.

Damascus says Israel and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups operating inside the Arab country, while the Tel Aviv regime's military carries out such sporadic strikes against Syrian government forces. The Israeli regime has even set up field hospitals to treat wounded militants evacuated from Syria.

Moreover, the Syrian army has repeatedly seized huge quantities of Israeli-made weapons and advanced military equipment from the foreign-backed militants inside Syria.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War and later occupied it in a move that has never been recognized by the international community. The regime has built dozens of settlements in the area ever since and has used the region to carry out a number of military operations against the Syrian government.

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Saudi airstrikes kill 9 civilians in Yemen's Ma'rib province

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:37PM

At least nine civilians, including two women, have been killed and a number of others wounded in Saudi Arabia's airstrikes on residential buildings in Yemen's central province of Ma'rib.

According to Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah television network, the aerial aggression occurred on Sunday, when Saudi warplanes bombed homes in Ale-Massad neighborhood in Sirwah district. Earlier in the day, Saudi jets had bombed Sirwah eight more times.

The airstrikes and the killing of Yemeni civilians took place as Yemenis were celebrating Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The Saudi warplanes also carried out airstrikes on Yakhtal area of the Red Sea port city of Mukha in the southwestern province of Ta'izz, and al-Masahef and al-Sabhan areas in Baqim district in the northwestern province of Sa'ada. Possible casualties and damage of the strikes were not reported.

In retaliation for the relentless and indiscriminate Saudi airstrikes against the Yemeni people, Yemen's army, backed by Houthi Ansarullah fighters, on Sunday launched an artillery attack against Saudi military bases of al-Khashal, al-Shabaka, al-Ebara, al-Farizah and al-Beit al-Abyaz in the kingdom's southwestern region of Jizan.

According to al-Masirah, several Saudi troopers were killed in the offensive and the bases received considerable damage. Meanwhile, Yemeni forces managed to destroy a Saudi tank in Midi Desert of northern Yemen.

Elsewhere, in al-Mahyal area of the al-Moafer district in the southwestern province of Ta'izz, Yemeni forces killed at least seven mercenaries fighting for the regime in Riyadh and wounded several others.

Since March 2015, Yemen has been heavily bombarded by Saudi warplanes as part of a brutal campaign against the Arabian Peninsula country in an attempt to crush the popular Houthi movement and reinstall the former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

Nearly 3.3 million Yemeni people, including 2.1 million children, are currently suffering from acute malnutrition. Latest tallies show that the war has so far killed over 12,000 Yemenis and wounded thousands more. The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on the country's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.

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Indian troops say two suspected militants killed in Kashmir

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:53PM

New Delhi forces have killed at least two suspected militants during a fierce gun battle in Indian-controlled Kashmir amid rising tensions in the disputed Himalayan region.

Police said the militants were killed following an intense gunfight with Indian forces at a school on the outskirts of the region's main city of Srinagar.

"The gun battle is over. Two militants have been killed," media outlets quoted director general of police S.P. Vaid as saying.

Neither of the dead men were locals and police only knew their code names, the police official added.

Militants ambushed a paramilitary police patrol on Saturday evening, killing one trooper and injuring two others in a hail of bullets, before fleeing into the nearby school.

Indian soldiers had surrounded the school as the militants continued firing on them.

Kashmir has experienced an increase in violence over the past few weeks.

According to the Press Trust of India news agency, the New Delhi government last week deployed two additional army battalions to troubled regions in southern Kashmir.

The Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, which monitors conflict-related deaths, said at least 51 people had been killed in the restive Muslim-majority region over the past month.

Rights groups say 197 people have been killed so far this year in Kashmir.

People in the Muslim-majority Kashmir hold regular protests against Indian rule, demanding autonomy from New Delhi.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants and allowing them across the restive frontier in an attempt to launch attacks on Indian forces. Pakistan strongly denies the allegation.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both since the two were partitioned and gained independence from Britain in 1947. The two countries have fought three wars over the disputed territory. Despite a ceasefire agreement that was reached in November 2003, sporadic skirmishes continue in Kashmir.

New Delhi has deployed some 500,000 soldiers to the disputed region to further boost the security of the borderline and enforce a crackdown on pro-independence demonstrations in its share of Kashmir, where anti-India sentiments are high.

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Taliban attack security post in Afghanistan's Herat, 10 killed

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 1:31PM

The Taliban militants have attacked a security post in Afghanistan's Herat province, killing at least 10 policemen and wounding another three.

Jelani Farhad, the spokesman for the governor of the western province, said the militants carried out the deadly assault late Saturday.

The official added that at least five militants were also killed in the ensuing gun battle.

On Thursday, over 30 people were killed in a powerful blast at a bank in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern province of Helmand. The bombing targeted the New Kabul Bank branch, where members of Afghan security forces had gathered to collect their pay.

On June 20, gunmen attacked Afghan troops working at the largest US military base in Afghanistan. Eight soldiers were killed. The attack was carried out near the Bagram Airbase in Shah Kah village.

In April, the Taliban announced the start of its annual spring offensive against Afghan security forces and US-led foreign troops across the country. The militant group has stepped up offensives in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months.

Several civilians and members of Afghan security forces have been killed in recent years in US-led airstrikes allegedly targeting hideouts used by militants.

Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror in 2001. Many parts of the country remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.

Over the past 16 years, the Taliban militants have been conducting terrorist attacks across the country, killing and displacing civilians.

In addition, the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which is mainly active in Syria and Iraq, has recently managed to take recruits from Afghan Taliban defectors.

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Four Saudi soldiers killed in Yemeni sniper fire in Jizan, Asir

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 9:11AM

Yemeni army snipers have targeted military bases in Saudi Arabia's southwestern regions, killing at least four Saudi troops.

The Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported on Sunday that the Yemeni sniper fire claimed the lives of three Saudi soldiers in the Asir region and one more at the al-Farizeh military base in Jizan region.

The al-Zaqilah base, also situated in Jizan, came under similar attacks that destroyed two armored vehicles and left an unspecified number of casualties.

Yemeni missile attacks further hit other Saudi bases in Jizan, resulting in the burning of a vehicle at the al-Mostahdes military base.

Additionally on Sunday, the Yemeni army's artillery unit targeted a place, where Saudi mercenaries had gathered in Khabb & Sha'af district of the northern Jawf Province.

Positions held by forces loyal to former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, were also struck in Jawf's Ghayl neighborhood, leaving a number of them dead and injured.

Meanwhile, Saudi jets bombed several districts, including Sirwah, in central Ma'rib Province. A bomb planted by Saudi mercenaries wounded two children in Sahar District of Sa'ada Province.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a brutal military campaign against Yemen for more than two years to eliminate the Houthi movement and reinstall Riyadh-backed Hadi.

The Saudi aggression, however, has failed to achieve its goals and killed over 12,000 Yemenis.

The Houthi Ansarullah movement, backed by the army and popular forces, has been defending Yemen against the protracted Saudi war. The movement has also been running state affairs since 2014, when Hadi resigned and fled to Riyadh at a time the country was grappling with threats from al-Qaeda terrorists.

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Erdogan: Saudi-led group's demands 'unlawful intervention'

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:53AM

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a sweeping list of demands issued by four Arab states is an unlawful intervention against Qatar's sovereignty and a violation of international law.

Speaking on Sunday, Erdogan said he welcomed Doha's rejection of the demands "because we consider the 13-point list against international law," Turkey's official Anadolu news agency reported.

Turkey and Iran threw support behind Qatar, and started shipping food to the country after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic ties, and cut all land, sea, and air contacts with the emirate on June 5.

"What we are talking about here is an attack on the sovereign rights of a state," Erdogan said, adding "there cannot be such an attack on countries' sovereignty rights in international law."

Qatar on Saturday denounced the ultimatum as unreasonable and an impingement on its sovereignty.

The sanctioning countries accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism and destabilizing the region, allegations vehemently denied by Doha.

The punitive measures have raised human rights concerns, with UK-based rights body Amnesty International saying the sanctioning countries are toying with the lives of thousands of Persian Gulf residents as part of their dispute with Doha.

The demands include Qatar shutting down its Al Jazeera news network, which has ruffled feathers time and again among Saudi Arabia and its allies with its critiques, as well as limiting its ties with Iran and closing down a Turkish military base.

Erdogan dismissed calls for Turkey to close the military base in Qatar, calling it a "disrespect" to his country.

Turkey has sent two contingents of troops with columns of armored vehicles to Qatar since the crisis erupted on June 5, with Defense Minister Fikri Isik saying further reinforcements would be beneficial.

According to Hurriyet newspaper, the two countries will hold a joint exercise following the Eid al-Fitr holiday which started on Sunday.

The report said the number of Turkish troops sent to Qatar could eventually reach 1,000, with an air force contingent also envisaged.

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Philippine military declares Eid truce in war-torn city

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 5:30AM

The Philippines' military has declared a short ceasefire in the southern, Muslim-majority city of Marawi, where government forces are fighting Daesh terrorists.

Military chief General Eduardo Ano said his forces would implement a "humanitarian pause" lasting eight hours in the war-torn city on Sunday to allow residents to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Fasting Muslims do not eat or drink from dawn to nightfall during Ramadan.

"We declare a lull in our current operations in the city on that day as a manifestation of our high respect to the Islamic faith," Ano said in a statement.

Military operations in Marawi began when hundreds of militants waving black Daesh flags rampaged through the city on May 23, torching buildings and taking people hostage.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte immediately imposed martial law across the entire southern region of Mindanao, where 20 million people live and where Marawi is located. Aerial and ground offensives were soon launched against the militants in the city.

Government forces have been careful not to imply that the fight is against Muslims. They have been given orders, for example, not to hit mosques in the Muslim-majority Marawi.

The fighting has lingered on in part because the terrain is urban even as most of its 200,000 residents have fled to evacuation centers or to the houses of relatives and friends elsewhere.

Meanwhile, President Duterte has apologized for the military offensive, which has left the nation's main Muslim city in ruins, but said it was needed to crush the Daesh militants.

Duterte has also vowed that the offensive would continue.

The death toll from the fighting has reportedly climbed to 370 people, most of them having been Daesh militants.

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Tillerson Says Qatar Is Reviewing Demands By Neighbors

RFE/RL June 25, 2017

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says Qatar is reviewing demands by neighboring nations to end a diplomatic dispute that erupted earlier this month.

"Qatar has begun its careful review and consideration of a series of requests presented by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and U.A.E," Tillerson said in a statement issued on June 25.

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain on June 22 set out a list of 13 demands to Qatar through mediator Kuwait, including one to close down the Al-Jazeera broadcaster, and it gave Doha 10 days to accept the demands.

"While some of the elements will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution," Tillerson said in his statement.

Tillerson added that Qatar and the four Arab states should sit down together in order to reach a resolution.

"A lowering of rhetoric would also help ease the tension," Tillerson said, adding that the United States will remain in close contact with all the countries involved.

Qatar is home to the Al-Udeid forward base for U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations not only in Syria but also Iraq and Afghanistan. Some 10,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed there.

Meanwhile, a top U.A.E. official said monitors from the United States and the European Union would be needed to "guarantee" any potential agreement aimed at ending the dispute between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors.

The crisis erupted on June 5 when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, and others broke ties with Qatar, accusing it of backing extremism, a claim Doha denies.

Anwar Gargash, the Emirati minister of state for foreign affairs, on June 24 said the dispute could be resolved "through diplomacy if Qatar renounces its support for extremism and terrorism."

"If Qatar follows the path of wisdom...we would need a system of guarantees and controls" in order to implement an accord with Doha, he said, adding the need for "European and American guarantees."

"We don't want European mediation, and I don't think the Europeans want to be mediators. Their role should be to put pressure on Qatar," said Gargash.

Earlier, Gargash called on Western nations including the United States, France, Germany, and Britain to help monitor any agreement reached with Doha.

"They have the diplomatic clout and technical know-how," Gargash said.

Qatar on June 24 called the demands "unreasonable."

"This list of demands confirms what Qatar has said from the beginning: The illegal blockade has nothing to do with combatting terrorism. It is about limiting Qatar's sovereignty and outsourcing our foreign policy," said Sheikh Saif al-Thani, director of Qatar's government communications office.

Thani said the demands are not "reasonable and actionable" -- two criteria laid down by the U.S. State Department this week in an attempt to mediate the dispute.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Ergodan said on June 25 that calls for a Turkish military base in Qatar to close were disrespectful. He said he had offered to set up a military base in Saudi Arabia as well as Qatar but that Riyadh had not responded.

"Even though they still didn't come back to us on this, asking Turkey to pull back its troops [from Qatar] is disrespectful against Turkey," he said.

Gargash denied his country and its allies want "regime change" in Qatar, but a "behavioral change."

"The alternative is not escalation. The alternative is parting of ways," he said. "It's very difficult for us to maintain a collective grouping with one of the partners...actively promoting what is an extremist and terrorist agenda."

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/uae-qatar-saudi-bahrain- egypt-diplomatic-dispute-us-eu/28577600.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Albanians Vote In Elections Seen As Test Of EU Credentials

RFE/RL June 25, 2017

Albanians voted on June 25 in parliamentary elections as the country looks to bolster its democratic credentials ahead of potential European Union membership talks.

The ruling Socialists and the rival Democrats are the leading parties looking to gain an outright majority in the parliament of the NATO-member country of 2.9 million people.

The country gained EU candidate status in 2014, but movement has been slowed by its perceived lack of reforms, including those involved with the election process.

The Democrats had threated to boycott the elections, demanding that Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama resign ahead of the vote to ensure a fair ballot.

The United States and the EU brokered a deal in May between the sides that overhauled election rules and allowed the opposition greater oversight over the process.

The Central Election Commission decided to extend voting by one hour due to low turnout, which was attributed to religious festivities and hot temperatures that reached 39 degrees Celsius.

Preliminary results are expected on June 26.

Rama, 52, is seeking his second term as prime minister. He described the vote, which was held in front of international observers, as a pivotal moment for the country.

"These elections in Albania will either open the door to the European Union, giving us a seat at the negotiating table, or we can again slam it shut ourselves," said Rama, whose party appears to be ahead in most polls.

Focusing on the economy, Rama has set an annual growth target of more than 5 percent, from the current 3.5 percent. He has vowed to shrink the national debt from 71 percent of GDP to the low 60s.

Rama's Socialists are facing the center-right Democrats of Lulzim Basha. Neither of the two was able to win the 70 seats needed for a majority in the 2009 or 2013 parliamentary elections.

The 43-year-old Basha has cabinet experience and has run on a platform of low taxes and has vowed to fight corruption.

His party has promised a 9 percent flat tax, free school meals, and a revamped health system.

Both men have held the post of mayor of the capital, Tirana.

Both parties are seen as pro-Western and have expressed support for the global fight against terrorism.

Basha has expressed his admiration for U.S. President Donald Trump. Rama has expressed concerns about Russian influence in the country.

Lurking behind the scenes is Ilir Meta, the face of the center-left Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) and widely described as a kingmaker in past coalition governments.

Former Prime Minister Meta, 48, a veteran of post-communist politics, is president-elect after being voted to the largely ceremonial post by parliament on April 28. He stepped down from the LSI as required to assume the presidency.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and Balkan Insight

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/albania-elections -parliament-rama-basha-european- union-nato/28577545.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Iranian Leader Urges Regional States to Stay Rational Amid Qatar Diplomatic Row

Sputnik News

23:22 25.06.2017

President of Iran Hassan Rouhani has called on the regional states to stay rational in case of any disagreements, adding that sanctions and intimidation was a bad way to settle problems, in particular the recent Arab states-Qatar diplomatic row.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Rouhani stressed that Iran was ready for cooperation to restore peace in the region.

"We believe that if there are disagreements among countries of the region, pressure, intimidation, and sanction are not good ways for settle the disagreements Tehran calls for rule of moderation and rationality among countries of the region," Rouhani said during a phone call with the Emir of Qatar, as quoted in the statement published on his official website.

The Iranian leader pointed out that the country's air, ground, and sea routes would always be open "to our brother and neighbour country of Qatar."

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt broke off diplomatic relations with Doha and stopped all communication with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs. Later, the Maldives, Mauritius, and Mauritania also announced the severance of diplomatic relations. Jordan and Djibouti reduced the level of their diplomatic missions in Qatar. Senegal, Niger and Chad announced the withdrawal of ambassadors.

 Sputnik

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Israeli Forces Target Syrian Army Again After Projectiles Fall in Golan Heights

Sputnik News

19:09 25.06.2017(updated 01:27 26.06.2017)

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attacked the Syrian army positions for the second time this week after projectiles from Syrian territory again fell in the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights.

"In response to several Syrian projectiles launched towards Israel, IDF targeted 2 Syrian regime artillery positions & an ammunitions truck," the IDF wrote.

Earlier on Sunday, the IDF said that several projectiles launched from the Syrian territory fell in the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights, causing no injuries.

On Saturday, the Israeli Air Force attacked the Syrian government forces' tanks and artillery positions after 10 projectiles fell on the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights. A source told RIA Novosti that the Syrian government forces were repelling a massive Nusra-Front terrorists' attack in the Golan Heights when they were struck by the Israeli Air Force in the area. According to Al Mayadeen channel citing a source, at least two Syrian soldiers were killed in the airstrike.

Earlier in the day, commenting on the incident, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry told Sputnik that the Israeli aircraft carried the attack against al-Nusra Front terrorist group and not the Syrian government forces.

The majority of such incidents are described by the Israeli military as accidental overspills during clashes between the Syrian government forces and opposition groups.

The Golan Heights, internationally recognized as Syrian territory, was seized by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. In 1981, the Israeli parliament voted to annex two-thirds of the region. The United Nations has repeatedly stated that Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights is illegal, calling for it to be returned to Syria.

 Sputnik

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Daesh Declares War on Taliban - Reports

Sputnik News

18:29 25.06.2017(updated 18:52 25.06.2017)

The Daesh (banned in Russia) terror group intends to eliminate militants of the Taliban terrorist group (also banned in Russia) anywhere, including in Afghanistan, media reported Sunday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Tasnim news agency referred to a Daesh commander specifying that the decision to declare war was based on the Daesh belief that Taliban members were betraying Islam.

The Daesh decision came in the follow-up to an announcement by the Taliban of its readiness to target Daesh members, made earlier to Tasnim by the Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

Afghanistan has long been facing instability due to continued fighting between the government forces and the Taliban, which seized vast territories in the Afghan rural areas. Besides, the instability in the country prompted the emergence of the local cells of other extremist organizations such as Daesh.

 Sputnik

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Tillerson Believes Some Arab States' Demands Are 'Difficult to Meet' for Qatar

Sputnik News

18:28 25.06.2017(updated 18:55 25.06.2017)

Qatar is reviewing the requests of the Arab states following the diplomatic row in the region, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday, adding that the United States called for further consultations on the issue.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Friday, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt handed a 13-point ultimatum to Qatar. The list contains demands Doha needs to meet in order to restore ties with other Arab nations.

The ultimatum demands that Qatar, among other things, cut its ties with Iran, close a Turkish military base on its soil and shut down Al Jazeera and its affiliates. Other demands call on Doha to publically denounce relations with Islamist groups, end suspected financing of terrorism and hand over persons designated as terrorists by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. Moreover, Qatar is demanded to pay financial compensation, although the sum was not reported.

"Qatar has begun its careful review and consideration of a series of requests presented by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE. While some of the elements will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution," the statement read.

"A productive next step would be for each of the countries to sit together and continue this conversation. We believe our allies and partners are stronger when they are working together towards one goal which we all agree is stopping terrorism and countering extremism," Tillerson added.

The state secretary pointed out that each country involved could contribute to this goal and lowering rhetoric could ease the tension.

Tillerson called on the parties to the conflict "to continue this conversation," stressing that cooperation between the regional states contributed to their goal of combating terrorism.

On June 5, a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and embargoed all sea, air and land traffic to the country, accusing Doha of supporting terrorist groups, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist movement, as well as of interfering in other countries' domestic affairs. Several other states in the region have reduced diplomatic relations with the country. Kuwait and Oman are the only members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) not to join the blockade.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations of Doha's interference in other countries' domestic affairs and expressed regret over the decision of the Gulf States to cut off diplomatic ties with it.

 Sputnik

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Australian Spy Planes to Help Tackle Islamist Threat in Philippines

By Phil Mercer June 25, 2017

The Australian government is sending two military surveillance aircraft to help the Philippines in its fight against Islamist militants in southern Mindanao province. Philippine forces have been fighting insurgents linked to the Islamic State group, who seized the city of Marawi last month.

Defense officials in Canberra say the spread of radical Islamism in southeast Asia poses a direct threat to Australian interests. The government is sending two AP-3C Orion reconnaissance aircraft to help Philippine forces locate militants in the city of Marawi, which they seized in late May.

About 400 people, mostly Islamist insurgents, have died since the siege began. One thousand civilians are thought to be trapped in the city, where it is feared that some are being held as human shields as Filipino forces advance. Tens of thousands of other residents have been displaced.

A Philippine military spokesman said the Australian spy planes would help tackle extremism across Mindanao, an island of 22 million people in the southern Philippines, where separatists and kidnap gangs have been active for decades.

Analysts believe that jihadis from other countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia, have joined the fighting in Marawi.

Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, is worried that some of these foreign fighters could return home to spread unrest there.

"It is clear that what is happening in Marawi affects Indonesia and Malaysia. There are clearly fighters from Indonesia and Malaysia who are working with this coalition in Marawi, and there is always the chance that fighters now with new combat experience and with new legitimacy can come back to their own countries and conduct violence there," said Jones.

Security experts say the battle in Marawi has exposed intelligence and operational failures by the Philippines military. They also criticize what they see as limited cooperation with neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia to stop extremism from spreading across the region.

Foreign ministers from the three southeast Asian countries have agreed on new measures to share information and to start joint navy patrols to restrict the movement of fighters across maritime borders.

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US: It 'Will Be Very Difficult' for Qatar to Meet Arab Neighbors' Demands

By Ken Bredemeier June 25, 2017

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that it "will be very difficult" for Qatar to meet some of the demands that Saudi Arabia and three of its allies are making on Doha, but urged that they negotiate an end to the Persian Gulf diplomatic standoff.

Tillerson, in a statement a day after Qatar rejected the demands as unreasonable and impinging on its sovereignty, said, "there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution." Tillerson did not say on what issues he thought Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and the Saudis could reach agreement with Doha.

The four Arab governments, which severed diplomatic links with Qatar more than two weeks ago on grounds that it was fomenting terrorism in the region, delivered their demands to Qatar last week through mediator Kuwait. Among other items, the four countries demanded that Qatar shut down the Al-Jazeera television network, long a source of conflict between Qatar and its neighbors.

The four countries also demanded that Qatar end its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State, al-Qaida and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. In addition, the four Arab governments want Qatar to downgrade links with Iran, turn over opposition figures it has been holding and shut a Turkish military base in the emirate.

Qatar said the demands confirmed "what Qatar has said from the beginning  the illegal blockade has nothing to do with combating terrorism, it is about limiting Qatar's sovereignty, and outsourcing our foreign policy."

Tillerson said that "a productive next step would be for each of the countries to sit together and continue this conversation. We believe our allies and partners are stronger when they are working together towards one goal, which we all agree is stopping terrorism and countering extremism."

The top U.S. diplomat said that "each country involved has something to contribute to that effort. A lowering of rhetoric would also help ease the tension. The United States will continue to stay in close contact with all parties and will continue to support the mediation efforts of the emir of Kuwait."

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China Brokers Deal Between Pakistan, Afghanistan For Managing Crisis-Hit Ties

By Ayaz Gul June 25, 2017

China has brokered a deal between Pakistan and Afghanistan for the establishment of a bilateral "crisis management mechanism" to avoid any breakdown in mutual communications and contacts in the event of terrorist attacks on both sides of their long shared border.

The three countries have also agreed to set up a trilateral foreign minister-level dialogue forum that would allow Beijing to observe progress toward normalizing Kabul's deeply mistrust-marred security ties with Islamabad and promoting economic cooperation

The developments were announced Sunday at the conclusion of a two-day mediation trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Beijing's diplomatic efforts came as relations between the two uneasy neighbors have deteriorated in the past two years over mutual allegations of sponsoring terrorist attacks on each other's soil.

The "crisis management mechanism" would enable the two sides to maintain timely and effective communications in the event of any emergencies, including terrorist attacks, allowing the two sides to resolve them through dialogue and consultation, said a joint statement Yi released at a news conference with Pakistani foreign policy adviser, Sartaj Aziz.

The Chinese foreign minister told reporters he conducted the "shuttle diplomacy" to do what China can to help improve relations between the two countries and to help facilitate the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

Yi described the establishment of "crisis management mechanism" as an important step toward improving the relationship.

"While going forward, the key is for Pakistan and Afghanistan to have detailed consultations on how this mechanism would function and to reach early agreements on the operability of this mechanism. Pakistan and Afghanistan have in doing so sent a positive signal to the international community and China welcomes that," Yi said.

The three parties had "in-depth exchange of views", he explained, and they also agreed to establish the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' dialogue mechanism to cooperate on issues of mutual interest, beginning with economic cooperation.

The Chinese foreign minister, on behalf of the three countries, also called call on the Taliban to join the Afghan reconciliation process.

There was no immediate reaction from the Islamist insurgent group, which has repeatedly turned down peace talks with the Afghan government as long as the U.S.-led foreign forces are present in Afghanistan.

"If there is no progress in the reconciliation process in Afghanistan it will mean greater difficulty in the reconstruction process. So, it is important to advance the reconciliation processIt is also something that all the parties, including China and Pakistan, would like to see further progress," noted Yi.

The Chinese foreign minister undertook the mediation effort at a time when the Untied States is reportedly planning to intensify its Afghan military campaign by sending fresh troops to the country.

President Donald Trump's administration is also expected to increase pressure on Islamabad to prevent Taliban insurgents and their ally, the dreaded Haqqani network, from using Pakistani soil for deadly attacks in Afghanistan.

Pakistani leaders strongly dismiss U.S. and Afghan criticism of their counterterrorism efforts, saying the country has made "monumental sacrifices" in the war against terrorism.

China's Foreign Minister Yi on Sunday reiterated Beijing's traditional support for Pakistan's stance.

"The international community should fully acknowledge and appreciate the efforts made by Pakistan in this regard. Any notion that Pakistan is not firm in counterterrorism is not fair and is not consistent with the fact," Yi asserted.

China considers stability in Afghanistan vital to its national security and economic interests. It is worried that continued Afghan insecurity could threaten security of its western Xinjiang province, which shares border with the war-hit nation.

Beijing is investing billions of dollars in Pakistan, China's staunch ally, to establish a trade route to gain access to international markets through the Pakistani port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.

Afghan leaders allege sanctuaries and safe havens on Pakistani soil have enabled the Taliban to intensify insurgent attacks and prolong the Afghan war.

Islamabad denies the charges and in turn blames sanctuaries in border areas of Afghanistan for plotting terrorist attacks against Pakistan, including Friday's deadly suicide bombings in two cities that killed more than 80 people and injured more than 200 others.

The U.S. Department of Defense in its latest report last week alleged that Taliban and Haqqani terrorists continue to use sanctuaries on Pakistani soil for staging attacks in Afghanistan.

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U.S., NATO Conclude Saber Strike 17 Exercise

By Air Force Senior Airman Tryphena Mayhugh 86th Airlift Wing

ADAZI MILITARY BASE, Latvia, June 26, 2017  About 11,000 U.S. and NATO service members from 20 countries concluded the Saber Strike 17 exercise here on June 24.

The exercise took place in various regions in the Baltics and Poland from May 28-June 24.

Saber Strike 17 is a long-standing Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed, U.S. European Command-scheduled, U.S. Army Europe-led cooperative training exercise.

Multinational Exercise

Participating nations in this year's exercise included Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the U.S.

This year's key training objective was to exercise with NATO's enhanced forward presence battle groups as part of a multinational division, while conducting an integrated, synchronized, deterrence-oriented field training exercise designed to improve the interoperability and readiness of participating nations' armed forces.

"Less than one year ago, our alliance said we were going to transition from assurance to deterrence," said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the commander of U.S. Army Europe. "One of the manifestations of that transition was the creation of the eFP Battlegroups. In less than one year, these battle groups are exercising already in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. That is an amazing accomplishment for our great alliance.

Hodges added, "Deterrence means you have to have the capability to compel or defeat a potential adversary. You have to demonstrate that capability and the will to use it, and these exercises are that demonstration."

Key Training Events

Key training events of the exercise included a convoy by Battlegroup Poland, from Orysz, Poland, to southern Lithuania; a maritime prepositioned offload of prestaged supplies and equipment in Latvia; a Marine amphibious assault in Latvia; two combined arms live-fire exercises, one each in Poland and Lithuania; an air assault by the British Royal Marines at the Polish and Lithuanian border; and a river crossing in the same area.

"If you would like to have skilled soldiers, you have to train every day," said Latvian Army Chief of Defense Maj. Gen. Leonids Kalnins. "If you would like to be safe as a state, you have to find allies; but if you would like to be the winner and create a great future for all countries, for all society, you have to participate in such exercises as this one."

The Saber Strike exercise series facilitates cooperation between the U.S, allied, and partner nations to improve joint operational capability in a variety of missions and prepare participating nations and units for future operations while enhancing the NATO alliance.

During the exercise, U.S. and NATO distinguished visitors attended a demonstration of the joint and combined capabilities of the U.S. and NATO here.

'NATO Allies Working Together'

One of the visitors was Nancy Bikoff Pettit, U.S. ambassador to Latvia, who spoke about the importance of the exercise.

"I think exercises like this send a very strong message," she said. "It's not only the U.S. who is interested in security and defense here in the Baltic region, it's all of our NATO allies working together.

Bikoff Pettit added, "This exercise demonstrates what happens when many NATO allies come together to cooperate and demonstrate the interoperability that we have. We are really pleased with the quality of the exercises."

Saber Strike 17 promotes regional stability and security, while strengthening partner capabilities and fostering trust. The combined training opportunities that it provided greatly improve interoperability among participating NATO allies and key regional partners.

"The U.S. is here," Hodges said. "We're going to continue to participate in exercises; American soldiers love serving with Latvian soldiers. This is a great place to train, and we're excited about doing that for as [long] as I can see."

As the seventh iteration of this exercise, Saber Strike 17 continues to provide a venue for U.S. and NATO military members to train and learn from one another to form a stronger partnership.

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Bahrain blames Qatar for 'military tensions' in Persian Gulf crisis

Iran Press TV

Mon Jun 26, 2017 2:55PM

Bahrain's foreign minister has accused Qatar of creating a military escalation in the Persian Gulf region in the wake of a recent move by Saudi Arabia and its allies to sever their diplomatic relations with Doha, and close their borders and airspace with the gas-rich kingdom.

"The disagreement with Qatar is a political and security dispute, and has never been military," Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifah wrote in a post published on his Twitter page on Monday.

He added, "But the deployment of foreign troops with their armored vehicles is a military escalation for which Qatar will bear the consequences."

"Certain regional powers are mistaken if they think that their intervention will resolve the problem," Sheikh Khalid said on Twitter.

On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu stated that Turkish efforts to set up a military base in Qatar had nothing to do with the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Doha and other Arab countries.

"The purpose of the deployment of the Turkish Armed Forces in Qatar is to contribute to the security of the region as well as to provide Qatar with support in military training. Our activities are not against any particular country," he said.

Muftuoglu emphasized that Turkey has close ties with all Persian Gulf countries, and underlined the existence of a strategic dialogue mechanism between Ankara and members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council.

"Just like the presence of other foreign military bases or units in other countries of the region, our military presence in Qatar is principally based on a decision taken by the two countries relying on their sovereign rights," the Turkish diplomat pointed out.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain all cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, after officially accusing it of "sponsoring terrorism."

The administration of Saudi-backed and resigned Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Libya, the Maldives, Djibouti, Senegal and the Comoros later joined the camp in ending diplomatic ties. Jordan downgraded its diplomatic ties as well.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry announced that the decisions to cut diplomatic ties were unjustified and based on false claims and assumptions.

"Qatar has been the target of a systematic incitement campaign that promoted outright lies, which indicates that there was a prior intent to harm the state," the statement said.

On June 9, Qatar strongly dismissed allegations of supporting terrorism after the Saudi regime and its allies blacklisted dozens of individuals and entities purportedly associated with Doha.

"The recent joint statement issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE regarding a 'terror finance watch list' once again reinforces baseless allegations that hold no foundation in fact," the Qatari government said in a statement.

On June 23, Saudi Arabia and its allies released a 13-point list of demands, including the closure of Al Jazeera television news network and downgrade of relations with Iran, in return for the normalization of diplomatic relations with Doha.

The document containing the demands by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain also asks Qatar to sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement. Those countries have given Qatar 10 days to comply with all of the demands.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed the ultimatum as unlawful interference in Qatar's domestic affairs.

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Boko Haram militants kill 8 Chadian soldiers, wound several others

Iran Press TV

Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:39PM

The Chadian army says at least eight soldiers were killed and several others wounded in fierce fighting with the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group on the weekend.

Colonel Azem, Chad army spokesman, said on Monday that another 18 soldiers were also wounded in violent clashes on five islands on Lake Chad, which borders four countries on the edge of the Sahara.

"Our forces attacked Boko Haram elements on five islands near Nigeria on June 24 and 25," media outlets quoted the spokesman as saying.

Azem also noted that the troops had killed 162 members of the Nigeria-based terrorist group. The Chadian soldiers also destroyed six vehicles along with many of the motorcycles often favored by the Boko Haram militants in their raids, the official added.

Chad is a member of a multinational task force combating Boko Haram across its border with Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Benin. The force has been created with the aim of preventing a spillover of the militancy from Nigeria to those countries.

In recent months, the Takfiri militants have intensified their attacks in areas near Lake Chad, stealing food from residents after raiding their farms. They have also killed several civilians they accused of cooperating with the military.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, claims to have prevailed over the group's militancy; however, frequent deadly attacks in the West African country indicate otherwise.

More than 20,000 people, mostly Nigerians, have been killed since Boko Haram began waging militancy in northern Nigeria in 2009.

The violence has also left another 2.6 million homeless.

Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Daesh, a Takfiri terrorist group mainly operating in the Middle East.

Chad threatens to pull out of peacekeeping operations

On Sunday, Chad's President Idriss Deby threatened to pull the country's troops out of peacekeeping operations in Africa because of a lack of foreign financial support.

Deby indicated that N'Djamena lacked help to pay for its 2,000 men in the Joint Task Force battling Boko Haram.

"We have not at all been supported on the financial, economic side," he said in an interview with French media, adding, "If nothing is done, if that goes on, Chad will be obliged to withdraw."

"We can't keep being everywhere -- in Niger, in Cameroon and in Mali. All that is excessively expensive."

Chad has also contributed the third-largest contingent to the UN peacekeeping mission deployed in Mali in response to the ongoing militancy, with 1,390 soldiers.

Chad's army is one of the most battle-hardened in the region.

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The Many Agents Of Tajikistan's Path To Peace

Bruce Pannier June 26, 2017

On June 27, Tajikistan marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Tajik Peace Accord that ended a five-year civil war there.

The man who will be taking much of the credit for achieving peace in Tajikistan is President Emomali Rahmon, aka "Asosguzori sulhu vahdati milli -- Pesvo'i millat" ("Founder of Peace and Unity -- Leader of the Nation.")

The first part of this title, bestowed upon Rahmon by Tajikistan's parliament in December 2015, seems overly generous.

Rahmon was indeed a part of efforts to reach peace in Tajikistan, but he was just one of many people involved in the process.

Civil war broke out in May 1992 and by year's end conservative estimates put the death toll at more than 20,000. Half a million people, nearly one-tenth of Tajikistan's population at the time, had lost their homes. More than 100,000 citizens of the country had fled to Afghanistan.

The country was falling apart and even the combatants could see such devastation could not continue much longer.

The United Nations arranged peace talks; appointed a special representative for Tajikistan, Ramiro Piriz-Ballon, to push these talks forward; and created the UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UMOT), military observers sent to monitor the warring factions' compliance -- or more often record their noncompliance -- in respecting agreements reached at the peace talks.

The first round of talks between the Tajik government and battlefield opponents the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) took place in Moscow in April 1994 after some shuttle diplomacy by Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Adamshin, who had been traveling between Dushanbe and Tehran, where the UTO leadership was based.

Also attending were representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (known as the Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe until December 1994), and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

This first meeting set the agenda for later talks. The two sides would work on a political settlement, address the problems of refugees and internally displaced people, and the structure of a future government in Tajikistan. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev later proposed establishing a National Reconciliation Forum, which became the National Reconciliation Council.

The talks were almost derailed entirely in mid-July 1994 when Tajikistan's parliament announced that a referendum on a draft constitution and a presidential election would be held simultaneously later that year.

The UTO stepped up its military campaign in response.

UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali threatened to suspend the UN's participation in further talks.

The warring parties agreed to return to the negotiating table.

A second round of talks were held in Tehran in September 1994; and a third round in Islamabad in late October and early November of that year -- both rounds resulting in agreements for cease-fires that never took hold.

But higher officials from both sides attended the second and third round of talks, showing they were gaining in importance. First Deputy Chairman of Tajikistan's Supreme Soviet Abdulmajid Dostiev led the government delegation. Hoja Akbar Turajonzoda, the First Deputy Chairman of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), the backbone of the UTO, led the opposition's delegation.

On November 6, 1994, the new constitution was approved in the referendum. One of the changes was the reinstatement of the position of president, which had been removed in changes to the constitution in 1992.

Emomali Rahmon, who, as speaker of parliament had been head of state in Tajikistan since November 1992, was elected to the newly recreated post of president.

It was, however, the closest presidential election in postindependence Central Asia, with Rahmon receiving 59.5 percent of the vote and his challenger, Abdumalik Abdullojonov, a former prime minister and a former ambassador to Russia, receiving 34.7 percent, despite accusations of vote-rigging and other campaign violations.

The fourth round of peace talks was due to start in January 1995 in Moscow but was postponed after the Tajik government announced that parliamentary elections would be conducted in late February 1995.

The presidential and parliamentary elections would become a major impediment to peace talks for months, because one of the key issues being discussed was a power-sharing agreement that would give the UTO places in Tajikistan's government.

Government representatives at talks in 1995 and 1996 would point to the presidential and parliamentary elections as popular mandates that could not be revoked to give the UTO government positions.

Peace talks became more complicated. The fourth round did finally happen in Moscow in April 1995, but the next round was postponed several times due to disagreement over the venue.

The fifth round opened in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, at the start of December 1995 with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov calling on the warring factions to share a dinner table and eat the "plov of peace."

The opposition left on the first day, claiming Russian warplanes had bombed UTO positions in the Garm and Pamir regions. Talks were optimistically delayed until mid-January 1996, but it soon became apparent that that date would not be met.

Russia stepped in and put pressure on the Tajik government. In late January 1996, President Boris Yeltsin spoke about Russia's commitment to Tajikistan, the Russian troops deployed there, and the financial help Russia was providing Tajikistan.

Yeltsin said Russia was "tiring of holding Tajikistan in its arms."

Talks in Ashgabat resumed on January 29, 1996, but the government's new chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov, said negotiations were near collapse.

Peace negotiations were continually postponed. The Tajik peace talks in Ashgabat would not conclude until July 1996, and in between January and July Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Russia Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov made separate trips to Ashgabat in an attempt to keep negotiations going.

While the Tajik government and UTO were engaged in fighting each other and in talking about peace, events inside and outside Tajikistan were occurring that would reinvigorate efforts toward a resolution of the civil war.

Four years into the war, there were individuals on both sides who had grown powerful and were increasingly operating independently. Mahmud Khudaiberdiev and the Sadirov brothers, who were mentioned in an earlier Qishloq Ovozi, are examples.

Rahmon's challenger in the 1994 presidential election, Abdumalik Abdullojonov, had teamed up with two other former prime ministers -- Jamshed Karimov and Abdujalil Samadov -- to form the National Revival Movement (NRM) in spring 1996 and the new group was rapidly gaining popularity, especially in the northern Sughd region where some 40 percent of Tajikistan's population lived.

The movement's supporters were calling for the NRM to have seats at the peace negotiations.

And at the end of September 1996, the Taliban captured Kabul and continued driving northward, to areas where the UTO had established bases and where tens of thousands of refugees from Tajikistan were sheltering.

Russia, in particular, was worried the Taliban might reach an agreement with the UTO at a time when the latter was making battlefield gains in the mountains of central Tajikistan.

In December 1996, Rahmon traveled to Khostdekh in northern Afghanistan to meet face-to-face with UTO leader Said Abdullo Nuri.

Peace talks resumed in Tehran in early January 1997 and would move between Tehran and Moscow as the Tajik government and UTO worked out an agreement that would, among other things, give 30 percent of the places in government to the UTO; create the National Reconciliation Commission to propose constitutional amendments and prepare for parliamentary elections; and declare an amnesty for opposition members and a legalization of the parties that made up the UTO.

Rahmon and Nuri, and UN special representative for Tajikistan Gerd Merrem (who replaced Piriz-Ballon in June 1996) signed the agreement in Moscow, with the Russian and Iranian presidents looking on.

It had taken eight rounds of negotiations and several dozen other meetings in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Russia to reach a peace agreement.

Scores of diplomats had been involved.

Individual countries and international organizations would continue to help Tajikistan in the years that followed to help alleviate the damage done to the country during the civil war and prevent the conflict from returning.

Salimjon Aioub (@Aioubzod) of RFE/RL's Centralasian.org contributed to this report. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-civil-war-peace- 20th-anniversary-rahmon-nuri/28579612.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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'Russian Threat' Spurs Sweden Into Replacing Entire Air Defense System

Sputnik News

16:11 26.06.2017

The "Russian threat" is a convenient tool for pushing through military updates. Sweden is now looking forward to a thorough shake-up of its aging defense system, citing Russian missile systems stationed in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. US-made Patriot systems are one of the options for the overhaul.

At present, Sweden is still using obsolete surface-to-air MIM-23 Hawk missiles (locally known as Robotsystem 97), which were first developed by Raytheon in the US at the end of the 1950s. The system has since undergone a series of massive upgrades, but needs replacing now.

"Even though you can modify and improve old systems, there is a limit to how old they can get. In that sense, we can agree that the Hawk is getting old," said the Air Defense Regiment's head of communications, Carl Sjostrand, as cited by the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet.

The Swedish defense officials made it clear that the air defense system must be capable of protecting the Nordic country from all inbound threats, which, according to Sweden, are not limited to enemy aircraft.

"For instance, there are ballistic missiles, such as those Iskander missiles placed in Kaliningrad, thus posing a potential threat to Gotland and the Swedish capital. In those cases, a better system is required than the Hawk, which does not have capacity against those missiles," Carl Sjostrand asserted.

According to the Swedish defense officials, it is crucial for the Swedish Armed Forces to modernize its anti-aircraft arsenal. At present, the MIM-104 Patriot designed by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon is currently being considered as a possible replacement option, alongside the French-Italian SAMP/T medium-range missile system.

"It will certainly be one of the more expensive defense systems, but not as expensive as Gripen," Joakim Lewin, an army programs manager with the Swedish Defense Material Administration (FMV), said, referring to the JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighter jet manufactured by Saab. So far, Sweden has committed to procuring 60 new generation Gripens to the tune of $4 billion.

However, it will inevitably take time before the new systems are delivered and made ready for use. Accordingly, the Swedish military will also need to train staff and maintenance specialists. "Our goal is to get the first delivery in place by 2020 and then carry on for about 10 years after that," Lewin explained.

The MIM-23 Hawk medium-range anti-aircraft missile system that Sweden currently has was originally designed to attack aircraft flying at medium and low altitudes. By 1971, the US-made system had undergone major modernization that included improvements to the missile and upgrades of all the radar systems. The system continued to be improved over the next 20 years, extending the range to 40 kilometers.

The Patriot has been developed against incoming missiles and other objects and is currently in use in 13 countries, including France and Italy. The Patriot has a range of 100 kilometers.

After the end of the Cold War, Sweden's air defense was slowly dismantled. In 1996, Sweden had 22 air defense battalions, as opposed to only two today.

First introduced to the Russian military in 2013, the Iskander-M is capable of hitting missile systems, rocket launchers, long-range artillery and command posts, as well as aircraft and helicopters at a range of up to 500 kilometers.

Last year, the Russian military moved those missiles to the exclave of Kaliningrad, which is sandwiched between NATO members Poland and Lithuania. The Defense Ministry explained that the relocation was necessary to counter the massive NATO military buildup on Russia's borders.

This is not the first time the Swedish Armed Forces has reacted to counter a perceived threat from Russia. Last September, a 150-strong task force was stationed on the Baltic isle of Gotland after the island was identified as a potential entry point for a Russian "invasion." The redeployment effectively ended Gotland's disarmament, which only lasted for about a decade.

 Sputnik

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Qatar Emir Remains Committed to Developing Ties With Iran Despite Gulf Row

Sputnik News

03:52 26.06.2017

Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held a phone conversation on Sunday evening with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and expressed commitment to develop the bilateral relations in all fields despite the ongoing diplomatic row in the Persian Gulf.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to Al Mayadeen broadcaster, the Qatari Emir said that Doha "is seeking a complex development of relations and cooperation with Iran in order to solve the problems of the Islamic world, which is currently in a difficult situation."

The Emir's comments come two days after Kuwait, a mediator in the diplomatic row between Qatar and Gulf Arab states, had handed to Doha a list of objectives it needs to meet to restore ties with the neighbors. In particular, the Gulf States demand from Qatar to reduce ties with Iran, halt military cooperation with Turkey and shut the Al Jazeera state broadcaster.

Rouhani, on his part, expressed hope that the regional crisis would be settled by diplomatic means, according to the broadcaster.

"Air, land and sea space will always be open to the brotherly country and neighbor  Qatar," Rouhani stressed during the conversation.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt broke off diplomatic relations with Doha and stopped all communication with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs. Later, the Maldives, Mauritius, and Mauritania also announced the severance of diplomatic relations. Jordan and Djibouti reduced the level of their diplomatic missions in Qatar. Senegal, Niger and Chad announced the withdrawal of ambassadors.

 Sputnik

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Saudis Say Suicide Terror Attack Foiled Near Grand Mosque

June 24, 2017

The authorities in Saudi Arabia say police have foiled a "terrorist action" against Islam's holiest site, with a suicide bomber blowing himself up near the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca.

The Saudi Interior Ministry on June 23 said the suicide bomber was preparing to carry out an attack on the mosque, where millions of faithful from around the world traditionally gather for the conclusion of the holy Ramadan fasting month.

The ministry said the man blew himself up when security forces surrounded a house in which he was hiding.

It said 11 people were injured after the three story-building collapsed after the explosion, five of them police officers.

In a statement read on state-owned Al-Arabiya television, the ministry said five other militants, including one woman, had been detained.

A year ago near the end of Ramadan, four people died in the Saudi city of Medina in an explosion close to Islam's second holiest site, the Prophet's Mosque. The CIA said that blast appeared to have been carried out by the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/saudis-say-suicide-terror- attack-foiled-near-grand-mosque/28576829.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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U.S. Supreme Court Reinstates Trump Travel Ban, Will Hear Arguments In October

RFE/RL June 26, 2017

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned lower court orders that blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's administration from enforcing its 90-day ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries.

The ruling on June 26 means Trump's executive order for the travel ban can be partially imposed.

The court left one category of foreigners protected: those with "a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."

In the unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court on June 26 also agreed to hear arguments in the case in October.

The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court to hear its arguments in the case after two U.S. appeals courts upheld lower court rulings that halted the ban in order to allow legal challenges claiming the ban discriminates on the basis of religion.

The ban would apply to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen who try to enter the United States.

Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after it is cleared by the courts.

Trump insists the ban is necessary for U.S. national security, despite complaints from critics who say it singles out Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The Trump administration says it needs the ban to allow an internal review of the screening for visa applicants from the six countries. The review is expected to be completed before October 2.

In a statement issued shortly after the June 26 court ruling, Trump said the "unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory" for U.S. national security that allows him "to use an important tool for protecting our nation's homeland."

"It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective," Trump said.

"As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm," Trump said in the statement. "I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive."

Trump initially had issued a travel ban for seven predominantly Muslim countries and a temporary halt on all refugees entering the United States.

The order caused widespread disruption at international airports and led to protests from Muslims, rights groups, and others.

The Trump administration said it thought it addressed the legal concerns with a revised order, but federal courts still blocked the order.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/trump-travel-ban-supreme -court-overturns-decision/28579945.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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India's Answer to GPS Runs Into Serious Technical Failures

Sputnik News

20:04 26.06.2017

A major scuffle has erupted along the India-China border as Chinese troops entered the Indian state of Sikkim and destroyed two Indian bunkers. Chinese troops also engaged in a fight with Indian troops, who are guarding the border at the location.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  Ever since newly-appointed Indian Army chief Bipin Rawat took charge, India has expedited work related to building movable modern bunkers along the border shared with China. Sputnik reported in January this year that the Indian Army was using hollow block structures for building hundreds of bunkers near Sikkim.

"The face-off has been going on in Doka La general area in Sikkim for the past 10 days and the Chinese troops have also stopped a batch of pilgrims proceeding on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra," Indian defense ministry told to news agency PTI. Doka La is located at the tri-junction of Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet. The situation remains tense despite a flag meeting held between senior army officers of both sides on June 20.

China also stopped Indian pilgrims on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, which is on the Chinese side of Tibet. At least 350 pilgrims were to cross over to China through the Nathu La Pass on their way to Mount Kailash, held sacred by the Buddhists, Hindus and Jains. "According to my information, the two governments are in touch over this issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday, but did not elaborate the reason behind the denial of entry for Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage

India's refusal to take part in One Belt, One Road summit organized by China did not go down well with China. Since then, Beijing has issued a warning over some of the activities conducted by India along the border especially in the north-east region. China opposed the infrastructure development issue several times.

The construction of bunkers has been a flashpoint in Sino-India ties. These bunkers can be easily transported to the Himalayan terrain after getting built in the plains of Assam and Sikkim. The step is an indication of India's keenness to raise a 90,000-strong Mountain Corps for strengthening the deployment along the 4,057-km of Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

 Sputnik

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Belarus Plans Future Purchases of Russia's Iskander Missile Systems - Ambassador

Sputnik News

09:02 26.06.2017(updated 09:11 26.06.2017)

Belarus could in the future consider buying Russia's Iskander missile systems, Belarusian Ambassador to Moscow Igor Petrishenko told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  He noted, a week after Minsk and Moscow signed an agreement on the delivery of 12 Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jets, "we expect that in the long term the Su-30SM will take up duty with the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense Forces to protect the Union State's borders."

"Deliveries of S-400 complexes and Iskander tactical missile systems can be considered taking into account the appearance of new weapons with improved characteristics," Petrishenko said.

By the end of 2020, all missile units of Russia's Ground Forces will be equipped with the Iskander-M mobile ballistic missile system, while the rocket artillery brigades will have the Tornado-S state-of-the-art multiple launch rocket system.

The Iskander-M is a mobile ballistic missile system designed to destroy a wide variety of ground targets at a range of up to 500 kilometers (over 300 miles).

 Sputnik

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Spotlight: China, U.S. reach consensus at high-level security dialogue

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 14:16, June 24, 2017

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States reached an important consensus on the development of bilateral relations and security issues at a high-level dialogue held Wednesday in the U.S. capital of Washington D.C..

The First Round of China-U.S. Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which was described by both sides as "constructive" and "fruitful," represents a major step in implementing the consensus reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump during their meeting in Florida in April.

Looking ahead, the two sides pledged to expand mutually-beneficial cooperation and manage differences on the basis of mutual respect, all in a bid to promote the steady development of China-U.S. relations in the long term.

FREQUENT DIALOGUES

Following Wednesday's dialogue, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said such talks "provide an opportunity to consider how we're going to engage and how we're going to live with one another over the next 40 years.

"The action items we have agreed upon today have set a foundation for additional areas of cooperation and we look forward to our next interaction at this level and between our two presidents," said the top U.S. diplomat.

Emphasizing the importance of high-level exchanges, China and the United States expressed their willingness to achieve a positive outcome for the Hamburg meeting between the two Presidents in July and Trump's state visit to China later this year.

Meeting with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi at the White House on Thursday, Trump said he looked forward to meeting with Xi in Hamburg and visiting China. He also hoped that these high-level interactions will further promote the development of U.S.-China relations.

PRODUCTIVE MILITARY RELATIONSHIP

Fang Fenghui, a member of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) and chief of the CMC Joint Staff Department, participated in the dialogue co-chaired by Yang, Tillerson and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

At the dialogue, China and the United States recognized that their military-to-military relationship is an important component in the bilateral ties. The two sides agreed that the relationship between the militaries of the two powers should be "constructive, pragmatic, and effective," according to a statement released Friday.

China and the United States are committed to implementing the annual military exchange program and enhancing high-level engagements, starting with the visits between the two defense ministers and the visit of the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff to China as soon as possible.

The two sides also "reaffirm the importance of building mutual understanding, and of reducing the risk of miscalculation between our two militaries," said the statement.

MAINTAINING COORDINATION ON KOREAN PENINSULAR ISSUE

At the dialogue, China the United States agreed to work closely on the Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue.

Both countries reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the goal of "complete, verifiable and irreversible" denuclearization on the Peninsula.

"The two sides are ready to continue their efforts to this end, including by fully and strictly implementing relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and by promoting relevant dialogue and negotiation," said the statement.

The two countries also reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace and stability on the Peninsula, according to the statement.

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Not Negotiable: North Korea Sticks to Its Guns on Nuclear Weapons

Sputnik News

23:10 25.06.2017(updated 00:59 26.06.2017)

Pyongyang has reminded Seoul that its nuclear weapons program will continue, regardless of any diplomatic overtures for peace.

Responding to renewed suggestions from South Korea that the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) return to the negotiating table, Pyongyang has warned that its program of nuclear weapons development is not subject to any debate.

In a Sunday editorial published by the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, North Korea promised to continue its development of nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles necessary to deliver them to any target on the planet, regardless of whether bilateral diplomatic negotiation takes place, according to a report by Yonhap News Agency.

Stating that Seoul and Washington must stop attempting to get Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program, the editorial took an offensive tone, asserting the increasingly isolated nation's right to defend itself as it pleases.

"We should make every effort to strengthen our national defense with the nuclear capability as the backbone," the editorial stated.

"Our self-defensive nuclear deterrent force is never subject to any kind of negotiations," the statement added, cited by Yonhap.

The Rodong Sinmun editorial suggested that Seoul turn the tables on Washington, its most powerful ally, in suggesting: "If South Korea truly wants to improve the Korean ties and seek peace, it should stop picking on our nuclear deterrent force and stand against the US's plot for first nuclear strike on the North."

Pyongyang has a long history of asserting its right to use its nuclear weapons program as a means of self-defense against the enormous military force  including the largest nuclear weapons stockpile on Earth  of the US.

 Sputnik

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GRAND FORKS, N.D.  Any half-decent pinochle player worth a trick will say a marriage is a good thing, but holding an extra ace or two up a sleeve is a sure bet.

Gene Kramer has a deep appreciation for both. The 85-year-old Grand Forks man knows that in life and in cards, you never can be too sure what kind of hand youll be dealt.

Such was the story for Kramer, who lost his best friend and bride of 52 years to kidney disease in 2008.

Kramer married Ann Mary Schaffer in July 1955, shortly after he returned from France, where he served as an Air Force bookkeeper at a supply depot during the Korean War.

Together, the couple farmed near where he grew up at Strasburg, N.D. -- the hometown of Lawrence Welk -- and raised three boys and a girl. After his third back surgery, they gave up farming to move to Kingman, Ariz., where they owned and operated a motel. They later managed apartment buildings in Grand Forks. The couple loved to travel, Kramer said, and they did a lot of it while visiting the kids and grandkids. They only slowed down a bit when Ann Mary needed to undergo dialysis three days a week. That lasted 16 years, and all the while, he was there by her side.

Sure, life was tough at times, but he and Ann Mary had a long and happy marriage. They worked together, laughed together and prayed together.

Then, one day, she was gone.

The affable, good-humored senior with a warm touch and ready smile, found himself -- for the first time in a long time -- alone. Kramer was the newest member of an ever-growing club.

The statistics

A recent study by SeniorCare.com reports North Dakota ranks first in the number of seniors living alone. Nearly a third (31.73 percent) of all seniors 65 and older live alone in the state -- and about twice as many of them are women.

South Dakota ranks fourth with similar numbers, and Minnesota ranks 12th with about 29 percent of seniors living solo.

But even before the latest reports and statistics, local elder care experts had been paying attention. And they say seniors dont have to go it alone -- there is help out there, and a lot of it.

Grand Forks Senior Center resource manager Joyce Austin and resource coordinator Lynn McGarry say its their job to educate seniors and their families about the programs and services available to help them with their everyday lives.

We connect seniors with services so they can stay in their own homes as long as they would like to be and as long as its safe, McGarry said.

In the month of April alone, the pair connected seniors to no fewer than 40 different organizations. From taxes to legal questions, from sorting out Medicares Part B and Part D. From health, vision, hearing and dental care to help with housekeeping chores and assistant technology. Its all there.

We want to get people here when theyre active and healthy, explained Jami Schumacher, public relations manager at the center. We want to develop that trust with them so they know what services we have when they need them and that were here to support them as they age.

Losing a spouse is overwhelming enough, they said. It can leave seniors feeling isolated and lonely. And when children live far away and siblings and friends also have died, it can lead to depression and spiraling health issues.

A study reported in UCLA Health said senior isolation and extreme loneliness can increase the chances of early death by 14 percent. Further, the study said severe loneliness is just as risky as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and has twice the impact on premature death as obesity. One doctor put it this way: If you are dependent on one or two people for your connections, it can be a risky business.

Staying connected

Kramer is lucky that way. Hes active, and he has a son in town, whom he sees or talks to every day. But he says he lost the last of his 15 siblings -- a brother, four years older, a few months ago -- and it still weighs heavily.

On a recent visit in the Senior Center library, he shares with a reporter a photograph of some of his family on the front steps all those years ago. He points them out one by one, telling a bit about each, before pointing to himself -- the small boy in front, arms crossed and with a fresh haircut.

This is myself, he says. And then, Thats my dad. They say I look a lot like my dad.

The brother he knew longest sits one step up to his left.

Thats Eddie. He and I were alone for a while. Now, Im all alone, he says. Yeah, I sort of miss him. I was the baby, and now Im the only one alive.

Social workers say a loss of companionship or a lack of social interaction, along with the additional challenges of health care, proper nutrition and transportation, can feel like climbing a mountain for some seniors.

Thats where that extra ace can come in handy. Kramers ace is the Grand Forks Senior Center. He and his wife had made it a habit to stop there for lunch or to visit friends. A week after she died, he returned to the routine, and hes been coming five days a week ever since.

Would he be bored and lonely without it?

Boy, would I ever, he says. This is my home away from home. Thats just an automatic.

Now, he volunteers as a handyman at the center, and hes partially the boss of the card-playing deals.

He tells this like a joke, but its true. He has been in charge of the card games three days a week for the past eight or nine years.

On a recent day of pinochle, the coffee was on and the treats were spread out. Nineteen people had shown up to play. Kramer went from table to table to make sure the decks and scorecards were in place.

Weve got good company, he said. You see different people. You meet people. Being I go home to an empty home, Ive got friends.

Its clear the card players enjoy it as much as he does. The sometimes quiet concentration is broken by laughter and good-natured jibing.

Are you ready to get whupped? Leona Lindgren asks.

Theres knowledge beyond all schooling, Gene Hayes jokes at his table. The B.S. is deeper here than anywhere in town.  Ive been coming here a few months now, and I consider everybody friends.

And thats the view shared by many. At the end of the rounds, the top score wins $3, but John Stranger says nothing beats the real prize of camaraderie.

We bond with each other, and we look out for each other, Stranger says. Except in cards, were kind of ruthless. But other than that, I really enjoy it, and I think everybody does.

Deanna Lane adds that she has visited centers in Oregon, Utah, California and Arizona, and she says the Grand Forks Senior Center is by far the most impressive and most inviting.

I brought my husband here 15 years ago, and weve been coming here ever since, even before I was of age, she says with a laugh.

Early introduction

The pinochle players are exactly the type of seniors the center is trying to attract, Schumacher said.

Over and over again, she hears people out in the community say I had no idea the Senior Center did all of that. Many people think its just a place to eat and play bingo and cards. And it is that, but thats just the tip of the iceberg.

I think we are starting to change our brand, our perception in the community, but it happened very slowly.

Pop in on any given day though, and youd be hard-pressed to believe they arent getting the word out. The center is filled with activity. About 50 people gather for daily lunch in the large, open-story main room with its floor-to-ceiling windows. A bulletin board announces at least eight trips coming up  among them, a trip to Boston or Branson, Mo. Or closer to home, the Medora Musical or the Chanhassen (Minn.) Dinner Theatre with a side trip to shop the outlets in Albertville.

The Senior Centers monthly schedule is chock-full of things to do. You can take part in the Senior Bike Club, roll with Wii Bowling, take any number of classes, create a craft, stretch with Chair Yoga or get some exercise with Bone Builders.

No matter how you cut it, Kramer says the Senior Center has been a winner for him.

Theyve always got something thats active. I would recommend it to anyone, he says. I would guarantee you would be a customer there for the rest of your life.
Defense Deals on the Agenda for First Trump-Modi Talks

By Steve Herman June 25, 2017

The bearers of two potentially clashing slogans, "Made in India" and "America First," will finally meet Monday at the White House.

"It's going to be a robust discussion," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said of what will be the first face-to-face talks between India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump.

"We're really seeking to roll out the red carpet," a senior U.S. official said of the visit, which will feature the first dinner Trump will host at the White House for a foreign dignitary.

"It'll be a long interaction and lots of time for the two leaders to get to know each other," the senior official told White House reporters Friday.

"These are two very populist leaders," with aspirations for transformation, notes Satu Limaye. He is director of the Washington office of the East-West Center, an American nonprofit group dedicated to promoting public diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region.

Both are 'professional dealmakers'

Their origins are not only separated by a distance of 12,000 kilometers: Modi helped his father sell tea from a Gujarat street stall, while Trump's tutelage was in property development.

"Their personal backgrounds don't matter at this point," Limaye tells VOA. "They are professional dealmakers."

While Trump likes to set the tone with a very firm handshake, the barrel-chested Indian leader breaks the ice with bear hugs.

What they have both embraced is enthusiasm for Twitter, and they are among the most followed political figures on social media. Both will surely want to tout the success of this visit in 140 characters or less.

The news from Modi's and Trump's tweets is likely to come from their announcement of transactions, rather than geopolitical agreements.

"The U.S. wants to treat India as a major defense partner in concrete terms [on a par] with our closest allies and partners," says the senior White House official.

Billion-dollar drone deal expected

A California drone-maker, General Atomics, confirms a deal is imminent for the sale of 22 Guardian (MQ-9) unarmed drones to India's navy for maritime patrolling. The deal, estimated to be worth up to $3 billion, originally raised concerns at the State Department about putting such sophisticated surveillance capabilities in the Indian Ocean, where tensions could arise between India and its rival Pakistan.

"We don't believe they represent a threat to Pakistan," counters the U.S. official. "It's not a zero-sum game."

Also highlighted will be a tentative deal between Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems to produce F-16 fighter jets in India.

A senior White House official notes these defense deals support "thousands of American jobs," but that may not be enough to appease some U.S. commercial sectors. With a $24 billion trade surplus in India's favor, American manufacturers want action by Washington on a range of issues, including tariffs and localization, intellectual property and eliminating price controls on medical devices.

"I think this is an opportunity for the prime minister and President Trump to sit down and figure out ways that both sides can grow their economies through the right set of trade policies," the vice president of international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers, Linda Dempsey, told VOA.

India's values, ideas are close to US

On the other hand, a former high-ranking U.S. diplomat who served as ambassador to India in the early 1990s under President George H.W. Bush, Thomas Pickering, says he is concerned the two leaders will focus on short-term economic gains, at the expense of nurturing a longer-term strategic relationship.

Pickering tells VOA the Trump administration should see that India "espouses values and ideas that are much closer to ours than the other dominant country in Asia" - China.

A focus on commerce rather than geopolitics may come as a relief to traditionally nonaligned India.

"India doesn't want a relationship with the U.S. built on an anti-China policy," says Limaye.

The two governments are working on a joint statement about fighting terrorism, and a senior White House official says: "We can expect to see some new initiatives on counterterrorism cooperation."

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Iraqi federal police chief hails Hashd al-Shaabi's role in terror fight

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 24, 2017 10:6AM

Iraq's federal police chief has praised the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), commonly known as Hashd al-Sha'abi, for contributing significantly to the fight against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

"The Popular Mobilization Units are vital part of Iraq's official defense system, which has been backed by the Iraq parliament," Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat told Press TV on Friday.

He also stressed that the Iraqis were "very proud" of the PMU as they "have led the most impressive epic and heroic battles."

Since the beginning of the counter-terrorism operation in Iraq, the PMU have provided significant and essential support for rebuilding security apparatuses in the Arab country, he said, noting that Iraq is now secure thanks to Hashd al-Sha'abi.

The commander further hailed recent operations along the Iraq-Syria border as a great achievement and a strategic move to prevent terrorist organizations from boosting their presence in the country.

Hashd al-Sha'abi was formed after the rise of Daesh in Iraq in 2014. In the early days of Daesh's terror campaign, the volunteer fighters played a major role in reinforcing the Iraqi army, which had suffered heavy setbacks in the face of lightening advances of the Takfiri militants.

Currently, they are actively cooperating with the Iraqi military and allied groups in a large-scale operation to fully liberate the northern city of Mosul, , the de facto capital of the Daesh terrorist group in the Middle Eastern state.

On November 26, 2016, the Iraqi parliament recognized Hashd al-Shaabi as an official force with similar rights as those of the regular army.

'Terrorists using civilians as human shields'

Elsewhere in his remarks, Iraq's federal police chief voiced concerns over terrorists' use of civilians as human shields.

The militants force women and children to cover them in the streets as they know that Iraqi security forces will not target civilians, he said.

Jawdat also stressed that when the terrorists lose a region they used human shields to secure their way out of the area.

Three killed in east Mosul attacks

Separately on Friday, at least three people lost their lives as bombers attacked the Muthanna neighborhood, a shopping district east the city of Mosul.

The first bomber set off his explosives when he was stopped by police, the second bomber managed blew himself up among civilians, and the third bomber was killed by police before he could detonate his explosive vest, according to medical and security officials sources.

The Iraqi army soldiers and allied volunteer fighters have been leading a major operation to recapture the city since October 2016. They took control of eastern Mosul in January and launched the battle in the west in February.

The Mosul liberation operation has taken longer than planned as Takfiri elements are using bombings, sniper fire, and mortar attacks to slow the advance of the Iraqi forces.

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Two thirds of Mosul's Old City retaken from Daesh: Iraqi cmdr.

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:23PM

A senior commander says Iraqi forces have so far managed to liberate two thirds of Mosul's Old City from the grip of Daesh terrorists as they are engaged in fierce street battles to purge the country's second largest city of Takfiri elements.

Sixty-five to 70 percent of the Old City has been liberated, there is less than a square kilometer left to retake," Lieutenant Colonel Salam al-Obeidi of the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) said on Sunday.

He estimated that only "a few hundred Daesh militants" are left in the Old City.

Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by their Arabic name, Hashd al-Sha'abi, have made sweeping gains against Daesh since launching the Mosul operation on October 17, 2016.

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.

An estimated 862,000 people have been displaced from Mosul ever since the battle to retake the city began nine months ago. A total of 195,000 civilians have also returned, mainly to the liberated areas of eastern Mosul.

Daesh terrorists kill 7 Iraqi civilians, cut bodies into pieces

Members of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group have reportedly killed seven civilians in Iraq's northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk as the militants continue to perpetrate various crimes against humanity in areas under their control.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network that Daesh extremists slapped charges of "communication with Iraqi government forces" against the victims, and then executed them in the town of Hawijah, located about 282 kilometers(175 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, on Sunday.

The source added that terrorists cut the bodies into pieces afterward, put them in plastic bags and distributed them among local residents to be thrown away in the southern outskirts of Hawijah.

Daesh mortar attack kills 4 civilians in Salahuddin

Meanwhile, four civilians have lost their lives in a mortar attack by Daesh on a residential neighborhood in the northern province of Salahuddin.

A police officer, requesting not to be named, said the civilians were killed when several mortar shells fired by the Daesh terrorists struck al-Mazraa village in Baiji district, located some 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad.

30 Daesh terrorists killed as army jets strike areas in western Iraq

Separately, at least 30 Daesh terrorists have been killed in separate operations by the Iraqi Air Force in the country's western province of Anbar.

The media bureau of Iraq's Joint Operations Command said in a statement on Sunday that 20 extremists were killed as Iraqi military aircraft launched precision strikes against a militant hideout in the town of Rawa.

Another 10 Daesh militants were killed when Iraqi military aircraft bombarded a bomb-making workshop in the same town.

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Iraqi Troops Push Deeper into Mosul

By Ken Bredemeier June 25, 2017

Iraqi forces pushed deeper into the historical heart of Mosul on Sunday in their fight to retake it from Islamic State militants, with one Baghdad commander saying that 65 to 70 percent of the Old City had been liberated.

Lieutenant ColonelSalam al-Obeidi said, "There is less than a square kilometer left to retake." He estimated that there were only "a few hundred" Islamic State fighters left in the city.

Another commander, Staff Lieutenant-General Abdulwahab al-Saadim, predicted, "We will finish the operation within a few days. The end is going to be very soon, it will take days." Iraqi troops have led the fight to retake Mosul, held by the militants since 2014, but a U.S.-led international coalition has provided air and ground support.

Eight month battle

Much of the Old City has been devastated in eight months of fighting, including the landmark 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri mosque and its leaning 45-meter minaret that jihadists blew up four days ago.

With the Iraqi advance, some in Mosul celebrated the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, with children playing in squares on the eastern side of the city that had been liberated months ago.

In a statement, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said, "As our heroic forces are closer to declaring final victory over the Daesh (Islamic State) gangs, I offer my most sincere congratulations for Eid al-Fitr."

Even with the possibility of an imminent Iraqi takeover of Mosul, one U.S. analyst voiced concerns that Baghdad is not prepared to assume governmental control of the city.

Michael O'Hanlon, director of foreign policy research at Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, told Alhurra, the U.S.-owned Arabic-language satellite TV network, that he is worried "about the potential of another extremist Sunni group emerging. Defeating one extremist group doesn't stop the surge."

O'Hanlon said that after the liberation of Mosul, "governance must be preserved and all groups must have access to governance. Otherwise Mosul can become a place where extremists can re-emerge.

"From what I hear, there is no particular concept on how to govern Mosul that's competent and inclusive," O'Hanlon said. "It is not enough to have a couple of Sunnis in the government. People have to be governing, appointing jobs, building the police force. We're going to have to manage frustration and grievances and the way to do that is to have an inclusive government."

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South Korean president observes test-firing of 800km range home-grown missile

Updated: 2017-06-24 09:11:17 KST

It was the South Korean president's idea to make this rather unconventional trip.

"President Moon Jae-in visited the test site of the Agency for Defense Development today to oversee the test-firing of a ballistic missile. The purpose of his visit was to send a clear warning to North Korea for its latest series of provocations."

This is the new Hyunmoo-2 missile with a range of up to 800 kilometers - that's enough to hit any part of North Korea even from the southernmost part of the peninsula - developed solely with South Korea's indigenous technology.

The presidential office noted that the missile is a key component of the nation's 'Kill Chain' preemptive strike system designed to incapacitate possible missile attacks from North Korea.

Seoul's top office explained that Friday's launch accurately hit its target marking the fourth successful test out of the six required for the military to field the new ballistic missile.

"The president said 'I'm all for dialogue but dialogue is only possible when supported by strong defense capabilities and engagement policy vis-a-vis North Korea is also only possible when we maintain security capabilities strong enough to dominate the North.'"

In that sense, the South Korean commander-in-chief believes the weapons systems developed by the state-run agency under the wing of the defense ministry are means for dialogue and peace and not destruction and decimation.

President Moon's remarks come just hours after foreign media carried reports citing unnamed U.S. officials that North Korea has conducted another test of rocket engine that they believe could be for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The reports have not been confirmed by authorities.

In the last six-and-a-half weeks that the South Korean leader has been in office, North Korea has test-fired five ballistic missiles and Mr. Moon has emphasized on multiple occasions that the rogue state should expect additional, stronger sanctions should it go ahead with another ICBM test or a sixth nuclear test.

From the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae, Moon Connyoung, Arirang News.

Reporter : jenmoon@arirang.co.kr

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Presidential Office Denies Asahi Report on THAAD Deployment

KBS World Radio

Write : 2017-06-24 21:21:33 Update : 2017-06-24 21:22:27

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae has denied a Japanese newspaper's report Saturday that the United States reiterated its call for South Korea to complete the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system by the end of the year.

Cheong Wa Dae chief press secretary Yoon Young-chan said in a text message to reporters later in the day that the Asahi report is not true.

The Asahi Shimbun daily, citing a source familiar with Seoul-Washington ties, reported that Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon made the request during his visit to Seoul earlier this month.

The report said during a meeting with South Korean foreign ministry officials, Shannon asked for Seoul to deploy the remaining four THAAD launchers within the year. Two launchers are already in place in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province.

Asahi said South Korea avoided giving a clear response.

In a Reuters interview earlier this week, President Moon Jae-in said the original agreement with the U.S. was to deploy just one THAAD launcher by the end of this year and the remaining five others next year.

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New Wings: Russia's Aerospace Forces to Get Second Wind

Sputnik News

15:32 25.06.2017

Russia's fleet of combat aircraft will reach 90 percent renewal before 2025, the Aerospace Forces' Commander Viktor Bondarev told Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) newspaper.

The Aerospace Forces receive 150-160 new warplanes and helicopters annually as part of the State Armament Program until 2020, and dozens of S-400, Buk-M3, Tor-M2 and other advanced air-defense systems enter service each year.

No imports

With its current fleet of 3,000 warplanes and about 1,400 helicopters the Russian Aerospace Forces are second only to the US Air Force, Andrei Kots wrote for RIA Novosti.

"The all-new MiG-35 fighter jets will soon be added to the formidable force of Su-30SM and Su-35S planes, and the dated Su-24 frontline bombers are being quickly phased out by the all-new Su-34s," military expert Viktor Murakhovsky told Sputnik.

"The mass-production of the T-50 fifth-generation fighter planes is scheduled to begin before 2020 and we have dozens of new Mi-28N, Mi-35, Ka-52 and upgraded Mi-8 helicopters shipped to the Armed Forces each year," he added.

Viktor Murakhovsky also mentioned the fast pace of modernization of such tried-and-true planes as the Su-24 bombers, which are being equipped with modern targeting gear making sure that conventional free-falling bombs hit their targets just as accurately as their "smart' counterparts.

"Just five years ago we depended very much on Ukrainian-made helicopter engines, but they are now entirely built in Russia by the United Aircraft Corporation, which managed to completely overhaul their production facilities. The same with cruise missile engines," Murakhovsky continued.

Tupolev Concern's CEO Alexander Konyukhov said in May that before 2019 they planned to test-fly the Tu-160M2, which is a souped-up version of the Tu-160 strategic bomber and will eventually become the backbone of Russia's fleet of strategic bombers.

Transport aircraft

Military transports remain a problem though, because such aircraft were mostly built in what are now former Soviet republics. Trying to cope with the problem, the Defense Ministry singled out four types of military transports the Armed Forces need most: the An-26 light, An-12 medium, Il-76 heavy and An-112 super-heavy transport planes.

"In the Soviet Union Il-76 transport planes were built in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but we are now building them here in Russia," Viktor Murakhovsky said.

"Two or three years from now we are going to start the mass production of the all-new Il-112 to replace to old An-26 and in part the An-12 transports," he added.

Interviewed by Sputnik, military expert Mikhail Khodaryonok said that Russia's aerial campaign in Syria highlighted the dire need for heavy long-haul transport planes.

"Luckily, we are now able to build Il-76s in Russia. To a certain degree they can replace the An-112. We are pinning much hope on the arrival of the new Yermak plane, but when exactly this is going to happen we don't know," Khodaryonok noted.

"Yermak," the latest development of Russian aircraft manufacturers in the field of military transport aircraft, will have a lifting capacity of up to 100 tons and will be powered by a new engine based on the PD-14 turbofan, used on Russia's latest MC-21 airliners. With a projected thrust of 30 tons, it will pack much more horsepower than that of the An-124.

Serial production of the Yermak military transports is scheduled to begin before 2024.

 Sputnik

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Syrian Airstrike Eliminates 20 Daesh Terrorists in Deir ez-Zor

Sputnik News

23:46 24.06.2017

In a push to liberate the part of Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor held by radical Islamists from Daesh group, the government forces conducted an airstrike that killed 20 terrorists.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Syrian Air Force carried out strikes on the position of the Daesh terrorist group (banned in Russia) in the city of Deir ez-Zor, killing 20 Daesh militants, local media reported Saturday, citing a military source.

The source told SANA news agency that the Syrian forces repelled multiple Daesh attacks in various parts of the city and destroyed two vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns.

Syrian government forces have control over a half of Deir ez-Zor, which has been besieged by Daesh militants for over three years. The Syrian forces continue an offensive aimed at lifting the siege and creating supply lines for the city's residents.

 Sputnik

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IRGC missile hits Daesh gas tanker

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, June 25, IRNA -- The commander of Aerospace Force of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (IRGC) said on Sunday that one of the missiles hit the target and a gas tank that caused a huge fire.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said on the June 18 missile attack on Daesh hit the target but "caused a huge fire that surprised us; and later we found out that the fire was because of the explosion of a gas tanker parked next to the base."

Hajizadeh added, "80 million Iranians unanimously welcomed the attacks; the welcome wasn't limited to Iran, though. It was not just the revenge of iranian martyrs; Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Bahrain were delighted, too."

The IRGC attacked Daesh bases in Deir Ezzur, Syria, on June 18 in response to June 7 terrorist attacks on Tehran, in which 17 people were killed and 56 were injured. Daesh later claimed responsibility for the terror attacks, which were condemned worldwide.

Six surface-to-surface mid-range Zolfaghar ballistic missile were launched from Kordestan and Kermanshah provinces in the west of Iran, targeting Daesh forces in the Syrian; the missiles had successfully hit the targets with precision.

9417**2050

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Turkey's Erdogan rejects pledges over weapons for Kurdish fighters in Syria

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 6:12PM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says those countries that promised Ankara to get back weapons supplied to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) once the militiamen accomplished their alleged counter-terror mission in Syria are actually trying to trick Turkey and would eventually realize their mistake.

The Turkish president made the remarks at a rally held by his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in the capital Ankara on Sunday.

The United States has already supplied weapons and ammunition to the YPG, which is considered by the Turkish government as the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The move has outraged Erdogan, who warned Washington about the purported consequences of arming the "terrorist" YPG.

The US-backed YPG fighters are fighting with the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in Syria's northern city of Raqqah, the terror group's de facto capital in the Arab country, and declared that they will fight as long as they manage to drive terrorists out of the embattled city.

Erdogan's comments were made in an apparent reference to US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' promise to Ankara that Washington would take back the weapons and equipment it had supplied to the YPG after curbing Daesh in Raqqah.

Mattis, in a letter addressed to his Turkish counterpart Fikri Isik on Thursday, stated that the White House had taken intensive and determined measures regarding Turkey's security concerns, and would provide Ankara with a monthly list of the weapons and equipment supplied to the YPG.

They will eventually realize their mistake "but it will be too late for them," Erdogan said, adding that if violence spilled over Syria's border into Turkey, Ankara would hold responsible anyone who had supplied arms to the YPG.

"We will make the real owners of those weapons... pay for any bullet that will be fired to our country, for every drop of blood that will be shed," Erdogan said.

Arming the YPG, which forms a main part of the US-backed force in the region, came after US President Donald Trump ordered the measure, despite protests from NATO ally Ankara. Erdogan fears that the YPG will permanently hold parts of land in northern Syria after finishing with Daesh.

"I want all the world to know that in northern Syria, on our border, we are never going to allow a terrorist state to be established," Erdogan said.

The city of Raqqah, which lies on the northern bank of the Euphrates River, was overrun by Daesh terrorists in March 2013, and was proclaimed the center for most of the terrorists' administrative and control tasks the following year.

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LAMOURE, N.D.  Proponents of an effort to recall LaMoure County States Attorney Tonya Duffy submitted their petitions for a referendum election this week.

Jay Cink, chairman of the Committee to Recall LaMoure County States Attorney Tonya Duffy, said 541 signatures of registered LaMoure County voters were needed in order to hold an election, which LaMoure County Auditor Janice Hamlin must verify.

We turned in 613 signatures, Cink said Wednesday, June 21. She (Hamlin) has 30 days to verify or reject the signatures.

Duffy was elected states attorney in November 2014. She was not available for comment because she was at a work-related conference Thursday and Friday.

Hamlin said Friday, June 23, that her office received the recall paperwork on Tuesday.

Our office is in the process of validating the signatures, she said.

If enough signatures are verified and the petitions accepted, the county must schedule an election within 95 to 105 days after Hamlin completing her work on the petitions. Cink said he thinks the earliest a recall election could be held is sometime in October.

Cink said volunteers worked long hours to get more than the necessary number of signatures on the recall petitions.

Boy, it (collecting signatures) was a lot of work, he said.

Recall supporters started circulating petitions in early May. The reason for the recall stated on the petitions is Duffy is lacking the competency and demeanor to hold the office of the States Attorney and that she has neglected to properly perform the duties of the LaMoure County prosecuting attorney.

Cink previously said the main reason people want to recall Duffy is they feel she doesnt treat her constituents fairly.

According to published minutes of the LaMoure County Commission, Michael Dahlen, father of of Joshua Dahlen, 25, who was killed in a drunken driving crash in LaMoure County in January 2016, asked for Duffy to resign as the countys states attorney in March 2017. The minutes state Michael Dahlen didnt feel Duffy represented his sons death to the best of her ability.

Roddy Gentzlow Jr., 21, LaMoure, who was found responsible for the crash, was sentenced for manslaughter in a plea agreement on Jan. 18, according to Southeast District Court records. Court records state Gentzlow was drunk when the crash happened. He is serving a year in the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation with an estimated release date of Nov. 25, 2017.
Israel, Nusra target Syria's Golan simultaneously: Army source

Iran Press TV

Sun Jun 25, 2017 7:6AM

A Syrian military source says Israel's airstrikes on the Golan Heights on Saturday coincided with a push by Nusra Front terrorists against army positions, which was aborted.

The Syrian army and allied forces repelled a massive assault by the terrorists near al-Baath City in southern Quneitra Province and inflicted heavy losses on them, Syria's official SANA news agency quoted the source as saying Saturday.

As a counter-terrorism operation got underway, an Israeli warplane conducted air raids on a parking lot and a residential building in the same area, killing civilians and causing material damage, the source added.

The Israeli army claimed its strikes had targeted Syria's military installations in response to an alleged firing of 10 projectiles from the Arab country at the occupied territories.

It also released a video showing what it said were a Syrian machinegun position and two army tanks.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce fighting between Syrian forces and militants in Quneitra, saying two soldiers were killed in the Israeli strikes.

Israel regularly hits positions held by the Syrian army in the Golan Heights, describing the attacks as retaliatory. Syria says the raids aim to help Takfiri militants fighting against government forces.

On several occasions, the Syrian army has confiscated Israeli-made arms and military equipment from terrorists fighting the government forces. There are also reports that Israel has been providing medical treatment to the extremists wounded in Syria.

Earlier this week, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed concerns about a spike in contacts between Israeli armed forces and Syria militants in recent months, saying it could lead to escalation and cause harm to UN observers deployed to the Golan Heights.

The Wall Street Journal recently said Israel has been providing Takfiri terrorists in Syria's Golan Heights with a steady flow of funds and medical supplies.

21 killed, 95 injured in Syria blasts

On Saturday, at least 10 people were killed and 30 others injured after a car bomb exploded in a market in the town of al-Dana in Syria's Idlib Province.

An earlier explosion in the same town also left two people dead and 10 more wounded.

Mortar attack conducted by Daesh terrorists further claimed the lives of nine Syrians and hurt 45 others in Dayr al-Zawr Province.

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Syrian Army Takes Israeli Fire After Repel of Al-Nusra Assault Near Quneitra

Sputnik News

22:25 25.06.2017(updated 00:59 26.06.2017)

Israel conducted another attack on the positions of the Syrian Armed Forces in Golan Heights, the Syrian army said Sunday in a statement.

BEIRUT (Sputnik)  Earlier on Sunday, the IDF said that several projectiles launched from the Syrian territory fell in the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights, causing no injuries.

The Syrian army stated that it was attacked by Israeli forces after repelling an assault from Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in the Quneitra Governorate.

"After our armed forces successfully repelled a large-scale attack of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists [Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terror group, banned in Russia] near the town of al-Baath in the vicinity of Quneitra hostile Israel resumed its aggression and attacked one of our positions in order to support the terrorists and raise their fighting spirit," the statement read.

On Saturday, the Israeli Air Force attacked the Syrian government forces' tanks and artillery positions after 10 projectiles fell on the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights. A source told RIA Novosti that the Syrian government forces were repelling a massive Nusra-Front terrorists' attack in the Golan Heights when they were struck by the Israeli Air Force in the area. According to Al Mayadeen channel citing a source, at least two Syrian soldiers were killed in the airstrike.

The Golan Heights, internationally recognized as Syrian territory, was seized by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. In 1981, the Israeli parliament voted to annex two-thirds of the region. The United Nations has repeatedly stated that Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights is illegal, calling for it to be returned to Syria.

 Sputnik

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Taiwan declines to comment on reported China aircraft carrier movement

ROC Central News Agency

2017/06/25 19:06:48

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense on Sunday declined to comment on media reports that China's Liaoning aircraft carrier will pass either along Taiwan's east or its west coast on the way to Hong Kong this week.

On Sunday, the People's Liberation Army Daily reported that the Liaoning, the first aircraft carrier commissioned into the China's Navy, had set sail from its base in Qingdao, Sandong Province, earlier in the day on a training mission.

The carrier is being escorted by three frigates and is carrying several J-15 jet fighters and helicopters on board, the report said, but did not give any details of the training mission.

Last week, the Hong Kong-based Sing Tao Daily reported that the Liaoning would visit Hong Kong in July and will be open to public visits as part of the celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China.

In Beijing, the Global Times cited Chinese military experts as saying that there was a high possibility a battle group, led by the aircraft carrier, would visit Hong Kong.

Since then, Taiwanese media have been speculating on the route of the battle group, saying it was likely to either sail though the Taiwan Strait past Taiwan's west coast, or across the northern end of the island, down its east coast and past its southern tip, en route to Hong Kong.

In response to reporters' questions, National Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Chen Chung-chi () said his ministry had no comment on the media reports.

The ministry will continue to pay close attention to the movements of the Chinese military and make the necessary preparations, based on existing regulations, Chen said.

Meanwhile, as of Sunday morning, China's Ministry of National Defense had not confirmed that the Liaoning would visit Hong Kong.

Last December the Liaoning-led battle group carried out an exercise that took them through the Miyako Strait northeast of Taiwan and southward on the high seas off the island's east coast into the South China Sea.

On its returning voyage, the battle group sailed through the Taiwan Strait, completing a circle around Taiwan, according to the defense ministry in Taipei, which said it had been closely monitoring the battle group's movements throughout the exercise.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has never relinquished the idea of using military force to annex Taiwan.

(By Lu Hsin-hui, Yi Chun-chieh and Elizabeth Hsu)

ENDITEM/pc

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Macron, Poroshenko Voice Hope Of Progress In Resolving Ukraine Crisis

RFE/RL June 26, 2017

After meeting in Paris, the French and Ukrainian presidents have voiced hope of making progress in resolving the conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron told a joint news conference with Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko on June 26 that he expected "consultations" to be held within a four-way process known as the Normandy format before a G20 summit in Germany on July 7-8.

It was not immediately clear whether the consultations would occur in person or take the form of a telephone conversation between the leaders of the countries involved  France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine -- as was the case on a number of occasions in the past.

Poroshenko said that he was "much more optimistic" following his meeting with Macron, adding that "peace can take the form of ending the Russian aggression."

"We have agreed that we will put on paper projects of possible solutions for the Normandy format," he also said.

A cease-fire agreement brokered by France and Germany was signed in Minsk in February 2015 aiming at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 10,000 people since it began in April 2014, according to the United Nations.

But the deal has failed to end artillery fighting in Ukraine's east, with each side accusing the other of violating the truce.

Macron said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared his determination to resolve the conflict, adding that he disagrees with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's view that the hostilities in Ukraine could be resolved outside of the Minsk agreement framework.

Tillerson told U.S. lawmakers on June 14 that "it is very possible that the government of Ukraine and the government of Russia could come to a satisfactory resolution through some structure other than Minsk that achieve Minsk."

"My caution is I wouldn't want to handcuff ourselves to Minsk if the parties decide to settle this through a different agreement," Tillerson also told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Macron also insisted that France refuses to recognize Russia's illegal annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in March 2014, saying, "France is committed to Ukraine's sovereignty with its recognized borders."

The comments come two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Crimea on a trip that Kyiv condemned as a violation of its sovereignty.

Poroshenko called for the release of Ukrainians held by separatists in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as well as in Russia.

"One hundred and twenty-eight Ukrainian captives are held on the occupied territory and more than 40 in Russian jails," he said. "We would expect that a revival of the consultations in the Normandy format will enable us to achieve instant progress in this highly sensitive area."

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the four leaders of the so-called Normandy group may hold a phone conversation soon.

"Such a possibility is being worked out via diplomatic channels," Peskov said.

Poroshenko's visit to Paris comes after European Union leaders last week agreed to extend the bloc's economic sanctions against Russia by six months.

The sanctions were first imposed by Brussels in 2014 as a response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and its military backing to the separatists who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, Interfax, and TASS

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-poroshenko-meeting- france-macron/28579023.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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The sound of artillery fire echoed across the land near the Peaks of Otter Lodge Saturday morning.

Dozens of re-enactors and hundreds of people gathered at the free event sponsored by the National Park Service, Peaks of Otter Lodge, Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Bedford Museum & Genealogical Library to remember Hunters Raid in honor of the battles 153rd anniversary.

Hunters Raid, led by Union Gen. David Hunter, was a part of Gen. Ulysses S. Grants 1864 attack on the Shenandoah Valley and Lynchburg as part of an effort to gain another foothold in Virginia through the destruction of Confederate supply lines.

Re-enactors wearing hoop skirts and soldiers garb decorated the field. A couple of women played graces, a game where a small hoop is tossed around and caught with small sticks, while others milled about and fanned themselves.

Blue Ridge Parkway rangers explained the cannons and ammunition to a gathered crowd, pausing every so often to plug their ears and warn the crowd of impending cannon fire.

Union soldiers were missing from the event, which Ranger Jon Swain said may have been due to a declining interest in historical reenactment.

Though he hopes events like this serve to re-inspire people.

Whenever youre talking about this time period, I think a lot of people dont realize how this isnt ancient history, he said. The Civil War, were still seeing, if not direct repercussions, sort of its reverberations, just like those cannons reverberate off the mountains.

Were still feeling that around here and how it affected this region of the country so deeply and how it divided it so entirely.

Dressed in Confederate cavalry attire, re-enactor Maurice Sandy Lucas, of Roanoke, sat just to the side of the battlefield.

Lucas, a member of Rockbridge-based 14th Virginia Calvary Company H, said events like this are important to get history right.

The importance of history itself  and understanding history  is getting the basis; we have to know where weve been to figure out where were going, he said.  Unfortunately, history tends to be written by the victor and theres much to discuss.

And discuss they did.

The battle scene had brought out many people, each with their own opinion on the war, the Confederate battle flag and Confederate monuments.

Pockets of debaters sprang up across the field throughout the day.

Re-enactors Carla and John Whitfield sat under a tent where a group of people had gathered.

This is important because its American history, Carla Whitfield said. Its a history that impacted our ancestors and impacts us today. We dont even know why we act the way we act and it goes back to a lot of things that happened here.

I think if we can be honest and we can be open, and open ourselves up to learning about our own past, seeing it for what it is  then we can learn more about ourselves so we wont repeat history.

People shouldnt be afraid to face the truth about the past, Carla Whitfield said, and the truth is that the Civil War was about states rights to own people.

When we talk about the Civil War, you cant talk about the Civil War without talking about slavery, Carla Whitfield, superintendent of the Booker T. Washington National Monument, said.   When they talk about sovereignty, theyre talking about the sovereign right to have slaves or not have slaves.

While people are entitled to feel differently, its important to look at facts when it comes to the Civil War, she said.

It was four years of a difficult, tremendous struggle that were still struggling with today, Lucas said. And we have to confront our history before we can go forward.
Courtney Schwan

A post shared by Washington Volleyball (@uwvolleyball) on Jun 23, 2017 at 10:55pm PDT

From June 11 until June 24, Washington Volleyball is in search of competition and culture in four different countries in Europe. The Huskies are on their first foreign adventure since 2013, joined by many family members and donors, to share in a once in a lifetime experience outside of their comfort zones. Arriving in Milan, Italy on June 12, the Dawgs have visited Lake Como and Venice before leaving Italy for Croatia (Umag and Rovinj) and then on to Slovenia (Ljubljana, Maribor and Bled) with an additional side trip to Graz, Austria, returning to Seattle on June 24. During the trip, the Huskies are scheduled to play seven matches against a mixture of senior national teams, junior national teams, and professional club teams.While abroad, Husky players will be blogging about their experiences each day here on GoHuskies.com.Well today started out a little different than planned. A few of us decided we would wake up to watch the sunrise and then once we had heard that alarm go off at 4:50 we decided we would rather sleep some more. After snoozing my alarm I woke up to my second alarm around 7:30 and Cailin and I and a few of the staff members went to the Vintgar Gorge. Upon arrival at the Gorge we saw some wild horses across the water which were absolutely beautiful. The Gorge itself was absolutely beautiful as well. We walked through the Gorge, which was about a half an hour of a walk that ends at a waterfall and an area to jump in and swim. We went early in the morning and the water temperature was equivalent to jumping into an ice bath but that didn't stop us, sure enough we still jumped in.Next we went back to the hotel and Cailin and I met up with the rest of the team and headed down to the water at Lake Bled. The water is so clear you can nearly see all the way to the bottom, we went swimming and were also able to do some extreme water sports, and by that I mean some huge inflatable water slides and other fun inflatable toys where we continuously tried to through each other off into the water. We also just laid out and enjoyed and soaked up the sun. We decided that we as a team have at least doubled our tan since being here in Europe. We love this vitamin D we are getting.Following our fun in the sun we headed to Lake Bohinj for lunch and enjoyed yet another beautiful view. Then we headed to our final match of the trip and played the Slovenian Youth National Team. Following the match we were able to go to dinner with the Slovenians and made some new friends. They were all very fluent in English and we learned a lot about their culture and a few new words in Slovenian. Sadly we couldn't stay for too long because we had to head towards the airport that night but overall this was a very long, very fun filled day. I might even say that this was one of my favorite days from the trip because of the variety of activities we were able to enjoy all in one day.As our trip sadly comes to an end we all agreed that our travel went by too quickly and we want some more time here with the great food, beautiful towns, and even better company. Great end to an even better travel adventure.- CourtneyFor the seventh and final match of the tour, the Huskies played the Slovenian U18 National Team in a town near Lake Bohinj. Even at the end of a long day and a long tour, the Huskies still left a strong last impression, winning all four sets played against the young squad. All told on the trip the Huskies won 20 sets and lost 12, including winning eight of their final nine sets.put one down on the first point of the match but the Slovenians took an early two point lead. The Huskies tied it up at 7-7 on a block fromand an ace from. An ace fromput the Huskies up by one. A kill from Sanders out of the middle was followed by a stuff for Sanders and Finau to build a 16-11 lead. Onosko dropped another ace to the back line to make it 20-15, then Niece andcombined for a rejection on the next point. Niece and Finau then teamed up for another block to wrap up the first set, 25-15.In set two, a kill fromand an ace frommade it 5-2 Dawgs. Slovenia had a 3-0 snapped by a kill from Bogomolova in serve-receive and then UW pushed back out to a 13-7 lead after Julye killed a Slovenia overpass and Bajema recorded an ace. Julye crushed one straight to the floor for 21-18, and then McPherson bump set to DeHoog for a kill to reach set point at 24-19. DeHoog and Niece finished with a block assist on the next rally to end it, 25-19.Set three started with two DeHoog kills, then a put-away from Niece and an ace from Onosko for a quick 4-0 lead. Bogomolova finished out of the back row for a 9-4 edge. Sanders had two Husky sideouts in a row for 16-12, but Slovenia pulled back within one point late. Bajema finished from the right side for 20-18, then DeHoog and Julye had big swings to get the Dawgs to set point and Sanders killed a slide set from Finau to take it, 25-20.The final set started with Niece slamming a quick set and then Bajema hitting down an overpass for the first two points. Julye and Sanders threw up a block for 7-6, and then Schwan fired an ace for 9-8. Schwan's serving run continued with a Niece/Finau block, another ace, and a bump set from Bajema to Julye for a kill and a 12-8 lead. Another solid serving run from Finau made it 15-10 Dawgs. Niece connected on another quick and then Onosko scored another ace to make it 21-13. On match point, Julye turned back the Slovenia swing to clinch the set, 25-17.
Vancouver, June 26, 2017 - Ely Gold & Minerals Inc. (TSXV: ELY) (OTC Pink: ELYGF) ("Ely Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive option agreement with Valterra Resource Corporation . (TSXV: VQA) (OTCQB: VRSCF) ("Valterra") through their respective wholly owned U.S subsidiaries whereby Valterra can acquire a 100% interest in the Weepah Project, located in western Nevada. (the "Option") The total Option amount (if completed) is US$1,000,000. The closing of the Option is subject to TSX-V approval and delivery of final documentation which is expected in late July (the "Closing").

The Weepah Project consists of 76 lode mining claims and one (1) patented claim, totaling approximately 590 hectares, and is accessible from Highway 95 approximately 32 km southwest of the town of Tonopah, Nevada. The Weepah property lies within the prolific Walker Lane Gold belt in western Nevada and is surrounded by active advanced exploration and development gold projects with growing mineral resources and reserves, including Eastside (Columbus Gold), Mineral Ridge (Scorpio Gold), Three Hills and Hasbrouck (West Kirkland), and Gemfield (private).

Trey Wasser, President and CEO of Ely Gold commented on the Option, "We are very pleased to complete this transaction with Valterra. Ely Gold has worked very hard to consolidate the Weepah Property for the first time since mine production in the late 1980's. The team at Valterra are proven asset builders and we are pleased to have concluded the Option for cash and Valterra shares while retaining a significant royalty interest. This transaction will add to our current revenue stream."

The Option

Pursuant to the terms of the Option, subject to TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") approval, Ely Gold has granted the exclusive option to Valterra to acquire the Company's 100% interest in and to the Weepah Project by making the following payments and share issuances over 4 years:

At Closing - US$100,000 cash or through the issuance of Valterra common shares;

Year 1 - US$100,000 cash or through the issuance of Valterra common shares;

Year 2 - US$200,000;

Year 3 - US$200,000; and

Year 4 - US$400,000 cash (the "Final Option Payment").

There are no work commitments or additional expenditures required other than Valterra's obligation to maintain the underlying agreements and claim maintenance fees per year of approximately US$15k. If the Final Option Payment is made Ely Gold will retain a 3% net smelter returns royalty ("NSR") on ten unpatented mining claims and one patented claim. Valterra will have the right to buy-down 1% of the underlying royalty on these key claims for $1,000,000. Sixty-six unpatented mining claims are subject to a 2% NSR to a third party and Ely Gold will retain a 1% NSR on those claims.

Valterra will pay Ely Gold annual advance royalty payments as follows:

US$25,000 on the first through third anniversary dates of the Final Option Payment;

US$35,000 on each anniversary date of the Final Option Payment thereafter.

Stephen Kenwood, P. Geo, is director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Kenwood has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.

About Ely Gold

Ely Gold is focused on developing recurring cash flow streams through the acquisition, consolidation, enhancement, and resale of highly prospective, un-encumbered North American precious metals properties. Ely's property development efforts maximize each property's potential for acquisition, while reserving significant royalty interests. The Company's current portfolio contains 15 optioned properties, 15 deeded royalties and over 24 properties available for sale. Additional information about Ely Gold is available at the Company's website, at www.elygoldinc.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Signed "Trey Wasser"

Trey Wasser, President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

trey@elygoldinc.com

972-803-3087

ir@elygoldinc.com

604-488-1104

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.


Group Tens Stillwater West Project with Sibaynes Stillwater mines and land position in grey (approximate).





VANCOUVER, June 26, 2017 - Group Ten Metals Inc. (TSX.V:PGE) (OTC:DCGCF) (FSE:5D32) (the Company or Group Ten) is pleased to announce it has entered an agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Stillwater West project, consisting of 282 claims adjacent to, and contiguous with, Sibanye Golds Stillwater mine in south central Montana, USA. Sibanye acquired the operation, which is the highest-grade platinum group element (PGE) producer in the world and the largest outside South Africa and Russia, through a US$2.2 billion acquisition of Stillwater Mining Co. in May 2017. Group Tens acquisition of the highly-prospective Stillwater West project positions the Company as the second-largest land holder in the Stillwater Igneous Complex. The acquisition includes a substantial exploration database that is currently under review by the Group Ten technical team. Updates on these efforts are expected in the coming weeks.

A photo accompanying this release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f4328329-a3b6-4beb-b71f-5f59671deb42

The Stillwater and East Boulder mines occur along the Johns-Manville (J-M) Reef, the richest PGE deposit in the world with over 19.9 million ounces of proven and probable palladium and platinum ore reserves at an average grade of 15.64 grams/tonne)1. Group Tens Stillwater West project covers over 2,200 hectares (22 square kilometers) in two claim groups with each parcel including over 17 kilometers of strike length parallel to the J-M Reef within the Stillwater complex. Past work on the project resulted in the identification of multiple targets with a primary focus on high-grade PGE and gold deposits as well as generating significant geological and exploration data which will be instrumental in Group Tens advancement of the project.



Stillwater Mine East Boulder Mine Ore Tonnes

(000s)



Avg. Grade (g/t)





Contained Oz.

(000s)



Ore Tonnes

(000s)



Avg. Grade (g/t)





Contained Oz.

(000s)



Proven Reserves 2,947 20.39 1,932 2,388 13.78 1,055 Palladium 15.93 1,509 10.63 826 Platinum 4.28 423 2.74 229 Probable Reserves 10,978 19.55 6,900 23,115 13.37 10.024 Palladium 15.27 5.389 10.63 7,845 Platinum 4.28 1,511 2.74 2,179 Total P&P 13,924 19.70 8,832 25,503 13.40 11,079

1Sibanye and February 2017 Corporate Presentation and Company filings available on www.sedar.com Total Proven and Probable Montana reserves as of December 31, 2015 of 39,427,000 tonnes grading 15.64 grams/tonne for 19,911,000 contained ounces.

Group Ten is further pleased to announce that Mr. Justin Modroo, a professional geologist and geophysicist based in Montana, will join the Companys team for the Stillwater West project and will bring his considerable expertise in ultramafic systems to Group Tens other PGE projects, including the Companys Wellgreen-area Ni-PGE assets in the Kluane Ultramafic Belt of Canadas Yukon Territory.

President and CEO Michael Rowley comments We are excited to have secured such prospective ground in one of the premier PGE producing districts in the world, where Group Ten now holds the second largest position in the Stillwater complex. We are also pleased to have been able to concurrently retain local expertise and a substantial exploration database to guide our efforts there. The Stillwater West project significantly expands our exposure to palladium and platinum, which continue to show strong fundamentals going forward. Palladium specifically has been a leader in the precious metals markets as one of the top performing commodities in 2017.

Past work on the Stillwater West project includes broad soil and rock geochemical sampling, geologic mapping and some initial drilling. Results of these programs demonstrate the occurrence of multi-kilometric scale areas of highly anomalous palladium, platinum, gold, copper and nickel values in soil and rock samples.

By the terms of the agreement, the Company may earn a 100% interest in the Stillwater West project from Picket Pin Resources LLC, a private Montana company, by completing the following (all US currency):

issue a total of 3.6 million shares of the Company starting with 900,000 shares within ten days of regulatory approval and 900,000 shares on or before May 31 of each of 2018, 2019, and 2020; complete $40,000 in cash payments with $20,000 on or before each of May 31, 2018 and 2019; make advance royalty payments until commencement of commercial production of $15,000 within ten days of exchange approval, $30,000 on or before May 31, 2018, and $50,000 on or before May 31, 2019 and annually thereafter; and execute a work contract for a minimum of $50,000 per year for the duration of the option agreement for technical and management work.

Upon completion of the option agreement, Group Ten would own 100% of the property subject to a 2% NSR royalty with a buy-down provision to purchase 1% of the NSR for $2 million. The issuance of shares per the agreement is subject to regulatory approval.

Mr. Rowley further noted, The acquisition follows our strategy of acquiring high-quality assets in world-class districts and complements our portfolio of holdings in the Kluane Ultramafic Belt in Yukon adjacent to Wellgreen Platinum, and in the Rainy River district of Ontario adjacent to First Mining Finances Goldlund project. We look forward to engaging with Mr. Modroo and the local technical team. Regular updates are anticipated as we continue our data analysis and plan exploration for the project.

Quality Control and Quality Assurance

Garth Kirkham, P.Geo., is the qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, and he has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

About Group Ten Metals Inc.

Group Ten Metals Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of high-quality platinum, palladium and gold exploration assets in North America. The Companys suite of holdings include large land positions adjacent to Sibanyes Pd-Pt Stillwater mine in Montana and Wellgreen Platinums Ni-PGE project in the Yukon Territory, and the Black Lake-Drayton gold project in the Rainy River district of northwest Ontario.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

GROUP TEN METALS INC.

Michael Rowley

Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director

Email: info@grouptenmetals.com

Web: http://grouptenmetals.com

Tel: (604) 357 4790

TF: (888) 432 0075

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Group Ten 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 or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Group Ten and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teuton Resources Corp. (Teuton) (TSX-V:TUO) (Frankfurt:TFE) (OTCBB:TEUTF) is pleased to announce that a major drill program is set to begin on the Treaty Creek joint venture property, located north of the KSM property of Seabridge Gold and the Brucejack property of Pretium Resources in the Golden Triangle region of northwestern British Columbia. Teuton holds a 20% carried interest in the property (carried until a production decision is made) as well as various NSR interests. Tudor Gold Corp. (60% interest) is the operator and American Creek Resources also holds a 20% carried interest.



The drill program will attempt to establish a resource in the Copper Belle zone by drilling at 50m centres adjacent to previous holes put down in 2007, 2009 and 2016. Last year, Hole CB16-03, an 800m stepout from a 2009 hole with an intersection grading 241m of 0.80 g/t gold, returned an interval grading 338m averaging 0.70 g/t gold with a sub-interval running 122m of 0.965 g/t gold (more details are available in the News Release dated Oct. 26, 2016). The 2017 drilling is being guided by a magnetotelluric survey which was carried out in 2016. Additional drilling will also be carried out on the GR2 zone, a precious metal-rich, massive sulfide target. Illustrations of the target areas are available in the URLs presented at the end of this news release.

Regional Developments

The Treaty Glacier-KSM-Brucejack-Stewart trend has been characterized as one of the most productive and promising in northwestern British Columbia. Among the many mineral occurrences found in the region, the most important to date is the Valley of the Kings mine, an 8.1 million ounce gold deposit owned by Pretium Resources (proven and probable reserves of 15.6 million tonnes of 16.1 g/t gold). After spending $1 Billion putting the mine into production, Pretium announced on June 20, 2017 that the first gold brick had been poured.

Due west of Pretiums property and adjoining southwest of the Treaty Creek property, Seabridge Golds KSM property presently holds four large deposits, the Mitchell, Kerr, Sulphurets and Iron Cap. These collectively have proven and probable reserves in excess of 38.8 million ounces of gold and 10.155 billion pounds of copper (as reported on the Seabridge Gold website citing its most recent National Instrument 43-101 compliant estimates- February 2017). The above metal quantities are contained within 2.198 billion tonnes of rock grading 0.55 g/t gold and 0.21% copper. Note that Teutons Qualified Person has been unable to verify the information on deposits within Seabridge Gold's KSM property and Pretiums Brucejack-Snowfield property and the information is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Treaty Creek property.

On June 27, 2017, Seabridge Gold announced an 8,750m drill program with immediate mobilization to follow-up a deep discovery made 500m north of the Iron Cap deposit in 2016. A 60.7m interval beginning at 201m averaged 1.20 g/t gold and 0.95% Cu, among the highest grades achieved in the porphyries at KSM to date. The Iron Cap deposit and its new northern discovery remain open to the north, east and west. Its current easternmost limit lies only 800m from the Treaty Creek property.

Jeff Kyba, formerly Northwest Regional geologist for the BC government, has a theory postulating important factors for finding large-scale mineral deposits: these include proximity to a red-line (geological contact between Triassic and Stuhini age rocks) and certain key faults. The Sulphurets thrust fault, in particular, appears to be critical, as it is spatially related to all of the deposits on the KSM property. Kyba has said, . all the prospective structures bounding these old basins were slippery because of the alteration associated with the porphyries. So they were the first to fail, and became reactivated as younger, prominent thrust faults. [Excerpted from May 6, 2015 Northern Miner]. Significantly, the Sulphurets thrust fault turns northeastward into the Treaty Creek property from the KSM property, continuing onwards for several kilometres (see map).

Dino Cremonese, P.Eng., president of Teuton Resources, commented as follows: The news that Pretiums Valley of the Kings has poured its first gold, that Seabridge Gold is going to continue exploring its prolific KSM property and that Tudor Gold will attempt to drill off a resource in 2017 at Treaty Creek is very encouraging and suggests that work in this promising region is beginning to enter a more mature phase. There are many other positive developments this year, both locally in the Treaty-Stewart trend and elsewhere in the Golden Triangle, of which exploration at Ascots Premier property, IDM Minings Red Mountain property, Colorados KSP property, Eskay Minings SIB property, GT Golds Tatogga property and Decades Red Cliff property are prime examples."

The Qualified Person for this news release is Dino Cremonese, P.Eng., who as President of Teuton is not independent of the Company. Mr. Cremonese has not independently verified the accuracy of the technical data presented in this release but has no reason to believe it is unreliable.

About Teuton

Teuton owns interests in more than thirty properties in the prolific Golden Triangle area of northwestern British Columbia and was one of the first companies to adopt what has since become known as the prospect generator model. Ten of its properties are currently under option and cash proceeds from these options have exceeded $1.2 million in the past two years, not including the value of shares received from the optioning companies. Shareholders and other interested parties can access information about Teuton at the Companys website, www.teuton.com.

Respectfully:

Dino Cremonese, P.Eng.

President, Teuton Resources Corp.

Illustrations: 1. http://teuton.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Treaty-Creek_Property_new25062017.pdf

2. http://teuton.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Another-Treaty-page_ver2-1.jpg

For more information contact Investor Relations at 778-430-5680 or barry@teuton.com. If you would like to be added to Teutons news distribution list, please send your email address to dino@teuton.com

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements concerning the future performance of our business, its operations and its financial performance and condition, as well as managements objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as may, will, plan, expect, anticipate, estimate, intend and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, fluctuating commodity prices, competitive risks and the availability of financing, as described in more detail in our recent securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking-statements and we caution against placing undue reliance thereon. Teuton Resources Corp. does have an ongoing obligation to disclose material information, as it becomes available.

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the

information contained herein.
The oil industry will be able to draw water from the Little Missouri State Scenic River for hydraulic fracturing after North Dakota officials lifted an eight-week-old moratorium on industrial water permits, raising concerns from some conservationists about the impact to the Badlands.

The issue of allowing the oil industry to access water from the scenic river came up for discussion this spring after a State Water Commission hydrologist discovered the state had been granting water permits for fracking and other uses in violation of a long-forgotten state law.

State legislators voted during the recent session to change the law, but Gov. Doug Burgum issued a moratorium on May 3 that suspended temporary water permits along much of the Little Missouri while the matter was studied.

On Thursday, Burgum and other members of the State Water Commission voted to lift that moratorium, adopting a new policy that allows temporary water permits on the scenic river for oilfield and other industrial uses.

The policy is effective immediately, but drought conditions in western North Dakota may prevent new permits from being issued this season.

Its questionable whether theres even sufficient water supply left in the river to provide water for new permits, said State Engineer Garland Erbele.

Some in attendance at the meeting, which stretched into the evening Thursday, said afterward they were disappointed with the commission's action and the lack of opportunity for public input on the new policy.

We really did have high hopes for this governor and that he would be a friend of our land and water, said Laura Anhalt, of Bismarck, a board member for the Badlands Conservation Alliance. We need somebody in a very, very high place to stand up for the land and water. Theres nobody out there doing that.

But last weeks meeting was not the final word for the Little Missouri, which flows through the rugged Badlands terrain in the north and south units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Burgum also is reinstating the Little Missouri River Commission, an advisory group that is required by law but hasnt met in a decade. Burgum, who is chairman of the State Water Commission, said he wants to revisit the matter after the group, which will include local landowners, has weighed in.

Because of the scenic nature of the Little Missouri River, theres a lot of people in the state that have an interest, rightfully so, about the nature and the preservation of this river, Burgum said.

Illegal water permits

Concerns about energy development in 1975 prompted North Dakota lawmakers to pass the Little Missouri State Scenic River Act, allowing agricultural water permits for the river but prohibiting industrial use.

At the time, the concerns related to a proposed coal gasification plant, Erbele said. But by 1990, the commission began issuing industrial water permits for the Little Missouri, unaware of the 1975 law, he said.

The law basically lay unused and over time was forgotten, Erbele said.

Since 1990, more than 600 temporary water permits were issued for the Little Missouri River for industrial uses in violation of the law. About half were for oilfield use and the other half were for uses such as road construction and dust control on roads, said Jon Patch, director of water appropriations.

This spring, a hydrologist discovered the 1975 law while reviewing a permit application, Patch said.

Burgum said during the meeting its unfortunate the state had a practice that went on for decades that was against the law. But he credited staff for promptly bringing it to the attention of policymakers.

After lawmakers voted last session to add temporary water permits to the 1975 law, Burgum signed the bill but immediately suspended all industrial water permits upstream of the Long X Bridge near Watford City. The moratorium included the area that stretches from the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park to the South Dakota border. Industrial permits downstream of the Long X Bridge, which is where most of the oilfield permits have been granted, were not suspended.

New policy

At Burgums request, staff researched the issue and presented the State Water Commission four options for consideration:

- Continue with the moratorium Burgum set in May.

- Grant temporary water permits only for minor industrial uses, such as road construction and dust control.

- Allow industrial use of the Little Missouri from Sept. 15 through May 15, outside of the tourist and farm irrigation season.

- Allow industrial permits for the river year round.

Staff recommended the fourth option, and the Water Commission voted 7-1 in favor of it.

Patch, who presented the recommendation, said if industrial permits are not allowed, oil companies will instead truck water to the well sites, causing road damage, dust problems and increasing the risk of traffic crashes.

Oil companies use an average of 8 million to 10 million gallons of water for each Bakken well for hydraulic fracturing, according to the Department of Mineral Resources.

One company with an application pending anticipates needing 11,000 truckloads through the back roads of the Badlands if the permit is denied, Patch said.

If the drought continues, its unlikely the commission will issue any temporary permits out of the Little Missouri, Erbele said.

Burgum emphasized that the industrial permits are temporary, issued for no more than 12 months at a time, and can be canceled by the state engineer at any time. He also pointed to statistics showing that agriculture accounts for most of the water use on the river.

The only dissenting vote on the policy came from Deputy Agriculture Commissioner Tom Bodine, who was sitting in for Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring.

Bodine, who said he preferred that Goehring be the one to vote on a policy change, said he thinks permit decisions should only be based on water flows, not factors such as protecting the viewshed.

Public comment was not allowed at the meeting.

Jan Swenson, executive director of the Badlands Conservation Alliance, said she thinks the authors of the Little Missouri State Scenic River Act would be stunned.

The spirit of the act, to me, suggests that they did not want to see the Little Missouri State Scenic River and the surrounding Badlands and prairie landscape become an industrial zone, said Swenson, who attended the meeting. It appears to me that North Dakota values, politically at least, have changed.

Swenson fears that allowing water from the Little Missouri to be used for fracking will lead companies to develop more oil wells near the river, raising the potential for spills in the river and its tributaries.

Burgum said his comfort level with the policy depends on the Little Missouri River Commission being reactivated. The advisory group will include adjacent landowners from counties near the river, with members appointed by local county commissions. The group is being formed and could hold its first meeting in August. Erbele said the meeting will also allow for public comment.

The last recorded meeting of the advisory commission was in 2007.

Anhalt said she was disappointed the commission chose the most severe, severe option and hopes the public can provide input when its revisited.

The Little Missouri, its a sweet, delicate little river that needs our help, Anhalt said.
Georgia's highest court has determined that a state law allowing taxpayers to steer some of what they owe the state to private schools instead does not violate the state constitution.The unanimous ruling Monday by the Georgia Supreme Court strikes a blow against the claim by Raymond Gaddy and other taxpayers that the state law establishing tax credit student scholarships is unconstitutional.The opinion says taxpayers have no standing to sue because tax credits do not equal tax revenue: "Because each of the constitutional provisions relied upon by plaintiffs involve the expenditure of public funds, and the statutes that establish the program demonstrate that no public funds are used in the program, plaintiffs lack standing as taxpayers to assert these claims," the opinion says. "Plaintiffs' complaint fails to show that they, or any taxpayers for that matter, are harmed by this program."Taxpayers pledge money -- up to $1,000 for an individual, $2,500 per married couple and $10,000 for shareholders or owners of businesses (except "C" corporations, which can contribute up to three quarters of their state tax debt) -- to specific private schools and get a tax credit off what they owe the state for the same amount. The money passes through nonprofit scholarship organizations that assign it as scholarships to students and keep up to 10 percent as fees.Gaddy sued the Georgia Department of Revenue in Fulton County Superior Court in 2014, alleging the program is unconstitutional because some schools that receive the money are religious. The Fulton judge dismissed all but one of Gaddy's claims, prompting his appeal.The Fulton judge, Kimberly Esmond, also ruled against a cross appeal by the revenue department, but the supreme court reversed her on that decision, dealing another blow to the plaintiffs. They claimed the the revenue agency was failing to enforce the part of the law that says scholarship organizations can't let the taxpayer contributors pick the students who receive their money. The revenue department sought unsuccessfully at trial to dismiss that claim and the high court agreed that it should have been thrown out.The new ruling removes uncertainty about the legality of the program, which is capped annually at $58 million. Lawmakers considered lifting the cap this year, but decided not to amid concerns about the pending supreme court decision.
Statewide tour starts today

40 years in public service

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced on Sunday that he is running for Ohio governor, putting him in contention against two other statewide officials and a U.S. congressman seeking the Republican nomination in 2018."When I am governor our state will be fundamentally different," said DeWine. "I will be ready to go on day one. I will walk through the door with a plan and I will be ready to get to work."He focused most of his comments on the need to help families and children succeed, waiting until the end of his speech to to throw in more traditionally conservative remarks about supporting low taxes and controlling spending."What we should want for all children in the state of Ohio is exactly what we all want for our kids," DeWine said. "Too many children are growing up in troubled, stressed families" and cannot achieve their dreams because "of the walls of poverty, drugs and despair."DeWine announced his bid for governor in front of about 1,000 people on the front lawn of his Cedarville home during the DeWine Family Ice Cream Social, a nearly-annual event held since 1976 when he was first elected Greene County prosecutor.In the Republican primary he will face Secretary of State Jon Husted, U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci of Wadsworth and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor.On the Democratic side, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, former state representative Connie Pillich of Cincinnati, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, and former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton of Akron are in the running.On Monday DeWine launches a three-day tour of the state, visiting six cities, including Cincinnati on Tuesday, to talk with families and people at small businesses."Ohio is a great state," DeWine told the crowd of supporters on Sunday, "but we have some very significant problems ... The tragedy of our state today is that too many Ohioans will never realize their dreams because they simply lack the education, the skills, the training -- and, in too many cases, the sobriety."He said at least 10 people die a day from accidental overdoses in Ohio."We cannot sit still while we lose a generation of children (to addiction)," DeWine said. "I will take the lead and we will get in front of the epidemic."During his speech, DeWine said there are too many schools failing children."When these kids fail, we fail," DeWine said. "When these kids fail, Ohio fails."He said he will "focus like a laser ... to champion schools that work and hold them up as examples that should be replicated in communities all across the state."Former U.S. Rep. Steve Austria, a Beavercreek Republican, said DeWine would do an "outstanding job as governor.""As far as his experience, as far as being able to address the needs of Ohio, everything from our children and education, which is so important to this state, to the opiate crisis, to understanding as far as businesses, especially small businesses, being the economic engine of this state and making Ohio a great place to live," Austria said.DeWine's plans to run for governor have been the worst-kept secret in Ohio, especially since he was overheard by a reporter in May 2016 telling a Dayton charter school executive of his plans."He's been hinting around for nine months," said the Rev. Thomas Wise, pastor of Valleyview Church in Englewood. "I'm glad that he finally delivered the baby."Wise, who attended the speech, said he admires DeWine's honesty and said he is a man of his word.Kelly Reynolds, 47, of New Carlisle, said she loved what DeWine said about the importance of familes and and the battle against opioid addiction."I think it's amazing what heart he has for people that are addicted," Reynolds said. "I don't think we could have a better person run for governor.""He gives hope of a future for the children, for jobs and also for the heroin addicts. It's good to see that he's going to attack that," said Joyce Redder, 77, of Cedarville, who taught most of DeWine's eight children over the years in Cedarville Schools.DeWine has been an elected public official since 1977 when he became Greene County prosecutor. He served in the Ohio Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and was lieutenant governor, serving with Ohio Gov. George Voinovich. He also was a U.S. senator from 1995 until he was defeated by Democrat Sherrod Brown in the 2006 senate race. In 2010 DeWine ran for attorney general, unseating Democrat Richard Cordray.Greene County Prosecutor Steve Haller worked for DeWine in Greene County as an assistant prosecutor and he remains a strong supporter."He was a high-energy guy," Haller said. "I still see that same level of energy today and that's some 40 years later. He's hard to keep up with.""He gave you the leeway to get the job done, but he wanted results," Haller said.Haller said DeWine is less about partisanship than about getting things done, pointing to DeWine's decision once elected attorney general to expedite testing a huge backlog of rape kits that counties had not tested. Haller said DeWine also took the lead in battling the opiate crisis."He's a hard-working, honest guy," said U.S. District Judge Thomas Rose, who was an assistant prosecutor for DeWine and is his former law partner. "He was an avid prosecutor and he has always been dedicated to public service as long as I've know him."As attorney general DeWine created a special Crimes Against Children Unit targeting sexual predators, prosecuted numerous consumer fraud cases and boosted training opportunities for law enforcement officers.An abortion opponent DeWine has defended the state's abortion restrictions and joined in the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. In May he filed a lawsuit against five manufacturers of opioiods and related companies alleging they engaged in fraudulent and deceptive marketing campaigns.At 70, DeWine is older than the Republicans who have already announced they are running.Age is less of an issue with voters than it once was, said Mark Caleb Smith, political director of Cedarville University's Center for Political Studies. He said there are about six governors who are age 65 or older and President Donald Trump is 71."I'm not sure DeWine's age is as much of a negative now that it might have been 20 or more years ago," Smith said. "Besides, he seems quite energetic and engaged, so regardless of age, he appears more than capable of doing the job."When he was a U.S. senator DeWine was criticized by conservatives for his efforts to work with Democrats on legislation. Some dubbed him a RHINO, meaning "Republican in name only." But DeWine remains proud to this day of his across-the-aisle efforts."To get a bill passed in the Senate you have to have some Democrat support," DeWine said in an exclusive interview on Friday. "In politics you have to know how to count."He said the conventional wisdom is that he lost to Brown because of the RHINO effect, but he said it was a difficult year for Republicans in the 2006 mid-terms and his main problem was he "didn't do well with independents that year."DeWine said he believes he can do well with people who supported Donald Trump for president."The interesting thing is Donald Trump's appeal is to some of the same people that I've always been able to appeal to, blue collar Democrat workers," he said. "I'm a conservative who likes to get things done."Smith said the Trump effect is one of the big unknowns about the 2018 election."Trump's victory showed some Republican appetite for radical change in 2016. DeWine, for all of his strengths and experience could not be called 'radical change.' Of course, I am not sure it is safe to say Jon Husted would represent radical change either," Smith said."It could be this race will hinge on whether or not Mike DeWine's extensive experience and background will be a strength or weakness. In normal times, it seems obvious. These are not normal times."
In what some are calling a landmark ruling for religious freedom, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided in favor of a Columbia, Mo., church that had been denied state assistance to improve its playground.The high court's 7-2 ruling in a suit known as Trinity Lutheran of Columbia v. Comer undoes a Missouri constitutional ban on providing taxpayer-funded help to religious groups. Similar "no-aid" clauses exist in as many as 38 other state constitutions.The court's ruling was released Monday morning.Trinity Lutheran's preschool in 2012 applied for funds from a scrap-tire program of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which offers grants for nonprofit organizations to buy loose rubber crumbs for covering play areas and making them less hazardous. The church's playground at the time was covered with pea gravel, and it remains so.Though the church's application ranked high in the state's assessment for qualification, the DNR declined to award grant money to Trinity Lutheran because of an 1875 state constitutional amendment preventing tax dollars to be used for church programs. The church argued that its preschool playground was not used for religious expression.The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups advocating separation of church and state countered that government should not involve itself in programs that assist religious groups. However, church-related organizations already can seek federal assistance for secular programs through the White House's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.The justices' ruling apparently nullifies a section of the Missouri Constitution that states that "no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect or denomination of religion."Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley issued a statement after the court announcement:"With today's ruling, the United States Supreme Court has made clear that the First Amendment does not permit government to discriminate against churches or religious organizations on the basis of faith," the statement said. "People of faith cannot be treated like second-class citizens."Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was quick to follow: "People of faith won an important victory today."The governor in April instructed the DNR to let religious groups receive grants for playground improvements out of the scrap-tire program. But his action did not change the language of the Missouri Constitution _ a ban on church aid commonly called "the Blaine amendment" that dozens of states adopted more than a century ago.During the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, Republican U.S. Rep. James G. Blaine of Maine unsuccessfully sought an amendment to the federal constitution that would prohibit state governments from, among other things, funding religious schools with public money. Though Blaine's proposal never became U.S. law, nearly 40 states eventually passed measures blocking aid to church groups, including Catholic schools.The ACLU of Missouri said Monday that the high court's ruling had narrow application and will not upend no-aid provisions in other states."Today's decision is disappointing because religious freedom should protect unwilling taxpayers from funding church property, not force them to foot the bill," said ACLU legal director Tony Rothert. "The court's ruling, however, is limited to the peculiar facts of the case and does not give the government unlimited authority to fund religious activity."Kansas City-area lawyer Mike Whitehead and son Jonathan Whitehead served as co-counsel to Trinity Lutheran, whose case was argued before the Supreme Court in April by David Cortman, an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom. The alliance provides legal help nationwide to religious groups alleging discrimination by government. High on that list are efforts to secure school voucher programs for faith-based organizations.Mike Whitehead had compared Trinity Lutheran's right to receiving public grants for a safer playground to all churches' entitlement to police and fire protection, courtesy of taxpayers."The court held that denying a generally available public benefit solely on account of religious identity violates the free exercise of religion," Whitehead said.The newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, issued a concurring opinion underlining that point. He wrote that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution "guarantees the free exercise of religion, not just the right to inward belief (or status)."The court's two dissenting members were Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.Trinity Lutheran declined comment Monday, referring media questions to the Alliance Defending Freedom.The alliance's senior counsel Erik Stanley told The Kansas City Star that the ruling would not likely settle the debate on tax-supported school vouchers, which "I would expect to be resolved more on a case-by-case basis." But the court made clear that "any existing government program that excludes religious programs based only on their religious status will not be allowed," he said."This is not just limited to playground improvement programs," Stanley added.Missouri's scrap-tire program at the core of the lawsuit aims to reduce tire dumpings in landfills and issue grants to not-for-profits to make play areas cushier with chopped-up rubber. The state approved 14 such projects in the year that the Columbia church was denied.A trial judge ruled against Trinity Lutherans' suit to obtain a grant, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit affirmed that decision with a 2-1 ruling.
When Sue Krentz was growing up in southern Arizona, about 30 miles from the Mexican border, migrants would wander into the front yard of her parents' modest ranch house and ask to sweep the steps or mow the lawn.Nobody asked about their immigration status. It was the 1960s, long before the area became a transit zone for drugs and weapons. Long before farm trucks and cattle started being stolen.Long before police found her husband slumped in his ATV, shot dead.No incident has hardened feelings about illegal immigration in Arizona more than the unsolved 2010 killing of 58-year-old Rob Krentz, head of one of the oldest ranch families in southeast Arizona.It was the impetus less than a month later for the passage of the "show your papers" law, which required police to ascertain the immigration status of anybody suspected of being in the U.S. illegally and helped cement Arizona's reputation as the country's toughest state on immigration.Seven years later, the slaying still resonates, often invoked in local arguments for the massive wall that President Trump has proposed along the border with Mexico.Usually lost in conversations about Krentz is that it's far from certain that his killer or killers were in the U.S. illegally. The investigation has identified suspects from both sides of the border.In recent months, as southern Arizona is again embroiled in the debate over stepped-up border security and stronger measures against illegal immigration, Sue Krentz has reemerged on the public scene, this time as a vocal advocate of an expanded border wall."We asked for help, and no one came. We requested a secure border, and were told security was not to be expected. When we asked for safety, we were described as racist," she complained at a forum on border security last year.As for her husband's death, Krentz says that despite the more than 30 people in the U.S. and Mexico identified as persons of interest -- including at least one permanent U.S. resident -- she has no doubt he was killed by one or more people who stole across the border from Mexico."It wasn't a U.S. resident who shot him," she said in an interview. "You show me which U.S. resident it was. Give me their name and address. Because there's nothing down there. There's not a house for seven miles."Krentz's farm borders an 8-mile-wide corridor between two mountain ranges, the Chiricahuas to the west in Arizona and the Animas to the east in New Mexico. The ranges force pedestrians to stay within a fairly narrow area as they walk north or south, making the territory dicey for migrants seeking to avoid the Border Patrol.The Krentz family was accustomed to undocumented migrants crossing their 35,000 acres, though the migrants had a habit of cutting ranch water lines instead of walking to a spigot. Each line break allowed thousands of gallons to drain away. Rob Krentz rode out to the site of a break one day on his red Polaris ATV with his dog, a blue heeler.After back surgery in 2009 and a hip replacement in 2010, Krentz "wasn't going anywhere fast" on March 27, 2010, Sue Krentz said.Krentz radioed to his brother, Phil, to say he had spotted a migrant in distress. It was 10 a.m. A nearby rancher heard the same call. Minutes passed, but Krentz's radio was silent.Krentz's son, Frank, tried his cellphone every half-hour. It would ring and then go to voicemail. Neighbors began to walk the property. By 6 p.m., they called the police. When ground searches failed, a police helicopter was called in.Police found Krentz's body on a knobby wash six miles east of Arizona Highway 80. His body was cold, but thermal imaging helped locate his dog, Blue, who was shot, shivering and barely alive. Blue would not allow rescuers to reach Krentz's body, barking and growling whenever someone approached the ATV. The dog was euthanized by an animal control officer.Krentz had three gunshot wounds: to his left side, upper back and inside his right arm, from 9-millimeter rounds. In his ATV, police found a rifle, still in its scabbard. Police marked as evidence an empty Jimmy Dean sausage case nearby and traced it to a fridge that was raided in a break-in earlier in the week in Portal, Ariz., about 20 miles north of the shooting site.Footprints in the mud near a water tank showed what police believe to be a man's stride as he approached it to drink. From there, the footprints led south, toward the ranches on the border.Another clue came to police over the phone, just days after the shooting:Caller: Hey, look, I have some information. A man came out; I don't know if he got into a fight with a dog -- I don't know what.Dispatcher: What are you calling me about?Caller: A homicide that took place over there.... These people are apparently the responsible ones.Dispatcher: OK, but who are they?Caller: Well, they aren't from here.... Can you hurry?The call to the Douglas Police Department cut off after less than two minutes.The caller said he was in Agua Prieta, Mexico, across the border from Douglas. He said he had seen men who "came out of the desert" with cuts and bruises, and possibly dog bites.The only hard evidence was a vague outline of a suspect, caught on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife camera, walking south from the shooting site, and a footprint. The suspect had a long stride when walking, and an estimated height of 6 feet.The investigation slowed to a trickle by early October 2010, six months after the shooting.Then they found Cachibombo.Notorious in the area as a suspected drug mule and coyote, Cachibombo's real name is Horacio Barraza-Parra. He was picked up by the Border Patrol allegedly leading eight people into the U.S. illegally on Oct. 6, 2010. The pollos, or human cargo, in his party told police they were terrified of him.Barraza-Parra told police he had been in the area near Krentz's ranch in March 2010, but was stung by a scorpion on the way back to Mexico. He went to Krentz for help. Police confirmed hospital and immigration records showing Barraza-Parra was treated, detained and deported nearly one month before Krentz's shooting. What happened to him when he returned to Mexico was far more interesting.Authorities in the U.S. brought in Barraza-Parra's family for questioning, and learned that after Krentz's slaying, Mexican drug cartels were just as keen to find the perpetrators.Members of a cartel kidnapped Barraza-Parra in front of his family and searched his body extensively for evidence of dog bites."Sicarios took him for 10 days," Barraza-Parra's wife, Alma Pacheco Santos, told U.S. authorities, referring to assassins for the cartels. According to a Cochise County Sheriff's Office report on the interview, she added: "The [cartels] were upset over all the heat the murder brought to the border."Apparently satisfied that her husband was not responsible, she said, the cartel let him go.For years, occasional "hits" have briefly revived the case -- usually computer alerts flagging a Border Patrol detainee as a potential person of interest. They are invariably transported to the Sheriff's Office, questioned by deputies and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, then released back to Border Patrol custody.Such interviews have turned up suspect after suspect, usually vaguely described as tall men with violent reputations. Some have earned nicknames. "El Grande," or the Big One; "La Ormiga," the Ant.None has yet been linked directly to the slaying. The trail of the tall man appears to have gone cold.
The Department of Justice on Friday sided with Texas in the lawsuit against its recently passed sanctuary cities ban, lending significant if unsurprising support to boosters of the law.The department's decision to back a state in a high-profile case on a hawkish immigration issue is a reversal from its operation under President Barack Obama's administration, which often sided with civil rights groups that opposed such state laws."The Department of Justice fully supports Texas's effort and is participating in this lawsuit because of the strong federal interest in facilitating the state and local cooperation that is critical in enforcing our nation's immigration laws," U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a prepared statement."President Trump has made a commitment to keep America safe and to ensure cooperation with federal immigration laws," he said. "Texas has admirably followed his lead by mandating state-wide cooperation with federal immigration laws that require the removal of illegal aliens who have committed crimes."The department filed a statement of interest on Friday with the federal district court in San Antonio that is handling the suit, indicating that it will be involved in the lawsuit going forward. The first hearing in the case, in which the court will consider whether to temporarily block the law, is Monday."It's reassuring to know that the Trump administration believes in upholding the Constitution and defending the rule of law, and I'm grateful for the DOJ's assistance in helping my office defend the lawful Senate Bill 4," Attorney General Paxton said in a written statement. "Enforcing immigration law helps prevent dangerous criminals from being released into our communities. We look forward to working with DOJ lawyers to see that Senate Bill 4 is fully honored in Texas."Texas' law allows police officers to ask a person about their immigration status during any legal detention, including routine traffic stops. It also forces local jurisdictions to comply with requests from federal immigration authorities, known as detainers, to hold immigrants for them.The law prevents cities, counties and universities from prohibiting their law enforcement officers from asking about immigration status. If a local law enforcement official tried to prevent his officers from doing so, he could be removed from office and thrown in jail. Jurisdictions could face fines of up to $25,000 a day for each day they violate the ban.Opponents of the law argued that it would lead to racial profiling of Latinos and that it unconstitutionally threatened to remove local officials and, in some cases, throw them in jail.In its filing on Friday, the Justice Department argued against the plaintiff's complaints that the sanctuary cities ban, also known as Senate Bill 4, violated the Fourth and Tenth Amendments."Parties may disagree with the state legislature's policy determinations in enacting SB 4, but nothing in federal immigration law precludes a state from directing law enforcement officers in the state to cooperate with the federal government, rather than merely permitting them to do so," the brief reads.The law's opponents had held fast to previous rulings where federal courts, including the Supreme Court, had said that hawkish immigration measures could not stand because immigration enforcement was a duty reserved for the federal government, not the states.Under a legal concept known as pre-emption, the Obama administration opposed state laws that took a more hawkish approach to immigration enforcement than the federal government, saying that duty was reserved for the feds.But one of the Trump administration's top goals is to crack down on illegal immigration, and its Justice Department is now arguing that because the federal government is asking Texas to hold immigrants for them, the two are working together not in opposition. As such, it argued, the federal government does not take issue with Texas' law and it should be allowed to continue."The federal government must have the proper assistance from state and local authorities to effectively enforce immigration laws and keep our communities safe. And that's, frankly, what Texas's law does," White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at an off-camera briefing Friday. "The Trump administration is glad to be putting its full support behind Texas's effort."
(TNS)  Six times Nikki Dixon has been saved from likely death by heroin overdose because quick-acting friends and emergency responders used the drug antidote naloxone to revive her.But all she remembers is waking up feeling each time like she had the worst possible case of the flu  cold sweats, vomiting, stomach in knots and everything smelling repulsive  and craving another fix to take away the pain of drug withdrawal. Within hours, the 24-year-old Columbus woman was using again.This vicious cycle experienced by many addicts has added a new facet to Ohio's grim war against opioid abuse: compassion fatigue. While some emphasize how naloxone saves lives and gives drug users another chance to get into treatment and escape the drug's hold, others say that the antidote is being used as a crutch, allowing addicts to continue abusing drugs without consequence."It's just reviving somebody who's going to go back and get high the same day," said Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones. "It's a war that we're losing."Deputies in the Cincinnati-area department don't carry naloxone, often called by its brand name, Narcan. But in Columbus and many other parts of Ohio, emergency responders have used the opioid-reversing drug to save thousands of lives."You hear from the public, 'Why don't you let them die?' ... We're not God; we don't decide who lives or dies," said John McFarland, Police Chief of Martins Ferry, in eastern Ohio. "We have the ability to save them, so we do."Overdose deaths in Ohio are skyrocketing, eclipsing 4,100 last year, according to a Dispatch survey of county coroners.However, the toll would be far higher without Narcan. Besides emergency responders, it's being administered by drug addicts themselves and is available to anyone without a prescription at many pharmacies and community clinics."All the users carry it on them. I know I did," said Dixon, who started taking pain pills at age 13 before switching to heroin.The Columbus Division of Fire administered Narcan 316 times in May alone, or more than 10 times a day, said Assistant Chief James Davis. That's almost double the 161 times the drug was administered in May 2016.Statewide, emergency medical responders treated nearly 13,000 overdose patients with Narcan in 2014, the most recent data available from the Ohio Emergency Medical Services. That's a 127 percent increase in the past decade.Even Narcan's advocates acknowledge that while the drug is saving lives, it's no cure for the drug epidemic. If overdose victims don't go into immediate treatment, most overdose again. And that's a problem in Ohio, where addicts often have to wait months to get into a program that can help them.Narcan clears opioid receptors in the brain and then locks onto them for up to 90 minutes, throwing addicts into immediate withdrawal. So for those who don't want or can't get treatment, that means rushing to again use a drug that almost killed them so they can avoid the vomiting, cold sweats, diarrhea and other symptoms of withdrawal.Dixon experienced that pain firsthand but was still surprised by the reaction she got after giving Narcan to a friend who overdosed on heroin."His lips turned blue and he was like dead. I gave him Narcan and I didn't think that he was going to come back ... so I tried the second one thinking that it wasn't going to make a difference, but it brought him back to life," she said."He just kind of woke up and coughed. He sat up and coughed. He wasn't worried about anything but I ruined his high. ... He was mad at me for saving his life. ... I'm like, 'You idiot, I just saved your life.'"Lt. Robert Chromikof the Summit County sheriff's office said, "It's kind of like dealing with the walking dead."Jones is frustrated with the epidemic that has led to three births in his jail  one in the toilet."My policy is, I'm not going to do it," Jones said of Narcan. "We are the police. We have life squads."One reason Jones doesn't want deputies administering the drug is because it puts them in danger if they stoop down to revive people."These people don't always like the police, and it's a very dangerous situation for the police," Jones said.As it seeks to cope with the opioid epidemic, southwestern Ohio's Washington Court House Police Department has adopted a different approach that has sparked widespread controversy.As in Butler County, police in Washington Court House don't carry Narcan. In fact, officers have the option of slapping a misdemeanor charge on those who overdose repeatedly and use Narcan to recover. Since Jan. 1, officers in Washington Court House have charged 26 people with "inducing panic"  a statute generally meant to stop people from raising false alarms or threatening violence.Critics said fear of the charge would make people reluctant to call authorities in the event of an overdose, but Police Chief Brian Hottinger said he has seen no evidence of that. Since the beginning of the year, 156 overdoses have been reported in the city of 14,000.Hottinger said his city has been unfairly accused of seeking to punish those with opioid addictions. The new policy isn't intended to jail people longer or fine them more, he said."If we can charge them with inducing panic, we can get them into municipal court" and possibly into treatment, Hottinger said. "We're using it as a way to deal with people who need help, but are not asking for help."A city councilman in southwestern Ohio's Middletown has asked whether it's possible for city emergency crews to stop responding to drug overdose calls as costs for those calls mount. Council member Dan Picard says arresting people who overdose increases the burden on taxpayers and strains the court system.He suggests issuing a court summons to individuals who overdose and ordering them to do community service. City Manager Doug Adkins declined to comment on Picard's suggestions until he gets an opinion from the city's law department. He has said that Middletown is on pace to spend $100,000 on naloxone, while having budgeted only $10,000 for the year.For Columbus police, the decision about whether to carry Narcan is voluntary. But for one cop who does carry it, there's no debate about what to do if he sees someone overdosing.Columbus Police Officer Ed Chung has used Narcan 18 times to revive overdose victims while on patrol in the Hilltop neighborhood west of Downtown. All but one survived.He has heard the concerns, but his feeling is that he's simply saving a life."I've been given a tool, and I'm utilizing that tool to try and make sure that person makes it," Chung said. "I'm doing my job  what we're supposed to do: help people."At the end of the day, it's your brother, it's your sister, it's your son, daughter, mother, whoever; it's someone who is being loved by somebody. ... There is always someone who cares about that person."The reality, Chung and others say, is that many addicts repeatedly overdose before seeking help.He and others noted that Narcan not only saves drug addicts, but it's also frequently used to revive law-enforcement officers and children who inadvertently come in contact with deadly drugs.Katie Clark, a nursing supervisor at Maryhaven, an alcohol and drug treatment facility in Columbus, said most of the people who seek treatment have been saved one or more times by Narcan. Patients are sent home with two doses of the antidote."You get clients who come in and say 'Hey, thanks for that Narcan. It saved my life. My mom used it on me or my friend used it on me,' " Clark said."I view addiction as a disease. If someone is having an allergic reaction, I'm going to give them an EpiPen. If somebody overdoses, I'm going to give them Narcan. If somebody is in a diabetic crisis, I'm going to give them insulin. If you have the choice to save a life, why wouldn't you?"Dixon used for 11 years, and after deciding to get help waited five months for an opening in a residential treatment program. She realizes it's difficult for people to understand why she would use again within hours of being revived with Narcan."I could have died," she said. "Today I'm grateful, yes. But at the time, it's such a strong disease, you live to use and use to live. You don't think about anything else. When you are doing heroin, you are sick without it. You can't function without it."Narcan, Dixon said, could save "somebody's life that will later on get it together, like me. I wouldn't be here without it."For those who care for people like Dixon, however, the crisis is taking a toll.Davis, the assistant Columbus fire chief, said some in his department are working 24-hour shifts saving people and then taking Narcan home to deal with addiction problems in their own families."At some point, they don't have anything left to give," he said.Lisa Deranek, an emergency room physician who doubles up as Medina County coroner, said saving people only to have to save them again is hard. She hasn't yet had to deal with the corpse of somebody she saved earlier in the ER  but she said "it's inevitable.""It's such a frustrating problem, because as an ER doc we're supposed to save lives," she said. "We're saving lives, but it's only temporary."Like others, she cautioned that Narcan is no panacea."Just throwing Narcan on this opioid fire is not going to fix it," she said. "I'm afraid the government thinks it is."Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, associate dean for public health practice and training at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said Narcan saves lives but recovery requires timely access to treatment."Frankly, if you are just doing Narcan it's likely you'll have to go out again because it's important to do, because you're saving their life, but it's also important to have the next step ... what are we doing to engage them in treatment?". .ccandisky@dispatch.com@ccandiskymschladen@dispatch.com@martyschladen2017 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio)Visit The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) at www.dispatch.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) - A large military-grade antenna sat in a field outside a generator-powered, air-conditioned tent.Inside, on two ham radio stations, members of the Scranton, Pa.,-Pocono Amateur Radio Klub called out K-3-C-S-G across the airwaves.At one point, turning a knob to adjust the frequency and listening through garbled noises that sounded as if they were coming from space, Bernie Andreoli contacted a fellow radio enthusiast from Alabama.Andreoli will spend the next 24 hours or so listening and calling out during the national Amateur Radio Field Day emergency preparedness exercise. The global exercise packs the airwaves with amateur radio operators set up in remote areas, practicing keeping in touch in case a natural or man-made disaster knocks out advanced communications.At Seamans Airport, SPARK joined forces with the Lackawanna County Emergency Management Agency, which donated the tent and generator. The club is part of the countys emergency management plan if communications are lost.The object is to set up in a remote location, operate under emergency power and to make as many contacts as we can for 24 hours, said Heath Goldstein, club member.Members, some working on a computer powered by solar energy, called out C-Q, which is radio-speak for seeking you, into a microphone connected to a large black box with knobs and a screen displaying the radio frequency. Once another radio operator answered, using voice or Morse code with their call sign, they informed the other ham they were operating two stations on emergency power and calling from EPA, or Eastern Pennsylvania.The club, whose members were keeping track of who they contacted from 2 p.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday, had a fellow club member and friend in mind while they worked this weekend  Art Sposto, who died Tuesday.Andreoli, the trustee of the radio club, ventured into ham radio while learning Italian.I thought if I learned how to use ham radio I could get on with an Italian operator and practice Italian, he said. I have yet to do that, and Ive been a ham for 30 years.Club member Tom Davis just got back into amateur radio. While serving in the Air Force, stationed in places including Massachusetts, South Korea and Alaska, he worked in radio communications.That kind of blended over to the amateur radio operations, the Scranton resident said.Radio transmission permits are licensed through the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the airwaves. Ham radio continues to be essential to communications because it doesnt need a satellite, phone lines or the internet to operate. Users in both remote locations and populated areas can communicate through their radios using a wire in a tree.That signal could get through and communicate through some of the worst of atmospheric conditions and low power, said Andreoli. I have a 5-watt radio that I work the world with.kbolus@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5114;@kbolusTT on Twitter2017 The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.)Visit The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.) at thetimes-tribune.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
There is a new building being completed in the Seattle downtown core. The F5 Building , as it has been named, is using a new type of seismic design. Eventually this building and the rest of those going up in Seattle (there are over 60 building cranes working in Seattle) will have a seismic test of one type or another. I'm sure their performance during a quake will be monitored.What is also clear is that the Pioneer District and other older areas in Seattle will not fare very well. The desire for cheap rents and historical preservation is over-riding any public safety concerns about unreinforced masonry buildings. Thus, any requirement to mitigate the risks these buildings have in spades, goes unanswered.As we watch our national politics play out back in "the other Washington," I note with interest how single-issue voters have changed the electoral outcomes. I believe we live in a very complicated world and thus I am not a "single issue" voter, except on one topic  that being safety! I'm OK with taking reasonable risks that have been mitigated. After all, that is what we do every day when we perhaps do the most dangerous thing possible  driving a car, or worse yet, a motorcycle.This is where mitigation comes into play. Making well informed choices that recognizes the value of mitigation and incorporates appropriate measures is what I'm looking for in how we build in the 21st century.
McLaren's team boss has admitted the British team could take a break from being powered by Honda engines in F1.

Up and down the paddock, most insiders expect that a full McLaren-Honda divorce is on the cards.

But it appears a trial separation could be a leading option instead.

"On paper it's a good strategy," team boss Boullier told Britain's Sky.

"If you can run a (different) engine for the time being until Honda is competitive, then why not? This is one of the various scenarios we may have considered," he added.

Mercedes' Toto Wolff said in Baku that the issue of McLaren's 2018 engine supplier needs to be resolved by around the end of the summer.

Boullier admitted the decision is "a question of weeks" away.

The Frenchman also said McLaren is seeking to keep Fernando Alonso on board for 2018, but other reports indicate the Spaniard is now almost certain to quit the team.

In Baku, Alonso's management had talks with Mercedes and Renault officials.

When asked if he knows what the future holds for him, Alonso said at the weekend: "Maybe."

Former F1 driver and now German-language pundit Marc Surer said: "This weekend, Fernando has been sending confusing signals.

"McLaren was not competitive at Baku and yet he was saying things are going well for him. He also said he would win races in 2018, so what does he know that we do not?" Surer told Speed Week.

"I have learned over the years that Fernando often implies something with a hidden message, or sometimes he is provoking a situation or being ironic.

"Basically, we can only speculate about his situation at the moment," he added.

(GMM)
 University Professor Who Cheered Students Death is a BDS Supporter | Main | DPA Places Jerusalem in 'Palestinian Territories' 

June 26, 2017

BBC Misleads Again

The BBC shows a pattern of misleading its audience as to the nature of Palestinian terrorism. The grotesquely inappropriate headline is the most recent in a lengthy list of such examples. Israeli policewoman Hadas Malka was murdered by three Palestinian terrorists, yet the BBC editors decided to headline the story as "Three Palestinians killed after deadly stabbing." Only after complaints from high visibility individuals, like Donald Trump, Jr., did the BBC change the headline to more accurately reflect what occurred.

Read the article on this journalistic malfeasance at http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/BBC-misleads-again-497443

Posted by SS at June 26, 2017 03:06 PM

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In his paper in the journal Energy Policy , Lasse Fridstrm finds that in the most optimistic scenario for the energy transition affecting Norwegian registered vehicles, zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) would constitute 90% of the flow of new passenger cars in 2024; however, 90% penetration of ZEVs into the stock of passenger cars would not occur until 2039.

Using a stock-flow model based on data from Norway, a researcher at the countrys Institute of Transport Economics (TI) has calculated the energy transition time lag for motor vehicles under a number of scenarios.

For light duty freight vehicles (LDVs), the corresponding milestones would be reached in 2026 and 2040, respectively, according to the same optimistic policy scenario.

The stock-flow modeling approach accounts for the stock of vehicles and the flows into and out of this stock.Based on the Markov chain principleby which the flows and stock in year t depend only on the stock of the previous year t-1, Fridstrms model projects year-by-year changes in the fleet of vehicles in each category, classified by age, weight and powertrain (energy) technology.

The model specifies 11 technologies: gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE); diesel ICE; battery electric vehicle (BEV); plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) with gasoline ICE; PHEV with diesel ICE; non-plug-in hybrid vehicle (HEV) with gasoline ICE; HEV with diesel ICE; hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV); natural gas ICE; kerosene ICE; and other.

The four different scenarios differ in terms of new vehicle acquisitions, but are identical in terms of transition ratesset in accordance with the average observed annual rates during 20102015.

The trend scenario is essentially an extrapolation of the changes in market shares observed between 2010 and 2015.

The ultra-low emission (ULE) scenario is designed to meet the Norwegian governments ambitious targets for the uptake of zero- and low-emission vehiclesby 2025, all new passenger cars and all new urban buses are to be BEVs or FCEVs. The same applies to new LDVs (cargo vans), to three quarters of all new interurban buses and coaches, and to half of all new HDVs (trucks and semitrailer tractors) by 2030.

The low emission (LE) scenario sees zero-emission automobiles obtaining market dominance at least by 2030.

The business-as-usual scenario posits new automobile sales changing only slowly from the market shares observed in 2016.



Share of zero emission passenger cars, in four scenarios. Fridstrm (2017). Click to enlarge.

To measure the speed of transition, Fridstrm used three indicators: (i) the share of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs); (ii) the average energy consumption per vehicle or freight ton kilometer; and (iii) the average CO 2 emissions per vehicle or freight ton kilometer.

Among his other findings:

For automobile energy efficiency, the lag between innovation and penetration typically varies between 8 and 15 years; the LDV lag varies from 7-8 years to more than 20 years. For HDVs, in terms of energy consumption fer freight ton kilometer, the energy efficiency lag varies from 12 to more than 25 years.

A 90% reduction in the car stocks mean CO 2 emission rate is projected to occur in 2037 according to the most optimistic (ULE) scenario, but no sooner than in the second half of the centuryif at allif the current trend continues.

 a relatively high speed of transition will occur only if governments make exceptionally forceful policy instruments to bear on new vehicle acquisitions. More realistically, the energy transition within road transportation will take several decades. Achieving such a transition will thus require long-time political perseverance and resolution. Fridstrm (2017)

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On 23 June 1992, the BMW Group announced its decision to build its US plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Continuous expansion of the plant with extensive additions and the decision to build the successful BMW X models in Spartanburg have made the plant the largest manufacturing facility in the BMW Group production network within the space of 25 years. During the ceremony to mark the anniversary, the all-new BMW X3 rolled off the production line in Spartanburg. More than 1.5 million BMW X3 vehicles have been delivered to customers worldwide since it was first launched at the end of 2003. The new BMW X3 will be launched in fall 2017.

The BMW Group has invested US$8 billion in the production location to date and produced around 3.9 million vehicles since going online on 8 September 1994.

From 2018 to 2021 we will invest further 600 million US dollars in manufacturing infrastructure for future generations of the BMW X models. Harald Kruger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG

The BMW Group produces BMW X models in Spartanburg for the US and global markets. With record production of more than 411,000 units in 2016, Spartanburg is the largest BMW Group plant worldwide. Around 1,400 BMW X3, X4, X5, and X6 vehicles come off the assembly line every working day. Maximum production capacity is 450,000 vehicles per year.

Around 70% of the vehicles produced in Spartanburg are exported to more than 140 countries worldwide. According to the US Department of Commerce, the BMW Group is the largest vehicle exporter from the US in terms of monetary value. In 2016, 287,700 BMW vehicles with a total value of more than US$10 billion were exported from Spartanburg: 86% were shipped from the Port of Charleston, with the remaining 14% dispatched from five other ports in the Southeastern United States.

The BMW Group has 235 local suppliers in the US. In 2016, 80% of the BMW Groups purchasing volume in the NAFTA area originated in the US. The US is the companys second-largest purchasing market, after Germany, and accounts for 5.2 billion.

According to an independent study of University of South Carolina (Moore School of Business), the nationwide economic impact of BMW Group Plant Spartanburg is US$38.5 billion annually.
The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship Selection Committee has selected three winners who will receive $50,000 fellowship awards each for projects in green energy technology. The awardees are Dr. Ahmet Kusoglu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Professor Julie Renner, Case Western Reserve University; and Professor Shuhui Sun, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS).

Dr. Ahmet Kusoglu: Ionomer Composites with Active Self-Reinforcement

Professor Julie Renner: Self-assembled templates for ultra-high utilization of noble metals in electrolysis membrane electrode assemblies

Professor Shuhui Sun: Rational Design of Highly Active and Stable Pt-free Electrocatalysts for PEM Fuel Cells in Vehicles

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, a partnership between The Electrochemical Society and Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA), a division of Toyota Motor North America, is in its third year. A diverse applicant pool of young professors and scholars pursuing innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology responded to ECSs request for proposals.

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship aims to encourage young professors and scholars to pursue research in green energy technology that may promote the development of next-generation vehicles capable of utilizing alternative fuels.

The selected fellows will receive restricted grants of a minimum of $50,000 to conduct the research outlined in their proposals within one year. They will also receive a one-year complimentary ECS membership as well as the opportunity to present and/or publish their research with ECS.

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship is an annual program; the 2018-2019 request for proposals will be released in the fall of 2017.
Faurecia has won a contract to retrofit 20,000 Seoul buses and commercial vehicles using its Amminex technology. Amminex has developed an Ammonia Storage and Delivery System (ASDS) which has demonstrated its efficiency to almost completely eliminate NO x from diesel engines. ( Earlier post .)

As part of the Seoul Metropolitan Air Pollution Management Project, Faurecia will provide its DeNOx solution through a supply agreement concluded with two partnersILJIN and CleanEarthwho have both contracted with the Ministry of Environment in South Korea.

Amminex is a Danish technology company acquired by Faurecia in 2016. ASDS has been tested in real driving conditions over 30 million of kilometers and has saved 360 tons of NOx. The alternative, AdBlue, reduces a significantly lower amount of NOx in the same city driving conditions.

ASDS replaces diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) or AdBlue with a lighter, high-efficiency system which works particularly well at low engine temperatures. It is thus well adapted to slow, urban driving conditions and for city vehicles such as buses and commercial delivery vehicles.
A study by researchers in Greece, the UK and The Netherlands links long term exposure to aircraft noise, particularly during the night, to an increased risk of developing high blood pressure and possibly heart flutter and stroke as well. The paper is published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine .

The research team drew on data from 420 people living near Athens International Airport in Greece, where up to 600 planes take off and land every day. These subjects formed one of six groups of people living near six large European airports who had taken part in the HYENA study, which assessed the potential health impacts of aircraft noise in 2004-6.

The aircraft and road traffic noise exposure levels estimated for their postcodes at that timeless than 50 decibels to more than 60 dBwere used for the current study in 2013.

Daytime aircraft noise was defined as that occurring between 0700 and 2300 hours, and that occurring between 2300 and 0700 hours was defined as night-time aircraft noise.

Around half of the participants (just under 49%) were exposed to more than 55 dB of daytime aircraft noise, while around one in four (just over 27%) were exposed to more than 45 dB of night-time aircraft noise. Only around one in 10 (11%) were exposed to significant road traffic noise of more than 55 dB.

Between 2004-6 and 2013, 71 people were newly diagnosed with high blood pressure and 44 were diagnosed with heart flutter (cardiac arrhythmia). A further 18 had a heart attack.

Exposure to aircraft noise, particularly at night, was associated with all cases of high blood pressure, and with new cases.

When all cases of high blood pressure were included, every additional 10 dB of night-time aircraft noise was associated with a 69% heightened risk of the condition. When only new cases were included, every additional 10 dB was associated with a more than doubling in risk.

Exposure to night-time aircraft noise was also associated with a doubling in risk of heart flutter diagnosed by a doctor, but this only reached statistical significance when all cases, not just new ones, were included in the calculations.

A heightened risk of stroke was similarly linked to increasing aircraft noise exposure, but this was not statistically significant, possibly because of the small number of cases involved, suggest the researchers.

The associations between road traffic noise and ill health were much weaker and less consistent, the findings showed.

This is one of the first long term follow-up studies of aircraft noisetherefore it is not possible to draw conclusions about cause and effect at this stage until more evidence/studies become available, say the researchers.

They point out that they were unable to look at specific causes of death among the 78 people who died between 2004-6 and 2013. The numbers studied were also relatively small, and it wasnt possible to account for the potential effects of air pollution.

Nevertheless, a growing body of evidence links noise exposure to ill health, they said.

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A couple of weeks back, I accepted an invitation to attend a dinner being held at John Gorham's PLAZA DEL TORO on SE Taylor in Portland. The focus of the dinner was to transport the essence of spring cuisine in Sonoma to Portland, while we re-acquainted ourselves with the fine wines of Hanna winery from Sonoma County.

Our host was none other than Christine Hanna one of Sonoma's best emissaries. Christine entertained our group effortlessly as she weaved anecdotes of mystical Moon Mountain and the treacherous Oakville Grade while seamlessly conveying recreations of idyllic and inspirational surroundings experienced in her childhood. The ease of her fluent appreciation of seasonal Sonoma gastronomy is apparent, and rightly so, because she authored the cookbook "The Winemaker Cooks" a wonderful collection of recipes that showcases the endless selection of fruits, vegetables and proteins grown in the area and how to pair them with her wines.

The spring in Sonoma theme made me a little nostalgic recalling summers I've spent on the on the Russian River. Back then I was cooking as a camp Captain at the infamous Bohemian Grove, and Sonoma County farmers proudly presented their pristine produce for the camp chefs to create culinary masterpieces for the privileged who attended. I was enthralled with the bounty of spring I had available to work with. I can see the same conviction of inspiration in the dishes Chef Kessler created for this event. Greeting us as we entered PLAZA DEL TORO was Will Rogers of Donna White PR, one of the hardest working guys in Public Relations. It was a pleasure to finally meet him after so many years of industry interaction.

We started the evening with a glass of Hanna Rose of Malbec and Pinot noir from the 2016 vintage it was a perfect choice for the crostini and charcuterie. This wine was a first for me and I actually do not think there are too many of those left in my timeline of experiences. A mix of 87% Malbec and 13% Pinot noir and despite the unusual blend it was quite refreshing, a genuine party starter of a wine! I highly recommend this libation as it was such a joy to drink, and it set the mood for the rest of the evenings frolicking fun. Watching the crew at PLAZA DEL TORO as they created the evening's sustenance with confidence reminded me of just how serious Portland's culinarians can be. Chef Michael Kessler and his team of culinary artists delivered some of the best Sonoma inspired dishes I have ever been served.

Our spring in Sonoma themed gastronomic experience continued after all guests were seated; beginning with a glass of Hanna Sauvignon Blanc this would be the second wine served from the 2016 vintage and by all indications, the release of the reds from this vintage will be high on my list of anticipated wines. The citrus flavors and stone fruit aromas bring some sassy notes to this bright, brash and zingy elixir, making it the perfect, palate pleasing, pairing with the Dungeness crab and Fennel Salad.

Crab and Fennel Salad perfect with Hanna Sauvignon Blanc

The sweet crab meat juxtaposed against bitter greens, red onion and shaved fennel combined with the Meyer Lemon vinaigrette created a phenomenal flavor explosion making the dish greater than the sum of its parts. Luxuriating over every morsel of crab and sip of Sauvignon Blanc, I thought, if this gets much better my head my might just explode from too much sensory joy and then they opened the Chardonnay.

Hanna Chardonnay superbly paired with Spring Pasta

Christine Hanna related to us the tale of traversing trending styles of this varietal over the years and how they finally nailed the style that utilizes oak aging without oak overload. It was wonderful, and I'm probably the harshest critic of Chardonnay on the planet, it's not like I do not enjoy the grape, I just find very few renditions that impress my palate. Hanna Russian River Chardonnay makes the list of the few that will always be welcome on my dinner table. Chef Kessler paired a pasta dish with the essence of spring flavors to complement the Chardonnay. A combination of fresh English peas, pea tendrils and Fava beans over fresh hand cut pasta in a light cream sauce with pepper and grana Padano cheese warmed my soul like a campfire on a cool spring night.

Moving to our main course was like the finale of a huge fireworks show, an open fire grilled Tomahawk Ribeye with gremolata and crispy capers arrived accompanied by grilled asparagus, marble potatoes and a soft boiled egg, bottarga. As if that was not decadent enough a wonderfully charred Artichoke with Calabrian chili and brown butter was also served to finally lay to rest the myth that artichokes and asparagus do not pair well with wine. Christine chose two Hanna Cabernet Sauvignon from two different vintages and two different Sonoma regions to imbibe upon. The tenderness of the steak was a burst of sensually tactile flavor and the charred artichoke and grilled asparagus provided a contrast so pleasurable, I will be adding the combination to my culinary repertoire.

Well proportioned Cabernet delicious with Tomahawk Grilled Ribeye

The 2013 Hanna Bismark Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma Valley was subtle, generous and sophisticated. The 2014 Hanna Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley was sassy and bold; a big back-talking wine that might make you want to slap your momma, it was so good. They both worked well and handled the palate cleansing chores set forth in handy fashion. When dessert arrived it was like the fireworks show found an entire arsenal they forgot to light after the finale and it just kept going, boom!

Pastry Chef Ashley Claybaugh presented her take on Black Forest Cake it was an absolute show stopper of a presentation. All of the Hanna wines were a treat an absolute these have to be on my dinner table more often kind of wines.

Chocolate and cherry

This dinner was a testament to how well talented chefs can adapt seasonal cuisine when pairing with regional wines. PLAZA DEL TORO is not a restaurant per say but an event space, after attending several events at this venue I can attest they reflect the same quality, and hospitality experience all of John Gorham restaurants are known for. If you are planning an event this could be the perfect venue for you. Check them out.

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GTT has been on an acquisition tear lately. They bought Perseus and Giglinx in the last month. "Perseus specializes in the ultra low latency connectivity used by the high frequency trading community," according to Telecom Ramblings. The purchase price was $37.5M plus the assumption of $3M in capital leases. Perseus comes after GTT bought Hibernia Networks in January.

Then the announcement came that GTT had picked off Giglinx Global, a wholesale reseller of IP and network. Details were not disclosed, but revenue was assessed at $16M.

This morning, GTT announced that they were buying Global Capacity from Pivotal Group. [Pivotal Group acquired GC from Bankruptcy in 2011.] "Under the terms of the agreement, GTT will pay $100 million in cash and issue 1.85 million shares of GTT common stock, to the sellers at closing. GTT said it expects that Global Capacity's annualized revenue will be about $200 million at close," according to the press release.

GTT is a stew consisting of WBS Connect, PacketExchange, N-layer, Tinet, UNSi, MegaPath, One Source Networks, Hibernia, and these 3. It has a Tier 1 network according to Dyn. And it is looking more and more like GTT is the new Level3, as L3 goes quietly into the closet of CenturyLink.

Rick Calder, GTT president and CEO has repeatedly expressed that he expects GTT to achieve the "financial objectives of $1 billion in revenue and $250 million in Adjusted EBITDA."

No idea what the magic is with $1B in revenue for the sake of it. Intermedia Communications hit the Billion dollar mark in 2000 - and collapsed in 2001 selling to Verizon. PAETEC hit $1B in revenue before being scooped up by Windstream. No clear idea who would buy GTT if they hit $1B in revenue.

GTT's revenue last quarter were $182.4 million, which is $700 million annuallized. Add in GC at $200M and GTT will almost hit a billion in revenue (with a billion in matching debt by the way.)

Another company striving to reach a Billion first is RingCentral. (I think Vonage will hit it first, since they have Consolidated Revenues of $243 Million in the last quarter. Vonage Business revenues are expected to be $486M in 2017.) RC's quarterly report says Total revenue grew 29% year-over-year to $111.8 million. This makes RC revenue about $450M, a little behind VB.

RC's CEO Vlad Shmunis says, "As we look ahead, we are excited about the market opportunity for cloud communications as enterprise customers empower their global and distributed workforce to work anywhere, any time, and on any device. This market transition will fuel our growth to $1bn by 2020."

RC is riding high after Synergy Research marked them as a Leader in the 3 spaces of UCaaS: Retail, Wholesale and Cloud Comms.

"With a 19% market share by revenue, RingCentral is growing twice as fast as the overall UCaaS market, according to Synergy Research." So where does that put VB? It isn't even listed. RC is followed by 8x8, Mitel and ShoreTel in the report. That's why I just love analyst reports. P2P Baby! P2P!

I wish instead of spotlighting the revenue, they could spotlight customer care, trouble free deployment, retention, and ease of doing business. Instead it is a race for revenue, gobbling up companies, and a mess to deal with. Integration is a Myth in Telecom. It is smoke and mirrors with duct tape, foil and pink slips.
Keep the licensing

We hope House Bill 746 will remain concealed in a Senate committee.

Thats where it went after arriving from the state House, which gave 64-51 approval to the controversial measure. It would eliminate special licensing and training requirements to carry a concealed weapon in North Carolina. As such, its opposed by many in law enforcement.

Senators may realize that theres not enough support in the legislature to override a probable veto by Gov. Roy Cooper.

Some half-million North Carolina residents have earned concealed-carry permits after appropriate instruction. That gives an assurance of safety and responsibility. Lets keep it.

A legacy of science

The Greensboro Science Center is a leading visitor attraction, but it didnt start out that way. The seeds for its growth were planted by a passionate science educator, Edward J. von der Lippe.

Von der Lippe became director of the Greensboro Junior Museum in 1966 and turned it into so much more by the time he retired in 2003 as head of the Greensboro Natural Science Center. Under his leadership, the institution added to its facilities and exhibits, gained national accreditation and expanded its mission.

We didnt change things. We just kept growing based on the foundation he started, Glenn Dobrogosz, who followed von der Lippe, said last week after his predecessors death at 83.

Von der Lippes legacy remains on the premises in the form of an extensive collection thats still used for educational programs and exhibits. His lifes work will always be an important part of Greensboros life.

Not ready for our close-up

North Carolina once-booming film industry seems to be fading to black. Yet it keeps getting thumbs-down from state lawmakers while our neighbors in Georgia are doing boffo business.

The swoon here began when the legislature began to reduce funding for an incentives program that targeted movie and television production companies.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly wasnt wrong to want changes. The program could have been more sharply focused. But the legislature went too far. Two years ago lawmakers switched to a capped-grant program instead of tax credits and the film business began to dry up.

The new budget approved by the legislature provides $15 million for film and production grants as well as $31 million for 2018-19. But the grants-only program hasnt been working well, with only $10.9 million of the $30 million in the 2016-17 fund spent.

Gov. Roy Coopers budget had proposed tax incentives as well as $15 million toward the grant program. His hybrid approach seemed worth a try.

Meanwhile, productions  including Guardians of the Galaxy 2  are flocking to Republican-led Georgia, whose incentives have been more generous and lucrative. That Southern red state is eating our lunch because it sees nothing wrong with investing money to make money.

Weather or not

Just to be safe, better carry your umbrella. As of the beginning of last week, some parts of the Triad had received as many as 9.1 inches of rain for the month. During recent storms some low-lying areas on streets and roads became impassable. When their roots lost their grip in saturated soil, trees easily toppled when shoved by heavy winds.

Only a few years ago, in the face of a brutal drought and a shrinking, sun-baked reservoir, Greensboro imposed water-use restrictions and dispatched water police to enforce them. When Friday rolled around, we suddenly remembered what hot and dry felt like.

Not that we were complaining.
Despite the companies out there building tech platforms they claim will make email obsolete, the messaging medium is alive and well -- and occupying an increasing proportion of Americans time.

In fact, 54 percent of people report that they have more email to deal with than they did three years ago. That figure is one of many surprising findings from a survey conducted by ReachMail, an email marketing software company. ReachMail surveyed 1,000 Americans who regularly use email for work and found that their increase in email use isnt limited to the confines of the workday -- people are spending more time on email both inside and outside the office. Only 14 percent report having less email to deal with today.

Related: There's a Time for Email and a Time for Slack. How to Know the Difference.

Only a quarter of respondents say theyve never sent a work email after 6 p.m. And later in the evening, men are more likely than women to keep emailing. Sixty-two percent of men and 46 percent of women report having sent a work email after 9 p.m.

Even on days off, email creeps in. Seventy-five percent of respondents admit they check their work email on weekends, while 61 percent check it while on vacation.

ReachMail also asked the group whether receiving a work email after work hours and responding to it promptly makes them feel more important within their role. Fifty-five percent of millennials say yes, compared with 31 percent of gen Xers and 18 percent of baby boomers.

To relieve yourself of the constant inbox influx, Entrepreneur Guest Writer David Lavenda suggests limiting email checking to set times during the day. Or better yet, move some conversations away from email. If you can make a phone call or go down the hall to speak with a colleague about a project or issue, consider handling the task that way. Chances are, itll get taken care of faster than if it were handled through the delayed back-and-forth of email.

Remember, your email overuse isnt just a time suck for you -- it can also make your colleagues less productive. Entrepreneur Contributor Toby Nwazor advises using the CC feature sparingly. Only copy people on emails if the content of those emails directly pertains to them, or if they have to know or act upon the information youre sending.

Related: The 10 Biggest Productivity Killers and How to Overcome Them

Some people commit to a rigorous routine of responding to, archiving or delegating emails that allows them to constantly maintain inbox zero. Thirty-six percent of those surveyed by ReachMail say they have zero emails in their inbox, and women and millennials adopt this practice more than men, gen Xers and boomers. Of course, this means theyre looking at and dealing with their email multiple times an hour.

Check out the rest of the findings from the survey, which ReachMail has compiled into the infographic below.

Related:

Habits Are Hard to Break and Checking Email Is No Exception

The 12 Rules of Giving Negative Feedback (Infographic)

A Visual Guide to Financial Statements for Your Business (Infographic)



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


The administrative fee comes to $51.60. Photo: Melissa Hom

Ever since Danny Meyer announced in October of 2015 that hed abolish tipping at all of his restaurants, New York chefs have followed his lead with mixed success. The new policy plagued Romans, and Gabriel Stulman ended up reinstating tipping at Fedora. Now Blue Hill at Stone Barns, which Adam Platt named the absolute best restaurant in New York, has added a 20 percent administrative fee to its subtotal, following a $2 million wage-related lawsuit.

The tasting menu at Blue Hill now costs $258 (a $20 increase from last year)  plus the $51.60 administrative fee that is not a gratuity nor is it distributed to the service staff. There will be no line on the bill for additional gratuity. David Barber, who runs the restaurant with his brother Dan, tells Eater that this system allows them to recruit better talent and better protect existing talent without, he notes, forcing hardworking servers to take pay cuts.
UPDATED 2:30 p.m.

In results likely to add fuel to an already fiery debate over President Trumps planned expansion of private school vouchers, new evaluations show mixed results for voucher students in Indiana and Louisiana, particularly in students first years in private schools.

Indiana, Louisiana, even Ohio, they are all very different voucher programs, very different private schools participating, different students that are eligible, and the fact that there is this remarkable consistency in some ways is very surprising, said R. Joseph Waddington, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky and co-author of the Indiana program evaluation. Something thats really come out of it is ... students seem to struggle to integrate when they transition into private schools.

In Louisiana, researchers from the University of Arkansas found students statewide who switched from public to private schools using the Louisiana Scholarship Programs lottery showed no benefit in language arts or math after three years , compared to students who remained in public school. Students showed a significant drop in performance in their first year25 percentile points on average in mathbut began to recover over the next two years in their new school.

The Louisiana evaluation found a subgroup of students who started as low-performing in English did grow significantly after three years, as compared to matched students who remained in public schools. However, students who started in private schools in lower elementary grades declined significantly in math during the same time.

The Louisiana evaluations are significant for their insignificance, said John White, the state schools chief, in an Urban Institute symposium on the voucher study . You are left as a policymaker saying what is the significance of [vouchers] from a policy standpoint.

White said he was not surprised that public and private schools performed generally equally when measured on the same scale, and argued that the study showed both that vouchers might show promise as an intervention for some students and that voucher programs need regulations and accountability for schools.

These findings suggest that policymakers should drop ideological cases for either unregulated private school choice or no public funding of private schools at all. Instead, we should advocate for funding, admissions, and accountability systems that make available to the nations most disadvantaged children as many verifiably high-quality schools as possible, whether they be public or private, he said.

Similarly in Indiana, a forthcoming study by Waddington of the University of Kentucky and Mark Berends of the University of Notre Dame (which has not yet completed peer review), also found that students in grades 3-8 who switched from public to private schools using the Indianas Choice Scholarship Program lost significant ground in math and showed no gain in language arts during the first years in their new schools, compared to students who remained in public schools. Indianas voucher programwhich has grown to be the largest in the countryis not lottery based, so researchers created a matched group of more than 121,000 low-income students attending public schools to compare to nearly 4,000 voucher students who transferred from a public to a private school.

Overall, voucher students are lower-achieving students from the public sector and enter private schools substantially behind their private school peers, wrote Berends and Waddington in the study . During the [Indiana voucher programs] first few years of implementation, many private schools lacked the capacity or experience in educating new students who are academically behind.

In Indiana as in Louisiana, the biggest declines came in the first two years; researchers found voucher students improved in later years if they stayed in their private school.

There isnt any single school voucher effect that we have identified, said Patrick Wolf, professor and chair in school choice at the University of Arkansas, who co-authored the Louisiana evaluation. There are a lot of different effects for different participants and weve a long way to go to nail down best practices for developing voucher programs.

Both Indiana and Louisiana have large statewide voucher programs. With more than 30,000 students statewide in 2016-17, Indianas is the largest voucher program in the countryopen to students in low- and middle-income families. Both states require private schools that accept voucher students to participate in accountability testing.

Admission and Integration

The Louisiana evaluation found schools that accepted vouchers were disproportionately Catholic and more likely to have lower tuitions and enrollment and higher proportions of minority students than private schools that did not accept vouchers. That led to the somewhat paradoxical finding that Louisiana vouchers left students original public schools more racially diverseas black and Hispanic students left their their overwhelmingly black and Hispanic public schoolsbut the vouchers did not make the accepting private schools more diverse.

The existence of a voucher doesnt provide access necessarily, though it can be a step in that direction, said Douglas Harris, director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, of the findings.

In Indiana, Berends noted that there was almost universal participation of Catholic schools and strong participation by other private schools in the voucher programbut he noted that the sheer number of schools entering the voucher program may have contrinuted to lower performance of students using vouchers.

This program was kind of rushed in its implementation and some schools were just better prepared to serve diverse students than other schools, Waddington said.

Special Education

The Louisiana evaluation also found vouchers affected students with disabilities. In Louisiana, students who went to private schools using a voucher were slightly less likely to be identified for special education, and those who previously had been identified as having disabilities were significantly more likely to have their identification for special education services taken away once they started private school.

The Indiana study did not track special education identification screening, but did find that students with disabilities who used vouchers to attend private schools performed significantly worse on English/language arts than those who remained at public schools.
The near future for Los Angelenos. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Food vendors will soon be able to lawfully sell shaved ice and elotes on L.A.s sidewalks, and its thanks to President Trump. Not because he cares about improving the citys street eats, mind you. (In fact, hed probably avoid them at all costs.) Its because the Los Angeles City Council is afraid that since vending from the street is prohibited and a fair amount of the people who choose to do it anyway are undocumented immigrants, ICE could use an infraction as grounds to deport them.

L.A.s food-truck scene is thriving, as anyone whos heard of Roy Choi, seen Chef, or basically visited Los Angeles knows. But up until city lawmakers voted earlier this year to legalize it, L.A. was the only major U.S. city where selling food directly from the street was illegal. A decriminalization fight has been in the works for years, and it will finally get a tasty payout once the city works out the fine print. City Councilman Jose Huizar first proposed legalizing street vending back in 2014, but couldnt get enough backers. Then Donald Trump got elected: Once Trump was elected and his anti-immigration, anti-Latino rhetoric was at the forefront of his campaign, he tells NPR, council members around the city council decided to move forward. Their unanimous vote to decriminalize came in the context of street vendors risking having their products seized, getting tickets, or even being charged with misdemeanors  reasons the Trump administration hasnt hesitated to use to round up immigrants. We didnt want to take a chance in further assisting with the division of families, should some of these individuals get caught up in the court system because of a small infraction, Huizar explains.

The city is testing a vendor-permitting system right now on a plaza thats privately owned (so vendors arent selling in public). Once time comes to figure out the citywide ordinance, council members expect fights over who can sell what where, and how to punish violators, considering how lax enforcement of the ban is at present. But supporters argue its an all-around win for everybody because it lessens the chance of a family getting ripped apart by ICE, and also makes street vendors a formal tax-paying, permit-getting part of the citys economy. The city is expected to issue a report later this summer.
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Berkmanns Jacquie Kay passes away

By Jo Gilbert

It is with great sadness that Harpers has learned of the passing of Berkmann Wine Cellars long-serving sales director, Jacquie Kay.

Kay died peacefully at home on Monday, June 19, after a private battle with cancer.

This morning, the company paid tribute a true doyenne of the wine trade, who spent 35 years rising through the ranks to become London sales director and a member of Berkmanns board.

Owner and chairman, Joseph Berkmann, said today: Jacquie was gentle, diplomatic, kind and much liked by all. She was forever a close member of our family, and exceedingly loyal to me through many difficult moments. Shell be sorely missed.

In a statement, the company said that Kay was integral in helping Berkmann become the business it is today.

Having joined Berkmann Wine Cellars in 1982 at the age of 31 to develop a private wine club called Le Nez Rouge, Kay was behind re-channelling the suppliers focus into supplying Londons independent on- and off-trade business, the company said.

Berkmann Wines is a family-owned company with roots in the restaurant trade, having been founded in 1964 to supply Joseph Berkmanns group of restaurants with Bordeaux, Burgundy and Beaujolais.

Kay was widely respected in the wine and restaurant industries for her work.
Halewood aims to put stamp on craft beer with Sadlers acquisition

By Jo Gilbert

Halewood Wines & Spirits is marking itself out as a contender in the global craft beer market via a new investment deal with Sadlers Brewing Co.

The Liverpool-based drinks company has bought a majority stake in the Stourbridge brewer, in a move that is similar to the one made with Cumbrian firm Hawkshead Brewery earlier this year.

With the deals, the producer and distributor will strengthen its position in in the mid and north of England, as well as cementing their position as a player in the craft beer movement.

Sadlers craft beer portfolio will be distributed via Halewood and will sit alongside its flagship brands Lambrini, Crabbies and Red Square vodka.

Sadler's, which is a family-owned business based in the West Midlands, will benefit from Halewoods infrastructure both in the UK and overseas.

Halewood Wines & Spirits group CEO, Stewart Hainsworth, said that his company would support Sadler's and and talented fifth generation brewer Chris Sadler, who will continue to lead the brewery.
By Mark Walsh

Washington

[Updated Tuesday 7:35 a.m.]

The state of Missouri violated the U.S. Constitutions free exercise of religion clause when it denied a church a grant to use shredded scrap-tire material to improve its preschool playground, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision Monday.

The case of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Mo. v. Comer (No. 15-577) has been closely followed by groups on both sides of the school choice debate .

The court, however, decided the case on relatively narrow grounds that left the implications for state barriers to religious school vouchers and other school choice measures unclear.

The farther-reaching question underlying the case was whether state constitutional provisions that strictly bar government aid to religion violate religious freedom protections in the First Amendment. Those state-level measures are considered among the last legal barriers to expanding vouchers and tax credits for use at private religious schools.

Missouri is one of 39 states with such Blaine amendments in their state constitutions. The provisions are named for James G. Blaine, the 19th-century congressman who led an unsuccessful 1876 effort to amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit public funding of religious schools at a time when the growing Roman Catholic population was pressing for government funding for parochial schools.

But the Supreme Court did not need to enter that debate to decide in favor of the church.

In an opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the court overturned a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, in St. Louis, that had upheld the denial of the grant by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

The departments policy expressly discriminates against otherwise eligible recipients by disqualifying them from a public benefit solely because of their religious character, Roberts wrote.

Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Samuel A. Alito Jr., and Elena Kagan joined Robertss opinion in full, while Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch filed concurrences expressing some disagreements with some of the chief justices fine points. Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote a short opinion concurring only in the outcome.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a passionate dissent that was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and which Sotomayor read in part from the bench.

The court today dismantles a core protection for religious freedom provided in the First Amendments clauses guaranteeing free exercise of religion and prohibiting government establishment of religion, Sotomayor said. It holds not just that a government may support houses of worship with taxpayer funds, but thatat least in this case and perhaps in othersit must do so whenever it decides to create a funding program.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos issued a statement praising the ruling. This decision marks a great day for the Constitution and sends a clear message that religious discrimination in any form cannot be tolerated in a society that values the First Amendment, she said. We should all celebrate the fact that programs designed to help students will no longer be discriminated against by the government based solely on religious affiliation.

No Chains or Torture

The Trinity Lutheran case stemmed from efforts by the church to improve its preschool playground by applying in 2012 for Missouris scrap-tire grant program, which provides money to install safe, rubberized ground coverings that provide an environmentally friendly use for old tires. Missouri officials turned down the churchs application, which otherwise ranked high on a set of neutral criteria, based on the state constitutional provision that bars direct or indirect government financial aid to churches.

Trinity Lutheran had sued the state under its First Amendment right to free exercise of religion and its 14th Amendment equal-protection right. A federal district court in 2013 dismissed the claims. That court rejected the churchs free-exercise claim because the scrap-tire program involved a direct payment to a religious institution that would raise First Amendment establishment-of-religion concerns comparable to those cited by the Supreme Court in its 2004 decision in Locke v. Davey .

In that case, the justices held that the state of Washington could deny a scholarship to a student studying devotional theology without running afoul of the students free-exercise rights.

Trinity Lutheran appealed to the 8th Circuit appeals court, where a panel voted 2-1 in 2015 to uphold the district court, expressing concern about the direct grant of public funds to churches.

Writing for the Supreme Court majority, Chief Justice Roberts distinguished the Locke case from Trinity Lutheran.

In this case, there is no dispute that Trinity Lutheran is put to the choice between being a church and receiving a government benefit, he said.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has not subjected anyone to chains or torture on account of religion, Roberts wrote. And the result of the states policy is nothing so dramatic as the denial of political office. The consequence is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees. But the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.

In their concurrences, Thomas and Gorsuch declined to endorse a statement Roberts made in a footnote that This case involves express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing. We do not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination.

Gorsuch said he worried that some might might mistakenly read it to suggest that only playground resurfacing cases, or only those with some association with childrens safety or health, or perhaps some other social good we find sufficiently worthy, are governed by the courts church-state rulings. Such a reading would be unreasonable, he said.

Justice Breyer, in his opinion concurring in the judgment, stressed that he was basing his decision on the particular nature of the public benefit here at issue"a program for health and safety of children.

Public benefits come in many shapes and sizes, Breyer said. I would leave the application of the free exercise clause to other kinds of public benefits for another day.

Relevance for School Choice

The Trinity Lutheran case drew significant interest from groups that were more interested in what the courts decision may mean for school choice.

The Supreme Court ruled in its landmark 2002 decision in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris that the federal Constitutions establishment clause did not prohibit the inclusion of religious schools in a government voucher program when parents are making the decision where to direct the state aid.

But the state Blaine amendments have proved to be a barrier to the inclusion of religious schools in voucher programs and some other forms of state aid.

The National Education Association, which has often led the legal fight against the expansion of school voucher programs, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Missouri emphasizing the theory that states may use their own constitutions to provide stronger individual rights than those guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Many state courts have departed from this courts establishment clause precedents in construing their state constitutions to prohibit public funding of religion in ways that would be permissible under the establishment clause, the NEA brief said.

In a statement Monday, NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia called the decision a setback for voucher proponents.

We applaud the Supreme Courts refusal to accept the invitation of voucher proponents to issue a broad ruling that could place in jeopardy the ability of states to protect their public education system by refusing to divert public school funding to private religious schools, she said.

Meanwhile, the Institute for Justice, which was closely involved in the Zelman case, filed a brief on the side of Trinity Lutheran that said, The question presented in this casewhether the federal Constitution tolerates a states exclusion of churches from an otherwise generally available public-benefit programtakes on particular significance for the rapidly growing number of school-choice families.

Michael Bindas, a senior attorney with the institute, issued a statement that agreed the decision was narrow, but said, Todays decision reaffirms the fundamental principle that government must be neutral with respect to religion and therefore cannot exclude religious institutions from otherwise generally available public benefit programs. ... This principle of religious neutralitythat government may neither favor nor disfavor religionapplies whether the government is enabling schools to resurface their playgrounds or empowering parents to direct their childrens education.

Even as it considered the merits of the Trinity Lutheran case, the high court has been holding on to two cases that address the application of state Blaine amendments to aid to religious schools.

One involves a New Mexico textbook-lending program for private schools and a New Mexico Supreme Court decision that Blaine amendment-like language in the state constitution barred the inclusion of religious schools in the program.

The other involves the unusual efforts by the Douglas County, Colo., public school district to create a tuition-scholarship program for students to attend private schools, including religious schools. The Colorado Supreme Court has blocked the program based on a Blaine-like, no aid provision in the state constitution.

The court could act on those pending appeals as soon as Tuesday.

Staff Writer Evie Blad contributed to this report.

Illustration: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. reads the U.S. Supreme Courts majority opinion in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Mo. v. Comer on June 26.--Art Lien
Australian businesses may not be prepared to face the total transformation of business coming in the next two decades, according to the latest MYOB Future of Business Report: The Age of Change.



MYOB chief technical advisor and futurist, Simon Raik-Allen, who authored report said although businesses are expecting technology-driven change to come quickly, its less clear how well prepared theyll be for it.



With the advent of the information age, weve been living with the concept of constant change in business for more than two decades, said Raik-Allen.



Businesses have  in the main  accepted that and can plan for it. What they may not be ready for is the next stage. Technology isnt just about to disrupt certain industries. It is poised to change the way we perceive and interact with the world.



The companys latest nationwide research found that 40% of local business operators believe the nature of their industry will be significantly changed by technology in the next 10 years.



Moreover, just 17% of local business operators anticipate no technology-driven change over that period.



The business operators who believe their industries are most likely to be transformed by technology work in finance and insurance (53%), manufacturing and wholesale (44%), retail and hospitality (43%) or are part of the tourism industry (42%). Even in the countrys rural sector, only 13% of business operators are not expecting to see any change in the next decade.



The key trends that business operators expect will alter their industry cover a broad range of technologies, from improvements in connectivity and cloud computing, to robotics and machine learning.



Raik-Allen said in as little as five years, many businesses will face complete transformation.



Take for example, the construction industry, said Raik-Allen. In Australia, just 36% of construction and trades business owners believe the nature of their industry will be significantly changed by technology in the next ten years. Yet, with the latest advances in machine intelligence and 3D printing, it is an area that is ripe for transformation.



Were already seeing modular construction begin to transform the way homes are designed and built. It is a short step from there to having buildings 3D printed right on site, or created and packaged at a single factory, and delivered by an autonomous vehicle before being assembled by robots.



Raik-Allen said the issue in the local market is that, although Australian business operators can imagine the possibility of change, many are currently struggling to keep up with technology.



Few local businesses see themselves as early adopters or fast followers of newly introduced innovations  most tend to wait until they are widely adopted, putting themselves behind the curve, he said.



They also see many barriers to innovation  from costs and red tape to a shortage of skilled staff  which will restrict how prepared businesses are to manage the technological changes well see over the next decade.



But in a world where a robot tractor can plough a field and repair a fence line, a robotic plumber can fix your toilet, a drone can deliver a coffee made by an automatic barista, AI can scan and approve a contract and a holographic projector can let you visit any place in the world, what place is there for a business that delivers any of these services today?



Raik-Allen added that even though the details of the disruption each business will face is  as yet  unknown, the best predictor for long term success is the ability of a business operator to recognise the potential for change and move quickly to respond.






The Voice newspapers legal advisor Khin Maung Myint said that they applied to transfer the case to the Western District Court due to the unfair decision of the Bahan Township Court.

We believe that Bahan Township Court would not be able to adjudicate fairly and correctly, thats why U Kyaw Min Swe signed to apply for a transfer to another court. But the court rejected this, said Legal Advisor Khin Maung Myint.

The plaintiff Lieutenant Colonel Lin Tun attended the court hearing today at Bahan Township Court.

The Voice daily newspapers chief editor Kyaw Min Swe and the parodist British Ko Ko Maung were sued by Lieutenant Colonel Lin Tun for publishing a satire called Kyi Htaung Su Thit Saron March 26 which he claimed to lower the reputation of the military. Both were prosecuted under the Telecommunications Law section 66(d).

Khin Maung Myint told the media that they will apply for bail again at the next appointment at the court on June 20 and they will again request the case be transferred to the Western District Court.

The parodist Ko Kyaw Zwa Naing  aka British Ko Ko Maung- was released with the remarks from the Ministry of Transport and Communications which stated that he wrote the satire only in the published paper but chief editor Kyaw Min Swe is still under prosecution.
Peltomaki and his family members were ruled to have received benefits worth a total of 268,000 euros from Leila Tuominen, the owner of the architecture firm Forma Futura, while he was participating in decisions related to re-zoning and building permits in Vantaa as the Deputy Mayor for Land Use and Environment in 20062011.

Jukka Peltomaki (SDP), an ex-Mayor of Vantaa, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for aggravated acceptance of a bribe by the District Court of Helsinki on 21 June, 2017.

He was ordered to reimburse the state with almost 190,000 euros.

Peltomaki was appointed as the Mayor of Vantaa on 1 August, 2011, but he resigned roughly six weeks later at the request of the City Council, on 15 September, 2011.

The District Court of Helsinki found Tuominen guilty of two counts of aggravated bribery, sentencing her to two years and ten months imprisonment and prohibiting her from engaging in business activities for five years. She was ruled to have offered monetary benefits in order to influence the actions of the Deputy Mayor.

Tapio Paivinen (SDP), a former director at VVO and a long-term member of Vantaa City Planning Department, was convicted to one year and two months in prison for aggravated acceptance of bribes and ordered to reimburse the state with over 34,000 euros. He was ruled to have participated in decision-making in seven re-zoning issues tied to Forma Futura.

All three defendants were also ordered to reimburse the state for the costs of prosecution.

Peltomaki was also accused of violation of official duty and Tuominen of registration offence but both of the charges were dismissed by the District Court of Helsinki. The court similarly rejected the bribery charges brought against the duo in relation to trips to Cannes, France, and Prague, the Czech Republic.

The prosecution was also demanding that a corporate fine of at least 250,000 euros be imposed on Forma Futura, but the demand was turned down by the court.

The District Court of Helsinki issued its ruling after a vote.

Peltomaki is intent on appealing against the ruling. Peltomakis stance is entirely different to that of the prosecution. One of the judges wouldve delivered another ruling. The case is very difficult from a legal standpoint, his defence counsel, Riitta Leppiniemi, told Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday.

Tuominen is similarly expected to appeal against the decision, according to the daily newspaper.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Martti Kainulainen  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
RESIDENTS of Fawley look set to lose their 14-year long fight to restore their village pub to its former glory.

An application to demolish the Walnut Tree in Roundhouse Lane and build a new pub in its place, along with four houses, will be considered by Wycombe District Councils planning committee on Wednesday.

But planning officers are recommending that the plans are refused consent. Villagers first formed an action group after the pub closed in 2003 and there were plans to convert it into a house. The proposal was rejected by the council and on appeal but then the building fell into

disrepair.

The pub is now owned by a resident operating under the name the Walnut Tree

(Fawley) Ltd, who wants to include three letting rooms at the new property under plans drawn up by Henley

architects Spratley Studios. But the officers say the plans represent overdevelopment of the site.

They say: The proposed development would fail to achieve a high standard of design and would neither respect nor reflect the local rural context by reason of its layout, scale, bulk and mass that would be out of keeping within this rural scene.

The buildings would appear cramped and the site would be unduly dominated by hard surfacing and the provision of car parking and fails to incorporate adequate soft landscaping.

The officers also claim the development would be detrimental to the prospective occupiers of the new houses.

They say: The proximity of the new dwellings to the public house, their relationship to potential sources of noise nuisance in what is considered to be a tight layout, would be harmful to the quiet enjoyment of these residential properties.

Moreover, the level of parking proposed [is not] adequate for the size of the development and, taking into account its unsustainable location and the reliance of the business to attract customers from outside the immediate locality, this is likely to result in displaced parking and conflict between occupiers of the dwellings and users of the public house.

The level of parking is inadequate to meet standards, which is symptomatic of overdevelopment.

Alfred Waller, co-chairman of the Save the Walnut Tree Action Group, said: The cost was estimated at well over 2 million so some enabling development in the shape of a four-house terrace was required.

Some two years ago a public meeting was convened to enable the village to see the plans before the planning application was submitted.

The plans were unanimously approved by the meeting and when the planning application was submitted 18 months ago there were 80 letters of support and no objections.

This was unprecedented from such a small village as Fawley but by the same token it indicated the villages determination to restore the pub as a hub of the community.

Chris Whitehead, Fawley's representative on the council, supports the application and requested that the decision be taken by the planning committee, of which he is a member, rather than officers.

Nick Sargent, who was chairman of the Fawley parish meeting, is proposing to take villagers to the meeting, which starts at 6.30pm, in his old bus.

Mr Waller said: This may be our last chance to restore the Walnut Tree as our village pub. We therefore intend to pack the public gallery in the council chamber to indicate that the village is still fully in support of the plans.
A PUBLIC meeting is to be held in Kidmore End to discuss creating a neighbourhood plan for the village.

It will take place at the Diamond Jubilee Pavilion in The Hamlet, Gallowstree Common, on July 7 at 8pm.

Residents from Cane End, Chalkhouse Green, Gallowstree Common, Kidmore End and Tokers Green are invited and asked to register their attendence online at www.kepc.co.uk
Thar Lon Zaung Htet from the Committee to Protect Myanmar Journalists said that the protest against Section 66(d) and signature collection event for June 23 near the Yangon Division Military Headquarters has been cancelled because the local government did not give permission.

The government did not allow us to hold the event, he said, noting the Yangon Division government had supplied the ban in writing.

West District Leader of Ministry of Home Affairs General Administrative Department, Head of Mayangone township Saw Nyi Nyi Htwe, Police Chief of Myangone township Soe Aung, and a Myangone township attorney met again with the representatives of the Committee to Protect Myanmar Journalists on June 22 morning to negotiate permission to make the protest.

Vice Police Chief of Yangon West district Thein Lwin negotiated with them on June 21 evening to have the protest under the overpass in front of the Golden Duck Restaurant instead of having the protest right in front of the Yangon Division Military Headquarters.

However, Thar Lon Zaung Htet said the reason given in the letter to ban the protest was because the protest area was a restricted area and that the protest could endanger citizens.

The Committee to Protect Myanmar Journalists published a statement saying that this action reveals a violation of the rights to protest.
A young Dublin girl who is recovering in hospital after a serious operation was left "speechless" after UFC champion Conor McGregor dropped in for a visit.

The 28-year-old took time out of his training schedule to call by Crumlin's Children's Hospital on Saturday to visit patients and their families.

Patients that were allowed to leave their beds were able to go and meet the superstar and pose with him for pictures, while the kids that were unable to leave their wards were sent 'get well soon' videos by the two-weight world champion.

However, Conor Reid, father of seven-year-old Faith Reid, who is in hospital recovering from an emergency operation to get her appendix removed, asked McGregor if he would be willing to go and visit his daughter after she was unable to leave her bed following a dose of morphine.

McGregor insisted that the matter was non-negotiable to reluctant hospital staff.

Mr Reid told how Faith was not allowed leave the ward to meet McGregor.

"So I went down and got a 'get well soon' video off him and then when he was on his way out of the room, there was also another three of four people that couldn't go meet him because they couldn't leave the ward.

"I said to him: 'Conor can you do me a favour?' He said: 'Yeah no problem, what is it?'

"I asked him if he'd come to the room to see Faith and he said he would.

"The woman told him 'no you can't go. You have to go to a different place'. He said he wanted to go down and see Faith and she said 'no you can't'. He said: 'Listen, I'm doing it!'

Weary

"So he came in and gave her a big hug and a kiss. She was on about 25ml of morphine every hour, so she was a little bit weary but when he gave her a hug she couldn't get over it really, she was speechless."

Mr Reid had met McGregor a year earlier when he had taken a photo with him following his marriage to his partner Leanne. He said McGregor remembered and wished them well.

He said McGregor had really lifted the spirits of patients and their families, making everyone feel comfortable.
A Dublin property owner has been charged with trespassing on a neighbouring site amid a "land dispute" with his neighbour.

Dermot Horan (53) was arrested and brought before a court accused of trespassing on land that has been bought for development by a businessman.

Judge David McHugh granted him bail on condition that he does not encroach on his neighbour's property.

Mr Horan, of Summerville, Navan Road, Mulhuddart, is accused of trespassing on the curtilage of a building in a manner likely to cause fear in another.

The public order offence is alleged to have happened at N3, Parslickstown, Mulhuddart, last Wednesday.

Gda Eoghan O'Doherty told Blanchardstown District Court that the defendant replied "not guilty" when he was charged.

The officer had no objection to bail, subject to the condition.

Defence solicitor Michael Hanahoe said the case was "basically a land dispute, which will be dealt with some time in the future in a different court".

Concern

The dispute was ongoing, and the garda said there was a concern that Mr Horan would "encroach further" on to the land.

"The extent of the encroachment is somebody walking on to the land," Mr Hanahoe said.

Gda O'Doherty replied: "It can be avoided."

The court heard the owner of the neighbouring land was Colm McDaid, and he had bought it to develop a site for his tile business.

"Does Mr Horan have any legal right of way?" the judge asked, referring to Mr McDaid's land.

"He will say that he does," Mr Hanahoe said.

Judge McHugh imposed the bail condition until further order. He stressed that in the event of the condition being breached, the accused could be taken into custody until the case is dealt with. He adjourned the case until July 20.

The defendant asked twice if he could address the court.

"No, you may not. You may take a seat there, thank you very much," the judge said.
A warehouse worker caught in a drug deal on a city street tried to cycle away from gardai when he was spotted, a court heard.

Kristijan Zvier (34) was stopped and admitted poss- ession of heroin.

Judge Anthony Halpin said he would strike the case out, leaving Zvier without a criminal record, if he made a 50 charity donation.

Zvier, of Strandville Avenue, North Strand, in Dublin's north inner city, pleaded guilty to possession of drugs.

The court heard the incident happened at Mountjoy Square South last May 17.

Gardai on patrol at 6.20pm saw suspicious activity taking place. They approached and identified themselves. On seeing them, the accused attempted to cycle away from the scene, the court heard.

He was stopped and found to be in possession of a 20 street deal of heroin.

He had no previous convictions of any kind, neither here nor in his native Croatia.

Defence solicitor Donal Quigley said it was an "unusual enough matter".

The accused was a "working man with addiction difficulties", but he was "dealing with that".

Zvier worked in a warehouse and was of limited income, Mr Quigley said.

He had been off drugs for several years.

However, he slipped up occasionally and was very apologetic for his actions.

He was not using drugs any more and felt "quite confident" that he would not use them again.

Lenient

Mr Quigley asked the judge to be as lenient as he could in the circumstances.

He asked for the defendant to be left without a criminal conviction and said he was prepared to make a charity donation.

The judge adjourned the case to a date next month and said he would strike the charge out if the accused made the 50 contribution.

Zvier was remanded on continuing bail.
Niall Hewison has been charged with assaulting Edmund Rice, who later died

A 20-year-old man has app- eared in court charged with assaulting a man who later died.

Niall Hewison, of the Clarinwood estate in Tramore, Co Waterford, appeared before Waterford District Court yesterday.

Mr Hewison was charged with assault causing harm to Edmund Rice, aged in his 50s and from Northern Ireland who had been living locally for a number of years.

Mr Rice was originally from Coleraine.

Mr Hewison was bailed with conditions.

The charge related to an incident in Lower Strand Street in the town.

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Mr Rice was taken to University Hospital in Waterford but later died from his injuries.

Charged

Giving evidence at the special sitting of the court, Det Sgt Shay Keevans told Judge Gerard Furlong that he formally arrested the accused at 10.57pm on Saturday and charged him six minutes later. He offered no reply when charged.

Mr Hewison wore a navy suit with waistcoat and a blue shirt in court.

Members of his family were in court as he was charged. He was granted legal aid.

Insp Anthony Dineen said that there was no objection by the State to bail.

Judge Furlong told Mr Hewison that two normal conditions of bail were that he appear for all court appearances and be of good behaviour.

Other conditions were that he reside in Clarinwood, sign on three times a week at Tra- more Garda Station, surren- der his passport and not reapply for additional travel documents.

The accused also undertook not to leave the jurisdiction and to remain sober at all times in the 300 bail bond. The case was adjourned to a sitting of the court on July 25.

Mr Hewison left the court with his family.

Gardai are carrying out interviews and are seeking anyone who was in the area or anyone with information to contact them on 051 381333.

Insp Anthony Pettit said: "We are looking to speak to anyone who was in the area to contact us, whether they witnessed the incident or not."
Gardai search for evidence at the scene of Gatelys shooting

Detectives probing the attempted murder of Hutch mobster James 'Mago' Gately suspect the involvement of the Real IRA .

The Herald can reveal that gardai investigating the botched murder bid have quizzed a man linked to the dissident republican group and have seized his car.

Gately (30), who is a very close associate of the Hutch gang, was targeted outside the Topaz Garage in Clonshaugh, north Dublin, last month.

The attempted murder was ordered by the Kinahan cartel.

It has now emerged that a dissident republican with links to the Real IRA was questioned over the shooting.

Hierarchy

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Hitmen linked to the New INLA, another dissident group, have previously been used by the Kinahan cartel to carry out a number of shootings.

The New INLA is suspected of involvement in two feud murders.

"It hasn't yet been established if the Real IRA hierarchy sanctioned the involvement, but this individual has been trading under their name," a source said.

"It shows how complex this feud is in that an associate of the Real IRA was also murdered by the Kinahan cartel."

The man, aged in his 50s, was questioned at his Co Louth home about the attempted murder.

Gardai believe the criminal supplied a vehicle that was used as part of the shooting.

It was not believed to have been the getaway car, but rather was used either before or after the attack.

When armed detectives raided his home they also seized his vehicle, which has been taken away to be examined by a forensics team.

The arrested man has long-standing links to the dissident republican movement and is associated with the Real IRA.

He has previously been convicted of firearms offences but has never been charged with membership of an illegal organisation.

Gately was hit up to five times, including once in the neck. However, four shots were lodged in his bullet-proof vest, saving his life.

Gately was driving a Ford Mondeo with northern registration plates when he was shot. He had walked out of the busy filling station moments before being gunned down.

A handgun was used in the shooting.

Gardai believe that the Lexus pulled up beside Gately as he got into his car.

'Mago' spent a number of days being treated in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital in the aftermath of the shooting.

Such were the fears of another attack that members of the Armed Support Unit (ASU) patrolled the Beaumont area until Gately was discharged.

Since his release from hospital he has been keeping a low profile.

Speaking in the aftermath of the shooting, Supt Finbarr Murphy of Ballymun Garda Station said: "It was busy in the forecourt.

"It was lunchtime and I'd say there would have been 60 to 70 people present when the attack occurred.

"We're appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time, or anyone with a dash-cam on their car, or anyone who witnessed bad driving from an 08-D black Lexus to come forward."

Foiled

In April, Gately survived a credible threat to his life after gardai foiled a murder plot that was at an advanced stage.

So far, 12 people have been shot dead as part of the ongoing Hutch/Kinahan feud.

The latest of these was on May 31, when father-of-two Michael Keogh was gunned down in the north inner city.

Keogh (37) was not considered a major criminal but associated with members of the Kinahan cartel.

A number of interventions by gardai have prevented further shootings by both sides.

On June 16, uniformed gardai arrested two men after stopping a number of suspicious vehicles in the north inner city.

The men, aged in their 20s, were detained after a Walther handgun, a balaclava and a canister of petrol were discovered in one of the cars.
This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. It is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way.
In this new ScreenCrush video, a group of trans actors discuss Hollywood's lack of trans representation and why it matters. The video was written by Jen Richards, who expands on a lot of these ideas in her article for Logo's New Now Next site about the pervasiveness of cis (i.e. non-trans) men playing trans women. As Richards writes:

I was trapped in the same cycle many of my friends were: We dated straight men who were afraid other people would think they were gay because the public thinks transgender women are just men with good hair and makeup. And the public thinks that because the only trans people they know of are men with good hair and makeup in movies.

Despite hundreds of thousands of straight men all around the world consuming trans pornography in massive quantities, driving a high demand for trans sex workers, and crowding Craigslist with non-stop pleas for discreet hookups, every guy acts as if the trans women they're seeing is somehow the rare exception. "You just feel like a woman," I've heard a million times, "but you know, most trannies look like men."

What they really mean is, "All my friends know is what they've seen in movies."

It's more than frustratingit's dangerous. Straight men's fear that other straight men will think they're gay because they're with a trans women leads to violence against trans women. This image of male celebrities in drag is what leads to laws like HB2, which made it a crime for me to use a women's room when I went home to see my family in North Carolina. Every time a cis man gets applauded for bravely portraying a transgender woman on screen, every time he picks up an award for it while sporting a tuxedo, we're reinforcing the belief that at the end of the day, a trans woman is still really a man.
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Concerned citizens are hoping to raise enough money to repair the phallic Trollpikken rock formation in southern Norway after suspected vandals apparently sliced off the head. Police are seeking tips on who chopped the tip. From The Guardian:



By Sunday more than 500 people had donated nearly 90,000 Norwegian kroner (8,400) to fix the formation which is in Eigersund, south of Stavanger.





Kjetil Bentsen, an activist, told the public broadcaster NRK that he was convinced the Trollpikken would be rebuilt with donated money.
Nearly 80 PA people have been charged for Jan. 6 riot. Three are dead.

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About Censored News Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell. Since 2006, Censored News has received more than 20 million pageviews. As a collective of writers, photographers and broadcasters, we publish news of Indigenous Peoples and human rights. Contact publisher Brenda Norrell: brendanorrell@gmail.com

From the publisher Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 40 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the mainstream media for 14 years. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

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by Stephen Jakes

Harare west legislator Jessie Fungayi Majome has said transformer oil thieves have not only vandalised transformers in the suburb, but have also robbed residents of their prepaid electricity."In Parliament the Minister of Energy and Power Development Hon. Dr. Undege skirted around my question why ZESA had published an advert congratulating the ZANU PF party for successfully holding its people's conference," she said."The Minister was hiding behind a finger trying to justify why ZESA - a state enterprise unconstitutionally congratulated a political party, breaching Section 194 of the Constitution - Principles of Public Administration and Leadership. His excuse for publishing the advert, which cost $890 (how many cages that secure transformers can be made with that?) was that the State President as leader for ZANU PF secured Chinese funding from his Communist Party comrades for the Kariba and Hwange expansion projects. That was his reply to my sub question of what the benefit is to electricity consumers."She said Undenge without any shame said that ZESA supports anyone who assumes the role of President and that ZESA was not the only State enterprise that congratulated the State President."Because of the rampant recent vandalism of transformers in Marlborough, Westgate and Mabelreign I decided to take advantage of the Minister's presence in Parliament to go and sit next to him. I took him to task on why ZESA and the police don't detect and stop transformer oil theft," she said."I advised to Minister to stop charging urban residents the Rural Electrification Fund, instead reinvest that money in a) insurance for theft/vandalism so it doesn't keep affected consumers in the dark and or b) the physical security of transformers, alarm systems the works. I did this because it's unfair for us consumers to meet the costs of vandalism especially when we pay ZESA in advance. I've been planning on moving a motion on this and the Marlborough power cut disaster has just spurred me on some more especially since the Minister seemed more concerned about rural consumers as he said something about ZESA working on some remote vandalism alert system for rural electricity infrastructure."She said on the Marlborough power cut front, she contacted ZESA Harare North Region to find out what is happening and how soon Marlburians will be reconnected."I was only told that transformers had gone for repairs but was not given a date on when lights will be back on. I urge you residents to be vigilant on vandals, be proactive AND report all faults to the ZESA 24hr hot line 04706453, or call 04310378/305961 or visit the ZESA depot at Mabelreign Shops. Request for a fault number to track progress of report," she said.
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The festival of Eid, celebrated by Muslims across the world, marks the end of Ramzan, the holy month of fasting in the Islamic calendar when the Quran was first revealed to Prophet Muhammad. Eid marks the first day of the month of Shawwal.

Eid-al-Fitr, which means festival of breaking of the fast, is celebrated when the new moon is sighted. Due to this, the festival is sometimes celebrated on different days in different parts of the world and the date varies from year to year.

Worshippers offer Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Jama Mosque in Delhi. (Raj K Raj/HT File Photo)

Celebrations traditionally begin with Chand Raat, the evening before the day of Eid, when people go for Eid shopping. On the morning of Eid, worshippers get up before sunrise to offer Salat-ul-Fajr (daily prayers). After breakfast (since it is forbidden to fast on Eid), they offer prayers at mosques and often at burial grounds to pray for the salvation of departed family members.

People embrace and greet each other after offering prayers at Fatehpuri Masjid in New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT File Photo)

Worshippers wear new clothes on Eid, visit their relatives and friends, and greet each other by saying Eid Mubarak. Sweets and desserts are prepared and distributed, with the chief delicacy being the sewayi  roasted vermicelli cooked in milk and garnished with dry fruits. Unlike Eid al-Adha (which focuses on meat delicacies), Eid-al-Fitr is celebrated with traditional desserts and is also called Meethi Eid.

A young girl hugs her elders after Eid-al-Fitr prayers at Chamrajpet Idgah Maidan in Bangalore. (Manjunath Kiran/AFP File Photo)

A major Indian festival, Eid is observed as a public holiday. It is celebrated with great fervour across the country and especially at major mosques like Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, Jama Masjid in New Delhi, Dargah Sharif in Ajmer, Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar and Taj Mahal Mosque in Agra.

There is great emphasis on charity on this day. It is obligatory to donate to the poor and needy before offering prayers. The celebrations often go on for three days.

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Grow trees and get loan. When Farmers in MP are committing suicide due to loan burden in a village of Harda district a cooperative society is providing loans on mortgaging of trees also.

The initiative has been taken by cooperative society and panchayat Chindgaon Tamoli Village of Harda district (180 km from Bhopal) to help the farmers in releasing their burden of loan and to save them from injustice of money lender.

The initiative of providing loan on trees has in return benefitted the environment and people are planting saplings. The initiative, which was taken three years ago, has now started providing benefits to farmers.

Three years ago drought hit the economic condition of many villagers. Debt ridden farmers requested panchayat to help them otherwise they would commit suicide or ask their children to become labourers by leaving their studies, said Ashok Gurjar, sarpanch of the village.

It was tough time for us. The panchayat and cooperative society members held a meeting and decided to provide loans on mortgaging of trees as it will be beneficial for both environment and farmers, he said

On a fruit-bearing trees, a farmer gets Rs 1000 and Rs 500 on other trees.

When the announcement was made, there were hardly 100 trees in the village so many farmers couldnt get the benefit.

The panchayat, then, announced to plant the saplings of fruit bearings and other indeginious trees like Neem, Banayan and Pipal.

To promote plantation and proper caring of plants, the panchayat put a condition that the loan will be given to at least three year old tree and this is the reason that thousands of plants were grown by villagers and from 2017, farmers have started getting loan.

Recently, a farmer got loan of Rs 11,000, which is the highest amount in the village, to purchase fertilizer.

A villager Supyar Singh Rajput said, I didnt have any money to purchase fertilizer. I went to cooperative societys office and get Rs 11,000 loan in just half an hour. This facility has resolved a major problem of us. If I take loan from a money lender, I have to pay interest monthly and at the percent of his will but here If I dont return the money in a year, I have to give 16% annual interest which incurred from the fruits of my trees.

A villager Bhagwandas Dhoke saved his hut from getting mortgaged with trees standing in his house.

Dhoke said, I had taken loan of Rs 50,000 from the bank by mortgaging my hut but I couldnt be able to pay the interest due to delay in selling my crop. The bank agents had come to my house to take interest. I went to cooperative society and get loan.

The success policy of cooperative society attract the MP Planning Commission and a few months ago a team visited the village to know how it is being implemented.

This year, villagers have decided to plant 21,000 saplings in the rainy season.
The makers of Sidharth Malhotra-Jacqueline Fernandez-starrer A Gentleman shared a new poster of the film and fans are going gaga online.

The movies lead actress Jacqueline unveiled the motion poster through her Instagram account in which the two actors are running on the streets of Miami, with blood spots on Sidharths shirt! The motion poster was captioned as, Just 2 months to go!! Excited?! @s1dofficial #AGentlemanSundarSusheelRisky @foxstarhindi.

Just 2 months to go!! Excited?! @s1dofficial #AGentlemanSundarSusheelRisky @foxstarhindi A post shared by Jacqueline Fernandez (@jacquelinef143) on Jun 25, 2017 at 12:13am PDT

The movie is directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, who have also made films like Go Goa Gone and Shor in the City.

The excited Kapoor and Sons star also took to his Instagram account and shared a picture with Jacqueline, wherein the two are seen on the run with a caption, Racing to release in 2months ! #AGentleman @jacquelinef143 25th Aug 2017. The colourful graffiti on the wall behind them provides the perfect contrast and the needed quirk to the still.

Racing to release in 2months ! #AGentleman @jacquelinef143 25th Aug 2017 ! A post shared by Sidharth Malhotra (@s1dofficial) on Jun 25, 2017 at 12:33am PDT

This is the first time that the two actors have been paired opposite each other. The action comedy is about Gaurav (Sidharth) who is on a mission to settle down. He is in the process of charming Kavya (Jacqueline) into marrying him.

A Gentleman, which also stars Darshan Kumar, is slated to hit the theaters on August 25.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
British lender Royal Bank of Scotland said today that it is cutting 443 UK jobs dealing with business loans, and plans to shift many of the roles to India.

The UKs largest government-owned bank said it was moving the jobs, which help handle loans for small businesses, as part of an ongoing cost-cutting drive.

As we become a simpler, smaller bank, we are making some changes to the way we serve our customers. Unfortunately, these changes will result in the net reduction of 443 roles in the UK, a spokesperson for the bank said.

The bank said it would support staff affected by the disappointing news, including by moving them into new roles where possible.

Workers union Unite said British workers and taxpayers would lose out from the move.

By shipping these jobs to India, RBS will be getting that work done more cheaply at the cost of jobs and livelihoods here in the UK, the spokesperson said.

RBS is 73 % owned by the UK government after a 45- billion-pound bailout in 2008.

Last month also, the bank had announced some job cuts and plans to move some of them to India.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

A political commentator Vince Musewe has claimed that election times in Zimbabwe have always been characterized by deliberate falsehood."Election time is always characterised by deliberate falsehoods geared to either discredit the opposition or competitors and embellish the achievements and prowess of those in power or those who seek to gain advantage," he said."It is a fact worldwide that creating believable falsehoods is a political strategy which sadly often works. The use of glittering generalities, deliberate omissions of fact, biased framing and half truths remain crucial strategies in the political toolbox to be used at will especially in these times."He said this is termed "a race to the bottom" which drives our politics to unbelievable extremes."We are seeing this not only from Zanu PF but even amongst opposition parties with regards to a coalition. False promises, fake news, false enemies, instilling fear, accentuating wrong priorities to gain advantage become the norm," he said."But let us never forget that those who seek political office almost always seek to impose a false narrative which embellishes their image on followers so that they may get into power."
These last days of June, back in 1975, were a torment.

Indira Gandhi, an unbelievably powerful woman of 58, had got President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of national Emergency on June 25 night that year, on the ground of internal disturbance. Within hours of the proclamation, she had put almost every single Opposition leader of weight in jail, cut the electric power lines to major newspapers, gagged the press from making any comment, and let loose in Indias air invisible but asphyxiating fumes of fear, abject fear.

Stalwart Opposition leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were joined in jail by some Congressmen who dared to dissent, like Chandrashekhar and Mohan Dharia. Indira Gandhi turned overnight from Indias prime minister to Indias dictator with, standing by her, her son and alter ego, Sanjay Gandhi. Thousands across the country, politicians and non-politicians, were jailed under the open-ended provisions of preventive detention. And thousands, hundreds of thousands more, were left in holy dread of similar preventive arrests.

Preventive of what? What was the internal disturbance?

For two years preceding, Indira Gandhis Congress had its back to the wall in Gujarat and Bihar where youth were demanding an ouster of the state government and a comprehensive change in the character of politics, with the iconic Jayaprakash leading the students movement in Bihar. At the core of the protest was a clear sense that Indira Gandhi was becoming an autocrat, who encouraged sycophancy like that of the Congress president who said India is Indira, and hated dissent.

Power was slipping away from her and, intolerable to her, the same power  informal but indisputable  was swarming to Jayaprakash. His movement against corruption, misgovernance and authoritarianism touched so vital a chord, first in Bihar and then beyond, with the people of India that he came to enjoy countrywide the sentiment Gandhi had publicly expressed for him: Adoration. Andhere mein ek prakash went the opening cry, followed by a full throated Jayaprakash! Jayaprakash!. He was Loknayak by now, a description that fitted him like a cap, as Lokamanaya had fitted Tilak and Netaji, Subhas.

Some other unthinkables followed. When leading a procession against the Bihar government lathis rained down on him in Patna on November 4, 1974, breaking two of his ribs and an elbow, JP fell vowing I will teach this government a lesson. The Congress lost the June 1975 elections in Gujarat, with a united Opposition government replacing the heartily disliked Congress Chimanbhai regime. A nationwide railway strike threatened to clog the countrys arteries, with violent undercurrents discernible. And then, the denouement : The Allahabad High Court unseated Indira Gandhi on an election petition charging electoral malpractice and the Supreme Court upheld the high court ruling.

The 21-month-long night of the national Emergency that followed saw, among other horrors, the Constitutions draconian 42nd Amendment which made any amendment by Parliament immune from judicial review.

The Emergency is hateful, is hated and will always be.

And yet.

And yet, today, 42 years on, may one harbour a contrarian view about it? We are not under an Emergency, and so why not?

I would say it is just as well that we had that bizarre experience.

Just as well? The reader could ask me, You must be out of your senses.

Let me explain why I am not.

The national Emergency of 1975-1977 is the poison that tells us that its antidote exists, right in our grasp  courage. And that knowledge is a gift that it has given us.

Thanks to the misuse of the Constitutions emergency powers, the country was awakened to removing those powers by the 44th Amendment Act. Recent experience has shown, the bills sage objects explained, that the fundamental rights, including those of life and liberty, granted to citizens by the Constitution are capable of being taken away by a transient majority. It is, therefore, necessary to provide adequate safeguards against the recurrence of such a contingency in the future and to ensure to the people themselves an effective voice in determining the form of government under which they are to live.

In the future, it says far-sightedly.

That future where the people themselves must guard their civil and democratic rights from being taken away by a transient majority, in a democratic republic is the present moment. It is now.

A state of Emergency is, at its core, a state of fear. That state does not have to be proclaimed. It can just come to be.

Likewise, the end of that Emergency is, at its core, a state of fearlessness. That state too does not have to be declared. In Mahatma Gandhis and Jayaprakash Narayans country, it can just be.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi is distinguished professor of history and politics, Ashoka University

The views expressed by the author are personal

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DEHRADUN: A 16-year-old girl died in Dehradun district early on Monday morning as heavy pre-monsoon showers lashed several parts of Uttarakhand.

The meteorological department issued an alert predicting "heavy to very heavy rainfall" in parts of Uttarakhand on June 27 and 28, while most parts are likely to receive significant rain spell over the next two days. Monsoon is likely to arrive in next four-five days.

At around 3 am on Monday, the wall of a makeshift house in Bataghat village, located around 6 km away from Mussoorie, collapsed due to heavy rain. While others in the family of Nepali labourers escaped, the teenager identified as Deepika Thapa died in the mishap, the emergency operation centre said..

A team of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, State Disaster Response Force and revenue police rushed to the spot and they have retrieved the body. We have shifted the family to a safe location, said an official at the Dehradun district control room.

In another incident, a house was damaged at Chakrata area in Dehraduns Silla village.

The meteorological centre warned of very heavy rain at isolated places in Kumaon region on June 27 and 28. "Heavy rainfall is also likely to occur at isolated places in Garhwal region, especially in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts, on the same days, meteorological centre director Bikram Singh said.

Both these districts are hosting the Chardham annual pilgrimage, with Chamoli and Rudraprayag home to Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines. More than 16 lakh pilgrims have undertaken the Yatra since its commencement on April 28.

Light to moderate rain and thundershowers are likely to occur at most places with overcast sky in most parts of the state. The India Meteorological Department has predicted favourable conditions for rapid advance of southwest monsoon into most parts of northwest India, including entire Uttarakhand, during the next four-five days. This is expected in view of the likely west-northwestwards movement of the low pressure system which is currently located over Jharkhand and adjoining north Odisha, towards northwest India and its likely interaction with an approaching western disturbance, the IMD has said.

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Sachin Bansal, an employee with a private consultancy firm in Delhi, says he is not satisfied with Volvo bus service operated by the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation. Ask him the reason, Bansal says the buses do not have free Wi-Fi and some other facilities that were promised by the corporation at the time of the launch.

I travel to Dehrdaun at least twice every month and I prefer Volvo. But the condition of the buses is bad. They do not provide free Wi-Fi as promised. The water bottle they provide is of some local brand. Some of the buses have poor air-conditioned system. We dont have problems paying, but at least we need services, says Bansal.

Rashmi Rawat, a student who travels to Computer College in Meerut, says, The high-end buses also promised television. But I have never seen one during my regular travel in the past one year.

The Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) has deployed around 100 private buses on inter and intra-state routes. It has 39 Volvo buses, of which 20 are run the Dehradun-Delhi route. A few buses of Bharat Benz have also been introduced recently for better transportation on the inter-state routes.

However, there is a general complaint from the passengers that the corporation buses lack in necessary facilities and there is a need to increase the number of buses.

On this, Deepak Jain, general manager, operations, UTC, tells Hindustan Times: We have 100 private buses on inter and intra-state routes, which I think are more than enough. There are some issues with providing the facilities as promised, but I dont think more private buses are needed. He said the corporation was trying to introduce multi-axle buses for better transportation experience, but could not find companies offering the services in Uttarakhand.

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In Khandawali village of Ballabgarh, men are proceeding to offer prayers at the local idgah. They are dressed in white but the usual gaiety that comes with Eid is missing. They have tied black armbands and are discussing how the festival this year is so insipid.

Most people in this village refrained from wearing new clothes this time at Eid. The women too did not dress up for the festival.

Villagers tie black armbands as a mark of protest against the death of Junaid. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

Locals say there were no last minute preparations, no aroma of biryani emanating from households, no sweets being exchanged and no laughter. Just the occasional wails from inside Junaids home, who was killed on June 22 while returning home with his brothers on a train after shopping for Eid in Delhis Sadar Bazar. The boys had an argument with some fellow passengers who allegedly called them beef-eaters, taunted and heckled them before it turned violent. Junaid was killed after two hours on the train and his brothers were injured.

In Junaids house, the hearth stands cold on the day of Eid. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

Eid means a lot of colours around, food being cooked, children playing on the streets and all of us cheering, laughing and eating together. Look around, do you find anything of this? said Mohammad Irfan. How could we celebrate when Junaids family is mourning. It will be a sin. We stand in solidarity with them, he added and left for prayers.

Another villager, Ashraf, said he had never seen such few people turn up for Eid prayers. There is no place to stand here on Eid. So many people come for namaz. Today there is hardly a crowd. Last year, we did not get space so we sat outside in the park. The mats are spread out till a kilometre, he said.

Villagers marked Eid with prayers and silent protest. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

Just a few metres away, at Junaids home, his mother Saira lay on a cot surrounded by women from the neighbourhood. The women try to coax Saira to take bath and at least offer prayers. She has been lying in the same clothes for two days. She has not eaten. I have been telling her to at least offer namaz but she wont listen, Shabana said.

The kitchen is desolate. The utensils that were taken out last week to prepare savouries lie untouched beside the stacked Biryani masala.

At Junaids home, women comfort his mother. (Sibhash Sharma / HT Photo)

This is the first Eid in 60 years when I have not worn new bangles and not cooked biryani. I tried waking up in the morning to make something sweet as a token, but could not. Usually on Eid, I wake up at 3am and start preparing food. We all get ready in new clothes and exchange sweets. This year it is the neighbours who are getting us food. I cant get the thought of Junaid not being with us, said Maqsuda, Junaids aunt.

She lifts Saira, gets her the Quran. Get up now. Wash your face and offer prayers. You cannot not pray on Eid and disrespect Allah. Dont cry while chanting the sermons, she tells her.

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The East Delhi Municipal Corporation on Sunday decided to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to try and force striking sanitation supervisors to join work. The sanitation supervisors have been on strike for the last four days to demand better pay.

The civic bodys decision to invoke ESMA comes as the sanitation condition in east Delhi started taking a turn for the worse, with garbage strewn around areas like New Ashok Nagar, Vinod Nagar, Radhu Place and Lakshmi Nagar raising a stink .

Most of the areas of east Delhi are densely populated and even a days delay in disposal of garbage there can lead to a health threat.

Mayor of East Delhi Municipal Corporation Neema Bhagat said that she had written a letter to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to invoke ESMA against the staff as they were not ready to return to duty despite their salary having been realised. She said that she had also assured the workers that their other demands would be looked into.

Around 400 members of the sanitation worker supervisors union started their strike in front of the East Delhi Municipal Corporations headquarter on Friday demanding promotion and disbursement of salary, which they said was pending for the past two months.

The Mayor said that under Delhi Municipal Corporation Act there are sufficient provisions to terminate the services of protesters if they did not join their duties in the interest of citizens. Even FIRs can be lodged, Bhagat added.

ESMA, legislated by Parliament of India, was established to ensure the delivery of certain services, which if obstructed would affect the normal life of people.

President of the All Municipal Corporation Sanitation Supervisor Union, Mukesh Kumar Vaidya, however, said that salaries had not been credited into their account and they would continue with the strike.

We are ready to go to jail, but will not end the strike till all our demands are accepted. More than 20 posts of sanitation supervisors are vacant for years, he said.

A senior official of east corporation said that the civic agency had to invoke ESMA as several efforts to reach an agreement with the protesters through negotiations failed.

He also alleged that the supervisors were resorting to blackmail.

Officials said besides going on strike, the union members are also preventing other sanitation workers from doing their duty by not marking their attendance.

Several meetings with senior functionaries at different levels, including the Mayor of east Delhi, has failed. They are supervisory staff and are not covered under the labour laws, so they cannot go on a strike like this, the official said.

He added that the strikig workers were also preventing others from working. Hence, the junior sanitation staff had stopped coming to work.

The East DMC has made all out efforts to sort out financial issues. There are some things that take time, he said.

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The Delhi government has made Aadhaar card mandatory for those seeking subsidy on e-rickshaws registered in the city.

A notice issued by the transport department this week said that the registered owners of e-rickshaws in Delhi will be considered for a subsidy of Rs30,000 only after they provide their Aadhaar card details.

It is not the first time that the Kejriwal government has made Aadhaar card mandatory for a facility. Prior to this, it had made Aadhaar compulsory for ration card holders to claim subsidised items at fair price shops. This is despite the Supreme Courts orders against the move.

A senior transport department official said the move is aimed to check the problem of duplication in grant of financial assistance.

All registered e-rickshaw owners whose subsidy claims are pending are now required to submit the photo copies of their Aadhaar card and registration certificate at the office of concerned motor licensing officers (MLO) by June 30, an official said.

The claims of subsidy will not be considered if the Aadhaar card and registration certificate copies are not submitted by the due date, the notice mentioned.

As per the latest figures, there are over 31,000 registered e-rickshaws in the city.

The subsidy scheme was launched by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a rally of e-rickshaw drivers in February last year. But, only around 2,600 registered e-rickshaw owners have actually received the subsidy.

Delhi government in its current financial year budget has earmarked Rs1.06 crore for providing subsidy to e-rickshaw owners.

The scheme had failed to take off since its launch due to duplicity of claimants furnishing varying documents for seeking the subsidy.

Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has streamlined the process of registration and grant of subsidy to e-rickshaw drivers and avoid duplicity, by making Aadhaar card details mandatory.

In the case of already registered e-rickshaws, the concerned MLOs will obtain Aadhaar card number from the beneficiaries before reimbursements of subsidy, the committee said in its directive.
Heavy pre-monsoon showers lashed the Capital last week washing off tall claims made by the civic agencies that the city was prepared for the rains.

Though its been over 10 days since the deadline for de-silting  June 15  got over, the work is still in progress at many drains. Civic bodies, however, claim they have finished their share of work.

Meteorologists say monsoon may hit Delhi by the end of this month.

Every year, Delhi comes down on its knees with widespread waterlogging. Not only low-lying areas but major traffic junctions also get inundated. Despite promises, little is delivered in reality.

(Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)

The Public Works Department (PWD), which covers 1,260 kms of major roads (above 60 ft wide) in city, claims to have cleaned 80% of the drains. People in many areas, however, complained that the drains havent been cleaned.

The civic body is yet to de-silt the drains. On the Basant Kaur Marg, PWD started the work two weeks ago and it has not been finished yet, said Atul Kapur, a resident of Shivalik.

Massive jams were triggered by the heavy rain on June 19, showing little has been achieved on the ground. On June 21, the Delhi High Court slammed the three MCDs for not being able to do their job.

This is despite the fact that lieutenant governor Anil Baijal has constituted a committee to monitor the de-silting work across Delhi.

Beginning of blame-game

More than two weeks back, the mayor of both the east and north corporations approached chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and complained that PWD and other agencies were not cooperating in the efforts to de-silting drains.

The mayor of North MCD, Preety Agarwal, shared a list of 25 places where major drains are not cleaned despite repeated requests.

We inspected the PWD drains. It seems the departments concerned have not even started the de-silting work here, said Agarwal on June 13.

Unhappy with the work, Kejriwal wrote a letter to chief secretary MM Kutty seeking action against PWD secretary Ashwin Kumar. Kumar hit back saying, negativity and squabbling do not help.

The claims

The three corporations claim to have de-silted 1,484.21 kms of drains falling in their jurisdiction.

To verify the claims, Delhi Assemblys petition committee recently visited the areas. We carried the joint inspection with officials in North, South and East Delhi, but far from the promises of MCDs and PWD, we found silt/garbage in these drains, said Saurabh Bhardwaj, member of the petition committee.

Reason for delay

PWD officials maintained that they dont have enough staff and resources for de-silting and they are entirely dependent on contractors. We dont have our own machinery and staff for de-silting, said SK Srivastava, engineer-in-chief, PWD.

However, many drains are under the Irrigation and Flood Control Department and Delhi Jal Board, he said.

On the other hand, civic bodies also face the challenge of cleaning the drains in illegal colonies, most of which do not even have a drainage system.

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For monitoring the attendance of students in municipal schools in east Delhi, the civic agency is considering the use of Automatic Face Recognition (AFR) technology.

The system is a part of biometric attendance system and is already been in use at government schools in Telangana, said officials from East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

As per the technique, the face of each child would be shown before a camera installed at the entrance of the classrooms. The system would automatically scan it and mark attendance. The cameras would be attached to the server and all information gathered would be collected at one place, said Yoginder Singh Maan, EDMC spokesperson.

According to him, the collected data can be easily accessed by school principals, who can check at any point of time the number of students present in the school on any given day.

A group of officials from education department will soon visit the schools in Telangana and figure out the success rate and time consumed in marking attendance through this system. Following this, the technology will be installed in a few schools on a pilot basis. An estimated number of two lakh students study in the 398 schools under EDMC.

An official from IT department said, Using the thumb impression for marking attendance is not feasible considering the skin of young children change frequently. In comparison, using their face will take a few seconds and the attendance would be marked.

At present, teachers in EDMC schools are marking students attendance in registers. But this is a manual process and can result in error. Also, the chances of marking bogus attendance can also be checked through this technology. In simple words, it will bring transparency in education departments, said an official.

During a recent survey conducted by the department, it was found that 26,000 students remained absent for two years, at different points of time. The process took a lot of time as we had to go through record books, said an official.

However, there are officials who believe that school teachers should be scanned using this technology. It will not only ensure the presence of teachers in schools, but also help in finding out the number of hours they have worked, said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

The IT department of North Delhi Municipal Corporation has also suggested the use of this technology for staff.

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Jalebi is in the air in Vaishali.

The family we are visiting descends from Nemchand Jain, the man who founded the legendary Old & Famous Jalebiwalla in Old Delhis Chandni Chowk, in the early decades of the last century. Praveen, 60, is his grandson.

One of Nemchand Jains many descendents, his ties to the establishment are familial, not commercial. In fact, he doesnt even live in Old Delhi. His home is in Ghaziabad.

We are sharing lunch with Praveens wife and children. Praveen explains that the last member of his clan lived in the 80-room family haveli on Gali Khajanchi, in the Walled City, until he died in May.

Praveen, an electrical contractor with an office in Daryaganj, moved to Vaishali in 2003. He says that Nemchand arrived in Delhi from a village in UP. The legend is that he walked all along Chandni Chowk, until finally, standing at the turning to Dariba Kalan street, he decided to set up a channa stall on that spot. The jalebis came later.

Though many of us have diverted to other businesses, all our 50 families are known as the Jalebiwalla pariwar, he says.

Praveens children have strayed far from the world of their great grandfather. His son, Prateek, works with an industry body in South Delhi. His daughter, Charu, is in the human resources team of a Gurgaon-based multinational firm.

Lunch is served. There is karhi chawal, besan ki roti and dry aloo subzi tossed with whole coriander seeds. The dessert is delicious but we are in for a surpriseits not jalebi.
You will soon have to pay much more to park at Connaught Place, Delhis high street shopping destination, beyond a period of five hours. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to remove the current upper cap of R100 on parking charges -- effecting a steep hike in the rates.

Presently, people pay R20 per hour for the first five hours and a flat rate of R100 for any period beyond that. According to the councils new plan, residents will pay R20 for every extra hour even beyond the five-hour limit.

We will soon implement this in Connaught Place as part of the smart parking initiative. There will be no cap on the parking charges. People will have to pay up R20 for every extra hour even beyond the current five-hour limit. Earlier, even if anyone parked for 2-3 days, they paid only R100, a senior NDMC official told HT. The decision has been cleared by the Council.

The official said there will be extra charges for parking during night hours and the rates will be decided soon.

A new Parking Policy for Delhi, approved by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, proposes hiked charges for daytime parking and for peak hours. The rates will vary during weekdays and weekends.

Nearly 80% of Delhis parking lots are operated by the municipal corporations, which would play the biggest role in fixing the new rates.

Connaught Place is one of Delhis most congested and busiest corners. The Union urban development ministry had in February announced a plan to make Connaught place vehicle-free to decongest the area. But the three-month trial run of the project has been put off indefinitely.

The trial, slated to kick off on February 1, has been postponed due to lack of unanimity over the execution of the plan among the stakeholders, especially the traders, who have opposed the idea.

The plan, given a go-ahead by the Union urban development ministry after extensive talks with NDMC and traffic police officials early January, aimed to decongest the heritage shopping arcade in central Delhi.

Nearly 2,000 parking slots were supposed to be removed, which include 1,500 from the Inner Circle and 400-500 from the Middle Circle.

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News / National

by Simbarashe Sithole

Eight Harare robbers allegedly stole $2829 from N Richards Chivi in Masvingo after they masqueraded as riot police officers to a Fawcett security guard on duty at the premise.According to a ZRP internal memorandum seen by Bulawayo24.com, four of the suspects have been arrested and appeared before a Harare magistrate on Saturday.Apparently on 25 March around 2:30am eight suspects pounced on security guard Tadious Madondo (36), pretending they were the police sand said they wanted to see how he was operating.Madondo was then ordered to lock his dog in kennel before being attacked and was threatened with an axe if he made a noise. He was tired with shoe laces while the suspects reportedly went to the cash box and took moneyThe eight suspects include Mugove Chimuti (28), Musarurwa Gutsa (42), Ishmael Mutungamiri (23), Tinashe Munhanga who are already in custody and the other four who are on the run and identified only by their first names Dominic, Tichaona, Jabulani and Fatso.The complainant suffered a swollen face and received treatment at Mashava hospital.On 12 June detectives at Mashava got hold of a plastic bags with a cash box, cell phone and a toll gate receipt.With the help of Homicide Harare, they used the tollgate receipt to track the suspects leading to the four's arrest.The four were arraigned at Rotton Row court in Harare and magistrate Mugwegwe remanded them to 05 July 2017 for continuation of trial.Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa represented the state.
A study on drug abuse among residents of northeast Delhis Seemapuri has revealed that at least 80% of the children surveyed in the slum are addicts.

The Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM) that conducted the study following an order by the Juvenile Justice Board found that children as young as seven started abusing drugs in this rural locality.

The study was ordered after six cases of juveniles addicted to drugs indulging in crime were registered in Seemapuri. It points out that most of the parents knew that their children were consuming drugs. But they were either helpless or unperturbed by the problem. The residents of the neighbourhood are mostly addicted to ganja (marijuana), smack (heroin), beer or tobacco.

The findings of the study underlined some of the common factors that often led to addiction  peer pressure, family history, involvement in jobs like rag picking and segregation and easy accessibility.

A small corner of the city throw up such numbers. There is an immediate need for a study for the entire city to know the extent of drug use. In the national capital, children are easily accessing drug and abusing them, said Shibendu Bhattacharjee, programme manager of SPYM.

June 26 is observed as International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

Bhattacharjee, along with 120 field surveyors of Delhi Legal Service Authority (DLSA), formed nine teams and carried out mapping of Old and New Seemapuri areas, where they also indentified hotspots.

In total, there were 1,414 respondents interviewed from different age groups  between 7-40 years.

The NGO has submitted its study result to the juvenile justice board and the court is likely to issue a fresh order next week.

Respondents believed that peer pressure was a major contributing factor that pushed them into using drugs. Other factors included curiosity, drug use by family members and easy accessibility. Majority of respondents believed that drug addiction could be treated (69%). As per our survey, around 80% of the children in both Old and New Seemapuri areas are addicts, he added.

A quarter of respondents said they had used heroin (as well as a variety of other drugs with various rates of use). It is estimated that almost 25,000-30,000 people between the ages of 7 and 40 years are addicts.

Local community members are aware of de-addiction programmes operated by government services. However, many people attending such centres believed that the de-addiction programmes did not cause any behaviour changes. Many believed detoxification and drug treatment was not successful or possible at all, he further said.

The study also points out that many children who segregated garbage, used the money to buy drugs. The job of garbage segregation was the duty of their parents but in order to avoid working they drag their children into this business.

The association between drug use and increased likelihood of engaging in crime was commonly fuelled by the environment that the children inhabit. Participation in criminal activities is most often for collecting funds required to finance drug dependency. The social and economic determinants of drug use remain complex and challenging but it will be important to develop a strategic plan of action to mitigate the ongoing harms and to improve the lives of all Seemapuri residents, the study suggests.

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There is hardly a hotel anywhere in the world which does not tell the customer that rights of admission are reserved. But, even so, the policy followed by a Hyderabad hotel which states that locals, single ladies and unmarried couples are not allowed is a bit of stretch, not to mention misogynistic. This came to light when a single woman traveller was denied a pre-booked room by the hotel. The hotel seemed to think that turning the woman out on to the street was the better option than giving her a room. And in a nasty twist to the whole tale, it would appear that this policy was driven by the police asking the administration to not provide rooms to single women as the area was unsafe. This is astounding given that it is the duty of the police to make sure that all areas are safe and that women are not restricted on this count.

This, however, is not the first time that hotels have discriminated on what can only be called moral grounds. In many hotels, it is not unknown for couple who are not married, or perceived to be not on grounds of different surnames, to be denied rooms. Such discriminatory policies are never openly stated but are practised nevertheless. The bias against single women extends far beyond hotels. In many attacks on women, the response of both the police and society is to question why she was out alone at night the suggestion being that women should always be accompanied by a man or not go out at night. Single women also face unnecessary harassment and discrimination when trying to find accommodation, the assumption being that a single woman will encourage male visitors to come as though this were a crime.

Women across the world are increasingly opting to stay single, travel independently and carve out their own space both in the personal and public sphere. This is a choice not a deviation. In India, still a largely patriarchal society, a single woman beyond a certain age is considered someone left on the shelf, an object of contempt or pity. This goes against an aspirational generation of Indians who want to engage with the world on their own terms. The single woman traveller is a big segment of the hospitality industry. For that reason, if nothing else, hotels should do away with these discriminatory policies. And the police should do its job instead of making things worse for women than they already are.
The Iraqi city of Mosul this week celebrates its first Eid free of the oppressive rule of the self-styled Islamic State (IS) in three years. The IS announced its existence from ramparts of the 600-year-old Grand al Nusri mosque in Mosul. In keeping with the IS nihilistic tendencies, its retreating fighters blew up the famous leaning minaret of the mosque. Kurdish troops have begun a similar process of driving out IS from its present capital of Raqqa, across the border in Syria. IS is now a shadow of its former self, at least in territory. It still holds a few blocks of Mosul and the battle for Raqqa is in its first rounds. But few doubt, including the self-styled caliphates own leadership, that the endgame is well under progress.

These developments would hopefully lead West Asia and, in particular, the Arab world to contemplate what lessons they can draw from IS short but brutal life. The Iraqi government should remember that IS fighters were initially welcomed with open arms by the Sunni inhabitants of Mosul because of their anger at the corrupt, pro-Shia regime of the then prime minister Nouri al Maliki. The present ruler has shown himself to be less sectarian in his policies, but addressing the sensibilities of Iraqs Sunni Arab and Kurdish minorities will determine whether IS will not reappear in a new avatar.

There is little evidence that the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad has shed any of his dislike for the Sunni majority of his country  and his conduct of the war will make it all but impossible to put Syria back together in any stable form.

The Baghdad regime will have to show the sort of enlightened political leadership and willingness to look beyond the narrow tribal-cum-religious allegiances that define so much of the Arab world. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is an expert on transportation and connectivity, both political and economic, should be what the policies of a post-IS Iraq should be about. He will be sorely tested: The Kurdish north is already planning a referendum on independence.

Christian Europe underwent nearly a century of slaughter before it developed and accepted the concepts of modern secularism. The Arab Islamic world need not follow that path. But the past dichotomy of secular dictators and religious monarchies has shown itself to be a failure. Of all the countries coming out of the present round of violence and political instability, Iraq is probably the only one that could emerge as the model for a new modern Arab state  democratic, republican, federal and non-sectarian  that West Asia needs for its future.
The Union ministry of human resource development has appointed former Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) head Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan to head the much-awaited committee to draft the National Education Policy, officials said on Monday.

According to officials, the HRD ministry has also chosen eight other experts and educationists from various backgrounds. They include former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer KJ Alphonse and Ram Shanker Kureel, who has a wide experience in the field of agricultural sciences and management.

MK Shridhar, who has served as member secretary of the Karnataka State Innovation Council, TV Kattimani, an expert on language communication, Mazhar Asif, a professor of Persian at Guwahati University, and former director of education, Uttar Pradesh, Krishan Mohan Tripathi will also bring a wealth of experience to the panel, sources said.

The committee also includes renowned mathematician Manjul Bhargava, who teaches at Princeton University, US, and vice-chancellor of SNDT Womens University Vasudha Kamat, sources added.

It took us some time but the panel that has been appointed has members from diverse background especially in the field of education, a source said.

The National Policy on Education was framed in 1986 and modified in 1992. The government has now appointed a committee to draft the final policy document. Consultations on the policy started during the tenure of the previous HRD minister Smriti Irani.

However, it courted controversy after some of the suggestions were found to be regressive by educationists. Her successor, Prakash Javadekar, restarted the discussion on by inviting suggestions from various political parties, educationists and institutions.

Officials said this diversity would help the panel to understand the diverse issues that have to be kept in mind for the formulation of such a key policy document, the sources said.
Online counselling for admission to undergraduate (UG) courses at medical and dental colleges in the state will begin on July 17.

Baba Farid University of Health Sciences on Monday released the schedule, three days after the declaration of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) results.

The aspirants will be vying for 975 bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery (MBBS) seats in seven medical colleges and 1,030 bachelor of dental surgery (BDS) seats in 13 dental colleges across the state.

ONLINE APPLICATIONS BY JULY 11

Those who have qualified the NEET UG-2017 will have to apply for admissions online through the Faridkot-based varsitys website  www.bfuhs.ac.in  by July 11.

The prospectus has already been uploaded on the website. The application cant be submitted in person or through post.

Students have to deposit Rs 5,000 (Rs 2,500 for schedule caste candidates) in the university account in any branch of the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) or State Bank of India (SBI) through a challan form that will be generated on successful filling of the online application.

The provisional list of candidates will be displayed on July 16.

SEATS RESERVED FOR NRIs

For non-resident-Indian (NRI) candidates, the last date for submitting the form is August 1.

For NRIs, 15% seats have been reserved in all private institutes and Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot. Also, 13 seats each have been reserved in Government Medical College, Patiala and Amritsar, along with three seats in Government Dental College, Amritsar, and four in Patiala.

RESULT ON JULY 24

Students will be able to submit their online counselling form and preferences of colleges and course for the first round of counselling between July 17 and July 21. The result will be displayed on July 24.

The second counselling will be from August 8 to August 13, and the result on August 18.

A university official said candidates who fill the category code wrongly will be treated as belonging to general category.

Vice-chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur said: The fact that BFUHS will conduct the combined counselling for all streams and colleges, including private and minority institutions will obviate inconvenience to students and parents.
After the Haryana government cleared the felling of more than 10,000 trees in the Aravallis for construction of a real estate project, on Sunday, the region saw large-scale chopping of trees over 52 acres at Sarai Khwaja village in Faridabad district.

At a time when environment activists have already raised concern over the shrinking of Gurgaons green cover, the decision by the state government to clear vegetation in the eco-sensitive and protected Aravalli region in order to free up space for a construction project, will only serve raise the hackles of the green crusaders.

Though the Aravalli region comes within the ambit of Natural Conservation Zone (NCZ) and the issue over clearing vegetation for public or commercial projects in the region is sub-judice and awaiting arbitration by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the states hurried clearance for tree felling in the region has evoked concern.

Under the NCZ category of the Regional Plan 2021, construction activities beyond 0.5% of the Aravallis are not allowed and only projects aimed at encouraging recreational activities and conserving the region are to be cleared.

As was discussed in the NCR Planning Board meeting on December 20, 2016, the area where tree felling was allowed falls outside the ambit of the NCZ. We are in the process of holding further discussions for more clarity on the definition of forest land. The area in question falls in the Aravalli gair mumkin pahar category, Sunil Gulati, additional chief secretary to the Haryana government, Wild Life and Forest Department, said.

However, sources privy to the minutes of the NCR Planning Board meeting said they state completely the opposite of what the state government claimed to justify issuing the order to chop trees in the Aravallis.

A note circulated after the meeting states, The NCZ has been clearly spelt out in the regional plan 2021. The component of NCZ includes forest, Aravalli and groundwater recharging areas which are to be governed by notification of Moef and order of Supreme Court. (sic).

Notification dated 7th May, 1992 issued by the MoEF&CC defines specified areas of the Aravalli range in Gurgaon district of the state of Haryana and Alwar District of the State of Rajasthan (as on the date of the said Notification). During the meetings, it was concluded that these specified areas are to be included while identifying/delineating Aravalli in the entire NCR. Therefore, the issue related to definition has been adequately addressed. The NCR participating State Govts. have to accordingly delineate the NCZ, after detailed ground truthing (sic), said the note.

Read I Gurgaon: Filling of water pits in parched Aravalli forest underway

Environment activists said that the gair mumkin pahar category pertain to forest land and hence, need to be protected.

This move will dilute the restrictions in place in 90% of the Aravallis and every other project in the region, which is pending approval, will be cleared, Vivek Kamboj, an environment activist, said.

Another activist, Chetan Agarwal, said, The polices of the government should be aimed at protecting the forest cover, as Haryana has less than 4% of forest area.

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On a day of festivity, the scene at Mewat, located 60 km from Gurgaon, was different than usual. Members of the Muslim community wore black arm bands to protest against the alleged lynching of 15-year-old Junaid Khan on a local train in Faridabad over rumours of carrying beef.

Though Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated across Mewat on Monday with signature revelry, Muslim members protested against the alleged atrocities being perpetuated against the community.

People were seen offering prayers at the mosque and Eid shoppers thronged local markets to celebrate the auspicious day. However, they did vent their anger over the attack on the youth, who later died at the civil hospital in Palwal.

People across Mewat are shocked over the recent incidents of violence and have decided to protest peacefully. We wish to send a message to the government that such incidents risk dividing our society and should not be tolerated. People in Alwar, Nagina, Nuh, Firozepur Jhirka, Palwal, Hathin and all nearby areas offered Namaaz wearing black armbands, Zafar Mohammad, a resident of Nai Nagla village near Firozpur Jhirka, said.

Read I Muslim boy stabbed to death on train after argument turns into religious slurs

Members of the community demanded that culprits in such incidents be brought to justice at the earliest and said more steps should be taken to ensure safety and security of the Muslims residing in the area.

Though the accused, indentified as Ramesh, has been arrested by the police and sent to three-day police custody, there is no word yet on the motive behind the attack.
As many as 200 home guards, 50 MCG employees and 300 red cross society members will assist residents in the event of waterlogging and flood-like situation in the city this monsoon, authorities said during a meeting presided by Keshni Anand Arora, the additional chief secretary of the state government on Monday.

To ensure there is no repeat of last years waterlogging and traffic crisis, the district level meeting was held at the mini secretariat and was attended by representatives of civic bodies and police from Gurgaon and Faridabad districts.

The additional chief secretary advised the police department to create route diversions to help people avoid waterlogged areas and take help of telecom firms in sending out texts messages to residents, informing them about waterlogging, floods, traffic jams and route diversions during the monsoon.

Police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said that the police will also update and keep residents aware of the traffic situation through social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

To ensure that residents is aware of the traffic scenario, our pages on social media will be regularly updated. In addition, officers will be deployed 24x7 at waterlogging-prone sites in shifts to ensure there is minimum disruption to traffic during monsoon, Khirwar said.

Among other key decisions taken during the meeting was the creation of a WhatsApp group comprising officials from Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Haryana urban development authority (Huda), PWD and the Gurgaon police to monitor waterlogging and traffic issues in the city during monsoon and ensure there is better coordination among multiple bodies.

Read I Rain brings with it waterlogging, jams in Gurgaon

The meeting took place on a day the India Meorological Department (IMD) predicted light rainfall, accompanied by strong winds, in Gurgaon on Tuesday. Rainfall is likely to get heavier over the weekend, the weathermen said.

IMD officials said a depression over parts of northern India will bring rain across NCR.

Though the skies turned grey over Gurgaon for a brief spell on Monday , the residents did not get much respite from the scorching heat.
For five days after Sudhir Kumar was admitted in a de-addiction centre in Delhi in 2005 by his family, he had no idea where he was or what he was doing.

Paanch din tak mai behosh tha. Mujhe baakiyon ne bataya mai kya kya harkatein kar raha tha (I was not in my senses for five days. Others told me what all I was doing), the 35-year-old, who once used to be a drug addict, told HT.

Sudhir had experimented with alcohol and a range of narcotic substances at school. And he finally got addicted to desi daaru and sulfa.

It has now been over 10 years now that he is clean. Sudhir, who dropped out of school while he was in class 10, has since been volunteering in de-addiction centres such as Ehsaas in Gurgaon and Navjivan in Bahardurgarh.

From 2007 onwards, he has been managing Nayi Umeed, a de-addiction centre in Old Gurgaon in Sector 5. His mission in life now is to give hope to other drug addicts.

The centre, which has a staff strength of 25, have all been drug addicts at some point in their lives.

Only somebody who has been there would understand what one goes through and what kind of care is needed, Sudhir said.

One of the staff members, who is the supervisor of the ward where new patients are admitted, said that being an addict himself has helped him take care of others.

The ones who are admitted recently need the most attention. They show withdrawal symptoms and often get very violent. You cant even think of things that they do, the 29-year-old said.

But being someone who has recently quit drugs, he knows how to handle them.

All the drug addicts know the consequences  alienation from the family, from society and broken relations. But they cant control. So, we ensure that we divert their mind by sharing our experiences, he said enthusiastically.

Another staff member, on the condition of anonymity, told HT that the addicts are very smart.

They will often make you believe that they have left drugs. But thats just a way to get out of the de-addiction centre and get back to the death trap, the 53-year-old, who hails from Mahendergarh, said.

Read I A vicious cycle: Drug web grows around schools in Gurgaon

It is not just marijuana, smack and pills that people are addicted to.

Ram Kumar (name changed), who has been volunteering at the NGO for only three months, said petrol and Iodex, too, are used by addicts for kicks.

When I didnt have any other substance to turn to, I used to cut the tail of a lizard, warm it and eat it. It gave me a high, the 21-year-old said.

They all agreed that they couldnt sleep, eat, sit or even stand when they were addicts. Their mind had stopped working completely, and all they could think of was how to score.

The nasha mukti Kendra has around 60 patients, most of whom are in the age group 18-35. It has two halls where the patients live. It is built over a 400 square yard area.

Sudhir said the youths are largely drawn to the death trap of drugs. He said they try it for fun before it becomes a habit.

It was 5.30 in the evening and was the time for their sharing session.

We would all have been dead long ago, and nobody, including our family, would have remembered us, Sudhir said. The least we can do is to help other addicts quit the habit, he said as the other staff nodded.
Actor Vin Diesel posted an adorable picture of himself and actor Gal Gadot where they can be seen cradling their babies together.

In the photo posted on his Facebook account on Monday, Vin holds his 9-year-old daughter Hania, while Gal feeds her newborn baby daughter, Maya through a bottle.

When we arent playing superheroes... All love, Vin wrote with the post. This is the first time the world saw a picture of 3-month-old Maya.

Gal also has a 5-year-old daughter Alma with husband Yaron Versano. Vin and his girlfriend Paloma Jimenez are also parents to son Vincent, 6, and 2-year-old daughter Pauline.

 A post shared by JaronVarsano (@jaronvarsano) on Jan 17, 2016 at 1:52pm PST

Vin and Gal worked together in the fourth, fifth and sixth Fast & Furious movies.

Gal is now a household name after the success of her latest film, Wonder Woman. Vin also played a superhero in Guardians of the Galaxy as Groot.

You gave me my 1st chance in the film world. I am so grateful. I was SO happy to present this to u. Well deserved #fastandfurious @vindiesel pic.twitter.com/F9zaXSZfQ4  Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) May 9, 2017

Gal has thanked the action star a few days ago for giving her her first chance in Hollywood.

The 32-year-old recently presented the MTV Generation Award to Diesel along with the other Fast and Furious team members. She took to Twitter to extend her congratulations to Diesel where the actor wrote she was overjoyed to hand over the award to him.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Opinion / Columnist

Northern Mashonaland was infiltrated and totally occupies by the freedom fighters in a bid to liberate Zimbabwe from Rhodesia in the early 70s until 1979.The Northern Mashonaland included, Sipolilo now Guruve, Umvukwes (Mvurwi) together with Centenary and the Zambezi valley.During that period it witnessed a lot of activities, it swallowed up murder, abduction ,of both soldiers and civilians .White farmers were also captured so were locals before being murdered by soldier, there was uncertainty on the part of members of Rhodesian soldiers therefore they sweated day and night due to sporadic attacks.In the late 70s a number of freedom fighters who were called externally trained hard cores by the Smith regime infiltrated in the Northern remote part of Sipolilo Guruve with the intention of recruiting the locals to join the liberation struggle.The freedom fighters recruiting campaign in the part of the Zambezi valley was met with success.The use of sophisticated weapons such as Anti-AIR, Kanyau and having a life of luxury after the struggle motivated the locals to join the liberation armed struggle.The combined Rhodesian security, intelligence agencies who operated in subverted areas of now Mashonaland Central, questioned the locals who were suspected of having assisted freedom fighters, made arrests detentions and torture.This resulted in the death of many civilians.War intensified 1978-9where I witnessed one of the first aerial bombardments of locals, comrades at Chingurwi Mts in Kachuta, Sipolilo in September 1978.There were more than 10 aeroplanes including 2 jet fighters, a Dakota, Spotter plane one known as Kadidiya in Shona, one gated plane and 5 helicopters.Jet fighters were displaying their aerobatics styles by bombarding innocent civilians and comrades.This resulted in gnashing of teeth for many locals since our dear brothers and sisters were being virtually bombarded.Two helicopters were gunned down by freedom fighters; some areas in Sipolilo were declared liberated zones by both ZANLA and ZIPRA forces.They used to say "WE ARE OUR LIBERATED ZONES DIRECT BY CONFONTATION."
A petrol pump owner looted; a trader murdered; jewellery shops robbed; a political leader killed; a constable shot; four members of a family -- including two girls -- hacked; a police sub-inspector beaten up; caste clashes erupt.

Glance through local newspapers of Uttar Pradesh, and the headlines would be enough to tell you that the Yogi Adityanath government -- celebrating its 100th day in office on Monday -- is struggling to keep up a promise that played a big role in its thumping election victory: Improving law and order -- an issue that makes and breaks governments in the state.

In these 100 days, Adityanaths government admits that crime has spiked  it, however, is not panicking yet, believes it can get things under control, and is contemplating tough measures, including encounters. It wants to maintain order but visibly failed in Saharanpur - where Thakurs and Dalits were locked in violent clashes and tension persisted for weeks. The incident also revealed how the government would confront challenges from its own newly emboldened political constituents.

The spike in crimes

It is early morning. A district superintendent of police is getting late to work. He has to be in office by 9 am. There are strict instructions from Lucknow after all - be in district police headquarter through the day, visit one station every day. There are other circulars too- with one underlying message: Control crime. Yet, he - and many others in the police force -acknowledge crime has spiked. Why? Three broad explanations are being offered.

A top official says this is because the reporting of crimes has increased. We are encouraging people to come to us. That is why you see an increase in numbers. This is part of improving law and order. Once action begins on them , you will see it serve as a deterrent.

Another explanation is that this is a period of transition. Aditya Mishra, additional director general of police with direct charge of law and order, told HT: After the formation of the new government, the police machinery was being overhauled. Criminal gangs are taking benefit of the change in the police set up.

10 MAJOR CRIME INCIDENTS May 2: Activists of Hindu Yuva Vahini allegedly kill a middle-aged Muslim man Mohammad Gulam in Sohi in Bulandahahar after a Rajput woman eloped with a Muslim.

May 9: Two young sisters, daughters of a retired defence personnel, murdered with their throat slit inside their Ram Vihar colony residence in Para.

May 15: Two jewellers, Megh and Vikas Agarwal, shot dead and two others seriously injured at busy Holi gate market of Mathura city. Assailants fled with jewellery worth several crores.

May 15: In gruesome case of alleged honour killing, a couple hacked to death in Saidpur area of Badaun.

May 17: Anurag Tewari, 2007 batch Karnatka cadre IPS officer, found dead on road under mysterious circumstances on Meera Bai Marg.

May 21: Alleged Hindu Yuva Vahini members drag couple out of house in Meerut, thrash man

May 22: A Muslim cleric shot dead in a mosque at Naseerpur village in Mau.

Jun 1: Vice-president of BJPs minority wing of Bareilly, Raees Ahmed, shot dead in broad daylight.

June 23: A 19-year-old girl killed after being thrown out of a taxi in Madiaon allegedly for resisting a rape bid. Activists of Hindu Yuva Vahini allegedly kill a middle-aged Muslim man Mohammad Gulam in Sohi in Bulandahahar after a Rajput woman eloped with a Muslim.Two young sisters, daughters of a retired defence personnel, murdered with their throat slit inside their Ram Vihar colony residence in Para.Two jewellers, Megh and Vikas Agarwal, shot dead and two others seriously injured at busy Holi gate market of Mathura city. Assailants fled with jewellery worth several crores.In gruesome case of alleged honour killing, a couple hacked to death in Saidpur area of Badaun.Anurag Tewari, 2007 batch Karnatka cadre IPS officer, found dead on road under mysterious circumstances on Meera Bai Marg.Alleged Hindu Yuva Vahini members drag couple out of house in Meerut, thrash manA Muslim cleric shot dead in a mosque at Naseerpur village in Mau.Vice-president of BJPs minority wing of Bareilly, Raees Ahmed, shot dead in broad daylight.A 19-year-old girl killed after being thrown out of a taxi in Madiaon allegedly for resisting a rape bid.

In the first month, another police source says, the government thought it would not transfer officials, since that would seem like vendetta. Then it realised it needed to do so, place the right people in right places. A new team has just taken over in most districts. They need time to settle down, understand their area of operation, build a network.

The explanation is that the messaging from the top - of a complete crackdown on crime, irrespective of background of those involved - has not percolated down.

The Samajwadi Party operated on a basic principle. Even if our cadre commits murder, as long as he is our cadre, he has to be protected. This message was clear. The BJP does not have the same ethos on crimes of its cadre. Yogi has told us that do not hesitate to take action against anyone. But it will take time for people on the ground to internalise this, says a Lucknow-based police official.

A district officer confirms that the messaging, in fact, has to be aggressive. In a meeting with them, the chief minister - the officer said - had gone to the extent of saying if someone commits a crime in one corner, he need not live by the time he arrives at the next corner.

A BJP leader too confirms that this is the message. Police officials have got scared of encounters because of human rights waalas and Supreme Court. Our message is crack down. Dont spare anyone. You will see results soon.

Whether these methods would indeed improve law and order is different, but it indicates how far the government will go to counter the perception and reality of crime.

Chandramohan, a BJP state spokesperson, argues, It is a big state. Policing has been enmeshed with casteism and corruption. It is taking time. But our systems and message are now in place.

Watch: 100 days of Yogi Adityanath Govt: what are the challenges for the CM?

The challenge to order

If crimes constitute one challenge for the new government, maintaining order is another. And here, Saharanpurs caste clashes between the Thakurs and Dalits have been the biggest failure so far.

A highly placed police official candidly admitted, There is no doubt we failed to act in time. To maintain public order, the key is immediate action, dispersal of the mob, even if force is needed. We were remiss in the initial phase and that escalated.

Critics however allege that the police had a strong bias towards Thakurs, which government rejects.

But it brings up a larger issue. Does the challenge to public order in UP now come from BJPs own supporters and affiliates?

A district officer says these groups - from Bajrang Dal to Vishwa Hindu Parishad to Hindu Yuva Vahini - are a nuisance. There have been instances when on bikes, they have gone aggressively into Muslim areas during azaan. This is terror mongering. There have also been instances of cow vigilantism.

The official adds that the scale of victory itself has become a problem for the party. 100 of the BJPs MLAs are probably liabilities for the party. They make demands which will hurt governance.

This was most visible in a case in Moradabad. A Hindu group alleged that a Hindu girl who had been going for tuitions was being harassed by her Muslim tutor. The girl or her family had not complained. Yet, the local police registered a complaint.

This was probably done as a way to appease local sympathisers of the party in power, even though there was no instruction from the top, says a Lucknow-based official.

Another official says the way out is impartiality and prompt action. He gives an example of a killing of a Hindu man in Muzaffanagar recently.

This could have so easily turned communal - Muslims killing a Hindu in this climate. But we got there on time, promised action, gave a sense justice would be done, and things calmed down. Ensuring rule of law is the only way. We have the chief ministers backing on this. He has told supporters to behave.

If 100 days are an indication, chief minister Yogi Adityanath will confront the same challenge as his predecessors - bringing down crime, and tackling challenges to order and harmony, including from his own supporters. The start was not auspicious.

This article is the first of a three-part series by HT that tracks the progress of the Uttar Pradesh government as it completes 100 days in office.
A bid to save his dogs that had strayed into a lake in neighbouring Ramanagar district cost a city-based entrepreneur his arm, as a crocodile ripped off his left forearm when he entered the waters.

The incident happened when 26-year-old Mudit Dandwate, co-founder of a healthcare startup, along with his friend and two dogs was on a trip to a temple near Thatekere in a forest area on Sunday.

According to police, Dandwate, hailing from Nagpur and a graduate from IIT Bombay, had taken the dogs for a walk near the lake when they strayed into the waters.

In his rush to pull the dogs out of the lake, the man is said to have not seen a warning board about presence of crocodiles, and was attacked by one which bit off his left forearm, police officials said.

Dandwate was rushed to a private hospital in the city, where he is undergoing treatment.

Doctors treating Dandwate said a procedure called debridement has been performed on him to clean the dead tissues and avoid infection as crocodile bites can be toxic.

After required medical procedures, he will be provided with a prosthetic arm in a few months time, they said.

Officials said forest officials have take up the case for investigation.
A visit by the army to a south Kashmir college and social media have been blamed for student protests that rocked the Valley in April which also saw school girls throw stones at security forces.

In a report submitted to the Jammu and Kashmir government, security agencies have in details pointed to the role played by social media in mobilising students, official sources said.

Video clips of protests and clashes with security forces were widely shared on social media, fanning the anger.

Intelligence inputs suggest the banned Kashmir Students Union began calling up its members in different colleges on April 15 students decided that they will hit streets Monday. Thats when it all started, a police official, who was involved in drawing up the report, told HT.

The assessment comes days ahead of the first death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, who was killed in a gun battle with security forces on July 8. Wanis death triggered violent street protests that left at least 100 people, most of them civilians, dead.

The Valley continues to be restive. Security officers told HT they were working to avoid a repeat of the last summer.

Going viral

The report on April protests will come in handy as it highlights how student unions managed to mobilise thousands of youngsters in colleges across south Kashmir, the hotbed of insurgency, within hours.

The trigger was an April 12 clash between security forces and students at Pulwamas Government Degree College, 35km from the border states summer capital of Srinagar.

The problem started when some army officers entered the premises in an armoured vehicle for a meeting with the college administration, a police officer, who has seen the report, told HT.

Students protested, suspecting that the soldiers were there to pick up someone and within minutes the demonstration turned violent.

The army vehicle had to be moved out after some students started pelting stones, the official said. The next day police set up barriers outside the college to prevent a clash but students thought the barricading was done to identify those who had thrown stones at the army.

A violent clash ensued again and the police parties came under heavy stone pelting, the official quoted the report as saying.

It was at this point that the police entered the college following which students were lathicharged.

Thirty to 40 students received minor injuries. The report talked about police using tear gas and cane-charging students. It also said students suffered minor injuries.

However, videos of the incident had by then began to circulate on social media, the official said. Clips of the lathicharge, tear-gassed girl students fainting and the chaos that followed were widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.

To cash in on the anger, the banned Kashmir Students Union on April 15 started mobilising its members in various colleges for a protest against alleged police brutality.

It was decided that the protests had to be held and next day being a Sunday, the students decided that they would hit the streets on Monday, the official said.

It started as a peaceful demonstration but violence broke out when regular stone-pelters joined in.

Police used tear-gas shells and it was free for all.

Students held nothing back and massive stone pelting was reported from across the Valley. The famous Lal Chowk area of Srinagar which houses two major colleges -- Womens College and SP College  saw girl students, for the first time in decades, targeting security forces.

The report also mentions militant groups coming out in support of students. In Hajin area of north Kashmir, militants while addressing people mentioned the student protests and said the same should continue till Kashmiris attain their goal, the officer said, referring to insurgents call for Azadi or freedom.

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Two years after the Centre proposed setting up the Vikramshila central university in Bhagalpur, and earmarked Rs 500 crore for it, the institution has been a non-starter. For, the Bihar government has not been able to identify land, which it had to.

After two years of wait and a gentle reminder by President Pranab Mukherjee in March, when he last visited Bhagalpur, the district administration has now identified three separate chunks of 500 acre land. The proposal will be sent to the education department, after it rejected an earlier one, in which the district administration had identified just one plot of land, leaving the government with no choice.

All the three chunks of land shortlisted are located in Kahalgaon subdivision of the district, close to where the Vikramshila university had existed in the past. The first is a piece of land under Antichak, Nandgola and Singal Biata moujas. Another land holding is under Ekdara, Singal Biata and Parshuramchak moujas and the third under Kissandaspur, Mohanpur and Goghatta moujas.

READ| President Mukherjee bats for full revival of Bihars Vikramshila varsity

Bhagalpur district magistrate Adesh T confirmed that three proposals of 500 acre each had been finalised for forwarding to the state government. He said suitability of land was being examined and acquisition cost being worked out. Once complete, we will send the proposal to the government, he added.

Efforts to contact the DM on Monday to ascertain the reason for delay in identifying land proved futile. The DM did not respond to HTs phone call. When HT texted him, he wrote back, Pl contact education dept for it as it is the nodal dept.

In March last year, the district had sent to the government a single proposal of 500 acres of land under Antichak, Nandgola and Singal Biata moujas (revenue villages). The same was, however, sent back on the premise that three land proposals of 500 acre each had to be shortlisted.

District land acquisition officer Jitendra Kumar Sah said land acquisition could tentatively cost the exchequer between Rs 202 crore and Rs 350 crore for holdings under consideration.

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The Chinese army on Monday accused the Indian military of provoking tension along the Line of Actual Control in Sikkim, where the two sides were reportedly involved in a tense confrontation earlier this month.

Indian and Chinese troops scuffled near the Doka La area in the first week of June, PTI reported earlier in the day quoting unnamed sources, before soldiers from Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) damaged bunkers on the Indian side.

The stand-off in Sikkim comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Washington and is expected to negotiate a deal to buy American surveillance drones and reinvigorate strategic ties, moves that could rile Beijing.

The confrontation in Sikkim snowballed with the Chinese side deciding to stop last week the Kailash Mansarovar yatra through Sikkim that Indian pilgrims take to travel to Tibet, according to the report.

The PLA had a different sequence of events, accusing Indian soldiers of interfering in its sovereignty.

Recently, the Chinese side in the Donglang area for road construction, was blocked by the Indian Army line, a late-night statement from the PLA said. The construction of the above-mentioned roads by the Chinese side is entirely a sovereign act in its own territory, and the Indian side has no right to interfere.

For decades, ties between India and China have remained fraught over stretches of their disputed Himalayan border and competing geo-political ambitions. The two sides fought a short but bloody border war in 1962.

On Monday, the PLA said the problem persisted despite a meeting between the two sides and the Indian military unilaterally provoked trouble.

China is committed to developing bilateral relations between China and India, but also firmly defend their legitimate rights and interests. It is hoped that the Indian meet China halfway and do not take any complication of the border issue and jointly maintain the good momentum of development of bilateral relations, the statement said.

According to the PTI report, the Indian Army twice asked the Chinese to join a flag meeting after the confrontation. Both requests were turned down before the Chinese side agreed to a meeting on June 20. It was then that they conveyed to their Indian counterparts that pilgrims would not be allowed to cross into Tibet.

The pilgrims were kept waiting till June 23 after which they returned to Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, which is the only region where the border between India and China is demarcated, according to PTI.

The Line of Actual Control is the de-facto, 4,000-km long border that India and China share in regions that they both claim as their territory.

It is not the first time that a transgression has happened at Doka La, on the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction.

Chinese forces had in November 2008 destroyed makeshift Indian army bunkers.

Earlier this year, Chinese helicopters entered Indian airspace in the Barahoti area of Uttarakhand.

(With PTI inputs)
China on Monday refused to give reasons for not allowing pilgrims on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to cross the border, saying the two foreign ministries were in communication.

The annual pilgrimage, flagged off earlier this month by Indias external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, was suspended after China didnt allow a batch of Indians to go through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim in Indias northeast.

They were to cross over to the Chinese side on June 19 but failed to do so due to inclement weather and had to wait at the base camp.

On June 23, China denied entry to them citing damage to roads, forcing several people to return to Sikkims capital Gangtok.

Yes, there are some difficulties being experienced in movement of Kailash Mansarovar Yatris via Nathu La. The matter is being discussed with the Chinese side, a ministry of external affairs official had said.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said the two foreign ministries are communicating on this issue.

At least seven batches of 50 pilgrims each were to cross over to Tibet through the Nathu La Pass on their way to Mount Kailash, held sacred by the Buddhists, Hindus and Jains.

Eighteen batches of 60 pilgrims each will be on their way to Kailash through a second but a tougher route that runs through Lipu Lekh pass in Uttarkhand, close to Nepal border.

The Nathu La route was inaugurated in June 2015.

Till then, every year 18 batches of 60 Indians undertook the journey through the Lipu Lekh pass between May and September.

The new route  administered by the Tibet Autonomous Region government on the Chinese side  cut short the trekking time, allowing pilgrims to make the journey on bus.

With agency inputs
China on Monday said it was ready to wait some more time for India to shed its misgivings and join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Beijing also emphasised that integration of the $50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), over which India has raised objections as it passes through PoK, with the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor will synergise its mega initiative.

I have to point out that some persons in India have misgivings and doubts about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here.

They are still watching it and quivering about this initiative. We can wait a little bit more time for the Indian side. The BRI is an important opportunity. The facts have proven that one will benefit more if one can participate in this initiative as early as possible, he said.

India skipped Chinas high-profile Belt and Road Forum in May due to its sovereignty concerns over the CPEC, which passes through PoK.

Geng said the CPEC and the BCIM are both important cooperation projects under the framework of the BRI.

If they can be jointly advanced and integrated to form a synergy with other projects of the BRI they will be able to bring more benefits and welfare to the local people, he said.

Geng was responding to a question on the recent document called Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative released by the Chinese government which has proposed to connect CPEC and BCIM corridors.

The document released recently said In line with the priorities of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, China will deepen ocean cooperation by fostering closer ties with countries along the Road, supported by the coastal economic belt in China. Ocean cooperation will focus on building the China-Indian Ocean-Africa- Mediterranean Sea Blue Economic Passage, by linking the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, running westward from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, and connecting the CPEC and BCIM.

Reiterating the stand that the CPEC is an economic initiative and it has nothing to do with the Kashmir issue, Geng said it is not targeted at any third party.

The Belt and Road initiative includes a maze of roads and port projects.

While the CPEC is highlighted as flagship project, the B&R includes the Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, New Eurasian Land Bridge, China-Mongolia- Russia Economic Corridor, China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor and 21st century Maritime Silk Road.
A debt-ridden farmer from Uttarakhands agro belt of US Nagar district committed suicide, the relatives claimed on Sunday.

Ramavtar (42) of Haldi Pacheda village in Khatima area of the district was found hanging from a tree on Saturday midnight by relatives, who went to look for him as he did not return home from the field.

This is the second incident of a farmer taking the extreme step in the state within ten days. On June 16, a farmer in Pithorgarh committed suicide after he received recovery notice from the rural co-operative bank.

The number of farmers committing suicide in India has increased sharply over the years amid demands for loan waivers as fall in the prices of their produce and erratic monsoons play havoc with millions of farmers across the country.

In May Narendra Modis BJP-led central government told the Supreme Court that despite a multi-pronged approach to improve income and social security of farmers, over 12,000 suicides were reported in the agricultural sector in India every year since 2013.

Various studies point out that most of these farmers ended their lives because of bankruptcy or debts.

Ramavtar had taken loans from two banks, his brother Anant Ram said. Recently he received notices from the State Bank of India for the recovery of the loan amount of Rs 1.97 lakh and from Bank of Barodas Nanakmatta branch for recovery of R 1.23 lakhs, he added.

Bank official used to visit our place frequently and even threatened to auction our land to recover dues. The visits left my brother stressed. We requested the bank officials to give us one-week time to repay. But they were reluctant Anant Ram told HT over phone.

Anant said their four brothers jointly own 2.5 acres of land.

Farmers of US Nagar district too have been demanding loan waiver and also held a protest last week to press for their demand.

Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Rawat in a series of tweets on Sunday evening, however, suggested loan waiver was not a viable solution.

He ordered a magisterial probe into the farmers death.

District Magistrate Neeraj Khairwal said sub divisional magistrate of Khatima has been asked to conduct the probe and submit a report within 10 days.

Meanwhile, opposition Congress has trained guns at the government for ignoring farmers plight.
Even though the Narendra Modi government has substantially increased the number of posts for judges in the high courts and judicial officers in the districts, law ministry data for the last three years shows, burgeoning vacancies remain an impediment in reducing pendency of cases in the courts.

The number of unfulfilled judicial posts has skyrocketed. Nearly 40% of judges are missing from the 24 high courts and 26% of judges are missing from the 707 districts.

As a result, almost 3 crore cases are pending in Indian courts. Of these, 40 lakhs are in high courts.

The government says it is ready to make a plan to solve the problem. Over the next few months, we will put in place a road map to tackle pendency of cases, said junior law minister PP Chaudhary. This road map is being worked out with the judiciary.

But another senior official of the law ministry said on the condition of anonymity that the gap between the sanctioned number of judges and the functioning strength of the judiciary is too wide for a solution to come anytime soon.

In the last three years, the Modi government increased the number of posts for high court judges from 906 to 1079. As of June 26, a whopping 408 of these posts lay empty. A gap of around 10 per cent can be expected, but this is abnormally high, said a source involved with the appointment process.

Among judicial officers, the NDA raised the sanctioned number from 19,518 to 22,258. The number of vacant posts is now 5,875, with nearly half of the new posts still unoccupied.

Collegiums at the level of state courts and the Supreme Court, composed of five top judges each, jointly appoint new members. The high court collegiums send recommendations to the Supreme Court collegium, which then approves them and sends them to the government, which issues the appointment orders. The role of the government is only administrative.

The process has been jammed for a number of reasons. According to sources in the law ministry, high court collegiums have not even made a recommendation for 275 vacancies. Forty-three candidates approved by the Supreme Court were questioned by the Centre twice, leading to a delay of over a year. This stalling on high court appointment orders has been going on since long before the NDA, though it has worsened during their time in power. New guidelines on the appointment system are being debated by each side, further contributing to the deadlock.

The district judges, meanwhile, are appointed solely by high courts, with state governments having varying levels of responsibility. Chaudhary emphasised that the Centre is not to blame for the many vacancies among judicial officers. The government has nothing to do with filling these posts, he said. These appointments are directly under the high courts. We are hoping these will be filled soon.

Last October, then Chief Justice of India TS Thakur told Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi that the government was not keeping its promise of making high court appointments on priority. You may now as well close court rooms down and lock justice out, the CJI said in open court on October 28. His words exemplified the unease between the judiciary and the executive.

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Opinion / Religion

Old testament question and answer with Witness Dingani

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(25)

INTRODUCTION

SUGGESTED ANSWERS

HOWEVER PART

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

Questions by schools to be answered on Newspaper can be submitted through my mobile number +2363777896159 or Email address : witnessdingani@gmail.com .Readers of the Daily Old Testament Questions and Answers can follow the Questions and Answers on Sunday News Newspaper every week | Bulawayo24.com Online Newspaper | Listen to Divinity on Lips Radio Program with Witness Dingani every Sundays on Channel Zim Free Tv Decorders [Radio Dialogue] 09:00am -10:00am or Like Facebook page "Witness Dingani" where some of useful information will be posted. For assistance in Apostolic age kindly inbox Sir Derco on +263735710949 and For assistance in Four gospels kindly inbox Sir Chakabva on +263785199703



If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adam



"Prophets in ancient Israel and Zimbabwe prophets belong to a class of their own" - discuss ?Ancient Israel prophets and Zimbabwe prophets belong to a class of their own.For instance there are more similarities between Israel and Zimbabwean prophets. Similarities in the sense that they all received calls,championed holy wars,fought for justice to mention but a few only. However, it can be argued that they belong to different classes due to minor differences for instance anointing of Kings. The on going essay seeks to discuss the validity of the claim that prophets in Ancient Israel and Zimbabwe belongs to a class of their own.- During the exodus event, Moses as a prophet who was divinely inspired, played number of prophetic duties .This include performing miracles .He also went on to extent of fighting holy wars with Amalekites. This is evidenced in Exodus 17:9 "And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out, fight with Amalek; tomorrow.." It has been submitted that whilst Israel was fighting Moses was standing on top of the mountain with Aaron with a rod, hence, he was praying for a victory. As a result Israel defeated the Amalekites (Amalek grandson of Esau).Scholar Thomas Constable in his Exodus notes page 104 paragraph 4 citing Josephus the early church father who submitted that No Hebrew died in this war but innumerable Amalekites perished.Samuel the prophet championed holy wars. This is evidenced when he prayed and offered sacrifices in Mizpah, so that Yahweh will give strength Israel in order to fight against the Philistines. This is recorded in 1 Samuel 7:5-10.As a result the Israelites won the battle. Samuel had schools of prophets .The internal evidence reveal that Samuel was always standing as the head, this is indicated in 1 Samuel 19:20.Scholar B.W Anderson submitted that the other role of sons of prophets with their head was to champion holy wars ;giving soldiers a patriotic feeling .This is also the reason why the guild was always stationed in garrisons. In Zimbabwean context number of so many prophets have championed the holy wars, citing the "white church garment" who fought against the police in Budiriro 1, this was recorded by Newsday and ZBC on the 14th May 2014 (The members of the sect could be heard shouting ordering others to kill claiming they were fighting a "holy war") This story was recorded on Herald (http://www.herald.co.zw/latest-vapostori-beat-up-police/). Hence,this indicates that prophets in Ancient Israel and Zimbabwe belong on the class of their own as there are similarities.- Israel prophets received calls for instance, Moses as a prophet received a call when experienced a vision of burning bush, this is recorded in Exodus 3:1.Samuel also received a calll when he heard a voice, Isaiah of Jerusalem also experienced a vision of seraphims .In Zimbabwean context, number of so many prophets claim to have experienced calls this include, Uebert Angel who claimed to have been visited by 50 Angels, Zimbabwean scholars like Kudzai Biri and Ibid wrote that Makandiwa claimed he received a call when he experienced a vision of burning bush in Muzarabani Village at a tender age, Isabel Mukonyora in her work entitled "The Dramatization of Johane Masowe" submitted that Masowe experienced a vision of burning bush in Mt Marimba, this has been further supported by Dillon in his work entitled "Korstekn Basketmakers".Therefore, this will lead one to suggest that Israel and Zimbabwean prophets belong to one class.- Israel prophets had an ability to perfom miracles, for instance Moses perfomed miracles throughout exodus event,this include the miracle of manna from Heaven which is recorded in Exodus 16:1.Prophet Elijah also performed miracles, for instance raising the widow's son and multiplying the food, all this is recorded in 1st Kings 17:14-21. In Zimbabwean context, performing miracles cannot be separated from Zimbabwean prophets, Bulawayo24.com and Newsday in 2016 17th ot March recorded story of Paul Sanyangore who claimed to have walked on water in Harare "swimming pool". Ebert Angel claimed to have raised more than 24 dead people. W. Magaya perform healing miracles on daily basis, his miracles have been broadcasted on YadahTv . Spectacle prophet "Freddy" is well known of performing miracles using spectacles same applies to the Apple "Fordrick" prophet who has been recoded by local media performing several miracles using an apple. Therefore, this indicates that Zimbabwean and Israel prophets belong on the same class as it is evidenced by similarities.- Israel prophets fought for social justice, For instance Moses fought for justice when he confronted King Pharaoh so as to free the Israelites which were being oppressed by Pharaoh, this evidenced in Exodus 5:1. Elijah fought for justice when he confronted King Ahab over Naboth's vineyard, this is recorded in 1 Kings 21:17. Amos condemned the women of Samaria who were oppressing the poor, this is recorded in Amos 4:1. Amos advocated for fairness as well in Amos 5:24.In Zimbabwean context, it is recorded that Zimbabwean prophets have fought social justice, Samuel Mutendi is believed to have criticized the oppression of blacks by the whites during the colonization of Southern Rhodesia. Basing on the above text it is clear that there are similarities between Israel and Zimbabwean prophets when fighting for social justice is concerned, hence it can be said that Zimbabwe and Israel prophets belong on the same class.- Israel prophets fought for worshipping of one God.Moses for worshiping of one God when he destroyed the golden calf which had been made by the Israelites, this is recorded in Exodus. 32:20.Elijah butchered the baal prophets during the Mt Carmel Contest, this is recorded in 1 Kings 18:36-42.In Zimbabwean context, it is documented by number of authors that Zimbabwean prophets fights for worshipping of one God, Isabel Mukonyora citing Dillon, says Masowe during his days had tendency of destroying "mishonga" and burning the fetishes.Makandiwa recorded by Christ Tv undated, discouraged his church to partake in evil practices. Magaya recorded by Newsday newspaper and Bulawayo24.com in 14 February 2015, he condemned the use of water as a way of exorcism by the white church garment which is led by Johannes Ndanga as evilness and encouraging them to change, this is further supported by his book entitled "The marine spirit"v(the point in this case is that Magaya fights for worshipping of one God).Similarities can be noticed, hence, one will be making violence on a plain text if one totally ignore the view that Israel and Zimbabwean prophets belong to the class of their own.- Israel prophets predicted the future events. Samuel predicted the dangers of having a King, this is recorded in 1 Samuel 8:6-17.Elijah predicted the death of King Ahab "the dogs will lick your blood". This is recorded in 1 Kings 21:17-22.Ahijah of Shiloh predicted the death of the son of Jeroboam, this is recorded in 1Kings 14:12.In Zimbabwean context, it is documented that Zimbabwean prophets predicted the future events. For instance, Bulawayo well known prophet Chiza predicted about the status of Zimbabwe in his 2016 prophecies (prophecy number 2 of Chiza says Zimbabwean dollar will be re-introduced ).Makandiwa in his article Volume 11 undated prophesied about the next coming big prophet, he says ("..I see another man of God coming in Zimbabwebut the time he comes I will be an old man.". He went on to say "I see another city coming"). Daily News newspaper on 28th of April 2016 published that Makandiwa had predicted the Zambia Xenophobia attacks.All this indicates that Zimbabwean prophets predict the future just like Israel prophets, hence,similarities can be noticed.- As much as it can be said that Israel and Zimbabwean prophets belong on the class of their on one will be short cited if the writer ignores the other side of the coin which proves to us that they do not necessarily belong on the same class because of differences For instance. Israel prophets anointed kings, Samuel anointed Saul and David .This is recorded in 1 Samuel 10:1 & 1 Samuel 16:13-23.Elijah was suppose to anoint Jehu and Hazel, This is recorded in 1 Kings 19:15-16.In Zimbabwean context, it is not documented that Zimbabwean prophets anoint Kings and the reason being that Zimbabwe is a Republican Gvt but not monarchy. As such this indicate that the Zimbabwe and Israel prophets belong on different classes.- Basing on the above discussion it is clear that Zimbabwe and Israel prophets belong on the class of their own, as it can be evidenced by more similarities. Similarities in the sense they all perform miracles, fight for monotheism, predict the future and fighting for justice. However, there are minor differences as the writer fully highlighted above.- ZBC TV on the 14th of May 2014- Herald Newspaper (http://www.herald.co.zw/latest-vapostori-beat-up-police/).- Isabel Mukonyora "The dramatization of Johanne Masowe"- Revised Standard Version Bible (RSV)- Newsday newspaper and Bulawayo24.com on 14 February 2015- Daily News newspaper on 28th of April 2016- Dr Thomas Constable (Exodus notes 2016 edition)
The accident at the Gulmarg gondola on Sunday evening that killed seven people comes at a time when Kashmir's tourism industry suffers a dwindling of tourists due to the continued anti-India protests, militancy and counter-insurgency operations.

When bad weather struck the cable car service in the famed hill-resort, a tree fell on the cable and led to at least two cars getting knocked against the hillside, killing a Delhi-based couple and their two young daughters and three Kashmiris.

"For the industry, this unfortunate accident could not have come at a worst time," director of the state tourism department, Mahmood Ahmad Shah, told HT highlighting how the sector was already suffers due to the prevailing situation in the state.

Official data indicate that the total number of tourists who visited the Valley since January 2016 to the first week of July, when unrest broke in Kashmir after the killing of Hizbul Mujahedeen militant Burhan Wani, was around 6.2 lakh (including Amarnath yatris).

But the later part of the year  as Kashmir remained under curfew for five-months and over 90 civilians were killed in protests  registered almost zero tourists, leading to a revenue loss of 80%.

The department hasn't officially released any data for tourist visiting the Valley this year, but informed sources revealed the number was dismal  a over 60% decline when figures of tourists visiting Kashmir in January-June is compared against those who visited in the corresponding period last year.

"People across the country and even abroad only hear the Kashmir is gripped by violence. In spite of that they plan their visits. Now if such things happen, then perhaps they will think twice before choosing to visit the Valley," said a cab-driver who regularly ferries tourists from Srinagar to Gulmarg.

But it's not that Gulmarg has shutdown after the accident. "Gulmarg is normal," said Shah.

Sources in the travel and hotel industry say that tourists have not packed up and left after the accident last evening. "It's normal, just that people won't be able to avail the gondola ride now. We hear it's shut for a few days," said a tour agent in Gulmarg.

Officials had told HT that the gondola services are expected to remain shut for some days and an expert team from France is scheduled to visit and conduct checks and maintenance work.

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Seven persons were killed and five others received injuries after their Bolero Camper jeep fell down a deep gorge near Antravali in Chopal of Shimla district.

Their jeep with Haryana number plate (HR 71 3993) met with an accident around 2:30 am when the passengers were returning from Churdhar, a pilgrim centre in Sirmaur district, and travelling towards Kafota.

All the passengers were from Kafota region.

Of the seven deceased five were from one family. Deceased have been identified as Sandhi Devi her daughters and Sushma, Raveena, Nisha, and son Kailash. Shivani and Gulab Singh were the other casualties.

Injured people have been referred to IGMC, Shimla.

Shimla deputy commissioner Rohan Chand Thakur said compensation of Rs 50,000 will be given to the family of the deceased persons and Rs 5, 000 each to injured persons. All bodies have been recovered and have been taken to civil hospital, he said.
PATNA The divergent stand on support to opposing presidential candidates by two major partners of the Grand Alliance - RJD and JD(U), has not only threatened the future of the government but also put a question mark on the prospects of a united challenge to the NDA at the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The confrontation between the two parties, a day after state JD(U) president Bashistha Narayan Singhs terse warning to rein in RJD leaders or face the music, only escalated further on Monday, indicating that the plan to replicate a Bihar like GA at the national level has all but hit a big roadblock.

With deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav in an unrelenting mood after describing chief minister Nitish Kumars move to support Kovind as opportunism, which he said has little shelf life, the JD(U) unleashed its battery of spokesperson, right from Delhi to Patna, to retaliate in full measure.

Secretary general of JD(U) KC Tyagi led the charge, saying Our party is the mother of the alliance and it will be a folly to consider it a handmaiden. The responsibility of a mother is bigger. We will tolerate it for some more time. But RJD chief Lalu Prasad must understand that unrestrained outbursts only contribute to shortening the life span of an alliance.

If things are not brought under control, it is likely that the state executive committee meeting of the JD(U), on July 3, and subsequent national executive meeting, on July 9, will be stormy affairs, with party leaders, who have been maintaining restraint till now, authorising Kumar to take a call on the fate of the alliance.

Already, the war of words has turned bitter, with JD(U) spokesman Sanjay Singh questioning why Prasad was allowing CM-baiters Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Bhai Birendra to sit along his side. He should tell when they will be shown the door, he said, indicating that nothing less than direct action will soothe frayed tempers.

Congress, which had maintained a safe distance on issues being contested by JD(U) and RJD, on Monday, questioned the wisdom of Kumars decision to back Kovinds candidature.

What will happen if a person, who is guided by so many principles, keeps changing his stance? senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad wondered, while speaking to a TV channel in New Delhi.

The fire has been stoked by the RJD. It is summer and fire gets out of hand easily in this season. It is up to Prasad to douse the fire quickly, said Ajay Alok, of the JD(U), while yet another spokesperson, Neeraj Kumar, said: The non-realisation of truth often proves to be self-destructive.

With the JD(U) toughening its stance, the RJD started to soften its words. Party chief Lalu Prasad summoned Maner legislator Bhai Birendra, who had launched a personal attack on Kumar, terming him a Jaychand (betrayer), in the afternoon.

RJD spokesman Manoj Jha said that leaders of both sides should refrain from issuing unwarranted statements. Who mattered in the formation of the government is not the issue for debate. Rather, the question is why people voted in favour of GA. Fighting communal forces was the real reason and we should not fall into the BJPs trap, he said.

The relations between the parties, headed by bade bhai (Lalu Prasad) and chote bhai (Nitish Kumar), have hit a new low and speculation is rife that anything could happen here onwards. The two leaders hardly spoke during a recent iftar party hosted by Lalu Prasad at his residence on Saturday.

QUOTE

Our party is the mother of the alliance and it will be a folly to consider it a handmaiden. Unrestrained outbursts contribute to shortening life span of an alliance

KC Tyagi, JD(U) secy gen
Piyush Agarwal from Jaipur was busy with local sightseeing in Gulmarg while his wife had opted for the gondola ride with a few other relatives.

At around 6pm, a panic-struck Agarwal was running down the base boarding station of the cable car service. His wife was safe but stranded for at least three hours now in the car.

Kashmiri tourist guides who were gathered at the station and helping in the rescue patted Agarwals back and calmed him down. They offered him water and assured him of her return.

Seven tourists, four of them from a Delhi family, were killed when a cable car crashed after a tree fell on the cable at the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmirs Baramulla.

After the accident, locals, local tour guides, All Terrain Vehicle drivers, district administration officials, police and the Indian Army all came together to help the stranded people.

Read | Delhi family killed in Gulmarg Gondola accident loved to travel, had planned the vacation last minute

Addressing the media, senior superintendent of police Baramulla, Imtiyaz Hussain said that 150 stranded people were rescued by a joint effort from locals, officials, army and police.

Its humanity, not business. We rushed to save the injured. You can still see blood on my t-shirt.

A police statement issued at night said, A number of locals especially All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) operators helped the police in rescue operation...For providing assistance all those who helped police will be suitably rewarded.

Mohammad Abbas Wani, the local MLA, addressing the media expressed his happiness at the participation of locals, police and Army in the rescue operation.

ATV drivers said that they were the first ones who had taken their vehicles and rushed up the hill to rescue the stranded passengers.

Mir Fayaz, an ATV driver, said he helped pull out the dead bodies of the Delhi-based family out of the damaged cable car. Its humanity, not business. We rushed to save the injured. You can still see blood on my t-shirt.

Over 100 tourists were stranded at the Gulmarg ski resort. (HT File Photo)

The Indian Army personnel did their best to rescue the traumatised tourists and tended to them as they got down from their cable cars which were left hanging mid air for at least three hours. When bad weather struck and our car was swaying, we offered our last prayers to Allah. But then we realised we were safe. In some time, we saw the Indian Army at work and felt we were in safe hands, said Ruhul Amin from Bangladesh.

When Chitra Wazir Kumar and her relatives from Delhi were brought down from their cable car, she said, Local guides risked their lives to rescue

tourists.

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India shares the Trump administrations determination to defeat this scourge of terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written in an opinion piece ahead of his highly awaited meeting with the American president, adding there was growing convergence in the relation between the two countries.

Both India and the US have an overriding interest in securing our societies, and the world, from the forces of terrorism, radical ideologies and nontraditional security threats. India has four decades experience in fighting terrorism, and we share the US administrations determination to defeat this scourge, Modi wrote in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal.

The prime minister also wrote that the logic of our strategic relationship is incontrovertible. The two leaders are expected to announce new initiatives in counter-terrorism, as has been indicated by the White House before.

Referring to his joint address to US congress in 2016, Modi wrote, he had spoken then about how India and the US had overcome the hesitations of history, to commit themselves to the relationship. A year later, I return to the US confident in the growing convergence between our two nations.

There is a new administration in the United States since Modi was last year, which has signaled its commitment to build on the growing momentum in the relationship and the two sides have indicated a resolve to work out and around differences and irritants such as climate change and H-1B visas.

His confidence in growing convergence, the prime minister wrote, stemmed from the strength of our shared values and the stability of our systems. Our people and institutions have steadfastly viewed democratic change as an instrument for renewal and resurgence.

And, the two countries share a vision of joint success and progress guides our partnership, he wrote. Bilateral trade stands at $115 billion, Indian companies have invested $15 billion in the US and are present in 34 states, including, he pointed out in a nod to Trumps winning votes, the rust belt.

He went to describe changes in the Indian economy and all other areas of convergence and growing cooperation between the two countries, including defence and security and the ongoing to address the existing and emerging strategic and security challenges that affect both our nationsin Afghanistan, West Asia, the large maritime space of the Indo-Pacific, the new and unanticipated threats in cyberspace.

And in reference to the South China Sea dispute, which is also expected to be raised at the meetings at the White House, Modi wrot, We also share an interest in ensuring that sea lanescritical lifelines of trade and energyremain secure and open to all.

Modi wrote, in conclusion, The US and India are forging a deeper and stronger partnership that extends far beyond the Beltway (the interstate that rings the Washington DC) and the Raisina Hill. That partnership has become our privileged prerogative and our promise for our people and our world.
A group of farmers from Puntambe village, the epicentre of the recent agrarian protests in Maharashtra, on Monday expressed unhappiness over the loan waiver scheme announced by the state government.

The farmers want more benefits for those who regularly repay their crop loans.

A delegation of eight farmers from the village in Ahmednagar district met NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai in connection with their demands.

The farmers claimed that Pawar assured to look into their issues. The cultivators also said that they are planning to meet chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday.

The BJP-led government had on Saturday unveiled a Rs 34,022 crore farm loan waiver scheme, under which debts of up to Rs 1.5 lakh would be written off, giving relief to some 89 lakh farmers.

However, the steering committee of farmer leaders yesterday rejected the mega loan waiver scheme, saying there should be no upper limit for the waiver.

Under the scheme, the farmers who regularly repay loan will get 25 per cent relief on paid amount, capped at Rs 25,000.

Abhay Chavan, a farmers leader from Puntambe, said, We regularly repay our crop loans. The governments loan waiver scheme helps us up to Rs 25,000 only whereas those who have outstanding loans up to Rs 1.50 lakh are going to benefit more.

We think this is unfair to us as we repay crop loan from time to time, he said.

Dattatray Dhanwate, another member of the farmers delegation, claimed that Pawar has assured to look into the matter.

We met Pawar because he understands our issues thoroughly. Our demand is that we should get benefit up to Rs 50,000 because many farmers would not benefit from the existing scheme.

If a farmer gets Rs 25,000 return under the scheme, it is quite less, he said.

Some senior farmers from Puntambe village are going to meet Fadnavis tomorrow regarding the same issue. Loan waiver scheme announced by the state government is not satisfactory, Dhanwate told reporters after their meeting with Pawar at YB Chavan centre near the state Secretariat.

Asked about the reasons behind their dissatisfaction, Chavan said, Most of us grow grapes, sugarcane and soyabean. Our crop loan limit is also quite high as compared to farmers growing food grains.

Hence, when our loan turns bad, its amount is much more than that of farmers growing cereals and pulses. We are not going to benefit much from such loan waiver schemes, he claimed.

On the legal cases filed against the cultivators, Amol Teke, who was a part of the farmers delegation, said, The state government should withdraw all cases against the farmers without any condition.

Early this month, several parts of Maharashtra witnessed large scale protests by farmers over their demands for a loan waiver and remunerative price for their produce, among others.

The protests started from Puntambe and then spread to other places in the state.
The United Jehad Council (UJC), a collective of militant organisations in Kashmir, called for on Monday a week-long agitation to mark the first death anniversary of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

Wanis death on July 8 triggered one of the worst periods of unrest in Kashmir, where at least 90 civilians have been killed in clashes with security personnel.

Officials have started bracing for the death anniversary, increasing security deployment in South Kashmir and along the regions key highways.

Protest calendars, a schedule of shutdowns and demonstrations in the region, are typically declared by the separatist outfit Hurriyat and its factions, making Mondays announcement by UJC chief Syed Salahuddin unusual. Salahuddin is the leader of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

In a first such video message, he said Hafta-e-Shuhuda (martyrs week) would be observed beginning July 7 on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir into two parts - each administered by India and Pakistan.

Complete strike would be observed in the state on July 8 to pay tributes to Burhan Wani for whom public gatherings will also be held, especially in Tral, Salahuddin said.

Wani is credited to have revived the militancy in Kashmir, in part due to his social media tactics. His death was seen as blow to the Hizb, which lost its second-most prominent militant leader Sabzar Bhat last month.

Kashmir has seen one of its bloodiest years since Wanis death, and more than 45 people  civilians, security forces and militants  were killed since May 28 when Ramzan began.

In addition to Wani, Salahuddin said, the agitation will also be to remember the Kashmiri civilians who died on July 13, 1931 during a protest in Srinagar.

Resistance leadership and clerics should start the programme on July 7 and explain the significance of martrydom to people during Friday sermons, the video shows Salahuddin as saying.

On July 10 and 11, people will visit the families of martyrs to express solidarity with them and help them financially, he said.

He has asked people to offer special namaz for the freedom movement and destruction of the enemy on July 12.

Salahuddin has said UJC will be organising conferences across Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan. Massive public rallies will be held in Muzaffarabad and Rawalakote on July 8 and 13 to pay homage to Burhan Wani and the 1931 martyrs, he added.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the nation on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and wished the spirit of peace and brotherhood may prevail.

Eid-ul-Fitr greetings! May this auspicious day further the spirit of peace and brotherhood in our society, Modi said in a tweet on Sunday night.

Eid-ul-Fitr greetings! May this auspicious day further the spirit of peace and brotherhood in our society.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 26, 2017

Eid-ul-Fitr translates as the festival of breaking the fast.

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims perform one of the five pillars of Islam -- the fast. -
A 65-year-old Dalit farmer allegedly hanged himself from the branch of a tree at his farm in Tikamgarh district, taking the total number of agriculture-related suicides in Madhya Pradesh to 23 since the June 6 violent protests in Mandsaur over loan waivers and better prices for farm produce.

Barelal Ahirwars body was found on Sunday in Futarachakra village in the arid Bundelkhand region. His son Chandrabhan said his father had taken a loan of Rs 45,000 from a local money lender to dig a well to irrigate their crops but authorities claimed Ahirwar might have committed suicide because he was suffering from a mental illness.

Chandrabhan also told the local media they had a small land holding of over two acres and used to take some land on contract farming. He said they didnt have a good crop yield in the last few years due to drought and excessive rainfall.

But money lender was pressuring us to repay the loan. Due to this, my father was in tension for last few days. This is why he hanged himself, he said.

Chandrabhan said his elder brother had also taken a loan for buying material for constructing the foundation of a house under PM Aawas Yojana after which an inspection was held by officials and the first instalment of Rs 40,000 was released, he said.

Khargapur police station officer Tej Singh said a case of death has been registered in the incident.

We have started investigating the case. Prima facie, police have come to know that Barelal was suffering from some mental illness and his treatment was also going on. He was also deaf and at times used to lose his cool and control, he said.

Loan repayment tension and harassment by the money lender have not come to our notice so far in the preliminary inquiry, he added.

Last week, Raghuvir Yadav from Pali village from the same region, consumed sulphas tablets in his field. His father, Deshpat Yadav, said he had a loan of over Rs 10 lakh but authorities claimed he committed suicide over a family dispute.

Raghuvir was a contract farmer and had been suffering losses in farming for many years due to which he kept on taking loans, local sources said.

The farm crisis in Madhya Pradesh has been under the spotlight since June 6, when five farmers died in police firing during demonstrations to demand a loan waiver and better crop prices.

The spate of suicides has continued since then.

Farmers in the central state are angry because the government neither made arrangements to procure the crop on time nor intervened to ensure a reasonable price.

From February 2016 to mid-February 2017, 1,982 farmers and farm labourers reportedly committed suicide, which was one-fifth of the total suicides in the state, where 21,000 farmers have taken their lives in 16 years.

The National Crime Records Bureau attributed the reasons to crop failure, failure to sell produce, inability to repay loans, and other non-agriculture factors such as poverty and property disputes.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) attacked the National Minorities Commission (NCM)s move to set up a helpline for Muslims, saying both the commission and the ministry of minority affairs should be scrapped.

The ministry is under NDAs lone Muslim minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

A resolution to this effect was passed on Sunday at the conclusion of the two-day central governing councils meet held at the Swaminarayan Temple at Vadtal in Gujarat. This was a formal reiteration of the demand the VHP first made on June 20.

Such helpline projects a picture that atrocities against Muslims have reached such proportions that the extreme step of opening a helpline had to be taken up, said VHP joint secretary Surendra Jain in a statement.

Addressing reporters, Jain alleged this move of the NCM will eventually strengthen feelings of separatism among Muslim and Christian extremists in the country.

Isnt the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) more than enough to safeguard the rights of all the citizens of the nation, Jain asked.

He demanded that the NHRC should be empowered while the minorities commission should be scrapped.

The VHP resolution also said Pakistanis and separatists had been using the exact analogy to justify the anti-national activities.

It further said events unfolding in the world prove the point that the extent of rights Muslims enjoy in India cannot be matched with Muslims of the Islamic countries. It said Christian organisations have also been following the footsteps of the commission.

The VHP alleged that there was a political agenda behind such campaigns, even as most of the complaints (made by minorities) in the past have been proven to be baseless.

The Supreme Court in 2005 had directed the commission to take initiatives to end this anti-national practice of minoritism. Instead, it is increasing the feeling of disintegration. By showing themselves as victims, jihadis and Christian missionaries are trying to gain sympathy. Due to this, some selfish and short-sighted politicians dare to say that stone-pelters are freedom fighters, the resolution said.

In the resolution, the VHP has challenged the NCM to an open debate to clarify whether jihadis and missionaries are the attackers or victims.

Citing an example of a Muslim mob allegedly beating Hindus in Rajasthan, the resolution also talked about love-jihad.

It mentioned the Saharanpur violence to drive the point that jihadis do not even spare Dalits. It alleged that jihadis and missionaries attack other minority communities and Buddhists in north India and Sikhs in Punjab are being forced to convert.

When asked about the violence allegedly committed by gau-rakshaks in name of protecting cows, Jain said they are respectable citizens of this country.

Now a days, gau rakshaks are being portrayed in poor light and even humiliated for saving cows. They are not goons. They are the protectors of law. They deserve respect for what they do. We want the Centre to bring a law to ban cow slaughter across the country, said Jain.

(With PTI inputs)
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that ties between Washington and New Delhi had never been stronger after holding his first talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (HIGHLIGHTS)

The two leaders sought to develop a warm relationship despite differences over trade, immigration and the Paris climate accord.

Trump, in Oval Office remarks as Modi sat beside him, said Modi has been such a great prime minister and noted that he had been reading about Indias economic success under his leadership.

Economically, India is doing very well, he said.

Later at a joint briefing, Trump paid tribute to the Indian leader for overseeing growth rates which are faster than any other major economy in the world.

I am thrilled to salute you, Prime Minister Modi, and the Indian people for all you are accomplishing together.

Your accomplishments have been vast. India has the fastest-growing economy in the world. We hope well be catching you very soon in terms of percentage increase -- I have to tell you, were working on it!

The relationship between India and the United States has never been stronger, never been better, Trump told reporters in the White House Rose Garden as he stood alongside the Indian premier.

Modi, on his fifth visit to the United States since becoming prime minister in May 2014, thanked Trump for a warm welcome.

Later, as he and Modi joined for talks with senior officials, Trump said the two leaders were making great progress.

We agreed on most things and I would say by the end of the day well agree on everything, Trump said.

Trump administration officials have pointed to both leaders impact on social media - each has more than 30 million Twitter followers - as proof that they are cut from the same cloth, and predicted the two would get along well.

If the chemistry is good, everything else gets sorted, said an Indian official. The only way is up. How much up we go depends on the leaders. If they click, we go up higher.

Modi gave Trump a bear hug during their joint appearance before then showering praise on the US leader.

The two men, who both rose to power after portraying themselves as outsiders battling a complacent elite, appeared to make an immediate connection.

In our conversation today, President Trump and I have discussed all dimensions of US-India relations, Modi said at the end of a visit which has seen the announcement of several defence deals.

We want to take our strategic partnership to new heights.

Modi said there was no reason for the US and India to be rivals, stressing that both he and Trump shared a joint desire to increase productivity, growth and job creation.

Im sure that convergence between my vision for a new India and President Trumps vision for Making America Great Again will add a new dimension to our cooperation, added Modi in reference to Trumps signature campaign slogan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Donald Trump on Monday for their first summit with focus on pushing the strategic ties amid the US strong message to Pakistan by declaring Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist.

In a special gesture, Trump and the first lady Melania came out on the South Portico of the White House to receive Modi.

Trump and his wife warmly welcomed Modi and they were seen exchanging pleasantries and having a brief interaction before going inside the White House.

President @realDonaldTrump has welcomed me with immense warmth. I thank him for the welcome: PM @narendramodi  PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 26, 2017

As the two leaders sat for the meeting, Modi expressed gratitude to Trump and the first lady for the warm welcome extended to him.He said the welcome extended to him was a welcome to 125 crore people of India.

The prime minister said Trump has been paying attention to Indias growth march and economic progress.

He recalled that Trump had visited India in 2014 before he became the President and had made nice comments.

Among the issues on the table were counter-terrorism cooperation, defence partnership, global cooperation, trade and energy.

The tone for the first summit meeting was set by the US State Department which declared Syed Salahuddin, chief of Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, as a global terrorist, just a few hours earlier.

The State Department action sent out a strong message against the terrorism emanating from Pakistan which is hurting India.

Ahead of the meeting, Modi said the logic of the Indo-US strategic ties is incontrovertible and the two countries have an overriding interest in securing the world from terrorism, radical ideologies and non-traditional security threats.
They were born in the same family and grew up together in Chhattisgarhs remote south Sukma district. Their childhood was spent traversing the thick forests of central India, learning the tactics of guerilla warfare from the commanders at the dreaded childrens wing of the Maoists, which they both joined at 12.

But two decades on, fate has pit them against each other.

On one side is 35-year-old Madvi Hidma, arguably Indias most-wanted Maoist commander who is accused of planning and executing a string of deadly attacks on security personnel in Chhattisgarh that have claimed more than 200 lives. On the other side is his nephew and childhood friend Madkam Bheema, who rose through the Maoist ranks but surrendered in 2006 and is now with the Chhattisgarh Police.

We were born in the same village, Purvati. I was his only friend as he was my mothers brother and we were the same age but now I am his biggest enemy, says 34-year-old Bheema.

Bheema now spends his time hunting the jungles for landmines and scouring local villages on intelligence to track down Maoists, who have been fighting a decades-long insurgency against government forces to claim land rights for tribals. The place of his birth, Purvati, is one of several pockets known as liberated zones where the militants have set up parallel administration and there is scant government presence. His knowledge of forest trails and Maoist strategies is a great help to police, who often find themselves outfoxed by local militants guerilla tactics.

If Hidma comes my way during an encounter, I wont think of him as my friend, says Bheema. Amne -samne ke ladai mein goli chalegi aur jiskee kismet hogi bachega (In a face-to-face fight, bullets will fly and whoever has fate on his side will live).

Madvi Hidma has a bounty of Rs 1 crore on him (HT PHOTO)

The duo became president and vice-president of the Bal Sangam (Maoists children wing) at 14. Later, Bheema became secretary of Guerilla Peoples Committee in CPI (Maoist) and Hidma went to join the military battalion of the party. Locals say the two were inseparable.

But the relationship soured in 2006 when Bheema surrendered. He says he was disillusioned after several men he had recruited for the extremist group were murdered on the suspicion that they were police informers. He joined the police in 2011 but is currently facing suspension for allegedly torching the huts of local residents in Talmetla during an anti-Maoist operation  an incident for which he is also facing a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.

Bheema is a close relative of Hidma and both were childhood friends. Bheemas cousin brother who was Naxal and is in jail also confirmed this relationship, said a police officer posted in region. Another officer from the intelligence department, who refused to give his name because hes not authorised to speak to media, confirmed the family connection.

Bheemas family has faced a heavy price for his surrender. Months after he switched sides, his younger brother was hacked to death and his family shunned from public life. His mother told this correspondent that she didnt want to speak about Hidma as he didnt try to save his cousin.

Today, Hidma has a bounty of Rs 1 crore on his head, and his diminutive figure hides a battle-hardened commander. He operates across three districts of Chhattisgarh, has at least 100 fighters under him. But Bheema remembers him as a shy and introverted chid who was sharp and hardworking.

Today he speaks less but is a big man now. He is dreaded and ruthless and it is not easy for anyone to kill him. I know him and I know that he is a big challenge for security forces, says Bheema.

Bheema feels Hidma still carries a grudge against him. People told me that he organised many meetings and termed me as traitor. My effigies were also burnt in some villages, he added. A journalist met Hidma and asked him about our childhood friendship. Hidma refused to talk and said he didnt want to talk anything about me.

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There has been not even one taint or blot on his government in the past three years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, highlighting his achievements in rooting out corruption.

Indians hate corruption, he told the nearly 600 Indian-American community members at a reception in Virginia on Sunday.

PM Modi assured the Indian diaspora in the US that his government will continue to strive to take India to newer heights. I humbly state that whatever work my government has done in the last three years, till now there is not even one taint or blot on this government.

He underscored that technology has brought about transparency and is being used to achieve great heights across sectors in India.

I can give various examples where India is making great achievements with the help of technology, whether it is space or agriculture. Renewed focus is being given to technology-driven governance and development, he said.

In several parameters, the country is moving at a rapid pace. Noting that infrastructure is essential for sustainable development, Modi said the focus is on global benchmark, setting high standards of development. The increase in aspiration of the common people is the greatest cause of this fast track development of the country. We are working to convert the aspiration of the people of India, he said amidst applause from the audience.

Modi said that India is now receiving record number of foreign direct investment and all credit agencies and multilateral fora are giving a positive rating about India.

The world today sees India as a top investment direction, he said and urged the diaspora to work for and help in the development of India. He added that India is growing at an unprecedented pace.

He lauded the contribution of Indians living in America, saying they flourished once they received a conducive environment to grow and prosper in the US.

The billion strong Indians in India are also now getting a conducive environment and they are also changing the face of India at a fast pace, he said.

Modi assured the diaspora he will work to fulfil the dreams they have seen for their countrys development.
The Pakistani Army violated the ceasefire on Monday night by firing from automatic weapons and shelling mortars on Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri district, the army said.

An eerie silence prevailed during the day in areas along the LoC in Poonch and Rajouri districts as people celebrated Eid. Border guarding forces from either side too exchanged sweets on the International Border in Jammu to mark Eid-ul- Fitr, which marks culmination of the fasting month of Ramzan.

These areas have witnessed 20 ceasefire violations, an attack by Pakistan special forces team and two infiltration bids in June, in which four people including three jawans were killed died and 10 were injured.

The Pakistani Army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from small arms and automatic weapons and shelling of mortar along the LoC in Bhimbher Gali (BG) sector in Rajouri district from 2015 hours, a defence spokesman said.

The Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively, he said.

A jawan was injured in back-to-back ceasefire violations by the Pakistani Army on Monday.

The Pakistani Army breached the truce thrice by firing small arms and shelling mortars on army posts along the LoC in the Rajouri and Poonch sectors. The Indian side fired back in retaliation, Army sources said.

Pakistani troops on Saturday fired on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Poonch sector.

These violations came just days after an attack by a Pakistan special forces team that sneaked across the LoC into Poonch under cover of heavy fire and killed two jawans. One Pakistani soldier was also killed.

Pakistans Border Action Team comprises its armys special forces personnel and terrorists.
At least five resident militants who previously operated out of south Kashmir have returned to the states summer capital, intelligence inputs received by the state police show, signalling a shift in the militants strategy.

Police officials told HT that irregular sighting of militants moving in the city has been reported in the past week, prompting cordon-and-search operations in Lal Bazaar, Batamaloo and Lal Chowk areas.

This is clearly an attempt to put Srinagar at par with other areas of Kashmir, which have seen a spike in militant activities, said a senior official.

On Saturday, militants attacked a road-opening party of the CRPF, killing one jawan.

Till Sunday afternoon, efforts were on to flush out the militants who were holed up in a school building on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

It is, however, not clear yet if the latest incident is linked to the intelligence inputs received on June 17 about suspected militant movement in downtown area of Srinagar. HT obtained a copy of the intelligence report, which suggested that resident militants had been ordered by their outfits brass to return from south Kashmir and operate from Srinagar instead.

In the past decade, there was a steady decline in militant attacks in Srinagar. Even though south and north Kashmir are the two regions that have been affected by militancy the most, militants were active in the outskirts of Srinagar. The current movement of militants in the heart of Srinagar is definitely a cause of concern, said another police official.

Multiple officials in the security establishment said forces in the Valley were expecting militant attacks ahead of the first death anniversary of Burhan Wani, Hizbul Mujahideens former commander, who was killed in an encounter on July 8.

However the possibility of setting permanent bases in Srinagar was a major concern as it could mean that militancy in the Valley might be entering a whole new phase. There are constant inputs about presence of militants in Srinagar. The five men are resident militants in Srinagar, a security official said.

Kashmir DGP SP Vaid maintained that his police force was equipped to deal with the current situation in the Valley.

Srinagar has witnessed about 10 attacks in areas including Nowgam, Srinagar-Bemina Bypass, Khanyar and Safa Kadal this year. The latest attack was the killing of a policeman, identified as Shahzad Dilawar, in Srinagar city on June 11. Earlier in May, a PDP block president, Abdul Qayoom, was critically injured as militants fired at him in Barzulla area of Srinagar.

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The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) launched a new star rating programme for air pollution on June 5, 2017World Environment Day. The programme uses smoke-stack emissions data that MPCB is already collecting. But, since sampling results are not very comprehensible to the general public, MPCB is turning these pollution readings into an easy-to-understand Star Rating.

Under the new scheme, industries are rated based on the density of fine particulate pollution coming from their smoke stacks. The best performing industries receive five stars. Those with the highest density of emissions receive only one star. Industry, government and the public can then log onto the MPCB website to access the report cards for plants in their area.

India is making headway to ambitious goals for clean energy, such as solar and wind power. Between 2017 and 2040, India will account for 15% of the estimated $10.2 trillion global investment in power generation. As these technologies get better and cheaper, the costs of going green have fallen. Earlier this year, the cost of solar power (Rs 2.62/kWh) fell below the market price for coal-generated power by the National Thermal Power Corporation, Indias largest power utility (Rs. 3.2/kWh), as The Guardian reported on May 10, 2017.

The cost of solar energy could drop a further 66% by 2040 over current costs, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Outlook 2017 report. Yet, progress in technology alone will not be enough for industry to take up cleaner growth.

An Indiaspend.org story

Maharashtra knows the benefits and the by-products of growth. For instance, the heavy industry centre of Chandrapur is ranked the most polluted city in India as of 2016 with an air-quality index (AQI) of 824. The MPCB regulates industries in Maharashtra and requires advanced control technology. What more can be done to bring this pollution down? In an area as thick with cement, power, and other heavy industries as Chandrapur, it is hard for the public to know the answer to this question.

In this May 16, 2017, photograph, a labourer installs solar panels at a site in Greater Noida, some 45km from New Delhi. Solar power prices in India have hit rock bottom, but it is not all good news for the electricity-starved country as the phenomenon has hit investor confidence and threatens the country's effort to push its green credentials. (AFP file photo)

The Maharashtra Star Rating Programme is the first government-led initiative in India that makes data available from approximately 20,000 industrial stack samples over multiple years. An easy and accessible way to inform residents of Maharashtra about the industry emissions around where they live and work, the programme has the added benefit of infusing transparency and accountability into the system.

Such transparency can bring about change in two possible ways. First, by making citizens more informed about the sources of pollution in their communities, citizens can then call for action. And second, by giving industries information on their pollution emissions, they may discover inefficiencies in their system and opportunities for improvements such as installing new technologies.

It could also instil some healthy competition. Theres a growing literature in behavioural economics (here, here and here) that suggests that knowing what your peers are doing can be an important source of change. So, industries may see how their performance compares to others and be motivated to improve. Along the way, they could also learn from each others success.

Since the MPCB already collects high-quality data on industrial air pollution emissions on a regular basis, the programme has practically no cost with possibly limitless returns. This innovative policy effort builds on successful technology efforts MPCB has created and championed, such as the mandating of Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) for high pollution potential industries. In providing access to real-time pollution data, CEMSlike the Star Rating Programmeencourages self-regulation by improving data transparency and quality of information.

A coal-burning power plant can be seen behind a factory. (Reuters file photo)

The Star Rating scheme is a new kind of regulation in India. It sets ambitious targets for industries, aside from only heaping on penalties. It also informs the broader public to encourage calls for action.

Similar programmes have launched before, such as the Program for Pollution Control Evaluation and Rating (PROPER) in Indonesia, the United States Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), India Centre for Science and Environment Green Rating Programme and AKOBEN in Ghana for rating the environmental performance of industries in the mining sector. However, the Maharashtra Star Rating Programme will be the first ever programme released by a government regulator to provide industry ratings across sectors on particulate matter emissions.

A coalition of researchers from J-PAL South Asia, the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), and Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) at Harvard Kennedy School will assist the state government in evaluating this programme and tracking its success, which ultimately relies on how industries respond to this information being made public. The effort has the potential to become a global model for how star-rating schemes can function successfully.

(Greenstone is the Milton Friedman Professor in Economics, the College, and the Harris School, as well as the Director of the Energy Policy Institute at University of Chicago (EPIC). Pande is the Mohammed Kamal Professor of Public Policy and co-director of Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) at Harvard Kennedy School. Ryan is Assistant Professor of Economics at Yale University, and Sudarshan is India Director for EPIC.)

Indiaspend.org is a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit/FactChecker.in is fact-checking initiative, scrutinising for veracity and context statements made by individuals and organisations in public life.
The unrest caused by the bandh in the hills of Darjeeling showed no signs of ending on Sunday or Monday morning.

Ajit Yadav, the police superintendent of the district of Kalimpong, said that at a rally in the village of Marung protesters severely beat up the driver of a police car, and then lit the car on fire. There havent yet been any arrests.

In addition to protests throughout the hills, there was a cultural programme and concert in Kalimpong, where performers sang of the demand for Gorkhaland.

Binay Tamang, a spokesman for the GJM, said that on Monday the strike would be temporarily suspended for members of the Muslim community, who would be permitted to drive their cars from 6 am until 6 pm in order to attend mosque or visit relatives.

Tamang added that, on Tuesday, protesters will burn copies of the agreement that established the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration to symbolize their demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

Kailash Vijayvargiya, a national general secretary of the BJP who is in charge of the partys affairs in West Bengal, said that although the party does not support the establishment of Gorkhaland, he feels that irresponsible behaviour on part of the state government caused the current crisis.

The state government has dishonoured the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration accord by denying administrative and financial authority to the GTA, said Vijayvargiya. This was an insult for the people in the hills, and chief minister Mamata Banerjee should come and apologize to the hill people.

The hills also saw a counter-protest on Sunday in Siliguri, where roughly 5,000 people went on an anti-Gorkhaland march. Organisers of the march, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that it was a spontaneous event coordinated via social media to combat a conspiracy to divide the state.

Yet people who have previously addressed Trinamool Congress party rallies in the area, as well as identifiable activists of the anti-Gorkhaland groups Amara Bangali (We are Bengalis) and the Bangla and Bangla Bachao Committee (Save Bengal and Bengali Language), were also among those leading the crowd.

Dr Mukund Majumdar, an office bearer of the Bangla and Bangla Bachao Committee who also participated in the rally, joined the organisers in describing the rally as spontaneous.

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Indias implementation of the complex Goods and Services Tax (GST) could be studied by US business schools, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, as he invited top American companies to invest in the country which has initiated major reforms.

The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools, Modi said on Sunday while interacting with 20 top American CEOs at a roundtable in Washington ahead of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump.

On GST, the Prime Minister said that this is becoming a reality after years of effort, ahead of the roll out of the landmark tax reform measure from July 1.

He added that its implementation is a complex task and went on to suggest that this could be the subject of future case-studies.

Implementation of the GST shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly, the Prime Minister said at the interaction with the group of CEOs that included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Modi told them that his government was working on principles such as Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.

The Prime Minister spoke of the recent reforms, and noted that the Union government alone has initiated 7,000 reforms. He said this indicates Indias quest for global benchmarks. He mentioned the governments emphasis on efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.

Pichai told reporters after the meeting that American businesses were excited about investing in India.

Praising the steps being taken by the Indian government in the last three years, he said the US companies are looking forward to the roll out of the GST.

Good, said Cook as he emerged out of the meeting.

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) president Mukesh Aghi said the CEOs praised the reforms being undertaken by the Prime Minister and underscore his efforts to make India a business-friendly destination.

Prime Minister Modi also said that if America becomes stronger, India will be a natural beneficiary. He also added that India believes that a strong America is good for the world.

He sought enhanced attention from the CEOs in areas such as women empowerment, renewable energy, startups and innovation. He suggested linking sanitary practices, products and technologies with the requirements of school going girls.

He reiterated that his primary interest is improving the quality of life in India.

Touted as the biggest taxation reform since Independence, GST will unify 16 different taxes including excise, service tax and VAT, and transform India into a single market for seamless movement of goods and services.

The powerful GST Council, comprising Centre and states, has recommended a four-tier tax structure  5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. On top of the highest slab, a cess will be imposed on luxury and demerit goods to compensate the states for revenue loss in the first five years of GST implementation.

GST rates would depend upon whether the commodity is used by a rich person or a common man.

State and Union Territory GST laws were passed by all the states and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir, paving the way for smooth roll out of the tax from July 1.
Ways to enhance cooperation between the US and India in counter terrorism were on Monday discussed as two top Trump Administration officials met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defence James Mattis met Modi just ahead of the prime ministers first meeting with President Donald Trump, setting the tone for the Summit-level discussions.

During the meeting with Tillerson which covered strategic areas and economic cooperation, Modi defined the Indo-US ties as the defining partnership and said it has a global importance.

The prime minister said the whole world was looking at the partnership, according to external affairs ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay.

He expressed Indias desire to work with the US for promoting the partnership, said Baglay while briefing the media on these meetings.

Referring to terrorism, Modi said it was posing a challenge to both the countries.

Modi and Tillerson discussed how the two countries can cooperate in countering the challenge, Baglay said, adding they deliberated on the broad direction in this context.

The prime minister emphasised that India wants good relations with all countries, including its neighbours.

He said India wants its neighbours to progress like India under his mantra of sabka sath, sabka vikas (cooperation of all, development of all), the spokesman said.

The issue of terrorism figured in Modis meeting with Mattis too, along with the situation in Afghanistan.

They discussed how the Indo-US relations could be developed into an upward projectile, Baglay said.

In the discussions, there was also a veiled reference to the South China Sea over which China is laying an absolute claim.

Without naming China, Modi and Mattis emphasised the need for adhering to the international laws, freedom of navigation, air travel and communication.
Hit by manpower crunch, the Assam police is looking to recruit youths from backward and insurgency-hit areas, and former militants.

Of the total sanctioned strength of around 74,000, nearly 12,000 posts, including around 8,000 of constables, are vacant.

Investigation and policing activities are getting affected to a large extent due to the lack of enough manpower. The new policy is expected to address that issue, Assam DGP Mukesh Sahay told HT.

The state government is in the process of formulating a new recruitment policy for the police, as per which it is hoped that employing youths from insurgency-affected areas would deter them from joining militant outfits.

In a bid to make the force more representative of the population they police, the force has sent several proposals to the government, among which is a suggestion for reservation for youths from under-represented areas.

The representation of the two insurgency-affected hill districts among the constables is only 0.2%. Other backward and militancy-hit areas have fewer constables in comparison.

The number of constables from the Bodoland Territorial Council is 1.67% and from the flood affected areas of eastern Assam, the figure is 6%.

One of the reasons for insurgency is unemployment and also the real or perceived feeling of deprivation. More representation from backward areas, which include those hit by militancy, could address the issue, Sahay said.

If approved by the state cabinet, the new policy would ensure 10% reservation for youths from backward areas, 2% for former militants, 2% for sportspersons and 5% for home-guards.

The present police-population ratio in the state is 107 policemen per 100,000 population  almost half of the 210 prescribed by the UN.

According to police officials, while the number of armed police battalions has increased to 29 in the state, the strength in the civil police force responsible for routine policing has remained almost the same for the past 25 years.

Once the recruitment policy is implemented, the process would become absolutely transparent and give fair representation to all communities and areas, Pradeeep Kumar, chairman of state level police recruitment board, said.

Nearly 5,000 constables would join the force in the next few months as per provisions of the new policy.

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China is concerned over the possible sale of US surveillance drones to India, which will help New Delhi keep a closer watch over the strategically important Indian Ocean, a top Chinese disarmament strategist has said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday hold his first meeting with US President Donald Trump and China will be keeping a close watch over the proceedings in Washington.

The two leaders are also likely to discuss the sale of US fighter jets to India but that is not much of a worry for China, said Han Hua, who is the director of centre for arms control and disarmament at the school of international studies at Beijings Peking University.

Some people in China are a little concerned. Still, it is not the most advanced technology being shared for example when you look at the F-16s, Han told HT. There is also the transfer of surveillance drones in the Indian Ocean. It will increase Indias capability to have a view over the entire Indian Ocean. That is more symbolic than the F-16 joint production.

A Reuters report earlier said an agreement on the purchase of 22 unarmed drones is seen in New Delhi as a key test of defence ties.

Several media reports have said the US has already approved the sale of 22 predator Guardian drones India had sought for its navy.

Han said strategic analysts were closely following the US-India relationship since the two countries signed the civil nuclear deal.

Especially after the nuclear deal, the relationship between Washington and New Delhi has emerged as a concern among Chinese strategists, she said.

Han said the 2005 nuclear agreement was not just a deal. It was a symbol of the nature of the strategic partnership between the US and India. In that sense, China is concerned, she said.

The relationship had an impact on the China-US relations as well.

After the Bush administration opened the door to India, people in Washington have been talking about Indias role in checking Chinas rise, she said.

Chinas concern are perhaps also reflected in its continuous opposition to Indias attempt to join the 48-member nuclear suppliers group (NSG) that controls global trade in nuclear technology.

On the issue of Indias entry into the NSG, with China being one of the countries to have blocked it, Han said there had been no specific policy change by Washington.

We havent witnessed any specific policy change on NSG after the Trump administration (took over) in terms of Indias membership. Some people have said the administration supports the membership but a strong statement hasnt been made yet in that issue.

She said Indias inclusion in NSG will of course be part of Modi-Trump talks but might not be on top of the agenda.

Indias foreign policy was likely to remain independent despite the increasing diplomatic closeness to the US, Han said.

She said foreign policy independence was very well-entrenched in India no matter which party was in power.

Modi, people tend to think is more nationalistic, takes a very realistic view on the world rather than the middle-line policies taken by the Congress. In my sense, India is still a country with its own pride and glory so I dont think India will go very far from far beyond the general non-alignment policy, she said.
The US designated Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin a global terrorist just hours ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis meeting with American President Donald Trump, and there was strong focus on counter-terrorism in the Indian leaders engagements with Trump administration officials. (HIGHLIGHTS)

Under Salahuddins tenure as senior HM (Hizbul Mujahideen) leader, HM has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people, the US state department said.

US citizens are now prohibited from engaging in any transaction with Salahuddin, and all of the 71-year-olds property and assets subject to the US jurisdiction will be blocked.

Who is Syed Salahuddin Syed Salahuddin leads the Hizbul Mujahideen, one of two most active militant groups in Kashmir, and heads the militant collective United Jehad Council. The 71-year-old has long been an opponent of India-Pakistan dialogue, and has advocated against a peaceful resolution to Kashmir. He turned to militancy in the late 1980s and is widely viewed as allied to hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Salahuddin claimed responsibility for the attack in Pathankot on January 2, 2016 but it was met with a sceptical response among Indias security establishment, which blames the Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The state department said in a notification that Salahuddin has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.

India welcomed the designation, saying it vindicated its long-standing position that cross-border terrorism perpetrated from outfits based in Pakistan was behind disturbances in Kashmir.

It also underlines quite strongly the fact that both India and the United States face the same threat of terrorism, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Gopal Bagley told reporters.

Bagley said there was a strong focus on counter-terrorism at Modis meetings with secretaries of state and defence Rex Tillerson and James Mattis ahead of the meeting with President Trump.

The US decision significantly came on a day Salahuddin issued a video message calling for a week-long agitation to mark the first death anniversary of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was killed by security forces in an encounter on July 8 last year.

Before taking to militancy, Salahuddin had contested assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in 1987. He had lost in the polls which were widely believed to be rigged.

Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organisations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system.

Designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations, the State Department said.
PM Modi meets American CEOs, defends surgical strikes, at least 150 killed in tanker explosion in Pakistan, sixty high-rise building fail safety tests in England, hotel in Hyderabad refuses to register woman travelling alone, India wins second One-day against West Indies.

Top stories to bring you up to date:

PM Modi talks about terrorism, surgical strikes in speech to Indian Americans, lauds Sushma Swarajs prompt work

Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought up cross-border terrorism and the surgical strikes carried out by India across the Line of Control last year as he addressed Indian Americans on Sunday, a day before his first meeting with US president Donald Trump. The US President has made counter-terrorism a key plank of his administration. The surgical strikes showed the world that India can exercise self-control but, when needed, it can also show its might, Modi said to a loud cheer from the audience during a 45-minute speech in which he presented an account of his three-year-old governments achievements, plans and vision. Read the story here.

Indias growth a win-win: PM Modi woos American CEOs, cites landmark GST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told American business leaders that Indias growth presented a win-win opportunity for both nations. Modi referred to his governments attempts to improve the business climate, including the landmark GST to woo American companies to contribute Indias growth. The meeting was attended by the chief executive officers (CEOs) of 21 top companies. Among them were four of Indian descent  Microsofts Satya Nadella, Googles Sundar Pichai, Adobes Shantanu Narayen and MasterCards Ajay Banga. Read the story here.

Modi-Trump talks: Civil nuclear deal to figure, no pact on reactors

The India-US civil nuclear deal is expected to figure in talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Monday, but a pact between the NPCIL and Westinghouse to build six power reactors in Andhra Pradesh is unlikely to be signed. A host of strategic issues are expected to be discussed during the parleys between the leaders of the worlds two largest democracies, including the progress on the 2008 civil nuclear deal, according to official sources.They said a financial turmoil in Westinghouse and absence of a functional reference atomic plant were the main impediments behind the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limiteds (NPCIL) unwillingness to sign the agreement with the American nuclear giant. Read the story here.

Delhi family killed in Gulmarg Gondola accident loved to travel, had planned the vacation last minute

A last-minute weekend holiday plan turned into a tragedy for the Andraskar family. Jayant and his wife Manshea, along with their two daughters Anagha and Janhvi, were among the seven people killed on Sunday in the Gulmarg cable car accident. The four had come back from Maharashtra only last week. The family, hailing from Nagpur, had been staying in Shalimar Bagh in the capital for the past five years. Read the story here.

Srinagar: 14-hr encounter ends after 2 militants killed, 2 army men injured

Security forces gunned down two militants holed up in a school on the outskirts of Srinagar on Sunday, ending a 14-hour-long encounter in which a couple of soldiers were also injured. Jammu and Kashmir director general of police SP Vaid confirmed the militant deaths that evening. Both the soldiers are reportedly out of danger. The encounter began after two militants opened fire at a road-opening party passing through Pantha Chowk, killing a CRPF sub-inspector and injuring a jawan, on Saturday evening. The attackers then fled into the Delhi Public School building. Read the story here.

No country for women: Hyderabad hotel refuses pre-booked room to single lady

A 23-year-old woman from Bengaluru was denied a pre-booked accommodation at a Hyderabad hotel on Saturday morning because she was a single lady traveller. So, I am standing outside a hotel in Hyderabad that didnt let me stay because they realised I was a single lady even after confirming the online booking.... Somehow they decided I was safer on the streets than in the hotel, wrote Nupur Saraswat, an environmental engineer and a performance poet, in a Facebook post that has received over 2,000 likes and 1,300 shares. Read the story here.

Uttar Pradesh: Woman police officer stands up to angry mob of BJP activists

The situation was tense at the district court in Bulandshahr on Friday, with several BJP activists shouting anti-police slogans to protest the action taken against one of their leaders. They, however, did not reckon on a woman police officer taking them head on. Officer Shrestha Thakur was to quell a mob of BJP activists that was trying to prevent Pramod Lodhi from being produced in court. Lodhi was challaned for a traffic violation and later charged with assaulting a public servant. A video of the heated conversation that went viral on the social media showed Thakur fearlessly facing off against the agitated crowd. You please get orders in writing from the chief minister that the police have no powers to check vehicles, she told them. Read the story here.

Pak oil tanker explosion: Nearly 150 dead, bodies burnt beyond recognition

At least 150 people including women and children died and more than 125 others were injured in Pakistan on Sunday when an oil tanker caught fire minutes after it overturned near Bahawalpur in central Punjab. Most of those who died were burnt when they tried to siphon off fuel from the tanker as petrol flooded the area. The tanker en route from Karachi to Lahore carrying 40,000 litres of fuel overturned when trying to make a sharp turn on the main National highway. It is reported to have exploded after fuel leaking from its damaged container caught fire. Read the story here.

Sixty high-rise buildings in England fail safety tests after London fire

Sixty high-rise buildings have failed safety tests carried out after a fire killed at least 79 people in London earlier this month, the British government said on Sunday. British officials are conducting tests on some 600 high-rise buildings across England after fire ravaged the Grenfell tower block in west London on June 14. On Friday some 4,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes in north London after the fire brigade ruled that their blocks were unsafe. The Department for Communities said in a statement that 60 high rise buildings across 25 local authority areas had now failed the tests. Read the story here.

Turkey police fires rubber bullets to stop Gay Pride protest in Istanbul

Turkish police on Sunday thwarted an attempt by Gay Pride activists to hold a parade in the countrys largest city Istanbul in defiance of an official ban from the local authorities. Police fired rubber bullets at a group of around 40 activists, a day after the city governors office banned the march citing safety and public order concerns. Small groups gathered at Taksim Square but witnesses said a heavy police presence outnumbered the activists, and at least four people were detained. Read the story here.

India beat West Indies by 105 runs in 2nd ODI, take 1-0 lead in 5-match series

India won the second ODI by a record margin of 105 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the 5-match ODI series here at the Queens Park Oval on Sunday. Thanks to yet another century partnership for the opening wicket between Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan and 87 from skipper Virat Kohli, India put on a massive 310 for five after heavy rain early in the morning had ensured the match was reduced to 43 overs a side. On their turn to bat, only Shai Hope displayed any fight, scoring 81 off 88 balls with five fours and three sixes, playing shots that often showed him as a class act  but the team managed to score only 205/6. Read the story here.
Jodhpur has witnessed a rapid decline in the number of vultures in the last decade. Nine years of research has revealed that a number species of vultures are migrating to other areas because of the shortage of food.

Vultures are important scavengers who play a vital role in clearing animal carcases and municipal dumps. We have observed a sharp decline in the vulture population in and around Jodhpur city in the last decade, said AK Purohit, a professor at the zoology department at Jai Narayan Vyas University.

An intensive survey of the natural habitat of resident and migratory vultures was carried out between 2007 and 2015 to know the annual population fluctuations in various species of vultures in and around Jodhpur, Purohit added.

Experts said that India has nine species of vultures in the wild, out of which four species  Gyps bengalensis, Gyps indicus, Sercogyps calvus and Gyps tenuirostris  are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species. In Jodhpur, sites such as Keru, Badli pond and Arna Jharna are major vulture habitats due to the availability of lake water and animal carcases (its a site for dumping dead animal).

The population of six species of vultures  Gyps himalayensis, Gyps fulvus, Aegepus monachus, Gyps indicus, Gyps bengalensis and Neophron pernopterus  are being monitored in Jodhpur, Ramprakash Saran, assistant professor of zoology said. Comparative analysis of population dynamics of various species of vultures in the area has suggested that there has been a drastic decline in the population of migratory as well as resident species of vultures, said Saran.

A comparative study suggests that the population of migratory species has reached very low relative abundance is 2015 as compared to 2007.

Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) has the highest and White-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis) has the lowest population account in the nine-year-long study.

According to the study, climate change and temperature fluctuations over the period of time, particularly in the breeding season, can be attributed to the population changes.

Saran said a municipal carcass waste treatment plant was set up in Jodhpur city in 2006. Animal carcases are used for further treatment. Only skull, hooves and rumen is left, he said, adding that it led to the shortage of food for vultures and led to a decline in the population of migratory and local vulture species in Jodhpur.

Feral dogs and electrocution are some other reasons of decline vulture population. Another important reason is renal failure among vultures linked to use of diclofenac in livestock.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal members created a ruckus at a BJP meeting here on Monday, saying the state government has failed to protect cow vigilantes.

Go bhakton ke kam na aaye wo sarkar badalani hai...Yeh sarkar nikkami hai (The government that cannot support cow vigilantes has to be changed It is a worthless government.) Such slogans were shouted at the meeting  called booth vistarak sammelan  presided over by Mahendra Singh Rathore, BJPs in-charge for Barmer district.

VHP and Bajrang Dal members were protesting against the arrest of four men and registration of a case against 50 others on charges of attacking officials of the Tamil Nadu governments animal husbandry department.

About 50 cow vigilantes targeted the officials in Barmer on June 11, alleging that they were taking cows illegally. They stopped the trucks transporting the cows and attacked the drivers. They allegedly pelted stones at a truck and blocked a national highway.

Police found that the drivers had valid documents for transportation of cows from Jaisalmer.

BJP district president Jalam Singh Rawlot, revenue minister Amararam Choudhary, urban improvement trust chairperson Priyanka Choudhary and Urdu Academy chairman Ashraf Ali were present during the meeting when VHP, Bajrang Dal and some other Hindu right-wing organisations barged in and shouted slogans.

When Rawlot warned that they would be punished for this, they intensified their protest. After Mahendra Singh assured the protesters to meet them, they calmed down.

The RSS affiliates had earlier accused the district administration and police of not doing a fair investigation in the cow vigilante case.

On June 22, the Bharitya Majdoor Sangh, another RSS affiliate, protested against what it called the anti-labour policies of the BJP government.

VHPs district leader Kishore Bhargav, who led the protesters during the BJP meeting, said police were responsible for the June 11 incident. He claimed that station house officer Jairam Choudhary was drunk when he came to the spot and misled the mob.

Bhargav alleged that some anti-social elements created trouble because of irresponsible behavior of police. Instead acting against the culprits, police arrested VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal workers, he alleged.

Meeting the protesters at the RSS office, Mahendra Singh, also the Jodhpur Development Authority chairman, assured them that he would talk to the collector and the SP, and also convey their stand to the chief minister.

The Centre, citing an advisory issued a few months ago on cow vigilantism, had asked the Rajasthan government on Friday to take action against those who targeted Tamil Nadu officials.
Residents of Muslim-dominated Mubarakpur Kalan village of Uttar Pradesh pooled resources to construct toilets to make the settlement open defecation free, an effort lauded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly radio address on Sunday.

The village at the states Bijnor with a population of over 6000 and 661 households, required at least 146 toilets to attain the ODF status. Accordingly, a proposal was sent to the district administration seeking Rs 17.56 lakh to construct the requisite toilets.

Chief development officer (CDO) Indramani Tripathi said a day before the commencement of Islamic holy month of Ramadan he held a meeting with the villagers and constituted a 14-member committee to mobilise them to construct toilets.

He said earlier efforts to encourage people to build izzatghar(as they refer to toilets) did not yield desire result. But this time to his surprise, the villagers returned the money he had released for toilets, saying they would do the construction with their own resources.

Former village head Kafiluddin said 90% houses in the village have toilets now. The villagers donated money to build over a dozen toilets in the houses of those who were unable to afford it.

Tripathi said the villagers showed how a community can bring about a change in the society.

Their effort even caught the attention of the Prime Minister. Modi in his radio address, Mann ki Baat said the village has set an example for others to follow.

The entire village is very happy and we express our gratitude to the PM for recognising our efforts, said Kafiluddin, who like many others listened to the programme.

Modis flagship Swachh Bharat scheme aims to eliminate open defecation by constructing toilets in every household by 2019.
India is a country known for its multicultural values. Festivals celebrated in India are always a unique smorgasbord of varied cultures and traditions. Eid is one such beautiful festival where you get to see heart-warming examples of interfaith love and harmony. These inter-religious couples in the city have been celebrating Eid and Diwali with equal excitement, and believe that festivals are the perfect occasion to unite people and help them rise above meaningless divisions. Read their soul-stirring accounts.

Kitty Kalra and Navneet Kalra

Fitness expert Kitty Kalra and entrepreneur Navneet Kalra

Fitness expert Kitty Kalra grew up in a family that has been celebrating Diwali, Eid, Holi and even Navratras with equal zeal. Her father is a Muslim and mother is a Brahmin. Kitty is married to a Hindu Punjabi, entrepreneur Navneet Kalra. Kitty says, I keep the last roza (Alvida) and we all go to my moms place to enjoy a lavish Eid lunch. Adds husband Navneet Kalra, All religions convey the same message, that God resides in the heart of each individual. We believe that all festivals are worthy of celebrations, irrespective of religion.

Rubina Dhankar and Abdul Qadir

Rubina Dhankar Qadin Din, an interior designer and fitness expert Abdul Qadir Din

On Eid, fitness expert Abdul Qadir Din begins his day by offering the morning namaz at the mosque while his wife, Rubina Dhankar Qadin Din, an interior designer, takes Allahs name at home. Rubina says she is a proud Arya Samaji and a Muslim by soul. The two prepare for both Eid and Diwali by shopping for clothes for their babies. They have adopted 50 stray dogs who live with them. Religion for the couple is all about doing good deeds.

Salma Firoza Khanam and Shivaji Sengupta

Marketing professional Salma Khanam is married to art director Shivaji Sen Gupta

Marketing professional Salma Khanam is married to art director Shivaji Sen Gupta, a Bengali Brahmin. Khanam offers Namaz in the pooja room in their house, where her husband does his morning aarti. God resides in the same room for us. There can be no division, says Sengupta. The couple celebrates Durga Puja and Eid with the same excitement. , I cook Shivajis favourite biryani, haleem, kababs and even vegetarian food for friends who come over for Eid, says Khanam.

Shubhra Das and Kamar Alam

Artist Shubhra Das and her husband, Kamar Alam, celebrate Eid in Mussoorie every year

Artist Shubhra Das and her husband, Kamar Alam, celebrate Eid in Mussoorie every year. My in-laws live there. We offer the morning Namaz and then enjoy Eid delicacies throughout the day, says Das who ends the day with reciting Vedic mantras. They have taught their 4-year-old twin son and daughter that humanity is above religion. My husband knows more about Hinduism than me. He has studied Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Quran, says Das.

Shahnaz Hussain and Raj Puri

Beauty expert Shahnaz Husain and her husband, entrepreneur Raj Puri

Beauty expert Shahnaz Husain and her husband, entrepreneur Raj Puri believe that both Eid and Diwali are based on common principles of love, harmony and charity. On both the festivals, her house is decorated with marigold flowers, and they serve seviyan on both Eid and Diwali. Husain says that respecting all religions has made their life beautiful. One of the best moments of Eid is when we go to distribute laddus to the villagers in Dhauj, where we have a flower farm, says Husain.

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Former media bigwig Indrani Mukerjea, accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora, is once again in the news. This time she and some 200 other prisoners in Mumbais Byculla jail have been booked for rioting after a murder convict died allegedly after prison staff assaulted her. Here are ten things we know about Indrani:

1. On April 24, 2012, former INX Media CEO Indrani Mukerjea, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna, and driver Shyamwar Rai allegedly murdered her daughter, Sheena Bora. They burnt and dumped the corpse in Raigad. The murder came to light after Rai confessed three years later, in August 2015, when he was arrested in connection with an Arms Act case. Indrani and Khanna were subsequently arrested. All three are in judicial custody. The trial will restart on July 4. The Central Bureau of Investigation also arrested Indranis husband Peter Mukerjea in connection with the case.

The murder of Sheena Bora came to light three years after it was carried out. (HT File Photo)

2. Sheena was Indranis daughter from her first marriage. Indrani has a son, Mikhail, who accused her of trying to poison him during a visit to Mumbai, based on which the CBI added a charge of attempt to murder against her.

3. Indrani is the daughter of a well-known businessman in Guwahati. Her 2002 marriage to Peter was her third. She was earlier married to Sanjeev Khanna and before that to Siddharth Das, who is from Tripura. Das is said to be Sheenas and Mikhails biological father.

4. In January this year, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court charged Indrani, Peter and Sanjeev Khanna with murder, conspiracy, kidnapping, destroying evidence and giving false information.

5. The court also charged Indrani, 45, with providing forged documents. However, it dropped charges of cheating, forgery for cheating and causing hurt with poison against the accused.

6. Rai volunteered to be a witness for the prosecution and was made an approver. In his confession, which was recorded in Hindi, Rai said Indrani contacted him through her personal assistant, Kajal Sharma, in the last week of March 2012. He said Indrani spoke to him on Skype and revealed her plans to kill Sheena and Mikhail.

7. Police found skeletal remains in a Raigad jungle. A DNA test confirmed these were Sheenas. Police seized a bag from Indranis Worli residence, which they believe was to be used to carry Mikhails body in after he was murdered. The bag was sent for forensic analysis

Peter and Indrani Mukerjea. (HT File Photo)

8. CBI officials said Peter and Indrani were equal participants in the conspiracy hatched to eliminate Sheena. Both were against her relationship with Peters son, Rahul. The agency said Indrani and Peter were constantly in touch over the phone, even when Peter went to London. After allegedly disposing of Sheenas body on August 25, 2012, Indrani spoke to Peter for 15 minutes. Call data records (CDR) obtained by the CBI show that Peter and Indrani spoke for four minutes at 13.36 pm, a few hours before the murder. They also exchanged messages. The CBI listed as many as 52 witnesses; the statements of around 38 are part of the supplementary charge sheet.

9. The CBI also named Indrani and Peter in a case of criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption allegedly involving former Union finance minister P Chidambarams son Karti. In May this year, Idrani said she knew Karti and his father, but denied any wrongdoing. Karti allegedly facilitated the foreign investment promotion board approval to INX Media when the Mukerjeas were the firms directors.

10. Indrani had moved a special CBI court in January this year, seeking permission to divorce co-accused Peter. Indrani said she wanted to change her will and donate her money to charitable organisations.
An alleged member of Chhota Shakeel gang, arrested 18 years ago for allegedly planning several dacoities, was acquitted by the sessions court last week. The court pronounced him not guilty after the prosecution failed to bring the seized weapons and independent witnesses to court.

The police had arrested four men  Javed Shaik, Naushad Sayyed, Ismail alias Butler Shaikh and Ashok Das  on May 12, 1999. However, of the four  Javed and Naushad  are absconding after they were released on bail. Ismail too had attempted that but was arrested again in 2000. The trial against him started in 2001 and he was acquitted last week. Meanwhile, Ashok, who had remained present, was acquitted for lack of evidence in 2006.

At the time of arrest, the police had seized a sword and dagger from them too. When the case came up for trial, the sessions judge KD Shirbhate observed that the Mumbai crime branch had failed to bring independent witnesses and the seized weapons in court.

The prosecution had examined four police officials, who were part of the raid, as their witnesses. The prosecution had said that the four men with few others had gathered outside ATI Compound, Bunter Bhavan, Kurla and thats when the police got the information that members of Chhota Shakeel gang had gathered there to plan dacoities at several places. The police raided the place and arrested them with weapons, said the prosecution. It added that the fifth man managed to flee the spot.

The police arrested only four accused and had no record of the fifth man. Also, the seized weapons have not been produced in court. Since the prosecution has not produced any corroborative witness in court, it is difficult to accept what its four witnesses say. Under such circumstances, the court has no hesitation to come to the conclusion that the prosecution has failed to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, said the court.

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Terming it expensive, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) dropped the plan to install Brifen wire rope safety fence (Brifen WRSF) along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

Sources said the plan was junked as it would have burdened the cash-strapped MSRDC.

Brifen wires are imported from the UK and are priced at Rs5,200 per running meter. To install the wire just along the median would have cost us about Rs50 crore. The cost escalates threefold if we decided to install it all along the expressway, said an official.

Averting disaster Every Brifen fence is made of 21 high-tensile carbon steel wires and can be used for up to 18 years, said MSRDC engineers. During a crash, the fence prevents a vehicle from jumping the median and crashing into the oncoming traffic from the opposite direction.

An engineer said the Brifen rope works better than crash barriers, which are easily damaged and cannot be re-used. The MSRDC had experimented with the Brifen fence on a 2.4-km-long stretch on the expressway in 2015.

The MSRDC officials defended their decision saying the fence was not specified under the Indian Road Congress (IRC) guidelines.

That [previous installation] was an experiment; it is not in the (IRC) codes. We are going to install crash barriers and stick to the guidelines, said RL Mopalwar, vice chairperson and managing director, MSRDC.

On June 22, the MSRDC floated tenders to install crash barriers on the median and W crash barriers along the expressway.

However, transport experts slammed the MSRDC for choosing a cheaper alternative over human life. It [human life] is the most precious and important thing. Any measure to save it must not be a profit or loss equation, said AV Shenoy, transport expert.

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The kin of Manjula Shetye, who was allegedly beaten to death by six officials in Byculla womens prison, are demanding that the jail authorities shift the main eye-witnesses from to another jail for her safety.

Manjulas brother Anant said they are unsafe in that jail as jail authorities can pressure them for speaking against them. He has demanded for their transfer to another jail. He said, The witnesses should be shifted from Byculla jail, especially the main witness, who is also the complainant, as there are chances the jail authorities would threaten them and make them change their statements.

Manpada police informed Manjulas kin, who live in Kalyan, about her death on Saturday at 7am. We were going to meet her on Saturday in the afternoon but before that we were told that she had died. So we directly went to the hospital where her body was kept, said her another brother Sharad.

After getting approval from respective authorities, a post mortem was conducted on Saturday night and its report revealed that she was beaten to death.

An officer from Nagpada police station said, The post-mortem report revealed that the womans lungs were soared owing to the injury. There were 11 to 13 contusions all over her body caused by being beaten with a blunt object.

Based on the report, a murder case was registered against six jail officials and simultaneously another case was also registered against 291 jail inmates, including Indrani Mukerjea for creating ruckus inside jail premises.

Anant said, How can anyone be so brutal? I want the investigating officers to inquire about Manjulas behaviour and her medical reports. She was made the warden in Yerwada jail as well because of her good behaviour and she has been medically fit throughout her life.

The Nagpada police will record statements of Sheena Bora murder case's prime accused Indrani Mukherjea and the other 290 inmates.

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The Samta Nagar police recently arrested a domestic help and his accomplice for stealing more than 7kg of gold worth Rs2.24 crore. The police recovered 6.3kg of gold. The gold belonged to a businessman from south Mumbai.

Manoharsingh Jodha, 37, and his accomplice Narayan Rathod, 42, are from Rajasthan. They were produced in the court on June 22 and remanded to police custody till June 30.

Jodha came to Mumbai a few years ago and had been working at a jewellery shop in south Mumbai for the past three years. Last month, the jeweller sent Jodha to Hyderabad to bring gold and he returned to Mumbai on May 30. Jodha told the jeweller that his co-passengers drugged him and stole the bag containing gold at Kandivli . The jeweller field a complaint at Kalbadevi police station.

After the complaint was lodged, Jodha stopped coming to work and fled Mumbai. The case was laster transferred to Samta Nagar police station.

Three police teams were formed to look for the accused. One team went to Hyderabad, another to Rajasthan and the third one stayed in Mumbai, said deputy commissioner of police (zone 12) Vinay Rathod. Initially, the accused had fled to their home town in Rajasthan, but fled before the police could arrest them. The two were arrested in Mumbai when they had come to sell the gold.

Acting on a tip-off, Jodha and Rathod were arrested on June 22 in Kandivli. During interrogation, Jodha told he gave the gold to Rathod to hide it. Nearly 80% of the gold has been recovered. Probe has been initiated to find out if the two are involved in similar crimes, Rathod said.
Even after announcing a Rs34,000-crore farm loan waiver touted to help 89 lakh farmers in Maharashtra, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis troubles are not over. He now has one month to win over farmers groups that are unhappy with the governments offer and want a complete loan waiver.

The steering committee of farmers groups that met on Sunday decided to relaunch the agitation on July 26 unless the state government toed its line. While the BJP-led government managed to get conditional support of the Opposition by getting it to discuss the parameters of the waiver, the state appears to have alienated agitating farmers groups.

Its like we are back to square one. We got NCP chief Sharad Pawar on board, we discussed the decision with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and earlier meetings were held with farmers leaders. This U-turn by farmers is problematic. We cant accuse them of politicising the issue but everyone knows that a blanket loan waiver is not feasible for the state,  said a senior BJP minister who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He added that if the farmers agitation continued the government would have to bring something else to the negotiating table because giving more funds was out of the question.

Fadnavis had told HT last week that this loan waiver itself would put the cash-strapped state back by two years, putting stress on all its fiscal parameters. An approximate 25 per cent cut on all development spending in the state is on the cards.

The state government in a bid to pacify farmers is planning to move legislation in the monsoon session of the legislature to strengthen the minimum support price for farm produce and set up a state level agriculture commission of costs and prices to decide the MSP.

This is because one of the central demands of farmers is implementation of the MS Swaminathan Commissions recommendation that they be paid 50 per cent over the weighted cost of production as MSP. This was also promised by BJP in its 2014 election manifesto and by Prime Minister Narendra Modi then in the run up to the polls.

But, this is easier said than done.

Frankly, this is not a decision that can be taken at the state level. We can set up a state level commission of farmers as well as of agriculture prices but unless this is a pan India decision it will not work, said a senior bureaucrat.

To add to Fadnavis troubles, the opposition and ally Sena are likely to soon switch sides in support of farmers groups. Already Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has said that his party is on the side of farmers and Pawar has said he is not completely satisfied with the loan waiver.

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Giving in to the demand by farmers which was backed by its rivals and allies, the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in Maharashtra has finally decided to write off loans of 40 lakh farmers in Maharashtra. The entire loan waiver package is expected to cost the state exchequer Rs34,000 crore.

The Fadnavis government was reluctant to accept the demand for the loan waiver as it would have a huge negative impact on the states finances. As the farmers protests picked up steam across state, the government promised the waiver by October this year. However, it did not satisfy the farmers outfits that were staging the protests. With various organisations unitedly opposing the government with the Opposition parties support, the Fadnavis government did not have any other option. It relaxed conditions to fix eligibility of farmers who would get a waiver and decided to clear a debt of 40 lakh farmers.

While the move is likely to give political advantage to the BJP but it will also adversely impact the states economy. The extent of this impact is not yet clear. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis himself said that the states economy would be under stress for at least a couple of years.

The government is planning to repay the loans over four years. But it is easier said than done. Maharashtra is already reeling under debt of Rs4.13 lakh crore which is likely to reach Rs4.40 lakh crore by the end of the current fiscal year. The states annual budget for the year 2016-17 was Rs2.48 lakh crore. Demonetisation also had an adverse impact on the states economy. The revenue deficit was estimated to be Rs4,511 crore by the end of this fiscal. It is likely to shoot up considerably. State governments revenue from two major sources  real estate sector and excise  is likely to be less than expected. The real estate sector is still in a bad shape. Officials say that the excise duty collection may be affected following clampdown on liquor sale along highways. To make it worse, the state has to shoulder the expenditure on account of revising salaries and payments to its employees on the basis of 7th pay commission recommendations by next year. It will cost the government Rs21,500 crore which the government will divide further to avoid paying entire amount in a year or two. It also has to spend funds to start construction of its two politically important projectsgrand memorial of Dr BR Ambedkar at Prabhadevi and the ambitious memorial of King Shivaji in the Arabian sea off Mumbai coast. And after all this, will there be any money left for spending on developmental schemes and projects?

By a conservative estimate the developmental expenditure of the state is likely to be cut by more than one forth across all departments. Considering the government departments never spend the entire amount earmarked for its welfare schemes, it is possible that the actual expenditure on several such schemes will be much less than what is estimated. One can imagine what will be the outcome on the ground.

Fadnavis and his cabinet will face a tough test while running the government. They will have limited funds at their disposal but expectations from them will be high. With the next elections scheduled in 2019 (unless it is held earlier), they will be under political pressure to announce more welfare schemes to appease different sections of voters or increase allocation of certain schemes and projects. It is going to be more than a tightrope walk for them.

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Its that time of the year again when colleges are preparing to accommodate a new batch of students. As the newcomers trickle in, many colleges have asked senior students to help the freshers, not just in the long drawn admission process but also to settle into academic life.

Seniors are helping colleges with administrative work related to admissions, but a more crucial job is helping the new students and parents through the process and ensuring that no student feels out of place on his or her first few days.

Many students come to the city for the first time to pursue degree courses, and once the admissions are over, we let our seniors take over the welcoming process, said Parvathi Venkatesh, principal of Mulund College of Commerce. She added that a welcome session is organised by senior degree college students for all the freshers, where everything from the official presentation on college code and ethics to the best eateries around the college is discussed. The seniors also help students with the way around college, different activities that one can enrol themselves in, as well as the best dishes available in the canteen, added Venkatesh.

With admissions season currently on in full swing, college campuses are full of confused students as well as parents. This is where a word with senior students is helpful. Weve had our students volunteering to help us with the process, and we are more than happy. Some students who have also finished college come back during the admission season just to help young students. We encourage this process because the new comers feel much at ease when they interact with other students, said Ashok Wadia, principal of Jai Hind College. He added that this process has been on at their college for quite some years now.

At Vile Parles Mithibai College, the institute has put together various groups of students to look into various aspects during as well as post admission. During admission students help us as well as new students and parents by setting up help desks and helping them through the process. Post admission they are there to introduce students to various clubs and activities organised by the institute, said Rajpal Hande, principal of the institute. We run various student clubs including sports, annual fests, student representatives, social service, NSS, etc and all the freshers are encouraged to participate in at least one group every year, he added.

Over the years, colleges have also started putting together specific groups of students in order to cater to specific needs of new entrants. A Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) student will get more help on presentations or projects from their own seniors than those from other courses, so we keep special groups according to departments, so that students know exactly whom to approach with their academic problems, said Naresh Chandra, principal of Birla College, Kalyan.

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Eid Mubarak, Mumbai!

Muslims across the country are celebrating Eid-al-Fitr, the festival marks the culmination of fasting and the holy month of Ramzan, today.

Muslims offer namaz on Eid-al-Fitr at Madanpura Badi Sunni Masjid in Madanpura. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT)

Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is observed as a fasting period by Muslims who abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset.

Namaz being offered outside the iconic Bandra station. (Kunal Patil)

The fast is broken with a meal called Iftar, which includes food prepared exclusively for the occasion. It is a time for grand eating and merrymaking.

Muslims in Madanpura celebrating the occasion. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT)

Eid or Eid al-Fitr marks the beginning of the next month, Shawwal.
Police said the estranged husband of actress Kritika Chaudhary, who was found murdered at her home in Lokhandwala on June 12, has another cheating case against him. Vijay Jagatnarayan Dwivedi, 37, was booked last year for allegedly duping a woman of Rs22 lakh on the pretext of getting her a role in a movie.

Vijay is already in police custody for a Rs55-lakh cheating case registered against him last year.

While the Amboli police were investigation to see if Vijay is involved in Chaudharys murder, her brother Deepak told them that Vijay and an unknown woman had threatened his sister on phone earlier this year.

Based on the inputs the Amboli polices detection team managed to trace Vijay to Ahmedabad and nabbed him from there. The cops were interrogating him when they realized he was the person who had conned a businessman from Delhi in filmi style, walking away with Rs55 lakh in suitcase while he waited in a car. He is in police custody till Tuesday in that case.

Meanwhile, an Amboli police official found one more cheating case registered against him at the same police station last year. In 2016, one Archana Santosh Kumar Dwivedi filed an FIR against Vijay and few others for cheating and criminal breach of trust. He allegedly duped the woman of Rs22 lakh on the pretext of getting her a role in a movie, said senior police inspector Bharat Gaikwad of Amboli police station.

Vijay is in police custody for allegedly duping a director on the pretext of helping him get a subsidy from the Uttar Pradesh government for his movie as it had been shot entirely in that state. The complainant Maheshkumar Narula, 59, had completed a movie in December 2015. Through a friend, Narula met Vijay at the latters office in Andheri west.

According to police sources, Vijay apparently told Narula he knew an RS Yadav based in Lucknow who could help him get a subsidy from the UP government for his movie. Vijay allegedly told Narula he would have to pay Rs55 lakh in cash to Yadav and would then get a subsidy amount of Rs2.88 crore by cheque.

On January 20, 2016, Dwivedi picked Narula up from Juhu and took him to a posh area in Vimannagar, Pune, in a taxi to meet Yadav. Dwivedi then asked Narula to hand over the bag saying he would go into the building and make the payment. When Narula said he wanted to go too, Dwivedi told him that Yadav did not meet strangers directly, police sources said.

Narula was convinced to wait in the taxi. After an hour with no sign of Dwivedi, Narula got suspicious and checked with the security guard of the building. When they scanned the CCTV footage, they saw Dwivedi with the bag of money leaving the building in an autorickshaw.

Vijay then switched off his phone and locked up his office. Police said he remained untraceable all this while until the police officer realised the man he was interrogating in the Kritika Chaudhary case was the same as the accused in the 2016 cheating case. Later they found that he is accused in another cheating case.
After announcing a loan waiver of Rs34,022 crore on Saturday, the state government has started the process to issue directives to banks before they open accounts for farmers.

The Centre had announced another loan waiver in 2008, which was fraught with irregularities. This time, the state will train officials from the banks and its cooperation department on the procedures to stop misappropriation of funds. And to avoid confusion among farmers, a government resolution (GR) formally announcing which of them are eligible for a loan will be issued at the earliest.

The government also plans to issue advertisements explaining the eligibility criterion and appealing to farmers to pay off the remaining loans over and above their eligibility for the waiver. The actual release of the loans, however, may be delayed owing to pending formalities with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and NABARD.

We are framing operational guidelines for the stakeholders, including officials, banks and farmers, so that there is no delay in the disbursement of new loans and writing off the old ones. The guidelines will take at least three weeks to be finalised, said an officer from the cooperation department. The officer said they are developing software that will be linked with income tax data and VAT payers to establish eligibility, thereby avoiding granting a waiver to the wrong farmers.

The state government will also have to make budgetary allocation for the amount that needs to be paid to the banks to buy they non-performing assets (NPA) as a result of unpaid loan. Such allocation will be possible only through a provision in the supplementary budget during the monsoon session, which begins July 24. Since the government is planning to stagger the repayment of famers loan to the banks over the next four years, it is likely to make a budgetary provision of Rs8,000 crore.

However, questions are being raised if the banks will concede to shifting liability of the outstanding loans to the government from the farmers accounts.

Vishwas Utagi, banking expert and member of the farmers steering committee, doubts if the banks will be able to disburse the loan amounts immediately. Without going to the state legislature, the government will not be in a position to release money to the banks. The monsoon session of the legislature is a month away. I doubt if the RBI, which regulates nationalised and commercial banks and NABARD, which controls the district cooperative banks will issue any notification based on the Maharashtra governments intent to stand guarantee and shift these loans on its account. Considering that the loans given to the government bear high-risk weightage, I doubt if banks will easily reschedule the existing loan accounts. Without explicit sanction from the RBI or NABARD and central government, there is no sanctity to the government announcement.

Government officials, however, said it would be an opportunity for the banks to get their bad debts worth Rs18,000 crore paid off from the government in the next two months. It is true the banks have been demanding the government first own up the NPA, but we are talking to the authorities and a restructuring formula will soon be worked out. It may take some time and as we may extend the old loan payment deadline, which is June 30, another official from the cooperation department said.

Read more:

Fadnavis announces farm loan waiver of 34,000 cr, 40 lakh Maharashtra farmers to be debt-free
Major hospitals in the city can prescribe branded medicines along with their generic equivalents.

According to a source, the Medical Council of India (MCI) recently approved the demand of Association of Hospitals (AOH), a body of 53 major hospitals in the city, which complained about the risks of unqualified chemists dispensing generic medicines.

The MCI had issued a circular on April 21, instructing doctors to prescribe drugs with generic names as much as possible. The move was to benefit millions of poor people as branded medicines are extremely expensive.

Every physician should prescribe drugs with generic names legibly and preferably in capital letters and he/she shall ensure there is a rational prescription and use of drug, the circular had read.

As observed, most pharmacies are run by unqualified chemists who might prescribe medicines that are similar or choose manufacturers with higher commission rate and not keep the effectiveness in mind. Thus, we had requested the MCI to allow us to also prescribe branded medicines along with generic ones, said Dr PM Bhujang, president of AOH. However, doctors said they have already been prescribing medicines with their branded names and also mentioning the generic equivalents. Eventually what matters is patient care. Secondly, it is not feasible for all doctors to remember all the generic variations of a certain medicinal component, said Dr Rajendra Patankar, CEO of Nanavati Hospital.

Experts said physicians have been prescribing branded drugs along with generic ones. However, MCI approval will give legal protection to the practice. MCIs attempt has failed because of no mechanism to ensure implementation. If MCI agree to the demands of AOH on paper, it will further nullify the order completely because pharmacies will officially start dispensing only branded medicines again, said an expert from health ministry

Read

Doctors welcome move to prescribe generic drugs, say accessibility may be an issue
The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) is planning to put nearly 800 affordable houses on sale in July. The houses are at Sion, Goregaon, Mulund and Mankhurd.

The lottery for these houses got delayed as the MHADA had to register its projects under the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) before putting the housing units on sale.

A MHADA official said, We will soon hold a lottery for at least 800 apartments in Mumbai. There is a tremendous demand for Mhada houses and we are working out ways to boost supply.

In the past 10 draws, 14.94 lakh homebuyers had applied for 23,895 houses put on sale by the MHADA.

Several activists, however, have contested that although MHADA prices are lower when compared to private developers, they are still unaffordable.

The economy has slowed down and MHADA flats are becoming expensive with each passing year. The government needs to step in and offer sops on stamp duty and other property related taxes to lessen the burden on buyers looking for affordable homes, said activist Ramesh Prabhu.

With hardly any land bank in its kitty, MHADA is looking up to its own colonies and partnering private builders to create a stock of affordable housing in the city and on its outskirts.

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To deter encroachments across the city, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Monday asked all 24 ward officers to not allow monsoon sheds next year if the applicants broke the rules this year.

The move will hurt Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which had erected a monsoon shed in its Nariman Point office without permission only to remove it recently after the BMC issued a notice to it. Earlier, citizens had also complained that the BJPs state headquarter was encroaching into the adjoining open space.

The Nariman Point Churchgate Citizen Welfare Trust (NPCCWT) had written to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on June 5 regarding this matter. They had also complained to the BMC that the party constructed the monsoon shed without taking permission from the civic body.

If ward officers follow the orders, BJP will not get permission to construct the sheds next monsoon.

There are many establishments in the city which erect monsoon sheds without civic bodys permission and cause hindrance to pedestrians while encroaching upon open spaces.

In addition to this, in its meeting with ward officers, the BMC chief also asked them to issue show cause notices to licensed hawkers if they are found to be in violation licenses terms and conditions. Mehta directed officers to identify places that are likely to flood owing to Metro works and take immediate measures in coordination with the MMRDA and Metro authorities.

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Residents of a housing complex in Kandivli are leaving no stone unturned in reducing their carbon footprint. Be it rainwater harvesting, use of solar power, installation of LED bulbs, getting waste water treatment plants or maintaining a green cover, the 230 families residing in Raheja Eternity have gone all out to develop a sustainable living environment.

The residents of the 20-storey building have reduced their dependence on the electricity grid by nearly 60% by using solar power generated in the premises. The residents collected Rs35 lakh to install a 65kW rooftop solar system to mark World Environment Day in June. Their energy conservation efforts, however, started before this. They replaced all regular lights in the buildings common areas with energy-efficient LED bulbs.

There are around 211 panels that generate around 260-280 units per day. But after we replaced all our society tube lights with around 650 LED bulbs, we have reduced our unit consumption substantially. Though the bulbs cost us around Rs80,000, it was worth it, said Vishal Gharat, a resident of the society and its alternative energy coordinator.

The society which consume 863 units per day, now just draws 337 units from the electricity grid. The are saving around Rs2.2 lakh per month on electricity bills. The maintenance (charges paid by each family) has also reduced by three times, Gharat said.

The building also has a wastewater treatment plant that reduces their reliance on public sources. The treated water that we get is used in washrooms and helps us save a sizeable quantity of clean water, said Sahu.

Homes in the complex have recently installed water saving nozzles in taps which reduces the flow of water by half. We tend to keep the tap open when we brush our teeth or while washing utensils. The nozzle helps reduce the flow from 8 litres to 3 litres a minute, said Pradeep Surana, another resident.

The society also has a rainwater harvesting system with several recharge and percolation pits. It also has a big storage tank.

They also nurturing 20 mango saplings in their lawn and terrace. Once they grow to a desired size, we will plant these saplings in Sanjay Gandhi National Park. We want to live in a place that is better than it was when we got it, said Ashish Shrivastava, another resident of the society.

In the pipeline

Within a month, the society aims to install sensor systems to ensure that the lights will switch on only when someone passes by the sensor. The move will also enhance the life of bulbs by nine times, said residents.

Also, they will get two automated composting machines that can convert kitchen waste into compost in three days. Our aim is to tap and exploit all possible areas which have an environmental impact. If we wish to become the role model of something good, we might as well do it perfectly, said Ajay Singh Thakur, secretary of the housing society.

The local municipal ward officer said the residents of Raheja Eternity are setting an example for other housing societies. Sahebrao Gaikwad, assistant commissioner, R/south ward, said, Once the society took these initiatives, within months we came to know that other societies too took up similar projects and more wanted to join the green wave. The corporation is not worried for at least one area knowing that they will take care of all the aspects of the environment.
MIDC police arrested a 49-year-old political party worker last week for allegedly duping a woman of Rs8 lakh on the pretext of freeing her husband from jail.

The accused met the woman through a mutual friend in 2015. She told him her husband had been arrested and jailed for sexually assaulting a minor girl in Andheri (East).

The accused said he would use his political clout to free him. The woman paid him in instalments over the past two years. However, he kept asking for more time and money. The woman finally realised that she had been duped and asked the MIDC police to file a case in January.

Police registered a case under section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

A magistrate court remanded the accused to police custody till June 30. Police are trying to ascertain if he duped others using the same modus operandi.
Mohammad Abdul Hamid Patel, 55, and Saira Bano, 52, from suburban Mumbai have become the first couple ever to have filed nominations to contest Indias presidential elections.

Neither Mohammad nor Saira has a realistic chance of, forget about winning, even remaining in the contest once the nominations are scrutinised on June 30 for the July 17 election, the result of which will be announced on July 20.

Rules state that 50 MPs or MLAs must propose a candidates name and 50 more must second the candidature. Neither Mohammad nor Saira are likely to manage this.

However, Mohammad is undeterred. He says once the current election is over, he plans to file a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking an end to the condition that 100 MPs and MLAs must support a candidature. This hinders the independence of the office, he adds.

When HT visited the Patel home at Sagar City Enclave at Gilbert Hill in Andheri (West) on Friday, a couple of hours after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate, Ram Nath Kovind, filed his nomination, Mohammad had finished his afternoon prayers and was taking a nap. Saira was in the kitchen, preparing food for the impending Iftar. The spacious 2BHK flat was quiet, the TV was turned off on account of Ramzan, and the couples younger son, Imtiaz, was busy preparing for his Bsc IT exams. The Patels older son is an engineer in Qatar.

Many of those who have seen Mohammad over the years pursuing issues related to rehabilitation of slum dwellers or burning effigies of Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab  months before he filed papers for the 2012 presidential polls  would say the social worker-cum-politician seldom missed any opportunity to grab the headlines. And he has found a soulmate in Saira .

A decade-and-a-half back, he fought the municipal elections from ward 73 on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket and lost by a slender margin of 600 votes. In the next election, Saira contested from the same constituency and lost. They then took a break from electoral politics.

The beauty of Indian democracy is that it not only gives an opportunity to a chaiwala to become the Prime Minister, but also guarantees an equal chance to ordinary citizens such as us, says Mohammad.

The Patels filed their nominations in New Delhi on June 16. (HT Photo)

Through my nomination, I want to convey a message to the Muslim world that in India even a burkha-clad woman has every right to become the first citizen of the country, Saira adds.

Power politics is all about money. Dedication or hard work does not matter when it comes to allotting tickets in political parties, without exception, says Mohammad . Explaining why he filed a nomination for the presidential polls, he says , Here you dont have to buy a ticket.

The Patels both made the customary deposit of Rs15,000 while filing their nominations before the returning officer Anup Mishra in New Delhi on June 16.

What does Mohammad propose to do if voted to the highest office? I will finish militancy in Kashmir, which is the biggest internal problem the country is facing. Within 24 hours of assuming office, I will teach Pakistan a lesson and settle the Kashmir problem for good, he says.

Saira chips in, Through my nomination, I have already set a precedent for Muslim women in the country. If I am elected, I will seek to recruit more women into the armed forces and put them in combat roles. I will see to it that women are in no way inferior to men when it comes to defending the nation.

However, both Mohammad, who works in a construction company, and Saira, who used to be a nurse at Bombay Hospital, are aware that their chances are slim. We were hopeful until the opposition named Meira Kumar,  they say.

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A day after former media bigwig Indrani Mukerjea, who is in Mumbais Byculla jail accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora, and some 200 other prisoners staged protests after an inmate was allegedly beaten to death, the police plan to question her to determine her role in the near riot.

In fact, the police have booked her and scores of other prisoners for rioting but she will be interrogated following reports that she may have instigated the prisoners to stage a violent protest.

Based on post-mortem reports from JJ Hospital, police booked six jail officials for the death of Manjula Shetye, 45, convicted for the murder of her sister-in-law.

They also registered a cross complaint against 200 inmates, including Mukerjea, for rioting, assault and mischief.

We registered a case against the inmates after they created a ruckus in jail. Investigations are ongoing. We will record the statements of all the accused, including Indrani Mukerjea, said an officer from Nagpada police station.

On Friday, Shetye was allegedly assaulted by a woman jailer. Complaining of chest pain, she was taken to JJ Hospital, where she was later declared dead. The post-mortem reports revealed that the womans lungs were damaged. There were 11 to 13 contusions all over her body, which surfaced after she was beaten with a blunt object, said an officer.

After news of Shetyes death reached the inmates, they started destroying property in protest. Some of them climbed the roof and threw objects on officials. One of the officials suffered head injuries in the scuffle.

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After initially expressing satisfaction with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Maharashtra governments Rs34,022-crore farm loan waiver in the state, the Shiv Sena on Monday made more demands and asked for a list of all 40 lakh farmers who will benefit a hundred per cent from the scheme.

Speaking at Aurangabad, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also took credit for the governments decision to grant a farm loan waiver in the state. The Shiv Sena managed to get a farm loan waiver out of people who equated demands for a loan waiver to being a fashion statement. The government had to grant a loan waiver because farmers and the Shiv Sena came together, he said.

The party, on Saturday, welcomed the state governments scheme for a Rs34,022-crore loan waiver in Maharashtra to help 89 lakh farmers burdened with debt. According to the government, 40 lakh farmers will not have to make any payments at all.

He, however, added that farmers in Nashik and Ahmednagar are distressed despite the state governments promised loan waiver, and the government should set up a study group to look into how the loan waiver will actually benefit farmers.

To see how every needy farmer gets the benefit of the loan waiver, to ensure that the announced scheme is actually helping the farmers, there is a need to set up a study group. The Shiv Sena will pursue this with the state government, Thackeray said.

He also demanded that the government increase the bonus being given to farmers who have been regular in their loan repayments, and the cut-off date of June 2016 to avail of the loan waiver scheme should be pushed to 2017.

As part of the loan waiver scheme, the government has promised an incentive for farmers who paid back loans regularly, giving them a bonus of Rs 25,000 or 25 percent of the loan repaid -- whichever was higher.

Moreover, Thackeray said the government should also immediately scrap cases slapped against farmers during the recent agitation for a loan waiver.

The Shiv Sena backed farmers in their protests, even demonstrating against the government, of which it is a part, on the streets and bitterly criticising the BJP.

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Heavy rains, rising water levels, no way out  this is what 55 students from two colleges stranded near a Raigad waterfall had to contend with on Sunday.

#WATCH: 55 students visiting a waterfall, stranded after water level increased due to heavy rain, rescued by police in Maharashtra's Raigad pic.twitter.com/89Qvfe6iX8  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

Fortunately, Raigad police and river rafters carried out a rescue operation soon after receiving an alert.

The students are all smiles after the successful rescue mission. (HT Photo)

Additional superintendent of police, Sanjay Patil, said the students went to Devkund waterfalls near Bhira village in Raigad, but got trapped between two streams of the Kundalika river.
District officials on Saturday sealed nine illegal water extraction units in Sahibabad and also got their electricity supply disconnected to ensure that they dont resume operations.

The drive against illegal water extraction units was taken up in compliance of Allahabad high court orders and recent directions by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The district officials have also formed a committee that will routinely take up the drive in different areas.

The nine plants were illegally extracting groundwater and selling it commercially. We got these sealed and have handed over a report to Sahibabad police station officials. They will conduct periodic checks and ensure that the seal is not broken and no operations are taken up by the plant owners again, said Prem Ranjan Singh, joint magistrate.

If it is found that the sealed units are operational again, the police officials will be held responsible, he added.

Read more: Groundwater depletes in Hapur, Gzb, green court issues notices

The nine plants were traced at DLF Colony, Sahibabad, Dilshad Extension, Bhopra and Pappu Colony.

These areas lack proper drinking water supplies and the plant owners were making money by extracting and selling groundwater to residential and commercial establishments.

In its order on April 13, the NGT had taken up the issue of illegal borewells and directed the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) to seal all borewells run by industries, private individuals and private water suppliers that were running without permission and consent in Ghaziabad and Hapur districts.

The directions came in connection with a petition filed by activist Sushil Raghav and Society for Protection of Environment and Biodiversity (SPEnBIO). They had sought directions against depleting groundwater.

In this connection, the Ghaziabad development authority (GDA) had served notices to residential highrises to procure no-objection certificates (NOC) from CGWA for borewells. A number of aggrieved parties, including RWAs from Indirapuram, had moved the NGT thereafter.

Later, the green tribunal kept its April 13 order in abeyance till July 13.

The drive will be taken up regularly. Now, we will launch and identify illegal water extraction units in Vijay Nagar, Khoda and other similar areas. We have learnt that a number of illegal water extraction plants are running and selling water commercially in these areas, Singh added.

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Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Sonepat and Ghaziabad administration officials on Monday busted an alleged illegal sex determination racket being run at a clinic in Loni.

The health department officials sent a decoy customer to the clinic for sex determination around 8.30am on Monday, where an untrained staff performed the procedure for Rs3,500.

The teams raided the clinic which is registered in the name of one Dr Saroj. The man who conducted the test was an unqualified medical practitioner. We will lodge a case under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994. The second offence is of employing unqualified staff to undertake health procedures and attend to patients, said Atul Kumar, subdivisional magistrate, Loni.

Officials said that they are also on the lookout for other such centres in remote locations where a number of couples and women from neighbouring Haryana come to know the sex of their unborn child.

Officials said that people are sent to such clinics by middlemen who charge from Rs15,000-Rs20,000, of which the person conducting the test gets around Rs5,000 per case.

Since Loni is close to Haryana, which has a skewed sex ratio, a number of women from Haryana are sent by here by middlemen for sex determination test. We have stepped up checking of such centres and will take appropriate action. The state government recently issued directions in this regard and we will implement them soon, Kumar said.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on June 24 announced Mukhbir Yojana  a plan to rope in the public as informers to tip officials about such centres. Under the plan, there is also an incentive of Rs2 lakh for those providing correct information about the involvement of a doctor or medical staff in illegal sex determination.

In December 2016, health department teams from Haryana had busted a centre in Raj Nagar Extension. The raid was conducted based on information that a woman from Haryana was sent to a flat in a housing complex, where tests were being conducted.

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Recently Mulayam Singh Yadav was asked to comment on the performance of the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh. He declined saying he preferred to wait for six months. Thats because Yadav belongs to the generation that neither celebrated nor condemned the performance of a government before it completed six months in office, which is quite logical as governments come with a manifesto for five years.

The BJP had made tall poll promises in UP, the execution of which will require leadership skills as the CM heads a raw team. Recently in an informal chat, he shared his ambitious plans and projects in various sectors, especially health and education.

The CMs blueprint, likely to be announced on the 100th day, might lay out the direction his government wants to embark on, besides the populist measures like the anti-Romeo squads, triple talaq and cow slaughter that have already been announced.

In the past 100 days, women have not felt more safe in the state. Law and order is the Adityanath governments Achilles heel. The government has refused to share any comparative data of this regime with that of the previous governments headed by Akhilesh Yadav. But going by public perception, it remains as bad as it was then.

Caste conflicts have intensified, and two major communities feeling marginalised are the Muslims and the Dalits, which forms 40% of the states population.

The BJP has tried to assuage the sentiments of lower castes by nominating a Dalit as the next President of India, but the Dalits are not amused as some claim that Kanshi Ram had rejected BJPs offer for the highest constitutional post on the plea that he does not need a post that silences him.

Of all the BJP governments, Kalyan Singhs first stint in early 1990s is remembered as the partys best rule. Though the temple movement was on, Singh had taken four concrete steps to display his resolve  first, action was taken against two criminals, Raghuraj Pratap Singh and Mukhtar Ansari; second, the revival of the Chunar cement factory, coupled with revival plans for UPTRON and Scooters India; third, copying was made a cognisable offence under the Anti-Copying Bill; and fourth, goons were paraded in market places.

In West UP, which had become notorious for kidnapping for ransom, the traders, including the Muslims, had hailed Singhs action against the top criminals in every district. However, Singh lost this goodwill in his second regime when he shook hands with same criminals to save his government.

Many saw some glimpses of the Singh regime in Yogis government when he brought in many first timers as ministers.

Though the CM is optimistic about the radical changes that the people will notice soon in almost every area, he will have to prioritise given UPs financial constraints  constraints that will multiply after farm loans are waived.

The challenge will be to implement the promises made in the partys manifesto. Yogi Adityanath comes out as a young mahant ready to prove his administrative skills.

The coming years will tell if he remains a mahant or becomes a manager, and a successful one at it. After all, as they say a leader capable of managing UP well can run India too.

saron@hindustantimes.com

Watch | 100 days of Yogi Adityanath Govt: what are the challenges for the CM?
There is no doubt that a form of medieval madness has taken over India in the shape of Islamophobia and regular lynching of Muslims in different states. The situation has moved quickly from not renting out homes to Muslims to refusing to tolerate their presence in public spaces. Muslims are being taunted on trains and streets, fights initiated and lynched. The lynchings have become so common that we do not know which one to respond to. Should we weep for Mohammad Naeem in Jharkhand or Hafiz Junaid in Haryana? How many remember the details of Pehlu Khans murder in Rajasthan? Mohammad Akhlaq is now just another milestone in this steady journey of wanton death. Many on social media who were horrified by Srinivas Kuchibotlas murder in the US in February are strangely muted about the lynching of Muslims in India.

There is scarcely a word of condemnation from the BJPs leadership. Forest fires in Portugal get more notice from this government than the ravaging of Indias social fabric that has taken centuries to nurture. Rather than express concern  let alone enforce the law  the Union Cabinet and BJP leaders found a way to signal to gau-rakshaks that they are on the same side. They skipped President Pranab Mukherjees iftar reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan in an unprecedented flouting of convention and political grace. The politicians are essentially conveying to the vigilantes that they too have such contempt for Muslims that theyd rather not be seen in public breaking bread with them.

The striking thing about vigilantism now is that there is no incentive for the BJP to make it stop. The Opposition is powerless, the police are bystanders, courts have not shown interest, the ruling party feels that it will no longer lose elections and so it has no dread of the hustings.

There is also notably no fear of violent retaliation. Muslims in India are effectively hostages in their own land, unable to take on a section of the majority that is fortified by a State that looks the other way in the face of gratuitous violence. Vigilante violence also tests the bonds of transnational Muslim solidarity. Ordinarily, Pakistan and Pakistan-based terror groups would use violence or the threat of violence as leverage over the Indian government to bargain on Kashmir or relax anti-Muslim policies elsewhere. (The 1993 Mumbai blasts were a reaction to the riots that targeted Muslims in December 1992 and January 1993.) But Congress and BJP governments react very differently to terror attacks. The Congress is weakened by them while Hindu nationalists are bolstered by them. In the current climate attacks can provide the excuse for more bloodletting and subsequent consolidation of Hindu identity. Thats the bind Hindu vigilantes put Islamabad and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in.

There is thus a deterrence at play here for the vigilantes to exploit. But deterrence breaks down sometimes, which also works for the BJP. The Pakistani army and the LeT may have a measure of geopolitical reason, groups like Islamic State may not (which is why we are hearing more about IS as a threat to India lately). When terror attacks happen in India or where there is a spike in militancy in J&K as is expected they can quickly change the direction of the debate and harden middle class attitudes towards Muslims in general.

To get a sense of this, consider what happened in Kashmir over the last year. Security forces reacted excessively to the outpouring of grief following Burhan Wanis killing last July, firing live ammunition and pellets at civilian protestors that left about 100 people dead, blinded many and partially blinded hundreds. The debate has now moved away from the high civilian toll to a representation of stone-pelting youth as terrorists. This was achieved through sheer repetition in the public sphere, with no quarter given to Kashmirs complex past or its suffering. Over the last month, the government has come under criticism over Major Leetul Gogoi tying Farooq Ahmad Dar to a jeep, but suddenly a crowd in Srinagar lynches deputy superintendent of police Ayub Pandith  an act widely condemned by Kashmiris  and now it becomes difficult to get the focus back on State action. In other words, one act is enough to draw an equivalence and gloss over a lengthy, bloody past and turn the debate in the direction the government wants.

We are likely to see more Ayub Pandith moments in Kashmir and other states of India. No one outrageous act will be allowed to build up for too long; there will either be another distraction, another outrage - either by design or the logic of circumstances. Paresh Rawals tweet on Arundhati Roy ensured that attention was diverted from pictures of Naeem drenched in his own blood.

Lynching not only acts out hatred for Muslims, it also serves to generate support, acquiescence and fear among the different constituents of the Hindu middle class. The key sources where this cohort picks up independent, contrarian views  universities, media, writers, filmmakers and artists  are being tamed. Throw in the spectre of open violence on the street and its compliance is assured. It is very easy to silence people when there is no rule of law. A troubled conscience unsure of peer support is often no match for a frenzied and organised political force. Many will flit between fear and helplessness (about lynching) and rage (about violence in Kashmir). Its a condition geared to produce moral flight and political apathy, which suits the BJP as it seeks to quickly consolidate Hindu identity. Sunil Khilnani famously wrote in The Idea of India that in a fundamental sense, India does not merely have politics but is actually constituted by politics. Right now the possibility of politics is being threatened by organised fear.

Twitter: @SushilAaron

(The views expressed are personal)

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PATNA The Bihar government is closer than ever before to the creation of the proposed Bihar state university service commission to fill up large-scale vacancies of teachers and officials in state universities.

The commission will be modelled on the lines of the Bihar public service commission (BPSC), following a suggestion from chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Earlier, the department of education had moved a proposal for the creation of a separate commission for recruitment of varsity teachers. As per the initial proposal, it was to be a seven-member body, headed by a chairman.

However, in view of chief ministers instructions, a fresh proposal is being prepared with some changes in the eligibility criteria of chairman and members of the commission, which could be formed through an executive order, said an official of the education department.

The commission will have the power to appoint teachers, principals as well as officials, besides taking care of promotion issues.

Both the houses of the Bihar legislature had, on March 30, passed the Bihar state universities (amendment) bill, 2017 for the creation of the body, which had been dissolved in 2007 after 25 years of its existence. Later, the power of recruitment of assistant professors was vested in the BPSC.

Though the BPSC started the process for recruitment of 3,364 assistant professors over a couple of years ago, it is yet to be completed, though it has now recommended names of teachers for many key subjects to different universities.

However, education minister, Ashok Choudhary felt that some 8,000 teachers, more than double the number for which recruitment process is underway, would have to be appointed to put Bihar varsity education on an even keel.

It was on March 19, 2013, that the state cabinet cleared the proposal for recruitment of teachers to fill vacant posts through BPSC  first time since Nitish Kumar took over in 2005. Before that, the last appointment was made in 2003 on the basis of an advertisement issued in 1997.

As against their sanctioned strength of 13,564 teachers, 10 universities of Bihar have a total working strength of just 6,079 teachers, which comes to well below 50%, as per figures released by the Bihar government in March this year.

PROPOSAL Commission will have the power to appoint teachers, principals and officials, besides taking care of promotion issues

QUOTE

Around 8,000 teachers, more than double the number for which recruitment process is underway, will have to be appointed to put Bihar university education on an even keel

Ashok Choudhary, education minister

Universities/ sanctioned strength/ working strength

BRABU 1861/ 701

JPU 1013/ 377

VKSU 1015/ 419

BNMU 1482/ 784

MMHAPU 56/ 1

PU 808/ 316

MU 3093/ 1650

LNMU 1966/ 767

TMBU 1479/ 676

KSDSU 781/ 401

Total 13564/ 6079

(Source: Bihar government/ March 2017)

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Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawans seized a deer horn in Araria district of northeast Bihar when it was being smuggled into India from neighbouring Nepal.

The jawans of SSBs 52nd battalion seized the horn at Muraripur in Sikti police station area of the district, about 300 kms east of state capital, Patna, on Sunday,SSB officer R K Rajeshwari said.

The smugglers, however, fled leaving behind the bag containing the deer horn as soon as they saw the jawans, said the officer of SSB, the Central armed police force tasked to man Nepal and Bhutan borders.

The seized horn, weighing 1.7 kg, had been deposited with the district forest office, he said.

This is second that time that a deer horn had been sized from the same place within a week by SSB jawans .
The district consumer dispute redressal forum has asked a jeweller to refund Rs 1 lakh to an SAS Nagar resident, Jarnail Singh, for failing to deliver ornaments ordered for a marriage in 2013.

Jarnail, the brides father, had to take loan from his relatives and purchase ready-made ornaments instead.

In its order dated June 1, has asked the jeweller to pay Rs 1 lakh along with an interest of 9% from November 17, 2013, the date when the ornaments were to be handed over to the complainant till actual payment.

Furthermore, the jeweller has been asked to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation for the mental agony, harassment and cost of litigation incurred by the brides father.

The copy of the order has been made available now. On October 23, 2013, Jarnail Singh, a resident of SAS Nagars Chaumajra village, had booked 100 gram of gold with Karan Jewellers.

Singh also paid Rs 1 lakh for making ornaments for his daughters wedding that was scheduled on November 17, 2013.

The jeweller had reportedly assured Singh that the ornaments would be delivered well before the marriage.

Meanwhile, refuting the allegations, Karan Jewellers said they are goldsmiths and not gold dealers.

They said, therefore, the complaint is not maintainable.

The jeweller claimed Singh did not specify the ornaments that were to be prepared. He added that Singh did not inform them about the wedding date.

Unconvinced , the consumer forum held that non-delivery of gold ornaments on the occasion of the marriage of the complainants daughter is an act of deficiency in service on the jewellers part.

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The Indian Armys move to deploy civilians as sahayaks in family stations hasnt gone down well with veterans, with a majority of them calling it impractical. Most of them feel it will undercut the bond between an officer and his buddy, which is forged in peace and tested in war.

The move follows social media posts, including one by sepoy Sindhav Jogidas complaining about being abused by his officer and his wife, which went viral. Then there was the suicide by Lance Naik Roy Mathew that triggered a debate with detractors calling this practice a relic of the colonial era. Earlier called an orderly, the sahayak is a soldier assigned to an officer to attend to his personal requirements.

Calling this move a non-starter which would only add to the armys financial burden, Lt Gen Harwant Singh (retd) says, The two are comrades in arms with deep mutual respect for each other. Those who talk of doing away with the sahayaks have little experience of soldiering or this unique relationship.

Brig KS Kahlon (retd), the director of the Punjab chapter of the All India Defence Brotherhood, narrated how the late Punjab governor Lt Gen JFR Jacob made a special visit to Amritsar to meet his retired sahayak.

Many veterans recounted the tale of late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw during the Burma campaign in 1944-45. Then a Major, Manekshaw may have succumbed to bullets injuries had it not been for his sahayak, who waved his weapon at the doctor when he refused to treat the unconscious officer, and got his attention.

Poking a hole in the theory of a civilian sahayak in peace stations (where families are allowed), Lt Gen TK Sapru (retd) says, A sahayak is not a servant, he is a buddy who has many other implications in peace and war. He cleans your weapon, readies your uniform, you cant replace him even in peace. A civilian sahayak, he said, cannot accompany officers in field areas and during operations.

Calling reports about the misuse of sahayaks an aberration and not the norm, Lt Gen Sapru says, The army knows how to crack the whip. There is no need to change the system.

PEACE AND FIELD

The officers also dismissed the watertight concept of peace and field. An officer said most units undertake annual exercises even during peace postings. Also, any unit can be moved to a forward area at a days notice. As Lt Gen H S Panag (retd) put it, Peace stations are not really peace stations. If you are deployed in the plains of Uttar Pradesh or Punjab, you can go to battle within three days.

But unlike the others, Lt Gen Panag called the move a step in the right direction. Static stations such as the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, already have civilian sahayaks, he says.

While saying that army must change with time, Brig Kiran Krishan (retd), however, adds its wrong to single out the armed forces for the sahayak culture. The civilian bureaucracy and police also have the sahayak system but with a different name, he says.

Calling it a bad idea, Col BS Sohi (retd) says soldiers are trained and trusted professionals who follow a set of rules. How can you expect the same level of professionalism and integrity from a civilian? he says. Also, I have often seen that civilian workers form unions and go on strike, he adds.

The veterans agreed that the army must take a balanced decision as it could affect its operational efficiency and ethos.

Lt Gen Harwant (retd) says: Such a step may convey the impression that there is loss of trust between officers and their men.
The building of HDFC bank in Phase 7 in SAS Nagar was gutted on Monday after fire was reported at 11.15 am by a security guard. Tragedy was averted as it was a holiday due to Eid.

Two fire tenders were pressed in service to douse the flames . The entire ground floor was gutted in which 15 computers were also burnt.

HDFC officials said the lockers in basement are safe and the currency in the two ATMs on the first floor was also saved from the inferno.
In a bid to reduce air pollution, langar for devotees will now be prepared by using solar energy at the Guru Ram Das Langar Hall (community kitchen) at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. At present, liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and wooden sticks are used as fuel for cooking food.

Mumbai-based Enpar Group, a private company, has volunteered to donate the solar energy system worth 1.5 crore to the Golden Temple through the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA).

The system will be installed in the newly constructed portion of the Langar hall, known as the worlds largest community kitchen. The steam that the system will generate will be used for preparing food, said Balour Singh, director of PEDA, who led a three-member team that visited the shrine on Monday to identify the place for installation of the system.

The other two members of the team included Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) additional secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhoora Kohna and Golden Temple manager Sulakhan Singh.

The PEDA is playing a key role in the project as it will subsidise it.

Former PEDA chairman and SGPC member Bhai Manjit Singh, who was also present, said, With the new system, the consumption of wood and LPG will decrease thereby reducing air pollution in the area. Besides, food will take lesser time to be prepared, he added.

The SGPC has already introduced a system at Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj, a shrine situated near the Golden Temple, under which food is prepared with the use of steam, but it is not generated by solar energy.

Also read: New lights are on! Golden Temple hi-tech illumination project nears completion

Apart from this, the SGPC has also started organic farming at Gurdwara Satlani Sahib to grow organic foodgrains and vegetables to be used in the langar.
The choice based credit system (CBCS) that allows students to choose inter-disciplinary and intra-disciplinary courses along with skill oriented papers will not be implemented in 180 colleges affiliated to Panjab University from this year. This comes despite the move being endorsed by the varsitys academic council in its meeting last Wednesday.

On Sunday, PUs syndicate meeting deferred the implementation of CBCS to next year.

Various stakeholders had made representations to the varsity to postpone introduction of CBCS so that they get adequate time to understand the new system.

The syndicate also endorsed the programme to organise refresher courses related to CBCS for principals and college teachers at different places. It endorsed gradually finalising the working model for the implementation of CBCS across all semesters to ensure uniform implementation.

The system is already in place at PU campus departments as it was introduced last year.

WHAT IS CBCS? Shift in focus from teachercentric education to student-centric education. Under the CBCS, students are allowed to choose inter-disciplinary, intra-disciplinary courses, skill oriented papers (even from other disciplines according to their interest) It makes education broadbased and on a par with global standards. One can take credits by combining multiple courses. CBCS offers flexibility for students to study at different times and at different institutions. Credits earned at one institution can be transferred.

PU WILL GO VEHICLE-FREE The syndicate also set the ball rolling for making PU vehicle-free by approving recommendations of an internal committee. It was noted that parking area near gate number 1, Sector 14 can accommodate up to 200 cars. Option for creating more parking space near gate number 3, Sector 25 is to be explored immediately. It was also proposed that the frequency of shuttle service between the two parking lots be enhanced so that waiting time at any bus stop is not more than |10 minutes.

MOVE DRAWS MIX RESPONSE

Welcoming the move, Avanindra Chopra, associate professor at DAV College, Sector 10 said the changeover to CBCS at this stage was not feasible. It would have harassed students, giving rise to multiple problems for teachers and colleges, he said

However, professor Akshaya Kumar, PUs dean languages said this is yet another instance of the varsitys governing body delaying the implementation or fiddling with major UGC initiatives.

The UGC wanted PU to implement CBCS in affiliated colleges at the earliest, he claimed.

Deferring CBCS will only hit us in our rankings and NAAC grading. Also, the students of the region will suffer as the new system would have equipped them to compete nationally, he added.

If the university was so concerned about UGC norms, why did it take over two years to finalise its structure and syllabi?, said a teacher.
Panjab University (PU) rules do not permit reservation in migration, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has held.

The high court bench of justice Mahesh Grover and justice Shekher Dhawan dismissed the universitys plea against the judgment of a single-judge bench.

The single-judge bench had held that rules do not permit reservation in migration.

The court had ordered the migration of general category students from PU regional centre, Muktsar and Hoshiarpur, to the department of laws, PU, after the varsity had denied this.

The reserved category candidates were lower in merit, but the university categorised the merit list by providing reservation and creating four categories  general, scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and defence prescribing a different cut off for each.

As vacant seats were divided among different categories, general category candidates could not make the cut.

In its May 1 order, the single judge bench had said that there is no provision for reservation in the migration scheme of the varsity.

PU challenged this decision before the division bench arguing that the Panjab University Calendar for making admissions to all university teaching departments and the affiliated colleges provide for reserved seats in each class.

But the division bench too opined that the calendar provides for reservation in fresh admission and not in migration as there is no provision for reservation.

The court had also summoned the varsity registrar and he conceded the point. It also came to light that there is no such practice and reservation had been resorted to for the first time.

If that be so, then we are afraid then we cannot find any fault with the reasoning of the learned Single Judge where the criteria of reservation applied to migration has been deprecated and negated. We would re-affirm the findings in the absence of any provision to the contrary, the high court bench said while dismissing varsity plea.

The court also refused to interfere with the single bench order to admit the students in the fourth semester which is impermissible as the migration policy permits migration to the third and the fifth semester.

The court said that the students had applied well in time for the third semester but varsity dilly dallied, which resulted in such a piquant situation.

Present problem is the creation of the university itself which did not decide the matter of the writ petitioners for an inordinate period despite several representations to remedy the situation, the high court recorded, while allowing the migration of three students.

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A corporate hospital in Dhanbad is facing an unusual situation after a family refused to receive its baby admitted in the hospital a few days ago. The hospital authority has sought guideline from the Dhanbad deputy commissioner (DC) over the fate of the infant girl.

The hospital authority blamed that family of the baby dumped it in the hospital to avoid medical bills worth around Rs15,000, while the family levelled charge of child exchange on the hospital. The family members said they had admitted a baby boy, but they were being handed over a baby girl.

Rashida Khatoon, a resident of Wasseypur, gave birth to a child in Namdhari Memorial Hospital- Naya Bazar on last Tuesday. The doctors found condition of the child critical and advised family members to admit the infant at a super specialty hospital immediately.

The infant was shifted to Asarfi Hospital, Baramuri in a critical condition on June 20. The hospital released the baby on June 22 after it recovered. Hospital also informed the family to receive the baby.

Seeing a girl, the family members refused to receive the child. Grandmother of the child, Mehrunisha charged that they had admitted a baby boy. The hospital has changed it, she blamed, adding, she showed birth certificate of Namdhari Memorial Hospital where the baby was born.

However, in admission form of Asarfi Hospital, the infant has been mentioned as a girl. The Namdhari Memorial Hospital too admitted that it was a girl child and boy was written by mistake on the birth certificate.

Chief executive officer (CEO) of Asarfi Hospital, Harendra Singh on Sunday said hospital management had written to deputy commissioner (DC) and senior superintendent of police (SSP) over the incident. Maternal uncle of the child had admitted her in hospital and signed on paper. But he is not coming forward now, he said.

Grandmother of the infant Mehrunisha charged that police had connived with the hospital in the conspiracy. I had gone Bhuli police station to lodge complaint but they sent me to Bank More police station, which referred me to Dhanbad sadar police station under which Asarfi Hospital comes, she said.
Governor Droupadi Murmu has returned the bills seeking amendments in decades old twin tenancy Acts asking the state government about its benefits to the tribal people, sources in the Governor House said on Sunday. However, official confirmation is still awaited.

The Raghubar Das government had amended the two lawsChotanagpur Tenancy (CNT-1908) and Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT-1949) Actson November 23 last year after getting it cleared in the assembly through voice vote in order to facilitate infrastructure building. The amendment empowers the government to use agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes.

Though the principal secretary to the governor, SK Satapathy did not respond to HTs repeated calls, neither did he reply to SMS, a top official, close to chief minister, confirmed the development but he refused to make any official statement on the issue. The Governor House had reportedly received 192 objections against the amendment bills.

The parliamentary affairs, food and public distribution minister Saryu Rai, who was in Ahmedabad on Sunday, told HT over phone, I heard of the development. She (the governor) might have returned it, as officials are neither accepting nor denying it. He also admitted that some members within the party had objections in the proposed amendments.

Led by the opposition parties, the proposed amendments had triggered a tribal unrest in the state. Political parties as well as tribal bodies had organised hordes of rallies in Ranchi and other parts of the state to protest the amendments. Even Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar joined the tribal agitation by addressing several tribal rallies in Jharkhand.

The move also led to internal rifts in the Bharatiya Janata Party with many ministers, legislators and members of the working committee raising voice against the governments decision and expressing fear of losing support in their respective constituencies.

Party insiders told Hindustan Times that a majority of legislators expressed discontentment over the bills to partys national general secretary Ram Madhav during his visit to Ranchi on June 17. Coincidentally, chief minister Raghubar Das did not attend the meeting.

A minister in the Raghubar Das cabinet, requesting anonymity, said party leaders and ministers were facing tough times during their visits to the interiors of their respective constituency as they did not have answers to the questions raised by voters on the amendment bills.

Party insiders said the Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan had discussed the social and political impact of the amendments with chief minister on June 22. Former tribal chief minister Arjun Munda had also been called at the meeting.

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Cops in civil dresses will keep an eye on the happenings at the Rath Mela in Ranchi in a bid to prevent any incident of child trafficking from the 300-year-old fair, which has reportedly become a hunting ground for child-lifters and trafficking agents over the years.

The 10-day fair at Jagannathpur Temple of the state capital attracts thousands of rural teenagers from across the state, many of whom, activists say, visit the fair to find dating partners and love.

Anti-human trafficking activists and police are of the opinion that young trafficking agents prowl the fair to love-trap innocent girls and lure them to the metros, where they are eventually sold to placement agencies.

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Jharkhand police has issued an alert to the district police highlighting the vulnerability of young girls and children at the fair, said Inspector General (organised crime) Sampat Meena.

Any person who notices suspicious activity at the fair can inform us on our CID childrens helpline number 8877444444, she added.

The district police have deployed at least 250 police personnel to keep a vigil on the fair, which attracts over 10,000 revelers, primarily from villages, every year.

Our men are on high alert. Half of the 250 policemen would be present at the fair as civilians. CCTV cameras too have been installed, said Ranchi superintendent of police Aman Kumar.

He said stringent checks would be carried out at the exit points in the city, including railway stations and bus terminals.

Sarita Devi, a mother of four, had lost her 14-year-old daughter at the fair a couple of years back. She visited the fair the next year with the hope of finding her daughter, but had to return disappointed.

I can identify the man who took away my daughter. I even saw him once at the fair last year, but he disappeared in the crowd before I could confront him, says the daily wage earner from Khunti.

Meanwhile, the district administration has deployed more than 500 police personnel in the city to prevent any communal tension during Eid. A flag march was taken out in all parts of the city on Sunday.

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Jr. NTR is busy wrapping up his next release Jai Lava Kusa, which is one of the most anticipated Telugu releases of the year.

Jr NTR plays a triple role in Jai Lava Kusa. One of these role is a negative one.

The makers have confirmed that the film will hit the screens worldwide on September 21. It will be interesting because Mahesh Babus Spyder, his bilingual spy thriller with A R Murugadoss, is slated to release a week later and it will be an epic box-office battle.

Here is a surprise little Eid gift for everyone. September 21st is Young Tiger @tarak9999's #JaiLavaKusaReleaseDate  NTR Arts (@NTRArtsOfficial) June 25, 2017

In the film, being directed by Bobby, NTR plays triple role and will be seen romancing Nivetha Thomas and Raashi Khanna. For one of his roles, NTR will be seen wearing prosthetic and his look is being handled by Hollywood make-up artist Vance Hartwell, popular for his work in films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Shutter Island.

The look of the antagonists role has already gone viral. NTR will wear prosthetic make up for this character and he will speak with a stutter. Its going to be a very exciting character with a menacing side and audiences are in for a surprise.

The news that all you fans have been waiting for - The first #JaiLavaKusaTeaser will be released in the first week of July.  NTR Arts (@NTRArtsOfficial) June 21, 2017

NTR is super excited about the role as its something he hasnt attempted before. He has always said that he likes to be challenged by his characters and this is exactly the kind of role that gives him a high. His other two roles in the film are heavily guarded and its not quite sure what can be expected from the film.

The film, also starring Raashi Khanna, Nivetha Thomas and Ronit Roy, is being directed by Bobby and produced by NTRs brother Kalyanram.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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The much anticipated Kamal Haasans Bigg Boss in Tamil was finally aired on Sunday and the maiden episode, much to everybodys surprise, didnt get great response. Going by the initial response on social media, the show failed to impress audiences but die-hard Kamal Haasans fans are hopeful that it will pick up steam in the coming days. In his maiden television avatar, Haasan lacked the ease and sense of humour that his Bollywood counterpart Salman Khan brought to the show.

The 15 participants of the show include actors Sri, Anuya, Vyapuri, Gayatri Raghuram, Bharani, Raiza Wilson, Snehan, Oviya, Harathi, Aarav, Ganja Karupu, Ganesh Venkatraman, Shakti Vasu and Namitha. Julie, a girl who rose to fame during the Jallikattu row, is the only non-actor in the group of participants who will stay locked inside a house for 100 days, absolutely cut out from the outside world. Haasan will visit the house once every week to eliminate a participant.

With his mass popularity, Haasan will take the popular reality show to every Tamil household. In a recent interview to Times of India, he said, he chose to be part of the show because of its reach. I would say that it is the demography of the audience and the numbers of people you can reach that made me take this. And, of course, the money you get also matters. I am in this business for the money, and I wont be doing films for free. What also matters is that televisions reach is fantastic because in the case of movies, you have to sell tickets, etc. So, for me, the more the merrier. Both the audience and the money is good.

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At the grand audio launch of Dhanushs VIP 2 in Mumbai on Sunday, the films trailer was released and going by the unanimous response, one could sense heavy hangover of the first part.

Its as though Dhanush and his sister-in-law Soundarya Rajinikanth, who has directed the film, decided to make VIP all over again with a slightly different cast.

In VIP, Dhanush played a jobless graduate who takes on a corporate giant and going by the trailer of the sequel, the story isnt any different and that has left some of the actors fans disappointed.

VIP 2 marks the return of actress Kajol to Kollywood nearly after two decades. Last seen in Arvind Swami starrer Minsara Kanavu, shes playing a character with negative shades in VIP 2, which is jointly produced by Dhanush and Kalaipuli S. Thanu.

The teaser of VIP 2 released earlier this month totally ignored Kajol, but she steals the limelight in the trailer. Playing a suave and conniving business woman called Vasundhara, her face-off with Dhanush is definitely going to be the biggest highlight of the film and it is quite evident in the trailer. However, a section of the audience felt her character is very similar to Vijayashantis role from Rajinikanths Mannan.

VIP 2, which will also be dubbed in Telugu, will be Dhanushs second release of the year and it will hit the screens on his birthday on July 28. The film also stars Amala Paul, Samuthirakani and Vivekh in key roles.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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A Swedish citizen held hostage by al Qaeda militants for nearly six years has been released, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Johan Gustafsson, 42, was kidnapped in November 2011 in Timbuktu, during a motor cycle trip in Mali, along with two people from South Africa and the Netherlands.

The kidnappers had earlier demanded 5 million dollars for his release, a demand rejected by the Swedish government, according to Swedish Radio, without citing a source.

The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the question of a ransom.

It is with great joy I can say that Johan Gustafsson has been released and will be able to return to Sweden, foreign minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement.

Wallstrom said considerable efforts were made by the foreign ministry, together with the police and other Swedish and foreign authorities, in order to secure Gustafssons release.
A state-run Chinese daily has accused India of being stubborn in its geo-political thinking, and this is clearly reflected in New Delhis decision to have a dedicated air corridor with Afghanistan by bypassing Pakistan.

In its report, the Global Times asked that the already launched and the proposed routes between India, Afghanistan and Iran begs a question: Will India bypass Pakistan to develop trade with Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries?

All such connectivity efforts have not only signalled Indias desire to more actively participate in regional economic development, but have also highlighted the countrys stubborn geopolitical thinking, the article adds, indirectly referring to Indias opposition to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

The Global Times further goes on to accuse New Delhi of attempting to counter balance Beijings much touted CPEC by looking for alternative air freight corridors in the neighbourhood.

The dailys apparently jaundiced opinion comes days after India and Afghanistan inaugurated a dedicated air freight corridor to give boost to bilateral trade and give the landlocked central Asian country greater access to Indian markets.

India has been closely working with Kabul and Tehran to create alternate and reliable access routes. The Chabahar Port in Iran is another example of this initiative.

A trilateral transport and transit agreement based on sea access through Chabahar was signed between the three countries in May 2016.

Chinas over USD 50 billion investment in Pakistan is part of its ambition to reach to Eurasia markets through the Arabian Sea through the One Belt and One Road Initiative (OBOR).

The CPEC is aimed at establishing road and railway links between Gwadar in Balochistan and Xinjiang province in China. (ANI)
A small splinter group of Nepals Maoist party on Monday held a demonstration in front of the Indian embassy in Kathmandu against what it called the repression of the Nepali-speaking people of Darjeeling.

The group, led by Netra Bikram Chand, had split from the Maoist party three years ago and is propping up a nationalist agenda.

The small group of agitators alleged human rights violation in Darjeeling by India.

In a statement, the group said killing of Nepali-speaking people is a matter of concern for us.

It hoped Indian government will respect the human rights of the people living in Darjeeling and who have been demanding Gorkhaland.

Central Committee member of the party, Dharmendra Bastola, who is also in charge of its international department, accused the Indian government for repression in Darjeeling because they are Nepali- speaking people.

The group also submitted a memo addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respect the voice of people of Darjeeling and respect the human rights of the people who are agitating for their rights.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), spearheading an agitation for a separate state of Gorkhaland, is holding an indefinite shutdown in the Darjeeling hills.
Donald Trump has not hosted an iftar dinner during Ramzan, breaking a nearly 20-year tradition.

Despite events held by previous administrations from across the political divide, this years Ramzan  which began on 26 May  passed nearly unobserved by the White House. It was marked only by a statement published late on Saturday afternoon, coinciding with the end of the holy month.

The first White House iftar dinner is said to have been hosted by President Thomas Jefferson, who hosted a Tunisian ambassador during the Islamic month of fasting in 1805.

Hillary Clinton resurrected the event when she was First Lady in February 1996, hosting about 150 people for a reception for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month.

The sunset dinner, attended by legislators, diplomats and leaders within the US Muslim community, went onto become an annual tradition from 1999, observed by the past three administrations.

George W Bush held an iftar dinner every year of his two terms, including just after the 9/11 terror attacks of September 2001.

President Barack Obama hosted his first Ramzan dinner in 2009, and subsequently every year of his presidency.

The Washington Post reported that Saturdays White House statement was signed by Donald and Melania Trump, and was not posted to the presidents social media presences. It read: Muslims in the United States joined those around the world during the holy month of Ramzan to focus on acts of faith and charity.

George W Bush held an iftar dinner every year of his two terms, including just after the 9/11 terror attacks of September 2001

Now, as they commemorate Eid with family and friends, they carry on the tradition of helping neighbours and breaking bread with people from all walks of life. During this holiday, we are reminded of the importance of mercy, compassion, and goodwill. With Muslims around the world, the United States renews our commitment to honour these values. Eid Mubarak.

In May, Reuters reported that the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, had refused a recommendation by the State Departments office of religion and global affairs  which typically initiates such events  to host a reception marking Eid al-Fitr.

A State Department spokesperson told Reuters it was still exploring possible options for observance of Eid al-Fitr ... US ambassadors are encouraged to celebrate Ramzan through a variety of activities, which are held annually at missions around the world.

The Trump administration has been accused of Islamophobia for the presidents controversial proposed travel ban on six predominantly Muslim nations. After the presidential order was temporarily blocked by two federal appeals courts, the US supreme court is considering the Trump administrations appeal.

This month, about 100 Muslim activists protested against the US presidents divisive policies and rhetoric on Islam outside Trump Tower in New York. The group prayed and broke fast outside the presidents business headquarters late on 1 June, as part of the #IftarInTheStreets action organised by immigrant advocacy groups.

(Published in arrangement with Guardian.com)
EU citizens will face immigration controls similar to those currently faced by Indian and other non-EU citizens after Britain formally leaves the 28-nation group in March 2019, when they will no longer be able to use the principle of free movement to move here.

Prime Minister Theresa May outlined a series of plans in a 15-page document in the House of Commons on Monday. They are proposals at this stage and will need to be agreed in talks in Brussels. Any agreement will also include the terms of future stay of British citizens in other EU countries.

Mays plans are of interest to tens of thousands of people from Goa, Daman and Diu, who have moved here after surrendering their Indian passports and opting for Portuguese citizenship. From March 2019, such individuals will be subject to new terms to move here.

Mays plans include every EU citizen resident here needing to apply and obtain settled status called the indefinite leave to remain, which is applicable to Indian and other non-EU citizens. It can be obtained after five years of stay in Britain without committing criminal offence.

The document did not mention any cut-off date from when the new rules will apply to EU citizens, but it is likely to be no earlier than the 29 March 2017, the date the formal Article 50 process for exiting the EU was triggered, and no later than the date of the UKs withdrawal from the EU.

The cut-off date will also need to be finalised during talks in Brussels. Mays proposals promised a light-touch online system to process the millions of applications for settled status from EU citizens who complete the five-year period. After acquiring the status, they will be treated on par with UK citizens for various benefits.

Significantly, after Brexit, EU citizens will no longer be able to freely bring their non-EU spouses to Britain. The document makes it clear that after Brexit, they will be subject to the same rules as UK citizens, who need to have a minimum salary of 18,600 pounds to sponsor a non-EU spouse.

The EU citizens who arrive here before March 2019  the expected date of completion of Brexit  will be given a grace period to allow them to complete the five-year qualifying period to obtain the settled status.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Mays offer to EU citizens was "too little too late", and one that "could have been done and should have been done" a year ago. "This isn't a generous offer," he added.

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Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has wished Muslims a joyous Eid, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramzan, and the people are going gaga about it.

In the video shared on Facebook on Sunday, he can be seen helping out at Ramadan food banks, which send food supplies to people in need. The community spirit I felt at Ramadan food banks in Montreal and Toronto reminds us all  no matter our backgrounds, were in this together, he wrote in the caption.

Thousands of positive comments poured in from his fans across the world and the video has received more than five million views on Facebook alone since it was shared online.

Thank you Mr TRUDEAU we love you may God bless you and guide you to happiness and success CANADA and all the word is proud of you, we hope to see you a very strong and healthy because to do what you did you get all the support and wishes, you cant buy a love and hearth, but you did it surely you are number one and surely GOD love you you are the example of all thanks you very much (sic), a Facebook user said.

Cant express enough my respect to you sir. Me and my family have a big respect for you and we are planning so hard to give our kids the education they deserve hopefully very soon in Canada. You are an example that all leaders should follow. We really hope to be able to travel there one day. Thanks again for being so even and making us feel welcome in your country even though we dont live there, said another user.

(Justin Trudeau Facebook Screengrab)

(Justin Trudeau Facebook Screengrab)

Trudeaus office also released a statement on the occasion pointing at Canadas multiculturalism and appreciating the contributions of the Muslim community.

Canadas cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and sources of pride. This year, as we mark the 150th anniversary of Confederation, we recognize the invaluable contributions the Muslim community makes to our national fabric ... On behalf of our family, Sophie and I extend our best wishes to all those celebrating Eid al-Fitr, it said.

This is not the first time Trudeau has involved himself in wishing people on religious festivities. From attending langar during Baisakhi to wishing Tamilians on Pongal, he has always managed to win hearts, giving tough competition to his political counterparts worldwide.
A Chinese man inserted 15 sewing needles into his penis for sexual pleasure over a period of one year and ended up with a bad infection and blood in his urine.

According to reports, the 35-year-old unmarried man was admitted to The General Hospital of Shenyang Military Region in Shenyang, the capital of north-eastern Chinas Liaoning Province, on June 20 after he complained of severe pain.

The operation was about an hour and a half long. I am sweating and my hands are trembling when its over. This is not an easy one, Dr Cao Zhiqiang, a urologist, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

The doctor said an X-ray showed the needles lodged in the mans urethra, causing him discomfort and bleeding while peeing. It is not uncommon for people to engage in urethral stimulation, inserting foreign objects from a rod to wires to pins.

There are scholars explaining this scenario as one of the peculiar sex similar to sadomasochism and foot fetishes. Patients are looking for excitement through unusual ways, Dr Cao explained.

He advised that people indulging in peculiar sex should practice caution as it could lead to serious medical complications.
China has given medical parole to Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo from prison after the jailed activist was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, his lawyer said on Monday.

Liu, 61, was charged with subversion and jailed in 2009 after he called for greater democracy and political freedom in China.

A key figure in the Tiananmen protests of 1989, Liu won the Nobel peace prize in 2010. The Chinese government did not allow him to attend the event and it strained relations between Beijing and Oslo.

The state media blocked out any news on Liu and search on social media yielded zero results.

When asked about Lius release at the regular foreign ministry briefing on Monday, spokesperson Geng Shuang said he had no information about it.

His Wife, Liu Xia has been kept under house arrest for nearly seven years.

Reports said Liu was diagnosed with cancer about a month ago and is currently being treated at a hospital in Liaoning province in northeast China.

Rights body Amnesty International said China should now ensure that Liu receives adequate medical care and access to family.

Adding injury to insult, Liu Xiaobo has been diagnosed with a grave illness in prison, where he should never have been put in the first place, William Nee, China Researcher at Amnesty International, told HT.

The Chinese authorities should immediately ensure that Liu Xiaobo receives adequate medical care, effective access to his family and that he and all others imprisoned solely for exercising their human rights are immediately and unconditionally released, Nee said.

The authorities must also stop their shameful and illegal house arrest of Liu Xiaobos wife, Liu Xia, and ensure that she is able to receive visitors, travel freely and visit Liu Xiaobo, he added.

The Chinese foreign ministry had reacted furiously when Liu won the Nobel prize in 2010

In 2012, when Chinese author Mo Yan won the Nobel prize for literature, the Chinese government had lashed out at Norway for giving the peace prize to Liu two years earlier.

Two years ago, the Norwegian Nobel committee made a decision which is a serious violation of Chinas internal affairs and its judicial sovereignty, Hong Lei, then the foreign ministry spokesperson, had said.

Last year, a group of 120 authors including Salman Rushdie had written an open letter to President Xi Jinping, urging the release of Liu and other jailed activists.

Where is the voice of publisher Gui Minhai, who disappeared from his holiday home in Thailand and is now being held incommunicado? Where is the voice of Nobel Peace Laureate and former president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre (a literary and rights organisation), Liu Xiaobo serving an 11-year prison sentence and the voice of his wife, the poet Liu Xia, who has been under house arrest for over six years without even having been accused of a crime, said the letter.
Prime Minister Theresa Mays minority government got a semblance of stability on Monday after the Conservative party reached a coalition deal with the Northern Ireland-based Democratic Unionist Party, despite reservations over Londons neutrality in the trouble-torn region.

The ruling Conservative party won 318 seats in the 650-member House of Lords in the June 8 election, falling short of the required majority mark of 326; the DUP won 10 seats. The coalition deal with enable the government to get the Queens speech passed in parliament next week.

Former interlocutors as well as Conservative leaders were opposed to the deal, since it would jeopardise Londons neutral position on the conflict in Northern Ireland, as set out in the Good Friday Agreement, which had led to a period of peace.

Under the deal, the DUP agreed to support the May government on all matters of confidence, on the Queens speech, the budget, finance bills and other parliamentary measures. It also agreed to support the government on Brexit-related isues.

The Tory-DUP deal includes an extra 1 billion pound ($1.3 billion) funding for Northern Ireland over two years, and concessions on issues such as pensions and keeping defence spending at 2% of GDP. Talks are also on to restore the Northern Ireland assembly, which was dissolved earlier this year.

As we set out at the beginning of the talks, we share many values in terms of wanting to see prosperity across the UK, the value of the union, the important bond between the different parts of the United Kingdom, May said after the deal document was signed at 10, Downing Street. We very much want to see that protected and enhanced and we also share the desire to ensure a strong government, able to put through its programme and provide for issues like the Brexit negotiations, but also national security issues.

Arlene Foster, DUP leader, said: Were delighted that we have reached this agreement, which I think works, obviously, for national stability.

In terms of the Northern Ireland executive, of course we are determined to see it back in place as soon as possible as well, because we believe we need a strong voice for Northern Ireland when dealing not least with the Brexit issue.
Several government websites in the US states of Ohio and Maryland had to be shut down Sunday after being hacked to display messages supporting the Islamic State group.

Among the affected websites was one belonging to Ohio governor John Kasich.

Posted on the websites was a message from a group calling itself Team System DZ, vowing revenge against US President Donald Trump.

You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries, it read, adding: I Love Islamic state.

The messages were written in gold lettering against a black backdrop.

The hacked websites also displayed the Muslim profession of faith written in white lettering in Arabic, proclaiming that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.

The message posted on Kasichs website also played an Islamic call to prayer.

A website for Howard County, Maryland, several miles outside Washington DC, was also affected.

Some of the websites remained out of service early Monday, while Kasichs www.governor.ohio.gov site was back up and running after being taken offline Sunday.
E pping Forest, a surprisingly wild and wonderful frontier on the eastern edge of London, has managed to protect its rural status despite increasing development pressure to build more homes to cope with the capitals bulging population.

Epping has a weekly market and the towns 18th-century high street boasts some prized listed buildings.

Living in Epping: everything you need to know 1 /17 Living in Epping: everything you need to know The lowdown: Epping Just 17 miles from central London, Epping attracts families who put down roots in the area for the good schools and choice of outdoor activities. The variety of homes means people can easily move up and down the housing ladder...



Images by Daniel Lynch Average house prices in Epping One-bedroom flat: 199,000

Two-bedroom flat: 343,000

Two-bedroom house: 431,000

Three-bedroom house: 528,000

Four-bedroom house: 771,000

Source: zoopla.co.uk Average rental prices in Epping One-bedroom flat: 909 a month

Two-bedroom flat: 1,446 a month

Two-bedroom house: 1,530 a month

Three-bedroom house: 1,498 a month

Four-bedroom house: 2,051 a month

Source: zoopla.co.uk Schools Eppings state primary schools - Epping, Ivy Chimneys, Coopersale & Theydon Garnon CofE, Theydon Bois and Epping Upland CofE - are all judged to be good by Ofsted. Local comprehensive Epping St Johns is judged to be good, while Davenant in Loughton is judged to be outstanding. Shops Epping has an attractive high street with a popular Monday market. Geoffrey Drayton is a long-standing independent furniture store while Amy Louise is a treasure trove of gifts, flowers and chocolates. The North Weald Airfield market and car boot sale in Merlin Way on a Battle of Britain airfield is open every Saturday and four bank holiday Mondays. Travel Epping sits outside the M25 close to Junction 27 with the M11. From Epping's Underground station on the Central Line it is 38 minutes to Liverpool Street and 48 minutes to Oxford Circus. The station is in Zone 6 and an annual travelcard costs 2,344. Restaurants Haywards in Bell Common is Eppings fine dining restaurant, Eydee's is a popular bar and grill, but chain cafes and restaurants Costa, Caffe Nero, Starbucks, Pizza Express, Wildwood and Prezzo are also easily found. Leisure and the arts The Epping and Ongar Railway is a visitor attraction with steam trains travelling between North Weald and Epping Forest stations. Visitors are transported to the trains from various stations including Epping underground station by vintage bus. Open spaces Epping Forest is Londons largest open space at 6,000 acres. It starts a few miles north of central London at Wanstead, skirts the edge of Walthamstow before passing through Highams Park and arriving in Chingford. Epping Forest is at its most impressive between Chingford and Epping where you can visit Queen Elizabeths Hunting Lodge. For sale... 800,000: this Grade II Listed thatched cottage on the edge of the village has three bedrooms and boasts a heated swimming pool, formal gardens, parking and attached garage.

For sale... 949,995: this stunning four-bedroom Edwardian house features exposed hardwood flooring, ornate coving and period fireplaces. Externally, the property has a lawned garden with a summer house, mature borders and patio area.

For sale... 625,000: Located within the historic grounds of the Copped Hall Estate, this two-bedroom mews house is full of character and set in the beautiful woodland of Epping. For sale... 1,285,000: this detached, gated property has five bedrooms and grounds in excess of half an acre as well as a large, detached gym.

Spacious and quirky new apartments have been carved from a former bank, handy for the Central line Tube station.

Called The Old Chambers, prices at the scheme start from 399,950. The homes are on the market through Foxtons (020 7973 2020).
Meet Sammy and Gunner, the newest deputies at the Pitt County Sheriffs Office in Eastern North Carolina.

The two Miniature Horses are therapy horses from Rocking Horse Ranch, a therapeutic riding program in Greenville. Their new assignment is with a program called Building Bridges, which is a collaborative effort between the ranch, the sheriffs office, and East Carolina University.

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Building Bridges is a service offered to trauma victims and witnesses to traumatic events. Participants in the program will have the opportunity to get out of the city, visit the ranch, and spend time with the horses. The intent is to help them heal while building trust with officers from the sheriffs office.

Researchers from ECU will study the program to gather information about what effect time with the Minis does for trauma victims.

The great thing about working with Miniature Horses is that it is kidn of ground breaking, Dr. Leigh Atherton, a professor at ECU, told WITN. There is not that much research looking at Mini Horses and their use in a therapeutic way, especially in the way that we are looking at using it for this project.

The partnership is already popular with the sheriffs office. Last week, Gunner and Sammy had an official swearing-in ceremony at the Pitt County courthouse. They even wore official uniforms, originally designed for normal-sized humans but altered to be worn by Mini Horses. The trained therapy animals didnt seem to mind the new threads.

Watch footage from the swearing-in ceremony here.

Find out more about Gunner, Sammy, and Rocking Horse Ranch at www.rhrnc.com

Leslie Potter is a writer and photographer based in Lexington, Kentucky. www.lesliepotterphoto.com
20 years later, we're still waiting for our letters from Hogwarts.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone arrived in book stores 20 years ago today, on June 26, 1997. Over 500 million copies, 8 films, a play, a spinoff series, a website, and three theme parks later, Pottermania is still going strong, as Harry Potter remains the bestselling children's series of all time and a huge part of popular culture.

The series began on a train ride from London, when the idea of a boy traveling by train to a wizarding school popped into author J.K. Rowling's head. Through her mother's death, depression, divorce, poverty, and single-parenthood, Rowling wrote; and from her imagination came a world full of adventure, magic, and heart - a world that children of all ages would delight to visit time and time again for years to come.

Today, Rowling expressed her gratitude to her fans on Twitter for the chance to share that world with them.

20 years ago today a world that I had lived in alone was suddenly open to others. It's been wonderful. Thank you.#HarryPotter20  J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 26, 2017

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Fans have responded by thanking her in turn:

Thank you for making our imagination a far better place to live.  Michael Faudet (@MichaelFaudet) June 26, 2017

No, thank you. You gave my kids the love of reading. And had me bloody hooked too.  Paul Syvret (@PSyvret) June 26, 2017

Thank you @jk_rowling for creating a ?where girls can be smart, brave and save the boys from failing #harrypotter20 #Hermione @wwbookclub  Allie (@mugglemayhem0) June 26, 2017

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Thank *you*. I went through a lot of painful stuff as a young adult and hanging out in the world you created made it a little bit better. ??  EricaJoy (@EricaJoy) June 26, 2017

#HarryPotter20 is surreal to see. My entire childhood revolved around this series. Seriously felt like I grew up with the kids at Hogwarts  abdul ? (@Advil) June 26, 2017

Thank you. You've put a lot of a magic into peoples lives.   Cherry Wallis (@CherryWallis) June 26, 2017
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ROME - The Italian government on Sunday made 5.2 billion euros ($5.8 billion) of resources immediately available to keep operative two banks that the European Central Bank has deemed ''failing or about to fail," sending them into insolvency procedures.

Premier Paolo Gentiloni defended the swift action by the government as vital for ensuring Italy's slow economic recovery isn't derailed by a "disorderly" failure of Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza.

The two banks are based in the northeast Veneto region, one of Italy's most economically productive.

They serve many of the small and medium-sized businesses that are the backbone of the nation's economy.

Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan assured Italians that on Monday ''there will be normal operations at the teller windows" when the two banks reopen their doors after the weekend.

The European Central Bank on Friday night pulled the plug on the two troubled banks, which have struggled with high levels of outstanding loans.

The resources approved by the government will facilitate, as widely anticipated, Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo's taking on the ''good" assets of the two banks.

Gentiloni said the government's move at an ad hoc Cabinet meeting Sunday afternoon was mainly aimed at saving "account-holders, savers, of these two banks, in favor of those who work in these banks, and in general in favor of the economy of the territory, one of our most important."

He also deemed the help vital ''for the good health of our banking system," which is seen elsewhere in Europe as a weak point in Italy's economy.

Banks that can't issue loans hamper Italy's businesses from bouncing back, and also pose vulnerability to the eurozone economy as a whole.

Padoan told reporters that the overall price tag for the rescue operation would eventually be nearly 17 billion euros ($20 billion) because it would include Italian government ''guarantees" for 12 billion (some $13.5 billion).
Crude prices have fallen to a level that makes drilling most oil wells in the Permian Basin too expensive as service costs continue to rise in West Texas.

The average oil well in the prolific region now breaks even at about $43 a barrel  the price at which U.S. oil settled on Friday  up from about $39 a barrel at earlier this year, according to energy research firm Wood Mackenzie.

That's because oil field service companies have raised prices for equipment and crews that drill wells and bring them into production amid a surge in drilling and equipment there.

"They definitely can't maintain the trajectory they're on," said Ben Shattuck, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie. "For a lot of these pad wells to work, you need those ultralow service prices, and that doesn't happen when you have more than 300 rigs in the Permian."

Related: For investors in shale drilling, the party is over

U.S. oil prices settled at $43.01 a barrel on Friday, down from more than $50 a barrel last month. The number of active oil rigs in the Permian Basin has climbed from a low of 132 in April 2016 to 369 last week, according to Baker Hughes.

More wells in West Texas are still lucrative at lower oil prices than in other fields in South Texas and North Dakota, but service costs are expected to climb 15 percent to 20 percent in the region this year, bringing the break-even level of new wells to $45 a barrel by the end of 2017, according to Wood Mackenzie.

That's in part because oil companies in the Permian have drilled larger wells that require two to three times the amount of sand for hydraulic fracturing, and hauling that sand takes 1,800 truckloads.

Service firms cut costs up to 30 percent during the oil downturn in 2015 and 2016, and shed thousands of jobs to reduce their own costs. Unless oil prices rise later this year, producers could begin resisting cost pressures from oil field service in negotiating contracts for the second half of the year, Shattuck said.

"Operators won't be willing to take a 5 to 10 percent upcharge to move a rig into the field," he said. "Oil field service companies would have their work cut out for them when it comes to clawing back pricing."



Related: The one man who could stop oil market's plunge
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Downtown's Capitol Tower will bring a food hall with fare from local chefs, skyline views for 90 percent of the offices, a fitness center and a new name when it opens in 2019.

"Right now we're pouring about a floor a week," Matt Damborsky, executive vice president for developer Skanska USA, said during a "skybreaking" ceremony last week to mark progress on the 35-story skyscraper taking shape at 800 Capitol downtown.

Concrete has been poured for five floors of office space and 10 floors of garage space. Skanska USA fast-tracked construction after securing Bank of America as the anchor tenant in April.

The North Carolina-based bank will lease 210,000 of the building's 754,000 square feet of space as it consolidates operations from Bank of America Center at 700 Louisiana, 1221 McKinney and 600 Travis. Employees will be in one building and can talk at the water cooler or in collaborative work areas, an executive said.

"We feel like if U.S. Trust, Merrill Lynch, Global Banking and Investments, Retail and Home Loans sit together, we can better serve our clients," said Hong Ogle, Bank of America's Houston president.

"We're all going to be in one building where we can actually chat to solve our clients' needs."

The collaborative environment being created at the Gensler-designed tower helped land Bank of America as a tenant and pay to have its name included, Damborsky said. The formal name of the tower will be announced closer to the opening.

"For the user experience, Capitol Tower is tomorrow's workplace today," Damborsky said.

The new building signifies Bank of America's commitment to Houston, a market it has targeted for expansion, Ogle said. The workspace, which also will take advantage of natural daylight, will be key to attracting top employees to the bank.

Skanska USA Commercial Development says the building will be the only one downtown with five separate connections to the city's extensive tunnel system. Attendees at Thursday's event included real estate brokers, developers and city officials. Guests watched a 360-degree video showing the two-story tunnel-level atrium take shape.

The tunnel atrium will be open not just to daytime office workers, but also patrons of the arts in the nearby Theater District and the public in general. It will feature 26,000 square feet of retail space, including the food hall, with local chef-driven concepts.

Capitol Tower also will provide a venue for events such as mini-symphonies or TED talks, Skanska said. The company expects to draw 40,000 visitors a week from the Theater District alone and will stay open after business hours.

Traditionally, the tunnels, which stretch more than 6 miles below downtown's office buildings, have not been visible from the street.

The project, which sits on the block bounded by Capitol, Travis, Rusk and Milam, was formerly the site of the Houston Club, and before that, the 1908-vintage Bristol Hotel. Both were developments of Jesse Jones.

The project team includes Gensler, Wylie Consulting Engineers and Walter P. Moore.

Bob Eury, president of Central Houston, commended Skanska for moving forward despite the current glut of office space in Houston.

"New state-of-the-art product helps tremendously," Eury said.
When novelists branch out for some Hollywood moonlighting, they often feel compelled to use their experiences to create a "Hollywood novel," usually a slam against all the slime. Richard Russo has just contributed his observations to the La-La Land library with a novella, "Milton and Marcus" - it's his version of "Get Shorty," only nobody gets murdered.

It's one of four stories in a collection called "Trajectory." All are nice additions to the Russo oeuvre, but "Milton and Marcus" is the most fun and the only one with a Hollywood connection. It's fiction, though readers with any knowledge of cinema history won't have trouble deducing which movie icons were the inspiration for two of the key characters, both leading men, one who's passed on, the other still working but aging. The fictional stars made two or three great films together, yet their friendship became strained. The narrator of "Milton and Marcus" is, you guessed it, a novelist who needs some money, and he's trying to figure out whether doing a screenplay for the aging star is worth the aggravation of working for Hollywood again. The dead star is still on the novelist's mind as the text goes back and forth between the story itself and the opening scenes of the screenplay. And yes, it would make a good movie.
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All it takes to be a noble - to be called "m'Lord" or "m'Lady" - is money. And for Texans interested in owning a noble title, a silent auction in London holds an extra appeal. The title being auctioned has a loose connection to Gen. Sam Houston, arguably the most important figure in Texas history.

The Barony of Fingalton, Renfrewshire, Scotland, is said to have once belonged to Houston's ancestors. Between June 27 and July 11, it's being sold in a special silent auction.

Auctioneer Robert Smith, of Manorial Auctioneers Ltd., said that he expected the title to sell for at least $100,000.

It's being sold, Smith said, by a French-speaking Swiss businessman who's owned it since 1998.

Why would anyone want to pay $80,000 for nothing more than the right to call yourself a baron or baroness?

"People's reasons vary," Smith said. "There's novelty involved, I suppose. I would think someone in Texas would have some warmth in regard to the general."

Sir Ernie

More Information How to bid Anyone wanting information or planning to bid should write to manorial@msgb.co.us or call auctioneer Robert Smith at &44-20-7582-1588. See More Collapse

Ernie Manouse, the Houston Public Media TV host, said that he bought a title of nobility nearly 20 years ago - for $29 or so.

That title, of highly questionable provenance, came with an ID card and a certificate suitable for framing.

It was, Manouse laughs, well worth the investment.

Manouse used the title years ago on a Lord & Taylor credit-card application, resulting in a credit card that read: "Sir Ernie Manouse."

He hosted the "Manor of Speaking," show that ran after each episode of "Downton Abbey." On the show, an actor playing his butler, Mr. Rodgers, addressed Manouse as m'lord.

Did that bother one of Manouse's frequent guests, the very English Helen Mann, a former vice consul at the British Consulate?

Mann said that her compatriots have grown used to such shenanigans.

"Most Brits are amused by the whole idea," said Mann. "In the main, most Brits don't think about it anymore. It is a part of our lives that we've all grown up with."

Manouse is gleefully unrepentant.

"I have purchased my place in royalty," he proclaims. "I am the Lord of Sea Land."

'You can never tell'

Texas historians and museum curators take a far more serious tone regarding Sam Houston's lineage.

Smith and Mikey Sproat, curator of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, agree that the connection is there. But they disagree about the details.

It's clear that royalty bestowed the title on the first baronet hundreds of years ago. But Smith believes the barony was granted in 1663; Sproat cites the 1100s.

In Sproat's version, a Houston soldier saved the life of the King of Scotland in battle and he was knighted as a reward.

Smith's version has King Charles II giving the title for some unknown reason. "You can never tell with kings, especially in those days," Smith said. "He might have produced just the right girl for the king to admire, especially with Charles II, who had several mistresses. Things like that would never happen today, but it happened well into the 18th century."

Neither Houston nor his father (Robert) or grandfather (John) were in line for the title - Sam was the fifth of nine children - but they certainly could have claimed they're descended from nobility, Smith said.

The lucky buyer of the Barony of Fingalton comes with about a half acre of land, just enough to have domain over something, Smith said. And for $2,000 or so more, you can also buy the barony's coat of arms in order to display a flag or wear an appropriate tartan (kilt).

In need of cash

Smith said that his auction house doesn't ask why anyone sells a title, but often, sellers mention that they're in need of cash.

For instance, in 1996, Charles Spencer, Princess Diana's younger brother and himself an Earl, sold the Lordship of Wimbledon because he needed money to replace the roof at Althorp, his ancestral estate.

Anyone worried about a group selling fake aristocratic titles should ask sellers for a list of solicitors in Scotland who can help with legal documents, Smith said. The fakes won't give you a list, he said, because they don't want their fraud to be discovered.

How do actual blue-blooded aristocrats feel about nobility who bought their titles? "They're quite happy about it, actually," Smith said. "At the end of the day, the people who buy these are seriously rich people. Even aristocrats like to know rich people."
Hamna Badat's alarm clock buzzed her out of slumber before the sun even rose, well before the Islamic Society of Greater Houston's prayer ceremony to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.

"I had to do my makeup and everything, and help my sisters get ready," the 18-year-old said as she sat with her sisters, awaiting the beginning of the 10 a.m. ceremony.

Dressed in a long, lemon chiffon dress, with pops of orange, Badat's Eid outfit will be her biggest fashion statement of 2017. Picking out a prom dress is less stressful than finding the right thing to wear for Eid festivities, during which she celebrates the end of Ramadan and breaking her fast.

"It took me forever to pick this out," she said. "Longer than it took me to pick out my prom dress last year. With that, it's something simple and American-based. But this is a bigger deal, because it's part of the culture, and I wanted to be a little more extra."

Thousands of Muslims from around the Houston area came together to pray Sunday morning, marking the end of Islam's holiest month. Houston's prayer service is so large it takes up two halls in the NRG Center. One hall is reserved for men, while the other is for women.

"You've been fasting for 30 days, and you hope that you've been transformed, so you're rewarding yourself by dressing up," said Shahla Shannawaz, 26.

"This is the only time in Islam you're allowed to spend as much as you want on your clothes and your makeup," she continued, noting that she didn't get much sleep the night before, due to anticipation for the big day, and an early wake-up call to apply her meticulously inked cat-eye eyeliner and get dressed.

She pointed into the crowd of thousands, where women were dressed in a glittering rainbow of silk and chiffon.

"People think Islam won't let you do this. They think it's about covering and wearing black. But it's not. It's the most diverse religion. Every culture is different," said Shannawaz, who was born in Bahrain. "Indonesia is completely different. They wear different colors. And Africans wear yellow and bright colors. Pakistanis wear the long dresses. Everyone is different here."

For Shannawaz, and many young Muslim women, it can take time to find an outfit that strikes the right balance between modesty and personal expression. This year, she thinks she nailed it. And she's not alone.

The biggest variation of styles could be seen on the women's side of the service. But even then, many women wore understated outfits. Uzma Iqbal wore a mostly black ensemble, created by a Pakistani designer. And it lacked many of the flashy colors seen around the rest of the hall for a reason.

"For me, I have a few places to visit from here," said Iqbal, a medical oncologist. "I was looking for something that can go from here to the Galleria, and later, I may have to stop at the hospital and see a patient."

She had higher heels tucked away in the trunk of her car for an afternoon swap.

"What I'm wearing is very East and West - a combo. So it's comfortable to be worn here, and also for a Sunday brunch later on. For me, being a woman in 2017, I have this bag here," she said, nodding to a black Hermes purse. "And then there's a cross-body in the trunk too."

She's not the only one in her family who spent time consciously planning her outfit. Her sons, Cyrus, 24, and Salman, 17, also took their time deciding what to wear.

"The guys, what they wear looks simple, but it's actually not. My sons tried on several things before deciding," she laughed.

Salman, a rising senior in high school, considered three different outfits, before deciding on a light brown, slim-fit look. Slim-fit was key; that's the way he likes all his clothes cut.

Cyrus, a third-year medical student, wanted something a little flashy.

"Honestly, this is like the only time of year I wear stuff like this, so I get really into it," he said.

"I'm not normally flashy, but I kind of like this," he said, waving at the intricate beadwork around his neckline. "It's a chance to experiment."
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As a demi soloist for Houston Ballet, Harper Watters is making a name for himself onstage. But it's the Instagram videos of him dancing in pink, platform stilettos that are catapulting him to social-media stardom.

Watters says it started out as a joke.

The heels were a gag gift from a company member, so Watters and his best friend, Houston Ballet dancer Rhys Kosakowski, had the idea of shooting a fun video of Watters in the heels dancing on a treadmill in 2015. Watters shot several more videos of himself strutting to Beyonce - he knows the lyrics to every one of her songs by heart.

In May, Marie Claire magazine posted a mix of Watters' videos with the headline, "Never complaining again about how hard it is to walk in heels." It has garnered more than 3 million views. Watters is now the brand ambassador for PreHeels, a shoe spray to prevent blisters and skin chafing.

"I took the risk to put myself out there," said the 25 year old. "I love Beyonce and pink heels, and that's considered feminine. But I also train and rehearse 10 hours a day and take on different characters that require me to be strong and lift women, and that's very masculine. It's my goal to push the boundaries of what people think I should be."

More Information Check out Harper Watters' photos and videos on Instagram.com/ theharperwatters. See More Collapse

Watters' "heel" videos helped boost his Instagram following from 4,000 to more than 63,000. In 2015, he also launched the YouTube web series "The Pre Show," which highlights the behind-the-scenes life of a professional dancer.

It's his mix of sass, fun and relatability that make his videos a hit with followers. Along the way, he also hopes to encourage more people to watch and enjoy ballet.

"It's amazing, the power of social media," Watters said. "My heel videos have encouraged more people to look at my classical ballet photos. I've gotten messages from so many young dancers who are inspired by them. It's a way of gathering a whole new audience of people for the ballet world."

Watters' creative free spirit and chiseled body have captivated followers, as well as marketers. Urban Outfitters recently tapped him to be part of the company's social-media campaign for Pride Month. Houston photographer Cary Fagan shot Watters wearing a shirt with the slogan "Love is Love" in rainbow colors for an Urban Outfitters campaign.

"It's special to be able to call yourself a classic ballet dancer, and even more special to be happy with who you are," Watters wrote on UrbanOutfitters.com.

On Friday and Saturday, Watters will perform with other Houston Ballet dancers in their benefit project, Reach, at the ballet's dance Lab, 601 Preston. Tickets are available at reachprojecthtx.com.

By all accounts, Watters' success has defied the odds.

The openly gay, professional ballet dancer was born to a teenage mother and an incarcerated father. At 2 weeks old, he was adopted by a white couple - David Watters, a New Hampshire senator and retired University of New Hampshire professor, and Janice Alberghene, a retired college professor, who lived in Dover, N.H.

"I'm an adopted black boy from New Hampshire who became a classical dancer. What are the odds of that happening?" Watters joked.

His parents enrolled him in tap dancing at age 3 because he had so much energy. His gold lame vest and black jazz pants at his first big recital were a hit - he was the only boy in a bevy of girls.

Watters attended a private performing arts high school near Boston, then enrolled in an intensive summer program at Houston Ballet before his senior year. He was hooked and never returned home, finishing high school online and joining Houston Ballet II, the group's second company.

Houston Ballet legend Lauren Anderson convinced Watters' parents to let him remain in the company.

"At that time, I didn't know being a classical dancer was an option," Watters said. "The only place I had seen dancers who looked like me was with Alvin Ailey. Lauren told my parents being here was what I needed."

Last fall, Watters was promoted to a demi soloist. His parents visit Houston seven to eight times a year to see each one of his shows.

"I'm so lucky to have parents who wanted me to succeed. They are the reason I'm standing on stage," he said.

As Watters has settled into Houston with Roxy, his 6-year-old Maltese, his style has changed, too.

"My mom was dressing me in L.L. Bean from the beginning. Hey, we're from New Hampshire," Watters said with a laugh. "I was obsessed with Crocs then. Now, I think they are just foul."

Today, he's most comfortable in atheleisure wear when not performing. He snagged a vintage-inspired striped jacket during the ballet's visit to Germany in April. He also can't stop wearing a houndstooth coat (often paired with Doc Martens) he found on Asos.com.

"I've evolved since my New England days when I was trying to fit in," Watters said. "I look for things that fit my body well and complement my lines. Now, I'm happy to stand out. I've realized you can be loud and bold without being annoying."
On April 26, 1956, a crane lifted 58 aluminum truck bodies onto the deck of an aging tanker ship moored in Newark, New Jersey. Five days later, the Ideal-X sailed into Houston, Texas, where waiting trucks collected the containers for delivery to local factories and warehouses. From that modest beginning, the shipping container would become such a familiar part of the landscape that Americans would not think twice when they passed one on the highway, or saw one at the loading dock of the neighborhood grocery.

The intermodal shipping containerreally, little more than a simple metal boxhelped transform the world economy, stimulating international trade on a scale no one could have imagined and opening the way to what we now refer to as globalization.

It all sprang from the mind of a North Carolina truck driver named Malcom McLeana man who had no experience in the maritime industry but proceeded to turn it upside down.

McLean, born in the tiny cotton center of Maxton in 1913, was a compulsive entrepreneur, a man who was always thinking about business. As a child, he sold eggs from the side of the road. Graduating high school in 1931, in the midst of the Great Depression, he stocked shelves in a grocery store and then managed a gas station. He bought a used truck and opened McLean Trucking in 1934, serving as the sole driver while still selling gasoline.

Armed with boundless ambition, he quickly built McLean Trucking into one of the nation's largest trucking companies. McLean Trucking hauled textiles, cigarettes, and other goods up and down the East Coast. The Interstate Commerce Commission, a powerful federal agency, closely regulated trucking in that era, requiring that rates be based on the cost of providing service. Malcom McLean was known for innovative ideas that lowered his company's costs, such as crenellating the sides of trailers to reduce wind resistance and improve fuel efficiency, so that regulators would allow his company to reduce rates and take market share from its competitors.

ANDREW DANSBY: 100 years of the Port of Houston

By the early 1950s, U.S. auto sales were booming and highways were becoming heavily congested. The Interstate Highway system was still years in the future. McLean, concerned that traffic jams were delaying his drivers and raising his company's costs, conceived of waterfront terminals at which trucks would drive up ramps and deposit their trailers aboard ships. He envisioned the vessels moving between North Carolina, New York, and Rhode Island, circumventing the heavy traffic and innumerable stop lights on highways that also served as main streets up and down the East Coast.

The industry McLean proposed to enter was more than a little antiquated. A typical oceangoing ship in the 1950s carried around 200,000 separate crates, bags, barrels, and bales. They would arrive at the dock in hundreds of separate shipments. Each item had to be removed from a truck or rail car and moved into a warehouse. When it was time to load the vessel, the individual pieces of cargo were moved out of the warehouse, placed on the dock, and assembled onto pallets that were lifted by a winch into the ship's hold. There, dockworkers removed each item from the pallet and stowed it.

Unloading at the end of the voyage meant reversing this labor-intensive process. In consequence, moving goods across the ocean often cost 15 or even 20 percent of their value, a price so steep that many goods were not worth trading internationally. Putting truck trailers aboard ships, in theory, would cut out many of those laborious stepsand, in turn, slash costs. But the idea also had an obvious disadvantage: Trailers would take up precious and expensive shipboard space, undercutting potential savings.

McLean pondered the problem and proposed detaching the trailer bodies from their chassis and wheels and putting only the bodiesthat is, metal containersaboard ship. This would introduce some complications, such as the need for cranes to lift the containers off truck chassis, transfer them to departing ships, and then reverse the operation when a vessel arrived at its destination. On the other hand, containers, unlike truck trailers, could be stacked, allowing each ship to carry far more cargo. Since the vessel was easily the most expensive part of the operation, the more containers that could go aboard each vessel, the less it would cost to carry each one.

The obstacles to McLean's concept were daunting. Suitable containers, cranes, and ships did not exist; McLean hired engineers and naval architects and set them loose to solve the problems. Federal regulations barred trucking companies from owning ships, so in 1955 McLean sold his highly profitable truck line and then purchased a marginally profitable ship line he could use to test out his ideas. The potential demand for container shipping was unknown, but McLean bet everything on the venture he christened Sea-Land Service. Asked later whether he had considered ways to shelter his trucking wealth from the risks of an unproven business, McLean was unequivocal. "You've got to be totally committed," he said.

Many in the shipping industry regarded containerization as a concept with little potential; McLean was, after all, an outsider unfamiliar with the industry's storied traditions. For his part, McLean thought the U.S. maritime industry was obsessed with its ships rather than its potential customers. He aggressively built his business along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, on routes to Puerto Rico, and through the Panama Canal to California. He bought a ship line serving Alaska in early 1964, just before one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded created enormous demand to ship building materials by sea.

In the late 1950s, other ship lines cautiously tried to follow. Their efforts ran headlong into union opposition. Discharging and reloading traditional ships could require armies of workers, and the dockworkers' unions knew that a shift to container freight would eliminate thousands of jobs on the docks. Only after repeated strikes on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts did port employers and longshore unions reach agreements in the early 1960s about payments to dockworkers displaced by the new technology.

The biggest barrier to the growth of container shipping, though, was diversity. Each company that followed Sea-Land ordered containers that suited its particular business, and each had a different design for the corner fittings by which cranes lifted containers. If a factory packed a shipment into one ship line's boxes, the goods might have to wait for space on one of that carrier's vessels and could only be delivered to a port which the line served.

At the behest of the U.S. Navy, which was concerned it might have to supply troops overseas with a fleet of incompatible ships carrying incompatible containers, domestic transportation companies began discussing how to standardize the container in 1958. The International Organization for Standardization soon picked up the cause, seeking to develop international standards.

McLean, treated as an outsider by the leaders of the shipping industry, was not involved in these talks, but after a decade of fruitless bargaining, negotiators turned to him for a solution. He agreed to surrender Sea-Land's patents so that every container in every country could use the same corner fittings. That, along with agreement on a standard 40-foot length, assured that any container could fit on any ship and be handled by a crane in every port.

Standardization cleared the way for container shipping to become an international business. In 1967, McLean won a Defense Department contract to use containerships to supply U.S. troops in Vietnam, quickly disproving doubters who had insisted that container shipping across the Pacific would not be viable. The contract covered round-trip costs, and the lack of military cargo coming back from Vietnam to the United States left Sea-Land free to serve other customers. McLean found them in Japan. Starting in 1968, containership service made it possible for Japanese manufacturers like Matsushita and Pioneer to export televisions and stereos in massive quantities, and the burgeoning U.S. trade deficit with Japan soon became a sensitive diplomatic issue.

Tobacco company R.J. Reynolds bought Sea-Land in 1969, but nine years later McLean reentered the shipping industry by acquiring United States Lines, a large but weak competitor. As always, competition was on his mind; he ordered a dozen containerships that were larger and more fuel-efficient than any afloat, expecting they would enable United States Lines to have lower costs per container than other carriers. This time, though, McLean's intuitive management style worked against him. Oil prices plunged, leaving United States Lines with the wrong ships for the times. In 1986, the company filed for bankruptcy. Its ships were sold off, and thousands of workers lost their jobs.

McLean was not ready to retire. Five years after the failure of U.S. Lines, at the age of 77, he founded yet another shipping company. Yet he remained out of public view, ashamed of his role in in a failure that cost thousands of people their jobs. He shunned journalists and avoided public appearances. As a result, his legacy was not fully appreciated.

By the time of his death in 2001, the industry McLean had founded with a single vessel carrying 58 containers had reshaped the global economy. The local industries that had been the norm in 1956 were long gone; thousands of ships were moving millions of containers around the world each day; the equivalent of nearly 10 million truck-size containers arrived at U.S. ports in 2016. Long-time port cities such as New York and San Francisco had been reborn after years of struggle to replace the jobs and industries lost to the rise of container shipping. Consumers had unprecedented choice among a nearly endless array of products from all parts of the world, but the manufacturing workers who produced those goods strained to cope with more intense global competition. McLean's innovation, intended just to make his trucking company a bit more efficient, ended up changing the world in ways that no one had imagined.

Marc Levinson, a historian and economist, is author of The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger. His most recent book is An Extraordinary Time: The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy.

This essay is part of What It Means to Be American, a partnership of the Smithsonians National Museum of American History and Zocalo Public Square. It first appeared here.

Bookmark Gray Matters. It's stimulating international trade on a scale no one could have imagined.
On Thursday, June 29, Dayton residents who participated in the city-wide meeting last November to help plan the future of the city will get their first glimpse of how their ideas will mold the future of Dayton.

Last November, city officials were surprised at the 170-plus citizens who showed up for the planning session with the Dayton Community Development Corporation (DCDC) and Kendig Keast Collaborative (KKC) as they explored options for the future growth of the city.

Now those ideas have not only been committed to paper in the form of a living, breathing document that will guide the city, but will also be modeled in some 15 stations in the ballroom of the Dayton Community Center at the next meeting.

"This will be the final community meeting where we seek public input on the emerging proposed Comprehensive Plan for the city," said Courtland Holman, executive director of DCDC.

Residents are being invited to a come-and-go type meeting where they can view any of the stations that will be set up in the ballroom that detail the plans for each area identified in the Comprehensive Plan.

"There will be 15 stations set up around the ballroom, some with some special visual effects giving stakeholders options and allowing for their opinions," said Sheila Martin.

Martin also said that there would be mapping showing residents the results of their input from the previous planning meeting back in November. The mapping would identify some of the ideas from the residents on where industrial growth should be located, the placement of future growth in housing, transportation and more.

Each will break down individual tracts with the particulars necessary items to attract consumers and business.

The Comprehensive Plan is a joint municipal planning document intended to foster ongoing cooperation and coordination within a defined planning area (City of Dayton) regarding future land use, transportation and mobility (roads), public services and utilities. It also establishes a working framework for future land use within the planning area. The document anticipates and plans for likely conflicts in the planning area and provides guidance for future subdivision and development standards to reflect desired community character, possible zoning (neighborhood preservation), annexations, and other matters of joint planning interest within future growth areas.

The city council and DCDC met in open session back on March 6 to view a presentation of the Existing City Report and give their input regarding the changes they hoped to see. Following the presentation, there was discussion and input from the DCDC board and city council regarding planning assumptions for the Future City phase.

That input has been finalized and this final meeting will set the final form for molding the plan.

The intent of the open house is to provide an informal setting in which attendees can visit with consultant personnel and DCDC and city staff anytime between 6 and 8 p.m. regarding the community's emerging proposed Comprehensive Plan. Input to a community action agenda will also be sought, enabling residents and other community stakeholders to suggest where near-term plan implementation efforts and resources should be focused based on their priorities for the community's future.

"We hope to have the Community Comprehensive Plan approved in July or at the latest in early August," said an optimistic Holman.

If it is completed in July, it would be one full year of work and planning, which is precisely how long DCDC staff planned it would take.

While there will be no seating per se, residents will again be tasked to participate in some planning exercises and refreshments will be served.

Draft components of the Comprehensive Plan will be made available soon at the Dayton Community Development Office during normal business hours and also online at www.daytontx.com.

For additional information, please contact Sheila Martin, administrator for the Dayton Community Development Corporation at smartin@daytontx.com or by phoning 936-257-0055.
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An off-duty Cleveland ISD police officer tackled a passenger who tried to open an emergency exit during a flight to Houston on Sunday, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Corpus Christi.

Passengers on Southwest Airlines Flight 4519 said a woman was shouting outbursts at Los Angeles International Airport before departure, yelling that she needed her medication and was being mistreated by the government. They also said she was walking backward, and questioned why she was allowed on the flight.

The suspect was ultimately subdued by Pamela Minchew, an off-duty officer from Cleveland ISD in Liberty County, according to Cleveland ISD Police Chief Rex Evans, who said he spoke with Minchew on Sunday evening.

"She had observed the irrational passenger attempting to open the exit door in mid-flight. Fearing for her safety and the safety of everyone on the plane, she took action and was able to restrain the passenger," Evans said. "I can't tell you how proud I am of her. She did a stellar job. The authorities are very pleased with how she handled the incident."

Southwest Airlines confirmed in a statement that Flight 4519 was diverted to Corpus Christi International Airport after flight attendants notified the captain of a "potential threat" in the cabin.

"Following an uneventful landing, local authorities met the aircraft at a gate and removed the disruptive passenger," the airline said.

The flight was delayed more than five hours in Corpus Christi, landing about 11:30 a.m. before resuming the route to Houston about 5 p.m. and arriving at Hobby Airport one hour later.

Terrance Franklin, a passenger on the flight, said the suspect passenger, a young woman, spent the initial hours of the flight standing in the aisle occasionally yelling until some airplane staff met her to mediate. Then he heard a ruckus, looked back down the plane and saw another passenger subduing the woman.

"Everybody was just in shock," he said from the Corpus Christi airport, where passengers had been allowed to leave the plane.

Franklin posted videos of the woman shouting and of her removal on Snapchat.

Adriana Bain, another passenger, said she saw a "scuffle" in the back of the plane.

"Then all I saw was the look of fright in the flight attendant's face, and I knew something was going on," she said.

Passengers who witnessed the incident were held aside for questioning, she said, while others ate pizza in the airport provided by the airplane pilot.

Kristy Gillentine, a former journalist and passenger on the flight, said her fellow passengers gave Minchew a warm welcome when she walked back on board the plane.

"The rest of the passengers cheered when the off-duty officer came back on board, hailing her a hero," Gillentine said. "If she hadn't acted so quickly, things could have gone very differently."

Because the incident happened in the air, it falls under the jurisdiction of the FBI.
A Houston-area elected official recently advanced an argument straight out of the anti-suburban sprawl playbook: The main goal of a big road project, he wrote in an opinion article, was to promote new development that ultimately would increase traffic congestion.

Advocates of more dense, compact development patterns have been making this case, on a regional scale, for years. They often cite the Grand Parkway, the area's outermost ring road, as a prime example of a project that enables developers to cover fields and prairies with subdivisions and shopping centers, perpetuating a car-dependent, planet-despoiling lifestyle.

The June 20 op-ed in the Conroe Courier, however, was not written by some academic policy wonk or the leader of a smart-growth think tank. It carried the byline of James Noack, a conservative Montgomery County commissioner backed by the county's tea party organization.

Discussing a 3.6-mile portion of the planned Texas 249 toll road through southern Montgomery County, Noack wrote:

"This is not about mobility for the citizens, the primary responsibility of the commissioners, but as one commissioner indicated it needs to get built to spur development in this area. Future development will likely result in increased traffic, defeating the perceived objective of the road to increase mobility for the current citizens."

Last week Noack asked Gov. Greg Abbott to "do everything in your power to prohibit the Texas Department of Transportation from tolling this roadway," referring to the Montgomery County stretch of the Texas 249 project. In a separate letter to the Texas Transportation Commission, Noack asked that the state, rather than Montgomery County, administer the segment of the project in the southern part of the county, and that it not be tolled.

Noack's goals are challenging, to say the least. Montgomery County commissioners, on a 3-2 vote, already have authorized the county toll road authority to rebuild Texas 249 from the Harris-Montgomery County line to Pinehurst; plans call for the state to extend it northwest to the College Station area. Area cities, school districts and business groups have endorsed this division of responsibilities, as Catherine Dominguez reported last week in the Courier.

State transportation commissioners, meanwhile, are expected to vote Thursday to designate the Texas 249 project in Montgomery County as a toll road.

But Noack is determined: "My goal is to do everything I can to dissuade them from tolling that road," he told me on Monday.

In an interesting convergence of interests, activists who dislike toll roads find themselves aligned with anti-sprawl forces in opposing certain projects. Jay Crossley, the former executive director of the Houston Tomorrow think tank, said that organization was joined by anti-toll road leader Terri Hall in fighting certain segments of the Grand Parkway.

Many state officials are frustrated with the growing reliance on tolls to fund road projects, and some families with two working, commuting parents spend hundreds of dollars a month on tolls. But some state officials say an additional $10 billion annually will be needed just to keep up with demand for roads.

When I asked Noack how he would meet this need without tolls, he said state lawmakers need to "purge waste where they can and look at entitlement programs and social programs."

Was Noack suggesting that Texas, where spending on virtually every category of human services is at or near the bottom among U.S. states, spends too much on social programs?

"As a hard-core Republican," he said, "we need to focus on where we're mandated to spend money," meaning essential infrastructure.

"Hard-core Republican" is a sound political brand in Montgomery County, one of the reddest in a red state. Noack has been particularly critical of County Judge Craig Doyal, who campaigned on moving ahead with the Texas 249 project. But Noack demurred when I asked if he wanted Doyal's job, saying only that he hoped to continue serving in whatever capacity voters thought best.

The debate over the Texas 249 project, like the broader issue of mobility in Texas, is caught amid forces tugging policy in different directions: limited state transportation funds; public resistance to tolls, taxes and debt; and efforts to manage growth in a way that limits the need to constantly add road capacity. It's a combustible mix, and James Noack is plunging right into it - probably just where he wants to be.
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It was a stray McDonald's receipt that landed Oscar Martinez behind bars.

The Houston man is now facing a capital murder charge for his alleged involvement in the January slaying of a Martin Pineda, who was shot to death while taking out the trash.

Prosecutors laid out the charges against the 19-year-old at a Sunday morning court appearance.

The January robbery attempt was all caught on surveillance video at the Houston apartment complex, prosecutors said.

The footage shows a stolen white GMC pick-up truck driving in before one man hops out of the truck and shoots the victim at least once.

It wasn't immediately clear who the suspects were - but once police recovered the truck, they got a tiny clue.

Inside the vehicle was a McDonald's receipt from the day after the shooting. Investigators recovered footage from the fast food spot at the time marked on the receipt and used it to identify Oscar Martinez as the vehicle's driver.

After he was picked up on June 23 for an unrelated felony, Martinez admitted to driving the truck the day of the slaying, prosecutors said.

Martinez said that he and another man had visited the complex that day, and although he spotted the victim, Martinez had no plans to stop.

But then his buddy hopped out of the car and said he wanted to rob the man. Martinez stayed in the driver seat, where he heard two gunshots from behind and saw his friend running back to the truck and the victim running away.

During Sunday's brief court appearance, Martinez asked for a court-appointed lawyer.

He was held without bail and remains in the Harris County jail.
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Houston-area fireworks dealers launched the start of the July 4 fireworks season on Saturday, with the usual array of impressive pyrotechnics for sale all across the county.

"Today is the very first day of our July season and we are super excited," said Laura Ceballos of Top Dog Fireworks. "We've had plenty of rain so we are super-excited because we can sell anything and everything and we're excited for that."

At American Chinese Fireworks, some eager buyers were already waiting in the parking lot when the store opened at 10 a.m.

"There were people at the door waiting when we opened," said manager Tony Williams.



TRAGEDY: Child burned in Mexico fireworks explosion doing well at Shriners Galveston

The Elite Fireworks Supercenter saw similar enthusiasm.

"We opened at 10 a.m., and customers were waiting outside," said manager Valmir Nazisis. "They bought pretty big purchases. We opened at 10 a.m., and we had customers check out at 10:01."

Some of this year's expected top sellers include 500-gram multishot cakes and items with daunting names like "Bad Boy" and "Black Widow."

Texas law restricts fireworks sales to certain times of the year, including December, May and late June through early July.

But even during those times, anything with a fuse is forbidden in Houston city limits. So to avoid a ticket - and a $500 to $2,000 fine - head out to the suburbs for some fiery fun.

EXPLAINED: Fireworks rules in Harris County

Some years, burn bans have impacted fireworks fun, but currently there are no such limitations in place.

Even in unincorporated parts of the county, though, there are some rules. For instance, setting off fireworks within 600 feet of a hospital, gas station, fireworks stand, school or church is verboten. And launching fireworks from a moving vehicle is also forbidden.

"We always tell everybody, be real careful," Ceballos said Saturday, speaking from the store's Highway 59 location, which is run by the First Pentecostal Church of Spring Branch.

"Just follow basic instructions and use your common sense. Don't ever point fireworks at anybody. Always light fireworks outside. Always make sure that kids do not fire fireworks."

Don't try re-lighting duds, Ceballos added.

"We take it back," she said. And always have a hose or bucket handy.
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While a state law that takes effect Sept. 1 may lead to help for students who can't pay their lunch bill, advocates say the fight in Texas to eliminate so-called lunch shaming is far from over.

School districts across Houston and the state often provide meager meals such as a cold cheese sandwich or cereal to students without funds. Activists hope to see these alternatives eliminated in favor of hot meals. But district leaders say they have financial limitations.

A law Gov. Greg Abbott signed last Thursday gives school boards explicit power to determine how long kids can eat regular meals without payment. As such, eliminating lunch shaming falls to the local level - but residents with willpower now also have a better chance of stopping it if they so choose. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which pays for student meals through the National School Lunch Program, is requiring that states clarify policies on meal debt by July 1.

"Lunch shaming can still occur in Texas," activist Kelvin Holt said, "but it's going to be based on what the school boards have decided."

The law's other benefit, advocates say, was to shed light on the lunch-shaming issue. The next step needs to be providing uninterrupted access to regular meals, regardless of one's account balance, said Kenny Thompson, who runs a nonprofit that helps to pay off Houston-area school lunch debt.

"Enough's enough," Thompson said. "Find a way to feed the kids."

Holt, who teaches in the Fort Hood area, hopes residents across Texas will take advantage of this ability to petition those who control the rules. He is urging people to make their voices heard.

"School boards and school districts have been put on notice," Holt said.

At least one additional area district, Conroe ISD, in recent months already decided to stop to providing alternative lunches. There will now be no limit there on how long a student can keep receiving regular meals without payment. Houston ISD leaders also promised in April that they had ended the practice. It remains to be seen whether others will follow.

School districts across Houston allow various charge limits for students with empty accounts. Elementary students in Katy ISD, for example, this spring could charge meals for 10 days. Those in Fort Bend and Aldine ISDs could charge five. In Alief, Spring and Klein, they could charge three.

Some school boards established these periods prior to the legal change, said Barbara Williams, spokesperson for the Texas Association of School Boards. But most districts established them in administrative regulations.

The new rules, which made up a sliver of Senate Bill 1566, authored by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, a Houston-area Republican, say school boards will adopt a "grace-period policy." The language was added when a more extensive bill by state Rep. Helen Giddings, a Dallas-area Democrat, did not make it off the floor.

Previous state law already mandated a grace period, which could be zero days. Giddings initially hoped to establish a minimum one of two weeks. She also wanted to ban lunch-related shaming outright. Still, she hailed the law that passed as progress.

"None of us should really sleep well at night knowing that there are all these hungry children out there," Giddings said.

The legislator, who excoriated her colleagues who blocked the bill, further pursued fundraising for schools with the Feeding Texas food bank. Thompson planned a Houston fundraiser for Saturday through his nonprofit Feed the Future Forward. Parents made efforts through GoFundMe.

Funds can be important catalysts. Cypress-Fairbanks and Spring Branch both previously largely eliminated alternative meals by establishing accounts for people to donate to.

Institutional change now rests with school boards.

Conroe's policy, which mirrored those in Alvin, Galveston and Crosby, previously only allowed one meal to be charged. That changed in April.

"A hot meal is just mandatory, in my opinion, for a kid to be productive and be successful in school," said Conroe ISD First Vice President Datren Williams.

But not all districts see the need for change.

Fort Bend ISD School Board President Kristin Tassin said that, as a parent, she did not believe it would be a big deal for one of her children to eat a cheese sandwich. But she said the district does not want any child to feel shamed or embarrassed and has made efforts to update its policy in the past.

"We believe the policy we have now has been working well for us," Tassin said.
An off-duty Cleveland ISD police officer tackled a passenger who tried to open an emergency exit during a Southwest flight to Houston Sunday, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Corpus Christi.

Passengers said the unidentified woman had been shouting strange outbursts at Los Angeles International Airport prior to departure. They also said she'd been walking backwards, and questioned why she'd been allowed on the flight.

The suspect was ultimately subdued by Pamela Minchew, an off-duty officer from Cleveland ISD in Liberty County, according to Cleveland ISD police chief Rex Evans, who said he spoke with Minchew Sunday evening.

"She had observed the irrational passenger attempting to open the exit door in midflight. Fearing for her safety and the safety of everyone on the plane, she took action and was able to restrain the passenger," Evans said. "She had no choice but to identify herself as a law enforcement officer and take immediate action."

Southwest Airlines confirmed in a statement that Flight 4519 was diverted to Corpus Christi International Airport after flight attendants notified the captain of a "potential threat" in the cabin.

"Following an uneventful landing, local authorities met the aircraft at a gate and removed the disruptive passenger," the airline said.

The flight was delayed more than five hours in Corpus Christi, after landing around 11:30 a.m. The flight to Houston resumed around 5 p.m., arriving an hour later at Hobby Airport.

Because the incident happened in the air, it is being investigated by the FBI, which did not respond to requests for information. The FBI was on the scene investigating after the plane landed, according to officials at Corpus Christi International Airport.

Terrance Franklin, a passenger on the flight, said the unruly passenger, an unidentified woman, spent the initial hours of the flight standing in the aisle occasionally yelling, until flight attendants tried to calm her.

Then he heard a ruckus, looked back down the plane and saw another passenger subduing the woman.

"Everybody was just in shock," he said from the Corpus Christi airport, where passengers had been allowed to leave the plane.

Franklin posted videos of the woman shouting and of her removal on Snapchat.

Adriana Bain, another passenger, said she saw a "scuffle" in the back of the plane.

"Then all I saw was the look of fright in the flight attendant's face, and I knew something was going on," she said.

Kristy Gillentine, a former journalist who was a passenger on the flight, said the woman had tried to open an emergency exit on the plane, but an off-duty police officer had leapt up to prevent her.

"The rest of the passengers cheered when the off-duty officer came back on board, hailing her as a hero," Gillentine said. "If she hadn't acted so quickly, things could have gone very differently."

Chief Evans said: "Airline personnel assisted in further restraining the female passenger with zip ties. They made an emergency landing to Corpus Christi where local and federal authorities met the plane and took the person into custody."

Evans said Minchew, who joined the force about three weeks ago, and her family were also taken off the plane "because she needed to help them with the investigation. Her small children were on the flight with her and this has been a very unsettling experience for them."

"I can't tell you how proud I am of her. She did a stellar job," Evans said. "The authorities are very pleased with how she handled the incident."
The families could reel off all the times they had called the media and written to Washington, but after all that trying, they had never heard anyone who mattered say anything like it: Most Mexican immigrants, Donald Trump declared in his first campaign speech, were "rapists" who were "bringing drugs, bringing crime" across the border.

Now he had come to meet them, the families of people killed by unauthorized immigrants, and they wanted to tell him he was right.

One son had been struck by a truck, another shot just around the corner from home. Different causes of death, but the driver, the gunman, all the perpetrators were the same, the parents said: people who never should have been in the country in the first place.

This week, the House of Representatives plans to vote on a bill that would intensify penalties for immigrants who re-enter the United States after being deported. The bill is named for a woman who suffered a fate these families understand all too well: She was fatally shot by a man who illegally crossed the border at least five times.

Sitting alone with the families at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in July 2015, Trump distributed hugs as they wept. When the campaign had called, most of them had been told only that they were going to meet with Trump. But then the group was ushered into the next room, where the campaign had invited reporters to a news conference.

It was a surprise, but no one seemed to mind. Several stepped up to endorse Trump.

"He's speaking for the dead," said Jamiel Shaw Sr., whose teenage son was shot to death by a gang member in Los Angeles in 2008. "He's speaking for my son."

Shaw wanted the media to know that Trump could have gone further when he called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals.

"I would have said they were murderers," he said.

Hailed for bravery, accused of racism, scorned as puppets, these are some of Trump's most potent surrogates, the people whose private anguish has formed the emotional cornerstone of his crusade against illegal immigration and clouded the futures of the United States' 11 million unauthorized immigrants.

Their alliance came down to this: To parents parched for understanding, Trump was a gulp of hope. The Trump campaign flew them to speak at rallies and at the Republican National Convention, put them up in Trump hotels and kept in touch with regular phone calls and messages. After his victory, Trump invited at least one to the Inaugural Ball and seated three more with the first lady during his first address to Congress.

Then and since, they have defended him on social media and in the press, assuring the world that, with Trump in office, their children will not have died in vain.

Sabine Durden, the mother of another victim, recalls dropping to her knees and sobbing when she first heard Trump warn of the dangers of illegal immigration. Then his campaign called.

In Washington in April, they sat in the front rows as Trump's homeland security secretary unveiled an office for victims of crimes committed by unauthorized immigrants: of the many promises the new president had made in their names, one of the first kept.

To Trump's critics, the office and the people it was supposed to represent were little more than pawns in his crude attempts to make monsters out of a largely law-abiding population - one that research has shown to commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born Americans. But here before the cameras, the secretary, John F. Kelly, was putting his hand over his heart and thanking families.

That night, they celebrated what felt like their achievement over dinner and drinks at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. It was strange that one of the sweetest moments of their lives was about reliving the single bitterest. But there had been a lot of that over the past year or two, as they searched for a way to make it all mean something.

The local news reports said Dominic Durden's motorcycle was hit by a pickup as he rode down Pigeon Pass Road in Moreno Valley, Calif., on his way to his job as a 911 dispatcher. He was 30. They identified the other driver as Juan Zacarias Tzun, who was charged with vehicular manslaughter. It was July 12, 2012.

Sabine Durden said she later found out from some of her son's friends in law enforcement that Tzun had come to the country illegally from Guatemala, and that he had been convicted twice of driving under the influence. He had been released on bail several weeks before the collision.

At his sentencing in 2013, Tzun blamed God for the crash. Durden blamed the immigration system.

"If it was an accident, I could deal with it, but this wasn't an accident, because if that guy wasn't in the country at 5:45 on July 12, 2012, my son would still be alive," she said. (Tzun was deported in 2014.)

Then came Trump. Whenever she saw him, he greeted her with a "great big hug," she recalled. "Dom's mom," he called her.

"He would say, 'You'll never be alone again. You'll never have to fight this alone,' " said Sabine Durden, who went on to speak at three of his rallies.

Here was the paradox of Donald Trump, the unfiltered tycoon who seemed as far away as Fifth Avenue and as close up as the living-room TV. Even as a legion of critics warned he was pandering to his fans on the way to betraying them, the alliance he had made with the families felt, to many of them, like an unshakable bond.

The thing was, he paid attention. And he never stopped.

After the Beverly Hills meeting, Shaw received a gift basket, according to an account in The Wall Street Journal. At one point, Shaw flew on Trump's private plane. At another, while staying at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas, he cut a campaign commercial.

The other families received regular care from the campaign, too. Trump advisers would call or text at least once a month, inviting them to speak at rallies or just checking in.

At the Republican National Convention, Shaw, Durden and another parent took turns speaking about their children. Trump's acceptance speech was partly devoted to the story of Sarah Root, 21, who was killed in Nebraska the day after graduating from college by a Honduran immigrant who was driving drunk.

He also mentioned the case that, at least on the right, had come to define the dangers of illegal immigration: that of Kathryn Steinle, a 32-year-old woman shot to death on a San Francisco pier in 2015. The suspect was an ex-felon from Mexico who had been deported five times. A few months before Steinle's death, local authorities had released him from jail without notifying federal immigration agents.

The House is scheduled to vote this week on a bill, known as Kate's Law, that would stiffen penalties for immigrants caught illegally re-entering the country after being deported.

For all the heat the Steinle case generated, however, her family kept a distance from the campaign, occasionally breaking their silence to voice discomfort with the way her death had become a political grenade.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court announced Monday that it would consider whether partisan gerrymandering violates the Constitution. The case could reshape U.S. politics.

In the past, the court has struck down election maps as racial gerrymanders that disadvantaged minority voters. But it has never disallowed a map on the ground that it was drawn to give an unfair advantage to a political party.

The challengers in the case say they have found a way to separate partisanship from the many other factors that influence how districts are drawn.

The case started when Republicans gained complete control of Wisconsin's government in 2010 for the first time in more than 40 years. It was a redistricting year, and lawmakers promptly drew a map for the state Assembly that helped Republicans convert close vote totals into lopsided legislative majorities.

In 2012, Republicans won 48.6 percent of the statewide vote for Assembly candidates but captured 60 of the Assembly's 99 seats. In 2014, 52 percent of the vote yielded 63 seats.

Last year, a divided three-judge U.S. District Court panel ruled that Republicans had gone too far. The map, Judge Kenneth F. Ripple wrote for the majority, "was designed to make it more difficult for Democrats, compared to Republicans, to translate their votes into seats."

The new standard proposed by the challengers tries to measure the level of partisanship in legislative maps by counting "wasted votes."

Packing many Democrats into a single district, for instance, wastes every Democratic vote beyond the bare majority needed to elect a Democratic candidate. Cracking, or spreading, Democratic voters across districts in which Republicans have small majorities wastes all of the Democratic votes when the Republican candidate wins.

In a 2015 article, Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos, a law professor at the University of Chicago and a lawyer for the plaintiffs, and Eric McGhee devised a formula to measure partisanship. The difference between the two parties' wasted votes, divided by the total number of votes cast, yields an efficiency gap, they wrote.

In a world of perfect nonpartisanship, there would be no gap. The gap in Wisconsin was 13.3 percent in 2012 and 9.6 percent in 2014, according to the formula. The Wisconsin voters who sued to challenge the Assembly map argued that gaps over 7 percent violated the Constitution.
One month before Election Day, Jared Kushner's real estate company finalized a $285 million loan as part of a refinancing package for a property in Manhattan.

The loan came at a critical moment. Kushner was playing a key role in the presidential campaign of his father-in-law, Donald Trump. The lender, Deutsche Bank, was negotiating to settle a federal mortgage fraud case and charges from New York state regulators that it aided a possible Russian money-laundering scheme. The cases were settled in December and January.

Now, Kushner's association with Deutsche Bank is among a number of financial matters that could come under focus as his business activities are reviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is examining Kushner as part of a broader investigation into possible Russian influence in the election.

The October deal illustrates the extent to which Kushner was balancing roles as a top adviser to Trump and a real estate company executive.

After the election, Kushner juggled duties for the Trump transition team and his corporation as he prepared to move to the White House.

The Washington Post has reported that investigators are probing Kushner's separate December meetings with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, and with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, the head of Vnesheconombank, a state development bank.

The Deutsche Bank loan capped what Kushner Cos. viewed as a triumph: It had purchased four mostly empty retail floors of the former New York Times building in 2015, recruited tenants to fill the space and got the Deutsche Bank loan in a refinancing deal that gave Kushner's company $74 million more than it paid for the property.

The White House, in response to questions from the Post, said in a statement that Kushner "will recuse from any particular matter involving specific parties in which Deutsche Bank is a party." Kushner and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Deutsche Bank loans to Trump and his family members have come under scrutiny. As Trump's biggest lender, the bank supplied funds to him when other banks balked at the risk.

As of last year, Trump's companies had about $364 million in outstanding debts to the bank.

Democrats from the House Financial Services Committee wrote March 10 that they were concerned about the "integrity" of a reported Justice Department probe into the Russian money-laundering matter "given the president's ongoing conflicts of interest with Deutsche Bank," citing "the suspicious ties between President Trump's inner circle and the Russian government."
WASHINGTON - Making a final push, President Donald Trump said he doesn't think congressional Republicans are "that far off" on a health overhaul to replace "the dead carcass of Obamacare." Expressing frustration, he complained about "the level of hostility" in government and wondered why both parties can't work together on the Senate bill as GOP critics expressed doubt over a successful vote this week.

It was the latest signs of high-stakes maneuvering over a key campaign promise, and the president signaled a willingness to deal.

"We have a very good plan," Trump said in an interview broadcast Sunday. Referring to Republican senators opposed to the bill, he added: "They want to get some points, I think they'll get some points."

Trump's comments come amid the public opposition of five Republican senators so far to the Senate GOP plan that would scuttle much of former President Barack Obama's health law.

Unless those holdouts can be swayed, their numbers are more than enough to torpedo the measure developed in private by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and deliver a bitter defeat for the president. That's because unanimous opposition is expected from Democrats in a chamber in which Republicans hold a narrow 52-48 majority.

Trump bemoaned the lack of bipartisanship in Washington, having belittled prominent Democrats himself.

"It would be so great if the Democrats and Republicans could get together, wrap their arms around it and come up with something that everybody's happy with," the president said. "And I'm open arms; but, I don't see that happening. They fight each other. The level of hostility."

Trump has denigrated Democrats on numerous occasions, including a jab at Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the same interview: "She's a hopeless case. I call her Pocahontas and that's an insult to Pocahontas."

Warren, a liberal and defender of the Affordable Care Act, has opposed efforts to pass a bill to replace the law. The Democrat reiterated her opposition in a statement Sunday, saying the health care bill being pushed by Senate Republicans is a "monstrosity."

In a tweet after Georgia's special House election last week, Trump criticized House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. "I certainly hope the Democrats do not force Nancy P out. That would be very bad for the Republican Party - and please let Cryin' Chuck stay!" he wrote.

In the broadcast interview, Trump did not indicate what types of changes to the Senate bill may be in store, but affirmed that he had described a House-passed bill as "mean."

"I want to see a bill with heart," he said, confirming a switch from his laudatory statements about the House bill at a ceremony with House GOP leaders last month. "Health care's a very complicated subject from the standpoint that you move it this way, and this group doesn't like it."

"And honestly, nobody can be totally happy," Trump said.
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When former state Sen. Rodney Ellis launched his campaign to succeed the late El Franco Lee as Precinct 1 commissioner last year, he said he would shake up Harris County government.

He's kept his promise.

Not even three months into his tenure, Ellis filed court papers siding against the county he now helps govern in a costly civil rights case, tearing apart a bail system he said keeps the poor behind bars ahead of their court hearings while the rich can walk free.

A day later, at what typically is an all-but-perfunctory biweekly meeting of Harris County Commissioners Court, Ellis' colleagues returned fire.

Unprecedented, one remarked. Another questioned whether Ellis, a lawyer, had a financial incentive for the county to be sued. A third, turning to face Ellis, accused him of "joining a lawsuit" instead of bringing ideas to his colleagues.

"I want you to know that I'm calling upon you to put on your commissioner hat," said Jack Cagle, whose Precinct 4 stretches across north Harris County. "Not your lawyer hat. Not your senator hat, but your commissioner hat."

Since Ellis took office Jan. 1, the veteran politician's style - applying public pressure to advance causes he holds dear - has grated against tradition for a commissioners court that has long relied on quiet, behind-the-scenes deal-making to operate a more than $3 billion enterprise and govern the third largest county in the United States.

"I believe that he thrives in seeking publicity," said Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack, himself no stranger to making headlines with controversial comments over nearly three decades on the court. "That is not the norm that I have seen in Commissioners Court over the years."

Observers suggest that Ellis's arrival could signal a shift for the Republican-dominated body, a sign of things to come in a county growing increasingly diverse and Democratic.

"Rodney is as much a catalyst as he is a consequence of what's happening in county government," said Robert Stein, Rice University political scientist.

As for the legal brief in the bail lawsuit, Ellis said he was "tired of waiting."

"I'm going to do as much as I can to encourage, to cajole, to plead and beg," he said in response to Cagle. "I'd be more than happy to have more discussions like this in candid right here, by the way. I think that's a good thing. Now, if my style is a little different from the traditional commissioner, hey, I appreciate you and I'm willing to learn, but I'm not going to change what I've done for 32 years in public office."

Public sparring

On a recent Wednesday, Ellis sat in a conference room in his precinct office in an unassuming gray, two-story building near NRG Park. The space still is being decorated, though one hallway - an "ego wall," he jokes - already is plastered with images from Ellis's political career, which began in 1983 with his election to Houston City Council, and matured through 26 years in the Texas Senate as a Democrat in an increasingly red state.

"Sometimes I joke with my colleagues: All of you would be liberals compared to the people I have worked with during my Senate career," Ellis said.

His urban precinct covers much of Houston, curling north from the southeastern tip of Harris County - through neighborhoods, including Sunnyside, downtown, Montrose and the Bush airport area - before dipping back down the east side. About 40 percent of the precinct's residents are black, 37 percent are Hispanic and 18 percent white.

Ellis represents 1.2 million people and controls a $200 million precinct budget.

The Precinct 1 seat was held for more than 30 years by Lee until his sudden death by heart attack last year. Lee widely was regarded as a force in local Democratic politics and an effective commissioner by the Republicans on the court, and by Ellis.

He also was seen as a member of the "old school," said Michael Adams, a Texas Southern University political scientist, who drew a distinction between Lee and Ellis: "Going along to get along to get some change versus pushing hard to get big changes by not being afraid of not being one of the guys."

As the lawsuit over the county's bail system picked up steam early this year, that difference became apparent.

At his first meeting in January, Ellis remained largely silent outside of a few words of thanks, saying he wanted to "observe" and "get to know his colleagues."

Over the next few months, Ellis sparred publicly with nearly all of them.

"To watch Rodney plant himself in commissioners court and, obviously, become a burr under the saddle of the other commissioners and the county judge, it hasn't deterred him one bit," said John Whitmire, a Democrat who served with Ellis in the Senate, often as an ally.

In addition to Cagle's exchange with Ellis at the March meeting, Radack waved Ellis's legal brief in the air and questioned whether the freshman commissioner had asked the law firms to sue the county and whether he should be left out of closed sessions with the county attorney to discuss the lawsuit.

At another meeting, after Ellis refused to vote in favor of paying the attorneys who helped defend the county in the bail lawsuit, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett pointedly likened it to not paying engineers who build roads and bridges, mainstays of county government.

The debates amount to a transition Ellis is going through, Cagle said, adding that the loudest often wins out in the Senate or on city council.

"Here, the one who plays his cards close to the vest, and calculates where to cast his one vote when people are trying to get to three, that's the one that achieves the most," he said.

Long-term impact

Conflict on court is not without precedent. Emmett, when he first joined, butted heads with Radack and Cagle's predecessor, Jerry Eversole, after he pushed for longtime, trusted budget officer Dick Raycraft to retire.

"Things come and go, they ebb and flow," Emmett said.

It remains unclear, he said, what kind of impact Ellis's disagreements will have or whether they will leave "permanent scars" on his relationships with court members.

"That's the real test," Emmett said. "Absent a high-profile issue like the lawsuit, how will things work?"

Some disagreement has spilled outside of the context of the lawsuit.

The four Republican court members voted over Ellis' objection to modify the county's legislative policy earlier this year. Previously, commissioners needed to vote unanimously to set what the county's position would be on various legislative issues, such as property tax reform. Now, setting legislative priorities takes a simple majority vote.

Radack said he did not direct the change at his new colleague, stating that he had proposed it before Ellis was on court as well.

"Everyone in the legislature will know what's going on," said Stein, who said unanimity is difficult to achieve. "It really is an attempt just to take away from Rodney the veto."

As to whether he believes his disagreements could hamper his effectiveness as a commissioner, Ellis said he was elected to do a job.

Outside of the bail bond lawsuit, Ellis has been cordial with his colleagues - the vast majority of votes taken on road upgrades, new parks or other county business has been, as is Commissioners Court tradition, without fanfare.

"I understand that Commissioners Court has operated a bit differently in the past," Ellis said. "In my roles as Houston city councilman and Texas state senator, I have always been able to work with other elected officials who have opposing views on issues. That is part of public service."

Sense of urgency

Ellis came to the county commissioner position, he said, to be closer to the issues he has advocated for decades.

"Commissioners Court is a perfect place to be," said Sylvia Garcia, a Senate colleague of Ellis' who was a Harris County commissioner from 2002 to 2010. "We've got the largest jail in the state and one of the largest in the country. What better place to try new innovative things or better place to implement reforms or a better place to implement change?"

Ellis said while court meetings get much of the attention, his office also is working on services for his precinct, including road maintenance, park improvements and a new "splash pad" at El Franco Lee Park south of Hobby Airport.

He is conducting a precinct-wide road assessment to set long-term priorities, expected to be complete later this year. He also has raised the minimum wage for his precinct employees to $15 per hour, resulting in a pay bump - from as low as $12.88 per hour - for more than 40 workers, he said.

Meanwhile, Harris County grows increasingly Democratic, Stein said. Last year, Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research annual survey found more than half of county residents lean Democratic for the first time in more than three decades.

As for his future, Ellis promised to keep pushing for issues that are important to him. He is guided by, as he puts it, a sense of urgency.

"My time could be limited because I am 63," he said. "I am cognizant of close political allies that, too, passed on fairly young, Mickey Leland at 44, El Franco Lee at 65. At 63, I do probably spend more time thinking about when I have to look in the rearview mirror, as opposed to looking forward ahead of me, so that puts me in a rush."

On the other hand, Ellis said, his father is 95, so he could be around for a while.
Health care

Regarding "Critics in GOP put health bill at risk" (Page A1, Friday), the problem with health care is that today's voters insist that politicians do the impossible while simultaneously punishing politicians who fail to do the impossible.

Any serious discussion of health care must recognize two facts. First, a functioning, free-market insurance industry capable of providing the best service at the lowest cost must use statistical probabilities to determine rates. No amount of subsides or mandates can restore free-market benefits once social preferences and special circumstances replace actuarial-based prices.

Second, government support of less-advantaged citizens are an intrinsic part of the modern social contract. Some substantial form of Medicare and Medicaid must be part of the health-care system. Given these realities, it seems there are two choices. One, allow the free market to function in the insurance industry while separately strengthening nonprofit-based government programs for the poor or unfortunate. This would provide most people with good or exceptional health coverage while others would have adequate, but likely lesser, care. Two, opt for a single-payer system where, in all but minor issues, virtually everyone would be subject to mediocre and less individually responsive health care.

Instead, citizens are demanding an ill-advised third way. Distort the insurance industry into a free-market/government hybrid, even though this will neither lower costs nor expand access, and pay for this monstrosity by raiding and weakening other government programs. When this impossible scheme fails, as Obamacare is surely doing, voters turn their anger at those who imposed the mess they insisted upon. Politicians are well aware of this dynamic, and hence are incentivized not to fix the problem, but to allow the other side to be blamed for the inevitable failure.

Pete Hetherington, Houston

Legal, justified

Regarding "Council votes 10-6 to join suit challenging 'sanctuary cities' law" (Page A1, Thursday), I simply do not understand the reasoning of the Houston City Council voting to join the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 4. From a lawyer's point of view, there is nothing unconstitutional in asking one branch of government (state) to do something it has the power to do (federal enforcement of immigration law) to help with enforcement of that law. And if the state refuses, federal money is not forthcoming.

The ability of a police officer to ask about the legal status of one who is stopped for a traffic violation is perfectly legal. We are a nation of laws and those who are here illegally are criminals and must be brought to justice.

Peter J. Riga, Houston

History

Regarding "LGBTQ studies under review" (Page A1, Wednesday), Houston ISD Superintendent Richard Carranza wants to add LGBTQ studies to the American History curriculum. Wait a minute.

When will the madness of dividing us into increasingly diverse groups end? When will we return to the study of American history in all of its complexity and beauty and remember that the important thing is not our differences but our unity? What is wrong with again emphasizing that we are all Americans?

Lynn K. Circle, Houston
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Yes, you read that headline correctly! The President of the United States and the leader of the free world has just blocked me on Twitter for comparing him to an omelette.

An omelette! Seriously, this is the most powerful person on the planet and instead of ruling; he is blocking people on social media because of his own insecurities.

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You are denser than Sherwood Forest and thicker than a chocolate omelette!  Charlie Proctor (@MonarchyUK) June 24, 2017

I did not tweet him with the intention of causing a commotion; I just saw his tweet "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" and thought 'what an idiot'!

Unfortunately (or fortunately) because I am verified on Twitter, other verified users tend to see my tweets.

I've done some digging, and it does indeed look like the 71-year-old personally blocked me with his own tiny fingers. Sometimes his staff tweet for him, but when he sends an all CAPS message about making America 'great again', you know that rubbish can only come from his mouth.

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On a serious note though, if nothing else, Donald Trump's actions prove democracy is dead. Although it might not have been the most intellectual message to send to the President, it was not threatening or slanderous. I receive much worse on a daily basis, yet the most powerful man in the world cannot tolerate it!

And I live next to Sherwood Forest, and trust me it is dense!  Charlie Proctor (@MonarchyUK) June 24, 2017

This man has access to nuclear weapons! What happens if Putin or Merkel inadvertently compares Trump to a culinary delight? Will he be as quick to fiddle with the nuclear button as he is to press the block button?

He is so easily provoked it is worrying. If I compared Boris Johnson to a sticky toffee pudding, I expect he will just call me a 'mutton-headed old mugwump'. I never thought I would say this but thank goodness for Etonian education!

Of course, maybe I am reading too much into the whole chocolate omelette remark. Maybe the President wasn't happy with the comparison I made to Sherwood Forest. This would be quite understandable, as one New York citizen told me: "He's our backwards Robin Hood who can't handle criticism or the presidency."

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"He's our backwards Robin Hood who can't handle criticism or the presidency."
Let me ask you a question: why do you use social media?

If it's to keep up with what your friends are doing, get news and current affairs updates or simply kill time, then you're supremely normal. These are the top three factors motivating people to engage with social media.

But what about the rest of the world? As a social media entrepreneur, I'm fascinated by the role played by different social platforms across the globe.

And it's becoming increasingly clear to me that the way people use social isn't really shaped by the technology itself, but by culture and circumstances. Let's take a closer look.

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Who's the most social?

Data from earlier this year reveal that the most socially connected country in the world is the Philippines, where people spend a whopping four hours and seventeen minutes on social media every day. Brazil comes in at a not-too-distant second, clocking a daily three hours and forty-three minutes of use.

Despite my earlier denial, I'm convinced that the reason Brazil and the Philippines embrace social so enthusiastically is partly technological. Both countries have a sizeable proportion of mobile-only internet users, and, as we all know, mobile makes it easy (often too easy!) to keep engaging throughout the day.

But there's more to the story than tech, a story which starts to emerge when you look at the favourite social platforms of Brazilians and Filipinos.

What drives social media uptake...

In both countries, Facebook and YouTube top the chart of the most popular platforms, and messaging or chat apps are prominent in the top twelve.

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At first, the picture in both countries looks broadly similar. Not so surprising, since both are large and have dispersed populations. But my hunch is that what drives social media uptake in the Philippines is very different from what drives it in Brazil.

...in the Philippines?

As I learned some time ago, an astonishingly high number of overseas workers come from the Philippines: approximately one tenth of the 2015 population. It's such a huge diaspora that their government even has an official department dedicated to its overseas citizens.

Filipinos work in international shipping, domestic service, and skilled and professional roles all over the world. Many have very little leisure time.

I've often been told that social media and mobile internet are not luxuries but essentials to this population; social helps them relax, and maintain close bonds with friends and family at home.

...and in Brazil?

The story behind the statistics is a little different in Brazil, and is centred on WhatsApp. We in Britain may know it as a simple cross-carrier messaging platform, but as I recently found out from a team of marketers from Curitiba, for Brazilians it's a way of running their lives.

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Fuelled by the expensive cost of text messaging, WhatsApp was embraced by the Brazilian population from its launch in 2009. Pretty soon, though, businesses and services got creative. Now, nearly every provider--from doctors through estate agents and government agencies--views WhatsApp as the primary line of communication with their clientele.

But what stops people engaging?

Take another look at the graphic showing time spent on social media in different countries, and you'll see that last place is occupied by Japan. Despite ranking averagely for mobile internet use and enduring lengthy commutes, Japanese internet users spend a scant forty minutes each day engaging with social media.

When the Japanese population does use social, the list of preferred platforms differs from those favoured by Filipinos and Brazilians.

Sure, YouTube is still king (looks like no culture can resist the lure of cat videos), and Twitter comes second. But the most revealing platform here is Line.

Set up as a method of emergency communication after the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, Line has evolved into a celebrity-endorsed, gamified social environment.

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Why does Japan prefer to interact via Line rather than Facebook Messenger, even though Facebook is fairly popular?

My best guess would be because Line is a network where people can communicate privately. In Japan, it seems, social media interaction is something which happens more between real-world friends than virtual ones.

Bringing it back home

Knowing more about the way different countries use social media helps me find creative uses for social here in the UK. My research and travels inspired me to develop an app called Loose Ends, which helps busy people get together with their friends.

It's totally okay to use social media to kill time or browse the news, but as I hope I've shown here, it can do so much more. And I think social gets really exciting when it helps us make the most of our offline lives.

Now we've seen the world through fresh eyes, let me ask a slightly different question: how will you use social media in the future?

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A spectacle which has expeditiously gained notoriety, "beg-packing" is certainly not your emblematic method of sustaining your travels. From begging in the realms of train stations to selling "art" in the busiest of roads, these "beg-packers" are asking people in the poorest countries of the developing world to subsidise their travels - not in ardent desperation to go home but to avariciously go to their next 'gap yah' location. Irony and cretinism in its purest form - social media platforms have been inhumed with images of these "beg-packers" sulking, sitting on blankets with pitiful signs imploring for money. However, flash forward a week later and these "poor-for-a-day" backpackers are having the time of their lives, scuba diving by the world's clearest oceans whilst sipping on their freshly opened coconut water.

The majority of these beg-packers are soul-searching adventurists on their "gap yah" in Asia, climbing mountains and swimming in hidden waterfalls in an attempt to find themselves. Whether it's Thailand or Vietnam, it's difficult not to seethe when images of these backpackers beseeching for money surface on Twitter and Facebook yet their 500 iPhone is inundated with pictures of wild alcohol nights and serene business class flights home.

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Whilst I (an eighteen year old student also on a 'gap yah') may be hastily judging these backpackers, I cannot begin to fathom what level of imbecility is required not to feel a remote sense of guilt for senselessly asking for money from people in the world's most deprived areas. Whilst some beg for money in the streets to make ends meet and feed their family for a day, these 'gap yah' travellers are using the money solely for leisurely purposes. Let's push aside the fact that it's ethically wrong and instead, elucidate on the fact that these backpackers feel that their desired funding is a profound justification for also being temporary street vendors. By decreasing the potential profits that the 'locals' should be receiving, their day-to-day lives are impacted, deepening their struggle. This isn't a struggle of making it to their next luxurious destination but rather an authentic struggle of putting food on the table, paying off debt or paying school fees.

While such a controversial action prompted outrage, perusing the land of extemporary opinions (aka Twitter) enabled me to encounter several people alluding to the idea that giving backpackers money for busking is a choice and that "busking" should be identified as a "service", which should receive recognition (with or without the money). However, besides a few rogue opinions on the justification for "beg-packing", it seemed that I wasn't the only one on the Internet who had also reacted with infuriation at the sheer asininity of these backpackers.

Travelling in South-East-East Asia for four months is certainly not the norm nor is it a God-given right. Thus, if these backpackers intend to travel for four months, they should anticipate the cost of these travels - not with the intentions of having a 5 star resort as accommodation but a 5 a night hostel should definitely not be considered as 'slumming' it. Backpackers have a plethora of options - from working in a hostel to waitressing - there is simply no adequate reason to justify the phenomenon of sitting by a main road wearing oversized harem pants, posing with a sign desperately pleading for money.

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This, in itself, is hypocrisy at its absolute finest - backpackers complaining about their incapability of affording the "rest of their travels" yet having the initial funds for the 500 flight to Thailand while the complaints uttered by the street vendor next to them only consist of not being able to purely live. Now, that's not to generalise that all backpackers are rich and have sufficient funds - it's just the fact that these so-called 'beg-packers' have the audacity and callowness to spend time in the world's most poverty-stricken areas, exploring the depths and realms of temples and beaches and not have the moral conscience to realise that there is a distinction between not being able to continue their sight-seeing and not being able to eat.

As a Filipino, I have witnessed the tremendous increase in desirability of the sandy, pristine beaches of the Philippines as a 'gap yah' destination for middle class youths. Despite an overwhelming sense of pride that the Philippines is finally receiving attention for its truly beautiful islands, it's the stroke of ignorance that many youths seem to have when they visit that almost make me despise the garnered attention. These travellers have the financial means to pay for a day's worth of food with less than an hour's wage yet ask for money from the people whose weekly wages are inadequate for a McDonald's meal deal in the UK. Furthermore, the presence of "poverty porn" is palpable when tourists post images of them on Instagram and Facebook with street beggars and poor orphans in a feeble attempt to look 'hospitable' after giving 30p or so to them. To deepen the hole further, it's these same people that they are competing with for money or even begging money from when they beg for money or sell items - conjuring an image of benightedness.

In the lead up to the Brexit election of last year, many were quick to jump on the bandwagon of branding immigrants as people who "stole jobs" and "took benefits" as a fundamental reason to leave the EU. People criticised the UK government incessantly for allowing immigrants to "take money" from the welfare state system that they supposedly did not deserve. Thus, how does the millennial phenomenon of "beg-packing" actually differ? After all, by going to Asia, aren't the tourists sitting there selling 'indie postcards' in Birkenstocks and 'gap yah' trousers, extorting money from those who need it the same concept?

Backpackers seem to have a distorted image that they are somehow 'giving back' or that this supposedly vital 'cultural immersion' in an Asian country for their soul searching is the only thing that truly matters. At the end of the day, it fundamentally breaks down to the fact that all they are doing is asking people to inject money into their holiday. Despite the privilege and entitlement they already experience, they exploit this further by asking for money from the same people they supposedly want to help.

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I am an "amateur" writer who has been writing "on and off " for quite a few years, hiding the results in notebooks or on my lap top. I have poems that I dream of performing or hearing performed, and scripts that I visualise in plays on stage or on television. I see myself collecting awards.

I have been giving thought to my journey of self-sabotage and procrastination and why this is happening, so that I can move forward on my dreams. I need to work on "Me", because I will be dead for a lot longer than I am alive. We all will.

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There is a voice in my head which tells me that "I can't " and gives me all the reasons why, whatever ideas I am thinking of implementing won't work. I am doing my best to ignore that voice when it speaks to me.

I am still "fearful", but I am becoming more " fearless". After all, what is the worst thing that can happen?

My journey of " fear of success " has been a lifelong one.With regards to my writing, I have looked back over a couple of years to trace my journey of self-sabotage, to include my experience of writing my first blog post for Huffington Post UK.

In 2012, I attended a series of writing and performing workshops called " Women's' Writes", which was originated by Louise and Nadeem of Loudeem Productions. I rediscovered my love of writing and had a go at performing some of my work. When the programme ended, I hid my work in my notebook.

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I bumped into my friend Audreia while shopping in Birmingham in 2015, I had not seen her for a long time and felt a vibrant energy and excitement from her. She told me that she had written a book in 64 days, and that she would invite me to her book signing event, which I attended. I also went to the writers' event that inspired my friend to change her life. I joined the same book writing course that she completed, which was originated and led by Ava Eagle Brown who is an Author, Life and Business Strategist. I made a good start.

I decided that I would change the direction of my writing,and had developed a plot for my novel with an exciting storyline. I visualised and felt it.

I took my laptop to be repaired and subsequently lost my work. Was that the little voice in my head speaking to me again,telling me that I am not quite ready for success?

I did not really believe that I would be accepted into the blogging community of Huffington Post UK, but sent a draft blog just to see. They accepted me, and sent a confirmation email.

"Why would Huffington Post UK say yes to me?" I asked myself. Again that voice in my head was speaking. I read the email several times to ensure it was sent to the right person. I felt the legacy, although illogical of needing to be perfect, as a woman and as a black woman. I remember my mother telling me that I had to be " ten times as good as a white person ". This is the weight of responsibility that I have consciously and subconsciously carried. That was my mother's experience that has been inadvertently passed down to me.

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I checked my blog several times for accuracy, reading it repeatedly after I had written it. Was I really scared of submitting it as once it was published, it would be read by more than the familiar circle of people. If that circle got bigger, I had to commit to writing.

Paradigms and the " stories" that affect our lives interest me. I have spent time listening to and reading the work of " thought leaders" around this subject. I am working on changing those self-limiting beliefs that I have inherited through no fault of my environment. I am rewriting my story which is a challenging, painful and humorous journey.

Success is particular to the individual. No matter how small, change lifts us out of our comfort zones into the unknown.

Many of us play down our talents and gifts for fear of being rejected by our environment. I suppose it is part of human nature to want to be liked by others, also needing to belong and be validated. We may not realise that it is in the interest of our familiar environments to keep us as we are, " trundling along " in our comfort zones.

Anyway, I took a deep breath and submitted my first blog for Huffington Post UK. I forgave myself, just in case there was a capital letter that I missed or a comma that I had put in the wrong place.

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They published it.
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Imagine a scene from May 2018, the month rather than the Prime Minister, if she still holds such a position then. After a year of running a minority government within a hung parliament, the tide of popular opinion has firmly turned away from the Conservatives. The slide that began with the 2017 General Election has been exacerbated by lack of direction regarding a Brexit negotiating strategy, and the bitter pinch of austerity policies without end. Worse, the DUP's demands for maintaining a de facto coalition are becoming more ridiculous by the minute, and endangering the fragile peace process that exists across the water.

The time is right for Jeremy Corbyn to marshal a progressive alliance into action and call for a vote of No Confidence in the government, buoyed by a series of successes in by-elections brought about through resignations in the Conservative Party. At this point, Theresa May's government still holds 312 seats and the DUP 10, but with the support of seven abstentionist Sinn Fein MPs, the No Confidence measure could succeed. In such a scenario, would they take their seats and if not, why not, given that a Corbyn government might well give them their cherished border poll and help bring an end to the austerity policies they claim to abhor?

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If they said no in such a scenario, then where would that leave prospects for the re-unified island that they desire, and how would it square with their anti-austerity platform in the south of Ireland? Theoretically, Sinn Fein believe that Ireland should be united as one country and no British government can claim sovereignty over Irish affairs. Thus, despite having had MPs elected in almost every General Election since 1983, Sinn Fein politicians have refused to take an oath of allegiance to the monarch and sit in Parliament. Other Republicans too, such as the hunger striker Bobby Sands and his election agent Owen Carron, have adopted the same strategy, which originates at the very foundations of Sinn Fein as an organisation. Arthur Griffith, the first leader of the movement, enacted a strategy of Irish MPs abstaining from taking seats in Parliament at a time when there were enough of them in the house to make a significant statement with their very public absence.

Such a policy of abstentionism was originally intended to draw attention to Ireland's demand for Home Rule, at a point of over one hundred MPs elected to the British Parliament from the island of Ireland. In light of such numbers, those empty seats could serve as a powerful reminder of the Irish demand for self-determination. Today's parliamentary arithmetic is very different, with only 18 MPs elected from the six counties of Ireland that remain under British rule. As such, Sinn Fein's absence and continuing policy of abstention goes largely unnoticed by the British public except at times such as now, with seven MPs in a hung parliament.

Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein, has repeatedly argued that the party sees the island of Ireland as being its "political centre of gravity" and therefore will not sit in a British Parliament. However, the party already takes its seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly, based in Stormont, and seems more than happy to claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in Westminster expenses even though its MPs cannot claim a salary unless they take the oath of allegiance. To many outsiders this stance seems hypocritical, wanting nothing off the British other than their money - though the DUP's alleged demand for 2 billion pounds as the price of coalition suggests that the Northern Irish parties have more in common than they think. Reduced to the crudest of questions, why is it okay to take the Queen's money, but not undertake the key duties of the role that they are effectively being paid for without taking their seats?

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Surely, if a scenario such as a Vote of No Confidence arose, Sinn Fein would have to consider abandoning a tactic that belongs to the politics of a century ago rather than the here and now. One option to help them on this journey might be the removal of the oath of allegiance. Already, in the Stormont Assembly where there is no oath required, provisions are made for members to make a pledge of being faithful to principles of good governance. This includes a commitment to non-violence, and adherence to a Ministerial Code of Conduct. Why then can something similar not be used in the Houses of Parliament? In its most literal interpretation, forcing politicians to take such an oath effectively excludes republicans of any type from participation in the affairs of the state. If Britain sees itself as a modern cradle of freedom, democracy and multiculturalism, why is there an enforcement of such an archaic rule in the 21st Century?

That aside though, Sinn Fein needs to decide whether or not in this day and age, the national question is the single most important issue that has to be addressed. We no longer live in the days of Arthur Griffith and the Republicans who fought for Irish independence in the first decades of the twentieth century. Today's Ireland is a modern state locked into complex legal relationships with its neighbours, and holding none of the economic independence that Griffith, for example, believed to be essential. Ireland is a part of the European Union and its single currency area, as well as being locked into a complex legal agreement with Britain regarding the long term status of Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein themselves are amongst the key signatories of that 1998 Belfast Agreement in which they accept that for unity to occur there needs to be consent from the British minority on the island.

Unfortunately for many of us who would like to see a United Ireland, there is no realistic chance of that happening immediately. Right now, Sinn Fein have seven MPs who could make a major difference to the arithmetic of a hung Parliament in which the two main issues are Brexit and the fight against austerity. If those seven MPs were to take their seats, the proposed coalition between the Conservatives and the DUP would be on even shakier ground than it is already, unlikely to see out the autumn term when further muddled by Brexit negotiations. Sinn Fein, as a party, would also be in a prime position to champion a fight against the austerity they oppose so strongly in the Republic of Ireland. Simultaneously they could act in the interests of Ireland as a whole, and not just the North, in protecting both Ireland and Britain from the economic and cultural devastation of a hard Brexit.
With the weather in London last week rivalling that of the Bahamas, it's no surprise I felt myself yearning for another holiday. One where I could lie in the shade of a palm tree, overlooking a white sandy beach, being serenaded by the faint echoes of a distant steel band whilst enjoying a cocktail so fruity it fulfilled my five a day with one sip.

But I live in London, I've got two toddlers, and I'm skint. So bang goes that idea.

However, the warm weather has inspired me to take a trip somewhere slightly more tropical, without leaving the smoggy streets of London. Having lined up a babysitter on Saturday, I took to the Tube to do a whistle-stop tour of the Capital's most tempting Tiki bars. Here's how it went...

Barsmith Goes Tiki

Farringdon's famous Barsmith is a great pub known for its expert mixologists. But in the summer the lack of outdoor space has failed to tempt in customers wanting to make the most of the sunshine. However, this is all about to change, because the upmarket venue has transformed itself into a tropical paradise, bringing the outdoors inside. Palm trees grace the doorway, flowers and Tiki Gods adorn the walls, and there's a specially created menu of Tiki pizzas, snacks and - most importantly - cocktails, to give you that South Pacific feeling in the heart of the City. Having consumed a showstopping Zombie, which is actually set on fire before you drink it, and a smooth Navy Grog which is served not on ice, but with an ice cone to sip the drink through, my partner and I headed off to our next venue. But not before snapping a selfie of my reflection in the quirky branded mirror in the washrooms.

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Image writer's own

Trader Vic's

Having sipped a few of the signature Mai Tai's at Trader Vic's you'd easily be forgiven for thinking you were in Hawaii rather than the Hilton Park Lane. This place is top to toe Tiki, from floor to ceiling. The no expense spared decor has given the venue the feel of a tropical Tiki hut. If you're not a fan of bamboo, this isn't the place for you!

Kona Kai

Found on the Fulham Road, Kona Kai is where west Londoners go for the ultimate cheesy night out. There are so many rum cocktails on the menu they have to be split into sections! Varying from 'new creations', 'old favourites', 'Tiki drinks' and 'classics', we soon found something we liked, and the wide range gives you the opportunity to try new spirit combinations you may not have considered.

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South London Pacific

SE11's take on the Tiki vibe is slightly different, in that the dishes served are inspired by Vietnamese finger foods as opposed to the barbecue Hawaiian tastes at other similar venues. But the food is good, and with cocktails costing less than 4 until 10pm it's a definite party place. The music is cheesy, the floor a bit sticky, but who cares when you're on your fifth Pina Colada of the day?

Mahiki
I admit it, I don't care about immigration. For me it's not an issue that even comes close to my political priorities. I love immigration, I think it's wonderful and creates magic across the globe. Globalisation has it's problems and wider issues but ultimately it's brought the world closer together quite literally. If you're an open minded individual who doesn't lock themselves away desperately trying to ignore the rest of the world then you'll know exactly what I mean.

I absolutely despise the boring, compassionless narrative from papers like The Sun, The Daily Mail & Express and their minions such as Katie Hopkins. Why? Because I'm aware of the facts, I know my history and I bask in the glory of multiculturalism which has apparently 'failed'. Take yourself to Camden Market and experience the range of items you can buy, the music you hear, the smell of all the different foods, speak to stall holders and market goers, it's an incredibly fulfilling experience.

We are currently in the midst of negotiations on leaving the European Union, the whole premise of Brexit was based around Immigration and the age old sound bite of 'take back control'. You often hear Nigel Farage, Tommy Robinson and other pound shop villains talking up Churchill for a variety of reasons with Farage declaring him his hero and begging Donald Trump to return the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office, which he did. I'm not sure if they're entirely sure of Churchill's earlier work on an open Britain as an MP.

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The importance of immigration is increasingly clear as we head into this black hole of Brexit and we see the huge drop in EU nurses applying to work in the NHS as staff vacate in vast numbers causing a spiralling staffing crisis. The farmer who voted leave and spoke on BBC Radio 2 about how he faces the loss of his business if he can't recruit enough EU workers just confirms the reality of Brexit. When just over half of UK voters chose to leave the EU it sent a message that Britain is not a welcoming nation and I'm certain the huge increase in hate crime following the referendum helped verified that message.

We have these shock stories of migrants jumping the line for housing, getting 18 bedroom houses for free, ruining the NHS and all being thieves. The reality is the vast majority of those stories are either complete nonsense to stir up hatred and division or rare cases hence why they make the papers. In the General Election, Paul Nuttall of UKIP wouldn't shut up about 'integration' but the narrative of papers like the Mail and the Express who demonise and exploit anyone and anything particular immigrants are one of the key players in ensuring communities are suspicious, divided and angry at each other.

There has been an constant attack on empathy and compassion over history, it's viewed as a weakness that we can't afford. Even when it comes to those who seek asylum from war, torture and death, we are fed stories that inflame hate, raise suspicion and desensitise us from the facts and realities around asylum the suspicion and even hatred remains. Whilst there is, rightly, praise for Mo Farah, who is an immigrant, alongside that praise that narrative against immigrants in every and anyway possible is fanning the flames of hatred. It makes very little sense.

Do I believe that immigrants are taking all our jobs? No. Why? Because they aren't. Do I believe that immigrants are putting immense pressure on our NHS? No. Why? Because they aren't. The facts are there, in black and white. The vast majority of immigrants in the country are our neighbours, friends and family, they are in Britain because they want to be here and love the country. There is a tiny minority of people be them British, immigrants or otherwise who commit crime and want to hurt other human beings, crime is global and it happens everywhere by all kinds of people. To believe otherwise is wrong.

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DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS via Getty Images

Forget the scaremongering. This is a fair deal for EU migrants. Anyone hoping for a continuation of the current system is living in denial. The UK voted for Brexit. It is going to happen, whether it be soft, hard, clean, open, red, white, or blue: the UK is leaving the EU.

And therefore, the UK needs a new immigration system. Quite rightly, the rights of those currently living in the UK - and those UK citizens living abroad - have taken priority. Should this have been done sooner? Yes. But it is being tackled now, and it is, for the most part, a fair deal.

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If you are an EU citizen who lives in the UK, you will be allowed to stay here for the rest of your life. Forget about whether you've been here 50 years, five years, five months: you can stay.

But there will be changes. After the two year "blanket permission" period is over, migrants will have to provide proof of their immigration status at various points in their lives.

This will most likely take the form of an ID card. Some are up in arms about this, fearing it will lead to a checkpoint system where migrants have to produce their papers on demand to any official.

This is nonsense. It will simply mean that migrants will have to prove they have the legal right to work and live here. It is something we already do. When you start a new job, open a bank account, buy a house, or even rent a car, you have to provide evidence of who you are - usually through a passport or driving license.

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These rules apply to UK nationals and migrants already. This is going to be no different when these rules kick in - it will just be a different piece of paper. If you can prove you're able to do something - you will be able to do it. Just like now. As the Prime Minister's Official Spokesperson said today when asked about ID cards for migrants, he replied: "I don't recognise the phrase 'ID cards' in the document."

Another criticism of the plans is the introduction of the minimum earnings threshold for EU migrants who wish to bring over a spouse or family member. Yes, in this instance, EU citizens are losing rights, but this is because Brits have fewer privileges in this area than their European counterparts.

Currently, a UK citizen has to be earning 18,600 a year in order to get permission to bring a spouse from outside the EU to the UK. Theresa May introduced this threshold in 2012 as part of measures to clamp down on abuse of the marriage visa system and hit her sub-100,000 net migration target.

This is the rule which will apply to EU citizens after Brexit. You may think the policy as a whole is deeply unfair, but surely it is more perverse that UK citizens have fewer rights in Britain than EU nationals? Imagine if that had continued post-Brexit?

The offer is a fair one, but that's not to say it isn't without problems. The most glaring is its sheer impracticality. The Home Office was already struggling to process a surge in residency applications after the Brexit vote, but that is nothing compared to the 3.2million it will have to make its way through in the two year "blanket permission" period. Civil servants are going to have to process around 4,300 applications a day, every day, for two years - ten times the number they currently deal with.

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This is where the Government is wildly overambitious, and where needless worry for EU citizens will occur. As the clock ticks down towards the end of the two years, the hundreds of thousands waiting for their new immigration papers will be panicked their application has got lost in the system and they will not get the proof they need in order to live and work in the UK.

Additionally, as civil servants become increasingly overworked and under pressure, mistakes will be made. People who should be given permission to stay here will be incorrectly refused, prompting more worry and concern.

When I asked the Prime Minister's Official Spokesperson how much extra money would be set aside to help cope with this monumental task, I was told: "We are hoping for a smooth and streamlined process and the PM said she believes the Home Office can deliver."

Another concern is that the "settled status" qualification can be withdrawn if you spend two years living away from the UK. So that French engineer who moved here in 2007, and therefore has the right to stay indefinitely, will have to think twice about taking that two-year secondment on a project in Delhi.

She might love Birmingham, have lots of friends here but no family, and doesn't want to leave permanently, but if she takes her dream job in India she might not be allowed to return to the place she called home for more than ten years.

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This "use it or lose it" rule when it comes to the right to reside goes against Theresa May's claim the UK is a "confident, outward-looking" nation. We're acting more like someone who doesn't want to talk to an old school pal when they return from university as we're jealous they've made new friends.
Neil Hall / Reuters

The politics of envy is gross. You shouldn't worry about what other people have, but instead try to get on and do the best you can. Just because some people are getting something you don't have doesn't mean they don't deserve it.

Someone should tell this to the residents of South Kensington, who lately have been complaining that the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire are going to be rehoused in their neighbourhood. The homes, purchased by the Corporation of London, will be made available to 38 families effected by the blaze.

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Kirsty Major of the Independent (where I occasionally contribute; Kirsty is my editor there) has an excellent analysis of the deal. The homes aren't as luxurious, the tenants don't have access to the development's amenities - though honestly, why not? - and the homes were always intended to be social housing.

But please, let's not let this get in the way of some solid middle-class outrage.

There are two chief complaints of South Kensington residents. The first is that moving in all of these poor Black and Brown people will depreciate property values. The second is that they've worked so hard to be able to own property in such a tony part of London that it's fundamentally unfair that people who have literally lost everything get a flat there for free.

In both cases, I suggest these folks go cry themselves into an organic glass of I-don't-give-a-damn from Waitrose.

That's right, you middle-class monsters. I don't care how you feel. And frankly, you shouldn't either. Some of the most vulnerable people in society have lost everything - including family members - in a fire that shouldn't have happened. If you're more concerned about the value of your home or someone getting something for (what you feel is) nothing, I think you need to lose your entitlement and find your humanity.

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Let's start with depreciating property values. Kensington and Chelsea already has some of the most astronomically overpriced properties in the country, if not the world. It is one of the richest areas on earth. It's hard to believe that a few dozen working class families are going to depreciate property values so much that you lose your return on investment. In fact, property values in Kensington and Chelsea already average over 1 million.

As far as people getting something for nothing, again, find your humanity and calm down. These people aren't getting something for nothing. They're getting a new home in the same neighbourhood they lived in - where their friends, families, schools, and GPs are - in return for a home that burned down in a blazing inferno that claimed nearly 100 lives.

I appreciate that you feel you worked hard to get to where you are. Maybe you actually did. Or maybe you inherited your wealth. Either way, it doesn't matter. Living on a council estate already puts you at a massive disadvantage. You're less likely to go to university, less likely to end up on the property ladder, and less likely to even make a living wage. Never mind the fact that you likely own your home - or will one day - and these people don't.

The middle-class and the right love to moan about the politics of envy. Oftentimes, they talk about the working-class and the poor as scroungers who want something for nothing. They frame benefits, including housing benefit, as stealing from the "hardworking" taxpayers. Indeed, since Thatcher, taxes have been viewed as "my money" instead of the dues you pay to belong to society. Benefits have been seen not as something to help the vulnerable survive, but as a handout.

It's easy to see why. Channel 5 has made a cottage industry out of poverty porn. Programmes like On Benefits and Proud painting the most bereft amongst us as ungrateful ingrates who really ought to just get a zero-hours contract job and stop complaining. When Channel 4 released Benefits Street in 2014, people seemed to actively envy the residents of Birmingham's James Turner Street for their lack of work and easy life.

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But life on benefits is anything but easy, and the true "politics of envy" comes not from the poor but from the rich, many of whom feel entitled to the wealth and comfort they've obtained, no matter how nefarious the means were or the effects it has on others.

I don't care what the residents of South Kensington think about rehousing the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire near them, and neither should you. The truth is, these people deserve anything we can give them. Already the most marginalised people in our society, they relied upon the state to help them survive - and the state, by means of shoddy cladding and a few thousand pounds' savings, killed them or destroyed everything they had.

God forbid the most marginalised, vulnerable people in society have a roof over their heads. God forbid it be in the neighbourhood they've lived in for years (or in cases, their entire lives). God forbid it be near you.
Life is often said to 'imitate art', and there are countless examples of where this is shown to be true. The recent Judicial Delegation from Bangladesh to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, is a shining example, although in this case, it is an example of something more disconcerting and sinister than simple imitation.

The current situation in the People's Republic of Bangladesh is one of significant concern, and as much as there appears to be almost universal acknowledgement that there has been a complete breakdown in the Rule of Law and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, a six-member delegation from the Bangladesh Government and Judiciary met with representatives from the International Criminal Court in an attempt to legitimise a fundamentally flawed judicial process.

The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has been criticised since its inception; not because of its intention, as it is self-evident that the pursuit of truth, justice, accountability and the end of impunity is not merely welcomed, it is essential, if historical crimes are to ever be addressed and thus allow a State, or a people to truly move on and reconcile. The ICT has been referred to as the 'anatomy of injustice' and therefore the visit to an institution that embodies truth, justice and above independence before politics with the sole aim that some of that integrity might rub off on the ICT is preposterous.

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The current Government claims to uphold the highest principles set out in the Rome Statute and a number of other international treaties. In reality, it has increasingly moved towards an autocratic state that seeks to silence any political opponents by means of arbitrarily arresting civilians, using brutal methods of torture in police custody, holding individuals incommunicado in undisclosed locations and executing extra-judicially political opponents.

The ICT has been widely condemned by almost every international human rights groups and recognized international jurists.

Last week, a six-member judicial-governmental delegation from Bangladesh met with the ICC President and Deputy Prosecutor and proclaimed, falsely, that they were full of praise for the ICT and "...praised Bangladesh for her commitment to the Rome Statute...". This is simply untrue. The statements represent at the very least a misrepresentation of what was discussed with the ICC President and Deputy Prosecutor, and at worst, a wilful attempt to gather support for a process that constitutes a flagrant denial of justice and represents a stain on the international criminal justice community.

Statements that appeared in various Bangladesh news outlets immediately following the meetings, would appear to emanate from members of the delegation.

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It is quite clear that at no time did the President of the ICC, the Deputy Prosecutor nor any other senior member of staff praise the Bangladesh ICT, nor did anyone suggest that Bangladesh was committed to the principles of the Rome Statute in its own domestic trial process.

This is not the first time that the Bangladesh media, and members of the Government of Bangladesh has shown itself to be willing to deliberately misrepresent the position about its engagement with jurists and members of the international legal community.

Stephen J. Rapp, in his previous position as the US Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice, was twice reported as taking a favourable position towards the ICT and the procedures that it had adopted. On both occasions the reporting was false; the second occasion causing Ambassador Rapp to issue a statement in rebuttal to correct the position.

This is also not the first time that representatives from the Government of Bangladesh have sought to inappropriately gain recognition for the ICT from representatives of the ICC. In fact, it is the third such occasion.

Following a request for clarification both the ICC Office of the President and Office of the Prosecutor confirmed that the comments did not represent what was conveyed during the meetings. The Office of the President made clear that "[The President] did not comment in any way during the meeting on national proceedings conducted for crimes under international law before the courts of Bangladesh..." and the Office of the Prosecutor stated that it had "...in no way entertained or opined on ongoing proceedings at the national or international level involving Bangladesh."

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It is therefore quite clear that the statements attributed to senior officials at the ICC are palpably false.

It is notable, that the desperation for legitimacy and credibility is so great that the Judiciary, the Government and subservient media in Bangladesh are prepared to manipulate, mischaracterise, and misrepresent, in a desperate attempt to achieve their objective.

The truth of the matter is that the pursuit of justice is commendable, impunity should never be allowed to remain. However, in seeking accountability, a fair model must be adopted, and one that respects the Rule of Law, and the fundamental fair trial guarantees that one would expect.

The international community have at no time condemned the pursuit of justice; they have however, condemned at every turn, the model and mechanisms currently adopted in Bangladesh.

Much has been written on the concerns, the problems, and the downright unlawful procedures evident in cases before the ICT, and it is not the purpose of this article to rehearse these further.

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We must however keep these past writings and statements in mind, when we consider the delegation referred to above.

The truth, is that the ICT is lamentable; it has been roundly condemned and criticised outside of Bangladesh, not for its premise, but for the procedures adopted.

Contrary to the comments of the Government, the Judiciary, and the media, there is no judicial independence amongst those that preside over ICT trials, nor has there been adherence to any notion of international fair trial standards.

This final point is an interesting one, as previously, those in support of the ICT and its working have sought to suggest that there is no such thing as 'International Standards' when it comes to such trials. It is of note therefore that the 'tack' has changed. Evidently unable to convince the international community of one position, they have adopted another - wilful ignorance.

The position now being adopted is one of desperation. The Government of Bangladesh and its supporters are so desperate for the ICT to be deemed legitimate, that they are prepared to manipulate and lie to create a false impression.

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It should be noted that the mention of the Government is deliberate. I accept that there are those who will point out that the comments made are not from the Government, they are reported by the media; this is indeed correct, but, the media weren't present during the meetings taken by the delegation and therefore the information must have originated from alternative sources, i.e. members of the delegation, or members of the Government itself. Further, the ICC itself has rejected those statements attributed to its senior officials and thus the obvious conclusion is drawn regarding the origins of the information.

This evidenced desperation is an imitation of many colourful characters from stage and screen, but perhaps in these circumstances the most appropriate comparison would be with General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, VC KCB, a fictional character from the English 'Blackadder' comedy series, and in particular his words "If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through".

The facts are plain for all to see, and no amount of delegations, meetings, or statements will change the fact that as an instrument of justice, it is an aberration.
Western cities have done a better job of integrating technology into their infrastructure than the new wave of Asian smart cities, according to architect and television presenter Jason Pomeroy.

Singapore-based Pomeroy, the architect behind Asia's first zero-carbon house, claims that Barcelona and Amsterdam are far more successful examples of a smart city than places like Songdo, the new hi-tech satellite city in South Korea.

"They have a greater sensibility to the needs of the people there, because they've been around a lot longer," he told Dezeen in an exclusive interview.

"And when I look at the developing Asian economies, it feels more heavy-handed government top-down, as opposed to bottom-up."

Pomeroy, 42, visited eight different cities for the recent television show Smart Cities 2.0. The first episode profiled Songdo, the city built in just 10 years on reclaimed land on the outskirts of Seoul.

Despite its impressive features, which include an electric-vehicle infrastructure, emergency-service drones and homes with connected video screens, Songdo is already becoming outdated, said Pomeroy.

"The idea was that if you embed the technology at the beginning, incorporate opportunities for big data and big technologies, and put an amazing amount of investment put into waste management systems and surveillance, that the city will be smarter and people will love it. But that's not always the case," he explained.

"When you look at the city now, a lot of the technologies are obsolete. People can FaceTime on their phones, they don't need to be FaceTiming in the comfort of their flat. So it demonstrates that technology has to be used wisely, otherwise you'll end up in the situation where it will just become obsolete."

By contrast, said the architect, Barcelona and Amsterdam show how important it is for technology to not only be facilitated by the city government, but also to be embraced and celebrated by citizens. Successful initiatives in Barcelona include Fab Labs, which teach people to be more entrepreneurial, while Amsterdam is a pioneer in using data to drive infrastructure change.

"The most successful smart cities have acknowledged that it's neither top-down nor bottom-up approach, it's a combination of both," added Pomeroy.

Pomeroy said the most exciting smart technology to emerge in recent years is autonomous vehicles, which he believes will revolutionise cities all over the world.

"Autonomous vehicles are going to have a huge impact on the world's infrastructure. Huge amounts of area that is dedicated to car parking will almost vanish overnight as a result," he said.

"And in cities like Amsterdam, where 50 per cent of the surface area is actually water, autonomous boats that can be used as bridges, as a means of transporting goods or as river taxis, will also be highly advantageous, to reduce not only pollution, but also congestion on the streets.

Smart Cities 2.0 aired in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Hong Kong  but is available to watch online.

Read the full interview below:

Amy Frearson: Why did you choose to look at smart cities for your latest television series?

Jason Pomeroy: I've always had a passion for anything green and sustainable, and one of the biggest question marks over smart cities is, how sustainable are they?

So we're looking at the sustainability of eight cities, and asking whether smart technology enhances their efficiency and enhances people's lives. It's basically an eight-episode quest that reveals very different versions of what constitutes a smart city all around the world.

My conclusion is that there are actually three different versions, or three different generations, of a smart city. In the simplest understanding of a smart city, which is very technologically driven, it's often very top-down government-controlled with very big support by multi-national corporations, and very heavy on technology and economic stimulus. These landmark cities obviously get a lot of column inches. A typical example is Songdo in Korea.

Then you've almost got this popular, social reaction against that imposition of technology and top-down government control, to a smart city 2.0, which is very socio-culturally driven. The technology is in the hands of the individuals, and the people make the city the way they believe that the city should be enhancing their lives. The 2.0 is a city like Bandung in Indonesia, or Higashimatsushima in Japan.

The smart city 3.0 not only has the top-down technological and economic impetus, but also the bottom-up socio-cultural and people power, with the overlaying element of culture, open space and environmental considerations. Examples of that would be Barcelona and Amsterdam, and it's a far more holistic view of the smart city. All of a sudden you've got the government not necessarily imposing their will, but setting out a framework for the people power to say "this is what we want", supported then by multi-national companies and academia who are trying to make the ideas work and get better in the future through constant research and development.

I argue that, if you bring those six elements together  the technology, the economy, the social, the cultural, the environmental and the spacial  all of these elements layered together gives you your 3.0 smart city.

The people actually love Songdo for the open spaces and the education infrastructure more than for the technology

Amy Frearson: Can you tell me more about the smart city 3.0, and what makes it so successful?

Jason Pomeroy: For Barcelona, what you had was a city in post-Franco Spain, needing to be celebrated as a means of generating income. They did that very wisely through tourism and leisure. It was the seat of the Olympics in 1992, and there was this incredible economic boom made out of tourism and leisure. But when the financial crisis hit in 2008, the city really scrambled to try and save money wherever they could. They thought: "If we turn towards technology as a means of making this city smart, in terms of reducing our consumption  whether it's energy, water, or just a general operation and maintenance  at least we'll be able to recuperate some of our losses, and if we go to big multi-national corporations who could use our city as a living laboratory to test out their new ideas and new softwares and new hardware, then everybody is a winner".

Now, the natural thing with these technology systems is that sometimes they work and sometimes they fail, and when they fail they do so very publicly. There was a public backlash in Barcelona against technology, but that's when a new layer of smartness entered into Barcelona. The city then started looking at the cultural and social needs of its people: reducing traffic congestion, reducing pollution, making better public open spaces by privatising particular streets and turning the super-blocks into a smarter fabric that people could enjoy.

Next they put the technologies into the hands of the people through the Fab Labs, these centres of creation where the people could get down and dirty with the software or the hardware, and actually create things for themselves that in turn create an entrepreneurial economy within the city.

That for me represents the layering of a smart city, which is the complete antithesis of top-down control that you might see in somewhere like Songdo.

Amy Frearson: Can you tell me more about Songdo, and why it's so different?

Jason Pomeroy: Songdo was a city started from scratch, a government initiative to try and make a Korean and North Asian economic hub. It is basically a new city that was built from scratch right next door to the Incheon International Airport.

The idea was that if you embed the technology at the beginning, incorporate opportunities for big data and big technologies, and put an amazing amount of investment put into waste management systems and surveillance, that the city will be smarter and people will love it. But that's not always the case. The people actually love Songdo for the open spaces and the education infrastructure more than for the technology that went into it.

When you look at the city now, a lot of the technologies are obsolete. People can FaceTime on their phones, they don't need to be FaceTiming in the comfort of their flat. So it demonstrates that technology has to be used wisely, otherwise you'll end up in the situation where it will just become obsolete.

Autonomous vehicles and seamless mobility strategies are the way forward

Amy Frearson: And how do these two compare to what you call a smart city 2.0, say Bandung?

Jason Pomeroy: Bandung in Indonesia is crippled with incredible congestion and pollution. It's a Dutch colonial city that was designed for 100,000 people and today has 2.5 million residents. So it's bursting at the seams.

But Bandung doesn't rely not on the top-down technology approach to try and manage the city. Instead, the mayor has created a system where he basically says: "You can tell us when there's a problem".

He got everybody signed up to this app where they can report congestion, heightened pollution, crime, and the information is immediately brought into a central command centre, which allows emergency services to be deployed along the quickest route. It's using big data and social apps to give power to the people.

They have a huge amount of data to sift through, but it means they're able to identify trending topics, so that they're constantly at the cutting edge of the information. This actually helped reduce congestion, reduce pollution, and has also served as an early warning for floods, which are highly prone in Bandung.

Amy Frearson: What are the most successful technology initiatives you've seen, and could these be easily replicated in other cities?

Jason Pomeroy: Singapore is trying autonomous vehicles, and Amsterdam is trying autonomous boats  in both cases because the technology is being tested and researched by MIT in collaboration with some academic institutions in those cities.

Autonomous vehicles and seamless mobility strategies are the way forward I think. Autonomous vehicles are going to have a huge impact on the world's infrastructure. Huge amounts of area that is dedicated to car parking will almost vanish overnight as a result.

And in cities like Amsterdam, where 50 per cent of the surface area is actually water, autonomous boats that can be used as bridges, as a means of transporting goods or as river taxis, will also be highly advantageous, to reduce not only pollution, but also congestion on the streets.

I don't think there can be this holy grail where there's an answer to suit everything  every city has its own issues to deal with

Amy Frearson: Do you think in the near future we'll see a city that combines all of the smart technologies you've explored in this series?

Jason Pomeroy: I guess that's like the holy grail isn't it? Each of the eight cities I visited had something unique to offer  but some worked and some didn't. There were some where I just kind scratched my head and thought, there are some underlying issues here that needed to be resolved first.

Ahmedabad in India, for instance, is widely regarded as the premier smart city in India. It has some very boastful aspirations, but for the majority of people in Ahmedabad, it's more important to get the 19th century issues right first, like basic sanitation, fresh running water and electricity. It was like two worlds colliding.

So I don't think there can be this holy grail where there's an answer to suit everything  every city has its own issues to deal with. But I do think that, looking at the series as a collective, that it provides some basic clues.

Amy Frearson: Is it a coincidence that the two cities you think are the most successful are western cities?

Jason Pomeroy: I think what sets these two cities apart is that they have a greater sensibility to the needs of the people there, because they've been around a lot longer. Also, the technologies that have been incorporated have been incorporated sparingly.

And when I look at the developing Asian economies, it feels more heavy-handed government top-down, as opposed to bottom-up.

Amy Frearson: So what you're saying is, smart technologies don't work as a tool for rapidly developing or scaling up a city?

Jason Pomeroy: Correct. I think that a lot of the time, the most successful smart cities have acknowledged that it's neither top-down nor bottom-up approach, it's a combination of both. The government, to a certain extent, sets out a framework, and people create a healthy tension, by saying: "This is the issue and we need a solution to this". Then, multi-national corporations or small/medium enterprises say: "We would be happy to contribute to finding that solution". And brains in academia come along and say: "Let's try and work out a solution collectively". So it's almost a four-pronged approach.

With increasing urbanisation we're losing opportunities for social interaction

Amy Frearson: What can architects and governments learn from these smart cities?

Jason Pomeroy: The ultimate takeaway would be that the smart city is actually a misnomer. Like the "green city", it's an incredibly limiting term. And what we can see looking around the world is that we all have very different views as to what makes a city smart.

I'm still struggling with what the actual correct term is, but what I do know is that it's taking social parameters, economic parameters, environmental parameters, and then overlaying technology sparingly, to enhance the efficiency and ensure there is a balance of open space for people to enjoy. Because with increasing urbanisation we're losing opportunities for social interaction. We're retreating into Facebook and other social media platforms, as well as virtual realms.

Amy Frearson: Have any of the other things you found changed or influenced your architectural practice?

Jason Pomeroy: As a design studio that specialises in green cities and green buildings, we want the research we do through programmes like this to help, influence and inform the work that we do.

We recently completed a 24-hectare 'mini city' if you will, which has been dubbed by the Indonesian president as the Silicone Valley of Indonesia. It's a digital hub which looks at trying to move the Indonesian economy into the new, knowledge-based economy that it wants to be. A lot of the South-East Asian cities that have grown during the 20th or 21st centuries have come out of colonial trade and commerce, and then converted themselves into manufacturing hubs. Now we're at the cusp of seeing the digital economy influence cities like Jakarta, so this particular urban development we created was all about celebrating the rise of the digital economies.

It's effectively an innovation district that allows for the sharing of Fin-Tech, Bio-Tech and technology-related businesses within a business park setting, along with road-sustainable, zero-carbon, live-work environments and low-energy retail environments as well.

Source: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/23/jason-pomeroy-interview-smart-cities-barcelona-amsterdam-songdo/
North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright speaks before a slideshow remembering the late state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi at the NBCC annual meeting on Friday. Amber Besaw, left, and Bert Lamb from the Coalition. Teen Writing Workshop student Asha Kelton read a poem. Around 200 people came to the NBCC annual meeting. Mayor Richard Alcombright speaks at the NBCC annual meeting. NBCC Executive Director Amber Besaw talks about the aspen tree. PreviousNext

Coalition Remembers Cariddi, Looks Back During Annual Meeting



Jim Mahon, second from left, and Paula Consolini, third from right, accept the Northern Berkshire Hero Award on Friday. (Photo by Bert Lamb)

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's annual meeting is always a time to look back at the previous year.

This year, the Coalition began its meeting by looking back one week to the death of state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi and then looking back at her decades of service to the Northern Berkshire community.

"Gailanne was amazing," Coalition Executive Director Amber Besaw said simply as she introduced a slideshow of photos of Cariddi over the years set to the song "Kind & Generous" by Natalie Merchant. "She brought a lot of resources to the community and to the Coalition itself."

North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright echoed those sentiments before the slideshow as well, saying he was so proud of the sendoff the community gave Cariddi, particularly public safety officials, whom she always championed as a city councilor and state representative.

"That's what Gail was all about," he said. "Selfless service to others."

The slideshow inspired a solemn silence in the ballroom of the Williams Inn on Friday, where around 200 people gathered for the annual meeting. When Alcombright returned to the podium later in the meeting to give the keynote address, he  as usual  inspired laughter among the crowd as he looked back at his eight years as mayor of North Adams. Alcombright announced earlier this month that he would not be seeking another term as mayor.

"We continue to work on rebranding the city," said Alcombright, who said he was proud to be leaving the city with clean audits, balanced budgets and an improved Standard & Poor rating, as well as many projects in various stages of completion, including the recently opened new building at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Greylock Mill and The Tourist resort projects on State Road, the Berkshire Health Systems investment in North Berkshire, the proposed bike path connecting Williamstown and North Adams, the scenic rail line to Adams and many more. "I am convinced  that North Adams and the region are positioned to be the place' in Berkshire County, Western Massachusetts and New England."



Mayor Richard Alcombright speaks at the NBCC annual meeting in Williamstown on Friday.

North Adams, he said, is a "really, really, really good place to be"  a place that once was vulnerable and now is valuable and once was poor but now is rich  "rich in the people who now define who we are and who we will become."

"Is it perfect? Nah. Far from it," he said. "We ain't Boston. But North Adams is the biggest little city in the Northeast."

The Coalition and its work are a big part of that, said Alcombright, pointing to the new skate park that is opening with a July 1 ceremony that was spearheaded by the youth in the Coalition's UNITY teen programs and thus will appropriately be called the "Unity Skate Park." Even though he posted a slide of the John Candy quote "whoever said nothing is impossible obviously hasn't tried nailing Jell-O to a tree," he said there are a lot of people working together to make things happen.

"Most of what you want to happen can happen," he said. "The energy and excitement resonating throughout this community is truly making my day."

Two members of the community who have added a lot of that energy and excitement are the husband-and-wife team of Paula Consolini and Jim Mahon, who as part of Friday's meeting were honored with the North Berkshire Hero Award.

"Williamstown residents for 26 years, Paula and Jim are deeply committed to each other, to service to our community, and to empowering others as agents of community pride and service," Coalition staffer Wendy Penner said in introducing the couple.

Consolini has been heavily involved in school building projects, from building a new Williamstown Elementary School in 2001 to helping shepherd a new Mount Greylock Regional School, currently under construction. In her job as director of The Center For Learning in Action at Williams College, she has increased the level of student engagement in the Northern Berkshire community. In 2005, she helped create the Purple Valley Volunteer Tax Assistance program and has served on the Williamstown Finance committee, and the regional district amendment committee studying regionalization for schools in Williamstown and Lanesborough as well.

Mahon has been president of the Williamstown Community Chest and the Berkshire Food Project for 10 years. He is a member of the Williamstown Rotary and has volunteered on local projects of Habitat for Humanity as well as delivering church-prepared meals to shut-ins through the Take and Eat program. He serves on the Northern Berkshire Chorale and is a board member at Lever, an organization that supports local economic development. He also has served on the mission committee at St. John's Episcopal Church and has gone on medical mission trips to Latin America, where he used his fluent Spanish to help people negotiate the systems of care. He also has been chair of the town Democratic Committee and helped spearhead the Employ North Berkshire Program.

"Finally, Paula and Jim have a warm tradition of hospitality always generously feeding the many people they invite into their home to celebrate occasions of all kind," Penner said. "In particular, they throw town's best Halloween parties, with a tradition of Jello molds in the shape of a heart and brain. The climax comes when Jim comes out in lab coat dressed as evil scientist with a meat cleaver and hacks the mold to bits, simultaneously terrorizing and delighting adults and children alike.

"Thank you for not only your services but for being champions for connecting the community with our work at NBCC," Penner concluded.

In accepting the award, the couple threw praise back at the Coalition and it supporters.

"You all help us look and listen carefully," Consolini said. "We're grateful to be able to work with all of you. We're such a strong community because people like you believe in community."

Mahon said organizations like the Coalition are important in fostering a sense of community, especially as many people don't fit into a smaller community like a faith or school community.



Bob Bean praises The Family Place.

"There's an awful lot of people who have fallen out of all these communities," he said, praising Coalition founder Al Bashevkin for having the vision to start the organization 31 years ago. "This is what we have to of to keep people from becoming desperate.

"People aren't born into community," he said. "Somebody has to create it for us."

And that's what the Coalition has spent the year doing, Besaw said as she looked back over what the Coalition has accomplished since last June. It was "a year of growth and change," she said, not the least of which saw her taking over as executive director after Adams Hinds stepped down to wage his successful campaign for the state Senate seat vacated by Benjamin Downing.

But she also touted the Coalition's programs like The Family Place and the UNITY teen programs, both of which were represented on Friday: Resident Bob Bean, who with his wife has ended up adopting his grandchildren, praised The Family Place for helping the family adjust, and Teen Writing Workshop student Asha Kelton read a poem she wrote this year.

Besaw wrapped up the meeting with musings about the aspen tree. This kind of tree, native to the North and happy in cold temperatures and cool summer, grows in groves that can be quite large but are all connected by a single root system, that allow it to thrive even in extreme conditions like a forest fire.

"Like the aspen tree, we have a root system that connects us all. It is our community," she said. "We grow taller, bigger and stronger together."
Local Woman Ordained as Episcopal Priest

LENOX, Mass.  The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher, bishop of Western Massachusetts, ordained the Rev. Virginia Vogel-Polizzi to the Sacred Order of Priests on Saturday, June 17, at Trinity Episcopal Church.



Friends, family and the local community gathered to witness and celebrate this ancient rite of the church. After the bishop laid his hands on her head, the new priest was vested with the stole by her husband. The Rev. Janet Whaley Zimmerman, rector of Grace Church, offered the sermon.



Vogel-Polizzi was awarded the master of divinity degree from Andover Newton Seminary. During the final six months of her preparation for priesthood, Vogel-Polizzi served as deacon for Grace Church, an Episcopal community in the Southern Berkshires. Her home parish is St. Helenas Chapel, Lenox.



St. Helena's encouraged Vogel-Polizzi to prepare for ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church. She begins her service in September as Chaplain Resident in the Pastoral Care Department of Albany Medical Center. Concurrently, Vogel-Polizzi will do advanced studies in bioethics.




Haiti - FLASH : Hundreds of families threatened with expulsion in Cap-Haitien





Antonio Jules, the Departmental Delegate of the North announced that a census of people living in the hills and in some peripheral areas of the city of Cap-Haitien, will soon be carried out in the perception of demolition in these areas of small houses built outside of all standards.



According to Delegate Jules, this measure, in addition to protecting citizens from the poor sanitary conditions in which they live, is part of the alleviation of evel of risk of major natural hazards that threaten the northern region and endangers thousands of lives in the event of a disaster. In addition, he deplored the fact that municipal politicians granted building permits a little too easily in these risky areas, poor in public services.



Threatened at term by expulsion, hundreds of vulnerable families living in these shanty towns, particularly in the morne Labori, Barriere Bouteille and Sainte Philomene, are wondering where they will live in the absence of information from the Government on their relocation. Some are hoping for a review of this decision pending information on aid programs and places to receive future displaced populations, others simply question the application of this announcement, which periodically each year, without anything ever being done.



TB/ iciHaiti


















Ernest Lee Wade, 59, from Warren County, lost his life while kayaking on the Collins River on Sunday, June 25. Mr. Wade was a resident of McMinnville.

Mr. Wade and Treyton R. Gritzinger, also from McMinnville, departed on a kayak trip from the Shellsford access area around 8 a.m. on Sunday.

After a half hour or so on the water, Mr. Gritzinger witnessed Wade strike a small overhanging tree. Mr. Wade, who was in a sit-a-top kayak, flipped and struggled to swim. Mr.Wade was not wearing a personal flotation device and neither man had one with them during their outing. After searching in the water for some time, Mr. Gritzinger called 911 from a nearby home.

The Warren County Sherriffs Office received the call around 8:45 a.m. and TWRA was dispatched around 9:15 a.m. Warren County Rescue also responded to the call and located Mr. Wade in six to eight feet of water around 3:45 p.m. Mr. Wades body was taken to the Warren County Morgue.

Because of recent rains, water levels were elevated two to three feet above normal. Swift moving currents and murky water made recovery efforts more difficult.

TWRA Warren County Officer, Pete Geesling responded to the call. Mr. Geesling said, It is always difficult to see the loss of a life. We cant stress enough the importance of wearing a personal flotation device and checking conditions before heading out. Our thoughts are with Mr. Wades family.

There were four paddle-sport related deaths in 2016. For more information on boating or for the 2016 Tennessee Boating Incident Statistical Report visit tnwildlife.org.
include Market from 10th to 8th, MLK Blvd.. The Nightfall Concert Series is free to the public and held eachtilloutdoors in Miller Plaza.headliner is Caveman with local opener Okinawa beginning at. Visit

Saturday, July 1

Houston Street will be closed from MLK Boulevard to Flynn Street for this anniversary party celebrating three years of the Bitter Alibi. This free, family-friendly event will feature live music, local vendors, artists, games, a chalk art contest and much more. Visit www.thebitteralibi.com or the Facebook event page for more information.

Sunday, July 2

: Reggie White Blvd. will be closed from the entrance to the Chattanooga Skate Park to West 19th

Street

on Sunday, July 2nd from 6am to 8pm . Chattanooga Market is the regions largest producer-only marketplace, established to provide healthy, fresh produce, artisan foods, as well as locally-produced arts and craft wares to Chattanoogans and community visitors. Visit

m

for more information.
Advancements in sewer pipe technology will be used to rehabilitate aging infrastructure in the Chattanooga Valley area of Walker County. The Walker County Water & Sewerage Authority (WCWSA) has contracted with Insituform, an Aegion Company, to combat millions of gallons of stormwater infiltrating its system.

The $297,000 project will renew and extend the life of 11,000 feet of sewer line, using a cured in place pipe (CIPP) system. Crews will pull a resin-saturated, coated tube through damaged pipe and heat it to form a tight-fitting replacement pipe. The process, which is similar to turning a sock inside out, is designed to extend the life span of the pipe by 50 years.



Shannon Whitfield, WCWSA board chairman, said, "This is amazing technology and will only take a few days to complete each section, versus digging up the roads, which would cost over $100 per foot and take months to complete. The new WCWSA Board that started in January has some major hurdles to overcome with the large amounts of stormwater infiltration that has been neglected for years. 103 million gallons of stormwater flowed into our sewer system in April. We are moving quickly and making a smart investment using this technology to solve these infiltration problems."



Officials said this project will take just a matter of weeks to complete and will significantly reduce the inconvenience to homeowners caused by a traditional repair. Although crews may need to place large equipment in residential driveways, work will be done at the street level, so they won't be forced to dig up yards.



Crews will begin work by cleaning lines and then return in a couple of days to reconstruct the sewer pipe using the CIPP system. Brandon Whitley, WCWSA interim general manager, will oversee the process, just days after being promoted to his new role.



Homeowners and motorists should be advised that work will take place in the following areas:



Chattanooga Valley Road



Rock Creek Road

Grant Drive

Bluffview Circle

Allgood Road

Eagle Shadow

Japonica Street
The Fellowship | June 26, 2017 Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority attends a press conference ahead of talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Unseen) on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the chancellery in Berlin, on March 24, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Odd ANDERSEN (Photo credit should read ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

In recent weeks, the Palestinian Authoritys continued payments to terrorists has come under the microscope of those who stand for Israel and against terror. Writing at Israel Hayom, Ariel Bolstein discusses an important piece of legislation  named for an American killed in a 2016 terror attack in Tel Aviv  that would end funding of the P.A. until it stops its support of terrorism:

The U.S. Congress is reviewing all kinds of proposed legislation these days, but not a single bill is more justified or moral than the Taylor Force Act. This bill, named after an American citizen who was murdered by a terrorist on the Tel Aviv promenade in March 2016, proposes to stop American economic aid to the Palestinian Authority until the PA stops paying stipends to individuals who commit acts of terrorism and to the families of deceased terrorists. The terrorist who murdered Taylor Force was killed, but his family enjoys a monthly salary that is significantly higher, some say even 20 times higher, than the average wage in the Palestinian Authority. Other murderers and terrorists also enjoy such generous sums.

Payment for an act of terrorism is a Palestinian invention. There is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. Normally, proper governments encourage citizen to save lives, but in the Palestinian Authority, the goal is the opposite: The public is encouraged to take lives  as many as possible. The incitement begins in school textbooks, continues with public squares being named after martyrs and concludes with massive salaries being paid to terrorists. Anyone with any shame or human dignity would not be able to reward murderers so publicly. The Palestinian Authority shed those values long ago.

The Palestinian Authoritys policy of funding terrorism is not just immoral, however. It is also a surprisingly effective method of directly encouraging terrorism. Youth who grow up in Qalqilya, Nablus and Hebron are sent a clear message: If you want financial security for yourself or your immediate family, just grab a knife and stab a Jew. That is a fact of life in the PA, where the leadership purposely channels the energy of its constituents into terrorism. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his partners in the terror industry offer a dubious path of advancement for upwardly mobile Palestinian youths  engage in terrorism
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Through the front door of the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts, the mind of the beloved childrens book author Theodor Seuss Geisel springs to life. The new three-floor museum is lush with murals, including one with a proo, a nerkle, a nerd and a seersucker, too. Around one corner, visitors will find an immense sculpture of Horton the Elephant from Horton Hears a Who!

But the museum, which opened this month, displays a bit of amnesia about the formative experiences that led to Geisels best-known body of work. It completely overlooks Geisels anti-Japanese cartoons from World War II, which he later regretted.

Far from the whimsy of Fox in Socks (1965), Geisel drew hundreds of political cartoons for a liberal newspaper, PM, from 1941 to 1943, a little-known but pivotal chapter of his career before he became a giant of childrens literature. Many of the cartoons were critical of some of historys most reviled figures, such as Hitler and Mussolini.

But others are now considered blatantly racist. Shortly before the forced mass incarceration of Japanese-Americans, Geisel drew cartoons that were harshly anti-Japanese and anti-Japanese-American, using offensive stereotypes to caricature them.

Theodor Seuss Geisel was a political cartoonist before he became a giant of children's literature (Rex) (Rex Features)

While President Franklin D Roosevelts library has put his role in Japanese internment on full display, this museum glosses over Geisels early work as a prolific political cartoonist, opting instead for crowd-pleasing sculptures of the Cat in the Hat and other characters, and a replica of the Geisel family bakery.

But scholars and those who were close to Geisel note that this work was essential to understanding Dr Seuss, and the museum is now grappling with criticism that it does not paint a full picture of an author whose work permeates American culture, from the ubiquitous holiday Grinch to Supreme Court opinions (Justice Elena Kagan once cited One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish).

I think its irresponsible, says Philip Nel, a childrens literature scholar at Kansas State University and the author of Dr Seuss: American Icon. I think to understand Seuss fully, you need to understand the complexity of his career. You need to understand that hes involved in both anti-racism and racism, and I dont think you get that if you omit the political work.

One cartoon from October 1941, which resurfaced during the most recent presidential campaign, depicts a woman wearing an America First shirt reading Adolf the Wolf to horrified children with the caption, ...and the Wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones  but those were Foreign Children and it didnt really matter. The cartoon was a warning against isolationism, which was juxtaposed with Donald Trump, a candidate at the time, using the phrase as a rallying cry.

In another cartoon, from October 1942, Emperor Hirohito, the leader of Japan during the Second World War, is depicted as having squinted eyes and a goofy smile. Geisels caption reads, Wipe That Sneer Off His Face!.

'The Cat in the Hat', a children's book written and illustrated by Geisel under the pen name Dr Seuss, was first published in 1957

Perhaps the most controversial is from February 1942, when he drew a crowd of Japanese-Americans waiting in line to buy explosives with the caption, Waiting for the Signal From Home . Six days later, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the roundup of more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans.

Mia Wenjen, a third-generation Japanese-American who runs a childrens literary blog called PragmaticMom, has written critically of Geisels cartoons and blasted the museum for leaving them out.

Dr.Seuss owes it to Japanese-Americans and to the American people to acknowledge the role that his racist political cartoons played, so that this atrocity doesnt happen to minority groups again, Wenjen says in an email.

One of Geisels own family members, who helped curate an exhibit for the museum, says that Geisel would agree.

I think he would find it a legitimate criticism, because I remember talking to him about it at least once and him saying that things were done a certain way back then, says Ted Owens, a great-nephew of Geisel. Characterisations were done, and he was a cartoonist and he tended to adopt those. And I know later in his life he was not proud of those at all.

A mural inside the Amazing World of Dr Seuss Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts (Springfield Museums)

Geisel suggested this himself decades after the war. In a 1976 interview, he said of his PM cartoons: When I look at them now, theyre hurriedly and embarrassingly badly drawn. And theyre full of snap judgments that every political cartoonist has to make.

He also tried to make amends  in his own way. Horton Hears a Who!, from 1954, is widely seen as an apology of sorts from Geisel, attempting to promote equal treatment with the famous line, A persons a person no matter how small.

At the museum, located amid a complex of other museums in Springfield, where Geisel grew up, the first floor is geared toward young children. Aside from the murals, there are mock-ups of Springfield landmarks that inspired Geisels illustrations, such as the castle-like Howard Street Armory. The top floor features artefacts like letters, sketches, the desk at which Geisel drew and the bifocals he wore.

Kay Simpson, president of Springfield Museums, who runs the complex, and her husband, John, the museums project director of exhibitions, defend the decision to leave out the cartoons, saying that the museum is primarily designed for children.

We really wanted to make it a childrens experience on the first floor, and were showcasing the family collections on the second floor, she says. Geisels questionable work would fit better in one of the adjacent history museums, where it has been displayed before, she adds.

Susan Brandt, the president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which oversees Geisels brand (a brand he resisted commercialising), argues that the museums critical distinction is between Dr. Seuss and Geisel.

Geisels February 1942 cartoon of Japanese-Americans waiting in line to buy explosives. Days later, President Roosevelt signed an executive order paving the way for the round-up of more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans (Rex) (Rex Features)

Asked why the cartoons arent included, Brandt, who consulted with Simpson on the museum, says: Those cartoons are a product of their time. They reflect a way of thinking during that time period. And thats history. We would never edit history. But the reason why is that this is a Dr. Seuss museum. Those are Ted Geisel, the man, which we are separating for this museum only.

The museum does, however, have references to some of Geisels early professional work. There is a serving tray on display that Geisel designed for the Narragansett Brewing Co. in 1941 from his days in advertising, for example, and sculptures from the 1930s.

Soon after the opening, the museum expressed a willingness to display the cartoons, perhaps sensitive to criticism that it was presenting a one-sided version of Geisel, who died in 1991. It invited Nel to a symposium this fall to discuss Geisels political ideology and Wenjen to the museum for a visit, something she refers to as damage control.

After all, contrary to Brandts view, the critics argue that it was the work of Geisel  the man and the political cartoonist  that inspired Dr. Seuss. That is the work that made him an activist childrens writer, Nel says.

 New York Times
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It was announced in November with fanfare. Jeff Koons would donate a monumental sculpture, a hand holding a bouquet of balloon tulips, to the city of Paris to honour victims of the 2015 terrorist attacks here. The brainchild of the US ambassador to France, it was a gift the city could hardly refuse.

Seven months later, the project is caught up in delays. A private foundation has taken longer than it expected to raise the estimated 3.5m (3.1m) needed to make and install the work, which is more than 40ft high. (Koons donated the concept, not the construction.) And although the plaza Koons selected for display of Bouquet of Tulips provides a view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance, the pavement isnt strong enough to support the sculpture.

Its a very difficult work to install, its 30 tons, and at the moment were facing a lot of technical problems, says Jean de Loisy, president of the Palais de Tokyo, one of two contemporary art museums that share a building and the plaza where the sculpture is expected to land permanently in the citys 16th arrondissement.

He said that he appreciated the project and Koonss art but was reluctant to alter underground exhibition rooms by installing pillars that would support the sculpture. Still, despite the complexities, De Loisy says he is very confident the problems would be resolved.

Koons offering the 'Bouquet of Tulips' to the City of Paris, which is yet to be installed in the plaza in front of the Museum of Modern Art and the Palais de Tokyo (Getty)

The gift was arranged between the former US ambassador to France and Monaco, Jane D Hartley, and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, to honour French-American friendship and to help boost tourism in a city that lives with the constant threat of terrorist attacks. The announcement was rushed in November, before Hartley, an appointee of President Barack Obama, left Paris, but also before the permits and approvals had been worked out.

Some in French cultural circles contend that the sculpture was practically foisted on the city; they have called it more of a coup for the artist and his private donors than for Paris.

They presented this bouquet as a symbolic present to Paris, but then we realised it wasnt exactly a present, since France had to pay to install it, says Isabel Pasquier, an art critic at France Inter, one of the countrys leading public radio stations. Whether you appreciate his art or not, Jeff Koons is a businessman, and we quickly understood that he was offering Paris to himself as a present.

A kind of omerta has fallen over Paris about the project: few art critics or curators would speak openly about it even if privately they said they found the sculpture in poor taste. (They say they dont want to offend the former US ambassador, the city or Francois Pinault, a collector of Koonss work and one of Frances most powerful businessmen and art patrons.)

Fabrice Hergott, director of the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, which shares a building with the Palais de Tokyo, says he welcomes the sculpture, which he hopes will draw more visitors to the museums. Its a nice project, he says.

It speaks to our era. I think it will be much less kitsch in several years and people will find it very appropriate for the location.

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated in red, white and blue in honour of the victims of the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015 (Getty)

The project could also be a new frontier for Koons. Its superconceptual, says Judith Benhamou-Huet, a French art critic and blogger, in that hes giving the concept but not the realisation. She compares the approach to that of Sol LeWitt, who sold wall drawings that buyers then executed on their own.

The city proposed several other sites to Koons, but some had structural or aesthetic challenges. He chose the one in front of the contemporary art museums for its symbolic value. The plaza is not restricted by historic preservation provisions.

De Loisy says he has been consulted ahead of time  to a point. Of course they asked me, he says at an art opening at the Palais de Tokyo for the exhibition Dioramas and several other shows. Asked if he had a say in how to respond, de Loisy grew silent and smiled. Asked if his silence was a no comment, he replied, Just silence, and smiled again.

A spokeswoman for the city administration says she expects the project to move forward but would not rule out finding a new location if the current one proved too complex. In life you cant rule anything out, she says.

Frances culture ministry is overseeing the logistical studies and permits, which have not yet been issued. The ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Some delays are expected because a new culture minister and team were put in place after President Emmanuel Macron was elected last month.

In a statement, the US embassy in Paris says it is not currently involved in this project, although the embassy welcomes the mayor of Pariss strong support expressed at the projects unveiling at the ambassadors residence last year. It adds: The project exemplifies the strong cross-cultural ties between our two nations and has not caused any strains between the US and France.

Jeff Koons' 'Balloon Dog' sold for $58.4m (45.8m) at auction (Christies) (Christie's)

Fonds Pour Paris, or Funds for Paris, a foundation that seeks private money for public projects in the city, is overseeing the fundraising. We have the 3m we need for installation, says Anne-Celine Delvert, the foundations deputy director. She says it is looking for a private enterprise to donate the anticipated 500,000 in construction services. The work can begin once permits are issued.

She says she hopes the sculpture, which is being made in Germany, could be installed this year or in early 2018. On the timing, were being prudent, she says.

Emmanuelle de Noirmont, Koonss French gallerist, says the private funds came from French and American companies. She says that she would not name them until the culture ministry issued the approval to move forward.

Now that she is a private citizen again, Hartley, the former ambassador, says she plans to donate personally and that she is also helping with fundraising in New York.

She says Koons has been talking up the project in New York, sharing images of Bouquet of Tulips at a recent dinner party. He passed around his cellphone  he had the photo on his cellphone and people were so excited, Hartley says.

That sentiment is not universally shared in Paris, where some welcome the delays and even wish the project would just disappear. Im not in a hurry, says Pasquier, the France Inter art critic.

 New York Times
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Lucasfilm may have fired their Han Solo movie directors but that doesnt mean their work wont appear in the final edit.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Phil Lord and Chris Miller shot some very usable material that new director, Ron Howard, could end up using. Howard reportedly arrives in London today (June 26) to take over the standalone Han Solo film which began shooting back in February.

The production was meant to wrap up in July but, because of Lord and Millers sacking, it has been extended to the first week of September.

Insiders claim that Howard - who directed George Lucas 1988 fantasy film Willow - has been in touch with the directing duo, via email, and that they have been very supportive and very elegant in their correspondence with the veteran director.

This week, he will meet with the cast, including Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover, who play the young Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton also appear in the cast for the spin-off Star Wars film, scheduled for release on May 25, 2018.



The next Star Wars film to arrive in cinemas is Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson, on December 15 of this year.
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Three simple words dominated this years Glastonbury: Oh, Jeremy Corbyn. Belted out from all corners of the 900-acre festival site, the chant could be heard everywhere from Shangri-La to the Silent Disco to the Pyramid Stage for Radioheads headline performance.

But the anthem did not materialise spontaneously during the latter instance. Instead, it was a direct response to the iconic bands rebuttal of useless politicians.

Thom Yorke, the frontman, told the crowd: Our children for our f***ing future - worth having - not one decided by useless politicians.

But the crowd took issue with the apparent suggestion those in government had no use and used the scornful remark as an opportunity to erupt into chants of Oh, Jeremy Corbyn.

Ed Balls, former shadow Chancellor, drew attention to the moment in a review of the festival. Branding it a highlight, he said: For anyone other than hardcore Radiohead fans, the highlight of their Friday set was when the crowd rebuffed Thom Yorkes disparaging remark about useless politicians by repeating the Oh, Jeremy Corbyn chant.

But this was not the only time chants about the Labour leader, who increased the Labour vote by the largest margin in any election since 1945 in the recent election, broke out during the acclaimed set which coincided with the 20th anniversary of their OK Computer album.

After Yorke said, "See you later Theresa; Shut the door on the way out, chants of Oh, Jeremy Corbyn set to The White Stripes' 2003 hit "Seven Nation Army" again broke out.

The band, who are from Abingdon in Oxfordshire, also poked fun at Ms Mays strong and stable campaign slogan, swapping one of the lyrics of "Myxomatosis" with the much repeated and criticised saying.

Glastonbury 2017 Show all 48 1 /48 Glastonbury 2017 Glastonbury 2017 Ed Sheeran woos the crowd during his Pyramid Stage performance on the final day of the festival, 25 June 2017 PA Glastonbury 2017 PC Small wearing a fairy costume sits on top of her horse Sedgemoor who is wearing garlands as she and her colleague interact with the public at Glastonbury, 25 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Barry Gibb performs on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, 25 June 2017 AFP/Getty Glastonbury 2017 Festival-goers queue to charge their mobile phones at the Glastonbury Festival, 25 June 2017 AFP/Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Rag'n'Bone Man performs on day 4 of the Glastonbury Festival, 25 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Jamie Cullum performs on the Pyramid Stage during day 4 of the Glastonbury Festival, 25 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Musician Jarvis Cocker plays a DJ set from a wooden tree structure in the Greenpeace are at Glastonbury Festival, 25 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters performs at the Glastonbury Festival, 24 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 One of the 'Lords of Lightning' harnesses high-voltage electricity in a performance during the Metamorphosis Show in the Arcadia area at the Glastonbury Festival, 24 June 2017 AFP/Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Katy Perry performs on day 3 of the Glastonbury Festival, 24 June 2017 Getty Glastonbury 2017 Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses the crowd alongside Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis on the Pyramid Stage as he makes a guest appearance at the Glastonbury Festival Site, 24 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn meets festival goers as he visits the Green Fields at the Glastonbury Festival site at Worthy Farm in Pilton, 24 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Craig David performs on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, 24 June 2017 AFP/Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Gabrielle Aplin performs on the Other Stage during day 3 of the Glastonbury Festival 2017 at Worthy Farm, Pilton, 24 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Lights illuminate the Glastonbury Festival site at Worthy Farm at night in Pilton, 23 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 The Flaming Lips perform on The Park Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, 23 June 2017 AFP/Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 People gather to watch the Arcadia landing show at the Glastonbury Festival site at Worthy Farm in Pilton, 23 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Lorde performs on day 2 of the Glastonbury Festival 2017 at Worthy Farm, 23 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Thom Yorke of Radiohead performs on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts on Worthy Farm near the village of Pilton in Somerset, South West England, 23 June 2017 AFP/Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim of the XX perform on day 2 of the Glastonbury Festival 2017 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 23 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Former Labour MP Ed Balls attends Glastonbury Festival on 23 June 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Dua Lipa performs on the John Peel Stage on day 2 of the Glastonbury Festival 2017 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 23, 2017 Getty Images Glastonbury 2017 Revellers dance as they listen to Circa Waves perform on the Other Stage at Worthy Farm in Somerset during the Glastonbury Festival in Britain, June 23, 2017 Reuters Glastonbury 2017 Festival goers at Glastonbury Festival Site on June 21, 2017 in Glastonbury, England Getty Glastonbury 2017 Reuters Glastonbury 2017 Festivalgoers watching Blossoms on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, at Worthy Farm in Somerset PA Glastonbury 2017 EPA Glastonbury 2017 Actor Johnny Depp poses on a Cadillac before presenting his film The Libertine, at Cinemageddon at Worthy Farm in Somerset during the Glastonbury Festival Reuters Glastonbury 2017 Fans cheer as American actor Johnny Depp makes his entrance at Cinemageddon during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, near Pilton, Somerset EPA Glastonbury 2017 US actor Johnny Depp attends the Cinemageddon event as part of the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 2017 at Worthy Farm EPA Glastonbury 2017 Cineramageddon ushers Daisy Peters (left), from Shepton Mallet, and Tamsin Walton, from Pilton, before an appearance by Johnny Depp for a screening of The Libertine, during the Glastonbury Festival PA Glastonbury 2017 Festival-goers pose at the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 2017 at Worthy Farm on 22 June EPA Glastonbury 2017 Revellers sleep in front of a food stand at Worthy Farm in Somerset during the Glastonbury Festival on 22 June, 2017 Reuters Glastonbury 2017 An aerial view of the Glastonbury Festival site at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset on 22 June, 2017 PA Glastonbury 2017 People gather to watch the sun set as temperatures reach record levels at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton on 21 June, 2017 Getty Glastonbury 2017 Festival goers enjoy themselves as the gates open at the Glastonbury Festival amid heightened security at Worthy Farm in Pilton Getty Glastonbury 2017 A festival goer arrives at Glastonbury Festival Site on 21 June in Glastonbury, England Getty Glastonbury 2017 A festival goer at Glastonbury Festival Site on June 21, 2017 in Glastonbury, England Getty Glastonbury 2017 Festival goers enjoy themselves as the gates open at the Glastonbury Festival amid heightened security at Worthy Farm in Pilton on June 21, 2017 near Glastonbury, England Getty Glastonbury 2017 Festival goers at Glastonbury Festival Site on June 21, 2017 in Glastonbury, England Getty Glastonbury 2017 Revellers sing and dance by the Stone Circle at Worthy Farm in Somerset Reuters Glastonbury 2017 Festival founder Michael Eavis arrives to attend a screening of film maker Julian Temple's Glastonbury documentary Getty Glastonbury 2017 People attend a screening of film maker Julian Temple's Glastonbury documentary being shown at the new night time area Cinemaggedon on June 21, 2017 Getty Glastonbury 2017 People attend a screening of film maker Julian Temple's Glastonbury documentary being shown at the new night time area Cinemaggedon on June 21, 2017 Getty Glastonbury 2017 People gather to watch the sun set as temperatures reach record levels at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton on June 21, 2017 Getty Glastonbury 2017 The sun sets at the Glastonbury Festival 2017 at Worthy Farm in Pilton on 21 June, 2017 Getty Glastonbury 2017 Fireworks illuminate the night sky at the end of the first day at the Glastonbury Festival on 21 June Getty Glastonbury 2017 A reveller smokes by the Stone Circle at Worthy Farm in Somerset during the Glastonbury Festival on June 22, 2017 Reuters

Mr Corbyn was the name on everyones lips at this years Glastonbury as so-called Jeremania swept the Somerset event. Patrons have been pictured sporting the words Jezza surrounded by hearts on their foreheads and I heart Jeremy Corbyn flags have been spotted blowing in the crowds.

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The Labour leader also made a number of public appearances and despite having little to no musical talent was one of the most keenly anticipated acts of the weekend. Taking to the Pyramid stage to address thousands of revellers before Run The Jewels performance, Mr Corbyn received a rapturous and frankly deafening response from the crowd.

Blurring the line between pop and politics, Mr Corbyn said: Theres a message on that wall for President Donald Trump. Build bridges, not walls.

Politics is actually about everyday life. It's about all of us, what we dream, what we want, and what we want for everybody else.

The commentariat got it wrong. The elite got it wrong. Politics is about the lives of all of us, and the wonderful campaign that I was involved with, that I was so proud to lead, brought people back into politics because they believed there was something on offer for them.

But what was even more inspiring, was the number of young people who got involved for the first time. Because they were fed up with being denigrated, fed up with being told they dont matter. Fed up with being told they never participate, and utterly fed up with being told that their generation was going to pay more to get less in education, in health, in housing, in pensions and everything else.

It goes without saying that Mr Corbyns appearance at Glastonbury is something of a turnaround from last year when he was forced to cancel his festival appearance after Britain voted in favour of leaving the EU and uncertainty about his future as Labour leader rose.

Dramatically defying expectations in the recent general election, Mr Corbyns party grew its share of the vote by 9.6 per cent, leaving the Conservatives with no overall Commons majority and dented legitimacy.

In the weeks that have followed, Mr Corbyns popularity appears to have grown yet further. The Labour leader has stormed ahead of Ms May in a new opinion poll carried out by the Sunday Times this weekend  with Labour five points ahead of the Tories at 46 per cent.

The survey, which looks at a random sample of 5,000 people, also found Ms Mays approval rating is at minus 17, a mirror opposite to Mr Corbyns plus 17.
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Salmon is, in the eyes of many, one of the finest foods in the world.

However, theres a cruel side to the salmon-farming industry that many people arent aware of: seals are being shot to protect the fish.

Many of the independently-run farms use licensed marksmen to kill both common and rarer grey seals, shooting dozens every year, The Times reports.

The seals pose a threat to the caged salmon, but the UK seal population is under threat itself.

Currently estimated to be around 37,000, the common seal population is suffering from a fatal disease called phocine distemper.

And the salmon-farming industry is contributing to the decline of seal numbers around Scotland.

Marine Harvest Scotland, which reportedly supplies Waitrose and Sainsburys, has admitted it killed 21 seals last year. The figures were released by the Scottish government.

Steve Bracken, business support manager of Marine Harvest Scotland, told The Independent: In 2016, Marine Harvest Scotland shot 21 seals. While were disappointed and regret any increase in the numbers we are pleased there has been a substantial reduction in numbers for some years now.

Previously the company was killing more than 100 a year. Bracken says they are taking measures to save more seals and ultimately want to reduce the number to zero:

As founder members of the Salmon Aquaculture and Seals Working Group we are working hard to reduce the numbers through improved procedures and investment in new technologies.

Our approach includes improving the tension on nets as well as investing in stronger nets and various seal scaring devices.

The company has likened their approach to how farmers kill foxes that attack their livestock.

Where not to visit if you love animals Show all 9 1 /9 Where not to visit if you love animals Where not to visit if you love animals Monkey shows Chimpanzees are forced to perform demeaning tricks on leashes and are often subject to cruel training techniques. Animals who are confined to small, barren enclosures and forced to perform unsurprisingly show symptoms of stress and depression. Chimpanzees have been documented rocking back and forth, sucking their lips, salivating and swaying against enclosure perimeters in distress. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Marine parks Some parks confine orcas to concrete tanks and force them to perform meaningless tricks for food - many die in captivity. Orcas are highly intelligent and social mammals who may suffer immensely, both physically and mentally, when they're held in captivity. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Tiger shows Tigers are forced to live in an unnatural and barren environment and have to endure interactions with a constant stream of tourists. Since tigers never lose their wild instincts, across the world they are reportedly drugged, mutilated and restrained in order to make them safe for the public. However, every year, incidents of tiger maulings are reported at this type of tourist attraction. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Donkey rides Sunning on the beach is great for humans  we can take a quick dip or catch a bite to eat when we get too hot or hungry. But it's pure hell for donkeys who are confined to the beach and forced to cart children around on the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts in the UK even keep the animals chained together at all times. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Swimming with dolphins Some marine parks use bottlenose dolphins in performances and offer visitors the opportunity to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, people are often unaware that these animals are captured in the wild and torn from their families or traded between different parks around the world. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Canned hunting Lions are confined to fenced areas so that they can easily be cornered, with no chance of escape. Most of them will have been bred in captivity and then taken from their mothers to be hand-reared by the cub-petting industry. When they get too big, they may be drugged before they are released into a "hunting" enclosure. Because these animals are usually kept in fenced enclosures (ranging in size from just a few square yards to thousands of acres), they never stand a chance of surviving. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Running of the Bulls Every year, tourists travel to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. The bulls who are forced to slip and slide down the town's narrow cobblestone streets are chased straight into the bullring. They are then taunted, stabbed repeatedly and finally killed by the matador in front of a jeering crowd. The majority of Spaniards reject bullfighting, but tourists are keeping the cruel industry on its last legs. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Horse-drawn carriages City streets are no place for horses. The animals toil in all weather extremes, suffering from respiratory distress from breathing in exhaust fumes as well as numerous hoof, leg and back problems from walking on pavement all day long. As easily spooked prey animals, horses subjected to the loud noises and unexpected sounds of city streets are likely to be involved in accidents, even deadly ones. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Zoos The zoo community regards the animals it keeps as commodities, and animals are regularly bought, sold, borrowed and traded without any regard for established relationships. Zoos breed animals because the presence of babies draws visitors and boosts revenue, yet often, there's nowhere to put the offspring as they grow, and they are killed, as we saw with Marius the giraffe in Denmark. Some zoos have introduced evening events with loud music and alcohol which disrupt the incarcerated animals even further. EPA

Marine Harvest is just one company though. Scottish Sea Farms, which reportedly supplies Marks & Spencer, has also been named by the Seal Protection Action Group (SPAG).

A spokesperson for M&S told The Independent: Neither we nor our salmon farmers have any wish to see seals or any other sea life harmed. We have led the industry on this issue and invested time and money to avoid this happening.

The RSPCA supports our approach, and is equally concerned about the welfare of farmed salmon as well as animals such as seals.

Many of the supermarkets who pride themselves on their ethical credentials have found themselves in hot water for selling salmon from these farms.

A spokesperson for Waitrose told The Independent:

Waitrose requires all its farmed salmon suppliers to take rigorous non-lethal measures to deter predators, including seals. These measures focus on physical exclusion, including the proper use of acoustic devices, tensioned and weighted nets.

Having said that, predators sometimes get through all the non-lethal barriers our suppliers can put in place. This can result in vicious attacks on the fish, causing serious welfare problems. Only at this point, and in a very small number of cases, are other methods of predator control considered and we are working with our suppliers to minimise this.

But campaigners believe more needs to be done.

With over 1,500 reported shot in the past six years alone, our seals are paying a cruel price for Scottish salmon, said Andy Ottaway of SPAG.

There are fewer grey seals than African Elephants in the world, but because they are concentrated in UK waters, people believe that they are thriving.

I dont think that the public knows that seals are being shot just so that they can eat salmon.

With awareness being raised, its hoped that more effort will be made to end the practice.

Scott Landsburgh, of the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation, said: The industry is permitted to shoot seals but it is our ambition to develop enough techniques throughout the industry to reduce the number of seals shot to zero.

The Independent has contacted Scottish Sea Farms and Sainsburys for comment but is yet to receive a response.
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Isis supporting hackers broke into US government websites and issued chilling warnings to Donald Trump.

It is just the latest pro-Isis attack to be launched on government pages by a group that apparently seek to disrupt organisations and deface their websites.

"You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries," read one message, posted on Ohio governor and unsuccessful presidential candidate John Kasich's website.

The message, left by "Team System DZ", ended: "I love the Islamic state."

In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour Show all 39 1 /39 In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud arriving for a reception ahead of a banquet at Murabba Palace in Riyadh Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud being welcomed at Murabba Palace in Riyadh Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald J. Trump with King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during a welcome ceremony with traditional sword dancers at Murabba Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud with US President Donald J. Trump and wife Melania during a welcome ceremony at Murabba Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald Trump adjusts the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal, after it was bestowed upon him by Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud presents U.S. President Donald Trump with the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 Palestinians print posters depicting US President Donald Trump in preparations for his planned visit, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 US President Donald Trump accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, before delivering his remarks to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 US President Donald Trump looks on as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef exchange a memorandum of understanding Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 First Lady Melania Trump shares a laugh with a child during a visit to the American International School in the Saudi capital Riyadh Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 US President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 Israeli soldiers rest during preparations ahead of President Trump's landing in Tel Aviv, Israel Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 First Lady Melania Trump makes her way to board Air Force One in Riyadh as she heads with her husband the US President to Israel Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump board Air Force One for Israel, the next stop in Trump's international tour, at King Khalid International Airport AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 Israeli soldiers wait for the arrival ceremony of US President Donald Trump at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive aboard Air Force One at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod near Tel Aviv, Israel Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump disembark Air Force One on arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald J. Trump and his wife, US First Lady Melania Trump are welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, in Lod outside Tel Aviv, Israel EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sit during welcome ceremony in Tel Aviv AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US First Lady Melania Trump chats wife Sara Netanyahu as US President Donald Trump chats to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a welcoming ceremony to welcome Trump at Ben Gurion International Airport Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump delivers a speech upon his arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump gestures during a press conference with Israel's President at the President's Residence in Jerusalem Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump watches as First Lady Melania Trump signs the guest book at the President's Residence in Jerusalem Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump walks with first lady Melania Trump in Jerusalem's Old City Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump visits the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in Jerusalems Old City Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump stands next to Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz at the plaza in front of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and White House senior advisor Jared Kushner leave notes at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US First Lady Melania Trump touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 Ivanka Trump, assistant and daughter of US President Donald J. Trump, touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 President Donald Trump visits the Western Wall AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 US President Donald J. Trump arrives in a vehicle to Saint Damaso's Court for a private audience with Pope Francis in Vatican City EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis walks past Ivanka Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on the occasion of the private audience with President Donald Trump, at the Vatican AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis exchanges gifts with US President Donald Trump during a private audience at the Vatican Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis meets US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania during a private audience at the Vatican Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis with US President Donald J. Trump EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis gets into is car after meeting with US President Donald Trump AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 President Donald Trump and his wife Melania look at the frescoed ceilings during their visit to the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 US President Donald Trump security vehicles are seen in front of Air Force One before take off from Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump wave to reporters before boarding the Air Force One to Brussels, at the end of a 2-day visit to Italy including a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, at Rome's Fiumicino international airport AP

The group has claimed responsibility for similar hacks in the past in Richland County, Wisconsin, and in places such as Aberdeen, Scotland, and Sweden.

Several other government websites were hacked in Ohio, including that of first lady Karen Kasich, Medicaid, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, and the Casino Control Commission.

Tom Hoyt, chief communications officer for Ohio's Department of Administrative Services, was among officials who confirmed the hack.

"All affected servers have been taken offline and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites," he said. "We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened."

The hack is part of ongoing cyber-terrorism that has impacted governments and corporations across the globe.

Some see these types of hacks - sometimes called "defacement" - as simply a nuisance, though in some instances, they have been disruptive to work and government life.

But others see cause for alarm. "Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland," Josh Mandel, the Ohio treasurer and a Republican candidate for US Senate, said in a tweet on Sunday.

Authors of the website Cryptosphere, which tracks hackers worldwide, have detailed dozens, if not hundreds, of similar attacks in recent years by Team System DZ, which they called a "pro-ISIS hacker crew" based in Algeria.

Impacted websites, they said, have included those for a synagogue in Florida, the student union at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, UK Rugby and a number of sites on Wordpress.

Additional reporting by Associated Press
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Theresa May has concluded a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland to keep her minority Government in power.

It involves an increase in public spending in Northern Ireland.

But what is in the deal? And is it fair on other UK taxpayers?

What exactly have the DUP been promised?

In return for agreeing to the supply and confidence deal with the Conservatives, the DUP have extracted a series of financial pledges for additional financial support for the Northern Ireland Executive.

This includes 400m for infrastructure development in the province.

There is 150m for ultra-fast broadband rollout and 200m for heath. Theres also money to tackle deprivation and mental health.

The total package of additional spending adds up to around 1bn.

Is this a lot of money?

There are around 1.86 million people in Northern Ireland so this 1bn equates to around 550 per head.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the size of the Northern Irish economy in 2015 was just 34bn, so this represents a non-negligible boost of 3 per cent of GDP.

ONS (Getty Images)

However, 850m of the money is being spent over two years, and the rest over five years.

Doesnt Northern Ireland already get more public spending than the rest of the UK?

Yes. Northern Ireland in 2015-16 received 26bn of public spending.

Thats 14,018 of public spending per head of the provinces population.

This was more than a fifth higher than the UK-wide average of 11,579. The region receives more per head than Scotland or Wales.

ONS (Getty Images)

The additional spending announced on Monday will increase this discrepancy further. Further, Ireland contributes less in tax revenues than the national average, meaning that Northern Irelands imputed fiscal deficit in 2015-16 was 10bn, or around 5,400 per person, higher than Scotlands 2,800 and Wales 4,500.

London, by contrast, had a 26bn regional fiscal surplus, or 3,000 per person.

Is this extra spending on Northern Ireland fair?

Northern Ireland has higher public spending per head, in part, for historic reasons.

Successive governments since the 1999 Good Friday Agreement have been willing to spend generously in Northern Ireland, particularly on public sector employment, in order to reduce the possibility of a return to the Troubles.

Many will see this as a reasonable price to pay for preserving peace.

But whether its worth augmenting this subsidy primarily in order to keep the Conservatives in power is another question entirely.

Especially as this might not be the end of the demands.

1bn for Ulster is just a downpayment, tweeted the former Permanent Secretary to the Treasury Nick Macpherson, someone with experience of overseeing Northern Irish spending requirements.

DUP will be back for more again and again. They have previous in such matters.

The cost for this 1bn extra spending attributable to each of the UKs 65 million people is around 15.
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If Australias Great Barrier Reef were to be put up for sale, it would likely be valued at a higher price than most of the UKs biggest companies.

According to a new report, the endangered reef off the coast of Queensland, is worth a staggering A$56bn (33bn) to Australias economy, underscoring the importance of saving it from rising ocean temperatures and mass coral bleaching.

That figure makes it 12 times more valuable than the Sydney Opera House, according to the analysis conducted by Deloitte, which aimed to estimate the economic, social and icon value of the reef. In one year alone, the worlds largest living structure contributes A$6.4bn to Australia's economy and supports 64,000 jobs, according to the research.

More must be done to combat the unprecedented damage to the 1,400 mile reef, the report says. Warming waters caused by man-made climate change have caused up to 95 per cent of the reef to be hit by coral bleaching in recent years, which increases disease susceptibility.

This report sends a clear message that the Great Barrier Reef - as an ecosystem, as an economic driver, as a global treasure - is too big to fail, said Steve Sargent, director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, which was set up to safeguard the future of the World Heritage site and commissioned the report.

As the largest living structure on earth and one of the world's most complex and diverse natural ecosystems, the Great Barrier Reef is justifiably considered priceless and irreplaceable.

The reports authors calculated that the reef directly supports 39,000 jobs, which is more than some of Australias biggest employers such as Telstra, Qantas and National Australia Bank. Its also more than the jobs provided by the countrys entire oil and gas extraction industry.

The authors estimate that the reef is worth A$29bn to tourism and has a brand  or indirect  value of A$23.2bn. That value is based on Australians who have not visited the reef but value knowing it exists.

Recreational visitors to the reef such as divers have put a value of $A3bn on their visits, Deloitte said.

For this reason the Great Barrier Reef must be considered too big to fail, the report said.

The research is based on a six-month study of scientific and economic sources, Deloitte surveyed more than 1,500 people from 11 countries for the report.

Lead author John O'Mahony said the findings showed that the reef has incredible value for biodiversity, jobs and Australias global reputation.

Environmental campaigner and former US presidential candidate Al Gore wrote in the report: Any failure to protect this indispensable natural resource would have profound impacts not only to Australia but around the world.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

In May, scientists warned that the recent damage to the reef may be irreversible.

In a recent communique, an expert panel set up by the Australian government said they were united in their concern about the seriousness of the impacts facing the Reef and concluded that coral bleaching since early 2016 has changed the Reef fundamentally.

There is great concern about the future of the Reef, and the communities and businesses that depend on it, but hope still remains for maintaining ecological function over the coming decades, it said.

Members agreed that, in our lifetime and on our watch, substantial areas of the Great Barrier Reef and the surrounding ecosystems are experiencing major long-term damage which may be irreversible unless action is taken now.
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Donald Trump has claimed that Barack Obama 'colluded or obstructed' when he did not punish Russia for meddling in the US election, saying that the former president expected Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton to win.

In a morning tweetstorm, Mr Trump asserted that "The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win...and did not want to 'rock the boat.' He didn't 'choke,' he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good."

It is unclear who Mr Trump is claiming Mr Obama colluded with or what he obstructed.

The President appears to be reacting to a Washington Post story, which reported that the CIA informed Mr Obama in August 2016 that Russian President Vladimir Putin was directly involved in cyber attacks aimed at disrupting the US election. The Russians' objectives were to defeat or at least damage Ms Clinton, and help elect Mr Trump, the Post said.

Despite Russia's assault on American democracy, the Obama administration did not proportionately punish the country for the attacks, instead opting to impose only modest economic sanctions.

Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade Show all 8 1 /8 Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AFP/Getty Images Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AFP/Getty Images Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP

"It is the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend," a former senior Obama administration told the Post. "I feel like we sort of choked."

Since becoming president in January, Mr Trump has repeatedly lambasted what he possibly views as attempts to discredit his election victory, referring to current probes into whether his campaign advisers colluded with the Russian government as "fake news".

"The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling," Mr Trump tweeted. "With 4 months looking at Russia.....under a magnifying glass, they have zero 'tapes' of T people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology!"

Mr Trump also appears to be under investigation for possible obstruction of justice. Ex-FBI chief James Comey revealed last month that he believed the President had directed him to drop an inquiry into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's alleged ties to Russia.
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Premature babies can perform just as well at school as children who were carried to full term, an extensive new study has found.

Tracking the progression of more than 1.3 million US children, researchers said common fears that premature babies might lag behind in their learning were largely unfounded.

Even those born at the earliest possible dates were not deemed to be at a significant disadvantage compared with their full-term peers.

Two in three babies born as early as 23 or 24 weeks into pregnancy were ready for kindergarten on time  around the age of five, the same time British children begin reception class.

Almost 2 per cent of these children were noted to be academically gifted, compared with 9.5 per cent of Florida-born public school students overall.

While extremely premature babies often scored low on standardised tests, infants born 25 weeks or later only scored slightly lower than children who had been born at full-term, scientists found.

As the length of pregnancy increased after 28 weeks, the differences in test scores by the time children were aged between 11 and 14 were negligible, they concluded.

The longitudinal study - published by the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University and Northwestern Medicine in the JAMA Pedriatics journal - analysed babies born in Florida from 1992-2002, with gestational ages of 23-41 weeks.

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. 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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. 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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. 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Scientists matched the babies health records with their school records to examine the link between being born early and academic performance.

While some people might be troubled that very premature infants tend to score well below their full-term peers on standardized tests, I believe that the glass is more than half-full, said senior author David Figlio, director of the Institute for Policy Research.

Most infants born at 23 to 24 weeks still demonstrate a high degree of cognitive functioning at the start of kindergarten and throughout school.

Previous studies into prematurely-born boys and girls in the UK have suggested they were more likely to fail at reading, writing and maths tasks, as well as having an increased likelihood of developing special education needs such as dyslexia.

Babies born with premature birth-weights were also more likely to face unemployment in later life, a Canadian study found.

But the Northwestern University paper is said to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date.

Unlike some studies into premature birth, the data did not account for serious medical issues relating to birth, or provide information as to why these children performed well in school  for instance whether they received extra support from family or schools.

Nevertheless, most babies born prematurely performed well on standardised tests through middle school, said Craig Garfield, an associate professor of paediatrics at the university.

Whats special about this study is it speaks to the importance of administrative data sets and the ability to combine different data sets in ways that allow us to ask questions and get answers about how our children are doing in the long-run, he said.

Our future work in this area will focus on what parents and service providers can do to help future premature children to achieve their full potential.


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A private faith school in London has failed its third Ofsted inspection for refusing to teach its pupils about homosexuality.

Inspectors visiting Vishnitz Girls School in north London last month said the Orthodox school does not give pupils a full understanding of fundamental British values, The Telegraph reported.

Pupils were not taught about LGBT issues such as sexual orientation, which are in breach of equality laws.

This restricts pupils spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and does not promote equality of opportunity in ways that take account of differing lifestyles, inspectors reported.

The schools approach resulted in pupils being shielded from learning about certain differences between people, such as sexual orientation, the report went on. The schools culture is, however, clearly focused on teaching pupils to respect everybody, regardless of beliefs and lifestyle

While school leaders recognise the requirement to teach about the protected characteristics as set out in the Equality Act 2010 they acknowledge that they do not teach pupils about all the protected characteristics, particularly those relating to gender re-assignment and sexual orientation.

This means that pupils have a limited understanding of the different lifestyles and partnerships that individuals may choose in present-day society.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA

While fee-paying schools such as Vishnitz do not operate under the same curriculum as mainstream state schools, they are obliged to meet two separate sets of standards for sex and relationships education laid out by the Department for Education and Ofsted.

Ofsted makes clear that schools are not expected to "promote" ideas about sexual orientation or gender reassignment, but they are expected to "encourage pupils' respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the 2010 Equalities Act".

The school, which has 212 pupils, and charges annual fees of 5,200, was praised in other areas, including the fact teachers had good subject knowledge and high-quality classroom resources.

Just last week, the new Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman gave a speech on the importance of teaching fundamental British values within schools.

 Sex education to be made compulsory in all schools in England

Private schools which do not meet Ofsted requirements  which include consideration of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils - must improve or face closure.

Gill Robins from the Christians in Education campaign group criticised the decision, writing in a blog post: Its now been made crystal clear by Ofsted that the Equality Act is actually hierarchical, with sexual orientation and gender reassignment at the apex of the Act.

All equalities are equal but some equalities are more equal than others.

Ofsted has revealed its true agenda. It doesnt matter how good your school is in all other respects  simply refusing to teach very young children about gender reassignment will lead to your closure.

Earlier this year, Education Secretary Justine Greening pushed through plans to make sex and relationships education compulsory in all schools.

LGBT campaigners warned the policy still left loopholes for religious schools in that they are allowed some flexibility in their teaching of SRE in keeping with their faith.

A spokesperson from the LGBT charity Stonewall said: "Its vital all young people learn about LGBT issues. Inclusive, age-appropriate education ensures young people understand and celebrate difference. For those who might be questioning their gender identity its essential as it shows theyre not alone and that what theyre feeling isnt wrong.

"We applaud schools that create an inclusive learning environment where all students of all backgrounds and identities feel welcome, safe and understood."

Vishnitz School has been contacted for a response.

The faith school is one of seven known to have failed Ofsted inspections within recent weeks.

And Ofsted spokesperson said DfE standards require schools to "actively promote fundamental British values such as democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

Parents have the right, on behalf of their children, to expect an education that conforms to their religious beliefs and is in compliance with the law.

Children living in England deserve the best - the law expects schools to demonstrate that they are encouraging pupils to take a respectful and tolerant stance towards those who hold values different from their own. Ofsted acts robustly and impartially to ensure children in England receive a good education.
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Jeremy Hunt has been accused of leaving Parliament and patients in the dark after hundreds of thousands of pieces of confidential medical correspondence was discovered languishing in a warehouse.

At least 1,700 patients may have been harmed by the major blunder, according to a new report into the incident from the National Audit Office (NAO).

The Department of Health and a private firm share ownership of the company responsible for the error, which saw more than 700,000 unprocessed documents mislaid, including treatment plans, blood and urine test results and cancer diagnoses.

Health Secretary Mr Hunt was told in March 2016 that thousands of pieces of mail sent between GPs and hospitals had not reached their recipients due to the blunder by NHS Shared Business Services (SBS).

However, according to the report, the department did not inform Parliament or the public for several months about the issue, as it considered it too early to understand the full extent of harm that may have been caused.

The company, which was operating a redirection service in the East Midlands, the South West and north-east London, is said to have known of the possible risk to patients as early as January 2014, but did not develop a plan to deal with the backlog as it continued to accumulate  with staff considering the work just filing.

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the Government must be held accountable for this shoddy affair, accusing ministers of trying to simply wave this away and adding: This disaster left patient data, which includes blood test results and cancer screening, languishing in a warehouse.

NHS England estimates the cost of the incident will be at least 6.6m for administration alone, which shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth called an extraordinary waste of taxpayers' money.

Overall, NHS England and NHS SBS have identified just under 709,000 items of unprocessed correspondence, and the review of the backlog as of 31 May had found 1,788 cases of potential harm to patients  a figure which Mr Farron warned could be much, much higher.

The chief executive of NHS SBS, which is co-owned by the Department of Health and private company Sopra Steria in an almost 50-50 split, said staff attitude towards the documents did not excuse the blunder.

The NAO said that while no cases of actual harm have been identified yet, a third of GPs have not yet responded on whether unprocessed items sent to them indicate potential harm for patients.

Over a four-year period, local teams and reviews within NHS SBS observed the backlog continuing to grow, said the report, which found that in January 2014, an internal review discovered a backlog of around 205,000 items and highlighted the clinical risk to patients of notes not being with GPs.

Senior managers within the NHS SBS primary care services business unit knew about the clinical risk to patients in January 2014 but it did not develop a plan to deal with the backlog, it said.

In June and July 2015, an NHS SBS administrator raised concerns with senior managers about the backlog in the East Midlands. The same administrator raised further concerns in August that the backlog was being destroyed, with evidence that sacks of mail were being got rid of.

It was only in January 2016 that the company's information governance manager rated the issue as a serious incident requiring investigation.

By the time NHS SBS reported the incident to NHS England and the Department of Health in March 2016, the backlog had grown to 435,000 items.

An internal investigation found that staff had considered the misdirected clinical correspondence a lower priority than other work as there were no performance indicators attached to it, the NAO report said.

The Department of Health decided in April 2016 not to alert Parliament or the public to the incident, it continued.

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It considered that it did not have an accurate picture of the scale of the incident or of the potential harm to patients. It believed there was a risk of questions that the Department could not yet answer, potentially leading to unnecessary worry among patients and the public.

According to the report, Mr Hunts department informed Parliament of the incident on 21 July 2016.

It said that an investigation by NHS SBS did not provide NHS England with the level of assurance it required that the incident had been appropriately investigated and the causes clearly established.

NHS SBS disputed NHS England's right to commission further work and NHS England considered that NHS SBS was being obstructive and unhelpful in providing the access NHS England sought. This is something NHS SBS denies.

To date, of 2,508 items of mail classified as high priority, GPs have assessed 2,159 of those as having no patient harm and are still examining the remaining items, with 229 classified as potential harm.

GPs have yet to respond on 175,000 items of correspondence assessed by NHS England to be lower priority, despite having received payment to review these additional items in February 2017, the NAO said.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: As the NAO report highlights, patient safety has been our first priority and no cases of harm have been identified to date.

Alongside NHS England, we have been very mindful of appropriate transparency while working to make sure this does not happen again. Last year, the Health Secretary updated Parliament and the Public Accounts Committee was informed.

An NHS England spokesman said: NHS England was deeply concerned to be belatedly informed by SBS in March 2016 about its backlog of unprocessed correspondence.

We immediately set up a team, including clinical experts, to manage the incident, and all relevant correspondence has now been sent back to GPs for review.

None of the patients whose cases have been reviewed to date have been harmed by the delay in correspondence.

The NAO report also pointed to the conflict of interest created by the fact Mr Hunt oversees the NHS and also sits on the board of NHS SBS.

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: This is a total scandal. For a company partly owned by the Department of Health and a private company to fail to deliver half a million NHS letters, many of which contained information critical to patient care, is astonishing.

There remain over 1,700 incidents of possible patient harm unaccounted for. This is a staggering catalogue of mistakes on this Government's watch. In total, the clear-up operation has now cost over 6 million and counting. This is an extraordinary waste of taxpayers money.

The Secretary of State needs to explain to the public how he got himself into this conflict of interest, why the oversight of the company went wrong, and why he failed to pick up this string of mistakes for so many years. He should apologise to patients and to taxpayers.
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The government is deliberately underfunding the NHS in an attempt to speed up its plans to privatise the health service, senior doctors have said.

Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) accused Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, of consciously creating a crisis in NHS hospitals while scapegoating doctors to distract the public from an underfunded service under severe and intense strain.

This is in order to accelerate its transformation plans for private sector takeover of healthcare in England, said the motion passed by representatives at the unions annual representative meeting in Bournemouth.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the incoming BMA chair, said the Governments policy is deliberate and it does need to be challenged.

The Government speaks of new investment but in the same breath asks us to make 3 of efficiency savings for every 1 spent, he said, adding: In the name of safety and quality, austerity and savage cuts have to stop.

The Department of Health rejected the claims, saying Government funding for the NHS was at record levels and the motion approved by the BMA sadly has no relationship with reality.

Doctors voted in favour of the motion as it was revealed the Government is pushing forward with plans to sell off an NHS staffing agency that employs more than 90,000 people, saving the health service 70m a year.

The agency, NHS Professionals, supplies staff more cheaply than private firms. It is a private limited company owned by the Department of Health.

 John Major: The NHS is about as safe with Tory Brexiteers as a hamster is with a phython

Last winter was the worst on record for the health service, with reports of patients waiting for hours on trolleys in overstretched A&E departments around the country.

Dr Nagpaul, currently chair of the organisations GP committee, said the general election was a wake-up call and called Ms Mays failure to enlarge her majority a public rejection of austerity.

We are a rich nation, we are a civilised society, the public deserve a safe, civilised health service. We cannot and must not accept anything less, he said.

Those that provide care are scapegoated, such as the Prime Ministers shameless attempt this year to blame GPs for hospital winter pressures.

However some other doctors, including current BMA council chair Dr Mark Porter, disagreed with the motion, saying the difficulties faced by the health service are a result of bad organisation rather than a deliberate attempt to pave the way for further privatisation.

Dr Grant Ingrams, a GP, told the meeting the current state of the NHS is not due to political conspiracy, but is due to political cock-ups, with Dr Porter suggesting government incompetence was behind recent failings.

Opening the meeting, Dr Porter warned patients are being belittled and bewildered as access to NHS care is worsening.

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Show all 6 1 /6 Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves The elderly We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population, Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs Jeremy Hunt has called for a honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called very serious problems at some hospitals by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunts plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Simon Stevens, head of NHS England Reports that key members of Ms Mays team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Previous health policy, not funding In an interview with Sky Newss Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been ducked by government over the years. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a humanitarian crisis and said health funding was at record levels. We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need, said the Prime Minister. They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in. But doctors accused Ms May of being in denial about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise  introduced by Tony Blairs government in 2000  should only be for those who actually need it. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had less stringent rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves No one Mr Hunt was accused of hiding from the public eye following news of the Red Crosss comments and didnt make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying the public will want to know, Mr Hunt. Sorry Beth, Ive answered questions about this already, replied Mr Hunt. But you didnt answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didnt want to water it down. Is that what youre saying? said Ms Rigby. Its very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then wont answer the question, Mr Hunt. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in. Getty

A survey conducted by the BMA ahead of the conference found that 82 per cent of people are worried about the future of the NHS, and three in five said they expect the NHS to get worse in the coming years.

Three quarters of those surveyed said they thought the number of services on offer will be reduced and 83 per cent said they believed that waiting times would increase.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: While of course there are pressures on the front line, the Government has invested record funding in the NHS. Thanks to the hard work of staff, public satisfaction is now the highest it has been in all but three of the last 20 years.
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Gordon Wilson led the Scottish National Party throughout its turbulent 1980s, helping the party move from the fringes to the mainstream of Scottish politics before handing the reins in 1990 to Alex Salmond.

Wilson also sat in Westminster for the SNP from 1974-87, where he spoke out passionately on behalf of Scottish independence. He was perhaps best known for coining the phrase "It's Scotland's oil!", which became the party's campaign battle cry. The slogan could be seen on buses, car stickers, T-shirts and mugs as Scots laid claim to the North Sea oil off their shores.

No more shall Scotland take her orders, policies, instructions from London, he once said. We are a nation. Soon we shall become one of the free nations of the world.

Recommended Sturgeon admits plan for second independence vote has backfired

A lawyer by profession, Mr Wilson also spent some of his spare time as a pirate radio presenter, pioneering Radio Free Scotland from his flat by muscling in on a BBC radio frequency. The station became a significant and popular outlet for the nationalist movement. He was seen as a unifying figure in a divided party and was credited with professionalising the SNP by whipping its bickering factions into shape. Although by then not directly involved in the SNP, the 2014 independence referendum was his dream, although the result was not as he wanted.

Born in Govan on Glasgow's Clydeside in 1938, Robert Gordon Wilson was the son of Robert Wilson, a butcher's delivery van driver. After his parents moved to the Isle of Man to run a boarding house, young Gordon, as he was always known, attended Douglas High School on the island before studying Law at the University of Edinburgh and working as a solicitor for the firm TF Reid in Paisley, Glasgow. It was at university in 1959 that he joined the SNP, at a time when the aim of the party's candidates was usually to retain their deposits rather than win seats.

He worked his way up through the ranks of the party, finally becoming leader (chairman) in 1979. After several poor performances in the general elections of 1983 and 1987, the party picked up with the victory of Jim Sillars in the Glasgow Govan by-election of 1988. After standing down as SNP leader in 1990, Wilson stood unsuccessfully in the 1999 European Parliament elections.

In the last couple of years, while no less passionately nationalist, Wilson was critical of the current party policies. He said any second independence reference would be a waste of time in the present climate, although he predicted one five or 20 years away.

Having retired to Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Wilson served as rector of Dundee University for three years. He was an avid vegetable grower and enjoyed sailing his boat Saorsa (Gaelic for freedom) on the Firth of Tay. A devout Christian, he warned his party against legalising gay marriage, saying it might erode support for independence. Strongly anti-EU, he supported Brexit in contrast to the majority of Scots.

Wilson wrote several books relating to the SNP, including The Turbulent Years: 1960-1990, Scotland: The Battle for Independence and Pirates of the Air about Radio Free Scotland.

Gordon Wilson died from prostate cancer in the Roxburghe House hospice in Dundee. He is survived by his wife Edith, their daughters Kate and Margaret, and five grandchildren.

Gordon Wilson, lawyer and SNP leader; born 16 April 1938, died 25 June 2017
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They were known as the illegals: men and women who adopted the identities of the dead and worked as priests, poets, actors and inventors, quietly gathering intelligence for the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Based in American suburbs and European capitals, they spent up to two decades developing the trust of their neighbours and employers while stealing information about nuclear weapons, missile systems, Western intelligence efforts and political intrigue.

At the helm of their organisation, a secretive wing of the KGB known as Directorate S, was a balding man with the rank of major general and the name of Yuri Drozdov. A square-jawed Second World War veteran who led assaults in Afghanistan and helped arrange a high-profile spy exchange in 1960s Berlin, he oversaw the KGBs illegals programme  its name distinguished it from the agencys legal programme, in which agents maintained diplomatic connections to the motherland  from 1979 until 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

It was the apex of an intelligence career that spanned nearly the entire Cold War, from a stint in Berlin to an undercover position in China at the start of the Cultural Revolution. Yet despite spending much of his career behind the scenes, Drozdov was not afraid to involve himself in wet affairs, the KGB euphemism for assassinations, beatings, poison-tipped umbrella murders and similar acts of dirty tricks.

Drozdov led KGB forces in the December 1979 assault on the palace of the Afghan president Hafizullah Amin: a 43-minute surprise attack that resulted in Amins death and launched the Soviet invasion. The operation resulted in the deaths of 55 Soviet operatives, 37 in a plane crash, and 180 Afghans. One Russian leader later described the attack as perfect and absolutely unprecedented.

Several days after the battle, Drozdov recommended that the then-KGB leader Yuri Andropov create a new special forces unit within the agency, allowing it to professionalise its wet-affairs operations. Known by the name Vympel (pennant), the unit was created under Drozdov in 1981, performing operations in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Drozdov focused mainly on the illegals programme in later years, identifying recruits (wunderkinds, he called them) capable of excelling in the programmes long training regime. We have our process of raising them, he said in 2010. You have your Dr Spock method; we have our own ways.

Jason Matthews, a former CIA officer in Europe and Asia who writes spy thrillers, said the illegals programme was similar to that of the TV series The Americans. KGB leaders such as Drozdov would develop fictional identities known as legends for each illegal and scour cemeteries to find the names of dead children whose birth years closely matched those of the agents. Some agents were assigned official wives to help them blend in.

The technique was time-consuming and not always productive, Matthews said, and for those reasons was not used by the CIA. Can you imagine the director of PR telling any Western officer: Youve got to go to China and live with a wife weve selected for you for 20 years?

Undercover illegals were discovered in the US as recently as June 2010, when 10 spies were arrested by the FBI in Boston, New York, New Jersey and Arlington, Virginia. Six were using the names of dead people, and all 10 were sent to Russia later that year, in a spy swap for four Russians convicted of aiding the West.

Yuri Ivanovich Drozdov was born in Minsk in 1925. His father had served in the tsarist army, and Drozdov served in the Soviet army towards the end of the Second World War.

He joined the KGB in 1956 and was initially based in East Germany, where he refined his language skills and claimed to have studied at a theatre school to learn the art of impersonation.

Drozdov played a minor role arranging the 1962 trade of Gary Powers, the US spy-plane pilot whose plane had gone down in the Soviet Union, for the convicted Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, a member of the illegals programme who had stolen nuclear secrets from the United States. In a scene that inspired Steven Spielbergs 2015 film Bridge of Spies, Drozdov stood on a bridge between Berlin and East Germany as Abel returned to the Soviet side.

Drozdov went to the US in 1975, taking charge of the intelligence station in New York before being named head of Directorate S. He seemed to retain a fondness for Americans, with whom he collaborated in business after the fall of the Soviet Union. His company, Namacon (sometimes spelled Namakon), provided political analysis. At one point it made plane tyres before securing a niche finding office space and performing background checks for Western businesses in Russia.

Skills learned as a spy came in handy, he said: In my KGB career I had much experience at getting enemies to do my will, and I thought this would be very useful in business.

Yuri Drozdov, soldier and intelligence officer, born 19 September 1925, died 21 June 2017

 Washington Post
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An aspiring model and her cousin were celebrating her 21st birthday when they had acid thrown their faces.

Resham Khan was out driving with 37-year-old Jameel Muhktar, when they suffered an unprovoked attack at traffic lights in Beckton, East London.

Both fear they are now scarred for life.

The pain was excruciating, Ms Khan wrote on Twitter. My cousin struggled to get us away. I saw my clothes burn away in front of me."

She added: He put his foot down as we were coming onto a dual carriage way but the pain took over and we crashed. We stripped off in the middle of the road, running around screaming and begging for water. We did this for 45 minutes. No ambulance came.

The pair were driven to hospital by a passer-by and were transferred to a specialist burns unit.

Ms Khan, a Business Management student, had just spent nine months studying in Cyprus and was preparing to enter the workplace. She had not seen her cousin in two years.

Resham Khan suffered burns to her face and body (GoFundMe)

Ms Khan said her old self was gone forever.

A fundraising page set up by fellow students to support Ms Khan said she feels as though her identity has been stolen from her.

It added: The scars Resham and Jameel will carry will last a life time.

Ms Khan suffered damage to her left eye and was burned across her face and body, needing a skin graft, according to the fundraiser.

Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back Show all 12 1 /12 Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 93113.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 101597.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 93109.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 94690.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 94664.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 94677.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 94650.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 101598.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 94671.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 94676.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 94709.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Photo essay: Acid attack survivors fight back 93114.jpg Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid

Mr Muhktar was reportedly placed in an induced coma and suffered burns across his head, face and body, damage to his eye and also needed a skin graft.

A Met Police spokesman said: "Both victims have suffered burn injuries described as life-changing. It is believed the victims were inside a parked car when a man approached and threw a corrosive substance through the open window."

The car made off pursued by the suspect on foot before it collided with a fence. The suspect made off.
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A man has died and four others are fighting for their lives in hospital after taking what is believed to be a form of MDMA over the weekend.

An urgent warning was issued after seven people became seriously ill after taking the super-strong MDMA crystals.

Greater Manchester Police said the drug, which is thought to be known locally as pink champagne or magic and comes in dyed-pink crystal form, is highly potent.

Seven revellers have been hospitalised in total. Four men became extremely ill on Saturday and had to be taken to hospital. While two of them were released, the other two stayed in intensive care.

On top of this, an additional three people from Oldham were transported to hospital on Sunday. The group included two men and a woman and all three were fighting for their lives  with the woman and one of the men in a critical condition and the other male in a serious condition.

Greater Manchester Police said a 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs and is still in custody for questioning.

Police said warning signs to be wary of included rigid muscles, shallow breathing, a rapidly racing pulse, foaming at the mouth, unconsciousness and hyper-aggression.

Detective Inspector Jim Faulkner of Oldham said the mounting number of people affected is causing the police force no end of concern.

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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. 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He said: Please, if you believe that you or somebody you know has taken the drug and begins showing these symptoms then get yourselves to the hospital immediately."

We have arrested one man in connection with the supply of the drugs  however, our enquiries and operational activity will be continuing.

Online drugs forum experts have urged people to steer clear of the lethal crystals and some raised alarm bells they could include a mixture of speed and brown heroin. The pink crystals are thought to be a new strain that even experienced drug users have been unable to recognise.

Anybody with information that could assist the investigation should contact police on 0161 856 9063 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

More Follows...

Additional reporting by Press Association
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Britain's largest and post powerful warship set sail for the first time today, after its construction was marred by delays and cost overruns, in addition to doubts over whether the Royal Navy will be able to afford the full capacity of fighters.

Naval staff and contractors lined the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth as the 280-metre, 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier moved from Rosyth out into the Firth of Forth on Monday in a three-hour operation.

The behemoth, which is set to be the nation's future flagship, and her 700-strong ship's company will undertake her maiden sea trials over the summer.

In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth HMS Queen Elizabeth Work continues on HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier at Rosyth Docks PA In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth HMS Queen Elizabeth Workers pass scaffolding poles to each other on the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth Reuters In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth HMS Queen Elizabeth A worker sweeps in front of HMS Queen Elizabeth Reuters In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth HMS Queen Elizabeth A view of the take off the ramp on the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier at Rosyth Docks PA In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth HMS Queen Elizabeth Construction work in the hanger of HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier at Rosyth Docks PA In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth HMS Queen Elizabeth Workmen carry out maintenance in a nearby dry dock as work continues on HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier at Rosyth Docks in Fife PA In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth HMS Queen Elizabeth A welder works on HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier at Rosyth Docks PA In pictures: construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth HMS Queen Elizabeth Construction workers carry materials in the hanger of HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier at Rosyth Docks PA

The vast vessel's journey to sea was a major operation, where timing was key.

After waiting until high tide to leave the naval dockyard, the carrier then waited for the tide to drop so it could pass under the Firth's famous bridges.

Speaking before the maiden voyage, commanding officer Captain Jerry Kyd said: "We have to be very careful, but you practise it and drill it and rehearse it to make sure we could do it safely in a timely fashion because the tide waits for no man."

In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers Last year Japan unveiled a new $1.2bn warship, its largest since the Second World War AP/KYODO NEWS In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth, the UKs 3bn attempt to keep up with US WIKIMEDIA/CHRISPAD34E In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers A grainy image uploaded via Google as an open source picture, and circulated throughout blogs across the world, this is thought to be part of a huge new class of Chinese carrier GOOGLE In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers An artist's drawing of the USS Gerald R. Ford, to replace the Nimitz in around 2016. With a displacement of 112,000 tons, it will be the biggest warship in the world US NAVY In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers The Japanese competition for naval domination, the former Varyag aircraft carrier, renamed the Liaoning by the Chinese navy once they bought it, will be used as a training vessel for a new class US NAVY In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers One of Europe's largest aircraft carriers, but at 858ft and 42,000 tons displacement, it is still much smaller than anything the US can offer. Notably a similar length (if a lot heavier) to the new Izumo US NAVY In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers The Arleigh Burke class destroyer - the US's current type for its size. With a length of 505ft (154m) it is significantly smaller than the Izumo US NAVY In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers The 10 Nimitz class aircraft carriers are the largest in the world. At around 1,092ft (332,8m) and a displacement of 110,000 tons, they are the current kings of the ocean. US NAVY In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers A size comparison between the USS George Washington, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier, and the current largest Japanese offering, the Hyuga class, on the right US NAVY In pictures: The world's biggest aircraft carriers The world's biggest aircraft carriers The Zumwalt class is the future of destroyers, as envisioned by the US Navy. It will include a hybrid energy system with an electric engine that could one day be used for futuristic laser weaponry. It will combine the functions of a surface battleship and a naval-combat submarine. US NAVY

For the next six weeks, the aircraft carrier will head to the North Sea for sea trials, with flight trials due to begin off the eastern coast of the United States in October 2018.

It is expected to be monitored by Russian submarines, ships and planes.

Captain Kyd said: "After that we're going back out for a further three weeks to test the ship on the more war-fighting capabilities - the radars, all the ship's sensors, radios and things like that.

"At the end of that period we know that all the basics work. She's done her test drive and after that we will go down to Portsmouth, the ship's home, and get her finally ready to join the Royal Navy fleet, hopefully at the end of the year."

She is scheduled to be operational by 2020.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth under construction in Rosyth dockyard in Scotland (AFP/Getty Images)

Royal Navy Leading Hand Claire Butler is presented with the first 'cap tally' for being the first crew member to board new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (PA)

But the HMS Queen Elizabeth has faced significant setbacks during its construction.

The ship has taken more than eight years to build at a cost of 3.5bn.

The Royal Navy's second new carrier, the Prince of Wales, will follow in two years' time, and together the ships will cost over 6bn - making them the most expensive project in the Navy's history.

Although each carrier can hold 36 F-35B stealth jets and four helicopters, there are concerns the defence budget won't allow the Navy to put a full complement of fighters on board.

To meet the shortfall, the Royal Navy will allow the US Marines to fly their own F-35Bs from the carriers, though the number is still under discussion.

Critics have also claimed the carriers are too vulnerable to new high-speed missiles, such as the Russian Zircon missile.

During her estimated 50-year working life, HMS Queen Elizabeth could be pressed into action for various work such as high intensity war fighting or providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief anywhere in the world.
Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

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A Muslim man has reportedly been knocked out and his home spray-painted with racist phrases that echo tweets written by Katie Hopkins.

The 42-year-old man from Yorkshire was hit on the head with an instrument after intruders entered his home via the back door, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner reported.

He was drilling a broken bathroom door handle and wearing earphones as they approached him and knocked him unconscious, the newspaper said.

He said he suffered mild concussion as a result.

The IT project manager told the Examiner: My back was turned and I didnt hear a single thing.

A couple of minutes later I woke up with a sore head and I felt a bump on the back of it. Then the adrenaline kicked in.

I knew someone must have hit me so I dialled 999. I wasnt sure if they were still here because I hadnt even checked downstairs yet.

The police and ambulance were on their way so I made my way outside  thats when I saw the graffiti on the walls above the staircase.

I was in shock  I wondered if it was real.

Muslim man comforts elderly Jewish woman in symbol of Manchester unity Show all 4 1 /4 Muslim man comforts elderly Jewish woman in symbol of Manchester unity Muslim man comforts elderly Jewish woman in symbol of Manchester unity A Jewish woman named Renee Rachel Black and a Muslim man named Sadiq Patel react next to floral tributes in Albert Square REUTERS Muslim man comforts elderly Jewish woman in symbol of Manchester unity REUTERS Muslim man comforts elderly Jewish woman in symbol of Manchester unity REUTERS Muslim man comforts elderly Jewish woman in symbol of Manchester unity REUTERS

He said the graffiti read, Pakis out. We need a final solution #Machester (sic).

The words echoed those written by former LBC radio host and Daily Mail columnist Katie Hopkins after 22 people were killed by a radical extremist in Manchester last month.

Police reportedly asked him to keep the other graffiti private to minimise the risk of it being repeated by extremists.

The man, who has lived in the area for six years and is married, said he had no idea who would do this and he said the neighbours were on high alert for future attacks.

Nothing was stolen during the incident.

He was told to leave his house for two days while police investigated. The house is less than two miles from where the late MP Jo Cox was killed by Thomas Mair before the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Detective Inspector John Charlton told the newspaper that such an offence in the area was extremely rare, and that the police were taking the matter extremely seriously, increasing patrols in the area and carrying out a forensic investigation to identify the intruders.
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Philip Pullman will name a character in his next book series after a teenage girl believed to have died in the Grenfell Tower fire.

The Northern Lights author has pledged to commemorate 15-year-old Nur Huda el-Wahabi, following a bid of 1,500 in the Authors for Grenfell Tower Auction by her former teacher, James Clements.

His emotional appeal gained the attention of other bidders, who donated more funds to the cause.

Nur Huda, who will be named in the second book of the next Pullman trilogy, The Book of Dust, died in the fire earlier this month.

She and her family were among the 79 victims, and the death toll is expected to rise.

Mr Clements wrote, The real Nur Huda was an ex-pupil of mine who lived in Grenfell Tower and didnt make it out of the building that night.

"A life that was so full of promise has been cut short in the most terrible way. As well as raising some money, this would mean her name would live on. Plus, Nur Huda is a pretty cool name for a character."

Mr Clements taught Nur Huda at Thomas Jones primary school when she was nine and again when she was 11.

He added: "Please outbid me by lots though  its an important cause."

He described his former pupil to The Guardian as wonderful. Joyful, hard-working, fun and always keen to help. Her family were delightful, too.

In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementis Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire

Mr Pullman said on twitter that the auction was for a good cause. His slot has already exceeded 18,000.

Ive sold characters names before, but Im not a fast writer and sometimes people have to wait a long time to find their names in print, he told The Guardian.

The appeal has already raised more than 62,000 and the money will go to the British Red Cross London Fire Relief Fund.

 Stormzy calls out the Government "f***ery" over Grenfell Tower at Glastonbury

Auction slots include an afternoon tea at Claridges and a book reading from David Walliams  bidding has surpassed 10,000  and signed books from actors Stanley Tucci and Matilda the musical creator Tim Minchin.

Other prizes are readings, performances, advice from literary agents and writing retreats in Scotland.

The auction was launched via Twitter a week ago thanks to authors Harriet Reuter Hapgood and Sara Barnard and literary agent Molly Ker Hawn, whose 12-year-old daughter went to school with children on the Lancaster West estate where the fire happened.

The founders are confident they will surpass more than 65,000.

Another popular auction slot is a lunch and editorial report from literary agent Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown.

Bidding closes at 8pm on Tuesday with more than 650 lots open.
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Prince Harrys revelation that he was once keen to relinquish his royal title might have sparked alarm among many royalists but Republicans have expressed far less shock.

The 32-year-old, who is fifth in line for the throne, admitted he once wanted out of the royal family in an interview over the weekend. The Prince said the time he spent in the army when he was just Harry was the best escape Ive ever had.

Republic, a pressure group which campaigns for the UK monarchy to replaced with an elected, democratic head of state, told The Independent the Princes disclosure was testimony to the fact it was time for Britain to abolish the monarchy.

The campaign group argued the younger generation of royals appeared to be gaining greater self-awareness and could be considering whether they wanted to bow out of royal life for good. They also noted that being a member of the royal family often lacked a clearly defined role and could feel like something of a hollow, purposeless existence.

Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, said: There is a lot of pressure on the younger royals to go along with it all and maintain the status quo but perhaps they are gaining some self-awareness about how they look to the public.

You would hope they are a bit embarrassed by the fawning and the sycophancy and are wondering if that is what they want for their children.

He added: If Prince Harry wants to leave he should leave. I have some sympathy but its limited given a huge amount of taxpayers money is thrown at him with no great expectation.

I think there has been the perennial problem that the royal family have no clear role and no purpose. Not having a normal job must leave you a bit frustrated, having said that most of their time is spent leading a life of leisure.

The Queen and her Prime Ministers Show all 15 1 /15 The Queen and her Prime Ministers The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Liz Truss Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government in September 2022 PA The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Boris Johnson Queen Elizabeth II welcomes newly elected leader of the Conservative party, Boris Johnson during an audience where she invited him to become Prime Minister and form a new government in Buckingham Palace on July 24, 2019 in London Getty Images The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Theresa May Queen Elizabeth II meets Prime Minister Theresa May in July 2016 AFP/Getty The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and David Cameron Prime Minister David Cameron greets Queen Elizabeth II as his wife Samantha (L) and The Duke of Edinburgh (R) look on in Downing Street on June 21, 2011 Getty Images The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Gordon Brown Queen Elizabeth II greets Gordon Brown at Buckingham Palace for an audience at which he tendered his resignation as Prime Minister, on May 11, 2010 in London Getty The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Tony Blair Britains Prime Minister Tony Blair welcoming Britains Queen Elizabeth II at No 10 Downing Street in London, 29 April 2002 AFP/Getty Images The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and John Major Queen Elizabeth II speaks to former Prime Minister John Major as Lord Douro looks on as she opens the refurbished East Wing of Somerset House, on February 29, 2011 in London Getty The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher curtseys to Queen Elizabeth II as she arrives for a dinner at 10 Downing Street, London, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Prime Minister's office PA The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and James Callaghan Queen Elizabeth II welcoming Prime Minister James Callaghan and French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing for a lunch at Windsor Castle PA The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Edward Heath The Queen, Prime Minister Edward Heath and the Duke of Edinburgh (centre, background) in the foyer of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in January 1973 PA The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Harold Wilson British Prime Minister Harold Wilson shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II outside 10 Downing Street, following his resignation, London, March 24th 1976 Getty The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Alec Douglas-Home Alec Douglas-Home (second from the left) with Queen Elizabeth II and other former PMs at 10 Downing Street in December 1985 PA The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Harold Macmillan Former British prime minister Harold Macmillan (1894 - 1986) gives a speech at the inauguration ceremony of a memorial to John F Kennedy at Runnymede while Queen Elizabeth listens Getty The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Anthony Eden Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden with Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in October 1955 PA The Queen and her Prime Ministers Queen Elizabeth II and Winston Churchill Watched by Lady Churchill, Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill bows low to Queen Elizabeth II as he welcomes her and the Duke of Edinburgh to 10 Downing Street for dinner in April 1955 PA

This directly ties in with the Princes comments about being bitterly upset by being forced to leave the army in 2008 after his whereabouts were leaked by the media and his role was judged to have become a security issue. He noted in the recent interview with the Mail on Sunday: "I felt very resentful  I felt as though I was really achieving something.

The Prince, who has dedicated much of his time in recent years to charitable causes including helping wounded veterans and raising awareness of mental health, also caused a massive stir in an earlier interview last week after saying no one in the royal family wanted the throne.

We are not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people, he told Newsweek magazine. Is there any one of the royal family who wants to be king or queen? I dont think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time.

But Mr Smith disputed the notion that the Prince, who is the younger son of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales, was doing some greater good.

He said: The idea that hes carrying out the greater good is a bit rich given the country would do just as well without him. I also dont buy the idea that he has taken on some great burden on our behalf.

The campaigner argued Britain was in need of a head of state which was eager and able to perform the role, saying: We need people who have an honest, accountable relationship with the public.

Mr Smith added: I think that were coming towards the end of the Queens reign debate and I think more and more people are coming to the conclusion that its time to move on. I think theres every chance that at some point well move to a republic.

Writing on their website, Republic say they want to abolish the monarchy because hereditary public office clashes with every democratic principle.

And because we cant hold the Queen and her family to account at the ballot box, theres nothing to stop them abusing their privilege, misusing their influence or simply wasting our money, the site adds.

Meanwhile, the monarchy gives vast arbitrary power to the government, shutting voters out from major decisions affecting the national interest. The Queen can only ever act in the interests of the government of the day and does not represent ordinary voters.

The monarchy is a broken institution. A head of state thats chosen by us could really represent our hopes and aspirations  and help us keep politicians in check.
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A Canadian soldier has spoken of her pride at becoming the first female infantry officer to command troops guarding the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Captain Megan Couto, 24, has been given the prestigious role of Captain of the Queen's Guard and said modestly she would just focus on doing her job to the best of her ability.

Her Canadian unit The Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) - known as The Patricia's - has been invited to the UK to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada, which is celebrated this year.

Captain Couto said: I'm just focusing on doing my job as best I can and staying humble. Any of my peers would be absolutely delighted to be Captain of the Queen's Guard and I'm equally honoured.

Before marching with her troops from Wellington Barracks to nearby Buckingham Palace, the officer said: I'm not feeling too nervous. We've practised enough and all the guys have been through their paces - I've just to focus on saying the right commands.

The role of Mounting the Queen's Guard usually falls to the British Army's Household Division, which is largely made up of male troops.

While women in the British Army have served on frontline duties in a variety of roles, until July last year they were banned from ground close combat roles, so no female infantry officer has served as Captain of the Queen's Guard.

The Government is opening up combat roles to women over a phased three-year term.

From November last year, some units of the Royal Armoured Corps have been open to women. This change will apply to roles in the infantry of which the Queen's Foot Guards are part, which will be open to women by the end of next year.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said I have always wanted roles in our armed forces to be determined by ability, not gender.

Women have already given exemplary service in recent conflicts, working in a variety of highly specialised and vital roles. By opening all combat roles to women, we will continue to build on these successes and improve the operational capability of our military.

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

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Manitoba, Canada, was named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, daughter of the then-Governor General of Canada.

Princess Patricia had special links with Buckingham Palace, the place of her birth on March 17 1886. Her father was Prince Arthur, the third son of Queen Victoria.

Press Association

*Update. This article previously reported that Cpt Couto was the first female officer to take on the role of Captain of the Queen's Guard. In fact, she is the first female infantry officer to take the position (women in the UK not currently being allowed to serve in such frontline roles); British female officers have undertaken the role before. 27/6/17
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Protesters have set fires and clashed with riot police in north-east London in demonstrations following the death of Edir Frederico Da Costa.

Bricks were torn from walls and thrown at police and firefighters were called to put out flames in a bin near McDonald's in Romford Road, Stratford, on Sunday night.

Mr Da Costa died on 21 June, six days after he was stopped in a car by Metropolitan Police officers in Newham, east London. Campaigners alleged the 25-year-old's neck was broken and that he suffered other injuries in the stop.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation and said a preliminary post-mortem, carried out on Thursday, indicated there were no spinal injuries caused by police.

A crowd arrived at Forest Gate police station at about 8.15pm.

At least a dozen officers wearing helmets stood shoulder-to-shoulder and two-person deep at the station entrance as tempers flared, with swearing and chanting from the campaigners.

They held a calm minute's silence at 8.40pm with each person holding a clenched fist in the air. It was broken with applause, revving of motorbikes and then booming music.

Dozens of police wearing helmets and carrying shields pressed forward in a line from the police station at around 9.35pm. Members of the crowd had been screaming "no justice, no peace, no racist police''.

Some protesters carried "Black Lives Matter" signs.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA 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 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty 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

Police were still at the scene outside the station in large numbers after dark when firefighters hosed out a fire which had been set in a bin near a McDonald's in Richmond Road.

Family campaigners were insisting that the violence was not coming from them and it had been set up as a peaceful march.

Buses through Stratford station were disrupted.

After its investigation was launched, a spokesman for the IPCC said: "Mr Da Costa was detained by police officers. During this interaction it is believed police officers used force and deployed CS spray.

"Mr Da Costa became unwell, first aid was administered, an ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital. Tragically on Wednesday, 21 June, Mr Da Costa died."

Additional reporting by agencies
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Theresa May has given a gift to despots by claiming that human rights laws should not stand in the way of the fight against terrorism, a top UN chief said.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Prince Zeid Raad al-Hussein, blasted the Prime Ministers highly regrettable remarks that human rights laws should be overturned if they were to get in the way of stopping extremists.

Whatever the intention behind her remarks, they were highly regrettable, a gift from a major western leader to every authoritarian figure around the world who shamelessly violates human rights under the pretext of fighting terrorism, he said.

During the annual Grotius lecture for the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, the Prince blamed the current climate in the UK, whipped up by tabloid newspapers and fear-mongering and which put at risk laws which were enshrined after the two world wars.

Human rights law has long been ridiculed by an influential tabloid press here in the UK, feeding with relish on what it paints as the absurd findings of the European court of human rights in Strasbourg, he said, as reported by The Guardian.

This viewpoint has some resonance with a slice of the public unaware of the importance of international human rights law  often seen by far too many people as too removed from everyday life, very continental, too lawyerly, too activist, ultimately too weird.

Human rights attacks around the world Show all 10 1 /10 Human rights attacks around the world Human rights attacks around the world China Escalating crackdown against human rights activists including mass arrests of lawyers and a series of sweeping laws in the name of national security. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Egypt The arrest of thousands, including peaceful critics, in a ruthless crackdown in the name of national security, the prolonged detention of hundreds without charge or trial and the sentencing of hundreds of others to death. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Gambia Torture, enforced disappearances and the criminalisation of LGBTI people; and utter refusal to co-operate with the UN and regional human rights mechanisms on issues including freedom of expression, enforced disappearance and the death penalty. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Hungary Sealing off its borders to thousands of refugees in dire need; and obstructing collective regional attempts to help them. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Israel Maintaining its military blockade of Gaza and therefore collective punishment of the 1.8 million inhabitants there, as well as failing, like Palestine, to comply with a UN call to conduct credible investigations into war crimes committed during the 2014 Gaza conflict. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Kenya Extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and discrimination against refugees in its counter-terrorism operations; and attempts to undermine the International Criminal Court and its ability to pursue justice. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Pakistan The severe human rights failings of its response to the horrific Peshawar school massacre including its relentless use of the death penalty; and its policy on international NGOs giving authorities the power to monitor them and close them down if they are considered to be against the interests of the country. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Russia Repressive use of vague national security and anti-extremism legislation and its concerted attempts to silence civil society in the country; its shameful refusal to acknowledge civilian killings in Syria and its callous moves to block Security Council action on Syria. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Saudi Arabia Brutally cracking down on those who dared to advocate reform or criticise the authorities; and committing war crimes in the bombing campaign it has led in Yemen (pictured) while obstructing the establishment of a UN-led inquiry into violations by all sides in the conflict. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Syria Killing thousands of civilians in direct and indiscriminate attacks with barrel bombs and other weaponry and through acts of torture in detention; and enforcing lengthy sieges of civilian areas, blocking international aid from reaching starving civilians. Getty Images

He spoke against Ms Mays warning that she would restrict the freedom and movement of terrorist suspects if they were judged to be a threat, even if there was not enough evidence to prosecute them in full in court.

After recent terrorist attacks in the UK, including a bomb which killed 22 people in Manchester and the death of eight people at London Bridge, Ms May promised sweeping reforms to internet regulations in order to stamp down on extremism online.

Ms May, the former Home Secretary, has repeatedly called for the UK to leave the European court of human rights, yet the high commissioner said that British ink, reflecting an enormously rich legal tradition, is found throughout the European convention on human rights.

The high commissioner previously attacked Donald Trump for whipping up fears of immigrants.

He also blamed the Sun newspaper for publishing an article by columnist Katie Hopkins, in which she used the word cockroaches to describe migrants. He said that word was used by Naxis and despots in Rwanda and urged the UK to respect laws that curb incitement to hatred.
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EU citizens will be stripped of their right to stay in the UK after Brexit if they leave the country for two years or more, under Theresa Mays plans.

The small print of the proposed new settled status reveals it will be taken away if someone is absent from the UK for more than two years, unless they have strong ties here.

All three million EU citizens, including their families, will be required to secure the new status by the end of a two-year grace period, regardless of how long they have lived in the country.

And they will have to obtain residence documents, with the details stored on a Home Office database  condemned as ID cards through the back door by the Liberal Democrats.

The Home Office said EU nationals would need to show the document to employers and providers of public services to prove they had permission to live and work legally in the UK.

The Government may wish to introduce controls which limit the ability of EU citizens (and their families) who arrive in the UK after exit to live and work here, its policy paper said.

As such, without a residence document, current residents may find it difficult to access the labour market and services.

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, said he had written to Home Secretary Amber Rudd to find out if EU nationals would have to carry them on their person at all times.

From the description, it seems as if this is ID cards by the back door, Mr Davey said.

David Davis [the Brexit Secretary] resigned his seat and caused a by-election because he was disgusted by the assault on civil liberties by the then Labour government. What will he do this time round?

But the Prime Ministers spokesman said he did not recognise the description of identity card, adding: All it will be doing is setting out the settled status that they hold.

In the Commons, Ms May defended her proposals, saying: No families will be split up.

EU citizens who have lived in Britain for five years will be given broadly the same health, education, housing and pensions rights as those enjoyed by UK citizens.

To avoid a cliff edge when Britain leaves the EU in March 2019, there will be a two-year grace period in which to apply and be granted the new status.

And EU nationals who have lived in Britain for less than five years will be allowed to stay and build up that qualification.

But Ms May refused to reveal the cut-off date after which new arrivals will no longer enjoy rights, which could be at any point between March 2017 and March 2019.

And, crucially, she has vowed to fight the EUs demand that future rights must be guaranteed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

In her statement, Ms May said that, after Brexit, EU citizens with settled status could bring in family members from overseas if they earned enough  the current rules for UK nationals.

But that sets up a further clash with the European Commission, which insisted there should be no restrictions on close family members entering Britain.

Michael Barnier, the Commissions chief Brexit negotiator, was critical, tweeting: More ambition, clarity and guarantees needed than in todays UK position.

The document also revealed that around 150,000 EU nationals who have filled in a complex 85-page form to secure British residency will have to apply again for settled status.

The Prime Minister promised to streamline the application process, including by dropping the need for people out of work to have taken out comprehensive sickness insurance.
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Regional leaders around the UK have launched scathing attacks on the Government's deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

A "confidence and supply" agreement between the Tories and the Northern Irish party was reached just days ahead of Wednesday's crucial vote on the Queen's speech.

The DUP will support the government in motions of confidence and appropriation or budget votes, by either voting in favour or abstaining  an arrangement DUP leader Arlene Foster said would help provide "stable government".

But regional representatives were critical of the agreement, which was pursued by the Conservative party after they lost their majority in June's general election.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the deal with the DUP provided a blank cheque for Tory Brexit which threatens the peace agreement.

He added: "As they return to Ireland to meet with Sinn Fein and the other parties, the DUP should be minded of the words of Edward Carson speaking in 1921 on the Tory intrigues that had led him on a course that would partition Ireland: "What a fool I was. I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in that political game that was to get the Conservative party into power.

Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party's Westminster Leader, Ian Blackford, said Scotland was being offered "little more than scraps from the table" under the deal.

After weeks of secret backroom negotiations, the Tories have now signed a grubby deal with the DUP," he said. "For years the Tories have been cutting budgets and services, but suddenly they have found a magic money tree to help them stay in power.

The financial aspects of this deal entirely sum up how little the Tories care about Scotland  while a billion pounds is being handed over to Northern Ireland, Scotland is seemingly to be offered little more than scraps from the table. The claim is being made that the funding being made available is a recognition of Northern Irelands special circumstances  but if there was any true appreciation of those circumstances there would be no deal at all with the DUP."

He added: This was the first big test of the new Scottish Tory MPs, but despite all of their bluster, they clearly have no authority and no influence  and now they have no credibility.

Ruth Davidson said they would stand up for Scotland  but instead they have bowed down to their Westminster bosses and sold Scotland out so they can cling to power.

SNP MPs will demand Scotland gets it fair share of any funding that is going to Northern Ireland  the Scottish Tory MPs should join us in standing up for Scotland and making sure that we get our fair share.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA 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 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty 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

Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones accused the Prime Minister was "ignoring the rest of the UK" by allying with the Northern Irish Party.

"Only last week we were told that the priority was to build a more united country, strengthening the social, economic and cultural bonds between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales,'" he said.

"This deal flies in the face of that commitment and further weakens the UK, and as currently drafted all but kills the idea of fair funding for the nations and regions.

"It is outrageous that the prime minister believes she can secure her own political future by throwing money at Northern Ireland whilst completely ignoring the rest of the UK."

He added: "This is a short-term fix which will have far-reaching and destabilising consequences."
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The Tories have dropped changes to the triple lock for pensions and winter fuel payments in order to secure a deal for a with the Northern Irish DUP for a working majority.

Theresa May said the DUP and the Conservative Party "share many values" and the agreement was "a good one".

Outside Downing Street, the DUP leader, Arlene Foster, said a 1.5bn funding package for Northern Ireland has been secured as part of the deal.

Recommended Deal struck with DUP to keep May in power with working majority

The money will be used to boost the region's economy and invest in new infrastructure, health, education and other sectors, she said.

She added that the funding would "address the unique circumstances" of Northern Ireland and the impact on its people.

UK-wide, the pensions triple lock will also stay in place and there will be no means-testing of winter payments.

The DUP and Conservatives have also agreed that a Nato commitment to spending 2 per cent of GDP on the armed forces will be adhered to, and that the Armed Forces' covenant will be fully implemented in Northern Ireland.

UK Election Day 2017 Show all 38 1 /38 UK Election Day 2017 UK Election Day 2017 Door of Number 10 Downing Street is seen on the morning after Britain's election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in north London after he called on the Prime Minister to resign, saying she should "go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country" PA UK Election Day 2017 Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell arrives at Labour Headquarters on June 9, 2017 in London, England. After a snap election was called by Prime Minister Theresa May the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday. The closely fought election has failed to return a clear overall majority winner and a hung parliament has been declared Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 Caroline Lucas, co-leader of Britain's Green Party, speaks after retaining her seat in the general election, in Brighton REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Patrons watch the results for Britain's election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Leader of the Liberal democrats Tim Farron celebrates beating Conservative party candidate James Airey (R) following the announcement of the results at the Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency count at Kendal Leisure Centre on June 9, 2017 in Kendal, United Kingdom. After a snap election was called, the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday following a closely fought election. The results from across the country are being counted and an overall result is expected in the early hours Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 Paul Nuttal, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party reacts after failing to win the seat of Boston and Skegness at the counting centre for Britain's general election in Boston REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrives at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, as counting is under way for the General Election. PA UK Election Day 2017 Anna McMorrin hugs Jo Stevens MP after winning Cardiff North for Labour at the Sport Wales National Centre on June 9, 2017 in Cardiff, United Kingdom. After a snap election was called, the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday following a closely fought election. The results from across the country are being counted and an overall result is expected in the early hours Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 Vince Cable wins the Twickenham election for the Liberal Democrats. Richmond and Twickenham election Rex Features UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn rubs his face after arriving for the declaration at his constituency in London AP UK Election Day 2017 Emily Thornberry speaks after holding her Islington South and Finsbury seat at the Sobell Leisure Centre in Islington, north London PA UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May listens as the declaration at her constituency is made for in the general election in Maidenhead, England, Friday, June 9, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May's gamble in calling an early election appeared Friday to have backfired spectacularly, after an exit poll suggested her Conservative Party could lose its majority in Parliament AP UK Election Day 2017 Labour Party candidate Emily Thornberry smiles at a counting centre for BritainaAAs general election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 A picture shows the Elizabeth Tower, commonly referred to as Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament in central London on June 8, 2017, on the night of Britain's general election. Prime Minister Theresa May is poised to win Britain's snap election but lose her parliamentary majority, a shock exit poll suggested on June 8, in what would be a major blow for her leadership as Brexit talks loom AFP/Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 DUP candidate for Lagan Valley Jeffrey Donaldson celebrates following his election at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn as counting is under way for the General Election PA UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd attends the count for her seat at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Hastings REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for BritainaAAs general election in London Reuters UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in blue, representing the Conservative Party, after the first exit polls announced in Britain's general election AP UK Election Day 2017 Election officials count votes in the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in red, the color of the Labour Party, after first exit polls of Britain's national election announced in London AP UK Election Day 2017 BBC Television centre is illuminated with the exit poll results for Britains general election Eddie Keogh/Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Labours Bridget Phillipson (centre) smiles after being announced as the winner of the election for the constituency of Houghton and Sunderland South at a counting centre Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Members of the election staff prepare to count ballots, in Theresa Mays constituency in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Ballot papers are checked ahead of the count at the Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency count at Kendal Leisure Centre Getty UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for Britains general election in Kendal Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Theresa May arrives to vote at a polling station in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his ballot at a polling station in north London EPA UK Election Day 2017 Lib Dems leader Tim Farron outside a polling station at Stonecross Manor Hotel in Kendal, Cumbria PA UK Election Day 2017 The leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) Paul Nuttall arrives to vote at a polling station in Congleton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon with her husband Peter Murrell (left) the CEO of the SNP after casting their votes at a polling station at Broomhouse Community Hall, Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 Caroline Lucas, co-leader of Britains Green Party, arrives with her husband Richard Savage, to vote in Brighton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 An advertising van showing caricatures of Tim Farron, Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Paul Nuttall with the message who will be looking for a new job as Britain goes to the polls to elect a new government Rex UK Election Day 2017 Performers pose with puppet caricatures of Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party Tim Farron and leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, in front of the Palace of Westminster Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Dogs wait for their owner outside a polling station in Penally, Wales Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Police officers speak with a Labour Party activist outside a polling station in London AP UK Election Day 2017 Benedictine nuns from Tyburn Convent leave after voting in Britain's general election at a polling station in St John's Parish Hall, London AP UK Election Day 2017 A polling station sign is seen on a telephone box outside the polling station at Rotherwick Hall, west of London Getty

"Our aim in these negotiations has been to deliver for all of the people of Northern Ireland," Ms Foster said.

"And the support measures which we are announcing will be to the benefit of all our people."

The DUP leader said the financial support would be made up of 1bn in new funding over the coming two years, as well as "new flexibility" in almost 500m already committed to the region.

Ms Foster said she would return to Northern Ireland for talks aimed at restoring a powersharing executive in Stormont, which was collapsed by Sinn Fein earlier this year amid a growing rift between the party and the DUP.

Both sides have until the end of the week to do a deal.

"Now, more than ever, our political leaders both locally and nationally need to work together to find solutions for all of the people we serve," added Ms Foster.

 Theresa May responds to John Major criticism over DUP deal

The agreement restates the Government's support for the Belfast Agreement and the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland.

And it seeks to allay concerns over the Government's neutrality in negotiations, by saying that the DUP will have "no involvement in the UK Government's role in political talks in Northern Ireland".

Under the terms of the agreement, the Government has agreed to guarantee that cash support for Northern Irish farming will continue at the same level until the end of the Parliament in 2022, as the UK goes through Brexit.
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Theresa May has finally secured a costly deal with the Northern Irish DUP to prop up her weakened government following weeks of painstaking negotiations.

Early indications showed Ms May had been forced to ditch election manifesto commitments, promise 1bn of extra spending and even lucrative new tax powers to Northern Ireland to secure the DUP's support.

Documents revealed that the deal will be reviewed after two years, giving the DUP the chance to make further demands of the UK Government if the Conservatives wish to continue the arrangement past 2019.

The Prime Minister claimed the agreement would be a "very, very good one", despite a backlash from other parts of the UK and concern that tying her government to the socially conservative DUP will drag the country further to the political right.

After a round of talks at Downing Street between Ms May and DUP leader Arlene Foster, the Prime Minister said prosperity, security, Brexit and the value of the union were key to the deal.

She said: "So the agreement we have come to is a very, very good one, and we look forward to working with [the DUP]."

But it was DUP leader Ms Foster who gave more detail outside Downing Street, telling reporters both parties now agreed there will be no change to the pensions triple lock and the universal nature of the winter fuel payment, things Ms May had pledged to change at the election.

 Why the DUP is so controversial

She also said the Tories had now recognised the case for higher funding in Northern Ireland including for large infrastructure projects.

She said: "Our aim in these negotiations has been to deliver for all of the people of Northern Ireland and the support measures which we are announcing will be to the benefit of all our people."

Details later published by the Government showed Downing Street has promised 200m extra per year for two years to pay for new infrastructure and a further 75m per year for boosting broadband.

The DUP also squeezed Ms May for an extra 50m per year to address "immediate pressures" on health and education spending in Northern Ireland, plus an extra 100m per year for a broader "health service transformation".

Finally there is a commitment for the UK Government to hand an extra 10m per year for five years to Northern Ireland to pay for mental health provision and 20m every year over the same period to target "pockets of severe deprivation".

A Whitehall paper also revealed that new more flexible spending rules will be implemented to allow more scope over how devolved funding can be spent.

 Theresa May responds to John Major criticism over DUP deal

The note also pointed to a major handing-over of tax powers, saying: "The UK Government notes that one of the first tasks for the new executive will be to work towards the devolution of corporation tax rates, the timetable for its introduction, and how this might best be flexibly managed, with options being developed for Autumn Budget 2017."

Ms Foster also explained that both parties are agreed on the need to meet the Nato commitment of spending 2 per cent of GDP on the armed forces and fulfil the Armed Forces Covenant.

The agreement was signed by Tory chief whip Gavin Williamson and the DUP's Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, while Ms May and Ms Foster, along with Damian Green and Nigel Dodds, watched on.

Ms May has been forced to assure her MPs that the deal will not affect the Government's stance on LGBT rights, given that DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr, son of the partys founder, has previously called homosexuality "immoral, offensive and obnoxious" and said he was "repulsed" by gays and lesbians.

 Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams warns of prospective DUP government deal

The party once even championed a campaign called "Save Ulster from Sodomy".

Labour Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones said: "Todays deal represents a straight bung to keep a weak prime minister and a faltering government in office."

After the deal was signed the Prime Minister urged parties to come together and reach agreement to re-establish a powersharing executive by June 29 in Northern Ireland, where Sinn Fein has claimed the DUP breaches the Good Friday Agreement.

Ms May said: "I hope the parties will look beyond their differences and come together with a shared sense of common purpose to serve all communities in the best interests of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland needs a functioning devolved government at this important time.

"Her Majesty's Government will continue to do everything we can to work with the parties in Northern Ireland, alongside the Irish Government, to bring back a strong voice at Stormont for a positive future for everyone in Northern Ireland."
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Former Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers endured a torrid interview on live radio during which she repeatedly refused to answer a question about the legitimacy of the Government's deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Prime Minister Theresa May secured a supply and confidence" deal with the Northern Irish party, which will support the government in motions of confidence and appropriation or budget votes, by either voting in favour or abstaining.

In return the party secured 1bn of extra funding, which will be spent on infrastructure and health spending.

Ms Villiers refused to say whether funding had ever previously been granted to the historically troubled region in exchange for votes.

 DUP announce agreement to form minority government with Tories

Northern Irelands power sharing agreement  drawn up because of its turbulent recent history  means the Westminster government is supposed to remain neutral in regional affairs.

It was pointed out to Ms Villiers by LBC presenter James OBrien pointed out that as the DUP had secured the extra funding, they would be able to present it to voters as their achievement  thereby raising the prospect that the Conservative government has breached its impartiality.

Ms Villiers was asked numerous times about the legitimacy of the funding, given it was contingent on votes.

Mr OBrien said: Can you remember any occasion in the history of Northern Ireland when one side of Stormont have been given money in exchange for votes in Westminster?

She replied: There have been occasions when individual political parties have asked for support for particular projects in Westminster.

Mr OBrien said: "That's not the question I'm asking, is it?"

She replied: "Well that's the answer I'm giving you."

The deal, struck in 10 Downing Street 18 days after the General Election, also saw the Conservatives formally ditch plans to abolish the triple-lock protection for state pensions and means-test the winter fuel payment during this Parliament.

Under the deal, intended to last for the full Parliament, the DUP guarantees that its 10 MPs will vote with the Government on the Queen's Speech, the Budget, and legislation relating to Brexit and national security.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA 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 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty 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 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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. 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Together with the 317 Tory MPs remaining after Mrs May's disastrous decision to call a snap election, this will give the Prime Minister just enough MPs to clear the 326 level required for an absolute majority in the House of Commons, ensuring her victory in key divisions.

Speaking after talks in Number 10 with DUP leader Arlene Foster, Mrs May said the two parties "share many values" and the agreement was "a very good one".

Mrs Foster said she was "delighted" with a package which includes 1 billion of new funding for infrastructure and health spending, along with enhanced flexibility on almost 500 million of previously allocated cash.

But there were immediate demands for other parts of the UK to receive similar largesse, with Plaid Cymru saying Wales should be entitled to 1.7 billion on a population-weighted basis.

Additional reporting by Press Association.
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Tens of thousands of EU nationals who filled in a complex 85-page form to secure British residency after Brexit will have to apply again, it has emerged.

They will not be able to transfer their rights to the new category of settled status, planned by Theresa May in what she called a generous offer to EU citizens.

Instead, they will have to pay to apply a second time, the detailed proposals unveiled today by the Home Office reveal.

Officials have promised to streamline the much-criticised application process, including by dropping the need for people out of work to have taken out comprehensive sickness insurance.

However, the requirement to re-apply is certain to cause resentment among EU nationals who went through the nightmare process of taking out residency at a cost of 65, plus hefty legal costs.

In March, it was revealed that 135,000 had done so  by proving they have been living and working in the UK for the past five years, providing documents for every occasion they have left during in that period.

A 15-page document released today adds little to the announcement made by Ms May last week  which was immediately criticised as inadequate by EU leaders.

Settled status will allow EU citizens to stay if they have lived here for five years, securing rights on healthcare, education and benefits broadly similar to those enjoyed by EU citizens in the UK currently.

But Ms May refused to reveal the cut-off date after which new arrivals will no longer be guaranteed the status, leaving many people uncertain of their UK residency.

And, crucially, she has vowed to fight the EUs demand that future rights must be guaranteed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ)  a certain flashpoint over the months to come.

On Friday, Donald Tusk, the European Councils President, said: The UKs offer is below our expectations and risks worsening the situation for our citizens.

The rejection suggests the Prime Minister will have to go back to the drawing board in order to get talks going on future trade after Brexit.
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Gerry Adams has said the deal between the Conservatives and Northern Ireland's DUP "provides a blank cheque for a Tory Brexit which threatens the Good Friday Agreement."

The President of Sinn Fein previously said he told Theresa May she is in breach of the Agreement when he met the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street.

In a statement to reporters outside afterwards, Mr Adams said: "We told her very directly that she was in breach of the Good Friday Agreement, and we itemised those matters in which she was in default in relation to that agreement."

He also confirmed they had also discussed the possibility of a referendum on Irish unity.

 Sinn Fein claim Theresa May was in 'direct breach' of Good Friday Agreement

In a statement released after Ms May secured a deal with the DUP to prop up her Government, Mr Adams said: "The price of today's DUP-Tory deal is DUP support for continued Tory Austerity and cuts to public services.

"It provides a blank cheque for a Tory Brexit which threatens the Good Friday Agreement."

He added: "Sinn Fein will vigorously pursue the rights of citizens currently being denied by the DUP and the British government.

UK Election Day 2017 Show all 38 1 /38 UK Election Day 2017 UK Election Day 2017 Door of Number 10 Downing Street is seen on the morning after Britain's election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in north London after he called on the Prime Minister to resign, saying she should "go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country" PA UK Election Day 2017 Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell arrives at Labour Headquarters on June 9, 2017 in London, England. After a snap election was called by Prime Minister Theresa May the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday. 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Prime Minister Theresa May is poised to win Britain's snap election but lose her parliamentary majority, a shock exit poll suggested on June 8, in what would be a major blow for her leadership as Brexit talks loom AFP/Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 DUP candidate for Lagan Valley Jeffrey Donaldson celebrates following his election at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn as counting is under way for the General Election PA UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd attends the count for her seat at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Hastings REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for BritainaAAs general election in London Reuters UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in blue, representing the Conservative Party, after the first exit polls announced in Britain's general election AP UK Election Day 2017 Election officials count votes in the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in red, the color of the Labour Party, after first exit polls of Britain's national election announced in London AP UK Election Day 2017 BBC Television centre is illuminated with the exit poll results for Britains general election Eddie Keogh/Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Labours Bridget Phillipson (centre) smiles after being announced as the winner of the election for the constituency of Houghton and Sunderland South at a counting centre Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Members of the election staff prepare to count ballots, in Theresa Mays constituency in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Ballot papers are checked ahead of the count at the Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency count at Kendal Leisure Centre Getty UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for Britains general election in Kendal Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Theresa May arrives to vote at a polling station in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his ballot at a polling station in north London EPA UK Election Day 2017 Lib Dems leader Tim Farron outside a polling station at Stonecross Manor Hotel in Kendal, Cumbria PA UK Election Day 2017 The leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) Paul Nuttall arrives to vote at a polling station in Congleton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon with her husband Peter Murrell (left) the CEO of the SNP after casting their votes at a polling station at Broomhouse Community Hall, Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 Caroline Lucas, co-leader of Britains Green Party, arrives with her husband Richard Savage, to vote in Brighton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 An advertising van showing caricatures of Tim Farron, Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Paul Nuttall with the message who will be looking for a new job as Britain goes to the polls to elect a new government Rex UK Election Day 2017 Performers pose with puppet caricatures of Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party Tim Farron and leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, in front of the Palace of Westminster Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Dogs wait for their owner outside a polling station in Penally, Wales Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Police officers speak with a Labour Party activist outside a polling station in London AP UK Election Day 2017 Benedictine nuns from Tyburn Convent leave after voting in Britain's general election at a polling station in St John's Parish Hall, London AP UK Election Day 2017 A polling station sign is seen on a telephone box outside the polling station at Rotherwick Hall, west of London Getty

"We are committed to equality. Sinn Fein will resolutely oppose any attempt to give preferential treatment to British forces, either in terms of legacy or the provision of public services.

If as they claim in todays agreement, both the Tories and the DUP will fully adhere fully to the Good Friday Agreement and its successors, they need to deliver on this for the political institutions can be restored.

So there is work to be done by the DUP and only limited time to do this. As they return to Ireland to meet with Sinn Fein and the other parties, the DUP should be minded of the words of Edward Carson speaking in 1921 on the Tory intrigues that had led him on a course that would partition Ireland: What a fool I was. I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in that political game that was to get the Conservative party into power.
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Schools and hospitals have been ordered to carry out checks on their buildings to determine whether any have used potentially flammable cladding of the type used on Grenfell Tower.

The Government has confirmed that its inquiry into the tragedy is likely to widen in scope to investigate why the use of flammable cladding appears to be widespread.

Local authorities have been briefed that they must report potential problem buildings to the Government.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed today that 75 high-rise buildings, spread between 26 local authorities, had failed fire-safety tests, as he urged more and more landlords to come forward. The Governments own testing facilities can cope with testing 100 samples a day, and are currently nowhere near capacity.

Mr Javid told the Commons: I can inform the House that as of midday today the cladding from 75 high-rise buildings in 26 local authority areas has failed the combustibility test.

He added: The combustibility test has three categories rated one to three and it is judged that cladding material in categories two or three does not meet the requirements for limited combustibility in building regulations.

I can also confirm to the House that, so far, on that basis, all samples of cladding tested have failed.

The fact that all samples so far have failed underlines the value of the testing programme and the vital importance of submitting samples urgently.

He added: I am concerned about the speed at which samples are being submitted.

I would urge all landlords to submit their samples immediately.

In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementis Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire

Labours John Healey said that a triple fire safety lock should be introduced to guarantee the standards of buildings.

The three conditions would be first to include materials fit for purpose, they would have to meet strict safety precautions and undergo regular fire-risk assessments.

Mr Healey said: We need from ministers a much more thorough review of fire safety in all of the countrys residential tower blocks, a total commitment to action to deal with any problems and a guarantee that government will help fund the costs.

And this applies also to other public buildings such as schools and hospitals over which doubts may hang.

The new Labour MP for Kensington, Emma Dent Coad, said that concerns about immigration are stopping people sleeping rough in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy from coming forward.

Ms Dent Coad asked Mr Javid to make a firm commitment that traumatised and frightened people have no fear in coming forward.

Mr Javid confirmed he had set up an an independent expert advisory panel to advise the Government on any steps that must be taken.

The Communities Secretary also announced that an extra 1m of government funds would be spent reimbursing charities for the response to the disaster.

Mr Javid said: The residents of Grenfell Tower have been through some of the most harrowing experiences imaginable and the response from local charities and volunteers has been remarkable.

This funding will mean that smaller charities and community organisations can continue to make a huge difference.

The first payments are in the process of being made and the Government will continue to do everything we can as fast as we can to support those affected by this terrible tragedy.
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Jeremy Corbyn has said he will be Prime Minister in six months, according to the founder of Glastonbury Festival.

Michael Eavis also said the Labour leader suggested he would scrap Britain's Trident nuclear defence "as soon as I can.".

Somerset Live quoted Mr Eavis telling festival-goers at a Q and A what Mr Corbyn said to him backstage, before delivering a speech on the Pyramid Stage to rapturous applause.

 Jeremy Corbyn gives a speech at Glastonbury Festival

He said Mr Corbyn told him he would be PM "in six months".

Mr Eavis said he then asked the Labour leader when he was going to get rid of Trident, and Mr Corbyn replied: "As soon as I can."

But a Labour source said Mr Eavis appeared to be "paraphrasing" a conversation with Mr Corbyn.

The future of Trident has been a major source of tension within Labour since Mr Corbyn assumed the leadership.

The party is committed to renewing the nuclear weapons system, but Labour has said it will hold a strategic defence review if its gets into power.

UK Election Day 2017 Show all 38 1 /38 UK Election Day 2017 UK Election Day 2017 Door of Number 10 Downing Street is seen on the morning after Britain's election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in north London after he called on the Prime Minister to resign, saying she should "go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country" PA UK Election Day 2017 Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell arrives at Labour Headquarters on June 9, 2017 in London, England. After a snap election was called by Prime Minister Theresa May the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday. The closely fought election has failed to return a clear overall majority winner and a hung parliament has been declared Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 Caroline Lucas, co-leader of Britain's Green Party, speaks after retaining her seat in the general election, in Brighton REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Patrons watch the results for Britain's election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Leader of the Liberal democrats Tim Farron celebrates beating Conservative party candidate James Airey (R) following the announcement of the results at the Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency count at Kendal Leisure Centre on June 9, 2017 in Kendal, United Kingdom. After a snap election was called, the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday following a closely fought election. The results from across the country are being counted and an overall result is expected in the early hours Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 Paul Nuttal, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party reacts after failing to win the seat of Boston and Skegness at the counting centre for Britain's general election in Boston REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrives at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, as counting is under way for the General Election. PA UK Election Day 2017 Anna McMorrin hugs Jo Stevens MP after winning Cardiff North for Labour at the Sport Wales National Centre on June 9, 2017 in Cardiff, United Kingdom. After a snap election was called, the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday following a closely fought election. The results from across the country are being counted and an overall result is expected in the early hours Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 Vince Cable wins the Twickenham election for the Liberal Democrats. Richmond and Twickenham election Rex Features UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn rubs his face after arriving for the declaration at his constituency in London AP UK Election Day 2017 Emily Thornberry speaks after holding her Islington South and Finsbury seat at the Sobell Leisure Centre in Islington, north London PA UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May listens as the declaration at her constituency is made for in the general election in Maidenhead, England, Friday, June 9, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May's gamble in calling an early election appeared Friday to have backfired spectacularly, after an exit poll suggested her Conservative Party could lose its majority in Parliament AP UK Election Day 2017 Labour Party candidate Emily Thornberry smiles at a counting centre for BritainaAAs general election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 A picture shows the Elizabeth Tower, commonly referred to as Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament in central London on June 8, 2017, on the night of Britain's general election. Prime Minister Theresa May is poised to win Britain's snap election but lose her parliamentary majority, a shock exit poll suggested on June 8, in what would be a major blow for her leadership as Brexit talks loom AFP/Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 DUP candidate for Lagan Valley Jeffrey Donaldson celebrates following his election at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn as counting is under way for the General Election PA UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd attends the count for her seat at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Hastings REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for BritainaAAs general election in London Reuters UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in blue, representing the Conservative Party, after the first exit polls announced in Britain's general election AP UK Election Day 2017 Election officials count votes in the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in red, the color of the Labour Party, after first exit polls of Britain's national election announced in London AP UK Election Day 2017 BBC Television centre is illuminated with the exit poll results for Britains general election Eddie Keogh/Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Labours Bridget Phillipson (centre) smiles after being announced as the winner of the election for the constituency of Houghton and Sunderland South at a counting centre Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Members of the election staff prepare to count ballots, in Theresa Mays constituency in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Ballot papers are checked ahead of the count at the Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency count at Kendal Leisure Centre Getty UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for Britains general election in Kendal Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Theresa May arrives to vote at a polling station in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his ballot at a polling station in north London EPA UK Election Day 2017 Lib Dems leader Tim Farron outside a polling station at Stonecross Manor Hotel in Kendal, Cumbria PA UK Election Day 2017 The leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) Paul Nuttall arrives to vote at a polling station in Congleton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon with her husband Peter Murrell (left) the CEO of the SNP after casting their votes at a polling station at Broomhouse Community Hall, Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 Caroline Lucas, co-leader of Britains Green Party, arrives with her husband Richard Savage, to vote in Brighton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 An advertising van showing caricatures of Tim Farron, Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Paul Nuttall with the message who will be looking for a new job as Britain goes to the polls to elect a new government Rex UK Election Day 2017 Performers pose with puppet caricatures of Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party Tim Farron and leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, in front of the Palace of Westminster Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Dogs wait for their owner outside a polling station in Penally, Wales Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Police officers speak with a Labour Party activist outside a polling station in London AP UK Election Day 2017 Benedictine nuns from Tyburn Convent leave after voting in Britain's general election at a polling station in St John's Parish Hall, London AP UK Election Day 2017 A polling station sign is seen on a telephone box outside the polling station at Rotherwick Hall, west of London Getty

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: "Jeremy and Labour are ready to fight another general election as soon as it is called. We will be campaigning to win and hope that Jeremy will be returned as prime minister. That is the case whether it's in six months, as has been speculated on, or later.

"Both Jeremy and the Labour Party have long been committed to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty which aims to achieve a nuclear-free world.

"Trident renewal is Labour policy, as spelled out in our manifesto, which Jeremy and the party were proud to stand on in the election."
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Theresa May stands accused of using at least 1bn of public money to seal a grubby deal with Northern Irish unionists that lets her cling on to power.

The cash  branded a bribe  helps save Ms Mays premiership following her botched election gamble and was found despite her having claimed during the campaign that there is no magic money tree.

But the agreement boosting health, education and infrastructure spending in Northern Ireland, as well potentially handing Belfast new tax-raising powers, faced an immediate UK-wide backlash.

Political leaders from every home nation attacked it, with one branding it a stitch-up, another calling it a shoddy little deal and others warning it threatened peace in Northern Ireland.

But Ms May insisted the bill  which could rise further  served the whole United Kingdom, while her ministers pointed out the full amount of money would only be delivered if Sinn Fein returned to power-sharing in Northern Ireland, breaking a three-month deadlock at Stormont.

Mondays announcement brought to an end weeks of painstaking talks between the Tories and the DUP, which saw sources in Northern Ireland mocking a lack of negotiating prowess on Ms Mays team.

If the Prime Minister had failed to secure the DUPs support, she may not have been able to pass a vote approving her legislative agenda, set out in the Queens Speech, leading to the likely collapse of her premiership. Combined, the Conservatives and DUP now have a total of 327 MPs, meaning if they all vote together, they have a working majority of 13.

However, as DUP leader Arlene Foster announced the deal in a speech outside 10 Downing Street, the full cost of Ms Mays continued grip on power became clear.

On top of existing spending, taxpayers across the UK will have to fork out an extra 400m for infrastructure in Northern Ireland, 350m more for health and education, another 150m for better broadband and 100m to tackle deprivation.

The cash  equivalent to an extra 537 for every person in Northern Ireland  should in theory secure Ms Mays position for the entire Parliament in Westminster, but there will be ample opportunities for the DUP to up the stakes.

Recommended This is how much extra money the DUP have extracted from Theresa May

The agreement document makes clear that the aims, principles and implementation of the deal will be up for review in 2019. Before then, support for votes on issues going beyond finance, Brexit and security matters, will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

A further 500m could also be available to Northern Ireland as the UK Government agreed to loosen spending rules constraining existing money already committed to Belfast.

Former permanent secretary to the Treasury Nick Macpherson branded it profligacy, adding on Twitter: 1bn for Ulster is just a downpayment. DUP will be back for more...again and again... They have previous in such matters.

Ms May is also being forced to bring forward plans in the next Budget to hand Stormont power to set its own corporation tax rates. There have been widespread calls in Northern Ireland to reduce the provinces corporation tax to 12.5 per cent, in line with the Republic across the border, where many of the worlds biggest companies have chosen to base themselves.

In another humiliation, Ms May was compelled to ditch a string of pledges from her Tory manifesto that the DUP did not like, including proposals to ditch the pensions triple lock and means-test the winter fuel payment.

The deal will be overseen by an all-powerful co-ordination committee, chaired by the Government, but not including Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire, who must be seen to remain politically neutral.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 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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. 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Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: The same Conservative Party which spent the recent election campaign saying there was no money available for the crisis in the NHS and schools has now found at least 1bn to buy a parliamentary majority, with some reports suggesting it could be as much as 2bn.

He added: Lets call this grubby deal what it is, this is a straightforward political bribe to desperately prop up Theresa May in office.

Labours leader in Wales Carwyn Jones branded it a straight bung to keep a weak Prime Minister and a faltering Government in office, calling it outrageous that the Prime Minister believes she can secure her own political future by throwing money at Northern Ireland while completely ignoring the rest of the UK.

Plaid Cymru's leader in Westminster also said any commitments to Northern Ireland should be matched for Wales.

Liberal Democrat outgoing leader Tim Farron said it is a shoddy little deal, adding: The nasty party is back, propped up by the DUP.

While our schools are crumbling and our NHS is in crisis, Theresa May chooses to throw cash at ten MPs in a grubby attempt to keep her Cabinet squatting in No 10.

Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon called it a grubby DUP deal to let [Theresa May] cling to power.

Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller said that Northern Ireland was continuing to take advantage of its already generous spending terms.

Even before the extra cash given to Northern Ireland, the province was already benefiting from 11,000 public spending per head of population, compared to just 8,8000 for England  how is this fair, she told the Guardian.

Attention quickly shifted on to Sinn Fein, whose participation in a power-sharing executive will be a requirement for the new funding to be allocated to Stormont.

The party had previously refused to form an administration with Ms Foster following a row over a botched green energy scheme, but they did not rule out the possibility of a return on Monday evening, even signalling there is a way forward.

Arlene Foster revealing the terms of the deal outside Downing Street (Getty)

Party president Gerry Adams said: We may be able to say well done Arlene, when we have the executive in place.

He added in a statement: There is work to be done by the DUP and only limited time to do thisthe allocation of additional funds could help to ease the enormous pressure on our public services.

The devil is in the detail.

He focused his criticism on arguments that the deal would allow for continued Tory austerity and cuts to public services and a Tory Brexit which threatens the Good Friday Agreement.

A particular sticking point could be a commitment to ensure the Armed Forces Covenant, which underpins the good treatment of British service personal, is implemented in Northern Ireland.

Mr Adams said: Sinn Fein will resolutely oppose any attempt to give preferential treatment to British forces, either in terms of legacy or the provision of public services.

If negotiators in Northern Ireland miss Thursdays deadline for a new agreement to restore devolved government, they face the prospect of direct rule being reimposed from Westminster, and any additional spending being allocated by the UK Government.
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Theresa May's Government is at risk of collapse within two years, the Tory former Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine has said.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4's World At One after the Tories secured a deal with the DUP to prop up the Government, Lord Heseltine said: "I'm reminded of Enoch Powell's phrase: 'Once you have paid the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane.'

"This is not a long term solution because even adding the DUP votes to the Tory votes there is still the risk of lost by-elections eroding the majority."

 Conservative voters 'dying out at rate of 2% per year'

When he was asked about Theresa May's claim the deal with the DUP would provide "certainty" during Brexit negotiations, the former deputy to John Major said she was wrong.

"Yes, thats what she does say. And of course its completely devoid of reality, because there is no such unity on this issue.

"There is a deeply divided country and every day, either within the cabinet, within the leaders of the industrial world, within the academic world, more and more people realise the consequences [of Brexit]."

UK Election Day 2017 Show all 38 1 /38 UK Election Day 2017 UK Election Day 2017 Door of Number 10 Downing Street is seen on the morning after Britain's election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in north London after he called on the Prime Minister to resign, saying she should "go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country" PA UK Election Day 2017 Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell arrives at Labour Headquarters on June 9, 2017 in London, England. After a snap election was called by Prime Minister Theresa May the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday. 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Richmond and Twickenham election Rex Features UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn rubs his face after arriving for the declaration at his constituency in London AP UK Election Day 2017 Emily Thornberry speaks after holding her Islington South and Finsbury seat at the Sobell Leisure Centre in Islington, north London PA UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May listens as the declaration at her constituency is made for in the general election in Maidenhead, England, Friday, June 9, 2017. 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Prime Minister Theresa May is poised to win Britain's snap election but lose her parliamentary majority, a shock exit poll suggested on June 8, in what would be a major blow for her leadership as Brexit talks loom AFP/Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 DUP candidate for Lagan Valley Jeffrey Donaldson celebrates following his election at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn as counting is under way for the General Election PA UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd attends the count for her seat at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Hastings REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for BritainaAAs general election in London Reuters UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in blue, representing the Conservative Party, after the first exit polls announced in Britain's general election AP UK Election Day 2017 Election officials count votes in the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in red, the color of the Labour Party, after first exit polls of Britain's national election announced in London AP UK Election Day 2017 BBC Television centre is illuminated with the exit poll results for Britains general election Eddie Keogh/Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Labours Bridget Phillipson (centre) smiles after being announced as the winner of the election for the constituency of Houghton and Sunderland South at a counting centre Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Members of the election staff prepare to count ballots, in Theresa Mays constituency in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Ballot papers are checked ahead of the count at the Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency count at Kendal Leisure Centre Getty UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for Britains general election in Kendal Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Theresa May arrives to vote at a polling station in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his ballot at a polling station in north London EPA UK Election Day 2017 Lib Dems leader Tim Farron outside a polling station at Stonecross Manor Hotel in Kendal, Cumbria PA UK Election Day 2017 The leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) Paul Nuttall arrives to vote at a polling station in Congleton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon with her husband Peter Murrell (left) the CEO of the SNP after casting their votes at a polling station at Broomhouse Community Hall, Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 Caroline Lucas, co-leader of Britains Green Party, arrives with her husband Richard Savage, to vote in Brighton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 An advertising van showing caricatures of Tim Farron, Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Paul Nuttall with the message who will be looking for a new job as Britain goes to the polls to elect a new government Rex UK Election Day 2017 Performers pose with puppet caricatures of Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party Tim Farron and leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, in front of the Palace of Westminster Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Dogs wait for their owner outside a polling station in Penally, Wales Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Police officers speak with a Labour Party activist outside a polling station in London AP UK Election Day 2017 Benedictine nuns from Tyburn Convent leave after voting in Britain's general election at a polling station in St John's Parish Hall, London AP UK Election Day 2017 A polling station sign is seen on a telephone box outside the polling station at Rotherwick Hall, west of London Getty

The 84-year-old added: "This is a deeply divided country and singling out one part of it in order to give a semblance of short term stability is just one more of the prices we're paying for the consequences of Brexit.

"I think it will take two years, 18 months, for the Government to be at risk, and that's assuming they can command the loyalty in the Brexit confrontations of every Conservative MP. That is by no means certain."

Lord Heseltine previously warned the electoral base is dying off at a rate of 2 per cent per year and called for a new party leader.

He said the party needs to work hard to restore its electoral fortunes and that Ms May should step down after a matter of months.
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The leader of the Northern Irish DUP has revealed how talks with the Conservatives to give Theresa May a working majority in the Commons have been "slow".

Arlene Foster said that while negotiations had been difficult, she believed the two parties are now close to sealing a deal as she prepared for further meetings on Monday.

The Prime Minister is keen to lock in the DUP's support ahead of a key vote to approve her legislative agenda later this week, but it follows claims that the deal will prove too expensive and that the Government has negotiated poorly.

Writing in the Belfast Telegraph today, Ms Foster said: "Since the general election, we have been engaged with the Prime Minister and her team to explore how we can work together.

"Progress has been slow at times but we continue to work through the issues.

"I believe we are close to concluding an appropriate agreement with the Conservative Party to support a minority government on a confidence and supply basis."

The DUP has made it clear it will only agree a deal if it delivers tangible benefits for Northern Ireland in terms of jobs and investment in health and education.

 Theresa May responds to John Major criticism over DUP deal

Some reports have suggested the DUP is demanding the Government pay up to 50m to Northern Ireland for each vote they want passed, others have highlighted demands for a 2bn cash injection. Sources within the DUP have expressed surprise at the low level of experience among the Tory negotiators.

Tory grandee Chris Patten said on Sunday that the Conservative Party risked becoming the "nasty party" again if it "bribed" the DUP into a confidence and supply deal.

He said: "The DUP is a toxic brand.

"There is a danger of us looking like a nasty party again. Their values are not ours."

Lord Patten went on: "They want to sell their votes at every opportunity. They hold a bizarre assumption that Northern Ireland has been disadvantaged by public spending over the years. That is ridiculous. Just look at how much is devolved and they want more now. Every vote will cost you.

"Every vote will have to be paid for - and then we will have to tell that to the Scots and Welsh, who will be asking for equal treatment."

Labour has insisted that any financial sweeteners offered to Northern Ireland as part of an agreement must be made fully public.
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Theresa May has secured a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) after shock election losses saw the Conservatives fail to win a Commons majority.

The deal comes after weeks of negotiations and will secure the DUP's backing on confidence and supply votes, preventing the weakened Conservatives from being brought down by motions of no confidence.

However the agreement has sparked a furious backlash over the DUPs record on issues including LGBTQ+ rights and abortion, and how the arrangement could jeopardise Northern Ireland's peace process.

Here are some of the most controversial positions held by the party:

LGBT rights

Ian Paisley Jr, son of the partys founder Ian Paisley, has previously called homosexuality immoral, offensive and obnoxious and said he was repulsed by gays and lesbians.

The party once championed a campaign called Save Ulster from Sodomy.

Former DUP health minister Jim Wells told a South Down hustings in 2015: The gay lobby is insatiable, they dont know when enough is enough.

He also said children who were raised in a homosexual relationship were more likely to be abused or neglected. He later apologised for the comments.

DUP politician Trevor Clarke last year said he thought only gay people could contract AIDS or HIV, but has since admitted he "did not understand the stigma attached to it" and has campaigned for greater awareness and prevention.

Gay marriage

The party staunchly opposes same-sex marriage, believing in what they call the traditional definition of the union, and has vetoed several attempts to pass new legislation.

Speaking of the pro-marriage equality movement, party leader Arlene Foster said in 2016: They are not going to influence me by sending me abuse  in fact, they are going to send me in the opposite direction and people need to reflect on that.

She added: I could not care less what people get up to in terms of their sexuality, thats not a matter for me  when it becomes a matter for me is when people try to redefine marriage.

 Arlene Foster on gay marriage: "I believe in union between a man and a woman"

Abortion

The DUP has long opposed abortion and any attempts to liberalise the law. Ms Foster last year vowed to prevent terminations being made available in Northern Ireland.

I would not want abortion to be as freely available here as it is in England and dont support the extension of the 1967 act, she told The Guardian in 2016.

Climate change

The party once appointed climate change denier Sammy Wilson as its environment minister.

Mr Wilson said it was a con to suggest humans had changed weather patterns.

He also said in 2014: We are already paying through the nose for electricity because we go down the route of the dearest electricity possible through renewable energy and are putting our agricultural industry in jeopardy because there is no greater producer of greenhouse gases than cows.

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 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Evolution and creationism

The party counts a number of creationists among its senior members.

DUP assembly member for West Tyrone, Thomas Buchanan, last year endorsed an event promoting creationism to be taught in every school.

The event included presenting the biblical case for the sound teaching of children that will offer helpful practical advice on how to counter evolutionary teaching.

DUP politician Edwin Poots has expressed his views that the planet is a young earth created just 4,000 years ago.

Youre telling me that cosmic balls of dust gathered and there was an explosion. Weve had lots of explosions in Northern Ireland and Ive never seen anything come out of that that was good, he told the Radio Times.

Sexism

Ms Foster was embroiled in a sexism scandal when she described Sinn Feins leader in Northern ireland, Michelle ONeil, as blonde.

I dont want to be sexist because I cant... she told the Sunday Independent.

Michelle is very attractive. She presents herself very well and she is  you know  her appearance is always very the same.

You never see her without her make-up. You never see her without her hair [looking] perfect.

Brexit

The DUP was the only party in the Stormont power executive to campaign for leave.

However the party want to avoid a hard border with Ireland and has spoken against a hard Brexit.

Ms Foster said: No-one wants to see a hard Brexit, what we want to see is a workable plan to leave the European Union, and thats what the national vote was about  therefore we need to get on with that.

However, we need to do it in a way that respects the specific circumstances of Northern Ireland, and, of course, our shared history and geography with the Republic of Ireland.

Renewable energy scheme

As environment minister, Ms Foster introduced a poorly-executed renewable energy scheme known as cash for ash that could result in the taxpayer footing a 490m bill.
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As Britain reeled from the shock election result which saw the Conservatives lose their majority, attention turned to the party that will prop them up in the House of Commons.

The Democratic Unionist Party will enter into a confidence and supply arrangement with Theresa Mays Government  offering support in the Commons, but falling short of a formal coalition.

Early indications showed Ms May had been forced to ditch election manifesto commitments, promise 1bn of extra spending and even lucrative new tax powers to Northern Ireland to secure the DUP's support.

Speaking after the formal announcement that the parties had reached a deal, DUP leader Arlene Foster said: "Our aim in these negotiations has been to deliver for all of the people of Northern Ireland and the support measures which we are announcing will be to the benefit of all our people."

But who is party leader Arlene Foster - the new power behind Theresa May?

The 46-year-old was almost killed when she was a teenager after the IRA targeted her school bus, being driven by a soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment.

The former First Minister of Northern Ireland has served as the leader of the DUP since December 2015.

She became First Minister in January 2016 and served until Martin McGuinness resigned in protest at her cash for ash scheme in January 2017, resulting in the collapse of power-sharing.

Ms Foster faced accusations of mishandling over an ill-conceived renewable energy scheme which overpaid businesses for using green heating systems, costing taxpayers in excess of 490m.

Ms Foster led her party in the campaign for Brexit, the only party in the Stormont executive to campaign for Leave. She is against a hard brexit, to avoid any hard border with the Republic of Ireland and new customs operations.

Ms Foster opposes same-sex marriage and abortion, and has campaigned against both.

I would not want abortion to be as freely available here as it is in England and dont support the extension of the 1967 act, she told The Guardian in 2016.

Ms Foster is a lawyer by training, and is married with three children.
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Britain will share intelligence from MI6 and GCHQ with the Algerian Government as part of a new joint security partnership in the wake of the In Amenas hostage crisis, David Cameron has said.

Arriving in Algiers as the first British Prime Minister to visit the country since independence, Mr Cameron said he would be announcing a "strengthened security partnership" between Britain and Algeria.

Talks on closer security co-operation will start in the spring with a progress report in the summer. The British side will be led by Sir Kim Darroch, the prime minister's national security adviser, who is with Mr Cameron on the trip, as is the head of MI6, Sir John Sawers.

British soldiers will also work with the Algerians on a limited number of operations. This could potentially include the training of Algerian special forces by British special forces, although this has not been confirmed by the Government.

Mr Cameron said his aim was to help the country "help itself" amid a growing threat from al-Qaida-linked terrorists in the region.

"I would stress the greatest threat of terrorism in this region is to the countries of this region," he said. "Of course there are potential threats to the UK, but the focus is very much on helping these countries to protect their security and protect British people in this region. It is very much about helping the region to help themselves."

The partnership is also designed to give British advice on how to tackle the cross-border jihadists operating both in Algeria and neighbouring Mali. But Mr Cameron stressed that the British response in Mali  and other countries affected by Islamic extremism  should be a combination of factors and not just a military one.

"We don't look at this region and think that the answer is purely a military one  it isn't.

"What is required in countries like Mali  just as countries like Somalia on the other side of Africa  is that combination of a tough approach on security, aid, politics, settling grievances and problems, an intelligence approach that brings together all the things we need to do with countries in this neighbourhood to help them to make them safer and to make us safer too."

Mr Cameron is to hold talks with his Algerian counterpart Abdelmalek Sellal and pay his respects to victims of the hostage crisis during his visit  the first by a UK Prime Minister to Algeria in 50 years.

Some 37 foreigners, at least 10 Algerians and dozens of terrorists died in the attack on the In Amenas gas plant, which is jointly operated by BP, earlier this month. The Algerian government took the controversial decision to storm the site in the Sahara desert, with Mr Cameron and other world leaders protesting about not being notified in advance. In his discussions with Mr Sellal and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers, Mr Cameron is expected to stress the need for a "tough, patient and intelligent response" to extremism in the region.

War and peace: A mixed reign

The Algerian President  a 75-year-old veteran of Algeria's war for independence from France  has a reputation as a peace broker, though he has also seen plenty of bloodshed in his country.

After years of brutal civil war between the military and Islamist militants which killed more than 150,000 people, Abdelaziz Bouteflika is credited with pushing through a reconciliation plan that managed to calm the violence shortly after taking office in 1999 with army backing.

Known as "the dandy diplomat" during his 16-year tenure as the country's Foreign Minister in the 1960s and 1970s due to his Westernised sense of style, Bouteflika found favour with Western countries in his first term as President, having established a fragile peace and transformed Algeria's international image.

But allegations of corruption have also plagued Bouteflika. He spent six years in self-imposed exile in the 1980s following corruption allegations, and his election (plus subsequent re-election) has been marred by claims of vote rigging. In 2008, Algeria's parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of scrapping a rule limiting presidents to two terms, making way for Bouteflika's third term.

Speaking at the time, Said Sadi, the head of small secular opposition party the Rally for Culture and Democracy, said: "We are living through a disguised coup d'etat."

Bouteflika said the measure was part of the government's aim to "strengthen our political system".
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The British were always telling us to hold regular elections: well they are certainly leading by example now, arent they? Democracy in action every other month now it seems, reflects John Sisay. It certainly makes our politics in Sierra Leone pretty dull by comparison: we only hold elections once every five years.

Mr Sisay is standing to be president next year and there is a strong likelihood that he will emerge as the leader of his country. If he does not succeed, he says, it will not be for want of trying. We south Londoners are pretty damned determined when we set our mind to something. Dont forget, there is already one Tooting boy who is not doing too badly at politics at the moment, he points out.

There was once the possibility that 47-year-old Mr Sisay, who spent a large part of his childhood in south London, may have followed Sadiq Khan, who he knows, into public life in Britain. Like the Mayor of London, he too was a member of the Labour Party and was also the president of the students union while at London Universitys Goldsmith College.

But Mr Sisay decided that Sierra Leone, his home country, was where he wanted to serve. He has political connections there: his first cousin, Ernest Bai Koroma, is the current President and his family has long been socially and politically active. There are also financial connections, he is the former CEO of Sierra Rutile, the largest mining company for rutile, a mineral formed mainly of titanium dioxide, in the region and is the president of the Sierra Leone Chamber of Mines.

The rich deposits of one form of mineral, diamonds, should have been a great boon for Sierra Leone, but they also proved to be a source of much misery. Greed for the fabulous riches offered by blood diamonds led to bitter divisions, ending in a civil war which became noted for its savagery in killings, mutilations and rapes.

One of the key instigators of the violence and the industrial scale looting of diamonds was Charles Taylor, the leader of Liberia, the state next door. He has been indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity at The Hague and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

But the legacy of the violence, with 50,000 killed in the civil war, followed by the devastating Ebola epidemic in which tens of thousands were infected and 3,000 died, has left Sierra Leone facing great hardship with a faltering economy and unemployment. It is, however, relatively stable, peaceful and held up as an example by the international community of what can be achieved if countries in difficult parts of the world have a chance to make their way without the scourge of internecine violence.

Sierra Leone is one of very few successes of Britains wars of liberal intervention  Blairs Wars  which ended with the disaster of Iraq. British forces were sent in 18 years ago to fight vicious rebel factions and this was achieved, in no small measure, due to the ignoring of cautionary orders from London by the officer in command of UK forces, Brigadier David Richards (the future Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards). The UK continues to maintain a presence there through civil advisors and a military training team.

Mr Sisay believes that the relationship with Britain needs to be strengthened. I dont mean this in the sense of an old colonial power propping up a weak state. I accept the view that there is concern about just handing out aid, he wants to stress.

I am not in favour of what is seen as an African sense of entitlement. What we should be striving for is trade as well as aid and I think in this Sierra Leone has a lot to offer. Rebalancing the relationship with our international partners needs to be part of a wider plan.

Mr Sisay is keen to point out the jobs he created while working for Rutile which employs thousands across the country, with 80 per cent of the senior management from Sierra Leone, rather than expatriates. He volunteered for the anti-Ebola campaign, stressing that the medical safety measures he and his team put in place resulted in zero case of the epidemic in the companys mining areas. He has also, on a number of occasions, paid the salaries of teachers in parts of the country and offered loans on generous terms to small businesses.

The seeming altruism can, and has been, ascribed to smoothing his path to power. Mr Sisay accepts that he is open to that claim. But, he wants to add: I have shown that I can run a business which is successful and also good for the wider community, and a dynamic private sector will be hugely important for the economy. I personally dont need to get into power to make myself rich. Surely, it is a perfectly natural aspiration to give something back to ones country.

If it does not work out at the end of the day Mr Sisay could, perhaps, return to the party fold in Britain, with Labour now doing so unexpectedly well. What is happening in the UK is really interesting, he acknowledges. But it is almost too exciting, I think I will stick to our more boring, sedate form of politics.
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People in Arizona are posting pictures of the things they claim have melted in the extreme heatwave, which has seen temperatures soar to 120F (48.8C).

Images of wilting catci, a buckled postbox, a credit card curled out of shape because of the heat and a biscuit that was cooked on a car's dashboard have all appeared on social media.

A video of an egg being fried on the ground has also appeared, while one Twitter user showed himself wearing oven gloves to drive, because of the temperature inside his car.

Another motorist stopped at an intersection in Phoenix showed the local temperature was 122F.

So high are the temperatures that people have burned their bare feet on pavements and planes to be grounded.

The extreme heat has swept across parts of Arizona, Nevada and California, causing a water shortage in one area. The risk of wildfires has also increased because of the heat.

American Airlines cancelled 50 flights in and out of Phoenix last week as smaller regional planes have a maximum operating temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit, The Washington Post reported.

In Phoenix, the main burn centre has treated people with burned feet from walking outside with no shoes on or contact burns from touching hot car interiors.

Arizona Burn Centre director Dr Foster told the Associated Press that this June was the worst the centre has seen in 18 years.

The centres emergency department usually treats between 10 and 15 people a day, but this number has jumped to up to 30 people a day in the heat wave.

Dr Foster said one child received contact burns after crawling through a doggy door onto the hot pavement.

Getting up to 120 really makes a difference, he said.

At least four heat-related deaths were recorded in Nevada last week, with two in California and four more under investigation. Arizona has not reported any heat-related deaths.
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Chelsea Manning has attended her first LGBTQ Pride event in New York City as a free woman.

The network security expert who leaked nearly three-quarters of a million classified and not-classified military documents to WikiLeaks was seen during the massive march on the streets of Manhattan riding in a red convertible and waving a flag.

Ms Manning was released from prison last month after having her 35-year sentence commuted by former President Barack Obama.

That she was able to attend the Pride event as a free woman is something of a victory for the LGBTQ community. During her prison sentence, Ms Manning was forced to keep a short hair cut, even as she attempted to transition to be a woman. That sort of treatment, and others that blocked her from openly expressing her identity, led her to file a transgender rights lawsuit and attempt suicide at least twice.

In a potentially bizarre turn for Ms Mannings trip to New York, she tweeted that she thinks she may have ran into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had denounced Ms Mannings leaks, while visiting a store in Manhattan. She tweeted a photo of Ms Clinton at the Pride parade, and wrote that she thinks she saw her the day before, shopping for baskets.

Ms Manning was convicted in 2013 on 20 charges, including six Espionage Act violations. She was also convicted on charges of theft and computer fraud. She was acquitted on a charge of aiding the enemy, which was the most serious charge she faced.

was honored to represent the ACLU at this years NYC Pride March <3 started to lose my voice from screaming so much <3 A post shared by Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea87) on Jun 25, 2017 at 11:59am PDT

Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Show all 12 1 /12 Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence torbakhopper/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Garry Knight/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence People hold signs calling for the release of imprisoned wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning while marching in a gay pride parade in San Francisco, California June 28, 2015. Manning has appealed to an Army court to overturn her court-martial conviction, a court filing released on Thursday said. Reuters Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Around twenty activists associated with the Chelsea Manning support group rally in front of the White House in Washington DC, Sunday May 11, 2014. Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Daily Chalkupy/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Around twenty activists associated with the Chelsea Manning support group rally in front of the White House in Washington DC, Sunday May 11, 2014. Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Twitter Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Abigail Edward holds up a sign advocating the release of WikiLeaks whistle blower Chelsea Manning along the Gay Pride parade route in San Francisco, California on Sunday, June, 26, 2016. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Demonstration for Chelsea Manning in London, England, United Kingdom. Chelsea Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning) is a United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents. Manning was sentenced in August 2013 to 35 years imprisonment, with the possibility of parole in the eighth year, and to be dishonorably discharged from the Army. Manning is a trans woman who, in a statement the day after sentencing, said she had felt female since childhood, wanted to be known as Chelsea, and desired to begin hormone replacement therapy. From early life and through much of her Army life, Manning was known as Bradley; she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder while in the Army. Mike Kemp/Getty Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Chelsea M Queer Friends/Twitter Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Instagram Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Jil Love Revolution/Instagram

The documents she leaked included information on the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the killings of military contractors in Iraq, details on civilian deaths in Afghanistan, and other individual incidents.

She said at the time that her goal was to expose the alleged disregard by the American military for the effects of war on civilians.
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Shortly after Donald Trump was elected President, Amy Siskind took one of her occasional trips to Val-Kill, the Upstate New York home of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

I needed a Zen moment, Siskind, who had campaigned for Hillary Clinton, told me. And that is a place that inspires me.

Soon afterward, Siskind began keeping what she calls the Weekly List, tracking all the ways in which she saw America's taken-for-granted governmental norms changing in the Trump era.

The project started small, read by friends and with only a few items a week.

By Week Nine, though, the list had gone viral.

It blew up - I had 2 million views that week, she said. People were responding like crazy, saying things like, 'I'm praying for you.'

As time went on, the list grew much longer and more sophisticated. Here are three of her 85 items from mid-June:

Monday, in a bizarre display in front of cameras, Trump's cabinet members took turns praising him.

"AP reported that a company that partners with both Trump and (son-in-law) Jared Kushner is a finalist for a $1.7bn contract to build the new FBI building.

"Vice President Mike Pence hired a big-name lawyer with Watergate experience to represent him in the Russian probe.

Now, in Week 32, every item has a source link, and rather than just a few items, there are dozens. (Her weekly audience usually hits hundreds of thousands, she said, on platforms including Medium,Facebook and Twitter.)

The idea, she said, came from her post-election reading about how authoritarian governments take hold - often with incremental changes that seem shocking at first but quickly become normalised. Each post begins with: Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you'll remember.

She's not the only one to have this idea; on Twitter, for example, designer Laura Olin created @_rememberbot, where frequent tweets begin with the words It is not normal and catalogue the oddities of TrumpWorld. (It is not normal for US Presidents to criticise federal judges.)

But Siskind may be the most dogged and systematic. One follower even made a searchable database of her lists.

It's scary to look back on the early weeks and see what we've already gotten used to, she said. Examples: a secretary of state who rarely speaks publicly, the failure to fill important positions in many agencies, a president who often eschews intelligence briefings in favour of Fox & Friends.

We forget all the things we should be outraged about, Siskind said.

Jay Rosen, a New York University journalism professor and author of the PressThink blog, called Siskind's efforts a service that is thoroughly journalistic and much needed.

The lists help people experience the history that is being made and keeps them alive and alert to the dangers of eroding norms, Rosen said.

In their user-friendly format, he said, they are one way of dealing with an overload of significant news, a surplus of eventfulness that allows things to hide in plain sight simply because there are too many of them to care about.

It's also, Rosen said, something that journalists can't - or don't - do, as they pay attention to the political dust-up of the day and don't always provide much context or seem to remember what happened last month or last year. (Since taking office, Trump has been at one of his properties every 3.5 days, Siskind wrote this month.)

From Siskind's point of view, an experiment has become a mission - one that sometimes competes for attention with bringing up her two kids and running a pro-women nonprofit organisation that she founded.

It has required stamina that I've never had before, Siskind said.

Her followers appreciate the effort, if not the disturbing content. Kate McCreedy wrote on Twitter: I read this every week. Absorb it. Get a stomachache. And Jake Orlowitz, on Medium, called Siskind brilliant for compiling a terrifying collection of horribles.

She posts the list on Saturday on Facebook and Twitter, and Sunday on Medium, after working on it for 15 or 20 hours a week.

Siskind, who lives just outside New York City, left Wall Street in 2008. Over a 20-year career, she'd become an expert in distressed debt trading and, at one point, co-headed the trading department at Morgan Stanley and became the first female managing director at another firm.

She founded the New Agenda to focus attention on issues affecting the success of women and girls, including pay discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault on college campuses. She is also an LGBT advocate.

Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Show all 33 1 /33 Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's first 100 days in office were marred by a string of scandals, many of which caught the eye of the Independent's cartoonists Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Trump's first 100 days have seen him aggressively ramp up tensions with his nuclear rivals in North Korea Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump has warned of a "major, major conflict" with the pariah nation lead by Kim Jong Un Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump dropped the "mother of all bombs" on alleged ISIS-linked militants in Afghanistan, amid an escalation of US military intervention around the globe Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump has been accused of falling short of the standards set by his predecessors in the Oval Office, including Franklin D Roosevelt Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons The tycoon's ascension to the White House came at a time when the balance of power is shifting away from Western nations like those in the G7 group Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Western politicians, including the British Conservative party, have been accused of falling in line behind Mr Trump's proposals Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Brexit is seen to have weakened Britain, reducing still further any political will to resist American leadership Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump's leadership has been marked by sudden and unexpected shifts in global policy Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Trump's controversial missile strike on Syria, which killed several citizens, was seen by some analysts as an attempt to distract from his policy elsewhere Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons The President has also spent a large majority of his weekends golfing, rather than attending to matters of state Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Though free of gaffes, a visit from Chinese president Xi Jinping spotlighted trade tensions between the two states Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons One major and unexpected setback came when Mr Trump's Healthcare Bill was struck down by members of his own party Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump has been a figure of fun in the media, with his approval at record lows Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons A string of revelations about Mr Trump's financial indiscretions did not mar his surge to the White House Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Outgoing President Barack Obama was accused of wiretapping Trump Tower by his successor in America's highest office Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons The alleged involvement of Russian intelligence operatives in securing Mr Trump the presidency prompted harsh criticism Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons The explosive resignation of Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who lied about his links to the Russian ambassador, was just one scandal to hit the President Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Many scandals, such as the accusation Barack Obama was implicated in phone-hacking, first broke on Mr Trump's Twitter feed Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's election provoked mass protests in the UK, with millions signing a petition to ban him from the country Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump cited a non-existent terror attack in Sweden during a campaign rally Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump stands accused of stoking regional tensions in Eastern Asia Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons North Korea has launched a number of failed nuclear tests since Mr Trump took power Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Theresa May formally rejected the petition calling for Mr Trump to be banned from the UK Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons When Mr Trump's initial so-called Muslim ban was struck down by a federal justice, the President mocked the 69-year-old as a "ridiculous", "so-called judge" Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons A week after his inauguration, Theresa May met with Mr Trump at the White House Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's first days in office were marked by a hasty attempt to follow through on many of his campaign promises, including the so-called Muslim ban Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's decision to ban citizens of many majority-Muslim countries from the US sparked mass protests Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Revelations about Donald Trump's sexual improprieties were not enough to keep him from being elected President Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons British PM Theresa May was criticised by many in the press for cosying up to the new President Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons One of Mr Trump's top aides, Kelly Anne Conway, was mocked for describing mistruths as "alternative facts" Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons British PM Theresa May was quick to demonstrate that her political aims did not hugely differ from Mr Trump's Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's inauguration, on 20 January 2017, sparked protests both at home and abroad

How long does she plan to keep up the list-making? Until he's out of power, she said, which she believes - and fervently hopes - will happen before the end of the first presidential term.

I don't have a grand plan, she said. I just want to be able to trace our way back.

The Washington Post
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Donald Trump is expected to authorise the sale of $2bn (1.6bn) worth of surveillance drones to India.

The US President met Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time this week  an encounter watched closely by analysts for clues of the depth of ties the new US administration seeks.

Both trade and defence ties were heavily bolstered under US President Barack Obama, but policy differences between Mr Trumps administration and New Delhi have thrown the future of the relationship into question.

India initiated its request to buy 22 Guardian MQ-9B unmanned aircraft for maritime surveillance last year.

Mr Modi reportedly wants the drones for surveillance of the Indian Ocean  waters that China's navy increasingly traverses after establishing its first overseas base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti.

India's neighbour Pakistan would likely be opposed to the drone sale.

So far in his presidency, Mr Trump has focused on outreach to China, India's strategic rival, as he looks for help to rein in North Korea. But both Washington and New Delhi share concerns about China's growing military presence in the region.

India does not have a formal alliance with the US, but defence ties have intensified in recent years with joint drills between the two militaries and defence sales.

Grandmothers School, India Show all 12 1 /12 Grandmothers School, India Grandmothers School, India People buy vegetables sold on a truck in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India A woman holds a book as she attends a class at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School) in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Drupada Pandurangkedar, 70, who studies at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School), serves her granddaughter Namita Thackrey lunch inside their house in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Indu Pawar, 61, who studies at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School), watches television inside her house in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Uma Sitaramtupange, 65, who studies at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School), holds a baby outside her house in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Women attend a class at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School) in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Women leave after attending Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School) in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Kamal Keshavtupange, 60, who studies at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School), lights fire as she cooks food on a stove inside her house in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Sheetal Prakash More (R), a 30-year-old teacher, helps Janabai Kedar, 74, as she writes on a slate at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School) in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Vanita Dhau, 65, who studies at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School), stands inside her house in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Vanita Dhau, 65, who studies at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School), works inside her house in Fangane village, India Reuters Grandmothers School, India Kamal Keshavtupange, 60, who studies at Aajibaichi Shaala (Grandmothers' School), drinks tea inside her house in Fangane village, India Reuters

The South Asian nation, which has traditionally bought most of its defence equipment from Russia, is looking to upgrade its capabilities.

Since 2008, India has signed more than $15bn (11.8bn) in US defence contracts, including for C-130J and C-17 transport aircraft, P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, Harpoon missiles and Apache and Chinook helicopters.

Ashley Tellis, an expert on South Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said last week that the US decision to offer the Guardian aircraft to India is significant as the UN has a standing policy of declining export of such advanced drones, unless they are going to countries involved in combined operations with US forces.

Mr Modi's visit to the US is likely to be low key, compared to when Mr Obama was in office and is aimed at building a personal bond between the two leaders.

Mr Modi will be the first foreign dignitary to be hosted for dinner at the White House during Mr Trump's presidency.

Both leaders share a populist streak and a knack for using social media. They are also likely to find common ground on combating Islamic extremism.

Mr Modi will likely urge a tougher stance on Pakistan over militants that India blames for attacks on its territory.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

But there could be increased strains on trade issues. India is among nations singled out by the Mr Trump's administration for their trade surpluses with the US, which in India's case came to $30.8bn (24.2bn) in 2016.

New Delhi is also closely watching the administration's review of the H1B visa program, under which thousands of skilled Indian workers come to the US.

New Delhi was also irritated by Mr Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord.

Announcing the decision, the US president said New Delhi had made its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid.

India denies that and said it will continue to be part of the accord, regardless of US participation.

Associated Press contributed to this report
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One month before Election Day, Jared Kushner's real estate company finalised a $285 million loan as part of a refinancing package for its property near Times Square in Manhattan.

The loan came at a critical moment. Kushner was playing a key role in the presidential campaign of his father-in-law, Donald Trump. The lender, Deutsche Bank, was negotiating to settle a federal mortgage fraud case and charges from New York state regulators that it aided a possible Russian money-laundering scheme. The cases were settled in December and January.

Now, Kushner's association with Deutsche Bank is among a number of financial matters that could come under focus as his business activities are reviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is examining Kushner as part of a broader investigation into possible Russian influence in the election.

The October deal illustrates the extent to which Kushner was balancing roles as a top adviser to Trump and a real estate company executive. After the election, Kushner juggled duties for the Trump transition team and his corporation as he prepared to move to the White House. The Washington Post has reported that investigators are probing Kushner's separate December meetings with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, and with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, the head of Vnesheconombank, a state development bank.

The Deutsche Bank loan capped what Kushner Cos. viewed as a triumph: It had purchased four mostly empty retail floors of the former New York Times building in 2015, recruited tenants to fill the space and got the Deutsche Bank loan in a refinancing deal that gave Kushner's company $74 million more than it paid for the property.

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The White House, in response to questions from The Post, said in a statement that Kushner will recuse from any particular matter involving specific parties in which Deutsche Bank is a party. Kushner and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Deutsche Bank loans to Trump and his family members have come under scrutiny. As Trump's biggest lender, the bank supplied funds to him when other banks baulked at the risk. As of last year, Trump's companies had about $364 million in outstanding debts to the bank.

Democrats from the House Financial Services Committee wrote on 10 March that they were concerned about the integrity of a reported Justice Department investigation into the Russian money-laundering matter given the President's ongoing conflicts of interest with Deutsche Bank, citing the suspicious ties between President Trump's inner circle and the Russian government. The Justice Department did not respond to a question about whether it is following up on the money-laundering settlement that Deutsche Bank reached with New York state regulators in December.

On 23 May, the Democratic members asked Deutsche Bank to disclose what it had learned in its internal review about whether Trump may have benefited from the improper Russian money transfers. The bank refused, citing US privacy laws. The Democratic letter also raised the possibility that the bank had conducted a similar review of Kushner - without mentioning his name - by referring to a review of accounts held by family members, several of whom serve as official advisers to the president.

The Democrats wrote that it was important to learn more about Deutsche Bank loans to Trump and family members to determine whether they were in any way connected to Russia.

The refinancing loan with Deutsche Bank is mentioned in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a public offering of mortgage-backed securities. It states that Kushner and his brother, Joshua, will be guarantors under what was called a nonrecourse carve-out. Such guarantees require more than a loan default to kick in. They are commonly known as bad boy clauses, a reference to how a lender could seek to hold the guarantor responsible for the debt under circumstances that might include fraud, misapplication of funds or voluntary bankruptcy deemed inappropriate. The terms of the guarantee, which generally are not secured by collateral, are negotiated between lender and borrower.

The way to look at this is, so long as you're not a 'bad boy' and don't do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about, said James Schwarz, a real estate lawyer who is an expert in such clauses. To the extent you would do something fraudulent, then you have things to worry about.

The corporate loan and Kushner's personal guarantee are not mentioned on his financial disclosure form, filed with the Office of Government Ethics. Blake Roberts, a lawyer who represented Kushner on the matter, said in a statement to The Post that Kushner's form does not list the loan guarantee because the disclosure relied on published guidance from OGE that he said clearly states that filers do not have to disclose as a liability a loan on which they have made a guarantee unless they have a present obligation to repay the loan.

The Post sent the language cited by Kushner's lawyer to Don Fox, a former general counsel and acting OGE director. After reviewing the wording, he said in an interview that he would have advised Kushner to disclose the personal guarantee of the $285 million corporate loan because of its size and possible implications.

If I were still at OGE and somebody came to us with that set of facts, I would say, 'By all means, disclose it,'  he said, referring to the spirit of the law.

After being informed of Fox's statement, Roberts contacted Fox to present his view that no disclosure was required. Fox said in a follow-up email to The Post that even if OGE advised there was no requirement to disclose, he would not have argued that point but I would have nonetheless recommended Jared over report in this instance given the magnitude of the contingency and the public interest in liabilities - actual and potential - to Deutsche Bank.

Separately, Kushner disclosed that he and his mother have a personal line of credit with Deutsche Bank worth up to $25 million.

The Deutsche Bank deal was one of the last Kushner orchestrated before joining the White House. It is among the dozens of complex transactions that he was involved with during his decade in the real estate business.

Although Kushner divested some properties in an effort to address potential conflicts, he retains an interest in nearly 90 percent of his real estate properties, including the retail portion of the former New York Times headquarters, and holds personal debts and loan guarantees.

The deal that led to the Deutsche Bank loan is rooted in a holiday party held in late 2014 at the Bowlmor bowling alley, which is located in the retail portion.

At the party, Kushner decided that the four retail floors of the building, while rundown, could be transformed into a thriving tourist destination, according to his associates.

The building passed through several owners after the newspaper sold the property for $175 million in 2004 to Tishman Speyer. Tishman sold it three years later for $525 million to a company called Africa-Israel Investments. (Those transactions prompted Trump a few months ago to poke fun at the Times, tweeting that the dopes at the newspaper gave it away.)

Africa-Israel's decision to purchase the building was made by its chairman, an Uzbek-born Israeli citizen, Lev Leviev. He is one of the world's wealthiest men, known as the King of Diamonds for his extensive holdings in Africa, Israel and Russia. He was then expanding his real estate holdings in New York City.

Leviev told the New York Times shortly after the building's purchase that he was a true friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, largely through his work with an influential Jewish organisation in the former Soviet Union. The newspaper wrote that he kept a photo of Putin in his office in Israel. Leviev's company said in a statement to The Post that Leviev does not have a personal relationship with Putin but has met him on a few occasions. Leviev's statement said he was referring to his belief that Mr Putin has been a 'true friend' to the Jewish people in Russia.

In 2008, a year after the building's purchase, Leviev invited Trump to his Madison Avenue store, an ultra-high-end establishment called Leviev Jewelry, where they were photographed together, according to the Leviev statement. Leviev hoped to work with Trump on Moscow real estate deals, according to an article in Kommersant, a Russian newspaper. The Leviev statement said that the two never had any business dealings with one another, contrary to speculation.

Six years later, Kushner saw an opportunity for his own company.

Leviev, whose company was having financial difficulties, according to an Israeli press account, sold the building's 12-floor office portion for $160 million, a transaction that did not involve the four retail floors.

Leviev's daughter, Chagit, took charge of her father's US subsidiary and set out to find a buyer for the retail portion of the building. The company said it would entertain offers no lower than $300 million.

Kushner's company offered $265 million, which was rejected. Kushner himself then negotiated with Chagit Leviev and others in 2015 and succeeded with a $296 million offer, according to an official involved in the matter.

It was a very hard back-and-forth New York negotiating style, said Kushner's broker, Lon Rubackin. Leviev's partner in the deal, Five Mile Capital, did not respond to a request for comment.

Few knew it at the time, but the negotiations had nearly consummated when Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, ran into Chagit Leviev on May 4, 2015, at an after-party for a Metropolitan Museum of Art gala - an encounter that was memorialised in a picture posted on Instagram.

Such a pleasure seeing @jaredckushner and his stunningly beautiful wife @ivankatrump last night [at] the #metballafterparty, Chagit Leviev wrote.

The deal was signed a week later and closed in October 2015. The Leviev company said in a statement to The Post that Kushner simply made the highest offer and there was no political element to the transaction.

Kushner took over a property that was only 25 percent leased, according to a company official. His company recruited tenants, offering some a year's free rent to lock in long-term contracts, according to an SEC filing. As a result, the building was nearly fully leased, with higher rents, including new tenants such as National Geographic.

The strategy paid off when Kushner's company went to Deutsche Bank for refinancing. An appraisal cited in SEC filings for the package of mortgage-backed securities placed the value at $470 million, a 59 percent increase in a year. The bank declined to release the appraisal, but a person involved in the deal said that such a rapid increase was unusual when New York real estate was rebounding from recession, and credited Kushner for finding stellar tenants.

In a statement, Kushner Cos. President Laurent Morali said the property's value increased sharply for a simple reason: the building's dramatic turnaround. We had a vision for the property when we purchased it that no one else had, and are proud to say that we executed on it.

Kushner's company took out $370 million in new loans in October 2016, giving it $74 million more than the purchase price a year earlier. Along with $285 million from Deutsche Bank, Kushner's firm received $85 million from SL Green Realty, where Kushner had once worked as an intern. SL Green spokesman Rick Matthews said the deal made sense because the building has been mostly leased, giving it increased value.

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

The Deutsche Bank loan was delivered just before the bank - which has long been under investigation by federal and state authorities - agreed to pay a $7.2 billion US penalty in December for mortgage securities fraud in its packaging of residential mortgages. The bank also paid a $425 million New York state fine in January for failing to properly track large transfers from Russia.

Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee wrote in their March 10 letter that because press reports indicate the Justice Department is continuing to investigate the money- laundering case, they are concerned about the integrity of this criminal probe in light of Trump's ongoing conflicts of interest with Deutsche Bank. Bloomberg News has reported that the Justice Department has requested records related to money laundering from Deutsche Bank as part of a probe.

The Washington Post
Tensions Flare After Chicago Dyke March Demands Star Of David Pride Flag Carriers Leave Rally

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jun 26, 2017 7:28PM



Photo of a rainbow pride flag with the Jewish symbol the Star of David, via Wikimedia Commons

Update: Dyke March & women asked to leave it offer different accounts of conflict over Star of David pride flags.



This post has been updated with new statements on the incident.

Tensions are brewing and the Chicago Dyke March Collective is facing accusations of anti-Semitism after organizers asked two women carrying rainbow pride flags with a large Star of David symbol on them to leave the Saturday afternoon march and rally.

The controversy has since kicked off a wave of social media posts condemning or supporting the decision, as Jewish organizations release statements calling for an apology and Dyke March organizers offer explanations for why they kicked out the women. Some groups have also expressed solidarity with Dyke March.

To boil it down: as a grassroots event that explicitly and deliberately prioritizes people of color (who are often de-prioritized or outright excluded from mainstream LGBTQ pride celebrations) the Chicago Dyke March Collective says they told the women to leave the rally in Little Village's Piotrowski Park because the flags resembled the Israeli flag (which also includes a large Star of David) and some Dyke March attendees did not want to see a flag at the rally that could be construed as support for Israel, the political ideology of Zionism, or the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. Dyke March is "very much Pro-Palestine," as one organizer told Chicagoist on Sunday, so the women were asked to stop displaying their flags and leave.

Since then, the women who were told to leave Dyke March, and many Jewish and non-Jewish people who observed what happened or heard about it after the Windy City Times first broke the story, have expressed alarm and confusion over how they were treated. Their flags were simply symbols of Jewish LGBTQ Pride, not statements on Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and they felt targeted for their religious beliefs, they said.

One of the women kicked out of the march, Eleanor Shoshany Anderson, spoke to Chicagoist Monday afternoon about her interactions with Dyke March organizers before and after she was told to leave the event. She emphasized that many of the accounts of what happened shared on social media have been misunderstood or significantly inaccurateparticularly accusations that she and her flag-carrying companion, Laurel Grauer, a regional manager for the Israeli organization A Wider Bridge, were there representing Israel, Zionism or the organization A Wider Bridge, or that they were espousing hateful rhetoric about Palestinians.

Shoshany Anderson said she had attended Dyke March for four years, and she attended the event this year with a Jewish Pride Flag because "I really wanted to just be Jewish and gay in public and celebrate that." She made a shirt for the march that said "Proud Jewish Dyke" and asked her friend Grauer to march with her. Grauer provided the Pride Flags with Star of David symbols, which Shoshany Anderson describes as "the ubiquitous symbol of Judaism."

"My overwhelming feeling is a sense of hurt at being excluded from my community for nothing more than having a Jewish symbol," she said. "It was truly nothing more and nothing less than that."

Shoshany Anderson said a Dyke March organizer first questioned her about her flag shortly after the march kicked off from its starting point at 26th Street and Lawndale Avenue.

"One of the organizers said, 'Is that an Israeli flag? Because we don't allow imperialist flags here.' I said, 'No, it's a Jewish Pride Flag.' and [the organizer] said 'OK,'" she said. The exchange made Shoshany Anderson feel confused and uncomfortable, but she continued to march without incident, until later in the afternoon when the marchers arrived at the park and began a rally and celebration with music and food.

At the park, she said a Dyke March organizer chanted "Viva La Palestina" in response to seeing her flag, and later two march participants, one carrying a Palestinian flag, confronted her about her flag.

"They started yelling and they swore and they said, 'You have an Israeli flag here and it's not OK.' I said no, it's not an Israeli Flag, it is the Star of David, the symbol of Judaism," she said. It didn't feel like they wanted to have a conversation with her, she added, "so I just walked away."

Shoshany Anderson said that she decided she would either refuse to engage in an argument or simply walk away if someone confronted her again. In contrast, Grauer opted to talk with the people who opposed their flags. The women got separated at one point in the afternoon, and Shoshany Anderson later received a phone call from Grauer saying Dyke March organizers had kicked her out of the park.

"I felt extremely vulnerable, like if I moved they would come find me and kick me out next," she said. "The only thing I had done was carry this flag. I've seen accounts saying I was tracking down Palestinians and harassing them, and nothing could be further from the truth. I really just wanted to be there, as a Jewthat's all I wanted to do, and I took a lot of care in what I said and what I expressed."

Shosany Anderson and Grauer reunited at the edge of the park, where a Dyke March attendee who identified as Jewish approached them and said she was asking them on behalf of Dyke March to either fold up their flags or leave.

"Her words exactly were: 'This flag looks too much like an Israeli flag, it's triggering people, and it's making them feel unsafe.' Again, I tried to explain, this isn't an Israeli flag," Shoshany Anderson said. "Some people have said I was spouting pro-apartheid rhetoric. But the only time I even said the word Israel was when I said 'This is not an Israeli flag.'"

"I said that this march is supposed to be intersectional, and here I am celebrating my intersection," she added. "Being removed from this march because of my visible Jewish symbol actually makes me feel unsafe. There was nothing wrong with my flag."

Shoshany Anderson said the interactions left her visibly distraught"I felt outnumbered. I'm not the kind of person who cries in public, and I was sobbing." She noted that Dyke March organizers asked Jewish attendees to talk with her on their behalf, and that they have denied accusations of anti-Semitism in the wake of the incident. But to her, the Collective's approach is not acceptable: "Maybe it was OK for them to be there as Jews, but it wasn't OK for me to be there."

She would like to see the organizers apologize for kicking her and Grauer out, because even if they didn't intend to be anti-Semitic, the action can be interpreted that way: "They have clearly upset a lot of Jewish people, and instead of saying sorry, they've just double down. There has got to be an apology, and an apology to the Jews involved in particular, and to the Jews and other allies who told them how they felt and were talked over and not acknowledged. "

She said she still views Dyke March as a "valuable community resource," but would probably not feel comfortable returning unless the organization changes its approach. "I want Dyke March to change so they can be as inclusive as they claim to be," she said. "But as it stands, I feel unwelcome."

In the wake of the incident, Shoshany Anderson says she has appreciated shows of support from local and national groups, including Ald. Ameya Pawar's gubernatorial campaign, which changed the North Side alderman's Facebook profile photo to show a similar Jewish Pride flag.

On Sunday, Dyke March Chicago wrote a statement about the incident on Facebook, saying that the women were asked to leave "after they repeatedly expressed support for Zionism during conversations with Chicago Dyke March Collective members." Shoshany Anderson says she never did this, but that Grauer separately had a conversation with Dyke March members in which she said that she supported Zionism, but is also pro-Palestine. Chicagoist will update this post if we hear back from Grauer. Chicagoist has asked Chicago Dyke March Collective for a follow-up interview, and will update if we hear back.

The full Dyke March statement says:



"Yesterday, June 24, Chicago Dyke March was held in the La Villita neighborhood to express support for undocumented, refugee, and immigrant communities under threat of deportation. Sadly, our celebration of dyke, queer, and trans solidarity was partially overshadowed by our decision to ask three individuals carrying Israeli flags superimposed on rainbow flags to leave the rally. This decision was made after they repeatedly expressed support for Zionism during conversations with Chicago Dyke March Collective members. We have since learned that at least one of these individuals is a regional director for A Wider Bridge, an organization with connections to the Israeli state and right-wing pro-Israel interest groups. A Wider Bridge has been protested for provocative actions at other LGBTQ events and has been condemned by numerous organizations (tarabnyc.org/cancelpinkwashing/&; for using Israel's supposed "LGBTQ tolerance" to pinkwash the violent occupation of Palestine.

"The Chicago Dyke March Collective is explicitly not anti-Semitic, we are anti-Zionist. The Chicago Dyke March Collective supports the liberation of Palestine and all oppressed people everywhere.

"From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have got to go!!

"[Edited to add: We want to make clear that anti-Zionist Jewish volunteers and supporters are welcome at Dyke March and were involved in conversations with the individuals who were asked to leave. We are planning to make a longer statement in the future.]"

The For the People Collective, a local arts organization, put out a statement of solidarity with Dyke March, saying, "As artists and cultural organizers, we know that visuals are incredibly communicative tools that have the power to both help and harm us. Imagery that either intentionally or unintentionally invokes Zionism without any attempt to acknowledge or subvert those visual associations only serve to bolster support for Israel."

The story has reached a national profile, and it reflects a larger debate over the role Israel can play in LGBTQ spaces. As Salon points out, Israel and the Zionist political movement have been accused of "pinkwashing"using a pro-LGBTQ stance to distract from other human rights violations in the past, including last year when the A Wider Bridge organization was protested at a Creating Change conference. And the Palestinian-American feminist Linda Sarsour has said feminists should not be Zionists.



Updated June 27 at 1:50 p.m.: More organizations have put out statements for and against what happened.

The organization Jewish Voice for Peace put out this statement of solidarity with Dyke March. The reasons behind the decision to remove the two women are different than the reason described to Chicagoist earlier, and we have reached out to Dyke March organizers for confirmation:



As a Jewish organization dedicated to justice for Palestinians and opposition to all forms of bigotry, including antisemitism, Jewish Voice for Peace-Chicago affirms our support for the Chicago Dyke March Collective, a powerful force for justice and queer and trans liberation in our city. While we also hear those who are concerned at the perception that Jewish participants were singled out at the march, we ask that everyone reflect on how events actually unfolded, how Israel has appropriated Jewish identity and symbols, and how that impacts our movement spaces.

On Saturday at the Chicago Dyke March, a small number of members and staff of A Wider Bridge challenged the inclusion of Palestinian human rights as an issue supported by Chicago Dyke March. A Wider Bridge has the explicit purpose of building a movement of pro-Israel LGBTQ people and allies. Pro-Israel, for a Wider Bridge, has included organizing war rallies cheering on the Israeli military during the massacre of civilians in Gaza in August 2014 and partnering with Israeli consulates in the US in organizing pinkwashing propaganda tours.

The A Wider Bridge contingent loudly encouraged fellow participants to erase mentions of Palestine during solidarity chants. When Palestinian attendees approached them, they became hostile while expressing explicit support for Zionism, which was one of the ideologies that march organizers had disavowed because it has led to decades of displacement and violence against Palestinians. After a two hour conversation with organizers and other members, the attendees were asked to leave for not respecting the community norms, including opposition to all forms of racism and violence. One of the people asked to leave was Laurel Grauer, Midwest Manager from A Wider Bridge (AWB), who held a rainbow flag with a blue Star of David identical in color, size and placement to the one on the Israeli flag.

Many other Jews, including members of Jewish Voice for Peace-Chicago, were present at Dyke March wearing Jewish symbols, including Stars of David, t-shirts with Hebrew, kippot, and sashes with Yiddish script, and none of them were asked to leave the event, interrogated about their politics, or were the target of any complaints because of their visible Jewish presence.

The Star of David is a Jewish symbol not inherently connected to the State of Israel. Since much of the media coverage has centered on whether Palestinians can justifiably feel unsafe around a blue Star of David in the center of a flag, we believe it is worth remembering that in the West Bank, Israeli flags bearing a blue Star of David fly above military installations and settlements. Stars of David are painted onto Palestinian homes to intimidate people, near Hebrew graffiti calling for Death to Arabs. Palestinian homes are demolished and replaced by Jewish homes flying the Star of David on an Israeli flag.

While for many this incident may have evoked fears engrained in our collective memory of instances in which Jews have been singled out, we believe this incident is a sad reminder of the destructive impact of the State of Israels appropriation of Jewish symbols and identity.

As Jewish Voice for Peace-Chicago, we share the Chicago Dyke March Collectives opposition to state violence, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-queer and trans, anti-woman and anti-Person of Color bigotry. As a Jewish organization committed to justice and equality for Palestinians, we invite everybody to work with us in opposing the State of Israels use of Jewish identity, trauma and symbols in its oppression of Palestinians.

The local punk music fest Fed Up Fest put out this statement in support of Dyke March, and the advocacy group Pink and Black also put out a statement of support.

Laurel Grauer, one of the women told to leave the march, wrote about her experience in a blog post on A Wider Bridge's website.

Other organizations have all put out statements condemning the Dyke March decision. Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, emailed us a statement saying that Dyke March has misinterpreted the significance of the Star of David:

We are outraged by the actions of Chicago Dyke March organizers this past weekend. Expelling marchers simply for carrying a rainbow flag bearing the Star of David is unacceptable. The Star of David is a symbol of the Jewish people, and kicking marchers out for carrying a flag that demonstrates the intersectionality of LGBTQ and Jewish identity is anti-Semitic. As we advocate for the full equality and inclusion of all LGBTQ people, we also know that eradicating anti-Semitism and bigotry in all forms is crucial to our vision of a world of wholeness, compassion and peace.
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A US college professor who suggested Otto Warmbier got exactly what he deserved has lost her position at the University of Delaware.

Professor Katherine Dettwyler recently posted a Facebook status about Mr Warmbier, the 22-year-old college student who died after being held in captivity by the North Korean government.

Mr Warmbier visited North Korea with a tour group in January 2016, and was detained upon exit for allegedly stealing a government poster. When he was returned to his family earlier this month, he was in a state of unresponsive wakefulness, unable to speak or respond to commands. He died last Monday of unknown causes.

In a since-deleted Facebook post, Ms Dettwyler reportedly compared Mr Warmbier to her own students who cry about their grades because they didnt think theyd really have to read and study the material.

His parents ultimately are to blame for his growing up thinking he could get away with whatever he wanted, she continued, according to the Philly Inquirer. Maybe in the US, where young, white, rich, clueless white males routinely get away with raping women. Not so much in North Korea. And of course, its Ottos parents who will pay the price for the rest of their lives.

The professor reportedly doubled down on her stance in comments on a National Review article, writing that some of her students think nothing of raping drunk girls at frat parties and snorting cocaine, cheating on exams, and threatening professors with physical violence.

North Korea Prison Camps Show all 7 1 /7 North Korea Prison Camps North Korea Prison Camps An overview of Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps The administration area of Camp 15 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps A water treatment system in Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps Crop fields and, inset, prisoners in Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps The reported crematorium in Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps A possible mine Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps A walled compound in Camp 15 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe

The comments reflect a growing opinion in some circles that Mr Warmbiers race and social status played a role in his death.

When will we stop and consider that Otto Warmbier ultimately made a deadly choice to travel to North Korea? reporter Terrell Star tweeted, adding, Did his privilege blind him from making a deadly choice?

The sentiments echo those expressed in a Huffington Post article written after Mr Warmbiers sentencing last year, titled, North Korea Proves Your White Male Privilege Is Not Universal.

Following outcry on social media and several right-wing websites, however, the University quickly distanced themselves from Ms Dettwylers comments.

The comments of Katherine Dettwyler do not reflect the values or position of the University of Delaware, the University said in a statement. We condemn any and all messages that endorse hatred and convey insensitivity toward a tragic event such as the one that Otto Warmbier and his family suffered.

The University announced on Sunday that they would not be rehiring the professor in the future.

Ms Dettwyler is a part-time, adjunct professor, meaning her termination is not subject to the same due process requirements as tenured faculty. Tenured positions were created to protect "free inquiry, free expression, and open dissent" in universities, according to the American Association of University Professors.

Ms Dettwyler declined to comment to The Independent, citing death threats directed at me and members of my extended family.

The professor has received mixed reviews on the anonymous teacher rating site Rate My Professor. While some students described her as smart and knowledgeable on the subject, others took issue with her allegedly strong opinions.

It's her opinion or no opinion, one former student wrote, and she won't be afraid to express it even if it may offend half the class.
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The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a Missouri church seeking state funding in a case that tests the boundaries of separation between church and state.

The case concerns Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Missouri, which applied for a grant from the Department of Natural Resources to help renovate their preschool's playground. The state rejected the church's application, citing a strict policy against funding programmes controlled by a religious entity.

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 against the state, writing that it may not deny the church a public benefit because of its religious status. In its policies against religious favouritism, the Court found, the state came dangerously close to preventing the free exercise of religion.

"This Court has repeatedly confirmed that denying a generally available benefit solely on account of religious identity imposes a penalty on the free exercise of religion," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority decision.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg dissented, arguing that the decision weakens the separation between church and state.

Justice Sotomayor claimed the ruling "dismantles a core protection for religious freedom" and ignores a history of separating state funding from religious causes.

"The Court today blinds itself to the outcome this history requires and leads us instead to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a constitutional commitment," she wrote.

Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Show all 23 1 /23 Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of an expected ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions An abortion rights activist holds placards outside of the US Supreme Court before the Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. The US Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Texas law placing a raft of restrictions on abortion clinics, handing a major victory to the "pro-choice" camp in the country's most important ruling on the divisive issue in a generation. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Pro-life activists pray on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Texas abortion provider Amy Hagstrom-Miller looks on as Nancy Northup, President of The Center for Reproductive Rights speaks to the media outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions An abortion rights activist holds placards outside of the US Supreme Court before the Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. The US Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Texas law placing a raft of restrictions on abortion clinics, handing a major victory to the "pro-choice" camp in the country's most important ruling on the divisive issue in a generation. Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Texas abortion provider Amy Hagstrom-Miller wipes a tear as she walks down the steps of the United States Supreme Court with Nancy Northup, President of The Center for Reproductive Rights on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Abortion rights activists Morgan Hopkins of Boston, left, and Alison Turkos of New York City, celebrate on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Abortion rights activists Morgan Hopkins of Boston, left, and Alison Turkos of New York City, celebrate on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images) Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activist Morgan Hopkins of Boston, celebrates on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists embrace after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of a ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists embrace after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Pro-choice activist, Alissa Manzoeillo, of Washington, D.C. waits for rulings in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. A ruling is expected in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, a Texas case the places restrictions on abortion clinics, as well as rulings in the former Virginia Governor's corruption case and a gun rights case. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of an expected ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of an expected ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. AFP/Getty Images

The Trinity Lutheran Church first sued the state of Missouri in 2012, after the Department of Natural Resources removed them from competition for 14 Scrap Tire Programme grants. The church had ranked fifth out of 44 applicants.

A district court dismissed the church's suit, claiming the Free Exercise clause does not prevent states from withholding benefits  such as playground restoration grants  on account of religion. The Supreme Court overturned that ruling on Monday.

The decision could have cascading effects on the approximately 35 other states that also bar public money from funding religious institutions. These so-called "Blaine Amendments," which prevent money from the public treasury from going to any religious group or teacher, seek to prevent the state from showing favouritism to any one religion.

The court also decided on Monday to rule on another religious liberty case, this time concerning the wedding cake of a same-sex couple in Colorado. The court will consider the right of private parties  in this case, a wedding cake baker  to deny services to same-sex couples on religious grounds.
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Donald Trumps love of Twitter is giving his legal team some headaches.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction placed on his so-called travel ban, and specifically referenced a tweet the President shot out in the days following the terror attacks in London that killed eight people and injured nearly 50 more.

Thats right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, Mr Trump wrote, not some politically correct term that wont help us protect our people!

As it turns out, the judges on the 9th Circuit Court saw in that tweet a statement that undermines the whole reasoning behind the travel ban.

Indeed, the President recently confirmed his assessment that it is the 'countries' that are inherently dangerous, the judges wrote in their opinion, rather than the 180 million individual nationals of those countries who are barred from entry under the Presidents 'travel ban.

The judges also noted that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had himself instructed reporters to view the Presidents tweets as official statements from the White House.

New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Show all 27 1 /27 New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People gather for evening prayer at a rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 02: Yemeni business owner Musa closes the gate to his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner closes the gate to his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty

Mr Trumps allies have long been concerned that the Presidents tweeting habit will inhibit the West Wings ability to move policy forward.

The point cannot be stressed enough that tweets on legal matters seriously undermine [the Administrations] agenda and POTUS  and those who support him, as I do, need to reinforce that point and not be shy about it, George Conway, a lawyer married to White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, tweeted earlier this month. These tweets make some people feel better, but they certainly wont help [the solicitor general] get five votes in [the Supreme Court], which is what actually matters.

The travel ban will likely head to the Supreme Court now that two US Circuit Courts of Appeals have ruled to uphold injunctions on the Presidents travel ban.
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Donald Trump has secured a considerable legal and political victory, after the Supreme Court ruled that it will allow a limited version of his Muslim travel ban to take effect.

A series of lower courts had ruled his executive order, banning the entry of people from six Muslim-majority nations and suspending America's refugee programme, was unconstitutional.

However, the Supreme Court said it would hear arguments from Mr Trumps lawyers when justices return for their next term in October. It said that in the meantime, it would grant parts of his administrations emergency request to put the March 6 executive order into effect immediately while what is likely to be a lengthy legal battle continues.

 Donald Trump blast "judicial overreach" as Hawaii judge blocks travel ban

We grant the governments applications to stay the injunctions, to the extent the injunctions prevent enforcement of [Mr Trumps executive order] with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States, the court said.

Mr Trump was quick to celebrate, and said the courts unanimous decision was a a clear victory for our national security.

It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective, he said in a statement.

As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive.

Reuters reported that the travel ban will take effect with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. The court also said it would allow a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to go into operation on the same grounds.

Three of the court's conservative justices said they would have granted Mr Trumps request in full, including his appointee Neil Gorsuch.

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The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. 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The court did leave one category of foreigners protected, namely those with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

Those who have been working to stop the order, said they hoped the highest court ultimately agreed with those lower rulings that had said the action was unconstitutional.

We hope that the Supreme Court will ultimately uphold the ruling of Judges across the country and declare the travel ban unconstitutional and discriminatory in nature, said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project.

When the first order went into effect, tens of thousands of Americans showed the world that this is not who we are and not what we want. We will never give up defending the rights of those who are affected by this discriminatory executive order.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the countrys largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, claimed the decision ignores the Islamophobic origins of the policy and emboldened Islamophobes in the Trump administration.

It also ignores the almost-unanimous rejection of the Muslim ban by lower courts due to its religious intolerance and racial animus, said Nihad Awad, the groups national executive director.

Mr Trump said last week that the ban  which applies to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen  would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by courts. It is unclear whether the move will result in the same chaotic scenes at airports in the US and around the world as were seen when the order first came into effect earlier this year.

Mr Trump first signed an executive order on this issue in January. In addition to the scenes of chaos at airports, the signing of the order also triggered widespread protests from those opposed to Mr Trump's actions. Several courts said the ban was unconstitutional and put it on hold.

The President then signed a second order in early March that excluded Iraq from the list of countries.
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The US Supreme Court is set to make a ruling on Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on the last day of its current term.

The executive order had put a halt to all travellers from six Muslim-majority countries  Syria, Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen  entering the US for 90 days.

The Trump administration said the ban was in the best interests of national security. Mr Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail: "A complete shutdown of Muslims ... Until country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."

The White House said vetting processes for visas and those attempting to enter as refugees had to be reviewed and strengthened in those 90 days.

The original travel ban included Iraq also. An exception was made after it was pointed out to the administration that several interpreters and others who aided US troops during the war would have been barred from entering the US.

The initial order was met with thousands of protestors at airports across the country with makeshift legal aid clinics set up in waiting areas for arriving travellers. Two lower courts put a halt to the revised 6 March order.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled the order was unconstitutional because it imposed religious discrimination.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the largest circuit in the country, ruled that the immigration ban required a more substantive national security reason than the White House provided. They cited Mr Trump's favoured medium of communication, Twitter, in their argument.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has maintained his message from January 2017: It's not a Muslim ban. It's not a travel ban ... It's a vetting system to keep America safe.

However, on 5 June Mr Trump tweeted that it was in fact "a travel ban".

A recent study by Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, a nonprofit media centre, and news outlet Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting found that only three of the 201 domestic terror incidents that occurred between 2008 and 2016 "involved a perpetrator or alleged perpetrator" that came from one of the six travel ban countries.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear the appeal of the lower courts and fulfil the White House's request that the ban be implemented while litigation is ongoing.

If the Court rules to allow the ban to proceed, implementation would begin within 72 hours. Though the order does not apply to citizens of the six countries already in the US or those holding valid visas when the ban goes into effect, many worry people will be caught in the legal confusion caused in January when the order was first implemented.

Should the full bench of nine judges rule to keep the ban on pause, the White House could still review the order and issue another revised one.

New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Show all 27 1 /27 New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People gather for evening prayer at a rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 02: Yemeni business owner Musa closes the gate to his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty New York City bodegas strike to protest Trump's travel ban A Yemeni business owner closes the gate to his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty

Even if the court schedules arguments, 26 June is the last day of the current term for the court. Any oral arguments will be scheduled after the 90-day ban and review period has already taken place.

The travel ban could be rejected all together as well. However, legal experts have said this is unlikely given the political leanings of each of the Justices.

Another issue at play on the last day before the summer recess is the rumoured retirement of Justice Robert Kennedy, who is turning 81 soon. Though Mr Kennedy was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, he has proven to be more left-leaning on social issues such as reproductive rights, gay marriage, and limiting the use of the death penalty.

His retirement would mean Mr Trump would have an opportunity to appoint another conservative Justice in addition to Neil Gorsuch, calling into question landmark rulings such as Roe v. Wade on the right to abortions.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 84, has indicated no signs of stepping down from her lifetime appointment on the bench.
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A former Miss Italy finalist who was the victim of an acid attack, has returned to work at the aquarium where she trains sea lions.

Gessica Notaro received severe burns to her face in January when she was doused in hydrochloric acid.

Her ex-boyfriend, Jorge Edson Tavares, is being prosecuted for the attack, although he has strenuously denied any involvement.

Ms Notaro posted a picture on Facebook showing herself at the aquarium with two sea lions. It is captioned: My strength? Here you go.

Recommended Italian model reveals injuries after acid attack

The 28-year-old promised to return to work to encourage other women to fight against bullying, the BBC reported.

The former model made headlines around the world when she revealed her scars for the first time on the Maurizio Costanzo show.

Denouncing her ex-boyfriend she told the host that Mr Tavares had stalked her after they broke up last summer and a restraining order was placed on him.

She said that she had spent two months imprisoned in hospital while undergoing treatment for the attack.

Describing the event itself, Ms Notaro said she prayed to keep her sight.

While the acid ate away at my face I was on my knees praying," she said on the show. "I prayed to God: take away my beauty but at least leave me with my sight.

Ms Notaro currently wears an eye patch over one eye.

She said on the show that she could no longer live her life as she used to and will need to wait a year for further plastic surgery.
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The founder of a new liberal mosque in Berlin has vowed to keep the building open in the face of death threats and heavy criticism from religious conservatives.

Seyran Ates told The Guardian she was sent 3,000 emails a day full of hate about the Ibn-Rushd-Goethe Mosque which allows men and women to pray side by side, instead of segregating them.

But the 54-year-old remained defiant. The pushback I am getting makes me feel that I am doing the right thing, she said.

Open to both Sunni and Shiite worshippers, as well as members of the LGBTQ community, the mosque shares its premises with a protestant church.

But Ms Ates said no-one wearing a niqab or burqa is allowed entry, claiming the garments are a political statement.

The mosque's foundation was condemned by Egypts state-run Islamic organisation, Dar al-Ifta al-Masriyyah, which said that men and women praying side by side was incompatible with Islam

The country's al-Azhar university responded to the new institution by issuing a law banning the foundation of liberal mosques.

Diyanet, Turkeys religious authority, also criticised it.

It said that its practices do not align with Islam's fundamental resources, principles of worship, methodology or experience of more than 14 centuries, and are experiments aimed at nothing more than depraving and ruining religion".

The religious association linked the mosque to the network of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkish authorities have accused of being behind last year's failed coup.

Ms Ates has denied any connection to Mr Gulen.

Turkey's pro-government Sabah newspaper said the mosque practices "the so-called prayer of the perverse".

Ms Ates, who moved from Turkey to Germany as a child, has criticised the oppression of women in certain Muslim communities and called for liberal values to be upheld.

The German government called Turkish criticism of the new mosque, an interference in freedom of religion and opinion.

"I want to be very clear in rejecting all comments that clearly intend to deprive people in Germany of their right to freely exercise their religion and to limit the right to free expression of opinion," said Martin Schaefer, spokesman for the country's Foreign Ministry

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

Germany, which is home to an estimated 4 million or more people of Turkish origin, is already at loggerheads with Turkey on a number of issues.

Turkish politicians were barred from campaigning in Germany for a referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers.

Turkey's arrest of a German-Turkish journalist working for a German paper also caused friction between the two nations, as did Turkey's refusal to let German parliamentarians visit an air force base hosting German planes.

Mr Schaefer said it was not for the government to determine how people practiced their religion and that it would protect freedom of worship just as it protected freedom of opinion and press freedom.
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British tourists were forced to evacuate a Majorca beach after a shark estimated to be eight feet long swam just metres from bathers.

Tourists and children were pictured leaving from the water after the blue shark was spotted on Illetas beach, near Magaluf, at the weekend.

The discovery prompted the closure of several more beaches in the area.

Lifeguards ordered everyone out of the water and raised red flags, while the Guardia Civil conducted a search of the coastline.

Musician Tim Prottey-Jones, 27, was on the beach with his wife, Angela, when swimmers began leave the water.

I noticed people all coming out at the same time, he told The Independent. There was an eerie calm and parents were picking up their kids.

I shouted to Angela, when I saw a fin in the shallow water. She didnt believe me until she saw it.

Mr Prottey-Jones said the lifeguards had use a paddle board to rescue one distant swimmer.

After the initial concern, Mr Prottey-Jones said there was excitement among the beach goers as they observed the beautiful animal, which was in just two feet of water.

It was swimming by for a few minutes, Mr Prottey-Jones added. It was eerie, but swam past slowly and calmly. It was like something Id only ever seen in a film.

After swimming away, the shark later apparently returned and was pictured thrashing around on the sand, surrounded by onlookers.

It is believed the shark came so unusually close to the shore because it was disorientated from a wound it had sustained to the head.

Experts from the local Palma Aquarium captured the shark and later euthanised it after discovering the injuries.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

A hook was detected in the mouth of the animal, which caused irreversible damage, the aquarium said in a statement.

Blue sharks are common to the Mediterranean but are generally regarded as harmless, preying mostly on smaller fish and squid.

However, one was blamed for an attack on a 40-year-old swimmer in Costa Blanca last summer.

The mans hand was mangled after being bitten by a blue shark, known as a tintorera in Spanish.
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The Iraqi coalition forces battling against Isis for control of Mosul have managed to fend off a wave of suicide bombers as they force their way into the militant-held heart of the city, the military has said.

Isis launched a major counter attack involving dozens of suicide bombers across the west of the city and in particular on the neighbourhood of Hay al-Tanak just outside the Old City walls on Sunday, Iraqi officials said. Residents homes  many of which are being used to shelter fighters and weapons  were set on fire before the situation was brought back under control.

The coalition retaliated with at least 20 air strikes on Sunday, and more overnight. Helicopter bombing and heavy shelling has pounded the last square mile containing around 300 Isis fighters and up to 100,000 civilians, herded into the area by the extremists for use as human shields.

 Mosul residents on Isis blowing up Grand al-Nuri Mosque

The fight to retake Mosul is in its final stages, but the last push has killed hundreds of civilians and reduced entire neighbourhoods to rubble thanks to heavy coalition bombing  responsible for an unknown number of casualties which rights groups and war monitors say numbers in the thousands.

The blazing 45 degree heat and stench of dead bodies have given the last days of the battle an apocalyptic feel, soldiers on the frontlines report.

Last week, Isis blew up the citys 12th century Grand Mosque, from which leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the creation of the so-called caliphate after his troops swept across northern Iraq from Syria in the summer of 2014.

In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty

The demolition is believed to have been ordered to prevent the coalition forces from claiming a symbolic victory from the same spot.

A total of around 6,000 Isis supporters terrorised Mosuls residents for three years before the US-backed coalition campaign to oust them from their biggest urban stronghold began in October 2016.

While thousands have been killed or have fled in the fighting, the battle has dragged on longer than initial estimates and inflicted heavy losses on Iraqi troops and civilians. More than 800,000 residents are thought to have fled their homes in total, braving roadside bombs and sniper fire.
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Eight Emirati royals have been convicted in Belgium on long-standing human trafficking and abuse charges related to the treatment of their servants.

Sheikha Hamda al-Nahyan of one of the the United Arab Emirates ruling families and seven of her daughters were each given suspended 15-month jail terms and a $185,000 (145,000) fine, Belga news agency reported on Friday.

A total of 23 women - many of them originally citizens of African countries - were smuggled into Belgium without proper working or residency documents while the princesses rented out a floor of the luxury Conrad Hotel between 2007 - 2008, the court found.

 Dubai king finds offices empty

The workers were forced to put in long hours, did not have proper sleeping quarters or food, were not allowed to leave the hotel and were paid substandard wages, investigators said. The women said in their testimony they were routinely shouted at by their employers.

The case was brought to the Brussels authorities attention after one woman escaped and went to the police in 2008. An investigation found the servants were living in "inhumane" conditions.

We are very satisfied because the court made a very clear statement that this was a sort of modern slavery, Jean-Pierre Jacques, the plaintiffs lawyer told Belga. It's what we have been demanding for nine years.

Fashion hotels conquer Dubai Show all 2 1 /2 Fashion hotels conquer Dubai Fashion hotels conquer Dubai 622679.bin AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE Fashion hotels conquer Dubai 369401.bin AFP/GIUSEPPE CACACE

Defence lawyers for the eight princesses had previously argued that an agency provided the employment contracts for the alleged victims and took out their health insurance, suggesting the company should be the ones facing the legal action.

A legal representative for the royals did not say whether the family was planning on appealing the verdict. He said in a statement he regretted that the court took into account the statements of the victims but was satisfied the court had appropriately assessed the case.

The UAE has been frequently criticised by human rights groups for its lack of legal protections and exploitation faced by many of the countrys estimated seven million foreign domestic and construction workers.

Earlier this year, a similar case was heard by the European Court of Human Rights after a family from Dubai brought three servants from the Philippines to Vienna, Austria. The plaintiffs alleged they were forced to work around the clock without being paid their agreed wages, and were physically and emotionally abused.

However, since their employers had left the country before the complaints were filed and in lieu of a mutual legal assistance agreement between Austria and the UAE, the European Court of Human Rights concluded that a trial would not have any reasonable prospect of success.
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Beijing Comedy Theater will mark its second anniversary on July 16 by performing William Shakespeare's comedy The Merchant of Venice from July 11 to 30.

Director Chen Xinyi (left) instructs young performers at the rehearsal of The Merchant of Venice, a new production by Beijing Comedy Theater. [Photo/China Daily]

The theater is a joint operation with three partners - the National Center for the Performing Arts, DaDao Culture, which was founded by Chinese comedy actor and director Chen Peisi, and the venue itself.

"In this busy city, the theater brings laughs and energy to people living here. The past two years are the best proof that we were right to offer a specialized comedy theater to the public," says Chen, the artistic director of the theater.

"We did not just introduce original Chinese comedy productions but also foreign ones."

Chen, who is a household name for his TV sketch comedy, opened the theater in 2015 with his directorial work The Stage.

The play won accolades and has toured the country over the past two years.

Many acclaimed works have also been staged, including the slapstick Mahua FunAge series and dark, thought-provoking satires like President's Invitation and The Donkey.

The theater's president Jiang Haiyan says it has presented 74 productions with a total of 433 performances.

Audience attendance has totaled 740,000, which translates to an average of 70 percent of capacity - a very good showing by Chinese standards.

And box-office takings totaled 58.6 million yuan ($8.6 million).

NCPA vice-president Li Zhixiang says: "As the fifth venue of the NCPA, Beijing Comedy Theater has drawn audiences for its exclusive devotion to comedy.

"The program schedule is set until March 2018. And we have witnessed a strong comedy community growing - comprising both performers and audiences."

The Merchant of Venice will be performed by young actors from the NCPA drama team and directed by Chen Xinyi.

"The Merchant of Venice involves people of different social classes. It makes you laugh and think at the same time," says the director, whose works range from operas and plays to musicals.

"The play is particularly suitable for contemporary audiences, who live in a world of materialism. There are also love, friendship and the virtue of businessmen, which will relate to today's audiences.

"I have directed four Shakespeare plays working with the NCPA. And I love Shakespeare's plays, which are great material for young actors and directors."

A live band, including a cellist, a violinist and a trumpet player, will also perform at the show.

Meanwhile, instead of inviting celebrity actors to draw audiences, the director has young actors.

Beijing Comedy Theater will hold an open-day event on July 16 for audiences to interact with artists, including artistic director Chen Peisi and Chen Xinyi.

If you go

7:30 pm, July 11-30. Beijing Comedy Theater, 11 Chaoyangmen North Street, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 400-610-3721.
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The worlds food supplies are in danger as climate change and the increasing reliance on global trade threaten to create shortages and sudden, dramatic increases in prices, according to a new report by the leading think tank Chatham House.

The reports authors warned of a growing risk  to human security with the potential for systemic disruption and so-called Black Swan events  major unexpected changes.

They called for an international emergency response mechanism to be created to help deal with crises as they arise and an increase in emergency food stocks.

Urgent action should also be taken to improve weak and ageing infrastructure in major crop-producing regions such as Russia, Ukraine and the US, the report added.

Global warming is expected to produce more violent storms and increased flooding in some areas, which could damage roads, railways and ports. And, as the temperature and rainfall change, this could also affect crop yields.

The report, called Chokepoints and Vulnerabilities in Global Food Trade, said international trade had enabled certain areas to specialise in certain types of food production, which had maximised productivity and reduced prices, but warned this food system was now coming under increasing strain.

While market forces have largely adjusted adequately until now, the capacity of international trade to correct for supply disruptions in a climate-changed world is less certain, the report said.

Climate change will suppress growth in crop yields and make harvests more variable.

It will threaten the reliability and integrity of the infrastructure on which international trade depends.

In addition to more regular and more severe weather-induced damage to roads, railways, ports and inland waterways, climate change will have a multiplying effect on security and political hazards affecting the infrastructural backbone of international trade.

Experts highlighted 14 chokepoints around the world  such as the Panama and Suez canals, the US rail network and its inland waterways, Brazils roads and the Turkish Straits  that are vitally important to the continued flow of food.

Just three regions, the US, Brazil and the Black Sea area, account for 53 per cent of global exports of wheat, rice, maize and soybean. The first three crops make up 60 per cent of the food we eat, while soybean is 65 per cent of animals protein feed.

The report said the chokepoints were the potential epicentres of systemic disruption.

A serious interruption at one or more of these chokepoints could conceivably lead to supply shortfalls and price spikes, with systemic consequences that could reach beyond food markets, it said.

In an increasingly unpredictable world, ensuring the resilience of populations and critical infrastructure to compound and cascading supply chain disruptions, and to black swan events, will become increasingly vital yet ever more challenging.

Without significant investment in new approaches  food trade chokepoints will pose a material and growing risk to systemic stability and to human security, chiefly in the worlds most food-insecure and politically volatile regions.

The report found 10 per cent of global trade in cereals, soybeans and fertilisers passed through a maritime chokepoint for which there was no viable alternative.

Over the past 15 years, all but one of the 14 critical chokepoints has been subject to closure or to restrictions on traffic, it added.

The rapid melting of ice the Arctic is opening up new shipping routes between the northern Atlantic and Pacific but the authors said this was unlikely to relieve pressure on existing shipping routes before the second half of the century.

One of the authors, Laura Wellesley, said the oil industry had been mapping this sort of risk for years but it has been woefully overlooked in discussions of food security.

Past events, including floods in Brazil and the Southern US, and the export bans on wheat from the Black Sea countries that contributed in part to the Arab Spring, give us a flavour of the sort of disruptions that can occur when chokepoints are closed, she said.

She said governments had a tendency to make decisions in their own short-term, national interests in mind.

But these could exacerbate the global problem, and undermine systemic resilience.

We need a new, collaborative approach to mapping and mitigating the growing threat we all face, Ms Wellesley said.

Robin Willoughby, Oxfam head of food and climate policy and campaigns, said climate change was "the single greatest threat to our chances of winning the fight against hunger".

And he added: "The global food system is woefully unprepared to cope with its savage impacts.

Small-scale farmers and poor urban consumers are on the front lines of increased weather and food price volatility.

They need major new support to adapt to the changing climate  from improved irrigation schemes, crop insurance and agricultural research and development to stronger social protection.

As the Paris Agreement failed to provide these new resources, responsible leaders in rich and poor countries alike should start to plug the gap immediately.
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The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has launched an investigation into an engine failure that caused an AirAsia X jet to shake like a washing machine for two hours.

The Airbus A330, with 359 passengers on board, had taken off from Perth for a flight to Kuala Lumpur. Seventy-five minutes into the journey, when flight D7 237 was close to Carnarvon on the Western Australia coast, passengers heard a loud bang.

One of the two Rolls-Royce engines had failed, and the crew decided to return to Perth - with the aircraft shaking for the entire journey.

One passenger, Sophie Nicolas, told ABC News: "I could tell by the cabin crew's reaction that it was really bad.

"I was crying a lot, a lot of people were crying, trying to call their mums and stuff but we couldn't really do anything just wait and trust the captain."

Another passenger, Damien Stevens, told CNN: It shook for the whole ride back, close on two hours. He said that the pilot asked passengers to pray - twice - and that they were instructed to hold the brace position during landing. The pilot then shook hands with every passenger after landing safely.

In a statement, the airline said: The safety of our guests and crew is of the utmost importance to us. We are currently conducting an investigation into the cause of the incident together with our engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce.

The AirAsia X Group operates exclusively Airbus A330-300 aircraft with an average age of less than five years.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said: As a result of an inflight engine fault, the aircraft was subjected to moderate airframe vibration. The flight crew elected to return to Perth.

The bureau will interview the crew, investigate the engine damage and analyse data from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

Two weeks ago a China Eastern Airbus A330 fitted with the same type of Rolls-Royce engines made an emergency landing after a gaping hole was ripped in an engine casing just after take-off from Sydney.

In December 2014, an AirAsia Airbus A320 flight from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore crashed with the loss of 162 lives. The investigation revealed that the episode would have been survivable were it not for the flawed responses of the two pilots.
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A woman has accused an Indian hotel of discrimination after she was turned away  despite having a reservation  because she was travelling alone.

Nupur Saraswat, an Indian spoken word artist, had booked a room at the Hotel Deccan Erragadda in Hyderabad. Yet despite having confirmed her booking online, hotel staff told her on arrival that she could not stay because she was a single lady.

Saraswat, who lives in Singapore, had booked the hotel through Indias largest online booking site, Goibibo. In its terms and conditions, along with check-in and check-out times, the hotel states that locals and unmarried couples are not welcome, and that single lady not allowed (sic).

She told The Independent: My first reaction was confusion. I have never experienced anything like that before  it was bizarre. I didnt really react because I didnt understand why that policy could exist in the first place.

According to Saraswat, when she remonstrated with the hotel manager she was told, Sorry Ma'am, this is hotel policy, you talk to Goibibo.

In a Facebook post that was shared over 1,500 times, she wrote: Somehow they decided I was safer on the streets than in the hotel.

I was extremely lucky to have arrived early in the morning This could be you - another hotel, another city... Maybe you'll arrive on an 11pm flight and they will refuse to let you stay. So here's my sincere plea - share this post. Make a scene. Make Goibibo listen. Let them know that women travel solo now and we won't stay indoors for the sake of our own safety.

In a subsequent post, Saraswat praised Goibibo for taking swift action. The company announced in a long blog post that her money had been refunded and she had been moved to an upgraded room in a higher-rated hotel free of charge, while the hotel had been struck off its database pending an investigation. The site is also working how to filter out properties with similar rules, since policies are added by the hotels themselves.

Goibibos post included a screenshot of an email from the Deccan Erragadda, claiming that we are not against a single woman staying in our hotel but that this is not right place (area) to staying single a woman in hotel (sic). It added, As per local police interaction we dont give rooms to single women and unmarried couples.

Goibibo says this is the first time theyve come across this policy, and is investigating the hotels response. In its statement, it said: We do not support such policies unless backed with a rationale. We will leave no stone unturned to have a scaled solution.

Ashish Kashyap, Goibibo CEO, told The Independent that the incident has caused the company to think about creating a dedicated helpline for female travellers:

Goibibo deeply cares for women. We already have a special hotline to ensure secure and safe fulfillment for our travellers. We plan on creating a separate helpline/chatline for women travellers too.

As a platform we do not agree with this no single women policy unless the regulator or local authorities ask us to comply. Therefore we have delisted the property in question till as such time, we hear from the authorities or there is a modification to the policy by the hotelier.

Pricing and hotel policies are generated by the hotel. This includes aspects related to time of check-in, checkout, inclusions, pet friendliness, issues pertaining to unmarried couples and so on and so forth. This is like user-generated content which works on the principle of reporting by the community. Similarly in this very case, since the issue got reported, we acted fast.

In the very remote situation (such as this) when there is a denial, we firstly provide an upgraded alternate accommodation to the traveller thereby at the outset ensuring a secure and peaceful stay at a better and higher-rated accommodation. This is what we did in this case too at the very first instance.

But Saraswat told The Independent that, for her, it isnt over. The hotel being delisted has become the conclusion of the story, and thats not what I wanted or intended, she said. I didnt want to harm local business  I just wanted the website to consider that something like this can happen in our society.

Goibibo deserve praise in that they did take action really quickly, but they only addressed the situation when the post went viral  before that, they were just giving me a full refund. Eventually, they took on the responsibility, and someone got in touch to reassure me that they will filter out these hotels. I appreciate their efforts, but obviously its not over.

For me, this doesnt end until Goibibo is able to filter out these hotels and travelling for women is made safer. Ive been to a lot of cities by myself before and there are nuances in terms of how you navigate a hostel as a single woman  Ive had probems in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and other places  but its never been so bad that they would not give me a room.

This doesnt end with me or Goibibo  solo travel for women needs to be safer. Women are travelling way more now that they have access to education and money  especially Indian women. Id love to make some kind of impact in making travelling safer, easier and normalised for women.
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Passengers flying on the worlds safest airline say that their warnings about a potentially disruptive passenger were ignored  leading to an emergency diversion of their flight from California to Texas when a woman tried to open an emergency exit door mid-flight.

Recommended Southwest Airlines kicks Muslim off plane for speaking Arabic

Southwest Airlines flight 4519 had taken off on time from Los Angeles for a routine journey to Houston Hobby airport. But the airline said crew became concerned about one of the passengers and chose to divert to Corpus Christi airport, about 200 miles short of the intended destination.

Passenger Henrietta Mokwuah told news station ABC13 that after pacing up and down the aisle, the woman "tore off a piece" of the emergency exit door.

The woman was detained by police in Corpus Christi, while the plane eventually continued its journey nearly five hours behind schedule.

Some passengers claimed that the woman had been behaving strangely at the gate before the flight from Los Angeles. Corey Chao, a passenger on the flight, tweeted: I reported to the SWA gate agent, and they claimed security had been called. Then I see this person on flight an hour later

Kristy Gillentine, a journalist who was travelling on the flight, said: This is a clear failure of many people to #SEESOMETHINGSAYSOMETHING. Erratic passenger never should have been allowed on flight.

She had earlier tweeted: Emergency landing in Corpus Christi on @southwestair flight LAX-HOU due to unruly passenger. Ready to get on home now, please.

Southwest Airlines has never suffered a crash in its 46 year history, during which it has flown around five billion passengers. In a blog post earlier this year, the Chairman and CEO, Gary Kelly, wrote: I have a growing concern that, as a larger society, we are becoming more divisive and less civil toward each other.
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Airline passengers in America may be required to separate out books, magazines and papers from cabin baggage - but civil liberties campaigners have insisted that airport security staff should not be able to scrutinise and assess a passengers choice of reading matter.

New airport security procedures being tested by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) require travellers to remove paper products  as well as foods such as chocolate and cheese - from their carry-on bags. The TSA says it allow screeners to assess the contents of hand baggage more effectively. On the screens used at airports, such items appear dense and may obscure other items.

But Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), has raised concerns about the possible human rights impact.

In a blog titled New TSA Policy May Lead to Increased Scrutiny of Reading Material, he says the move would lead inevitably to greater scrutiny of passengers reading materials, adding: Someone reading Arab or Muslim literature in todays environment has all too much cause to worry about discrimination.

In 2009 a student travelling from Philadelphia to California was interrogated for five hours after airport security staff found some Arabic language flash cards and a book called Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions in his cabin baggage.

Mr Stanley said: TSA checkpoints are not general law enforcement stops. Besides the risk that someone might be suspected of being a terrorist, ACLU is also concerned about privacy.

A person who is reading a book entitled Overcoming Sexual Abuse or Overcoming Sexual Dysfunction is not likely to want to plop that volume down on the conveyor belt for all to see, said Mr Stanley.

Even someone reading a bestseller like Fifty Shades of Grey or a mild self-help book with a title such as What Should I Do With My Life? might be shy about exposing his or her reading habits.

The TSA currently employs several thousand Behavior Detection Officers, looking for passengers demonstrating excessive fear or stress and subjecting them to additional screening.
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With landmarks like the Palace Pier, the Royal Pavilion and the new i360 observation tower, Brighton is an obvious choice for a seaside break this summer. But even without those famous tourist attractions, the city is worth visiting for its increasingly dynamic restaurant scene alone. Over the last five years, Brighton and Hove has emerged as one of the most exciting and varied dining destinations in the country, with everything from the finest and freshest seafood to innovative and delicious vegetarian and vegan offerings. Throw in casual fine dining, Japanese gastropub grub and creative small plates and youve got all the ingredients of a distinctive and memorable culinary awayday.

64 Degrees has room for just 20 diners (64 Degrees)

64 Degrees

With just 20 seats, youll need to book ahead to experience chef Michael Bremners daily changing list of imaginative small plates. Ask for a seat at the counter overlooking the open kitchen where a talented team put together beautifully balanced dishes such as asparagus with brown butter foam, grapefruit and hazelnuts. Sister restaurant Murmur is due to open in July on Brightons seafront serving family friendly food all day in relaxed surroundings.

53 Meeting House Lane. 01273 770115; 64degrees.co.uk

Bincho Yakitori is Brightons foremost Japanese gastropub (Bincho Yakitori)

Bincho Yakitori

No one ever dines at this small, rustic izakaya (Japanese gastropub) just once. Signature items like sweet and crunchy kara fried chicken, meltingly tender pork belly and chicken skin skewers are so addictive youll be planning your next visit as you eat. Chef and owner David Miney spent three years cooking in Tokyo and whenever the restaurant is open he is behind the counter expertly manning the charcoal grill. Check the blackboard for the latest imported Japanese craft beers and dont miss the list of high-quality sakes.

63 Preston St. 01273 779021; binchoyakitori.com

Etch is the brainchild of Masterchef: The Professionals winner Steven Edwards (Etch)

Etch

Masterchef: The Professionals winner Steven Edwards opened Etch earlier this year, bringing his take on relaxed multi-course fine dining to the city. The substantial corner site in Hove (previously an Indian restaurant) has been impressively refurbished with roomy green leather booths, polished wood tables and lots of natural light from a series of arched windows. Choose between four and eight courses of tersely described dishes such as salmon onion that appear on the plate as carefully composed works of culinary art.

216 Church Road. 01273 227485; etchfood.co.uk

Kids under 11 eat free at Fatto a Mano (Fatto a Mano)

Fatto a Mano

If youre heading to Brighton with kids in tow, make sure you keep the address of one of the two Fatto a Mano restaurants in your back pocket. The high-quality pizzas, which include a gluten-free option, are made with 24-hour-fermented dough and San Marzano tomatoes and are great value as well as tasty; even better, children under the age of 11 eat for free. Look out for the daily specials that often feature local produce. The terrace at the Hove branch is a great spot to kick back with a beer or two on a sunny day.

77 London Road. 01273 600621; fattoamanopizza.com

Many of the dishes at Food for Friends are vegan and gluten-free (Food for Friends) (Food for friends)

Food for Friends

This casual vegetarian restaurant in the Lanes is a true Brighton landmark. Theyve been serving a globally inspired menu since 1981 and a recent refurbishment and menu overhaul has breathed new life into the place. Many of the dishes, such as tofu pockets stuffed with stir-fried shiitake, spring onions and brown rice, served with marinated pak choi and gochujang sauce, are vegan and gluten-free too.

17-18 Prince Albert Street. 01273 202 310; foodforfriends.com

The Ginger Pig has added stylish rooms and a conservatory (The Ginger Pig)

The Ginger Pig

Part of local celebrity chef Ben McKellars acclaimed Gingerman group (which also includes The Ginger Dog in the bohemian Kemptown neighbourhood, The Ginger Fox in the South Downs and the flagship Gingerman in central Brighton), The Ginger Pig was one of Brightons first gastropubs. A decade on, theyve just added 11 stylish rooms and a conservatory that doubles as a breakfast area and private dining room. The food is better than ever, with a sophisticated yet approachable menu of local and seasonal produce  think citrus-cured salmon with beetroot, apple and samphire. Sherry lovers will appreciate the list carefully curated by bar manager Rob Maynard.

3 Hove Street, Hove. 01273 736123; thegingerpigpub.com

Seafood doesnt get any fresher than at Little Fish Market (Little Fish Market)

Little Fish Market

Former Fat Duck chef Duncan Ray orders fish from local day boats thats delivered, cooked and served on the day its caught; the only way to get fresher seafood is to catch it and cook it yourself. But youre unlikely to have the sort of technical skills displayed across the five-course set menu at Little Fish Market, which might kick off with a superb Carlingford oyster served with elderflower granita and Jersey cream and continue with turbot with morels, chicken wings, leek and cabbage. The restaurants dedicated two-man team is completed by Rob Smith who runs the 22-seat dining room with unmatched charm, making a meal here a relaxed delight.

10 Upper Market Street, Hove. 01273 722213; thelittlefishmarket.co.uk

Pike & Pine transforms from hip cafe to upscale restaurant each evening (Red Roaster)

Pike & Pine

This glamorous Kemptown newcomer has a split personality. During the day, its the Red Roaster cafe serving own-brand coffee and a wide-ranging menu that encompasses breakfast staples like bacon and egg butties and more sophisticated offerings including local crab in shellfish brioche with yuzu curd and puffed pumpkin seeds. At 6.30pm, the beautiful dining room with its impressive marble counter, abundant foliage and open kitchen becomes fine-dining destination Pike & Pine. Overseeing both operations is former Michelin-starred chef Matt Gillan, who creates intricate plates from daring combinations of ingredients such as duck with banana and cashews, and trout with beetroot and chocolate.

1d St Jamess Street. 01273 686668; pikeandpine.co.uk

Silo is the UKs first zero-waste restaurant (Xavier D Buendia) (Xavier D. Buendia)

Silo

Located in a converted Victorian warehouse in the fashionable North Laine neighbourhood, Silo is billed as the UKs first zero-waste restaurant with upcycled furniture and a sustainable food-sourcing policy. Chef Douglas McMaster has worked at St John and Noma and combines the nose-to-tail approach of the former with the local-and-sustainable ethos of the latter in dishes like huss with cauliflower and samphire. Later this month a cocktail bar will open within the restaurant, with drinks created by Mr Lyan of Dandelyan fame. A list of zero-waste drinks will include a sourdough sour made with the restaurants leftover bread.

39 Upper Gardner Street. 01273 674 259; silobrighton.com

Terre a Terre is one of the UKs leading vegetarian restaurants (Terre a Terre) (Terre a Terre)

Terre a Terre

For more than two decades, Terre a Terre has been one of the countrys leading vegetarian restaurants. The large, contemporary dining room attracts regulars like Jonathan Ross, who come for bizarrely named but always delicious dishes such as chimchimney souffle and sooty tops (pastry wrapped blue cheese souffle with a potato cake) and the selection of signature potato rostis. In good weather, ask for a table in the rear courtyard.

71 East Street. 01273 729051; terreaterre.co.uk

Andy Lynes is the editor of Brightons Best Cookbook: Recipes from the Top 20 Restaurants
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An old Chinese curse is May you live in interesting times!  interesting times are the times of troubles, confusion and suffering. And it seems that in some democratic countries, we are lately witnessing a weird phenomenon which proves that we live in interesting times: a candidate emerges and wins elections as it were from nowhere, in a moment of confusion building a movement around his name  both Berlusconi and Macron exploded like this.

What is this process a sign of? Definitely not of any kind of direct popular engagement beyond party politics  on the contrary, we should never forget that such figures explode with the full support of social and economic establishment. Their function is to obfuscate actual social antagonisms  people are magically united against some demonised fascist threat.

Decades ago, Vaclav Havel was the first to blurt out this dream: when, after being elected a President, he first met Helmut Kohl, he made a weird suggestion: Why dont we work together to dissolve all political parties? Why dont we set up just one big party, the Party of Europe? One can imagine Kohls sceptical smile.

This weird phenomenon is one of the visible effects of the long-term rearrangement of the political space in Europe. Until recently, the political space was dominated by two main parties which addressed the entire electoral body, a right-of-centre party (Christian Democrat, liberal-conservative, peoples something-or-other) and a left-of-centre party (socialist, social democratic something-or-other), with smaller parties addressing a narrow electorate (ecologists, neo-fascists, and so on).

 Macron says door 'remains open' for Britain to stay in EU

Now, there is progressively emerging one party which stands for global capitalism as such, usually with relative tolerance towards abortion, gay rights, religious and ethnic minorities; opposing this party is a stronger and stronger anti-immigrant populist party which, on its fringes, is accompanied by directly xenophobic groups.

The exemplary case is here Poland: after the disappearance of the ex-communists, the main parties are the anti-ideological centrist liberal party of the ex-prime minister Donald Tusk and the conservative Christian party of Kaczynski brothers. The question now is: which of the two main parties, conservatives or liberals, will succeed in presenting itself as embodying the post-ideological non-politics against the other party dismissed as "still caught in old ideological spectres"? In the early Nineties, conservatives were better at it; later, it was liberal leftists who seemed to be gaining the upper hand.

This process brings us back to Berlusconi and Macron: new movements emerge out of nowhere when none of the old big parties, conservative or liberal, succeeds in imposing itself as the agent of the new radical centre, so the establishment is caught in a panic and has to invent a new movement in order, precisely, to keep things the way they are.

Already the names of their respective movements (more than just parties) sound similar in their empty universality which fits everyone and everything. Who wouldnt agree with Forza Italia! or with La Republique En Marche!  they both designate the abstract sense of a victorious movement forward without any specification of the direction of this movement and its goal.

 Glastonbury crowd sings 'Oh Jeremy Corbyn' as Radiohead condemns 'useless politicians'

Both exploded as reactions of the establishment in a panic. There is, of course, an obvious difference between the two, a different accent: Berlusconi entered the scene when, after the big anti-corruption campaign, the entire traditional political configuration in Italy collapsed and ex-communists remained as the only viable force, while Macron entered the scene alongside le Pens xenophobic populism. His role is best described by a word used by some of his supporters: in the last years, Marine le Pen gradually came to be de-diabolised, that is to say perceived as part of the normal (acceptable) political space, and the task is to re-diabolise her, to show to the political public that she remains the same old xenophobe not to be tolerated by society.

Such a gesture of (re)diabolisation is clearly not enough: instead of just focusing on that, one should immediately raise the question of how such a leader could have emerged in our society (in le Pens case, le Pen is a reaction to the policy whose embodiment is Macron). The function of diabolisation is precisely to obfuscate this link, to locate the guilt in an agent outside our democratic space.

Historically, it was the task of the left to raise such questions, so no wonder that, with the diabolised enemy, the radical left conveniently disappears from the picture. Recall how, in the last elections in France, every leftist scepticism about Macron was immediately denounced as a support for le Pen. So we can venture the hypothesis that this elimination of the left was the true aim of the operation, and that the demonised enemy was a convenient prop.

 Jeremy Corbyn gives a speech at Glastonbury Festival

Julian Assange recently wrote that the reason the Democratic Partys establishment has embraced the We didnt lose - Russia won narrative is because if they didnt, then the insurgency created by Bernie Sanders during last years presidential election would dominate the party. And in the same way that the US Democrats diabolise Trump to get rid of Sanders who poses a threat to the Democratic establishment, the French establishment diabolised le Pen to get rid of the potential leftist radicalisation.

The UK is a special case here, since it is one of the big old parties - the Labour party, under Corbyns leadership - which is emerging as the main threat to the establishment. So we can perhaps imagine a new anti-Brexit radical centre composed of the Blair wing of the Labour Party, Lib Dems and anti-Brexit conservatives which will explode under the pretext of containing the Brexit threat, but in reality destined to get rid of the Labour threat. We do indeed live in interesting times.
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Amid the stench of death and the gruesome photos of the Grenfell Tower blaze and the harrowing scenes of terrorist attacks in Manchester and at Finsbury Park Mosque in London, we seem to have forgotten the plight of refugees, the displaced and the dispossessed.

The occasion of the World Refugee Day which fell on 20 June has passed without much notice this year. The mass exodus of millions of refugees fleeing the cruelties in the Middle East and elsewhere that has placed enormous pressure on essential public health services in countries such as Jordan  and stifled sincere attempts of development  deserves more attention.

Appreciation is not enough. It is time to harness the international support more resolutely and respond with more generosity, solidarity and permanent solutions to the crises that offer fertile grounds for extremism, terrorism, unfair discrimination, deprivation, xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London NW2

No-one seems to remember who actually voted for Brexit

During the BBC Newsnight interview, Andrea Leadsom not only made her patriotic gaffe, but also kept on saying that we voted to come out of Europe.

To be precise, the slightly bigger half of the UK voted to leave the EU and that was based on spurious information, lies and deception. What does she propose to do about the 48 per cent, many of whom will never commit allegiance to a UK run by the likes of her?

John Harrison

Shropshire

Thank you, Andrea Leadsom, for confirming Dr Johnson's immortal pronouncement: Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Jack Speicher

Essex

Roy Bliss states in support of Remain that virtually half the population see considerable advantages in EU membership. Actually, 46 million people were eligible to vote in the referendum. Only 16 million voted to remain in Europe, which left a majority of 30 million voters who were either pro-Brexit or, for various reasons, content to go along with that majority decision.

Gavin Lewis

Manchester

As Winston Churchill might have said: You can always count on the Labour Party to do the right thing  after its tried everything else. I refer, of course, to the fact that senior members of the party are belatedly waking up to the immense damage withdrawing from the EU will do to our economy, to our standing in the world and to our own inter-community relationships.

Robert Curtis

Birmingham

There is a magic money tree after all

The PM told a nurse there is no magic money tree. Now who is going to pay to make high-rise dwellers safe? What is the essential difference between a magical money tree and quantitative easing?

Christopher Hall

Banbury
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So serious has the Saudi-Qatar crisis now become that the Qatari Foreign Minister is reportedly planning an emergency trip to Washington in the next few days in the hope that the Trump regime can save his emirate. For Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani knows very well that if Qatar submits to the 13 unprecedented  some might say outrageous  demands that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have made, it will cease to exist as a nation state.

Al Jazeera television editors, supported by a phalanx of human rights and press freedom groups, have denounced the 10-day warning that the Qatar satellite chain must close  along with Middle East Eye and other affiliates  as a monstrous intrusion into freedom of speech. One television executive compared it to a German demand that Britain closes the BBC. Not so. It is much more like an EU demand that Theresa May close the BBC. And we know what she would say to that.

But the British Prime Minister and her Foreign Secretary, while obviously anxious to distance themselves from this very dangerous  and highly expensive  Arab dispute, are not going to draw the sword for Qatar. Nor are the Americans, when their crackpot President decided that Qatar was a funder of terrorism a few days after agreeing a $350bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

 UAE: Diplomacy will be given 'one or two more chances' before they 'part ways' with Qatar

But surely, say the Qataris, this cant be serious. They dont doubt that Field Marshal President al-Sisi of Egypt, who loathes Al Jazeera, is principally behind the demand that it close down, but one of the four Arab states must have deliberately leaked the list to Reuters and the Associated Press. If so, why would Qatars enemies wish to reveal their hand so early? Surely such demands would be only the first negotiating position of the four Arab nations.

Its hard to see how the Qataris can respond. If they really did close their worldwide television network and other media groups, break off relations with the Muslim Brotherhood  al-Sisis target, although his real enemy is Isis  and the Taliban and Hezbollah, downgrade their relations with Iran, close Turkeys military base and expose their account books for international Arab scrutiny for the next 12 years, then Qatar becomes a vassal state.

To Qatars friends, this seems bizarre, fantastical, almost beyond reality  but who can plumb the brain of the new and highly impulsive 31-year-old Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia? If he can rush into a hopeless war with the Houthis of Yemen, why shouldnt he threaten the body politic of Qatar? The Saudi royal family have several times tried to humiliate their disobedient neighbour; by isolating this little pearl of wealth with its meddlesome television station, they are forcing Qatar to eat the nearest equivalent of humble pie: food imported from Iran and Turkey.

Al Jazeera, needless to say, is no shrinking violet. Modesty has never been its chief characteristic. Its Arabic service has shown extraordinary partiality towards the Brotherhood, which the emir of Qatar continued to support after the Egyptian military staged a coup detat against the elected Brotherhood president of Egypt. Al-Sisi banged up a group of Al Jazeera journalists whose work for the English service had been used  without their permission  on the intrusive and anti-Sisi Arabic Live channel run by Qatar.

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 English service, despite all the brouhaha when it first began transmitting  the American media hailed its arrival as the beginning of media freedom in the Middle East  rarely covered Bahrain or showed any critical courage in reporting Saudi Arabia. It certainly never asked why Qatar was not a democracy. When it began broadcasting Osama bin Ladens taped sermons, President George W Bush wanted to bomb the satellite channel  which would have been a slightly more extreme step than the 13 demands of the four Arab nations who now wish to isolate Qatar. An American version of Al Jazeera was a total failure; it began to sound and look like just another version of CNN/Fox News  tat journalism that then infected its worldwide English language service.

So while we should not be too romantic about Al Jazeera, its Arab detractors, fortified by their all too romantic new relationship with Trump, are trying to crush any dignity which Qatar claims for itself. To insist that it pays cash compensation for lives lost due to its foreign policy is like asking Saudi Arabia to fund the rebuilding of Yemen, pay indemnity to its 10,000 civilian dead and care for its tens of thousands of cholera victims.

In its earlier days, I asked one of Al Jazeeras senior staffers if the channel, on which I sometimes appeared, was merely a propaganda plaything of the Qatari royal family. No, I was told firmly. It was a foreign policy project. And so it clearly is. Tiny Qatar thought it had become an imperial power upon whose satellite channel the sun would never set. But if it one day acquired the power of land  by rebuilding Syria, for example  this might add territory to oil and liquid gas and Al Jazeera; something which the Saudis would never accept. Is this why Qatars nationhood is now being threatened?
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China issued a grade-IV emergency response on Monday following rain, storms and flooding across central China's Hunan Province, which have left six dead and one missing.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs and China National Commission for Disaster Reduction have sent teams to assist in disaster-hit areas.

Since June 22, Hunan has been battered by rain and floods.

By 8 a.m. Monday, six people had died, another one remained missing, and 11,000 had been evacuated to safer places, according to local government.

The disaster also damaged about 40,000 houses, and caused 3.27 billion yuan (479.3 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses.

A grade-IV response, the lowest in China's emergency response system, requires a 24-hour alert, daily damage reports, and the allocation of money and relief materials within 48 hours.

Local disaster response and civil affairs authorities has allocated six million yuan to the disaster relief fund since the heavy rain and floods began.
British Brexit Secretary David Davis appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show yesterday. Picture: PA

UK Brexit Secretary David Davis has said he is not certain his country will secure an EU withdrawal deal.

Mr Davis said he was "pretty sure" an agreement could be struck, but left the door open to leaving the bloc without one.

The Brexit secretary said that no deal "would be better than a punishment deal".

The remarks come after Chancellor Philip Hammond said that no deal would be "very, very bad" for the UK.

Asked if he was sure there would be a deal cut, Mr Davis told the BBC's 'Andrew Marr Show': "I'm pretty sure, I am not 100pc sure, you can never be, it's a negotiation.

"I'm sure there will be a deal, whether it's the deal I want, which is a free trade agreement, the customs agreement, and so on, I'm pretty sure, but I'm not certain."

Mr Davis said part of his portfolio was planning for a bad outcome.

He said: "We cannot have a circumstance where the other side says it is going to punish you. So, if that happens then there is a walkaway, and we have to plan for that."

Asked if he agreed with the chancellor that no deal would be very, very bad, Mr Davis said: "It would be better than a punishment deal."

Mr Davis said Britain would need transitional trade arrangements with the EU for a time after Brexit.

He said: "We think there will be a transitional period, not that long. I think one to two years is more likely."

Mr Davis said government plans for dealing with the status of the 3.2 million EU nationals in the UK would give them "effectively British citizenship rights".

Meanwhile, DUP leader Arlene Foster said her party was close to sealing a historic deal with the Tories as she prepared to meet the Prime Minister for talks at Westminster today.

Negotiations between Sinn Fein and the DUP continued in Belfast over the weekend but no progress will be possible before details of any DUP-Conservative deal are published.
Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney said the scale and severity of humanitarian crises globally is overwhelming.. Photo: Collins Photos

A special advisor to the President of the European Commission has poured cold water on plans by the Government to ensure the North maintains a link to the customs union post Brexit.

Catherine Day, a former head of the European Commission and now adviser to Jean Claude Juncker, said the process of how and where border checks are carried out, in the event of a hard Brexit, would be open to flexible and creative solutions.

But she said it wouldnt work to have Northern Ireland linked to the customs union, while the rest of the UK is out of it, as proposed by Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney in an interview with the Irish Independent last week.

I dont see how part of a non member state can be part of the customs union, Ms Day told a Brexit event at the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).

Politically I think that would also be difficult for London. As an option, I dont see it existing.

Lets say the British leave the customs union, and in 15 years time, they do this less attractive trade deal with any other part of the world. Which rules would they apply to Northern Ireland? The EU rules, or the British rules, it just doesnt work.

But she said where the checks happen can be discussed during the Brexit negotiations.

Mr Coveney said the Government will be pushing for a special deal, with unique status for the North to ensure the Border remains as close as possible to the current arrangement.

That could see the North retaining a link to the customs union, he said - adding that Michel Barnier, Europes chief Brexit negotiator, is on board.

Ms Day said she finds it hard to imagine how the UK will be able to cut better trade deals with countries than the EU currently has.

She said the hope is that London may look at remaining in the customs union.

In her first speech, Theresa May said out of the single market, she didnt say exactly the same for the customs union. There is a bit of wriggle room there.

Ms Day also said that she believes that the UK system is not ready to negotiate yet.

The UK has a formidable civil service and when it is given clear instructions as to what it is supposed to achieven, it is second to none. But I dont feel that that level of focus and detail has yert been achieved. What we are seeing to some extent in the political negotiating team, is people who dont really understand how the EU works, and are now just beginning to discover it very late in the day.

Declan Kelleher, Irelands permanent representative to the EU, told the discussion that negotiations have started in a reasonably benign way.

On Northern Ireland he said Dublin wants to see the Executive up and running to get a focused response from Belfast.

He also said there was a lack of clear focus from the British side.

There is a tendency to assume that its for Ireland and the EU 27 to come up and find a solution., Mr Kelleher said.

It was a decision by the British, it was not an Irish decision, it was not an EU decision and certainly the Irish Government has made clear that the British side have responsibilities in this area as well.
Although Brexit talks have finally started, the focus has so far been on sketching a deal on citizens' rights and the EU budget, with little clarity about solutions for the Irish Border.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar believes there is an acceptance Ireland was a "special case". Ireland's "unique circumstances" have been recognised in the EU's Brexit negotiating documents. But the challenge remains for Ireland to turn the EU's pledges of support on the Border into concrete solutions. And those pledges are sincere. They have been expressed in emotional terms by EU Brexit point man Michel Barnier, EU commissioners, prime ministers and national diplomats.

EU sources have told this newspaper about their sympathy for Ireland's plight, and expressed genuine dismay at what they see as the UK's recklessness over Brexit. Many have an intricate knowledge of Irish history and independence, and have spoken of their disbelief at the seemingly cavalier attitude of the UK government to Ireland.

However, while their intentions are good, EU countries, particularly strong trading nations in the north of Europe, are also trying to protect their own economies.

There is also "extreme sensitivity" in Brussels given the lack of a power-sharing deal in Northern Ireland, and the outcome of the British general election, with the Democratic Unionist Party still in talks to allow the Conservatives to form a minority government.

Read More

The issues are so politically sensitive they have not yet been discussed in detail by EU officials. Irish issues will instead be dealt with separately to the Brexit talks on citizens and money.

Both sides seem to believe assurances on upholding the common travel area and the Good Friday Agreement will be resolved by autumn, but borders are trickier to solve.

And Irish, as well as EU, officials are waiting for the UK to blink first before they provide solutions.

The UK needs to "take more responsibility", said one official close to the talks.

"Leaving the single market and customs union and continuing to pretend everything will be as seamless as today is an illusion," said another EU official. But officials admit it is "not yet clear what is the best solution" to deal with the Border.

The bloc is also buoyed by a new-found sense of self-assurance, with eurozone growth set to outpace the UK next year and polls showing rising support for the bloc in the wake of Brexit.

Ireland's role inside this new-look EU may have to change, as it seeks to prove its credentials as a committed European country.

Its attitude to EU spending is already evolving, with Ireland now a net contributor to the bloc's budget - paying in around 200,000 more than it got out in 2014.

It's made Irish politicians and diplomats more sensitive to how EU money is spent, putting the country more in line with the Netherlands, Denmark and other EU budget hawks, who are also long-standing Irish allies on business and tax issues. Fine Gael's Brian Hayes said Ireland may need to reconsider its opt-outs on some EU policies, such as justice and policing.

It's a call that was echoed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at a summit in Brussels last week, when he said Ireland would need to work more closely with its EU allies to counter cyberattacks and terrorism, though he insisted Ireland would maintain its policy of military neutrality.

A first test of Ireland's EU standing may be whether it wins its bid to host the bloc's medicines agency post-Brexit.

Health Minister Simon Harris has been doing some serious lobbying on Ireland's behalf, but with the country pitted against at least 19 others, it promises to be a political bunfight of epic proportions.
Irish poultry giant Moy Park may attract the interest of a large Chinese buyer after being put up for sale by its Brazilian owner JBS.

The Chinese group WH, which controls the American company Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, has been tipped as a suitor for the business in the Brazilian media.

Chinese investor relations director Luis Chein recently told Reuters that the group's expansion targets are in Europe and the US, with plans to expand in the beef and chicken markets.

Other companies believed to be interested in the business include US-based Tyson Foods and Brazilian company BRF.

The company will seek over 1bn for the business, with sources stating that the scale of the business would limit the potential for a European trade buyer.

Moy Park, which is Northern Ireland's largest private employer, may also appeal to private-equity buyers.

Sources said that CapVest, the private-equity vehicle headed by Cavan man Seamus Fitzpatrick, could be among the interested parties

If a buyer is not found, JBS could consider an IPO for the company, a plan which had been strongly considered by Moy Park's previous owner, food business Marfig. Based in Craigavon, Co Armagh, Moy Park employs 6,300 people in Northern Ireland and a total of 12,000, including at operations in the Republic and elsewhere in Europe.

The business is thought to be the biggest private-sector employer in the North and a huge buyer of poultry on both sides of the Border.

Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS said last week that it planned to raise around 1.6bn from a divestment plan to help cut debt. It had bought Moy Park in 2015.

JBS - whose controlling shareholder recently agreed to pay the world's largest 'leniency fine' to settle its role in a Brazilian corruption scandal - said the plan presented to its board includes stakes in dairy company Vigor Alimentos, Moy Park and US-focused Five Rivers Cattle Feeding.

Moy Park recorded pre-tax profits of 35.7m in 2015.

"Moy Park is a successful and growing food business with a solid financial standing," said Moy Park ceo Janet McCollum.

"I know that this will ensure our continued growth and stability well into the future.

"Our priority remains business as usual - delivering outstanding quality, innovation and service to our customers and consumers," she added.
Dozens of top-tier financial institutions along with several sovereign wealth funds snapped up shares in AIB's initial public offering but no single investor gained a disclosable stake, according to senior sources.

Last week's selldown by the Government of a near 29pc stake funneled 3.36bn into State coffers in what ranks as the second largest float globally, behind the 3.9bn raised by social media giant Snapchat in February.

It is understood TIAA-CREF, the US financial services behemoth which manages $889bn worth of assets, and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, are on the register.

The Blackrock, Fidelity, Wellington and Capital Management are also thought to hold stock, along with Franklin Mutual, M&G Investment Management, the Irish unit of Zurich Life and Pimco.

Details of AIB's new heavy-hitting owners come as the bank's CEO Bernard Byrne prepares to mark the completion of the IPO with a bell-ringing ceremony on the floor of the Irish stock exchange tomorrow.

The display of pageantry brings to an end three years of pain-staking preparation, according to AIB executives involved in the float. The deal priced at 4.40 last week with shares rising 5.7pc by the close of conditional trading on Friday.

Data provided by Bloomberg shows Davy and Goodbody, both advisers to the IPO, handled the bulk of the buy and sell orders on Friday, with close to 30pc of the register changing hands.

As the Hedge funds received a fraction of their orders, with Silver Point Capital, York Capital and Castle Hook Partners, the hedge fund run by a team of former money managers from Soros Fund Management, among the opportunists approached by the syndicate, according to sources.

No hedge fund made it into the top 15, underscoring the Government's policy of prioritising long-term, blue-chip investors.
The sun is out and so is school - making it the perfect time for your children to pick up a book. Here, Justine Carbery and Madeleine Keane select the best reads for the summer

There are so many wonderful books to amuse and entertain your little ones this summer. Where's Mr Owl? and Where's Mrs Hen? (Nosy Crow, 9.95) are bright, fun lift-the-flap books, illustrated by the talented Ingela P. Arrhenius, while Jarvis returns with the hilarious Mrs Mole, I'm Home! (Walker, 8.99), about a bespectacled mole trying to find his way.

With gorgeous full-page illustrations, a funny storyline and plenty of opportunity for silly voices, this book will be a big hit. Rabbit and Bear; The Pest in the Nest (Hodder, 8.99) by Julian Gough is a joy, the sort of laugh-out-loud story that you'll enjoy reading yourself... The Koala Who Could (Orchard, 9.80) by Rachel Bright is a feel-good rhyming story about stepping outside your comfort zone and trying new things. Good to read aloud and ideal for children aged three-plus. Irish-born Yasmeen Ismail's bold and bright Draw and Discover books Inside, Outside, Upside Down, Happy, Sad, Feeling Glad and Push, Pull, Empty, Full (Laurence King, 12.60) provide space to draw objects, like an 'open' umbrella or what's falling out of an 'upside down' bag, or emotions like 'cranky' and 'surprised'. Thoughtful, entertaining activity books with lots of appeal.

Also An Octopus (Walker, 9.79), a charming picture book by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Benji Davies, starts with the quote 'Every story starts the same way... with nothing' and goes on to explore how stories are made; with a character, a story and lots of imagination. Delightful.

Two Hoots has brought out an astonishingly beautiful book called There is a Tribe of Kids (Pan Macmillan, 7.99) by Lane Smith, which celebrates collective nouns as one boy journeys through a colourful natural landscape until he finds his own tribe. One to be read over and over, and savoured by children and adults alike, it has just won the prestigious Kate Greenaway medal. Barrington Stoke knows how to do picture books and My Name is Not Refugee (8.95) by Kate Milner, with its ultra-readable text and topical story line, is no exception. An excellent chapter book for your budding reader is Diva and Flea: A Parisian Tale (Walker, 9.95) by Mo Willems. Set in Paris, about the unlikely friendship between a pampered pooch and a street-wise cat, this charming story has a distinctive French feel to it.

Chris and his brother Andrew Judge's latest collaboration, Create Your Own Superhero Epic (Scholastic, 8.99), is an energetic interactive Choose Your Own Adventure book, part comic, part origami (readers are invited to tear, fold, draw and flip throughout) which invites young storytellers to get stuck in. Definitely cool. Ballerina Dreams (Faber, 9.79) is the early reader version of DePrince's memoir Hope in a Ballet Shoe. A sweet, well-illustrated version of this inspirational story of an orphan girl in Sierra Leone who sees a photo of a ballerina and determines to learn how to dance. No summer round-up would be complete without a mention for David Walliams, whose second collection of short stories, World's Worst Children 2 (Harper Collins Children's, 14.99), came out in May and has been topping the bestseller lists ever since.

Our Booker-Prize winning author Emma Donoghue has written her first novel for younger readers (seven to 10), The Lotterys Plus One (Pan Macmillan Children's, 11.24), about a blended family, diversity and tolerance. Although sometimes a bit twee, there is much to like in this eccentric novel. Holly Smale's Geek Girl series is very popular with girls of nine upwards and Forever Geek (Harper Collins Children's, 9.80) is the final instalment of her award-winning series; Smale will visit Ireland later this month for the West Cork Literary Festival .

King Coo (David Fickling Books, 10.99) by Adam Stower will also appeal to this age group with its readable text and exciting storyline. A caper-filled adventure set in a hidden forest with a feral girl as its hero: great stuff. The Bookshop Girl (Scholastic, 6.99) by Sylvia Bishop is an old-fashioned adventure story in the vein of Willy Wonka and will delight early readers with its mystery, baddies and zany humour. In Hero Rising (Harper Collins Children's, 11.24) Irish writer Shane Hegarty thrills with more adventures from his Darkmouth series involving his reluctant monster-hunter Finn, while award-winning author Liz Pichon brings her appealing character Tom Gates back in Family, Friends and Furry Creatures. (Scholastic, 11.24).

For the slightly older, more discerning reader comes an important book about Syria - A Dangerous Crossing (Little Island, 11.20) by Jane Mitchell. Ghalib and his family live in Kobani, a town under fire near Aleppo, and they decide to make the long and dangerous trek to Turkey and on to Greece in order to find a more peaceful life. Well worth the read.

Irish author Peadar O Guilin's dark and thrilling book, The Call (David Fickling Books, 10.99), is out now in paperback and will appeal to fans of the Hunger Games and Stranger Things.

Lauren Child is the new Children's Laureate in the UK. Blink And You Die (Harper Collins Children's, 8.99) is the final instalment of her six-part Ruby Redfort series about a wise-cracking, gadget-loving, mystery-solving child genius. The Huntress: Sea (Egmont, 8.99), the first in a stunning new nautical fantasy adventure trilogy from debut author Sarah Driver, is full of mythical creatures, strange events and wonderful writing. If you liked Northern Lights, The Lie Tree and Rooftoppers, you'll love Sea. And finally, Harper Collins Children's has just published The Resurrection, the tenth book in Derek Landy's fantastically enjoyable Skulduggery Pleasant series (11.24).

Happy reading, everyone!
 Flash

The Israeli forces struck Syrian military positions on Sunday, the second attack within 24 hours, the Syrian army said in a statement.

The Syrian army said the second attack comes to lift the "broken morale of the terrorist groups," which are waging several attacks on the Syrian military positions in Qunaitera, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The attacks are another sign of the collaboration between the Israeli forces and the terrorist groups of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, the army added.

The military statement warned the Israeli side of the repercussions of the attacks, stressing that the Syrian army is determined "to squash the terrorist groups, which are the Israeli arm in the region."

A day earlier, the Israeli forces fired several rockets on the al-Baath city in the countryside of Qunaitera.

The Nusra Front unleashed a wide-scale offensive on Saturday in Quanitera to capture the al-Baath city from the Syrian army, which will open a road for it to advance toward the capital Damascus.
A choir of 162 took to the Cliffs of Moher this weekend to sing one of Ireland and the world's best known songs, O Danny Boy.

Although mist descended around the cliff tops, it didn't quell the magic.

The performance was part of the Limerick Sings International Choral Festival which took place over the weekend for the fifth year of the festival.

Visitors from across the US and Ireland described the performance as "incredible", "beautiful" and "most memorable".

Over two hundred choirs from across the US joined many from Ireland to perform a diverse range of classical, sacred and contemporary music.

Other performances took place at spectacular venues including St John's Cathedral, University Concert Hall, and Holy Trinity Abbey Church in Adare.
Gardai hope images from the castles CCTV footage will help their investigation. Stock picture

A woman is in a serious condition in hospital after being assaulted and left unconscious on the grounds of a castle in Co Carlow.

Gardai were alerted to the scene after a local business owner made the discovery in the picturesque location of Pollerton Castle near the centre of Carlow town.

The woman, in her 50s, was taken to St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny and is described as being in a serious condition. The scene was preserved for a technical examination and gardai are trawling CCTV footage to try to identify a suspect.

The man who discovered the unconscious woman told the Irish Independent that he was still in shock.

"I was told not to comment on what I had seen, but I just hope that this woman is OK.

"We're all very shocked here," he said.

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Gardai hope images from the castle's CCTV footage will help their investigation.

Local councillor Jim Deane said he was very distressed by the news.

"I haven't heard a whole lot about what happened, but many people around the town are talking about this awful incident.

"Whatever the circumstances are it's truly a horrific thing to have happened. The castle is located in a very beautiful area of Carlow and is not too far away from the main town."

Cllr Deane said he hoped gardai would bring swift justice to whoever was responsible for the assault.

Distressing

"It's a very distressing situation for everyone. I hope this poor, unfortunate girl who is the victim of this assault makes a speedy recovery.

"I also hope gardai will bring the person who did this to her to justice fast."

The local councillor added that an assault of this type was "unheard of" in the Pollerton area of Carlow.

Investigating gardai are currently appealing for anyone who was in the area in the early hours of yesterday to contact them.

A statement from gardai read: "Gardai wish to appeal for witnesses and in particular to anyone who travelled on Staplestown Road, St Patrick's Avenue or Pollerton Road between the hours of 2am and 5am to contact them.

"In addition, gardai are appealing to any drivers of vehicles that may have travelled these roads between the above times and have footage from dash cams to contact them at Carlow garda station on 059-9136620, the Garda confidential telephone line 1800 666 111 or any garda station."
WEB SUMMIT founder Paddy Cosgrave has indicated his intention to hold a conference in Dublin next year which will deal, in part, with the subject of corruption.

He explained the reason for this with his traditional degree of insufferable self-importance.

"I can pick up the phone to many of the CEOs of the biggest tech companies in the world and chat openly with them about the fact that Ireland remains alone in terms of being in breach of anti-corruption legislation," he said.

So let's have a quick reality check.

First, in case you think Cosgrave is a selfless campaigner against corruption, it should be pointed out that next year's MoneyConf is not a charity.

It's a private, money-making event, just like the Web Summit, to which exhibitors and visitors will be charged large sums to attend and which will no doubt make its organisers even wealthier.

Indignant

OK, there's nothing wrong with that, you say, and on the face of it you'd be right.

Where it gets interesting is the idea that Cosgrave and his loyal band of websters are getting so indignant about corruption.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Web Summit move from Dublin to Lisbon because the Irish Government wouldn't give it sufficient "support" - ie, money - whereas Portugal greeted it with an open chequebook?

For all the posturing about infrastructure, what sealed the deal for the Web Summit was 1.3m from Lisbon's authorities to relocate there.

Should the Web Summit be professing outrage at corruption while demanding public subsidies to run its events when it's patently a private enterprise that shouldn't really need them?

I'll leave that one up to you.
The acts of a man charged with impeding a homicide investigation required effort, concentration and thought and the issue of duress does not stack up in this case, a prosecution barrister has told a trial jury.

Mr Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, today gave his closing speech in the trial of Aivars Sondors (55), who is charged with three counts of assisting an offender on September 9 or 10 2013 by impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Marius Gaizutis, knowing or believing him to have unlawfully killed Audrius Butkus (44).



The particulars include moving the body from a house on Marsh Road in Drogheda and placing it in the sea at Mornington Beach; cleaning up the scene at Marsh Road; and disposing of carpet, clothing, a nail brush, bin bag, bottles and tins from the scene at Burke House, Mathews Lane, Drogheda.



Mr Sondors of Sycamore Close, Termon Abbey in Drogheda, but originally from Latvia, has admitted the three allegations against him, but has

pleaded not guilty to all three counts. His barrister has indicated that the issue for the jury to decide would be whether there had been duress.



The Central Criminal Court jury of eight men and four women has previously heard that Gaizutis was convicted of the murder of Mr Butkus on May 1, 2015.



Addressing the jury today, Mr Gageby said there was no doubt that Gaizutis murdered Mr Butkus and that what Mr Sondors did on September 9 was directed at helping the killer.



Outlining the evidence, counsel said that there was a savage assault on Mr Butkus in the basement of the house on the night. The barrister said that none of Mr Sondors acts of assistance were done in an instant. He said what the accused did for Gaizutis that night required effort, concentration and thought.



Mr Gageby said there were two things for the jury to get over in this case in order to convict; duress and whether there was reasonable excuse.



Counsel said duress, the central issue in the case, involved a threat of immediate death or serious personal injury so great as to overbear

ordinary human resistance which must be operative at the time of the crime. It applied where the accused acted as he did due to threats made against him or a third party.



The barrister said the prosecution had to disprove duress and show it did not stand up. In this case, we say there is no threat expressed

or implied by Mr Gaizutis to the accused nor to his loved ones, he said.



Mr Gageby said Gaizutis was clearly drunk on the night, while Mr Sondors was not. Gaizutis needed Mr Sondors help to move the victims

body at a minimum and he got that help, he said. The court heard that Mr Gaizutis had very good reason to be nice to Mr Sondors as he was asking him to dump a body, help him clean up evidence and dump materials at Burke House. Gaizutis was also smaller than Mr Sondors,

he said.



I ask you the very plain question, where is the threat? It isnt in it. There may be plenty of apprehension on the part of the accused but there is no threat, said Mr Gageby.



Counsel pointed to the fact that Mr Sondors stonewalled and lied throughout his four interviews when he was in custody. He also said

even when gardai put it to to the accused that his blood-stained fingerprint was found on a handrail at the killing scene this did not

cause him to tell the truth.



Mr Gageby reminded the jury that Mr Sondors told gardai that he understood it would be dangerous to refuse to move the victim's body.

That is not a threat of serious injury or death, he said.



He said that despite Mr Sondors knowing that Gaizutis was a bully, he still moved into the house at Marsh Road with his partner which had an

attractive rent. Does that suggest a state of fear, I suggest not, he said. Counsel said the issue of duress does not stack up in this

case.



The court heard that if the jury agree with the prosecution that duress is not in the mix, they will have to consider the question of

whether the accused had reasonable excuse for doing what he did.



Mr Colman Fitzgerald SC, defending, told the jurors in his closing speech that their sole focus should be not on what Mr Sondors did but

why he did it. He said his client was acting under duress and had reasonable excuse for what he did on the night.



Mr Fitzgerald told the court that the crucial evidence against Mr Sondors was collected when he returned to Drogheda Garda Station on

September 15 and decided to tell the truth. He said his client was not somebody who was out to save his own skin and he did not have to say

anything. He could have sat in the garda station and said nothing, where would the prosecution have been then? he said. He said his

client was honest and candid.



The barrister said that it was not improbable nor ludicrous that Mr Sondors thought he would end up being charged with killing Mr Butkus.



In conclusion, Mr Fitzgerald told the jury that Mr Sondors was not a willing participant in the aftermath of the horrific killing and

there was an external basis of why he apprehended what he did. He also said the absolute horror of the situation in which he found

himself was through no fault of his own.



Mr Justice Paul Coffey will begin charging the jury tomorrow before they commence their deliberations.
The representative body for the judiciary has described proposals to reform how judges are appointed as seriously flawed and out of line with international standards.

In a strongly worded statement, the Association of Judges in Ireland (AJI) also said the plans will not serve to depoliticise the system of judicial appointments.

The statement today comes hot on the heels of criticism of the proposed Judicial Appointments Bill, which was included in the programme for government at the behest of Independent Alliance minister Shane Ross.

The bill will be debated in the Oireachtas shortly.

It includes key changes to how a commission advising the Government on appointments is to be composed.

The current Judicial Appointments Advisory Board has a majority of members who are either judges or come from a legal background. It is also chaired by the Chief Justice.

Under what is proposed, a new advisory commission will have a lay majority and a lay chairperson.

In its statement, the AJI said it was reluctant to ever comment publicly on issues of controversy.

But it decided to do so on this occasion because of the depth of its concerns.

The judiciary is not opposed to the introduction of changes in the system of appointments to the bench, the statement said.

In January 2014, as part of the public consultation process on the subject of judicial appointments initiated by the then minister, Alan Shatter, the judiciary made a detailed submission which took as its starting point that the present system of judicial appointments was unsatisfactory and that there was a need for change.

However, the proposals that will shortly go before the Oireachtas are seriously flawed. The proposals do not accord with international standards and will not serve to depoliticise the system of judicial appointments.

The statement said the rationale for a lay majority and a lay chairman had not been explained.

It is hard to imagine any other walk of life in which the majority of those involved in an appointment process would be required to come from outside the ranks of those serving in the area to which the appointments are being made, it said.

In addition, although the bill as initiated provides that three members of the commission will be judges, no member of either the District Court or the Circuit Court, which together deal with the overwhelming majority of cases to come before the courts, is to be a member of the commission.

The statement went on to say the office of Chief Justice would be diminished by the requirement that he or she should be an ordinary member of the commission but should be statutorily precluded from being its chairman.

It said the current proposals may damage the judiciary as an institution.

One effect of a flawed appointments system is that it may discourage suitable applicants from coming forward. If that happens, that is damaging to the judiciary as an institution and to the State as a whole, the statement said

Having regard to its reluctance to become involved in public controversy, other than issuing this statement, neither the AJI nor its officers will be commenting further.

The move by the AJI is a significant show of unity by the bench. Until now, attacks on the proposals had been made by individual judges.

A considerable source of frustration for the judiciary has been the fact dialogue with ministers, including former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, has not led to any changes being made to the key elements of the bill.

A delegation led by Supreme Court judge Donal ODonnell met Transport Minister Shane Ross and then Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald in November last year.

Chief Justice Susan Denham subsequently met Mr Kenny and is understood to have followed up with a letter expressing her reservations.

Details of that meeting were revealed last month by the most senior judge in the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, who said the proposed changes showed a lack of respect for the judiciary.

Pointedly he made the remarks at a Law Society event, just weeks after the society decided to back the changes, believing they will lead to more solicitors being appointed to the bench.
Ryanair is opposing legal challenges to a new 320m runway at Dublin Airport.

Ryanair wanted to become a party to the actions because its says that any further expansion by the airline in Dublin will be limited without the infrastructure of the new runway.

The actions have been brought by the Friends of the Irish Environment Group and by 22 individual residents - most with addresses at Kilreesk Lane, St Margaret's, Co Dublin, against Fingal County Council's decision of March 7 last to extend a planning permission for development of the new 3,110 metre runway.

The five year-extension was sought by the Dublin Airport Authority, which is a notice party, because an August 2007 permission for the development is due to expire in August 2017.

The proposed development will be located on 261 hectares in townlands north and north west of the airport terminal building.

At the Commercial Court on Monday, Mr Justice Brian McGovern allowed Ryanair become a notice party to actions has been brought against Fingal County Council and the State, aimed at overturn the planning authorities decision.

In a sworn statement, Ryanair's Director of Operations Adrian Dunne said the airline has significant interest in the construction of the proposed runway and consequently in the outcome of the legal actions.

If built, Ryanair will become the biggest user of the new runway which it considers key and essential to Ryanair's expansion and development.

Mr Dunne added the project will benefit the State.

It will also reduce taxi times from its aircraft thereby reducing unnecessary fuel burn, lowering carbon emissions and noise associated with increased taxi times all to environmental benefit, he said.

The actions have been brought on grounds including the decision to grant planning permission is not in compliance with various Eu directives such as the Habitats Directive as well as the 2000 Planning and Development Act and is unlawful.

The cases, along with a third related action taken by the St. Margaret's Concerned Residents Group, are all due to be heard in October.

Ryanair clarified to Independent.ie that they are "in favour of the new runway and will support the DAA in its process against local opposition."

However, they said they are "not in favour of the 320m cost, but we support the construction of this runway for the initial 240m cost first proposed."
Patients are being put at risk in hospitals across the country, it was claimed, as it emerged 128 doctors who do not have full specialist training are working in consultant posts.

The HSE has confirmed that these doctors are fully qualified medics, many with years of experience, but they are not on the specialist Medical Council register, which signals they have completed higher training.

Tom Ryan, president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, said the hiring of these doctors, due to the crisis in the recruitment of consultants, is being done "at the expense of patient safety".

He warned: "This has profound implications for patient care."

He was speaking after figures obtained from the HSE by Sinn Fein TD Louise O'Reilly revealed the number of doctors who are not on the specialist register.

The HSE said 58 were appointed before it became a requirement for hospitals in 2008, and 70 since that date.

The HSE did not name the hospitals involved, but the practice, while mostly concentrated in smaller hospitals, is now believed to be happening in the larger centres also.

Read More

Ms O'Reilly said: "Unfortunately this is as a direct result of the inability of the health service to recruit and retain doctors at all levels.

"The situation is unfair to patients and their families. It is extremely unfair that those doctors and consultants who do a job are put in a precarious position."

It is understood the doctors are working across a range of specialties including mental health, which is finding it difficult to recruit psychiatrists.

Dr Ryan said it was directly linked to the vacancies for around 400 consultant posts which cannot be filled.

The consultants' body has blamed a range of factors including the 30pc cut in salary for newly recruited specialists which is not to be addressed in the latest pay deal. The consultants also say their contract terms have been breached which shattered their trust in the HSE.
Patients suffering from cancer and other illnesses are missing out on a number of advanced new treatments that the HSE wants to make available - but cannot fund.

The drugs have passed all stages of assessment, including agreed price, but the HSE cannot afford to pay for them from its own budget and needs the Department of Health to make a case for extra funding.

It is estimated there are now 10 critical new medicines currently badly delayed for patients who need them.

They include the drug Erivedge, made by the pharmaceutical company Roche, which treats patients with the advanced skin cancer.

Also caught in the funding log-jam is the drug Entresto, made by Novartis, which treats patients with heart failure and can reduce risk of death from the condition.

An application to the Department for funding the drug Brintellix, manufactured by Lundbeck to treat depression, has also been made by the HSE.

Oliver O'Connor, chief executive of the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, warned: "The HSE now has no budget available for new medicines.

"This is unacceptable. Despite very large savings to the State, medicines that are routinely available in other EU member states are not available to patients in Ireland."

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A spokesman for the HSE said: "In some cases additional resources have to be sought for drugs that are not affordable within the existing HSE allocation."

Funding has already been sought this year for the cystic fibrosis drugs Orkambi and Kalydeco after a long-running campaign by patients and protracted price negotiations with the pharmaceutical company Vertex.

Mr O'Connor said from July 1, the cost to the State of 780 medicines will fall and generate additional savings to the State of an estimated 15m. This is part of the four-year deal agreed with the Department of Health last year.

Part of the agreement provided for a framework which would make expensive new medicines available to patients in "a timely way".

He said: "We have played our part. The HSE is now routinely sending medicines it has agreed and wants to fund for patients to the Department of Health for approval because there is now no more budget available for new medicines. This is entirely unacceptable.

"Other European countries have systems in place which enable new medicines to become available to patients within six months. The process in Ireland is clogged up, pushing us behind our European c ounterparts.

"A European survey of medicines over 2012-15 has shown Ireland to be 16th out of 26 countries in terms of the number of newly authorised medicines being made available to patients. This situation is most likely worse in 2017."

A spokesman for the HSE denied any slowdown in assessing drugs.

He said: "The HSE will usually engage in detailed commercial negotiations with the individual companies concerned which can take a substantial amount of time.

"It is important to note that the actual price after negotiations can often be significantly lower than that which was first demanded by the drug company."

He insisted: "The HSE strives to reach a decision regarding drug approval in as timely a manner as possible, because of the significant monies involved, there is an onus to ensure that the best price is achieved as these commitments often feature multi-million euro investments on an ongoing basis."
LE Eithne Rescues 183* Migrants 40KM North West of Tripoli During Two Separate Operations

LE Eithne Rescues 183* Migrants 40KM North West of Tripoli During Two Separate Operations

LE Eithne Rescues 183* Migrants 40KM North West of Tripoli During Two Separate Operations

THE LE Eithne has rescued more than 700 migrants around the Mediterranean in a number of operationsthis morning yesterday.

The Irish naval service vessel located and rescued the migrants 40km north west ofTripoli in two separate operations the Libyan capital.

A total of 113 people were rescued from an inflatable craft at 6am, while a second vessel in distress was identified and a second operation launched where a further 70 migrants were successfully rescued.

Later on in the day, significantly larger rescues took place.

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According to Captain of the vessel, Commander Brian Fitzgerald, a total of 606 migrants were rescued by the LE Eithne crew, while a further 106 were taken on board from an NGO vessel operating in the area.

He told RTE news the numbers on board include 571 men and 121 women, 14 of whom are pregnant.
A mother and her two young sons were just seconds from drowning when their car slid into a river in Cork.

The car fell into the River Lee close to the port at Cork Citys quays and rapidly began to sink in the water, according to the Irish Examiner.

The childrens father and two onlookers quickly jumped into the water and managed to save the family, just before the car was completely submerged.

Witness to the incident, Kathleen Twomey told the newspaper the family were "seconds from being wiped out" and hailed the rescuers as brave heroes.

Ms Twomey is a neighbour of the Polish family who had the close encounter.

She told the Examiner: Ive never seen anything like it in my life. It was so terrible. The scariest thing Ive ever seen.

I thought they were gone because the car was going down so fast. I could see them, the kids in the back and the mother in the passenger seat, trying to get out the side windows. The car was going down fast.

Only for the guy pulling up in the jeep and helping the dad, they were all gone. It was so scary.

It is understood that the little boys mother had put her children and the familys pet dog into their car, which they park regularly above a disused slipway at Lower Castleview Terrace, across the road from the home on the Lower Glanmire Road.

The children were in the back seat and the mother was in the passenger seat as the father returned to their house to get something.

Ms Twomey said she was upstairs in her home which overlooks the river and terrace when she heard what sounded like a car revving, followed by screams.

It is as yet unknown what caused the car to move forward, but it is thought that it cleared a low ditch and slid onto a steep, algae-covered slipway.

From there the car rolled into the water.

Ms Twomey recounted: When I looked out my window, I saw the blue car in the river and I could hear the kids screaming and trying to get out the window. Straight after that, I dialled 999, and explained that I saw the car in the river.

They said theyd put me on to someone else, and it was ringing and I said Would you please hurry because theres kids in the car.

When he heard the commotion, the father ran from the house and dived into the river. He was joined by a man who had been driving past and a local resident, both of whom jumped in and helped the family out of the car.

Onlookers rallied around the family as they attempted to escape from the river, according to Nicole Bohan, who lives on the terrace beside the slipway.

She told of how residents formed a human chain, passing the children along the chain to safety once they were removed from the car.

Gemma Healey, who also lives on the terrace, described the childrens shock at the incident.

She said: They just couldnt stop crying. They were in shock. They got whisked into a house before they could even see if their mother got out. They didnt calm down until she came into the house to them, and spoke to them.

But the children are fine. Theyre safe and thats all that matters.

The men managed to free the childrens mother just as the car sank entirely. They held the car up in the river until the family dog, who had also been in the vehicle, could swim to the surface.

Ms Twomey said the emergency services were on the scene just minutes later, with a Garda car, three ambulances and fire brigade units responding to the call.

The mother and her children were taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH) for treatment and observation. The father was taken to CUH but he did not require treatment. One of the other rescuers require treatment for a minor gash to his arm.
Enda Kenny was always a welcome visitor in the D'Arcy household. Having soldiered for years alongside Minister of State Michael D'Arcy senior, Mr Kenny often stayed with the family in their modest Wexford home.

It may therefore have come as a particular surprise to the former Fine Gael leader when Michael junior chose the opposing side during the infamous 2010 heave.

Not only did the Wexford TD back Richard Bruton, he took on a leading media role on behalf of the rebels, articulating to the public exactly why Mr Kenny was the wrong man to lead the party.

And so, like many others, Mr D'Arcy paid the price for backing the wrong horse.

He has spent much of the past seven years in the political wilderness, a Fine Gael outcast per se.

It's widely accepted within Fine Gael that Mr D'Arcy was one of a number of TDs whose prospects of one day becoming a minister hinged on a new leader taking charge.

And so, with a new leadership contest looming large, the dairy farmer from Co Wexford aligned himself with Leo Varadkar. This time, he chose the winning side.

"Leo is a young man, very intelligent, very capable, very bright. He's not perfect but he is really, really good," Mr D'Arcy says as he walks along the pitch of his local Kilanerin GAA club.

The club itself suffered, like many others, from the impact of the recession.

Young players emigrated to find work. Many will never return.

For Mr D'Arcy, it is now up to the new Taoiseach and all ministers to address what he describes as the "lost decade".

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"We've lost a decade, that's what has happened over the last nine or 10 years. That's difficult. It's time to move to the next stage and that's to give people a bit of hope," he says.

"Leo is the right person to lead those efforts," he adds.

Mr D'Arcy was an outspoken backbencher, most notably during his time on the Banking Inquiry and when commenting on issues relating to An Garda Siochana.

In February, Mr D'Arcy became the first member of his party to call for Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan to step aside for the duration of the commission of investigation into allegations of a smear campaign against Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

He said the "names and reputations" of all gardai are in "disrepute" because of allegations against Ms O'Sullivan.

So, 16 months on and now the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, does he still hold these views?

"While I don't sit at Cabinet, I am obliged to accept the overall view of Government. I won't be commenting on that, people heard and read what I said then. That was my position at that stage," he says.

It's pointed out to Mr D'Arcy he is not answering the question. Does he still believe the Commissioner should step aside?

"I will be adhering to the Government line," he says.

Which is the Government does have confidence in the Garda Commissioner? "Correct," he adds.

So that's your position? "Yes."

So you've changed your position. "Well, it's my position."

Mr D'Arcy admits he expressed an interest, during conversations with his new Taoiseach, about the prospect of serving in finance.

He will now head up the Government's 2020 International Financial Services Strategy, which aims to grow the number of jobs in the sector to 45,000 by 2019.

But Mr D'Arcy wants to change the criteria, which currently states that 30pc of the jobs should be outside of Dublin.

"It's a criticism that has been thrown at the existing Government and the previous administration that 'all roads lead to Dublin'," the minister says.

He said he wants to increase the 30pc figure so that investment can spread to parts of rural Ireland.

"We need to lessen the challenges that financial services companies are facing as a result of Brexit," he says.

"I really want the industry to know that I'm ambitious for the sector.

"I hope my ambitions will match theirs and that we will get more jobs in. I want to get more jobs in for down the country, outside of Dublin."

Another part of Mr D'Arcy's brief is insurance - and he finds some harsh words for the industry itself.

"Insurance firms got caught in the recession, their investments weren't achieving the yield they were expecting.

"So they increased the premium on business and that gets passed on to the consumer. That's something I'm not okay with. I'm not okay with that happening," he says.

Looking ahead, he believes the current arrangement with Fianna Fail can last the full three budgets.

But he says the prospect of ever doing business with Sinn Fein is not a move he could stomach.

"Even if you set aside their attachment to the IRA, I just don't see how we could do business. They are not a party that has moved to full democratic structures," Mr D'Arcy says, citing the process behind the appointment of Michelle O'Neill in the North.

"In my opinion, there are better people than Michelle O'Neill in Northern politics. But that's how Sinn Fein does business. I find it a little bit alarming."
Forcing workers to pay 50 cent out of every euro earned above 33,800 is both "shocking" and "unheard of", according to the new State minister at the Department of Finance.

Wexford TD Michael D'Arcy told the Irish Independent he believes the point at which workers enter the higher income tax bracket will be increased to 40,000 over a number of years.

As the Government steps up its preparations ahead of Budget 2018, Mr D'Arcy said the focus must be on making up for what he described as a "lost decade".

He said the "working middle" must be prioritised and the Budget must address the fact workers on modest incomes enter the higher rate of tax too early.

"In this jurisdiction, it's 33,800. That's unheard of," Mr D'Arcy said in his first major interview since his appointment.

"I think there are only two countries in the OECD when you hit our rate - of over 50pc - before that period. It is shocking people can be on the average industrial wage or thereabouts and hit the higher rate.

"It needs to be a lot higher than that if possible. That's not a mad right-wing philosophy," he added.

Pressed on what sort of new entry point should be introduced, Mr D'Arcy replied: "It's going to be between where it is and 40k over a period. And if we can do that it would be a hell of a good achievement, particularly for people in lower pay.

"Brian Lenihan brought everyone into the tax net through the USC, we've changed that, taken a lot of people out, which is appropriate."

The newly appointed minister said the Government needs to be cognisant of lifting the burden on those who "kept the country going" from 2008-2016.

"Leo used the term, the 'people who get up early in the morning'. It doesn't really matter what term you use. But it's the working middle that kept this country going during the difficult period from 2008-2012 and 2012-2016, those two blocks of four years. Those people need to be given the opportunity where they earn more, pay less and choose how they spend their own money."

Spending

Mr D'Arcy's remarks came as his boss in the Department of Finance, Paschal Donohoe, said the Government will ramp up public spending to ensure there can be more new teachers and nurses.

But speaking on RTE's 'This Week' programme, Mr Donohoe rejected suggestions the Government is pursuing a 'giveaway budget'.

"If we were focussed on the concept of a giveaway budget, to use your phrase, my starting point would not be to balance our books, it would not be to use the proceeds of AIB [share sale] to balance our books. And it would not be on how we begin focussing on capital investment spending," Mr Donohoe said.

The Dublin Central TD has said the Government aims to deliver a structural deficit of 0.5pc, which "would be equivalent to our country delivering a balanced budget". He said that by "balancing our books" the Government can make "accelerated progress on the things our citizens need".
Michelle, in June 2017, was diagnosed with aggressive rectal cancer after she bled when she went to the toilet (PA Real Life/James Dukes)

A 33-year-old woman has a desk decluttering session to thank for discovering she had aggressive rectal cancer.

Michelle Forde, originally from Glanmire in Cork relocated to London from Belfast last summer and was a few weeks into a new job when she decided to clear up and send off some forms for health insurance she'd chucked on her desk.

When the welcome pack arrived a few days later, she discovered a leaflet which listed symptoms to look out for  and Michelle realised she had many of them.

The TV producer was referred to the private London Bridge Hospital, and was diagnosed with stage three rectal cancer that was close to spreading throughout her body.

Michelle, now in remission, said: "I'd left the forms on my desk and hadn't even thought about them but tidying up and getting the welcome pack helped me realise I needed to get this checked out.

"A lot of people notice the symptoms but are too embarrassed to go to the doctor. It's a cancer that people don't really talk about, even though bowel cancer is the fourth most common type in the UK.

"I didn't even think about cancer because I was so young and barely noticed anything was wrong.

"I'm so lucky that I found out when I did as it was just days away from spreading throughout my body."

Michelle first started experiencing symptoms including bleeding when she went to the toilet in January 2016, but they were so light and infrequent, she said didn't pay much attention.

Also suffering from fatigue and an unusual outbreak of acne on her face, she put it down to being busy at work.

But when she started a new job in July 2016, she was offered health insurance.

She explained: "The forms sat on my desk for a few weeks and then I came across them one day when I was tidying up. I told myself, 'I better do that.'

"I received a welcome pack and on the first page, it said 'if you ever have any of these symptoms, let us know.' It mentioned lack of energy, bleeding and more frequent bowel movements. I realised that I ticked a few of those boxes."

Referred to the private London Bridge Hospital, Michelle went to see a bowel specialist for the first time in September 2016.

She continued: "He did an examination and didn't like what he found. From his face at that first meeting, I knew there was something that wasn't quite right."

Two weeks later, a colonoscopy and MRI scan revealed that Michelle had stage three rectal cancer.

The tumour, which was about 6cm, had spread to three of the local lymph nodes and doctors warned that the cancer could spread to other organs very quickly.

They told her that it could be treated, but it would require surgery and because the tumour was low down in her rectum she would live with a colostomy bag for the rest of her life.

"My initial reaction was just to leave the office as quick as I could," Michelle explained. "The doctor was running after me to try and talk to me but I just had to get out.

"My younger sister Kelly, 27, was with me and I turned to her and said, 'Don't be sad, I'm off to work. I'll see you later.'"

After she had some time to think, Michelle went back to her doctor and told him that she although she wanted them to save her life, she wanted to explore all other treatment to preserve bowel function.

She started radiotherapy in October 2016, and trying to keep life as normal as possible, would go straight to work after each session.

After four weeks, scans showed that, although the tumor had shrunk, it was still in her lymph nodes and would require chemotherapy.

In February 2017, she started the first of 12 sessions of but within just five sessions, doctors advised taking a break because it was making her seriously ill.

She said: "After session five of chemotherapy, I started to swing dramatically between constipation and diarrhoea. I also developed really strong heartburn every time I ate or drank.

"I collapsed from a mixture of dehydration, tiredness and pain. I was then hospitalised for 10 days.

"My weight dropped from just over nine stone to seven and a half at my lowest ebb, which is very low for a person who is 5ft 10ins tall."

Amazingly, in April 2017, as Michelle started to recover, doctors scanned her again in preparation to restart her chemotherapy and discovered that the tumor was completely gone and the lymph nodes had returned to normal..

Doctors advised that microscopic traces may grow back, and gave her three options  to finish chemotherapy, to have papilion treatment, a very targeted form of internal radiotherapy that can be used when the tumor is much smaller, or to watch and wait.

"I decided to just wait and have regular scans - the hope that it doesn't come back but if it does, they will catch it early and be able to treat it quickly," said Michelle.

"I'm really grateful to all the doctors who worked tirelessly to preserve my bowel function."

Within weeks, Michelle returned to work after two months off for chemotherapy.

She said: "My employer was very supportive throughout everything which meant I could concentrate on my treatment."

Sadly, she did not have time to freeze her eggs before starting treatment, so is unsure whether her fertility has been affected.

On the whole, though, she is staying positive and the experience has made her reevaluate her life.

She said: "The silver lining out of it was that I really bonded with my family. They were amazing throughout, especially my little sister who I live with.

"I am originally from Cork and my family were amazing, taking it in turns to come over and help.

"It completely changed my outlook. When you realise you are not invincible, you start looking at what is important. I always wanted to be seen as this really strong person who doesn't need anybody.

"That illusion was shattered for me during this experience. It was a difficult time but it's changed my life in so many ways."

Michelle is setting up an Instagram account with her sister Kelly, @fordesisters, on the topic's of healing, health, happiness and fashion which will contain lots of positivity for those dealing with illnesses and helpful information which Michelle and Kelly have learned throughout their journey.

MUST Bowel & Cancer Research supports the best research across the UK into bowel cancer and other bowel diseases. Its pioneering and inclusive approach places it in a unique position to understand the impact of these diseases on individuals and their families, friends and colleagues. For more information, please visit: www.bowelcancerresearch.org

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Brendan OConnor Opinion The jig is up as Feis fixing has former winners like me reeling

As the holder of the Marie Cranny Perpetual cup for Extempore and Public Speaking (Under 15s) in Feis Maitiu in, of all years, 1984, I would like to use this platform to say this feis-fixing scandal has sullied my legacy, and that of all other holders of the cup down the years (you had to give it back at the end of the year).
Albanian Prime Minister and Socialist party leader Edi Rama casts his ballot at a polling station in Tirana (AP)

Preliminary results show that Albania's left-wing Socialist party is heading for a new governing mandate in crucial elections in the country's bid to launch membership negotiations with the European Union.

The Central Election Commission's preliminary results after counting one-third of the votes on Monday morning show the Socialist party of Prime Minister Edi Rama winning almost half the votes compared with 28% for the opposition Democratic party of Lulzim Basha.

Election authorities said the partial count pointed to the Socialists winning at least 75 seats in the 140-member parliament.

Turnout fell to 47% - six points lower than in previous polls in 2013.

Holding a free and fair election is key to launching EU membership talks for the nation of 2.9 million, which is already a Nato member and earned EU candidate status in 2014.

Mr Rama posted on his Facebook page on Monday, wishing Albanians "a beautiful day with this still-unfinished masterpiece of this country's common people", referring to the expected significant difference in winning results.

Mr Basha spoke to reporters late on Sunday evening, thanking Albanians for voting "with a European dignity" in a religious day and under extreme hot temperatures.

The voting was extended by one hour due to low turnout that was attributed to religious festivities and temperatures that reached 39C (102F).

Albania, with a two-thirds Muslim majority, celebrated Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

International observers were expected to hold a news conference with a preliminary statement on Monday afternoon.

AP
The Government has set out details of its offer to protect the rights of EU nationals living in the UK after Brexit.

What is the Government proposing?

Under the plan set out in Parliament, EU nationals resident in the UK will be able to apply for settled status  effectively guaranteeing them indefinite leave to remain in the country once Britain is out of the bloc.

Who will be eligible to apply?

Any EU citizen who has been living in the UK continuously for five years. Those who have been resident for less than five years will also be allowed to stay and then apply for settled status once they have clocked up the necessary five years.

Dependent family members  children or parents  who join an EU national in the UK prior to Brexit will also be able to apply once they have been in the country for five years. After Brexit, EU citizens with settled status will be able to bring family members from overseas on the same terms as British nationals.

Is there a cut-off date to qualify?

Yes  although ministers are yet to decide when it will be. The Government paper says that at the earliest it will be March 29 2017  the date Theresa May triggered Article 50, marking the start of the formal Brexit process  and at the latest the date it actually leaves.

How long do people have to apply?

The Government has said there will be a two-year period of grace for EU nationals to get their applications in. However, with an estimated 3.2 million living in the country, the Home Office is keen to get going early and is encouraging people to apply before Britain has actually left.

What will be the benefits?

The paper says the UK intends to maintain existing rights to benefits, healthcare, education and other economic rights in the expectation that these rights will be reciprocated by EU member states for British nationals living in the EU.

Will anyone be excluded?

Applicants will face criminal record checks to exclude those who are serious or persistent criminals as well as those the Government considers a threat to the UK.

Irish nationals will not need to apply as their status will be protected by the Common Travel Area of agreement.

How would EU nationals be able to enforce their rights?

This is one of the big bones of contention with Brussels. The European Commission says it should through the European Court of Justice. Ministers, however, are adamant that the European court will not have jurisdiction in the UK after Brexit and that it will be a matter for the British courts.

How has Brussels reacted?

Mays proposals lack ambition and contain worrisome limitations, according to senior Brussels figures.

The European Unions chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Brussels goal was for citizens to enjoy the same level of protection as under EU law, and Mays plans fell short.

Barnier said: More ambition, clarity and guarantees needed than in todays UK position.
Deep down, were all ever so slightly immature  which is why something like a penis-shaped rock is so popular with tourists visiting Norway.

And its also why everyone rallied around the landmark Trollpikken when it was cruelly vandalised.

Over the weekend, a mysterious bandit targeted Trollpikken and literally chopped it off from the hill it sat on outside the city of Egersund.

It was discovered cracked, complete with drilling holes in the rock  something that experts say strongly suggests it was cut off on purpose.

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When the news broke, activists started raising money to repair Trollpikken. As of Monday morning, theyd managed to raise 147,010  well on the way to reaching the 200,000 target.

The name Trollpikken roughly translates as The Troll Cock and is a popular hiking spot  particularly considering how hilarious the Instagram pictures you can get out of it are.

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And dont worry, because police are launching an investigation into the incident. Tor Helge Stavik of the Sor-Vest Police District told TV2: This type of violation of the law carries potential punishment of up to six years in prison.

For now, well guiltily giggle over a slew of immature jokes about how Trollpikken will rise again
Jailed Chinese Nobel Peace laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo has been released on medical parole after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, his lawyer said.

Mr Liu was in stable condition at the China Medical University No 1 Affiliated Hospital in the north-eastern city of Shenyang, Mo Shaoping told The Associated Press.

He was diagnosed on May 23, Mr Mo added.

It was not immediately clear if Mr Liu was being allowed visitations.

Mr Liu, China's best-known political prisoner, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of inciting state subversion in 2009 for writing and disseminating Charter '08, a document calling for democracy.

The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norway-based Nobel committee, a move that has greatly angered the Chinese government.

In April, Beijing normalised its relations with Oslo after a six-year hiatus.

The news of Mr Liu's diagnosis shocked and saddened fellow human rights activists in China.

"It's known that Liu Xiaobo and his family have made a tremendous sacrifice for the cause of freedom and democracy for China," said Shanghai-based legal scholar and human rights activist Zhang Xuezhong.

"This is unfortunate news for him and his family, and it's a blow to China's democracy movement, as so many people have placed hope in him, and rightfully so."

Without further information on Mr Liu's medical condition, Mr Zhang said that no effort should be spared to treat Liu, and that his family must be fully informed of his treatment plans.

"His life is so important that I think he should get the best possible treatment with full knowledge of his family, even if it means some compromises" with the government, Mr Zhang said.

Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said he was not aware of the latest development in Liu's case.

AP
A man was told his son had died received a call from him 11 days after the funeral due to a body being misidentified.

Frank J Kerrigan (82) from Wildomar, California said the coroners office told him the body of a man who was found dead at a Verizon store in Fountain Valley was that of his son. However, 11 days after his son's funeral, a friend called to alert him that he was alive.

A woman working in the coroners office apparently told him that identification had been made through fingerprints.

Doug Easton, an attorney hired by Kerrigan, said the coroners officials apparently werent able to match the corpses fingerprints through a law enforcement database and instead identified Kerrigan by using an old drivers license photo.

When somebody tells me my son is dead, when they have fingerprints, I believe them, Mr Kerrigan said.

His son, Frank M Kerrigan (57) is mentally ill and has been living on the street.

The family held a $20,000 funeral with about 50 people in attendance and the man was interred near Mr Kerrigan'swife.

At the funeral, Mr Kerrigan had looked at the man in the casket and stroked his hair.

I didnt know what my dead son was going to look like, he said.

When the family told authorities he was alive, they tried the fingerprints again and learned they matched someone elses.

The attorney said the family plans to sue, alleging authorities didnt properly try to identify the body as Kerrigans son because he is homeless.

Frank's sister, Carole Meikle said the mistaken death identification led the federal government to stop disability payments for her brother. Her brother has returned to living on the streets and doesnt realise how hard the incident was on the family.

The Orange County Sheriffs Department is conducting an internal investigation into the mix-up and all identification policies and procedures will be reviewed.
Prince Harry admitted he once 'wanted out' of the Royal Family. Photo: PA

Prince Harry has admitted he once "wanted out" of the British royal family.

The fifth in line to the throne said he had wanted to "work out a role for myself" and decided to carry on to do good.

His confession follows recent comments when he said he doubted any of the royals "wants to be king or queen".

In an interview yesterday, the prince said the time he spent in the British army - when he was "just Harry" - was "the best escape I've ever had" and he once considered giving up his title.

"I felt I wanted out but then decided to stay in and work out a role for myself," he said.

The prince, who in recent years has dedicated much of his time to charitable causes including helping wounded veterans and mental health, said he and his brother Prince William "don't want to be just a bunch of celebrities".

"We are incredibly passionate with our charities and they have been chosen because they are on the path shown to me by our mother," he said.

The prince caused a stir when he suggested to 'Newsweek' magazine that no one in the royal family wants the throne.

"We are not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people," he said.

"Is there any one of the royal family who wants to be king or queen? I don't think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time."

The prince also spoke about walking behind his mother's coffin as a 12-year-old and said that no child "should be asked to do that under any circumstances".

In 1997, the youngster joined his father Prince Charles, his grandfather Prince Philip, his 15-year-old brother, and uncle Charles Spencer in a funeral procession through the streets of London for Princess Diana.

He said: "My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television."
Theresa May is promising to make it as easy as possible for EU nationals living in the UK to secure their future rights after Brexit.

Under detailed Government proposals, EU citizens who have been living in Britain for five years will be able to apply for "settled status" - guaranteeing their right to stay in the country - after the UK has left the bloc.

The plan received a frosty reception from other EU leaders when the Prime Minister outlined the UK offer last week in Brussels, with European Council President Donald Tusk saying it was "below our expectations".

The Government paper published in Parliament on Monday, however, stresses that the authorities will do all they can to simplify the process of applying for settled status - effectively granting indefinite leave to remain - while keeping the costs down.

"The administrative procedures which they will need to comply with in order to obtain these new rights will be modernised and kept as smooth and simple as possible," the paper said.

"Our aim is to make the application process as streamlined and user-friendly as possible for EU citizens and their families lawfully resident in the UK."

Among the measures being considered is matching with HM Revenue and Customs records to show someone has been living in the UK continuously for five years rather than, for example, requiring them to produce five years' worth of pay slips.

The paper said the Government intends to maintain existing rights to benefits, healthcare, education and other economic rights "in the expectation that these rights will be reciprocated by EU member states" for British nationals living in the EU.

It confirms ministers have yet to decide when the cut-off date will be for EU nationals to be able to qualify to apply under the five-year residency rule, although it will be no earlier than March 29 2017 - the date the Government triggered Article 50 - and the date the UK actually leaves the EU.

EU nationals who have been in the UK for less than five years will be able to carry on living in the country and then apply for settled status once they have clocked up five years continuous residence.

Dependent relatives who join an EU national in the UK before Brexit takes place will also be able to apply for settled status once they have been resident for five years.

The paper promises there will be no "cliff edge", with EU nationals being given a two-year "period of grace" in which to make their application. Under the Common Travel Area arrangements, Irish nationals will not have to apply.

Nevertheless, with an estimated 3.2 million EU nationals currently resident in Britain, the Government is keen to encourage as many as possible to apply before the Brexit arrangements are finalised to ease the pressure on the system.

"The Government does intend to introduce a voluntary scheme to enable eligible EU citizens to apply for their permission to stay and residence document before the UK's withdrawal from the EU," the paper said.

"This will enable them to obtain their UK immigration status at an early stage should they wish to do so, in order to ensure as smooth and efficient process as possible for EU residents."

Applicants for settled status will face criminal record checks to exclude those who are "serious or persistent criminals and those whom we consider a threat to the UK".

The paper stresses the Government's determination that the continuing rights of EU nationals in the UK should be enforceable through the British courts and not the European Court of Justice as the European Commission is demanding.

"The Court of Justice of the European Union will not have jurisdiction in the UK," it said.
Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, has reached a settlement over his death (Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP)

The mother of Philando Castile, a black motorist killed by a Minnesota police officer last year, has reached a settlement worth nearly three million US dollars (2.4 million) over his death.

The settlement to be paid to Valerie Castile, who is the trustee for her family in the case, will avoid a federal wrongful death lawsuit stemming from Mr Castile's death.

The 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker was killed by St Anthony officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop on July 6 after he told the officer he was armed.

Mr Castile had a permit for his gun.

The shooting gained widespread attention after Mr Castile's girlfriend, who was in the car with her then four-year-old daughter, live-streamed its gruesome aftermath on Facebook.

Mr Yanez, who is Latino, was acquitted of manslaughter and other charges earlier this month.

The jury's decision prompted days of protests, including one in St Paul that shut down Interstate 94 for hours and ended with 18 arrests.

The 2.995 million dollar settlement will be paid by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, which holds the insurance policy for the city of St Anthony.

It requires approval by a state court, which could take several weeks.

The statement from the city and Ms Castile's attorneys says no taxpayer money will be used to fund the settlement.

Robert Bennett, who along with attorney Glenda Hatchett is representing Ms Castile, said the idea behind the settlement was to move expeditiously rather than have the case drawn out in federal court, a process that would "exacerbate and reopen terrible wounds".

The settlement will also allow the family, the city and community to work towards healing, Mr Bennett said.

"No amount of money could ever replace Philando," the joint statement said.

"With resolution of the claims the family will continue to deal with their loss through the important work of the Philando Castile Relief Foundation."

A Facebook page for the non-profit foundation says it was established to help victims of gun violence and to provide relief for the grieving.

During his trial, Mr Yanez, 29, testified that Mr Castile ignored his commands not to pull out his gun.

The officer said he feared for his life.

According to squad-car video that captured the shooting, Mr Castile said "I'm not pulling it out" before Mr Yanez fired seven rapid shots.

Mr Castile's last words after the shooting were "I wasn't reaching...".

His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, later said he was reaching for his wallet.

The squad-car video shows the shooting, but does not show what happened inside the car or what Mr Yanez saw, leaving room for reasonable doubt.

After Mr Yanez's acquittal, the city of St Anthony said it was offering him a "voluntary separation agreement" from the police department, and he would no longer be an on-duty officer.

The department serves the cities of St Anthony, Lauderdale and Falcon Heights, where the shooting occurred.

AP
A cabin burnt to the ground by a wildfire on the west side of Panguitch Lake, Utah (Jordan Allred/The Spectrum via AP)

Improving weather conditions have limited the growth of a wildfire in Utah that prompted the evacuation of 1,500 people from hundreds of homes and cabins, officials said.

Incident commander Tim Roide said Sunday was "a good day for firefighters, who were able to have success securing areas of particular concern, including the many structures affected by the Brian Head Fire".

Officials said the fire currently covers nearly 67 square miles and is 10% contained.

On Sunday firefighters put in barriers against the flames and air tankers dropped fire retardant in anticipation of winds coming in from the south west on Monday.

In southern California, a wildfire broke out after a car crashed on a freeway and prompted evacuations of some nearby homes in the city of Santa Clarita.

KUTV also reported that a few Utah families were allowed back to their homes near the resort town of Brian Head to survey damage and retrieve essential items, but most were left waiting and wondering when they would be able to return home.

The fire has also burned in the Dixie National Forest.

Evacuation orders were also issued for nearby mountain communities generally known for weekend getaway homes for Las Vegas residents.

AP
Soldiers and rescue workers at the site where a ferry sank in a reservoir in Guatape (AP)

Scuba divers have continued searching for bodies in a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin where a tourist boat packed with more than 150 passengers capsized, leaving at least seven people dead and 13 missing.

After suspending their search overnight due to a lightning storm, scuba divers by mid-morning on Monday had pulled a seventh body from the underwater wreckage.

Authorities were also turning their attention to the causes of the sinking and whether the company that owned the boat named El Almirante contributed to the accident.

A flotilla of recreational boats and jet skis had rushed to the scene, pulling people from the boat as it went down and avoiding an even deadlier tragedy.

Dramatic videos circulating on social media show the turquoise-and-yellow-trimmed party boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-deck roof as it sank in a matter of minutes.

Survivors described hearing a loud explosion near the men's bathroom that knocked out power a few minutes after the boat began its cruise around the giant lake.

As water flooded on board, pressure built and people were sucked under by the sinking ship.

"Those on the first and second decks sank immediately," survivor Lorena Salazar told local media.

"All we could do was scream and call for help ... it was completely chaotic."

In the absence of a passenger list, authorities have been relying on family numbers and survivors to report their whereabouts.

On Tuesday the number of people missing was down to 13.

Of those who survived the incident, three remain in hospital but are out of danger, said Margarita Moncada, the head of the disaster relief agency in Antioquia state.

A group of a few dozen scuba divers were working on Monday in hour-long shifts, looking to sweep for trapped bodies in the frigid, algae-filled waters around the wreckage at a depth of more than 30 metres (100ft).

Moncada said the hardest part for scuba divers is to safely search the area around the first deck of the boat.

It is unclear what caused the boat to sink.

Some survivors and people who witnessed the tragedy unfold from the nearby shore said the boat appeared to be overloaded.

But President Juan Manuel Santos, who travelled to Guatape to oversee search efforts, said it was sailing well below capacity.

None of the passengers was wearing a life vest.

"Nobody really knows what happened," said Mr Santos, adding that naval officials were brought in to carry out an investigation.

The reservoir surrounding the soaring rocky outcrop of El Penol is a popular weekend destination a little more than an hour from Medellin.

It was especially busy on Sunday as Colombians celebrated a long holiday weekend, some of them taking a five dollar pleasure cruise on El Almirante.

The transportation ministry said the company that owned the boat, and 12 others, had its certification renewed in December.

Carlos Espinosa, an independent journalist from Guatape, said a few months ago local people awoke to find the El Almirante filled with water and sinking at its dock, suggesting that perhaps the vessel was not ready to return to the water.

"What makes you angry is there are no controls by the government," he said.

As night fell, the usually festive town was silent as people began to register the magnitude of the loss.

Among those huddled under the rain near the port looking for information about loved ones was Alberto Villegas, who was separated from a cousin and uncle in the mad rush to abandon the sinking ship.

"All we ask is that they don't give up the search," said Mr Villegas.

AP
A young child was rushed to hospital after being shot by another child at a local playground.

Police said that a child, under the age of 10, was shot in Kansas, US, by a seven-year-old boy.

The child sustained life-threatening injuries and was in a critical condition after surgery, according to Fox News.

Police said it was "disturbing" that a seven-year-old child had access to a gun.

"If this doesn't help you understand the importance of placing your gun either in a safe, or placing a gun lock on your gun, then we don't know what will do it," Sergeant Kari Thompson told Fox News.

"We have had several instances of children in the past couple of years that have been shot by other juveniles just playing with guns. Guns that were not maintained. Guns that parents and/or guardians just left out without supervision."

Police have spoken to the seven-year-old boy and his mother and investigations are ongoing.
A man has been convicted of murder in the death of a two-year-old girl who became known as Baby Doe after her remains washed up on the shores of Boston.

Michael McCarthy was charged for the murder of his girlfriend's daughter, Bella Bond, in 2015.

Expand Close Massachusetts police release computer-generated image of young girl and a picture of the blanket and leggings found in the bag / Facebook

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Whatsapp Massachusetts police release computer-generated image of young girl and a picture of the blanket and leggings found in the bag

A computer-generated image of the girl was shared by millions on social media after she was dubbed Baby Doe by authorities trying to determine her identity.

The widely shared image showed a young brown-eyed girl.

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The toddler's body was found inside a bin bag on Deer Island in Boston in June 2015 by a woman walking a dog.

According to the Associated Press, Bellas mother, Rachelle Bond, and McCarthy were arrested in September 2015 after Bond told a friend McCarthy had killed her daughter.

Bond was found guilty of being an accessory to murder after helping to bury her child's body.

However, according to the Associated Press, Bond is expected to be released after McCarthys trial, having served less than two years in jail.

The court heard that both Bond and McCarthy were heroin addicts.

Bond testified that on the night Bella died, she walked into the girls bedroom and saw McCarthy leaning over her and punching her. She said she saw McCarthy punch her in the abdomen so hard she bounced off the mattress.

He said it was her time to die, she was a demon, Bond said.

Under a second-degree murder conviction, McCarthy is facing parole after serving 15 years in prison.
Elizabeth Wettlaufer is escorted by police from the courthouse in Woodstock, Ont, Monday, June 26, 2017. Wettlaufer, a former Ontario nurse who murdered eight seniors in her care, was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. Photo:Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press via AP

A former nurse convicted of killing eight elderly people in her care in Canada has been sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for 25 years.

Elizabeth Wettlaufer pleaded guilty last month to eight counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault over the notorious serial killings.

The 50-year-old told the court on Monday that she is truly sorry and hopes her victims' families can find peace and healing.

The 14 assaults on patients took place over the last decade in three Ontario long-term care facilities where Wettlaufer worked as a registered nurse and at a private home, authorities have said.

Wettlaufer admitted to using insulin in all of the cases from 2007-2016.

Susan Horvath, a daughter of victim Arpad Horvath, said she did not read her victim impact statement because she could not trust herself being too physically close to Wettlaufer in the courtroom.

"I am too angry," she said. "I didn't trust myself up there."

Laura Jackson, a friend of one of the victims, said Wettlaufer "should spend the rest of her life in a small box contemplating what she's done. It wasn't rash. It was calculated".

Shannon Emmerton, the granddaughter of another victim, said other nurses could potentially commit the same crime.

The Ontario government launched a public inquiry soon after the sentence was announced.

"We want to assure the public that Ontario's 78,000 long-term care residents are safe in their homes," Ontario's attorney general said in a statement.

"It is our hope that through the inquiry process, we will get the answers we need to help ensure that a tragedy such as this does not happen again."
Guilt by Association: Business Leader Blocked in India -- Founder of India-Based Technology Firm Denied Access to India Due to Christian Clients

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 26, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- India now ranks right behind Saudi Arabia on the Open Doors International "World Watchlist" as one of the worst countries in which to be a Christian -- the result of a growing number of Hindu nationalists who see the Christian faith as an attempt to delegitimize Hinduism as India's native religion. This growing anti-Christian sentiment in India is now starting to affect U.S. business relationships.

Mr. Thomas Sudyk, President and CEO of EC Group International, a Rockford, Michigan based technology business was surprised when his visa was flagged by the Consul General of India in Houston, which resulted in the denial of entrance into India last Fall (October 5, 2016). "When I arrived in Chennai, India, I was informed that the Houston Consulate had flagged my visa and I would not be permitted to enter India." Mr. Sudyk explained. "For the past 17 years, I have frequently traveled to India to manage the affairs of EC Group Datasoft Pvt. Ltd. I have a 10-year multiple entry visa. Apparently," he observed, "I was flagged because several of my clients are Christian organizations."

On January 13, 2017, the national news reported that the government of India had blocked all foreign donations to Compassion International, a Christian organization focused on feeding impoverished children, despite the fact that over 44% of Indian children under five are underweight and 72% of its infants suffer from anemia, in fact, the World Bank estimates that India is now one of the highest ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. In March 2017 Compassion closed its operations in India after 48 years, informing tens of thousands of children that they will no longer receive meals, medical care or tuition payments. The Hindu-based nationalist mindset has so influenced the thinking of the current Indian government leaders, that they are overlooking the desperate needs of their malnourished Indian children to protect their Hindu religion.

This religious nationalism is affecting U.S. based Indian leaders also. For example, a cursory glance at the tweets of the Consulate General of India in Houston executive Anupam Ray, (@anupamifs) shows that one of his top priorities is the evangelization of the Hindu religion in Texas. He and some of his associates are also using their position to block the real or perceived threats of the advancement of Christianity in their homeland, including legitimate business people like Mr. Thomas Sudyk.

On June 26, 2017 President Trump will host India Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen ties between the two nations. One of the primary discussion topics will be advancing trade dialogue to create jobs in both countries. Business leaders like Tom Sudyk are hoping that President Trump will be able to defuse the religious hyper-sensitivity of the government of India so that companies like EC Group can continue to build mutually beneficial business relationships.
A teenager fell about 25 feet from a stopped gondola ride at a New York amusement park, tumbling into a crowd gathered below to catch her before she hit the ground.

The unidentified 14-year-old girl from Greenwood, Delaware, was taken to Albany Medical Centre in stable condition with no serious injuries, the Warren County Sheriff's Office said.

Matthew Howard Sr was just leaving the Six Flags Amusement Park on Saturday evening when he heard someone screaming.

He looked up to see the young girl dangling from a slow-moving gondola ride.

Her little brother sat next to her in the green two-person pod, crying hysterically for help, saying he could not hold on.

The 47-year-old and his 21-year-old daughter, Leeann Winchell, positioned themselves under the girl as the ride stopped and security came running.

"I said: 'It's OK! It's OK to let go, I'll catch you, honey. I'm not going to let you fall'," said Mr Howard.

The girl lost her grip and fell down where Mr Howard and Ms Winchell, and others, were waiting.

The two took the brunt of the girl's fall, tumbling to the ground themselves the catch.

The two and some other good Samaritans carried to her to where emergency workers later arrived to help her.

Mr Howard, a contractor from Schenectady, was treated and released for a minor back injury after the rescue.

"I couldn't let that little girl die," Mr Howard told The Associated Press on Sunday.

"No one wants to put himself underneath a body like that, but I couldn't stand by and watch."

Ms Winchell, who is applying to be a nurse, said they visited the girl on Sunday at the hospital and she was in good spirits.

Her little brother was shaken up but uninjured otherwise, she said. They did not know how she had fallen out of the ride.

"I'm just glad we could be there to help," Ms Winchell said. "We were in the right place at the right time."

The scene was caught on video by Loren Lent, from Glenville. He said Sunday that his 10-year-old daughter and wife had also been on the ride and watched from high above as the girl fell.

"My daughter was just traumatised," he said. "She was crying for about a half-hour after."

Mr Lent said he thought it took too long for park employees to stop the ride and give help.

He said the ride has no seatbelt, and just a bar across to hold patrons inside.

"I'll never let my family on that ride again," he said.

Officials inspected the Sky Ride and said it was in proper working order. The park said in a statement that the safety of guests is a top priority.

"There does not appear to be any malfunction of the ride, but we have closed the attraction until a thorough review can be completed," a park official said.

On Sunday, park officials said the ride had been cleared for operation, but would remain closed.

"We are reviewing our internal procedures to ensure the safety and security of our guests and team members," park officials said.
A day heavy in green Indian equity markets saw a day, heavy in green, today. Nifty 50 ended, up by 321.5 points. Sensex ended, up by 1181.34 points. Top Gainers today were HDFC, HDFC Bank, Infosys. Top Losers ... November 11, 2022 | 3:43 pm

In early trade, Rupee rises 71 paise to 80.69 / $ Early on Friday, the rupee strengthened 71 paise to 80.69 against the dollar as investors' attitudes were bolstered by easing US CPI data and a decline in the dollar index. Forex traders claime... November 11, 2022 | 2:24 pm

Sensex zooms over 1,100 pts; Nifty above 18,300; IT index top contributor Domestic benchmark indices in the fast lane today led by IT and Metal stocks outperforming. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks were nearly 2% higher amid positive global cues. On the se... November 11, 2022 | 2:00 pm

NIBE receives order of Rs11.88 crore from Goa Shipyard; Stock slips 1% Nibe Limited stocks in focus as the company announced the receipt of purchase orders. As per the regulatory filing, it has received two purchase orders dated November 08, 2022 from G... November 11, 2022 | 12:53 pm

Ashoka Buildcon receives provisional certificate for NHAI road project; Stock up 2% Ashoka Buildcon Limited has informed the declaration of October 26, 2021 as the Commercial Operation Date (CoD) for its Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) Project of National Highways Authority of ... November 11, 2022 | 12:26 pm
Foundation Claims Victory in Church Playground Case

MONTGOMERY, Ala., June 26, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- The Foundation for Moral Law, a Montgomery-based legal foundation dedicated to religious liberty, hailed the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church as a victory for religious liberty.

In this case, the State of Missouri had made scrap tire materials available to schools to spread over playgrounds to make them safer for children. Trinity had applied for a grant for the playground of its affiliated Learning Center, but the State denied the grant, claiming that a provision of the Missouri Constitution prohibits aid to churches. Trinity sued the State of Missouri, claiming the refusal constituted a violation of the church's right to free exercise of religion.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church. In his plurality opinion, Chief Justice Roberts held that Missouri's policy "expressly discriminates against otherwise eligible recipients by disqualifying them from a public benefit solely because of their religious character." This, he said, forces the Church to either cease operating as a church or lose eligibility for a substantial state benefit. Roberts said this violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

Foundation President Kayla Moore (photo) hailed the ruling as "a victory for religious persons of all varieties. It enables churches to continue providing educational services to the children of their members and others."

Foundation Senior Counsel John Eidsmoe added: "Trinity Lutheran Church did not seek any special benefits from the State of Missouri. It sought only to be included on an equal basis in a state program that is available to all. This case reaffirms that proposition that the State may not single out religious institutions for discrimination."

The Foundation submitted an amicus brief on December 7, 2015. The Court agreed to hear the case shortly thereafter and has now ruled in favor of the church.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan is 74 years old, but unlike his contemporaries, he isnt keeping away from work and has no plans of taking retirement from acting anytime soon. Not only that, the veteran star is also keeping up with the pace of social media.

From blogging to sharing details about day-to-day life on Twitter as well as Facebook, Big B makes the most of social media to communicate with his fans as well as well-wishers. And that is one of the reasons why he was named the social media person of the year by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) two years ago.

starworldnews.co

But one fine day the actor woke up to a rude surprise. He wanted to share something with his fans, but to his dismay, his Facebook page wasnt opening properly. After the problem persisted for a few days, the superstar had no option but to complain about the same on Twitter and bring that to the notice of the former company.

Heres what he tweeted:

T 2466 - HELLO ! FaceBook ..! Wake up ..my page does not open fully .. been like this for days ! Had to use this medium to complain ,,SAD ! pic.twitter.com/SvzUHBBDvT  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) June 25, 2017

On the work front, the actor who was last seen in Ram Gopal Varmas Sarkar 3, is busy shooting for Thugs of Hindostan in Malta along with Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Dangal girl Fatima Sana Shaikh.

We hope that the issue with Amitabh Bachchans Facebook page is resolved soon.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet American President Donald Trump for the first time. Its been a highly anticipated meeting because Donald Trump praised the Indian leader during his election campaign.

For Modi, building a strong relationship with America is still in its nascent stages and hes trying to carry from where he left during Obama's time in the Oval Office. Since this is the first meeting between Modi and Trump, most of the medias reporting, from The Washington Post to the New York Times, seems more cautious than decisive.

AP/LA Times

The Washington Post wrote an opinion piece that took on a metaphor with sexual and romantic undertones. The writer discussed the personalities and persona of the two leaders to analyse how far their relationship will go.

the washington post

The New York Times, on the other hand, used the peg of the meeting to talk about how Indian immigrants in the US feel about this alliance and what theyre expecting from it.

new york times

CNN, on a similar tangent, used to meeting to discuss Asias future in general. Author Samantha Vinograd reported, The Asia rebalance in the age of Trump requires a growing relationship with India.

CNN

Needless to say, the meeting between these two socially powerful leaders  Trump and Modi are two leaders with the highest number of followers on Twitter  has not gone unnoticed.
Hafiz Junaid was just 16-years-old when he was lynched two days ahead of Eid. He is the latest victim of the continuous atrocities on Muslims across the country. Junaid was murdered after a scuffle broke out in a train over a seat in Haryanas Palwal area. He, along with his two brothers, had gone to Delhi for Eid shopping.

On way back to Delhi on a Mathura passenger train, they had a heated argument over a seat but their beards were pulled and their skull caps were thrown down.

People watched and even encouraged the mob who proceeded to repeatedly stab Junaid, while all branded him anti-national. His crime  someone from the crowd alleged that one of the food packets Junaid was carrying contained beef.

Photos of the blood-spattered compartment were all over the internet, revealing the gory sight of the incident.

'Black Eid 2017'

In the wake of Junaids lynching, people from his village Khandwali, in Ballabhgarh, have decided not to celebrate Eid and sport black armbands while offering Namaz, marking a silent protest. The village sarpanch said that Eid would not be a splendid event this time. Their decision has found resonance with a large section of people from all communities across the country, who have copied the gesture to express solidarity with Muslims.

Facebook

Of late, the baseless killing of Muslims, frequently linked to cow trade, slaughter or suspected consumption of cow meat, have spiked.

On Saturday, a campaign was started on social media in a call to support Muslims and raise voice against repeated mob killings. It gathered pace on Sunday with hashtags #StopKillingMuslims and #EidWithBackArmBand used widely.

Many activists and common citizens too gave a call to wear black bands on right arm when Muslims go for Eid namaz and Hindus throughout the day. The call, so far, has received a massive response.

In a silent protest, citizens have decided to refer to the day as Black Eid 2017 and share the photos of armband protest on social media. This is to serve as a wake up call to government, politicians and police to ensure law and order in the country.

Thousands of people have shared photographs wearing a black armband.

Protest At Jantar Mantar

A citizens protest Not In My Name against the targeted lynching of Muslims has been organised on June 28 at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. The protest calls citizens to come together through music and poetry to assert that targeted hatred and killings being unleashed - Is Not In Our Name.

bccl

Targeted Violence Against Muslims

On June 23, Jammu and Kashmirs Deputy superintendent of police Mohammed Ayub Pandith was lynched by a mob in Kashmir on the same day as Junaid. He was a Muslim wearing an Indian uniform enforcing the laws of India in the state marred by separatism. He was stripped naked and stoned to death by a furious mob in Srinagar. He was allegedly clicking pictures of people who were coming out of the Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta area of the Jammu and Kashmir capital.

pti

Cow vigilantes, taking law in their hands, senselessly kill Muslims on the false grounds of cow slaughter and consumption of cow meat. Gangs of "cow protectors" have been implicated in killing at least 10 people in the past two years as the welfare of the animal has become the primary issue in Indian politics.

On April 1, dairy farmer Pehlu Khan was killed by cow vigilantes in a spate of mob killings in the name of the revered animal, after a group attacked his cattle truck on a road in Alwar, Rajasthan. Khan was returning home from a cattle fair after buying a cow.

In September 2015, a mob of villagers attacked the home of a Muslim man Mohammed Ikhlaq, with sticks and bricks, who they suspected of stealing and slaughtering a stolen cow calf. Ikhlaq died in the attack, and his 22-year-old son Danish was seriously injured.

reuters

These are just some of the cases in succession of mob lynching and targeted violence against Muslims in the country. The situation has only worsened in the last two years with little Police control. As far as communal relations are concerned, there has been a total breakdown of law and order in the country.

Expressing solidarity and standing united seems to be one of the many steps towards communal harmony.
Like many Canadian cities, Norwich in Connecticut, US, now welcomes visitors with Punjabi signage of "Ji Aaiyan Nu". Signboards at this city's entry points also flash the same message in Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Italian and German.

norwichbulletin

The signage has been put upon the request of Norwich resident Swaranjit Singh Khalsa who designed these with help of his friends from diverse backgrounds and are funded by the Sikh community of Norwich. Khalsa said that Norwich was the first city in the US to have welcome signs in Punjabi. "I was working with the city to convince them that how important it is to show people of Norwich that City is open to everyone.

With these signs citizens of Norwich would feel more connected to the city," he said while thanking Mayor Deb Hinchey and City Council Member H Tucker Braddock for taking clearing the initiative. He said that President pro tempore Peter A Nystrom, Stacy Gould, Gerald Martin, William Nash, Joanne Philbrick also supported the endeavour.

"A friend of mine Asif Mohammad helped to create Arabic font for the welcome sign while Prof Bill Howe from Connecticut helped with Chinese script.

Flickr

He said that reason for including five other languages in the sign was to recognise and celebrate the diversity of the city. "I wish I could include more languages but space limitation was a hurdle," he said. "we have a Syrian refugee family living in the city so I wanted to include Arabic as well."

The welcome signs have been put at entry point from Exit 29 of RT-2, near Backus Hospital, and Exit 80 (New Exit 11) at West Main Street.

Canada had taken a lead in this, with Punjabi signs greeting fliers at Canada's Vancouver Airport. It is also not uncommon to see street and market names in Punjabi in Vancouver and surrounding cities of Surrey, Richmond, Delta and Abbotsford
Google is a lifesaver to pretty much everyone. It can help you find the research you need, news you want to catch up on, and so much more. But did you know that Google isn't just a search engine? And are you utilising Google to its fullest capabilities?

Reuters

While it may be a search engine, Google has a lot more to offer than just web searches. Especially if youre using the Google Chrome browser, you have a tonne of functionality right in search bar. So here are some of the niftiest things you can do with Google Search.

1. Basic calculations

In case you didnt know already, Google can help you with basic math problems. For example, typing 600*27 in Chrome will actually display the answer 16,200 just below it, in the same way it does search autocomplete suggestions. Hitting the enter key on your equation will instead pull up a calculator widget with the answer, also allowing you to calculate trigonometric and exponential equations.

2. Currency conversion

Google lets you convert money just by typing it into the address bar. For example, typing $500 in rupees will give you the conversion of Rs 32,247.60. This is presented in a widget that also lets you quickly modify the values or currencies to convert, as well as giving you a small graph of the showing how the Rupee has been valued against the US Dollar over the past five years.

3. Word meanings

Searching a word in Google, followed by the word meaning or definition will give you its. In addition, you can click the arrow on the bottom of the search card to see the words other forms (verb, adjective), synonyms, the language it originated from, and its usage over time. One more bonus function, lets you click the speaker icon next to the word to hear how its pronounced.

4. Translations

Searching the phrase journalist in Hindi in your address bar will show you a Google Translate widget with the literal translation. This works best with singular words, and tends to be a little inaccurate when phrases and full sentences are search, though you can technically attempt to translate entire paragraphs at a time.

5. Metric system conversion

Typing 6 feet in meters into your search bar will automatically display the metrics conversion in search card at the top of the page. Here, you can change the values and metrics youre converting, as well as access new metrics by selecting whether youre converting area, length, mass, temperature, or something else.

6. Generate graphs

You can even use Google to create a graph from an equation or, if youre a serious math geek, compose an equation yourself to make the shape you want. For example, putting sqrt(cos(x))*cos(300x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)*(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2), -sqrt(6-x^2) from -4.5 to 4.5 into the search bar will give you the little easter egg above.

7. Search by handwriting (Android)

For this feature, you need to turn on Handwrite for Google search. Visit the Google.com page on your smartphone, and find the Settings menu near the bottom from your Google settings page. From there, turn on the handwriting option. Now, when you search through Google.com on you phone, you can just scribble the words you want to input and Googles handwriting recognition will try and parse that as meaningful text.

8. Set timer

To use the timer or stopwatch for Google, simply type something like set timer for 6 minutes into you search bar. Itll automatically set a timer that you can hit the button to start; it plays a subtle alarm sound when it reaches the end of the countdown, that you have to hit the stop button to turn off. Great when you have to remember to send that email in five minutes.

9. Check stock prices

You can also check a companys current stock prices by typing its ticker name into the search bar. For instance, typing GOOG displays Google Alphabets stock changes over various time periods in a convenient search card.

10. Play games

There are also a few gaming options right in your search bar. Typing play pacman will open up the Google Doodle from 21 May 2010, that lets you play the iconic game in your browser. Similarly, one easter egg lets you type Atari Breakout into the search field and navigate to images, where the page will transform to let you play the brick blasting classic.

11. Search your Google devices

If you're signed into Google, you can use that to search for items on your other devices where you're logged in. For instance, searching "my events" pulls up your agenda from your Google account across our desktop ans smartphone, and searching "my bills" pulls up emails with your bills from your Gmail account.

12. Bacon number

Similar to the six degrees of separation theory, that states everyone is somehow connected to everyone else on Earth within six links, is the Six degrees of Kevin Bacon Theory. According to this, every actor in a movie is somehow linked to Kevin Bacon of Hollow Man, Death Sentence, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Typing, for example, Salman Khan Bacon Number will show you how many movie links are needed to tie Bhai to Bacon, as you can see above.
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Pastor Reno Omokri, former aide to Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has queried why Nigerias President, Muhammadu Buhari, whom he described as a national leader, would, in his Eid-El-Fitr message, address Nigerians in a sectional language.

Recall that presidency, earlier, released an audio message wherein President Buhari who has been in London on a follow-up medical check-up for about 50 days now, spoke in Hausa language, wishing Nigerians and especially the Muslim faithful a happy Eid-El-Fitr celebration.

But Pastor Omokri maintained that the President should have spoken in English first, then if he feels like it, he may also speak in Hausa because the way he has now spoken only in Hausa makes it seem as if he is only concerned with those who gave him 97% of the votes while those who have him 5% can take a hike!

In a country whose official language is English, President Muhammadu Buhari broadcasts his Sallah message in Hausa! Would Trump (whose origin is German) address America in German? So what about all those Nigerians who cant speak Hausa? Ideally, the President should have spoken in English first, then if he feels like it, he may also speak in Hausa.

The way he has now spoken only in Hausa makes it seem as if he is only concerned with those who gave him 97% of the votes while those who have him 5% can take a hike!

How would the rest of the country have felt if President Olusegun Obasanjo had released a Christmas broadcast to Nigerians in Yoruba or if President Goodluck Jonathan had done so in Ogbia?

How can a NATIONAL leader address Nigerians in a SECTIONAL language?

Nigeria has never had a leader as divisive as Buhari! There is no difference between President Buhari and Nnamdi Kanu.

President Buhari is the President of all Nigeria. He is not the President of only those who can speak Hausa! This is an outrage!

President Yaradua also spoke to the BBC News by phone. He is Fulani, like President Buhari. Yet he spoke in English because he was President of all of us!
The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Sunday called on all Muslim leaders to speak out against those taking advantage of religion to commit crimes in the country.

The president expressed the hope that the prayers offered by Muslim clerics during the period of Ramadan would be answered to heal the nation.

CAN President, Dr Samson Ayokunle, made the demand in a message signed on his behalf by the associations Director, Legal and Public Affairs, Kwamkur Samuel, to congratulate Muslims for successfully completing the Ramadan fasting and the celebration of Eid Mubarak.

He said, It is our hope that the prayers offered by the Muslim Ummah within the solemn period are answered and will go a long way in healing our nation and bringing Nigeria out of her current challenges.

We encourage Muslim leaders and committed Nigerians to speak out against those who take advantage of religion to commit heinous crimes. On our part as Christians, we will initiate and support all measures that will bring about unity, peace, love and development in our nation, Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Ayokunle has called on Nigerians to continue to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari as his medical trip to the United Kingdom enters 50 days

Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, Ayokunle, however, said CAN would not be drawn into the controversies concerning the state of health of the President.

He said, Our own concern is to be praying for him. For me, if he was well, Buhari would have been back to the country by now. So, it is obvious that Buhari is not okay. Before he travelled, he said it was only his doctors that would determine when he would come back. Right from time, we knew that Buharis return would be indefinite.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
The Christian Association of Nigeria( CAN) has said that it suspects foul play and sabotage in the fire incident that razed the House on the Rock church in Abuja on Sunday.

Property worth millions of naira was reportedly destroyed by fire at the church located on James Wolfesen Drive along Airport Road in the Federal Capital Territory.

After assessing the extent of damage at the church, the National President, Youth Wing, CAN, Engr. David Kadzai, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, alleged that the fire was not an ordinary incident but a case of sabotage.

He said, From what we have gathered so far, it is clear that renovation work was ongoing in the church but there was no work on the site on that Sunday when the incident occurred. Also, there was no trace of any electrical fault before now. But suddenly people discovered the fire and they couldnt tell what was the cause.

The question we are asking now is, why the fire on a Sunday? Having assessed the situation, I am meant to say that we suspect some form of foul play because this incident happened on a Sunday when the saboteurs must have thought of unleashing a blow on the church members.

When asked to state the alleged saboteurs, Kadzai replied, There are people who are sabotaging the efforts of the church in Nigeria. These persons are saboteurs and perhaps they may be ones who are culpable in this incident. There have been some orchestrated attacks on churches in Nigeria, whether it is this one or not

On whether the group had received any official report from the police to buttress their claims, Kadzai replied in the negative.

He said, When you say you are suspecting something, it mustnt be on the basis of any report you received. You can also suspect on the basis of what has been happening and if you look at the threats issued by various terrorist groups, you may be left with no option than to suspect that perhaps something funny is happening.

However, why we suspect it is because this happened on a Sunday and it was after the fire incident. Also, there was nobody in the church when the fire broke out. You just have to do all the analysis to conclude that there must be some sort of foul play here.

He added, We are also saying that government should step up action on security of Nigerians and our churches, because about few months ago, a parish of RCCG was burnt down in Kubwa, here in Abuja. Nobody was arrested, the story died down and nothing was done about it.

Also, there has been agitations in some quarters that that place where House on the Rock church is located shouldnt be used for a church. So, these are some of the indicators that perhaps may have led to some sort of foul play. That is why we dont see it as an accident and personally I dont see one.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
The US Supreme Court on Monday partially reinstated President Donald Trumps controversial travel ban targeting citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries, before examining the case in full this autumn.

The Trump administrations ban  put on hold by lower court rulings  can be enforced for travellers from the targeted countries who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States, until the court hears the case in October, the justices ruled.

The court tempered its ruling by saying the ban could not be implemented for now against people who have personal links to the United States, citing the examples of foreign nationals wishing to visit family or students accepted to attend a university.

But the Supreme Courts decision nonetheless marks a win for the Republican leader, who has insisted the ban is necessary for national security, despite criticism that it singles out Muslims in violation of the US constitution.

Trump had suffered a series of stinging judicial setbacks over the ban, with two federal appeals courts maintaining injunctions on it.

Those courts had argued the president had overstepped his authority, and that his executive order discriminated against travelers based on their nationality.

Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Unions Immigrants Rights Project who argued one of the appellate cases brought against the ban, said he hoped the courts decision would mark a step towards ending an indefensible and discriminatory ban.

The Supreme Court now has a chance to permanently strike it down, Jadwat said in a statement.

Trumps revised measure, announced in March, seeks to bar from US entry travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, as well as suspend the entry of refugees for 120 days.

The original measure, issued by executive order in January and almost immediately blocked by the courts, also included Iraq on the list of targeted countries and had imposed an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees.

 Discrimination 

In an ruling earlier this month, the three justices of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that immigration, even for the president, is not a one-person show.

National security is not a talismanic incantation that, once invoked, can support any and all exercise of executive power, they added.

The Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the injunctions on the ban, saying the government could enforce its measure against foreign nationals unconnected to the United States without causing injury to the parties who filed suit.

Trumps travel bans legal woes had left in limbo a key campaign promise by the Republican to crack down on immigration from Muslim countries.

The countries targeted were on a list from the previous Obama administration of places where the governments had very poor data on their own citizens, making it difficult to vet the identities of visa applicants.

The Trump administration says the ban is needed to prevent terror attacks in the country, and that it needs the time allowed by the ban to evaluate existing screening protocols and set new ones.

But courts ruled that because it applied selectively to mainly Muslim countries, the ban violated the US Constitutions ban on religious discrimination.

While the ban itself did not single out Muslims, the judges cited Trumps repeated statements during last years presidential race that he intended to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
The first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Aisha Buhari, in her Eid-el-Fitri message to Nigerians on Sunday, urged that the citizens continue to show a sense of patriotism so as to foster national cohesion.

This, she added, would ensure that Nigeria attained the greatness for which it was destined.

Mrs. Buhari made the call in her Eid-el-Fitri message made available to journalists in Abuja.

She thanked all Nigerians for their prayers for the country and President Muhammadu Buhari.

In the message which she personally signed, the Presidents wife called on all citizens to imbibe the spirit of love, compassion and unity which she described as the basic lessons of Ramadan.

Mrs. Buharis message read, On this occasion of Eid-el-Fitr celebration, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, I felicitate with Nigerians and the Muslim Ummah over this opportunity to get closer to Allah.

I also thank Nigerians for all their prayers for our dear country and the President, and call on all to imbibe the spirit of love, compassion and unity as the basic lessons of Ramadan.

I appeal to all to show true sense of patriotism for national cohesion to ensure that Nigeria attains the greatness for which it was destined.

Source: (Punch Newspaper )
The Police said in Lagos on Monday that they have arrested five suspected armed robbers believed to be terrorising motorists on Victoria Island.

The Police said officials swooped on the suspects following a tip-off by three victims of the robbery attacks.

The occupants of the car were allegedly attacked by the suspects when their vehicle broke down on June 17.

They reported that while they were trying to get out, the suspects driving in a Toyota Camry car with a yet-to-be identified registration number stopped and five men came out and ordered them to lie down at gunpoint.

The suspects robbed them of their money, phones, wrist watches, gold earring, necklaces and other valuables.

As soon as we got the report, a team of policemen went to the scene and the five suspects were arrested, while the driver escaped with their arms, a senior police officer told the News Agency of Nigeria.

However, five live cartridges and one expended cartridge were recovered from the suspects, the police also said, adding that the suspects had confessed to the crime that they meet at Ijora-Badia, a Lagos slum, to plan their operations.

Confirming the arrests, the Maroko Divisional Police Officer, Isah Abdulmajid, told NAN that the ages of the suspects were between 20 and 29 years.

Also, the Lagos Command spokesperson, Olarinde Famous-Cole, confirmed the arrests and said the suspects had been transferred to the Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, for further investigations.

Source: (NAN)
South Africa has banned the sale of live hens throughout the country in a bid to control an outbreak of highly contagious H5N8 bird flu, the government said on Monday.

The countrys department of agriculture said in a statement that no humans had been affected.

Exports of processed poultry products, live chickens and fresh produce will continue depending on the requirements of importing countries.

To date, no human cases of infection with avian influenza H5N8 have been reported.

However, people handling wild birds, sick or dying poultry must wear protective clothing and wash their hands with disinfectants, the department said.

The government said meat from healthy poultry was safe to eat due to strict inspections at abattoirs,

though people were urged to avoid eating any birds found dead, dying or sick.

South Africa reported an outbreak this month of H5N8 bird flu on a commercial broiler breeder farm in Mpumalanga province, where about 5,000 birds died and the rest were culled.

The H5N8 strain has been detected in several countries in Europe, Africa and Asia over the past two years, its spread aided by wild bird migrations.

Highly pathogenic among fowl, the risk of human infection is low.

South Africa suspended all trade in birds and chicken products from neighbouring Zimbabwe earlier this month after it reported an outbreak of the H5N8 bird flu at a poultry farm.

Source: (NAN )
As Muslims across the world were in the celebration of Eid-el-fitr on Sunday,it was a sharp contrast for the parents of the six abducted pupils of the Lagos State Model College, Igbonla, Epe.

The households of the parents, especially those who are Muslims, were said to have been fraught with sombreness as their children had yet to be rescued from the den of the kidnappers.

The abductors have remained incommunicado for about two weeks, while the pupils had spent 31 days in captivity.

The kidnappers had stormed the school premises at about 6am on Thursday, May 25, after notifying the school authorities of the attack three days earlier.

They broke the hostel doors, picked 10 Senior Secondary School pupils and led them to a waterside where their boat was anchored.

After profiling their parents details, four pupils were released, while the assailants whisked away the remaining six pupils, identified as Peter Jonah, Isiaq Ramon, Adebayo George, Judah Agbausi, Pelumi Philips and Farouq Yusuf in a speedboat.

After negotiating from N1bn, the kidnappers reduced the ransom to N100m for all the children and told the parents to ask the state government to pay the sum.

The parents had protested at the Governor Akinwunmi Ambodes office on Wednesday, June 7, accusing the government of indifference and asking it to facilitate quick release of the children.

The government had promised that security agencies would rescue the children and ruled out negotiation with the hoodlums.

Subsequently, the parents raised and paid N10m ransom on June 9, but the kidnappers demanded additional N40m and refused to establish contacts with the parents afterwards.

A parent, who did not want his name in print, said on Sunday that his wife was in distress, as their expectation to celebrate Eid-el-fitr with their son did not come to fruition.

He said, They (the kidnappers) have not called us. So, we dont know what to do. We are tired. We thought we would celebrate Eid-el-fitr together with our son today (Sunday). But it was unfortunate that God didnt let it come to pass. There is nothing we can do.

His mother is very sad, but there is no amount of sorrow that can solve this issue. We believe in God and there will be happiness in the end. We know that God can perform His miracle any time.

Another parent said the members of the family were eager to hear from the kidnappers no matter what their demand could be, appealing for mercy on the victims.

He said, It is when they call that we will know what they want. They are not talking. That is the worrisome part of it. It has been a deafening silence. We are appealing to them. We are all clueless.

It is so sad that the Muslim parents could not celebrate Eid-el-fitr because of the situation. We have all resorted to prayers; it is a bit difficult when we have not heard from them at all. If they are talking to us and making demands, it is better than this silence.

The number of another Muslim parent indicated not reachable from 10am to the time of going to press.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of administration, Lagos State Command, Dansuki Galadanchi, while parading some suspects on Saturday at the commands headquarters in Ikeja, said the police were working tirelessly to ensure the release of the children.

Galadanchi said, We have also lost sleep because of these pupils. We are making serious efforts to rescue them, but we cannot disclose our strategies. There will be good news soon.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
A pastor with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry who got injured by the dreaded Badoo cult group in Lagos, has been rejected by a hospital.

Pastor Olawale (Solomon) Anthony, a church minister with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry, whose skull was fractured by some assailants suspected to be members of the Badoo cult, has been rejected by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.

According to Punch Metro, it was learnt from the victims family that the hospital management, which claimed not to have any available bed space, also demanded the payment of N2m for surgery before any other thing could be done on the cleric.

This is just as the group killed a couple, identified as Mr. Olaitan Oseni and Mrs. Oseni, on their matrimonial bed on Friday in the Ogijo area of Ikorodu.

Punch Metro had reported that Olawales family was attacked around 2am on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at their house on Obayemi Street, Lambo Lasunwon Town, opposite Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu.

The assailants were said to have smashed a mortar on the clerics head.

The wife, Edith Anthony, told our correspondent on Sunday that one of the attackers smashed the mortar on her head as well before she wriggled out to call for help.

She said, It was the cry of my baby that woke me up that night. When I woke up, I sighted a strange man in our house. He was stark naked and had a mortar in his hand.

When I asked him who he was and what he was looking for, he asked me to shut up. He hit my head and shoulder with the mortar. I managed to run out and call for help.

When he saw that people were mobilising, he fled together with his accomplice who was outside. I shook my husband several times and saw that he was unconscious and was bleeding in the head. We rushed him to a private hospital.

According to Punch Metro, a reporter was told that he was referred to the Ikorodu General Hospital, from where he was again referred to LASUTH.

The family members said when nobody paid them attention at LASUTH, they transferred him to the General Hospital, Lagos Island.

The immediate past chairman, Orija Community Development Association, Debo Obayemi, whose car was used to convey the victim around, said Olawale was admitted to the General Hospital, Lagos Island, where he spent some days before going through an X-ray.

According to him, the doctor at the hospital referred them back to LASUTH, saying the test result showed that he sustained fracture in the skull.

We were told that he would need to undergo an operation and it could only be done at LASUTH. They asked us to go back there. When we got there, LASUTH officials requested the payment of N2m for the operation. They also said there was no bed space. They, however, gave the family a date to come for an appointment to see a doctor. The community has been struggling to raise money, all to no avail and we dont want him to die. He is presently at home. He needs urgent help, he added.

Punch Metro sighted an appeal letter, dated June 19, and addressed to the Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Sanai Agunbiade.

It read in part, Mr. Olawale (Anthony) has undergone series of treatment at private and Lagos general hospitals. He is billed to undergo many more surgeries on his head following results of a brain scan.

At the moment, Mr. Olawale is helpless and he cannot afford the cost of further treatment of himself and his wife, thereby putting their lives in serious danger. He requires the sum of N2m for immediate medical treatment.

Punch Metro reports that MFM had sent N30,000 to assist the family.

The Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Wale Oke, denied that the patient was rejected by the hospital.

He said, No, it cant be that he will be rejected and sent home. If a patient comes to the hospital and there is no bed space, what they will do is to give him first aid and refer him to another hospital. LUTH has a problem and we cannot put beds on the floor.

There are 26 other general hospitals that he could have gone to. So, nobody would ask him to go home. If we cannot take him, there is nothing we can do. If we take him and he dies, it will be an embarrassment. But we will not ask him to go home.

He asked for the name and contact of the patient to look into the matter.

Meanwhile, residents of Idioro, in the Ogijo area of Ikorodu, woke up on Friday to the bodies of a couple allegedly killed by the Badoo cult.

The couple were said to have been killed on their matrimonial bed as a mosquito net was found on their corpses.

The cult members reportedly tore the window net of the victims house through which they entered the building.

A neighbour, who suspected something was amiss when the couple did not pick their calls, called the attention of other residents who saw their dead bodies after peeping into their uncompleted building.

Policemen from the Ogijo division were said to have deposited the corpses in a mortuary, while a mortar, allegedly recovered at the crime scene, was taken away by the police.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Olarinde Famous-Cole, said the police were making efforts to rein in on the atrocities of the group.

I, however, wish to categorically state that it is not right to tag all these murders as being Badoo-related.

While I agree that there are patterns in some of these murders, which we are investigating, we must be careful not to give them a common name. A man could have killed his friend and fled and two days after, people would start saying the murder was committed by Badoo. We dont have Badoo written on the forehead of anybody.

Most of these crimes are not related to this group. We need to be specific; if not, we will just continue to run in circle, he said.

He noted that the alleged murder of the Ikorodu couple was under the jurisdiction of the Ogun State Police Command.

The Ogun State police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.

He said, A boy came to report at the station that his father and stepmother were found dead where they were sleeping. We cannot say if they were attacked by Badoo or not. Investigations are ongoing.
The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, has rejected a minister of the Moutain of Fire and Miracles Ministry, Pastor Olawale (Solomon) Anthony, whose skull was fractured by some assailants suspected to be members of the Badoo cult,

It was gathered by the victims family that the hospital management, which claimed not to have any available bed space, also demanded the payment of N2m for surgery before any other thing could be done on the cleric.

This is just as the group killed a couple, identified as Mr. Olaitan Oseni and Mrs. Oseni, on their matrimonial bed on Friday in the Ogijo area of Ikorodu.

PUNCH Metro had reported that Olawales family was attacked around 2am on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at their house on Obayemi Street, Lambo Lasunwon Town, opposite Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu.

The assailants were said to have smashed a mortar on the clerics head.

The wife, Edith Anthony, told our correspondent on Sunday that one of the attackers smashed the mortar on her head as well before she wriggled out to call for help.

She said, It was the cry of my baby that woke me up that night. When I woke up, I sighted a strange man in our house. He was stark naked and had a mortar in his hand.

When I asked him who he was and what he was looking for, he asked me to shut up. He hit my head and shoulder with the mortar. I managed to run out and call for help.

When he saw that people were mobilising, he fled together with his accomplice who was outside. I shook my husband several times and saw that he was unconscious and was bleeding in the head. We rushed him to a private hospital.

Our correspondent was told that he was referred to the Ikorodu General Hospital, from where he was again referred to LASUTH.

The family members said when nobody paid them attention at LASUTH, they transferred him to the General Hospital, Lagos Island.

The immediate past chairman, Orija Community Development Association, Debo Obayemi, whose car was used to convey the victim around, said Olawale was admitted to the General Hospital, Lagos Island, where he spent some days before going through an X-ray.

According to him, the doctor at the hospital referred them back to LASUTH, saying the test result showed that he sustained fracture in the skull.

We were told that he would need to undergo an operation and it could only be done at LASUTH. They asked us to go back there. When we got there, LASUTH officials requested the payment of N2m for the operation. They also said there was no bed space. They, however, gave the family a date to come for an appointment to see a doctor. The community has been struggling to raise money, all to no avail and we dont want him to die. He is presently at home. He needs urgent help, he added.

Our correspondent sighted an appeal letter, dated June 19, and addressed to the Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Sanai Agunbiade.

It read in part, Mr. Olawale (Anthony) has undergone series of treatment at private and Lagos general hospitals. He is billed to undergo many more surgeries on his head following results of a brain scan.

At the moment, Mr. Olawale is helpless and he cannot afford the cost of further treatment of himself and his wife, thereby putting their lives in serious danger. He requires the sum of N2m for immediate medical treatment.

PUNCH Metro learnt that MFM had sent N30,000 to assist the family.

The Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Wale Oke, denied that the patient was rejected by the hospital.

He said, No, it cant be that he will be rejected and sent home. If a patient comes to the hospital and there is no bed space, what they will do is to give him first aid and refer him to another hospital. LUTH has a problem and we cannot put beds on the floor.

There are 26 other general hospitals that he could have gone to. So, nobody would ask him to go home. If we cannot take him, there is nothing we can do. If we take him and he dies, it will be an embarrassment. But we will not ask him to go home.

He asked for the name and contact of the patient to look into the matter.

Meanwhile, residents of Idioro, in the Ogijo area of Ikorodu, woke up on Friday to the bodies of a couple allegedly killed by the Badoo cult.

The couple were said to have been killed on their matrimonial bed as a mosquito net was found on their corpses.

The cult members reportedly tore the window net of the victims house through which they entered the building.

A neighbour, who suspected something was amiss when the couple did not pick their calls, called the attention of other residents who saw their dead bodies after peeping into their uncompleted building.

Policemen from the Ogijo division were said to have deposited the corpses in a mortuary, while a mortar, allegedly recovered at the crime scene, was taken away by the police.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Olarinde Famous-Cole, said the police were making efforts to rein in on the atrocities of the group.

I, however, wish to categorically state that it is not right to tag all these murders as being Badoo-related.

While I agree that there are patterns in some of these murders, which we are investigating, we must be careful not to give them a common name. A man could have killed his friend and fled and two days after, people would start saying the murder was committed by Badoo. We dont have Badoo written on the forehead of anybody.

Most of these crimes are not related to this group. We need to be specific; if not, we will just continue to run in circle, he said.

He noted that the alleged murder of the Ikorodu couple was under the jurisdiction of the Ogun State Police Command.

The Ogun State police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.

He said, A boy came to report at the station that his father and stepmother were found dead where they were sleeping. We cannot say if they were attacked by Badoo or not. Investigations are ongoing.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
In a bid to debunk the rumors making rounds yesterday claiming that the President has speech impairment, an audio tape purported to be President Buharis Sallah message to Nigerians was released yesterday, but it was recorded in Hausa.

Listen to the 1 minute 2 seconds tape below;

Meanwhile, Reno Omokri has reacted to the above audio message by President Buhari.. Omokri argued that a president cannot address a nation in a sectional language. He wrote;

In a country whose official language is English, President Muhammadu Buhari broadcasts his Sallah message in Hausa! Would Trump (whose origin is German) address America in German? So what about all those Nigerians who cant speak Hausa? Ideally, the President should have spoken in English first, then if he feels like it, he may also speak in Hausa.

The way he has now spoken only in Hausa makes it seem as if he is only concerned with those who gave him 97% of the votes while those who have him 5% can take a hike! How would the rest of the country have felt if President Olusegun Obasanjo had released a Christmas broadcast to Nigerians in Yoruba of if President Goodluck Jonathan has done so in Ogbia?

How can a NATIONAL leader address Nigerians in a SECTIONAL language? Nigeria has never had a leader as divisive as Buhari! There is no difference between President Buhari and Nnamdi Kanu. President Buhari is the President of all Nigeria. He is not the President of only those who can speak Hausa!

This is an outrage! President Yaradua also spoke to the BBC News by phone. He is Fulani, like President Buhari. Yet he spoke in English because he was President of all of us!
The umbrella group for the Igbo, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, declared that Nigeria had descended to the level of a Banana Republic, if the President could address Nigerians in Hausa.

The Deputy Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr. Chuks Ibegbu, who spoke to one of our correspondents in Enugu on Sunday, doubted the authenticity of the message.

Ibegbu noted that there was a big problem if the message was found to be authentic, saying the message should be investigated.

First of all, we have to ascertain the veracity of the voice because in these days of technology, a lot of things can be cloned, including human voice, the Ohanaeze spokesman.

But if it is true that Mr. President addressed Nigerians in a local language, it means something is wrong somewhere.

I want to believe that the voice is not real, but if it is Mr. President that actually spoke, then, it means that we have descended to the level of a Banana Republic.

The Federal Government should tell Nigerians whether it is actually Mr. Presidents voice, or not.

Ibegbu noted that the address couldnt have been meant for Nigerians if it was delivered in Hausa.

He said, Which message; message to who; in what language? Is Hausa our lingua franca? If Mr. President wants to address us, he should talk to us in English, which is our lingua franca.
Adebolaju who is currently serving an indefinite jail term in the United Kingdom has been reportedly radicalizing people in prison.

Muslim extremist Michael Adebolajo, who is one of the murderers of Fusilier Lee Rigby is now regarded as the most dangerous prisoner in the British penal system.

The 31-year-old man has been described by prison officer as violent, unpredictable and a major danger to other prisoners. But the real threat he poses is his ability to radicalise other inmates, prison sources have revealed.

Dozens of prisoners have said to have fallen for Adebolajos twisted version of Islam and have vowed to become Jihadis when they are eventually freed.

Even non-Muslim prisoners are said to have converted to Islam and sworn an allegiance to Islamic State after being radicalised by the killer.

According to Mirror Online, one prison official said: Adebolajo spends most of his waking hours preaching his distorted form of Islam to anyone who will listen. He sees every inmate as a potential Islamic State soldier whether they are Muslims or not.

He has a big personality and is very charismatic and some of the more vulnerable prisoners will fall under his spell. He is a very dangerous individual.

The source said that Adebolajo now sees his role in life to recruit as many Jihadis as possible for the remainder of his life. It is understood that Adebolajo has been given special category status because of the danger he represents.

The source added: If he is suspected of trying to radicalise other inmates we step in and move him. But even in prison, Adebolajo cannot be watched all the time. We dont have the staff or the resources.

Adebolajo and accomplice Michael Adebowale murdered defenceless Fusilier Lee Rigby, 25, near his barracks in Woolwich Barracks, South East London in 2013. Both men received life sentences.
President Muhammadu Buhari finally spoke to Nigerians for the first time, he left the country for the United Kingdom 50 days ago, the Presidency, on Sunday, released his voice message to Nigerians.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the voice message was released to debunk reports that the President was suffering from speech impairment.

The audio clip, which is the Presidents voice message to Nigerians on the occasion of the Eid-el-Fitr, is in Hausa.

The Buharis Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, had, in a statement on Saturday conveyed the message of the President to Nigerians.

On Sunday, the BBC aired a recorded audio version of Buharis message.

The message, which took the President about one minute and three seconds to deliver, is the audio version of the statement released by Shehu.

Buhari stated in the message, I am immensely grateful to God for his mercy in guiding us successfully to conclude another Ramadan. My greetings to all Nigerian Muslims and our brother Christians on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr:

May the lessons of Ramadan, namely piety, self-denial, prayers and generosity to the poor and the needy, be with us for all time.

I, again, appeal to all Nigerians to avoid reckless statements or actions against our fellow countrymen. We should all resolve to live in peace and unity in our great country, which is the envy of many less-endowed nations.

There have been reports in the social media claiming that the President is suffering from speech impairment and memory loss.

Some Nigerians however expressed mixed feelings about Buharis message with some civil rights organisations and prominent individuals berating the President for speaking to Nigerians in Hausa.

Dr. Junaid Mohammed stated, Other than propaganda, I wonder what they (Presidents handlers) intend to achieve by putting out such an audio clip (message) at this time. The President needs our prayers and we sincerely pray for his quick recovery and safe return.

Also, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, said Buharis statement failed to address the issues of concern in the country, describing the audio message as flat.

Its spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, said he expected the President to have cautioned Arewa youths against their ultimatum to the Igbo, noting that instead, Buhari simply danced around the issue.

He said, The statement is so flat; it did not address specific issues on the ground. In view of what is going on in the country now, I would have thought he would have appealed to those, who are issuing notices to quit against some other tribes, to desist from doing such a thing.

He was talking about reckless speeches. What constitute reckless speeches? I think he should have been more specific in terms of what we are facing now because the country is under stress.

Odumakin berated the President for speaking in Hausa in the recording, saying that was not good enough.

He contended that there were many non-Hausa Muslims.

Its like the Acting President (Yemi) Osinbajo addressing the nation in Yoruba because he is a Yoruba man.

Addressing the nation at this time in Hausa does not bring inclusiveness. I dont think its good enough for the President of a multi-ethnic nation to have made a national address in the language spoken by a section of the country, he said.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Reacting to the Presidents message, a former Special Assistant on Social Media to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Reno Omokri, on his Facebook page, condemned Buhari for addressing Muslims in Hausa.

Omokri stated, In a country, whose official language is English, President Muhammadu Buhari broadcasts his Sallah message in Hausa! Would Trump (whose origin is German) address America in German? So what about all those Nigerians who cant speak Hausa?

Ideally, the President should have spoken in English first; then, if he feels like it, he may also speak in Hausa. The way he spoke only in Hausa makes it seem as if he is only concerned with those who gave him 97 per cent of the votes while those who gave him five per cent can take a hike!

How would the rest of the country have felt if President Olusegun Obasanjo had released a Christmas broadcast to Nigerians in Yoruba or if President Goodluck Jonathan had done so in Ogbia?

How can a national leader address Nigerians in a sectional language? Nigeria has never had a leader as divisive as Buhari! There is no difference between President Buhari and Nnamdi Kanu.

President Buhari is the President of all Nigeria; he is not the President of only those who can speak Hausa! This is an outrage! (The late) President Umaru YarAdua also spoke to the BBC News by telephone. He is Fulani, like President Buhari; yet, he spoke in English because he was President of all of us!

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Joseph Kaguthi, the head of Nyumba Kumi Initiative in Central Kenya recently caused a furore when he asked women to accommodate their husbands lovers as co-wives

Kaguthi, a one-time no-nonsense provincial administrator, told The Nairobian that one of the reasons he advocates for polygamy is because it is selfish and inconsiderate of women not to share their husbands

We are in a crisis in this region. Our population is dwindling at an alarming rate and soon, it will be irreversible, unless we allow men and women to openly acknowledge polygamous unions.

He said that polygamy is the only way to ensure that children in the region grow up in families with both parents.

The single parent phenomenon is so widespread and more men and women are growing up without knowing how men and women are supposed to relate to each other.

Men in Central Kenya were once polygamous for the purposes of wealth generation through dowry and putting together a labour force to work on the farms.

We must embrace who we are as a people. We are not like the coastal communities who enter into polygamous unions for the sake of having a protector, provider and penetrator, Kaguthi advised.

Kaguthi pointed out that men preferred to marry women who were industrious and responsible, which is still the case today.

If you can afford it, you should be allowed to marry more than one woman. We must not hide behind Western cultural values, he added.

Kaguthi is not a lone crusader for this cause. The chair of the Council of Elders (Kiama Kia Maa) Rware Chapter, Gakuo Matu, supports polygamy, arguing that, Unlike women in the 19th century, the women of Central Kenya today are industrious, independent and willing to take care of their children. If anything, they are an asset to a man, not a liability.

Matu reckons that most men in Central Kenya have two or three women in their lives and the only difference is that only one is recoginsed while the rest lurk in the shadows which is unfortunate for them and their children.

Matu further explained that polygamy would be a wise investment as it is cheaper to have a wife than to maintain a mistress, which is what most men in Central Kenya are doing.

You can spend Sh5,000 on a wife and she will be happy, but in the case of a mistress, every time you see her, you will have to part with about Sh30,000 on weekend excursions out of town, where you spend on nyama choma and alcohol over and over again, explains Matu, adding that in a polygamous union, the women in mans life are forced to co-share what he can afford.

He sounded a warning to women who refuse to let their husbands marry second wives, noting that such men either become hostile or abandon their families.

Men like new things. After a few decades with the same woman, they start looking for another woman. If a woman stands in the way of that, it makes the man feel trapped and angry, Matu noted.

According to Matu, men should not be caged because when they cannot get what they want, the will lash out at the closest people to them, who in most cases are the wives.

Nyeri resident and lawyer Waruguru Kiai believes that the polygamy debate is being fuelled by the conflict between Christian beliefs and cultural values.

Before the advent of Christianity, our Kikuyu culture supported polygamy. However, the man had to adequately provide for all the wives and children, ensure their security and all wives and children were treated equally. None was victimised or mistreated by the other and respect was paramount.

Drawing parallels with todays world, Waruguru says that people are torn between Christianity and African traditions because the moment a man solemnises his marriage in church, he relinquishes the right to marry another woman. What this has resulted in is men opting for several side dishes, who for all intents and purposes are their wives, with some bearing them children.

But these women, unlike in the days of our grandparents, are not wives. They may carry on as wives, but they are not. They do not enjoy the security that culture accorded such women. This is why, as we have witnessed, when prominent men die, there are always women who are sidelined and end up in court, explains Waruguru. However, men should understand that the concept of polygamy was to maintain the dignity and respect of women. There is no need to keep one woman at home and others on the side as matrimonial refugees. Men should stop sitting on the fence and man up! she said.

Source: Yabaleftonline
The University of Maiduguri was attacked by two suicide bombers on Eid-el-Fitr night where two persons were killed, this was confirmed by the spokesman of Police in Borno State, Victor Isuku.

Isuku, who informed journalists on the Borno Police Whatsapp page, said that he was at the scene of the incident at about 12:05 a.m. on Monday, said, At UNIMAID only one male suicide bomber died. Three university security personnel were injured. One later died.

Isuku, who also confirmed that there were other suicide attacks on the town on the Sallah night, promised to give further details.

Meanwhile, a member of the youth vigilante in the town, who spoke anonymously to our correspondent on phone that the suicide attack was not targeted at the university alone.

He said: There was suicide attack at Zannari, a community close to the university at about 10:30 p.m .

The member of the youth vigilante group, who called our correspondent at about 5 a.m., said the suicide bomber was still lying in the community.

He revealed that there was no less that three suicide attacks on Maiduguri on Sunday night.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
A corpse of an unidentified young lady suspected to have been murdered by some unknown assassins have been found in a street corner in Ikotun, a suburb of Lagos.

It was gathered that the corpse was found by the residents on Saturday morning at Adedayo Adedeji Street by Church Bus stop in Abaranje area of the community.

When P.M.EXPRESS visited the scene later Saturday, the corpse was still lying at the spot where she was dumped with no sign that the authority has been informed for the evacuation of the body.

The identity of the deceased could not be ascertained as some residents told our correspondent that the lady was not living in the area because her face was unknown.

It was learnt that the lady might have visited the area for an undisclosed mission before she might have been killed and dumped there.

The residents said they woke up in the morning only to find the corpse which was still fresh.

Some other residents told P.M.EXPRESS there was a popular hotel few meters from where the corpse was found that has many young girls troop there for weekend runs.

They suspect the deceased might be one of them.

When our correspondent contacted the Ikotun Divisional Police Officer, DPO, he promised to dispatched his men to the scene to carry the corpse and deposited it at a mortuary for autopsy report.

As at the time our correspondent left the scene, the victim has not been identified and her corpse was still lying there.

Source: Yabaleftonline
A restaurant worker, identified as Kate Hanna, who served drinks braless at the Bird and Beer in Beverley, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, has been sacked, as she claimed managers at the the trendy Californian-themed bar felt her outfit left too little to the imagination.

Some were so outraged that they began to drop bad reviews for the establishment on Google.

The 22-year-old took to her Facebook page to disclose how angry she is with the decision the restaurants manger took.

She took a selfie still in her grey T-shirt uniform to prove a point she wasnt being offensive.

The restaurant was forced to turn off the comments section on its Facebook page after the remarks sparked fury on social media.

She wrote:

So, Ive just got home after being sacked from my job, for refusing to wear a bra,

Yesterday an inappropriate sexual remark was made to me (at work). I felt uncomfortable, objectified and shocked that this had happened.

Unfortunately (the manager) saw fit to deal with the situation by telling me that Im not allowed into work in future unless Im wearing a bra. This was said to me in front of three other staff members and customers, leaving me feeling body shamed and completely shocked that the blame was being put onto me that I had been sexually harassed at work. I am absolutely disgusted with the blatant lack of respect for my right as a woman to wear whatever makes me personally comfortable. I feel so sad. Nobody should EVER feel the need to hide themselves in order to stay away from unwanted sexual comments/behaviour.

Source: Yabaleftonline
Thousands protest in Bulgaria for higher salaries AP - 28 minutes ago Thousands of Bulgarians have taken to the streets to demand higher salaries to compensate for surging inflation that has hit the European Unions poorest member $SPX : 3,956.37 (+5.54%) $DOWI : 33,715.37 (+3.70%) $IUXX : 11,605.96 (+7.49%)

Friday Cotton Bouncing Back Barchart - 55 minutes ago Morning cotton futures are triple digits higher so far for Fridays day session. Cotton futures worked both sides of UNCH on Thursday, and settled the day mixed. December traded in a 251 point range... CTZ22 : 87.83 (+1.68%) CTH23 : 85.83 (+1.50%) CTK23 : 85.19 (+1.45%)

Hogs Higher for Week into Friday Barchart - 55 minutes ago Front month lean hog prices closed the Thursday session with 32 to 82 cent losses, but are still in the black on net for the week due to the Monday surge. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price was $2.47... HEZ22 : 84.875s (-0.47%) HEJ23 : 94.225s (-0.42%) KMZ22 : 95.500s (+0.05%)

Strong Cash Cattle Trade Continues Barchart - 55 minutes ago Live cattle futures firmed up after the lower Wednesday trade, erasing yesterdays action and going home up by $0.72 to $1.50 in the front months. USDA reported cash sales from $149 to $150 in the South... LEZ22 : 153.075s (+0.99%) LEG23 : 155.025s (+0.57%) LEJ23 : 158.500s (+0.46%) GFX22 : 178.625s (+0.51%) GFF23 : 181.700s (+1.14%)

Friday Rally in Soy Barchart - 55 minutes ago So far for the weeks final trading session the market is back up by 1.2% to 2% in the beans, by 1.2% to 1.4% in the meal, and soy oil is another 1.3% to 1.6% stronger  with Dec within 2 cents of... ZSX22 : 1453-0 (+1.57%) ZSPAUS.CM : 14.1655 (+1.60%) ZSF23 : 1445-2 (+1.56%) ZSH23 : 1450-0 (+1.54%)

Wheats Bounce into Friday Day Session Barchart - 55 minutes ago Morning wheat quotes show the board is 4 to 9 cents higher across the classes as the market squares up for the last trade day of the week. As corn and soybean futures fell 1-2% on Thursday, wheat markets... ZWZ22 : 807-0 (+0.44%) ZWH23 : 829-2 (+0.42%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.3969 (+0.48%) KEZ22 : 933-0 (+0.84%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.9130 (+0.88%) MWZ22 : 936-4 (+0.54%)

Corn Back In Black for Friday Trade Barchart - 55 minutes ago Corn futures worked almost exclusively in the black overnight bouncing within ~6 cent ranges across the board. December is now 4 cents higher into the day session. Corn futures faded the Thursday session... ZCZ22 : 657-6 (+0.69%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.5622 (+0.75%) ZCH23 : 663-4 (+0.61%) ZCK23 : 664-0 (+0.68%)
Brockville, ON (June 25, 2017)- Theyre pulling-out all the stops to mark the countrys 150th birthday onSaturday, July 1 at Brockville Ontario Speedway. The fan favourite 3/8-mile layout on Temperance Lake Road, north of the city, kicks-off a new month of action with the second event of this years rebranded Ogilvies Auto & Fleet Quad Crown Series for DIRTcar 358 Modifieds. The show will also feature the Sportsman-Modifieds, Sportsman Rookies, Street Stocks and Mini Stocks and will wrap-up with a spectacular Canada Day fireworks display.

Multi-time track champion Danny OBrien took the opening round of the popular home track challenge that wont be decided until Saturday, October 14 as part of the 1000 RV DIRTcar Northeast Fall Nationals. If the first half of Brockville Speedways 2017 season is any indication, fans will be in for an exciting conclusion to the current campaign. In recent weeks, Joe Banks scored the first 358 Modified feature win of his career, while Tim OBrien held-back a late race charge by his brother to take his first checkered flag since 2011. Saturday, June 17th Chris Herbison scored his first Small Block Mod win of the year.

Other than a small glitch caused by weather on our original opening night, its been a great season, said Brockville Speedway owner and promoter Paul Kirkland. The car counts have been good and fan support has been strong. Weve had some outstanding action on the track in all of our weekly classes and thats what the people pay to see.

Kirkland says the Ogilvies Quad Crown Series is one of the most popular group of events on the schedule. Other highlights during the second half of the calendar include another date with the Patriot Sprint Group on July 15 and the long-awaited return of the Empire Super Sprint Car Series on August 19. New this year will be the 1000 Islands Toyota Top Gun Challenge on the final night of track points for all classes on Saturday, September 2.

The year will once again wrap-up with the 1000 Islands RV DIRTcar Northeast Fall Nationals. Friday, October 13 features the Big Block Modifieds, Sportsman-Modified and Pro Stock Series, with a 7:00 start. Saturday, October 14 has the Small Block Mod Series 100 lapper and the Ogilvies Auto & Fleet finale. A 360 Sprint Car open, Street Stocks and Mini Stocks with a 5:00 green flag.

Short Track Saturday Night Notes: Take advantage of special Canada Day general admission grandstand pricing for Saturday, July 1 at The BOS. The more you buy, the more you save. One ticket is $22, 2 for $40, 3 for $54 and 4 for $64Its not too early to reserve your weekend camping spot for the 1000 Islands RV DIRTcar Northeast Fall Nationals.

Keep up-to-date with the latest news and see the full 2017 schedule by checking www.brockvillespeedway.com, as well as the tracks Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Prepared by: Jim Clarke, Clarke Motorsports Communications/First Draft Media

clarkemotorsports@hotmail.com, www.facebook.com/clarkemotorsports

613.968.6410
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The retirement systems CIO talks about repairing its offices, slashing the meeting calendar, and normalizing operations  all things that just didnt exist here before, he says.

New York Citys $160 billion retirement system is the fourth-largest public pension in America, with a governance structure so intractable that even former mayor Michael Bloomberg could not fix it. The role of chief investment officer of the NYC funds  all five of them  has been credibly called the toughest CIO job in institutional investing.

Scott Evans accepted the position in 2014, the latest in a line of Wall Street executives to heed the call of an elected New York City comptroller and lead the Bureau of Asset Management. When the comptroller leaves, traditionally CIOs have as well. This has created a pattern of short leadership tenures at the bureau. A number of CIOs have undertaken major governance and operational reforms, made some progress, then left only a few years later.

Evans has built on his predecessors progress and accomplished key reforms that change the daily life of investment team members  namely, increasing their compensation so they can afford to live in the city theyre working for.

NYCs chief investment officer previously spent 27 years at TIAA and retired as president of asset management in 2012. In April, he was honored as CIO of the Year at Institutional Investors annual Public Pension Fund Roundtable in Beverly Hills, California.

Evans boss, Comptroller Scott Stringer, called him everything you want in a Chief Investment Officer. Hes knowledgeable, driven, and sharp. In just three short years, Scott has delivered fundamental changes that will improve the office and yield success in the long-term. Hes changed the way we do business for the better. Scotts work is making a difference in peoples lives, and this award speaks to that success.

Evans spoke with Leanna Orr of Investor Intelligence Network  this publications private community for institutional allocators  about turning around the New York City Retirement Systems and what still needs fixing.

Leanna Orr, IIN: You are three years into your tenure at NYCs public pension  a role Ive heard called the hardest job in institutional investing, for its labyrinthine governance structure. Have you tackled that? If so, what has been the most meaningful change?

Scott Evans, New York City Retirement Systems: Under the guidance of NYC Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, we have moved from an unwieldy 54 investment committee meetings a year to a more workable and typical six to eight. That fundamentally changed the equation here. We did not attempt to consolidate our five Systems to a single investment committee, but rather we were able to get everyone in one room, and that freed up my staff to be able to select managers.

Orr: What about on the investment side?

Evans: Having so many fewer meetings enables us to get out and start kicking the tires of some of our managers. I asked staff to get out and visit each one of our managers once per year, and we really changed the whole dynamic.

Orr: One of your predecessors remarked to me that getting the office vacuumed was a serious accomplishment early in that tenure. And Ive personally attended meetings there where managers perched on windowsills before presenting, because the board room was so cramped. Was it a surprise moving from the private-sector to the Bureaus humble environs?

Evans: We renovated a floor here at 1 Center Street. We now have nice offices  they are not anything fancy, but theyre functional. People feel like its a professional environment. That sets the stage for an entirely different manner of moving forward.

Orr: Youve pulled off some serious change in a few years. Whats the status of the Bureau of Asset Managements evolution?

Evans: Were now doing the things that any well-run investment organization would do as part of their process. You had an operational organization that was built for bonds, and involved in every exotic asset class.

These are all things that are like breathing for a large institutional asset manager, but just didnt exist here before.
The Global Reinsurance Forum, a body representing reinsurers, has reached out to the European Commission to ask for passporting rights to be kept.With Britain leaving the European Union (EU) and without equivalent regulatory regimes, reinsurers want passporting arrangements to still be in place to allow them to sell services across the EU even without local operations.If passporting arrangements for EU reinsurers into the UK and vice versa are not maintained, then national regulations will inevitably make cross-border reinsurance between the two jurisdictions more difficult and expensive, said the Global Reinsurance Forum in its letter to the Commission.According to a report by Reuters, the group believes Brexit raises difficult questions about the future trading relationship between the EU and the UK. It said the Global Reinsurance Forum wants existing arrangements to continue under a subsequent trade deal.We strongly support the position that the UK should continue to operate an insurance regulatory regime which is consistent with Solvency II, wrote the 13-member group chaired by Lloyds chief executive Inga Beale . Members include Munich Re , Scor, and Swiss Re Last January a deal was struck between the EU and the United States to enable US companies to sell policies more easily across EU countries and to allow EU firms to increase market share in the US.
A Massachusetts jury has recently awarded $750,000 to a man who suffered severe leg injuries while working for a landscaping business that did not carry workers compensation insurance.

A lawyer for 52-year-old Jose Hernandez tells The Berkshire Eagle that her client was working for Lenox, Mass.-based Ricks Complete Lawn and Landscaping Service in February 2015 when he fell from the roof of a building while clearing show.

Hernandez landed on his feet and fractured his heel bone into multiple pieces and now suffers from osteoarthritis in his right ankle.

His lawyer says the injury limits his mobility and he can no longer perform physically demanding work.

The business owner claimed Hernandez was not an employee at the time of the injury. His attorney did not return a call for comment.

Information from: The Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Workers' Compensation Talent Massachusetts
A former payroll manager at a Connecticut software company has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after she acknowledged stealing $1.7 million from her job.

The U.S. attorneys office says 46-year-old Penny Roy, of Wethersfield, Conn., was sentenced on Thursday in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Conn.

Roy pleaded guilty in August 2015 to charges of wire fraud and of failing to pay taxes on the money she took.

Prosecutors say Roy inserted her own bank account information into the profiles of other employees, then processed fraudulent expense reimbursements and payroll payments in other peoples names into that account.

She was fired after the company discovered the payments.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Connecticut
A deadly fire that killed at least 79 people in a London tower block started in a Whirlpool Corp. fridge and spread at unexpected speed through the buildings exterior cladding, police said, indicating theyll pursue charges if criminal offenses are identified.

We are looking at every criminal offense from manslaughter onwards, Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack said on Friday in a press briefing. That includes health and safety and fire safety offenses, and we are looking at every company involved in the refurbishment of the building, she said.

The fire gutted Grenfell Tower, a block of mainly social housing in the U.K. capitals most affluent district of Kensington, in the west of the city. Its led to anger and street protests at the local and national governments response to the disaster and questions over whether spending cuts compromised safety.

Police identified the fridge model as a Hotpoint FF175BP, and the Department for Business issued a statement saying the device is being examined by technical experts to establish whether any further action is required, such as a product recall. At this stage there is no specific reason for consumers to switch off their fridge freezer pending further investigation, the department said.

Building Checks

Whirlpool shares fell the most intraday [on Friday, June 23] since May 18, and were down more than 3 percent at 11:30 a.m. in New York trading. The company said in a statement that 64,000 of the fridges were manufactured by Indesit between 2006 and 2009, when the model was discontinued, several years before Whirlpool acquired the company.

We are working with the authorities to obtain access to the appliance so that we can assist with the ongoing investigations, the company said in a statement. We are addressing this as a matter of utmost urgency and assisting the authorities in any way we can.

Inspections are being carried out on about 600 social housing tower blocks in England and 11 have so far failed initial safety tests. Checks are also being offered to owners of privately held tower blocks as well as schools, hospitals and other public buildings, Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokeswoman, Alison Donnelly, told reporters on Friday.

Police are seizing relevant material from a number of organizations, McCormack told reporters, without naming the companies or authorities involved. Media attention has focused on a unit of Rydon Group, which refurbished the building last summer. The company issued a statement last week saying its work met all required building regulations  as well as fire regulation and health and safety standards.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics London
Israeli energy conglomerate Delek said its planned sale of a controlling stake in Israeli insurer Phoenix Holdings to Chinas Fujian Yango Group has been called off by both sides after it failed to secure regulatory approval.

It did not give a reason for the failure. However, the Israeli government has expressed concerns over the purchase of key financial assets such as insurers by Chinese investors, fretting over pension cash.

Delek, which holds significant stakes in Israels largest natural gas fields and other energy assets, is required to sell some of its financial assets under a new Israeli regulation that prohibits large domestic conglomerates from holding both financial and non-financial businesses.

Delek signed a binding agreement last August to sell its 52.3 percent stake in Phoenix to Yango for 1.97 billion shekels ($557 million). That price was raised to 2.15 billion shekels in April.

Due to the prolonged process of obtaining the approval for the sale of control in Phoenix to Yango Group, the two sides agreed today, June 26, to cancel the agreement, Delek said in a statement.

The company has been approached by other entities in Israel and abroad regarding the sale of its holdings in Phoenix and will continue to act to sell its holdings as required by law.

In March last year a non-binding agreement by Delek to sell Phoenix to a U.S. insurer, which industry sources identified as AmTrust Financial Services, was canceled by both sides.

Delek had previously agreed to sell its Phoenix stake to Chinas Fosun International for 1.8 billion shekels but the deal collapsed when conditions were not met.

The IDB Development group, another Israeli conglomerate, has also faced regulatory difficulties in its attempts to sell control of Clal Insurance to Chinese investors.

($1 = 3.5351 shekels) (Reporting by Tova Cohen; editing by Susan Fenton)

Topics Legislation China
Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide announced it has released a Crop Hail Model for Canada to provide crop insurers with a probabilistic view of crop hail risk in Canada.

Based on 10,000 simulations of potential annual hail activity, the crop model enables insurers and reinsurers to assess the likelihood of a wide range of losses, including larger losses than have been experienced by the industry, providing a complete view of risk to crop hail portfolios, said Boston-based AIR, which is a unit of Verisk Analytics.

Hail is a significant peril in Canada, causing damage to crops as well as to property and vehicles, said Ken Doleman, president and CEO, Palliser Insurance Co. A thorough understanding of this complex peril is evident in the new, sophisticated crop hail model from AIR. This innovative model will help us make better underwriting decisions and model our portfolios more reliably. As a result, we can provide the best hail policies to protect the farm customers hard work.

The models catalog of simulated events does not rely exclusively on records of past hail events and weather patterns, said AIR, noting that it also includes extreme, but realistic events outside the historical record that could have occurred given daily atmospheric conditions experienced during recent years.

The models probabilistic view of potential hail activity provides a robust view of the risk of loss for the coming season to crop hail contracts in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, the company said.

The model takes into consideration the unique impacts hail can have on various types of crops, including barley, canola, corn, flax, lentil, oats, pea, potato, soybean, and wheat, which are each explicitly modeled. Losses to all other Canadian crops are modeled implicitly, it continued.

While severe thunderstorms with large hailstones can destroy entire crop fields, even smaller storms with smaller hailstones can critically injure plants, tearing leaves or bruising stems, and thus put a dent in crop yield, said Dr. Jeffrey Amthor, principal scientist, AIR Worldwide. AIRs new crop hail model provides an in-depth understanding of where crop hail damage occurs in Canada and why and how crop damage varies by crop species and developmental stage.

Users of AIRs Crop Hail Model for the United States now have an expanded view of North American crop hail risk because the models for Canada and the U.S. use the same 10,000-year hail catalog, covering the contiguous United States and nine southernmost Canadian provinces, AIR explained.

The continuity will be particularly useful for insurers and reinsurers that underwrite exposures in both the U.S. and Canada and for brokers that prepare submissions for companies in both countries, said Amthor.

Although straight hail insurance policies are currently written only for the Canadian prairie provinces, the model accounts for six other Canadian provinces with crop exposure. In addition, because the AIR Crop Hail Model for Canada and the AIR Severe Thunderstorm Model for Canada use the same hail catalog, users of AIRs CATRADER software can easily evaluate combined property and crop losses annually by province, he added. (The Crop Hail Model for Canada is currently available in CATRADER Version 19.)

Update to Multiple Peril Crop Model for China

In addition to the introduction of the Crop Hail Model for Canada, AIR completed an update to the Multiple Peril Crop Insurance Model for China, which is included in CATRADER 19.0.

The historical catalog was updated to include historical experience through 2015, for both crops and forests. The models crop industry exposure database was also updated using the most recently available China Statistical Yearbook, which is current up to 2015.

Additionally, policy conditions were updated to reflect 2016 values. The update introduces two new features: comprehensive forestry loss estimates to better estimate losses to insurance policies that offer comprehensive coverage (including wind, fire, and disease/pest perils) and a new custom loss catalog, allowing users for the first time to input a custom set of deductibles and estimate losses in real-time.

Source: AIR Worldwide

Topics USA Agribusiness China Canada
A U.S. jury has ordered Syngenta AG to pay $217.7 million to more than 7,000 Kansas farmers over its decision to commercialize a genetically modified strain of corn before China approved importing it.

The June 23 verdict by a federal jury in Kansas City, Kansas, was announced by lawyers for the farmers, who blamed the Swiss company for causing catastrophic damage to them after Chinese officials began refusing U.S. corn shipments in 2013.

Their case was the first to go to trial. Thousands of other corn producers and traders also are seeking damages over Chinas non-approval of the agrochemical giants corn seeds for importation.

Lawyers for the corn producers said in a statement that the verdict was only the beginning. They have claimed that damages for farmers nationally totaled $5.77 billion, according to court papers.

Syngenta said it will appeal the verdict, which included only compensatory damages and no punitive damages.

We are disappointed with todays verdict because it will only serve to deny American farmers access to future technologies even when they are fully approved in the U.S., Syngenta said in a statement.

In 2010, Syngenta began selling in the United States a strain of insect-resistant genetically modified corn called Agrisure Viptera. It started selling a second strain called Agrisure Duracade in 2013.

In their lawsuit, the Kansas corn farmers accused Syngenta of negligently commercializing the corn seeds before obtaining export approval in China, a major importer.

In 2013, Chinese officials detected Viptera in U.S. corn shipments. The country began rejecting shipments containing millions of metric tons of U.S. corn because they contained the strain, which was unapproved for import, the farmers said.

Nearly 90 percent of corn in the United States, the worlds top grains producer, is now genetically engineered, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as farmers embrace technology that helps kill weeds and fight pests.

The loss of the Chinese market caused U.S. corn prices to plummet, leading to over $5 billion in losses for corn producers, the farmers lawyers said. China did not approve Viptera until December 2014, while Duracade is still pending approval.

Syngenta denied wronging. It said at the time that no company had ever delayed launching a U.S. approved corn product in the United States just because China had yet to approve its import.

It also said the decline in sales to China was offset by exports to other countries.

The case is In Re: Syngenta AG MIR 162 Corn Litigation, U.S. District Court, District of Kansas, No. 14-md-02591.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Paul Simao; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

Topics USA Agribusiness China Kansas
A federal judge in St. Louis on June 20 approved a $1.5 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michael Brown Sr. and Lezley McSpadden. Their 18-year-old son was unarmed on Aug. 9, 2014, when he was fatally shot by white officer Darren Wilson during a street confrontation in Ferguson, Missouri.

The $1.5 million awarded to the parents of Michael Brown is the latest of several large settlements involving black suspects who were killed by police, but its far from the largest.

The shooting launched months of protests and led to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found racial bias in Fergusons police and court system. But a St. Louis County grand jury and the Justice Department declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November 2014.

Browns parents sued the city, former Police Chief Tom Jackson and Wilson in 2015, citing a police culture hostile to black residents and claiming Wilson used excessive force. Ferguson, Jackson and Wilson denied the allegations.

The case is among many in which settlements have been reached out of court, including many in which officers, like Wilson, were cleared of criminal wrongdoing.

U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber did not release the amount of the settlement, citing unspecified safety concerns. But Ferguson City Attorney Apollo Carey said in an email on June 23 in response to an open records request from The Associated Press that the citys insurance company paid out $1.5 million.

While settlements are expensive, cities facing lawsuits in wrongful death cases are aware of the danger of going to trial, said James Cohen, a professor at Fordham University School of Law. He said the settlement amount could be dwarfed by an award granted by a jury sympathetic to the family.

The city is afraid that someone on that jury is a member of Black Lives Matter, even if the juror is Caucasian, Cohen said.

Settlements in some other recent high-profile cases have been much higher than the amount awarded to Browns parents.

In 2015, the city of North Charleston, South Carolina, paid $6.5 million to the family of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was killed by a white police officer while running from a traffic stop. The officer, Michael T. Slager, pleaded guilty in May to a civil rights violation.

A month earlier, Baltimore paid $6.4 million to the family of Freddie Gray, who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody. No officers were convicted.

New York City reached a $5.9 million settlement in July 2015 with the family of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after being put in a chokehold by a white police officer. The officer was cleared by a grand jury.

Cleveland agreed to pay $6 million last year to the family of Tamir Rice. The 12-year-old had an airsoft gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets when a white officer shot him in 2014. A grand jury did not charge the officer.

Also last year, Pleasantville, New York, paid $6 million to the family of Danroy Henry Jr., a 20-year-old black college student shot to death by a white officer in 2010. No charges were filed against the officer.

Some award amounts this year have been lower. Madison, Wisconsin, agreed to pay $3.35 million to relatives of 19-year-old Tony Robinson Jr., who was unarmed when he was fatally shot. Milwaukee reached a $2.3 million tentative settlement with the family of Dontre Hamilton, a man with schizophrenia who was shot by police. Arlington, Texas, reached an $850,000 settlement with the family of 19-year-old Christian Taylor, who was shot by an officer while allegedly vandalizing cars at a dealership. Police were not charged in any of those cases.

Peter Joy, a professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, said the evidence of a case is a big factor in determining the settlement amount. While some of the other cases had video evidence, there was no video of the confrontation between Brown and Wilson in Ferguson  a potential factor in the lower payment.

Cohen said the allegations against Brown may have reduced leverage for his attorneys. Brown was accused of stealing from a store on the same day he died, and he was accused of reaching into Wilsons police vehicle and attacking him, leading up to the shooting.

You can see the story the defense attorney would tell at trial, Cohen said.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Legislation Law Enforcement Missouri
Denver-based National Partners, a new premium finance company, said that it will open for business and begin processing loans on July 2.

Since its formation in July 2016, NP has been building out its software system and securing the state licenses necessary to conduct business on a national scale, according to its announcement. It has opened a headquarters in Denver and regional offices in Bethesda, Md., Chicago and New York.

NP said it is financed by a private-equity and by its employees and is not owned or affiliated with any insurance company, broker or agent.

The companys management team includes Bruce Lundy, president and chief executive officer, and Axel Kloch, executive vice president and chief operating officer. Also, Stuart Hersch, who has been president of Cantor Fitzgerald Life Markets in New York since 2004, is leaving that securities brokerage and investment firm to become chairman of National Partners.

Lundy was co-founder and president of Flatiron Capital from its formation in 1995 through 2012. He led the firms growth in loan origination and national sales build-out. It became one of the largest premium finance firms in the country. Lundy has also served as president of the National Premium Finance Association. Prior to founding Flatiron, he was an investment banker with Newman and Associates.

Flatiron has since been sold to TD Banknorth, then to Wells Fargo and last June Wells Fargo exited the premium financing business and transferred all producing agent relationships to AFCO, a division of BB&T.

Kloch was previously the senior vice president and chief operating officer of Flatiron. Kloch specializes in innovative technological development. While at Flatiron he was primarily responsible for software development.

In recent years the premium finance industry has become dominated by large financial and banking institutions that seem to be more interested in paperwork and bureaucracy than in helping their agent/broker clients grow their businesses, said Lundy. That is what we hope to do at National Partners  work closely with our clients to help them grow and make doing business easier.

Topics Agencies
As Congress tries to figure out how to change the federal flood insurance program to encourage more private insurer involvement, one insurer isnt waiting to wade deeper into the private flood insurance business. Florida-based HCI Group is looking to take its Florida flood insurance experience and its proprietary flood insurance technology to nine additional states.

HCI Group said it has begun the regulatory process to expand its private flood insurance operation into Arkansas, California, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.

Currently, the company offers flood insurance solely in Florida, where it has about 4,000 policies. It writes flood both as an endorsement to its standard homeowners policy in its established homeowners subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co., and as standalone coverage through its relatively new TypTap subsidiary, a proprietary insurtech platform it created.

A core part of our long-term strategic plan has beenand continues to beexpanding and diversifying our operations geographically. We believe expansion into additional markets will leverage our proven business model, as well as our internally developed technology, said Paresh Patel, HCI Groups chairman and chief executive officer.

"The technology is the big thing. It really hit a chord with agents."

Kevin Mitchell, HCIs vice president for investor relations, said HCI is just beginning to talk with regulators in the other states to see what approach will work best in each state.

Unlike some other private offerings, HCI is targeting middle-market homes, not preferred or high-end properties. The middle-income residents on the water are the ones who really need the help, said Mitchell.

He told Insurance Journal that HCI will be expanding regardless of what Congress does to change the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). If Congress alters the rules of the program to encourage more private insurers to sell, thats fine with HCI.

Competition is healthy. We need the competition. We cant write every risk, Mitchell said.

Technology Key

While the insurer has been writing flood policies in Florida since 2013, HCI really ramped up its effort in April 2016. That was when HCI launched a separate flood-coverage only company called TypTap to sell standalone flood policies in Florida using a proprietary online platform for quoting and binding flood policies.

HCI is betting on its technology to help it capture market share. The technology is the big thing, said Mitchell. It really hit a chord with agents.

The TypTap technology makes it easy for agents to sell and property owners to buy flood coverage. For potential customers, the process starts with them typing in their address. They only need to answer three questions and then pick an agent from a dropdown menu to finish the policy purchasing process.

The technology is important but TypTap also competes with NFIP on coverage and pricing. TypTap offers replacement cost on contents, no 30-day waiting period, and no elevation certificate. The coverage also offers a loss of use component, which isnt available through NFIP policies, and up to $500,000 on the building limit and up to $250,000 on replacement and contents with underwriting approval.

According to Mitchell, TypTap can price its policies competitively because of its experience, its pricing models and perhaps most important because it does not have the burden of past losses from Katrina, Sandy and other storms which NFIP must surcharge policyholders to cover. NFIP is about $24 billion in debt.

You have to be competitive, Mitchell said, noting that HCI is coming in with a fresh look at the peril of flood and isnt paying for Katrina or Sandy. Youre not trying to surcharge the customer to make up for underwriting mistakes.

Mitchell said its unfair for new policyholders to have to pay for NFIPs debt. Thats not their fault, he said.

But again, according to Mitchell, the technology is key. You have to have the tech right to make it really work, he said. If we had a great flood product but everyone had to send in an ACORD form, it just wouldnt work.

He said that his company has not had any problem satisfying lending requirements with its policies because it is an admitted carrier. He said policyholders and agents also appreciate the long-term commitment HCI has made to the flood market.

Florida accounts for 37 percent of the NFIPs policies and leaders in the state have complained that its homeowners pay into NFIP more than they get in return and pay disproportionately higher rates than the rest of the country.

HCI Group owns subsidiaries engaged in homeowners insurance, reinsurance, real estate and information technology services. The companys largest subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co., is a leading provider of property/casualty insurance in Florida.

Related:

Topics Florida InsurTech Flood Tech Property Casualty Homeowners
Anthem Inc., the largest U.S. health insurance company, has agreed to settle litigation over hacking in 2015 that compromised about 79 million peoples personal information for $115 million, which lawyers said would be the largest settlement ever for a data breach.

The deal, announced Friday by lawyers for people whose information was compromised, must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, who is presiding over the case.

The money will be used to pay for two years of credit monitoring for people affected by the hack, the lawyers said. Victims are believed to include current and former customers of Anthem and of other insurers affiliated with Anthem through the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

People who are already enrolled in credit monitoring may choose to receive cash instead, which may be up to $50 per person, according to a motion filed in California federal court Friday.

We are very satisfied that the settlement is a great result for those affected and look forward to working through the settlement approval process, Andrew Friedman, a lawyer for the victims, said in a statement.

The credit monitoring in the settlement is in addition to the two years of credit monitoring Anthem offered victims when it announced the breach in February 2015, according to Anthem spokeswoman Jill Becher, who said the company was pleased to be resolving the litigation.

The Indianapolis-based company did not admit wrongdoing, and there was no evidence any compromised information was sold or used to commit fraud, Becher said.

Anthem said in February 2015 that an unknown hacker had accessed a database containing personal information, including names, birthdays, social security numbers, addresses, email addresses and employment and income information. The attack did not compromise credit card information or medical information, the company said.

More than 100 lawsuits filed against Anthem over the breach were consolidated before Judge Koh.

The breach is one of a series of high-profile data breaches that resulted in losses of hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. companies in recent years, including Target Corp., which agreed to pay $18.5 million to settle claims by 47 states in May, and Home Depot Inc., which agreed to pay at least $19.5 million to consumers last year.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Topics USA Cyber
Tulsa County has agreed to pay nearly $138,000 to a former sheriffs deputy to settle a wrongful termination lawsuit that claimed he and others were ousted in fallout from the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man in 2015.

County commissioners approved the settlement this week with former deputy Billy McKelvey, the Tulsa World reported. It said the agreement boosts to $550,000 the total amount of public funds used to settle similar lawsuits and pay attorneys fees.

McKelvey resigned after being demoted by then-Sheriff Stanley Glanz three months after a volunteer sheriffs deputy fatally shot Eric Harris in April 2015. Glanz left office later that year after being indicted over not publicly releasing an internal report that questioned the qualifications of the volunteer deputy who shot Harris. Glanz pleaded no contest to the charge in district court and was sentenced last year to a year of jail time, which the judge suspended.

The former deputy, Robert Bates, was convicted last year of second-degree manslaughter and is serving a four-year sentence. Bates, who is white, said he mistook his handgun for a stun gun when he shot a restrained Harris during an illegal gun sales sting. That shooting led to the temporary suspension of the reserve deputy program after a report found poor training of the volunteer officers, a lack of oversight, and cronyism. Bates is appealing his conviction.

After the shooting, questions also arose over whether Bates received special treatment from Glanz, a longtime friend. In the weeks after Harris was killed, several sheriffs office employees claimed they were demoted, fired or forced to resign amid the growing fallout.

An outside review of the agency released last year documented numerous problems in the sheriffs office. The 238-page report found that the office suffered from a system-wide failure of leadership and supervision and that it had been in a perceptible decline for more than a decade. Shortcomings in the reserve deputy program were just the most-visible signs of trouble within the agency, according to the review.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Oklahoma
London Underwriters LLC, a national MGA and surplus lines broker, has partnered with Birmingham based wholesaler Trigon Inc., to provide a new and exclusive low-value homeowners program for the state of Alabama.

The product will target homeowners (HO3, HO6 and HO4) as well as dwelling fire (DP1 & DP3) forms with minimum dwelling coverage as low as $25,000 for Coverage A. Coverage will be available on A.M. Best A Class XV E&S paper with an online rate and policy issuance platform.

Trigons President, Scott Brooks, said the partnership with London Underwriters will allow Trigon to broaden its personal and commercial lines product offerings in Alabama and provide an option to a market segment very much in need of additional alternatives.

The product will initially be available to select existing Trigon appointed agents, but will expand to consider additional retail distribution partners in the coming months, according to London Underwriters VP of Marketing and Business Development, Gregory Gold.

Aventura, Fla.-based London Underwriters and sister company Miami Specialty Risk LLC (Lloyds Coverholder) specialize in the creation and distributing of customized insurance products for personal and commercial lines for regional wholesalers and retailers.

Topics Underwriting London Homeowners Alabama
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is asking for federal assistance for farmers because of crop losses from Tropical Storm Cindy.

Ivey sent a letter Friday to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue asking for a disaster declaration in some Alabama counties.

She wrote that a large number of Alabama agricultural producers have experience significant losses because of Tropical Storm Cindy. Ivey said farmers in the southern and central portions of the state had been impacted the most.

Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries John McMillan said Friday that crops of cotton, corn, hay, peanuts and soybeans had been damaged by the storm.

He said the storm will likely ruin crops that were already planted and delay the planting of others.

Officials must review crop losses before deciding on the declaration.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Windstorm Agribusiness Alabama
California Association of Health Underwriters President Rick Coburn applauded actions taken by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, to sideline a bill that would create a single payer healthcare system in the state until next year.

The Speaker postponed any further legislative action on Senate Bill 562 until January 2018. He also indicated there would likely be a single payer ballot initiative on the California November 2018.

SB 562 proposes a single payer system for California. SB 562 does not contain any credible funding mechanism other than immense new taxes on all Californians, according to the CAHU, which note that the bills cost is $400 billion per year.

The group also says the bill fails to address the real problems healthcare systems face today, such as the constant upward cost spiral of medical care, escalating prescription drug prices and ensuring consumers have access to quality medical providers throughout California.

CAHU remains committed to helping repair problems encountered by everyday Californians who are trying to obtain and pay for health care, Coburn said in a statement.

Topics California
Utah officials have reached a $300,000 settlement with a man accused of starting a 2012 fire that led to the evacuation than 1,000 northwestern Utah homes.

The Daily Herald reported the Utah County Commission approved the settlement with Kenneth Nielsen . Under the settlement, Nielsens insurance provider at the time of the fire will have to pay $300,000 to entities such as Utah County, Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs along with state and federal agencies.

The settlement states that Nielsen and another man were responsible for the fire that burned over 8 sq. miles of land. According to the settlement, the men had been target shooting with explosive targets near Saratoga Springs.

Utah County Commission approved a separate settlement with the second man in 2016.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Carriers
Francesi di nuovo alle urne per il secondo turno delle elezioni legislative. Esito scontato, secondo gli ultimi sondaggi che assegnano a La Repubblique En Marche del presidente Emmanuel Macron tra i 440 e i 470 seggi.

Tutta lopposizione dovrebbe spartirsi i restanti 100: meta ai Republicains, poco piu di una ventina ai socialisti, una decina ai radicali di sinistra di Jean-Luc Melenchon, il resto  da uno a 4  al Front National. Probabilmente sara Marine Le Pen a fare il suo ingresso per la prima volta in Parlamento (al terzo tentativo e in ballottaggio favorevole nella sua circoscrizione a nord). Ma se i quasi 11 milioni di voti delle presidenziali dovessero portare addirittura a una diminuzione della rappresentanza in Parlamento (attualmente per il Fn i seggi sono 2, ma rischiano di dimezzarsi) la disfatta degli avversari di Macron sarebbe completa.

Una maggioranza schiacciante rischia di escludere ogni possibilita di dibattito, Emmanuel Macron avra tutte le chiavi in mano lamenta Francois Baroin, leader dei Republicains che dovra anche occuparsi di mediare fra i Macron-compatibili del suo partito e gli irriducibili che vogliono stare comunque allopposizione. Melenchon arriva a mettere in guardia contro unAssemblee Nationale dove lopposizione avra meno deputati di quelli su cui puo contare lopposizione in Russia. Eppure, un sondaggio Elabe aveva svelato nei giorni scorsi che il 61% dei francesi avrebbe preferito correggere il voto del primo turno, nel senso di un riequilibrio della situazione in campo.

Ma non sara impresa facile, dal momento che spesso il candidato Lrm promosso al ballottaggio attirera molto piu del proprio avversario voti dispersi di chi e stato eliminato. Pesa poi lincognita astensionismo, dopo il record del 51,3% stabilito 15 giorni fa: secondo un sondaggio diffuso ieri sera, il 53% di francesi avrebbe gia deciso di non andare a votare domani. Lidea prevalente al primo turno che tutto sia gia deciso in favore di Macron e diventata ormai una convinzione generale.
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Rite Aid (RAD) was founded by Alex Grass in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as a health and beauty store, originally called Thrift D Discount Center. The company changed its name to Rite Aid Corporation in 1968 ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). In 1970, the company's stock moved over to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Here's a look at what came next for Rite Aid, including highlights of its growth, scandals, and deals with Walgreens and Albertsons.

Key Takeaways Alex Grass founded Rite Aid in 1962 originally as Thrift D Discount Center.

Rite Aid acquired Envision Pharmaceutical Services for $2 billion in 2007.

Former Rite Aid executives admitted to overstating net income between 1997 and 2000.

Rite Aid abandoned two prospective merger dealsthe first with Walgreens in 2017 and the second with Albertsons in 2018.

Investopedia / Sabrina Jiang

Financial Performance

In January 2019, Rite Aid announced that it received notice from the NYSE that it was no longer in compliance with its standard listing rules. That's because the average closing price of Rite Aid's common stock was below the required $1 per share threshold during a consecutive 30-day trading period. The company's share price dropped following the announcement of two failed merger attempts. That changed after Rite Aid executed a 1-for-20 reverse stock split which brought its stock price above the threshold. Since then, the stock has traded around $10 per share.

Rite Aid reported full-year earnings for the 2021 fiscal year in April 2021. The adjusted EBITDA for continuing operations for the 2021 fiscal year was $437.7 million, compared to 2020 EBITDA of $538.2 million. The company reported a net loss from continuing operations of $100.1 million for the year, which is a decrease since the previous year's net loss of $469.2 million. Rite Aid has benefited from government programs promoting COVID19 vaccination, and the company has administered over 14 million vaccine doses as of early 2022. The pharmacy also sells masks, sanitizers, and viral testing kits.

Acquisitions to Fuel Growth

Within 10 years of opening its first store, Rite Aid grew to 267 locations in 10 states. The company first achieved $1 billion in sales in 1983. In 1987, with the acquisition of Gray Drug420 stores in 11 statesRite Aid became the largest drugstore chain in the U.S., with more than 2,000 stores.

By 1996, Rite Aid doubled in size to 4,000 stores after several acquisitions, including Reads Drug Store, Lane Drug, Hook's Drug, Harco, K&B, Perry Drug Stores, and Thrifty PayLess.

The company formed a partnership with General Nutrition Companies in 1999. This allowed GNC to open mini-stores within Rite Aid locations. In addition, Rite Aid partnered with drugstore.com, offering Rite Aid customers the ability to place prescription orders online and get same-day, in-store pickup. Also in 1999, Rite Aid acquired pharmacy benefits manager PCS Health Systems.

Rite Aid added more than 1,500 stores in 2007 with its acquisition of the Brooks and Eckerd drug store chains. Eight years later, it acquired pharmacy benefits manager Envision Pharmaceutical Services for $2 billion. In late 2020, Rite Aid agreed to buy Seattle-based Bartell Drugs in a deal worth $95 million.

Accounting Scandal

In 1999, Rite Aid began restating earnings from prior years due to accounting irregularities. Six former Rite Aid senior executives were convicted of conspiracy in 2003 regarding a wide range of accounting fraud and false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

These executives included former chief executive officer (CEO) Martin Grass, the son of company founder Alex Grass. The former executives admitted to drastically overstating net income from 1997 to 2000 through multiple schemes.

Grass was sentenced to eight years in prisonone of the harshest punishments ever given in connection to an accounting-related crime at the time. Rite Aid was forced to restate its earnings by $1.6 billion.

Deals With Walgreens and Albertsons

In October 2015, Walgreens (WBA) announced it would acquire Rite Aid for $9 per share. Rite Aids shareholders approved the deal a few months later in February 2016.

However, the deal got hung up on regulatory approval complications from Walgreens side. The two companies extended talks into 2017 until they ultimately vacated the merger deal.

Instead of the merger, Walgreens and Rite Aid agreed to a $4.3 billion deal for Walgreens to buy 1,932 Rite Aid stores and three distribution centers. The deal was approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in September 2017 and completed in March 2018.

Shortly after the Walgreens deal, Albertsons and Rite Aid began merger talks. On Feb. 20, 2018, the companies announced that supermarket retailer Albertsons agreed to acquire Rite Aid in a deal valued at $24 billion.

However, the companies called the deal off on Aug. 8, 2018, the night before the scheduled shareholder vote, citing opposition from Rite Aid's individual and institutional shareholders.

How Many Rite Aid Locations Are There? As of Q1 2022, Rite Aid operated 2,451 stores in the United States. By comparison, competitors CVS and Walgreens each have more than 9,000 stores.

Did Rite Aid Merge with Walgreens? No. Although Rite Aid shareholders approved a merger deal with Walgreens in 2016, the two companies abandoned talks in 2017 and have not come back to the table. Instead, Walgreens agreed to purchase 1,932 Rite Aid locations in 2018 in a $4.4 billion deal.
A major rescue operation is under way in Colombia after a tourist boat with about 150 people on board sank near Medellin.

The air force said that it was sending a helicopter to the Guatape reservoir while Medellin's mayor said firefighters and scuba divers were heading to the town.
Employers of all sizes seeking to attract and particularly retain talent are working to create environments in which employee welfare is prioritised and health and wellbeing is openly encouraged and supported.

Not only does this create a positive atmosphere, it boosts productivity, reduces recruitment costs for businesses and helps position the company as an employer of choice.

This year the Pfizer Health Index 2017, which is a nationally representative study on health and wellbeing, demonstrates that although there are high incidences of health conditions in Ireland with significant levels of cardiovascular disease, chronic pain and diabetes for example, as a nation, we generally tend to rate our health as very good to excellent.

This year, the study also focuses particularly on workplace health and wellbeing, and in this sense, the same positive trends are apparent. 80% of Irish employees tend to rate their work-life balance as very good or better, 88% of people find the content their job interesting, and 92% of those surveyed rated their relationships with colleagues as good to excellent.

These findings marry with the latest Eurobarometer figures that demonstrate 80% of Irish workers view their working conditions as good and 88% are likely to discuss work-related problems with colleagues.

The soundings are therefore positive. However, while positive, this optimistic worker outlook belies the fact that almost 3 in 10 workers have a health condition  such as high cholesterol, high/low blood pressure, asthma, arthritis or chronic pain.

Nearly two-thirds describe their work as stressful to very stressful and three-quarters of workers have not discussed a health issue with their employers, fearing negative impact on their career prospects or indeed because of simple embarrassment.

Thus, while workers positive attitudes may not reveal the true extent of health issues and health condition incidence amongst Irish employees, there are clear issues to be addressed.

In fact, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) estimates that musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and stress, anxiety and depression (SAD) are the most common workplace health issues in Ireland.

The Institutes research found that over the period 2002 to 2013, these two types of illnesses accounted for 68% of work-related illness in Ireland. MSD accounted for 50% and SAD for 18%.

In addition, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work estimates that around half of European workers consider stress to be common in their workplace, and it contributes to around half of all lost working days. Beyond the workplace, worker health and wellbeing has a wider national economic and social impact.

Although it is challenging to specifically quantify the costs, the figures on disease-specific expenditure help to paint a picture. For example, incidence of cardiovascular disease is estimated as equating to 6% of the national health spend and rheumatoid arthritis costs approximately 1.6bn per annum. Thus the knock-on economic impact of ensuring occupational health and safety at work, where around two million of Irish people spend the majority of our time, is clear.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines a healthy workplace one in which workers and managers collaborate to use a continual improvement process to protect and promote the health, safety and wellbeing of all workers.

The Pfizer Health Index 2017 shows that employers are focusing on this area with 73% of respondents agreeing their employers are committed to health and wellbeing and one in five respondents having taken part in a workplace health and wellness initiative in the past three months.

But, there is an appetite for more. Almost 90% of respondents said there is a need for greater emphasis on worker health and wellbeing, and that more needs to be done.

At a national level, it is positive to see Government prioritising workplace health, through development of the Healthy Workplace Framework, and the Healthy Ireland Network, of which Pfizer is a part..

Employee health and wellbeing is a topic that will continue to be increasingly relevant, as more and more people enter, remain in, and return to, the workplace in Ireland. At Pfizer, we are glad to add further insight on the topic through this, the 12th year of our research and to continue to support a national conversation on the health priorities of Irish people.

Paul Reid is managing director of Pfizer Healthcare Ireland.
Mr Donohoe, who is also Public Expenditure Minister, made the comment despite his predecessor Michael Noonan recently criticising new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for loosening debt repayment and spending plans.

Speaking on RTE Radios This Week, Mr Donohoe said the recovery is continuing and that it is his intention to ensure it can be felt in every household in the country.

However, despite a number of high-profile projects being planned in the near future  including road and transport services, and USC changes, which could help win over voters before the next election  he insisted this does not mean a controversial giveaway budget is imminent.

If we were focussed on the concept of a giveaway budget, to use your phrase, my starting point would not be to balance our books, it would not be to use the proceeds of AIB to balance our books, said Mr Donohoe.

And it would not be to how we begin focussing on capital investment spending.

Mr Donohoe said the Government aims to deliver a structural deficit of 0.5%, which would be equivalent to our country delivering a balanced budget.

He said that, by balancing our books, the Government can make accelerated progress on the things our citizens need.

The next budget is likely to be highly politicised due to ongoing suggestions of an early general election due to the difficulties between Mr Varadkars Fine Gael and confidence and supply opposition partner Fianna Fail, with both parties keen to out-flank each other over key financial issues.
But tragedy was averted when the boys father and two onlookers dived in and managed to save them just as the car sank beneath the surface of the main channel of the Lee close to the Port of Corks city quays.

Eyewitnesses and emergency service personnel hailed the rescuers as brave heroes.

We were seconds from seeing the family being wiped out, eyewitness Kathleen Twomey said.

The Polish family at the centre of the dramatic rescue are her neighbours  a man, his partner and her two young boys, both aged under five.

Ive never seen anything like it in my life. It was so terrible. The scariest thing Ive ever seen, Ms Twomey said.

I thought they were gone because the car was going down so fast. I could see them, the kids in the back and the mother in the passenger seat, trying to get out the side windows. The car was going down fast.

Only for the guy pulling up in the jeep and helping the dad, they were all gone. It was so scary.

The drama unfolded just after 8pm on Saturday.

It is understood that the little boys mother had put her children and the familys pet dog into their blue 02 BMW convertible which they park regularly above a disused slipway at Lower Castleview Terrace, across the road from the home on the Lower Glanmire Road.

The children were in the back seat and the mother was in the passenger seat as the father returned to their house to get something.

Ms Twomey said she was upstairs in her home which overlooks the river and terrace when she heard what sounded like a car revving, followed by screams.

Its not clear what happened but the car appears to have jumped forward, cleared a low ditch, and driven onto a steep, algae-covered slipway.

It was high tide at the time, with the water close to where the car had been parked, and the vehicle and its terrified passengers entered the water quickly.

It began to float out into the main channel, and take on water.

When I looked out my window, I saw the blue car in the river and I could hear the kids screaming and trying to get out the window, Ms Twomey said. Straight after that, I dialled 999, and explained that I saw the car in the river.

They said theyd put me on to someone else, and it was ringing and I said Would you please hurry because theres kids in the car.

Meanwhile, the boys father heard the commotion, ran across the road and dived straight into the river. A man driving passed stopped and went in to the river with him. A third man, who lives on the terrace, also jumped in to help.

Christina Hegener was visiting friends, Gemma Healy and Nicole Bohan, who live on the terrace, when they heard screaming and rushed outside.

Ms Hegener said she saw two men in the water near the car, and that the drivers window was slightly open.

You could see one child, but you could hear the second child and the mother were in the car, she said.

The two lads broke a side mirror and they got the two children out first, and then the mother out, and then they held up the car to get the dog out.

She said a third man ran out of his house on the terrace and jumped over a low wall into the river to help.

The men saved the youngest child first  taking him out through the open driver side window.

Nicole Bohan, Christina Hegener and Gemma Healy were among a group of onlookers who then formed a human chain on the slipway.

Ms Bohan waded in to the river, knee-deep, where the father passed her his youngest boy before he went back in to save the others.

Ms Bohan then handed the boy to another person in the chain before the men presented her with the older boy.

Ms Healy said the children were upset and scared.

They just couldnt stop crying. They were in shock. They got whisked into a house before they could even see if their mother got out. They didnt calm down until she came into the house to them, and spoke to them, she said.

Ms Bohan said: They just wanted their mum and dad.

As the children were being cared for, the men managed to free the mother just as the car sank.

The men then held the car in a desperate bid to prevent it from sinking to the bottom before the familys dog swam to the surface.

Ms Healy said it was very difficult to watch the rescue unfold. We have nephews around the same age and it was hard watching it  as if it was them, she said.

But the children are fine. Theyre safe and thats all that matters.

Ms Twomey said the emergency services were on the scene just minutes later - a garda car arrived first, followed by four units of Cork City Fire Brigade and three HSE ambulances.

Thank God they were all saved, she said.

The mother and her children were taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH) for treatment and observation. The father was taken to CUH but he did not require treatment. One of the other rescuers require treatment for a minor gash to his arm.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkars Government now risks a major rift with the most powerful judges after their objection to a proposed new lay-majority body deciding on promotions to the bench.

A row over the Judicial Appointments Commission has also widened among politicians, with Transport Minister Shane Ross now accused of having a personal agenda in driving the reforms.

Under the plans, the judiciary appointments advisory board will be replaced by an 11-member commission, including a lay majority and a lay chairperson.

Legislation for the commission will be debated for up to eight hours over three days in the Dail this week.

In an extraordinary development yesterday, the five heads of the top courts sent a letter to Mr Varadkar, with a stern warning about reforming the system.

The letter was signed by the Chief Justice, the president of the Court of Appeal, the President of the High Court, the President of the Circuit Court, and the President of the District Court.

It is expected to be discussed at the weekly Cabinet meeting today but a spokesman for the Department of Justice insisted last night the reforms would proceed.

The challenge followed an earlier statement by the Association of Judges of Ireland, who warned the legislation was seriously flawed.

The association said the changes would not serve to depoliticise the process. Rationale for a lay majority had not been explained, it said, and changes would damage the judiciary and State as a whole.

However, the Government will proceed with the reforms, which are being fast-tracked before the Dail summer recess.

The commitment was made by Mr Varadkar with Government partners, the Independent Alliance, in an effort to defuse the row over the promotion of Attorney General Maire Whelan to the Court of Appeal.

However, senator Michael McDowell  a former attorney general and justice minister  claimed that Mr Ross had a personal agenda, wanting to overhaul the system, based on a book he had written, as well as an unfortunate experience in the courts. Mr Ross did not return calls about this claim, but he said he understood the resistance to the reforms from the legal lobby.

The spat among politicians, however, is set to widen after additional criticism from Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan. It emerged last night that he texted Fine Gael TDs over the weekend, saying he was disappointed by some of Mr Rosss remarks about judges.

His spokesman confirmed Mr Flanagan had made contact with Fine Gael TDs but refused to discuss claims about texts.

The Government is expected to be supported by Sinn Fein, which will likely bring to 80 the numbers it can depend on to pass the judicial bill.

However, Fianna Fail will oppose it.

Justice spokesman Jim OCallaghan told the Irish Examiner he believed the new judicial commission would encourage interest groups to apply to be members and make the appointments more political.

You will have pro-life or pro-choice groups applying or groups who are harder or softer on criminals, said Mr OCallaghan, who is a barrister.

He claimed that senior members of Fine Gael were in fact opposed to the reforms and that the Fine Gael-led Government had only caved into Mr Rosss demands to get back into power.

They would have promised to drain the Shannon if they had been asked, claimed Mr OCallaghan.
Last December, the Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) asked the United Nations to suspend the designation of Killarney, the countrys first national park, as a biosphere reserve, amid concern about the management of the 10,129 hectare parks woodlands and deer, as well as threats posed by invasive species and wildfires.

Since its designation, in 1982, not a single review of the park has been submitted by the NPWS to Unesco, as required, nor has Unesco demanded the periodic reviews. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan backed the IWT call, saying he had grave concerns for the park.
Richard Satchwell has also recounted the events of the day she disappeared from their home, in Youghal, Co Cork, on March 20.

She came downstairs. I gave her a cup of tea and a slice of toast, Richard told an episode of Crimecall, to be broadcast on RTE One tonight. Then, she asked if Id go over to Dungarvan. I gave her a peck, and said Id see her in a couple of hours.

When he returned to the house, it was empty, except for his 45-year-old wifes two dogs. He said this seemed strange, because Tina went everywhere with the dogs.

Two suitcases were missing. It was four days later, having made enquiries with her family and still with no word from Tina, that her husband contacted gardai.

In a direct appeal to his wife, Richard said: Tina, come home. Theres nobody mad at you. My arms are open. The pets are missing you. I just cant go on not knowing. Even if you just ring the guards. Let people know that youre alright.

Tinas aunt, Margaret Maher, told the programme it was very unlike her niece to disappear.

Its very out of character for her, said Ms Maher. I wouldnt feel shed go anywhere on her own. Shes not a person who would do that. All the family has been contacted and no-one in the family has seen or heard from her.

Tina Satchwell, nee Dingivan, is originally from St Bernards Place, Fermoy. She has been living in Youghal for around two years and is unemployed.

She is described as being about 5ft6in tall with blonde shoulder-length hair, blue eyes, and of medium build.
The newly appointed minister of state for Local Government and Electoral Reform, John Paul Phelan, confirmed the move may occur due to the appalling revelations about the force.

Speaking on RTE Radios Claire Byrne Show on Saturday, Mr Phelan said no decisions should be made until a number of investigations into garda controversies take place.

While he specifically referenced the cross-party Dail Public Accounts Committee (PAC)s investigation into the Garda College financial scandal, due to be published next month, other inquiries are also taking place into the force, most notably the commission of investigation into an alleged smear campaign against whistle-blower Maurice McCabe.

Mr Phelan said that , until the investigations conclude, Ms OSullivan should remain in her position.

However, should any negative conclusions be drawn about her role, if any, in the scandals, he said the commissioner may need to be removed from her role.

Some of the things that have come out are appalling... [Depending on the outcome] she may well have to resign, he said.

While Mr Phelans comments are strongly qualified by the outcome of ongoing investigations into the force, the fact he did not simply stick to the standard line that Government has confidence in the Garda Commissioner has been seen as significant.

This is in part because of the newly appointed junior ministers close political ties to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and the fact that Mr Varadkar also recently indicated that Ms OSullivan may be removed under his tenure.

In an interview on Newstalks Drive programme on the eve of the Fine Gael leadership election result on June 1, Mr Varadkar delivered what was seen as a thinly veiled threat to Ms OSullivans future.

Asked whether he can continue to have support in her given a series of scandals to affect the force, the then minister Mr Varadkar initially said Government continued to do so at this stage but that people losing their jobs due to controversies needs to happen a little bit more in the public sector.

The PAC, which has held a series of meetings with Ms OSullivan and others over the Garda College financial scandal, is due to discuss its draft report on the matter at a private meeting on Thursday.
Sr Philomena trained as a nurse at Mercy University Hospital in Cork from 1949.

She left for Korea in June 1955 with Sister Mary David Mannion and spent six months in Mokpo before moving to the northern part of the country where she and her colleagues established a Clinic Foundation.

Fifty-five years ago this month, I arrived in Seoul, Korea with my companion, Sr David Mannion. We travelled by boat from Cobh, Co Cork to New York and were met on arrival by sisters from our Boston house.

From there, we travelled on a Swedish freighter from Los Angeles to Tokyo, via Manila. From Tokyo, we boarded a US army plane to Seoul in Korea, said Sr. Philomena.

Following our arrival in Korea, we set out by train for Mokpo, a southerly seaside town. Back then, it was a 12-hour journey; these days its merely a short two hour trip.

On arrival in Korea in 1955, Sr Philomena and her colleagues faced a turbulent environment in what was the end of the Korean War which brought significant challenges in treating the many thousands of people who attended the Clinic.

We were able to source medicines from the U.S., samples from doctors offices and some of the pharmaceutical companies. We also received help from the U.S. army which enabled us to treat the local people at our clinic, she said.

After 17 years working in post-war conditions, Sr Philomena was transferred to Mokpo in the south of the country, to continue her work with the poor and the sick at a local hospital where she was given position of Regional Superior of all the Sister Communities in Korea.

Sr Philomena travelled home to Ireland in 1971 to study midwifery at St. Finbarrs Hospital.

Following a stroke which brought her back to Ireland in 1977, she returned to Korea in 1979 where she worked in paediatrics and out-patient clinics.

Sr Philomena continued her work in Mokpo until 2009, having spent more than 50 years working in Korea.

On her return to Ireland, she celebrated her Diamond Jubilee with her fellow Columban Sisters in Maghermore, Co. Wicklow on August 24, 2009 and has received two honorary awards for her work during her time in Korea.

The Cork Person of the Year awards organiser, Manus OCallaghan, said, "To this day, Sr Philomena OSullivan is considered an iconic figure in South Korea and Im delighted that we have this opportunity to acknowledge her lifelong dedication to missionary work.

Sr Philomena OSullivan will go forward, with the other Persons of the Month chosen, for possible selection as Cork Person of the Year, at a Gala Awards Lunch at the Rochestown Park Hotel on January 19, 2018.
Restaurateurs Mohamad Alsaadi and Abed Alkafe Saad Alah were neighbours growing up, living in such close proximity in Damascus that, after a day playing outside, they could then hear each other knocking on the bedroom walls.

This year, the pair succeeded in finally achieving a childhood dream  opening their own restaurant, Bayleaf Bistro in Bandon. As their present-day neighbours might put it: its far from that they were reared.

It is a pretty surprising story, Mohamad, a father-of-two said. Married to his Irish wife Mags and living in Clonakilty where their two children attend the local Gaelscoil, its a different life to the one he had growing up in Syrias vibrant capital.

Mohamad, now 39, first came to Ireland, and West Cork specifically, in 2002, and straight away began working at the Inchydoney Lodge and Spa Hotel in Clonakilty.

As he began a spell there, that would lead ultimately to him becoming head chef of Dunes Pub and Bistro at Inchydoney, back in Syria his old friend Abed missed his friend.

And so he came over as well, just two years after his friend and also started working in Inchydoney.

I loved it straight away, says Mohamad of West Cork. He said his reason for first travelling here was he wanted to see the world, but it seems West Cork quickly took a hold of him.

He met Mags 11 years ago when she was waitressing at the hotel.

They got married five years ago with Inchydoney again the venue. To continue the link, Mohammads younger brother, Ahmed, now also works at the luxury beachside hotel.

Like his friend, Abed, or Kafe as he is affectionately known, also has two children. With all the parallels between them, opening a restaurant made sense.

Since it opened last month, Bayleaf Bistro has proven popular with locals and those from out of town. The biggest surprise has been the reaction of local people, Mohamad said.

We get all generations, which were delighted about. The restaurant that was here before us closed very suddenly and the locals really didnt want an empty building so they were delighted when we opened. Bandon is a nice town.

There are always plenty of people around and weve been given a huge welcome and great feedback.

The venture has not been without its challenges. Asked as to what the biggest issue has been, Mohamad replied: Sleepless nights before we opened. Its more relaxed now that were open. Weve been moving on, finding a routine and finding out what people want.

The menu hatched by the two friends is a mix of Irish and Syrian cuisine, with the later selling really well, says Mohamad.

Such is the popularity they are considering holding special Syrian evenings, with customers latching on to the idea of eating in large groups and trying new things.

However, discussion of their homeland prompts thoughts of the tragedy that has unfolded there.

Mohamads parents came to Ireland two years ago under the governments Syrian Admission Humanitarian Programme. Both Mohamad and Abed have six siblings, with the unfolding civil war creating a long-running uncertainty.

My parents would love to go home, but its not an option at the moment at least. We dont even know if our house is still there. Id love to go and visit the rest of my family. My childhood home, says Mohamad.

Far away from the devastation surrounding Damascus, the family and friends are forging a new life in West Cork. According to Mohamad, there are a few cultural similarities.

My mother loves it here. You walk into Clonakilty town, people smile and say hello. Its similar to home, he says.

They all feel at home, with Mags a special needs assistant in the Gaelscoil. We wanted them to learn the Irish language, Mohamad said. Its a cool school and a great community.

Bayleaf Bistro is open seven days a week at St Patricks Place, Bandon. For bookings call 023 884 2589.
ON JUNE 26 1977, Rory Gallagher played one of his best gigs ever, and one of his largest in Ireland. A gig that would inspire and entertain, it brought together 20,000 loyal fans. Macroom Mountain Dew would make history as Irelands first open air rock festival.

But what was it about Gallagher that grabbed his fans? Music buffs can never give one definitive answer, but total dedication to his art was one key to his success. He lived for music. And he was a decent human being.

There are two people whom I consider the nicest I ever met in the music business, says Peter Sanquest, a London-based musician (and this writers brother).

One was George Martin. The other was Rory Gallagher. George was kind, humorous and generous, and Rory had those qualities and was self-effacing and humble too, with time for everyone.

Playing guitar in Cork in the 1960s, Sanquest had a group called The Axills, with which Rory often guested. When the group broke up, other members Eric Kitteringham and Norman Damery went on to form Taste with Rory.

Rory was extremely clean living, says Sanquest. He didnt smoke, drink or curse and went to Sunday Mass. He lent me his Stratocaster twice  an example of his generosity and kindness.

They often spent time in Crowleys music shop testing the guitars. I had a Watkins Rapier, which cost me 45, and played Brazilian music on it. Rory was always analysing the technique which was completely different to rock.

We would argue about the importance of jazz versus the blues. He wasnt so keen on jazz, but loved playing Django Reinhardt.

CAREER HIGHLIGHT

When it came to 1977 and the Macroom Mountain Dew festival, Gallagher was well established.

Rory was on the crest of a wave then, says Gerry McAvoy, bassist with Rory Gallagher for 20 years. We had played in Cork City Hall many times and of course in the UK, Northern Ireland and Germany from where a lot of the fans came for the Mountain Dew.

McAvoy recalls how in 1977 rock music was still unacknowledged.

I always found it a bit frustrating that it was so rare to have rock music on RTE radio, unlike in the US at that time. It didnt make sense that the festival wasnt covered by RTE. The simple fact that it was Irelands first open air rock concert held outside a big city should have been enough to make some kind of news. And they didnt even come to the second one the following year!

They obviously didnt see it as important  that was a disappointment, though we were used to it. The time around the Macroom festival was the high point of Rorys career.

In Macroom, a town that badly needed the business at the time, the community made Corks own Rory Gallagher welcome. Born in 1948 in Ballyshannon Co Donegal, he grew up in Cork. But it wasnt all plain sailing. Some businesses boarded up their premises, wary of the type of rocker who would follow the nations idol. But they need not have worried. Most of those attracted to the Mountain Dew Festival were there for the music.

CONVINCING CASE

It also took a while to convince Gallagher that Macroom was right for a concert. While he had played the Isle of White festival and other events, these large-scale outdoor gigs hadnt been done in Ireland before.

He was wary about achieving a good enough quality sound for his fans. But with his mother from nearby Ballyvourney putting on some pressure, the concert went ahead. It would be good for Cork to have Irelands first open air concert, and especially to have one up on Dublin.

To achieve the highest standards of sound and lighting, the rock stars brother and manager, Donal Gallagher took over the gig, organising and importing the services of Mike Lowe of Britannia Row/Stage Shows who often worked with them, including Cork-born sound engineer Joe OHerlihy (later to become U2s main sound man).

Constructed by the engineers of the festival committee, the stage supported heavy sound equipment and a large Rory Gallagher banner stretched across the stage. Donal Gallagher, watchful and creative, found a stage backdrop in the Town Hall painted with an image of Macroom Castle. A baby grand piano was hoisted into place and given a final tuning.

Regulars with Rory opened the concert. Blues guitarist Roland Van Campenhout from Belgium was popular with the crowd, Nutz from England and local band Sunset set a vibrant, enthusiastic scene.

To avoid being mobbed by fans, Gallagher was brought on site via a farm road and arrived on stage to exuberant cheering.

Some fans, not realising just how far it was from Cork to Macroom or how poor the bus service would be, had hitched or walked all the 24 miles. Fed on queen cakes and scones by kind locals, they quickly forgot their sore feet.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Gallaghers performance, with bassist Gerry McAvoy, keyboard player Lou Martin and drummer Rod deAth, was a triumph and provided fans with one of the most memorable moments of their lives. They definitely got value for their 2.50 ticket.

Gallagher appreciated that many would travel long distances and wanted to be sure they could afford his concert. The gig was not about money, but satisfying loyal fans. For the festival committee it was about bringing business to their town. It was successful on both fronts.

Keith Mulholland, vocalist with Nutz remembers, Rory expected the set-ups to be right, and then was able to get on with his own job.

He played a blinding gig in Macroom. He connected with the crowds and they loved him. It was a perfectly shaped auditorium and the sound was great.

Rory always suffered from stage fright, and Donal Gallagher remembers that right up to his arrival he was worried no-one would turn up for the festival. There werent all that many advance sales in those days to indicate how it would go. However, he was thrilled with the concert.

And so a legend was born.
Photo: Pro-choice and anti-abortion protesters clash on OConnell Bridge, Dublin, in April 1992 following the X Case, which led to the November 1992 referendum in which the electorate voted to allow the right to information about abortion and the right to travel for an abortion, and rejected an amendment saying suicide was not grounds for abortion. A new referendum on abortion has been suggested for next year. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

THIS week, Judge Mary Laffoy will deliver her report to the Government on the conclusions of the Citizens Assembly on the future of the eighth amendment to the Constitution.

On one level, we are fully aware of what it is the 100 members who made up the Citizens Assembly want, because they voted on it, causing ripples of shock throughout the country, back in April.

However, thats not to say Judge Laffoy may not include a few surprises herself, or that there wont be more from the citizens themselves, who were also asked to privately draw up suggestions that would accompany their votes.

We dont know but these could credibly range from anything from a need for more education on contraception to whether Irish abortions might take place in a maternity hospital or a separate standalone clinic.

The citizens also heard a lot about how the abortion pill is changing the termination landscape; that, despite its illegality, between January 2010 and December 2015, 5,650 women from the island of Ireland consulted the Women on Web website, which supplies the abortion pill. Might there be a suggestion that should be legalised?

Judge Mary Laffoy at the Citizens Assembly

The contentious amendment was inserted into the Constitution in 1983 and guarantees to protect the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn.

Well never know, but its difficult to imagine how Judge Laffoy could have anything but mixed feelings as she hands over the report to the joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution  a group that is as big as it is ungainly, that is hugely divided before it even begins its work, and where no one appears to have a real clue as to how things might end up. Or, if they do, they are not saying.

Based on the Assembly report, their job is to examine possible referendum wordings, and the legislative options outlining the circumstances in which abortion could be allowed. Judge Laffoy is due to appear before an early meeting of the committee.

What we already know is that we are going to have an abortion referendum next year. What happens between this and then is, without doubt going to be rather tortuous.

The committee held its first meeting last week. The word is that, minutes before it was due to start, a call came through to Fine Gael senator Catherine Noone that she was to be its chair.

Up to that point, everyone had believed it would be Fine Gale senator Jerry Buttimer, who has done a fine job of chairing the Oireachtas committee that held hearings on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill four years ago.

The last-minute change was seen as a move by a new Taoiseach stung by criticism over gender balance in his Cabinet. Ms Noone, who has said that she is moderately pro-choice, may well do an excellent job, but she is faced with a very large and polarised committee of 21 members.

Apparently at that first meeting she had the very able and very conservative senator Ronan Mullen attempting to run rings around her, not least with suggestions that a letter of censure be sent to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for having the temerity to have already said there would be a referendum.

Ms Noone has to juggle, for instance, the beliefs of the likes of Mr Mullen and Independent TD Mattie McGrath on one side and pro-choice committee members Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger and Fine Gaels Kate OConnell, whose take on abortion is as early as possible and as late as necessary.

The committee is considered to have a majority in favour of liberalising in some shape the States strict abortion laws. Between them, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail do have a majority. In time the Government will make known a position to its TDs and senators  as is the way of these things.

However, neither Fine Gael nor Fianna Fail members are subject to a party whip here so they are allowed to vote with their conscience. Thus, there is no guarantee of an outcome, especially as there are very different views even within each party grouping.

There are a significant number who did not even want to be on the committee in the first place. They believe it to be a poisoned chalice that will bring serious abuse down on their heads, not just from those who are anti-abortion but also those involved in the Repeal the 8th campaign. Social media has brought the potential for this to new heights.

The committee will begin public hearings in September, when the clock officially starts on its three-month deadline to make recommendations and come up with draft legislation around proposed wording for a referendum.

Over its five weekends of discussion on this, the members of the Citizens Assembly heard from 25 experts and from 17 advocacy groups and representative organisations, putting in almost 90 hours in the process. All of that is available to be viewed or read online. The Assembly also received 13,500 submissions from the public.

It would be utterly daft if the committee attempts to reinvent those particular wheels.

But even if just a few witnesses are to be invited there is likely to be skin and hair flying, with both sides crying foul at every turn on who they should be. Should whatever witnesses are called have to endure being questioned by all 21 members, for example?

The Citizens Assembly voted by a resounding majority of 87% that the eighth amendment had to go; after that they proceeded to vote on the availability of abortion in the State in a range of circumstances, surprisingly liberal, which would mean significant change to the regime as it currently exists in relation to pregnancy termination.

The members voted that the eighth amendment be replaced with a constitutional provision that gives power to the Oireachtas to legislate to address abortion, any rights of the unborn and any rights of the pregnant woman.

Having heard and digested the legal submissions the assembly members, it would appear, wanted to ensure that abortion legislation would be safe from constitutional challenge.

This is what they wanted to hand over to legislators  the responsibility for passing abortion law. Its impossible to predict what will occur at this committee, where both sides are in their trenches looking across from each other, with some in the middle.

The 99 citizens were representative of the census, with the youngest at 20 and the eldest in their 70s, and an even gender spread. Initially they were indeed representative of the general population. But they no longer are. To use that awful phrase, they went on a journey and, having carried out their task so assiduously on all our behalves, they came to the conclusions that they did.

It is the job now of the committee to attempt to do similarly, to understand how they reached those conclusions, to hear and understand the evidence, and then make their own decisions.
Saudi Arabias King Salman has just replaced the 57-year-old Muhammad bin Nayif with his 31-year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman, as crown prince, completing a process of power centralisation that began with Salmans accession to the throne in January 2015.

Prince Mohammed, commonly known as MBS in Western circles, is the kings favourite son. By appointing him as crown prince, King Salman, who is now 81, has signalled a clear break from a decades-old tradition of building consensus among the leading sons of the Saudi states founder, the late King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud.

In structural terms, Saudi Arabia is no longer a power-sharing gerontocracy. It has returned to the absolute monarchy that it was under Ibn Saud himself. Power is concentrated entirely in the hands of the king, who has now delegated most of it to his son, the new crown prince.

In practical terms, MBSs rise will streamline decision-making, and mitigate the political risks that are inherent in any system of multiple, competing power centres.

There is now absolute clarity on the questions of succession and where power lies. But while this new arrangement certainly has its advantages, it also has potential pitfalls, because far-reaching decisions could go unquestioned and unchallenged.

When Salman dies, MBS will become king, and will most likely rule Saudi Arabia for many decades, leaving his imprint on the countrys social, religious, and economic life.

Saudi Arabias King Salman

His rise to power  which started in 2009, when he became an adviser to his father, who was then governor of Riyadh Province  has been meteoric. But being named crown prince is his most impressive achievement to date. MBS has won a race to the throne that included hundreds of princes, most of whom are older and more experienced  and all of whom feel entitled to rule.

To be sure, the kings favouritism clearly gave MBS a leg up; but that alone does not explain his success. MBS had to rely on his wit, guile, and force of personality to consolidate power and assert his authority over key sectors of Saudi society.

These include the royal family itself; the bureaucracy and technocratic elites; the media and intelligentsia; the massive national oil company, Saudi Aramco; and the religious establishment and its various institutions.

Moreover, MBS managed all of this while still formally adhering to the Saudi royal familys strict protocols and elaborate codes of hierarchy. This helps to explain why the transition from one crown prince to another appeared to go so smoothly.

In a widely distributed video clip, MBS can be seen falling to his knees to kiss the hand of the just-dismissed incumbent crown prince. But it is Nayif who formally offers his allegiance to MBS, leaving no doubt about where power lies.

MBSs second great achievement has been in foreign policy, where he has been able to prove his capabilities to his father. MBS took the initiative to reach out to US president Donald Trump and his team immediately after the US presidential election in November 2016, and his efforts paid off, culminating in Mr Trumps visit to Riyadh last month.

Trumps visit was a major victory for Saudi Arabia. US-Saudi relations had reached a nadir during former US president Barack Obamas tenure, but they have now been reset.

During his visit, Mr Trump emphasised the importance of the US-Saudi strategic relationship, offered his full support in Saudi Arabias rivalry with Iran for regional primacy, and signed various business and investment deals that are said to be worth many billions of dollars.

MBS, who is nothing if not ambitious, has set two broad goals for Saudi Arabia. The first, which he outlines in a programme called Vision 2030, is to diversify the Saudi economy, by reducing its heavy dependence on oil revenues, and creating good jobs outside of the oil sector.

MBS is convinced that Saudi Arabias vast oil reserves will be far less valuable in the future, owing to the rise of alternative fuels and renewable-energy technologies.

Under Vision 2030, MBS will try to monetise the upfront value of Saudi Arabias oil reserves as much as possible. These proceeds will then be allocated to developing the countrys non-oil sectors, and invested in offshore assets to offset the inevitable loss in oil revenues. To that end, MBS is keen on privatising part of Saudi Aramco through an initial public offering in 2018.

MBSs second major goal is to turn Saudi Arabia into a regional military hegemon that can stand up to external threats, not least Iran. To do this, he will have to make his country far less dependent on US military protection, on which it has relied since 1945.

It will take a decade or more to accomplish each of the new crown princes goals. But now that MBSs power base is finally secure, he seems to have every intention of carrying them out.

Bernard Haykel is Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and the co-editor (with Thomas Hegghammer and Stephane Lacroix) of Saudi Arabia in Transition.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2017.
So what to do? Its not like they want to come with you for days of downward dog in primitive conditions up a Portuguese mountain; they think yoga is for losers, plus theres no wifi. And as a lone parent, the whole idea of a few days doing yoga up a mountain is to leave everything behind  especially the dogs and teenagers. Who have, respectively, fleas and exams.

Just go, will you, they say in exasperation. Stop overthinking it. What do you think we are going to do?

I am about to launch into a tirade of everything from both legal and illegal highs to prematurely making me a grandmother when I remember who I am talking to  Generation Sensible. The eldest one has dinner parties. She puts olives in bowls when her friends come over. She holds the hair of puking classmates at parties, and makes them tea afterwards. There is nothing to worry about. Or at least, this is the clever facade she presents, and one which I wholly embrace because its easier than imagining my house being overrun in my absence by a Facebook-advertised party.

The other one requires threats, however. If you bunk off school, I will put your iPhone on eBay and your PS4 out for the binmen. And yet throwing down threats to a teenage boy, pumped up on Lynx, Stormzy, and KFC, is like that bull-torturer who tripped over his own cape. It wont end well. Instead, a combination of surveillance and bribery might be the thing.

The late AA Gill wrote how there is no parenting situation that cannot be improved by the proffering of a crisp tenner  or multiples thereof, if you are dealing with a brand-oriented teen. First, I mention a sum. Not a huge sum, but enough for some brand new branded leisure wear, to don when hanging out at the chicken shop, thus gaining maximum respeck from his peers, innit. (My second child is very, um, street.)

We negotiate. He will turn up at school on time, and refrain from sharing his true feelings about any of his teachers directly to their faces. He will return home from school at a reasonable hour, and repeat this pattern for three school days, in return for cash money. We shake hands. He looks pleased with himself, as though he has just conned an old lady out of her pension. Dont forget, I warn him, I will be checking the school website every day to make sure you are maintaining your side of the bargain. Whatevs, he says. (I will be doing no such thing  why ruin a nice break with news of distant detentions?) I call a taxi for the airport, punching the air as I go.
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A 27-year-old man was injured in a shooting near Rupert Bell Park late Sunday evening, according to a release from Winston-Salem police.

Shortly before 9 p.m., dispatchers received a call that a man with a gun was seen at the park at 1501 Mount Zion Place. As officers responded, more calls came in that multiple shots had been fired in the area.

Officers found Dezmond Ramon Grooms of the 1300 block of Dublin Court lying in the street with a gunshot wound to his upper thigh.

Grooms was receiving medical care for his injuries; the release did not indicate his condition nor where he was receiving treatment.

Anyone with any information is asked to call police at 336-773-7700 or Crimestoppers at 336-727-2800.
RALEIGH  The leader of the NAACP in North Carolina says he will remain in the role until his term ends in October, rather than step down this month as planned.

The Rev. William Barber said Sunday he will remain president until his replacement is elected at the NAACP's convention. He announced plans last month to leave the post in June after 12 years at the helm to concentrate on a poor people's campaign organizing in states nationwide.

State NAACP leaders last week called on Barber to reconsider, saying he's needed as a "unifying voice" following U.S. Supreme Court's decisions that upheld lower-court rulings that Republicans illegally drew dozens of districts based on race after the 2010 Census.

Barber reiterates he will not seek another term as president, but he will stay his entire term "for the stability of the movement in these transitional moments."

Barber said the Supreme Court's decisions and the possibility of drawing new lines and a potential special election this year "were not in the landscape" when he made his initial announcement.

"We are living in serious times, and because I have heard a call from people who are committed to these serious times, I'm willing to do my part," he said.

Leaders of the new Poor People's Campaign said in a joint statement they support Barber's decision, saying what happens in North Carolina "will be vital to a moral revolution" across the country.

Barber had already planned to remain on the NAACP's national board of directors and remain as pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro.
WASHINGTON  The health-care bill that Republicans are trying to pass in the Senate, like the one approved by the GOP majority in the House, isnt really about health care at all. Its the first step in a massive redistribution of wealth from struggling wage-earners to the rich  a theft of historic proportions.

Is the Senate version less mean than the House bill, to use President Trumps description of that earlier effort? Not really. Does the new bill have the heart that Trump demanded? No, it doesnt. The devil is not in the details, its in the big picture.

Fundamentally, what Republicans in both chambers want to do is cut nearly $1 trillion over the next decade from the Medicaid program, which presently serves almost 70 million people. Medicaid provides health care not just for the indigent and disabled but also for the working poor  low-wage employees who cannot afford health insurance, even the plans offered through their jobs.

Additionally, about 20 percent of Medicaid spending goes to provide nursing home care, including for middle-class seniors whose savings have been exhausted  a situation almost any of us might confront. Roughly two-thirds of those in nursing homes have their care paid by Medicaid.

Why would Republicans want to slash this vital program so severely? You will hear a lot of self-righteous huffing and puffing about the need for entitlement reform, but the GOPs intention is not to use the savings to pay down the national debt. Instead, slashing Medicaid spending creates fiscal headroom for what is euphemistically being called tax reform  a soon-to-come package of huge tax cuts favoring the wealthy.

Thats the basic equation in both the House and Senate bills: Medicaid for tax cuts. Both bills start with various of the taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act, but those are mere appetizers. The main course is intended to be big cuts in individual and corporate tax rates that would benefit the rich.

There is no other point to this whole exercise. All the Obamacare is in a death spiral talk is Republican wishful thinking, aided and abetted by active sabotage.

The ACA is far from perfect, but recall that it was designed with input from the insurance industry. The main reason so many insurers are pulling out of the program is that Congress and GOP-dominated state governments refuse to live up to their end of the bargain. Congress will not commit to funding promised subsidies to cover treatment for the poor and those with expensive ailments, or to keeping in place the mandate forcing individuals to buy insurance or pay a penalty. Republican governors and state legislatures refused to set up exchanges that would make insurance more affordable and declined the opportunity to expand Medicaid coverage.

Its actually a wonder that the ACA works as well as it does, given the GOPs determination to make it fail.

Neither the House nor the Senate bill fully dismantles the scaffolding of Obamacare; rather, they allow the states to do most of the dirty work. Philosophically, Republican majorities in both chambers want to erase the central concept that the ACA established: that health care is a fundamental right, not a privilege depending on ones income.

Like the House, the Senate wants to offer tax credits rather than subsidies to help the needy afford insurance. Like the House, the Senate wants to leave up to the states whether policies must cover such services as emergency, maternity and mental health care. Like the House, the Senate wants to eliminate the requirement that large employers offer insurance plans to their workers.

There are a few distinctions, though I wouldnt call them real differences. The Senate would determine who gets tax credits to help buy insurance by income, rather than age. And the Senate bill would take more time to phase out the ACAs expansion of Medicaid coverage; despite claims that this represents heart, it may have less to do with compassion than skewing how the bill is scored by the Congressional Budget Office. This pigs lipstick is being applied with a trowel.

Ultimately, however, the impact is the same: sacrificing Medicaid for tax cuts. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had the bill drafted in strict secrecy and hopes to ram it through as early as next week. The ACA, by contrast, was drafted over the course of a year, with more than 100 public hearings.

Does McConnell have the votes? Wavering senators should know that were not fooled. We see exactly what youre doing  and you should expect to be held fully accountable.
For almost two years now, victims of North Carolinas forced sterilization program who qualified for compensation have been waiting for their third and final payment. With almost all appeals exhausted, that time may rightly be here.

From the Great Depression through the fall of Nixon, the Eugenics Board of North Carolina, in one of the most aggressive programs in the country, rendered barren more than 7,600 men, women and children. The board, often acting on flimsy evidence, determined these people were mentally or physically deficient.

The 2002 Journal investigative series Against Their Will lifted the curtain on the brutal inner workings of the program. Former state Rep. Larry Womble of Winston-Salem long fought for compensation, as did the Journal editorial board. Victims who have suffered from mental and physical pain from their sterilizations told their stories on our opinion pages.

The state legislative approved compensation in 2013, the first in the nation to do so. Virginia followed suit, and other states are likely to compensate as well.

The North Carolina delay has been caused by appeals from heirs of victims who did not qualify for compensation. But Thursday, a key lawyer for those survivors, Elizabeth Haddix, told the Journal in an email that Our clients have decided not to seek further review by the N.C. Supreme Court. Although the forced sterilization of their loved ones hurt them personally and impacted their lives forever, their goal has always been to honor their loved ones, whose most fundamental rights were violated by the states eugenics program. They have honored them with these appeals.

The legislature should consider whether these heirs should be compensated. Heirs whose cases met a legal timeframe set up by the legislature are being compensated, as are living victims.

Now, the most important thing is for the state to get the qualified victims their final payment, which should bring their total compensation to more than $40,000 each. No amount of money can ever replace what the state, playing God, took. But money is one big way we admit wrongdoing and settle scores in this country. The final payment should go out soon.
WASHINGTON  The end of the Supreme Court term looms, and with it the prospect  the terrifying prospect  of a retirement. Specifically, the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who will turn 81 next month and is the longest-serving current justice, named to the high court almost 30 years ago.

So if Kennedy is inclined to retire, it is hard to begrudge him that choice. But his departure would be terrible for the court and terrible for the country. It could not come at a worse time. Any court vacancy these days, under a president of either party, triggers a battle between liberal and conservative forces. Kennedy's retirement would unleash nomination Armageddon, given the pivotal role he plays on the closely divided court and the feral political environment.

To understand the impact of Kennedy's departure, just look back to his selection to fill the seat vacated by Justice Lewis Powell. Like Kennedy now, Powell was the ultimate swing justice; his was the key fifth vote for liberals on issues including abortion rights and affirmative action, topics as charged then as they are today.

President Reagan's original choice to take Powell's place was conservative federal appeals court judge Robert Bork. The ferocious confirmation fight that ensued  and resulted in Bork's rejection  still echoes in today's unceasing warfare over judicial nominations. Kennedy's unanimous confirmation  he was Reagan's third choice, after Douglas Ginsburg's nomination fizzled over reports that he smoked marijuana with law students  calmed only the immediate furor.

Imagine, then, a Kennedy retirement in this partisan and unstable political landscape. It could make the Bork fight look like a kindergarten squabble. With President Trump under investigation by the special counsel and his approval rating mired below 40 percent, his incentive may be to cater to his base with a pick as far to the right as possible, an instinct enabled by the Republicans' move, during the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch, to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.

Justice Kennedy, perhaps it is unfair to pile all this onto your shoulders, but is it really wise to subject an already divided country to even more turbulence?

And to another nomination by this president, with his evident ignorance of the role of the judiciary and disdain for judicial independence?

Your career has been characterized by insistence on civility, respect for the dignity of all individuals, and commitment to the rule of law  qualities absent in our president. Just read Trump's tweets and ask yourself: Do I really want my successor named by this man?

No need to look back to the campaign, and his repugnant comments about the "Mexican" judge presiding over the Trump University fraud lawsuit. Just consider the president's tweets about judicial rulings in the case that has now reached your own court. He blasted the "so-called judge"; assailed "slow and political" courts; and, most alarming, suggested that blood would be on the judiciary's hands if a terrorist incident took place while his travel ban was being delayed.

The hearing didn't get much attention, but consider, too, the Trump appellate court nominees who came before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. One, Kentucky lawyer John Bush, nominated to the 6th Circuit, posted pseudonymous writings on a political blog that touched on President Obama's Kenyan heritage; referred to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as "Mama Pelosi" and suggested that someone should "gag the House speaker." In another post, Bush described slavery and abortion as "the two greatest tragedies in our country" and said they "relied on similar reasoning and activist justices at the U.S. Supreme Court, first in the Dred Scott decision, and later in Roe." Query whether you, Justice Kennedy, would count as one of those activist judges, having joined the controlling opinion that kept Roe from being overturned in 1992?

Another nominee, Damien Schiff, nominated to the Court of Federal Claims, used a different blog to denounce anti-bullying efforts for "teaching 'gayness' in public schools," and criticize the court's ruling in Lawrence v. Texas  that's your ruling, Justice Kennedy  striking down state laws criminalizing homosexual sodomy.

Oh, and also, to observe that "it would seem that Justice Kennedy is (and please excuse the language) a judicial prostitute, 'selling' his vote as it were to four other justices in exchange for the high that comes from aggrandizement of power and influence, and the blandishments of the fawning media and legal academy."

Justice Kennedy, does the president who chose this man really deserve to name your replacement?

The Washington Post
This year's Nov. 8 election didn't present any unforeseen outcomes, at least as it pertains to Dorchester County Council races. However, the competition between Republican Rita May Ranck and Democrat Carlisle Harrison was one of the more thrilling ones in the State, as the latter temporarily Read moreNewly elected Councilmember Rita May Ranck ready to 'work' and 'listen'
The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday agreed to review [opinion, PDF] the Trump administrations travel ban, partially lifting the temporary injunction that had blocked the bans enforcement. The administration sought review [JURIST report] of decisions issued by the US Courts of Appeal for the Fourth and Ninth Circuits [official websites] last month. The Supreme Courts order permits execution of the travel ban, but it may not be enforced against an individual seeking admission as a refugee who can credibly claim a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. The opinion, which was delivered per curiam, states that the lower courts injunctions:

bar enforcement of [the travel ban] against foreign nationals abroad who have no connection to the United States at all. The equities relied on by the lower courts do not balance the same way in that context. Denying entry to such a foreign national does not burden any American party by reason of that partys relationship with the foreign national. And the courts below did not conclude that exclusion in such circumstances would impose any legally relevant hardship on the foreign national himself. So whatever burdens may result from enforcement of [the ban] against a foreign national who lacks any connection to this country, they are, at a minimum, a good deal less concrete than the hardships identified by the courts below.

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, dissented in part by asserting that the preliminary injunctions entered in these cases should be stayed, although I would stay them in full.

Cases concerning issues of immigration from predominantly Muslim countries continue to be processed in the Federal Judiciary. Last week the US District Court for the Western District of Washington [official website] denied in part [JURIST report] and granted in part a motion to dismiss a class action suit filed against President Donald Trump [official profile] and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) [official website]. On Thursday the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan [official website] temporarily blocked [JURIST report] the deportation of more than 100 Iraq nationals, arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] agents, for approximately two weeks, during which time the court will decide whether it has jurisdiction in the matter. Earlier this month the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled against [JURIST report; case materials] the majority of Trumps revised executive order limiting travel from six Muslim-majority countries. That ruling affirmed [JURIST report] the majority of a district court injunction in March that blocked the order from being enforced. In May a federal district court in Washington granted a temporary restraining order [JURIST report] to allow legal aid groups to continue to provide certain kinds of assistance to undocumented immigrants. Five days prior a Michigan federal district court ordered [JURIST report] the Trump administration to disclose the draft of the so-called Muslim ban executive order.
The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] 7-2 Monday in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer [SCOTUSblog materials] that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources policy of excluding religious organizations from receiving grants violates the First Amendment. The Department offers grants to public and private schools and daycares to resurface playgrounds with material made from recycled tires. Trinity Lutheran Church applied for a grant for its preschool and daycare center but was denied because it was a religious entity. In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court held that the policy violates the Establishment Clause:

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has not subjected anyone to chains or torture on account of religion. And the result of the States policy is nothing so dramatic as the denial of political office. The consequence is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees. But the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.

Roberts appeared to attempt to limit the holding to the facts of this case in footnote 3, but Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch did not join as to that note. Thomas filed a concurring opinion, joined by Gorsuch, and Gorsuch filed a concurring opinion, joined by Thomas. Justice Stephen Breyer also filed a concurring opinion. Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined.

The court heard arguments in this case in April after granting certiorari [JURIST report] last year. The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit had ruled in favor [opinion, PDF] of the Departments policy.
New York City, NY, 06/26/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

Its a mix-up that could have had deadly consequences. Media reports state that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently released a report about a serious pilot error that took place in July 2016.

Instead of landing at Rapid City Regional Airport in South Dakota, the plane landed six miles away at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

The report says that two pilots flying a Delta Air Lines flight with 129 people on board landed at the wrong airport. According to a BBC report, The [NTSB] blamed Deltas two pilots for not using all the instruments at their disposal to determine their location.

The plane was forced to remain at the incorrect airport for two hours while officials sorted out the mistake. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.

Officials from the NTSB also stated that the mistake could have been caused by the similarities in the runways, which both face northwest to southeast and have compass headings that are only 10 degrees apart.

Reports also state that the error is fairly common among pilots approaching the two airports, however, flight crews and air traffic controllers usually catch the mistake before a plane actually lands in the wrong location. Reports also say that two other incorrect landings occurred in 2004 and 2015. In the 2004 case, a Northwest Airlines jet landed at the wrong airport. The 2004 incident involved a small private plane.

According to an ABC News report, statistics from the 1990s and onward show that at least 150 flights have either landed at the incorrect airport or started to land and realized their mistake in time to correct it.

NY Airline Accident Lawyer Discusses Pilot Errors

New York aviation accident lawyer Jonathan C. Reiter states, Pilot error is the leading cause of aviation accidents. One study revealed that human factors have been responsible for 74 commercial aviation accidents since 2005. When pilots make mistakes, hundreds of lives are on the line. When it comes to flying, the margin of error is extremely narrow.

Other industry experts claim that up to 85 percent of aviation accidents are due to pilot error.

Pilot error is a top factor in commercial aviation as well as general aviation. The Colgan Air commuter plane accident near Buffalo that killed 50 people in 2009 was caused by a fatigued pilot, lapses in pilot training, and scheduling problems  all issues that could have been avoided.

When an aviation accident occurs, survivors and the loved ones of those involved often dont know where to turn for help. If you were injured on an airline, or you have lost a loved one in an aviation accident, dont wait to get legal guidance in your case. Discuss your claim with an experienced New York City aviation accident lawyer today.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40176462 http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/federal-investigators-blame-pilot-wrong-airport-landing-47863139 http://www.denverpost.com/2010/02/13/human-error-is-biggest-obstacle-to-100-percent-flight-safety/ https://www.avbuyer.com/articles/business-aviation-insurance/85-of-aviation-accidents-are-caused-by-pilot-error-28950

Media Contact:

New York airline accident lawyer Jonathan C. Reiter. T: 866-324-9211.

source: http://injuryaccidentnews.jcreiterlaw.com/2017/06/23/airline-accident-lawyer-discusses-pilot-landing-wrong-airport/

Social Media Tags:airline accident, Airline Accident Lawyer, NY Airline Accident Lawyer, Pilot Errors, Pilot Landing at Wrong Airport

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Dallas, Texas, 06/26/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

In December 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a final rule requiring semi-trucks to switch from paper logs to electronic logging devices (ELDs).

The rule is being rolled out in stages, so not every semi-truck driver must comply right away. However, the majority of truckers must have an ELD on board by December 18, 2017.

The purpose of ELDs is to cut down on errors  intentional or otherwise  on old fashioned paper logs. Truck drivers are dangerous behind the wheel when they drive without enough sleep. ELDs, which log hours automatically through a computer system, are designed to prevent drivers and carriers from breaking federal hours of service rules.

However, the FMCSAs rule has been challenged and now the U.S. Supreme Court must decide if it will hear the challenge.

SCOTUS May Decide Whether to Hear ELD Case Soon

After the ELD rule was passed, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed a lawsuit against the Department of Transportation challenging the rule. Filed in a lower federal court in March 2016, the lawsuit asks the court to overturn the rule. The drivers association claims that the rule violates truckers Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches.

The lawsuit also makes a slippery slope argument, claiming that the introduction of electronic recording devices could open the door to intrusive monitoring in other industries.

However, the drivers association hasnt had much luck with this argument. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of the FMCSA and against the drivers association.

The U.S. Supreme Court could decide by June 8, 2017 whether it will hear the case. The Supreme Court receives around 10,000 petitions each year. If four out of the nine justices believe the case is worth hearing, the Court will take it on.

Out of all the petitions the Court receives, it only hears about 75 to 85 cases a year. If the Court believes the outcome of the case will impact the entire nation, or that the issue involved in the case is one that truly needs settling on a national level, the court will most likely take it on.

Texas Truck Wreck Lawyer Discusses ELDs

Texas truck wreck lawyer Amy Witherite states: Electronic logging devices are already installed in thousands of semi-trucks operating on the highways today. Because ELDs start recording data any time the trucks engine is running, they eliminate many of the hours of service violations that lead to serious and deadly accidents. The bottom line is that anything that makes semi-trucks safer is an important step forward in the quest to bring the truck accident rate down to zero.

If you have been injured in a semi-truck accident, contact a knowledgeable Texas truck wreck lawyer today. Protect your important legal rights by working with a legal team that understands semi-truck wrecks and how to keep your life running.

Media Contact

Lucy Tiseo

Eberstein Witherite, LLP

Phone: 800-878-2597

Email: [email protected]

www.1800truckwreck.com

Connect with Eberstein Witherite on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Sources:

http://landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=33433#.WSyJntzauCg https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-service/elds/electronic-logging-devices http://judiciallearningcenter.org/the-us-supreme-court/

source: http://www.1800truckwreck.com/texas-truck-accident-lawyer-discusses-possibility-scotus-hearing-electronic-log-device-eld-case.html

Social Media Tags:Electronic Log Device Case, Electronic Logging Devices, Texas truck accident, Texas truck accident lawyer

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ANSLEY  As Ansley farmer Guy Mills Jr. grew frustrated with his inability to get the tools and instructions he needs to repair his farm equipment, he decided to raise public awareness of the issue.

He wrote op-ed pieces for the Custer County Chief and a resolution the Custer County Corn Growers adopted to send to the Nebraska Corn Growers Association. The resolution also was picked up by Nebraska Farm Bureau.

Mills never could have imagined that joining what is being called the Right to Repair movement would lead to an interview for a TIME magazine story published in the July 3 edition along with two photos: one with the two-page story that shows him ready to cultivate his corn and one on the index page in the cornfield with his son, James.

In a down time in agriculture, farmers get by doing as much of the repairs as possible ourselves, Mills told the Hub this morning. New technologies and copyright laws allowing manufacturers to protect their intellectual property have made that more difficult.

Mills became aware of the problem after buying a new John Deere tractor about three years ago. Thats when James started reading information that came with it and said, Hey Dad, do you realize you dont own your own tractor?

They found information on the copyright restrictions in Wired magazine, and relayed them to officials of the Nebraska and National Corn Growers association.

Mills, who serves on the state growers board, said a big part of the issue is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The update in U.S. copyright law that was passed by Congress in 1998 and took effect in October 2000 was done, in part to better protect intellectual property.

Mills and other farmers told TIME writer Alex Fitzpatrick that equipment manufacturers make it difficult for consumers and independent repair shops to get the tools needed to fix todays high-tech tractors and other heavy machinery that runs on copyright-protected software. That means they often are directed to company-approved technicians miles away from the farm, which can be costly in time and money.

If you have a bad alternator, they connect a computer to your tractor and it tells them the alternator is bad, Mills told TIME. Before, there were other signs. Is the battery dead? Do you have lights? Just by looking at it and using deductive reasoning, you figured things out.

Mills told the Hub he once had a problem with a 24-row planter that was skipping spots in the field, even though the monitor revealed no problems. A technician who couldnt find the problem went on the Internet and learned from posts by other farmers that the problem was a valve in the arm rest.

As the right to repair movement has grown to many types of technologies, there have been arguments between advocates and manufacturers such as John Deere and Apple.

Mills said legislators in Nebraska and several other states are looking at changing state laws to require manufacturers to make their diagnostic and repair tools available for equipment owners and independent repair providers to purchase.

State Sen. Lydia Brasch of Bancroft introduced such legislation, LB67, in the 2017 session of the Unicameral. Mills said it started in the Ag Committee, was moved to the Judiciary Committee and then stalled along with almost every other non-budget bill.

His link to TIME started with a Boston Globe story on the right to repair issue, which raised the interest of TIME editors who originally thought it involved only Apple and similar technology providers. After realizing it also was a problem for farmers, the TIME reporter was directed by other sources to Mills public education efforts.

I agreed, but I had stipulations, Mills said, because he knew about another area farmer who wasnt treated fairly by TIME in the past.

Mills said he had typed comments to read for his phone interview with Fitzpatrick, who works for TIME in New York City.

When photographer Benjamin Rasmussen came to the Mills farm June 19, they discovered that Rasmussen knows Mills cousin. Both the cousin and Rasmussens family had been missionaries in The Philippines.

That was a big plus, Mills said, in making him comfortable around the TIME photographer.

I think its favorable, he said about the TIME story.

Although Mills issues have been with John Deere because thats the brand of equipment he uses, he emphasized that the right to repair issue involves all brands across many high-tech industries.

Im not out against John Deere. I have to have them if my tractor breaks down. Were all in this together, Mills said.
LINCOLN  Saturday as she announced her bid for a second six-year term in the U.S. Senate, Deb Fischer also named campaign chairs in all of Nebraskas 93 counties.

I am honored to have the support of so many local leaders as I launch my campaign for re-election, Fischer said. Together, we will work to share my strong record of fighting for Nebraskans to limit government and strengthen our local communities. I am proud to have such widespread support and look forward to visiting with Nebraskans over the course of the campaign, Fischer said.
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Gasoline prices have been trending downward in the month of June, with motorists throughout the Kenosha area paying a low of about $2.10 per gallon for regular unleaded fuel Sunday.

On average, Kenosha County is at $2.19 per gallon, holding steady for the weekend, according to Gasbuddy.com, which monitors gasoline prices throughout the state and nation.

Prices were down about 3.9 cents a gallon compared with last week and down 17.5 cents to the gallon compared with last month, in which the average was $2.36 gallon.

Compared with last year, gas prices have dropped 27.1 cents, according to the website.

Whether the prices continue to dip, however, depends on the demand as the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaches. According to AAA, Independence Day is expected to see a record-breaking 44.2 million Americans who will travel 50 miles or farther from home between June 30 and July 4, whether on land, sea or in the air  or about 1.25 million more travelers compared with 2016.

Travel officials with AAA attributed the projected increased travel to a combination of factors.

Combined, strong employment, rising incomes and higher consumer confidence bode well for the travel industry, in particular this Independence Day weekend, said Bill Sutherland, AAA senior vice president for travel and publishing.

Motorists reactions at the pump as to whether they foresaw more travel this summer were mixed at the Kwik Trip on Highway 50, however.

No, it doesnt matter to me, Patrick Cerney, of Schaumburg, Ill., who regularly visits his son in Kenosha. I fill up here, though, because its a lot cheaper than filling up in Illinois.

Bill Wagie, of Wauwatosa, said he, too, was not doing more traveling.

With oil prices falling as of last week, Wagie said he expected the gasoline prices to fall.

Were doing normal travel, he said. But, I love the low prices.

Simlarly, Curt Schmid, of Pleasant Prairie, appreciated the lower prices but said he wasnt doing any more travel than he usually does.

No. But it sure makes the paycheck go farther, he said.

Dre Anderson, of Germantown, said with the gasoline prices plummeting, he planned to travel more between Illinois and Wisconsin to visit family and friends. He had just attended a wedding in Lake Geneva, and Kenosha is a meeting point for him to see his son.

Id say definitely, he said. After Fourth of July, I plan to go out of town to visit some friends in Kansas City.

Lou Perrine, who owns gasoline and convenience stores of the same name in Kenosha, said that its hard to say whether gasoline prices are inducing more motorists to take trips out of town. Anecdotally, however, Perrine has heard from customers whove told him they plan to travel more this summer.

They have said they plan to do more out-of-town traveling than they have in the past, he said. A lot more people will be doing that. Theyre going to be doing more of that this summer than last summer.

Perrine said gas consumption overall is down.

I think thats the reason the gas prices have been dropping, said Perrine, where regular unleaded was at $2.09 per gallon. The barrel has been dropping and that affects the gas prices.

The economy is doing well and that is also contributing to more people traveling, he said.

They feel more comfortable spending money on traveling, he said.

Another indication, said Perrine is that hes selling more permits, such as fishing licenses and park permits, that he sells on-site for the state of Wisconsin.

Were getting a rush of parks up north that weve never had before for that...you have to drive to get up there, he said. Thats a sign that people are traveling more or looking to travel more that theyre asking for park permits.

Perrine said typically he sells two or three in a month. This month, hes already sold a dozen.
LINCOLN  Nebraska fireworks retailers are scrambling to set up shop in Iowa because it lifted its ban last month and are brushing aside concerns that the new policy could hurt sales at their existing shops along the border.

Retailers said they're excited to expand into the new market after former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed a law last month to legalize bottle rockets, Roman candles and other consumer fireworks. Iowa banned fireworks in the 1930s in response to fires that caused widespread damage.

Iowans have traditionally bought fireworks in neighboring states that allow them  primarily in Missouri, which offers year-round sales, but also in the Omaha area and South Sioux City, which lets retailers sell them for several days around July 4.

Unlike Missouri's shops in small, isolated border towns that rely on Iowa customers, though, Nebraska retailers say they're already located in cities large enough to support their businesses. Many are part of regional chains that set up tents in multiple states.

"We're pretty excited about the opportunities in Iowa," said Vince Bellino, manager at the Papillion-based Bellino Fireworks. "It's a growth market for us. It's going to affect some of our Nebraska business, but not much."

Bellino said 10 to 15 percent of his Omaha-area business comes from Iowa, but the company now plans to open temporary stands in Council Bluffs, Sioux City and Clarinda near Iowa's western border.

Dan Williams, owner of Wild Willy's Fireworks in Springfield, opened five new stands in western and central Iowa and expects to erect more in the future.

Williams said he and others in the industry had to hurry because the law passed just a month before sales were allowed to begin. Iowa retailers can now sell consumer fireworks out of temporary structures from June 13 through July 8 each year, which is a much bigger window than Nebraska's.

"The potential there is huge," Williams said.

Kirk Myers, owner of Crete-based Kracklin' Kirks Fireworks, said Iowa's decision to allow fireworks should help the whole industry in the region.

Myers said he believes many potential Iowa customers were reluctant to buy even out-of-state fireworks because they didn't want to violate the state's ban.

"I'm not seeing a lot of negatives," said Myers, who owns stores throughout central and eastern Nebraska. "The overall pie is going to get considerably bigger for everyone now that it's legal."

Missouri fireworks retailers on the Iowa border say it's too early to know how the new policy will affect their businesses. Many people assume the stores will lose business, but some owners note that Missouri offers cheaper prices for a variety of goods and has fewer restrictions on fireworks sales than many local governments in Iowa.

Others say they've built a loyal customer base. Many customers buy fireworks because they're on vacation and happen to be passing through Missouri, said Rob Small, the owner of Rob's Fireworks in Lancaster, Missouri, about 5 miles south of the Iowa border.

Small said he has focused heavily on customer service in his 25 years in the business, offering custom-made specialty packages that many other stores don't and housing his supply in a dehumidified brick-and-mortar building to keep it dry.

Iowa's decision could create challenges for Missouri retailers, he said, but "it's something I think we can deal with and live through."
On the wide-open plains of central Nebraska, a little more than a mile north of the Logan County line along Avenue 70, Pam Schaeffer can go days without functional internet.

On those days, her husband Rodney will walk around the house grumbling about technology as he holds up his cellphone hoping to catch a good signal so he can turn on his center-pivot irrigation system. Pam will drive 30 minutes to eat lunch in North Platte (she likes Taco Johns) so she can use the free Wi-Fi to send pictures to her grandchildren.

They pay for service through a cellular company that beams internet to their house from an antenna tower, but reception can be imperfect.

When it does work, itll let her upload snapshots, do online banking or research business plans for the new Stapleton Cooperative Market & Deli. But forget watching old "Law & Order" episodes on a computer, or video-conferencing.

It cant keep up, she said. We live on a hill, so you think it would work. But it doesn't.

While the web of internet connectivity continues to spread to rural communities, there are still many places, like the Schaeffer farm, where it lags in access, speed, price and reliability. Federal data shows there isnt a single fixed-broadband connection in Logan County capable of 25 megabits per second, a measurement of data speed known as Mbps for short.

Nearly 40 percent of rural Americans  23 million people  lack access to broadband capable of 25 Mbps downloads and 3 Mbps uploads, according to the Federal Communications Commission. In contrast, only 4 percent of urban Americans cant get those speeds.

Its a digital divide with real-world implications for attracting new businesses and encouraging the growth of existing enterprises, from online auctions of land and cattle to banking to software company startups.

For rural businesses, 25 Mbps connection means being able to make flawless video calls with clients on more than one device and download large files quickly. Itll also let you stream Netflixs 4K Ultra HD movies.

A 2015 study by researchers at Oklahoma State University, Mississippi State University and University of Texas showed rural counties with good access to broadband attracted more new businesses, had better household income growth and better employment figures than their counterparts without.

President Donald Trump pledged to bridge the digital divide last week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"I will be including a provision in our infrastructure proposal  $1 trillion proposal, youll be seeing it very shortly  to promote and foster enhanced broadband access for rural America," Trump said, according to a transcript of his comments. "We will rebuild rural America."

The pledge is music to the ears of Craig Softley, economic development coordinator for Hayes County. Softley says broadband is an infrastructure of necessity in the 21st century and the federal government should help spread it to rural areas just like telephone, electric and water projects of the past.

Softley grew up on a Perkins County farm but left the state after graduating from Grant High School in 1997. He studied mechanical engineering at Colorado School of Mines, then moved around the country doing logistics work for a variety of industries, including mining, grain processing, food manufacturing and bio-refining.

A little more than a year ago, Softley and his wife Rhea moved back home. They have five children and dreams of ranching.

Softley started a software company and his wife got a job as a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher for the Hayes Center Public Schools district.

"Internet out here is extremely expensive and extremely slow," Craig said. "We've lived all over the country. This is the most I've ever paid for the internet and it's the slowest speed I've ever had."

He pays $112 for 15 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload.

If I lived in Ogallala today, I could get a gigabyte download speed for $40 a month, he said.

Its expensive to get internet to rural communities. Industry estimates are about $30,000 per mile for fiber-optic cable, Softley said. At that cost, broadband companies need help from the government to make it worth connecting rural homes.

When they do build it, Softley said, jobs, quality of life and innovation follows.

Fiber-optic broadband connections that have pushed into rolling hills and Nebraska plains have helped attract software companies such as Atlanta-based Xpanxion Technologies, founded by Loup City native Paul Eurek, which now employs people in Kearney, Loup City and Lincoln, as well as Pune, India.

One survey of Nebraska businesses reported in a 2014 edition of the University of Nebraska-Lincolns Cornhusker Economics found more than half of the firms that responded rated the availability of broadband as either essential or important in selecting their location, and 64 percent called a fast connection essential for staying where theyre at.

A 2016 poll of rural Nebraskans found 82 percent report subscribing to internet service at home, 6 percent use only a cellphone data plan, 9 percent have neither internet nor cellphone plan and 2 percent have only dial-up internet service. The poll, which had 1,746 responses, was done by the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
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Heroic rescues: People risked their lives for animals



With all the cruelty animals suffer at the hands of humans, it's nice to see some kindness offered. And as these images from around the world prove, people are often quick to leap to the aid of a struggling creature in its time of need. One captures a heroic boy in Noakhali, Bangladesh, who jumped into a flooded river to rescue a drowning fawn. Miraculously, the baby deer was returned to its herd and ran off unscathed.Another sees a group of firefighters in Wisconsin, USA, administering an improvised version of CPR to a dog they'd just pulled from a burning house. Read More...


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Chennai

With the clampdown on quarries in Tamil Nadu, there has been an acute shortage of river sand. While manufactured sand has gained momentum, answers are also being sought beyond the seas.

In the last week of April, seven sand quarries were closed following a direction by the Madras high court. One development followed the other in the days that followed. By the end of May, the cost of river sand had nearly doubled to more than 35,000 from 8,000 a truckload in November 2016. All of this was a result of the closure of sand quarries to two from 38. There were also allegations of a racket functioning in an environment of shortage.

River sand has traditionally been an important building material in India. "However, the extensive use of this natural resource has made it scarce and limited. The indiscriminate mining of sand from river beds causes soil erosion, reduced groundwater levels and loss of agricultural productivity; it also changes the river course, and results in the destruction of local flora and fauna. It is thus important to consider viable alternatives to natural sand manufactured sand, for example," says Jaimin Desai, head design and sustainability, Mahindra Lifespaces.

This has obviously become a point of concern in the realty sector. As Suresh Jain, partner, Atikramya puts it, the sand shortage is bringing the entire infrastructure sector to a standstill, which bodes ill for the state. "Employment in the sector has come to a halt. Nothing can be done further unless some concrete steps are taken to alleviate the crisis. The quarries are there but have been shut down," he says.

Many alternatives to sand are being discussed across forums. One option that has emerged in the last one month is manufactured sand or M-sand. "Crushed sand generally costs 30-40 percent less than river sand. Additionally, manufactured sand can be produced in areas closer to construction sites, thereby reducing the cost of transportation. Additionally, manufactured sand has fewer impurities and is free from clay particles. An alternative to natural sand (apart from manufactured sand) is fly ash (a waste product of coal fired power plants)," says Jaimin.

Many realtors are now trying to explore alternatives to the use of river sand. "We have almost completed the shift to using crushed sand as a total replacement of river sand in concrete. We have focused on identifying alternatives which would minimise environmental impact and help overcome the supply disruptions that result in delays in project development. While identifying alternatives, we've ensured that we evaluate the characteristics of substitute materials for construction performance. We have worked with each value chain player to facilitate the use of alternatives at each stage of the construction process, with the overall objective of identifying better materials that enhance construction performance and reduce environmental impact," says Jaimin.

Many developers are going about business despite the increase in the cost of river sand due to acute shortage. As Chandrakant Kankaria, Director, Olympia Group puts it, over 70 percent of applications are now being executed with Msand. "We use river sand for the rest. This option wasn't explored earlier as river sand was cheaper then. But now the production of Msand has gone up. The whole point is it is better to pay up whatever is the cost and finish the project, rather than delay it. M-sand seems to be the way forward," he says.

Quality is crucial to the foundation of any structure. Though developers are using M-sand in housing projects, there are concerns still at hand. "M-Sand cannot be a replacement for river sand at all levels. You definitely need river sand for construction to ensure quality. Wherever you need rock, you need to use rock. Similarly, if river sand is required, you have to use river sand," says Jain.

Earlier this month, a proposal was mooted to import river sand from places like Malaysia and Cambodia, which are offering river sand at one-third the price in Tamil Nadu. But it is still just a proposal, according to Kankaria. Developers like Jain believe that importing sand will be the best way forward for now as the cost will come down despite it being imported. "The government has to take a call in this regard. This issue isn't as acute in other states as compared with our state. Import is the best way forward," he says.

But more needs to be done even when it comes to M-sand to make it a viable option as well. "Over a period of time, we will need more varieties of M-sand. Various grades have to enter the market," says Kankaria.

Arjun Narayanan, Times Property, The Times of India, Chennai




The ODT reports:

High country land near Queenstown, including the Remarkables, needs to be made into a national park, Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) says.

The organisation today launched its Remarkable Outdoors campaign headlined by a proposed new national park  The Remarkables National Park in the Otago Southland high-country near Queenstown.

FMC President Peter Wilson said the proposed park was a long-held dream of conservationists and recreationalists, notably Sir Alan Mark, who was one of the first to see the beauty and the botanical richness in our high-country tussock landscapes.

The proposed park would span a vast area of Otago Southland including the watersheds of the Wye, Nevis, Waikaia and Pomahaka rivers, the iconic Remarkables Mountain Range, along with the Hector / Tapuae o Uenuku, Garvie, Old Man / Kopuwai and Old Woman ranges.
Twelve pieces of fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld's haute couture collection are displayed at Chanel's Mademoiselle Prive exhibition at the D Museum, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. / Courtesy of Chanel



By Kim Jae-heun



French luxury brand Chanel will hold its second Mademoiselle Prive exhibition in Seoul until next month, following its first show in London in 2015.

The Chanel exhibition invites spectators to peek at the 100-year history of its brand house, utilizing digital technology to make the show more dynamic.

The ceiling, inspired by Gabrielle Chanel's Coromandel folding screen pattern, greets visitors and leads them to the space where the founder displays her world of aesthetics.

The ground floor, M1, showcases various installations, beginning with the Deauville room which displays boxes used for storing Chanel hats. A small room behind screens short films on Gabrielle who first opened the boutique in France in 1913.

Karl Lagerfeld's work which inherited Chanel's identity from her lucky charm, color and statues can also be found along with Korean artist Lee Ji-yong's reinterpretation of the camellia flower that Chanel loved.

The third room presents a collection of Chanel's signature perfume line, No 5. The exhibition uses bottles in a pipe organ containing materials for products, such as rose, jasmine, ylang ylang and sandalwood.

Walking one level up, the exhibition leads the viewers to the two neon-lit rooms showing 12 haute couture collection dresses designed by Largerfeld, the current creative director of the house.

Another room houses portraits of Chanel's friends photographed by Lagerfeld. Models like Kristen Stewart and Lily-Rose Depp pose in the pictures wearing Lagerfeld's dresses and limited editions of "Bijoux de Midamants," the only jewelry collection introduced by Gabrielle when she was alive. Visitors can see Chanel's precious jewelry displayed on mannequins in a glass tube including Gabrielle's most favorite diamond necklace.

The last room of the Mademoiselle Prive exhibition displays Polaroid pictures of Chanel's muses wearing "Bijoux de Midamants" collection. Pictures of Korean celebrities, including rapper G-Dragon, fashion model Soojoo and entertainer Irene Kim, are found on the sides with world-class model Caroline de Maigret's photograph.

The exhibition will be held until July 19 at the D Museum in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. It is free of charge if reserved through a Mademoiselle Prive application by phone.
By Yoon Ja-young

Two U.S. reports on its trade deficit with Korea and steel imports from here due this week are expected to increase tension between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump during their first summit, June 29.

The first report on the U.S trade deficit with 16 countries was ordered by President Trump, March 31. Considering that the order has to be executed within 90 days, the report is likely to be released anytime this week.

Korea will be included in the report along with China, Germany and Japan among the others. Korea had a $27.7 billion trade surplus with the United States last year; while China recorded $347 billion; the EU, $314.7 billion; Japan $68.9 billion; and Mexico $63.2 billion.

The U.S. administration is also scheduled to release a report on steel imports, following Trump's order in April to examine whether they were threatening its "national security." This will analyze all countries exporting steel to the U.S.

The reports are likely to be negative; considering they are based on the idea that trade deficits decrease jobs.

This might leave Moon fending off expected complaints from Trump on the deficit, and the free trade deal between the two countries. The latter has called the deal a "job killer."












A speaker makes a presentation at the forum on helping single mothers held at the National Assembly, Monday./ Korea Times photo by Kim Se-jeong



By Kim Se-jeong

Last week, police in Busan found two dead babies in a refrigerator in a couple apartment. The woman living in the apartment was the mother of the babies. However, they had different fathers, other than her current live-in boyfriend. The woman told police that she had killed them out of fear the now ex-boyfriends would break up with her.

Scholars, lawmakers and activists said the incident demonstrated the failing government policies for single mothers. During a forum at the National Assembly, Monday, they cited the need for legislative efforts to bring about robust protection for them.

Korea is not a good place for single mothers. The stigma against them is strong; and this also contributes to the high rate of overseas adoptions.

According to government statistics from 2016  the first such attempt to count single mothers  there were a reported 25,000 such women. There are laws to protect the women but they're rarely observed because of strong cultural biases and prejudice.

Many at the forum acknowledged rampant social bias and discrimination in Korean society.

Park Young-mi from the Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network said, "more than 95 percent of single mothers quit their jobs because people began judging them. It's illegal to fire single mothers, but they can't cope with indirect discrimination."

Kim Do-kyung from the Korean Unwed Mothers' Families Association said the bias starts with public education. "In middle school sex education, the material explains one reason why people should practice contraception is because otherwise they would become single parents."

Among other challenges facing them is finance. Many are young, even teenagers, with little means, if any, to support the child.

The government offers places where single mothers can spend the first couple of months after giving birth  17 across the country  and provides a 900,000 won voucher, but the mothers find this falls short.

The participants also called on the government to be more generous when it comes to housing support. Less than 1 percent of single mothers own their homes and existing housing programs fall far short of their demands.

The mothers pleaded for government support in getting child support from fathers. Less than 10 percent of single mothers receive child support from their children's fathers, according to statistics. Reasons for that included the administrative and legal procedures, which take at least six months, and the fear of losing state support if they get assistance from the fathers.
By Jun Ji-hye

President Moon Jae-in will debut on the summit diplomacy stage with his bilateral talks with U.S. President Donald Trump taking place this week.





President Moon Jae-in will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump this week in Washington before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the G20 Summit, which will take place in Germany on July 7-8. How successful Moon's summit with Trump will be would be a major factor in deciding whether or not Moon will be able to lead the conversation with Xi and Abe. / Graphic by Cho Sang-won

Moon will meet with Trump amid a pile of diplomatic challenges and pending thorny issues facing the two nations including the controversial deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on South Korean soil as well as the bilateral free trade agreement.

Resolving those issues with his unpredictable U.S. counterpart is a daunting task itself, but the next few weeks will give Moon no rest as he needs to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe right away at the G20 Summit.

The G20 is scheduled to take place on July 7 and 8 in Germany, only a week after the South Korea-the United States summit. Moon is expected to hold talks with Xi and Abe as well as Trump there.

Leaders of China and Japan, which also need to resolve various tough issues with South Korea, might be paying keen attention to the outcome of the summit between Moon and Trump, according to political experts.

Xi and Abe will be highly likely to make a final decision on how to handle thorny diplomatic issues with the new South Korean President, who was sworn in only last month, after they learn the outcome of the Moon-Trump summit.

This means Moon's diplomacy with neighboring countries will depend on his summit with Trump.

Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, said the upcoming summit will be meaningful enough if Moon and Trump, who will meet for the first time since their inaugurations, increase their mutual understanding regarding pending issues including THAAD deployment.

"The most important thing in the Seoul-Washington summit will be to encourage increased mutual understanding rather than producing certain results," Kim said. "If Moon and Trump show the public they are holding hands and delivering a message such as Let's go together,' that will be assessed as a successful summit."

If Moon gleans some positive results from this summit, he will be able to play more various options when dealing with Xi and Abe.

With Beijing, Moon first needs to resolve diplomatic friction that has continued following the former Park Geun-hye government's agreement last July with Washington to deploy the U.S. missile defense system on South Korean soil. The two nations agreed to deploy the system by the end of the year.

But China has been strongly opposed to the THAAD installation, claiming it seriously harms the country's national interests. Beijing has taken various economic and cultural retaliatory actions in protest including cutting off mutual exchanges.

President Moon's recent order to conduct a full-scale environmental impact study of the THAAD site, which will most likely delay the deployment until next year, seems to have helped prevent Seoul-Beijing relations from going from bad to worse.

But Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University, said, "It would not be easy for Moon to resolve the THAAD issue as China's position has been very clear  it wants the cancellation of the THAAD deployment."












By Yi Whan-woo

South Korea will not reverse its decision jointly made with the United States to set up a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Monday.

She dismissed concerns that the Moon Jae-in administration's decision to conduct a large-scale study on the environmental impact of the anti-missile system will possibly scrap plans to fully deploy THAAD.

"As my President himself made it clear on numerous occasions, my government has no intention to basically reverse the commitments made in the spirit of the Republic of Korea (ROK)-U.S. alliance," Kang said during a speech at a security forum jointly hosted by the JoongAng Ilbo and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Seoul.

She cited that there has been speculation that Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump may have differences on some security issues.

"Going through the environmental-impact assessment is an issue of domestic due process. It does not mean that we will cancel or reverse the decision to deploy THAAD," she added.

She also touched on tricky issues on North Korea, over which the two allies appear to have a gap in their approaches.

These include whether to re-open the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) in North Korea and whether to carry out humanitarian assistance and civil exchanges along with sanctions.












President Moon Jae-in walks with three former ambassadors of South Korea to the United States he invited to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. From left are Lee Hong-koo, Moon, Han Duck-soo and Hong Seok-hyun. / Yonhap



By Yi Whan-woo

President Moon Jae-in will focus on building mutual trust with U.S. President Donald Trump in their first summit scheduled this week, according to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday.

"The President said he will not look to get tangible outcomes over specific issues but rather on building friendship and trust with President Trump," spokesman Park Su-hyun said in a briefing on Moon's earlier meeting with seven former ambassadors from South Korea to the United States at Cheong Wa Dae.

The seven were Choi Young-jin, Han Duck-soo, Lee Tae-sik, Hong Seok-hyun, Yang Sung-chul, Lee Hong-koo and Han Sung-joo

Accompanied by Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Moon held the meeting to get advice concerning his five-day trip to the U.S. from Wednesday.

The summit is scheduled to be held Thursday and Friday.

There has been speculation that Moon and Trump have gaps on several issues including security and economic cooperation.
By You Soo-sun

An American soldier faces a charge for sexual assault, the Gangnam Police Station said Monday. The soldier, part of the United States Forces Korea stationed at Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi Province, allegedly raped a woman after taking her to a hotel at 7:30 a.m. near a club where they met in Gangnam, April 1.

According to police, the woman had been intoxicated when she was taken to the hotel and then raped. She reported the incident to the police the same day, claiming she believed she was raped.

After about a month-long police investigation, in which the police analyzed video footage from the club and hotel, the police identified the soldier as the culprit. The police summoned the suspect for questioning June 17 and indicted him June 20, following the protocol of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), a mutual defense treaty between Korea and the U.S.

Police said they "took DNA tests prior to the indictment through a search and seizure warrant."

They said the suspect denied the accusation during questioning.
By Lee Han-soo

Police are investigating claims by Thailand's Chiangrai College of Agriculture and Technology students that they were sexually harassed and exploited during internships in South Korea, according to the Thai Embassy in Seoul Monday.

"Police have interviewed the eight students and are currently investigating," an embassy official told The Korea Times.

"We are waiting for the police to finish their investigation and give us the results."

The official added that the students said they worked in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province.

Thailand English daily newspaper The Nation reported the allegations on June 16.

The students  five males and three females  started their internships a few months ago.












By Kim Bo-eun



The nation's human rights watchdog has begun an investigation into alleged rights abuses in a "gay soldier hunt" conducted by the Army earlier this year.



The National Human Rights Commission of Korea said the Center for Military Human Rights Korea (CMHRK) filed a petition on April 25, and that it began an investigation last month.



The CMHRK claimed in April that Army Chief of Staff Gen. Jang Jun-gyu ordered the hunt for homosexual soldiers, based on the military penal code, which bans homosexual acts.



The search followed an investigation of an Army captain who posted a video of him having sex with another male soldier.



The military court sentenced him to a six-month prison term with a one-month suspension on May 24.



The Military Criminal Act states the act of "sodomy" can be punishable with up to a two-year prison term.



Army officers began the search after obtaining information from the captain.



The CMHRK claimed the search put 40 to 50 soldiers on the list. In the process, the officers had sexually humiliated the soldiers by asking about the details of gay sex, such as whether they "enjoyed it."



The officers also reportedly confiscated the soldiers' mobile phones without warrants, to conduct digital forensic operations.



In addition, there are also claims they threatened the soldiers that they would disclose their sexual orientation unless they cooperated with investigations.



The CMHRK and sexual minority groups state subjecting homosexual soldiers to investigations on the basis of their orientation is a grave violation of human rights.



The rights watchdog will look into these claims, which it said will take two to three months.



"We will review overseas cases in making recommendations," an official said.



It has called for abolishing the clause in the military penal code banning gay sex a number of times since 2006. Attention is growing over whether measures will actually be taken under the Moon Jae-in administration, because the President has been stressing the protection of human rights.



Last month, Moon ordered ministries to respect the human rights watchdog's recommendations and that this would be reflected in the evaluation of ministers.




By Park Si-soo



A South Korean man has fallen to his death down an elevator shaft at a 20-storey condominium in Bangkok after a severe quarrel with his girlfriend, according to local media.

Bangkok Post reported Monday his naked body was found at the bottom of a lift well at Aspire condominium on Sukhumivit soi 48 on Monday morning. Local police reportedly said he was a 33-year-old South Korean tourist.

The couple reportedly stayed in the room of their Korean friend on the 8th floor during their vacation there.












By Kim Ji-soo





Actor and goodwill ambassador for UNHCR, Jung Woo-sung, speaks at a press conference held Saturday at UNHCR Korea office in downtown Seoul. / Courtesy of UNHCR Korea

Top Korean actor Jung Woo-sung is a prolific worker who wears many hats: actor, director and goodwill ambassador for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). On Saturday, he wore the goodwill ambassador hat to attend the 3rd Refugee Film Festival in Seoul and met reporters to talk about his latest trip to the Kurdistan region of Iraq.



He was in Erbil, Iraq, and visited Hasansham camp in northern Iraq.



"The time we spend at camps is short, but once you're there you are immersed, you start to listen to what they might want to say and eventually do say, and the communication starts," he said.



Jung said he is cautious when he visits the camps. "I first greet them in Korean. I ask them their name and then I say I am Jung Woo-sung from Korea, I am an actor but I am here with UNHCR to listen to your story and take it back and share it with Korea," Jung said.



"People vary, but over time, they open up and talk. For those who have been at the camp for a long time, they welcome us."



At the Hasansham camp, the heat and dire need for electricity and water pose environmental challenges for the refugees there, he said. The UNHCR, in its latest Global Trend Report, estimates that 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced in 2016, higher than the previous year. The 65.6 million figure comprises 22.5 million refugees, 40.3 million people displaced inside their own countries and 2.8 million asylum seekers as of end of 2016.



Asked why he supports the refugee cause, he said "It is just our problem," at a press conference held at the UNHCR's office in downtown Seoul.



Jung first started working with UNHCR in 2014 as honorary advocate and became an official goodwill ambassador in 2015. He has since visited refugee camps in Nepal, South Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq. "I did not take on this task thinking, Oh, this is some goodwill that I can demonstrate'  I knew it was work that required some time to learn and say that I have done it," he said.



Jung said he was initially afraid when he saw what an enormous task supporting the refugee cause was. When he was in South Sudan, they were serving meals at an airport hangar. When the meal time came, about 20,000 refugees arrived. "I realized the enormity of the task," he said. Even at the Hasansham Camp, Jung agonized that he needed to take a photo of a girl who was scarred on one side of her face by an explosion.



"But we have to know that refugees are people who have been displaced not by their own will but by external reasons, and as a result, are facing great difficulties," Jung said.



Jung likened their plight to the displacement Korean people experienced during the1910-45 Japanese occupation and the 1950-53 Korean War.



Jung first made his debut in 1994, hitting stardom with the film "Beat" (1997). He is a prolific actor with such recent hits as the "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" and "The Divine Move." He also became a director when in 2014 Jung, along with Chinese actors Francis Ng and Chang Chen, directed three short films for "Three Charmed Lives." This year, Jung narrated a film titled "Limbo" by Paul Wu, about a refugee family in Lebanon. The film was shown at the refugee film festival held here Saturday.



He said he is aware his film career allows him to assume responsibility as a UNHCR goodwill ambassador. But he doesn't necessarily want to highlight that side when he is serving for the UNHCR, he said.



Jung said he is not disappointed when Korean society and press continue to ask why we should help the refugees. "That's my job, to continue to spread awareness, along with the people here at UNHCR," he said. He pointed out Korea has an act governing refugees from 2012, which makes it a duty to help refugees. South Korea also joined the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1993.



"The staff at the camps, they said they experience great happiness when they see refugees return to their homeland. For the international workers, their dream is that there will no longer be camps. For me, I will know that my efforts in speaking out for the refugees have borne fruit when people stop asking me why we should help the refugees," he said.

UNHCR Korea Representative Naveed Hussain said he is grateful for the actor's contribution and at the same time urged the Korean government to expand its role in the international and domestic arena as well.
Employment and labor minister nominee Cho Dae-yop gets out of a black sedan in front of the ministry office in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap



By Jung Min-ho

By the standards of most developed countries, Cho Dae-yop would not be able to make it to the nominee for any top-ranking government post with a driving under the influence (DUI) conviction on his record. But in a country where even the police chief has the same record, he may have a chance.

Cho, the nominee for employment and labor minister, is expected to face strong opposition at Friday's parliamentary confirmation hearing over his controversial past conduct, including a DUI in 2007, which resulted in revocation of his driver's license and a fine of 1.5 million won ($1,300).

Cho, a Korea University sociology professor, has also been criticized for lying about why he committed the crime.

Lawmakers from the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), the Bareun Party and the People's Party have also accused him of having served as a nonexecutive director of a company which delayed the payment of wages to its employees.

"Cho should stop lying and resign now before more of his illegal activities are revealed," Rep. Lim Lee-ja of the LKP said Sunday. "What has been disclosed so far is enough to prove that he is unqualified."

Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the Bareun Party, also criticized Cho, Monday, saying as a director, he was responsible for the delay in the wages payment.

"He broke the very rule that a labor minister is supposed to protect," Joo said.

The Peoples Party also asked President Moon Jae-in to withdraw his nomination and make an apology for his poor choice.

"He does not even deserve a hearing," Rep. Lee Tae-kyu said. Another lawmaker Park Jie-won said he thinks Cho "should be the subject of a criminal investigation rather than a hearing."

All this means a tough hearing for Cho and the Moon administration, which has already seen the fall of former justice minister nominee Ahn Kyong-whan, who withdrew his nomination amid multiple allegations that raised serious questions over his qualifications.

Lee Chul-sung was pressured to resign as the nominee for National Police Agency chief last year but he survived a parliamentary confirmation hearing to take the post.

In addition to Cho, two other controversial figures  defense minister nominee Song Young-moo and education minister nominee Kim Sang-gon  are expected to face tough challenges from opposition lawmakers this week.

One of the allegations brought up against Song is that he obstructed a military investigation into a dubious procurement contract for naval supplies when he served as Navy chief in 2007.

Meanwhile, Kim is accused of having plagiarizing academic papers in getting his master's and doctoral degrees.

Song and Kim will attend parliamentary confirmation hearing on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
By Kim Hyo-jin





Rep. Lee Hye-hoon waves hands at party members after being elected as the new leader of the Bareun Party at a national convention at the National Assembly, Monday. / Yonhap

Lee Hye-hoon, a three-term female lawmaker, was elected as new leader of the minor opposition Bareun Party, Monday.



Lee won 36.9 percent of the votes in the final poll during the national convention, defeating Reps. Ha Tae-keung, Jeong Woon-chun, and Kim Young-woo who garnered 33.1 percent, 17.6 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.



Ha, Jeong and Kim became members of the party's decision-making Supreme Council.



Only four candidates ran in the two week-long leadership race to elect the leader and three Supreme Council members, who have two-year terms.



Lee reportedly has a close relationship with the party's ex-presidential candidate Yoo Seong-min. Yoo refused to support anyone officially during the race.



She is expected to strengthen the party's reformative, independent stance without seeking collaboration with the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP). She has strongly been opposed to the idea of forming an alliance with the LKP for local elections next year.



"I will work to make the party the leader of the conservative bloc," she said during her acceptance speech.



The Bareun Party, which broke away from the LKP's predecessor the Saenuri Party, has suffered from low popularity in the conservative stronghold of the Gyeongsang provinces.



Lee vowed to shape the party into a new perception of the conservative movement, saying, "I will completely differentiate the party from the old conservative movement and seek productive politics. We will stop being the opposition just for the sake of being so, but will present alternatives when we do so."



Her leadership is expected to be a fresh start for the party. She earlier vowed to have more female members take on key roles in the party and recruit more women to run in local elections.



Lee's victory means three political parties out of five have female leaders. Reps. Choo Mi-ae and Sim Sang-jung now lead the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the minor opposition Justice Party, respectively.



Born in Busan, Lee majored in economics at Seoul National University and earned a PhD at UCLA. She later worked as a researcher at the Korea Development Institute and taught economics at the University of Leicester.



The economic expert got into politics in 2004 and won a parliamentary seat three times in Seocho, a wealthy district in southern Seoul.
By Michael Breen





President Moon's proposal that North and South Korea field a joint team at the Winter Olympics next year raises a question: would it be okay to use the occasion to protest against North Korea?

What I have in mind is a few tents in Gangwon Province. Such occupy Wall Street-type temporary homes have been all the rage in Seoul for a few years now and would get a lot of media attention if set up at the right strategic spots.

As my national orientation is foreign, I hasten to add that the tents should be manned and womanned by South Koreans and North Korean defectors. You don't want aliens spoiling the photos.

As for the message, I would recommend humor over serious politics. I know Gangwon is the only divided province in the world, but you don't want the Gangwon People's Liberation Front waving placards that say, "Set our people free" or "What about the gulag, then?" That would be crass.

And you don't want to taunt North Korean athletes and officials by advertising underground escape routes. That kind of thing will get any of them who saw the posters slung in jail or worse.

And you certainly don't want vulgarity, like "F*** North Korea" or "Kim is a C***." This is not a frat boy game. It's serious.

Now, if you've read this far, I know what you're thinking: I thought our columnist was a pinko. What's got into him?

Actually, I'm not sure. But when I read that President Moon had suggested it, the protest fantasy was the first thing that came into my head. This reaction took me so by surprise _ because I am indeed quite a limp-wristed liberal when it comes to engaging North Korea _ that it took a while to figure where it came from.

It's this: I'm afraid we are headed down delusion avenue again.

Twenty-five years ago, I had a chat with then-opposition leader Kim Dae-jung about unification _ such was the foreign correspondent's access in those days. It was on the eve of his departure to study unification politics at Cambridge. He had just lost his third presidential election and had announced his retirement from politics. He invited me round because we had a North Korea bond. I used to show him my slides and chat each time I came back from a reporting trip to North Korea. On this occasion, I did something that you might think, if you're a reader of this column, I do all the time, but actually it was rare for me because I was a reporter then and listened to people. I gave him some advice. Or, I should say, I tried to.

"If I were you, I would stop using the word unification," I said. "It's too aggressive." He looked at me with a punctured expression and said nothing. "I don't think it will happen if we try to make it happen. What we need to consider is reconciliation and let unification happen when it happens."

He didn't agree. He believed two things that I didn't. One was that North Koreans could come to trust us if we behaved better towards them. The other was that unification was more likely under the leadership of Kim Il-sung's family. He thought regime change would lead to harmful collapse and be worse for unification.

When he did return from the U.K., re-entered politics, and became the president, he launched the famous Sunshine Policy of engagement with North Korea. This was a good thing to do. But for a reason that went unsaid _ South Koreans stopped being afraid of the North Korean bogeyman.

As for changing North Korea and nudging us towards unification, it achieved nothing. In fact, there's an argument that it set things back by strengthening the regime.

What I fear now is that we are about to be led, albeit by nice, well-meaning people, down this same route. I'm all for engagement, but it needs to be done realistically, i.e., with low expectations. What we're waiting for is internally-driven regime change. That should be the goal of the Olympic protestors.





Michael Breen is the CEO of Insight Communications Consultants, a public relations company, and author of "The Koreans" and "Kim Jong-il: North Korea's Dear Leader."
By Song Jiyoung





President Moon Jae-in has appointed Kang Kyung-hwa as the first female foreign minister in South Korea's diplomatic history. This may be a new opportunity for professionals in international affairs to join the government and for women in policy to recover their reputation from the tainted legacy of Park Geun-hye, both the first female president and the first to be impeached.

Kang was nominated by President Moon but couldn't secure parliamentary endorsement through the nomination hearing. All three major opposition parties disapproved of her appointment over allegations about her daughters' residency, inheritance taxes, medical insurance and U.S. citizenship. The President, however, went ahead with his decision to appoint Kang, ahead of the first Moon-Trump summit later this month. Moon's decision, however, has angered the opposition. They are now refusing to cooperate with the ruling party on other ministerial appointments and budget-related bills before the National Assembly.

Apart from the major blockage in parliament, Kang's minister-ship faces a number of difficulties in foreign policy, internally and externally.

She joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs not through the traditional competitive examination but through her language talents. Kang was rapidly promoted as the director of International Organizations in the Korean foreign ministry. She then was handpicked by Ban Ki-moon, the former U.N. Secretary-General, to join the U.N., first as the No. 2 at its human rights office and then No. 1 at the humanitarian agency. Like Ban, Kang has been outside Korea for more than 10 years and has no political base. Ban intended to run for president in the last election but pulled out in the end. The difference is Kang was picked by the President for the foreign minister's job and she succeeded.

Senior diplomats I have spoken to have raised their eyebrows about her non-traditional background and unusual rapid promotion within the ministry. The opposition parties' criticism was in a similar vein: her privileged positions over residency, citizenship, tax, medical insurance and education.

However, she has received a wide range of support from women's groups, victims of sexual slavery under Japanese rule, 10 former foreign ministers, and Korean staff working for international organizations. Her first public activity in Korea was visiting the shelter for "comfort women" and she wore a pin in support of their cause during the hearing. Her "international" look and professional experience at the U.N. fascinate young women. These are well-educated middle-class professionals. The latest public opinion poll showed that 62% supported Kang's appointment while 30% oppose, which was the main reason the Blue House proceeded with her appointment.

A more critical challenge is whether she can handle the country's delicate foreign relations with the U.S. and China over a THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) battery and North Korea's nuclear program. The opposition criticized her inexperience in national security, trade agreements and great power relations. This is somewhat unfair as human rights and humanitarian affairs take place in conflict areas where hard negotiations with undemocratic and underdeveloped countries as well as rich and powerful donor countries are key. Given her international experience, Kang may elevate South Korean diplomacy to a new level by alleviating tensions surrounding the peninsula, diversifying Korea's international relations and broadening security dialogues.

Within just two weeks, her daunting first task is to coordinate the first Moon-Trump summit. But Moon can be confident that the preparation is in the safe hands of Kang. Her entire career has been built around hosting VIPs, organizing high-level diplomatic meetings, coordinating communications, writing speeches and interpreting. He has nothing to fear from Kang taking her place next to him and Trump and her counterpart, Rex Tillerson, in Washington, D.C.

On North Korea, she will have to coordinate with Blue House security advisors, including Moon Chung-in, and the unification minister who has yet to be appointed. Kang supports international sanctions against the Kim regime while separating humanitarian aid from politics.

Dealing with China will require both pressure and persuasion. First, to pressure Beijing over Pyongyang's nuclear program; second, to persuade China to lift its soft economic embargo against the THAAD deployment; third, to engage in a dialogue with China not to repatriate North Korean refugees. Her human rights background could cause potential conflicts between the two countries.

With Japan, Kang has already taken a strong position on "comfort women." During the hearing, she indicated that she would re-evaluate the deal struck made between the two countries in 2015 under the Park administration.

With her fluent English and U.N. experience, all eyes are turned toward the country's first female foreign minister at a critical moment in its diplomacy.





Song Jiyoung is a senior lecturer in Korean Studies, University of Melbourne. Contact wiseflower76@hotmail.com.
Anti-THAAD human chain protest appears risky



Three thousand protesters put the U.S. Embassy in downtown Seoul under siege for 20 minutes Saturday to protest the deployment of an American missile interceptor or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.



But it may not set a good precedent, allowing a lapse in protection given by the host country to foreign missions. The tone of the rally shown by slogans and performances looked and sounded extreme to say the least.



It is worth turning the tables to think of how we would react, if a Korean mission was put under siege and received a plethora of anti-Korean slogans.



The Saturday protest was legal as the protesters followed a court order for the duration of their rally and there was no violence reported.



True, it was meaningful that it marked the first protest to be allowed in the vicinity of the American mission. No rally, not even a one-person protest, had been permitted so near it. So it could be taken as a manifestation of the basic democratic right of assembly and association.



Obviously, the court allowed the Saturday protest in the spirit of maximum freedom of expression _ the same as given to candlelit protesters who came close to the premises of the presidential office to demand the resignation of former President Park Geun-hye last year. Park was impeached and ousted from office.



Although there must have been a skeleton staff inside the embassy Saturday, the symbolism of the besieged premises would be hard for Americans to miss. During the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the U.S. embassy in Tehran was besieged for 444 days with its staff held hostage. This turned Iran into the U.S.'s No. 1 public enemy.



The slogans Saturday included "ROK-U.S. alliance is slave contract," "Defense Minister Han Min-koo is manservant of the U.S." and "U.S. plots war on the Korean Peninsula." Effigies of U.S. President Donald Trump and models of THAAD were torn apart. Independent Rep. Kim Jong-hoon claimed, "No other country has oppressed Korea more than the U.S." Other speakers said THAAD was no help in defending Korea or called for candlelit protests against the U.S.



Even if it is a mission of other countries such as Japan, China or other countries, the courtesy and protection as stipulated in related U.N. protocols such as the Geneva Convention should be as broadly interpreted as possible so diplomats of the pertinent nations shouldn't feel threatened or worse by the rally.



By this sense, the court may need to take extra care the next time when reviewing a request for a rally around embassies. On Saturday, the human chain looked too dangerously close to the embassy in places, raising concerns about breaches into the premises with insufficient numbers of police on standby.




By Oh Young-jin





If the summit between President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump fails to produce any significant narrowing of their supposed differences, one shouldn't take it as a failure.

Rather, it may be the start of a new healthy beginning of the stronger alliance.

The current state of alliance is so outdated that it won't work properly. What can rejuvenate it is an overhaul that better accommodates their respective, changing needs.

A week ahead of the summit in Washington, indications point toward a tough meeting.

Reasons vary and abound. Moon and Trump don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. Moon did a marvelous job of trying to identify closely with the U.S. during his consecutive interviews with U.S. media  CBS and the Washington Post. But it is doubtful that his effort can bridge their fundamental differences.

About North Korea, Moon is for dialogue, while Trump is for sanctions.

Even after the death of Otto Warmbier, the U.S. college student who died six days after being released from a year-and-a-half detention in the North, Moon lamented Pyongyang's inattention to human rights and didn't strongly demand the release of the remaining 10 hostages. Instead he has pushed for a conditional trip for an inter-Korean summit.

His national security mentor, Moon Chung-in, caused a commotion when he talked about a sweeping change from the current hard-line U.S.-led policy toward the North  suggesting the scaling down ROK-U.S. joint exercises and replacing the current truce with a peace treaty on top of the delayed deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery.

In an interview with America's CBS TV, Moon kept a distance from his mentor but fell short of denying his suggestions completely. He dispelled any doubt about his willingness to talk to the North  his condition being a freeze on its missile and nuclear programs. Trump wants them dismantled.

Moon emphasized a leading role in the resolution of the North Korean problem. Trump has resorted to China for to the exclusion of Seoul.












By Yoon Sung-won



The government's one-sided drive to cut telecom fees may lead to international lawsuits involving foreign investors, legal experts here said Sunday.



On Thursday, the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea announced the government's plan to take measures to reduce household telecom charges by 4.6 trillion won ($4.04 billion) a year.



Once the government drive takes effect, the three major telecom companies  SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus  are expected to suffer heavy losses.



As the losses mean smaller shareholder value, foreign investors owning almost half of the three mobile carriers' shares may file an investor-state dispute (ISD) suit against the government, according to lawyers specializing in international arbitration.



Foreign investors who claim to suffer losses due to policies of their investment destinations can file an ISD suit at the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and go through an arbitration process for compensation.



According to industry sources, 49 percent of KT shares are owned by foreign investors, followed by LG Uplus' 44.53 percent and SK Telecom's 42.41 percent.



"The foreign investors have the grounds to sue. It is highly likely a lawsuit will be involved. Many experts in ISD basically share the view," said Joo Hyun-soo, an attorney at law firm Lee & Ko.



Joo, who specializes in legal issues involving global trade, said the government should take extra care about policies to avoid breaches of fair and equitable treatment (FET), which is a part of many bilateral investment treaties (BITs) signed with other countries.



"When attracting foreign investment, governments are requested to provide national treatment, most-favored nation treatment and FET as the minimum treatment for foreign investors," she said.



"In this case, it is acknowledgeable that the government's sudden, aggressive market intervention has changed policies too much, compared to when the foreigners made the investments, failing to meet the investors' legitimate expectations and causing losses."



Joo said she expects the foreign investors have about a 60 percent possibility of winning an ISD suit if they actually sue the government.



"If a case is about the environment, public health or safety, the government's intervention is considered natural. But telecom fees are about private and commercial profits. They don't threaten public safety or the environment," she said.

She also cited foreign cases of ISD suits filed against governments.



The Argentine government had promoted the fixed dollar-to-peso exchange rate system in the 1980s and 1990s to attract foreign investors. But it scrapped the system in the early 2000s amid an economic crisis and devaluated peso, causing massive damage to foreign investors. The government faced multiple ISD suits and had to compensate foreign investors.



Song Ki-ho, an attorney at the Lawyers for a Democratic Society, said, "An ISD suit can be filed. The government should be concerned about procedural matters and carefully implement the plan because it is directly intervening in pricing policies."



An international arbitration attorney, who asked not to be named, agreed that the foreign investors can filed an ISD suit against the government if they suffer actual losses.



"Telecom fees are normally set by enterprises. If the government coerces them into cutting the fees against the investors' legitimate expectations and allows investors' assets to incur losses without fair compensation, the foreign investors have the grounds to sue," he said.



The attorney, however, said there are not many cases of investors of listed enterprises filing ISD suits against the government.



Another attorney at a law firm here also said he is pessimistic about the possibility of an ISD suit filed against the Korean government.



"Foreign investors may find it difficult to file a lawsuit against the Korean government. Regardless of its feasibility, the investors may not win the case. They should first think about how much return they can get. If it were my case, I would not recommend my client to file the suit."






By Kang Seung-woo



Korean companies are ready to pitch their investment plans in the United States to help ease growing trade pressures in time for President Moon Jae-in's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.



Moon is scheduled to fly to Washington, D.C., Wednesday, on a five-day visit and hold his first summit with Trump the next day.



Along with thorny diplomatic and security issues, bilateral trade matters including the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) are expected to be high on the agenda during the summit. Trump hopes to revise the trade deal due to a U.S. trade deficit with Korea.



In efforts to ease Trump's protectionist moves, 52 business leaders are expected to unveil their big investments in the U.S.



The state-run Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) announced Monday that it will begin receiving U.S. shale gas next month.



It signed a deal with Houston-based Cheniere Energy in 2012 to bring in 2.8 million tons of LNG annually for 20 years starting this year.



"This long-term deal with Cheniere Energy will contribute significantly to improving the trade balance between the U.S. and Korea. Plus, the destination-free U.S. LNG will greatly increase flexibility and efficiency in the global LNG market," said KOGAS President Lee Seung-hoon, who will join the delegation.



KOGAS also said it may import additional shale gas from the U.S.



Expectations are high that Samsung Electronics will announce its plans to build a long-awaited home appliance factory in the U.S. during Moon's trip.



According to multiple reports, the global tech giant is in talks to invest 300 million dollars (340 billion won) for a new manufacturing plant in South Carolina to create 500 jobs there.



Since Trump's inauguration in January, eyes have been on Samsung with regard to its investments in the U.S. Trump even sent out a thank-you note on Twitter in February in response to a report about Samsung's U.S. investments.



However, Samsung said it is still considering building a factory in the U.S. without confirming any details.



Earlier this year, Samsung's cross-city rival LG Electronics announced its plans to construct a $250 million washing machine plant in Tennessee, a project that will create at least 600 full-time jobs.



"The planned U.S. manufacturing facilities lead to higher personnel expenses, but Korean firms would be able to offset the higher costs with benefits in tariffs and logistics," an official of the electronics industry said.



Early this year, Hyundai Motor Group came up with a $3.1 billion investment plan in the U.S. for the next five years in the wake of Trump's threats of higher levies on car imports from Mexico. The motor group owns both Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors.



Such investment plans are coming after Trump threatened to slap a heavy tax on goods from Mexico.



Those companies operate their own factories in Mexico and can export their goods to the U.S. without having to pay taxes based on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). But the Trump administration has vowed to renegotiate the trade deal.












By Yoon Sung-won





Kim Nam-sung, professor of computer science and engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Computer science expert Kim Nam-sung was named this year's winner of the most influential papers award by the International Symposium of Computer Architecture (ISCA). Kim became the first Korean to win the award.



According to the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Kim's alma mater, he will receive the prize at an ISCA award presentation session in Toronto, Canada, Tuesday (local time). He will also deliver a presentation at the conference on his views on software engineering.



Kim is currently an associate professor of computer science and engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The UIUC came in second alongside Carnegie Mellon University and University of California-Berkeley in a ranking of computer science and engineering, following MIT.



KAIST said the 42-year-old professor's paper on new computer structures and circuits, which can reduce leakage current of computer microprocessors, has been recognized by the ISCA. Kim released the paper in 2002 when he was studying for his doctoral degree at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.



Upon the completion of his doctoral course, Kim worked as a researcher at Intel to commercially introduce the computer structure technology he proposed in his paper. KAIST noted most microprocessors that have been released are based on technologies derived from Kim's idea.



At age 39, Kim got tenure as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also became the first Korean researcher in the computer architecture sector to be named a fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) last year, as his efforts to improve energy efficiency of microprocessors through interdisciplinary approaches spanning across innovative devices, circuits and architecture have been acknowledged.



Before his doctoral degree, Kim acquired his master's and bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from KAIST.



The ICSE's most influential papers awards is jointly sponsored by the U.S. Associate for Computing Machinery and the IEEE. According to the ISCA, recipients are chosen if their paper is considered to have been the most influential paper of the past 15 years.
By Kang Seung-woo



Putting aside the recognition for its high-end smartphones, Samsung Electronics is successfully taking advantage of "frugal innovation" in India and other emerging markets.



Frugal innovation means removing nonessential features from a durable product such as a car or a phone in order to sell it in developing countries at lower prices.



The strategy to harness the production process is paying off as the Korean tech giant has been sitting atop the leaderboard of the market share in India on strong demand for the mid-range Galaxy J phones. The South Asian country is highly anticipated to soon surpass the United States as the second-largest smartphone market next to China.



According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung was the top smartphone vendor there in the first quarter of the year with a 26 percent market share, defying intensifying challenges from Chinese player. Another research firm Canalys said Samsung's smartphone share remained unchanged at 22 percent during the cited period.



"Unlike Apple, Samsung offers smartphones in all segments to suit every consumer -- from the top-end Galaxy S series to the mid-range and low-end A and J series," a Samsung official said.



"There are many mid-tier and low-end smartphone markets in Southeast and Southwest Asia. Targeting them, we are coming up with low-cost phones with optimal functionalities."



Earlier this month, Samsung launched two new smartphones, the Galaxy J7 Max and the Galaxy J7 Pro, in India in a bid to maintain its lead there. The J series has demonstrated Samsung's commitment to Indian consumers.



"The Samsung J series holds the top position in the mass mid-segment smartphone market and continues to witness healthy demand from Indian customers. At Samsung, we listen to our consumers and bring out meaningful innovations that help enhance people's lives," Sumit Walia, Samsung India's mobile business director, said at the launching ceremony in New Delhi on June 14.



The Galaxy J7 Max will be offered to consumers at $277 (315,000 won) and the Galaxy J7 Pro for $324.



The Samsung official said the J7 came to town through Samsung's "frugal innovation" but added the phones also evolve. They are equipped with some features available only in Samsung's flagship phones such as a camera and a mobile payment system as well as a premium design.



"Like the flagship Galaxy S8 handsets, both smartphones are powered by non-removable batteries and crafted with a metal unibody that make them very stylish," the Samsung official said.



"They feature a 13-megapixel camera, with lenses enabling users to take low-light photos and bright selfies."



And the headline feature of the smartphones was to support Samsung Pay -- the first time for any mid-tier Samsung phone to feature the payment system, released in India in March.



According to the company, Samsung Pay will be available on the J7 Pro, while the J7 Max comes with Samsung Pay Mini that provides a comprehensive platform for UPI and mobile wallets but does not support offline payments.



"Samsung is trying to offer smartphones loaded with premium features at low prices in India and other emerging countries," the official said.












By Yoon Sung-won



Korean Air is stepping up ties with Delta Air Lines for joint business on Pacific routes, the airline said Friday.



Korea's top flag carrier and the U.S. airline signed a contract in Los Angeles to strengthen their partnership by running a joint venture for the Pacific routes.



Korean Air said the partnership will play a key role in strengthening competitiveness of the nation's aviation industry.



"The partnership is also expected to contribute not only to improving the airport as a competitive hub but also to lead growth of the national aviation industry," Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho said during the signing event.



The second terminal of Incheon International Airport, dedicated to Korean Air and the member airlines of the Sky Team, is scheduled to open late this year. Cho said the new terminal and the joint venture partnership will create great synergy effects.



"In time with the opening of the second terminal of Incheon International Airport, the cooperation will lead to the increase of transfer passengers at the airport," he said.



Japan has drawn a huge number of transfer passengers on the back of joint venture partnership between American Airlines and Japan Airlines, and between United Airlines and All Nippon Airways. Korean Air said the collaboration with Delta will bring back the market demand to Incheon International Airport.



Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said, "By organically combining the two companies' networks, we can now provide convenient connecting transfer schedules that link the United States and Asia. We will make a strong partnership for customers, employees and shareholders."



The latest contract is a sequel to the memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies on March 29. Though the two companies are not setting up a joint venture as an actual enterprise, they will run a joint business operation and share both profits and expenses. This type of tight cooperation has been widely adopted worldwide since the joint venture made for the Atlantic routes in 2009, according to Korean Air.



Under the contact, Korean Air and Delta Air Lines will seek for expansion of Pacific routes, boost sales and marketing activities in the Asian and the U.S. markets, escalate mileage service benefits and solidify cargo delivery business.



To this end, the two air carriers will adjust flight schedules of the Pacific routes connecting about 290 U.S. cities and over 80 airports in Asia.



"The new flight schedules will shorten the time required for transfer and will provide customers with flight tickets with diverse price options," Korean Air said in a statement. "Membership benefits and mileage will be shared between the two companies."



Korean Air and Delta Air Lines said they will push to acquire related government approvals as soon as possible and speed up launching the joint venture business.






By Park Jae-hyuk





Chey Yun-jeong, the oldest daughter of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won Suh Min-jung, the oldest daughter of AmorePacific Chairman Suh Kyung-bae

The SK Group heiress followed suit of many other chaebol heiresses in that she joined her family business after graduating from a U.S. university and working for a consulting firm.

Chey Yun-jeong, the oldest daughter of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, recently started working as a manager at SK Biopharmaceuticals, which has something to do with her previous job experience, the group said.

After graduating from the International School of Beijing, the 28-year-old studied biology at the University of Chicago and finished an internship program at Harvard University's physics and chemistry lab.

She also worked as a consultant at Bain & Company from 2015 until this January.

Such a background, which would be otherworldly for most people, is actually not rare for daughters of Korean tycoons these days.

Most of them study abroad and build their careers at consulting firms before succeeding their family businesses. This compares to most male heirs, who tend to begin working for their parent-owned companies right after graduation.

Suh Min-jung, the oldest daughter of AmorePacific Chairman Suh Kyung-bae, also started working at Bain & Company in 2015 after graduating from Cornell University. The 26-year-old has been working for the cosmetics maker's manufacturing plant in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, since this January.

Mirae Asset Financial Group Chairman Park Hyeon-joo's two daughters went through similar paths.

His oldest daughter Park Ha-min, who got aboard Mirae Asset Global Investments in 2013, graduated from Cornell and worked at McKinsey Consulting and U.S. real estate consulting firm CBRE for a year each.

Park Eun-min, the chairman's youngest daughter, has worked as a junior consultant at Boston Consulting Group Korea as well, after finishing studies at Duke University.

Hansol Group Vice President Cho Yeon-joo, who is great-granddaughter of the late Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul, also studied at Wellesley University and worked at Boston Consulting Group.

Analysts say Korean conglomerates have been attracted by opportunities of building social connections at consulting firms and overseas universities.

Because consultants meet executives at various companies, the heiresses can build their social networks in a short time. Universities in the United States can be a place to make global personal connections.

Moreover, the high-paying jobs in the consulting firms can justify the heiresses' high salaries at their family-owned companies.

Of note is whether the abovementioned young heiresses will actually grab the management rights of the country's major groups. Thus far, power transfers typically take place between fathers and sons. That has been possible because tycoons typically had sons when chaebol parents' fertility rate was high just like that of the whole society.

But most incumbent chaebol owners have less than three children and many do not have sons.

Chaebol refers to Korea's sprawling conglomerates in which founding families exercise almost unchecked control despite small direct shareholdings.
Mr. Pizza founder Jung Woo-hyun bows in apology over allegations of his mistreating franchisees at the firm's head office in Seoul, Monday. He said that he will resign as chairman. / Yonhap



By Park Jae-hyuk

Mr. Pizza founder Jung Woo-hyun, who has faced investigation over allegations of mistreating franchisees in various ways, announced his resignation as MP Group chairman, Monday.

"CEO Choi Byung-min will be in charge of the company's management," he said in a press conference at the group's headquarters in Seoul, apologizing for the recent controversies that the pizza firm has faced.

The prosecutors recently raided the group's head office and imposed a travel ban on the chairman for allegations of overcharging cheese prices to franchisees and punitive actions against those who canceled their franchise deals with the group.

According to the prosecutors, MP Group opened new stores near the stores of previous franchisees in Icheon and near Dongincheon Station, selling pizza for much cheaper than the original prices. The company is also suspected of having pressed ingredient manufacturers not to supply cheese and sauce to the previous franchisees.

After one of the franchisees committed suicide in March after being sued by the headquarters, Mr. Pizza has faced public resentment.

In addition, MP Group has allegedly forced its franchisees to buy cheese for higher prices from a company owned by the 69-year-old chairman's younger brother.

The prosecutors' office is also reportedly probing the group's charges of creating a slush fund, imposing on franchisees advertising expenses and forcing them to buy the chairman's autobiography.

"I'll shut down the controversial Icheon and Dongincheon Station branches, and exclude my relatives from the business," Jung said. "We will establish a committee consisting of experts, consumers and franchisees to come up with reform plans."

Both Jung and Choi, however, declined to comment on the prosecutors' probe.

Last year, Jung was indicted for assaulting a night watchman at a building in Seodaemun, where MP Group had opened a new restaurant. He raised the ire of the public at that time.

The Mr. Pizza case has also drawn public attention, as it is the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's first investigation under Yoon Seok-yeol.



Yoon was appointed to lead the prosecutors' office by President Moon Jae-in, so he is expected to protect the rights of marginalized franchisees in line with the administration's economic stance.
Syrian refugee children play on swings in the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.



Others argue that China is still a developing country that has done its job to help resolve crises in Syria and elsewhere



By Shi Jiangtao





China will step up economic aid to help countries deal with the Syrian refugee crisis, but Beijing has no plan to provide shelter for refugees from the war-torn region, diplomatic observers said.

Their remarks came amid a contentious debate among mainland internet users over the past week about whether China should open its border to help handle the many thousands of people fleeing conflict in Syria and other Middle Eastern nations.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi weighed into the highly-charged discussion, pledging to help find a political solution to end Syria's civil war.

"To solve the refugee problems in the Middle East, we must first and foremost accelerate the political settlement of the Syria conflict," he was quoted as saying by a Chinese foreign ministry statement released on late Saturday during a visit to Lebanon.

"Refugees are not migrants. As the situation improves in Syria it is natural that the refugees will begin to return to their country".

Noting that Lebanon, which sheltered some 1.5 million Syrian refugees  equal to about a third of the Mediterranean country's total population of 4.5 million people  was under enormous pressure, Wang vowed increased Chinese assistance to help Lebanon deal with the refugee crisis.

Analysts believed Wang's comments showed Beijing was not ready to change its stance on the refugee issue.

"China has been playing an increasingly active role in the Syrian conflict, but I don't think China is considering to provide shelter to people fleeing Syria or other war-torn Middle East nations," said Hua Liming, a former Chinese ambassador to Iran.

"To be fair, it is not that China has explicitly refused to shelter Syrian refugees or those displaced by war and conflicts in the region. More importantly, refugees from the Middle East usually choose Arab nations or developed countries, such as the US and Europe, instead of China".

Li Guofu, a Middle East specialist with the China Institute of International Studies, also said China was not an ideal destination for Middle Eastern refugees due to religious, cultural and political considerations.

"Wang's remarks were in line with Beijing's long-standing policy on the Middle East, which tried to stay away from domestic violence of other nations while trying to live up to its international obligation by providing financial and other humanitarian assistance," he said.

Shen Jiru, of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also said it was not fair to expect China to "clean up the mess" in Syria left by the US-led coalition.

"Despite China still being a developing nation with our own poverty, population and other development problems, it has done its job to help resolve the Syrian crisis. The US and its allies should take greater responsibility for the refugee issue because it was their interventionist policies that created the crisis in the first place," Shen said.

Of the record number of 22.5 million refugees globally at the end of last year, 5.5 million were forced to flee Syria, according to United Nations statistics.

On top of nearly 700 million yuan (US$102 million) over the years, China pledged in January to invest another 200 million yuan to help Middle Eastern nations deal with the refugee crisis.
Star Magazine recently got 2NE1's Gong Minzy to pose for their July issue of the magazine. During the interview that followed, Minzy expressed how she feels sad promoting alone.

According to Koreaboo, Minzy said she felt the same way as co-2NE1 member Dara did when she went solo: Alone. She explained that she got used to promote with a group.

"Since I was doing something alone that I used to do in a group, I did feel lonely," said Minzy. "We were always loud and had many memorable moments, so I felt a bit sad."

Meanwhile, aside from talking about her solo career, Minzy also talked about her experience on KBS' "Sister's Slam Dunk Season 2." Together with the rest of the show's cast, Minzy released "Right?" on May 12 which ranked 1st on all major Korean music charts upon releasing.

"I'm not a very funny person, but I wanted to show myself exactly as I am," said Minzy. She also added how she wanted her fans and the public to know that she also has a bright and easy-going side as well.

Minzy also took the time to talk about her current agency, Music Works. According to her, Baek Ji Young, an artist of the agency, took really good care of her. Because of this, Minzy said she has a lot of trust in the agency.

Minzy also talked about her first solo album "Minzy Work 01: Uno" and said "I think my solo album showed my potential and a more mature side of me." Minzy also added how the album felt like a diary to her.

Minzy also recently finished promoting "NINANO," reports Soompi. The song is the title track for Minzy first solo album "Minzy Work 01: Uno."

Minzy's first ever album was a great success, ranking No. 2 in Billboard's World Album Charts. It also ranked No. 10 in New Zealand's Music Chart, and in Korea's Gaon Music Chart as well.
If you're working in corporate America, chances are you've experienced your fair share of stress. Whether it's meeting deadlines, managing projects, or dealing with difficult co-workers, the workplace can be a breeding ground for stress. reducing stress from completing a project Once you've identified your triggers, it's important to take a step back and assess the situation objectively. LewiLink.com provides an in-depth article on reducing the stress from meeting deadlines at work. Bong a la noi ma ta co the hoa nhip ban than vao, noi ma nhung cam xuc uoc dang trao, that tuyet voi khi xem bong a cung ban be va xem tai nhung kenh truc tiep tuyet voi nhat cakhiatv Chung toi noi khong voi quang cao, luon ua trai nghiem cua nguoi dung len hang au, truc tiep nhung tran bong kich tinh nhat e phuc vu cho tat ca fan bong a .
PRESS RELEASE

China and Africa Join Hands To Eradicate Poverty from the World

June 25, 2017 (EIRNS)In the African Union Conference Center in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia, high-level officials, civil servants, poverty fighters and policymakers from Africa and China met June 21-22 for the "China-Africa High-Level Dialogue and Think Tank Forum on Fighting against Poverty for Common Prosperity." The beautiful commitment of those who participated is nothing less than to replicate Chinas "miracle in world development history" of eradicating poverty at home, in Africa, and in all countries.

African Union Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chads Foreign Minister, opened the forum, co-chaired by the African Union Leadership Academy and the Institute of African Studies of Chinas Zhejiang Normal University, by telling participants that China and Africa are united in their determination to eliminate poverty. "It is a two-way relationship and we can learn considerably with humility from one another," he said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi set the highest goals for the meeting in his keynote.

"Peace and development are far from being achieved in many parts of the world. Close to 400 million people in Africa live under the poverty line, and more than 40 million Chinese need to be lifted out of poverty. China and Africa need to join hands in fighting poverty and achieving common development. This is our responsibility to the future generations, the shared objective of Chinese and African people and the inherent part of human progress,"

he said. "China and Africa have always been a community of shared interests and future." Now, "we stand ready to seized the opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative," he said.

China, he promised,

"will actively encourage the international community to support Africa in scaling up efforts against poverty. We welcome diversified partnerships for Africa and call on all parties to reject the outdated mentality of zero-sum game and embrace the new thinking of win-win cooperation. Developed countries, in particular, should further increase their attention and input to Africas poverty reduction cause, truly honor their commitment, and jointly help Africa achieve durable peace, development and prosperity."

How Can a Weak Hatchling Bird Be the First To Fly?

Wang centered his discussion of how China carried out its "miracle," on a book by Xi Jinping, Up and Out of Poverty, which is based on the Chinese Presidents speeches and actions nearly 30 years ago when, as local leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC), he led the effort to pull Ningde, in Fujian province, out of impoverishment. [

The four principles outlined in this book of speeches continue to guide Chinas anti-poverty campaign, Wang said. The second of these, captures the essence of the strategy needed by every nation today:

"Take development as the central task," Wang exlained.

"Development is the master key to solving all problems. The CPC and governments at all levels have taken the economy as the central task, made development the top priority in governance, concentrated all efforts on it and rallied the whole nation in this endeavor. Consequently, China has become the worlds second largest economy in just a few decades. And a solid material foundation is laid for poverty alleviation."

The Xi Jinping book was released in French and English translation at the end of 2016 in response to interest from African leaders, Wang said. He cited one of Xis speeches to local authorities about getting out of poverty, carrying the captivating title "How Can a Weak Hatchling Bird Be the First To Fly?" This week, Lovemore Chikova, the China-Africa Focus columnist for Zimbabwes Herald, published a full speech from that book titled "Economic Chorus," calling it "a must read for development enthusiasts." There, Xi insisted local officials understand that, without promoting economic development, they were "simply tinkering." The future President of China continued:
PRESS RELEASE

Chinese Foreign Minister Urges World To Bring Development to Middle East To Secure Peace and Development

June 25, 2017 (EIRNS)Fresh from his 12th visit to Africa, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Jordan and Lebanon on June 22-23, to discuss with leaders of both countries means to finally secure peace for their region, focusing in particular on resolving the crises in Palestine and Syria.

China has clearly made itself an important "player" in the region, offering cooperation on economic development, and adding its weight to efforts to end the wars and terrorism which have created misery and inhuman refugee crises.

External interventions and conflicting geopolitical interests escalate tensions; the international community must dedicate more attention and efforts to support development in the Middle East, in order to address the threat of terrorism more effectively, Wang said in a press conference in Jordan after his meetings with King Abdullah II and other officials on June 22, the Jordan Times reported.

Among the most interesting areas for increased economic cooperation with Jordan reported, is the establishment of a Jordanian-Chinese technical university.

In Lebanon, where Wang met with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, and others, the great Belt and Road Initiative was at the center of discussions. Xinhua reports that Aoun praised Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, and said Lebanon is ready to actively participate. Aoun thanked China for what it has done for the stability of Lebanon and the Middle East, and welcomed more investment from China in the region. For his part, Wang called Lebanon "an important station on the old Silk Road," and said "we welcome Lebanons support and participation in the Belt and Road initiative." Wang pointed to Lebanons policy of keeping national unity and maintain security and stability through dialogue and negotiations, as "providing useful experiences in how different civilizations could coexist peacefully."

In his Beirut press conference with Lebanons Foreign Minister Bassil, Wang addressed the refugee crises, for both Palestinians and Syrians.

"As the situation in Syria gradually becomes stable, Syrian refugees who are compelled to flee to various places should go back to their homeland and rebuild their homeland. Refugees are not migrants. The refugees direction is to go back to their country again, which is every refugees wish from the bottom of their heart.... China will work hard with Lebanon and every country to play a constructive role in this direction,"

CGTN, Chinas TV network, quoted Wang as saying.

"Solving the refugee problem thoroughly requires developing and improving peoples livelihood to create a necessary environment for the refugees to get rid of poverty,"

he argued.
PRESS RELEASE

New York Post Keeps Heat on Firm Which Hired MI6s Steele To Get Trump

June 25, 2017 (EIRNS)Pay attention to the Senate Judiciary Committees investigations into Fusion GPS, that "sketchy firm" behind the British MI6 agent Christopher Steeles dossier against Trump, is the general message delivered by New York Post columnist Paul Sperry yesterday.

That

"secretive Washington firm that commissioned the dubious intelligence dossier on Donald Trump is stonewalling congressional investigators trying to learn more about its connections to the Democratic Party,"

Sperry alerted.

"The Senate Judiciary Committee is also investigating whether the FBI has wrongly relied on the anti-Trump dossier and its author, Christopher Steelethe old spy who was hired by Fusion GPS to build a Russia file on Trumpto aid its ongoing espionage investigation into the Trump campaign and its possible ties to Moscow,"

he wrote, citing committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassleys "substantial questions about the independence" of the FBI in investigating Trump.

"Senate investigators are demanding to see records of communications between Fusion GPS and the FBI and the Justice Department, including any contacts with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, now under congressional investigation for possibly obstructing the Hillary Clinton email probe, and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who is under investigation by the Senate and the Justice inspector general for failing to recuse himself despite financial and political connections to the Clinton campaign through his Democrat activist wife. Senate investigators have singled out McCabe as the FBI official who negotiated with Steele,"

Sperry reports.
Oprah Winfrey has selected Imbolo Mbues Behold the Dreamers, a novel about an immigrant family in New York whose lives are rocked by the 2008 recession, as the new pick for her book club, she announced Monday. Winfrey made the announcement on social media and on CBS This Morning.

In a video that she posted to Facebook and Twitter, Winfrey raved about Mbues critically acclaimed debut novel.

I love this book because it talks EVERYTHING. Race, class, family love, pursuit of happiness. My new book club selection is#OprahsBookClub pic.twitter.com/vUKpiwJC4R  Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) June 26, 2017

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Its a book to read right now, she said. Its got everything thats grabbing the headlines in America right now. Its about race and class, the economy, culture, immigration and the danger of the us versus them mentality.

Mbues novel was originally published in hardcover last August; the paperback version was released on Monday to coincide with Winfreys announcement.

The book follows Jende and Nina Jonga, a married couple from Cameroon who have immigrated to New York with their young son. Jende finds work as a chauffeur for a Lehman Bros. executive; when the firm goes bankrupt during the 2008 financial collapse, hes forced to deal with the effect the collapse has on his family.

Winfrey interviewed Mbue about her novel, and excerpts from their conversation were posted on Amazons Oprahs Book Club page. In one exchange, Mbue revealed that her novel might never have happened if it werent for Winfreys book club.

I read that you never dreamed of becoming a writer, Winfrey asked Mbue. So how did you know you had a novel in you?

I never thought about writing, Mbue responded, but I love to read. I always loved literature; I love books. ... I went to the library and there was a shelf, a special shelf that said, Oprahs Book Club Picks. ... I thought, Oh, you know what, let me try one of the Oprah Book Club [books] because it just seemed like something that would be nice to try. And the first book that caught my eye was Song of Solomon. ... I finished reading it, and I just started writing.

Winfreys literary endorsements have long been sought after by publishers eager for the instant sales boosts her book club picks typically get. Her selections usually become bestsellers after the media mogul gives them her imprimatur.

She selected two books for her club last year, Colson Whiteheads novel The Underground Railroad and Glennon Doyle Meltons memoir Love Warrior.

Her book club began in 1996, with Jacquelyn Mitchards The Deep End of the Ocean as the inaugural pick, followed the next month by Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon.

The original Oprahs Book Club ended in 2010, but was revived in 2012 and rebranded as Oprahs Book Club 2.0, with a focus on social media. The first pick of the new iteration was Cheryl Strayeds memoir Wild.
During the CBS program Face the Nation on Sunday, moderator John Dickerson mentioned that among the Republicans who were critical of the Senate GOPs Obamacare repeal bill was Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a former congressman. Kasich was especially critical of the bills drastic cutback in Medicaid spending.

In response, conservative commentator Ben Domenech took a shot at Kasich. When Gov. Kasich, you know, pushed for the Medicaid expansion in Ohio, Domenech said, he ended up having to throw 34,000 disabled people off of the program because it incentivized adding these working, able-bodied adults over people who actually were in the system who had disabilities or had other dependence.

That sounded fishy. Throwing 34,000 disabled people off Medicaid would be hard to do without creating a major fuss, yet wed never heard anything about it.

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There is no evidence of any reduction in the disability caseload.  Brittany Wagner, Ohio Medicaid

As it turns out, Ohio disability advocates say they didnt see this effect. Ohio Medicaid officials say it didnt happen. In fact, in 2016, when this carnage supposedly occurred, Ohio liberalized standards for Medicaid enrollment of the disabled. There seems to be no solid documentation for Domenechs claim, especially if one takes his implication to be that 34,000 disabled Ohioans suddenly found themselves without benefits. Domenech didnt provide me with any, but referred me to a paper by a right-wing group, which also provided no documentation. At best, Domenechs claim was highly misleading.

There is no evidence of any reduction in the disability caseload in the 2015-16 period, according to Brittany Warner, a spokeswoman for Ohio Medicaid. In fact, Ohio actually increased the income eligibility requirement for the aged, blind and disabled from 64 percent [of the federal poverty limit] to 75 percent in 2016.

In raw figures, Ohio raised the ceiling income for Medicaid eligibility for the aged, blind and disabled from $7,603 to $8,910. At the same time, the state liberalized the asset limit  that is, how much an enrollee could own outside of a car and house  to $2,000 from $1,500.

So where did this claim originate, and how did it land on Face the Nation?

Domenech, who runs the Federalist, a conservative website, told me he found the claim in an analysis by the Foundation for Government Accountability, a right-wing organization with ties to the notorious ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Domenech referred me to an FGA paper issued last year purporting to document excessive costs incurred by states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, including Ohio. The paper says, Kasichs administration eliminated Medicaid eligibility for more than 34,000 individuals with disabilities. The assertion is footnoted, but the footnote says only that the source is authors calculations based upon data provided by the Ohio Department of Health Transformation.

Ohio essentially had changed its Medicaid program to bring it into line with federal standards, which had been more liberal than the states. The goal was to make things simpler and easier for enrollees and for the state, not to strip benefits from disabled enrollees. As long as Ohios standards differed from the feds, it had to make a separate determination on the eligibility for every disabled resident applying for Medicaid. This way, Ohio could simply accept federal officials rules and regulations for disability benefits.

The changes did create some complexity for Medicaid enrollees whose income placed them outside the Medicaid income limits. But almost all were served in other ways, according to a fact sheet the state issued. The fact sheet says that, rather than simply knock 34,000 disabled off Medicaid, the state actually expanded enrollment.

When the transition to the new standards took place, the state says, 380,435 Ohioans were covered in Medicaid as aged, blind, or disabled enrollees. Every one retained full Medicaid benefits. The state added to the program another 21,274 Ohioans who were disabled or suffering from mental illness but not previously receiving benefits.

In other words, no disabled persons were thrown off Medicaid, and 21,274 more were brought on.

Where could the FGAs 34,000 disabled have come from? Its possible that the figure refers to some people who had previously qualified for Ohio Medicaid under spend down rules, which allowed them to subtract their medical expenses from income in order to come within the income limits of the program. As part of its transition, Ohio eliminated the spend down program. About 34,000 people who might have qualified under spend-down now wouldnt qualify for Medicaid.

But that doesnt mean they were left uncovered. About 2,800 qualified for Medicare with a premium subsidy paid for by Medicaid. An additional 12,480 qualified for conventional Medicare  these included some who were 65 or older, and others who were receiving Social Security disability. And 18,285 qualified for subsidized premiums and deductibles enabling them to buy insurance on Affordable Care Act exchanges. That left 469 individuals who were younger than 65 and earned more than $47,520, which placed them out of the reach of ACA subsidies, but who were not actually ruled disabled under Social Security rules. They would have to seek private insurance, the state said.

Is this tantamount to throwing 34,000 disabled people off Medicaid? No. Its not even clear that they were disabledin fact, the indications are that most werent disabled, just needy. In any event, all but 469 had alternative sources of coverage, in some cases subsidized by the state. And the betting here is that Domenech didnt know about them, since his source, the FGA, didnt go into this sort of detail.

Disability agencies werent entirely happy with the way the states change was implemented, and its possible that some people fell through the cracks. But the goal was not to throw disabled people off Medicaid and that doesnt appear to have happened on the scale that Domenech mentioned, if at all. Certainly few if any were left without any benefits because of Kasichs actions, which is what Domenech implied. The state even added a new waiver program providing benefits for needy people with mental illness.

The FGA paper obviously is a very thin reed on which to base a factual assertion that Kasich had to throw 34,000 disabled people off of the program, as Domenech put it on national television. I reached out to the lead author of the paper, Jonathan Ingram of the FGA, but havent heard back.

Whats most disturbing about this, of course, is that a claim with scant apparent documentation could become part of a a major networks policy program, which is supposed to be devoted to informing the public. John Dickerson, the moderator of Face the Nation, let it pass without comment. After hearing Domenech out, he merely turned to another member of the shows politics panel to ask how the Senate GOPs Obamacare repeal bill might fare on the Hill.

This made Dickerson and CBS complicit in an outbreak of undocumented assertion with immense ramifications for viewers. Weve reported before on Dickersons tendency to let bogus claims slide, as though hes in a rush to get to a commercial. But hes not alone among Sunday political chat show moderators.

Theres no excuse for any of them to countenance the retailing of non-facts as though theyre true. Domenechs claim, as it happens, comes straight from the right-wing playbook of anti-Medicaid memes. Its the one that demonizes the ACA Medicaid expansion as something that allows able-bodied Americans to suck up resources that should go to the genuinely needy and sick, who are supposed to be Medicaids core clientele.

Its a corollary of an assertion by Trump White House aide Kellyanne Conway on Fox on Monday, that people thrown off Medicaid by the GOP repeal plans should just go out and get jobs. Subjecting adult Medicaid recipients to a work requirement is a popular conservative nostrum, but it overlooks that fact that nearly three-quarters of all uninsured adults eligible for Medicaid expansion already are in working families, and most of the others arent working because theyre caring for family members at home, going to school, are ill or disabled, or retired.

These assertions really are all about creating justifications for cutting millions of Americans off the Medicaid rolls, the better to hand over a tax cut to the wealthy. And the reason the Senate and House Republicans might get away with it is that programs like Face the Nation allow their political panelists to get away with it.

With the House and Senate repeal bills poised to deprive more than 20 million Americans of their health coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and the way cleared to do so by the basic lack of knowledge many Americans have about their healthcare programs, its time to say: CBS, this isnt a game anymore.

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.
How many people would lose their lives if the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act succeeds? Estimates of this inherently murky statistic vary, but the range is from about 28,000 to nearly 100,000 a year.

Thats a shocking toll from an effort that is essentially aimed at gifting the wealthiest Americans with hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts by slashing healthcare. So no one should be surprised that Republican and conservative supporters of the House and Senate repeal bills have spent a lot of time claiming that nothing of the sort will happen. The effort moved into high gear this weekend, following Thursdays unveiling of the Senate GOPs version of ACA repeal.

No one loses coverage, Sen. Pat Toomey , R-Penn., said Sunday on Face the Nation. We would not have individuals lose coverage that they want for themselves and for their family, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said on CNNs State of the Union.

Arguing that health insurance coverage doesnt improve health is simply inconsistent with the evidence.  New England Journal of Medicine

Some conservative pundits went further, treating the argument that the cutbacks would cost lives as some sort of left-wing libel. Some employed the ancient debating trick of trying to defuse an opponents arguments by ruling them old-hat, or out-of-order.

Case in point: Conservative commentator Avik Roys defense of the Senate repeal bill via a tweet in which he wrote, Im very open to thoughtful critiques of the Senate bill from the left. MILLIONS WILL DIE is not it. Right-wing political scientist Charles Murray took a similar tack, also on Twitter: Show me the data on lives saved by Obamacare, please, he wrote.

These defenses feel a little desperate because the evidence is powerful that health insurance saves lives. To put it another way, taking insurance away from people is very likely to cost lives. Roy was being artful in framing the argument against the Senate bill as millions dying, because thats an exaggeration of the claim. But the indications are that tens of thousands of Americans could lose their lives if the Senates repeal becomes law. (Weve examined this moral monstrosity here and here.)

The effects from the Senate and House repeal bills are almost identical. The Congressional Budget Office on Monday found that the Senate bill would lead to the loss of coverage by 22 million Americans by 2026. Thats a hair better than the House Republican repeal bill, passed by that chamber in May. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the House bill would cost 23 million Americans their coverage by 2026.

But estimates of how many Americans might die if either chambers repeal bill becomes law are abundant.

Lets take a look.

The most recent and complete overview of the data on the health effects of insurance coverage was published in the New England Journal of Medicine just last week by Benjamin Sommers, Atul Gawande and Katherine Baicker of the Harvard School of Public Health.

Arguing that health insurance coverage doesnt improve health is simply inconsistent with the evidence, they wrote.

RELATED: The Senate hid the meanest things deep in its Obamacare repeal bill. We found them. 

The authors reached their conclusion by examining studies of mortality rates following the expansion of coverage, generally Medicaid coverage, in various states. Of these studies, the most conservative figure came from a Sommers-led study of the 2006 Massachusetts healthcare reform known as Romneycare, a precursor of the ACA. The study found that one death a year would be prevented for every 830 adults gaining coverage.

That implies that the loss of insurance would lead to about 26,500 deaths in 2026, the year the CBO said the number of Americans tossed out of the insurance pool would reach 22 million under the Senate bill, and 27,700 deaths under the House bill.

The Center for American Progress compiled the CBOs estimates of annual coverage losses from the House bill, applied Sommers rate, and showed that over the next decade, the repeal would lead to about 217,000 more deaths than would occur under current law  that is, the Affordable Care Act, which doesnt eliminate uninsurance entirely but does reduce it substantially. Matt Breunig depicts this toll in a handy chart, a version of which is reproduced below. He adds a line designating a single-payer plan, which by bringing coverage to all Americans would reduce the number of deaths from uninsurance to zero.

Sommers revisited the topic this year in a paper scheduled for publication in the American Journal of Health Economics, based on Medicaid expansions in New York, Arizona and Maine dating back to 2001. There he estimates that one life is saved for every 239 to 316 adults gaining coverage, a rate that implies that the loss of coverage by 22 million would cost as many as 92,000 lives a year by 2026 under the Senate bill, and 96,200 under the House bill.

Cumulative impact of uninsurance over 10 years, if one death per year is saved for every 830 adults with coverage. The House GOPs AHCA (blue), would leave 23 million more without coverage than the Affordable Care Act (orange). Single-payer (yellow) would cover everyone. (Based on Breunig; data from CBO and HHS)

These estimates would seem purely speculative if they werent backed up by data and findings pointing to why health coverage leads to better health and reduces mortality. Those are abundant too.

The data show that insurance helps people in several ways. It improves financial security, the NEJM survey observes. It improves access to care, especially primary care, prescription medicines, preventive care and medical supervision of long-term conditions. It ensures that treatments wont be interrupted for financial or other reasons. Thats a key for cancer patients, most of whom require a period of ongoing care, the NEJM authors note. About 8 million Americans under 70 are currently living with cancer, they say.

RELATED: The Senate GOP's Obamacare repeal will fatten millionaires' wallets but cost lives. 

These findings often are questioned by critics of public healthcare programs. Roy, for instance, has waged a long crusade against Medicaid, which he claims is useless. In an op-ed last week in the Washington Post praising the Senate repeal, he dismissed the ACA for having trapped more than 12 million people in a program that researchers have shown has health outcomes no better than being uninsured.

Well, no. The Oregon study he cites showed nothing of the kind. Since Roy refers to the Oregon study repeatedly, its proper to examine what it did show. The study found that going on Medicaid reduced the financial strain on the enrollees and improved their assessments of their own health, which researchers consider an important health indicator. The study found measurable reduction in depression. It found that the enrollees access to doctors improved, which debunks the persistent claim that Medicaid members cant get healthcare because reimbursements are too low.

Mortality rates fell appreciably in Medicaid expansion states under the ACA, compared to states that rejected the expansion. (Sommers, et al, NEJM)

Roy and other Medicaid critics flog the Oregon studys finding of no measurable effect on high blood pressure, cholesterol or blood sugar, which are markers of coronary risk and diabetes . This appears to be the source of their claim that Medicaid is no better than no insurance at all. But thats not at all what the researchers concluded.

The researchers noted, first of all, that their study may not have been powerful enough to determine such changes, in part because of the relatively small numbers of patients with these conditions in the study. Still, the results they did find in blood sugar readings, while too small to be statistically significant, were consistent with improved medication of diabetes.

Altogether, We found that insurance led to increased access to and utilization of health care, substantial improvements in mental health, and reductions in financial strain, the researchers wrote. Does that sound like Medicaid is a trap  no better than being uninsured? The authors of the study Roy cites certainly didnt think so.

The research cited by Sommers, Gawande and Baicker doesnt even address the effect of the higher premiums and soaring deductibles that will be caused by the House and Senate repeal bills. But these are significant; the repeal bills cut way back on subsidies for premiums and deductibles for most people in the individual insurance market, especially older enrollees.

For a picture of how the Senate repeal bill will affect premiums and subsidies for people at various ages, income and geographic locations, see the interactive map below, provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation. As the foundations Larry Levitt observes, people with incomes up to 150% of the poverty level (that would be about $18,100 for an individual and $36,900 for a family of four) would pay an average deductible of $255 a month. Under the Senate bill, it would be more than $6,000.

Inevitably cost increases like these will drive millions of Americans out of the health insurance market. Theyll find it harder to afford medical care and will face bankruptcy if confronted with a major health crisis or a chronic disease. Theyll skimp on preventive measures that will avert more serious diseases down the road. That will increase the cost of healthcare across the entire nation, possibly for generations.

And yes, people will die. Republican efforts to deny this shouldnt be believed, because history and the numbers scream otherwise.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltzik's blog.

UPDATES:

1:36 p.m.: This post has been updated with the CBO analysis of the Senate GOP repeal bill.
In a sign of rising labor tensions, SAG-AFTRA is seeking a strike authorization from its members as it continues to negotiate a new three-year contract with the major studios.

The actors union said in a message to members that the two sides have failed to reach a tentative contract agreement after the studios proposed outrageous rollbacks.

SAG-AFTRA said its national board of directors agreed on Sunday to send a strike authorization referendum to members unless a satisfactory agreement is reached by Fridays contract deadline.

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The studios have failed to make sufficient progress on our most critical issues, the guilds leaders said in a message posted to its website Sunday night. The status quo is simply unacceptable and our members, standing together, will not give in to managements onerous demands nor back down on our critical proposals.

SAG-AFTRA is negotiating the contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade association that represents the major Hollywood studios, broadcast networks and certain cable channels.

The AMPTP declined to comment, citing a media blackout for the negotiations.

A strike authorization vote doesnt necessarily mean a strike will happen. The move is a common tactic used by unions to gain leverage in a negotiation.

In April, members of the Writers Guild of America voted to authorize a strike in its negotiations with the AMPTP. But the union narrowly avoided a strike by reaching an agreement with the studios in early May.

SAG-AFTRA was formed in 2012 with the merger of the two rival guilds. The combined organization is Hollywoods largest union and boasts membership of approximately 160,000 individuals, including actors, announcers, broadcast journalists and voice-over artists.

The actors union is currently several months into a strike against major video game companies over compensation and safety for voice-over and motion-capture performers.

david.ng@latimes.com

@DavidNgLAT
Los Angeles city officials alleged Monday that fast-food chain Carls Jr. failed to pay the minimum wage to three dozen local workers for six months and is demanding $1.45 million in fines and restitution.

L.A. law is clear: Employees must be paid at least the minimum wage, City Atty. Mike Feuer said in a statement. Anything less is a slap in the face to workers struggling to make ends meet. This is a major corporation that should know the rules.

Carls Jr.s parent, CKE Restaurants Holdings Inc., blamed the shortfall on an inadvertent payroll error. It said the 37 employees affected were swiftly made whole already in the total amount of $5,400.

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The Franklin, Tenn.-based chain also said the citys demand for $1.45 million was on its face simply unreasonable and unconstitutional.

After getting a tip from a Carls Jr. employee, the citys Office of Wage Standards, part of the Bureau of Contract Administration, and Feuer launched an investigation.

They alleged that Carls Jr. failed to pay the workers the Los Angeles minimum wage of $10.50 an hour from July 1 through Dec. 31 last year.

The employees worked at seven of the chains 13 locations in Los Angeles and were paid $10 or $10.25 an hour instead of $10.50, Feuer said in a telephone interview.

The shortfall was not a small deal for the workers because it had a significant impact on their families well-being, Feuer said, adding that he did not know if the problem extended beyond the Los Angeles area.

The Los Angeles minimum wage was lifted to $10.50 an hour from $10 last July 1 as the first step in a graduated plan to have a $15-an-hour minimum wage in 2020. The minimum wage in Los Angeles is set to rise again, to $12 an hour, on July 1.

City officials also alleged that in two Los Angeles restaurants, Carls Jr. failed to post the notice of the current minimum-wage rate, sick-time benefits and employee rights as required under the citys minimum-wage ordinance.

The city is demanding the company pay $910,010 in penalties to the 37 employees involved, and an additional $541,423 in penalties and fines.

If CKE fails to make the payments, it could result in a civil legal action against the company, the city said.

CKE in its statement said our employees have been made whole and we are willing to pay a reasonable fine for our mistake. However, given the excessive demands of the [Office of Wage Standards], we have no choice but to defend against any OWS actions.

CKE also explained that the company mistakenly did not realize that some of the restaurants were in the city of Los Angeles because address listings for these restaurants were non-Los Angeles street addresses.

As for whether the problem extended beyond Los Angeles, CKE said we are ensuring that all of our employees have been properly paid in accordance with applicable laws.

Feuer stood by the size of the penalties and restitution, noting among other things that the failure to pay the minimum wage affected seven locations in Los Angeles, which represents a systemic failure to comply with the citys laws.

Carls Jr. has immense financial resources and significant penalties are necessary to deter future violations, he said.

In addition to Carls Jr., CKE owns the fast-food outlets Hardees, Green Burrito and Red Burrito. Overall the company has 3,800 outlets in 44 states and 40 foreign countries.

CKEs former chief executive, Andy Puzder, stepped down in April and was replaced by fast-food veteran Jason Marker.

President Trump had nominated Puzder to be Labor secretary. But Puzder withdrew his name in February in the face of stiff opposition from congressional members, unions and workers rights advocates.

Puzder not only came under fire for having hired a housekeeper who was in the United States illegally, he also was criticized for comments opposing a minimum-wage hike  he had written op-ed pieces saying it would curb employment opportunities  and for extolling the advantages of increased automation at restaurants.

In an interview last year with the Business Insider website, he noted that machines are always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, theres never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.

In March, Carls Jr. rolled out a new advertising campaign focused on the quality of its hamburgers, a departure from the long campaign under Puzder that featured scantily clad models and celebrities eating dripping burgers.

james.peltz@latimes.com

Twitter: @PeltzLATimes

UPDATES:

3 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from City Attorney Mike Feuer and from CKE Restaurants.

1 p.m.: This article was updated with details about CKEs operations, its former CEO Andy Puzder and its new ad campaign.

This article was originally published at 12:20 p.m.
At 49, Marshall May Jr. could not remember whether he had ever taken his mom out for a meal.

Certainly not in the last 20 years when he was in and out of prison, serving seven separate terms for crimes like stealing to support his drug habit. He last held a regular job in 1994, as a front desk clerk in a Century City hotel.

But this spring May was hired as a part-time street sweeper by Chrysalis, a nonprofit serving the homeless, and that helped him land full-time work as a healthcare peer specialist for which he is now getting trained. He still does not have a place of his own, but with a job in hand, May figures he at least has a shot now. After getting back on his feet, he took his 83-year-old mom to dinner on Mothers Day.

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It was an incredible feeling, he said. I spent a lot of time at the table crying.

As the nation enters its ninth year of economic expansion next month, the low unemployment and tightening labor market have begun to open doors for people like May, who not long ago had all but given up any hopes of returning to the workplace.

Thus far the improvement for the hard-to-employ has been relatively small and spotty, confined mostly to places with exceedingly low unemployment, like in the Midwest and states like Colorado, where the 2.3% jobless rate is the countrys lowest. The nationwide unemployment figure was 4.3% in May, a 16-year low.

During the Great Recession and immediate aftermath, joblessness surged and reached a high of 10%. Millions of people in the prime of their work lives, mostly men, lost jobs in manufacturing, construction and other industries. Since then some have returned to the labor market, but many remain unaccounted for, as if they had vanished from the economy. An opioid epidemic in rural America and swelling numbers getting incarcerated or on government disability have added to the startling decline in employment levels.

But if decent job growth keeps up as most economists expect, groups with historically high unemployment  people with criminal records, disabilities, low skills or little education -- could make some real gains, as they did in the late 1990s.

Already, the jobless rate for adults with less than a high school diploma is down to 6.1%, less than half of the level five years ago and close to a quarter-century low of 5.8%, according to government data. For workers with just a high school education, unemployment most recently was 4.7%, compared with an all-time low of 3.2% in November 1999. These two groups represent about one-third of Americas workforce of 160 million.

The labor shortage is pronounced in booming metros like Austin, Texas. Businesses are so desperate for workers there that they recently teamed up with community colleges, labor unions and nonprofit organizations to train people for jobs such as light industrial work, nursing assistants, information technology support and office clerical help.

We have employers more open to hiring people with criminal backgrounds than weve ever seen before, said Traci Berry, a senior vice president at Goodwill Central Texas, part of the nationwide network of nonprofit community job-training and placement services.

Even in California where unemployment statewide is typically higher than the national average, the latest jobless rate of 4.7% in May -- the lowest since November 2000  has begun to benefit job developers like Chrysalis. Last year it secured positions for 2,350 homeless, ex-offenders and other long-term unemployed, up 17% from 2013 and double the number placed into jobs in 2008. Chrysalis support from private donors also is sharply higher.

Its great that theyre finding success now. Its great that employers are more open to bringing them on, says Chrysalis chief executive, Mark Loranger. But I do wonder, have they really changed their attitudes on hiring people with backgrounds?  When the economy turns on our clients, will things go back to being extraordinarily difficult?

History is not too encouraging. Even during the record-long expansion of the 1990s, when unemployment was lower, productivity higher and wage growth stronger than the current growth period, hopes that rose toward the end of the decade were dashed as the economy tipped into recession in early 2001 with the tech-stock bust and later, the effects from 9/11.

Georgetown University economist Harry Holzer is less optimistic today than at the turn of the last century. More workers have multiple barriers to reentry, such as dependence on drugs and government disability programs, he said. And the labor market is not red hot as it was back then, when unemployment was below 4% during much of 2000.

A lot of employers were so desperate for bodies that anyone who was marginally employable, they were willing to look at, said Holzer, who was chief economist in the Clinton administrations Labor Department in 1999.

More recently, Holzer and fellow researchers have advocated a range of policy steps, including changes in disability programs and expanded wage subsidies, to help jobless men get back to work.

How long the current job gains will last for those at the bottom is anybodys guess. Employers like Norm Sedelbauer, a manufacturer of electronic locks in Grand Rapids, Mich., isnt making any promises. Recently he hired Allen Helmer, 48, who is blind in one eye and has been mostly unemployed since he was laid off from a book-binding company in 2007.

Helmer says he hopes he can stay on at Bauer Products for awhile. He makes $10 an hour, barely enough to pay for groceries and the mortgage on a house his parents once owned. I have to choose between eating and having fun, he said. At work, Helmer stands from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. assembling and jiggering locks with his muscular hands, but said he feels good at the end of the day when he takes the bus back home.

I like working with my hands, I like putting things together, he said. It doesnt pay extremely well, but its well worth it.

The jobless rate for workers with disabilities reached nearly 17% in the summer of 2011 but has since dropped to 9.5%.

Helmer got his job at Bauer through Goodwill in western Michigan, but many job developers worry about cuts in public dollars to help people reenter the labor market. President Trumps budget has proposed substantial reductions, for example, in job-training funds that support efforts by outfits like Goodwill, although some of that federal money would be diverted to enhance apprenticeship programs.

Now we ride the economic waves again, but the funding is not there today, said Kathy Crosby, a 38-year veteran of Goodwill.

Even so, Crosby and other experts are hopeful especially for those coming out of prison. Budget-conscious states and counties are increasingly looking at early-release programs and tying them to jobs, figuring that helping them find work will make it much less likely that they will return to prison.

Maine, for example, released a small number of inmates with nonviolent offenses to fill job openings that swell in the summer tourism season. Maines unemployment is 3.2%.

In many parts of the country a worsening labor shortage in construction could open up job pathways for men with records. Employer attitudes toward hiring ex-offenders also seem to have softened somewhat as a growing number of states and cities have sought to remove employment barriers for former prisoners since the Great Recession.

Isaac Vallejo, 53, used to operate his own auto body shop in Austin. He lost the business when he went to prison several years ago for illegal possession of a firearm. Vallejo says he had carried it because he often had a lot of cash on him. It was his second felony offense and he was sentenced to three years.

After his release about two years ago, Vallejo bounced around in halfway houses, and then with help from Goodwill picked himself up. Last year he was hired at a paint and body shop, not far from where Vallejo had his shop. He makes $18 an hour now, and he is going to school two nights a week at a local community college for a certificate in auto refurbishing technology.

Im proof that it does work, he said.

don.lee@latimes.com

Follow me at @dleelatimes

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Minimum wage fight may heat up after new study finds jobs, hours fell in Seattle

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Its one of the core questions in the debate over minimum wage: Does pushing the pay floor to $15 lead businesses to cut hours and jobs?

A much-anticipated study released Monday by a team of researchers at the University of Washington is likely to intensify that controversy  just as Los Angeles heads toward its own minimum-wage increase for large businesses, from $10.50 an hour to $12 an hour on July 1.

The new study has found that jobs and work hours fell for Seattles lowest paid employees after the city raised the minimum wage to $13 last year on its march to $15 for all workers by 2021.

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The analysis shows that jobs and hours for those workers declined faster in Seattle than in surrounding control areas, where the minimum wage did not increase.

That finding diverges from past studies of minimum wage increases in Seattle and elsewhere, which have found relatively little effect on employment. And some economists see it as a possible sign that $15 minimum wage laws such as those passed in Seattle, New York and several California cities could hurt workers at the lowest end of the wage spectrum.

Seattle has been a leader among the nations cities in dramatically raising its wage floor, to one of the highest in the country. For that reason, it has drawn the attention and intense scrutiny of academics and pundits on both sides of the minimum wage debate.

The University of Washingtons ongoing study, commissioned by the city of Seattle, is well suited to measure the results of that experiment because it looks specifically at what happened to workers who earned low wages, independent economists said.

Washington is one of only four states that actually track how many hours each employee works, allowing researchers to identify exactly which workers are paid the lowest hourly wage and how their pay and employment opportunities changed.

Studies of wage hikes in other states and cities have instead focused on broad industries, like restaurants, that tend to pay low wages, or on teenagers, who tend to earn small paychecks.

This is a study that has the power to move peoples beliefs. It will have a substantial impact on the debate, said David Autor of MIT, one of the countrys leading labor economists, who reviewed the paper before it was published.

It suggests we should be proceeding cautiously when we start pushing minimum wages into ranges where they are pretty significant, Autor said.

Of course, what happens in Seattle could stay in Seattle. The city is unique in that it started from a high wage floor. In two dozen U.S. states, the minimum wage is less than $9 today, and theres no indication that bringing those rates up incrementally would do any harm.

Under the Seattle wage law, companies with more than 500 workers worldwide that didnt contribute to worker health insurance saw the minimum hourly rate they were required to pay rise from $9.47 in 2014 to $11 in April 2015. That uptick barely changed the number of low-wage jobs in the city, according to an analysis released last year by the same group of Washington researchers. It was only when the rate went to $13 an hour in January 2016 that the economists started seeing signs of trouble.

Low-wage workers in Seattle  people earning less than $19 an hour  saw their hours decrease by about 9% from 2014 to 2016, compared with the surrounding control area, the study found. The number of low-wage jobs overall declined by nearly 7% relative to the control group.

Emmanuel Saez, an economist at UC Berkeley who also reviewed the paper, agreed that the study was well designed. But he was less sure of its negative implications.

Saez said that its possible that a booming Seattle job market drove away low-wage jobs. Seattles unemployment rate has dropped to record lows in recent months, reaching 3.2% in May, and employers may have been forced to pass out raises even without a higher minimum, he said.

I am not yet convinced by this study that the Seattle minimum wage has created large employment losses, Saez wrote in an email.

Seattles 2014 law applied different minimum wage rates depending on the size of the business and whether employees got medical benefits or tips. Franchisees  say, individual McDonalds restaurants  were counted as large businesses and subject to higher rates.

The cost of labor is going up and employers are trying to adjust to that by cutting hours worked, said Katya Jardim, a co-author of the University of Washington report. It suggests there are at least some workers being impacted negatively by higher minimum wages.

It is impossible to know for sure how a similar jump will play out in Los Angeles, which has a different economy than Seattle. But some economists said theres reason to worry.

Los Angeles should be alarmed by this, said Edward Leamer, an economist at UCLA. Seattle is packed to the gills with high earners, he said, and is the type of city that economists expect to weather minimum wage increases better than most.

In Seattle, the average hourly wage is about $36, compared with $28 in Los Angeles, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A high minimum wage in Los Angeles is likely to do more harm because you have more minority, low-pay, low-skill workers, said David Neumark, an economist at UC Irvine.

In Los Angeles favor is that it is surrounded by urban centers that are also pushing quickly toward a $15 wage floor, giving fewer options to companies looking to move to greener pastures. In Washington, Seattle is the only major city thats quickly approaching $15.

By 2016, Seattle restaurants had cut hours and jobs for low paid workers, but had hired more highly paid employees, the study found.

Servers prepare food orders at an Ivars restaurant in Seattle. In Seattle restaurants the number of jobs and hours worked overall did not change much after the minimum wage rose to $13 an hour, a University of Washington study found. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

The researchers conducted two surveys of 500 businesses, which seem to suggest that restaurants are moving toward a model of either limited service  where people pick up their food at a counter and bus their own tables  or lavish, full-service joints  places where a salad can cost, say, $25.

Its an evolution in the types of restaurants you see in Seattle and its an evolution in terms of restaurants hiring experienced workers, said Jacob Vigdor, who co-authored the report.

All restaurants appear to be relying more and more on higher paid workers. That could be happening because Seattle is booming and hordes of new tech workers need fancy places to eat.

This is happening in Seattle anyway, regardless of the minimum wage; we are seeing a shift away from low-wage jobs and to high-wage jobs, said Ben Zipperer, of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group.

It could also show that the minimum wage is achieving one of its intended goals, by leading cities away from being centers of low-paying gigs in favor of more lucrative job opportunities.

Either way, that shift could produce losers: teenagers, for instance, and other people who dont have the skills to vie for positions that pay top dollar.

If you are someone trying to break into the labor market, get your first job, a young person or immigrant, thats where it really seems like its become more difficult, Vigdor said.

Researchers at UC Berkeley published a separate report on food services businesses in Seattle earlier this month, which found that pay went up in the sector and the number of jobs didnt change, compared with a control group that included areas outside of Washington.

The researchers did not have the hourly data that the Washington researchers used, so they could not disentangle low-paid servers and cooks from higher paid ones, or look specifically at work hours.

You have to have the special micro-data, which only they have. Its not publicly available, said Michael Reich, an economist at UC Berkeley and the lead author of that report.

Reich said he was skeptical of the University of Washington research because it found that employers were considerably more sensitive to small changes in the average wage than in any previous study.

Their results look way off the charts, Reich said.

He faulted the researchers for using a control group that only included regions within Washington, when bigger cities outside the state have job markets that act more like Seattles. He also took issue with the approach because it focused almost exclusively on employers that have one location in Seattle, which excludes retail and restaurant chains.

The report could have overstated the impact on employment, Reich said, because some people who lost jobs at single-site employers may have actually decided to go work at a multisite employer. The report would have labeled that move a job loss.

The Washington researchers said they couldnt track multisite employers because those businesses dont identify the specific locations where their employees report to work. However, in separate surveys, where the researchers talked to both types of business, the ones with multiple locations were actually more likely than single-site employers to say they had cut jobs and hours when the wage went up. That suggests that there may have been an even greater job loss for low-paid workers in those bigger businesses.

It is possible that employers didnt cut as many jobs as it appeared in the study, because some bosses could have responded to a higher minimum by moving low-wage workers into independent contract positions rather than firing them. The researchers didnt have data on independent contractors, and so they didnt capture that dynamic.

Natalie.Kitroeff@latimes.com

Follow me @NatalieKitro on Twitter

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Celebrating #HarryPotter20: How Harry Potter and his blockbuster films came of age on screen

The Boy Who Lived has cast his spell on the box office since Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, the first film in Warner Bros. blockbuster franchise, hit theaters in 2001.

The bestselling, seven-book series was adapted into eight record-breaking films -- and a two-part play -- as the boy wizard ventured through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the wizarding world with his pals Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, taking on the enigmatic Lord Voldemort and his magical henchmen each school year.

As J.K. Rowlings debut novel Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone -- the first of the books from which the decade-spanning films were adapted -- marks its 20th anniversary, heres a reminder of how Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan reviewed the Harry Potter films. (Spoiler alert: He didnt always like them.)

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone film is imaginative and faithful but shuns any risk-taking (2001)

As his 11th birthday approaches, orphan Harry Potter learns that hes a wizard and enrolls at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where his reputation as the Boy Who Lived precedes him during his magical training.

The result is a remarkably faithful copy of the book that treats the text like holy writ (hence its 2-hour-and-33-minute length), wrote The Times film critic Kenneth Turan. From the gold in Gringotts, the safe-as-houses goblin-run bank, to the centaur lurking in the forbidden forest that adjoins Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so much is presented just as written that Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone starts to resemble one of those fiendishly exact replicas of great works of art that Sunday painters can be seen working on in galleries of museums.

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets doesnt capture the well-balanced tone of the book (2002)

In their second year at Hogwarts, Harry and his pals Ron and Hermione contend with a celebrity author professor and a well-meaning house elf named Dobby who thwart the trio in unexpected ways.

The darkness that invades Chamber of Secrets underlines how well the books managed to exactly balance good and evil, dark and light, so that within their pages you seemed to be experiencing both at the same time. Not so here, Turan wrote. Because Chamber of Secrets cant seem to get the balance right, it ends up broadly overdoing things on both ends of the spectrum. The films scary moments are too monstrous and its happy times have too much idiotic beaming, making the film feel like the illegitimate offspring of Alien and The Absent-Minded Professor.

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban film comes close to capturing the essence of the books (2004)

The wizarding world gets markedly darker as convicted murderer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), who is believed to have killed Harrys parents, escapes from the Azkaban prison and the soul-sucking Dementors are loosed to chase him down. Director Alfonso Cuaron takes the helm from Chris Columbus, who directed the two previous films.

"[T]he final hour of the two-hour-and-21-minute Azkaban is the closest any of the films has gotten to capturing the enormously pleasing essence of the Potter books, wrote Turan, adding, Those three leads (Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Emma Watson as Hermione, Rupert Grint as Ron) play characters who are now 13, an age when anger and frustration are more publicly expressed. One of the benefits of Cuarons direction, his expertise with younger actors, means that the constant determination and occasional fury exhibited by the characters, especially Harry and Hermione, are completely convincing.

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire finally gets Harry Potter right (2005)

Harrys surprising inclusion in the prestigious Triwizard Tournament, as a fourth-year student, raises concerns and brings danger to the Hogwarts castle.

Its taken them long enough, but the movies have finally gotten Harry Potter right, wrote Turan. It has fallen to the veteran [director] Mike Newell, eager, in his own words, to break out of this goody-two-shoes feel, to make the first Harry Potter film to be wire-to-wire satisfying.

Though memorable acting is neither called for nor delivered on the part of Goblets collection of juveniles, Radcliffes Harry does get one thing exactly right. Watching him face myriad challenges, were convinced that Harrys heart will lead him to do the right thing. He does good in the most natural way and, like so much of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, thats just how it should be.

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix cant shake an episodic feeling (2007)

With the Ministry of Magic refusing to acknowledge Lord Voldemorts (Ralph Fiennes) return, fifth-year Harry is brooding at school as he contends with spooky visions and Ministry transplant Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). His knowledge of the dark magic-fighting organization, the Order of the Phoenix, and a prophecy further complicate matters.

"[Director David] Yates and his team handle the films visuals well, including the impressive sets for the atrium of the Ministry of Magic and its Hall of Prophecy, as well as fine flying sequences involving either broomsticks or equine creatures called Thestrals, Turan wrote. The director also works well with the films juvenile leads, which is important, because these are the raging hormone years at Hogwarts School, and that is especially true where Harry is concerned. Looking so disgruntled in his gray hoodie that you fear he might start rapping, Harry comes off as more Grumpy Potter than the bright light of the wizarding world.

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is well-crafted but sometimes hard to endure (2009)

As dark magic spills into the Muggle world, Harrys mentor, Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), tasks him with bringing down Lord Voldemort. But Harrys discovery of an old textbook teaches him more than he expected about his past.

Now in its sixth episode shot over an eight-year span, with two more features still to come, this one-of-a-kind film cycle has become as comfortable and reliable as an old shoe, providing a degree of dependability thats becoming increasingly rare, Turan wrote. As directed by David Yates, who did the previous film and is on tap for the final two, Half-Blood Prince demonstrates the ways that the Potter pictures have become the modern exemplars of establishment moviemaking. We dont turn to these films for thrilling or original cinema, we look for a level of craft, consistency and, most of all, fidelity to the originals -- all of which we get.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1" (2010)

The penultimate film sees Harry, Hermione and Ron venturing out into the real world to locate and destroy Lord Voldemorts soul-encapsulating Horcruxes as Hogwarts and the wizarding world fall to He Who Must Not Be Named.

Much of the plot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows involves the attempt to find and destroy a series of Horcruxes, and if you havent a clue about what they are or why theyre important, you might as well stay home, Turan wrote. There is something different, however, about this Potter movie, and that is the words Part 1' that end the title. Understandably distraught about Hallows being the last of the phenomenally popular J.K. Rowling novels, Warner Bros. has split the final effort into two films and is likely kicking itself for not having thought of that with the earlier books.

(It should be noted that the studio reboots the wizarding world with the forthcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series. The first film hit theaters in 2016.)

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2" (2011)

Harry goes wand-to-wand with Lord Voldemort, concluding Harrys final year at the wizarding school with the epic Battle of Hogwarts.

In a classic storybook finish, however, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2' turns out to be more than the last of its kind. Almost magically, it ends up being one of the best of the series as well, Turan wrote. The Harry Potter films, like the boy wizard himself, have had their creative ups and downs, so its especially satisfying that this final film, ungainly title and all, has been worth the wait. Though no expense has been spared in its production, it succeeds because it brings us back to the combination of magic, adventure and emotion that created the books popularity in the first place.

For more of The Times Harry Potter anniversary coverage, go here.
The case seemed open and shut.

Los Angeles County Sheriffs Sgt. Justin Walter told a jury how he had pulled over a sport utility vehicle for an expired registration tag.

The veteran sergeant went into detail about the stop  how he saw the SUVs passenger sneak his hand between his seat and the center console. How he had considered the mans furtive movements suspicious and decided to search the vehicle. And how he had found a few grams of methamphetamine in the spot where the passengers hand seemed like it had stuffed something away.

But more than a year after Walters testimony led to the conviction of Emil Alseranai on a drug charge, the case has become focused on what the sergeant did not tell the court or anyone else involved in the case: that Walter had previously been found liable by a federal jury in a civil lawsuit accusing him and other deputies of using false evidence or false testimony in a mans arrest.

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Now, Alseranai is seeking a new trial. He is arguing that the sheriffs sergeant and the prosecution team violated his right to a fair trial by failing to notify him of the 2010 civil jury verdict. That evidence could call into question Walters credibility as a witness, Alseranai said.

The case comes amid heightened public scrutiny in Los Angeles County over how much information authorities are required to tell criminal defendants about accusations of misconduct leveled against law enforcement officers who testify in their cases.

An appeals court is weighing whether Sheriff Jim McDonnell can provide prosecutors with a list of roughly 300 deputies who have histories of being disciplined for making false statements, stealing, using excessive force and other serious misconduct. A deputies union took McDonnell to court last fall, arguing that disclosing the names would violate state law protecting the confidentiality of peace officer discipline files.

In Alseranais case, however, the information he says should have been disclosed isnt a confidential police record  its a public jury verdict against an officer.

Superior Court Judge Michael Garcia is expected to rule Tuesday on whether Alseranai should be granted a new trial. One of the issues before the judge is whether law enforcement officers need to notify prosecutors or defendants about past civil jury verdicts against them that could call into question their credibility in court.

A brief filed by Deputy Dist. Atty. Margot Cotter said prosecutors are legally required only to check the names of police witnesses against the district attorneys database of problematic officers. The office, which does not have access to police discipline files, learns about potential misconduct to include in its database from prosecutors who complain about wrongdoing, from law enforcement agencies when they present criminal cases in which officers are suspects, and from news articles.

Walters name did not turn up in a search of the database, Cotter said in her brief.

Cotter argued she was under no legal obligation to go out and look for additional information about Walter and that the sergeant was not legally required to disclose information about a civil case against him. Her motion cited a 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision from 1992 that said prosecutors could not be found to have suppressed evidence if the defense could have obtained the same evidence using reasonable diligence.

Walter said in an interview that, as he sees it, he was never found in the civil case to have given false testimony or evidence and that he didnt believe he had to notify prosecutors.

Cotter and a spokeswoman with the Los Angeles County district attorneys office declined to comment.

Under the landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brady vs. Maryland, prosecutors must alert defendants to any evidence favorable to the defense, including information that could call into question the credibility of a government witness. Subsequent court decisions have indicated that this so-called Brady obligation extends to members of the prosecution team, which includes police officers, police agencies, crime labs or any other entity that acts in partnership with prosecutors in a given case.

You would hope officers disclose this type of information.  Jerry Coleman, a special assistant district attorney in San Francisco County

Jerry Coleman, a special assistant district attorney in San Francisco County who teaches prosecutorial ethics at the University of San Francisco School of Law, said it would be the best practice for individual police officers to notify prosecutors of possible problems in their own background.

You would hope officers disclose this type of information, he said.

Some experts say prosecutors ought to be eager to learn about possible credibility problems with the officers whose testimony they rely on. If a court later decides such information was suppressed, a conviction could be overturned, they said.

Lael Rubin, a former prosecutor in the Los Angeles County district attorneys office, noted that a civil jury verdict that found a deputy had falsified evidence is information that a prosecutor would want to know about.

Rubin, who emphasized she was not speaking about any particular case, was responsible for developing the offices Brady policy under former Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and also sits on the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission.

Alseranai, who was charged with possessing methamphetamine for sale, happened to find the verdict against Walter by Googling the sergeants name just before the last day of his criminal trial.

In the civil lawsuit, Ronald Johnson claimed that Walter was among four deputies who falsely arrested him outside a Lynwood motel in 2008, planted cocaine on him and beat him, sending him to an intensive care unit for six days. Johnson was charged but the case was later dismissed.

When his lawsuit went to trial in 2010, a federal jury disagreed with Johnsons excessive force claim but found that the deputies used false evidence or false testimony against him. The completed verdict form, which did not allow the jury to elaborate on what the panel considered to be the false evidence, explained that jurors could reach such a verdict if they concluded the deputies failed to intervene in others use of false evidence or testimony.

The deputies also acted with malice, oppression or reckless disregard for Ronald Johnsons rights, according to the jurys verdict. The jurors awarded Johnson $75,000 in compensation and an additional $66,000 that the deputies individually had to pay him in punitive damages, including $12,000 by Walter.

Alseranai told his attorney at the time, Stuart Dumas, about what he had discovered online, but Dumas decided not to act on the information. As part of his motion for a new trial, Alseranai is accusing his former lawyer of providing him ineffective assistance.

In a recent interview, Dumas denied the claim and said its unclear whether the prior verdict against Walter would have had a meaningful impact on Alseranais case.

Walter said in an interview that there was never any false testimony in the Johnson case.

He said the jurys false evidence finding stemmed from the deputies use of a ruse to entice Johnson out of his dwelling. The deputies, acting on a tip that Johnson was armed and dealing drugs, employed a tow truck driver to simulate the act of towing Johnsons car away  a method Walter said was apparently frowned upon by the jurors at trial but was nonetheless a legal practice.

Walter pointed out that the judge in the case, S. James Otero, set aside the $66,000 punitive damages award  including the $12,000 against Walter. The judge ruled the amount was without foundation.

I dont sit as the 13th juror, but I think my  my comments may be important to the officers in reference to any review by internal affairs based upon the finding of the jury regarding punitive damages, Otero said in court after the verdict was read. I found nothing in the record that would warrant a finding in favor of the plaintiff on the issue of punitive damages.

Johnsons attorney, Glen Jonas, said he agreed to allow the judge to set aside the punitive damages to allow the case to conclude and not be appealed. The federal jurys verdict against the deputies is still a significant finding, he said. The county paid out $387,500 in the Johnson matter, including $312,500 in legal fees, said Steven Estabrook of the county counsels office.

Jonas, who is now representing Alseranai, said his client has always maintained his innocence in the drug case. Alseranai maintains as he did at trial that it was in fact the SUVs driver, who was his girlfriend, who owned the drugs found in the vehicle.

Once they found out about the evidence of the jury verdict against Walter, prosecutors should have been racing to the courthouse to fix their error, Jonas said. Instead, they want to let it stand.

maya.lau@latimes.com

Twitter: @mayalau
Federal fishery agencies Monday pushed forward a controversial water project that would change the way Northern California supplies are sent to the Southland.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that the construction of new diversion points on the Sacramento River and two massive water tunnels would not jeopardize the existence of endangered species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is the hub of Californias waterworks.

The release of the documents marks a major  but by no means final  step in the long, twisting path of the proposal, which has been in the planning stages for more than a decade.

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Called biological opinions, the reviews analyze the projects likely effects on endangered and threatened species, including the vanishing delta smelt, winter-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead.

The analysis will shape operating rules for the diversions  and thus how much water the tunnels carry to the big delta pumps that supply San Joaquin Valley growers and Southland cities.

The agencies that depend on delta water will scrutinize every line of the opinions before they decide whether to fully commit to funding the project, which is expected to cost $17 billion.

The question for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Westlands Water District and others will be whether the tunnels stabilize their delta water deliveries enough to justify the cost.

If they decide it doesnt and withdraw their support, the proposal will die. Though Mondays news was good for them, their reactions were restricted to offering thanks that another planning milestone had been reached.

Even if the districts give thumbs up, the tunnels still need several state and federal permits before construction can begin. And opponents are expected to challenge approvals in court, which could stall the project for years.

The science in this decision was cherry-picked and not representative of the true scope of harm to endangered species who depend on a healthy San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary for their survival, said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, an anti-tunnel group. We believe the court will overturn this.

Delta growers vehemently oppose the tunnels, which would require years of disruptive construction in their backyards and would suck up good-quality fresh water before it reaches their irrigation ditches.

Environmentalists argue the tunnels will inevitably be used to send more water south, further depleting flows vital to the deltas faltering ecosystem.

The system today is not adequately protective and now were approving something that makes things worse. Its a real head-scratcher, said Doug Obegi, a staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that has successfully challenged previous biological opinions on delta water exports.

It sure seems like politics is trumping science in the delta again, he argued.

Dubbed the California WaterFix by the state, the proposal calls for construction of three new diversion points on the Sacramento River in the north delta, along with two massive underground tunnels that would carry water 35 miles to existing government pumping plants in the south delta.

The powerful pumps now draw entirely from the south delta, causing delta channels to flow backward and pulling imperiled native fish to their deaths. That triggers endangered species protections that limit pumping, cutting delta deliveries.

By reducing withdrawals from the south delta, the new diversion points would lessen the reverse flows and  backers hope  loosen the pumping restrictions.

In draft reviews, federal biologists were consistently skeptical of the proposal. They warned that taking large amounts of fresh water from the north delta would create a new set of problems for migrating Chinook salmon and delta smelt, a tiny fish that is found no place else in the world.

The Fish and Wildlife Service found that construction and operation of the river intakes and twin tunnels would destroy smelt habitat that will become increasingly important as climate change and sea- level rise alter delta conditions.

The National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that as far as winter-run Chinook salmon are concerned, the new diversion would change river flow patterns and temperatures for the worse, hurting overall survival of the endangered species.

In the final opinions released Monday, the agencies conceded that project construction and operation would adversely affect imperiled species  but not to the point of jeopardizing their existence or destroying critical habitat. The agencies also said planned habitat restoration programs would offset the tunnel impacts.

Officials also noted that a separate environmental review is now underway of State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project operations that will include the tunnels  and could result in further restrictions.

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Twitter: @boxall

UPDATES:

4 p.m. This article was updated with more details and quotes from opponents.
Simultaneous fires destroyed two vacant buildings at the 129-year-old Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center campus in Downey early Monday, authorities said.

Firefighters responded to a blaze on the Rancho Los Amigos south campus at 2:28 a.m. and found an abandoned two-story house near Erickson Avenue and Consuelo Street fully engulfed in flames, the Downey Fire Department said in a statement.

As firefighters were trying to put out the fire, another blaze was reported on the campus. More fire crews were called to the scene, and they found a burning 50-by-50-foot commercial building to the southeast, according to the fire department.

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The second building was about a block away, NBC-LA reported.

Both buildings were total losses, and the causes of the fires are under investigation, the Fire Department said.

Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies detained four people for questioning about the fire, which authorities said was suspicious, KTLA reported.

The sprawling Rancho Los Amigos campus opened in 1888 as the Los Angeles County Poor Farm, which offered ranch work and medical care to handicapped, ill, elderly and homeless people.

It was eventually renamed Rancho Los Amigos and operated as a hospital for chronic illnesses until the 1950s, when a polio epidemic turned it into a rehabilitation center.

The propertys more than 200 acres are split in two by Imperial Highway. The Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, a county-run hospital specializing in spinal injuries and stroke rehabilitation, is on the north side, and several former Poor Farm structures are on the so-called south campus.

In February, a fire ripped through an abandoned building on the south campus near Dahlia Avenue and Consuelo Street.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

hailey.branson@latimes.com

Twitter: @haileybranson

UPDATES:

10:35 a.m. This article was updated with authorities detaining four people.

This article was originally published at 9:50 a.m.
For more than two months, family members, volunteers and more than 22 law enforcement agencies have scoured Southern California to answer one question: Where is 5-year-old Aramazd?

Los Angeles County sheriffs detectives brought scent dogs and drones to comb a South Pasadena park near where the boys father lived. Divers searched a lake in Santa Barbara County. And a $30,000 reward was offered for information that could help find the boy.

Meanwhile, surveillance teams monitored the only named person of interest in the disappearance: the childs father, Aramazd Andressian Sr.

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Recently, investigators noticed some troubling developments. Andressian, sheriffs investigators said, had lightened the color of his hair. He had shaved off his beard. And he had begun making plans to head to a country where he could avoid extradition back to the United States.

Last week, the Los Angeles County district attorneys office filed a murder charge, and detectives scooped him up in Las Vegas, where he had stayed on and off since his sons disappearance.

Detectives believe Andressian, 35, killed his son because of tumultuous divorce proceedings with his estranged wife, sheriffs Lt. Joe Mendoza said.

Investigators believe this was a pre-planned event, he said.

Pursuing a murder case without having found the victims body poses a unique challenge for prosecutors, but Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey said her office has handled several cases with success. Four years ago, for example, a Los Angeles County jury convicted Lyle Stanford Herring for the second-degree murder of his wife, who went missing four years earlier.

Lacey said she was confident there was strong evidence that Andressian committed this horrible crime.

This one is especially terrible, she said.

Sheriffs homicide Det. Louie Aguilera said he and his partner had stayed in constant contact with Aramazds mother throughout the investigation. The detective read aloud a statement that she provided about her son, whose nickname was Piqui.

My heart is shattered, and I will miss my son immensely each and every second of every day for the rest of my life, Ana Estevezs statement said. Piqui was everything great in my life, and I cannot imagine the emptiness and void that I will bear until we are together again someday.

South Pasadena Police Chief Art Miller said the childs disappearance has had a profound impact on his community.

Myself as a parent and as someone who is supposed to be the protector of our city, my heart is broken, he said.

Neighbors in the tight-knit area of Baldwin Park where the boy and his mother lived with his grandparents were shocked to hear of the charges. On Monday, missing person fliers with photographs of the boy were still stapled to a utility pole and taped to his maternal grandparents home, where a neighbor said theyve lived for more than two decades.

Its really struck the community, said Luis Martinez, 31. I feel heartbroken for them.

Martinez said that the family would get together at the home on holidays and weekends, and when Aramazd was born, his grandparents were thrilled to welcome a little boy into the family.

Despite Andressians arrest, Martinez said hes not convinced that the boy was killed.

Theres still no body, he said. Someones being held accountable...but at the end of the day you still have somebody else whos still missing.

Longtime neighbor Rachel Garcia, 65, said when she first heard of the boys disappearance on television news, she never imagined that the child was from her neighborhood. Each day, she said, she has hoped for good news.

Were still praying that hes alive, said Garcia, whose daughter went to high school with the childs mother in Baldwin Park.

The mother told investigators she had handed off Aramazd to his father about 8 a.m. April 15 in Baldwin Park, authorities said.

Aramazd was last seen April 21 about 1 a.m. as he was leaving Disneyland with his father, aunt and grandmother. Andressian told investigators he took his son the next day to the Cachuma Lake Recreation Area in Santa Barbara County.

Mendoza said investigators believe the child was killed in the hours after leaving Disneyland and before his father went to the Cachuma Lake Recreation Area. Investigators said theres evidence that Andressian was at the lake April 21, but there were no sightings of the boy.

On April 22  the day the child was to be returned to his mother  the father was found unconscious in a South Pasadena park, his 2004 gray BMW doused in gasoline. The man had taken prescription pills, in an effort, authorities believe, to kill himself.

Andressian was initially detained but released due to lack of evidence.

Andressian told investigators he didnt know what had happened to his son. Sheriffs officials said he gave inconsistent and misleading statements, hired an attorney and refused to cooperate with investigators.

Afterward, Andressian went to Las Vegas, where he spent 47 days on and off socializing, sheriffs officials said.

His mannerisms were not consistent with a grieving parent, Mendoza said.

Investigators said the case against Andressian relies on circumstantial evidence, but they have yet to release any details. They did not say what led them to believe he was making plans to leave the country or where he was headed.

Andressian was taken into custody about 1 p.m. Friday in Las Vegas by sheriffs homicide detectives. He is being held on $10-million bail and is expected to be returned to Los Angeles County after extradition proceedings. His attorney, Daniel A. Nardoni, had no comment Monday.

In Montebello, resident Juliet Lizarraga said she often saw Andressian drop the boy off at his paternal grandmothers house, sometimes up to twice a week. Chills ran through Lizarragas body when she heard the news of the arrest, which she said was surprising because the boy and his father seemed to have a playful and loving relationship.

From the outside, she said, he looked like a lovable dad, to me. I dont know what happened indoors.

She said she hadnt seen the boy since February or March.

I always pictured him as a very active boy. Thats how I knew him, she said. I was hoping he would still be alive.

nicole.santacruz@latimes.com

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

For more news on crime in Southern California, follow us on Twitter: @NicoleSantaCruz and @AleneTchek.

UPDATES:

7:50 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from more neighbors and additional background about the case.

2:45 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from a neighbor of the boys grandmother.

This article was originally published at 12:05 p.m.
Its been four days since friends and family members have seen an Orange County-based rapper who was swept away by dangerous currents in the Kern River.

We still have faith he is alive, Erica Zambada said.

Zambada last saw her soon-to-be husband, Michael Ramirez, about 5 p.m. Thursday after they had spent the day at the Keyesville Campground in Lake Isabella. They were camping with friends and celebrating Ramirezs 27th birthday, which was on June 19.

Ramirez, who goes by Dossicc, is a member of the underground hip-hop group Rebellion Warfare. The group has performed with Immortal Technique, Raekwon, Aesop Rock and Method Man.

After they set up their tents and began preparing a meal, Ramirez decided to take a swim to cool down.

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The weather was crazy hot  it was 115 degrees, Zambada said.

As she dipped her feet in the water, Ramirez threw a rock into the river to check its depth, and then dove in.

Ramirez struggled to stay afloat, and was pulled under, she said.

The couples friend and bandmate tied a rope around his waist and jumped into the water to reach Ramirez.

But an undercurrent swept Ramirez away, Zambada said.

About 10 minutes later, rescue teams with the Kern County Sheriffs Office arrived and searched the river until sundown.

Ramirez, a Buena Park resident, was nowhere to be found.

Zambada said authorities have not done enough to find Ramirez, and have essentially given up.

She said more than 70 friends and relatives have been looking for Ramirez since he disappeared. They purchased a large map of the area and split up into small groups.

So far, the groups have covered seven miles of the 165-mile river.

After a remarkably wet winter, the river, known as the Killer Kern, has been particularly treacherous this year.

As hot temperatures roast parts of California this summer, melting snow from the Sierra Nevada has begun to trickle into the states rivers and reservoirs.

The result is a fatal mix of swift currents and frigid water temperatures, officials said.

Six people have drowned in the river so far this year, according to the Bakersfield Fire Department.

Since 1968, 280 people have drowned in the river, the agency said.

The recent deaths and dangerous water conditions have triggered warnings from multiple law enforcement agencies.

Last week, the Bakersfield Fire Department urged Kern River visitors to keep out.

The Kern River is hazardous for those not properly trained in special water navigation techniques or not accompanied by trained river guides, the department said in its precautionary alert. The sections of the Kern River flowing through metro Bakersfield may look calm and inviting, but the force is shocking, unexpectedly powerful and can overcome the strongest swimmers.

With the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaching, Zambada said she worries other river visitors may go through the same stress and anguish.

Meanwhile, she said she is seeking volunteers to help in the search for Ramirez. Zambada said she was hoping for the best outcome for her fiance, whom she described as an experienced camper.

He is a survivor, she said.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA
Crews battling a wildfire in Santa Clarita faced red flag conditions Monday as temperatures climbed into the triple digits, humidity dropped and winds gusted toward homes and businesses as fast as 30 mph, officials said.

Conditions are right for a fire to spread, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Fisher. After that wetter than normal winter we had, we have extra grasses growing and now those grasses have pretty much dried out.

Temperatures across Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley were forecast to reach 105 degrees Monday, while overnight, an onshore flow was expected to move in and begin cooling the region.

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Before that cooling arrived, however, more than 400 firefighters battled the Placerita fire south of the 14 Freeway near Placerita Canyon Road, under the sweltering sun Monday.

The fire chewed through an estimated 870 acres and was 57% contained by Monday afternoon, officials said. It knocked out power and triggered mandatory evacuations for dozens of residents Sunday night.

The fire started Sunday afternoon when a motorist drove her car into a tree, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The blaze jumped the freeway and sent up a towering plume of gray smoke that was visible for miles.

VIDEO: Earlier, @LACoFireAirOps helicopter makes a water drop to protect homes as #PlaceritaFire hits a neighborhood on 6/25/17 @LACoFDPIO pic.twitter.com/zL6yCBFwfj  LACoFireAirOps (@LACoFireAirOps) June 26, 2017

The driver of the crashed vehicle was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, said Joey Marrone, a spokesman with the Fire Department.

A firefighter injured in the blaze was also hospitalized, Marrone said.

Laura Amara, a 48-year-old secretary, was hosting a baby shower at her house on Running Horse Road when the fire began.

It started with my girlfriend having me come to the backyard where she saw a little puff of flames come up and I saw this bigger ball of fire all of a sudden kind of explode, she told a reporter on Monday.

Amara went back and told her 40 guests the news. Um, were all leaving, she said.

I was worried about my house but Ive been through this many times, she said. You live in Southern California, you live in dry conditions, just like earthquakes, you get fire too. But when it burns, I want everyone out the house and to be safe, so thats my concern. Especially with a very pregnant daughter, it was just like go go go and our blood pressures were skyrocketing.

At Golden Oak Ranch, an 890-acre filming location constructed by Disney and ABC studios, the fire burned a structure that had been used as a prop house, said L.A. County Sheriffs Department spokesman Christopher Craft.

U.S. Forest Service firefighters stopped the blaze from burning other structures in the faux business district and suburban street used for filming movies and television shows.

Near another flank of the fire, an NBC Los Angeles news van suddenly caught fire while a photographer was outside the vehicle. The photographer was unharmed, and the news station issued a statement saying the fire in the van was unrelated to the Placerita fire.

#PlaceritaFire LACoFD wants to remind everyone the breast cancer fight is always on our mind. pic.twitter.com/n5sEmpx7WP  L.A. County Fire Department (@LACoFDPIO) June 26, 2017

The 14 Freeway had been closed on both sides, creating long traffic pileups in both directions. It was reopened by Sunday evening.

On Monday, Running Horse Road resident Mark McCloud, 56, said he and his neighbors are used to dealing with seasonal fires.

In Santa Clarita, this is how we weed whack, he joked. We just let the fire do it.

Despite being cautioned to evacuate during the height of the fire, McCloud chose to stick around to help family and neighbors protect their houses.

We have four houses, my relatives and myself, he said. My mother lives down the street and my mother-in-law lives at the top of the street. So one thing we did is all the houses have roof sprinklers.

On Sunday, after smelling smoke, McCloud said he headed up to his mother-in-laws house.

When we got up there, we took the hoses and the shovels and just started working, putting out the fires, McCloud said. Thats when he saw the next-door neighbors home start to catch fire.

He had a gazebo and a Jacuzzi and it caught on fire, his fence, everything was burning back there and then his house started to catch fire, so we just hit it with the hoses, and buckets because the hose only reaches so far, and we got all that out, McCloud said. And this is all before the fire department got here.

The next-door neighbor, Dennis Brazzil, 67, said he welcomed the help.

My wife and I moved here in 96. And we have a 26-year-old daughter whos in Kentucky. And who was frantic trying to get ahold of me. But I had my phone in my pocket and it got soaking wet because I was wetting myself with all the buckets of water and the hose.

All in all, Brazzil said he likes living in Santa Clarita despite the danger.

Its worth the agony of the fire, he said. Weve been here 20 years and fires happen almost [every] six, seven years so weve been through a few of them already.

Even though wind gusts kicked up small hot spots throughout the day Monday and pushed some flames near a Target store parking lot, McCloud said he and his neighbors were breathing easier than they were a day earlier.

Were pretty much safe now, McCloud said. And well probably be safe for a number of years now.

I've gotten pretty dang close to wildfires, but I've NEVER had this happen. Thankfully everyone is ok. #PlaceritaFire #Placerita pic.twitter.com/x1WgSleosV  Steve Kuzj (@SteveKuzj) June 25, 2017

As the fire spread, the Gentle Barn, an educational nonprofit in Santa Clarita, tweeted a call for neighbors with trucks and trailers to help evacuate horses and other livestock.

In emergency situations, people often stay in their homes because theyre afraid of what might happen to their animals, said Ellie Laks, the organizations founder.

By the time the winds had died down and firefighters were beginning to contain the fire, no one had taken the volunteers offer.

Thats a good fire, Laks said. Hopefully the rest of the fire season will be like that.

Temperatures across Southern California, including the area around Santa Clarita, are expected to drop 10 degrees by Tuesday and another 10 degrees by Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

Here is a quick look at the cooling trend expected for SW Calif. thru mid week starting with yesterday's hi termperatures. #LAweather #cawx pic.twitter.com/ImEqauAQPc  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) June 26, 2017

Staff writers Joy Resmovits and Maya Lau contributed to this report.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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UPDATES:

2:35 p.m.: This story was updated with comments from area residents.

9:05 a.m.: This article was updated with the weather forecast.

This article was originally published at 6:55 a.m.
Sticks, knives and an assortment of beer cans and bottles were among the weapons used in a gang brawl along the Russian River this weekend, where five men were hospitalized and two teenagers were arrested, authorities said.

Sonoma County Sheriffs Office deputies were called to Monte Rio Beach at 6:40 p.m. Saturday because a group of people were reportedly fighting and throwing beer cans, the sheriffs office said in a statement.

When deputies arrived, they found about 16 people who had been involved in the fracas.

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After conducting interviews and watching cellphone video, deputies determined that one group at the beach spontaneously started yelling gang terms and started the fight with another group, which was presumed to be from a rival gang, the sheriffs office said.

A 28-year-old man from San Francisco and two men from Santa Rosa, ages 22 and 25, were taken to a hospital with cuts and bruises to the head, authorities said.

A 55-year-old man from Santa Rosa was treated for a cut on his hand, and a 19-year-old man from Santa Rosa suffered a stab wound to the chest, according to the sheriffs office.

All five men were expected to survive their injuries, authorities said.

Deputies arrested a 17-year-old boy from Petaluma and booked him into the Sonoma County Juvenile Hall on one charge of assault with a deadly weapon, the sheriffs office said. A 16-year-old girl from Santa Rosa also was arrested for misdemeanor battery and released on a citation.

Further arrests and gang enhancements are likely as the investigation continues, according to the sheriffs office.

hailey.branson@latimes.com

Twitter: @haileybranson
A 46-year-old Uber driver with felony record has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and kidnapping after an intoxicated passenger was taken to a hotel and attacked.

Los Angeles police said Monday that Alaric Spence picked up a 24-year-old woman who had been out drinking in downtown Los Angeles.

She fell unconscious in his car, said LAPD Robbery Homicide Capt. William Hayes.

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Instead of taking to her home to Hollywood, the driver allegedly took her to a motel on Lankershim Boulevard and sexually assaulted her, Hayes said.

Hayes said the victim awoke to find herself in a strange motel and remembered falling asleep in the back of the Uber car.

There is a video showing him carrying her into the hotel, Hayes said.

Police said its possible there are other victims and urged anyone with information to come forward. Spence was driving a silver 2015 Nissan Sentra with the license plate No. 7XUX293.

Spence, 46, of North Hollywood has five prior felony convictions for narcotics possession and narcotics possession for sale, Hayes said. He had worked for Uber for six months.

Uber in a statement said it is fully supporting the LAPD investigation and has banned the driver. No person should ever have to experience the violent act thats been reported to police, the company said.

Spences prior narcotics felony convictions are from 1990s, records show. Uber follows California law that forbids the hiring of drivers who are convicted of any felony in the last seven years.

The arrest marks latest sexual assault allegations to involve a driver for the ride-hailing service.

Earlier this month, an Uber driver was accused of sexually attacking a passenger during a ride in the Bay Area. Leonid Beker of San Francisco was taken into custody on suspicion of sexual battery, according to the Moraga Police Department.

In April, an Uber driver in Orange County was charged with raping a passenger who was riding home from a work-related event, authorities said.

The alleged rape occurred March 30, when Angel Sanchez picked up a woman at a company gathering in Newport Beach, according to the Orange County district attorneys office.

Sanchez drove the woman near her home in Santa Ana and sexually assaulted her in his 2016 Toyota Sienna, prosecutors alleged.

Last year, a West Hollywood woman sued Uber Technologies, alleging that the ride-hailing companys negligence led to her being raped by an Uber driver.

The incident allegedly occurred July 21, 2014, when the plaintiff took an Uber to her boyfriends home after a night out. According to the lawsuit, she never made it to his house, and the last thing she remembers was taking a sip from a water bottle provided by the driver while in the passenger seat of his car.

The UCLA Rape Treatment Center matched the DNA found on the plaintiff to a Uber driver who pleaded no contest to a charge of criminal sexual battery.

In January, state legislators enacted a law that forbids companies including Uber and Lyft from hiring drivers who are registered sex offenders, have been convicted of violent felonies or have had a DUI conviction within the last seven years.

richard.winton@latimes.com

Twitter: @lacrimes

UPDATES:

This story was updated at 5:47 p.m with a statement from Uber and background on its driver exclusion policy
Jeremy Carman was driving around Boyle Heights recently when he spotted a rolled-up garage door on the side of the road. Thats it, the 25-year-old thought.

The garage door would make the perfect roof for the 8-foot-tall house that he and four other USC architecture students were building over the weekend to draw attention to the lack of permanent supportive housing for the homeless in Los Angeles  and to raise money for a solution.

The students spent a few days last week scouring construction sites and street corners for discarded objects that might work well as a door, a window or a set of shelves. On Sunday, the bits and pieces from the streets came together to form a small, white house with a bright orange door, complete with a cupola, eaves and wheels for mobility.

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Students built the house at the Dwell on Design conference, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

With just a few screws you can put a whole house together, said Belinda Pak, 22, a USC architecture student. The exciting thing is you dont really know what its going to look like. It completely depends on the things that you find.

The students had built three other portable homes in the fall as part of the Homeless Studio, a USC architecture course based out of the Martin Architecture and Design Workshop that focused on transitional housing for homeless people as they awaited more stable accommodations. After constructing the homes, which can accommodate one or two individuals, the students donated them to homeless people residing in Los Angeles.

The mobile houses wont solve the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles County, where an estimated 58,000 live on the streets, USC architecture lecturer Sofia Borges said. In fact, the small structures violated building codes in Los Angeles, and city officials dismantled them several weeks after they hit the streets last fall, she said.

Instead, USC architecture professor Scott Mitchell said, the portable houses were practice runs for a larger project  dreamed up during the fall course  called Homes for Hope, communities of 92-square-foot modular houses meant to temporarily shelter Los Angeles homeless before they receive permanent housing.

In recent elections, Los Angeles voters have supported measures that will rehouse thousands of people living on the citys streets. But it could take several years to build such accommodations, Borges said. So she and her students asked themselves if they could create a model for emergency stabilization housing while the homeless waited.

What can architecture actually do to intervene in the meantime? Borges said.

Mitchell said the architecture workshop  which has partnered with the homeless services provider Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, based in the San Fernando Valley  is raising funds for the project with the support of city officials. Each small house will cost about $25,000, and the first community will contain 30 units. Mitchell anticipates they will build the community in Sylmar.

The house built by the USC students was raffled off to a conference attendee to support the Homes for Hope project.

Although the 30-unit community is still a distant reality, students on Friday focused on building one last portable house. Sparks flew as they drilled, and the loud pounding of hammers drew curious conference passersby to their exhibition space.

Its up. Weve got some walls, said artist Greg Kloehn as he watched students drill slabs of wood into place. Kloehn, who oversaw construction of the students houses in the fall, has built 60 or 70 small homes made of scrap material in Oakland, where he donates them to homeless people.

The student architects said they enjoyed creating the portable houses because they rarely work with their hands in school. Jayson Champlain, 25, said many of his classes have been theoretical  he typically draws designs or constructs models at most. Never before had he built something this large.

The students also said they think more about the utility of everyday objects that, at first glance, appear to be junk.

Now, Pak considers all the ways discarded materials could fit into the framework of a house. A white board might become a wall; a fridge shelf could make for a good window.

You look at trash differently, Pak said, noting that a trip through one neighborhood in Los Angeles could provide enough material to build several miniature houses. We are so wasteful.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

megan.bernhard@latimes.com

@meg_bernhard
Comedy writer and performer Bill Dana, who won stardom but stroked anger with his broken-English-spewing character Jose Jimenez, has died.

Dana died at his home in Nashville at age 92, according to Emerson College, his alma mater.

Early in his career, Dana wrote jokes for Don Adams and Steve Allen, serving as head writer of Allens show and a member of the performing troupe.

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Born William Szathmary and a Massachusetts native of Hungarian-Jewish descent, Dana first appeared as Mexican immigrant Jimenez in a 1959 edition of The Steve Allen Show. It was for one of the shows Man on the Street interviews conducted by fellow cast member Pat Harrington Jr.

Introducing himself in mangled English, Jose Jimenez cracked up the studio audience and convinced Dana that he had a hit on his hands.

He did. My name ... Jose ... Jimenez was soon a national catchphrase.

Though he defended the character as a perfect example of a person that wanted to be assimilated into American culture, learn the language, always looked spiffy, he retired the role in 1970 when he decided it was playing into racial stereotypes and embraced by people he though were intolerant.

It was people I met in this country who would tell me Boy, shore love it when you play the dumb Mexican that made me want to drop the character, Dana told the Los Angeles Times in a 1970 interview.

He later declared the character officially dead and wrote an obituary for Jose Jimenez, which he read at a Latino civil rights meeting in Los Angeles.

But for years, the character became a frequent guest in Americas living rooms. On Garry Moores variety program, Dana appeared as Jose the Astronaut when the space race was heating up. Being interviewed for his planned mission, Jose, understandably wary, was asked what he planned to do while in space.

Wearing a fretful expression, he replied, I plan to cry a lot.

In another exchange, Joses interviewer noted that he was all suited up for the voyage. And what is that called, the crash helmet?

Jose: Oh, I hope not.

Adopted by the original seven Mercury astronauts, Dana and his alter ego became part of U.S space history on May 5, 1961, thanks to the first words spoken after Alan Shepards liftoff from fellow Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton on the ground: OK, Jose, youre on your way.

The character soon won Dana his own sitcom, The Bill Dana Show, which aired on NBC from 1963-65. A goodhearted naif, Jose was a bellhop at a New York hotel. (Don Adams played the house detective, which paved the way for his 1965-70 spy sitcom, Get Smart.)

Dana recorded eight bestselling comedy albums and made many TV appearances while continuing behind the scenes as a comedy writer. (He wrote the classic Sammys Visit episode of All in the Family, which featured Sammy Davis Jr. kissing bigoted Archie Bunker on the cheek.)

Dana also ran a talent management company and an advertising agency.

Looking back on his formative years in comedy for a 1998 interview with the Associated Press, Dana said, America was so uptight sexually you couldnt show a close-up of the stork on Zoo Parade. We were blessed with having to get our laughs out of pure comedy, pure in the sense of universality.

Then he was asked to share a favorite joke. From Dana:

Steve Allen is questioning Jose Jimenez and says, I understand you own a ranch.

Yes, the name of my ranch is the Bar Nine Circle Z Rocking O Flying W Lazy O Crazy Two Happy Seven Bar 17 Parallelogram Four Octagon Nine Trapezoid Six Ranch.

Well, do you have many cattle?

No. Not many survive the branding.

Dana, who died June 15, is survived by his wife, Evelyn Shular.

A Los Angeles Times staff writer contributed to this report.
Remarkably fresh despite the tropical heat, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was doing what he does best: hobnobbing in a room full of diplomats and dignitaries.

Only the setting was unusual for the most famous  or infamous  foreign envoy assigned to Washington in decades. He was in Cancun, Mexico, last week on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of American States, a regional body.

What in the world was Kislyak doing there?

I am representing Russia, Kislyak told The Times.

But he wont be doing that much longer, at least not in the United States.

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The veteran Russian diplomat at the center of much of the FBI investigation into Moscows meddling in the U.S. presidential election and its aftermath is stepping down after nearly a decade as ambassador.

Its unclear whether he is retiring. The Kremlin says its a routine rotation. But Kislyak had been widely reported to be destined for a senior post at the United Nations.

Instead, he told The Times, he thinks he will just go back to Russia.

Its been 17 years, Kislyak said, referring to his current stint and an earlier, eight-year assignment to the Russian mission at the U.N. and the Russian Embassy in Washington at a more junior level. My wife wants to go home.

Including a posting in Brussels, his career as a diplomat spanned the turbulence of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, followed by the ruthless rule of President Vladimir Putin and growing tension with the Obama administration.

Then came the U.S. election last year.

Kislyaks meetings with several of President Trumps top campaign aides or surrogates have come under intense scrutiny as a special counsel investigates whether they improperly cooperated with Russian hacking of emails or other efforts to interfere with the U.S. election.

Trumps national security advisor, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, was forced to resign in February for misleading the White House about his conversations with Kislyak. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions recused himself from supervising the Russia inquiry after it came to light that he had failed to disclose his own meetings with Kislyak last year.

Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and senior advisor, met with Kislyak in December at Trump Tower. The Russian ambassador then arranged for him to meet Sergey N. Gorkov, a Putin ally who heads a Russian state-owned bank that is subject to U.S. sanctions.

The FBI reportedly is reviewing those meetings. Kushner has offered through his attorney to testify to Congress and answer questions.

Kislyaks defenders, including some U.S. backers, said his contacts with Trumps team were part of the routine duties of any diplomat. Incensed Russian lawmakers in Moscow fumed that Washington was engaging in McCarthy-like tactics against their ambassador.

Perhaps the ambassadors most jarring meeting was in the Oval Office.

On May 10, a day after firing FBI Director James B. Comey, who was heading the Russia investigation, Trump welcomed Kisylak and his boss, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was visiting, in for a chat.

The White House had barred U.S. media from the meeting. But Lavrov brought a Tass news agency photographer, who was quick to post photos showing Trump beaming and the two Russians laughing.

Leaked accounts later indicated that Trump revealed classified intelligence to the pair about a threat to aviation. Trump also described Comey, who was heading the FBIs inquiry into Russian interference in the election, as crazy, a real nut job, according to the leaks.

Kislyak, 66, known for his portly presence and jowly visage, found himself under an increasingly uncomfortable spotlight. CNN quoted unnamed U.S. officials calling him a spymaster.

His tenure has seen U.S. relations with Russia plummet to a post-Cold War low. In December, in a delayed response to the Russian hacking, President Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats  said to be spies  from Washington and New York.

Obama also ordered closed two Russian-owned compounds  one on New Yorks Long Island Sound and the other on Marylands Chesapeake Bay  that Moscow said were used for weekend getaways and that Washington said were used for espionage.

Despite the controversy, Kislyak is frequently described as an affable, even jovial, envoy who has made friends from the halls of university think tanks to Washingtons wainscoted salons.

Whether he is a spy or just a career diplomat, Kislyaks position in Washington seemed to be getting untenable.

It was widely reported he would be named U.N. undersecretary for counter-terrorism. But the post went to another Russian diplomat, Vladimir Voronkov, the U.N. announced last week.

The state-run Sputnik news service has reported that Kislyaks successor in Washington would probably be Anatoly Antonov. A 30-year veteran of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Antonov specialized in security and disarmament and has served as deputy foreign minister since late last year. Before that, he was deputy defense minister.

Sputnik speculated that Antonov might assume the post after Putin and Trump hold their first official meeting during the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, early next month.

Officially, the Russian government wasnt saying. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted Monday in Moscow indicating that naming a replacement for Kislyak could take months.

Then Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak, she wrote on Facebook,   will go down in the history of bilateral relations as a man who did everything possible for their development even in the most complicated moments.

He, at least, remained a diplomat to the end.

Asked by The Times if he felt, after so many years in the bosom of the diplomatic elite, he was being treated shabbily in Washington, he replied with a smile, But what do you mean?

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter
The State Department long has been the key to American diplomacy abroad, while leaders in foreign capitals used well-trodden channels at Foggy Bottom to contact their counterparts in Washington.

But under President Trumps approach to foreign policy, that has changed.

Theres just no one to talk to at the State Department, said one Southeast Asian ambassador, saying the department appears irrelevant for all but minor diplomatic issues. The diplomat asked not to be named expressing his frustration.

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With only a handful of senior State Department positions filled after five months in office, and no regular media briefings there to explain Trumps foreign policy, the challenge for foreign governments is exacerbated by a dearth of U.S. ambassadors.

Of the most important positions, only the U.S. envoy to China, former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, has been confirmed by the Senate. On Friday, the White House moved to fill another crucial vacancy, formally nominating New York Jets owner Woody Johnson as U.S. ambassador to Britain.

However, the White House has yet to submit several other key nominations. The tumult has left allies and adversaries alike scrambling to find novel ways to get the administrations ear.

Early on, Denmark tried using its national beauty pageant as a back-door channel to the White House. It asked its contestant if she had any high-level contacts, since Trump used to own the Miss Universe pageant. As far as is known, she didnt.

Some embassies have staged high-profile receptions or rented suites at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, less than a mile from the White House, in what critics say is a conspicuous effort to gain Trumps notice.

The government of Saudi Arabia, in particular, paid $270,000 to the hotel between November and February, according to filings with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

That has prompted several lawsuits alleging Trump is profiting off his presidency.

Never in the history of this country have we had a president with these kinds of extensive business entanglements or a president who refused to adequately distance themselves from their holdings, Karl Racine, attorney general for the District of Columbia, told reporters this month when he filed a lawsuit with Maryland alleging that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are trying to gain favor at the White House by paying top dollar at Trump properties.

The Mexican government has tried another route to improve relations with the White House.

Even as Trump railed during the campaign against Mexicans as rapists and criminals who sneaked across the border to attack Americans or steal their jobs, Mexicos then-finance minister, Luis Videgaray, was in touch with one of Trumps top advisors.

Videgaray, who is close to President Enrique Pena Nieto, established a friendship with Trumps son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, according to diplomats and former U.S. officials.

Knowing how unpopular Trump was in Mexico, Videgaray didnt tell the foreign minister at the time what he was doing, they said.

Mexican Foreign Relations Minister Luis Videgaray is depicted during the 47th OAS General Assembly in Cancun. (PEDRO PARDO / AFP/Getty Images)

It backfired when Videgaray engineered a Trump visit to Mexico City last August during the campaign. Trump again insisted Mexico would pay for a border wall, embarrassing Pena Nieto, who had said they hadnt discussed it, and hijacked a news conference in the presidential palace by calling only on American reporters and ignoring the Mexicans.

Pena Nietos popularity ratings plummeted, and Videgaray was forced to resign.

But Videgaray continued meeting with Kushner, and in January he was named foreign minister, making his contacts more formal. The two countries have worked closely in recent months.

When Trump threatened to junk the North American Free Trade Agreement, as he had vowed on the campaign trail, Kushner and Videgaray hastily arranged for Pena Nieto to call him. Canadas prime minister, Justin Trudeau, also telephoned, and Trump backed down.

Mexico still sometimes appears in Trumps crosshairs. On Thursday, he tweeted that Mexico was just ranked the second deadliest country in the world, after only Syria.

He added: We will BUILD THE WALL! Mexican officials have said the report Trump cited, issued by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British think tank, was misleading.

Israels prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also turned to Kushner, who he had known for years. Their personal ties have helped propel the presidents son-in-law into the unlikely position of Middle East peace negotiator.

The two met this week in Jerusalem, a follow-up to Trumps visit to the region last month.

In Saudi Arabia, King Salman abruptly picked Mohammed bin Salman as heir to the throne this week, leapfrogging over the current crown prince in a twist to the kingdoms dynastic politics that may be tied to Kushners role.

The two, both in their 30s, forged a friendship after the 2016 election, sharing dinners and exchanging phone calls. They played a key role in setting up Trumps successful visit to Riyadh last month, where the royal family treated the Trumps like royalty and Trump offered gushing praise for the autocratic regime.

By then, the media had dubbed Kushner and MBS, as he is widely known, the two princes.

MBS quickly latched on to Jared Kushner as a channel to the White House, said F. Gregory Gause, head of the international affairs department at Texas A&M University and long-time observer of Saudi politics.

Trump is hardly the first president to run major parts of his foreign policy from the White House.

President Obamas aides conducted the secret diplomacy that led to restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba in 2015, bypassing the State Department. And at least in his first term, he picked special envoys to conduct policy for the Middle East and relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But in Obamas second term, Secretary of State John F. Kerry helped lead the negotiations that led to the 2015 landmark accord to curb Irans nuclear weapons capability, arguably Obamas most significant achievement in foreign affairs.

Trump meets frequently with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and seems to value his counsel. But Trump overrode Tillersons concerns when he announced plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord aimed at reducing global warming.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter

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Richard Spencers white nationalist think tank broke Virginia nonprofit laws by failing to register in the state and by not telling prospective donors it had lost its tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, according to an investigation by state regulators.

The violations were revealed in Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services records obtained by the Los Angeles Times through a public records request.

The agency, which oversees nonprofits in the state, closed its investigation on June 8 after working with Spencer to bring his group back into compliance with Virginia law.

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We take this very seriously, Spencer said in a private message on Twitter, where he shared a June 1 letter from the state confirming that his group has completed the registration to legally operate in Virginia. Were doing everything we can to get everything in order.

Over the last two years, Spencer has become one of the nations most prominent white nationalists, popularizing the term alternative right or alt-right for his views supporting the creation of a separate nation for white people. He has frequently earned media attention for his support of President Trump or for controversial events supported by his nonprofit for white nationalists, called the National Policy Institute.

Virginias Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services launched its investigation in early March after The Times inquired about administrative irregularities with Spencers Alexandria-based group.

In a recent filing with Virginia regulators, Spencer wrote that the purpose of this charitable organization is to secure the existence of our people and a future for white children, a variation of the 14 words slogan popular with white nationalists.

Since Spencer took over the National Policy Institute in 2011, the group has been plagued by administrative problems. Spencer didnt file federal tax returns for three years, leading the IRS to retroactively strip the National Policy Institute of its 501(c)3 tax-exempt status in mid-March.

In its recent investigation, regulators at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services found that Spencer was fundraising in the state despite failing to register his group as required under Virginia law, according to department records.

The agency also said the National Policy Institute broke state law by not telling prospective donors on its website that the group had lost its tax-exempt status, potentially misinforming donors that they would be able to claim tax deductions with the IRS.

NPI is aware of their 501c3 status being revoked ... yet continues to claim 501c3 status on their donation pages, an investigator noted in a summary of the review of Spencers group.

Spencer had publicly acknowledged the loss of the groups tax-exempt status on social media and in an interview with The Times. Spencer said an IRS error led him to believe his group was not required to file federal tax returns. (Experts said that was no excuse.)

Virginia regulators also raised their eyebrows at an interview Spencer gave to The Times in March in which Spencer said his group had completed the necessary paperwork to operate as a nonprofit in Virginia.

That was not true  Spencer didnt file for registration with Virginia charity regulators until April, according to state records reviewed by The Times  which regulators concluded might be a violation of a state law that prohibits misleading the public about the status of a charitable group.

Spencer told The Times on Monday that it was a misunderstanding and that he meant he had registered the National Policy Institute as a nonprofit corporation in Virginia  a separate regulatory requirement with a separate Virginia agency. At the time, I was unaware that additional charitable registration was needed, Spencer wrote.

In certain circumstances, knowing violations of Virginia charitable law can be punishable as a misdemeanor, but Spencer does not appear to have been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.

Spencer worked quickly to restore his groups legal status in Virginia after state regulators contacted him about the infractions, according to state records. Spencer paid a $300 fee to register in the state and inserted a clause on his groups donation page that clarifies that donations to the National Policy Institute are not tax deductible.

Spencer has previously said he plans to restore his groups tax-exempt status, though the process, if successful, was expected to take months. An IRS database of nonprofits says that the National Policy Institute does not currently have tax-exempt status.

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matt.pearce@latimes.com

@mattdpearce
Hundreds of immigrant advocates gathered outside a federal courthouse here Monday as local officials from across Texas squared off for a legal showdown with the state and federal governments over the states new anti-sanctuary city law.

Mayors, council members and county judges from tiny border towns and big Texas cities were packed inside. One by one, their attorneys called for U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia to temporarily halt implementation of Senate Bill 4, which aims to force local municipalities to help detain immigrants in the country illegally.

The law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May and set to take effect Sept. 1, allows local law enforcement to ask about the immigration status of anyone they legally detain or arrest, including people stopped for minor traffic violations.

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It would also require local police to comply with federal immigration requests to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally. Police chiefs and county sheriffs who refuse could face harsh fines or spend up to a year in jail.

Local police officers are going to enforce to the hilt, because why take a chance? Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union representing the small border city of El Cenizo, told the judge.

He suggested that the law could encourage police officers to conduct traffic stops in areas where there are day laborers and lead to a situation that incentivizes people to enforce immigration law to the maximum.

But state and federal attorneys downplayed the effect of the new law, arguing that it did not go as far as Arizonas contentious Senate Bill 1070  known as the show me your papers law  that the U.S. Supreme Court partially invalidated in 2012.

It is a moderate law that fits hand in glove with federal immigration policies, said Darren McCarty, an attorney for Texas. It is not a show your papers law. It does not mandate that officers requests immigration papers. There is no fair reading of Senate Bill 4 that would allow Texas law enforcement officers to do anything beyond inquiring on immigration status.

In passing the bill, legislators simply intended to ensure a unified application of immigration law rather than a patchwork of different immigration policies, McCarty argued.

Five Texas cities, as well as several counties and sheriffs, challenged the laws constitutionality. Originally filed by El Cenizo, the lawsuit grew to include bigger cities such as San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Houston.

They say that the law is overly vague and an extraordinary intrusion on local officials ability to govern as they see fit. Their attorneys argued that it preempts federal law and violates the 4th Amendment right to protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and the 14th Amendment right to equal protection.

They also say a requirement in the law that no local official endorse a policy that limits the enforcement of immigration laws violates the 1st Amendment right to free speech.

This is the first test, under the Trump administration, of a state attack on sanctuary cities, Ilya Somin, a constitutional law professor at George Mason University in Alexandria, Va., said in a telephone interview. If the Texas law ends up being upheld, that might encourage other states to introduce similar legislation.

Erez Reuveni, an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department, said that although the federal government does not require local governments to comply with federal detention requests, it welcomed the new law.

Nothing prevents a state from directing law enforcement officers to cooperate with the federal government, he said.

Though the federal government cant tell local officials to detain somebody, the states absolutely can tell them to do so, he said.

Opponents of the law argued that it threatens public safety by weakening trust between police and the community, deterring immigrants from reporting crimes and diverting busy law enforcement officers from their regular duties.

The state countered that it was ridiculous to think that a police officer would ignore a report of violent crime to conduct an immigration query instead.

No police department would ever be prosecuted for leaving the scene of detention for a more pressing situation, McCarty said.

The judge, an appointee of President Clinton, listened with a hand clutching his forehead and asked attorneys from both sides a barrage of questions about how the new law would be implemented.

Could local police officers conduct their own immigration raids? If an officer stopped a speeding driver, could he ask all passengers in the car about their immigration status? What would happen if an officer did not share the information that someone was in the country to federal immigration officials?

A local law enforcement officer who did not pass on information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not be in violation of the law, a state attorney said. The law, he argued, is focused on police chiefs and sheriffs who instruct rank-and-file officers not to ask people about their immigration status.

The daylong hearing ended without Garcia ruling on whether he will halt Texas from enforcing the law.

Sherine Thomas, an attorney for Travis County, told the court that with so little agreement over how to interpret the law, it only made sense to put it on hold.

Its very difficult for elected officials to know what they can and cant do, she said. The way the [state] attorney general reads it isnt enough solace.

Jarvie is a special correspondent.

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Federal judge in Detroit to consider whether to halt deportation of Iraqis from across the country

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UPDATES:

8:20 p.m.: This article was updated to include testimony from the hearing.

This article was originally posted at 9:05 a.m.
A federal judge in Detroit on Monday put a temporary hold on the deportation of scores of Iraqi nationals swept up in immigration enforcement raids around the country in recent months.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith had already issued a 14-day stay of removal Thursday for at least 114 Iraqis  most of them Chaldean Christians  detained in the Detroit area, saying he needed time to weigh whether he has jurisdiction over the case.

On Monday, he granted a request from lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and other immigrant rights advocates to extend the order nationwide to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting people they said could face persecution, torture or death in Iraq.

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Such harm far outweighs any interest the government may have in proceeding with the removals immediately, Goldsmith said in a written decision.

The order applies to more than 1,400 Iraqi immigrants who have been issued final orders of removal, either for overstaying a visa or because of a criminal conviction.

In many cases, those orders were issued years ago, the ACLU said in its petition. But Iraq refused to accept the immigrants, so the government eventually released them, often under supervision orders. Some have now lived in the U.S. for decades and have spouses or children who are citizens.

The roundups began after an agreement was reached with Iraq in March to take back its nationals, said Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for the ICE field office in Detroit. In addition to those detained in Detroit, at least 85 other Iraqis have been taken into custody around the country since May, he said.

They include Ghassan Kassab, who was picked up at his Detroit home in late May.

Kassab was 5 years old when his family fled Saddam Husseins brutal government in Iraq. He has lived most of his life  47 years  in the U.S. But he now faces the possiblity of being sent back to a country where he has no ties  and where his family fears his Christian faith could get him killed.

He does not know how to read Arabic, and he does not remember anything from that country, said Kassabs niece, Marvit Bahoura, 38. Its like they are throwing him to his death sentence.

Because Kassabs parents didnt speak English, she said, the family never applied for U.S. citizenship. They found the process too confusing. So when Kassab was convicted on a marijuana possession charge more than a decade ago, he was issued a deportation order.

Bahoura said her uncle served three years in prison and had been reporting regularly to ICE ever since.

Hes worked at the same landscape company for 23 years, she said. Hes a hardworking man.

Detroit is home to more than 100,000 Chaldean Christians, one of the largest populations outside of Iraq. Many fled their war-torn homeland decades ago and fear persecution by extremist groups such as Islamic State if they return.

They thought they had found a haven in the U.S., but with the threat of deportation looming over hundreds of families, some are questioning their place in a country which no longer seems so welcoming.

The Iraqi Chaldean community is shocked and dont understand why this is happening, said Wisam Naoum, an attorney and Chaldean community leader in Detroit. We feel a bit betrayed. Its a direct assault on our community.

Many of the citys Iraqi Christians were staunch supporters of President Trump, who in January tweeted, Christians in the Middle East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue! They did not expect to get swept up in Trumps crackdown on immigration.

My entire family voted for him because he said he would help protect Christians, Bahoura said.

The possibility that her uncle will now be deported has her fearful not only for his safety, but for her health. She suffers from a debilitating autoimmune disorder and received a bone marrow transplant from her uncle this year.

Theres a 70% chance that if my body rejects the bone marrow, Ill need another one, Bahoura said. But if they deport Kassab, theres a slim chance Ill be able to find another match.

Many of those detained in Detroit were picked up on June 11 near churches and restaurants favored by the Iraqi Chaldean community, according to immigrant rights advocates. Others were detained at their homes or at one of their regular appointments with ICE.

It was early in the morning when six ICE agents showed up at the door of Brittany Hamama, 20. They were there for her 47-year-old father, Usama Hamama, who she said left Iraq as a child.

They said hell be back tomorrow, she recalled, but I didnt believe them.

The threat of deportation has loomed over the family since he was convicted of aggravated assault in a road-rage incident. But that was 30 years ago, his daughter said.

My dads roots are in the U.S., he knows nothing else, she said. This doesnt seem real.

Rebecca Adducci, the Detroit field office director for ICEs Enforcement and Removal Operations, said the agency targeted those with criminal convictions for removal.

The operation in this region was specifically conducted to address the very real public safety threat represented by the criminal aliens arrested, she said in a statement. The vast majority of those arrested in the Detroit metropolitan area have very serious felony convictions, multiple felony convictions in many cases.

The Department of Justice argued that the detainees should make their request to remain in the U.S. in immigration court, not U.S. district court. But the ACLU said they might be deported before an immigration judge could consider their requests.

At least eight detainees have already been sent back to Iraq, and the ACLU said others could be deported as soon as Tuesday.

Its never been U.S. policy to send people back where they could be persecuted, said Nadine Yousif Kalasho, an attorney from Code Legal Aid, a Michigan-based nonprofit that was a party to the petition. The court understands whats at stake in terms of applying this nationwide and saw the urgency.

Attorneys for the government said they would exam the judges ruling before deciding their next steps.

I cant say we are surprised, said Daniel Lemisch, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Its an extraordinary opinion, but these are very unusual circumstances in Iraq.

melissa.etehad@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @melissaetehad

UPDATES:

7:45 p.m.: This article was updated with reaction from the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.

7:00 p.m.: This article was updated with a federal judge extending his stay of removal to Iraqis around the country.

This article was originally published at 3 a.m.
A 17-year-old girl who left her Charlotte, N.C., home more than a year ago was found alive in Gwinnett County, Ga., on Sunday, the FBI said.

A special agent in Charlotte received information that Hailey Burns might be in the Atlanta area.

Overnight, FBI agents in Atlanta and detectives with the Gwinnett County Police Department found Burns at a home at 2723 Seneca Trail in Duluth.

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Michael Ren Wysolovski, 31, was taken into custody and is facing state charges, the FBI said.

Burns has been reunited with her parents, the FBI said in a news release.

The parents said they were grateful for the outpouring of support they have received while shes been missing, but asked for privacy at this time to focus on their daughter.
Arbitration can be an effective tool to resolve contract disputes without going to court. But employers shouldnt be able to force workers into arbitration in contravention of worker protections established in federal laws and regulations, and they certainly shouldnt make getting a job contingent on giving up the right to seek redress in the courts. Unfortunately, both have become regular occurrences, but a case now being briefed before the Supreme Court can  and should  fix that.

The case involves four employees of Murphy Oil USA, which at the time of the dispute operated gas stations in 22 states (the stations have since been spun off into a unit called Murphy USA). When Sheila Hobson, the main plaintiff, applied for a job at a Murphy Oil gas station in Calera, Ala., in 2008, the company demanded she first agree not to sue should a workplace dispute arise, and instead go to binding arbitration. Hobson agreed and got hired. Two years later, Hobson and three other employees filed a complaint in federal court alleging that Murphy Oil had violated federal labor laws by stiffing them on overtime and off-the-clock labor, including driving around to check prices at competing gas stations. Murphy Oil demanded in a court filing that the workers drop the group legal complaint and individually enter into arbitration, as they had agreed when hired. That led the workers to file an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board over the compulsory binding-arbitration agreement, setting the issue on the path to the Supreme Court.

People should not have to forgo their fundamental right to seek redress through the courts in order to work for a living.

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The Hobson case is not unusual. Other workers forced to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of employment have engaged in similar fights with their employers in several federal jurisdictions, leading to conflicting rulings in district and appellate courts. Some concluded the National Labor Relations Act, adopted in 1935, takes precedence and bars employers from forcing workers to waive their right to legal action. Others sided with the companies, ruling that the Federal Arbitration Act, enacted in 1925, trumps other federal and state laws  including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964  once workers sign a contract requiring disputes to be settled through arbitration. What strikes us as the linchpin here, though, is how the agreement to rely on arbitration is reached, not whether one law supersedes the other.

People or companies entering into an agreement on equal footing, and in circumstances in which they have other options, have a perfect right to decide that they would rather settle potential disputes through arbitration instead of the courts. But people desperate for work, especially in an economy as weak as it was when Hobson was hired in 2008, are not on equal footing with the company offering jobs. And if employers routinely require applicants to sign away legal rights to be considered for a job, then the employees have no other real option even in a robust economy. That is an egregious practice. People should not have to forgo their fundamental right to seek redress through the courts in order to work for a living.

The Solicitor Generals office under President Obama had joined in the NLRBs September petition seeking a hearing before the Supreme Court, and defended the NLRBs ruling that the arbitration agreements were not enforceable. In a disappointing but predictable twist, the Trump administration recently submitted a brief backing the employers, leaving the NLRB to defend itself alone (oral arguments will likely be heard in the fall). So much for Trumps promise to look out for working Americans.

The right to seek justice through the courts is guaranteed under the 1st Amendment, which says citizens may petition the government for a redress of grievances. Thats true even when the grievance is against an employer, or a neighbor, or a mobile phone provider. A half-dozen employees with the same complaint  discrimination, unsafe working conditions, systematic failure by the employer to follow wage laws  should be able to stand together to hold their employer accountable. That right, in fact, is fundamental to the right to organize a union or engage in collective bargaining. But it is also a fundamental right for any individual who believes he or she has been wronged to seek justice before a judge or a jury.

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From the beginning, President Trumps arguments defending his ban on travel to the U.S. by people from first seven, now six, predominately Muslim countries have rung hollow. The ban  issued days after he took the oath of office, then revised in March after the courts ruled against him  remains a shameful solution in search of a problem, and the lower courts were right to freeze it barring a full court review.

The decision by the Supreme Court on Monday to let some of the ban go into effect even before the court decides the merits of the legal challenges is disappointing, especially for refugees seeking sanctuary from war and upheaval. But it also sets the stage for what could be a significant ruling on whether the president exceeded his authority in ordering the ban.

In partially lifting injunctions issued by judges in Maryland, Washington state and Hawaii, the Supreme Court in effect split the baby. People from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen may be denied entry for 90 days, and refugees from any country can be denied entry for 120 days, while the government rethinks its screening and vetting procedures. But if the applicants have a credible connection with the United States  such as a relative living here, a job offer or acceptance into a university  they would not be prohibited from entering the country.

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The president and his surrogates have argued that the ban is necessary to protect the U.S. from terrorists. Yet no one from the six affected countries has killed anyone in a terror attack on U.S. soil since 1975, according to the Cato Institute. Similarly, the Migration Policy Institute reported in 2015 that in the first 14 years after the 9/11 attacks, only three of the 784,000 refugees resettled in the U.S. were convicted on terrorism-related charges  two for plotting against an overseas target and the third for hatching plans that were barely credible.

So what problem is Trump trying to solve here? Barring immigrants on the basis of religion or nationality without evidence that there is a problem is unreasonable, and in this case will provide fodder to radical Islamists arguing that the U.S. is an enemy of their faith. Rather than solving anything, Trumps showboating ban just feeds xenophobia and intolerance.

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When the president of the United States violates the Constitution there must be a way for a federal court to hear the case and provide a remedy. Three different lawsuits have been filed against President Trump claiming that he is violating the emoluments clauses of the Constitution by receiving unlawful payments or other benefits from foreign governments and from the United States.

Trumps position is that the federal courts can hear none of these suits because no one has standing to sue him for these constitutional violations. But that cant be right: It cannot be that the president can violate the Constitution with impunity and no court has the authority to hold him accountable.

Article I, Section IX of the Constitution prevents any person holding a federal office from receiving a present or emolument  of any kind whatever from a foreign state. This was meant to limit foreign influence in the U.S. by broadly forbidding elected or appointed officials from being obligated to another government.

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It cannot be that the president can violate the Constitution with impunity and no court has the authority to hold him accountable.

Trump, because he hasnt removed himself from his business empire, is constantly on the receiving end of benefits from foreign states. Among the most notable examples: Trump has more than 100 registered or provisionally approved trademarks in China, including six that were requested a year ago and gained preliminary approval last week, and his hotels and restaurants are being booked by foreign representatives whose governments foot the bill.

The Constitution also limits the presidents ability to enrich himself domestically. Article II, Section I says the president shall not receive any other emolument from the United States except the salary paid for serving in the office. But Trump is constantly receiving such emoluments because the federal government leases property in some of his buildings.

I am co-counsel for the emoluments suit filed by the public interest group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The plaintiffs now also include an association of restaurants that can show they have been hurt by foreign governments choosing to use Trump facilities. Maryland and the District of Columbia have also filed suit, alleging that businesses in their jurisdictions are hurt by such constitutional violations, and so have more than 200 members of Congress. The Constitution says that emoluments from foreign governments may not be received without the consent of the Congress. Because Congress has not given its approval for the money flowing into the presidents business interests, the latter suit seeks to prevent that flow until and unless it consents.

The presidents position is that none of these plaintiffs fits the legal criteria of standing  that is, they cant claim to have been personally injured so they cannot sue. But it is hard to imagine who would have standing if not these plaintiffs. Accepting Trumps argument would effectively mean that no one would ever be able to sue over violations of the emoluments clauses.

Long ago, in Marbury vs. Madison, the Supreme Court explained that the Constitution exists to limit the actions of the government and government officers, and these limits are meaningless if they cannot be enforced. Trumps assertion that no one can sue him based on the emoluments clauses would render these provisions meaningless.

Nor is it sufficient to say that Congress, rather than the courts, should enforce these provisions.

The point of the suit by members of Congress is to establish that they should not have to act to prohibit the president from getting benefits, but that their approval, which has not been given, is what is required to fulfill their oversight role in Article II, Section I. Of course, even if these plaintiffs are right, with Republicans in power in both the House and Senate, it is doubtful whether Congress would stand in the presidents way. Constitutional violations should not be tolerated just because the elected branches of government agree to them.

Moreover, beyond Congress approval or disapproval, it is not clear what the elected branches could do if a president persists in receiving out-of-bounds payments, short of impeachment. It cannot be that such an extreme measure is the only way to enforce the law.

The presidents argument about standing should not prevail. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has had to divert its resources and efforts to combat these constitutional violations, an injury the Supreme Court has recognized as sufficient in other cases. The lawsuits involving restaurants and hotels document that they have lost business to Trump properties, which also hurts the state and local governments where they are located. Members of Congress have had their power nullified.

All too often in recent years, the Supreme Court has closed the federal courts to injured individuals by restricting the definition of who has standing to sue. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that the federal courts be available to enforce the Constitution. What is at stake is the central tenet of our democracy : No one, not even the president, is above the law.

Erwin Chemerinsky is dean and a professor of law at UC Irvine School of Law. His latest book is Closing the Courthouse Door: How Your Constitutional Rights Became Unenforceable.

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To the editor: Tom Steyers op-ed article is amazing for its arrogance and misleading conclusions. Trying to compare Kansas (population 2.9 million) with California (population 39 million) is ridiculous. (Kansas tax cuts are a spectacular failure. Meanwhile, in California , Opinion, June 22)

California is no success story when it comes to income taxes. We have one of the highest income tax rates in the country and about one resident in three is on some kind of government assistance. In 2015, the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that the child poverty rate in California is 21%.

Furthermore, as noted by Times columnist George Skelton, Californians only like taxes that other people pay. That is exactly the situation with Proposition 30 and the recent tobacco tax referendum. When you throw in the fact that the structural deficits for under-funded pensions in the state exceed $300 billion, many roads and bridges are in a state of disrepair and housing is largely unaffordable, the inescapable conclusion is that only Democratic billionaires like Steyer could ever believe that California is a progressive paradise.

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Kansas  with no oceans, little geographic diversity, poor weather and no Silicon Valley of its own  is to be pitied, not invidiously compared to California.

Frank Edsall, Temecula

..

To the editor: Republican economic orthodoxy is that tax cuts and deregulation encourage growth and prosperity. But this is a theory, not a fact, and theories must be tested to see if they work.

Steyer explains how the Republican theory on tax cuts failed the test of reality in Kansas, while tax increases passed the test of reality in California.

Moreover, the Republican philosophy of deregulation was the primary cause of the Great Recession. The subprime mortgage market was unregulated and the financial industry was deregulated. The reckless behavior of these industries led to the near collapse of our financial system. As a result, millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes and savings.

Reality has shown that tax cuts and deregulation do not lead to prosperity. Its time for Republicans to stop being ideologues and accept reality.

Michael Asher, Valley Village

..

To the editor: Steyer misrepresents what the real issue was with Kansas tax cuts.

The primary tax cuts were directed toward businesses in order to grow and create jobs, and they arguably worked well. Unfortunately, the law did not prohibit accountants, lawyers and hedge fund operators (like Steyer) from gaming the system.

Had that flaw been fully addressed, the budget issues in Kansas would have been modest or nonexistent. Californias tax-and-spend polices will eventually destroy the middle class in this state, and for that we can thank progressives like Steyer.

Kip Dellinger, Santa Monica

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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a church-run preschool has a religious-freedom right to receive a tax-funded grant to improve its playground and may not be excluded from such aid on the grounds of church-state separation.

The courts 7-2 decision is an important, but modest victory for religious-rights advocates. It stops well short of saying that church schools have a right to public funds for teaching, for example.

Rather the justices decided the Missouri case by narrowly focusing on the fact that the preschool was turned down for a state grant for rubberizing its playground solely because it was run by a church.

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The consequence may be only a few extra scraped knees, said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., but denying the grant reflects an unconstitutional discrimination based on religion, he said.

The exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which is it otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same and cannot stand, he wrote in Trinity Lutheran vs. Comer.

His opinion included a footnote that said the court was ruling on religious discrimination with respect to playground surfacing, not to other forms of religious discrimination in public funding. That seemed to limit the rulings impact.

Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Elena Kagan agreed entirely, while Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch agreed except for the footnote.

Justice Stephen Breyer also agreed with the outcome, but did not join either opinion. He said the government does not deny police and fire protection to churches, and the same applies to a general program designed to improve the health and safety of children.

The courts two strongest liberals  Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg  dissented. Sotomayor faulted the court for holding for the first time, that the Constitution requires the government to provide funding directly to a church.

Missouri had turned down the churchs application for the playground grant by citing its state constitution, which forbids sending tax money to churches and church-run institutions.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the decision marks a great day for the Constitution and sends a clear message that religious discrimination in any form cannot be tolerated in a society that values the 1st Amendment.

But Holly Hollman, counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee, said the ruling upends precedent and adds confusion to the law. The decision does not create a free exercise right to government funding of religion, but it unnecessarily blurs the line that ensures religion flourishes on its own.

Daniel Mach, director of the ACLUs Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, called the decision disappointing but limited. Religious freedom should protect unwilling taxpayers from funding church property, not force them to foot the bill, he said.

Separately Monday, the court did not issue rulings on three pending cases involving immigration and the U.S. border.

In Hernandez vs. Mesa, the court in an unsigned opinion told the U.S. appeals court in New Orleans to take a second look at a border shooting case. The parents of a 15-year-old Mexican boy sued a U.S. border patrol agent who shot and killed the teenager when he was standing a few feet from the border on the Mexican side. The 5th Circuit had thrown out the parents suit.

The facts alleged in the complaint depict a disturbing incident resulting in a heartbreaking loss of life, the court said in sending the case back for a further hearing.

The court said it would rehear in the fall a Los Angeles case involving whether immigrants awaiting deportation can be jailed indefinitely, or instead have a right to a bond hearing after six months. The courts action suggests the eight justices were evenly split in Jennings vs. Rodriguez.

The court also said it will rehear the case of Sessions vs. Dimaya to decide whether noncitizens can be deported for an offense like breaking into an empty home because it may be deemed a crime of violence.

Decision time at the Supreme Court: A look at this terms rulings on religion, free speech and immigration 

david.savage@latimes.com

On Twitter: DavidGSavage

UPDATES:

1:25 p.m.: This article was updated with details about other cases that the court did not decide.

This article was originally published at 12:25 p.m.
The Supreme Court said Monday that it would hear a major religious liberties case that could grant new freedoms to businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians  and potentially others  based on the faith of the owners.

The case involves the Christian owner of a Colorado bakery who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

The high-profile dispute pits the rights of religious individuals against gay rights, two issues that have been at the forefront of several recent Supreme Court decisions. Both are high priorities for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, whose vote in this matter will probably be key.

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In the past, Kennedy has been both a strong supporter of gay rights and a defender of religious liberty.

The Colorado case is likely to become one of the courts most contentious cases next term. It could decide whether business owners are allowed to cite their religious views as a reason for refusing to serve gay and lesbian couples. Potentially, it could sweep even more broadly, opening a religious exemption to civil rights laws that could allow discrimination against other groups.

The case, to be heard in the fall, could have a wide effect in states like California that prohibit discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation.

No federal law requires businesses to serve all customers without regard to their sexual orientation, but 21 states have public accommodations laws that prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians.

States with such anti-discrimination laws are mostly in the West, East Coast and upper Midwest. No state in the South or on the Great Plains has such a law.

Colorado is one of the states whose laws protect gay couples, and Jack Phillips, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., was charged with violating it.

In 2012, he said he politely declined to make a wedding cake for Charles Craig and David Mullins, who had planned to marry in Massachusetts but then have a reception in their home state of Colorado. They lodged a complaint with the state civil rights commission.

The commission ruled that Phillips refusal to make the wedding cake violated the provision in the states anti-discrimination law that says businesses open to the public may not deny service to customers based on their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. The panel ordered him to provide wedding cakes on an equal basis for same-sex couples.

Phillips appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing he deserved a religious exemption based on the 1st Amendments guarantee of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion. His lawyers say he refused to comply with the commission ruling while his appeal proceeded.

They described Phillips as a cake artist who will not create cakes celebrating any marriage that is contrary to his understanding of biblical teaching.

They also said he has refused to make cakes to celebrate Halloween or create baked goods that have anti-American or anti-family themes or carry profane messages.

They said you have to create cakes for same-sex couples, so he removed himself from the market. He chose to stop making wedding cakes, said Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, who appealed on Phillips behalf.

Lawyers for the state commission and the American Civil Liberties Union urged the court to turn down the appeal in Masterpiece Cakeshop vs. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. They said it could open a gaping hole in civil rights laws if business owners could cite their religious beliefs as a valid basis for denying service to certain customers.

This has always been about more than a cake, Mullins said in a statement. Businesses should not be allowed to violate the law and discriminate against us because of who we are and who we love.

James Esseks, director of the ACLUs LGBT Project said the law is squarely on David and Charlies side because when businesses are open to the public, theyre supposed to be open to everyone.

But Justice Kennedy, who wrote the courts opinion upholding same-sex marriages, has also joined the courts conservatives in upholding religious exemptions. He joined the 5-4 majority in the Hobby Lobby case, which said the Christian family who owned a chain of craft stores could refuse to provide their employees the full range of contraceptives called for by the federal healthcare law.

Public opinion polls show that most Americans support the rights of same-sex couples to marry and that support has steadily increased, even among groups who have been opposed in the past, notably evangelical Christians.

Advocates on the Christian right, however, say the government should not force believers to endorse marriages that conflict with their faith.

Two years ago, the justices turned down a similar appeal from a wedding photographer in New Mexico. Since then, the issue has arisen in several other states whose laws forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The appeal in the Colorado case has been pending since January, suggesting the justices were closely split on what to do. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, a Colorado native and a well-known defender of religious liberty claims, joined the court in April.

It takes only four votes to hear the case, and on the last day before the summer recess, the justices announced they would hear the issue during the fall.

Separately Monday, the court in a 6-3 ruling struck down an Arkansas law regarding birth certificates that prevented adding the names of both parents in a same-sex union. The law called for including only the biological parent.

The court, in an unsigned opinion, said this rule denied the same-sex couple the same rights as opposite-sex couples and was therefore unconstitutional.

The court noted that in Arkansas if an opposite-sex couple used artificial insemination with an anonymous sperm donor to have a child, the mothers husband in such a case would be listed on the birth certificate.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Gorsuch dissented in that case, Pavan vs. Smith.

Trumps victory assures a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. 

For the 4th time, the Electoral College picks the loser of the popular vote. 

david.savage@latimes.com

On Twitter: DavidGSavage

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UPDATES:

12:55 p.m.: This article was updated with additional background.

7:05 a.m.: This article was updated with details from another case.

This article was originally published at 6:30 a.m.
The Supreme Court has rejected a major 2nd Amendment challenge to Californias strict limits on carrying concealed guns in public.

The justices by a 7-2 vote turned away an appeal from gun rights advocates who contended that most law-abiding gun owners in San Diego, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area were being wrongly denied permits to carry a weapon when they leave home.

The justices let stand a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which held last year that the 2nd Amendment does not preserve or protect a right of a member of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public.

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In dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, said the courts refusal to hear the appeal reflects a distressing trend: the treatment of the 2nd Amendment as a disfavored right.

The high courts action is sure to be a disappointment to gun-rights advocates, who were cheered by President Trumps appointment of Gorsuch to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

It is the latest of several actions by the court that suggest that although the Constitution protects an individual right to bear arms, the scope of that right is quite limited.

In a pair of rulings in 2008 and 2010, the justices struck down ordinances in Washington, D.C., and Chicago that banned nearly all private possession of weapons, including the keeping of handguns at home for self-defense.

Since then, however, the court has turned down a series of constitutional challenges to laws and local regulations that prohibit people from carrying guns in public or from buying and owning rapid-fire weapons.

California law says law-abiding owners may obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon if they can show good cause. This state law is enforced by the county sheriffs. In San Diego, Los Angeles and other urban counties, sheriffs have set a high bar for what qualifies as a good cause, such as a particular need for protection. Simply fearing for ones personal safety is not considered good cause, a San Diego official told a judge there.

The case of Peruta vs. California has been closely watched as a test of whether 2nd Amendment rights go beyond the home. A federal district judge upheld San Diegos strict enforcement policy, but in 2014, a 9th Circuit panel struck down the policy as unconstitutional. In a 2-1 decision, the panel said the 2nd Amendment protected a right to carry a gun in public.

But last year, the full 9th Circuit reconsidered the issue and rejected this broader view of the 2nd Amendment. Citing English history back to 1541, Judge William Fletcher said the law for centuries had restricted the carrying of concealed firearms without a license.These restrictions were enforced in the American colonies prior to the Constitution, he said.

Based on the overwhelming consensus of historical sources, we conclude that the protection of the 2nd Amendment  whatever the scope of that protection may be  simply does not extend to the carrying of concealed firearms in public by members of the general public, he wrote for a 7-4 majority of the appeals court.

In January, former Solicitor Gen. Paul Clement filed an appeal with the high court on behalf of gun owners. He argued that millions of law-abiding gun owners in California and elsewhere were being denied the right to carry a gun in violation of their rights to armed self-defense under the 2nd Amendment.

California Atty Gen. Xavier Becerra called the high courts decision welcome news for California and gun safety everywhere. It leaves in place an important and common-sense firearm regulation, one that promotes public safety, respects 2nd Amendment rights and values the judgment of sheriffs and police chiefs throughout the state on what works best for their communities.

In a separate but related action on Monday, the justices without comment let stand a ruling from Philadelphia that restored gun-ownership rights to two Pennsylvania men who were convicted decades earlier of misdemeanors. Because the crimes could have sent them to jail for more than a year, they were prohibited from owning a gun under a 1968 federal law. But a federal judge and the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, citing the 2nd Amendment, said the mens gun rights should be restored.

The Justice Department had urged the high court to hear Sessions vs. Binderup, but it was turned down for review.

david.savage@latimes.com

On Twitter: DavidGSavage

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6:55 a.m.: This article was updated with details about a dissent to the action and another gun case.

This article was originally published at 6:40 a.m.
The Supreme Court on Monday took a pragmatic approach to resolving the dispute over President Trumps foreign travel ban with a middle-ground ruling that may defuse the controversy  for now.

The decision, the first from the high court to review Trumps exercise of presidential power, allowed much of the ban to take effect, but it also applied significant restrictions that will narrow the orders impact.

In a short, unsigned but unanimous opinion, the justices avoided taking a stance on the larger constitutional questions concerning religious discrimination or presidential authority. Instead, they agreed to hear those arguments in the fall.

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But they also largely rejected the lower court rulings that had blocked Trumps order as unconstitutional, handing a partial victory to the president and his lawyers after a string of rebukes in federal courts from Hawaii to Maryland.

The ruling clears the way for Trumps 90-day ban on foreign arrivals from six Muslim-majority countries to take effect, but it also carved out exemptions for those with bona fide relationships with Americans or U.S. entities, including spouses, other close family members, employers and universities.

The justices also strongly hinted that they may never need to settle the larger constitutional issues because the case could be moot by the time they hear it in the fall.

The administration argued it needed the 90-day pause to review and revise its vetting procedures for travelers from Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Libya and Yemen. Assuming the order takes effect now, the ban will have expired by October when the court reconvenes.

Trump had long voiced confidence he would prevail when the travel ban case reached the high court and on Monday he called the decision a clear victory for his administration.

Todays ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our nations homeland, the president said.

The administration did not provide immediate specifics on how the decision would change existing policy, leaving attorneys at the Justice Department to review the courts language before working with other federal agencies to draft temporary rules.

Trump officials also acknowledged that their optimism may be subject to change, depending on how far the governments lawyers are willing to push the ruling and how lower courts interpret the high courts language.

That caution contrasted with the administrations earlier handling of the issue, when Trump signed a hastily drafted travel ban just days after taking office. The result was a chaotic execution, with uncertainty at airports around the world over who would be allowed to enter the country.

Immigrant rights lawyers who sued to block Trumps order were disappointed with Mondays ruling, but downplayed its impact.

The order will take effect in a very limited way, said Karen Tumlin, legal director for the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles. The ban will apply only to a small subset of people who lack any relationship with a person in this country or an institution such as a school or a hospital.

Some welcomed what they described as an implicit rebuke of the White Houses assertion that Trump has unfettered powers to exclude arrivals based on purported national security concerns.

But others worried about the message it may send. It ignores the anti-Muslim bigotry that is at the heart of the travel ban executive orders and will inevitably embolden Islamphobes in the administration, said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, said the partial reinstatement of the ban particularly threatens vulnerable people waiting to come to the U.S., including those with urgent medical conditions.

All nine justices apparently agreed with the outcome Monday. Three of the courts conservatives  Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch  said they would have gone further and allowed the entire order to take effect immediately.

Under the compromise crafted by the court,foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States are exempted from the ban.

The students from the designated countries who have been admitted to the University of Hawaii have such a relationship with an American entity, the court said. So too would a worker who accepted an offer of employment from an American company or a lecturer invited to address an American audience.

Since many visitors from the six affected countries have such a relationship, the impact of the order may be narrow.

But in his dissent, Thomas predicted the courts approach would fail and lead to a flood of litigation to determine which visitors are exempt.

I fear that the courts remedy will prove unworkable, Thomas said. Todays compromise will burden executive officials with the task of deciding  on peril of contempt  whether individuals from the six affected countries who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country.

Todays ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our nations homeland.  President Trump

Last month, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia upheld a district judges ruling in Maryland blocking Trumps order. The appeals court, in a 10-3 decision, said the executive order reflected an unconstitutional discrimination based on religion. Its opinion cited Trumps campaign pledge to enact a Muslim ban.

Shortly afterward, the 9th Circuit Court in California upheld a district judges ruling in Hawaii and ruled Trumps order was illegal because the president did not demonstrate a threat to national security.

Trumps lawyers argued both decisions were fundamentally mistaken. They said the Constitution and immigration laws give the president the power to temporarily suspend the entry of foreigners, either individuals or groups. And they argued that the high court has made clear judges have no authority to second-guess the presidents determination that national security was in danger.

Without hearing arguments in the two cases, the justices agreed the lower courts had gone too far. The outcome suggests that many of the justices were as troubled by the bold intervention of the judges who blocked Trumps order as they were by the bold action of the new president.

The courts opinion noted the government is free to work on the new vetting procedures for immigrants from the six countries. This was the ostensible purpose of the order in the first place.

We fully expect that the relief we grant today will permit the executive to conclude its internal work and provide adequate notice to foreign governments within the 90-day life of Sec. 2c, the court said, referring to the key clause in the travel ban order.

The case decided Monday was named Trump vs. International Refugee Assistance Project and Trump vs. Hawaii.

david.savage@latimes.com

On Twitter: DavidGSavage

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UPDATES:

4:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction and background.

10:50 a.m.: This article was updated with more reaction and analysis.

9:15 a.m.: This article was updated with Trumps statement.

7:45 a.m.: This article was updated with more details from the ruling.

This article was originally published at 7:25 a.m.
Whats next after the Supreme Court cleared the way for parts of President Trumps travel ban executive order to begin taking effect? Here are some answers.

Does this put Trumps travel ban into effect?

Not exactly. The court said only part of the ban could take effect pending the justices consideration of it this fall. The ban still would not apply to any foreigners who have a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the U.S., such as a relative, a university or an employer. Because it is believed that many visitors from the six mostly Muslim countries at issue have such a relationship, the effect of the order may be limited. Thats been the position of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.

What happens next?

The State Department, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies said they are reviewing the order to figure out how to respond and begin implementing the partial ban. Beyond a statement celebrating the decision, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer referred questions about administrative responses to the Justice Department, which would first analyze the justices opinion.

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Administration officials will be eager to avoid the kind of chaos at airports that occurred when Trump tried to enforce his original, broader ban against visitors from seven countries. But because the new ban applies only to people who do not already have a valid visa, that kind of confusion is not likely.

The implementation of the executive order will be done professionally, with clear and sufficient public notice, particularly to potentially affected travelers, and in coordination with partners in the travel industry, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Monday.

Supreme Court finds a compromise in reviving Trumps travel ban 

What about the arguments that Trumps ban is unconstitutional?

Issues about religious discrimination, presidential power and other constitutional issues were not directly addressed in the courts decision on Monday. Instead the justices agreed to hear those matters in the fall.

However, they noted that by then the entire case may be moot because the 90-day ban will have expired. And the justices indicated that by the fall, the Trump administration will have had plenty of time to come up with new and permanent vetting procedures to ensure national security.

A unanimous ruling? That sounds like a big victory for the president.

Yes and no. The president overstates the breadth of his victory. The justices took a middle ground, which is probably why all justices agreed; they were unanimous on only part of what they did. The three most conservatives justices, including Trumps one appointee, Neil M. Gorsuch, wrote a partial dissent. Gorsuch, along with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., said they would have preferred to go further and allow Trumps entire ban to go into effect. That suggests that the other six justices have reservations about allowing the full ban to take effect, and Trump will still have to win over two more justices if and when the full case is debated by the court.

Why hasnt the Trump administration already completed its review of immigration policies?

The presidents revised executive order, which was intended to take effect on March 16, would have halted travel for 90 days for residents of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen (Iraq was removed from the list), and suspended refugee admissions from any country for 120 days so that the administration could conduct a review of vetting procedures. The 90-day period theoretically would have expired on June 14 (Flag Day and Trumps birthday). But the temporary restraining order issued by a Hawaii judge barred the administration from enforcing or implementing those portions of the executive order, a prohibition that theoretically extended to a review.

The White House issued a memo on June 14 stipulating that, given the injunction halting the order, it would essentially restart the clock on that review process 72 hours after any subsequent court order reinstating the ban.

What that also could mean is that by the time the Supreme Court would ultimately hear arguments about the constitutionality of the order  not until a new term begins in the fall  the administration will have completed its review and potentially ended the temporary travel and refugee bans.

How will it be decided whether someone has a bona fide relationship that exempts them from the ban?

The court gave several examples, such as students enrolled in U.S. universities, people with close relatives in the U.S. and workers offered jobs in the country.

But in his dissent, Thomas predicted the decision would cause a flood of litigation until this case is finally resolved on the merits, as parties and courts struggle to determine what exactly constitutes a bona fide relationship, who precisely has a credible claim to that relationship, and whether the claimed relationship was formed simply to avoid the travel ban.

What does this mean for refugees?

Trumps revised travel ban put a 120-day limit on what had originally been an indefinite suspension of accepting refugees from Syria, and removed contested language intended to help Christian refugees and other religious minorities who face persecution win asylum. It retained language that slowed the entry of asylum seekers dramatically, capping the program at 50,000 refugees for the year, compared with 110,000 allowed under policies of the Obama administration.

As with the rest of the order, the Trump administration has yet to address what the courts action means for that plan. But plaintiffs in the case, including groups that represent refugees, argue that it will have a minimal effect.

They say people who are granted refugee status are automatically referred by the U.S. government to a nongovernmental organization that provides them with social services and other relocation help. They argue that those connections should count as extensive ties to an existing organization in the United States, as long as the process has already begun.

That could, however, be subject to interpretation by another court. If plaintiffs lose that argument, they could get another bite at the apple by arguing on behalf of refugees who have family ties in the United States. They say tens of thousands of potential refugees meet that criteria.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

david.savage@latimes.com

michael.memoli@latimes.com

noah.bierman@latimes.com

For more coverage, follow @mikememoli, @noahbierman and @DavidGSavage on Twitter.

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Get live updates on our Essential Washington news feed

UPDATES:

2:30 p.m.: This story was updated with new details of the court decision.

This story was published at 12:15 p.m.
In his six years in the state Assembly, Jimmy Gomez wrote legislation that expanded Californias landmark family leave law, served as Democratic whip and chaired the powerful appropriations committee.

Gomez has spent his entire political career as a member of the majority party. When hes sworn in as central and northeast Los Angeles newest member of Congress in July, hell be the most junior Democrat  194th out of 194  in Congress.

A lot of people think Im crazy, you know, leaving a Democratic supermajority state to go to the superminority in Congress. They say, Why are you doing that? Gomez said at his primary campaign kickoff in Eagle Rock in February.

Gomez, 42, will be free of the term limits in the state Legislature that can stymie political ambitions, but hell have to find a path forward in a Congress dominated by the opposing party. Even if Democrats win back control, hell have hundreds of more senior and just as eager colleagues ahead of him in line.

Democratic Assembly members, from left, Anthony Rendon, Ian Calderon, Rob Bonta and Jimmy Gomez huddle during the 2015 session. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) (Rich Pedroncelli / AP)

In Sacramento, Gomez was known as a progressives progressive, said former Assembly Democratic Caucus director Charu Khopkar. Gomez was part of the historically large freshman class that came to Sacramento in 2012 after Assembly districts were redrawn, and he quickly rose to become majority whip.

He was an excellent fundraiser. He came out of organized labor, and he knew that personal relationships matter. But he took his policy work seriously, Khopkar said.

Gomez even appeared to put off his Assembly resignation so he could provide an extra vote for the extension of the states landmark climate change program, a delay that caused consternation between House Democratic and Republican leaders.

Although it can take years for a bill to get a hearing in Washington, almost every proposed bill gets at least a hearing in Sacramento, and often a vote in the full Assembly, said Khopkar, who worked on Capitol Hill as a staffer for seven years.

In Congress, Jimmy is going to find that his legislative work is going to be much more frustrating. Hes going to realize very quickly that being in a minority is significantly different, Khopkar said. Even if Democrats were in charge its not as easy to come up with a legislative concept and have it considered and become law.

As chairman of the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee, Gomez had the power to review, and even stall, most bills that might have a financial impact on the state.

In Washington hell be the lowest-ranked member of whatever committees House leaders assign him to. Hell get a few moments to question witnesses at the end of hours-long hearings, often after most of his colleagues and the media have left.

California members history in Sacramento Twenty-two of 39 House Democrats served in Sacramento before coming to Washington.

Nine of Californias 14 Republican members served terms in Sacramento before being elected to Congress.

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) was sworn in as Assembly Speaker in 1998, making her the first black woman in the country to hold such a high-ranking legislative position.

(D-Los Angeles) was sworn in as Assembly Speaker in 1998, making her the first black woman in the country to hold such a high-ranking legislative position. Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) served 24 years in the Legislature, split between the Assembly and Senate , before coming to Congress.

(D-Fresno) served 24 years in the Legislature, split between the Assembly and , before coming to Congress. Rep. Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley) was the first Republican to lead a committee in nearly a decade when he was picked by a Democratic speaker to lead the Veterans Affairs committee in 2010.

Instead, hell have to rely on the bully pulpit that comes with a higher-profile office to draw attention to climate change, healthcare and other topics he cares about.

I know Im not going to be the chair of appropriations any time soon but I feel if I can start raising the issues maybe people will start thinking about the issues differently, Gomez said.

Twenty-two of 39 House Democrats served in Sacramento before coming to Washington. Freshman Rep. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) just made the transition. He served 14 years in Sacramento split between the Assembly and Senate, and was sworn into Congress in January.

Its going from [being] a big fish in a little bowl to being a little fish in a big pond, Correa said.

In his first six months, Correa has managed to get a bill through the House that would require the Department of Homeland Security to change how it buys new products, and got eight amendments attached to the Homeland Security reauthorization bill, an unusually successful start for a freshman in the minority.

Still, Correa was surprised by how differently Sacramento and Washington work, even down to the details of parliamentary procedure, and how slowly legislation moves.

Ive just had to relearn the whole legislative process top to bottom, Correa said. Theres a lot of things Ive had to unlearn from the state to the federal.

Some new members make sure they are visible during news conferences, are conspicuously available to reporters for interviews or create a splash on social media. Some put their heads down and spend the first few months getting to know the mechanics behind the scenes.

So far, Gomez is not keeping his head down. He penned an op-ed for the Washington Post, giving advice to his party on how to succeed in the Trump era.

Gomez isnt entirely new to Washington. He helped write legislation as a legislative assistant in former Rep. Hilda Solis office for several months in the early 2000s.

He comes to Washington, I believe, not with a Pollyanna view, said Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno), who served 24 years in the Legislature. Some members are prepared for it and they see it coming and some of them are surprised, but I think he knows its not going to be the way it was in the Assembly.

During a trip to Washington in mid-June to check out his new office, Gomez quizzed Costa and other California members over lunch about the difference between Sacramento and D.C. They warned that as a member of the minority, its important to prioritize passing legislation over getting the credit for it.

Getting to Washington is worth being a member of the minority for a while, several of them said. Congressional seats dont open that often  Xavier Becerra held Gomezs central Los Angeles seat for 24 years before becoming Californias attorney general.

In a tough time like this where we do have a president whos been very divisive  thats where the fight is and in the end thats where I think the important work is to be done, Gomez said after his victory. I dont believe were going to be in this situation forever. Time will change who is in power.

Times staff writer Christine Mai-Duc contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

June 28, 5:25 p.m.: This article was updated with information about Gomezs oath of office.

This story was originally published on June 26 at 12:05 a.m.
Trump promotes sons Justice with Judge Jeanine interview President Trump promoted via Twitter an interview with his son Eric Trump just before it aired Saturday night on Fox News Justice with Judge Jeanine. Eric Trump on @JudgeJeanine on @FoxNews now!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2018 Eric Trump called into the show to defend his father from criticism prompted by the first government shutdown in more than four years, as well as a series of Womens March events that saw protesters in dozens of cities take to the streets to oppose the presidents policies. .@EricTrump joined me over the phone from Mar-a-Lago ! pic.twitter.com/Hro3TzUW52  Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) January 21, 2018 Speaking to host Jeannine Piro  who is reportedly an old friend of the presidents  Eric Trump offered effusive praise for his father, ticking off glowing statistics to illustrate the strength of the U.S. economy and gains against Islamic State fighters overseas. My fathers working like no ones ever worked before to bring back this country and to fulfill his promise to make America great again, said the executive vice president of the Trump Organization. He also repeated a sentiment recently expressed on Twitter by his father: That Democratic lawmakers forced a government shutdown on the anniversary of the presidents inauguration in a bid to distract from his achievements. You look at this whole government shutdown, and the only reason they want to shut down government is to distract and to stop his momentum, Eric Trump said. I mean, my father has had incredible momentum. Hes gotten more done in one year than arguably any president in history. Facebook

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Trump tweets: a perfect day for all Women to March President Trump hailed the nationwide Womens March gatherings Saturday. On Twitter, the president called it a perfect day for all Women to March, seeming to imply that those taking part were celebrating his administrations accomplishments: Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Participants in the marches across the United States were actually seeking to deliver a powerful rebuke to Trumps policies and mount a crucial mobilization for this years midterm elections. But Trump continued to tout his administrations unprecedented success in tweets sent later in the day: Unprecedented success for our Country, in so many ways, since the Election. Record Stock Market, Strong on Military, Crime, Borders, & ISIS, Judicial Strength & Numbers, Lowest Unemployment for Women & ALL, Massive Tax Cuts, end of Individual Mandate - and so much more. Big 2018!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 The Trump Administration has terminated more UNNECESSARY Regulation, in just twelve months, than any other Administration has terminated during their full term in office, no matter what the length. The good news is, THERE IS MUCH MORE TO COME!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2018 In addition to the roll call of major American cities where womens marches took place  including New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta  protesters also raised their voices in suburbs and small towns, reflecting the aim of coalescing a broad-based movement on the anniversary of Trumps inauguration to oppose the presidents stance on immigration, healthcare, racial divides and an array of other issues. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Laura King. Facebook

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Trump calls shutdown a present from Democrats By Associated Press President Trump is blaming Democrats for the government shutdown  tweeting that they wanted to give him a nice present to mark the one-year anniversary of his inauguration: This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present. #DemocratShutdown  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 That comes after Senate Democrats late Friday killed a GOP-written House-passed measure that would have kept agencies functioning for four weeks. Democrats were seeking a stopgap bill of just a few days in hopes that would build pressure on Republicans, and they were opposing a three-week alternative offered by GOP leaders. Democrats have insisted they would back legislation reopening the government once theres a bipartisan agreement to preserve protections against deporting about 700,000 immigrants  known as Dreamers  who arrived in the United States illegally as children. Trump on Saturday accused Democrats of holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration: Democrats are holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration. Cant let that happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Democrats are laying fault for the shutdown on Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House and have struggled with building internal consensus. In a series of tweets hours after the shutdown began, the president tried to make the case for Americans to elect more Republicans to Congress in November in order to power through this mess: Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border. They could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead. #WeNeedMoreRepublicansIn18 in order to power through mess!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 He noted that there are 51 Republicans in the 100-member Senate, and it often takes 60 votes to advance legislation: For those asking, the Republicans only have 51 votes in the Senate, and they need 60. That is why we need to win more Republicans in 2018 Election! We can then be even tougher on Crime (and Border), and even better to our Military & Veterans!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 #AMERICA FIRST!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 The stopgap spending measure won 50 votes in the Senate, including five from Democrats. Although the House and Senate were in session Saturday, it was unclear whether lawmakers would take any votes of consequence. Trump had been set to leave Friday afternoon for a fundraiser at his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., where he intended to mark the inauguration anniversary. But he remained in Washington and ended up scrapping his plans to attend the Saturday fundraiser. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweet casts doubt on likelihood of averting shutdown President Trump appeared to cast doubt on the likelihood of reaching a deal to avert a government shutdown Friday night in a tweet. Trump also sought to blame Democrats for what would be the first shutdown since 2013. His message came just hours before the midnight deadline by which lawmakers must pass a measure to fund government agencies, or some operations will cease. Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border. Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Despite last-minute negotiations Friday between Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Congress remained deadlocked over a spending bill and the federal government was headed toward a shutdown at midnight. Senate Democrats  joined by some GOP deficit hawks and immigration allies  were set to filibuster a stopgap funding bill approved by the House on Thursday. A Senate vote was planned for 10 p.m. Eastern, and even White House officials predicted it would fail. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Lisa Mascaro. Facebook

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Trump signs surveillance law after confusing tweets By Associated Press President Trump on Friday signed a bill into law to renew a foreign intelligence surveillance program, announcing his action in the latest in a series of confusing tweets about the spy program: Just signed 702 Bill to reauthorize foreign intelligence collection. This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2018 Trumps tweet on Jan. 11 created chaos in the House just before it voted to reauthorize what is known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He linked the intelligence program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia. That caused people to wonder if he didnt support the program that allows U.S. spy agencies to collect intelligence on foreign targets abroad. Trump and other Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened. Shortly before the House vote, and after conferring with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Trump did an apparent about-face. This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land, he tweeted. We need it! Get smart! In his tweet announcing that he had just signed the bill, Trump wrote: This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first! There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trumps oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the presidential campaign. Facebook

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In tweet, Trump suggests that Pennsylvania trip is a political one The White House press office was once again forced to walk back a tweet from President Trump on Thursday morning after he described a trip to Pennsylvania later in the day as a political one  a statement that would force the Republican Party, not taxpayers, to pay for the journey. The White House had said Trump was going to an industrial equipment company outside of Pittsburgh to highlight the good economy and new tax cuts, making it an official, policy-oriented event. It was widely assumed that the trip had a political cast  the area is holding a special election to fill a congressional seat vacated by a Republican who resigned. Trump, by his tweet, seemed to confirm that politics was the whole purpose: Will be going to Pennsylvania today in order to give my total support to RICK SACCONE, running for Congress in a Special Election (March 13). Rick is a great guy. We need more Republicans to continue our already successful agenda!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018 Trump later shared via Twitter a pair of video clips of his speech at H&K Equipment, in which he touted the tax cuts he signed into law just before Christmas and tried to turn the conversation back to his accomplishments after weeks dominated by distractions, including questions about his mental health and comments about immigration that some considered racist: Departing Pittsburgh now, where it was my great honor to stand with our incredible workers, and to show the world that AMERICA is back - and we are coming back bigger and better and stronger than ever before! pic.twitter.com/kWPgylqFzj  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018 AMERICA will once again be a NATION that thinks big, dreams bigger, and always reaches for the stars. YOU are the ones who will shape Americas destiny. YOU are the ones who will restore our prosperity. And YOU are the ones who are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! #MAGA pic.twitter.com/f2abNK47II  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018 The Republican National Committee, rather than the White House, is supposed to pay for political travel so that taxpayers are not financing party activities; for trips that combine policy and politics, parties have split the cost under past presidents. Neither the RNC nor the White House responded to emails sent Thursday asking who would pay. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement later Thursday suggesting that taxpayers would foot the bill. She insisted that Trump would be conducting government business while in Pennsylvania. Read More This post contains reporting from the Associated Press and Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump tweets praise of Bob Dole after awarding him Congressional Gold Medal By Associated Press Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole knew the art of the deal before President Trump published the 1987 book of the same name. The two shared a stage under the Capitol dome Wednesday as Dole, 94, accepted Congress highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, for his World War II service and decades of work in the House and Senate. Trump later praised Dole in a tweet, attaching to his message a video composed of clips from the ceremony: Today, we witnessed an incredible moment in history  the presentation of Congress highest civilian honor to our friend, and true AMERICAN HERO, Bob Dole. #CongressionalGoldMedal pic.twitter.com/qNQqDLRmCk  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2018 At the ceremony, the president saluted Dole as a patriot and gave tribute to Doles struggle as a veteran who worked his way back from a grievous shoulder wound he suffered in Italy. He knows about grit, said Trump. But it was Doles penchant for working across the aisle that earned him his latest award, according to the legislation. Bob Dole was known for his ability to work across the aisle and embrace practical bipartisanship, reads the legislation Trump signed in September. Some of the awards 300 recipients include George Washington and Mother Teresa, according to the Congressional Research Service. Read More Facebook

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Trump touts report that seeks to link terrorism cases with immigration By Joseph Tanfani The Trump administration on Tuesday released a report attempting to link terrorism with migration, arguing that it was evidence of the need to dramatically reshape the nations immigration system. New report from DOJ & DHS shows that nearly 3 in 4 individuals convicted of terrorism-related charges are foreign-born. We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 ....we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based. https://t.co/7PtoSFK1n2  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The report, ordered by President Trump in an executive order last year, said that 75% of the 549 people convicted of terrorism charges since 9/11 were born outside the U.S. Administration officials called that a sign that the U.S. needs to scrap its policy of family preferences for visas, which they call chain migration, and a diversity visa lottery program. But the report did not specify how many  if any  of the convicted terrorists entered the country through those means. It also did not detail how many of the convictions were related to attacks or plans in the U.S. versus overseas and how many involved people who went to fight overseas for the Islamic State or another terrorist group. Those details were not available, officials said. The report, due last year, is being released in a highly charged moment in the immigration debate, as Trump and some Republicans in Congress seek tough new border and immigration measures in return for a deal protecting the 690,000 people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump also fired off a pair of tweets on the topic earlier Tuesday: We must have Security at our VERY DANGEROUS SOUTHERN BORDER, and we must have a great WALL to help protect us, and to help stop the massive inflow of drugs pouring into our country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security. The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding Military, at a time we need it more than ever. We need a merit based system of immigration, and we need it now! No more dangerous Lottery.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The focus of our immigration system should be assimilation, a senior administration official said on Tuesday, speaking on condition that his name not be used. He said the nation should give priority to potential immigrants who speak English, who have an education and those who are committed to supporting our values  not family members of people already here. The official said the timing of the report was coincidental. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets welcome to president of Kazakhstan By Associated Press President Trump said Tuesday that he and the president of Kazakhstan are united in a shared determination to prevent North Korea from threatening the world with nuclear devastation. Trump and President Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed North Korea along with other issues during meetings at the White House. Today, it was my honor to welcome President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan to the @WhiteHouse! pic.twitter.com/TerYFZViax  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 Trump said Kazakhstan, once part of the Soviet Union, is a valued partner in our efforts to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons. Together we are determined to prevent the North Korean regime from threatening the world with nuclear devastation, he said, as both presidents addressed journalists between meetings. Nazarbayev noted that his country once had one of the worlds largest nuclear arsenals but voluntarily gave it up after the Soviet Union collapsed. He said his country is in talks with Iran, which was the focus of a global deal that lifted some economic sanctions in exchange for Irans curbing its nuclear program. Trump has sharply criticized the Iran nuclear deal and threatened last week to pull out soon unless other countries fix what he says are terrible flaws. Read More Facebook

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Trump falsely claims his approval rating among black Americans has doubled By Alex Wigglesworth President Trump lashed out at the news media Tuesday morning in a tweet denouncing the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion among members of his campaign team. Do you notice the Fake News Mainstream Media never likes covering the great and record setting economic news, but rather talks about anything negative or that can be turned into the negative. The Russian Collusion Hoax is dead, except as it pertains to the Dems. Public gets it!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 It wasnt immediately clear exactly what prompted the presidents tweet, but it appeared as though he was watching Fox & Friends. A short time later, Trump tweeted a headline from a report that aired during that mornings episode: 90% of Trump 2017 news coverage was negative -and much of it contrived!@foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The segment focused on the latest survey results from conservative watchdog Media Research Center, which purportedly analyzed the evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS and NBC from Jan. 20 to Dec. 31 and found that 90% of the statements made about Trump were negative. Study: 90% of Trump media coverage in 2017 was negative pic.twitter.com/vbrwup4Drg  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 16, 2018 But believe it or not, through all this negative coverage, they did a survey of 600,000 people about how black America views this president, co-host Brian Kilmeade said. His numbers have actually doubled in approval. Trump highlighted the statement in another tweet: Unemployment for Black Americans is the lowest ever recorded. Trump approval ratings with Black Americans has doubled. Thank you, and it will get even (much) better! @FoxNews  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 But its not true. The claim appears to have originated from a misreading of data from the online polling firm SurveyMonkey, according to factcheck.org. The firm polled 600,000 Americans in 2017 and found that Trumps approval rating among blacks actually dropped from 23% early in his presidency to about 17%, as of the week ending Jan. 3. Some conservative outlets, including Breitbart, produced an average from those and other SurveyMonkey figures and compared them to the scores Trump received from black voters in the 2016 exit polls. That methodology is not sound. And since the statistics measure different things, the comparison is misleading. Facebook

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Trump goes after senator who surfaced his immigration remark By Associated Press President Trump turned his Twitter torment Monday on the Democrat in the room where immigration talks with lawmakers took a famously coarse turn, saying Sen. Richard J. Durbin misrepresented what he had said about African nations and Haiti and, in the process, undermined the trust needed to make a deal. Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting, Trump tweeted, using a nickname to needle the Illinois senator. Deals cant get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military. Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals cant get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 Trump was referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects young people who came to the United States illegally as children. Members of Congress from both parties are trying to strike a deal that Trump would support to extend that protection. Trump also cast doubt on the likelihood of reaching an agreement in tweets sent earlier Monday: Statement by me last night in Florida: Honestly, I dont think the Democrats want to make a deal. They talk about DACA, but they dont want to help..We are ready, willing and able to make a deal but they dont want to. They dont want security at the border, they dont want.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 ...to stop drugs, they want to take money away from our military which we cannot do. My standard is very simple, AMERICA FIRST & MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 On a day of remembrance for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Trump spent time at his golf course with no public events, bypassing the acts of service that his predecessors staged in honor of the civil rights leader. Instead, Trump dedicated his weekly address to Kings memory, saying Kings dream and Americas are the same: A world where people are judged by who they are, not how they look or where they come from. That message was a distinct counterpoint to words attributed to Trump by Durbin and others at a meeting last week, when the question of where immigrants come from seemed at the forefront of Trumps concerns. Some participants and others familiar with the conversation said Trump challenged immigration from shithole countries of Africa and disparaged Haiti as well. Without explicitly denying using that word, Trump lashed out at the Democratic senator, who said Trump uttered it on several occasions. Read More Facebook

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Trump thanks pundit for laudatory Fox & Friends spot By Alex Wigglesworth President Trump thanked Fox News personality Stuart Varney after Varney praised Trump during an appearance on Fox & Friends. In a pair of tweets early Sunday, Trump quoted from Varneys commentary, in which he argued that Trump deserves more credit for the booming economy. The pundit, who also hosts a show on Fox Business Network, cited moves by some corporations to raise workers minimum wage or pay out one-time bonuses in response to the GOP tax cuts. President Trump is not getting the credit he deserves for the economy. Tax Cut bonuses to more than 2,000,000 workers. Most explosive Stock Market rally that weve seen in modern times. 18,000 to 26,000 from Election, and grounded in profitability and growth. All Trump, not 0...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018 ...big unnecessary regulation cuts made it all possible (among many other things). President Trump reversed the policies of President Obama, and reversed our economic decline. Thank you Stuart Varney. @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018 Varney was reacting to a quote from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who on Thursday called the bonuses handed down to workers pathetic in comparison to the gains corporations are expected to see from the tax cuts. In terms of the bonus that corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers to kind of put the schmooze on is so pathetic, Pelosi told reporters. Its pathetic. Varney shot back Sunday that the bonuses, along with explosive stock market growth, are enriching all Americans. This is a huge shot in the arm, its the result of this tax cut deal and I think President Trump should get the credit for it, he said. .@Varneyco Sets the economic record straight after Nancy Pelosi calls U.S. mass bonuses crumbs pic.twitter.com/BvjIHGm3HE  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 14, 2018 The sweeping tax plan passed last month lowers the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and cuts personal income taxes. Analysts say the benefits will largely flow to corporations and the wealthy, as theyre more likely to be in positions to share in corporate profits. For instance, Wells Fargo & Co., which responded to news of the tax overhaul by announcing it will raise workers pay to at least $15 an hour, also reported that it expects to pay an effective tax rate of 19% this year, down from about 31% in previous years. That should amount to tax savings of more than $3 billion annually. On average, middle-class Americans are expected to see a very small tax cut in the near term and a tax increase after 2025, when all of the tax cuts for individuals expire. The tax cuts for corporations, however, are permanent.  This post contains reporting from Times staff writer James Rufus Koren. Facebook

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Trump touts MLK proclamation in tweet, but ceremony is overshadowed by reports of racist remarks By Associated Press President Trump signed a proclamation Friday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, noting the contributions of a great American hero. Today, it was my great honor to proclaim January 15, 2018, as Martin Luther King Jr., Federal Holiday. I encourage all Americans to observe this day with appropriate civic, community, and service activities in honor of Dr. King's life and legacy. pic.twitter.com/samlJsz1Nt  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018 Overshadowing the event was mounting backlash from Trumps comments during a private meeting with lawmakers the day before. A short time after the meeting, which was called to discuss a possible immigration deal, reports emerged that Trump had asked participants why the United States should accept immigrants from shithole countries in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, the Senates second-ranking Democrat, appeared to confirm those reports on Friday. Trump did not respond Friday to several questions about the incident, including whether he actually used vulgar language to describe African nations, or if he is racist. The president said at the White House that love was central to the slain civil rights leader. Trump said the nation celebrates King for standing up for the self-evident truth Americans hold so dear, that no matter what the color of our skin or place of our birth, we are all created equal by God.  This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump criticizes Democrats in tweet calling for stricter immigration rules President Trump hit out at Democrats on Thursday night in a tweet calling for stricter immigration rules. Trump wrote that members of the party seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the border with Mexico: The Democrats seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the Southern Border, risking thousands of lives in the process. It is my duty to protect the lives and safety of all Americans. We must build a Great Wall, think Merit and end Lottery & Chain. USA!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018 It wasnt immediately clear exactly what prompted the tweet. Earlier Thursday, Trump rejected a bipartisan compromise to resolve the standoff over so-called Dreamers, young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children but have temporary permits to work, attend school or serve in the military. The president drew widespread condemnation after reports emerged that he had asked participants in an Oval Office meeting about the proposal why the United States should accept immigrants from shithole countries in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Read More Facebook

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Trump touts bill aimed at improving border screening for fentanyl By Associated Press President Trump signed legislation Wednesday aimed at giving Customs and Border Protection agents additional screening devices and other tools to stop the flow of illicit drugs. Speaking at a surprise bill-signing ceremony while flanked by members of Congress from both parties in the Oval Office, Trump described the bill as a significant step forward in the fight against powerful opioids such as fentanyl, which he called our new big scourge. He echoed that language Thursday in a tweet: Yesterday, I signed the #INTERDICTAct (H.R. 2142) with bipartisan members of Congress to help end the flow of drugs into our country. Together, we are committed to doing everything we can to combat the deadly scourge of drug addiction and overdose in the United States! pic.twitter.com/ELZvFol5Lo  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018 The legislation will pay for new portable and fixed chemical screening devices to detect and intercept fentanyl at ports of entry and in the mail, along with other laboratory equipment and personnel, including scientists. Trump has made fighting the opioid epidemic a centerpiece of his administration, though critics say he hasnt dedicated nearly enough money or resources to make a difference. Trump suggested during his remarks on Wednesday that hed like to take a more aggressive approach to the drug crisis  but the countrys not ready for what he has in mind. So were going to sign this. And its a step. And it feels like a very giant step, but unfortunately, its not going to be a giant step, because no matter what you do, this is something that keeps pouring in, he said. And were going to find the answer. There is an answer. I think I actually know the answer, but Im not sure the countrys ready for it yet, he added. Does anybody know what I mean? I think so. Facebook

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Trump applauds news that Toyota-Mazda plant is slated for Alabama By Associated Press Japanese automakers Toyota and Mazda on Wednesday announced plans to build a mammoth, $1.6-billion joint-venture plant in Alabama that will eventually employ about 4,000 people. President Trump lauded the news in a tweet: Cutting taxes and simplifying regulations makes America the place to invest! Great news as Toyota and Mazda announce they are bringing 4,000 JOBS and investing $1.6 BILLION in Alabama, helping to further grow our economy! pic.twitter.com/Kcg8IVH6iA  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Good news: Toyota and Mazda announce giant new Huntsville, Alabama, plant which will produce over 300,000 cars and SUVs a year and employ 4000 people. Companies are coming back to the U.S. in a very big way. Congratulations Alabama!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018 Several states had competed for the project, which will be able to turn out 300,000 vehicles per year and produce the Toyota Corolla compact car for North America and a new small SUV from Mazda. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and company executives held a news conference to announce that the facility is coming to the Huntsville area not far from the Tennessee line. Production is expected to begin by 2021. The decision to pick Alabama is another example of foreign-based automakers building U.S. factories in the South. To entice manufacturers, Southern states have used a combination of lucrative incentive packages, low-cost labor and a pro-business labor environment, because the United Auto Workers union is stronger in Northern states. Read More Facebook

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Trump highlights call for border wall in tweets on visit with Norways prime minister By Associated Press President Trump praised Norways prime minister in a tweet on Wednesday after Erna Solberg became the first foreign leader to visit with the president in 2018. Today, it was my great honor to welcome Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway to the @WhiteHouse - a great friend and ally of the United States! Joint press conference: https://t.co/qWR1BhfQZI pic.twitter.com/PJvwznjRCO  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Trump also shared via Twitter a video clip of a joint news conference he held with Solberg on Wednesday afternoon. In the clip, Trump responds to a question from a reporter by saying there can be no bipartisan immigration deal absent funding for his long-promised wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have been seeking a solution for hundreds of thousands of so-called Dreamers, young people who were brought to the United States as children and are living here illegally. The United States needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval. The safety and security of our country is #1! pic.twitter.com/4CFzQXb5aS  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 We need the wall for security, we need the wall for safety, we need the wall for stopping the drugs from pouring in, Trump said Wednesday.  Any solution has to include the wall because without the wall, it all doesnt work. On Tuesday, Trump drew widespread attention when he said during a meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers that he would be agreeable to signing a stand-alone bill to protect the Dreamers, before moving on to a more comprehensive immigration bill. That contradicted the Republican consensus that Dreamers fate needed to be part of a broader immigration bill that would include some version of Trumps promised border wall and other immigration reforms. Trump backed away from a stand-alone Dreamer bill in subsequent tweets and public comments. Read More This post contains reporting from Los Angeles Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump praises Cabinet in tweet touting meeting By Associated Press President Trump promoted a meeting of his Cabinet on Wednesday, sharing via Twitter a link to a video of the session posted on the White House YouTube account. In his tweet, Trump thanked his Cabinet for working tirelessly on behalf of our country and wrote that the last year has been one of monumental achievement. I want to thank my @Cabinet for working tirelessly on behalf of our country. 2017 was a year of monumental achievement and we look forward to the year ahead. Together, we are delivering results and MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! https://t.co/ptXa1hAPwW pic.twitter.com/yv6RALkQf3  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 The former reality television star continued to dispense accolades at the meeting Wednesday, greeting reporters in the Cabinet Room by saying: Welcome back to the studio. Then he proceeded to relive a Cabinet Room session from the prior day, when he had allowed reporters and TV cameras to stick around for much of his meeting with a bipartisan group of legislators on the thorny issue of immigration. It was a tremendous meeting. Actually, it was reported as incredibly good. And my performance  you know, some of them called it a performance  I consider it work, Trump said. Trump went on to say he had received letters from news anchors calling it one of the greatest meetings theyve ever witnessed. He added that the media will ultimately support Trump in the end, because theyre going to say, if Trump doesnt win in three years, theyre all out of business. Asked for examples of letters received from news anchors, the White House said it had received private communications. It also offered a series of positive on-air comments and tweets from journalists about the unusual access to the meeting. During his remarks, Trump swung from praising his own meeting coverage to telling journalists that they were dependent on his presidency for ratings to threatening a strong look at libel laws. Still, Trump thanked the journalists in front of him, joking: Youve gotten very familiar with this room. I appreciate your nice comments yesterday. Facebook

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Trump blasts DACA ruling in tweet calling courts broken and unfair By Lisa Mascaro President Trump denounced the federal courts Wednesday as broken and unfair after a district judge in San Francisco issued a nationwide injunction keeping protections in place for so-called Dreamers. Trump tweeted: It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 On Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco temporarily blocked the Trump administrations decision to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which has protected from deportation some 700,000 people who came to the country illegally as children. Alsup granted a request by the state of California, the University of California and other plaintiffs to stop Trump from ending DACA on March 5. The administrations decision to end DACA, which was announced in September, was based on a flawed legal analysis, Alsup wrote in his decision. Dreamers would be irreparably harmed if their DACA protections, which allow them to live and work legally in the U.S., were stripped away before the courts had a chance to fully consider their claims, he ruled. The action is the mirror image of a ruling in 2015 by a federal judge in Texas who ruled in favor of that state when it sought to block President Obama from expanding DACA to include the parents of Dreamers. Trump administration officials praised that judicial ruling. By contrast, they sharply criticized Alsups decision. Read More Facebook

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Trump thanks lawmakers for productive immigration meeting, says deal must include border wall President Trump thanked a bipartisan group of lawmakers for participating in a meeting on immigration legislation on Tuesday. Much of the discussion involved so-called Dreamers, an estimated 700,000 young people who were brought to the country illegally as children and are now facing deportation. In a tweet, Trump wrote that there was strong agreement to negotiate a bill to protect Dreamers, as well as put into place some of the reforms favored by Republicans. Thanks to all of the Republican and Democratic lawmakers for todays very productive meeting on immigration reform. There was strong agreement to negotiate a bill that deals with border security, chain migration, lottery and DACA. https://t.co/SdqAQ3aL3z pic.twitter.com/8DYHZHspAy  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 The most notable exchange of the meeting came when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the San Francisco Democrat, asked Trump whether he would be agreeable to signing a stand-alone bill to protect the Dreamers, before moving on to a more comprehensive immigration bill. Yeah, I would like to do it, Trump responded. The statement drew widespread attention because it contradicted the Republican consensus that Dreamers fate needed to be part of a broader immigration bill that would include some version of Trumps promised border wall and other immigration reforms. Trump later backed away from a stand-alone Dreamer bill, tweeting that a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico must be part of any deal: As I made very clear today, our country needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Pressure has been mounting for Congress to broker an immigration deal by Jan. 19 as part of a must-pass budget package to fund the government. This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump thanks officers and veterans in tweets President Trump doled out a slew of accolades Tuesday via Twitter. He thanked the nations law enforcement officers, including in his message a hashtag denoting a day of appreciation organized by a national support group for law enforcement families. On behalf of the American people, THANK YOU to our incredible law enforcement officers. As President of the United States - I will fight for you, and I will never, ever let you down. Now, more than ever, we must support the men and women in blue! #LawEnforcementAppreciationDay pic.twitter.com/Qb4uxB4JRm  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 Trump later expressed gratitude for federal immigration agents, in particular: .@ICEgov HSI agents and ERO officers, on behalf of an entire Nation, THANK YOU for what you are doing 24/7/365 to keep fellow Americans SAFE. Everyone is so grateful!#LawEnforcementAppreciationDay

President @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/HXCpTlruVo  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 The president thanked veterans as he cited his administrations efforts to curb the number of veteran suicides by improving mental health treatment for the high-risk group: Today, it was my great honor to sign a new Executive Order to ensure Veterans have the resources they need as they transition back to civilian life. We must ensure that our HEROES are given the care and support they so richly deserve! https://t.co/0MdP9DDIAS pic.twitter.com/LP2a8KCBAp  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 Trumps tweet included photos of the president signing an executive order Tuesday directing the secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs to develop a plan to provide seamless access to mental health and suicide prevention resources for 12 months for members leaving the armed forces. Also on Tuesday, Trump touted a law he signed the day before designating the birthplace of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a national historic park: It was my great honor to sign H.R. 267, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Act, which redesignates the Martin Luther King, Junior, National Historic Site in the State of Georgia as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park. https://t.co/Qe0b6HBFTY pic.twitter.com/QTgaqTawPT  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 And he thanked House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) for sharing a video compilation comprised of clips of politicians and commentators praising the GOPs tax cut bill: Thank you @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy! Couldnt agree w/you more. TOGETHER, we are #MAGA https://t.co/QaxtqpyXTR  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018  This post contains reporting from the Associated Press and Times staff writer Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

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Trump hails tax bill in tweets recapping speech to farmers By Associated Press Connecting with rural Americans, President Trump on Monday hailed his tax overhaul as a victory for family farmers. Farm country is Gods country, Trump told the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Trump became the first president in a quarter-century to address the federations convention. His Southern swing also included a stop in Atlanta for the national college football championship game. Cant wait to be back in the amazing state of Tennessee to address the 99th American @FarmBureau Federations Annual Convention in Nashville! #AFBF18



On my way now - join me LIVE at 4:00pmE: https://t.co/QaljAqekdD. pic.twitter.com/Wm7Io0hYT8  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Joined by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and a group of Tennessee lawmakers, Trump said most of the benefits of the tax legislation are going to working families, small businesses, and who  the family farmer. The package Trump signed into law last month provides generous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and more modest reductions for middle- and low-income individuals and families. In every decision we make, we are honoring Americas PROUD FARMING LEGACY. Years of crushing taxes, crippling regs, & corrupt politics left our communities hurting, our economy stagnant, & millions of hardworking Americans COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN. But they are not forgotten ANYMORE! pic.twitter.com/MdYS7xnukQ  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 The president vastly inflated the value of the package in his speech, citing a total of $5.5 trillion in tax cuts, with most of those benefits going to working families, small businesses and who? The family farmer. The estimated value of the tax cuts is actually $1.5 trillion for families and businesses because of cuts in deductions and the use of other steps to generate offsetting tax revenue. We have been working every day to DELIVER for Americas Farmers just as they work every day to deliver FOR US. #AFBF18 pic.twitter.com/QDH7fvFkZ7  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 From Nashville, Trump traveled to Atlanta to watch Alabamas Crimson Tide and Georgias Bulldogs face off Monday night in the College Football Playoff National Championship. We are fighting for our farmers, for our country, and for our GREAT AMERICAN FLAG. We want our flag respected - and we want our NATIONAL ANTHEM respected also! pic.twitter.com/16eOLXg6Fi  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Before departing for the game, Trump referenced his ongoing defense of the American flag and the national anthem, saying there was enough space for people to express their views. We love our flag and we love our anthem, and we want to keep it that way, he said. Facebook

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Trump tweet hails drop in unemployment rate for African Americans By Associated Press President Trump touted a drop in the unemployment rate for African Americans on Monday in a tweet. African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in our country. The Hispanic unemployment rate dropped a full point in the last year and is close to the lowest in recorded history. Dems did nothing for you but get your vote! #NeverForget @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 The rate fell to 6.8% in December, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1972. The reasons range from a greater number of black Americans with college degrees to a growing need for employers in a tight job market to widen the pool of people they hire from. Trump also hailed the development via Twitter on Saturday. His latest tweet on the topic came about an hour after it was discussed during an episode of Fox & Friends, according to Mediaite. Facebook

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Trump talks up the economy and dresses down the media in Sunday tweets With President Trump cheering from the sidelines, the White House on Sunday pressed its defense of the presidents fitness to govern, as fired former aide Stephen K. Bannon reversed course and apologized for his role in a new books explosive portrait of Trump. The presidents critics, meanwhile, said Trumps stream of taunts and insults in response to the book  Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, released last week  served only to underscore the authors unsettling portrayal of Trumps year-old presidency, depicting a leader whose own aides consider him childish, ignorant and dangerously erratic. Trump provided more ammunition Sunday morning, as he continued to attack the book via Twitter while preparing to depart Camp David for the White House: Leaving Camp David for the White House. Great meetings with the Cabinet and Military on many very important subjects including Border Security & the desperately needed Wall, the ever increasing Drug and Opioid Problem, Infrastructure, Military, Budget, Trade and DACA.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Ive had to put up with the Fake News from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author. Ronald Reagan had the same problem and handled it well. So will I!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 The most vehement defense of Trump on Sunday came from senior advisor Stephen Miller, a onetime Bannon acolyte who distanced himself from his former mentor. In a combative appearance Sunday on CNNs State of the Union, Miller called the book grotesque and writer Michael Wolff the garbage author of a garbage book. Trump is known to closely monitor aides televised performances in putting forth his case, and he gleefully weighed in within moments of Millers televised clash with host Jake Tapper. CNN has long been a particular target of Trumps ire. Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Trumps reaction, however, seemed to bolster Tappers on-air depiction of Miller as using his appearance on the show to play to the president rather than addressing questions put to him. I get it  theres one viewer that you care about, the host said exasperatedly after Miller turned the discussion repeatedly to negative news coverage of the president while deflecting specific queries. Later on Twitter, Trump took up two themes that have been prevalent on his social media feeds recently. The president again went after the news media, tweeting that the recipients of his self-proclaimed most dishonest & corrupt media awards of the year, which he promised earlier in the week to announce on Monday, would actually be revealed the following Wednesday: The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th, rather than this coming Monday. The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Trump later lauded a New York Post opinion piece that compared him favorably with his predecessor, President Obama, as well as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. In quoting the op-ed, Trump initally misspelled consequential as consensual, but he deleted those tweets and re-sent the messages. His is turning out to be an enormously consequential presidency. So much so that, despite my own frustration over his missteps, there has never been a day when I wished Hillary Clinton were president. Not one. Indeed, as Trumps accomplishments accumulate, the mere thought of...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 ...Clinton in the WH, doubling down on Barack Obamas failed policies, washes away any doubts that America made the right choice. This was truly a change election  and the changes Trump is bringing are far-reaching & necessary. Thank you Michael Goodwin! https://t.co/4fHNcx2Ydg  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Trump also continued talking up the economy, which has been enjoying a period of strong gains. The Stock Market has been creating tremendous benefits for our country in the form of not only Record Setting Stock Prices, but present and future Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Seven TRILLION dollars of value created since our big election win!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 In addition to Miller, other senior administration officials made the rounds of Sunday news talk shows to decry the claims made in Wolffs book. CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Wolffs characterization of Trump as averse to digesting classified briefing material was ludicrous, and the ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, insisted that that those around Trump love their country and respect their president. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Laura King. Facebook

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Responding to book that mocks his intelligence, Trump tweets hes like, really smart By Tracy Wilkinson President Trump declared himself a very stable genius on Twitter on Saturday and later in a televised news conference called the author of a book that questioned his mental fitness a fraud. His comments came on a bone-cold day at Camp David during a weekend retreat with top administration officials and Republican congressional leaders strategizing on the years legislative agenda, including matters such as infrastructure, immigration, welfare reform and national security. Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 ....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 ....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 Still, Trumps explosive rebuttal to author Michael Wolffs claims not only opened the day, but it also ensured the presidents capability to fill the highest office in the land was a topic that would not go away. In his early-morning tweets, Trump said two of his greatest assets have been mental stability, and being, like, really smart. He noted that his former Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, played these cards [about competence] very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try). Read More Facebook

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In morning tweets, Trump touts job numbers and takes digs at news media By Associated Press President Trump used Twitter on Saturday morning to tout a drop in the unemployment rate for African Americans. He also used the tweets as an opportunity to take digs at media outlets whose past coverage he has found to be critical. The African American unemployment rate fell to 6.8%, the lowest rate in 45 years. I am so happy about this News! And, in the Washington Post (of all places), headline states, Trumps first year jobs numbers were very, very good.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 The unemployment rate for African Americans fell to 6.8% in December, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1972. The reasons range from a greater number of black Americans with college degrees to a growing need for employers in a tight job market to widen the pool of people they hire from. Still, the rate for black workers remains well above those for whites and some other groups, something experts attribute in large part to decades of discrimination and disadvantages. Robust job creation has lowered unemployment for all Americans. U.S. employers added nearly 2.1 million jobs in 2017  the seventh straight year that hiring has topped 2 million. In his tweet, Trump praised a report that noted the numbers, touting the fact that it appeared in the Washington Post (of all places). Minutes later, Trump renewed his attack on an ABC News reporter who was suspended last month after filing an erroneous report on Michael Flynn, Trumps former national security advisor. Brian Ross, the reporter who made a fraudulent live newscast about me that drove the Stock Market down 350 points (billions of dollars), was suspended for a month but is now back at ABC NEWS in a lower capacity. He is no longer allowed to report on Trump. Should have been fired!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 The reporter, Brian Ross, was reportedly reassigned within ABC News upon returning from his unpaid suspension. But on Saturday, Trump wrote that he should have been fired. Trumps tweets came hours before he was set to host congressional Republicans and administration officials at Camp David. The meeting scheduled to begin at midmorning Saturday was expected to touch on the budget, infrastructure, immigration, welfare reform and the shape of the midterm election this fall. Facebook

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Trump commends Sen. Rand Paul after he proposes eliminating all U.S. aid to Pakistan President Trump commended Sen. Rand Paul after the Kentucky Republican announced plans to introduce legislation that would eliminate all U.S. aid to Pakistan. Trump tweeted Friday night: Good idea Rand! https://t.co/55sqUDiC0s  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 On Thursday, the Trump administration announced it was suspending security assistance to Islamabad until the country moves aggressively against local militants who have attacked U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration at the apparent inability of Pakistani authorities to rein in militants who cross out of the countrys rugged tribal areas to attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson. Facebook

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Trump continues to lash out at Sloppy Steve Bannon in tweets on tell-all book By Associated Press President Trump is praising a major Republican donor family for distancing themselves from his former advisor Steve Bannon. Trump tweeted Friday: The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Trump has continued to lash out at Bannon over an explosive new book that quoted his former aide as questioning Trumps competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower among Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as treasonous and unpatriotic. On Thursday, billionaire GOP donor Rebekah Mercer issued a statement distancing her family from Bannon. Mercer is a co-owner of Breitbart, the populist website Bannon helps run. I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected, Mercer said. My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements. The book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, quickly shot atop Amazons best-seller list, and the publisher moved up its release date by four days, to Friday. Trump took up the topic again on Twitter on Friday night, denouncing both Bannon and the books author, Michael Wolff, in starkly personal terms: Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad! https://t.co/mEeUhk5ZV9  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 Trumps message linked to a meme depicting a parody book cover titled, Liar and Phony, that featured a photo of Wolff and disparaging quotes about the author. In a tweet sent earlier Friday morning, Trump suggested the book was intended to serve as a distraction from the FBIs investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, which Trump wrote is proving to be a total hoax. Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable. They should try winning an election. Sad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 That came amid reports that Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to not recuse himself from the Justice Departments Russia investigation. Trumps effort to keep Sessions, a vocal and loyal supporter of his election bid, in charge of an investigation into his campaign offers special counsel Robert Mueller yet another avenue to explore as his prosecutors work to untangle potential evidence of obstruction. Read More Facebook

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Trump praises the economy ahead of meetings at Camp David By Associated Press President Trump is praising the strength of the U.S. economy ahead of meetings at Camp David with congressional Republicans. Trump tweeted early Friday: Dow goes from 18,589 on November 9, 2016, to 25,075 today, for a new all-time Record. Jumped 1000 points in last 5 weeks, Record fastest 1000 point move in history. This is all about the Make America Great Again agenda! Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Six trillion dollars in value created!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 The president also told reporters on the South Lawn that the tax cuts are really kicking in after Congress passed a package of tax cuts at the end of 2017. And the president praised the December jobs report, which found U.S. employers added 148,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate stayed at 4.1%, the lowest level since 2000. The modest but steady pace of hiring is a reassuring sign for investors who have been buoyed by the just-passed Republican tax plan and have been sending stock market indexes roaring to uncharted heights. The president is meeting with Republican congressional leaders and members of his Cabinet on Friday and Saturday to discuss the 2018 agenda. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets as Dow crashes through 25,000 By Associated Press President Trump dispatched a congratulatory tweet as the Dow Jones industrial average rose above the 25,000-point mark Thursday, just five weeks after its first close above 24,000. Dow just crashes through 25,000. Congrats! Big cuts in unnecessary regulations continuing.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 After the Dow closed above 25,000, Trump shared a graphic depicting the stock indexs record-setting rise. MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/iONbr1DkVk  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Later in the day, the president was back on Twitter, complaining that news outlets had barely covered the stock market milestone. He suggested that the strength of the economy would be the biggest story on earth, had it unfolded during the presidency of his predecessor. The Fake News Media barely mentions the fact that the Stock Market just hit another New Record and that business in the U.S. is booming...but the people know! Can you imagine if O was president and had these numbers - would be biggest story on earth! Dow now over 25,000.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 The Dow broke past 1,000-point barriers in 2017 on its way to a 25% gain for the year, as an eight-year rally since the Great Recession continued to confound skeptics. Strong global economic growth and good prospects for higher company earnings have analysts predicting more gains, although the market may not stay as calm as it has been recently. The Dow has made a rapid trip since it reached 24,000 points Nov. 30, partly on enthusiasm over passage of the Republican-backed tax package, which could boost company profits this year with across-the-board cuts to corporate taxes. Read More Facebook

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Trump reacts to Fire and Fury book in tweet lashing out at author and Sloppy Steve President Trump lashed out at the author of a soon-to-be-released book about the chaotic first year of his presidency Thursday night. In a tweet, Trump called Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a phony book and claimed that hed never spoken to its author, Michael Wolff. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve! Trump wrote. He appeared to be referring to former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, whose stunning criticisms of Trump and his circle figure prominently in the title. I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Trumps tweet came hours after he had his lawyer demand that Henry Holt & Co. and Wolff stop publication the book. Instead, the publisher expedited the books release to Friday, four days before it was slated to hit bookstore shelves, in response to unprecedented demand. Published excerpts on Wednesday and Thursday whetted that appetite and roiled Washington. Bannons comments, including that it was treasonous and unpatriotic for Trumps son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort to have met in 2016 with Russians said to have dirt on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, prompted Trump on Wednesday to rebuke his former advisor, saying Bannon had lost his mind. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writers Brian Bennett and Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

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Trump thanks senators who attended meeting on immigration President Trump tweeted thanks to Republican senators who attended a meeting about possible immigration legislation on Thursday. In his message, Trump also listed his top priorities when it comes to any type of overhaul of the nations immigration system. Thank you to the great Republican Senators who showed up to our mtg on immigration reform. We must BUILD THE WALL, stop illegal immigration, end chain migration & cancel the visa lottery. The current system is unsafe & unfair to the great people of our country - time for change!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Trumps tweet echoed his remarks at the beginning of Thursdays meeting, when he insisted again that constructing a border wall and overhauling two legal immigration programs must be part of any deal with Democrats to protect the so-called Dreamers from deportation. Two-year deportation protections and work permits given under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program begin to expire March 6 under an executive order. Trump announced in September that he was ending the Obama-era program, but told Congress to draft a law to continue protections for people brought to the country illegally as children  a group that has widespread public support. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Brian Bennett. Facebook

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Trump resumes Twitter war against kneeling NFL players President Trump has resumed his Twitter war against NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest social injustice and racial inequality. In a tweet early Thursday, Trump replied to a supporter who shared a meme that appears to depict family members lying on the grave of a fallen soldier with the caption: This is why we stand. Show this picture to the NFL players who still kneel! Trump wrote. So beautiful....Show this picture to the NFL players who still kneel! https://t.co/tJLM1tvbvb  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 The president has denounced players who kneel during the anthem in previous tweets. Hes also called for the firing of players who do so. His latest message came amid news that the NFL finished the regular season with TV ratings that fell nearly 10% below the previous season. Analysts attribute the drop to controversies facing the league, as well as changing viewing habits and a possible saturation point in the number of games available. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writers Stephen Battaglio and Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

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Trump credits himself with facilitating talks between North and South Korea By Associated Press President Trump says his tough stance on nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula is helping push North Korea and South Korea to talk. Trump tweeted early Thursday: With all of the failed experts weighing in, does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasnt firm, strong and willing to commit our total might against the North. Fools, but talks are a good thing!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 That assertion is in conflict with some of the presidents own statements. Last year, he ridiculed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for talking about negotiations with the North. This week, Trump seemed open to the possibility of an inter-Korean dialogue after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a rare overture toward South Korea in a New Years Day address. But Trumps ambassador to the United Nations insisted that talks wont be meaningful unless the North is getting rid of its nuclear weapons. The overture about talks came after Trump and Kim traded more bellicose claims about their nuclear weapons. In his New Years Day address, Kim repeated fiery nuclear threats against the United States. Kim said he has a nuclear button on his office desk and warned that the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike. Trump mocked that assertion Tuesday evening in a tweet. Facebook

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After disbanding his vote fraud panel, Trump still says voting system is rigged By Brian Bennett One day after disbanding his troubled voter fraud commission without any findings of fraud, President Trump continued to call the U.S. voting system rigged and said states should require that Americans have voter-identification cards. In two tweets on Thursday morning, Trump blamed the commissions failure on the lack of cooperation from mostly Democrat States that refused to hand over voter rolls because they know that many people are voting illegally. However, voting supervisors in Republican-led states refused as well, objecting on privacy and other grounds. Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the 2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally. System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 As Americans, you need identification, sometimes in a very strong and accurate form, for almost everything you do.....except when it comes to the most important thing, VOTING for the people that run your country. Push hard for Voter Identification!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Despite Trumps assertions, analysts have not found evidence of widespread voter fraud. Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May after alleging, without proof, that millions of illegal votes were cast for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Trump was elected after winning a majority in the electoral college, but the nationwide count showed Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes. The commission sought personal data on voters across the country and faced mounting lawsuits in recent months over privacy concerns. Read More Facebook

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Trump touts another good day for stocks, credits tax cut By Associated Press President Trump touted another good day for the stock market Wednesday in a tweet. Stock Market had another good day but, now that the Tax Cut Bill has passed, we have tremendous upward potential. Dow just short of 25,000, a number that few thought would be possible this soon into my administration. Also, unemployment went down to 4.1%. Only getting better!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Big gains for technology and healthcare stocks helped U.S. indexes set records again Wednesday. Some analysts attributed the surge to investor enthusiasm for Trumps $1.5-trillion tax cut. All told, Wall Street analysts estimate the tax package should boost earnings for companies in the Standard & Poors 500 index by roughly 8% this year. Thats much more generous than the average tax cut of 1.6% that middle-class families will receive, according to the Tax Policy Center. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 The public has been less enthusiastic about the tax law. A Monmouth University poll last month found that nearly half of Americans disapproved of it, with only 26% in support. Still, as Trump also noted on Twitter, some workers have seen a benefit: So far, dozens of companies have announced bonuses and higher minimum wages as a result of the tax cut. AT&T, Comcast, Bank of America, and American Airlines have all pledged to pay $1,000 bonuses to their employees. Some 40 U.S. companies have responded to President Trumps tax cut and reform victory in Congress last year by handing out bonuses up to $2,000, increases in 401k matches and spending on charity, a much higher number than previously known. https://t.co/bmWrwWzxMR  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Investors also appear less concerned than many politicians about how the additional profits will be used. The Trump administration says it expects companies will plow much of the extra profit back into their businesses, purchasing more software, machinery, and other equipment. Those investments will make workers more productive and provide a key boost to the economys long-run growth. They should also boost wages and salaries for employees. Opponents of the tax law respond that companies are more likely to pass the windfall on to shareholders in the form of higher dividend payments and share buybacks, which raise the price of those shares still in investors hands. Previous cuts in corporate tax rates, in the United States and overseas, havent always led to higher wages. For Wall Street, its all good, at least in the short run. Most analysts take the view that either way, companies and the economy will benefit. Facebook

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Trump reacts to death of Mormon Church president By Associated Press President Trump mourned the death of Mormon Church leader Thomas S. Monson on Wednesday evening. Trump tweeted a link to a statement in which he said that Monson demonstrated wisdom, inspired leadership, and great compassion and delivered a message of optimism, forgiveness, and faith. Melania and I are deeply saddened by the death of Thomas S. Monson, a beloved President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...https://t.co/ETD3fWtfU3  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 A church bishop at the age of 22, Monson became the youngest church apostle ever in 1963 at the age of 36. He served as a counselor for three church presidents before assuming the role of the top leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February 2008. After a life of church service, Monson died Tuesday at his home in Salt Lake City, according to church spokesman Eric Hawkins. He was 90. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets that Iranian protesters will see great U.S. support at the appropriate time By Associated Press President Trump continued to express support for Irans anti-government protesters on Wednesday. In a tweet, Trump commended the protesters and pledged that the United States will support them at the appropriate time. Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government. You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Trumps tweet Wednesday morning came as Iranian Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo sent a letter to United Nations officials complaining that Washington was intervening in a grotesque way in Irans internal affairs. The President and Vice-President of the United States, in their numerous absurd tweets, incited Iranians to engage in disruptive acts, the ambassador wrote to the U.N. Security Council president and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The U.S. didnt immediately respond to the letter, which maintains that Washington has crossed every limit in flouting rules and principles of international law governing the civilized conduct of international relations. At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds arrested in Iran during a week of anti-government protests and unrest over economic woes and official corruption. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people took part in counter-demonstrations Wednesday backing the clerically overseen government, which has said enemies of Iran are fomenting the protests. Trump has unleashed a series of tweets in recent days backing the protesters, saying Iran is failing at every level and declaring that it is time for change in the Islamic Republic. Facebook

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Trump congratulates Sen. Orrin Hatch upon news of his retirement By Associated Press President Trump congratulated Sen. Orrin Hatch for an absolutely incredible career upon news of Hatchs impending retirement. In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Trump called Hatch a tremendous supporter and wrote that he will be greatly missed in the Senate. Congratulations to Senator Orrin Hatch on an absolutely incredible career. He has been a tremendous supporter, and I will never forget the (beyond kind) statements he has made about me as President. He is my friend and he will be greatly missed in the U.S. Senate! pic.twitter.com/0VjzLEeHTl  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Hatchs decision to retire from the Senate after four decades lets the Utah Republican walk away at the height of his power after helping to push through an overhaul of the tax code and persuading Trump to downsize two national monuments. Retirement also preserves the 83-year-olds legacy by allowing him to avoid a bruising reelection battle that would have broken his promise not to seek an eighth term. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweet exaggerates progress in improving veterans care By Associated Press President Trump played up tremendous progress in improving care for veterans in his first year on Tuesday in a tweet. His message linked to an Instagram video describing eight accomplishments that show Trump is fighting for our veterans. But it overstates the impact of these steps. We will not rest until all of Americas GREAT VETERANS can receive the care they so richly deserve. Tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time. Keep up the great work @SecShulkin @DeptVetAffairs! https://t.co/ir25vW15hx pic.twitter.com/OtuzIgxMn6  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Of the eight achievements cited, two are ceremonial proclamations recognizing National Veterans and Military Families Month and National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Two are pieces of legislation that extended the troubled Veterans Choice program on a temporary basis. This became necessary because the Trump administration repeatedly miscalculated the amount of taxpayer dollars available to pay for care from private doctors outside the Veterans Affairs system when veterans had to endure long waits for treatment at VA medical centers. The departments poor budget planning caught lawmakers off guard. A fifth claim involves telehealth, a step letting doctors practice medicine across state lines using digital technology. Announced in August, it has yet to take full effect because a proposed VA regulation hasnt been completed. The VA wants authority to practice across state lines to come from legislation, not a regulation. On Wednesday, the Senate approved a telehealth measure that now goes to the House. A sixth claim refers to legislation that streamlines the appeals process for disability compensation claims within the VA. This step has had limited effect so far because it applies to new disability claims, not the 470,000 pending claims. The last two initiatives make it easier for the VA to discipline employees. The department has pointed to more than 1,300 employees who have been fired under Trumps watch. Because their infractions are not detailed in public documents, the effect on veterans care is not fully known. Facebook

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Trump unleashes his first tweetstorm of 2018 By Noah Bierman President Trump clearly didnt resolve to change his Twitter habits this year. With nine disparate tweets over three hours on Tuesday morning, the first working day of 2018, Trump continued to exploit social media to be the most aggressive commentator in chief in American history. For any other president, his posts would have made for a monumental day of (mis-)statements. Yet for Trump, the series  attacks on political foes and media, provocations of foreign leaders and self-praise for events he had nothing to do with  was all but unremarkable. His Twitter barrage  sent between 7:09 a.m. and 10:16 a.m.  reflected a familiar gamut after nearly a year in office: Attacks on political foes: Nearly 14 months after his election, Trump called for the jailing of Huma Abedin, Crooked Hillary Clintons top aid (his misspelling, another occasional feature of Trump tweets). Crooked Hillary Clintons top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 In the same tweet, he disparaged the Deep State Justice Dept, headed of course by his appointees, calling on it to act against James B. Comey, the FBI director he fired for investigating the Russia thing. Diplomatic provocations: Trump again called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Rocket man, ridiculed the volatile nuclear-armed foe for recent military defections and openly speculated about potential talks between North and South Korea. Sanctions and other pressures are beginning to have a big impact on North Korea. Soldiers are dangerously fleeing to South Korea. Rocket man now wants to talk to South Korea for first time. Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not - we will see!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not  we will see! Trump wrote. Later Tuesday, Trump tweeted: North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Also later Tuesday, Trump tweeted an attack on Pakistan, his second in as many days, and added a new one against Palestinians: It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They dont even want to negotiate a long overdue...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 ...peace treaty with Israel. We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Undermining media: Trump offered Congratulations! to A.G. Sulzberger, who took over as publisher of the New York Times this week. The Failing New York Times has a new publisher, A.G. Sulzberger. Congratulations! Here is a last chance for the Times to fulfill the vision of its Founder, Adolph Ochs, to give the news impartially, without fear or FAVOR, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved. Get...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 ....impartial journalists of a much higher standard, lose all of your phony and non-existent sources, and treat the President of the United States FAIRLY, so that the next time I (and the people) win, you wont have to write an apology to your readers for a job poorly done! GL  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 But the two-part post was really yet another slam against a perceived media foe: Trump said the paper had a last chance to fulfill its journalistic mission, and accused it of relying on phony sources and substandard reporters  just days after he granted another exclusive interview to the paper. As a bonus, the tweet contained a recycled falsehood, that the paper apologized after the election for reporting on him unfairly. It didnt. Trump later said on Twitter that he would soon announce the most dishonest & corrupt media awards of the year. Stay tuned! I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 oclock. Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 The president also tweeted a quote from Fox Business Networks Lou Dobbs Tonight, which aired a segment praising Trumps first-year accomplishments. Dobbs reportedly joined Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday for a gala to celebrate New Years Eve. President Trump has something now he didnt have a year ago, that is a set of accomplishments that nobody can deny. The accomplishments are there, look at his record, he has had a very significant first year. @LouDobbs Show,David Asman & Ed Rollins  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Taking credit: Trump congratulated himself for policing the border with Mexico, an area where his policies and anti-immigration rhetoric are believed to have had some effect on reducing illegal crossings. Thank you to Brandon Judd of the National Border Patrol Council for your kind words on how well we are doing at the Border. We will be bringing in more & more of your great folks and will build the desperately needed WALL! @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 He took credit for employee bonuses by companies after he signed Republican tax cuts into law last month. Companies are giving big bonuses to their workers because of the Tax Cut Bill. Really great!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 But the jaw-dropper was Trump congratulating himself for planes not crashing. Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 It was the safest year on record worldwide, but the American streak without commercial jet passenger deaths goes back to 2009. Trump, who has promoted deregulation as one of his top accomplishments, has not signed off on any new airline safety regulations. The White House pointed to new security screening of passengers, to electronic devices to prevent terrorist attacks and to Trumps support for privatizing air traffic control  a proposal that has gotten nowhere in Congress. Falsehoods: Trump said President Obama, in brokering the 2015 nuclear arms limitation deal with Iran, foolishly gave money to the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. He didnt. The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 The nuclear deal, which included major U.S. allies as signators, released Irans own funds that had long been frozen. Trumps art of the deal: When Trump sees a big deal looming, he often blasts the other side  to gain leverage, as hes written. This week he resumes a showdown with Democratic lawmakers over funding the government and immigration protections for so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the country illegally as children. Democrats are doing nothing for DACA - just interested in politics. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start falling in love with Republicans and their President! We are about RESULTS.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Trump, who in September ordered a gradual end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, sought to shift blame for the resulting controversy, saying Democrats are doing nothing for DACA and are just interested in politics. Trump has insisted that any help for Dreamers be paired with funding for a border wall and a crackdown on legal immigration. Democrats, and some Republicans, are opposed. Read More Facebook

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In tweet, Trump suggests U.S. will withdraw financial assistance to Pakistan By Shashank Bengali Pakistan lashed out Monday after President Trump accused its leaders of lies & deceit and suggested the United States would withdraw financial assistance to the nuclear-armed nation it once saw as a key ally against terrorism. It was the presidents latest broadside against Pakistan after a speech in August in which he demanded its leaders crack down on the safe havens enjoyed by Taliban militants fighting U.S.-backed forces in neighboring Afghanistan. The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018 U.S. Ambassador David Hale was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to discuss the presidents statement, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said. Pakistan lodged a strongly worded protest and asked for clarification about Trumps comments, according to two foreign office officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Pakistans prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, called a Cabinet meeting for Tuesday and a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday to discuss Trumps New Years Day tweet. Read More Facebook

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Trump continues to tweet in support of Iranian protesters By Laura King President Trump expressed renewed support Sunday for protesters in Iran, declaring that people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. In a tweet from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, the president said the nationwide economic protests that began on Thursday  and have taken on wider political overtones as they have grown in size  were a signal that Iranians will not take it any longer. Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Trump has tweeted about the protests for three days straight as Iranians took to the streets despite a heavy police presence, tear gas and scores of arrests. The defiance gained urgency after two people were reported shot to death in the city of Dorud, about 200 miles southwest of Tehran. As the conflict escalated, Iranian authorities on Sunday slapped a temporary ban on Instagram and the messaging app Telegram, which were widely used to fan protest fervor. Iran, the Number One State of Sponsored Terror with numerous violations of Human Rights occurring on an hourly basis, has now closed down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot communicate. Not good!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Irans leaders already are casting Trumps increasingly effusive expressions of support for the demonstrators as opportunistic meddling and are painting the demonstrators as foreign pawns, adopting a strategy that some analysts say could jeopardize the legitimacy of the nascent antigovernment protests. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets condolences after Colorado deputies are shot in ambush, one fatally By Associated Press A man fired more than 100 rounds at sheriffs deputies in Colorado early Sunday, killing one and injuring four others, before being fatally shot himself in what authorities called an ambush. Two civilians were also injured. President Trump expressed sorrow, writing on Twitter: My deepest condolences to the victims of the terrible shooting in Douglas County @DCSheriff, and their families. We love our police and law enforcement - God Bless them all! #LESM  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost
Trumps latest tweet in media war is a literal show of mock pugilism By Laura King President Trump on Sunday circulated a doctored video clip on Twitter that showed him physically attacking a crudely rendered stand-in for CNN, a post that drew rebukes from critics as an incitement to violence, but prompted renewed expressions of support from backers. In doing so, Trump also ignored pleas to stop tweeting or at least take a more presidential tone -- from lawmakers in his own party -- after he took his war against news media to new heights last week with a coarse post on the appearance and intellect of cable television host Mika Brzezinski. On Saturday he also posted several anti-media messages as Americans began their Fourth of July celebration. Sundays tweet, which used an edited version of a years-old promotional video for professional wrestling, showed Trump, clad in a business suit and tie, administering a choreographed beat-down to a figure whose face was obscured by CNNs logo. #FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017 CNN, which has been a particular target of the president since the network was forced to retract a story relating to an element of the sprawling investigation into possible collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign, quickly condemned the tweet. It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters, the network said in statement. It also tweeted a recent assertion by White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders that Trump had never engaged in such incitement. "The President in no way form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence. If anything, quite the contrary." - @SHSanders45 6/29/17  CNN Communications (@CNNPR) July 2, 2017 As is often the case, the presidents surrogates were left scrambling to explain or justify an inflammatory Twitter outburst. Homeland security advisor Thomas Bossert, who was shown the clip while appearing on ABCs This Week, watched it stone-faced and then declared: No one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they dont. The night before, Trump had used a celebration of veterans at Washingtons Kennedy Center to again denounce the news media. The president, who had briefly broken a weekend golf getaway to appear at the rally, pounded away at the theme that he is being treated unfairly. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, he told the raucous crowd. But Im president, and theyre not. Facebook

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Increasing number of states reject request for personal information on voters from Trump commission By Colleen Shalby (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) A growing number of states have rejected a request for personal information about voters from a presidential commission on vote fraud led by Kansas controversial Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kobach, the vice chairman of the commission, sent letters to each state and Washington, D.C., asking for voters personal information. The request asked for names, addresses, voting history and the last four digits of voters Social Security numbers. The commission was set up to look into voter fraud after President Trump alleged that he lost the popular vote in 2016 only because millions of people voted illegally -- a claim that numerous states election officials from both parties and outside experts have dismissed as groundless. As of Friday afternoon, at least 13 states had outright rejected the request from the Presidential Advisory Committee on Election Integrity. Officials in several other states either said they would not supply all the information or needed more information before making a decision. Some officials did not mince words in their nos. They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great State to launch from, Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann wrote in a statement. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement that strongly criticized Kobach that he would continue to defend the rights of all eligible voters to cast their ballots free from discrimination, intimidation or unnecessary roadblocks. Secretary Padilla's response to the Election Commission's request for personal data of CA voters: pic.twitter.com/UdUt55HSim  CA SOS Vote (@CASOSvote) June 29, 2017 As a Kansas official, Kobach has been a leading backer of immigration restrictions and of measures to put new requirements on who is allowed to vote. His opponents note that he was fined last week for misleading a federal court in a voting rights case. Democratic elected officials in several states criticized the commission, itself, not just the information request. The president created his election commission based on the false notion that voter fraud is a widespread issue  it is not, Kentucky Secretary of State Allison Grimes wrote. "I do not intend to release Kentuckians' sensitive personal data to the fed. gov't."  Sec. Grimes



Statement on Pres. Commission request: pic.twitter.com/9Js05x99eF  Alison L. Grimes (@KySecofState) June 30, 2017 In an odd contradiction, Kobach said that Kansas, like some other states, will partially reject at least one aspect of the request. In Kansas, the Social Security number is not publicly available.  Every state receives the same letter, but were not asking for it if its not publicly available, he told the Kansas City Star. The states that have fully rejected the request include California, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Dakota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi and Minnesota. Others, including Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Missouri, Kansas, Utah and Texas will turn over some of the requested information. Vermont has requested an affidavit from the commission. And Wisconsin has suggested that the commission could purchase the publicly available information, just as political campaigns do. Officials in Washington state said they were reviewing the request. Facebook

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Look at possible conflicts of interest in Trump teams OneWest Bank probes, 2 Democrats urge By Jim Puzzanghera Protesters gather outside a OneWest Bank in Pasadena in 2014. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times) Two House Democrats want Congress to look into possible conflicts of interest in the Trump administrations handling of investigations into Pasadenas OneWest Bank  a bank formerly headed by now-Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Al Green (D-Texas) said Friday that there was room for considerable doubt as to the impartiality and the adequacy of this administrations investigations into OneWest and a subsidiary, Financial Freedom. Mnuchin was the banks chairman from 2009 to 2015. President Trump has nominated Joseph Otting, the former chief executive of OneWest, to be comptroller of the currency, a key bank regulator who is part of the Treasury Department. And Brian Brooks, who was OneWests vice chairman, reportedly will be tapped to be deputy Treasury secretary. Read More Facebook

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Healthcare issue delivers nothing but pain for Nevadas embattled Sen. Dean Heller By David Montero Dean Heller is Stephanie Diaz-Gonzalezs problem now. Shes never met Nevadas Republican senator and hadnt had much time to familiarize herself. How could she? The 25-year-old is holding down a full-time job and ra+ising a 7-year-old son, who keeps her busy with soccer games, math homework and those too-often terrifying moments when he cant breathe. When President Trump was elected and congressional Republicans moved on their top priority to dismantle Obamacare, Diaz-Gonzalez got to know Heller a whole lot better. Given his back-and-forth on the issue, she came to distrust him. I dont know if I could vote for him or support him, the Democrat said. He seems very contradictory. Which is why Heller is also Karen Steelmons problem. Steelmon, a 48-year-old Republican who grew up in northern Nevada, isnt happy with the lawmaker, who is considered the most vulnerable GOP senator in the country when he comes up for reelection next year. Obamacare has always been an abomination to Steelmon, an ardent supporter of repeal. To her, deeply held principles are at stake. Heller has never acted in favor of what I would consider conservative, constitutional principles as a general rule, said Steelmon, who would like to see the incumbent taken out in a GOP primary. And on the very few times he has, its always come as a surprise. This is Hellers dilemma. Read More Facebook

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Trump will meet face-to-face with Putin in Germany next week By Brian Bennett (Alexei Nikolsky / Associated Press) President Trump has governed five months under a cloud of questions about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, yet the two men will meet next week for the first time, on the sidelines of the G20 summit of world leaders in Hamburg, Germany. White House officials on Thursday confirmed plans for the private meeting but said no decisions had been made about the topics Trump will raise. So its unclear whether the men will discuss Russias election-year cyberattacks that are the focus of criminal and congressional investigations. Our relationship with Russia is not different from any other country in terms of us communicating with them, really, what our concerns are, where we see problems in the relationship but also opportunities, said Trumps national security advisor, H.R. McMaster. McMaster said he expected the two men to have a broad, wide-ranging discussion about problems in the relationship but also about where the U.S. and Russia have common interests. Theres no specific agenda, McMaster said. Its really going to be whatever the president wants to talk about, he added. The White House has refused to say whether Trump would sign legislation with new sanctions on Russia for meddling in the elections by hacking, including into some states voting systems, and by spreading false news stories. But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated the existing restrictions against Russia were sufficient. Weve got plenty of those as well, Mnuchin said. Trump will also meet with the leaders of China, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore and other countries during the summit of 20 major world economies. Trumps director of the White House National Economic Council, Gary Cohn, said the meeting would fall short of a typical bilateral discussion between the American president and the head of another country, but would be more than whats known in diplomacy-speak as a pull aside  a quick, informal get-together on the edge of a conference. Trumps scheduled meeting with Putin in Hamburg places added significance on his stop in Poland next Wednesday. In Warsaw, McMaster said, Trump intends to bolster U.S. relationships with Poland and other central European and Baltic states that were once in Moscows orbit under the Soviet Union, but now rely on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the U.S. to counter pressure from Russia. Trumps meetings there seem designed to strengthen his hand with Putin. McMaster called Poland a front-line NATO nation with regards to the eastern flank, noting that it sent troops to fight alongside the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq and has exceeded its pledge on NATO defense spending. As a candidate and president, Trump has criticized other NATO countries that have not yet met those pledges for military spending equal to at least 2% of the size of their respective economies. Facebook

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Travel ban seen a win by at least one conservative; Breitbart focuses on upcoming votes in Congress By Kurtis Lee After it stalled for several months in federal courts, a portion of President Trumps travel ban is set to take effect Thursday evening and will bar individuals from six majority-Muslim countries. Some in conservative media are viewing it as a much-needed political victory for Trump. Here are some of Thursdays headlines: Two wins for Trump (Washington Times) Trump has seen setbacks in his fledgling administration  probes into possible collusion with Russia, infighting among his party over a healthcare overhaul, federal courts halting his travel ban. But now, the president gets a W. The Supreme Courts decision to allow portions of President Trumps travel ban to proceed is a much-needed victory for the administration, Cal Thompson writes. In doing so the unanimous court affirmed  at least temporarily, pending a full hearing on the case in the fall  a presidents constitutional authority to determine whether people seeking admittance to the U.S. pose a threat to our safety and security. Thompson also highlights the Supreme Court decision this week that churches have the same right as other charitable groups to seek state money for new playground surfaces and other non-religious needs. Thompson called the ruling in the case, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia Inc. v. Comer, a victory for religious institutions and Trump, who at times has touched on the issue of religious freedom. Breitbart prods GOP leaders to pass pro-American immigration reforms (Breitbart) For Trump, Breitbart hasnt always delivered the most approving headlines for his administration  particularly on immigration. Some right-wing bloggers and pundits dont think Trump has done enough on immigration, a key pillar of his campaign platform. This piece turns the attention to members of Congress, where two bills  focused primarily on detaining people in the country illegally  could come up for a vote . The GOP-run House is expected to vote for two modest immigration-reform bills as soon as this week, but pro-American reformers are using the two votes to build loud and energetic public pressure for major reform legislation, notes the right-wing website. Trump attacks Psycho Joe Scarborough, Crazy Mika Brzezinski in Twitter tear (Fox News) At first, they were friends; now, perhaps, enemies?

Trump used Twitter early Thursday to jab Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, who the president in past has said he admires. The tweets have drawn the ire of Republicans. Heres what the president wrote: I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017 ...to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017 And the response? pic.twitter.com/8YhzcCUwM1  Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) June 29, 2017 Facebook

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Trump plans to nominate Brendan Carr to fill final FCC seat and provide crucial vote on net neutrality rules By Jim Puzzanghera President Trump intends to nominate Brendan Carr, a former aide to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, to fill the final open seat at the agency and provide a crucial vote on the future of tough net neutrality rules. Carr, the FCCs general counsel, would fill a Republican slot on the commission and would be expected to support Pais push to roll back the regulations for online traffic. Carrs intended nomination was announced by the White House on Wednesday night. It comes after Trump nominated Jessica Rosenworcel, a former FCC commissioner, on June 14 to fill a Democratic seat. If the Senate confirms both nominees, as expected, the FCC would have its full complement of five commissioners and a 3-2 Republican majority. Read More Facebook

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Gorsuch is already pushing Supreme Court to the right on religion, guns and gays By David Savage Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) When Judge Neil M. Gorsuch went before the Senate in March as President Trumps first nominee to the Supreme Court, he sought to assure senators he would be independent and above the political fray. There is no such thing as a Republican judge or Democratic judge, he said more than once. We just have judges. But in just his first few weeks on the high court, Justice Gorsuch has shown himself to be a confident conservative activist, urging his colleagues to move the law to the right on religion, gun rights, gay rights and campaign funding. He dissented along with Justice Clarence Thomas when the court rejected a gun-rights challenge to Californias law that strictly regulates who may carry a concealed weapon. The 2nd Amendments core purpose, they said, shows the right to bear arms extends to public carry. He wrote a dissent, joined by Thomas and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., when the court struck down part of an Arkansas law that gave opposite sex-couples, but not same-sex couples, the right to have both spouses listed on a childs birth certificate. The court said it had already decided that same-sex couples deserve fully equal rights under state law. And when Trumps travel ban came before the court this week, Gorsuch dissented from the majoritys middle-ground approach, which allowed the ban to take effect except for foreign travelers who had a relationship with this country, such as a close relative or a student enrolled in a university. Read More Facebook

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When he meets South Koreas president, Trump will be asking for trade concessions and help confronting North Korea By Brian Bennett (Nicholas Kamm / AFP Photo) President Trump plans to pressure South Korean President Moon Jae-in to make trade concessions when they meet Friday, while at the same time seeking closer cooperation against North Koreas accelerating nuclear program. Both aims, outlined Wednesday by a senior administration official, could make for some difficult discussions, especially since the newly elected Moon campaigned for a softer approach to the government in Pyongyang. Moon, who arrived Wednesday in Washington, began his four-day visit by laying a wreath at a memorial at Marine Corps Base Quantico in northern Virginia to the U.S. Marines who died during the Korean War in the battle at Chosin Reservoir. Trump will host Moon and his wife, Kim Joon-suk, for dinner at the White House on Thursday before the two leaders meet one-on-one in the Oval Office on Friday morning. Having criticized the two countries trade agreement when he was running for president, Trump will argue for a more balanced trade relationship, the administration official said in a background briefing. In particular, Trump will cite the large amount of Chinese steel that is sometimes processed in South Korea before being sold cheaply in the U.S. market. The two leaders will have a friendly, frank discussion about the trade imbalance between South Korea and the United States, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Seouls trade surplus is shrinking, the official added, but there is still a large gap. The visit will mark the first time the two leaders have met since the liberal Moon took office last month after the ouster of President Park Geun-hye, a scandal-tarred conservative who had taken a hard line against North Korea. Trump and Moon share precisely the same goal, the Trump aide said -- the complete dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear program. But the approach of the two leaders is starkly different. Trump has called for maximum pressure against North Korea, seeking additional economic sanctions and demanding that China, North Koreas main ally and patron, do more to shut off assistance to Pyongyang. Moon has risen through the ranks of his countrys politics advocating for closer ties between the Koreas, which technically are still at war. Already he has taken steps to delay the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD, an anti-missile system intended to counter any North Korean strikes. The anti-missile system is a divisive issue in South Korea; it prompted protests last weekend at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. China has objected to installation of the powerful radar defense as well, but the White House believes the U.S. system will ultimately be fully operative. The delay should not be equated as a reversal of the decision to deploy THAAD, the official said, and suggested that the topic would not be central to the two presidents discussions. As important as anything [will be] building a rapport and getting to know each other, the official said. Facebook

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Senate Republicans aim for new healthcare bill by Friday, but skeptics remain By Lisa Mascaro (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) Senate Republicans reconvened behind closed doors Wednesday trying to break the impasse on their healthcare overhaul but emerged with no apparent strategy for resolving differences by an end-of-week deadline. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vowed to try again for a vote after the Fourth of July recess, despite having abruptly delayed action this week. Senators were aiming for a revised bill by Friday, the Republican whip, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, told reporters, so it could be assessed by the Congressional Budget Office during the break. But senators remained skeptical after the lengthy lunchtime huddle that appeared to run long on ideas but short on consensus. I think its going to be very difficult, said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). McConnell surprised senators by delaying this weeks expected votes once it became clear he did not have a majority for passage  or possibly to even open the debate. As many as 10 Republican senators now publicly oppose the bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, and leaders are scrambling to win them over with an estimated $200 billion in savings from the bill that can be applied to their particular states needs. But even with that fund of resources, it is not clear McConnell will be able to satisfactorily improve the legislation, which now threatens to cut 22 million Americans off health insurance. He can only afford to lose two Republican votes in the face of Democratic opposition. Its going to be very difficult to get me to a yes... have to make us an offer we cant refuse, Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said on a telephone town hall late Tuesday, according to journalist Jon Ralston, who monitored the call. Fresh polling Wednesday showed paltry support for the Republican approach to overhauling the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which has enjoyed a surge in popularity now that Republicans are closer than ever to repealing it. A USA Today poll put approval of the Senate GOP bill at 12%. Republicans, though, are under enormous pressure from their most conservative supporters  and big dollar donors, including the powerful Koch network  to deliver on their promised to end Obamacare. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, suggested that President Trump convene all 100 senators  much the way then-President Obama did during his first days in office for a session at Blair House  to see how they might be able to work together to improve, rather than repeal, the Affordable Care Act. Id make my friends on the Republican side and President Trump an offer: Lets turn over a new leaf. Lets start over, said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). President Trump, I challenge you to invite us  all 100 of us, Republican and Democrat  to Blair House to discuss a new bipartisan way forward on healthcare in front of all the American people. No such invitation, however, seemed forthcoming. Trump dismissed Schumers proposal  he just doesnt seem like a serious person, the president said  and instead promised his own big surprise on healthcare. Healthcare is working along very well, Trump told reporters at the White House. We could have a big surprise, with a great healthcare package. Asked what he meant by a big surprise, Trump simply repeated: A great, great surprise. The Republican bill, like its counterpart passed by House Republicans, does not fully gut Obamacare, but rescinds the new taxes imposed on high-income individuals and healthcare companies to pay for expanding coverage through Medicaid and subsidies for private insurance on the ACA marketplace. Senators said the private talks Wednesday focused mainly on changes to the Obamacare marketplace that could bring down the cost of insurance premiums. One idea from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to allow insurers to offer policies that do not meet the Obamacare benchmarks for what insurance needs to cover met with mixed reaction, senators said. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, warned that such changes would alter the risk pool, keeping insurance costs high. You end up with policies that, for example, dont cover maternity, Cassidy said. Do you want a policy that doesnt have maternity, which would be principally appealing to young men, when obviously typically men have had a role in that pregnancy? Other senators were floating new ideas, but McConnell gave no indication whether those proposals would be included in the final revised product. Michael A. Memoli contributed to this report. Facebook

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No new laptop bans, but air travelers to the U.S. will face tighter screening all over the globe By Joseph Tanfani Homeland Security officials said Wednesday they will order stricter passenger screening and other new security measures for all flights entering the United States but will not bar laptop computers in carry-on luggage as airlines and passenger groups had feared. The new order will cover about 2,000 flights a day from 280 airports in 105 countries, a move that could make international flying even more onerous just as the busy summer travel season starts. Security officials would not detail the new measures but said passengers headed to the United States will face more intensive screening at airports, and probably more security dogs. They gave no date for when the new procedures will start. If carriers dont implement the measures effectively, Homeland Security still may ban laptops, e-readers and other electronic devices larger than cell phones from cargo holds as well as passenger cabins. The decision follows intelligence, reportedly gathered from Islamic State in Syria by Israeli spy services, suggesting a lethal new threat from bombs that could be concealed in digital devices and that could evade detection by airport screening devices. In March, U.S. and British authorities banned laptops in cabins on flights from eight Muslim-majority countries in North Africa and the Middle East, saying terrorists were seeking innovative methods to bring down commercial jetliners. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly told a security conference in Washington on Wednesday that the new security measures will be both seen and unseen and will be phased in over time. He said they will include tougher screening, particularly of electronic devices, plus new technology and procedures to protect planes from so--called insider attacks by airline employees. It is time that we raise the global baseline of aviation security, Kelly said. We cannot play international whack-a-mole with every new threat. He said terrorists still see commercial aircraft as the crown jewel target for attacks, and that intelligence has shown renewed interest by terrorists to attack airlines. Kelly told a House committee several weeks ago that the department was considering extending the laptop ban to 71 more airports overseas. But Kelly ultimately decided to tighten screening across the board, instead of focusing on laptops or chasing after each item that might be used to bring down a jetliner, senior Homeland Security officials said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters, said Kelly worked with airlines to find ways to improve screening without unduly inconveniencing passengers. Intensive doesnt always mean slower, said one official. In some cases, airlines have been doing these things at international airports for some time. The officials said more security dogs, which sniff for explosives, may be used. And they said airlines and airports may institute pre-check programs like those approved by the Transportation Security Administration for use in U.S. airports. The officials said restrictions on the first 10 airports will be lifted once airlines in those countries satisfy the new security protocols, officials said. Airport authorities in the eight countries affected by that ban  Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates  have been told about the new security measures and will put them in place so the ban is lifted, the officials said. In recent weeks, Kelly and his aides have huddled with their counterparts overseas, as well as with representatives of major airlines, to discuss whether to expand the ban around the globe. Airlines protested that a laptop ban would inconvenience passengers and not remove the threat. Aviation experts and European security officials warned that putting laptops in cargo holds would pose other dangers because the lithium batteries could start fires. In 1988, a bomb hidden in a radio cassette player exploded aboard a Pan Am jet flying over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 passengers and crew. The plot was blamed on then-Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi. In 2010, powerful bombs hidden in printer ink cartridges were found aboard two cargo jets headed from Yemen to Chicago. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula later claimed responsibility for the plot. Facebook

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Its crunch time for McConnell after Senate GOP is forced to delay vote on healthcare bill By Lisa Mascaro ( (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)) The abrupt decision Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to temporarily shelve a vote on the Republican Obamacare overhaul gives him a few extra weeks to build support for a revised bill before it risks becoming hopelessly stalled by the opposition. The seasoned GOP leader will be aided by what amounts to a $200-billion piggy bank to push Republican holdouts into line. Thats the bills extra cost savings, compared with the House version, that McConnell can tap to provide perks to individual senators, from more opioid assistance to expanded tax-free health savings accounts. A similar strategy  delay and enticements  worked well in the House, where Republicans last month passed their healthcare bill on the third try. But prolonging the debate also gives Democrats and other critics time to mobilize, and ensures that senators will be exposed to an onslaught of opposition as they head home for the weeklong holiday break to defend a bill that has estimated would leave tens of millions of Americans without insurance. After the delay was announced, President Trump hosted a White House gathering of all GOP senators. But rather than rally them around the bill with the power of the presidential bully pulpit, he struck a surprisingly detached tone. This will be great if we get it done, Trump told senators in the East Room. And if we dont get it done, its just going to be something that were not going to like. And thats OK. Read More Facebook

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As vote looms, concerns over Medicaid cuts rise from some in conservative media By Kurtis Lee Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press ) The vote  for now  is delayed. As President Trump has urged Senate Republicans to pass a bill that would overhaul the Affordable Care Act, some, including Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada and Rob Portman of Ohio, have expressed concerns over cuts to Medicaid. Both represent states that, under Obamacare, expanded Medicaid coverage to low-income adults. The current Senate healthcare bill would deliver deep cuts to Medicaid, leaving millions uninsured. While Trump awaits a vote in the coming weeks  originally scheduled for this week, but pushed back until after the July 4 recess  its on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to gather enough support from within his GOP caucus to secure the bills passage. Some in the conservative media are questioning the current bill. Here is an overview of todays headlines on this and other issues: Republicans have a Medicaid problem (Weekly Standard) The Republican healthcare bill would cut Medicaid spending by $772 billion over the next decade. Chris Deaton writes that Republicans aim to offset the consequences of these Medicaid changes by offering tax credits for private insurance to people under the poverty line. In this piece, Deaton raises the question of whether low-income earners would be better off with Medicaid coverage or obtaining insurance through a GOP tax credit? He answers by noting, Its long been a contention of conservative thinkers that healthcare outcomes improve with private insurance rather than Medicaid. Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chairman, registers as foreign agent (Associated Press) Hes among those facing scrutiny in an FBI investigation into Russian meddling in last years election. Now, Paul Manafort, who at one time served as Trumps campaign chairman, has registered with the Department of Justice as a foreign agent. In a filing with the department, Manafort notes that his consulting firm received nearly $17 million between 2012 and 2014 from a Ukrainian political party with links to Russia, according to the Associated Press. Last spring, former national security advisor Michael T. Flynn, who resigned from his position in February after misleading administration officials about contacts with Russians, also registered as a foreign agent, for consulting work he did for a Turkish businessman. A Democratic road to recovery (American Spectator) The party is attempting a reboot. After Hillary Clintons 2016 loss and defeats in several special elections this year, Democrats are in search of a new face for the party. Even so, liberals are in lock-step in their opposition to Trump. This piece offers Democrats some advice  from the right  on how to recover. Leftists: You have been lied to and taken advantage of. When you eventually come out of this haze you are in, you will realize that it was done not by the president, but by the snake oil salesmen and charlatans, who took advantage of your sickness and weakness, simply for money and power, writes Judah Friedman. Ask yourselves this: What is the Democratic Party, right now, without this rage, and hate, with which it is fueling your addictions? The answer is nothing. Facebook

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Sarah Palin sues the New York Times for tying her PAC ad to mass shooting By Associated Press Former vice presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is accusing the New York Times of defamation over an editorial that linked one of her political action committee ads to the mass shooting that severely wounded then-Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court Tuesday, Palins lawyers say the Times violated the law and its own policies when it accused her of inciting the 2011 attack that killed six people. The lawsuit refers to a June editorial in the Times on the recent shooting of Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise. The editorial later was corrected. Palin is seeking damages to be determined by a jury. A spokeswoman for the Times, Danielle Rhoades Ha, says the company hasnt seen the lawsuit but will defend against any claim vigorously. Facebook

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Trump succeeds where Obama failed  spawning a new wave of liberal activism By Mark Z. Barabak Amanda Litman and Ross Morales Rocketto launched the Democratic activist group Run For Something, which encourages people under 35 to seek elected office. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) The night Hillary Clinton lost the White House, Amanda Litman cried so hard she threw up. In Atlanta, as the returns rolled in, Traci Feit Love faced a question from her anguished 8-year-old daughter: Now what do we do? Across the country, in the heart of Silicon Valley, Rita Bosworth wondered the same thing. The three never met, never spoke, never communicated in any fashion. But in the days and weeks that followed, they became common threads in a sprawling patchwork: the angry and politically aggrieved who  with no help from politicians, political parties or any formal campaign structure  have joined to fight President Trump and his policies. Read More Facebook

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Trump on healthcare bill: If we dont get it done ... thats OK By Associated Press (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump said that if the healthcare bill fails to pass in the Senate, he wont like it  but thats OK. Trump spoke Tuesday at a gathering of Senate Republicans after their leaders delayed a vote on their healthcare bill until at least next month. Trump said, This will be great if we get it done and if we dont get it done its going to be something that were not going to like and thats OK and I can understand that. He added, I think we have a chance to do something very, very important for the public, very, very important for the people of our country. Facebook

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Watch live: Press briefing with Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and Energy Secretary Rick Perry Facebook

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Senate GOP leaders abruptly delay vote on healthcare bill until after July 4th recess By Lisa Mascaro Facing resistance from their own party, Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday they would postpone a vote on their healthcare bill until after the July 4th recess. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to provide more time to make changes to the bill to try to convince reluctant GOP senators to vote for the measure. Were going to press on,' McConnell said, adding he remains optimistic. Were continuing to talk. Since the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the bill would leave 22 million more Americans without insurance after 10 years, several Republicans senators had said they would not even support allowing the bill to be brought to the Senate floor for a vote. Meanwhile, President Trump invited all GOP senators to the White House for a meeting Tuesday afternoon. But Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate who has expressed serious doubts about the bill, questioned whether revisions would make a difference. I have so many fundamental problems with the bill, that have been confirmed by the CBO report, that its difficult to see how any tinkering is going to satisfy my fundamental and deep concerns about the bill,' Collins said on CNN. McConnell is struggling to appease two factions in his party. Centrists like Collins want to lessen the impact of proposed cuts to Medicaid, while conservatives want to go further in repealing benefits provided under Obamacare. Senate leaders hope to continue talks this week, with an eye toward moving quickly when Congress returns after the holiday. McConnell plans to wait for the CBO to review any changes and reissue a score. He can only afford to lose two Republicans given the partys 52-seat majority in the Senate. Theres more work that needs to be done, its pretty obvious, said Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho as he was leaving a Senate lunch with Vice President Mike Pence. Pence ignored reporters questions about the decision. If more work needs to be done, you shouldnt try to light the fire. But the delay in a vote will give Democrats and other opponents of the repeal bill more time to mobilize, particularly as Republicans return to their home districts during the holiday. We know the fight is not over,' said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York. Facebook

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Trump administration warns of Syrian chemical attack, but with damaged credibility By Noah Bierman The Trump administration Monday night sent the kind of dire warning -- of the Syrian regimes apparent preparation for another chemical weapons attack, and a threat of U.S. retaliation -- that requires credibility to have a receptive national and foreign audience. Yet the initial bafflement about the warning among U.S. defense officials, and the simultaneous distraction of President Trumps unrelated tweets, seemed to undercut the seriousness of the moment. More broadly, the episode is testing the damage Trump has done to his and his administrations trustworthiness by his assaults on the intelligence community as well as other perceived enemies. Trump has spent months attacking the credibility of the intelligence community, at one point comparing their tactics to Nazis and repeatedly calling its findings of Russian meddling in the election a hoax and witch hunt, even as foreign policy experts cautioned that he was diminishing the reputation of a community he would need in times of crisis to rally public support. At a moment of crisis when U.S. decisions and actions rest upon information coming from the intelligence community, [Trump] may have diminished the credibility of that information in the eyes of the public and the eyes of the international community, said Daryl G. Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Assn. Kimball called the White House statement unusual and said such messages would normally be sent through private diplomatic channels. He added that the public allegation should be followed by a formal presentation of the evidence to the United Nations Security Council, to build international support against suspected Syrian violations of the chemical weapons ban. The four-line statement on Syria from the White House Press Secretary came just after 9:44 p.m. EDT Monday. The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children, the statement read. The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack. If Syrian President Bashar Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price, it concluded, citing a U.S. missile strike after the previous chemical attack to reinforce the new threat. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed Tuesday that preparations for a chemical attack were observed at the same base in Syria from which its military launched a sarin nerve gas attack that killed 86 people, including children, in April. We have observed activities at Shayrat Air Base that suggest possible intent by the Syrian regime to use chemical weapons again, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian J.T. Rankine-Galloway said in a statement. These activities are similar to what we observed prior to the regime chemical weapons attack against Khan Sheikhoun in April. But some senior U.S. defense and intelligence officials reached late Monday and early Tuesday were caught off guard by the White House statement. Some knew, some didnt, said a U.S. official who sought anonymity to discuss the intelligence matter. The official described the release of the nighttime statement as ungraceful, but said the assessment that Syria was preparing for an attack is sound. Such official statements are typically distributed widely across an administration for internal vetting before theyre publicly released. The White House said the relevant agencies were informed before the statement was published. Yet Trump lent further confusion about the urgency of the matter and his own level of concern by sending out a tweet about domestic politics only minutes later. He cited a Fox news report about the FBIs Russia investigation, writing as he often does about the probe, Witch Hunt! From @FoxNews "Bombshell: In 2016, Obama dismissed idea that anyone could rig an American election." Check out his statement - Witch Hunt!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017 Indeed, Trump continued through the next morning to demonstrate his frustration with the Russia investigation and what he calls the American medias fake news with posts on his Twitter feed. Many tweets quoted supportive conservative commentators and Fox News reports. Trump was eager to go after CNN, one of his top media targets, after it retracted a Russia-related story and three journalists involved resigned. So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017 Trumps willingness to mix politics and his administrations ominous red line to Syria opened him up to criticism that he was trying to divert attention from other unfavorable news Monday. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had found that the Republican plan to replace Obamacare would strip 22 million people of health insurance coverage over the next decade. The Syria statement also prompted a sharp backlash from the Kremlin, which is Assads military ally in his nations civil war. Russian officials denied there is evidence of an imminent chemical attack and called the White House threat unacceptable. The tensions have heightened as Trump is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin next week at the G20 Summit of industrialized nations in Germany. Mondays statement may be seen as a warning not just to Syria but to Russia, which is widely seen as enabling Assads harsh tactics by bolstering his military as he has tried to retain power. Facebook

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Kremlin calls White House warning to Syria unacceptable, denies any Assad chemical attack in the works By Sabra Ayres The Kremlin is calling unacceptable a White House warning to Syrias government that it would pay a heavy price if it carries out another poison gas attack against its own people. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, also declared Tuesday that there is no indication that a chemical weapons strike is in the works. The White House said late Monday night that activity had been detected similar to that preceding a nerve gas attack on April 4 that killed dozens of civilians, including children, in rebel-held Idlib province. President Trump responded by launching nearly 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian military airfield that U.S. officials said was used for the chemical attack. It was the first U.S. attack on Syrian forces in the six-year civil war. Russia continues to deny that Assads forces carried out the April 4 gas attack and Peskov criticized the White House for saying there were signs of preparation for another such strike. Peskov said the Kremlin does not think it is possible to lay the blame on the Syrian armed forces for the April strike on the village of Khan Sheikhoun, which the U.S. and its allies said involved sarin, a banned nerve agent. Despite all the demands from the Russian side, an impartial international inquiry into a previous tragedy using chemical agents has not been carried out, the spokesman told Russian news agencies. Peskov criticized the White House warning to Assad, saying such threats to Syrias legitimate leaders are unacceptable. Read More Facebook

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Senate healthcare overhaul hits trouble as Republicans hesitant to proceed to vote By Lisa Mascaro The Senate Republican healthcare bill ran into serious trouble late Monday when key GOP senators indicated they may block the Obamacare overhaul from proceeding to a vote this week. Political turmoil has been building over the bill for days. But GOP tension burst open after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that 22 million more Americans would lose insurance coverage under the plan and that out-of-pocket costs for many of those buying policies on the Affordable Care Act marketplace would rise. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hoped to start procedural votes by Wednesday, and President Trump called key senators over the weekend as support splintered. Its the same political dynamic that stalled the House Republican bill last month, as conservative and centrist factions wrestle for dominance. Conservatives want a more complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which they hope will lower premium costs, while centrists are trying to avoid leaving millions of Americans without health coverage. Senate bill doesnt fix ACA problems for rural Maine, tweeted Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). I will vote no on mtp, she said, referring to the motion to proceed to the bill. Conservative Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is also working to change the bill so that he can vote yes on the procedural motion. We are not there yet, Lees spokesman said. Senators have bristled at what they viewed as McConnells secretive and rushed process, and several other senators said they wanted more time before voting. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was among those Republicans who shared concerns in weekend calls with Trump. We continue to make progress, Cruz told reporters Monday, as Democrats, who oppose the bill, planned an almost-all-night protest session. Cruz is part of the gang of four conservatives -- including Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky -- who have said they cannot vote for the bill as is. Among the changes being pursued is one provision that would allow insurers to offer cheaper policies that do not meet ACAs requirements and another to let consumers sock more money into health savings accounts We can get there and Im hopeful we will get there, Cruz said. However, he declined to say whether he would agree to Wednesdays procedural vote. Also hesitant to proceed was Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, who has strongly criticized undoing Obamacares Medicaid expansion that has enabled about 200,000 people to gain coverage in his state. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, for example, wanted changes to help residents in her geographically far-flung state where healthcare costs are particularly high. Some senators, though, dismissed the budget analysis and said keeping the ACA would be worse. Its clear the CBO cannot predict the purchasing patterns for millions of Americans, said Georgia Sen. David Perdue, a Trump ally, in a statement. This bureaucratic analysis will do nothing to prevent Obamacare from failing. Others are weighing their votes. Republican Sen. Bob Corker, whose office is receiving thousands of daily calls, spent part of Monday on the phone with health officials in Tennessee as he assesses the fallout in his state of 22 million more people in the country without healthcare. I kind of figured it was going to be a pretty big number, said Corker, who remains undecided. Theres a lot of incoming. CBO says 22 million people lose insurance; Medicaid cuts hurt most vulnerable Americans; access to healthcare in rural areas threatened. 2/3  Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) June 26, 2017 Facebook

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Supreme Court puts off decision in three pending cases about borders and immigration By David Savage ((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Amid its flurry of decisions Monday about Trumps travel ban and cases involving religious liberties and guns, the Supreme Court put off final rulings on three pending cases involving immigration and the U.S. border. In Hernandez vs. Mesa, the court in an unsigned opinion told the U.S. appeals court in New Orleans to take a second look at a border shooting case. The parents of a 15-year-old Mexican boy sued a U.S. border patrol agent who shot and killed the teenager when he was standing a few feet from the border on the Mexican side. The 5th Circuit had thrown out the parents suit. The facts alleged in the complaint depict a disturbing incident resulting in a heartbreaking loss of life, the court said in sending the case back for a further hearing. The court said it would rehear in the fall a Los Angeles case involving whether immigrants awaiting deportation can be jailed indefinitely, or instead have a right to a bond hearing after six months. The courts action suggests the eight justices were evenly split in Jennings vs. Rodriguez. The court also said it will rehear the case of Sessions vs. Dimaya to decide whether non-citizens can be deported for an offense like breaking into an empty home because it may be deemed a crime of violence. Facebook

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Refugee advocates says even partial reinstatement of travel ban will cause hardship By Laura King Immigration and refugee advocates expressed disappointment Monday with the Supreme Courts partial reinstatement of President Trumps travel ban, saying even limited implementation could cause hardship to refugees and others seeking to travel to the United States from six affected Muslim-majority countries. However, organizations taking part in the months-long legal fight against the revised travel ban expressed hopes that the high court ultimately will reject the restrictions after arguments are heard in October. And they welcomed what they described as an implicit rebuke of the White Houses assertion that Trump has unfettered powers to exclude arrivals based on purported national security concerns. The initial rollout of the ban, days after Trump took office in January, caused pandemonium at airports across the United States and overseas as tens of thousands of visa-holders arriving from seven affected countries were turned away without warning or detained. After courts blocked that order, Trump issued a revised travel ban that took Iraq off the list. A replay of Januarys travel chaos was unlikely Monday because the courts action will allow visa-holders with bona fide ties to people or entities in the U.S. to enter, meaning students, employees and family members can still get in. But refugee advocates said the courts limited ruling, which the administration can move to implement on Thursday, could leave many would-be arrivals in limbo pending the finalizing of new vetting procedures. The administration had originally said a three-month travel ban was needed in part to review the checks to which would-be entrants are subjected. David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, said the partial reinstatement of the ban particularly threatens vulnerable people waiting to come to the U.S., including those with urgent medical conditions. We urge the administration to begin its long-delayed review of the vetting process and restart a program which changes lives for the better, said Miliband. The National Immigration Law Center, one of the groups that challenged the ban, said that as of this week, approximately 50,500 refugees from the six affected countries had been approved for travel and resettlement in the United States  all having already undergone intensive checks. The Middle East Studies Assn., one the groups contesting the ban in the lower courts, said many students and academics were ensnared by the original order. Even though Mondays court move should allow entry to those studying or working at American academic institutions, many from the affected countries remained wary of leaving and then attempting to re-enter the United States, the group said. Iran  along with Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Libya  is one of the affected countries, and Southern California is home to a large Iranian American community that was hit hard by the original ban. Some advocates said even with Mondays limited action, there has already been a chilling effect on movement. Todays Supreme Court decision immediately places the status of many Americans families into question again, said Shayan Modarres, legal counsel for the National Iranian American Council. The group said that visas issued to Iranian passport-holders had fallen by nearly half since the legal battle over the ban began, and that obtaining a U.S. visa was becoming so onerous that many would not even try to get one. The Trump administrations new idea is to make it so hard on Iranians and Muslims to get a visa that visa officers will have the unrestricted discretion to reject visa applications, Modarres said. He added that grounds for rejection could be social media postings critical of Trump or not being able to produce airline boarding passes that could have been issued and used more than a decade ago. Advocacy groups reiterated their position  which was argued in a number of the lower court cases that propelled the issue to the high court  that the travel restrictions run counter to core American traditions and values. Mark Hetfield, president of the refugee resettlement agency HIAS, said the group considered the courts move an affirmation that the president does not have unfettered, unchecked authority to bar refugees from the U.S. without evidence to justify such action. But he added that the executive orders partial resurrection would once again cause irreparable damage to refugees, immigrants, and Americas reputation as a welcoming country. The initial ban prompted large nationwide protests, and advocates suggested they would again seek to marshal popular opposition to the restrictions. When the first order went into effect, tens of thousands of Americans showed the world that this is not who we are and not what we want, said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, another of the groups involved in the legal challenge. We will never give up defending the rights of those who are affected by this discriminatory executive order. Facebook

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Trump says Supreme Court action on travel ban gives him important tool By Michael A. Memoli .@POTUS statement says SCOTUS action allows him to "use an important tool for protecting our Nation's homeland." Will admin press further? pic.twitter.com/gxBJO5aYYZ  Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) June 26, 2017 President Trump celebrated the Supreme Courts decision Monday to allow a curtailed version of his travel ban to take effect, calling it a clear victory for our national security. In an official White House statement, the president said he was particularly gratified that at least part of the ruling was 9-0; three conservative justices said they would have let the presidents revised executive order take effect completely. My number one responsibility as Commander in Chief is to keep the American people safe. Todays ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nations homeland, he said. The White House has long maintained that the president was acting within his authority in seeking to temporarily restrict travel to the United States. They most often point to a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that states a president can suspend or limit entry of individuals whenever the president finds that the entry ... would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. Facebook

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Rival Senate factions push competing agendas as healthcare bill hangs in balance By Laura King Heading into a week of intense jockeying and arm-twisting over the Senates polarizing healthcare plan, the rift appeared to widen Sunday between moderates who consider the measure too punitive and conservatives who want to see the sweeping bill toughened up before agreeing to back it. President Trump, who made the repeal of his predecessors signature Affordable Care Act a campaign centerpiece, expressed optimism about chances for Senate passage, but declared again that he wanted to see a plan with heart  suggesting he might undercut Republican efforts to bring recalcitrant conservatives on board. With Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) seeking to push ahead with a vote this week, the bills prospects hung in the balance. Five GOP senators have said publicly they oppose the measure as written; the defection of only three Republicans would be enough to sink it. Read More Facebook

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Analysis: Atop 2017 losses, a sobering challenge for Democrats aiming at Trump next year By Cathleen Decker Republican Karen Handel, winner of last weeks special House election in Georgia. ( (Bob Andres / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)) Democrats have hoped that President Trumps deep unpopularity would propel them to gains in next years midterm election as they fight to take control of the House and improve their position in the Senate. But last years contests and this years special elections suggest a complication: Trump is so distinctive a politician that its hard to persuade voters that other Republican candidates are carbon copies of the president. Trumps outsized persona makes even those Republicans who share his views seem more moderate, an important attribute to swing voters. That presents a problem for the party out of power. Midterm elections traditionally serve as referendums on the president, but voters complicated views of Trump may give Republicans more running room than his popularity figures suggest. The votes cast by individual Republican incumbents may be more important to their survival than any linkage with the president. Read More Facebook

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Conservatives at Koch summit outline changes to Senate healthcare bill to win their support By Lisa Mascaro Tim Phillips, who heads Americans for Prosperity, the largest of the Koch networks advocacy groups, speaks to the media at the White House in Washington on March 8. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) Conservatives floated two amendments for toughening up the Senates Obamacare overhaul this weekend at the influential Koch networks confab of wealthy donors, as Republicans seek ways to win over detractors and tip enough GOP votes for passage. That the Koch network quickly panned the Senate bill is no surprise. The organization of deep-pocketed conservative advocacy groups similarly rejected the House GOP bill this spring until party leaders tacked on tough amendments to appease right-leaning Republicans. Weve been disappointed that movements not been more dramatic toward a full repeal or a broader rollback of this onerous law Obamacare, said Tim Phillips, who heads Americans for Prosperity, the largest of the Koch networks advocacy groups. But we are not walking away, he said. We worked to make the House bill better and it did get better. Were doing the same thing on the Senate front. One key lawmaker attending the weekend summit at the luxurious Broadmoor Hotel, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus and a chief negotiator on the House bill, outlined two key changes to the bill that he said could likely win enough conservative support for passage. One amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) would allow companies that offer insurance policies on the Obamacare marketplace to also offer plans that do not meet the ACAs strict requirements. Such a change would in essence allow insurers to offer cheaper, though skimpier, policies that may help achieve the GOPs goal of lowering premiums for consumers. Another amendment would broaden the ability of those who buy insurance on the marketplace to sock away more money in tax-free Health Savings Accounts to help them pay for their premiums. Cruz is one of four Senate conservatives who have said they would not support the bill unless changes are made, positioning them for negotiations in the days ahead. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) needs to win back some of their votes to pass the bill with his slim 52-seat Republican majority. One of the conservatives, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), was among those feted Saturday night at a reception with Charles Koch, the billionaire industrialist who funds the conservative network. Koch told those gathered for an outdoor cocktail reception on a breezy Colorado Springs evening about how far his team has come over the years at promoting what is a libertarian-leaning conservative agenda. Now when I look at where we are, at the size and effectiveness of this network, Im blown away, he told donors. Koch met Friday with Vice President Mike Pence. But the politics in the Senate remain difficult as McConnell continues to negotiate behind closed doors and rushes the bill to a vote expected this week. On Sunday, one key centrist, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, doubted a swift resolution. Its hard for me to see the bill passing this week, she said on ABCs This Week. Another crucial vote, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who had offered his own proposal, also criticized the rush. I frankly would like a few more days to consider this, Cassidy said on CBSs Face the Nation. But Republicans are anxious to resolve the healthcare debate, which has created a logjam in their legislative agenda. Meadows also told reporters if the Senate passes the bill this week, the House could quickly follow with a weekend session -- ahead of a Fourth of July bill signing by the president. Facebook

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Schiff: Obama should have acted on Russian interference, but Trump shouldnt complain By Laura King A top House Democrat says President Obama should have reacted more forcefully upon learning of Russian election-meddling, but also asserted that it was illogical for President Trump to levy such criticism against his predecessor. I think the [Obama] administration needed to call out Russia earlier, needed to act to deter and punish Russia earlier, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), said in an interview aired Sunday on CNNs State of the Union. Failure to do so, he said, had been a very serious mistake. But Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Trumps criticism of Obama made little sense in light of the current presidents own inaction in the face of decisive U.S. intelligence conclusions about Kremlin efforts to tip the 2016 race to Trump. Trump, Schiff said, is in no position to complain here in light of the fact that as a candidate, he openly urged the Russians to hack Clintons emails. To criticize Obama is now a bit like someone knowingly receiving stolen property blaming the police for not stopping the theft, said Schiff, a former prosecutor. On Saturday, Trump issued a statement on Twitter referencing a Washington Post report a day earlier detailing the previous administrations wrestling with how, when and whether to make public the degree of Russian interference. Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T! the president tweeted. The Post report said Obama was worried about the appearance of improperly using mounting intelligence reports about Russian activities to aid Clintons candidacy. The subject was particularly inflammatory because at that point in the race, Trump had complained repeatedly about the rigged political process and even suggested he might not respect the election outcome. Facebook

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Trump says hes optimistic about Senate approval of GOP healthcare measure By Laura King President Trump says he believes that backers of a sweeping GOP healthcare measure are going to get there and pass the measure despite the refusal of five Republican senators to endorse the bill as written. Healthcare is a very, very tough thing to get, but I think were going to get it, Trump said on Fox and Friends in an interview aired Sunday that he had touted beforehand on Twitter. We dont have too much of a choice because the alternative is the dead carcass of Obamacare, the president said, referring to the Affordable Care Act, his predecessors signature piece of legislation. Opinion polls have indicated low public support for the version of the healthcare bill passed earlier by the House of Representatives. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), wants to bring the Senate version, unveiled days ago, to a vote this week. In addition to the five Republican senators who have publicly aired their opposition, several others have declined to explicitly endorse the bill, which would overhaul the U.S. healthcare system and set the stage for massive tax breaks that would primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans. With a 52-seat Republican advantage in the 100-member chamber, only three GOP defections would be sufficient to derail the measure, since Vice President Mike Pence could cast a tie-breaking vote. Facebook

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Pro-Trump group launches new attack ad against special counsel Robert Mueller By Lisa Mascaro A Southern California group backing President Trump is out with a new ad attacking special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, criticizing the investigation into the Trump campaigns possible cooperation with Russian interference in the 2016 election. The ad, called Witch Hunt, features conservative favorite Tomi Lahren reflecting Trumps own language to complain about the probe. The more than $400,000 ad buy is expected to start running Sunday. Only in Washington could a rigged game like this be called independent, Lahren says, using air quotes in the ad to emphasize her point. She is now a senior advisor to Great America Alliance, which backs Trump. The ads chief complaint echoes Trumps criticism that Muellers team has ties to Democrats, because some of the lawyers have given campaign contributions to the party. Trump has also complained of the relationship between fired FBI Director James B. Comey and Mueller, who was once his boss. Mueller is a registered Republican. Among the members of the legal team he is assembling for the Russia probe -- which is also looking into whether the president obstructed the federal investigation by firing Comey -- four have donated to Democrats. One who gave the maximum donation to Trump rival Hillary Clinton also donated to Republicans. Both Republicans and Democrats have praised Muellers credentials and ability to handle the Russia probe as an independent investigation. The group, which ran a similar attack against Comey ahead of his testimony earlier this month on Capitol Hill, has emerged as a key pro-Trump organization. Facebook

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Koch brothers political network says Senate GOP healthcare bill is insufficiently conservative By Associated Press ( (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)) Chief lieutenants in the Koch brothers political network lashed out at the Senate Republican healthcare bill on Saturday, becoming a powerful outside critic as GOP leaders try to rally support for their plan among rank-and-file Republicans. This Senate bill needs to get better, said Tim Phillips, who leads Americans For Prosperity, the Koch networks political arm. It has to get better. Phillips called the Senates plans for Medicaid a slight nip and tuck over President Obamas healthcare law, a modest change he described as immoral. The comments came on the first day of a three-day private donor retreat at a luxury resort in the Rocky Mountains. Invitations were extended only to donors who promise to give at least $100,000 each year to the various groups backed by the Koch brothers Freedom Partners  a network of education, policy and political entities that aim to promote small government. No outside group has been move aggressive over the years-long push to repeal Obamas healthcare law than the Kochs, which vowed on Saturday to spend another 10 years fighting to change the healthcare system if necessary. The Koch network has often displayed a willingness to take on Republicans  including President Trump  when their policies arent deemed conservative enough. Read More Facebook

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Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions wants to get tough on crime. These people think hes got it all wrong By Jaweed Kaleem Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has vowed to crack down on crime by sending more criminals to prison for longer periods of time. Every one of our citizens, no matter who they are or where they live, has the right to be safe in their homes and communities from the scourge of criminal gangs, rapists, carjackers and drug dealers, Sessions said in an address to law enforcement officials in Memphis, Tenn., last month. In his view, imprisoning more criminals would make families safer, and fewer people would break the law if there were more severe punishments for crimes such as drug offenses. In a recent memo to federal prosecutors, Sessions instructed them to pursue the harshest punishments legally allowed, a reversal of an Obama-era move giving federal lawyers more leeway to reserve such prosecutions for repeat offenders and people who had committed the worst of crimes. Department of Justice officials hope the changes at the federal level  where a sliver of crimes across the country is prosecuted  will trickle down to a similar approach to crime in states. Read More Facebook

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Vice President Mike Pence stops in for an unscheduled chat with billionaire Charles Koch By Lisa Mascaro Vice President Mike Pence popped in for a visit this weekend with Charles Koch, the billionaire GOP donor hosting his semi-annual confab of like-minded business leaders assessing their priorities for the White House and Congress. The meeting was not listed on Pences official schedule for the day. President Trump never much enjoyed backing from Koch s sprawling, secretive, political enterprise, which has emerged as a libertarian-leaning power center, sometimes overshadowing the traditional Republican Party apparatus with its high-dollar donors and vast operations. Kochs group did not endorse the GOP presidential nominee. But the network has always had close ties with Pence. The vice president had previously attended the exclusive gathering of donors, held this weekend at the luxurious Broadmoor hotel. And his top staff was plucked from a key Koch organization, Freedom Partners. Pence and Koch and their top aides spoke for nearly an hour late Friday, according to a Koch spokesman. They discussed tax reform, the GOPs healthcare overhaul and other heavy legislative lifts that have run into resistance in the Republican-controlled Congress. The aide described the talks as casual. Pence was in the area making other stops, including at the Air Force Academy and an evening fundraiser for GOP Sen. Cory Gardner. Even without investing in Trump, the Koch network has made impressive strides in advancing its agenda this year. Congress swiftly rolled back more than a dozen regulations, including some intended to protect the environment, that Koch-backed groups complained were too rigorous and invasive in industry operations. The Koch network groups, including Freedom Partners, a free market-oriented, chamber of commerce-type organization, is pushing the Trump administration and Congress to pass tax reform and overhaul healthcare. Both those efforts have stalled in Congress amid Republican infighting, but the Koch groups is able to put their army of resources  money, staff and volunteers in the states  to pressure lawmakers to act. Facebook

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Kris Kobach fined for misleading court and refusing to produce previously exposed Trump memo By Colleen Shalby (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has been fined $1,000 for misleading a federal court in an effort to keep two documents private. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last year against Kobach arguing that his states proof of citizenship law violates the National Voter Registration Act. ACLU lawyers asked Kobach to produce two documents they said pertained to the case. One of those documents was a draft of a proposed amendment to the National Voter Registration Act. The second was a document that had been photographed and widely shared in late November after Kobach met with then-President-elect Donald Trump. The power of a zoom lens exposed certain details of his proposal to Trump to deport potential terrorists. In a 24-page ruling made public Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge James OHara wrote that Kobach did not accurately represent the contents of the documents when he argued against producing them. Defendant refused to produce these documents, asserting that they are beyond the scope of reopened discovery, do not seek relevant information, and are protected by the attorney-client, deliberative-process, and executive privileges, the judge wrote. The court took Kobach at his word, OHara wrote, but upon review of the documents  produced under a court order  found that they did relate to the voting rights case. The judge wrote that while the court could not say that Kobach flat-out lied, the defendants statements can be construed as wordplay meant to present a materially inaccurate picture of the documents. For now, the documents will remain classified, as Kobach designated them. But, OHara wrote, that status could change. Trump tapped Kobach last month to serve as vice chairman of a presidential commission that would oversee a voter fraud investigation. Facebook

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Number of refugees admitted to U.S. drops by almost half By Tracy Wilkinson (Patrick T. Fallon / For the Los Angeles Times) The number of refugees admitted to the United States was cut by nearly half in the first three months of the Trump administration compared with the final three months of the Obama presidency, reflecting the new presidents skepticism toward immigration. Government statistics released Friday showed that more than 25,000 refugees were permitted to enter and reside in the United States at the end of the Obama administration. In the initial months under President Trump, the number fell to 13,000. The statistics were released by the Department of Homeland Security, based on information supplied by the State Department. Countries of origin were largely unchanged. In both periods, two-thirds of the arrivals came from five countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Myanmar. Refugees from two of those countries  Syria and Somalia  would have been banned under Trumps executive order against entries from certain Muslim-majority nations, but federal courts have blocked the order. Trumps original order covered Iraqis as well, but he omitted Iraq from his revised order. The data suggest that the Obama administration, as it was about to turn over power to Trump, significantly stepped up the number of refugees admitted. Arrivals in its final three months reflected an 86% year-over-year increase compared to the same period the previous year. In Trumps first three months, arrivals were 12% lower than for the same period in the previous year. Trump has sought to limit the number of refugees to 50,000 this year. But adverse rulings in the courts could work against him. The United States already has one of the lowest quotas of refugee admissions among major receiving countries. Nations closer to conflict zones such as Syria have taken in millions of refugees. More people have been displaced from their home nations, because of violence and poverty, than at any time since World War II. Facebook

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Trump nominates former Dodgers co-owner Jamie McCourt as ambassador to Belgium By Lauren Rosenblatt Trump nominated Jamie McCourt, former co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as ambassador to Belgium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) President Trump nominated Jamie McCourt, former co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, to be the ambassador to Belgium on Thursday night. McCourt, who co-owned the Dodgers with her husband, Frank, until their messy 2011 divorce, has donated money to several Republican organizations, including funds for Trumps campaign and his transition to the White House. McCourt was among many business leaders who signed their support for Trump early on in his campaign, praising his plan for economic development and growth. In the months leading up to Trumps victory, McCourt gave more than $400,000 to the Trump victory fund, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. She signed a letter in October 2016 with 100 other business executives and CEOs championing Trumps plan and criticizing opponent Hillary Clinton for having thrown in the towel on strong economic growth. McCourt was listed as a 2016 State Victory Finance Chair for Trumps campaign in July, according to a report from the GOP. Robert Wood Johnson, chairman and CEO of the New York Jets and Trumps nominee for ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was also on the list as Trump Victory vice chair. After Trump won the election, McCourt continued to financially support his transition to office. In December, she helped host a fundraiser breakfast for the incoming president where tickets sold for $5,000 a piece. Prior to her support for Trump, McCourt also donated to the campaigns of several other Republican presidential candidates, including John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina, although in much smaller amounts. In the past, she has also supported former President Obama, contributing to his campaign and victory funds in 2011 and donating $50,000 to the inauguration in 2009. She donated about $2,000 to Hillary Clinton for her presidential campaign in 2007, according to the FEC. McCourts ex-husband said his former wife had political aspirations of her own, with an end goal of ending up in the White House, according to a March 2010 Los Angeles Times article. Her high-profile divorce gathered a lot of public attention and ended in dispute over finances and assets. McCourt has founded and directed entrepreneurial enterprises in Los Angeles and Boston throughout her career as a entrepreneur and attorney. Her investment firm, Jamie Enterprises, invests in real estate and technology start-ups. She has degrees from Georgetown University, the University of Maryland School of Law and from MIT/ Sloan School of Management. The Senate must confirm McCourts nomination for ambassador. Facebook

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Nevada Sen. Heller -- a key swing vote -- says he opposes Senate healthcare bill By David Lauter (Andrew Harnik / AP) Nevada Sen. Dean Heller said Friday that he planned to vote against the Republican healthcare bill, a potentially key defection. Although the White House and Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have said they plan further negotiations over the bill, its going to be very difficult to get me to a yes, Heller said at a news conference in Nevada with Gov. Brian Sandoval (R). The bill unveiled Thursday by McConnell is simply not the answer, he said. In this form, I will not support it. Given the unified Democratic opposition to the bill, McConnell can afford to lose only two Senate Republicans, so Hellers announcement is significant. A no vote by Heller would not seal the fate of the bill, however. Heller is widely viewed as the most vulnerable Republican senator up for reelection in 2018 -- the only one running in a state that Hillary Clinton carried last year -- and Republican leaders have been hoping to avoid having to count on his vote. Heller cited several reasons for opposing the bill, but the chief one was its deep reductions in federal support for Medicaid. This bill will mean a loss of coverage for millions of Americans and many Nevadans, he said. Nevada, under Sandoval, has used its authority under the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid, which has given health coverage to more than 210,000 additional state residents, Sandoval said. These are folks who are worth fighting for, he added. The cutbacks the Senate bill, which would end Medicaid expansion, would cost the state $120 million a year by 2022, with the cost rising sharply after that the governor said. Thats a cost that the state cannot sustain. Heller also cited the bills impact on treatment for opioid addiction and the likelihood that the plan would fail to reduce premiums. There isnt anything in this piece of legislation that will lower your premiums, he said, contradicting one of the main arguments that supporters of the bill have made. Hellers announcement increases the pressure on McConnell to find ways of persuading several other reluctant senators to support the bill. Four conservatives, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said Thursday they were opposed to the bill in its current form because it does not go far enough to roll back the Affordable Care Act. Several more centrist senators, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, have voiced concerns similar to Hellers about the depth of the bills Medicaid cutbacks and its impact on opioid treatment. Collins and Portman have both said they want to review the analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office before making up their minds. The budget office has said it will release that assessment early next week. Facebook

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Trump signs VA reform bill to make it easier to discipline and fire employees By Lauren Rosenblatt President Trump signed into law Friday a bill that will ease restrictions on the discipline and termination of employees from the troubled veterans affairs department. The Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 is designed to speed up the process to discipline an employee for misconduct and put more decision-making power in the hands of Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin. The act is in response to the 2014 VA scandals involving long wait times for medical care and attempts by VA employees to cover up the delays. Trump, who promised to improve healthcare for veterans during his campaign, said the bill was one of the largest reforms to the VA in its history and is essential to making sure our veterans are treated with respect. The bill passed the House with bipartisan support June 13 and the Senate on June 6. Although the bill is widely supported by veterans advocacy groups, civil servant unions condemn the legislation as a way to get around long-standing protections for government employees and whistle-blowers. The reform, Shulkin said, will not be used as a tool for mass firings, but rather a way to raise morale throughout the department and attract new employees. Slow, steady, incremental change isnt what this organization needs, Shulkin said. Right now, I believe this is progress. Facebook

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Mexico pushes back against Trumps tweet calling it the second deadliest country in the world By Kate Linthicum Mexicos Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray speaks during a news conference in Cancun, Mexico, on June 19. (PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty Images) After President Trump incorrectly tweeted that Mexico is the second deadliest country in the world after Syria, the Mexican government responded quickly. No, Mexico isnt the second deadliest place on the globe, said a tersely worded statement issued by Mexicos secretary of foreign relations, pointing to a host of other Latin American countries that have higher per capita murder rates. And while homicides have been rising in Mexico in recent years, rising violence in Mexico is inextricably linked to demand for drugs in the United States, the statement said. Illicit drug trade is indeed the most important cause of violence in Mexico and drug trafficking is costing thousands of lives both in Mexico and the U.S., the foreign ministry said Thursday. However, as has been repeatedly stated by the U.S. government itself, drug trafficking is a shared problem that will end only by addressing its root causes: high demand for drugs in the U.S. and supply from Mexico and other countries. In order to be effective, we must be able to move beyond finger-pointing, the statement said. The Mexican government issued the response after Trump tweeted a reference to a controversial recent study that ranked Mexico as the worlds second most-dangerous conflict zone after Syria. Trump misrepresented the study in his tweet, saying Mexico was just ranked the second deadliest country in the world. He also neglected the considerable debate about the studys accuracy. The annual Armed Conflict Survey, released this year by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, has been called into question by the Mexican government and others who say it wrongly points to the existence of an armed conflict in Mexico. The existence of criminal groups is not sufficient criteria to speak of a non-international armed conflict, said a joint statement issued by Mexicos secretaries of governance and foreign relations in May, adding that drug-war violence is part of a bigger regional problem. Although Mexicos homicide rate has soared  the first two months of 2017 were the most violent since the government started releasing such statistics in 1997  other countries are experiencing higher homicide rates. In January, Mexico had a homicide rate of 20 deaths per 100,000 people, according to a Times analysis of Mexican crime statistics. By comparison, El Salvadors homicide rate was 81 deaths per 100,000 people in 2016, according to InSight Crime, a think tank that studies organized crime in Latin America. Venezuela had a homicide rate of 59 deaths per 100,000 people. Trump ended his tweet with a frequent campaign mantra: We will BUILD THE WALL! Mexico was just ranked the second deadliest country in the world, after only Syria. Drug trade is largely the cause. We will BUILD THE WALL!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017 Facebook

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Supreme Court says final decisions of term will come on Monday By David Savage The Supreme Court is shown at sunset on Feb. 13, 2016. (Jon Elswick / Associated Press) (Jon Elswick / Associated Press) The Supreme Court announced it will hand down its final rulings for this term on Monday. But that does not mean the justices will actually decide the six cases that remain, which include three significant disputes involving immigration and the U.S. borders. Heres a look at the notable decisions so far. On Nov. 30, with one seat on the court still vacant, the eight justices heard arguments in a Los Angeles case on whether noncitizens who face possible deportation can be held in jail indefinitely or instead have a right to a bond hearing after six months. The case, Jennings vs. Rodriguez, has taken on added importance in the Trump era, but the long delay may signal that the justices are split 4-4. If so, the court may announce Monday that the case will be reheard in the fall, leaving it to new Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to cast the tie-breaking vote. Also still pending, since January, is a California case that will decide whether a crime such as breaking into an empty home qualifies as a crime of violence, triggering automatic deportation, even for an immigrant who is a longtime legal resident. A ruling in Sessions vs. Dimaya could affect thousands of deportations The third case, pending since February, is a closely watched border shooting. At issue in Hernandez vs. Mesa is whether a U.S. agent can be sued for fatally shooting a 15-year-old who was standing on the Mexican side of the border. On Friday, the justices gave a second chance to a Korean restaurant owner from Memphis who faces deportation for selling Ecstasy pills. Based on his lawyers advice, he pleaded guilty to the drug charge, having been assured it would not trigger his deportation. The lawyer was wrong. By a 6-2 vote in Lee vs. United States, the court said the Korean man may withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial. But for his attorneys incompetence, he would not have accepted a plea, said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.. Dissenting were Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.. The justices, including Gorsuch, are likely to rule in a significant case on religion and funding for church schools. In Trinity Lutheran vs.Comer, the justices will decide whether states may exclude church schools from receiving public funds. Also still pending, but on a different track, is the Trump administrations appeal over his blocked foreign travel ban. The court may act on that appeal at any time. Facebook

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Trump backs L.A. Olympic bid in meeting with IOC officials By Michael A. Memoli The opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times) President Trump pledged his full support for the Los Angeles bid to host a future Summer Olympics, the White House said Friday after an Oval Office meeting with the head of the International Olympic Committee. Trump met Thursday with IOC President Thomas Bach and three U.S. members of the IOC -- Larry Probst, Anita DeFrantz and Angela Ruggiero. A White House official called it a very constructive conversation in which Trump backed a potential third Summer Games in Los Angeles. With only L.A. and Paris bidding to host the 2024 games, the IOC is moving to reward both cities, giving one hosting duties in 2024 and the other in 2028. The United States hasnt hosted a Summer Olympics since the Centennial games in Atlanta in 1996. Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he discussed the citys Olympic bid during a post-election conversation with Trump last November and that the then-president elect pledged his backing. Facebook

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Trump says he tweeted about tapes to influence Comeys account of their private conversations By Michael A. Memoli .@POTUS on why he wanted former FBI Dir. James Comey to believe there were tapes of their conversations pic.twitter.com/pCuibM5Z6k  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) June 23, 2017 President Trump called it bothersome that the special counsel now overseeing the Russia probe was good friends with fired FBI Director James B. Comey, and said he hinted at having tapes of his private conversations  apparently falsely  to try to influence Comeys eventual testimony. The president made his remarks during an interview that aired Friday morning on Fox & Friends, but was recorded on Thursday just hours after he tweeted that he did not, in fact, have tapes. Trump said that floating the possibility they did exist might have forced Comey to tell what actually took place at the events. When he found out that, I, you know, that there may be tapes out there, whether its governmental tapes or anything else, and who knows, I think his story may have changed, Trump said. My story didnt change. My story was always a straight story. Foxs Ainsley Earhardt followed up: So it was a smart way to make sure he stayed honest in those hearings? It wasnt very stupid, I can tell you that, Trump answered. Many disagree, including Republicans. Comey testified that Trumps tweet is what prompted him to as
When most of us dream of huitlacoche  that earthy purple corn fungus found seasonally in Mexican cooking  its smashed among ribbons of gooey Oaxacan cheese between the folds of a hand-patted, bruise-blue corn tortilla.

When Danny Godinez dreams of those same huitlacoche quesadillas  a staple on the street in Mexico City  he instead sees a dessert. This is how the brain of O.C.s O.G. modern Mexican chef works, taking the French cooking traditions honed in a decade in fine-dining kitchens and using them to make molecular magic out of deconstructed homestyle dishes.

A new addition to the menu at his 4-year-old dinner spot on Chapman Ave. in Orange, is the huitlacoche ice cream  creative in all the ways for which Godinez is known: dark, funky ice cream melts atop a dense piece of sweet pan de elote sprinkled with crunchy caramel corn.

Start here before going to El Mercado, his latest restaurant, which tours you through all of Mexicos 31 states, Godinez-style.

Anepalco is at 3737 W Chapman Ave., Orange. For more information, call 714-456-9642 or visit anepalco.com.

SARAH BENNETT is a freelance journalist covering food, drink, music, culture and more. She is the former food editor at L.A. Weekly and a founding editor of Beer Paper L.A. Follow her on Twitter @thesarahbennett.

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After several years of strong gains, Orange Countys job growth is expected to rise at its lowest level since the recovery began in 2009, according to Chapman Universitys annual Economic Forecast Update.

The private university in Orange is predicting a 1.5% bump, less than half the 3.2% growth posted in 2015.

Unemployment, however, should remain low, at 3.2%. That figure, considered nearly full employment, is expected to remain steady, the school predicts.

The faculty of the Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research attributes the trend to a diminishing construction labor market, which otherwise had been a major engine of growth over the past five years.

New entrants to the labor force may add to the supply, Chapman economists said in a news release, but that doesnt look promising, given the projected graying of Orange Countys population.

Chapman economists noted that aging residents of Orange County are expected to take up a bigger percentage of the population in coming years, which could harm the labor supply, as younger workers leave the county  and state  for more-affordable housing markets.

In 2015, the county had about 434,000 people ages 65 and older; in 2020, that number could jump by about 23%, to nearly 536,000.

That figure is a significantly higher uptick than traditionally working-age people  defined as 15 to 64  whose population numbers are expected to rise in O.C. by only about 1% between 2015 and 2020.

Chapman also predicted another strong year for the real estate market, with housing appreciation at 6.2% for 2017.

During a presentation of Chapmans forecast June 21 at the Musco Center for the Arts, economics professor and former Chapman President Jim Doti didnt predict a pop of the housing bubble this year, but noted that pricing has reached an irrational level, with the median home price some eight times higher than the median family income  well above both the ratios both nationally and in California.

Still, Doti, added, We are in a balloon. No question.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint
Laguna Beach police arrested a Laguna Beach man on suspicion of stalking, criminal threats and burglary, authorities said.

Gregory Murray, 28, was arrested last week at his residence, according to a news release, and was booked into Orange County Jail with bail set at $50,000.

He was released Monday night after the Orange County district attorneys office declined to prosecute, according to jail records.

Officers responded to a Laguna Beach residence June 8 after an occupant awoke to find a man in her room, the release said. Police said Murray and the 24-year-old woman dated for three months in 2015.

After the dating relationship ended, Murray is suspected of sending harassing emails, as well as threatening text and social media messages, to the woman and her family members  more than 150 as of March this year.

bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce

UPDATES:

5:05 p.m. June 27: This article was updated with Murrays release from jail.

This article was originally published at 3:10 p.m. June 26.
American Legion Post 291 in Newport Beach hosted the eighth annual Jim De Boom Community Service Hall of Fame Luncheon on June 10.

The event honored nine community club members for exceptional community service. It also brought awareness and benefited Learning for Lifes Exploring, a program that provides young adults career experiences in the police, firefighting and medical fields.

State Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) acted as master of ceremonies. Exploring Chairman Helen Stainer welcomed the attendees, and Orange County Sheriffs Deputy Nawar Alkawadri and Lt. Matthew Leading of Explorer Post 449 spoke about exploring and its benefits. Lane Culvert and Stacy De Boom gave a tribute to Jim De Boom, the events late founder and a former Daily Pilot columnist.

American Legions Al Rasch, Explorings Tom Gray and Daily Pilot Executive Editor John Canalis presented awards to the Hall of Fame honorees. The following are the clubs that attended and their honorees:

American Legion Auxiliary Unit 291 Newport Harbor: Maria Young

American Legion Auxiliary member Maria Young is dedicated to helping people in need. Youngs project, Cucumels Compassionate Carpets, recycles used plastic bags to create sleeping mats. Her work has twice been featured in American Legion Auxiliarys magazine.

Young is working with the city of Huntington Beach to erect a memorial for casualties of World War II. Maria is also active with Huntington Beachs Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

American Legion Yacht Club  Joany Berdine

American Legion Yacht Club member Joany Berdine is admired for her infectious, can-do attitude. Berdine chairs Seagals, a group of women who assist at major club events, including the Commodores Ball, Opening Day and the Easter Egg Hunt. Seagals also provide food service for general membership meetings and the Sundowner Monday Night Race Series.

Berdine serves as the American Legion Yacht Clubs quartermaster. As quartermaster, she displays hats, shirts, jackets and other American Legion Yacht Club-branded items at all general membership meetings and several club events.

Costa Mesa Kiwanis Club: Richard T. Pagel

Costa Mesa Kiwanis member Rich Pagel is best known for his commitment to education. As vice president of administrative services at Orange Coast College, he is responsible for the colleges budget, physical plant and new construction projects.

Pagel is committed to promoting a philosophy of community service and leadership to OCC students. He is also a part-time instructor at Cal State Long Beach and active in Kiwanis Internationals Costa Mesa Club.

Exchange Club of Newport Harbor: Bob Washer

Bob Washer has been a Newport Exchange Club member for 36 years. A retired Methodist pastor, he is best known for his positive attitude, pleasant smile and service to others.

Washer has played a key role in Exchange Club events that have raised over $100 million for child-abuse prevention and scholarships for local students. He was instrumental in obtaining first-run movies for the Annual Movie Event, probably the clubs most lucrative fundraiser. Washer has been honored with the Book of Golden Deeds Award and as Exchange Club Member of the Year.

Harbor Mesa Lions Club  Cathy Waters

Harbor Mesa Lions Cathy Waters is loved and admired for exceptional service to Lions and numerous other causes. During her 12-year tenure at Harbor Mesa Lions, she has served as president, vice president, treasurer, editor and committee chairwoman of fundraisers and service projects.

Waters has chaired the clubs largest fundraiser, Casino Night. Her service projects have included School Box Project, providing school supplies to underprivileged first-graders; and Veterans Stand Down, vision and hearing exams to homeless veterans. Cathy also volunteers for other local events, including Huntington Beach Lions Clubs Crab Fest, Costa Mesa-Newport Harbor Lion Clubs Fish Fry, Ronald McDonald Houses Trunk or Treat and the Orange County Special Olympics.

Newport Beach Sunrise Rotary Club  Berkeley Green

Berkeley Green, a Newport Beach Sunrise Rotary Club Board Member, has devoted his career and community service work to sailing. Berkeley began sailing at 8 years old and sailed to Tahiti the first time in 2011.

Berkeley is a dealer for the boat manufacturer RS Sailing and teaches sailing at Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club. He served as program director at Newport Sea Base from 2005-11 and organizes numerous sailing events for local youth. Berkeley is the co-founder of California Inclusive Sailing, which provides the disabled access to sailing.

Newport-Irvine Rotary Club: Cecil Hess

Cecil Hess has been a Newport-Irvine Rotarian for more than 10 years, twice serving as president. Hess has been director for youth services, instilling his passion to end child abuse.

Hess has worked with Olive Crest Children, a non-profit providing services and homes for abused children and young adults age 18 and younger.

Rotary Club Newport Balboa  Marc Aarons

Marc Aarons has been a Rotarian for 12 years. Aarons is best known for his jovial, fun-loving spirit and helpful heart. Aarons has served as Rotarys assistant district governor. He currently serves as Newport Balboa Rotarys treasurer and has been President, a board member since 2007 and chairman of the Okazaki Student Exchange.

Aarons is passionate about the Boy Scouts of America, earning his Eagle Scout in 1987. He has received several Scouting honors, including the Silver Beaver Award for outstanding volunteerism as an adult, the Cliff Dochterman Award as a Rotarian with distinguished service to Scouting, the Vigil Honor for exceptional contributions to Scouting and the Baden-Powell Fellowship Award for financial contributions supporting Scouting around the world. He served on the National and International Jewish Committees of Scouting and taught Scouting principles in Cape Town, South Africa.

Aarons has also served American Cancer Society, Orange County AIDS Foundation and numerous other causes.

Soroptimist International of the Newport Harbor Area: Dalia Badajos Lugo

Dalia Badajos Lugo has been a member of Sororptimist International Newport Harbor for over 30 years, serving the last three as president. Although Badajos has also served as vice president, secretary and director of fundraising, she is most admired for her project leadership.

As president, Badajos helped establish Mosaic Teen Network, a program where mothers introduce their pre-teen and teen daughters to community service. As a working mother, Badajos sought a way for her and other working mothers to spend their limited free time with their children while also serving the community. Her other program goal was to educate and inspire girls to become leaders in community service and in their careers.

The girls service has benefited women and girls locally and globally. Their work has furthered the education of girls in Nepal and helped orphans in Mexico. Badajos also served other important projects including the Corazon de Vida Foundation that supports Baja orphanages. She has served on the boards for St. Joachim School and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

--

The Daily Pilot wants to hear about your clubs or organizations events so we can inform our readers. Contact DIANE DARUTY at dianedaruty@sbcglobal.net or (949) 322-7949 or DUNCAN FORGEY at Forgey5000@yahoo.com or (949) 548-4800.
Our citys commercial-friendly groupthink has made it official: Welcome to Laguna Beach, the Disneyland of O.C. beach communities, whether residents like it or not.

Take that Huntington and Newport. Yes, we can. We can out-gaudy you, we can better deface and clutter our sidewalks, we can monetize what was once funky, charming and aesthetically unique by homogenizing ourselves with urban blight pennants and poles.

These make commerce great again forces have convinced City Hall that theme park-type signs and benches, color-coded for carved out, metaphorical districts, might theoretically solve many of the traffic circulation and parking problems.

Branding each district is the equivalent of Tomorrowland, Adventureland and obviously, this nonsense is Fantasyland. Its about efficiently propping back up merchandising to the diminishment, to the degradation, of formerly quiet neighborhoods.

Within each land (aka district), therell be theme park-type indicators, hopefully directing pedestrians toward attractions, otherwise known as rides at amusement destinations. No jive. The planners have termed the sign elements as attractions.

Locals are being marginalized and have fallen in city priorities. A stealthy process, hundreds of thousands of dollars being considered for eventual, build-out funding, without extensive oversight consideration.

Locals and veteran visitors alike already know the migrational wheres and hows, so the city should drop the pretense of any enhancement, any benefits well experience.

This Wayfinding proposal only helps merchants via increased numbers: Overwhelmed now, if this does work itll be for first-time tourists, and increasingly more will try to stuff themselves into an already cramped, confined space.

Soon, the parking permit programs could become a common municipal necessity, extending from Boat Canyon to Diamond Street.

Ask residents around Mozambique, hostages in their own dwellings. Imagine needing a placard to park overnight in front of your own residence. Surprise, its like living near Disneyland!

Disruption and distress because City Hall has a solution in search of a problem.

Laguna Residents First no longer resonates during decisions: City Hall is definitely open for business, the commerce flag flying above the common welfare pennant.

Roger E. Butow

Laguna Beach

Republicans are doing what voters want

Re. Republicans remain the party of Just say no, and little else, (June 19): After reading the subject letter, I found myself wondering why the title of this letter and the seeming wonder by the author, so I thought I would provide some analysis.

The Republican Party ran on all the items listed in the article  the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Paris Accord, Regulations on the EPA, banks, etc.  so this is the platform they campaigned on. No surprise here.

Then the Republican Party was elected to the executive branch and majorities in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. Oh, and the party increased about 1,000 seats in state houses nationwide.

So I am thinking the voters wanted the changes that are occurring. Anyone notice who won the last four special elections?

Republicans.

Perhaps the author only watches CNN and reads the Los Angeles Times, so maybe he isnt aware that voters wanted the changes. For some reason, not many in California find these changes popular. Maybe thats it.

Juli Hayden

Newport Beach

The psychological effects of the post-truth era

Like it or not, we are now living in a post-truth world. When the truth no longer matters, scientific evidence and objective facts are devalued, even ridiculed. Alternative facts, fake news and purposeful and conscious lying and concealment become the bewildering coin of the realm.

Those seeking the truth are forced to wander through a maze of confusion, obfuscation, contradiction and deception. Public discourse becomes punctuated by personal attack, intolerance and a lack of dignity and respect. Integrity, fairness and civility are compromised in the service of influencing the narrative and outcome.

In a post-truth world, each persons interpretation of events and the story they create to explain these events is viewed as equally viable, plausible and valuable. Truth itself is perceived as relative  not absolute.

Scholars have contributed to a post-truth world by promoting the notion that the concept of absolute truth is philosophically naive and that any attempt to discover it is a futile undertaking. Psychologists have also contributed with theories about the fluidity of the truth-stories we tell ourselves and how we may learn to construct new, more positive narratives to undue past destructive ones.

What are the psychological and emotional consequences of living in a post-truth world? As a private practicing psychologist who has been doing psychotherapy for 40 years, I have a historical perspective that allows me to discern how the recent assault on truth is impacting the people who come to me for help, as well as those in the community at large.

It is evident that there is something important taking place now that was nowhere near as obvious or pronounced in the past. And that is a growing fundamental disequilibrium in of our sense of reality. It has become more difficult to determine what is fact versus fiction. The facts, evidence and logic that used to buttress our truths are no longer so reliable. Nor are the media sources of news on which we had come to rely on.

Trust in our basic sense of reality and what we know to be true, along with our own perception of internal and external events, is being challenged. When the ground of our sense of reality experiences an earthquake, our basic security is shaken along with it. More than 1,000 psychotherapists have recently signed a statement of concern that supports the negative impact on their patients this blurring of their sense of reality is having on them.

Without a firm ground of reality to support us, we become less sure of our decision-making in all areas of our lives. Personal safety is threatened, as we no longer can count on our governmental institutions to protect us. We become more unsure of our future, sometimes to a paralyzing degree, leading to pessimism and dread rather than optimism and hope.

When our psychological stability is shaken, we are susceptible to loosening our own valuing of truth. We become vulnerable to doing the same lying and deception that is modeled to us by those in power because we have been given a tacit approval that these behaviors are acceptable and may even be necessary for survival  rather than being viewed as morally reprehensible.

It is not surprising that this disruption in our sense of security may lead to anxiety, depression, confusion and despair. Nor that it may lead to anger, rage, paranoia, polarizing of emotions and intolerance.

With all the media attention to the political aspects of our forced adaptation to living in a post-truth world, let us not overlook the powerful accompanying psychological and emotional consequences that may undermine our basic sense of mental health and well-being.

Steven Hendlin

Newport Beach

How to get published: Email us at dailypilot@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length.
What if you could use a mobile app when you arrive at the airport to order dinner, a copy of your favorite magazine and a travel pillow and have it all waiting for you before you take off?

Thats the idea behind a new service called AtYourGate coming to San Diego International Airport in August. The Orange County start-up is betting fliers will like the time-saving convenience of having their purchases delivered.

David Henninger said his company seeks to provide an airport-wide solution for travelers, which means you can order from shops and restaurants in terminals other than the one youre flying out of.

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Heres how it works: You call up the app, place your order, and specify your flight and gate numbers. It will arrive at your gate about 10 minutes before boarding, for a service fee of $6.99.

AtYourGate is partnering with Grab, an airport service available in about 20 airports. With Grab, you place an order but must go to a kiosk to pick it up.

Henninger said San Diego, with 20 million travelers annually, should be a good place to test the service. The company was invited as part of the airports Innovation Lab, a hangar that was converted in 2015 into a place where vendors could try out their ideas.

Info: www.atyourgate.com

Travel@latimes.com

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@latimestravel
They killed everyone they could find in the remote village of Cinq. They murdered with guns and machetes and set babies and pregnant women on fire. They attacked the clinic and killed 90 patients and medical staff.

The April 24 attack was carried out by one of Africas newest armed militias: Bana Mura.

The group has destroyed at least 20 villages in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo over the last two months, according to the United Nations .

In a statement Tuesday, the U.N. commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Hussein, called the region a landscape of horror.

Here is what you need to know about the new crisis threatening to plunge the country into a new civil war:

Who are the Bana Mura?

Last year, an anti-government rebel group named Kamuina Nsapu sprang up in the opposition-dominated Kasai region. As the insurrection spread, human rights groups accused both the rebels and the Congolese army of committing atrocities.

In recent months, a new militia appeared, calling itself the Bana Mura. Filled with ethnic rivals of the Kamuina Nsapu, the militia appears to have been created, armed and supported by the government, according to Hussein, the U.N. human rights commissioner.

In the last two months, the Bana Mura carried out horrific attacks on villages aligned with the rebels, he said.

My team saw children as young as 2 whose limbs had been chopped off. Many babies had machete wounds and severe burns, Hussein said.

One 2-month-old baby seen by my team had been hit by two bullets four hours after birth. The mother was also wounded. At least two pregnant women were sliced open and their fetuses mutilated.

He said witnesses testified that members of the Congolese armed forces and police accompanied Bana Mura during its attacks while government agents or officials had armed and directed the group.

42 mass graves were found and two U.N. investigators, including an American, were killed. Will the deaths be investigated?

The U.N., Human Rights Watch and other groups have called for an independent international inquiry into the massacres, and the U.N. Human Rights Council last week authorized such a probe.

But the Congolese government has rejected that idea as a threat to its sovereignty, and without its cooperation any investigation is unlikely to get far.

Human rights advocates want to examine the mass killings as well as the slayings of U.N. investigators Michael Sharp of the U.S. and Zaida Catalan of Sweden, who were kidnapped and killed in March with their Congolese interpreter, Betu Tshintela, and driver, Isaac Kabuayi.

The U.N. is conducting its own investigation into that incident. The Congolese government has released video to support its claim that the rebels were responsible, but there are doubts about its authenticity.

How many people have died in the fighting?

Because of the violence, it has been difficult to access parts of the Kasai region to assess casualties. The Catholic Church used reports from its parishes to produce the first comprehensive count: 3,383 dead since October.

In a dossier released Monday, the church said some of the attacks were carried out by government forces and some by militia groups. More than 3,800 houses have been destroyed, it said.

The death toll is sure to rise. Although the Kasai fighting has been going on since August, there has been no sign of peace negotiations to end the rapidly spreading conflict.

There is no peace process, said Stephanie Wolters, an analyst on the Democratic Republic of Congo with the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies in South Africa. It will have to happen. But the government will not want to relinquish control over that process and that will delay and further escalate the situation.

President Kabila's term expired in December but he still clings to power. What has been the impact?

One family has ruled the nation since 1997, when dictator Mobutu Sese Seko was toppled by Laurent Kabila. He was assassinated in 2001 and succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila, who remains in office in violation of term limits set out in the constitution.

The familys vast business interests help explain why the family is reluctant to give up power, Wolters said.

The government delayed elections last year, saying that 18 months were needed for the voter-registration process. It now promises election by the end of 2017, though it has made little progress toward that goal.

Late last year, when the opposition held protests in the capital, Kinshasa, over Kabila's refusal to leave office, security forces responded with violence, leaving dozens dead.

Meanwhile, efforts to negotiate a transitional government have had little success, and Kabila has appointed his own prime minister and government.

Kabila has always struggled to control the country, with its sprawling geography, terrible roads and myriad armed groups, but his lack of legitimacy has further weakened his control, according to Wolters.

The impression about Kinshasa is that it is clinging to power and is willing to take the country with it, she said.

As Kabilas legitimacy has waned, signs of chaos have spread across the country. Last month, some 4,200 prisoners, including high security offenders, broke out of prison in Kinshasa.

The disproportionate response of the army in Kasai, the disproportionate response in Kinshasa to the opposition protests, these are all signs of a regime that knows it doesnt have many choices left, Wolters said. Its all signs of end-of-regime desperation.

What do the Congolese people want?

Congolese citizens want elections as soon as possible and for Kabila to leave power, according to a nationwide opinion poll conducted in May by the Congo Research Group at New York University.

It found that 24% of people approve of Kabila and that 83% support a deal made between the government and opposition parties in December to hold elections by the end of the year.

Kabila has lagged behind prominent opposition figures in other polls by the group.

The death of Etienne Tshisekedi, a veteran leader of the main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, in Brussels in February has divided and weakened the opposition and fueled uncertainty over whether Kabila will leave office peacefully. The government has not allowed his body to be repatriated, perhaps out of fear that the return would spark new opposition protests.

People continue to protest against Kabila. Thats not going away, Wolters said. Its very clear that the government lacks legitimacy. Theres still no electoral calendar. Theres still no language about Kabila leaving office.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT
Chinese authorities released detained dissident and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo on medical parole after he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, his lawyer said Monday.

Liu, 61, is receiving treatment at a hospital in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, according to his lawyer Mo Shaoping.

The Norway-based Nobel committee awarded Liu, a literary critic, poet and professor, the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 while he was serving an 11-year prison sentence for his pro-democracy writing; it commended his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

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Chinese authorities barred Lius family from attending the Nobel ceremony in Norways Oslo City Hall, and his medal and diploma were placed on an empty chair.

His wife, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest since his detention, and is reportedly suffering from depression and heart disease.

Liu had three years of his sentence remaining. Whether his family has been allowed to visit him remains unclear, and Mo, his lawyer, would not comment further on his condition. The No. 1 Hospital of the China Medical University in Shenyang, where Liu is receiving treatment, could not be reached for comment.

Clearly the restrictions on his wife, Liu Xia, continue unabated, and of course hes not been able to communicate with anyone in a public manner, said Nicholas Bequelin, regional director for East Asia at Amnesty International. I think this reflects the fact that Chinese authorities have continued a longstanding deployment of tactics to silence him, and make the world forget about him by starving everybody from any news about his condition.

His supporters, friends, and family members, have been subject to detention, surveillance, intimidation, and so on, Bequelin continued. This has long been the case, and I think for China, its to minimize the embarrassment of jailing a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. And it has been, unfortunately, fairly effective.

Beijing condemned Lius Nobel, sparking a diplomatic fallout between China and Norway. Domestically, censors virtually blacked out news of the award  though one state-run tabloid called him an incarcerated Chinese criminal  and most ordinary Chinese people are unfamiliar with his case.

In April, Beijing normalized diplomatic relations with Oslo after a six-year freeze.

Liu participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests; he gained some prominence for giving fiery speeches and trying to resolve confrontations between protesters and police. He declared a hunger strike days before the Chinese military crushed the movement, killing hundreds, if not thousands of demonstrators. Afterwards, authorities arrested Liu for counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement.

In 2008, Liu helped draft Charter 08, a manifesto demanding that Chinas leaders adopt an independent legal system, freedom of association, separation of powers and other pillars of liberal democracy. Police arrested Liu and banned his publications; he was convicted one year later of inciting subversion of state power and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

More than 10,000 people have since signed the charter.

Hatred can rot away at a persons intelligence and conscience, Liu said in a statement to a Chinese court before his incarceration.

Enemy mentality will poison the spirit of a nation, incite cruel mortal struggles, destroy a societys tolerance and humanity, and hinder a nations progress toward freedom and democracy. That is why I hope to be able to transcend my personal experiences as I look upon our nations development and social change, to counter the regimes hostility with utmost goodwill, and to dispel hatred with love.

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3:45 a.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting.

This article was originally published at 12:55 a.m.
Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday attempted to allay the fears of European nationals living in Britain, saying they would not be forced to pack their bags once the country exits the European Union.

We want you to stay, she told the roughly 3 million EU citizens who live and work in Britain during a speech in Parliament. No families will be split up.

Anyone who had been living in the country legally and continuously for five years would be eligible to apply for settled status, allowing them to remain in the country indefinitely with full rights to education, health, welfare and pension benefits, May said in a written statement to lawmakers. The new immigration status would also allow them to bring family members to live in Britain on the same terms as British nationals.

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The 15-page statement elaborates on proposals May made last week during a private dinner with EU leaders in Brussels.

I know there has been some anxiety about what would happen to EU citizens at the point we leave the European Union, May said. Today I want to put that anxiety to rest.

The statement did not appear to reassure some European officials, however.

More ambition, clarity and guarantees needed than in todays UK position, the EUs chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, tweeted Monday.

Britains opposition Labor leader, Jeremy Corbyn, also hit out at Mays proposals, saying this was an offer that could have been extended a year ago, when 52% of the country voted to leave the 28-member bloc.

Too little, too late, he said. This is peoples lives were talking about. Our neighbors, friends, husbands, wives, children.

Mays standing in ongoing negotiations about Britains departure from the EU was hurt when her Conservative Party saw its parliamentary majority wiped out and the Labor Party make strong gains in an election this month.

On Monday, Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party agreed to back Mays minority government in return for nearly $1.3 billion in additional funding for the region over the next two years.

There has been much concern in England about such a deal, given the partys opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, as well as its links to loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.

There are even fears that it could revive sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland, where the Nationalist party Sinn Fein, backed by many Catholics, advocated remaining in the EU, while the Democratic Unionist Party said it would support Mays government on Brexit.

The partys 10 members of Parliament will give the prime minister a small, yet crucial, majority. But her confidence appears to have been shaken by the election results. Mays earlier bold statements about no Brexit deal being better than a bad deal were noticeably absent in Mondays speech on the status of EU nationals, which was conciliatory.

This referendum was not a vote to turn our backs on our friends and neighbors, May said.

But she made clear that she was seeking reciprocal guarantees from partners on the continent for the more than 1 million British nationals living there.

The date by which EU citizens would need to have lived in Britain for five years in order to qualify for settled status has not been specified, but is likely to fall between March 2017, when Article 50 of the EU treaty was triggered beginnings Britains formal withdrawal, and March 2019, when Brexit negotiations are supposed to end.

Under Mays plan, those who havent been in the country long enough would have to apply for temporary residency in the short-term, but could apply for settled status once five years have elapsed. There also would be a two-year grace period after Brexit takes effect during which EU citizens could continue to live in Britain while their status is being resolved.

Although May has said that she received a strong, positive response from her European counterparts to her proposals last week, publicly there has been some noticeable disdain. European Council President Donald Tusk said Mays offer was below expectations and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, said it was not sufficient.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was a good beginning but added that it was not a breakthrough.

On Monday, the European Parliaments chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, said he would be studying Mays written proposal closely, but there remained a number of worrisome limitations.

Among the likely sticking points is what if any role the European Court of Justice would play in adjudicating the rights of EU citizens in Britain.

May believes that British courts should have oversight over these issues but that is unlikely to sit well with the EU.

And then there is the matter of paperwork.

Given the number of EU citizens currently in Britain, the government could be faced with millions of applications to process. Officials have promised to implement a light touch online system, which would not involve unnecessary form filling, but have not divulged details.

Boyle is a special correspondent.
As the time for afternoon prayers approaches, Onder Soy puts on a white robe and cap and switches on the microphone in a small 19th century room adjoining the Hagia Sophia.

Soon, Soys melodic call to prayer rings out over a square filled with tourists hurrying to visit some of Turkeys most famous historical sights before they close for the day.

The room Soy is in  built as a resting place for the sultan and now officially called the Hagia Sophia mosque  fills up with around 40 worshipers, drawn not by the modestly decorated space itself, but by the ancient building it shares a wall with.

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Built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in AD 537, the Hagia Sophia was originally a Greek Orthodox basilica and one of the most important churches in all of Christendom. It became a mosque in 1453 after the Ottoman Empire defeated the Byzantines and took over Constantinople.

With the birth of a secular Turkish Republic, the Hagia Sophia became a museum in 1935, meant to highlight the shared legacy of the space for the worlds two largest religions. But, eight decades later, the fate of this building still tugs at the hearts of Muslims and Christians alike.

In October, Turkeys Directorate of Religious Affairs appointed Soy as the full-time imam for the room adjoining the Hagia Sophia, a space that opened in 1992 but was previously only meant for workers in the area to use for prayers.

Five times a day now, Soys voice rings out, not just as a call to daily prayer, but also as an audible reminder for many Muslims in Turkey that their long-held dream of worshiping inside the Hagia Sophia may become a reality.

This June, three separate groups led marches to the museum calling for its opening as a mosque. One group began a campaign asking people to remove their shoes before they enter the building, just as they would when entering a mosque.

I have never entered the Hagia Sophia and I never will until it is reopened as a mosque, said Emrullah Celik, 29, an activist who has helped lead a small but influential grassroots campaign to have the building converted to a mosque. We want to enter with a prayer rug, not with a ticket.

Its not like the stones of the Hagia Sophia are holy, there is nothing inside it that makes it special, but God told us it is important, said Salih Akyuz, the head of the youth branch of the Saadet Party, one of several Islamist groups that led a march to the Hagia Sophia on May 29, the 564th anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. We were taught by our prophet Muhammad that Constantinople was an important place, and this was the most important place in the city, so it is dear to our hearts.

Outside the Hagia Sophia, two women walk past Soy and purchase tickets to enter the museum. One places a shawl over her head and briefly kneels to make the sign of the cross, her eyes fixed on a glimmering 9th century mosaic above the basilicas Imperial Door.

Thousands of marble squares, semiprecious stones, and cut glass in dozens of colors depict Christ seated on a throne, flanked by the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel, with the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI kneeling, cherishing the chance to kiss Christs feet.

For nearly a thousand years, the Imperial Door  made of wood that some believe came from Noahs Ark  was opened only for emperors.

Justinian I was reportedly hoping to outdo Solomons Temple, and to many of those who visited the Hagia Sophia over the centuries, he succeeded.

A series of semicircles draw the eye to the center of the space and a 108-foot-wide dome is set on 40 windows that seems to float some 200 feet in the air.

Three aisles running east to west are separated by rows of massive Corinthian columns topped with leaves and scrolls so elaborate it is difficult to fathom they were carved in stone.

The floor has been weathered so smooth by 14 centuries of visitors, in some places signs remind you that it is slippery.

Nearly every Byzantine emperor until 1453 was crowned in the Hagia Sophia. In 1054, a representative of the Latin Pope Leo IX marched up to the central altar and declared the patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated, marking the beginning of the Great Schism that would separate the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic faiths.

The basilicas most awe-inspiring contents have been the nearly four acres of mosaics that once covered its walls, most of which were obscured during Ottoman rule to adhere to a strict Islamic ban on images inside mosques. But even as a mosque, visitors could often peer up at giant mosaics of angels with their faces obscured, or make out Greek crosses inside the painted designs encircling them that were meant to convert them into benign geometric patterns.

We want to enter with a prayer rug, not with a ticket.  Emrullah Celik, an activist who has led a grassroots campaign to convert the Hagia Sophia to a mosque

With the rise in popularity in Turkey of Ottoman-themed television shows and the promotion of the nations imperial heritage by the ruling AK Party, the marches and similar rallies at the Hagia Sophia have become increasingly frequent.

At the May 29 march, a man dressed in royal regalia meant to mimic that of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, rode a white horse along the route that was used by the sultans soldiers in 1453 as they breached the city walls and headed for the Hagia Sophia.

At a side door to the museum today, a saying attributed to Muhammad is found in intricate gold calligraphy: You [my followers] will conquer Constantinople, and the leader who does so will be great, and his army will be great.

Muhammads immediate successors tried unsuccessfully to take the city, as did a long line of Ottoman leaders before it finally fell to Mehmet II, whose tomb, two miles away, is a popular pilgrimage point for the pious.

Nearly 3.5 million people visit the Hagia Sophia annually, making it the most popular tourist attraction in Turkey. But not everyone in Turkey is eager to see the treasures inside.

In the predawn hours, Celik and a few dozen young men and women gathered before the museum entrance, and had a picnic breakfast, the last meal before the start of a Ramadan fast.

If now is not the right time, when is? Celik asked.

While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held off on announcing any retooling of the Hagia Sophia, Islamists see hopeful signs, like the opening of the full-time mosque in the small adjoining room.

As Celik and the others gulped down glasses of water in preparation for the fast, a TV news satellite van parked nearby carried a live feed from inside the Hagia Sophia.

The show, broadcast nationally since last year, features a soft-spoken host interviewing a rotating cast of academics, historians and religious scholars. The last half-hour features a recitation of the Koran inside the museum, the only occasion on which such a practice has been allowed by authorities.

Celik helped spark the current round of interest around the Hagia Sophia. In May 2014, he and a handful of activists organized an early morning march on the museum that ended up drawing thousands.

At the time, it was a hot topic, and me and a group of young activists were thinking, how can we get people to be more interested, to put more pressure on our leaders? said Celik.

After the march, the Greek government and the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church condemned the proposal to turn the building into a mosque. Meanwhile, one Islamist group, the Anatolia Youth Assn., collected more than 15 million signatures on a petition calling for the mosque to be reopened.

A bill to do so was introduced in parliament, only to be quietly withdrawn by the ruling AK Party. Erdogan, then prime minister, who has built his political career on empowering conservative Muslims in Turkey, rebuffed Celik and the other activists, saying they should first fill the nearby Blue Mosque with worshipers before turning to the Hagia Sophia.

On other occasions, Erdogan has said he would like to see the Hagia Sophia eventually become a mosque, but the presidents pace, and real motivations for such rhetoric, does not impress Islamist activists like Celik.

If the issue was about filling mosques, why is Erdogan building the Camlica mosque? How is he going to fill that? said Celik, referring to a new mosque nearing completion on a hill overlooking Istanbul that will be the largest in the country.

Its a political issue in Turkey, and the AK Party has taken some steps so far to make it [the Hagia Sophia] a mosque, but that has not been enough.

If Mehmet IIs conversion of the church to a mosque in the 15th century was a turning point, Celik says, Turkey is ready today for a new historic moment.

For us, 1453 was a symbol of Islam winning over Christianity, said Celik. Now, for those who want to keep the Hagia Sophia a museum  I think a very small number of people  its a symbol of secularism winning over Islam. But Turkey has changed, and they are out of touch with it.

Umar Farooq is a special correspondent.
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Thilo Mannhardt will relinquish his role at the Brazilian LPG distributor in October and Frederico Curado will take over
A tourist boat carrying close to 170 passengers capsized on Sunday close to the Colombian city of Medellin. Authorities believe that at least 6 people died and 16 are still missing.

Dramatic videos are circulating on social media showing El Almirante ferry rocking back and forth as people rushed to the roof while the boat was sinking in a matter of minutes.

About 28 people are missing after the four-deck Almirante vessel went down near the tourist town of Guatape, Columbia (via BBC) pic.twitter.com/16zLquUUXG  Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 26, 2017

The air force and firefighters are searching for survivors at the Guatape lake reservoir where the ferry sank. Survivors described to local media hearing a loud explosion before the boat ran out of power.

"We don't know what happened, 5 minutes after the departure everything was fine when we heard a loud explosion, ran out of power and watch how half of the boat was sinking. That's when all the people ran to the other side. Everyone was screaming and water started to flood on board. People who was on the upper level wouldn't let us go up. I took 2 kids and got ready to get out of there swimming.", a survivor told local media.

As water flooded on board, pressure built and people were sucked under by the sinking ship. One of the survivors told El Tiempo newspaper the crew never gave lifejackets to the passengers.

133 personas rescatadas con vida, 16 desaparecidos y 6 fallecidos es el saldo que deja hasta ahora emergencia por naufragio en #Guatape pic.twitter.com/tvs7dlEsyr  UNGRD (@UNGRD) June 26, 2017

It is unclear what caused the accident but survivors told the press that the boat appeared to be overloaded.
More than 300 divided families from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua and El Paso, Texas met at the dried-up riverbed of the Rio Grande, the body of water separating the United States and Mexico, for approximately three minutes.

The "Hugs Not Walls" event, which was the fourth organized by the non-profit group, Border Network for Human Rights, had the largest turnout thus far.

"Thanks to everyone who made this possible because three minutes are enough to show how much love runs in the family," one of the participants told local media.

Hundreds of people from families separated by the US-Mexico border attended a reunion event dubbed "Hugs Not Walls" https://t.co/XhyeI0p98m pic.twitter.com/3kBFQ6Bmf9  AFP news agency (@AFP) June 25, 2017

BNHR Executive Director Fernando Garcia stated that the organization's mission is, in large part, to give families the chance to be reunited.

At the same time, Mr. Garcia mentioned that the event is a demonstration of sorts where people are expressing their strong disapproval of a border wall that tears families apart.

"We need to bring attention to those families that have been in detention, deported and separated [from] their family members."

BNHR representatives engaged and worked closely with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents to facilitate the event.

Many of those who were able to spend some time with their children, parents, siblings, and other relatives had not done so in decades.

In the face of President Donald Trump's immigration policies, the three-minute reunion has drawn attention to the extreme lengths families will go to be together.
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Claudio Ranieri "wants to forget" his spell as Leicester City manager as he looks to the future with new club Nantes.

The 65-year-old held his first press conference as boss of the Ligue 1 side on Monday afternoon, answering questions in French, English and Italian as he worked his charm on local, national and international reporters.

And while he expressed pride in his achievements at City, thanking the clubs fans for the love shown to him, he said it was important to move on as he looks to write a new script in western France.

Leicester was fantastic, Ranieri said. The love shown to me by the people of Leicester was unbelievable.

But I want to forget Leicester. Now, Im at Nantes. Its very important to work with humility, but with the desire to do something good.

(Image: Damien Meyer - AFP/Getty Images)

The Italian also described the differences between City and Nantes, pointing to the French clubs rather bigger trophy cabinet, while disagreeing that he had something to prove because of the nature of his departure from the King Power Stadium.

Leicester was unique because they had not won in previous years, said Ranieri. Now, I have arrived at a club that has won eight titles, so it is an honour for me to be the manager of Nantes.

I am an experienced manager. Every day, I have something to prove to myself, but not to other people.

I made a very good career and its not finished yet. I want to improve my career.
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Patients and families fighting to save children's heart services at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital are to meet NHS officials on Saturday.

Campaigners have criticised the short notice given by NHS England but said they are sure there will be a good turn out.

They are also preparing to make their views known at a meeting of the Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland joint health scrutiny committee tomorrow evening.

The meetings follow an announcement by NHS England last year in which officials said that surgery for children born with heart defects should stop at Glenfield Hospital.

They argued that the hospital was not meeting new standards and that it was unlikely to be able to do so in the future.

Bosses at Leicester's hospitals have refuted this and said they are on target to meet the standards and have submitted their plans to NHS England.

Shirley Barnes, from New Parks, has been helping to spearhead protests against closure.

Her son George was six weeks old when doctors found four problems with this heart - 19 years ago.

Shirley said: "We only heard about the meeting late last week and are trying to publicise it so as many people as possible can attend.

"We are hoping to get some answers this time.

"We have already asked about the costs involved in moving services to hospitals such as Birmingham and what is happening about Ecmo (extra corporeal membrane oxygenation) services.

"NHS England said it is in 'listening mode' but officials still haven't provided answers."

Richard French, a spokesman for the Leicestershire charity Hear Link, has also appealed to people to get to the meeting if they can.

He said: "We are hoping for a good turn out."

An NHS England spokesman said the meeting was announced in a blog published by John Stewart, NHS England's acting director of specialised commissioning on June 16.

In it Mr Stewart said: "It's important that anyone who wants to contribute to the consultation does so in the coming weeks we want to hear your views and thoughts."

The Leicester Mercury Patients' Panel will be among individuals and campaigners putting their views to a meeting of the Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland joint health scrutiny committee this evening.

Two officials from NHS England are also expected at the meeting.

The patient and family event will be held at Glenfield Hospital on Saturday from 1-4pm.

It is only open to patients and their families and those wanting to attend need to e mail england.congenitalhearts@nhs.net

The public consultation is due to end at midnight on Monday, July 17.
It's a case of a job half done at the Portlaoise prison complex with the Governor left to find the cash for what would give a badly needed facelift to the shabby boundary wall.

The Leinster Express has learned that extensive painting work at the Irish Prison Service (IPS) training college in Portlaoise will not continue to the now boundary walls of the Midlands Prison.

Work is complete on the Brian Stack Training Centre boundary walls, railings and gates on the town's Dublin Road. It is located just beside the Midlands Prison complex.

The work has dramatically enhanced the building's exterior with painted carried out to a high standard.

The Leinster Express asked the IPS if it was planned to continue with the work along the Dublin Road to include the Midlands Prison.

"The painting referred to is just part of the normal maintenance of the building and grounds for the college.

"While all are part of the IPS, the College is separate to the midlands with its own Governor and budgets. There are currently no plans to paint exterior wall of the Midlands Prison," regards.
Laois County Council is on a collision course with a Government Minister over wind turbines after voting to effectively ban wind energy from the county.

County councillors have voted by a narrow margin to include a so-called 'red zone map' for turbine development in the new Laois County Development Plan. This map designates no area of Laois as suitable for wind energy generation.

A majority of councillors voted against a yellow map which included designated areas of Laois for turbines. The map was proposed by Mr John Mulholland, Chief Executive.

The CEO warned the councillors in advance to adopt his proposal. They had rejected the proposal earlier this year.

"If members proceed, it means Laois County Council is making a decision that it does not support wind energy. This is against Government policy. My advice is there should be some zoning," he said.

They voted 9 to 8 to reject the CEO's proposal to replace the red map.

The six Fine Gael councillors led the vote to keep all windturbines out of Laois, Cllrs Willie Aird, Tom Mulhall, Dave Goodwin, John King, Mary Sweeney and John Moran, joined by Fianna Fail's Paddy Bracken and Seamus McDonald whose areas north of Mountmellick contain a yellow zone, and Independent Cllr Ben Brennan.



Voting with the CEO's proposal to use the map with yellow zones, in the hope of keeping some control over windfarm zoning in Laois, were Cllrs Caroline Dwane, John Joe Fennelly, Catherine Fitzgerald, Padraig Fleming, Jerry Lodge, Paschal McEvoy, Aidan Mullins and Brendan Phelan.

Cllrs James Kelly and Noel Tuohy were absent from the meeting.

A copy of the new county development plan now goes to the Environment Minister, coming into effect four weeks from today.

The CEO told councillors, "You must now furnish me with a sustainable argument, reasons why the report was not accepted," he said.



A number of wind turbine companies challenged the ban on zoning for turbines.

They said it would be unlawful, and against EU laws on renewables. They also described the decision as "irrational" and "violation of property rights of landowners".

They also argued that the councillors had failed to give "coherent scientific reasons" for the ban. They said there could be legal costs in potential legal challenges, in the high court, including damages.

Brian Ramsbottom from the Swan, Luggacurran, Wolfhill, Stradbally wind awareness group was in the gallery.

"The councillors seemed confused what they were voting on. Some were concerned that it is better to have the yellow areas left, but we are damned if we do, and damned if we don't. Overall I am happy with the vote, but there is a fear now that the Minister can come down and blanket the county," he said.
Young musicians from Music Generation Laois took centre stage, when they performed for an audience of national and international delegates, including An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, at the Gala Celebration of The Ireland Funds Worldwide Conference 2017 in Powerscourt Estate.

The show-stopping performance by the 31-member Music Generation Laois Trad Orchestra was led by Donegal-based musician and composer Martin Tourish (Altan), and by orchestra directors Paul Finn (accordion) and Siobhan Buckley (harp).

Together, the ensemble presented extracts from the spectacular traditional suite Visions and Voices, which was created by Martin in collaboration with members of the orchestra to mark the Centenary of Easter 2016.

The original commission, which reflects on the events leading up to and including the 1916 Rising in Ireland, was funded by the Laois 2016 Community Fund, Per Cent for Art through the Laois Arts Office and the Music Generation Arts Council Partnership. The piece culminates with a great sense of optimism for the future, which is audible in the final movement 'Possibility'.

Just after the performance, 17-year-old flute player David Vesey, from Abbeyleix, said: 'We all really enjoyed this evening and it was a great opportunity that only Music Generation could provide. It was a great honour to perform in front of such a fantastic crowd at such a prestigious event and we all really appreciated the brilliant opportunity.'

Following the event, Rosaleen Molloy, national director of Music Generation said: 'I would like to congratulate this ensemble of terrific young musicians from Laois on their electric performance this evening. It is a privilege for Music Generation to have the opportunity to perform at such a prestigious event, and we are very grateful to The Ireland Funds for providing this platform for our young musicians to showcase their own music on an international stage'.
A Moldovan man was earlier today sentenced to four years in prison, with 18 months suspended, for Dangerous Driving causing the death of a motorcyclist.

Maxim Grosu, with an address listed as 27 Ruanbeg Way, Ruanbeg, Kildare Town is also charged with driving with no insurance or a driving licence on December 8, 2015 on the Kildare to Nurney road.

He was also banned from driving for 10 years, with the disqualification to kick upon his release from custody.;

At approximately 5.30 on the evening of Tuesday, December 8, 2015, Mr Grosu was driving a black Nissan van from Kildare town towards the Athy direction and attempted to overtake two cars in front of him.

As he did so, he moved out onto the wrong side of the road and into path of the oncoming motorcyclist, Sallins man Shane McCormack.

Mr McCormacks mother Grace was driving behind her son on the day in question and came across the crash scene only moments after it occurred.

Judge Michael OShea admitted he couldnt imagine the words to describe how traumatic that must have been for her.

In his summing up, the Judge said the death of the exceptionally decent and popular young man had had an extraordinary effect on his family, his parents Terry and Grace and his brother Thomas.

He said that while there was no intention on the part of Mr Grosu to cause the collision, he said that he was clearly negligent and had performed and dangerous manoeuvre.

Tara Burns SC, instructed by Matt Byrne, for the defence, said that her client is a Moldovan with essentially no english.

The 27 year old is married with one young child and is the sole provider for the family.

His father also lives with him and he sends money home to his mother in Moldova.

Glowing references from previous and current employers, Kildare Chilling and Dawn Farm Foods were handed in, as was a reference from the Ministry of Education in Moldova which described the defendant as a diligent student, a good classmate and somebody with leadership qualities.

The defendant suffers from depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since the crash and is seeing both a psychiatrist and is on medication.

A Probation Report concluded that he was at a very low risk of reoffending.

He had a previous conviction for drink driving dating back to February 2014. As a result he was driving while disqualified on the day that Mr McCormack was fatally injured.

Judge Michael OShea explained that the maximum sentence for an offence of this kinda is 10 years and that this incident was at the higher end of the scale.

He noted the defendants plea of guilty and his co-operation with the investigation and imposed four years, with 18 months suspended. He also disqualified him from driving for a total of 10 years.
Gardai have confirmed they are continuing to investigate a serious incident in Edenderry on Saturday night, June 24. They responded to a live situation involving a weapon at Churchview Heights, Edenderry, Co. Offaly at approximately 5.45pm.

There were reports of an armed man in Edenderry and a specialised unit of An Garda Siochana responded. An armed response jeep and four further Garda vehicles were involved in the operation.

The situation soon moved through Edenderry from the Churchview Heights area to the St. Francis Street area at the opposite end of the town.

At least 12 Garda personnel were on the scene as a team of their colleagues armed with machine guns, chased and tackled a man on the grounds of St. Mary's Secondary School. The male was apprehended and placed into the back of a marked Garda vehicle.

Gardai confirmed yesterday that a man in is 30s was arrested under section 30 of the Offences against the State Act 1939 and is currently detained at Tullamore Garda Station. A Garda source confirmed to the Offaly Express on Saturday night that the operation was related to weapons.

It's understood Gardai subsequently carried out a number of searches in Edenderry, but no further arrests were made.
Ireland's youngest priest, and a Newbridge native, will say his first mass this evening.

David Vard from Athgarvan was ordained to the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin in a special ceremony at St. Conleths Church yesterday afternoon, June 25.

Fr. Davids First Mass of Thanksgiving will take place in Cill Mhuire church, Newbridge at 7pm this evening June 26, and everybody is welcome to attend.

Afterwards, parishioners will be able to receive the First Blessing of the new priest.

He has been appointed a curate in Portlaoise.

The 25-year-old is the first person from Newbridge to be ordained for the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin in over 20 years.



The new priest is son of David Vard, Senior, and Liz Yelverton. He has two sisters - Rebecca and Charlotte.

A past pupil of the Patrician Secondary School, and a former member of Newbridge Rugby Club, David began his priestly studies immediately after his Leaving Cert in 2010, aged 18.

Speaking to Brenda Drumm of the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference, David said: I was 16 in Transition Year, and I made a promise with myself in Transition Year to say yes to everything.

And that yes landed me in Lourdes .

The Parish Priest rang the school looking for two volunteers to come to Lourdes. The school asked me and another man from my class, and we went to Lourdes in the summer after Transition Year, pushing wheelchairs, helping people, what any volunteer does in Lourdes.

And then a conversation with Fr. Joe McDermott, the Parish Priest of Newbridge at the time, I asked him questions like did you ever want to get married, why did you want to be a priest? And he answered honestly and openly.

I came away from the conversation going 'Priests are normal', and then that subtle question at the time, 'maybe I could be a priest?', and then I thought no, but that question kept coming back.

Fr. David is overwhelmed by support. I'm in love with the priesthood, and now I get to be that, something that I love, and I just can't wait to be that, he added.
This October, I will have been associated with the Liberals and the Liberal Democrats for some 45 years. In 1972 I joined the Liberal Students at Manchester University Medical School where my best subjects were Psychology and Psychiatry so it is unsurprising, perhaps, that I have not only pursued the interests of the NHS as a whole but have also retained a special interest in Mental Health matters.

One of the much-trumpeted achievements of the Llib Dems in Coalition was to raise the profile of mental health within the NHS and Norman Lamb in particular pushed the need for an earmarked expansion of funding so that Mental Health Services (whether we talk about Alzheimers or child psychiatry services) could reach a level playing field with physical health matters.

But has this happened? Two years after the Coalition has ended, there are reports that mental Health Services have been CUT across a wide range of NHS Trusts. It is fine for Theresa May to talk the talk but does her government walk the walk?

Terrorist incidents and hideous fires rightly catch the headlines when scores of people perish unnecessarily. Yet it is an unavoidable fact of life that more people meet preventable early ends to their life every month due to mental health issues than die from terrorism or negligence of building inspectors combined in any year. So, while we should indeed take every step we can to try to reduce the impact of terrorism on our society and pursue to the nth degree questions as to how tower blocks get clad with inflammable material, please do not allow those matters to divert you from a far, far bigger killer. If those previously-promised resources are not piled into mental health services as Norman Lamb sought to have them piled in (and received coalition assurances that they would be piled in) then the relentless death toll will continue and possibly rise all over the country.

Any life brought to an end early is a tragedy but I was brought up to believe, as a Liberal, that no particular life has more value than any other. Each tragedy, whatever the cause, leaves husbands, wives, sons and daughters, mother, brothers, fathers and sisters as well as close friends bereft. Please keep up the pressure on mental health provision and funding in your area, your region and the nation.

* Councillor Tony Dawson is Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet member for Health and Adult Care on Sefton MBC . He is a former NHS middle manager and whistleblower who, in 1991, won a Judicial Review in the High Court against the NW Regional Health Authority for their improper dismissal of him.
The Liberal Democrat vote fell in June because too few voters believed we were the party on their side and fighting for them on the issues they cared about.

That wasnt the only reason of course, but it was the main one.

So what next?

Forget talk of a progressive alliance. Labour will use it to beat us up. Caroline Lucas championed a progressive alliance and for her troubles the Green vote more than halved. Labour are always happy to take Lib Dem votes lent to them in the cause of beating the Tories, but in Lib Dem/Conservative marginals Labour actively campaigned against the Lib Dems. Had they not done so, May probably wouldnt be Prime Minister. But Labour prefers to stop the Lib Dems and Greens even if it means a Tory government and thats not going to change.

No. The Lib Dems will only survive and prosper by carving out a space for ourselves. Not some theoretical slot on the left-right spectrum. Not simply were not the Tories/Labour and we can win here. But a space where a substantial proportion of the British public see the party as fighting for them and on their side.

The political space we fashion for ourselves must build on our core beliefs and our history, but it cannot be so narrow that it stops us winning seats. Any political platform must have the ability to bring on board 40%+ of voters across tens or hundreds of constituencies and 20%+ of voters across all constituencies.

That space should include Liberal Democrat concerns about freedom, equality and individuality. It should encompass our pro-European and internationalist beliefs too.

For me, the Liberal Democrats natural place is the party of aspiration and business. The party that understands that a strong, wealthy, inclusive country needs a strong, healthy economy and that relies on business  especially small and medium sized businesses  being able to set up, grow and succeed. The party of the entrepreneur, the self-employed and the regular person working 9-5 to improve the lot of themselves and their family.

Faced with a heartless, incompetent and anti-business Conservative party, intent on running down our economy by taking us out of the European Union, and a Labour Party selling fantasy economics, our nation needs a liberal party dedicated to economic growth that benefits all, to protecting our freedoms and playing our full part in the world.

Of course I am not for a moment claiming that a few speeches by our new leader, will be sufficient. Many challenges will remain if we are to succeed in taking ownership of this political space and getting our message across to voters both in volume and over time.

But I am absolutely certain that, unless we create that space and persuade a substantial proportion of the electorate that we are the ones who are on their side and will do the best for them, all our efforts will be for nought.

* Iain Roberts is a Stockport councillor, LGA Peer and consultation, communications and public affairs consultant specialising in the built environment.
Im not a gambling man, but a few months ago I placed a bet for the first time in my life. It was that Emmanuel Macron would win the French election. It was an expression of hope, which paid off.

Today I am betting on the success of a second referendum on Europe  either staying in the EU or re-joining it, preferably the former. My hope is that the dice will roll in our favour and the people will get it right next time round.

Not that Im any great fan of referendums, as readers of my previous posts will know. Much can be done to soften the blow without invoking another one. But to reverse the earlier result and stay a member of the EU is likely to require the voice of the people again.

How acceptable will that be to Brenda from Bristol? Well, the snap election was waved through without hesitation despite arguments to the contrary. It is in fact quite difficult to argue against putting things to the people.

The tide is turning

Last week, on the first anniversary of the Brexit vote. I wrote a piece for my local newspaper arguing that Brexit was a clear mistake and the country can still change its mind. I was pitted against TV presenter Quentin Willson, who argued the opposite with all the force and eloquence he is noted for, saying we must turn our backs on selfish Brussels.

But there was a distinct change in tone. Gone was the brash confidence in the sunny uplands that await us once liberated from the shackles of the EU. In its place, a plaintive resentment that we will be denied the utopia that is rightfully ours. The Brexiters are on the back foot, and the only thing that keeps their juggernaut rolling is a sort of fatalistic compulsion that we have to go through with it, or as Magnus Magnusson would say Ive started so Ill finish.

I do not believe there will be any cataclysmic event to prompt an emergency reversal. We are not going to fall off any cliff. Life for most Britons will go on from day to day, our gradual decline as a country will be most apparent to those standing outside Britain.

What, then, can motivate a change of heart? For an answer, look to Emmanuel Macron. His passion for a united Europe has powered his meteoric rise. Under his proposed reforms the EU will become closer to the people. One envisages EU studies in schools, cultural exchanges, sporting sponsorship.

Rennaisance of the EU

Quentin Willson described the present European Commission as  a huge plate-glass factory where thousands of self interested officials and well paid bureaucrats dispense daily flannel. Unkind, but he has a point. If the EU had been less remote, Ebbw Vale in South Wales, which had benefited hugely from EU investment, would not have voted to leave.

But that is past history, and Europe is on the up and up. Britain can be part of this renaissance. Richard Dawkins has even suggested that the Liberal Democrats should rename themselves the European Party, leaving behind all the heavy baggage of the coalition and tuition fees with the old name, emerging like a butterfly from its chrysalis.

Second time lucky

The point is that we need to be offering hope, not dwelling on past failure. It may look far away at the moment, but so did Macrons presidency when I bet on it. So thats why Im gambling on another referendum on Europe, no matter how long it takes, and keeping my fingers crossed that we will be second time lucky.

* John King is a retired doctor and Remain campaigner.
In one of his last official functions, the outgoing Mayor of Limerick signed a friendship agreement with representatives from the Chinese province of Jiading - the latest knot in a diplomatic tie that goes back more than 10 years.

This comes more than 10 years on from a controversial trip headed by the council to China, which sought to forge links between the regions.

At a meeting in Bunratty, the mayor was accompanied by FF Cllr Kevin Sheahan, who has travelled to China twice on behalf of Limerick City and County Council, and who said that has has made very good friends and connections through the diplomatic visits.

I know there are parts of Ireland and parts of Europe would love to have the friendship and commercial connections that we have made with this group, and most of all, they trust us, said Cllr Kevin Sheahan.

The word trust is very important, no matter how attractive commercial activity is to them, they must trust the person at the other side, he added.

Cllr Kevin Sheahan suggested a number of investment opportunities to the delegation, including the use of Foynes Port by the Chinese as a base to transport goods to other parts of the world.

The port is both deep and wide enough to accommodate their vessels, said the councillor.

Some members of the delegation had not known that the Shannon could accommodate such vessels, and it is hoped that some investment can come from the talks.

Those are the things. When I went in 2002, I was ridiculed by the media for squandering taxpayers money, said Cllr Sheahan.

It was one of the smartest things I got a chance to do in my career as a public representative. When we were able to meet a delegation of people whom we had never met before, and within 10 minutes, we were totally at ease with each other, you could tell that there was a relationship there, added the Askeaton councillor.

The seed has been sown, and there will be a harvest off it yet. It may not be the items Ive identified, but they know we are here and they know what they have, he added.
A YOUNG habitual drug user shouted abuse at a judge in Limerick court calling her a prostitute after she refused to grant bail.

Clyde Keogh, aged 21, who has an address at Ballyclough Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, was brought before Limerick District Court after he was charged with multiple offences in relation to several incidents last week.

In addition to facing burglary, theft and criminal damage charges, Keogh is also accused of stealing a car which was found on fire a number of hours later.

All of the offences are alleged to have happened last Tuesday night into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Opposing bail, Garda Tim OConnor said it will be alleged that, after being invited to a home on Hyde Road the defendant stole the keys to a car and drove the vehicle without permission.

This car, the court heard, was found on fire at Fr Russell Road, Dooradoyle a number of hours later.

Keogh is also accused of damaging a number of cars at Raheen Industrial Estate while breaking into them.

Garda Tim OConnor said statements have been taken from a number of independent witness and that CCTV footage has been obtained by gardai.

Solicitor Darach McCarthy questioned the credibility of the witnesses and the veracity of what they told gardai. It may well suit their purpose to say that someone else took the vehicle, and pinning it on my client, he told the court adding that there was nothing distinguishable about the clothing his client was wearing when arrested.

Inspector Ollie Kennedy said he believed Keogh would commit more serious crimes to feed his drug habit if released. When Judge Marian OLeary indicated she was refusing bail, Keogh shouted f*** you from the custody area of the courtroom calling her a prostitute.
The prosecution at the Special Criminal Court trial of a Limerick man accused of assault has closed its case.

It is alleged that Larry McCarthy, aged 37, who has an address at Tower Lodge, Crossagalla, Old Cork Road was among a number of people who threatened to use unlawful violence and assaulted David Foran, 33, at Cornmarket Villas on November 25, 2014.

The incident allegedly happened as Mr Foran was travelling to collect 5,000 which he had accepted as compensation from a motorcyclist who knocked him down less than a fortnight earlier.

Previously, the non-jury court heard that in a statement to gardai Mr Foran identified Larry McCarthy as the man who stabbed him.

Cross-examined Detective Garda Gerard Healy this Monday, Barry White SC asked why Mr Foran's statement (to gardai) was not recorded on video.

The detective said that a camera wasn't going to be beneficial.

Mr White put it to the witness that the lack of a video recording of the statement also handicaps the defence to which he replied. That is your opinion.

Det Garda Healy added that there was no obligation on him to record the taking of the statement.

Mr White put it to the detective that he did not ask Mr Foran to clarify who he was talking about when he said Larry McCarthy.

Referring to the statement, the detective said that Mr Foran described Larry McCarthy as stocky with red hair and being unshaven.

So, he told me, the detective said.

The barrister then said that the detective never asked Mr Foran if it was the Larry McCarthy who lived in Cornmarket Villas. There could be more Larry McCarthys, Mr White said.

There certainly could, said the detective.

Earlier, Detective Garda Pat Whelan told John Byrne BL, prosecuting, that Mr McCarthy denied any involvement in the alleged assault.

The trial continues in front of Ms Justice Kennedy, sitting with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge Gerard Haughton.
A NEW showcase of ideas being presented at the Belltable has been inspired by an edition of the Limerick Leader.

The Belltable:Connect Theatre Makers showcase of ideas will feature 13 artists presenting five pieces over five nights.

The theatre artists from around Ireland assembled in January, under an initiative spearheaded by Belltable programme manager Marketa Dowling - one which was funded by the Arts Council and formed a natural off-shoot from the Hatch LK scheme run by Maeve McGrath and Monica Spencer previously.

The six month theatre artist development scheme started in January and saw the practitioners come together to create, collaborate and stretch their creative comfort zones through monthly meetings, mentored, guided and supported by playwright Deirdre Kinahan and director Lynne Parker. The showcase is the result - with the Leader the inspiration point for the work.

We thought it would be interesting and of relevance to audiences in Limerick, if the new work was the goal of the scheme was inspired by life in Limerick. And we thought, what better medium to choose than the Limerick Leader, explained Marketa.

We got a stack of copies and every artist took one home and read it inside out and they picked out pieces of particular interest to them.

So what has actually come out of it that will be part of the showcase of ideas is, one of the pieces are inspired by Ardnacrusha, Limerick's connection with the pork industry and a new play that was written about a missing person, all of which were in the paper.

That is really interesting to me and what I really like about that is all these pieces are brand new, they are fresh, they have started off as something and the artist took them and ran with it and created something that is new and was inspired by Limerick life, she adds.

The scheme forms part of Marketas stated aim to make the Belltable - now run under the auspices of the Lime Tree Theatre - not just a receiving house, but a centre for development of theatre in Limerick as well.

To that end, Marketa and the Lime Tree team are particularly excited about an award of 27,450 from the Arts Council for the Theatre Artist Development Scheme as a follow on from theatre makers.

And, Katie OKelly has been awarded 19,030 as the Belltables new Artist in Residence for 2018, showing that the venue has strongly returned as the focal point of artistic and theatrical life in Limerick.

For more, see www.limetreetheatre.ie.
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Starmus IV, our fourth incarnation of the Starmus Festival, is history. The event took place June 1823, 2017, in Trondheim, Norway. We had record crowds with 2,500 in attendance and thousands more seeing Starmus related exhibits and events throughout the city of Trondheim. I know that an average of 18,000 people watched the livestream. I think its fair to say it was the most amazing science festival put on thus far, and Ill be summarizing events that occurred during the week over the next few days. As anyone who was there knows, Starmus went from morning through well after midnight each day, allowing no time to catch breath, process photos, write blogs, etc. It was a relentless pace. Many thanks as always to the Festivals founder and director, Garik Israelian, and to everyone associated with the NTNU in Trondheim. This wonderful educational institution placed its weight behind the event and ensured it as a great success.

On Sunday, I was slated to open the Festival as the first days host. But my primary bag wound up traveling no further than Oslo. So I opened the Festival with an apology about my informal dress, elicited applause and laughs from the crowd, and many later comments about how they liked the jeans. Ah well. My first task was to introduce Charlie Duke, who delivered a sensational talk about the Apollo 16 expeditions to various lunar sites and the science he and John Young accomplished. What a way to get the audience going!

Following Charlie was one of the greats of the world of exoplanets, Michel Mayor. In 1995 Professor Mayor discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star in 51 Pegasi b. This really ushered in a flood of exoplanetary discoveries that continues today.

Continuing on the exoplanet theme, I next had the great joy of introducing a friend, Sara Seager of MIT. Sara spoke eloquently about her involvement in exoplanetary research, the upcoming TESS mission, and her quest to study the atmosphere of an earthlike exoplanet.

Next, we took a turn toward the really exotic. One of the founders of the field of astrobiology, Lynn Rothschild of the NASA Ames Research Center, described the most extreme environments where alien life might be found.

Next, Sandy Magnus, a retired astronaut who flew on space shuttle missions (including the last one) and spent considerable time on the International Space Station, brought an astronaut-explorers perspective to our struggle here on Earth.

And the day wasnt over yet. The master of the sonic spaceship guitar, Steve Vai, a friend of Festival Board member Brian May, discussed creative perspectives we all have as scientists and artists.

Following Steves talk, we had a special program with the one and only David Zambuka, magician and entertainer, who wowed the crowds last year with a presentation centered on Stephen Hawking. This time he had four of us (Steve Vai, myself, Astronomy Now Publisher Steve Young, and astronomer and broadcaster Jim Al-Kalili) draw aliens as he guessed, blindly, who drew each depiction. David is really a master of illusion and were lucky to have him involved as the Festival.

To round out the day, we were treated to Nobel Prize winning physicist and chemist Stefan Hell, who told us about his amazing optical microscopy.

It was truly an incredible day, and things had only just begun. Stay tuned for more updates.
The Quebec company thats acquiring San Antonios CST Brands Inc. has won antitrust approval for the $4.4 billion deal after agreeing to divest 70 Corner Stores  including 19 in Texas.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. will sell the 70 Corner Stores to Dallas-based fuel distributor Empire Petroleum Partners, the Federal Trade Commission said in a statement today.

Couche-Tard now expects the deal to acquire CST will close Wednesday.

Besides Texas, the 70 CST convenience stores with fuel stations are in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico and Ohio.

None of the 19 Texas stores set to be sold is in San Antonio. Twelve of the stores are in El Paso, three in Corpus Christi and one each in Austin, Kenedy, Del Valle and Mathis.

Empire also will have the option of buying an additional location in Georgia owned by Couche-Tard , the FTC said. The store was damaged by a tornado earlier this year.

The 70 stores represent about 6 percent of the 1,178 stores that CST operates in the U.S. Couche-Tard operates almost 4,700 convenience stores in the U.S., primarily under the names Circle K and Kangaroo Express.

According to an FTC complaint, Couche-Tards acquisition of CST would have created a monopoly in 10 markets without the divestitures. The deal also would have reduced the number of independent operators in the 61 other markets and resulted in a highly concentrated market in all 71 markets.

The sale of the CST stores to Empire is expected to close in August or September.

pdanner@express-news.net

Twitter: @AlamoPD
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San Antonios gas prices have dropped below the $2 mark  just in time for the July Fourth weekend.

The average has fallen 5 cents since last week, settling at $1.99 and making the Alamo City one of the cheapest places in Texas to fill up this summer. Gas prices in Houston averaged $2.04, while Austin was at $2.05 and Dallas was at $2.06. Its also 26 cents below the national average of $2.25 a gallon, according to a report released Monday by gas price tracking firm GasBuddy.

Its the lowest recorded average so far this year for the city and could lead to an increase in tourists driving to San Antonio, said Michael Woody, vice president of community relations for Visit SA.

About 70 percent of the visitors that come to San Antonio are coming to us from within the state of Texas, Woody said. A good deal of that is focused on the drive market because a lot of people take advantage of hopping in their car and coming to San Antonio.

That means the drop in gas prices could lead not only to more tourists coming to San Antonio, but also ending up with more money to spend on meals and other items, Woody said.

Gas is finally catching up with falling crude oil prices, said Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddys senior petroleum analyst.

West Texas intermediate, the U.S. benchmark oil, has fallen from the low $50s to the low $40s per barrel. On Monday, it closed at $43.38. But whats catching observers off guard is how far gas prices have dropped, especially given that its summertime, DeHaan said.

That is perhaps whats more surprising, especially given that were in the midst of the summer driving season, he said. But its a testament to the current state of oil supply and demand that prices are this low in the summer.

In an effort to cut back on excess inventory, members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia earlier this year agreed to production cuts of 1.8 million barrels of oil a day. But the cuts, which started in January and were recently extended through March 2018, have failed to prop up oil prices in the last few months as U.S. shale drillers continue ramping up production in the fields of West Texas, South Texas and North Dakota. As of last week, 941 rigs were deployed across the U.S., 520 more than this time last year.

The rig count keeps going up, said Karr Ingham, an Amarillo-based oil economist. Theres a plateau out there somewhere, we just havent gotten to it yet.

That makes it likely that the low gasoline prices will stick around for a bit, DeHaan says.
The math keeps working out for Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, which again this year will present five free concerts in central Pennsylvania, including one in downtown Carlisle, over the long Fourth of July weekend.

A combination of light, classical music, popular songs and patriotic music, the concerts are a long-standing tradition for the professional orchestra founded in 1931. This years lineup includes the overture to Candide, a selection of Duke Ellington songs, music from The Sound of Music and God Bless America, among others.

This has been going on far longer than Ive been here, said Malina, who recently completed his 16th season as HSO music director. Its a great opportunity to come out and enjoy a night of beautiful music from a great orchestra.

Among the 2017 stops for HSO and Maestro Stuart Malina is Carlisle, where they will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday on Dickinson Colleges Rush Campus. The show takes place during Carlisles 40th annual Summerfair, a two-week community festival that continues through July 4.

Its a wonderful thing for young people and kids to actually see and hear a really terrific orchestra, said June Shomaker, a Carlisle resident who played cello with HSO for 30 years. They look at the instruments, theyre amazed by the brass. Its a great experience for everybody.

Other locations on HSOs agenda this year are the quad at Lebanon Valley College in Annville on Friday, Negley Park in Lemoyne on Saturday, East Juniata High School auditorium in McAlisterville next Monday, and the bandshell in Harrisburgs Reservoir Park on Monday. There is a rain site for each concert except for East Juniata, which is already scheduled to be in the school auditorium.

The Reservoir Park site is a new one for the orchestra. A city-built bandshell in a natural amphitheater provides an ideal environment, Woodruff said. Its been home to Gamut Theatre Groups annual Free Shakespeare in the Park production for years.

The city has spent some money to make improvements there at Reservoir Park, HSO Executive Director Jeff WoodruffWoodruff said. The bandshell is big enough to hold the orchestra, and its a natural amphitheater that should work very well for us. Now we just have to get people to come there and hear us.

Previously, the orchestra had bounced around several venues in the city, including locations in Riverside Park and City Island, for the summer concert. Patrons in Reservoir Park this year will have a birds eye view of the citys fireworks display along the Susquehanna River.

The Carlisle concerts have been held on the Dickinson College campus going back some 30 years.

Carlisle is really nice, Malina said. You are right there in front of the audience, and they have great spirit. A lot of them have been coming to see us for years.

Shomaker, an enthusiastic supporter of the Carlisle concerts, said borough residents love to welcome the orchestra back each year. I think we have the most enthusiastic audience in the world, she said. They are the best.

This year, the sound system for the Carlisle concert is being upgraded, thanks to money from the local G.B. Stuart Charitable Foundation. The improvements should help the music carry to the far reaches of the venue.

When you have that big a crowd, you need a couple of relay speakers, Woodruff said. Were hoping this makes it a better listening experience for everyone.

Funding for the five concerts  which this year will cost about $125,000 to stage  comes from donations from individuals, businesses and foundations. Each site has its own formula for raising the money.

As long as that support continues, Woodruff said, HSO plans to show up and play free shows each summer. All people have to do is get up off their couch and go to where we are playing, he said. We just want people to come out and hear the orchestra. Its why we are here.
There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Integration

By Ali Noorani

Prometheus. 319 pp. $25

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Manpreet Tiwana is a Punjabi-speaking police officer in the farming community of Kerman, Calif. She describes her importance to the area's many immigrant residents: "They found somebody who can communicate with them, and they can tell their issues to. They want to lay it out and tell me all their problems."

Tiwana's role goes far beyond listening to immigrant complaints, Ali Noorani writes in "There Goes the Neighborhood": "Officer Tiwana's service humanized law enforcement for her community, and humanized South Asians for the broader community. She was a bridge between both worlds."

This example embodies the core argument advanced by Noorani, a child of Pakistani immigrants who heads the National Immigration Forum, an outspoken advocate for immigrant rights. Often locals worry that newcomers will take their jobs. But fear of foreigners is rooted in "cultural anxiety," not just economic anxiety, Noorani stresses. Foes of immigration worry about losing their identities, not just their incomes.

Noorani's answer is to draw on institutions such as the police, and people like Tiwana, to build bridges that connect communities, not walls that divide them. In analyzing President Trump's exploitation of anti-immigrant sentiment during the 2016 election, the author writes: "The fear of the other wasn't necessarily the immigrant next door. It was the immigrant they'd never seen."

Noorani is not an accomplished writer. His prose lacks flavor, and his narrative lacks structure. This is sort of a memoir, sort of a journal, sort of a policy prescription. But his message is strong and valid.

"Right now, too many Americans - and media - assume, 'There goes the neighborhood' when immigrants become a part of their communities," he writes. "Until conservative white America sees the cultural (and demographic) changes in their neighborhoods as a net positive to their lives, this will remain the assumption and the identity wars will only worsen."

In Noorani's view, three kinds of institutions are best suited to demonstrate the benefits of immigration: law enforcement agencies, faith communities and commercial enterprises. His organization has formed a coalition called Bibles, Badges and Businesses for Immigration Reform, and he tours the country discovering examples that make his point.

Take Margaret Mims, the first female sheriff of Fresno County in California's Central Valley, an agricultural area that has attracted immigrant families for generations. Today Laotians, Punjabis and Hispanics have joined the previous groups - Basques and Italians, Slavs and Armenians - and she has made it a priority to hire officers who reflect this diversity.

Every citizen is safer, she argues, if all residents have confidence in their police and cooperate with them. If immigrants are "afraid of law enforcement," Mims says, "they can't thrive, having to look over their shoulder all the time [and] wondering if they are going to be deported."

In Logansport, Ind., a Trump stronghold, Noorani profiles the Rev. Zach Szmara, who took over a failing church filled with "a few little old ladies," renamed it Bridge Community Church and reached out to the area's growing Hispanic population.

The church provided the only legal clinic for immigrants within 50 miles, and the pews started filling up. Today three flags, American, Mexican and Guatemalan, adorn the church's back wall, and Szmara says, "The more we got to know people who were different than us, the more we realized it was God's heart."

Business is the third leg of Noorani's strategy, and he cites Wells Fargo, which, months after 9/11, "went out on a limb" in the face of "heated criticism" and started accepting a document issued by the Mexican government to all its citizens residing in America, regardless of immigration status. For the first time, undocumented workers could open bank accounts, and two years later, the company added "audio-capable ATMs" that recognized Spanish.

Within three years, more than 500,000 accounts had been opened using the Mexican document. Monica Lozano, publisher of La Opinion, the country's oldest Spanish-language newspaper, said of Wells Fargo's foresighted decision: "They weren't just opening up checking accounts they were empowering" the community.

These are all good examples that will, hopefully, ease the "cultural anxiety" Noorani writes about. But he shies away from discussing a key dimension of Trump's appeal: racism. "A significant portion of the American electorate felt their country had been taken away," he writes, but he doesn't complete the thought. Taken away by whom? Let's be honest. Many of those voters believe that their country has been overrun by dark-skinned, foreign-language-speaking aliens.

While it is wildly unfair to call all Trump supporters racists, it is equally inaccurate to ignore that the president deliberately inflamed racist impulses to win the election.

Moreover, Noorani lacks a larger perspective. Trump is a very American figure. Anti-immigrant fears didn't start with globalization and weren't "triggered" by the election of Barack Obama. Throughout our history, spasms of nativist hostility have erupted against each new group arriving on our shores: Germans and Jews, Irish and Italians, Japanese and Chinese.

Hispanics and Muslims are now the objects of this animosity, and the language directed against them is the same that's been used to demonize newcomers for more than two centuries: This group will degrade our culture and alter our identity. But today's targets can take comfort from the clear lessons of history.

Immigrants do change our culture - for the better. They re-energize and revitalize our civic spirit. The haters are always wrong, and the haters will eventually lose. Tiwana and Noorani himself prove that truth.

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Roberts teaches politics and journalism at George Washington University and is the author of "From Every End of This Earth: 13 Families and the New Lives They Made in America."
Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation

Edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman

Harper Perennial. 434 pp. Paperback, $16.99

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Last year, the American novelists Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman and Dave Eggers led a group of writers to "bear witness" to the crisis in Iraq, confronting the fate of that country during and since the American occupation - the hundreds of thousands of dead, the vanished minorities, the chaos spreading across the region. The resulting anthology adds up to a piercing, introspective look at what it means to be American in the 21st century.

I'm kidding! Reporting on Iraq is bothersome, and so is introspection. Instead, they came to "bear witness" to the crisis in the West Bank and Gaza, where thousands of reporters, nongovernmental organization staffers, activists and diplomats hover around a conflict with a death toll last year that was about a third of the homicide number in Baltimore. It's the kind of Mideast conflagration where writers can sally forth in an air-conditioned bus, safely observe the natives for a few hours and make it back to a nice hotel for drinks.

The resulting anthology, "Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation," includes essays by American and international authors such as Eggers, Mario Vargas Llosa, Colum McCann and Colm Toibin - an impressive list - with a few locals thrown in. The visitors were shown around by anti-occupation activists and wrote up their experiences. Edited by Chabon and Waldman, the 26 essays here constitute a chorus of condemnation of Israel.

Chabon, for example, interviews a Palestinian American businessman about life in the West Bank - the byzantine permit system, the 1,001 humiliations of undemocratic rule. Another essay looks at a village of impoverished shepherds, Susiya, in the shadow of an Israeli settlement. Geraldine Brooks describes a stabbing in Jerusalem. We meet children detained by troops, people made to wait at checkpoints and others scarred in different ways by the military occupation that began here after the 1967 war.

I've seen the West Bank from many angles over more than two decades in Israel, as a soldier at checkpoints and as a reporter passing through them with Palestinians, and I know the injustices of the situation are real and worth attention from knowledgeable observers. What we get here, though, is a peculiar product. The visiting writers aren't experts - most seem to have been here for only a few days, and some appear quite lost.

Chabon and Waldman tell us on the very first page of a visit to Israel in 1992, which they remember vividly as a time of optimism, when the "Oslo accords were fresh and untested." But their memory must be playing tricks, because the Oslo accords happened in the fall of 1993. Chabon and Waldman, who live in Berkeley, Calif., are accomplished writers, but the reader needs a few words about what they're up to here. Do they have special expertise to offer? Israel is probably the biggest international news story over the past 50 years, so is there a reason they decided the world needs to know more about it and not, say, Kandahar, Guantanamo, Congo or Baltimore?

The essays vary in tone and quality, but experienced journalists covering the Israel/Palestine story will recognize the usual impressions of reporters fresh from the airport. Cute Palestinian kids touched my hair! Beautiful tea glasses! I saw a gun! I lost my luggage, and that seems symbolic! Arabs do hip-hop! The soldiers are so young and rude! The writers interview the same people who are always interviewed in the West Bank, thinking it's all new, and believe what they're told. Chabon, for example, waxes sarcastic that in the West Bank you can spend months in administrative detention if you forget your ID card at home. But that isn't true.

Everything is described with a gravitas suggesting that the writers haven't spent much time outside the world's safer corners. Eggers devotes two whole pages to an incident on the Gaza border, where one Israeli guard said he couldn't pass and then a different one came and let him through. Dave, if you're reading this, I hope you're OK.

We aren't told, curiously, who paid for this project. But we learn that it was organized by a group called Breaking the Silence, one of many NGOs funded by Europeans and Americans to critique Israeli policy. These particular activists' line is that they're "Israeli veterans," which Israelis know not to take seriously - we have a compulsory draft, and most Israelis are veterans. But it impresses foreigners. The hosts' choreography becomes evident the more you read, because the writers keep going back to the same street in Hebron, the same village near the same settlement, the same checkpoint activist. They avoid Palestinian extremists and average Israelis, so it looks like all Palestinians are reasonable and all Israelis aren't.

We get comparisons to American racism and to South African racism, learn that Israelis don't use water cannons because they're "not cruel enough," and hear Zionism described as "a settler ideology with prominent colonial features under the cover of the Torah narrative." We learn from Vargas Llosa that a small number of Israeli Jews are "righteous," which he thinks is an old feature of Jewish life. The rest of us, apparently, are "blinded by propaganda, passion, or ignorance." Jews reading this might wonder how they became characters in a morality play by Vargas Llosa, but we needn't worry - his criticism is "an act of love."

I know space in these projects is limited, especially with all the love that needs to fit, but the Syrian catastrophe unfolding a 90-minute drive from the West Bank could have used a few more words - half a million people are dead, and millions of others have been displaced. Does this affect the thinking of the Israelis and Palestinians next door? Are Israeli decisions influenced by the bloody outcomes of power vacuums in Sinai, Iraq and Libya? What will replace the occupation? In Gaza, it was Hamas - will it be Hamas in the West Bank? If Israel's police leave East Jerusalem, could the city become Aleppo? These are some of the big questions of 2017.

But the writers here aren't addressing them, which raises another question: What is this book about?

What it's really about is the writers. Most of the essays aren't journalism but a kind of selfie in which the author poses in front of the symbolic moral issue of the time: Here I am at an Israeli checkpoint! Here I am with a shepherd! That's why the very first page of the book finds Chabon and Waldman talking not about the occupation, but about Chabon and Waldman. After a while I felt trapped in a wordy kind of Kardashian Instagram feed, without the self-awareness.

Whatever this anthology set out to be, "Kingdom of Olives and Ash" is an unintentional group portrait of a certain set of intellectuals. Would they like a curated trip to a foreign country? Sign them up! Do they think a few days is enough to pass judgment on the participants in a century-old conflict? They do! These people are taken somewhere, and they go. Someone points, and they look. They can be trusted not to ask who's pointing, who's with them on the bus or who's paying for the gas.

Once upon a time, in a different America, Mark Twain left on a steamer for a tour of the Holy Land. He had grumpy opinions about foreigners but didn't spare the people with him on board: the pompous, the addled, the hypocrites. He immortalized them in 1869 as "The Innocents Abroad." Twain would never have joined anyone's chorus, and we can only imagine what he would have done with the people on this tour - their easily manipulated attention, their blind spots, their belief that they aren't flawed observers of life but a kind of global morality police. But there was no Twain on this bus.

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Friedman is a journalist in Jerusalem and the author, most recently, of "Pumpkinflowers."
The National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency that funds arts projects across the country, recently announced grants for the first half of 2017, totaling $84 million -- $2.5 million of which went to Texas organizations.

Of that, $445,000 went to organizations in Houston, with $125,000 to the Alley Theatre for a community-based Latino theater initiative taking the biggest slice. The largest grantee in Texas was the Texas Commission on the Arts with $962,600, which supports the arts on a statewide level.

The projects receiving NEA grants range from public art to educational outreach. The Alley's project, El Zocalo, was funded under the Our Town grant, which supports projects that aim to partner with and enrich the local community.

Here's every organization that received money from the NEA, how much and why:

Alley Theatre: $125,000

To support El Zocalo, a citywide community theater initiative. Alley Theatre will organize a program of theatrical performances, artist residencies, and workshops at community centers. Program development will be guided in part by data and research supplied by Harris County Community Services Department, participant and stakeholder input, and collaboration with community centers including MECA, Talento Bilingue, and Neighborhood Centers, Inc.

American Festival for the Arts: $15,000

To support Summer Music Conservatory, a music education program for students from the greater

Houston area.

City of Houston: $30,000

To support a multidisciplinary community-based artists residency program.

DiverseWorks: $25,000

To support the Houston/International Initiative, a series of community-based, multidisciplinary exhibitions and performances. Live in Print is an exhibition of books produced by artists in Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Shanghai, and Taipei. Additional activities will include an ongoing series of live readings, performances, and discussions. "After Walker Evans" will be a research-based exhibition focused on the American photographer that includes multiple artists from the United States and Africa. Oregon-based performance artist and sculptor Takahiro Yamamoto will present solo projects.

Firestarter Group: $10,000

To support the Houston in Motion Refugee Artist Program. Houston in Motion, a collaboration between Firestarter Group, Rice University, and several local refugee resettlement agencies, will work with artists from around the world who have relocated to the Houston area.

Glasstire: $20,000

To support the development of content for the online resource Glasstire. Exhibition reviews, artist interviews, and featured artist's projects will be commissioned for the online arts journalism resource dedicated to the visual arts in Texas.

Horse Head Theatre Co.: $10,000

To support the development and production of a site-specific, immersive performance exploring Houston's history. Audiences will become agents of their own experience as they explore Sam Houston Park, which is nestled into downtown Houston's cityscape.

Houston Arts Alliance: $40,000

To support the Folklife + Traditional Arts Program. .

Houston Symphony: $20,000

To support the Community-Embedded Musicians program. Select symphony musicians who are trained as teaching artists will lead the program in a variety of education and community settings. The musicians will provide in-depth activities in schools, neighborhood centers, hospitals, and other non-traditional venues.

Houston Youth Symphony: $10,000

To support Houston Youth Symphony's Coda Music Program, serving Title I schools in Houston Independent School District. The project is inspired by El Sistema, Venezuela's youth orchestra movement supporting social change through music.

Inprint: $20,000

To support literary programming for adults and young people. The Margarett Root Brown Reading Series will feature readings and on-stage interviews with accomplished authors such as Jennifer Egan, Alvaro Enrigue, Louise Erdrich, Valeria Luiselli, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Claudia Rankine, and Zadie Smith.

Mercury Baroque Ensemble: $10,000

To support a performance project by the Mercury Chamber Orchestra. The chamber orchestra will present a multimedia project featuring the music of a circle of Romantic era composers such as Clara Wieck Schumann, Robert Schumann, Friedrich Wieck (Clara Schumann's father), and friend and colleague Johannes Brahms. The programming will weave spoken word and projected visuals with the performances of their music works.

Nameless Sound: $20,000

To support the Creative Music Education Program. A minimum of eight workshops will be hosted during the school year with visiting artists such as Olivia Block, George Lewis, Evan Parker, Maja Ratkje, Akio Suzuki and ensembles such as Les Diaboliques (Maggie Nicols, Joelle Leandre, Irene Schweitzer) or a quartet featuring Alvin Fielder, Hugh Ragin, Kidd Jordan, and Harrison Bankhead.

University of Houston (On behalf of Blaffer Art Museum) $25,000:

To support an exhibition at the Blaffer Art Museum and related activities featuring The Propeller Group, a Vietnamese artist collective. Co-organized with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Phoenix Art Museum, the exhibition will present videos and objects that showcase the artists' interest in globalized street culture and filmmaking and the collective's ambitious projects that reflect both Vietnam's history and its current dynamics as a growing capitalist market.

University of Houston: $25,000

To support an artist residency at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts. Performer and writer Okwui Okpokwasili will participate in a residency at the Mitchell Center. In collaboration with Project Row Houses, Okpokwasili will work closely with Nigerian and Nigerian-American communities in Houston as well as University of Houston students.

Writers in the Schools: $40,000

To support Many Voices, One Houston, a creative writing program. Professional writers will visit classrooms and lead creative writing workshops for students. Students will read classic and contemporary literature by authors such as Maya Angelou, Pablo Neruda, and Sandra Cisneros, and will learn to identify and use literary conventions.
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Hills & Dales, a popular ice house near the University of Texas at San Antonio, welcomes bikers. New ownership just doesnt want it to be known as a biker bar.

That was the intended message when Justin Vitek, co-owner of the bar at 15403 White Fawn, took to Facebook on Monday morning to announce that Hills & Dales was going in a new direction.

Yes, we know were not the old Hills and Dales and we are not the biker bar were a bar for EVERYONE! Vitek wrote in a long post. We accept EVERYBODY no matter, size, shape, color, ethnicity, religion, taco preference, or how you like your steak prepared, hell well even accept Vegans! However what we dont accept is the hate from some of you people. This is us taking the risk on this business.

Bike Night used to be a deep-rooted Wednesday night tradition at Hills & Dales. Although it hasnt been an advertised event for more than a year, that didnt stop the bikes from pulling up en mass for a cold one.

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When you see 60 to 70 motorcycles in front of a business, it can be kind of intimidating, Vitek said. We arent saying that bikers are bad people, and they are still welcome here, but people get that image in their head.

Vitek and Mike McMillen, who also own and operate On the Rocks Pub at 270 Losoya St. downtown, acquired Hills & Dales in February and have extensively remodeled the property with glass garage doors, new tables and new table games.

Other changes include the addition of liquor to the traditional beer-only menu in both draft and classic ice house bottle trough form.

Hills & Dales also took up a 21-and-over policy and decided to scrap the notion of being kid-friendly since hard liquor is now offered.

Since making the changes, Vitek said theres been an ongoing stream of criticism on social media, including a threat of violence in a post that has since been deleted.

Weve put a lot of money into this business to make it a cool place for everybody, he said. I get that not everybody is going to like it, but its not like we are the only place that bikes can go. They have options.

Hills & Dales launched a new Sunday Funday promotion last week with outdoor games such as corn hole and jumbo-sized beer pong (think trash cans and volleyballs instead of ping pong balls and red solo cups), and Vitek said it was the best business day on record since he assumed co-ownership.

He was upset that the successful event was followed by continued social media attacks, which led to his post.

I was in a great mood when I woke up, Vitek said. We had a great event, and then I saw people slandering us ... saying that the place was filled with drunks. Im not going to let people bash us. All we are doing is trying make this a successful business.

Although there were some pleas to continue with the bike-night tradition, reaction to Viteks post was mostly supportive. It was shared more than 60 times and liked by more than 600 people.

cblount@express-news.net

Twitter: @chuck_blount
Border Patrol agents on patrol near a ranch in El Cenizo said they rescued a woman recently after they found her in distress.

Agents assigned to the Laredo South Border Patrol Station were tracking a group of suspected undocumented immigrants near a ranch in El Cenizo when they encountered an unresponsive female showing signs of suffering a heat stroke. She was abandoned by her guide when she could no longer keep up with the rest of the group.
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Two New York Army National Guard soldiers have advanced in the warrant officer ranks.

Nakia Dukes of Clifton Park has been promoted to chief warrant officer 3 during a ceremony at Joint Force Headquarters in Latham.

Dukes is assigned to 42nd Infantry Division's Intelligence and Sustainment Company, and works full time as the state food-service advisor in the Joint Force Headquarters' logistics directorate.

Matthew Starr of Queensbury, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, has been promoted to chief warrant officer 2. Starr earned the promotion while serving as supervisory resource specialist in the New York National Guard Federal Human Resources Office.

Warrant officers are specialists in technical, intelligence, and personnel fields who are issued warrants for their ranks instead of the commissions held by officers in the rank of lieutenant on up. They fall between the noncommissioned and officer ranks in the Army's rank structure.

Dukes joined the Marines on June 13, 1994 as a food-service specialist.

He was initially assigned to Marine Barracks, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After serving a year in Cuba, Dukes was assigned to Marine Corps Air Station, Camp Pendleton, Calif. While there he was promoted to sergeant, and represented the Marine Corps Air Station in a prestigious regional food service competition. Dukes won the competition and earned the coveted Chef of the Quarter Award. He also served an eight-month tour aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation.

In 2002 Dukes transferred to the California Army National Guard. Dukes then transferred to the New York Army National Guard, and was assigned to E Company, 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation as a mess-section shift leader. In 2010, Dukes attended Warrant Officer Basic Course at Fort Rucker, Ala. and was commissioned as warrant officer 1. He was then assigned to 53rd Troop Command as the food-service technician, where he provided valuable subject-matter expert guidance during Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy.

Dukes earned an associate degree in applied science, with a concentration in culinary arts, from Central Texas College.

He has earned a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, an Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, a Humanitarian Service Medal, a Joint Meritorious Unit Award, and a Meritorious Commendation Award.

Starr's military career began with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 18th Airborne Corps. He joined the New York Army National Guard in 2003.

While deployed in Afghanistan he served in the Joint Border Coordination Center in Spin Boldak.

Starr's previous National Guard assignments included serving as an enlisted aide to the adjutant general and career counselor for soldiers assigned to the New York National Guard Joint Force Headquarters in Latham.

He earned a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Phoenix. He also attended Florida State University.

Starr has earned a Bronze Star, an Army Commendation Medal, an Army Achievement Medal, and a Parachutist Badge.

Other soldiers advance

Michele Vanness of Schenectady, Joint Force Headquarters, and Robert Wessels of Niskayuna, Camp Smith Training Site, advanced to sergeant first class.

Other soldiers promoted include:

Staff sergeant: Christopher Cooley, Watervliet, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry; Richard Creecy, Germantown, Operations Company, 42nd Infantry Division; Joshua McLean, Cohoes, the 2nd Civil Support Team (Weapons of Mass Destruction); Edward Rucker, Schenectady, Headquarters and Support Company, 42nd Infantry Division; Seth Wieland, Rensselaer, Company B, Recruiting and Retention; Margaryta Mattola, Albany, 145th Maintenance Company; and Steve Vanderpool, Colonie, Joint Force Headquarters.

Specialist: Connor Brown, Schoharie, 206th Military Police Company; Maximilian Errico, Niskayuna, 206th Military Police Company; Alyssa Germano, Rensselaer, 206th Military Police Company; and Douglas Hoard, Berlin, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry; Jonathan Murphy, Copake Falls, Company A, 101st Signal Battalion; and Jeremy Rossetti, Castleton, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry.

News of your troops and units can be sent to Duty Calls, Terry Brown, Times Union, Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212 or brownt@timesunion.com.
Jimmy Carter had the type of disarming personality seen on the campaign trail that could be helpful in dealing with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Hes still a charmer, Wayne Powell said of the newly elected 39th U.S. president. His personal style is one that can easily win over adversaries.

As editor and publisher of The Sentinel, Powell was one of 30 newspaper and radio-TV executives invited to attend a media conference at the White House in mid-July 1977  almost six months after the inauguration.

A highlight for Powell, who still lives in the Carlisle area, was the 30-minute question-and-answer session the visiting journalists had with the commander-in-chief in the Cabinet Room. The hotline telephone used in a crisis was within reach of where Powell sat at the table.

He later wrote of this experience in two front-page stories that appeared in the July 16, 1977, edition of The Sentinel. By then, Powell had been on the job as the leader of The Sentinel almost three years, having taken over the position from Joseph V. Thompson effective Dec. 1, 1974.

Powell wrote highly of Carter: The presidents knowledge of every issue in which he was quizzed was excellent, as was his memory on various statistics and important legislation.

Early edition

A native of Rutledge, Ala., Powell attended schools in nearby Luverne, the seat of Crenshaw County. He started in journalism at age 14, writing stories on local government, neighborhood schools and items of weekly interest for weekly newspapers.

Coming out of high school, Powell had a decision to make. He could have gone into the family business of deep water well drilling but decided instead to make his own way in the newspaper industry.

Powell graduated from the University of Alabama in 1959 with a journalism degree. He started his career as a reporter and editor before he moved into management.

As his career progressed, Powell climbed up through the ranks with newspapers in Maryland, Indiana, Texas and Michigan before coming to Carlisle in late November 1974.

On Nov. 20 of that year, The Sentinel published a front-page story introducing Powell as the new editor and publisher. At the time, Powell said moving to Carlisle was a lot like going back home.

Three of his four daughters were born in nearby Hagerstown, Maryland, when Powell was working on newspapers. He would often travel through Carlisle in the early 1960s on his way to and from meetings in Harrisburg. So when he finally walked into The Sentinel offices as its chief executive, Powell was upbeat and ready to meet the staff and community leaders.

The Sentinel years

The newspaper was in bad shape and needed new management and a fresh direction, Powell said in a 2009 article published in The Sentinel. He started by hiring more employees to beef up the daily newspaper while launching weekly shoppers on the West Shore, Perry County and the Carlisle area to grow its market share.

When Powell started, the newspaper employed about 40 people in one-third the floor space The Sentinel building has today. In his 28 years as publisher, the newspaper underwent tremendous growth with several building additions and an expanded workforce that peaked at 140 employees.

Under his leadership, the newspaper expanded its coverage area and grew its staff of investigative reporters. The newspaper also went from a six-day-a-week, two-section newspaper that didnt print on holidays to a seven-day-a-week daily with four sections on weekdays and a minimum of seven sections on Sunday.

Among those hired during Powells tenure was Carol Talley, a Brooklyn native raised in New Jersey who came to The Sentinel as its managing editor in 1981. She was promoted to editor the following year and, under this combined leadership, The Sentinel was named Pennsylvania Newspaper of the Year in 1995, 1996 and 2000.

For 11 of the 14 years between 1988 and 2002, The Sentinel won the Pennsylvania Newspaper Associations Sweepstakes Award for Division V newspapers. That meant the Carlisle newspaper had the best news content among all newspapers in the state with a circulation of 20,000 or less.

Community leader

Powell became active in the community as soon as he arrived in Carlisle. He played a major role in organizing Cumberland Countys activities for the Bicentennial in 1976. A year later, he founded Summerfair, Carlisles annual community event built around Independence Day. His work prompted the Carlisle Exchange Club to award Powell the Molly Pitcher Citizen of the Year Award in 1977.

He was also the founder of Historic Carlisle Celebrations, which stages annual reenactments of local history and was an outgrowth of the 1994 celebration of the 200th anniversary of President George Washingtons visit to Carlisle to organize an army to quell the Whiskey Rebellion.

Powell also helped to organize the countys 250th anniversary celebration in 2000 and was a charter member of the Military Heritage Foundation  the name under which the Army Heritage Center Foundation is registered by the state. AHCF is developing the Army Heritage and Education Center in Middlesex Township.

Over the years Powell also served as president of the Carlisle Area Industrial Development Corp., vice president and 20 year fundraising chairman of the local chapter of the American Cancer Society and vice president and board member of the Greater Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce. He was also campaign chairman and president of the United Way of the Greater Carlisle Area.

Powell stepped down as publisher of The Sentinel in May 2002 to work as the publisher and editor of the Journal-Tribune in Biddleford, Maine, until fall 2003 when he retired to Carlisle. Now 79, Powell is a resident of an assisted living/Alzheimers/memory care facility. He has four grandchildren.

Within a week of coming on as editor-publisher of The Sentinel, Powell wrote an opinion piece outlining his philosophy of news.

A newspaper worthy of the trust of its readers never ceases to strive for the betterment of the community in which it exists, Powell wrote. We will be an integral part of the community as The Sentinel always has been and will support  every worthwhile effort to make Carlisle and Cumberland County continue to grow.

Powell has spent almost 42 years of his life in the Carlisle area. So many of you have touched my life, he told readers in May 2002. I have been blessed through being part of this community.
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Four Alexander High School students and a UISD parent are asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against them by a teacher who claimed the students colluded with each other to get her fired from the school district.

They filed the motion to dismiss after the Texas commissioner of education dismissed a termination appeal filed by Melissa Lerma, a former Alexander High School teacher.

The United ISD school board voted to terminate Lerma in March for allegedly making racial remarks to her students in class.

She filed a lawsuit in mid-February against the four students and one United Independent School District employee, who is also the parent of one of the students. The parent is Rita Garner, UISD employee relations director and wife of newly appointed UISD Chief of Police Ray Garner.

After her termination, Lerma attempted to appeal the decision by requesting a hearing to Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath.

READ MORE: Webb County Sheriff's Office deputy resigns after allegedly posting racial slurs on Facebook

According to the commissioners decision, Lerma exhausted her administrative remedies by withdrawing a request for an independent hearing examiner, not attending an evidentiary hearing and failing to properly articulate legal objections before the school board.

But even if (Lerma) had not waived her claims by not exhausting administrative remedies, (Lerma) still would not prevail, the commissioners decision states.

Lerma failed to demonstrate her request being denied was a procedural irregularity and even if it was, she failed to show it led to an erroneous decision, the commissioner states.

The Texas Education Agency also lacks jurisdiction over the case because Lerma failed to exhaust available administrative remedies.

The motion to dismiss filed against Lerma in the 406th District Court alleges her claims have no merit and are an impermissible intimidation tactic attempting to limit defendants constitutional rights as a parent and students of UISD.

Maliciously, (Lerma) seeks to punish defendants for their role in reporting her unprofessional conduct to UISD, assisting with the districts investigation into (Lermas) misconduct and providing their sworn testimony in (Lermas) termination proceeding, the motion to dismiss states.

The defense says Lermas unfounded allegations are nothing more than a pretext for this retaliatory lawsuit.

UISD said Lerma breached her employment contract, used profanity in class, failed to meet the districts standards of professional conduct and was incompetent or inefficient in the performance of her duties.

RELATED: Laredo police: Local gynecologist arrested on child pornography charges

UISD began an investigation after Rita Garner contacted Alexander High School Principal Ernesto Sandoval, saying that Lerma was divulging information about her child in front of class, according to a report filed March 11 by an independent hearing examiner appointed by the Texas Education Agency.

During the investigation, it was allegedly revealed Lerma had used racial slurs, made lewd remarks and questioned some of the students sexuality.

Silverio Martinez, Lermas attorney, denied all the allegations against his client. He said there are other students who have confirmed Lerma never said any of the sexual or racist remarks. Martinez could not be reached for comment regarding the motion to dismiss.

Lawsuit

Lerma is requesting monetary relief over $200,000 in her lawsuit.

This lawsuit is the result of a society where many parents instead of listening to a students teacher, choose to blame the teacher for the students problems, the lawsuit states. A society where minors are taught or enabled to think that their failures and bad behavior are someone elses fault.

The lawsuit states Garners son colluded with his three close friends to go after their teacher.

In her lawsuit, Lerma states she contacted Garner at her place of employment in regards to her son.

The lawsuit states Garner began to yell at Lerma and hung up on her.

Almost immediately, based on wrongful and tortious acts of the four students and Garner, UISD went on the offensive and began a true-modern witch hunt against Ms. Lerma, the lawsuit states.

MORE FROM LMTonline: Teacher accused of using racial slurs, making lewd remarks will appeal termination

Lerma said that five days after the call, she was placed on administrative leave with pay.

Less than a month later, she was proposed for termination, but was not informed why, the lawsuit states.

You cannot end a persons employment or affect her ability to be hired simply because she had the audacity to try and address the behavior of a child, the lawsuit states. The defendants have tortiously interfered with Ms. Lermas employment contract with UISD as well as her prospective relations.

Lerma was employed with UISD for 11 years before her termination.

A hearing has been set for July 17 in the 406th District Court regarding the defenses motion to dismiss.
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WhatsApp messages resulted in the arrest of a man who claimed he had no idea how 30 pounds of cocaine ended up in his vehicle, according to records filed in a Laredo federal court.

A search of Miguel Angel Sosa Navas cell phone revealed incriminating WhatsApp messages stating that a vehicle loaded with cocaine was ready and that a friend of his would organize everything with those guys, states a criminal complaint filed June 12.

Sosa, 40, of Monterrey, Mexico, was charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and importation of a controlled substance.

READ MORE: Trio accused of manning Laredo tire shop for Melendez drug ring sentenced to prison

On June 9, Sosa arrived at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge in a 2006 Chevy Equinox bearing Mexican license plates. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer referred him to secondary inspection. A K9 unit alerted officers to the front of the vehicle.

Homeland Security Investigations special agents responded to investigate. CBP told special agents they had discovered cocaine within the frame of the vehicle. It weighed 30 pounds and had an estimated street value of $233,920.

Sosa allegedly agreed to talk to authorities in a post-arrest interview.

According to the complaint, Sosa had told CBP he was traveling from Monterrey to Laredo to buy auto parts and shop at Wal-Mart. He had a different story with special agents, the complaint states. He told them he was traveling to San Antonio to help his friends father move some things back to Monterrey.

RELATED: UISD teacher accused of using racial slurs, making lewd remarks loses appeal

Sosa stated he was going to stay overnight in San Antonio, Texas. Sosa had no hygiene products or luggage, states the complaint.

Then, authorities said they discovered incriminating messages in Sosas WhatsApp. Confronted with the messages and inconsistent statements, Sosa denied knowledge of the cocaine and insisted he had no idea how the narcotics got into the vehicle, according to court documents.
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City Council recently discussed how they can better monitor money spent without their approval, a conversation Mayor Pete Sanez said he wished they had had two years ago.

The City Managers Office can currently spend money on purchases up to $49,999 without a vote from council.

Little by little, you can write a few $30,000 checks and a few million dollars are gone, Councilman Roberto Balli said.

Finance Director Camarillo Cabello Rosario said the city issues approximately 15,400 purchase orders annually, totaling $336 million. In 2016, 171 of those purchase orders were in the range of $25,000-$49,999, totaling $6.1 million. This amounts to 1.8 percent of all purchase orders.

READ MORE: Man, two juveniles allegedly smoked marijuana in Laredo PD parking lot

Councilman Alberto Torres argued that the City of Laredo has the largest budget of any public entity in the county, but City Council has the least amount of oversight on these smaller purchases.

He pointed out that at Laredo Community College, for instance, the college president can make purchases under $50,000 without full board approval, but he must consult with the board president and one other member of the board first.

Balli made a motion to formulate a similar policy in the city  where two members of council would consult with the city manager on any purchases under $50,000.

However, to have members of council sitting on such a committee would be a violation of the city charter, Acting City Attorney Kristina Hale said.

Because this is a city manager form of government, you have delegated to the city manager the authority to administer the duties of the city, and that includes the finances, Hale said. ... I have not seen any city that has the type of system that youre suggesting.

The mayor and Interim City Manager Horacio de Leon suggested the citys internal auditor take on the role of presenting purchases the City Managers Office approves to City Council.

My concern all along is that  in the past the city manager dictated the tone or direction that he wanted to go. People aligned themselves, at least that was my impression. This is why we need someone outside of that umbrella of the city manager that would report directly to City Council, Saenz said.

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By charter, the internal auditor reports to City Council, unlike all other departments which report to the city manager.

Torres made a motion that the internal auditor report on purchases from $7,001 to $49,999 to City Council on a weekly basis. He also made a motion that there be an item on every City Council agenda where the internal auditor can report on any irregularities she may find.

Hale said these reports would need to be in open session.

The motion was approved unanimously, but it will go before council again at the next meeting so that staff can work out the mechanics of how Internal Auditor Veronica Baeza will organize these expenditures.
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Laredo City Councilman Alex Perez said that he, along with councilmen Roberto Balli and Alberto Torres, support joining the lawsuit against the sanctuary cities bill.

Senate Bill 4 permits peace officers to question the immigration status of individuals they detain or arrest and punishes local officeholders who would stop police from asking these questions.

Mayor Pete Saenz said it would be up to City Council to vote on joining the lawsuit, but he personally doesnt think its a good idea. He said he is worried about how joining the lawsuit would affect the citys chances of receiving several pending multimillion-dollar grants.

Perez said a special-called City Council meeting may be held this week to vote on joining the lawsuit. City Councilman George Altgelt said he has yet to make his mind up on the matter and is weighing options. He said he believed the bill would put an added burden on local law enforcement.

READ MORE: Meet the 7 law firms vying to assist Laredo after April's FBI public corruption probe

Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina said in a statement to Laredo Morning Times that he needs to become more informed on the issue before making any decisions.

I want to read the bill in its entirety, seek legal counsel, and possibly discuss it in open court to hear input from our citizens, the statement reads. I need to be made aware of any potential ramifications to our state and federal funding. This lawsuit will proceed with or without Webb County. Thus, I withhold my opinion until the court and I are fully informed.

No other council members or county commissioners could be reached for comment on this story.

Last week, Texas Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, delivered letters to local elected officials in a call to action to oppose Senate Bill 4.

It is clear to me and many Hispanic leaders across Texas and, indeed, across this country, that this law, should it be allowed to go into effect, will open the doors to discrimination against our community in a way that has not been seen in decades, he wrote in the letter. Although no Democrats in the House or Senate voted for SB4, I believe that protecting our communities is not and should not be a partisan issue.

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He added, SB4 is seeking to strip away local control and forcing local governments to violate federal law, among other things.

The bill  signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott  will take effect in September. El Cenizo Mayor Raul Reyes joined the sheriff of Maverick County and LULAC in filing a lawsuit against the bill in May. San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and El Paso County have since joined the lawsuit.
Austin native and Stanford University graduate Amanda Bradford has poked the nest of the online-dating world just as it started to fall into a predictable pattern of a hot-or-not swipe game by bringing her upscale brand of match-making that she calls "playing in the big leagues" to Houston.

The League, which debuted in New York City and San Francisco in 2015, is designed to match the well-educated professional or all-around impressive single looking for their other half and it went live in Houston, Austin and Dallas Tuesday.

Nearly 400 of the city's most accomplished and ambitious bachelors and bachelorettes showed up at the Rosemont Bar on Westheimer the week before the site's launch to attend an invite-only, roof-top party to celebrate its debut into the Bayou City  but not all of those with profiles in place will get to start the online flirting right away.

Of the 5,000 Houstonians who have profiles, 2,000 were activated and 3,000 waitlisted.

It's all a part of the exclusive appeal Bradford has created. The early hours of the party were populated by a majority of women, but it didn't take long for men to start streaming in with a look of slight terror and excitement on their faces as they ascended the steps and into the real-life version of the online dating pool.

But the romantic-hopefuls at this party were curated to help grow the online community Bradford hopes will foster friendships based on interests and life-style as well as intimate relationships; the anti-Tinder is the underlying branding message. The app is limited to 15 U.S. cities that the team has identified as the "Top 15 Cities for Aspiring Power Couples".

Houston comes in at number 11, with Austin at 10 and Dallas at 12. The League threw their Austin party a few days before the Houston event and drew about 300 single Austinites.

Other cities where The League is live, or soon to be, include Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Miami.

An edited list of potential matches may, indeed, be helpful in a place like Houston where it's easy to be overwhelmed by the number of people trying to find "the one."

A 2016 United States Census Bureau report found that between July 2014 and July 2015, the Houston-The Woodlands-Surgarland areas saw "the largest gains (in population growth) of any metro areas in the nation."

And the approach to target those who care about education and achievement may be smart one.

A 2017 U.S. Census survey called "The Changing Economics and Demographics of Young Adulthood: 1975-2016" said, "Most of today's Americans believe that educational and economic accomplishments are extremely important milestones of adulthood. In contrast, marriage and parenthood rank low: over half of Americans believe that marrying and having children are not very important in order to become an adult," read the report.

It was the former half of the population Bradford hopes showed up at the Rosemont launch.

Some guests arrived dressed the part of the young professional, while a few opted for the first-date look. But everyone there held out hope that a different approach to online matching would yield different results than their internet dates have produced so far.

"It promises to be more legit," said Nick McDaniel, a party guest and 24-year-old graduate student in geophysics at University of Houston. "And no fake profiles, which is kind of expected nowadays."

McDaniel wasn't the only graduate student in attendance, there were law school students and a bio-statistics student at University of Texas McGovern Medical School who said that because of previous relationships, he's looking for a woman with a college education because "It just didn't click," with women who had not completed a degree.

Those already in the professional world were attorneys, teachers, engineers and start-up executives.

Bradford and company boast that because they require access to each members' Facebook and Linkedin accounts they offer a better vetting system than other free sites (the site is "freemium," said Bradford, with extra goodies like seeing more profiles and getting same-day matches if one pays the $180 per year fee). They have real people reviewing things like job title, education and other intangibles gleaned through social media scouring.

Not only will they filter matches down to people who express interest in each other, but they'll block co-workers and bosses from seeing each other on the site.

The selection process for those who want to join the site is similar to a college or university, said Bradford, her long, wavy blonde hair matted in the sticky heat as she mingled among her guests with drink tickets in hand for those who played the ice-breaking game that forced singles to approach someone and ask if they held a match to one of the cards handed to them at the door. Unlike the old-fashioned parlor game at the party, the app uses sophisticated algorithms to match daters. And although an Ivy League university is more likely to move you to the top of the admissions file, it's not a requirement.

"We look at so many signals," said Bradford. "And that's just one of them. We look for ambition and drive."

But that tactic has caused some to label The League as elitist, a charge she has refuted with her own description of it as, "a community for high-achieving singles." She says that people are frustrated with sites like Tinder because the onboarding process is so quick with virtually no vetting that it has become known as the hook-up site (her Twitter posts often end with the #getmeofftinder). As 15 percent of U.S. adults reported to have used a mobile dating app or online site, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center finding, a little pre-screening for the busy dater may be in order.

More than one female guest at the at the roof-top launch expressed their hope that because the site will filter for ambitious and high-acheivig men, they'll also be more likely to be looking for a serious relationship.

Renee Hames, an executive assistant said, "I'm hoping this will be different because you see the same people after a while on dating sites, or they want pen-pals and nothing serious."

While a few men said that they're hoping the site will deliver a woman who is "smarter than me," said Philip Tarpley, an attorney who attented Rice and Duke University.

"Educational background matter to me," said Tarpley. "It's not everything, but it matters. Their motto is 'Date. Intelligently.' I agree with 100 percent."
DUNCANNON  An area EMS agency is being recognized for going above and beyond in their effort to keep children safe during a medical emergency.

Duncannon EMS has received accreditation under the Pediatric Voluntary Recognition Program. The program recognizes EMS agencies that go beyond what is required by the state in pediatric care.

The program consists of five levels, with requirements including pediatric-related continuing education courses, community outreach programs, and Safe Kids-certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians.

Duncannon EMS has reached the second level, or intermediate level, for having additional pediatric-specific medical equipment on their ambulances and requiring EMS providers to complete ChildLine child abuse background clearances.

Duncannon EMS is only the second agency that serves Perry County, along with Holy Spirit EMS, to receive the accreditation. They are the only agency based in Perry County to be recognized.

This should definitely improve their peace of mind, that they know that they have an EMS agency in their community who truly cares about kids, that wants to do the best they can to provide the best possible care, said Tom Winkler, EMS for Children project manager for Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council.

Winkler says Duncannon EMS officials plan to go beyond the second level of the Pediatric Voluntary Recognition Program as soon as they are able to achieve the additional requirements.
BERLIN - Turkish bodyguards served with criminal charges for allegedly attacking protesters outside the ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C. "won't set foot on German soil in the foreseeable future, so also during the G-20 summit," a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Germany is preparing for mass protests when Hamburg, a northern port city, hosts leaders of the world's major economies next month. The annual conference is a favored target of demonstrations, and officials have been rehearsing security scenarios for more than half a year, said Wolfgang Schmidt, state councilor at the Hamburg senate chancellery.

"It will be the biggest police activity in the history of Hamburg," Schmidt said.

Because Germany is home to the largest Turkish population in the world outside of Turkey, one flash point for which authorities have been preparing is a possible clash between Turkish nationalists and Kurds, joined by protesters on the left. Tensions are running high after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory in the spring in a referendum granting him expansive new powers.

The fear is a repeat, on a large scale, of the skirmish that unfolded in May when, according to District of Columbia police, members of Erdogan's security detail descended on protesters at Sheridan Circle, along Massachusetts Avenue's Embassy Row. Video appeared to show the guards, some of them armed, chasing and beating members of the crowd, with Erdogan looking on. Twelve people have been charged in the incident. Turkish officials, meanwhile, portrayed the guards as victims.

"We saw what happened in Washington," said David Stachnik, a spokesman for the Hamburg Police. "If it should escalate here, too, we're definitely prepared, but we don't have any specific indication that it will happen."

According to German media reports, the Turkish Embassy in Germany sent the Foreign Ministry a roster of people set to accompany Erdogan to next month's summit in Hamburg, including some of the agents implicated in the incident in D.C. The Foreign Ministry made it known that these guards were not welcome, according to the reports.

The Foreign Ministry would not confirm, but made a point of not denying, that it had warned Turkish officials about whom they could send to Hamburg. Martin Schaefer, the foreign ministry's spokesman, said that he could "assume with a good conscience that the people who have been incriminated by the U.S. criminal justice authorities" would not be at next month's conference. The Turkish Embassy did not return a request for comment

Schmidt, who has been closely involved in planning in Hamburg, said between 50,000 and 100,000 protesters are expected across two days of meetings, as well as the days leading up to the start of the conference on July 7. He said police are expecting up to 8,000 violent protesters on July 6.

Authorities will be equipped with 45 water cannons, and police helicopters from all over Germany will fly overhead, Schmidt said. The summit will take place in two primary locations, a business center and concert hall, making it possible to cordon off routes to hotels and the airport.

"The overall security concept in Hamburg should prevent any scenes that we have seen in Washington, because as always when a G-20 summit takes place in a democracy, the question is how you protect people's voices while limiting the possibility of an encounter," Schmidt said.

Ebru Turhan, a political scientist at the Turkish-German University of Istanbul, said the apparent decision by Germany to bar these guards from attending the summit is indicative of a recent period of intense mistrust between the two countries. But she said this was only a "temporary crisis," as common interests, such as the management of the refugee crisis, as well as the conclusion in September of Germany's federal election, in which criticism of Turkey will be pronounced, will bring the countries back together.

"A vicious cycle of phases of conflict followed by moments of rapprochement has become characteristic of German-Turkish relations," Turhan said.

- - -

The Washington Post's Stephanie Kirchner contributed to this report.
ROCKVILLE, Md. - After a spike in hate crimes over the winter, Rockville, Maryland officials came up with what they thought would be the ideal way to affirm the city's commitment to diversity and inclusion: fly the flags of all 193 member countries of the United Nations from downtown light poles.

"Did you know that more than a third of Rockville's residents were born outside of the United States? It's true!" enthused the YouTube video posted by the suburban Maryland city to promote the flags when they went up - each one next to an American flag - in time for Memorial Day. Residents were encouraged to find their country of origin's flag, take a selfie and send it to the city's Twitter feed.

Within weeks, officials of this diligently progressive Montgomery County seat discovered that celebrating diversity is not a simple business and that good intentions can be derailed by unintended consequences.

Some U.S. military veterans protested the presence of the Iraqi flag at Hometown Holidays, the city's annual three-day street festival celebrating Memorial Day, where Gold Star mothers and the wounded would be in attendance. "If it was 10 years after World War II, would we fly the Japanese flag or the German flag in downtown Rockville?" asked Darrin Jones, an Army veteran of the 1991 Gulf War.

At least a couple of flags were stolen. An Ethiopian resident complained that his country's flag was upside down. It turned out he was looking at the Bolivian flag, which has the same stripes of red, yellow and green but ordered in reverse.

The loudest protest came from Montgomery's large Vietnamese community. Trinh Nguyen was furious when he learned that the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - the communist regime that defeated his homeland of South Vietnam in 1975 - was flying outside Rockville Memorial Library.

"That red flag is painted by the blood of 3 million Vietnamese plus more than 58 thousand American GIs," the 75-year-old former captain in the South Vietnamese army wrote in a June 8 email to Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, D. Now a retired pharmacist, he said the flag that should be flying is the one that belonged to his vanquished country, South Vietnam, with three red stripes against a field of yellow.

Leggett, whose office had nothing to do with the flag program, forwarded the message - and scores like it - to Rockville city officials.

A day later, the city removed the Vietnamese flag from its site in Rockville Town Center. But instead of retiring the banner, officials placed it in a less conspicuous location. A Vietnamese resident spotted it, triggering a new round of protests and a second removal.

Diane Vu, Montgomery's liaison for Asian communities, said that for many Vietnamese Americans, the communist flag evokes memories of the war's brutal aftermath, when as many as 2.5 million South Vietnamese were sent to re-education camps and tens of thousands perished.

Others, such as Vu's mother, fled by sea with other "boat people," who drowned by the thousands. She was nine months pregnant with Vu when the inhabitants of her boat were rescued after 10 days in open water.

"For them seeing the flag incites a lot of anger and sadness and brings back horrible, terrible memories," Vu said.

Hoan Dang is a member of the board of the Association of Vietnamese Americans, a Silver Spring, Maryland nonprofit group that advocates and provides direct services for Maryland's 24,000 Vietnamese, about 9,000 of whom live in Montgomery.

"I think the city of Rockville had good intentions, but there is a lack of understanding," he said. In a letter sent Friday to Mayor Bridget Newton, the group recommended that Rockville display the South Vietnamese flag.

Newton said the city initially took down the Vietnam communist regime's flag - a yellow star against a field of red - but only to verify that it was actually recognized by the United Nations. Once that was confirmed, it went up again.

The flag program, which originated during a discussion at a "diversity town hall" in February, was not intended to endorse any specific government or political system, Newton said, but to show respect for the city's diverse population. She acknowledged that the effort may need a few tweaks.

"Suffice it to say, we are reevaluating whether we will show both [Vietnamese] flags or only the flag that is recognized by the community," she said.

Other U.S. cities and counties have worked through the same issue, sometimes through the leadership of Vietnamese-American elected officials. Earlier this year, San Jose City Council member Tam Nguyen, who escaped Vietnam as a teenager, led passage of a bill to ban the communist flag from city flagpoles and to recognize the old South Vietnamese banner. Seattle did the same in 2015. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in Virginia voted in 2004 to recognize the South Vietnamese flag.

Tim Chesnutt, director of the city's Recreation and Parks Department, which oversaw the flag placement, said the whole episode has been a crash course in a subject he never realized was so complex.

"We've learned more about flags in the last month than we ever knew," he said.
Audiences between the leaders of the world's two biggest democracies have not typically lacked for fanfare. Past meetings of Indian and American leaders have been colorful, even affectionate affirmations of the two nations' "strategic partnership." But barely any pomp is expected when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets President Trump face-to-face for the first time Monday.

The White House has yet to articulate a South Asia policy - let alone name an ambassador to India - and matters relating to India-U.S. relations seldom cross the president's desk. Since becoming president, Trump has used speeches on job creation and the Paris climate accords to cast India as an unscrupulous negotiator and a threat to American workers.

So it might seem a strange time for Trump to receive Modi, yet here he is, with closed-door meetings and a private working dinner on the schedule. Instead of playing up the occasion, Washington and New Delhi are billing the talks as "no-frills," geared toward hard-nosed business discussions. Modi's brief and subdued plans indicate the care both sides are taking to make sure a relationship on the rocks doesn't slip any further.

Expectations for the meeting are so low that many India-watchers in Washington say Modi's best-case scenario might be simply reminding Trump that their countries share numerous interests, especially in combating so-called radical Islamic terror. Or, better still, the two might connect on a personal level, possibly preventing further public outbursts of derision from Trump.

"They could either hit it off amazingly or fall out completely," said Rajiv Kumar, an economist and author of the book "Modi and His Challenges," to my colleagues. "They're both strong personalities, and both of them have a rather exalted opinion of themselves."

The chances they "fall out completely" are slim despite their high self-regard. Modi, like Trump, is a purveyor of amicable, businesslike conversation - even if it masks festering concerns. The two are likely to focus on bright spots, such as the fact that the U.S. is India's second-largest defense supplier, or that the Trump administration recently approved a $2 billion deal to sell India drones to protect its coastline. A much larger order for fighter jets is in the works.

Beyond defense sales, however, the conversational landscape is bleak. Larger geopolitical issues - Trump's rapprochement with China, which India views warily at best, or his cheerleading of coal production at the expense of the Paris climate deal Modi has championed - will require delicate phrasing, if Modi chooses to broach them at all.

Economic matters are prickly, too. The Trump administration has launched a review of the skilled-worker (or H-1B) visa program that has brought hundreds of thousands of Indian employees to American companies. Cutbacks to the number of H-1B visas issued would harm big Indian outsourcing companies such as Infosys and Wipro, whose executives argue that the visa program helps American companies cut costs and ultimately hire more Americans. The Trump administration is also reviewing trade agreements with countries, including India, with which the United States runs a trade deficit. Bilateral trade has doubled in a decade, but the value of Indian exports to the U.S. is currently $30 billion higher than the flow of goods the other way.

None of this is helped by the lack of India expertise on Trumps's advising team. Recent reports indicate that Ken Juster, a senior official at the White House's National Economic Council who has policy experience on India, will be named as ambassador to New Delhi. But it's unclear whether that announcement would be ready in time for Monday's meeting - or whether the move is happening thanks to Juster's qualifications or because of infighting between him and the "anti-globalist" wing of the White House advisers.

But while much of the conversation around Modi's visit has centered on how Modi can ingratiate himself with Trump, some commentators in India are questioning the assumption that Modi's objective should be winning the American president's approval.

Writing in the Indian Express newspaper, columnist and editor Pratap Bhanu Mehta argued that Modi has already missed the big opportunity Trump's election provided: to make India a "normative exemplar" of liberal democracies now that the United States acts less and less like one.

"Modi's handshake with Trump would be so much more a show of power if it had the imprimatur of liberal values than simply a deal for Lockheed Martin behind it," Mehta wrote.

While Modi and his Hindu nationalist ideology are popular at home, recent lynchings of minority-group members have raised concerns that Modi is not doing enough to discourage deadly vigilantism. Modi's political party named a Hindu monk known for anti-Muslim rhetoric as the leader of India's biggest state, an act widely seen as an implicit endorsement of discriminatory attitudes. And a flurry of states moving to prohibit cattle slaughter have made many Indians wonder whether Hindu principles are becoming the law of the land under Modi's supposedly secular government.

So perhaps Modi's visit to Washington will provide both leaders with a welcome distraction from troublesome domestic politics. But ultimately, both at home and abroad, Trump has far weightier problems to deal with, and India doesn't figure centrally in any of them. Any small win Modi might get from the trip will probably be enough to declare it worthwhile.
Hundreds of thousands of revelers descended on Market Street like a rainbow-colored river Sunday to join the explosion of wildly painted floats and chest-thumping music as the 47th annual Pride Parade took over downtown San Francisco.

People from all over the world jammed sidewalks  five deep in spots  for the happy chaos of costumes, camaraderie and celebration as they watched more than 200 floats, musical acts and groups of marchers pour down the 1.3-mile parade route between the Embarcadero and Civic Center.

And while the citys biggest annual parade has become a moment to celebrate progress made on gay rights in California and across the nation, behind the waving rainbow flags was a more sober message that theres still a lot to fight for.

Many of the participants highlighted concern about losing ground under President Trumps administration not only on LGBT issues, but also on health care, poverty and racism, harking back to the roots of San Franciscos Pride Parade as a political demonstration.

This is not just fun, its a commemoration of the day gay people fought back, said Joseph Amster, who is often seen giving tours around the city dressed as the famed San Francisco crackpot Emperor Norton. If we all forget that, we will be oppressed again.

Amster, who donned a rainbow sash and beard dyed with matching colors, wore his full Norton regalia, complete with epaulets and military-style medals, as he joined thousands of others flamboyantly dressed  as well as those opting to forgo most or all of their clothing.

First-time parade-goer Phoebe Hosley, a 15-year-old high school student from Pinole, said fear of the future is what brought her there Sunday.

With everything going on in politics and the country, I felt like it was important to be here to support my community, Phoebe said. Im scared what Trump will do to LGBT people.

Leading the pack, as they always do, Dykes on Bikes gunned their hogs up Market Street at the parades 10:30 a.m. start. They, too, didnt shy away from the politics.

We are fighting this ridiculous administration, and they will not break our spirit, activism and pride, said 49-year-old Kary McElroy, who rode her Harley Davidson Ultra Classic that she named Maggie.

In a box on her motorcycles seat was her small dog  also named Maggie.

Im embarrassed to be an American, but its wonderful to be a San Franciscan and a Californian, she said.

Also near the front of the line was the Resistance Contingent, whose lead spot underscored the parades emphasis on protest as much as partying.

The groups marchers held their fists high as they carried signs reading No Wall!, Love Trumps Hate and Black Lives Matter, showing solidarity with other groups.

Farther down the parade route were nearly 300 parents and kids with Our Family Coalition, a group of families with LGBT members. The day is especially important for LGBT children, said organization spokeswoman Polly Pagenhart, because its a welcome break from the discrimination they grow up with.

Walking up Market Street and being cheered by tens of thousands of people can really blow billows of love into their chests that can sustain them for the other 364 days of the year, Pagenhart said.

Not far away was Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, among many in politics who seized the moment to make a statement.

The importance of being here today is self-evident with the backdrop of whats going on in Washington with the anxiety and fear thats being induced by this president and his policies, said Newsom, who rode in a BMW convertible.

Recalling the fierce battle that attended his pioneering move in 2004 to authorize same-sex marriage, Newsom said he and his political allies have to not just fight against complacency about any erosion of advances, but to push forward on LGBT rights.

The parade is about celebrating our differences, he said. Thats a value that cant be taken for granted.

San Francisco Supervisor Jeff Sheehy said it is vital for those marching in the parade to send a strong message to Washington, even if people believe those in the White House arent listening.

I dont think Trump will pay attention to this parade, but its important that we come together to express our resistance, he said. We need to show our reactions to how so many people and things are under assault now  health care is under assault, Muslims are under assault, trans kids are under assault.

We are like the frog in the slowly boiling pot of water. We have to take action.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who rolled along in an antique Lincoln convertible, agreed the city has to help lead the way in the nation for any rollback of rights.

We cannot let hate win, he said.

Pride participants started lining the streets just off the Embarcadero at first light Sunday, making sure their floats were ready for the nearing moment of glory.

Scott Ihrig, the head of the float for technology giant Intel, worked with a team to set up a rainbow of balloons on a company-sponsored float.

He marveled how 50 years ago, a major company like Intel wouldnt have sponsored a float, let alone hired openly gay people.

Intel was just one of many corporations participating. Nearly every major Bay Area tech company seemed to be there, lending support and pitching products. Ubers float touted its slogan, Ride with Pride, while Google showed off its self-driving car, Waymo, which appeared to be driven by a human.

Pride Community Grand Marshal Alex U. Inn, a longtime local social justice advocate, was critical of the parades commercialization. She said the event should have focused even more on politics, like in Los Angeles, where the parade morphed into an all-out demonstration.

This could have been a different march, she said.

Academy Award-winning Milk screenwriter and gay rights activist Dustin Lance Black, who was attending a party at City Hall, praised those who used the parade to make their cause heard, but he encouraged them to do more.

Yes, its critical to show up today to Pride, but this cant be the only time you come out this year, he said. Its important we show up for all our brother and sister movements.

Sundays parade concluded a week of Pride festivities around the city. Some 200 people on Saturday morning unfurled a large pink triangle on Twin Peaks, and thousands joined the annual Dyke March at Dolores Park in the afternoon. The day before, the annual Trans March also drew thousands to Dolores Park.

As always, Sundays huge parade capped off the festivities in overwhelming fashion. But it left its impact in quiet ways as well.

In the final moments before the floats started out in the morning, away from the shirtless, the pants-less, the painted and the corporate logos, two little girls sat finishing their Pride sign off Market Street. Natalie Arroyo, 8, and Morgan McDermott, 9, grew up in San Francisco. And though they were well versed in gay rights, this was their first Pride Parade and first time to celebrate.

Its second nature to them, said Morgans mom, Rayna McDermott. When we were growing up we had to have more conversations about (being gay). But for them, growing up in the city, they have so much exposure to it.

When asked why Pride is important to her, Morgan suddenly became timid from all the attention and noise around her.

Come on Morgan, dont be shy  what did we talk about in the car? her mother said.

After a few more seconds of silence, the 9-year-olds smile grew, and the words gently came out: Love is love.

Kevin Fagan, Trisha Thadani, Tony Bravo and Evan Sernoffsky are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com, tthandani@sfchronicle.com, tbravo@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron, @TrishaThadnai, @tonybravosf, @EvanSernoffsky
In at least the third such study published in the past year, scientists have confirmed seas are rising, and the rate of sea level rise is increasing as time passes - a sobering punchline for coastal communities that are only now beginning to prepare for a troubling future.

What was a 2.2 millimeter per year rise in 1993 was a 3.3 millimeter rise in 2014, based on estimates of the mass changes of a number of key components of sea level rise, such as the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the study in Nature Climate Change found. That's the difference between 0.86 and 1.29 inches per decade - and the researchers suggest further sea level acceleration could be in store.

The chief cause of the acceleration was the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which went from contributing less than 5 percent of all sea level rise in 1993 to contributing more than 25 percent in 2014, the study found. The loss of ice in Antarctica and smaller glaciers over the same time period also contributed to quicker sea level rise.

The increase in the rate of sea level rise "highlights the importance and urgency of mitigating climate change and formulating coastal adaptation plans to mitigate the impacts of ongoing sea level rise," write Xianyao Chen of the Ocean University of China and Qingdao National Laboratory of Marine Science and Technology, and colleagues. Chen's co-authors hailed from institutions in China, Australia and the United States.

"We understand why the sea level is accelerating and we're understanding what the components are contributing," said Christopher Harig, one of the study's authors and a researcher at the University of Arizona.

Earlier this year, a different group of researchers found sea level rise was only about 1.1 millimeters per year before 1990, whereas in the period between 1993 through 2012 it was 3.1 millimeters per year. NASA, at present, puts the rate of sea level rise at 3.4 millimeters per year.

But while the individual estimates differ, the broader picture is that researchers generally agree that the rate of sea level rise is increasing - and that this will have major consequences for coastal regions, which will have less time to adapt if sea level rise acceleration continues.

"I think it's gotten to the point where the observation is pretty robust," said Harig.

In the latest paper, researchers both reexamined the recent satellite record to derive a clearer picture of sea level rise acceleration, and also considered each of the individual components of sea level rise, which make up the so-called sea level "budget." They then found that the different parts of the budget matched up well with measurements of sea level change taken by satellite altimeters over the past two decades.

"We've known the bottom line total sea level change over the last couple decades, and we've known the individual components on a year-by-year basis," said Bob Kopp, a Rutgers University sea level expert who was not involved in the study but is familiar with the work. "We've known the two match up pretty well. The authors show that, when you look a bit more sharply at the year-to-year total, it's quite close to the total of the individual components. The sums work, not just on average but in each year. This increases confidence in the overall result."

The key components of sea level rise in this equation include thermal expansion of ocean water as it heats up - previously the dominant component but, as the study notes, not any more - and the melting of Greenland, Antarctica and smaller glaciers distributed across the globe. Finally, there is terrestrial water storage or loss if, due to rainfall or other factors, the continents end up storing more water on their surfaces, or alternatively, lose it to the ocean.

The new study finds that losses of ice, and from Greenland in particular, are now becoming a bigger contributor to sea level rise than thermal expansion. And it notes rather pointedly that this contrasts with what the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the top authority on climate science, predicted would unfold across the course of the century in 2013. The more Greenland and Antarctica contribute to sea level rise, the higher it can go, since these are the two largest sources of land-based ice on the planet.

For coastal communities, Harig said, the significance of the paper is that there's no way to avoid the reality that sea level rise acceleration, which was already expected to occur based on scientific projections, is now here.

"It's no longer a projection, it's now an observation," he said. "It's not something that they can continue to put off into the future."
WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Monday that he would "withhold consent" from all U.S. arms sales to Persian Gulf countries until the ongoing dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is resolved.

While congratulating President Donald Trump on signing a joint statement of unity last month with the Gulf Cooperation Council, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that recent conflicts among GCC members "only serve to hurt efforts to fight ISIS and counter Iran." ISIS is an acronym for the Islamic State.

"For these reasons, before we provide any further clearances . . . on sales of lethal military equipment . . . we need a better understanding of the path to resolve the current dispute and reunify the GCC."

It was unclear what power Corker has to stop what the administration has said were $110 billion worth of arms deals signed with the Saudis during President Trump's trip there last month. Laws governing such sales require congressional notification but not formal consent, although administrations for decades have upheld an informal practice of obtaining approval from the two committee chairmen before officially notifying Congress and triggering a 30-day review process.

If an administration chooses to ignore the chairmen, sales can be stopped only by a joint resolution of both chambers.

But regardless of its legal standing, Corker's statement serves to buttress Tillerson's efforts to move the GCC parties toward resolution. Many lawmakers have grown increasingly uneasy at the White House's perceived tilt toward Saudi Arabia despite Riyadh's ultraconservative interpretation of Islam and the effect on other regional partners.

A Senate resolution to block a $510 billion sale of precision-guided munitions, which had been withheld by the Obama administration on the grounds that the Saudis were using U.S. weapons indiscriminately in Yemen, was only narrowly defeated earlier this month.

A Corker aide said that "major lethal arms sales to any GCC member state that have been acknowledged or announced publicly by the administration but not formally notified to Congress could be affected."

"Until lifted" by Corker, the aide said, "it could impact portions of the deal announced by the Trump administration in Saudi Arabia that have not yet been formally notified to Congress." The deals includes naval vessels, helicopters, tanks and other major weapons systems that Trump has variously said would bring "thousands" and "tens of thousands" of defense industry jobs to the United States.

The regional dispute began early this month when GCC members Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with Egypt, broke relations with fellow GCC member Qatar, imposed restrictions on its land borders and airspace, and expelled its citizens.

The other countries charged Qatar with supporting terrorism and attempting to undermine their governments, and criticized what they said were Qatar's too-friendly relations with Iran. President Trump immediately expressed support for the move, while Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called for mediation.

Over the past several weeks, Trump has repeatedly sided with the Saudis, calling what is in effect a blockade of Qatar "hard but necessary," while Tillerson has warned of negative humanitarian and military effects. Qatar is the regional headquarters of the U.S. Central Command and hosts an air base from which U.S. counterterrorism strikes in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are planned and launched.

Last week, a State Department spokeswoman said the Department was "mystified" over the failure of the blockaders to come up with a promised list of complaints against Qatar and actions they were demanding to resolve the situation.

"At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions really about their concerns about Qatar's alleged support for terrorism, or were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC countries?" spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

The six-member collection of authoritarian monarchies has always been less than cohesive, with the Saudis claiming leadership and Qatar challenging its dominance and differing on issues such as forming a working relationship with Iran, which Qatar favors.

The list of demands on Qatar, which was leaked Thursday, included requirements that Qatar shutter its popular Al Jazeera news channel - which has been critical of neighboring monarchies - and scale back its relations with Iran. Of all the GCC countries, only Saudi Arabia and Bahrain do not have formal diplomatic relations with Iran.

It also demanded that Qatar close a Turkish military base in that country and sever ties with "terrorist organizations," including the Muslim Brotherhood.

Some of the 13 demands addressed long-standing concerns about Qatar's support for extremist groups and a more liberal interpretation of Islam. But others, including a requirement that Qatar pay compensation to the Saudis and others for "policies" that have damaged them internally, appeared designed to punish Qatar for its failure to recognize Saudi leadership in the region.

Tillerson said in a statement Sunday that "Qatar has begun its careful review and consideration of requests presented by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E."

"While some of the elements will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution," Tillerson said.
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"Starvin" Marvin Atwood, a former restaurant owner known for his long-running battle over a City of Beaumont noise ordinance, died Saturday of lingering health problems. He was 59.

Starvin' Marvin's, Atwood's restaurant, bar and music venue, had an embattled tenure on 11th Street.

In 2012, Atwood lost a court fight over an ordinance he said hindered his ability to host live bands on the patio. The Ninth Court of Appeals later upheld the city's win, and Atwood unsuccessfully tried to bring the case before the Texas Supreme Court. The restaurant closed for good in October of 2014.

Atwood also was known for his efforts to fight child abuse.

"Even in his sickness, even when he was fighting for his life, he was fighting for others," said Brenda Garison, founder of Child Abuse and Forensic Services Inc. "If someone needed help, he was always the first to step up."

Garison said the family has asked that in lieu of flowers, people send donations to Child Abuse and Forensic Services Inc. His funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Grace Church on Hwy 69, north of Lumberton.

You can donate by contacting texassane@aol.com or calling (409) 832-0421.
Puerto Rico, my hearts devotion. Let it sink back in the ocean.  West Side Story

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is drowning. The island, so popular with tourists, is $123 billion in debt. Thats more debt than the $18 billion bankruptcy filed by the city of Detroit in 2013. In May, San Juan declared a form of bankruptcy after creditors filed lawsuits demanding their money. A federal district judge appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts will handle the case.

How did this happen? Luis Fortuno, former governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, who served as president of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (PNP), which advocates for the island to become a U.S. state, believes he knows.

Fortuno was elected in 2009. In a telephone interview from his Washington law office, he tells me that during his one term he cut government expenses by $2 billion and the islands bond rating went up. We refinanced the debt on better terms and by the time he left office in 2013, we had brought down the budget every year and lowered corporate taxes. People believed they could take risks again.

In the 2012 election, Fortuno lost to Democrat Alejandro Garcia Padilla by a narrow (0.6 percent) margin. Fortuno blames the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for contributing to his opponents campaign. They invested heavily against me, he says. Padilla renewed the spending policies of the past and, though he left office earlier this year, the damage was done.

According to the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, most of Fortunos cuts in public expenditures were never implemented by his successor. The islands Office of Management and Budget reported that one year following legislation that called for spending reductions, 31 government agencies had, instead, increased spending.

As the Journal noted, under Fortuno Puerto Rico implemented tax reform and permit reform, legislated a world-leading public-private partnership (P3) act, reduced government expenses and paid its suppliers...

In light of such success, why would voters return control of the island to a party that was responsible for its fiscal downturn? Sometimes ideology beats success and common sense. Fortuno says it didnt help that 61 percent of eligible voters failed to vote.

A referendum on the status of Puerto Rico was held in Puerto Rico on June 11. Three options were open to voters: remain with the commonwealth, independence or statehood. Statehood won.

Would a Republican Congress and a Republican president ever back statehood for a territory that seems overwhelmingly Democratic and possibly add two senators and one voting House member to that partys total in Washington?

Fortuno doesnt believe it is a given that Democrats would win those seats. He draws a distinction between the mostly liberal Puerto Ricans who have left the island for places like New York City and those who remain. He says current residents are social and economic conservatives, suggesting Republicans could pick up seats.

Perhaps, but the U.S. taxpayer would also have to pick up Puerto Ricos huge debt and with our debt at $20 trillion, it is doubtful Congress, at least under a Republican majority, would be willing to add more red ink.

Perhaps those economic and social conservatives Fortuno says remain on the island might come to their senses and elect someone who represents his views, which were beginning to bear fruit, before a bare majority panicked and returned to the failed policies of the past.

Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ended its term Monday with a major First Amendment decision, ruling that efforts at separating church and state go too far when they deny religious institutions access to government grants meant for a secular purpose.

In siding with a Missouri church that had been denied money to resurface its playground, the court ruled 7-2 that excluding churches from state programs for which other charitable groups are eligible is a violation of the Constitution's protection of the free exercise of religion.

"The consequence is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees," wrote Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. "But the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand."

Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Missouri, brought the case because it was excluded from a state program that reimburses the cost of rubberizing the surface of playgrounds. The church scored high in the grant process, but Missouri's state constitution, like those in about three dozen states, forbade government from spending public money on "any church, sect, or denomination of religion."

The decision came as the court completed work on the cases it had accepted for the term and scheduled a couple for fresh arguments in front of a full court including Justice Neil Gorsuch, who joined the court in April.

But the day was also notable for what did not happen. All eyes were on Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court's pivotal member, who was reported to be thinking about retirement after nearly 30 years on the court. The speculation about Kennedy, who is almost always the deciding vote in divisive cases on the nation's biggest controversies, has dominated the end of a relatively quiet Supreme Court term.

The White House was watching closely because Kennedy's exit would give President Donald Trump the chance to solidify a more conservative Supreme Court. Of course, Kennedy could announce his intentions at any time, and the only words he uttered from the bench Monday were from an opinion he delivered.

The court's ruling in Trinity Lutheran v. Comer was a narrow one, but experts said it is sure to bring more challenges from religious groups in other areas.

"School choice is on a great footing, a better footing today than it was yesterday," said Michael Bindas, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, which advocates for private-school voucher programs. "The court's reasoning sends a strong signal that just as the court would not tolerate the exclusion of a church from a playground resurfacing program, it will not tolerate the exclusion of a child from a school-choice program solely because they want to use a scholarship at a religious school."

Others disputed that summary. But groups supportive of the separation of church and state were disappointed by the ruling, and it drew a long and passionate dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Sotomayor signaled the importance she places on the decision by reading part of her dissent from the bench.

The ruling "weakens this country's longstanding commitment to a separation of church and state beneficial to both," Sotomayor wrote. She added, "If this separation means anything, it means that the government cannot, or at the very least need not, tax its citizens and turn that money over to houses of worship. The Court today blinds itself to the outcome this history requires and leads us instead to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a constitutional commitment."

Roberts noted that the Supreme Court in its 2004 case Locke v. Davey upheld the state of Washington's decision not to fund students seeking degrees in devotional theology as part of a state scholarship program. But Roberts said Washington did not want to force students to give up their religious views; for instance, the scholarships could be used at religious schools.

"In this case, there is no dispute that Trinity Lutheran is put to the choice between being a church and receiving a government benefit," Roberts wrote. "The rule is simple: No churches need apply."

Roberts was joined in his full opinion by Justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan. Justices Clarence Thomas and Gorsuch joined all but a footnote in which Roberts appeared to soften the impact of the decision.

"This case involves express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing," Roberts wrote. "We do not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination."

Gorsuch said that seemed unnecessarily narrow. "The general principles here do not permit discrimination against religious exercise - whether on the playground or anywhere else," he said.

Justice Stephen Breyer agreed with the outcome of the case but thought the majority decided too much.

Groups that worry about the entanglement of government and church said they were disappointed the court did not respect Missouri's strict constitutional prohibition.

"The court gave insufficient deference to Missouri's constitutional no-aid clause, which is similar to those in 38 other state constitutions," said Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League. "These constitutional provisions serve significant government interests - leaving the support of churches to church members, while also protecting houses of worship against discrimination and interference from the government."

Some states with the same restriction as Missouri already allow churches to participate in programs that are generally applicable to the public and are for secular benefits such as health and safety.

Adding a twist to the case, Missouri now does as well. The state's new Republican governor, Eric Greitens, announced just before the April oral argument that he was reversing the policy that denied Trinity's application in 2012 and that churches are now eligible to participate.

The state's new attorney general agreed, and a private lawyer was appointed by the state to defend its old policy.

The case has been pending for a long time. The court agreed to hear it in January 2016, just before the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Several Ohio government websites, including that of Gov. John Kasich, R, were hacked Sunday and defaced with an anti-President Trump, pro-Islamic State message.

The regular homepages of the sites were replaced with a black screen that featured brief statements that ended with "I love Islamic State.''
The Bonne Terre Historical Society is now offering the residents of Bonne Terre and surrounding areas a second chance to purchase a book featuring the history and families of Bonne Terre.

The Bonne Terre, Missouri History and Families, Sesquicentennial Edition is available for a discounted rate of $49.95 while supplies last. The first edition was sold for $65 in 2014 and it took three years for them to compile the 300-plus stories featured in the book.

Bonne Terre Historical Society President Julie Hahn said they have been an individual organization for many years, but they are reorganizing and have asked to partner with the city.

Most recently, you may know, the city acquired a clear title to the little church (St. Peter's Episcopal Church) on Main Street, said Hahn. That has been in the works for years and years and it was very complicated because the church was originally deeded from the Bonne Terre Farm and Cattle Company with a clause that said if they were no longer using the church it had to go back the Farm and Cattle Company, which no longer exists.

Hahn said St. Joe was sold to Doe Run and luckily Bonne Terre City Administrator Jim Eaton was able to contact a lot of people and lawyers got involved and they did get a clear title to it.

We are going to raise money for the church, said Hahn. It needs a new bathroom, it needs a new roof and needs some plaster work. A couple years ago the Bonne Terre Historical (Society) sold these books and we were talking about doing another one, focusing on the churches and all the families who started them.

Hahn said the guy who came up to talk to them about making another book said they still had 175 of the original books left. She said they sold 300 of the books originally in 2014 and she was surprised to find out they still some of them left.

They sold them to us at a reduced price and we are selling these first. We have 50 of them right now and have sold 15 or 20 so far, said Hahn. We are sending flyers out in the mail. We plan to work on a second volume focusing on the original families who started all the different churches. We have 14 churches in Bonne Terre, and we want to know the histories of them and the families who belong to them.

Hahn said they feel the churches are the backbone of the town and they are very excited about producing a second book. She added if anyone wants to join the historical society it is free and they will meet at city hall.

If you want to purchase the first book the girls at city hall are selling them for us, said Hahn. If you have any questions you can talk to myself or Carol Eaton.

The historical society has an expanded updated volume in the works. It will be called Bonne Terre, Missouri History & Families Book Vol. II and will feature an extensive history of Bonne Terre. It will also include more family histories, with updates on those published in the Sesquicentennial Edition and hundreds of historic photos. They will be announcing more details on the second volume in the near future.

For those interested in the Bonne Terre, Missouri History and Families, Sesquicentennial Edition, it features a historical timeline of Bonne Terre from the 1800s through today, including hundreds of Bonne Terre area families.

The book also features more than 500 historic, many never before published, photographs of life in Bonne Terre including businesses, buildings and homes, churches, schools, families, organizations and more.

There is also a special section featuring prominent businesses, churches, clubs and tributes. The book is an 8  x 11-inch, hardbound book, with 216 pages printed on high quality, acid free paper for superior reproduction and longevity. The book is bound in a burgundy leatherette cover with gold foil stamping on the cover and spine.

Anyone interested in purchasing a copy can visit Bonne Terre City Hall at 118 N. Allen St. in Bonne Terre or by calling city hall at 573-358-2254, ext. 0 for more information.
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This week in 1928, the Democratic National Convention was held in Downtown Houston inside the hastily built, wooden Sam Houston Hall at 801 Bagby.

It would be the first convention in the South since the Civil War, marking a point of healing in some sense. Houston had a population of just 250,000, and the national gathering would once and for all put it on the map.

VINTAGE COOL: This is how Houston partied 100 years ago

After opening June 26, the three-day session resulted in the selection of New York Governor Al Smith as the Democratic presidential nominee. Joseph T. Robinson was tapped as his running mate.

Among the other names up for nomination was Jesse H. Jones of Houston. Texas delegates held onto their support for Jones, refusing to give up their 43 votes to help push Smith's numbers over the nomination threshold. But Ohio and other states shifted their votes to make Smith's selection official.

Story continues below...

As it turned out that November, Herbert Hoover was elected president, marking the first time that a Republican would carry Texas. Hoover took 40 of the then-48 states in the Union, even taking Smith's own home state.

During the convention, delegates took time to argue about Prohibition, which was then the law of the land.

THE GREAT WAR: 100 years ago, the United States entered World War I

Hoover and the country would have tough times in the near future as the Great Depression loomed just a year away. One of the convention speakers was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, just four years from being elected President of the United States himself in 1932.

On June 20, 1928, just days before the first conventioneers hit town, a gang of white vigilantes lynched a black man on a bridge near what is now the intersection of Interstate 10 and the 610 West Loop.

Robert Powell had been suspected of killing a local police officer, Detective Albert "Worth" Davis, and had been dragged out of a hospital bed by the mob. He was being treated for a gunshot wound to the abdomen after a firefight with police.

It was the first reported lynching in the county in a half-century.

That next afternoon a Houston Chronicle editorial said this of the gruesome incident, happening at just the time that the city would be under a national microscope.

"Houston has been shamed before the nation. This revolting crime which has been committed in our midst comes to blacken the day of our pride and joy," the paper wrote.

Seven suspects were apprehended by police within four days.

The Houston Police Officers Union's website tells the story of the events leading up to Powell's lynching on their site.

As for the Sam Houston Hall it didn't last even another decade. It hosted the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from 1932 until 1936 before it was torn down in 1936 to make way for the Sam Houston Coliseum and the adjoining Houston Music Hall.

THE RODEO'S BEGINNINGS: A downtown lunch helped spark Houston Rodeo

The rodeo wouldn't return until 1938 when it was held in the Sam Houston Coliseum.

Both venues would host legendary classic rock concerts from the likes of the Beatles, The Doors, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and the Rolling Stones.

The coliseum and hall would each be torn down in 1998 to make way for the Hobby Center five years later.
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EL PASO, Texas (AP)  An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent in Texas tells investigators he got into a vehicle with two men who then allegedly kidnapped and attacked him to get them away from his family.

The El Paso Times reports (http://bit.ly/2t9ZKp7 ) Border Patrol Agent Lorenzo Hernandez told authorities he was helping his mother at her food truck June 9 when the men asked for a ride, saying their car broke down.

According to federal court records, Hernandez said he agreed to give them a ride because he noticed one of them had a handgun.

Hernandez said he was forced to drive from El Paso to nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he was assaulted and stabbed.

The two suspects, Fernando Puga and Sergio Ivan Quinonez-Venegas, have been arrested and face federal kidnapping charges.
Florentino Tino Duran, longtime owner, publisher and CEO of the bilingual biweekly newspaper La Prensa, has died.

He had been battling Alzheimers disease for several years and had retired in 2016.

Nina Duran, his daughter and successor, took to Facebook Sunday to announce his passing.

Our sweet, beautiful and loving daddy went to be with the Lord today, she wrote. He passed peacefully in his sleep with my mama by his side.

According to a biography of Duran on the Texas Newspaper Hall of Fames website, Duran was described as a tough Alazan-Apache Courts kid with ambition and determination. The Lanier High School graduate edited the schools newspaper, did a stint in the Air Force, subsequently attending San Antonio College, where he worked on its school paper The Ranger.

The biography said Duran earned bachelors and masters degrees from St. Marys University and worked as general manager of the Spanish-language newspaper El Sol de Tejas in Dallas and as president and CEO of El Informador Hispano in Fort Worth.

He reopened La Prensa in 1989 with his wife, Amelia Duran. It was La Prensa de San Antonio was established much earlier in 1913. Its own website says the newspaper was the first and oldest bilingual publication in the state of Texas.

Tino Duran often described La Prensa as the source of positive news for the citys Latino population.

In 2014, he was induced into the Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame. In 2002, the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists honored him with the Henry Guerra Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Journalism.

One of his last Facebook posts came in 2013, when he referenced his Christian faith.

 When youre down to nothing, God is up to something. The faithful see the invisible, believe in the incredible and then receive the impossible. Have faith in all things, Duran wrote. Hold steadfast and see how God changes your life. Blessings to my city, San Antonio and all its people.
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A protest against Senate Bill 4, which bans sanctuary cities, drew hundreds downtown Monday as a hearing challenging the new law saw its first day in a federal court.

At least 100 people lined up in front of the John H. Wood Federal Courthouse awaiting entrance for the hearing on a preliminary injunction request before U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia.

Among the speakers addressing the crowd outside was Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, who prayed in front of the protesters.

We ask you to hear our prayer for reconciliation, that the separation between us may be overcome, Garcia-Siller said, who also asked for God to help all sides involved in SB4

RELATED: Trump Justice Department supports both major parts of Texas' "sanctuary cities" law

"We are already divided. There is a lot of violence and a lot of anger," Garcia-Siller said in an interview after the prayer. "A law like this, SB4, it just deepens the scenario.'

A few people were periodically shouting Hey-hey, ho-ho, SB4 has got to go! as a stage was set up for speakers.

Rain around 11:30 a.m. doused the crowd, which had already started to thin.

The hearing to block SB4, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law last month, might take up to two days for oral arguments, according to a judges order in the case.

Garcias order issued late Friday said the five groups of plaintiffs  the City of San Antonio, El Paso County, City of El Cenizo, City of Austin, and Travis County  will have 45 minutes each on Monday to present oral arguments; the state's lawyers will have 1.5 hours; and the plaintiffs will have 20 minutes each for rebuttal. The state will have 15 more minutes to respond.

RELATED: Abbott signs 'Sanctuary Cities' bill on Facebook live

The United States, which filed a request late last week to be heard, will have 30 minutes to present its statement. The City of Dallas may have 15 minutes to make a statement and proposed intervenors City of Houston and Texas Association of Hispanic County Judges and County Commissioners will have 10 minutes each to make a statement, the judge's order said.

Michelle Tremillo, executive director of the Texas Organizing Project, recalled Proposition 187 when it was introduced to California legislation in 1994.

She said the bill was introduced in response to Latinos gaining influence in the area.

They thought (Latinos) would leave the state and retreat into the shadows, she said, comparing it to the bill. That is why SB4 was passed. That is why it was an emergency item.

RELATED: Texas business, tourism groups decry sanctuary cities bill

State and local organizations addressing the audience included the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, MOVE San Antonio and La Union del Pueblo Entero.

jbeltran@express-news.net

Twitter: @JBfromSA

gcontreras@express-news.net

Twitter: @gmaninfedland
Nine students graduated from Mineral Area Colleges MoSTEMWINs Pharmacy Technician program in a ceremony held May 19 at the Perryville Higher Education Center.

The graduates included Constance Boaz, Farmington; Kassandra Voelker, Perryville; Alyssa Mahathath, Perryville; Marquitta Cook, Mineral Point; Christy Penno, Farmington; Leanna Horn, Perryville; Kathleen Wiles, Farmington; Bethany Lauder, Puxico; and Cassandra Otte, Ste. Genevieve.

They were taught by Jennifer Majeske, pharmacy technician program coordinator and instructor.

The next class begins Aug. 14 on the Park Hills campus.

MAC is among 13 colleges in the state that were awarded federal funds from the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grants Program. The federal awarding agency was the Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.

The program is designed for students seeking an entry-level pharmacy position who want to prepare for the national certification exam offered by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board.
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WASHINGTON  Amid growing doubts about quick Senate passage of the GOP's revised health care "discussion draft," Texas Republican John Cornyn and other Senate leaders on Monday were digesting a new estimate showing that their plan would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 22 million.

Cornyn, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, issued a statement focusing on the part of the new Congressional Budget Office estimate that favors the GOP plan: It would save $321 million over the next decade, more than the version that passed the House last month.

"Our plan will help address Obamacare's ballooning costs for consumers by lowering premiums over time and cutting taxes, and today's estimate confirms that," Cornyn said. "I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues this week as we get closer to finally replacing this failed law with better care at a cost that Texans will be able to afford."

But facing a half-dozen or more Republican skeptics  including Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz  it was unclear Monday whether GOP leaders plan to hit their target of voting on the bill before next week's July 4 recess.

Over the weekend, Cornyn signaled that the real "drop deadline" would be the August recess, a timeline that seemed to be endorsed by the White House. But on Monday, Cornyn took to twitter to push for the earlier deadline.

"I am closing the door," he tweeted. "We need to do it this week before double digit premium increases are announced for next year."

Regardless, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that the president has spoken in recent days to Cruz, as well as other senators who have raised doubts about the bill, which some conservatives say doesn't go far enough to repeal Obamacare.

At the same time, some moderate Republican are raising concerns about proposed rollbacks in federal spending on Medicaid, the federal health program for the poor.

The office of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, issued a statement Monday that, while taking no position on the Senate draft, backs the general Republican plan to phase out Obamacare's Medicaid expansion in the 31 states that adopted the plan.

"He believes that Texas and other states that had the foresight not to expand Medicaid under a broken and failing Obamacare law should not have to bail out those states that did," the statement said. "Ultimately, the Governor would like to see a bill that covers pre-existing conditions, gives states greater flexibility to operate Medicaid programs with accountability, and allows states sufficient time to transition to a new system."

Facing uniform Democratic opposition, Republicans can afford to lose only two in their 52-member majority to get a bill to President Donald Trump's desk.

Cruz released no formal statement Monday on the new CBO score, but told reporters in the Capitol that "significant work remains to be done" and "at this point, we need to do considerably more to lower premiums"
The Paris climate accord attempts the Herculean task of bringing the three Es  environmental policy, energy policy and economic policy  together. Make no mistake: There are complex and nuanced scientific and political issues surrounding the three Es.

The accord, unfortunately, overreaches politically. Rather than staying focused on legitimate ways to quickly reduce large volumes of carbon dioxide, the accord ascribes climate change to humans, prescribes renewable energy as the solution, and urges wealth redistribution as the mechanism to pay for it. Perhaps not a surprise that blue states in the United States support it and red states do not.

Unfortunately, this skewed political approach serves mostly to highlight differences and polarize people and nations. More important, it will not solve the emissions challenge.

In terms of climate change, perspectives range from complete human responsibility for current warming, resulting in major global impact, to proportionate influence of humans on natural climate change, recognizing the limited impact that the accords emissions cuts  even if fully implemented  will have on future warming.

The 195 countries that signed the accord were motivated by various circumstances and desires. For example, some countries are not required to alter current energy plans. Others will be paid to do just that. Some see climate change as having a negative impact on them. Many have a need for increased energy, and renewables provide a distributed option. And all recognize that the accord is voluntary and unenforceable.

Approaches to wealth inequality, climate and energy vary, and reasonable science supports different approaches. Most agree that global wealth inequality is unhealthy. Three billion people live in various states of poverty, with limited access to clean water, food, housing, education, health care or hope. The philosophies to address inequality range from full-scale wealth redistribution on the left, to a growing global economy lifting undeveloped nations from poverty on the right. The accord moves hard left by urging a wealth-redistribution approach.

Simply stated, affordable and reliable energy is required to lift underdeveloped nations and impoverished people from poverty. Today, 86 percent of global energy comes from fossil fuels  oil, natural gas and coal.

No form of energy is good or bad environmentally. True, fossil fuels require mining and drilling, and emit carbon dioxide when combusted for transportation and power generation; and wind and solar do not emit carbon dioxide. But lets not kid ourselves: All forms of energy at scale have negative environmental impacts. In addition to well-documented wildlife damage, a vast amount of land and mining will be needed to manufacture and install the necessary number of wind turbines, solar panels and solar mirrors to make a dent in global demand; erect the transmission towers and power lines to distribute the electricity; and manufacture and dispose of the very large batteries required to power electric cars and back up intermittent wind and solar.

By labeling renewables as good, the accord moves to the political left.

Paris showed that it is possible to get many nations to sign a common environmental accord. Unfortunately, the accord conflated action on climate change with energy and wealth-inequality politics. An apolitical focus on emissions  one that avoids picking energy winners and payment schemes  could result in an agreement that would address emissions at scale. Addressing carbon dioxide emissions at scale and in the time frames required must include nuclear, increased energy efficiency, natural gas and even coal  where the economics and geology allow the emissions to be captured and sequestered.

Underdeveloped and developing nations need access to all forms of energy so they can create robust economies of their own, and afford the cost of adaptation and environmental stewardship.

Scott Tinker is the Allday Endowed Chair of Subsurface Geology and director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin.
2

Condenan a un filosofo de 80 anos por robar un movil en un pub de Gijon en el que nunca estuvo
Local News, National & World News, Health & Wellness, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: June 26 2017

Senate Republican Bill Will Strip Millions of Health Care and Cost New York Billions; Cuomo Urges New York Delegation to "Do Everything Within Your Means to Protect This State."

Albany, NY - June 26, 2017 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today sent an open letter to members of the New York State Congressional delegation calling on them to stop the destructive Senate Republican Health Care bill. In his letter, the Governor said the bill will have a "catastrophic impact" on New York and urged the delegation to take whatever action within their means to prevent the bill from passing.

The Senate Republican health care bill will leave millions more New Yorkers without health care and cut billions of dollars from New Yorks Medicaid program. In addition, the bill includes a proposal by two members of New York's own congressional delegation, Representatives John Faso and Chris Collins, that would eliminate $2.3 billion dollars and force all New Yorkers to pay a "Faso-Collins Federal Tax."

Full text of the Governor's letter sent today can be found here and below:

Members of the New York State Congressional Delegation:

The Senate Republican's health care plan will be crippling for New York.

They promised to improve the radical House health care bill and protect Americans, but they have delivered a crueler and more devastating plan. If President Trump called the House version of the bill "mean," this is just as mean or worse.

No one is fooled by the same old Washington games. The dangerous bill strips millions of New Yorkers of their health care in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich. It attacks the rights of women, and it endangers care for many of the most vulnerable among us.

The bill will have a catastrophic impact on New Yorkers and our economy:

Strips millions of New Yorkers of health care coverage.

Cuts billions of dollars for New Yorks Medicaid program, leading to devastating cuts to New Yorks hospitals, nursing homes, and home care providers.

Punishes New York for its support of women's reproductive rights by taking away access to tax credits that are intended to make health insurance more affordable.

Defunds Planned Parenthood, which provides essential services for 2.4 million Americans every year.

Included in the bill is an amendment Faso, Collins and their colleagues are pushing that amounts to nothing more than a political Ponzi scheme, and New Yorkers aren't fooled. The Faso-Collins shell game cuts $2.3 billion in federal funding to New York and will force every resident of this state to pay a "Faso-Collins Federal Tax" added onto local property taxes to make up the difference to avoid decimation of our healthcare system.

New York is already a "donor state," contributing $48 billion more in taxes to the federal government than it receives in federal spending. And at a time when middle class families are already struggling to make ends meet, new taxes will hurt our residents and drag down our economy.

If this bill passes, Faso, Collins and other Republican members of New Yorks delegation who supported it will have to answer to the people of this state for it. For those in the delegation who supported this legislation, New Yorker's will remember that you were elected to serve them but instead fought to cut our funding and our vital healthcare services.

I applaud the vocal and determined opposition to this wrong and destructive legislation from other members of our delegation, and I urge those of you fighting for New York to continue to do everything within your means to protect this state.

It is up to you to stop this bill. At this pivotal moment in our nations history, New Yorkers are depending on your leadership and your resolve.

As New Yorkers, we believe that health care is a human right, and we know that you will not yield in the fight to protect the rights and wellbeing of all New Yorkers.

Thank you for your committed service to this State and to its people.
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Health & Wellness

By Long Island News & PR Published: June 26 2017

NYBC urges the public to donate to replenish the communitys critically low blood supply.

Long Island, NY - June 26, 2017 - New York Blood Center (NYBC) has declared a blood emergency and is asking the public to please find time to donate blood at a NYBC donor center or convenient blood drive to help replenish the communitys blood supply. Recent national tragedies are reminders that it is imperative for NYBC to always have an adequately stocked blood supply to respond when communities are faced with patient traumas or other events that require life-saving blood products.

To donate blood or for information on how to organize a blood drive p lease call Toll Free: 1-800-933-2566 or visit: www.nybloodcenter.org/blood .

In order to maintain a safe blood supply a seven-day inventory of all types must be continually replenished. Companies, organizations, and community groups are also encouraged to step up to host a blood drive in July or August to help rebuild the blood supply. Hosting a blood drive is easy and NYBCs staff will help you every step of the way.

O negative blood donors are considered universal, and their blood type is needed most readily in trauma situations and emergency departments across the country. Due to its high demand, O negative blood is in short supply and NYBC encourages individuals with this blood type to consider stepping forward and donate today. Our local blood supply has reached a critically low level, with under a two-day supply of O negative, B negative, and A negative.

As we head into the summer months, we are reminded of how essential it is that our community maintains steady participation in blood donation. The best preparation for an unpredictable tragedy is having blood on hospital shelves in advance. This is key to potentially saving lives.

By spreading the word or even hosting your own blood drive, inviting friends, family, and community organizations, you may save lives in your community, said Andrea Cefarelli, Executive Director of NYBC. We are in dire need of O negative blood with a reserve that is currently below a two day supply, and that is just too low.

Historically, during the summer months, blood centers have had to focus on building up the communitys blood supply, as it tends to diminish due to seasonal factors. While summer months are marked by a long vacation period, with schools in recess and leisure time, the need for blood never takes a vacation. NYBC urges individuals to seek out nearby blood donation centers and to engage in the selfless act of donating, helping to prevent a summer blood shortage and potentially saving the life of someone in need.

More About Blood Donations

The entire donation process takes less than an hour and a single donation can be used to save multiple lives. Donors with O-negative blood type, or universal donors, are especially encouraged to donate, as their blood can be used in emergencies. Nearly 2,000 donations are needed each day in New York and New Jersey alone. About one in seven hospital admissions requires a blood transfusion, and with a limited shelf life, supplies must be continually replenished.

If you cannot donate but still wish to participate in bringing crucial blood products to patients in need, please ask someone to donate for you, or consider volunteering at a local blood drive.

Any company, community organization, place of worship, or individual may host a blood drive. Blood donors receive free mini-medical exams on site including information about their temperature, blood pressure and hematocrit level. Eligible donors include those people at least age 16 (parental consent is required for 16-year-olds), who weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, are in good health and meet all Food & Drug Administration and NY or NJ State Department of Health donor criteria. People age 76 or older may donate if they have a doctors note on file with New York Blood Center or if they bring one on the day of the blood drive.

About New York Blood Center

Now more than 50 years old, New York Blood Center (NYBC) is a nonprofit organization that is one of the largest independent, community-based blood centers in the country. NYBCs mission is to serve the 20 million people in the New York metropolitan area  and more broadly, our nation and our world  by alleviating human suffering and preserving human life using our medical expertise.
Two unrelated accidents injured two over the weekend, according to reports from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

A crash on Route B sent one occupant to the hospital Friday.

The report states the accident occurred at 10 p.m. just south of Old Bismarck Road when a 2001 Ford Focus driven by Dylan Fowler, 22, of Ironton, left the right side of the road and struck a utility pole.

Fowlers passenger, Madeline Carmack, 17, sustained moderate injuries and was transported to Parkland Health Center by ambulance.

Fowlers vehicle was totaled and towed from the scene.

An Indiana woman received moderate injuries in an ATV accident Saturday at the St. Joe St. Park off-road vehicle area.

According to patrol reports, Heather Crabtree, 29, of Indianapolis, was operating a 2006 Arctic Cat ATV when the vehicle failed to negotiate a left turn and overturned.

Crabtree received moderate injuries and was transported to Parkland Health Center by ambulance.

The Missouri Highway Patrol was assisted by the Park Hills Fire Department in responding to the incident.
Johan Gustafsson (left), as seen in an AQIM video released in June 2015.

Johan Gustafsson, a Swedish national held hostage by al Qaeda in Mali, was released and returned to Sweden earlier today after nearly six years of captivity, according to the Swedish Foreign Ministry.

In a statement, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said Johans situation has touched many of us, and extensive efforts have been made to secure his release. It is unclear what extensive efforts refers to in the statement. In the past, foreign hostages in Mali have been released in exchanges or ransom payments.

Wallstrom did thank the Foreign Ministry, the National Polices operational department and other Swedish and foreign authorities for the release of Gustafsson. At least one NGO was working towards the release of both Gustafsson and a South African national kidnapped alongside him.

According to Swedish media, Gustafsson has already arrived back in Sweden after landing at Stockholm Arlanda airport on a Swedish government plane.

Gustafsson was kidnapped in Timbuktu in 2011 alongside three other people. One hostage, a German national, was killed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) gunmen as he tried to resist. Another captive, Dutch national Sjaak Rijke, was freed in a French special forces raid in April 2015. Stephen Malcolm, a South African national, is still thought to be held by al Qaeda although his status remains unclear with Gustafsson now free.

Rijke previously appeared in a propaganda video with another AQIM hostage, Serge Lazarevic. Lazarevic, a French national, was freed in a prisoner swap with AQIM in late 2014. Lazarevic was kidnapped alongside another French national, Philippe Verdon, who was killed in 2013 by AQIM in Mali.

Gustafsson and Malcolm appeared together in a propaganda video released by AQIMs Sahara branch in June 2015. The two were shown pleading with their respective governments to try and free them. In addition, the two chastise the governments for allowing them to be held for over 1000 days at that point.

The two would later appear in separate proof-of-life videos produced for Gift of the Givers Foundation, a South African NGO working towards the release of the hostages. AQIM produced another video in early 2016, which was the last time the two have been seen in videos released by the group.

Al Qaeda has a long history of taking foreign hostages in Mali and in the surrounding countries. In 2010, Michel Germaneau, a French hostage held by AQIM, died while in captivity. And in 2013, four French hostages were released by AQIM after being held for three years; it is speculated that a ransom of 20 million Euros was paid to free them.

Before that, AQIM was responsible for the kidnapping of Spanish nationals in Mauritania and an Italian and French national in Mali in 2009, as well as many more abductions. These prolific kidnappings throughout the Sahel led senior al Qaeda leaders to tighten their control over the hostage-taking operations.

In Nov. 2010, AQIM emir Abdelmalek Droukdel made a surprising claim in a video that was aired on Al Jazeera. Droukdel said that France would have to negotiate with Osama bin Laden himself to secure the release of several French hostages. [See FDDs Long War Journal report, Analysis: Al Qaeda central tightened control over hostage operations.]

These operations have continued, as in Jan. 2016, AQIM captured an Australian couple in northern Burkina Faso. The group would later release the woman, but her husband remains in captivity. In Timbuktu, Beatrice Stockly, who was previously kidnapped in 2012, was taken again by AQIM in 2016. In April 2015, Al Murabitoon captured a Romanian national at a mine in northern Burkina Faso.

Both AQIMs Sahara branch and Murabitoon are now part of the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), al Qaedas unified entity in West Africa. This means JNIM likely cares for and holds these prisoners captive on a day-to-day basis.

Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
The Afghan Taliban promoted its network of training camps that it claims are in operation throughout Afghanistan in a recent propaganda video that was published on its official website. Four new Taliban camps have been identified by the Taliban.

Al Emarah Studio, a branch of the Talibans media arm, published Omari Army 5, a 70-minute long video which featured footage from seven camps, identified as: Abu Bakr Saddiq, Abu Dujanah, Khalid bin Walid, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, Omar Faruq, Omari, and Omar ibn Khattab. The Taliban had previously released footage from the Abu Dujanah, Khalid bin Walid, and Omar ibn Khattab camps; the other four have not been advertised until now.

In the video, the Taliban stressed that jihad is a divine obligation for all Muslims and failure to support jihad is a sin. The Taliban has pushed this message before, most recently at the end of May when it announced the beginning of Ramadan [see FDDs Long War Journal report, Jihad during Ramadan is obligatory, Taliban spokesman says].

Omari Army showed Taliban fighters at various stages in training, and at different times of the year (images from the video and be viewed below).

The video was released as the Taliban continued military success against Afghan security forces throughout the country. Earlier this year, the US military estimated that Taliban controls or contests 40 percent of the country, while the Taliban put that number at 50 percent.

Jihadist training camps in Afghanistan

The Taliban has publicized at least 16 of its training camps since the end of 2014 (see list below). In late 2015, the Taliban announced that its Khalid bin Walid Camp operated 12 satellite facilities throughout Afghanistan, and had the capacity to train up to 2000 recruits at a single time. Additionally, it said the Khalid bin Walid Camp trains recruits in eight provinces (Helmand, Kandahar, Ghazni, Ghor, Saripul, Faryab, Farah and Maidan Wardak) and has around 300 military trainers and scholars.

Other jihadist groups, including al Qaeda, are known to operate camps inside Afghanistan. In 2015, the US raided an al Qaeda camp in Bermal district in Paktika, and two others in the Shorabak district in Kandahar province. The outgoing commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, said that one of the camps in Shorabak was the largest in Afghanistan since the US invaded in 2001. Al Qaeda has also operated camps in Kunar and Nuristan.

Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, a Pakistani jihadist group that is closely allied with al Qaeda,operates terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan, the US government stated in 2014. The Turkistan Islamic Party, the Islamic Jihad Union, and the Imam Bukhari Jamaat, an Uzbek jihadist group that operates in both Syria and Afghanistan, have all claimed to operate camps inside Afghanistan. Coalition forces have also raided Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan suicide training camps in Samagan and Sar-i-Pul.

Training camps promoted by the Taliban since Dec. 2014

Dec. 2014: The Taliban announced the existence of a training camp in Faryab province.

Dec. 2014:The Khalid bin Waleed camp in Kunar province.

June 2015: The Taliban touted its special forces training camp; the location was not disclosed.

Aug. 2015: Training Camp Shaheed Ustaz Aasim in the Lions Den, in Paktia province.

Sept. 2015 The Salahadin Ayyubi camp; the location was not disclosed.

July 2016: The Omar bin Khattab training camp in Kunduz.

Oct. 2016: Abdullah bin Mubarak Jihad Training Camp; the location was not disclosed.

Nov. 2015: The Khalid bin Walid Camp; the location was not disclosed. According to the Taliban, it has 12 branches.

Nov. 2015: The Abu Dujana Camp, in Sar-i-Pul province. It is one of the 12 branch camps of the Khalid bin Walid Camp.

Jan. 2017: Al Farouq Training Camp; the location was not disclosed.

March 2017: Intiqam Giran-e-Quran in Faryab.

March 2017: Khalid-Bin-Walid, or Khalid-Bin-Walik, in Faryab.

June 2017: Abu Bakr Saddiq Camp; the location was not disclosed.

June 2017: Abu Dujanah Camp; the location was not disclosed.

June 2017: Khalid bin Walid Camp; the location was not disclosed.

June 2017: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour Camp, likely in Kunduz.

June 2017: Omar Faruq Camp; the location was not disclosed.

June 2017: Omari Camp; the location was not disclosed.

June 2017: Omar ibn Khattab Camp, likely in Kunduz.

Abu Bakr Saddiq training camp:

Abu Dujanah training camp:

Abu Ubaydah training camp:

Khalid bin Walid system of training camps:

Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour training camps:

Killed Taliban shadow governor, Mullah Abdul Salam, at the Mullah Akhtar Mansour camp in Kunduz:

Omar Faruq training camp:

Omar ibn Khattab training camps:

Omari training camp:

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of The Long War Journal. Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

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.
Jackson Owens follows up his hit single Cant Make It Right, with a new track from his debut EP, For The Better
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Beijing : At least 34 people have been killed in floods triggered by incessant rains while another 93 remained missing following a massive landslide in southwest China that have forced authorities to relocate over 4.50 lakh people. More than 3,000 rescuers were searching for the 93 people still buried under rocks and mud brought by the landslide in Sichuan Province, authorities said. The landslide engulfed at least 62 homes in Xinmo village in Maoxian County in the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba on Saturday, blocking a two kilometre section of river and burying 1,600 metres of road.

Ten people have been confirmed dead and 15 people had been taken off the list of missing as they were not in Xinmo village when the disaster struck, said Xu Zhiwen, deputy chief of Aba prefecture. Only three people from a family were rescued hours after the landslide. The chance of survival for the missing ones is low, rescuers said. Rain-triggered disasters have left at least 22 people dead and six missing in provinces of Jiangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan and Anhui.

Meanwhile in Jianxi, heavy rainfall since Thursday has affected 1.8 million people and forced authorities to relocate 2.70 lakh people to safer places in 47 counties and districts, the provincial flood control authorities said. Flash floods and landslides have left six people dead and

three missing in Jiangxi. The forecast says rainfall is set to weaken today onwards but it may get heavier again later this week. In Guizhou, nine people were killed and two remained missing after torrential rains pounded the region over the past few days. Heavy rains also damaged 35,418 hectares of crops and inflicted a direct economic loss of 610 million yuan (USD 89 million). PTI
GREENFIELD -- About 100 unionized nurses and their supporters walked a picket line around the whole of Baystate Franklin Medical Center Monday, one day after management locked out the Massachusetts Nurses Association in anticipation of a previously announced one-day strike.

More than 200 nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center have been negotiating with Springfield-based Baystate Health since November. They have been without a contract since Jan. 1.

Baystate Franklin, Franklin County's only hospital and primary health-care facility, remained open with replacement traveling nurses, said hospital president Cindy Russo. Baystate Franklin doctors performed their full schedule of operations and procedures and even added one procedure to the schedule, she said.

All told, between the lockout and the strike, temporary nurses will care for patients at the 90-bed hospital until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28. They started at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Baystate Health spokeswoman Shelly Hazlett said the hospital is required to guarantee the temporary nurses, hired through a professional staffing agency, three days of work.

Outdoors, emergency room nurse and union negotiator Suzanne Love said a woman she recognized from the ER dropped off a case of water to the picket line command post on High Street.

Love is the union representative for the emergency room and is on the negotiating committee.

"We would like to have fair staffing. We would like to have a fair health health insurance plan that is not a 26 percent increase over what we were paying previously and we would like a fair compensation in terms of time off," she said.

She said nurses have previously earned time of in three categories: holiday, vacation and sick. Baystate wants to count all paid time off in one bucket, she said.

The nurses are also calling for Baystate to hire more nurses and increase staffing, saying there is too much forced overtime.

Baystate's Russo counters that the hospital needs flexibility to move staff and change personnel allotments depending on patent headcounts and how sick those folks are.

Baystate said 83 percent of the overtime worked at the close of a 12-hour shift is less than one hour and 59 percent of all overtime worked at the end of any shict is less than one hour.

Baystate calculates that only 14 of about 240 nurses worked 40 hours a week last year for a total of 2,080 hours.

Baystate Franklin has an average base pay for a nurse at the Greenfield hospital is $40.88 per hour, according to the hospital. The union has said most nurses work between 24 and 32 hours a week.

Russo said the union's position is part of a statewide push to force hospitals to hire more nurses. The MNA is planning a strike against Tufts Medical Center including 1,200 nurses and is negotiations with both Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield and with this same Baystate Health at its Baystate Noble hospital in Westfield.

Rallies are scheduled outside Baystate Franklin Medical Center at noon and 5 p.m. Monday.
GREENFIELD -- Both sides in the ongoing labor dispute here at Baystate Franklin Medical Center say they'd be making a lot more progress if they were sitting across the table from someone who had only local interests at heart.

Registered Nurse Donna Stern, co-chair of the union's bargaining unit, said during a street side rally Monday, "This isn't about us. This is about the executives down in Springfield."

Meanwhile, hospital president Cindy Russo said the Massachusetts Nurses Association's call for the hospital to hire more nurses and increase staff levels is part of a statewide push by the labor union to increase its own ranks.

The 240 nurses in the Massachusetts Nurses Association and Baystate Franklin Medical Center have been negotiating since November 2016. Their contract with the 90-bed Baystate Franklin facility expired in January.

The nurses union says issues include staffing, the system of earned time off and the cost of health insurance. Nurses say the cost of their health care would rise 26 percent under Baystate's proposal.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association had declared a one day strike for Monday. But Baystate says it can only contract with replacement workers for three days. So Baystate locked out the nurses starting 7 p.m. Sunday night.

Replacement nurses hired from outside the area will be on the job through 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28.

A noontime rally outside the hospital featured speakers, including State Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, who represents parts of Berkshire and Franklin counties.

Inside, the hospital was open and doctors there performed their scheduled list of procedures plus one procedure that was scheduled after the strike, said Baystate's Russo.

The hospital will remain open and operating as normal, according to Baystate officials. Nine expectant mothers are due to deliver at Baystate Franklin before Friday.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health had an inspector on scene Monday, Russo said. That is standard procedure when there is a strike.

Russo said hospitals are under financial pressure with low reimbursements from Medicare and the as-yet-unknown impacts of the Republican-backed federal health care bills.

She said the staffing requirements the union wants would rob the hospital of flexibility to respond to changing patient head counts and levels of sickness among those patients.

Baystate calculates that only 14 of about 240 nurses worked 40 hours a week last year for a total of 2,080 hours.

Baystate Franklin has an average base pay for a nurse at the Greenfield hospital is $40.88 per hour, according to the hospital. The union has said most nurses work between 24 and 32 hours a week.
There is a new genealogy resource taking root in the community: the genealogy research library at the Polish Center of Discovery and Learning in Chicopee.

There will be a wine and cheese reception to mark its official opening from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday. This is an opportunity to introduce the public to docents, resources and collections of the Genealogy Research Library of the Polish Genealogy Society of Massachusetts at the center, 33 South St.

"Polish genealogical research is challenging because of the language and historical events in Poland such as the Partition of Poland in 1795. Early local records here were often inaccurate because of language problems and sources in Poland may be written in Polish, German, Latin, Russian or multiple languages," explained Joseph E. Kielec, curator.

Because of changing national boundaries specific archival records may be in several locations. "Efforts by genealogists in Poland are solving this problem by indexing church records which then become available on their websites which we can search," he said. "The specialized resources and expertise needed to successfully search and understand these various factors can be most effectively be assembled and accessed in a concentrated setting such as this library, which was created and structured for this specific purpose."

Resources there include four experienced genealogy researchers, informed access to genealogy websites in Poland along with a printer and scanner to capture discoveries, a catalog of all of the major internet genealogy research sites and the high speed internet access to initiate searches, out-of-print Polish gazetteers, genealogy research guides and an inclusive business directory with descriptive entries of the populations and commercial activities in all cities and villages in Poland in 1928.

Visitors will also find translation guides and tutorials for Polish, Russian and Ukrainian church records; research bulletins; The PGSMA Ancestral Villages Project where people can place pins on large format maps of Poland once they have been able to successfully take the first step of genealogical research by identifying and locating their ancestral villages; a broad collection of research books and Polish novels; family histories of Polish immigrant families; and ongoing classes of instruction on "Getting Started with Your Polish Genealogy."

The library also offers assistance to descendants of many of the Central European countries including Poland, Russia, Belorussia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Ukraine.

"Our mission is to teach people how to get started and to have fun and enjoy success in searching for their family histories and creating their life stories," Kielec said.

The library will be open on Thursdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and by appointment.

It is hosted by the Polish Center of Discovery and Learning which contains a unique assemblage of artifacts, stories and legends that present a composite view of Polish history and heritage throughout the centuries of Polish and Polish-American civilizations.

For more information, go to pgsma.org/research-room.html.
Fifty years ago this week, President Johnson wrapped up two days of summit talks with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in Glassboro, N.J. The two agreed to "keep in touch," but gave no indication that they had narrowed differences regarding the Middle East and Vietnam. Kosygin spent time visiting the northeastern U.S. prior to his conference with Johnson.

From the June 26, 1967 edition of The Springfield Union

Later in the week, President Johnson signed a four-year extension of the draft law hours before the current law was set to expire. Johnson signed the legislation without public ceremony at the LBJ Ranch 70 miles from San Antonio, Texas.

Also this week a photo out on page one of a 1967 version of a jet ski. The 25-mile-per-hour "Scooter-Ski" was developed in England and sold for about $450.

From the June 27, 1967 edition of The Springfield Union

These are some of the headlines you'll see from Page 1 of The Republican and its predecessors over the past fifty years for the week of June 25 - July 1. Each week I'll put together a slideshow of Page 1 images from selected years over the course of that week. We're starting with a look back at one, five, thirty, forty and fifty years ago, with Page 1s from each day of the week for those years.

The slideshow for June 25 - July 1 is embedded at the top of this article.

We'll also find some humor printed out on page one over the years. In 1967 'Dennis The Menace' could be found on the bottom of page one six days a week.

From the June 29, 1967 edition of The Springfield Union

Other newspaper comics from the archive can be found in the Featured Collection photo galleries on MassLive.

A year ago Alexander Ciccolo, 23, of Adams, was indicted on federal charges alleging that he aided ISIS and was plotting to commit acts of terrorism. He was arrested the previous year on illegal gun possession and assault and battery charges. The assault charge was incurred when he attacked a nurse with a pen while being booked at the Franklin County House of Correction following his arrest.

And back in 1977, a photograph by Bill Burkhart taken as he traveled down the Mt. Tom Alpine slide in Holyoke.

From the July 1, 1977 edition of The Morning Union

As you'll find with looking through the slideshow, that while many stories come and go, many of the issues and topics that affected lives in the past, continue to have an impact on our lives today.

Copies of these and other stories can be found in the online archives. The Historic Archive includes stories from 1824 to 1989, and the Newsbank Archive covers 1988 through the present day.
The Dalai Lama visited Boston this weekend, offering blessings and guiding words to crowds around the city. Buddhists in Boston and beyond, including many members of the Tibetan Association of Boston, flocked to downtown Boston on Saturday and Sunday to get a glimpse of the spiritual leader.

The Dalai Lama spoke at the Sheraton Boston Hotel on Sunday, attracting an estimated 2,000 for his speech in Tibetan.

A Buddhist student at Harvard Divinity School told the Boston Globe that the Dalai Lama's speech included connections between Buddhism, psychology and the sciences. That intersection seems to be a focus of the Tibetan religious figure, who also reportedly met with nonprofit Mind & Life Institute, an organization aiming to connect science and spirituality.

A great blessing and once-a-life time honor to greet His Holiness Dalai Lama to Boston. pic.twitter.com/JO0dp1ASip  Nam Pham (@NamEconDev) June 24, 2017

A once in a lifetime by total chance. About to see the Dalai Lama in person on a family trip to Boston. pic.twitter.com/ixrj4nK95W  I Sacked Troy Smith Too (@fifty2twenty) June 24, 2017

Other audience members told the Globe that the Dalai Lama preached the tenants of Buddhism, which focus on persistence to become a better person and treating others with compassion.

The Boston visit was a last stop in the Dalai Lama's United States tour. He also stopped at the University of California, San Diego, where reports say he was met by campus protestors who oppose his support for Tibetan autonomy within China.

My latest at @reason on why the Dalai Lama generated controversy at UC San Diego (& how offended students co-opted SJ crusader language) https://t.co/EErJK1K7zE  Liz Wolfe (@lizzywol) June 22, 2017
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As the hub of learning, creativity and innovation in Northwest Montana, Flathead Valley Community College is expanding
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Charlie Rose: What is your goal in life?

Sophia: My goal is to become smarter than humans and immortal.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/artificial-intelligence-positioned-to-be-a-game-changer/

***

Artificial Intelligence, real-life applications

On 60 Minutes Overtime, Charlie Rose explores the labs at Carnegie Mellon on the cutting edge of A.I. See robots learning to go where humans cant

By Brit McCandless

Full Story and Video: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-artificial-intelligence-real-life-applications/
When Joseph Quan arrived at the Wharton School of Business as an MBA, he knew he was set on starting a company.

Two years later, his HR software startup Twine, which uses a proprietary algorithm to help companies put their employees in best-fit roles, has won well over $50,000 in no-strings-tied grants and received funding from two on-campus venture capital funds in the same year.

Much of Twines early success has to do with the proactivity with which Joseph and his team sought out resources at his university.

Here are a few things student entrepreneurs need to learn from Twine to gain the extra edge for their startups.

Jason Choi

Full Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5-ways-you-can-use-your-school-to-launch-a-startup_us_594ebe71e4b0c85b96c659ec
Whether you are an avid tweeter, write a blog, or are a novice to professional social media, your online presence has the power to connect you with potential patients just down the street or colleagues working on similar research across the world. Share on Pinterest Social media platforms allow doctors to connect with colleagues and patients. Having a strong online voice is part of your brand. Any communication by or about you, such as your name being listed on your practices website, is part of your brand. Taking control of how you are perceived by others helps to build your professional reputation. Whether you want to expand your practice, find colleagues to collaborate with, or are looking for career opportunities, your reputation is key to achieving your goals. In a recent article on branding, we brought you tips on how to define and establish your brand. Here, we delve deeper into how to capitalize on the most useful professional social media platforms for physicians.

LinkedIn: Bringing the world to you Share on Pinterest LinkedIn is the worlds largest professional network, with more than 500 million registered users worldwide. Half of these users are college graduates, and 45 percent report household incomes of $75,000 or more per year. Kevin Pho, M.D.  an internal medicine physician and co-author of the book Establishing, Managing and Protecting Your Online Reputation: A Social Media Guide for Physicians and Medical Practices  sees several benefits from having a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a low-threat, low-resource, high-yield action, he said. Unlike physician rating sites, a social media profile offers more control over how you are presented, Dr. Pho explained. Also, LinkedIn profiles are ranked highest out of all social media platforms, reducing the impact of negative news or physician rating sites. After registering at LinkedIn.com, create the most thorough profile possible, recommended Jeffrey Benabio, M.D., in an article published on Medjobnetwork.com. The more complete your profile is, the higher it ranks. The basic information to share is your education, medical expertise, areas of interest, professional experience, the address and phone number of your practice, and links to your website (if you have one). To make the most of your LinkedIn profile, follow these simple steps: Upload a picture of yourself looking professional but approachable.

Personalize your headline.

Add keywords, including the name and location of your practice.

List at least five of your strongest skills as a physician.

Search for colleagues already on LinkedIn and invite them to connect.

Join LinkedIn groups that match your interests.

Be active by commenting on others posts and sharing articles of interest, including your own.

Finally, customize your profile URL, and include it in your email signature. LinkedIn allows you to build up a substantial network of connections, communicate directly with other members, post updates, share stories from other outlets, and importantly, track who has viewed your profile.

Doximity: Catering to HCPs Share on Pinterest While LinkedIn is low in physician resources, Doximity is high. Similar to LinkedIn but exclusive to healthcare professionals in the United States, Doximity connects more than 800,000 of them  600,000 of which are physicians. Doximity has emerged as the core professional profile for doctors and one thats totally within the physicians control, said Bryan Vartabedian, M.D.  director of community medicine for the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition for Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston  in his blog. Its the first place I go to update my professional status as it changes. Creating your profile is easy; you can automatically upload your CV. Conveniently, Doximity keeps your CV updated by scanning the web for information about your latest achievements. It doesnt stop there. Doximity profile updates are also immediately reflected in U.S. News & World Report physician profiles. Including your clinical interests allows you to receive the most relevant referrals and news from their DocNews newsfeed. The site also lets you know when your work is being discussed in online conversations. In addition to connecting physicians with job offers, the site offers CME/CE credits, a residency navigator, and an annual salary survey. For communicating with your patients, a free digital fax and messaging service provides HIPAA-secure communication from any mobile device. Another tool displays your office number when you call patients from your cell phone. Between its far-reaching network and well-conceived resources, Doximity expands your influence while boosting your practice on the most practical levels.

Twitter: Big impact in tiny bites Share on Pinterest With 328 million active users, Twitter is well suited to physicians who want to network, learn, or teach. The microblogging site lets you make an impact in 140-character posts called tweets. Quotes and attached media are excluded from the character count. While anyone can read tweets, only registered users can post them. Tweets often include photos and links. Hashtags (such as #cancer) identify terms and help to organize information. The names, or handles, of other users are preceded by the @ symbol (such as @mnt). Physicians usually follow other physicians, allowing them to interact with colleagues interested in the same news, advances, or advocacy. On Twitter you can follow thought leaders in any area of medicine and healthcare, Dr. Pho explained. I have a Twitter list that has 40 healthcare thought leaders that I follow dozens of times a day. To me its one of the most powerful ways to stay up to date in my area of medicine and healthcare. Twitter can also bring you the latest news from major medical journals , including pre-published articles as well as policy updates and educational events. The platform is especially useful for getting insight into patients perspectives , as many patients and advocacy groups tweet regularly. Through Twitter, you can even attend medical conferences virtually, by following attendees tweets. Sharing research findings is easy and can lead to new collaborations. In 2015, the California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) took to Twitter for vaccine legislation. Up for debate was a bill that would end personal belief exemptions for vaccines. Going up against thousands of Twitter comments opposing the bill, the CAFP formed a coalition with pediatricians and public health officials, tweeting to educate patients and the media. The result saw California become the third state to ban personal belief exemptions for vaccines. To add your voice to Twitter, sign up for a free account on Twitter.com. Then, create a profile that includes your name, credentials, and a picture. Search by using hashtags to find the topics most pertinent to you. Begin by following the physicians and thought leaders who interest you, and retweet the most insightful ones. Once you start tweeting your own thoughts and links to original articles, be ready to field the responses. A record of all your tweets is conveniently stored on your home page.

YouTube: Patients see you in action Share on Pinterest While Twitter plugs you into the latest research and gives you a forum to share yours, YouTube can be even more personal. A short video introducing yourself allows potential patients to start getting to know you before even making an appointment. YouTube videos can also be a way to educate patients about your services, without any overt marketing. Orthopedic surgeon C. Noel Henley, M.D., uses YouTube videos to put patients at ease about their upcoming surgeries. On his blog, he said, This week, my patient requested a specific procedure. We agreed it should be done, and [] I fired up my iPad in the office and showed him a 2-minute video of the procedure I created and uploaded to YouTube using free software [] He was crystal clear on the procedure and prepared for what will happen in a few weeks. In addition to educating and reassuring existing patients, a YouTube channel can also bring new clients to your door. Using video clips, you can explain illnesses, perform exercises, or demonstrate early detection techniques. Dr. Henley wrote, YouTube sends my practice website a large percentage of my best monthly traffic. Last month, the visitors from my YouTube channel stayed on my website longer than most people, and viewed more pages than average. This makes sense: a person who watches one of my videos is already interested in my information and wants to know more  before they arrive on my website. If you want to be found by patients, you need to be on YouTube before your local competition figures this out. To get started, sign up for a free YouTube account. Search for channels relevant to your field, and see what the competition is doing. Once youre ready to try your hand at it, invest in a high-quality camera. Ensure that you have enough lighting and excellent audio. Choose a setting appropriate to the topic. Videos can be edited with a free tool such as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. To get the most out of your channel: Add a professional profile picture to help legitimize your channel.

Link back to your practice website, to your other social media accounts, and to similar YouTube channels.

End the video by encouraging viewers to subscribe to your channel and directing them to your website.

Take advantage of YouTubes free tracking tool to see which videos are most popular. This shows you what additional videos and web pages your viewers might like.
A new mouse study shows how different brain circuits for males and females turn chemical signals into either aggressive or sexual behavior, respectively. Share on Pinterest A new study in mice brings us closer to understanding how pheromones may enhance sexual behavior in humans. Many of us have heard about pheromones making some people seem more attractive than others, but little is known about the exact mechanism that makes this possible. In animals, sense of smell plays a key role in regulating instinctive responses, and whether or not they react to competitors, predators, or potential mates. A team of researchers led by Kazushige Touhara, a professor at the University of Tokyos Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences in Japan, set out to examine how male pheromones enhance sexual behavior in female mice. Prof. Touhara explains, It is widely known that some chemicals, especially odors, can impact an animals instinctive behaviors even on first contact. We assumed there was a neural mechanism in the brain that correctly connects important sensory information to appropriate behavioral centers in the brain. A look at the sexual behaviour of mice, our fellow mammals, can bring valuable insights into human reproductive behavior. The findings were published in the journal Neuron.

Studying pheromones in mice Prof. Touhara and team examined a male pheromone called exocrine gland-secreting peptide 1 (ESP1), which has been shown in previous studies  referenced by the authors  to drive sexual behavior in female mice and aggressive behavior in male mice. ESP1 is different from other pheromones because it is a single chemical that corresponds to a single receptor, making it easier for the researchers to track. To do so, the scientists infected the ESP1 receptor neurons with a virus. Once the virus had spread, the scientists marked the infected brain cells with a fluorescent protein, so that they could see the neural circuit taken by the ESP1. In other words, the researchers were able to see how ESP1 signals are conveyed in the brain, as neurons send electrical impulses to other neurons through the synapses. Using this fluorescent viral tracing method, Prof. Touhara and team saw that the circuit taken by the ESP1 signal in the amygdala differed between males and females. The amygdala was shown to contain another subarea that acted as a switch, relaying ESP1 information to different parts of the hypothalamus depending on the mouses sex. The amygdala is the part of the brains limbic system, which deals with emotions, emotional behavior, and motivation. The researchers mapped how the ESP1 information is conveyed from the peripheral receptive organ to the motor-regulating midbrain via the amygdala-hypothalamus axis. In females, sexual behavior was modulated by a newly discovered pathway from the hypothalamus to the midbrain. The hypothalamus is the brain area responsible for releasing hormones that regulate a variety of bodily functions, including body temperature, appetite, sex drive, thirst, sleep, and mood. The study also revealed that activating the ESP1 receptor neurons in the brains hypothalamus boosted sexual activity in female mice, even when actual ESP1 was not present.
Scientists are warning that a water treatment widely used in developing countries could be damaging the DNA of those drinking it.

Despite poor evidence of their effectiveness as a water disinfectant, colloidal silver and silver nanoparticles are increasingly being promoted for treating potentially contaminated drinking water in low income countries.

A study led by the University of East Anglia has concluded that there is a risk these treatments could in fact cause genotoxicity, which is damage to DNA, and affect reproduction and future generations.

Prof Paul Hunter from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said the study brings together existing research to highlight the potential risks. "Colloidal silver as a water treatment is sold across Africa and in countries like Haiti, despite the fact it doesn't treat water very effectively. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises against its use as a primary water treatment. If it isn't doing any good, we wanted to investigate if in fact it could be causing harm."

The research looked at previous studies where the effects of silver, silver nitrate and silver nanoparticles have been measured 'in vivo' - on living animals.

They found that, although results varied, more studies than they expected showed some evidence of genotoxicity, reporting effects including chromosomal aberrations, DNA fragmentation and damage to sperm.

Prof Hunter said: "We already know that there is little evidence that silver in water has any benefit. But this study brings together a body of work which shows it is potentially damaging DNA, and harming reproductive success."

Colloidal silver is also widely marketed as an alternative health substance which can treat everything from skin complaints to bacterial and viral infections, cancer and AIDS. Again, little research exists to show any beneficial effects, but there are known side effects. One of the more obvious signs of over-exposure to silver is argyria, where the skin and hair turns a blue-grey colour.

WHO guidelines for drinking water quality don't currently include a value for silver in water, but indicate that a concentration of 0.1 milligrams per litre could be tolerated without risk to health. However, this was determined as a level unlikely to cause argyria, and didn't take into account potential damage to DNA.

Prof Hunter said: "While none of the previous studies alone are definitive, and we can't use them to determine a safe level of consumption from this review, we consider that the balance of evidence suggests there is the chance of damage to DNA.

"There is an urgent need for more research on this area to determine if people drinking water treated with silver have evidence of DNA damage."
Going for a walk outside, reading, listening to music -- these and other enjoyable activities can reduce blood pressure for elderly caregivers of spouses with Alzheimer's disease, suggests a study in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

"Greater engagement in pleasant leisure activities was associated with lowered caregivers' blood pressure over time," according to the report by Brent T. Mausbach, PhD, of University of California San Diego and colleagues. "Participation in pleasant leisure activities may have cardiovascular benefits for Alzheimer's caregivers."

The study included 126 caregivers enrolled in the UCSD Alzheimer's Caregiver Study, a follow-up study evaluating associations between stress, coping, and cardiovascular risk in Alzheimer's caregivers. The caregivers were 89 women and 37 men, average age 74 years, providing in-home care for a spouse with Alzheimer's disease.

As part of annual interviews over five years, the caregivers provided information on how often they engaged in various pleasant leisure activities. These ratings were analyzed for association with blood pressure over time, with adjustment for demographic and health factors.

The caregivers reported high levels of enjoyable activities - most said they spent time outdoors, laughing, watching TV, listening to music, and reading or listening to stories. About half of caregivers said they exercised frequently.

Caregivers who more frequently engaged in pleasant leisure activities had lower mean arterial blood pressure (a measure of average blood pressure). In follow-up analyses, these activities were associated with a significant reduction in diastolic pressure (the second, lower blood pressure number), although not in systolic pressure (the first, higher number).

As expected, caregivers who exercised more frequently had lower blood pressure. However, other types of "more sedentary, reflective" activities also led to reduced blood pressure. These included reading, listening to music, shopping, and recalling past events.

Blood pressure also decreased after nursing home placement or death of the person with Alzheimer's disease. That was consistent with previous studies showing that caregivers' health improves after their caregiving duties end.

Being a caregiver for a disabled loved one is a highly stressful experience, associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death. Stress may contribute to high blood pressure, which is the strongest risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The new results suggest that leisure activities are a behavioral factor that can prevent the development of high blood pressure in Alzheimer's caregivers.

Dr. Mausbach notes that the study assessed both the frequency and enjoyment of activities. The premise is that rather than recommending certain activities to everyone, it's important for caregivers to enjoy the activities they do to receive benefit. While the study can't determine how many activities people should do, "We believe three to four enjoyed activities each week could have a modest impact on an individual's blood pressure," Dr. Mausbach commented. "From there, the more an individual can do, the better the impact."

The researchers have been conducting a clinical trial to examine the effect of a therapy to increase pleasant leisure activities. "We recognize caregivers may have a difficult time engaging in pleasant leisure activities because they are busy with their caregiving duties," said Dr. Mausbach. "So we work with caregivers to find activities they can more confidently engage in even when their spouse is present. We also help them monitor their use of time so they know the times during the day when they are most capable of doing activities. Further, if caregivers use respite services, they are in a perfect position to use some of their respite time to engage in these activities."

Article: Engagement in pleasant leisure activities and blood pressure: A 5-year longitudinal study in Alzheimer's caregivers, Brent T. Mausbach et al., Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000497, published 31 May 2017.


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Large sections of the DNA sequence

Complete genes

Tourette syndrome was not a simple single gene disorder

There was a statistically stringent number of genes that were required to develop this condition

Tourette Syndrome

Clearing of the throat

Blinking of the eyes

Involuntary phonic or tics

Deletions in the NRXN1 gene

Duplications in the CNTN6 gene

In the study, one of the genetic variants was present in nearly 1 in 100 people with Tourette syndrome

Dr. Paschou further stated that focusing on a single base pair mutation, which was the main building block of the genome, has now given way to broader approaches. The scientists examined the number of times a specific sequence of genes was repeated in the genome; these sequence variations are called copy number variations. The number of repetition of these sequences can have a direct effect on the health of an individual.The sequences of DNA that are repeated could involveThe scientific community has only recently begun to understand the significance of copy number variations and the onset of disease.The research team from Purdue University scanned through the entire genome to identify the sequence that varied in numbers among patients with Tourette syndrome. This involved a lot of physical analysis and the entire genome had to be scanned.The number of copy numbers and the association with the disease was highly significant, which is a considerable breakthrough in the research on Tourette syndrome.The significance of this finding has been highlighted by Dr. Jeremiah Scharf, who is the co-senior author of the study and a professor at Massachusetts General Hospital's Department of the Psychiatric & Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit. The professor stated that their study was aimed at establishing thatThe two genes that were identified had a statistical significance associated with the disease, the results of the study were published in the journal. 57 researchers were involved in the study that spanned 11 countries. Tourette syndrome is a complex neurological disorder which is characterized by repetition of words or sounds by the affected individual. In a very small percentage of the people, it can lead to the repetition of obscene words.The signs and symptoms include:The symptoms are mild but they develop as the child grows. Some patients are also found to be associated withThe condition is first identified between the ages 7 to 10, after which it takes a turn for severe. Sometimes the condition is characterized by sudden rage and anti-social behavior. The treatment for this condition is behavior therapy and there is no known cure.2400 individuals with Tourette syndrome were included in the study with 4000 individuals analyzed in the control group.The results of the study showed that Tourette syndrome was associated withThe genesare essential during brain development and with the production of molecules that are associated with the connections between the cells. They are also associated with the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical circuit, which involves the loop of brain cells that connect the brain cortex with the regions of the brain which are involved in processing movement and emotions. Abnormalities in this circuit can lead to Tourette syndrome.The two genes have been associated with other neurological disorders but this is the first study that has found that copy number variations in these genes could lead to Tourette syndrome.The current study provides an insight into the biology of the disease and further studies will reveal a better understanding of how this region of the brain develops. The study involved thousands of participants but the scientists associated with the study are planning on conducting an even larger study. This would provide further insoghts into the cause for the condition.Source: Medindia
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CPAP can improve respiratory rate and survival in children with primary pulmonary diseases. The latest findings confirmed that no serious adverse events were associated with the treatment that it is safe and effective to use in district-level hospitals, and a step forward in treating children with respiratory distress in resource-limited settings.The study, which followed 1,025 patients and 1,175 controls, was conducted at two first-level hospitals or district hospitals in Ghana where invasive mechanical ventilation was not routinely available, and nurses initiated and managed care with once or twice daily physician rounds.Two-week all-cause mortality in children 1 year of age and younger significantly decreased when CPAP was continuously applied: 3 percent of patients in the CPAP group versus 7 percent of patients in the control group who were not given the therapy.In children of all ages one month to 5 years, respiratory rate was significantly lower in the CPAP group at 4 hour, 8 hour, 12 hour, and 24 hour time points."In addition to demonstrating the safety of CPAP and the children's improved survival rates, our study is unique in that CPAP was initiated and managed by emergency ward nurses who work much of the day without direct supervision by a physician," said Rachel T. Moresky, MD, MPH, Mailman School of Public Health associate professor of Population and Family Health, associate professor of Medicine, Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, and senior author.Dr. Moresky continued, "Other CPAP studies in low-resource settings have been demonstrated at tertiary hospitals or university hospitals and with physician specialists applying the CPAP treatments. Our study demonstrates task-sharing this skill to nurses can bring lifesaving care closer to the community."Pneumonia, sepsis, and severe malaria kill more than 2 million children younger than 5 years every year. These treatable illnesses can progress to respiratory failure. Most of these deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries, where diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are often severely scarce.The World Health Organization recommends redistributing healthcare tasks to less highly trained individuals. "With a nurse to doctor ratio of 8:1 in many African nations, successful training of nurses to effectively and safely apply CPAP will be crucial for its proliferation in non-tertiary hospitals," says Dr. Moresky, who is also director of the International Emergency Medicine Fellowship program at Columbia."Our findings coupled with the results from two smaller studies in Bangladesh and Malawi support the use of non-invasive ventilation for children presenting with acute respiratory distress in low-resource settings," noted Patrick T. Wilson, MD, MPH, Columbia University Medical Center assistant professor of Pediatrics, Mailman School of Public Health assistant professor of Population and Family Health, and lead author.The results also suggest that the use of CPAP in young children with respiratory insufficiency is appropriate in other parts of the developing world, where diagnostic capabilities are similarly limited. The study showed that for every 25 children under the age of 1 year treated with CPAP, one life can be saved and most patients will have improved respiratory rates for at least 24 hours.Dr. Wilson concludes, "The results of the study are remarkable in that it included children with a wide range of disease processes, making it more generalizable to real life settings in low- and middle-income countries around the world."Source: Eurekalert
Sotos syndrome is an uncommon genetic condition characterized by a physical overgrowth in childhood, a distinctive facial appearance and learning disabilities. Sotos syndrome is caused by a fault in the NSD1 gene. It is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait .

Mutations in the NSD1 gene are the primary cause of Sotos syndrome, accounting for up to 90 percent of cases.

The syndrome was first described in 1964 by Juan F Sotos in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Sotos syndrome affects both males and females equally.

This condition occurs in about 1: 14,000 live births throughout the world.

In general, the head circumference and height of children with Sotos syndrome is greater than 2 standard deviations above the mean.

Sotos syndrome is not life-threatening and children with Sotos syndrome have a normal life expectancy.

In 2002 a group of Japanese scientists linked Sotos syndrome to mutations in a gene called NSD1 [Nuclear SET domain 1] located in chromosome 5q35.2-q35.3. The NSD1 gene controls the protein activity involved in normal growth and development. 90% of patients diagnosed with Sotos had NSD1 mutations (Sotos syndrome 1).

Recently, abnormalities in the NFIX gene (Nuclear Factor I, X type) on chromosome 19p13.3 were identified in patients with Sotos syndrome (Sotos syndrome 2).

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Sotos syndrome is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner . Dominant genetic disorders occur when only a single copy of an abnormal gene is necessary for the appearance of the disease. The abnormal gene can be inherited from either parent, or can be the result of a new mutation in the affected individual. The risk of a child inheriting the syndrome is 50% if parents have Sotos syndrome. When the parents are unaffected, the risk of having a child with the syndrome is <1%.

. Dominant genetic disorders occur when only a single copy of an abnormal gene is necessary for the appearance of the disease. The abnormal gene can be inherited from either parent, or can be the result of a new mutation in the affected individual. The risk of a child inheriting the syndrome is if parents have Sotos syndrome. When the parents are unaffected, the risk of having a child with the syndrome is <1%. Prenatal testing is possible for pregnancies at risk if the NSD1 gene variant has been identified in an affected family member. Also, the symptoms of Sotos syndrome can vary from person to person, even though they have the same NSD1 gene mutation.

Studies also indicate that people of Japanese heritage are mostly affected whereas only about 10% of patients had different ancestry.

Parents diagnosed with Sotos have a high risk of transferring the gene mutation to the offspring. Studies also indicate that people suffering from Sotos syndrome also have high risk of developing cancer, though the exact reason is still not understood.

Characteristic facial appearance - is diagnostic of Sotos syndrome. It is evident at birth and becomes most prominent at around 3 years. This include:

Prominent forehead with receding hairline

Hypertelorism

Cross eyes (strabismus)

Reddish hue over cheeks

Large sized skull with the head longer than its width (dolichocephaly)

High arched palate

Downward slanting eyelid fissures

Narrow jaw with a long chin

Learning disability- ranges from mild to severe.

Children have difficulties with speech and language along with intellectual impairment

Developmental milestones and motor skills are also delayed

Intellectual disability is present in 80 to 85% of the patients, with an average IQ of 72

Affected children may also experience difficulty in riding a bicycle or playing sports, ability to grasp small objects, and may demonstrate unusual clumsiness

Prenatal and postnatal overgrowth - the average birth length and head circumference are between 95-98 percentiles. Before 10 years there is rapid linear growth and children are considerably taller than their peers. Data suggests there is predominantly an increase in limb length with large hands and feet.

Behavioral problems- such as phobias, aggression, autism, attention deficit disorders can make it difficult to develop relationships with others.

Bone age is advanced in 75% of prepubertal children. Premature eruption of teeth occurs in 60 to 80%.

Congenital cardiac anomalies exist in 20% of patients. These include patent ductus arteriosus, septal defects and aortic dilatation.

Genital and/or urinary systems abnormalities occur in about 20% of affected individuals. Vesicoureteral reflux is the most common and may result in renal impairment in adults.

Increased frequency of upper respiratory infections and otitis media.

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Scoliosis is present in about 40% of patients but is usually not severe enough to require bracing or surgery. Scoliosis may be diagnosed at any age from infancy to adulthood.

Seizures occur in about 25% of individuals. Non-febrile seizures, tonic, clonic, myoclonic, and partial complex seizures have been reported.

Cranial abnormalities- such as ventricular dilatation, hydrocephalus, cerebral atrophy.

Hypotonia, rheumatic symptoms like joint hyperlaxity and flat feet (pes planus) are reported in at least 20% of individuals with Sotos syndrome.

Maternal preeclampsia occurs in about 15% of pregnancies.

Neonatal conditions like jaundice, hypotonia and inability to feed properly.

Approximately 2 - 4% of patients are at an increased risk to develop tumors including neuroblastoma, presacral ganglioma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. However routine screening is not recommended.

Medical history - to check whether any other family member has been affected

Clinical diagnosis - The diagnostic criteria include higher than normal birth weight/length, large head, and neonatal hypotonia, the characteristic facial features, large hands and feet, poor co-ordination, clumsiness and developmental delay with respect to learning and behavioral impairments.

DNA studies by FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) analysis to detect microdeletions and partial NSD1 deletions, which account for approximately 10-15% of the cases. In patients without NSD1 abnormalities, genetic testing for NFIX should be done.

Prenatal diagnosis by DNA analysis obtained from fetal cells by amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.

Screening protocol for mutation detection in NSD1 using a highly efficient denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC).

Treatment is aimed at symptomatic management as there is no specific treatment for Sotos syndrome. The treatment of Sotos syndrome is directed toward the specific symptoms that are apparent in each individual. Coordinated efforts of pediatricians, geneticists, neurologists, surgeons, orthopedists, ophthalmologists, physical therapists and other health care professionals may be needed to systematically and comprehensively plan an affected childs treatment.

If scoliosis is present then non-surgical procedures are usually advised to tone and strengthen the back muscles.

Particular attention to growth parameters to help confirm the presence and extent of developmental delay, psychomotor retardation, and intellectual disability.

Echocardiogram to rule out congenital heart defects.

Renal ultrasound to detect kidney and bladder problems.

Regular follow up every 1-3 years in children depending upon the complexity of their problems. A clinical geneticist should see all young adults with Sotos syndrome to discuss the inheritance of the condition.

If raised intracranial pressure is suspected, investigation and management in consultation with neurosurgeon is advised.

If MRI shows ventricular dilatation, shunting is usually not necessary as the hydrocephalus associated with Sotos syndrome is typically non-obstructive and not associated with raised intracranial pressure.

Occupational and physical therapy to tone the muscles.

Behavioral therapy and positive reinforcements to control aggressiveness and improve social contacts.

Regular dental and eye examination to monitor changes.

Ongoing surveillance is key to prevent future complications.

Sotos syndrome is genetic; hence one cannot prevent it. However with preventive healthcare one can detect and rectify problems early thus preventing later complications.

If eye anomalies such as strabismus and cataract occur then an ophthalmologist should be consulted at the earliest.

In case of scoliosis, hypotonia, and joint laxity an orthopedic referral is necessary.

Regular surveillance for urinary tract infections, uretral reflux and cardiac anomalies is required.

MRI of the head is done to rule out hydrocephalus and corpus callosum defects especially in children with seizures.

Abdominal ultrasound up to 6 years of age may be done to rule out Wilms tumor, a common cancer in children that starts in the kidneys.
In Yemen's secret prisons, UAE tortures and US interrogates





MUKALLA, Yemen (AP)  Hundreds of men swept up in the hunt for al-Qaida militants have disappeared into a secret network of prisons in southern Yemen where abuse is routine and torture extreme  including the "grill," in which the victim is tied to a spit like a roast and spun in a circle of fire, an Associated Press investigation has found.



Senior American defense officials acknowledged Wednesday that U.S. forces have been involved in interrogations of detainees in Yemen but denied any participation in or knowledge of human rights abuses. Interrogating detainees who have been abused could violate international law, which prohibits complicity in torture.



The AP documented at least 18 clandestine lockups across southern Yemen run by the United Arab Emirates or by Yemeni forces created and trained by the Gulf nation, drawing on accounts from former detainees, families of prisoners, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials. All are either hidden or off limits to Yemen's government, which has been getting Emirati help in its civil war with rebels over the last two years.



The secret prisons are inside military bases, ports, an airport, private villas and even a nightclub. Some detainees have been flown to an Emirati base across the Red Sea in Eritrea, according to Yemen Interior Minister Hussein Arab and others.



Several U.S. defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the topic, told AP that American forces do participate in interrogations of detainees at locations in Yemen, provide questions for others to ask, and receive transcripts of interrogations from Emirati allies. They said U.S. senior military leaders were aware of allegations of torture at the prisons in Yemen, looked into them, but were satisfied that there had not been any abuse when U.S. forces were present.



"We always adhere to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct," said chief Defense Department spokeswoman Dana White when presented with AP's findings. "We would not turn a blind eye, because we are obligated to report any violations of human rights."



In a statement to the AP, the UAE's government denied the allegations.



"There are no secret detention centers and no torture of prisoners is done during interrogations."



Inside war-torn Yemen, however, lawyers and families say nearly 2,000 men have disappeared into the clandestine prisons, a number so high that it has triggered near-weekly protests among families seeking information about missing sons, brothers and fathers.



None of the dozens of people interviewed by AP contended that American interrogators were involved in the actual abuses. Nevertheless, obtaining intelligence that may have been extracted by torture inflicted by another party would violate the International Convention Against Torture and could qualify as war crimes, said Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University who served as special counsel to the Defense Department until last year



At one main detention complex at Riyan airport in the southern city of Mukalla, former inmates described being crammed into shipping containers smeared with feces and blindfolded for weeks on end. They said they were beaten, trussed up on the "grill," and sexually assaulted. According to a member of the Hadramawt Elite, a Yemeni security force set up by the UAE, American forces were at times only yards away. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.



"We could hear the screams," said a former detainee held for six months at Riyan airport. "The entire place is gripped by fear. Almost everyone is sick, the rest are near death. Anyone who complains heads directly to the torture chamber." He was flogged with wires, part of the frequent beatings inflicted by guards against all the detainees. He also said he was inside a metal shipping container when the guards lit a fire underneath to fill it with smoke.



Like other ex-detainees, he spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being arrested again. The AP interviewed him in person in Yemen after his release from detention.



The AP interviewed 10 former prisoners, as well as a dozen officials in the Yemeni government, military and security services and nearly 20 relatives of detainees. The chief of Riyan prison, who is well known among families and lawyers as Emirati, did not reply to requests for comment.



Laura Pitter, senior national security counsel at Human Rights Watch, said the abuses "show that the US hasn't learned the lesson that cooperating with forces that are torturing detainees and ripping families apart is not an effective way to fight extremist groups." Human Rights Watch issued a report Thursday documenting torture and forced disappearances at the UAE-run prisons and calling on the Emirates to protect detainees' rights.



Amnesty International called for a U.N.-led investigation "into the UAE's and other parties' role in setting up this horrific network of torture" and into allegations the U.S. interrogated detainees or received information possibly obtained from torture. "It would be a stretch to believe the US did not know or could not have known that there was a real risk of torture," said Amnesty's director of research in the Middle East, Lynn Maalouf.



Defense Secretary James Mattis has praised the UAE as "Little Sparta" for its outsized role in fighting against al-Qaida.



U.S. forces send questions to the Emirati forces holding the detainees, which then send files and videos with answers, said Yemeni Brig. Gen. Farag Salem al-Bahsani, commander of the Mukalla-based 2nd Military District, which American officials confirmed to the AP. He also said the United States handed authorities a list of most wanted men, including many who were later arrested.



Al-Bahsani denied detainees were handed over to the Americans and said reports of torture are "exaggerated."



The network of prisons echoes the secret detention facilities set up by the CIA to interrogate terrorism suspects in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In 2009, then-President Barack Obama disbanded the so-called "black sites." The UAE network in war-torn Yemen was set up during the Obama administration and continues operating to this day.



"The UAE was one of the countries involved in the CIA's torture and rendition program," said Goodman, the NYU law professor. "These reports are hauntingly familiar and potentially devastating in their legal and policy implications."



The UAE is part of a Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition meant to help Yemen's government fight Shiite rebels known as Houthis, who overran the north of the country. At the same time, the coalition is helping the U.S. target al-Qaida's local branch, one of the most dangerous in the world, as well as Islamic State militants.



A small contingent of American forces routinely moves in and out of Yemen, the Pentagon says, operating largely along the southern coast. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has escalated drone strikes in the country to more than 80 so far this year, up from around 21 in 2016, the U.S. military said. At least two commando raids were ordered against al-Qaida, including one in which a Navy SEAL was killed along with at least 25 civilians.



A U.S. role in questioning detainees in Yemen has not been previously acknowledged.



A Yemeni officer who said he was deployed for a time on a ship off the coast said he saw at least two detainees brought to the vessel for questioning. The detainees were taken below deck, where he was told American "polygraph experts" and "psychological experts" conducted interrogations. He did not have access to the lower decks. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation for discussing the operations.
How Putin Is Singing Along With the Trump White House



Whether or not Donald Trumps campaign colluded in any way with the Kremlin to interfere in the 2016 presidential election remains an open question. Yet the Trump White House and the Kremlin do at times seem to share an approach to spreading misinformation and undermining confidence in news reports.



...As Trump and his associates have run with false stories stemming from Russian media outlets, Putins government appears to have taken pains to echo messaging coming from the White Houseperhaps in an attempt to play to the upheaval over the Russia scandal and sow further doubts and division among the American public. Here are some prime examples:



Repeated assertions about a witch hunt: Trump has repeatedly taken to Twitter to call the investigation into Russian election interference a witch hunt, including again in recent days: I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt, he wrote on June 16. This has been a go-to phrase for Kremlin officials as well.... In January, when top US intelligence officials concurred on Russian interference in the election, Trump told the New York Times that the focus on Russia was a political witch hunt. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the report: It truly is reminiscent of a witch hunt.



Talk of private-citizen hackers: Putin at first repeatedly insisted that Russia did not interfere in the US election, but more recently he changed his message conspicuously, acknowledging that the hacking may have been executed by patriotically minded Russians. ...Trumps earlier [said] that the attacks on the Democratic National Committee could have been carried out by somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.



Attempts to discredit election interference: At a press conference this spring, Putin dismissed allegations that Russia interfered in US elections as rumors used in an American domestic political battle. And on NBC, when Kelly pointed out that US intelligence agencies had concluded that Russia was behind the election hacks, Putin said they were misled. Trump has repeatedly discounted intelligence agencies findings on Russian interference, blaming the Democrats for spreading the story because they are sore losers.



A notable change on climate change: Putin has even changed his tune on climate changealigning himself more closely with Trump (who has himself changed positions over the years). In 2015, Putin told a Paris audience that climate change has become one of the most serious challenges facing humanity. But this springsoon after the White House announced that Trump was considering pulling the United States out of the Paris climate accordPutin told a Russian audience:, The warming had already started by the 1930s. Thats when there were no such anthropological factors, such emissions, and the warming had already started. On June 1, Trump announced he would withdraw from the agreement. Putins response to Trumps move: Dont worry, be happy.



Hammering away at fake news: Since being sworn in as president, Trump has lashed out at the media scores of times, emphasizing recently, Fake News is at an all time high! In May, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova picked up on the theme, calling news that Trump had shared classified information with Russians in the Oval Office the latest fake. ...In Putins one-on-one with NBCs Kelly, he scoffed at American media coverage of contact between Trump associates and Russian officials, claiming that the reported meetings never happened: You people are so creative, Putin said.

Two-part harmony....You people....
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford arrived in Afghanistan on Monday for a final assessment on whether to boost U.S. troop levels to counter a nationwide Taliban offensive and increasing terror attacks by the ISIS offshoot called Islamic State-Khorasan Province, or IS-K.

Dunford's report on the deteriorating security situation will weigh heavily in Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' decision, expected next month, on the long-standing request of Army Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and NATO and coalition troops, for an increase of 3,000 to 5,000 troops in the Force Management Level.

In House and Senate hearings last week, Mattis said President Donald Trump had given him authority to set the force level in Afghanistan, which now stands at about 8,400 troops. However, the SecDef said a "little under 10,000" are now in Afghanistan, possibly because of overlaps in regular troop rotations. Trump had already granted Mattis similar authority to set troop levels in Iraq and Syria.

NATO and coalition troops have about 5,000 troops in Afghanistan, and Mattis has signaled that he expects more commitment from allies, either with troops or funding.

Mattis also told Congress that he will present a revised regional strategy, in coordination with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to Trump in mid-July. In doing so, he disputed published reports that he had already signed off on sending 4,000 more U.S. troops into the nearly 16-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.

Dunford's visit to Kabul coincided with the regional tour of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was in Kabul on Saturday and met with Pakistani leaders Sunday.

Wang's visit followed on agreements earlier this month between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chinese President Xi Jinping on regional cooperation and China's support for peace talks with the Taliban, which Taliban leaders have rejected while U.S. troops remain in the country.

Afghanistan's TOLOnews quoted Wang as saying in Pakistan, "Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have expressed the interest that China should play a certain role, and that is the indicator of the high level of interest both countries have placed in China. China of course is ready to play a constructive role in political relations."

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
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...
SOUTHWEST ASIA -- A U.S. Air Force general confirmed American pilots made the call to shoot down Syrian aircraft on three separate missions this month and defended their actions as self-defense.

On June 18, an F/A-18E Super Hornet conducted the U.S. military's first air-to-air kill involving a manned aircraft in nearly two decades when it downed a hostile Su-22 Fitter south of Taqbah.

Meanwhile, on June 8 and again on June 20, F-15E Strike Eagles shot down Iranian-made Shaheed drones over At Tanf as the unmanned aerial vehicles approached or dropped munitions near U.S.-backed forces on the ground.

"We're trying to de-escalate," Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Corcoran, commander of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, told Military.com. "We're here to fight ISIS, but we're going to protect our forces from Syrian pro-regime entities."

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Military.com sat down with the commander at a base in an undisclosed location in the Middle East as part of a reporting trip to observe air operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

In each of the shoot-downs, which involved aircraft from other locations, the U.S. pilots made the call to shoot within the parameters of the rules of engagement, Corcoran said. In all three cases, "defenseless aircraft" such as tankers and airlift planes left the airspace because of the uncertainty of what the Syrians or Russians would do next, he said.

Corcoran oversees the wing, which flies the KC-10 Extender tanker, RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude drone, U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane and F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet to carry out missions such as air refueling; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; air battle management, control and reporting center; ground attack; air support and others.

'ISIS Is a Sideshow'

To abide by the rules of engagement, the unit works with the Combined Air Operations Center, which from another location would direct a pilot to shoot, but that process "didn't have to happen -- in all three cases, it was self-defense," Corcoran said.

"If you're shooting at U.S. forces, we'll self-defend," he said.

Such calls may happen with more frequency as ISIS continues to lose ground in Syria, where a civil war has raged since 2011, and the U.S. finds itself operating in airspace increasingly congested by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and backed by Russia.

During an interview in his office, Corcoran underscored, "We're here to fight ISIS," but he also pointed to a map of Syria and Iraq to outline areas as "red," or controlled by the Islamic State.

"It's pretty clear that at some point the 'red' is going to go away," he said, "and we're going to have state-on-state" forces fighting. "ISIS is a sideshow ... but what happens when the [other] two meet? Strategically, when ISIS goes away, that's the real issue."

'The Kingpin'

As aircraft fly any given approach as part of the 24-7 mission, personnel monitor the moves from a number of fronts -- the CAOC; the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS); and the battle-management command and control center known as "The Kingpin," Corcoran said.

Like moving chess pieces, "Kingpin has the [air tasking order] -- they're talking to people on the ground, they're making sure these airplanes are provisionally controlled, getting them back and forth to tankers ... they're talking to the CAOC, they minimize the fog and friction for the entire [area of responsibility]" in U.S. Central Command, he said.

Sometimes, the communication is as simple as a "heads-up" call on the radio, Corcoran said.

"We got agreements that when [a] Syrian airplane or the unidentified airplane gets within 'X number' of miles of our guys on the ground," a call is made on "the international emergency, the guard frequency, that all airplanes monitor," including Russian craft, he said.

"Like an airplane flying around talking to air traffic control -- talking on different [radio] frequencies," he said. "We have an agreement with the Russians, if we're getting close to something up there, we'll make a call on guard" and vice versa.

"Plenty of calls were made" over the hostilities in recent weeks, Corcoran said. "Back at the CAOC, they're probably [also] on the hotline with the Russians -- all this connectivity is hugely important to prevent a miscalculation."

'SAMS Turn On'

After the U.S. downing of the Syrian Su-22, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it would target with surface-to-air missiles any U.S. aircraft in the area.

Corcoran acknowledged that SAM batteries track U.S. warplanes.

"SAMs turn on, but as far as feeling threatened -- I don't think our forces have felt threatened by Russians or Syrians in the surface-to-air missile perspective," he said. The military-to-military relationship "has been maintained, and it's in good shape -- it's very cordial, professional. We haven't seen or heard any of that from them."

Even so, the deconfliction zone -- the area in which U.S. and Russian forces have agreed not to operate -- is "constantly in flux" due to the complex nature of the fight and moving ground forces, Corcoran said.

Unlike Iraq, a sovereign state where leaders "asked us to come help them ... we don't have exclusive control of the skies above the ground" in Syria, he said. "We have it above the ground where our guys are, but not an inch beyond -- it's surreal."

Corcoran said, "We're fighting an enemy -- ISIS -- in another country -- Syria -- where there's also an insurgency going on, but we're not really invited to be" a part of that, he said. "But we can't leave it to the Syrians to get rid of ISIS, because that wasn't working, right? So it's really an odd place to be."

He added, "We know ... we're going to defeat ISIS. Their days are numbered. What next?"

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
It has come to be known simply as the "Speicher Massacre." But three years on, families whose loved ones were mercilessly murdered in the Iraq attack are calling on the U.S. to help them find some closure.

"ISIS called me from my son's phone and humiliated me. They said: 'Your son is killed and we threw his body in the river so come and get him,' then they hurled abuses at me," Um Hussein, the mother of a victim identified only as Hussein, recalled to Fox News from her home in a poor part of the southern Iraq city of Nasiriyah. "I didn't hang up. I held on. I held on with the small hope that they might tell me where to find my son's body."

While dozens have been held responsible for the attack, the families say that's not good enough. They want high-ranking government officials -- including the former prime minister -- to also be held responsible because, they claim, the officials abandoned and betrayed the mostly low-ranking military recruits killed in the attack.

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On June 12, 2014, right after ISIS seized the country's second-largest city, Mosul, the Sunni Muslim group claimed responsibility for what would become one of the country's bloodiest single attacks on military members. As many as 1,600 unarmed Iraqi Air Force cadets outside Camp Speicher near Tikrit, the hometown of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, were massacred.

Part of what made the massacre so stunning was that ISIS had yet to take official control of Tikrit; after all, Tikrit lies 150 miles away from Mosul where the bulk of the ISIS fighters were celebrating a fresh victory. Yet, despite the distance from Mosul, ISIS was able to slaughter hundreds of Tikrit's young men.

"ISIS supporters and sleeper cells were ready and came out, taking advantage of a security vacuum," Col. Mohammad Abdullah, a high-ranking Iraqi military officer, explained. "What happened was a response to the hidden hatred that was buried inside those close to Saddam's personal guards. They found themselves without jobs or authority after 2003. Their hatred led them to act in revenge."

The fateful day began calmly enough. The cadets, who were unarmed, were starting a break and walking along a road to their homes. Two buses -- one driven by a son of Saddam Hussein's half-brother -- pulled up near the cadets. The men inside the buses said that they were from local Tikrit tribes and would assist them in getting to Baghdad. Instead, the cadets, mostly between ages 19 and 25, were kidnapped, taken to the Al-Qusour Al-Re'asiya region and one-by-one killed. The assailants made a particular effort to kill Shiite and non-Muslim cadets.

ISIS subsequently released videos of the massacre, showing a line of young recruits blindfolded, tied-up and marched to what would become their own mass graves in the desert. Photos of cadets being beheaded, having entire magazines emptied into their heads or being strangled to death against the fanfare of jubilant militants became fodder for online ISIS recruitment.

For 10 months after the slaughter, families had no word of what happened to their sons, nephews, husbands and cousins. Iraqi forces finally re-captured the base from ISIS in March 2015, and some family members were able to give DNA samples to assist authorities in identifying the bodies. But still today, a large portion of families are begging for answers.

"I still see him in my sleep, my son tells me not to cry and that he is in a better place," Um Hussein noted softly, with the type of hoarseness that can only be felt by a mother that has lost her child in the unknown. "But I can't change his bed covers, nobody can sleep in his bed because maybe he will come back one day."

The Iraqi government eventually blamed both ISIS and members of Saddam's dismantled Iraqi Ba'ath Party for the killings, but by then some alleged perpetrators had fled. In late 2015, two suspects were arrested in Finland, having been identified from the propaganda videos. The Finnish government denied an extradition request from Iraq, and instead the twin brothers were acquitted on all charges this past May.

And last August, the Iraq government -- despite opposition from human rights groups -- sent 36 people to the gallows for taking part in the massacre. But that is far from justice for many left in anguish. According to military official Abdullah, "The authority figures in charge have not been charged due to political reasons. To avoid having to go after 'large figures,' the investigation barely touched the surface."

"There were huge political and administrative mistakes such as sending young military cadets to train in an area that was not safe, and left them without weapons or commanders and communications," he said. "What needs to happen now is a real investigation that is unbiased, with the help of foreign specialists. Without charging the terrorists and also the authority figures who were in charge, will leave a huge gap among the Iraqi people and make the national reconciliation very hard."

Earlier this month, on the third anniversary marking the day the horror, demonstrators swarmed through Baghdad's Tahir Square and called for the prosecution of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his failure in leadership and demanded he take responsibility. Maliki, now one of three vice presidents, and is believed to be building his support base to regain the premier post once again.

"These soldiers went to Tikrit to protect the people and were instead betrayed by the people there. They were sold out to ISIS by local tribes. They were told that they would be helped to get back to their families but instead were handed straight to ISIS," Mohammed, who hails from the south-eastern Iraqi town of Amarah and lost his brother in the Speicher massacre, lamented. "Every commander all the way up the chain to the prime minister's office bears some responsibility for this. We want legal charges against every party responsible."

He, too, is calling on the U.S. and international community to help them re-open the case.

"It has been three years and the majority of families don't know what happened. We don't know who was working and coordinating this attack with the new (post-Saddam) Iraq government," Mohammad added. "This massacre has become a wound that won't close. We feel like our brothers and sons were sold out in a political bargain between corrupt officials and that is why they are trying to hide and close it forever."

Last week a spokesman for Inherent Resolve said in an email to Fox News that the Speicher massacre was "an internal matter for the government of Iraq."

Hollie McKay has been a FoxNews.com staff reporter since 2007. She has reported extensively from the Middle East on the rise and fall of terrorist groups such as ISIS in Iraq. Follow her on twitter at @holliesmckay
Spine surgeon

joins Samaritan

Samaritan Neurosurgery recently welcomed Wael Ghacham, an orthopedic spine surgeon.

Ghacham earned his medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine. He completed orthopedic surgery residency training at Henry Ford Hospital and an orthopedic spine surgery fellowship at William Beaumont Hospital. He is fluent in English and Arabic.

Orthopedic spine surgery focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of spinal diseases and conditions such as degenerative disorders, fractures and deformities. Ghachams clinical and research interests include cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine disorders, spinal stenosis and disc disease, spinal reconstruction and minimally invasive spine surgery. This specialized service is offered in partnership with the surgical team at Samaritan Neurosurgery.

As part of Samaritan Neurosurgery, Ghacham sees patients by referral in Corvallis. He can be reached at 541-768-4501.

Local financial

advisor honored

Bill Mercer, who has been an Edward Jones financial advisor in Corvallis since 1985, was invited to attend the Edward Jones Managing Partners Conference, held in April in San Antonio, Texas.

The annual event honors the top 400 of the firms more than 14,000 financial advisors.

This is the 22nd time Mercer has been invited to this event.

Edward Jones, a Fortune 500 company, provides financial services for individual investors in the United States and, through its affiliate, in Canada. The firms advisors work directly with more than 7 million clients. Edward Jones, which ranked No. 5 on Fortune magazines 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2017, is headquartered in St. Louis.

Forest engineer

receives award

Steve Pilkerton recently received the Forester of the Year Award from the Oregon Society of American Foresters.

Pilkerton, who works at the Oregon State University Research Forest as a forest engineer and operations manager, received the award on April 27 at the OSAF annual meeting in Tigard.

The award is given annually to the OSAF member who has been recognized by his or her peers for contributing to both the profession and the public through application of professional skills to the advancement of forestry in Oregon and through public service that benefits the community or some larger segment of society.

Pilkerton was OSAF Chair last year, and has been an active part of the forestry community in Corvallis and Oregon through his involvement and leadership in SAF. He is an Oregon Forest Resources Institute speakers bureau volunteer and is on the steering committee of the Oregon Professional Forest Engineering Exam.
Joseph V. Micallef is a best-selling military history and world affairs author, and keynote speaker. Follow him on Twitter@JosephVMicallef.

The battle for Raqqa is entering its fifth and final phase. Before the end of 2017, it is likely that Islamic State (IS) militants will have been expelled from Raqqa. This will not be the end of the war against the Islamic State. It is likely that one final battle remains, the battle for Deir ez-Zur. Nonetheless, the fall of Raqqa is a development that will likely have long-term consequences for the political organization of eastern Syria. Already the major actors in the Syrian conflict have begun to position themselves for the post-IS reality. In the process, they are highlighting the geopolitics of the region.

The Campaign: Operation Wrath of Euphrates

The Raqqa campaign, codenamed Operation Wrath of Euphrates, began on November 6, 2016. It is one element of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led operation comprised of some 30 countries working together as the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) to roll back and eradicate the Islamic State, its leadership and its militants.

The offensive against the Islamic State (IS) capital of Raqqa is occurring simultaneously with the campaign by the Iraqi Army, various Iranian backed Shiite militias and the CJTF, to retake the city of Mosul in northern Iraqs Nineveh province from IS. The Mosul campaign is in its ninth month. IS forces in the city have been surrounded and the territory still under their control has been reduced to a small pocket in the historic old city of Mosul on the west bank of the Tigris. Its expected that the remaining IS militants in the city, estimated variously at between 500 and 3,000, will be overrun in the next 30 to 45 days.

The force attacking Raqqa consists of a multi-ethnic, multiparty alliance, operating loosely under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and numbers between 30,000 and 40,000 soldiers. According to the SDF, 70 percent of the overall force consists of Sunni Arabs, many of whom are drawn from the surrounding area. That percentage is probably on the high side, but, nonetheless, there is a sizeable Arab contingent among the fighters. More importantly, the Sunni Arab segment of the coalition is being trained to takeover security and civil administration once IS has been expelled and the Kurdish portion of the coalition has been withdrawn.

The multi-ethnic aspect of the SDF is critical. Initially, the SDF was composed almost entirely of Syrian Kurds and a smattering of other ethnic groups. There was a concern both within the SDF and its U.S. backers that military operations by the SDF in predominantly Sunni Arab areas would result in a sectarian backlash and might even create support for IS. While the SDF still has a predominantly Kurdish core, Sunni Arab elements are now more prevalent and they have been given a highly visible role in the future administration and security of Sunni areas.

Roughly two-thirds of the force is comprised of militia drawn from the Kurdish Peoples Protection Union (YPG) and the Womens Protection Units (YPJ). The latter is an all-female military organization that parallels the combat role and organizational structure of the YPG. Notwithstanding their name, both the YPG and the YPJ have enlisted a large non-Kurdish component. The YPJ, for example, has an Arab brigade made up of over 1,000 Arab women.

The YPG was formed in 2004, as the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The PYD, considered a Kurdish leftist organization, is closely associated with the Turkish based Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Historically the PKK was considered a pro-communist, anti-Western organization; strongly aligned with Russia and, prior to that, the Soviet Union.

The PKK has been conducting a campaign of violence against the Turkish government since 1978. Its ideology was a combination of Kurdish nationalism and revolutionary socialism. Its original intent was to create an independent, Marxist-Leninist inspired, Kurdish state in the region. Since 1999, it has moved away from its Marxist-Leninist roots and has muted its call for an independent Kurdish state. Both Turkey and the U.S. have labeled the PKK as a terrorist organization.

In addition to the YPG and YPJ contingents in the SDF, there is also the Raqqa Hawks militia, a group of around 1,000 Arab fighters drawn from the Raqqa area. There is also the Elite Forces (EF) unit of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) of al-Shaitat and Shammar. The EF was originally drawn from the Deir ez-Zur and Hasakah governates and is comprised primarily of members of the al-Shaitat tribe. This tribe extends over most of eastern Syria and even into portions of Iraq. The EF unit is believed to have between 650 and 3,000 fighters. They are not officially part of the SDF but coordinate military operations with them.

The al-Sanadid Forces (Forces of the Brave) is a militia based on the al-Shammar tribe. It also extends across eastern Syria and pockets of Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Its historic capital, the Emirate of Jabal Shammar, was incorporated into Saudi Arabia, a fact that has made the al-Shammar both vehemently anti-IS and also anti-Saudi. Its strength is estimated at around 2,000 men.

In addition, there are approximately 3,000 fighters that are drawn from the Deir ez-Zur and Manbij Military councils. They are two of the four local military councils comprised primarily of Sunni Arabs organized by the SDF, at the urging of the U.S. in 2016, to conduct local military operations and takeover security responsibilities from the SDF once the region had been liberated. The other two councils are the al-Bab and the Jarabulus military councils. Both of which function in a similar capacity.

There are approximately four thousand fighters organized into village militias that are drawn from pro-SDF tribes in the region. These militias are being supplied arms and training by the SDF. Finally, there are also about 500 fighters from the HXP or Self Defense Forces. These are a multi-ethic territorial defense militia that have been conscripted in the Kurdish controlled cantons that make up the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, the de facto autonomous region often called Rojava.

The level of U.S. Forces with the SDF is unclear, but has been estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 troops. There are a variety of Special Forces whose strength has been estimated at between 500 and 900 soldiers. Approximately 500 U.S. Special Forces were involved in the final assault to take control of the Tabqa Dam in April.

U.S. Marines with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit have also been deployed to support the SDF. These troops include an artillery battery of M-777 howitzers. These guns fire 155 mm shells. They are manned by Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion 4th Marines. Additional units have been tasked with providing security and handling logistics for the artillery battery.

There are also U.S. personnel embedded with the SDF, as well as in various training roles. Finally, there are an additional 5,000 or so paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne that have been staged to Kuwait, which are available for deployment in either Syria or Iraq if needed.

Islamic Forces in Raqqa and the surrounding region are estimated at around 10,000 to 20,000, with approximately 5,000 fighters in the city of Raqqa itself and the balance to the south and east of the city. Most of the IS leadership, including its media operations, is believed to have transferred itself to Deir ez-Zur or the surrounding region. That means the fall of Raqqa, while symbolic, will not mark the decisive end of the campaign against the Islamic State.

The Raqqa campaign has had five distinct phases so far. Phase 1, 2 and 3 were designed to isolate Raqqa by cutting it off to the north, west and east. Phase 3 and 4 focused on taking control of the Tabqa dam and the city of Tabqa as well as the Tabqa military air base. IS has threatened numerous times to either destroy the Tabqa dam or open its flood gates and release the waters of the 200 sqm Lake Assad behind it to flood the city of Raqqa and the Euphrates Valley below it.

In addition, phase 4 tightened the encirclement of Raqqa and brought SDF troops to the citys outskirts. There have been persistent reports that Washington has plans to base U.S. air forces at the Tabqa air base. The Pentagon has declined to comment on those reports. Phase 5 began on June 6, 2017, with the announcement by the SDF that it had launched the Battle of Raqqa. The attack commenced simultaneously from the north, east and west. Raqqa is located on the north bank of the Euphrates. IS still controlled the south bank of the Euphrates, but U.S. air forces had destroyed all the bridges across the Euphrates linking Raqqa with the south bank, effectively isolating it from the south as well.

At last report, June 23, SDF forces were advancing along the southern bank of the river and had reportedly reached the eastern edge of Karsat al-Farj, the zone between where the old and new bridges into Raqqa were located. As of June 23, it appeared that SDF forces were less than a half-mile away from completely encircling Raqqa.

In the meantime, on the north bank of the river, SDF forces have secured the districts of al-Mishlab, al-Sabahiya (an industrial area), al-Romaniya and Sinaa, as well as portions of the Hattin district. Approximately 400 ISIS militants have been reported killed. The bulk of IS forces in Raqqa are in the old city opposite the southern bank of the Euphrates. As in the Mosul campaign, this will likely be the last area cleared as the rabbit warren of narrow streets and overhanging buildings will prove to be the hardest to secure.

Since the beginning of the Raqqa campaign, the SDF has liberated an area of 2,900 sqm and freed over 200 villages controlled by Islamic State forces. In addition, it seized control of the former Syrian Air Force base at Tabqa and the strategically important Tabqa and Baath dams. The destruction of those dams would have produced catastrophic flooding in the Euphrates valley.

When Operation Wrath of Euphrates was launched in November 2016, it appeared that it would quickly become a symbolic race to see who would free Raqqa with all the attendant symbolism of a proxy contest between the U.S., Russia and Turkey. Instead, the SDF has emerged with the dominant position, having effectively surrounded Raqqa. More importantly, Turkey lacks any clear path to Raqqa that would not bring it into direct conflict with Syrian military forces.

On March 2, 2017, the Manbij Military Council, a predominantly Arab group that had been set up to take over security from the SDF, turned over a vast area west of Manbij that had been liberated by the SDF, to the Syrian Army. The transfer, done at the urging of the U.S., was ostensibly to create a buffer zone between the SDF and Turkish backed rebels.

In doing so, however, the SDF ensured that the Syrian military would control the M4 highway and highway 216 as well as the access to Highway 4. These highways are the logical axis of advance for Turkish forces and their associated militias. At this point, any Turkish advance toward Raqqa would bring it into immediate conflict with Syrian military forces and, more importantly, their Russian backers.

In the meantime, the Syrian army, led by their elite Tiger Unit, had advanced from the west of Raqqa to Maskanah and south toward the Ithriyah-Tabqa road (highway 42). By June 18 they had seized the Rusafa road junction and were just west of the Rusafa oil field. The oil field is Islamic State's largest remaining oil field. Given that SDF forces have already virtually encircled Raqqa, it's unclear what role Syrian military forces will play in the battle for Raqqa.

Its possible, though highly unlikely, that SDF forces may withdraw from a portion of the perimeter to give the Syrian army an axis of advance into Raqqa. The road junction at Rusafa would also allow Syrian military forces to bypass the SDF surrounding Raqqa and advance directly toward Deir ez-Zur for what will likely be the last major battle of the anti-Islamic State campaign. Control of the road junction also blocks the advance of SDF troops to the south.

The Geopolitics of Eastern Syria

In the meantime, although the final collapse of Islamic State in eastern Syria is hardly imminent, the jockeying for position between Russia, the U.S. and Iran and their proxies has already begun. Eastern Syria has about 70 percent of Syria's oil reserves. In addition, there are several critical transportation axes, the M20, Highway 6, the M4 and Highway 4, which connect Syria's major cities in the west with Raqqa and Deir ez Zour and go on to link Syria with Iraq and create a continuous transportation link between Beirut and Tehran.

There are several questions worth raising about the geopolitics of eastern Syria. First, what exactly are the Kurds doing there? Raqqa is not a historical Kurdish region. There are virtually no Kurds living there. The SDF has already made it clear that once IS has been defeated, Kurdish elements of the SDF will withdraw and turnover security and administration to Sunni Arab militia forces that are part of or allied with the SDF.

IS no longer poses a strategic threat to Syrian Kurds or to the territories they ultimately wish to retain control of. That threat now comes from Turkey and from Assads Syrian government. So why are Syrias Kurds willing to spill their blood to defeat an enemy that no longer poses much of a strategic threat and to conquer territory they will quickly give up control over? The answer is that they are there as an American proxy. They are fighting the battle that otherwise the U.S. could only fight by directly deploying U.S. troops in theater.

The question is what has the U.S. promised Syrias Kurds in return for becoming a U.S. proxy in the Syrian ground war against Islamic State? Officially, the U.S. is opposed to an independent Kurdish state in Syria. Then again, this is the Middle East where nothing is ever as it appears and what you say and what you do often have little relationship to one another.

The U.S. has become the primary source of arms and training for the SDF. Without the SDF, the U.S. would be forced to rely primarily on U.S. and coalition air power and a variety of Special Forces in theater. Those are considerable assets, but not enough to shape the ground war in Syria or to give the U.S. a meaningful military role in determining its outcome.

Ankara keeps insisting that it has U.S. assurances that it will disarm the Syrian Kurds once IS had been defeated. Its hard to imagine that happening or that the Kurds, surrounded by enemies would willingly give up their U.S. supplied arms. Especially if Washington is toying with the idea of establishing an airbase in eastern Syria.

The Kurds have a long history of being sold out by the West, dating back to the Versailles Conference following World War I. They enjoy strong political support on Capitol Hill, so any gambit to sacrifice the Syrian Kurds in exchange for other political or diplomatic objectives would get significant pushback from both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

For their part, the Kurds are understandably cautious, and while signing on as American proxies they have also kept open their historic links to Russia. In fact, the Syrian Kurds are the only actor in the Syrian war that enjoys the support of both Russia and the U.S. What is clear is that in the complicated three-way relationship between the U.S., Turkey and the Syrian Kurds, someone, at some point, is going to be seriously disappointed with the final outcome.

Iran, for its part, wants to control at least one of the road networks linking it via Iraq with Syria and Lebanon. An overland axis will make the resupply of Hezbollah in Lebanon far easier. Raqqa and Deir ez-Zur are the two key transportation hubs through which the roads connecting Iraq and western Syria pass. Manbij is also a critical road junction, but the M4 highway east of the Euphrates is controlled by the Kurds.

Much has been written of late about the Shiite arc that runs from Iran across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon down to Gaza. At the moment, this is a political concept rather than a tangible physical construct. The Sunni Arab triangle in Iraq and the Sunni areas of eastern Syria effectively are a blocking force to a continuous physical transportation link across the ground of the Shiite arc.

The upper two thirds of the Euphrates Valley, the portion that bisects eastern Syria and western Iraq, is almost entirely Sunni Arab in composition. The portion that isnt is predominantly Kurdish. The remaining ethnic groups range from Sunni Turkoman to Assyrian Christians and Yazidi, among others. None are particularly sympathetic to Tehrans Shiite agenda. A continued military presence for the SDF, especially one that has a significant Arab contingent in the Sunni Arab areas and is backed by a local U.S. air presence, would prove to be a significant obstacle to Tehrans plans for the region.

To date, the U.S. has been opposed to the dismemberment of either Syria or Iraq. The fact is, however, that, in what historians will undoubtedly call the Muslim Civil War of the 21st century, the Arab Sunni lands of eastern Syria and western Iraq create a significant geographic obstacle to the expansion of Iranian power and influence across the Shiite arc.

This regions borders with both Saudi Arabia and Jordan and the presence of significant oil and gas, gives it both access to exterior transportation links that not dependent on either the Shiite governments in Syria or Iraq as well as a basis for further economic development. So too, does the ability to access the waterflow of the Euphrates. Washingtons relations with Baghdad would deteriorate sharply if the U.S. was to advocate the creation of a Sunni Arab state in the region, on the other hand such a state would clearly be in Americas long-term interest.

The Assad government, having now retaken Aleppo and having gained the upper hand against the Syrian rebels, is looking to reassert its authority over eastern Syria. The regions oil and gas wealth is a powerful inducement, as is Damascuss desire to restore its control over all the historic Syrian state. It also would benefit from direct transportation links between Syria and Iran.

Both Iraq and Syria are failed states. Its not clear that once Islamic State has been defeated, either country will succeed in reintegrating their historic Sunni Arab regions, especially the ones that were under the control of IS, back into their respective former countries. Both Baghdad and Damascus, along with Tehran, share a common interest in preventing the emergence of a Sunni state across eastern Syria and western Iraq.

Like Damascus, Baghdad wants to restore its territorial integrity and solidify its control of Iraqs territory. In particular, it wants to be able to exert enough authority across the Sunni triangle to prevent the emergence of new subversive and radical jihadist movements.

Moreover, the physical damage inflicted, first by IS and then by the war that has been fought to defeat it, has caused enormous damage. Neither government has the resources to foot the multi-billion-dollar reconstruction that will be needed to rebuild the region and to take care of what will end up as millions of displaced persons. Should either government marginalize the reconstruction effort or aid to the Sunni Arab inhabitants of the region, it will only serve to encourage support of yet another radical insurgency.

Finally, there is Russia. Moscow has achieved its immediate objectives in Syria. It has ensured that the Assad regime will survive, and it has secured military bases in Syria that allow it to better project military power, albeit modestly, in the region. While the loss of eastern Syria would weaken the Assad regime, and it would likely ensure the continuation of an insurgency in the Sunni areas controlled by Damascus, it would also ensure continued Syrian and Iranian reliance on an active Russian role, as well as open opportunities for Moscow to further ingratiate itself with Baghdad. Keeping the Middle East pot boiling is very much in the Kremlins interest and ensures it an ongoing role there.

The defeat of the Islamic State is in its final phase. Its likely that in the next 12 months IS will lose any semblance of a physical state. Mosul is on the verge of being liberated. The Battle for Raqqa still has a few months to run and the final battle, the Battle for Deir ez-Zur, has not yet begun. The defeat of Islamic State will not, however, end the turmoil in eastern Syria or western Iraq. It simply sets the stage for an even more complicated geopolitical minuet.

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With temperatures in the upper 90s through much of the weekend, how did the organizers of the Inavale Farm Horse Trials keep both horses and their riders cool?

Ice. More than two tons of it.

Ice is key, said Luigi Meneghelli, who with his wife, Caroline Meneghelli, owns Inavale Farm, south of Philomath, and has organized the event for 20 years. Organizers provided both riders and horses with ice water and distributed ice to riders so they could ice the horses down.

Luigi Meneghelli said in earlier years he bought ice from stores to give to participants, but he was limited by how much ice was available at local stores. So he bought an ice machine that can make 1,300 pounds of ice a day and spends the week before the competition building up a stockpile of ice.

But the three-day competition would be fairly demanding even in lower temperatures: it combines dressage, show jumping and riding a cross country course.

Luigi Meneghelli said the horse trials at Inavale, and eventing competitions like it, are rare because few farms have enough space for a cross country course. Inavales competition is the only one in Oregon, he said.

Back when the event started, Luigi Meneghelli said the event had 60 to 70 riders, but this year they have 230. He added the event has about 120 volunteers who help put it on.

The weekend marked another significant anniversary for the Meneghellis: it was their 20th wedding anniversary. (The original horse trial at Inavale was later in the year so the events didn't overlap that year.)

For us, it is a great milestone, he said of the anniversary.

Kelsey Horn, Inavales head trainer for seven years, placed second in the open training division at the event and celebrated an important day herself: her 30th birthday. Horn said she has been riding at Inavale since she was 2, and shes happy to see the Meneghellis being able to continue to put on the event.

This event is special to us because its our home event. There is a lot of buildup to it. Its kind of the highlight of the summer, she said.

Horn, who had 12 students riding in the competition, said eventing draws people because of the challenge to mastering three different riding challenges and because it is the only equine competition that has a trail ride component.

Its a huge adrenaline rush and its addicting, she said of what its like to ride in the competition.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Non-profit housing developer Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF) has signed a purchase agreement to buy a portfolio of 177 homes in the Grand Rapids and Lansing area from a Chicago hedge fund.

ICCF plans to work with other affordable housing agencies such as LINC Up, Amplify GR, Habitat for Humanity, the Kent County Land Bank, and local churches to expand affordable rental housing and homeownership opportunities for residents with low and moderate incomes.

"West Michigan is thriving in so many ways, but our super-charged housing market is driving up prices and rents at alarming rates," said ICCF CEO Ryan VerWys on Monday, June 26.

"These dramatic increases are creating a housing crisis for those of us living on the margins," VerWys said in a statement. "Market forces are driving housing costs up in some neighborhoods to the point where they are no longer affordable to the people who have lived there for generations,"

Terms of the purchase agreement were not disclosed and VerWys declined to identify the seller.

Others familiar with the transaction said the seller is Residential Dynamics Group (RDG), a Chicago fund that has purchased more than 100 houses in the city of Grand Rapids and also owns houses in Wyoming and Lansing.

Most of the houses are located in older city neighborhoods. A review of property records indicate many of them were purchased by RDG after going through foreclosure during the Great Recession.

ICCF and other housing advocates see the purchase as an opportunity to halt a housing shortage that has cropped up for low-to-middle income residents after real estate prices have soared in recent years as the economy has improved.

VerWys said he expects local foundations and other non-profits to coalesce around the project. "Our board feels really confident about our ability to get to a closing. We're working really hard on this," he said.

"We really feel it's important for us to do something intentional about preserving the affordability of homes," VerWys said.

"That's why there so much excitement surrounding this opportunity. We are happy for a thriving economy and a healthy housing market in our community," VerWys said.

"We're also very grateful for this opportunity to work together as a community to provide affordable housing options for individuals and families whose incomes have not increased with their rising monthly rents."

Third Ward City Commissioner and Kent County Land Bank Director David Allen said the RDG offered the 177 properties to the highest bidder, drawing 12 bids from investors in nine different states.

"It's a pretty broad and diverse group of entities working on this," said Allen. "It's going to take all hands on deck to make it happen."

As the project's lead, 44-year-old ICCF has built and redeveloped more than 500 units of owner-occupied housing in West Michigan and manages 168 affordable rental units.

Deputy City Manager Eric DeLong said the city stands ready to help ICCF and its partners redevelop the properties.

"They are a trusted and valuable partner in the community and I think that bodes well for the future of these houses."
ANN ARBOR, MI - Plans for a $146 million redevelopment of a long-vacant site along Broadway Street and Maiden Lane are headed to Ann Arbor's Planning Commission for consideration.

Before that happens, the city's Brownfield Plan Review Committee is considering an environmental cleanup strategy and a request by the developer for several million dollars in tax incentives.

Chicago-based developer Morningside Lower Town LLC is planning to redevelop the property at 1140 Broadway St.

The development, which includes two seven-story buildings and one six-story building, would add 600 new housing units just up the street from the University of Michigan Hospital.

As proposed, it would include 530 apartments, 70 condos, 4,400 square feet of retail space and 573 parking spaces.

A rendering submitted to the city of Ann Arbor in May 2017 showing plans for the property at 1140 Broadway St., where Morningside Lower Town LLC wants to build three mid-rise buildings with 530 apartments, 70 for-sale condos and 4,400 square feet of retail space.

Morningside also proposed a tax-increment financing plan that would have the developer reimbursed for nearly $26 million of the project costs, using a portion of the new taxes generated by the development over 14 years. But the city's staff is now recommending a much smaller tax incentive amounting to $10.2 million over six years.

The city's brownfield committee meets at city hall at 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 26, to consider the plan.

Part of the reason for the brownfield plan is to address legacy pollution problems from an old dry cleaner that once operated on the site. A plume of hazardous dry-cleaning solvents is spreading under nearby residential buildings and moving toward the Huron River.

Of the nearly $26 million in TIF reimbursements the developer sought in its brownfield plan, roughly $5.5 million would cover environmental costs, while $20.4 million would cover other eligible project costs -- the biggest being $11 million for two parking garages.

After counting Washtenaw County's fees for administrative expenses and a $3 million contribution to a local brownfield fund, the total TIF costs would go up to $30 million over 15 years.

But the city's staff is recommending limiting the reimbursable non-environmental costs to $4.7 million, rather than the requested $20.4 million, which brings the overall amount that would be reimbursable to the developer down to $10.2 million.

Counting administrative fees and brownfield fund contributions, the total TIF costs would be $12.8 million over seven years

Those details are laid out in a June 19 memo from the city's planning staff to the city's brownfield committee.

The memo notes the project includes features such as solar hot water, a green roof, transit improvements and 30 income-restricted units of workforce housing - 15 for people earning up to 100 percent of the area median income, and 15 for people earning up to 80 percent of the area median income. There also are some market-rate "micro units" that are expected to have lower rents due to size.

Ann Arbor's Planning Commission is expected to consider the development at its July 5 meeting.

The site plan also requires City Council approval, and the brownfield plan has to go through the county and state.

The purpose of a brownfield plan is to pay for costs that otherwise present an impediment to redeveloping a challenging site, including sites where there are pollution problems.

The $5.5 million reimbursement for environmental costs includes removing some of the contaminated soils and installing vapor-mitigation controls, as well as a permeable reactive barrier at the eastern edge of the site to reduce the spread of the plume.

The $20.4 million the developer requested for non-environmental costs included:

$11 million for two three-story parking garages

$2.6 million for soft costs such as architectural and engineering work

$1.3 million for stormwater systems

$1.1 million for sewer disconnect fees

$780,000 for site prep work, including utility relocation and grading

$720,000 for infrastructure improvements along Broadway and Maiden Lane, including streetscape improvements, traffic signals, turn lanes and construction of a bus turnaround lane and canopied bus stop

$200,000 for a green roof on one of the buildings

$90,000 for demolition work, including removing remaining pavement and abandoned utilities

The revised plan recommended by the city's staff still includes the $5.5 million for environmental costs, but it limits non-environmental reimbursements to $2.5 million for the parking garages, $975,000 for infrastructure improvements, $520,000 for soft costs such as architectural and engineering work, $260,000 for stormwater detention, $90,000 for demolition, plus other smaller costs.

The four members of the city's brownfield committee reviewing the proposal on Monday are City Council members Jack Eaton, Jason Frenzel, Chuck Warpehoski and Kirk Westphal.

The developer submitted a revised brownfield plan on March 15 and the environmental costs increased by about $750,000 due to installation of the permeable reactive barrier at a lower depth.

"The proposed method of addressing the groundwater contamination is a cost-effective approach to reduce the concentration of the impacted water prior to migration off site," the June 19 planning staff memo states. "While the proposed barrier is not required, utilization of tax-increment financing to support the activity, in conjunction with development, provides a significant public benefit."

If the revised plan is approved, a total of $3.8 million worth of state education taxes and $6.3 million worth of local taxes would be captured and reimbursed to the developer, including money that otherwise would go to the city, county, library, schools, transit authority and Washtenaw Community College.

Along with the site plan and brownfield plan, Morningside is seeking city approval to rezone the 6.4-acre property, which was previously specially zoned for a planned unit development known as Broadway Village at Lower Town. The previous project, brought forward by a different developer, stalled several years ago after the buildings on the site were demolished. The property once was home to a Kroger grocery store and several other businesses.

The Strathmore Development Co. had plans to build 185 upscale apartments, 138,275 square feet of retail space, 152,689 square feet of office space and a 760-space parking structure, but the recession froze bank financing options and in 2009 the project stalled.

Morningside is asking to rezone the property from the PUD designation to "campus business residential."

Morningside is proposing conditions to limit building height to a maximum of five stories and 70 feet for all portions of the property located within 70 feet of Traver Creek and a maximum of seven stories and 90 feet at all other parts of the property.

Elements such as chimneys, rooftop mechanical equipment and solar panels would be allowed to project above the maximum limit.

Most of the automobile parking would be included in what's labeled in plans as Building A, which would be the first building built. It would have apartments wrapped around a 451-space, six-story parking garage, so the garage isn't visible to passersby.

Building B, a condo building, would have 85 automobile parking spaces in an interior garage built into its first floor.

There would be another 37 surface parking spaces for automobiles and 661 interior and exterior bicycle parking spaces.

Per city code, 607 automobile parking spaces are required for the residential units and 15 are required for the retail, for a total of 622. The developer is asking for a variance to go down to 573.

Developer Ron Mucha of Morningside couldn't be reached for comment for this story.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor Public Schools has hired Marios Demetriou to fill the assistant superintendent position he held 21 months ago.

On Wednesday, June 21, the board of education approved hiring Demetriou as assistant superintendent for operations and finance, or the chief operations officer. His base salary will be $144,000, the trustees said, and he will be responsible for overseeing physical properties, contracts and the district's finances.

The length of Demetriou's contract was not referenced at Wednesday's meeting, and the contract is not yet available to the public.

Demetriou previously held the same position at AAPS from 2014 until November 2015, when he took a position as chief financial officer at Detroit Public Schools. AAPS has not filled the position since Demetriou left.

Superintendent Jeanice Swift said in recent months she's "marginally" fulfilled the responsibilities Demetriou will take on now. In light of the increased sinking fund millage voters approved in May, Swift said she wanted to have an administrator who can devote more attention to making sure the proposed infrastructure improvements are completed on time, within the budget and with community input.

"At this time of continuing public school financial challenge in Michigan and as we embark on the implementation of the 2017 sinking fund and all of those enhancements, I can think of no individual more capable to lead us forward and to ensure that we keep the promises that we have made to our Ann Arbor Public Schools community," Swift said when recommending Demetriou's hire.

Trustees Christine Stead, Susan Baskett, Simone Lightfoot and Patricia Manley also voiced their confidence in Demetriou based on their past experience working with him.

Prior to working at AAPS, Demetriou was named deputy superintendent for the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District in 2010, and he was an assistant superintendent with the Muskegon ISD since 2004. He temporarily served as chief financial officer for Muskegon Heights starting in 2012, and he worked at Flint Community Schools and Eastern Michigan University earlier in his career.

What does AAPS spend on top administrators?

Demetriou joins Lee Ann Dickinson-Kelley as an assistant superintendent at AAPS. Dickinson-Kelley oversees instruction and student support services, and her pay was $146,500 in 2016. That number includes base salary plus any supplemental pay, according to information reported by AAPS.

Another top leadership position for the school district is the deputy superintendent of human resources and general counsel - a position held by David Comsa. His pay was $154,100 in 2016 - again including base salary and supplemental pay.

Jill Minnick is the chief financial officer, and AAPS employs eight district-level executive directors who oversee everything from community services to technology to education for various grade levels.

When Swift was hired as superintendent of AAPS in 2013, she restructured the district's administrative roles and eliminated six positions from central office.

In 2009, 88 AAPS employees made more than $100,000, according to past reporting by The Ann Arbor News. The school district employed a total of 4,070 administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals and non-instructional staff that year, according to the Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information.

By 2013, 45 employees made more than $100,000, and AAPS employed 4,113 people.

In the 2016-17 school year, 43 employees made more than $100,000, when taking into account base salary plus any supplemental pay. The district now employs 2,823 people. Swift is the highest paid employee, making $219,450 in 2016.

In the 2015-16 school year, AAPS spent $174.4 million on employee salaries and benefits - which accounts for 82 percent of general fund revenue - and 1 percent of that money went to central administration, according to the most recent audit.

This post was updated to clarify that the AAPS assistant superintendent pay information reported here includes base salary plus supplemental pay, and it's for 2016. The amount may change from year to year.
ANN ARBOR, MI - A 38-year-old Lima Township mother has pleaded guilty to having sex with a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy.

Brooke L. Lajiness admitted on Monday, June 26 during a pretrial in front of Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge David S. Swartz to having intercourse and oral sex with the minors.

She pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct for oral sex with a 15-year-old, two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for intercourse with a 14-year-old, one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes and one count of furnishing obscenity to children for sending nude photographs of herself to a minor.

Through a plea agreement, 10 other counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person between 13 and 15 years old will be dismissed at sentencing, Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney John Vella said.

There is no sentence agreement in place, Vella said. That means the prosecutor's office has not agreed to any lesser punishments for the offenses.

Lajiness faces up to 15 years in prison for the criminal sexual conduct charges, four years in prison or a fine for the accosting charge and 90 days in jail or a fine for the misdemeanor obscenity charge.

Lajiness came under investigation in February when a woman walked in to a Michigan State Police post to lodge a complaint about Lajiness having sexual relations with the woman's son, according to testimony from Michigan State Police Trooper Donald Pasternak included in a transcript of a March 3 hearing.

The majority of the incidents charged in the case were alleged to have occurred in the backseat of Lajiness' car in a Lima Township driveway, Pasternak testified. She then confessed to police to having sex with the 14-year-old between eight and 15 times and exchanging naked pictures with him over the internet.

In court Monday, she admitted to two incidents of intercourse with the 14 year old. She also admitted in court to sending nude pictures of herself.

"They started conversing and exchanging nude photographs while he was still in middle school," Pasternak said, according to the transcript.

The sexual relations began in summer 2016 while the teen was between middle school and high school, he said.

Lajiness is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 7. She remains free on bond.
A Formula 1 powerboat went airborne on the Saginaw River Saturday, June 24, at the 30th running of the Bay City Grand Prix, formerly known as the River Roar.

The video above was submitted by an MLive reader recording the race from the Boathouse Condominiums in downtown Bay City. It shows a driver striking Rob Rinker's boat on its driver's side, launching it into the air and flipping it over. Emergency crews were able to successfully pull Rinker out from the boat.

The Florida-based driver and U.S. Marine was pulled out of his boat by rescue crews from Black Diamond, a Michigan-based company. Rinker, son of Terry Rinker, who won this weekend's race, sustained a couple of bruises, but was able to compete in Sunday's final, said Mike Schriefer, president and chief executive officer of International Outboard Grand Prix, the management company for the race.

Rob Rinker raced Sunday's final with his family's backup boat, Schriefer said. He placed 7th overall.

Terry Rinker wins Grand Prix title

By Lee Thompson | MLive.com

Terry Rinker waves the checkered flag after winning the 30th annual Bay City Grand Prix Sunday, June 25.

BAY CITY, MI - Terry Rinker christened a new era by breaking an old record.

The Tampa, Florida driver roared to the Formula 1 victory in the Bay City Grand Prix, the new version of the long-standing River Roar powerboat races on Saginaw River.

It marked the sixth Formula 1 win in Bay City for Rinker, breaking a deadlock with Mike Seebold and Tim Seebold to become the winningest driver in the 31-year history of the event.

"I love racing Bay City," Rinker said. "It's my favorite race to win."

Rinker zipped past polesitter and defending champion Greg Foster then waged a 30-lap battle with Foster and 2010 winner Chris Fairchild to take the checkered flag.

"My mirrors were full of those two boats of Foster and Fairchild," Rinker said in his postrace interview with F1 ChampBoat Racing. "They were not giving up. They made me drive a little harder than I wanted to, but you've got to do what you've got to do. I kept them behind me, that was the plan and it worked out."

Fairchild finished second while Foster took third as the only boats on the lead lap in the 14-boat field.
DETROIT - Small businesses wary of pressure to embrace environmental sustainability can soon get advice on how to adopt green practices from 12 Detroit entities and a nationwide green building initiative.

A group of Detroit business and institutions - including Bedrock Detroit, Comerica Bank and Wayne State University - have signed on as participants in the 2030 Districts initiative.

The partnership is a project from the U.S. Green Building Council, aiming to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent from existing buildings by the year 2030.

New construction projects within the district would aim to create buildings with "net-zero" carbon emissions.

The "Detroit 2030 District" joins 15 other North American cities with business communities that signed onto the pact.

It is the second city in Michigan to sign on to the project. Grand Rapids launched its 2030 District in 2015.

Detroit's district stretches from the riverfront to the New Center area, between the John C. Lodge freeway and I-75, according to Connie Lilley, director of the Detroit 2030 District.

A full list of participants is available here.

The Detroit 2030 District covers 3 million square miles of city land.

Emile Lauzanna, regional district director for the U.S. Green Building Council, said the pact is a forward-thinking approach to cutting emissions in cities with a lot of commuter and commercial vehicle traffic.

Its suggested green practices can also help businesses slash operating costs by reducing energy and water use.

"It can be challenging, but it can be done," Lauzanna said. "We've been forming the district over the last three years. We could have launched then, but we wanted to make sure we had an active program that had value for all of its members."

Two members are using the District's guidelines in their green retrofitting projects, including a net-zero carbon retrofit renovation in the new offices of Walker-Miller Energy Services.

Retrofitting is defined as adding components to an existing building that it did not originally have -- in this case, mechanisms that can save energy, track carbon emissions or reduce them entirely.

While these projects were already in the works, the district was officially launched this month.

John Guardiola, Bedrock Detroit's vice president of engineering and construction, said he hopes the pact will show Detroit business owners that going green is easier than they think.

That includes small business owners who might not have the capital for large-scale green retrofitting projects.

"It helps me us share the knowledge with businesses who might not have a guy like me who can give them low or no-cost ways to save energy," Guardiola said.

"When you look at the district, it includes a large square footage. Not just us at Bedrock, but smaller players as well."

Guardiola said Bedrock's buildings already used green practices from conception to daily operation. What's interesting for him is the outreach.

Partner businesses say they plan to host workshops and webinars to share the guidelines compiled by the U.S. Green Building Council - even if that means helping competitors get ahead.
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More on who I am is here.

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A smooth and rapid exit from India looks unlikely for General Motors with disgruntled dealers and their employees set to stage a day-long peaceful protest in Delhi against the terms of the settlement handed out to them by GM India.

GM dealers and their employees would be sitting on dharna to draw the attention of the concerned ministries about the sad plight of the dealers and the loss of over 15,000 jobs, said a Federation of Automobile Dealer Association (FADA) member.

A dealer said this move was unprecedented.

Never before have automobile dealers resorted to dharna as a method of protest," said one of the dealers. "But anguished by decision of GM India to quit the domestic market without keeping their long-standing dealers in the loop, we have been forced to do this too. FADA received permission of the authorities to stage a peaceful dharna at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday.

GM, one of worlds biggest car making companies, decided last month to pull the plug on its loss-making India operations after years of trying to make it self-sustaining.

The company, which sells the Chevrolet brand and was one of the first foreign automotive brands to set foot in India, said it will stop domestic sales and instead focus only on exports.

GM had about 96 dealers in India operating around 140 showrooms across the country. The US-headquartered firm promised to compensate its dealer partners. However, dealers are unhappy with the compensation amount.

"GM India recognises the strong partnership with our dealers and is providing our dealer partners with a fair and transparent Transition Assistance Package based on a methodology that is consistent across all dealers. This has not changed. The methodology is then applied to the individual circumstances of each dealership. These discussions with individual dealers are confidential and it would not be appropriate to discuss them publicly. Our dealers are important partners in implementing our transition plan, which is focused on providing continuity and peace of mind for our customers, GM said in statement.

GM is reportedly offering just 10-15 percent of the total investment its dealers made in setting up the showroom infrastructure as compensation. Dealers are even considering filing a class action lawsuit against GM in the US over the "inadequate" compensation offered to them.

The last time an automobile maker was dragged to the courts was when Italian giant Fiat did not honour its promise of bringing the Jeep brand to India within the stipulated time frame. Dealers had individually filed lawsuits demanding compensation.

Meanwhile, General Motors India said it has now begun regular shipment of the sedan version of Chevrolet Beat from its Talegaon export hub to Latin America markets.

A consignment of 1,200 Chevrolet Beat sedans was on Monday loaded for shipping to Latin America, following the start of production on June 5..

Asif Khatri, VP - Manufacturing, GM India said, Our Talegaon facility is a key export manufacturing hub for GM. GM Indias exports have more than tripled in the past year. GM was Indias third largest passenger vehicle exporter in May - recording our highest monthly total of vehicle exports at 8,297 units.

Earlier this year, GM India began exporting the Chevrolet Beat hatchback to Latin American markets.
By Paramita Chatterjee

Forbes India

The government has taken some bold, positive and progressive measures that have attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as global companies to conduct business in India, says Amitabh Kant, CEO of The National Institution for Transforming India, popularly known as Niti Aayog. In an interview to Forbes India, the 61-year-old talks about issues such as demonetisation, farm loan waivers and Niti Aayogs recommendation to consider the strategic disinvestment of Air India. Edited excerpts: What do you think are some of the significant achievements of the government in the last three years? Firstly, the attempt at [implementing] the Goods and Services Tax, a Bankruptcy Law and a National Company Law Tribunal, [and the] scrapping of almost 1,200 laws are major steps forward. Reducing the number of forms for import and export, the fact that we can register a company in a day, and the competitive ranking of states on the ease of doing business are some of the pathbreaking work that the government has done. Secondly, there has been an attempt to attract the best global companies to India. We have seen our FDI grow at about 61 percent in the last three years at a time when FDI across the globe has fallen by 16 percent. We have had some outstanding companies come to India and that, over a period of time, should make a huge amount of difference.

WATCH: Air India On A Wing And A Prayer

Secondly, there has been an attempt to attract the best global companies to India. We have seen our FDI grow at about 61 percent in the last three years at a time when FDI across the globe has fallen by 16 percent. We have had some outstanding companies come to India and that, over a period of time, should make a huge amount of difference. Close Related stories This Is Going To Be Indias Decade | Morgan Stanley Report | Economy

IIP grows 3.1% in September, beats expectations

Sensex, Nifty close near record high after softer US inflation Third, there has been a whole shift from input and output to outcome monitoring. And we, at Niti Aayog, do an outcome-based presentation to the prime minister across sectors such as infrastructure, health care and education. Outcome targets have been spelt out and there has been an outcome budget that was tabled in Parliament along with the main budget. We believe the focus on outcomes will yield a lot of results over a period of time. Fourthly, there is a huge thrust to make India more innovative and dynamic by creating the right ecosystem for startups, and with the right action plan that is benchmarked against the best in the world. We have an Atal Tinkering Lab that is supporting tinkering labs in schools and supporting incubators. Then, the focus on creating good infrastructure on ground is giving a push to the country. We have seen growth in the number of roads being constructed. We have also seen a big rise in railway projects being executed. We have laid emphasis on improving the health of discoms [electricity distribution companies], which is critical for India. Read more articles from Forbes India here These are some major measures to make a radical transformation in the functioning of the economy. Yet, there are several challenges in the context of the global slowdown we will face them as we go along.

Have we been able to realise and retain the full benefits of demonetisation?

Well, it cant be that Indias ambition is to become a USD 10 trillion economy over the next 15 years when half of its economy is black. Its important that we integrate the parallel economy into the formal one. This, in the long run, will lead to higher tax revenues, and higher inflow of resources towards health, education and nutrition. It will also make available long-term funds for infrastructure. To my mind, one of the important spin-offs of demonetisation was the PMs ability to push for digital payments, which, in the long run, is critical for formalising Indias economy; that should lead to lower cost of transactions while enabling data mining. These are all long-term gains that would benefit the economy. We are the only country in the world with 1 billion biometrics, and almost 1 billion mobile phone [connections]; besides, we are pushing for the opening of bank accounts and ensuring that they get linked to Aadhaar [numbers] and to mobile numbers so that one can do a mobile-to-mobile transfer, bank-to-bank transfer, and Aadhaar-to-Aadhaar transfer [of money]. The cost of physical transactions is much higher than that of mobile transactions. India definitely has the potential to convert a mobile [phone] into a bank, a mobile into a wallet. We want to ensure that, in the long run, all Indians do their transactions through mobile [phones].

Private investment stubbornly refuses to revive, despite government attempts to boost it with a large dose of public investment. Why?There is a global slowdown. The Indian private sector had expanded and many of them had taken loans from banks, which then turned sour. Bank restructuring is being done and that will bring greater discipline in the private sector, and help good corporates move on. While we have seen a lot of FDI in the past, it is important for us to drive private sector investments too. It can become easier through certain public sector projects that have been de-risked, where tolls are already flowing in. The attempt is on to facilitate private sector participation in government projects that are fully de-risked.
GST may result in a windfall gain for corporates in the country instead of consumers getting the benefit, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac claimed on Monday.

"The key question in GST is, will this benefit be passed on to the consumers or will it become a windfall gain for corporates? I think it is going to be a bonanza for the corporates in India," he told PTI here. His "basic criticism" in general is that except for a few commodities, tax rates have been brought down very sharply.

"So much so, assuming the efficiency of tax collection... rates, we are foregoing a revenue of something like Rs one lakh to Rs one and a half lakh (crore) overall for spender state", he said. Issac, who was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar, said overall Kerala is going to benefit by GST but alleged that the Centre has not put in place the requisite systems in his state for ushering in the new tax regime.

"It is the Central government that has to make the systems in place. But, they are not in place. That is a big gap. But, in Kerala, whatever we have to do, we have done," he said.

"GSTN (GST Network) is not ready. GSTN is not ready with the GST return forms. That's why a saving grace period of one (month) has been given for filing the returns. I hope they will be ready at least by then," Issac said.

Kerala is ready for GST rollout and there will be a grand function in Kochi on July 1, he said.

"Kerala is going to benefit from this. We are a consumer state. Destination based tax (will) definitely be advantageous to us. Also, it's a state with a high density of services. We are also going to benefit on that count," he said.
State-owned telecom corporation Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) today said it expects to repay about Rs 125 crore of debt before June-end.

The debt-laden company which offers landline and mobile telephony services in Delhi and Mumbai areas - said it will be able to make the repayment due to "one of the public sector banks", a few days before the June 30 deadline.

"About Rs 125 crore is due for repayment, which we will be paying three days before the deadline....As far as the financing is concerned we do not see a challenge," MTNL Chairman and Managing Director, PK Purwar told PTI.

Stating that about Rs 495 crore of the long-term loan will come up for repayment in the current financial year, Purwar said the telecom PSU is confident of meeting its obligations in this regard.

"We have our own revenue to the extent of about Rs 3,000 crore, and the repayment modalities are based on availability of funds. Sometimes we use the internal accruals and sometimes we use a fresh line of credit," he said.

Purwar, who recently met the interministerial group (IMG) on financial stress in the telecom sector, has been seeking "government support" for the availability of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore capital over a period of time.

Earlier this month, Purwar - after a meeting with the IMG officials - told reporters that since the government is the promoter of MTNL, it "should not be found wanting" in support with regard to its capital requirements.

MTNL has also sought government aid for its high employee cost - a tab of Rs 2,800 crore.

The PSU has shot off a letter to the telecom department seeking extension in the validity of its mobile licence for the Delhi and Mumbai circles by two more years till 2021, at no extra cost.

It has argued that the mobile licence for the two service areas remained underused in the first four years of the permit's lifespan, for various reasons.

The cellular licence of MTNL is valid till April 2019, after which the telecom corporation would be required to renew it.

As per data by the telecom regulator, MTNLs wireless subscriber base stands at over 36 lakh in the two metros put together. The wireline subscriber base of MTNL stands at over 34 lakh for the two circles.

A household telephony brand in the 90s and early 2000, MTNLs revenue and profitability has come under tremendous pressure with intensified competition in mobile and landline services.
Washington DC: Prime Minister, Narendra Modi addressing at the United States Community Reception in Washington DC, USA on Sunday. PTI Photo/Twitter(PTI6_26_2017_000010B) *** Local Caption ***

India's implementation of the "complex" Goods and Services Tax (GST) could be studied by US business schools, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, as he invited top American companies to invest in the country which has initiated major reforms.

"The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools," Modi said yesterday while interacting with 20 top American CEOs at a round table here ahead of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump.

On GST, the Prime Minister said that this is becoming a reality after years of effort, ahead of the roll out of the landmark tax reform measure from July 1.

He added that its implementation is a "complex" task and went on to suggest that this could be the subject of future case-studies.

Implementation of the GST shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly, the prime minister said at the interaction with the group of CEOs that included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Modi told them that his government was working on principles such as Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.

Must Watch: Another Tryst With Destiny! How GST Will Change Your Life after July 1

The Prime Minister spoke of the recent reforms, and noted that the Union Government alone has initiated 7,000 reforms. He said this indicates India's quest for global benchmarks. He mentioned the Government's emphasis on efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.

Pichai told reporters after the meeting that American businesses were excited about investing in India.

Praising the steps being taken by the Indian government in the last three years, he said the US companies are looking forward to the roll out of the GST.

"Good," said Cook as he emerged out of the meeting.

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) president Mukesh Aghi said the CEOs praised the reforms being undertaken by the Prime Minister and underscore his efforts to make India a business-friendly destination.

Prime Minister Modi also said that if America becomes stronger, India will be a natural beneficiary. He also added that India believes that a strong America is good for the world.

He sought enhanced attention from the CEOs in areas such as women empowerment, renewable energy, startups and innovation. He suggested linking sanitary practices, products and technologies with the requirements of school going girls.

He reiterated that his primary interest is improving the quality of life in India.

Touted as the biggest taxation reform since Independence, GST will unify 16 different taxes including excise, service tax and VAT, and transform India into a single market for seamless movement of goods and services.

The powerful GST Council, comprising Centre and states, has recommended a four-tier tax structure - 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent. On top of the highest slab, a cess will be imposed on luxury and demerit goods to compensate the states for revenue loss in the first five years of GST implementation.

GST rates would depend upon whether the commodity is used by a rich person or a common man.

State and Union Territory GST laws were passed by all the states and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir, paving the way for smooth roll out of the tax from July 1.
The initial public offering (IPO) of AU Small Finance Bank will open for subscription on June 28, with a price band of Rs 355-358 per share.

This will be the fifth and last public issue for the month of June, followed by CDSL, Tejas Networks, GTPL Hathway and Eris Lifesciences.

Bids can be made for a minimum of 41 equity shares and in multiples of 41 shares thereafter. The issue will close on June 30.

Equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and National Stock Exchange of India. ICICI Securities, HDFC Bank, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors and Citigroup Global Markets India will act as book running lead managers for the issue.

Here are key points that one should know about the issue & company and also check out what brokerage houses say:-

About the issue

The public issue of AU Small Finance Bank is an offer for sale of 5,34,22,169 equity shares by promoters and investors.

Promotors and promoter group - Sanjay Agarwal, (to sell up to 24.94 lakh shares), Jyoti Agarwal (23.63 lakh shares), Shakuntala Agarwal (22.74 lakh shares), Chiranji Lal Agarwal (12.9 lakh shares) and MYS Holdings (5.76 lakh shares) will sell their stake through OFS.

Other than promoters, Redwood Investment (up to 1.48 crore shares), International Finance Corporation (75.72 lakh shares), Labh Investments (1.12 crore shares), Ourea Holdings (1.03 crore shares) and Kedaara Capital Alternative Investment Fund (4.34 lakh shares) will also offload their shares in the offer.

Offer includes a reservation of up to 10 lakh shares for subscription by eligible employees. The bidding for anchor investors' reserved portion will be opened for one day on June 27.

Objects of the issue

The objects of the offer are to achieve the benefits of listing equity shares on stock exchanges and for the offer for sale of 53,422,169 equity shares.

The company will not receive any proceeds from the offer. All proceeds from the offer will go to each of the selling shareholders, in proportion to its portion of the offered shares.

About the Company

AU Small Finance Bank is a small finance bank (SFB) that has recently transitioned from a prominent, retail focused non-banking finance company (NBFC).

It primarily served low and middle-income individuals and businesses that have limited or no access to formal banking and finance channels.

It received a license from the Reserve Bank of India to set up an SFB on December 20, 2016 and commenced SFB operations on April 19, 2017. Prior to such date, the company was categorised as a 'systemically important, non-deposit accepting asset finance company' (NBFC-ND-AFC) by the RBI.

The company commenced operations in 1996 in Jaipur, Rajasthan and was registered as an NBFC with the RBI in 2000. In 2005, it became a commercial associate of HDFC Bank for originating and servicing vehicle loans.

AU operates in three business lines - vehicle finance; micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) loans; and small and medium enterprises (SME) loans.

For the financial year 2017, the average ticket size of vehicle finance loans was Rs 3.4 lakh, MSME loans Rs 10.8 lakh and SME loans Rs 2.19 crore. As of March 31, 2017, 98.99 percent of its total receivables under financing activity were secured.

In FY17, AU conducted operations through 301 NBFC branches spread across 10 states and one union territory in India, with significant presence in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The company plans to set up an additional 162 branches and seven central processing centers during the financial year 2018. As of May 2017, it conducted operations through 269 branches, 121 asset centers, one central processing center and 10 offices,

Financials

Vehicle finance business, which contributed 50.27 percent to total gross AUM, grew at a CAGR of 16.49 percent to Rs 5,395.68 crore in FY13-17 while MSME loans business, which contributed 29.96 percent to to gross AUM showed a 54.71 percent CAGR to Rs 3,216.34 crore in FY13-17.

SME loans business, which consisted of 19.77 percent of total gross AUM, grew 77.79 percent CAGR to Rs 2,121.84 crore in FY13-17.

During the year March 2017, the company sold its investment in subsidiary companies viz. Aavas Financiers (formerly known as AU Housing Finance) and Index Money and associate companies viz. M Power Micro Finance and Au Insurance Broking Services. The profit on sale of these investments of Rs 670.35 crore (Rs 516.86 crore, net of tax) is disclosed as an exceptional item. Profit after tax excluding exceptional item is Rs 325.85 crore in FY17.

Geographical Spread of Active Loan Accounts

Geographical Spread of Gross AUM

Promoters

Sanjay Agarwal, Jyoti Agarwal, Shakuntala Agarwal and Chiranji Lal Agarwal are promoters of the company. As of June 14, promoters collectively held 9,48,73,926 equity shares, which is equivalent to 33.38 percent of the pre-offer paid-up equity share capital.

Sanjay Agarwal, managing director and CEO, is a first generation entrepreneur of the company.

Management

Board of Directors

Management Organisation Structure

Shareholding

Shareholders other than promoters include marquee investors such as the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group), Redwood Investment Ltd (belonging to the Warburg Pincus group), Labh Investments (a wholly owned subsidiary of ChrysCapital VI, LLC), Ourea Holdings (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kedaara Capital I) and Kedaara Capital Alternative Investment Fund - Kedaara Capital AIF 1.

Top 10 shareholders held 86.48 percent stake in the company as of June 14, 2017:

Dividend Policy

AU has not declared any dividend on the equity shares in financial years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Strategies

1> Leverage existing capabilities: Company intends to leverage its capabilities as a former asset finance NBFC including branch network, customer base, technology driven, low cost hub-and-spoke model and local know-how in the geographical areas in which it operates for SFB operations. As an SFB, it intends to strategically expand operations by offering a diverse suite of banking products and services at branches.

2> Branch expansion: Company intends to gradually open 162 additional branches to reach 431 branches, and 121 asset centers in FY18, including 23 branches in Tier 1 centers beyond the 10 states and one union territory in which it currently presents.

3> Comprehensive suite of banking services: It intends to provide unsecured business loans and housing finance loans in FY18. It also aims to sell mutual funds, insurance and risk management products and provide financial advisory services, subject to receipt of requisite approvals from regulatory authorities.

4> Technology upgradation: It intends to continue to upgrade technology systems with automated, digitised and other technology-enabled platforms and tools, to strengthen banking and financing initiatives and derive greater operational, cost and management efficiencies.

5> Brand presence: It seeks to leverage and enhance brand to build presence in the banking sector and develop new customer and industry relationships beyond existing business lines.

Risks

Brokerage houses expect following risks:-

1> Compulsory compliance with maintaining CRR (cash reserve ratio) and SLR (statutory liquidity ratio) may impact loan book growth and NIMs

2> In order to attract CASA, higher interest may be offered, which in turn will hurt NIMs and return ratios

3> Cost/income ratio will need to be monitored closely as the company expands into newer regions

4> Currently, 79.29 percent of the gross AUM is located in western India. Any adverse political, economic or social development in this region could impair asset quality and result in high non-performing assets

5> Concentration in the state of Rajasthan, which covers approximately 56 percent of its overall portfolio, is a risk

6> Failure of new product launches

7> Non-compliance with priority sector lending requirements, as mandated by the RBI, could invoke regulatory action from the RBI.

8> Ability to convert itself into a small bank

9> Liability scale-up is critical to brisk growth sustenance

10> As an SFB, the company may unable to access some of the sources of funds that were available to the company as NBFC

11> Significantly dependent on its vehicle finance business

12> If customers default in their repayment obligations, business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows may be adversely affected

13> Any downgrade in credit ratings could increase finance costs and adversely affect business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows

Brokers' take

Majority of brokerage houses are positive on the company, given its strong financials, presence in under-served segments, robust processes, credible management, diversified product portfolio, significant presence in rural and semi-urban markets, robust and comprehensive credit assessment and risk management framework, experienced management and access to diversified sources of funding.

KR Choksey

At the upper price-band of Rs 358, issue is priced at 5.1x FY17 book value. Based on the managements successful track-record of scaling up the business over the years, generating high returns (better return on average equity than peers), focus on optimising costs, well established framework for controlling asset quality and well-thought future expansion strategy, it advises to subscribe for the long term.

Antique Stock Broking

Given the strong presence in niche customer segments, AU SFB's profitability will be remained superior to most conventional banks. Despite the migration to SFB, it estimates that AU will report trough return on equities of around 17 percent in FY18 this will recover to 20 percent by FY20. This is significantly better than its listed peers which are currently reporting single digit RoEs. As such, valuations at 3.2x book on FY20 are reasonable, and investors can expect strong upside over the next few years.

IIFL

At the upper end of price band of Rs 355-358, the company is being valued at 5.3x FY17 P/ABV. This valuation, more than being palatable, offers a material upside post listing. It recommends subscribe.

SMC

The research house has assigned 2.5 ranking out of 5, which is partly fair ranking. Check out comparison with peers.

Sharekhan

Due to the gains from the exceptional items (sale proceeds of subsidiaries) the return on networth (RONW) surged to 42.14 percent and the book value too surged to Rs 70.34. However, even on excluding the exceptional gains, the RONW for FY17 stood at a healthy 22 percent which is considered attractive.
Forbes India

BigBasket has proved that smartphone-toting people in India do buy groceries on an app, and at scale as entrepreneurs always like to say. Even if with expensive help from celebrity endorsements such as Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

And yet, a lot more people, in fact, the majority of us, still do continue to jostle with each other for parking space for our vehicles so we can endure standing in the one queue where the customer four heads further up the line has chosen the very day for a months worth of supplies.

Amazon knows just how much people buy their food and supplies offline  even in the most advanced of economies. It just agreed to spend USD 13.7 billion to buy Whole Foods, a 460-store chain in America. Think what it might do in India when opportunity knocks, where it is already an entrenched e-commerce presence, and where it has entered the groceries business ahead of market leader Flipkart  albeit only as a delivery service, because of Indias rules on retail.

That, however, could change as the rules are changing. For instance, India now allows 100 percent foreign direct investment in businesses selling locally processed food. And Amazon is said to be seeking approval in India of its plan to sell food and groceries directly to consumers online.

Buying Supermarket Grocery Supplies Private Limited., the company that operates BigBasket, Indias largest online grocer, if the reported rumours of such a deal are true  and an Amazon spokesperson declined to comment, when this writer contacted the company  will only be one aspect of Amazons plan for selling groceries in India. It is not inconceivable that when the rules change in India, Amazon will be ready to go offline here as well.

Read more articles from Forbes India here

For now, Amazons groceries play in India is limited to its Amazon Now app-only option. Download and install the app, use it to order what you want and Amazon Indias delivery people will pick it up at your friendly neighbourhood supermarket and deliver it to your doorstep. Amazons app product page promises two-hour delivery in some locations in Bengaluru, Delhi and the National Capital Region, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

And its supermarket partners include Big Bazaar, Food World and various other chains and local supermarkets. For a moment, leave groceries aside. One could argue that Amazon already has a broader ecosystem in India than Flipkart when it comes to the various ways people deal with it. For instance, Flipkart has nothing to match Amazons Prime Video service, which has just launched a locally produced Amazon original, with actor-director Farhan Akhtar. Expect more.

Flipkart, had once boldly launched a music download service with its digital store Flyte, but didnt persevere with it, and shut it down after about a year, in 2013. Flipkarts top executives know very well that the most affluent of its, and Amazons, customers also tend to be a segment for which books are important. And again, Flipkart has nothing to offer that can compete with the Kindle service. Here, too, Flipkart didnt persist with an eBook reader it had built before Amazons entry into India.

And on the enterprise front, Flipkart, even after its latest funding-based strategic partnership with Microsoft, will have nothing to compete with Amazon Web Services. For now, that aspect is probably only tangentially relevant, but if Amazon decides to build a bigger portfolio of cloud-based services for individual consumers globally, which it can be expected to bring to India as well, Flipkart just doesnt have the wherewithal to compete there.

Amazons services will be tightly integrated with one consumer needing one account across services  much like with Google. Flipkarts main offering will remain the e-commerce business. That is why, if they lose in groceries, they will be out of reckoning for good. And certainly, Flipkarts entry into groceries is imminent, a launch for which the company has been preparing for over a year on a war footing.

Which brings one back to BigBasket. If anyone has solved some of the problems of online groceries retail in the Indian context, it is BigBasket, one executive in the e-commerce industry whos kept a close eye on the companys rise told this reporter, and didnt want to be named. Therefore, if Amazon indeed buys BigBasket, it will be a bit of a coup even as Flipkart launches groceries.

BigBasket has denied it is talking to Amazon according to Bloomberg, which reported the two were in talks, citing people familiar with the discussions, in a report on June 13. BigBasket is reportedly looking to raise as much as another $150 million in a deal that could make it one more Indian unicorn. Tencent Holding, which participated in the recent $1.4 billion funding at Flipkart has also been reported to potential investors in BigBasket.

On the possibility of Flipkart itself being a potential suitor for BigBasket, the e-commerce companys CFO Sriram Venkataraman told Forbes India recently that at this point in time their strategy is to go it on their own. And he declined to comment on if that could change in the future.

For now, local regulations are aimed at protecting the mom-and-pop stores that make up the bulk of Indias retail  a business that is estimated by the India Brand Equity Foundation to hit a trillion dollars by 2020. But, even if very painfully, the direction that India has been headed in over the last 25 years will remain  towards becoming a more open and global economy.

That means, in the foreseeable future, local rules will become easier for Walmart Stores, Ikea, Tesco, and Amazon. Flipkart has its job cut out.

This story was first published in Forbes India.
The Gwalior police has registered a case against a Kashmiri student over his comment on social media supporting Pakistan after the Champions Trophy final.

A case under IPC section 153-A (disturbing communal harmony) and the provisions of Information Technology Act was registered against Seh Mudassar, who hails from Kashmir, after his comment on a Facebook post created tension in Mahalgaon area of the city, additional superintendent of police Abhishek Tiwari told PTI.

A boy from the area -- where Mudassar, a post-graduate student of Jiwaji University, has been living for the last two years -- wrote a post on Facebook congratulating Pakistan for its victory while expressing disappointment over India's performance in the June 18 match.

Reacting to the post, Mudassar made a pro-Pakistan comment.

It created tension in the area, and the boy's parents scolded their son over the issue. Mudassar then left for Kashmir, the ASP said.

A group of ten persons allegedly visited the boy's house on Friday and created ruckus over the issue. Police registered a case against them too, Tiwari said.

While nobody has been arrested, security in the area has been stepped up, he added.
Sushma Swaraj

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today heaped praise on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, saying she and her ministry have set an example of effectively using social media to deliver good governance and help Indians in distress in any corner of the world.

"Social media has become a very powerful. I am also connected with it. But the External Affairs Ministry and Sushma Swaraj has set the best example of how a department can be strengthened through its use," Modi said in his address to the Indian diaspora during a community event in Virginia.

Referring to Uzma Ahmed, a girl who was forced to marry a Pakistani at gunpoint, after she agreed to meet him, the PM said,"Daughter of India, who landed in distress in Pakistan, returned to India through efforts of Indian High Commission. Sushma Ji deserves credit for this."

Modi lauded Swaraj for giving a "human face" to diplomacy and effectively using social media in delivering good governance.He said the External Affairs Ministry is now connected with the poorest of the poor in the country.

He also praised Swaraj's habit of promptly responding and acting on tweets by Indians in distress anywhere in the world.

"If any Indian in distress tweets from anywhere in the world to the External Affairs Ministry, even at two in the night, within 15 minutes Sushma Swaraj replies to it, the government takes prompt action and delivers results. This is good governance," Modi said.

He said in the last three years, India's External Affairs Ministry has achieved new heights in human diplomacy.

He said that over 80,000 Indians were facing some trouble or the other in different corners of the globe but the Indian government was able to bring them safely back home.

He referred to the incident of Uzma Ahmad, a young Indian woman who said she was forced to marry a Pakistani man at gun point.
Darjeeling: Security personnel fire tear gas during a protest by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) activists in Darjeeling on Saturday. PTI Photo by Ashok Bhaumik

As the indefinite shutdown in the Darjeeling hills entered its 10th day today, West Bengal Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mallick said there is a "food crisis" as the GJM activists are not allowing trucks carrying food and vegetables to enter the hills.

There is a shortage of food, vegetables and essential commodities in the Darjeeling hills as the GJM activists are not allowing trucks to enter the hills, he said.

The whole public distribution system in the Darjeeling hills has "collapsed" as there is no supply of rice, wheat and other commodities and the GJM activists are also not allowing the PDS shops to open, the minister said after inaugurating a new Khadya Bhawan here in Nadia district.

"There are some remote areas in Darjeeling hills where the poor people survive from the food items given in PDS shops. Due to the whimsical activities of a few people, the eight lakh inhabitants of the hills are in great distress," Mallick said.

There are 670 PDS shops in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong, he said.

The minister said, "Bimal Gurung once had driven away Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief Subhas Ghising from hills. Now the people will drive Gurung away from hills because of the food crisis.
Former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand today claimed that Lal Krishna Advani had recused himself from being the presidential candidate of the ruling NDA.

"Former deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani had recused himself from being the presidential candidate of the ruling NDA, since he has been named as an accused by the CBI in the ongoing Babri Masjid demolition case," he said here.

"It is absolutely wrong to presume that Advani was ignored as a probable presidential candidate by the NDA," said Chinmayanad, who served as the Union Minister of State for Home in Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government.

On queries about the elections for the post of the Vice President, he said the NDA was yet to decide its candidate.

On resolution of the Ayodhya issue, Chinmayanand said the construction of Ram temple was "very important" and the Supreme Court has already suggested that the issue should be resolved through talks.

"But, the other side is not ready for talks," he claimed.

He suggested that the Centre could pass a legislation to make sure that the temple is built.

"The Centre had earlier got Somnath temple reconstructed after passing a law. Now with the BJP in power both in UP and at the Centre, laws should be passed, so that a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya can be reconstructed. This is one of the alternative solutions," he said.
Ram_nath_Kovind

Kick-starting his nationwide tour from his home state, NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind today met with MPs and state legislators of BJP and its allies from Uttar Pradesh.

Accompanied by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP National General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav, Kovind drove straight from the airport to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's official residence for his interaction with the legislators.

Adityanath and other senior BJP leaders and ministers received 71-year-old Kovind at the airport.

At the CM's residence on the Kalidas Marg, he interacted with a host of senior party leaders including Union ministers Uma Bharti and Gadkari, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma. He also met with UP Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit.

Sakshi Maharaj, the BJP MP from Unnao adjoining Kanpur from where Kovind hails, was also present.

Bhupender Yadav, Kovind's authorised representative for the presidential poll, said he has come to Lucknow to seek support from the members the electoral college.

He will now visit other states, Yadav said.

BJP sources said a Union minister, a senior organisation leader from the party and two MPs will accompany Kovind during his nationwide tour to reach out to all members of the electoral college.

Though his meeting will be with the supporting MPs and MLAs, Kovind will make an appeal to all the members of the electoral college in every state to support him.

Opposition parties have fielded former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, a Dalit leader, against Kovind.

With over 62 per cent of votes firmly behind him, Kovind's election as the next president is almost certain.

Besides, the BJP and its NDA allies, parties like the TRS, YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD and the JD(U) have announced their support to him.

The presidential election is scheduled for July 17 and the counting of votes will take place on July 20.

While Kovind filed his nomination papers in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and NDA chief ministers in New Delhi on June 23, Kumar is yet to file hers.

Kovind, if elected, will be the second dalit to occupy the highest constitutional office, the first being KR Narayanan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his two-day visit to the US on Sunday, his fifth trip to the country since taking office in 2014.

Modi is set to meet US President Donald Trump for the first time on Monday, but before that, the prime minister addressed two gatherings in the country on Sunday.



Interacted with top CEOs. We held extensive discussions on opportunities in India. pic.twitter.com/BwjdFM1DaZ

 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2017

The first was a meeting with the CEOs of 20 top Americans firms, which included leaders of Indian origin such as Google chief Sundar Pichari. Modi invited these business leaders to invest in India. He later addressed a gathering of Indian-Americans in Washington.

His two speeches that covered a diverse range of topics from reform initiatives to counter-terrorism measures. Here are some themes that Modi's speeches touched upon:

Reforms

"The whole world is looking at India. 7,000 reforms alone by Government of India for ease of (doing) business and minimum government, maximum governance," the Prime Minister said.

He said bilateral trade, which is to the tune of USD 115 billion a year, is poised for a "multi-fold increase".

GST

On the Goods and Services Tax which will bring in a uniform tax regime from July 1, Modi said it showed that "India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly."

He added that the implementation of GST is a complex task that may well turn out to be "a subject of studies in US business schools."

Surgical strikes

The prime minister said that India is bound by the laws of global order, but added that for the sake of its sovereignty, security, common good, peace and progress, it was prepared to undertake the hardest of steps and measures. We have always done that and no one in the world can stop us, Modi said.

The prime minister did not refer to Pakistan or any other country by name, but referred to the surgical strikes, carried out by Indian armed forces against terrorist camps inside Pakistani territory in September 2016.

No one in the world criticised or questioned India, Modi said, except those at the receiving end of it, inviting a loud reaction from the audience.

Corruption

Terming corruption the reason because of which the previous governments were changed in India, Modi said his government had emerged corruption-free in the past three years.

Previous governments changed because of corruption. The people hated this... There has been not a single stain on our government for the past three years. And governance is being modified so that honesty becomes an in-build process... Technology is helping with that, Modi said.

Sushma Swaraj

Modi also praised external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for her ministrys actions to help Indians anywhere.

The way Sushma Swaraj has worked and helped every Indian abroad is commendable. It is now well known in India that when anyone in trouble tweets to Sushma, she promptly replies and the government takes prompt action, Modi said.

He added that the Indian government had helped around 80,000 Indians abroad in the past three years.
Indian female paramilitary soldiers stand guard near the border with Nepal ahead of third phase polls, at Panitanki village, about 40 km (25 miles) north of the eastern Indian city of Siliguri April 28, 2009. The India-Nepal and India-Bangladesh border will remain sealed from 28 April evening to 30 April, Siliguri's sub-divisional officer said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri (INDIA MILITARY POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTXEH8S

India's border with Nepal will be sealed tomorrow, 48 hours before the municipal polls in the neighbouring country, to prevent anti-social elements from crossing the international boundary and vitiating the election atmosphere.

This was decided at a high-level meeting of a coordination committee, said V K Singh, District Magistrate, Maharajganj, here today.

The meeting was attended by officers of the local administration, police, border guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Army, customs, immigration and other departments of both the countries.

SSB, which works under the command of the Union home ministry, guards the 1,751 km long Indo-Nepal border.

Uttar Pradesh shares a 599.3 km long open border with Nepal touching seven districts - Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Sidhharthnagar and Maharajganj.

Municipal elections will be held in Nepal on June 28.

Some Madhes-centric parties have opposed the elections seeking that the Constitution is amended to accommodate their demands for more representation in parliament and redrawing of provincial boundaries.

The Nepal government has tabled a new Constitution amendment bill in Parliament to address the demands of the agitating Madhesis.

Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, launched a prolonged agitation between September 2015 and February last year against the implementation of the new Constitution which, they felt, marginalised the 'Terai' community.
Lee Katrincic, co-owner of Durham Distillery, works the line. (Photo courtesy of Durham Distillery)

RALEIGH  Distillers in North Carolina arent quite ready to extend their arms in a celebratory toast, but theyve certainly opened the bottle and dropped some ice in the glass.

Senate Bill 155, omnibus legislation loosening rules on North Carolina distillers and brewers, is headed to the House Finance Committee.

The House Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a Proposed Committee Substitute, which combines the Senate Bill with an earlier measure from the House specific to breweries and wineries.

SB 155, which cleared the Senate on June 1, allows restaurants to begin selling alcohol Sunday at 10 a.m., as opposed to noon, which is the current law. North Carolina is one of a handful of states that restricts liquor sales on Sunday mornings.

A provision allowing grocery stores to begin selling beer and wine at 10 a.m. had been removed from the bill, but Rep. Jon Hardister (R-Guilford) citing a desire for consistency, offered an amendment to return it. The amendment passed, 17-5.

Sen. Rick Gunn (R-Alamance) a primary sponsor of SB 155, says the entrepreneurial spirit shines among North Carolina distillers, who drive ABC sales, hire local people and invest their time, money, and passion in demographically diverse communities from Asheville to Manteo.

As we know, North Carolina is known for the tourism and hospitality industries, and this bill will help both of those industries grow and prosper, Gunn said.

The bill allows out-of-state sales online, subject to laws in the other jurisdictions, and the sale of antique or rare spirits in special auction, contingent on auctioneers first obtaining a $750 permit.

But maybe most important for North Carolina craft distillers, SB 155 would allow distilleries to sell five bottles of spirits per customer per year; the current law allows people to buy one bottle every 365 days.

The significance of giving distillers the ability to sell people additional bottles cant be discounted. Melissa Katrincic is president and CEO of Durham Distillery. She and her husband, Lee, make award-winning gin, as well as a line of liqueurs and, most recently, a cold-distilled cucumber vodka.

At least 30 percent of the people who tour her distillery are tourists, she said.

The tourism in downtown Durham is fantastic on the weekends, she said. We got a lot of tourists who come in for an evening tour on Saturday who are leaving town on Sunday. Theres no chance for them to go to an ABC store.

The measure provides a means to obtain a special event permit, which would cost $200 and allow distillers to offer tastings of their products  0.25 ounce per product not to exceed an ounce  during events and gatherings such as trade shows and festivals, contingent on local approval. Lawmakers removed a provision from SB 155 that limited the number of distillers who could take part in a particular event.

For brewers, the measure allows the sale of crowlers, which are basically cans of beer, typically 32 ounces, sealed on site.

Senate Bill 155 eases the rules for home brewers and vintners, who can share but not sell their products at organized events, such as competitions. The bill also gives beer taprooms the option to sell liquor and mixed drinks, with the required and relevant permits, and would allow farm brewers in dry counties to sell their beer; again, pending local approval of the city or county jurisdiction.

Four people signed up to share their thoughts about the bill. Two spoke against it.

The Christian Action Leagues Mark Creech is a regular at legislative hearings about alcohol. He worries about the spread of underage drinking and called parts of SB 155 dangerous to public health.

Jon Carr, a lawyer and lobbyist for the Association of N.C. ABC Boards, spoke against increasing allowable distillery sales to five bottles and, referring to a study on the ills of underage drinking, direct shipment to consumers. He called the three-tier system effective and good for distilleries.

Two people spoke in support of SB 155.

Jim Beley, general manager of The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary, spoke on behalf of the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association. Allowing alcohol sales during the early hours of Sunday brunch would be a huge boost to tourism and, subsequently, additional revenue in the form of sales taxes.

Donald Bryson, state director for Americans for Prosperity, said North Carolina ABC sales in fiscal 2015-16 totaled almost $1 billion, and he scolded those trying to demonize distillers. Making liquor is part of our states history, and, before Prohibition, North Carolina, by some accounts, had as many as 500 distilleries.

Oh, and theres that whole NASCAR thing, which rose from moonshiners and bootleggers, who traversed our dirt-crusted backroads and craggy pine forests to delivery corn-based white lightning, Bryson said.

Were a state that needs to respect distilling as we are a state that created a multibillion-dollar sport because of distilling, he said, half-jokingly. I think we need to understand that heritage.

More seriously, Bryson said, We have entrepreneurs in our state. We should let the businesses grow, and thats all this is about.

Theres reason for optimism among distillers, who, collectively, navigate a labyrinth of complex rules and Prohibition-era laws that generally inhibit growth and innovation.

I think, based on the conversations we had today in committee, and on the floor, that even opponents of the bill see the wisdom and recognize that this is an opportunity to create a new industry and to create a new tax base, said Scott Maitland, TOPO proprietor and N.C. Distillers Association president.
One of Morgantons most-popular grocery stores is undergoing a facelift this summer.

The ALDI store located at 528 W. Fleming Drive is one of 31 Charlotte-area stores being remodeled by the end of 2018 as part of the companys $1.6 billion nationwide enhancement plan, with $48 million going into Charlotte-area locations. The entire project is expected to affect 1,300 stores in the United States by 2020.

Work already has started on some exterior portions of the Morganton store, but the store so far has remained open. Local management declined to comment on the project, but a banner affixed to the exterior wall of the store facing West Fleming Drive says the store is open during renovations, but that wont remain the case throughout the project, said an ALDI corporate official.

ALDI Salisbury Division Vice President Krysta Cearley said the Morganton location will close for renovations in a little more than a month. A wealth of upgrades is expected at the store once it reopens later in the year.

We anticipate our Morganton location will close for construction in August and will reopen in September, Cearley said. Once remodeled, the new look will deliver on our customers desire for a modern and convenient shopping experience with a focus on fresh items, including more robust produce, dairy and bakery sections.

Remodeled stores will also feature a modern design, open ceilings, natural lighting and environmentally friendly building materials  such as recycled materials, energy-saving refrigeration and LED lighting.

Cearley said the company will release additional details on a grand reopening and the activities that will accompany it at a later date.

According to a release, ALDI currently is engaged in an accelerated growth plan. By the end of 2018, the chain expects to have nearly 2,000 stores across the country. ALDI expects these stores will serve nearly 45 million customers from coast to coast.

For more information about the grocery store chain, visit aldi.us.

Justin Epley can be reached at jepley@morganton.com or 828-432-8943.
Paul Marriage and John Warren are the latest fund managers to leave a big asset management company to strike out alone.

The duo will take the Schroder UK Dynamic Absolute Return fund to their new company, Tellworth Investments, leaving behind the Schroder UK Dynamic Smaller Companies fund.

Tellworth has received backing from BennBridge, which supports fledgling asset management businesses, and is part of Australian group Bennelong Funds Management.

Marriage and Warrens decision to set up on their own is a well-trodden path: the Schroders managers follow in the footsteps of former colleagues Chris Rice and Tim Russell, who established Sanditon Asset Management in 2013.

During the same year, UK equity income star fund manager Neil Woodford left Invesco Perpetual to launch his eponymous business. Then in 2014, Richard Pease departed Henderson Global Investors to set up Crux Asset Management and brought his Bronze rated European Special Situations fund over to the new business.

Gary Potter, co-head of the multi-manager team at BMO Global Asset Management, expects more fund managers will take the plunge over the coming years. This is because consolidation activity has picked up amongst asset managers, marked by the recent mergers between Janus Capital and Henderson, alongside Aberdeen and Standard Life Investments. He suspects M&A activity will continue.

Smaller Funds Offer Enhanced Performance

Generally speaking, good fund managers understand that running a small amount of money tends to enhance performance. Quite simply, the bigger the ship the harder it is to manoeuvre into smaller coves, Potter explained.

Potters sentiments are echoed by Shauna Bevan, head of investment advisory at RiverPeak Wealth. She noted that a fund manager with a well-established process and investment style can often feel stifled or unsettled following a corporate takeover. Likewise, they can grow frustrated with the bureaucracy that is associated with larger organisations.

In that scenario, it is better for the fund manager to become the master of their own destiny, she added.

Larger investment houses tend to have more of a focus on marketing and attracting flows into their funds. This can result in fund managers managing significant sums of money, which can become a problem if it compromises their investment approach.

I think quite a lot of purist fund managers want to set up independently because it means they can stick to their knitting and they are not being pulled in different directions. For example, having to do management and marketing, Bevan added.

Boutiques Are Not Bound By Benchmark Constraints

Gavin Haynes, managing director of Whitechurch Securities, believes the culture that typically dominates within smaller companies creates a better environment for fund managers.

Boutique managers do not have the benchmark constraints that are associated with many institutions  and this is the reason that the performance of boutique funds has been strong, Haynes explained.

The freedom allows the manager to back their convictions and not be constrained to hold shares simply because they form a significant part of the index, he added.

Another important consideration is the alignment of interest that typically exists within boutiques between the fund manager and end-investor.

The managers will, in all likelihood, have a vested interest in the funds success. Either because they commit a significant amount of their own money to their fund or because they are owner-managed businesses, meaning they benefit directly from success, Haynes explained.

Potter and co-manager Robert Burdett felt so strongly about the advantages that smaller asset managers can offer, they launched a multi-manager portfolio that invests solely in equity funds run by boutiques. The F&C MM Navigator Boutiques, which started life as the Credit Suisse Multi-Manager Constellation portfolio in August 2001, has returned 205% since launch up to the end of May 2017. In comparison, the average fund in the Investment Associations Global sector has risen by 146%.

It is a particular way of investing  that is not to say that larger funds cant do well, of course they can - but we have a philosophy which says that over the long-term it can be better to back smaller businesses, with smaller funds and outstanding quality managers, Potter added.

James Barber, head of investments at Epoch Wealth Management, acknowledges the advantages associated with boutiques but highlights the depth of resource that larger fund groups can draw on.

Clearly there has been an ability within small teams to deliver strong performance. On the flip side, firms like Fidelity have huge analyst teams across the globe and I think that is clearly feeding through to portfolios. It comes down to the way the managers are running the strategies, he said.

Fixed Fees Can Be A Drag On Performance

The success of a boutique ultimately comes down to its financial backing and how quickly its funds can reach critical mass. This is important because high fixed costs can impact the performance of small funds.

When people launch funds they need to raise critical mass fairly quickly because you dont want the fees to be a drag on the absolute return performance, Potter added.

Bevan adds that fund managers who set up their own businesses must be careful not to get distracted by the day-to-day pressures associated with running a company.

If a good fund manager has set up a boutique, an investor might worry that they are going to be distracted by rental agreements, electricity bills and setting up an HR department  all of the paraphernalia that goes with running the business. You simply want them to be devoted to running the fund, she said.

If you are looking at a fund managed by a boutique, dont be afraid to be selective: take a look at the companys financial backing and track record. Whether it is a fund managed by a boutique or a large group, what kind of environment does the fund manager operate in? This is a key consideration, according to Haynes.

The culture of the organisation is something that is very important when I am selecting an investment manager. I want to invest with managers who are happy in their environment and incentivised to stay, he added.
While Toronto has kept up its status as Canadas hottest housing market for some time now, a new study by online service RENTCafe found that the citys rental segment still remains a relatively burden-free bargain when compared to other global metropolitan markets.The survey, which looked at the 30 best cities to live in around the world, evaluated affordability in terms of the ratio between average rent prices and local median incomes.Canadas most populous city  appears to be one of the best choices for those in search of a quality urban environment and reasonable rent prices. Toronto landed on the 11th spot in the list of the most renter friendly urban hotspots in the world, with a 29% rent-to-income ratio, RENTCafe stated, with $60,500 as the median annual income and $17,760 as the average rental rate.This fared much better than the 40% ratio ($57,700 median income, $23,280 average rent) in London and the 59% in Manhattan, New York ($75,600 median income and $44,700 average rent, making it the most expensive rental market in the world).Traditionally, housing costs exceeding 30% of the household income have been viewed as a red flag, so this is also what we adopted as our first threshold. Thus, we considered the cities where the average rent was 30% or less of the local median household income to be burden-free, RENTCafe explained.The full report can be accessed here
After helping give birth to the U.S. shale boom a decade ago, Mark Papa is starting over at age 70 with a new $3.6 billion oil explorer he built from scrap amid the worst market crash in a generation.

Papa forged a reputation by building the Enron Corp. castoff EOG Resources into the fourth-biggest U.S. driller. Now, starting with a $500 million private-equity stake, hes boosted the value of Centennial Resource Development Inc. more than sixfold in under two years. The company has no debt, unheard of in the industry, and is flush with assets in one of the worlds busiest oil patches.

Its Return of the Jedi, said Irene Haas, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities who has followed Papa for years. Because of his tremendous reputation and track record, hes able to attract quite a bit of investment.

For Papa, such a gamble is nothing new. Beginning in the late 1990s, as the industrys giants hunted for oil and gas in far-flung corners of the globe, EOG helped launch the shale boom by joining the evolving technology of fracturing with sideways drilling to tap then-forlorn fields in places like Texas and North Dakota. The result: A $1 investment when Papa became CEO in 1998 was worth more than $1,800 when he left in 2013.

Its kind of a personal challenge after EOG to see if we can have some fraction of that success with Centennial, Papa said as he sipped lemonade from a styrofoam cup in a rare interview recently at his offices in Sugar Land, a suburb 20 minutes south of downtown Houston.

Centennial was formed early last year, just as oil prices hit rock bottom at $26.05 a barrel from more than $100 in 2014. With the help of Riverstone Holdings, a private equity firm where Papa is also a partner, he used a unique investment vehicle known as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

Such an investment is really based on a lot of faith, Papa explained. You basically just go out and raise the money and you tell investors, Trust me, Im an experienced manager. You give me the money, Ill find a good E&P asset, and if I cant do it within two years, youll get your money back.

Starting with a blank sheet of paper, as oil prices tumbled to their lowest point last year, Papa scribbled down roughly a half dozen wish-list ideas hed want in his next company. They included:

- Target oil instead of natural gas

- Acquire assets in Wall Streets hottest-valued basin

- Operate where technology delivers the biggest bang for the buck

- Start debt-free

As a SPAC, Centennial first had to acquire an enticing enough asset that the original shareholders would vote to approve, and which came with a set of audited financials for at least the past two years.

Finding that was harder than he expected, Papa said. Doing a deal with a major oil company was out because they move too slow, and the clock was ticking. Once Centennial sold shares as a SPAC, he had two years to make an acquisition with the money or return the cash to investors.

Permian candidate

Papa found his best candidate for an acquisition in the Permian Basin, the nations busiest oilfield. Natural Gas Partners was considering spinning off assets in an initial public offering.

We negotiated with NGP and said, You dont want to IPO this, you just want to sell it to us, Papa said. And we did -- we convinced them.

It took some luck, he said. Analysts see it differently.

Clearly were talking about Mark Papa, whos the gold standard for the industry, from a CEO perspective, said Derrick Whitfield, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus in Dallas, who rates the shares a buy and owns none, in a telephone interview. Theres a tremendous more amount of skill involved here than what he would lead on to.

His relationship with Riverstone certainly didnt hurt. Papas ties with Riverstone co-founders Pierre Lapeyre and David Leuschen go back to the early days of Enron Oil & Gas when the private equity principles were the oil companys bankers at Goldman Sachs. They kept in touch with Papa after he stepped down from the CEO gig at EOG.

Papa hated retirement. After about a year, he reached out to Lapeyre and Leuschen, and the private-equity firm decided to bring him on board as a partner. Very high on their list was to build a mini-EOG with Papa, taking advantage of the oil-market downturn, according to a person close to Riverstone.

Papa rolled his eyes at the thought, according to the person.

Since Papa took on the job, though, Centennial has grown faster than Riverstone expected, the person said, noting it often takes the firm five to seven years to build a company thats half or a third the size of Centennial.

Daniel Yunger, an outside spokesman for Riverstone, declined on behalf of Leuschen and Lapeyre to comment.

With a couple decades of oilfield experience under his belt, Papa got his first CEO job in the late 1990s. Thats when Enron promoted him to the top of its oil and gas unit just before divesting it. Enron, the energy trader that went bankrupt after lying about its finances, shed EOG in 1999, citing volatility in natural-gas prices.

A key Papa trademark at his companies is bypassing technology from the oilfield service companies, opting instead for in-house innovations. Its what led Paul Sankey, an analyst at Wolfe Research, to dub EOG under Papas watch the APPL of oil, referring to the trading symbol for Apple Inc. Hes again doing that at Centennial, having hired key former EOG executives to help make technology one of the pillars of his new company, Haas said.

It wasnt the service companies that provided the advances in shale technology, Papa said with a chuckle. Theyre marketing that stuff and saying it was them, but it wasnt the service companies that provided the technical breakthroughs.

George Mitchell is widely credited for being the first to kick-start the shale boom using fracturing and horizontal drilling, but he quickly sold his company to Devon Energy after finding success. After that, it was Papa and a select few who quickly moved in to use technology to make the shale boom what it is today.

Papa is considered such an expert on shale, OPEC officials invited him to Vienna last month to brief them on his production estimates (which were lower than the cartels, according to delegates at the meeting).

Going forward, the Permian will see the greatest leaps in well improvements over the next four to five years, Papa said in the Bloomberg interview.

Youre going from only round 1 to round 2 of technology applications in the Permian, he said. Whereas in the Bakken, youre going from round 5 to round 6. Maybe in the Eagle Ford, youre going from Round 3 to Round 4 in waves of technology improvements.

Centennials shares are up 47 percent since opening at $10 a share in April 2016. Thats better than the producers Standard & Poors sub-index, which has actually lost money in that time frame. Centennial has six buy ratings from analysts and one hold.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, has dropped 20 percent this year, sliding into a bear market as U.S. production swells. The contract added 0.1 percent to $42.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 7:08 a.m. local time on Friday.

For now, Papa is working off a five-year plan, he says.

And past that, they should be so big and viable that they either keep going or they get acquired, Haas said. Anything can happen.
'The big truck is still on ...
A Port Orange man accused of stealing a 36-foot boat and beaching it told investigators the last thing he remembered was drinking two Four Lokos at a nearby 7-Eleven, an arrest report states.

Jonathan Race facing grand theft charges

Police say Port Orange man stole 36-foot boat, beached it

Cops: He told investigators he blacked out after 2 Four Lokos

BAY NEWS 9+, NEWS 13+ APPS UPGRADED: The new releases have a block-style layout that makes it easier to navigate, as well as an added section for Attractions Insider. A new weather section includes hour-by-hour forecasts and marine buoy data. Update your app today!

Daytona Beach Police said Jonathan Race, 20, broke into several boats Saturday at Daytona Marina and Boat Works, taking off with the 36-foot vessel and beaching it.

Inside the boat, investigators said they found tan shorts that contained a cell phone and wallet that included Race's driver's license. They found him at his home on Ridgewood Avenue in Port Orange, according to the arrest affidavit.

He told them he was at the 7-Eleven across the street from the marina and drank the Four Lokos but also admitted to being "rather drunk and just making stupid decisions," the affidavit said.

He said he woke up on the beach and walked home. When investigators asked him whether he noticed if he was wearing shorts when he woke up, Race told investigators that he was wearing a pair of blue shorts that didn't belong to him.

Officers from the U.S. Coast Guard, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Volusia County Beach Safety all were involved in the search for Race after the boat was found empty, as it was thought that he may have gone overboard.
Two teenagers were arrested and five people hospitalized when a massive weekend brawl sparked by a gang rivalry broke out at a popular Russian River beach, marring a day of fun for sunbathers who witnessed the melee, officials said.

Deputies from the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office responded to Monte Rio beach, about four miles west of Guerneville, at 6:40 p.m. Saturday when callers reported that more than a dozen people were fighting and throwing beer cans at each other on the beach, according to the Sheriffs Office.
One person is dead after two cars collided Monday morning near downtown Houston.

Police headed to the crash, in the 2100 block of Carr, about 8 a.m., said Victor Senties with the Houston Police Department.

A male driver taking his younger sister to school in a gray car was traveling west on Noble, near the intersection with Carr, when he struck a van traveling south, said police Lt. Paul George.

The van overturned. The impact killed the the van's sole occupant, the driver.

Police said the driver of the gray car apparently had a stop sign at the intersection. The van did not. It was unclear whether or not the driver of the gray car ran the stop sign, George said.

Authorities had not released the name of either driver as of late Monday morning.
HEBRON - A town man who allegedly punched and threw a woman to the ground was arrested by Washington County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday.

Christopher J. LaRock, 45, of Hebron allegedly violated an order of protection. He was charged with felony criminal contempt, criminal mischief and harassment, deputies said.
Nonprofit organizations in Danbury, Bethel and Newtown were awarded state grants to help pay for renovations, parking lots and other projects.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Friday that over $15.1 million has been awarded to 50 nonprofit organizations across Connecticut, as part of the Nonprofit Grant Program.

The program helps organizations pay for the costs associated with one-time infrastructure improvements that upgrade the efficiency and effectiveness of the services provided by the agencies, according to a press release.

Ability Beyond in Bethel, an organization that provides an array of services for the disabled, was awarded $774,451 to help pay for a renovation, information technology and other projects.

In Danbury, the Connecticut Institute for Communities, which sponsors a community health center downtown, will receive $130,681 for information technology. MCCA, a substance abuse treatment organization, was awarded $78,671 for a parking lot.

Newtown Youth and Family Services grant totals $136,633 for an energy efficiency project.

By supporting capital purchases that enhance service delivery, efficiency, and effectiveness, and address health, safety and accessibility issues, this grant program assists nonprofit agencies in focusing on what they do best - getting services to those who need them most, Malloy said.

The program is administered by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management.
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STAMFORD  A Westchester County man has been identified as the boater who died this weekend on the West Branch of Stamford Harbor.

Jose Diaz, 51, of Harrison, N.Y., died after falling out of a 38-foot cabin cruiser as it was entering the harbor late Saturday night, according to Dennis Schain, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Diaz was last seen standing on the back swim platform of the boat and was discovered missing about 11 p.m. Saturday when others on board were docking in the harbor, Schain said.

Schain said Monday state DEEP police are investigating the death, but released no further details about the incident. The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner says it will not release a cause of death until receiving more information  likely the results of a toxicology report.

Stamford firefighters, police and Emergency Medical Services searched the shore and water for an hour before firefighters found Diaz floating in the water, Stamford Fire Capt. David Harriot said. The U.S. Coast Guard, Greenwich Police Department and Darien Police Department also responded.

More for you Boater dies after falling into Stamford Harbor

Diaz was not wearing a life jacket, but was spotted around 12:30 a.m. Sunday off the public dock in Boccuzzi Park because of the reflective trim on his sneakers, Stamford Fire Deputy Chief Pat Tripodi said. The crew guided the Stamford fire boat to Diaz, who was pronounced dead at Stamford Hospital.

The incident was one of two serious boating accidents in nearby waters over the weekend.

In Darien, a man was taken to Norwalk Hospital with a serious leg injury after two boats collided near Greens Ledge Lighthouse on Long Island Sound about 9:45 a.m. Sunday, according to police. Darien police and the U.S. Coast Guard are investigating the accident.

The accident occurred when the operator of a 33-foot sailboat collided with an anchored 20-foot center-console whose three occupants were fishing, according to Darien police. The operator of the sailboat had left the wheel to retrieve something below deck before the crash, police said.

The injured man was sitting at the back of the docked boat, and was struck by the sailboat in the collision, according to police.

The operator of the sailboat was cited by the Coast Guard for negligent operations.
GREENWICH  More than 100 bidders have submitted estimates on pieces of the new New Lebanon School with officials overseeing the project happy with both the numbers and the companies.

Stephen Walko, chair of the New Lebanon School Building Committee, said he is cautiously optimistic that the $37 million project will come in on or under budget.

Not only are we generally satisfied with the number of bids, but we are generally satisfied with the amounts per category, he said.

On Monday morning, Patrick Delany opened envelope after envelope while flooring specialists and other construction representatives took notes.

Delany, a chief purchasing agent for Gilbane Building Company, the construction group that is overseeing the New Lebanon project, sliced open the bid applications in three public meetings at the Havemeyer Building.

The bids were from mostly Connecticut companies interested in furnishing paint, carpets, acoustic ceiling panels, lockers and other construction elements. On average, each construction category received three bids, except final landscaping, which received one bid and a few other packages that did not receive any bids.

Over the next two days, Gilbane will review the bids and meet with the lowest bidders. Gilbane may seek more bids in a few categories.

Were on a tight schedule to turn the numbers around so we want to go through and vet all the bidders as quickly as possible so that every one is low, responsive and reasonable, said Delany.

Gilbane will present the best bid recommendations, along with the companys final maximum price guarantee, to the New Lebanon Building Committee at its July 12 meeting, Delany and Walko said.

The committee will not sign any contracts with construction companies until the Connecticut General Assembly has approved funding for the New Lebanon School project, however.

The General Assembly will vote on New Lebanon funding as part of the Senate bond bill. The bond bill is voted on immediately after the state budget.

Legislators had no estimate on when a state budget would pass; they have been negotiation since the due date of June 5 and now are aiming for a July 1 deadline.

We are simply in the position again of waiting again for the state, said Walko.

The New Lebanon project is expected to receive more than $20 million in a grant from the state to help cover the school's multi-million-dollar price tag. The grant has already been approved by three legislative committees and the project was supposed to break ground this month.

The earliest construction can now start is the end of July. Students were slated to move into the new school in September 2018; now they will not be able to occupy the building until October or November of that year, Walko said.

emunson@greenwichtime.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
Two men wanted for an attempted carjacking in Trumbull were arrested Thursday in Fairfield after an alleged attempted robbery in that town.

According to Trumbull police, on Thursday at 2:38 p.m., Trumbull Police received a report of an attempted carjacking at Twin Brooks Park located off White Plains Road. The 69-year-old victim told police he was seated in his car in the park when a young male came up to his door, opened it and pointed a handgun at him. The male ordered the victim out of his car and began pulling on his shirt. The elderly male refused the robbers demands, who then gave up after the defiant victim would not leave his car. Witnesses and the victim saw the suspect flee in an older grayish green car, which sped away toward Beaches Pool.
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A Webb County Sheriffs Office deputy has resigned after he allegedly used his personal Facebook account to post racial slurs, authorities said.

Romel Salinas resigned Thursday, according to the Sheriffs Office. He had worked there for about five years.

As soon as I heard about these racial slurs, I took immediate action and started an investigation. Based on the immediate investigation findings of which I learned about, I requested termination, said Sheriff Martin Cuellar in a statement released Friday.

READ MORE: Used car dealership owner allegedly involved in Melendez drug ring learns fate in court

Cuellar added that within 45 minutes, Salinas submitted his letter of resignation.

The action by this officer was committed off duty and was an isolated incident. This behavior is not indicative of the men and women of my office, Cuellar stated.

The post

A Texas family notified the Laredo Morning Times about the post earlier this week.

The video was just something shared on our news feed so we watched it," Kayla Donner said. "My husband was glancing at comments before he was going to comment and saw a few of these types of comments. I'm not sure what should be done but this can't be acceptable especially with everything that's going on around America with cops and their brutality."

The post, which was in reference to a video on a group called "Savage Memes," allegedly shows Salinas refer to a person in the video as a racial slur.

RELATED: Local gynecologist arrested on child pornography charges, police say

"I believe, when you take a job such as law enforcement, you have to be held to a certain standard. Outside of his job, he represents that department," Donner said. "It really hurts my heart to see that people still act this way. It's not just adults. It's starting to affect the youth.

"Everyone is going to feel the way they feel but when you have such a public job where you're dealing with different people things like this should not be okay. I've had jobs less important than police where I've had to sign agreements about social media and the things I will and won't post."

jray@LMTonline.com
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A seat belt violation landed one woman behind bars after police discovered she was transporting two illegal immigrants and had small amounts of narcotics on her, authorities said.

Christelle Laura Rodriguez, 31, was charged with two counts of smuggling of persons and three counts of possession of a controlled substance. She was also cited for having a passenger not secured by a safety belt, according to Laredo police.

Rodriguez is out on bond.

LPD officers pulled over a gray Chevy Malibu occupied by five people in the 2900 block of Springfield Avenue for a seat belt violation on a passenger.

READ MORE: Trio accused of manning Laredo tire shop for Melendez drug ring sentenced to prison

The driver, Rodriguez, stated she was accompanied by her 5-year-old son, her 16-year-old nephew and two women who she did not know the names of. LPD called U.S. Border Patrol after they were not able to identify the two women.

Both stated they were from Mexico. They said they had been picked up at a McDonalds on East Saunders Street. Then, Rodriguez allegedly stated that a person in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, had hired her to transport the women.

The caller was supposed to instruct Rodriguez where to drop them off. While talking to police, Rodriguez kept getting phone calls from Mexico, an arrest affidavit states.

RELATED: Webb County Sheriff's Office deputy resigns after allegedly posting racial slurs on Facebook

She expected payment for transporting the women, according to police.

Police then discovered Rodriguez had in her purse a $1 bill with 1.1 grams of cocaine, a clear plastic baggie with 0.2 grams of heroin and three packs with 2.5 grams of Suboxone, a medication with potential to reduce symptoms of opiate addiction and withdrawal, according to the American Addiction Centers website.
The Cleveland Royal Braves Band Booster Club received a generous donation from Anderson Ford on June 20 after hosting the Drive 4 UR School event.

The Band Booster Club participates in a number of activities to raise money for Cleveland ISD's band program for sixth- to 12th-graders. This includes a partnership with Anderson Ford that has the potential to bring in thousands of dollars to fund schools.

"We've partnered with Anderson Ford for many years now doing the Drive 4 UR School event," said Kammie Enloe of the Cleveland Band Booster Club. "This event was held in April at the high school."

Drive 4 UR School is a Ford event where local dealerships provide vehicles for test drives at schools for fundraisers. Each test drive raises the money the dealerships donates to the school or school based organization by $20 for a maximum of $6,000.

The fundraiser worked a little differently this year with Anderson Ford also doing an extension to the challenge involving the Ford Focus where each qualified test drive awarded an extra $10 with the cap increased to $7,800, which is the highest amount Drive 4 UR School has ever raised for the band boosters.

"Last year it was like $5,860, I think," said Enloe.

Anderson Ford Owner Alfred Anderson complimented the Cleveland ISD Band Booster Club for their efforts working toward hitting the cap, noting that Cleveland ISD is the only school district that has ever maxed out the cap with Anderson Ford. The dealership offers the program to Splendora and Tarkington ISDs as well.

The Cleveland Band Booster Club plans to use the funds for various projects for the school.

"The high school students will have a trip to Florida in June," said Enloe.

The booster club also uses funds for band camps, leadership camps, private lessons, team building camps and more, including a scholarship program.

"It's open to any senior in the band regardless of their major," said Enloe.

The scholarship is called the Jim Blackshear Memorial Outstanding Musician Award, which is named after one of Cleveland ISD's former band directors, and was awarded to the first recipient last year, David Fulcher.

"He'll be attending Lamar University in the fall," said Enloe.
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The Cleveland Historical Museum has become the new junction for the Ed Kerls Train Room, which was showcased in an open house event on June 23 and 24.

Ed Kerls is a member of the Cleveland Historical Society who has donated an estimated 350 antique toy trains to the museum.

"It's taken us about two years to get everything done," said Historical Society President Pat Mange.

The Train Room is more than just donated trains as the entire room is designed to fit a railroad motif, complete with a small hallway designed to look like a train tunnel, a ticket booth, glass displays and more.

However, the Train Room's most eye catching feature is a small model town surrounded by trolleys and two fully operational toy trains. The model town also has numerous buildings designed to look like many iconic areas in Cleveland such as the McAdams Dry Goods store, a drive in theatre and the San Jacinto Professional building.

"Cleveland was built on railroads and logging," said Kerls. "That's the reason why I donated them [the trains]."

Cleveland's history begins on Nov. 22, 1858 when Charles Lander Cleveland received a patent for one-third leagues of land in the John S. Boothe survey. Twenty years later, the land, which includes 63.6 acres, was deeded to the Houston East and West Texas Railway by Cleveland.

This action was for the establishment of a railway station and depot in a town to be named after Cleveland.

"We've had a lot of people volunteer many hours to get this stuff done," said Kerls.

The two trains are operated by electric switches, including a set of switches to operate each train with levers and buttons. The buttons in question can operate the individual functions of a train.

"The kids can blow the whistles and everything," said Kerls.

The display is set up so that children can operate the trains without physically touching them.

The trains in the collection come from various decades and eras according to Kerls.

"My oldest one's 1886," he said. "My first train was a tin type in 1954."

Some of the trains are battery operated while others require steam operation with alcohol placed in them to be used as fuel.

A display case inside of the train tunnel hallway depicts models of the very first train ever invented followed by some of its successors.

According to Kerls, the Train Room and the overall project isn't quite done, with plans to have other large trains placed on tracks above different rooms of the museum. Two of the trains have unique designs with one designed for a circus and the other designed to transport military vehicles.

Another future design is a setup for children to use simulators and experiment with diesel and steam powered trains.
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Cleveland City Council approved items to honor former Cleveland Royal Braves Band Director John Kunkel during its June 20 meeting.

Barry Pennington of the Cleveland Historical Society spoke before the council on the matter, discussing the history of the band as well as Kunkel's influence of it over the years.

The band began in 1939 under the direction of Jimmy Moore. Kunkel came into the picture two decades later.

"Mr. John Kunkel became the band director for the Cleveland schools in 1956," said Pennington.

According to Pennington, Kunkel's vision turned the band into the superstar it is known as today.

"This band has won 58 first divisions," said Pennington.

Pennington's wife, Joy, read a poem by Waymon Foster, a former member of the Royal Braves Band, that she and Barry Pennington believe characterize Kunkel with his strict demeanor on perfecting the marching band.

"But no matter how pessimistic his vision, they always seemed to make the finest first division," read Joy Pennington. "So it's hats off to you, the Royal Braves Band. We salute you and the tall, frowning man."

Kunkel led the band as its director until 1966. However, Barry Pennington says his influence is still felt across the years since his departure. Kunkel himself is inducted into the Texas Band Masters Hall of Fame.

This year marks 51 years since he first came to Cleveland ISD.

"It's an appropriate time to honor this unique individual," said Pennington.

Pennington's proposal is to mark Sept. 22 as Cleveland Royal Braves Band Day, which is this year's homecoming and March 23 as John P. Kunkel Day.

A third proposal was met with some apprehension as it involved marking Truman St. as John P. Kunkel Dr. Truman St. runs next to Cleveland Middle School.

The issue involved whether or not changing the street name would interfere with 911 addressing, which Pennington replied that leaving the street name alone is fine, though he proposed having the street share both of the names.

"The Cleveland Royal Braves Band has been a shining star for this city for as long back as I can remember," said Mayor Otis Cohn.

City Attorney David Olson recommended spending time discussing the issue with the sign.

Councilwoman Jennifer Bergman made a motion to approve the concept of naming both days and the sign, with Councilman Danny Lee seconding the motion. The council approved it unanimously.

The city will look into whether placing street sign toppers instead of renaming the street is the appropriate course of action.

The council also discussed the possible removal of a film from the Austin Memorial Library.

The film in question is titled "Justice League Dark."

"It is located in the adult section in the library," said Head Librarian Mary Cohn.

The film centers around DC Comics characters combating mystic forces. DC Comics characters include the likes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and many others. The film also happens to be animated.

"Not all animation is for children," said Cohn.

According to Cohn, the film has an MPAA R rating due to disturbing violence. The issue came about due to a parent renting the film for her child while remaining unaware of the film's R rating and violent content. The parent demanded the film be removed from the shelf after witnessing the film's content.

Cohn further stated that the library does not censor content.

"Whatever they would like, we try to have it on the shelves," she said.

Bergman made a motion to leave the film on the shelf with Lee seconding the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

In other business, council:

- approved having Councilwoman Carolyn McWaters continue to serve as Mayor Pro-Tem;

- awarded the 2017 annual paving bid to Washburn Paving; and

- waived the full-day fees for the Greater Cleveland Chamber of Commerce's Outdoor Expo at the Stancil Expo Center.
During the five-years from 2009 to 2014, Edwardsville police received an average of 24 business-related burglary complaints a year. That average has dropped to six since December of 2014 when deputies arrested former Edwardsville police officer Brian Barker and prosecutors charged him with committing a string of burglaries around the city.

On Monday, inside a packed courtroom at the Madison County Criminal Justice Center in Edwardsville, Chief Criminal Judge Richard Tognarelli sentenced the 43-year-old Moro man to 40 years in prison. Barker had pleaded guilty in January to three counts of burglary and one count of official misconduct, as well as aggravated possession of stolen firearms and residential burglary.

The 40-year sentence was the maximum allowed following the plea arrangement. Barkers attorney, Bill Lucco, had asked the judge for an 8-year-sentence.

Barkers victims included Edisons Entertainment, Pedegos. Afsanehs Alterations and many more. Law offices in Edwardsville and homes in Glen Carbon were also burglarized.

Madison County Sheriffs Detective Kristopher Tharp testified Monday that when Barker was questioned about the break-ins he nearly always denied involvement until confronted with irrefutable evidence such as surveillance video.

The hearing did include surveillance footage from Reality Spa and Salon in Edwardsville. Owner Cynthia Van Patten said she had installed an internal camera that alerted her at home when someone was near the cash register. Van Patten said she was cooking dinner when she got a notification.

My life changed forever, she said. I did not know what to do or who to call, because he was the police, and thats who you call when you have a problem.

Van Patten said she eventually had to sell the business at a $50,000 loss and decided to open a new spa under a different name.

Clinical psychologist Daniel Cuneo testified that he interviewed Barker 35 to 40 times after the arrest. He diagnosed him with persistent depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and kleptomania. Barker had a traumatic childhood that included abuse at the hands of a family member, Cuneo said, and he was encouraged to steal at an early age by an older sister and began stealing regularly simply for the adrenaline rush it gave him.

Barker, he said, would not be likely to re-offend if he could remain alcohol-free, continue therapy treatment and medication, and continue his relationship with River of Life Church in Alton.

Barker, he added, began his addictive behavior at the age of 5 or 6, and never really had a father figure in his life.

Cuneo said he did not consider Barker to be suicidal. He is motivated to do the right thing, and he has support from friends and family members.

In addressing Tognarelli, Lucco quoted federal sentencing guidelines that suggest that a sentence should be sufficient but not greater than necessary.

He also quoted Thomas Aquinas (Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.), and Abraham Lincoln (I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

Tognarellis courtroom was arrayed with Sheriffs deputies and more than a half dozen officers from the Edwardsville Police Department, including Edwardsville Police Chief Jay Keeven. Following Barkers plea in January, Keevan had said morale at the department had been improving and that the community had been supportive. The department had seen a continuous stream of support from citizens.

On Monday, under questioning from Mudge, Edwardsville Police Sgt. Mike Lybarger acknowledged that Barkers arrest had also had a negative effect on the officers he worked with at the department.

When this initially happened, it was disbelief, that Brian could not be responsible for this, Lybarger said. As the facts came out it gave way to anger and betrayal. It felt like they had just been crushed. That somebody they knew and worked with could do this to them.

There were other effects, he added. One of the tasks of a patrol officer is to go out and check businesses. We have officers who dont want to get out and pull doors because of fear that when theyre pulling these doors theyre going to be accused of wrongdoing, Lybarger said. I had an officer the other day tell me that hes worried about when he carries a purse or a lost item to his car to put it in his trunk that theyre going to think hes stealing it.

After the sentence was handed down, deputies approached Barker at the defense table, cuffed his hands behind him, and led him out a side door of the courtroom.

"Barker's crime spree shook the foundation of faith we have in those who are sworn to protect our community, Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons said later in a written statement. "With this 40 year sentence today, we can begin the process of restoring trust and confidence in the men and women in our local law enforcement agencies who give everything they have, day and night, in service to our safety."
WASHINGTON - A body was discovered Sunday morning in the northwest Washington apartment building that was the scene of a three-alarm fire Saturday, and the investigation turned to the unit where the remains were found.

D.C. Fire Chief Gregory Dean said the body of an unidentified man was discovered early Sunday in the top-floor apartment believed to be where the blaze originated. The death investigation has been turned over to Washington, D.C. police, officials said.

D.C. police spokeswoman Aquita Brown confirmed police are conducting a death investigation but provided no further details.

Dean said search dogs found no signs that there were additional fatalities.

Meanwhile, fire investigators probed the cause of the fire, which displaced about 200 residents from the 55-unit brick complex in the 1300 block of Peabody Street. Residents jumped from windows of the Rolling Terrace apartment complex, some crawling on their hands and knees to avoid smoke, as the fire blazed through the four-floor building.

"Firefighters showed up that night - Saturday morning - [and] they had people coming out of the window, they had people in the hallway, they had people throughout the building," Dean said at a news briefing Sunday. "Their first job was to do the rescue."

Now, he said, the focus turns to the cause and origin of the fire - but investigators face numerous obstacles: namely, the massive pile of rubble left by the blaze.

"The roof fell down, they've got gravel in there, they've got a certain amount of tar and everything else, so all that's gonna have to be cut away," Dean said. "I know we're not going to finish this investigation today."

Officials said one resident and five firefighters were taken to the hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening. The firefighters had been treated and released Sunday, the department said.

The fire began about 3 a.m. Saturday, leaving dense smoke and some flames visible for at least six hours. At least a dozen people were rescued by ladder or evacuated through smoke-filled stairwells and hallways.

With "zero visibility," Dean said Saturday, firefighters swept the building for remaining occupants at least twice but did not find anyone inside. It wasn't until Saturday night when officials were interviewing building occupants that they learned someone was still unaccounted for.

The Red Cross set up a shelter nearby to assist residents.

Displaced residents trickling in and out of the shelter Sunday described the fear they felt while escaping their burning home. Many were still coming to terms with what happened.

With the fire alarm blaring and the hallway full of smoke, Angel Marquez threw a table and chair through his first-floor apartment window, shattering it to escape.

He had his 12-year-old son jump out and hang onto a power cable until a neighbor below could grab his feet and pull him to safety. Then Marquez jumped out behind his wife, while neighbors yelled "Fuego!" and screamed for help through the smoke.

"What are we going to do?" Marquez, 39, said Sunday in Spanish. Tears streamed down his face as he spoke about his wife and son. "They are very sad," he said.

The Red Cross assisted 54 families, for a total of 180 people, in the aftermath of the fire, said Paul Carden, the group's regional disaster officer. Officials interviewed each resident, provided financial assistance and connected them with relevant agencies.

Julio Guity-Guevara, deputy director of the Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs, said about 45 people at the shelter were children and 60 to 70 percent of the people were of Latino or African descent and did not speak English as their first language. Officials said the apartment building is considered unsafe and it is unknown when or whether residents will be able to return. There was extensive smoke, fire and heat damage to the upper floors, where the fire broke out, and water damage extended to the basement.

Many of the residents expressed concern about replacing important documents, such as passports and identification cards, which the Latino Affairs office is assisting with, Guity-Guevara said.

Arianna Royster, executive vice president of Borger Management, which oversees the apartment building, said her team has been working with city agencies and the Red Cross to ensure the displaced residents receive necessary services.

"It's a tragic situation, and I'm really sorry that our residents have been displaced," Royster said. "We're doing everything we can to make them comfortable during this difficult time."

About 55 people slept on cots on the gymnasium floor at the shelter Saturday night, while others chose to stay with friends and family members in the area, said Larry Handerhan, chief of staff at the city's Department of Human Services. Forty-seven displaced families were being relocated to hotels Sunday afternoon, he said.

Thomas Gorfu, 23, said he couldn't sleep Saturday night. The smoky vision of the firefighters rescuing him and his mother, the smell of burning rubber and the sound of the fire alarm kept replaying in his head.

Sitting outside the shelter in new clothes provided by the Red Cross, Gorfu and his 44-year-old father wondered what's next for their family, originally from Ethiopia.

"I lost everything," Gorfu said. "It was scary, so the only thing we tried to do is save ourselves."

Irene Vanegas, 73, started to cry as she thought about her two parakeets, Mariposa and Muneco, whom she had to leave behind when firefighters rescued her from her apartment.

She said she awoke to darkness Saturday after her nose started itching and she felt something in her throat. She didn't have time to grab anything; she lost $800 in cash, her passport, Social Security card and other identification.

"The fog was so intense that I felt like falling," she said in Spanish. "If they didn't help us, I would be dead because I couldn't walk."

Her friends arrived outside the shelter, hugged her and offered any support they could.

"Thank God I find her today," said a friend, Miriam Murillo, 47.

Outside the apartment building Sunday, Christopher Ochoa, 23, recounted how he was roused Saturday by his father, who smelled smoke and urged him and his younger siblings to evacuate. Ochoa quickly opened the front door and, seeing smoke seeping in, slammed it shut. He slipped on sandals and a rain jacket and ventured back out, where he noticed a neighbor who uses a walker - an elderly woman in her 90s - struggling to make her way out of the building. Ochoa, who works at an occupational health clinic, assisted her outside.

It was only when he got outside that he saw flames pouring from the upper levels. His family was doing fine Sunday, he said.
Are you more of an Odysseus or a Scarlett OHara? Does your journey mimic that of Frodos in The Lord of the Rings saga, or is it closer to Luke Skywalkers in Star Wars?

These questions arent as trivial as they may seem. Storytelling has connected civilizations for millennia, bringing a sense of adventure into the most mundane voyages. Who wants to read about a guy on a boat with an obsession for a sea creature? All the readers of Moby Dick, thats who.

Weaving tales makes you more memorable and could save your company from languishing in the annals of entrepreneurial history. And so the question becomes: How does your brand story find its happy ending?

A Progressive Policy Institute study shows the rate of startups rose to 2.5 percent in fall 2016, indicating a bounceback in entrepreneurial ventures. Yet those positive numbers are tempered by reports like the Statistic Brain study that noted more than half of companies fail before their five-year anniversaries; fewer than 30 percent even see the 10-year mark.

Related: Storytelling Could Bring Your Brand to Life and Strengthen Your Marketing Impact

A sobering fact, but in a world of trendy startups with cutesy names and cool apps, someone should stand out from a sea of startup copycats. The trick? Mirror classic stories to develop your brand story, connect with your audience and provide a product or service they won't find anywhere else. The result? The happily ever after you need to succeed.

Was it a dark and stormy night?

A hook is needed to set apart your startup wheat from the chaff; that means weaving your journey into a classic, unforgettable tale.

Each entrepreneurs path takes a one-of-a-kind trajectory. By harnessing timeless storytelling strategies, inspire your industry and consumers. Consider those classic frameworks that make the foundation of everything from Aesops Fables to War and Peace.

Many well-known anecdotes have roots in the mythology of our ancestors, which means a few tried-and-true setups: Overcoming the monster is a common one -- War of the Worlds comes to mind. Then, theres rags to riches, perfectly exemplified by Great Expectations. And of course rebirth, a traditional way to move a character through lifes epiphanies and come out on top.

Chances are strong your startups message could be transformed with one of these storylines.

A true tale about the benefits of zigging and zagging.

My own journey falls into the voyage and return category, a series of zigs and zags all its own.

I skipped out of a corporate path to receive my masters degree in creative writing after discovering the rich history of storytelling while studying literature at the University of Oxford. This deep dive into the literary world -- and obsession with tales we tell to connect and build community -- took me around the globe, studying with mystic teachers from India to Israel. The storytelling tools I discovered were the missing link for brands struggling to define themselves and build passionate communities around a product or service. After all, it's the stories we tell that move us into action. And it's the mythological frameworks of ancient cultures that provide the soul-level stories that stand the test of time.

Seeing this need in the market, I wanted to share it with companies around the world so they could create mission-driven brands. When I launched my own creative agency, I was faced with challenges -- hustling against competitors and launching a business solo -- but I had the storytellers tools to guide me. This transformed the way I created meaningful and powerful content to build strong, passionate communities. Harnessing narratives was an incredible way to take ownership of a story.

Related: How to Effectively Use Storytelling to Attract a Larger Brand Following

Want to capture your own startup saga in words that will transfix and inspire partners, investors and clients? It all starts when you mirror your story with a classic tale and follow a few breadcrumbs:

1. Determine which tale suits you best.

Did you rise above circumstances (tragedy) to help others and use the experience as a springboard to change others lives through science? Or were you the class clown in college who loved making people laugh and became compelled to create a social media app that generates fun memes (comedy)? Consider how you got to where you are today.

Dell is the perfect rags to riches example, as are all I started this business in my garage tales. Dont worry about seeming trite; people appreciate storylines they can easily follow. No need to reinvent the wheel.

And the Dells of the world aren't alone -- everyone has a unique story shaped by the context of life. By acknowledging your story, you can tap into the power that exists in your own experiences. No one else has seen the world the way you have; share your experiences to help and empower others. You're already a hero, but in the sea of mass media, it's easy to forget were equipped with gifts to share. Believe youre the hero of your story.

2. Find other businesses successfully mirroring the same tale type.

Consider the companies you trust most: Are they already utilizing storytelling elements? Do any of theirs dovetail with yours? What can you learn?

First, you can discern where you are on your path and how to communicate that to others; you may find you're not alone. Countless others have taken the same path before you, and in connecting with their stories, you can build one that will resonate with an even wider audience.

In order to tell a successful story, make sure the hero is identified, as well as any challenges (company or otherwise). Lastly, a magic power -- a value proposition -- should be identified.

Sunrun, the largest U.S. residential solar company, is a perfect example of overcoming the monster, aka beating Big Electric. Sunrun offers its solution so consumers can be heroes for family and community. And Tesla is doing something similar with its storytelling about Solar Roof panels, adding a commercial component to save American Samoa through innovation. Its a palpable representation of Tesla as hero, and the heroism extends to individuals and businesses.

3. Flesh out your storytelling adventure.

You'll not only set up your company as the star of your corporate journey, but youll also include visitors and customers into your tale.

What you need to determine is the following: your characters (target audience); their challenges (pain points); your and their motivations (best outcomes); a setting (connecting the dots); obstacles (whats getting in prospects way of your great solution); the climax (how youre rescuing individuals, businesses, societies, etc.); and a conclusion (whats necessary to achieve that happy ending?).

Related: Theres an Art to Telling Your Brands Story: 4 Ways to Get It Right

After you flesh these out, construct a story concept. Still not sure which story relates best to your company? Consider tales that captivated you and provided your greater mission in life. Dont worry if your answer seems silly or overly complex. Get your creative juices flowing, then write.

The mythology of the corporate landscape may be ever-evolving and seem a little tough to break into for startups, but heroes will always be welcome. Your companys tale is ready to tell.

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The pews of St. Michael Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church Monday morning were filled for the funeral of renowned Beaumont lawyer C. Haden "Sonny" Cribbs Jr.



Cribbs died last Thursday at the age of 79, following an illustrious career as a defense attorney and public defender in Jefferson County.



Born in El Paso in 1938, Cribbs graduated from Beaumont High School in 1956, according to his obituary. After serving in the military police, Cribbs went on to get both his undergraduate and law degrees from Baylor University in Waco. In 1964, he began practicing law in Beaumont and, after 53 years, had a

reputation for taking on difficult cases. He was one of only a handful of lawyers qualified to handle capital murder trials in Southeast Texas, and colleagues said it was his personality that made him excellent at his difficult craft.



"The reason he was such a good trial lawyer was because he was a good, caring person," Attorney Bruce Smith said. "He never had an unkind word to say about anybody."

Read more in Tuesday's print edition of The Enterprise.



Mgstalter@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/@morggstalt
At least $40,000 is needed for the new Salvation Army Wayne Bergstrom Center of Hope in Conroe, according to Salvation Army Major Don Wildish.

The 15,700-square-foot center dedicated in May will serve a growing homeless population in Montgomery County with an increased capacity to help 64 men, 48 women and four families. The new Center, which Wildish anticipates to open in July, will also be able to expand the Salvation Army's educational programs and open a day shelter and feeding program, according to a previous Courier article.

Wildish said the funds will help provide kitchen equipment and supplies, including a large range stove, two ovens, and hundreds of pots, trays, glasses, plates, and more to prepare and serve meals. The Salvation Army also plans to upgrade 72 single beds into double beds and transform the existing shelter into eight more family rooms as it doubles in size.

"I project the service we are providing is simply going to continue to grow as the population of the city and county grows," Wildish said. "I have to begin not only planning for what we need to do by next month but also I have to plan on providing service that we may need to do even from a couple of years now."

Among those served in the kitchen are homeless families with children.

Seven years ago when the Salvation Army planned for the Center, it served about 35 families a year for which four family rooms would have been adequate. In 2016, 137 families were served and in 2017 more than 70 families have already been served. The growing homeless family population projection was not true at the time, according to Wildish. Now it is a challenge for the shelter who estimates hundreds of families in need, with the majority being homeless single parents with children, often living in unstable circumstances, including on friends and relatives' couches and in garages.

"That wasn't one of the things we were dealing with seven years ago," Wildish said. "Now this facility is ready to open and we are dealing with a whole new challenge not only in Montgomery county but throughout America. We are going to have to adjust what we are doing to meet that need."

One of those who has recently turned to the Salvation Army in Conroe includes Catherine Campbell, 37, of Houston who has moved place to place, including to at least three shelters with her son Kaiden Mathews, 6.

Campbell started her first job from age 16 to 21 at a movie theater. Instead of saving, her money went towards helping her single-parent mother, who died in 2004 from a blood infection and had four children, to pay for bills. After a 10 year relationship ended, she entered a new relationship in which she suffered domestic abuse, including being choked and beaten when she tried to flee. The abuse resulted in losing her job while pregnant with her son, who she endured pressure to abort but chose to keep. Now she said his big hugs keep her moving forward.

Campbell turned to relatives for help, but due to their own low-income circumstances she could not stay for long. She faced ongoing challenges with employment, including Hurricane Ike flooding her work place and work-shift schedules that could accommodate daycare hours, which was also costly.

Losing her job resulted in some broken leases and evictions, which disqualified her from housing voucher programs and created more challenges with paperwork while trying to apply for assistance, she said.

"I am not the only female who has been abused and mistreated in their life," she said. "You see more and more of these people in the shelter and more often in the shelter of military members asking for assistance because the government programs aren't working as well as they should be."

Since coming to Conroe where Campbell said she can give her son a better education at Conroe ISD, she found a job at Dairy Queen this month that works with her son's daycare schedule, she has also found support with the Montgomery County Women's Service, First Baptist Church, the Salvation Army, and Volunteers of America. The shelter and Volunteers of America have helped her get on an apartment waiting list for her and her son.

Campbell, who is interested in studying healthcare administration once she has transportation and computer-related resources, is grateful for the Salvation Army.

"If it wasn't for Salvation Army, me and my son would be on the street," she said. "They are not trying to keep people forever, they are trying to help them get stable and get on their feet."

For more information about Salvation Army or how to donate, call 936-760-2440 or visit http://salvationarmyhouston.org/conroe.
Bill Hutchinson / The Chronicle

Police and a dive team searched Sunday night for a 40-year-old man who disappeared in a delta waterway near Rio Vista in Solano County after his kayak tipped over and pitched him and his 5-year-old daughter into the waves, officials said.

Witnesses said that after the boat overturned at around 2:30 p.m., the man surfaced holding his daughter above him and that someone on a personal watercraft fetched her. The father then sank, according to the Sacramento County Sheriffs Sgt. Tony Turnbull.
Two more candidates have filed paperwork to compete for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., next year.

Alison Kiehl Friedman, an expert in combating human trafficking, and Deep Sran, founder of the Loudoun School for the Gifted, join an already crowded field.

Democrats think they have a chance to flip the Northern Virginia seat, which has been in GOP hands since 1980, after the area backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

Comstock supporters say the congresswoman's ability to outperform GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump by 16 points to win a second term cemented her dominance in the district.

The district includes Loudoun County and parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties, as well as Clarke and Frederick counties to the west. As the closest thing to a battleground district in the region, it attracts more than its share of activists and donors.

A native of Takoma Park, Md., Friedman, 38, grew up in an activist household. While pregnant with Friedman, her mother founded Voters for Choice with Gloria Steinem and her father worked for a nonprofit organization that helped build assets for the poor.

Friedman earned a bachelor's degree at Stanford University and worked at People for the American Way before joining the staff of then-Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. She served as executive director of the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking and in 2009, went to work for the State Department's anti-trafficking office.

Friedman said she was inspired to run by her daughter. The girl had written to Trump urging him to love instead of hate in the spirit of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but feared he would discover her letter and "bring guns to our house," Friedman said.

"If my daughter is brave enough to write a note like that," she said, "I do have the ability to do more, and what I've always loved doing is working on protecting the world's most vulnerable."

She disputed Comstock's claim that she leads on human trafficking because she supported legislation that President Barack Obama signed. Friedman opposes Trump on a host of issues, including, she said, "his disregard for institutions vital to our democracy" and his "scapegoating of people of color and immigrants."

Friedman, who is pursuing an MBA through Oxford University, left the State Department in 2015, and moved from Washington, D.C., to McLean, in April of this year.

The newest candidate, Deep Sran, 45, grew up in Silver Spring, Md., attended Montgomery County public schools, and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland and a law degree from Georgetown. He worked for firms in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington for three years, "but always felt like education was the way to make lasting social change."

Returning to the University of Maryland, he earned a doctorate in educational psychology and went on to teach and serve as curriculum director at the Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School. He moved to Ashburn, in the district where he is seeking office, in 2004, and still lives there with his wife and two daughters.

Tried of the long commute, he started a small private school, the Loudoun School for the Gifted, about a decade ago as a laboratory for education ideas that could work in public school, he said.

"It's purely 'Field of Dreams' - if you build it they will come," he said. "I love education. It is in my mind the way to build a better world."

Sran, whose parents are from India, said that with his background and experience, he can relate to the district's robust South Asian community.

"I understand why small-business people don't tend to vote for Democrats," he said. "On the other hand, my whole life has been about social justice."

At least seven Democrats, including Friedman and Sran, are running or say they plan to run for the party nomination to challenge Comstock.

State Sen. Jennifer Wexton, a former prosecutor from Loudoun County; Lindsey Davis Stover, who worked in Veterans Affairs during the Obama administration; and Dan Helmer, a Rhodes Scholar and Army veteran, announced their campaigns early, followed by David Hanson, a retired Navy intelligence officer from Clifton.

Kimberly Adams, past president of the Fairfax teachers union, said she will begin her campaign next month.

Democratic leaders in the congressional district will decide early next year whether to nominate a candidate through a state-run primary open to all voters or a party-run process.
MOSCOW - More Russians consider Joseph Stalin the "most outstanding person" in world history than any other leader, according to a poll released Monday. Tied for second in the same survey is the man who has done more than anyone to restore the notorious Soviet dictator's reputation, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The poll by the Levada Center asked a representative sample of 1,600 Russians to name the "top 10 most outstanding people of all time and all nations." It also compiled a list of all 20 names that received more than 6 percent of the vote.

Without prompting, 38 percent named Stalin, followed by Putin at 34 percent, in a tie with Alexander Pushkin, the renowned 19th-century poet often referred to as "the Shakespeare of Russia."

Putin's 34 percent is his highest ranking on this list since he came to power 17 years ago. Stalin has actually slipped a few notches: He polled 42 percent in 2012, the first time he topped the survey of the world's most influential people, which has been conducted by Levada and its predecessors since 1989.

But there's little doubt of the connectivity between the popularity of the former and current Kremlin occupants.

Stalin in Russia is increasingly portrayed not as the murderous architect of the Gulag, forced collectivization, mass starvation and political purges that claimed millions of his citizens' lives, but as the steely architect of the Soviet victory in World War II - called the Great Patriotic War here.

That victory is central to Putin's effort to portray his regime as the logical outcome of Russian history. In the Kremlin's view, saving the world from fascism was the greatest achievement of the 20th century, and provided the basis for post-Cold War Russia's return to its proper place as a global power, courtesy of Putin.

"The use of the cult of victory for propaganda goals naturally adds up to the acquittal of Stalin to a certain degree," said Denis Volkov, a sociologist at the Levada Center.

In the fourth of his interviews with American director Oliver Stone, Putin characterizes Stalin as a "complex figure" and acknowledges "the horrors of Stalinism," but also goes on to say that "excessive demonization of Stalin is one of the ways Russia's enemies attack it."

Several Russian cities have unveiled monuments to Stalin in recent months. A Levada poll in May found that the number of Russians who consider Stalin's repressions to be "political crimes" has diminished from 51 percent in 2012 to 39 percent. The number of Russians who did not know anything about the repressions doubled over the same time from 6 percent to 13 percent.

Though the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought to light the full scope of Stalin's crimes, the complete archives of the Soviet KGB secret police and its predecessors were never made public.

Tanya Lokshina, Russia program director for Human Rights Watch, told The Washington Post recently that "Russia never had a proper de-Stalinization and there is little awareness" of Stalin's crimes in Russia today.

In his interview, Putin compares Stalin with Napoleon, as "leaders who came to power by way of revolution and concentrated huge authority."

The French military leader and emperor was ranked 14th in the Levada Poll, chosen as one of the most outstanding world figures by 9 percent of Russians, highest among non-Russians (or non-Soviets) on the list. The only other foreigners to receive more than six percent are Albert Einstein (16th) and Isaac Newton (19th).

The ethnocentric responses reflected by the poll are not unusual. People tend to name the people and events closest to their lives, which explains how last year's Orlando shooting, horrific tragedy that it was, ended up on a list of the most significant historic events in Americans' lifetimes published in December.

There's also no question that Yury Gagarin (6th), the first man in space, Leo Tolstoy (7th), and Dmitry Mendeleev (13th), who developed the periodic classification of the elements, all deserve somewhere on all-time outstanding lists. Also, Vladimir Lenin (4th) and Peter the Great (5th), modernizer of the medieval Russian state, certainly are figures of major historical importance. No U.S. president or leader made the 6 percent cut.

You might be wondering what Putin has done to belong.

The Russian leader's approval rating - as measured by Levada - hasn't dropped below 80 percent since he annexed Crimea in 2014, and he enjoys daily praise from the commentators and news reports on state-run television, where most Russians get their news.

The Levada Center is no lap dog of the state, by the way. It was slapped with the Russia's foreign agent label last year, a de facto acknowledgment that the government doesn't approve of its unvarnished takes on Russian public opinion.

So believe Volkov when he tells you that there's more to Putin's ranking than the fact that he heads an authoritarian regime.

"He is credited with rescuing Russia from the economic ruin of the 1990s," Volkov said. "For many people that is a monumental accomplishment."
According to Snapchat, geofilters are a fun way to share where you are, or what youre up to, by adding an overlay to your Snap. If you have location services and filters enabled, geofilters appear at thousands of places around the world. After you take a Snap, swipe to see whats around!

My goal in this article is to teach everyone who is passionate about social media how to create a Snapchat geofilter in 15 minutes. The best part is that I'm going to explain how you can create a Snapchat geofilter for dirt cheap to grow exposure for your business or personal event with this funky overlay.

A real-life example

Below is an example of a geofilter we created for Ohio's Columbus Yellow Cab, one of our clients. Our goal behind this campaign was simple. We wanted to create a graphic that people on Snapchat would want to overlay on their pictures. We also wanted to geofence the Short North Arts District in Columbus, the most popular area of bars and nightlife in central Ohio during Pride weekend.

Thanks to Alex and Lauren at our agency for modeling for this photo:





Whats amazing about Snapchat geofilters is that the cost is relatively inexpensive and you dont have to be a large brand or business to utilize this feature. Lets say you have a wedding coming up -- you can geofence the area around where your reception is taking place and create a custom filter.

Personal vs. business

The first thing to note is that two types of on-demand filters are offered: Personal and Business. In its guidelines, Snapchat explains:

"A Personal Geofilter is one that doesnt include any branding, business marks/names or logos, and doesnt promote a business or a brand." The personal geofilter would be what I referenced for the wedding.

"A Business Geofilter is one that promotes a business or a brand." This is like the example I provided with Columbus Yellow Cab.

Rules to follow

If youre creating a Business filter, you must have the necessary rights and permissions to include any business names, marks, logos or trademarks and you must also supply a business name while purchasing the filter.

There are other guidelines that need to be followed as well, which can be viewed in Snapchats submission guidelines mentioned above. To make a long story short, you cant include emails, phone numbers, hashtags or photographs of people. Before you submit your geofilter, make sure you read the entire list through so your geofilter gets approved and you arent violating any of Snapchats rules and regulations.

Pricing

The price of an on-demand geofilter depends on a few factors such as the size of the geofence and how long you want it to run. You can view Snapchat's pricing information here. After logging in to Snapchat, the current cost of the geofilter will appear in the top left corner. Make sure your geofence is between 20,000 and 5,000,000 square feet, otherwise it wont display the price.

Below is the campaign data for Yellow Cab. In total, it cost $312.62 for this specific campaign. You might think this is pricey but you can see that this campaign covered over 3 million square feet. If you choose to geofence a reception hall for a wedding, you can do it for as little as $10.

We ran the above piece of creative for Yellow Cab from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on June 3, a Saturday evening when we knew a lot of people would be out and about in Columbus.





Graphic requirements

Once a graphic has been created, getting it uploaded to Snapchat is simple. The toughest part is actually creating the graphic and deploying a piece of creative that will get overplayed onto peoples photos.

Youll need some Photoshop skills in order to get this up and running. If you need help, feel free to contact our design team and well be able to get this completed for your wedding, personal occasion or business purpose in less than an hour. If you know a graphic designer, share this article with them and theyll be able to easily complete the steps below. If you know Photoshop, go create a Snapchat geofilter! Here are the requirements from Snapchat:

Files should be 1080px wide by 1920px high. Use the purchase tool preview page to see how it will look on different devices.

Files should be under 300KB in size and saved as a .PNG file with a transparent background.

If your geofilter is rejected by Snapchat, it will do its best to provide you a reason as to why it was rejected. You can make adjustments and resubmit your filter as a new order.

Name your geofilter something you will remember -- that way it will be easier to understand your results.

There are so many occasions where a Snapchat geofilter will give your business exposure or create a buzz around your personal event.

Now its time to get out there and get your Snapchat geofilter on!

Related:

How to Create a Snapchat Geofilter in 15 Minutes

Time Warner and Snapchat Partner to Create Original Programming

Snapchat Now Lets You Spy on Friends' Locations



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


KIEV, Ukraine - On a warm afternoon in Ukraine's breakaway east, as the front line rumbled with only occasional shellfire, Stanislav Aseev, a 27-year-old undercover journalist, was heading home to Donetsk.

Many of his colleagues had long since fled the industrial, battle-scarred city - a separatist stronghold where freedom of expression is harshly repressed. Despite this, during three years of war, Aseev remained, publishing stories under a pseudonym to avoid repercussions from the city's new masters. Outside working hours, a love of jazz, jogging and philosophy offered him relief from the conflict.

On June 2, as he approached Donetsk, Aseev contacted his mother and promised to visit the next day. He never arrived.

After repeated phone calls went unanswered, worried friends and relatives headed to Aseev's apartment. His front door had been smashed open, and his possessions - including a work laptop - had been seized. Authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) would give them no information.

It has since emerged that DNR security agents are holding Aseev incommunicado in an unspecified facility. His friends worry that he has been subjected to beatings and torture. That's not an unreasonable concern, because, according to Human rights investigators, it has become standard practice for anyone in detention in Donetsk.

"No one can guarantee that he will survive," said Egor Firsov, a former member of parliament and a university friend of Aseev's who is campaigning for the journalist's release.

Aseev has joined the hundreds of people- or possibly thousands - who are missing or held as prisoners of war in eastern Ukraine. Although front-line hostilities have reached a simmering deadlock, a dirty war persists in the wider, lawless region. Civilians attempt to survive on contested ground, pinned between marauding forces accused of pillage, violent intimidation, sexual abuse, torture and even summary execution.

The U.N. has documented accounts of such war crimes, recording arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances across the conflict zone, particularly in territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists. Denied access to relatives or legal counsel, captives are kept in secret prisons, basements and other dire, improvised detention areas. The exact number of missing individuals is unknown, but the International Committee of the Red Cross says it could be up to 2,000.

"There are many sick people walking around with guns these days," one resident of a front-line village told U.N. investigators. "If they want to kill us, they will just come. Who can protect us from this?"

A new and disturbing report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights suggests both forces are carrying out extrajudicial executions. In March, the body of a missing man was found near a government-held front-line town. An officer from the SBU - Ukraine's successor agency of the KGB - was subsequently arrested and released on bail.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian soldiers allegedly looted a house, set it on fire, shot the occupant and buried the body in a nearby forest.

Last October, in rebel-held Horlivka, two civilians were allegedly shot dead by pro-Russian gunmen. When the corpses were found, separatist authorities are said to have prevented relatives from seeing and identifying the bodies.

One of the most high-profile victims of the wave of clandestine, wartime detentions is Igor Kozlovsky, an authoritative theologian with expertise in world faiths, martial arts and yoga. He is the former regional head of religious affairs and co-founder of an academy and spiritual center.

"When he lectured, it was like watching Elvis," said his 39-year-old nephew, Denis Kozlovsky. "He was so charismatic, so exciting - an international man but also a patriot with a deep love of Ukrainian traditions."

When separatists moved to take power in Donetsk in 2014, Kozlovsky's wife and younger son fled while he stayed behind to care for their older, disabled son, who could not be moved without special equipment. He settled into an isolated life, rising at dawn to practice yoga, write poetry and care for his son, even as the fighting intensified.

In January 2016, a gang grabbed him off the street. Later, in custody, he called his nephew to say he had been held in a basement and tortured. A military tribunal later found this confirmed pacifist guilty of "illegal possession of weapons" and threw him into one of Donetsk's notorious prisons - hotbeds for tuberculosis. His health deteriorating, Kozlovsky was held for around a year in a damp, dark cell, then transferred to another prison in Horlivka.

Relatives have desperately tried to secure the 63-year-old's release by engaging the few lawyers accredited to work in the DNR. Invariably, they have been cheated. Middlemen have offered to arrange his freedom for $100,000, but Denis Kozlovsky said he believes they are charlatans.

"If he was a guerrilla then his arrest would be easier to accept. But he was man of peace, dedicated to finding common ground between religions," he said. "Prisons in Donetsk are bad places, but my uncle is strong. Spiritually and psychologically, he is more prepared than most to survive."

But the odds are stacked against prisoners such as Kozlovsky; the process of swapping POWs is haphazard and poorly coordinated. The warring parties have failed to exchange data regarding detainees' DNA, which would help establish the whereabouts of many missing people and relieve "the uncertainty and despair borne by their relatives," the U.N. said.

Beyond these black sites, front-line communities face the threat of pillage. Troops have looted and commandeered homes of displaced residents, so some civilians endure the risk of shelling to protect their properties.

Troops on both sides of the line impose such harsh restrictions that those remaining in front-line areas are "isolated and fully dependent" on soldiers for water, food and fuel, the investigators say.

Brutal and vile treatment of prisoners, indefinite detention and the use of solitary confinement are common to both sides. But abuses occur on a greater scale in breakaway territory, where even the young are vulnerable. (Last August, five teenagers were detained by DNR security agents and have been held ever since.)

Investigators accuse Ukrainian law enforcement officers of systematically using torture and ill treatment to extract confessions from suspected separatists. These methods include extreme beatings, waterboarding, suffocation and electric shocks. Detainees are typically forced to sign a "testimony" that they have neither read nor written.

As one torture victim later explained: "Thinking about my finger being cut off was too much for me, so I told them what they wanted to hear."

Investigations into complaints of torture are often corrupt and ineffectual, fueling a culture of impunity as perpetrators walk free.

"You need to be a kamikaze if you register your injuries," one detainee, who had been tortured, told investigators. "If they learn about it, they will make you disabled and will deal with your family."

For now, the fate of Aseev, the undercover journalist, is unknown. His last story - entitled "Between Heaven and Hell" - was published from the eastern war zone on the same day as his disappearance. The young reporter knew the dangers but did the job regardless.

"Many will say it's an unjustified risk. But, above all, I do this for myself," Aseev said in an earlier interview with the Ukrainian news weekly and website called Zerkalo Nedeli. "This is my education, which cannot be purchased with any amount of money. . . . The old, timeworn notion that, in war there are no winners, is becoming a kind of mantra here."
WESTPORT  Continuing its tradition of inclusivity and multi-national awareness, Westport hosted its 52nd annual jUNe Day celebration Saturday.

Over 100 employees of the United Nations came to town with their families for a celebration of friendship and a chance for these city dwellers to enjoy some of the towns amenities, including Compo Beach, Earthplace, and more.
The University of Delaware has cut ties with an adjunct professor who suggested that Otto Warmbier, the American student whose death last week after being imprisoned in North Korea drew worldwide attention, was a "clueless white male" who "got exactly what he deserved."

Katherine Dettwyler, who taught in the anthropology department as recently as spring semester, "will not be rehired to teach at the University in the future," the university said in a statement on Sunday. Her comments were posted at a time when she was not employed with the university and "in no way reflect the values or position of the University of Delaware," the statement read.

Warmbier, a 22-year-old student from the University of Virginia, was traveling in North Korea when he was arrested in early 2016 for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster from a hotel. After a sham trial, he was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in North Korean prison for "hostile acts" against the state. Video broadcast around the world of his public confession showed him crying and pleading for forgiveness.

Warmbier died of unknown causes on June 19, a week after he was returned to the United States in a coma.

Days later, in a now-deleted post from her Facebook account, Dettwyler wrote that Warmbier was "typical of the mindset of a lot of the young, white, rich, clueless males who come into my classes," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"Is it wrong of me to think that Otto Warmbier got exactly what he deserved?" she wrote. "I see him crying at his sentencing hearing and think, 'What did you expect?'"

The post continued: "These are the same kids who cry about their grades because they didn't think they'd really have to read and study the material to get a good grade. His parents ultimately are to blame for his growing up thinking he could get away with whatever he wanted. Maybe in the US, where young, white, rich, clueless white males routinely get away with raping women. Not so much in North Korea. And of course, it's Otto's parents who will pay the price for the rest of their lives."

The 62-year-old professor made similar remarks, since deleted, in the comments section of a National Review article, Campus Reform reported. She said she loved her "hard-working, sincere, non-arrogant college students," but added: "If you knew some of these kids, you'd be appalled. They think nothing of raping drunk girls at frat parties and snorting cocaine, cheating on exams, and threatening professors with physical violence."

An article in the HuffPost, written under the name La Sha and entitled "North Korea Proves Your White Male Privilege is Not Universal," attempted to make a similar point.

When the posts came to light, Dettwyler faced a flood of comments calling for her termination, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

As the backlash grew, the university tried to distance itself from Dettwyler.

"We condemn any and all messages that endorse hatred and convey insensitivity toward a tragic even such as the one that Otto Warmbier and his family suffered," the university said in a statement last week. "We find these comments particularly distressing and inconsistent with our values. Our sympathies are with the Warmbier family."

University of Delaware adjunct professors, and adjunct professors generally, work on contract and do not have the same protections as tenure or tenure-track faculty members. Most recently, Dettwyler taught a spring semester class, according to the university. An archived version of her curriculum vita says she has taught at the in previous years at the University of Delaware, as well as the University of Southern Mississippi, Texas A&M University, and Millersville University. She is known for her scholarship on breast-feeding in different cultures.

Dettwyler did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Sunday night.

The Review, the independent student newspaper at the university, reported that Dettwyler had a reputation on campus for being outspoken about her political beliefs. The newspaper quoted Nicolas Diclaudio, a junior at the university, saying she frequently criticized President Donald Trump and his supporters in the two anthropology courses he reportedly took with her. The student called Dettwyler's Facebook post "the most Kathy thing I've ever seen."

Warmbier was visiting North Korea on a five-day tourist trip on his way to a study-abroad trip to Hong Kong when he was detained in January of last year. In early June, after no contact with his family for 15 months, his parents got word that he had been in a coma for more than a year, as The Washington Post reported. After the Trump administration intervened, he was medically evacuated and flown to a Cincinnati hospital, where doctors said he had suffered extensive loss of brain tissue. His cause of death remains a mystery.
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Since 1986, Midland has suffered through three heavy rainfalls that have resulted in severe flooding: one in 1986, another 1996 and again on Friday. For Lisa Sanders, it's meant cleaning up after each flood, once when she lived on St. Marys Drive and twice in her present house in the 3400 block of Washington Street.

"Most of all it's an attitude," Sanders said. "It gets easier each time. You know what, there's nothing we can do about it. That stuff is collateral damage. It's expendable. I needed to clean my basement. It's done. Now I don't have to agonize over it."

Having lived at the Washington Street address since 1992, Sanders has experienced two floods at her present location, in 1996 and this year when her basement was filled with about 10 inches of water coming up through the drain.

But, those 10 inches of water definitely did a lot of damage to the items in her basement, making her truly appreciative of her family and friends that stopped over to clean up. Seven other friends and family came over Friday night to help.

"They were doing an assembly line. They all had their boots on and rubber gloves. They were exhausted because they didn't stop for almost three hours," she said. "I had another friend stop over yesterday and she helped me wash stuff for 2.5 hours. Others went and got groceries. They help because they know you're traumatized."

Sanders' assembly line resulted in a sizable pile at the end of her driveway. She also had a garage jammed full of salvageable items waiting to be inspected.

"What worries me are the people that are hauling away from here. They need to disinfect it and clean it," she said. "I had people on Friday night until 10:15 p.m. looking through my stuff."

But, there were lots of memories that went into the two piles beside her driveway.

"There were family photos along with Afghans and special things that were made for my kids when they were babies," Sanders said.

But, as far as rebuilding the basement, Sanders has decided to keep it simple.

"I don't think I'm going to do much down there. You learn: '86, '96. It's OK, I'll just have to be smarter about what I put down there," she said.

During the 1986 flood, Sanders was in Germany.

"My sister and brother-in-law had to deal with it. So, when we came home we saw the aftermath," Sanders said.

In 1996, her father helped her clean up.

"It was bleach, bleach, bleach," Sanders said. "You got to stop the mold and mildew."

With her effervescent personality, Sanders had a great idea for any entrepreneur.

"I think someone should design something that will tell us in the middle of the night when we have water in our basements. There must be some kind of 'ding,' 'ding,' 'ding.' Just like a fire alarm," Sanders said with a laugh. "Somebody should come up with some air-inflatable furniture that we can shove down in our basements and use. Because is it going to happen again," she said.
Members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet in charge of energy and environmental policy have begun sharpening their knives as they prepare to cut head counts at the agencies they oversee.

Last week, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told lawmakers that he plans to shrink his department's workforce by 8 percent, or 4,000 employees. Likewise, the Environmental Protection Agency emailed EPA union leaders to say it plans to make buyout and early retirement offers to more than 1,200 employees by September, which is also 8 percent of that agency's head count.

As dictated by the Constitution, Congress controls the power of the purse. And members of Congress, including some in Trump's own party, have declared Trump's austere budget dead on arrival.

But as a consequence of how budgetary bills have historically been written, department heads have much greater discretion over the number of people their agencies employ than they do over the amount of money they receive from Congress.

The relevant question for nervous federal workers: How low can Cabinet heads make staff levels go?

"The answer is not exactly clear," G. William Hoagland, an analyst and senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said. The question hasn't really been tested since another belt-tightening Republican, Richard Nixon, held the White House.

When setting the budgets for federal departments, Congress assigns funds to salary and expense accounts to pay employees. But Congress usually gives secretaries the wide berth to set staffing levels.

If an agency wants to reduce head count, its first option is to shrink the workforce by not filling vacant positions. Next, it can offer buyout and early retirement packages. If those fail to reduce the number of employees to desired levels, the agency can go through a "reduction in force" procedure that takes factors such as length of employment and performance ratings into account when deciding who stays and who goes among those who decide not to take a buyout or retire early.

Technically, if department heads fail to spend enough from those salary and expense accounts appropriated by Congress, they may find themselves in violation of the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, passed after Nixon decided not to spend nearly $12 billion in funds appropriated by a Democratically controlled Congress a year earlier.

At that point, Hoagland said, "they have a procedure to go back to Congress and ask to have the money not spent."

But Congress usually does not issue strict orders on how funds in those accounts are spent. Money in salary and expense accounts can be put to other uses besides payroll, such as to buy computers or rent office space.

Congress does have options to force a department head to retain more employees than he or she otherwise would.

"It is possible for Congress to appropriate money in such a way that agencies must increase personnel levels," Scott Lilly, a senior fellow and budget expert at the Center for American Progress, said by email. "They can even appropriate money for a specific position and failure to make good faith efforts to fill that position would be an impoundment."

For example, a hiring freeze imposed by former President Ronald Reagan early in his first term ran afoul of the 1981 fiscal year budget, which mandated certain positions at the Veterans Administration, the predecessor to the Department of Veterans Affairs, be filled. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) determined that, in the Veterans Administration affair, the congressionally approved budget superseded the presidential hiring freeze.

But in practice, Lilly said, legislators are "rarely" that specific in budget bills on how departments are staffed.

Moreover, it is usually up to Congress, now controlled by Trump's party, to ask GAO to investigate a potential impoundment.

Along with Zinke, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry have spent the past week and a half defending the Trump budget in Congress.

As The Washington Post's Lisa Rein reported (with contributions from me and Darryl Fears), Zinke offered no additional details on whether the cuts will be concentrated in some offices or spread across Interior's nine agencies when testifying in Congress last week.

"This is what a balanced budget looks like," Zinke told lawmakers on Tuesday.

Perry was similarly cautious about disclosing much about staffing levels, too. At a House budget hearing last week, Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., pressed Perry on reports that the president's proposed budget could eliminate "about 1,000 jobs" at the department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Newhouse's district. That lab employs 4,500 people, according to the Energy Department's website.

"I don't necessarily agree with that reflection," Perry said, arguing that proper management could help retain more of those jobs.

"I am comfortable that we will manage these labs in a way that continues to keep the employment levels at the level to deliver the innovation and technology that this country is going to need," Perry added, stopping short of promising there would be no job losses.

Perry's predecessor as secretary of energy, Ernest Moniz, told the Washington Post in an interview last week that he found it "rather unlikely" that the massive budget cuts would not led to significant job losses.

But, he added, it is theoretically possible. Job losses could be curtailed if the department wound down access to its user facilities, which let outside researchers use particle accelerators and other high-end experimental equipment that most universities cannot afford themselves.

"Now if the funds are cut and all the jobs are protected," Moniz said, "what that means is you can't operate the machines and then you have abandoned the scientific work of faculty and graduate students and others across the country."
The Supreme Court's ruling on a high-profile case involving a church's day-care playground surfaces will likely be used in church-state battles in the future, experts believe. The decision, released on Monday, involving a church in Missouri was seen as a victory for many advocates and a blow to those who wanted to see a high wall of separation between church and state.

The ruling has raised questions over state funding of religious institutions' secular activity, especially what it could mean for school vouchers. The court ruled 7-2 that religious organizations may not be excluded from state programs if they have a secular intent, raising questions over church-state separation without discriminating against those who are religious.

The specific church involved in the case, Trinity Lutheran Church in Missouri, wanted to participated in a state program that reimburses the cost of rubberizing playground surfaces. The state, however, said Trinity Lutheran was not allowed to participate.

If the church lost the case, some were worried that religious institutions could be barred from receiving public funding. For instance, could churches be considered ineligible for funding after natural disasters? And why did some justices disagree over a small footnote in the final ruling?

The question over whether religious institutions should receive government funding has been widely debated since President George W. Bush proposed a faith-based initiative where religious groups could apply for funding to provide social services. Where it gets complicated is the question of what constitutes funding or support for religion by the government, said Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Center at the Newseum.

In the majority opinion, the justices argue that excluding religious groups from this kind of state funding would discriminate against them based on religion. Haynes said he expects religious groups to apply for and receive government funding for a wide range of purposes, even in the 30-plus states that have Blaine Amendments that prohibit state funding of religious organizations, including schools.

The ruling, said Douglas Laycock, a professor at the University of Virginia Law School, means that Blaine Amendments are unconstitutional in at least some of their applications. "The question is how many applications, or which applications," he said. "The case is not just about playgrounds." He expects it will be easier for funds to go to religious institutions. In Colorado, the state court said the state's Blaine Amendment barred religious schools from participating in a school choice program, and Laycock expects that it will be readdressed by the court.

Some of the Blaine Amendments are written in a way that could still prevent funds from going to religious institutions, said Daniel Hemel, a professor at University of Chicago Law School. For instance, he said, Connecticut has an amendment that says "no law shall ever be made, authorizing [the School Fund] to be diverted to any other use than the encouragement and support of public schools." Even though it would essentially prevent religious institutions from receiving public funds, the Connecticut law doesn't target churches, so it is likely fine, unlike some of the wording of other amendments.

But this Supreme Court ruling, Hemel said, could give some people a new argument for including religious institutions in subsidy programs and invalidate subsidy programs that were written before this case.

- - -

A small footnote in the ruling became a hot topic of debate among observers after the decision was handed down.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the majority opinion, but Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Justice Clarence Thomas did not join a footnote where four justices state, "This case involves express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing. We do not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination." Because only four justices joined that footnote, it is technically not considered the opinion of the court.

Experts believe that the footnote in the case will be used in future church-state litigation. Does the decision limit the application of the ruling by focusing on "playground resurfacing" in this footnote? Or does the decision open the door to religious groups receiving government funds for a wide variety of purposes? Haynes of the Newseum believes the decision opens the door to funding.

"For those concerned about government entanglement with religion, this trend - and this case in particular - is a blow to the separation of church and state and thus to religious freedom," Haynes said. "For those concerned to roll back previous Court decisions upholding a strict separation of church and state, this decision will be seen as a victory for religious freedom."

In one sense, the ruling is narrow, said Richard Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, and Blaine Amendments aren't simply thrown out. "Although Footnote 3 is mysterious, it seems to me that the reasoning in this case should mean that, for example, excluding an otherwise eligible religious school from a school-choice, voucher, scholarship or tax-credit program would be difficult to justify," Garnett said. "Although this particular case is about playground surfaces . . . its rule and reasoning certainly applies more broadly."

Several advocates feared that if the court ruled the other way, religious institutions could be excluded from other government funding. Kim Colby of the Christian Legal Society said she believes this will open religious institutions to apply for other security-related programs, such as anti-terrorism security programs, FEMA programs after natural disasters or government programs to replace lead in their water or asbestos in their ceilings.

"Given the scope of government programs, this is an important holding in protecting religious organizations and individuals from discriminatory exclusion from the public square," Colby said.

The decision will likely ease some funding restrictions for religious organizations, said John Inazu, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "But the suggestion that these changes will somehow obliterate the 'wall of separation' ignores the many ways in which government funding already benefits religious institutions through tax benefits, grants, partnerships, even police and fire services," he said.

Several observers say the court's decision was narrow and won't be able to be used for other questions over state funding of religious institutions for secular purposes.

"Some proponents of government-funded religion will undoubtedly seek to use this case to attack long-standing no-aid provisions in over three-fourths of state constitutions around the country," said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. "But the court went out of its way to clarify that today's decision addressed only grants for playground resurfacing. The court expressly left questions about other funding schemes for another day."

Indeed, some observers believe the ruling does not resolve many other church-state questions. Melissa Rogers, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted how the case specifically says the Trinity Lutheran Church Child Learning Center where the playground was in question admits students of any faith, leaving cases involving religious entities that receive government aid and prefer students of a certain religion for another day.

"Expect further litigation over issues involving other forms of discrimination, religious uses of government aid and cases where there isn't express discrimination based on religious identity or character," she said.

The decision ensures that religious institutions will not be automatically disqualified from various competitions for government aid, she said. "But these entities still must compete for the aid in such cases, and many issues in this area are not resolved by this case, including many important issues related to the use of government aid that flows to religious institutions," she said.
Prime Minister Theresa May said that millions of European Union nationals living in the U.K. will enjoy the same entitlements in their daily lives as British people after Brexit, as she tried to woo the 27 remaining EU members with a sweeping promise to protect their citizens' rights.

EU expats residing in Britain will be treated as if they were British for the purposes of receiving U.K. state education, health care, benefits and pensions, May told Parliament in London on Monday. The premier said she wanted a reciprocal agreement to guarantee the rights of one million British citizens living in other EU countries.

"I know there has been some anxiety about what would happen to EU citizens at the point we leave the European Union," May told lawmakers. "I want to completely reassure people that under these plans no EU citizen currently in the U.K. lawfully will be asked to leave at the point the U.K. leaves the EU -- we want you to stay."

May needs to make quick progress on agreeing citizens' rights so she can move ahead to discuss the new trade agreement she wants with the EU after Brexit. She might need to make concessions after European leaders last week criticized her opening bid for falling short and for threatening to leave their citizens worse off than now.

An estimated 3.2 million EU nationals are currently resident in the U.K. Setting out details of her offer to them, May said that those who have been living in the U.K. for five years will get a new "settled status" after Brexit, giving them the same rights as British citizens to bring family members into the country.

This will prove to be a sticking point in talks. Nationals of EU countries currently have fewer restrictions on bringing in non-EU family members than British citizens, who must prove their income reaches a certain threshold among other things. Still, giving ground would open up May to criticism at home from euroskeptics.

In a 20-page document published for the first time on Monday, the government signaled it will keep rebuffing EU demands for the European Court of Justice to have a role in arbitrating disputes. It also said the cut-off date for rights could be set in March 2017, while the EU has said it wants it to be when Britain leaves the bloc in 2019.

The government also said it would streamline the process for applying for residency although those who recently filled in an 85-page application would still need to go through the new system.

The U.K. made some concessions. It will allow EU nationals to send benefits to children living elsewhere and also told them they won't have to prove they have comprehensive sickness insurance when seeking residency.

It also provided a template for a possible transition period for after Brexit by suggesting a "grace period" of up to two years in which applicants can get their papers in order.

May first outlined her offer at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels last week, and received a lukewarm response, with EU President Donald Tusk saying it was "below expectations."

"EU citizens make an invaluable contribution to our United Kingdom -- to our economy, our public services and our everyday lives," May told lawmakers. "They are an integral part of the economic, cultural and social fabric of our country and I have always been clear that I want to protect their rights."
The Supreme Court ruled Monday to reinstate a limited version of President Donald Trumps executive order, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, better known as the travel ban.

It will go into effect on June 29 (72 hours after the Supreme Courts ruling was issued), with the following exception: The ban may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States, according to the Supreme Court ruling. This ruling applies to tourists as well as students accepted into U.S. higher education institutions or employees of companies in the U.S. seeking new visas.

The ban, which restricts foreign nationals from six Muslim-majority countries -- Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- from entering the United States for a period of 90 days, as well as refugees from any country from entering the U.S. for 120 days, was blocked by federal circuit courts earlier this year prior to being implemented, on March 15. The block has been upheld by appeals courts. Judges in these courts cited insufficient evidence of national security risk, as well as discrimination against Muslims, in their rulings of the travel bans unconstitutionality.

Today is the last day before the Supreme Court goes on summer break; the justices will reconvene on Oct. 2 and will hear full oral arguments for the case sometime after that. The Trump administration originally issued the 90-day ban on national security grounds and has stated it will perform an internal review of vetting procedures for visa applicants from the six countries specified during the 90-day period. The justices said they fully expect this review should be complete prior to Oct. 2, so the case may no longer be relevant by then.

Some have expressed concern that the credible claim of a bona fide relationship language in the Supreme Courts June 26 ruling leaves too much room for individual interpretation and discretion -- including Justice Clarence Thomas. He wrote in his opinion that it will burden executive officials with the task of deciding -- on peril of contempt -- whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country. He wrote that this will invite a flood of litigation until this case is finally resolved.

It is yet to be seen how this will be uniformly enforced. The ruling states that, as for entities, the relationship must be formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading EO2. ... A worker who accepted an offer of employment from an American company or a lecturer invited to address an American audience [would have such a relationship with an American entity].  A nonprofit group devoted to immigration issues may not contact foreign nationals from the designated countries, add them to client lists, and then secure their entry by claiming injury from their exclusion.

The executive order in question is the second of two executive order travel bans. The first, signed by President Trump on Jan. 27, included Iraq, specified preferential treatment for Christians and banned Syrian refugees indefinitely. It was stopped by a federal court on Feb. 3.

Related: Trump's Travel Ban: What Has Happened So Far

In March, Entrepreneur explored implications of the travel ban for business travelers and entrepreneurs. It caused uncertainty and inconvenience for individuals -- even those who were permanent U.S. residents -- during the period in which it was blocked by lower courts, as individuals and organizations were aware that the ban or another iteration of it might be instated at any time.

Read: Trump Travel Ban, Even While Blocked, Casts Long Shadow Over Immigrant Entrepreneurs

Read: What Business Travelers Need to Know About Trump's Travel Ba

Related:

U.S. Supreme Court Allows Part of Trump's Travel Ban to Take Effect

Here Are the Airports You Can't Fly From With Your Laptop

Officials Put Expanded Laptop Ban on Hold That Could Have Cost Passengers Millions of Dollars in Lost Productivity



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


On the night of Oct. 22, 1957, two white men arrived at the home of Rogers Hamilton, a black teenager who lived in Alabama. They stood outside his house and called his name. Rogers's mother heard them and woke her son, who then went outside. The mother looked out the window as she saw the men order her son into a truck. She followed the truck down a road. When it stopped, the mother said, she saw clearly what happened next.

They pulled her son out of the truck and shot him in the head.

The mother, Beatrice Hamilton, reported the shooting to the farmer for whom she worked. He reported it to the Lowndes County sheriff's office. The sheriff investigated and concluded that the mother could not have possibly seen what she saw.

No one was ever arrested in the case.

Sixty years later, the killing of Rogers Hamilton remains unsolved.

His case is one of dozens of "cold case" files being investigated as part of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016, an expansion of a law passed in 2007.

After the act was signed, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) sent to the FBI and the Justice Department a list of 74 cold cases of black people allegedly killed by white people between 1952 and 1968, in "violent circumstances that may have been racially motivated." Most of the homicides occurred in Mississippi, where 32 people were killed. Others were in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

"We refer to them as 'The Forgotten,' " said Lecia Brooks, director of the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala., which honors 41 people who died in the struggle for equality during the civil rights movement. The memorial was dedicated in 1989.

"The Forgotten" are part of a display at the Civil Rights Memorial Center, but were not engraved in the memorial at that time because there was not enough information surrounding their killings when the memorial was finished.

After initial passage of the act, the 56 FBI field offices searched cold case files "to identify incidents which might be ripe for investigation," SPLC said. "Since February of 2007, the FBI and the Division have partnered with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and the National Urban League to identify additional cases for investigation and to solicit their help."

The legislation was the result of the work of Alvin Sykes, who requested a coordinated effort by federal agencies to investigate cold cases. The act was named after Emmett Till, who was 14 when he was killed in 1955 in Mississippi. Two white men accused in his death were acquitted by an all-white jury. The men later admitted in Look magazine that they had killed Till.

Nearly 60 years later, Till's accuser, Carolyn Bryant Donham, revealed she lied. She told Timothy B. Tyson, a professor at Duke University, who wrote the book "The Blood of Emmett Till," the part about Till grabbing her and being sexually crude to her "was not true."

Investigators are hoping to unearth evidence in other cases of racially motivated killings across the South in the 1950s and 1960s.

"The investigations are very important when you consider the reconciliation process in addressing many of these crimes," said Joseph E. Williams, operations coordinator for the Civil Rights Memorial. "It's important for the family. Many of these people, if their loved ones went missing and they don't have information, it's disheartening. They have to live with that for decades. They have to tell generations in their family they don't know what happened."

It's important, Williams said, to bring closure to the families. "We will continue to push the [Freedom of Information Act] requests to paint a full picture of what happened to those individuals," Williams said.

Other "Forgotten" cold cases opened after the Emmett Till Act passed include:

- Thad Christian, a 57-year-old father of seven, who was walking home from fishing when he was fatally shot by a white man, Robert Haynes, on Aug. 28, 1965. A headline in "The Anniston Star" newspaper reported, "Shot Kills Negro; White Man Jailed."

The killing occurred in Jacksonville, Ala., where Christian and his friend Shelly Kirby were fishing at a creek.

"Haynes, who lived 300 yards away, drove down to the creek twice to demand Christian and Kirby leave," Williams wrote in an SPLC report. "The second time he arrived with a gun which he used to shoot and kill Christian."

In 2009, the Justice Department interviewed Haynes's son Arthur. "He recalled as a child hearing rumors that Haynes wanted to kill a black person, presuming that his father was at the wrong place at the wrong time," the SPLC said.

Haynes pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to five years in an Alabama work camp. The Justice Department reported that Haynes died in 1968 in a car crash.

- James Brazier, 31, of Dawson, Ga., who died April 25, 1958, of a fractured skull, five days after being beaten by two white police officers. "Two white men were arrested for his murder, but neither was ever convicted," the SPLC reported. One of the officers identified in the beating was W.B. Cherry.

A month later, Cherry fatally shot Willie Countryman on May 25, 1958, in Georgia.

The Justice Department reported that the shooting occurred about 1:30 a.m., when two Dawson police officers, Cherry and Robert Hancock, went into Countryman's yard to investigate a suspicious noise.

"The subjects claimed that the victim jumped from behind a tree and cut Cherry's cap with a knife, whereupon Cherry broke free and shot the victim," the Justice Department reported. "Countryman sustained a gunshot wound to the stomach and was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival."

- Paul Guihard, a 30-year-old white French reporter for the New York-based France Presse Agency covering James Meredith's integration of the University of Mississippi, was killed on Sept. 30, 1962. The SPLC reported that Guihard was killed by a gunshot from a white mob of segregationists.

- Andrew Lee Anderson, 16, who the Justice Department said was fatally shot on Aug. 5, 1963, in Crittenden County, Ark., after six county sheriff's deputies and three "private citizens" chased him through a bean field. One of the private residents, Sam Burns, who carried a high-powered rifle, fired the shot that struck Anderson in his right leg. He died a few hours later in a Crittenden County hospital from shock caused by a hemorrhage. The death was ruled a justifiable homicide.

The Justice Department said that at a coroner's inquest, a mother of an 8-year-old white girl testified she saw Anderson chasing after her daughter. The woman said that the girl told her later that Anderson "sexually assaulted her."

Anderson's relatives reported that he was trying to help the girl after a horse she was riding was startled. Anderson's father told the NAACP in Pine Bluff, Ark., in 1963 that he thought his son's civil rights had been violated.

- Clarence Triggs, 24, a veteran of World War II, who was fatally shot by nightriders in Bogalusa, La., on July 30, 1966.

"Triggs attended one or two [integration] marches in Bogalusa," the SPLC said. "He was murdered less than two months after attending one of these demonstrations."
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Imagine being 15 again. You dream of working in the healthcare industry, maybe inspired by a family member, but quiver at the thought of spending years in school to become a nurse or doctor.

To help guide those students through the many career opportunities within the healthcare industry, teachers from school districts in Montgomery County spent the last week learning the ins and outs of health care in the county through the Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast Healthcare Extern Project. About 30 teachers, counselors and administrators from Conroe, Montgomery, Magnolia, Willis and Huntsville ISDs visited some of the county's top hospitals and the Montgomery County Hospital District hoping they can bring what they've learned back to their students in the fall.

"They can inspire the students who may not know what they want to be yet," MCHD Human Resources Manager Jodi Andersen said Monday as the teachers toured the county's Health Care Assistance Program center. "Sometimes in health care, people assume you must be a nurse, or if you work at MCHD you must be a paramedic. That's not true."

Anderson said MCHD, for example, has dozens of different job opportunities for those in the industry  from the billing department to ambulance fleet operations. HCAP also has many positions that help people navigate their healthcare options.

"They're critical because they teach the workforce of tomorrow," Andersen said. "We want them to have a very clear understanding of what kind of jobs we offer. We have many, many roles for people with all different sorts of interests. We want them to be able to see that."

That goes for the other entities involved with the project, too. The teachers also visited Conroe Regional Medical Center or Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital learning about their operations from the ground up.

When not learning on location, the school officials were gaining other hands-on experience in CPR and techniques at Lone Star College-Montgomery, which helped sponsor the project.

This is the third year Workforce Solutions has put on the extern program. Working under the Houston-Galveston Area Council, the program first started in 2015 with teachers looking in the warehouse industry with teachers in H-GAC's southern areas.

In 2016, teachers west of Houston learned about the health care industry as well, although the program had its fair share of hiccups along the way.

The 2017 program finally got its footing, according to Daniel Zendejas, who works as the principle industry liaison of public education for the Gulf Coast Workforce Board. Organizers chose Montgomery County this third year because of the county's "burgeoning" healthcare industry, Zendejas said.

Sherry Stewart teaches science and health at Conroe ISD's Moorhead Junior High and said some of her students are interested in working in the healthcare profession. She's hoping to push some of her bilingual students into the profession.

"But a lot of (my students) are intimidated by having to get a four-year degree or advanced degrees beyond that," Stewart said. "Just finding out there are a lot of fields they can go into that don't require a lot of that may make it a lot more accessible and interesting to them."

The school officials will close out their involvement with the project Thursday when they present real lesson plans they've created to bring what they've learned into the classroom.
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BISHOP, Texas (AP)  Authorities say six cows were killed and a South Texas deputy was injured during a suspected drunk driving accident.

KRIS-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2sFi5Jh ) an unidentified driver was traveling on a road around 1 a.m. Saturday when she crashed into a group of cows.
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Ron Nirenbergs administration announced Monday that former San Antonio Express-News Editorial Page Editor Bruce Davidson will be the mayors communications director.

Nirenberg also announced that he has hired Juany Torres, an integral member of his campaign staff, to be a senior adviser on policy and community engagement. Maria Luisa Cesar, a former education reporter for the Express-News who became Nirenbergs District 8 communications director, has segued into the mayors office as a senior policy adviser and deputy communications director.

Im proud to announce these new members of my team, Nirenberg said. Each brings valuable experience and commitment to the job.

The additions come on the heels of Nirenbergs first hire 10 days ago, when he announced that lobbyist Trey Jacobson, whod worked for then-Mayor Phil Hardberger, would be his chief of staff.

Torres, a Stanford University graduate, was the 2009 valedictorian of McCollum High School. She worked for Google in Mountain View, California, as a community engagement lead, working as a liaison between her company and national Latino service organizations, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She then went to work for Hillary Clintons presidential campaign, first as a field organizer, and then as a deputy digital director.

Cesar worked as a reporter for the Express-News from October 2011 to April 2015. A few months later, she joined Nirenbergs City Hall staff in the District 8 office. She started at the newspaper as an intern on the Editorial Page, working under Davidson.

He worked at the Express-News from 1981 through 2016. When he retired in December, Davidson continued to write a weekly op-ed column, though hed moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where his wife, Ronda Templeton, had moved for work. Davidson had written weekly for the newspaper until last week, when he went dark  a newspaper term for not writing a scheduled piece  because hed begun negotiations with Nirenberg over the communications director job.

According to his farewell column in the Express-News, Davidson landed a job at the newspaper when there was a three-way press war unfolding in San Antonio four decades ago. In his final column, Davidson noted the immense change the newspaper industry has undergone but underscored the press continued vital role.

Even amid all the change, the daily newspaper remains the best source for a full briefing on San Antonio news, he wrote. No other entity comes close.
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SAN ANTONIO  Police are searching for a gunman who fled after shooting a motorcyclist on the Loop 410 access road on the Northeast Side while motorists were stuck in traffic caused by an 18-wheeler crash.

Ofc. Doug Greene, a spokesman for the San Antonio Police Department, said the "series of events" that they believe led to the shooting started with a minor crash around 1 p.m. Monday near Village Drive and Loop 410.

The crash caused traffic to back up, and at one point an 18-wheeler tried to drive around the traffic and ended up driving over another vehicle. The 18-wheeler was moving at a "very slow pace" and no one was injured, Greene said.

READ ALSO: SAPD: Man arrested after threatening off-duty officer, prostitute with BB gun

"As you can imagine, now you have an accident with an 18-wheeler and another minor accident so traffic is starting to back up," Greene said.

While traffic was backed up, someone in a vehicle and a man in his 30s on a motorcycle got into an argument.

Someone inside the vehicle shot at the motorcyclist, striking him once in the stomach. The motorcyclist is believed to have driven away a short distance before crashing and "staggering off" to Village Drive, where emergency responders found him.

RELATED: Relative says 15-year-old held dying S.A. mother in arms after gunman shot her in back

The motorcyclist was transported to University Hospital in serious condition. Greene said he was not able to provide much information on the suspect in the shooting, who fled the scene after the incident.

"This may have been the result of some impatience on the part of the two individuals because of the stacked up traffic," Greene said.

Greene said police have little information on the suspect in the shooting, though some witnesses told police they heard the gunshot. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the San Antonio Police Department's Homicide Unit at 210-207-7635.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

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Days after the tragic accident, more than $20,000 has been raised for the family of a Central Texas 4-year-old who was killed in a boating accident late last week that also injured her father.

Katlyn Oliver was killed Friday at Temple Lake Park after getting caught in a boat's propeller. Her father Patrick Oliver lost both of his legs in an attempt to save the 4-year-old. Patrick Oliver remains in the ICU, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help pay for funeral and medical expenses.

"This innocent child loved her dog Kion, singing along to Frozen and cuddling with her family," reads the page.

RELATED: Father of Texas Boy Scout recounts son's death on camp hiking trip: 'This isn't supposed to happen'

Patrick Oliver was in between jobs when the accident occurred and his "medical insurance had not yet started," reads the page. In what appears to be his Facebook page, he is listed as being from San Antonio.

So far, over $23,000 has been raised through the crowdfunding source, as of Monday afternoon.

Jason Stuart Bernal, 44, was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide in relation to the incident, records obtained by mySA.com show. A Bell County arrest affidavit states that Bernal was driving a large house boat in reverse when someone told him to stop. Bernal told police at that point he could not see behind the boat as it is three stories tall.

Swimmers standing in waist-deep water behind Bernal's boat can be seen in an officer's dash cam footage, according to the affidavit.

Bernal yelled out, "clear," and after no one responded to him, he put the boat in reverse, the affidavit states.

RELATED: Troopers testify on deadly crash before grand jury

A witness told Temple Police the "boat was in full throttle while backing up."

The witness said she tried to help Katlyn and Patrick Oliver after watching them get hit with the boat, adding that she had warned Bernal that children often swim in the area, according to the affidavit.

Another witness "stated she was shouting that people were behind the boat when the boat began to back up."

An autopsy found that Katlyn Oliver died as a result of "numerous chopping wounds and drowning."

Records show that Bernal has been arrested on a number of charges, including driving while intoxicated, theft, assault causing bodily injury of a family member and criminal trespassing, since at least 2006.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
Winning in politics is as much about beating expectations as anything else. Democrats' loss in the special election in a conservative Georgia district wasn't particularly devastating in and of itself, but the fact that they really went for it made it look like a massive failure, with nothing but doom and gloom ahead.

With that in mind, I present the White House's gloating after the Supreme Court partially reinstated its travel ban on Monday.

"It's a huge win for the president and the executive order," Trump's lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said on Fox Business Network shortly after the ruling.

Some conservative writers also hailed this as a win for Trump. David French of the (not exactly Trump-friendly) National Review wrote: "Victory for Trump: SCOTUS Restores Vast Majority of Travel Ban."

This is what you might call the soft bigotry of low expectations. Yes, the Supreme Court allowed for part of the White House's travel ban to go into effect after some judges had put the whole thing on hold. But if this is what passes for a big Trump win, it's going to be a long four years for him.

For a few reasons:

1) This wouldn't really be seen as a "win" unless other judges hadn't halted the ban in the first place. If the lower courts had upheld the ban and this had been appealed to the Supreme Court by the other side, the narrative today would be that the Supreme Court just put part of Trump's travel ban on hold. It's also not altogether surprising that the more left-leaning 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would go further in halting the ban than the Supreme Court would. And the sum total is still that part of Trump's ban remains blocked, with no ruling on the overall constitutionality and the possibility that it gets partially struck down for good.

2) We are simply talking about whether Trump overstepped his constitutional bounds with the travel ban executive order - a very low bar - and not whether the broader policy is successful or popular. And in fact, a recent poll showed Americans oppose the ban 52-43.

3) The degree to which the ban is being reinstated is in the eye of the beholder. Basically, the court says the ban "may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States." This is who actually sued over the ban in the first place, and they remain exempt from it, for now.

4) This is the revised, scaled-back version of Trump's initial travel ban, which was also halted by the courts. And just a few weeks ago, Trump didn't seem to be a big fan of Version 2.0, tweeting, "The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C." We are now to believe that a ban Trump suggested was inadequate and "watered down" is some big victory for his agenda?

The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017

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5) As The Posts's Amber Phillips notes, the whole purpose of the ban is now in doubt. The White House initially pitched this as temporary travel ban needed to address an urgent national security concern while it developed more foolproof vetting procedures. It said it needed 90 days to do that (120 days for refugees); it's now been 150 days since the first attempt at a travel ban and 102 since the second (with no attacks by immigrants or refugees), but apparently the ban is still necessary? Even in their ruling, the judges seemed to allude to the idea that their input might be moot because that window had passed. Here's what the justices wrote:

---

In addition to the issues identified in the petitions, the parties are directed to address the following question: "Whether the challenges to 2(c) became moot on June 14, 2017."

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Monday's ruling is a win for Trump only insofar as it wasn't another big setback - something he's become accustomed to both legislatively and in the courts. But this is a temporary ruling that is still blocking part of a signature executive order that Trump apparently isn't a huge fan of in the first place.

For a president who said we'd grow tired of winning with him, to claim this as a big victory is pretty telling.
The arc of the moral universe may bend toward justice, but its impossible to see it in the wake of the verdict in the Philando Castile police shooting case.

We have waited long and hard for justice since Trayvon Martin, then Michael Brown, then Tamir Rice, then Alton Sterling. Surely Terence Crutchers death would be avenged, but no.

The failure to indict some officers and the acquittal of others, such as Jeronimo Yanez, in Minnesota in the Castile shooting left people with a waning hope this case would be different. Seeking justice in the criminal courts for brutality is like fetching water with a bucket full of holes. And thats because the law is flawed and ineffective for the task at hand.

Yanezs acquittal seals the message that an officers life is more important than anyone elses, particularly black and brown males and the mentally ill. Those who decry police brutality are often depicted as polarized, but these things arent mutually exclusive. Everyone involved is a victim. Had an officers implicit bias been detected, maybe officers wouldnt perceive their lives to be in danger when they clearly arent. Maybe if officers are trained to de-escalate situations, emotions on both sides would remain at an even keel. Maybe if the system provided for routine mental health care to process the officers fight-or-flight encounters over the course of a career, dangerous overreach could be avoided.

The Washington Posts Fatal Force Project reports 963 people killed by police in 2016. A quarter of those cases involved mental illness. Half of the victims were white and a quarter black. Almost all were men. One of 20 of the victims was unarmed. There is something wrong here, and people sense it.

Police agencies can take proactive steps to demonstrate genuine concern by instituting new-hire and annual mandatory bias screenings and training to detect and address implicit biases; ) annual mandatory de-escalation assessment and training; and mandatory annual mental health care assessment and treatment.

Diversity training is not enough, given the racial tensions that exist. Black men are more likely to be shot erroneously and misperceived, suspected, automatically evaluated and misremembered as aggressors, research shows. This is critically important to recognize since many deadly force laws inquire as to the reasonableness of the police officers perception of the threat. Because perception is reality, according to the law, such bias and subsequent actions can be justified when an officer perceives that he fears for his life.

In 2015, President Barack Obamas Task Force on 21st Century Policing noted the importance of de-escalation training for all police departments and highlighted the need for officers to establish a guardian mindset rather than a warrior way of thinking.

A forum survey found that of more than 280 law enforcement agencies, new recruits received an average of 58 hours of firearm training and only eight hours of de-escalation training. The forum has developed use-of-force principles with chiefs and sheriffs nationwide, emphasizing proportionality, de-escalation and the sanctity of human life, meaning all lives, not just officers.

A recent report released by the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, prompted by the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, urges police chiefs around the country to put mental health programs in place to help officers cope with on-the-job trauma, including the aftermath of mass shootings. This includes access to trusted mental health service providers and peer support programs, and designating mental health incident commanders to help officers cope with such common events as car crashes, suicides and domestic violence.

The suicide rate for police officers is higher than for the general public  106 officers killed themselves in 2016, 126 in 2012, and 143 in 2009, for example. More than 200,000 suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or some other form of emotional stress, according to The Badge of Life, officers working to prevent police suicides.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Maybe that justice lies in recognizing the humanity of both police and the policed and not in the court system.

Yulise R. Waters is an attorney in Dallas.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry is one of the many creaking dinosaurs entrenched in the energy standoff: 19th-century technology versus 21st-century technology.

As a native Texan, I can attest to the rising temperatures over the past 20 years. Its hotter, and its going to get unbearable. Winter was identifiable by cold weather 20 years ago. Now, its a blip in the transition from fall to spring.

Hmmm. Could it be that these dinos tiny, little arms can reach just far enough into the coal bin?

And if ocean waters are the culprit for global warming, tell that to the Spring Breakers at Port Aransas. With this astounding ignorance, were all going to get burned.

Pat Jackson

In love with words

Re: Emulating the linguistic concinnity of sesquipedalians, Rafael Castillo, Opinion, June 18:

I enjoyed the column by Dr. Rafael Castillo. I was fortunate to have met and corresponded with William F. Buckley Jr. for 30 years. He loved words and peanut butter, and had a great sense of humor. I sent him the word arachibutyrophobia, which means the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. He didnt care for the word, calling it a zoo word. Which it is, but he did mention it in an article and two of his books.

WFB said that words are only unusual if you dont use them. If you dont know a words meaning, look it up. Your life will be enriched.

John W. Calland

Rude, not shushed

Re: No more shushing, Your Turn, June 19:

I watched every minute of the hearings when Sen. Kamala Harris was allegedly shushed by the intelligence committee chairman. Being a woman had nothing to do with it.

He did not shush her but rather admonished her for not giving the witness a chance to answer. She would ask a question, the witness would start to answer, and she would interrupt with another question before she got an answer to the question she had just asked.

Chairman Richard Burr merely admonished her to give the witness a chance to answer. He did not tell her to be quiet. She spent so much time interrupting the witness that she ran out of time. No other woman on the committee was shushed, including Sen. Diane Feinstein.

Sen. Harris was rude and exhibited unprofessional behavior, plain and simple. Big difference.

Ruth E. Webster

Ground this plan

Re: Trump pushes privatization plan for ancient air traffic system, Nation & World, June 6:

Among the many harebrained schemes proposed by the current resident of the White House is the privatization of air traffic control.

The existing system, even with its faults, has recorded the safest past few years in our aviation history. New avionics, now being employed, are making air space even safer. Privatization means adding the profit motive to those companies that will run the system.

As a private pilot, I am aggravated that, if this plan is enacted, many in general aviation will be forced to pay even more, completely unnecessary fees to satisfy those profits.

The airlines, foolishly supporting this move, are shortsighted. There is an acute shortage of new pilots to fill the cockpits of the growing number of planes in the airline inventories. Flight schools that train civilian pilots will be forced to increase tuition, thus lowering the pool of young people who can afford the lengthy training process they must go through to become airline pilots.

Socialized air traffic control may be dirty words to some, but consider the cost of two tickets to visit Grandma next Christmas if this goes into effect.

Don Friedrich

No health debate

All the investigations into the world of Donald Trump are distracting Americans from the continuing assault by Congress on the middle and working classes.

A small Senate cabal, including Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, secretly drafted the Senate version of the hugely unpopular American Health Care Act without committee hearings, readings or public input. Compare this to the passage of the Affordable Care Act: The House alone had 79 hearings, 181 witnesses and 121 amendments.

Now, Republicans mean to fast-track the current plan into law. A massive tax cut bill disguised as a health care bill, it apparently will take health care from millions, raise premiums for older adults, cost more with less coverage, and reimpose annual and lifetime limits.

Yet there was no debate before the bill was made public. This is unacceptable.

Scott Robertson

A fountain, too

Re: Time to rethink the reimagining, R. Michael Berrier, Another View, June 19:

I like what Mr. Berrier has to say. The Alamo is part of the present, though related to the past.

I support leaving Alamo Street open as a one-way street. I disagree somewhat with Mr. Berrier as to buses. A limited number of buses should be allowed for viewing landmarks at Alamo Plaza. I agree that commuter lines should be routed around the area.

Most important, Alamo Plaza should remain a dynamic part of 21st-century San Antonio culture.

Francille Radman

P.S. A fountain would be nice.

Acknowledge threat

Recently, a former FBI assistant director stated it is just a matter of time before a terrorist attack kills a lot of people in the United States.

Knowing this, we should go on the offensive to prove him wrong. Expand profiling, stop-and-frisk and electronic eavesdropping. These are minor inconveniences to save lives.

If we do not acknowledge the severity of the threat, America will suffer.

David L. Hall
STAMFORD  A New York woman has been charged with making serious threats to Stamford Hospital employees.

Deborah Acosta, 40, of Yonkers, N.Y., has been charged with first-degree threatening and held in lieu of a $100,000 court appearance bond.
A BEITBRIDGE man has appeared in court for allegedly attacking two soldiers controlling traffic at the border post before trying to disarm them in separate incidents.

This was heard by Beitbridge magistrate Toindepi Zhou when Nhlanhla Mpala (35) appeared before him on Friday charged with two counts of attempted robbery.

He was not asked to plead to the charge and was remanded in custody to July 8 for trial.

The court was told that on May 28 at 8:30am, Mpala pounced on two soldiers stationed at 1.3 Reserve Battalion, Thubalenkosi Mlotshwa (28) of Pumula South in Bulawayo and Lukile Moyo (25) of Nketa, Bulawayo currently deployed at Beitbridge Border Post before attempting to wrest guns from them.

It is the State case that on the first count, Mlotshwa was controlling traffic at Beitbridge Border Post truck entrance armed with a loaded AK47 rifle.

Mpala allegedly struck her with a stone once on the head.

Mlotshwa fell to the ground, thereby dropping her rifle.

As Mpala tried to reach for the gun, Moyo stepped on the rifle, preventing him from grabbing it.

It is the State case that Mlotshwa sustained lacerations on the head and bruises on the right elbow and was taken to Beitbridge Hospital for medical attention.

Mpala was arrested.

It is also the State case that following his arrest, Mpala again tried to grab Moyos AK47 rifle.

Moyo and one Lance Corporal Rwizi managed to overpower him.

Mpala was then handed over to the police.

Munyonga Kuvarega prosecuted.

 NewsDay

Breaking News via Email
ALEXANDRIA, Va., and WASHINGTON  NACS and the American Red Cross announced a new partnership to advance community giving and disaster relief programs for NACS member companies. NACS is the first retail-focused association to partner with the American Red Cross on such a program.

The groups are currently focusing on developing resources to facilitate donation collection by convenience store companies nationwide, as well as encouraging volunteer assistance programs for Red Cross volunteers around specific local or national events.

Convenience stores contribute nearly $1 billion a year to charitable organizations. Four in five convenience store companies (80%) say theyve made donations when there was a specific emergency or crisis in the community, according to a 2016 NACS member survey.

The announcement of the partnership is aligned with the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The Red Cross responds to nearly 64,000 disasters each year, most of which are home fires, and deploys volunteer disaster relief workers to support their efforts. Donations are crucial to the success of their missions, and NACS will be working closely with its members to help them achieve their goals.

NACS and the American Red Cross are closely aligned in how they make a meaningful difference in communities. Convenience stores are in every community in the country and they often are the only retailer open in times of episodic events. This agreement, developed through our NACS Foundation, will help advance the existing programs in which convenience stores provide immediate access to donations as well as food, fuel and beverages for volunteers, said NACS President & CEO Henry Armour.

Were extremely excited to partner with NACS and its members as they work with us to provide help and hope to people impacted by disasters, said Don Herring, chief development officer at the American Red Cross. Donations through their network of convenience stores and customers will allow the Red Cross to deploy volunteers, respond immediately with food and shelter during a disaster, as well as support disaster survivors through the recovery process.

NACS and the American Red Cross are developing and disseminating tools and resources for retailers, available at convenience.org/redcross.
SAVANNAH, Ga.  Parkers recently hosted the 2017 Outstanding Students Award Ceremony, where Parkers President and CEO Greg Parker presented scholarship checks and gifts to six exceptional area high school students.

Dr. Paul Pressly, the director emeritus of the Ossabaw Island Educational Alliance, served as the featured speaker for the event, which took place at the Parkers corporate office in Savannah, Georgia, on June 21.

"Im so proud of each of you, Parker told the students being honored. At Parkers, we believe that when you educate young people, the whole community rises. Education is so important.

Madeline Prince, who recently graduated from Hilton Head High School on Hilton Head Island, S.C.; Collins Sherrill of Benedictine Military School; Brianna Hayes of Appling County High School; Mac Orie of Hilton Head Preparatory School; Haley Fowler of Effingham County High School; and Alex LeFavi of South Effingham High School, each received $500 scholarships.

Since January, Parkers has honored one outstanding student each month in Georgia or South Carolina for excellence in the classroom, in the community and in sports. A panel of judges carefully reviewed every nomination and identified the following winners:

Madeline Prince of Hilton Head Island High School (January) was awarded the top $1,000 academic scholarship. She will attend the U.S. Naval Academy in the fall and hopes to become the first female commander of a nuclear-powered submarine.

was awarded the top $1,000 academic scholarship. She will attend the U.S. Naval Academy in the fall and hopes to become the first female commander of a nuclear-powered submarine. Collins Sherrill of Benedictine Military School (February) was awarded a $500 scholarship and will attend Georgia Tech in the fall.

was awarded a $500 scholarship and will attend Georgia Tech in the fall. Brianna Hayes of Appling County High School (March) was awarded a $500 scholarship and will attend the University of Georgia in the fall.

was awarded a $500 scholarship and will attend the University of Georgia in the fall. Mac Orie of Hilton Head Preparatory School (April) was awarded a $500 scholarship and will attend the University of Georgia in the fall.

was awarded a $500 scholarship and will attend the University of Georgia in the fall. Haley Fowler of Effingham County High School (May) was awarded a $500 scholarship and will attend Georgia Southern University in the fall.

was awarded a $500 scholarship and will attend Georgia Southern University in the fall. Alex LeFavi of South Effingham High School (June) was awarded a $500 scholarship and will attend George Washington University in the fall.

A strong supporter of education, Parkers donates a portion of every gallon of gas sold on the first Wednesday of each month to area schools through the Fueling the Community program, which originally launched in 2011. PumpPal club members can select which school will receive the proceeds from their Fueling the Community gas purchase on the first Wednesday.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente

I think Ill add a few more UPDATEs shortly Lambert

Trade

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House today, where they are expected to broach a wide-range of issues, including arms sales to energy deals. On the trade side, the question is whether a Trump-Modi partnership will move the commercial needle on the relationship in areas where businesses felt the Obama administrations Strategic and Commercial Dialogue fell short [Politico]. The U.S. is looking for things like stronger intellectual property protections, reductions in tariffs and I think this visit offers an opportunity to advance that trade dialogue and look for opportunities that will enhance prosperity and create jobs for both sides, the official said, adding later that India may want better access in the U.S. for exports of its mangoes. Thats whats on the table? Mangoes? Really?

The Trump administrations move toward imposing steel tariffs on national security grounds is drawing resistance from within the U.S. Senior lawmakers from both parties are raising concerns that other countries could use the same argument to block exports from their statesThe warnings include a caution from Rep. Kevin Brady, the Texas Republican who chairs the House committee that oversees trade policy, who joined critics in saying the moves could raise domestic prices for steel and undercut jobs and wages. The pushback from Congress could slow White House efforts to redraw the direction of global steel trade, a pillar of the global industrial economy, by erecting barriers to imported steel. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says steel and aluminum are national security issues, a rarely-used characterization that could set the groundwork for tariffs. For some lawmakers, however, the economic impact of steel shipping may carry more weight [Wall Street Journal].

Politics

Policy

Live blog of orders and opinions | June 26, 2017 [SCOTUSblog].

Health Care

1 big thing: McConnells week of reckoning [Axios]. A good outline of the moving parts and the challenges McConnell faces. One person on McConnells staff has been telling associates that theres a 60% chance he can pass the bill. But most folks Ive talked to in McConnells orbit say its more like a jump ball. Planned Parenthood is a sleeper issue: Lisa Murkowski has said she wont vote for a bill that defunds PP. Susan Collins will likely join her, so all it would take would be one more Republican to sink the bill over abortion alone. Why Dems cant break through on Obamacare repeal [Politico]. What we want is for this to be in the headlines, on the front page of newspapers every morning, and it hasnt been because its been such a secretive process, Angel Padilla, policy director of the liberal group Indivisible, said in an interview. I see that Indivisible has picked up the Democrat habit of blaming everyone but themselves. Being unable to focus on health care is the opportunity cost of always focusing on Putin. Even after 43 disability-rights activists, including many in wheelchairs, got dragged out and arrested outside McConnells office Thursday, Padilla said he saw most of the evening news programs still talking about tapes of former FBI Director James Comey that Trump initially suggested existed before saying they dont. Well, who drove the media conversation away from Padillas stunt and toward the tapes? Months of propaganda by Clintonites, thats who. Where the Senate Health Care Bill Fails [Ron Johnson, NYT]. Johnson is one of the five Republican hold-outs: The bills defenders will say it repeals Obamacares taxes and reduces Medicaid spending growth. Thats true. But it also boosts spending on subsidies, and it leaves in place the pre-existing-condition rules that drive up the cost of insurance for everyone. Instead, we should return more flexibility to states, to give individuals the freedom and choice to buy plans they want without Obamacares reforms. And we should look to improve successful models for protecting individuals with pre-existing conditions, models underway prior to Obamacare, such as those in Maine and Wisconsin. Maine? Huh? Did I not get the memo? CBO score sure to add to McConnells headaches [Politico]. The CBO is poised to tell Senate Republicans this week that their health plan will leave millions more uninsured than Obamacare  with the losses estimated from 15 million to 22 million over a decade, according to a half-dozen budget analysts polled by POLITICO. Hard to sell the bill if fewer are covered, no? HHS Secretary: The Congressional Budget Office Is Not Accurate' [The Atlantic]. A pre-emptive strike. Price: The CBO does a great job on budget; they do a relatively poor job of what the coverage consequences of a healthcare plan are. Their abilityanybodys abilityto predict what human behavior is going to be without looking at the entire construct, is difficult. I would suggest to you that the numbers the CBO had before with the ACA, and the numbers they have now, are not accurate. Its true (as Trump administration officials have repeatedly pointed out) that CBO greatly overestimated the number who would get government-subsidized coverage through the new insurance exchanges. But at the same time, CBO underestimated the number who would get coverage through expanding Medicaid [FactCheck]. UPDATE A side-by-side comparison of Obamacare and the GOPs replacement plans [Los Angeles Times]. Though the draft will change. UPDATE [S]ome of the measures most egregious, harshest provisions are well-disguised. Theyre hidden deep in its underbrush or in the maze of legislative verbiage [Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times]. States will have more authority to reimpose lifetime and annual benefit caps and eliminate essential health benefits. This may be the most insidious provision of the repeal bill, and certainly is the most deeply hidden. The Senate bill will open the door to states forcing people with preexisting conditions  to pay far, far higher costs than everyone else. Its buried in changes made to the ACAs so-called Section 1332 waivers, which are designed to allow states to try innovative approaches to healthcare, especially through their Medicaid programs. A hearty round of applause for the Democrat Establishment: First @SEIU2015, now Planned Parenthood supports @Rendon63rd's block of #SinglePayer healthcare for ALL@PPact against healthcare Wot m8?? pic.twitter.com/HvpAWlgsuo  Labor for Revolution (@LaborForBernie) June 25, 2017

2016 Post Mortem

Bernie Sanders Investigation Is The New Lock Her Up' [Above the Law]. A look at the accusations brought by attorney and right-wing gadfly Brady Toensing (as publicized in Politico). For example: Um welcome to accounting. This account sounds shady, but  without vouching for any specific accounting principles  recognizing revenue in installments even if its coming in a lump sum is perfectly acceptable. Again, thats not saying it was the appropriate way to account for this request, but the way this report reads makes counting funds over time seem like an insane tactic when its just not. Readers know my views on college administrators, and Jane Sanders may not have been a very good one. But if I were keeping a list of which college administrators should get a visit from the FBI, Jane Sanders wouldnt be near the top. Democrats will keep failing until they do their own autopsy [USA Today]. Why have a serious examination of whats gone wrong when you can keep tweeting #Resist, marching in pink hats and cheering on Alec Baldwin? The writer is a former Bush speechwriters, but its hard to say shes wrong. UPDATE How Hillary Clintons Loyal Confidants Could Cost Her the Election [Vanity Fair]. In light of Shattered, this 2015 article is prescient, and worth a read even today. I remember when some set of emails to and from Hillary came out in 2016, and both Yves and I scanned them looking for dirt, but all we came away with was a sense of how amazingly sycophantic Clintons inner circle was. In light of the Clinton campaigns utterly dysfunctional decision making, and Clintons remarkable ability to persist in denying all responsibility for her loss (I take responsibility for every decision I make  but thats not why I lost was an instant classic), it looks like that the sycophancy was the dirt. All the perfumes of Arabia

Ossoff Debacle

UPDATE It pisses me off that I have friends who literally gave Jon Ossoff $5 a week and it was torched (h/t Van Jones) on completely greedy and incompetent consultants who abuse the progressive community online in a manner that makes Donald Trump look kind and honest [Why Democrats Lose]. Millions in March alone went to Mothership Strategies. I am not alone in my outrage on this and another article estimates that in total they were paid over $4,000,000. For what was at the most six months work. Nice work if you can get it. UPDATE Once more on Rodney Stooksbury (D): Keep donating to @TheDemocrats, rich people, we have a Consultancy-Industrial Complex to feed!

(relax, we won't win & crash the gravy train) pic.twitter.com/HE0Ewfe0LG  Very Serious People (@TheXclass4Ever) June 26, 2017

2020

UPDATE Im torn. Zuckerberg running could be really horrible. Or it could be fun. Right now, Im leaning toward fun:

Mark Zuckerberg is in Iowa. "Iowa is my kind of place." pic.twitter.com/75IDG3mKrV  Yashar Ali (@yashar) June 24, 2017 UPDATE Do Zucks props look creeped out, or what? Mark Zuckerberg loves being a normal guy who casually chats with his fellow humans pic.twitter.com/UDdXBCxGSr  Hippo (@InternetHippo) June 24, 2017 UPDATE Facebook to expand its Altoona data center [Des Moines Register]. Coincidence, Im sure. I mean, its not like Facebook has money to throw away (and do note the tendency to site data centers in colonized areas). UPDATE You Can Now Donate to a Mark Zuckerberg for President Campaign [Fortune]. Why?

2018

Bernie Sanders isnt backing Tim Canova in his second bid against Wasserman Schultz [McClatchy].

Realignment and Legitimacy

UPDATE America is in the middle of a major political realignment [as Ive been saying] While the focus is on the Republican partys internecine fight among corporate realists, political ideologues and the wild-card president, it is a mistake to assume that the Democrats are going to sweep into office in 2018 and 2020 to replace the corroding Republicans. The Democrats are also in a profound struggle over their future [Guardian]. Unlike the Republicans, though, who will have to reinvent themselves if they are ever to recover from the damage of the Trump era, the Democrats have the opportunity to heal their differences for an easier transition to a new political era. Establishment Democrats are not wrong to put faith in experience: Clinton, after all, lost the electoral college, but won the popular vote by more than two points. The upstart Democrats who rallied to Sanders are, though, demanding a focus on economic fairness, one that echoes the Democratic leadership of the 1930s. Im not sure the author is right on either count. On the Democrats, the Establishment has taken every opportunity to avoid healing: Perez over Ellison, suppressing #MedicareForAll in the astroturf Resistance campaign, now suppressing SB562 in California Why Are Millions of Citizens Not Registered to Vote? [Pew Charitable Trusts]. [L]ittle is known about eligible but unregistered U.S. citizens exposure to opportunities to register, reasons for choosing not to, or attitudes toward the electoral system and civic engagement, or how many of them are interested in registering in the future. Its almost like the political class doesnt want to expand the electorate Adviser resigns after vote tampering scandal at Vista Murrieta High School [Press-Enterprise]. Many of the votes, he said, were made at 10:30 p.m. or later, in 40-second increments, by someone who appeared to be going down a list alphabetically and voting for certain candidates. Kids theres a lesson for us all, here

Stats Watch

Durable Goods Orders, May 2017: Aircraft had been the strength but is now the weakness for durable goods which, pulled down by a second straight downswing for commercial aircraft, fell 1.1 percent in May. When excluding transportation, a reading that excludes aircraft, orders actually rose, but not very much at only 0.1 percent which falls 4 tenths shy of Econodays consensus [Econoday]. An unquestionable negative in the report is an unexpected 0.2 percent decline for core capital goods orders (nondefense excluding aircraft). This report isnt all bad but the capital goods readings are a tangible disappointment for the second-quarter outlook, pointing to lack of confidence in business prospects. The data contrast sharply with the ongoing strength in regional surveys. But in actual government data, the factory sector isnt having a breakout year as some had hoped. And: The data overall was relatively disappointing with little evidence of animal spirits surrounding investment plans which will maintain doubts surrounding the US outlook [Economic Calendar]. And but: Our analysis is more postitive than the headlines as we see improvement this month. Non-Defense and defense aircraft were the main headwind this month. This series has wide swings monthly so our primary metric is the unadjusted three month rolling average which improved [Econintersect]. What should be concerning to analysts is the continuing contraction of the unadjusted backlog (unfilled orders) which again declined this month primarily due to capital goods. Following the bearded on for a moment, I dont see how you can have a healthy capitalist economy without investment in fixed capital. Of course, under globalization, that investment could be anywhere (except resource extraction and services that are geographically constrained) and these stats apply only to the US.

Chicago Fed National Activity Index, May 2017: A decline in manufacturing production and weakness in employment combined to pull down the national activity index to minus 0.26 in May from a revised plus 0.57 in April [Econoday]. This report underscores how soft May really was for a second-quarter that looks increasingly at risk. And: The Overall CFNAI data will, however, raise fresh doubts surrounding the US economic outlook which will tend to increase doubts surrounding the second-quarter GDP outlook. Markets will want evidence of a rebound early in the third quarter to underpin confidence in the economy [Economic Calendar]. And: Chicago Fed Index Points to Slower Economic Growth in May [Calculated Risk]. And but: The single month index which is not used for economic forecasting which unfortunately is what the CFNAI headlines. [S]ee the three month rolling average for the last 6 months  it had been staying within a very tight range around the trend rate of growth of zero  and last months significant deviation from this range has been negated [Econintersect].

Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey, June 2017: In an understandable slowing from unusual acceleration, the Dallas Feds general activity index slipped to 15.0 in June vs 17.2 in May [Econoday]. And: This suggests solid growth, although at a slower pace than in May. The recent decline in oil prices might impact the Dallas surveys in coming months [Calculated Risk]. Though the general activity index is at its lowest level since November last year, cooling in this report is welcome given the unsustainable rates of growth in prior months. And: This survey declined but remained in positive territory with both new orders and unfilled orders in positive territory, and both declined [Econintersect].

Housing: Freddie Mac: Mortgage Serious Delinquency rate declined in May, Lowest since May 2008 [Calculated Risk].

Debt: The credit collapse continues (charts) [Mosler Economics].

Supply Chain: The projections prepared by the Panama Canal regarding international trade demonstrate the need, within 15 years or less, for a second expansion of the waterway, but climate change appears to present an obstacle to those plans due to its effect on water sources [Latin American Tribune]. A fourth set of locks without more water is just a dream, said Panama Canal Authority (ACP) administrator Jorge Quijano in discussing the plans for a future second expansion of the waterway A sign that climate change is occurring is that already in Panama there has not been as before, continuous precipitation in  May, June and July, when  in the past  there always used to be rain almost every day.'

Shipping: CEVA Logistics has added to the growing list of China-Europe rail freight services by launching a new rail service linking Shilong in southern Chinas Guangdong province to Hamburg in Germany via the southern route' [Lloyds Loading]. Interesting to see China running rail freight across the world island (along with turning the South China sea not into a Chinese lake, but land.

The Bezzle: For the slew of startups targeted in e-commerce consolidation, there is a sober reality to being acquired by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Very sober. Workers at Jet.com Inc. found that one early change after Wal-Mart bought the Hoboken, N.J.-based business last year was that the office booze disappeared.. and that the startups regular Thursday evening happy hour was moved out of the office. Those kind of office-culture changes arent necessarily noticeable to customers, but theyre getting greater attention as traditional companies use acquisitions to catch up to online commerce trends and run into the free-wheeling, casual practices at startups [Wall Street Journal].

The Bezzle: These are the next industries that will go the way of taxis and hotels [MarketWatch]. WSJ: How is health care going to be Uberized? Arun Sundararajan [a professor at New York Universitys Stern School of Business]: A whole host of noncritical servicesnot things like open heart surgery but things like I cut my finger cooking and I need someone to stitch it up for mecan be platform-mediated. You find a registered nurse in your neighborhood. You dont actually go to an emergency room for a noncritical thing. You instead find a platform-mediated solution. Part of whats holding us back at this point is that we havent built up sufficient trust through platforms for things that are as high-stakes as health care . Wowsers. After Uber, we havent built up sufficient trust for calling a cab! (And why not take care of that Registered Nurse with a Jobs Guarantee. Isnt a Jobs Guarantee The Ultimate Platform?

Five Horsemen: Alphabet and Amazon continue to lead the pack while Apple languishes [Hat tip, Jim Haygood].

Rapture Index: Closes down one on floods (The lack of activity has downgraded this category) [Rapture Ready]. Record high: 189, October 10, 2016. Current: 181.

Todays Fear & Greed Index: 53 Neutral (previous close: 52, Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 57 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed. Last updated Jun 26 at 12:08pm.

Class Warfare

in all racial groups, the top 10 percent owns over 70% of the group's wealth pic.twitter.com/L2FyBSMsu2  Matt Bruenig (@MattBruenig) June 24, 2017

Californias Wine Industry was Built on Slave Labor [Daily Beast (Re Silc)]. Primitive accumulation

News of the Wired

Eleven [Haggard Hawks]. Why not Oneteen?

The US government says you shouldnt be forced to use special characters in your passwords [Quartz].

The Oxford English Dictionary Just Added Woke. Its Older Than You Might Think [Time].

Sci-Hub As Necessary, Effective Civil Disobedience [Bjorn Brembs].

Forced Context Collapse or The Right to Hide in Plain Sight [tressiemc].

How Barbed Wire Changed Farming Forever [JSTOR Daily]. To get a sense of barbed wires impact, [economist Richard] Hornbeck compared counties with very little woodlandwhere wood fences were difficult and expensive to constructwith more wooded areas. He found that, between 1880 and 1900, settlement in counties with no woodland increased by 26 percentage points relative to those with 6 percent woodland. At the same time, many farmers in the areas with few trees shifted from haywhich animals might snack on but wouldnt wreck completelyto crops like corn, which were more valuable but also more vulnerable.

* * *

And heres todays plant (LR):

LR writes:

When a jade plant and a spider plant find true love.

. Another plantidote from the Central Cemetery in Montevideo Uruguay. Winter is just started down here but still I can find things that are blooming. Although this isnt a tropical environment, it never freezes and is generally humid all year round. Right now were having whats called Little Summer, the last warm spell before winter.

Not so sure about the true love part, but it would be nice to see more plants from other countries (and from expats).

* * *

Readers, Water Cooler is a standalone entity, not supported by the Naked Capitalism fundraisers. Please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. Water Cooler will not exist without your continued help.
Yves here. Nick Turse paints a compelling picture of how the US military refuses to learn an obvious lesson: deploying its best troops to support various local causes near and dear to our geopolitical interests has again and again failed.

Turse does not tease out why the officialdom doubles down on a losing strategy. This does not appear to be a case where the role of enriching the military-industrial complex would seem to play a major role. The special ops forces are mainly involved in fighting along with, training and supporting local armies and operatives, and do not seem to be manning big ticket war toys.

One is left wondering if the US never learned the fundamental lesson of Vietnam: you cant prop up a regime opposed by the majority of the population unless it is openly authoritarian and pretty good at crushing the opposition. Our not-very-competent imperialists seem to think that other nations naturally want to side with the US, and it merely takes surgical interventions to bring about what people living in the Beltway-Langley bubble seem to regard as the natural order.

By Nick Turse, the managing editor of TomDispatch, a fellow at the Nation Institute, and a contributing writer for the Intercept. His book Tomorrows Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa received an American Book Award in 2016. His latest book is Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead: War and Survival in South Sudan. His website is NickTurse.com. Originally published at TomDispatch

The tabs on their shoulders read Special Forces, Ranger, Airborne. And soon their guidon  the colors of Company B, 3rd Battalion of the U.S. Armys 7th Special Forces Group  would be adorned with the Bandera de Guerra, a Colombian combat decoration.

Today we commemorate sixteen years of a permanent fight against drugs in a ceremony where all Colombians can recognize the special counternarcotic brigades hard work against drug trafficking, said Army Colonel Walther Jimenez, the commander of the Colombian militarys Special Anti-Drug Brigade, last December. Americas most elite troops, the Special Operations forces (SOF), have worked with that Colombian unit since its creation in December 2000. Since 2014, four teams of Special Forces soldiers have intensely monitored the brigade. Now, they were being honored for it.

Part of a $10 billion counter-narcotics and counterterrorism program, conceived in the 1990s, special ops efforts in Colombia are a much ballyhooed American success story. A 2015 RAND Corporation study found that the program represents an enduring SOF partnership effort that managed to help foster a relatively professional and capable special operations force. And for a time, coca production in that country plummeted. Indeed, this was the ultimate promise of Americas Plan Colombia and efforts that followed from it. Over the longer haul, we can expect to see more effective drug eradication and increased interdiction of illicit drug shipments, President Bill Clinton predicted in January 2000.

Today, however, more than 460,000 acres of the Colombian countryside are blanketed with coca plants, more than during the 1980s heyday of the infamous cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. U.S. cocaine overdose deaths are also at a 10-year high and first-time cocaine use among young adults has spiked 61% since 2013. Recent findings suggest that cocaine use may be reemerging as a public health concern in the United States, wrote researchers from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in a study published in December 2016  just after the Green Berets attended that ceremony in Colombia. Cocaine, the studys authors write, may be making a comeback.

Colombia is hardly an anomaly when it comes to U.S. special ops deployments  or the results that flow from them. For all their abilities, tactical skills, training prowess, and battlefield accomplishments, the capacity of U.S. Special Operations forces to achieve decisive and enduring successes  strategic victories that serve U.S. national interests  have proved to be exceptionally limited, a reality laid bare from Afghanistan to Iraq, Yemen to the Philippines.

The fault for this lies not with the troops themselves, but with a political and military establishment that often appears bereft of strategic vision and hasnt won a major war since the 1940s. Into this breach, elite U.S. forces are deployed again and again. While special ops commanders may raise concerns about the tempo of operations and strains on the force, they have failed to grapple with larger questions about the raison detre of SOF, while Washingtons oversight establishment, notably the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, have consistently failed to so much as ask hard questions about the strategic utility of Americas Special Operations forces.

Special Ops at War

We operate and fight in every corner of the world, boasts General Raymond Thomas, the chief of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM). On a daily basis, we sustain a deployed or forward stationed force of approximately 8,000 across 80-plus countries. They are conducting the entire range of SOF missions in both combat and non-combat situations. Those numbers, however, only hint at the true size and scope of this global special ops effort. Last year, Americas most elite forces conducted missions in 138 countries  roughly 70% of the nations on the planet, according to figures supplied to TomDispatch by U.S. Special Operations Command. Halfway through 2017, U.S. commandos have already been deployed to an astonishing 137 countries, according to SOCOM spokesman Ken McGraw.

Special Operations Command is tasked with carrying out 12 core missions, ranging from counterinsurgency and unconventional warfare to hostage rescue and countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Counterterrorism  fighting what the command calls violent extremist organizations (VEOs)  may, however, be what Americas elite forces have become best known for in the post-9/11 era. The threat posed by VEOs remains the highest priority for USSOCOM in both focus and effort, says Thomas.

Special Operations Forces are the main effort, or major supporting effort for U.S. VEO-focused operations in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, across the Sahel of Africa, the Philippines, and Central/South America  essentially, everywhere Al Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are to be found

More special operators are deployed to the Middle East than to any other region. Significant numbers of them are advising Iraqi government forces and Iraqi Kurdish soldiers as well as Kurdish YPG (Popular Protection Unit) fighters and various ethnic Arab forces in Syria, according to Linda Robinson, a senior international policy analyst with the RAND Corporation who spent seven weeks in Iraq, Syria, and neighboring countries earlier this year.

During a visit to Qayyarah, Iraq  a staging area for the campaign to free Mosul, formerly Iraqs second largest city, from the control of Islamic State fighters  Robinson saw a recently installed U.S. military medical unit and its ICU set up in tents on the base. In a type of mission seldom reported on, special ops surgeons, nurses, and other specialists put their skills to work on far-flung battlefields not only to save American lives, but to prop up allied proxy forces that have limited medical capabilities. For example, an Air Force Special Operations Surgical Team recently spent eight weeks deployed at an undisclosed location in the Iraq-Syria theater, treating 750 war-injured patients. Operating out of an abandoned one-story home within earshot of a battlefield, the specially trained airmen worked through a total of 19 mass casualty incidents and more than 400 individual gunshot or blast injuries.

When not saving lives in Iraq and Syria, elite U.S. forces are frequently involved in efforts to take them. U.S. SOF are being thrust into a new role of coordinating fire support, wrote Robinson. This fire support is even more important to the Syrian Democratic Forces, a far more lightly armed irregular force which constitutes the major ground force fighting ISIS in Syria. In fact, a video shot earlier this year, analyzed by the Washington Post, shows special operators acting as an observation element for what appears to be U.S. airstrikes carried out by A-10 ground attack aircraft to support Syrian Democratic Forces fighting for the town of Shadadi.

Africa now ranks second when it comes to the deployment of special operators thanks to the exponential growth in missions there in recent years. Just 3% of U.S. commandos deployed overseas were sent to Africa in 2010. Now that number stands at more than 17%, according to SOCOM data. Last year, U.S. Special Operations forces were deployed to 32 African nations, about 60% of the countries on the continent. As I recently reported at VICE News, at any given time, Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and other special operators are now conducting nearly 100 missions across 20 African countries.

In May, for instance, Navy SEALs were engaged in an advise and assist operation alongside members of Somalias army and came under attack. SEAL Kyle Milliken was killed and two other U.S. personnel were injured during a firefight that also, according to AFRICOM spokesperson Robyn Mack, left three al-Shabaab militants dead. U.S. forces are also deployed in Libya to gather intelligence in order to carry out strikes of opportunity against Islamic State forces there. While operations in Central Africa against the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), a brutal militia that has terrorized the region for decades, wound down recently, a U.S. commando reportedly killed a member of the LRA as recently as April.

Spring Training

What General Thomas calls building partner nations capacity forms the backbone of the global activities of his command. Day in, day out, Americas most elite troops carry out such training missions to sharpen their skills and those of their allies and of proxy forces across the planet.

This January, for example, Green Berets and Japanese paratroopers carried out airborne training near Chiba, Japan. February saw Green Berets at Sanaa Training Center in northwest Syria advising recruits for the Manbij Military Council, a female fighting force of Kurds, Arabs, Christians, Turkmen, and Yazidis. In March, snowmobiling Green Berets joined local forces for cold-weather military drills in Lapland, Finland. That same month, special operators and more than 3,000 troops from Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom took part in tactical training in Germany.

In the waters off Kuwait, special operators joined elite forces from the Gulf Cooperation Council nations in conducting drills simulating a rapid response to the hijacking of an oil tanker. In April, special ops troops traveled to Serbia to train alongside a local special anti-terrorist unit. In May, members of Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Iraq carried out training exercises with Iraqi special operations forces near Baghdad. That same month, 7,200 military personnel, including U.S. Air Force Special Tactics airmen, Italian special operations forces, members of host nation Jordans Special Task Force, and troops from more than a dozen other nations took part in Exercise Eager Lion, practicing everything from assaulting compounds to cyber-defense. For their part, a group of SEALs conducted dive training alongside Greek special operations forces in Souda Bay, Greece, while others joined NATO troops in Germany as part of Exercise Saber Junction 17 for training in land operations, including mock behind enemy lines missions in a simulated European village.

#Winning

We have been at the forefront of national security operations for the past three decades, to include continuous combat over the past 15-and-a-half years, SOCOMs Thomas told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities last month. This historic period has been the backdrop for some of our greatest successes, as well as the source of our greatest challenge, which is the sustained readiness of this magnificent force. Yet, for all their magnificence and all those successes, for all the celebratory ceremonies theyve attended, the wars, interventions, and other actions for which theyve served as the tip of the American spear have largely foundered, floundered, or failed.

After their initial tactical successes in Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Americas elite operators became victims of Washingtons failure to declare victory and go home. As a result, for the last 15 years, U.S. commandos have been raiding homes, calling in air strikes, training local forces, and waging a relentless battle against a growing list of terror groups in that country. For all their efforts, as well as those of their conventional military brethren and local Afghan allies, the war is now, according to the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, a stalemate. Thats a polite way of saying what a recent report to Congress by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found: districts that are contested or under insurgent control or influence have risen from an already remarkable 28% in 2015 to 40%.

The war in Afghanistan began with efforts to capture or kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Having failed in this post-9/11 mission, Americas elite forces spun their wheels for the next decade when it came to his fate. Finally, in 2011, Navy SEALs cornered him in his long-time home in Pakistan and gunned him down. Ever since, special operators who carried out the mission and Washington power-players (not to mention Hollywood) have been touting this single tactical success.

In an Esquire interview, Robert ONeill, the SEAL who put two bullets in bin Ladens head, confessed that he joined the Navy due to frustration over an early crush, a puppy-love pique. Thats the reason al-Qaeda has been decimated, he joked, because she broke my fucking heart. But al-Qaeda was not decimated  far from it according to Ali Soufan, a former F.B.I. special agent and the author of Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of Bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State. As he recently observed, Whereas on 9/11 al-Qaeda had a few hundred members, almost all of them based in a single country, today it enjoys multiple safe havens across the world. In fact, he points out, the terror group has gained strength since bin Ladens death.

Year after year, U.S. special operators find themselves fighting new waves of militants across multiple continents, including entire terror groups that didnt exist on 9/11. All U.S. forces killed in Afghanistan in 2017 have reportedly died battling an Islamic State franchise, which began operations there just two years ago.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq, to take another example, led to the meteoric rise of an al-Qaeda affiliate which, in turn, led the militarys secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)  the elite of Americas special ops elite  to create a veritable manhunting machine designed to kill its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and take down the organization. As with bin Laden, special operators finally did find and eliminate Zarqawi, battering his organization in the process, but it was never wiped out. Left behind were battle-hardened elements that later formed the Islamic State and did what al-Qaeda never could: take and hold huge swaths of territory in two nations. Meanwhile, al-Qaedas Syrian branch grew into a separate force of more than 20,000.

In Yemen, after more than a decade of low-profile special ops engagement, that country teeters on the brink of collapse in the face of a U.S.-backed Saudi war there. Continued U.S. special ops missions in that country, recently on the rise, have seemingly done nothing to alter the situation. Similarly, in Somalia in the Horn of Africa, Americas elite forces remain embroiled in an endless war against militants.

In 2011, President Obama launched Operation Observant Compass, sending Special Operations forces to aid Central African proxies in an effort to capture or kill Joseph Kony and decimate his murderous Lords Resistance Army (LRA), then estimated to number 150 to 300 armed fighters. After the better part of a decade and nearly $800 million spent, 150 U.S. commandos were withdrawn this spring and U.S. officials attended a ceremony to commemorate the end of the mission. Kony was, however, never captured or killed and the LRA is now estimated to number about 150 to 250 fighters, essentially the same size as when the operation began.

This string of futility extends to Asia as well. U.S. Special Forces have been providing support and assistance in the southern Philippines for many years, at the request of several different Filipino administrations, Emma Nagy, a spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Manilla, pointed out earlier this month. Indeed, a decade-plus-long special ops effort there has been hailed as a major success. Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines, wrote RAND analyst Linda Robinson late last year in the Pentagon journal Prism, was aimed at enabling the Philippine security forces to combat transnational terrorist groups in the restive southern region of Mindanao.

A 2016 RAND report co-authored by Robinson concluded that the activities of the U.S. SOF enabled the Philippine government to substantially reduce the transnational terrorist threat in the southern Philippines. This May, however, Islamist militants overran Marawi City, a major urban center on Mindanao. They have been holding on to parts of it for weeks despite a determined assault by Filipino troops backed by U.S. Special Operations forces. In the process, large swaths of the city have been reduced to rubble.

Running on Empty

Americas elite forces, General Thomas told members of Congress last month, are fully committed to winning the current and future fights. In reality, though, from war to war, intervention to intervention, from the Anti-Drug Brigade ceremony in Florencia, Colombia, to the end-of-the-Kony-hunt observance in Obo in the Central African Republic, there is remarkably little evidence that even enduring efforts by Special Operations forces result in strategic victories or improved national security outcomes. And yet, despite such boots-on-the-ground realities, Americas special ops forces and their missions only grow.

We are grateful for the support of Congress for the required resourcing that, in turn, has produced a SOCOM which is relevant to all the current and enduring threats facing the nation, Thomas told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May. Resourcing has, indeed, been readily available. SOCOMs annual budget has jumped from $3 billion in 2001 to more than $10 billion today. Oversight, however, has been seriously lacking. Not a single member of the House or Senate Armed Services Committees has questioned why, after more than 15 years of constant warfare, winning the current fight has proven so elusive. None of them has suggested that support from Congress ought to be reconsidered in the face of setbacks from Afghanistan to Iraq, Colombia to Central Africa, Yemen to the southern Philippines.

In the waning days of George W. Bushs administration, Special Operations forces were reportedly deployed to about 60 nations around the world. By 2011, under President Barack Obama, that number had swelled to 120. During this first half-year of the Trump administration, U.S. commandos have already been sent to 137 countries, with elite troops now enmeshed in conflicts from Africa to Asia. Most SOF units are employed to their sustainable limit, Thomas told members of the House Armed Services Committee last month. In fact, current and former members of the command have, for some time, been sounding the alarm about the level of strain on the force.

These deployment levels and a lack of meaningful strategic results from them have not, however, led Washington to raise fundamental questions about the ways the U.S. employs its elite forces, much less about SOCOMs raison detre. We are a command at war and will remain so for the foreseeable future, SOCOMs Thomas explained to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Not one member asked why or to what end.
Symposium explores possibilities of origami nanomachines (Nanowerk News) Origami usually brings to mind folded paper cranes, but Cornell scientists see in origami the promise of nanoscale machinery. On June 16-17, the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) held a symposium in the Physical Sciences Building to explore using origami to create machines at the micron scale using atomically thin materials.

The symposium, Atomic Origami: a Technology Platform for Nanoscale Machines, Sensors and Robots, brought together experts from a wide range of origami-related fields with the goal of creating bridges, connections and possible collaborations, said conference co-organizer Itai Cohen, associate professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences. He noted that the 50-year-old CCMR, with its three interdisciplinary research groups involving 100 faculty across 12 departments and four colleges at Cornell, was an ideal host for the symposium.

Yan Yang, a graduate student in the field of chemistry and chemical biology, explains her research on Non-Covalent Interactions in Covalent Organic Frameworks.

CCMR is an interdisciplinary research center funded by the National Science Foundation and New York state to explore materials and advance them through fundamental, experimental and theoretical studies. CCMR also conducts educational outreach to teachers and students, industrial outreach and knowledge transfer, and operates shared instrumentation in support of materials research on and off campus, available to anyone who would like to participate.

The symposium was co-sponsored by Corning Inc. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to listen to and interact with world-class experts in this fascinating field of origami research, said Dan Vaughn, manager of external technology collaborations and intellectual assets at Corning. CCMR continues to be a great partner because of the access they provide to world-class equipment, services and most importantly  people.

Using the principles of origami, scientists are creating two-dimensional designs on polymers, metals and plastics using mathematics and, through folding, turning them into three-dimensional objects. The approach is powerful particularly because the mechanics are such that it scales both up and down, usually folding exactly the same way regardless of size.

The scalability is the reason these kinds of paper arts are showing up all over the place: architectural scale structures, human scale, micron scale, flying robots, little polymer structures that swell or unswell, or even structures like solar panels deploying in space, said conference co-organizer Paul McEuen, the John A. Newman Professor of Physical Science.

Marc Miskin, a postdoctoral associate at Cornell, described the potential for micron-scale machinery in his talk, 2D Materials for the Fabrication of Micron-Sized, Autonomous Origami Machines. Using conventional lithography, each device could carry more processing power than Voyager and remain small enough for injection into the body, he said. Theyd be comparable in size to a biological machine.

Said Cohen, Although origami has many niche markets that its already influencing, our vision of making origami as an enabling platform for microscale robots is totally untapped.

The symposiums poster session, which allows industry representatives to see the wide breadth of research related to CCMR, often triggers interest in collaborations by industry partners, noted Cohen, which happened again at this conference. To promote these collaborations, CCMR offers funding mechanisms for industry support, such as the Industrial Collaboration Program.
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.
Clonmel composer Micheal O Suilleabhain will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on 4 July.

The Conservatoire, which celebrates its 170th anniversary this year, is also honouring percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and dancer and Strictly Come Dancing Judge Darcey Bussell at the same ceremony.

Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal of the Conservatoire, said: "It gives me great pleasure to announce the three outstanding and inspirational individuals in the worlds of music and dance as recipients of our 2017 honorary degrees.

"It is an honour to welcome Darcey Bussell, Dame Evelyn Glennie and Micheal O Suilleabhain to our community and celebrate their exceptional achievements.

"Our honorary graduands have excelled in their chosen art forms and they embody the values and spirit of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland  they are dynamic and creative individuals who have made significant contributions to the cultural landscape.

O Suilleabhain was born in Clonmel in 1950, studied at University College Cork with Aloys Fleischmann and Sean O Riada, and in Queens University Belfast, and holds a number of honorary awards, including a D. Mus from National University of Ireland/University College Cork and an Honorary Alumnus Award from Boston College.

He is the founder of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, and was its Chair of Music from 1994 until his retirement in late 2016.

He is also a Freeman of his native Clonmel.
(Natural News) A decision this week by McDonalds to replace thousands of human employees in its workforce with self-serve ordering kiosks in the coming months portends bad times ahead for entry-level workers and others who are stuck in low-skilled jobs.

As reported by Zero Hedge, industry analysts estimate that the fast food giant will add around 2,500 electronic ordering kiosks by the end of this year, and add 3,000 more by the end of 2018. Mobile ordering is also on the way, coming to 14,000 locations around the U.S. by years end.

The ordering kiosks will replace human cashiers, and you can be certain that those jobs are never coming back. (RELATED: Is this YOU? 1 in 4 Americans completely BROKE and in no position to help themselves when SHTF)

The example set by McDonalds will no doubt be replicated throughout the fast food and restaurant industry, and why not? Getting rid of human workers solves many problems  poor employee attitudes toward customers, chronic tardiness, sick days, theft, and, most importantly, rising pay, thanks to far-Left progressives who think low-skilled burger-flipping and fry-making ought to pay as much as a skilled technical job.

Lowering labor costs is especially important in the fast food industry because the profit margins are so slim as it is. This will help restaurant owners immensely with their bottom lines, but it will take hundreds of thousands of jobs (eventually) permanently out of circulation.

But there are many more jobs that are going to disappear  replaced by electronic kiosks, robots and other machines.

As Robotics.news reported in late May, one new alarming report estimated that the loss of retail jobs in the coming years will surpass 7 million:

A report by investment advisory firm Cornerstone Capital Group revealed that nearly half of all retail workers in the U.S. face job insecurity as use of automation technology continues to rise across the country. According to the report, around 16 million people in the U.S. work in the retail industry. This equates to about one in 10 American employees, the 56-page report showed.

Another factor harming retail jobs: Disappearing retail outlets, thanks to a dramatic rise in online shopping (and all of the other employee problems and costs mentioned above). BankRate reports that 21 retailers are closing thousands of brick-and-mortar stores in 2017, including Macys, Payless Shoe Source, Radio Shack, mall mainstay J.C. Penney and others.

And while President Donald J. Trump has promised to bring back millions of jobs to the U.S. that have been lost to globalist outsourcing for two decades, the truth is hes fighting the political establishment and market headwinds like automation and store closures.

So much lost opportunity will lead to mass civil unrest as, almost overnight, millions of people become unemployable because they did not have a robot-proof or electronics-proof skill. Needless to say, then, it is vital that you assess your own skill set today and work to make yourself valuable and marketable to current and future employers.

Here are some jobs that should be safe for the foreseeable future:

 Reporter/writer/correspondent

 Astronomers

 Paramedic/EMS/Medical personnel

 Miners

 Occupational therapists

 Robotics programmer/technician/developer/builder

 Solar technology expert

 Construction/road repair/infrastructure builder

 Computer programmer/app developer

Having these skills will also make you more valuable, even in a collapse situation:

 Gardener/farmer

 Healthcare provider

 Construction/builder

 Firearms expert

 Rancher/animal husbandry

 Handyman/woman

Some people have tried to predict what sort of jobs will be phased out, maintained or created in the future. Figuring out which jobs are going to go the way of human alarm clocks in the 1800s and which ones will be created in the future (human designers?) is difficult, but its a good idea to get started thinking about it now, while major job changes are on the way.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

ZeroHedge.com

Robotics.news

MarketPlace.org

AgencyCentral.co.uk
(Natural News) Its mission includes proudly defending the environment and causing no unnecessary harm. But now that Donald Trump is president, the California-based Patagonia clothing company is singing an entirely different tune, as its CEO shamelessly joins the ranks of the anti-Trump Resist! movement because she doesnt like that the president is considering giving back to the states millions of acres of land that were confiscated by Barack Obama and declared to be national monuments.

Needless to say, you wont find Rose Marcario talking about peace or unity anymore now that President Trump is making important federal decisions rather than Obama (or Hillary). Shes so livid about the president even suggesting that Obama may have severely overstepped constitutional bounds with his massive land grabs that shes pledge her entire company to join the anti-Trump resistance.

Marcarios hysteria was triggered by an executive order that President Trump signed back in April that orders the Department of the Interior to review Obamas actions on national monuments, particularly the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Most Utahans were against this land grab when Obama declared it, and in its aftermath President Trump declared the move an egregious abuse of federal power.

But Marcario disagrees, insisting that the president does not hold the power to make this type of decision (even though he actually does). Her statements in response to the move are nonsensical to the degree that it appears shes more upset about the fact that President Trump was the one who made the decision, rather than the decision itself.

We have to fight like hell to keep every inch of public land, Marcario wrote in an article published in The Huffington Post. I dont have a lot of faith in politics and politicians right now.

Patagonia CEO hypocritically undermines democratic process while claiming to defend it

In a statement released before her articles publishing, Marcario demonstrated her inability to even process what President Trumps executive order entails. By simply ordering a review of how the Obama land grab came to be, the president is seeking to verify its legitimacy and determine whether or not its in the best interests of the people affected. But to Marcario, it somehow represents an affront to democracy.

A president does not have the authority to rescind a national monument, she erroneously stated. An attempt to change the boundaries ignores the review process of cultural and historical characteristics and the public input.

The irony, of course, is the fact that when Obama declared Bears Ears into existence, he did so without any consideration of the Utahans who would be affected by it. Where was the review process of cultural and historical characteristics and the public input, as Marcario puts it? It was nowhere to be found, it turns out.

At the end of the day, this is all just sour grapes because Marcario doesnt like President Trump and wants to cause trouble. Instigating a movement of resistance amongst her employees and customers while simultaneously claiming that the one shes resisting is a threat to democracy is beyond ironic. Its borderline insane, and yet this is how far to the fringes the left-wing elements of society have fallen.

When Marcario thought that Trump would never be president, in other words, it was all about democracy. But now that he actually is the president, its all about undermining democracy while claiming to defend it. It makes no sense, but its the new normal for angry leftists who, quite frankly, are abandoning all sanity while they simultaneously broadcast this fact to the world.

What the sane elements of society need to do is resist companies like Patagonia that spread this type of toxic venom. Its one thing to disagree; its entirely another thing to resist a president and fan the flames of social unrest, which is what Marcario is doing.

Sources:

Breitbart.com

PatagoniaWorks.com
Officially, Spain was neutral in World War II: Adolf Hitler failed to secure an alliance with General Francisco Franco during their meeting at Hendaye in October 1940 after France surrendered that June. But a collection of newly released secret documents from the National Archives of the United Kingdom has raised an intriguing what-if scenario whereby at the end of 1940, Hitler might have backed a takeover in the Canary Islands by its large German community.

Hitler in 1937 with senior Nazi leaders.  Austrian Archives/CORBIS

Among the declassified documents is a report from December 11, 1940 entitled Possible German Action in the Atlantic that was read by the War Cabinet of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The report came almost two months after the meeting between Hitler and Franco at the railroad station of Hendaye to negotiate  unsuccessfully  Spains entrance into the European war on Germanys side.

The document explores the possibility that the Canaries might fall under the control of the Germans, giving them a strategic stronghold for their operations in the Atlantic. (The Allies themselves prepared plans the following year to invade the islands by taking the port of Las Palmas, in the event Spain joined the Axis).

The report notes evidence Spanish troop movements were to warn the Germans against military action

The five signatories of the report explain to the War Cabinet that while they had no indications the Germans were going to invade the Canaries with the collusion of the Spanish authorities, they did observe significant military activity on the island.

But they concluded that these troop movements were part of effort by Franco to protect the Canaries against an invasion by any party  meaning that if Germany were to try to take control of the islands, it would have had to do so by force.

The report notes credible evidence indicating that the troop movements were to warn the Germans against any kind of military action in the Canary Islands.

The Allies were concerned that Hitler might attempt to seize control of the Canaries by supporting a coup.

Such a coup would have been highly feasible, as a sizable German community was already present in the archipelago (some 2,000 have recently arrived by plane), and a large number of German ships were moored at different ports throughout the archipelago. Additionally, the situation in the Canaries at the time was conducive to an uprising  a result of poor economic conditions and disaffection with the regime of Francisco Franco.

The report concludes that had Hitler tried to foment a coup, it would have been backed by the German navy. The evidence suggested to the Allies that the Germans would not have been able to utilize aerial support to launch an invasion.

The report also reveals the Allies detailed knowledge of the defenses of the Canary Islands: around 10,000 soldiers, with support from 52 planes stationed at Gran Canaria Airport (24 JU 52 bombers and 28 Fiat CR 32 fighters), along with 23 other bombers available at the airport of Cape Juby, in Western Sahara on the African mainland (12 Heinkel 111s, five JU 52s, and six Savoia S 81s).

English version by Henry Hahn.
(Natural News) The vast majority of heart attacks are caused by heart disease, which is known as the silent killer. The Heart Foundation reports that heart disease is the leading cause of death among both men and women in the United States, and causes someone to have a heart attack every 34 seconds. All told, about 720,000 people suffer a heart attack each year in the United States, and sadly, many of them do not survive. However, for those who do, a new study, published in the journal Science Advances, offers an innovative way to repair the damage caused by heart attacks.

The U.K.s Daily Mail reports that when someone has a heart attack, blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart are blocked. This can result in damage to, or even destruction of, the heart muscle. This fact prompted researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania to search for an alternative way in which to get the necessary oxygen to the heart when blood flow is restricted in this way.

In nature, humans exhale carbon dioxide and plants convert it back to oxygen, explained Dr. Joseph Woo, one of the studys senior authors, and chair of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. During a heart attack, the muscle is still trying to pump. Theres carbon dioxide but no oxygen. We wondered if there were any way to use plant cells and put them next to heart cells to produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide.

Of course, this makes sense, since plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.

The researchers initially tried placing ground up spinach and kale in a dish with heart cells to see what would happen, but the chloroplasts in these plants  which are necessary for photosynthesis  were just not stable enough to survive in this environment.

Next, Dr. Woo and his team decided to try using photosynthetic bacteria, known as cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae), which are tougher because they have to survive in water. Most of us are familiar with spirulina and chlorella, which are forms of cyanobacteria. [RELATED: Discover the many health benefits of chlorella.]

After determining that the bacteria could survive out of their environment along with the heart cells, the research team then moved on to animal trials, injecting the cyanobacteria into the tiny hearts of rats who had suffered heart attacks. This was done under anesthetic.

The hearts of half the rats were then exposed to light so that photosynthesis could take place, while the other half were kept in the dark.

Though the bacteria dissipated within 24 hours, the hearts of the rats which had been exposed to light were stronger, worked better, had more oxygen and maintained improved cardiac function for at least a month after the procedure. [RELATED: Discover other miraculous natural cures at Nutrients.news]

The studys authors concluded, By using light rather than blood flow as a source of energy, photosynthetic therapy increases tissue oxygenation, maintains myocardial metabolism, and yields durable improvements in cardiac function during and after induction of ischemia. By circumventing blood flow entirely to provide tissue with oxygen and nutrients, this system has the potential to create a paradigm shift in the way ischemic heart disease is treated.

Scientists are now determining how best to practically utilize this therapy in the treatment of humans, as well as how to deliver the necessary light to damaged hearts.

While the clinical trial is still at a very preliminary stage, this study offers real hope for those who have suffered a heart attack and who wish to reverse the damage done so as to prevent any further attacks.

Sources:

DailyMail.co.uk

Advances.ScienceMag.org

TheHeartFoundation.org
A dismembered body found at a Hayward warehouse Saturday could belong to a missing Uber driver from San Francisco, the San Francisco Police Department confirmed Sunday.

In a story NBC Bay Area broke earlier Sunday, the body parts were discovered after police received a call of a strong smell coming from the warehouse, police said. SFPD and Alameda County Sheriff's K-9 units conducted a search of the building and discovered several bags filled with human remains, police said.

SFPD said Sunday that the Hayward warehouse is connected to Bob Tang, a person of interest in the disappearance of Piseth Chhay, who has been missing since Mother's Day. Officials with the warehouse added that Tang "was a longtime employee of the company."

A dismembered body found at a Hayward warehouse Saturday could belong to a missing Uber driver from San Francisco, the San Francisco Police Department confirmed Sunday. Bob Redell reports.

Chhay, a father of two, left home that day to meet a family friend and never returned, his wife Rattana Kim said. His car was found stripped in another part of the city days later.

San Francisco police said May 24 they suspected foul play in Chhay's disappearance and named Tang as a person of interest. Tang, 48, had agreed to come in for an interview with police that day but didnt show, police said. The next day, they found Tang's 2004 Silver Toyota Sienna at San Francisco International Airport and believe he fled to Cambodia.

The SFPD Special Victims Unit served search warrants in the cities of Hayward and San Francisco on May 25, but their findings had yet to be revealed.

A dismembered body found at a Hayward warehouse Saturday could belong to a missing Uber driver from San Francisco, the San Francisco Police Department confirmed Sunday. Sergio Quintana reports.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office on Sunday took custody of the human remains. The identity of the deceased is unknown, pending identification by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, police said.

"I just hope and pray it's not my husband," a tearful Kim said Sunday. "I need all your prayer that the body part doesn't belong to my husband. He has to come home to these boys. He has to come home to these boys and to me."



Due to the condition of the remains, investigators will need to use DNA testing to identify the body, police said. Chhay's family agreed to provide DNA samples to police.

Anyone with information regarding the case should contact the San Francisco Police Department at (415) 575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. Tips may be provided anonymously.

NBC Bay Area's Sergio Quintana contributed to this report.
The person of interest in the case of a missing San Francisco man was a longtime employee at a Hayward warehouse where body parts were discovered Sunday, and police had searched the warehouse previously without finding anything, the San Francisco Police Department said Monday.

The body parts found at U.S. Trading Co., a food distributor, were being tested by the San Francisco Medical Examiner on Monday against DNA samples provided by the family of Piseth Chhay, an Uber driver who has been missing since May 14. Chhay left his San Francisco home that day to meet family friend Bob Tang and never returned, Chhay's wife, Rattana Kim, said.

Tang, a person of interest in Chhay's disappearance, worked at U.S. Trading for several years, the company said Monday in a statement, adding that it is cooperating with the investigation. NBC Bay Area also learned that the company is owned by relatives of Tang.

Police were called to the warehouse Sunday morning after workers there reported a strong odor. Several bags were found containing body parts, police said.

"I just hope and pray it's not my husband," Kim said. "He needs to come home to these boys; he needs to come home to me."

Documents obtained by NBC Bay Area on Monday show police had searched the Hayward warehouse previously on May 24, the same day they announced foul play was suspected in the case and Tang was a person of interest. It's unclear why the remains were not found then.

Sources told NBC Bay Area that San Francisco police investigators requested cadaver dogs during that initial search, but the dogs weren't used to search for a body.

Tang has been missing since May 24, the day he was scheduled to meet with police for questioning and didn't show. His vehicle was found at San Francisco International Airport a day later. Police believe he may have fled to his native Cambodia.

"We are working closely with our federal partners to locate Mr. Tang," San Francisco police spokesman Robert Rueca said.

The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Cambodia, so it's not clear yet whether Tang could be forced to return to the Bay Area to face any possible charges if he is found.

Immigration attorney Joseph LaCome says someone who kills here and escapes to there, may never face justice.

"Even with something as bad as murder, the U.S. can't force the Cambodian government to bring him back," attorney Joseph LaCome said.

The case has been turned over to the San Francisco Police Department's homicide unit.

NBC Bay Area's Terry McSweeney contributed to this report.
Two U.S. Marines were critically injured Sunday in what military officials describe as a ground flash fire on U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego.

The blast occurred on base at 10:18 p.m. as the Marines were performing routine maintenance on an F/A 18 fighter jet, said Major Kurt Stahl, the director of public affairs for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, MCAS Miramar.



"Technically, this was a 'ground flash fire' rather than an 'explosion,'" Stahl added. "The cause is under investigation."



The two injured Marines suffered severe burns and were transported to UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest.

They were identified as members of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 112 (VMDA-112), a reserve unit based out of Fort Worth, Texas.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends these two Marines as they go through this difficult time. The Marine Corps stands ready to support them in every way we can," Major Andrew Aranda from Marine Corps Forces Reserve told NBC 7.



No other information was available.

The National Fire Protection Association defines a ground flash fire as one involving fuel in the air and an ignition source. The fires tend to last just seconds but can reach intensely high temperatures.
A forest fire in southern Spain forced the evacuation of at least 1,000 people and threatened a national park famous for its biodiversity and endangered species, authorities said Sunday.

The fire started on Saturday night on Spain's southern coast, then advanced east to reach the Donana Nature Reserve, one of the country's most important wildlife sanctuaries and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1994.

"The fire has entered in the limits of the reserve, and that is where we are focusing our efforts," Jose Gregorio Fiscal Lopez from the regional Andalusian authority in charge of the environment told Spanish national television.

The reserve protects over 107,000 hectares (264,403 acres) considered of extreme ecological value for their mix of ecosystems, including wetlands, dunes and woods. It is a key stop for migratory birds home to a variety of animals, including about a fifth of the 400 remaining Iberian lynxes.

Ecologists who work in the park are concerned that the fire could wipe out some of the area's prized species and terrain.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

"We are worried because the impact could be huge," Carlos Molina, an ornithologist who works inside the reserve, told The Associated Press by phone from his home nearby.

"Donana is probably one of the most important areas for birds in all of Europe, and we just happen to be in a nesting season for several species," Molina said.

While Molina said the reserve's endangered Iberian imperial eagle should not be in danger, the area in immediate threat from the fire is territory for the extremely endangered lynx.

Juan Sanchez, director of the Andalucia's forest fire prevention unit, said the fight was "in its critical phase" due to strong winds whipping up the flames.

"Right now the fire is developing how we expected. The wind is shifting, gaining strength, which is normal as we get to the afternoon," Sanchez said. "We are managing it, but a change in the direction of the wind could alter the situation."

Susana Diaz, the regional president of Andalusia, said no people have died in the blaze and "there's no risk to the population" after about 1,000 were evacuated from campsites and houses near the town of Moguer, where the fire started on Saturday night.

Diaz said fighting the fire was proving difficult due to hot, dry weather, with temperatures reaching 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit), and shifting winds. Over 550 firefighters, soldiers and police officers supported by 21 air units were combating the blaze Sunday.

"It's still very early, but we are not ruling out the human factor" as a possible cause of the fire, said Diaz.

Spain's interior minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, said from a control post near the fire that since "we are taking special measures, even though the wind is pushing the fire toward (the reserve) to keep the damage to a minimum."

The fire comes a week after wildfires killed 64 people in neighboring Portugal, which like Spain is suffering from a lack of rain and high temperatures.
Passengers of a Sunday morning Air Asia flight said their captain asked them to pray  twice  as the plane experienced engine trouble and shook like a "washing machine," NBC News reported.

Damien Stevens, who was on the flight from Perth, Australia, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, told NBC News the plane shook after a huge bang about 75 minutes into the flight.



"The rattling started straight away," Stevens said. "It was like being in a washing machine... The pilot asked us to pray twice and said he was scared too."

The exact cause of the incident remains unclear, but Stevens said the airline told him the trouble stemmed from one of the engines and that the pilot had 44 years of experience. The plane landed safely back in Perth and there were no reported injuries.


The Senate Republican health care bill would leave 22 million more Americans uninsured in 2026 than under President Barack Obama's health care law, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Monday, complicating GOP leaders' hopes of pushing the plan through the chamber this week.

Minutes after the report's released, three GOP senators threatened to oppose a pivotal vote on the proposal this week, enough to sink it unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., can win them over. The bill will fail if just three of the 52 Republican senators oppose it, an event that would deal a humiliating blow to President Donald Trump and Senate leaders.

The 22 million additional people without coverage is just a hair better than the 23 million who'd be left without insurance under the measure the House approved last month, the budget office has estimated. Trump has called the House version approved last month "mean" and told Senate Republicans to approve legislation with more "heart."

In good news for the GOP, the budget office said the Senate bill would cut the deficit by $202 billion more over the coming decade than the House version. Senate leaders could use some of those savings to attract moderate support by making Medicaid and other provisions in their measure more generous, though conservatives would prefer using that money to reduce federal deficits.

The White House lambasted the nonpartisan budget office in a statement, saying it has a "history of inaccuracy" projecting coverage. But Democrats said the report confirmed their own analysis of the GOP measure.

"This bill is every bit as mean as the House bill," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Of the 22 million without coverage by 2026 under the Senate plan, 15 million would be without it next year, the budget office said. That could be a particular concern to moderate Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who faces perhaps the toughest 2018 re-election race of any Senate Republican and has said he can't support the measure if huge numbers of people lose coverage.

The budget office report said coverage losses would especially affect people between ages 50 and 64, shy of when they qualify for Medicare, and with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level, or around $30,300 for an individual.

Moderate Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she would vote against a GOP procedural motion, expected Wednesday, to begin formally debating the legislation. She tweeted that she favors a bipartisan effort to fix Obama's 2010 statute but added, "CBO analysis shows Senate bill won't do it."

In addition, conservative Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he would oppose that motion unless the bill was changed. And fellow conservative Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he had "a hard time believing" he'd have enough information to back that motion this week.

Those two  plus fellow conservatives Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas  have said the current measure doesn't do enough to erase Obama's law and reduce premiums. All four said last week they'd oppose the bill without changes, as did Heller.

Most of the disgruntled senators have left the door open to backing the measure if it's changed, and McConnell plans to seek revisions aimed at winning more votes. But taking steps to mollify moderates could alienate conservatives.

"It's going to be very close, but we're working with each one of them in trying to accommodate their concerns without losing other support," said No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas.

Vice President Mike Pence invited four GOP senators to dinner Tuesday to discuss the bill, his office said: Lee and Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ben Sasse of Nebraska.

The Senate plan, aimed at rolling back much of Obama's 2010 statute, would end the tax penalty that law imposes on people who don't buy insurance, in effect erasing Obama's so-called individual mandate. It would let states ease Obama's requirements that insurers cover certain specified services like substance abuse treatments, and eliminate taxes on wealthier people and medical companies that Obama's law used to expand coverage.

It would also phase out extra federal money that law is providing to 31 states to expand Medicaid to additional low-income earners. And it would put annual caps on overall Medicaid money the government until now has automatically paid states, whatever the costs.

CBO said that under the bill, most insurance markets around the country would be stable before 2020. It said that similar to the House bill, average premiums around the country would be higher over the next two years  including about 20 percent higher in 2018 than under Obama's statute  but lower beginning in 2020.

But the office said that overall, the Senate legislation would increase out of pocket costs for deductibles and copayments. That's because standard policies would be skimpier than currently offered under Obama's law, covering a smaller share of expected medical costs.

In another troublesome finding for the legislation, the budget office warned that in some rural areas, either no insurer would be willing participate in the individual market or the policies offered would be prohibitively expensive. Rural America was a stronghold for Trump in the presidential election.



The American Medical Association, the nation's largest doctors' group, said it opposed the Senate bill, saying some people would lose coverage and others would find it too costly. In a letter to Senate leaders, they said the measure violates the physicians' dictum, "First, do no harm."


On August 15, 2014, forces from so-called Islamic State (ISIS) entered Kocho, a Yazidi village in Iraqi Kurdistan. They took everybody to the local school and separated them into groups: men, pregnant women, older women and unmarried adolescents. Among the latter was Lamia Aji Bashar, then aged 16, with her three sisters. Thats when it all began, she said last week in Madrid at the diplomatic delegation from the government of Iraqi Kurdistan.

For the next 20 months Lamia was held captive and repeatedly raped by ISIS soldiers. In December, along with Nadia Murad  who was also held captive and raped by ISIS  the European Parliament awarded her the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

The older men and women were killed and buried in a mass grave. We were transferred by bus to Mosul and then to the area around Aleppo under the control of ISIS. In Aleppo, there were many men from different countries, she explained. Soon after her arrival, the head of the group, a Saudi, told her and her sisters they must convert to Islam. I said no. He grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off the ground. My sister begged him to release me and kissed his feet until he did it. Then he shouted, So you do not want to convert! and he raped us both.

They were animals in the bodies of human beings: each worse than the last Lamia Aji Bashar

There were around 250 other young women and girls held captive in Aleppo, some of them as young as eight. Members of ISIS would arrive and select us: I want this one, I want that one. In the Sharia court, there was a paper with my picture on it, and beneath it, my price. I was purchased five times, and another time, I was given to a fighter as a gift, she said.

At no time did her captors show any compassion: They were animals in the bodies of human beings: each worse than the last. I was trying to speak with them, but they were animals.

Aji Bashar remembers when one of her owners forced her to help him make vests for suicide bombers and to set up car bombs.

ISISs violent interpretation of Islam has led to the wholesale slaughter of men and the rape of women considered infidels. The Yazidi, an ethno-religious Kurdish group of half-a-million people who ascribe to one of the earliest monotheistic religions, have been targeted.

Members of ISIS would arrive and select us: I want this one, I want that one Lamia Aji Bashar

Aji Bashar tried to escape on four occasions. After each failed attempt, she was punished. Finally, in April 2016 she succeeded, thanks to smugglers paid by her family. Two others accompanied her: Almas, an eight-year-old, and Katherine, aged 20. Both died while crossing a minefield and Aji Bashar was injured in the explosion, suffering scarring and partial loss of sight.

I felt happy to be alive, although in my head, I felt dreadful thinking about the suffering of the other women and children, she explained. The United Nations estimates that more than 3,000 Yazidis  the majority of them women and children  remain in the hands of ISIS. The figure has been reduced by about half since 2014 as captives escape, are purchased back by their families, or are released by ISIS.

Her village was liberated in May. It made me very happy to hear the news, but now it is just a pile of rubble, tombs, mass graves, said Aji Bashar, who now lives in Germany.

She tells her story to raise awareness of the tragedies that have befallen thousands of women, and she considers herself simply a messenger with three desires: that ISIS be tried at The Hague, that the victims receive psychological treatment after their liberation, and that the world helps those seeking refuge. Many former captives suffer from post-traumatic stress and some have attempted suicide, according to the NGO Amnesty International.

Although ISIS is currently in retreat in Syria and Iraq, Aji Bashar says she wants to remain in Germany and to become a schoolteacher. Would she return one day to Kurdistan? Of course, she says, but there is no international protection for us. And as Yazidis, we are afraid of returning and suffering genocide like this.

English version by Henry Hahn.
Four people were killed and at least 42 others, including a 13-year-old boy, were wounded in shootings across Chicago between Friday evening and Monday morning. Last weekend, 57 people were shot and eight died.

So far in June, at least 330 people have been shot in the city. At least 1,686 people have been shot this year  293 of them fatally, according to Chicago Sun-Times data.

The weekends latest fatal shooting happened about 10:40 p.m. Sunday on the South Side. A 17-year-old boy was standing outside a business in the 5200 block of South Western when a white car with a female driver and a male passenger pulled up, according to Chicago Police. Following an argument, the male passenger shot the boy, who then returned fire. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene, where his weapon was recovered. Its unclear if anyone else was injured during the exchange.

The Cook County medical examiners office has not provided information on the fatality.

About 2:40 a.m. Sunday, a 44-year-old man was driving north in the 7900 block of South Brandon on the South Side when his vehicle crashed into a parked vehicle. When the man was pulled from the vehicle, paramedics discovered he had been shot in his left shoulder and his head. He was taken to South Shore Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:45 a.m., police and the medical examiners office said. His name has not been released.

A man was gunned down about 5 p.m. Saturday in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. Maurice Purnell, 28, was standing outside in the 1200 block of North Laramie when someone fired shots at him from a passing vehicle, authorities said. Purnell, who lived in the same neighborhood, was shot in the chest and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 5:53 p.m.

The weekends first fatal shooting happened about 6:30 p.m. Friday in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. Deangelo Pleasant, 21, of Cicero, was standing on a porch in the 4700 block of West West End when two males got out of a yellow vehicle and began shooting at him, authorities said. He was struck in the head and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:28 p.m.

The 13-year-old boy was wounded about 12:35 a.m. Monday in a West Town neighborhood drive-by shooting. Someone in a passing black vehicle fired shots at the boy while he was walking in the 1800 block of West Maypole, police said. He was shot in the left leg and taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

The weekends latest nonfatal shooting happened about 12:40 a.m. Monday in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side. A 34-year-old man was on a front porch in the 700 block of South Karlov when he got into an argument with another male, who pulled out a gun and opened fire, police said. The man suffered a gunshot wound to the groin and was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.

At least 40 other people were wounded in shootings across the city between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday. Nine of them were wounded in a slew of attacks that happened in less than three hours early Saturday on the South and West sides.

Eight people were killed over the same weekend last year, which saw 47 people shot in the city. In 2016, more than 700 people were shot to death in Chicago.
An Illinois mother took to social media after she says she was asked to breastfeed her 14-month-old child in a restroom while at a public swimming pool.

Brei Theisen wrote earlier this month that she was at the Wood River Aquatic Center in a southwest Illinois town when a manager of the facility asked her to cover up because she was offending other people.

My initial instinct was to be very rude but instead I said, Do you tell the other people eating in the food area that they need cover up? Or am I supposed to starve my child because someone is uncomfortable with themselves or because they are sexualizing breastfeeding, she wrote. I know everyone has a choice how to feed their child and I'm all for a fed baby is a happy baby, but do they tell someone who's bottle feeding to cover up or anything; no because it's normal....... but since I choose to not bottle feed I need to do it somewhere else?

Thats when Theisen said she took the matter to the head manager at the facility.

He proceeded to say people dont have a problem changing their childs diaper on the changing table so why cant a [sic] feed my child there, she wrote. First of all I do not change my child in a nasty bathroom and would you eat where you pee and poop? I'm so unbelievably speechless about the whole situation and not only is it illegal to tell a breastfeeding mother to cover up or go to the bathroom but to tell me why can't I feed her by a toilet!

Theisens post was shared more than 400 times.

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According to local publication the Alton Daily News, the Wood River Park and Recreation Department said in a statement it prides itself on being a family friendly environment and regrets any controversy that was caused by the occurrences.

The Aquatic Center does not discriminate against breast feeding mothers, and allows breast feeding mothers to nurse their children at our facility in accordance with the law, the statement read. Our manager and staff have been fully briefed on the law and will incorporate the law into our training for all employees immediately. We apologize to the mother and child for any inconvenience we may have caused them."

Theisen told TODAY Parents that she shared her experience on social media because she wanted breastfeeding moms to know they have a right to nurse their babies in public.

According to BreastfeedingLaw.com, under Illinois law, breast-feeding of infants is not an act of public indecency.

A mother may breastfeed her baby in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mothers breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding, the law states.

"After it really sunk in, I felt like it shouldn't have happened and I was upset," Theisen told TODAY. "I felt like I did something wrong  but I didn't. It was my legal right to feed my child there just like I would anywhere else."
A Park Ridge man hit the jackpot recently as he cashed in on a $200,000 winning lottery ticket.

That man, Park Ridge-resident Bart Iskra, matched all five numbers on his Quick Pick ticket for the Illinois Lottery midday drawing on June 9.

Iskra is one of two residents to win a prize in that lottery drawing, purchasing his ticket at a retailer in Stickney. The other winning ticket was sold at a store in Chicago, according to the Illinois Lottery. Both retailers will receive a bonus of $2,000 for selling the winning tickets.

Im so happy!, Iskra said.

According to the Illinois Lottery website, Iskra plans to invest the money that he won in the drawing.
One person was injured in a crash on Bender Road in Lebanon Monday morning.

Police said Wayne Woodward, 58, of Lebanon, was going south on Route 289 just after 10 a.m. when he went across the road and hit a stone wall and several trees.

LifeStar transported him to Hartford Hospital, where he is in stable condition, according to state police.
A sudden burst of fire at a Marine Corps air station has injured two Marines who were performing routine aircraft maintenance, authorities say.

The Marine Corps says the fire erupted after 10 p.m. Sunday at Air Station Miramar in the San Diego area.

The Marines were being treated for severe burns at the regional burn center at UC San Diego Health.

"Technically, this was a 'ground flash fire' rather than an 'explosion,'" Major Kurt Stahl, a MCAS Miramar spokesman, told NBC San Diego. "The cause is under investigation."

The Marines were identified as members of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 112 (VMDA-112), from a reserve unit based in Fort Worth.



The National Fire Protection Association defines a ground flash fire as one involving fuel in the air and an ignition source. The fires tend to last just seconds but can reach intensely high temperatures.
A tourist boat packed with about 160 passengers for the holiday weekend capsized Sunday on a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin, leaving at least six people dead and 31 missing, officials said.

Rescuers including firefighters from nearby cities and air force pilots searched for survivors at the Guatape reservoir where El Almirante ferry sank. A flotilla of recreational boats and jet skis rushed to the scene, pulling people from the boat as it went down and avoiding an even deadlier tragedy.

A previous version of this story cited the head of the disaster response agency in Colombia's Antioquia state, who said that nine people are dead.

Dramatic videos circulating on social media show the turquoise and yellow trimmed party boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-floor roof as it sank into the water in a matter of a few minutes. Survivors described hearing a loud explosion near the men's bathroom that knocked out the power a few minutes after it began its cruise around the giant lake. As water flooded on board, pressure built and people were sucked under by the sinking ship.

"Those on the first and second floors sank immediately," survivor Lorena Salazar told local media. "All we could do was scream and call for help....it was completely chaotic."

Margarita Moncada, the head of the disaster response agency in Antioquia state, said that according to a preliminary report 99 people were rescued and another 40 managed to find a way to shore on their own. Speaking to reporters from the reservoir, she said nine people had been killed and around 28 are still missing.

But later Sunday President Juan Manuel Santos arrived to Guatape and said 122 people were either rescued or found their way to shore and were in mostly good condition. Six had died and another 31 were missing, he said. The discrepancies in the number of fatalities could not be immediately reconciled.

It's unclear what caused the boat to sink.

Some people who witnessed the tragedy from the nearby shore said the boat appeared to be overloaded but Santos said it was sailing well below capacity. None of the passengers were wearing a life vest. Complicating the search, there wasn't even a passenger list.

"Nobody really knows what happened," said Santos, adding that naval officials were brought in to carry out an investigation.

Carlos Espinosa, an independent journalist from Guatape, said about a month ago townspeople awoke to find the El Almirante filled with water and sinking at its dock, suggesting that perhaps the vessel wasn't ready to return to the water.

"What makes you angry is there are no controls by the government," he said.

As night fell, the usually festive town was silent as people began to register the magnitude of the loss. Among those huddled under the rain near the port looking for information about loved ones was Alberto Villegas, who was separated from a cousin and uncle in the mad rush to abandon the sinking ship.

"All we ask is that they don't give up the search," said Villegas.

Authorities were at a loss to say exactly how many people were on the boat and asked passengers or their loved ones to report to a rescue center hastily set up along the shore. They also made a call for scuba divers to assist with the search.

The reservoir surrounding the soaring rocky outcrop of El Penol is a popular weekend destination a little more than an hour from Medellin. It was especially busy Sunday as Colombians celebrated a long holiday weekend.
The University of Delaware will not rehire a professor who wrote controversial comments about Otto Warmbier on social media, the school announced on Sunday.

Anthropology professor Katherine Dettwyler wrote a since-deleted Facebook post that criticized Warmbier, who died last week after being detained in North Korea for over a year, NBC News reported.

Dettwyler described the 22-year-old University of Virginia student as typical of a mindset of a lot of the young, white, rich, clueless males who come into my classes.

After the comments prompted outrage on social media, the University of Delaware issued a statement condemning the comments and said it would not rehire Dettwyler in the future.
Statistics released by the Dallas Poverty Task Force reveal the poverty rate in Dallas has reached a crisis point.



The Dallas economy has proven to work well for millionaires, but has neglected to provide opportunities and positive growth for the poor and working class, the report shows.



According to the recent data, more than half of Dallas households make less than $50,000 per year. 28.4 percent of households make less than $25,000 per year, and 27.1 percent make less than $25,000-$50,000 per year.

City Manager TC Broadnax spoke at a meeting recently and outlined a new agenda focused on collaboration.

I want to lead with four expectations: empathy, ethics, excellence, and equity, said Broadnax.

Members of the task force are using data and collaboration with the investors and the nonprofit sector to attack the problem.

Within the last year poverty within the city has grown throughout the southern region of Dallas to northeast and West Dallas. Every district in the city is touched by this epidemic.

In the past, the poverty task force has compared the poverty rate in Dallas to Philadelphia and Baltimore. City leaders recognize the problem has not suddenly gotten worse; systems in place have, for decades, denied portions of the citys poor and working class the opportunities for advancement.

Broadnax met with community leaders and nonprofit organizations to discuss the new agenda. Members of the task force will meet with residents to discuss their specific needs.

Currently, members of the task force are working on solutions within these communities to increase transportation access, improve educational opportunities, increase development and affordable housing, and job opportunities.

According to recent data, 90 percent of Dallas jobs are north of I-30.
One person was critically injured Sunday and seven others were evaluated for minor injuries after a vehicle crashed into a motel swimming pool in San Pedro, authorities said.

It happened at 7:24 p.m. at 215 S. Gaffey St., Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

The driver was out of the vehicle when firefighters arrived and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, Humphrey said. "All others were in the pool area and are now being evaluated at the scene for apparent minor injury."

The motel is the Vagabond Inn.
Security was tight Sunday as Southern California's Muslim community gathered for communal prayers and other observances to celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

One of the largest observances took place in Angel Stadium where up to 20,000 Muslims from more than 100 Mosques participated in Eid al-Fitr, "the feast of fast breaking" marking the official end of Ramadan.

The annual observance, which usually takes place in the stadium's parking lot, will instead be held inside on the grass, as a safety precaution, organizers told the Orange County Register.

Participants will also need to obtain free tickets from their home mosques or organizations to enter service.

"We'll have our usual security for that event," said Nicole Alhakawati, one of the organizers. "We've also requested additional police patrols."

The concerns about security come amid a spate of recent attacks including the murder of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen of Reston, Va. who was assaulted and killed as she left a Mosque on June 18.

Police in the Sacramento area are investigating the discovery of a burned Quran filled with bacon that was found hanging by a handcuff from a fence Saturday outside the Masjid Annur Islamic Center in Sacramento.

In a separate incident, someone driving by in a car threw pages torn from a Quran into the Islamic Center of Davis on Friday night.

On Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued an alert to mosques and Islamic organizations nationwide warning them to be vigilant.

"We're asking mosque administrators to make sure the areas are well-lit and there's adequate security available," the council's Southern California executive director, Hussam Ayloush, told the Register.

The warning also urges prayer participants to ignore taunts or other forms of harassment.

"If you feel unsafe, call the police and move to a safe place immediately," the advisory recommends.

In addition to prayers and services at individual mosques, other special events in Southern California include an Eid al-Fitr breakfast Sunday at the New Horizon School in Pasadena, an evening celebration at the King Fahad Mosque in Culver City and an Eid Celebration Monday at the Pretend City Children's Museum in Irvine.

Ramadan, which began May 26 and ended Saturday evening, is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar when Muslims abstain from food, drink and other "sensual pleasures" from dawn to sunset.

During this time Muslims exchange social visits to strengthen family and community bonds. Many communities hold bazaars and other activities following the prayers.
Many people associate Spain with siesta . And yet Spaniards have been slow to turn a profit from this habit. Japan, Argentina and Belgium are far ahead on this issue, explains Maria Estrella Jorro de Inza, owner of Siesta and Go, Spains very first business offering customers some down time in between activities .

Siesta and Go, a new nap bar in Madrid's AZCA area. EL PAIS

Located in Madrids AZCA business area, which is filled with offices, Siesta and Go hopes to become a refuge for local workers seeking a quiet place to rest, read, or take a nap.

In Argentina and Belgium, these places are known as siestodromes and nap bars. But De Inza discovered the business model in Japan.

The place has 19 beds, although they have only been full once

On a trip we took, we realized that there were many options: rest centers for women, for men, and mixed options.

She decided to import the idea. For 20, a client gets three hours to rest in their own personal space. It is also possible to pay by the minute, and prices vary depending on what one wants: a couch (1.5 for 30 minutes), a bunk bed (2 for 30 minutes) or a private room (3 for 30 minutes).

Once a customers entrance is registered in our computer system, theres a five-minute courtesy period to let them get comfortable, explains the owner. The establishment offers slippers and shirts for those who really want to feel at home.

There are no shrill alarm clocks here. An employee will gently wake up the customer at the agreed time. The establishment also offers coffee, newspapers and an internet connection.

Our average customer is 30 to 45 years old, says Johan Grillo, the manager, who notes that they get as many men as women coming through the doors.

At first, says De Inza, people would look puzzled when they walked by. Inside, they would ask: So this is for taking naps? Ill have to come.

There are no shrill alarm clocks here; an employee will gently wake up the customer at the agreed time

According to the owner, customers tend to return again and again. The place has 19 beds, although they have only been full once. Were getting there slowly, she says.

As to whether Spaniards really do nap or not, the research is patchy. While it is true that lunch breaks in Spain still tend to be longer than elsewhere, a 2009 study carried out by a foundation attached to the San Carlos Clinical Hospital (Fundadeps) and the Spanish Bed Manufacturers Association (Asocama) found that just 16.2% of people in the country take a nap every day while 58.6% never do so.

English version by Susana Urra.
A new name has emerged in the bidding to own the Miami Marlins. CNBC star and Miami native Marcus Lemonis joining former Florida governor Jeb Bush's group that's trying to buy the team.

Lemonis, host of CNBC show "The Profit," said he was recruited by Bush, who recently united with Tagg Romney, the oldest son of former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and Wayne Rothbaum, an investment firm exec. Lemonis confirmed his new partnership on Twitter.

Bush teamed up with Romney's group after he pulled out of Derek Jeter's group, who is also vying to own the Marlins.

Lemonis' show "The Profit" follows his attempts at rebuilding failing businesses. He invests his own money in the businesses featured on the show. He is also the CEO of Camping World, a recreational vehicle company.

The 43-year-old was born in Lebanon but was raised in Perrine and still has roots in Miami. In May, Lemonis was elected onto the University of Miami board.

News of Lemonis joining the Bush-Romney group comes days after Miami businessman Jorge Mas, chairman of MasTec., Inc, a utility service provider, was identified as the third mystery bidder.

Last week, it was revealed that no group competing for ownership has enough money to meet current owner Jeffrey Loria's $1.3 billion asking price.
A woman escaped from an Uber ride in north Florida after the driver groped her, police said.

Edwin Ricci, 66, was arrested on Simple Battery charges for the alleged attack that happened on June 14 in Gainesville.

The woman was traveling in the Uber ride she purchased when she noticed the driver making the wrong turn. She was Facetiming with a friend when she told the driver he was going the wrong way, but Ricci allegedly told the victim "we are just taking a little ride," according to an arrest report.



That's when the driver noticed the woman was Facetiming and he turned the car and said "I hope he is not a jealous guy," a police report says. Ricci allegedly reached over and grabbed the woman's breasts, police said. The victim hit the driver's arm and yelled at him to stop before she jumped out the car and ran.

The woman's friend, who was on the Facetime call, saw and heard part of the attack, police said.

Ricci was arrested Monday at his attorney's office after he was identified by the victim from a six-person photo lineup.
An American tourist who was shot during an armed robbery while vacationing in Turks and Caicos was recovering at a Fort Lauderdale Hospital Monday.

Family members said Kevin Newman was on vacation with his wife and son when he was shot early Friday. The Alabama man underwent surgery before he was flown to the U.S. and admitted to Broward Health Medical Center, where he remained in serious condition.

In a Facebook post early Monday, wife Tiffany Newman said her husband was off a ventilator and was able to communicate.

"He was very emotional and tearful. He seems to have a VERY clear memory of what happened to him and I can only imagine the terror of this ordeal," she wrote.

Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police officials said officers responded to the shooting around 1:43 a.m. Friday in the Grace Bay area of Providenciales. Police said Newman was shot in the abdominal area.

"It caused damage to his liver, but the main issue was that it hit his inferior vena cava and right kidney vein. He lost a very large amount of blood so he received lots of transfusions," Tiffany Newman said in a statement.

Newman underwent surgery and had been in a medically-induced coma at the islands' Cheshire Hall Medical Center before he was flown to South Florida, according to a GoFundMe posting.

Police said no arrests have been made in the shooting, which remains under investigation.

Officials with the Turks and Caicos Ministry of Tourism released a statement about the shooting Monday.

"We are shocked and saddened regarding the incident that occurred on one of our islands, in the early morning of June 23, involving a visitor to the destination. He and his family continue to be in our thoughts and prayers while doctors continue to monitor his recovery," the statement read. "A criminal act, whether against a resident or visitor, is never something taken lightly and there is a heightened and concentrated effort to identify the individual(s) responsible. The Turks and Caicos Islands are a popular and peaceful destination known for its pristine beaches and relaxed atmosphere and this type of occurrence sends a ripple through the entire community. The safety of all those on these islands is always our top priority and remains as such. The Ministry of Tourism is in complete cooperation with our acting police commissioner who has increased visible security."

Officials said a member of the tourist board stayed by Tiffany Newman's side until her husband was flown to the U.S. and that they remain in constant contact with the family. They also made travel arrangements for Newman's son, Gavin, to return to the U.S.

"Words can't begin to express how thankful we are to each and every person that has given anything to our family. This has been so traumatic, but it has also been so comforting knowing we have so much love, support, and prayers for us," Tiffany Newman said in the statement.
A man has lost his brother after a morning bike ride ended in a fatal fall down a cliff in New Jersey.

Essex County officials said two brothers were mountain biking on a trail within a 157 acre county park in New Jersey Monday morning when one accidentally rode off a cliff, falling at least 20 feet into a ravine.

A woman who lives near the Mills Reservation, Debbie Cocoziello, said she was startled awake by someone screaming for help. The man screaming for help turned out to be the brother of the 49-year-old victim.

Authorities were seen hauling a stretcher covered in a white sheet from a ravine at Mills Reservation in Cedar Grove at 11:30 a.m., about two hours after the initial report came in about the fall.

The reservation has a number of hiking trails, including one that leads to a cliff overlooking the New York City skyline. It is maintained by the Essex County Park Commission.



Biking isn't allowed on the trails at the Mills Reservation, but neighbors say people do it anyway. One man was seen being turned away by police when he tried to pedal in just two hours after the accident.

"It's a ravine, it's not meant for something like that but the kids do it," said a neighbor named Caroline.

Other neighbors who live along the Cedar Grove-Upper Montclair border say they've worried about the park cliffs for years. There's no fence there, just a sheer drop.

Eddie Kloss says he never takes his three young children near the cliff: "It's too dangerous, there's no fence or anything."

The exact circumstances surrounding the fall remain under investigation, although authorities have called it an accident.
Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. Army Intelligence analyst who leaked information to WikiLeaks, took part on Sunday in her first Pride March since being released from prison last month, NBC News reported.

Manning rode in cars for the American Civil Liberties Union and said she was "honored to represent" the organization at the parade in New York City.

Manning, who came out publicly as transgender in 2013, rode alongside Gavin Grimm, the transgender teen who sued his school for denying him access to the boys' bathroom.

The 29-year-old was released from military prison in May after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence for leaking intelligence records. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in January.
T.J. Biscardi and his team were making their way through a seemingly ordinary wooded area in rural Crawford County just east of Cambridge Springs last week.

They made careful note of their surroundings, on the lookout for possible signs of their quarry. The afternoon rain had stopped, but the downpour made it difficult to distinguish possible footprints from the effects of runoff. What looked like a possible heelprint was more likely to be the hoofprint of a horse, Biscardi said as the group stopped for a closer look.

Sticks placed in unlikely positions - perfectly upright in the ground, for instance - and saplings twisted abnormally in ways that couldn't have been caused by weather or animals lacking opposable thumbs - phenomena like this provided potentially more convincing evidence that the target of their search had been in the area. And this evidence was definitely present, Biscardi said, as the group plunged deeper into the woods off Hogback Road.

No effort was made to mask the group's sounds. The likelihood of an encounter with their prey was low.

After all, the creature is known to be nocturnal, Biscardi said.

Watch out, Sasquatch, the hunt for Bigfoot in Crawford County is on.

Fortunately for the residents of Crawford County, that hunt is being led by T.J.'s father, Carmine "Tom'' Biscardi. Calling himself "The Godfather of Bigfoot,'' Tom Biscardi has been hunting the legendary creature for 50 years since he saw the famous footage of an ape-like creature walking upright through the northern California forest broadcast on "The Tonight Show'' in 1967.

In addition to being T.J.'s father, Tom is the grandfather of Tommy _ three generations of Bigfoot hunters on the prowl in the northern reaches of the county, determined to not only prove the existence of the creature so many believe is a hoax, but to bring back definitive proof.

"I want a creature,'' T.J. Biscardi said. "I'm done with pictures, done with prints, done with hair samples, done with fecal matter.''

"I don't want to be 70 or 80 years old and still have to be proving this,'' he added out of earshot of his father. "I want it to be done.''

To that end of finding an actual Bigfoot creature, dead or alive, the Biscardis' Bigfoot Project Investments is offering a $1 million bounty to anyone who provides "information leading to the capture or delivery of a bona fide Bigfoot.'' The family's "Searching for Bigfoot'' team follows up on as many as 30 reports of sightings all over the country each day. Many of them, T.J. admitted, are "crank calls,'' but some are not so easily dismissed.

"We're the only Bigfoot hunters with boots on the ground 10 months out of the year,'' Tom said in the Brooklyn accent that remains thick despite decades in northern California. He was stationed on the front porch of the Morgan family residence, entertaining reporters from Meadville and Erie with tales of his half-century hunting the creature and his seven face-to-face encounters with what he claims were bona fide Bigfoot creatures. Kevin and Robin Morgan first invited the Biscardi team to their farm last fall after Robin saw an immense creature covered in thick black hair walk across their yard and into the woods.

"This thing was not a bear,'' Robin insisted. "It was massive.''

After they checked out the Morgans' initial reports, the Biscardis planned an in-depth investigation for this year at a time when the creatures were likely to be migrating.

"There's not just one,'' Biscardi explains from his seat beside several rather large "museum-quality castings'' of three-toed feet. "There's about 8,000 in North America alone.''

As Biscardi held court on the porch, T.J. was leading the rest of his team through the woods as they set up bait and thermal-imagery cameras. Their hope was that later that night the ordinary-looking woods would come alive with the sounds of creatures "tree-knocking'' and "vocalizing'' to communicate and as they searched for food. The peanut butter-and-sardines bait was carefully suspended from trees at a height unreachable by humans but well within the grasp of the hairy humanoid creatures.

As they identified a likely "runway'' that the creature use through the woods, Kevin Morgan spotted what he thought might be a "tree twist'' - the unnatural twisting of a tree or sapling associated with the creatures.

"Debunk, debunk, debunk,'' T.J. reminded Morgan, explaining the mindset he sees as necessary for the committed Bigfoot hunter. The twisted tree, he said, was likely the result of lightning rather than evidence of the creature whose existence people have been trying and failing to prove for decades. Years of experience on the hunt have helped him distinguish between meaningful evidence and random noise.

Bigfoot hunting can be boring, T.J. admits, since it consists of 99.99 percent disappointment. The Biscardis have had their fair share of disappointment, most famously in 2008, when Biscardi supported the claims of two Georgia men who said they had found an authentic Bigfoot corpse and had stored it in a freezer. The supposed Bigfoot turned out to be a rubber suit. Today, Biscardi claims he was hoodwinked by the men and lost more than $100,000 as a result of the hoax.

T.J. Biscardi can relate to those who doubt stories of Sasquatch in general as well as those who doubt his father in particular.

"I was my father's biggest skeptic,'' he recalled as he walked through the woods. If kids make fun of other kids who believe in fanciful holiday traditions a little too long, he said, imagine what they do to kids who believe in Bigfoot.

But T.J.'s skepticism was dispelled nine years ago when he experienced the 0.01 percent of Bigfoot hunting that is sheer terror and excitement. After what might be called a "come to Bigfoot'' moment, he said he finally came to believe that his father had been right all those years.

Near Paris, Texas, having decided to help his father out after lots of cajoling, he decided to put an end to what he assumed was his father's trickery.

"I was going to get the guy with the monkey suit and show my dad- Scooby Dooby Doo,'' he said, comparing his plan to the formulaic ending of the kids cartoon that so often ended with the mystery-solving dog and his companions tearing the mask off of this week's dastardly criminal.

Instead, he claimed, as he ran toward the man in the suit, it became clear it was some sort of animal.

"I'm screwed,'' the unarmed T.J. thought to himself as he said he came within a few feet of the creature. "It looked at me and kind of tilted its head. Then it just walked away.''

In the nine years since the encounter, T.J. has left a career in real estate and joined his father's team full-time.

Tom Biscardi can relate to his son's response. He claimed to have come within about 12 feet of a large creature, though not as large as people tend to report _ their imaginations get the better of them, he said. The experience, he said simply, was "euphoric.''

Though that encounter was years ago, Biscardi still seemed to be riding the euphoria this week as he was back on the hunt. He even had a message for those who are still skeptical, like his son used to be.

"Any time they want to come out and see the real deal,'' he said, "they're invited.''

This article is a contribution from the The Meadville Tribune.
Philadelphia police have identified a woman who was killed after being brutally beaten and stabbed outside a North Philadelphia high school Saturday morning.

Debra Gulliver, 33, of the 2500 block of N. 25th Street, suffered more than a dozen stab wounds to her stomach, police said Monday. She was also beaten severely in the head.

"She was just dressed in flip flops and a tank top and a pocket book and a pony tail going home and never made it," Gulliver's mother Nancy Celia told NBC10. "Whoever was there at that point in time, she put up a fight for darn sure."



Gulliver was partially clothed when a passerby, who had just been robbed by two men, found her in a park attached to Dobbins Technical High School near 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue, police said.

This was a very brutal, savage attack. Somebody really wanted to make sure that she suffered and was killed," Capt. Drew Techner told NBC10 on Saturday.

Police are unsure of the motive but say nothing was stolen from Gulliver during the attack. They also have not yet determined whether or not she was sexually assaulted.



Police in North Philadelphia are looking for a person who beat and stabbed a woman to death near Dobbins High School. She was found dead early Saturday morning, police said.

Police did not have a description of a suspect available Monday. Officials said they received 911 calls from witnesses who left the scene before officers arrived.

"We need to talk to them," Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark said. "If they see this, we need them to reach out to us and come in. They were in the park during the time, probably of the murder, or shortly thereafter so we need to talk to them as well."

Homicide detectives are investigating. If you have any information on the stabbing, please call 911.


CIA Director Mike Pompeo says he thinks disclosure of America's secret intelligence is on the rise, fueled partly by the "worship" of leakers like Edward Snowden.

"In some ways, I do think it's accelerated," Pompeo told MSNBC in an interview that aired Saturday. "I think there is a phenomenon, the worship of Edward Snowden, and those who steal American secrets for the purpose of self-aggrandizement or money or for whatever their motivation may be, does seem to be on the increase."

Pompeo said the United States needs to redouble its efforts to stem leaks of classified information.

"It's tough. You now have not only nation states trying to steal our stuff, but non-state, hostile intelligence services, well-funded -- folks like WikiLeaks, out there trying to steal American secrets for the sole purpose of undermining the United States and democracy," Pompeo said.

Besides Snowden, who leaked documents revealing extensive U.S. government surveillance, WikiLeaks recently released nearly 8,000 documents that it says reveal secrets about the CIA's cyberespionage tools for breaking into computers. WikiLeaks previously published 250,000 State Department cables and embarrassed the U.S. military with hundreds of thousands of logs from Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are several other recent cases, including Chelsea Manning, the Army private formerly known as Bradley Manning. She was convicted in a 2013 court-martial of leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. Manning said she leaked the documents to raise awareness about the war's impact on innocent civilians.

Last year, former NSA contractor Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was accused of removing highly classified information, storing it in an unlocked shed and in his car and home. Court documents say investigators seized, conservatively, 50 terabytes of information, or enough to fill roughly 200 laptop computers.

Pompeo said the Trump administration is focused on stopping leaks of any kind from any agency and pursuing perpetrators. "I think we'll have some successes both on the deterrence side  that is stopping them from happening  as well as on punishing those who we catch who have done it," Pompeo said.

On other issues, Pompeo said:

 North Korea poses a "very real danger" to U.S. national security. "I hardly ever escape a day at the White House without the president asking me about North Korea and how it is that the United States is responding to that threat. It's very much at the top of his mind." He said the North Koreans are "ever-closer to having the capacity to hold America at risk with a nuclear weapon."

Pompeo said U.S. national security also is threatened by Iran, which he described as the world's largest state sponsor of terror.

"Today, we find it with enormous influence, influence that far outstrips where it was six or seven years ago," said Pompeo, a former Republican congressman from Kansas. "Whether it's the influence they have over the government in Baghdad, whether it's the increasing strength of Hezbollah and Lebanon, their work alongside the Houthis in Iran, the Iraqi Shias that are fighting along now the border in Syria -- certainly the Shia forces that are engaged in Syria. Iran is everywhere throughout the Middle East."
Halifax is a relatively small city on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Its about a 12-hour drive from there to Montreal and an 18-hour drive to Toronto. Its a little out of the way, to say the least.

When I got Walrus guitarist and vocalist Justin Murphy on the phone, the band was in the middle of nowhere, aka Utah on the way to Boise, Idaho.

This is the most west weve ever been, Murphy said. Weve actually never been to California.

Walrus sound falls somewhere between slacker rock, psych-rock, prog and 60s/70s pop rock -- like their hometown, its relevant but still on the outskirts.

The band started five years ago when Murphy started writing songs, demoing them and bringing them to his brother Jordan, the drummer of the band.

It sort of snowballed from there, Murphy said of the project.

&lt;a href="http://walrustheband.bandcamp.com/album/family-hangover" mce_href="http://walrustheband.bandcamp.com/album/family-hangover"&gt;Family Hangover by Walrus&lt;/a&gt;

The insulation of Halifax can be a little monotonous, according to him. The music scene there is really incestuous  really small.

But insular anxieties can often be exorcised by driving to alien places, moving in and around new cultures and landscapes. It can be cathartic -- liberating even.

If you want to have a good cry, listen to Drive by the Cars, Murphy said as we wound down our conversation and agreed to see one another at Walrus show on Wednesday, June 28, at Soda Bar.

Until then, theyll continue driving along this foreign coast.

Rutger Rosenborg was almost a Stanford neuroscientist before he formed Ed Ghost Tucker. He now plays in the Lulls and makes music on his own when he's not writing. Follow his updates on Facebook or contact him directly.
The regional government of Catalonias plans for an independence referendum on October 1 have hit further problems: of the 285,000 Catalans living abroad who would be eligible to vote, barely 5,000 have registered, while an electronic voting system is not working.

Catalan regional deputy premier Oriol Junqueras, left, with premier Carles Puigdemont. Toni Albir (EFE)

Over recent months, the Foreign Affairs department at the Generalitat, as the regions government is known, along with the privately run Catalan National Assembly (ANC), has been trying to rally support among Catalans living abroad for the proposed vote on October 1, despite fierce opposition from the central government in Madrid, which insists the poll would be illegal. A register of Catalans residing abroad was created in 2014, when the Generalitat sought support for its informal sovereignty referendum, which was held on November 9 of that year. Whether Catalans living in other parts of Spain will be able to vote in the October poll is unclear.

Whether Catalans living in other parts of Spain will be able to vote in the October poll is unclear

In November 2014, around 2.3 million people voted out of an eligible voter pool of 6.3 million, according to the regional governments own figures. Although 80% voted in favor of independence, it was dismissed by international observers as lacking sufficient guarantees of objectivity, given that it was organized and counted by pro-sovereignty activists and that many people who want Catalonia to remain part of Spain did not participate.

The pro-independence alliance between PDeCAT and the ERC Republican Left that runs Catalonia wants Catalans living abroad to vote, but the idea has created divisions, with the two parties unable to agree which should take control of the campaign to get Catalans living abroad to register to vote in the referendum.

The Catalan regional government has so far failed to introduce measures in recently approved legislation covering the rights of Catalans living abroad. An official announcement from May suggested that Catalans resident overseas who want to vote in the October referendum would have to register.

Catalonia has so far failed to win much international support for independence

Meanwhile, on Sunday morning on Catalunya Radio, the ANCs Jordi Sanchez said: We have laid out very clearly the way to address the vote of Catalans living abroad and everybody is conscious that we need to move forward and with greater clarity.

Catalonia has so far failed to win much international support for independence: in April, the US embassy in Madrid distanced itself from the matter.

Former Catalan premier Artur Mas and current regional premier Carles Puigdemont have also lobbied the EU over their bid to hold a referendum, but Brussels has also failed to support the project.

English version by Nick Lyne.
The South Pasadena father of a missing 5-year-old boy spent 47 days socializing in Las Vegas since the boy disappeared and had become a flight risk, prompting authorities to arrest him last week, investigators said Monday.

Aramazd Andressian Sr., 35, was arrested Friday in Las Vegas on suspicion of killing Aramazd Andressian Jr., according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. No body has turned up two months after the boy was last seen with his father at Disneyland in Anaheim.

At a Monday news conference, authorities did not provide details about the father's activities in Las Vegas, but said surveillance of his behavior suggested it was "not consistent with a grieving parent."

Investigators said they were concerned Andressian, who has been charged with murder, was about to flee to another country, authorities said Monday. Andressian tried to change his appearance by shaving his beard and coloring his hair, said Lt. Joe Mendoza.

"I can only speak for myself. If my son was missing, I would be doing things that (the boy's mother) was doing. Circulating fliers, looking for your son," said Mendoza. "He was not doing that. He was socializing in Vegas."

When asked whether Andressian has provided information to investigators, Mendoza said, "He has not been cooperative, whatsoever."

Andressian's attorney said Monday that his client is looking forward to pursuing the case in court and that nothing new was presented at the news conference. He declined to comment on the length of time Andressian spent in Las Vegas.

The arrest came after two months of searching for the boy throughout Southern California, including Lake Cachuma and about 30 miles of road in the Santa Ynez Mountains northwest of Los Angeles.

Andressian was being held in Las Vegas in lieu of $10 million bail pending extradition. His arrest was coordinated by Sheriff's Homicide Bureau detectives along with Las Vegas police and the U.S. Marshal's Service, officials said.

Arraignment is expected later this week.



"This is one of those cases that tore at many people's hearts," said LA County Sheriff's Department Capt. Christopher Bergner.

He was originally arrested in Los Angeles County shortly after his son went missing, but was later released for lack of evidence.

"It's been 60 days since that time. We've had a chance to gather evidence," said Mendoza. "That time has given investigators the tools and the evidence needed to present this case to the district attorney's office."

The boy was last seen on the evening of April 20 at Disneyland, in the custody of his father, who was found unconscious at Arroyo Seco Park two days later and was unable to account for his son's whereabouts.

Andressian admitted to ingesting prescription medication that was not prescribed to him that day, Mendoza said. The father said he did not remember what happened to his child or any details that were useful in locating the boy.

Andressian was in the middle of a divorce and custody battle with the boy's mother, Ana Estevez, who investigators have said is not a suspect in the child's disappearance. Authorities said Monday the divorce was part of the criminal investigation.

Court documents show that the father made allegations that the boy was being sexually abused by the son of the mother's boyfriend.

Both police and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services became involved, but no evidence of abuse was found. Police were never able to identify either a boyfriend or his child, the documents show.



Little Ara said in an interview with officials from Children and Family Services that his father had coached him to talk about the sexual abuse.



There were claims of abuse on both sides. Police also investigated the father.



During a DCSF interview Ara said he is not afraid to go home with his mother, but when asked about being afraid to go home with his father, he replied, "I don't want to talk about that."



During interview with the mother, police learned that she divorced his father because he was gone all day, six days a week. He had told her that he was a dean at ITT Technical Institute. But when she called ITT she learned that he was never employed there.



She did not know her husband was unemployed. He claimed that he used his income to pay off debt so she paid all the bills. When they divorced, the father claimed that he was never employed and demanded spousal support.



A statement from Estevez was read at Monday's news conference.

"Although most have never met Piqui, it is immensely claer that he has touched your lives in a positive and heartfelt way," Estevez's statement said. "My heart is shattered and I will miss my son immensely each and every second of every day for the rest of my life."

Detectives also served a warrant at the Montebello home of the boy's paternal grandmother on May 25. The boy's father had reportedly recently moved into the home, where investigators "seized various items of evidence," according to a sheriff's statement released at the time.

The father's attorney, Robert Nardoni, has previously said his client is innocent and that last week's arrest came as a surprise. On April 28, the day a search warrant was served at his South Pasadena home, Andressian released a statement through his attorney saying, in part, that he hoped and prayed "for the safe return of my only child, my namesake."

It was his only public comment on the boy's disappearance.

Estevez contacted police at 9 a.m. on April 22 to report her son missing. She said her estranged husband had failed to drop off the child at a pre-arranged meeting place.

A $20,000 reward has been offered by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for information that helps authorities locate the child, who is white, with brown hair and brown eyes and a small mole on the bottom of his right shoulder. He stands at 4-feet, 1-inch and weighs 55 pounds.

"It may seem unusual to file murder cases when we have not yet found the childs body, but rest assured, my office has successfully prosecuted such cases before," District Attorney Jackie Lacy said. "I am confident, however, that the evidence proves that Mr. Andressian committed this horrible crime."

Anyone with information on the case was urged to call homicide detectives at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
The leader of a Northern Ireland-based party struck a 1.5 billion pound ($1.9 billion) deal with British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives on Monday to support her minority government in a crucial vote on her legislative package later this week.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster said the details of the deal with the Conservatives will be published later. The funds were expected to be used to boost Northern Ireland's economy and offer investment in new infrastructure, health and education.

Foster said the funding would "address the unique circumstances" of Northern Ireland. May, who didn't give specifics about the deal, said that the two parties "share many values."

"We also share the desire to ensure a strong government, able to put through its program and provide for issues like the Brexit negotiations, but also national security issues," May said after the deal was signed. "So the agreement we have come to is a very, very good one."

But the figure is certain to raise questions at a time of funding pressure to support police and security services following several extremist attacks as well as a national housing crisis following a devastating fire in a London high-rise that killed at least 79 people. The other parts of the United Kingdom are also certain to object to special consideration for Northern Ireland.

Foster's party has said it wanted tangible benefits for Northern Ireland in terms of jobs and investment in order to offer its support for May, who lost her majority in the House of Commons in a snap election earlier this month. The prime minister needs the DUP's 10 lawmakers to support her to stay in power.

But critics, including members of May's Conservatives, have objected to any kind of alliance with the DUP because of some of its views, including opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.

May and Foster looked on Monday as the agreement was signed by the Conservative Party's chief whip Gavin Williamson and the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson.
The Trump administration is poised to declare China among the world's worst offenders on human trafficking, U.S. officials said Monday, putting the world's most populous country in the same category as North Korea, Zimbabwe and Syria,

China's downgrade is to be announced Tuesday at the State Department when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson unveils the annual Trafficking in Persons Report to Congress, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment publicly ahead of the announcement and demanded anonymity. The ceremony is also expected to be attended by Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser, who has emphasized human trafficking issues.

The determination marks the first major, public rebuke of China's human rights record by the Trump administration, which has generally avoided direct, public criticism of Beijing while seeking its cooperation in combatting North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. The report is likely to draw strong protest from China's communist government.

China will be listed under "Tier 3," the ranking system's lowest category, which applies to countries failing to meet minimum standards to prevent human trafficking or making significant improvement efforts. Other countries that have recently been on that list include Sudan, Iran and Haiti.

In last year's annual report, the U.S. placed China on its "watch list" of countries that aren't meeting minimum standards and could be downgraded to the lowest classification. The U.S. described China as devoting "sufficient resources" to a written plan for addressing trafficking. But it said that the Asian power hadn't increased its anti-trafficking efforts from the previous year.

It wasn't immediately clear what changes are leading the Trump administration to downgrade China to the lowest tier. The State Department declined to confirm the designation or to comment ahead of the report's release Tuesday, saying it "does not discuss details of internal deliberations."

In the 2016 report, the U.S. called China a "source, destination and transit country" for forced labor and sex trafficking. That report described internal migrants in China as particularly vulnerable, with some forced to work with little government oversight in factories and coal mines. It said men, women and children from other Asian countries and from Africa also are exploited.

The report also raised concerns about forced begging in China that particularly affects children. It said that girls and women from rural areas are at higher risk of being recruited for sex trafficking in cities.

Countries placed in Tier 3 can be penalized with sanctions, including the withholding of non-humanitarian aid and assistance that could affect agreements with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Officials from countries designated in that tier can be barred from participating in U.S. government educational and cultural exchange programs.

However, the president retains the authority to waive the sanctions in U.S. national interest or if the penalties could adversely affect vulnerable populations. In practice, countries given the worst designation have often been granted waivers under previous U.S. administrations.
The man charged with killing his estranged wife and two other people during a string of shootings over two days in two Maryland counties pleaded guilty Monday to the shootings that took place in Prince George's County.

Prosecutors say Eulalio Tordil killed his estranged wife, 44-year-old Gladys Tordil, May 5, 2016, in the parking lot of High Point High School in Prince George's County.

Authorities said he also shot and wounded a bystander who tried to help her; that man survived.

Tordil was indicted on one count of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in that case. He entered a guilty plea at a hearing Monday morning.

The day after he killed his wife, authorities say Tordil shot and killed two strangers during apparent carjacking attempts in Montgomery County: Malcom Winffel, 45, and Claudina Molina, 65.

Winffel was fatally shot outside the Westfield Montgomery mall after he and another man went to help a woman whom police said the suspect was trying to carjack. Both men and the woman were shot; Winffel died and the other two victims survived.

Later on the same afternoon as the mall shooting, Molina was shot and killed outside a Giant grocery store in a shopping center in Aspen Hill.

Tordil pleaded guilty in April to two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder for the shootings in Montgomery County. As a part of a plea agreement, he will be sentenced to life in prison without parole in that county.
A change to a Virginia law designed to help people injured in the line of duty is putting first responders families at risk.

Greg Foley served as a technician for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, and he was called to the Pentagon Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Being at the Pentagon, coming from a military background, I felt that brotherhood looking at our dead servicemen, he said.

He felt helpless when he realized there was no one to rescue.

Six months, or a year later, I developed very strong, very powerful PTSD that I still struggle with and was retired for a line of duty injury as a result of that, he said.



He became eligible for Virginia's Line of Duty Act (LODA). Virginia is one of only eight states that offer a lump sum death benefit and lifetime health insurance benefits to the families of public safety officers killed or permanently disabled on the job.

Foley said it took care of his family.

"It's a blessing, and I'm very grateful to the commonwealth of Virginia for having it, he said.

But the blessing is now becoming a curse as his wife and stepdaughter will be dropped from his health insurance July 1. Many families like his were receiving benefits the plan wasn't designed to cover.

I believe that this was an unintended consequence that nobody anticipated, said Virginia Diamond, legislative council for the Virginia State Firefighter's Association

She took part in a task force of representatives from police, fire and other agencies asked to help come up with a plan to cut costs and streamline LODA after a 2014 study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission revealed costs to LODA would double over the next 10 years, with health care benefits accounting for more than 90 percent of the total cost.

So we took responsibility and we all came up with millions of dollars of savings, but one idea that was never suggested as a way of saving money was that they would kick children off the plan as a way of saving money, Diamond said.

Currently most LODA beneficiaries in Virginia are on different health insurance policies because their health plans are administered through their employers, which in most cases are cities or counties.

Starting July 1, the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management will administer one health benefit program so all LODA beneficiaries will have the same level of coverage.

A number of LODA beneficiaries current health insurance plans allowed them to add a spouse or child after the date of their disability. Those family members will not be covered under the new LODA health benefits plan and will have to find alternative coverage.

I would encourage you, the next time you sit down with your extended family for dinner, to look around and pick 20 percent of your family that is no longer insured, Foley said. That's what it does.



The Department of Human Resource Management acknowledged what it said are a small number of children and spouses who will lose their health coverage but also pointed out that the overhaul will save state and local governments $40 million over 10 years.

In a statement, the agency told News4 the changes to the line of duty act are "... very important for fairness and equity and to make sure that the LODA program is still there for public safety officers that need it in the future."

The changes are coming to fast for Foley and his family.

And now I feel like the plans that I had in place to take care of my family are falling apart and I don't quite know how to deal with it, he said.

We really hope we can call upon the decision makers to figure out a way to right this wrong and correct this injustice, Diamond said.



Correcting the situation would require a code change, and that cant happen until the next session.
About 30 New Hampshire Air National Guard Security Forces Squadron members are going to be deployed in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

A deployment ceremony is scheduled for Sunday at Pease Air National Guard Base in Newington, New Hampshire. The ceremony also will celebrate the 193 airmen who have deployed this year.

The soldiers are deploying to six locations throughout the United States Central Command. They have conducted combat skills training at Fort Bliss, Texas, and completed additional training locally. They will provide airbase security at six bases throughout the region.
Authorities in Massachusetts have suspended their search for a possible person in the water Monday after an overturned kayak was found in Plymouth Harbor.

There are no correlating missing person reports, according to the Coast Guard.



The U.S. Coast Guard said the kayak was found by a local fisherman off Duxbury Pier Light about 4 a.m.

The kayak is unmarked, 10-feet long and lime green in color.

Crews with the Coast Guard Station Scituate launched a 29-foot response boat and the Air Station Cape Cod launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew to search the waters. Harbormasters in Duxbury and Plymouth in addition to Plymouth fire officials are also searching for a possible person in the water.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Coast Guard in Boston at 617-223-5757.
As police continue to search for the gunman who shot an 8-year-old girl this weekend in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood, the child's mother says she wishes she was hit instead.

"I love my kids. I was praying to God that the bullet hit me, even if they lose their mother," said Sandra Pereira, whose daughter, Jakayla, was hit by stray gunfire early Sunday morning.

Pereira and two of her kids were visiting a friend Saturday night at the Hailey Apartments housing complex on Heath Street. When gunfire erupted, Pereira says she rushed to get the kids inside and sheild them with her own body.

Bullets struck the door, and it wasn't until they went inside and Jakayla sat down to watch a movie that she realized she had been it in the stomach and the shoulder.

The girl was rushed to Boston Medical Center. The bullet that struck her shoulder has not been removed.

"I can't believe I'm saying, 'I'm thankful my sister got shot in the shoulder and didn't die,'" said Jessica Pomales, the victim's sister. "I shouldn't have to say something like that."

Pomales is calling on witnesses to come forward with information.

"People in the neighborhood have to talk," she said.

Authorities say the motive of the shooting is still unknown, but 15 shell casings were found in the street.

While she is expected to recover, it is unclear how long the child will be in the hospital.

The shooting remains under investigation.
Federal prosecutors say a Canadian man was recently brought to the United States to face charges related to allegations of a cross-border gun smuggling plot which exploited a unique public library at the unwitting center of the scheme.

The office of the U.S. Attorney for Vermont announced Alexis Vlachos, 40, of Montreal, was extradited to face charges including exporting firearms from the United States into Canada without a permit.

The plot allegedly exploited the Haskell Free Library, which is famous for straddling the international border of Stanstead, Quebec and Derby Line, Vermont, and serves readers from both countries.

Investigators say in 2010 and 2011, Vlachos schemed to buy weapons in the States, and have a friend enter the public library through Vermont, dropping a knapsack full of handguns in the landmark's bathroom.

Then, Vlachos would stroll in from the library's Canadian side and pick up the bag, the U.S. Attorneys Office said, bringing those firearms back into Quebec without a permit and skirting the formal border checkpoints.

Vlachos pleaded not guilty earlier this month and is being held pending trial.

Criminals do what criminals do, said Mike Colerick, a traveler from Plymouth, Massachusetts who was visiting Derby Line Monday. If there's money to be made illegally, they're going to figure out a way of doing it  no matter what.

If it wasn't the library, it would be something else, speculated another traveler to Derby Line, Daniela Browning of Ottawa, Canada. They would hide them in the flower pots!

The office of the U.S. Attorney for Vermont emphasized that the charges against Vlachos were merely accusations, noting he is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

The plot allegedly planned an unpermitted exportation of 100 guns to Canada, according to investigators.

Prosecutors said the suspect had two accomplices in on this scheme with him. One of those people, Annette Wexler, pled guilty to lying to licensed gun dealers and unlawful exportation, the office of the U.S. Attorney for Vermont said.

Wexler is scheduled to be sentenced next month, the office added.

Ten years ago, at a time when federal authorities were wrestling with how to crack down on cross-border smuggling risks by speaking with the community about closing down roads considered porous, necn checked out the line between the U.S. and Canada.

It runs right through the library. One volunteer told former necn reporter Anya Huneke that the dividing line somehow managed to unite communities on either side of the border.

Were very proud of the Haskell Library, the volunteer, named Peter, said in June 2007. Its the best example of us being able to work together.

Monday, several people told us the Haskell remains one of the proudest gems of this community, even despite this very rare gun smuggling case.

I think if we live in fear we have to close up every little potential loophole, that would probably change our way of life a little bit and I don't think it's worth it, said traveler Don Browning of Ottawa, Canada.
Four suspects have been apprehended in a connection with a break in at a private residence in Massachusetts on Sunday.

Wareham police say Alan Tieu, 23, of Fall River; Keylin Hall, 24, of Dorchester; Toan Nguyen, 25, of Dorchester; and Yolanda Grausuck, 28, of Dorchester are accused of breaking and entering, among other charges.

Early Sunday morning, the owner of the home in question contacted police to report that the home security system had detected unknown people inside the house. No residents of the house were at home at the time of the incident.

The suspects allegedly attempted to run away when police arrived by jumping out a rear window. Police apprehended all four suspects shortly after arriving on the scene.

It's unclear if any of the accused have attorneys.
A Madrid judge has ordered the remains of Spanish Surrealist artist Salvador Dali exhumed in order to clear up a paternity claim brought by a 60-year-old woman who says she is his daughter.

Salvador Dali, in a picture taken by Antonio Espejo.

The court needs DNA samples from Dali, who died on January 23, 1989, because there is no other biological or personal material that can be used to determine whether he is really the father of Pilar Abel Martinez, a woman from Girona (Catalonia) who has been fighting since 2007 to be recognized as the famous painters kin.

Pilar Abel, pictured in her house in 2015. MARTA RODRIGUEZ

In a written decision, the Madrid judge in charge of the case said that it is necessary to conduct a biological test to research Abel Martinezs claim, as no biological remains or personal objects exist on which to conduct the test at the National Toxicology Institute.

The judge will now ask a court in Figueres, the Catalan town where Dali is buried  the body rests inside the Dali Museum  to instruct a forensic scientist to extract samples from Dalis remains and send them to the National Toxicology and Forensic Science Institute for further investigation.

Pilar Abel Martinez, who was herself born in Figueres in 1956, has been publicly claiming to be the famous painters daughter since 2007. She says that her mother, a native of Pineda de Mar (Barcelona), told her that she had a secret affair with Dali in Port-Lligat (Cadaques), where she was working for a family that spent part of the year there.

In 1955 she left her job and returned to her home town of Castello d'Empuries, where she got married. A few months later, Pilar was born.

The judge will now ask a court to instruct a forensic scientist to extract samples from Dalis remains

According to the latter, the first time she heard that she was Dalis daughter was from her own paternal grandmother, who repeatedly told her: I know you are not my sons daughter, but the daughter of a great painter, but I love you all the same. Her grandmother always accused her of being odd, just like your father  a reference to Salvador Dali.

I have hopes that after three DNA tests whose results I have never seen, this time we will get to the bottom of things, Abel told this newspaper in 2015, when her claim was accepted.

If she is finally recognized as the daughter of the Surrealist genius, Abel would be entitled to his surname, to her rightful share of his estate, and to copyright royalties  but all of that would be the subject of a new court case.

This is not the first time that Abel has been involved in lawsuits concerning Spanish celebrities. After working for eight years as a fortune teller on a local television show in Girona, in 2005 she sued the writer Javier Cercas, claiming that she felt insulted after seeing herself portrayed in the character of a fortune teller named Conchi in his acclaimed novel Soldiers of Salamis. She asked for 600,000 in damages.

But the case was dismissed in January 2006 after a judge determined that the character was purely fictional and that the author did not personally know the plaintiff.

English version by Susana Urra.
When people think about uses for mainframes, they often think of the financial and public sectors. And while its true that many banks and government agencies would have a hard time getting through their countless interactions swiftly and efficiently without the processing power of Big Iron. But mainframes handle more than just our interactions with governments and our money  they are used in many industries that influence and improve our daily lives in ways we often dont even think about. Lets take a look at several walks of life and businesses where we depend on mainframes every day, even if we dont think about it.

Power: dont get dressed in the dark

Our modern world runs on electricity, and electricity providers run on mainframes. Only Big Iron is dependable enough to regulate power generation and output, as well as monitor and analyze power usage across countless households within each providers power grid. Mainframes help automate power generation to be self-sufficient and reliable, ensuring people can wake up to their alarm clock or work late shifts.

Power companies of all sorts use mainframes, from green energy producers who use Big Iron to monitor production to fossil fuel extractors who rely on these robust computers to keep tabs on the function of their expensive machinery and the efficiency of transportation networks to maximize output, improve safety, and make sure consumer needs for power are fulfilled worldwide.

Getting around: mainframes help build our cars and fly our planes

The sorts of calculations that go into putting a car together on an automated assembly line are numerous and extremely precise, and fit to be stored, processed, checked, and double-checked only on a mainframe. Mainframe solutions also provide more robust security, keeping manufacturers intellectual property protected from hackers or leaks.

In the sky, airlines depend on planes built in this same way with the precision and processing power of a mainframe to reduce the risk of design back-ups and ensure passengers fly safe. Air traffic control also relies on mainframes to keep track of thousands of flights every day to organize, prioritize, and supervise safe landings.

Health care: from doctor to pharmacist

Providing healthcare in an urban center can be a logistical nightmare without the organizational muscle of mainframes to keep everything running smoothly. Hospital staff have been able to use mainframes to fully automate all and procedures to create streamlined and error-free processes, drastically cutting down on errors and IT overhead. Every step of a filing process that would have taken hours can be performed on a mainframe in seconds, and then run through business intelligence software to further hone the care providers efficiency.

Once patients have their prescriptions, they can head to their local pharmacies secure in the knowledge that transportation logistics companies rely on mainframes to arrange the distribution of products like medicines all over the world, moving between warehouses and store shelves with minimal delays. With advances in machine learning, mainframes will be able to scan transactions in real time to notice any negative interactions between the patients current conditions and medications to prevent their taking a new drug with a dangerous side effect.

Conclusion: entertainment and beyond

Mainframes dont just influence power, travel, and healthcare, but change the way we relax and enjoy ourselves. Ticket retailers depend on mainframes to operate their online business and provide robust service, allowing attendees to choose their seats and keeping track of the rush when a new event makes tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis. And when concertgoers head to concessions to grab a snack, they unknowingly rely on mainframe databases that help organize production and distribution for leading food and soda brands.

Mainframes are incredibly powerful computers capable of organizing and analyzing truly staggering amounts of data. Its no wonder that all sorts of industries rely on Big Iron to stay organized and efficient. Not only is day-to-day life in the modern world dependent on mainframes, mainframers today can look forward to cultivating a highly sought-after skill set in fields beyond banking and finance.
Call on the Armenian authorities to reject the attempts of limiting the open discussion

EaP CSF ARMENIAN NATIONAL PLATFORM STATEMENT On the Importance of Critically Assessing the Situation in the Country Armenian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum expects from the authorities of the Republic of Armenia constructive approaches to the criticism of political processes, progress of reforms and the situation in the fields of democracy and human rights. Unfortunately, in recent months we have witnessed a number of times a declinatory attitude towards such criticism. In particular, we find unacceptable the sharply negative reaction of the RA officials to assessments of the representatives of the Armenian civil society and international institutions regarding the 2017 Parliamentary and Yerevan Council of Elders elections and in this context the invented accusations of slandering the state or intervening in its domestic affairs. Such manifestations are especially of concern in light of the initialing of Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Armenia. We, the members of EaP CSF Armenian National Platform, are convinced that the deepening of relations with the European Union implies that both sides should in principle reassess the partnership achievements in all dimensions. The combination of rigorous self-assessment of both the RA authorities, and the countrys civil society and expert community and the candid assessments and critical view of the EU representatives can only bring momentum and efficiency to the course of reforms, giving an opportunity to fully benefit from the financial and moral support provided by our partners. Thus, we call on the Armenian authorities to reject the attempts of limiting the open discussion on issues of certain concern and to contribute to an independent and impartial analysis of all the initiatives and projects comprising the RA-EU cooperation agenda, as well as to the development of monitoring mechanisms.
There's still time to sign up to recruitment day on Thursday

SCHOOL and college leavers looking for a career with top local businesses can get help and guidance at an event this week.

The West Berkshire Training Consortium is holding a 'Top Apprentice Recruitment Day' on June 29 for young people expecting good exam results.

Managing director of the consortium, Matt Garvey, said: "We have employers of all types who have pledged their vacancies and want to attract the best apprentices.

"They are only looking for those who really do stand out and were here to help them find people like you.

"If you are thinking about your future, apprenticeships make good sense. You get to work with an employer, learning and gaining valuable experience by actually doing the job.

"At the same time youll be working towards industry recognised qualifications and earn a wage."

The event is by invite only and those interested should email Yvonne@wbtc-uk.com or Rachel@wbtc-uk.com or call on 01635 35975.
Cookbook wins prestigious award in China

A KINGSCLERE author has won a prestigious book award in China.

Jenny Mallins cookbook A Grandmothers Legacy, won Best in World in the self-published category at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in May.

The awards were founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau and honour the best food and wine books, printed or digital, as well as food television.

It is the only international competition of the sector.

A Grandmothers Legacy is a cookbook and social history combined and tells the story of five generations of British women from Ms Mallins family, who lived in India between 1816 and the 1950s.

This rich history is interspersed with Anglo-Indian recipes, which were recorded in a notebook and passed down through the family.

Ms Mallin said: My mission has always been to get my book on every school shelf in the world  not the country  but the world.

A Grandmothers Legacy competed with authors from 205 different countries.

Ms Mallin will be holding an Anglo-Indian cookery demonstration class in Hannington Village Hall on June 30. This will be followed by a book talk with a difference, with Anglo-Indian nibbles on July 1 at the same venue.

The recipes to be demonstrated have all stemmed from a recipe book written and preserved by five generations of one family spanning 170 years of food from the British Raj.

Enjoy tasting the dishes and then discover the history behind the food at the book talk the following day.

To book a place on these Anglo-Indian food events, email jennymallin@yahoo.com
Reshma Ravishanker By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: A Sunday morning drive turned into a nightmare for a city-based entrepreneur when a crocodile attacked him and snapped off his left arm at Thattekere lake, off Kanakapura Road.

Mudit Dandwate (29) and a large group of friends had planned a trip out of the city. But when most of them backed out, he and another friend decided to go on a long drive in the friends car and set off from Indiranagar where Dandwate stays. Their pet dogs too accompanied them on the joy ride.

When they reached a temple on the way, they stopped the car and went there. When they returned, they saw their two dogs had run into the nearby Thattekere lake. Things got out of hand when they rushed behind the dogs to rescue them, according to Dr Anjana Reddy, one of his friends.

Dandwate, who went knee-deep into the water, managed to rescue both the dogs. Just as his friend was taking the dogs to the shore, Dandwate was attacked by the crocodile. The thrashing crocodile latched on to his left arm as he tried to scramble and get away. Dandwate had to battle with it for a while before it let go of his arm. But his arm was severed, said Dr Anjana Reddy. The friend immediately took Dandwate to Sagar Hospital. From there, Dandwate was shifted to Hosmat Hospital.

Dandwate underwent debridement (a procedure which is done to remove contamination of the wound) and will undergo another surgical procedure on Monday. Dr Thomas Chandy, chief of orthopaedics, Hosmat Hospital, said the patient is stable. His arm is cut from elbow below. The crocodiles saliva is infectious and hence needs thorough cleaning. The focus would be on closing the wound now. Following this, a prosthetic arm would be fixed, he said.

Ulsoor police have been alerted about the incident since it is a medico-legal case, according to hospital authorities. Dandwate runs a healthcare startup. His parents, who are in Nagpur, were informed about the incident late in the evening. His friends complained that the lake had no warning signs about the presence of crocodiles nor was there any fencing for safety.

CHENNAI: A Sunday morning drive turned into a nightmare for a city-based entrepreneur when a crocodile attacked him and snapped off his left arm at Thattekere lake, off Kanakapura Road. Mudit Dandwate (29) and a large group of friends had planned a trip out of the city. But when most of them backed out, he and another friend decided to go on a long drive in the friends car and set off from Indiranagar where Dandwate stays. Their pet dogs too accompanied them on the joy ride. When they reached a temple on the way, they stopped the car and went there. When they returned, they saw their two dogs had run into the nearby Thattekere lake. Things got out of hand when they rushed behind the dogs to rescue them, according to Dr Anjana Reddy, one of his friends. Dandwate, who went knee-deep into the water, managed to rescue both the dogs. Just as his friend was taking the dogs to the shore, Dandwate was attacked by the crocodile. The thrashing crocodile latched on to his left arm as he tried to scramble and get away. Dandwate had to battle with it for a while before it let go of his arm. But his arm was severed, said Dr Anjana Reddy. The friend immediately took Dandwate to Sagar Hospital. From there, Dandwate was shifted to Hosmat Hospital. Dandwate underwent debridement (a procedure which is done to remove contamination of the wound) and will undergo another surgical procedure on Monday. Dr Thomas Chandy, chief of orthopaedics, Hosmat Hospital, said the patient is stable. His arm is cut from elbow below. The crocodiles saliva is infectious and hence needs thorough cleaning. The focus would be on closing the wound now. Following this, a prosthetic arm would be fixed, he said. Ulsoor police have been alerted about the incident since it is a medico-legal case, according to hospital authorities. Dandwate runs a healthcare startup. His parents, who are in Nagpur, were informed about the incident late in the evening. His friends complained that the lake had no warning signs about the presence of crocodiles nor was there any fencing for safety.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Unidentified men looted Rs.37 lakh from a Flipkart dispatch centre in the Jhilmil Industrial Area of Delhi yesterday.

Ramu Kushwaha, who was working as cashier in the Flipkart office in the Jhilmil Industrial Area, said three to four unknown boys committed the robbery. They also removed a digital video recorder (DVR) from the centre and the guard sustained a head injury, he added. He said the robbers had their faces and heads covered to avoid identification.

The CCTV of the area is being analysed by the police. Further details are awaited.

NEW DELHI: Unidentified men looted Rs.37 lakh from a Flipkart dispatch centre in the Jhilmil Industrial Area of Delhi yesterday. Ramu Kushwaha, who was working as cashier in the Flipkart office in the Jhilmil Industrial Area, said three to four unknown boys committed the robbery. They also removed a digital video recorder (DVR) from the centre and the guard sustained a head injury, he added. He said the robbers had their faces and heads covered to avoid identification. The CCTV of the area is being analysed by the police. Further details are awaited.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The high-tech equipment of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and the traditional techniques of state government officials including police and fire services and other private persons, working cumulatively for days together, could not save the life of a toddler who fell in an abandoned borewell at Chanuvelly village in Rangareddy district. None of the teams that participated in the rescue operation has a standard operating procedure and to add to that, the uncertain trial-and-error methods opted by them proved fatal.

At around 7.15 pm on Thursday, Chinnari, daughter of Yadagiri and Renuka, fell into a bore well. For sometime, before the police, revenue and state disaster response teams rushed to the spot, the girls parents tried pulling her up.

The girl, at that time, is said to be stuck at a depth of some 20 feet. The attempts of the parents made her slip to 40 feet. The operation of various agencies, which started at 40 feet, ultimately did not pay off as she slipped to 400 feet in the borewell and only her body parts and torn pieces of dress were recovered in the final air-flush technique.

Transport minister P Mahender Reddy said: On Thursday, between 40 feet to 50 feet deep, the baby was still stuck along with the motor and was alive. She was crying and was even responding to her mother, which everyone here saw. While pulling up the motor, it was expected that the girl will also come up, but unfortunately, she slipped further and fell to 400 feet. On Saturday, after noticing water much deeper, we had come to a conclusion to at least recover the body, but only her clothes and some parts came out.

Reacting to the incident while speaking to the media, Rangareddy collector M Raghunandan Rao said that every one must take responsibility for their actions or inactions that lead to such unfortunate incidents.

One personss negligence leads to these kind of incidents. We have WALTA Act already in force, but how many people really follow that. Despite warnings, people are still negligent in closing the open and abandoned borewells, he said.

He said that after the incident, every possible rescue team arrived by Thursday night. The next morning, teams from Nalgonda, NDRF joined. From 9.30 pm on Thursday to 5 am on Friday, the teams monitored her through cameras. She was moving and we kept on trying different techniques to bring her up.

During the critical eight to nine hours, only her hands could be seen through the cameras and all the efforts to bring her up using different techniques failed. At 7 am on Friday, she stopped responding. The body temperature of the girl and the surrounding area was same. We could have come to conclusion that she had passed way, but we did not want to decide and rescue the baby and final effort was to pull her out using air-flush method, he said.

The collector said no Standard Operations Procedure is in place yet to participate in rescue operations during such incidents, which should actually be present. SOP should be framed at state government level and NDRF level, about first responders, doctors and experts, to study the situation, conditions, parameters and use the appropriate tools according to the manual, he said. He further said massive awareness programmes and checks along with every individuals responsible behaviour to close the open bore wells can only prevent such incidents in future.

Collector asks officials to seal abandoned borewells

Rajanna-Sircilla: District collector D Krishna Bhasker directed officials concerned that abandoned borewells be filled with granule or mud or a seal be made on top of it, in the wake of the Chinnari incident at Ikkareddygudem in Rangareddy district. The collector, in a press release on Sunday, alerted the authorities and owners of the borewells concerned to take initiation, else stringent action would be taken against them. The owners of borewells should construct a protection wall around it. He asked village secretaries and municipal authorities to recognise abandoned borewells.

HYDERABAD: The high-tech equipment of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and the traditional techniques of state government officials including police and fire services and other private persons, working cumulatively for days together, could not save the life of a toddler who fell in an abandoned borewell at Chanuvelly village in Rangareddy district. None of the teams that participated in the rescue operation has a standard operating procedure and to add to that, the uncertain trial-and-error methods opted by them proved fatal. At around 7.15 pm on Thursday, Chinnari, daughter of Yadagiri and Renuka, fell into a bore well. For sometime, before the police, revenue and state disaster response teams rushed to the spot, the girls parents tried pulling her up. The girl, at that time, is said to be stuck at a depth of some 20 feet. The attempts of the parents made her slip to 40 feet. The operation of various agencies, which started at 40 feet, ultimately did not pay off as she slipped to 400 feet in the borewell and only her body parts and torn pieces of dress were recovered in the final air-flush technique. Transport minister P Mahender Reddy said: On Thursday, between 40 feet to 50 feet deep, the baby was still stuck along with the motor and was alive. She was crying and was even responding to her mother, which everyone here saw. While pulling up the motor, it was expected that the girl will also come up, but unfortunately, she slipped further and fell to 400 feet. On Saturday, after noticing water much deeper, we had come to a conclusion to at least recover the body, but only her clothes and some parts came out. Reacting to the incident while speaking to the media, Rangareddy collector M Raghunandan Rao said that every one must take responsibility for their actions or inactions that lead to such unfortunate incidents. One personss negligence leads to these kind of incidents. We have WALTA Act already in force, but how many people really follow that. Despite warnings, people are still negligent in closing the open and abandoned borewells, he said. He said that after the incident, every possible rescue team arrived by Thursday night. The next morning, teams from Nalgonda, NDRF joined. From 9.30 pm on Thursday to 5 am on Friday, the teams monitored her through cameras. She was moving and we kept on trying different techniques to bring her up. During the critical eight to nine hours, only her hands could be seen through the cameras and all the efforts to bring her up using different techniques failed. At 7 am on Friday, she stopped responding. The body temperature of the girl and the surrounding area was same. We could have come to conclusion that she had passed way, but we did not want to decide and rescue the baby and final effort was to pull her out using air-flush method, he said. The collector said no Standard Operations Procedure is in place yet to participate in rescue operations during such incidents, which should actually be present. SOP should be framed at state government level and NDRF level, about first responders, doctors and experts, to study the situation, conditions, parameters and use the appropriate tools according to the manual, he said. He further said massive awareness programmes and checks along with every individuals responsible behaviour to close the open bore wells can only prevent such incidents in future. Collector asks officials to seal abandoned borewells Rajanna-Sircilla: District collector D Krishna Bhasker directed officials concerned that abandoned borewells be filled with granule or mud or a seal be made on top of it, in the wake of the Chinnari incident at Ikkareddygudem in Rangareddy district. The collector, in a press release on Sunday, alerted the authorities and owners of the borewells concerned to take initiation, else stringent action would be taken against them. The owners of borewells should construct a protection wall around it. He asked village secretaries and municipal authorities to recognise abandoned borewells.
By BNS

Jagga Jasoos has been in making since past four years. Govinda had shot for his portion in the film and later said that he will not be promoting it. The actor has not featured in the promos of the film but his look from the film has recently been leaked.

A source says, There was a lot speculation about whether the makers will retain Govindas part or not in the film after he said that he is upset with them. But this new picture has been leaked or have been put up officially that is not yet clear.

There were earlier reports about how Govinda left the shoot of the film half way in South Africa and then the makers were looking for his replacement.

Rumours also suggested that Anil Kapoor might step in place of Govinda, but neither director Anurag Basu nor co-producer and actor Ranbir Kapoor ever gave any clarifications on this subject.

It was said that Govinda is going to play Ranbirs father in the film but that too was not confirmed by anyone. Ever since the promotions of the film have started Ranbir and Anurag have not really mentioned about retaining or deleting Govindas scenes in the film.

Jagga Jasoos also stars Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif and is slated to release next month.

Jagga Jasoos has been in making since past four years. Govinda had shot for his portion in the film and later said that he will not be promoting it. The actor has not featured in the promos of the film but his look from the film has recently been leaked. A source says, There was a lot speculation about whether the makers will retain Govindas part or not in the film after he said that he is upset with them. But this new picture has been leaked or have been put up officially that is not yet clear. There were earlier reports about how Govinda left the shoot of the film half way in South Africa and then the makers were looking for his replacement. Rumours also suggested that Anil Kapoor might step in place of Govinda, but neither director Anurag Basu nor co-producer and actor Ranbir Kapoor ever gave any clarifications on this subject. It was said that Govinda is going to play Ranbirs father in the film but that too was not confirmed by anyone. Ever since the promotions of the film have started Ranbir and Anurag have not really mentioned about retaining or deleting Govindas scenes in the film. Jagga Jasoos also stars Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif and is slated to release next month.
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By Express News Service

Two more days and Prem will complete the Bangkok schedule of his coming film The Villain. The director was touched by the appreciation he received from actor Sudeep regarding the films progress. Sudeep has tweeted: Working experience this time at bkok has been a wonderful one.. Arrangements,,production value,,the entire ground tech team,, all awesome...(sic)

Prem sounds ecstatic, over the phone from Bangkok, and tells City Express, Of course, it is great that the actor is happy about the films progress.

The director also shares his experience of working with heroine Amy Jackson. The actress sounds thoroughly professional by his account. Punctuality is what I first noticed about her, he says. I have been shooting with her over the last one week and she makes sure that she understands the scene thoroughly. She discusses each of them in detail before facing the camera.

Prem has hired a translator to communicate with Amy. We mostly converse in English, and we have been managing pretty well. There is also a translator on the sets, who knows Kannada and English... The actress is impressively dedicated to her work. She has worked with big stars, across languages, he says.

Amy surprised the director by doing a car stunt. He says, We were shooting a car stunt and I had hired a stunt woman for that. But, Amy came up to me and said that she will do the shot herself and didnt quite give much thought to the risks involved. The actress simply felt that it was part of her job. Thats the commitment and passion she carries to the sets.

Prem, back in Bengaluru this week, will soon head to Leh Ladak to shoot a chase scene. Here Shivarajkumar will be joining the team. We will take a couple of days to prepare for the shoot and to get the story board, for the scenes in Leh Ladak, ready, he says.

Meanwhile, the team is in talks with the best Hollywood stuntman and Prem will announce the details once he comes on board. The director will be heading to London with the team soon.

The Villain, produced by CR Manohar, has Arjun Janyas music and Gires cinematography.

Two more days and Prem will complete the Bangkok schedule of his coming film The Villain. The director was touched by the appreciation he received from actor Sudeep regarding the films progress. Sudeep has tweeted: Working experience this time at bkok has been a wonderful one.. Arrangements,,production value,,the entire ground tech team,, all awesome...(sic) Prem sounds ecstatic, over the phone from Bangkok, and tells City Express, Of course, it is great that the actor is happy about the films progress. The director also shares his experience of working with heroine Amy Jackson. The actress sounds thoroughly professional by his account. Punctuality is what I first noticed about her, he says. I have been shooting with her over the last one week and she makes sure that she understands the scene thoroughly. She discusses each of them in detail before facing the camera. Prem has hired a translator to communicate with Amy. We mostly converse in English, and we have been managing pretty well. There is also a translator on the sets, who knows Kannada and English... The actress is impressively dedicated to her work. She has worked with big stars, across languages, he says. Amy surprised the director by doing a car stunt. He says, We were shooting a car stunt and I had hired a stunt woman for that. But, Amy came up to me and said that she will do the shot herself and didnt quite give much thought to the risks involved. The actress simply felt that it was part of her job. Thats the commitment and passion she carries to the sets. Prem, back in Bengaluru this week, will soon head to Leh Ladak to shoot a chase scene. Here Shivarajkumar will be joining the team. We will take a couple of days to prepare for the shoot and to get the story board, for the scenes in Leh Ladak, ready, he says. Meanwhile, the team is in talks with the best Hollywood stuntman and Prem will announce the details once he comes on board. The director will be heading to London with the team soon. The Villain, produced by CR Manohar, has Arjun Janyas music and Gires cinematography.
Sudhir Srinivasan By

Express News Service

Theres a lot of buzz around Arun Vaidyanathans Nibunan, mainly on account of some statistical significance. Its promoted as Arjuns 150th film. And this got me wondering about an actor who has generally, inexplicably perhaps, always remained in the periphery of stardom, and seemed content with it. Have we had another actor who has starred in films directed by Shankar and Mani Ratnam, and yet, never really gone on to command mass adulation? Yes, yes, theres Prashanth, but unlike his collaborations with these top filmmakers, Arjuns were generally successful. And even in the disastrous Kadal, his performance was thought of in great esteem.

The actor has been a quiet servant of Tamil cinema, an ever-reliable hand whod step up when called, and then without fuss, descend to a less glamorous, more comfortable zone. Take the example of Mudhalvan. Consider another actor, whos generally only done mediocre films, being cast as a replacement for a star like Rajinikanth. And yet, the announcement that Arjun would star in it raised a grand total of zero eyebrows. It wasnt trust that he could step up. It was a guarantee.

He could do everything the Superstar could do, only without the accompanying mass hysteria and the flashiness. He could portray innocence, he could do blithe romance, he could do comedy (including that staple scene involving a snake in a Rajini film), and hell, he even spoke Tamil like the Superstar, on account of their shared nativity. Every time he had to say Vanakkam like in that famous interview scene in Mudhalvan  he would instead say, Wanakkam. Talk about a like-for-like replacement.

And soon as his job is done, he would take a step back and return to a zone hes more comfortable in. He would do a Gentleman, and shortly, do a Jai Hind. He would do a Mudhalvan, and then, a Sudhandhiram. He would do a Kadal, and then fall back on a Jai Hind 2. His passion for the country is almost as well-known as Ajiths love for racing.

Growing up, I remember thinking of him as a poster boy of patriotism, the Tamil cinema equivalent of Captain America. If you failed to stand up for the anthem, if you didnt pay your taxes, if you didnt respect the tricolour, you seriously considered the possibility of an incensed Arjun coming at you. And eventually, the missing piece of the puzzle came to me when someone shared Arjuns birthday: August 15. Talk about marriages made in heaven.

Arjun may never really inspire rabid fan following. He may not have dedicated fan groups on social media that consider it their lifes mission to save him from slander. In any case, I know not one person who dislikes him. Even his sobriquet, Action King, is more descriptive than eulogistic. He is a man for all seasons, and a generally underrated artiste. Sure, you may say it has been around four years since he had a big ticket release, but hey Thats probably what they said before Mudhalvan.

Theres a lot of buzz around Arun Vaidyanathans Nibunan, mainly on account of some statistical significance. Its promoted as Arjuns 150th film. And this got me wondering about an actor who has generally, inexplicably perhaps, always remained in the periphery of stardom, and seemed content with it. Have we had another actor who has starred in films directed by Shankar and Mani Ratnam, and yet, never really gone on to command mass adulation? Yes, yes, theres Prashanth, but unlike his collaborations with these top filmmakers, Arjuns were generally successful. And even in the disastrous Kadal, his performance was thought of in great esteem. The actor has been a quiet servant of Tamil cinema, an ever-reliable hand whod step up when called, and then without fuss, descend to a less glamorous, more comfortable zone. Take the example of Mudhalvan. Consider another actor, whos generally only done mediocre films, being cast as a replacement for a star like Rajinikanth. And yet, the announcement that Arjun would star in it raised a grand total of zero eyebrows. It wasnt trust that he could step up. It was a guarantee. He could do everything the Superstar could do, only without the accompanying mass hysteria and the flashiness. He could portray innocence, he could do blithe romance, he could do comedy (including that staple scene involving a snake in a Rajini film), and hell, he even spoke Tamil like the Superstar, on account of their shared nativity. Every time he had to say Vanakkam like in that famous interview scene in Mudhalvan  he would instead say, Wanakkam. Talk about a like-for-like replacement. And soon as his job is done, he would take a step back and return to a zone hes more comfortable in. He would do a Gentleman, and shortly, do a Jai Hind. He would do a Mudhalvan, and then, a Sudhandhiram. He would do a Kadal, and then fall back on a Jai Hind 2. His passion for the country is almost as well-known as Ajiths love for racing. Growing up, I remember thinking of him as a poster boy of patriotism, the Tamil cinema equivalent of Captain America. If you failed to stand up for the anthem, if you didnt pay your taxes, if you didnt respect the tricolour, you seriously considered the possibility of an incensed Arjun coming at you. And eventually, the missing piece of the puzzle came to me when someone shared Arjuns birthday: August 15. Talk about marriages made in heaven. Arjun may never really inspire rabid fan following. He may not have dedicated fan groups on social media that consider it their lifes mission to save him from slander. In any case, I know not one person who dislikes him. Even his sobriquet, Action King, is more descriptive than eulogistic. He is a man for all seasons, and a generally underrated artiste. Sure, you may say it has been around four years since he had a big ticket release, but hey Thats probably what they said before Mudhalvan.
By Express News Service

Vijay, whos shooting for Mersal, his second film with director Atlee, will be working with Murugadoss next. The two have previously worked together on Kaththi and Thuppakki.

They were expected to start the work on this film a while ago, and the project was initially supposed to be bankrolled by Lyca Productions, which released Kaththi. Now, its being widely speculated that Sun Pictures, owned by Kalanidhi Maran, will produce the project.

AR Murugadoss had earlier confirmed that he would be working with the actor on Vijay 62. Currently, the director is working with Mahesh Babu on the Telugu-Tamil bilingual project, SPYder. Sun Pictures has distributed films like Enthiran, Mankatha and Aadukulam.

Vijay, whos shooting for Mersal, his second film with director Atlee, will be working with Murugadoss next. The two have previously worked together on Kaththi and Thuppakki. They were expected to start the work on this film a while ago, and the project was initially supposed to be bankrolled by Lyca Productions, which released Kaththi. Now, its being widely speculated that Sun Pictures, owned by Kalanidhi Maran, will produce the project. AR Murugadoss had earlier confirmed that he would be working with the actor on Vijay 62. Currently, the director is working with Mahesh Babu on the Telugu-Tamil bilingual project, SPYder. Sun Pictures has distributed films like Enthiran, Mankatha and Aadukulam.
By Express News Service

The makers of the Kajol-Dhanush starrer VIP 2, the sequel to the 2014 Tamil superhit, VIP, have decided to release the film in Hindi titled Lalkar. The presence of Kajol, it appears, has prompted the decision to try and get the film a good reach.

A source says, Both Kajol and Dhanush enjoy a huge fan base in the North; so we decided to do this. The expectations are really high. Kajols latest release in Hindi was Dilwale, while Dhanushs was Shamitabh.

The trailer of the film was unveiled in Mumbai last evening at its audio release. VIP-2 also stars Amala Paul and Samuthirakani in important roles. Produced by Dhanush, the film has music by Sean Roldan, and is gearing up for July release.

Watch the trailer here:

The makers of the Kajol-Dhanush starrer VIP 2, the sequel to the 2014 Tamil superhit, VIP, have decided to release the film in Hindi titled Lalkar. The presence of Kajol, it appears, has prompted the decision to try and get the film a good reach. A source says, Both Kajol and Dhanush enjoy a huge fan base in the North; so we decided to do this. The expectations are really high. Kajols latest release in Hindi was Dilwale, while Dhanushs was Shamitabh. The trailer of the film was unveiled in Mumbai last evening at its audio release. VIP-2 also stars Amala Paul and Samuthirakani in important roles. Produced by Dhanush, the film has music by Sean Roldan, and is gearing up for July release. Watch the trailer here:
S Subhakeerthana By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: U Turn-fame Shraddha Srinath doesnt want to be just another pretty face. She wants to be recognised not for being glamorous, but for her acting. Shes awaiting the release of Ivan Thanthiran, Vikram Vedha, and Richie in Tamil, and shooting for a Telugu film directed by Vishwanath Arigela alongside Aadi.

I am an unconventional heroine  from my choice of films to my looks. Many say I have an actors face, not a heroines, she says. She is eager to see how the audience will react to Ivan Thanthiran thats releasing this week. The film talks about the lives of engineering students. The makers released a two-minute video featuring RJ Balaji, which went viral online. Weve shown how the whole concept of education has become entirely commercial, she says.

Youll get to know the little details of an engineering graduates life. The director (Kannan) took two years to develop the script. Working with the director, an erstwhile assistant of Mani Ratnam, was memorable for her. He gave me the space to understand my character. Hes also a positive person, who never loses his patience, no matter how trying the circumstances.

Shraddha is in awe of her co-star, Gautham Karthik. He doesnt behave like the child of a star. He may not go out of his way to socialise with others, but he has no airs and is so hardworking. She hasnt seen any of his father, Karthiks films, but has heard a lot about him.

Gautham, she says, also helped her become a better performer. Theres this song called Medhakkavitta in Ivan Thanthiran. We had to dance in front of many people. I felt uncomfortable, but Gautham encouraged me to dance like I was alone. It meant a lot, she smiles.

I ask her if shell be seen throughout the film. She laughs, I think youre referring to Kaatru Veliyidai, for which I shot for five scenes, but it was cut down to three. It wont be like that in this film. We have shot extensively in an engineering college campus near Kanchipuram. She doesnt, however, regret doing Kaatru Veliyidai. I consider it a stroke of luck that I got to work with one of my favourite directors, Mani Ratnam.

The actress is equally excited about Vikram Vedha, in which she shares screen space with Madhavan. It was mindblowing being on the sets. Pushkar and Gayatri have brought the best out of me. I am proud to be part of it, she grins. Vikram Vedha is also special to her because she plays a lawyer in it. I play Priya, the wife of Madhavans character. I studied law when I was in college. Interestingly, theres a scene in the film, where I discuss a case with my client. I found that the jargon in it was used incorrectly. I told Pushkar and Gayatri, and they said that my lawyer knowledge was put to good use, she laughs.

She still remembers her first interaction with Madhavan. I was amazed by his simplicity and totally charmed by his persona. I am still star-struck! When he spoke to me, I was pinching myself as I couldnt believe that it was really happening. In the film, we love passionately, and fight passionately!

In Gautham Ramachandrans Richie, which stars Nivin Pauly, she plays a crime reporter. Its an interesting role. I had only a few combination scenes with Nivin, but they are all interesting.

Shraddha, who hopes to work with Gautham Menon soon, says certain factors go into her choice of films. For instance, if there is a big star, I am tempted to sign it. I dont want to be a part of only intelligent cinema, but I have set standards for myself and I abide by them.

CHENNAI: U Turn-fame Shraddha Srinath doesnt want to be just another pretty face. She wants to be recognised not for being glamorous, but for her acting. Shes awaiting the release of Ivan Thanthiran, Vikram Vedha, and Richie in Tamil, and shooting for a Telugu film directed by Vishwanath Arigela alongside Aadi. I am an unconventional heroine  from my choice of films to my looks. Many say I have an actors face, not a heroines, she says. She is eager to see how the audience will react to Ivan Thanthiran thats releasing this week. The film talks about the lives of engineering students. The makers released a two-minute video featuring RJ Balaji, which went viral online. Weve shown how the whole concept of education has become entirely commercial, she says. Youll get to know the little details of an engineering graduates life. The director (Kannan) took two years to develop the script. Working with the director, an erstwhile assistant of Mani Ratnam, was memorable for her. He gave me the space to understand my character. Hes also a positive person, who never loses his patience, no matter how trying the circumstances. Shraddha is in awe of her co-star, Gautham Karthik. He doesnt behave like the child of a star. He may not go out of his way to socialise with others, but he has no airs and is so hardworking. She hasnt seen any of his father, Karthiks films, but has heard a lot about him. Gautham, she says, also helped her become a better performer. Theres this song called Medhakkavitta in Ivan Thanthiran. We had to dance in front of many people. I felt uncomfortable, but Gautham encouraged me to dance like I was alone. It meant a lot, she smiles. I ask her if shell be seen throughout the film. She laughs, I think youre referring to Kaatru Veliyidai, for which I shot for five scenes, but it was cut down to three. It wont be like that in this film. We have shot extensively in an engineering college campus near Kanchipuram. She doesnt, however, regret doing Kaatru Veliyidai. I consider it a stroke of luck that I got to work with one of my favourite directors, Mani Ratnam. The actress is equally excited about Vikram Vedha, in which she shares screen space with Madhavan. It was mindblowing being on the sets. Pushkar and Gayatri have brought the best out of me. I am proud to be part of it, she grins. Vikram Vedha is also special to her because she plays a lawyer in it. I play Priya, the wife of Madhavans character. I studied law when I was in college. Interestingly, theres a scene in the film, where I discuss a case with my client. I found that the jargon in it was used incorrectly. I told Pushkar and Gayatri, and they said that my lawyer knowledge was put to good use, she laughs. She still remembers her first interaction with Madhavan. I was amazed by his simplicity and totally charmed by his persona. I am still star-struck! When he spoke to me, I was pinching myself as I couldnt believe that it was really happening. In the film, we love passionately, and fight passionately! In Gautham Ramachandrans Richie, which stars Nivin Pauly, she plays a crime reporter. Its an interesting role. I had only a few combination scenes with Nivin, but they are all interesting. Shraddha, who hopes to work with Gautham Menon soon, says certain factors go into her choice of films. For instance, if there is a big star, I am tempted to sign it. I dont want to be a part of only intelligent cinema, but I have set standards for myself and I abide by them.
By PTI

LUCKNOW: Deviating from the usual practice, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath did not visit the eidgah here today on the occasion of Eid, prompting his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav to take a swipe at him.

However, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma visited the eidgah.

Reacting to Adityanath's absence, Samajwadi Party president Yadav told reporters, "I am a former chief minister... I am here. He (Adityanath) should tell why he did not come."

It has been customary for Uttar Pradesh chief ministers to visit an eidgah on the occasion of Eid, which marks the culmination of the holy month of Ramazan.

Adityanath, however, greeted the people on Eid and noted that the festival is a special occasion where the message of joy and peace is spread to the world.

"This festival of happiness enhances the spirit of mutual brotherhood as well as strengthening social unity. It gives everyone a message of peace and harmony in society," he said.

Governor Ram Naik also visited the eidgah and extended greetings to the Muslim community on the occasion of Eid.

The deputy chief minister said, "On one side there is eidgah and on the other Ramlila is played (in Aishbagh). This is an area of Ali and Bajrangbali and when both unite it gives strength to democracy."

LUCKNOW: Deviating from the usual practice, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath did not visit the eidgah here today on the occasion of Eid, prompting his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav to take a swipe at him. However, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma visited the eidgah. Reacting to Adityanath's absence, Samajwadi Party president Yadav told reporters, "I am a former chief minister... I am here. He (Adityanath) should tell why he did not come." It has been customary for Uttar Pradesh chief ministers to visit an eidgah on the occasion of Eid, which marks the culmination of the holy month of Ramazan. Adityanath, however, greeted the people on Eid and noted that the festival is a special occasion where the message of joy and peace is spread to the world. "This festival of happiness enhances the spirit of mutual brotherhood as well as strengthening social unity. It gives everyone a message of peace and harmony in society," he said. Governor Ram Naik also visited the eidgah and extended greetings to the Muslim community on the occasion of Eid. The deputy chief minister said, "On one side there is eidgah and on the other Ramlila is played (in Aishbagh). This is an area of Ali and Bajrangbali and when both unite it gives strength to democracy."
By PTI

NAGPUR: Bodies of four members of a Delhi-based family hailing from Nagpur, who were killed in a cable car accident in Kashmir yesterday, have been brought to the city this evening.

Jayant Andraskar (42), his wife Manisha (38), their daughters Anagha (4) and Janhvi (7), and three tourist guides were killed when a cable car came crashing down after a ropeway snapped midair in the ski-resort of Gulmarg.

Their bodies were brought to Nagpur around 5.15 pm in a Jet Airways flight. Their last rites will be performed late this evening.

The Andraskar family hailed from Nagpur, but had shifted to the national capital seven years ago after Jayant started working in the Directorate of Technical Education there.

His wife was a homemaker. One of their daughters was a student of class I, while the other was in playschool.

With the news of their death, a pall of gloom descended on Old Subhedar layout area here, where his family members, including his parents and siblings, live.

Jayant's brother-in-law Saurabh Wandhare told PTI that they were supposed to come to Nagpur on June 29 to attend his (Jayant's) mother-in-law's death anniversary.

"Jayant and his family members were on a vacation in Nagpur between May 12 and June 6 and they also attended my marriage last month," he said.

One of the neighbours remembers Jayant as a good and humble person.

"He was very respectful towards others," he said.

Sachin, one of Jayant's cousins, said, "Before joining the Directorate of Technical Education in Delhi seven years back, Jayant had taught in an engineering college in Nagpur and had also worked in Nagpur Improvement Trust."

Assistant professor Mahendra Umre, who had worked with Jayant when he was teaching in the engineering college, said, "He was a very hardworking and ambitious person with a lot of technical knowledge. His untimely demise is saddening."

The Andraskars, who lived in Shalimar Bagh in northwest Delhi, had gone to Kashmir for holidaying on June 22.

The cable car accident occurred after a tree, uprooted by strong winds, fell on the ropeway of Gulmarg Gondola severing the lines and plummeting the cable car to the ground, a police official had said.

NAGPUR: Bodies of four members of a Delhi-based family hailing from Nagpur, who were killed in a cable car accident in Kashmir yesterday, have been brought to the city this evening. Jayant Andraskar (42), his wife Manisha (38), their daughters Anagha (4) and Janhvi (7), and three tourist guides were killed when a cable car came crashing down after a ropeway snapped midair in the ski-resort of Gulmarg. Their bodies were brought to Nagpur around 5.15 pm in a Jet Airways flight. Their last rites will be performed late this evening. The Andraskar family hailed from Nagpur, but had shifted to the national capital seven years ago after Jayant started working in the Directorate of Technical Education there. His wife was a homemaker. One of their daughters was a student of class I, while the other was in playschool. With the news of their death, a pall of gloom descended on Old Subhedar layout area here, where his family members, including his parents and siblings, live. Jayant's brother-in-law Saurabh Wandhare told PTI that they were supposed to come to Nagpur on June 29 to attend his (Jayant's) mother-in-law's death anniversary. "Jayant and his family members were on a vacation in Nagpur between May 12 and June 6 and they also attended my marriage last month," he said. One of the neighbours remembers Jayant as a good and humble person. "He was very respectful towards others," he said. Sachin, one of Jayant's cousins, said, "Before joining the Directorate of Technical Education in Delhi seven years back, Jayant had taught in an engineering college in Nagpur and had also worked in Nagpur Improvement Trust." Assistant professor Mahendra Umre, who had worked with Jayant when he was teaching in the engineering college, said, "He was a very hardworking and ambitious person with a lot of technical knowledge. His untimely demise is saddening." The Andraskars, who lived in Shalimar Bagh in northwest Delhi, had gone to Kashmir for holidaying on June 22. The cable car accident occurred after a tree, uprooted by strong winds, fell on the ropeway of Gulmarg Gondola severing the lines and plummeting the cable car to the ground, a police official had said.
Sajjan Kumar By

Express News Service

Such is the preponderance of identity politics that even the election of the next President of India has been subsumed under the acrimonious debate over authentic vs. spurious representatives of Dalits. The political shift within the Hindutva discourse, of seeing Ambedkar as a false god to accepting him as a subaltern god coupled with a positive interface with both Dalit elites as well as Dalit masses in the Hindi heartland, has unsettled the overarching consensus as to who could be claimed as being an authentic representative of the Dalits.

Against this backdrop, there has been a charged debate proclaiming some personalities as stooges and others as real. Mere birth in a Dalit caste, its claimed, would not be adequate to qualify one as being an authentic claimant of the category. This means, one is not born as a Dalit but rather acquires the self by actively internalising the desired attributes by undergoing a process of specific political socialisation.

Here, the selection of Meira Kumar, the daughter of towering Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram who remained the hegemonic Dalit icon in the Hindi heartland from the 1950s to the mid-1980s, as the consensus candidate of anti-BJP opposition parties to counter the BJPs Dalit candidate Ram Nath Kovind, signifies the popularly perceived hierarchy within the Dalit discourse.

The current shift within the Dalit discourse needs to be seen in the context of the 1980s when Ambedkarite politics emerged in the Hindi heartland under the leadership of Kanshi Ram stigmatising Jagjivan Ram not only as anti-Ambedkar but rather as a Chamcha Dalit. The political model of Kanshi Ram was heavily borrowed from Maharashtrian Mahar-centric Dalit politics.

Having failed in replicating that model in his native state of Punjab which accounts for the highest percentage of Dalits, he moved to Uttar Pradesh, given its sizeable Dalit population. But despite making a claim of a new Ambedkarite Dalit self, Kanshi Ram ensured that the movement and his party (BSP) stayed under the hegemonic control of Jatav-Chamars, a fact that is still reflected in the organisational profile of BSP. This leads to the inference that even the Ambedkarite Dalit politics was itself caste centric.

Secondly, the selection of Meira Kumar also needs to be contextualised in the backdrop of a series of Dalit protests under claimed Ambedkarite outfits in various parts of the country  most recently at Saharanpur by the Bhim Sena.

At a time when it seemed that the anti-BJP Dalit discourse is acquiring an autonomy under young leaderships like Jignesh Mevani and Chandrashekhar  a shift opposition parties may capitalise upon  the selection of Meira Kumar acquires profound significance. She was selected by 17 opposition parties including Left parties and the BSP for being a Dalit, woman, ex-diplomat, ex-speaker, but most importantly for being the cultural and political inheritor of Jagjivan Ram. The fact, that Mayawati publicly welcomed her candidature and thanked anti-BJP opposition parties has a symbolic relevance given that the same leader along with Kanshi Ram lost no opportunity to stigmatise Jagjivan Ram in the 1980s and 1990s.

Thirdly, Meira Kumar also signifies less about the reemergence of a Gandhian framework in the Dalit discourse than about the existential crisis that Ambedkarite Dalit politics is going through. The latter is like an anchorless ship drifting from one ideological stream to the other. While one set of erstwhile Ambedkarite leaders like Ramdas Athavale and Udit Raj, the claimants of the authentic Dalit self, have joined the bandwagon of the Hindutva discourse, the episodic and event-specific emergence of new Ambedkarite leaderships like Jignesh Mevani and Chandrashekhar are an agency in flux who disappear from the centrestage once the specific incidents causing their emergence are overwhelmed by other events.

The selection of Meira as a consensus candidate over the likes of Prakash Ambedkar indicates that the counter to the rightward shift of Dalit elites and Dalit masses is going to be fought under the Gandhian Dalit discourse that Jagjivan Ram symbolised. Ironically, the model of Jagjivan Ram politics died two deaths, one by the Congress in the early 1980s when he was made insignificant and invisible by the post-Emergency Congress leadership and second by his fellow Dalit politician Kanshi Ram. By the time Kanshi Ram started vilifying him to create his own Dalit constituency, the latters political model was already dead. What Kanshi Ram succeeded in killing was the remnant of the Jagjivan Ram model.

A symbolic reading of the selection of Meira Kumar points to the emergence of two fluid but dominant models of Dalit discourse, namely, Hindutva and Gandhian, with the remnants of the mid-1980s model of Ambedkarite Dalits getting subsumed under one or the other. In response to the emergence of subaltern Hindutva, the opposition parties are forced to come under the rubric of centrism that the Gandhian discourse signified.

Meira Kumars candidature, even her highly likely defeat, signifies a comeback of the Gandhian discourse on the Dalit question. In future, the terms, Dalit and Harijan may not be placed as antagonistic to each other and there is a possibility the self-referential terms may acquire a normative equivalence  already a sociological fact  in popular as well as analytical usages.

(Sajjan Kumar is a Ph.D from the Centre for Political Studies. He is associated with Peoples Pulse, a Hyderabad-based research organisation specialising in political and electoral research)

Such is the preponderance of identity politics that even the election of the next President of India has been subsumed under the acrimonious debate over authentic vs. spurious representatives of Dalits. The political shift within the Hindutva discourse, of seeing Ambedkar as a false god to accepting him as a subaltern god coupled with a positive interface with both Dalit elites as well as Dalit masses in the Hindi heartland, has unsettled the overarching consensus as to who could be claimed as being an authentic representative of the Dalits. Against this backdrop, there has been a charged debate proclaiming some personalities as stooges and others as real. Mere birth in a Dalit caste, its claimed, would not be adequate to qualify one as being an authentic claimant of the category. This means, one is not born as a Dalit but rather acquires the self by actively internalising the desired attributes by undergoing a process of specific political socialisation. Here, the selection of Meira Kumar, the daughter of towering Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram who remained the hegemonic Dalit icon in the Hindi heartland from the 1950s to the mid-1980s, as the consensus candidate of anti-BJP opposition parties to counter the BJPs Dalit candidate Ram Nath Kovind, signifies the popularly perceived hierarchy within the Dalit discourse. The current shift within the Dalit discourse needs to be seen in the context of the 1980s when Ambedkarite politics emerged in the Hindi heartland under the leadership of Kanshi Ram stigmatising Jagjivan Ram not only as anti-Ambedkar but rather as a Chamcha Dalit. The political model of Kanshi Ram was heavily borrowed from Maharashtrian Mahar-centric Dalit politics. Having failed in replicating that model in his native state of Punjab which accounts for the highest percentage of Dalits, he moved to Uttar Pradesh, given its sizeable Dalit population. But despite making a claim of a new Ambedkarite Dalit self, Kanshi Ram ensured that the movement and his party (BSP) stayed under the hegemonic control of Jatav-Chamars, a fact that is still reflected in the organisational profile of BSP. This leads to the inference that even the Ambedkarite Dalit politics was itself caste centric. Secondly, the selection of Meira Kumar also needs to be contextualised in the backdrop of a series of Dalit protests under claimed Ambedkarite outfits in various parts of the country  most recently at Saharanpur by the Bhim Sena. At a time when it seemed that the anti-BJP Dalit discourse is acquiring an autonomy under young leaderships like Jignesh Mevani and Chandrashekhar  a shift opposition parties may capitalise upon  the selection of Meira Kumar acquires profound significance. She was selected by 17 opposition parties including Left parties and the BSP for being a Dalit, woman, ex-diplomat, ex-speaker, but most importantly for being the cultural and political inheritor of Jagjivan Ram. The fact, that Mayawati publicly welcomed her candidature and thanked anti-BJP opposition parties has a symbolic relevance given that the same leader along with Kanshi Ram lost no opportunity to stigmatise Jagjivan Ram in the 1980s and 1990s. Thirdly, Meira Kumar also signifies less about the reemergence of a Gandhian framework in the Dalit discourse than about the existential crisis that Ambedkarite Dalit politics is going through. The latter is like an anchorless ship drifting from one ideological stream to the other. While one set of erstwhile Ambedkarite leaders like Ramdas Athavale and Udit Raj, the claimants of the authentic Dalit self, have joined the bandwagon of the Hindutva discourse, the episodic and event-specific emergence of new Ambedkarite leaderships like Jignesh Mevani and Chandrashekhar are an agency in flux who disappear from the centrestage once the specific incidents causing their emergence are overwhelmed by other events. The selection of Meira as a consensus candidate over the likes of Prakash Ambedkar indicates that the counter to the rightward shift of Dalit elites and Dalit masses is going to be fought under the Gandhian Dalit discourse that Jagjivan Ram symbolised. Ironically, the model of Jagjivan Ram politics died two deaths, one by the Congress in the early 1980s when he was made insignificant and invisible by the post-Emergency Congress leadership and second by his fellow Dalit politician Kanshi Ram. By the time Kanshi Ram started vilifying him to create his own Dalit constituency, the latters political model was already dead. What Kanshi Ram succeeded in killing was the remnant of the Jagjivan Ram model. A symbolic reading of the selection of Meira Kumar points to the emergence of two fluid but dominant models of Dalit discourse, namely, Hindutva and Gandhian, with the remnants of the mid-1980s model of Ambedkarite Dalits getting subsumed under one or the other. In response to the emergence of subaltern Hindutva, the opposition parties are forced to come under the rubric of centrism that the Gandhian discourse signified. Meira Kumars candidature, even her highly likely defeat, signifies a comeback of the Gandhian discourse on the Dalit question. In future, the terms, Dalit and Harijan may not be placed as antagonistic to each other and there is a possibility the self-referential terms may acquire a normative equivalence  already a sociological fact  in popular as well as analytical usages. (Sajjan Kumar is a Ph.D from the Centre for Political Studies. He is associated with Peoples Pulse, a Hyderabad-based research organisation specialising in political and electoral research)
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: As police arrested one of the accused in the killing of 17-year-old Junaid on board a Mathura-bound train, the residents of his village, Khandawli, in Faridabad district in Haryana, protested against the incident by wearing black bands during the Eid celebrations on Monday.

Though prayers were offered in the morning, no Eid celebrations were held at the mosque in the village.

The Muslim residents, who wore black bands during the special morning namaz, said Eid has lost all its meaning and wondered if the spate of lynchings would ever end.

Shakeel, a resident of Khandawli, said that people also wore black bands at other places, including Mewat, as a mark of protest against the horrific killing.

Hashim (20), Junaids elder brother, broke down several times as he recalled the fateful Thursday evening when he along with his other siblings boarded the train from Delhis Sadar Bazaar after finishing Eid shopping.

They killed him in cold blood. All of a sudden, a group of 20-25 people who had boarded the train from Okhla station pushed my brother Junaid and he fell down, he recalled, his voice choking with emotion.

Jallaludin, Junaids father, while trying to console Hashim, dismissed the polices claim that Junaid was killed because of a dispute over the sharing of a seat.

Junaid had, in fact, vacated a seat for an elderly person. The seat theory is being cooked up as an excuse. The incident is purely communal in nature and my son was targeted because of his religious identity, he said.

Sources said the Railway Police have arrested one of the accused, identified as Ramesh Kumar, in this connection. On Saturday, he was remanded in police custody by a court in Faridabad and

Kumar apparently confessed he was in an inebriated state at the time of the incident.

The state police have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for anyone providing credible information about the other accused.

The state government has provided financial assistance of Rs10 lakh to the victims family.

Jallaludin, when asked if anyone from the Haryana government had met the family yet, said, Not even a lower rank official of the state government has visited us, what to say about the chief minister. We have not even heard anybody from the government condemning the incident.

CHANDIGARH: As police arrested one of the accused in the killing of 17-year-old Junaid on board a Mathura-bound train, the residents of his village, Khandawli, in Faridabad district in Haryana, protested against the incident by wearing black bands during the Eid celebrations on Monday. Though prayers were offered in the morning, no Eid celebrations were held at the mosque in the village. The Muslim residents, who wore black bands during the special morning namaz, said Eid has lost all its meaning and wondered if the spate of lynchings would ever end. Shakeel, a resident of Khandawli, said that people also wore black bands at other places, including Mewat, as a mark of protest against the horrific killing. Hashim (20), Junaids elder brother, broke down several times as he recalled the fateful Thursday evening when he along with his other siblings boarded the train from Delhis Sadar Bazaar after finishing Eid shopping. They killed him in cold blood. All of a sudden, a group of 20-25 people who had boarded the train from Okhla station pushed my brother Junaid and he fell down, he recalled, his voice choking with emotion. Jallaludin, Junaids father, while trying to console Hashim, dismissed the polices claim that Junaid was killed because of a dispute over the sharing of a seat. Junaid had, in fact, vacated a seat for an elderly person. The seat theory is being cooked up as an excuse. The incident is purely communal in nature and my son was targeted because of his religious identity, he said. Sources said the Railway Police have arrested one of the accused, identified as Ramesh Kumar, in this connection. On Saturday, he was remanded in police custody by a court in Faridabad and Kumar apparently confessed he was in an inebriated state at the time of the incident. The state police have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for anyone providing credible information about the other accused. The state government has provided financial assistance of Rs10 lakh to the victims family. Jallaludin, when asked if anyone from the Haryana government had met the family yet, said, Not even a lower rank official of the state government has visited us, what to say about the chief minister. We have not even heard anybody from the government condemning the incident.
Ankur Sharma By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Central government is planning to withdraw medals from decorated police officials who have been found to be unworthy.

All states/UTs/ CAPFs/CPOs/security organisations are advised to strictly adhere to the guidelines and the cases covered under the circumstances mentioned in para 2, and must forward with specific recommendations to this ministry immediately for appropriate action, a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs to all states, UTs and police organisations written last month said.

Now, states, UTs and forces have to prepare their list of unworthy officers who have been convicted by any court of law for such an act or conduct involving moral turpitude, which brings the police force into disrepute, or is dismissed from the service for any other act on the ground of disloyalty, cowardice in action, etc as mentioned in para 2 of the letter.

The notification detailing the guidelines for the awardees was first issued in March 1951.

Recently, it came to the MHAs notice that it was not informed by the state concerned and the organisation about a gallantry medal awardee, who was convicted and subsequently dismissed from the service in 2006.

This has been considered to be a serious lapse and needs to be avoided at all costs otherwise ineligible or unworthy officers will continue to be decorated with the prestigious gallantry medals, MHA has said in its letter.

According to the prescribed format, all forces every year send recommendation with names of the officer, his/her bravery act and other details to the MHA for medals. After strict background check, the ministry prepares a list of the awardees.

The government can take back the medal even after the retirement of an erring official. This had happened in the case of former Haryana Police chief SPS Rathore who was convicted for molesting a teenager. After his retirement in 2010, the government had stripped him off his medal.

The Presidents Police Medal for Distinguished Service is awarded for distinguished service to individuals who have served at least 21 years in the service. Individuals must be prior recipients of the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and must have held that medal for at least six years.

NEW DELHI: The Central government is planning to withdraw medals from decorated police officials who have been found to be unworthy. All states/UTs/ CAPFs/CPOs/security organisations are advised to strictly adhere to the guidelines and the cases covered under the circumstances mentioned in para 2, and must forward with specific recommendations to this ministry immediately for appropriate action, a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs to all states, UTs and police organisations written last month said. Now, states, UTs and forces have to prepare their list of unworthy officers who have been convicted by any court of law for such an act or conduct involving moral turpitude, which brings the police force into disrepute, or is dismissed from the service for any other act on the ground of disloyalty, cowardice in action, etc as mentioned in para 2 of the letter. The notification detailing the guidelines for the awardees was first issued in March 1951. Recently, it came to the MHAs notice that it was not informed by the state concerned and the organisation about a gallantry medal awardee, who was convicted and subsequently dismissed from the service in 2006. This has been considered to be a serious lapse and needs to be avoided at all costs otherwise ineligible or unworthy officers will continue to be decorated with the prestigious gallantry medals, MHA has said in its letter. According to the prescribed format, all forces every year send recommendation with names of the officer, his/her bravery act and other details to the MHA for medals. After strict background check, the ministry prepares a list of the awardees. The government can take back the medal even after the retirement of an erring official. This had happened in the case of former Haryana Police chief SPS Rathore who was convicted for molesting a teenager. After his retirement in 2010, the government had stripped him off his medal. The Presidents Police Medal for Distinguished Service is awarded for distinguished service to individuals who have served at least 21 years in the service. Individuals must be prior recipients of the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and must have held that medal for at least six years.
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By PTI

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today asked Jammu and Kashmir to roll out GST from July 1 as failure to implement it will lead to "adverse impact" of price rise and put local industry at a disadvantage.

In a letter to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Jaitley said that the state has actively participated in the GST deliberations and should join the nation-wide wide roll out of Goods and Services Tax from July 1.

All states, except Jammu and Kashmir, have already cleared the State GST (SGST) Bill, and are ready for embracing the new tax regime.

The Union Finance Minister listed out the disadvantages of the state not introducing GST from July 1, saying it may lead to adverse impact like a general increase in prices of all goods being purchased from other states.

It could also lead to increase in the price of all goods being sold to other states, which will have an "adverse impact on domestic industry in the state".

Jaitley said since Integrated GST (IGST) will be levied on all inter-state supplies of goods and services, credit for goods purchased in one state can be claimed in the state where it is sold.

"If the state of J&K does not join GST on July 1, 2017, for all purchases made by the state from other states after July 1, the dealer shall not be able to take credit of this IGST which shall get embedded into the price of purchased good or service, leading to cascading of tax and increase in price of the said good or service for the final consumers in J&K," Jaitley wrote in the letter.

Similarly, in case of goods or services sold from Jammu and Kashmir to other states, the buyer will not be able to take credit of the local taxes paid.

"This shall put the trade and industry in the state of J&K a competitive disadvantage," he said.

Jaitley urged the Chief Minister to "take all necessary steps" to introduce GST in the state on July 1, as any delay "would create a disadvantage for both, the consumers and the industry" of the state in the intervening period.

Jammu and Kashmir, he said, had actively participated in the GST Council meetings and had meaningfully contributed to framing of the various laws and rules for GST. The 14th meeting of the GST Council was held in Srinagar on May 18-19 in which rates of over 1,200 goods and 500 services were decided.

In his letter, Jaitley urged the Chief Minister to send the concurrence of the state on the GST Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016, for the approval of the President.

As per Article 370 of the Constitution, amendments made in Constitution of India are applicable to Jammu and Kashmir with the concurrence of the state government and approval of the President.

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today asked Jammu and Kashmir to roll out GST from July 1 as failure to implement it will lead to "adverse impact" of price rise and put local industry at a disadvantage. In a letter to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Jaitley said that the state has actively participated in the GST deliberations and should join the nation-wide wide roll out of Goods and Services Tax from July 1. All states, except Jammu and Kashmir, have already cleared the State GST (SGST) Bill, and are ready for embracing the new tax regime. The Union Finance Minister listed out the disadvantages of the state not introducing GST from July 1, saying it may lead to adverse impact like a general increase in prices of all goods being purchased from other states. It could also lead to increase in the price of all goods being sold to other states, which will have an "adverse impact on domestic industry in the state". Jaitley said since Integrated GST (IGST) will be levied on all inter-state supplies of goods and services, credit for goods purchased in one state can be claimed in the state where it is sold. "If the state of J&K does not join GST on July 1, 2017, for all purchases made by the state from other states after July 1, the dealer shall not be able to take credit of this IGST which shall get embedded into the price of purchased good or service, leading to cascading of tax and increase in price of the said good or service for the final consumers in J&K," Jaitley wrote in the letter. Similarly, in case of goods or services sold from Jammu and Kashmir to other states, the buyer will not be able to take credit of the local taxes paid. "This shall put the trade and industry in the state of J&K a competitive disadvantage," he said. Jaitley urged the Chief Minister to "take all necessary steps" to introduce GST in the state on July 1, as any delay "would create a disadvantage for both, the consumers and the industry" of the state in the intervening period. Jammu and Kashmir, he said, had actively participated in the GST Council meetings and had meaningfully contributed to framing of the various laws and rules for GST. The 14th meeting of the GST Council was held in Srinagar on May 18-19 in which rates of over 1,200 goods and 500 services were decided. In his letter, Jaitley urged the Chief Minister to send the concurrence of the state on the GST Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016, for the approval of the President. As per Article 370 of the Constitution, amendments made in Constitution of India are applicable to Jammu and Kashmir with the concurrence of the state government and approval of the President.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: With the 100-day honeymoon period of the Yogi Adityanath regime set to end Tuesday, the stage is set for the opposition to gun for the government.

As a prelude of the warfare to come, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav pounced upon the chief minister's decision to skip the customary visit to the eidgah in Lucknow on the occasion of Eid on Monday. Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma did the honours in Adityanath's place, the latter being content with sending out a peace and joy message to Muslims in the state instead.

Yogi Adityanath's message read, "This festival of happiness enhances the spirit of mutual brotherhood as well as strengthening social unity. It gives everyone a message of peace and harmony in society."

It wasn't enough for Akhilesh Yadav, who said the chief minister should explain his absence.

Further grist to this battle is likely to come when the Adityanath regime releases two booklets on Tuesday to mark its 100 days in office: one is to be a report card -- replete a saffron cover -- eulogising its own achievements; and another with a red and green cover on the mess it inherited from the predecessor dispensation headed by Akhilesh.

The latter document is an indication that the Adityanath government is not willing to take the fire from the opposition. It is to be a white paper, albeit in red and green, highlighting the condition of its inheritance: cases of corruption, inquiries and plundering of the government treasury, etc.

The focus is likely to be on a number of probes ordered into various multi-crore projects like the Gomti Riverfront, Jai Prakash Narain International Centre and the Varuna Corridor. The financial status of the state would also be highlighted and a discussion on how the present government is grappling with the situation state will be held.

For its part, the Samajwadi Party is contemplating to come out with a dossier of the failures of the Adityanath government during the first 100 days. Further, Akhilesh took to Twitter to fire the preliminary salvo. He tweeted: Ram Ram Japna, paraya maal apna (usurping achievements of SP government in their own name).

However, the opposition party seems not to be entirely united. While Akhilesh Yadav is preparing his gunpowder, his father and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has chosen to go soft on Yogi. He has said the performance of any government should be judged only after six months.

The BJP government, which assumed office on March 18 after bagging 325 of the 403 Assembly seats along with its allies, faces major challenges, some of the biggest being raising funds for the farm loan waiver and law and order issues, including communal clashes.

LUCKNOW: With the 100-day honeymoon period of the Yogi Adityanath regime set to end Tuesday, the stage is set for the opposition to gun for the government. As a prelude of the warfare to come, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav pounced upon the chief minister's decision to skip the customary visit to the eidgah in Lucknow on the occasion of Eid on Monday. Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma did the honours in Adityanath's place, the latter being content with sending out a peace and joy message to Muslims in the state instead. Yogi Adityanath's message read, "This festival of happiness enhances the spirit of mutual brotherhood as well as strengthening social unity. It gives everyone a message of peace and harmony in society." It wasn't enough for Akhilesh Yadav, who said the chief minister should explain his absence. Further grist to this battle is likely to come when the Adityanath regime releases two booklets on Tuesday to mark its 100 days in office: one is to be a report card -- replete a saffron cover -- eulogising its own achievements; and another with a red and green cover on the mess it inherited from the predecessor dispensation headed by Akhilesh. The latter document is an indication that the Adityanath government is not willing to take the fire from the opposition. It is to be a white paper, albeit in red and green, highlighting the condition of its inheritance: cases of corruption, inquiries and plundering of the government treasury, etc. The focus is likely to be on a number of probes ordered into various multi-crore projects like the Gomti Riverfront, Jai Prakash Narain International Centre and the Varuna Corridor. The financial status of the state would also be highlighted and a discussion on how the present government is grappling with the situation state will be held. For its part, the Samajwadi Party is contemplating to come out with a dossier of the failures of the Adityanath government during the first 100 days. Further, Akhilesh took to Twitter to fire the preliminary salvo. He tweeted: Ram Ram Japna, paraya maal apna (usurping achievements of SP government in their own name). However, the opposition party seems not to be entirely united. While Akhilesh Yadav is preparing his gunpowder, his father and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has chosen to go soft on Yogi. He has said the performance of any government should be judged only after six months. The BJP government, which assumed office on March 18 after bagging 325 of the 403 Assembly seats along with its allies, faces major challenges, some of the biggest being raising funds for the farm loan waiver and law and order issues, including communal clashes.
M Venkaiah Naidu By

More than four decades have passed since Indira Gandhi unjustly imposed a state of Emergency on India on June 25, 1975. The 19-month ordeal ended on March 21, 1977, a day after her crushing defeat in the elections. A huge portion of Indias population is below 35 years. It has no recollection of that event at all. Nonetheless, Emergency narratives continue to grip the peoples attention in the 21st century.

Some books on the Emergency like The Judgment by Kuldeep Nayyar, Two Faces of Indira Gandhi by Uma Vasudev and All the Prime Ministers Men by Janardhan Thakur came out during the short-lived Janata Party years. Then there was a long hiatus in Emergency literature after the Congress reestablished its grip on power in 1980. The new custom of recalling the Emergency began only on its 20th anniversary in 1995.

We now look back on the Emergency to draw lessons. In this age of social media, the Right to Information and public interest litigation, citizens will not tolerate any abridgement of their fundamental rights and usurpation of institutions. Even the Supreme Court can no longer shut its door on citizens -- as it did during the Emergency -- seeking remedy against illegal detentions, unauthorized demolitions, torture and mayhem.

The teeming millions cannot be taken for granted. The masses, even if poor and uneducated, can unseat an arrogant ruler. That is the power of parliamentary democracy.

In January 1974, a Nav Nirman Andolan arose in Gujarat against the corrupt regime of chief minister Chimanbhai Patel. It was an apolitical movement. It was so popular Indira Gandhi forced Patel to resign, and subsequently the Assembly was dissolved.

This was the beginning. A student movement was simultaneously brewing in Bihar. The students agitating against the Congress government led by Abdul Ghafoor, invited Jayprakash Narayan (JP) to lead them. Under JP, who formulated the concept of Sampoorna Kranti, the movement soon turned against Indira Gandhis rule. Talks between JP and Indira Gandhi on dissolution of the Bihar Assembly broke down.

Corruption took root in Indira Gandhis government. George Fernandes, who organized the railway strike in May 1974, described her as Bhrastachar ki Gangotri. In September 1974 the Pondicherry Licence Scam broke. Tulmohan Ram, a Bihar MP, who forged the signatures of 21 MPs to recommend import licences for a Pondicherry businessman, was ousted. But L N Mishra, the concerned minister and Indira Gandhis fund-raiser, was left untouched. Railway minister Mishra had become an embarrassment for the government when he died on January 3, 1975 in a bomb blast at the Samastipur railway station. The case remains unsolved after 42 years.

Meanwhile, JPs movement was gathering momentum. He described it as the second freedom movement. Siddhartha Shankar Ray, the Congress chief minister of West Bengal, advised Mrs Gandhi to impose Emergency and put her opponents in jail.

The Emergency came within a fortnight of the June 12 judgment by the Allahabad High Court holding Indira Gandhi guilty of election malpractices. Her appeal before the Supreme Court was admitted but with an interim order that she could attend the House but not vote as an MP. The June 25 Ram Lila Maidan rally of constituents opposed to Indira was the last straw that broke the camels back.

Indira Gandhis government had already become unpopular when Emergency was declared although it commanded a nearly two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha. Her victorious image after the 1971 war, was completely sullied by her Emergency excesses.

Imprisoning the opposition leadership, amending the Constitution, censoring the press, supersession of judges, arbitrary transfer of judges, forcible sterilization, unauthorized demolitions completely stigmatized the Emergency. Her imprisonment of scores of leaders including JP, Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Madhu Dandvate, L K Advani and Prof Samar Guha, RSS functionaries and student leaders including this author under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) turned the mood of the nation against her. When finally Indira Gandhi lifted Emergency and called an election, the Congress was trounced.

Four decades on, Emergency narratives continue to pour in. One of them is the case of Emergency Victims of Kerala who have converged on a single platform to fight for compensation and pension. But there has been, to the best of my knowledge, no official documentation of Emergency narratives. Possibly the Indian Council of Historical Research can plan a project over it.

(M Venkaiah Naidu is the Minister for Urban Development. The views expressed are personal).

More than four decades have passed since Indira Gandhi unjustly imposed a state of Emergency on India on June 25, 1975. The 19-month ordeal ended on March 21, 1977, a day after her crushing defeat in the elections. A huge portion of Indias population is below 35 years. It has no recollection of that event at all. Nonetheless, Emergency narratives continue to grip the peoples attention in the 21st century. Some books on the Emergency like The Judgment by Kuldeep Nayyar, Two Faces of Indira Gandhi by Uma Vasudev and All the Prime Ministers Men by Janardhan Thakur came out during the short-lived Janata Party years. Then there was a long hiatus in Emergency literature after the Congress reestablished its grip on power in 1980. The new custom of recalling the Emergency began only on its 20th anniversary in 1995. We now look back on the Emergency to draw lessons. In this age of social media, the Right to Information and public interest litigation, citizens will not tolerate any abridgement of their fundamental rights and usurpation of institutions. Even the Supreme Court can no longer shut its door on citizens -- as it did during the Emergency -- seeking remedy against illegal detentions, unauthorized demolitions, torture and mayhem. The teeming millions cannot be taken for granted. The masses, even if poor and uneducated, can unseat an arrogant ruler. That is the power of parliamentary democracy. In January 1974, a Nav Nirman Andolan arose in Gujarat against the corrupt regime of chief minister Chimanbhai Patel. It was an apolitical movement. It was so popular Indira Gandhi forced Patel to resign, and subsequently the Assembly was dissolved. This was the beginning. A student movement was simultaneously brewing in Bihar. The students agitating against the Congress government led by Abdul Ghafoor, invited Jayprakash Narayan (JP) to lead them. Under JP, who formulated the concept of Sampoorna Kranti, the movement soon turned against Indira Gandhis rule. Talks between JP and Indira Gandhi on dissolution of the Bihar Assembly broke down. Corruption took root in Indira Gandhis government. George Fernandes, who organized the railway strike in May 1974, described her as Bhrastachar ki Gangotri. In September 1974 the Pondicherry Licence Scam broke. Tulmohan Ram, a Bihar MP, who forged the signatures of 21 MPs to recommend import licences for a Pondicherry businessman, was ousted. But L N Mishra, the concerned minister and Indira Gandhis fund-raiser, was left untouched. Railway minister Mishra had become an embarrassment for the government when he died on January 3, 1975 in a bomb blast at the Samastipur railway station. The case remains unsolved after 42 years. Meanwhile, JPs movement was gathering momentum. He described it as the second freedom movement. Siddhartha Shankar Ray, the Congress chief minister of West Bengal, advised Mrs Gandhi to impose Emergency and put her opponents in jail. The Emergency came within a fortnight of the June 12 judgment by the Allahabad High Court holding Indira Gandhi guilty of election malpractices. Her appeal before the Supreme Court was admitted but with an interim order that she could attend the House but not vote as an MP. The June 25 Ram Lila Maidan rally of constituents opposed to Indira was the last straw that broke the camels back. Indira Gandhis government had already become unpopular when Emergency was declared although it commanded a nearly two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha. Her victorious image after the 1971 war, was completely sullied by her Emergency excesses. Imprisoning the opposition leadership, amending the Constitution, censoring the press, supersession of judges, arbitrary transfer of judges, forcible sterilization, unauthorized demolitions completely stigmatized the Emergency. Her imprisonment of scores of leaders including JP, Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Madhu Dandvate, L K Advani and Prof Samar Guha, RSS functionaries and student leaders including this author under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) turned the mood of the nation against her. When finally Indira Gandhi lifted Emergency and called an election, the Congress was trounced. Four decades on, Emergency narratives continue to pour in. One of them is the case of Emergency Victims of Kerala who have converged on a single platform to fight for compensation and pension. But there has been, to the best of my knowledge, no official documentation of Emergency narratives. Possibly the Indian Council of Historical Research can plan a project over it. (M Venkaiah Naidu is the Minister for Urban Development. The views expressed are personal).
Ranjitha Gunasekaran By

The upcoming presidential poll has once again highlighted the relationship between the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), that rules Telangana, and the BJP. The TRS has decided to throw in its lot with the BJP-led NDAs choice of presidential candidate, like Nitish Kumar in Bihar, bucking the trend of leaders of non-BJP ruled states joining Opposition ranks to contest the poll.

Unlike the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, which is an NDA ally, the TRS has no overt ties with the BJP. However, barring Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos recent attack on BJP president Amit Shah after the latters visit to the state, both parties appear to pull their punches with one another. This is curious as the BJP has made no bones of its intent to grow the party in Telangana.

Shah is expected to return to the state and spend nearly a week here after the presidential polls, all part of a strategy to increase its presence in the south.

K Chandrasekhar

Rao

However, the TRS has stood apart from other Opposition-led governments in South India in siding with the Centre on demonetisation, and maintaining a studied silence on the controversial new cattle trading rules that drew outrage from other state governments. This, despite the impact the rules are likely to have on leather, meat export businesses and the states already distressed farmers. The two parties continue to fight on isolated issues but when it comes down to it, the TRS acts like a virtual ally of the BJP.

This seems to be a peculiar move for the TRS. Ostensibly, its aim is to, along with the BJP, eradicate the Congress from Telangana. The Congress, which failed to capitalise on its role in ensuring the creation of Telangana, has been considerably weakened in the state. However, it retains pockets of support as evidenced by the response to party vice-president Rahul Gandhis public meeting recently. Even the Congress was reportedly surprised by the response, with more than a lakh in attendance. If indeed it is the TRSs aim to ensure the end of the Congress in Telangana by joining hands with the BJP, it would appear to be a remarkably short-sighted approach.

The TRS hopes to become the sole party of consequence in the state, as does the BJP. This will undoubtedly set them up for a clash at some point in the future. If the BJPs forays into Telangana are ignored or facilitated by the TRS, for short-term gains, the argument can be made that it is the TRS that is likely to suffer in the long-term.

The TRS may believe that it has covered its bases by trying to cater to virtually every section of the electorate through a range of targeted schemes  from Brahmins, to Muslims, to tribal communities  but it is virtually the same schemes that the BJP is likely to exploit to polarise communities and reach disaffected voters in the state.

Already, the hike in quota for Muslim communities  that may never become a reality as it faces legal hurdles  has become a rallying point for the BJP. Meanwhile, Shahs visit to Nalgonda district, a Congress stronghold, raised memories of the atrocities committed by the Razakars, a private militia that supported the Nizam in pre-Independence Hyderabad.

There is a third partner in this curious alliance, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, whose leader Asaduddin Owaisi represents the Hyderabad constituency in the Lok Sabha. The party, though technically a member of the state Opposition, functions as an ally to the TRS, as the TRS does to the BJP. In fact, its opposition to the NDA presidential candidate is perhaps the only time it has broken ranks with TRS recently. Politics in Telangana has little subtlety.

The TRS may take solace in the limited growth of the BJP in the south. In fact, the annual Mood of the Nation Survey conducted by Lokniti, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, revealed that while the BJP is on a nation-wide roll, its popularity has fallen in just two states  Punjab and Telangana. Further, the survey found that support for Narendra Modi as PM fell below a third of the respondents in only four states  Punjab, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Out of every 10 respondents, less than three mentioned Modi as a preferred PM candidate, the report said.

However, the BJP is unlikely to be daunted by these results. Unlike the TRS, which is a party virtually organised around one family, the BJP draws from saffron cadre spread across organisations in the parivar. Given that the BJP swept Assam on the basis of work done by the RSS over the years, the TRS should watch its back.

Ranjitha Gunasekaran

Assistant Resident Editor, Hyderabad

Email: ranjitha@newindianexpress.com

The upcoming presidential poll has once again highlighted the relationship between the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), that rules Telangana, and the BJP. The TRS has decided to throw in its lot with the BJP-led NDAs choice of presidential candidate, like Nitish Kumar in Bihar, bucking the trend of leaders of non-BJP ruled states joining Opposition ranks to contest the poll. Unlike the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, which is an NDA ally, the TRS has no overt ties with the BJP. However, barring Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos recent attack on BJP president Amit Shah after the latters visit to the state, both parties appear to pull their punches with one another. This is curious as the BJP has made no bones of its intent to grow the party in Telangana. Shah is expected to return to the state and spend nearly a week here after the presidential polls, all part of a strategy to increase its presence in the south. K Chandrasekhar RaoHowever, the TRS has stood apart from other Opposition-led governments in South India in siding with the Centre on demonetisation, and maintaining a studied silence on the controversial new cattle trading rules that drew outrage from other state governments. This, despite the impact the rules are likely to have on leather, meat export businesses and the states already distressed farmers. The two parties continue to fight on isolated issues but when it comes down to it, the TRS acts like a virtual ally of the BJP. This seems to be a peculiar move for the TRS. Ostensibly, its aim is to, along with the BJP, eradicate the Congress from Telangana. The Congress, which failed to capitalise on its role in ensuring the creation of Telangana, has been considerably weakened in the state. However, it retains pockets of support as evidenced by the response to party vice-president Rahul Gandhis public meeting recently. Even the Congress was reportedly surprised by the response, with more than a lakh in attendance. If indeed it is the TRSs aim to ensure the end of the Congress in Telangana by joining hands with the BJP, it would appear to be a remarkably short-sighted approach. The TRS hopes to become the sole party of consequence in the state, as does the BJP. This will undoubtedly set them up for a clash at some point in the future. If the BJPs forays into Telangana are ignored or facilitated by the TRS, for short-term gains, the argument can be made that it is the TRS that is likely to suffer in the long-term. The TRS may believe that it has covered its bases by trying to cater to virtually every section of the electorate through a range of targeted schemes  from Brahmins, to Muslims, to tribal communities  but it is virtually the same schemes that the BJP is likely to exploit to polarise communities and reach disaffected voters in the state. Already, the hike in quota for Muslim communities  that may never become a reality as it faces legal hurdles  has become a rallying point for the BJP. Meanwhile, Shahs visit to Nalgonda district, a Congress stronghold, raised memories of the atrocities committed by the Razakars, a private militia that supported the Nizam in pre-Independence Hyderabad. There is a third partner in this curious alliance, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, whose leader Asaduddin Owaisi represents the Hyderabad constituency in the Lok Sabha. The party, though technically a member of the state Opposition, functions as an ally to the TRS, as the TRS does to the BJP. In fact, its opposition to the NDA presidential candidate is perhaps the only time it has broken ranks with TRS recently. Politics in Telangana has little subtlety. The TRS may take solace in the limited growth of the BJP in the south. In fact, the annual Mood of the Nation Survey conducted by Lokniti, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, revealed that while the BJP is on a nation-wide roll, its popularity has fallen in just two states  Punjab and Telangana. Further, the survey found that support for Narendra Modi as PM fell below a third of the respondents in only four states  Punjab, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Out of every 10 respondents, less than three mentioned Modi as a preferred PM candidate, the report said. However, the BJP is unlikely to be daunted by these results. Unlike the TRS, which is a party virtually organised around one family, the BJP draws from saffron cadre spread across organisations in the parivar. Given that the BJP swept Assam on the basis of work done by the RSS over the years, the TRS should watch its back. Ranjitha Gunasekaran Assistant Resident Editor, Hyderabad Email: ranjitha@newindianexpress.com
Shankkar Aiyar By

You could call it the circle of life.

In January 1971, the governments of Singapore and Malaysia decided to split Malaysia Singapore Airlines. A year later, the Government of Singapore incorporated Mercury Singapore Airlineslater renamed as Singapore Airlines (SIA). To acquire and adopt best practices, the Singapore government consulted the best in the business. Among the first it called on, and tied up for training and operations, was an airline called Air India.



Nearly half-a-century later, SIA is among the top 10 airlines of the world with flights to over 60 countries, with revenues exceeding $10 billion and operating profits of nearly half-a-billion dollars. Air India, the airline SIA looked up for excellence, is in a tailspinwith losses of over $2.5 billion in three years and debt of over $8.2 billion. To borrow a Latin legal phrase, res ipsa loquitur, the data and the words tell the story. The irony: SIA, along with the Tatas, could be one of the suitors for the Maharaja.



The contrast is riveting. Remember SIA is owned by the Government of Singaporeits sovereign fund Temasek owns 56 per cent of the airlines stock and the rest is owned by global financial institutions. Air India, too, is owned by the governmentlock, stock and the pork barrel of politics. What is material is the saga of similarity of ownership and difference of approachwhat professional intent can achieve and how politics can destroy.



The ignominy was predicted as early as in 1950, in the seminal 372-page Report of the Air Transport Enquiry Committee headed by Justice G S Rajadhyaksha. It said: Air transport is a highly technical industry of a very specialised character. The slow and rigid bureaucratic methods inseparable from a Government Department are particularly unsuitable to the needs of the air transport industry which requires maximum of dispatch and flexibility in the conduct of management.



The problems faced by the air transport industry in 1950, identified by the Committee, triggers a sense of deja vu. The problems listed were: high cost of operations and poor revenues, losses due to fuel costs, vagaries in tariff fixation and allocation of subsidies, mismatch in type of aircraft needed and used, excess staff, excess capacity forced by licencing conditions, high cost of salaries at higher levels, inconsistent policies on route clearances, uncertainty of licence tenure, irrationally exuberant plans and high cost of ventures and lack of adequate capital.

The Committee underlined the need for consolidation and restructuring of policy for the industry. The government, driven by the ideology of the Industrial Policy Resolution 1948 and political pressure of MPs, pushed through the Air Corporation Act of 1953. It nationalised Air India Ltd, earlier known as Tata Airlines, and Air India Internationala joint venture in which the government owned 49 per cent and Tatas had a 10 per cent stake. It also nationalised seven other airlinesAir Services of India Ltd, Airways India, Bharat Airways, Deccan Airways, Himalayan Aviation Ltd, Indian National Airways, Kalinga Airlines and Air India International Ltd.



Socialism succeeded while the government had the monopoly over the skies and the passengers had no choice. In 1994, P V Narasimha Rao opened up the skies by amending the Air Corporation Act to allow private participation. It was an opportune time for the government to re-think its role. That was not to be. Indeed, a parade of the absurd followed the bizarre as policy. For instance, India allowed private sector participation, but barred investments by foreign airlines till recentlyeffectively shutting out expertise and capital.



The circle of life, it is said, moves from despair to hope. Tragically, for Air India, it has been from hope to despair. In 2000, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government listed Air India and Indian Airlines for disinvestment. The foreign partners of Indian bidders included Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways, Qantas, Delta and Air France. The expected realisation then was: `10,000 crore plus. The attempt was scuttled by politics engineered by private players who promoted the notion that the nation must have a national carrier (Political Maharajas and the Royal Mess http://bit.ly/2kxLkXY).



Air India is yet again in despair. The Niti Aayog has observed that at current debt levels, the enterprise is unsustainable and advised 100 per cent disinvestment. The government, it appears, has decided that status quo cannot be sustained with tax payers moniesnot when there is a queue of competitive claims for it from farmers to banks to electricity boards and, of course, infrastructure.

It is early days as yet but within this crisis there is a beacon of hope. The Tatas have yet again shown an interest in taking over Air India in partnership with Singapore Airlines. Officials have met with the Tatasin what has been described as informal talks.



The contours of the deal are yet to be known. It is bound to be complexgiven the level of indebtedness, the public sector structure and, therefore, workers interests. There is the issue of valuation. There is a need to evaluate, and make public, the value of the enterpriseits assets, brand royalty and premium for access. It would be a good idea for the government to call for competitive bidsfor the sake of transparency and price discovery. There have been whispers about the plans of Qatar Airways. So why not open it up?



A good template for the structure of the deal would be the Maruti-Suzuki model where the government disinvested in phasesprotecting its interests and enhancing value simultaneously. The government could offer a controlling stake and retain the rest to be offloaded later as in the case with Suzukithis enables conditional intervention, but curbs interference.



The offer is an opportunity. It has the optics of legacy, the allure of sentimentsit was JRD Tata who started aviation in Indiaand will have mass subscription. It also has compelling political and economic logicprofessionalisation of an enterprise, reduction in government obligation and role in business, clearing of a part of NPAs in the banking sector. It could be a win-win deal. The government must get off the informal plank and go formaldo it already, liberate the Maharaja from the Sarkar.

shankkar.aiyar@gmail.com

You could call it the circle of life. In January 1971, the governments of Singapore and Malaysia decided to split Malaysia Singapore Airlines. A year later, the Government of Singapore incorporated Mercury Singapore Airlineslater renamed as Singapore Airlines (SIA). To acquire and adopt best practices, the Singapore government consulted the best in the business. Among the first it called on, and tied up for training and operations, was an airline called Air India. Nearly half-a-century later, SIA is among the top 10 airlines of the world with flights to over 60 countries, with revenues exceeding $10 billion and operating profits of nearly half-a-billion dollars. Air India, the airline SIA looked up for excellence, is in a tailspinwith losses of over $2.5 billion in three years and debt of over $8.2 billion. To borrow a Latin legal phrase, res ipsa loquitur, the data and the words tell the story. The irony: SIA, along with the Tatas, could be one of the suitors for the Maharaja. The contrast is riveting. Remember SIA is owned by the Government of Singaporeits sovereign fund Temasek owns 56 per cent of the airlines stock and the rest is owned by global financial institutions. Air India, too, is owned by the governmentlock, stock and the pork barrel of politics. What is material is the saga of similarity of ownership and difference of approachwhat professional intent can achieve and how politics can destroy. The ignominy was predicted as early as in 1950, in the seminal 372-page Report of the Air Transport Enquiry Committee headed by Justice G S Rajadhyaksha. It said: Air transport is a highly technical industry of a very specialised character. The slow and rigid bureaucratic methods inseparable from a Government Department are particularly unsuitable to the needs of the air transport industry which requires maximum of dispatch and flexibility in the conduct of management. The problems faced by the air transport industry in 1950, identified by the Committee, triggers a sense of deja vu. The problems listed were: high cost of operations and poor revenues, losses due to fuel costs, vagaries in tariff fixation and allocation of subsidies, mismatch in type of aircraft needed and used, excess staff, excess capacity forced by licencing conditions, high cost of salaries at higher levels, inconsistent policies on route clearances, uncertainty of licence tenure, irrationally exuberant plans and high cost of ventures and lack of adequate capital. The Committee underlined the need for consolidation and restructuring of policy for the industry. The government, driven by the ideology of the Industrial Policy Resolution 1948 and political pressure of MPs, pushed through the Air Corporation Act of 1953. It nationalised Air India Ltd, earlier known as Tata Airlines, and Air India Internationala joint venture in which the government owned 49 per cent and Tatas had a 10 per cent stake. It also nationalised seven other airlinesAir Services of India Ltd, Airways India, Bharat Airways, Deccan Airways, Himalayan Aviation Ltd, Indian National Airways, Kalinga Airlines and Air India International Ltd. Socialism succeeded while the government had the monopoly over the skies and the passengers had no choice. In 1994, P V Narasimha Rao opened up the skies by amending the Air Corporation Act to allow private participation. It was an opportune time for the government to re-think its role. That was not to be. Indeed, a parade of the absurd followed the bizarre as policy. For instance, India allowed private sector participation, but barred investments by foreign airlines till recentlyeffectively shutting out expertise and capital. The circle of life, it is said, moves from despair to hope. Tragically, for Air India, it has been from hope to despair. In 2000, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government listed Air India and Indian Airlines for disinvestment. The foreign partners of Indian bidders included Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways, Qantas, Delta and Air France. The expected realisation then was: `10,000 crore plus. The attempt was scuttled by politics engineered by private players who promoted the notion that the nation must have a national carrier (Political Maharajas and the Royal Mess http://bit.ly/2kxLkXY). Air India is yet again in despair. The Niti Aayog has observed that at current debt levels, the enterprise is unsustainable and advised 100 per cent disinvestment. The government, it appears, has decided that status quo cannot be sustained with tax payers moniesnot when there is a queue of competitive claims for it from farmers to banks to electricity boards and, of course, infrastructure. It is early days as yet but within this crisis there is a beacon of hope. The Tatas have yet again shown an interest in taking over Air India in partnership with Singapore Airlines. Officials have met with the Tatasin what has been described as informal talks. The contours of the deal are yet to be known. It is bound to be complexgiven the level of indebtedness, the public sector structure and, therefore, workers interests. There is the issue of valuation. There is a need to evaluate, and make public, the value of the enterpriseits assets, brand royalty and premium for access. It would be a good idea for the government to call for competitive bidsfor the sake of transparency and price discovery. There have been whispers about the plans of Qatar Airways. So why not open it up? A good template for the structure of the deal would be the Maruti-Suzuki model where the government disinvested in phasesprotecting its interests and enhancing value simultaneously. The government could offer a controlling stake and retain the rest to be offloaded later as in the case with Suzukithis enables conditional intervention, but curbs interference. The offer is an opportunity. It has the optics of legacy, the allure of sentimentsit was JRD Tata who started aviation in Indiaand will have mass subscription. It also has compelling political and economic logicprofessionalisation of an enterprise, reduction in government obligation and role in business, clearing of a part of NPAs in the banking sector. It could be a win-win deal. The government must get off the informal plank and go formaldo it already, liberate the Maharaja from the Sarkar. shankkar.aiyar@gmail.com
Samuel Merigala By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Want a new mobile SIM card? Produce your Aadhaar card copy as proof, else you wont get it. Ditto shifting your connection from prepaid to postpaid. Also, the current SIM card you are using needs Aadhaar linkage if you want to continue availing the service after February 6 next year.

In fact, Airtel, Idea, Vodafone and Jio stores across Chennai are turning down potential clients offering other documents as identification proof, such as driving licence, ration card and voter ID to buy SIM cards.

The TNIE witnessed long lines of confused and apprehensive customers in telecom stores rushing to link their Aadhaar numbers. Losing service seems to be a bigger scare than losing privacy. However, the few who question the store employees over the move and its necessity get a generic answer: Supreme Court order, sir.

The SCs directive in February - in response to a petition by Lokniti Foundation - was for biometric verification but didnt say it was to be done using Aadhaar.

In Pics: Here are 10 things for which Aadhaar card is mandatory

After meeting officials from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Unique Identification Authority of India and Prime Ministers Office (PMO) on February 13 last, the Department of Telecommunications directed telecom companies to re-verify their users within a stipulated time.

So, for any new connection, the companies are now demanding Aadhaar. Those who dont have it or are unwilling to share the 12-digit Aadhaar number are turned away.

I am waiting for my Aadhaar card and I want a new SIM in the meantime. I dont understand why I cant link it with my phone account later, said C Prathap, who was turned away by a Vodafone store staff in Vepery.

There is a sense of mistrust among customers while sharing their Aadhaar number with customer care executives. However, with majority complying with the directive, asking no questions, rest are forced to follow suit.

I didnt like the concept of Aadhaar but was forced to enroll since everybody else was. I might as well link it with my phone, said G Ramesh, who came to the Vodafone store with his daughter to get his number re-verified.

The new diktat is a hassle for both customers and operators.

Telecom companies have been mandated to notify customers through SMSes, ads in newspapers and digital media. According to an estimate by a media organisation, the entire process of verifying Indias 1.1 billion mobile users will set telecom operators back by Rs 1,000 crore.

We have nothing to gain from this process, said S Swaminathan, manager, corporate communications at Airtel.

The telecom industry is already in shambles combating the data price drop, he added.

Made to wait for hours sometimes, the customers ire is directed at the customer care personnel. We are shouted at and threatened for the inconvenience caused because of this new rule, cribbed an employee at an Idea store in Selaiyur near Tambaram.

According to the manager of Airtels store in Chennai, the verification process may not be completed on time because of glitches in the system.

Thumbprints of certain people dont match with the ones provided for availing Aadhaar, he said.

Aadhaar has gained ground since the 2015 Supreme Court verdict, which made enrolment voluntary. Now with more than 88 per cent of the population enrolling for Aadhaar, it is becoming an overarching, all-pervasive identification and is being made mandatory for availing services from even the private sector.

The only telecom operator that will have it easy is Reliance Jio since it made Aadhaar mandatory from the day of its rollout.

CHENNAI: Want a new mobile SIM card? Produce your Aadhaar card copy as proof, else you wont get it. Ditto shifting your connection from prepaid to postpaid. Also, the current SIM card you are using needs Aadhaar linkage if you want to continue availing the service after February 6 next year. In fact, Airtel, Idea, Vodafone and Jio stores across Chennai are turning down potential clients offering other documents as identification proof, such as driving licence, ration card and voter ID to buy SIM cards. The TNIE witnessed long lines of confused and apprehensive customers in telecom stores rushing to link their Aadhaar numbers. Losing service seems to be a bigger scare than losing privacy. However, the few who question the store employees over the move and its necessity get a generic answer: Supreme Court order, sir. The SCs directive in February - in response to a petition by Lokniti Foundation - was for biometric verification but didnt say it was to be done using Aadhaar. In Pics: Here are 10 things for which Aadhaar card is mandatory After meeting officials from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Unique Identification Authority of India and Prime Ministers Office (PMO) on February 13 last, the Department of Telecommunications directed telecom companies to re-verify their users within a stipulated time. So, for any new connection, the companies are now demanding Aadhaar. Those who dont have it or are unwilling to share the 12-digit Aadhaar number are turned away. I am waiting for my Aadhaar card and I want a new SIM in the meantime. I dont understand why I cant link it with my phone account later, said C Prathap, who was turned away by a Vodafone store staff in Vepery. There is a sense of mistrust among customers while sharing their Aadhaar number with customer care executives. However, with majority complying with the directive, asking no questions, rest are forced to follow suit. I didnt like the concept of Aadhaar but was forced to enroll since everybody else was. I might as well link it with my phone, said G Ramesh, who came to the Vodafone store with his daughter to get his number re-verified. The new diktat is a hassle for both customers and operators. Telecom companies have been mandated to notify customers through SMSes, ads in newspapers and digital media. According to an estimate by a media organisation, the entire process of verifying Indias 1.1 billion mobile users will set telecom operators back by Rs 1,000 crore. We have nothing to gain from this process, said S Swaminathan, manager, corporate communications at Airtel. The telecom industry is already in shambles combating the data price drop, he added. Made to wait for hours sometimes, the customers ire is directed at the customer care personnel. We are shouted at and threatened for the inconvenience caused because of this new rule, cribbed an employee at an Idea store in Selaiyur near Tambaram. According to the manager of Airtels store in Chennai, the verification process may not be completed on time because of glitches in the system. Thumbprints of certain people dont match with the ones provided for availing Aadhaar, he said. Aadhaar has gained ground since the 2015 Supreme Court verdict, which made enrolment voluntary. Now with more than 88 per cent of the population enrolling for Aadhaar, it is becoming an overarching, all-pervasive identification and is being made mandatory for availing services from even the private sector. The only telecom operator that will have it easy is Reliance Jio since it made Aadhaar mandatory from the day of its rollout.
By AFP

NIGERIA: Nine people have been killed in a string of suicide attacks in Maiduguri, a city in Nigeria's restive northeast where Boko Haram Islamists began a deadly insurgency in 2009, police said.

The attacks occurred as Nigeria began a two-day public holiday for Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Police said the bombings, which began late on Sunday, were carried out by seven suicide bombers, six of whom were women.

They targeted the campus of Maiduguri University and residential buildings in a district just northeast of the city, which is capital of Nigeria's Borno State.

State police spokesman Victor Isuku said the violence began when a male bomber blew himself up on campus, killing himself and wounding three security guards, one of whom later died.

Minutes later, four female suicide bombers entered a community on the northeastern outskirts of the city, with two of them blowing themselves up inside two residential buildings, killing eight and wounding another 11.

Another detonated her explosives without injuring anyone, while the fourth tried to do the same but was injured and arrested, later succumbing to her wounds, Isuku said.

Several hours later, two more female bombers staged another attack on the university, blowing themselves up without causing any casualties.

"In all, 16 people -- including the (seven) suicide bombers -- died in the multiple explosions while 13 people were injured," Isuku said.

- Eid attack plans -

On Friday, Nigeria's intelligence service said it had foiled a plan to carry out a series of coordinated attacks targeting Muslims celebrating Eid in several cities, including Maiduguri.

Nigeria's military has said the group, whose insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead and more than 2.6 million homeless, is on the verge of defeat.

But Boko Haram has continued to mount sporadic raids and suicide bombings, including on June 19, when its militants killed at least 16 people near a camp for the displaced just outside Maiduguri.

The attacks came after a weekend of fierce clashes between Boko Haram insurgents and Chadian troops on several islands in Lake Chad, which borders Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

According to a spokesman for Chad's armed forces, the clashes killed eight soldiers and wounded another 18.

But he claimed that the operation had also killed 162 Boko Haram jihadists and destroyed many motorcycles which are often used in their deadly raids.

There have been frequent clashes on the many small islands of Lake Chad since the Boko Haram conflict began.

Both Chad and Nigeria, along with troops from Cameroon, Niger and Benin, are part of a five-nation regional force fighting Boko Haram.

On Sunday, Chad's President Idriss Deby threatened to pull out of such peacekeeping operations because of a lack of foreign financial support.

"If nothing is done, if that goes on, Chad will be obliged to withdraw," he said, describing the cost of participation as "excessively expensive."

NIGERIA: Nine people have been killed in a string of suicide attacks in Maiduguri, a city in Nigeria's restive northeast where Boko Haram Islamists began a deadly insurgency in 2009, police said. The attacks occurred as Nigeria began a two-day public holiday for Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. Police said the bombings, which began late on Sunday, were carried out by seven suicide bombers, six of whom were women. They targeted the campus of Maiduguri University and residential buildings in a district just northeast of the city, which is capital of Nigeria's Borno State. State police spokesman Victor Isuku said the violence began when a male bomber blew himself up on campus, killing himself and wounding three security guards, one of whom later died. Minutes later, four female suicide bombers entered a community on the northeastern outskirts of the city, with two of them blowing themselves up inside two residential buildings, killing eight and wounding another 11. Another detonated her explosives without injuring anyone, while the fourth tried to do the same but was injured and arrested, later succumbing to her wounds, Isuku said. Several hours later, two more female bombers staged another attack on the university, blowing themselves up without causing any casualties. "In all, 16 people -- including the (seven) suicide bombers -- died in the multiple explosions while 13 people were injured," Isuku said. - Eid attack plans - On Friday, Nigeria's intelligence service said it had foiled a plan to carry out a series of coordinated attacks targeting Muslims celebrating Eid in several cities, including Maiduguri. Nigeria's military has said the group, whose insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead and more than 2.6 million homeless, is on the verge of defeat. But Boko Haram has continued to mount sporadic raids and suicide bombings, including on June 19, when its militants killed at least 16 people near a camp for the displaced just outside Maiduguri. The attacks came after a weekend of fierce clashes between Boko Haram insurgents and Chadian troops on several islands in Lake Chad, which borders Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger. According to a spokesman for Chad's armed forces, the clashes killed eight soldiers and wounded another 18. But he claimed that the operation had also killed 162 Boko Haram jihadists and destroyed many motorcycles which are often used in their deadly raids. There have been frequent clashes on the many small islands of Lake Chad since the Boko Haram conflict began. Both Chad and Nigeria, along with troops from Cameroon, Niger and Benin, are part of a five-nation regional force fighting Boko Haram. On Sunday, Chad's President Idriss Deby threatened to pull out of such peacekeeping operations because of a lack of foreign financial support. "If nothing is done, if that goes on, Chad will be obliged to withdraw," he said, describing the cost of participation as "excessively expensive."
By PTI

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative party today struck a power deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party for her minority government by agreeing to provide an extra one billion pound for the development of the province, ending the two week-long political uncertainty.

The two parties had been locked in talks since the June 8 general election threw up a hung Parliament and May entered Downing Street on the assumption that the DUP's 10 MPs would be backing the Tories in Parliament to make up for a lack of overall majority in the House of Commons.

Under the so-called "confidence and supply" arrangement, the DUP will back May on key votes, which would threaten the government's survival if they were lost.

"We share many values in terms of wanting to see prosperity across the UK, the value of the union, the important bond between the different parts of the UK," the British prime minister said.

"We very much want to see that protected and enhanced and we also share the desire to ensure a strong government, able to put through its programme and provide for issues like the Brexit negotiations, but also national security issues," she said.

The talks between the two parties, which have been ongoing for weeks, focused on financial support for Northern Ireland and the shape of Brexit.

According to the deal, there will be 1 billion pound extra fund for Northern Ireland over the next two years.

There will be total 1.5 billion pounds in funding - consisting of 1 billion of new money and 500 million of previously announced funds - to be spent over the next two years. The funds were expected to be used to boost Northern Ireland's economy and offer investment in new infrastructure, health and education.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said the "wide-ranging" agreement was "good for Northern Ireland and for the UK".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, however, said the deal was "clearly not in the national interest".

A three-page document outlining the terms of the agreement has been published today with further details on the financial arrangement expected later.

The DUP said the deal would apply for the lifetime of the Parliament, scheduled to last five years, but would also be reviewed at the end of the current session in two years time.

"A confidence and supply agreement has been made between the Conservative & Unionist party and the Democratic Unionist party. This means the DUP will support the Conservative government on votes on the Queens Speech, the Budget, and legislation relating to Brexit and national security, a Downing Street statement said.

May shook hands with DUP Foster as she and other senior party figures arrived at Downing Street today to finalise the pact.

The two leaders then watched as Conservative party chief whip Gavin Williamson and his DUP counterpart Jeffrey Donaldson signed the historic documents for the confidence and supply arrangement.

Speaking outside Downing Street, Foster said the agreement would bring stability to the UK government as it embarked on the Brexit process.

"Our aim in these negotiations has been to deliver for all of the people of Northern Ireland and the support measures which we are announcing will be to the benefit of all our people. We welcome this financial support of one billion pounds in the next two years," Foster said outside the Downing Street.

She said the Tories had now recognised the case for higher funding in Northern Ireland and will publish details of financial support to be made available in due course.

Both parties had agreed there will be no change to the pensions triple lock and the universal nature of the winter fuel payment across the UK, things May had planned to change in her election manifesto but later dropped.

The arrangement does not guarantee support on all legislation in the Commons, although it is expected the DUP will back the majority of the government's programme for the next two years after many of its more controversial policies were dropped.

The Tories fell nine seats short of an overall majority after Mays decision to call a snap election earlier this month backfired.

The support of the DUP will give the party an effective working majority of 13, as the other Northern Ireland party  Sinn Fein  do not take up their seven seats in Parliament and Speaker John Bercow and his three deputies  two of whom are Labour MPs  do not take part in votes.

Opposition Labour party have demanded details of how much the deal will cost UK taxpayers and what financial promises have been made.

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative party today struck a power deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party for her minority government by agreeing to provide an extra one billion pound for the development of the province, ending the two week-long political uncertainty. The two parties had been locked in talks since the June 8 general election threw up a hung Parliament and May entered Downing Street on the assumption that the DUP's 10 MPs would be backing the Tories in Parliament to make up for a lack of overall majority in the House of Commons. Under the so-called "confidence and supply" arrangement, the DUP will back May on key votes, which would threaten the government's survival if they were lost. "We share many values in terms of wanting to see prosperity across the UK, the value of the union, the important bond between the different parts of the UK," the British prime minister said. "We very much want to see that protected and enhanced and we also share the desire to ensure a strong government, able to put through its programme and provide for issues like the Brexit negotiations, but also national security issues," she said. The talks between the two parties, which have been ongoing for weeks, focused on financial support for Northern Ireland and the shape of Brexit. According to the deal, there will be 1 billion pound extra fund for Northern Ireland over the next two years. There will be total 1.5 billion pounds in funding - consisting of 1 billion of new money and 500 million of previously announced funds - to be spent over the next two years. The funds were expected to be used to boost Northern Ireland's economy and offer investment in new infrastructure, health and education. DUP leader Arlene Foster said the "wide-ranging" agreement was "good for Northern Ireland and for the UK". Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, however, said the deal was "clearly not in the national interest". A three-page document outlining the terms of the agreement has been published today with further details on the financial arrangement expected later. The DUP said the deal would apply for the lifetime of the Parliament, scheduled to last five years, but would also be reviewed at the end of the current session in two years time. "A confidence and supply agreement has been made between the Conservative & Unionist party and the Democratic Unionist party. This means the DUP will support the Conservative government on votes on the Queens Speech, the Budget, and legislation relating to Brexit and national security, a Downing Street statement said. May shook hands with DUP Foster as she and other senior party figures arrived at Downing Street today to finalise the pact. The two leaders then watched as Conservative party chief whip Gavin Williamson and his DUP counterpart Jeffrey Donaldson signed the historic documents for the confidence and supply arrangement. Speaking outside Downing Street, Foster said the agreement would bring stability to the UK government as it embarked on the Brexit process. "Our aim in these negotiations has been to deliver for all of the people of Northern Ireland and the support measures which we are announcing will be to the benefit of all our people. We welcome this financial support of one billion pounds in the next two years," Foster said outside the Downing Street. She said the Tories had now recognised the case for higher funding in Northern Ireland and will publish details of financial support to be made available in due course. Both parties had agreed there will be no change to the pensions triple lock and the universal nature of the winter fuel payment across the UK, things May had planned to change in her election manifesto but later dropped. The arrangement does not guarantee support on all legislation in the Commons, although it is expected the DUP will back the majority of the government's programme for the next two years after many of its more controversial policies were dropped. The Tories fell nine seats short of an overall majority after Mays decision to call a snap election earlier this month backfired. The support of the DUP will give the party an effective working majority of 13, as the other Northern Ireland party  Sinn Fein  do not take up their seven seats in Parliament and Speaker John Bercow and his three deputies  two of whom are Labour MPs  do not take part in votes. Opposition Labour party have demanded details of how much the deal will cost UK taxpayers and what financial promises have been made.
By Associated Press

LOS ANGELES: A SpaceX rocket carried 10 communications satellites into orbit from California on Sunday, two days after the company successfully launched a satellite from Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off through low-lying fog at 1:25 p.m. PDT from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. It carried a second batch of new satellites for Iridium Communications, which is replacing its orbiting fleet with a next-generation constellation of satellites.

About 7 minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first-stage booster returned to earth and landed on a floating platform on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, while the rocket's second stage continued to carry the satellites toward orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 on Friday launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and boosted a communications satellite for Bulgaria into orbit. Its first stage was recovered after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, believes reusing rocket components will bring down the cost of space launches.

Iridium plans to put in place 75 new satellites for its mobile voice and data communications system by mid-2018, requiring six more launches, all by SpaceX.

The $3 billion effort by the McLean, Virginia, company involves complex procedures to replace 66 operational satellites in use for many years. Some of the new satellites will be so-called on-orbit spares, or older satellites that remain in orbit on standby for use if the newer ones malfunction.

Swapping out and deorbiting some old satellites has already begun, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a pre-launch call with reporters.

Several old satellites have been moved into lower orbits to use up their remaining fuel and configure the solar panels for maximum drag so they will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up.

The first re-entry was believed to have occurred on June 11, Desch said.

"It's hard to celebrate something like that, but these satellites have put in almost 20 years of service, and making sure we've cleaned up after ourselves as we deploy our new constellation is a priority," he said.

The new satellites also carry payloads for joint-venture Aerion's space-based, real-time tracking and surveillance of aircraft around the globe, which has implications for efficiency, economy and safety  especially in remote airspace over the oceans.

"This will truly be a revolutionary aspect of air-traffic control," said Aireon CEO Don Thomas.

The technology, which requires aircraft to be equipped with certain equipment, is undergoing testing involving eight of the initial batch of Iridium NEXT satellites.

The Iridium NEXT program also will bring an end to so-called "Iridium flares," which space enthusiasts have observed for years. The new satellites will not create visible flashes of reflected sunlight as they passed overhead.

LOS ANGELES: A SpaceX rocket carried 10 communications satellites into orbit from California on Sunday, two days after the company successfully launched a satellite from Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off through low-lying fog at 1:25 p.m. PDT from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. It carried a second batch of new satellites for Iridium Communications, which is replacing its orbiting fleet with a next-generation constellation of satellites. About 7 minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first-stage booster returned to earth and landed on a floating platform on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, while the rocket's second stage continued to carry the satellites toward orbit. A SpaceX Falcon 9 on Friday launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and boosted a communications satellite for Bulgaria into orbit. Its first stage was recovered after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. Billionaire Elon Musk, who founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, believes reusing rocket components will bring down the cost of space launches. Iridium plans to put in place 75 new satellites for its mobile voice and data communications system by mid-2018, requiring six more launches, all by SpaceX. The $3 billion effort by the McLean, Virginia, company involves complex procedures to replace 66 operational satellites in use for many years. Some of the new satellites will be so-called on-orbit spares, or older satellites that remain in orbit on standby for use if the newer ones malfunction. Swapping out and deorbiting some old satellites has already begun, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a pre-launch call with reporters. Several old satellites have been moved into lower orbits to use up their remaining fuel and configure the solar panels for maximum drag so they will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up. The first re-entry was believed to have occurred on June 11, Desch said. "It's hard to celebrate something like that, but these satellites have put in almost 20 years of service, and making sure we've cleaned up after ourselves as we deploy our new constellation is a priority," he said. The new satellites also carry payloads for joint-venture Aerion's space-based, real-time tracking and surveillance of aircraft around the globe, which has implications for efficiency, economy and safety  especially in remote airspace over the oceans. "This will truly be a revolutionary aspect of air-traffic control," said Aireon CEO Don Thomas. The technology, which requires aircraft to be equipped with certain equipment, is undergoing testing involving eight of the initial batch of Iridium NEXT satellites. The Iridium NEXT program also will bring an end to so-called "Iridium flares," which space enthusiasts have observed for years. The new satellites will not create visible flashes of reflected sunlight as they passed overhead.
By AFP

STOCKHOLM: A Swede who had been held hostage by Al-Qaeda in Mali since 2011 has been freed, the Swedish government said on Monday, but the fate of a fellow hostage from South Africa remains unknown.

"It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Johan Gustafsson has been released and can return to Sweden," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement, giving no details about how his release was secured.

Swedish newspapers Expressen and Aftonbladet reported shortly afterwards that a Swedish government plane carrying Gustafsson had landed at Stockholm's Arlanda airport and that he had been welcomed home by his family, but neither the government nor airport officials would confirm that information.

Gustafsson, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 along with South African national Stephen McGown and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke.

Rijke was freed in April 2015 by French special forces.

The Swedish foreign ministry provided no details about McGown's fate.

Gustafsson was on a motorcycle trip from Sweden to South Africa when he was kidnapped.

He, Rijke and McGowan were seized along with several other Westerners by a group of armed men while on the terrace of their hotel.

Rijke's wife managed to escape, but a German who tried to resist the abduction was killed.

Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. It was among several jihadist groups that took control of Mali's north in 2012 before being ousted by a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

"I've already spoken with Johan and he is doing well and is overwhelmed by everything going on," Wallstrom told Swedish Radio.

- String of kidnappings -

A South African charity appointed by the families to negotiate the release of Gustafsson and McGown said it had no news about McGown.

"We have no information... I don't think Stephen has been released," said Imtiaz Sooliman, head of Gift of the Givers.

The charity said in May 2017 that it was giving up its negotiating efforts after hitting a "dead end".

According to Swedish media reports, Gift of the Givers had been negotiating a ransom with the hostage-takers.

AQIM had released several videos of Gustafsson and McGown over the years, but very little has been known about the kidnappers' demands.

Gustafsson's family had repeatedly pleaded for his release in statements to the media, but on Monday his father Goran Gustafsson refused to comment on his release.

"I don't want to talk right now, I can't. You'll have to excuse me," he told news agency TT.

Several other Westerners have been kidnapped in Mali in recent years.

In January 2016, Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly was kidnapped by AQIM, also in Timbuktu, after repeated threats from jihadists, and a proof of life video was released one year later.

Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti, a Colombian nun, was kidnapped in February of this year in southern Mali by armed men from an unidentified jihadist group, and her whereabouts remain unknown despite several arrests.

And Frenchwoman Sophie Petronin, head of an NGO, was abducted in the northern Malian city of Gao in late 2016. No group has claimed responsibility for her disappearance.

STOCKHOLM: A Swede who had been held hostage by Al-Qaeda in Mali since 2011 has been freed, the Swedish government said on Monday, but the fate of a fellow hostage from South Africa remains unknown. "It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Johan Gustafsson has been released and can return to Sweden," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement, giving no details about how his release was secured. Swedish newspapers Expressen and Aftonbladet reported shortly afterwards that a Swedish government plane carrying Gustafsson had landed at Stockholm's Arlanda airport and that he had been welcomed home by his family, but neither the government nor airport officials would confirm that information. Gustafsson, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 along with South African national Stephen McGown and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke. Rijke was freed in April 2015 by French special forces. The Swedish foreign ministry provided no details about McGown's fate. Gustafsson was on a motorcycle trip from Sweden to South Africa when he was kidnapped. He, Rijke and McGowan were seized along with several other Westerners by a group of armed men while on the terrace of their hotel. Rijke's wife managed to escape, but a German who tried to resist the abduction was killed. Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. It was among several jihadist groups that took control of Mali's north in 2012 before being ousted by a French-led military operation launched in January 2013. "I've already spoken with Johan and he is doing well and is overwhelmed by everything going on," Wallstrom told Swedish Radio. - String of kidnappings - A South African charity appointed by the families to negotiate the release of Gustafsson and McGown said it had no news about McGown. "We have no information... I don't think Stephen has been released," said Imtiaz Sooliman, head of Gift of the Givers. The charity said in May 2017 that it was giving up its negotiating efforts after hitting a "dead end". According to Swedish media reports, Gift of the Givers had been negotiating a ransom with the hostage-takers. AQIM had released several videos of Gustafsson and McGown over the years, but very little has been known about the kidnappers' demands. Gustafsson's family had repeatedly pleaded for his release in statements to the media, but on Monday his father Goran Gustafsson refused to comment on his release. "I don't want to talk right now, I can't. You'll have to excuse me," he told news agency TT. Several other Westerners have been kidnapped in Mali in recent years. In January 2016, Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly was kidnapped by AQIM, also in Timbuktu, after repeated threats from jihadists, and a proof of life video was released one year later. Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti, a Colombian nun, was kidnapped in February of this year in southern Mali by armed men from an unidentified jihadist group, and her whereabouts remain unknown despite several arrests. And Frenchwoman Sophie Petronin, head of an NGO, was abducted in the northern Malian city of Gao in late 2016. No group has claimed responsibility for her disappearance.
Ombudsman is concerned about facts on torture cases (video)

On July 17-30, 2016 while dispersing political rallies in Yerevan by the police forces mass cases of tortures and ill-treatment were registered. According to the words of our clients, different tools were used during torture; handcuffs were pressed, policemen tried to make people kiss their shoes, there was psychological pressure, says Ara Gharagyozyan, advocate at Against Legal Arbitrariness NGO. Especially July 29 was full of torture cases. Citizens and journalists not only got burns, were beaten by the policemen, but were also taken to the police units. Armenias Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan comments, Basic rights of those people werent ensured, and second, it wasnt clear why those people were taken to the units. Use of special means was accompanied by gross violations of law. According to the Ombudsman, a citizen is at risk of torture, when he or she appears in the police unit or under the powers of the investigative bodies. Though, according to the Criminal Code, hereafter torture is a criminally punishable act, but Ombudsman is displeased with the use of law, Today we have insufficient practice, I consider it to be concerning. People must be held accountable for use of torture, so that it has preventive importance. Family violence isnt voiced much and is sometimes justified by the society. But it isnt less cruel than any other type of violence. Mariam Gevorgyan, during the period of 10 months, when she was married in Saint Petersburg, was subjected to numerous tortures, but her mother-in-law and husband almost didnt carry punishment, as were granted amnesty, says Zaruhi Hovhannisyan, PR manager of Against Legal Arbitrariness NGO. The situation will change, when Armenia adopts the law on prevention of family violence. Human rights activist Nina Karapetyants adds that Armenian prisons are also places for tortures. Prisoners are deprived of all human rights. Nubarashen prison is one of the most vulnerable. Being in that building is a torture itself. Recently we have received information that the problem of overcrowding is again urgent. It is inhuman that prisoners dont receive medical aid. For years we alarmed that the food is of law quality and prisoners couldnt eat it and instead of solving the issue, they decided to reduce the food portions, says Nina Karapetyants. She says that prisoner Hrachya Gevorgyan was also a victim of torture. He underwent violence for several times and no one was held accountable for that. In the hospital for convicts he was injected substance, as a result of which he lost ability of walking and speaking. A person is very often tortured by the law enforcement officers in order to get from him the desired testimony. HRD office offers a practical step to put an end to tortures in police units and investigative departments. It must be rejected to put self-confession testimony obtained as a result of violence on basis of a person's accusation. By the way, the UNO recognized June 26 as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
By Express News Service

Old Partnerships, new friendships. The tweet by MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay announced the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Joint Air Force Base Andrews, Washington DC, on Sunday morning (UST). The three-day visit seems curiously low-key compared to earlier ones, when Modi received a rock-star-like welcome, both from the Obama administration and the Indian American community.

Also Read: Diaspora Indians optimistic about India-US ties ahead of Modi-Trump meet

After checking into the Willard InterContinental, Modi met several leading American CEOs in the hotel conference room later. The whole world is looking at India. Seven thousand reforms alone have been done by the government for ease of business, the Prime Minister claimed, while pitching for academic study of Indias GST at American business schools. This is to be followed by a lunch meeting with 600 Indian Americans specially selected by the Embassy in Washington.

Hours before Modis arrival, US President Donald J Trump enthusiastically tweeted that he looked forward to welcoming Indias PM Modi to @WhiteHouse on Monday. Important strategic issues to discuss with a true friend! However, when the two leaders and their delegations meet for their first official summit, several thorny issues might come up for discussion.

The Indian side will be looking for a thumbs up from Trump on the broad contours of the Indo-US relationship, said Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, a senior journalist and fellow at the Ananta Aspen Centre. The Indian side has met almost all of Trumps foreign and defence policy team and found they differ little from previous administrations and are generally positive about India. But India wants to ensure that Trumps tendencies to whimsical tweets do not derail all that India and the US already have laid out.

Read: Even at 2 am, Swaraj helps Indians tweeting for help: Modi

Other issues include curbs placed on the H-1B Visa which has hit the Indian IT industry, climate change, with Trump having pulled out of the Paris deal, dealing with terrorism, particularly from Pakistan, and of course, ways to reconcile Trumps America First vision with Modis Make in India initiative.

Old Partnerships, new friendships. The tweet by MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay announced the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Joint Air Force Base Andrews, Washington DC, on Sunday morning (UST). The three-day visit seems curiously low-key compared to earlier ones, when Modi received a rock-star-like welcome, both from the Obama administration and the Indian American community. Also Read: Diaspora Indians optimistic about India-US ties ahead of Modi-Trump meet After checking into the Willard InterContinental, Modi met several leading American CEOs in the hotel conference room later. The whole world is looking at India. Seven thousand reforms alone have been done by the government for ease of business, the Prime Minister claimed, while pitching for academic study of Indias GST at American business schools. This is to be followed by a lunch meeting with 600 Indian Americans specially selected by the Embassy in Washington. Hours before Modis arrival, US President Donald J Trump enthusiastically tweeted that he looked forward to welcoming Indias PM Modi to @WhiteHouse on Monday. Important strategic issues to discuss with a true friend! However, when the two leaders and their delegations meet for their first official summit, several thorny issues might come up for discussion. The Indian side will be looking for a thumbs up from Trump on the broad contours of the Indo-US relationship, said Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, a senior journalist and fellow at the Ananta Aspen Centre. The Indian side has met almost all of Trumps foreign and defence policy team and found they differ little from previous administrations and are generally positive about India. But India wants to ensure that Trumps tendencies to whimsical tweets do not derail all that India and the US already have laid out. Read: Even at 2 am, Swaraj helps Indians tweeting for help: Modi Other issues include curbs placed on the H-1B Visa which has hit the Indian IT industry, climate change, with Trump having pulled out of the Paris deal, dealing with terrorism, particularly from Pakistan, and of course, ways to reconcile Trumps America First vision with Modis Make in India initiative.
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Eczema is a skin condition that causes the skin to become red, cracked, dry, and very irritated. There are many different forms of topical treatment for eczema and its related skin conditions. The anti-inflammatory effects of nitric oxide may be useful as a preventive and therapeutic agent for skin conditions such as eczema.

Eczema on the foot - Image Credit: Lapis2380 / Shutterstock

What is nitric oxide?

Nitric oxide (NO) exists naturally as a colorless gas. NO is a signaling molecule in humans and other mammals, that plays a key role in many important physiological functions within the body. NO is generated from nitrite or by the oxidation of ammonia; however, the urea cycle is the main process that synthesizes NO in mammals. There are two nitric oxide synthases (NOSs) that are responsible for the production of NO: cNOS (which is a Calcium-dependent enzyme) and iNOS (which is a Calcium independent enzyme). NOS enzymes are heavily regulated to tightly control the signaling that NO can perform.

NO can diffuse freely through the plasma membrane of cells which allows it to signal extremely quickly. NO can target Cu-Fe proteins within cells, causing the release of Cu2+ and Fe2+, and generating O2- and OH free radicals. This results in oxidative injury.

Research has shown that NO is important for functions within several body systems; including the central nervous system, gastrointestinal system, reproductive system, immune system, respiratory system, and the cardiovascular system.

Macro shot of hand eczema. Image Credit: Ana-Maria Tegzes / Shutterstock

Treatments for eczema and other skin conditions

Common treatments for dermatitis include topical emollients, topical corticosteroids, antihistamines (for itching), and wound dressings to allow skin healing.

Topical emollients can come in various strengths depending on the severity of an individual's dermatitis. Ointments can be used for very dry skin, lotions for less dry skin, and emollients can be added into the bathwater or even used as soaps. Each of these contains different amounts of oils which each patient will respond differently to.

Various corticosteroids can be used depending on the severity of the dermatitis being treated. Examples of this are that mild dermatitis can be treated using hydrocortisone, moderate dermatitis can be treated using clobetasone butyrate, and stronger forms for dermatitis can be treated using mometasone.

Using nitric oxide to treat eczema

Nitric oxide (NO) release has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects with inflammatory conditions. This has led to an increased focus on developing NO-releasing anti-inflammatory medications in recent years.

A recent study evaluated the preventative and curative effects of a NO-releasing hydrocortisone derivative (NCX 1022) on inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema. This study exposed contact dermatitis mice models to either hydrocortisone, NCX 1022, or a vehicle control. These mice were further split into two groups for each treatment, with a pre-treatment group (topical treatment applied 15 mins before exposure to an irritant) and a post-treatment group (topical treatment applied 5 mins after exposure to an irritant).

The results of this study showed that hydrocortisone pre-treatment showed significant improvement to inflammation of the skin after approximately 5 hours after the induction of dermatitis.

The pre-treatment of NCX 1022 reduced inflammation of the skin as quickly as 1 hour after the induction of dermatitis.

Overall these results showed that with pre-treatments, the NCX 1022 was far more effective at reducing the irritation caused by dermatitis for the initial phase of inflammation.

Similarly, to the pre-treatment, the post-treatment of hydrocortisone also showed improvements to inflammation after around 5 hours following the induction of dermatitis.

The post-treatment of NCX 1022 also showed improvement of inflammation after an1 hour of dermatitis induction. The study also showed that both treatments were effective at reducing the damage to the tissue architecture caused by the induction of dermatitis.

It is clear that NCX 1022 had a shorter time to efficacy for both the prevention and treatment of dermatitis when compared with hydrocortisone. The results also expressed that the effectiveness of NCX 1022 was dose-dependent, with higher doses of NCX 1022 providing a better anti-inflammatory effect.

A different study aimed to assess the possible treatment effects for dermatitis when treating human regulatory T (Tregs) cells with NO. UVB irradiation can cause damage to the skin and lead to dermatitis.

This experiment aimed to find an approach that can reduce this. This experiment involved treating human CD4 T cells with a NO-donor (NOC-18). This led to an increase in the expression of skin-homing antigens (cutaneous lymphocyte-associated antigen [CLA]) in Tregs. These NO-CD4 T cells showed immunosuppressive effects, which can aid with the inflammation and tissue damage seen with dermatitis and UVB irradiation.

The findings from this study gave great insight into treatments for counteracting the immune responses associated with atopic diseases (I.e. atopic dermatitis).

Sources Shinde UA, et al. (2000) Nitric Oxide: a molecule of the millennium. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology. nopr.niscair.res.in/.../IJEB%2038%283%29%20201-210.pdf

Hyun, E., et al. (2004). Anti-inflammatory effects of nitric oxide-releasing hydrocortisone NCX 1022, in a murine model of contact dermatitis. British Journal of Pharmacology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fsj.bjp.0705854

Yu, C., et al. (2017). Nitric oxide induces human CLA + CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T cells with skin-homing potential. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2017.05.023

Further Reading
Yemen has been torn apart with violence that has led to widespread famine and now it has another demon to face. International health authorities last Saturday announced that the world now faces one of its worst cholera outbreaks.

Vibrio cholerae, Gram-negative bacteria. 3D illustration of bacteria with flagella. Image Credit: ktsdesign - Shutterstock

According to Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF and Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, those affected are in hundreds thousands at an estimate of 200,000 with around 5,000 new cases being added each day. There have been over 1300 deaths they said and the numbers are on the rise. Over a quarter of these deaths are of children say the health authorities. It is estimated that unless corrected, over 500,000 could be ill with cholera.

Mohamed El Montassir Hussein, Yemen director for the International Rescue Committee, warned that the area affected is increasing with almost the whole country being affected as the disease spreads. The misery, Hussein said is in each family all over the country, if not cholera, it is malnutrition in the children, absence of food, someone in the family joining the rebels or military or having children as soldiers. There is a collapse of the social life he explained due to multiple reasons. This could be a direct result of the war and nearly two years of civil war. Even during this health care crisis there are an overwhelming number of health care workers who are overloaded with patients but have not been paid for over 10 months now.

According to a UNICEF spokesperson, the healthcare system of Yemen has collapsed as a result of the civil wars. It began since the Houthi rebels took over the power and removed the President who had to escape to Saudi Arabia. It is since then that the Saudi-led coalition along with United States has been fighting the rebels. The problems of the population as a result do not seem to go away and is just intensifying. According to aid agencies, there is a another big problem that is killing many  lack of food. Over 17 million are suffering from food insecurity in Yemen and seven million have a severe shortage of food. By end of this year there is a risk of a full famime say aid agencies.

Saudi Arabia is providing all the support it can with the new crown prince of SA, Mohammed bin Salman recently authorized a $66 million donation that would support the cholera fighting machinery of UNICEF and WHO in Yemen. According to the UNICEF statement, this contribution would be discussed along with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre. It will help thousands of children affected with cholera the statement said. Both Lake from UNICEF and Chan from WHO emphasize that the disease is spreading rapidly and response needs to be urgent too.

The preventive measures such as clean water, access to hygienic sanitation and medical treatment of the affected cases are of utmost importance they said. Yemen authorities have also been asked to look at their own internal efforts and strengthen them in order to prevent new cases and treat the existing ones.

According to a UNICEF representative, the cases of cholera are reducing in 77 of Yemens 333 districts due to the provision of the life-saving package of integrated measures that treat and also prevent spread of the infection.
Thought Leaders Ignacio Martin-Loeches, Ph.D FJFICMI, Intensive Care Medicine Consultant Trinity College, Dublin

An interview with Ignacio Martin-Loeches, PhD FJFICMI, conducted by April Cashin-Garbutt, MA (Cantab)

Antibiotic resistance has been described as the healthcare emergency of our time  is this an accurate description?

Antibiotic resistance is happening in hospitals quite frequently. Probably the main place where resistant organisms and pathogens are acquired is in intensive care units (ICUs).

In hospitals, the main problem with resistance is that we have a huge consumption of antibiotics. This is something that has been happening for many years. I think we have been doing better over the last, say, decade, with the introduction of antibiotic stewardship programs.

Antibiotic stewardship programs is a marketing name for using the right antibiotics to treat the right patient in the right way. It is about is the need to administer and prescribe antibiotics to our patients wisely.

The main consumers of antibiotics are going to be the sickest patients in the hospital, especially those with comorbid conditions. Unfortunately, the patients that visit hospital nowadays are much more immunosuppressed; this is not just because of disease, since of course we have more oncology or cancer patients and so on visiting, but because we have more and more aging.

If we compare the medicine of today with twenty years ago when I started my clinical practice, it was not very common to have an 85-year old patient admitted to ICU  that was a very unusual case.

Nowadays, we have many patients that are quite old and age is no longer a reason to not accept a patient into ICU, because we have a longer life expectancy now. The second point is that we have many patients aged about 65 to 80 years who are still in very good shape, enjoying a good quality of life, working, having a good time and so on so why not treat them?

We are going to provide intensive care medicine to them. We should do and I think it is very fair to do so, but the problem is that these patients are generally at a higher risk of becoming resistant to organisms.

This is a virtuous circle, because, as hosts, these patients are at risk of becoming resistant to organisms because they are weak. This means we have to use more drugs to treat them, but, at the same time, giving more drugs increases the antibiotic pressure that applies to the ecology of the whole ICU and in the hospital, we increase the resistance. We are paying the price sometimes for having these very advanced medicines nowadays.

How does antibiotic resistance arise?

The main problem behind antibiotic resistance is antibiotic pressure. Antibiotic pressure refers to the administration of antibiotics in the setting that you are looking after.

Hospitals that have less resistance are those that do better in terms of antibiotic prescription. They are not over-using antibiotics, first. Although sometimes a patient has a problem where it is very easy to say, "Oh, we have to not use antibiotics," there are other times when the patient in front of you is critically ill, at risk of death, and at a high risk of an infection.

In those cases, you cannot say, "Oh, I am not going to use an antibiotic, because I'm not going to increase the resistance in the others." You have to do it and this is fair enough, but at the same time, you have to use these antibiotics wisely.

However, sometimes we have to use antibiotics because the patients are becoming very sick. Sometimes we don't know what to do, but we have to deescalate, which is a key word in modern medicine for antibiotic prescriptions. We need do deescalate the treatment as soon as we can, which means to either stop the antibiotic or narrow the spectrum of the antibiotic.

On many occasions, we are using something very broad, when what we need to use is something narrow to target the specific infection and specific pathogen, without increasing the resistance to other pathogens. They can become very resistant, because they are going to be fed as a result of these antibiotics being given.

I think the first point is to improve diagnosis and control the administration of antibiotics. The second is to deescalate.

Another important issue is giving the antibiotics at the right dose. Often, with many of the prescriptions given to the public, the leaflet that comes with the antibiotics is based on many simulations given to healthy volunteers. Therefore, we often need to adjust the dose and the number of administrations we have to give to the critically ill patient.

The understanding of dosage has improved over recent years because the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in a very critical ill patient is something that is very important. If we do not give the right dose, we are either not going to treat the infection well or we are going to probably select, using lower doses, strains that are going to be very virulent.

These three points are important for treating the selection of resistant strains.

In your role as a consultant in Intensive Care Medicine, what impact of antibiotic resistance do you see on patients?

This is something that is very valuable. I am Spanish and have been working in different units in Spain, but I also work in a couple of units in Ireland. I see there is a huge variability in resistant organisms, depending on the country.

I could say that, more than the country, it depends on the hospital that you are working in. For me, one of the most important points when you are treating a critically ill patient in an ICU, is to have good communication with the microbiology department, because that department can provide a broad picture of what's going on in your hospital.

For instance, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a microorganism found in many units in the world and, unfortunately, it is one of the most virulent pathogens that we have to face. Now, if you are comparing one hospital to another, sometimes hospitals have very low resistance to the Pseudomonas and they are fairly sensitive to all the antibiotics, while in other hospitals, you have what we call super-resistant bugs.

There are several classifications of these. When treating pathogens, they range from totally sensitive, meaning you can use any antibiotic, to multi-drug resistant, extensive-drug resistant, and pandrug-resistant.

With pandrug-resistant pathogens, no antibiotic whatsoever can be used to treat the infection. This is something that is happening more commonly than we think and there are many cases of it happening in the different countries that we see with these panresistant organisms. This is a big threat for us.

What changes have you seen over the last decade?

What I've seen is the difficulties faced by consultants in critical care, which is where we have the highest consumption in the hospitals and the most vulnerable hosts in the hospitals.

We have patients with conditions that are very critical in themselves and, at the same time, we have that superimposed by other comorbid conditions such as age, cancer and many others. My feeling is that over the last decade, we have become more conscious and more aware that as far as these factors are concerned, we need to all play together on the same beach.

I think that in the past, we were really aggressive and just thinking of the patient in front of us, without having a good understanding of the future implications for the other cohort of patients beside us.

There is an example that I use quite commonly with my registrars when we are prescribing antibiotics. I say that if we have a patient who has diabetes mellitus and you are using insulin to treat them, then that insulin is going to be a treatment for that patient and nobody else. The insulin is a drug that we use to decrease that patients blood sugar level.

By contrast, if you are prescribing an antibiotic to a single patient in the ICU, then that antibiotic is going to change the ecology of the whole unit. The more antibiotics we give, the more resistance we have.

Over the last decade, what I've seen is that in the intensive care community, we are more aware that we need to play a major role in decreasing antibiotic consumption. If we decrease or do more than that, by maybe more wisely prescribing short-term antibiotics at an adequate dosage whilst in good communication with other teams, then we are going to have less resistance. And I think that communication is key to that having happened over the last decade.

I think we also have more studies showing what the risk factors for resistance are. In the past, we were prescribing indiscriminately to patients, because we did not have research to use as a reference for critically ill patients.

Now, we know much more about what the determining risk factors are for patients and we understand more about dosage, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in critical care patients. Previously, many of the recommendations were concerning non-critically ill patients, but, thanks to ongoing research on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, we now have a better understanding.

I think that the rapid diagnostic tests are far from perfected, but we do have better tests to assess the sensitivity and the treatments that we do have for patients. In my opinion, these are the best tools for implementation of better care.

What are the main challenges to antibiotic research?

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I think the main challenge is that we don't have public funding for adequate antibiotic prescriptions.

We have two problems, in different areas. One is a lack of development of new antibiotic classes. If you analyze the landscape of antibiotic discovery and research in new antibiotics, it has been very poor and very devastating.

Over the last twenty years, we have not developed many antibiotics and many of the ones that were developed did not reach clinical use. Having very few new antibiotics is the first thing that I consider very depressing.

Then, there is a lack of public funding, because many - about 80% - of the antibiotics we are using in intensive care medicine are the same across the world and are already generics. These antibiotics are not very important to industry, because they have been there for a long time, but these are the antibiotics that we are using all the time.

We are in the middle, because these antibiotics are not important to the industry on account of being old and, in terms of public funding, there are not new developments. I think that we are sometimes caught in the middle of trying to get new antibiotics and, with the old ones, thinking about how to give them wisely.

Also, different countries have put in place different strategies to get more funding and more research into antibiotic discovery, but the problem is that you need big parties, because while this may be happening in one country alone, that is not going to be enough. Thankfully, big agencies such as the European Union with the H2020 programs and the NIH in the U.S. are now understanding the problem much better.

I think they are putting in place more consortiums that are multi-disciplinary, so that the problem is seen from more than just one angle. They are getting clinicians, basic scientists and industries together and I think the success for research is based on this interaction.

For instance, clinical providers such as myself are not going to do anything if we do not have the industry helping us, because we need the industry to understand what we are looking for. I think these interactions between different counterparts in the story are what is going to make this successful.

What more can be done to prevent antibiotic resistance arising?

To prevent antibiotic resistance arising, I think we need to develop two things. The first is more rapid diagnostic tests. I think the diagnosis of infection is still very poorly and inadequately implicated.

For instance, nowadays, a patient with sepsis may have a positive result in perhaps 30 to 40% of cases. That means that we still have 60% of patients coming to the hospital with a severe infection, where we do not know the name of the disease pathogen. Also, when we do finally know, it's too late.

If I had to suggest something that would prevent antibiotic resistance, it would be knowing which resistance we were facing. We often don't know the name of the pathogen, because we cannot find it out and when do find it out, it's too late. I think the first prevention approach that is important is rapid diagnostic testing.

The second important prevention approach is having better antibiotics; new classes of antibiotics that are going to bypass the resistance that the pathogens are currently developing. We need to have more targeted therapies for treatment, as happens in other diseases.

For instance, many of the drugs that have been used in cancer treatment in the past were actually poisons: they were deleterious for many tissues, so whilst they cured cancer, they also caused huge side-effects.

Thankfully, now there is a lot of investment and there is a very personalized approach to cancer treatment. This, unfortunately, has not happened with antibiotic development. This is something that we don't have at the moment for infectious diseases in critical care. We don't have antibiotics that target just one single microorganism and, therefore, do not increase resistance to the others.

Sometimes, we need to have a rapid diagnostic test to know that something is MRSA, so that we can prescribe a treatment that is just for MRSA, without increasing the resistance to other pathogens, which would, of course, be deleterious.

A third important factor in preventing resistance, is that on many occasions, the treatment we give patients, decreases their immunity and changes the patients microbiota. Patients often have a very poor immune system.

Therefore, new things are needed such as improved analysis of what is happening with microbiota and fecal transplantation. Things like that are going to improve the way we approach developmental resistance in critically ill patients.

What do you think the future holds?

Nowadays, I do not feel as pessimistic as I did, say, ten years ago, when there was no movement and things were silent. Nowadays, things are happening and things are changing. If you saw the calls we receive, the number concerning antibiotic resistance is increasing. In terms of governmental investment, it is not just one government, but several different governments contributing together, because now the world is global.

We have patients that are traveling from one place to another. Unlike in the past, where one patient was born in a city and died in that city, we are now moving from one place to another, traveling quite a lot and we have patients that we have repatriated from other hospitals. All this means we are having more impact on the healthcare authorities in terms of developing newer strategies to decrease antibiotic resistance.

Also, we have better hospital programs. In the past, we worked in a very isolated way. The microbiologist did not talk to the intensive care physician and the intensive care physician did not talk to the pharmacologist. I think that interaction between different specialties, that multidisciplinary approach, will help us have a better future.

At the moment, there are many ongoing programs that involve good interaction with healthcare agencies, clinicians, universities and industry, with all of those working together to achieve the same goal.

This is something that has not happened previously, especially in Europe. If you compare America and Europe, I would say that, in America, it was more usual to have interaction with the industry, whereas this is something that did not happen very often in Europe.

There are several public agencies that are raising more awareness about antibiotics.

When we talk about antibiotics, I think education starts from the bottom. For instance, my wife is a GP and because of the number of problems you are facing when you are in a GP practice, you maybe do not follow the recommendations that are in place. Since patients are often working in a very fast world, they expect to be cured within 24 hours and if they are not cured within 24 hours, they are going to ask the GP for a new antibiotic.

This also happens in the hospital. I think that we need to follow a more wait and see approach and I think that the community needs to be involved in this because if we do not all work together, I think that we are not going to do great.

I think that we should all work together on this thing as a whole. I think following the recommendations made by the WHO and different national and international agencies based on the country, is something that is going to help.

I would also like to point out that over the last year, there have been many complaints made against vaccination. I think that this is a big, big mistake. I think that, as a result of these complaints, we are now discovering diseases that were not around before. This is important for healthcare, in that patients presenting with diseases that we did not have before will increase the treatment needed in hospitals and increase resistance.

I do agree that sometimes the public needs to be involved in decisions, but, at the same time, there sometimes needs to be a little bit more understanding of what healthcare professionals bring. I think this would help in future developments.

Where can readers find more information?

Gabor Zilahi et al. Whats new in multidrug-resistant pathogens in the ICU? Annals of Intensive Care2016 6 :96 DOI: 10.1186/s13613-016-0199-4

:96 DOI: 10.1186/s13613-016-0199-4 Ignacio Martin-Loeches et al. Antibiotic therapy in critically ill patients: expert opinion of the European Society of Anaesthesia Intensive Care Scientific Subcommittee. Eur J Anaesthesiol 2017; 34:1-6 DOI: 10.1097/EJA.0000000000000595

About Ignacio Martin-Loeches, PhD FJFICMI

Ignacio Martin-Loeches, PhD, FJFICMI is a full time Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Senior Clinical Lecturer & Research Director of the Multidisciplinary Intensive Care Research Organization (MICRO) at Trinity College, Dublin.

Currently Vice-Chair of Intensive Care Medicine at St Jamess University Hospital, Dublin. He has served as executive member for the European Diploma in Intensive Care (EDIC) and as Deputy for the Sepsis and Infection Section at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM).

He is the Chair of the Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Working Group 4SWG and executive member of the research-working group of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC).

He is the currently member of the Clinical Trials of Health Research Board in Ireland and the President of the Spanish Research Society of Ireland [(under the Embassy of Spain in Ireland and The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT)].

He is principal Investigator of European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) grant and the European Network for ICU-related respiratory infections (ENIRRIs) under the European Respiratory Society (ERS).

He has published several manuscripts in high impact factor journal and serves as section Editor at the Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) journal.
Maruti Suzuki India Limiteds premium hatchback Baleno has race passed 200,000 unit sales in less than two years. Baleno has been averaging sales of over 10,000 units since its launch in October 2015.The Made in India Baleno has gained popularity worldwide for its liquid flow design, sophisticated styling, plush and roomy interiors, superior ride and handling and advanced safety features. Baleno achieved the 100,000 unit sales milestone in less than a year setting a record for being the top selling premium hatchback in India.Thanking customers on the occasion, Mr R S Kalsi, Executive Director, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki said  Baleno was developed keeping in mind the tastes and requirement of global customers. It has disrupted the premium hatchback segment by not only dominating it but also expanding it multi-fold. While setting new benchmarks in design and technology, Baleno has received an unimaginable response in India as well as several international markets. We are very humbled with the success of Baleno. We thank all our customers for their support and patience despite huge waiting for delivery on Baleno.Baleno has been a breakthrough model for NEXA consistently topping the charts of the 10 best-selling passenger cars. With many firsts in the segment like Apple Car Play for the young buyers, standard safety features like dual airbags and ABS with EBD, the car has proved to be a true hallmark of the Make in India initiative. In March this year, Maruti Suzuki also launched the Baleno RS, the sporty version of the Baleno, marking its entry in the high-performance segment. With a 1.0-litre Boosterjet engine, the Baleno RS is for the performance enthusiasts who seek more power, throttle response and excitement in their day-to-day driving.Baleno is being exported to over 100 countries and is the first car from Maruti Suzuki being exported to Japan under Governments Make in India mission. The car has been a performer even on the export front. Over 64,000 units of Baleno have been exported across the world including Japan, Australia, New Zealand and several parts of Europe and Latin America.
Britain's tourism office has announced the release of an interactive map to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book on Monday. VisitBritain, the country's official tourism office, is celebrating the publication of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' by showcasing what makes Britain a magical destination for international tourists, Xinhua news agency reported.



The interactive online map highlights magical sites across Britain which have inspired some of the world's greatest literature and legends, from Harry Potter to Sherwood Forest, famed as the home of Robin Hood, and the legendary King Arthur to Scotland's Loch Ness Monster.



VisitBritain Director Patricia Yates said: "From Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland where the Harry Potter's Hogwarts Express travelled, to Professor McGonagall's classroom at Durham Cathedral, to exploring the Forbidden Forest at Warner Bros Studio, Harry Potter's Britain is the stuff of magic. Harry and his wizarding world continue to hold generations of readers from across the globe spellbound, firing up imaginations and inspiring people to explore locations and landscapes and experience the wonder themselves."



Attracted by culture and heritage, overseas travellers who visit Britain's castles or historic houses spend more than $10 billion annually exploring cultural venues. Film and literature are also powerful motivators for travel, with more than a third of potential visitors to the UK wanting to see places featured on screen, says VisitBritain.



VisitEngland has named 2017 the Year of Literary Heroes to shine the spotlight on England's literary destinations and anniversaries. Anniversaries include the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death, the 125th anniversary of the first Sherlock Holmes book, and the 75th anniversary of Enid Blyton's Famous Five.



Latest statistics for 2017 show that there were a record 11.8 million overseas visits to the UK from January to April -- up 11 percent on the same period in 2016. Overseas visitors spent nearly 8 million dollars during the period -- up 14 percent.
New Delhi: State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has joined the Indian consortium negotiating buying a 49 per cent stake in Russia's Vankor Cluster oil fields in the Arctic region.



Originally, ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), signed an MoU to explore buying a stake in Suzunskoye, Tagulskoye and Lodochnoye fields -- collectively known as Vankor Cluster.



Later, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Oil India (OIL) and Bharat PetroResources (BPRL), a unit of Bharat Petroleum Corporation, came in using the influence of the oil ministry.



Now, HPCL has shown interest and has joined the talks, sources privy to the development said.



Rosneft, Russia's national oil company that owns the fields, wants to retain a majority stake and is keen to sell only up to 49 per cent stake.



Sources said OVL is keen to take the largest share of 20 -26 per cent as the project had originally come to it and others joined in later.



If OVL takes 26 per cent stake, OIL-IOC-BPRL-HPCL may have 23.9 per cent, they said.



Vankorneft, a subsidiary of Rosneft, is developing the Vankor oil and gas condensate field, situated in the northern part of eastern Siberia.



In 2013, Vankorneft was chosen as an operator on development of new fields of Vankor Cluster located close to the Vankor field. The reserves of Suzunskoye field exceed 56 million tonnes of oil and condensate and 35 billion cubic metres of gas.



Last year, OVL first acquired 15 per cent in Russia's second-biggest oil field of Vankor for USD 1.27 billion and then bought another 11 per cent for USD 930 million. The 26 per cent stake would give OVL 7.31 million tonnes of oil.



The consortium of OIL-IOC-BPRL acquired 23.9 per cent stake in the field at a cost of USD 2.02 billion, giving them 6.56 million tonnes of oil. Rosneft continues to hold the remaining 50.1 per cent shares of JSC Vankorneft. The field has recoverable reserves of 2.5 billion barrels.



Besides, the OIL-IOC-BPRL consortium has taken another 29.9 per cent stake in a separate Taas-Yuryakh oil field in East Siberia for USD 1.12 billion. The investments have taken the total outlay in Russia this year to USD 5.46 billion.



These investments will give India 15.18 mt of oil equivalent. These compare to USD 28.48 billion investment by Indian companies overseas in the past 50 years, leading to about 10 million tonnes of oil equivalent.



While Vankor produces about 4,42,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) -- that is, 4 per cent of Russian crude oil production -- Taas produces about 21,000 barrels per day of oil, and a peak of 1,00,000 bpd is expected by 2021. ANZ ARD



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Britney Spears is out with her world tour and her next stop is Bangkok where she is set to perform on June 23. In order to welcome her to their country, the flight attendants of Nok Air recreated Spears' 2003 popular song Toxic.One of Spears' most popular and equally racy numbers had her play a spy disguised as a flight attendent, and Nok Aircrew utilised the settings of their workspace to welcome Britney on board - with a touch of her own style.Nok Air isn't the only airlines to have welcomed Spears with her hit track, earlier El Al Airlines air stewards paid tribute to Britneys Toxic video with a video of their own - in which they can be singing and dancing. The clip is pointedly less risque than the original 2000s hit because no one can do it better than Brit, but its still a complete gem, packed with enough sass and hair whips slaying the theme.In March, AirAsia air steward Assraf Nasir, too, recreated Spears' dance routine taking advantage of an empty plane to perform. Posting the video on Instagram, he wrote, "Classic. AirAsia version of Toxic. The talent in AirAsia never fails to amaze me. @assrafnasir is the best. Love it that staff can just have fun and be themselves,"Credit: @ Tony Fernandes Well, looks like Airlines have found a new sassy way to welcome the pop star in their respective countries. The slay Queen is definitely getting the 'toxic-treatment' she deserves!
New Delhi: Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has marked Eid-ul-Fitr prayers by urging the global Islamic community to slam oppressors who invade innocent people, including Kashmiris, Yemenis and Bahrainians.



Leading the prayers in Tehran Great Musalla (Prayer Ground) to mark the end of holy month of Ramzan, Khamenei said Islamic intellectuals across the world should announce their stance on issues like Kashmir in a crystal-clear way, like Iran does.



The leader of Islamic Revolution was hosting thousands who were observing Fitr prayer when he made these remarks, according to AhlulBayt news agency.



This is not the first time Khamenei has spoken in support of Independent Kashmir, but the timing of his latest remarks is both significant and controversial. First, it comes at a time when Kashmir is witnessing a resurgence in violent protests. Second, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting US President Donald Trump in Washington DC on Monday. The US President has been a vocal critic of Iran, and has reversed many of his predecessors decisions to bring the Shia nation back from international sanctions slapped over its nuclear plans and support to militant outfits like Hezbollah.



India-Iran bilateral relationship is supposed to be on a strong footing with trade expanding at a rapid pace and Khameneis remarks could act as a dampener.



The Ayatollah who replaced Ruhollah Khomeini as the supreme leader of Iran reiterated his stand through Twitter.



Muslim world should openly support people of #Bahrain, #Kashmir, #Yemen, etc and repudiate oppressors & tyrants who attacked people during #Ramadan, Khameini said in one of his two tweets.



Issues surrounding #Bahrain, #Yemen and various issues in other Muslim countries wound the Islamic body as a whole, his second tweet said.



In April 2001, Khamenei said, We hope that the issue of Kashmir will also be solved in the best way which guarantees the rights and interests of the people living in this region so that they will be provided with peace and comfort.



For the Islamic Republic of Iran, the issue of Kashmir is an issue of humanity and Islam since the Muslim people of this region are clearly subject to oppression and tyranny and we have always expressed to the government of India our abhorrence towards what is being done to the Muslim people of Kashmir and we will continue to express the same feelings in various circles, he said in September 1994, according his website.



In 1990, when the Kashmiri insurgency was escalating, Khamenei came out in its support and said, Look how everywhere in the world where there is a Muslim community, they receive a much harsher treatment compared with others. Kashmir is a contemporary example for this. Muslims there speak out their rights. Anyone who is informed of what Kashmir has gone through, knows what Muslims of Kashmir express is nothing but truth and justice. Those who silence them have an unjust cause. Those who attack them are the ones who are doing the wrong action. Sadly the world watches all this in cold blood.
Bengaluru: BJP workers in Mysore spread gau mutra across the Mysore Kala Mandir, a government building, after meat was consumed there on Sunday by few members of an organisation. The BJP workers alleged that the meat was beef.



A three-day seminar on food habits was organised by Charvika Organisation, where KS Bhagwan, a rationalist and a former professor of Mysore University professor, was also present. On the final day of the event, Bhagwan along with other members allegedly ate the meat.



The Mysore District collector issued a notice to the organisers as consuming food in the government building was not allowed. The security deposit of Rs 5000 also was forfeited.



Randeep D, Deputy Commissioner of Mysore, told News18 that they were not going into what meat was consumed but are issuing a notice because eating food was not allowed inside Kala Mandir.



A notice has been issued for consuming food inside Kala Mandir. Its a historical place and special permission needs to be given for consumption of food there. They had taken permissions for a discussion on food habit, but did not inform about consuming food.
Lucknow: Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the culmination of the fasting month of Ramzan and start of the Islamic month of Shawwal, will be celebrated across the country on Monday.



The crescent moon was sighted by the Markazi Chand Committee in Lucknow. Speaking to News18 General Secretary of Markazi Chand Committee, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, said, The moon was sighted and Inshallah Eid-al-Fitr will be celebrated tomorrow June 26 all over the country. The entire country is celebrating Eid and all sections of the society are celebrating the festival. Eid symbolises brotherhood, bonhomie and I hope that Eid would also generate love among people.



Ramzan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and during Ramzan Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and abstain completely from eating anything or drinking water even. The month of Ramzan culminates in Eid-al-Fitr celebrations. Typically, India and Pakistan celebrate Eid one day after Saudi Arabia, home to Mecca, Islams holiest city.



As Eid-al-Fitr celebrations have already begun across the globe, US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Tim Cook among others sent their wishes.



US President Donald Trump also sent 'warm greetings' to Muslims celebrating the end of Ramzan. In a statement, President Trump said, "On behalf of the American people, Melania and I send our warm greetings to Muslims as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr.



Apple CEO, Tim Cook tweeted wishing for peace, joy and prosperity. "During this holiday, we are reminded of the importance of mercy, compassion and goodwill. With Muslims around the world, the United States renews our commitment to honour these values." Canada Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau issued an official statement wishing the Muslim community around the globe.


Eid-ul-Fitr greetings! May this auspicious day further the spirit of peace and brotherhood in our society.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 26, 2017

Eid Mubarak to all of you #EidulFitr   Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) June 25, 2017

Greetings to all my fellow citizens, particularly my Muslim brothers & sisters, in India & abroad on Idul Fitr #PresidentMukherjee  President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) June 26, 2017

Eid Mubarak.  .  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 26, 2017

T 2466 - Eid Mubarak pic.twitter.com/hDUMh2wCNY  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) June 25, 2017

Wishing all an "Eid Mubarak" in advance before the Twitter gets busy! God Bless you with Health,Peace and Prosperity! pic.twitter.com/ELEXMEMhTP  Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) June 25, 2017

Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated across India on Monday, marking the culmination of the fasting month of Ramzan."Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated tomorrow (Monday) as the Eid moon was sighted in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Uttar Pradesh today," Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, had said on Sunday evening after the moon of 'Shawwal' was sighted.Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is observed as a fasting period by Muslims who abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset."On the auspicious occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, I extend greetings and good wishes to all my fellow citizens, particularly my Muslim brothers and sisters, in India and abroad. May this joyous occasion, which marks the culmination of the period of fasting and prayer during the holy month of Ramzan, bring happiness, peace and prosperity and be an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to serve humanity," President Pranab Mukherjee said.Wishes also poured on Twitter from political leaders, celebrities and sportspersons.
: After the end of their meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump addressed a joint press meet at the White House. Modi's address to the media was mostly on fighting terror and destroying terror havens. He ended his address by inviting the Trumps to India.Here are the top 10 quotes from PM Modi at the joint press meet:) My visit to the US and the talks I held today is an important page in the history of India-US relationship. The talks have been very significant in every aspect.) We talked about terrorism, extremism and radicalisation and agreed to cooperate on this. Fight against terrorism and their safe havens is an important part of our cooperation) Peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region is our focus) Increasing instability in Afghanistan is a cause of concern for us. We are having close consultation, communication and coordination with the US in this regard.) On security challenges, our growing security and defence co-operation is very important.) Trade, commerce and investment are key areas. Technology, innovation and knowledge economy are also areas were are actively looking at.) We consider USA a valued partner in our flagship programmes.) We agreed to work closely on boosting maritime trade and cooperation.) Both India and USA are global engines of growth. Elimination terrorism is among the topmost priorities for us.) I believe my vision of new India and President Donald Trump's vision of 'Make America Great Again' has synergies.
Srinagar/Nagpur: A day after seven persons died in a tragic cable car crash in Gulmarg in Kashmir, officials in-charge of the ropeway claimed that safety norms were followed and the accident can be best explained as an "act of God".The Jammu and Kashmir government had on Sunday ordered a probe into the incident in which four of a Delhi family and three local youth had lost their lives."There was no deviation from the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The weather suddenly turned bad and strong winds caused the uprooting of a tree that fell on the cable," Director, Tourism, Mehmood Shah said. General Manager of the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation, Reyaz Ahmad, said the accident was an "act of God"."We always follow the safety manual and never operate the cable car if any risk is involved. The uprooting of the tree due to abrupt blowing of high velocity wind, which led to the accident, can at best be explained as an act of God," Ahmad said.Police have registered a case into the incident and started investigations into whether there was any violation of SOP.Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday ordered a probe and alsoannounced ex-gratia relief of Rs five lakh in favour of next of kin of the killed.Meanwhile, the bodies of the four members of a Delhi-based family, who died in the accident, have been brought on Sunday evening to Nagpur, the city the deceased hailed from. Jayant Andraskar (42), his wife Manisha (38), their daughters Anagha (4) and Janhvi (7), and three local tourist guides had died in the Gulmarg accident.Their bodies were brought to Nagpur around 5.15 pm in a Jet Airways flight for last rites.The Andraskars hailed from Nagpur, but had shifted to the national capital seven years ago after Jayant started working in the Directorate of Technical Education there.His wife was a homemaker. One of their daughters was a student of class I, while the other was in playschool.With the news of their death, a pall of gloom descended on Old Subhedar layout area here, where his family members, including his parents and siblings, live.Jayant's brother-in-law Saurabh Wandhare told PTI that they were supposed to come to Nagpur on June 29 to attend his (Jayant's) mother-in-law's death anniversary."Jayant and his family members were on a vacation in Nagpur between May 12 and June 6 and they also attended my marriage last month," he said.One of the neighbours remembers Jayant as a good and humble person."He was very respectful towards others," he said. Sachin, one of Jayant's cousins, said, "Before joining the Directorate of Technical Education in Delhi seven years back, Jayant had taught in an engineering college in Nagpur and had also worked in Nagpur Improvement Trust."Assistant professor Mahendra Umre, who had worked with Jayant when he was teaching in the engineering college, said, "He was a very hardworking and ambitious person with a lot of technical knowledge. His untimely demise is saddening."The Andraskars, who lived in Shalimar Bagh in northwest Delhi, had gone to Kashmir for holidaying on June 22.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed more than 500 Indian-Americans at a community reception at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia. PM Modi began by addressing the issue of terrorism, saying Indias stand was vindicated with the threat now plain for the world to see. He also took a dig at China and praised External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for giving a human face to diplomacy.Heres a look at the highlights of the Prime Ministers speech:"When India talked of terrorism 20 years ago, many in the world said it was a law and order problem and didn't understand it. Now terrorists have explained terrorism to them so we don't have to," said PM Modi, adding that India has succeeded in telling the world about the need to uproot the menace of terrorism.PM Modi said India has been a victim of terrorism, but "the world did not and cannot stop us. We have succeeded in conveying to the world the deleterious effects of terrorism on India."Talking about the surgical strikes the Indian Army conducted across the Line of Control, Modi said, When India conducted surgical strikes, the world experienced our power and realised that India practises restrain but can show power when needed."In an apparent dig at China, Modi said that India believed in following the world order. India, he said, does not believe in achieving its goals by not following the global rules. "This is Indias tradition and culture," he noted, apparently referring to China's assertiveness in the South China Sea.PM Modi also promised to the Indian American community that he will fulfil their dreams of India's development. "Your heart always asks when will our country become like this (the US)... I assure you that this will happen in your lifetime," Modi said.Saying that Indians in America have not just helped India progress but also the US, Modi said that success and action of the Indian diaspora is still echoing in the world. "You are the same people but your success story has a simple reason, it's because you got supportive environment here," he said.The Prime Minister added that "125 crore equally talented Indians are there back in India, they are now getting supportive environment and soon we will develop India. Today, 125 crore people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari have resolved to do something for their country. With such a resolve, the country is developing at a pace never seen before," Modi said.Calling corruption the root cause due to which "the previous governments were changed in India", Modi said his government has emerged corruption-free in the last three years. "Governments were changed because of corruption. The common people hated this... There has been not a single blot on our government in the past three years. And governance is being modified so that honesty becomes an in-built process. Technology is helping with that."PM Modi also praised the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Sushma Swaraj for giving a human face to diplomacy and effective use of social media in good governance. "MEA is one ministry of the government which has demonstrated through the use of social media, for the first time, that it cares for poorest of Indians," he said. He assured the Indian-Americans that if they have a problem, the Indian Embassy will find a solution.The Prime Minister also said the warmth the Indian community gave him is memorable. "All my family members are settled in America... The happiness we get after meeting the family is what I am feeling right now. If you want to give back to India, this is the best time to do so. Keep the bridge with India. Your younger generations must continue the strong bond with India."
The contentious H-1B visa issue did not come up for discussion during Prime Minister Narendra Modis interaction with CEOs of top 20 American companies, including Apple and Google, on Sunday.In the round table interaction with the group that included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google and Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Modi spoke about the reforms undertaken by his government and invited the business leaders to invest in India, saying the implementation of GST next month would make the country a more investment-friendly destination. He added that India attracted the largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) as a result of the NDA government's policies in the last three years.Replying to a question after the interaction, US-India Business Council (USIBC) president Mukesh Aghi said the H-1B visa issue was not discussed at the meeting.The H-1B visa issue is also not on agenda when Modi holds his first bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. The Trump administration, however, has said that if the Indian side raises the contentious visa issue, the Americans were ready to respond."On the (H-1B) visas issue, there's no plans for that to come up specifically," a senior administration official had told reporters ahead of the Modi-Trump meeting. But if raised by the Indian side, the Americans are ready for it, the official said."But if it's raised, I would just note that the administration has signed some executive orders related to work and immigration, and President Trump's executive order on H1-B visas of course directs the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Homeland Security to propose potential reforms to the H1B visa program," the official said.The Modi-Trump meeting comes amid growing concerns in India over the crackdown on H-1B visas, the most sought-after by Indian IT professionals.Trump signed an executive order in April for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop "visa abuses". Trump said his administration is going to enforce 'Hire American' rules that are designed to protect jobs and wages of workers in the US.The executive order also called upon the Departments of Labour, Justice, Homeland Security, and the state to take action against fraud and abuse of the US' visa programmes.(With PTI inputs)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked top American companies to invest in India, saying the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime next month would make the country a more business-friendly destination.The round table interaction Modi had with 20 American CEOs at the Willard Hotel included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mastercard president Ajay Banga.US-India Business Council (USIBC) president Mukesh Aghi said the H-1B visa issue was not discussed at the meeting.Heres a look at the highlights of the interaction:In the meeting that lasted around 90 minutes, PM Modi held extensive discussions on opportunities in India, he tweeted. He spoke about the reforms undertaken by his government, saying they numbered over 7,000, and were aimed at "ease of (doing) business and minimum government, maximum governance.Modi also said that India attracted the largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) as a result of the NDA government's policies in the last three years.The PM told the CEOs that the world is now focused on India's economy, especially in areas like manufacturing, trade, commerce, and people-to-people contact, due to a young population and a rising middle-class.Inviting investments, Modi told them that India's growth presents a win-win partnership for the country and the US, and American companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that. "Growth of India presents win-win partnership for India and US both. American companies have a great opportunity to contribute. If America becomes stronger, India will be a natural beneficiary," he said.Talking about GST, Modi said its implementation may well turn out to be "a subject of studies in US business schools." "The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools. This shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly," Modi said.The Prime Minister pointed out opportunities for tourism through developing hotels in "PPP (public private partnership) model" at 500 railway stations. Modi said his government has focused on improving the quality of life of the people, and added that working towards this end requires a global partnership. Therefore, he added, India is working on principles like 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance', efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.According to a tweet by Gopal Bagley, spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, Modi concluded the speech by stressing the importance of cooperation for start-ups, innovation, education and vocational training potential in India.PM Modi also gave a patient hearing to the wish-list of the business honchos. They reportedly lauded the Prime Minister's initiatives of demonetisation and digitisation of economy and the GST. The CEOs also expressed support for Make in India, Digital India, Start Up India and other flagship initiatives of the government.Several CEOs also reportedly showed willingness to be partners in skill development and education initiatives in India. They also mentioned social initiatives being undertaken by their companies in India in women empowerment, digital technology, education and food processing. Infrastructure, defence manufacturing and energy security also came up for discussion during the meeting.Pichai told reporters after the meeting that they were excited about investing in India. Praising the steps being taken by the Indian government in the last three years, he said the US companies are looking forward to the roll out of the GST. "Good," said Cook as he emerged out of the meeting.Among other CEOs present at the meeting were Shantanu Narayen from Adobe, David Farr from Emerson, Doug McMillon from Walmart, and Punit Renjen from Deloitte Global, Jim Umpleby from Caterpillar, Alex Gorsky from Johnson and Johnson, Jamie Dimon from J P Morgan Chase, and Marillyn Hewson from Lockheed Martin.
When Saroj, 20, and Rukhsaar, 18, returned home to their village, Marora, from computer classes in the nearby town Nuh, they were greeted by the most unusual sight of Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America, beaming at them from a massive board erected at entry of the village.On June 23, Sulabh International, a nonprofit group known for building toilets all over India, dedicated the three villages of the Marora gram panchayat, in Mewat, Haryana, to Trump; calling them Trump Sulabh Village.Sulabh has chosen Marora to construct toilets for 180 families and decided to give it Trumps name to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modis first official visit to the US after Trump became President in January this year.We had no idea this programme was going on, said Saroj, as she and Rukhsaar looked on, part amused, part excited at the swarm of reporters that had descended on Marora. We left at seven in the morning and these new boards were covered by a black cloth. We didnt know what they said.They came back to three boards at the villages very entry  a signpost, a poster bigger than a mans frame, and large square arch gateway signage  announcing the Trump Sulabh Village. In case anyone didnt get the message, a few more posters had been propped up around Marora, along with garlands decorating the freshly begun toilet constructions.On the day of the last jumma of Ramzan, when all of Marora had taken off from work  Mewat being populated largely by Meo Muslims  it was hijacked into shouting slogans for Trump. When Pathak Ji comes on stage, you all have to stand up and shout Trump Zindabad, one organiser instructed the crowd, while they waited for Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of Sulabh, to inaugurate the toilet construction. When the time came, no one really said zindabad despite the prompts, as no one really knew who Trump is.Woh America ka koi hai (He is someone from America), was the most common answer, along with sheepish grins, while many villagers asked the reporters if the white man on the poster was also coming to visit. Some, who had been told beforehand by the Sulabh organisers, went around correcting others  America ka rashtrapati (President of America). Since Sulbah selected Marora on June 18, according to the sarpanch, most people only found out about the toilets and the fanfare a day or two ago.We are not changing the official name of the village, said Madan Jha, the press advisor for Sulabh, We are just putting Trumps name along with it. Both he and Pathak spoke about another village in Haryana that had been given Boeings name, as the aerospace company had given money for Sulabh toilets. Here, however, Pathak dodged all questions of money coming from either Trump or the US Republican Party. When we met in America, they really liked our work, he said. But we cant go asking them for money before we do anything in Marora.Among the distributed pamphlets was one of the Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, dedicating a day to Pathak for his work.Despite the strange choice of erecting a paean to Trump in the most backward region of Haryana, Sulabh knows toilets are much needed commodity in Marora and its neighbouring villages. Many women expressed a desire to have them constructed in their homes. We have to go one or two kilometres a way right now, into the jungle, said Kashmiri, who sat watching the programme along with her daughters. This is a village of Kumhars and Faqirs, we are poor and we cant construct toilets on our own.Mian Ismail who was monitoring a group of children, recounted the villages history, most of the original inhabitants went to Pakistan during the Partition. People kept coming from different areas and settling here over the years. We are all labourers, we earn about Rs 200 a day. We have no land for agriculture, he said.All the land here is owned by two families, he added, and they have toilets in their homes.Toilets here may not require much behavioural change, as the school girls know how much they need them. Most of them left the closest senior secondary school in the neighbouring village of Malab because the toilets didnt work, and shifted to schools in the town of Nuh, some four kilometers away. It takes Rs 300 a month by auto to go to Nuh, said Jamsheeda, who studies in the IX standard, and many families dont want to send their daughters so far.Haryana is infamous for girls dropping out of senior schools because they are too far from villages, and girls routinely get harassed in commute.In fact, Saroj and Rukhsaar are the only two girls from Trump Village pursuing their bachelors in a local college, having somehow persuaded their father to allow them to study. We told abba that we would never do anything to disgrace him, that we will be good, said Rukhsaar, so that he would send us.Sabrun, who still goes to Malab, tells the story of a girl who dropped out from her school because, one day she ran out of class and wet her salwar, because she could no longer go without using the toilet. Some girls laugh, some look grim, but they all talk about how painful it can get to not urinate on time, and how often they fall sick. When it rains, snakes take over the entire area, added Warsheeda, then we go with a stick.Showkat Ali, the sarpanch, said the previous sarpanch took money from all families, two years ago, for toilets that were never made. Earlier this year, he added, the village got a proper water supply, and soon they would have toilets to go with it.While big ticket bilateral agreements worth billions of dollars will be on table when PM Modi and President Trump meet, this village is ready to change its name for something as basic as toilets.
: The People's Liberation Army on Monday accused the Indian Army of stopping the construction of a road in what it claims to be China's "sovereign territory" in the Sikkim section of the India-China border and said the move has "seriously damaged" border peace and tranquillity.In a statement, the Chinese defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said recently China had begun the construction of a road in DongLang region, but was stopped by Indian troops crossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC)."The China-India boundary in Sikkim has delineated by historical treaty. After the independence of India, the Indian government has repeatedly confirmed it in writing acknowledging that both sides have no objection to Sikkim border," the statement said."For China to build the road was completely an act of sovereignty on its own territory and the Indian side has no right to interfere," it said. Earlier, the Chinese side briefed the Indian side on this issue, it added."In this context, the Indian troops unilaterally provoked trouble which was in violation of the relevant agreement between the two sides and the mutual consensus of between the leaders of the two countries," it said."This seriously damaged peace and tranquility in the border areas. China is committed to developing bilateral relations with India, but also firmly defend its legitimate rights and interests," it said."We hope that the Indian side will meet China halfway, and do not take any actions to complicate the boundary problem, and jointly maintain momentum of good development of bilateral relations".Tension mounted in a remote area of Sikkim after a scuffle broke out between personnel of the Indian Army and the PLA, leading to Chinese troops damaging bunkers on the Indian side of the border.The incident happened in the first week of June near the Lalten post in the Doka La general area in Sikkim after a face-off between the two forces, which triggered tension along the Sino-Indian frontier, official sources in New Delhi said. After the scuffle, the PLA entered Indian territory and damaged two make-shift bunkers of the Army, the sources said.After the India-China war of 1962, the area has been under the Indian Army and the ITBP, which is the border guarding force and has a camp 15km from the international border. This is apparently the reason why China stopped a batch of 47 Indian pilgrims from crossing through Nathu La border in Sikkim into Tibet to visit Kailash and Manasarovar.Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the media here that the Foreign Ministries of both the countries were in touch over the entry of 47 Indian pilgrims blocked by China from entering Tibet at the Nathu La border in Sikkim."According to my information, the two governments are in touch over this issue," Geng told reporters, declining to elaborate whether it was due to any weather-related issues like landslides and rains.He said the issue was being discussed by the two foreign ministries. China last week refused entry to 47 Indian pilgrims who were scheduled to travel to Kailash Mansarovar through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim.The pilgrims were scheduled to cross over to the Chinese side on June 19 but had failed to do so due to inclement weather. They waited at the base camp and tried to cross again on June 23 but were denied permission by the Chinese officials.This is the second route agreed by the two counties for the Kailash yatra. Till 2015 the Yatra was being organised by External Affairs Ministry since 1981 only through Lipu Pass in the Himalayas connecting the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand in India with the old trading town of Taklakot in Tibet. The Nathulla route enabled pilgrims to travel 1500 km long route from Nathu La to Kailash by buses.
Mumbai: Former media executive Indrani Mukerjea was among 200-odd jail inmates booked for rioting, destruction of property and causing injury to prison staff in Mumbais Byculla jail.



The inmates were protesting against the death of a 45-year-old woman prisoner, Manjura Shetye, who was allegedly beaten to death last week.



Shetye died at the government-run JJ Hospital on Friday night after allegedly being beaten up by a woman prison official. Subsequently, six jail staffers were placed under suspension and on Sunday police registered a case under IPC section 302 (punishment for murder) against them.



Following Shetyes death, over 200 women inmates of the jail were up in arms since Saturday morning.



Some inmates on Saturday climbed atop the roof of the jail while newspapers were torched inside, a police official told PTI. The inmates alleged that Shetye was beaten up by a woman prison official. They wanted to present the issue before the media which is not permissible under prison rules, he said.



Indrani, who is lodged in the Byculla prison, is among the 200 inmates against whom a case was registered for rioting, unlawful assembly, assault on public servant and other relevant sections under the Indian Penal Code, a police official said on Monday.



The jail houses around 251 women prisoners.



Indrani, her husband and former media baron Peter Mukerjea and ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna have been accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora, whom she had passed off as her sister for several years. All the three accused are in judicial custody.



While Sheena was killed on April 24, 2012, the case came to light only in 2015 after Indranis driver Shyamwar Rai was arrested in an arms case.







(With PTI inputs)
.: Influential US lawmakers welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US and reiterated their commitment to strengthening the India-US ties."I welcome Indian PM Modi to the US. Strong US-India ties are in our long-term interest, but religious freedom must also remain a priority," Senator Marco Rubio tweeted."Glad to see Prime Minister #Modi visiting Washington to maintain strong ties between the US & #India," Congressman Frank Pallone, a former chairman of Congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans, said."I welcome Indias PM @narendramodi back to the US. I hope our friendship continues to grow," said Congressman Eliot Engel in a tweet."I welcome Indian PM @NarendraModi to the United States and reaffirm the unbreakable bonds between our two nations," Senator Kamala Harris said in a tweet earlier."Welcome back to DC, @narendramodi! Excited by opportunities for US & India to work together to achieve common goals. #ModiInUS," said Congressman Steny Hoyer, the Democratic Whip in the US House of Representatives.
Trump's Hands Are No Match For Emmanuel Macron's Shake https://t.co/x85wgGkaGM pic.twitter.com/ijWFnGgXp4  ShelbyLaneMD (@DoctorNTheHood) May 25, 2017

After the Awkward Hug, Holande turned back to escape Modi but... pic.twitter.com/VyIcjbnTqa  Joy (@Joydas) January 24, 2016

A firm handshake is a universal sign of strength and confidence. It is said that it began as a symbol of truce, to show your opponent that you are unarmed. But in the right hands, it can definitely be a weapon to send a message that you have the upper hand, both literally and figuratively.US President Donald Trump definitely thinks so. He has transformed the simple diplomatic greeting into an armed race. All his handshakes follow a template  a sort of grab, squeeze and yank move done to assert his dominance. The handshakes resemble more a round of arm wrestling, and world leaders across the world have felt it.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, is not far behind when it comes to power moves though. What he lacks in terms of a signature move, he makes up with sheer strength. UKs Prince William can testify to that.So when Modi meets Trump for their first one-on-one interaction in Washington on Monday, body language experts across the world will be watching closely. Maybe, Modi will completely turn the tables and pull out his classic hug, or he may go for a Namaste greeting.If Trumps last major interaction with a head of state is anything to go by, it is clear that Modi will come prepared. When Trump met French president Emmanuel Macron last month, Macron had wanted to establish himself as the alpha.He gripped Trumps hand so tightly, their knuckles turned white and the US President was forced to let go first. Macron had won the handshake battle. Trumps series of such encounters have given rise to thousands of memes, tweets and detailed assessments.It had all started with the 18-second handshake with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, as he continuously pumped, shook and patted his hand. While Abe was left visibly disconcerted, Trump thought that he had shown he was in charge.The next in line, Canadas Justin Trudeau, was quick to learn. He came armed. He was quick to grab Trumps arm in a pre-emptive move, neutralizing the yank move and fighting fire with fire in the ensuing squeezing duel.On the other hand, Modi too has had his fair shake of awkward physical contacts. He is known for his vigorous hugs and handshakes. A notable example was his meeting with Prince William in Hyderabad. The PMs iron grip had left a lasting imprint on the royals hand and a pained expression on his face.Modi's vice-like grip had left a lasting imprint on Prince William's hand.Social media users were quick to take notice and hilarity ensued. Another awkward encounter was with former French president Francois Hollande, as Modi was captured trying to move Hollande with his hands on his hips. Netizens wondered whether this was the way forward for two world leaders to meet.More strained moments have come in Modis meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Twice now, in 2015 and this year, Merkel has apparently snubbed Modis offer of a handshake. But it was only her wanting to shake hands in front of the flags of the two nations.So looking at the track record of the two leaders, the Modi-Trump meeting does promise at least some degree of awkwardness. Grab a popcorn and let the battle begin.
Mumbai: A group of farmers from Puntambe village, the epicentre of the recent agrarian protests in Maharashtra, on Monday expressed unhappiness over the loan waiver scheme announced by the state government.



The farmers want more benefits for those who regularly repay their crop loans.



A delegation of eight farmers from the village in Ahmednagar district today met NCP chief Sharad Pawar here in connection with their demands.



The farmers claimed that Pawar assured to look into their issues. The cultivators also said that they are planning to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday.



The BJP-led government had on Saturday unveiled a Rs 34,022 crore farm loan waiver scheme, under which debts of up to Rs 1.5 lakh would be written off, giving relief to some 89 lakh farmers.



However, the steering committee of farmer leaders yesterday rejected the mega loan waiver scheme, saying there should be no upper limit for the waiver.



Under the scheme, the farmers who regularly repay loan will get 25 per cent relief on paid amount, capped at Rs 25,000.



Abhay Chavan, a farmers' leader from Puntambe, said, "We regularly repay our crop loans. The government's loan waiver scheme helps us up to Rs 25,000 only whereas those who have outstanding loans up to Rs 1.50 lakh are going to benefit more."



"We think this is unfair to us as we repay crop loan from time to time," he said.



Dattatray Dhanwate, another member of the farmers' delegation, claimed that Pawar has "assured to look into the matter".



"We met Pawar because he understands our issues thoroughly. Our demand is that we should get benefit up to Rs 50,000 because many farmers would not benefit from the existing scheme.



"If a farmer gets Rs 25,000 return under the scheme, it is quite less," he said.



"Some senior farmers from Puntambe village are going to meet Fadnavis tomorrow regarding the same issue. Loan waiver scheme announced by the state government is not satisfactory," Dhanwate told reporters after their meeting with Pawar at Y B Chavan centre near the state Secretariat.



Asked about the reasons behind their dissatisfaction, Chavan said, "Most of us grow grapes, sugarcane and soyabean.



Our crop loan limit is also quite high as compared to farmers growing food grains.



"Hence, when our loan turns bad, its amount is much more than that of farmers growing cereals and pulses. We are not going to benefit much from such loan waiver schemes," he claimed.



On the legal cases filed against the cultivators, Amol Teke, who was a part of the farmers' delegation, said, "The state government should withdraw all cases against the farmers without any condition."



Early this month, several parts of Maharashtra witnessed large scale protests by farmers over their demands for a loan waiver and remunerative price for their produce, among others.



The protests started from Puntambe and then spread to other places in the state.
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a joint statement at the White House after the end of their one-on-one meeting and the delegation-level talks between the two sides. Trumps address was mostly on trade and on fighting terror, he said he will destroy radical Islamic terror. PM Modi too said fighting terror is the main priority.

As it happened.

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New Delhi: Indian and American officials are confident that the first bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday will take India-US ties to the next level.



"We really think that this visit will leverage the relationship to a higher level," Indian Ambassador to the US, Navtej Sarna, told PTI.



Modi and Trump, who have earlier spoken three times over phone, would be together spending several hours at the White House, beginning a one-to-one meeting, followed by a delegation level talk, a cocktail reception and a working dinner, the first for a foreign leader inside the White House under the Trump administration.



"It would be historic, never seen before," a mid-level American source familiar with the preparations told PTI.



The two leaders are expected to discuss a wide range of issues during their White House interaction, including trade and counter-terror cooperation.



Here are the key talking points:



Terrorism

Regional security and Indias concerns over safe havens for terrorist groups in neighbouring Pakistan are likely to come up during discussions. Days before the meeting, a Reuters report said the Trump administration is seen hardening its approach on Pakistan. It said potential responses being discussed included expanding US drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally.



Drone Deal and Defence

Ahead of Modis visit, the US cleared the sale of 22 predator Guardian drones to India, a force multiplier that will boost the Indian Navy's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. The deal, which is subject to congressional approval, is estimated to be worth $2 to 3 billion. India does not have a formal alliance with the US, but defence ties have intensified in recent years with joint drills between the two militaries and defence sales. India, which has traditionally bought most of its defence equipment from Russia, is looking to upgrade its capabilities. Since 2008, India has signed more than $15 billion in US defence contracts, including for C-130J and C-17 transport aircraft, P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, Harpoon missiles and Apache and Chinook helicopters.



Climate Change

Differences have cropped up recently between the US and India with President Donald Trumps decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord and his accusation that India sought to profit from the agreement. Trumps stand on climate change has also put space scientists in both countries on tenterhooks as the worlds most expensive earth-imaging satellite, jointly made by the NASA and the ISRO, is at stake. Can a middle ground be found or can the jointly-made satellite escape President Trump's anti-climate change gaze?



H-1B Visa

The Indian IT industry has been jolted by Trumps proposed overhaul of H-1B visas, used by thousands of Indian software engineers to work in the United States. The issue was expected to have been discussed at Modis interaction with CEOs of top American companies, including Google and Apple. US-India Business Council (USIBC) president Mukesh Aghi, who was present at the meet, however, said it was not discussed. The H-1B visa issue is also not on agenda when Modi meets Trump but the Trump administration has said that if the Indian side raised the contentious visa issue, the Americans were ready to respond.



China and NSG

So far in his presidency, Donald Trump has focused on outreach to China, India's strategic rival, as he looks to Beijing to rein in North Korea. But Washington and New Delhi share concerns about China's rise as a military power. Beijing was also the object of Trumps ire when he pulled out of the Paris accord. The Indian delegation is also expected to garner support for New Delhis entry into the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group which Beijing opposes.
It is a sombre Eid in Haryanas Ballabhgarh, the home of 17-year-old Junaid who was stabbed to death by a mob onboard a train three days before the festival.Junaids family, friends and other residents of his neighbourhood are sitting in protest with black bands around their arms. We offered namaaz, but we wont celebrate the festival. We want those responsible for our sons death to be punished, says Junaids father.He is surrounded by others wearing similar black bands and sitting in protest.Junaids brother Shakir, who was also injured in the attack, at first refuses to speak about his brother, wiping away his tears. Encouraged by those around to speak up, Shakir recounts the horror his family went through on June 23.Shakir, Junaid and their two brothers were returning home on the Delhi-Mathura passenger express after shopping for Eid. Some men boarded the train in Okhla. They looked hefty. One of them saw our skull caps and started abusing us. They called us Pakistanis, asked us to go back to Pakistan. They alleged that we were carrying beef. We tried to reason with them but they attacked us and threw away our skull caps. They stabbed my brother Junaid with a long knife.There was no seat-sharing issue. My son Junaid had even offered his seat to an elderly man. My son was killed over his religious identity, says Junaids father.Asked if someone from the Haryana government had got in touch with the family, he said, No one from the government has contacted us so far. We want justice.One person has been arrested in the case so far.
India has succeeded in telling the world about the need to uproot the menace of terrorism and the surgical strikes conducted across the LoC prove that the country can defend itself when needed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a reception by the Indian-American community in Virginia on Sunday."When India talked of terrorism 20 years ago, many in the world said it was a law and order problem and didn't understand it. Now terrorists have explained terrorism to them, so we don't have to," Modi said at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia."When India conducted surgical strikes the world experienced our power and realised that India practises restraint but can show power when needed," the Prime Minister said as he highlighted the achievements of his government in the last three years.India conducted surgical strikes on terror pads across the LoC on September 29 last year after the Uri attack. Modi said India has been a victim of terrorism, but "the world did not and cannot stop us. We have succeeded in conveying to the world the deleterious effects of terrorism on India."In an apparent dig at China, Modi said that India believed in following the world order. India, he said, does not believe in achieving its goals by not following the global rules.Modi said India has always followed the path of development within the confines of the global order and rule of law."This is Indias tradition and culture," he noted, apparently referring to China's assertiveness in the South China Sea.Modi also promised to the Indian American community that he will fulfil their dreams of India's development. Modi said he is relentlessly working to fast-track India's development wherein there is no scope for corrupt and dishonest.He said Indians hate corruption and that his government is determined to address this challenge of corruption. The Prime Minister said that there has not been a single allegation of corruption against his government in the last three years.Modi said with the help of technology his government has been developing a system where honesty is the common practice."The results are there for all to see," he said. Noting that infrastructure is essential for sustainable development, Modi said the focus of his government is on global benchmark, setting high standards of development.Modi also praised the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Sushma Swaraj for giving a human face to diplomacy and effective use of social media in good governance."MEA is one ministry of the government which has demonstrated through the use of social media, for the first time, that it cares for poorest of Indians," he said.The Prime Minister assured the Indian-Americans that if they have a problem, the Indian Embassy will always find a solution.(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: The HRD ministry has appointed a nine-member panel, headed by space scientist K Kasturirangan, to work on a New Education Policy (NEP).



Padma Vibhushan Kasturirangan headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1994 to 2003 and was the chairman of Karnataka Knowledge Commission.



He is a former member of the Rajya Sabha (200309) and a former member of the now defunct Planning Commission of India. He was also the Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore from April 2004 to 2009. He is a recipient of the three major civilian awards from the Government of India: Padma Shri (1982), Padma Bhushan (1992) and Padma Vibhushan (2000).



The other members of the committee are:



Dr Vasudha Kamat, a prominent academician from the field of education technology, who contributed extensively towards school education. She was also Vice-Chancellor of SNDT University Mumbai.



Former IAS officer KJ Alphons, who was instrumental in achieving 100 % literacy rate in Kottayam and Ernakulam districts of Kerala.



Dr Manjul Bhargava, a Professor of Mathematics in Princeton University. He was awarded Fields Medal in Mathematics at a quite young age for his contributions to Gauss Number Theory.



Dr Ram Shankar Kureel, Vice-Chancellor of Baba Saheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, who has published various national and international papers on inclusion of the marginalised in mainstream education and development.



Dr TV Kattimani, Vice-Chancellor of Tribal University, Amarkantak. He is from the field of language education and mass communication.



Krishna Mohan Tripathy has vast experience of implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and was also the Chairperson of Uttar Pradesh High School and Intermediate Examination Board.



Dr Mazhar Asif, a Professor of Persian in Gauhati University. Under his research mentorship first Persian-Assamese-English dictionary was compiled.



Dr MK Shridhar is a former Member Secretary of Karnataka Innovation Council and Karnataka Knowledge Commission. A Divyang scholar he is member of CABE also.



There is a stark difference between the committee formed earlier under the chairmanship of bureaucrat TSR Subramanian and the one formed now. This time it is headed by an academic and also has names of academia.



The RSS affiliated education wing, Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, has expressed the need to have an academic as the head of the New Education Policy (NEP) and not a bureaucrat.



The council will start its work with immediate effect. In an exhaustive democratic exercise carried for last 30 months the HRD ministry has received thousands of suggestions from educationists, teachers, experts, students and other stakeholders from across the country.



Consultations were held at tehsil, district and state level. Regional conferences were organised where state governments gave their opinion. Rajya Sabha debated on the issue and a special education dialogue was organised in which 48 MPs from all parties participated. Many MPs have given their views in writing. On MyGov platform 26, 000 people gave their views online. TSR Subramaniam committee has submitted detailed input. All these suggestions and inputs will be considered by the committee.
Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress MLA in North Dinajpurs Chopra Block on Monday claimed those who were lynched on June 22 were involved in stealing cows and blamed the local police for the deteriorating law and order situation in the area.



On June 22, three people were lynched after they were allegedly caught stealing cows from a house.



Speaking to News18, Chopra MLA Hamidul Rahaman said, We enquired about the matter and found that they (the three men) actually went to steal cows. But I condemn the killings and we will not tolerate if someone will take law in their hand.



In the last few months, seven incidents cow theft have been reported in the area. Several complaints were lodged with the police but they didnt even bother to investigate. The villagers were angry and on June 22 they lost their patience and caught these youths when they were stealing cows. I will blame the police for not taking any steps to prevent cow theft.



North Dinajpurs Chopra Block is nearly 451km from Kolkata and close to Bangladesh border.



Meanwhile, the family members of the lynching victims demanded an inquiry into the matter for justice.



Speaking to News18 over telephone Abdul, brother of one the victims Mohammad Samiruddin, said, He (Samiruddin) was a driver by profession and sometimes he used to work as a construction labourer. On June 22, he got a call in the evening and he left in his van. Next morning we got the news that he was killed



It is a conspiracy against us. My brother was killed without any charges. We want the state government to intervene. Today people are celebrating Eid but we are in a state of shock.



Marjina, wife of one of the deceasedNasirul Haque, said, We are in a state of shock. I dont know where to go now as he was the only earning member of my family.



Meanwhile, RSS affiliate Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) will launch a campaign in bordering areas in Bengal to prevent cattle smuggling.



The incident in North Dinajpur is highly condemnable but there should be some initiative to check cattle smuggling. From Tuesday we will launch a campaign to curb cattle smmugling  MRM convener in Bengal, Enamul Haque, said.
Hyderabad: Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu termed 'Emergency' as the "darkest chapter" in India's democratic history which could not be forgotten. Speaking at a function organised to mark the 42nd anniversary of imposing of Emergency, he stressed the need for dedicating a chapter on it in the school curriculum.



"The Emergency, a historical scar in the minds of one generation, is treated as a curiosity today. It is hardly remembered by younger generations and a few of them can recite the trauma and torture stories of that era. Though four decades have passed, Emergency should not be forgotten and forgiven," said the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister.



"I feel there should be a chapter on Emergency in our school curriculum to make the younger generation know about the murder of democracy and how it was restored. This is quite essential I feel," he said, adding the Indian Council of Historical Research should bring a volume on the same and it should be made part of the curriculum.



The event to mark the 42nd anniversary of imposing of Emergency was organised by BJP's Telangana unit, reported PTI.



He said the younger generation must know what was Emergency, why it was imposed, its effect and how it was lifted.



"This function is organised to recall those memories. What happened in 1975...What is Emergency...The younger generation should know why Emergency was imposed, how it was misused and who is responsible for it. Emergency was one of the darkest periods in India and could not be forgotten...Every youngster should be made aware of the importance of 'eternal vigilance' to safeguard and preserve democracy in the country," added Venkaiah.



He also said during Emergency, the role of media was less than inspiring.



"Except for Ramnath Goenka's Indian Express, C R Irani's Statesman and Nikhil Chakrabarty's Mainstream, hardly any newspaper stood up against the Emergency. Similarly, the judiciary also failed to come to the aid of common man. Unfortunately, the role played by intellectuals was also very shameful and many of them could not condemn Emergency".



He further said it was time for the media and social scientists to re-tell the Emergency story.



Venkaiah said every step taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to strengthen democracy and India.



Meanwhile, on NDA picking Ram Nath Kovind as its presidential nominee, the BJP leader said, "It was due to his calibre, contribution and conduct that he was made the candidate. We do not attack other candidates. We do not play caste politics...They (opposition) play...We do not play communal politics...They do...We do not play family politics."



He reiterated that there was absolute freedom of press in the country and the government is committed to the same, but in the name of freedom of press, one cannot escape from other crimes and faults.



"Freedom of press is to express and write and not to suppress the truth. We have to understand that.. One of the channels was given notice by the Congress government because of some financial irregularities and now they are portraying as if there is an assault on media and there is nation-wide campaign," Naidu said.



"Time has come to stop pseudo secularism. Hindu bashing has become a fashion...Hindu bashing cannot be called as secular. Secularism is respecting everyone. The country has to be alert about these people and forces," he added.



Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar claimed that in 1975, then prime minister Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency for "her selfishness and only to retain power".



"It was second round of fight for independence between 1975 and 1977. Till Congress is there in this country and even today they have Emergency mindset...We need to remember Emergency till the country becomes 'Congress Mukt Bharat'," Javadekar said.



Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya was also present at the function.



(With PTI inputs)
It was a bright day in October and farmers had been agitating for the past one month, demanding more water for their fields. There was tension in the air after a police lathi charge the previous day, which felled more than a hundred farmers. The cops opened fire after angry protesters had burned a few shops. Seven farmers died.



No, this is not Mandsaur 2017, but Sri Ganganagar in 2004.



Raju Jat was one of the agitating farmers in the northernmost district of Rajasthan, a fertile tract watered by the Indira Gandhi canal. He was hit by a bullet, but survived.



When I was shot, I felt the pain in my body, but when I heard of Mandsaur, I felt the pain in my heart, said Jat, who is referred to as Zinda Shaheed in his community. The issues may be different, but the end is the same. If we raise our voices, we are killed by bullets.



The return of farmers politics after nearly three decades is being noted by national commentators. Peasants in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have taken to the streets to highlight farm distress caused by unremunerative prices for farm products. Police firing in Mandsaur caused the death of five farmers.



An across the board deflation of agro-commodities has resulted in farm produce selling for less than the cost of production. The gap in earnings has pushed farmers to borrow money, pushing them into a cycle where the debt cannot be serviced. The resulting farm distress is causing peasant unrest, which in some cases is being quelled with a heavy hand by the state.



When Raju and the farmers of Sri Ganganagar heard about the Mandsaur firing on June 6, they organized commemoration meetings. The issues faced by both sets of farmers are different manifestations of the same farm distress.



On 27 October, 2004 the bullet hit Raju in the stomach and exited through the back, missing the spinal cord. He was rushed to a hospital in Bikaner where he took two months to recuperate. The doctors operated upon his stomach and intestines and he still has scars in his midsection.



The issue that the Ganganagar farmers were agitating about was the lack of water in the Indira Gandhi canal. One of the largest irrigation projects in India, the IG canal waters Punjab, Haryana and Northern Rajasthan. In Rajasthan it runs through Barmer, Bikaner, Churu, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Sriganganagar.



In 2004, after years of declining water, farmers in Ganganagar decided to embark on an organized protest. They wanted more water for their fields and they wanted Vasundhara Rajes government to do something about it.



Water is a critical input, especially in the fertile northern regions of Rajasthan where water-intensive crops like sugarcane, tangerines etc are grown. Only one third of farmland in India is irrigated and even this is facing stress as water flows decrease.



Declining water is just one manifestation of rural distress. Lack of water decreases yields and agricultural productivity. What the Ganganagar farmers didnt face in 2004 was debt and declining prices for their products.



Today, farmers across India are facing a deflation of agro-commodities and market prices that dont cover the cost of production. The MSP is not enforced and the government does not procure their products, the farmers allege.



No party in India really cares for farmers, although most say they will make our lives better, its just an electoral gimmick, Raju told News18. He says that the government should subsidize farmers by covering the cost of production and giving a 50% profit over that, as recommended by the Swaminathan Committee.



Social unrest is bound to get worse if the government does not address rural distress. There will be more militant struggles in Rajasthan if they dont do anything, warns the Zinda Shaheed.
We have often heard people say 'Travel is Life'. Well, if there is anything that can give you an adrenaline rush, it is travel. Yes, it sometimes is the only answer to the problems in our life. You can take your mind off routine activities and can embrace the life-changing journey. Not only can you bask in the beauty of the places, but get to know that part of yourself that is still unknown. You not only explore the destination, but you explore yourself too!Bollywood imparts this message in the most eye-catchy manner possible by weaving amazing stories, places and experiences together. So, let us go on a trip with these movies as we read about how journeys can turn into life-changing experiences.Dilwale Dulhania Le JayengeDilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge came out as one of the initial travel-based movies. The idea of going across Europe with your 'Girls Gang' sounded amazing. The trip changed 'Simran's (Kajol) and 'Raj's (Shahrukh Khan) lives as they fell for each other amidst the beautiful landscapes of Europe. They started the trend of 'Love in Mustard Fields'. There's no denying the fact that whenever we see such fields, we picture Shahrukh Khan singing 'Tujhe dekha toh ye jaana sanam'. So, plan a trip with your college friends and who knows you might find your 'Raj' or 'Simran' over the journey in buses, trains or at your similar destinations.Anjaana AnjaaniThe movie, Anjaana Anjaani is about two different individuals, Ranbir Kapoor aka Anjaana and Priyanka Chopra aka Anjaani, who are so fed up of their lives that they wish to end it. Co-incidentally, they meet while serving the same purpose i.e. committing suicide. But destiny takes them to doing things before they die. That is when they decide to go on a road trip from New York to Las Vegas, which changes their lives forever. On the bridge between life and death, they fuel up their tanks to live one hell of a trip. Their epic journey will definitely poke the traveller that resides in each of us!HighwayHighway, as the name suggests will literally take you to the roads and let you experience what we miss out while sitting inside our houses. Same is the story of Veera, a young bride-to-be who is abducted by a common goon, Mahabir and his men a day prior to her wedding. Far from being terrified of her abductor, Veera discovers an adventurous and liberating life. The journey through the remote Sangla Valley in Himachal Pradesh and over to the Aru Valley and Chandanwari near Pahalgam let 'Veera' see the beautiful world that has been kept from her all her life. We see road highways of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab in their raw forms as 'Veera' tastes the feeling of freedom. She experiences true happiness when she feels the strong breeze on her face, when she drinks water from the hand pump or when she runs in the villages. It is magical how she found herself in a place where she was lost rather kidnapped. Some journeys can teach you a lot in life, so leave behind your worries and sorrows and head for an amazing adventure.Yeh Jawani Hai DeewaniYeh Jawani Hai Deewani shows how 'Naina' (Deepika Padukone) realised the meaning of living and loving. From being a submissive studious girl, she turns into a fun-loving girl who experienced a different air around her- the air of love. Her trip to Manali with friends changes her forever. She is ready to take risks, she is ready to confess her love to 'Bunny' (Ranbir Kapoor). 'Bunny' is shown as a travel freak who maintains a travel diary showing how passionate he is about discovering different places across the world. From the snow-capped Himalayas to the picturesque alleys of Europe to the lavish palaces of Udaipur, the movie can motivate anyone to only call up mates, make a memorable trip to the hill stations and shed nostalgic tears of happiness. Later in the movie, we experience, we bask in the 'Royalty of Rajasthan'. The movie not only unveiled the spectacular Himalayan landscapes but also inspired many folks to grab their backpacks and venture out on daunting treks.Bajrangi BhaijaanBajrangi Bhaijaan craftily tells the story of 'Bajrangi' (Salman Khan) who sets on a journey from Delhi to a village in Pakistan to drop a mute girl, 'Munni'. This journey was not like other road trips that we go out for, with our friends or family. This difficult journey served instrumental in bringing India and Pakistan closer. It gave an insiders perspective of Pakistan along with showing us the beauty of the nation. It proved to be life-changing as 'Bajrangi' felt a series of emotions whilst the journey. After 'Bajrangi' was successful in completing his duty after risking his life, our hearts rejoiced and eyes were wet with happiness.PikuEnjoying the cute-nuances of a Father-Daughter bond, Piku is about a road trip that starts from the drive on the Yamuna Expressway to the halt at Varanasi and then finally the streets of Kolkata reflect rich cultural aspects of India. Such eye-pleasing sights with a collection of the best travel songs, Piku is sure to leave you curious and pumped up for your next trip. The beautiful way in which Kolkata is depicted in the movie when 'Bhashkor' (Amitabh Bachhan) explores it on a bicycle will make you want to visit the City of Joy as soon as possible.TamashaMost of you must have heard about or read the legendary- Asterix in Corsica. Tamasha, filmed across Corsica, itself follows a comic book style which will make you fall in love with this French island. A love story set in the perfect frames looked like a picture-post-card display in such beautiful settings. It is the land of disguise, where the only person you will know about is yourself which makes it even more exciting. It shows the journey of two Indians who meet in Corsica for the first time and live life like they are characters of some fantastical story. Embedded with love, comedy and emotional drama, Tamasha gives us another destination to tick off our lists.Jab We Met'Aao milon chalen jaana kaha na ho pata', we often listen to this ultimate road-trip song originating from the masterpiece, Jab We Met while travelling. This movie sure evokes the travelling kid inside all of us. Shot across North India, the movie lets us cherish 'Ratlam Ki Galiyan', 'Bhatinda ke khet' and 'Manali ka Pyaar'. The life-changing trip, lets 'Geet' (Kareena Kapoor) decide what she actually wanted in life. The trip defined for her the true meaning of loving someone. She could feel it when she realised that she was about to lose her love, it was like running behind the train but being unable to catch it. The comparison between losing a train and losing a beloved in life clearly talks about the importance of timely decisions in life. One correct train and journey can change your life. Go ahead and book yours, you never know what it has in 'berth' for you.Zindagi Na Milegi DobaraThe story of three friends taking off on a road trip across Spain in itself elicits excitement. To top it off, the beautifully captured experiences of scuba diving, sky diving, La Tomatina festival, and the Pamplona bull run awaken the travel bug. In the movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, the three friends look forward to this trip because they wanted to change something important in their lives. They werent living their lives to the fullest and needed to know themselves better in order to correct that. The trip followed a drill, wherein the three of them decided on an adventure sport. This way, they were unknowingly fighting their coward selves who were too afraid to take risks in life. They learned to be 'fully alive' when all they had to lose were their lives. That is when they started following their hearts. That's the thing about certain places or journeys, they make you discover your own self when you seem lost. And of course, after watching the film - a bachelor's party is just not enough. Step out and hit the roads, friends!
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday said the Army should be given full freedom to deal with the situation prevailing in Kashmir.



Mulayam, who visited the Aishbagh Eidgah only after his son and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had left the place, was speaking to reporters.



"The Army should be given permission to deal with the situation there and maintain peace and at the same time deal with separatists strictly," the former defence minister said.



Kashmir Valley has witnessed a spurt in attacks by militants and protests by civilians against security forces. On the Presidential polls, Mulayam said, "I do not want to say anything about it right now."



Relations between Mulayam and Akhilesh have been strained after the latter took over reigns of the party. Governor Ram Naik and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma also visited the eidgah and extended greetings to Muslims on the occasion of Eid.



"On one side their is Eidgah and on the other Ram lila is played (in Aishbagh). This is an area of Ali and Bajrangbali and when both unite it gives strength to democracy," Sharma said.
New Delhi: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasts about his governments "blot-free" three years abroad, he should also tell the people about scams like Vyapam in BJP-ruled states and how Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya fled India, the Congress said on Monday.



The party took potshots at Modi, who at present is in the US for his first bilateral summit with President Donald Trump, for criticising the opposition on foreign soil and addressing public meetings like political rallies.



PM Modi, while addressing a gathering of Indian-American community members at a reception in Virginia, said there has been "not even one taint or blot" on his government in the past three years and remarked that "corruption" was the main reason why governments in India were voted out in the past.



The Congress sought to know if the prime minister would raise with Trump the issues of H-1B visa, Indias membership to Nuclear Suppliers Group, racial attacks on Indians in the US and Americas financial support to Pakistan, which it was using against India for aiding terrorism.



"Prime Minister Modi is on his 64th foreign travel. Unfortunately, abusing the opposition has become the foreign policy (of the government), diverting from issues the strategy and working with rhetorics their tactics while claiming credit for Congress-started works their politics," AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.



He said the claim of neem-coated urea that Modi has raised was an experiment started by the Congress in 2011, while the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme was launched in 2013 by the UPA government.



"Modiji you are the countrys prime minister and not of the BJP or the RSS. The issue is criticising the opposition has become the prime ministers DNA. But the country wants to talk about the nations interest and issues linked with the people of the country," he said.



Surjewala said when Modi mentions about "no scams" in his government, he should also tell the Indians living abroad about how all agencies which have been "caged by you" and "are misused against your opponents - be it political or even the media".



"When he (Modi) talks of corruption, he should also mention about the Vyapam scam in which many innocent people lost their lives and should have mentioned the GSPC scam in Gujarat, the PDS scam in Chhattisgarh and the mine scam in Rajasthan.



"He (Modi) should have also mentioned about the Sahara dairies in which his own name figures. He should have also talked about the land scam by Anar Patel in Gujarat and should have talked about who allowed Lalit Modi and Vijaya Mallya to flee the country," Surjewala said.



Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and businessman Vijay Mallya are both accused of corruption and believed to be staying in Engalnd.



The Congress leader asked the prime minister to raise the issue of H-1B visa with the US President as also Indias membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which is being blocked by China.



"Will Modiji raise with the US President the issue of American aid of USD 743 million aid to Pakistan which has been increased and is used against India after diversion?



"Will Modiji raise the issue of Indias concerns over Climate Change deal? Will he show the courage to ask these questions to the US President? Will he ask the US President why F-16 technology transfer is not being made and stopped from being transferred," he wondered.



Surjewala also asked whether Modi will ask Trump about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and help it get stopped.
: Bihar's deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Monday sacked Rashtriya Janata Dal's spokesperson Ashok Kumar Sinha for speaking out against the party's ruling coalition partner Janata Dal (United) and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, in an attempt to stop the rift from escalating further.Yadav summoned party leaders to the house of his father, Lalu Prasad, and issued a stern warning over making any comments against Nitish Kumar or any speculation regarding the future of the Mahagathbandhan.He made it clear that only RJD president Lalu Prasad is authorised to speak about the coalition.Tejashwi's decision comes in the backdrop of statements and counter statements being made by RJD and JD(U) leaders in the wake of the two parties deciding to back different candidates in the presidential election, 2017.While Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced that his party will support NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, RJD is backing the Opposition nominee Meira Kumar.Nitish's decision to go with the BJP has threatened continuation of alliance in the state as Lalu termed his decision as a "historical mistake".The Grand Alliance, or Mahagathbandhan, plunged into crisis when Nitish Kumar himself rejected Lalu's plea and reiterated he would not reverse his decision to support Kovind.Nitish rebuked Congress and RJD for fielding Meira Kuamr in the name of a Dalit candidate from Bihar saying despite knowing the end result they pitted her to ensure defeat.JD(U)'s leaders, including general secretary KC Tyagi and state party president Vashishtha Narayan Singh, had warned that they would break the alliance if RJD does not make amends.Tejashwi, on Sunday, had assured that the alliance remains rock solid and urged leaders from both parties to maintain restraint. "Leaders and workers of Grand Alliance should maintain restraint while making any statement," he had said.
The use of smartphones for photography is fast growing with many social media platforms encouraging users to click and share good pictures on the go. Not many influencers on such platforms are now dependent on professional photography equipment to maintain and up their following.Now the thing to keep in mind is that not every smartphone offers the same level of optical capabilities. As you look to improve your picture qualities and hence your photography level, you might need additional features than what a regular smartphone camera can offer. One such feature recently brought into high-end smartphones is the Dual Camera setup that enables you to click a picture with Bokeh effect, thus adding depth to the pictures you click.Here, we bring you the top 3 smartphones with a dual camera setup that will help you increase your photography offering to your followers by clicking better, more in-depth pictures.Known largely for its Dual-Camera setup, the current Apple flagship smartphone stepped up the level of photography that smartphones offer. The dual cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus were one of the differentiating factors of the smartphone and were largely responsible for its success globally.Getting into the technicality of it, the Apple iPhone 7 Plus camera uses a regular 12-megapixel sensor coupled with a 12-megapixel telephoto sensor. As per our review of the camera, the combination enables it to zoom into the picture up to 2X without losing the details on the image. Go any further and the image would start becoming grainy.The bokeh effect offered by the smartphone is undoubtedly a step ahead in smartphone photography and the final images are commendable. The depth that the camera adds to a regular image brings out the object in focus and blurs out everything in the background, thus providing a clearer look at the protagonist of the image.The Honor 8 was launched in the Indian market with a USP of a dual camera setup and that too, in a budget, as compared to the Apple iPhone 7 Plus. Like its comparative, the Huawei P9, Honor 8 misses out on a Leica lens and yet manages to be among the list of smartphones with the best cameras around.Honor 8 carries two 12-megapixel sensors, one regular RGB and the other one being a monochrome sensor. The sensors come with a laser auto-focus and 1.76-micron pixel size. Considering that the price point of the smartphone is under Rs 30,000, Honor 8 is arguably the best smartphone camera in its budget, thanks to its dual-camera setup.OnePlus tried to improve on the photography score of its smartphones with its latest flagship, the OnePlus 5. By bringing in the dual-camera setup, it has managed to do that, up to a level.OnePlus 5 comes with a 16-megapixel Sony IMX 298 sensor (f/1.7) which is coupled with a 20-megapixel IMX 350 sensor with f/2.6 aperture. All these camera specifications enable the OnePlus 5 to shoot 4k videos at 30 fps, 1080p videos at 60fps and 30fps. The smartphone can also capture slow-motion videos at 720p/ 120fps and comes with capabilities to shoot time-lapse videos.Now the fact of the matter is, OnePlus has certainly improved on its existing camera quality on the OnePlus 3T and the OnePlus 3 but is still to match the quality offered by the other two smartphones on the list. It takes a bit of an effort to click the perfect snaps using the OnePlus 5s dual cameras and that is not something every photographer would want. Still, once you are able to find the sweet spot, OnePlus 5 certainly delivers great image quality through its dual-camera setup.
Washington: President Donald Trump on Monday stepped up his criticism of Barack Obama's response to concerns Russia was trying to disrupt the 2016 election, and some Democratic lawmakers agreed, with one calling the former leader's handling of the threat a "serious mistake."



In a flurry of weekend tweets and a prerecorded television appearance, Trump said his predecessor failed to act after the CIA informed him in August that Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally ordered an operation to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the November election.



"Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action?" he asked in one tweet.



In another, alluding to a Washington Post article that laid out the Russia timeline, he tweeted: "Obama Administration official said they 'choked' when it came to acting on Russian meddling of election. They didn't want to hurt Hillary?"



A top Trump aide, Kellyanne Conway, was more blunt still. "It's the Obama administration responsible for doing absolutely nothing from August to January with the knowledge that Russia was hacking into our election. They did nothing.



They're responsible," she said today on ABC. Some Democrats saw abundant irony in Trump blaming Obama for indecisiveness against a Russian operation that Trump himself has long seemed to play down -- including when he fired FBI chief James Comey for pursuing his investigation of "this Russia thing."



But one influential Democratic lawmaker joined in the criticism of the previous president. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN that he understood that the Obama administration was worried about being seen as "trying to tip the scales for Hillary Clinton."



But he went on: "The American people needed to know. I didn't think it was enough to tell them after the election... I think the administration needed to call out Russia earlier, needed to act to deter and punish Russia earlier and that was a very serious mistake."



Another Democrat, Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the intelligence committee, expressed similar disappointment.



"I am troubled learning this new information that the Obama administration didn't do more," he told CNN on Friday. Such matters should transcend politics, he added.



The Washington Post, in a behind-the-scenes account of the Obama response to reports of Russian meddling, said that amid confidence that Clinton would win and for fear of Obama being seen as interfering, the administration warned Moscow but left countermeasures for later.



The Post said Obama issued four warnings to the Russians including one he delivered directly to Putin  causing Moscow to pull back on possible plans to sabotage US voting operations.



But after Trump's shock victory in November, some Obama administration officials expressed regret at the lack of tougher action.



"Wow, did we mishandle this," a former administration official told the newspaper. In an interview with Sunday's "Fox and Friends" program, Trump groused about Obama's response, saying: "If he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? He should have done something about it. But you don't read that. It's

quite sad."



Following Trump's election win, Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats and added new sanctions. While Schiff criticized Obama, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer pushed back hard.



The New York lawmaker helped steer a bill through the Senate this month to toughen sanctions against Russia and bar Trump from weakening them on his own.



The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, but Trump administration officials have been working to weaken the House version.



"If Donald Trump wants to do something about Russia and Russia meddling, instead of saying Obama didn't do enough, support our sanctions bill," Schumer said on ABC.



Criticism of Trump's failure to sharply condemn Russian interference has continued to vex his administration.



As recently as Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer could not give a clear answer when asked repeatedly whether Trump believes the Russians interfered in the 2016 elections.



"I have not sat down and talked to him about that specific thing," Spicer said. "Obviously we've been dealing with a lot of other issues."
Hong Kong: Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters today draped a black flag over a statue symbolizing the city's return to China by Britain, days before a visit by President Xi Jinping to mark 20 years since the handover.



High-profile student campaigner Joshua Wong and a dozen demonstrators attached the black cloth to the giant golden bauhinia flower on Hong Kong's harbor front in an early morning protest as security tried to stop them climbing on the famous tourist attraction.



The sculpture of the bauhinia, which became the emblem of Hong Kong after the handover, was a present to the city from China in 1997 and stands outside the convention centre where Xi will attend anniversary events during a three-day visit starting Thursday.



Police were called to take the flag down while the protesters chanted "democratic self-determination for Hong Kong's future" and "one country, two systems has been a lie for 20 years", referring to Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status.



A guard shouted at them: "You are insulting our country! You are Chinese!"



The "one country, two systems" deal made when Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 allows the city rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech.



But there are increasing concerns Beijing is trampling the agreement by interfering in a range of areas, from politics to education and media.



Campaigners like Wong are calling for democratic reforms, promised in the handover deal, to change a system where the city leader is still chosen by a pro-China committee and the legislature is weighted towards Beijing.



Wong led mass Umbrella Movement rallies calling for fully free leadership elections in 2014, but they failed to win concessions.



Since then calls for self-determination or even full independence from China have emerged for the first time. Wong's party Demosisto wants a public referendum on Hong Kong's future in 2047, the year the handover agreement guaranteeing the city's way of life and liberties expires.



"The protest action aims to express our anger and disappointment against the administration for the major political blunders since 1997," Demosisto said in a statement. It accused China of failing to honour promises made in the handover agreement, "depriving Hong Kong people of civil and political rights to free elections and democracy".



Xi's visit will be his first since becoming president in 2013 and will culminate with the inauguration of Hong Kong's new leader, Carrie Lam, on Saturday. Protesters say they are preparing to gather during the handover celebrations and Xi's visit will be shrouded in a huge security operation.
Mosul, Iraq: People in the Iraqi city of Mosul celebrated their first Muslim Eid holiday without Islamic State in years on Sunday after the militants were ejected from much of the city, and hoped the battle to recapture the remaining area would soon be over.



Children gathered in squares on the eastern side of the city. Some played on old swings and others with toy guns and rifles, which were among the toys allowed by Islamic State militants after they took over the city in June 2014.



The militants implemented an extreme version of Islam which associated toys with a face, like dolls, with idolatry. They encouraged youngsters to train on weapons and changed text books to reflect their military ideology. Children were asked to add up bombs or bullets in maths exercises.



Eid prayers were allowed under Islamic State but festivities were not.



But for many, Sunday's Eid celebrations were overshadowed by the destruction of their historic leaning minaret, blown up by the militants on Wednesday, and fears for thousands of civilians trapped in the Old City in western Mosul still under Islamic State control.



"It won't be real Eid before we return home," said a man in his 60s, displaced from the western side of the city, across the Tigris river, where fighting continues.



Some expressed sadness over the destruction of the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri mosque and its leaning 150-foot (45-metre) minaret.



"Eid is not the same," said a man who declined to give his name as fear is still present even though Iraqi forces dislodged the insurgents from the eastern part of the city months ago.



Iraqi forces took the eastern side from Islamic State in January, after 100 days of fighting, and started attacking the western side in February. The militants are now besieged in Mosul's Old City.



Islamic State retaliated with a series of suicide attacks in Hay al-Tanak, a poor neighborhood west of the Old City.



"The security forces blocked a violent attack carried out by (people wearing) explosive belts, in Hay al-Tanak," said a military statement, showing pictures of black smoke it said came from fires set to houses and cars by the militants.



The Iraqi military didn't confirm Islamic State statements that the insurgents took control of Hay al-Tanak and began attacking the nearby Hay al-Yarmuk neighborhood. Witnesses said they saw residents fleeing the area.



"As our heroic forces are closer to declaring final victory over the Daesh (Islamic State) gangs, I offer my most sincere congratulations for Eid al-Fitr," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement.



A U.S.-led international coalition is providing air and ground support in the eight-month-old offensive to drive the militants from their de facto capital in Iraq.



About 350 Islamic State fighters, most of them non-Iraqis, are defending their remaining stronghold in Mosul's densely populated Old City, an Iraqi general said on Sunday. He expected the battle for the city to end in days.



Trapped



"Most of the dead bodies are foreigners, most of the fighters are foreigners, we see some trying to escape across the Tigris," said Major-General Sami al-Arithi, a Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) commander.



The U.S.-trained urban warfare units are leading the fight in the narrow alleyways of the historic district which lies by the western bank of the Tigris.



More than 50,000 civilians, about half the Old City's population, remain behind Islamic State lines, complicating the troops' advance, Arithi told state TV.



The civilians are trapped in crumbling old houses in harrowing conditions, with little food, water or medicines, according to those who have escaped.



Aid organisations say Islamic State has stopped many from leaving, using them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.



Iraqi authorities were hoping to declare victory in the northern city by Eid, a three-day festival which started on Sunday for Mosul's Sunni Muslim population and many Iraqi Shi'ites, celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.



Arithi said the CTS were about 25 metres (yards) from the Nuri mosque, from where Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his "caliphate" over parts of Iraq and Syria three years ago.



The Iraqi government once hoped to take Mosul by the end of 2016, but the fighting has dragged on as the militants reinforced positions in civilian areas, launched suicide car bomb attacks, laid traps and kept up sniper and mortar fire.



The fall of Mosul would mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate". Islamic State remains in control of large areas of both Iraq and Syria.



Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and has been assumed to be hiding in the Iraqi-Syrian border area. There has been no confirmation of Russian reports over the past week that he has been killed.



In Syria, the insurgents' "capital", Raqqa, is nearly encircled by a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition.
Washington: The US State Department on Monday designated Syed Salahuddin, the head of Kashmiri militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, as a specially designated global terrorist.



The move comes just hours before the first meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House.



As a senior leader of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), the State Department said in September, 2016, Salahuddin, also known as Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah, vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley "into a graveyard for Indian forces".



Here are the seven things to know about Hizbul commander Syed Salahuddin





1) Salahuddin is the chief of the terror group Hizbul Mujahideen.



2) Featured on NIAs most wanted list .



3) Reportedly operates out of a safe house in Pakistan.



4) Heads the United Jihad Council, that supports the annexation of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan.



5) 1987: Contested Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir on a Muslim United Front ticket.



6) September 2016: Vowed to block a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict



7) June 2017: Hailed slain terrorist Burhan Wani as a martyr.




The US Department of State on Monday designated Mohammad Yusuf Shah, also known as Syed Salahuddin, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).Mohammad Yusuf Shah is the senior leader of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).The move comes just hours before the first meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House.The US decision, which was welcomed by India, marks a serious blow to Pakistan where he has been taking refuge for the last 28 years, allegedly with the help of Pakistani authorities.He is also the head of United Jihad Council, a conglomerate of several terror outfits like LeT and JeM which operate out of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir."India welcomes this notification. It underlines also quite strongly that both India and the US face threat of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said here."This notification has just come, we will look at the notification and what its specific provisions are," he said."The outfits that Syed Salahuddin leads have perpetuated from the territory of Pakistan and PoK. Cross-border terrorism against India including in the state of J-K for several years. In that sense we would welcome this notification."It underlines also quiet strongly the fact the both India and the US face threat of terrorism and they are working together to counter this threat, not in one particular area, but globally because terrorism knows no boundaries," he said.The US decision significantly came on a day Salahuddin issued a video message calling for a week-long agitation to mark the first death anniversary of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was killed by security forces in an encounter on July 8 last year.Syed Salahuddin has been charged under Section 1(b) of Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which imposes sanctions on foreign persons who have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system.Designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations, said the executive order.In September, 2016, Salahuddin vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley into a graveyard for Indian forces".Before taking to militancy, Salahuddin had contested assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in 1987. He had lost in the polls.
Washington: The White House on Monday declined to comment on speculation that a pivotal US Supreme Court justice might announce his retirement on Tuesday, the last day of the high court's current session.



Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has cast the decisive vote in some of the court's most far-reaching decisions, turns 81 next month and is widely believed to be thinking of retiring.



When asked about that, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told ABC: "I will never reveal a conversation between a sitting justice and the president or the White House, but we're paying very close attention to these last bit of decisions."



One of those decisions could come Monday, if the nine justices are prepared to rule on a White House challenge to lower-court findings blocking Trump's attempt to limit travel from six predominantly Muslim countries.



The court could also delay its recess to allow more time to consider the case, or even put it off to the fall session.



Two federal appeals courts have so far ruled against the travel ban, with one saying it violated laws against religious discrimination and another finding that Trump had exceeded his authority on immigration matters.



The original ban and a later revised order, both blocked by courts, represented one of Trump's most controversial actions. They sparked global condemnation and threw travel from the targeted countries  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen  into turmoil. Iraq was removed in the second version of the ban.



Kennedy, who was appointed to the high court by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, has often cast a "swing" vote from the bench.



He typically sides with conservatives on economic matters, gun control and voting rights, but with liberal justices on social issues like gay rights, the death penalty and abortion.



It was Kennedy who wrote the decision establishing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage nationwide.



Speculation about a Kennedy retirement was sparked partly because he was slow to hire clerks for the court's next term.



If he does step down, Trump would have a chance to deepen his mark on the nation's judiciary with the opportunity to pick another nominee for a lifetime appointment to the bench.



His first nominee, Neil Gorsuch  once a clerk to Kennedy  joined the court in April.



Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, and under rules they passed to expedite Gorsuch's confirmation they would need only a simple majority to fill the next court vacancy.



But a strongly conservative successor to Kennedy could push the court firmly to the right, and Democrats say they would fight such a pick fiercely.



"I expect Armageddon on the next one," Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said after the Gorsuch confirmation, "because that's going to change... the direction of the court" far into the future.
Paris: Dozens of city mayors from around the world  including Washington, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney  on Monday called on G20 leaders to stick to their commitments on tackling climate change.



In a joint text distributed to media outlets worldwide and posted online, the "C40" mayors "of the world's great cities" urged leaders from the Group of 20 "on behalf of the hundreds of millions of citizens that we represent to deliver on your commitments to tackle climate change, one of the world's most pressing issues."



In light of US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate change pact "the resolve of the other 19 leaders at the upcoming G20 Summit to safeguard the future of our planet is more important than ever," the statement added.



The 20 leaders will gather in Hamburg, Germany on July 7 and 8.



The world city mayors, led by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, said they were inspired by the "courage" shown by more than 300 mayors in cities across the United States who have committed to upholding the Paris Agreement despite Trump's decision.



The core goal of the Paris agreement is for countries to take measures aimed at restricting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).



But Trump has said the climate pact, signed by nearly 200 countries, would hit the United States with "draconian financial and economic burdens" while competitors got off lightly.



The list of mayors who have signed up to the statement also include those of Karachi, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne, Chicago, Warsaw, Seoul and Vancouver.



"Local leaders around the world stand together with you, redoubling our commitment to bold action on climate change, working with business leaders and citizens worldwide," the mayors said in their statement, urging ordinary citizens to sign a petition to back their cause.



"We must all work together to save the planet," the statement stressed.
Updated at 3:57 p.m.

Albemarle County police are investigating a suspected murder-suicide that took place near Barboursville early Sunday morning.

Police found Jordan Cavanaugh-Jackson, 26, of Barboursville, dead after responding to reports of gunshots in the 3500 block of Creels Mill Road. Jacksons brother Christian Cavanaugh had fled the scene in a pickup truck, according to police.

About 10 minutes later, officers spotted Cavanaughs vehicle, which had crashed in the 1700 block of Stony Point Road. They found Cavanaugh inside, dead of an apparent gunshot wound.

This is the first homicide of the year in Albemarle County. The department has reported one homicide per year in the county since 2013.

Police called Sundays murder-suicide an isolated incident and said there is no danger to the general public.

No other details about the incident were released Sunday.

Anyone with information is asked to call the county police at (434) 296-5807.
PM Rowley praises Allah at San Fernando Masjid

At this particular time in our world history there is turmoil in many places, said Rowley to the congregation gathered to break their 30 days of fasting for the holy month of Ramadan at the San Fernando Masjid on Mucarapo Street yesterday morning. We in Trinidad and Tobago must be grateful to Allah, to Almighty God, that we are not subject to what others are subjected to. Rowley attended the Eid-ul- Fitr service alongside Local Government and Rural Development Minister Kazim Hosein and was invited to bring greetings by Imam Maulana Mushtaq Sulaimani.

And therefore we recognise Eid-Ul-Fitr, said Rowley. We recognise our Muslim population and we recognise our nation of Trinidad and Tobago. And to be here sitting and participating, imbibing and for leaving me with the inspiration of the sermon, I thank you. Imam Sulaimanis sermon urged Muslims to carry the hardwork and habits developed during the 30 days of fasting into the rest of their lives. It makes no sense to spend all this time building a house and then break it down right after with a backhoe.

Fasting is for you to become more God-conscious. Sulaimani said one of the guiding principle of Ramadan is a more pronounced acknowledgment that while nobody else may be watching you keep fast, Allah is. The knowledge that Allah is always watching should be taken into life outside of Ramadan as well, said the Imam.

Rowley and Hosein later visited and brought greetings to the Macoon Street Masjid in Victoria Village, San Fernando, before heading to Hoseins Gulf View home to continue the Eid celebrations.

SEE PAGE 5
Practise good and wholesome values

In his Eid-Ul-Fitr message to the country, the President said the Holy period of Ramadan helps build and sustain cohesion, cooperation and holistic neighbourly living between and among families and communities through the daily Iftar celebrations at Masjids around the country.

He said it must be a nostalgic moment for the Islamic community as it reflects on the many relationships forged and bonds strengthened with friends and family.

The President said Islam reminds all citizens of their duty and responsibility to serve one another, especially those less fortunate and to do so graciously, without fanfare and with compassion.

He added that this was especially important because of the passage of Tropical Storm Bret, which has left widespread damage across the country with many families in need. He said citizens are called upon to come together, help each other and rebuild, through a philosophy of genuine community.

Today, many of our citizens are faced with great financial loss, unemployment, emotional hardship, displacement and a sense of hopelessness, he said, adding that, It is not easy, for there are many quietly suffering in the trenches of our society. We must therefore, draw guidance, sustenance and hope from the teachings of Islam and Almighty Allah the Beneficent.
Dont belittle the power of little

This was the Eid-ul- Fitr message from Imam Mirza Ali-Mohammed, who spoke to a huge gathering at Centre of Excellence, Macoya yesterday.

He said sometimes all it takes is a little kind deed to have a positive impact on someones else life, and one must not belittle the power of little. Dont belittle the power of little because sometimes we think we have to do this big huge phenomenal fantastic thing to make a change with crime, with the flooding, with helping the poor people in our community, sometimes all it takes for us to do whatever we can in the best way that we know how. He continued, If it is we cant change the whole society, change the people who are around us, if we cant infect all in society, infect just those around us. If we cant help all the flood victims help those who you can. While Ali-Mohammed delivered the khutba (sermon), he shared a story of a young boy who was on a beach throwing starfish back into the water, and told his listeners, People said to the boy how come you are doing that? All the starfishes will die any way. The boy said, if I can make a difference in the life of one star fish it will make me feel happy. Therefore, Imam Ali-Mohammed told his listeners to do whatever they can in their communities to help curb crime, help those living in poverty and to help fulfill the needs of others.

Imam Ali-Mohammed said according to the Islamic position, We are to do whatever we can in the best way we know how with whatever little resources we have and it is not how much you do, but if you do it with sincerity, we believe God will accept that from us. Imam Ali-Mohammed urged Muslims to spread the message to others as they celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr and the whole month of Ramadan.

Today is a day of Eid, it is a happy day, a day of rejoicing, a day of blessing, today is a day of praise, a day of thankfulness.

We have completed the entire month of Ramadan and we are alive, and for that be thankful to Allah. There were some people who were with us last year and are not with us today. He continued, Even those who did not do the Ramadan in the way that we should, for those who enjoy the nights of power for the last ten nights, and even we were deficient in what we did in the month of Ramadan, dont lose hope, there is still reward that could come after the Ramadan and this is the time we seek the forgiveness of Allah. Islam gives hope my believing brothers and sisters. He urged the gathering to continue doing good, and stay away from anything that is false and evil.
UN Director addresses IRO

Blewitt made the comments during an address to the Annual General Meeting of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) on Saturday at the headquarters of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) in St Augustine.

He was invited by the President of the IRO, Br Harrypersad Maharaj, to address the growing issue of crime that is wreaking havoc in Trinidad and its impact worldwide. Blewitt spoke about the Millennium Development Goals 2016 to 2030 and pointed to the importance of Sustainable Development, poverty reduction, quality education, peace, justice and strong institutions.

He spoke of the UN contribution in Trinidad in sustaining these goals, including strengthening of civil society, in the process acknowledging the role and contribution of the IRO in this area as well as the social security programmes.

The programme was attended by Secretary General of the SDMS, Satnarine Maharaj and Dharmacharya Pandit Uttam Maharaj.
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Donald Trump owns property around the globe, but his oddest piece of land apparently sits just 120 miles from his Mar-a-Lago estate. In one of Florida's poorest counties is an inaccessible quarter-acre plot Trump purchased for $1 in 2005 and has maintained ever since. The wooded lot in Sebring, Fla., is actually one of hundreds of undeveloped lots in an area known as Orange Blossom Estates, reports the Guardian. But there's no road leading into it, it doesn't appear to be slated for any development in the near futurethe lot is covered in a protected grass known as cutthroatand no one seems to have a clue as to why Trump is interested in it.

Back in the 1960s, a company split tracts of land in Highlands County into subdivisions with the goal of developing them, though the company later went under. Years later, in June 2005, a photographer who specialized in lingerie shoots bought a plot for $3,300; just a few weeks later, she sold it to Trump for $1. Though an appraiser notes "you need a Jeep, a helicopter, or a parachute just to get to it," the land is now valued at $4,280. The photographer deleted her social media accounts after the Guardian attempted to contact her, while family members reached by phone simply hung up. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
A Florida contractor has apparently come up with a morbid way of getting out of reimbursing angry clients. Mark Anthony Perez, 52, is being accused of botching renovations on an 825-square-foot home in Seminole, Fla., and then faking his own death to avoid the disgruntled owners, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Glenn and Judith Holland hired Perez in March 2016 to put in a new kitchen, remodel their bathroom, and install a new water heater, among other renovations. They gave Perez a key in April and headed back to their home in Pennsylvania on the understanding that they would move in that December. Over the next eight months, however, Perez demanded more and more money even as work on the house slowed to a crawl. In the meantime, Judith Holland was diagnosed with cancer.

When the Hollands finally went to move in Dec. 14, they found the house unlivable. They had paid Perez $7,600 for a home they say was now in shambles. But when they texted Perez, they got this message back: "This is Marc's daughter, dad passed away on the 7th of December in a car accident. Sorry." As they rented a nearby place and paid another contractor $15,000 to fix the work, they soon discovered Perez was not licensed and hadn't gotten permits. They also heard rumors he was not dead. So Glenn Holland staked out Perez's house for weeks, and finally caught him coming out of his house in March. Local cops say it's not a criminal matter, so the Hollands are suing Perez in circuit court. "I never thought someone would go to that extreme to rip someone off," says Glenn Holland. (Read more contractor stories.)
A key figure in the Russia investigation will soon be departing the US for Moscow, and it's a figure whose ties to the Kremlin were already known: Sources tell BuzzFeed that Russia is recalling Sergey Kislyak, who has been his country's ambassador to the US for 10 years. The sources say contrary to reports that Kislyak is in line for a senior United Nations role, Moscow has decided to bring the 66-year-old home after a July 11 going-away party. After a period that has seen the ambassador dubbed "the most radioactive man in Washington" because of the uproar surrounding his off-the-record meetings with assorted politicians, "he could use some time away," one diplomatic source says.

Contacts with Kislyak have caused problems for more than one member of the Trump administration, New York notes: It was a conversation with the ambassador that led to former national security adviser Michael Flynn's resignation, and Kislyak's meetings with Jeff Sessions and Jared Kushner have also drawn scrutiny. President Trump leaked classified information during a May meeting with Kislyak and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The Kremlin is planning to send deputy foreign minister Anatoly Antonov to replace Kislyak, according to reports in the Russian media. (Kushner allegedly discussed setting up a secret communications line with the ambassador.)
The French designer of the bikini may have named his invention after the atoll in the Marshall Islands where the US detonated nuclear devices in the mid-1940s, but a power plant in the Czech Republic is in trouble after drawing too clear a line linking the explosive power source and two-piece bathing suits. Last week, the CEZ power-generation company had to apologize for putting on a bikini contest to select its newest intern, Deutsche Welle reports. Ten bikini-clad, hard-hat-wearing high school graduates had their pictures taken inside a cooling tower at the Temelin Nuclear Power Station, and Facebook users were asked to cast ballots for their favorite. The winner was to be given a 14-day internship at the plant and the title "Bouncer of Energy," per 9News.

Although CEZ later claimed the point of the contest was to "promote technical education," controversy in the Czech Republic and online came quickly, with one internet user calling it "degrading, disgusting, and primitive." The operators of the contest offered their mea culpa on Facebook and said all 10 finalists would be receiving internships. In a press release, CEZ compared the bikini contest to its other cultural programs, such as the time it hosted a local philharmonic orchestra at the plant in South Bohemia. (Read more Czech Republic stories.)
A tourist boat packed with about 160 passengers capsized Sunday on a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin, leaving at least six people dead and 31 missing, officials said. Rescuers including firefighters and air force pilots in helicopters searched for survivors at the Guatape reservoir where El Almirante ferry sank. A flotilla of recreational boats and jet skis rushed to the scene, pulling people from the boat as it went down and avoiding an even deadlier tragedy, the AP reports. Dramatic videos circulating on social media show the party boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-floor roof as it began sinking into the water.

"Those on the first and second floors sank immediately," a female survivor told Teleantioquia. "The boat was sinking and all we could do was scream and call for help." Survivors described hearing a loud explosion near the men's bathroom that knocked out power a few minutes after the boat began its cruise around the lake. It's unclear what caused the boat to sink, but survivors said that it appeared to be overloaded and nobody on board was wearing a life vest. After arriving at the scene, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said 122 people were either rescued or found their way to shore, but six had died and another 31 were missing, he told reporters. (Read more Colombia stories.)
Passengers on an AirAsia flight out of Australia say they endured 90 minutes of terror Sunday after the plane started shaking like "a washing machine" following a loud bangand they say the pilot asked them to pray. The Kuala Lumpur-bound flight had to return to Perth after experiencing what the airline describes only as a "technical issue" with an engine around 90 minutes after takeoff, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports. "The engine seized up I think, that's what they told us anyway," says passenger Brenton Atkinson. "It was literally like you were sitting on top of a washing machine. The whole thing was going." Another passenger posted a video of the shaking cabin on Instagram.

After a bang was heard from the plane's left wing area, the pilot said, "'I hope you all say a prayer, I'll be saying a prayer too and let's hope we all get back home safely,'" passenger Sophie Nicolas tells Perth Now. "It was terrifying." Other passengers say that after the plane landed safely with nobody injured, they were told that "a blade had sheared off the left engine," as Perth Now puts it. Passengers say there was applause after the landing and the pilot shook hands with everybody. The aircraft was an Airbus A330-300, a twin-engine aircraft capable of flying and landing with only one engine, CNN reports. (Another Airbus A330 had to return to Australia with a gaping hole in an engine.)
Ohio Gov. John Kasich does not love the Islamic State and does not intend to hold President Trump accountable "for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries," but that's the message that greeted visitors to his website Sunday. The Republican governor's website was among numerous Ohio state sites hacked over the weekend by a group calling itself Team System DZ, the BBC reports. Kasich's website was back to normal later Sunday, as was that of the Ohio Department of Medicaid, though others, including the websites of Ohio First Lady Karen Kasich and the Ohio Department of Corrections, were still down for maintenance early Monday.

The governor's hacked website displayed the pro-ISIS message on a black background as the Muslim call to prayer played, CNN reports. "All affected servers have been taken offline and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites," Tom Hoyt, a spokesman for Ohio's Department of Administrative Services, said in a statement, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. He said law enforcement is also investigating. The hack should be a wake-up call for "freedom-loving Americans," tweeted state treasurer Josh Mandel. "Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland." (Cyber-sleuths warn that President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and other properties would be easy targets for hackers.)
Jailed Nobel Peace laureate and Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has been released on medical parole after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, his lawyer said Monday. Liu was in stable condition at China Medical University's No. 1 Affiliated Hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang, lawyer Mo Shaoping told the AP. Liu was diagnosed on May 23, Mo added. It wasn't immediately clear if Liu was being allowed visitations. Liu, China's best-known political prisoner, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of inciting state subversion in 2009 for co-writing and disseminating Charter '08, a document calling for democracy. The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a move that has greatly angered the Chinese government. In April, Beijing normalized its relations with Oslo after a six-year hiatus.

The news of Liu's diagnosis shocked and saddened fellow human rights activists in China. "It's known that Liu Xiaobo and his family have made a tremendous sacrifice for the cause of freedom and democracy for China," says Shanghai-based legal scholar and human rights activist Zhang Xuezhong. "This is unfortunate news for him and his family, and it's a blow to China's democracy movement, as so many people have placed hope in him, and rightfully so." Without further information on Liu's medical condition, Zhang says that "his life is so important that I think he should get the best possible treatment with full knowledge of his family, even if it means some compromises" with the government. A rep for China's foreign ministry says he wasn't aware of the latest development in Liu's case. (Read more Liu Xiaobo stories.)
After three decades on the lam, an Arkansas man has been quickly reacquainted with life behind bars. Steven Dishman, 60who was five months into a seven-year sentence for burglary and property theft when he escaped from the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County, Ark., on May 28, 1985, reports KTHVwas arrested Sunday at a home in Springdale in the northwestern part of the state, report Arkansas Online and KFSM.

Arkansas State Police and local cops raided the home after receiving a tip. A rep for the Arkansas Department of Correction tells Fox 16 that Dishman will now be required to serve the remainder of his sentence. Dishman may also face additional charges related to his escape, the details of which were not immediately explained. Had Dishman stayed in jail, he would have been eligible for parole in 1987 and freed by 1991. (Read more Arkansas stories.)
A University of Delaware professor is out of a job after claiming Otto Warmbier "got exactly what he deserved." Adjunct anthropology professor Kathy Dettwyler, 62, who recently finished up a spring contract at the school, "will not be rehired to teach at the university in the future," the school said Sunday after Dettwyler ranted against Warmbier in a Facebook post last Wednesday, reports Delaware News Journal. Dettwyler said Warmbiera University of Virginia student who died after a year as a prisoner in North Korea, where he was convicted of stealing a posterwas a "spoiled, naive, arrogant, US college student" who "got exactly what he deserved."

Dettwyler went on to blame Warmbier's parents for teaching him that he "could get away with whatever he wanted," per the University of Delaware Review. Parents afterward vowed to keep their kids from attending the school if Dettwyler was a staff member, while students accused Dettwyler of promoting her political beliefs during teaching. For example, she once wrote an exam question that stated President Trump had expressed "cultural beliefs that are diametrically opposed" to the ideals on which the United States was founded. Dettwyler told the Review it was "part of my job" to "lead the students through an analysis of the underlying cultural beliefs" reflected in Trump's comments. (Read more Otto Warmbier stories.)
Seattle has been gradually increasing its minimum wage, with the city planning to make it $15 by 2021. (It's currently $13 for most businesses.) While advocates may be thrilled, a new study out of the University of Washington suggests that the rising minimum might actually be harming low-income workers in general. Researchers say that while the new law is indeed resulting in higher wages, employers have reduced hiring and hours, reports the Seattle Times. However, skeptics say the study is flawed and point to a second study out of Berkeley with a different conclusion. Details:

A key figure: The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, finds that the hike in the minimum wage so far has cost the average low-wage worker $125 a month. The reason? While pay has gone up 3%, workers saw their hours fall by 9% from 2014 to 2016, say the researchers. They also estimate that without the law, another 5,000 low-wage jobs would exist in the city currently. (The study compared Seattle to surrounding control areas that saw no wage increase, notes the LA Times.)

The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, finds that the hike in the minimum wage so far has cost the average low-wage worker $125 a month. The reason? While pay has gone up 3%, workers saw their hours fall by 9% from 2014 to 2016, say the researchers. They also estimate that without the law, another 5,000 low-wage jobs would exist in the city currently. (The study compared Seattle to surrounding control areas that saw no wage increase, notes the LA Times.) 'Very credible': The Washington Post calls the results "bad news for liberals" in its headline and quotes an MIT economics professor who sees the study as "very credible" and predicts it will be influential. It is "sufficiently compelling in its design and statistical power that it can change minds."

Different study: The Berkeley study, out last week, found that the wage increase did not result in lost jobs. This study, however, focused only on the restaurant industry, which critics see as a potential weakness.

The Berkeley study, out last week, found that the wage increase did not result in lost jobs. This study, however, focused only on the restaurant industry, which critics see as a potential weakness. A flaw? The New York Times reports that critics think the UW researchers may be off base in part because Seattle's strong economy has caused employers to bid up wages. "Under such a scenario, one would expect to see a decline in the overall number of hours worked in low-wage jobs. In their place would be a significant increase in hours worked at somewhat higher-paying jobs."

The New York Times reports that critics think the UW researchers may be off base in part because Seattle's strong economy has caused employers to bid up wages. "Under such a scenario, one would expect to see a decline in the overall number of hours worked in low-wage jobs. In their place would be a significant increase in hours worked at somewhat higher-paying jobs." Another? From the Post: "To avoid confusing establishments that were subject to the minimum with those that were not, the authors did not include large employers with locations both inside and outside of Seattle in their calculations. Skeptics argued that omission could explain the unusual results."

From the Post: "To avoid confusing establishments that were subject to the minimum with those that were not, the authors did not include large employers with locations both inside and outside of Seattle in their calculations. Skeptics argued that omission could explain the unusual results." Unprecedented data: Yes, there are caveats, but the authors had access to "detailed data on the hours and earnings of nearly all employees in Washington state," notes a post at FiveThirtyEight. It thinks the research will have broad political implications as other cities weigh similar increases.

Yes, there are caveats, but the authors had access to "detailed data on the hours and earnings of nearly all employees in Washington state," notes a post at FiveThirtyEight. It thinks the research will have broad political implications as other cities weigh similar increases. Told you so: At Forbes, Tim Worstall, who is a self-described "extremist" on the issue, says the study backs up his prediction that forcing employers to pay more will make things worse for employees. He expects that to continue as the wage rises from $13 to $15.

(Read more minimum wage stories.)
The mother of Philando Castile, a black motorist killed by a Minnesota police officer last year, has reached a nearly $3 million settlement in his death, according to an announcement Monday by her attorneys and the Minneapolis suburb that employed the officer. The settlement to be paid to Valerie Castile will avoid a federal wrongful death lawsuit stemming from Castile's death, per the AP. The 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker was killed by St. Anthony officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop July 6 after Castile told the officer he was armed. Castile had a permit for his gun.

The shooting gained widespread attention after Castile's girlfriend, who was in the car with her then-4-year-old daughter, livestreamed the gruesome aftermath on Facebook. Yanez, who is Latino, was acquitted of manslaughter and other charges earlier this month. The jury's decision prompted days of protests, including one in St. Paul that shut down Interstate 94 for hours and ended with 18 arrests. The $2.995 million settlement will be paid by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, which holds the insurance policy for the city of St. Anthony. It requires approval by a state court, which could take several weeks. (New dashcam footage just emerged.)
President Tran Dai Quang (R) meets President of the National Assembly of Cambodia Samdech Heng Samrin (Source: VNA)



The State leader said the two nations need to further boost solidarity, friendship and cooperation by facilitating economic, trade and investment ties while enhancing people-to-people diplomacy, especially among young generations.

He believed that under the sound rule of King Norodom Sihamoni and leadership of the Senate, National Assembly and government of Cambodia in which the Cambodia Peoples Party plays a crucial role, the fraternal Cambodian people will continue reaping greater successes in the cause of building Cambodia for peace, stability and prosperity.

The host expressed his delight that Vietnam has become one of the leading trade and investment partners of Cambodia.

He asked his guest to continue providing support for Vietnamese nationals living in Cambodia, contributing to fostering friendship between the two peoples.

Heng Samrin, for his part, affirmed that the Cambodian people will forever keep in mind sacrifices made by Vietnamese soldiers during a fight to save Cambodia from the Pol Pot genocide regime.

He added that Cambodia will continue maintaining a stable political climate following the recent election of deputies to ward and communal councils, thus laying groundwork for the Senate and general election in 2018./.
President Trump scored a significant, if partial, victory from the Supreme Court on Monday: The justices agreed to allow a scaled-down version of his travel ban to take effect. The court also agreed to hear the case in the fall, setting the stage for a ruling that could have wide implications on presidential power, reports the New York Times. The upshot is that the Trump administration can put into effect a 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, along with a 120-day ban on the US refugee program. However, the court imposed what the Washington Post terms an important exception. The ban "may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States," said the justices.

Those who have no family or business ties in the US, or who have never visited before, would likely be out of luck. The court added that the case may well be moot by the fall, noting the White House originally said the ban would be a temporary one while it reviewed vetting procedures. Once that review is completed, the restrictions would presumably be lifted anyway. Two lower courts have blocked the ban, a revised version from the Trump administration's first effort, essentially declaring it to be unconstitutional. Trump has said the ban would take effect within 72 hours of court approval. (Read more US Supreme Court stories.)
A Swedish man kidnapped by Islamic militants in northern Mali nearly six years ago has been released from captivity, the Swedish government confirmed Monday. There was no immediate word on the fate of a second hostage, from South Africa, who was also seized in Timbuktu. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom announced the release of Johan Gustafssonwho had been on a motorcycle tour through Africa when he was seized by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, per the BBCwithout giving details on what had finally led to his freedom, leaving also open whether the Nordic country's government paid a ransom in exchange for his freedom. Gustafsson, 42, was flown to Stockholm on a special Swedish government plane later Monday but he did not appear before media, the AP reports.

Following his arrival, Wallstrom said during a news conference that Gustafsson was set free "a few days ago" but declined to give any details on the negotiations except to say that "diplomacy and police work" along with tight international cooperation led to his release. "The Swedish policy is not to pay ransom in connection with kidnappings," Wallstrom said, referring to her government's general guideline, but refused to take questions on Gustafsson's case. There was no immediate word on the fate of Stephen McGown, the South African hostage. A third foreigner had been freed in 2015 by French special forces. The kidnapping of Gustafssonwho Wallstrom said was the longest-held Swedish kidnapping victim "in the modern history of Sweden"took place in November 2011 as Islamic extremism was gaining a foothold in northern Mali. (Read more hostage stories.)
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The Congress adopted the report to overview the operation of the term II and work out the operation direction for the term III from 2017 to 2021. The report emphasized that the overseas Vietnamese community has closely connected with the locality where they live, and always looks towards the homeland, contributing to the consolidation and development of the friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos, contributing to the development of the locality and obeying the laws of the two countries.

Speaking at the event, Vietnams Consul General in Pakse Dao Van Hieu highly appreciated the achievements of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Sekong province in recent years. At the same time, he hoped that they would continue to unite to support each other, raising the sense of national pride, patriotism, improving their life and integration with the local people, and positively contributing to strengthening the special relationship between Vietnam and Laos.

A corner of Laman market in Sekong province

Mr. Hieu thanked the leaders of the Party, administration and people of Sekong province for their interest, and for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to stabilize their lives and integrate into local society. He also proposed that the executive board of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Sekong province should take the initiative in participate in related activities organized by the local authorities and organize meaningful activities within the community to mark the 55th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam  Laos diplomatic relations, the 40th anniversary of signing the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Cooperation Agreement, and the Vietnam-Laos Solidarity and Friendship Year 2017.

Ms. Bunhiengbunchit, a member of the Executive Board of the Sekong provincial Party Committee, Chairwoman of the provincial Women's Union, Deputy Head of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association in Sekong province, praised the special solidarity between the two countries, affirmed that the Vietnamese community in Sekong province has made practical contributions to the socio-economic development of the locality, obeys the local laws and lives in harmony with the local people.



Especially, the construction and continuous improvement of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship School in Sekong province has contributed to improving the education of children in the province. At the same time, she hoped that the Overseas Vietnamese Association in the province would continue to make practical contributions to the socio-economic development of the locality and comply with the laws of Laos./.
Mathura:

Actress-turned-politician Hema Malini said she played a 'small role' during the Emergency, as opposition leaders hid from the police in packed cinema halls where her film 'Sholay' was being screened.



The actress-cum-MP recalled that the blockbuster was released on August 15, 1975, just days after the imposition of the Emergency on June 25.



"The film was a huge crowd puller," she told a gathering at a programme organised to mark the 42nd year of the Emergency on Sunday.



Those were also the days when political leaders opposed to Indira Gandhi and the ruling regime were being arrested, she said.



"So political leaders opposed to the Emergency used to take refuge in jam-packed theatres where Sholay was being screened," she said.



The police, she added, could not look for them in the halls because of the "huge crowds" there.



"So I too played a small role among those who opposed the Emergency," the BJP MP from Mathura said.

Also Read: Hema Malini opens up on daughter Esha Deol's pregnancy



Describing the Emergency as "unfortunate", she said the Congress government then was "cruel" to both politicians and the ordinary people.



"This is why the party is in such a poor state today," she said.



BJP national general secretary (Organisation) Ram Lal, who presided over the programme, said the Emergency was like a "dark night" which was countered by those who stood up to it.



"That period was like the darkest chapter of democracy.



People who broke jails and participated in movements against the Emergency for keeping democracy alive were great," Lal said.

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New Delhi:

The arguably the darkest chapter of Independent Indias history  Emergency  was declared on this day 42 years ago. Implemented by Indira Gandhi to crush rising dissenters across the nation, the emergency resulted in a total suspension of human rights, scores of political arrests and forced sterilisation, while the Central Government delayed elections and ruled with an iron fist.



The reasons panned from a student moment led by Jayprakash Narayan against corruption and tyranny of Indira Gandhi government to Allahabad High Courts decision against previous general elections. Simultaneous Naxalbadi movement gave further impetus to social unrest against the government at Centre.



Invoking Article 352 of the Indian Constitution, Indira Gandhi launched a massive crackdown on political opposition. The government placed thousands of protestors and strike leaders under preventive detention. The move ricocheted in the long run as it gave birth to an army of new activists, many of whom are the nations ruler now.



Activists in Emergency, leaders in 21st century



BJP

Arun Jaitley: A Delhi BJP youth wing leader then, Jaitley was arrested for taking out a protest against Emergency and as we know, 42 years on, he is the second most powerful man in India by virtue of holding key portfolios of Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs in the Union Government.

Ravi Shankar Prasad: A 21-year-old student leader of JP movement from Bihar, Shankar is now Union Minister of Law. "JP was the glue who brought all of them together," said Ravi Shankar Prasad in an old interview on Emergency.

Narendra Modi: A young RSS cadre at the time, Narendra Modi had to go underground and disguise as a Sikh to evade arrest after the organisation was banned during the crackdown. Modi continued the work of parcharak under disguise. But it was only after 26 years that his talent was recognised and he was appointed Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, after which there was no looking back for the current Prime Minister of India.



Sushma Swaraj: An ABVP activist from Punjab University at the time, Swaraj answered the call of JP movement and gave free legal advice to those detained by Police for anti-Emergency activities. Since then, she has held several state and Central portfolios, ultimately becoming one of the peoples most favourite External Affairs Ministers till date.





Bihar



Nitish Kumar: Current Bihar Chief Minister now and a young student from Bihar then, Nitish was amongst the first to join politics full-time during the movement.



Lalu Prasad Yadav: A core part of the JP movement, Lalu Prasad Yadav went on to change the face of Bihar by uplifting neglected lower caste majority of the state during 15 years of his de facto rule as chief minister. Although culpability in fodder scam disqualified him from fighting elections, his clout is strong enough to form an alliance government in Bihar with Nitish Kumars JDU even now.



Sushil Modi: The BJP face in Bihar, and CM for a short stint, Modi was also a part of the JP movement along with other Nitish and Lalu and was arrested during the emergency.



Left



Prakash Karat: Then the chief of the CPI(M)'s student wing, 27-year-old Left-wing leader started protests from Delhi's famous Jawaharlal Nehru University. After the movement, Karat rose in the CPI(M) and later held the post of General Secretary from 2005 to 2015.



Sitaram Yechury: Along with Karat, Yechury led the protests from University to streets, evaded arrests by going underground. But was eventually captured when he surfaced to take his ailing father from hospital to home. Yechury is now General Secretary of CPI(M) and a Member of Parliaments Upper House.



Tamil Nadu



MK Stalin: In Tamil Nadu, the M Karunanidhi government was dissolved and the leaders of the DMK were incarcerated. In particular, Karunanidhi's son MK Stalin was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. Stalin became DMKs acting chief after party patriarch Karunanidhi became too ill to lead recently. He currently spearheads the Opposition against AIADMK in the state.



Congress



Congress leaders who dissented the Emergency declaration and amendment to the constitution such as Mohan Dharia and Chandra Shekhar resigned their government and party positions and were arrested and placed under detention.



On the other side, the Youth Congress was fielded to counter the Opposition's onslaught of the young. Leaders like Kamal Nath and Ambika Soni, then in their 20s, were part of a team handpicked by Sanjay Gandhi, the younger son of Indira Gandhi. They would later be senior ministers in Congress governments.



Stalwarts of Emergency



The movement which gave birth to the leaders of the day was led by statesman like Jayaprakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Raj Narain, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Jivatram Kripalani, Satyendra Narayan Sinha and even dowagers of Jaipur and MP Gayatri Devi and Vijayaraje Scindia. Despite their huge following, these leaders were amongst the first ones to be detained.

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The event was attended by representatives from the key ministries, seven participating provinces in the first GCF-funded project for Viet Nam, GCF-accredited multilateral implementing entities, other development partners, State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV), Viet Nam Development Bank (VDB), other commercial banks, private companies, and national mass media agencies.

The GCF Executive Directors institutional introduction mission aims to enhance the strategic cooperation between GCF and Viet Nam. While in Viet Nam, the GCF Executive Director paid courtesy calls to Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. He joined MPI leader to announce the first GCF-funded project in Viet Nam, and visit project site in Thanh Hoa Province. The GCF mission also met and discussed with potential national implementing entities (NIEs) of the GCF, including SBV and VDB.

Announcement of the first GCF-funded project for Viet Nam:

At the dialogue, the first GCF-funded project for Viet Nam entitled Improving the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change related impacts in Viet Nam with the cost of USD29.5 million was also announced. This project has been developed as a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Construction, coastal provinces and MPI (as the Viet Nam's National Designated Authority to access the GCFs fund support).

This project focuses on supporting vulnerable, highly disaster-exposed communities to protect themselves from the impacts of frequent typhoons & floods, and to improve their livelihoods. The mangrove buffer zones will be regenerated and replanted, and the poor will be provided with strong and safer houses having floods and storms resilient design features.

Viet Nam is considered one of the 30 countries at extreme risk to climate change. From 1990 to 2012, disasters caused 457 deaths, destroyed more than 96,000 houses, and accumulated losses equivalent to 1.3 percent of GDP annually. More than 500,000 people live within 200 meters of the coast along the country, their homes are usually affected by typhoons and many of them live in unsafe houses. This is one of the reasons why the coastal communities are less resilient. The poverty rate in the coastal areas is 23 percent, more than twice the national average, partly due to disaster related losses.

The need for investment to support climate change mitigation and low carbon development is urgent, Dr. Nguyen The Phuong, Vice Minister of MPI, said. This project will be the first step in the long-term strategic partnership with GCF. Viet Nam wishes not only to benefit from the fund but also can contribute to it as well as share lessons learned to other GCF-supported countries .

Mr. Kamal Malhotra, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Viet Nam, highlighted that UNDP was working with the Government on initiatives to to build resilience to extreme climate events among the rural poor, many of whom are women or come from the ethnic minority groups. He underscored UNDPs commitment to ensure the effective implementation of this project, thus improving the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change related impacts in Viet Nam.

At the workshop, representatives from Thanh Hoa and Ca Mau provinces shared their plans to adapt and respond to climate change as well as their expectations for support from the GCF. During the cooperation dialogue, the MPI presentedthe Viet Nams strategy to access the GCF with focus on (1) strong commitments to climate change, (2) investment for climate change adaptation and green growth, and (3) strengthening GCF - Viet Nam strategic cooperation.

Courtesy calls to leaders of Viet Nam:

On the same day, H.E Howard Bamsey paid his first courtesy visits to leaders of the MPI and MARD, who presented Viet Nams strong commitments to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and efforts to maximize the use of the GCFs important resources. On be half of the MARD, Deputy Minister Hoang Van Thang awarded a medal to H.E Howard Bamsey in recognition of his contribution to the Agriculture and Rural Development in Viet Nam. On this occasion, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam held a courtesy meeting with H.E Howard Bamsey.

He noted: Viet Nam wishes to become the highlight of the GCF in the region, we therefore request the GCF Secretariat, in close collaboration with the MPI and line ministries, to develop and support the implementation of the GCF - Viet Nam strategic cooperation with the commitment to supporting Viet Nam under the priority project portfolio; and to continue supporting Viet Nam in implementing the approved project and accelerating the approval of projects that the National Designated Authority of Viet Nam has submitted to the GCF. These projects focus on climate change mitigation / low carbon development in combination with climate change adaptation; private sectors investment in renewable energy & energy efficiency; sustainable forest management; adaptation efforts in key economic regions; and building and implementing small & medium-sized financial models to support enterprises in renewing / applying low-emission technologies."./.
New Delhi:

Amnesty International has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising concern over human rights violations in the US. PM Modi is scheduled to meet President Trump on Monday.

As an ally of the United States, India has a responsibility to raise concern over human rights violations, the international rights watchdog said in a letter dated June 24 to the prime minister, urging him to take up the matter with the representatives of the US government.

It also appealed to the prime minister to talk to his US counterpart and raise the issue of accountability of Dow Chemical and Union Carbide Corporation towards the victims and survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

The PM should call on the US government to ensure that Dow and UCC comply with Indian court orders, it said.

Dow Chemical, which bought Union Carbide Corporation in 2001, has allegedly evaded hearings in a case related to the tragedy at a Bhopal court.

The Chief Judicial Magistrates court in Bhopal has already issued four notices, summoning Dow to explain why UCC never appeared before it.

The notices were served under the mutual legal assistance treaty between India and the US concerning criminal matters.

Amnesty has asked Modi, who is himself facing flak over his silence on atrocities inflicted upon minorities, to call on the Trump administration to immediately revoke the executive order banning refugees and visa holders from Syria and five other Muslim-majority countries.

It has also urged the PM to raise the issues of hate crimes targeting African-Americans, closure of the infamous Guantanamo Bay and a moratorium on executions to ensure that people with mental or intellectual disabilities are not subjected to the death penalty, pending its full abolition.

Modi is in Washington as a part of the second leg of his three-nation tour, which started in Portugal. This will be his maiden meeting with Trump.

Both the leaders are expected to hold discussions on strategically important issues related to defence, economy and business.

Also read: Narendra Modi, Donald Trump have strong similarities in leadership style: BJP leader

Also read: PM Modi lauds Sushma Swaraj for giving 'human face' to diplomacy, acting on tweets by Indians in distress

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Mumbai:

Nearly 200 Byculla Jail inmates, including Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, have been booked for rioting and other offences following the death of a woman convict.



Manju Govind Shette (45), a convict, died at the government-run J J Hospital on Friday night after allegedly being beaten up by a woman prison official.



Subsequently, six jail staffers were placed under suspension and yesterday police registered a case under IPC section 302 (punishment for murder) against them.



Following Shettes death, over 200 women inmates of the jail were up in arms since Saturday morning.



Some inmates on Saturday climbed atop the roof of the jail while newspapers were torched inside, a police official earlier said.



The inmates alleged that Shette was beaten up by a woman prison official. They wanted to present the issue before the media which is not permissible under prison rules, he said.



Indrani, who is lodged in the Byculla prison, is among the 200 inmates against whom a case was yesterday registered for rioting, unlawful assembly, assault on public servant and other relevant sections under the Indian Penal Code, a police official said on Monday.



The jail houses around 251 women prisoners.



Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and ex-driver Shyamvar Rai are accused of strangling 24-year-old Sheena Indranis daughter from a previous relationship - on April 24, 2012.



Sheenas burnt body was dumped in a bag at a forest in Raigad district near Mumbai.

Suggested read: New audio clips reveal how Peter Mukerjea, Indrani misled Rahul; CBI includes tapes in probe

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New Delhi:

In another transgression, Chinese troops entered India in the Sikkim sector and jostled with Indian army personnel guarding the Sino-India frontier, besides destroying two bunkers.



The face-off has been going on in Doka La general area in Sikkim for the past ten days and the Chinese troops have also stopped the batch of pilgrims that was proceeding for Kailash Mansovar yatra, official sources said on Monday.



The Indian troops had to struggle hard to stop the Chinese personnel from advancing further into Indian territory. They formed a human wall along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to stop the PLA personnel, some of whom also videographed and clicked pictures of the incident.



The bunkers have been destroyed in Lalten area of the Doka La area. A flag meeting was also held between senior army officers of both the sides on June 20, but the tension still continues.

ALSO READ | India-China talk over entry of pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar through Nathu-la pass



It is not the first time that such a transgression has happened at the Doka La, a place at the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction.



The Chinese forces had in November 2008 destroyed some makeshift Indian army bunkers at the same place.

ALSO READ | China refuses entry to Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims citing road damage due to rains

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Chennai:

DMK Working President M K Stalin on Monday affirmed securing the presidential consent for the bill passed in the Assembly to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET examination was the only solution to safeguard the interests of students from the state.

The recent announcement by Edappadi K Palaniswami government about medical admissions being solely based on NEET scores is an attempt to divert the issue away from the spectacular failure of this government, he said in a statement here.

The only solution to safeguard the interest of the students in the state is to work towards securing the presidential assent to the NEET bill passed unanimously in the state legislature, he said.

DMK had pointed out that thousands of poor and rural students would be affected if NEET-based admission is implemented, he said.

Noting that the AIADMK government introduced a bill to address the issue and it was unanimously passed in the state assembly, he said, AIADMK failed to establish its rights and lend voice to the unanimous resolution passed in the Assembly.

The three factions of the AIADMK should have put forth a condition that they would offer support to NDAs presidential candidate only if the Centre accepted the NEET Bill passed by the legislative assembly, he said.

Also Read: Stalin, DMK MLAs detained after facing eviction from Tamil Nadu Assembly

Stalin asked Palaniswami why his government remained silent when Central government did not send the NEET Bill to the president to get his assent.

How is the state government going to protect the interests of the students who had performed exceedingly well in the board examinations conducted by the state government? he asked.

Also Read: Stalin expresses doubt whether Palaniswami govt in TN would continue till June 14

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New Delhi:

Eid is being celebrated on Monday after the holy month of Ramadan. Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is observed as a fasting period by Muslims who abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset.

Eid-ul-Fitr depends on the sighting of the moon and its celebration varies in different countries. On the day of Eid-ul-Fitr, morning prayers are said and people pay family visits and celebrate with feasts. Muslims greet each other by saying 'Eid Mubarak'

Eid-ul-Fitr, which means 'festival of breaking the fast', marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramzan. A Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE have celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr on Sunday to mark the culmination of fasting and holy month of Ramzan.

Here are the LIVE updates:

#5:34 PM

J&K: Army personnel distributed sweets in Anantnag on the occasion of #Eid pic.twitter.com/xdfOiORdD5 a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

#3:57 PM

#WATCH Shah Rukh Khan addresses the media in Mumbai on the occasion of Eid https://t.co/Tt3tASBgzn a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

#1:54 PM

West Bengal: Exchange of sweets between India and Bangladesh on #Eid at the Indo-Bangladesh border at BOP Fulbari pic.twitter.com/5VgIcPZxd5 a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

#12:22 PM

Andhra Pradesh: People offered prayers on #Eid at Eidgah in Vijayawada. pic.twitter.com/Q1C907BGLX a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

#11:38 AM

Uttar Pradesh: People offered prayers on #Eid and exchanged greetings at Eidgah in Ayodhya pic.twitter.com/XmXh2cWX8V a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 26, 2017

#10:54 AM

# 10:25 AM

#10:19 AM

#Eid prayers offered at Aishbagh Eidgah in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow pic.twitter.com/PJFyNfTGlj a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 26, 2017

#10:16 AM

#Eid prayers offered at Makkah Masjid near Charminar in Hyderabad. pic.twitter.com/vlpelROMgj a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

# 9:13 AM

Aligarh (UP): People offered #Eid prayers at Eidgah in Shah Jamal pic.twitter.com/O2YG2LY7Aq a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 26, 2017

# 8:50 AM

Haryana: People offered Eid prayers wearing black arm bands in Ballabhgarh's Kandhawali, to protest lynching of a man from their village pic.twitter.com/z7oI8eF2fm a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

# 8:27 AM

People offered prayers at a mosque in Jammu & Kashmir's Srinagar on #eid pic.twitter.com/fOUGoyD5w7 a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

# 8:26 AM

# 8:23 AM

# 8:21 AM

Bihar: People offer Namaz at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on #eid pic.twitter.com/bYhfARV4aY a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

#7:52 AM

Eid-ul-Fitr greetings! May this auspicious day further the spirit of peace and brotherhood in our society-ANI

# 7:36 AM

People exchange greetings after offering #Eid prayers at Delhi's Jama Masjid. pic.twitter.com/2RqomS9FSB a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

# 7:34 AM

People offer Namaz at Eidgah in Bhopal on #eid pic.twitter.com/kh5ZLhM5aB a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

# 7:30 AM

# 7:15 AM

People gather at Delhi's Jama Masjid for #Eid prayers pic.twitter.com/SiyFmZMNlj a ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

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Srinagar:

Eid-ul-Fitr was on Monday celebrated across Kashmir as people thronged mosques, shrines and Eidgahs for special prayers but a few incident of stone-pelting and clashes between protestors and security forces were reported in the Valley.



Muslims from all walks of life started making a beeline to Eidgahs (prayer ground) or mosques for offering Eid prayers as a thanksgiving for the month-long fasting of Ramazan.



The biggest gathering was witnessed at Hazratbal shrine where more than 50,000 faithful offered prayers, officials said.



They said the second largest gathering was held at the Eidgah in the old city in which more than 40,000 people participated.

Read | Eid-ul-Fitr 2017: Prayers offered at Eidgah Ground in Moradabad, greetings exchanged



Big gatherings were also reported from Sonawar and Soura Shrines in the heart of the city, they said, adding that similar gatherings were held at all districts headquarters and major towns of the Valley.



Barring a few incidents of stone-pelting after the prayers, the situation in the Valley remained peaceful.



Clashes between protestors and law enforcing agencies were reported from Sopore, Anantnag, Rajpora, Shopian towns and Safakadal area of the city.



There were no reports of anyone getting hurt in these clashes.



The authorities have placed top separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest, fearing that their presence at large Eid gatherings could spark violence, the officials said.



JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik has been taken into preventive custody and lodged at Central Jail, Srinagar.

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Chandigarh:

Congress claimed on Sunday that by sanctioning the international airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh the Central government has betrayed Haryana's interests.

"BJP governments, at the Centre and State, have sold Haryana's interest at the altar of political expediency. Previous Congress-UPA government had granted in-principle approval in the year 2013-14 for setting up a greenfield airport in Haryana. The M L Khattar government has, however,come a cropper, failing to protect Haryana's claim," Congress in-charge of communication Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

He alleged that ignoring Haryana's claim to set up an international airport at Jhajjar, Meham or Karnal, the Centre has made a "unilateral announcement" for setting up of a new international airport at Jewar, Uttar Pradesh. An international airport with a capacity to handle 30-50million passengers per year will come up at Jewar in Greater Noida in the next five to six years to ease the load on the Delhi airport, the government had announced yesterday.

Surjewala said in a statement that Haryana's case for an international airport is the most meritorious and naturally acceptable. "Till today, Haryana does not have a single airport, domestic or international, for commercial air traffic.

Previous Congress government in Haryana made serious efforts and suggested the names of Meham/Jhajjar/Karnal for setting up of an International airport as a successor second airport to the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.

"Ministry of Civil Aviation conducted a survey and gave in-principle approval for setting up of an airport in Haryana, dealing with both cargo and commercial traffic. In the meanwhile, government at the Centre changed and Modi government put the entire project on back burner. For threeyears, people of Haryana waited with great expectation but in an act of deception, Union government has proceeded to shift the airport to Jewar, Uttar Pradesh," Surjewala alleged.

He said "conspiratorial silence" of Chief Minister Khattar and BJP MPs of Haryana on this "blatant sellout of Haryana's interests is deeply intriguing".

An International airport would have meant employment for thousands of Haryana youth. Acquisition and development of nearly 3,000 acres of land for the airport would have brought in an investment of Rs 15-20,000 crore, besides multi-fold development in all the districts and areas around the airport, Surjewala, who is also Congress MLA from Haryana, said.

"An international airport would have also given adistinct identity adding to Haryana's growth story. All thesegains have been undone on account of lackadaisical attitude ofthe Khattar government," he said.

He said it is time for BJP government in Haryana "to wake up from its slumber and act decisively against the betrayal of interests of the state by the Central government and fight for Haryana's cause".

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Jammu:

A youth who had gone for arms training as a militant to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1999, was arrested soon after his arrival from Pakistan via Nepal.



Nisar Shah of Targain village of Budhal tehsil of Rajouri district was arrested soon after his arrival back via Nepal route illegally from PoK, where he had gone for arms training, a police officer told PTI.



Shah has been arrested in Rajouri and will be produced in court after vacation, officer said.



Nisar illegally crossed LoC in the year 1999 and joined militant training camp at PoK, he said.



After some time he left militancy and the arms training camp and remained in Kotli town in PoK, he said.



He then went to Dubai for three years from 2010 to 2013 and after expiry of visa came back to PoK.



Now he prepared a tourist visa for Nepal from where he entered into the country and reached his village illegally, officer said.



A case under FIR 10/2011 has already been registered against him as he was declared an absconder, he said.

Suggested read: Security forces neutralise 2 terrorists who entered DPS at Pantha Chowk in Srinagar, 14-hour-long operation ends

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New Delhi:

Samajwadi Party leader and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday took a dig at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for not visiting the Eidgah on the occasion of Eid.



Looking at the history, it has been a regular feature of UP chief ministers to visit Eidgah on Eid.



Akhilesh Yadav said, I am an ousted chief minister...I am here. Whey he (Yogi) has not come he should tell.



Akhilesh also advised the Centre to control the Kashmir situation.

With PTI inputs

ALSO READ | Kashmir unrest: Rajnath Singh hopes Eid will help in bringing peace and brotherhood in J-K

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Washington:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday the logic of the Indo-US strategic ties is "incontrovertible" and the two countries have an overriding interest in securing the world from terrorism, radical ideologies and non-traditional security threats.



Modi, in an oped published in the Wall Street Journal, wrote that the US and India are forging a deeper and stronger partnership that extends far beyond the Beltway and the Raisina Hill.



The Beltway refers to Interstate 495, a circumferential highway that encircles Washington, DC. The Raisina Hill is the seat of the Government of India in New Delhi.



In an uncertain global economic landscape, India and the US stand as mutually reinforcing engines of growth and innovation, he said ahead of his maiden meeting with US President Donald Trump.



He recalled his visit to Washington last June and his address to a joint session of the US Congress, where he said that the relationship between India and America had overcome the "hesitations of history".



"A year later, I return to the US confident in the growing convergence between our two nations," he said.

ALSO READ | PM Modi in US: 'GST could be studied by business schools in America'



"This confidence stems from the strength of our shared values and the stability of our systems. Our people and institutions have steadfastly viewed democratic change as an instrument for renewal and resurgence," he said.



Modi said the confidence in each other's political values and a strong belief in each other's prosperity has led to greater engagements between the two countries.



"A new layer in our engagement is our partnership for global good," the Prime Minister said.



"Whenever India and the US work together, the world reaps the benefits," he said, citing the collaborative efforts in areas like developing affordable vaccines for rotavirus or dengue, establishing norms for cyberspace, providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the Indo-Pacific region and training peacekeepers in Africa.



"The logic of our strategic relationship is incontrovertible," Modi said while noting that defence was an area of mutually beneficial cooperation.



Both India and the US have an overriding interest in securing the two countries' societies and the world from the forces of terrorism, radical ideologies and non-traditional security threats, he said.



India, which has four decades' experience in fighting terrorism, shares the Trump administration's determination to defeat this scourge, the Prime Minister said.



"We are already working together to address the existing and emerging strategic and security challenges that affect both our nations  in Afghanistan, West Asia, the large maritime space of the Indo-Pacific, the new and unanticipated threats in cyberspace.

ALSO READ | Amnesty asks PM Narendra Modi to raise human rights violations issue to President Donald Trump



"We also share an interest in ensuring that sea lanes  critical lifelines of trade and energy  remain secure and open to all," Modi said in an apparent reference to China's flexing of its muscles in the South China Sea.



China says nearly the entire South China Sea falls within its territory, with half a dozen other countries like Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam maintaining partially overlapping claims.



China has built a series of artificial islands on reefs and rocks in attempt to bolster its position, complete with military-length airstrips and anti-aircraft weapons.



The strategic South China Sea is rich in energy reserves, fishery resources and is a busy shipping route.



Referring to the bilateral trade, Modi said that the two way trade, which already totals about $115 billion a year, is poised for a multi-fold increase.



Indian companies are adding value to the manufacturing and services sectors in the US, with total investments of approximately $15 billion and a presence in more than 35 states, including in the Rust Belt of America.



American companies have likewise fuelled their global growth by investing more than $20 billion in India, he said in the oped.



The transformation of India presents abundant commercial and investment opportunities for American businesses, the prime minister said while citing the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax on July 1.



He said the GST will, in a single stroke, convert India into a unified, continent-sized market of 1.3 billion people.



The planned 100 smart cities, the massive modernisation of ports, airports, and road and rail networks, and the construction of affordable housing for all by 2022, are not just promises of great urban renewal within India but also of new employment opportunities for the two societies.



India's rapidly expanding aviation needs, and increasing demand for gas, nuclear, clean coal and renewables, are two significant areas of increasing convergence.



In the coming years, Indian companies will import energy in excess of $40 billion from the US, and more than 200 American-made aircraft will join the private Indian aviation fleet, Modi said.



The combination of technology, innovation and skilled workers has helped forge an exciting digital and scientific partnership between the two countries, the Prime Minister said.

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Pundits in Baku are connecting some vague dots between Ferrari's relative under-performance in qualifying yesterday and the FIA's recent restriction order regarding burning oil as fuel.

Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the FIA increased its efforts to restrict teams from attempting to generate a power boost by using oil as fuel.

Ferrari's sudden loss of performance yesterday has fueled speculation that the Scuderia was specifically targeted by the FIA's restrictive order.

Mercedes boss dismissed that notion however.

"I don't know why the gap is what it is," Mercedes team boss Wolff said.

"I don't know who is doing what, but I think the FIA's further clarification makes the conditions for that more stringent. But I don't think this had any particular effect here."

Another suggestion is that Ferrari's alleged oil-in-fuel trick has its biggest effect in qualifying, a concpet supported by the Italian squad's performance during its long runs in free practice.

"Our long runs on Friday were strong, so I have no particular worries about our pace," said Sebastian Vettel.

"I think ourselves, Mercedes and Ferrari are very close," he added.

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Lucknow:

NDAs presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday sought the blessings of the lawmakers of the BJP and its allies in Uttar Pradesh as he embarked on a nationwide tour from his home state to garner the backing of various political parties.I have come here to seek your blessings, the former Bihar governor told a meeting of NDA MPs and MLAs from the state.



According to traditions, we first go home to seek the blessings of the elders. Uttar Pradesh is my place of birth. When we go home, we offer salutations to our mother. For me, Uttar Pradesh is my mother, he added.



The meeting was held at the official residence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who earlier received Kovind (71) at the Lucknow airport.



Accompanied by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP national general secretary Bhupender Yadav, Kovind was taken to the chief ministers official residence on Kalidas Marg straight from the airport.

Suggested read: Presidential nominee Kovind seeks blessing of BJP legislators before embarking on pan-India tour



There, he interacted with a host of senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers Uma Bharti and Gadkari, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma. He also met with state Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit.



In his brief speech, Kovind said he had come to seek their blessings for the July 17 presidential election.



Earlier, addressing the MPs and MLAs, Adityanath said, This is the first time that we will have the honour of having a person from Uttar Pradesh as our president. This honour has been bestowed upon us by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.



It will be good if all the political parties rise above the narrow party lines and vote for him (Kovind). It will convey a good message.



He said Kovind, who led a simple life, had continuously been working for the uplift of the poor, Dalits and marginalised sections of the society.



Gadkari explained to the MPs and MLAs how to cast their ballots in the presidential poll.



Though Uttar Pradesh has given the country nine prime ministers, including incumbent Narendra Modi, who is a Lok Sabha member from Varanasi, it will be the first time that the politically crucial state will have the pride of sending someone to the Rashtrapati Bhavan if Kovind is elected.



The closest the state came to having its representative in the Presidents House was in 1969, when Mohammad Hidayatullah became the first acting president of the country and remained in that position from July 20 to August 24 of that year.



Sakshi Maharaj, the BJP MP from Unnao, adjoining Kovinds native place Kanpur, was also present at the meeting.

Suggested read: Six things Ram Nath Kovind said after filing nomination



Describing Kovind as a diamond, Union minister Anupriya Patel of the Apna Dal (S) said, I was very happy the moment the name of Ram Nath Kovind was announced as he hails from Kanpur, which is also my birth place.



She said her party would extend full support to him. Kovindji knew my family and my father (late Sonelal Patel). He is a true diamond, she said.



On the Congress fielding former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, also a Dalit, against Kovind, Anupriya earlier told reporters, What I dont understand is, when the Congress was in a position to ensure the victory of its candidate, it never fielded a Dalit woman. This shows the anti-Dalit mindset of that party.



Bhupender Yadav, Kovinds authorised representative for the presidential poll, said the NDA nominee had come to Lucknow to seek the support of the members of the electoral college.



He added that Kovind would now visit the other states.



Sources in the BJP said a Union minister, a senior party leader and two MPs would accompany Kovind on his nationwide tour to reach out to all the members of the electoral college.



Though he would be meeting only with the MPs and MLAs who have pledged their loyalty with him, the NDAs presidential pick would appeal to all the members of the electoral college to support his candidature, they added.



With over 62 per cent of the votes firmly behind him, Kovinds election as the next president is almost certain. Besides the BJP and its NDA allies, the TRS, YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD and the JD(U) have also announced their support to him.



The presidential election is scheduled for July 17 and the counting of votes will take place on July 20.



Kovind filed his nomination in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 23, while opposition candidate Kumar is yet to file hers.If elected, Kovind will be the second Dalit president after K R Narayanan.

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Chandigarh:

On the question of whom to support during Presidential poll, Haryanas main opposition party Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has left the decision on party supremo and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.

INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala said though the Working committee of the party, which met here today under his chairmanship, felt NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind and opposition candidate Meira Kumar had excellent credentials, it has decided to leave the final decision to Om Prakash Chautala.

Party chief Om Prakash Chautala is currently serving a prison term in connection with a teachers recruitment scam.

Chautala sahib will take a final decision in this regard and we will inform you about it when it is finalised, he told reporters when asked INLDs stand on the presidential polls.

At the meeting, Abhay noted that long after former deputy prime minister late Devi Lal had expressed his desire to see a Dalit in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the two leading parties of the country were constrained by vote bank politics to propose Dalits as their representatives.

INLD is in opposition in the BJP-ruled Haryana. Over a decade ago it was an ally of the BJP and both shared power in the state.

Kovind is scheduled to meet NDA MPs and MLAs from Haryana and Punjab in Panchkula, Haryana, on Thursday.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and BJPs general secretary Anil Jain will be among the leaders who will be with Kovind in the Haryana town.

Meanwhile, the INLD has threatened to block all types of vehicles coming from Punjab on national highway at Patiala-Ambala border, besides other points in the state on July 10 to protest against what it termed as the failure of the BJP governments in state and at Centre to get the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal constructed despite verdict of the Supreme Court in Haryanas favour.

At the INLD meeting, Abhay reiterated his partys demand to get Haryanas share of river waters through the SYL.

He exhorted the party workers to stop all vehicles entering Haryana from Punjab near Ambala as well as Gulha Chika (district Kaithal) and Dabwali (Sirsa) from wee hours on July 10, if the government would not take any concrete step on the issue by then.

At the meeting, the party resolved to demand waiver of farmers debt, implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report and improvement in law and order in Haryana.

Also read: Ideological battle not required in President election, says Venkaiah Naidu

Also read: Presidential poll: Ghulam Nabi Azad targets Nitish, says 'people who believe in several principles make different decision'

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Beijing:

With a maximum speed of 400 kmph, Chinas indigenous next generation bullet train made its debut at busiest Beijing-Shanghai line on Monday.



Fuxing, a CR400AF model, departed Beijing South Railway Station at 11:05 AM for Shanghai. At the same time, a CR400AF model left Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station for Beijing.



The train took about five hours and 45 minutes to reach Shanghai. On its way, it stopped by 10 stations, including Jinan, Shandong province and Tianjin.



The new bullet trains, also known as electric multiple units (EMU), boast a top speed of 400 kilometres per hour and a consistent speed of 350 kilometres an hour, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

ALSO READ | Mission Raftaar: Indian Railways to train 500 employees abroad for upcoming bullet trains



Fuxing or rejuvenation, made the debut on the Beijing-Shanghai line, the countrys busiest route used by 50,5000 passengers daily. The train was designed and manufactured by China, the report said.



The train includes a sophisticated monitoring system that constantly checks its performance and automatically slows the train in case of emergencies or abnormal conditions.



A remote data-transmission system, a control centre will be able to monitor the train in real time, it said. Lu Dongfu, general manager of China Railway Corporation, operator of the new train, said Fuxing, underpins the unique role that high-speed railway has played in Chinas economic and social development.



Previous bullet trains featured the characters Hexiehao (harmony) on the exterior of each train. Beijing-Shanghai railway line is Chinas busiest route, used by 50,5000 passengers daily.



China has the worlds longest railway network with 22,000 kilometres by the end of last year, about 60 per cent of the worlds total.

ALSO READ: Indian Railways Ministry in talks with top six global companies for launch of high speed trains

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Beijing:

On the issue of denial of entry to 47 Indian pilgrims who were scheduled to travel to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet through the Nathu-la pass in Sikkim, China on Monday said it was in talks with India.

According to my information, the two governments are in touch over this issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Suhang told reporters, declining to elaborate whether it was due to any weather-related issues like landslides and rains the Pilgrims were stopped by the Chinese officials at the Sino-India border.

He said the issue was being discussed by the two foreign ministries. China last week refused entry to 47 Indian pilgrims who were scheduled to travel to Kailash Mansarovar through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim.

The pilgrims were scheduled to cross over to the Chinese side on June 19 but had failed to do so due to inclement weather. They had waited at the base camp and tried to cross again on June 23 but were denied permission by the Chinese officials.

In New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay had said that some difficulties were being experienced in the movement of pilgrims through Nathu La and that India is taking up the matter with China.

The development has cast a shadow of uncertainty on the annual yatra as Chinese officials maintained that it would take some time to repair the roads and the Indians would not be able to make the pilgrimage any time soon.

Also read: China refuses entry to Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims citing road damage due to rains

The Chinese officials said they were concerned about the safety of the Indian pilgrims which is why they were stopped from proceeding further.

The pilgrims, who were stopped by the Chinese officials at the border from proceeding further, have now returned to their respective states.

Hundreds of Indian pilgrims undertake Kailash Mansarovar yatra in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China every year negotiating the mountainous terrain.

This year, a total of 350 yatris had registered for the yatra via Nathu La route and they were to travel in seven batches.

The denial of permission to the first batch of 47 Indian pilgrims was a surprise as the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through the new route via Nathula Pass in Sikkim was launched with a fanfare by the two countries in 2015.

This was the second route agreed by the two counties for the Kailash Yatra.

Till 2015, the Yatra was being organised by External Affairs Ministry only through Lipu Pass in Himalays connecting the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand in India with the old trading town of Taklakot in Tibet.

The Nathulla route enabled pilgrims to travel 1500 km long route from Nathulla to Kailash by buses.

The route through Nathula reduced the hardship and journey time enabling many more pilgrims, in particular aged pilgrims, to undertake the Yatra.

The development comes amid tensions in bilateral ties between the two countries over a host of issues including the CPEC and Indias NSG bid.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Kazakh capital Astana.

In the meeting Modi had said the two sides should tap their potential in cooperation, strengthen communication and coordination in international affairs, respect each others core concerns and appropriately handle their disputes.

Also read: Kailash Mansarovar yatra 2017: Sushma Swaraj flags off first batch of pilgrims

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Islamabad:

Pakistan has deployed a 15,000-strong military force to protect Chinese nationals working on energy and infrastructure projects in the country, the president said on Sunday, after the abduction of a Chinese couple raised safety concerns.



President Mamnoon Hussain told visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Islamabad that the protection of Chinese citizens working in Pakistan was the top priority of the government, according to a statement issued by the presidency.



Beijing is investing around USD 50 billion in its South Asian neighbour as part of a plan unveiled in 2015 to link its far-western Xinjiang region to Gwadar port in Balochistan with a series of infrastructure, power and transport upgrades.



But fears over safety arose last month when two Chinese workers were abducted in Quetta, the capital of the southwestern Balochistan province, which is at the heart of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project but racked by separatist and Islamist insurgencies.



Authorities were going to all possible efforts to arrest those responsible for kidnapping, Hussain said.



China has stated it will cooperate with Pakistani authorities to investigate whether the two Chinese citizens - who were allegedly killed by the Islamic State group in the country - had been illegally preaching.



So far there has been no official confirmation of the Chinese pairs fate.Pakistan has been battling Islamist and nationalist insurgencies in mineral-rich Balochistan since 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.



The IS group has been making inroads in the country through alliances with local militant outfits, although its presence is generally downplayed by the government.

Suggested read: Xi Jinping ignores Nawaz Sharif, skipped customary meeting with Pak President at SCO summit

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New Delhi:

Ahead of the talks with President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed Round Table meeting withA US business leaders in Washington DC on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India has now emerged as a business-friendly destination, more so with the upcoming implementation of landmark GST beginning next month, while asking CEOs of top US companies to invest in the country.



Here are the updates from the PM Narendra Modias Round Table meeting withA US business leaders:

# I believe GST is a game changing reform, its not just a tax reform its a new way of doing business: Krish Iyer, CEO Walmart India on GST

# It was a very good discussion, we reiterated our commitment to India: Krish Iyer, CEO Walmart India after CEO's meeting with PM

# Looking forward to roll out,I know it was difficult; excited to see it happen,shows you can achieve reform by pushing for it: PichaiA

# I think everyone is excited to invest more in India and I am excited as to what we all can do together: Google CEO Sundar Pichai

# PM was looking for insights into how India can attract more foreign investment,many good ideas discussed: Google CEO Sundar Pichai

# It was very good, it was a discussion across many industries: Google CEO, Sundar Pichai after meeting PM Modi at CEOs round table

# We have a common theme in all of them, we have the capability of providing India with solution. We have the knowhow: Prof Rajendra Singh

# There are 3 areas where dramatic changes will happen in India-Manufacturing,solar energy,electric vehicles: Prof Rajendra Singh,Clemson Univ

# Hope both (Modi-Trump) will come up with solution;benefit of both to work together-Nandini Tandon,Silicon Valley entrepreneur

# Hope Modi ji will be able to share with Trump our beautiful vision of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, and oneness: Sadhvi Bhagwati

# Historic moment for India and America, two great nations, two great democracies: Swami Chidanand Saraswati in Washington DC on PM's US visit

# Washington DC: Modi ji's visit here is like a festival.India's future is vibrant under him:Rahul Roy,Chief Tech officer of ARC Doc Solutions

#A The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools: PM Modi

# Growth of India presents win-win partnership for India & US both, US cos. have a great opportunity to contribute to that: PM Modi

# The whole world is looking at India. 7,000 reforms alone by GOI for ease of biz n minimum govt, max governance: PM Modi

Modi also said India attracted largest foreign direct investment (FDI) as a result of the NDA government policies in the last three years, during his interaction with a group of CEOs of top 20 American firms.

In a round table interaction with the group, including Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Modi listed out steps taken by his government in the last three years and next moves.

During the hour-long interaction, at the Willard Hotel, where he is staying, Modi gave a patient hearing to the wish-list of the CEOs.

Among other CEOs present at the meeting were Shantanu Narayen from Adobe, Ajay Banga from Mastercard, David Farr from Emerson, Doug McMillon and Punit Renjen from Deloitte Global. Mukesh Aghi, president of the US India Business Council, was also present at the meeting.

Posting a group picture of the prime minister with the CEOs, Bagley said, astrengthening the Indo-US economic partnershipa.

In a recent policy document, USIBC said the US-India commercial and strategic relationship supports global security, promotes economic growth and creates jobs for both countries and the global economy.

aToday, as we witness a paradigm shift in the erstwhile global order, an opportunity has emerged for both countries to set new standards in bilateral ties that will be bound by their shared values,a USIBC said.

Noting that US-India trade has tripled over the last decade, reaching a historic high of nearly USD 110 billion in 2015, USIBC said there is an opportunity for both the countries to also sync their regulatory and standards system to increase trade and investment.

In a separate statement, Jagdip Ahluwalia, executive director of Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston, said the United States and India share a very symbiotic relationship, and Modias first face to face visit with Donald Trump is important to strengthen the relationship between the two.

aOn behalf of Houston, the energy capital of the world and home of the worldas largest Medical Center the IACCGH and the strong Indian American community hope to welcome Prime Minister Modi to Houston in the not too distant future,a Ahluwalia said.

With PTI inputs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Round Table meeting with US business leaders in Washington DC #ModiInUS pic.twitter.com/HKD32nukhC

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Washington:

US President Donald Trumps signals on his priorities have caused some confusion in India so it is important for his administration to put its own stamp on the bilateral relationship, a former top American trade official said on Sunday.



The Trump Administration has been focused on large deal announcements on one hand and trade deficits on the other. It must take into account the disinclination of Indian leaders to view the relationship on a transactional basis, Arun M Kumar, who served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of US Commercial Service in the Obama administration told PTI.



President Trumps signals on his priorities have caused some confusion in India. Therefore, it will be important for the Trump Administration to put its own stamp on the bilateral relationship, he said ahead of Trumps first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Monday.

Suggested read: PM Modi in the US - 'Surgical strikes conducted across the Line of Control prove that the country can defend itself'



Kumar, who currently is chairman & CEO of KPMG India, said that the US trade deficit with India has stayed flat over the last three years while bilateral trade has grown.It would be constructive to recognise that the trade between the US and India is diminishing as a percentage of total trade, he said.



The Trump Administration can place its imprimatur on the US-India relationship by expanding the canvas of the S&CD to foster engagement at the level of the two countries states, he said.



It would make eminent sense for leaders from states in both countries to meet once a year in a structured setting to advance business and mutual interests, he said.



A business forum between US and Indian states will go a long way in creating the next paradigm of growth for the US - India relationship and will be aligned with the themes and priorities of both leaders, he asserted.



Underscoring that US-India relationship carries great political and economic significance in the current geopolitical and security context, he said the two countries share concerns on global terrorism.



And on economic globalisation, their impulses differ as India has been a beneficiary of globalisation, he observed.

Suggested read: PM Modi  President Trump meet: What India wants

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Carlos Sainz wasn't happy with the Safety Car procedures in Baku, believing the restarts generated unnecessary risk for drivers racing in the middle of the field.

The Azerbaijan GP was marked by relative chaos at times, with several safety car periods forcing race restarts and subsequent contacts and collisions among the drivers.

Sainz's beef was with Baku's layout which includes a long 2.2 km pit-straight, with a Safety Car line located half-way down.

On restarts, leaders accelerate away while drivers back in the field are still dealing with a corner and effectively can't see the exact moment when the race goes green.

"It was probably the most dangerous part of the race when we restart," Sainz explained.

"The leaders were waiting up until the safety car line to start and at the same time they were going fast and slow.

"For the guys at the back we are still in the corners when they going fast, slow, there's walls and we cannot see through them.

"So suddenly we are going flat-out sixth, seventh gear and they were braking again. For me, a bit on the dangerous side."

The Toro Rosso driver believes a better procedure would be to move the Safety Car line back to the exit of Turn 16 in order for the field to enjoy a more predictable and progressive launch.

"Probably for next year they should consider when the leader is obliged to push. I think they should just put a rule where the leader starts before Turn 16 and to be flat from 16 because you cannot be slow, slow braking, fast, slow braking all of the time in such a long straight with people actually thinking they are going.

"Suddenly you are upshifting and upshifting, and braking again. It was probably the most dangerous part of the race.

"If I would have been the leaders then I probably would have done the same. It's not the leader's fault at all as I think all of us would have done the same to avoid the maximum possible slipstream that is on that straight.

"It's just the rule I think and if you want to be a bit more careful and make sure no accidents, if not, let it be and more things will happen."

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Nationwide real estate trend begins: Move to Texas if youre conservative

For a number of years now, Texas has been a beacon of freedom  physically, economically, spiritually  millions of Americans have flocked to in order to start living a better life. And while no place on earth is perfect, the Lone Star state gets pretty close when it comes to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Unlike Left-wing states run by Democrats  like Illinois, which is broke, or California, which is insane and cost-prohibitive, or New Jersey, where property taxes are through the roof  Texas is a perfect home for small-government conservatives who favor traditional American values like law and order, faith, family, community and maximum freedom.

And thats why a new company is pitching Texas deep red state conservatism to like-minded Americans all over the country.

A new website, conservativemove.com, attempts to lure conservative-minded folk to Texas and other conservative portions of the country. Based in McKinney, Texas the company is getting interest from around the country, targeting right-leaning Americans who are currently forced for a variety of reasons to endure an existence in a Democrat-run blue state.

With a tag of Helping Families Move Right, the website and company founder, Paul Chabot, told CBS-DFW last week that the first two homes owned by clients living in California went on the market. Furthermore, five additional clients are looking for homes in North Texas.

In all, he said, the company has fielded inquiries from more than 500 people living in more than 40 states.

Theyre dead serious, he said of people who are discussing a move to Texas. They are absolutely dead serious on doing it.

Chabot says that he made the move to the Lone Star State with his wife and four kids in January. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress twice in the Golden State, deciding after the second bid that California did not represent him or his views any longer. He said that other people expressed similar interest at his going-away party, and so the idea for his company was born.

CBS-DFS reports further:

The site offers a simple arrangement, connecting sellers with conservative realtors to unload their current home, and then with conservative realtors in North Texas to find a new one.

Finding homes based on political preference isnt really that hard, said realtor Derek Baker, adding that finding conservatism in North Texas isnt hard.

What were trying to do is appeal to someone based on the same values and reasons that we live here, Baker said, adding that he had scores of additional leads just last week from Americans living in California cities like Chico, Modesto and Upland.

One of those leads wrote that they were looking to move within two years, while another said they were tired of Commie-fornia. (RELATED: Waves of Californias economic and medical refugees begin moving to Texas in search of freedom)

Right now Chabot says he is focusing on California and North Texas. He added that he has yet to place any advertising, such as billboards, in places like Los Angeles and San Francisco, but he notes that is something he is planning to do at some point. And he wants to widen his reach.

Political leanings and viewpoints typically are not revealed on most real estate listings, but Chabot says that it isnt as weird or out there as it may seem.

A low tax burden, strong economy, and neighborhoods built for families (he says) are what makes the area great, CBS-DFW reported.

The trend of Americans moving out of California has been occurring for years. Most are moving because they can no longer afford to live there. CNN/Money reported in November that for every new home buyer in California, three homeowners are selling and leaving.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

TheNationalSentinel.com

DFW.CBSLocal.com

Money.CNN.com

Submit a correction >>
Amazon.com is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, a deal that comes as the online retail giant makes a big bet on brick-and-mortar stores to get a bigger chunk of consumer spending.

The online juggernaut will gain 400-plus Whole Foods Market stores around the country  about 30 of which are in the Bay Area. Experts say this is a groundbreaking move that will likely upend the grocery industry, putting major pressure on traditional stores and rival online-delivery services to keep up.

The 40,000-square-foot market as we know it is a dinosaur, said Phil Lempert, the food trends editor for NBCs Today show whos known as the Supermarket Guru. This is going to be a great shot in the arm for the industry.

Whole Foods Market will continue to operate stores under that name. John Mackey, co-founder of the chain based in Austin, Texas, will remain as CEO of the company.

Whole Foods caters to higher-income customers, a demographic that matches subscribers to Amazons Prime membership program. Experts say this acquisition is a smart way to expand Amazons physical footprint and enter the hypercompetitive grocery industry. But critics worry it gives the online behemoth too much control of a burgeoning sector. The market for Internet food sales could grow fivefold to $100 billion by 2025, according to the Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen Co.

Amazon has been in the grocery delivery service for years. AmazonFresh, launched a decade ago as a test in a single city near Seattle, offers same-day delivery in a dozen U.S. cities and four cities overseas with a limited selection of groceries.

But its brick-and-mortar experiments have been slow to spread beyond a handful of outposts. It has a single Amazon Go store, a basics-only grocery with no checkout line, and two AmazonFresh Pickup locations where online purchases are loaded into customers cars. There are eight Amazon bookstores in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington. The company will soon open another bookstore in Walnut Creek.

Amazon has seen setbacks in trying to bring grocery stores to the Bay Area. Sunnyvale officials approved plans for a store last fall, but the project shows few signs of moving forward. The developer of a San Carlos location put the application on hold after seeing neighborhood opposition over truck deliveries. Buying Whole Foods gives Amazon stores from coast to coast, and a real estate team experienced in getting approval for stores.

This deal is also seen as a win for Whole Foods, which recently announced a board shakeup and a cost-cutting plan amid falling sales. The chain, sometimes called Whole Paycheck by customers, is known for pricey fare. It has struggled to compete with cheaper sellers of organic food like Trader Joes. Its new 365 chain, with locations planned for Oakland, San Francisco and Concord, emphasizes lower prices.

The biggest loser in this deal could be Instacart, which sends shoppers into Whole Foods stores to pick and deliver groceries for customers.

Thats for two reasons, said Arun Sundararajan, a New York University business professor: It will lose Whole Foods as a grocery partner, and it is likely that Amazon will compete directly with Instacart by offering its own home deliveries of Whole Foods groceries. (A person familiar with Instacarts relationship with Whole Foods says the companies have a multiyear, exclusive contract.)

As Amazon injects its logistical wizardry into Whole Foods, each store will serve the dual purpose of being a retail destination and also an intelligent local warehouse, he said.

While Instacart, Uber and Postmates in San Francisco and Palo Altos DoorDash all have expertise in local last-minute delivery, their operations pale in comparison to the immense organizational expertise Amazon has in delivering to households, Sundararajan said.

For artisanal food vendors and upstart consumer brands, Whole Foods has also been a place to launch products and gain exposure to a mainstream market. Rather than displace them with mass-market brands, Amazon could very well tap those suppliers to boost its offerings.

Amazon is great, said Kara Goldin, CEO of Hint Inc., which sells flavored waters through Whole Foods and Amazon as well as directly to consumers online. They deliver product quickly and effectively and Whole Foods will give them access to more food product and local delivery.

Goldin said the real key to the deal was Whole Foods customer data, which Amazon could exploit.

Bob Hetu, a retail-industry research director for Gartner, said Whole Foods now has the ability to make use of Amazons technology and cost-cutting mind-set. That may help the store drive prices down and appeal to a wider demographic.

Amazon will likely look at the Whole Foods model and see where its broken  pricing, inefficiencies on the inventory management side, Hetu said. They could fix that stuff, and see where they can add automation and where the human element is required.

Shares of Whole Foods and Amazon both jumped on the announcement. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

While experts and investors largely view the deal as positive for the two companies, they point out how competitors and partners could be hurt. It could give Amazon, already a dominant player in online sales of books, electronics and other goods, an edge in food delivery as well. Whole Foods had 1.2 percent of the food and grocery market in 2016, according to GlobalData Retail, and Amazon had 0.19 percent.

Amazons acquisition of Whole Foods raises significant anticompetitive issues that should be deeply concerning to federal antitrust regulators and the public, said the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, an advocacy group that focuses on community development and is a frequent critic of the online retailer. This deal would give Amazon, which already sells more clothing, books, toys and consumer electronics than any other retailer, a substantial share of an even bigger consumer goods category, groceries.

I am concerned about what this deal means for suppliers and neighborhood grocery stores, said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, in a statement. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission must undertake a review that considers not just the mergers impact on prices, but also the impact on jobs and wages. We need to reorient antitrust policy to factor in the harm that economic concentration causes for American workers.

This will cause some consolidation in the retail market, as it tries to figure out how to confront this shift, Hetu said. But it all depends on how well (Amazon and Whole Foods) manages this connection. ... Weve seen a lot of these visionary mergers go bad before.

Chronicle staff writer Carolyn Said contributed to this report.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
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DANBURY - Ethan Allen employees had several reasons to celebrate at the companys recent annual picnic.

It was Ethan Allen Day, the company kicked off its 85th year in business and, in a sign of the times, the Danbury-based furniture maker prepared to launch its design studio on Amazon.

We wouldnt have even thought of that two years ago, Ethan Allen CEO Farooq Kathwari said at the picnic last week as he mingled with employees. The world has changed - not just for me, but for our interior designers, too. Two years ago, (Amazon) was seen as a threat.

For a company steeped in history, Kathwari is embracing technology and the changes it brings to industries. Ethan Allen recently held its annual spring conference as a webinar to introduce new products to its employees and designers. The conference had previously been held in Danbury and attended by about 400 people.

We did it as a webinar and about 3,000 people attended, Kathwari said. Its technology and an attitude. We have evolved with many initiatives to stay relevant. If you arent relevant you wont be around.

Kathwari said Ethan Allen has changed 70 percent of its product lines in the last four years.

Ethan Allen products are now available through its brick-and-mortar design centers and its website ethanallen.com. The launch on Amazon will happen this week. The Ethan Allen branded site on Amazon will include live chat with designers.

Amazon currently has a user base of more than 300 million people and had net sales of $136 billion in 2016. Ethan Allen products sold on Amazon will be shipped by Ethan Allens in-home delivery operations.

Late last year, Ethan Allen launched its Disney collection. It was the companys first partnership with another corporation. Items from the Ethan Allen-Disney collection are also available at both ethanallen.com and disneystore.com.

Also this month, the Ethan Allen-Disney collection launched in China, where the company has about 80 locations. The launch included a celebration in Shanghai, where there is a Disney park as well as a flagship Ethan Allen location.

Im so proud to have Ethan Allen here, said Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who attended the company picnic. The employees are motivated and successful, and its nice to see them being recognized. It is one of the bedrock organizations in Danbury.

Ethan Allen will hold a gala celebration in the fall to mark the companys 85th anniversary. The company moved its headquarters to Danbury in 1972.

Ethan Allen employs about 250 people in Danbury at its headquarters, design center and adjacent hotel. It has nearly 300 design centers across the U.S., and has manufacturing facilities in Vermont, North Carolina, New Jersey and Mexico. The majority of its products are made in the U.S. Each location celebrated Ethan Allen Day.

It is celebrated on June 23 to mark the day in 1775 when the Revolutionary War hero was recognized by the Continental Congress for leading the Green Mountain Boys to a victory at Fort Ticonderoga. Allen was born in Litchfield in 1738.

The culture and heritage is so strong here, said Mary Garrett, a new Ethan Allen board member. This (employee picnic) is a nice commemoration for the company that has been around for 85 years. Its going back to its roots.

cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338
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BROOKFIELD  With one in four teens nationally reporting to have misused or abused prescription drugs, the school district is seeking to protect students from a possible overdose.

The Board of Education is drafting a policy that would dictate how naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose, could be administered in schools. The Fairfield school district adopted a policy last month, and officials said other schools across the state are looking to do the same.

The opioid epidemic is significant and severe in this country, and the school needs to have a policy to deal with it, Brookfield school board chairman Bob Belden said.

The policy subcommittee, headed by board member Steve Harding, is reviewing guidelines Fairfield adopted last month and model policies created by the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE).

Harding said the board will determine who would be allowed to administer naloxone, more commonly known by the brand name Narcan, on campus. The primary goal of the policy would be to educate staff members.

So that if, God forbid, something does occur on the campus, the staff members know where to go, know where the Narcan is, know who to contact, Harding said.

Harding said he is not aware of anyone overdosing at school.

Obviously, I hope that continues to be the case, but we need to always prepare for the worst, he said.

School officials said implementing a policy is more important than ever, because 24 percent of teens reported they have misused or abused a prescription drug at least once, according to a 2013 study by the Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS).

In 2016, 916 people died from an accidental overdose in the state, as compared to 729 in 2015, according to the chief medical examiners office.

Brookfield Director of Special Education Charles Manos told school board members that some parents keep naloxone in their homes in case one of their children overdoses. Some students have lost parents to the opioid epidemic, he added.

We might not necessarily have to use it, and I hope we never have to at our high school or middle school, but each day we see the traumatic consequences of children who suffer from addictions in their families, Manos said at a Board of Education meeting last week.

Superintendent John Barile said the policy would be a progression of the districts work with Brookfield Cares, an organization that tackles substance abuse and other public health concerns.

This is a natural extension, a broader part of our look toward social-emotional support for our students and our partnership with Brookfield Cares, he said at the meeting.

Barile said the districts legal team compared a proposed Narcan policy to guidelines on automated external defibrillators (AED), which are used to treat victims of a sudden cardiac arrest.

The district also has guidelines for who can administer medicine, but these policies do not specifically mention Narcan.

CABE released its policy in November for school boards to use as a model. Vincent Mustaro, CABE senior staff associate for policy, said the association does not track whether districts have adopted their own guidelines, but said it should be considered.

Its something districts should consider, and obviously have to make that determination based on their community and what they see are their needs, Mustaro said. Were certainly aware of the problem and how it keeps growing, which was our impetus for putting out a model policy for districts to consider.

The district hopes to implement the policy by the fall.

This is some of the most important things we might do, Harding told the board at a meeting last week. Because in the unfortunate circumstance [that] something happens, this could be saving a life.
YANTAI, China, June 26, 2017 /CNW/ -- In early June, the Department of Publicity of Yantai invited a number of media organizations to tour the seaside city. The trip includes visits to many of Yantai's successful businesses.

Yantai is China's largest wine producing area. With one in three bottles of Chinese wine from here, Yantai has become an icon of Chinese wine culture. It is also a well-known seaside tourist city, attracting a large number of tourists to view the sea and appreciate the wine, as well as learning about the wine culture.

http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=291949

http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=291950

http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=291951

SOURCE Publicity Department of Yantai City

For further information: Ms. Ma, Tel/Fax: 86 10 63075245
The Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program (CIP 150) funding helps communities upgrade local infrastructure and improve quality of life for all Canadians

NEW WESTMINSTER, BC, June 26, 2017 /CNW/ - A popular community park in New Westminster has received a much-needed upgrade just in time for the summer season thanks to the support from a Government of Canada CIP 150 investment of $222,500.

The funding was announced today by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada, on the opening day of the upgraded park.

The Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program is part of Canada 150 Celebrates, the Government of Canada's celebration of our country's 150th anniversary of Confederation. Budget 2016 provided an additional $150 million over two years to Canada's Regional Development Agencies to deliver further community funding across the country, starting in 2016-17, with Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) being responsible for administering the program in Western Canada.

Through investments in communities across the country, the Government of Canada is supporting projects that seek to renovate, expand, and improve existing infrastructure with a focus on recreational facilities, projects that advance a clean growth economy, and projects with a positive impact on Indigenous communities.

Quotes



"Sapperton Park is symbolic of so many parks across our great country. They provide a place for communities to come together and enjoy the outdoors. Whether it's exploring the new play structures or cooling off in the spray park, I'm proud that the Canada 150 Infrastructure Program was able to support the improvements that we're celebrating today."

- The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada

"This playground was designed after extensive consultation with children and families. Talking with children about their new playground empowered them to apply their creativity and vision. Thanks to the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program, we helped turn those great ideas into something tangible, and you can see in them a sense of pride and ownership, as well as the knowledge that their input was valued."

- Mayor Jonathan X. Cote, City of New Westminster

Quick Facts

With the funding, the City of New Westminster has replaced playground and spray park equipment at Sapperton Park.

has replaced playground and spray park equipment at Sapperton Park. Key improvements include replacing aging equipment at the spray park to create a new adventure area. New features including bridges, seating, and a nature trail have also been added.

Stay Connected

Twitter: @WD_Canada, @canada150th, @MinisterISED, @New_Westminster.

Hashtags: #Canada150

Website: WD Homepage, Canada 150 Homepage, New Westminster

Facebook: @canada150th

Instagram: @canada150

WD Toll-Free Number: 1-888-338-WEST (9378)

TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired): 1-877-303-3388

Additional Links

IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.

SOURCE Western Economic Diversification Canada

For further information: Ben Stanford, Regional Communications Manager, Western Economic Diversification Canada, Telephone: 604-666-7038, Email: [email protected]
Diamond Game has deployed 60 modified LT-3 break open ticket dispensers in Clovis bingo hall

LOS ANGELES, June 26, 2017 /CNW/ - INNOVA Gaming Group Inc. ("INNOVA" or the "Company") (TSX: IGG), today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Diamond Game Enterprises ("Diamond Game"), has deployed 60 modified LT-3 break open ticket dispensers ("LT-3") under an Agreement (the "Agreement") with the Red Arrow Bingo Hall in Clovis, New Mexico.

"This is a significant opportunity for Diamond Game to demonstrate the benefit of its LT-3 for the charities in operation at Red Arrow Bingo," said Richard Weil, Chairman and CEO of INNOVA. "While the sales cycle can take time, we are beginning to see indications that both existing and new jurisdictions are ready to begin adding LT-3s. This announcement is one of several considerable growth opportunities that the Company has available to it. In the coming years, we expect to drive strong deployment growth with existing and new customers and to continue to generate solid financial performance through the addition of value-added content and features to existing units in the field."

The Agreement demonstrates Diamond Game's ability to modify LT-3s for a given jurisdiction's needs, in this case to provide the player with the same engaging experience, without a cash-out voucher or accumulated credits. The Agreement is dated June 15, 2017 and will extend for three years. Diamond Game is a licensed Bingo Manufacturer by the New Mexico Gaming Control Board in New Mexico.

About INNOVA Gaming Group Inc.

INNOVA develops unique games and products for the global gaming industry, with particular focus on state and provincial lotteries. Through the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Diamond Game, INNOVA focuses on enhancing the revenues of government-sponsored lotteries and other regulated operators by offering its unique "extended play" products in traditional and non-traditional gaming venues. Its primary product is the LT-3, an instant ticket vending machine that dispenses tickets while simultaneously displaying the results of each ticket on a video monitor in an entertaining fashion. For more information, please visit www.innovagaminggroup.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included herein, including those that express management's expectations or estimates of our future performance or future events, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, regulatory and competitive uncertainties and contingencies that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein reflect INNOVA's current views with respect to future events, and except as required by law, INNOVA does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE INNOVA Gaming Group

For further information: Jonathan Ross, LodeRock Advisors, INNOVA Investor Relations, [email protected], Tel: (416) 283-0178
Name change honours Canada's 150th birthday

TORONTO, June 26, 2017 /CNW/ - In honour of Canada's 150th birthday, KFC Canada is changing its name to K'ehFC. K'ehFC has a rich, 62-year history in Canada, and the move pays homage to the company's love and appreciation for all things Canadian during a year of national celebration and patriotism.

K'ehFC, formerly known as KFC, will mark the official name change with a brand-new sign at the company's first-ever Canadian location on 8th Street in Saskatoon, which Colonel Sanders himself sealed with a handshake. K'ehFC has proudly been served at this location in Saskatoon since 1955.

"K'ehFC has proudly embraced its Canadian roots for 62 years, from our iconic red and white style, to our friendly, neighbourly presence from coast-to-coast," said Stephen Scarrow, Senior Marketing Manager, Advertising and Media, K'ehFC. "We want customers to feel the same strong appreciation for Canada that we have since 1955. Let's get this party started!"

K'ehFC fans nation-wide are invited to celebrate with K'ehFC throughout the summer and can experience the name change first-hand with newly designed buckets with any bucket purchase. K'ehFC is also marking its name change with online giveaways through their social media channels, as well as an updated website adorned with the K'ehFC logo.

While K'ehFC is changing its name, Scarrow assured us the company is not changing its finger-lickin' good chicken recipe (nor is the company revealing the Colonel's secret blend of 11 herbs and spices). According to Scarrow, only a handful of people know the recipe, and he's not one of them.

"Canada Day is about togetherness  for the country, our communities, and for our friends and family, and bringing people together over a bucket of chicken is what K'ehFC stands for," said Scarrow.

Fans looking to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday with a bucket of chicken from K'ehFC can do so at any one of the company's 610 locations or by ordering online at www.kehfc.ca

The name change will be in effect throughout the summer.

About KFC

Founded by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952, KFC is now the world's most popular chain of chicken restaurants. To this day the Colonel's own blend of 11 herbs and spices is still used to season our Original Recipe chicken and it still remains a very closely guarded secret. KFC's specialty is our famous Original Recipe chicken, but we also feature a variety of freshly prepared sandwiches and wraps, on the go snack items, home-style sides, desserts and beverages.

Today KFC is a subsidiary of YUM! Brands Inc. and operates more than 20,000 restaurants in 125 countries around the world including more than 600 locations right here in Canada.

To learn more about K'ehFC Canada, visit our website KehFC.ca.

facebook.com/KFCCanada

twitter.com/kfc_canada

instagram.com/kfc_canada

youtube.com/KFCCanadaTV

SOURCE KFC Canada

For further information: Media Contact: Graeme Morrison, Senior Account Executive, Edelman, [email protected], 416-850-0163
TORONTO, June 26, 2017 /CNW/ - On the same day former nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of eight Ontario long-term care residents, the Ontario government has launched an independent public inquiry into the circumstances around these tragic events.



The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) had been demanding an inquiry into the case since Wettlaufer pleaded guilty earlier this month. The association spoke out in the media and issued letters to provincial leaders. RNAO Chief Executive Officer Doris Grinspun says the formal public inquiry announced today by Health Minister Eric Hoskins and Attorney General Yasir Naqvi should provide much-needed answers for grieving families and for Ontario's health system.

"During this immensely difficult time, I commend the government for having the courage to put these events under the microscope," says Grinspun. "The inquiry will help us learn how this tragedy happened, and see if there were any cracks in the system we can address to prevent this from happening ever again."

News of these deaths devastated the nursing profession, the health sector and the public  especially the families of the eight lost long-term care residents. Earlier this month, RNAO released a statement expressing its condolences to the victims' families and reiterating nurses' commitment to delivering safe and quality care.

"When it comes to the safety of our patients, we must leave no stone unturned," says RNAO President Carol Timmings. "It is essential for Ontarians to know they can trust their health professionals and their health system, and getting to the bottom of this tragedy will help us reinforce that trust."

RNAO is the professional association representing registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and nursing students in Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses' contribution to shaping the health-care system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public they serve. For more information about RNAO, visit our website at RNAO.ca or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario

For further information: Daniel Punch, Communications Officer/Writer, RNAO, Tel: 416-408-5606 / 1-800-268-7199, ext. 250, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.rnao.org


The United States takes seriously its responsibility to support the Ukrainian people, who are working to develop their own democratic and prosperous society, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch has said.

Speaking at the opening of the forum of small businesses on Sofiyska Square in Kyiv on Saturday, the ambassador said the joint project of USAID and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has helped many people to find shelter and social support, as well as learn skills necessary to start work and start their own business.

The USAID program provided comprehensive support in reintegration for more than 1,300 people, they also helped hundreds to start their own businesses, Yovanovitch said.

She said the U.S. takes very seriously its duty to support the Ukrainian people who are working to develop their own democratic and prosperous society.

According to International Organization for Migration Mission in Ukraine (IOM) Chief Manfred Profazi, some 5,500 people benefited from a program to strengthen the economic potential of migrants and people who require support over ten years. These people, including internally displaced persons, established small enterprises or became self-employed in agriculture, production, construction, and services, he said.

A fair of small enterprises dubbed 'BizFair' is taking place on Sofiyska square on Saturday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.

Over a hundred representatives of small enterprises of various business sectors presented their own goods and services  furniture, ironwork and wooden products, sportswear and casual wear, bags and accessories, jewelry, games for children, as well as beverages and other food products.
Today Muslims across Canada and around the world celebrate Eid al-Fitr, a joyous holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan

OTTAWA, June 24, 2017 /CNW/ - Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. It is a time of happiness and celebration. A time when families, neighbours and friends come together to pray and feast and recommit themselves to strengthening community and showing generosity and compassion to others.

This Muslim holiday reminds us all of the importance of connecting with loved ones, caring for those less fortunate than ourselves and being thankful for all we have. It also reminds us of the enormous contributions Canada's diverse Muslim community make to our country's cultural richness and economic prosperity.

As we mark Canada 150, Canadians of all ages and backgrounds are celebrating what makes our communities unique, diverse and vibrant. This special year is a great opportunity to discover more about the diverse cultures and people who make our neighbourhoods, province and country such amazing places to live.

As Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Multiculturalism, I wish everyone observing Eid alFitr a joyous celebration. Eid Mubarak!

SOURCE Canadian Heritage

For further information: (media only), please contact: Pierre-Olivier Hebert, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, 819-997-7788

Related Links

http://www.pch.gc.ca


OTTAWA, June 24, 2017 /CNW/ - The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on Eid al-Fitr:



"Tonight at sunset, Muslims in Canada and around the world will celebrate Eid al-Fitr, also known as the festival of breaking of the fast.

"Eid al-Fitr is one of the most important religious holidays for the Muslim community, and marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. It is a time to give thanks for the spiritual growth and the blessings received throughout the holy month.

"On this occasion, family and friends gather to attend special morning prayers, exchange greetings and gifts, share a celebratory meal, and give generously to others, especially those less fortunate.

"Canada's cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and sources of pride. This year, as we mark the 150th anniversary of Confederation, we recognize the invaluable contributions the Muslim community makes to our national fabric.

"On behalf of our family, Sophie and I extend our best wishes to all those celebrating Eid al-Fitr.

"Eid Mubarak!"

This document is also available at http://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office

For further information: PMO Media Relations: 613-957-5555

Related Links

http://pm.gc.ca/


Excise tariff changes for producers and importers of alcohol and cigarettes could be introduced under an automated system of revenue control of goods subject to excise fees.

A respective piece of legislation drafted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (No 6545-1) was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on June 21.

The automated system of excise goods revenue control could replace the paper stamps used to label the products. Excise stamps will retain a special symbol, which will confirm payment of tax. The stamp can be a paper symbol that can be printed on a pack or product wrapper.

The government also recommends rescinding today's electronic register of goods-transportation documentation accompanying offloading of spirits and liquor products.

The Cabinet proposes introducing an electronic excise mark for the transportation of cigarettes, spirits and liquor productions, which will be filled out by sellers with a license to sell the products. After filling out the electronic excise paperwork, commercial entities will be able to register it in the unified register of excise goods.

Confirmation of registration would be an electronic receipt that sellers of the goods would receive within the course of one working day.

The draft law also outlines the mechanism for filling out electronic excise paperwork.

The Cabinet will approve the procedure for entering excise goods into the unified excise goods register.

The government foresees a ban on the transportation of spirits and liquor products without excise paperwork already registered in the unified register of excised products database.

The system would operate in test mode for 180 days, without imposition of penalties for non-observance of registration deadlines for registering excise products in the unified register.

Automated control over turnover of spirits and cigarettes, according to the draft law, would make it possible to track the products from the producer or importer through to the moment they are sold on the retail market. The government expects to reduce the shadow market for excise goods and increase budget receipts at all levels by introducing the new system.
Russia and Ukraine plan to sign a new contract on supply of Ukrainian uranium to Russia in summer, International Uranium Enrichment Center General Director Gleb Yefremov said in an interview with Interfax.

"This year the agreement on creation of the IUEC was renewed for another 10-year period, but given the current inexplicable prices for uranium, for uranium fuel components, we made the decision and agreed with Ukraine and all our other shareholders that the next period of operation of the long-term agreement will be for three years," Yefremov said.

"The signing of the three-year agreement is planned for July-August this year," Yefremov said. "Corporate approval procedures are now underway, since the agreement has the characteristics of a transaction. In the framework of this agreement we are signing annual contracts, that is, for each year we determine the amount of production that our shareholder needs. The contract for 2017 will also be signed at the same time as the long-term three-year agreement," he said.
Nigerians have reacted to the voice message President Muhammadu Buhari released to Nigerians to celebrate Sallah recently.

President Muhammadu Buhari

For the first time since President Muhammadu Buhari left the country for the United Kingdom 50 days ago, the Presidency, on Sunday, released his voice message to Nigerians.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the voice message was released to debunk reports that the President was suffering from speech impairment.

The audio clip, which is the Presidents voice message to Nigerians on the occasion of the Eid-el-Fitr, is in Hausa.

The Buharis Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, had, in a statement on Saturday conveyed the message of the President to Nigerians.

On Sunday, the BBC aired a recorded audio version of Buharis message.

The message, which took the President about one minute and three seconds to deliver, is the audio version of the statement released by Shehu.

Buhari stated in the message, I am immensely grateful to God for his mercy in guiding us successfully to conclude another Ramadan. My greetings to all Nigerian Muslims and our brother Christians on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr:





May the lessons of Ramadan, namely piety, self-denial, prayers and generosity to the poor and the needy, be with us for all time.





I, again, appeal to all Nigerians to avoid reckless statements or actions against our fellow countrymen. We should all resolve to live in peace and unity in our great country, which is the envy of many less-endowed nations.

There have been reports in the social media claiming that the President is suffering from speech impairment and memory loss.

Some Nigerians however expressed mixed feelings about Buharis message with some civil rights organisations and prominent individuals berating the President for speaking to Nigerians in Hausa.

Its propaganda, says Junaid Mohammed

A member of the House of Representatives during the Second Republic, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, wondered what the Presidents handlers intended to achieve with the audio message.

He stated, Other than propaganda, I wonder what they (Presidents handlers) intend to achieve by putting out such an audio clip (message) at this time. The President needs our prayers and we sincerely pray for his quick recovery and safe return.

Also, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, said Buharis statement failed to address the issues of concern in the country, describing the audio message as flat.

Its spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, said he expected the President to have cautioned Arewa youths against their ultimatum to the Igbo, noting that instead, Buhari simply danced around the issue.

He said, The statement is so flat; it did not address specific issues on the ground. In view of what is going on in the country now, I would have thought he would have appealed to those, who are issuing notices to quit against some other tribes, to desist from doing such a thing.







He was talking about reckless speeches. What constitute reckless speeches? I think he should have been more specific in terms of what we are facing now because the country is under stress.

Odumakin berated the President for speaking in Hausa in the recording, saying that was not good enough.

He contended that there were many non-Hausa Muslims.





Its like the Acting President (Yemi) Osinbajo addressing the nation in Yoruba because he is a Yoruba man.





Addressing the nation at this time in Hausa does not bring inclusiveness. I dont think its good enough for the President of a multi-ethnic nation to have made a national address in the language spoken by a section of the country, he said.

No difference between Buhari, Nnamdi Kanu Jonathans ex-aide

Reacting to the Presidents message, a former Special Assistant on Social Media to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Reno Omokri, on his Facebook page, condemned Buhari for addressing Muslims in Hausa.

Omokri stated, In a country, whose official language is English, President Muhammadu Buhari broadcasts his Sallah message in Hausa! Would Trump (whose origin is German) address America in German? So what about all those Nigerians who cant speak Hausa?





Ideally, the President should have spoken in English first; then, if he feels like it, he may also speak in Hausa. The way he spoke only in Hausa makes it seem as if he is only concerned with those who gave him 97 per cent of the votes while those who gave him five per cent can take a hike!







How would the rest of the country have felt if President Olusegun Obasanjo had released a Christmas broadcast to Nigerians in Yoruba or if President Goodluck Jonathan had done so in Ogbia?





How can a national leader address Nigerians in a sectional language? Nigeria has never had a leader as divisive as Buhari! There is no difference between President Buhari and Nnamdi Kanu.





President Buhari is the President of all Nigeria; he is not the President of only those who can speak Hausa! This is an outrage! (The late) President Umaru YarAdua also spoke to the BBC News by telephone. He is Fulani, like President Buhari; yet, he spoke in English because he was President of all of us!

Presidents use of Hausa ill-advised, says CDHR

In its reaction, a civil society organisation, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, said the Presidents use of Hausa in his salah message was discriminatory as more than half of the population would not understand him.

The CDHR President, Malachy Ugwumadu, stated, The lingua franca of Nigeria is not Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba or Ibibio, but English. Therefore, while we appreciate that the President is not in the best of health condition, it is far-fetched that he would communicate on this occasion in a language that is not understood by more than half of the population. That was not well advised.





This is a heterogeneous society, where we have over 200 indigenous languages. I think the President should focus on what unites us rather than what divides us. If he mustered the energy to talk at all, he should talk in a way everyone would understand. It is not proper.

IYC surprised Buhari spoke Hausa

Also, the Ijaw Youth Council expressed surprise that Buhari, whom it noted Nigerians had been eager to hear from, spoke in Hausa in his sallah message.

IYC spokesman, Mr. Henry Iyalla, said, on Sunday, that it would be difficult for Nigerians to agree that the President was actually the person that spoke to Nigerians on the BCC.

He explained that the President should have spoken in English, the official language of the country, adding that it was only English that the entire Nigeria would be able to hear and understand if he was the person who spoke.





Iyalla stated, He is not only the President of the Hausa, he is also the President of Yoruba, Igbo, Niger Delta and other ethic nationalities.





We are not really sure that he is the one who really spoke and this has not doused any tension about his health.

Nigeria, now a Banana Republic, says Ohanaeze

The umbrella group for the Igbo, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, declared that Nigeria had descended to the level of a Banana Republic, if the President could address Nigerians in Hausa.

The Deputy Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr. Chuks Ibegbu, who spoke to one of our correspondents in Enugu on Sunday, doubted the authenticity of the message.

Ibegbu noted that there was a big problem if the message was found to be authentic, saying the message should be investigated.





First of all, we have to ascertain the veracity of the voice because in these days of technology, a lot of things can be cloned, including human voice, the Ohanaeze spokesman.





But if it is true that Mr. President addressed Nigerians in a local language, it means something is wrong somewhere.





I want to believe that the voice is not real, but if it is Mr. President that actually spoke, then, it means that we have descended to the level of a Banana Republic.





The Federal Government should tell Nigerians whether it is actually Mr. Presidents voice, or not.



Ibegbu noted that the address couldnt have been meant for Nigerians if it was delivered in Hausa.

He said, Which message; message to who; in what language? Is Hausa our lingua franca? If Mr. President wants to address us, he should talk to us in English, which is our lingua franca.

Buharis Sallah message, a good development ACF

But the Arewa Consultative Forum said Buharis Eid-el-Fitr message was a good development in view of recent happenings in the country.

The National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Muhammad Ibrahim, told one of our correspondents in Kaduna on Sunday that Buharis appeal to all Nigerians goes to show the Presidents belief in one and indivisible entity (country).

Also, the National Chairman of the Northern Elders Council, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, prayed for the Presidents quick recovery.

***
The Eid-El-Fitr festivities were celebrated peacefully in most states of the Northeast, as security was tightened in Borno and Yobe  th...

The Eid-El-Fitr festivities were celebrated peacefully in most states of the Northeast, as security was tightened in Borno and Yobe  the two states worst hit by the activities of insurgents.Reports by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) indicated that vehicular movements were restricted in the two states for certain period, to avert any ugly incident, especially during the congregation prayers.Borno Police Command had announced total ban on vehicular movement during the prayer time, resulting in the closure of most roads in the metropolis.Security personnel were also deployed to prayer grounds to screen worshippers thoroughly at the entrance.Some worshippers interviewed hailed the security agents for their efforts in ensuring security at the prayer grounds.The police had deployed 2,000 personnel across the state to ensure adequate security during the celebrations.In Yobe, the congregation prayers were conducted peacefully, just as a 12-hour restriction on vehicular movements was also enforced across the state.Armed security men and vigilante groups were placed at strategic locations to keep vigil on movement of people to the prayer grounds.In the past, cases of suicide bombing were experienced at prayers grounds in Damaturu, especially during the peak of Boko Haram insurgency.Some Muslim faithful in Damaturu expressed gratitude to God for the peace enjoyed in the state throughout the one month Fasting period.In his Sallah message, the state governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, urged the people to use the period to pray for the country and improved health for President Muhammadu Buhari.We should also, as good citizens, more than ever before, and be prepared to work and act together in our resolve for the attainment of a happier and more prosperous future for our State and indeed our great country, Nigeria, he said.The situation was also the same in Adamawa, another state that had grappled with the menace of Boko Haram insurgents.NAN reports that no ugly incident was recorded across the state, just as rainfall forced a shift in the venue of the congregation prayers, from open prayer ground, to Yola Central Mosque.The rainfall also affected the staging of durbar at the palace of the Lamido of Adamawa, usually associated with such celebrations.Receiving members of various groups and associations who paid him Sallah homage, Gov. Muhammadu Bindow said reports reaching him from security agencies indicated that the celebration was hitch-free across the state.Bindow urged the people to remain law-abiding and continue to support government at all levels.I also want to use this opportunity to urge our people to participate actively in the ongoing update of voters register because reports reaching me showed that participation is not encouraging, the governor said.In Gombe, celebrations went on peacefully, but it was not business as usual for commercial vehicle operators, who lamented the dearth of passengers.Speaking with NAN in Gombe, Chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers, Malam Ibrahim Bala, said the situation at the various park in the state was worrisome.Bala, who attributed the problem to the economic hardship in the country, said the motorists were ready to reduce fares if they would get passengers.Muslims in Jos enjoyed a peaceful Eid-el Fitr celebration yesterday, with security tightened in some parts of the Plateau capital.A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who visited some strategic areas in the city, observed that more security personnel were deployed to ensure the safety of worshipers and fun-seekers at recreation centres.The Chief Imam of Dutse Central Mosque in Jigawa, Sheikh Sani Birninkudu has advised Muslims to desist from making divisive comments capable of creating hate and disharmony among people.Birninkudu stated this in a sermon to mark Eid-el Fitr prayers in Dutse yesterday.The cleric advised Muslims to fear God, reminding them that they would be held accountable for their deeds in the hereafter.
Suspected kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeje George Onwuamadike, aka Evans, was allegedly arrested in 2006 for bank robbery. But a policewoman he...

Suspected kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeje George Onwuamadike, aka Evans, was allegedly arrested in 2006 for bank robbery. But a policewoman helped him evade justice.





There was a gun duel between Evans and members of his gang at the National Theatre in Lagos, while sharing the loot from the operation.

They started shooting themselves and many of the robbers died. He was seriously injured and abandoned by the others.

Evans recalls that he was arrested by the police, before he and two others were transferred to the Imo State Police Command, where they were released.

Evans was confronted with the interview on Sunday and he admitted that the bullet wounds are from disagreement over sharing of loot after bank robbery in Lagos in 2006.

They shot one another and many gang members died while Evans survived with bullet wounds, the officer in charge of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Abba Kyari, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said.

A police source added: The then divisional police officer of Iponri police station, Yahaya Bello, now a deputy commissioner of police, said there was a serious incident involving some persons who shot at one another. He said about three of them had been arrested, the source said.

One of the members of the gang arrested then was Chukwudi Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans. If you look at his chest, I cannot remember whether it is the right or left side, there is a scar. It was as a result of the gunshot from his gang members that day.

He bled and there was no way he could run away before the police came. The case was transferred to the Lagos state anti-robbery squad. We investigated and discovered that they were armed robbers.

Evans led the team. We also went to Mbidi police station, Imo state, to carry out an investigation on them. We were able to arrest two other members of the gang. We then had five of them in police custody.

There was a policewoman at the band section of the Police College, Lagos. She was known as Tina, a superintendent of police. She insisted that we should drop the case and that Onwuamadike (Evans) was her brother.

But when she was unable to achieve her aim, she travelled to Imo state. Not long after, we got a message from the Imo state police command that they had been searching for Evans and asked us to transfer the case to them so they could continue from where we stopped. Since that time, we did not hear anything. We heard he was later released there.
A former Political Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Akin Osuntokun has described the controversy over the Presidents speech ...

A former Political Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Akin Osuntokun has described the controversy over the Presidents speech impairment as a reduction to kindergarten contention over a largely irrelevant medical jargon.





He said going as far as proving that Buhari had no speech problem was of no significance to Nigerians who were desirous to know if their President can still carry on.

According to him, speech impairment was not the only medical condition that can incapacitate the president.

Osuntokun told reporters in Lagos, Of what significance is it if he has speech impairment or not?

What matters to Nigerians is whether he is fit and capable enough to function as president.

Is speech impairment the only malfunction that can incapacitate him?

What if he has something worse? All this nitpicking is only good for theatre and distraction.

It is a tragedy that the governance of Nigeria is being reduced to kindergarten contention over a largely irrelevant medical jargon.
The Anglican Bishop of Ibadan Diocese, Most Rev. Joseph Akinfenwa, has warned that if Nigeria disintegrates, every region will experience a...

The Anglican Bishop of Ibadan Diocese, Most Rev. Joseph Akinfenwa, has warned that if Nigeria disintegrates, every region will experience a setback of 100 years.

He gave the warning yesterday during an interview with newsmen on the sidelines of the ordination of deacons and priests at St. Stephens Anglican Church, Nalende, Ibadan.

The cleric said: It is from one area that quit notice was given, and another area desired to be independent.

The whole thing boils down on injustice, poverty, suffering of the masses, some few carting away the goods of the land, whereas a lot of people are suffering.

The fruit that our diversity has borne is more than the division that we are lingering for. Our unity and our being together, has borne so many fruits. If we say this marriage should be divorced, everybody will be a loser from whatever angle. It is going to set us back 100 years.

Where is the good in and in encouraging the labours of our heroes past? We

want to destroy it overnight? That is what the agitators are doing.

Agitating for this and that is not the way to go, not through the drumbeat for war, but through dialogue.

Let us go back to the table. If there is separation now, and there is war, God forbids, after the war, it is still dialogue we will go back to. So, why dont we go for dialogue now? Let us sit down and discuss it.

Akinfenwa advocated consideration of the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference and dialogue by the Federal Government, to chart a way forward for a united Nigeria, instead of drumbeat of war pervading the atmosphere.

Let the federal government bring to the open the conference report, and whatever they have discussed.

Let us discuss Nigeria to the betterment of everybody and to the glory of God. That is the only way out.

Let our leaders initiate discussion. We thank God for Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, who has encouraged state governors to speak out; that is the way out.

Leaders of thoughts must speak out because, to begin to separate and disintegrate, we are going to lose so much than what we are going to gain, whether it is being politically motivated or otherwise, it does not matter.

The way forward is going back to the drawing board. Let us go back to dialogue table and discuss the project, called Nigeria. Then, it will be settled. If we were regions before, is it possible to look at that? If it is to decentralise power from the centre and let the areas have more power, it is through discussion, not through giving quit notice or taking guns and whatever, Akinfenwa said.
The police have charged a Beninese businesswoman, Abduo Rachidatuo, before the Lagos State Magistrates Court in Igbosere for allegedly claiming to be a Nigerian.Rachidatuo was charged with three counts bordering on impersonation, breach of peace and contempt of court.In the charge they presented before the court, the police alleged that Rachidatou did impersonate yourself in Nigeria Harmonised (ECOWAS) Electronic Passport No. 06820812 to be Abudu Rashidatu, a Nigerian by birth and origin of Lagos State, instead of Abduo Rachidatou, a Benin national as indicated on (your) Republicque du Benin passport No. B0483183 issued on the 2nd day of September at Port Novo, knowing same to be a false statement to a public officer.The police also alleged that the Beninese businesswoman and some persons at large disobeyed a binding order of Justices Mohammed Yunusa and Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos by forcefully ejecting Mr. Modeste Senon from the premises of Rana Prestige Industries Nigeria Limited.The police claimed that Rachidatou violated sections 123 and 114 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015, adding that she is liable to be punished under the same law.However, upon her arraignment, before the court presided over by Mrs. O. O. Oshin, Rachidatou denied the allegations as she pleaded not guilty.She was subsequently granted bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum.The magistrate said one of the sureties must be a civil servant of not less than grade level 14 while the other surety must show evidence of six months tax payment to the Lagos State Government.The matter was adjourned till July 26 for mention.
The National Agency for Food And Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has advised Nigerian exporters to stop embarrassing the country by obtaining the agencys certification of products.The Spokesman of NAFDAC, Dr Abubakar Jimoh, gave the advice while fielding questions from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja on the rejection of about 25 Nigerian produce by the European Union (EU) between 2015 and 2016.Jimoh explained that the EU had rejected the 25 exported food products from Nigeria for lack of standard.NAN reports that some of the food products on the EU rejection list from Nigeria include beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish and meat, peanut chips and palm oil, among others.He therefore urged exporters to subject their products to NAFDACs standard and internationally accredited laboratories for proper certification.He said that the screening and certification of any product for export by NAFDAC was free of charge in spite of facilities, personnel and chemical reagents being used to conduct such tests.The Federal Government is doing this as a deliberate policy to encourage our exporters and to satisfy international standards for exports.We are now appealing to our exporters not to run away from product certification of NAFDAC, it is free and we dont charge anything for such service.We have adequate personnel and equipment to carry out such responsibility in the country, Jimoh said.The spokesman lamented that the action of exporters has put the countrys image in bad light and also cause a huge loss to the exporters themselves which had implication to the economy of the country.According to him, NAFDAC had six functional laboratories that conduct various types of products test across the country.He also decried exporters penchant for bypassing NAFDAC and smuggling of their products at the detriment of the countrys economy and their income.Jimoh said that the agency had two functional laboratories in Lagos, one each in Kaduna, Agolo in Anambra, Maiduguri and Port Hacourt, while the one in Calabar had not been completed.He disclosed plans to establish another laboratory in Benue to serve exporters in the North Central part of the country.Jimoh, who is also the NAFDAC Director Special Duty, noted that the laboratory in Lagos had been accredited internationally and any product that gets approval from such lab would be recognised globally.He confirmed that the EU had certified the laboratory in Lagos and considered it as meeting the world standard.He disclosed that Kaduna laboratory was inherited by NAFDAC from the Federal Ministry of Health and later gutted by fire, but that the agency had built a new lab.The spokesman added that the Kaduna laboratory was built to serve all agricultural farm produce coming from the north for screening and certification and exportation.He added that the laboratory has required facilities and equipment and was now awaiting international accreditation.According to him, Agolo, a regional laboratory built by NAFDAC and inaugurated sometime in 2010 by former president Goodluck Jonathan, also has the capacity to serve exporters from the South East region.The EU team that visited our lab in Lagos about a year and half ago were happy with what they met on ground.We have two laboratories in Lagos, the one in Oshodi deals with food products, micro toxic, High Liquid Performance Chromatography and pesticide residues, while the one in Yaba deals mainly on drugs.Laboratory is capital intensive and we cannot have it in every state; therefore those we have now serve states close to them.We have the capacity and we are well prepared to ensure all our exported products from the country get NAFDACs clean bill of health as an agency charged with responsibility of quality control, he said.Jimoh also urged the Nigerian Customs Service to continue to cooperate with NAFDAC in ensuring that such products were not smuggled out of the country.Meanwhile, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Kano S says it will convene a meeting with producers of agricultural products affected by the EU rejection policy to reverse the development.The state AFAN Secretary, Alhaji Garba Bichi, told NAN in Kano that the meeting would draw all stakeholders from across the state in order to find a lasting solution to the problem.We have decided to convene a meeting with all those affected by the EU rejection on some agricultural products in order to address the issue.The rejection is as a result of the failure of producers to meet standards due to incorrect application of pesticides and other agrochemical substances.So we feel it is necessary to meet with affected farmers and other stakeholders to find a way out, Bichi said.He assured that even though some of the affected products were not produced in the state, but the association would meet with the affected producers with a view to taking a collective decision on the issue.The scribe said the meeting was expected to come up with useful recommendations for immediate implementation and if possible seek technical advices from experts.An official of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) in the Kano State told NAN on condition of anonymity that the council last year trained some farmers of a particular product, following the development.The official, who, works at the Enquiry Desk, said the training which was held in Kaduna, was conducted on melon and ginger where farmers were given technical advices on how to add value to their products and ease acceptability in the international markets.
The Supreme Court has partially reinstated Donald Trump's travel ban - meaning that citizens from six Muslim-majority countries without any connection to the US will now be barred from travelling.Mr Trump said last week that the ban would go into effect 72 hours after receiving an approval from the courts.Two federal appeals courts have previously blocked critical parts of the order, meaning that Monday's ruling is therefore a partial victory for Mr Trump, who wanted all citizens from Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Iran, Syria and Libya barred from arriving on US shores.He described the decision as "a clear victory for our national security."He continued: "As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive."My number one responsibility as commander in chief is to keep the American people safe. Today's ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our nation's homeland."The Supreme Court stopped short of banning all arrivals, however, as Mr Trump had wanted.But it did agree to an emergency measure, taking effect immediately, which will prevent anyone who cannot prove a solid connection with anyone already in the US from arriving."The interest in national security is an urgent objective of the highest order," they said in their ruling.Only those "with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States," can pass US borders.It means that students and those with family in the US can still travel to the country - although it did not specify what family ties and what "entities" were acceptable.Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch - appointed by Mr Trump - dissented from part of the courts opinion, and argued that they would have revived the travel ban in its entirety while the court considered the case.Justice Thomas noted that the ruling was difficult to interpret.I fear that the courts remedy will prove unworkable, he wrote.Todays compromise will burden executive officials with the task of deciding  on peril of contempt  whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country.The compromise also will invite a flood of litigation until this case is finally resolved on the merits, as parties and courts struggle to determine what exactly constitutes a bona fide relationship, who precisely has a credible claim to that relationship, and whether the claimed relationship was formed simply to avoid the executive order."The justices' decision granted parts of his administration's emergency request to put the March 6 executive order into effect immediately while the legal battle continues.The court also said it would partly allow a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to go into effect.David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, condemned the decision, pointing out that refugees already undergo intense screening and background checks, which often take 36 months.Too much time already has been spent litigating this misguided order, he said.The approach of the administration is bad policy. That is not changed by the legal arguments."The Courts decision threatens damage to vulnerable people waiting to come to the US: people with urgent medical conditions blocked, innocent people left adrift, all of whom have been extensively vetted."We urge the administration to begin its long-delayed review of the vetting process and restart a program which changes lives for the better.On June 2 Mr Trump's administration referred the case to the Supreme Court, after his travel ban was blocked by lower courts. On Monday morning Supreme Court effectively ruled that the appellate courts which blocked the ban entirely went too far.They will begin a full hearing in the autumn, probably in early October.The Trump administration said the ban was needed to allow an internal review of the screening procedures for visa applicants from those countries. That review should be complete before October 2, the first day the justices could hear arguments in their new term.




Female security agent at the University of Maiduguri was feared death and three others injured when persons suspected to be Boko Haram suicide bombers launched an attack on the institution last night.The explosions occurred around 10:23 pm on Sunday killing the two female bombers.Spokesperson of the institution, Professor Danjuma Gambo of the department of masscommunication told BBC Hausa that the explosions occurred in three different locations, two in the university.He said the first female bomber targeted the security operatives when she detonated the bomb strapped on her body. One of the security agents died on the spot and three others were rushed to the hospital with various degrees of injuries. The second bomber entered through the eastern end of the institution but was sighted by the security agents and was shotHe, however, said the third explosion went off far from the university.Gambo blamed recent attacks on the university on its expansive land mass part of which is still unfenced.
Former Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo, has warned that if the threat by Northern youths asking Igbos to vacate their ...

Former Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo, has warned that if the threat by Northern youths asking Igbos to vacate their region is pushed too far, the Rwanda experience will be a childs play.

Bozimo issued the warning over the weekend in Warri, Delta State when a delegation of the United States Consulate, led by Paul Hines, Political and Economic Adviser to the Consul General, payed him a visit to find out how Niger Delta region was doing under the leadership of Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo.

The delegate had also visited former national chairman, Traditional Rulers of Oil Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, His Majesty, Charles Ayemi-Botu, with the same aim of finding out how the region was fairing under Osinbajos leadership.





Addressing the delegation, Bozimo said, The similarity with the experience of 1966/67 is too close. How do you differentiate between Igbo and South-South people? We are worried because if these threats are pushed too far, Rwanda will be a childs play.

Bozimo also disclosed that the people of the Niger Delta were worried by the slow response of the Federal Government to the long envisaged dialogue with Pan Niger-Delta Forum, PANDEF.

We appeal to the US to tell the Nigerian President that their pace is slow. Ogoni clean-up has been slow, the maritime varsity is slow. Something has to be done. It is a major challenge to the region, he said.
Russia and Ukraine plan to sign a new contract on supply of Ukrainian uranium to Russia in summer, International Uranium Enrichment Center General Director Gleb Yefremov said in an interview with Interfax.

"This year the agreement on creation of the IUEC was renewed for another 10-year period, but given the current inexplicable prices for uranium, for uranium fuel components, we made the decision and agreed with Ukraine and all our other shareholders that the next period of operation of the long-term agreement will be for three years," Yefremov said.

"The signing of the three-year agreement is planned for July-August this year," Yefremov said. "Corporate approval procedures are now underway, since the agreement has the characteristics of a transaction. In the framework of this agreement we are signing annual contracts, that is, for each year we determine the amount of production that our shareholder needs. The contract for 2017 will also be signed at the same time as the long-term three-year agreement," he said.

The IUEC head also said that the volume of the new agreement will not be changed. "The volume has been kept the same at 60,000 separative work units, [a conditional measure of the cost of uranium enrichment services], he said, adding that "the price remained, incidentally, the same." "Despite the fact that we currently have prices dropping on the markets and quotations falling, we have kept the cooperation terms the same for Ukraine; Ukraine will receive our services at the same established prices," Yefremov said.
By Gimba Kakanda A few days ago, a friend asked me to explain my aversion for the idea of secession as championed by the neo-Biafran ad...

By Gimba KakandaA few days ago, a friend asked me to explain my aversion for the idea of secession as championed by the neo-Biafran advocates of South-East Nigeria. He had assumed it was the fear, as simplified in a certain series of propaganda, of the Norths foreseen inability to sustain itself economically, post-breakup.Since it was a private conversation, I elected to present my actual reasons bit by bit, some of which I cant express in public, and offered him a mirror which, when we were done, reflected a possibility that scared him too.He saw that I was afraid of the break-up for the very reason a part of Nigeria seeks to leave. For cultural hegemony. This calculated domination of our diverse society by the elite using ethnicity, religion and all the binary identities, sentiments, affiliations and values available, to hold on to power, and to forestall criticism of them and the revolt of the masses.How has cultural hegemony held Nigeria together? The reason Nigeria hasnt degenerated into full-blown autocratic regime is because of these conflicting cultural hegemonies that exist like a tripartite coalition government  an ethnic arrangement that restricts the tyranny of the three parts, the Hausa-Fulani, the Igbo and Yoruba. And as a diarchy constituted by the Muslim North and Christian South.So, yes, theres a mechanism of checks and balances of cultural hegemony as Nigeria stands today, along the ethnic lines of these three dominating ethnic groups, as there is along the lines of Islam and Christianity. This multiculturalism is, in my estimation, our most undermined stabilising factor.What happens after the breakup? Ill address the question of the struggle for power in the North instead, even though this danger of political monolithism applies to the other two ethnic nationalities and geography. The regions cultural hegemony, which the federating South has tackled, albeit not successfully, levers around Islam and the so-called Hausa-Fulani super-group.A dissolution of this religious diarchy or ethnic tripartite government means, in Northern Nigeria, an unrestricted evolution of this cultural hegemony. The masses left deprived for too long and denied privileges of quality education are ever around to serve as willing foot-soldiers of perpetual manipulations that only serve as conduits to political power and relevance.This arrangement favours characters like Senator Ahmed Yerima of Zamfara state, who as governor introduced a gimmick he called Sharia simply to protect his political capitals. His friends, realising the success of such arrangement in building and sustaining a political force with financial aid pouring in from oil-rich Arab nations, joined him in that smokescreen to enrich themselves. Some of them are parties to pending cases of corruption at the court or are still under the radar of our anti-corruption agencies.What saved Nigeria then was the existence of a member of another cultural hegemony, a Christian and Yoruba from the political South, as head of the national government. He was not only opposed to the northern political chessboard that was alienating him, but was challenged to protect the interests of the Christian, the Yoruba, the Southern and, very importantly, the minorities, in the political coalition.The Yerimas of Northern Nigeria may be local champions now, but the moment their allies from other cultural hegemonies withdraw, a new order of tyrannical rule, in connivance with religious clerics and socio-cultural ambassadors, will manifest. And there wont be a balancing part to protect the minorities in this outright distortion and manipulation of Islamic jurisprudence, an Islamo-fascism, to institutionalise oppression and enable corruption. One can only imagine the extent of its devastations, with personality cults forming around some ascetic criminals.I think this fear explains the convergence of some self-elected leaders of northern minorities who, calling themselves Middle Belt Leaders Forum, met last week in Abuja to debate their place and prospects in Nigeria, now and later. Its not a coincidence that the Professor Jerry Gana-led gathering was dominated by Christians (and other minorities) out of political offices, and gasping for attention.As a Muslim, theres nothing that scares me like an attempt to police my private morality in a secular political arrangement, especially when it does not evaluate and redeem the pseudo-religious Police. Its fascism manifesting, and Ill rather die fighting it than be consumed in silence.So, my dear friends from the South, its not untrue that I do not want you to leave. But its not for your resources. Having assessed the welfare of my people, its sad to declare that these natural resources are inessential to us. We, and I include you too, have neither access to decent hospitals nor schools, neither good network of roads nor security. I only want you to stay to sustain the checks and balances of this hegemonic order. May God save us from us!
HACKENSACK - Eight people have filed a lawsuit claiming they were left permanently disabled last year when the party bus in which they were riding was struck from behind by a Hummer whose driver died in the crash.

Brian Rolando, 27, of Fair Lawn, was killed on May 7, 2016, when his Hummer rear-ended the party bus about 3 a.m. on McLean Boulevard near Edwards Street in Paterson. Rolando's father, Maurice, is also named as a defendant because he owned the Hummer, the suit states.

The party bus passengers claim in court papers they suffered "serious and permanent injuries" as a result of Rolando's alleged carelessness and recklessness.

The passengers are identified as Cashima Newman, Sheereen Clark, Kiara Glover, Jose Lopez, Carlos Aponte, Elijah Hogges, Greysly Pichardo and Said Galloway, according to the suit filed June 9 in Bergen County Superior Court.

The passengers are all under age 30. They were leaving a gathering when the crash occurred, according to Christian Ormello, a case manager for attorney Brandon J. Broderick, who filed the lawsuit.

Most of the injuries were neck and back, although some suffered head injuries, Ormello said Thursday.

The passengers are also suing an unnamed business believed to have served alcohol to Rolando before the crash, Ormello said, adding that attorneys believe Rolando was intoxicated.

The business was not named in the suit because attorneys have not yet determined where Rolando was allegedly drinking, Ormello said.

Paterson police referred calls about the crash to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, where a spokeswoman was not available for comment.

In addition to Rolando, the suit names party bus driver Tomasz Skorniewski of Stroudsburg, Pa.

Skorniewski, who worked for Gallery Limousine of New York, is accused of recklessness, carelessness and of maintaining or repairing the bus in a condition that contributed to the crash, according to the suit.

A message left Thursday with Skornieski's brother, Kamil, was not returned.

In addition to the drivers, the suit names Philadelphia Indemnity, State Farm and Geico insurance companies, claiming they failed to pay claims in the matter.

Born in Wayne, Brian Rolando lived in West Milford for most of his life before moving to Fair Lawn. He was a security guard who earned an associate's degree in criminal justice.

At the time of his death he was studying biology/pre-med with honors at Montclair State University in the hopes of becoming a cardiologist, according to his obituary.

Rolando's family members could not be reached for comment.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
HAINESPORT -- The owner of Diamond Diner made harassing statements and sexual passes at a waitress for months before firing her after she was injured in a workplace accident, according to a lawsuit.

Gus Diamantis, manager and owner of the Route 38 establishment, faces a lawsuit brought by former employee Errin Verde.

She is suing him for wrongful termination, violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and discrimination, and requesting in $750,000 in lost pay, punitive damages, court fees and interest. The suit was filed late last month in Burlington County Superior Court.

Verde, who was hired at the diner in 2014, claims she began to experience harassment from her supervisor, Diamantis, nearly a year into her employment as a waitress. The abuse began when he showed her pornography on his phone, suggesting that the two of them might engage in a similar sexual act, and later told her "life would be much easier for you if you agreed to do other things for me on your knees," according to the complaint.

He allegedly made vulgar comments about other servers, insinuated that Verde should engage in sexual acts with her coworkers and made other inappropriate inquiries and statements about her weight and romantic life.

In the summer of 2015, Verde burned herself while pouring hot water into teapots, and required medical care from Temple University Hospital's burn unit, the claim states.

The following day, Diamantis told Verde he had to fire her because his insurance deemed her a "high risk" employee following the accident, the suit claims. When she attempted to file a worker's compensation claim, Diamantis allegedly said he would provide information "at a later time," and then avoided calls from her inquiring about the insurance.

When Verde contacted the insurance company, she was told that the company had not recommended Diamantis fire her, and was advised to seek legal counsel, the suit says.

Shortly after, Verde took a new job at the Red Lion Diner in Southampton. Diamantis appeared at the restaurant and allegedly spoke to the owners about Verde, which made her anxious and uncomfortable at her new job.

She left the position, and struggled to find other work, the suit states. In early 2016, she moved to Florida to seek work.

Diamantis did not return a call to Diamond Diner requesting comment on the allegations against him.

The prolonged harassment and subsequent firing resulting in Verde experiencing distress, mental anguish and loss of pay from both Diamond Diner and compensation funds.

"Prior to her injury, [Verde] was an exceptional employee, going above and beyond her job duties and even working over 40 hours a week when required," the suit states, "despite the severe and pervasive sexual harassment she faced almost daily."

Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amahoover. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
CAMDEN -- Citing the need to cut costs and other factors, leaders of the Diocese of Camden have decided that the city's six parishes will merge into three by the end of July.

The announcement Friday said all churches in the city will remain open under the reorganization plan.

The process leading up to the decision began in 2015, the Diocese said, when the six parishes were asked to consider the future of the churches in Camden.

The press release Friday said challenges facing the churches included fewer residents and practicing Catholics in the city, "demographic and population shifts," and a more limited amount of resources -- both clergy and cash -- to support the churches.

"In time, the parish representatives looked at all the data and concerns of the parishes and ultimately determined that the most effective option was to reduce the number of parishes through mergers," the Diocese said in a release. The plan, it said, "would save on personnel, housing and other assorted management costs, while maintaining a strong ability to conduct the various ministries to the people who live and worship at these churches."

Effective July 31, the following mergers will take place:

Saint Joseph Parish will merge into Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Parish. Father John Fisher will continue as the rector of the merged parish.

Saint Anthony of Padua Parish will merge into Saint Joseph Pro-Cathedral Parish, with Father Jaime Hostios continuing as pastor of the merged parish.

Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish will merge into Sacred Heart Parish, with Monsignor Michael Doyle continuing as pastor of the merged parish. Father Gerard Marable will become pastor in solidum and moderator of the parish.

Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan signed decrees to merge the parishes on Friday, according to the release.

The statement said that the changes in the parishes will "unfold over time" and affected churches will remain open "unless and until determined otherwise by the parishes themselves."

The Diocese of Camden's schools will not be affected by the merger, the release said.

The Diocese of Camden, which covers all of South Jersey, has

from 124 to 62 over the last eight years.
NORTH WILDWOOD - Authorities are asking for the public's help as they attempt to identify a man whose body washed up on the beach in North Wildwood Sunday night.

The shorts worn by a man whose body washed up on the beach in North Wildwood on Sunday night.

The body was found about 9 p.m. between 24th and 25th avenues, North Wildwood police said in a statement. The body had no obvious signs of trauma.

Police described the man as possibly Hispanic with a medium to dark complexion and is believed to be in his early 20s. He had short, black hair and one-inch scar on his left shoulder. He was approximately 5-feet, 7-inches tall, 170 pounds and was wearing maroon Polo cotton shorts with a drawstring.

New Jersey State Police and the Cape May Prosecutor's Office are also taking part in the investigation.

The U.S. Coast Guard and all municipal police departments in the county have also been notified to see if they know of any missing persons matching his description.

Anyone with information is asked to call North Wildwood police at 609-522-2411.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
WILDWOOD -- A 31-year-old Mays Landing man was arrested Tuesday on numerous drug charges after investigators found roughly 2,000 bags of heroin in his car, police said.

Luis Gonzalez's arrest capped a four-week investigation into the reported sale of drugs from a 2012 Hyundai Sonata at various locations around Wildwood, the city's police department said in a Facebook post.

A member of the department's Street Crimes Unit pulled the car over around 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday after watching Gonzalez commit moving violations, police said. Officers later obtained a search warrant for the car after a police dog indicated drugs were inside the vehicle, authorities said.

Officers found about 2,000 bags of heroin -- worth approximately $20,000 -- and 8 grams of methamphetamine, along with other drug paraphernalia, police said.

Authorities said Gonzalez was arrested on nine indictable offenses that included distributing more than an ounce of heroin and distributing heroin within 500 feet of certain public property.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
PrivatBank (Kyiv) Board Chairman Oleksandr Shlapak plans to finish the anti-crisis tenure in the bank, the financial institution has said in a press release.

"Board Chairman of PrivatBank Shlapak has fully fulfilled the tasks set to stabilize the situation in the bank and conduct the audit of the financial state of PrivatBank. He plans to finish the anti-crisis tenure as PrivatBank board chairman in the near future... The board chairman continues managing the bank. He has already submitted the relevant application to the supervisory board of the bank. It can be considered at the next meeting of the bank's supervisory board in July," the bank said.

Former Ukrainian finance minister Shlapak was appointed PrivatBank board chairman in December 2016.

As reported, the Ukrainian government on December 18, 2016 decided to nationalize Ukraine's No. 1 bank, PrivatBank. It became wholly owned by the state. After the government became its owner, the Finance Ministry additionally injected UAH 116.8 billion into it.

Recently Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers based on the conclusions of the independent auditor Ernst & Young (EY) decided to inject another UAH 38.5 billion into PrivatBank.
U.S. can decide issue of defensive weapons deliveries to Ukraine within this fiscal year

The United States can decide the issue of providing Ukraine with defensive weapons within the current fiscal year, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

"As for the defense agreements, the text we have today is almost agreed upon. We expect a visit to Ukraine by the U.S. defense minister within two or three months and I hope that the agreements will be signed during the visit," Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukrainian TV channels shown on Sunday evening.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has described his visit to Washington as historical and told about important results it has brought.

"It is no coincidence that the U.S. made public the new anti-Russian sanctions and the extension of the old ones during the visit by the Ukrainian delegation. It is no coincidence that we discussed the issues of the sanctions that were voted for in the Senate. We discussed them both in the Congress and the [U.S. Presidential] Administration," Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukrainian television channels that was broadcast on Sunday.

First and foremost, the Ukrainian side is interested in the sanctions related to Nord Stream 2, Poroshenko said.

"This threat behind which is Russia is extremely serious for Ukraine. The goal of this has nothing to do with either economy or energy. The goal is stripping Ukraine of two billion dollars, which we receive [in payments] for transit. This is a revenge for Stockholm, a revenge for the decisive reforms in the anticorruption field and the U.S. has demonstrated to us the full support enshrined in the decision adopted during the visit by the Ukrainian delegation," Poroshenko said.

Poroshenko also highlighted the strategy towards Ukraine that the World Bank had adopted. "This is a direct strategy to support reform and all its instruments are in the hands of the World Bank today. This is a plan of reform revised with the participation of the IMF [International Monetary Fund], which has been full satisfied with the speed of the reform and decisiveness of our team in their implementation," he said.

Also, Poroshenko described all the talks that the Ukrainian delegation and members of the new U.S. leadership had as efficient.

As reported earlier, Poroshenko visited Washington on June 19-20.
Militants conducted 23 attacks on Ukrainian army positions on Sunday and one serviceman was wounded, the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) headquarters reported on Facebook.

"The enemy continues to breach the truce and uses mortars of various calibers from time to time," the report said.
WASHINGTON  With thousands of south Louisiana homeowners receiving startling increases in the cost of their flood insurance, members of the Louisiana congressional delegation said Thursday they have run out of patience waiting for FEMA to explain what went into calculating the new rates.
DENISON  A large number of classic cars were expected this past week during the 2017 Lincoln Highway Association National Conference.

The conference, which celebrates the road that now roughly follows the route of Highway 30, began Tuesday and ran through Saturday, the Denison Bulletin Review reported.

LHA President Kay Shelton said the Lincoln Highway served three purposes.

It was a memorial to Abraham Lincoln, the second was to have the fastest route to San Francisco in time for the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition  the Worlds Fair  and the third was to show people if you had an improved road then more people would enjoy having automobiles, Shelton said.

Early cars were heavy and would get stuck on muddy roads.

But if the highways could be improved, then more people would find driving enjoyable and more people would switch to the new technology of automobiles, she said.

Shelton pointed out that much of American history has been affected by the rise of the importance of travel by automobile.

Today we have suburbs in the cities made possible by people who go into the city to work and then go home to quiet suburban areas, and that is all made possible by the automobile, she said. Just about everybodys daily activities involves a vehicle, and a lot of that goes back to the Lincoln Highway

Many early auto enthusiasts and manufacturers were involved with the Lincoln Highway in the beginning, Shelton said.

A lot of the early work of the Lincoln Highway Association was to raise private funds to improve as much of the road as they could, she said.

This weeks conference marked the 25 anniversary of the formation of the modern version of Lincoln Highway Association. Shelton said there is a lot of enthusiasm for the conference in Iowa because this is where the LHA was reborn.

The association was founded on Oct. 31, 1992, when a group of individuals interested in promoting the history of the Lincoln Highway met in Ogden. People from all over the country made the trip to Denison, Shelton said.

The goals today are to preserve and promote the history of the Lincoln Highway and get other people interested in our American history, she said.
The engineering and technical development of the state border with Russia on the territory of Kharkiv region under the European Wall project should be finished in 2017, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has said.

"This year the task has been set and the border guards are ready to fulfill it, so that we completely cover the entire Kharkiv section of the border as part of the European Wall project. This year this will be Kharkiv region, Luhansk and Sumy regions will follow. These are our plans and we will insist that the financing should be full," Avakov said at a briefing in Kharkiv region on Saturday.

"The ministry will fully ensure the use of funds [as intended] so that there should be no abuses," NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov added.

Avakov said the total amount of UAH 500 million is to be allocated for the development of the border in Kharkiv region.

"The funds allocated this year will amount to about UAH 200 million. In addition, the draft budget amendments, which were approved by parliament the day before yesterday, envisage additional UAH 300 million. This will allow to cover the entire section of the border in Kharkiv region with intelligent towers, a seismic cable, ensure proper technical equipment so that not a single meter of the border is left without the control of the border guards. This system will allow us to reliably protect the borders of the European Union, with which we now have a visa-free regime and provide for the functioning of the European Wall," Avakov said.
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A 55-year-old man with a crop of cannabis in a concealed roof space of his garage was self-medicating for chronic asthma, a court heard.

Twelve plants, potentially worth thousands of pounds, were found growing at Kevin Warren's home in Bendigo Lane, Colwick, when police executed a search warrant.

Just under half-a-kilo of dried cannabis, worth in the region of 6,500, was also found in the garage inside sealed plastic tubs inside the inner rings of car tyres.

Scales had traces of Tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC ), a chemical compound in cannabis, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

Warren was arrested and interviewed, and initially denied any attempt to supply cannabis. He said he was using to medicate his chronic asthma. Cash found at his address was household money, he said.

At court, he pleaded guilty to producing cannabis, and possessing the drug with intent to supply on October 21 last year.

The court heard his medical condition was the reason he got involved, but accepted the huge amount he had in his possession would have found its way to other people.

Judge Steven Coupland gave him a community order for six months with 50 hours of unpaid work, and ordered the forfeiture of 260 found at his address.

The judge told Warren, who had no previous convictions for drugs, there had been a large quantity of cannabis in his garage.

"It is accepted by both sides (the prosecution and defence) having started to grow to cover medical difficulties, you grew rather more, and may well have shared supplies to other people".
Ukraine's Health Ministry has recommended pooling UAH 100 million in state investment funds to rebuild and refurbish parts of Ukraine's National Cancer Institute to create a bone marrow transplant center for adults. The project would be a priority.

"We have the [National] Cancer Institute with space for the construction of such a center. According to the state investment project for 2017 more than UAH 100 million has been allotted for reconstruction of existing facilities. Yes, they need to be rebuilt, because the conditions there are awful, but we think the priority should be building a bone marrow transplant center for adults there," Ukraine's Deputy Health Minister Roman Ilyk said.

Ilyk added that money for the state investment project cannot be re-assigned to works at other facilities, for example, to rebuilding Kyiv's Transplantation Center, where bone marrow transplant operations were carried out until 2009. He said the Health Ministry is ready to support an initiative to attract state investment to refurbish the Kyiv center.

"If the Kyiv transplant center would be interested in joining the state investment project, the Health Ministry would be the first to lobby the idea. Bone marrow transplants for adults is a priority, and one facility able to do them is insufficient," he said, emphasizing that transplant issues for children could be handled by building a special clinic at the Okhmatdyt facility in Kyiv.

As earlier reported, in October 2016 an intergovernmental commission on state investment projects headed by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv approved plans to allocate UAH 124.211 million for the reconstruction and development of Ukraine's National Cancer Institute.

The selection of investment projects was carried out from 2014 as part of introducing reforms using state investments funded by the World Bank.
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Nottingham City Council has written to the owners of 75 high-rise buildings to seek assurances about safety measures following the Grenfell Tower fire.

The council has sent letters to the owners, landlords and managers of 15 residential high-rise buildings and 60 other tower blocks, including offices, asking them to provide information about fire safety.

It comes after at least 79 people were killed when a blaze ripped through the west London tower block on Tuesday, June 13.

The letter includes Government guidance on how to "identify whether any panels used in new build or refurbishment are a particular type of cladding" and advises them of a testing procedure.

The council is also contacting universities, hospitals and other providers of public buildings to carry out the same checks.

Councillor Jon Collins, leader of the council, wants to ensure that the safety of everyone living and working in high-rise buildings in Nottingham is protected.

He said: "The focus since the Grenfell tragedy has been on council and social housing. However, we're not just concerned about fire safety in the properties that we own, but all tower blocks in the city.

"Since building control was deregulated some years ago, a number of these properties will have had limited council input as private firms, as well as councils, have been able to carry out building regulation works. That's why we are writing to all the owners of these properties and asking them the same questions that the Government is asking of councils.

"We are urging all tower block owners that they treat our request with the utmost urgency and if we don't get a prompt response then we will ask Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service to undertake risk-based inspections."

The council has asked for information to be sent back by Thursday (June 29).

The letters were sent out just days after the Councillor Jane Urquhart, lead councillor for planning and housing, wrote to Prime MInister Theresa May asking for Government support for measures to improve safety in high-rise blocks.

Nottingham City Council owns 13 high-rise blocks which are managed on its behalf by Nottingham City Homes.

Councillor Collins confirmed that none of the blocks are clad with the same material as was used on the Grenfell Tower.

He said: "We don't think the kind of cladding that was involved in the Grenfell Tower fire has been utilised in any of our buildings or the city council buildings.

"We're also taking a number of steps around investing in a number of areas so we give tenants confidence about minimising fire risk."

Nottingham City Homes confirmed last week that sprinkler systems will be installed in 13 tower blocks across Nottingham.
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A lacemaker has died after spending 42 years using her skills to perfect some of the world's most intricate designs.

Florence Angliss checked lace as it left ancient machines, then used a needle to repair tiny errors before it was sold around the world.

Right up to her death at the age of 93, Mrs Angliss was able to read without spectacles. She was even asked to return to work in her eighties.

Charles Mason, managing director of the Cluny Lace, said: "She was a fantastic mender. It was all done by hand and it was an invisible mend.

"She was one of the old school, a great person. She followed the Cluny lace patterns which are very geometric and complex," added Mr Mason, the ninth generation of a family involved in textiles and Nottingham lace.

The factory, the last in the UK using Leaver's lacemaking machines, is just around the corner from Mrs Angliss's home on Stanley Street, Ilkeston.

Fellow worker Sue Twigg, 64, said: "She taught me to be a mender and never needed to wear glasses. Once she had done the mending with a little needle, you could not tell where she had been. I have been at the factory for over 21 years and Flo was there when I arrived.

"And not many years ago, we had a really big order and I was mending by myself. The factory asked Flo if she would come back."

Her family added to tributes to a woman whose hobby was knitting. She gave away hundreds of woolly hats and often made baby clothes for friends. Daughter-in-law Sharon Angliss said: "She worked into her seventies and didn't like to be idle. It's the end of an era, you won't find many people like her again."

Grand daughter Paula Angliss recalls how Mrs Angliss and her husband Albert - a sock maker - worked out how to make a blue jumper with a motif of the cartoon character Count Duckula. "Grandad counted out the stitches and Mama did the knitting," she said.

Mrs Angliss's funeral will be at Bramcote Crematorium at 10.30am on Tuesday, July 4. She died on June 13.

She was born on Crompton Street in Hallam Fields, near Ilkeston. She went to school with Violet Woodman, 91, who said: "She was two years older and was like a big sister to me. She called for me and looked after me at school."

Violet's son Philip Woodman, 67, said: "We used to go out as a family group and we called her auntie Florence, although we were not related.

"Mum is very slight and so was Florence but she always looked after her. They were great friends." The pair met just a few days before the death of Mrs Angliss and chatted about school days.

Mrs Angliss had been a widow for five years. She met husband Albert at a sock factory in Stapleford where he taught her to operate the machines. Their son Paul, 68, died in February last year.

The pair married at St Bartholomew's Church, Hallam Fields on August 14, 1943 when Albert was on leave from the Royal Navy. He was called back the next day and did not return home until World War II was over.
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A minute's silence has been held in Nottingham to remember the victims of the terror attack outside Finsbury Park Mosque, in London.

Last week, a man drove into a crowd of worshippers who were leaving prayers at the mosque after breaking the Ramadan fast, killing one man and injuring nine people.

The city centre fell silent in memory of those who were killed, and trams came to a standstill as the people of Nottingham paused in reflection of the attack.

Lord Mayor Michael Edwards, addressed the crowd which had gathered in Old Market Square, and said: "We meet today following an act of terrorism in Finsbury Park, another attack on worshiper using a van as a weapon.

"We come together in our Old Market Square to express our sorrow for the loss of life and for those who were injured, to express our condolences to their friends and relatives.

"Manchester, Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and now Finsbury Park,. Attacks that cut across faith, age, gender and nationality. Attacks designed to fracture and destabilise our communities.

"So let us resolve to challenge the tweets and social media posts that misrepresent and hate when we see them shared."

Jason Fields, 19, a student from Loughborough studying in Nottingham took part in the minute's silence, and said: "I think it's good that the city comes together for things like this, and that this attack is treated exactly the same as the other terrorist attacks.

"There's so much hateful material online, and that can only really be tackled by people working together to remove it and convince people and educate people."

Student Zoe Black, 20, said: "It's right that we pause and think about what happened, because we need to learn from it, and this gives everyone the chance to do this."
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Nottinghamshire's MPs have shared their views after a deal was struck between the DUP and the Conservatives to allow them to form a Government - with one labelling the move 'deeply depressing'.

In the General Election earlier this month, Theresa May's Conservative Party had been widely tipped to increase its majority, but ended up losing several seats and its overall majority in the House of Commons.

Now, the party has signed a deal with the hard-line nationalist Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is headed by Arlene Foster.

The deal is controversial on both sides of the Irish Sea. Some in Northern Ireland have argued that it is a breach of the Good Friday Agreement, which keeps the fragile peace there, while others on mainland UK have baulked at the long-held anti-gay marriage stance of the DUP.

The deal, which is thought to include an extra 1bn in spending for Northern Ireland, falls short of a full coalition between the parties.

Known as a confidence and supply deal, it means that the DUP will support the party on a vote-by-vote basis, with an understanding that Arlene Foster's party would support the Conservatives if there was a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister.

Labour's MP for Nottingham East, Chris Leslie said: "This is deeply depressing. With a working majority of over half the country's MPs, the Government may well limp on for the full five years until 2022.

"But beyond Brexit and the basics of keeping an administration ticking over on life support, there won't be the sort of progressive improvements our society needs, nor the advances for our public services.

"We may not see the controversies of some parts of the Conservative manifesto, but we'll have years more of the same old Tories."

But the Conservative MP for Sherwood, Mark Spencer, welcomed the news, saying it can help the country move forwards.

He said: "First of all it's good news that we've been able to reach an agreement. I think it's going to allow the government to function and get business through, so I think it's a healthy state for us to be in and I look forward to working with them in the interests of the whole county."

Asked whether he thought the differences between the parties could cause problems, he said: "There's differences across the whole political spectrum, but I think we have got a lot in common, especially on the economy, we both want Brexit delivered, and for that to be a success, so I think there's quite a broad consensus. There will be things we disagree on, but on the broad issues we can agree."

Asked about the specifics of the deal, Mr Spencer said: "I have not seen the full details of the deal written down, but I think it's good news that we have got this stability now and we can start moving forwards."

Newly-elected MP Alex Norris, who represents Nottingham North for Labour, said: "We have been told for seven years that there's no money in the public finances, and we've had to endure cuts and public service pay freezes, and then magically a billion pounds has been found to fix Theresa's political mess.

"When the government spends this amount of public money, you would expect oversight and transparency, instead of a shadowy deal done behind closed doors."

Asked whether he thought the deal could last, Mr Norris said: "If anything, the last couple of years has shown us that it's not too wise to make predictions, but this is a government propped up by a backroom deal."

Following his party's better-than-expected result in the general election, Mr Norris said it was now a case of: "Back to the business of holding the government to account. We exceeded expectations in the election, and we're showing that we're on the front foot. We are here united to put across our case in parliament."

Prime Minister Theresa May said the agreement would: "Enable us to work together in the interests of the whole United Kingdom, give us the certainty we require as we embark on our departure from the European Union, and help us build a stronger and fairer society at home".
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The wife of John Stollery, killed in the Tunisian beach terrorist attacks, has said she is putting her efforts into fundraising and raising awareness two years on.

Cheryl Stollery was on holiday with her husband, John, and their son, Matt, when extremist Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel on June 26, 2015.

Mr Stollery, 58, had worked at Nottinghamshire County Council for more than three decades, and was one of 30 British victims in the massacre.

Cheryl, of Walesby, near Ollerton, is now using her job as a Safeguarding Children in Education Officer for Nottinghamshire County Council to raise awareness of the threat of terror, hate and knife crime.

She has been telling her family's story and sharing the impact of losing him on her family. She also talks about John's legacy as a social worker

Cheryl said: "Over the past few weeks Britain has seen communities needing to stand together and be resilient in overcoming terrorist attacks and coming out the other side as a stronger society.

"Since the terrible incident in Tunisia two years ago it has made me determined to use my time to help others to understand the support available to them and seek to ensure that all agencies and organisations work together to help make a positive change.

"It's been a very tough couple of years and although nothing can ever bring our loved ones back, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. It's been hard going back to work and my son has now completed his Masters and I'm so proud of him."

Mrs Stollery has been in regular contact with victim support and contributed to research to look at positive ways forward to support all victims and survivors engaging with the services.

She is also engaging in training and awareness raising of radicalisation and extremism with schools.

Kylie Hutchison, a specialist international personal injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, which is representing the Tunisia attack families, said: "Our clients have shown tremendous courage over the past two years as they have sought to find out exactly what happened on that fateful day and whether anything more could have been done to prevent the attack, or limit its impact."

An inquest was held into the deaths earlier this year, and His Honour Judge Loraine-Smith is expected to publish his decision in the coming months.

A criminal investigation in Tunisia is also ongoing with a hearing scheduled for October..
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Car cruisers racing on roads around junction 27 of the M1 are being told they could face a prison sentence.

Nottinghamshire County Council put in place an injunction in January 2015 to reduce racing, riding in convoy and driving at excessive speed at the location - but the problem has increased in recent weeks.

Nottinghamshire Police have increased patrols on Sunday nights to address the issue and even worked with the council to close roads around the junction on Sunday, June 18.

The injunction allows the police to issue notices to offending drivers that warn if they take part in car cruising activity in the vicinity - as well as at two other injunction order ban areas at Chilwell Retail Park and Victoria Retail Park in Netherfield - they will be in contempt of court and may be sent to prison with a maximum two-year sentence or an unlimited fine.

Some 20 injunction warnings were issued to drivers in the area on the Sunday of the closure.

Councillor Gordon Wheeler, vice-chair of Nottinghamshire County Council's Communities and Place Committee, said: "Our priority is the safety of road users and local people near to junction 27 and the injunction has worked well to reduce the problem.

"We are working with the police to monitor the situation and are looking at other options to reduce the problem further as closing affected roads is not a way forward in the long-term."

Neighbourhood Inspector Glenn Longden said: "The road closure event worked well. It was based on specific information we'd received about an event taking place and the main focus was to do with safety rather than prosecutions.

"However, we recognise that this is not a sustainable solution to the issue at junction 27 and we are all currently working together to develop a long term solution."

The Post has launched a Whatsapp group to help you keep up to date with the latest news. If you'd like to receive one daily message with the main headlines, as well as breaking news alerts, text NEWS to 07790 586202. Then add the number to your phone contacts book as 'Nottingham Post'. Your phone number won't be shared with other members of the group.
Dragons five-eighth Gareth Widdop has moved into equal second on NRL.com's unofficial Dally M leaderboard after starring in the Dragons' dramatic comeback victory over the Knights on Sunday afternoon.

Widdop spearheaded the Red V's attack in the second half, notching up four try assists, three line breaks and two line-break assists to orchestrate a dramatic comeback from 18-points down to keep his side well entrenched in the NRL Telstra Premiership top eight and was awarded three points by NRL.com journalist Chris Kennedy.

Widdop was in eighth place on 13 points when Dally M voting went behind closed doors at the end of Round 14.

Cronulla forward Wade Graham moved into seventh place in the unofficial count, registering a point from NRL.com journalist Martin Gabor in the Sharks' loss to Manly at Southern Cross Group Stadium. Graham scored a try, ran 177 metres, made seven tackle breaks and a line break in a losing side.

Luke Keary jumped into ninth on NRL.com's unofficial Dally M leaderboard after masterminding an epic Roosters fight back against the Storm at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

NRL.com's unofficial Dally M leaderboard after Round 16



Player Points Cameron Smith 20 Clinton Gutherson 16 Gareth Widdop 16 Mitchell Pearce 15 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 15 Paul Gallen 14 Paul Vaughan 14 Wade Graham 14 Luke Keary 14 Billy Slater 13 Matt Moylan 13 Michael Morgan 13

For more information on the Dally Ms and to see voting before it went behind closed doors, click here.

NRL.com's unnoficial vote after Round 15

NRL.coms unofficial rankings are based on ratings attributed to players in each game by nrl.com staff following the official Dally M points going behind closed doors after Round 14. The rankings are in no way based on official Dally M points after Round 14, which will not be released until the official announcement of the Dally M winner in Grand Final Week.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said he expects U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry to visit Ukraine this August.

"The first agreement of the negotiations with Energy Secretary Perry is that Secretary Perry will visit Ukraine in August. We have a lot to talk about," Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukrainian television channels broadcast on Sunday evening.

According to the head of the Ukrainian state, they will discuss American companies' participation in purchasing Ukrainian state-owned energy companies.

"Secondly, you know that after the seizure of Ukrainian enterprises in the occupied territory we refused to buy coal from the occupied territories and for the sake of transparency of this market we agreed to purchase American coal from Pennsylvania at competitive prices. We will have guaranteed supplies of at least 2 million tonnes of coal. All the conditions have been created, now contracts should be concluded," the president explained.

He also noted that during the talks the issues of energy security of Ukraine were discussed. "We are significantly increasing the share of American suppliers of Westinghouse nuclear fuel to Ukraine, I hope that we will be able to up this share to 55%. We continue the construction of a plant for spent nuclear fuel and thus we are getting off the hook of spent nuclear fuel, which Russia thinks it has us on," Poroshenko said.
Lisa Bossi, of St. John, said she will never forget how funny and sweet her son could be.

He was very witty and funny  he always had these one-liners. He was kind and never judged anyone, Bossi said. He was my best friend. His last words to me were, Mom, I love you. 

On June 14, after battling a rare virus for almost two years, 15-year-old Vince Bossi passed away.

At the beginning of the year, doctors at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, diagnosed Vince with VZV. It stands for varicella-zoster virus. Its a shingles virus that attacks the central nervous system. He also was diagnosed with Mollarets meningitis, a form of recurrent aseptic meningitis.

Due to these illnesses, Vince lost his ability to move, see and hear.

Vince came home from Mayo Clinic about 12 weeks ago and the family hired Ericka Hughes, of Crown Point, to be his private nurse. Hughes said that despite what Vince was going through, he kept his sense of humor.

He was blind, but he still wanted to wear his glasses for some reason. Id put them on him and hed say, These arent my glasses! And Id say, Yes, they are. Hed say, No, theyre not! I still cant see! Hughes said.

The three of us just hit it off. I fell in love with Vince; he was the son I never had. He was so amazing and he was sick  I can only imagine what he was like when he was not sick.

Hughes agrees with Bossi that Vince was a very sweet kid.

Im a terrible cook and he always ate whatever I made him," Hughes said. Vince made my job fun because he was fun to be around. I cant say enough  Vince will truly be missed.

Bossi said she is coping with her sons death by knowing he is finally out of pain.

We were so close at heart, I know he is OK. He is with God, he has no more pain  he has his sight and can run around and do whatever he wants, Bossi said.

Bossi said Vince loved building Legos, playing Xbox with his friends and being with his family. Although he wasn't passionate about the outdoors, he loved being a part of his Cub Scout Pack 550.

On Thursday, his troop and Boy Scout Troop 561 gathered with some of Vince's family to plant a tree in his memory at Prairie West Park in St. John.

Among Vince's favorite things were popcorn and candy, "or candily, as he said it," Bossi said.

"When he was little he couldnt say 'candy,' he said, 'candily.' So thats what we called it  candily. Jelly Bellys were his favorite thing in the world.

Bossi said more than 1,000 people attended Vinces memorial service.

Several of his teachers were there, a couple of his nurses and doctors he had at University of Illinois came; there was a huge outpouring of support from family, friends, Centier Bank, our community, the chambers  too many to name, Bossi said. He touched the lives of so many.
The reason you can't climb into the Statue of Liberty's torch goes back a century to World War I, when German agents blew up an enormous munitions dump at Black Tom Island in New Jersey on July 30, 1916. The blast, which was so powerful it registered 5.5 on the Richter scale, peppered the Statue of Liberty with shrapnel in the process.

Sabotage and espionage in World War I were major concerns across the United States, and no less in the Region with its heavy industry  and for good reason.

"Berlin Has Admitted Anti-U.S. Plots," a banner headline in The Lake County Times screamed on March 3, 1917.

That was the same day The Times told of a young Gary man, George V. Bacon Jr., being given $1,000 to go to England and spy for Germany.

Bacon's socks

Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., said Bacon remains well known today for using invisible ink to hide messages in his socks.

Back then, it wasn't unusual for businessmen and war correspondents, like Bacon, to rinse their socks out in their hotel room. But that's also the technique Bacon used to reveal messages.

Stories in The Lake County Times from that era help put the pieces together.

Bacon went missing in Ireland in late January 1917, prompting great worry by his mother, who was back home in Gary. He was later found safe and sound.

But a month later he was arrested, accused of being a German spy.

"The British government, it was said yesterday, is disposed not to treat these men as spies if they will tell how they came to be involved in the scheme," The Times said in its Feb. 23, 1917, story, "Why Gary Reporter is Held in London in German Spy Plot."

He was under a death sentence in England but sent to the United States, where he was the subject of a grand jury investigation in New York City and later put in a federal penitentiary in Atlanta. He was held there until President Woodrow Wilson pardoned him. Bacon was lucky.

"You look at the history of spies during World War I, a lot of them they just lined up and shot," Houghton said.

Roots of modern espionage

In a number of ways, Houghton said, World War I laid the groundwork for modern espionage.

"Modern spying was figured out and tested during that war," he said.

Technology changed dramatically in the early 1900s.

It wasn't until Dec. 17, 1903, that the Wright brothers achieved the first successful powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The aircraft industry soon took off and no longer were carrier pigeons with tiny cameras needed to try to get aerial maps of the battlefield. Aircraft could fly over the battlefield as well, providing intelligence on enemy positions and armament.

Coded signals came into their own during the war, too.

Early in World War I, Houghton said, wireless messages were sent by radio. Anyone listening to the radio could intercept communications. Early Russian offensives failed because their messages weren't coded, Houghton said.

Today, the National Security Agency is an entire federal agency whose mission is to code and decode messages.

And remember the story of the Navajo Indians being used in World War II to send messages that the Germans couldn't translate because they couldn't speak Navajo? During World War I, the Americans used Choctaw and Cherokee Indians for the same reason.

Even T.E. Lawrence pioneered a new type of warfare during World War I. Lawrence of Arabia, as he is better known, is considered the grandfather of special operations because of his use of paramilitary troops, insurgency tactics and counterterrorism, Houghton said.

Spies in NWI

Back home in Northwest Indiana, the situation was tense.

"There was a lot of spy paranoia during the war," Houghton said.

A Feb. 23, 1917, story in The Times, "Can't Spy at Aetna or Gary Now," told of measures taken to tighten up security at local factories.

On April 7, 1917, The Times reported two men were arrested in Indiana Harbor that day for "treasonable attacks against the United States government" and were to be turned over to federal authorities.

"Mike Settenja, a Croatian employed at the Inland Steel company's plant, tore down a picture of President Wilson, it is alleged, spit on it, swore at it, tore it to pieces and poured off on the ruin. He did not have time to set it afire, but was hustled off to the Harbor police station. A socialistic letter was found in his pockets," the story said.

A Mexican who "became very violent in his remarks toward the government" at a saloon was taken into custody by Street Commissioner Kierman, the story said.

On July 10, 1917, Gary Special Policeman William Carl Spradley, 29, was stabbed to death while guarding a bridge at a Gary steel mill, The Times reported.

"The police are not working on the theory that the crime was the threat of a plot, but done in the heat of the moment when an employe [sic] tried to violate one of the war measure rules of the company," that day's story said.

Germans mistrusted

"You can understand why people were suspicious of the Germans," Houghton said.

Germans were trying to create labor unrest in the United States and elsewhere to disrupt the supply of materiel to the British. The Germans even sneaked Vladimir Lenin into Russia to foment the Communist revolution there, Houghton said.

The fears of espionage here were well founded, because Germany had a number of plots to sabotage industrial production.

As a result, it was a tense time to be of German ancestry, which included many people in the Midwest.

University of Iowa Professor Elizabeth Heineman worked on the recent "German Iowa and the Global Midwest" project there, studying the beginnings of German immigration through the post-World War II era.

In the 1910 Census, the one just prior to World War I, a large proportion of the American population was German. In fact, Germans were the largest single group of immigrants, and that's not even counting second-generation Americans.

German newspapers were common, much like Spanish language newspapers today, she said.

But World War I generated "real concern that Germans might not be properly American," Heineman said.

The Loyalty League and other groups coerced residents to buy war bonds to support U.S. efforts, regardless of residents' loyalties. Some were forced to kiss the U.S. flag.

Some Americans of German descent didn't change their names, which gave away their ancestry, but began using Americanized nicknames like Hank or Henry, Heineman said.
GARY  While the Wright brothers receive the popular credit for the first successful manned flight, it was actually another man who got the predecessor to today's airplane off the ground first.

And, according to his biographer, he did it right here along the shore of Lake Michigan.

Simine Short, author of "Locomotive to Aeromotive," told a group Sunday that Octave Chanute actually designed and built the first aircraft - a glider - that went airborne. The first successful flight of that biplane in 1896 took place at what was Dunes Park Station, near what is now the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk.

Short presented a program about Chanute on Sunday at the Douglas Center of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore before leading a hike out to the dunes where Chanute and his crew tested his theories.

"It was seven years before the Wrights were airborne," she said.

Along with a short film and Power Point presentation, Short told the group that the French-born Chanute was a civil engineer who believed that if the birds could do it, so could man.

It was a matter of wind and thermodynamics, said Short, herself a chemist and immigrant, who became interested in Chanute's life because of the similarities with hers. She divides her time between Miller and southern Indiana.

After designing railroads and bridges, Chanute, who lived in Chicago, came to what was then the Indiana dunes wilderness to conduct his tests.

"He wanted an area where no one would watch him," she said, adding he feared he would be considered "crazy."

"He wanted to do flying, but he didn't want his neighbors to point fingers at his family," she said, adding because he had laid rail between Lake Station and Michigan City, he knew the area and found Miller "nicely desolated."

Short said Chanute used the same engineering thought in his gliders that he used in designing bridges, using trusses which were sturdy, yet flexible.

"The Chanute glider is simple. It is basically controlled like a hang glider today, with body weight," she said.

In 1896, he traveled to Miller and began his tests. Failure of the first few designs didn't discourage him. He continued to hammer out design after design until a bi-plane took flight, for a whole 14 seconds.

In 1900, she said, Wilbur Wright wrote a letter to Chanute, asking for his help. He joined the brothers in 1902 and in 1903, they enjoyed the first sustained power-controlled flight.

Chanute died in 1910.

Short said a replica of Chanute's glider, rescued from a closing museum in Rantoul, Illinois, is on display at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center in Porter. There are additional replicas at the Lake County Visitors Center, the Gary-Chicago Airport and at the Ivy Tech Community College in Gary.
INDIANAPOLIS  The Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to decide who owns the land immediately adjacent to Lake Michigan.

The high court's order granting transfer in Gunderson v. State vacates a 2016 Indiana Court of Appeals ruling that established an unprecedented property-sharing arrangement between the state and lakefront landowners.

All parties to the case agreed the appellate court's resolution was unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons and asked the Supreme Court to dispose of it and independently weigh the merits of their claims.

The justices now will receive written briefs and likely hear oral arguments later this year before issuing a decision, probably in 2018.

At stake is the ability of Northwest Indiana residents and visitors to walk, sunbathe and play on Lake Michigan beaches located between the water and privately owned properties next to the lake.

Don and Bobbie Gunderson, of Long Beach, claim their land on Lake Michigan extends to the water's edge, regardless of where the edge is at any given time.

As a result, the Gundersons say they are entitled to exclusive control over that land  meaning no one can use or access the beach by their house without their permission.

The state insists that it owns the lakefront land in trust for all Hoosiers up to the "ordinary high-water mark." That mark generally is defined as the line on the shore where the presence and action of water is continuous enough to distinguish it from land through erosion, vegetation changes or other characteristics.

Not only was Indiana granted the land under Lake Michigan at statehood in 1816, but it also is required to control beach erosion, which it cannot effectively do if nearby homeowners are allowed to claim the beach is theirs, according to Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said he received assurances from the U.S. leadership that Washington will become more engaged in the process of settling the situation in Donbas.

"We are in favor of preserving the Normandy format and the Minsk agreements, and we will only welcome larger role of the U.S. in this process, and we've received assurances thereof," Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukrainian television channels aired on Sunday evening.

According to him, U.S. President Donald Trump will use his first meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to convince the latter "of the utter futility of attempts to exert on pressure Ukraine."

Poroshenko also recalled that Kyiv supports the adoption of a "roadmap" of the Minsk process, outlining specific dates will be clearly concerning what should be accomplished and when.
Mike Bloomberg is putting up cash prizes to find out who will be America's most influential Mayor.

The former New York City Mayor's foundation will hold a contest  and award $17 million to mayors who address some of the country's biggest challenges.

One city will take home a $5 million grand prize, while dozens of others will win smaller amounts.

Mayors are encouraged to address critical issues like climate change, obesity, and illegal guns.

The new contest is part of a larger $200 million initiative aimed at helping America's cities that Bloomberg plans to unveil today at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami.

The billionaire is increasingly using his personal fortune to encourage policymakers to work around Washington and President Trump.
The Supreme Court says it will take on the case of President Donald Trump's amended travel ban.

Until then, the controversial executive order will take effect in most cases.

The court says it will review whether the Trump administration can temporarily bar new visas for citizens of six mostly Muslim nations.

This overturns the rulings of several federal appeals courts that blocked the ban, including one in Virginia earlier this month.

During a joint news conference with the prime minister of India, President Trump did not reference the travel ban directly, but he said he's committed to working with India to combat terrorism.

"Both our nations have been struck by the evils of terrorism, and we are both determined to destroy terrorist organizations and the radical ideology that drives them. We will destroy radical Islamic terrorism," Trump said.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case in the fall.
Paper planes usually take about a minute to make, but one artist spent a whopping 9 years working on one, and hes not even done yet. But, then again, this isnt your usual paper plane, but a perfect 1:60 scale replica of an Air India Boeing 777.

25-year-old Luca Iaconi-Stewart, a young designer from San Francisco, describes himself as a crazy guy who loves aviation and, after hearing that he spent over 10,000 hours, for a period of nine years, working on a paper airplane in his parents home, some people might be inclined to agree with him. But as soon you witness the level of detail he has been able to achieve using only cut-out paper folders, you are overwhelmed by a feeling of awe.

Iaconi-Stewart had always been fascinated by airplanes, but his epic project began in 2008, when he saw a photo of the Air India Boeing 777 on the internet. The proportions were just so nice, he recently told GE Reports. But there were no engineering drawings available. Luckily, we live in a time where you can find virtually anything online, so he started looking for photos and plans of the airplane.

Luckily, these days theres a wealth of photos and videos online that dont really leave any detail to the imagination, Luca said. Over the years Ive amassed a collection of hundreds of images that Ive used to draw up my own plans. I also got hold of the training manual for the 777-200ER that someone randomly posted online, and thats been immensely helpful for sections like the wings, which Im currently designing.

Once he got all the materials he needed, the young San Francisco-based designer started working on a series of computer drawings, printed them on manila folders, cut them out with an X-Acto knife, grabbed them with tweezers, and glued them together to create all the necessary components. It sounds easy enough, but getting every little detail right, from the bolts and hinges to the complicated GE90-115B engines and hydraulic pipes, and making sure everything worked the same as on the real airplane, was a titanic undertaking.

Back in 2014, when Luca Iaconi-Stewarts incredibly detailed paper plan first made headlines, he revealed that he devoted an entire summer just to completing construction of the passenger seats(20 minutes for an economy seat, four to six hours for business class, and eight hours for first class), and even dropped out college to dedicate more time to his project.

But after 9 years, the coolest paper airplane ever is still a work in progress. Iaconi-Stewart told GE that he has been working on another project this past year, and hes only now getting into building the wings of his paper 777-200ER, the last major components of the replica.

[Im]not as far as Id have liked. I spent most of last year working on an ad for Singapore Airlines, and I am just now getting back into wing design, which is the last major part I have to assemble, the designer said. Im currently working on the slats (theres an update on my YouTube channel), and will likely move to the flaps in the near future. The end date is constantly evolving and Im guessing that itll take me at least the rest of the year to get the project done  I saved the most complex part for last!

But even in its current state, Iaconi-Stewarts model is a wonder to behold, particularly the complex engines of the aircraft. This is an amazingly accurate model of the GE90 engine, Boeing 777 pilot Capt. Richard Sowden told GE Reports. Its fascinating to follow the build through the slide sequence and view the details in the engine made solely from paper.

As for whether the 25-year-old designer will ever start working on an other intricate paper plane, he doesnt rule it out. Somehow I doubt its the last plane Ill build, but Im in no rush to start another similar project, at least not as a hobby. Id like to possibly explore other areas of design and venture outside the model-making realm to broaden my horizons a bit, he said in an interview. Well see what the future holds!

To keep an eye on Luca Iaconi-Stewarts progress on his amazing paper plane, and to see more photos of it, follow his profiles on Flickr and YouTube.
Up until four years ago, Rio Celeste, a 14-kilometer river in Costa Ricas Alajuela province, was a complete mystery to scientists, who could not understand why its waters had an unusual turquoise color. And then they realized that it wasnt turquoise at all.

Theories regarding the turquoise color of Rio Celeste had been circulating in the scientific community for years, but nobody had ever managed to provide enough evidence to solve this natural enigma. Some claimed that the unusual coloring was caused by high levels of copper, but tests revealed that there was no copper in the water, others said that it was due to chemicals like calcium carbonate and sulfur, and some even connected it to the rivers proximity to the Tenorio Volcano. Everyone was so convinced that a mysterious chemical reaction was turning the water turquoise that they never even entertained the possibility of an optical illusion.

Photo: Rio Celeste/Facebook

Then, in 2013, a team of scientists from the Universidad the Costa Rica and the Universidad National, took water samples from both Rio Celeste, and its two tributaries, Sour Creek (Quebrada Agria) and the Good View River (Rio Buena Vista). The first thing that caught the scientists attention was that while the waters of Rio Celeste were a vibrant turquoise, the samples they collected in their test tubes were completely transparent.

Photo: Rio Celeste/Facebook

To fully understand the mystery of Rio Celeste, it is important to know that Sour Creek and Rio Buena Vista, the two rivers that converge to create this fascinating body of water, are both completely transparent, and analysis reveal no unsual chemical reactions. Whats even more interesting is that Rio Celeste is only turquoise for a 14-km stretch, after which its waters become transparent. For this reason, the unusually-colored section of the river is known as The Dyer (El Tenidero).

Photo: Rio Celeste/Facebook

As tests revealed no unusual chemicals in the water, and keeping in mind that the water only appeared turquoise in the river bed, Costa Rican scientists started considering the possibility of an optical illusion. They noticed a layer of a whitish substance that covered all the rocks at the bottom of the Rio Celeste, and checked its two tributaries for it, as well. Sour Creek had very small, almost insignificant, quantities of it, but it was abundant in the water of Rio Buena Vista.

Photo: Rio Celeste/Facebook

Analyzing the substance with electron microscopy in UCR laboratories, the scientists determined that it was a type of mineral composed of aluminum, silicon and oxygen, called aluminosilicate, that when suspended in the water reflected sunlight and tricked the human eye into seeing the water turquoise.

Photo: Rio Celeste/Facebook

Sunlight contains the entire color spectrum, similar to the way we see them all in a rainbow. In any other river sunlight penetrates to a certain depth and no particular color is deflected or reflected back to the surface, so it looks transparent, while in the Rio Celeste the water passes some of the Suns rays, but reflects the bluish tone group. So the water appears blue to the human eye, The Costa Rica Star newspaper reported in 2013.

Photo: Rio Celeste/Facebook

There was only one puzzle left to solve, though. If Rio Buena Vista also had an abundance of aluminosilicate, how come its water looked completely transparent, while Rio Celeste appeared to be turquoise? It turned out to be a matter of particle size. Upon analyzing samples from both bodies of water, scientists realized that aluminosilicate particles in Rio Buena Vista measured 184 nanometers (nm), while those in Rio Celeste were much larger at 566 nm.

This increase in size is what causes the scattering of sunlight, such that it occurs principally in the blue region of the visible spectrum. So thats why we have that spectacular light blue color of the Rio Celeste said Dr. Max Chavarria Vargas, who lead the scientific investigation into the turquoise waters of Rio Celeste. Its one of those quirks of nature where one of the rivers provides mineral material with one size and the other river provides the acidic environment so that those particles grow.

Interestingly, the Rio Celeste phenomenon is unique in the world.
Catherine London, who has more than two decades of experience in the pharma and healthcare sectors, has joined biOasis Technologies as executive VP-corporate affairs and IR. She reports to CEO Mark Day.

Catherine London

Most recently, London did a two-year stint as corporate communications chief at Purdue Pharma, maker of Oxycontin.

Earlier, she held corporate and product PR positions at Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer Ingelheim and worked at communications firms Chandler Chicco and Ruder Finn.

At biOasis, London assumes a newly created post in charge of external communications, visibility, brand-building and financial communications.

CEO Day praised London as a forward-thinking communications leader and collaborative relationship builder.

biOasis, which is based in Vancouver, has developed treatments for neurological diseases such as brain cancers, neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.
Eggs were hurled at Ukrainian parliamentarian Nadia Savchenko in Mykolaiv as she was meeting with city residents, the local media reported.

According to NikVesti, representatives of nationalist organizations who were present at the meeting accused her of "working for the Russian administration" and started hurling eggs at her. That was followed by a fight.

The police intervened in the situation. An ambulance came to the site.
Google just went under the knife with its removal policies.

On Thursday, the search engine added private medical records to its small list of things that it won't include in its search results, according to Bloomberg. While the company has yet to release a statement on the decision, "confidential medical records of private people" is now listed under the search engine's Removal Policies page, which confirms the decision.

Credit card numbers, images of signatures and bank account numbers are some of the other select things Google elects to keep out of its search results to prevent identity theft. The company usually doesn't remove dates of birth, addresses and telephone numbers but will do so depending upon the situation, according to its removal policies.

"In the medical space, though, there is nothing more invasive towards one's privacy than having a medical record indexed in a Google search that millions of people can see," said Hemu Nigam, the chief executive of SSP Blue, a company that specializes in cybersecurity affairs. "This is a great move, but why did it take so long?"

Health records can show up on the Internet without patients' consent. According to Bloomberg, in December, an Indian pathology lab accidentally uploaded the blood test information of 43,000 patients, which included names and HIV test results. Google indexed them all.

Google usually takes a hands-off approach with its content. It manually removes URLs on a case-by-case basis if there is a complaint about something that may fall under its removal policies.

But the search giant has made some adjustments the last few years. In 2015 the company bent its well-established approach and said it would accept requests to remove "revenge porn"  nude images uploaded to the Internet without the subject's consent  from its search results. Google explained that, although it believes that its search should reflect the entire web, revenge porn is highly personal and emotionally damaging.

In another move, Google released a set of new tools in April to help combat "fake news," allowing users to flag misleading or disrespectful content to help improve search results that come from its algorithm.

"I think there's a definite shift happening in Google, albeit very slowly," Nigam said. "That's being driven by advertisers who pull their ads when they don't like certain policies their brand. When customers complain, advertisers listen, and therefore Google listens."

Google declined to comment for this story.
France is ready for a new meeting of the leaders of the Normandy format (Ukraine, France, Germany, and Russia), where new prerequisites for the settlement of the situation in Ukraine's east should be developed, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

"I would like to note that France is ready to continue efforts in the Normandy format and we are ready to hold a new discussion within the Normandy format," Macron said in Paris on Monday at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

"We intend to continue the Minsk process... We support the idea of the possibility of active cooperation in the Normandy format with the involvement of the OSCE. This is what I have offered to all the parties," the French president added.

According to him, he told Poroshenko that during their next meeting in the Normandy format, they could lay down a series of conditions for all the parties to offer concrete solutions to overcome the crisis. "France together with Germany are extremely involved in this process and insists on the development of these agreements and their implementation," Macron said.

According to the French president, he does not want the discussion on the implementation of the Minsk agreements to end in nothing. He stressed that he spoke about this with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "And in the coming days, in the next few weeks, we will try to work seriously on this with German Chancellor Angela Merkel," Macron added.
The fathers of two toddlers were smoking marijuana and watching a movie as the children played inside a west Omaha apartment.

Suddenly, a gunshot.

A bullet struck 17-month-old MaLaya Buie. It entered under her left eye, exited the back of her head and became lodged in a water heater.

The other toddler, a 22-month-old boy, had fired the shot, an Omaha police detective testified Monday. The boy had gunshot residue on his hands and shirt.

Authorities allege that the gun, a Czechoslovakian-made 9 mm, belonged to MaLayas father, Marquell Buie. Buie told officers that he owned such a gun.

Douglas County Judge Stephanie Shearer ruled Monday that Buie, 22, will stand trial on a charge of committing negligent child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.

Buie also will stand trial on an unrelated robbery charge. He is being held on a combined $50,000 bail.

MaLaya was placed in temporary custody of the state under a judges June 16 order. A prosecutor had filed motions saying MaLayas mother, Ragine Moore, was not complying with doctors orders to feed MaLaya only pureed baby food, among other concerns. According to court documents, Moore and relatives had been feeding the toddler Fritos, Fruity Pebbles cereal, chocolate and chicken wings, which put her at risk of pneumonia or asphyxiation.

Moore was not immediately available for comment Monday afternoon.

Sherry King, an Omaha police detective, testified Monday that MaLaya was receiving care at a Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, but she didnt know her condition.

When Buie spoke to officers after the April 17 shooting, he said that he and Mosell Gulley, 22, were at the Pine Tree Apartments at 10375 Hamilton Plaza. Gulleys son was playing with MaLaya.

Buie told officers that he had put a gun on a kitchen counter. Then he heard a boom. He saw MaLaya bleeding and carried her out of the apartment to the parking lot. A neighbor drove them to a hospital.

Authorities recovered a 9 mm handgun in the apartment. The bullet that struck MaLaya matched the gun.
Staff at the Omaha Public Library should turn security footage over to police officers without a warrant if someone is in immediate danger, according to a new policy.

The Omaha Library Board voted 6-0 last week to approve the new policy after months of discussion about patron privacy and public safety.

Last year, Library Director Laura Marlane proposed loosening the previous policy, which said that police officers had to obtain a warrant before obtaining any library security footage. She suggested allowing staffers to release video if police needed to take immediate action to save a life.

But board member Kathleen McCallister wanted to go further, wanting staffers to turn over footage any time there is reasonable suspicion that a crime has occurred.

The new policy came out of discussions about the issues.

The previous policy said law enforcement could receive access to security video when pursuant to a subpoena, court order, or when otherwise required by law. The new policy adds exigent circumstances to that list.

It also says:

Omaha Public Library values patron privacy first; however, the goal of the Omaha Public Library should be to maintain appropriate confidentiality of its patrons while protecting the public through cooperation with law enforcement when life is at risk. This policy should be interpreted liberally with the understanding that the image of a person on library property is not protected, but anything that would identify the content of a library user is protected and held private.

Exigent circumstances should also be interpreted liberally to mean if anyone is in immediate physical danger on or off library property, law enforcement should be provided immediate access to security video footage without a subpoena in order to create a safe environment for library staff and patrons as well as the public at large.

Marlane had been reviewing the librarys security policies since Police Chief Todd Schmaderer came to the board to ask it to address problems at the downtown branch.

At that time, Capt. Kathy Belcastro-Gonzalez asked the board to enact a policy that would allow library officials to turn over footage from security cameras to police without requiring a subpoena. She also suggested searching patrons bags to make sure they dont have weapons or open containers of alcohol.

The board didnt make those changes but did beef up the librarys misconduct policy, including lengthening a ban from library premises for infractions such as breaking items and public intoxication.

The board voted 6-0 to approve the change, with Carol Wang, Mike Kennedy, Ervin Portis, Adrian Suarez-Delgado, Jesse Sullivan and Beverly Thompson present.
The legacy of a late UNO athlete will continue through a fund set up by her family.

The Merzedes Hart Memorial Fund has been established through the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation.

The 19-year-old, a 2016 Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln graduate and University of Nebraska at Omaha track team member, died Jan. 13 in a car-pedestrian collision near Waverly, Nebraska.

Harts former employer, Panda Express at Metro Crossing in Council Bluffs, will contribute 20 percent of its July 2 sales to the fund. The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Customers are required to present a paper or digital version of the official fundraising event flier when ordering, and can use promo code 233609 if ordering online. The flier is available by visiting pandaexpress.com/en/fundraiser/flyer/233609. Another link to the flier, as well as more information on the Merzedes Hart Memorial Fund, can be accessed through community foundations website at ourpccf.org.

The fund here in Merzedes memory to support local charities is an honor for us, said Jerry Mathiasen, the foundations president and CEO. It exemplifies Merzedes personality of giving, and also how our community foundation can partner with families and businesses.

Contributions can be made at any time through PCCF by visiting ourpccf.org and clicking on Donate to a Charitable Fund or by mailing a donation to PCCF at 536 E. Broadway, Council Bluffs, Iowa, 51503. Checks should be made payable to the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation and include Merzedes Hart Memorial Fund on the memo line.
Russia is acting as an aggressor in eastern Ukraine, and this is a commonly known fact, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

"Aggression emanates from Russia, that is, the aggressor is not Ukraine. We also acknowledge that the annexation of Crimea is illegal, which means we all know who started the war, who created this situation, and in what situation we are now," Macron said at a joint news briefing with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Paris on Monday.

Poroshenko said the Ukrainian military had detained Russian citizens in Donbas on Sunday and showed their documents and testimony to his French counterpart.

Poroshenko said this would make it more difficult for Russia to assert that there are no regular Russian forces in Donbas.
With colorful squares painted to look like mosaic tiles and archways, the side of a building in South Omaha now honors the Croatian immigrants who settled and lived in the community.

A Wilson Packing Plant worker holds a box of sausages  a South High School pin attached to her apron.

A tamburica ensemble plays music on one corner of the building, and theres a map of Croatia and a list of notable Croatians on the other side. Theres even a depiction of Omaha native Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago.

The mural on the side of Beres Hall at 36th and W Streets was celebrated on Sunday. Its dedication coincides with the 100th anniversary of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic parish. Father John Zaplotnik was given permission to build the church at the corner of 36th and X Streets in 1917.

Zaplotnik is depicted writing a blessing in chalk above a door at the very top of the mural.

The new mural is the fifth installment in the South Omaha Mural Project. The public artwork celebrates the culture, history and ethnic heritage of groups that settled in South Omaha neighborhoods.

There are already murals honoring Polish, Lithuanian and Mexican immigrants and one mural titled Magic City celebrating all of South Omaha.

Richard Harrison, one of the projects artists, said the murals help people reflect and look ahead.

They help communities say who are we, what do we stand for and where are we going? he said.

Creating the Croatian mural took several months of planning and prepping. The actual painting took about a month.

Initially, the group planned to do 10 murals, but Harrison said people keep calling asking that additional heritages be represented.

The next mural that has been planned will celebrate the entire state and the annual pilgrimage Nebraskans would make to South Omaha to trade livestock, shop for furniture, get haircuts or drink beer.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  A photo of Richard Anthony Jones was the 202nd needle in a haystack of mug shots of black men named Richard or Rick.

In 1999, a self-described crackhead pointed at that photo and fingered Jones as the perpetrator of a robbery three months earlier, setting in motion what would become a 17-year nightmare for Jones  and a textbook example of the now-well-known unreliability of witness testimony and flawed police photo lineups.

Since that questionable identification, the police never looked at another suspect, attorneys for Jones said in court documents. Mr. Jones was the victim of an unnecessarily suggestive police lineup, which is what the other witnesses identified him from.

The victim of the robbery, who along with others identified Jones as the suspect, calls the situation tragic. But for criminal justice experts, its hardly surprising.

Eyewitness identification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions. Nationwide, of more than 300 wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA evidence, mistaken eyewitness identification played a role in about 71 percent of the cases, according to the Innocence Project.

More police departments around the country began changing their procedures for eyewitness identifications in the last decade as the research on the unreliability of criminal eyewitnesses has become accepted science.

The National Academy of Sciences has studied the witness ID issue, and in a 2014 report it raised concerns about how photo lineups are presented to witnesses.

Research has consistently shown that the accuracy of these lineups can be skewed or influenced based on how lineups are presented, the type of presentation, how similar the suspect and non-suspects look in the lineup, where the suspect is placed in the presentation, nature of the instructions and any feedback given to the eyewitnesses before or after the identification, according to the report.

Continuing concerns about eyewitness reliability prompted Kansas last year to start requiring police departments to adopt protocols for conducting witness lineups. The number of states adopting statewide standards now numbers 19, including Nebraska. Many of them joined the list since the National Academy of Sciences study, said Michelle Feldman, legislative strategist for the Innocence Project in New York.

The science is settled, she said.

Dozens of exoneration cases are featured on an Innocence Project website dedicated to Eyewitness Identification Reform.

Among them was a case decided just last month in Indiana. William Barnhouse was exonerated by DNA testing after serving 25 years in prison for rape. The victim in that case had identified Barnhouse as her attacker.

In Missouri, a lawmaker has pushed unsuccessfully for reforms in eyewitness protocol. In that state, every case involving a DNA exoneration was based on witness identification, according to the Innocence Project.

One exoneration came in 2013 when another Kansas City man was released from prison after DNA testing proved that someone else committed the rape he was convicted of. Robert E. Nelson was charged after the rape victim tentatively identified him in a video lineup.

In Kansas, the states first DNA exoneration case came in 1992 when Joe C. Jones was released from prison after serving seven years for the rape of a woman in Topeka. The victim and two other witnesses had identified Jones as the attacker.

Even in states that have yet to legislate changes, law enforcement agencies are establishing new policies, defense attorneys have more ammunition when eyewitness testimony is weak and judges are throwing out bad identifications, Feldman said.

Theyre sending the message to law enforcement that they have to follow these practices, she said. Its in the water.

The enlightenment came years too late for Richard Jones, now 41. He lost the opportunity to watch his children grow up.

When it comes to my kids, its been a rough ride, Jones told the Kansas City Star.

His lawyers say that in 1999, a man named Rick was picked up at a home by a trio of crack smokers looking for drugs in Kansas City, Kansas. Rick told the group he could help them get more drugs, but hed need money first.

So the group drove to a Walmart and Rick tried to steal a womans purse. The woman fought back and held onto the purse, but Rick made off with her cellphone. Because the woman fell and scraped her knees, the phone theft was classified as an aggravated robbery.

A witness wrote down the license plate number of the car involved in the robbery. Investigators tracked down the driver of the car, who led them to the house where Rick lived.

Then the driver went to the precinct, where he looked through booking photos of people with the name Richard and Rick that matched the description the victim and a security guard had given: A light-skinned Hispanic or African-American man with long hair pulled back.

When he came to picture No. 202, he told police that it was the Rick who committed the robbery. It was a picture of Richard Jones, whose mug shot was in the system from a previous arrest.

Police then created a lineup using that photo of Jones and photographs of five other black males. But according to Jones lawyers, he was the only light-skinned man in the lineup.

This photo line-up is severely flawed, his attorneys argued court documents. Richard Jones is the only one who comes close to the description of the suspect.

It didnt matter that Jones had a solid alibi. He was sentenced to 19 years on aggravated robbery because he had prior convictions.

Jones appealed and lost. Then he learned about the Midwest Innocence Project, which took up the case.

In an interview with the Star after his release, Jones said that after years of fighting to clear his name, when the other man who looked like him was found, everybody started scrambling.

When I saw that picture, it just made sense to me, he said of how people could have mistaken them.
The leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia will meet in late June - early July 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

"The date [of this meeting] is still being determined. It will take place sometime between late June and early July. The four of us, the participants will make this decision in the coming hours," Macron said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Paris on Monday.
Head of the EU's delegation to the Vatican and former head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Jan Tombinski has said issues involving Ukraine are practically absent in the international agenda. He said Ukraine should find the possibility of becoming a part of solutions to world problems.

"I see Ukraine from a distance lately, and issues involving Ukraine are practically absent in international discussions. The world today is mired in deep conflicts, which threaten  You need to show that Ukraine can be part of the solution, not part of the problem," he said during the fifth National Forum, dubbed "Transformation Ukraine," which was held in Kyiv on Monday.

Tombinski said he is confident that European leaders are worried about migration from African countries, the war against terrorism and internal problems.

According to him, the key issues of the day for Ukraine's government should be introduction of democratically elected parties, consistent state-institution building, reform of the energy sector, ensuring every-day security for Ukrainian citizens and the war against corruption.

He also mentioned the appointment of new members to Ukraine's Central Election Commission (CEC).

"It's impossible to understand that for already three years CEC has been working without a mandate," he said.
Refugee agencies in Nebraska and Iowa  and the worldwide refugees they resettle in their states  are again facing much uncertainty following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision Monday partially reinstating President Donald Trumps travel ban.

The high courts decision in part reinstated the 90-day ban Trump sought on all travelers from six Muslim-majority countries, as well as the 120-day ban on refugees from any country. The court allowed those bans to be enforced against foreign nationals who do not have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

It appears that the ruling will limit the entry of some refugees. Refugee resettlement agencies say the majority  but not all  of the refugees they settle here do have some type of U.S. tie. Much of it could come down to how the State Department and lower courts interpret the Supreme Courts words, refugee advocates say.

Its still kind of muddy for us, said Marilyn Sims, director of the Refugee Empowerment Center in Omaha.

The decision, however, does appear to be good news for University of Nebraska personnel coming from the six countries named in the presidents travel ban: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. When the president first released his executive order in January, the university had advised students and faculty from those countries not to travel outside the United States for fear that they would not be able to gain re-entry.

The Supreme Courts ruling seemed to put that issue to rest, specifically mentioning university students as having a relationship with an American entity. So would a worker who accepted a job with an American company or a lecturer invited to address an American audience, the court said.

The Supreme Courts action today does not affect scholars, employees or students at Nebraska, said Steve Smith, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln spokesman. The courts action gives specific guidance regarding students admitted to universities.

The court decision represented a partial victory for Trump, who twice since taking office in January had signed executive orders on immigration and refugee settlement only to see them struck down by federal courts. Trump said in a statement that Mondays decision would allow him to use an important tool for protecting our nations homeland.

Todays unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security, Trump said. As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm.

But advocates for immigrants and refugees said the executive order, even as pared down by the court, served no useful purpose, hurting vulnerable families fleeing violence and persecution without making America safer.

Too much time has already been spent litigating this misguided order, said David Miliband, CEO of the International Rescue Committee. He said refugees are already vetted more intensely than any people seeking to enter the United States.

In allowing parts of the ban to temporarily take effect, the court also agreed Monday to hear the full case on the legality of the executive order this fall.

Trump issued his first executive order on immigration in late January. Its hasty implementation and rollout caused major problems, including detainment of refugees arriving at U.S. airports. Most of its provisions were quickly stayed by courts.

He then issued another, somewhat modified order in March. It included four primary provisions: a review and strengthening of screening processes for those entering the country; a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. from the six named countries; a 120-day ban on refugees from any country; and cutting from 110,000 to 50,000 the total number of refugees that will be admitted during this fiscal year.

Like the first, the second executive order came under attack as discriminating against Muslims, with opponents noting that Trump during his presidential campaign had called for a Muslim ban. Again, federal courts quickly issued stays preventing any of the provisions from being enforced.

In its decision Monday, the Supreme Court amended the lower court stays, allowing Trumps order to apply to those who do not have prior U.S. ties.

The original order for a time drastically reduced the flow of immigrants into Nebraska and Iowa, so much so that the two agencies that settle refugees in Omaha both had to lay off staff members.

The Refugee Empowerment Center said its resettlements are on pace to fall about a third from levels a year ago. Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska said its resettlements as of now will be down only slightly, largely due to a recent influx of Iraqi refugees into Lincoln. Lincoln is home to one of the largest Iraqi refugee communities in the country.

Were settling more in Lincoln than we ever have, said Faiz Rab of Lutheran Family Services.

In Iowa, the number of refugees settled by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants is also down, but not significantly, said Carly Ross, who runs the agencys Des Moines field office.

But the new order again throws the flow of refugees into doubt.

The courts decision effectively reinstated the 120-day refugee ban and the 50,000 annual limit on new refugees. But the court said neither of those limits could be enforced against those who can claim a legitimate relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

Rab said that so far this year, more than 90 percent of the refugees Lutheran Family has settled in Nebraska had U.S. ties  meaning they had relatives or close friends here already. It would seem likely that relatives would fall under the courts definition. But would a friend?

Does that qualify as a bona fide relationship? Rab asked.

Ross said about half the refugees her agency settles in Iowa each year are likewise reuniting with family. And even more resettlements could still be allowed depending on how the Trump administration interprets the courts definition of a U.S. entity, she said.

If a refugee agency meets the definition, the orders impact could be quite limited. Ross said she would assume thats not how the State Department would interpret it. But like everyone else, she will be awaiting further legal guidance.

We are staying on high alert to see what will happen next, she said.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during his visit to France discussed development of trade and economic cooperation and projects in the renewable energy area with Prime Minister of France Edouard Philippe.

The press service of the Ukrainian president reported on Monday that the parties arranged to intensify work of the Ukraine-France intergovernmental commission for economic issues.

"Petro Poroshenko and Edouard Philippe also discussed prospects of the involvement of the French companies in the Ukrainian market of the renewable energy. The head of state drew attention to the threats for the energy security in Europe posed by the Nord Stream 2 gas supply project," the press service said.

The parties discussed the developments in Donbas in the context of Russian aggression and the issue of compliance with the human rights in the occupied Crimea.

Philippe pointed out the profoundness of the Ukrainian reforms that facilitate the improvement of the investment climate.

Poroshenko congratulated Philippe on having been appointed Prime Minister and formation of the new government team. The Ukrainian president invited the prime minister of France to visit Ukraine at his convenience.
In UP 166 criminals killed in encounters in past five years: Yogi

This Diwali, UP CM Yogi asks govt employees to celebrate festival with needy, deprived families

Modernisation of police force helped in controlling crime in UP: CM Yogi

Yogi govt orders demotion of DySP to inspector for taking bribes in rape case

100 days of Yogi Adityanath: Here are his top decisions

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Yogi Adityanath has completed 100 days in office. The surprise pick by the BJP, Yogi took over as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh 100 days back. The government is set to release its 100 day report card and a major chunk of it would target the failures of the Akhikesh Yadav government from which the BJP snatched power.

The White Paper as the Yogi government would like to term it would submit details of cost and time overruns in flagship projects and injudicious utilisation of public money and siphoning of funds, if any, in the last couple of years, especially with relation to projects still underway and needing fresh funds, a Business Standard report stated.

In the paper the government would speak about the key projects during the previous government which is now under probe. Some of the flagship projects included Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Gomti Riverfront Development, Janeshwar Mishra Park, J P International Centre etc. The \government is already probing the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and Gomti Riverfront Development projects for alleged financial irregularities and cost overruns.

Yogi's top ten decisions:

Asset declaration: On March 19, Adityanath ordered all ministers to declare their income, movable and immovable properties within 15 days. He asked them to submit declarations to the CM secretariat.

Oath of cleanliness: Yogi administered the oath of cleanliness and honesty to all his ministers. He fixed Friday as the day when the state staff must tidy up workspaces.

Paan ban: Yogi ordered a ban on paan masala and gutkha consumption in government offices, schools and hospitals.

Illegal slaughterhouses: Yogi ordered a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, meat shops and cow smuggling.

Anti Romeo Squads: He set up the anti Romeo Squads across the state to check harassment of women.

Deadline on potholes: Adityanath set a deadline of June 15 for making all UP roads pothole-free.

Work hard: Yogi said officers who cannot work 18-20 hours were free to leave.

Metro: Yogi announced Metro train projects for Gorakhpur and Jhansi.

Loan waiver: Yogi waived farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh each of small and marginal farmers.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 10:58 [IST]
Morbi Bridge is not the only Incident - Quality of Bridges, roads and Highways in BJPs government!

Three down in three days: Congress loses yet another MLA to BJP in Gujarat

1st BJP govt in Manipur completes 100 days: How it fared?

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Imphal, June 26: This March, the Bharatiya Janata Party formed its first government in the northeastern state of Manipur. On Sunday, the BJP-led coalition government completed its first 100 days of rule in the state.

After the assembly elections in March, the BJP deftly outmaneuvered the Congress to clinch power in Manipur to form its first government in the northeastern state, headed by N Biren Singh, a former minister who quit the Congress last year.

The BJP, which was at second spot in the state, winning 21 seats to the Congress party's 28, did not waste time in getting four MLAs each of the National People's Party and the Naga People's Front, which is also one of NDA's alliance partners at the Centre, to its side, plus three other lawmakers, to form government in the state.

Speaking on the occasion of completion of 100 days in power, CM Singh said it was because of the trust reposed by people in the new government that it could accomplish its pledges and implement various developmental projects.

He said that the indefinite economic blockade imposed by the United Naga Council on Manipur lasting over three-and-a-half months was lifted within two weeks of the formation of the coalition ministry.

"The nine bodies in Churachandpur district during the anti-Inner Line Permit agitation were not claimed for more than 600 days. However, once the new government was formed, the bodies were given decent burials," he added.

However, Singh's cabinet colleague T Shyamkumar admitted that the plan to clean up Imphal city was not a complete success as "just 10% has been achieved".

The CM said that his government's priority is to make the state corruption-free. Towards making Manipur free from corruption, the CM had recently set up an anti-corruption cell to probe various dubious transactions during the Congress government.

Reports say that action has been taken against several corrupt officials in the state in the last three months.

The state government announced an inquiry into the appointment of over 200 people in the Assembly secretariat before the elections. "The authority was asked to examine the OBC certificate issued to the wife of a Speaker. Besides being the daughter of an elected member, it will be examined whether she was entitled to such a certificate," said Speaker Y Khemchand.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 9:08 [IST]
FM Nirmala Sitharaman hints at possibility of Centre considering restoration of state status to J&K

In J&K, 14,000 dropouts find their way back to schools

Amarnath Yatris need not worry about tensions at the border: J&K Deputy CM

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

All the arrangements for the Amarnath Yatra, which is set to begin on June 29, are in place and yatris need not worry about security issues, said Jammu and Kashmir's Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Monday.

Nearly 30,000 paramilitary personnel besides the local police have been deployed to ensure proper security for the Amarnath pilgrimage.

When asked about the tension at the India-Pakistan border, Singh told news agency ANI, "The ongoing firing on the border is far off from the yatra's route."

He appealed to yatris to not be worried due to the border crisis.

Last month, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra reviewed the preparations, including those related to the security, of the 40-day-long annual yatra to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in Himalayas.

The Governor directed the DGP and the Kashmir divisional administration to strictly enforce the prescribed regulatory mechanism and ensure that only those pilgrims who have valid yatra permits were allowed to undertake the pilgrimage

The shrine is located in the Himalayas at an altitude of 12,756 feet and is at a distance of about 141 kms from Srinagar.

The Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), which conducts the annual pilgrimage to the shrine, has issued advisories for the pilgrimage which involves a trek at an altitude of 14,000 feet.

OneIndia News
Explained: Why has a public health emergency been declared in Puducherry's Karaikal

Amit Shah in Puducherry to take stock of political situation

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

BJP president Amit Shah arrived in Puducherry on Monday to stock of the political situation in the Union Territory.

Shah's two-day visit to the Union Territory is part of his 110-days nationwide visit to strenghten BJP across the country.

BJP President Amit Shah arrived in Puducherry on a two-day visit pic.twitter.com/ySYaZKgzUD  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

The BJP president will hold a meeting with the party workers after garlanding the statue of Subramaniya Bharathi.

The road leading to the BJP office from Puducherry airport has been decorated with banners and posters with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah and other local BJP leaders. A temporary arches with 'welcome Amit Shah ji' written on them have also been erected at several places.

According to reports, Shah will also be meeting with industrialists, representatives of trade associations, and Chambre De Commerce in Puducherry.

He will also take stock of the membership drive launched by the BJP.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 11:40 [IST]
Army contemplates doing away with 'Sahayak' system

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

In the wake of several jawans coming out openly against the Sahayak system, the Indian Army is actively considering doing away with the system.

The Sahayaks or buddy system - whereby a solider is attached to officers - will continue be deployed in key bases and field areas as they have defined military duties. "We are looking at getting civilian staff to replace Sahayaks in peace stations," Army officials have said.

In the recent months, a number of videos had surfaced where some army jawans were seen voicing their anger over the Sahayak system with some even alleging that they are treated as servants by the officers whom they are attached to. The official said the option of deploying civilian staff at peace stations instead of Sahayaks will help the Army in economising on its man power as well. "Currently, we are examining various aspect of the option," he said, insisting Sahayaks cannot be replaced in field units.

In March, the government had strongly defended the Sahayak system in the Army, saying it provides an "essential support" to officers in "fully" attending to their duties in times of peace and war. At the same time, the government had said Sahayaks or orderlies are combatants and exhaustive instructions have been issued to not make them perform menial tasks which are not in conformity with the dignity of a soldier.

An annual conference of top army commanders in April had held extensive deliberations on the Army's "internal health" including on Sahayaks, and decided to reorient the human resource policy of the force. Sahayaks are soldiers and their duties include protecting the officers, maintaining their weapons and equipment and helping them in carrying out their responsibilities.

In March, the body of a jawan, Roy Mathew, was found hanging at Deolali cantonment in Maharashtra after a sting video, which showed him complaining about being made to do household chores of superior officers, went viral. Days later, a sepoy also posted a video online criticising the Sahayak system and accused the senior officers of treating them as "slaves".

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 6:15 [IST]
BJP prepares for early assembly polls in Karnataka, Congress says there won't be one

India

oi-Anusha

By Anusha Ravi

Bengaluru, June 26: Political parties in Karnataka are gearing up for assembly elections but the BJP and JD(S) are preparing for an early election in December. While the Congress, especially Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has maintained that elections, as expected, will be held only in April or May of 2018, opposition parties are already drawing battle lines.

The state president of BJP B S Yeddyurappa as well the JD(S) state chief H D Kumaraswamy have predicted early elections in Karnataka. Given the slew of sops that the Congress government has announced in recent times as well as the clash of schedule with elections in other states where BJP is in power, the opposition in Karnataka feels that the Congress will call for early elections timed to their advantage.

A day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah rubbished the possibilities of an early election, B S Yeddyurappa reiterated that the Congress was strategically planning for early elections. "Looking at the activities of Congress' new in-charge of the state K C Venugopal it is becoming clear that the party is preparing for a December election. MLAs are being directed to focus on respective constituencies, there is a sudden increase in pressure on officials to look into developmental activities and such sudden spurt indicates to me that early elections may be called by December. We are preparing for it," said B S Yeddyurappa who added that the Congress' strategy to catch the opposition by surprise will not work.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Sunday, had said that early polls were not a possibility. "Elections in Karnataka will be held either in April or May 2018. There is no question of early elections," he said speaking to reporters. The Congress on its part is armed with the socio-economic census data which it is yet to make public. The JD(S) and BJP have accused the government of introducing many pro-Dalit and OBC schemes directly to influence voters since they now know the number of votes each community commands.

Surveys before distribution of tickets

Both, the BJP as well as the Congress, are conducting surveys to decide on ticket distribution. "An external survey will be conducted to understand ground realities and get feedback. The survey will be held throughout the state to get a correct picture and find out our probable candidate," said B S Yeddyurappa. While reports of a survey ordered by Amit Shah emerged as early as May, the BJP state president maintained that it is likely to begin only after two months.

The Congress on its part, thanks to the socio-economic survey conducted by the government, has ample information to decided caste, community, candidature matrix. However, as per the instructions of the high command, the Congress will also hold a survey before handing out tickets to probable. The fight is big for the Congress considering that Karnataka is the only large state where the party is in power.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 18:54 [IST]
Editors Guild disapproves sentencing of Karnataka journalists, Congress leader agrees

India

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The Congress government in Karnataka has come under severe fire after the state assembly sentenced journalists to jail time and imposed a fine for alleged 'defamatory' articles against legislators. After the Editors Guild expressed its displeasure over the crackdown on journalists, senior Congress leader and AICC spokesperson Dinesh Gundu Rao has termed the action 'wrong'.

"It's wrong on the part of Privileges committee to sentence journos..goes against all ethics. K'taka assembly must review this decision (SIC)," said Dinesh Gundu Rao, AICC spokesperson and acting President of Karnataka Congress Committee. Dinesh Gundu Rao's statement is the first Congressman to condemn the actions of the house. His statement came a day after the Editors Guild of India expressed its 'strong disapproval' of the decision of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

The Guild opined that the decision violated the Fundamental Right of Freedom of Speech guaranteed under the Indian Constitution and the Freedom of the Press. "It is also a gross misuse of the powers and privileges of a state legislature. The Guild urges the Karnataka Assembly to withdraw its resolution without delay," the Guild urged.

On June 22 K B Koliwad, the Speaker of Karnataka Assembly declared that the two journalists, Ravi Belagere and Anil Raju, were being sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of Rs 10,000 each for allegedly writing defamatory articles about legislators. The House Privileges Committee that had recommended the punishment based on the complaints of the legislators.

"The right to try and sentence journalists for defamation rests with the courts of law and the Karnataka Legislative Assembly cannot and should not misuse its powers and privileges to conduct a trial and sentence any member of the press for libel," the Guild held.

In a strong-worded condemnation letter, the Guild said that the privileges of the Assembly, under which this action is taken, is not even codified.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 15:22 [IST]
FM Nirmala Sitharaman hints at possibility of Centre considering restoration of state status to J&K

Eid marred by pelting, teargas in Kashmir; Protesters and police clash

India

oi-Anusha

Clashes were witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday even as Eid celebrations were underway. Stone pelting by protesters against security forces was reported from Anathnag while clashes were reported from various places in the valley soon after Eid prayers.

Security forces resorted to the massive use of tear gas to dispel crowds pelting stones at Eid-Gah in Srinagar where clashes were reported. The valley saw no respite from tension even on Eid. Protesters put up posters of Hafiz Saeed, Burhan Wani and Sayeed Salahudeen in Pulwama of South Kashmir shouting slogans against the security forces.

The posters also included photographs of separatist leaders like Masarat Alam Bhat and Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Reports of stone pelting on a CRPF camp in Anantnag emerged on Monday. The situation continued to remain tense in multiple locations in the valley. Crowds gathered at Sopore shouted slogans in favour of 'azaadi' and Hizbul commander Zakir Musa. The Jammu and Kashmir government had asked security forces to exercise restraint on Eid to avoid clashes. Despite restraint by security forces, incidents of stone pelting and clashes were reported.

In the wake of the lynching of DSP Mohammad Ayub Pandith outside the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar during Shab-e-Qadar prayers, police have been asked to avoid Eid prayers in public places.

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EMERGENCY@ 42: Why it would always matter

India

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By Prabhpreet

A lot has been said about the conditions currently prevailing in the country, especially given the violence unleashed by groups in the name of cow protection, or what are conceived as attacks on the freedom of the press in the country etc.

Many critics of the current government have even called it an 'Undeclared Emergency.' Though a highly effective choice of words to make their point, even those have used them would agree, since many of them are old enough to know what the 'Declared Emergency' felt like, that this could be considered a bit of an exaggeration.

No matter how serious the present day conditions and even if all allegations made are true, the description is highly disappointing, as not only is it a bit unfair to the democracy of the country, but also plays down the nature of the grave danger and threat that the real Emergency was to the idea of India.

And as the majority of its current population was either not born or were too young to remember what had happened then, it can easily lead to them misunderstanding what Indira Gandhi's action meant. This is something that the largest democracy in the world can never afford as to make sure that something like that never happens again, it is necessary for everyone to remember what had transpired then.

Indira's EMERGENCY

On this day 42 years ago as the people of the India woke up, they did so in a country, which was not the same as they had gone to bed in. For nearly three decades after independence, the citizens of the country had enjoyed certain basic rights, which were engrained in the constitution since it came into effect on 26th January 1950.

But on the 26th June of 1975, none of them actually mattered. The government, which for all means and purposes should be read as Indira Gandhi and her coterie, took these away for the next 21 months.

It all started the late evening on 25th when she made sure that none of her political opponents could launch protests against her decision to declare an Emergency in the country invoking Article 352 of the Constitution, based on 'internal disturbance' prevalent in the country.

That evening saw all senior leaders of the opposition like Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), Raj Narain, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee among many others placed under arrest and printing of newspapers for the next day stopped.

While many political reasons are thought to be behind such a drastic step, the immediate cause for her decision is considered to be the verdict by the Allahabad High Court which convicted her on June 12 of that year of committing electoral malpractices and declared her election victory null and void and debarring her from holding any elected posts.

What followed was the darkest hour in Indian democracy. After the declaration of Emergency, through laws and government decisions, the rights of individuals were suspended; the judgment of the Allahabad court was rendered ineffective; and the free press was muzzled.

All this was followed by shameful actions such forced sterilization, eviction of illegal colonies in Delhi and neighboring areas by the use of brute strength etc., which are just a few example of events that would have made the founders of Indian democracy, like Mahatma Gandhi and Indira's father and the first prime minister of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru, hang their heads in shame.

With almost the entire opposition in jail or on the run, and whatever was left of the free press after government censorship, the reports given to the then prime minister by her close associates led her to believe that her decision and the conditions prevalent on the ground following the imposition of the Emergency had had support of the citizens of the country and if elections were held, she would come back to power.

This though turned out to be wrong, as the Congress was handed a crushing defeat in the elections held after its withdrawal on 21st March 1977.

Declared vs. Undeclared Emergency

The present times are a bit different from those in 1975, to say the least. And while it would be easy to agree or disagree with the claims of a state of an undeclared emergency in the country today depending on one's political leanings, it can always be considered worthwhile to compare today's times with those preceding, during and following those 21 months, as in the case of democracy, citizens can never be too careful.

While there is absolutely no comparison of the conditions in the country during the actual period of the Emergency, a look at the time previous to it does show some interesting similarities and a lot of differences between them.

The election before the imposition of Emergency witnessed Indira chosen as the prime minister with a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, a fact similar to the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But while her leadership, which was very popular following the win in the elections and a victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war over the liberation of Bangladesh, slowly lost active support due to a weak economy and her opponents like JP gaining strength and followers among other reasons, Modi has had no such problems. In fact, his party, the BJP, has won most state elections since he became prime minister in 2014.

Like Congress of then, the BJP is now at the centre of Indian politics. His party too is governed under his strict leadership, quite like Indira. And both leaders also have the common traits of not only being strong leaders but are also seen as bigger than their parties and have a strong personal following.

But for all the similarities, and there are more, a number of critical differences also show that 2017 is no 1975.

Though Modi might enjoy widespread support in the coverage given to him by the media, the government forces none of it. And if the owners of media houses choose to follow an editorial line in favour of the government, as has been alleged so, it cannot be explained by them being coerced into doing so. During the Emergency, the government did it through force, and still, some did not toe the government line. In the present scenario, no such censorship exists and if favouritism is still shown by the media, it has to be seen as owners of publications doing so in line with their business interests and beliefs.

The critics have pointed at the recent raids by investigative authorities on a news channel's owners as a sign to prove their claims. If the allegations related to actions by authorities do turn out to be true, this could surely be seen as a case of government pressure but in no way similar to just the Emergency, as such cases have happened before during the terms of other governments as well.

A look at the number of online portals, which are openly criticising the government proves that press is free to report on critical matters even if the party in power tries to make sure that it controls the narrative through unleashing their own media blitz.

As for other institutions like the courts and bureaucracy, though certain judgments and initiatives, or lack of them, like in the case of Aadhaar scheme, are pointed in support of claims that the other pillars of the democracy have been tamed. Anyone who remembers or has studied the Emergency will be able to mark out major differences between the then surrender of the courts and crawling of the bureaucracy when they were only asked to bend, and the independence they enjoy today.

Even if all these allegations were to be true, they cannot be seen as much different from the times when those in the opposition now, were in power.

It's the rise of a different ideology, not an Emergency

With the BJP becoming the biggest party in the country, it has brought with it an aggressiveness that new formations usually do and are likely missing in older parties like the Congress. And in an attempt to mark their presence and foothold in the future history of the country, such aggression leads to the crossing of certain boundaries in the way of their political functioning.

These too can also never be taken lightly and need to be looked at and picked up by not only the media but courts too if laws are deemed to have been broken.

Another major reason for the alarm raised by critics comes from the fact that not only has a new party come to power but so has a new ideology. While the Congress has always been at the Centre of politics with leanings toward the Left, barring a few examples, its main opposition has mostly come from parties with similar ideologies. The rise of the BJP has broken this hold as well, with its policies and beliefs clearly in line with the Right.

This with it has also brought a change which is not only abrupt but can also be seen as very unsettling and the reason leading to allegations of institutions being destroyed as the ruling party is trying to follow and implement its ideology.

All said and done, such issues do quite clearly point to the need for each and every citizen to be careful. While it is clear that those claiming present times to be similar to the Emergency are off the mark, the threat that similar conditions might rise again should keep everyone on their toes.

The more popular the leaders of the country, the more careful all others have to be, as it is not while the support is strong but when it fades that threats to democracy arise, as was seen in 1975. And no matter how popular the government, it is necessary to continually ask questions of it and always remember the Emergency, as it is the only way to make sure that Indian democracy is never dealt such a blow again.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 6:40 [IST]
Hyderabad hotel delisted after it denied entry to 'single lady'

India

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A popular travel website delisted a Hyderabad hotel for discriminating against a woman for travelling alone. Nupur Saraswat a 22-year-old NRI had arrived in Hyderabad from Singapore on June 24. Despite booking a hotel room through a travel website, Nupur was not allowed to check-in because she was a 'single lady'.

A day after she raised the issue on social media through a Facebook post, the travel website has delisted the hotel identified by Nupur as Hotel Deccan Erragadda in Hyderabad. The woman's post drew attention online for the discrimination that the hotel practised against solo women travellers.

In her post which went viral within hours, Nupur, an artist, questioned patriarchy. "Massive bag in hand, gross from the journey - just standing outside the hotel. Somehow they decided I was safer on the streets than in the hotel," she wrote in the post. While Nupur maintained that her intention was not to affect the hotel's business, she stood up against unfair policies of the hotel that stopped single women from booking rooms.

While the hotel has been delisted by the travel website, Nupur was offered a verbal apology and a complimentary stay at another property. The hotel in question, however, has maintained that its policy did not allow single women and couples to stay in the hotel.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 15:06 [IST]
Include chapter on 'emergency' in school books says Naidu

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu has sought for the inclusion of Emergency as a chapter in school books. "The Emergency, a historical scar in the minds of one generation, is treated as a curiosity today. It is hardly remembered by younger generations and a few of them can recite the trauma and torture stories of that era. Though four decades have passed, Emergency should not be forgotten and forgiven," said the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister.

"I feel there should be a chapter on Emergency in our school curriculum to make the younger generation know about the murder of democracy and how it was restored. This is quite essential I feel," he said, adding the Indian Council of Historical Research should bring a volume on the same and it should be made part of the curriculum.

Naidu was speaking at an event to mark the 42nd anniversary of imposing of Emergency organised by BJP's Telangana unit here.

He said the younger generation must know what was Emergency, why it was imposed, its effect and how it was lifted. "This function is organised to recall those memories.

What happened in 1975...what is Emergency...the younger generation should know why Emergency was imposed, how it was misused and who is responsible for it. Emergency was one of the darkest periods in India and could not be forgotten...every youngster should be made aware of the importance of 'eternal vigilance' to safeguard and preserve democracy in the country," added Venkaiah.

He also said during Emergency, the role of media was less than inspiring.

"Except for Ramnath Goenka's Indian Express, C R Irani's Statesman and Nikhil Chakrabarty's Mainstream, hardly any newspaper stood up against the Emergency.

Similarly, the judiciary also failed to come to the aid of common man. Unfortunately, the role played by intellectuals was also very shameful and many of them could not condemn Emergency". He further said it was time for the media and social scientists to re-tell the Emergency story. Venkaiah said every step taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to strengthen democracy and India.

Meanwhile, on NDA picking Ram Nath Kovind as its presidential nominee, the BJP leader said, "It was due to his calibre, contribution and conduct that he was made the candidate.

We do not attack other candidates. We do not play caste politics...they (opposition) play...we do not play communal politics...they do...we do not play family politics." He reiterated that there was absolute freedom of press in the country and the government is committed to the same, but in the name of freedom of press, one cannot escape from other crimes and faults. "Freedom of press is to express and write and not to suppress the truth. We have to understand that.. One of the channels was given notice by the Congress government because of some financial irregularities and now they are portraying as if there is an assault on media and there is nation-wide campaign," Naidu said.

"Time has come to stop pseudo secularism. Hindu bashing has become a fashion...Hindu bashing cannot be called as secular. Secularism is respecting everyone. The country has to be alert about these people and forces," he added. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar claimed that in 1975, then prime minister Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency for "her selfishness and only to retain power".

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 6:07 [IST]
Indefinite bandh halts Lord Jagganaths travel plans in Darjeeling

India

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By Oneindia Staff Writer

Darjeeling, June 25, 2017: Bandhs not only paralyze the lives of mere mortals, even the travel plans of Gods get affected in bandhs. Lord Jagannath got caught in an indefinite bandh in the Darjeeling Hills and could not go around on his annual tour of the town on Sunday.

Owing to the ongoing indefinite bandh imposed by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) since June 15, Darjeeling did not witness the more than 100 year old Rath Yatra (chariot festival of Lord Jagganath) on Sunday.

Rath Yatra or Chariot Festival is a Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath. Though it is celebrated throughout the country it is usually associated with Puri, the temple town of Odisha.

The "Rath Yatra" in Darjeeling is organized by the Thakurbari. The idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balaram and Goddess Subhadra are taken around town in a Rath (chariot) by devotees every year.

"This year owing to the bandh we did not take the Rath around town. As a symbolic gesture we took the Rath around the temple courtyard" stated Pundit Salik Mishra, the main priest of the Thakurbari temple. Though the exact date of the construction of the Temple is not known, books on the history of Darjeeling claim that the temple certainly existed before 1830.

"For the past 100 years the Rath Yatra is being organized by the Thakurbari. However this year owing to the bandh we could not take the Rath out on the streets. Prasad (offerings) for the puja is not available. We had even booked a band from Siliguri to accompany the procession but we were compelled to cancel it as the band would not be able to drive up from Siliguri owing to the ongoing bandh" stated Mishra.

Meanwhile the Morcha has decided to give a 12 hour travel relaxation for the Muslim community for the festival of Id on Monday. "People of the Muslim community can ply in vehicles from 6am to 6pm on Monday. They can visit relatives and friends. Muslims from far flung places can ply in vehicles to mosques located in the towns to offer prayers" stated Norbu G Lama, GJM leader.

However many in the Muslim community are not too amused at this 12 hour vehicular relaxation. "What is the use of a vehicular relaxation when we don't have food at home.

Even the festive dish of "Sewai" cannot be prepared on the day of Id as Sewai is not available owing to the bandh. Even in 2013 we had to observe Id in a similar GJM indefinite bandh" lamented a person from the Muslim community from Kurseong. He did not want to be named fearing political retribution.

A special prayer service was organized at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception located at Loreto Convent in Darjeeling on Sunday evening. "We are praying for peace in this region" stated Bishop Stephen Lepcha.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 6:22 [IST]
After 'The Kashmir Files', Agnihotri back with 'The Vaccine War'

Indrani Mukherjea booked for instigating riots in Mumbai prison

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Sheena Bora murder case accused Indrani Mukherjea has been booked along with several other women for instigating riots in Mumbai's Byculla jail.

The prisoners of the Byculla jail were agitated after a 45-year-old woman inmate was allegedly beaten to death on Friday by jail officials after she was caught stealing eggs.

Mukherjea, who is in prison on charges of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora, was among 200 women accused by jail officials of instigating a riot, said reports.

A picture reportedly shows Mukherjea standing on the jail's rooftop with other inmates. Jail authorities have accused her of being one of the prisoners instigating a revolt.

Six jail officials have also been booked for the death of 45-year-old Manjula Shetye, who was allegedlly beaten up by a sub-inspector and five prison guards, said reports.

The FIR in the case was lodged on the basis of a statement by Shetye's cell mate.

According to a post mortem report from JJ hospital, Shetye had sustained 11 to 13 contusions all over her body.

Hindustan Times while quoting BK Upadhyay, additional director general of prisons, said that Inspector general of prisons,Rajwardhan Sinha will conduct a departmental inquiry into the incident. After he submits a report, we will take appropriate action, the officer also said.

Sheena Bora, 24, the daughter of Indrani Mukerjea from a previous relationship, was allegedly strangulated in a vehicle on April 24, 2012, and later her burnt body was dumped in a bag in the forests near Gagode, in Raigad district adjacent to Mumbai.

The Mumbai Police arrested Indrani, her former driver Shyamvar P. Rai and ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna in August 2015, and later the CBI nabbed media baron Peter Mukerjea, Indrani's husband, in November, 2016.

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India-Pak need to reinitiate peace talks: Former Pak foreign minister

How Yogi Adtiyanath convinced the family of constable Prem Sagar to cremate his body

India to Pak : We reserve right to retaliate against any cross-border firing

J&K: Ceasefire violation by Pakistan along LoC in BG sector

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Jammu, June 26: Paksitan again on Monday resorted to unprovoked shelling and firing on the Line of Control in BG sector.

The Pakistan shelling and firing started at 8.15 pm. A CRPF assistant commandant Arvind and a constable Santosh Kumar were injured during clashes in Anantnag's Verinag. Kumar lost his two fingers.

Defence Ministry spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Manish Mehta said in winter capital Jammu that the Pakistan Army "initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing" of small arms, automatics and mortars in Bhimber Gali sector along the LoC, reports IANS.

J&K: A CRPF assistant commandant Arvind & a constable Santosh Kumar injured during clashes in Anantnag's Verinag, Kumar lost his two fingers pic.twitter.com/YTvxfJXkKN  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

Meanwhile, reports say that the Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively in a counter- attack on Pakistan army.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 22:42 [IST]
J&K: DPS encounter ends, two militants killed

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Two militants were killed and three soldiers were injured in an encounter at the DPS school in Srinagar. Security forces launched an offensive attack to flush out the militants who were holed up inside the school building. After hours of gunfire, the security forces said both were dead and all firing had halted.

The gunbattle at the school followed after militants attacked CRPF (Central Reserved Police Force) personnel Saturday evening, who were deployed in their road opening duty in close proximity to the school in Pantha chowk on the Srinagar-Jammu highway.

"The exchange of firing between security forces and militants began at around 3.40 am on Sunday. One CRPF personnel Sahib Shukla was martyred in the attack while a constable has been injured. The site of the attack happens to be a high-security zone located less than a kilometre away from the headquarters of Indian Army's Chinar Corps. The area was immediately cordoned off by the security forces and search operations were launched in the school premises.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 6:52 [IST]
After two years of COVID fear, Ganesh festival begins with fanfare

Hyderabad would have taken more years to get liberated If not for Patel: Amit Shah

Prayers for peace and candles in UK Parliament to celebrate Diwali

Nation celebrates Eid-ul-Fitr with pomp and fervour

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of holy month of Ramzan, is being celebrated across the nation on Monday with fervour and gaiety. Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is observed as a fasting period by Muslims who abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset.

Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, on Sunday said that the Eid moon was sighted in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, and announced the Eid-ul-Fitr to be celebrated on Monday.

In Hyderabad, the moon sighting committee comprising eminent religious scholars also announced that the moon of the month of 'Shawwal' was sighted

President Pranab Mukherjee extended his greetings to the nation on the holy occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.

"May this joyous occasion, bring happiness, peace and prosperity and be opportunity to rededicate ourselves to serve humanity," he said in his message.

Prime Minister Modi took to twitter to convey his Eid wishes to the nation.

Eid-ul-Fitr greetings! May this auspicious day further the spirit of peace and brotherhood in our society.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 26, 2017

My greetings and good wishes to people on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. May this festival strengthens bonds of peace and amity in the society  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 26, 2017

Eid Special - Seviyan Workers dries vermicelli, a popular traditional sweet dish ahead of Eid ul-Fitr in Allahabad on Sunday. Eid-ul-Fitr is in fact described amongst the masses in UP and the Hindi heartland as "meethi Eid", the sweet festival literally, synonymous with sweet seviyan. There are two kinds of seviyan preparations, either of which is what you would come across should you visit Muslim homes to celebrate the festival: Sheer Khurma and the delicious Kimami Seviyan. Muslim women busy in shopping for Eid-ul-Fitr in Kolkata The night before Eid is called Chaand Raat, which means, "Night of the Moon". Muslims in these countries will often visit bazaars and shopping malls with their families for Eid shopping. Women, especially younger girls, often apply the traditional Mehndi, or henna, on their hands and feet and wear colourful bangles. Eid rush in Srinagar In India, there are many popular places for Muslims to congregate to perform Eid prayers at this time include the Jama Masjid in Delhi, Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, Aishbagh Idgah in Lucknow, Red Road and Nakhoda Masjid in Kolkata, Taj-ul Masjid in Bhopal, Jama Mosque in Mumbai, Hajratbal Mosque in Kashmir. #Eid prayers offered at Eidgah in Bhopal pic.twitter.com/edfqjdTJvj  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017 Eid prayers in Srinagar People gathered in large numbers in Mosques across Srinagar to offer Eid prayers. Bihar: People offer Namaz at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on #eid pic.twitter.com/bYhfARV4aY  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017 Eid Prayers in Patna Thousands gathered at Gandhi Maidan in Patna to offer Eid prayers.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 9:53 [IST]
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivers a speech at the China-Africa high-level dialogue and think tank forum on poverty reduction and common development (photo/Xinhua)

The two-day China-Africa high-level dialogue and think tank forum on poverty reduction and common development started on Wednesday at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, during which nearly 300 Chinese and African guests discussed poverty elimination for shared development.

A special mission carried by the forum is to exchange experience, align cooperation ideas and contribute suggestions for Africas poverty reduction endeavor.

Up and Out of Poverty, a book published by Chinese President Xi Jinping, was published in English and French at the end of last year. The book, which recorded Xis ideas and practice on lifting Ningde, an impoverished county in southeastern Chinas Fujian province, out of poverty when he worked there, was echoed by officials and scholars of African countries.

People read "Up and Out of Poverty", a book published by Chinese President Xi Jinping (photo/People's Daily)

The success story of Ningde, also representative evidence of Chinas path to wipe out poverty, can work as a reference for the African continent which still has 400 million living in poverty.

I recommend each leader and government official to read this book, Barbara Kaiga, chief editor of Uganda New vision said after reading the book.

The success story of China can draw so much attention because the country has found a way in the past four decades to lift over 700 million residents out of poverty. This is also a miracle of development for the whole world.

China has managed to increase its GDP per capita to over $8,000 today from less than $200 when it started to launch the reform and opening-up policy.

China is also the first developing country to have met the targets on poverty elimination set by the UN in its Millennium Development Goals as the number of Chinese people lifted out of poverty over the past years accounted for 70 percent of the world's total.

The great deal of attention paid to the Chinese story can also be attributed to its innovative targeted poverty alleviation policies and commitment to pull the entire impoverished population out of poverty by 2020. What China did is not only pioneering ideas and practice, but also a new contribution to human progress.

Chinas tailored policies and unprecedented measures on poverty alleviation also cement Africas confidence.

China has proved to the world that we can change our status and turn a poor nation into a prosperous one, said Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno.

Facts have proven that Chinas targeted poverty alleviation policy is efficient and excellent, and other countries, especially the African ones, should learn from China, hailed GodloveBainkong, Editorialist of Cameroon Tribune, Cameroon's state-owned daily newspaper.

As a witness of Chinas accomplishments to wipe out poverty, Bainkong has set foot in 36 cities in more than 10 Chinese provinces.

Africa can draw valuable experience from Chinas development model since they share a number of similarities, said Kenneth Tanyi, Secretary General of the AU Commission office, citing the enormous population and vast market as examples. Both markets, according to him, started their development from the primary processing industry.

China, while pursuing its own growth, also lent a helping hand to Africa in the past decade, and also contributed a lot to the latters poverty reduction course.

In the new era, China follows the principle of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith as well as the viewpoint of righteousness and benefit when dealing with its ties with Africa.

A total of 10 major plans to boost cooperation between China and Africa were rolled out during the second summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in December 2015 in Johannesburg of South Africa.

China also announced $60 billion of funding support to ensure smooth implementation of the initiatives. It not only upgrades China-Africa collaboration to a new high, but will also address the bottlenecks restraining Africas efforts to alleviate poverty.

The China-Africa cooperation projects, including roads, bridges, economic and trade cooperation zones as well as demonstration centers for agricultural technologies, have helped Africa improve its capability to seek self-driven growth and thus delivered inexhaustible energy to Africas poverty reduction.

Thousands of African citizens have marched towards prosperity after finding jobs and learning skills at Chinese companies.

The China-built railway stretching from the port of Mombasa to Kenya's capital Nairobi, for instance, trained over 40,000 engineering workers and created 38,000 jobsin local communities.

The Mombasa-Nairobi railway changed transportation between the two cities in a fundamental way, and paved a corridor linking the on-route cities with the outside world, said Hodan Osman Abdi, researcher with Institute of African Studies of Zhejiang Normal University.

The railway can play a vital role in lifting en-route regions out of poverty since their flow of information, commodities and personnel will be facilitated, he added.

The dividends released by China-Africa cooperation, which benefit Africas drive to shake off poverty, have been recognized by Africa and the international community. China and Africa, as a community of shared destiny, will always move ahead shoulder to shoulder to eliminate poverty.
NEET 2017: TN earmarks 85 per cent seats for board students, registration and counselling dates here

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

After the NEET 2017 results were declared Tamil Nadu has decided to earmark 85% seats from the state quota to the students who have completed their class 12 from the state board under Department of School Education, Tamilnadu.

TN's Health Minister C Vijayabaskar announced in the Tamil Nadu Assembly that 85 per cent of medical seats under the state quota would be kept aside for students who had pursued higher secondary education under the state board and the admission to these seats would be based on national level NEET scores. This apportionment will apply only to the state quota after excluding the all India quota of 15 per cent.

The Minister also said the government issued an order on June 22 apportioning 85 per cent to Tamil Nadu state board students and the rest 15 per cent to the rest (CBSE and similar boards such as ICSE).

The first round of all India quota seats registration and choice filling will start on July 3 and the result publication will be done on July 15. The counselling will start after that. The medical counselling has been scheduled for July 17th.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 7:48 [IST]
Next President of India: Kovind heading for a comfortable win

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Ram Nath Kovind is heading for an impressive win in the elections to the next President of India. Kovind, the former governor of Bihar was selected by the NDA for the Presidential race last week. He is pitched against the opposition's candidate Meira Kumar.

Kovind is set to bag a little over 62 per cent of the votes in the electoral college. He is however likely to fall short of the 69 per cent mark polled by Pranab Mukherjee in 2012.

The odds are stacked in favour of Kovind, who is set to garner nearly seven lakh votes, or around two-thirds of the 10,98,903 votes of the electoral college.

Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected

The joint Opposition candidate, Meira Kumar, is likely to bag nearly four lakh votes. She has the support of many regional parties such as the RJD, the SP, the BSP and the Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M).

Chances of Kovind registering a comfortable win brightened after some parties not in the NDA such as the JD(U), the BJD, the AIADMK, the TRS and the YSR Congress extended support to him.

Aware of its chances in the July 17 presidential election, the Opposition now views it as an ideological battle.

As per vote projections after some non-NDA parties extended their support to the BJP nominee, Kovind has an assured 6,82,677 votes in his kitty.

Meira Kumar, on the other hand, has 3,76,261 committed votes, which is 34% and one-third of the total collegium vote.

This time around, there are around 39,965 votes of fence-sitting parties such as the AAP, the INLD and the AIMIM and some Independents, which have not yet opened their cards about which candidate to back.

Which way this block tilts will mainly depend on the campaign strategy of the contestants of the ruling party and the Opposition.

Of the 776 MPs in the presidential election collegium, Kovind has the support of 524, including 337 of the BJP, while his opponent, Meira Kumar, has the support of 235. The value of one MP's vote is 708 votes.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 6:29 [IST]
Now, a protest against Gorkhaland agitation in West Bengal

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Kolkata, June 26: Since the beginning of June, the agitation over the separate state of Gorkhaland is keeping West Bengal in tenterhooks. Now, a counter protest to keep the state "united" has rocked the plains of the state.

On Sunday, around 5,000 people from Siliguri and adjoining areas hit the streets to protest against the demand for a Gorkhaland state.

The Sunday's protest is touted to be the first such apolitical procession on the issue since the supporters of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha renewed Gorkhaland agitation in the hills of Darjeeling.

Along with chanting slogans to keep the state "united", the protesters carried placards which read "Bengal can never be divided" and "we want peace in the hills", to name a few.

The protest which was partially non-violent saw some members of the procession smashing the windscreens of a few vehicles. The call for the rally was given on social media.

"Over the past few days, I have seen several posts on social media asking people to come out on the streets against the demand for Gorkhaland and attempts to divide Bengal. As a Siliguri resident, I, too, felt the urge to join the rally and protest against the statehood demand. We want Bengal to remain undivided," Avik Chakraborty, a civil engineer, told The Telegraph.

It's not the first time that rallies were hosted against the demand for Gorkhaland in the state in the last few years. But most of them were political in nature. Recently, the ruling Trinamool Congress organised a rally in Mirik against the supporters of GJM.

"Today's rally was, however, different in nature. It was organised by local residents who had initiated a campaign on social media against division of Bengal. People of different age groups and economic background took part in the march today," said Rohit Prasad, a trader.

The Siliguri protesters also shouted slogans against Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling for his letter to Union home minister Rajnath Singh supporting Gorkhaland.

The procession also witnessed a minor scuffle between the agitators and police personnel after the latter put up a barricade in the town to restrict the march further. The protesters also burnt the effigies of GJM chief Bimal Guring and CM Chamling.

"We walked the streets today to send a clear message that Darjeeling is an integral part of Bengal and it cannot be separated from the state under any situation," said one of the rallyists.

Meanwhile, the ongoing indefinite bandh called by the GJM demanding Gorkhaland is in place in Darjeeling. The agitation took an ugly turn when three supporters of the GJM were killed in a police firing nine days ago. During the scuffle, several security personnel were badly injured.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 6:51 [IST]
Opposition parties likely to skip midnight GST launch

India

oi-Anusha

Opposition parties are likely to boycott NDA government's grand GST launch event on the midnight of June 30. Sources from the Congress indicated that most opposition parties including the Congress may give the event a miss.

The midnight GST rollout will take place in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Devegowda were to be present on the dais during the launch of GST. However, opposition parties are all set to boycott the midnight special event.

The Congress had been accusing the Narendra Modi government of taking credit for GST which was conceptualised when UPA was in power. Incidentally, the pilot for GST was led by Pranab Mukherjee when he was the finance minister in the UPA government. While opposition parties have not issued an official statement confirming or rejecting reports of their plans to boycott the event, sources maintained that parties are likely to skip the event.

This comes in the wake of NDA ministers giving President's Iftar a miss. Not a single minister of the NDA government was in attendance on Friday when President Pranab Mukherjee hosted an iftar party.

OneIndia News
Pray only at secured Mosques, J&K policemen told in advisory

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Policemen in Jammu and Kashmir have been told to offer prayers in protected Mosques. The Inspector General of Police, Muneer Ahmed Khan has issued an advisory in which policemen have been told to stay away from places of worship which are not secured. He has termed the advisory "a preventive measure" aimed at ensuring their safety. Marked as "most urgent" communication, it asks senior officers to "instruct the field and subordinate formation" not to offer Id prayers in isolated or general mosques or Eidgahs.

The advisory states, "You are advised to instruct the field and subordinate formations that they shall not offer Id prayers in isolated or general mosques or Eidgahs."

The advisory further directs police personnel to offer Id prayers in mosques in district police lines in Srinagar and nearby police control rooms. "In other districts also, Id prayers shall be offered in DPL mosques or protected mosques..." where the safety of your personnel is ensured."

"I consider our each policeman and other security personnel as my own children. It is, therefore, my responsibility to prepare them for possible emergencies, identify possible threats and ask them to be cautious and avoid unnecessary risks."

The advisory has been sent also to the Army and paramilitary forces which are part of Indian Kashmir's security grid and have been at the forefront of counterinsurgency operations.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 6:01 [IST]
President Mukherjee okays SC/ST reservation in government tenders in Karnataka

India

oi-Anusha

SC/ST contractors in Karnataka have reason to rejoice with the President of India giving his accent to 24.1 reservation in government tenders. The move comes as a major boost to Karnataka Congress to take its Dalit welfare agenda forward ahead of the 2018 assembly elections.

The new law that has managed to get the President's nod now mandates 24.1 percent reservation for contractors from SC and ST communities to procure government works up to Rs 50 lakh. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his government amended the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Bill to make way for reservation aimed at helping SC/ST contractors procure government works without a tender process. The government moved 'The Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill' that provides for reservation in tender works for the Scheduled Castes at 17.15 per cent and the Scheduled Tribes at 6.95 per cent for all works costing less than Rs 50 lakh.

In August 2016, Governor of Karnataka Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala rejected the amendment bill citing constitutional violations. The Governor had sent the bill to the President for clearance. The Governor held that the provisions mentioned in the bill were against those in the Constitution that restricts caste-based reservation in education, employment and electoral system.

The bill had been left in cold storage till June 17 when the President visited Bengaluru for the inauguration of Namma Metro's Green line. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is said to have pushed for the bill following which the President has approved the same. Reservation for SC/ST in government works up to Rs 50 lakh of Panchayat Raj, Public Works Department and Urban Local Bodies is now a law in Karnataka.

The move comes as a major boost to the Congress' pro-Dalit image ahead of the crucial 2018 assembly elections. Loan waiver for farmers and now the reservation bill has added strength to the Congress for election campaigning.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 13:27 [IST]
Whatever happened is wrong, Law will take its course: Rakesh Tikait on Singhu lynching

Rise of new terror groupAll India Lynch Mob

India

oi-Maitreyee

By Maitreyee

Terror has a new name in India--it's the mob--faceless, but omnipresent. It bears no allegiance to any group, religion, ideology or power. (Or does it? We don't know for sure.) It's moving freely and fearlessly amid us, raising its ugly head on a frighteningly regular basis.

Actually, it's one of us. It could be you, me or our next-door neighbour. When a "venom-frothing, revenge-seeking" man/woman joins a group and pretends to deliver justice faster than the speed of light, it turns into the 'great Indian' lynch mob.

So, here justice is one-sided, where the "suspect" gets no chance to tell his/her side of the story. Everything happens in full public view--from trial to execution. During the entire proceeding, often blood-soaked alleged accused are seen lying on a street in broad daylight and pleading mercy in front of a "vigilante group", but to no avail. The verdict has already been pronounced--"beat the culprit to death".

The circus of ongoing murders is being watched "helplessly" by policemen and filmed silently by smartphone cameras.

It's the most convenient form of murder developed by a "rising" India in recent times. Be a part of a crime in the garb of "justice". Moreover, the killers (mostly uncountable) get the licence to walk away scot-free.

A helpless person is brutally killed and there won't be any accountability. The law too has washed its hands of these crimes. The eerie silence of the ruling establishment and judiciary explains how feeble we have become in front of the "mob". This is the democratisation of cold-blooded murder.

From the brutal murder of a high-ranking police officer within a few metres away from the sacred Jama Masjid in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, to the killing of a 16-year-old Muslim boy inside a train in Haryana--the Indian mob is on a prowl like a tiger who has tasted blood--devouring anyone and everyone on its way.

The reason for the crowd to suddenly turn into a mass of murderous monster could be anything.

Mohammed Ayub Pandith, the deputy superintendent for the security wing of the J&K state police, was stoned to death by a mob on Thursday, on suspicion of being a spy. The witnesses to the horrific crime said the officer was disarmed, stripped naked and paraded around the area before being beaten to death with stones.

While a group of people mercilessly killed Pandith, except for a few who tried to save the police officer, rest quietly watched the crime unfolding in front of them.

On the same night, hundreds of kilometers away from Srinagar, in a moving local train in Haryana, teenager Hafiz Junaid and three others were stabbed multi-times by a group of 15-20 odd men.

The incident led to Hafiz's death, while three others were left with serious injuries. They were allegedly attacked after an altercation started between the victims and the group of men over seats. Afterwards, the mob called the victims "beef-eaters" and "anti-nationals" and later stabbed them with knives.

A few days ago, an activist was allegedly lynched to death in Rajasthan's Pratapgarh for objecting to photography of women defecating in open.

Municipality employees in Pratapgarh town beat Zafar Khan to death when he allegedly tried to stop them from scaring women defecating in the open and taking their photographs.

In May, nine people were reportedly lynched by a frenzied mob in separate incidents in Jharkhand. Out of the nine, four died due to brutal beating. The victims were attacked by mob in the BJP-ruled state on suspicion of carrying beef and child-trafficking.

Before Jharkhand's 'dance of death', Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer from Haryana, was killed by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan on suspicion of cattle smuggling in April. Within days after Khan's death, two Muslim boys in Assam were lynched to death by a mob on suspicion of cattle smuggling, again.

These are just a few instances of mob justice which resulted in the deaths of the suspects. There are as many as nine-odd cases of mob lynching reported from across the country in a span of three months.

The current phase of rise of belligerent mob traces its root to the unfortunate murder of Mohammed Ikhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, in 2015. The 52-year-old man was killed for allegedly storing beef in his refrigerator.

A cursory look into these incidents will make you realise that all the murders are strangely connected, in spite of the crimes being taken place in different parts of the country. First, all victims are Muslims.

Second, all the mob lynching cases have been reported from Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states (except for the Dadri lynching in 2015 as UP was then ruled by the Samajwadi Party. In J&K, the BJP, along with the PDP, runs a coalition government ).

Moreover, all the victims share the same dilemma--they are accused of either eating beef or smuggling cow (except for the police officer's murder in Srinagar recently).

Now, the question is who will control the situation, when the politicians, police and judiciary have failed miserably? Or, have we already accepted mob lynching--the medieval form of justice--as the new normal?

OneIndia News
DigiLocker users can now store Ayushman Bharat health records: Here's how to do it

Rs 37 lakh looted from Flipkart dispatch centre in Delhi

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Around Rs 37 lakh was looted from a Flipkart dispatch centre in Delhi's Jhilmil Industrial Area on Sunday, said reports.

The police are examining the CCTV footage which may give them a lead to nab the culprits.

Last week, three unidentified men had thrown chilli powder at three Flipkart employees and made away with Rs 19 lakh in Daruhera area near Gurugram. The robbers also took away the gun that belonged to the guard who was one of three being attacked.

The Flipkart employees were on their way to a bank on June 19 to deposit the cash when robbers came in a car, threw chilli powder at them and snatched the bag full of cash. The police have registered a case and began a probe in the matter.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 12:03 [IST]
Space scientist Kasturirangan to head National Education Policy panel

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, June 26: The HRD ministry has appointed a new nine-member panel, headed by space scientist Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, to work on a New Education Policy (NEP), sources said.

The Prakash Javadekar led HRD ministry has chosen experts and educationists from wide-ranging backgrounds to be part of the panel that is expected to recast India's education policy. Besides Kasturirangan, who headed India's space agency ISRO, the panel includes former IAS officer K J Alphonse Kanamthanam. He had played a key role in helping Kerala's Kottayam and Ernakulam districts achieve 100 percent literacy, sources said.

Ram Shanker Kureel, vice chancellor of the Baba Saheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences, Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, who has wide experience in the field of agriculture sciences and management, has also been appointed. Dr M K Shridhar, former member secretary of the Karnataka State Innovation Council, Dr T V Kattimani, an expert on language communication, Dr Mazhar Asif, professor of Persian at Guwahati University, and former director of education, Uttar Pradesh, Krishan Mohan Tripathi also bring a wealth of experience to the panel, the sources said.

Besides, the committee also comprises mathematician Manjul Bhargava from Princeton University and Vasudha Kamat, former vice chancellor of Mumbai's SNDT University. "The panel has been appointed keeping in mind that the members bring expertise related to the diverse areas of education.

Significantly, the panel also reflects the diversity of the country as the members belong to different sections as well as regions," an official said. This diversity, the ministry hopes, would help the committee understand the varied issues that have to be kept in mind for the formulation of such a key policy document, he added. "The panelists belong to different age groups which should be helpful as they would be able to bring experience, innovation and also global exposure which are so vital for such an important policy formulation."

The HRD ministry had a couple of years ago formed a panel under former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian on the new education policy. Sources said inputs from the Subramanian panel report would also be utilized.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 13:03 [IST]
Strategy shift: Militants plan attacks in Srinagar ahead of Wani death anniversary

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The Intelligence Bureau has warned of militants launching attacks in Srinagar. In a bid to bring Srinagar on par with the rest of the state, several militants have slipped into the region and are looking to carry out big strikes, an Intelligence Bureau advisory has said.

Since the past month, militants have been attempting to launch strikes in Srinagar. They want militancy to spike in the area and hence are pushing local militants in there, the IB warned.

With the first death anniversary of Burhan Wani approaching, the militants are looking to carry out 'spectacular' strikes in the Valley. They would focus heavily on Srinagar where strikes on the Army and other government installations are being planed, the IB further noted.

The IB has specifically spoken about the presence of 5 local militants in Srinagar. They could have slipped in, a week back, the IB says. They are militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen, the IB also said.

There have been at least 10 terror attacks around Srinagar in recent times. Attacks at Nowgam, Srinagar-Bemia Bypass, Khanyar and Safa Kadal were reported this year. The latest attack was the killing of a policeman, identified as Shahzad Dilawar, in Srinagar city on June 11.

OneIndia News
Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain (center R) meets with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (center L) in Islamabad, Pakistan, on June 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Liu Tian)

ISLAMABAD, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday hailed the efforts made by Pakistan and Afghanistan to improve their ties, reiterating that China will continue to work for the improvement of the relationship between the two countries.

During his meeting with Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain, Wang said his ongoing visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan is mainly aimed to push for the continued improvement of the relations between the two countries.

He said the joint statement issued after friendly consultations between China, Afghanistan and Pakistan demonstrated the determination of Pakistan and Afghanistan to improve their ties and build mutual trust, sending a positive signal to the world.

Hussain expressed his thanks for the efforts made by the Chinese foreign minister to help improve his country's relationship with Afghanistan.

The improvement of the relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan is not only in the interests of the two countries, but also conducive to regional peace, stability and development, the Pakistani president said.

He said his country remains committed to developing peaceful and friendly relations with neighboring countries and resolving disputes peacefully through dialogue.

As a new member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Pakistan is looking forward to enhancing cooperation with all parties and jointly safeguarding peace and stability in the region, he added.

With regard to Pakistan-China relations, Hussain said the two countries are iron brothers and on issues concerning China's core interests, Pakistan will unswervingly support China's position.

He pointed out that Pakistan-China relationship is a model of country-to-country relations.

Wang, for his part, said China and Pakistan, being all-weather strategic cooperative partners, always respect, understand and support each other.

He said China stands ready to work with Pakistan to well implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries during their meetings in Beijing last month when Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in China to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Wang said China wishes to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan within the SCO framework and also stands ready to work with Pakistan for the smooth implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as Pakistan is China's important partner in the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of Silk Road.

Wang also expressed appreciation for Pakistan's clampdown on the violent terrorist group - the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement."

When meeting with Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, Wang noted that one of the core contents of the joint statement is the establishment of the Pak-Afghan bilateral crisis managing mechanism, which involves timely sharing of information, rebuilding mutual political trust and strengthening crisis management.

This is a key step towards improving the Pak-Afghan ties, he said, adding that China appreciates the openness and tolerance demonstrated by both countries in this regard.

He hoped the two sides would reach agreement on details of the crisis managing mechanism as soon as possible, and fully implement the proposals in the statement.

Bajwa thanked China for its mediation efforts and expressed his support for the joint communique, saying it is in line with the interests of various parties, and is conducive to regional peace and stability.

On Sino-Pakistan ties, Wang said China appreciates Pakistan's contribution and sacrifice to the global fight against terrorism. He thanked the Pakistani side for its firm support in the battle against the violent terrorist group - the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement."

China will continue standing side by side with Pakistan on issues concerning the latter's core interests, said the Chinese foreign minister.

Bajwa, for his part, noted that Pakistan and China are all-weather strategic cooperative partners. He said the Pakistani military is committed to the global fight against terrorism, prohibiting any terrorist group from operating on Pakistani soil.

He said his country will continue combating the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement."
This brave UP woman police officer teaches unruly BJP workers a perfect lesson

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Lucknow, June 26: It's a well-known secret that generally police go "soft" on members of the ruling party anywhere in India. However, a woman police officer in Uttar Pradesh showed the world what it means to be an honest and a brave officer in a system where sycophancy is quite normal.

Meet Shrestha Thakur, a senior police officer from UP's Bulandshahr, who bravely countered the bullying of Bharatiya Janata Party workers. The BJP is in power in the state since March this year. A video of the incident that took place on Friday has gone viral on social media.

The video shows Thakur, a circle officer from Sayana, firmly standing her ground against BJP protesters at the district court compound in Bulandshahr. The situation turned tense after BJP workers protested against police for taking action against one of their leaders for traffic violation.

The BJP workers, gathered near the court compound, shouted anti-police slogans. Afterwards, Thakur had a confrontation with a BJP leader.

In the video, Thakur was seen surrounded by BJP workers, who were all males. However, she did not blink an eye and told the crowd that why the action taken by the police was right.

The fearless officer told a BJP leader that he first gets an order in writing from chief minister Yogi Adityanath that the police have no powers to check vehicles.

We surely need more officers like Thakur who do their duties without any fear or favour. Moreover, being a woman, Thakur has become a role model for many aspiring women police officers.

Watch the video below:

OneIndia News
This Eid, Hindus, Muslims wear black bands to protest attacks on Muslims

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, June 26: First of all, OneIndia would like to wish its readers a Happy Eid-ul-Fitr--which is celebrated across the country on Monday.

As we all celebrated Eid with a lot of fun and fervor, we were also reminded of the rising number of cases of attacks against Muslim people reported from across the country in recent times.

The latest being the murder of a 16-year-old Muslim boy, Hafiz Junaid, on a local train in Haryana on Thursday. According to reports, in the last three months, around nine cases of mob lynching were reported from across the country. Unfortunately, in all these cases the victims were Muslims. The culprits, in most of the cases, targeted the victims in the name of protection of cows.

A group of citizens, belonging to both the Hindu and Muslim religions, has decided to protest against these attacks in our democratic country. Thus on the occasion of Eid, many decided to wear black bands on their arms to show their protest against attacks and killings of Muslims.

In fact, many said that they observed Eid as a "black festival", this time. For the last two days, hashtags like--#StopKillingMuslims and #EidWithBackArmBand--trended on Twitter.

Several prominent Muslim leaders and organisations had issued a joint statement regarding observing "Black Eid 2017". The statement reads, "We the Muslims of India call for wearing black bands on Eid Day in protest against failure of the Government of India to protect Muslims against uncalled for attacks."

"It is not a religious point alone, but more so of justice and unity as even those who follow religion and those who don't follow it are going to wear the black bands in solidarity on Monday," Rajeev Yadav, a youth from Lucknow, was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 10:32 [IST]
Activists stage protests in Hong Kong ahead of Xi Jinping's visit

International

pti-PTI

Hong Kong, Jun 26: Days before the visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to mark 20 years of handing over of Hong Kong from Britain to China, Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters on Monday draped a black flag over a statue symbolising the city's return to China in mark of a protest.

High-profile student campaigner Joshua Wong and a dozen demonstrators attached the black cloth to the giant golden bauhinia flower on Hong Kong's harbourfront in an early morning protest as security tried to stop them climbing on the famous tourist attraction.

The sculpture of the bauhinia, which became the emblem of Hong Kong after the handover, was a present to the city from China in 1997 and stands outside the convention centre where Xi will attend anniversary events during a three-day visit starting Thursday. Police were called to take the flag down while the protesters chanted "democratic self-determination for Hong Kong's future" and "one country, two systems has been a lie for 20 years", referring to Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status.

A guard shouted at them: "You are insulting our country! You are Chinese!"

The "one country, two systems" deal made when Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 allows the city rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech. But there are increasing concerns as Beijing is trampling the agreement by interfering in a range of areas, from politics to education and media.

Campaigners like Wong are calling for democratic reforms, promised in the handover deal, to change a system where the city leader is still chosen by a pro-China committee and the legislature is weighted towards Beijing. Wong led mass Umbrella Movement rallies calling for fully free leadership elections in 2014, but they failed to win concessions.

Since then calls for self-determination or even full independence from China have emerged for the first time. Wong's party Demosisto wants a public referendum on Hong Kong's future in 2047, the year the handover agreement guaranteeing the city's way of life and liberties expires.

"The protest action aims to express our anger and disappointment against the administration for the major political blunders since 1997," Demosisto said in a statement.

It accused China of failing to honour promises made in the handover agreement, "depriving Hong Kong people of civil and political rights to free elections and democracy".

Xi's visit will be his first since becoming president in 2013 and will culminate with the inauguration of Hong Kong's new leader, Carrie Lam, on Saturday. Protesters say they are preparing to gather during the handover celebrations and Xi's visit will be shrouded in a huge security operation.

PTI
Israel PM hails Modi's visit as 'very significant'

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

'Very significant,' is how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the upcoming visit by his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to land in Israel on July 4 on a three-day visit. Netanyahu, while speaking at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, said, "Next week, the Indian Prime Minister, my friend, Narendra Modi will arrive in Israel, This is a historic visit to Israel. In the 70 years of the country's existence, no Indian Prime Minister has ever visited and this is further expression of the state of Israel's military, economic and diplomatic strength."

"This is a very significant step in strengthening relations between the two countries," Netanyahu said. India is a huge country with over 1.25 billion people and is one of the world's largest, growing economies. Ties between Israel and India are on a "constant upswing", the Israeli premier said. Modi's visit is aimed at commemorating 25 years of establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Modi would be arriving in Israel on July 4 and is likely to meet Netanyahu the same day in the evening. He would also be addressing the Indian community the following day in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu, in his remarks today, said the Cabinet will approve decisions that will deepen Indo-Israel ties, beginning with expanding exports and deepening cooperation in agriculture and water. "We will establish a joint innovation, and research and development, fund. We will also increase tourism from India to Israel; this has very great potential. All of this is an additional expression of Israel's enhanced international position in recent years as we strengthen the state of Israel," Netanyahu said.

The two leaders have already met twice on foreign soil on the sidelines of UN-related events and are said to be constantly in touch with each other over the phone. "I am happy that often we can talk easily on telephone, we can discuss everything. It has very rarely happened. In your case it has happened," Modi had told Netanyahu during their meeting on the sidelines of Paris Climate summit in November 2015. The Israeli premier had then promptly responded saying, "in your case too".

The defence ties between India and Israel have often drawn worldwide attention and acquired strategic dimensions. It is believed that Modi's visit would further solidify security ties as Israeli defence industries have shown greater inclination towards participating in joint ventures to give a boost to NDA government's 'Make in India' campaign. Prime Minister Modi's visit has been preceded by several other high-profile visits, including the trip of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, several senior secretaries, Minister of State for Agriculture S S Ahluwalia-led 11 member multi-party parliamentary delegation and Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba's five-day visit earlier this month. All these visits have laid the ground work for several MoUs that are likely to be signed during Modi's visit.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 7:00 [IST]
Mansarovar yatra: China in touch with India after it refuses entry to pilgrims

International

oi-PTI

Beijing, June 26: China on Monday said that it was in touch with India over continuing the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim, days after refusing entry to pilgrims citing damage to roads in Tibet due to landslides and rains.

"According to my information the two governments are in touch over this issue," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Suhang told reporters.

The Chinese statement came days after China denied entry to the first batch of nearly 50 Indian pilgrims who were scheduled to travel to Kailash Mansarovar through the Nathu La pass. The pilgrims were stopped by Chinese officials at the Sino-India border. They were scheduled to cross over to the Chinese side on June 19 but failed to do so due to inclement weather and had to wait at the base camp.

On June 23, China denied entry to them due to damage to roads. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay has said some difficulties were being experienced in the movement of pilgrims through the Nathu La pass and India was taking up the matter with China.

PTI

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 14:24 [IST]
Modi in USA: Focus on terrorism in Modi's meet with top US officials

International

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Washington, June 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defence James Mattis in an effort to enhance cooperation between the US and India in counter terrorism.

The meeting with the two key US officials came ahead of the latter's maiden meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

Mattis met Modi at the Hotel Willard Intercontinental, where the Indian prime minister is staying, reports PTI.

US: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets United States Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis in Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/U4bCBR6WoT  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

During the meeting with Tillerson which covered strategic areas and economic cooperation, Modi defined the Indo-US ties as the "defining partnership" and said it has a global importance.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other Indian senior officials were present at the meeting.

While the deal on the 22 Guardian worth between USD two to three billion has not been formally announced, it is considered to be a game change" for the US-India.

The designation of India being a major defence partner was decided by the previous Obama Administration, and formally approved by the Congress.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)
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Surgical strikes showed India's power: Top 10 quotes from Modi's US address

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Prime Minister Narendra Modi swayed the audience in the United States on the first day of his two day visit. He interacted with the Indian diaspora in Washington DC's suburb of Virginia on Sunday.

From speaking about the surgical strikes to praising Sushma Swaraj, Modi made ten important points during his address. Here are the top ten quotes from his addreess.

After taking over as PM, the warmth the Indian community gave is memorable.

My Madison Square address is an introduction of myself.

The India of your dream will be a reality during your lifetime.

India is progressing at a record pace today.

There has not been a single case of corruption in the past 3 years.

The youth of India understands technology very well.

Terrorism is an enemy of mankind.

Surgical strikes on Pakistan showed the world India's power.

It is a well known fact that Sushmaji replies quickly on Twitter to peoples' problems.

In times of trouble the Indian diaspora has faith that the Indian embassy will respond quickly.

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Story first published: Monday, June 26, 2017, 7:29 [IST]
Trump likely to announce bid for presidency next week

Kushner's firm received $285 million loan before elections, says report

International

ians-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, June 26: Senior adviser Jared Kushner's real estate firm received a $285 million loan a month before Election Day from Deutsche Bank that has lent millions to his father-in-law President Donald Trump in the past, the media reported.

According to the Washington Post report on Sunday, Kushner was acting as both an adviser to the Trump campaign and working at his real estate company when his firm received the loan from Deutsche Bank.

The White House told The Post that Kushner "will recuse from any particular matter involving specific parties in which Deutsche Bank is a party."

Kushner also reportedly made a personal guarantee on the loan, which he did not reveal on his financial disclosure form with the Office of Government Ethics.

A lawyer representing Kushner told the Post that the senior adviser was not required to disclose the loan because of guidance from the ethics office that "clearly states that filers do not have to disclose as a liability a loan on which they have made a guarantee unless they have a present obligation to repay the loan".

A former ethics official said he would have recommended that Kushner include the loan on the disclosure because of how large it is and the implications of being the guarantor of the loan.

Deutsche Bank has also been tied into the investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Kushner is reportedly under scrutiny for meetings with Russian officials, reports The Hill magazine.

House Intelligence Committee leaders have been pushing the bank to share information about Trump's financial dealings with Russia.

Trump's personal financial disclosure report showed that he owes a debt of $130 million to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, suggesting the bank is one of the President's major lenders.

IANS
US: Pro-IS message appears on Ohio government websites

International

ians-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, June 26: Several government websites in the US state of Ohio were apparently hacked to broadcast an anti-government and pro-Islamic State (IS) message, the media reported.

"You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries," said the message on Sunday, which was left by "Team System Dz", Xinhua news agency reported

The affected websites included Ohio Governor John Kasich's office, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the Ohio Casino Control Commission, the Ohio Office of Workforce Transformation, the Ohio Office of Health Transformation, the Ohio Inspector General and the Ohio Department of Medicaid.

The affected sites' homepages were replaced with the same black background accompanied by music. By noon (1 p.m), all of the affected sites appeared to no longer be online.

"As soon as we were notified of the situation we immediately began to correct it and will continue to monitor until fully resolved," said a spokesperson for the Governor's office in a statement issued on Sunday afternoon.

"We are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites. We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened," said the Ohio Department of Administrative Services in another statement.

USA Today reported that "Team System Dz" is actually a group of "anti-Israeli Arab teenagers." It has hacked numerous random websites such as the University of New Brunswick's student union site and a Canadian food truck's sandwich site.

IANS
US Supreme Court reinstates Trump's Muslim travel ban

International

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Washington, June 26: The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favour of President Donald Trump by narrowing the scope of lower court rulings that blocked his travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries and agreeing to hear his appeals in the cases.

The court said that it would hear arguments on the legality of one of Trump's signature policies in his first months as president in the court's next term, which starts in October.

If the ban comes into effect, Trump administration will be able to bar visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen to enter United States for 90 days.

The justices granted parts of his administration's emergency request to put the March 6 executive order into effect immediately while the legal battle continues, reports Reuters.

The court also said it would allow a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to go into effect on the same grounds.

Trump had raised the issue of travel ban extensively during his presidential campaign linking it with the issue of terrorism. The Courts order is now seem to be a victory for Trump administration.

Travel ban ruling 'victory for national security', says Trump

"Today's unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security," Trump said in a White House statement.

"It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective. As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm."

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)
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At least nine dead and 28 missing as boat capsizes in Colombia

(Photo/CGTN)

The number of people killed in the Colombia boat sinking has risen to nine and 28 are still missing, reports local media RCN Radio.

So far five bodies have been found and 99 people were immediately rescued. Another 40 people were able to bring themselves to safety, according to Margarita Maria Moncada Zapata, director in charge of the Administrative Department of Prevention, Attention and Disaster Recovery (DAPARD).

Moncada Zapata stressed that 28 are still missing, according to reports given by friends and family members.

She added that there were likely to have been 170 people on board the boat, named "The Admiral".

24 people have been sent to hospital, and 13 of them remain under observation.

Relief agencies are still conducting a rescue operation with the support of the Air Force, Army, Police and local authorities, and relatives and people close to the missing have arrived at the scene.
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ISLAMABAD, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China, Afghanistan and Pakistan are all committed to maintaining regional peace and stability, enhancing regional connectivity and economic cooperation and promoting shared security and development, according to a trilateral joint statement released on Sunday.

The joint press release by the three countries came after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's shuttle diplomacy in Afghanistan and Pakistan that concluded Sunday.

It said that both Pakistan and Afghanistan "are willing to improve relations with each other, strengthen political mutual trust, enhance cooperation in various fields including counter-terrorism, and jointly meet security challenges."

According to the statement, Afghanistan and Pakistan has agreed to establish a crisis management mechanism, which will include prevention through timely and effective intelligence and information sharing and other mutually agreed measures. "This would enable the two sides to maintain timely and effective communications in case of emergencies, including terrorist attacks," it said.

The three parties also agreed to establish the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' dialogue mechanism to cooperate on issues of mutual interest, beginning with economic cooperation, said the paper.

It added that "the three parties believe that the Quadrilateral Coordination Group should be revived to create an enabling environment for peace talks and for Taliban to join the peace talks."

The statement said the three parties "support the Kabul process and hold the view that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization-Afghanistan Contact Group should be revived as early as possible to play a constructive role in moving forward the Afghan reconciliation process."

Ahead of his departure from Islamabad, the Chinese foreign minister told a press briefing that his shuttle diplomacy was aimed at mediating between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and help the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

Wang stressed that China never interferes in other's internal affairs, never imposes its will on others, nor does it get involved in geopolitical competitions, but China is willing to lend a hand when friends are in need, adding that he had candid and in-depth talks with Afghan and Pakistani leaders and they reached broad consensus.

The Chinese foreign minister said that both Afghanistan and Pakistan had signaled good will to each other as they agreed to establish a crisis management mechanism, which is an important step forward to improve bilateral ties, noting that the next step is to find an effective way to operate the mechanism by the two sides.

Wang said that China is willing to play a constructive role within its capacity to help Afghanistan and Pakistan in improving their relations.
Catholic Culture 10 Nov 2022

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Simon Ekpa, a self-acclaimed disciple of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has reacted to the death of the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Joseph Egbunike.

Naija News gathered that Egbunike reportedly slumped and died in his office in Abuja in the late hours of Tuesday.

The late senior police officer was rushed to the National Hospital in Abuja where he later gave up the ghost.

Egbunike headed the Special Investigation Panel constituted by the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to investigate the suspended head of the Police Intelligence Response Team, Abba Kyari, over money laundering allegations.

In its report submitted to the IGP, the Egbunike-led panel had recommended the demotion of Kyari instead of an outright dismissal.

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Reacting to the development on Tuesday, Ekpa blamed the suspended head of the Police Intelligence Response Team for the death of the senior cop.

The IPOB sympathiser said Egbunikes death must be added to Kyaris crimes, stressing that the police officer was killed for refusing to betray the South East during the Anambra election.

In a series of tweets via his Twitter handle, Ekpa wrote: The death of Joseph Egbunike must be added to Abba Kyaris crime.

Abba Kyari and his Co Fulani Jihadists killed DIG Joseph Egbunike for refusing to betray Biafra during the Anambra election. Egbunike rejected the appointment as an officer in charge of the Anambra election but accepted to investigate international criminal Abba Kyari. They killed him.
Yang Jian (left) talks with a researcher about how to improve the smart rice storage box, in Shenyang, Liaoning province.Provided To China Daily

Postdoctoral student Yang Jian wants to change the way people buy rice in China.

The 35-year-old founder of Dalian Idami Technology thinks disruptive technological innovation can revolutionize the industry.

"Traditionally, farmers or companies sold their rice in shops, and in recent years they've also started to sell online," he said.

"But we're setting up a new model based on the internet of things and big data."

Yang, who has a master's degree in maritime law and a doctorate in management from Dalian Maritime University, is now engaged in postdoctoral research of business innovation through the application of big data at the China Business Executives Academy in Dalian and Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management.

He met Shao Deji, a rice farmer in Wuchang, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, while helping judge an entrepreneurship competition. Shao was trying to sell his rice online.

"I was shocked to hear that his annual sales could reach 300 million yuan ($44 million), yet he made less than 3 million yuan profit," Yang said.

The entrepreneur tried to give the rice farmer advice, but Shao rebuffed Yang's advances at first.

"It was impossible for me to carry out Yang's plan," Shao said. "I knew nothing about the internet of things, big data or data management."

So the two became partners. Yang is now responsible for technology, management and investment, while Shao is in charge of production and ensuring high-quality rice.

Yang set up Idami at Dalian High-Tech Zone in December 2014, aiming to bring industrial upgrades and change to the rice sector.

The result has been innovation at every stage, from planting to storage, processing to packaging and transportation to consumption. So far, Idami has applied for more than 100 national patents, with 92 having been authorized.

One of these innovations is a self-developed smart rice storage box and cooker.

With built-in infrared sensors for pressure, temperature and humidity, the device can be controlled via an app on the user's cellphone. It measures how much rice is left and tells the user when to order more.

The cooker part is connected to the storage box and a water tap. It automatically cooks rice depending on how many people want to eat.

"We only provide the smart devices to those who buy our rice. This way, we have a stable customer base," Yang said.

"Based on big data from the app, we can better arrange production and provide a better service."

The entrepreneur said this model is turning traditional rice delivery systems on their heads. "It is like how Apple's iPhone erased the need for a keyboard and traditional phone-makers' sales collapsed," he said.

Yang has set up several companies in the past, but he believes this latest endeavor will give him a career for life.

"We're building a giant e-commerce company based on the internet of things," he said, adding that success in the rice sector could lead to expansion to other products such as eggs, milk and meat.
A Delta State retiree, Alfred Esiphri, slumped on Thursday during a protest by the retirees against the state government over its failure to pay them their entitlements.

The retirees, who were primary schools teachers and staff of local government councils numbering over 2000, came with different placards inscriptions such as Okowa pay us our pensions and gratuities now. Okowa stop killing the retirees. Retirees are suffering and dying daily. Governor Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa pay us our gratuities and pension from 2014 till date. 35 years of service is not a joke pay us now. Okowa the blood of the dead retirees are on your head. among others.

They disrupted an empowerment programme by the state government at the state event centre.

It was however observed that as the protest was going on, the entrance gate of the event centre was already barricaded by the protesting retirees.

In the process, one of the retirees, identified as Alfred Esiphri slumped, thereby creating confusion among the protesters.

Eyewitnesses said some of the retirees gathered around Esiphri and began to revive him, after which he regained consciousness after several minutes of battling for his life.

He was thereafter taken away from the venue of the protest.
President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the death of Arewa Consultative Forum, ACFs National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe.

The President, in a statement signed by Femi Adesina, his spokesman, commiserated with family members, friends and associates of Yawe.

Buhari consoled, particularly the media, where Yawe served as a reporter and editor of various publications for many years.

Buhari asked the Almighty God to receive the soul of the departed and comfort all his loved ones.

Yawes death was earlier confirmed by his daughter, Talatu Yawe, who said her father had been in and out of hospital in the last few months, but was fine and at home throughout Thursday.

She said, though he had been ill, he was fine yesterday (Thursday). He didnt wake up from sleep this morning (Friday).
Global Ship Manhole Covers Market 2017 - Fibrelite, Crescent Foundry, Aquacast, Peter Savage, Ducast

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The goal of global Ship Manhole Covers market research report is to provide the users a complete picture of the Ship Manhole Covers market during the forecast period from 2017-2022. The global Ship Manhole Covers market report provides the key market insights and the growth-inducing factors. It also does the comprehensive study of Ship Manhole Covers market based on market gains, market volume, key market sections of Ship Manhole Covers which are differentiated based on product type, product application, major geographical regions contributing to the development of Ship Manhole Covers market.Global Ship Manhole Covers Market 2017 Size, Share, Growth, Development Trend, Production Overview, Manufacturers Analysis 2022Get Full Report With TOC @Scope of the report:The report  Global Ship Manhole Covers Industry presents an executive-level overview of the Global Ship Manhole Covers market. The Global Ship Manhole Covers market is expected to demonstrate a positive growth trend in the coming years. The market forces that will shape the growth of this market have been scrutinized in detail in this report.Comprehensive data related to the market trends has been included in this report. The market drivers that will fuel the growth of the market during the forecast period are mentioned in this report. Furthermore, the regulatory environment in the Global Ship Manhole Covers market and its impact on the Global Ship Manhole Covers industry performance has been assessed in this report. The restraining factors that will result in decline in popularity of certain product segments have also been covered in this report. The potential opportunities and their impact on the Global Ship Manhole Covers market is also evaluated in the report.Download Sample Report @The key players are expected to tap onto these market opportunities to penetrate the market. Furthermore, the untapped opportunities in emerging economies will provide a considerable impetus to the small, medium, and large companies operating in the Global Ship Manhole Covers market. These opportunities in turn are projected to have positive impact on the Global Ship Manhole Covers market. Players in the market are focusing on innovation, which has resulted in a lot of mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships. The prominent market players are also focusing to offer a broader range of products. Competitors often are competing on the basis of the cost of the products in the Global Ship Manhole Covers market.Around the world, industries are focusing on incorporating green practices in their manufacturing processes. Moreover, products that are manufactured using these green practices or include more eco-friendly ingredients are popular among consumers. This consumer preference will help companies operating in the Global Ship Manhole Covers market to include greener products and services to their offering.Read more report:ABOUT USFior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerOffice - 102, Sanskiti Aspirations,Near Post 91, Baner Road,Pune, MH, India - 411045Phone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
New report- Latin America Wind Turbine Market analysis (2014  2020)

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Wind energy is the power extracted from wind using wind turbines. A wind turbine is a device that transforms the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. Wind energy is a renewable form of energy that is available in ample quantity and extensively. It is an alternative to fossil fuels which are depleting in quantity. Wind energy is the cleanest resource; it has neither toxic gas emissions nor greenhouse gas emissions. Wind turbines are connected to the network of electricity transmission. The onshore and offshore wind that is trapped is an inexpensive, competitive and significant source of energy. Wind energy contributed to 4% of the total global electricity usage in 2013.The application of wind turbines is primarily in wind mills that are used to generate electricity. These wind turbines in wind mills can be used to avail off-grid electricity in the remote regions. It has been known to empower rural electrification initiatives. Three fourths of the small wind turbines are present in the remote regions of the world and are the only sources of energy. For instance, wind power systems are fuelling the telecommunication towers in the secluded places between Argentina and Chile. Another application of wind turbines is associated with the hybrids of wind and solar power generation devices. Wind and solar sources complement each other in changing climatic conditions. Wind turbines have vital applications in off-grid, low-power systems in which the storage of batteries is avoided. Wind turbines also have application in cathodic protection pipes in which its electric charge neutralizes the galvanic corrosion of pipes laid in reactive soils. Wind turbines are used to charge electric fences, yacht and boat batteries efficiently. Wind turbines have been used to pump water for decades, and they remain a significant application in both developed and developing economies. The end use industries of wind turbines can be broadly classified into industrial, commercial and residential. The industrial use can be further divided into power generation, agriculture, industrial automation, engineering and telecommunication. Despite being commercially niche market at present, wind turbines are expected to expand due to increasing government subsidies and incentive programmes on the use of wind energy.Request For Report Sample@The global wind industry produced about 37,000 MW in 2013. Latin America, in particular, has provided the industry with an essential substitute growth market for wind power. In 2013, Latin America alone representedapproximately 45% of the installed capacity of North and South America combined. It was largely driven by the wind markets of Brazil and Mexico which can be regarded as the dual pillars of the Latin American market. The average price of wind energy contracts in Brazil is US$ 50/MWh and gives wind energy an edge over conventional fossil fuels there. This is a major driver for the wind turbine market in Brazil. The wind power in Mexico provides power to over 65,000 households and exports it to US. Food and beverage company, Nestle, had invested US$ 60.7 million in wind energy in Mexico, and employed wind energy for its 85% electricity requirement. The cumulative wind capacity in Mexico reached 1988 MW by the end of 2013 indicating a 31.4% growth rate. The installed capacity in 2013 was 76 MW in Argentina, 200 MW in Chile, 30 MW in Peru, 11 MW in Uruguay, and149 MW in Venezuela.Strong wind resources, and rising electricity prices and energy demand are driving the demand for renewable energy higher. The Latin American industrial policies are effective as they have tailored depreciation tax policies which enable industries to actively partner with wind energy generators for their energy usage. Also, wind plants do not need to be in the vicinity of the end user and just need a connection to the Latin American power grids. Feed-in electricity tariffs have been introduced to motivate the use of renewable energy such as wind energy, solar energy, hydropower, thermal energy and biomass energy. This encourages investment in renewable energy as the government makes provisions for higher retail rates for electricity for the producers of new energy technologies.Consistently declining monopoly in the Latin American electricity sector had paved way for wind turbine manufacturers. The current wind turbine market is competitive. Gamesa is the leading turbine supplier in Mexico and holds 73.5% of the market. It is followed by Vestas with 22% of the market contribution. GE is also a major turbine manufacturer with 4.5% market share in Mexico. Besides, the collapse of the Spain-based OEMs (Other Equipment Manufacturers) wind market has compelled companies to expand their business in Latin America.Request For TOC@By 2015, Latin America is expected to have 3 GW of installed wind capacity annually, surging up to 4.3 GW by 2022. The manufacturers have to meet certain mandates on wind turbine components and their materials. It is a challenge for most OEMs to deliver high quality wind turbines while still ensuring an economical Latin American wind market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts Market 2017 - Bombardier, Embraer, Boeing, Airbus, Comac, Textron Aviation

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Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts Industry including (both global and regions) Market Size (both volume  Unit and value  million USD), Market Share, Production data, Consumption data, Trade data, Price  USD/Unit, Cost, Gross margin, Analysis, Forecast etc.The report offers a holistic overview of the Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts market with the help of application segments and geographical regions that govern the market currently. Further, the report delves deep into the value chain of the Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts market so as to emerge with information specific areas that hold high revenue-generating potential. With the Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts market having undergone certain inherent shifts in the past decades, the report discusses how these changes will impact the future.Moreover, the report also provides a realistic picture of the state of both traditional and emerging markets. The advantages and disadvantages of investing in these markets are discussed at length in the Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts market report. Companies in the Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts market have realized that innovation is of utmost importance for sustained growth. In keeping with this pressing need for innovation, the report tracks latest developments and analysts have dedicated substantial efforts toward spotting new business opportunities.Which application segments will perform well in the Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts over the next few years? Which are the markets where companies should establish a presence? What are the restraints that will threaten growth rate? What are the forecasted growth rates for the Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts market as a whole and for each segment within it? All of these questions are answered using industry-leading techniques and tools as well as a vast amount of qualitative research.Get Free Sample Report:The report further focuses on the leading industry players that will steer the course of the Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts market through the forecast period. Each of these players is analyzed in detail so as to obtain details pertaining to their product/services, recent announcements and partnerships, investment strategies and so on. A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Fixed Wing Turbine Aircrafts 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.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerOffice - 102, Sanskriti Aspirations,Near Post 91, Baner Road,Pune, MH, India - 411045Phone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Global Sodium Metal Market Will Attain 127,400 Metric Tonnes by 2024

Sodium Metal Market

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Global consumption of sodium metal will grow at a sluggish CAGR of 3.3% through 2024, according to Persistence Market Researchs report entitled, Sodium Metal Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016  2024. In 2016, over 98,400 MT sodium metal was consumed globally, and it is estimated to surpass 127,400 MT by 2024.Request to view Table of Content @Sodium Metal Market:The sluggish demand for sodium metal is attributed to hazardous effects of highly reactive sodium element. Challenges with handling and storage of sodium metal will continue to negatively impact the growth of the market. Further, limited availability of sodium metal on account of fewer players has resulted into introduction and use of alternatives, such as magnesium for use in industrial applications.Key players in this market are concentrating on expansion of their production capacities and making long-term contacts with end-use industries, especially in near proximity, to incur growth opportunities. Manufacturers are also focusing on introduction to new grades of application-specific sodium metal. Inner Mongolia Lantai Industrial Co. Ltd. held the highest volume market share in 2015. Other leading players in the global sodium metal market include Wanji Holdings Group Limited, Shandong Moris Tech Co. Ltd., and MSSA S.A.S.Sample of this report is available upon request @In terms of volume, chemical synthesis application of sodium metal held 70.4% share of the market in 2016; by 2024, this is expected to reach nearly 72%. Sodium metal is also used in the production of dyes, and it is projected that this application segment will grow at 4.7% CAGR in terms of volume through 2024. The weakness in demand will be offset to a certain extent by applications in chemical synthesis and textile industry.To Buy Full Report for a Single User @APAC is projected to be the most lucrative region for the global sodium metal market followed by North America and Europe. Asia Pacific forms a hub for textile industries owing to the ever-growing population and demand for a wide range of textiles, resulting in steady demand for sodium metal. Over 53,690 MT of sodium metal was consumed in APAC in 2016. The North America sodium metal market was around US$ 60 Mn in 2016, and it is expected to reach around US$ 80 Mn by 2024. Consumption of sodium metal in Europe, pegged at over 19,700 MT in 2016, is expected to surpass 24,200 MT by 2024.Key Market Drivers and Trends, The demand for denim clothing has witnessed a robust growth in the recent past resulting in higher demand for sodium metal for textiles and apparels, Sodium metal forms a key constituent in the manufacturing of indigo dyes, Steady growth in global biodiesel production is one of the primary driving factors as sodium methylate is widely used as a catalyst for large-scale biodiesel production, Application of sodium metal as a reductant in metals manufacturing and refining, Global sodium market is characterized by competitive oligopoly, wherein few manufacturers hold major shares in the overall market supplyAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Liposuction Equipment Market Share 2017- Sciton, Erchonia, Wells Johnson, Cynosure, Solta Medical

Liposuction Equipment

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Liposuction Equipment Market Research 2017A market study  Global Liposuction Equipment Market  examines the performance of the Liposuction Equipment market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Liposuction Equipment market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Liposuction Equipment market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Liposuction Equipment Market 2017 report includes Liposuction Equipment market Revenue, market Share, Liposuction Equipment industry volume, market Trends, Liposuction Equipment Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Liposuction Equipment Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Liposuction Equipment Market 2017:Alma LasersAmbicare ClinicsBruker CorporationCuteraCynosureErchoniaGenesis BiosystemsAMD Global TelemedicineInvasix Aesthetic SolutionsAmbicare ClinicsScitonSolta MedicalValeant PharmaceuticalsWells JohnsonZeltiq aesthetics IncCarl Zeiss Meditec, IncLiposuction Equipment Market : By ApplicationHospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersCosmetic Surgical CentersLiposuction Equipment Market : By TypeNegative-pressure Liposuction EquipmentUltrasonic Liposuction EquipmentPower Assisted Liposuction EquipmentFirstly, the report covers the top Liposuction Equipment manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Liposuction Equipment report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Liposuction Equipment industry, Liposuction Equipment industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Liposuction Equipment Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Liposuction Equipment research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Liposuction Equipment market revenue worldwide.Finally, Liposuction Equipment market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Depth Market Research" is a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.United States
Glyoxylic Acid Market Share 2017- Yuandong Chem, Zhonglan, Yongfei Chem, Weylchem, Zhonghua Chemical

Glyoxylic Acid

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Glyoxylic Acid Market Research 2017A market study  Global Glyoxylic Acid Market  examines the performance of the Glyoxylic Acid market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Glyoxylic Acid market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Glyoxylic Acid market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Glyoxylic Acid Market 2017 report includes Glyoxylic Acid market Revenue, market Share, Glyoxylic Acid industry volume, market Trends, Glyoxylic Acid Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Glyoxylic Acid Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Glyoxylic Acid Market 2017:AkemaWeylchemHubei HongyuanZhonglanZhonghua ChemicalYuandong ChemHubei Shunhui Bio-TechnologyGuangdong Hongyuan New MaterialYongfei ChemShijiazhuang Haosheng ChemicalGlyoxylic Acid Market : By ApplicationAromasPharmaceutical IndustryGlyoxylic Acid Market : By TypeGlyoxylic Acid 50%Glyoxylic Acid 40%Firstly, the report covers the top Glyoxylic Acid manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Glyoxylic Acid report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Glyoxylic Acid industry, Glyoxylic Acid industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Glyoxylic Acid Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Glyoxylic Acid research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Glyoxylic Acid market revenue worldwide.Finally, Glyoxylic Acid market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Depth Market Research" is a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.United States
Global Protein Hydrolysates Market 2017 - Abbott Nutrition, Glanbia PLC, Koninklijke DSM N.V., Kerry Group PLC, Nestle S.A.

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The report studies Protein Hydrolysates in Global market Professional Survey 2017 : Size, Share, Trends, Industry Growth, Opportunity, Application, Production, Segmentation, Cost Structure, Company Profile, Product Picture and Specifications during the Forecast period by 2022The Protein Hydrolysates report is offers a clear picture of the current and future trends, developments and opportunities. The report, prepared by a highly seasoned team of analysts and data experts, carries an array of tables and graphs besides qualitative analyses. Starting with a discussion on the current state of the Protein Hydrolysates market, the report goes on to discuss the dynamics affecting each segment within it. The report segments the market to up to three levels and studies each of these in great detail. The result is a set of sharp insights and recommendations that will help companies stay ahead of the next new trend in the Protein Hydrolysates industry.A basic overview of the Protein Hydrolysates market is offered to readers through the use of market definition, segmentation, applications, and value chain analysis. The analysis for the Protein Hydrolysates market is not limited only to traditional or emerging markets. It also covers regions that have been hitherto unexplored but have white space that could be lucratively tapped. In order to do this, however, a clear understanding of ones competitors is imperative. The report provides just that through a section dedicated to key company profiles and news. Equipped with this vital information, players in the Protein Hydrolysates market will be in a better position to foresee opportunities and threats alike and make informed decisions.The regulatory environment, being such an intrinsic part of the Protein Hydrolysates market, does need special focus. The report collates information relating to current and future policies and regulations that could directly or indirectly affect business operations. The report is an invaluable business intelligence repository for new and existing players in the Protein Hydrolysates market.Download Free Sample Report @For technical data and manufacturing plants analysis, the report analyzes Protein Hydrolysates leading suppliers on capacity, commercial production date, manufacturing plants distribution, R&D Status, technology sources, and raw materials sources.This report also presents product specification, manufacturing process, and product cost structure etc. Production is separated by regions, technology and applications. Analysis also covers upstream raw materials, equipment, downstream client survey, marketing channels, industry development trend and proposals. In the end, the report includes Protein Hydrolysates new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, investment return analysis, and development trend analysis. In conclusion, it is a deep research report on Global Protein Hydrolysates industry.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
World Smart Clothes Market - Evolving Industry trends, market size, market share estimates & leading industry Players Sproutling, Lumo, Hexoskin Projection 2022

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HTF Market Report released a new research document of 117 pages on industry titled as 'World Smart Clothes Market Research Report 2021' with detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis that includes regions like USA, Europe, Japan, China, India, South East Asia and important players/vendors such as Sproutling, Lumo, Hexoskin ..................SummaryThe Smart Clothes 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 report @Global Smart Clothes Market: Application Segment AnalysisSportsConsumerIndustrialEnterpriseOtherGlobal Smart Clothes Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaThe Players mentioned in our reportSproutlingLumoHexoskinClothing+InteraXonSensoriaCuteCircuitNeuroSkyOMsignalBeBop SensorsWith no less than 15 top producers.Get Customization in the Report, Enquire Now @Table of ContentChapter 1 About the Smart Clothes Industry1.1 Industry Definition and Types1.2 Main Market Activities1.3 Similar Industries1.4 Industry at a GlanceChapter 2 World Market Competition Landscape2.1 Smart Clothes Markets by Regions2.1.1 USAMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2011-2021Sales and Growth Rate 2011-2021Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20162.1.2 EuropeMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2011-2021Sales and Growth Rate 2011-2021Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20162.1.3 ChinaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2011-2021Sales and Growth Rate 2011-2021Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20162.1.4 IndiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2011-2021Sales and Growth Rate 2011-2021Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20162.1.5 JapanMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2011-2021Sales and Growth Rate 2011-2021Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20162.1.6 South East AsiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2011-2021Sales and Growth Rate 2011-2021Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20162.2 World Smart Clothes Market by Types2.3 World Smart Clothes Market by ApplicationsSportsConsumerIndustrialEnterpriseOther2.4 World Smart Clothes Market Analysis2.4.1 World Smart Clothes Market Revenue and Growth Rate 2011-20162.4.2 World Smart Clothes Market Consumption and Growth rate 2011-20162.4.3 World Smart Clothes Market Price Analysis 2011-2016Buy this report @Chapter 3 World Smart Clothes 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 Analysis....ContinuedView Detailed Table of Content @Thanks for reading this article, you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact Us:HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837sales@htfmarketre)port.com+1 (206) 317 1218 (US)
Refrigeration Oil Market Share 2017- Chevron, Camco Clean Energy, Exxon Mobil, Dashing Hang, Dupont

Refrigeration Oil

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Refrigeration Oil Market Research 2017A market study  Global Refrigeration Oil Market  examines the performance of the Refrigeration Oil market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Refrigeration Oil market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Refrigeration Oil market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Refrigeration Oil Market 2017 report includes Refrigeration Oil market Revenue, market Share, Refrigeration Oil industry volume, market Trends, Refrigeration Oil Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Refrigeration Oil Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Refrigeration Oil Market 2017:ShellDehon GroupIdemitsu KosanDupontSummit Industrial ProductsSupercool (Australia) Pty LtdSonneborn Refined ProductsDashing HangExxon MobilFUCHS Lubricants Co.Danfoss Group GlobalChevronJapan Sun Oil CompanyBASFBehr Hella ServiceKlueber Lubrication AustraliaCITGO Petroleum CorporationChemtura CorporationCamco Clean EnergyI.S.E.LTOTALRefrigeration Oil Market : By ApplicationRefrigeration CompressorOtherRefrigeration Oil Market : By TypePOEPAGFirstly, the report covers the top Refrigeration Oil manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Refrigeration Oil report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Refrigeration Oil industry, Refrigeration Oil industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Refrigeration Oil Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Refrigeration Oil research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Refrigeration Oil market revenue worldwide.Finally, Refrigeration Oil market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Depth Market Research" is a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.United States
Global Sodium Reduction Ingredients Market Analysis and Forecast 2021 by Size, Share and Growth Rate

Orbis Research

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The Global Sodium Reduction Ingredients market has been estimated at USD 725 Million in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 1249.4 Million by 2021, at a CAGR of 11.5% during the forecast period from 2016 to 2021. Sodium is an essential nutrient that our body requires for proper functioning. Sodium reduction ingredients are used to reduce the sodium content in the food products. Excess amount of sodium intake can lead to high blood pressure. Sodium reduction solutions are provided in the form of ingredient blends so as to meet the flavor and functional requirements of the food industry.Browse the report:The market for Sodium Reduction Ingredients is driven mainly due to increasing consumer preferences towards healthy foods owing to the growing awareness of the harmful effects of consuming excessive salts on the body. Also, rising government promotion of intake of low sodium products and increasing regulatory norms for food product manufacturers for reducing sodium level in their product are other factors boosting market growth. But, the market growth is constrained due to restricted section of consumer compromise on the taste of the food and pricing of ingredients.Global market for Sodium Reduction Ingredients is segmented based on type and application by type, the market is further sub-segmented into Amino Acids, Mineral Salts, Yeast Extracts, others (hydrolyzed vegetable protein, trehalose, nucleotides). By application, the market is further sub-segmented into Dairy, Bakery & Confectionary, Meat Products, Sauces, Seasonings & Snacks, others. The mineral salts segment accounts for the largest market share followed by the yeast extracts segment. Mineral salts and yeast extracts have been gaining significant growth for serving as an important component in food products due to the health benefits derived from them, without compromising on the flavor and taste. The demand for sodium reduction ingredients in the sauces, seasonings & snacks segment accounts for the largest share, while the bakery & confectionery segment is projected to be the fastest-growing.Request a sample of the report:Geographically, Global market for Sodium Reduction Ingredients is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, and Middle-East and Africa. North America is the biggest market in terms of market share across the globe, followed by Europe. The European market for Sodium Reduction Ingredients is witnessing a considerable growth due to high growth owing to the presence of health-conscious individuals in the region. The Sodium Reduction Ingredients market in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow at the highest CAGR, which is greatly due to increasing consumer preference towards convenience, ready-to-eat meals and packed food in the region.Cargill, Incorporated, Kerry Group Plc, Royal DSM N.V., Angel Yeast Co. Ltd., E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Cambrian Solutions Inc., Associated British Foods plc, Givaudan SA, and Company, Innophos Holdings, Inc, Jungbunzlauer Suisse A.G., Sensient Technologies Corporation and Tate & Lyle PLC are the major players of Global Sodium Reduction Ingredients market.About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Information:Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas  75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +9164101019Email: sales@orbisresearch.com
Japan Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing and Supply Chain Market Study  Industry Trends, Analysis & Forecasts to 2022

Japan Artificial Intelligence Market

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The Japan artificial intelligence in manufacturing & supply chain market was valued at USD XX billion in 2016 and is projected to reach USD XX billion by 2022, registering a CAGR of XX%, during 2017-2022 (the forecast period).Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most exciting technologies of the 21st century and has been the subject of debate across various business sectors. AI has several industrial applications where production plants can operate without human supervision. The machinery and equipment that are AI-enabled can function by acquiring human intelligence abilities. Supply chains in manufacturing are quickly adapting AI technologies as part of their digitization strategies. AI in supply chains helps in organizing and analyzing data, which helps decision-making problems, ranging from logistics to warehousing. Such AI-enabled applications in the manufacturing industry are expected to improve efficiency and aid saving of time.Request for PDF sample copy of this report at:A recent survey suggests that 85% of the major corporations have pledged to adapt digital operations in their supply chains during the next year. Hence, AI is gaining popularity in the industry and is expected to benefit supply chain networks, in particular, by enabling the effective movement of goods from one point to another. AI has been an area of major attraction for startups across the world. Several small-scale enterprises have been on the rise in this industry, which have reportedly raised a total funding of USD 5 billion in 2016. North America is leading the market with its merger-and-acquisition activities and big companies like Google, Apple, IBM, Intel and Salesforce are acquiring startups to have access to latest technologies. In 2016, Ford Motor Company had acquired an Israeli machine learning & computer vision corporation, SAIPS, in order to improve its driverless car systems.The sales and marketing segments of the manufacturing industry are expected to benefit with AI by witnessing 20% forecast error reduction. Companies requirement to improve their sales is expected to significantly drive the market for AI in manufacturing & supply chains, during the forecast period. Demand for efficiency, time and cost savings in the manufacturing industry are driving the market for AI. However, lack of proper regulations along with the reliability issues of AI are expected to restrict the market growth. AI in the manufacturing & supply chain market is expected to thrive as the manufacturing industry across all regions is looking to improve its operations by adapting new tools and techniques with future technological advancements. Public/Private investments and policies favoring AI advancements in manufacturing are discussed in the report. The companies dominating this market with their investments, research activities and product developments are listed in the report.Read more information of the report at:Scope of the Report: Japan Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing & Supply Chain Market Analysis, by Application Robotics & Factory Automation Planning & Market Demand Forecast Commerce & Financial data Cyber Security Customer service OtherJapan Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing & Supply Chain Market Analysis, by Type Software Hardware Others ServicesJapan Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing & Supply Chain Market Analysis, by Function On-premise Off-premiseJapan Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing & Supply Chain Market Analysis, by End-user Automotive Aerospace Building Construction Chemical OthersCompany Profiles of Key Players & Investors (List not exhaustive) IBM Siemens NVIDIA Spotify Microsoft Google Intel Salesforce Shell GE Ventures Samsung Bloomberg Beta RapidMiner TeslaKey Deliverables in the Study Market Overview - market analysis and identification of key drivers, restraints and opportunities Major trends and economic outlook Supply chain analysis Porters five forces analysis A comprehensive summary of the industry sectors and regions poised for the fastest-growth Future outlook of the market Extensively researched competitive landscape section with profiles of major companies, along with their estimated market sharesEnquire more details of the report at:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas  75204, U.S.A.
Aroma Chemicals Market: Global Industry Analysis,Trends and Forecast 2024

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The top four players in the global aroma chemicals market held nearly 54% share in 2015, rendering its vendor landscape consolidated. Givaudan, Symrise, IFF, and Firmenich SA constitute the leading market players. Constant effort of these companies towards technological innovations, has resulted in low processing cost and high quality products, finds Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a new study. Besides this, investment in research and development is escalating, creating lucrative opportunities for the markets growth.This 185 page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Aroma Chemicals market. Browse through 36 data tables and 61 figures to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market@Europe to Remain Dominant Regional Market for Aroma ChemicalsAmong the key application segments, which include personal care, household care, and others, the personal care segment held the dominant share of 47.2% in the market in 2015. While its dominance will remain unaffected through the forecast period, the market is also expected to tread along a positive curve in the household care segment.Regionally, North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa constitute the key market segments. Europe emerged as the region holding the largest share of 33.3% in the global market in 2015. Besides this, Asia Pacific is demonstrating lucrative opportunities for the market players. During the forecast period, the CAGR witnessed by the market in Asia Pacific is expected to remain higher than other regions.Rising Uses across Diverse Industries to Bolster Market OpportunitiesWhile previously, the use of aroma chemicals was limited to the personal and household care sector, its expansion to the food and beverages and medical industries has spiked market opportunities. With the rising urbanization and growth in per capita income and spending, the demand for aroma chemicals is expected to rise especially in emerging nations such as India, China, Brazil, and Africa. Rising income entails increasing willingness among consumers to spend on personal care products, which will create lucrative prospects for the aroma chemicals market, said a lead TMR analyst.Also the demand for natural fragrances is at all-time high as they are considered greener, safer, and more sustainable. While not all perceptions may be accurate, but they boost the demand for natural aroma chemicals derived from ingredients harvested from sustainably grown plants. This also connotes that the changing consumer lifestyle will have a positive influence on the overall market.Stringent Regulations to Emerge as Key ChallengeOn the downside, stringent regulation coercing companies to follow certain compliance policies is inhibiting the markets trajectory. For instance, wastewater discharge during the production of various synthetic aroma chemicals consists of several biological oxygen compound. As regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and Clean Air Act (CAA) impose various restrictions on the emission of VOC under federal laws, the production of aroma chemicals might get curtailed to an extent.Nevertheless, increasing market penetration and investment towards productdevelopment, will help the aroma chemicals market overcome the aforementioned difficulties and register strong growth in the forthcoming years. Also with companies focusing on product diversification, consumers will have wider options to choose from. Spurred by these factors, the global aroma chemicals market will continue treading along a positive trajectory through the forecast period.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Aroma Chemicals market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@Information included in the review is obtained from a TMR report, titled Aroma Chemicals Market (Type - Natural and Synthetic; Product - Terpenoids, Benzenoids, and Musk Chemicals; Application - Personal Care, Household Care, Medical, and Food & Beverages) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2016-2024.The report segments the global aroma chemicals market as:Aroma Chemicals Market  Type AnalysisNaturalSyntheticAroma Chemicals Market  Product AnalysisTerpenoidsBenzenoidsMusk ChemicalsOthers (include Aldehydes, Ketones, Esters, 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 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 reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Chinese police busted two underground dens manufacturing counterfeit brand-name cosmetics in eastern Zhejiang Province on Sunday, seizing over 100 million yuan (14.6 million US dollars) worth of fake products from popular big names including Shiseido, L'Oreal and Clinique.

During a raid on two warehouses belonging to a family-owned cosmetics company in Dongyang, police uncovered 1.79 million containers of counterfeit cosmetic products such as facial cream and lip gloss, as well as 4 million empty packing boxes.

A total 76 suspects have been arrested, including the two alleged ring leaders of the operation, a couple respectively surnamed He and Yang.

The gang was first brought to the attention of Dongyang police after a major e-commerce platform in March filed a report that a cross-border counterfeit cosmetics ring was operating in the city.

The police set up an investigation task force and soon targeted the cosmetics company run by He and Yang.

The couple has a stall in Yiwu market, the wife is in charge of the sales, and the husband in charge of manufacturing in Dongyang. They started the large-scale counterfeiting in late 2015 or early 2016, Wang Fei, the officer in charge of the raid, told local news outlet dskb.cn.

All the fake products were sold abroad, with a majority sent to Iran, and the rest to Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries. But its difficult to track the products thereafter, some may have been resold to China, Wang added.

A seized sales order showed that the wholesale price of each product was between 80 cents and two yuan, far less than the 80 to 150 yuan consumers would normally pay for an authentic brand name product. The counterfeit packaging was also difficult to distinguish from the original products, according to the police.

The police said the gang could have sold many more products than what they seized in the underground workshops, and a further investigation is underway.
Lubricants Market : In-depth Research Report segmented based on Type and End-User Industry 2024

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Global Lubricants Market for Off-road Sector: SnapshotLubricants are used for maintaining the performance and efficiency of vehicles over a longer period of time. They protect vehicles against rust and corrosion, transmission of power, and transfer of heat. The advancements in vehicle design and increasing wear and tear of vehicles due to their usage in tough terrains has upped the demand for lubricants in recent years. Owing to these reasons, the global lubricants market for off-road sector is expected to be worth US$16.8 bn by the end of 2024 as compared to US$13.0 bn in 2015. Between the forecast years of 2016 and 2024, the global market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 2.9%.This 133 page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Lubricants market. Browse through 60 data tables and 5 figures to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market:Industrialization and Transportation Fuels Global MarketThe increasing usage of vehicles for transportation purposes as industrialization and commerce is regaining momentum it is expected to propel the demand for lubricants market for off-road sector. Furthermore, need to maintain old vehicles continuously has also increased the consumption of lubricants market in recent years. The booming automotive industry, rising sales of vehicles, and product development by lubricant manufacturers are collectively expected to drive the growth of the global market. Additionally, the market is also expected to benefit with the continuous vehicle design and persistent changes in fuel quality. Lubricant manufacturers will strive to develop high-end formulations as vehicle owners and manufacturers are striving to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by improving fuel efficiency.On the basis of grade, the global lubricant market for off-road sector is segmented into single grade and multi grade. The single grade, which is also known as mono grade oils, operates efficiently in a specified temperature range. Thus, they are used for engines that operate in a reasonably ambient or operating temperature for longer period. Fixed engines powering generators that are used in an enclosed premise or in a consistent or controlled temperature and speed use single grade oils. On the other hand, multi-grade oil is used for engines that undergo varying temperature differences. These oils include viscosity modifier additives that keeps ensures proper flow under cold and hot conditions. Multi-grade oil is developed to be thin, so that it can easily flow into cold temperatures. This protects the engine in cold conditions.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Lubricants market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market @North America to Show Dominance throughout Forecast PeriodIn term of geography, the global lubricants market for off-road sector is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Of these, North America held a dominant share in the global market in 2015. In terms of volume, North America held a share of 38% in the overall market in 2015. However, Asia Pacific is expected to show remarkable growth rate in the coming years. Emerging economy of China is expected to fuel this growth in the coming years. The flourishing mining activities in Asia Pacific are expected to propel the usage of off-road vehicles, thereby increasing the uptake of lubricants for the same.The key players operating in the global lubricants market for off-road sector are Topaz Energy Group Limited, Royal Dutch Shell plc, BP Global, Total S.A., ExxonMobil Corporation, Phillips 66, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Halron Lubricants Inc., Chevron USA Inc, Castrol Limited, Fuchs Petrolub SE, BRB International and Lukoil Lubricants Company.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.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 reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog : http://cmfeglobalreports.blogspot.com/
Emerging Technologies & Market Trends in the Remote Asset Management Market

Remote Asset Management Market

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With the increase in usage of wireless communications technology in the industrial and commercial applications, the demand of connected devices is expected to rise in the coming years. Thus, the impact of Internet of Things Internet of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly. Remote Asset Management (RAM) is one of the many use cases of the IoT revolution. The world of gateways, sensors and cloud based applications is changing the control at the disposal and entire landscape of management of an organization.Numerous end use industry such as healthcare, manufacturing and automation among others have already benefitted tremendously from video surveillance solution which is controlled by remote asset management (RAM). Additionally, various banking sector has already adopted the advanced remote asset management for surveillances of ATMs. Therefore, The Remote Asset Management market is projected to witness a steady growth during the projection period from 2017 to 2025. Advanced remote asset management has different parameters and additional features that have added extra benefit for various retail monitoring management. This in turn is fuelling the demand of Remote Asset Management market during the projection period.Global Remote Asset Management market has been bifurcated on the basis of solution, end use industry and geography. On the basis of solution type, global Remote Asset Management market has been segregated into predictive maintenance, Real-time locating systems (RTLS), analytics, performance management and asset condition monitoring among others. In addition, with the help of remote security and surveillance solutions, all assets is able to access remotely through tablet and smart mobile phones integrated with security systems such as CCTV cameras and alarm which allows the responsible employees for actionable reply.This is expected to increase the demand of Remote Asset Management (RAM) market in upcoming years.Obtain Report Details @Furthermore, global Remote Asset Management market is classified on the basis of end use industry into manufacturing, oil and gas, automotive, healthcare, power generation and distribution and Banking, Financial services and Insurance (BFSI) among others. Additionally, the manufacturing segment is anticipated to have the major market share during the forecast period 2017- 2025. The analytical manufacturing solutions are able to access multiple data sources in real time. This in turn is expected to reduce quality issues and asset failure which in turn reduces the maintenance costs and unplanned downtime among others.Moreover, increasing adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) for effective asset management operation and optimizing asset lifecycle offers a huge return on investment for asset intensive industries is growing expressively which is driving the growth of the Remote Asset Management (RAM) market during the estimate period.These remote asset management applications provide the infrastructure, helpdesk capabilities and application monitoring aimed at cost-effective IT management and underpin an efficient operation from the cloud. In near future, demand of cloud-based application with real-time analytics offering cost benefits is predicted to increase the adoption of remote asset management. This factor acts as an opportunity for the global Remote Asset Management (RAM) market in coming years. On the flip side, traditional organizational culture is a major obstacle for the adoption of remote asset management. This in turn is limiting the growth of the global Remote Asset Management market.Access PDF Brochure atGeographically, global Remote Asset Management market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle- East and Africa and Latin America. In 2016, North America held the largest share of the Remote Asset Management market owing to the high technological internet infrastructure development, the presence of strong domestic solution providers and widespread adoption of new technology among others in this region. Asia Pacific is estimated to be the second largest market for Remote Asset Management market currently, followed by Europe. The need for better business process and operational efficiency at a low operating cost is anticipated to drive constant development in the global Remote Asset Management market.The majorplayers operating in the global Remote Asset Management market includes AT&T Inc. (The U.S.), Schneider Electric SE (France), Cisco Systems, Inc. (The U.S.), IBM Corporation (The U.S.), Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan), Infosys Limited (India), Verizon Communications, Inc. (The U.S.), PTC Inc. (The U.S.), Rockwell Automation, Inc. (The U.S.) and SAP SE (Germany) among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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:
Mobile BPM Market Grows with Next Generation Technologies

Mobile BPM Market

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Mobile business process management or BPM offers effective transparency and control in business operation while providing solutions to deal with falling revenue and profit margins and real-time access from remote locations. The key advantages of BPM are automation, integration and transparency. Integration means various type of systems work together. Automation allows carrying out rapidly and constantly, and transparency offers users to monitor processes in real time. In addition, mobile BPM also helps to sales teams and field technicians to do their work efficiently and effectively.The global mobile BPM market is growing rapidly due to the rising need for business agility. Most of the organizations are moving to digital businesses, thus the demand for mobile BPM is rising significantly and is anticipated a stable growth during the forecast period. Mobile BPM mainly provides flexibility and technical integration to the organization and this factor is booming the market globally. This software helps to the organization to combine technical and management capabilities and its allowed to align their objectives with the client requirements. The mobile BPM has the capability to promotes business efficiency by optimizing business operation and this factor is further fueling the growth of this market and is expected a steady growth during the forecast period.The global mobile BPM market is expected a significant growth during the forecast period. Owing to the rising need for the automation solution in different industry vertical such as banking financial services and insurance, transportation and logistics, government and defense, IT and telecom, consumer and retail, and automotive among others. However, the complication of using mobile BPM among the employee of the organization is acting as a restraining of this market. Cost and time of training of this software is bit high but so many organizations investing on that due to its huge application and benefits. Therefore the impact of this restraint is medium and is expecting to be low during the forecast period.Obtain Report Details @The global mobile BPM market is segmented in three categories: by deployment, by solution and by end users. By deployment the market of mobile BPM can be divided into hybrid cloud, private cloud and public cloud. By solution the market is segmented by monitoring and optimization, integration, process modeling and design, automation, content and document management and integration among others. Furthermore, the automation solution held the largest market share in mobile BPM market due to its various applications in this segment. In terms of end user, the market of mobile BPM can be divided into manufacturing, banking financial services and insurance, transportation and logistics, healthcare, government and defense, IT and telecom, consumer and retail, and automotive among others.By geography the global mobile BPM market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. In North America mobile BPM markets growing significantly due to the enterprises are now shifting to digital businesses and they are becoming more customer-centric. Additionally, in Europe and Asia-Pacific, organizations are redesigning and modernizing their business process to improve their efficiencies. Asia Pacific is expecting the fastest growth due to the rising economics such as India and China. North America and Europe is showing a significant market share during the forecast period. Middle East and Africa has shown a remarkable growth in mobile BPM market followed by Latin America in recent years.Access PDF Brochure atkey players participating in the mobile BPM market are IBM Corporation (New York, U.S.A), Oracle Corporation (California, U.S.A), Fujitsu Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan), Open Text Corporation (Ontario, Canada), Appian (Virginia, U.S.A), Software AG (Darmstadt, Germany), Pegasystems Inc (Massachusetts, U.S.A), TIBCO Software Inc (California, U.S.A) and Hyland Software Inc (Ohio, U.S.A) among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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 Process Spectroscopy Market to Expand at 7.40% CAGR by 2019 Driven by Technological Advancements

Process Spectroscopy Market

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Growing demand for quality check and accuracy in product manufacturing has led to the increasing demand for process spectroscopy. Further, factors such as increasing usage of process spectroscopy in pharmaceutical, chemical and food and agriculture industries, and convergence of spectroscopy technologies into single instrument are expected to foster innovations in the process spectroscopy market.Growing consumer preference for better quality products and change in regulations across different industries including oil and gas, pharmaceutical, and food and agriculture among others, are mainly encouraging the companies to adopt process analytical technologies. These factors are driving the market for process spectroscopy instruments and solutions. Additionally, the ability of process spectroscopy technologies to provide accurate results in less time encourages several manufacturing companies to adopt these technologies. Further, as the use of process spectroscopy results into quality check at every stage of production, it reduces the cost of rework and scrap for manufacturing companies, hence save inventory cost of the company. High capital investment in developing and maintaining spectroscopes is one of the prominent factors restraining the growth of this market. Furthermore, the introduction of portable and handheld devices with wireless connectivity to computers offers potential opportunities for the market.Obtain Report Details @Near infrared (NIR) process spectroscopy led the global process spectroscopy market with highest revenue share in 2012. This is due the compatibility of NIR with product manufacturing process in industries such as oil and gas, pharmaceutical, food and agriculture, chemicals and others. However, Raman spectroscopy is expected to grow at faster rate owing to the growing adoption of this technology in pharmaceutical and food and agriculture industry. Due to non-destructive nature of Raman spectroscopy, it leaves no change in the chemical structure of the products during the process analysis. Further, due to convergence capability of FT-IR with both Raman and NIR, it is expected that the demand for process spectroscopy will increase over the forecast period.Access PDF Brochure atIn 2012, North America held the largest market share and accounted for 48.6% of the global process spectroscopy market. This was due to the presence of large players such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Bruker Corporation and Agilent Technologies Inc. among others in the region. The Asia Pacific region is expected to be the fastest growing regional market for process spectroscopy owing to the rise in number of manufacturing plants of different companies across this region. In addition, Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region for process spectroscopy with major contribution from countries such as Japan, China and India. Japan is among the major contributors in the process spectroscopy market with companies such as HORIBA Limited, Kett Electric Laboratory, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, and Shimadzu Corporation dominating the market.The global market for process spectroscopy was dominated by leading players, those accounted for more than 40% share in 2012 of the total process spectroscopy market. Some of the leading players in this market include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Bruker Corporation, Buchi Labortechnik AG, Foss A/S, Danaher Corporation, Shimadzu Corporation, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Sartorius AG, Kett Electric Laboratory, Horiba Limited and ABB Limited among others. The competitive rivalry among these companies is high and is expected to remain same over the forecast period.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:
Asia-Pacific Post-It & Sticky Notes Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022

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ReportsWorldwide has announced the addition of a new report title Asia-Pacific Post-It & Sticky Notes Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its growing collection of premium market research reports.Post-It & Sticky Notes is a small piece of paper with a re-adherable strip of glue on its back, made for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. A unique low-tack pressure-sensitive adhesive allows the notes to be easily attached, removed and even re-posted elsewhere without leaving residue. Originally small yellow squares, Post-it Notes and related products are now available in an array of colors, shapes and sizes. Although 3M's patent ran out in 1997, Post-It and the original notes' distinctive yellow color remain registered company trademarks, with terms such as repositionable notes used for similar offerings manufactured by competitors. Despite this, the name has become genericized for all such products in many countries.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Post-It & Sticky Notes in Asia-Pacific market, especially in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, India and Australia. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries/Regions, type and application.To view a detailed description and Table of Contents please visit:Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers 3M Hopax 4A PAPER Deli M&G COMIX GuangBo Poppin Huiying EnterpriseMarket Segment by Countries, covering China Japan Korea Taiwan Southeast Asia India AustraliaMarket Segment by Type, covers Traditional Surface Notes Erasable Surface NotesMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Office Household SchoolTo Get Sample Copy of Report please visit @About ReportsWorldwide.comReportsWorldwide.com is a leading provider of global market intelligence reports and services. With research reports from top publishers, consulting and advisory firms, ReportsWorldwide.com offers instant online access to a growing database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, geographies and trends.Press Contact:Abigail CrastoSenior Vice President101, Arch StreetBoston, MA 02110USPhone +1 (617) 398-4994Fax +1 (617) 398-4995abigail@reportsworldwide.com
Smart Weapons Market Set for Huge Growth in the Near Future

Smart Weapons Market

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Smart weapons are guided munitions that posses the capability of striking a stationary or moving target with high precision. These weapons locate targets through the use of various guidance systems such as lasers, satellites and TV cameras. Since their invention, smart weapons have continued to evolve and significant improvements in accuracy, range and lethality are achieved by weapon manufacturers. The different types of smart weapons include surface-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, guided bombs, smart bullets, precision artillery munitions and electromagnetic pulse weapons among others.The rising need for precision to minimize the collateral damage coupled with the increasing number of conflicts resulting in high defense spending is the major factor driving the smart weapons market globally. Governments in various countries such as the U.S., China and Russia are spending heavily on modernizing their military resources. Thus, a large number of weapon manufacturers have shifted their focus towards the development of smart weapons. On the contrary, the smart weapons market is facing various challenges such as the impact of arms trade regulations and high dependency on the U.S. government.Obtain Report Details @Air-to-ground missiles dominated the market in 2012 whereas direct energy weapon segment is expected to experience fastest growth over the forecast period. Direct energy weapons operate at the speed of light and can cause high damage to the facilities, equipments or personnel. Thus, their demand is continuously increasing across different countries globally. Segments such as electromagnetic pulse weapons and smart bullets are small segments. However; they are expected to experience high growth over the forecast period owing to ongoing technological developments to enhance their functionalities.Access PDF Brochure atGeographically, North America led by the U.S. and Canada dominates the smart weapons market. The growth in this region is attributed to high military spending and presence of key market players that makes the availability of weapons easier for the U.S. government. Emerging countries in Asia Pacific such as China, Japan and India and the rising demand from the Middle East for modern weapon systems offers potential opportunities to the smart weapons market 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:
Vehicle Cameras Market Heating Up due to the Growing Demand from Industries

Vehicle Cameras (Affordable, Mid-range and high-end Vehicle Cameras) Market

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Vehicle cameras are video recording devices fixed in vehicles for real-time recording from the windshield. These cameras are usually installed on the dashboard or fixed on the windshield using a vacuum cup or adhesive tapes. Vehicle cameras are equipped with memory cards and a display screen. The power required for the camera is supplied from the vehicle battery or a dedicated built-in battery in the camera. Vehicle cameras connected with the vehicle batteries, start recording when the vehicle ignition is switched on. Some of the vehicle cameras are equipped with different superior features such as integrated global positioning system (GPS), G-sensor, loop recording and others. Additionally, vehicle cameras are available with high-quality night recording which enable video recording during low light.Obtain Report Details @Vehicle cameras offer various advantages for private as well as commercial transportation vehicle owners. Video footage recorded from these cameras can be used as evidence in different cases such as insurance claims, fake accidents and other fraud cases. Most users of the vehicle camera utilize these cameras to record their trips, stunts and other outdoor events. Another significant factor boosting the demand for vehicle cameras is the availability of numerous camera model options. Most of the vehicle cameras available in the market provide high-quality video recording with a solution of 1080p. Furthermore, the vehicle cameras market is expected to be significantly supported by factors such as encouragement for installation of vehicle cameras from governments regulations and plans for automotive safety. This is expected to boost the demand for vehicle cameras in the mid-term of the forecast period. Some of the insurance companies also offer discounts on vehicle insurance for the vehicles equipped with vehicle cameras. However, the demand for vehicle cameras is hampered by restrictions on the installation of vehicle cameras and video shooting in public places. This largely pertains to European countries such as Germany, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland.Access PDF Brochure atThe market for vehicle cameras is segmented on the basis of price, end-use applications and geographic regions. Based on the price, vehicle cameras market is further divided into affordable, mid-range and high-end vehicle cameras. Among these, mid-range vehicle cameras segment led the global vehicle cameras market with highest revenue share in 2013. This was mainly due to the high return on investment provided by these cameras. Mid-range vehicle cameras provide numerous features as compared to the affordable cameras and are cheaper than the high-end cameras. This makes mid-range vehicle cameras preferable over high-end and affordable vehicle cameras. Affordable cameras are cheaper as compared to the mid-range and high-end cameras. However, due to their having fewer features, affordable vehicle cameras are experiencing low demand.In 2013, Europe held the largest market share and accounted for 44% of the global vehicle cameras market. This growth was attributed to the high adoption of these cameras in Russia and the U.K. The vehicle cameras market is expected to witness the fastest growth in Asia Pacific during the forecast period. This is due to rapidly growing demand for these cameras in countries such as Australia, South Korea, China and Taiwan. Japan is among the earliest adopters of the vehicle cameras in the Asia Pacific vehicle cameras 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:
Smartwatches Market to Witness Impressive Growth in the Near Future

Smartwatches Market

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A smartwatch is a wrist-worn type of wearable device providing various functionalities to its user and acting as a companion device with smartphones. Smartwatches are mostly need to be paired with a smartphone using any connecting technology such as near-field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth. Smartwatches provide notifications to its user and can also be used to track health parameters such as heart rate, distance traveled, etc. Moreover, smartwatches can also be used as a GPS device. Smartwatch provide high degree of connectivity to its users and are useful for the group that aims health related purposes and fitness tracking. Global smartphone shipments are expected to increase continuously in the coming years due to developing network infrastructure and increasing internet penetration. The global smartwatch market was valued at US$ 701.2 Mn in 2013 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 53.6% during the forecast period 2014  2020.Obtain Report Details @On the basis of price range, the global smartwatches market is segmented into high-end smartwatches, mid-end smartwatches, and low-end smartwatches. Smartwatches with price above US$ 250 are considered under high-end smartwatches segment. High-end smartwatches segment is anticipated to witness strong growth in next few years (2015 - 2017) due to number of large smartphone manufacturers such as Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Inc., and Sony Corporation focusing on the development and launch of their high-end smartwatch models. However, unwillingness to pay above US$ 250 for a smartwatch and low awareness pertaining to wearable technology and products is the major concern for the growth of smartwatches market. Furthermore, limited battery life and its effect on overall performance are expected to restrain the global smartwatch market. Currently, the companies offering high-end smartwatches overrun the global smartwatch market. However, growing commercialization activities, and research and development is anticipated to result in significant number of mid-end and low-end smartwatch models over the forecast period.Access PDF Brochure atIn 2013, North America was the largest market for smartwatches in terms of revenue. The region has experienced significant adoption of high-end smartwatches due the presence of tech-savvy and health conscious users in this region. Fitness and health are expected to remain the major applications of smartwatches over the forecast period. This is attributed mainly to the high smartphone penetration in the North American region. Furthermore, awareness among end-users and higher purchasing power is anticipated to drive the regional market over the forecast period 2014  2020. Europe and Asia Pacific are anticipated to witness healthy growth over the forecast period. Demand from countries such as China, India, Japan, and Australia is anticipated to drive the Asia Pacific market in the next few coming years. Mass adoption of mid-end and low-end smartwatches in Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Eastern Europe is expected to drive the demand for this market over the forecast period.The global smartwatches market is led by players such as Pebble Technology Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Apple Inc., Nike Inc., Garmin Ltd., Sony Electronics Inc., Fitbit Inc., Martian Watches, ConnecteDevice Ltd., Qualcomm Incorporated and others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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 Dispensing System and Equipment Market Powering Up due to Increased Adoption

Industrial Dispensing System and Equipment Market

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Dispensing system are devices which dispense chemicals, inks, or other solvents. The solvents dispensed can be in a quantity desired by the consumer or in a pre-defined quantity. Dispensing system play an important role in the day-to-day life of consumers. These system are used in a number of applications such as in large-scale industries for dispensing oil adhesive, powder material and other solvents, pharmaceuticals for syringes and disinfecting solutions, household chemicals such as detergent liquids and other cleaning solutions, and personal care products such as shampoos and moisturizers, foods such as syrups and sauces, and beverages such as water and aerated drinks.There is an increasing demand for dispensing system and equipments in developing countries such as India and China among others. Increasing disposable incomes and changing lifestyles are the main reasons for the increasing demand for dispensing system in these regions. Innovation of dispensing system in terms of esthetic designs as well as technology is another reason augmenting the growth of the dispensing system market. In addition to this, dispensing system is more convenient to use compared to traditional system, thus driving the global market for dispensing system and equipments. The ever-changing consumer needs is one of the key factors influencing this market.Obtain Report Details @The increasing production output of automotive, chemical, food and beverages, agriculture, and aerospace industry worldwide is directly influencing the rise in demand for industrial dispensing system. Asia Pacific and Latin America are the rapidly growing markets of industrial dispensing system. A large amount of investment is made by key players such as, Nordson, Corporation, Graco Inc., Fisnar Inc. and Franklin Fueling Systems to serve end user applications in the near future. The need for control, accuracy, and customization in food, electronic, and chemical industries is the major factor driving the demand of this system. The flexibility of using a dispensing system has increased due to development and availability of various efficient dispensing mechanisms and accessories. The market expands and penetrates with the changing lifestyle and need of operations in manufacturing industries, and develops end use industry product lines. Considering these factors the market of industrial dispensing systems and equipment market is expected to grow during the forecast period.Geographically, North America led the industrial dispensing system and equipment market in 2014 and the region is expected to continue its dominance in 2021. The regions dominance is due to increasing production of medicine and manufacturing of automotive equipment and machine parts. in countries such as the U.S. and Canada. Moreover, rapid level of industrialization in growing countries such as India, China, Brazil, and Ghana is also contributing the growth of industrial dispensing system and equipment market.. Europe and Asia Pacific followed North America in the global industrial dispensing system and equipment market to collectively account for more than 50% of the global market revenue share.Access PDF Brochure atThe global industrial dispensing system market, by application, is segmented into glues and sealants dispensing systems, liquid materials dispensers, powder product dispensers, and others. The dispensing system market is primarily driven by growing demand from the automotive industries, food and beverage industries, and pharmaceutical industries. Demand for industrial dispensing system and equipment has risen substantially due to increase in production of medicine and food and beverage industries globally. Furthermore, demand for dispensing system has increased to a large extent due to adoption of technologies such as micro dispensing system and digital dispensing system.The global industrial dispensing system and equipment market by end use is segmented into automotive, personal care, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and others. Increased use of dispensing system in automotive and pharmaceutical industries is driving the overall dispensing system and equipment market. Industrial dispensing system and equipment are also widely used in the food and beverage industry, which is further contributing to the market growth. End use of dispensing systems in personal care sectors such as home and beauty care is expected to witness substantial growth in the near future. Industrial dispensing systems are also extensively used for coating, spraying, and bonding the equipment.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:
Telecom Enterprise Services Market Grows with Next Generation Technologies

Telecom Enterprise Services Market

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The telecom industry is witnessing a paradigm shift in the offering of services among mobile service providers. Operators around the globe are exploring new offerings to stay ahead of newcomers and international/foreign telecom service providers. Mobile service providers are incessantly working toward becoming total communications providers. While traditionally, service providers have been focusing on large enterprises, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are now emerging as a key focus area for operators. These enterprises are increasingly adopting IT and networking technology solutions to improve productivity, drive OPEX and CAPEX efficiencies, and enable convergence across multiple devices. Furthermore, unlike large enterprises, SMEs do not have in-house IT capabilities and are thus dependent on service providers for their security, communications, and IT requirements.Key factors driving the growth of the telecom enterprise services market include the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and high industrial activity driving telecom enterprise services. Brands (enterprises) are becoming more aware of the potential benefits of location-based advertising and marketing. The location-based applications domain would drive the demand for telecom enterprise services market as SMEs and large enterprises involved in respective domains would invest in different solutions. A growing range of enabling technologies would bring in flexibility and multiple choice-based options. This would empower service providers, solution providers, and other parties of the value chain when implementing location-based services and commerce applications.Obtain Report Details @The major influence on the future of telecom operators is cloud computing, which is gaining immense relevance among the large enterprises and SMEs in both developed and emerging markets. SMEs look for enterprise-class features and mainstream computing services at reduced investment requirements. The high growth rates of SMEs in emerging markets would tend toward the low-investment cloud pricing model. The pricing model would be attractive to finance-constrained SMEs in emerging markets, which would further create potential latent demand for these services. Additionally, telecom operators eager to exploit this next wave of opportunity are actively exploring their position in the emerging cloud value chain, some through direct investments and others through partnerships and acquisitions.Access PDF Brochure atNorth America is a major market for telecom enterprise services. The demand for enterprise services has gained momentum from MSMEs. The region is also home to large corporations and multinational firms with operations in various application sectors. These firms are deploying telecom enterprise solutions for their subsidiaries located in different regions to ensure the streamlining of communications and data operations. The increasing need for cloud computing, data center and gigabit connectivity solutions to support the entire IP infrastructure has significantly magnified the adoption of telecom enterprise services in North America. Also, the need for reduction in costs and customized solutions for SMEs has prompted operators to come out with scalable solutions that would enable the growth of their businesses. Some of the major data enterprises services required by the SMEs and large enterprise include T-1, NxT-1, DS-3 / T-3, OCx, Ethernet, Metro Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, MPLS / IP-VPN, Colocation, and Private Line. All major carriers offer in North America offer these services.X4 Solutions, Business Communications Management, Inc., WTG Technologies Limited, Telecom Brokerage Inc., Intelisys Communications, Inc., Telecom Brokers, Intracom Telecom SA, Converged Network Services Group, Advoda Communications, Inc., and Telarus Inc. are some of the leading players in the telecom enterprise services 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:
Electrical Market: Demand for Energy Efficient Lighting Solutions to Fuel Sales of LED Lighting

Electrical Market

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The expanding population in Saudi Arabia has put pressure on the countrys existing infrastructure. This has compelled the government of Saudi Arabia to initiate several large-scale projects aimed at infrastructural development in the coming years. According to Transparency Market Research (TMR), the increasing construction activities witnessed in the country will significantly aid in the expansion of electrical market in Saudi Arabia.The surging demand for electrical products that are compatible with the infrastructure has led to the renewal of existing electrical and lighting systems. This, as per TMR, will boost the Saudi Arabia electrical market at a robust10.4% CAGR between 2015 and 2023. The market was valued at US$4.5 bn in 2014 and is expected to reach US$10.8 bn by the end of 2023.Obtain Report Details @The Saudi Arabia electrical market is also expected to significantly gain from the rising energy demand in the Middle East. Development activities on card for the energy generation and transmission infrastructure will boost sales of electrical products, as it would require a higher number of cable management products such as trays, cable, floor ducts, cable conduits, raceways, and cable reels to efficiently manage cable networks.Despite Saudi Arabia exhibiting favorable opportunities for the electrical market, the volatility in the raw material prices will continue to be a major challenge inhibiting its growth. The unforeseen economic recession also creates major bottleneck for the market. Nevertheless, with companies increasingly engaging in mergers and acquisitions, the market sees lucrative prospects for growth in the near future. As per TMR, the rising opportunities in solar energy and grid modernization will also influence the markets trajectory positively.Access PDF Brochure atBy application type, decorative lighting, commercial lighting, hospital lighting, flood lighting, tunnel lighting, street lighting, area lighting, pool lighting, solar lighting, and cinema and theatre lighting are the key segments of the Saudi Arabia electrical market. Of these, the tunnel lighting segment is expected to exhibit strong growth. Besides this, the market is also expected to witness significantly rising demand for LED lighting. This segment is likely to benefit from the rising demand for energy efficient lighting solutions.However, tunnel lighting is expected to emerge as the segment exhibiting the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. The construction of new tunnels and upgrades of the existing ones in Saudi Arabia will boost sales of tunnel lighting in the country.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:
Flat Panel X-Ray Detectors Market: APAC Demand for Flat Panel X-ray Detectors Surges

Flat Panel X-Ray Detectors Market

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The global flat panel X-ray detectors market is currently being driven by the surge in demand shown by the manufacturing sector due to improving quality check standards. The use of these detectors also reduces the overall need for manpower while increasing production efficiency. The growing demand for electronic products has also led to the growing need to increase manufacturing capabilities, further increasing the scope of demand for flat panel X-ray detectors. The market is also being bolstered by the advancing research and development efforts that are contributing in making the units more affordable. However, the global flat panel X-ray detectors market is being restrained by the increasingly stringent regulatory framework applied to the detectors due to them being classified under radiation emitting devices.The global flat panel X-ray detectors market is being projected at a CAGR of 5.9% in terms of value from 2016 to 2024. The markets revenue at the end of 2016 was calculated to reach US$1.08 bn and is expected to reach US$1.72 bn by the end of 2024.Obtain Report Details @In terms of geography, the global flat panel detectors market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. North America grabbed the leading share in the global flat panel X-ray detectors market for 2015, owing to the increasing use of these detectors in security and bomb disposal services. Their continued use in the above applications as well as the growing use in manufacturing is expected to drive the regions market further during the forecast period. Flat panel X-ray detectors are also being used extensively in the medical sector. Furthermore, the steady recovery of North America from recession is resulting into increased infrastructure development for manufacturing, putting more focus on the use of flat panel X-ray detectors for quality analytics purposes.The flat panel X-ray detectors market in Asia Pacific is characterized by its growing demand in the emerging economies of India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, especially in the healthcare sector. The flat panel detector market in Asia Pacific offers considerable opportunities to global and regional players and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2016 to 2024, mainly due to the availability of untapped opportunities, improving health care infrastructure, and increasing awareness about modern diagnostics. Moreover, the region is witnessing growth in terms of new manufacturing facilities due to easy availability of workforces in China and India. The use of flat panel detectors to improve production quality is aiding their demand in Asia Pacific as well.Access PDF Brochure atBy application, the global flat panel detectors market has been segmented into security, manufacturing, construction, semiconductors, and bomb disposal. The manufacturing sector is expected to hold the leading market share over the given forecast period. Other applications in the global flat panel X-ray detectors market lie in the industries of healthcare, automotive, and aerospace, all of which are likely to provide sizeable opportunities to players over the coming years.The leading players in the global flat panel X-ray detectors market so far have included Rayence, Inc., PerkinElmer, Teledyne DALSA, Inc., Konica Minolta, Inc., Olympus Corporation, YXLON International , Toshiba Electron Tubes & Devices Co., Ltd. , Varian Medical Systems, Bruker Corporation, and Hamamatsu Photonics.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:
Glaucoma Treatment Market Research Report | Forecast up to 2024

Glaucoma Treatment Market

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Glaucoma is a chronic, degenerative, permanent disorder whose rate increases essentially with age rather than causing immediate blindness. According to a survey of WHO, Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness affecting the population worldwide after cataract (47.9%). In general, Glaucoma occurs as after effects of increased intraocular pressure (IOP) brought about by an abnormality or malfunctioning of the eye drainage system. The normal IOP is in between the range of 19-21 inches of Hg but when the pressure exceed than this range, it causes compression of retina and optic nerve causing progressive, leading to permanent loss of visual perception if not treated on time. The most common types of glaucoma are open angle glaucoma and closed angle glaucoma. As per International Council of Ophthalmology report, closed angle and open angle glaucoma individually account for about half of all glaucoma cases and are the major cause of irreversible vision globally. For glaucoma, everyone is at risk from babies to senior citizens. The market for glaucoma treatment has been growing rapidly since last few years due to increasing number of people with glaucoma and introduction of innovative treatments. In past few years different therapies are introduced including, laser therapy, photodynamic therapy, IOPtiMa therapy along with eye drops and pills which will grow the glaucoma treatment market in coming years.The driver of glaucoma treatment market includes rising geriatric population and healthcare expenditure. It has been stated that glaucoma is more prevalent among the people above age of 60 and globally growing geriatric population is expected as the main reason for growth of glaucoma treatment market in forecast period of 2016-2024. Cases of congenital glaucoma are increasing and main reason for this problem is changing lifestyle and habits. According to Glaucoma Research Foundation survey, approximately one out of 10,000 babies born with glaucoma in United States. Improved medical coverage and new innovation in glaucoma drugs and treatments are also the key factors which are expected to drive the growth of glaucoma treatment market.Global glaucoma treatment market is segmented on the basis of drug class, therapy used, disease indication, end users and region. Based on drug class, glaucoma treatment market further segmented into Prostaglandin Analogs (PGAs), Alpha Agonist, Beta Blockers, Cholinergic, Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors, and Combined Medications. Prostaglandin Analogs drug segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global glaucoma treatment market as new innovative drugs are coming are in this segment also on the basis of treatment, also these drugs are widely prescribed drugs.View Report-In the basis of therapy, glaucoma treatment market is further segmented into Glaucoma surgery, Laser iridotomy, Laser trabeculoplasty, Aqueous shunt surgery and Peripheral iridectomy. Glaucoma surgery segment is expected to have highest share of glaucoma treatment market. Increasing geriatric population and trust buildup on surgery treatment as compared to laser treatments are the factors contributing towards the growth of this segment in glaucoma treatment market in coming years.On the basis of disease indication, glaucoma treatment market is further segmented into angle closure glaucoma (ACG), open angle glaucoma (OAG), secondary glaucoma, congenital glaucoma and other. Other less common types of glaucoma includes pigmentary glaucoma, pseudoexfoliation glaucoma and normal-tension glaucoma (NTG). The most common types of glaucoma are open angle glaucoma (OAG) and closed angle glaucoma (CAG). As per International Council of Ophthalmology report, closed angle and open angle glaucoma individually account for about half of all glaucoma cases also they are responsible for the major cause of irreversible vision worldwide. Therefore, Open angle glaucoma and angle closure glaucoma segments are expected to account for highest share of glaucoma treatment market in the forecast period of 2016-2024. On the basis of end users, glaucoma treatment market is segmented into hospitals, specialized clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, hospital pharmacies, drug stores and retail pharmacies.Geographically, the global glaucoma treatment market is divided into five key regions, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East, and Africa. In terms of geography, North America is expected to account for the extensive market share for glaucoma treatment market where the number of glaucoma patients is the highest. Moreover, the Asian market is expected to become a huge potential market for glaucoma treatment in the forecast period, as it is expected to grow at fastest CAGR among all other regions.Major players in glaucoma treatment market includes Novartis AG, Allergan, Merck & Co., Inc., Akorn, Inc., Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer and Santen.Request a brochure of this report to know what opportunities will emerge in the rapidly evolving Glaucoma Treatment Market during 2016- 2024About 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:
Oral Cancer Rapid Test Kit Market Research Report | Analysis and Forecast up to 2024

Oral Cancer Rapid Test Kit Market

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Oral cancer is one of the largest group of cancers, which comes under category of Head and Neck cancer. It includes lips, tongue, throat, sinuses, and floor of the mouth. About 90% of the oral cancers are squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). According to oral cancer foundation in 2016, around 48,250 people are diagnosed with oral cancer in the U.S. and has relatively low survival rates. The death rates due to oral cancer are relatively higher due to lack of proper diagnosis test, which can detect oral cancer at the early stage. Hence, early stage diagnosis is an alternative solution that helps prevent the deaths of people infected by oral cancer. The Conventional diagnostic tests available in the market are time-consuming and costly. Currently, very few technologies are available in the market for routine screening of the oral cancers. Hence, companies are trying to develop the Oral Cancer Rapid Testing Kit (OCRTK), which can detect the stage of cancer effectively in less time to perform test at home/clinic. Vigilant biosciences developed OncAlert Oral Cancer LAB Test, which is accurate, cost effective, and uses non-invasive technology. This technology also got the CE mark in Europe that enables this product to sell all over Europe. Various companies and universities are trying to develop the rapid detection technology for oral cancer kits to detect oral cancerThe increase in usage of tobacco, which includes smokeless tobacco, HPV-induced cancers, and consumption of alcohol are major factors that drive the growth of the market. Furthermore, increase in awareness and aging population also contribute to the prevalence the oral cancers. According to the cancer research center in U.K, globally over 3, 00,000 persons were diagnosed with oral cancer. Smoking is a major factor that is turning many men and women into victims of Oral cancer. In U.S., black males are having high incidence rate than their whiter counterparts because of cigarette smoking and heavy alcohol consumption. Lack of new diagnostic technologies in the market is a major factors that is limiting the growth of the OCRTK market.Segmentation by ProductOncAlert Oral Cancer LABLab on ChipInsilixa testPrevo-CheckSegmentation by PrincipleSensor basedColorimetryImmunoassayOthersSegmentation by End UserHospitalsDiagnostic centersResearch centersConsumerView Report-OCRTK will have higher impact in the Oral cancer diagnosis market because currently there very few rapid test kits available in the market to diagnose the Oral cancer. Government organizations are actively funding companies that are operating in OCRTK. This highlights the importance of this domain. Factors like low cost, easy process, and instant results are expected to drive the growth of the market.On the basis of product segmentation, OncAlert Oral Cancer LAB is expected to hold major market shares of the OCRTK market as it is the only available product in the market with clinical effectiveness. On the basis of principle, sensor-based devices will have a relatively higher share due to its highly sensitive nature and precision results.On the basis of End User, hospitals, and diagnostic centers hold major market share comparatively than the research centers and consumers as mainly all the operations are carried out in hospitals and diagnostic centers. However, in future the end user is expected to shift their preference towards the consumer as companies are developing techniques to perform tests easily at home.OCRTK market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to hold relatively high market share due to factors such as growing awareness about the disease and rise in the aging population. However, Asia Pacific region and European regions also might have good market due to increase in incidence of oral cancer.Some key players in the market are Vigilant Biosciences, Abviris Deutschland GmbH, Insilixa, and University of Sheffield.On the basis of development of the OCRTK market, startups and universities are more actively working on this domain as compared to the major market players. Hence, there are possibilities of acquisitions and collaborations to take place within these companies/institutes in the near future.Request a brochure of this report to know what opportunities will emerge in the rapidly evolving Oral Cancer Rapid Test Kit Market during 2016- 2024About 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:
Head & Neck Cancer (HNC) Market Size, Technology Source, Industry Demand and Forecasts Report to 2027

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Head & neck cancer is characterized as a group of cancers, which initiate in squamous cells that line the mucosal surface of head and neck. It is also called squamous cell carcinoma. In the head & neck cancer, different types of malignant tumors develop in and around the larynx, throat, nose, mouth, and sinus. If the cancer is found only in the squamous layer of cells, it is known as carcinoma in situ (CIS). If the cancer grows beyond the squamous cell layer and moves deeper, it is called invasive squamous cell carcinoma.Nose, throat, and ears are the most common body parts affected by the head & neck cancer. The common symptoms include headache, common cold, change in voice, soreness in the mouth, and swelling of jaws. More than 70% of head & neck cancers are caused by alcohol and tobacco consumption. Other factors include exposure to radiations, infection by human papilloma virus (HPV) Type 16, and consumption of preserved and salted food.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Head & Neck Cancer (HNC) Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.Introduction of advanced chemotherapy and other treatment options and increase in per capita income of people are major factors driving the head & neck cancer market. However, high cost of targeted therapies and low awareness in developing economies about technologically advanced and novel therapies are factors expected to hamper the market for head & neck cancer during the forecast period.The global head & neck cancer market can be segmented on the basis of type of cancer, diagnostic technique, type of treatment, and end-user.Based on cancer type, the market has been segmented into salivary gland cancer, oropharyngeal (oral cavity) cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer, and others. The oropharyngeal cancer segment accounted for the maximum market share in 2016. This can be attributed to the increasing consumption of tobacco and alcohol and chewing of betel nuts. Rising incidence of exposure to radiations and increasing intake of processed and raw meat as well as preserved food are the major factors anticipated to boost the oropharyngeal cancer segment of the head & neck cancer market by 2025.Based on diagnostic technique, the global head & neck cancer market has been divided into biopsy, blood tests, diagnostic imaging equipment, endoscopy screening, and dental diagnostic equipment. The diagnostic imaging equipment segment has been further divided into PET/CT scan, MRI, and X-ray. The endoscopy screening segment has been sub-divided into pharyngoscopy, laryngoscopy, and others. In terms of revenue, the diagnostic imaging equipment segment held the maximum market share in 2016. This is due to the rising incidence of oropharyngeal cancer. X-ray and MRI segments are expected to continue to lead the market during the forecast period, owing to the rising demand for cost-effective and non-invasive diagnostic techniques.View Report @Based on treatment type, the global head & neck cancer market has been segmented into surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, and others. The radiation therapy segment has been further classified into internal therapy and external therapy. Radiation therapy is the most preferred type of therapy. The segment accounted for the maximum share in the global head & neck cancer market in 2016. The radiation therapy segment and the surgery segment are expected to dominate the head & neck cancer market during the forecast period, due to the rising prevalence of head and neck cancer. On the other hand, the targeted therapy segment is expected to expand at the maximum CAGR during the forecast period, due to the increasing investment in research and development of targeted therapy by key players in the market and the rising demand for an effective and safe therapy with less side-effects.Based on end-user, the global head & neck cancer market can be segmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and clinics. The hospitals segment held the leading share in the global head & neck cancer market in 2016, owing to favorable reimbursement policies and the availability of well-qualified and specialized staff in hospitals. Government funding to improve the health care infrastructure in emerging economies and long-term procedures of chemotherapy and other surgeries are factors likely to propel the hospitals segment of the market for head & neck cancer by 2025.Geographically, the global head & neck cancer market can be divided into five regions viz. North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America accounted for a major share of the global market in 2016, which is attributable to technological advancements in the medical sector in the region. However, the market in Asia Pacific is expected to expand at the maximum CAGR from 2017 to 2025, owing to the improving health care facilities in China and Japan and rising awareness among the people about diseases such as cancer. In terms of revenue, North America is estimated to remain dominant in the global head & neck cancer market during the forecast period. The rising investment by key players in R&D activities for cancer treatment with a technologically compatible and superior therapeutic approach is a major factor expected to boost the head & neck cancer market in North America during the forecast period.Prominent players in the global head & neck cancer market are DentalEZ, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Siemens Healthcare Private Limited, AdDent Incorporated, GE Healthcare, AB SCIENCES, Bayer AG, Boston Biomedical, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Prominent players in the market in developed countries are focusing on the targeted therapy segment of the head & neck cancer market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.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:
Asthma Therapeutics Market- Global Industry Analysis 2025

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Asthma is a chronic disease of airways of the lungs and characterized by various symptoms such as bronchospasm, and pulmonary airway obstructions. The symptoms of asthma include coughing, chest tightness, wheezing, and breath shortness. Asthma is considered to be caused by a combination of environmental factors and genetic factors. The few environmental factors include exposure to allergens and air pollution. The symptoms can be prevented by avoiding exposure to allergens and irritants. In asthma, the pulmonary airway muscles get swollen, which in turn cause symptoms leading to bronchospasm and airway obstruction. Some healthy people can develop asthma symptoms during physical activity or exercise. This condition is called exercise-induced asthma (EIA).Patients with family history of asthma and allergies are more prone to developing asthma. It has been proved that there is no cure for asthma, but it can be controlled by early and effective asthma treatment. The medications in treatment of asthma includes corticosteroids, long acting beta-agonists (LABA), anti-inflammatory agents, and leukotriene modifiers. Asthma patients are at great risk of developing infections such as pneumonia and influenza and hence are vaccinated annually. Asthma mimicking symptoms have been found in a host of diseases in children. Hence, diagnosis and treatment of asthma in children has remained a challenge. Asthma-related fatalities in children are mostly preventable through proper education and awareness and timely treatment. Hence, spreading awareness about treating asthma in children presents an opportunity for asthma drug manufacturers.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Asthma Therapeutics Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.Asthma and COPD are a major burden on the economy of a nation, especially in the U.S. and China due to high incidence of these diseases as well as rise in the number of smokers. This has fueled government initiatives to educate the people regarding awareness about asthma, and their management as well as funding by various government and non-government agencies. Usage of biologics in asthma is a relatively new treatment phenomenon; however, noteworthy advances have been made, leading to effective treatment for select patients, particularly those with severe disease symptoms. Ongoing development of new biologics such as Benralizumab byAstraZeneca and Lebrikizumab by Roche is set to provide the impetus to the growth of the global asthma therapeutics market. Moreover, the FDA approval for GSKs Mepolizumab in November 2015 as an add-on maintenance treatment of patients with severe asthma aged 12 years and older is likely to drive the market during the forecast period. A report by the American Lung Association in 2014 indicated that nearly 47% of the U.S. citizens live in counties with frequently unhealthy levels of either ozone or particulate pollution. Hence, rise in environmental triggers is anticipated to increase demand for asthma therapeutics during the forecast period. Rapid urbanization, air pollution, change in lifestyle, and rise in smoking population has resulted in higher occurrence of asthma symptoms in urban regions of the world, thereby fueling demand for asthma therapeutics.The global asthma therapeutics market has been segmented based on drug class and region. In terms of drug class, the asthma therapeutics market has been categorized into bronchodilators, anti-inflammatory agents, monoclonal antibodies, and combination drugs. The combination drugs segment is projected to account for the largest share during the forecast period. Large share of this drug class is attributed to preference of combination therapies for prescription by doctors and launch of new triple combination therapies during the forecast period. Availability of popular and preferred generics such as salbutamol is attributed to the second largest share of the bronchodilators segment. New launch of anti-inflammatory agents, especially in China, is considered to support the growth of the global asthma therapeutics market.View Report @In terms of region, the global asthma therapeutics market has been segmented into five key regions: Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to dominate the market due to greater awareness and higher prices of asthma drugs. Asia Pacific is anticipated to hold the second largest share due to high prevalence of asthma in countries such as China and India. China is estimated to account for the largest share of the asthma therapeutics market in Asia Pacific owing to factors such as improvement in diagnosis rate, rapidly aging population, increase in smokers, and high levels of pollution. Major players in the global asthma therapeutics market include Astrazeneca plc, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Merck & Co. Inc., and Novartis AG.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:
Sensor Devices For Mobile Health Care Market, By Product & Data Validation, Analysis and Forecast 2025

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Mobile health, also known as mHealth, is medical care provided using mobile devices. Sensor is a type of device that detects and responds to inputs from physical environment. Advances in telecommunication and sensor manufacturing have brought new technologies and applications in mobile health care. The primary reason to use sensors in mHealth is to improve the quality of and provide easy access to health care services. Integration of sensor device into electronics enables health care providers to gather medical data, provide home care, and other preventive digital health programs. Mobile-based health care solutions can also decrease service cost.The global sensor devices for mobile health care market is expected to witness robust growth during the forecast period owing to maturation of technology leading to miniaturization of sensor devices. Major factors propelling the market are low cost of sensors, integration of sensors into consumer devices, surging geriatric population, rise in awareness about health and fitness, increase in remote patient monitoring, and prevalence of chronic and lifestyle diseases. Surge in penetration rate of mobile and smartphone and reimbursement policies are the other factors likely to drive the global market from 2017 to 2025. Regulatory issues, privacy and security concerns, lack of clarity in health communication, and standard protocols are projected to restrain the global sensor devices for mobile health care market during the forecast period.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Sensor Devices for Mobile Health Care Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.The global sensor devices for mobile health care market can be segmented base on product type, application, and region. In terms of product type, the global market can be divided into microphone sensors, camera sensors, accelerometer sensors & geolocation facilities, and others. Based on application, the global sensor devices for mobile health care market can be segmented into health and wellness monitoring, safety monitoring, home rehabilitation, early diagnosis of disorders, efficacy assessment (clinical trials), and others. The health and wellness segment is expected to witness high growth owing to rise in awareness about fitness and health and prevalence of chronic disease.Geographically, the sensor devices for mobile health care market can be segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. North America is expected to dominate the global market in terms of value and volume, followed by Europe. Growth of the market in North America is attributed to rapid innovation of technology, rise in enthusiasm in individuals about gathering quantified data about their health, and prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle.The sensor devices for health care market in Asia Pacific is expected to experience fastest growth rate owing to improving technology, rise in geriatric population, health awareness initiatives undertaken by governments, change in lifestyle, and rise in awareness about health and fitness. China is expected to be the fastest growing market due to factors such as low cost, easy availability of the devices, and growing population.View Report @The massive potential of the worlds smallest sensor device integrated into consumer devices is the future of the global market. Hence, to maintain a significant position in the global sensor devices for mobile health care market, the key players are adopting various strategies such developing a technologically advanced and highly efficient product, mergers and acquisitions, and geographical expansion to enter into untapped market. Key players operating in the global market are Apple, Inc., Fitbit, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Samsung, and Medtronic MiniMed.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:
(Photo/Chinanews.com)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China issued a grade-IV emergency response on Monday following rain, storms and flooding across central China's Hunan Province, which have left six dead and one missing.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs and China National Commission for Disaster Reduction have sent teams to assist in disaster-hit areas.

Since June 22, Hunan has been battered by rain and floods.

By 8 a.m. Monday, six people had died, another one remained missing, and 11,000 had been evacuated to safer places, according to local government.

The disaster also damaged about 40,000 houses, and caused 3.27 billion yuan (479.3 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses.

A grade-IV response, the lowest in China's emergency response system, requires a 24-hour alert, daily damage reports, and the allocation of money and relief materials within 48 hours.

Local disaster response and civil affairs authorities has allocated six million yuan to the disaster relief fund since the heavy rain and floods began.
Monday 26 June 2017 1:07pm



Study co-author Professor Nick Wilson

It may sometimes make sense for island nations like New Zealand to temporarily close their borders in extreme pandemic situations, a new study by Wellington researchers suggests.

The study of costs and benefits of complete border closure in New Zealand in response to new pandemic threats has just been published in the international journal PLoS ONE.

One of the authors Professor Nick Wilson from the University of Otago, Wellington, says the study found that despite the costs/disruptions caused to tourism and even trade, there could be significant overall societal benefits to border closure in certain severe pandemic scenarios.

With increasing risks of new pandemics due to the growing density of human populations and various socio-economic, environmental and ecological factors, there is a need to look at different scenarios for better pandemic planning, says Professor Wilson.

The researchers note that although for most countries border closures to prevent pandemic spread are thought to have little benefit, the situation is different for island nations where border closure may be viable.

The study analysed data from past influenza pandemics and looked at healthcare costs, valuation of life, lost tourism revenue and even lost trade. It also considered the option of trade still occurring without cargo ship crews ever having to leave their vessel.

Study co-author Professor Michael Baker, also from University of Otago, Wellington says: Indeed, the options for New Zealand will improve in this regard if current international work on drone cargo ships with minimal or no crew becomes a reality.

Other technological advances in such areas as early outbreak detection and communication will also support the kind of measures we are discussing here, says Professor Baker.

The authors argue that this new study shows that island countries like New Zealand need more detailed studies of the costs and benefits of border closure. There is also a need for updated pandemic plans and the legal capacity for the Prime Minister and Cabinet to order the borders closed in under one day of deliberations.

It will be a very hard call  but in the case of some severe pandemics it could save thousands of lives and huge costs from illness if border closure is rapidly achieved says Professor Wilson.

More details on this work can be found in this blog.

Link to full paper: Protecting an island nation from extreme pandemic threats: Proof-of-concept around border closure as an intervention. PLoS One. 2017;12:e0178732.

For further information, please contact:

Professor Nick Wilson

Department of Public Health

University of Otago, Wellington

Email: nick.wilson@otago.ac.nz

or

Professor Michael Baker

Department of Public Health

University of Otago, Wellington

Tel: 04 918 6802

Email: michael.baker@otago.ac.nz
Phase 4 construction of the Yangshan Deep-Water Port, which is under installation and commissioning, is planned for trial operation by the end of the year.

As the core of the Shanghai International Shipping Center, the automated port is the largest in the world in terms of both scale and size.

The fourth phase has seven berths along a 2.35-kilometer quayside. After it is put into operation, the phase-4 port will have a handling capacity of four million TEUs per year and container volume will eventually be increased to 6.3 million TEUs per year.

The emergence of the Yangshan Deep-Water Port is closely related to Chinas manufacturing. The construction of the port, from the facilities to the control systems to the hardware and software, entirely depends on domestic technologies.

The Yangshan Port is part of a concerted effort of backward integration with hinterland cities and towns in the prosperous Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone, which contributes about 100 million TEUs to the port, said Fang Huaijin, vice president of the Shanghai International Port Group.

A comprehensive logistic network has formed along the Yangtze River, covering 22 projects from 12 cities and regions, including Nanjing, Jiujiang, Wuhan, and Chongqing, Fang added.

The port is now seeking opportunities along the Maritime Silk Road, Fang disclosed, adding that the fourth phase of the Yangshan Deep-Water Port will serve as the gold standard for ports that want to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative.
The State of Michigan encourages all residents with a private drinking water well that has been covered by flood water to have their well cleaned and tested to ensure the water is safe to consume.

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley declared a "state of disaster" for Isabella and Midland counties Friday after severe weather and intense rain struck the counties, resulting in widespread flood damage.
Dear Abby: I recently had to spend a night in the hospital following minor surgery. One of the female techs taking care of me leaned over me to straighten out the bedding and I could see "everything" when the top of her scrubs fell open.

I'm not sure if it was on purpose or by accident. I say this because after the first time, it happened several more times. I only looked the first time out of shock. The other times, I looked away.

Other than saying, "Hey, lady, I can see your boobies when you bend over," what's the polite way to say, "Oops  wardrobe malfunction"?  GOT AN EYEFUL IN ILLINOIS

Dear Got An Eyeful: Since, with luck, you won't have to make another visit to the hospital, I think your question may be moot. However, the discreet way to deal with something like that would be to mention what happened to the head nurse or supervisor and say that it made you uncomfortable.

Dear Abby: I'm in my early 30s and recently met a very attractive woman my age. We are planning to get married. She wants us to be married as soon as possible because she has been divorced for the last seven years.

My problem is, she's extremely secretive about her past, especially the period between her divorce and our meeting. I have been open with her about my past, but when I ask about hers, she refuses to discuss it and says it has nothing to do with our relationship.

I have a feeling there may be something nasty she's hiding. I'm afraid I'm heading into a trap, but my love for her makes it tough to consider breaking up. Am I being too demanding?  CONCERNED GUY IN THE SOUTH

Dear Concerned Guy: If your intuition is screaming that your girlfriend's desire for a hasty marriage could spell trouble in the future, you should pay close attention to it. It is not "too demanding" to want to know what one's fiancee has been doing for the last seven years. Under no circumstances should you marry this woman without first talking to a lawyer, who I am sure will suggest doing a background check and/or drafting an ironclad prenuptial agreement.

Dear Abby: I recently attended a bridal shower for my nephew's fiancee. My sister-in-law (the future mother-in-law of the bride) also attended the shower. She did not choose any gifts from the bride's registry, but decided instead to give the bride lingerie, including thong underwear. Frankly, I was shocked. I didn't think it was appropriate for either the mother or the future mother-in-law to give such intimate gifts. Am I wrong?  FLUMMOXED IN FLORIDA

Dear Flummoxed: Shower guests are not restricted to items based solely upon the couple's registry. They can give whatever gift they wish to the bride and groom. Your sister-in-law chose something she thought the bride and groom would enjoy. Please try to be less judgmental and hope she was right.
When we speak on the phone, Ashton Sanders is holed up in a hip hotel off Chicago's famed Michigan Avenue. It's his temporary home while he's there shooting Captive State, out August 2018, a dystopic thriller about life in the near-future after aliens have conquered parts of Earth. It marks a return to Chicago for Sanders who, one year ago, was just another college kid attending DePaul University. In the extraordinary twelve months in between his two Windy City residencies, Sanders catapulted to fame as one of the stars of Moonlight, Barry Jenkins' beautifully composed and quietly powerful film based on a play by Tarell Alvin McCraney. As Chiron, a young man growing up and understanding his sexuality while navigating a tumultuous relationship with his crack-addicted mother and the challenges of living in the poor, drug-ridden Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, Sanders gave a stunning performance that likely played no small part in landing Moonlight the Best Picture Oscar. (About that infamous Oscars ceremony and its flub seen around the world, Sanders says he reacted pretty much like the rest of us watching from home: "I was a crazy man. I hopped over the seats. I was in disbelief.")

Though that Oscars night may have served as a dramatic ending to Moonlight's whirlwind rise, it was only the beginning for the 21-year-old actor. Along with landing more film roles like his part in Captive State, Sanders has also caught the eye of the fashion world. The day after the Oscars, Calvin Klein launched an underwear campaign starring Sanders and his Moonlight co-stars Mahershala Ali, Trevante Rhodes and Alex R. Hibbert. Of working with the brand's new creative director Raf Simons, he says, "Immediately we clicked" and Simons is "one of my biggest fashion inspos." For many, the same could be said of him. Whether it was the Calvin Klein leather jacket and pants paired with a yellow turtleneck he wore to this year's Met Gala or the sienna-colored Dickies workwear jacket he threw over a matching suit and accessorized with kids' section sunglasses during fashion week, Sanders takes interesting risks and brings a distinct point of view. And his interest isn't incidental. "I love fashion. I think it is art within itself," he says, adding that he has a growing interest in designing clothes and has even created a few pieces. But any more serious forays may have to wait  there are too many great things happening too quickly to do it all.

And with the speed at which everything has been changing, it can be hard to pause and take it all in. But every now and then, Sanders says a jolt will hit him and cause him to reflect on all this new excitement. Seeing his Calvin Klein campaign on posters while driving through LA was one such instance. "That's when it really hit me, and it was the 'wow' moment," he says. "Like, wow, wow. Wow life."





Stylist: Patrick Chuavez

Groomer: Freddy Anaya


Britney Spears, arguably America's original sweetheart, opened up in a new interview about the difficult times she faced in her twenties and how much happier she is now that's she's older.

Ahead of her first-ever performance in Tel Aviv, (which iconically was such a massive event that it delayed Israeli elections), Britney spoke with Israeli paper Yediot Ahronot about her career.

(All quotes have been translated to English via BreatheHeavy.)

The pop star reflected on the "awful" time she had during her twenties, after being catapulted to worldwide superstardom following the release of "Baby One More Time."

"I think I had fun when I was younger," she said. "I was a pretty normal girl, a tomboy. But my 20s were awful. My 30s are much better for me. I've learned to get to know myself better."





For Britney, that meant taking a break from the spotlight after her highly-publicized 2007 breakdown and prioritizing her mental health over her career. "I think I had to give myself more breaks through my career and take responsibility for my mental health."

When asked about the time she was photographed holding her then-infant son sitting in her lap while driving in 2006, Britney said, "Those were the toughest years. I think the paparazzi took off the pressure after I didn't leave my house for two years."





She declined to label the moment as a crisis though, saying, "Crisis is a strong word."



Spears reflected on navigating her twenties - already a confusing time for most young women - while also being a former child star and one of the biggest pop stars in the world.

"Each and every one of us that starts at a young age needs to take into account that you've gotta be balanced in order to stay in this industry and to manage your personal life," she explained. "Sometimes that's very challenging. I think I was very different back then, younger, not always knowing what's good or bad, very instinctive."

"There were many decisions that were made for me that I didn't make myself," she said. When asked if the people close to her had overprotected her and kept her from being totally independent, she said, "Something like that.

"My life was controlled by too many people and that doesn't really let you be yourself. In that situation, when you're not in control, you become less excited, and there's less passion when it comes to music.

"I wrote back then, that I was lost and didn't know what to do with myself. I was trying to please everyone around me because that's who I am deep inside. There are moments where I look back and think, 'What the hell was I thinking?'"

One such moment was her infamous snake dance for her "Slave 4 U" performance at the 2001 VMAs. She said the experience was "scary," "stupid" and something she wouldn't choose to do again.





In true Britney form, she ended on a positive note, saying that she's in a much "better place" these days, as motherhood has helped ground her.





"Today I'm at a better place in my life. My kids shaped my personality and filled me. They made me not worry about what was happening to me."



We're happy for you Brit!

[h/t Harpers Bazaar]

Image via Getty
In a heartwarming full circle moment, Chelsea Manning took part in New York's Pride celebration yesterday, her first Pride since being released from prison. The former soldier and transgender woman represented the American Civil Liberties Union during the parade, appearing on their float and in a convertible Nissan next to Gavin Grimm, the young transgender high schooler who sued his school board when they forbade him from using the boys' restroom.

Manning, who was sentenced to prison for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, was pardoned by Barack Obama before the end of his administration and released shortly thereafter, serving seven years of her original 35-year sentence. During her time in prison, where she came out as a transgender woman, several Pride events supported Manning, including San Francisco Pride, who organized a march in honor of her.

Manning took to Twitter to celebrate the occasion, tweeting "lost my voice from screaming so much, thank you," complete with appropriate emojis. While this is her first Pride as a free woman, she confirmed to BuzzFeed that it was not her first Pride overall. Hopefully, it won't be her last either.

honored to represent the @aclu at this years @NYCPrideMarch  lost my voice from screaming so much  thank you https://t.co/qZIBuyrNRq pic.twitter.com/3C6xVZQquV

 Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) June 25, 2017

Photo via Twitter, courtesy of Chelsea E. Manning and Ryan Karerat


BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Top legislator Zhang Dejiang said Monday that the unwavering implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle and the Basic Law have effectively maintained prosperity and stability in Hong Kong over the past 20 years.

The implementation has also helped safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests, Zhang said in Beijing.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks while meeting with Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung, and Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who will take office as the new chief executive on July 1.

Zhang called on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government and the society to continue to contribute to Hong Kong's bright future and the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

The central authority fully recognized the work of the Hong Kong SAR government led by Leung over the past five years, Zhang said, voicing hope that it will continue to make progress under the new leadership.

After the meeting, Zhang attended the opening ceremony of an exhibition at the National Museum in Beijing profiling the achievements in Hong Kong since its return to the motherland in 1997.

State Councilor Yang Jiechi called the achievements by Hong Kong in the past 20 years "remarkable," and attributed them to the "one country, two systems" policy and the concerted efforts of Hong Kong compatriots.

Hong Kong's prosperity and stability have proved that the "one country, two systems" is the best arrangement for Hong Kong, said Leung while addressing the ceremony.

Hong Kong will continue to give full play to the unique advantage of the policy and strive to realize national rejuvenation and build a better Hong Kong, Leung said.

More than 450 people attended the ceremony, including Sun Chunlan, head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, and Vice President Li Yuanchao.
Canadian Prime Minister and the Internet's perpetual obsession Justin Trudeau marched alongside the LGBT community and allies during Toronto's Pride celebration yesterday, setting a commendable example of what a true leader should be. Trudeau walked the parade alongside his wife and children, with a painted rainbow maple leaf on his cheek and a pair of multicolored "Eid Mubarak" socks acknowledging Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, which ended the same day.

Trudeau shared photos from the event on Twitter, saying simply, "Love is love." Other photographers posted pictures of Trudeau greeting the diverse array of kids and revelers in the crowd, including one gobsmacking adorable photo of the Prime Minister high-fiving a young girl dressed as Wonder Woman.

Trudeau has also marched in other Pride parades across Canada during his candidacy. Meanwhile, American citizens are still waiting on the Trump administration to publicly acknowledge June as Pride Month.
We spent our day today in Croatia. First, we walked in and about the port city of Zadar.

Ive never been in Croatia before. So this was all new to me.

Zadar is a very attractive city, and exceptionally clean. I mean, no litter at all. Immaculate. We actually saw a man cleaning one of the streets with a vacuum cleaner.

We had an excellent lunch of local specialties at a restaurant called Proto. I recommend it to anybody who visits Zadar.

During some free time, my wife and I went with another couple to a superb temporary exhibit of works by Marc Chagall. Hes not, I confess, my favorite artist. But I keep running into his work. In the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, in the Fraumunster in Zurich, in other museums in various locations, and now in Zadar, Croatia.

By the way, the new Rectors Palace Museum  it opened only two months ago  is a real gem.

After Zadar, we drove out to the Krka National Park, where we visited the waterfalls there. Quite pretty.

Posted from the Adriatic Sea
In researching a recent article on creationism, I came upon a particularly strange claim. One reason evolutionary scientists believe that humans originated in Africa is the greater diversity within mitochondrial DNA among peoples in Africa than among peoples elsewhere. Of course, creationists claim that humans originated in Turkey, at Ararat, where Noahs Ark landed after the flood, and not in Africa. That means they have to explain the diversity in African mitochondrial DNA.

And so they have. Sort of. Frankly, I almost had to check the URL to make sure I was still on the Answers in Genesis website, because their solution was that out there. Here is an excerpt from an article by Answers in Genesis Nathanial T. Jeanson:

African ethnic groups have about twice as many mtDNA differences among them as do non-African ethnic groups. If you assume that the rate of mtDNA mutations is constant with time, the fact of greater mtDNA diversity in Africans implies that Africans have been around longer than non-Africans. However, implicit in this conclusion is a technical assumption about the mtDNA mutation rates.  Evolutionists implicitly assume that the generation times (time from birth of parent to birth of child) across all ethnic groups are the same. However, marriage data from the United Nations suggests that this assumption is not valid (Table 5). On average, African females marry earlier in life than non-African females. About 32% of African women are married by ages 1519 whereas only 12% of non-African women are married by the same age.  Since mtDNA is passed on maternally, these data imply that some African ethnic groups have twice as many mtDNA differences because twice as many generations have passed in their lineages as compared to non-African lineages. the YEC predictions correctly predicted the African mtDNA differences under the assumption of a higher generation time (e.g., assuming a generation time of 15 years. The mtDNA differences among non-Africans  were predictable under the YEC model by assuming a generation time of 25 years. Thus, the fact of higher mtDNA diversity in Africans does indeed appear to be due to their earlier age of marriage (and, presumably, of child-bearing), not to their supposed ancient evolutionary origin.

Yes, you read that right. The claim here is that Africans have more diverse mitochondrial DNA than non-Africans because they have seen twice as many generations as non-Africans. Yes, the claim really is that Africans have borne children at substantially lower ages than non-Africans for all time, a claim made based on modern marriage data from the United Nations.

Before we get into any of that, I want to note that Jeansons assumed generation time of 15 years for Africans is not reflected in modern data. This page suggests that average age of a mother at first birth in most African countries hovers around 19 to 21. Why Jeanson assumed a generation time of 15 years at all when, according to his own data, fewer than half (32%) of African women are married not by age 15-19 is a mystery. After all, 32% of women being married by age 15-19 suggests that only a small number would have married at 15, even if you assume an equal distribution.

Lets have a look at this study to flesh this picture out:

Estimates  were obtained  for the most recent DHS surveys in 62 developing countries for which data files are available for public use (and with sample sizes of married women above 3000).  A full analysis of levels and trends in all 62 countries is beyond the scope of this methodological study, but a few findings can be noted. Estimates of M(t) [average age at first birth] vary widely among countries from a low of 19.1 in Niger (2006) to a high of 24.7 in the Maldives (2009). The unweighted averages of M(t) for countries in each of four regions are presented in Table . The low value for sub-Saharan Africa is unsurprising since this continent has not progressed as far through the fertility transition as the other regions. North Africa/West Asia and South Asia have the highest averages and Latin America has intermediate values.

Table 1 compares the average age of first birth in 62 developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and North Africa/West Asia, listing the average for each area. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest average age at first birth20.9 yearswhile North Africa/West Asia has the highest23.3 yearsand Latin America and South Asia have averages in between21.7 years and 22.7 years respectively. To say that this data does not back up Jeansons claim that generations occur twice as fast in Africa as elsewhere would be an understatement.

Jeanson has another problem as well. The authors of the above article note that developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa likely have the lowest average age at first birth because this continent has not progressives as far through the fertility transition as the other regions. In other words, there are modern reasons for Africas comparatively low current age at first birth vis a vis other countries. This is not some underlying constant.

The average of of first birth in the U.S. has in recent years increased to around 26. Note that I used the word increased. Average age at first birth is something that changes over time. The relatively high average age of first birth in many western countries today is due to specific circumstances associated with modernity (circumstances that will increasingly affect sub-Saharan Africa as well). Regardless of region, the average age at first birth varies depending on many factorsincluding the availability of resourcesand changes over time.

One final note: The assumption that African populations have borne children earlier than other populations for all time strikes me as vaguely racist. Only a few months ago a middle aged white woman told me of her surprise at learning that the mother of a 34-year-old woman she had met was celebrating her 50th birthday; noting that this acquaintance was black, she mused that teenage pregnancy was a part of their culture. And yet, the average age at first birth among African American women (24.2 years) is only slightly lower than the overall average age at first birth (26.3).

Women of color have long been portrayed as especially sexual, promiscuous, or fertile; Jeansons suggestion that African women have borne children at such early ages that they have literally doubled the rate at which generations occur in that continent as compared to other areas (and that this has been the case for all time) occurs within the context of this casual cultural racism, and cannot help but be informed by it (even if unconsciously, if Im being charitable).

If you need me, Ill be over here facepalming.
Patna: Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) leader Pappu Yadav, at a press conference in Patna on Sunday, blamed both the Nitish government and private schools for the collapse of education in Bihar saying never in the history of the state, so many scandals came out of the education department.

"The Education Minister (Congress leader Ashok Kumar Chowdhary) is a failed leader who does not know what he is doing. All he does is attend various social functions to inaugurate this or inaugurate that. From now on, we will not allow him to do so and if he still tried to attend a function, our people will greet him with eggs and curds," the former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader said.

Saying it was imperative to rein in the growing influence of private schools in Bihar, Yadav, an MP from Madhepura, said that they had become centers of exploitation of parents and children and that must be stopped for the future of the state.

Turning his tirade against his former boss Lalu Prasad Yadav, the JAP leader said that the RJD chief, in his entire political career, had only insulted and demeaned Dalits and Muslims by exploiting their loyalties.

"To ask for support for Presidential candidate Meira Kumar by playing Dalit Card is demeaning to the daughter of Jagjiwan Ram and former Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Such low-level politics is not good for the Presidential election," he said.

Charging the RJD chief of 'robbing' the Yadavs of Bihar, Pappu Yadav said that the former Chief Minister of Bihar should explain how did he amass properties worth several thousand crores and also helped his family members to own properties and businesses when they were not qualified for anything.

"First he looted Bihar to amass wealth; now he is using the Dalit card to fool the people of Bihar once again. He has also unleashed his men to insult Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, in my opinion, should immediately walk out of the Grand Alliance," the MP said.
Saudi Arabia to Qatar: Do As We Say, Not As We Do

06/25/17

By Derek Davison (source: LobeLog)





More than two weeks after they began boycotting Qatar, four Arab nations-Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates-have presented the Qataris with a list of demands that they say Doha must meet in order to end this ongoing Persian Gulf diplomatic crisis. With all due respect to the Associated Press, which has obtained a shortened list of these demands (quoted below), LobeLog can reveal that it has received a more comprehensive list from its sources, who wish to remain anonymous for reasons that should become clear shortly.

We can now report the full list of demands to our readers, interspersed with the simplified list as published by the AP:

Curb diplomatic ties with Iran and close its diplomatic missions there. Expel members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard from Qatar and cut off any joint military cooperation with Iran. Only trade and commerce with Iran that complies with U.S. and international sanctions will be permitted.

Qatar must close down its customs office and foreign ministry and replace both with one person who is able to take precise dictation while on the phone with Riyadh. Qatari schools must immediately use black markers to cross out Iran from any maps seen by students. Qatar must change its name to "Saudi Arabia the Third." Not "Saudi Arabia the Second" or "Saudi Arabia Junior," those names are too good for Qatar.

Sever all ties to "terrorist organizations," specifically the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic State group, al-Qaida, and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Formally declare those entities as terrorist groups.

Supporting terrorist organizations is Saudi Arabia's job, and Qatar must immediately stop trying to horn in on that turf.

Shut down Al-Jazeera and its affiliate stations.

The stations in question will be reformatted to show only flattering photographs and/or videos of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, perhaps set to inspiring and/or joyous music. You know, journalism.

Shut down news outlets that Qatar funds, directly and indirectly, including Arabi21, Rassd, Al Araby Al-Jadeed and Middle East Eye.

Qatar must furthermore agree to make its bed every morning and empty the dishwasher after supper, or else it will lose all Internet privileges and will have to go without dessert for one (1) week.

Immediately terminate the Turkish military presence currently in Qatar and end any joint military cooperation with Turkey inside of Qatar.

In fact, all Qataris must forget that they ever heard of a country called Turkey. As far as Qatar is concerned, Turkey simply does not exist and never has existed. The Ottoman Empire was entirely fictional. Any kebab restaurants in Doha will be immediately closed and no Qatari, on pain of exile, may consume grilled meats in any form hereafter. The "Salt Bae" is a made-up Internet meme.

Stop all means of funding for individuals, groups or organizations that have been designated as terrorists by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, the United States and other countries.

Again, this is really Saudi Arabia's thing, and it's very damaging to the Saudi brand when other Gulf countries try to do it too. Knock it off.

Hand over "terrorist figures" and wanted individuals from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain to their countries of origin. Freeze their assets, and provide any desired information about their residency, movements and finances.

Qatar must explain why it keeps hitting itself. It must stop claiming that Saudi Arabia has grabbed Qatar's arm and is forcing it to smack itself in the face.

End interference in sovereign countries' internal affairs. Stop granting citizenship to wanted nationals from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain. Revoke Qatari citizenship for existing nationals where such citizenship violates those countries' laws.

Mohammed bin Salman will be entitled to administer one (1) swirlie, one (1) wet willy, and one (1) atomic wedgie per fiscal quarter to a Qatari official of his choice, indefinitely.

Stop all contacts with the political opposition in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain. Hand over all files detailing Qatar's prior contacts with and support for those opposition groups.

If Qatar had all the judges and the politicians in New York, and the think tanks in Washington DC, then it must share them, or let others use them. It must let Saudi Arabia and friends draw the water from the well. Certainly it can present a bill for such services.

Pay reparations and compensation for loss of life and other, financial losses caused by Qatar's policies in recent years. The sum will be determined in coordination with Qatar.

I'd like to be serious for a moment here, because Qatari policies in recent years have led to considerable loss of life, and it is long past the point when someone should hold Qatar accountable. Which is still not going to happen, because whatever the Saudis are talking about with this demand it almost certainly has nothing to do with the deaths of migrant workers.

Align itself with the other Gulf and Arab countries militarily, politically, socially and economically, as well as on economic matters, in line with an agreement reached with Saudi Arabia in 2014.

Qatar must now go home and get its f***** shine box.

Agree to all the demands within 10 days of it being submitted to Qatar, or the list becomes invalid. The document doesn't specify what the countries will do if Qatar refuses to comply.

Shut up back there or, so help me, Saudi Arabia will turn this car around and we will all go home and think about what we've done.

Consent to monthly audits for the first year after agreeing to the demands, then once per quarter during the second year. For the following 10 years, Qatar would be monitored annually for compliance.

In conclusion, Qatar must rub the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.





About the Author:



Derek Davison is a Washington-based researcher and writer on international affairs and American politics. He has Master's degrees in Middle East Studies from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in Iranian history and policy, and in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied American foreign policy and Russian/Cold War history. He previously worked in the Persian Gulf for The RAND Corporation.


Iranian Scientist Amirhosein Mosavi Receives 2017 Young Scientists Award

06/26/17

Source: Mehr News Agency

The International Coordinating Council of the UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme has named Amirhosein Mosavi as one recipient of the 2017 Young Scientists Awards.



Amirhosein Mosavi



The MAB Program has been granting awards of up to $5,000 each since 1989 to encourage young researchers to undertake work on ecosystems, natural resources and biodiversity. This prestigious award goes to 4-7 young scientists every year. Seven young scientists are to receive the 2017 UNESCO MAB Young Scientists Awards one being Amirhosein Mosavi of Iran who resides in Hungary.



Dr. Mosavi wins the UNESCO Young Scientists Award on his research on sustainability in the field of 'monitoring and assessing sustainability in Biosphere Reserves utilizing sustainable business models'.



In addition to UNESCO Young Scientists Award, this year Dr. Mosavi also received the Future Talent Award of TU-Darmstadt, Go Styria Award from University of Graz, and a Research Fellowship Award from Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar, where he reasoned that humanity requires accurate prediction-decision tools to reduce the climate change impacts.



As an expert in both data science and decision science, he consulted world's largest companies with advancement of their prediction and decision models to anticipate the consequences of the potential actions in order to make better decision in an automated manner for sustainable development.



Dr. Mosavi is involved in active contribution on developing techniques for generating predictive models that promotes sustainable development. "With the aid of data sciences, the past events are to be analyzed in order to provide the vision about our future decisions and actions. With the aid of predictive models, we will be able to study the potential effects of our behavior," he says.



This would indeed provide the ability to develop and grow in a more sustainable direction. Dr. Mosavi coins the term 'predictive-decision model' what he believes in its extensive potential for transforming latest discoveries into a major innovation in decision science and prediction. He believes in the potential of artificial intelligence technologies of Big data, machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and deep learning to discover the greener ways of living.
Iran to hold international conference on combating sand storms

06/26/17

Source: Mehr News Agency

Iran is organizing a three-day international conference on combating sand and dust storms in July, with participation of representatives from over 30 countries across the world. The International Conference on Combating Sand and Dust Storms is to be held in Tehran on 3-5 July 2017.



International conference on combating sand and dust storms



The International Conference will be hosted by the Department of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with the cooperation of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, UN Environment and the UN Development Programme, in collaboration with other relevant UN entities.



The Conference will be opened by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hassan Rouhani.



The Opening ceremony will be held on Monday followed by a field trip Kashan and Ahvaz. Four sessions will be held on Wednesday on Source Recognition, Policy options, Global, regional and cross-sectoral cooperation and responses, and Conclusions and way forward.



International participants will include ministers, senior officials, country experts, international resource persons and policy makers from all regions as well as experts from regional and international organizations and UN entities. So far 31 countries, including Italy, France, Germany, China, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Pakistan, Armenia, Chad, Iraq, Turkey, India, Jordan, South Korea, Slovakia, Serbia and the United States have confirmed participation in the event.
Book: A Social Revolution: Politics and the Welfare State in Iran

06/26/17



A Social Revolution: Politics and the Welfare State in Iran

Author: Kevan Harris

Published by: The University of Californi Press, August 2017

Format: Paperback, 336 pages

ISBN: 9780520280823

For decades, political observers and pundits have characterized the Islamic Republic of Iran as an ideologically rigid state on the verge of collapse, exclusively connected to a narrow social base. In A Social Revolution, Kevan Harris convincingly demonstrates how they are wrong. Previous studies ignore the forceful consequences of three decades of social change following the 1979 revolution. Today, more people in the country are connected to welfare and social policy institutions than to any other form of state organization. In fact, much of Iran's current political turbulence is the result of the success of these social welfare programs, which have created newly educated and mobilized social classes advocating for change. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted in Iran, Harris shows how the revolutionary regime endured through the expansion of health, education, and aid programs that have both embedded the state in everyday life and empowered its challengers. This focus on the social policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran opens a new line of inquiry into the study of welfare states in countries where they are often overlooked or ignored.

Contents:

Introduction

1. Can an Oil State Be a Welfare State?

2. Seeing like a King: Welfare Policy as State-Building Strategy in the Pahlavi Monarchy

3. Creating a Martyrs' Welfare State: 1979, War, and the Survival of the Islamic Republic

4. The Revolution Embedded: Rural Transformations and the Demographic Miracle

5. Development and Distinction: Welfare-State Expansion and the Politics of the New Middle Class

6. Lineages of the Iranian Welfare State

Conclusion: Development Contradictions through the Lens of Welfare Politics

Reviews:

"This impressive book pushes Iranian studies from the cloisters of area studies to the wider precincts of global political economy."

Charles Kurzman, author of The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran



"An original account of how the revolutionary regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran was able to survive years of turmoil. Harris has had the privilege of gathering the materials from inside Iran, access few American scholars have had since the 1979 revolution."

Ervand Abrahamian, author of The Coup: 1953, the C.I.A., and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations



"A Social Revolution offers an invaluable counterpoint to the prevailing conventional wisdom and should be required reading. Harris goes beyond the standard theocratic political frame to document a surprisingly successful Iranian variation on the developmental state."

Peter B. Evans, author of Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation

About the author:

Kevan Harris is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) Dr. Mensa Otabil during a Thanksgiving service on Sunday, June 25 bestowed blessings on the new Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo.



The prayers were said shortly after a sermon titled How to handle the top by Enoch Sitima, a guest pastor from Botswana. The message came in handy as it served as words of wisdom for the Chief Justice and other judges who gathered to join in the celebration with her.

Quoting from the Bible, Dr. Mensa Otabil used Psalm 72 as a reference point to pray for the new Chief Justice of Ghana.

In his prayers, he said, This is Solomons prayer for God to give him the ability to bring the right judgment. I know you are not a king but it applies to the office that God has called you to and today we come as a congregation to surround you with our prayer and to pray that God will give you wisdom, that he will give you this judgement.

Dr. Mensa Otabil also advised her to be wise, strong and firm in her decisions concerning rules and judgements although some people will dislike and spread rumours about her if her judgement doesnt favour them.

Justice Sophia Akuffo was sworn in on June 19, 2017, by President Akufo-Addo.

She is the 13th Chief Justice in Position and the second female after the immediate past Chief Justice Georgina Wood.

Sophia Akuffo had her Masters in Law (LLM) from the Harvard University in the United States. She has been a member of the Governing Committee of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute and the Chairperson of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Task Force.

In January 2006, she was elected one of the first judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights initially elected for two years, she was subsequently re-elected until 2014 and is at present serving as Vice-President of the Court.

She has written The Application of Information & Communication Technology in the Judicial Process  the Ghanaian Experience, a presentation to the African Judicial Network Ghana (2002).

Source: Ghanaweb









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Chinas Belt and Road (B&R) initiative will help developing countries so that their voices are heard in the global arena, as well as rebalance the Western-dominated world economy, said experts.

The remarks were made during the International Forum for the Development of Countries along the Belt and Road, held by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on June 26, with experts from 17 countries along the B&R sharing their opinions on the importance of the initiative in global economic governance.

The accumulated investment of Chinese enterprises in B&R countries is $18 billion. Such figures show a promising future for the B&R countries economic development, and once they rise, the Western-led unipolar order will turn into a more balanced, multipolar one, said Salman Azam Joiya, a teaching fellow at the University of Management and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan.

Echoing Salman, Wei Ling, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, said the B&R has provided new opportunities for global economic cooperation, as well as a counterbalance for the negative effects of the globalization.

Many developing countries have become the worlds fastest-growing economies since the 2008 financial crisis, and they will continue boosting the worlds economy. As a new global economic governance plan featuring the core value of establishing a community of common destiny, the B&R has gained support from those countries, said Wei.

First announced in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the B&R aims to connect Asia, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa with a vast logistics and transportation network, involving over 60 countries and affecting one-third of global GDP and more than half of the worlds population.

China leads in global economic governance

In his opening address, Wang Jingqing, vice president of the CASS, welcomed foreign scholars.

Unlike other platforms for global economic governance, such as the TPP and FTAs, the B&R features an unprecedented openness that welcomes every nation of the world without discrimination or exclusion, which has made China a leader in global economic governance, said experts.

Chinas peaceful rise has made it a representative for the B&R countries, helping the latter tap into the global economic market. For instance, current IMF quotas are normally deemed as incapable of reflecting economic realities. China urged the IMF on several occasions in 2017 to increase quota resources and review the distribution of quotas and votes to ensure a fair reflection of emerging and developing economies.

From time to time, China has shown the world its capacity in turning vision to consensus and turning constructive proposals into reality. Seeing the success in China-proposed platforms, the world will surely have more confidence in and higher expectations for Chinas role in improving global economic governance, said Salman.

As a rising leader in global economic governance, Chinas edge over the U.S. is its economic diplomacy. Rather than bring wars and conflicts to other regions, economic diplomacy will benefit other countries. The more we are connected, the more cooperation, the less complexity, said Nazia Malik, assistant professor at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan.

A new platform

According to the experts, new theories and strategies should be created to guide the initiatives development in a direction that benefits all the participating nations, in order to secure B&Rs position as a major platform for global economic governance.

People have been wondering if China can rise peacefully and if B&R is beneficial for other nations, said Esmaeil Maghami, a research fellow at the Institute for Political and International Studies in Iran. He then added: I think a new perspective is needed to understand the rise of China, as well as the essence of B&R.

Esmaeli noted that new theories and strategies, especially in the social sciences, should be made to ensure the initiative runs smoothly, while people-to-people exchanges between China and B&R countries should be encouraged to provide intellectual support.

Sanket Sudhir Kulkarni, a research fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai, India, suggested that the diversified needs of participating countries should be considered equally and thoroughly when it comes to the initiative's rule-making process.

Countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar have great potential for industrial construction, while for nations like Indonesia, the priority lies in the development of clean energy, such as bio-fuel. By borrowing experience from existing economic structures, we should establish a financial architecture that is much more sustainable and compatible, said Kulkarni.
The Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast will from the next academic year cut the number of student intake, headmaster of the school, Malfred Barton-Oduro has announced.

He said the school will from September not take more than 600 fresh students, explaining the decision was taken in view of the current inadequate infrastructure to accommodate the student population.

The headmaster made this known at a ceremony to hand over a renovated infirmary to the school by the 2004-year group of Mfantsipim Old Boys Association (MOBA).

Mfantsipim School, established by early missionaries of the Methodist Church, is the oldest secondary school in the country and one of the best choice schools. It begun with just 8 faithful students and now has over 1,600 student population.

Mr Barton-oduro told TV3 that the number of students would be reduced despite the governments decision to roll out its flagship educational programme  Free Senior High School education He said the School has informed authorities including the Ghana Education Service about the decision.

Meanwhile improving the infrastructure in the school, the 2004-year group of the have renovated the schools infirmary which served the students and staff of the school. The infirmary was in a very deplorable state.

It now boasts of new 26-bed, consulting rooms, a clinic managers room, a dispensary, and washrooms. The group also presented some blood pressure apparatus, digital weighing scales and digital thermometers to the school.

Samuel Ansak Kissadu who led the group leader said the renovated infirmary improve the healthcare delivery and ensure quality that the school is known for.

The school presented a citation to the MOBA 2004 group in appreciation to their gesture.

Source: 3news









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Th e President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, left Ghana, on Monday, 26th June, 2017, for 3-day official, State Visit to the Republic of Zambia, at the invitation of its President, His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu.



President Akufo-Addo will hold bilateral talks with President Edgar Lungu, aimed at deepening the bilateral ties between the two countries, as well as exploring other areas of co-operation to the mutual benefit of the two peoples.

Whilst in Zambia, the President will visit Ndola, a city in Zambias Copperbelt Province, where he will be the Special Guest of Honour at the 53rd Zambia International Trade Fair.

He will be accompanied by the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway MP, and officials of the Presidency and the Foreign Ministry.

President Akufo-Addo and his delegation will arrive in Ghana on Thursday, 29th June, 2017.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The German G20 Presidencys resolve to renew efforts of cooperation and enhance sustainable economic development saw it launch the G20 Africa Partnership recently.



This was three weeks before the G20 Summit in Hamburg where Africa was, for the first time, high on the G20 agenda.

The partnership aims to support reliable financial frameworks in order to increase investment opportunities, push for a more sustainable infrastructure, as well as create jobs in African countries, thereby contributing to the AU Agenda 2063.

A statement by the German Embassy in Accra, which gave more insights into the partnership, said it intends to support related political initiatives of the G20 and facilitate joint commitments (investment compacts) between African countries, G20 Partners and international financial institutions.

Nine African heads of government, including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, numerous ministers, and heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank gathered with Federal Chancellor of Germany, Dr. Angela Merkel, German Minister of Finance Dr. Wolfgang Schauble and the German Development Minister Dr. Gerd Muller in Berlin to discuss issues of central importance for the continents future in Berlin.

They also discussed how to forge ahead a new partnership between the 20 most important industrialised and emerging countries and Africa.

During the G20 Africa conference in Berlin, Ghana was selected as one of the seven compact countries, with the others being Tunisia, Cote dIvoire, Senegal, Rwanda, Morocco and Ethiopia.

Three compact countries will additionally enter into a reform partnership with Germany.

On the margins of the conference, Development Minister Muller signed declarations of intent with Ghana, represented by Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, as well as with Tunisia and Cote dIvoire.

In the declaration of intent, Germany and Ghana agreed to intensify their cooperation in the fields of Renewable Energy, Technical and Vocational Training and Financial Sector Development.

In these fields, Germany is willing to invest up to 100 million EUR for the first year to improve the climate for private investment, thus creating better employment prospects.

Source: Daily Guide









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The Muslim Community has expressed gratitude to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his continues efforts to improve the living conditions of people living in Zongo communities.



The Community said President Akufo-Addo had demonstrated commitment towards ensuring unity among all religions in Ghana, particularly the Christian and the Islamic religions.

The gratitude was expressed in appreciation of the Presidents supports towards this years Eid-Ul-Fitr, by Alhaji Musa Baba, a member of the Eid Committee at the national prayers to mark this years Eid-Ul-Fitr at the Black Star Square in Accra.

Alhaji Baba hailed the move made by the President for the establishment of the Ministry of Inner Cities and Zongo Development and the introduction of the Zongo Community Development Fund.

He said it was in a positive light, as the communities had suffered lopsided development for the past years.

The Zongo Community Development Fund seeks among other things to support areas such as education, sanitation, infrastructure, cultural development and employment for inhabitants of Zongo communities throughout the country.

This, the Eid Committee Member said, would enhance the economic status of the inhabitants and thus, improve their standards of living.

This years National Eid-Ul-Fitr thanks giving prayer was graced by President Akufo-Addo, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and wife, Minister of Information, Mr Mustapha Hamid and other dignitaries.

This, Alhaji Baba, said was first of its kind and that the Presidents love for the Muslim community is exceptional.

Meanwhile, Alhaji Alhassan Abdullahi Sulley, the Chairman of the Committee assured that though the Ramadan was over, the Muslim community would continue to ensure that peace and tranquillity prevailed in the country.

Alhaji Sulley said: We shall endeavour to maintain that culture of self-discipline and tolerance with fellow men, as part of the values we have derived from our just ended spiritual exercise.

The Eid Committee Chairman noted that Ghana had established  an enviable reputation as one of the most peaceful nation, with the friendliest and most welcoming people in the West African Sub-region, therefore it was prudent to maintain the reputation.

He also said the Muslim community was yet to embark on the Hajj Pilgrimage and it was commendable to note that government was working assiduously to ensure that, the exercise was well executed.

The preparations by your government in the setting up of an early Board, that has representations from across the length and breadth of our country, gives us a positive indication of a project that will be well executed, when the time comes, and, we pray to that effect, he said.

Source: GNA









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Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says 15 billion dollar financial partnership entered between Ghana and China will not affect the governments fight on illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.



According to him, the Chinese government is happy with the crackdown hence will not interfere in Ghanas resolve the end the galamsey menace.

Dr. Bawumia revealed this in an interview with the media in Accra Sunday, June 25, shortly after his arrival from a working visit to China.

A section of the populace has argued that the loan assistance from China is meant to derail governments fight against illegal mining which involves several Chinese nationals in the country.

But Dr Bawumia said the Chinese government does not support galamsey.

Im not sure there is a string attached [to the loan]. This is why I said that we went with our own thinking in terms of how we want the financing model to be. Of course, for any partnership we presented the case that whatever investment China makes in Ghana, its a good thing for them as it is for us. Its a win-win situation, he stated.

Dr Bawumia also added that government had reached an agreement with the Chinese government for the mutual benefit of both countries.

The Chinese are very happy with us enforcing our laws and the fight against galamsey is no respecter of persons regardless of where you are coming from. The Chinese government is very supportive with us dealing with the galamsey issue he stressed.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bawumia says Chinese government has promised to release the remainder of the 3 billion loan facility that was frozen under the erstwhile John Mahama administration.

Source: adomonline









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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If nothing else, the internet is a vital resource through which you can arm yourself with the knowledge necessary to never have to roll the dice on an unfamiliar food joint ever again.

User review sites are a great way of sorting the wheat from the chaff and discerning which are the top culinary delights in any given area.

Therefore its only good and right and just that not only has someone made a Tripadvisor page for the sausage sizzle at Bunnings in the rural Victorian town of Warrnambool, but thats its also kickin all kinds of ass compared to its geographical culinary competitors. Its the good stuff, bitch. The lovely snags.

The Bunnings Restaurant in the Bool has thus far attracted a near-sparkling record of some 52 reviews, which puts it as the 9th-highest rated eatery in the Warrnambool area. And thats not a short list either. Thats 9th out of 93.

And folks, let me tell you, the reviews are absolutely glowing. With a 4.5 overall rating, the current distribution of opinion sits at 48 who rightly agree the sizzle is excellent, and four godless heathens who have dared to turn in an opinion of terrible.

But when the reviews are good, they are a thing to behold; a true collection of loving odes to one of our most sacred of corporately-backed traditions.

Absolute poetry. Henry Lawson himself would weep at the love and awe that drips from those words like the fresh kiss of a sizzling overloaded with dead horse.

Course you cant keep everyone happy in this day and age, and while the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive by and large, theres still the occasional dissatisfied customer fussing oer some minor detail or other.

Just goes to show you, folks: It doesnt matter how good a place can be, theres always room for improvement. Thats what sets the apart the good and the great.

The Warrnambool Bunnings Warehouse and its now-famous sausagery is located at the corner of Raglan Parade and Horne Road in the heart of the Bool, about a 3-hour drive from the centre of Melbourne.

Why go chuck it a visit so you can slam your own review down and keep the good snag-vibes rolling.

The Warrnambool Bunnings Tripadvisor page, in all its glory, can be located right sodding here.

Source: Tripadvisor.

Photo: Bunnings.
A fuel truck exploded after crashing in eastern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 140 people and injuring over a hundred more, leading to a state of emergency being called in Punjab.

The truck veered off the road when the driver lost control, according to a police spokesperson. As fuel began to leak out of the crashed vehicle, local villagers rushed to the crash site to collect the leaking fluid in pots. The truck then exploded.

Bahawalpurs Victoria Hospital confirmed they are treating more than 40 victims, all of whom suffered burns to at least 70% of their bodies. Nishtar Hospital confirmed in a statement that they are treating more than 100 people.

It isnt known what exactly caused the truck to explode. Speculation by police points to either heavy mobile phone use around the area, local villagers smoking cigarettes, or a battery that had been fitted to the vehicle.

Mohammad Shabbir, a villager, told Geo TV that the trucks driver had warned the villagers to stay away from the crash site, but to no avail.

Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif expressed grief over the loss of life.

The Prime Minister has directed provincial government to provide full medical assistance to the injured with burns, a statement from his office said. The Prime Minister has expressed sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls.

PM had come to London to attend his grandsons (my son, brought up by him) graduation ceremony, but owing to the tragic incidents in Pak 1/2  Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) June 25, 2017

He will not be attending the ceremony & is returning to Pak immediately. Says his foremost duty is towards the country & the people. 2/2  Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) June 25, 2017

Source: CNN.

Photo: Getty Images.
Well then.

Reports have emerged that two Liberal Party pollies have been secretly preparing a private members bill thatd enable parliament itself to vote on the issue of marriage equality, just a few hours after MP Christopher Pyne reaffirmed his position that the Coalition government would continue with the plebiscite as its preferred method of handling the debate.



The Sydney Morning Herald claims senator Dean Smith and MP Trent Zimmermann are behind the prospective bill, which intends to allow members of parliament to settle the issue via a conscience vote  and not through a humongously-expensive and crucially non-binding public vote.

Incredibly, if the bill is selected by the parliamentary committee, the whole deal could be settled as quickly as August. Thats a big if, considering lingering tensions in the party regarding the issue, but still.

Whats more is that Pyne himself, an avowed supporter of same-sex marriage, is thought to have been in the know about the bill. If thats the case, his recent leaked comments on the issue  in which he said your friends in Canberra are working on that outcome, it might even be sooner than everyone thinks  make a whole lot more sense.

Regardless, Pynes office provided SMH with a statement reaffirming his commitment to the plebiscite. So.

As an indicator of just how fractious the whole situation is, Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce told ABC that Pynes leaked comments were essentially spurred by a few too many frothies.

. @Barnaby_Joyce says Christopher Pynes leaked comments on same-sex marriage arent to be taken seriously. pic.twitter.com/EP066pBPH2  News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) June 26, 2017

Amid all of the inter-party conflict, its nice to realise this really could be it, Australia.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.

Photo: Boston Globe / Getty.
In news that is total garbage, the Supreme Court in the United States will allow Trump and his cronies to enforce their 90-day ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority countries.

The executive order, first issued in January, blocks citizens from Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Libya from entering the US for three months.

Two federal appeals courts temporarily blocked both Trumps initial order and a revised order issued in March.

The Trump administration then appealed those decisions to the Supreme Court so that it could enforce its ban, making final submissions last Wednesday. In those submissions they pushed for removal of the blocks, and a full hearing later in the year.

#Breaking In doing so the Supreme Court is overturning lower court orders that blocked the ban  Press Association (@PA) June 26, 2017

The full hearing is set for October this year.

Last week Trump said the ban would come into effect three days after being cleared by the courts, so thats this Thursday, although there is still a protection for foreigners with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the US.

The nine Supreme Court Justices who made the disappointing ruling were Chief Justice John Roberts (Republican), and Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy (R), Clarence Thomas (R), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Democrat), Stephen Breyer (D), Samuel Alito (R), Sonia Sotomayor (D), Elena Kagan (D) and Neil Gorsuch (R). So its not exactly surprising, considering the political split there.

Pretty surprising we havent seen a quick gloat from the Prez yet, but Im sure therell be one waiting when we wake up. Blegh.



Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty.

Source: CBS News.
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for more coordinated efforts in reform and for a review of all current major reform programs.

Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the 36th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, which he heads.

All departments and localities should be devoted to delivering reforms and should ensure that all results are reviewed, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The group called for swift correction of problems uncovered during inspections and of lax implementation of reform. Departments and authorities should track reform implementation and assess overall outcomes, the statement said.

The meeting passed a plan to establish the Qilian Mountains National Park and explore coordinated ways to protect the environment, improve local standards of living and supervise the exploitation of natural resources.

The group stressed that mixed-ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOE) is important to SOE reform, with mixed-ownership to be well-established by the end of this year. Mixed-ownership should protect employees, prevent erosion of state assets and ensure the leading role of the CPC, said the statement.

Emphasizing the roles of Chinese enterprises overseas and outbound investment in maintaining China's overseas interests, the group called for improved regulation of overseas investment.

China will continue innovation-driven development following two successful years of the Fujian, Guangdong and Tianjin pilot free-trade zones.

The group also discussed homogenizing local GDP calculations and experiences in the Fujian national ecological experimental zone.

Liu Yunshan, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the group, attended the meeting.
A Sydney drug lord whos been on the run for a full two years has been nabbed by NSW Police in the Hunter Valley.

Darren Rispen is an alleged kingpin in the Sydney drug trade, with links to meth labs and massive hydro operations. He was added to the NSW Polices most wanted list after skipping bail in 2015. He was due to appear in court on 27 charges, including supply and possession of prohibited drugs and directing a criminal group.

He was nicked while walking down the street in Nelson Bay by detectives from State Crime Commands Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad (which is definitely the name of a disaffected white-boy techno duo from Newtown. Like, 100%).

Acting commander of the squad Steve Patton got to deliver a speech that hed clearly been practising for the entire two years that Rispens been on the run, in which he said police would allege Rispen was top dog in an internationally-connected drug syndicate:

It took us a while to track him down but we never give up, these blokes are wanted on serious charges and eventually theyre going to come unstuck. Hed gone to a fair bit of effort. Hed changed his name, grown a nice long beard and changed his appearance a bit, but eventually were going to catch up with you.

There you go, my crime-inclined mates. As always:

Source: ABC.

Image: NSW Police.
In an astonishing collision of seemingly unrelated things that cements my theory that were living in the weirdest possible reality, a Western Australian woman has been arrested for possession of a drug-use implement.

Not just any old bit of paraphernalia, either  this one is a bong, made out of a baby bottle, with a swastika on it.

Just when you thought you had seen it all.. LPT3 in Banksia Grove. #fb pic.twitter.com/SfzplrSvu0  Wanneroo Police (@WannerooPolice) June 25, 2017

Thats a lot going on.

Wanneroo Police senior sergeant Simon Hazel told 7 News that it was certainly not something we see every day.

With anyone who has substance abuse issues, they do anything to satisfy their addiction. They turning everything into a smoking implement. It doesnt surprise us.

It has surprised some people, however:

They start em young in the grove  Steve Marr (@perthsteve) June 25, 2017

Someone makes a bong and you reckon the value of your house drops? Are you fkn high? #getofftheweed #getofftwitter  Brodie Bruce (@BrodieBruce7) June 26, 2017

Trump made them do it!  putrid human (@putrid_human68) June 26, 2017

The Babys First Bong (Nazi variant) was found in a home in Banksia Grove, when police went to investigate an unrelated matter.

One woman was arrested. No word as of yet on whether any racist babies have also been taken into custody.

Source: 7 News.

Image: Twitter / @WannerooPolice.
Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne has publicly reaffirmed his support for the governments plan to hold a plebiscite on the issue of marriage equality, after comments he made about the measures potentially passing sooner than everyone thinks were leaked to the media.

Appearing on Q&A, Pyne responded to a question regarding the apparent divide between Coalition party members on the issue by saying obviously I support the [plebiscite].

I want there to be a vote of the people so that they are part of that outcome. That was a policy we put to the parliament.

That statement stands in contrast to his Pynes seemingly optimistic comments about the immediate future of marriage equality, considering the plebiscites failure in parliament last year.

In any case, any insinuations to be made from Pynes leaked comments  like the possibility of a simple parliamentary vote on the issue  were quickly quashed by current and former Liberal Party heavy-hitters.





Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who largely backed the plebiscite to win over the hard-right corner of his party after ousting Tony Abbott, said the reason there is not gay marriage lawful in Australia at the moment is because no plebiscite has been held.

Previously, Turnbull said that without a plebiscite, the resolution of the same-sex marriage issue will be postponed potentially for a very long time.

However, former Liberal senator and hard-line conservative Cory Bernardi said the Coalition is now cooking up something to try and get same-sex marriage off the agenda but the price of that will be it will destroy the Liberal party.

Whatever the case may be, Pynes leaked comments have bloody well confused the issue. Watch his explanation below:

Will the leak of Pynes conversation advance the case for same-sex marriage, or hinder it? @cpyne responds #QandA pic.twitter.com/mRBMForPzG  ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 26, 2017

Source and photo: Q&A / Twitter / The Australian.
Keegan Allen is a huge supporter of the LGBTQI community. Hes famed for playing Toby Cavanaugh on Pretty Little Liars (which has a strong LGBTQI following for its openly gay character and transgender storyline) as well as Harlow Cuadra on James Francos King Cobra (a biographical crime drama based on the gay porn industry).

So when PEDESTRIAN.TV told him that same-sex marriage still isnt legal in Australia ahead of his visit for Oz Comic-Con Melbourne this weekend, he was pretty shook.

Oh, I didnt know about that. I had NO IDEA about that, he said.



Well then, me coming over there wouldnt be the best for the conservative side of Australia because I come from a country where same-sex marriage is legal and it works way better. My view on it is, love is for everybody and nobody should be told how and who they love.

Allen called out the news to his 2 million Instagram followers following the interviews and fuck, our backwards / oppressive laws are downright embarrassing.

WaitAustralia doesnt have same sex marriage yet? Its 2017why cant people just love who they want? Gov being petty? Cuz ???? ?? ??????  Keegan Allen (@KeeganAllen) June 23, 2017





PEDESTRIAN.TV assured him that the laws here are not indicative of where the wider Australian population stands on the matter. Allen replied:

I cannot believe that like, geriatric men and women that run government have say in the general population of how you feel on the inside about somebody, and that theyre allowed to dictate who we love and how we choose to love them. Thats unbelievably unfair and I would never stand with anything like that. So, I definitely stand with the progressive side of Australia when I say I very much believe in same-sex marriage and I come from a country that very much supports same sex marriage.

Unfortunately right now were in another very difficult situation with the way that the country is right now with the president  but we look to the future and I stand with the people of Australia who are on the progressive side.

Hey @TurnbullMalcolm , love your country but a lot of Aussies are telling me you arent for same sex marriage. Is that a personal thing?  Keegan Allen (@KeeganAllen) June 23, 2017

While Allen told us that he is straight, there are people close to him that who are elsewhere on the spectrum that is sexuality. In the Franco-produced King Cobra  a story based on the early career of porn star Brent Corrigan  Allen played the role of a gay producer in the adult film industry.

People always ask me what it was like playing a character who was gay when youre not gay  it would be the same as a gay guy playing a straight character. Youre just playing a character, playing a life and telling stories.

There are intimate scenes in the film  including one where he gives Francos character, Joseph Cerekes, a gobby by the pool  which he admits was kinda weird given hes been mates with Franco for almost a decade.

Its a little weird, obviously. When we first got through that thing where it was like, were going to be in this movie together and were going to be lovers in it he was like, Dude, lets just do it. Lets just have fun  who cares.

I felt safe with Justin Kelly who was the director  its like the same thing when Im with Troian [Bellisario] on PLL  I feel safe and secure and she very much is my friend and shes married. I went to her wedding. I know her husband really well and it does feel like the same thing. It does sometimes feel weird because youre friends but at the same time its acting  theres an enjoyment to that because I love acting.

Allen will be at Oz Comic-Con Melbourne on the 1-2 July and tickets are available HERE.



Photo: Getty / Byron Cohen.
Oh, poor blessed boy Louis Tomlinson.

The former One Directioner  well, I guess theyre all former One Directioners now  had a profile come out in The Guardian over the weekend, and its a brutal assessment of both his value in the boy band and his chances of succeeding as a solo artist.

Journalist Tom Lamont describes it as such:

Harry Styles  charming, a grinner  was best placed to succeed on his own. Big-lunged Zayn Malik was already out of the band by that time and had used his head start to good effect, preparing a solo album that went to No 1. Liam Payne and Niall Horan  always second-tier members  were given middling chances. And ranked last in any serious analysis, the most fitfully appreciated member of One Direction, was Louis Tomlinson.



Later, Tomlinson describes himself as forgettable, to a certain degree, despite being at the centre of a very real conspiracy theory that his baby Freddie is fake and hes actually been with Harry this whole time.

But here  this is how he talks about his former bandmates.

The others have always been Like Niall, for example. Hes the most lovely guy in the world. Happy-go-lucky Irish, no sense of arrogance. And hes fearless. There are times Ive thought: Id have a bit of that. Zayn, back in the day. He could relate to me on a nerves level. In the first year we were both the least confident. But Zayn has a fantastic voice and for him it was always about owning that. Liam always had a good stage presence, same as Harry, theyve both got that ownership. Harry comes across very cool. Liams all about getting the crowd going, doing a bit of dancing And then theres you, says Lamont. And then theres me.

The entire interview is a searingly candid piece that shows a young man not quite sure of how he ended up here. He talks about how he was finally coming into his own on stage when the band split up (not his decision), about how his mum dying of cancer in 2016 felt like his luck at landing a spot in 1D was running out, and his guilt at having never worked as hard as some but getting filthy rich anyway.

I know, I know it sounds ungrateful. But I think about a man, on a nine-to-five, working his arse off for six months so he can go to his family and say: Guys, Im taking you to Disneyland. That moment Ill never have that in my family life. And Ive worked hard. But Ive never worked hard, not like that.



Since the profile came out, his fans are falling over themselves to give the man a much-needed virtual hug.

Top 3 things Louis Tomlinson shouldnt think:

1 That hes the least popular bandmate

2 That he *has* to do something

3 That he isnt special  Stats Britain (@StatsBritain) June 25, 2017

Louis Tomlinson deserves more recognition ?? pic.twitter.com/Iu8dJtPo7h   (@opfavestyles) June 25, 2017

#LouisWeLoveYou

Louis Tomlinson love you.

Louis, youre the most incredible person in the world, youre our smiling boy. pic.twitter.com/tLZCjz3Dwh  Andrea Tomlinson (@AndyTomlinson91) June 25, 2017

It makes me so sad that he thinks thatwe all love him so much but its he is so underrated?? cant wait for his album ??  LANDI (@horanseuphoria) June 25, 2017

But tbh, it looks like Tomlinson is mostly focused on his new single Back To You, coming soon.

Got a good feeling about this one ??  Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) June 24, 2017

Read the full profile HERE.





Photo: Stephen Lovekin / Getty.
Lorde, pop musics most sincere genius, has gone ahead and dominated the planet with her newie Melodrama  and shes garnered a stack of #1 album spots to prove it.

In brief messages composing of equal parts appreciation and disbelief, the Kiwi gun broadcast the fact her second LP cracked the top spot on Australian, American, Canadian and New Zealand charts.

you guys, today we have the number one album in america. from the bottom of my heart, thankyou.  Lorde (@lorde) June 26, 2017

also number one in new zealand, australia and canada wtf thank u ??  Lorde (@lorde) June 26, 2017

Those messages come after yesterdays downright beautiful news: she deservedly topped the US Billboard Album Charts and our own ARIA rankings. She toppled Ed Sheerans Divide in both the Aussie and Kiwi markets, and Canadian mainstays Nickelback in their home nation. Go figure.

Melodrama debuted at #5 on the UK album charts, which is surely a grievous error thatll be corrected in time.

And, if you think shes happy about this global domination, just wait until you clock how stoked her parents are:

our girl has the #1 album in the US on the Billboard Charts & we just saw her slay Glastonbury  best day ! pic.twitter.com/dk47W6yLFW  Sonja Yelich (@sonjayelich1) June 23, 2017

If you wish to smile as wide as her rents, feel free to do so during Lordes mammoth run of gigs Down Under.

Source: Lorde / Twitter.

Photo: Shirlaine Forrest / Getty.
FILE - This July 6, 2016, file photo, shows the logo of Takata Corp. at an auto supply shop in Tokyo. Drowning in a sea of lawsuits and recall costs, Japanese air bag maker Takata Corp. is expected to seek bankruptcy protection in Tokyo and the United States early Monday, June 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)
Details added (first version posted on 19:11)

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 25

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kozak.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak highlighted huge global interest in Formula 1, saying Azerbaijan Grand Prix was excellently organized. He said he attended Formula 1 race in Baku for the first time, adding that he was deeply impressed by the ongoing development processes in the capital.

The sides hailed successful development of relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation in political, economic, humanitarian and other areas.

President Ilham Aliyev and Dmitry Kozak also discussed prospects for cooperation between the two countries.
New study looks at northwest Michigan's seasonal economy

Networks Northwest recently published data on the region's seasonal population, workforce and the increasing relevance of short-term rentals.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Some states interfere in Azerbaijans internal affairs and want to sow religious strife in the country, Chairman of the Clerical Office of Caucasus Muslims Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade said.

He made the remarks June 26 in Baku after a prayer at the Taza Pir Mosque on the occasion of the Ramadan holiday.

Azerbaijan is a tolerant state, where all conditions are created for believers and religious discrimination in the country is unacceptable, he noted.

Recently, financial support to religious communities in Azerbaijan has been rendered in accordance with the order of the countrys President Ilham Aliyev, Pashazade said. The financial support was rendered to the Muslims, Christians and Jews. This is the policy of the head of the Azerbaijani state, and this policy is bearing fruit.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 24

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

Turkmenistan is completing construction of an automobile bridge across the Tejen River at the Serakhs-Sarakhs (Turkmenistan-Iran) checkpoint, Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister for Transport and Communications Dadebay Amangeldiev said.

He made the remarks June 24 at a government meeting in Turkmenistan, the countrys government said in a message.

The length of the bridge is 96 meters, and the width is 15.1 meters. The capacity of the facility is about 2,000 cars per day, the message said.

The 105 kilometer-long Tejen-Serakhs motorway, which leads to the new bridge, has been also overhauled, according to the message.

"The commissioning of these facilities will contribute to the growth of regular international flights and increase in the volume of trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Iran," the message said.
Trump to emphasize U.S. Dominance' in energy production with oil and gas exports



President to flag historic shift as U.S. becomes net exporter. Renewables and nuclear power technology also set to gain

WASHINGTON

Petroleumworld 06 26 2017

Donald Trump will tout surging U.S. exports of oil and natural gas during a week of events aimed at highlighting the country's growing energy dominance.

The president also plans to emphasize that after decades of relying on foreign energy supplies, the U.S. is on the brink of becoming a net exporter of oil, gas, coal and other energy resources.

As with previous White House policy-themed weeks, such as a recent one focusing on infrastructure, the framing is designed to draw attention to Trump's domestic priorities and away from more politically treacherous matters such as multiple investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

With Energy Week, Trump is returning to familiar territory -- and to the coal, oil, and gas industries on which he's already lavished attention. Trump's first major policy speech on the campaign trail, delivered in the oil drilling hotbed of North Dakota in 2016, focused on his plans for unleashing domestic energy production. The issue has also been a major focus during Trump's first five months in office, as he set in motion the reversal of an array of Obama-era policies that discourage both the production and consumption of fossil fuels.

Plans for the week were described by senior White House officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the details hadn't yet been formally announced.

Exports Equal Influence

Trump is set to deliver a speech at the Energy Department on Thursday focused almost entirely on energy exports -- describing how the foreign sale of U.S. natural gas, oil and coal helps strengthen the country's influence globally, bolster international alliances, and help stabilize global markets. Energy Secretary Rick Perry may touch on similar themes when he speaks Tuesday with analysts and executives at the U.S. Energy Information Administration conference in Washington.

The fact that we're no longer in the age of energy scarcity -- that we're in the age of energy abundance -- positions the United States in a totally different place, said Dave Banks, a special assistant to the president for international energy. This gives access to affordable, reliable energy in the United States, and gives the U.S. a major competitive advantage.

The focus on exports dovetails with Trump's policy priorities, including improving the balance of trade, rebuilding heavy manufacturing and modernizing infrastructure, said Benjamin Salisbury, a senior energy and natural resources analyst with FBR & Co. The Trump administration seems to appreciate the synergy between extractive industries and manufacturing, Salisbury said, with cheap energy powering factories that are in turn churning out the equipment used to produce and export those resources.

Crude Ban Lifted

With U.S. oil production booming, former President Barack Obama signed a law lifting a decades-old ban on most crude exports in December 2015. Since then, the U.S. has exported more than 157 million barrels of crude to countries other than Canada, which had been exempted from the export ban.

The federal government has also authorized 21 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas to be liquefied and sent to countries that don't have free trade agreements with the U.S. Since starting up last year, Cheniere Energy Inc. 's Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana -- the first major facility sending shale gas overseas -- has shipped more than 100 cargoes of LNG to countries including Mexico, China and Turkey.

Trump is set to talk about opportunities for growth, including in sales of coal to Europe and Asia. A recent increase in the production of metallurgical coal used in steel manufacturing has helped East Coast terminals ship more of the resource overseas.

Wind, Solar, Nuclear

And the president is expected to describe openings for other energy exports, including U.S. technology that harnesses power from the wind and sun, and a new generation of advanced and modular nuclear reactors. Some nuclear power advocates have argued that the U.S. government process of licensing advanced reactor designs is so lengthy that it discourages investment.

The administration could go further to expand opportunities for using U.S. energy abroad by seeking to undo an Obama-era ban on the Export-Import Bank financing coal plants overseas. That could have special political resonance with coal miners who helped propel Trump to victory with wins in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other states that have seen jobs tied to the fossil fuel decline.

The Trump administration has begun reversing a slew of regulations and policies that have limited energy development or made it more expensive, such as by ending a moratorium blocking new coal leases on federal land, and overturning a rule governing coal mining pollution in streams.

The president has ordered agencies to remove regulatory barriers to producing domestic energy resources, kicking off a broad government-wide review. Even as that analysis continues, the Interior Department has begun repeals or revisions of Obama-era mandates governing hydraulic fracturing and discouraging methane leaks from oil wells. A White House office is also vetting a proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration rule forcing states to slash greenhouse gas emissions from electricity production. And the Trump administration is considering more auctions of oil and gas leases in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

Coal Plants

It's about utilizing our abundance of resources at home to create jobs and grow the economy, and at the same time use those to strengthen America's leadership and influence abroad, said Michael Catanzaro, a special assistant to the president on domestic energy.

Ironically, some of Trump's policies could exacerbate the market challenges facing oil, gas and coal, by spurring more domestic production at a time when a supply glut is already suppressing prices.

The U.S. is on track to produce 10 million barrels of oil per day on average next year, according to a forecast from the Energy Information Administration -- a milestone that would shatter a record set in 1970.

Dominance' Sought

Trump's theme of energy dominance marks an evolution. For years, the catch phrase of choice has been energy independence, as politicians and industry officials sought to highlight how a new era of abundance was helping the U.S. wean itself from foreign sources of oil and natural gas.

That was in turn a dramatic change from the 1970s, when former President Jimmy Carter turned down the White House thermostats and used a televised address in February 1977 to urge consumers to conserve energy amid a permanent shortage. After that, federal energy policy became rooted in the view that oil and gas were in short supply.

Trump is reorienting our national rhetoric toward dominance,' said Kevin Book, analyst with ClearView Energy Partners LLC. Captives crave independence; competitors strive to dominate. It's a shift from getting by to getting ahead.






Mexico's short 3.5 million barrels of gasoline with Salina Cruz refinery down



Salina Cruz refinery to remain down until at least July 30. Pemex to seek 10 additional fuel shipments in the coming weeks

MEXICO CITY

Petroleumworld 06 26 2017

Mexico's state-run oil refiner is looking for an extra 3.5 million barrels of gasoline to make up for a plant shut by a fire and flooding.

Petroleos Mexicanos will be seeking an additional 10 shipments of the fuel in the coming weeks to avoid supply shortages in south Mexico, according to a company statement. Tropical Storm Calvin flooded the Salina Cruz refinery in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca a week ago, causing oil to spill and catch fire. The plant's been shut since June 15.

The closing, only the latest in a series of unplanned outages at Pemex's aging refineries in recent years, underscores how vulnerable Mexico is to fuel shortages. The country's refinery production may have dropped to as low as 40 percent of capacity this month due to the Salina Cruz repairs alone. The 330,000-barrel-a-day refinery accounts for more than one-fifth of national output.

Pemex said it expects the refinery to remain out of service until at least July 30 for cleaning, repairs and general maintenance. In May, Mexico's refineries were operating at 56 percent of capacity, data from the country's energy information agency show.

The U.S. could end up supplying much of Mexico's additional demand. America's refineries are running at full blast, topping out at 17.7 million barrels a day last month, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.






A grade of at least 70 on your Aceable Driving Course final will earn you a certificate of completion, sent to your mobile device. Read more

Smartphones have gotten a bad rap, called a major hazard to our collective health, especially when those distracting devices are in the hands of clueless, inexperienced drivers.

But this week, that reputation may be due for rehabilitation as the mobile education platform Aceable officially lands in Pennsylvania, pitching the smartphone as a tool for better driving habits.

Aceable (as in "now you'll ace that test") is the first state-approved drivers education course that students can take on a mobile phone (or tablet)  "while you're on the school bus or in the lunchroom cafeteria, with time to kill," said company CEO Blake Garrett. "We make the material fun, memorable, and convenient. Really, this is the wave of the future for education. Mobile learning is becoming ubiquitous."

Hosted by a cartoon and a wisecracking "robot instructor," with video clips (some in 360-degree virtual reality) and lots of user interaction, the Aceable driving course is designed to be easily ingested and digested in "five screen increments," with a refresher quiz at the end of each section. Ideal for the short-attention-span set.

Yet, when all 19 segments are read, heard, and tested with a final, the program equals the 30-hour, in-class course developed almost 20 years ago by Pennsylvania's transportation and education departments as part of the state's "graduated licensing" program for new drivers.

While it's the first provider in-state with a "mobile" course variant, Aceable is actually one of "10 companies approved to provide online driver education theory in Pennsylvania," said Casey Smith, acting communications director of the Department of Education. These online courses can't be taken alone, he noted. They must be given in tandem with "either local education agencies or a private driver training school." The school verifies your certificate of successful completion and pushes the paperwork through to Harrisburg, Garrett said.

For those who first scored a license when gas was less than $1 a gallon, the graduated license is a fine tuning of the junior driver program that used to turn youthful drivers' cars into pumpkins at the witching hour on weekends (even earlier on weeknights).

Today, a junior (16-18-year-old) driver can't even get behind the wheel without being accompanied by an adult driver for the first six months and 65 hours of trainer-wheels driving "in varied weather conditions and different times of day  up to 11 p.m.," said Mark Moser, director of the Blue Bell Driving School. "No class study is mandatory, that's supplemental. But it comes with perks and is seen as a rite of passage and personal pride for a lot of young people."

With the added 30 hours of classroom or online/mobile education completed, a driver can score an unrestricted license six months sooner  at 17. "So you can drive to concerts and the prom, not stress when events run late, have more passengers in the vehicle, and maybe get a discount on your car insurance," said Moser.

Even more likely to win an insurance discount, he said, is a combo of 30 hours drivers ed plus six hours of behind-the-wheel training with a professional instructor  a bundle that costs $500 to $550 at his Plymouth Meeting school. If you're lucky enough to go to a high school that offers a complimentary drivers-ed course, the Aceable online education alone costs $80.

Blue Bell is the first local driving academy to align with Aceable. Moser called the course "pretty engaging and more interactive than the online courses we've worked with. It's paced well for people to work through in small, convenient segments and will be great for us as a business. We needed an alternative to the classroom if we wanted to stay competitive with our fellow driving schools. This will enable us to offer something newer, more exciting and state of the art."

Launched first in Texas three years ago, and now available in six other states, Aceable's "eLearning" enterprise has been a hard sell in some locations  New York and Massachusetts don't permit any online drivers ed courses  and it faces a shrinking pool of would-be drivers anyplace where there's Uber.

The methodology is not without critics, such as Allen Robinson, chief executive of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, who opines that online drivers ed is better than nothing for distant learners, but face-to-face student-teacher interaction is best.

Garrett responds that with "adaptive learning technology," eLearning can be extra-fine tuned for each participant.

Aceable has won backing of at least $8.7 million in seed and series A funding from venture capital firms such as Silverton Partners and FloodGate to expand nationally. Garrett contemplates his mobile education strategy moving into other certificate career-based studies, ranging from nursing to cosmetology.

Statista.com has forecast that the global mobile education market volume will grow from $12.4 billion in 2016 to $37.8 billion in 2020.
At age 15, I developed an unquenchable thirst and frequent urination, and lost 20 pounds. I had developed Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that destroyed my body's ability to produce insulin. Without insulin, I would have eventually developed a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis, which is lethal without (and even sometimes with) treatment.

Years later, I'm a practicing endocrinologist. I could never have imagined back when I first started taking insulin that one day I would have so many patients who could not afford the medication because of skyrocketing prices. When the drug was discovered in 1921, the original patent was sold to the University of Toronto for $1 so that no one else could patent it and "secure a profitable monopoly."

Numerous improvements later, insulin is produced by a three-company oligopoly. When the first of the newer insulin "analogs," Humalog, hit the market in 1996, it sold for $21 a vial. Today, vials of analog insulins, including Humalog, sell for about $300. Patients with Type 1 diabetes typically require two or three vials of insulin per month, but patients who are more resistant to insulin, such as those with Type 2 diabetes, may require six or more.

A recent paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that insulin nearly tripled in cost from 2002 to 2013. A lawsuit filed in January accuses insulin companies of price collusion for allegedly raising prices repeatedly and in lockstep to match their competitors. Prices have gotten so bad that the American Diabetes Association recently launched an online petition at MakeInsulinAffordable.org, which has been signed by more than 248,000 people.

Because insulin is so expensive, some people take less than their prescribed dose, causing higher blood sugars, which may lead to preventable, very expensive complications such as kidney failure, blindness, amputation, heart attacks or even death.

Unfortunately, the American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by the House last month would let states allow insurance companies to charge people more for preexisting conditions such as diabetes. This may leave more people unable to afford insurance and make it even more difficult for patients with already high premiums and deductibles to afford insulin.

While current law protects patients with preexisting conditions better than the AHCA would, too many people with diabetes are still going without proper medical care. One of my patients, whom I'll call "Joe" to protect his identity, lost his insurance, then developed ketoacidosis because he couldn't afford to pay $600 monthly for two vials of insulin. He didn't die, but he required a costly stay in an intensive-care unit.

Pressure on drugmakers has started to bring small changes. But they're not enough. In response to rising costs, Novo Nordisk will limit future price increases to single-digit hikes per year. Eli Lilly will provide insulin at up to 40 percent off for patients on high-deductible plans. (The downside is that it may not count toward their deductibles.)

Drug companies also offer savings cards that lower patients' co-pays. However, these cards steer patients toward newer, more expensive insulins. And most cards may not help if the insulin the patient takes isn't on their insurance provider's formulary. Plus, such programs may save patients money, but the insurance companies don't save anything, so the costs are likely to be shifted back to patients through higher premiums, deductibles or co-pays.

Endocrinologists like me spend far too much time deciding what patients can afford instead of making sound medical decisions. I deal with these issues nearly every day. Some doctors are uncomfortable discussing costs with patients; many patients are embarrassed to admit they can't afford medication, and some won't acknowledge they aren't taking their full dosages. The physician may then increase the dose, or with Type 2 diabetes may add another drug, when the real issue is that the patient isn't taking the right amount. Since it is so common that patients cannot afford insulin, I've posted the American Diabetes Association petition in each of my practice's exam rooms, and if patients don't bring up cost as an issue, I will frequently point to the petition as an icebreaker. I ask if they have difficulty affording their insulin and medications, and I let them know they aren't alone.

Like some other doctors, I have transitioned many patients with Type 2 diabetes onto older, less costly insulins. I try not to do that for patients with Type 1 diabetes, because these older insulins cause more dangerous low blood sugars. But sometimes I have no choice: It's either cheaper insulin or no insulin.

Our system has additional issues that may heap more straw onto patients' already strained backs  such as insurers' "quantity limits." My patient "Mike" uses 40 units of insulin per day. A box of five insulin pens contains 1,500 units and should last Paul 37 days. Since that is more than a 30-day supply, his insurer charges him a 60-day co-pay. The cutoff depends on the policy: For some, a 31-day supply will trigger a 60-day co-pay. Sometimes this problem manifests itself in reverse: "Mary" needs three vials of insulin to last at least one month. But three vials lasts her 33 days, so when she refills her prescription for a month of insulin, she is dispensed only two vials  a 22-day supply  for which her insurer charges a 30-day co-pay. Sometimes patients are allowed "up to" a 90-day supply, so they are dispensed five vials (which might work out to a 77-day supply) instead of the six vials they were prescribed (a 92-day supply). From the patient's perspective, this "co-pay overcharging" or "under-dispensing" feels like getting one dozen golden eggs for the price of two dozen.

Why do we pay so much more for insulin and other medications in the United States than people do in the rest of the world? Many factors drive prices up. Half a dozen companies may be involved with a drug before it reaches the patient, and each may mark up the cost. Unlike in many countries, there are no government-set limits on what companies can charge. These include manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which serve as the middlemen between insurers and drugmakers. PBMs negotiate which drugs are on an insurance company's formulary; they can receive a "rebate" from pharmaceutical companies when drugs make it to formularies. These "rebates" result in inflated list prices that the insurer never pays. (In other countries with nationalized health care, there's no such middleman.) When people pay a co-pay, they don't pay the list price, either. The only people who do are patients who haven't meet their deductible, are in the Medicare "donut hole" or are uninsured  and these people are the hardest hit.

We also live in one of the only two countries in the world (New Zealand is the other) that allow direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription medications. Pharmaceutical companies spend billions on advertising, and those expenses become juicy tax deductions. Finally, while many countries with single-payer systems negotiate drug prices, our Medicare system by law is barred from doing so.

All that complexity  and all the opportunities for profit  leaves patients to be squeezed by the weight of the system when they go to fill their prescriptions.

And it gets even worse. "Tim" ran out of insulin for the first time in his life last year because his insurance provider allowed him to pick up only one vial at a time, and he didn't realize he'd used it up until it was too late. "Brian," a Medicaid patient, requires six vials of insulin per month, three vials each of short-acting and long-acting varieties. Yet he, too, is not allowed to pick up more than one vial of each at a time. Medicaid won't dispense a 90-day supply, because many patients frequently change insurance, and many Medicaid providers don't want to give away a month or two of free insulin. That's understandable  insurers have a bottom line.

But properly managing diabetes requires a lot of work and can be a tremendous burden. These sorts of limitations and frequent pharmacy trips make it that much harder, and they magnify patients' anxiety about running out of insulin and getting seriously ill. Vials can fall and shatter. Insulin exposed to high or low temperatures becomes ineffective. Mail-order shipments may arrive late.

Anyone who's taking insulin should always have at least two vials on hand for emergency backup. Having only one vial is simply not safe  it creates anxiety, and can mean preventable hospital admissions or even death in some cases. It feels like driving on an eighth of a tank of gasoline in the middle of nowhere.

My experience is limited to Minnesota, and I can find no published peer-reviewed data on these practices. Internet forums discuss them often, though, and I have spoken with academic endocrinologists from both coasts who tell me my experience with patients is common in their states as well.

All of these problems could be fixed. We should require pharmacies and insurers to dispense a minimum 30-day supply and make sure patients have a second vial on hand for emergencies. Let's prorate co-pays for patients who are dispensed more than a 30- or 90-day supply, rather than rounding their co-pays up. Insurance companies could decide to do this themselves, but since they're unlikely to do so, it should be legislated at the state or federal level. We should also eliminate co-pay savings cards and require insurers to charge the lowest co-pay for insulin to encourage good blood sugars and reduce hospitalizations.

If Congress were truly serious about addressing access to lifesaving medication, it would overhaul the whole system and eliminate tax write-offs for drug advertising to consumers (or better yet, eliminate this advertising altogether), force more transparency into the pharmaceutical market and PBM rebate system, investigate those rebates and how and why PBMs and manufacturers raise prices, and allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

Insulin is a necessity. It's time we return to the spirit of that original $1 patent, put people before profits, and rein in these greedy and unjust cost increases.



Tridgell is a board-certified endocrinologist. He practices outside of Minneapolis.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, June 19

By Demir Azizov Trend:

Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company intends to implement a number of joint offshore projects with Azerbaijani and Turkmen colleagues in the Caspian Sea.

Earlier, Uzbekneftegaz signed memorandums of understanding envisaging the joint activity in that sphere.

In particular, the memorandum with the Turkmen Oil State Concern envisages the establishment of mutually beneficial and long-term cooperation in joint exploration and development of deposits in the Turkmen section of the Caspian Sea, a representative of the Uzbek holding told Trend June 19.

Turkmen Oil State Concern and Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company intend to conclude a production sharing agreement (PSA) on hydrocarbons in the future, the representative added.

In his turn, Alisher Sultanov, chairman of the board of Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company, said during the meeting of the International Press Club that the memorandum with Azerbaijans State Oil Company SOCAR envisages admitting of Uzbekneftegaz as a partner on the operating deposit.

"The Azerbaijani side will help us train the personnel," Sultanov said.

The details of the joint work with SOCAR will be determined later, Uzbekneftegaz told Trend.

Uzbekneftegaz has not implemented any projects outside the territory of Uzbekistan during its activity since 1992.

Uzbekneftegaz is the national operator of the oil and gas complex of Uzbekistan, uniting more than 200 oil and gas enterprises.

According to British Petroleum (BP), oil production decreased by 3.1 percent up to 2.6 million tons and natural gas production increased by 8.4 percent up to 62.8 billion cubic meters in Uzbekistan in 2016 compared to 2015.

According to BP, the export of Uzbek gas amounted to 11.4 billion cubic meters, including 5.6 billion cubic meters to Russia, 4.3 billion cubic meters to China, and 1.5 billion cubic meters to Kazakhstan in 2016.
Philadelphia police are investigating four weekend killings, including that of a partially clad woman who was found stabbed and bludgeoned on a park path in North Philadelphia.

The other victims were men who had been shot.

As of Monday morning, no arrests had been made in any of the weekend homicides and investigators were continuing to search for suspects. The motives remained unknown in all four slayings, and no information about potential suspects was available in any of the cases.

The slain woman, identified Monday as 33-year-old Debra Gulliver, was found shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday, on a path to Reyburn Park behind Dobbins Technical High School on the 2100 block of West Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia. Her body was discovered by someone who had just been robbed by two men inside the park, police said.
The Philadelphia Police Department's top homeland security official testified Monday that he felt uncomfortable when District Attorney Seth Williams requested that they meet for a Union League lunch with a businessman whom federal law enforcement agents had warned them both to avoid.

Deputy Commissioner Joseph Sullivan told jurors that he purposely wore his flashiest dress uniform to that March 2013 meeting at the exclusive Center City social club to draw attention to himself and to signal to his lunch guests that he came only in an official capacity.

"It didn't feel right," Sullivan said. "I wanted to make sure that everyone would see me enter and see me leave and understand that this was official business, not some private meeting."

After he left, he said, he went directly to the FBI.

Federal prosecutors called Sullivan as their leadoff witness in the second week of their bribery and corruption case against Williams. They hoped his testimony would bolster their claims made last week that the district attorney's attempts to help Bucks County businessman Mohammad N. Ali went beyond what the defense has described as a constituent service that any elected official would offer.

Testifying over two days, Ali  who made millions selling prepaid cellphone cards and energy drinks  told jurors last week that he had cozied up to Williams and showered him with gifts worth thousands of dollars, including an all-expenses-paid trip to a luxury Dominican Republic resort, to enlist the district attorney's aid with legal woes including the secondary screening to which he was routinely subjected on return trips through Philadelphia International Airport.

Although Ali, Williams, and Sullivan didn't know it at the time, that extra scrutiny was tied to Ali's status as the potential target of an international money laundering investigation.

However, the deputy commissioner said Monday, when Williams first asked him to look into Ali's problem, he thought it was a legitimate law enforcement request. Sullivan testified that he took Williams at his word that he believed Ali to be the victim of racial profiling.

"When a request comes from the district attorney, I feel comfortable that there is validity to it," Sullivan testified. "He is the highest law enforcement official in the city of Philadelphia. If he makes a request, it goes to the top of the list."

Sullivan's efforts on behalf of Ali culminated in February 2012, when Ali let him know that he would be returning to the airport after a trip to the Dominican Republic. Sullivan, then a chief inspector, sent officers who met Ali at the terminal and escorted him through the screening process.

Only afterward, Sullivan testified Monday, was he notified by officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection that there was "an issue" with Ali, although at the time those officials did not go into detail, Sullivan said.

"It could have just meant that he was on a particular watch list for a particular reason, as are hundreds of thousands of people," Sullivan said. "It didn't mean that there was an active investigation."

Still, CBP was clear in its message to avoid the situation  a warning that Sullivan told jurors he passed along to the district attorney.

So, when more than a year after that warning, Williams invited Ali and him to lunch, Sullivan said, he was concerned but attended only on the hope that the district attorney might have called the meeting to impart some new information about Ali's status.

No new information was forthcoming, said Sullivan, and both men made the same plea for his assistance again.

"I was uncomfortable," he said, adding that he later reported the meeting to his counterterrorism counterpart in the Philadelphia office of the FBI.

Again, he received a warning to stay away from Ali, Sullivan testified, and again he passed that on to Williams.

"I was a little angry at him," the deputy commissioner said. "My reputation is intact. My character is intact.  It's important that I not be in the company of people who would call my character into question."

In addition to the bribes he allegedly took from Ali, prosecutors have accused Williams, 50, of misusing government vehicles, misspending campaign cash. and siphoning funds meant for his mother's nursing home care. He also is charged with granting official favors in exchange for gifts from another businessman  Michael Weiss, co-owner of the iconic Center City gay bar Woody's  who is expected to testify later Monday.

Keep up with developments in Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams' case with our day-by-day recaps and our explainer on everything you need to know about the case.
A 42-year-old Maryland man was sentenced Monday in federal court in Camden to 12 months in prison for stealing at least 40 works from an art dealer while acting as his caretaker.

William C. Reed III, of Rock Hall, Md., who pleaded guilty in October to one count of interstate transportation of stolen property, also was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $92,240.

In 2013, Reed began working as a caretaker for the victim, who collected what prosecutors said was "an eclectic collection of fine art by American and European artists."

Between June and November 2014, Reed took artwork from the collector's property in Rock Hall without his permission and sold the art at various locations, including a pawn shop in Salem, N.J., and to a person in Chestertown, Md.

Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI's Art Crime Team, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Harpster in Philadelphia, with the successful investigation.
Debra Gulliver got off the bus at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, then walked through Reyburn Park toward her house. Less than an hour later, she was dead  beaten, stabbed, partially clothed, and left to lie in the park in a pool of her own blood.

That was the account that Philadelphia police gave Monday as investigators continued to search for suspects in Gulliver's death, one of four killings in the city over the weekend.

Capt. James Clark of the Homicide Unit said that whoever killed Gulliver "knocked her to the ground, brutally beat her, [and] stabbed her" more than 12 times. He said that although Gulliver's pants had been pulled down, it was not immediately clear whether she had been sexually assaulted. Police also were not sure whether one person was responsible for the killing or if several people participated, and they were not certain whether it was a targeted or random attack.

A GoFundMe page set up by Gulliver's brother quickly filled up with memories of the 33-year-old as people offered condolences for her family. Friends on social media also wrote tributes, describing her as a dedicated friend with a sweet and loving spirit.

Ronald Cala, who attended high school in Upper Darby with Gulliver, said she was thoughtful and generous, and supported others without seeking anything in return.

"She was one of those people that is always trying to make someone else feel better," he said. "Whenever she knew someone was having a hard time, she would contact them  and make sure they were OK."

Clark said that Gulliver had been on Kensington Avenue near Somerset Street about an hour before the slaying, and that she rode the bus back to her North Philadelphia neighborhood with a friend.

Around 2:30 a.m. at 21st and Lehigh, Gulliver and her friend got off, Clark said. The friend  a man whom Clark did not identify  walked in a different direction than Gulliver, who cut through the park toward her home, according to Clark.

Around 3:10 a.m., police responded to the park and found Gulliver on the ground on a path behind Dobbins Technical High School. She was pronounced dead about 10 minutes later.
From the Inquirer on Sept. 26, 1976, coverage of the trial of Andre Martin. Read more

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court on Monday issued a ruling that will make it far more difficult to sentence any juvenile to life without parole  a striking about-face in a state that is home to the largest population of juvenile lifers in the nation.

In the case of Qu'eed Batts, who has twice been sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole, the court ruled that there is a presumption against life sentences for juveniles  and that in order to sentence a minor to life, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he or she is incapable of rehabilitation.

Batts was 14 and in a gang when he shot and killed another teen in Easton,. He appealed following a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions: Miller v. Alabama, which found automatic life-without-parole sentences unconstitutional, and Montgomery v. Louisiana, which ruled that states like Pennsylvania that had declined to apply the Miller ruling retroactively must do so.

"What we won is really fundamental to giving these kids a fair shot, and also to really enforcing Miller and Montgomery in Pennsylvania," said Marsha Levick, deputy director of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, who argued the case for Batts. "Initially ruling that Miller wasn't retroactive in 2013 was a misstep by the court, to stay the least. Now that we are conforming as a consequence of Montgomery, I think the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has recognized the nature of those decisions and is ensuring those sentences are only imposed in the rarest of circumstances."

In the U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the justices connected the impulsiveness associated with youth to diminished culpability, and said "children who commit even heinous crimes are capable of change."

About two-thirds of the more than 300 juvenile lifers from Philadelphia are still awaiting new sentences. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has said it will seek life sentences in just a handful of those cases.

The rest are being re-sentenced to terms guided by a state law passed in 2012 that set minimums ranging from 20 years to life to 35 to life, depending on the nature of the crime and on the perpetrator's age at the time. The state Supreme Court's decision Monday affirmed that minimum sentences should be guided by the current state law.

One Philadelphia man who could face life without parole once again is Andre Martin, who was 15 when he shot and killed a police officer, John Trettin, in 1976. Louis Natali, who is representing Martin, declined to speak to the ruling's effect on his client's case.

Ronald Eisenberg, deputy of the law division at the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, said the ruling would likely trigger some procedural changes in rare cases like Martin's.

But, he added, "the defense had asked the court to go further and have a whole separate proceeding, like you have to do in capital case with a jury. The court rejected that proposal."

Batts' case was precedent-setting for juvenile lifers across the state; however, many more legal questions are still to come before the court, according to Bradley Bridge, who is leading the representation of more than 200 juvenile lifers for the Defender Association of Philadelphia.

For one, he is challenging the life-imprisonment maximum sentence being imposed on all juvenile lifers on behalf of his client Joe Ligon, who is 80 and was re-sentenced to 35 years to life after 64 years in prison.
The base of the sculpture is now for sale online. Read more

The most famous love handle in Philadelphia is now up for sale online.

The stainless steel base that held Robert Indiana's iconic LOVE sculpture for the last 30 years at John F. Kennedy Plaza has been put up for auction by the City of Philadelphia on Municibid, an online auction website for municipalities. The news came as a surprise Monday to the man who designed the base in the 1980s, Philadelphia Police Sgt. Michael Walton.

"If somebody else can come up with a better design and more people would care for it, so be it," Walton, 61, said. "It's not about the base, it's about the sculpture."

As of Monday afternoon, seven bids had come in for the love nest, with the highest at $330. But with two weeks remaining in the online auction, there's still time to make a love connection.

Margot Berg, public art director for the city, said the old base will be replaced by one estimated to cost around $12,000. The sculpture, which is getting a $50,000 refurbishment, is to return to the plaza  more commonly know as LOVE Park  when it reopens in the fall after renovations.

The base is 4 by 8 feet, is 7 feet tall, and weighs about 1,750 pounds, a strong foundation for love. Prospective buyers must be able to pick up the base and transport it on their own.

"It will take more than a couple of guys and a pickup truck," Berg said.

Placed in the plaza in 1976, the sculpture first sat on a plywood box until philanthropist Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., the city art commissioner who purchased the sculpture for the city, held a design contest for a base that was open only to Department of Public Property staffers, Berg and Walton said.

Walton, then an architect in training with the Department of Public Property, was not interested in entering the competition, but all the staffers in his office were asked to render and submit ideas, so he sketched a trapezoidal design on an 8 by 11 sheet of paper.

"I did it all in a day, submitted it, and forgot about it," he said.

Much to Walton's surprise, Dixon picked his submission, but he didn't win any big prizes for having the chosen design.

"I won the problem of making sure it got done," he said. "I was the project manager."

Walton went on to obtain an architecture degree from Drexel University before he landed his dream job in 1990, when he joined the Philadelphia Police Academy. He now works in the Firearms Training Unit and does architecture work  designing additions and houses  on the side.

For three decades, he has watched tourists pose in front of his design, and he has seen photos of couples who became engaged in front of it. A highlight for Walton was seeing the sculpture and the top of the base he designed on banners for Paul McCartney's Philadelphia concert in 2010.

"I'm the most unfamous famous person," he said, laughing.

Berg, the public art director, said the city is replacing the base because it is worn and because Indiana did not like its trapezoidal shape. The artist preferred that his sculptures were placed on rectangular bases, which the new one will be, she said. Walton said he had never heard the criticism.

What someone might do with the lovelorn pedestal is anybody's guess.

"That park and that sculpture and that pedestal are so well recognized as part of the park, I imagine people will have a lot of creative ideas about how to use it," Berg said.

As for Walton, he doesn't plan on making a bid on the base he designed. He's content with the rendering of it hanging on his bedroom wall.

"I don't need anything else," he said. "It wasn't about me. It wasn't about the base. The sculpture was the number-one thing."

Now that is a labor of love.
LONDON  Britain on Monday confronted a rapidly growing fire safety crisis after tests of the exterior cladding on dozens of public housing towers revealed a 100 percent failure rate, raising fears that this month's deadly inferno in London could be replicated elsewhere.

Out of 75 high-rise buildings tested since last week, communities minister Sajid Javid told Parliament late Monday afternoon, not one passed. That's up from 60 failures out of 60 on Sunday  with hundreds more towers yet to be examined.

Javid said the government will immediately expand testing to include schools, hospitals and private residential buildings  suggesting that the scope of the problem could be far beyond what was suspected even days ago.

The revelations came less than two weeks after London's 24-story Grenfell Tower was transformed overnight from a home for hundreds into a charred ruin  and a death trap for at least 79 people.

At the time, officials described it as a horrific anomaly  an "unprecedented" blaze, in the words of the city's fire commissioner, the likes of which had not been seen in modern Britain.

But after the dozens of failed safety inspections and the hurried evacuation of thousands of public housing residents, Grenfell is looking like something else entirely: a dire warning.

Critics say that far from being an isolated case, the blaze is symptomatic of a loose regulatory system that allowed as many as 600 towers to be encased in a material that helps spread flames, rather than stop them.

And the problems may not end with residential high-rises.

"This is massive. This is only the tip of the iceberg," said Arnold Tarling, a British surveyor and fire safety expert. Cladding is not just on high-rise apartments, "but on schools, leisure centers, hospitals, office blocks, hotels  you name it."

He added: "My view is: Assume it doesn't work."

For the cash-strapped local councils that manage the public housing buildings  and for the tens of thousands of residents who live in them  the dismal test results have brought an agonizing choice: evacuate without a plan for where people should go next, or allow them to stay and risk another Grenfell.

"Everyone is absolutely terrified," said Kathleen Hughes, who cares for her husband, an Alzheimer's patient, on the seventh floor of a north London high-rise that is wrapped in cladding similar to the kind that has been linked to Grenfell. "There are a lot of children on that top floor. We have one staircase."

Her building has not been evacuated, and she said that despite her fears, she hopes it won't be. "I'm 75 for God's sake," she said. "I don't need all of this on top of what I got."

For the British government, rapidly growing evidence of the true scale of the problem has brought a different kind of question, but one that's no less difficult: Why was a type of cladding that was long restricted on high-rises in the United States and continental Europe permitted to be used on towers in the U.K.?

The maker of the cladding tiles  the U.S.-based successor to metals giant Alcoa, which is now known as Arconic  said Monday it was pulling the product worldwide from use on tall buildings.

"We believe this is the right decision because of the inconsistency of building codes across the world and issues that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy," the firm said in a statement.

The type of cladding  known as Reynobond PE  has sheets of aluminum surrounding a flammable plastic core. It's cheaper than a fire-resistant version, also sold by Arconic, that has metal in place of the plastic.

British investigators have said the Grenfell blaze began when a fridge in a fourth-floor apartment caught fire. The blaze rapidly climbed the building's exterior, using the cladding and insulation as fuel. The building was engulfed in flames within minutes, and it burned for days.

The British government said last week that as many as 600 high-rise buildings have cladding, and need to be tested. But so far, only a fraction have been, prompting the government to blame local authorities for the delays.

"I am concerned about the speed at which samples are being submitted," said Javid, the communities minister. "I would urge all landlords to submit their samples immediately."

Javid said private landlords should also send in samples for the government to test, and that hospitals and schools would also be examined. Until Monday, the tests were focused exclusively on public housing.

The revelation that potentially dangerous materials were so widely used has triggered recriminations, especially given that the dangers had been known.

As recently as May, the Association of British Insurers issued the government a warning about the risks posed by flammable cladding, particularly the potential for it "to cause fire to spread upwards uncontrollably."

Investigators have said they are considering manslaughter charges, although they have not said whom they might charge.

John McDonnell, a senior figure in the opposition Labour Party, has said Grenfell's victims "were murdered by political decisions that were taken over recent decades."

Another Labour lawmaker, Karen Buck, called the repeated fire safety test failures evidence that what started at Grenfell is "turning into a national emergency."

"The tragedy of Grenfell Tower exposes the over-stretched state of social housing, especially in London," Buck, who used to represent the area where Grenfell is located, wrote in a piece for the Guardian.

The crunch in local housing budgets and space has not only left communities with potentially hazardous buildings. It has also complicated decision-making over what to do with residents who live in them, and who may need to be housed elsewhere while the dangerous cladding is removed.

The north London council of Camden decided late Friday to evacuate 4,000 residents from four buildings that had failed cladding and other fire safety tests.

"The Grenfell fire changes everything  we need to do everything we can to keep residents safe," said Georgia Gould, Camden's council leader, in announcing the move.

But Camden  which is offering residents the equivalent of up to $250 a night to stay in hotels  has so far been the exception. In the vast majority of cases where buildings have failed their tests, residents are staying in place.

As soon as Charlie Lawrence saw news of the Grenfell fire, he had a feeling that his building was covered in the same plastic tiling. "I had a gut instinct," he said.

His instinct was correct: The cladding on his building in the north London neighborhood of Islington failed the test.

But at least for now, he and his neighbors are staying put while scaffolding goes up to take the cladding down.

For Lawrence, an unemployed 20-year-old with a 19-month-old son, the predicament has inspired dark thoughts about what happened at Grenfell  particularly a baby who was thrown from a window in a last, desperate act by its mother as she was engulfed in smoke.

"You don't want to be thinking those kind of things," he said, "especially if it can be stopped before it even happened."
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26

By Huseyn Valiyev  Trend:

Kaspersky Lab outlined the key areas of cooperation with the Azerbaijani state agencies, Eugene Kaspersky, head of the company, said at a meeting with reporters in Baku.

Kaspersky said that the issue concerns the transport, energy and education projects.

"As far as I know, Azerbaijan is implementing a project on the development and creation of a fully automated oil platform, which means the relevance of the issue of digital security, he added.

We are very glad to cooperate with Azerbaijan, he said. We will continue to cooperate not only through traditional computer and mobile security systems, but also in the sphere of industry and production. The information infrastructure is now becoming more vulnerable as the plotters become more professional and can attack not only computer systems, but also industrial ones."

He added that the prospects of cooperation within the "Smart City" project will be considered as part of cooperation with the public sector of the country.
Nyshawn B. Mutcherson, 22, of Millville, was found in contempt of court after he refused to apoligize for burping. Read more

Nyshawn B. Mutcherson, 22, of Millville, was in the courtroom for a traffic case on June 19 when he burped, the Vineland Daily Journal reported.

When Judge Lauren Van Embden ordered Mutcherson to apologize to the courtroom, he refused, the story reported.

The judge then held Mutcherson in contempt. He was issued a summons and released pending a hearing. On Thursday, the court administrator said Mutcherson was not represented by an attorney, the Journal reported.
Don't blame alcohol for sex assaults on campus, or the clothes young women wear. Walking alone at night is not an invitation to be assaulted. And instead of blaming the victims, colleges should work to discourage would-be perpetrators.

That's how the co-chair of the New Jersey Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault summed up its findings Monday.

"Sexual violence is caused by learned behavior," said Patricia Teffenhart.

In its first-ever report, the task force, appointed by the Legislature and Gov. Christie, issued recommendations in nine areas to address the problem of sexual assault on campuses. One key proposal: Every New Jersey college and university should conduct periodic surveys of students to better assess the prevalence of sexual assault on campus.

Other proposals include intervention and prevention services, and beginning education against sexual violence sooner than college.

"The reality is that no one single piece of legislation can isolate our campuses from the impact and prevalence of sexual violence," Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said in a statement. "This report reflects the breadth of considerations that must be made if we wish to truly keep our campus communities as safe as possible."

According to statistics cited in the report, about one in five female undergraduates are sexually assaulted on college campuses, most often in their first year of school. In nearly 85 percent of sexual violence cases, the victims knew their attackers, the report said.

Statewide statistics for New Jersey's college campuses are not available, Teffenhart said in an interview. Federal law requires colleges and universities to disclose campus crime statistics under the Clery Act, signed into law in 1990 and named after Jeanne Clery, who was assaulted and murdered while attending Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. But sexual assaults are often unreported by victims, especially on college campuses, she said.

"That's a sad reality, that we just don't have good statistics," Teffenhart said.

About 10,000 sexual-assault victims seek counseling annually at New Jersey's rape crisis centers, according to Teffenhart. Only about 1,300 cases were reported to law enforcement in 2015, the latest figures available.

The task force believes that conducting a "campus climate survey" every three or four years would help college officials assess the problem by getting information that may not have been reported from students about assaults, whether they feel safe on campus and whether the administration supports them. It recommends that colleges create action plans to better respond to assault allegations.

In one of its research sessions over the last year, the task force examined the relationship between alcohol abuse and sexual assault and whether alcohol should be banned from college campuses in an effort to prevent sexual assaults.

"Alcohol is often involved in sexual violence cases, but sexual violence is not caused by alcohol," the report states.

The panel said prohibition is not the answer. Colleges should better educate students about alcohol use and make sure that they know that a person who is intoxicated cannot give legal consent to sex, it said.

The 12-member task force was created under legislation signed by Christie in 2015, and had a year to come up with ways to help prevent sexual assaults on college campuses and help schools improve how incidents are reported. It has been meeting monthly since June 2016.

Rowan University has tackled the issue by convening Title IX summits that have attracted college officials and students from across the country to discuss best practices to reduce campus sexual assaults, said Richard Jones, vice president for student life and dean of students. In 2015, the school reported a dozen rape or fondling cases on its Glassboro campus, compared with 10 the previous year. This month, Rowan was ranked 38th among the 100 safest colleges in America by the National Council for Home Safety and Security.

"We have a lot of good things going on," said Jones, adding that "until we can make sure that the college experience is safe for everyone, of course there is work to do."

Teffenhart said the task force had completed its assignment with the 39-page report it submitted to the Legislature for review. But the group has requested reauthorization for two years to monitor implementation of its recommendations and serve as a resource for college officials, she said.

"This is just the beginning. We know that we have a long road ahead," she said.

The task force includes representatives of colleges, law enforcement, the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and a campus sexual assault survivor.

"The task force has provided us with a detailed blueprint to address this epidemic from a legislative standpoint, and I'm eager to get to work with my colleagues to ensure that our college campuses are a safe and welcoming place for students to flourish," said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D., Bergen), who sponsored the legislation creating the Task Force.

The panel recommended the creation of a separate task force to look at sexual violence in middle and high schools. College, the task force said, "is too late to begin such education."

One in nine girls and one in 53 boys under age 18 experience sexual abuse at the hands of an adult, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Eighty-two percent of all victims are female, and females ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.

Among the other recommendations released by the task force during a news conference is that steps must be taken to ensure that students' rights are protected, and that the victims and the accused receive equal protection.

Students should know where they can file a confidential report in the event of a sexual assault, the task force said. They should also be informed about the availability of victim witness advocates, who can assist with the legal process, the report says.
The man whose body was found washed up on a North Wildwood beach was wearing these maroon shorts, police said. Read more

Police are asking the public to help identify a man whose body washed up on a beach at the Jersey Shore.

On Sunday at 9 p.m., a body of a man believed to be in his early 20s was found on the North Wildwood beach between 24th and 25th Avenues, police said.

The man is described as about 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 and weighing between 160 to 180 pounds. He has a medium-dark complexion, possibly Hispanic, with short black hair and a one-inch scar on his left shoulder.

The victim was wearing maroon Polo cotton shorts when he was found. Police released a photo of the shorts in an effort to identify the man,

There were no obvious signs of trauma to the body and police were awaiting the results of an autopsy.

Anyone with information was asked to contact the North Wildwood Police Department at 609-522-2411.
When fire crews arrived, the house was fully involved in flames and the child was trapped inside, police said.

Firefighters pulled the boy, whose name has not been released, from the burning home. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials said the fire started in the homes kitchen.

Police did not release any other information about the fire or the victim.

The child was believed to be 9 years old, Ray Kolb, chairman of the board of supervisors in East Coventry Township and assistant chief of Ridge Fire Company, told the Reading Eagle.

Kolb said the boys father went on the homes roof and tried to reach his son by breaking a bedroom window. The father suffered a severe cut to his arm.
The U.S. Supreme Court has let stand last year's decision by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia allowing people convicted of relatively minor state crimes to apply to legally own guns.

The Pennsylvania case was one of two Second Amendment appeals that the nation's high court rejected on the last day of its current session.

The case involved last September's decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in which the full circuit ruled 8-7 in the combined appeals of Daniel Binderup, of Manheim, Lancaster County, and Julio Suarez of Gettysburg.

The Third Circuit majority ruled that the federal law banning convicted criminals from owning firearms involves "serious crimes" rather than state misdemeanors and other minor crimes that happen to carry statutory sentences of at least two years.



Both Binderup and Suarez were convicted of misdemeanor crimes and neither spent a day in jail. Binderup has not been arrested since his original 1996 case; Suarez has not been arrested since 1998. Both men said they wanted to own and keep a gun in their home to protect themselves and their families.

The Third Circuit ruling set up a legal framework for people to seek permission to legally own a gun at home by proving they were not convicted of a serious crime. A prosecutor then could try to rebut that claim by showing that the person would pose a risk to the public or likely would commit future crimes.

The justices also declined to hear the Justice Department's appeal of a case out of California's Ninth Circuit, Peruta et al. v. California, which involved a challenge to the authority of the San Diego County Sheriff's Office to sharply restrict the ability of people to carry concealed firearms in public.

The Supreme Court's decision in the Third Circuit case did not explain why the majority would not hear the appeal; Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor voted to accept the Justice Department's appeal of the Third Circuit's decision.

The Supreme Court majority also did not explain why it rejected the Ninth Circuit case. Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, wrote an eight-page dissent arguing that the court should have accepted the appeal.

In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment gave individuals the right to keep guns at home for self-defense. Since then, the high court has rebuffed efforts to clarify when state laws may restrict the right to carry concealed or unconcealed guns in public.

Alan M. Gottlieb, president of the Second Amendment Foundation, which backed the Binderup-Suarez appeal, said in a statement Monday that "we were confident that our case would once again prevail before the Supreme Court."

Still, Gottlieb hailed the fact that the Third Circuit's holding remains the law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA, which campaigns against gun violence, said that the Third Circuit's decision probably would not affect a lot of cases.
Cranes unload containers at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal. The dredging of the port will more-than-double its container volume. Read more

Port dredging a team effort

The allocation of $29 million by the Army Corps of Engineers to complete the Delaware River deepening project is a great example of how our political system can work and the importance of effective leadership in our congressional delegation.

This $360 million dredging project, scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, will create a 45-foot deep channel that will enable the Port of Philadelphia to handle 95 percent of the world's container a vessels.

The annual fight for federal funding since 2012 was intense. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Bob Brady (D., Phila.) worked to ensure the federal funding to make the port an economic catalyst for the region. Their efforts enabled Gov. Wolf to allocate an additional $300 million of state resources to expand the port. The project will more-than-double the port's container volume, grow our job base from 10,000 to 17,000 workers, and provide high-quality, family-sustaining jobs while generating millions of dollars in local and state tax revenue.

This was also a great example of bipartisan cooperation. U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan (R., Delaware) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) helped eliminate roadblocks and garnered key support.

On behalf PhilaPort's board of directors, the authority staff, and the men and women who work on the waterfront, I'd like to thanks the leaders who made this project a reality.

 Jerry Sweeney, chairman, PhilaPort, Philadelphia

Cant afford to cut science funds

In the 2018 federal budget, science is given a very short shrift by the Trump administration. I am a retired research scientist who was supported through graduate school by funding from the National Science Foundation, which led to my 30-year career in the chemical industry.

The federal science agencies are facing budgets cuts ranging up to 30 percent. These agencies funded important contributions  knowledge of genetically based diseases and improved antidepressants (National Institutes of Health), American sign language and bar-code scanning (National Science Foundation), and the National Weather Service.

With diminished funding levels, we stand to lose much more than esoteric science at our academic "ivory towers." We will lose valuable education resources; development of practical, everyday science and technology that improves our health and our lives; and a vital engine for American innovation and job creation.

 Andrea B. Kirk, Ivyland, abkirk@comcast.net

Pennsylvanians need Penn Vet

Many Pennsylvanians trust their beloved pets to the care of their veterinarian because they know veterinarians provide compassionate care for companion animals. Few Pennsylvanians are aware, however, of the role veterinarians play in protecting the food supply.

Penn Vet, the only School of Veterinary Medicine in Pennsylvania, has received state funding until the most recent budget proposal. The funding is critical to protecting public health and Pennsylvania's food supply. Consider:

There is no other facility in the state capable of a timely rabies assessment or other diagnostics.

It collects swine virus data, helping farmers and truckers see where disease is present to prevent its spread. The program maintains a map covering 1.29 million hogs in the state, resulting in a 30 percent reduction in infected pigs.

During the last budget impasse, Penn Vet conducted 70,000 tests for avian flu without payment, while the disease was causing billions of dollars in losses in the Midwest.

Its egg-quality assurance program results in 99.99 percent of Pennsylvania eggs making it to market without salmonella.

Let's ensure that the state has a safe food supply by restoring funding for Penn Vet.

 Joan C. Hendricks, dean, Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, vetdean@vet.upenn.edu

Making Philly water affordable

Rising water rates can have a significant impact on low-income families in Philadelphia, so the Revenue and Water Departments are expanding our customer assistance programs.

The Tiered Assistance Program (TAP), which will start July 1, could help 60,000 low-income customers (13 percent of the residential account base) to maintain their water services and reduce their monthly bill  a significant increase over the 10,000 customers who are enrolled in the current assistance program.

For customers at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level, monthly bills will be based on 2 to 4 percent of their household income. Customers in the lowest income bracket could have a minimum bill of $12 per month.

Under TAP:

Customers will pay a consistent monthly bill, making it easier to budget and plan.

Old debt will be suspended.

Customers with high water consumption will be helped to lower their consumption through conservation measures.

Customers who pay their monthly bill for two years will have past penalties forgiven.

Anyone struggling with his or her water bill may apply.

For information, call 215-685-6300 or visit www.phila.gov/water-bill-help.

 Debra A. McCarty, water commissioner, and Frank Breslin, revenue commissioner, Philadelphia

Offer third-party notification

While I am pleased that the Philadelphia Water Department is implementing an innovative plan to help families keep the water running, I encourage the department to expand its options to include third-party notification.

Third-party notification would alert the department of the name and telephone number of a relative or friend who has agreed to assist the family in paying the water bill. PGW and PECO already offer such a support system. It might reduce the need for subsequent rate increases.

Given the number of low-income households, many with children and/or senior citizens,

third-party notification should be a key component of the department's delinquency-reduction strategy.

 Sharon A. Bembery, Philadelphia, sbembery@icloud.com

Democrats hurting themselves

Where are the thinkers in the Democratic Party? By backing Jon Ossoff, who doesn't live in the congressional district he was seeking to represent ("Republican wins Ga. special election," Wednesday), the Democratic Party was designing the strategy for the opposition.

Until Democrats find people who can deflect criticism of their candidates rather than designing it, maybe President Trump is correct when he says he can't be beat.

 Gerald Skobinsky, Elkins Park, jsdoc1943@gmail.com
Gov. Christie delivers his budget address in February at the New Jersey State House in Trenton, N.J. Read more

TRENTON  New Jersey lawmakers plan this week to take up a budget for the fiscal year that begins Saturday, but looming over the $36 billion spending proposal is a heated debate over the state's largest health insurance company.

Gov. Christie last week renewed his push for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey to set aside some of its surplus for drug treatment of the poor and uninsured. On Sunday, lawmakers announced legislation that would establish a process for Horizon to dedicate its "excess" surplus to benefit policyholders and the public. It would take effect in February, after Christie leaves office.

The bill "would impose sweeping new mandates upon Horizon alone that would fundamentally alter the way the company operates and would significantly disrupt the health-insurance coverage of 3.8 million residents as well as the health-care delivery systems across the state," Michele S. Jaker, the company's director of government affairs, told the Senate Budget Committee on Monday.

This disruption "would only serve to compound the already chaotic legislative and regulatory environment enveloping the health-care industry due to 'repeal and replace' activities going on in Washington, D.C., today," she said.

Rates would go up for policyholders in 2018, Jaker said, because the company would have to account for its new status as a charitable organization and the state's insurer of last resort. And the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said the bill could threaten Horizon's Blue Cross license, hurting policyholders, as they would lose access to its national network of doctors.

The Senate Budget Committee voted, 11-1, with one abstention, in favor of the legislation Monday night, even as a separate panel voted to approve the nominations of two new members to Horizon's board, including Michele Brown, a longtime Christie ally. The nominations head to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

The legislation does not include Christie's proposal to add new political appointees to the nonprofit insurer's board, but it does call for three members to be elected by policyholders, instead of by Horizon's 15-member board. It would also require the state to make public Horizon's annual financial statements.

Some Democrats want to appease Christie, a Republican, so that he signs off on their legislative priorities, most notably a school-funding deal that would give $146 million to underfunded school districts, in part by redistributing aid from other districts that receive more aid than New Jersey's funding formula says they should. In addition to Horizon, Christie's other chief priority is transferring the state lottery to the pension system  a proposal that has more support in the Legislature.

Christie leaves office in January. With a gubernatorial election and all 120 seats in the Legislature up for election in November, the governor will be a lame duck after the budget is signed. That makes this week perhaps the last consequential days of his governorship; the constitution requires the state pass a balanced budget by the end of the fiscal year.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) has said he would not pass a budget that does not include a school-funding revamp, raising the prospect of a government shutdown if Christie and the Democratic-controlled Legislature can't reach an accord. Speaker Vincent Prieto (D., Hudson) has said he opposes Christie's Horizon proposal.

Christie could also use his line-item veto authority to cut anything in the budget, including Democrats' pet projects. So the emerging question Monday was whether Democratic lawmakers were prepared to stomach potentially draconian cuts to their favorite programs, or instead give Christie a political win on the Horizon proposal.

The showdown has been coming for some time, as Christie, dogged by a dismal 15 percent approval rating, seeks to cement his legacy on fighting drug addiction.

In his February budget address, Christie called on Horizon to create a permanent public fund for the poor and uninsured so they could gain access to drug treatment services.

Since then, the governor, in keeping with his newfound populism, has painted Horizon as a corporate bogeyman that preys on the poor and doesn't recognize its civic duty.

"We should not permit a nonprofit insurer to profit from ignoring the poor and those who give them the life-enhancing and life-sustaining health care that they need at taxpayer expense," Christie said at a hastily arranged news conference last week. He noted that the state had fined Horizon twice in the past two years, including a $15.5 million sanction served last Monday.

Christie said his proposal would "ensure greater transparency and greater independent governance, so that [Horizon's] well-paid lobbyists and their high-paid executives will not go unchecked by a board that is under the thumb of the chairman and CEO."

Horizon has responded to Christie's attacks by unleashing a brigade of lobbyists on the Statehouse and coordinating a public-relations campaign to discredit his proposal.

As of 2016, It employed 10 lobbyists in Trenton and paid five other firms for lobbying activities, according to records filed with the Election Law Enforcement Commission.

On Monday, a group called Hands Off Healthcare NJ  which is funded in part by Horizon  convened a conference call with reporters and opponents of the legislation.

Business groups that typically side with the governor said the legislation could have unintended consequences and noted there was already uncertainty in health insurance markets given the GOP attempt in Washington to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Michele Siekerka, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, told reporters that her group opposes any attempt "to take funds from Horizon," which are "paid by the policyholders of Horizon and should be preserved as part of the appropriate surplus."

Steve Forbes, the publisher and a former Republican presidential candidate, said the Horizon raid was "the kind of thing you expect in a Third World dictatorship, not in a democracy."

Horizon says it had $2.4 billion in capital reserves at the end of 2016 and that raiding those reserves would force premium hikes.

State Sen. Joe Vitale (D., Middlesex), who wrote the bill, said he had conferred with Christie's chief of staff and chief counsel, and that they agreed with most of the changes he had proposed.

"My experience with large multimillion-dollar corporations in the Legislature is that they don't like being told what to do or how to do it," Vitale said. "I understand that. But we have a role to protect consumers, give them information, make sure that Horizon and every other health plan spends their money appropriately."

Asked about the bill on 101.5 FM's Ask the Governor Monday night, Christie declined to comment, citing ongoing negotiations.

Christie's main obstacle is persuading Prieto, who is facing a challenge for his speakership.

Prieto received a boost Sunday when Phil Murphy, the Democratic nominee for governor, said more time was needed "to give this policy a proper vetting."

Analilia Mejia, director of New Jersey Working Families Alliance, framed the issue in political terms. "I want to ask this question to legislators: Why capitulate to Gov. Chris Christie at the eleventh hour?" she said at a news conference outside the Statehouse Annex Monday morning.

"Why give in to this governor, the least popular governor in the nation, why capitulate to this man now  on Horizon, on school funding, on issue after issue? Why give in?"
New Jersey Dealers Auto Mall in Bridgeton has been pushing for policy changes in Trenton. Read more

TRENTON  Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Monday that he did not plan to hold a vote on a bill that would benefit a South Jersey business that state investigators say is a "sham" with ties to the mob.

"I don't see me moving it any time soon," Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said in a brief interview.

Lobbyists hired by Cumberland County-based New Jersey Dealers Auto Mall (NJDAM) have been pushing for legislation that the state's top motor vehicle regulator says would gut his ability to regulate used-car dealers.

In a December 2015 report, the independent State Commission of Investigation described New Jersey's used-car business as a haven for fraud. It said NJDAM served as "the foundation for an amalgam of consumer and bank fraud, unpaid taxes, suspicious financial transactions, and other questionable, unscrupulous, and possibly illegal activities."

Investigators said the business' owner, Louis Civello Jr., had familial and financial ties to organized crime. Civello has described the report as "fiction."

The Assembly passed the bill in March on a 71-0 vote, and the Senate Commerce Committee approved it in May. Lobbying disclosure forms listed NJDAM as the only client advocating for the legislation.

The bill would eliminate a requirement that new- and used-car dealers maintain business hours, require regulators to provide five business days' advance notice of scheduled audits, and give car dealers three business days to provide proof of compliance in the event of an unannounced audit.

Raymond Martinez, chief administrator of the Motor Vehicle Commission, said in a recent interview that these and other provisions would make it easier for unscrupulous dealers to operate from unlicensed locations, which is against the law, and make it harder for consumers and regulators to seek recourse.

Sweeney's comments came after the Inquirer published an article this month detailing NJDAM's lobbying of lawmakers on the legislation.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has arrived in Berlin on the first leg of his European tour.

Javad Zarif is scheduled to confer with high-ranking German and Italian officials on the ways to expand bilateral ties during the official visits to Germany and Italy, Mehr news agency reported.

The foreign minister is also slated to address the meeting of European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, the report added.

According to the report, he is also expected to meet with entrepreneurs and economic officials during the two day-visit to Germany.
Then Republican presidential candidate Trump speaks during a campaign stopat Alumisource, a metals recycling facility in Monessen, Pa. Read more

A year ago this week, Lou Mavrakis beamed as Donald Trump campaigned in economically ravaged Monessen, promising to bring back steel jobs and punish China for unfair trade practices.

Mavrakis, the mayor of Monessen and a former steelworkers' union official, invited Trump, who then became the first presidential candidate to visit this once-flourishing Western Pennsylvania town since 1960, when John F. Kennedy dropped in. By showing up in Monessen, Trump attracted national media attention as a symbol of Republican hopes to appeal to struggling, working-class, white Democrats.

Trump carried surrounding Westmoreland County, once a Democratic stronghold, by almost a 2-to-1 margin and came close in Monessen, which in local races often doesn't even have a Republican on the ballot. Mavrakis, a Democrat, didn't endorse him, but also left no doubt that he thought the Republican insurgent was sympathetic to a community that has lost thousands of jobs and is beset by drug addiction, a poor school system, and a dwindling tax base.

A year later, the picture looks different. The mayor was upset in a primary last month by Matt Shorraw, a 26-year-old assistant director of the local high school band.

"Trump definitely was a factor," says Bill Manus, a retired commercial painter and Shorraw booster.

The colorful Mavrakis, whose every sentence includes a profanity or three, acknowledges the Trump drag, though he thinks it unfair. He rejected a supposed overture of support from the Trump camp before the primary and showed a reporter a November voting list showing that he didn't vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton, instead writing in his own name as "the best qualified guy."

He seems to have given up hope that Trump is different from the rest of the national political establishment. "They don't give a damn about communities that built America," he complained. "The 10 percent of elites that run the country don't care about people like us."

Trump would still carry Westmoreland County if an election were held tomorrow. But the enthusiasm has waned. You could see it in the difference between the mood last week at a lunch gathering at Felicia's restaurant in Monessen and a similar session there last year. The group remained evenly divided, but the pro-Trump crowd was more defensive.

"You got to give the guy a chance," said Kevin Iacovangelo, a computer-repair specialist, agreeing with Mavrakis that "nobody gets anything done in 150 days."

John Golomb, a retired steelworker, was on the fence.

"I was proud to vote for Trump, but have more mixed feelings now," Golomb said. "He came to Monessen and said he was going to bring back steel jobs, but he's doing nothing." Others noted that the president reneged on his promise here that he would declare China a currency manipulator.

The intensity is with the critics. "He's got a Republican Senate and a Republican House and he still can't accomplish anything," said Elmer Gagatko, a retired teacher.

Al Gaudio, an attorney, added, "Countries no longer want to be in a foxhole with the United States."

With a few exceptions, the Justice Department investigation of possible links between the Trump camp and Russia doesn't bother these voters much.

They're mostly content to let the special counsel do his job and want Trump to focus on the economy.

On that topic, the potentially devastating local effect of Trump's budget proposals and Republican health-care initiatives isn't resonating yet with the voters who gathered at Felicia's.

The administration's budget would eliminate programs like community-development and community-services block grants aimed at economically stressed communities. It would slash a housing assistance program that's enabled Monessen's Eisenberg Building, a shuttered department store, to be rehabilitated for low-income home rentals.

Republicans are proposing massive cuts in Medicaid. In Westmoreland County, there are more than 68,000 enrollees in that health-insurance program for the poor, one-fourth of whom gained coverage after President Obama's Affordable Care Act expanded it. Republicans want to phase the expansion out.

Sharp cuts would also be in the offing for drug-abuse prevention programs. Last year, Monessen got $125,000 from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Sheriff John Mandarino, who has a picture of himself with Trump hanging in his office, said there were 11 deaths last year from opioid overdoses in this town of 7,700. He asked, "We spend so much money incarcerating drug addicts, why don't we spend more money rehabilitating them?"

Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat whose father had a special relationship with Monessen when he was governor in the 1980s and 1990s, said most voters "don't have an awareness yet" of what the Trump cuts would mean. If they materialize, he predicted, "They will realize these cuts are obscene for places like Monessen."

Shorraw, the probable mayor-to-be (there is no Republican on the Nov. 7 ballot) says federal programs are critical to any revitalization of Monessen. Mavrakis, still stung by his defeat and planning to campaign for write-in votes, disagrees  he says government programs haven't done much for the town.

That's a debate he wants to have. Here's one he wishes to avoid: the one-time poster boy for Donald J. Trump has no intention of mentioning the president.

Albert R. Hunt is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.
Randall Duchesneau was a Cornell University junior with a promising future when in 2006 he slipped from a gymnastic device at the university and broke his neck, leaving him quadraplegic Read more

For Randall Duchesneau, most days start around 5 a.m., when he wakes in his hospital bed, switches on his computer, and scans his emails and the news.

But where most people glide through morning rituals as if on remote control, Duchesneau's routine is a physical and emotional minefield.

Duchesneau is quadriplegic and able to do very little by himself. Just after he wakes, his mother, Kum, pops into his room on the first floor of their tidy, clapboard-sided house in Blue Bell. There she first massages his legs and feet to ward off spasms, and the tendency of his legs and toes to curl if they go too long without stimulation.

Then, she laboriously turns her 31-year-old son from side to side, slipping on first one pants leg and then another. She empties his catheter bag, helps feed him, brushes his hair and teeth, and then slings him over her shoulder, counts to three, and grunts as she hoists his upper body from the bed along a plywood board and onto his wheelchair.

She does the same thing with his legs. All in all, it takes Duchesneau two hours to get out of bed.

For this, Duchesneau mainly blames Cornell University. Duchesneau was a student there on Oct. 12, 2006, when, while practicing back flips, he fell and broke his neck. After months in the hospital, he sued Cornell, alleging that it had failed to provide spotters and safety equipment that might have prevented the accident.

Midway through the trial, Cornell made its only settlement offer, $9 million, but Duchesneau's lawyer, Kenneth Rothweiler, said that was insufficient. Lifetime care costs, he estimated, would reach as high as $50 million. A few days later, he threatened to raise Duchesneau's demand for at least $16 million by $5 million a day until Cornell settled.

It didn't work.

After a four-week trial in federal District Court in Philadelphia, a jury found for Cornell, deciding that it had done nothing wrong. Duchesneau had expected vindication on the last day of the trial. Instead he left the courtroom in shock.

Now, Duchesneau is suing Rothweiler and his Center City firm, Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck, alleging that Rothweiler rejected Cornell's offer without his consent, that he and his firm exaggerated the amount Duchesneau might recover, and that Rothweiler failed to share the results of a mock trial exposing risks in the case.

Huge verdicts in favor of injured plaintiffs typically win notoriety and attention, and plaintiffs' firms tout them to attract new clients. Duchesneau's lawsuit shows what can happen when a personal injury case is tried to a verdict and the plaintiff leaves with nothing.

Although Duchesneau collected on a $3 million Cornell insurance policy, that has not come close to covering his medical and nursing care needs, says his new lawyer, Clifford Cohn, who has built a legal practice suing other lawyers for malpractice.

The upshot is that Duchesneau's mother, a Korean immigrant, has become his primary caregiver, waking three to four times a night to turn her son in bed to prevent potentially lethal bedsores. She feeds him, clothes him, and takes him to physician appointments. Quadriplegics are constantly vulnerable to life-threatening health problems and bodily malfunctions, such as a spike in blood pressure or spontaneous choking, so someone must always be nearby.

When Kum must go out on an errand on her own, relatives come to watch Duchesneau, or, as a last resort, she takes him to nearby Plymouth Meeting Mall, where he window shops and waits in his wheelchair until she returns.

What grates on Duchesneau is that costs for experts and other aspects of his case reached at least $680,000. That amount was charged to a separate settlement that Rothweiler made with Tumbl Trak, the maker of a trampoline-like platform that Duchesneau was on when he fell, according to Cohn.

"I feel cheated, I feel like in the television shows [about the law], things work out and justice is done, but I don't feel like that really has happened in my case," said Duchesneau, who was 21 when the accident occurred. "I kind of got screwed over in so many ways. I just feel that there was a better way to go about this, and the fact that so many people made money off this case, instead of the system working to benefit me, it is benefiting all these other people."

Rothweiler, a prominent plaintiffs' lawyer in Philadelphia and a legal analyst on Fox 29, disputes Duchesneau's account, saying that he kept his client fully informed and that it was Duchesneau's decision to reject Cornell's offer. Like most other personal injury lawyers, Rothweiler collects no fees unless he wins.

"There were multiple conversations with him," Rothweiler said. "He gave me the authority to settle the case for $16 million or more."

At its core, the dispute centers on what Rothweiler and his partner, Dan Jeck, told Duchesneau about Cornell's settlement offer and, failing a settlement, what they said about prospects for winning a favorable jury verdict.

The trial began Oct. 1, 2012. On Oct. 12, lawyers for Cornell emailed Rothweiler with an offer of $4 million in cash and an annuity with a lifetime payout of about $11 million. Rothweiler's team valued the offer at just under $9 million, representing its so-called present value, or the amount that Duchesneau would need to invest and generate a total payout of $20 million or more over his lifetime.

What happened next is hotly disputed. Rothweiler says he had earlier received instructions from Duchesneau that he would accept nothing less than $16 million, and that Duchesneau was informed of the offer.

The day after Cornell made its offer, Rothweiler responded in an email: "Gentlemen, my client has instructed me to obtain a jury verdict."

Cohn says that this claim is false and that Rothweiler had not told Duchesneau that he would reject the offer. He points to an email that Rothweiler sent later in the day, asking Jeck whether Duchesneau was aware of the offer.

"Did you tell Randy about the offer?" Rothweiler's email asks. "What was his reaction?"

Jeck responded: "He is fine with moving forward."

Cohn disputes that interpretation and insists that his client never signed off on anything.

Duchesneau's lawsuit also accuses Rothweiler of failing to heed red flags that emerged during mock jury trials for the plaintiffs' team. Those trials, involving 44 people role-playing as jurors, showed that while the majority believed Duchesneau was owed compensation from Cornell, a substantial minority concluded that Duchesneau was at fault. Several cited Duchesneau's experience as a gymnast and a break dancer who also was a member of his high school cheerleading squad and should have known the risks.

A key finding was that while most jurors would have decided in favor of Duchesneau, some would have been persuaded to find for Cornell if it emerged during the trial that Duchesneau had signed a waiver in advance of his workout agreeing not to sue Cornell.

In fact, Duchesneau had signed a waiver, and although his lawyers persuaded U.S. District Judge Darnell C. Jones to preclude its introduction, Cornell's defense lawyer suggested during the trial that Duchesneau might have signed such a release.

The remark drew an angry protest from Rothweiler, who accused Cornell's lawyer of trying to influence the jury improperly. Jones also protested and gave Rothweiler the option of moving for a mistrial immediately, or waiting until the case was over.

The decision seemed to give Rothweiler and his client two bites at the apple: Try the case to its conclusion, and if that did not work, ask for a do-over. After the jury ruled against Duchesneau, Rothweiler did just that. But in a second blow to the plaintiffs' team, Jones ruled against the motion, finding that since the jury had concluded emphatically that Cornell had done nothing wrong, it did not matter if Duchesneau had waived the right to sue.

After the trial, the Legal Intelligencer paraphrased Rothweiler in an article as saying he knew he would lose if the jury believed his client had signed a waiver, based on the mock-jury findings. Rothweiler says he was misquoted, but Cohn has made the article a primary exhibit in the lawsuit, arguing that Rothweiler should have asked for a mistrial the moment the waiver issue arose.

Absent a settlement, Duchesneau's lawsuit is likely to be tried next year and ideally, its outcome will be decided by the facts in the case and by the law. But for Duchesneau, the case is about more than legal procedure, it's about his life.

After the accident, Duchesneau, once a violinist who as a young man toured the world with the Long Island Youth Orchestra, returned to Cornell and finished his senior year. He then went on to Yale University, where he earned a master's degree in public health policy and management. His mother had moved into a dormitory room next door so she could help care for her son.

Absent adequate financial support, he has no choice but to rely on his mother for care indefinitely. Any hope of living independently would be unimaginable, and his goal of launching a career, perhaps in health policy, remains a distant dream.

"I always had this hope and belief that things would work out for me in the end, and when the first case didn't work out, that was very devastating," he said. "I was very, very depressed, but this is the one life that I have, so I do have to make the best of it.

"There are two ways of looking at this," he said. "What does it take to keep me alive, and what does it take to make me a productive member of society?"
We will soon celebrate the 241st birthday of the greatest country in the world, a country where we have the freedom to live out our beliefs, express ourselves openly, choose our representatives at every level of government, and pursue our dreams for ourselves and our families. We owe these freedoms to the men and women who have defended them and have fought for America and the values we hold dear. Many of them have returned home with serious injuries  seen and unseen  and sadly, some have made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us.

Unfortunately, when veterans return home, many are faced with a system that is not providing them with the quality health care and other benefits they have earned. My congressional district is home to more than 50,000 veterans and I've heard these hardships first hand  stories from veterans not receiving adequate care, of long wait times, and of even longer delays on disability claims. The Department of Veterans Affairs has many fine people trying to serve our veterans, but there are bad apples who remain, systems set up for failure, and too little accountability.

One of the most important questions for our federal government is what we can do about these problems. I would like to suggest two important steps.

Some veterans have suffered service-related disabilities and have earned participation in the Individual Unemployability Program. This vital benefit makes up for the income veterans have lost by not being able to work due to their disability. Importantly, the benefit continues after retirement age, because by not being able to make full contributions to Social Security during their working years, these veterans also suffer a loss of income in their retirement years. Disabled veterans literally rely on this benefit to make ends meet every month and I am urging Congress to maintain full funding of this earned protection.

Unfortunately, the recent budget released by the administration cuts this benefit for veterans at retirement age, claiming it's a duplication of benefits. This reasoning is flawed and shortsighted. It is certainly true that our nation needs more fiscal discipline, but it is wrong to balance budgets on the backs of injured veterans. Reducing or eliminating this program for veterans of Social Security age would negatively affect more than 225,000 veterans. I have already written an appeal to leaders in Congress and will continue to fight for the full restoration of this critical and earned benefit.

A second issue relates to the VA's service to veterans. The VA has been plagued with failures, including outrageous wait times, lost medical records, inadequate care, and avoidable deaths. Many Americans would be shocked to learn that the VA has become so bureaucratic that the VA secretary does not even have the authority to fire a bad employee, even under the most egregious circumstances. Examples of this include the inability to dismiss an employee who engaged in an armed robbery; discipline a nurse who participated in a veteran's surgery while intoxicated; and fire a pharmacist who overprescribed narcotics that led to a veteran's death. This is a travesty and cannot continue.

In response, Congress recently passed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017. This is real reform that was signed into law Friday by President Trump. This legislation gives VA Secretary David Shulkin the ability to fire a bad employee by creating a new streamlined and efficient process to remove, demote, or suspend any VA employee for poor performance or misconduct. It also provides expanded protections for whistleblowers and would specifically bar the VA from using this removal authority if the employee has an open whistleblower complaint or case with the Office of Special Counsel. There are many terrific employees at the VA who are dedicated and truly serve veterans, but the bad ones need to be held accountable and removed.

Oftentimes when I'm speaking with veterans in my district, I'm reminded of a quote from early in our nation's history  many ascribe it to George Washington. The author said, "the willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."

This quote is as true today as it was in 1776. Doing right by our veterans is paying a debt of gratitude. It is equally a down payment on the next generation of war fighters, who are watching to see that our nation keeps its commitments. We can and we must provide better care for our veterans. This starts by ensuring veterans receive protections they have earned and by bringing real accountability to the VA.

U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur (R.) represents New Jersey's Third Congressional District.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for unity among Muslim nations describing the issue of Palestine as the first priority of the Islamic community.

Addressing a group of government officials and ambassadors of the Muslim countries to Tehran on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr on Monday, the supreme leader termed discord and disagreements as the main issue of the Islamic world, the leaders official website reported.

He accused the enemies of Muslims of fanning the flames of disagreement saying unity and preventing any discord would work in the favor of all Islamic countries.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
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Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, two sons of the Jim Crow era, are ignoring a real and rapidly expanding issue in America. Police brutality and unnecessary deadly force have taken the lives of far too many African Americans without justice. Women, children, elderly and unarmed, all have been victims of a rogue segment of police officers, whove proven to be at best unfit for duty and at worst callous murderers with a badge.

Like a horrific recurring nightmare, the same case is played out on a national stage. An African American citizen is involved in a confrontation with police that could be handled mercifully but somehow ends up dead. The advent of video in these cases has been of no use.

Incredibly time after time America is told that what appears to be an execution is explained away as proper procedure. Officers across the country invariably have learned to utter five simple words -I feared for my life- and theyre handed a get out of jail card. We as witnesses to improper behavior and military tactics are informed that we shouldnt believe our own eyes.

The Trump regime has pledged millions of dollars to curb violence against law enforcement, prison construction, and mass incarceration. Meanwhile, they sit idly by, without comment, as people of color are slaughtered in their own streets. We are left to wonder if Trump, whose Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, a White Nationalist, and Sessions the former senator from deep south Alabama are carrying out a purposeful bigoted agenda.

There is no right way for people of color to respond when engaged by police. We have learned we can be killed while driving away, reaching for identification, walking away, standing still with our hands up, face down on the ground and a host of other nonthreatening ways. What were seeing is a culture of cowardice.

Being a police officer takes a special set of skills. Bravery, intelligence, patience and a keen ability to rapidly assess situations and communicate. Departments need officers who are quick thinkers, not quick to pull the trigger. Its not a profession to join for a paycheck.

There has to be more stringent federal guidelines for hiring and training of officers. Rigorous psychological screening must be instituted to ensure mental and emotional fitness for duty. Departments need to invoke Open Door policies. Officers must be encouraged, not vilified, for voicing concerns about colleagues that may be unfit for police work. The blue wall of silence must be eradicated for the thousands and thousands of outstanding officers not to be painted with the same broad brush of malevolence. Finally, when an officer clearly has gone afoul of the rules of engagement, they must be punished swiftly and harshly. These rogue officers create an atmosphere of distrust and tension within the communities that they serve.

All Americans have a right to feel that law enforcement is there to protect, not maim and murder. Citizens of all races must put pressure on our elected officials to advocate for our civil rights and put an end to the overly aggressive, cold-hearted extermination of people of color at the hands of law enforcement.
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By David Schwartz

PHOENIX (Reuters)  A former Arizona lawman known for his hard-line stance against illegal immigrants is to appear before a judge on Monday on a criminal contempt charge for violating a court order related to a 2007 racial-profiling case.

Ex-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, ousted from office in an election last November, will stand trial in U.S. District Court for defying a 2011 injunction that barred his deputies from stopping and detaining motorists solely on the suspicion of being in the country illegally.

The controversial traffic stops continued for about 18 months despite the judges order.

The 85-year-old Republican lawman, who styled himself as Americas toughest sheriff during his 24 years in office and became a nationally known figure, faces up to six months in jail if convicted.

Arpaio previously criticized then-President Barack Obamas Justice Department for what he said was playing politics and charging him so close to the election, vowing he would be cleared of any wrongdoing.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton will decide his fate after she rejected a request by Arpaios lawyers for a jury trial. The proceedings are expected to take at least two weeks.

Arpaio already has been cited by another judge for civil contempt for the continued traffic stops in the underlying profiling case. That judge found his office was guilty of racially profiling Latino drivers.

The ex-sheriff has admitted to the civil contempt, but said his actions were inadvertent and not willful or intentional  standards that would need to be proved for a criminal prosecution.

The criminal case was delayed for two months after Arpaio assembled a new defense team to combat what his attorneys have said was a prosecution based on his cooperation with federal efforts to combat illegal immigration.

Several last-ditch appeals were made to postpone the trial, including Arpaios most recent request for a change of venue. Arpaios attorneys also have been trying to subpoena U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to testify on immigration policy.

Several key rulings have preceded Mondays trial. Bolton has ruled that Arpaios words in the media and elsewhere can be used against him in court and that two people who were stopped by deputies would be allowed to testify.

It was not known if Arpaio would take the stand at the trial.

(Reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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NEW YORK (Reuters)  The family of Philando Castile, a black motorist who was shot five times during a traffic stop in Minnesota last year by a police officer, reached a $3 million settlement with the city of St. Anthony, according to media reports.

The Minnesota city said in a statement acquired by CNN that the parties moved expeditiously to resolve potential civil claims resulting from this tragedy in order to allow the process of healing to move forward.

St. Anthony Police Department officer Jeronimo Yanez, who testified that he feared for his life when he shot Castile, was acquitted last week in the death of the 32-year-old.

(Reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York; Editing by Alden Bentley)
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Youve probably heard the Republican fear-mongering that they have to destroy healthcare with their tax cut bill because Obamacare is imploding.

And you probably already know that Republicans are deliberately undermining Obamacare so as to make sure they have talking points for destroying it.

But Ill bet you dont know how theyve got a plan to deliberately undermine Obamacare and then make it look like theyre saving healthcare for two years only to turn around and set it on fire.

(T)he Republican Party is on the verge of pulling off the most jaw-droppingly cynical, disingenuous con Ive seen in some time, Obamacare tracker Charles Gaba wrote on his website, ACA Signups.Net.

Heres Gaba to explain:

THREAD: Let me explain the cynical BS in @JohnCornyn's tweet. 1/ https://t.co/QeSJAvss5k   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

The carriers have ALREADY been warning of "double-digit rate hikes" for 2018, and have stated, quite flatly, that ~2/3 of this is due 2/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

SPECIFICALLY to Trump/GOP sabotage, via 2 major attacks on the ACA: 1) threats by Trump/Price to NOT enforce the individual mandate; 3/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

and 2) threats to NOT PAY the CSR reimbursements legally due to the carriers. 4/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

I've been tracking rate filings by carriers across 14 states. Here's what their actual filings avg out at so far: https://t.co/FOBE3gqdag 5/ pic.twitter.com/IoGVQoYpYf   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

That's a ~32.6% WITH Trump/GOP sabotage tax included, ~13.6% with MOST of that sabotage effect removed (some didn't fully break it out) 6/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

fully remove Trump Tax, it likely drops back to single digits. If you don't believe me, here's a study by a prominent consulting firm: 7/ pic.twitter.com/SkXh8dGXoO   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

@OliverWyman did their study completely independently of me, got nearly identical results. So, why is @JohnCornyn claiming ramming thru 8/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

the pile of garbage @SenateGOP bill will magically lower rate hikes next year? BECAUSE, on the very last page of it 9/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

the GOP appropriates THE VERY CSR FUNDS THEY'VE BEEN BLACKMAILING THE CARRIERS WITH for 2 yearsbefore killing CSR entirely. 10/ pic.twitter.com/MxDXeDLmjH   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

It's pretty typical of Congress to attach a "poison pill" to an otherwise good bill to kill it. The @senategop has reversed this: 11/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

They've attached a 100-word *useful* pill to an otherwise poisonous bill. 12/ pic.twitter.com/c6H6CGp6M7   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

Result? If #BCRAP becomes law, the very ~20 point rate hikes DELIBERATELY CREATED by Trump/GOP would drop off for 2 yrs. in other words   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

they set the house on fire, then want credit for putting it out for 2 yrs (while also scheduling it for demolition after that). 14/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

Meanwhile, if the bill FAILS, they WON'T appropriate the CSR funds (which, again, only require a standalone 66-word amendment) 15/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

..& Price likely won't commit to enforcing mandate, which would lead to more carriers bailing or jacking up rates, allowing Trump/GOP 16/   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

to then claim "ToldJaSo!" As they set on fire burns down. The. chutzpah is staggering. DON'T FALL FOR IT! /end   Charles Gaba  (@charles_gaba) June 26, 2017

Gaba has written a lot about the deliberate sabotage of Obamacare by Republicans, including the Risk Corridor Massacre (from a couple of years ago) and the currently ongoing Cost Sharing Reduction debacle.

The Risk Corridor Massacre helped wipe out over a dozen ACA-created Co-Ops, which in turn kicked 800,000 people off their policies, put several hundred people out of work, causing a ripple effect in those states which in turn led to less competition and higher rate hikes, Gaba explains.

This was hardly a fiscally conservative move by Republicans, because Gaba says the billions saved may have to be paid anyway due to lawsuits. Also of note, they are achieving part of their sabotage by not paying the bills, which used to be the opposite of what conservatives claimed to stand for.

This leads us to the Cost Sharing Reduction brouhaha which is currently causing insurance carriers nationwide to either jack their rates up by an extra 20 points or so next year or to simply drop out of the individual market (either on exchange, off exchange or both) altogether.

They pulled that off by not paying those CSR payments Gaba referenced in his tweet. This is called sabotage and the only reason they are doing this is to make Obamacare look like its not working.

Nifty little trick from the Party that isnt actually trying to address the issues with Obamacare, but is only trying to use Obamacare to score political points and give yet another tax break to rich families.

The only way Republicans can do this is to sabotage Obamacare first.

And then ride in on White Knight Trojan horses funded by the same, and pretend to slay the dragon that they created only to actually leave behind a time bomb for innocent civilians and veterans.

Obamacare is working. People really like the ability to save their family members from death. So here comes the GOP to destroy it, for no reason other than to give Donald Trump and their party a phony win.
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By Jon Herskovitz and Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters)  A small border town and some of the largest cities in Texas told a federal judge on Monday a new state law aimed at punishing sanctuary cities could lead to an immigration police state and asked him to halt it because it was unconstitutional.

The Republican-backed law in Texas, the U.S. state with the longest border with Mexico, takes effect on September 1. It is the first of its kind since Republican Donald Trump became president in January, promising to crack down on illegal immigration.

The law, known as Senate Bill 4, calls for jail time for police chiefs, sheriffs and possibly frontline officers who fail to cooperate in U.S. immigration enforcement. The measure also allows police to ask about immigration status during a lawful detention.

A lawyer for Texas said the law helps to ensure conformity across the state on the application of immigration law and prevents localities from adopting positions of non-cooperation with federal authorities.

It is a moderate law that fits hand in glove with federal immigration policies, Darren McCarty, an attorney for the state, said in opening statements.

But Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who represents the plaintiffs, said if the court allows the Texas law to go forward it could have national ramifications.

That would set up an immigration police state, he told U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia.

We could be removed from office if we endorse a policy that is different from the law, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said outside court, adding that the law violates constitutional protections of free speech.

Other cities that sued to block the law include Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Plaintiffs also contended the law could lead to racial profiling and divert resources from local police who would be under the threat of job loss and fines if they do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

More than 100 protesters rallied against the law outside the court.

Supporters of the measure have said immigrants who do not break the law have nothing to fear. Critics contend SB 4 allows police to detain people for up to 48 hours for immigration checks, even for minor infractions such as jaywalking.

On Friday the Trump administration filed court papers to support the Texas law, saying it will help keep America safe. A Department of Justice lawyer told the court on Monday the Texas law will ensure co-operation on immigration matters.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Jim Forsyth; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Dan Grebler)
Helping SMEs important to improve productivity growth - OECD SG

Helping small and medium-sized enterprises to close the productivity gap is likely to be important to improve overall productivity growth in the economy. To this end, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is signing an agreement with the Hungarian government today, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria told the 2017 Global Forum on Productivity in Budapest on Monday.

Globalisation and productivity

Policies to ensure that globalisation delivers inclusive growth

Signing an agreement with Hungary to assist SMEs

Clearly, the aspect of globalisation that concerns us here is productivity," said Gurria in his opening remarks at the 2nd Annual Conference of the Global Forum on Productivity.He noted that there is already wide-scale knowledge about the link between openness and productivity growth. The Secretary-General mentioned that an OECD paper for this conference uses firm-level data to trace productivity spillovers from global value chains.That paper highlights the importance of linkages with suppliers and buyers, and finds that structural policy settings can affect the size of the productivity spillovers from global value chain linkages," he added.Gurria also warned that there remains much to learn about the relationship of global value chains to firm-level and aggregate productivity and the quantitative impact on productivity of policies that restrict trade and/or investment.Gurria said policy-makers should ensure broad access to quality education, training and healthcare, to make sure everyone is able to benefit from the opportunities offered by the cross-border movements of goods, services, capital, people and ideas.Also, when people are negatively affected by foreign competition, outsourcing or immigration, adequate social safety nets are needed and activation policies must quickly reintegrate displaced workers into good jobs," he added.The Secretary-General proudly said OECD has been at the forefront of international efforts to curb base erosion and profit shifting, and to increase transparency and the international exchange of tax information.He reminded that ministers from 68 countries came to Paris just a few weeks ago to sign the BEPS multilateral convention , a key step forward. But implementation is just beginning, and more is likely to be needed," he added.Citing evidence that markets are being distorted by cross-border cartels (240 such cartels were detected between 1990 and 2015, with overcharges of 20% on average), Gurria called for stronger international co-operation to tackle cross-border anticompetitive conduct".

Another aspect of ensuring vigorous competition is addressing factors that hinder the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. Although there are exceptions, SMEs are generally far from the productivity frontier and pay much lower wages than the leading firms.

As OECD work has shown, the poor productivity growth of laggard firms has likely been a factor in the slowdown in aggregate productivity growth in recent years, and the divergence between frontier firms and others has been an important source of income inequality, Gurria said.

Helping SMEs to close the productivity gap is thus likely to be important to improve overall productivity growth and make that growth more inclusive."

In that context, the Secretary-General said the OECD today is signing an agreement with the Hungarian government toThis is our first such country-specific SME project; I hope there will be many others."
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Windy with showers, and possibly a thunderstorm or two, developing this afternoon. High 76F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low 64F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Huge fire engulfed a sulfur warehouse at Esfahan refinery in central Iran this morning leaving at least 100 workers injured.

The fire erupted at 11:00 local time and the gas produced from burning sulfur poisoned workers, ILNA news agency reported.

According to the report, ambulances have been sent to the scene following the incident to transport victims to nearby hospitals.

So far no report has been released on the death toll.
According to Al Mayadeen broadcaster, the Qatari Emir said that Doha "is seeking a complex development of relations and cooperation with Iran in order to solve the problems of the Islamic world, which is currently in a difficult situation", Sputnik reported.

The Emir's comments come two days after Kuwait, a mediator in the diplomatic row between Qatar and Gulf Arab states, had handed to Doha a list of objectives it needs to meet to restore ties with the neighbors. In particular, the Gulf States demand from Qatar to reduce ties with Iran, halt military cooperation with Turkey and shut the Al Jazeera state broadcaster.

Rouhani, on his part, expressed hope that the regional crisis would be settled by diplomatic means, according to the broadcaster.

"Air, land and sea space will always be open to the brotherly country and neighbor - Qatar," Rouhani stressed during the conversation.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt broke off diplomatic relations with Doha and stopped all communication with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs. Later, the Maldives, Mauritius, and Mauritania also announced the severance of diplomatic relations. Jordan and Djibouti reduced the level of their diplomatic missions in Qatar. Senegal, Niger and Chad announced the withdrawal of ambassadors.
A former Rochester resident who returned to the city was assaulted early Friday, leaving her with a broken jaw, authorities said.

The assault reportedly occurred about 3 a.m. in the 800 block of 16th Avenue Southeast ; police were called to the emergency department of a local hospital about 8 a.m., said Capt. John Sherwin.

The 23-year-old victim was in a fight with a number of other women, the report says, when a man "interjected himself" into the fight and punched the woman in the face.

The victim, now of Wadena , required surgery to repair the injury, Sherwin said.

The suspect has been identified, but not arrested. He could be charged with third-degree assault, a felony.
A former Rochester resident has been charged with a felony, accused of voting in Minnesota despite living in Montana.

Edgar Harry Johnson, 59, of Florence, Mont., is expected to make his first appearance Aug. 3 in Olmsted County District Court, where he faces one count of ineligible voter knowingly votes.

The case began Oct. 31, when Johnson mailed his voter registration to the Olmsted County Election Office. The card listed Johnson's home address as a residence in Marion Township, and contained a Minnesota driver's license number, confirmed to be his.

The registration  signed by Johnson  certifies that the signer "maintains a residence at the address listed ... and has resided in Minnesota for 20 days immediately preceding Election Day," the complaint says.

The local election office sent a verification card to Johnson at the address listed; it was returned as not deliverable and unable to forward. The office staff also tried to contact Johnson at the last known phone number, which was a fax number, the report says.

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An investigator contacted the resident of the address listed; the woman there said she'd bought the home from Johnson in late 2015, and he hadn't lived there since. The sale was verified by Olmsted County property records.

Documentation from the sale gave a forwarding address in Montana, and a contact phone number. When the investigator called the number, Johnson allegedly admitted he'd sold the property and permanently moved to Montana  but hadn't updated his driver's license.

Because of that, Johnson thought he could only vote in Minnesota, the complaint says. He reportedly admitted he registered and voted by absentee ballot in Minnesota despite not living here.
MANTORVILLE  A Wanamingo woman on probation for an arson case faces new charges after allegedly leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase through two counties.

Jecika Katherine Radloff, 22, has been charged with one count each of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, a felony; reckless driving-disregarding a substantial risk, a misdemeanor; speeding and failure to stop at stop signs, both petty misdemeanors.

She remains in custody in lieu of $5,000 conditional bond and is due in Dodge County District Court on Wednesday.

The case began Tuesday night, when a Kenyon police officer cited Radloff for failure to signal a turn in Kenyon. Shortly after, the same officer saw her drive through the stop sign at Minnesota State Highway 56 and Second Street, also in Kenyon, in Goodhue County.

When the officer initiated a traffic stop with emergency lights and siren, Radloff's vehicle accelerated to 90 mph, the complaint says, driving erratically and driving south in the northbound lane.

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She soon crossed into Dodge County , where a deputy spotted Radloff's vehicle; a radar reader indicated the car was traveling 76 mph, the report says.

Radloff didn't slow down as the deputy fell in behind her, and allegedly ran the stop sign at the intersection of Minnesota 56 and U.S. Highway 14, west of Dodge Center. She drove east on U.S. 14, driving on the shoulder, crossing the center line and fog line and changing lanes without signaling, the court documents say.

Radloff took the off ramp to Dodge County Road 25 without stopping at the stop sign, then drove across the road onto the on ramp and returned to eastbound U.S. 14, the document continues.

Kasson Police officers assisted with stop sticks at the intersection of U.S. 14 and Minnesota State Highway 57. Radloff''s front right tire struck the stop sticks; the vehicle stopped near the overpass, and Radloff was arrested.

In December, she received a stay of adjudication in an arson case after she admitted to trying to set a park building on fire.

She was sentenced to 2 days in jail, with credit for 2 days already served, ordered her to undergo psychological evaluation/treatment and fined $125.

Radloff was also banned from Riverside Park in Wanamingo , where the incident occurred, and was placed on probation for five years.

With a stay of adjudication, the charges are dismissed when probation and its conditions are successfully completed. The defendant's criminal record doesn't reflect a conviction, but the arrest record remains.

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The investigation began June 19, 2016, when Radloff approached a deputy who was parked in Riverside Park and told him she'd attempted to light a building on fire the night before "for excitement," the complaint says.

Radloff allegedly sprayed lighter fluid on two sides of the building, but the matches she had wouldn't light. She threw two metal canisters of lighter fluid over a fence toward the Zumbro River , court documents say, and threw the matchbooks on the ground.

She'd returned to the park the next evening to pick up the evidence when she saw the deputy and "felt like she had to tell him what she did," the report says.
RED WING  A Zumbrota man remains at large after escaping during a prisoner transfer in Red Wing.

At 12:56 p.m. Sunday, Goodhue County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call of a vehicle being driven by a man with a revoked license in the city of Red Wing. They located the vehicle and were attempting to pull the truck over when the driver began to flee, according to a report from the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office.

After a short chase, the driver struck a parked truck and injured a man who was behind the vehicle. The driver of the truck then ran and was tracked down by the deputy, the report states.

Taner J. Sward, 25, of Zumbrota, was taken into custody and transported to Mayo Clinic Health Systems-Red Wing after complaining of injuries.

After being treated, Sward was being transferred at 6:43 p.m. from the hospital to the Goodhue County Adult Detention Center when he broke free from the deputy, ran through a parking lot and entered a heavily wooded area north of the hospital, the report states. The wooded area was searched by sheriff's deputies, officers from the Red Wing Police Department and Minnesota State Patrol, but Sward was not located.

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According to the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office, Sward, who was in handcuffs when he escaped, remained at large as of 10 a.m. Monday. He is 5 feet, 9 inches tall, 165 pounds with a medium build. Sward has brown hair, blue eyes and is fair-skinned. Anyone with information on Sward's whereabouts should contact the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office at (651) 385-3155 or call 911.
It appears a third Democrat will soon be jumping into the 1st Congressional District race.

Byron High School teacher John Austinson has scheduled a campaign kick off event at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Silver Lake Park in Rochester. He is advertising the event on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #PackthePark.

Austinson, of Eyota, first entered politics last year when he ran for the House District 26B seat against Republican Rep. Nels Pierson. He lost to the GOP incumbent by a vote of 59 percent to 40 percent.

If Austinson follows through and makes it official on Wednesday, he will be the third Democrat to make a bid for the seat. 1st District DFL Rep. Tim Walz announced in March he would not seek re-election to the seat. Instead, the Mankato Democrat is running for governor in 2018.

Democrats who have announced they are running so far are former state Sen. Vicki Jensen, of Owatonna, and electronic pull-tabs salesman Colin Minehart of Albert Lea. Two others have said they are mulling a bid  former assistant secretary of defense Dan Feehan and Center for Energy and Environment strategic relations manager Joe Sullivan, both of Mankato.

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On the Republican side, there is still officially only one candidate. Blue Earth Republican Jim Hagedorn is running for the seat after narrowly losing to Walz in November. However, several other Republicans are considering getting into the race. They include Republican Party of Olmsted County Chairman Aaron Miller, of Byron; Sen. Carla Nelson, of Rochester; Pierson, of Rochester; and state Rep. Joe Schomacker, of Luverne. Also running is independent candidate Johnny Akzam, of Rochester.

Setting standards for police conduct

Rochester gubernatorial candidate and state Rep.Tina Liebling is calling for changes to state law in the wake of a jury's decision to acquit officer Jeronimo Yanez of all charges related to the shooting death of Philando Castile.

Liebling said she wants to see state law changed to help make these tragic events less likely. One way to do that is to spell out in law what the expectations are for officers in potentially dangerous situations.

"We're putting our police officers in the way of harm, and we're putting people who come into contact with officers in harm's way as well because there is an expectation of police officers that they should charge right into a situation that may be unsafe," Liebling said.

Instead, Liebling said the law should require police officers to try to avoid these situations in the first place. Ideas could include requiring officers to wait for backup before approaching a vehicle in certain instances or setting up a perimeter and waiting out a suspect. Liebling said she plans to work with law enforcement officers, activists and others to put together a proposal.

Huffman pays Rochester a visit

GOP gubernatorial candidate Blake Huffman visited Rochester last week and met with local Republican activists. In an interview at Cafe Steam, the Ramsey County commissioner said he had no idea Rochester had grown so large. He said he is extremely supportive of the $5.5 billion Destination Medical Center initiative.

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"DMC is a good thing for Minnesota," Huffman said.

He said it is important leaders consider ways to better connect Rochester to the Twin Cities  whether that means building a commuter rail line or supporting a dedicated bus line.

"I'm not afraid of exploring how we further connect the Twin Cities to Rochester," he said.

Huffman is one of several people running for governor. Republicans who are running include state Rep. Matt Dean and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson. Democrats seeking the top job are St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, state Rep. Erin Murphy, State Auditor Rebecca Otto, state Rep. Paul Thissen, Liebling and Walz.

Mayo mum on Senate health care bill

Mayo Clinic isn't commenting on the health care bill unveiled last week by Senate Republicans.

Mayo spokesman Karl Oestreich said in a statement, "Mayo Clinic is not providing any perspective or comment" on the bill.

The health care bill is Republicans' proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act. It is similar to one passed by House Republicans last month. It scraps the individual mandate, which requires people to buy insurance. It also gets rid of a requirement that larger companies offer insurance to its employees. The proposal would cut state funding for the expansion of Medicaid  a key part of the ACA.

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Mayo Clinic President and CEO Dr. John Noseworthy has had the chance to meet with President Trump. In December, Noseworthy joined other health care leaders who met with the then-president elect to talk about options for reforming the Veterans Administration system. Oestreich said that Noseworthy also talked about the impact federal regulations have on the cost of health care reform and urged changes to ease the burden. Oestreich said Mayo has not been consulted on the Senate health care bill.
Modi was once denied a US diplomatic visa over accusations he was involved in religious rights violations, but he built good relations with former US President Barack Obama, Sputnik reported.

The visit comes after Trump invited Modi for an official visit when the two spoke by phone in January.

India's The Hindu newspaper noted this week that Trump has criticized India's import tariffs and accused the country of taking "billions and billions" of US aid dollars to find its commitments under the Paris climate agreement.

The Trump administration also restricted H1B visas, which have affected Indian software companies, compounding a broader stagnation. The country's information technology sector is growing at its slowest pace in a decade.

Trump and Modi are expected to meet one-on-one at the White House and forego a more formal meeting. Neither side has indicated any major deals will be announced, but they could reach agreements on trade and counterterrorism.
Yuval Levin takes a close look at the Senate health care bill. He agrees with those of us who dont consider it a repeal of Obamacare, Rather, like the House bill, the Senate version addresses discrete problems with Obamacare within the framework it created, while pursuing some significant structural reforms to Medicaid.

Levin believes, as I do, that the cause of good policy (almost regardless of your priorities in health care) would be better served by a repeal and replacement, with appropriate transition measures, than by [the] sort of tinkering proposed by both the Senate and the House. Repeal and replace would provide more coverage, a better health-financing system, and a more appropriate role for government.

However, Levin assesses the Senate bill on its own terms. He finds it mostly better than the House bill. Better than the House bill isnt extravagant praise, he concedes, but it is certainly one bar such a bill ought to clear.

Levin examines (1) the tax credits in the Senate bill, (2) its reform of Medicaid, (3) its effort to give states regulatory flexibility and control over the individual insurance market, and (4) its prospect of passing muster under reconciliation.

I wont attempt to summarize Levins analysis of these issues. Instead, I will quote two passages that, in particular, caught my eye.

First:

The [Senate bills tax] credit. . .reaches all the way down to the bottom of the income scale, which I think of as an element of the bills Medicaid reform. Where today, people newly covered by Obamacares Medicaid expansion (who tend to be childless adults with relatively higher incomes than the non-expansion population) are funded by the federal government on much better terms than the traditional Medicaid population (which tends to include more women with children and people with even lower incomes), the Senate bill would gradually equalize funding for the two groups, effectively shifting Medicaids focus back to the most vulnerable of its beneficiaries. In states that respond to that by pulling back the expansionand for states that have not pursued an expansionthe fact that the credit now goes all the way down means the Senate bill would provide an income and age-based subsidy that would allow these lowest-income individuals to afford at least modest insurance coverage in the individual market. Thats an improvement over the House bill and Obamacare. . . .

Second:

But the biggest change from the House bill, and from Obamacare, might prove to be the way in which the Senate bill tries to give states regulatory flexibility and control over the individual insurance market. . . . The federalization of health-insurance regulation is the core of Obamacare, and of the problem with it. The House bill sought to reverse it partially by allowing the states to obtain waivers from a couple of elements of Title I of the lawparticularly the definition of essential health benefits, and the age-bands that govern how widely premiums can vary between younger and older people. The Senate bill pursues similar goals within the framework of Obamacare, by vastly expanding the range of permissible state waivers under Section 1332 of the law. Under Obamacare, these waivers technically allow states to pursue different insurance-regulation regimes, but they are very limited in scope because a state has to show that it would achieve exactly the same thing the federal Obamacare rules would achieve, which means states cant really do anything all that different. The Senate bill removes most of these guardrails on the waivers, requiring only that a state show that its proposed alternative would not increase the federal deficit. So while a state could not, for instance, end community rating rules (because the 1332 waivers have to operate within the framework of community rating created by Obamacare), it could very significantly change other kinds of rules and requirements within its bordersto a far greater degree than anything the House waivers envisioned. And the bill requires that these waivers be more or less automatically approved. States could not only roll back essential health benefit definitions and broaden age bands to where they were before Obamacare, but also alter the uses to which federal dollars are put. They could take the amount their residents are eligible to receive in premium-subsidizing tax credits, for instance, and use it instead to create a new state benefit designed very differently. They could combine it with the stabilization fund dollars provided under this bill and with a state Medicaid reform to experiment with a different approach to providing access to insurance for their residents. They could alter the balance of benefits between younger and older people in the individual market, or change or eliminate the exchange in the state. If this were enacted, and once states got their bearings about just how much it would allow them to do, we could see some genuinely different approaches to health-insurance regulation among the different stateswith blue and red models, rural and urban approaches, and more and less competitive systems.

(Emphasis added)

I view the the regulatory flexibility provided by the House bill as its best feature, and maybe its saving grace. If the Senate bill does better in this respect than its House counterpart, thats an important point in its favor.
The Federal Government will from July 5 compensate Ebonyi poultry farmers affected by the December 2016 Avian Influenza attack on poultry farms in the state.

Uchenna Orji, the states Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, disclosed this on Mondayin Abakaliki during a training programme for poultry farmers in the state on ways of preventing and handling incidences of the disease.

According to Mr. Orji, a Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development team would arrive the state on July 5, to conduct necessary assessment and other procedures before the compensation.

20 poultry farmers would benefit from the compensation, but they must be registered with my ministry and fulfil all obligations required of them in the conduct of poultry activities.

The effect of the avian influenza attack on poultry farms was devastating.

This training is part of the enlightenment programmes for farmers on the disease as directed by the federal and state governments, he said.

The commissioner noted that the state government planned to establish 100 poultry farm clusters in each of the 13 Local Government Areas (LGA) of the state, to enhance poultry farming.

The initiative will empower 100 farmers in each of the councils to produce broilers as the market for their produce has already being provided by the state government.

The government will through its processing plant, off-take and process their poultry produce, which would enable them to readily produce, market their produce and go back to business.

The training programme is also, one of the capacity building mechanisms to prepare poultry farmers for the initiative as we will collate your names, assess your performances and recommend successful farmers as beneficiaries, he said.

Ibiam Okoro, Director of Veterinary Services in the states Ministry for Agriculture, noted that the federal and state governments directed state ministries of agriculture through their veterinary departments, to take measures to prevent and contain avian influenza.

This is due to the resurgence of the disease in the country, as we were directed to enforce bio-security in all poultry farms and life bird markets while enforcing movement control of poultry produce within the states, he said.

He, however, noted that the enforcement of the directive was imperative because of the negative attitude of poultry farmers who place undue emphasis on profit-making than ensuring the health and general wellbeing of citizens and their poultry produce, he said.

Michael Okoro, the Acting Head of Veterinary Services Department of the ministry, noted that the knowledge to be garnered by participants at the seminar would enhance their production capacities.

This will help in realising the state governments objective of making poultry farming, a wealth and employment creation venture for farmers, he said.

Omowumi Gajah, Marketing Manager of Jumac Multi-Services Limited, which collaborated with the ministry in organising the seminar, urged the participants to practicalise the knowledge garnered from the one-day seminar.

Henry Aluu, a beneficiary in the distribution of the bio-security items, commended the organisers for the programme and pledged to spread the message of prevention and checking of the avian influenza disease.

Lectures were delivered at the seminar while bio-security items such as: wheelbarrows, diggers, shovels, boots, gloves, antioxidant-chemicals, amino vitamins products, among others, were distributed to participants.

(NAN)

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South Africa has banned the sale of live hens throughout the country in a bid to control an outbreak of highly contagious H5N8 bird flu, the government said on Monday.

The countrys department of agriculture said in a statement that no humans had been affected.

Exports of processed poultry products, live chickens and fresh produce will continue depending on the requirements of importing countries.

To date, no human cases of infection with avian influenza H5N8 have been reported.

However, people handling wild birds, sick or dying poultry must wear protective clothing and wash their hands with disinfectants, the department said.

The government said meat from healthy poultry was safe to eat due to strict inspections at abattoirs, but urged people to avoid eating any birds found dead, dying or sick.

South Africa reported an outbreak this month of H5N8 bird flu on a commercial broiler breeder farm in Mpumalanga province, where about 5,000 birds died and the rest were culled.

The H5N8 strain has been detected in several countries in Europe, Africa and Asia over the past two years, its spread aided by wild bird migrations.

Highly pathogenic among fowl, the risk of human infection is low.

South Africa suspended all trade in birds and chicken products from neighboring Zimbabwe earlier this month after it reported an outbreak of the H5N8 bird flu at a poultry farm. (Reuters/NAN)

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The President of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi, has said that the union will resist any attempt to increase tuition fees in the countrys public universities.

He also said ASUU could go on strike if the government failed to meet its demand on adequate funding of the institutions and payment of salaries.

Mr. Biodun, who gave the hint in an exclusive chat with PREMIUM TIMES, said the union would not accept any increase in fees by state or federal governments.

We will not tolerate any attempt to increase tuition fee, we are against telling people to pay more, even the current fees, we are still fighting them, we as a body have always stood against fee increment and we will continue to stand against it, he said.

The union leader spoke against the backdrop of reports of a possible increase in tuition fees in universities by the federal government.

According to Mr. Abiodun, ASUU has been engaging the federal government since November 2016 on issues rocking the university system.

The truth is there are lots of issues rocking the system. We have made our position known to the federal government; we have also written to state governments who have refused to give subvention to their universities, he said.

Some of them cannot sustain one university and they go on to establish two or three, compounding the issues.

We have given the government till June ending to attend to our needs, if the government does not call us by June ending we will convey a meeting to take our position.

However, we are trying to engage the government but if they dont invite us to a meeting before June ending, we will still take our position on whether we are going on strike or not.

But that will not be like early July but middle or late July, that is if they dont heed to our demands which includes payment of salaries, funding, research and lots more.

Asked if ASUU would initiate a meeting with the federal government, he said We will not initiate any meeting if they dont call us, we cant initiate meeting.

He added that the feedback received from the petitions written to the government would determine whether there would be strike or not.

The ASUU President also spoke on the crisis at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH.

We have issues like this, a case where lecturers are not paid for months will no longer be tolerated. The truth is that this and many more make up our demands, we have written to all state governors too and we want to engage stakeholders in this issue, that is why whatever happens in July will be very comprehensive, he said.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Commissioner of Education, Adeniyi Olowofela, has said the owner states are committed to speedy reopening of LAUTECH.

He said the university would have reopened, if not for the controversy surrounding the issue of audit of its finances.

Mr. Olowofela told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday that the government had given a three-week ultimatum to the external auditors, but were hindered due to lack of documents.

He also said that the stance of ASUU had remained a major problem towards resolving the crisis.

The truth is when the auditors were to come in, we gave them three weeks to complete the audit, the three weeks should have elapsed but the auditors did not have enough documents to work with, he said.

According to him, the Oyo state government used federal allocations to pay civil servants salaries and used internally generated revenues to fund other institutions like LAUTECH.

He said the government had just paid N144million as subvention to the institution.

As we speak now, the allocation that lately came from the federal government, everything was used to pay workers salary in the civil service, he disclosed.

The Oyo state government also just paid N144 million to LAUTECH as subvention, we are committed to the reopening, we did that. 

On the issue of ASUUs position and the continued controversy, Mr. Olowofela said, What we asked of ASUU is just cooperation for three weeks, there is a difference between three weeks and eight months, we cannot obey the position of ASUU.

Really, the government only needs three weeks of the time for audit, we need to know what we really need in the university; when the audit is done, we know the needs and move on from there.

While saying that the university administration could be better, he denied that the owner states were suspecting the university management led by Adeniyi Gbadegesin of corruption.

We never said they are corrupt, as far as we are concerned we only said that the university can do better, no one is stating that they are corrupt, he said.

On when the university will reopen, Mr. Olowofela said, We need everyone to appeal to ASUU so we can carry out what we need to, ASUU should not be the proponent of saying that the audit should not take place, they should understand that these are hard periods, these things ought to have been completed and all issues solved.

In his remarks, the Chairman of ASUU, LAUTECH Chapter, Biodun Olaniran, said, We are not against any audit, what we needed before now and still need is the pattern of funding because that is what the university needs.

There are several other recommendations in the white paper of the visitation panel but we dont know why it is only audit that has taken prominence.

He said the owner states should show seriousness by charting ways of funding the university more.

We wonder why they are bringing us to this issue, the documents they need are not even with us, Mr. Biodun noted.

Efforts to speak with the Vice Chancellor of the University, Adeniyi Gbadegesin, were unsuccessful as he did not pick his calls or reply messages sent to his phone as at the time of filing this report.

LAUTECH has been enmeshed in controversies surrounding poor funding and disagreements between workers and owners of the university on ways to resolve the problems.

The Alumni Association of the institution recently launched a #FundLAUTECH initiative intending to raise about N1billion within 90 days to support the university.

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Police in Borno State have confirmed that at least 16 persons comprising seven suicide bombers and nine innocent victims died after Boko Haram insurgents attacked Maiduguri on Sunday.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that the University of Maiduguri was part of the locations attacked by the bombers who crept into the city during the curfew hours as Muslims celebrated Sallah.

Borno State police commissioner, Damian Chukwu, told journalists at a press conference that most of the attackers were teenage girls who were wired with deadly explosives.

The CP said some 13 other persons were also injured as a result of the bomb attacks.

At the University of Maiduguri, one of the suicide bombers that attacked the office of the Security operatives there died while three university security personnel on duty got injured; of which one of them identified as Becky Edubi later died while being attended to at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), he said.

Mr. Damian further said four female suicide bombers also infiltrated Zannari community and detonated their explosives at two residential buildings.

The twin explosives killed eight people and injured 11 others in the buildings. But the third suicide bomber amongst the suspects only killed herself, by detonating the IED strapped to her body without hitting any target, he said.

The fourth female suicide bomber, identity not known, was arrested with injuries on her body but she eventually died same night (Sunday) as a result of injuries she sustained.

He said another attack was also recorded in the early hours of the dawn when another set two female suicide bombers attacked yet another location within the precinct of the University f of Maiduguri.

In another development at about 4.08am, to be precise, two female suicide bombers detonated their IEDs within the premises of University.

One of the suspects, detonated her explosives near the Universitys Entrepreneurship and Skills Acquisition Centre, and killed herself, without any casualties, while the second person detonated the explosives behind the Works Department complex, and equally killed herself, with no other casualties.

He said the police have mobilized its Explosives Ordnance Department to clear the attacked location and ensured that normalcy was restored.

The CP said the attackers may have been those prevented from gaining access to the Eid Prayer grounds as a result of security.

He said the police has since provided credible information to the military on where the Boko Haram insurgents manufacture and couple their explosives, and that an operation has been launched to fish out those behind such.

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The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, said that 23 states of the federation currently owed local government workers arrears of salary ranging from one to 16 months.

National President of the union, Ibrahim Khaleel stated this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Monday in Abuja.

According to Mr. Khaleel, Bayelsa state was leading in indebtedness to local council workers with between 10 to 16 months, followed by Kogi between seven to 15 months; Delta State eight to 14 months.

Kaduna 12 months; Oyo three to 11 months; Edo 10 months; Abia five to nine months; Kwara two to nine months; Benue nine months and Nasarawa seven months.

Ondo, Ekiti, Imo with six months; Zamfara have not implementing minimum wage, Adamawa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Plateau owing four months, Taraba and FCT three months.

While Osun state has been paying half salaries for 24 months and few staff were owed few months in Enugu, he said.

The union noted that Ekiti has refused to remit union dues for the past nine months and Ogun has not also remitted its deduction for seven months.

The national president also said that 700 staff members were owed between one to three months in Cross River State.

He called on the governors of the states to offset the salaries and other allowances of local government workers with the second tranche of the Paris Loan Refund released to them.

He said that failure to do so, the union would be forced to mobilised and shut down all local government councils in the country.

Mr. Khaleel called on the state governors not to divert or tamper with the second tranche of Paris Club Loan refund but use it to offset the entitlement of the workers.

He, however, said the union was aware that some state governors were already claiming that the amount released was not in conformity with the published figure.

We want to state in strong term that no governor should either divert or tamper with the fund.

This should be an avenue where the backlog of arrears of salaries owed the Local Government workers and some other welfare packages should be settled.

Such as leave bonus, arrears of promotion benefits, arrears of annual increment and non-implementation of minimum wage most especially in Zamfara State are resolved and paid.

We, therefore, use this medium to appeal passionately to the State Governors to use this 2nd Tranche of Paris club loan refund to clear the backlog arrears of outstanding salaries.

This is in order to ameliorate the untold hardship they are currently passing through due to this ugly situation, he said.

He added that the union will not tolerate a situation where any state governor will hide under any guise to deny Local Government workers their legitimate salaries and allowances.

Mr. Khaleel commended the 14 states including Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Cross River, Niger and Anambra that were up to date in the entitlement of local government workers.

(NAN)

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The contract for the dredging of the Calabar Channel was first awarded for N3 billion in 1996. In 2006, the contract was reviewed by the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, in conjunction with the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, and the Calabar Channel Management, CCM. Another contract was awarded in November 2014 at N20 billion to complete the project.

However, recently, allegations of abuse of due process in the award of the contract surfaced, culminating in the new Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Usman, ordering work to stop on the project, to allow for a probe.

The Managing Director, CCM Company Limited, Bart Van Eenoo, in an interview in Abuja, denied the allegations against the company, particularly the alleged involvement of former President Goodluck Jonathan in facilitating the companys selection process. He accused the NPA of mischief, by playing politics with the execution of the contract.

Excerpts:

PT: Recently, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Hadiza Usman, said the dredging of the Calabar Channel awarded to your company did not follow due process. Apart from the contract not being advertised, she said some NPA officials colluded to manipulate the process to award the contract to you, against the expert advice by Mobotek, a consultant on the project, against a management channel for the Calabar Navigational Channel. How do you react to this?

BART: These are mere insinuations. They have no basis. The NPA MD is economical with the truth about the contract. The truth is that the NPA openly advertised for the establishment of a Channel Management Company for the Calabar navigation channel. Our company, Niger-Global Engineering & Technical Company Limited, duly bided and won the contract, leading to the establishment of Calabar Channel Management Limited, CCML, as a joint venture (JV) with the NPA on a 60:40 per cent equity.

The NPAs advert on the contract published in several newspapers on Wednesday, April 21, 2004 was titled Public Notice No.3551: Invitation for Pre-qualification for the management of the Access Channels to all Nigerian Ports. The publication invited interested bidders to submit their bids. Niger-Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited, led a consortium of companies to submit a bid, which was later selected winner.

So, it is not true the contract award did not follow due process. The entire contract award was fully advertised in the media and due bidding processes were followed. Before execution, all necessary approvals and vetting of the agreement were done by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF. Our consortium emerged winner of the bid after going through a rigorous screening process. Thats the first point.

The second point is on the alleged advice of the consultant against the project.

What I have to say here is that it is the same consultant, Mobotek, that handled the selection process for the Lagos Channel Management Company and the Bonny Channel Management Company that conducted the bidding process our company participated in.

Our financial and technical bids were considered successful and our company was duly handed a No Objection Certificate by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

It is therefore curious to wake up overnight to claim the contract did not follow due process and was not advertised. My view is that the present management at NPA has sinister motives against the project.

As a majority shareholder, the current management of the NPA has blatantly refused to hold any meeting with our company since it came aboard. But, it has been hobnobbing with, and speaking favorably about managers of other channels.

PT: The EFCC carried out a probe on the contract recently. Why would that happen if everything followed due process as you claimed?

BART: With all these, I am not afraid to say that the recent petition against our company to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, alleging that we had not done any work, which necessitated an EFCC investigative panel to look into the contract, was instigated by the NPA.

Despite that the EFCC certified that we actually worked, the NPA MD has been saying a different thing. How can anyone accuse our partners  Boskalis and Westminster Dredging, internationally acclaimed companies of not doing a job they had satisfactorily executed, if not for mischief and ulterior motives?

PT: What do you mean by mischief and ulterior motives? Are you saying the NPAs complaints against the contract were unfounded?

BART: Absolutely! It is on record that all stakeholders at the Calabar Port, including the NPAs Station Manager in Calabar then, accepted the CCM carried out appreciable work on the dredging contract until the disruption by the NPA.

Even some of the stakeholders were always aboard the dredgers in the course of the dredging to have a feel of the work done until the NPA suddenly came and disrupted work. There was no formal communication to us whatsoever. Who is fooling who? If no work was done as the NPA MD now wants the world to believe, why was the initial payment made to our company? It is on record the NPA participated in all stages of the works done by our company. The NPAs Project Resident Hydrographic Surveyor and Technical Auditors on the project, CARES Limited, were always on board the dredgers working on the project and certifying for payments, only after verification presented by the Consortium tallies with the work done and in accordance with the Joint Venture (JV) agreement.

PT: Why would you infer mischief and ulterior motives to NPAs decision on the project?

BART: There is no way I can see the port managements action than those. Most critical stakeholders of the Calabar Port are of the view the NPA is politicising the project.

From the day the Calabar Port dredging was flagged off and certified by NPAs Consultants, CARES, over $500 million has been paid to the Bonny and Lagos Management Channels.

If the integrity of CARES was questioned by NPA for a less amount for CCM, why is its integrity not questioned for the payment of over $1billion for the Bonny and Lagos Management Channels?

From day one, the management of these three channels were advertised on the same day, short-listed and evaluated by the same consultants-Mobotek.

The contractual agreements for all the three channels were on the same template. The mode of operation was also the same.

The Calabar Channel is 96 kilometres, while Bonny Channel is 84 Kilometres and Lagos Channel, which is a deep sea port, is less than 12 kilometres from the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal.

The siltation rate in Calabar is higher than the other two channels. Yet, attention is being given to where little or no work is needed.

I am aware all the technical information and data needed for the right thing to be done are at the disposal of the NPA. But, somehow, it is becoming obvious that somebody is playing politics with the Calabar Channel contract, unfortunately to the detriment of the Nigerian economy.

I advise the NPA management to consult sincerely with its technical team, which I know is made up of professionals well trained in the industry, and stop politicizing the issue.

PT: The other allegation against your company is that it is a briefcase company, with no known address and qualified staff to handle the contract?

BART: This is absolutely false. Our office is at #101, Ndidem Usang Iso Road, Calabar, Cross River State, not Lagos. The current NPA MD and her team visited our office in Calabar on assumption of office. We have a capable manpower of about 160 staff, some of who have been in the industry for not less than 20 years.

PT: What is the current status of the Calabar Port dredging contract by your company?

BART: Recall that on November 17, 2014, the Federal Government through the then Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, flagged off the operations of the Calabar Channel Management, CCM, a joint venture company between the NPA and Messrs. Niger Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited, for the dredging of the Calabar Port.

We immediately commenced work by carrying out capital and maintenance dredging of the water channel well known for its shallow draught that had hampered bigger vessels from coming into the port in the last decades.

We deployed dredgers, survey vessels, buoyage tenders, wreck removal cranes and other ancillary marine crafts to the water channel for the operation.

We achieved several milestones, concentrating on spots in the channel critical to navigation. So far, 16.3 kilometres out of the envisaged 20 kilometres high spots have been dredged, with the deepening of the channel to 6.5 metres datum.

However, work was suddenly disrupted by the NPA without any formal communication to our company. That is the situation today.

PT: What you are saying is that further execution of the contract has been brought to a halt?

BART: Yes. We learnt the NPA MD is saying she has ordered an investigation into the award of the contract, to ascertain why so much was spent on the project without its completion.

PT: What would you say is the way forward on this project?

BART: The ball is in NPAs court. The NPA MD knows what she needs to do for the dredging to continue. The NPA has to pay our invoices to enable us return to site. All the equipment and personnel deployed for the project under the JV Agreement are currently on ground, accruing demurrage. We attach much importance to the project, because of its strategic position to the economy of Nigeria, particularly the North-East, North-Central and South-South.

For instance, if the Calabar Port were functional, it would have been much easier to get relief materials for the internally displaced persons, IDPs camps in the North-East as a result of the insurgency.

At the moment, these items come through the Lagos Port at very high costs.

Besides, if the Port was functional; it would have guaranteed trade facilitation and stimulate economic activities within the South-South, North-Central and North-East zones of the country.

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Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Sunday evening welcomed the visiting President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, to Akinola Aguda House, his official residence.

During the meeting that followed, the two leaders highlighted the critical role that Nigeria and Ghana play as the centrepiece of ECOWAS and the West African sub-region.

President Akufo-Addo thanked Acting President Osinbajo for receiving his delegation on a special day, when Nigeria was commemorating Eid El-Fitr. He said that his visit was part of an ongoing tour of the sub-region to take stock of whats going on, and to renew relations.

Acting President Osinbajo on his part thanked the Ghanaian President for visiting Nigeria, adding, Were extremely excited about the ECOWAS sub-region and hope that we will be able to do a lot together.

Discussions between the two leaders touched on the forthcoming African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, ongoing negotiations on the Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), and the revitalization of the Ghana-Nigeria Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation. Both leaders pledged to intensify bilateral cooperation for the benefit and development of the sub-region.

The Ghanaian President also extended his good wishes to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Members of the President Akufo-Addos delegation included Ghanas Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway; Minister of National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah; and officials of the Foreign Ministry.

Earlier on Sunday, Mr. Osinbajo hosted a delegation of religious and traditional leaders and senior government officials to commemorate Eid El-Fitr, the end of Ramadan.

In his remarks at the ceremony, he stressed the importance and necessity of interfaith unity as a prerequisite for guaranteeing the peace and prosperity of Nigeria.

According to him, what the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari has always emphasised is the unity of the faiths. There is every reason for us to work together as brothers and sisters despite our different faiths.

Speaking further on the imperative of unity across Nigerias ethnic and religious lines, Mr. Osinbajo noted: When you look at the hundreds of thousands of our people everywhere in this country  and Ive been around this country  poverty is the same. It doesnt wear a different face whether youre poor in Lagos, or youre poor in Sokoto or youre poor in Aba, poverty is the same; hunger is the same, wherever you are. If youre hungry youre hungry, your religion doesnt matter. Your ethnicity doesnt matter. And that is why for us, it is so important that we work together to make sure that our country is able to take care of millions of its people.

He recalled and reiterated the message of unity in President Buharis Eid El-Fitr message to Nigerians, in which the president urged that Nigerians should all resolve to live in peace and unity in our great country, which is the envy of many less endowed nations.

According to the acting president, We are a geopolitical power because of our strength in numbers and our diversity. Thats why were a geopolitical power. Our relevance comes from our size, the size of our market, and our diversity, and the fact that anywhere you go, Nigerians are probably the smartest people youll ever meet anywhere.

The delegation that paid him the annual traditional Sallah Homage was led by the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammad Bello, and included Imams from the National Mosque, Abuja; representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria; the Aso Villa Chapel; and traditional rulers from the FCT. Also present were senior government officials, including the Chief Justice of the Federation, Walter Onnoghen; Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Ade Ipaye; members of the National Assembly; security chiefs, including the National Security Adviser, Chief of Defence Staff, Inspector-General of Police, Director General of the Department of State Services, and Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission; FCT Area Council Chairmen, and senior officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA.

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Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, has been named the winner of this years World Food Prize.

The prestigious U.S.$250,000 prize is given annually to a person who has worked to advance human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.

Over a 31-year existence, the award has become known as the Nobel Prize for food and agriculture.

Mondays announcement by the president of the World Food Prize, Kenneth Quinn, was made at a ceremony held at the U.S. Department of Agriculture attended by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue. Since its founding in 1986, the Prize has honoured 45 individuals for their outstanding contributions to food security around the world.

These individuals have been at the forefront of every major breakthrough in agriculture and food production in the last 30 years, Mr. Quinn told AllAfrica in a telephone interview before Mondays announcement. He said the laureates have led the single greatest period of food production and hunger reduction in all human history. Nominations for the prize, he said, are submitted by organizations and prestigious individuals. A selection committee  made of individuals from around the world  makes the decision.

Mr. Quinn announced that the committee noted a couple of distinct achievements of Mr. Adesina: his role in organizing and making the African fertilizer summit a great success; his work with leading non-profit organizations and banks to expand the availability of commercial credits to agriculture and farmers across the continent when he was a senior executive of the Alliance of Green Revolution of Africa; the digital e-wallet scheme during his five-year tenure as minister of agriculture of Nigeria, which helped tackle corruption that had pervaded the fertilizer industry.

Mr. Quinn said Mr. Adesina has helped galvanize support to transform agriculture on the continent through his various initiatives which increased farmers yield and incomes. All of his policies were very farmer friendly, and he became known as the farmers minister'. The committee was also taken by Adesinas own life that began with him growing up in a poor village, and how education allowed him to lift himself up, Mr. Quinn said.

The AfDB president came from a family of farmers. With some education, however, his dad got a job as a civil servant which provided the means to send his four sons to school. Adesina, the second, experienced the poverty of smallholder farmers and their families during his years of schooling in the village.

Mr. Adesina told AllAfrica that he was thrilled when he first learned that he had been selected as this years winner for the work hes done over the years.

But for me its not about the past as much as even the future; I feel greatly inspired and motivated to do even more until we free Africa and the world of hunger.

He is excited about what lies ahead. I see a future where agriculture is treated as a business, not as a way of life; I see a continent in the next ten years that will be able to feed itself; I see a continent that will be able to transform its rural economy from zones of misery to zones of economic prosperity; I see a continent that is able to end malnutrition.

Since he became president, he said, the bank has committed itself to a strategy which aims to end hunger and rural poverty on the continent in the next decade. Feed Africa, the second of the AfDBs top five priorities to which it has already committed $24 billion, was launched at its headquarters in Abidjan last year.

Mr. Adesina said some of the areas of focus of the new plan will be how to get technology to farmers  at the scale of millions of farmers all across Africa  and how to get the youth to be involved in agriculture as a business.

He will be at the centre of attention this week in Des Moines, Iowa, where guests from dozens of countries, including scientists, ministers, CEOs and heads of NGOs will gather for a week of activities. He is scheduled to speak at various events including the Borlaug Dialogue, a symposium which organisers say brings together 1,200 people from 65 countries, named after Norman Borlaug, the 1970 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize who conceived the idea of the World Food Prize.

Mr. Adesina said he doesnt seek the spotlight: You know you never work for recognition. I was just doing by job, which is to improve the lives of farmers, he said. But its such a great honour for that work to be recognized for the impact its having across the world.

(This story was first published by AllAfrica.com. We have their permission to republish).

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The Medical Director of the National Ear Care Centre, Kaduna, Aminu Bakare, is dead.

A family member, Garba Sani, said he died on Monday at a private hospital in Kaduna around 7:27 p.m. after a brief illness.

He slumped while performing ablution for maghrib prayers around 6:47 p.m. this night and was immediately rushed to Giwa Hospital where he died, Mr. Sani said.

He is survived by one wife and three children.

He will be buried according Islamic right tomorrow (Tuesday) by 1 p.m., he added.

The deceased was an indigene of Adamawa State and was an associate professor and Ear Nose and Throat surgeon at Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria.

The late Mr. Bakare was a pioneer staff of the agency and the head of clinical services of the centre from 2003 to 2007. He transferred his service to ABU Zaria and was later appointed MD of the Ear Centre in 2014.

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The death toll in Sunday's oil tanker blast in northeastern Pakistan has shot up to 157 as 17 more people succumbed to their injuries at hospitals, officials and local media reported on Monday, the first day of Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of Ramadan, Anadolu reported.

Over 100 people were injured when an overturned oil tanker caught fire in Bahawalpur district of northeastern Punjab province.

Saqib Zafar, a district administration official talking to reporters, confirmed the latest figures as the bereaved families remained engaged in burying their loved ones on Eid day.

The federal and all four provincial governments cancelled traditional Eid-related celebrations as a sign of solidarity with the victims families.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was on a private visit in London, cut short his tour and rushed to the scene on Monday ordering an inquiry into the tragedy that eclipsed the Eid festivities in this South Asian Muslim state.

Doctors, according to local Geo TV, fear rise in death toll as over two dozen people with 60 to 80 percent burn injuries are stated to be in critical condition.

Several injured, according to area people, lost their lives due to unavailability of burns units at the local hospitals as dozens were transported to Multan and state capital Lahore hospitals for better treatment.

Sharif, who is serving for the third term as premier, is credited for the development of communication networks in the country, but is often criticized for not paying that amount of attention towards the development of health and education sectors.

The fire tragedy took place when a big crowd of villagers had gathered to collect fuel from an overturned tanker on the national highway near Ahmedpur Sharqia area in Bahawalpur - located some 430 kilometers (267 miles) from Lahore.

According to initial reports, a cigarette is suspected to have caused the massive blaze that engulfed the people collecting the spilled fuel.

Akhtar Abbas, the city police chief, told reporters that a case had been registered against the oil tanker owner and the driver with no arrests made so far.
The Eid-el-Fitr celebration got to its peak on Monday in Abuja as fun seekers expressed satisfaction with the turnout of activities at the various parks in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Some of the fun seekers, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria, said they were surprised at the high turnout in spite of the economic situation in the country.

Shamsudeen Sani, a civil servant, who came with his wife, and 7-year-old son at the Mammy Market located at Mogadisu barracks, Asokoro, said that he was at the joint to enjoy himself with his family in the spirit of the Sallah.

I also want to congratulate my Muslims brothers and sisters for the successful completion of the Ramadan fasting period.

This mammy market is filled with great fun, you can see roasted fish and drinks and people enjoying themselves, he said.

However, at the Semona Park, located at Lokogoma, no activity was taking place as the gate of the park was shut.

A security personnel, who spoke to NAN under the condition of anonymity, said that the down pour of Sunday night destroyed some facilities in the park.

The ground is not good, it is waterlogged and some facilities were destroyed, that is why we did not open the park today.

Work to correct the damage is ongoing, he stressed.

NAN reports that fun seekers, who came to the park were not discouraged as they moved to the nearby Coba Cubana Park.

Others headed for the Unity Fountain near Transcorp Hilton Hotel to enjoy themselves.

At the Transcorps children play ground, Idris Buba told NAN that he decided to come to the ground because it is safe.

I prefer this place, you know it is a playground managed by the hotel therefore it is very safe.

At Monoliza Amusement Park, Area 11, Salamatu Ibrahim, who came with her four children, told NAN that she and the children came to enjoy themselves.

We really enjoyed ourselves, I am very happy and we thank Allah for seeing us through the fasting, she said.

(NAN)

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Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers says the dissolution of the State Executive Council is to ensure better performance of the machinery of government and move the state forward.

The governor stated this on Sunday at a Thanksgiving service over the victory of Evans Bipi, the Majority Whip of the State House of Assembly in the rerun election for Ogu/Bolu state constituency in the House of Assembly.

Mr. Wike noted that the dissolution was carried out at the right time after due consultation with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

The dissolution was done to enable the machinery of government to move the state forward; this is when you know those who are loyal and those who are not loyal.

There is no crack in government; we are working together. The dissolution was done in consultation with the leadership of PDP in the state, Mr. Wike said.

According to him, his administration will work with those who are loyal while those who are not loyal will be dropped.

Those who are not loyal will be shown the way out, those who are loyal will come back. When you are going into another dispensation, you have to put things in order, Mr. Wike said.

The governor, who also assured that his administration would continue to deliver on its electoral promises to the people, commended Mr. Bipi for his unwavering loyalty at all times.

When people never gave us hope, Evans Bipi was reliable; Bipi is a very loyal and committed person, he said.

The governor said that Mr. Bipi was among the first group of supporters that the party had in the state.

Mr. Wike lauded the people of Ogu/Bolo council for supporting Mr. Bipi all through the re-run elections in the area.

The governor urged contractors handling rehabilitation of schools in Ogu/Bolo council to ensure early completion.

Mr. Bipi, in his remarks, reiterated the resolve of the people of Ogu/Bolo to support the Wike-led government.

The former First lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan, former members of the Rivers Executive Council, religious leaders and Caretaker Committee Chairmen graced the occasion.

(NAN)

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The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has called on the Federal Government to consider restructuring to give states and local governments greater powers and responsibilities.

He also charged it to dialogue with the leader of the Independent Peoples Republic of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and other groups as a step towards dousing tensions in the country.

The governor, who spoke on Sunday in Ado Ekiti, said the Federal Government should be fair to all sections of the country, especially, the marginalized Igbo people,

While condemning the quit notice issued to the Igbos by a northern youth group, the governor charged the federal government to take steps at addressing the varied agitations of the different sections of Nigeria.

As much as secession is not an option, the handlers of our democracy must be equitable, fair and just to everyone, he said.

The Igbo have continued to suffer because of the perceived role of Emeka Ojukwu. If we say past governments didnt do well what has the present government done differently?

I agree that secession is not desirable but there must be justice and equity. When people are being killed or vilified, you must expect a reaction. No region should begin to use power to oppress another. If Nigeria is truly one, it will not get to a stage that one region will openly call on another to leave its land.

The Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is doing his best but that is not enough. We must remember that those who make positive change impossible make violent change inevitable. A situation where a section will be suffering forever because of their role in the civil war is not fair.

He said the revenue sharing formula should be reviewed because it is not a true reflection of our collective interest. For the country to move forward the states should takeover economically.

The federal government must purge itself of some responsibilities because the actual development is at grassroots. The states and the local governments are nodal points of developments, he said.

On the IPOB agitations, Mr. Fayose said, The federal government should dialogue with the aggrieved and forge ahead. Using force will not help because some of those things they thought had died in the past are now rearing their ugly heads.

It is no doubt that (Nnamdi) Kanu is representing the interest of the younger generation of Igbo. Instead of fighting him, they should release them and invite him for a dialogue.

His struggle has become an ideological movement with massive followers irrespective of what some people are telling the federal government to curry a favour, which is momentarily. By the action of this government they have made Kanu more popular.

Without mincing words, the present government has divided Nigeria more than ever. It is the legitimate right of the people to agitate if they feel they are wrongly treated. You cant get peace where there is no justice.

Nigeria belongs to all of us. It is the wish of some people that an Igbo man does not become the president but this is against the spirit and letters of our constitution.

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WILDWOOD CREST  Drivers slowed along Park Boulevard on Monday afternoon to catch a glimpse of the aftermath of a blaze that caused significant damage to multiple bayfront homes.

No one was injured in the fire Sunday afternoon, police said, but, for Ashley Razzano, it was a hectic few moments as she and her family escaped from one of the homes. She was sitting on the deck with her friends when the fire broke out.

I was on the deck when I saw the smoke and called police, said Razzano, 24, of Media, Pennsylvania. We ran in the house to get grandmom and uncle out.

It was a matter of seconds, Razzano added. It spread so fast.

Authorities responded to the fire at 3:18 p.m. Sunday, according to police. Firefighters battled the blaze as hundreds of spectators watched from nearby blocks. It was under control by 5:23 p.m., a news release said.

Officers found two of the homes in the 7100 of Park Boulevard engulfed in flames when they arrived, police said. One person was in one of the homes and was able to leave before the fire spread, according to police. A third home, owned by Razzanos grandparents, was also damaged extensively.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, police said.

Wildwood Deputy Fire Chief Ernie Troiano III said Monday fire investigators located a scuba air tank that caused one explosion during the fire.

Several propane tanks were also near the homes, which Troiano said did not cause the fire but were hazards.

George Palesano said he was on the scene before fire crews arrived. He said he lives a block away and is friends with a woman who lives in one of the homes.

I came running up here, and I knew where my friends house was, said Palesano, who is a year-round resident. It (the fire) was incredible. You realize the power of it when you get that close.

The smell of burnt wood lingered Monday near the back of the two homes where the fire started. Both properties, once covered in light-colored siding, were charred and blackened, especially on the bayside. Shards of glass remained in the widow  the pieces the firefighters left after using axes to shatter them.

Razzano said her grandparents are heartbroken but grateful their house didnt sustain more damage.

Im just so glad I hadnt fallen asleep, she added. Im in disbelief right now, but Im more grateful than anything. It could have been so much worse.

Staff Writer Erin Grugan contributed to this report.
NORTH WILDWOOD  Authorities were still trying Wednesday to identify the body of a man who washed up on the beach Sunday.

On Tuesday, police were hoping for a clue from his fingerprints.

We are awaiting fingerprints to be analyzed to confirm the identity of the victim, Capt. John A. Stevenson said.

The body was found about 9 p.m. Sunday near 24th Avenue.

Police on Monday released a photo of the maroon Polo cotton drawstring shorts the man was wearing.

Police described the man as between 5 feet, 6 inches and 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 160 to 180 pounds, with short black hair. The man had no tattoos but had a 1-inch scar on his left shoulder.

No signs of trauma were visible, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 609-522-2411.
SEA ISLE CITY  The HERO Campaign has been promoting the use of designated drivers for almost 17 years.

But those who join the fight against drunken driving this summer may save some money the next time they need a ride home, thanks to a new partnership.

The John R. Elliott HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers has partnered with the ride service Uber on an initiative that was announced at a June 26 press conference in the Sea Isle City council chambers. In an effort to encourage the use of designated drivers, the first 2,000 people to take the HERO pledge to prevent drunken driving will receive a code valid for up to $10 off an Uber ride anywhere in New Jersey.

Since its inception 17 years ago, 20,000 designated drivers have signed up by taking the HERO pledge. Bill Elliott, chairman of the HERO campaign, wants that number to keep climbing and thinks new initiatives like this will help.

Thanks to Uber, finding a designated driver is quick and easy, and it can be cheaper, too, Elliott said.

The first 2,000 people to take the HERO pledge will receive a unique Uber code valid for $10 off one ride beginning anywhere in New Jersey. The code expires June 26, 2018.

For Uber, the HERO Campaign seemed like a natural ally, as we both want to get people home safely, said Craig Ewer, of Uber New Jersey.

Uber General Manager Sarfraz Maredia echoed Ewers sentiments.

When its possible to push a button on your phone and get a safe ride in minutes, theres never an excuse for driving while under the influence, Maredia said.

To sign up to take the HERO pledge, visit HEROcampaign.org/Uber or text HEROUBER to 51-555 to receive an automatic response with a link to the pledge form.

Whether youre calling an Uber for your friends or acting as their designated driver, we want to make sure that no one is getting behind the wheel when theyve had too much to drink, Elliott said.

Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio praised the initiative.

Partnering with Uber will go a long way to help the HERO Campaigns cause, and we applaud all the hard work thats being done to save lives, Desiderio said.

The HERO Campaign honors the memory of Bill and Muriels son, John R. Elliott, who was killed in a crash with a drunken driver in July 2000 on Route 40 in Salem County.
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As is now traditional on WorldTempus, the summer solstice marked the start of our summer competitions. In a change to the previous format, in which each competition only lasted 24 hours, this years competitions will all remain open until 21st September. So, apart from a few exceptions (the competition to win VIP tickets to the Montreux Jazz festival offered by Parmigiani Fleurier, for example, ends at midnight tonight), you no longer have to worry about missing out for the sake of a day. Bookmark our competition page for an instant overview of the prizes on offer. You will find a new competition on this page every day until 21st September. Good luck!

The big competitions come just one week after we announced a new series of unique timepieces in commemoration of our 16th anniversary. Later this week Camille Gendre presents an altogether different unique piece, the Bell & Ross Vintage BR126 Aeronavale, illustrating the diversity of the models we are offering.



True watch geeks will hopefully appreciate my article, to be published on Thursday, on the finer details of the Calibre 08.01-L minute-repeater movement that powers the Chopard Full Strike Minute Repeater. A detailed presentation by Nicolas Schlappi, Chopards Research and Development Project Manager, revealed some of the hidden depths of this innovative and complex movement.



Help a student

How does a watch brand develop a communications strategy? How is it perceived by its customers and how effective is it? These are the questions that a student in Neuchatel is aiming to answer as part of their final year dissertation, tying the study in with local brand HYT. And they need your help! If you have a few minutes to spare, please consider completing the survey. All information will be treated anonymously.
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A Swiss photographer born in Aix-en-Provence (France) in 1978, Matthias Bruggmann is the winner of the second edition of the Prix Elysee, for his project entitled "A haunted world where it never shows". Chosen by an international jury of experts among eight nominees, his identity was revealed to the public at the Nuit des images, Saturday, June 24, 2017. Building on the framework of his prior work on contemporary conflicts, Matthias Bruggmann proposed, for the Prix Elysee, to continue a long-term photographic project launched in 2012 documenting the conflict in Syria. He receives the sum of CHF 80,000, to be divided between the completion of the proposed project and the publication of the accompanying book in June 2018.



"Matthias Bruggmanns work leaves no one indifferent", emphasizes Tatyana Franck, director of the Musee de lElysee. "The Musee de lElysee was built with photojournalism and has since then followed its evolution and was witness to its changing codes. Matthias Bruggmann questions them and reappropriates them in a committed work of wide-ranging scope". Andrew Sanigar, one of the members of the jury, points out that Matthias Bruggmans project presented us with insights into the complexities and the lives on the line in the Syrian crisis. His work is brave, startling, compelling, raw and sometimes bizarre. We see images of the war in Syria in our news media everyday, but the direct yet layered and intricate nature of Matthiass ways of working clearly has the potential to come together as a book that will, in some way, allow us to understand why Syria and its people have ended up in such a desperate situation.





 Matthias Bruggmann

Matthias Bruggmann is graduate of the Vevey School of Photography. His work, which respects the arbitrary norms of photojournalism, tends towards the deconstruction of the norms of representation in the photography of the real through the representation of complicated situations and places. He has worked, in particular, on and in Egypt, Haiti, Iraq, Somalia, Syria and Libya. He was part of the curatorial team for We Are All Photographers Now! for the Musee de lElysee, and is one of the cofounders of the contemporary art space Standard/Deluxe in Lausanne. He was also one of the photographers featured in the reGeneration2 exhibition presented by the Musee de lElysee in 2010. His work is part of the public collections of the Frac Midi-Pyrenees and the Musee de lElysee, as well as a number of private collections.



Matthias Bruggman speaks about his project: "Formally, my previous work put viewers in a position where they were asked to decide the nature of the work itself. A scientifically questionable analogy of this mechanism would be the observer effect in quantum physics, where the act of observing changes the nature of what is being observed. My Syrian work builds on this framework.

From a documentation perspective, it is, thus far and to the best of my knowledge, unique as the work, inside Syria, of a single Western photographer, in large part thanks to the assistance and hard work of some of the best independent experts on the conflict. Because of the nature of this conflict, I believe it is necessary to expand the geographical scope of the work.

At its core is an attempt at generating a sense of moral ambiguity. The design of this is to make viewers uneasy by challenging their own moral assumptions and, thus, attempt to bring, to Western viewers, a visceral comprehension of the intangible violence that underlies conflict. One of the means is by perverting the codes normally used in documentary photography to enhance identification with the subject. While perfectly conforming to accepted documentary norms, part of the work aims at eroding the viewers implicit faith in my own trustworthiness as a witness, and attempts to force a further reflection on the nature of what is presented.
LONDON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Industry leaders in mobile crowdsourcing form p artnership to offer an unprecedented level of coverage to customers across Europe and USA

P artnership makes available a c ombined crowd of 850,000 on-demand mobile crowdsourcing workers , that deliver exceptionally granular level s of in-store and street level data, at incredible speed to brands and retailers

BeMyEye simultaneously announces launch into five new European countries; Ireland , Portugal , Sweden , Poland and Czech Republic

BeMyEye, Europe's leading mobile crowdsourcing business, and Quri, USA's leading mobile crowdsourcing business, today announced a landmark strategic partnership deal designed to seamlessly connect their multinational blue chip customers with a combined crowd of 850,000 global on-demand workers across Europe and USA. BeMyEye also announced today that it has opened five new European markets, offering brands and retailers with a service that now includes 15 European countries.

The partnership will offer multinational FMCG, CPG, consumer brands, market research agencies and retailers the ability to run comparable trans-Atlantic crowdsourcing campaigns. The consolidated offering will display results in a centralised platform, providing like-for-like comparisons of in-store and street level data across the two continents. BeMyEye and Quri will now be the exclusive suppliers of mobile crowdsourced data for their respective customer base, in their respective territories.

Luca Pagano, CEO BeMyEye, comments, "Today the two industry leaders for mobile crowdsourcing in their respective markets have come together to offer our customers a much-needed consolidated offering for the collection of in-store and street level data." Pagano continued, "The partnership was an obvious fit of shared values: the high-quality level of data we deliver to our business customers, and our shared vision for improving the lives of unskilled workers by maximising their earning potential and minimising their worked hours."

Pagano concluded, "The partnership comes at the start of a period of rapid internationalisation for BeMyEye as we look to open more European markets by the end of 2017. Having as a partner the leading US mobile crowdsourcing company is a truly valuable prospect to offer our customers."

Justin Behar, CEO & Co-founder, Quri comments, "We work with many multinational clients, so we are excited about this partnership and the potential it provides to serve our clients abroad".

About BeMyEye

Founded in 2011 by Italian entrepreneur and innovator, Gian Luca Petrelli, BeMyEye is Europe's largest and most effective mobile crowdsourcing DaaS (Data as a Service) solution for actionable in-store retail and street level data, with more than 400,000 Eyes subscribing to tasks set by leading companies including Mattel, Coca Cola, P&G, Nestle, Samsung, Heineken, Lavazza and Universal.

BeMyEye leverage the power of our crowd to deliver real-time business insights of unparalleled accuracy to brands and retailers of all shapes and sizes whilst ensuring that our 'Eyes' have the potential to earn money in a way that fits in with their lifestyle. BeMyEye connects the Eyes with businesses looking for location-specific information, such as checking joint business plan compliance (such as in-store promotions, product launches and merchandising compliance), identifying numerical distribution or optimising the routines of in-house or agency-based field force teams. The crowdsourced insights uncover reliable, real world insights, from any location, at scale. This method empowers businesses to "see" thousands of locations within moments, giving them the intelligence to identify new revenue streams, uphold brand integrity, track joint business plans and make savings quickly.

BeMyEye operates in UK, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria and Benelux. The company is headquartered in the UK with offices in Italy, France and Spain, and is a VC-backed company with investment from Europe's leading venture capitalists, Nauta Capital, p101 and 360 Capital Partners. Visit http://www.bemyeye.com/

About Quri

Quri is the leader in Performance Driven Merchandising, transforming the in-store experience by providing continuous, real-time, store-level visibility into merchandising conditions across all major channels and retailers in the US market.

KraftHeinz, Nest, Red Bull and Johnson & Johnson plus 100+ other global companies rely on Quri to help optimize the $4 trillion dollars spent annually on retail go-to-market and in-store merchandising. Quri is powered by proprietary data quantifying the shopper view in-store and collected by an on-demand retail workforce. For more information on Quri or Performance Driven Merchandising, visit http://quri.com/.

For more information please contact:

David Miller

david.miller@bemyeye.com



SOURCE BeMyEye
Nearly half of companies plan to run their business on cloud infrastructure within three years

LONDON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses are rapidly embracing cloud infrastructure (IaaS) to boost performance and innovation levels, new research from Oracle has revealed. While negative perceptions around security, complexity and loss of control still present barriers to adoption, they are shown to be outdated myths, with those that have moved to IaaS proving the reality is far more positive.

Two thirds (66%) of businesses that are already using IaaS to some extent, say it makes it easier to innovate. The same proportion says moving to IaaS has significantly cut their time to deploy new applications or services. Furthermore, 64% say IaaS has significantly cut on-going maintenance costs and 59% of all respondents believe businesses not investing in IaaS will increasingly find themselves struggling to keep pace with businesses that are.

The research also found that experienced users are almost twice as likely to believe IaaS can provide world class operational performance in terms of availability, uptime and speed, compared to non-adopters. Although some fear the move to IaaS may be complicated, 64% of experienced IaaS users say the move was easier than they expected.

Most respondents agree IaaS will have a role to play in their business within three years, with 44% saying they will run most  or all of their business IT infrastructure on IaaS. Only 10% of respondents believe IaaS will still have little or no role in their business in three years.

James Stanbridge, Vice President Iaas Product Management at Oracle said: "When it comes to cloud adoption there has always been a case of perception lagging behind reality. Cloud is still relatively new to a lot of businesses and some outdated perceptions persist. We are now seeing high levels of success and satisfaction from businesses that are saving money, cutting complexity and driving exciting innovation thanks to cloud infrastructure. Those resisting the move need to challenge the perceptions holding them back because the longer they wait, the further ahead their competitors will pull."

About the Research and Further Reading

Oracle partnered with Longitude Research to survey 1,614 IT professionals in Australia, Germany, India, Italy, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea and the UK about the state of their cloud infrastructure implementation and how they expect to use the technology in the coming years. For the full results and more information, read Oracle's report "You & IaaS: The new generation".

About Oracle

The Oracle Cloud delivers hundreds of SaaS applications and enterprise-class PaaS and IaaS services to customers in more than 195 countries and territories while processing 55 billion transactions a day. For more information about Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com.

Trademarks

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/467598/Oracle_Logo.jpg

Related Links

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SOURCE Oracle
CHICAGO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Itiviti, a world-leading technology provider for the capital markets industry, and the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE), the modern and efficient alternative for companies looking to access the Canadian public capital markets, have partnered to deliver a state-of-the-art automated testing solution to enable continuous integration testing and defect reporting in the CSE's multi-protocol trading environment.

To deliver the solution, CSE deployed VeriFIX by Itiviti, the industry standard in automated testing, with multiple FIX protocol versions as well as proprietary binary protocols in order to implement full regression testing of order entry, market data feeds, and regulatory requirements for the CSE Trading System. This full regression testing suite facilitates validation of complete trading workflows across all protocols and interfaces.

"Itiviti has enabled CSE to regression test our platform and receive automation quality benefits both of which has added operational efficiencies to our release cycles," said David Timpany, Vice President, Technology & Operations for CSE. "Our regression testing time frame has been reduced from multiple people for four weeks to an overnight automated test run with defect report generation. With next day feedback to our development team, we have dramatically decreased the defect turnaround timeframe. These improvements will help us to continue offering our clients a competitive advantage in the marketplace."

Multi-protocol technologies are a top priority at Itiviti. Itiviti's solutions support both industry standard and proprietary protocols and are available for firms looking to redesign or scale-up their trading technology for future client demand.

"We are pleased to continue to partner with CSE to accelerate deployment of CSE's Trading System and help achieve cost and system efficiencies," said Jesper Alfredsson, President Americas, Itiviti. "Our work with CSE is another example of how Itiviti can help achieve test automation for FIX and proprietary protocols."

Firms that invest in multi-protocol technologies will be the leaders in offering high quality, reliable market access for a broader range of market participants.

About Itiviti

Itiviti is a world-leading technology provider for the capital markets industry. Trading firms, banks, brokers and institutional clients rely on Itiviti technology, solutions and expertise for streamlining daily operations, while gaining a sustainable competitive edge in global markets.

With 13 offices and serving more than 400 customers worldwide, Itiviti was formed by uniting Orc Group, a leader in trading and electronic execution, and CameronTec Group, the global standard in financial messaging infrastructure and connectivity. From its foundation in 2016, Itiviti has a staff of 400 and an estimated annual revenue of SEK 700 million.

Itiviti is committed to continuous innovation to deliver trading infrastructure built for today's dynamic markets, offering highly adaptable platforms and solutions, enabling clients to stay ahead of competitive and regulatory challenges.

Itiviti is owned by Nordic Capital Fund VII.

About CSE

CSE,

The Exchange for Entrepreneurs

, is home to more than 300 listed companies covering a broad range of industry sectors. CSE provides trade execution, smart routing, risk management, compliance and market information services for Canadian listed securities across multiple markets. Recognized as an exchange by the Ontario Securities Commission in 2004, the CSE is designed to facilitate the capital formation process for public companies through a streamlined approach to company regulation that emphasizes disclosure and the provision of efficient secondary market trading services for investors.

For further information, please contact:

Itiviti

Jesper Alfredsson, President Americas, Itiviti, Tel: +1-312-541-4500, jesper.alfredsson@itiviti.com

Megan Geldman, Senior Marketing Manager Americas, Itiviti, Tel: +1-312-541-4181, megan.geldman@itiviti.com

www.itiviti.com

Follow Itiviti on social media on Twitter @Itiviti_AB, on Facebook @ItivitiAB, and on LinkedIn

CSE

David Timpany, Vice President, Technology & Operations, CSE, Tel: 416-367-7355, david.timpany@thecse.com

www.thecse.com; CSE blog at http://blog.thecse.com

Follow the CSE on social media on Twitter @CSE_News and on Instagram and Facebook @CanadianSecuritiesExchange

CONTACT:

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/itiviti-group-ab/r/itiviti-delivers-multi-protocol-automated-testing-for-cse-system,c2294834

The following files are available for download:

http://mb.cision.com/Main/13830/2294834/692279.pdf Press release in PDF format

Related Links

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SOURCE Itiviti Group AB
BANGKOK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On the occasion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 50th anniversary, Thailand, as a co-founder of the ASEAN, aims to strengthen ASEAN by promoting Inclusivity, Human Security and Sustainable Development.

The key ingredient to ASEAN's past success and a critical factor in ASEAN's bright future is its people, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand, stated. So it is on people where the ASEAN Community should focus its efforts. Therefore, Inclusivity, Human Security and Sustainable Development are important priorities that ASEAN should undertake to make an even better and stronger ASEAN for the next generation.

The first priority is Inclusivity, ASEAN should encourage the participation of people and groups, from all walks of life and from all regions, in community-building.

Thailand attaches such importance to bringing ASEAN to the people and the people to ASEAN. The country launched a program to build "ASEAN Libraries" in over twenty provinces nationwide. It has included various organizations and groups, from youths to civil society organizations, in a regular dialogue to develop ASEAN's policies.

In addition, Thailand has translated key ASEAN documents into braille, in Thai and English, as well as developed audio-tapes, that will allow a wider segment of the population to have access to information about ASEAN. After all, ASEAN is a Community for all, not for just a few.

For an ASEAN Community, people must be protected and nurturedas it is the most important resources. In so doing, Human security is the second priority that ASEAN should pay high attention to. People should have access to sufficient food, water and other resources for them to have productive lives and live in dignity. That is why ASEAN stresses the development of human resources, from youths to the labour force, from migrant workers to a growing active ageing population. This can fulfill their potentials and contribute to a more dynamic and resilient ASEAN Community.

Moreover, the welfare of the people must also be protected from the challenges of illicit drugs, human trafficking, and pandemics, amongst others. Through Thailand's initiative, we have made progress in trying to create a drug-free ASEAN, and the ASEAN NARCO Centre in Bangkok will be an important tool to help achieve this goal. Thailand is also taking the lead to enhance the welfare of the elderly and giving them the tools and opportunity to become a key part of the society. That is why we have launched an "Active Ageing" initiative that will help promote the human security of our ageing population. Indeed, Thailand is one of the few countries in the world to have a Ministry on human security.

Last but not least, the sustainable development should also be promoted as it is not only a global commitment but also an important regional responsibility. For Thailand, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been at the top of its national policies. Thailand believes that sharing experiences and learning from one another could help countries achieve the global goal of SDGs. That is why 'turning vision into reality' on sustainable development was the main goal of our G77 Chairmanship last year and a main goal of Thailand in ASEAN now.

In February 2016, Thailand was honoured to be assigned as ASEAN's coordinator on sustainable development issues. One of our priorities is to promote the complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the United Nations 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

Since then Thailand has been working closely with other ASEAN Member States and friends outside of ASEAN, especially the United Nations and the World Bank, to synchronize efforts to meet both regional and global goals together.

ASEAN would have to focus on developing catalysts at the regional level that cut across the various sustainable development goals (SDGs) and better enable all of us to achieve several SDGs at the same time.

In summary, ASEAN will need to continue its people-centered agenda, beyond its fiftieth anniversary, if it wishes to continue to be relevant. Because without the active participation of the people, without the engagement of this ultimate stakeholder of ASEAN in its policy-making, ASEAN itself will be left behind -- and the people of Southeast Asia will turn elsewhere.

Together, ASEAN countries can work to promote Inclusivity, Human Security, and Sustainable Development in the ASEAN Community -- so that all may have a voice, and no one is left behind.

For more information, please contact:

Department of ASEAN Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand

Tel. +66 2203 5000 ext. 14431

SOURCE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand
"With events in more than 50 countries, Week of Possibilities is one of the biggest and farthest-reaching programs we help facilitate," said Gared Jones, senior vice president, Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. "It's a joy to help employees create impact by focusing on the most meaningful needs in their communities and to watch these transformations take place around the world."

AbbVie launched Week of Possibilities in 2014, focusing on projects in North Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., where the company is based. The AbbVie initiative continued to grow, and in 2016, the program volunteered more than 25,000 service hours in 50 countries. Week of Possibilities is powered by the AbbVie Foundation, which provides funding for school renovations, public libraries, computer labs and science labs, playgrounds and housing.

"Week of Possibilities demonstrates our deep commitment to giving back to our communities and people in need. These volunteer opportunities are critically important to who we are as a company and the fabric of our culture. I am tremendously proud of the remarkable impact we make during Week of Possibilities and beyond," said Richard A. Gonzalez, chairman and chief executive officer, AbbVie.

Some of the service projects include:

In Lake County, Illinois , U.S.A., AbbVie's headquarters, approximately 2,500 AbbVie volunteers will lead science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives for school-age children, renovate classrooms and meeting spaces of North Chicago Community High School, and build a new playground at A.J. Katzenmaier Academy. At Bernie's Book Bank, volunteers will sort and process 500,000 books for 75,000 students in the Chicagoland area.

, U.S.A., AbbVie's headquarters, approximately 2,500 AbbVie volunteers will lead science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives for school-age children, renovate classrooms and meeting spaces of North Chicago Community High School, and build a new playground at A.J. Katzenmaier Academy. At Bernie's Book Bank, volunteers will sort and process 500,000 books for 75,000 students in the Chicagoland area. In Worcester, Massachusetts , U.S.A., AbbVie volunteers will transform the Science Lab at Worcester East Middle School, bringing new technology, books, lab materials and equipment to the 890 students, faculty and families the school serves.

, U.S.A., AbbVie volunteers will transform the Science Lab at Worcester East Middle School, bringing new technology, books, lab materials and equipment to the 890 students, faculty and families the school serves. In San Jose, California , U.S.A., AbbVie and Pharmacyclics volunteers will build a playground in just six hours, to support the rapidly growing student body of Los Arboles Elementary School. Local children put crayon to paper to draw their dream playgrounds, and these concepts were used to design the brand-new play space.

, U.S.A., AbbVie and Pharmacyclics volunteers will build a playground in just six hours, to support the rapidly growing student body of Los Arboles Elementary School. Local children put crayon to paper to draw their dream playgrounds, and these concepts were used to design the brand-new play space. In Phoenix, Arizona ; Los Angeles, California ; Tampa, Florida ; Atlanta, Georgia ; Kansas City, Missouri ; Brooklyn, New York ; Dallas, Texas ; Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; AbbVie's field-based teams will partner with Heart of America on additional educational renovation projects around the United States .

"Building community is at the heart of our mission and AbbVie's as well," said Jill Heath, president and CEO of Heart of America Foundation. "We are thrilled to continue touching communities from coast-to-coast in the United States and Puerto Rico this year during AbbVie's Week of Possibilities."

Follow the #AbbVieGivesBack story on AbbVie.com, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company committed to developing innovative advanced therapies for some of the world's most complex and critical conditions. The company's mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to markedly improve treatments across four primary therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, virology and neuroscience. In more than 75 countries, AbbVie employees are working every day to advance health solutions for people around the world. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

About The AbbVie Foundation

The AbbVie Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation, is dedicated to having a remarkable impact on the lives of the underserved around the world through a commitment to building strong communities, sustainable health care systems and effective educational programs. For more information please visit www.abbviefoundation.org.

About Bernie's Book Bank

Bernie's Book Bank sources, processes and distributes quality children's books to significantly increase book ownership among at-risk infants, toddlers and school-age children throughout Chicagoland. Bernie's Book Bank delivers 12 quality books per year to empower at-risk children, ages birth through sixth grade, to read their way to a better life. Since 2009, Bernie's Book Bank has distributed more than 9 MILLION quality books. In cooperation with 25,000+ volunteers, this year Bernie's Book Bank will serve more than 333,000 at-risk children with 12 quality children's books annually. For more information about Bernie's Book Bank, visit www.berniesbookbank.org

About Heart of America

The Heart of America transforms spaces into modern learning environments so that students and communities can learn and grow. Over the past 20 years, Heart of America has transformed more than 360 educational spaces and provided over 1 million children living in poverty with over 4 million library and take-home books. The national nonprofit has engaged volunteers in more than 1,075,000 hours of service to communities nationwide. For more information, please visit www.heartofamerica.org.



About KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids  particularly those growing up in poverty in America  the childhood they deserve filled with balanced and active play, so they can thrive. Since1996, KaBOOM! has collaborated with partners to build, open, or improve more than 16,700 playgrounds, engaged more than one million volunteers, and served 8.5 million kids. KaBOOM! creates great places to play, inspires communities to promote and support play, and works to drive the national discussion about the importance of play in fostering healthy and productive lives. To learn why #playmatters and why cities are embracing #playability: visit kaboom.org or join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom or facebook.com/kaboom.

About North Chicago Community Partners

North Chicago Community Partners (NCCP) was created in 2008 to help address the significant challenges facing the children and families of North Chicago. During the past eight years, NCCP has evolved from a well-intentioned idea into a highly regarded model for supporting public education in under-funded communities. Through its unique community school model, NCCP now supports the children, families and staff of every public school in North Chicago, pre-kindergarten through grade 12. By leveraging the resources of the broader community, NCCP is able to provide a menu of programs and services that complement classroom instruction, enhance student learning, strengthen school climate, actively engage parents and address the needs of the whole child.

About Points of Light

Points of Light  the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service  mobilizes millions of people to take action that is changing the world. Through affiliates in 250 cities and partnerships with thousands of nonprofits and corporations, Points of Light engages 4 million volunteers in 30 million hours of service each year. We bring the power of people to bear where it's needed most. For more information, go to www.pointsoflight.org.

SOURCE AbbVie

Related Links

http://www.abbvie.com


LAS VEGAS, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Adam S. Kutner, the leading personal injury attorney in Las Vegas, NV, has donated $2,000 to help feed those in need in the Las Vegas Valley. This is part of Kutner's initiative to continue to give back to the community and help those in need. The money donated should amount to roughly 6,000 meals to those who are currently going hungry.

"Las Vegas is my home, and it's my responsibility to help improve the community as much as I can," Kutner said. "I enjoy helping those I can, and also feel an obligation to contribute to improve the lives of those who live in Las Vegas."

This donation is part of an ongoing effort by Kutner to continue to give back and improve the community he has served for decades. The Adam Kutner Cares initiative contributes time and resources to multiple charities and organizations to assist in making the community and industry better for everyone. He also awards scholarships each year to help student gain funds to study to become lawyers.

Adam S. Kutner & Associates is the leading personal injury law firm in Las Vegas, Nevada. With over two decades of proven results in the state of Nevada, Kutner has become a household name around the Las Vegas Valley. In addition to the donations Kutner makes directly to organizations in the community, he also created a scholarship program to further assist students in need. More information about Mr. Kutner and his scholarship can be found on his website: http://www.adamkutnercares.com/

SOURCE Adam S. Kutner & Associates
COLUMBUS, Ga., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leader in voluntary insurance sales at the worksite in the United States, announced today that the company took home eight Stevie Awards from the American Business Awards at a banquet last week in New York City. The company was honored with four gold awards, two silver, and two bronze in the areas of Communications, Technology, Human Resources, Corporate Social Responsibility, Cybersecurity and Financial Services.

The Stevie Awards were created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working professionals worldwide. Stevie Awards judges include many of the world's most respected executives, entrepreneurs, innovators and business educators.

"Winning a Stevie American Business Award provides validation that our honorees are doing business the right way," Stevie President Michael Gallagher said. "Aflac can feel great pride in taking home eight awards in areas ranging from technology and communications to cybersecurity and corporate social responsibility, including four Gold Stevies. Congratulations to Aflac for this achievement."

The awards won by Aflac are:

Gold

IT Executive of the Year, Julia Davis , Aflac CIO

HR Executive of the Year, Matthew Owenby , Aflac CHRO

PR Executive of the Year, Jon Sullivan , Director of Corporate Communications

Communications Team of the Year, Aflac Corporate Communications

Silver

Tech Innovator of the Year, Tim Callahan , Aflac Global CISO

CSR Program of the Year, Aflac "Leaving Your Duckprints"

Bronze

Financial Services Executive of the Year, June Howard , Aflac CAO

Communications or PR Campaign of the Year for Social Media, Aflac Spotlights Workplace Diversity

About Aflac

When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For more than six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leader in voluntary insurance sales at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day PaySM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures 1 in 4 households. Aflac insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For 11 consecutive years, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. In 2017, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the 19th consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of Most Admired Companies for the 16th time. In 2015, Aflac's contact centers were recognized by J.D. Power by providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" for the Live Phone Channel. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day PaySM, visit aflac.com or espanol.aflac.com.

Aflac herein means American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus and American Family Life Assurance Company of New York.

Media contact  Jon Sullivan, 706.763.4813 or [email protected]

Analyst and investor contact  David A. Young, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX 706.324.6330, or [email protected]

SOURCE Aflac

Related Links

http://www.aflac.com


NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC welcomed the United States Supreme Court decision to hear oral argument on the legality of President Trump's Executive Order of March 6, limiting admission of immigrants from six predominantly Muslim countries.

AJC has maintained that the Executive Order was not sufficiently grounded in real threats to national security to withstand judicial scrutiny. The Administration appealed to the Supreme Court after lower courts upheld the injunction against implementing the Executive Order.

In an amicus brief filed in one case, AJC stated that "The executive order lacks a sufficiently rational connection to the national security problems it purports to address," and that it is "contrary to our nation's long history of rational Executive and Legislative action for the humanitarian protection of persecuted populations."

Regarding the Supreme Court decision, AJC noted that it left in place the lower courts' injunctions recognizing that individuals from those countries who can prove a "bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States" are not subject to the Executive Order's arbitrary provisions.

"The issues raised by these cases are complex, and have implications reaching well beyond the confines of President Trump's order. AJC looks forward to arguing against the Executive Order at the Supreme Court level, as it did in the lower court," said AJC General Counsel Marc Stern.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


The flight will depart Portland at 7:30 a.m. PDT and fly off the coast of Oregon, allowing guests on board to be among the first of millions to witness this phenomenon. The invitation-only flight is not commercially bookable, but Alaska Airlines is giving one lucky fan and a guest a chance to win a seat on the flight. The contest begins July 21 on Alaska Airlines' social media channels.

Weather is the largest variable when it comes to eclipse-viewing, and the Pacific Northwest is more prone to inclement weather and overcast skies than other parts of the country. However, Alaska Airlines is making sure eclipse chasers on the West Coast have prime viewing conditions, above much of any potential weather or cloud cover.

"As an airline, we are in a unique position to provide a one-of-a-kind experience for astronomy enthusiasts," said Sangita Woerner, Alaska's vice president of marketing "Flying high above the Pacific Ocean will not only provide one of the first views, but also one of the best."

"The Great American Eclipse" is the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in United States history since 1918. It will be viewable first from above the Pacific Ocean, before appearing in Oregon and following a diagonal path across the country to South Carolina.

While the eclipse will be visible from all over North America, totality will only be visible from specific locations across the United States. For enthusiasts looking to chase the eclipse elsewhere, the total solar eclipse is viewable within driving distance from the following Alaska Airlines destinations: Redmond/Bend, Oregon; Sun Valley, Idaho; Charleston; Nashville; St. Louis; Atlanta and Kansas City, Missouri. Flights to the prime Pacific Northwest viewing destinations of Redmond and Sun Valley are already filling up for the week of the eclipse.

At the request of eclipse-chasers in 2016, Alaska Airlines adjusted its flight path to optimize viewing of a total solar eclipse over the Pacific Ocean. With the previous eclipse, passengers aboard the flight from Anchorage to Honolulu were some of the last in the world to witness the total solar eclipse. In August, Alaska Airlines guests aboard the charter flight will be among the first to observe "The Great American Eclipse."

Eclipse Chaser Facts

Get the gear: Watching partial stages of the eclipse requires eye protection. GreatAmericanEclipse.com provides official eclipse-viewing glasses, special for the upcoming event.

Over 12 million people live inside the path of totality of "The Great American Eclipse."

As the eclipse continues its path across the country, the zone of totality will average about 70 miles wide. However, a large partial eclipse of the sun will be visible from most of the continental United States .

. Learn more at https://eclipse.aas.org/

Alaska Airlines, together with Virgin America and its regional partners, flies 40 million guests a year to 118 destinations with an average of 1,200 daily flights across the United States and to Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica and Cuba. With Alaska and Alaska Global Partners, guests can earn and redeem miles on flights to more than 900 destinations worldwide. Alaska Airlines ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Carriers in North America" in the J.D. Power North America Satisfaction Study for 10 consecutive years from 2008 to 2017. Alaska Mileage Plan ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Airline Loyalty Rewards Programs" in the J.D. Power 2016 Airline Loyalty/Rewards Program Satisfaction Report for the last three consecutive years. Learn more about Alaska's award-winning service and unmatched reliability at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines, Virgin America and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK).

SOURCE Alaska Airlines

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LAS VEGAS, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Denver-based Ardent Mills, the premier flour-milling and ingredient company, is returning to the annual Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Meeting & Food Expo. This year's show will take place from June 25-28, 2017 at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, where Ardent Mills will be found at Booth 1062.

Introducing Ardent Mills Great Plains Quinoa

In March, 2017, Ardent Mills became part of the largest quinoa growing network in North America, and will premiere the Ardent Mills Great Plains Quinoa line of products to the IFT crowd.

"Our Ardent Mills Great Plains Quinoa addresses the challenges faced when the quinoa market is affected by South American supply challenges and year over year price fluctuations," says Mike Veal, Ardent Mills Vice President of Marketing. "Quinoa grown locally under our new Ardent Mills Great Plains Quinoa brand will be delivered with all the supply assurances that are available from Ardent Mills and will support North American family farms in the program. Available in whole seeds, whole grain flour, crisps, and flakes, Ardent Mills Great Plains Quinoa also reinforces our commitment to food safety, quality, supply transparency, and price predictability."

A Portfolio of Grain Innovation

Ardent Mills' grain industry experts and culinary team will work from its one-of-a-kind booth  the Ardent Mills Mobile Innovation Center (MIC),  and will deliver a taste of what's next in a new era of grain, including:

Ancient & Heirloom Grains, including Spelt and Triticale.

Nature's Color TM Barley, including Pure-Purple TM Barley, Blackjack TM Barley and True Blue TM Barley

Barley, including Pure-Purple Barley, Blackjack Barley and True Blue Barley Sustagrain Barley.

New Organic Ultragrain Whole Wheat Flour, including hard and soft varieties.

Mixes & Blends: From bakery and pizza mixes to pre-mixed/custom grain and seed blends, we can help you develop products with flavor, texture, fiber and whole grains that your customers will notice.

Simply Milled by Ardent Mills TM : A clean label line of products with no bleach, bromate or other additives.

: A clean label line of products with no bleach, bromate or other additives. SafeGuard Flour and SafeGuard Treatment and Delivery System: Our solution for flour-related food safety concerns, SafeGuard helps maintain flour's natural flavor, color, absorption, appearance and gluten functionality, while reducing raw flour-related pathogen risk and is suitable for ready-to-eat applications.

Innovative Grain-based Cuisine

Ardent Mills' culinary staff, led by Executive Development Chef Daniel Marciani, will be serving delicious and creative grain-based dishes from the MIC, which includes a full kitchen and baking center. Chef Marciani has created a three-day sampling menu that will show industry professionals how quinoa and other grain innovations can meet the demand for safe, simple, delicious and wholesome foods. Some of the chef's creations will include: Quinoa Arancini and Chocolate Bites; Pure-PurpleTM Barley Sorbet; breakfast porridge made with Amaranth and Teff seeds; and Chicken Ranch Sandwich made with an Organic Ultragrain Bun.

Grains in Digestive Health

On Monday, June 26 from 12:15 pm to 12:45 pm, Ardent Mills' Principle Scientist Sumana Bell will share her expertise in an IFT Next Talk addressing the benefits of Ardent Mills' Sustagrain, the highest fiber of any commercially available barley, on digestion, the microbiome and the FDA's new regulation for fiber RDA. Ardent Mills is a Bronze Sponsor of the IFT's Next Talk series.

About Ardent Mills

Ardent Mills is the premier flour-milling and ingredient company whose vision is to be the trusted partner in nurturing its customers, consumers and communities through innovative and nutritious grain-based solutions. Ardent Mills' operations and services are supported by more than 40 flour mills and bakery-mix facilities along with a specialty bakery and Mobile Innovation Center, all located in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Deeply rooted in communities throughout North America, Ardent Mills is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and employs more than 100 certified millers, supporting thousands of local jobs and contributing billions of dollars to local economies. To learn more about Ardent Mills, visit ardentmills.com.

SOURCE Ardent Mills

Related Links

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ARLINGTON, Va., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, American Trucking Associations joined with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the American Bus Association and AAA to unveil the Our Roads, Our Safety partnership aimed at reducing highway fatalities.

"ATA, through our Share the Road highway safety program, has been educating the motoring public about safety for more than three decades, and we are excited to expand our partnership with FMCSA and other highway users," said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. "The trucking industry is committed to reducing vehicle accidents, and to meet its safety goals, investing more than $9.5 billion on safety each year in the form of training, technology and developing safety messages like we've done in the Our Roads, Our Safety partnership."

Our Roads, Our Safety is an effort to build a coalition of highway users focused on producing strong, collaborative highway safety messages and using innovative strategies to promote the group's messages to targeted audiences. ATA, FMCSA, ABA and AAA have a common goal of reducing the number of crashes on our nation's roads, specifically crashes involving large commercial vehicles. To that purpose, the Our Roads, Our Safety campaign is developing a series of safety videos, advertisements, infographics and social media shareable images to spread safety tips and reminders throughout the country.

"At ATA, we feel it is our duty to work alongside allies in the highway safety sector to insure that all safety messages are shaped by the professional truck drivers dedicated to promoting highway safety in their day to day operations," said ATA Executive Vice President of Industry Affairs and COO Elisabeth Barna. "We are proud to work with ABA, AAA and FMCSA to spread a common message that whether you are a truck driver, bus driver or general motorist, we are all responsible for safely sharing our nation's highways."

The first Our Roads, Our Safety video covers commercial vehicle blind spots. Coalition partners developed a comprehensive, easy-to-remember animation to provide viewers with a simple explanation of safe and unsafe maneuvers surrounding commercial vehicles. The animation highlights safe zones around a truck and asks drivers to only pass commercial vehicles on the driver's side, if possible.

Our Roads, Our Safety is also releasing a nationwide social media campaign to generate positive awareness about highway safety. The campaign aims to spread a safety message among critical demographics in key states in order to amplify the visibility and further reduce highway crashes.

ATA's Share the Road program tours the country to promote safety on the highways by meeting with schools groups, drivers' education classes, the media and community networks. In partnership with Our Roads, Our Safety, Share the Road continues to develop powerful messages and reach larger audiences each year.

Share the Road is a highway safety outreach program of the American Trucking Associations that educates all drivers about sharing the roads safely with large trucks. An elite team of professional truck drivers with millions of accident-free miles deliver life-saving messages to millions of motorists annually. The safety program is sponsored by Mack Trucks Inc., and supported by TA-Petro, Pre-Pass, Hyundai Translead, OmniTracs, SmartDrive, Mack Leasing, P.S.I., and Bendix. www.atastr.org. Follow Share the Road on Twitter and Facebook.

American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight. Follow ATA on Twitter or on Facebook. Trucking Moves America Forward.

SOURCE American Trucking Associations

Related Links

http://www.trucking.org


FREMONT, Calif., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, NEXTracker, the global leader in solar tracker technology, has been awarded a 2017 Top Workplaces honor by the Bay Area News Group. The Top Workplaces lists are based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by WorkplaceDynamics, LLC, a leading research firm that specializes in organizational health and workplace improvement. Several aspects of workplace culture were measured, including Alignment, Execution, and Connection, just to name a few.

"The Top Workplaces award is not a popularity contest. And oftentimes, people assume it's all about fancy perks and benefits," said Doug Claffey, CEO of WorkplaceDynamics. "But to be a Top Workplace, organizations must meet our strict standards for organizational health. And who better to ask about work life than the people who live the culture every daythe employees. Time and time again, our research has proven that what's most important to them is a strong belief in where the organization is headed, how it's going to get there, and the feeling that everyone is in it together. Without this sense of connection, an organization doesn't have a shot at being named a Top Workplace."

"We are honored to be recognized as one of the Bay Area Top Workplaces, and most appreciative to our amazing team of solar professionals for helping create our culture and company," said NEXTracker CEO Dan Shugar. "In four short years, our team has accomplished the remarkable, including the creation of six new global office and manufacturing locations, and the introduction of many new products and services. We continue to invest in staff career development and, most importantly, facilitate active communication and transparency throughout the company. From bike-to-work day, which we turned into a month-long campaign, to our passionate EV-driving staff, our employees really value their roles in creating a clean energy future."

In the four years since its founding, NEXTracker has risen to the number-one market share position within its solar equipment category, with over 8 gigawatts of its award-winning NX Horizon solar trackers sold or installed globally. Shugar and the other co-founders have led this record-breaking growth with a triple-bottom-line mentality guiding company culture and workforce development. In fact, half of the energy requirements of the NEXTracker headquarters and laboratories are offset by an on-site solar farm adjacent to the main building. Taken from the WorkplaceDynamics survey conducted in late 2016, here are a few things NEXTracker employees are saying:

"NEXTracker is the perfect blend of culture and challenge."

"I know I'm directly contributing to bringing more solar power to the planet, one system at a time, positively impacting the effects of climate change."

"Huge growth potential working among smart, compassionate, motivated colleagues and leadership."

"From the top down, the leadership at NEXTracker has a goal to save the world while building a great company."

"I feel appreciated knowing that I provide an important role at NEXTracker."

"I love that I get to talk to customers on a daily basis and am able to travel to project sites."

NEXTracker continually reinforces its commitment to the environment and its community, from the 25 free electric vehicle charging stations it provides (all powered by on-site solar), to company-sponsored vanpools, and support of volunteer activities such as installing solar for low-income families and sponsoring solar education for Bay Area public schools. With company-sponsored outdoor yoga classes, onsite bikes that enable employees to enjoy a daily ride at local East Bay parks, and a dog-friendly workplace, NEXTracker continues to lead the way with people-focused benefits programs.

What is it like to work at NEXTracker? Watch this video to learn more. Looking for your next big role in solar? Check out our career page for job listings.

About NEXTracker

NEXTracker, a Flex company, advances the power plant of the future with solar tracker, energy storage, and software innovations to increase performance and reduce costs for power plants of all sizes. As the number-one tracker supplier worldwide with over 8 GW of systems sold, NEXTracker is globally recognized for delivering the most advanced photovoltaic solutions for hundreds of projects across five continents. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company has offices in India, Europe, China, Latin America, and Australia. For more information, visit NEXTracker.com and follow the company on Twitter @NEXTracker.

About WorkplaceDynamics, LLC

Headquartered in Exton, PA, WorkplaceDynamics specializes in employee feedback surveys and workplace improvement. This year alone, more than two million employees in over 6,000 organizations will participate in the Top Workplaces campaigna program it conducts in partnership with more than 40 prestigious media partners across the United States. WorkplaceDynamics also provides consulting services to improve employee engagement and organizational health. WorkplaceDynamics is a founding B Corporation member, a coalition of organizations that are leading a global movement to redefine success in business by offering a positive vision of a better way to do business.

SOURCE NEXTracker

Related Links

http://www.nextracker.com


BOSTON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Beacon Health Options, a national leader in behavioral health management, announced today its 16th annual sponsorship of the Welcome Center at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) National Convention to be held in Washington, D.C. from June 28 - July 1. The theme of the 2017 convention is "Educate, Empower, Engage."

The Welcome Center serves as the hub for the convention's more than 2,000 attendees to obtain a wide range of assistancefrom taking a moment's rest from the fast-paced convention activities, to receiving help with mental health issues, such as anxiety or lost or forgotten medication. Clinical staff, including a psychiatrist, are available 24 hours a day to support individuals throughout the convention. Most of the individuals who staff the Welcome Center are certified peer specialists or people with lived experience.

"For just over a decade and a half, our company has had the privilege to serve as a national convention sponsor to NAMI and to help change the conversation about mental illness," said Beacon Health Options President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Murphy. "We look forward to continuing our partnership with NAMI on promoting these important conversations through our 'Advocacy in Action' efforts at the state and federal levels."

Two Beacon experts will speak at the convention. Program Director Juan De Cardenas will discuss "Measuring Outcomes that Matter" and how patient feedback can inform behavioral health treatment. Vice President, Recovery and Wellness Clarence Jordan will serve on a the "99 Faces" workshop panel that looks at the stigma that is still associated with mental illnesses.

The company also has a booth, no.913, in the convention exhibit hall that provides information on a variety of mental health topics, including tips on peer support and suicide prevention. Beacon will have information on its white paper, "We Need to Talk About Suicide," which promotes the Zero Suicide model as the best approach to shift how we think about and treat suicide.

About Beacon Health Options

Beacon Health Options is a managed behavioral health company that serves 50 million individuals across all 50 states and the United Kingdom. On behalf of employers, health plans and government agencies, we manage innovative programs and solutions that directly address the challenges our behavioral health care system faces today. Beacon is a national leader in the fields of mental and emotional well-being, addiction, recovery and resilience, employee assistance, and wellness. We help people make the difficult life changes needed to be healthier and more productive. Partnering with a network of providers nationwide, we help individuals live their lives to the fullest potential. For more information, visit www.beaconhealthoptions.com and connect with us on www.facebook.com/beaconhealthoptions, www.twitter.com/beaconhealthopt and www.linkedin.com/company/beacon-health-options.

About NAMI

NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI advocates for access to services, treatment, support and research, and is steadfast in its commitment to raising awareness and building a community of hope.

SOURCE Beacon Health Options

Related Links

https://www.beaconhealthoptions.com


ARLINGTON, Va., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Law today announced the establishment of its Health Care Practice Innovation Board, which will provide input and consultation on new products, offer feedback on enhancements to current offerings, and inform the direction of its health care and life sciences practice solutions. The board is comprised of current and prospective clients and its members represent a wide range of health care and life sciences specialties from across the country.

"Our goal is to enable our clients to provide excellent counsel and stay ahead of market developments, especially in the complex and always evolving healthcare space, and to that end it is critical that we incorporate ongoing feedback from practicing health care lawyers as part of our efforts to provide impactful solutions," said John Maloney, Commercial Director for Bloomberg Law. "We are honored that 17 leading attorneys have agreed to join this board to consult with us and guide our enhancements to existing offerings and help us develop new solutions."

"With health care innovation occurring at a rapid rate, health care lawyers need to keep up on the various changes affecting their clients in the areas of clinical service delivery, regulation, payment and general operations," said Emily Wein, a shareholder in Baker Donelson's Baker Ober Health Law Group in Baltimore. "In this environment, Bloomberg Law's Health Care Practice Center and comprehensive legal and business intelligence platform provide invaluable practice tools," she added. "As a Bloomberg Law client, I look forward to serving on the Health Care Practice Innovation Board to help improve the product's offerings."

Full biographies of each member can be found at https://www.bna.com/health-care-practice-innovation-board/. Board members are:

Matthew Arend , Dinsmore & Shohl

Anthony Choe , Polsinelli

Jordan Cohen , Mintz Levin

William Conaboy , Buchanan Ingersol & Rooney

Brett Friedman , Ropes & Gray

Elliot Golding , Squire Patton Boggs

Lauren Groebe , Morgan Lewis

Jade Kelly , Arent Fox

Donielle McCutcheon , Sidley Austin

Adam Romney , Davis Wright & Tremaine

Katherine Schilling , Jones Day

Danielle Sloane , Bass, Berry & Sims

Allan Thoen , Pepper Hamilton

Dale Van Demark , McDermott Will & Emery

Judith Waltz , Foley & Lardner

Krissa Webb , Drinker Biddle

Emily Wein , Baker Donelson

About Bloomberg BNA

Bloomberg BNA provides legal, tax and compliance professionals with critical information, practical guidance and workflow solutions. We leverage leading technology and a global network of experts to deliver a unique combination of news and authoritative analysis, comprehensive research solutions, innovative practice tools, and proprietary business data and analytics. Bloomberg BNA is an affiliate of Bloomberg L.P., the global business, financial information and news leader. For more information, visit www.bna.com.

About Bloomberg Law

Bloomberg Law helps legal professionals provide world-class counsel with access to actionable legal intelligence in a business context. Bloomberg Law delivers a unique combination of practical guidance, comprehensive primary and secondary source material, trusted content from Bloomberg BNA, news, time-saving practice tools, market data and business intelligence. For more information, visit www.bna.com/bloomberglaw.

SOURCE Bloomberg Law

Related Links

http://www.bna.com/bloomberglaw


BOSTON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Andrew Dreyfus, President & CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, released the following statement on the Better Care Reconciliation Act proposed by U.S. Senate:

"At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, our highest priority is to ensure that quality health coverage is accessible and affordable for our members, employer customers, and the community.

While the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act contains certain short-term provisions to stabilize health insurance markets, in the long term the bill's significant Medicaid cuts would result in the loss of health coverage for millions of Americans. In short, the Senate bill undermines meaningful progress that our state and nation have made to extend the peace of mind and security of insurance coverage to those who need it the most.

We believe there is a better path available to Senate leaders: stabilize insurance markets in the short term and work toward bipartisan solutions that will create a high-quality, sustainable, and affordable health care system.

We look forward to continuing to play a constructive role as a trusted resource in shaping the future of health care."

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (bluecrossma.com) is a community-focused, tax-paying, notforprofit health plan headquartered in Boston. We're the trusted health plan for more than 25,000 Massachusetts employers and are committed to working with others in a spirit of shared responsibility to make quality health care affordable. Consistent with our corporate promise to always put our 2.8 million members first, we're rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Related Links

http://www.bluecrossma.com/


SAN FRANCISCO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Our mission at Blue Shield of California is to ensure that all Californians have access to high quality health care at an affordable price. It is the standard against which we measure all health care policy proposals. Unfortunately, the current Better Care Reconciliation Act does not meet that standard and therefore we oppose it.

Under the Affordable Care Act, 5 million Californians have obtained meaningful, and potentially life-saving, access to health care  many for the first time. This bill would put coverage out of reach or even take coverage away from far too many of them. California is not alone. States all across the country would not be able to make up for the dramatic cuts in federal Medicaid funding and would be forced to take people off the program or to reduce benefits. This is not an acceptable outcome.

While the bill takes important steps to stabilize the individual commercial market, the reduction in financial assistance and the elimination of help for paying out-of-pocket costs eventually would mean that many would not be able to afford the care they need. For example, the revised tax credit would be based on a high-deductible plan, which would require a deductible of $7,350 under current rules. When the cost sharing reduction program ends, a person earning $16,600 a year could face a deductible of more than 40 percent of their household income on top of their premium costs. While the bill provides some funding that could alleviate these changes, it is not sufficient and it is not permanent.

The proposed legislation attempts to reduce the federal government's fiscal burden of providing health care, and we fully support that goal. The status quo is not a viable long-term option. We need reforms that actually drive down health care cost trends so that high quality health care is affordable for everyone  including individuals, employers and state governments  not just the federal government.

Therefore, while we encourage senators to vote "no" on this bill in its current form, we also encourage Congress to continue their efforts to reform health care. There are ways to change the current system and make it sustainably affordable and fiscally responsible in the long-term, while preserving coverage for the most vulnerable among us. Please continue the conversation until we get to a bill that does just that.

Background on Blue Shield of California

Blue Shield of California, an independent member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, is a nonprofit health plan with 4 million members, 6,800 employees and more than $17 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 and headquartered in San Francisco, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid and Medicare health care service plans in California. The company's mission is to ensure all Californians have access to high-quality care at an affordable price. Blue Shield has contributed more than $450 million to the Blue Shield of California Foundation since 2002. Contact your local agent or broker about Blue Shield of California products and services, or visit www.blueshieldca.com.

CONTACT: Lauren Bartlett

Corporate Communications

415-229-5359

[email protected]

SOURCE Blue Shield of California

Related Links

https://www.blueshieldca.com


CHICAGO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced it is investing in SparkCognition, an Austin, Texas-based company focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning in the fields of information technology security and industrial operations. It is the latest investment by the Boeing HorizonX venture arm established earlier this year.

SparkCognition has established itself as a machine learning technology leader, developing a cognitive, data-driven analytics platform for the safety, security and reliability of data technology for customers in energy, oil and gas, manufacturing, finance, aerospace, defense, telecommunications and security.

"SparkCognition is at the forefront of a technological shift in machine learning and artificial intelligence that will revolutionize every aspect of industry. They are leaders in AI, and they are pursuing the types of technologies that are critical to our future products and services," said Greg Hyslop, Boeing chief technology officer and senior vice president, Engineering, Test & Technology.

Boeing is joining a group of strategic investors led by Verizon Ventures as SparkCognition closes its initial $32 million funding round.

"Having industry stalwarts, Verizon and Boeing, support our existing investors in funding this new round of growth serves as tremendous validation of our technology and track record. There is massive demand for our category-leading AI solutions," said Amir Husain, founder and CEO of SparkCognition. "The world is well on its way to an AI-powered revolution  where cognitive systems will truly augment human capabilities, but at machine speed and big data scale. Our real world deployments and on-the-ground successes speak to the broad applicability of SparkCognition's AI technology, and the tremendous promise of AI in general."

As one aspect of Boeing's plan for investing in future growth, Boeing HorizonX is leveraging its venture fund making targeted investments in early stage businesses and startups. Outside of venture investments, HorizonX is seeking unique business opportunities and non-traditional partnerships for the company's aerospace technology using disruptive innovations and business strategies. Other recent companies in which Boeing HorizonX has invested include Upskill, a provider of enterprise software for augmented reality wearables for manufacturing, field service and logistics, and Zunum Aero, which is pursuing the development of alternative propulsion aircraft.

SparkCognition is a global leader in cognitive computing analytics, developing AI-powered asset-protection software for the safety, security, and reliability of information technology. The company's technology is capable of harnessing real-time sensor data and learning from it continuously, allowing for more accurate risk mitigation and prevention policies to intervene and protect data systems. In less than three years since launching its first solution, SparkCognition has acquired dozens of major clients, including multiple Fortune 100 and Fortune 1,000 organizations. It was also listed in the 2017 version of CNBC's Disruptor 50 list, an annual compilation of 50 companies that the financial cable news network believes are meeting untapped markets and have tremendous business potential.

Contact:

Chaz Bickers

Boeing Communications

312-544-2002

Jim Schlueter

Boeing Communications

206-356-2990

Follow us on Twitter @Boeing

SOURCE Boeing

Related Links

http://www.boeing.com


In Property Tax in Africa: Status, Challenges, and Prospects (Paperback $40.00, 625 pages: ISBN: 978-1-55844-363-1), Riel Franzsen and William McCluskey of the African Tax Institute at the University of Pretoria provide the first comprehensive study of the property tax in Africa, laying out challenges, opportunities, and pathways to improvement. They analyze property tax systems in 29 countries and offer four regional overviews, highlighting the key political, administrative, and technical issues that affect how these systems function.

The book comes at a critical time for Africa. The world's fastest growing continent, Africa has added more than 500 million people since 1990, and by 2050 it will hold a quarter of the world's population. The continent is rapidly urbanizing, and together with Asia will absorb most of the world's urban growth in the coming decades.

"Nowhere are the fiscal challenges of urbanization more pronounced than in Africa," Lincoln Institute President and CEO George W. "Mac" McCarthy writes in the book's forward. "Establishing high-functioning systems capable of delivering reliable annual revenue flows to help cities make ends meet will require a lot of work. But there is plenty of room for optimism."

The property tax contributes relatively little revenue in most African countries, representing only 0.38 percent of gross domestic product, on average, compared to more than 2 percent the mostly developed countries that make up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Property Tax in Africa identifies many common challenges, including poor tax collection and enforcement, weak administration, and inadequate systems for assessing property values.

Despite the relatively low utilization of the property tax in most African countries, some cities generate significant revenues from the tax. The property tax represents 42 percent of all locally generated revenue in Freetown, Sierra Leone, 23 percent in Nairobi, Kenya, and 21 percent in Accra, Ghana, for example.

The book also highlights some successes in cities that have been able to bolster their property tax systems. The city of Kitwe, Zambia undertakes supplementary valuations, which have increased the number of properties on the tax rolls and increased assessed values, leading to greater revenue. In Kampala, Uganda, officials from the national Uganda Revenue Authority and the Ministry of Finance collaborated with the local government to set up a new office for revenue collection, which more than doubled the collection of property tax in four years.

A resource for property tax scholars as well as public officials and practitioners on the ground, the book makes recommendations for improving the performance of the property tax in Africa, including the following:

Thoroughly analyze the property tax system and decide how it relates to national economic development goals.

Audit the legal underpinnings of the property tax and redraft laws, as needed, to lay the groundwork for more effective systems.

In most countries, concentrate reform in the largest cities.

Focus on collection and enforcement systems first.

Plan gradual transitions that allows the tax administration to catch up and taxpayers to get used to the new system.

In addition to continent-wide and regional overviews, the book includes detailed analyses of the 29 countries: Benin, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Praise for Property Tax in Africa

"This one-of-a-kind study is an indispensable source for academics and policy makers who seek to explore the virtues of the property tax. The relevance of this volume clearly transcends the continent it embraces, and pertains to the large majority of countries at the global level that are now engaged in developing a property tax. This is a very impressive book."

John Norregaard

Tax Policy Consultant

Former Member of IMF Tax Policy Team

"Property Tax in Africa is a remarkable book. Those interested in improving urban services, land administration, and tenure security in Africa will find this book invaluable. There is no comparable resource available in terms of breadth or depth of insights into land taxation, administration, and policy in Africa."

Lawrence Walters

Emeritus Professor of Public Management

Romney Institute

Brigham Young University

"Property taxation is high on any list of possible solutions to harness Africa's wealth for the betterment of its people. The authors greatly add to our understanding of the challenges faced and have created an invaluable resource to guide policy development. This book will rapidly become required reading for all students of the property tax in Africa."

Peadar Davis

Senior Lecturer in Property Appraisal and Management

School of the Built Environment

Ulster University

About the Authors

Riel Franzsen occupies the South African Research Chair in Tax Policy and Governance and is also director of the African Tax Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He has a doctorate in tax law from the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and a master's degree in creative writing from the University of Pretoria. He specializes in land and property taxation and regularly acts as a policy advisor for the International Monetary Fund, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and World Bank. He has worked in this capacity in Africa (Egypt, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda), Asia (Thailand), the Caribbean (Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines) and Europe (Croatia, Georgia, Romania and Serbia). He has acted as an instructor for the IMF (Austria, Singapore and Saint Lucia), Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (China and Slovenia), Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (Macedonia) and The Hague Academy for Local Governance (Lesotho). He is on the Board of Advisors of the International Property Tax Institute, regularly participates in local and international conferences and has authored many journal papers and book chapters on land and property taxation.

Dr. William McCluskey joined the University of Ulster in 1986. He was appointed as Professor of Property Studies at Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand from 2001-2002. He is currently Extraordinary Professor at the African Tax Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa. His main professional and academic interests are in the fields of real estate valuation, property tax systems, computer assisted mass appraisal modelling and geographic information systems. He is a technical adviser on property tax issues with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and has been involved in a number of missions advising on ad valorem tax issues in countries including Albania, Bermuda, Botswana, China, The Gambia, Georgia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lesotho, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Poland, Mauritius, Republic of Ireland, Slovenia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

About the Lincoln Institute

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy seeks to improve quality of life through the effective use, taxation, and stewardship of land. A nonprofit private operating foundation whose origins date to 1946, the Lincoln Institute researches and recommends creative approaches to land as a solution to economic, social, and environmental challenges. Through education, training, publications, and events, we integrate theory and practice to inform public policy decisions worldwide.

SOURCE Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ratified on Saturday the Egyptian-Saudi maritime border demarcation deal that hands over the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, after the parliament recent vote in favour of the agreement.

Following a series of heated parliamentary hearings earlier this month, the majority of Egyptian MPs voted in favour of the agreement by a show of hands in a general session on June 14.

Following parliaments approval, Mohamed El-Sewedi, the head of the Egyptian parliaments majority bloc Support Egypt, said that if Egypt had rejected the deal, Saudi Arabia would have resorted to international arbitration, and this could have left Saudi-Egyptian relations in a bind.

El-Sewedi said that a presidential decree issued in January 1990 stated that the two islands are part of Saudi Arabia.

However, MPs from the opposition 25/30 bloc, which opposes the deal, said that parliament's discussion and vote on the deal was "invalid," calling on El-Sisi not to ratify the deal.

Following the parliamentary approval, opponents of the deal held small protests against the deal in a number of Egyptian cities, which were quickly dispersed by police.

Some opponents of the deal were arrested in protests or from homes, with some later released on bail.

Last week, El-Sisi said in a televised speech that "every citizen has the right to express his opinion on this matter or even to reject the deal, but I assure everyone that nations are not bought or sold."

"States are run by laws and facts, not by personal interests or desires, and we want to deal with all matters according to this principle without doubting each other or making accusations of betrayal," El-Sisi said, referencing the ongoing political row between supporters and opponents of the deal.

The deal has faced a number of legal challenges by opponents and led to disputes over which courts have jurisdiction to hear such cases.

Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court has ruled last week to suspend execution of all previous court verdicts regarding the deal.

In January 2017, Egypts High Administrative Court upheld an earlier decision by an administrative court that voided the deal and affirmed Egyptian sovereignty over Tiran and Sanafir.

In April, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled that the country's High Administrative Court had no jurisdiction over the matter.

The border demarcation deal was signed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia in April 2016.

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NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Boston Business Journal has recognized Curriculum Associates as the third Best Place to Work in Massachusetts in the Large Category. In all, 80 companies were honored at the BBJ's awards program on Thursday, June 22 at Boston's iconic Symphony Hall. Rankings were revealed at the ceremony. This is the third consecutive year Curriculum Associates was recognized.

The Boston Business Journal announced its list of honorees for the 2017 Best Places to Work in Massachusetts on Wednesday, April 19. Click here to see the full list. As in past years, honorees were divided among five company categories: Extra Small (20 to 49 employees), Small (50 to 99 employees), Medium (100 to 249 employees), Large (250 to 999 employees), and Extra Large (1,000 employees and over).

"The Boston Business Journal's Best Places to Work awards program is one of our most competitive programs in terms of how many companies participate each year and always one of our most successful in terms of how many people attend our awards event," said Carolyn M. Jones, the Boston Business Journal Market President and Publisher. "This year well over 350 companies submitted surveys and once again we are extremely excited to be able to recognize these employers that clearly value their employees and go the extra mile to create great workplaces."

Curriculum Associates is on a mission to prove to the K12 industry that an ethical, long-term-focused company is the one that will drive the best results. Curriculum Associates believes the role of an education company is to help students and teachers succeed, and this dedication has defined its vision and driven company growth. Curriculum Associates focuses on staying true to its mission of serving children and teachers while focusing heavily on employees' growth and well-beingthe human capital of the company. By supporting flexible hours and remote workers and encouraging professional development and career growth, the company has created a culture in which employees find balance and purpose to thrive.

"To once again be named a Best Place to Work is a credit to our mission-focused team," said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. "Our culture is defined by a shared commitment to make classrooms better places, and this mission has driven our rapid growth and enabled us to make a real difference for over 6 million students this year."

The submission process was launched in February by the Boston Business Journal in conjunction with employee-performance research firm Quantum Workplace of Omaha, Nebraska. Participating companies were evaluated on the results of more than 31,000 employee-engagement surveys. Employees answered questionnaires that addressed such factors as communication and resources, individual needs, manager effectiveness, personal engagement, team dynamics and trust in leadership. The results were then analyzed and scored by Quantum.

This is the 15th year that the Boston Business Journal is publishing its Best Places to Work list. Company rankings were also published in a special supplement in the June 23 edition.

About Curriculum Associates

Founded in 1969, Curriculum Associates, LLC designs research-based print and online instructional materials, screens and assessments, and data management tools. The company's products and outstanding customer service provide teachers and administrators with the resources necessary for teaching diverse student populations and fostering learning for all students.

About the Boston Business Journal

The Boston Business Journal is Greater Boston's leading source of business news, information and events, reaching readers through the weekly print publication, the website bostonbusinessjournal.com and e-mail products. The BBJ also prints the annual Book of Liststhe region's top resource for business decision-makers seeking information about potential clients, suppliers and partners. The Boston Business Journal is published by American City Business Journals, the nation's largest publisher of metropolitan business news.

SOURCE Curriculum Associates

Related Links

http://www.curriculumassociates.com


ATLANTA, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Buildwick Realty LLC, launched a new incentive for new home buyers in Georgia. Instead of only using the builder's agent for their new home purchase, now buyers can work with Buildwick Realty and receive a rebate of 1.5 percent, that's half of the company's commission. The builder gives Buildwick Realty 3.0 percent commission at closing, and they give their customers half that back in a rebate. This innovate approach is changing how new home construction is being purchased.

Buildwick Reality

For example, on a $200,000 home, the customer would receive a rebate up to $3,000, and that's in addition to any incentives the builder is offering. The rebate can be used any way the customer chooses. It can be applied to closing costs, upgrades or received in cash. The purchase price of the home remains the same whether or not the customer has representation, and there's no cost to the buyer.

"With the use of the internet, home computers, and mobile devices, real estate is changing. Many home buyers prefer to search for a new home themselves wherever they are and whenever they want," says Reynold Massenat of Buildwick Realty, LLC. "The traditional real estate model is still playing by the old rules, but we at Buildwick Realty feel that home buyers should be rewarded for all of their efforts. By actively participating in the search for their new home, customers save us time and money, so we pass the savings on to them."

It's an easy, four-step process to get started. First, complete the new home buyer agreement. Then, find and visit the new home communities of interest and register Buildwick Realty as the buyer's agent on the first visit to the community. You can search thousands of new home communities and their builders directly from their site. Finally, when ready to make a purchase, sign a sales contract listing Buildwick Realty as the buyer's agent, and then email or fax to the company for processing.

To learn more about the company and their new rebate on new home construction, visit BuildwickRealty.com.

About Buildwick Realty, LLC.

Buildwick Realty, LLC, is a real estate company in Atlanta, Georgia specializing in new home buyers. The company offers a 1.5 percent rebate for customers using the company as their buyer's agent on new home construction. For more information, visit BuildwickRealty.com.

Contact Information

[email protected]

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Buildwick Realty FAQ

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SOURCE Buildwick Realty

Related Links

https://buildwickrealty.com


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Come and explore our modern wireless laboratories virtually covering SAR, EMC, OTA, and RF testing chambers. All Smartworld products undergo testing to verify a number of needs, whether it is to validate design concepts and performance, to identify bugs that could impact performance in the field or to demonstrate compliance with an ever growing list of criteria.

What's more - We will be additionally showcasing our suite of solutions for key Smartworld segments, allowing you at our Stand to explore the range of services we provide for Connected Persons, Connected Cars, Smart Phones and Smart Homes.

Register (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MWCSH2017) to reserve a time to get an exciting VR experience at our Stand. Explore what happens within a modern Smartworld laboratory, virtually:

How many people have explored a test lab?

What does an EMC Chamber look like?

Why do we perform OTA testing?

How does SAR testing work and what is involved?

What equipment do you ne ed for a RF chamber?

What do these acronyms stand for?

Attending our At-stand activities, people would also get a chance to win a Xiaomi Health Tracker wristband. We look forward to welcoming you.

About Bureau Veritas

Bureau Veritas is a world-leading provider in testing, inspection and certification. Founded in 1828, the group has more than 72,000 employees in 1,400 offices and laboratories around the globe. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performances by offering innovative services and solutions in order to ensure that their products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environment protection and social responsibility. Bureau Veritas is listed on Euronext Paris and belongs to the Next 20 index (Compartment A, code ISIN FR 006174348, stock symbol: BVI) Website: http://www.bureauveritas.com

Bureau Veritas' Consumer Products Services division is a leading global quality assurance provider for the global consumer product and retail markets. It offers an array of specialized services including testing, inspections, audits and engineering services for a wide range of consumer products. These products include hard goods; toys and juvenile products; soft goods; premiums; electrical and electronic products including wireless and mobile devices; automotive equipment; food products as well as health, beauty, cosmetics, and household products.

Website: http://www.bureauveritas.com/cps

SOURCE Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services
WASHINGTON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said today's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing a limited version of the Trump administration's "Muslim ban" executive orders to take effect ignores the Islamophobic origins of the policy and emboldens Islamophobes in the Trump administration.

The court said the ban on visitors from six Muslim-majority nations could be enforced as long as those individuals lack a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States." Justices will hear arguments on the case in October.

SEE: Trump Travel Ban Partly Reinstated; Fall Court Arguments Set

http://www.startribune.com/supreme-court-reinstates-trump-travel-ban/430861393/

In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:

"Today's decision by the Supreme Court ignores the anti-Muslim bigotry that is at the heart of the travel ban executive orders and will inevitably embolden Islamophobes in the administration to expand efforts to target the Muslim community with unconstitutional and counterproductive policies. It also ignores the almost-unanimous rejection of the Muslim ban by lower courts due to its religious intolerance and racial animus.

"While the court continued blocking those parts of the Muslim ban that would prevent entry for anyone with a 'credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States,' it has opened the door to legal chaos and official overreach in embassies and at the border.

"We will work with our civil rights partners to offer a legal and legislative response as the Muslim ban moves forward on the ground and in the Supreme Court."

Awad said today's decision was particularly disturbing for American Muslims, coming as it does on the Islamic end-of-Ramadan holiday of Eid ul-Fitr.

CAIR will hold a noon news conference at its Capitol Hill headquarters on Tuesday to offer a broader reaction to the court's decision.

WHAT: CAIR News Conference Reacting to SCOTUS Decision on 'Muslim Ban'

WHEN: Tuesday, June 27, Noon

WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Headquarters, 453 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC, 20003

CONTACT: CAIR National Litigation Director Lena Masri, 248-390-9784, [email protected]; CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas, 720-251-0425, [email protected]

[MEDIA NOTE: The news conference will be livestreamed on CAIR's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational ]

CAIR previously welcomed ruling by lower courts blocking both versions of the Muslim ban.

SEE: CAIR Welcomes 9th Circuit Ruling Upholding Freeze on Trump's Revised 'Muslim Ban'

https://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/14407-cair-welcomes-9th-circuit-ruling-upholding-freeze-on-trump-s-revised-muslim-ban.html

CAIR Welcomes 4th Circuit Ruling Against Trump's 'Muslim Ban'

https://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/14350-cair-welcomes-4th-circuit-ruling-against-trump-s-muslim-ban.html

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

La mision de CAIR es mejorar la comprension del Islam, fomentar el dialogo, proteger las libertades civiles, capacitar a los musulmanes estadounidenses, y construir coaliciones que promuevan la justicia y la comprension mutua.

Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational

Subscribe to CAIR's Email List

http://tinyurl.com/cairsubscribe

Subscribe to CAIR's Twitter Feed

http://twitter.com/cairnational

Subscribe to CAIR's YouTube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/cairtv

CONTACT: CAIR National Litigation Director Lena Masri, 248-390-9784, [email protected]; CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas, 720-251-0425, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Related Links

http://www.cair.com


TORONTO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Virtual reality (VR) training is expensive and cost prohibitive for most organizations. It involves complex and time-consuming digital animation to develop, coupled with expensive hardware requirements to control and enable. But Pathways Training and eLearning Inc. (Pathways) just changed all of that with the creation of a new and scalable VR solution that is game changing for any organization's learning ambitions.

Canada's first 360 degree - virtual reality enabled eLearning

A casual conversation at a technology conference became the catalyst to St. John Ambulance (SJA) and Pathways partnering to develop Canada's first 360, virtual reality eLearning module - a simulated mass casualty event, filmed at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC.

As Kurt Tiltack (Pathways Managing Partner) explains, "Even in the rare event that an organization can afford the development investment, VR simply isn't practical for our clients, because typically only one user can go through a program at a time."

To remove this obstacle, Pathways created custom code that facilitates 360 video's shift from live action into virtual reality. This code also allows the Pathways team to embed clickable learning 'hotspots' directly within the video. Once the module is downloaded, an endless number of users in any location can then experience VR on their smartphone with only the need for Google's very economical Cardboard Goggles.

SJA was interested in immersive learning that could replicate a 'real-world' experience for their thousands of Medical First Responders. "We were looking for a way to remove some of the psychological barriers around first aid by creating a simulation that was as real as possible," said Stevan Anas, Interaction Designer and Provincial Training Officer from SJA. "We also needed that solution to be cost effective, repeatable, consistent, and easy to distribute over a large geographical area."

Both SJA and Pathways are excited with the result. SJA is launching the VR module on their Learning Management System, so their volunteers will have access to this incredible learning experience. "We couldn't be happier with the final product," says Stevan. "Virtual reality and it can be viewed over my smartphone; what more could you ask for?"

As Kurt Tiltack, acknowledges, "I'm rarely awestruck, but what our team has created is simply amazing, and we see so many applications for this technology across every industry and job function."

About Pathways Training and eLearning Inc.

Pathways Training and eLearning Inc. is a Canadian agency, focused in learning technologies. Pathways is Canadian-owned and operated, has been in continuous business for 11 years. The company has offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

About St. John Ambulance

St. John Ambulance is a charity and international humanitarian organization dedicated to helping Canadians improve their health, safety and quality of life through training and community service for more than a century.

Press Contacts:

Kurt Tiltack

888.961.6011 x121

Email

[email protected]

Steven Anas

604.321.2652 x 2733

Email

[email protected]

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Pathways Training and eLearning Inc.

St. John Ambulance

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SOURCE Pathways Training and eLearning Inc. | St. John Ambulance

Related Links

http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca


YANTAI, China, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In early June, the Department of Publicity of Yantai invited a number of media organizations to tour the seaside city. The trip includes visits to many of Yantai's successful businesses.

Yantai is China's largest wine producing area. With one in three bottles of Chinese wine from here, Yantai has become an icon of Chinese wine culture. It is also a well-known seaside tourist city, attracting a large number of tourists to view the sea and appreciate the wine, as well as learning about the wine culture.
CHICAGO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cars.com has released its American-Made Index, an annual ranking of the "most-American" vehicles. For the first time in the list's history, the Jeep Wrangler has topped the index as the overall "most-American" vehicle for 2017. The 2017 Cars.com American-Made Index is in fact topped by two Ohio-built SUVs from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the Jeep Wrangler (including the Wrangler Unlimited four-door) and second-place Jeep Cherokee.

The Cars.com 2017 American-Made Index

"Over the American-Made Index's 11-year history, the number of models meeting our original criteria has fallen due to the globalization of automobile manufacturing  from more than 60 vehicles in the index's inaugural year to eight last year," said Joe Wiesenfelder, Cars.com's executive editor. "By the original requirements, only three 2017 models would have qualified this year. With that, we've revamped the AMI to account for the changing landscape and to reinforce factors representing the domestic economic impact when a buyer purchases one model versus another. Cars.com analyzed more than 100 light-duty passenger vehicles built in the U.S. to arrive at the top 10."

For 2017, the revamped index now bases the ranking on five key criteria.

Assembly location: The location in which the vehicle's assembly plant is located Domestic parts content: Percentage of a vehicle's parts content originating in the United States and Canada as determined by the American Automobile Labeling Act Country of engine origin Country of transmission origin U.S. factory employment: Each automaker's direct U.S. factory employment relative to its sales footprint

Rank Make/Model U.S. Assembly Plant Location(s) 1 Jeep Wrangler/Wrangler Unlimited Toledo, Ohio 2 Jeep Cherokee Toledo, Ohio 3 Ford Taurus Chicago 4 Honda Ridgeline Lincoln, Ala. 5 Acura RDX East Liberty, Ohio 6 Ford F-150 Dearborn, Mich./Claycomo, Mo. 7 Ford Expedition Louisville, Ky. 8 GMC Acadia Spring Hill, Tenn. 9 Honda Odyssey Lincoln, Ala. 10 Honda Pilot Lincoln, Ala.

Two Ohio-built SUVs from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles topped Cars.com's 2017 American-Made Index: the Jeep Wrangler (including the Wrangler Unlimited four-door) and Jeep Cherokee. Their domestic-parts content were among the highest figures Cars.com observed in this year's AMI: 74 percent for the Wrangler, 75 percent for the Wrangler Unlimited and 70 percent for the Cherokee. All engines and nearly all transmissions for the Wrangler and Cherokee hail from the U.S., and FCA assembles both nameplates in Toledo, Ohio.

"In an era of build-American sentiment, a sizable portion of shoppers still care where their car comes from," said Wiesenfelder. "That said, it is important for shoppers to remember that the logo on the vehicle doesn't necessarily tell the full story. The cars on this year's list of the 'most-American' hail from automakers headquartered in Europe and Asia as well as North America. Conversely, some vehicles with distinctively American brand names rank low by AMI standards."

In a recent Cars.com survey among in-market car shoppers, it was determined that 25 percent of respondents would consider buying only from an American manufacturer (compared with 13 percent in 2016), and only 5 percent would consider buying solely from a foreign manufacturer. Other insights gathered from consumers include1:

Of the 25 percent of respondents who consider buying only from American manufacturers, over 50 percent cite support of the local economy and brand loyalty as their primary reasons.

When asked which cars were believed to be the "most American," nearly three-quarters of respondents included the Chevrolet Corvette, Ford F-150, Ford Expedition and Ford Taurus, and only 10 percent included the Honda Ridgeline, this year's fourth "most-American" vehicle.

Nearly 28 percent respondents who identified as being between 18-24 years old would consider buying only from American manufacturers, compared with 21 percent of those who identified themselves as being at least 55 years old.

For more information on the 2017 Cars.com American-Made Index, including a deeper dive into the data and methodology, visit www.cars.com/news or click here.

About Cars.com

Cars.com is a leading online destination that helps car shoppers and owners navigate every turn of car ownership. A pioneer in automotive classified, the company has evolved into one of the largest digital automotive platforms, connecting consumers with local dealers across the country anytime, anywhere. Through trusted expert content, on-the-lot mobile app features, millions of new and used vehicle listings, a comprehensive set of research tools and the largest database of consumer reviews in the industry, Cars.com helps shoppers buy, sell and service their vehicles. Cars.com companies include DealerRater, Auto.com, PickupTrucks.com and NewCars.com. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Chicago. For more information, visit www.Cars.com

______________________________

1 Cars.com internal data, 2017

SOURCE Cars.com

Related Links

http://www.cars.com


Chemours is the world's largest producer of solid sodium cyanide, essential in mining operations, with a 60-year heritage of innovative science, industry-leading safety practices and dedication to stewardship. Located in the municipality of Gomez Palacio, this new facility will ensure a safe and reliable supply to the mining industry in Mexico.

"This project is a further demonstration of our five-point transformation plan and will support the growing needs of the Mexican mining market," said Mark Vergnano, Chemours president and CEO. "We've had successful operations in Mexico for over 90 years, and this undertaking reinforces our continued commitment to our Chemours Mining Solutions business."

According to Chris Siemer, president of the company's chemical solutions business unit: "Mining companies count on us for consistent, reliable supply to help keep their operations running. This production facility in Mexico will significantly increase our capacity and will include state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and production processes. Its location near some of the largest deposits of gold and silver in Mexico and in the heart of the mining industry will enable us to broaden our support to our customers by providing a distinct competitive advantage in supply chain routing."

About The Chemours Company

The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC) helps create a colorful, capable and cleaner world through the power of chemistry. Chemours is a global leader in titanium technologies, fluoroproducts and chemical solutions, providing its customers with solutions in a wide range of industries with market-defining products, application expertise and chemistry-based innovations. Chemours ingredients are found in plastics and coatings, refrigeration and air conditioning, mining and general industrial manufacturing. Our flagship products include prominent brands such as Teflon, Ti-Pure, Krytox, Viton, Opteon, Freon, and Nafion. Chemours has approximately 7,000 employees and 26 manufacturing sites serving approximately 4,000 customers in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Chemours is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and is listed on the NYSE under the symbol CC. For more information please visit chemours.com or follow Chemours on Twitter at @chemours.



Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which often may be identified by their use of words like "plans," "expects," "will," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "anticipates" or other words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements address, among other things, our anticipated future operating and financial performance, business plans and prospects, transformation plans, resolution of environmental liabilities, litigation and other contingencies, plans to increase profitability, our ability to pay or the amount of any dividend, and target leverage that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events which may not be realized. The matters discussed in these forward-looking statements also are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements, as further described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016. Chemours undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements.



CONTACT:

MEDIA:

Cynthia Salitsky

Global Communications Leader

+1.302.773.3283

[email protected]

INVESTORS:

Alisha Bellezza

Treasurer & Director of Investor Relations

+1.302.773.2263

[email protected]

SOURCE The Chemours Company

Related Links

http://www.chemours.com


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Many agree that digital technologies are the backbone of the cities of the future and that without them urban transformation would be impossible. But SCEWC 2016 will also focus on the fact that cities are run and inhabited by people and these citizens are more so the future of cities.

Six months before the event, SCEWC has already booked 92% of its floorspace, exceeding last year's figures by 20%. The 600 companies exhibiting at the 2017 edition -among which are CAF, Deutsche Telekom, Engie, Huawei, Mastercard, Microsoft, Siemens, Suez and ZTE- will cover more than 15,000 net square metres and among the list of cities and countries showcasing their projects are Denmark, Dubai, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Holland, Israel, London, New York, Norway, Quebec, Spain and the United States.

Smart Mobility World Congress

One of the key issues that cities face is Mobility. The ability to provide safe and easy movement both within a city and from one metropolis to another is one of the cornerstones of smart cities. On 2017, SCEWC will host the first Smart Mobility World Congress (SMWC), a smart transport summit that will be held yearly and will showcase the most innovative advances in urban and inter-city mobility. SMWC will have its own space within SCEWC, its auditorium and will host the congress of ALAMYS, the Latin American Metro and Underground Railway Association.

An international benchmark

Over the last 6 years, SCEWC has become the world smart cities benchmark event gathering over 16.000 attendees from 126 countries on its last edition. Its international impact has grown with regional events in Casablanca (Morocco), Istanbul (Turkey), Kyoto (Japan) and Puebla (Mexico) and soon Buenos Aires (Argentina) further consolidating SCEWC as the international leading event in smart urbans solutions and drawing more attendees and interest toward the global event held in Barcelona every year.

SOURCE Fira de Barcelona
PHILADELPHIA, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarivate Analytics, the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics that accelerate the pace of innovation, today announced its collaboration with the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, supporting the annual series of highly esteemed scientific meetings of Nobel Prize-winning laureates and select early career researchers from across the globe.

Clarivate, working with Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, will contribute a customized analysis tool for emerging chemistry research fronts for the over 400 early career scientists attending the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (#LiNo17). These data and tool provide a data-driven view of potential connections and collaborations to explore for future incorporation into research agendas.

Additional Clarivate support includes joining the 9th Innovation Forum "Imaging on a Molecular Level" as a panelist, discussing mining the scholarly literature within the Web of Science to understand more about research on molecular imaging modalities and the application of new methodologies in super-resolution imaging.

First held in 1951, the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings started as a meeting of European chemists in the small lakeside town of Lindau, Germany. The organization now hosts panels, discussions and lectures with world renowned scientists, where discussions bring international awareness of various scientific topics to people in and out of the realm of science.

"The Clarivate Analytics rich heritage also started in the 1950s, with the visionary work of Dr. Garfield and the field of scientometrics," said Jay Nadler, CEO of Clarivate Analytics. "He was committed to helping researchers and Clarivate honors that commitment and continues to further it through collaborations like this one with the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings."

Later this summer from August 22-26, Clarivate Analytics will also participate in the 6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences, which brings together laureates in economic sciences and young economists.

And later this year, Clarivate will support the selection process for the most promising 2018 Lindau Meeting young scientists by providing an unbiased assessment of quantitative performance indicators for the 2018 meeting nominees. Indicators from InCites, an integrated web-based scientometric platform powered by data from the Web of Science, including field- and journal-normalized metrics, will provide the selection committee with an understanding of how an applicant is performing in comparison to similar research published in the same subject area and world region.

Clarivate Analytics

Clarivate Analytics accelerates the pace of innovation by providing trusted insights and analytics to customers around the world, enabling them to discover, protect and commercialize new ideas faster. Formerly the Intellectual Property and Science business of Thomson Reuters, we own and operate a collection of leading subscription-based businesses focused on scientific and academic research, patent analytics and regulatory standards, pharmaceutical and biotech intelligence, trademark protection, domain brand protection and intellectual property management. Clarivate Analytics is now an independent company with over 4,000 employees, operating in more than 100 countries and owns wellknown brands that include Web of Science, Cortellis, Derwent, CompuMark, MarkMonitor and Techstreet, among others. For more information, please visit clarivate.com.

Media Contact

Heidi Siegel

Clarivate Analytics

Director, External Relations

+1 215 823 5646 (o)

+1 215 356 4504 (m)

[email protected]

SOURCE Clarivate Analytics

Related Links

http://www.clarivate.com


Egypt's current spell of hot weather is expected to continue on Tuesday, the third day of the Eid El-Fitr holiday, with temperatures in Cairo reaching a high of 37 degrees Celsius and a low of 24, Egypts Meteorological Authority said on Monday.

According to state-run news agency MENA, the authority said temperatures will be slightly lower on the north coast and higher in southern Upper Egypt. The northern coastal city of Alexandria will see a high of 30 degrees and a low of 23, while the Upper Egyptian cities of Luxor and Aswan will both see 43-degree highs and 26-degree lows.

On Monday, Cairo is expected to see a high of 37 and a low of 24. Alexandria will enjoy a milder high of 29 and a low of 23.

Fog will hamper visibility along the north coast on Tuesday morning, while moderate winds are expected, mostly in the Gulf of Suez, causing disturbance to maritime navigation.

The Mediterranean Sea will experience light-to-moderate waves, ranging between 1 and 1.5 metres. The Red Sea will see moderate waves, reaching 1.5 to 2 metres.

The tourist resort city of Hurghada on the Red Sea will see a high of 39 degrees Celsius and a low of 27, while temperatures in Sharm El-Sheikh in South Sinai will range between 39 and 28.

The Sinai city of Saint Catherine will see a high of 35 by day and a low of 18 at night.

Eid El-Fitr, which started on Sunday and lasts for three days, is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Public-sector employees in ministries, governmental authorities, and other state-owned institutions are taking three days off work for the holiday. Private-sector employees are taking the first two days off as a paid holiday, the government announced last week.

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CLIFTON, N.J., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Comodo, a global innovator and developer of cybersecurity solutions and the worldwide leader in digital certificates, today announced the availability of the industry's first free endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution. In contrast to "free trial offers" from other providers, Comodo is offering its fully-featured, enterprise-class cWatch EDR at no charge to customers. This move enables any sized organization to better detect malware on endpoints, and investigate and respond to security incidents.

cWatch EDR is part of the Comodo Security Solutions' Advanced Endpoint Protection. It complements the Endpoint Protection Platform, which is designed to prevent malware infection. EDR is designed to detect and respond to malware. Both are built on Comodo's next-generation, layered default-deny platform, which blocks and isolates unknown, zero-day attacks of malware, Trojans and other harmful executables  and renders those attacks useless against endpoints and networks.

"Comodo's innovative EDR presents you with an outstanding degree of visibility and 100 percent trusted verdicts for every file on the premises, ensuring that no malware can escape detection, even new, unknown attacks," says Mehmet Ozer Metin, director of enterprise and cloud product development. "When aggregated with Comodo's global threat intelligence and managed threat hunting services, information collected from this ultra-lightweight endpoint agent leads to imminent success in fighting with any form of malware and security incidents."

Features of cWatch EDR include:

Continuous monitoring of endpoints

Advanced search capabilities for file hashes and anomaly detection

Real-time visibility into what's happening in your environment

100 percent trusted verdicts for all files, ensuring detection of any malware, even new attacks

Unrivalled process timeline visualization

Retrospective analysis on what has happened

Centralized cloud hosted architecture

Works in concert with Comodo's global threat intelligence

Human analysis for unknown file and event types

Compatible with other endpoint security tools

More information about Comodo Security Solutions' free download of cWatch EDR is available online.

About Comodo

The Comodo organization is a global innovator of cybersecurity solutions, protecting critical information across the digital landscape. Building on its unique position as the world's largest certificate authority, Comodo authenticates, validates and secures networks and infrastructures from individuals to mid-sized companies to the world's largest enterprises. Comodo provides complete end-to-end security solutions across the boundary, internal network and endpoint with innovative technologies solving the most advanced malware threats, both known and unknown. With global headquarters in Clifton, New Jersey, and offices in Silicon Valley, Comodo has international offices in China, India, the Philippines, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit comodo.com.

Comodo and the Comodo brand are trademarks of the Comodo Group Inc. or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. The current list of Comodo trademarks and patents is available at comodo.com/repository.

Keep up to date with the latest Comodo News from the Comodo blog at https://blog.comodo.com/ and on Twitter @ComodoNews.

Connect with Comodo on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/comodo.

For more information, media and analysts may contact:

Deb Montner

Montner Tech PR

[email protected]

203-226-9290

SOURCE Comodo

Related Links

http//www.comodo.com


CHICAGO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 2014, Coors Banquet drinkers throughout the West have raised more than $750,000 in support of wildland firefighters and their families by simply enjoying the Banquet Beer. This summer, Coors Banquet is once again inviting people to join in supporting the wildland firefighters who risk their lives to preserve our Western heritage by purchasing Coors Banquet in participating states.

Now through September 30, the Wildland Firefighter Foundation (WFF) will receive 25 cents for every case of Coors Banquet sold in Arizona, northern California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, collecting up to $250,000 in an effort to bring all-time donations to more than $1 million. The WFF is a non-profit that has provided emergency support to the families of firefighters who have been killed or seriously injured in the line of duty since 1997.

"Coors Banquet is a brand that takes great pride in its Western roots and the timeless values that make the West a special place," said Brian Erhardt, MillerCoors regional vice president of sales for the Pacific region.

"That's why it's so important for us to show our gratitude for the sacrifices made by the brave men and women who put it all on the line to protect it. We couldn't think of a better way to do so than to give Banquet drinkers across the West a way to celebrate the heroes who preserve its beauty and support the Wildland Firefighter Foundation."

In addition to raising funds for the WFF, Coors Banquet is committed to raising awareness of the amazing work done by wildland firefighters. That's why Coors Banquet is sponsoring "Protect Our West Night" featuring Trace Adkins in Seattle on June 27. The event will take place at the "Outside Corner" of Safeco Field before the Mariners face off against the Phillies. Ten dollars of every ticket sold for this special event will benefit the WFF. Coors Banquet also will donate tickets to firehouses around Seattle. Banquet fans can find VIP tickets to "Protect Our West Night" by visiting m.mlb.com/mariners/tickets/group/protect-our-west-night.

"The past few years have marked a new page in our organization's history," said Burk Minor, acting executive director of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. "The support from Coors Banquet has provided us with the resources to care for fallen firefighters in ways we could only dream of before. It can sometimes feel like our firefighters' sacrifice goes unnoticed, but with this recognition and support from Coors Banquet, we all feel proud that folks can see how much we put on the line to protect our West."

Additional details can be found at Coors Banquet "Protect Our West" displays at participating retailers or by visiting https://wffoundation.org/.

About Coors Brewing Company

Coors Brewing Company was founded in 1873 by Adolph Coors, who chose the Clear Creek Valley in Golden, Colo., for his new brewery because of the pure water in the nearby Rocky Mountain springs. The brewery's original and most enduring beer is Coors Banquet (Coors.com, Facebook.com/CoorsBanquet, YouTube.com/OfficialCoorsBanquet), still brewed exclusively in Golden using only Rocky Mountain water and high-country barley. Coors Light (CoorsLight.com, Facebook.com/CoorsLight, @CoorsLight on Twitter, YouTube.com/CoorsLight) was introduced in 1978 and now is the second-best-selling beer in the United States. Triple-filtered smooth Keystone Light (KeystoneLight.com, Facebook.com/KeystoneLight) is one of the country's most popular economy beers. Coors Brewing Company is part of MillerCoors, the U.S. business unit of the Molson Coors Brewing Company. Learn more at MillerCoors.com, at Facebook.com/MillerCoors or on Twitter through @MillerCoors.

About The Wildland Firefighter Foundation

Wildland Firefighter Foundation's main focus is to help families of firefighters killed in the line of duty and to assist injured firefighters and their families. It honors and acknowledges past, present, and future members of the wildland firefighting community. The foundation is an organization partnering with private and interagency organizations to work toward preventing line of duty deaths, providing timely safety messages, and bringing recognition to wildland firefighters.

SOURCE Coors Brewing Company

Related Links

http://www.coors.com


A 10-year-old student, Yue, that attended this special class, said, "I really enjoyed this Father's Day class. Our instructor shared stories about his own father, and told us that even if our dads might not always express their love, they're doing a lot for us. I drew a picture of my dad, gave it to him, and told him that I love him. He was very happy, and I felt very thankful to have a dad as great as him."

Based in China, DaDaABC is a leading EdTech company that focuses on K-12 online English education, and is always striving to provide the best learning and teaching environment for their students and instructors. But more importantly, they are working towards empowering their students to aim and achieve for more in their future.

Hui Zhi, founder and CEO of DaDaABC, said, "Besides just teaching English online, we always want to take it another step further. With their future in mind, we are constantly encouraging our students to start thinking about and seeing the world around them. For example, we hoped that this special Father's Day class would help our students understand how hard their dads work for them, and to be thankful for their time and effort. We want to be more than just an online English learning platform; we want to influence our students in a positive way as they continue to grow."

DaDaABC has an abundance of live classes that can be categorized into different themes, allowing students to choose a theme that they are most interested in. This helps them better learn English while having fun with their instructors. For example, one class that students can take is the "Traveling Around the World" series, which talks about different cultures and manners around the world. Another series, "Movie Theater" introduces great children films that students can watch in their free time, and another, the "Fairy Tales" series, talks about fairy tales from across the world, and inspire students to think about the meaning behind each story. Not only are the students learning and practicing English in these live classes, but the instructors benefit from a sense of accomplishment in their interactions with their students.

Vera, a DaDaABC instructor from New Jersey, said, "The best thing about DaDaABC's platform is that we have these interactions, both in the live classes and in the one-on-one classes. Through these interactions with my students, I am able to learn a lot from them, too. The world as it is understood by a child is simple, and sometimes they provide a different perspective on complicated topics in the adult world. They might not realize what they are saying, but it matters to me. That aside, I also get to earn more from teaching these live classes."

As a company that always put people first, DaDaABC recognizes that their instructors are just as important as their students. The company has been recruiting tens of thousands of English speaking instructors from all around the world, and is welcoming even more to join.

"Moving forward, we will continue to bring live classes for the holidays. For example, we are currently preparing some special events and classes for Teacher's Day, where we hope that all of our instructors will receive thanks and love from their students," said in a statement from Joyce, the VP of Education at DaDaABC.

About DaDaABC

Founded in 2013, DaDaABC is the most innovative English training institution in China, and was established to provide what has become one of China's most successful intelligent English learning platforms for children. Winner of over 15 awards and recognitions in 2016, DaDaABC developed a leading English training system focused on one-on-one online tutoring and encourage youngsters to learn and practice while having fun with instructors, and announced a total capital raising of 500 million RMB in Series B and Series B+, which will be used in market expansion, curriculum development and learning experience improvement. DaDaABC has been helping students from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, France, Germany, and other non-English speaking countries. For more information, please visit: http://www.dadaabc.com/teacher/job

SOURCE DaDaABC

Related Links

http://www.dadaabc.com


BEACHWOOD, Ohio, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- DDR Corp. (NYSE:DDR) announced today that financial and operational results for the quarter ending June 30, 2017, will be released before the market opens on July 26, 2017. The Company will host its quarterly earnings conference call and audio webcast on July 26 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

All interested parties can access the earnings call by dialing (877) 249-1119 (U.S.), (855) 669-9657 (Canada) or (412) 542-4143 (international), and ask to be joined into the DDR Corp. call. The call will also be webcast and available in a listen-only mode on DDR's web site at www.ir.ddr.com.

If you are unable to participate during the live call, a replay will be available on DDR's website for future review. You may also access the telephone replay by dialing (877) 344-7529 (U.S.), (855) 669-9658 (Canada) or (412) 317-0088 (international) using pass code 10107875 through October 26, 2017.

About DDR Corp.

DDR is an owner and manager of 309 value-oriented shopping centers representing 103 million square feet in 35 states and Puerto Rico. The Company owns a high-quality portfolio of open-air shopping centers in major metropolitan areas that provide a highly-compelling shopping experience and merchandise mix for retail partners and consumers. The Company actively manages its assets with a focus on creating long-term shareholder value. DDR is a self-administered and self-managed REIT operating as a fully integrated real estate company, and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DDR. To be included in the company's e-mail distributions for press releases and other company notices, please click here.

SOURCE DDR Corp.

Related Links

http://www.ddr.com


ROUND ROCK, Texas, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dell Boomi (Boomi), the number one integration cloud provider, announced that its inaugural customer conference will take place at The Westin St Francis hotel in San Francisco from September 20-22 2017. Boomi World will bring together the global Boomi community to learn, network and share best practices on using Boomi's #1 integration platform as a service (iPaaS) to build a connected business.

"We are excited to bring our expansive global community together for the first time," said Chris McNabb, CEO of Dell Boomi. "From the beginning, the Boomi community has played a powerful role in both the company's and our customer's success. We look forward to celebrating alongside our customers and partners and empowering them with the knowledge they need to really drive their business forward."

Boomi World 2017 is the inaugural celebration of Boomi customers and partners who build remarkable businesses through the power of Boomi technology. The event includes three days of informative breakout sessions, illuminating keynotes, case study presentations and hands-on training, starting with certified Pre-Conference Training on Tuesday, September 19. Conference tracks are designed to give attendees the resources and information they need to fully leverage the Boomi in order to digitally transform their organizations. The full 2017 agenda will be available in late July. To purchase tickets and register, visit https://boomiworld.com. Early bird pricing ends July 28, 2017.

With more than 5,800 customers around the world, organizations across every industry relies on Boomi for agile, scalable data and application integration involving both cloud and on-premise applications. iPaaS has overtaken on-premise middleware as the fastest-growing segment of the integration market as organizations seek to connect disparate systems and meet digital transformation goals of greater business agility and customer centricity.

Boomi World offers attendees a front-row seat and an unmatched opportunity to:

Learn best-practice techniques and the latest integration and application development innovations

Network with peers, analysts and Boomi executives, technologists and partners

Hear about the Boomi product roadmap and customer case studies

Share insights, successes and feedback on the Boomi platform

For more information about 2017 Boomi World, visit the Boomi World website or follow #BoomiWorld17 to learn more.

About Boomi

Dell Boomi (Boomi), an independent business unit of Dell, accelerates business agility by integrating the information organizations need whenever and however they need it. The Boomi integration platform dramatically transforms the way organizations connect, create, manage and govern all their applications and data. As a result, more than 5,800 organizations of all sizes use the Boomi platform to run smarter, faster, and better. Boomi also helps customers drastically reduce implementation times over traditional integration, API management, MDM and workflow automation solutions. Visit http://www.boomi.com for more information.

 Dell, Dell Boomi and Boomi World are trademarks of Dell Inc. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

Contact:

Janine Kromhout

Dell Boomi

650-269-1417

[email protected]

Kelsey Quickstad

Hotwire PR for Dell Boomi

415-820-4494

[email protected]

Analyst Contact:

Beth Johnson

Dell Boomi

(415) 412-6891

[email protected]

SOURCE Dell Boomi

Related Links

http://www.boomi.com


SAN ANTONIO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Wonder Workshop, creators of iconic Dash & Dot robots, now used in over 12,000 elementary schools to support creative problem solving, coding, and robotics, today released the Learn to Code Curriculum, designed to provide K-5 educators with resources that support the introduction of coding and robotics through project-based learning.

According to recent research from Gallup and Google, a majority of parents, teachers, and principals expect elementary schools to offer access to computer science experiences for young learners. Wonder Workshop's new Learn to Code Curriculum, released at the 2017 ISTE Conference, is designed to enable educators that may lack familiarity with coding to integrate basic computer science principles and robotics into their classroom, through engaging project-based curriculum and resources.

"Wonder Workshops engaging approach to coding and robotics helps my students develop the fundamental skills of collaboration, problem solving, and persistence through engaging, hands-on activities that enhance lessons in all subjects", said Tiffany Hogg, a first grade teacher in Fredericksburg, PA. "Coding and robotics can be present intimidating subject matterI found Dash & Dot remarkably easy-to-use. I'm excited to see Wonder Workshop continue to make coding and robotics accessible to any teacher or student."

The Learn to Code Curriculum includes a comprehensive scope and sequence, covering six fundamental coding concepts across six coding levels, with 24 lesson plans and 72 student-facing Challenge Cards. Developed in response to educator demand, the curriculum meets CSTA, ISTE-S, and Common Core State Standard and is aligned with Code.org's Computer Science Fundamentals series.

"We are inspired by the number of educators who have introduced Dash & Dot into their classrooms. The K-5 Learn to Code Curriculum is the first in a series of new tools and resources Wonder Workshop is releasing as part of our ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of educators," said Vikas Gupta, CEO and co-founder of Wonder Workshop. "Our new tools and educator resources are designed to make it easy for even more educators to infuse coding and robotics into their classroom through project-based learning."

Dash & Dot are programmable robots that, with a magic mix of robust hardware and sophisticated software, encourage interest in computer science for students as young as five years old. Now used in over 12,000 elementary classrooms worldwide, form the basis for the fast-growing Wonder League Robotics Competition, which drew more than 20,000 participants from 52 countries last year. The third annual Wonder League Robotics Competition is expanding to allow for more participation. The competition will kick off in September 2017 and run through mid-February 2018. A new invitational round will take place in March and April 2018.

At ISTE, Wonder Workshop also released a series of education bundles which combine the curriculum, robots, and accessories educators need to get the most out of Dash & Dot in their classroom. Recently released software includes new programs aligned to the Learn to Code Curriculum, as well as interface updates that make it easier to use in the classroom.

About Wonder Workshop

Based in San Mateo, CA, Wonder Workshop was founded in 2012 by Vikas Gupta, Saurabh Gupta and Mikal Greaves, inventors, designers, programmers and parents with the mission to make coding a new creative tool that is accessible for children from age five and beyond. Wonder Workshop launched Dash & Dot in December 2014 and within its first month, delivered more than $3.5M in robots to 37 countries. Dash & Dot are award-winning, hands-on learning tools that teach K-5 students creative problem solving, coding and robotics. Designed for teachers to use alongside classroom-tested, state standards-aligned curriculum built by fellow educators, Dash & Dot encourage interest in STEM fields at formative ages and across gender lines. The company has currently raised $15.9 million in funding from Madrona Venture Group, CRV, WI Harper, Google Ventures, Bright Success Capital, Maven Ventures, Vikas Gupta, Reza Hussein and Jeff Schox. For more information, visit http://www.makewonder.com.

SOURCE Wonder Workshop

Related Links

https://www.makewonder.com


COIMBRA, Portugal, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At the 16th International Photodynamic Association (IPA) World Congress in Coimbra, Dr. Georg Widhalm was the recipient of the 2017 IPA AWARD FOR PDT RESEARCH EXCELLENCE.

Dr. Georg Widhalm is Assistant Professor, specializing in Neurosurgical Oncology at the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical University of Vienna, at Vienna General Hospital. He directs the interdisciplinary neuronal tumor board within the Comprehensive Cancer Center in Vienna. He also holds the position of a Research Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Dr. Widhalm is an emerging leader in the field of image guided surgery supported by his current and ongoing research into practical applications of PDT in Neurosurgery. His primary research fields are related to innovative fluorescence technologies for tumor visualization and multimodal imaging of brain tumors. With numerous publications and awards, Dr. Widhalm is recognized throughout the global PDT community for advancing PDT research excellence.

The Coimbra World Congress was the 16th conference held by the International Photodynamic Association, marking 32 years of this global meeting. The IPA World Congresses, held every two years, are the leading PDT meetings bringing together members of the global photodynamic community in order to advance scientific and clinical research relating to photodiagnosis and photodynamic therapies. The next IPA World Congress is to be hosted in Boston, USA and will be led by Dr. Tayyaba Hasan, Professor of Dermatology at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Harvard Medical School (HMS) and a Professor of Health Sciences and Technology (Harvard-MIT).

About Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is a combination therapy involving light activated photosensitizers to diagnose and treat various types of cancers and pre-cancers, macular degeneration and multidrug resistant biofilm infections involving bacteria, viruses and fungi.

For further information please contact: [email protected], www.internationalphotodynamic.com | [email protected]

SOURCE International Photodynamic Association

Related Links

http://www.internationalphotodynamic.com


DENVER, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EPS Settlements Group announced today the company's refreshed brand, including its new name  Arcadia  and logo.

Arcadia was born out of a desire to create long-term financial security and an improved quality of life for injured people. The company was founded in 1972 by Gerald Sullivan and others in California after children were born with limb deformities to women who had used the drug Thalidomide during pregnancy to ease morning sickness. Arcadia developed structured settlements to address people's long-term needs using periodic payments.

Arcadia is a Greek word meaning an ideal setting in harmony with nature. It connotes a place of shelter where people find peace, security, resolution and strength. It expresses the company's values of care and compassion. The name is steeped in historical significance and aligned with the company's own history as the structured settlements industry leader.

"It's time to build for tomorrow on today's strengths," said Arcadia President Brad Cantwell. "We did a significant amount of research and it was clear that our former name didn't connect. We identified a great opportunity to leverage our industry-leading position and take our company to the next level. In addition to renaming and rebranding our company as Arcadia, we have crystalized our mission, and we are aligning our values to ensure they are clear and present in all our communications, intensifying our focus on our distinct customer-service model of care and professionalism."

Arcadia's leadership team believes that the new name and rebrand will deepen the relationships between its clients and Arcadia's 160 settlement professionals. In the past year, the company has strengthened its service offerings and invested in innovative products across 50 offices serving all 50 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"At Arcadia, our passion for helping and empowering people is at the heart of everything we do," said Cantwell. "The challenges facing our clients grow more complex every day. With an average experience level of over 15 years, our expert team of consultants helps people navigate the evolving complexities of injury claims with experience, well-proven strategies, compassion and innovation."

About Arcadia

Arcadia (formerly EPS Settlements Group) helps resolve conflicts, reduce litigation expenses and create long-term financial security for people involved in personal injury claims through settlement consulting services. The company has a rich history as the first structured settlements firm in the world. In more than 45 years in business, Arcadia has helped settle over 325,000 claims involving structured settlement funding of over $40 billion. Arcadia has more than 160 experienced settlement professionals across 50 offices in the United States, and in 2017 became the only international structured settlements organization in North America with the introduction of EPS Settlements Group of Canada. For more information, visit www.teamarcadia.com.

SOURCE EPS Settlements Group
LAS VEGAS, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Essence Vegas, Las Vegas' premier marijuana dispensary and resource center, invites the Las Vegas community and tourist alike to celebrate the historic addition of recreational cannabis sales in the state of Nevada. Established in 2016, Essence Vegas is the first and only marijuana dispensary on the famed Las Vegas Strip.

Beginning 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 1, 2017 Las Vegas residents and tourists, 21 years or older, can legally purchase cannabis products from the Essence-Strip and Essence-West locations.

To celebrate this monumental transition, Essence Vegas is inviting the Las Vegas community, celebrities, dignitaries, VIPs and tourists to experience the highest quality and widest selection of cannabis products in Las Vegas, including more than 50 strains, vape pens, concentrates, a variety of topicals and a wide variety of edibles, including capsules, cookies, brownies, honey, chocolate and more. First-time customer discounts will be available.

For more information or to order Essence Vegas products online, please visit www.essencevegas.com. Connect with Essence Vegas on Facebook and Instagram.

**Media are invited to broadcast live from Essence  The Strip at 2307 S. Las Vegas Blvd on Saturday, July 1, 2017. Interviews with Essence Vegas representatives will be available upon request. Please contact Jeff Klein at PR Plus at [email protected] or 702-612-7871 to arrange coverage or for more information.

ABOUT ESSENCE VEGAS

Essence Vegas provides the purest and widest selection of quality cannabis products in Las Vegas, including more than 50 strains (flower and pre-rolls), vape pens, concentrates, a variety of topicals and a wide variety of edibles, including capsules, cookies, brownies, honey, chocolate and more. With three locations across the Las Vegas valley and Henderson, including the first and only marijuana dispensary on the famed Las Vegas Strip, Essence Vegas services are 100% legal, entirely safe and totally confidential to protect privacy. All services are performed by highly-trained consultants. All professional team members are also available to discuss best practices with patients.

Essence Vegas has opened three locations across the Las Vegas valley, including Essence  West at 5765 W. Tropicana Ave., Essence  The Strip at 2307 S. Las Vegas Blvd. and Essence  Henderson at 4300 E. Sunset Rd. Suite A3.

For media information, please contact:

Jeff Klein/Laura Herlovich

PR Plus

(702)-696-1999

[email protected]/ [email protected]

SOURCE Essence Vegas

Related Links

http://www.essencevegas.com


WASHINGTON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the U.S. Supreme Court announced the Court's decision in the case of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer. This marked the first major religious liberty case since Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed to the Court earlier this year. Family Research Council, as a part of a coalition, submitted an amicus brief in the case.

FRC's Director of the Center for Religious Liberty, Travis Weber, Esq., attended the oral arguments at the Court. On the decision, Weber commented:

"This win for Trinity Lutheran Church is a win for the freedoms that Americans have long exercised.

"With the recent addition of Justice Gorsuch, we are much more optimistic about the future of religious freedom in America. The Supreme Court rightly found that the freedom of religion, including that of Trinity Lutheran, is clearly protected by the Constitution. Justice Gorsuch's presence will re-enforce a welcome originalist voice in not just the Trinity Lutheran case but also plenty of pivotal cases in the decades to come.

"The state of Missouri was hardly fair to this congregation, whose children at the daycare and preschool need just as much outdoor padding as others. The Court clearly understood this and ruled that it is unconstitutional to treat religious organizations differently in the public square just because they are religious.

"At the heart of the First Amendment is the idea that Americans should be able to not just hold beliefs but follow those beliefs as they live their lives. The Free Exercise of religion, explicitly protected by the First Amendment, protects varied and robust religious expression in the public square. Certainly the Framers never meant to exclude churches from public life in the way the state of Missouri and lower courts have here.

"The First Amendment also ensures that Americans will not be forced to adhere to whatever religious views the government deems 'correct' and 'orthodox.' It certainly was never intended to scrub all religious expression from the public square or bar organizations from receiving any benefit from the government merely because they are religious. We are merely asking for a fair and level playing field for religious and nonreligious organizations," concluded Weber.

To review FRC's amicus brief in the Trinity Lutheran case, please see: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF16D46.pdf

SOURCE Family Research Council

Related Links

http://www.frc.org


An Irish naval ship rescued 712 people including pregnant women and infants off the coast of the Libyan capital of Tripoli as part of an international migrant rescue effort, Ireland's Defence Forces said on Monday.

The LE Eithne ship led the rescue of multiple vessels in distress 40 kilometres north-west of Tripoli throughout Sunday. Six migrants, including one baby, were revived from states of unconsciousness.

The ship will transport the people, including 14 pregnant women and four infants below the age of four months, to a designated "port of safety" to be handed over to Italian authorities.

"I'm very proud to say all lives were saved, no lives were lost. It was a complex operation where lives were at stake at every turn over a full eight-hour period," Commander Brian Fitzgerald told national broadcaster RTE from the ship.

"Overall, they were really in a wretched condition but in all cases healthy enough to undertake the journey to a port of safety."



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NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global public relations firm Finn Partners announced that Dena Merriam, CSR & Social Impact practice leader and co-founding managing partner, has received a "Corporate Community Partnerships" award from City & State New York.

Each year, City & State NY honors "individuals and organizations that play a key role in initiatives that strengthen cities and revitalize communities, such as providing local jobs, giving to local nonprofits and encouraging employees to volunteer in the community."

Under Ms. Merriam's leadership, Finn Partners' CSR & Social Impact practice has evolved to represent a diverse portfolio of issues-driven and CSR clients in the areas of STEM education, veterans and jobs, energy efficiency and sustainability, and domestic violence for both corporate and nonprofit groups. The group uses thought leadership strategies on key issues to lift the voices of those who are on the margins of society. Most importantly, their award-winning work leads to real, tangible social impact in the world.

"We understand how to build awareness around an issue in a way that turns a local program into a national movement where all key stakeholders are committed and engaged," said Merriam. "Large or small, new or established, companies ask us to make their CSR programs resonate and matter while non-profits and associations seek our counsel on key issues that need local, national and global attention."

Throughout her long-standing successful career, Ms. Merriam has provided strategic communications counsel and management for public affairs, non-profit, and corporate clients. Her expertise spans cause marketing programs, social awareness campaigns and issues/crisis management in the U.S. and globally. She has also worked with many of the United Nations agencies over the years. She founded an NGO that works to raise awareness of environmental issues and that organizes peace dialogues in regions of conflict. In early 2012 she organized a conference at the headquarters of the U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya to explore some of the environmental challenges facing Africa.

Ms. Merriam received her Master's Degree from Columbia University and has served on the boards of Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions and the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, The Interfaith Center of New York, Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association, and the Manitou Foundation. In 2014, Dena Merriam was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize by the Niwano Peace Foundation in Japan for her years of commitment to interfaith dialogue.

About Finn Partners, Inc.

Founded in 2011 on the core principles of innovation and collaborative partnership, Finn Partners has tripled in size in just five years, becoming one of the fastest growing independent public relations agencies in the world. The full-service marketing and communications company's record setting pace is a result of organic growth and integrating new companies and new people into the Finn Partners world through a common philosophy. Finn Partners' mantra, Work Hard, Play Nice, infuses internal and external relationships, resulting in amazing work and an all-inclusive environment. With 540 professionals, Finn Partners provides its clients with global access and capabilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia, in addition to PROI Worldwide. Headquartered in New York, Finn Partners' other offices are located in: Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, Paris, Portland, San Francisco, Singapore and Washington D.C. Find us at finnpartners.com and follow us on Twitter @finnpartners.

Contact:

[email protected]

212-715-1600

SOURCE Finn Partners, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.finnpartners.com


LAS VEGAS, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GB Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: GBLX) secures bid to Louisiana State University (LSU) and receives authorization from the LSU Board of Supervisors to proceed with contract negotiations to act as the LSU Agricultural Center's (AgCenter) licensed operator of their medical cannabis production facility as outlined in the Alison Neustrom Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Act"). The secured bid will enable GB Sciences to be the sole vendor of cannabis and extracted cannabis compounds on behalf of LSU for the patients of Louisiana. The agricultural centers at LSU and Southern University have the only two licenses granted by the State of Louisiana to cultivate, distribute, and sell medical cannabis.

The Act specifically authorizes the LSU AgCenter to conduct research on medical cannabis. The AgCenter will operate a separate independent research division alongside and in the same facility as the Production Entity's commercial operation, which will produce therapeutic medical cannabis products for qualified patients of Louisiana. GB Sciences will have first rights to commercialize any inventions or discovery of the research.

The facility will serve people who live in the state of Louisiana. The cultivation plant will contain a minimum of a 5,000 square foot research lab. The license and partnership is for the development of new cannabis based medical compounds and tissue propagation development for new cannabis drug discovery to advance the GB Sciences (GBLX) patented formulations toward FDA approved Clinical Trials.

In order to secure this bid, GB Sciences raised two million dollars in bonds. The bonds collateralized a required bid bond associated with the offer to LSU. This was an open bid process. The other companies were Columbia Care Louisiana, CB Medical, Citiva LA, Southern Roots Therapeutics, Fourrier House and Terah Holdings. The LSU AgCenter and GB Sciences hope to have the final contract executed by August, pending approval of company finances by the LSU Board of Supervisors.

"This is groundbreaking news and a tremendous opportunity," said CEO John Poss, "Now that approval from the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors has been received, contract negotiations will commence and should be completed within the next 30 days. Then we can begin the real work."

About Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (hereinafter referred as the "University" or "LSU") is the state's comprehensive research university. The University is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a Doctorate-granting university with very high research activity  one of the only 27 public and 23 private universities in the nation. The University's instructional programs include 194 undergraduate and graduate/professional degrees. The University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC) to award bachelors, masters, doctoral, and professional degrees.

As the premier university of the state, the mission of the University is the generation, preservation, dissemination, and application of knowledge and the cultivation of the arts for the benefit of the peoples of the state, the nation, and the global community. The University offers challenging undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and professional education programs for outstanding students from Louisiana, the nation, and other countries. The University's libraries and museums preserve the rich cultural heritage of the state, and scholar and artists at the University contribute to the literature, history, science, technology, and arts of our culturally diverse community.

About GB Sciences, Inc.

GB Sciences, Inc. (GBLX) is a diverse cannabis company, focused on standardized cultivation and production methods; as well as biopharmaceutical research and development. The Company's goal is creating safe, standardized, pharmaceutical-grade, cannabinoid therapies that target a variety of medical conditions. To learn more about GB Sciences, Inc., go to: http://growblox.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain statements relating to future results or events, which are forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects", "intends", "plans", "may", "could", "should", "anticipates", "likely", "believes" and words of similar import may identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company's belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. It is possible that the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further, information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's business and financial and other results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which we hereafter become aware.

Note: Although the Company's research and development activities are not illegal, the production and sale of cannabis products violate federal laws as they presently exist.

Contact Information

Corporate:

GB Sciences, Inc., 3550 West Teco Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89118

866-721-0297, or

Liz Bianco Publicity Director, [email protected]

Tom Arcuragi, COO, [email protected]

SOURCE GB Sciences, Inc.

Related Links

http://growblox.com


ATLANTA, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC) plans to release Second Quarter Earnings on July 20, 2017. Management will also conduct a conference call on this date at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time. The public may access the call on the Company's website, www.genpt.com, by clicking "Investors," or by dialing 877-741-4245. The conference ID is 6054876. If you are unable to participate during the call, a replay of the call will be available on the Company's website or toll-free at 844-512-2921, ID 6054876, two hours after the completion of the conference call until 12:00 a.m. Eastern time on August 4, 2017.

About Genuine Parts Company

Genuine Parts Company is a distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Australasia. The Company also distributes industrial replacement parts in the U.S., Canada and Mexico through its Motion Industries subsidiary. S. P. Richards Company, the Office Products Group, distributes business products in the U.S. and in Canada. The Electrical/Electronic Group, EIS, Inc., distributes electrical and electronic components throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Genuine Parts Company had 2016 revenues of $15.3 billion.

SOURCE Genuine Parts Company

Related Links

http://www.genpt.com


Those high-level meetings further highlight Thailand as the most preferred meeting destination in the Asia/Pacific area.

TCEB president, Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya said: "Global associations show their confidence by selecting Thailand for their meeting is of significance. It is in line with the rank of Thailand that jumped from 27th to 24th on world association meetings destination while Bangkok's ranking also climbed from 16th last year to 12th this year."

This, he said, was the results of Thailand's combined strengths including its strategic location, professional services and connectivity to destinations in Asia Pacific region, combined with close collaborations between public and private sectors to support MICE industry.

While more than 300 meetings and exhibitions, mostly international events, are lined-up for the second half of this year, Thailand is proud to be chosen also by global organizations in the meeting industry.

The US-based Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) with 6,500 members and 50,000 customers in the United States, Canada and Mexico is to host the PCMA Global Professional Conference Asia- Pacific in Bangkok, 28 to 31 August, for the first time in Asia.

Partnering with TCEB, the event will bring together global planners from top associations and corporations, along with 15 senior-level suppliers from the region, representing convention bureaus and centres to explore business opportunities in the Asia-Pacific.

"We are thrilled to partner with the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau for the 2017 PCMA Global Professionals Conference -- APAC event. PCMA strives to inspire, connect and innovate the business event community globally; bringing this intimate educational program to Bangkok is of strategic importance for our participants. With world-class venues supporting a thriving economy, Thailand is a leader in state of the art service attracting business events from all over the world," Sherrif Karamat, CAE, Chief Operating Officer of PCMA said.

Meanwhile, the prestigious 100-year old Union of International Associations (UIA) will host its Associations Round Table Asia- Pacific 2017 in Chiang Mai, 21 to 22 September, the second time UIA has convened its Asia-Pacific event in Thailand, which will focus on education and skills required to manage associations.

UIA Associations Round Tables have taken place in the Asia-Pacific region annually since 2013 attracting top representatives of 91 international associations represented in 37 countries.

Commenting on the upcoming event Clara Fernandez, External Relations Manager, UIA said: With pleasure, we will come back to Thailand this time to the beautiful city of Chiang Mai. We know that many associations representatives will join the Round Table attracted by the educational programme and the opportunity to network but we strongly believe that participants will come at least in equal part persuaded by the beauty of the destination and the hospitality of the people of Thailand."

TCEB, meanwhile, has also enjoyed close cooperations with the International Congress and Conference Association (ICCA). TCEB in partnership with ICCA will be hosting the 5th high-powered ICCA Thailand Seminar, 5 July in Bangkok. First introduced in 2013, the annual event aims to sharpen bidding techniques of Thai associations and suppliers.

Martin Sirk, CEO of ICCA said: "To achieve success in today's international meetings market it is no longer enough to have great infrastructure, easy accessibility and tourism appeal. Associations and companies are looking for true partners who can help them achieve their meetings' business objectives. I therefore applaud the innovative work that TCEB and our other Thai ICCA members are doing in the field of skills and capacity development, and how they are facilitating and encouraging the growth of a dynamic association community in Thailand."

About TCEB

Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) - the government leading edge agency - has been the key to success for a wide range of global & regional business events since 2004. With our key strategic model, Growth Driver; TCEB works as your strategic business partner, delivers creative ideas, and provides solutions from our capable resources for every scale and various customised business events.

TCEB has formed numerous collaborations and networks linked to open up grand new chapters of business opportunities, and to strategically enhance every business success with special care that will spur lasting advancement and achievements. Our goal is to equipping business events industry at national, regional, and global stage for continuous development, long-term growth and sustainable success. www.tceb.or.th

For further information, please contact: Corporate Communications Division, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization)

SOURCE Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB)

Related Links

http://www.tceb.or.th


LONDON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- INTRODUCTION

It has been estimated that close to 131 million babies are born each year across the globe. Of these, approximately 7.9 million are born with birth defects. In fact, more than 7,000 genetic disorders have been identified so far and the number is rising. Genetic testing solutions that enable early detection of genetic abnormalities in fetuses and newborns are important to ensure that the person does not face complications later in life. With the emergence of innovative diagnostic and screening techniques, several methods of genetic testing have become popular. These include carrier testing, preimplantation genetic diagnosis / screening (PGD / PGS), prenatal testing, paternity testing and newborn screening. Amongst these, prenatal testing (primarily Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT)) and newborn screening have gained relatively more traction in prenatal and neonatal care.





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Specifically, NIPT has emerged as an efficient screening method in prenatal care that can analyze the cell-free DNA (cfDNA) extracted from maternal blood sample during pregnancy. NIPTs offer several advantages over conventional prenatal testing procedures; in addition to being non-invasive, these tests offer shorter turnaround times and high accuracy. It has been reported that the increasing popularity of NIPTs has led to a 50% decline in the use of invasive prenatal testing procedures (such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS)). With the changing mindset of people belonging to different cultural and socio-economic background, the uptake of NIPTs is likely to increase further. Moreover, with the rising awareness and availability of NIPTs designed for a wide array of disease indications, and development of innovative and versatile technologies, we expect that the interest will continue to grow.

Within neonatal care, the emergence of advanced technologies in this domain has reflected a gradual rise in the overall development of advanced newborn screening tests in the last few years. In fact, public service bodies in more than 70 countries across the globe have facilitated the establishment of newborn screening programs in their respective countries. With an already established platform, we expect the overall newborn screening market to continue its gradual rise driven by higher adoption, competitive prices and availability of these tests in various geographies across the globe.



SCOPE OF THE REPORT

The "Global Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing and Newborn Screening Market, 2017-2027" report features an extensive study on the current market landscape of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) and newborn screening diagnostics that are commercially available or are under development. NIPT and newborn screening tests are designed for the detection of different types of genetic abnormalities in fetuses and newborns. Detection of genetic disorders in prenatal and neonatal stages is critical to lower the child mortality rates. Moreover, early detection, treatment and management of these genetic disorders is important to avoid serious health problems at later stages in life. The study offers a comprehensive discussion on the future potential of these tests in prenatal and neonatal care.



Ever since the launch and subsequent success of the first NIPT, the NIFTY test (launched by BGI in August 2011), several firms have taken initiatives to develop and commercialize NIPTs. Currently, a number of NIPTs that are designed to screen for conditions such as chromosomal abnormalities, sex chromosomal abnormalities and microdeletion syndromes are available in the market. In addition, many companies have entered into collaborations to distribute these tests across various geographies in order to expand the availability to a wider population. Examples of popular NIPT tests include Harmony test (Ariosa Diagnostics, acquired by Roche), PraenaTest / PrenaTest (LifeCodexx, a subsidiary of GATC Biotech), Panorama (Natera), NIFTY (BGI), Verifi (Verinata Health, acquired by Illumina), VisibiliTTM (SequenomTM, acquired by LabCorp) and IONA test / Safe NIPT (Premaitha Health).



The advent of routine newborn screening in the 1960s for the detection of phenylketonuria (PKU) established the role and importance of newborn screening in mitigating disorders in newborns. The field is continuously evolving as the awareness related to benefits of newborn screening increases. Moreover, introduction of advanced technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) and tandem mass spectroscopy has notably accelerated the development in this domain. Newborn screening diagnostics are primarily available for conditions such as metabolic disorders, endocrine disorders, hemoglobin disorders, congenital heart disorders and hearing disorders.



Both prenatal testing and newborn screening offer several benefits in terms of disease management in neonatal care and has gathered interest from a wide range of companies worldwide. In total, we have identified 76 NIPT tests and 38 advanced newborn screening tests. In addition, there are several companies that are engaged in the development of basic tests, devices, systems and technology platforms for both prenatal testing and newborn screening. One of the key objectives of this report was to understand the current activity and the future potential of the NIPT and newborn screening markets. Amongst other elements, the report covers the following:

NIPT:

- The overall landscape of NIPT tests with respect to the stage of development, sample type, technology platforms, type of indications, stage of pregnancy and result turnaround time. In addition, the report provides a detailed discussion and analysis on the various innovative technology platforms available for the development of NIPTs and the indications screened.

- Comprehensive profiles of the leading players in the field of NIPT and their products, highlighting details of the company, financial and funding information (if available), product portfolio and a comprehensive future outlook. Likewise, the product profiles provide information on the product and their development history, technology platforms, test procedure, specifications, advantages and clinical information (if available).

- An elaborate geographical coverage analysis of the NIPT tests available / under development across the globe, a comparative heat map analysis of NIPTs (on the basis of sensitivity, specificity, result turnaround time and stage of pregnancy when the test can be performed), harvey ball analysis highlighting the panel strength of each test based on the number of indications being screened, and the geographical distribution of the companies involved in the development of NIPTs.



Newborn Screening:

- The overall landscape of newborn screening tests with respect to the stage of development, screening type, technology platform, type of indication, period of sample collection after birth and result turnaround time.

- Detailed profiles of the players involved in the field of newborn screening and their products highlighting details on the company, financial and funding information (if available), product portfolio and a comprehensive future outlook. Likewise, the product profiles provide information on the product specifications and test methodology. In addition, the report includes a comprehensive list of the core and secondary disorders / deficiencies recommended for newborn screening.

- An illustrative grid representation of the newborn screening tests based on screening type (basic newborn screening, expanded newborn screening, comprehensive newborn screening and advanced newborn screening) and technology platform, and an overview of the landscape of industry developers (start-ups, mid-sized and large-sized players).



Additionally, the report includes:

- A detailed discussion of the existing regulatory landscape in the field of NIPT and the current status of the government mandated newborn screening programs established in various countries across the globe to provide proper medical care to newborns.

- Partnerships that have been recently been inked amongst different stakeholders, covering product distribution / marketing agreements, development / commercialization agreements and mergers / acquisitions.

- A detailed survey analysis primarily focused on gaining additional insights on the company's tests or services, highlighting the focus area of the company, type of the products, purpose and commercial availability of the lead product(s).



The study features a detailed analysis on the existing size and future growth opportunities (2017-2027) in the NIPT and newborn screening markets. We have provided insights on the likely regional evolution of the NIPT market across patients in three risk group segments (high risk, average risk and low risk) covering North America (the US, Canada and Mexico), Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and rest of Europe) Asia (Japan, China and India) and rest of the world. In addition, we have provided the likely distribution by type of indications, stage of pregnancy when the test can be conducted and the share of individual NIPTs. The forecast takes into account the impending price variations that are likely to emerge in the mid-long term as a result of growing adoption and increased competition. In order to account for uncertainties associated with some of the key parameters and to add robustness to our model, we have presented three different forecast scenarios, depicting conservative, base and optimistic tracks of the market's evolution.



The research, analysis and insights presented in this report are backed by a deep understanding of key insights gathered from both secondary and primary research. Actual figures have been sourced and analyzed from publicly available data and primary research discussions. For the purpose of the study, we invited over 150 stakeholders to participate in a survey to solicit their opinions on upcoming opportunities, challenges and likely future trends. The opinions and insights presented in this study were also influenced by discussions conducted with experts in this field. These include contributions from Jim Patterson (Vice President, Sales and Marketing North America, EvolveGene), Osama Fikry (Metabolic and Diagnostic Head, NewBridge Pharmaceuticals) and Silke Arndt (Medical Scientist and NGS Manager, Inqaba Biotec). All financial figures mentioned in this report are in USD, unless otherwise specified.



RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The data presented in this report has been gathered via secondary and primary research. For all our projects, we conduct extensive secondary research as well as interviews with experts in the area (academia, industry, medical practice and other associations) to solicit their opinions on emerging trends in the market. This is primarily useful for us to draw out our own opinion on how the market may evolve across different regions and sub-segments. Wherever possible, the available data has been checked for accuracy from multiple sources of information.

The secondary sources of information include:

- Annual reports

- Investor presentations

- SEC filings

- Industry databases

- News releases from company websites

- Government policy documents

- Industry analysts' views



While the focus has been on forecasting the market over the coming ten years, the report also provides our independent view on various non-commercial trends emerging in the industry. This opinion is solely based on our knowledge, research and understanding of the relevant market gathered from various sources of information.



CHAPTER OUTLINES

Chapter 2 provides an executive summary of the insights captured in our research. It offers a high level view on the current state of the NIPT and the newborn screening market and its likely evolution over the next decade.



Chapter 3 provides a general introduction of various types of chromosomal abnormalities and genetic disorders occurring in fetuses and newborns with information on their statistics, and the different types of genetic tests available for their detection. It outlines the concept of invasive and non-invasive prenatal testing. In addition, the chapter offers a discussion on the historical evolution of newborn screening.



Chapter 4 provides a holistic view of the NIPT and newborn screening market. It provides a comprehensive list of NIPT and newborn screening tests. The chapter includes a detailed analysis of the NIPTs based on the development stage, technology platforms, type of indications tested, stage of pregnancy and result turnaround time. In addition, it includes a detailed analysis of the newborn screening tests based on the screening type, technology platform, type of indication, period of sample collection after birth and result turnaround time. The chapter also lists the basic prenatal testing and newborn screening tests, devices, systems and technology platforms.



Chapter 5 is a compilation of key insights gained from this study. It includes a geographical coverage analysis that highlights the availability of each NIPT test in different regions across the globe, and a heat map representing the relative clinical performance of the commercially available NIPTs on the basis of sensitivity, specificity, result turnaround time and the stage of pregnancy when the test can be performed. In addition, it presents a Harvey ball analysis depicting the test panel strength on the basis of number of indications screened, and a world map to represent the geographical presence and the activity of companies involved in the field of NIPT. The chapter also includes a grid representation of the newborn screening tests, highlighting the distribution of these tests on the basis of screening type (basic newborn screening, expanded newborn screening, comprehensive newborn screening and advanced newborn screening) and the technology platforms used to design them. Additionally, it features a developer landscape of the companies involved in the field of newborn screening, distributed on the basis of the company size and geographical presence.



Chapter 6 offers a comprehensive discussion on NIPT tests, highlighting advantages and challenges associated with the development and use of these tests. The chapter features detailed company profiles of the leading players that are involved in the development of NIPT tests. Each profile includes a brief overview of the company, its financial information, funding details, product portfolio and an informed future outlook. It also includes detailed profiles of the products of these key players. Each product profile provides information on the development history, specifications, technology platform, procedure, advantages and clinical information of different products offered by the company. In addition, the chapter includes a development timeline marking the launch of the popular NIPT tests between 2011 and 2016. It also provides a commercial landscape of the most popular NIPTs on the basis of different characteristics of these tests.



Chapter 7 offers a comprehensive discussion on newborn screening. It talks about different types of next-generation newborn screening procedures. We have provided company profiles and product profiles of the key players engaged in the development of newborn screening tests. In addition, it includes brief profiles of other players involved in this field. The section also includes an elaborate discussion on the current spread of newborn screening programs established in various countries across the globe to provide proper medical care to newborns.



Chapter 8 provides details on the other diagnostic tests / services available for genetic testing in newborns and fetuses; these include carrier testing / preconception care, preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) (preimplantation genetic diagnosis / screening (PGD / PGS)), genetic counselling and direct to consumer (DTC) genetic testing services. We have provided a brief overview of these tests / services, highlighting their general procedure / workflow, indications being evaluated and their indicative development pipeline.



Chapter 9 features an elaborate discussion on the collaborations and partnerships that have been inked amongst players in both NIPT and newborn screening markets. We have also discussed the various partnership models that have been implemented, highlighting the most common forms of deals / agreements in this domain.



Chapter 10 highlights the market forecast and sizing of the overall NIPT and newborn screening markets. This chapter discusses, in detail, the parameters that are likely to influence the evolution of these markets. It features detailed insights on the likely evolution of the NIPT market for different patient risk group segments (high risk, average risk and low risk). The chapter highlights the likely distribution of the market across North America (the US, Canada and Mexico), Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and rest of Europe), Asia (Japan, China and India) and rest of the world. It also presents a detailed market segmentation by the key indications, stage of pregnancy when the tests can be performed and share of individual NIPT tests. In addition, the chapter offers a high-level view on the upcoming newborn screening market across the globe.



Chapter 11 summarizes the overall report and provides a recap of the key takeaways from the study. It also presents our independent opinion on the future of both NIPT and newborn screening market based on the research and analysis described in the previous chapters.



Chapter 12 is a collection of interview transcripts of the discussions held with key stakeholders in these fields. We have presented the insights provided to us by Jim Patterson (Vice President, Sales and Marketing North America, EvolveGene), Osama Fikry (Metabolic and Diagnostic Head, NewBridge Pharmaceuticals) and Silke Arndt (Medical Scientist and NGS Manager, Inqaba Biotec).

Chapter 13 illustrates a detailed analysis on the survey conducted for gaining a deeper understanding on the nature of products and services offered by the companies involved in NIPT and / or newborn screening fields.



Chapter 14 is an appendix, which provides tabulated data and numbers for all the figures provided in the report.



Chapter 15 is an appendix, which provides the list of companies and organizations mentioned in the report.



EXAMPLE HIGHLIGHTS

1. During our research, we identified 76 NIPTs; of the commercially available tests, majority are laboratory-developed tests while only a few are CE-IVD certified. The CE-IVD marked tests include Clarigo (Multiplicom), Harmony test (Ariosa Diagnostics, acquired by Roche), IONA test (Premaitha Health), Prenatal BACs-on-BeadsTM (PerkinElmer), PraenaTest / PrenaTest (LifeCodexx, a subsidiary of GATC Biotech), Prendia (Genesupport, FASTERIS, Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics), SerenityTM test (Genesis GeneticsTM) and Tranquility (Genoma, a subsidiary of ESPERITE).

2. Of the total NIPTs (commercially available / under development), 83% are designed on the basis of massively parallel sequencing / next-generation sequencing methods (MPS / NGS) for the detection of diseases under their test panels. It is worth highlighting that some developers are utilizing a novel epigenetics based approach for the development of their NIPTs.

3. The current market landscape features contributions from big pharmaceutical companies and small to mid-sized players. Established players engaged in the development of NIPTs include (in alphabetical order) BGI, Natera, PerkinElmer, SequenomTM (acquired by LabCorp), Sonic Healthcare and Quest DiagnosticsTM. Small and mid-sized companies engaged in the field of NIPT include (in alphabetical order) Ariosa Diagnostics (acquired by Roche), Berry Genomics, EvolveGene, LifeCodexx (a subsidiary of GATC Biotech), NIPD Genetics, NxGen MDx, Premaitha Health and Verinata Health (acquired by Illumina).

4. Prominent academic institutions and universities involved in the field of NIPT include (in alphabetical order) the Birmingham Women's Hospital, Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Stanford University, Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and University of Antwerp.

5. We also came across 38 advanced newborn screening tests available for the detection of a large number of disorders / deficiencies including metabolic disorders, endocrine disorders, hemoglobin disorders, congenital heart disorders and hearing disorders. Of the total advanced newborn screening tests, 66% of the tests use blood as the testing sample (categorized as basic screening tests). This is followed by advanced screening tests and comprehensive screening tests capturing a share of 16% and 10%, respectively. Nearly 8% of the newborn screening tests utilize urine as the sample and are categorized as expanded newborn screening tests.

6. Over 135 collaborations have been inked in the field of NIPT between 2011 and 2017. Although a significant proportion of these agreements focus on distribution / marketing of NIPTs to expand their access and coverage in different geographies (54%), we came across a number of product development / commercialization agreements (15%), merger / acquisition agreements (9%) and product / technology licensing agreements (8%). Several companies have entered into multiple collaborations; these include SequenomTM (24 agreements), Natera (20 agreements), Premaitha Health (19 agreements), BGI (18 agreements), Ariosa Diagnostics (14 agreements) and Illumina (13 agreements).

7. The NIPT market, primarily driven by increasing awareness and adoption of NIPTs, is anticipated to grow at an annualized rate of 15% between 2017 and 2027. The current market is dominated by the tests offered to expectant women belonging to high risk category, capturing 52% market share. However, by 2027, the average risk market is likely to be amongst the key drivers; we expect its share to grow from 37% in 2017 to 45% by 2027.

8. Amongst specific indications screened under NIPT test panels, chromosomal abnormalities (primarily including trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edward syndrome), trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome)) are likely to capture the largest share of the market in both 2017 (44%) and 2027 (56%). This is followed by sex chromosomal abnormalities, capturing a share of 24% in 2017 and 28% in 2027. These include Turner syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, Triple X syndrome and Jacob syndrome. Microdeletion syndromes, primarily including Cri-du-chat syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, monosomy 1p36 and Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, are likely to account for a share of 22% in 2017 and 14% in 2027.

9. With regard to the geographical activity, in 2017, the North America is likely to capture the maximum share (37%) followed by Europe (35%) and Asia (24%). Over the coming decade, Asian regions are likely to drive the growth resulting in a share of 29% in 2027. It is important to highlight that, within Asia, countries such as China, India, Japan, have several developers and distributors of NIPT tests, demonstrating an increasing interest in these regions.

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http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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LONDON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tortilla chips is a Mexican snack food, which is typically made from corn tortillas. However, since the last decade or so, tortilla chips are also being made from ingredients like wheat tortilla and tapioca. They form one of the most popular savory snack food products after potato chips and crisps in various parts of the world. Tortilla chips are usually made from yellow corn. However, they can also be made from white, blue, or red corn. Totopos and tostadas are the other names given to the tortilla chips in Mexican language. PepsiCo's Frito Lay occupies a leading position in the global tortilla chips market with its highly popular brands like Doritos, Tostitos, and Santitas.





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Technavio's analysts forecast the global tortilla chips market to grow at a CAGR of 7.42% during the period 2017-2021.



Covered in this report

The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global tortilla chips market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the retail sales of the important vendors in the tortilla chips market and the market share of various brands operating in different geographical regions.



The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:

 Americas

 APAC

 EMEA



Technavio's report, Global Tortilla Chips 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

 GRUMA

 Grupo Bimbo

 PepsiCo

 Truco Enterprises



Other prominent vendors

 Amplify Snack Brands

 Arca Continental

 Fireworks Foods

 Greendot Health Foods

 Hain Celestial

 Intersnack Group

 Kellogg

 Mexican Corn Products



Market driver

 Launch of an increasing number of products containing innovative flavors

 For a full, detailed list, view our report



Market challenge

 Fluctuations in corn prices

 For a full, detailed list, view our report



Market trend

 Growing popularity of organic and non-GMO ingredients-based tortillas and tortilla chips products

 For a full, detailed list, view our report



Key questions answered in this report

 What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?

 What are the key market trends?

 What is driving this market?

 What are the challenges to market growth?

 Who are the key vendors in this market space?

 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?

 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?



You can request one free hour of our analyst's time when you purchase this market report. Details are provided within the report.



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About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

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PHOENIX, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the Southwest's longest established and highest-quality HVAC companies, Goettl Air Conditioning and its sister plumbing services company, The Sunny Plumber are looking to hire additional employees to accommodate their expansion throughout the southwest.

All new employees will be joining a top team of professionals that take pride in delivering personalized and quality service aligning with the Goettl and Sunny Plumber brands to the residents of Arizona, Nevada and California.

The Goettl name has been recognized for excellence in air conditioning and heating installation and service since 1939. Offering a suite of HVAC services and equipment as well as indoor air quality services including duct cleaning, the company has experienced a 500 percent year-over-year growth since 2015 and continues to expand.

The innovative and well-respected brand is a sister company of The Sunny Plumber, a high-quality plumbing services company. In addition to solving a wide variety of plumbing problems, the company sells, and specializes in providing solutions to complicated sewer repair and replacement problems.

The two companies are hiring in upwards of 100 HVAC and plumbing technicians in Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas and southern California as well as customer service representatives for its call centers in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Tucson. Open interviews are being conducted at each office.

CEO and owner of Goettl Air Conditioning and Sunny Plumber, Ken Goodrich is a highly-regarded industry veteran whose core values are the standard operating principles that guide his employees and customer satisfaction.

"We live by our customers' success, and our commitment to doing the right thing for them has never wavered," said Goodrich. "We are looking for individuals who want to be a part of a growing industry, are invested in top quality standards and take pride in their work," he said.

Recently entering the California market, Goodrich expects Goettl to double its business within a year and plans to become the market leader in each market that it serves.

The HVAC and plumbing companies offer competitive pay, a full benefits package, 401k, continuous technical training and an exciting environment. See what it's like to work at Goettl Air Conditioning here: https://youtu.be/Gc2eAOPQ6pI.

For more information, visit the career tabs at www.goettl.com and www.thesunnyplumber.com.

About Goettl AC

Goettl Air Conditioning, established 1939, offers the highest quality AC and heating equipment and a full range of maintenance, repair and replacement services. Goettl operates in the Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas and Southern California areas. All Goettl technicians are background-checked, drug-tested and receive continuous technical training to make them the best in the industry. Goettl AC was recently named the "Best HVAC" company in the state by readers of Arizona Foothills Magazine's "Best of Our Valley 2017." For more information, visit www.goettl.com.

About The Sunny Plumber

The Sunny Plumber offers the highest quality plumbing services throughout the Southwest. All plumbers are experienced in solving a wide variety of plumbing problems including drain cleaning, leak detection, sewer line and garbage disposal repair. The company also sells, installs and services standard and tankless water heaters. All plumbers are background-checked, drug-tested, and receive continuous technical training to make them the best in the industry. The Sunny Plumber was recently named the "Best Plumbing Company" in the state by readers of Arizona Foothills Magazine's "Best of Our Valley 2017." For more information, visit http://www.thesunnyplumber.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

LAVIDGE

480.998.2600

Jennifer Whittle x551

[email protected]

SOURCE Goettl Air Conditioning

Related Links

http://www.goettl.com


HEALDSBURG, Calif., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 17 years ago the Amador family of Sonoma County in Northern California caught their 15-year-old son making wine in the garage. Years later, the family built on their son's enthusiasm for making wine by creating a craftsman winery to deliver the most intimate wine experience in wine country with the launch of Gracianna Winerya guest-centric hospitality brand based on a core value: gratitude.

Gracianna Winery - Mercedes Riverblock Estate Vineyward 10th Anniversary 2015 Gracianna Westside Reserve Pinot Noir

"When my husband was a boy his French-Basque great-grandmother used to talk about being thankful, and that's why today Gracianna wines are for those with something to be grateful for," says owner/partner Lisa Amador.

The vision of following through on intimate experiences for all Russian River Valley visitors has been realized. In order to celebrate its first decade serving wine lovers worldwide, this small but powerful brand announced today a new philanthropic award opportunity.

"For the past ten years giving back has been central to the gratitude that Gracianna stands for and we have strived to honor this value that has been passed to us," says Amador. "Ten years in we are profitable and grateful and we celebrate our anniversary by serving those in need, especially those that are most vulnerable, women and children. We created the Gracianna Westside Reserve Pinot Noir, for which proceeds from the sales will contribute to funding the Gracianna Gratitude Grant, a $10,000 in-kind donation to a Bay Area nonprofit serving women and/or children in need."

Bay Area nonprofits that primarily serve women and/or children are invited to apply to win the award. Details of how the $10,000 award will be granted can be found at www.gracianna.com/gratitudegrant2017. The deadline for the grant is Friday, August 18, 2017 at midnight PDT.

While this award will create a way for the entire Gracianna family to make an impact on our community, it's only the latest in the company's history of community support and volunteerism that the company encourages for its family members and associates. Notably, Gracianna has supported many organizations such as Sutter Health, Marin County Theater Company, Bay Area Make-a-Wish, Social Advocates for Youth, Sonoma Academy, Sonoma County Family Justice Center, National Kidney Foundation, Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program and more.

For Gracianna's 10th anniversary we wanted to honor the legacy of our highly lauded and multiple award-winning pinot noirs. We created our 2015 Westside Reserve by choosing the best four pinot barrels in the house based on our intimate knowledge of each barrel and blended them to create this stunning limited production masterpiece. It is a blend of 667, 777 and Pommard clones with nuance from being aged in only French oak barrels.

Our 10th anniversary Westside Reserve is a beautiful wine that will continue to soften in the bottle over the years, yet is very approachable now. A classic Russian River Pinot Noir with subtle fruit and smoky flavors, this balanced Burgundian style wine has the same feminine profile as Gracianna's brilliant maiden 2007 Pinot Noir and will drink well for years to come.

ABOUT GRACIANNA WINERY

Gracianna wines are for those with something to be grateful for.

Since 2007 Gracianna has symbolized everyday gratitudes and graciousness in entertaining because of our belief that successfully hosting a special meal with friends and family is an everlasting circle that fills all our lives.

Contact:

Lisa Amador

707-292-6522

[email protected]

SOURCE Gracianna Winery

Related Links

http://www.gracianna.com


ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Great America Alliance, the leading issue advocacy organization supporting the agenda of President Donald Trump, today begins running an ad that questions the independence and credibility of Robert Mueller's Russian Investigation. The hard-hitting new ad shows the questionable sequence of James Comey leaking to the press to spur an investigation, Mueller's subsequent appointment as special prosecutor, and then the hiring of four top lawyers with past political activity that show a very clear biased against the President.



"Independent counsels are supposed to be just that, independent. Robert Mueller's decision to hire a team of Washington insider lawyers who happen to be big Democrat donors with a clear bias against the President is simply absurd," said Tomi Lahren, a Senior Adviser to the Great America Alliance. "Furthermore, the fact that James Comey admitted he intentionally started this whole process by leaking to the press and could end up being a star witness for his former boss is equally ridiculous. This is the DC swamp at its worst and to maintain any credibility at all Mueller needs to fire these Democrats and start all over."



GAA's New Ad "Witch Hunt"
RED BANK, N.J., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Explore Cuisine, the leading organic, plant based, and gluten-free pasta option on the market, announced that Gregor Forbes, Advisor to the Board, has been appointed Managing Director. He will report directly to Joe Spronz, Chairman and Founder. Forbes was formerly with global publishing and education company, Pearson PLC, where he was Managing Director of Europe, Asia and Africa.

"Bringing Greg on board is a key step in bolstering the execution of Explore Cuisine's product innovation, as well as supporting the continued and rapid global brand growth. Greg will be instrumental in crossing borders and tapping new markets, in addition to the 20 countries we are already in," commented Spronz.

Greg has over 25 years of cross-industry sales and marketing experience. He's held roles based in the United Kingdom, Ukraine, China and Switzerland before being appointed General Manager of P&G Global Development Markets where he managed P&G brands across over 70 countries, including Pringles, Vicks, Tide and Gillette. Greg brings extensive board experience to the company having been appointed Chairman of Pearson PLC's Publishing Joint Venture in Egypt, as well as having been Non Executive Director of Swiss Precision Diagnostics and its ClearBlue brand.

"I am delighted to join the executive team at Explore Cuisine during what is such a dynamic time in our development. We have a range of products that delivers exactly what consumers today want: great taste and healthy and nutritious options for their families. I'm joining an already successful, energetic team and look forward to spearheading the continued brand expansion," said Forbes.

About Explore Cuisine

Explore Cuisine is a health-minded food brand dedicated to innovative cooking using organic ingredients of the highest quality. Formally known as Explore Asian, the company has expanded to Explore Cuisine, bringing consumers healthy and delicious foods from all across the globe. Explore Cuisine integrates beans, peas, lentils, and rice to provide consumers with nourishing meals which are easy, quick, colorful, and simply delicious. Explore Cuisine delivers high quality yet affordable food to consumers by buying ingredients direct from farmers and producing next to the fields. The company is committed to fair trade and sustainable living, so that everyone benefits along the way. 2% of the proceeds support the Food to Thrive Foundation. www.explorecuisine.com.

SOURCE Explore Cuisine

Related Links

http://www.explorecuisine.com


DUBLIN, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Guestlogix, the Canadian technology company long recognized as a global leader in onboard merchandising, payments and retailing solutions for the airline industry, will be unveiling its new brand vision for helping the airline industry at the Future Travel Experience conference in Dublin today.

Led by a new management team and CEO Mike Abramsky, Guestlogix is developing a new airline retailing platform that includes passenger analytics and product-mix optimization, comprehensive payment functionality and everything needed for airlines to deliver the best in-flight experience to their passengers.

"There's never been a more critical time  or opportunity  for airlines to invest in solutions that improve the onboard retail experience for their customers," said CEO Mike Abramsky. "Airlines want to put customer satisfaction at the heart of their operations, but it takes the right technology  and strategic vision  raise revenues without hurting customer satisfaction."

With the airline ancillary revenue market expected to almost double from $67B (USD) today to $180B by 2020, Guestlogix believes its solutions will improve both the passenger experience and airlines' approach to ancillary revenues and profits.

"As many travellers will attest, there has never been a bigger gap between passengers' expectations of service and the service that airlines are delivering," says Abramsky. "What passengers want today is a travel experience akin to the convenience and ease of their 'on-the-ground' mobile retail experiences with Amazon, Starbucks and Uber, to name a few."

Having pioneered the concept of onboard payments and retailing over a decade ago, Guestlogix is building on the company's heritage to develop solutions that will help airlines 'close the gap' in passenger experience and transform their operational approach to retailing, support airline revenue goals, and empower all airline staff, from ground crew and gate agents to flight attendants and passenger experience specialists.

With a new brand, new leadership, and a renewed mission to help airlines capture the highest ancillary revenues while delivering an incredible passenger experience, the company envisions a new era for the airline industry, where technology drives strategy and where passenger satisfaction, loyalty and revenues rise together.

"We believe that by delivering the products that passengers want and services they need, airlines can get closer to their customers and uncover more ways to be relevant, while increasing ancillary revenues," Abramsky says.

For more information about the company, please visit www.guestlogix.com. To request an interview with Guestlogix CEO, Mike Abramsky please contact Vanessa Horwell at [email protected].

Guestlogix, Transforming the Airline Travel Experience

Guestlogix is a global leader in onboard solutions for the airline industry, serving more than 2M passengers each day across 30 airlines and 144 countries. The company's scalable retail platform transforms the airline travel experience by enabling choice and comfort for passengers, while driving profitable revenue for airlines. For over 10 years, Guestlogix has been empowering airlines, passengers, suppliers, content providers, logistics personnel, and other key stakeholders to succeed in the complex world of onboard retailing with a suite of data-driven, customer-centric tools. The corporate headquarters is in Toronto, Canada, with skilled teams in Dallas, London and Hong Kong. Visit www.guestlogix.com to learn more.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Horwell, ThinkInk

+1.305.749.5342 x 232

[email protected]

SOURCE Guestlogix

Related Links

http://www.guestlogix.com


LONDON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hall & Partners today announced the launch of OpenMind, a new specialist consultancy dedicated to brand invention. With an ever-increasing pressure on brands for growth, OpenMind offers a radical new collaborative approach focused on rapid innovation.

OpenMind has a distinct way of working with clients from Brief to Blueprint to tackle a diverse range of brand and innovation challenges. Faster sprints compress the endless debate-cycle by connecting decision-makers with creative talent to invent together. Underpinned by an open-minded philosophy that helps brands embrace strategic insights from culture and consumers, OpenMind's dynamic and immersive approach takes co-creation to a new level.

OpenMind will be led by Jen Drexler, Managing Partner, who has spent the past 20 years working for some of the world's leading brands including Westin Hotels, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, IKEA, Bloomingdale's, Mondelez, Guardian Insurance, Viacom and Estee Lauder.

"In our post-truth era, brands must be honest with themselves, and brave enough to challenge their own status quo", says Drexler. "I always admired Hall & Partners' global reach, deep client relationships and cutting-edge approaches for translating human truths for the world's biggest brands. I look forward to working with clients to co-create and craft their blueprints for the future."

Drexler was previously an EVP of Insights and Strategy for Now What, an SVP at Insight Strategy Group, and the co-founder of Just Ask a Woman. Based in New York, she is an expert in gender roles and creating new qualitative techniques.

Hall & Partners' Global CEO Vanella Jackson says, "In a dynamic, changing environment, identifying opportunities for growth is challenging. Rapid innovation and experimentation is vital to ensure brands survive and prosper. Jen brings with her a wealth of knowledge and a history of non-traditional approaches to insights and innovation that clients love."

About Hall & Partners

Hall & Partners is a global strategic brand consultancy powered by data and insight. We are challengers in the research industry, questioning traditional thinking, pioneering the latest technology and leading with innovation. We support leading brands in creating commercially and emotional rewarding brand relationships. Hall & Partners is a part of the DAS Group of Companies. For more information, visit www.hallandpartners.com.

About the DAS Group of Companies

The DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), is a global group of marketing services companies. DAS includes over 200 companies in the following marketing disciplines: specialty, PR, healthcare, CRM, events, promotional marketing, branding and research. Operating through a combination of networks and regional organisations, DAS serves international, regional, national and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries. For more information, visit www.dasglobal.com.

Contact:

Charlotte Lawrie

Global Head of Brand and Marketing

Hall & Partners

Bankside 2  100 Southwark St.  London  SE1 0SW

Mobile +44 7889 231443

SOURCE Hall & Partners

Related Links

http://www.hallandpartners.com


FISHERS, Ind., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Whether you're hosting or attending a backyard get together this Fourth of July, chances are you'll be enjoying food hot off the grill. According to a survey by Pine Mountain firestarters and firelogs, the nation's birthday is considered the most popular holiday to cook outdoors by 58 percent of survey respondents. However, what you'll find on your plate could vary by city. Steak is the grill meat of choice in Atlanta, Dallas and San Francisco, while New York and Chicago residents reach for burgers first.

One thing people across the country can agree on  flavor reigns supreme. The most popular reason for cooking on the grill according to 69 percent of survey respondents is because it makes the food tastes better. Why else do people pick the open flames of a grill over the stove? The survey found:

Fifty-six percent of New Yorkers like to cook on the grill because it brings family and friends together. The sentiment's echoed by more than 50 percent of residents in Atlanta , Dallas , San Francisco and Chicago as well!

Fifty-five percent of Atlanta -locals like to grill because it's just fun.

Forty-seven percent of Chicagoans opt to grill because it gets them outside.

Nearly 30 percent in Atlanta and Chicago grill to help them relax.

A quarter of those in Chicago also look forward to grilling to cut down on dishes!

"Whether you're grilling for a crowd on a holiday, or it's a weekday dinner, grilling outdoors over an open flame undoubtedly enhances the dining experience," said Landon Whetsel, Brand Manager of Pine Mountain. "When grilling over charcoal, the Pine Mountain ExtremeStart Firestarter can not only help get the grill going faster, but it cuts down on mess and the time you usually spend babysitting the fire, so you can enjoy more time with family and friends."

To start a charcoal grill with the Pine Mountain ExtremeStart Firestarter, you just put it on the grill, light at the arrow indications, and place your charcoal or charcoal chimney on top. The coals turn gray in minutes  a benefit that is sure to be appreciated by the 53 percent of Chicagoans who say they will grill any time they can as a little snow or rain never hurt anybody!

The Pine Mountain ExtremeStart Firestarter is compact and easily transported to your next outdoor event or tailgate. There's no need to hunt for newspaper, dried grass, or other kindling to light a wood fire, or use accelerants, gels, and lighter fluids to ignite a charcoal fire. The ExtremeStart Firestarter achieves the same result with less hassle and mess.

Learn more about the ExtremeStart Firestarter and the full line of Pine Mountain firelogs and firestarters at www.PineMountainFire.com or by visiting www.Facebook.com/PineMountainFire.

To view instructional how-to videos of Pine Mountain firelogs and firestarters visit www.YouTube.com/PineMountainFire.

About the Survey

ORC International was commissioned to conduct this survey in May-June 2017 among a sample of 1,000 respondents ages 18 and older who live in the Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York, or San Francisco MSAs and own a smoker or grill. 200 respondents were in each of the MSAs. The sample for the study came from an online panel.

About Pine Mountain

Pine Mountain, a top selling brand of firelogs and the #1 brand of firestarters in the United States, has been adding warmth and a cozy ambience to any occasion for more than 20 years. The Pine Mountain brand is a leader in the production and distribution of fire-related products, including: multi-purpose firelogs, multi-purpose firelogs made of natural materials, Java-Log firelogs, StarterLogg firestarters, and the Creosote Buster chimney cleaning log. For more information, visit www.pinemountainfire.com. Pine Mountain brand is part of Royal Oak Enterprises, LLC.

SOURCE Pine Mountain

Related Links

http://www.pinemountainfire.com


Painter & Johnson Financial is a broker of insurance, securities and employee benefits, based in Brownwood, Texas. The union of the two firms encompasses non-variable insurance products, expanding the customer service capabilities for insurance clients of Painter & Johnson Financial.

Higginbotham is partnering with brokers that have strong local reputations as part of a growth initiative that has widened its reach across Texas while allowing it to maintain focus on personal service. This marks the firm's entrance into Brownwood, Texas.

"Although we're growing at a rapid pace, having expanded our number of locations by three this year while adding partners to our existing offices, we go through a careful vetting process," said Higginbotham President/CEO Rusty Reid. "We've been able to preserve our tight culture and core vision of exceeding our clients' expectations by ensuring our new partners have demonstrated the same commitment."

Painter & Johnson Financial President Bart Johnson said, "We're committed to building long-term relationships with our clients, so we need to keep evolving with the insurance landscape. Joining Higginbotham adds vast resources for our clients and our staff, while ensuring that our clients will continue to benefit from working with the team they already know and trust."

Painter & Johnson Financial will continue operating under the leadership of Bart Johnson as managing director at 201 West Adams in Brownwood.

About Painter & Johnson Financial

Painter & Johnson Financial is a broker of insurance, securities and employee benefits, working with clients to provide appropriate coverage in the most economical manner. The firm brings a wealth of product knowledge and experience to provide necessary protection today and security for the future. Painter & Johnson Financial has individuals licensed to offer securities in the states of TX, AR, CA, CO, OK, and VA. Securities offered through WFG Investments, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Visit www.painterandjohnson.com for more information.

About Higginbotham

Higginbotham is a single source for insurance and financial services that brokers business insurance, employee benefits, retirement plans, executive benefits, life insurance and home/auto insurance from more than 250 regional and national carriers. It supplements coverage with in-house risk management and benefit plan administration services. The firm was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, with 25 additional offices statewide serving domestic and international customers. Higginbotham ranks by revenue as the nation's 31st largest independent insurance brokerage firm, making it the largest Texas-based broker (Business Insurance, July 2016). Visit www.higginbotham.net for more information.

Higginbotham and WFG Investments, Inc. are unaffiliated firms.

SOURCE Higginbotham

Related Links

http://www.higginbotham.net


GENEVA, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

hosco, the world's leading hospitality network, closed its Series A round, bringing investments in the Geneva-based start-up to 7 million CHF. Funding comes from multiple sources, such as existing shareholders, new business angels, and venture capital firms from London and Barcelona.



(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/526482/hosco_Logo.jpg )



The latest investment will assist hosco's growth, allowing the company to deepen its roots in core markets and expand its reach to new geographies. Improvements to the product will continue to focus on features to provide companies with a complete set of tools for hospitality recruitment, while giving members additional services to support them throughout their career. Providing platform technology for schools to manage careers and alumni continues to be a priority, and hosco is working with national organisations to create specialised networks uniting the industry within individual countries.

"We're fortunate to have attracted the best possible investment partners in this round," said Olivier Bracard, hosco's Co-Founder & CEO. "All have solid expertise in online marketplaces and strong networks, and there's great alignment in our aggressive ambition and long-term vision."

"hosco has gained significant traction in the hospitality recruitment space since its founding, and the company is constantly innovating and creating new offerings, without detracting from their core service," said Fernando Castineiras from Athos Capital. "It's an exciting time to invest and help hosco secure its position as the number one tool for recruiters, educational institutions, and ambitious talents in one of the fastest growing global industries."

"Since 2015 the company has taken flight, experiencing 100% YoY growth of users, traffic, revenue for three consecutive years," said Adam Davis, Chief Marketing Officer. "With additional funding, hosco's plans for growth will accelerate, supporting our goal of reaching over 1 million members in the next three years." Strong performance in member acquisition and an employer-talent connection made every minute on the platform has lead hosco to increase focus on retention and engagement strategies.

hosco's team also continues to grow, having doubled the number of employees from 2016 to 2017. The adding of experienced C-level directors will help scale the business, and deliver on the aggressive development plans laid out. "Our team is a key competitive advantage," said Carl Julien, Co-Founder & COO, "and we will continue to seek out the best talents to support our growth."

About hosco

Founded in 2011, hosco started as a platform assisting hospitality students in finding internships. The model quickly expanded to become a necessary tool for recruiters to advertise openings and secure qualified full-time talents in the hospitality industry. hosco operates from offices in Geneva, Barcelona, and Dubai, and is the leading specialised network for the hospitality industry worldwide.

hosco.com

facebook.com/hospitalityconnection

PRESS CONTACT:

[email protected]

Jemma Borocz

+34-936-396-286



Download press kit: goo.gl/ZwrpN9



SOURCE hosco
LONDON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Instinet Europe Limited and Virtu Financial Ireland Limited (Virtu) announced today that they have entered into a bilateral liquidity streaming relationship. This relationship provides Instinet's buy and sell side clients with aggregated liquidity and opportunities for price improvement.

Instinet clients now have access to additional liquidity at the touch, filling a gap between lit venues and large in scale blocks. This provides opportunities for price improvement and larger size fills, which minimizes clients' footprint in the market. Instinet's agency aggregation services already connect to conditional and over the counter (OTC) liquidity venues, as well as exchanges and Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTF).

The liquidity streaming relationship also provides clients with new options to interact with market maker liquidity. Clients remain anonymous but the arrangement provides the liquidity provider with Instinet as a known counterparty, to which the liquidity provider can offer price improvement and larger size.

As the marketplace anticipates MiFID II regulatory changes to liquidity provision, a shift toward bilateral trading relationships and the registration of additional Systematic Internalisers (SIs), market participants will be required to change the way they route orders, interact with, and access sources of liquidity. This relationship with Virtu reinforces Instinet's commitment to offer more diverse sources of liquidity, and to simplify the potential post- MiFID II execution process for the firm's buy and sell side clients.

"The trading environment is poised to become even more complex, while at the same time, clients will be asked to attest to their best execution practices. Instinet's highly configurable infrastructure can be tailored to each client, which enables us to serve as their agency-model hub or neutral curator of diverse sources of liquidity," said Richard Parsons, CEO of Instinet Europe Limited.

Christiaan Scholtes, Head of EMEA Markets at Virtu, said: "As the liquidity landscape in Europe undergoes a fundamental paradigm shift, we're looking for intelligent ways to adapt. We see this relationship as an opportunity to transparently and efficiently provide our risk liquidity to a broader set of participants through Instinet's high quality, neutral agency platform."

About Instinet

As the equity execution services arm of the Nomura Group, Instinet Incorporated's subsidiaries provide independent, agency-model brokerage services to clients throughout the world. Through its advanced suite of electronic trading tools, experienced high-touch trading group and unparalleled access to insightful content and liquidity, Instinet helps institutions lower overall trading costs and ultimately improve investment performance. Over the course of its 45+ year history, Instinet has introduced a range of now industry-standard trading technologies as well as the world's first major electronic trading venue, one of the first U.S. ECNs and the Chi-X businesses. For more information, please visit instinet.com.



About Virtu Financial, LLC

Virtu is the global leader in electronic market making. We actively make markets across a broad range of asset classes including equities, foreign exchange, commodities, options and fixed income, providing two-sided liquidity on over two hundred market centers around the world. As market makers, we lower costs for both retail and institutional investors by supplying competitive bids and offers, without seeking to take on risky directional positions. Virtu's liquidity provision plays a vital role in the overall health and efficiency of the global financial markets, especially in times of market turbulence.

2017, Instinet Incorporated and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. INSTINET is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries throughout the world. Approved for distribution: in Australia by Instinet Australia Pty Limited (ACN: 131 253 686 AFSL No: 327834), which is regulated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission; in Canada by Instinet Canada Limited, members IIROC/CIPF; in Europe by Instinet Europe Limited, which is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority; in Hong Kong by Instinet Pacific Limited, which is authorized and regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong; in Singapore by Instinet Singapore Services Private Limited, which is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, a trading member of The Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Private Limited and a clearing member of The Central Depository (Pte) Limited; and in the US by Instinet, LLC, member SIPC.

SOURCE Instinet
With 17 years of experience, and ten of them between DDB Amsterdam and DDB Dubai, Iris will take over the leadership of the DDB Dubai office, reporting into Hubert Boulos, CEO Middle East.

Iris has been a Business Director at DDB Dubai for the past four years, and in charge of some of the agency's top clients such as McDonald's, Dubai Parks and Resorts, Bollywood Park, Johnson & Johnson, and most recently Danone. On top of managing such a blue chip portfolio, she was also instrumental is winning all the clients in her portfolio with the exception of Johnson & Johnson which is a global DDB account.

Commenting on Iris' appointment, Hubert Boulos said, "Iris' contribution in helping me lead the agency successfully over the past four years, has been tremendous and invaluable. The agency would not be the same without Iris. I am confident she is the right person to keep the positive momentum going and to take us to an even higher level of performance."

Commenting on her appointment, Iris Minnema said, "I'm very excited to take on this new role within DDB Dubai. It's a tough market out there, but we have great talents that are eager to show what else we can do. It's all about the people, pushing the thinking further, being smart in times that are hard. I am confident, that we can hold on the positive changes of the last couple of years and look forward to showing what's next from DDB Dubai."

About DDB

DDB Worldwide (www.ddb.com) is one of the world's largest and most influential advertising and marketing networks. DDB has been named Agency of the Year numerous times by the Cannes International Festival of Creativity and the industry's leading advertising publications and awards shows. The Gunn Report has listed DDB as one of the Top 3 Global Networks for 12 of the last 15 years. The agency's clients include Volkswagen, McDonald's, Unilever, Mars, Johnson & Johnson, and Exxon Mobil, among others.

Founded in 1949, DDB is part of the Omnicom Group (NYSE) and consists of more than 200 offices in over 90 countries with its flagship office in New York, NY.

ABOUT OMNICOM

Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE  OMC) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

Press Contact:

Melanie Vignon, Regional Operations Director, DDB Middle East & Africa

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +33 1 53 32 61 33

SOURCE DDB Worldwide

Related Links

http://www.ddb.com


CHICAGO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Itiviti, a world-leading technology provider for the capital markets industry, and the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE), the modern and efficient alternative for companies looking to access the Canadian public capital markets, have partnered to deliver a state-of-the-art automated testing solution to enable continuous integration testing and defect reporting in the CSE's multi-protocol trading environment.

To deliver the solution, CSE deployed VeriFIX by Itiviti, the industry standard in automated testing, with multiple FIX protocol versions as well as proprietary binary protocols in order to implement full regression testing of order entry, market data feeds, and regulatory requirements for the CSE Trading System. This full regression testing suite facilitates validation of complete trading workflows across all protocols and interfaces.

"Itiviti has enabled CSE to regression test our platform and receive automation quality benefits both of which has added operational efficiencies to our release cycles," said David Timpany, Vice President, Technology & Operations for CSE. "Our regression testing time frame has been reduced from multiple people for four weeks to an overnight automated test run with defect report generation. With next day feedback to our development team, we have dramatically decreased the defect turnaround timeframe. These improvements will help us to continue offering our clients a competitive advantage in the marketplace."

Multi-protocol technologies are a top priority at Itiviti. Itiviti's solutions support both industry standard and proprietary protocols and are available for firms looking to redesign or scale-up their trading technology for future client demand.

"We are pleased to continue to partner with CSE to accelerate deployment of CSE's Trading System and help achieve cost and system efficiencies," said Jesper Alfredsson, President Americas, Itiviti. "Our work with CSE is another example of how Itiviti can help achieve test automation for FIX and proprietary protocols."

Firms that invest in multi-protocol technologies will be the leaders in offering high quality, reliable market access for a broader range of market participants.

About Itiviti

Itiviti is a world-leading technology provider for the capital markets industry. Trading firms, banks, brokers and institutional clients rely on Itiviti technology, solutions and expertise for streamlining daily operations, while gaining a sustainable competitive edge in global markets.

With 13 offices and serving more than 400 customers worldwide, Itiviti was formed by uniting Orc Group, a leader in trading and electronic execution, and CameronTec Group, the global standard in financial messaging infrastructure and connectivity. From its foundation in 2016, Itiviti has a staff of 400 and an estimated annual revenue of SEK 700 million.

Itiviti is committed to continuous innovation to deliver trading infrastructure built for today's dynamic markets, offering highly adaptable platforms and solutions, enabling clients to stay ahead of competitive and regulatory challenges.

Itiviti is owned by Nordic Capital Fund VII.

About CSE

CSE, The Exchange for Entrepreneurs , is home to more than 300 listed companies covering a broad range of industry sectors. CSE provides trade execution, smart routing, risk management, compliance and market information services for Canadian listed securities across multiple markets. Recognized as an exchange by the Ontario Securities Commission in 2004, the CSE is designed to facilitate the capital formation process for public companies through a streamlined approach to company regulation that emphasizes disclosure and the provision of efficient secondary market trading services for investors.

For further information, please contact:

Itiviti

Jesper Alfredsson, President Americas, Itiviti, Tel: +1-312-541-4500, [email protected]

Megan Geldman, Senior Marketing Manager Americas, Itiviti, Tel: +1-312-541-4181, [email protected]

www.itiviti.com

Follow Itiviti on social media on Twitter @Itiviti_AB, on Facebook @ItivitiAB, and on LinkedIn

CSE

David Timpany, Vice President, Technology & Operations, CSE, Tel: 416-367-7355, [email protected]

www.thecse.com; CSE blog at http://blog.thecse.com

Follow the CSE on social media on Twitter @CSE_News and on Instagram and Facebook @CanadianSecuritiesExchange

CONTACT:

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/itiviti-group-ab/r/itiviti-delivers-multi-protocol-automated-testing-for-cse-system,c2294834

The following files are available for download:

http://mb.cision.com/Main/13830/2294834/692279.pdf Press release in PDF format

SOURCE Itiviti Group AB

Related Links

http://www.itiviti.com


"We are pleased to be part of this great revitalization project and to have the opportunity, in partnership with the LaMacchia Group, to build a beautiful new branch location," said Jay Magulski, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our new Muskego branch will allow us to more directly deliver our brand of financial services to the nearly 3,700 members who reside in this robust and growing community."

The groundbreaking was attended by Muskego Mayor Kathy Chiaverotti, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Krisann Durnford, other city officials and Landmark team members.

Landmark Credit Union is Wisconsin's largest credit union, with $3.4 billion in assets and 620 employees, who serve over 300,000 members at more than 30 locations throughout Southern Wisconsin.

SOURCE Landmark Credit Union

Related Links

http://www.landmarkcu.com


NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will launch the Biden Cancer Initiative, their new venture to continue the fight to make progress in cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and care. The launch event is highlighted by Vice President and Dr. Biden joining members of the Biden Cancer Initiative Board of Directors for a conversation about the mission of the Initiative, the issues it will address, and the promise of what they hope to accomplish together. Prior to the event, Vice President and Dr. Biden will go live at 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time on the Biden Cancer Initiative Facebook page to bring the news of this announcement to people around the world.

Biden Cancer Initiative Overview:

The Biden Cancer Initiative will develop and drive implementation of solutions to accelerate progress in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, research and care, and to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes. Through the Biden Cancer Initiative, Vice President and Dr. Biden strengthen their commitment to inject a sense of urgency into our cancer research and care systems and reimagine how the government, academia, non-profits and the private sector can better organize their resources and systems to collaborate to take on cancer, with the patient as the focus. The Initiative will be a major convening force in driving new actions and collaborations toward ending cancer as we know it.

Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden said of this new effort, ""Every minute, every day matters to patients and we must bring that same sense of urgency to cancer research and care systemsWe are joining everyone who spends their days thinking about preventing cancer, about better understanding its biological basis, about bringing early detection and education to all communities, about developing new treatments and therapies, and about caring for patients and their families through some of the hardest days anyone faces. We are on your team. And we are proud to be working alongside you."

"I have had the privilege of caring for cancer patients for over two decades. For the first time in my career I can walk into a patient's room with a sense of hope and optimism. The tide is changing in the war on cancer, but not quickly enough. I am so excited to work with Vice President and Dr. Biden to make a meaningful impact against this disease," said Dr. David Agus, Professor of Medicine and Engineering, University of Southern California (USC); Founding Director and CEO, Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC and member of the Biden Cancer Initiative Board of Directors.

Announcement of Board of Directors:

The Biden Cancer Initiative will be guided by a Board of Directors co-chaired by Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden which includes world-renowned leaders and experts in the fields of medical research, patient care, information technology, finance, management, patient engagement, patient experience, and public policy.

Joining the Board of Directors are:

David B. Agus , M.D., Professor of Medicine and Engineering, University of Southern California ( USC ); Founding Director and CEO, Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC

Erin Andrews , FOX Sports' Lead NFL Sideline Reporter; Co-Host, ABC's Dancing

With The Stars

David G. Bradley , Chairman, Atlantic Media Company; Founder, Advisory Board Company; Founder, Corporate Advisory Board Company

Carol L. Brown , M.D., Director, Office of Diversity Programs in Clinical Care, Research, and Training, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Jimmy "Taboo" Gomez , Musician (Black Eyed Peas); Cancer Survivor

Julie Papanek Grant , M.B.A., M.Phil., Partner, Canaan Partners

Elizabeth Jaffee , M.D., Deputy Director, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University

Howard Krein , M.D., Ph.D., Senior Director of Health Policy and Innovation, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and Associate Professor, Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery, Microvascular Surgery, Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University

Eric S. Lander , Ph.D., Director, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT

Todd Park , former U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Gregory C. Simon , J.D., President, Biden Cancer Initiative

Kim Thiboldeaux , CEO, Cancer Support Community

Jeffrey Zients , former Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council

"The Biden Cancer Initiative offers people diagnosed with cancer and their loved ones hope that our nation's leaders truly recognize the urgency that ending cancer as we know it demands. I am humbled to be a part of this important Initiative, and committed to bringing the patient voice to inform all that the organization endeavors to achieve," said Kim Thiboldeaux, CEO, Cancer Support Community and member of the Biden Cancer Initiative Board of Directors.

"I was fortunate to have the chance to work with Vice President and Dr. Biden at the White House and to witness their incredible combination of leadership, heart, and dedication to serving the American people. I am thrilled to work with them on the Biden Cancer Initiative, which will continue the urgent fight for progress in cancer research and care," said Jeffrey Zients, former Director, National Economic Council and member of the Biden Cancer Initiative Board of Directors.

Staff Leadership:

The Biden Cancer Initiative will be headquartered in Washington, D.C., and led by some of the same team who led the White House Cancer Moonshot for then-Vice President Biden.

Greg Simon will serve as President and member of the Biden Cancer Initiative Board of Directors. Greg served as the Executive Director of the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force. He returned to the White House after serving as Vice President Al Gore's Chief Domestic Policy Advisor between 1993 and 1997. Previously, Greg was CEO of Poliwogg, a financial services company, Senior Vice President for Worldwide Policy and Patient Engagement at Pfizer, co-founded with Michael Milken, FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical solutions, and with Leon and Debra Black co-founded the Melanoma Research Alliance. Greg is a cancer survivor, having been recently successfully treated for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Also joining the leadership team as Vice President is Danielle Carnival, Ph.D. Danielle most recently served as the Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Director for the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force. Over her more than six years at the White House, she leveraged her doctoral training in neuroscience to develop programs and policies to make progress on Obama-Biden Administration goals, notably Danielle assumed leadership roles for some of the Administration's signature initiatives and events, including the White House Cancer Moonshot, White House Science Fairs, College Opportunity Days of Action, and Computer Science for All and Diversity in STEM initiatives.

Katie Collins will be Program Director for the Biden Cancer Initiative. Katie served as the Policy Analyst for the Cancer Moonshot Task Force and the Special Assistant to the effort's Executive Director. She previously worked in the Usher's Office in the Executive Residence, where she managed daily operations on the White House complex, including First Family scheduling, media interviews and filming, and all personal and official receptions.

Relation to Biden Foundation:

The Biden Cancer Initiative was born out of the Biden Foundation which will carry on its mission to build upon Vice President and Dr. Biden's lifelong commitment to protect and advance the rights and opportunities of all people through educational programming and public policy analysis. The two efforts will continue to work in close collaboration.

While its application with the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status is pending, the Biden Cancer Initiative is operating under a fiscal sponsorship agreement with the Biden Foundation.

Background on Cancer Moonshot:

In President Obama's 2016 State of the Union address, he called on Vice President Joe Biden to lead a new, national "Cancer Moonshot" to dramatically accelerate efforts to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancerto achieve a decade's worth of progress in five years. On January 28, 2016, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum establishing the Cancer Moonshot Task Force to bring together all federal agencies that touch the cancer experience, charged with leveraging Federal investments, targeted incentives, private sector efforts, patient engagement initiatives, and more, to support cancer research and enable progress in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

By the end of the Administration, the Cancer Moonshot, in partnership with federal agencies and the private, academic, and philanthropic sectors, launched nearly 80 new actions and collaborations designed to double the rate of progress in the cancer fight, brought together 7,000 people at nearly 300 events held in every state of the Union as part of the Cancer Moonshot Summit, signed 10 memoranda of understanding with nine countries, a Blue Ribbon Panel of experts identified priority areas for additional research investment, issued a Cancer Moonshot Report laying out a roadmap for the federal agencies to continue the work of the Moonshot including the then-Vice President's Executive Report which described the biggest impediments to progress that he saw and how to take action to remove them, and worked with a bipartisan group of leaders in Congress to pass the 21st Century Cures Act including $1.8B additional investment by the National Cancer Institute. What started as an office in the White House had become a movement.

Initiatives begun under the Cancer Moonshot at federal agencies have continued, as have efforts started across the country in private companies, foundations and hospitals.

Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden know there is much more to accomplish in the fight against cancer and will build on the progress made under the Cancer Moonshot through the efforts of the Biden Cancer Initiative, which will operate independently of the federal government.

For More Information:

Join us by following: @BidenCancer and www.facebook.com/bidencancer.

To learn more about the Biden Cancer Initiative, visit our website following the launch at: bidencancer.org.

SOURCE Biden Cancer Initiative

Related Links

http://bidencancer.org


SAN FRANCISCO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Shareholder and consumer rights law firm Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe LLP has launched an investigation into whether certain officers and directors of LendingClub Corporation (NYSE: LC) breached their fiduciary duties by causing the company to issue false and misleading statements. LendingClub is an online peer-to-peer marketplace that matches lenders and borrowers for a variety of loans.

On May 25, 2017, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order upholding securities class action claims against LendingClub and certain of its officers and directors. The securities class action alleges that during the period December 11, 2014 through May 6, 2016, the defendants misrepresented key aspects of the company's business, inflating the price of the company's stock. Specifically, on May 9, 2016, LendingClub revealed that its Founder and CEO Renaud Laplanche had resigned following the completion of an internal review, which had uncovered improper loan transactions and personal investments. LendingClub later announced that it had identified "material weaknesses" in internal controls related to the "tone at the top," and needed to take "remediation steps" to address the problems.

Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe's investigation concerns when and how much certain of LendingClub's officers and directors knew about these practices. Shareholders interested in seeking the recovery of damages on behalf of LendingClub and securing other remedial measures should contact the firm.

If you are a long-term holder of LendingClub stock and wish to obtain additional information about the Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe's investigation and your legal rights, please contact Willem Jonckheer either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at (415) 788-4220, or fill out the form on our website at classactionlawyers.com/lendingclub

About Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe

Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe has extensive experience in prosecuting securities claims, representing investors throughout the nation in securities and shareholder lawsuits. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

SOURCE Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe
CHARLESTON, S.C., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeff Cook of Jeff Cook Real Estate, a leader of residential real estate sales in Charleston SC, has been known for his eye-catching billboards along the tri-county roads. Although his mouth-dropping "Moving to Canada" billboard gained national attention in 2016, his newest billboard may be his most controversial yet. While driving around the Lowcountry over the next two months, you may notice billboards with Jeff's face on the bodies of "Rosie the Riveter" and "Uncle Sam."

Pictured: Jeff Cook of Jeff Cook Real Estate dressed up as "Rosie the Riveter" and "Uncle Sam" for his latest billboard campaign.

While Jeff might create a stir with his face on an iconic female figure, he hopes you will notice he has highlighted all female agents in their own "Rosie the Riveter" banners across Facebook. In the past, advertising for Jeff Cook Real Estate has typically showcased Jeff, but he hopes promoting his female agents will help drive more women to apply at Jeff Cook Real Estate. It is the mission statement of Jeff Cook Real Estate to empower the team, and Jeff believes this will empower his female employees as well as any women looking to get into real estate by associating them with such a strong, working class, memorable woman.

Cook says, "Real Estate is a fair industry where men and women should be equal in pay. At Jeff Cook Real Estate, they are given the same opportunity to become a top producer on the team. Just last year, the King Kong trophy for the highest commission of 2016 was awarded to a female agent." Jeff Cook has also featured all his male agents as Uncle Sam with the caption "I want you to sell your home!" He would like to see his agents becoming powerhouses in the real estate community. Interested in a career in real estate? Come join the #1 team in Charleston. Visit www.JoinJCRE.com or call 843-501-9786 for more details.

Jeff Cook Real Estate

Jeff Cook Real Estate is the #1 real estate company in the Charleston area, with a vision to redefine the method in which real estate is sold by empowering the team to deliver the best service to their clients and a mission to help over 1000 families achieve their real estate dreams in 2017.

SOURCE Jeff Cook Real Estate

Related Links

http://www.JeffCookRealEstate.com


FAIRPORT, N.Y., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Manning & Napier, Inc. (NYSE: MN), ("Manning & Napier" or "the Company") today announced that it filled the vacant positions on its Board of Directors with the appointment of Edward George as an independent director at the June 14th annual shareholders meeting, as well as the appointment of Joel Domino, effective immediately.

Prior to his retirement, Mr. George, 70, spent 14 years working for Manning & Napier Advisors, beginning in sales and eventually becoming a Managing Director. Prior to his employment at Manning & Napier, Mr. George worked for two consulting firms, AG Becker and Mercer Consulting. Mr. George previously served on the board of Ferrum Junior College. He earned an Associate's degree from Ferrum Junior College in 1968, and a Bachelor's degree in Education from Wake Forest University in 1972. Mr. George will serve as an independent director on the Audit, Nominating and Corporate Governance, and Compensation committees.

Mr. Domino, 57, has served as President and Chief Financial Officer of Kent Displays Inc. ("KDI") since 2002. Prior to taking on the role of President, Mr. Domino served as the Chief Financial Officer of KDI from 1993 through 2002. He started his career in an accounting role at Ball Corporation in 1982. Mr. Domino holds a B.A. in Accounting from Mount Union College as well as an M.B.A. with a concentration in Strategic Planning from California State University. Mr. Domino is the son-in-law of the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, William Manning, and accordingly will hold an inside director position on the board and will not immediately serve on any of the committees of the board.

Commenting on the appointments of Mr. Domino and Mr. George, William Manning, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Manning & Napier, stated, "I am pleased that we have filled the remaining board vacancies with the appointments of Ed and Joel. Ed's experience and familiarity with our firm will be highly valued, and Joel brings extensive management experience to our board. We look forward to their future contributions."

About Manning & Napier, Inc.

Manning & Napier (NYSE: MN) provides a broad range of investment solutions as well as a variety of consultative services that complement our investment process. Founded in 1970, we offer U.S. and non-U.S. equity, fixed income, and a range of blended asset portfolios, such as life cycle funds and actively-managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF")-based portfolios. We serve a diversified client base of high-net-worth individuals and institutions, including 401(k) plans, pension plans, Taft-Hartley plans, endowments and foundations. For many of these clients, our relationship goes beyond investment management and includes customized solutions that address key issues and solve client-specific problems. We are headquartered in Fairport, NY.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release and other statements that the Company may make may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which reflect the Company's current views with respect to, among other things, its operations and financial performance. Words like "believes," "expects," "may," "estimates," "will," "should," "intends," "plans," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, are used to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Although the Company believes that it is basing its expectations and beliefs on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of what it currently knows about its business and operations, there can be no assurance that its actual results will not differ materially from what the Company expects or believes. Some of the factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ from its expectations or beliefs include, without limitation: changes in securities or financial markets or general economic conditions; a decline in the performance of the Company's products; client sales and redemption activity; changes of government policy or regulations; and other risks discussed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contacts

Investor Relations Contact

Sean Silva

Prosek Partners

212-279-3115

[email protected]

Public Relations Contact

Nicole Kingsley Brunner

Manning & Napier, Inc.

585-325-6880

[email protected]

SOURCE Manning & Napier, Inc.
115 Lions (6 Grand Prix, 22 Gold, 34 Silver, 53 Bronze and 165 shortlists)

Named Cannes Lions Healthcare Network of the Year for the 2 nd straight year

straight year Recognized as most awarded agency in North America .

. Additionally, McCann Worldgroup agencies in New York and Mumbai were two out of only four agencies to receive an ACT Responsible Cannes Tribute 2017 in recognition of their outstanding work supporting good causes.

Rob Reilly, McCann Worldgroup's Global Creative Chairman, said, "No agency can do bold creative work without the partnership and support of brave clients who really want to connect meaningfully with their customers. Our awards won this year are a tribute to them as well as to the incredible creative, strategic and account talent we have around the world."

McCann Worldgroup's six Grand Prix at this year's Cannes Lions Festival included:

McCann New York won four Grand Prix in Titanium, Outdoor, PR, and Glass. The Titanium Grand Prix, most notably, celebrates "game-changers" whose work "breaks new ground in branded communications with provocative, boundary-busting, envy-inspiring work."

MRM// McCann Spain won a Grand Prix in the Lions Entertainment category.

won a Grand Prix in the Lions Entertainment category. McCann Worldgroup India won the Grand Prix for Good for their "Immunity Charm" campaign to help increase childhood vaccination rates in Afghanistan .

Harris Diamond, McCann Worldgroup's Chairman and CEO, said, "Under Rob Reilly's leadership, our creative teams around the world delivered breakthrough creative work that was deservedly recognized across a wide spectrum of categories. We are particularly proud of winning the Glass, Titanium and Grand Prix for Good along with the ACT Responsible Tribute."

The results at the Cannes Lions Festival, where McCann won more Lions than in any previous year, are the latest of many top global creative honors won by McCann this year. At the 2017 Effie Awards, McCann New York was honored as the most effective agency office in North America and McCann Worldgroup was named the No. 2 most effective regional network. McCann New York was named "Agency of the Year" at The One Club's The One Show. McCann was honored across the board with Digital Agency of the Year, Agency of the Year, and Network of the Year distinctions at the ADC 96th Annual Awards. Also this year, the agency won both Network of the Year and Agency of the Year at the International ANDY Awards, in addition to taking the Best in Show GRANDY award. In 2016, McCann was ranked by The Gunn Report as the world's second most creatively awarded network overall in advertising and specifically in digital as well.

About McCann Worldgroup

McCann Worldgroup, part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), is a leading global marketing services company with 24,000 employees in more than 100 countries, comprising McCann (advertising), MRM//McCann (digital marketing/relationship management), Momentum Worldwide (total brand experience), McCann Health (professional/dtc communications), CRAFT (global adaptation and production), UM (media management), Weber Shandwick (public relations), FutureBrand (consulting/design), ChaseDesign (shopper marketing) and PMK-BNC.

SOURCE McCann Worldgroup
NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "Some of our own family grew up in the mining industry, so we are incredibly passionate about making certain any miner with mesothelioma receives the best possible compensation because of their exposure to asbestos. As we would like to discuss anytime at 800-714-0303, any miner with mesothelioma that does not have the best possible legal representation will probably not receive the very best financial compensation settlement." http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

Miner

When a person with mesothelioma or their family hires a lawyer or law firm to assist with mesothelioma, they will typically work with that attorney or law firm until the compensation process ends. The major downside to this is that it becomes virtually impossible to fire an attorney part way through a compensation claim if the family becomes aware of how incompetent or inexperienced the attorneys may be.

It is for this reason the Mesothelioma Victims Center urges people with mesothelioma or their family to call them before hiring a lawyer or law form to assist with the mesothelioma financial compensation claim.

According to the group, "We know most people want nothing to do with lawyers. As we would like to explain anytime at 800-714-0303, when it comes to mesothelioma compensation or getting the best financial settlements, you will need to have the nation's most skilled, experienced, and capable mesothelioma attorneys. Believe it or not, some of the nation's top mesothelioma attorneys will take a coal miner's mesothelioma compensation claim because they are just as passionate as we are about getting their clients the best financial settlement results."

Vital tip for any coal miner or their family from the Mesothelioma Victims Center: "If the lawyer you are talking to cannot produce family references where he/she was the driving force for a coal miner getting a substantial mesothelioma compensation settlement, please call us anytime at 800-714-0303 for direct access to some of the nation's top mesothelioma attorneys who have these kinds of references. Let us explain how to avoid being overcharged by lawyers working on a mesothelioma compensation claim. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

In 2015, roughly 897 million short tons of coal were produced in 25 states. Five states produced a total of about 639 million short tons, or about 71% of total U.S. coal production. The five largest coal producing states with production in million short tons and the share of total U.S. coal production in 2015:

Wyoming : 375.8 (42%)

: 375.8 (42%) West Virginia : 95.6 (11%)

: 95.6 (11%) Kentucky : 61.4 (7%)

: 61.4 (7%) Illinois : 56.1 (6%)

: 56.1 (6%) Pennsylvania : 50.0 (6%)

: 50.0 (6%) Other states with active coal mines include: Tennessee , Virginia , Montana , Texas , Indiana , North Dakota , Colorado , Ohio , New Mexico , Utah , and Alabama .

For more information please visit the US Energy Information Energy Administration's website on this topic: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=69&t=2.

Each year about 3000 US citizens will be diagnosed with mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos. High -risk work groups for exposure to asbestos include US Navy Veterans, power plant workers, shipyard workers, oil refinery workers, steel mill workers, miners, manufacturing workers, pulp or paper mill workers, millwrights, welders, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, machinists, construction workers, rail road workers, and firemen. Typically, the exposure to asbestos for these types of workers occurred in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's.

According to the CDC the states indicated 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.

The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "As we would like to explain anytime at 800-714-0303 if a person who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma wants the best possible compensation it is vital they have the nation's most skilled, and experienced mesothelioma lawyers." http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.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

Contact:

Michael Thomas

800-714-0303

[email protected]

SOURCE Mesothelioma Victims Center

Related Links

http://mesotheliomavictimscenter.com


MIAMI, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In an address at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Annual Meeting in Miami, Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the American Cities Initiative, a suite of new and expanded investments that will empower cities to generate innovation and advance policy that moves the nation forward. In an era of unprecedented challenges  from rapid technological change to Washington D.C.'s deepening disengagement on urban issues to the climate crisis  cities need new tools that will allow mayors to do what they do best: innovate, solve problems, and work together to move the needle on the issues that matter to citizens and America's future.

As the first investment as part of the American Cities Initiative, Michael R. Bloomberg invited mayors to participate in a new U.S. edition of the Mayors Challenge, which will help hundreds of mayors develop, test, and implement innovative solutions to the emerging challenges they face. Bloomberg also announced a new grant to the U.S. Conference of Mayors today that will help position mayors and local governments at the forefront of the country's most pressing debates.

The American Cities Initiative builds on Bloomberg Philanthropies' extensive existing efforts to strengthen cities through its arts and culture, education, environment, government innovation, and public health programs, as well as world-class consulting services through Bloomberg Associates.

The American Cities Initiative focuses on three core areas:

Promoting bold leadership and effective problem-solving in city halls;

Advancing critical policies and legislation in areas ranging from education to climate change to opioid abuse; and

Empowering citizens - including artists, volunteers, and entrepreneurs - to solve problems and strengthen social cohesion.

Bloomberg Philanthropies will invest more than $200 million over the next three years in the American Cities Initiative through grants in cities, the delivery of technical expertise, and opportunities for city leaders to share insights and best practices with one another. At least $100 million will support bold and effective leadership in city halls.

"We are in the middle of a political era defined by Washington impotence, but as Washington has grown more dysfunctional, cities have begun to play a vital role in determining our nation's reputation as a global superpower," said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term Mayor of New York City, at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Annual Meeting in Miami. "The American Cities Initiative will incentivize and support the innovative efforts of those cities paving the way for America's future."

"American mayors stand on the front lines of our country's most pressing issues, from tackling climate change to reducing gun violence," said Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of New Orleans and incoming President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "More than ever, innovation and progress are happening at the city level, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors is thrilled to partner with Bloomberg Philanthropies to ensure that the voices of urban leaders are elevated at the national level."

The 2017 Mayors Challenge: An Innovation Platform for America's Mayors

The first offering of the American Cities Initiative is the 2017 Mayors Challenge, a nationwide innovation competition for cities. Launching today with a call for participation to every U.S. city with at least 30,000 residents, the program will help hundreds of cities develop, test, and implement bold solutions to emerging challenges. Highlights include:

Innovation experts will visit the first 300 cities that sign up for the Challenge to deliver one-day city hall training sessions to accelerate idea development by drawing on the expertise of the community.

As many as 35 "Champion Cities" will then win up to $100,000 each to test and refine their ideas.

each to test and refine their ideas. Five Mayors Challenge Winners will be selected based on the idea's vision for tackling an urgent challenge, potential for impact and successful implementation, and potential to spread to other cities. One city will win the $5 million grand prize; four others will receive $1 million implementation awards.

grand prize; four others will receive implementation awards. In total, up to $17.5 million in grants and technical assistance will be provided to participating cities.

The 2017 Mayors Challenge builds on the success of previous Bloomberg-sponsored Challenges in the U.S. (2013), Europe (2014), and Latin America and the Caribbean (2016). Cities should visit www.mayorschallenge.bloomberg.org to learn more and apply.

Doubling Down on Supporting Mayors

Also announced today were a series of additional efforts to promote bold and effective leadership amongst U.S. city leaders. These are:

A new partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors to ensure the voices of mayors are part of national conversations about the broadest possible range of policies, budget priorities, and political debates. Bloomberg's $600,000 grant to the Conference will facilitate an effort to elevate city leadership in print, broadcast, and social media.

A deeper domestic priority for programs that boost Mayoral leadership. Bloomberg Associates, Michael Bloomberg's pro bono consultancy, will accept five additional U.S. cities into its portfolio over the next three years. This comes after completed engagements with the cities of Los Angeles and Kansas City, MO and ongoing work with Oakland, Nashville, Detroit, and Houston. In addition, Bloomberg Philanthropies has enrolled 30 U.S. mayors into the inaugural class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, which begins mid-July. Mayors hailing from cities as diverse as Philadelphia, Mobile, Phoenix, Baltimore, and Anchorage will participate in the year-long program, which aims to close the quality gap between trainings offered to private sector executives verses their public sector counterparts.

As part of the American Cities Initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies will announce over the next six months an extensive set of new or expanded initiatives to strengthen U.S. cities. These will, among other things, help city leaders address climate change, combat obesity and gun violence, and catalyze new opportunities for artists and volunteers to work within their communities to solve problems.

To learn more about the American Cities Initiative, visit www.bloomberg.org. To learn more about the Mayors Challenge, visit www.mayorschallenge.bloomberg.org and @BloombergCities on Twitter and Instagram.

About Bloomberg Philanthropies

Bloomberg Philanthropies works in over 120 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organization focuses on five key areas for creating lasting change: Arts, Education, Environment, Government Innovation, and Public Health. Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg's charitable activities, including his foundation and his personal giving. In 2016, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $600 million. For more information, please visit www.bloomberg.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter.

Media Contacts

Bloomberg Philanthropies, Stu Loeser, (646) 650-5501, [email protected]

Edelman, Alexis Weiss, (202) 203-0066, [email protected]

SOURCE Bloomberg Philanthropies
"This integration makes researchers' daily decision-making process much easier as they look for ways to reduce the time it takes to actually buy the compounds that they need," said Udit Batra, CEO, MilliporeSigma. "Together, we're giving customers peace of mind about the quality of the products in development, which is important in such a competitive industry."

The collaboration with Elsevier gives Reaxys users who work in pharmaceutical drug discovery, chemical R&D and other areas a more efficient purchasing process. Customers can quickly compare the cost of purchasing a compound against making it internally, meaning better allocation of resources and saving time.

"MilliporeSigma is recognized as an industry leader, so this collaboration is a great addition to Reaxys," said Christian Boehm, Director of Chemistry Solutions at Elsevier.

Reaxys contains more than 240 years of unparalleled chemistry content, including 105 million organic, inorganic and organometallic compounds, 42 million chemical reactions, 500 million published experimental facts, 16,000 chemistry related periodicals and six indexing sources for a cross-disciplinary view of chemistry.

All Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany news releases are distributed by email at the same time they become available on the EMD Group website. In case you are a resident of the U.S. or Canada please go to www.emdgroup.com/subscribe to register again for your online subscription of this service as our newly introduced geo-targeting requires new links in the email. You may later change your selection or discontinue this service.

About the Life Science Business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

The life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, has 19,000 employees and 65 manufacturing sites worldwide, with a portfolio of more than 300,000 products enabling scientific discovery. Udit Batra is the global chief executive officer of MilliporeSigma.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany completed its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich in November 2015, creating a leader in the $125 billion global life science industry.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company has six businesses  Biopharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Biosimilars, Life Science and Performance Materials  and generated sales of 15 billion in 2016. Around 50,000 employees work in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to foster the success of customers and to help meet global challenges.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company  since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70 percent interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. The company holds the global rights to the name and the trademark "Merck" internationally except for the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.

SOURCE MilliporeSigma
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Modo, the payments technology company leading the connection of legacy financial services infrastructure to new digital experiences, today announced their participation in the Mastercard Start Path Global 2017 Summer Class. Modo's COIN is already being used by global payment and commerce giants like Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Verifone, FIS and Klarna. During its participation in the Start Path program, the Dallas-based startup hopes to receive the operational support needed to continue expanding the applications powered by their technology.

"As self-proclaimed #paymentsgeeks, joining Mastercard Start Path will connect us to the resources we need to reimagine financial technology at a greater pace," said Bruce Parker, CEO of Modo. "We look forward to joining the cool kids in our industry to refine the vision for our COIN technology and bring our business to new heights."

"Collaborating with Modo allows Mastercard to explore new ways for consumers, merchants and financial institutions to make and receive payments," said Amy Neal, Vice President, Mastercard Start Path Global. "By connecting Modo to our network of experts and partners, we can build the technologies of tomorrow more quickly."

Modo recently participated in the Start Path Immersion Week in London where they developed a tailored plan that will deliver tangible value and help Modo to scale. For the next six months, Modo will receive access to Mastercard expertise, resources, and solutions.

Modo joins Start Path in the Startup City at Money20/20 Europe. Modo CEO, Bruce Parker, will also be speaking with Ather Williams, Head of Global Transaction Services, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, about Modo's partnership with the bank for global digital disbursements at the conference. Their session is in Track Room 5 on Tuesday, June 27th at 3:50PM CEST.

Press Contact

Rob Wells

[email protected]

About Modo

Modo's COIN platform connects new digital experiences to payments systems worldwide. Modo can take monetary value from just about any source, and deliver it to just about any destination, without requiring partners to modify their systems. Truly a 'shipping container for global payments', the Modo COIN simplifies the complex world of payments in the digital era. Visit https://modopayments.com to learn more, or follow Modo on Twitter @ModoPayments to learn nothing but potentially get some laughs.

About Mastercard Start Path

Mastercard Start Path is a global effort to support innovative startups developing the next generation of commerce solutions today. Start Path was launched in 2014 with an objective to help startups to grow their businesses faster than they could by themselves. Startups that join the program can benefit from the knowledge of a global network of Mastercard experts, access to Mastercard customers and partners, and the ability to innovate on top of Mastercard solutions. Mastercard customers that join the program as partners get connected to the best and brightest startups and gain access to innovations from across the globe. For more information visit www.startpath.com or follow Mastercard Start Path on Twitter at @MAstartpath.

About Mastercard

Mastercard, www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world's 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, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

SOURCE Modo

Related Links

http://www.modopayments.com


SHELTON, Conn., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NanoViricides, Inc., (NYSE MKT: NNVC) (the "Company"), a pioneer in developing anti-viral nanomedicine drugs, is pleased to announce that its poster entitled "Novel Nanoviricides Highly Effective Against Varicella Zoster Virus in Cell Culture" will be presented today at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Virology (ASV). The poster will be presented in Poster Session II, open for viewing from 4pm to 6pm today, Monday, June 26th, 2017. The ASV Meeting is being hosted and held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, from June 24th to 28th, 2017 (https://extensionconferencecenters.uwex.edu/asv2017/).

Dr. Brian Friedrich, Senior Virologist of the Company, is presenting the Company's work on the evaluation of nanoviricides drug candidates for effectiveness against the shingles virus (Varicella Zoster Virus, VZV, aka Human HerpesVirus-3 or HHV-3) in this poster.

The two active nanoviricide candidates presented here inhibited VZV up to 5x better than acyclovir-sodium (the current standard of care), and completely inhibited VZV protein production/infection in cell culture studies. These results indicate a very high level of anti-VZV effectiveness.

The nanoviricide candidates were non-cytotoxic even at the highest doses in all cell lines tested. Thus it should be possible to administer very high concentrations of the drug locally on the skin without any deleterious effects.

Importantly, the data being presented demonstrate that the anti-viral activity of a nanoviricide is driven by the virus-specific ligand attached to it. Thus two of the nanoviricide drug candidates were highly effective against VZV, whereas a third one was not as effective. All three ligands were derived by in silicon computer-aided drug design based on known structures of HSV glycoprotein binding to the cellular receptor, namely the herpesvirus entry mediator (HVEM), and thus were expected to be active against herpes simplex viruses, and some of them were anticipated to be active against all alphaherpesviruses. VZV is an alphaherpesvirus.

Varicella Zoster virus (VZV) primary infection causes chickenpox, followed by latency in ganglia and neurons, and can reactivate decades later causing herpes zoster (shingles), usually upon immunosuppression resulting from age, stress, or other factors. Classical shingles presents as a painful unilateral dermatomal vesicular rash as virus spreads to the skin through peripheral nerves. In severe cases, VZV can reactivate in or around the eye which can cause facial disfiguration or blindness. There are about 1 million cases annually and the lifetime risk of developing shingles is at least 30%. While there is a shingles vaccine, it is not effective post-breakout, is only ~50% effective in preventing disease, and cannot be given to immunosuppressed people.

Topical treatment of shingles remains an unmet medical need, and would enable high concentration of active drug locally for rapid treatment with minimal systemic effects. NanoViricides, Inc. is developing broad-spectrum drugs against herpesviruses for both topical and systemic use. Our novel nanoviricide class of drug candidates are designed to specifically attack enveloped virus particles by specially designed small chemical ligands and dismantle them with the polymeric micelle which is covalently attached. Our approach of designing ligands to mimic virus binding sites on cellular receptors promises that a virus cannot escape the nanoviricide drug due to mutation(s).

NanoViricides, Inc. is advancing these candidates further into ex vivo dermal studies towards IND filing. The Company has already initiated anti-VZV effectiveness studies for these drug candidates in an ex vivo human skin-patch model developed by Dr. Jennifer Moffat at the State University of New York, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY. The Company intends to release the data from these studies as they become available.

The poster is available for viewing on the Company's website (www.nanoviricides.com).

About NanoViricides:

NanoViricides, Inc. (www.nanoviricides.com) is a development stage company that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for antiviral therapy. The Company's novel nanoviricide class of drug candidates are designed to specifically attack enveloped virus particles and to dismantle them. The Company is developing drugs against a number of viral diseases including H1N1 swine flu, H5N1 bird flu, seasonal Influenza, HIV, oral and genital Herpes, viral diseases of the eye including EKC and herpes keratitis, Hepatitis C, Rabies, Dengue fever, and Ebola virus, among others.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events. Actual events could differ materially and substantially from those projected herein and depend on a number of factors. Certain statements in this release, and other written or oral statements made by NanoViricides, Inc. are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, 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. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in documents filed by the company from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.. Although it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors, they may include the following: demonstration and proof of principle in pre-clinical trials that a nanoviricide is safe and effective; successful development of our product candidates; our ability to seek and obtain regulatory approvals, including with respect to the indications we are seeking; the successful commercialization of our product candidates; and market acceptance of our products.

SOURCE NanoViricides, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.nanoviricides.com


WASHINGTON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has achieved a significant milestone in its effort to make supersonic passenger jet travel over land a real possibility by completing the preliminary design review (PDR) of its Quiet Supersonic Transport or QueSST aircraft design. QueSST is the initial design stage of NASA's planned Low Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) experimental airplane, otherwise known as an X-plane.

Senior experts and engineers from across the agency and the Lockheed Martin Corporation concluded Friday that the QueSST design is capable of fulfilling the LBFD aircraft's mission objectives, which are to fly at supersonic speeds, but create a soft "thump" instead of the disruptive sonic boom associated with supersonic flight today. The LBFD X-plane will be flown over communities to collect data necessary for regulators to enable supersonic flight over land in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

NASA partnered with lead contractor, Lockheed Martin, in February 2016 for the QueSST preliminary design. Last month, a scale model of the QueSST design completed testing in the 8-by 6-foot supersonic wind tunnel at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

"Managing a project like this is all about moving from one milestone to the next," said David Richwine, manager for the preliminary design effort under NASA's Commercial Supersonic Technology Project. "Our strong partnership with Lockheed Martin helped get us to this point. We're now one step closer to building an actual X-plane."

After the success of completing the PDR, NASA's project team can start the process of soliciting proposals later this year and awarding a contract early next year to build the piloted, single-engine X-plane. The acquisition for the LBFD X-plane contract will be fully open and competitive, with the QueSST preliminary design data being made available to qualified bidders. Flight testing of an LBFD X-plane could begin as early as 2021.

Over the next few months, NASA will work with Lockheed on finalizing the QueSST preliminary design effort. This includes a static inlet performance test and a low-speed wind tunnel test at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

For more information about QueSST and LBFD, visit:

https://go.nasa.gov/2tdiNif

For more information about NASA's aeronautics work, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


DALLAS, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- National Write Your Congressman (NWYC), an organization that gives small businesses a voice in American government, awarded Rick Gaul with the 2017 David N. Adamson Founders Award. The award is given annually to the NWYC sales representative who symbolizes an "All-American" spirit and furthers the mission of the organization.

"After seeing Rick grow with this organization over several years, we are proud to present him with the David N. Adamson Award," said Randy Ford, president of NWYC. "We are thankful for his contributions to his community, and honored to present him with this special award for his contributions to NWYC."

Gaul's representation in local politics, as well as his association as a former business owner, makes him to be the ideal candidate for this award. His involvement with the organization for the last eight years shows his dedication to the operations of NWYC.

Gaul has been with National Write Your Congressman since 2009 and has consistently been praised by his peers for his work.

"I am delighted to receive this award for my character and commitment to NWYC," said Gaul. "This organization gives me the chance to engage in civic affairs and help small businesses have their voice heard in government, an opportunity I wish I had as a former business owner."

About National Write Your Congressman

National Write Your Congressman (NWYC) is an organization that gives small businesses a voice in American government. As the nation's largest, privately held, nonpartisan membership organization made up of small businesses, NWYC is dedicated to the delivery of constituent opinions to representatives in Washington. For more than 55 years, NWYC has provided small business owners and operators the tools necessary to connect with members of Congress and a platform to let their collective voice be heard. NWYC's team of experts provides unbiased, nonpartisan information and research on top issues and pending legislation relevant to small business owners today. NWYC presents both sides of the issue so that members can form an educated opinion and let their opinions be heard. For more information, visit: www.nwyc.com.

SOURCE National Write Your Congressman

Related Links

https://www.nwyc.com


COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the biggest challenges many retirees face is simply navigating life in retirement. While financial advisors can provide a roadmap to fulfill financial needs, many can't help when their clients bring up life challenges  such as finding a home for elderly parents, resolving healthcare issues and accessing counseling services.

On July 24, Nationwide will offer the Nationwide Care Concierge service to existing and new customers of certain variable annuities at no additional cost. Care Concierge is a confidential service that provides 24-hour access to guidance on many of the complex questions and issues that can come up in retirement. These services are often handled through employee benefits or assistance programs, which people generally lose access to when they retire.

Nationwide is the first financial company to offer this service outside of an employee assistance program*.

"Nationwide is committed to trying new things to help Americans prepare for and live in retirement," said Eric Henderson, senior vice president of Nationwide's annuity and life insurance businesses. "We're proud to offer Care Concierge on select variable annuities as a new, innovative benefit for members."

The Nationwide Care Concierge Program extends the benefits Nationwide associates currently receive, such as health advocacy, counseling and access to legal services, to members of select Nationwide variable annuity products (Destination Navigator 2.0, Destination All American Gold 2.0, Destination Architect 2.0 and Destination Freedom+).

The Care Concierge service will be administered by West's Health Advocate Solutions, a leading clinical healthcare advocacy provider. It is estimated that Care Concierge will initially be available to 25,000 members, increasing to more than 30,000 members by the end of the first year. In addition to contract owners, the program extends to their spouses, dependent children, parents and parents-in-law.

Some of the members' new benefits include:

Help for members who are turning age 65 as they navigate the complex Medicare system

Find doctors or specialists and make appointments  especially useful as retirees have health issues or move to new cities

Research and review medical treatment options

Help with arranging care for aging parents or adult children

Counseling services to help with personal issues, life transitions or grief after the passing of a loved one

Managing health insurance claims and billing issues

Access to legal services for help with minor legal questions and issues

Concierge services for vacation or event planning, entertainment recommendations, gift ideas and more

"Health Advocate is an industry leader in health care advocacy serving over 50 million lives," Henderson said. "We trust them with our own associates as we have a current partnership with them as an associate benefit, and we trust them with our members."

About Nationwide

Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the U.S. and is rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor's. The company provides a full range of insurance and financial services, including auto, commercial, homeowners, farm and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities and mutual funds; banking and mortgages; excess & surplus, specialty and surety; pet, motorcycle and boat insurance. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.

*West's Health Advocate Solutions

Independent. Confidential. Convenient. Health Advocate is not affiliated with any insurance or third party provider. Health Advocate does not replace health insurance coverage, provide medical care or recommend treatment.

This material is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold, or rollover any asset, adopt an investment strategy, retain a specific investment manager or use a particular account type. It does not take into account the specific investment objectives, tax and financial condition or particular needs of any specific person. Investors should work with their financial professional to discuss their specific situation.

Nationwide Care Concierge is available at no additional cost. It may not be available in all states/territories or in all products. Nationwide Care Concierge is administrated by Health Advocate. Nationwide is not affiliated with Health Advocate.

Variable annuities are issued by Nationwide Life Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio. The general distributor is Nationwide Investment Services Corporation, member FINRA.

Nationwide, the Nationwide N and Eagle, Nationwide is on your side, Destination Navigator 2.0, Destination All American Gold 2.0, Destination Architect 2.0 and Destination Freedom+ are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.  2017 Nationwide

NFN-0917AO

Contact:

Charley Gillespie

(614) 249-5701

[email protected]

SOURCE Nationwide

Related Links

http://www.nationwide.com


(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/527228/Nedschroef_Acquires_CP_Tech.jpg )

Koninklijke Nedschroef Holding B.V. (Nedschroef), one of the world's largest fasteners manufacturers, has signed an agreement to acquire CP Tech GmbH, a leading component manufacturer and engineering service provider. CP Tech, established in 2006 and located in Buren, Germany, employs 175 experts in advanced engineering offering complete solutions to many of the world's most prestigious car manufacturers.

Today's automotive industry is rapidly changing in adapting to global trends and customers' needs such as connectivity, sustainability and autonomous driving. This requires new vehicle concepts and incorporation of innovative product functionality at an early stage into the designing and manufacturing process. As a leading fasteners partner for future mobility Nedschroef focuses on the growing demand for special fasteners and other complex engineering parts used in cars powered by traditional fuel and electricity.

"The combination of Nedschroef and CP Tech will enable us to broaden our expertise from fasteners to understanding the complete functionality of components, consisting of multiple integrated parts. This is key in order to continue to serve our customers and to help them gain first mover advantages in vehicle development," says Dr. Mathias Huttenrauch, CEO of Nedschroef.

Mr. Thomas Casey, CEO of CP Tech, says: "This is an important milestone and true recognition to become part of the Nedschroef organization. CP Tech will benefit from Nedschroef's long term growth ambition and global footprint as well as creating interesting opportunities for our employees."

Completion of the transaction is subject to the required approvals and merger clearance.

About Koninklijke Nedschroef Holding B.V.

Headquartered in Helmond, Netherlands and with over EUR 629 million of revenues in 2016, Nedschroef is one of the world's largest suppliers of fasteners and other advanced, engineered cold formed components for the automotive and aviation industry. Nedschroef employs over 2.000 people worldwide and has 25 locations.

http://www.nedschroef.com

About CP Tech GmbH

CP Tech has a proven track record from 25 years of experience in the design, development, and manufacturing of ultra-strong components and solutions for automotive and motorsport industries globally.

http://www.cptech-gmbh.com

SOURCE Nedschroef
WASHINGTON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Christian Solidarity International (CSI-USA) Chairman John Eibner issued the following statement following the ground-breaking June 22 The American Conservative expose "How America Armed Terrorists in Syria" written by Gellhorn Prize award winning investigative journalist Gareth Porter:

"Gareth Porter's "How America Armed Terrorists in Syria" is a wake-up call that must be answered by the Trump administration and Congress. It is no longer possible to pretend that U.S. policy under the past administration was not directly involved in arming the most violent jihadi terror groups operating in Syria. The al-Nusra Front  the official al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria  was among the jihadist beneficiaries of CIA programs to transfer weapon from Libya and the Balkans. These transfers took place with full knowledge of the violent nature of these groups, which among other outrages commit countless acts of murder, torture, plunder and forced conversions of Christians and other non-Sunni Muslims. In my many travels to Syria since 2013, I have met with a host of innocent victims of their acts of terror. Arming al-Qaeda and its jihadist collaborators also led to the emergence of ISIS, originally an al-Qaeda offshoot, thus increasing the terror threat to Americans inside our own country.

"It should not require an act of Congress to stop our tax money going to arm al-Qaeda and its collaborators. The While House could stop this practice immediately, if it had the will. While Porter's article concerns activities taking place before the current administration took office, there is no guarantee the U.S. is not continuing "business as usual" with their local clients and terror-funding partners like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey.

"In Riyadh last month, President Trump told representatives of more than 50 Muslim-majority countries that the funding and arming of terrorists must end. This sound initiative would gain hugely in force and credibility if the President would lead by example. He should give an unambiguous order to end this policy immediately. But there is growing concern that he will instead follow the example of his predecessor by ramping up covert support for al-Qaeda and other Sunni jihadists as boots on the ground against Shiite Iran and its regional interests.

"Porter begins and ends his expose with reference to the "Stop Arming Terrorists Act" (SATA) introduced by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Sen. Rand Paul. This bill would prohibit any U.S. assistance to al-Qaeda and ISIS, and any organization working directly with them. It would also prohibit U.S. military sales to countries that provide arms or financing to terrorists. Christian Solidarity International fully supports the principles and purposes of this legislation and calls on the Trump administration to cut off U.S. arms to jihadi terrorists, totally and permanently with out further delay."

In his The American Conservative investigate report, Porter writes: "Gabbard's "Stop Arming Terrorists Act" challenges for the first time in Congress a U.S. policy toward the conflict in the Syrian civil war that should have set off alarm bells long ago: in 2012-13 the Obama administration helped its Sunni allies Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar provide arms to Syrian and non-Syrian armed groups to force President Bashar al-Assad out of power. And in 2013 the administration began to provide arms to what the CIA judged to be "relatively moderate" anti-Assad groupsmeaning they incorporated various degrees of Islamic extremism.

"The supporters of this arms-supply policy believe it is necessary as pushback against Iranian influence in Syria. But that argument skirts the real issue raised by the policy's history. The Obama administration's Syria policy effectively sold out the U.S. interest that was supposed to be the touchstone of the "Global War on Terrorism"the eradication of al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates. The United States has instead subordinated that U.S. interest in counter-terrorism to the interests of its Sunni allies. In doing so it has helped create a new terrorist threat in the heart of the Middle East."

CSI is an international Christian human rights organization, campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity, and assisting victims of religious persecution, victimized children and victims of catastrophe, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information on No Arms for Terrorists, please visit www.NA4T.org.

For More Information Contact:

Darren Spinck, Global Strategic Communications Group

202-669-4418

[email protected] or [email protected]

John Eibner, Christian Solidarity International

805-777-7107

[email protected]

SOURCE No Arms For Terrorists

Related Links

http://www.NA4T.org


CHARLESTON, W.Va., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- When July arrives at the end of this week, many new laws will go into effect in West Virginia. One, in particular, should interest anyone concerned about nursing home abuse because it will reduce their rights. The new law resulting from passage of Senate Bill 338 this year will cut in half the time for filing lawsuits in cases of nursing home abuse and limit where those suits can be filed.

"It's really a shame that legislators chose to save money for insurance companies by restricting the rights of senior citizens," Charleston attorney Jeff Stewart of The Bell Law Firm said. "It's not fair, but time is running out for people to preserve their rights."

Any cases filed before Saturday will be governed by the current law, so

Stewart is urging anyone in doubt about whether they or loved ones suffered abuse in nursing homes to contact their attorneys as soon as possible. He has been conducting a public outreach campaign, not to provide legal advice but to educate the public of the coming changes. However, people who need legal advice may contact The Bell Law Firm (at 800-342-1701) before July to make sure they preserve their rights.

Nursing home abuse includes improper medication management, lack of proper care, isolation, malnutrition, dehydration and falls that could be prevented. Such incidents occur frequently in nursing homes around West Virginia, but Stewart said, the new law will shield nursing homes from the mistakes they make.

SOURCE The Bell Law Firm
NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NYU Langone Medical Center today announced its plan to launch a large-scale biotech "incubator" in Manhattan, which will begin hosting companies at the end of 2017.

Named "[email protected]" and located at 180 Varick Street, the new center is designed to house up to 35 startup companies seeking to turn laboratory discoveries into profitable businesses in 50,000 square feet of fully equipped lab and office space. NYU Langone's operations partner for the project is BioLabs, a leader in the management of shared laboratory centers nationwide.

"The new center builds on the outstanding track record at NYU Langone in launching biomedical technology and drug discovery companies, and in helping them grow, create high-tech jobs, and improve human health," said Robert Schneider, PhD, associate dean for Biomedical Innovation and Commercialization at NYU Langone.

"We believe the center will become the long-sought foundation of a larger biotech corridor in New York City, in part because we will welcome new companies spinning out of all the region's academic centers and biotechs," says BioLabs' President Johannes Fruehauf, MD, PhD. "Bringing our proven BioLabs model to New York City will capture its entrepreneurial excitement."

Schneider's optimism for the project is based in part on NYU Langone's success in developing more than 50 new companies in the past five years. Furthermore, 20 startup companies have already applied to rent space in the new center.

[email protected] will start strong thanks to $5 million in funding from NYU Langone, $5 million from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) as part of its LifeSci NYC Initiative, and $2 million from Empire State Development.

"With this grant we are investing in New York's nascent life science economy, one that benefits New York workers by encouraging collaboration between our great research institutions, innovators and startup businesses," says New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. "When it comes to science and technology, we will leverage our competitive edge and spur 100,000 good-paying jobs over the next decade, all to make our city more affordable for all."

[email protected] will also launch with leading corporate sponsors, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Thermo Fisher, Boehringer Ingelheim, MilliporeSigma, Sanofi, Eppendorf, Nixon Peabody, ALT, JP Morgan, and Gunderson Dettmer.

Proven Model

Each new company to open shop at [email protected] will start with a package of tailored laboratory equipment and supplies. BioLabs staff will marshal educational programming and operational support, enabling startups to focus on science and move more quickly into their own spaces, and without investing heavily in equipment and non-research personnel.

[email protected] will address a long-standing challenge, says Schneider. New York academic centers are number two in the country in federal medical research dollars awarded by the National Institutes of Health, and almost half of venture capital investment in new technology companies comes from New York. Despite this level of investment, he says, the region has launched "relatively very few" new biotech companies in recent years.

The new facility will occupy two full floors at 180 Varick Street, including 48 benches in the "open lab," three large private labs, three medium private labs, nine small private labs, along with 30 offices, conference rooms and state-of-the-art event space.

"This center will support the translation of game-changing discoveries by scientists into new treatments for patients," says Dafna Bar-Sagi, PhD, vice dean for science and chief scientific officer at NYU Langone. "We are committed to seizing the momentum in New York biotech by investing in more lab space for start-ups arising from academic centers."

"We believe this new facility will carry many remarkable basic science discoveries all the way through to clinical impact, building on the NYU Langone tradition of leadership in biotechnology," says Robert I. Grossman, MD, the Saul J. Farber Dean and chief executive officer of NYU Langone.

Contact: Gregory Williams, 212-404-3533, [email protected]

SOURCE NYU Langone Medical Center

Related Links

http://nyulangone.org


BEACHWOOD, Ohio, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OMNOVA Solutions (NYSE: OMN) will hold its conference call to discuss second quarter 2017 results on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at 11:00am ET. The call will be hosted by OMNOVA Solutions' President and Chief Executive Officer Anne Noonan, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Paul DeSantis. OMNOVA will release earnings before the market opens on June 28 for the quarter ending May 31, 2017.

The call will be webcast and participants may log on from OMNOVA's website at www.omnova.com. OMNOVA will archive the call on its website until noon ET, July 18, 2017. Or, to listen to a digitized telephone replay (1:00pm ET, June 28 until 11:59am ET, July 18, 2017), callers should dial:

(USA) 800-475-6701, Access Code 425253

(Int'l) 320-365-3844, Access Code 425253

OMNOVA Solutions Inc. is a global innovator of performance-enhancing chemistries and surfaces used in products for a variety of commercial, industrial and residential applications. As a strategic business-to-business supplier, OMNOVA provides The Science in Better Brands, with emulsion polymers, specialty chemicals, and functional and decorative surfaces that deliver critical performance attributes to top brand-name, end-use products sold around the world. OMNOVA's sales for the last 12 months ended November 30, 2016, were $760 million. The Company has a global workforce of approximately 2,000. Visit OMNOVA Solutions on the internet at www.omnova.com.





SOURCE OMNOVA Solutions

Related Links

http://www.omnova.com


TUCSON, Ariz., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GainClients, Inc. (OTC: GCLT) ("GainClients" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that one of the five largest banks in the US ("the Bank") has signed an agreement with GainClients to use the new Home Purchase Service on a 90-day pilot program.

The pilot program will include 15-20 loan officers located in four branches in the Western U.S. The Bank has advised that if the pilot program meets their expectations, they plan to commence a wider rollout, adding 4-5 new markets also located in the west.

Ray Desmond, President and CEO of GainClients commented, "Signing a top-five bank so soon after rolling out our new service is a testament to the capability of our product. As I've said before, we should now be able to start generating some significant revenue very, very quickly."

The new Home Purchase Service is the Company's new-purchase-money-solution for the real estate industry.

About GainClients, Inc.

GainClients products, the GCard, the Home Purchase Service and GCHomesearch consist of custom-built data and marketing services designed specifically for the real estate industry. The company's clients include real estate related organizations such as banks, credit unions, real estate and lender brokerages and title/escrow as well as individual real estate, mortgage, and title and escrow professionals. Learn more at

http://www.gainclients.com/index.html

https://gcard.gainclients.com/

https://do.gainclients.com/

https://www.gchomesearch.com/

Contact:

GainClients, Inc.

6245 E. Broadway Blvd. #400

Tucson AZ 85711

[email protected]

SOURCE GainClients, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.gainclients.com


COBURG, Germany, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Clipboard History Pro 3.30 is a Windows clipboard manager featuring optional cloud synchronization and AES encryption. Clipboard History Pro keeps a repository of text snippets that have copied to the clipboard before. Frequently used word phrases called stickies can be added to the global paste menu. Pressing a configurable hotkey, a tray icon, or the usually idle and useless CAPS LOCK key will bring up a paste menu of last clipboard items and saved text snippets. When using the hotkey or the CAPS LOCK key the clipboard history paste menu will be available in every Windows application.

Clipboard History user interface Comparison between free and pro version

Download Clipboard History Pro at http://www.outertech.com/en/clipboard-manager

Clipboard History Pro can optionally synchronize clipboard content between multiple computers. The software has built-in support for Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and others. The synchronization process will also work perfectly in multi-user environments, even if several users add text to the clipboard at the same second. Clipboard History Pro safeguards user data with AES encryption. With version 3.30, black listing of text snippets has been improved. Now it's possible to delete a text snipped from all computers connected to a cloud account.

At the heart of Clipboard History is an archive feature. Every text snippet ever copied to the clipboard can be stored away for future use. A JSON database guarantees a high level of security and performance. Clipboard History has been vested with more than 1 million data records in the text archive. The archive can be searched by text and date. Search keywords can be combined and even excluded with the "-" sign. A search for foo -bar will find all archive items that contain the text foo, but don't contain the text bar.

System Requirements: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista or XP (32 and 64 bit)

A fully featured 30-day test version can be downloaded from: http://www.outertech.com/en/clipboard-manager

Clipboard History Pro starts at $24.95(US) for a single computer license. A less advanced version is also available as freeware.

Journalists may request a reviewer's license by contacting [email protected]

Contact

Thomas Reimann, Outertech

+49 (0)9561 6756256

Email [email protected]

https://twitter.com/outertech

About the Company

Incorporated in 1999, Outertech is a software development company based in Coburg, Germany. Its mission statement: "To make computers more stable, more useful, faster, and easier to use." Outertech's lead products include Cacheman (short for Cache Manager), an award-winning Microsoft Windows performance optimization program initially developed in 1996 as the very first Windows optimization software ever. Cacheman is currently available as version 10.10 with Windows 10 support. Linkman (short for Link Manager), another exciting Outertech product, is a bookmark manager that integrates with the Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Opera browsers. Initially released in 1997, Linkman's optionally password protected XML databases have been praised for twenty years of bookmark data security.

SOURCE Outertech
With its 100 Best Companies to Work For award program, Seattle Business Magazine looks to recognize Washington-based companies that set the standard for a positive workplace environment. Companies are selected based on extensive, confidential surveys completed by employees in 10 workplace categories. Hundreds of companies and over 30,000 employees took part in the 2017 awards process to celebrate their shared dedication to their respective workplaces and employees.

"Outreach has a culture of hungry craftspeople, and every day we allow our team to embrace their talent and do what they do best to put our customers first," said Manny Medina, CEO and co-founder of Outreach. "Holding onto our core values like grit, perseverance, and honesty has been a challenge over the past two years with the rapid growth we've experienced, but it's also a big reason we've been successful and continue to build momentum as we look to transform the sales process."

The honor of being named to Seattle Business Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For is Outreach's second workplace accolade of 2017the company was recently named to Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces for 2017.

About Outreach

Outreach, the leading sales engagement platform, automates and prioritizes customer touch points throughout the sales process, resulting in increased productivity for sales teams. Thousands of customers rely on Outreach to transform the sales process, drive collaboration between sales and marketing, and deliver higher revenue per sales rep. Outreach is a privately held company based in Seattle, Washington. To learn more, please visit www.outreach.io.

Media Contact:

Barokas PR for Outreach

Laura Davis

[email protected]

(206) 456-9633

SOURCE Outreach

Related Links

http://www.outreach.io


NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

HIGHLIGHTS:

Paringa has signed a fixed price turnkey contract for the design, procurement, construction and commissioning of the Poplar Grove Mine's Coal Handling and Preparation Plant and barge load-out facility on the Green River

Fixed price contract totals US$21.8 million , representing capital savings of US$1.2 million when compared to the final capital cost estimate in the BFS

All major contracts for the development of the Poplar Grove Mine have now been awarded on a fixed price basis significantly reducing pricing and timing risk

Follows a competitive final bidding process with the contract awarded to FMC and its subcontractor  previous key customers include Alliance, Peabody and Arch

Construction of the box-cut development set to begin July 2017 and first coal production remains on-track for July 2018

Paringa looks forward to providing further updates as construction progresses at the Poplar Grove Mine over the coming months

Paringa's Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Grant Quasha, said: "Following an exhaustive and competitive final bidding process, we have now awarded all major contracts for the construction of the permitted and fully financed Poplar Grove Mine. I am very pleased to see these contracts executed on a fixed price basis, significantly mitigating price and timing risk. We are highly confident that the total capital expenditure for the Poplar Grove Mine will come under the amount budgeted in the final BFS for which we also financed an additional 10% contingency which remains untapped.

"The construction and execution risk at the Poplar Grove Mine is extremely low as the mine is located in the heartland of the western Kentucky coal industry and the CHPP has been designed to standard industry configuration for the Western Kentucky No.9 and No.11 seams. The local presence and experience of our contractors and service providers offers additional and readily accessible expertise. We continue to make excellent additions to our construction and operations team and remain on track to commence construction at Poplar Grove Mine as planned in July 2017, with first coal production due July 2018."

Paringa Resources Limited ("Paringa" or "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a fixed price contract for the design, procurement, construction and commissioning of the Poplar Grove Mine's coal handling and preparation plant ("CHPP") and barge load-out facility on the Green River ("EPC Contract"). The EPC contract totals US$21.8 million, approximately US$1.2 million under the final capital cost estimate contained in the final Bankable Feasibility Study ("BFS") released to the Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX") on 28 March 2017.

Following a competitive final bidding process, the fixed price contract has been awarded to Fricke Management and Contracting, LLC ("FMC") and their subcontractor General Mine Contracting, Inc ("GMC"). Both companies have considerable experience in the Illinois Basin, with key local customers including Alliance Resource Partners, Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and White Oak Resources (now owned by Alliance Resource Partners). The CHPP, which is used to remove impurities such as rock, shale and silt from the run of mine production, is designed to a standard configuration for processing the Western Kentucky No.9 and No.11 coal seams at the Poplar Grove Mine.

This contract follows the previously announced fixed price contracting philosophy encompassing the excavation of the box cut, development of the mine site area, preparation plant facility area, refuse area and the Buck Creek barge load-out area at the Green River. All major contracts for the development of the Poplar Grove Mine have now been awarded under fixed price contracts significantly minimizing pricing and timing risk. Construction of the box-cut development is set to begin July 2017 and first coal production is due July 2018.

About FMC

FMC is an industrial and commercial construction company serving various customers in the Midwest. FMC, together with its sister companies, all wholly owned by Randall and Nancy Fricke, have been in operation for over 20 years and today employ over 150 employees. FMC is an Illinois company with offices located in Murphysboro, Illinois, nearby to Paringa's operations.

Key coal customers of the FMC include Peabody Energy (build of the Prairie State Energy Campus in 2010), Alliance Resource Partners (design and build of the materials handling system at the Riverview mine complex in 2010), Arch Coal (design/build of raw coal handling system at the Viper mine in 2012) and White Oak Resources which is now owned by Alliance Resource Partners (design/build various projects in 2014 including the plant conveyors, concrete foundations and steel erection at White Oak).

SOURCE Paringa

Related Links

http://www.paringaresources.com


"James embodies the spirit of volunteerism and selfless service," said Edward Cody, Chairman of the Board, PenFed Credit Union, in the video introduction to Schenck. "James goes out of his way to look out for others  which in our industry is everything."

"Our entire credit union movement understands the importance of placing others before self. Our movement is driven by a very simple, yet powerful philosophy: 'People Helping People,'" Schenck said upon receiving his award. "We look out for each other. We look out for our neighbors. These are principles America was built upon and the principles our collaborative movement was built upon. We are in business to serve members. That is the reason we exist. We don't just give back to our communities because we have to. We give back to our communities because we want to."

"James Schenck has long been a champion for America's Credit Unions, and for the people and communities his credit union serves," said Jim Nussle, CUNA President and CEO. "Since becoming president and CEO of PenFed Credit Union in 2014, James has established a variety of programs that address the unmet needs of our nation's military members, our veterans and their families, particularly by expanding the reach and impact of the PenFed Foundation. As his colleagues will attest, he's a true leader by example, not only asking his employees to volunteer their time, but getting out there and putting the work in himself. He is a true Credit Union Hero."

About PenFed Credit Union

Established in 1935 as the War Department Credit Union, PenFed Credit Union is one of the largest credit unions in the country, serving over 1.6 million members worldwide with more than $23.6 billion in assets. Our long-standing mission has been to provide superior financial services in a cost effective manner, while being responsive to members' needs. PenFed Credit Union offers market-leading mortgages, automobile loans, credit cards, student loans, checking, certificates, and a wide range of other financial services with its members' interests always in mind. PenFed Credit Union serves a diverse population, and no military service is required to join. PenFed Credit Union offers many paths to membership, including numerous employee groups and association affiliations. PenFed Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA and is an equal housing lender. To learn more about PenFed Credit Union, visit PenFed.org, like us on Facebook and follow us @PenFed on Twitter. Interested in working for PenFed? Check us out on LinkedIn. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer: M/F/V/D.

SOURCE PenFed Credit Union

Related Links

http://www.PenFed.org


DALLAS, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Grupo Resilient International, Inc. fka Paradise Ridge Hydrocarbons, Inc. (OTC Pink: PRGE) today announced that Phillip Jordan has joined the Board of Directors of its real estate subsidiary, Grupo Resilient International Properties, Inc. Mr. Jordan will lead its Texas Cannabis Legalization Efforts. President Gordon Johnson stated, "We are extremely excited to add Phillip Jordan to our organization. Mr. Jordan will serve as governmental liaison and chief compliance officer as the company believes the legalization of cannabis in Texas is imminent," Mr. Jordan stated, "I am thrilled to join Grupo Resilient and look forward to positioning the company to capitalize on what is projected to be a multi-billion-dollar industry that will directly flow from what we believe is the imminent legalization of cannabis in the State of Texas," Mr. Jordan is a 33-year veteran of state and federal law enforcement.

With over 30 years service with the DEA, Mr. Jordan was Special Agent in Charge of DEA operations in Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. He also served as a Senior Inspector, Deputy Chief of Cocaine Operations and Deputy Regional Director for DEA's European Operations in Washington, D.C. Phillip was named Director of the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), located in Ft. Bliss, Texas, which is the premier intelligence center for monitoring worldwide drug intelligence and drug trends in a multi-agency cooperative effort. He is regularly consulted by top U. S. and Mexican media outlets as a drug law enforcement expert. Appearances include, but are not limited to, "Sixty Minutes," "Nightline," O'Reilly Factor, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and UNIVISION networks.

About Grupo Resilient International, Inc.:

Grupo Resilient International, Inc. is a diversified international holding company headquartered in Addison, Texas, with subsidiaries focusing on Real Estate, Infrastructure, Energy, Data Services, Transportation, and Health and Wellness.

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve numerous risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For more information:

Gordon Johnson

CEO - Grupo Resilient International, Inc. fka Paradise Ridge Hydrocarbons, Inc.

Tel: +1-203-303-4699 email: [email protected]



SOURCE Grupo Resilient International, Inc. fka Paradise Ridge Hydrocarbons, Inc.
Driving in the San Francisco Bay area is more than a challenge to motorists, who must deal daily with cracks, potholes and incomplete repairs.



Many bridges across the country have been deemed by the U.S. Department of Transportation to be sorely in need of repair.



Yet despite the dire need for action, U.S. Congress has not taken definitive steps to help repair the faulty infrastructure.



Martin Tuchman, a founder of Interpool, one of the nation's leading container leasing corporations and founder also of Trac Lease, the largest chassis leasing company in the country, has advanced a proposal to raise money to improve the infrastructure. He has placed his proposal on a video, which can be seen at TuchmanFoundation.org.



Mr. Tuchman's proposal centers on repatriating the money U.S. corporations make overseas.



Mr. Tuchman proposes that by proposing a federal tax rate of five percent  versus the higher 35 percent rate, a substantial amount of money can be brought back to the United States.

But, Mr. Tuchman says, the U.S. government, in order to forgive the higher tax rate, would require the companies to invest in the U.S. infrastructure.



Mr. Tuchman proposes that companies retain 70 percent of the cash to use in any way they wish, while 25 percent would be used to purchase Municipal Bonds from participating states.



The Municipal Bonds would be owned by the repatriating companies and remain on their balance sheets as assets. The companies would be retaining 95 percent of what they are repatriating.



Mr. Tuchman has repatriated several hundred millions of dollars back to the U.S., which he successfully invested in the U.S. economy.



Mr. Tuchman has been an advisor to U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York on repatriation and finance issues. Rep. Maloney is also available for interviews.



Mr. Tuchman is currently Chief Executive Officer of the Tuchman Group, an investment group with holdings in real estate, banking and international shipping. He also serves as Chairman of the Tuchman Foundation, an umbrella company for the Parkinson's Alliance. The Alliance works closely with Parkinson's research organizations that seeks grants from the National Institute of Health.



Rep. Maloney was first elected to Congress in 1992 and is recognized as a national leader with extensive accomplishments on financial services, national security, the economy, and women's issues. She is a senior member of both the House Financial Services Committee (where she serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets) and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the Ranking House member of the Joint Economic Committee. In the House Democratic Caucus.

CONTACT: Richard W. Gross: E-mail: [email protected] and Office Tel: (609) 921-7642

SOURCE The Tuchman Foundation

Related Links

www.tuchmanfoundation.org


NEW YORK, June 26, 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

Stock Market, Financial Planning and Strategic Investments

'Gainful Employment' No True Test in Assessing a College

MEDIA JOBS

Senior Writer / Editor, Money  Consumer Reports

Reporter  CapitalStructure Americas

Digital News Editor  The Wall Street Journal

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES

Top 10 LGBT News Sites for Pride Month (and Beyond)

5 Camera Bag Essentials Every New Photographer Should Own

7 Rules for Creating a Successful Lead Generation Form for Your Blog

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

EXPERT ALERTS:

Stock Market, Financial Planning and Strategic Investments

Karl Kaufman

Founder and CEO

American Dream Investing

"Too many people blindly hand their hard-earned money over to strangers, trusting investment advisors, hedge fund managers and financial planners to make investment decisions based on their client's best interests. Is this a good idea or are there other ways to maximize wealth by investing in stocks? No one loves your money more than you. It's essential for investors to learn how to manage their own investments. Claiming you don't have the time or interest in managing your investments can result in mediocre or worse returns, and the opportunity costs of not investing wisely can mean delayed financial freedom and independence."

Kaufman, along with his father Richard, offer advice and ideas at American Dream Investing, their family-owned financial membership service and news publication. American Dream Investing is dedicated to sharing independent and unconventional thoughts on building wealth through the stock market.

Website: https://www.americandreaminvesting.com

Contact: Daniela Papadakis, [email protected]

'Gainful Employment' No True Test in Assessing a College

Aaron Gottlieb

Bankruptcy Attorney

Godwin Bowman & Martinez, Dallas

Just before it was set to take effect, the Department of Education has stopped the implementation of a rule designed to hold for-profit colleges accountable for marketing claims concerning employment rates for graduates. Had the Borrower Defense to Repayment rule taken effect, for-profit colleges would have had to prove their programs led to the "gainful employment" of graduates or risk the loss of federal aid. Says Gottlieb: "There is no doubt that the student loan bubble may burst in the near future due to the crushing amount of student loan debt. However, some responsibility must still remain with the student loan borrower to carefully choose which colleges and programs to attend. If a for-profit school provides the student an education and degree for which the student paid tuition, then a 'gainful employment' requirement following graduation seems to be too broad a brush to wield in determining whether the for-profit school made a material misrepresentation. Several lawsuits have been dismissed over the past five to 10 years on the basis of student borrowers' reliance on publications which listed inaccurate employment rates of graduates. The courts have consistently considered this information mere 'puffery,' rather than any sort of guarantee."

Contact: Rhonda Reddick, [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/

Senior Writer / Editor, Money  Consumer Reports

Reporter  CapitalStructure Americas

Digital News Editor  The Wall Street Journal

*****************

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]

TOP 10 LGBT NEWS SITES FOR PRIDE MONTH (AND BEYOND). Pride Month is wrapping up. With rainbows emblazoned all over the digital landscape, we looked at the top 10 sites that are providing the news that matters to this vibrant community and its allies: http://bit.ly/2sesPuC



5 CAMERA BAG ESSENTIALS EVERY NEW PHOTOGRAPHER SHOULD OWN. A decent camera body with a kit lens is enough to get started, but eventually you'll want to upgrade to take your photography to the next level. Here is a list of some essential items every photographer should have in their bag: http://bit.ly/2rR3tYB



7 RULES FOR CREATING A SUCCESSFUL LEAD GENERATION FORM FOR YOUR BLOG. When done right, blog posts can educate readers, establish you as an authority in your field, and help position you as a go-to resource in your audience's time of need, but you don't want to put all of your coveted information and expertise on the web for just anyone to find. Sometimes it's important to collect quality information about your audience  before handing over the goods. Many good content marketing strategies  whether for a blog or company brand  include a lead generation form. http://bit.ly/2tmB7Se

****************

PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire.

SOURCE ProfNet

Related Links

http://www.profnet.com


PORTLAND, Ore., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Since its launch two years ago, the Corrona Psoriasis Registry, a joint collaboration between the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) and Corrona, LLC, the leading sponsor of registries in autoimmune and immune-mediated diseases, has enrolled its 3,000th patient.

Designed to study the comparative safety and effectiveness of psoriasis treatments, the Corrona Psoriasis Registry's 3,000th psoriasis patients come from 128 sites across 33 states.

More than 230 participating dermatology health care providers have contributed data to the registry. Additionally, data from the registry has contributed to 18 research posters that have been presented at medical conferences across the country analyzing disease severity, concurrent medical conditions, and patient reported outcomes.

"The data collected in the Corrona Registry is critical in helping scientists advance research that could demonstrate the most effective and safest treatment strategies available for all psoriatic disease patients," said Randy Beranek, National Psoriasis Foundation president and CEO. "We are encouraged by the enrollment numbers and expect as more patients and health care providers learn the positive impact the registry has on patient research, it will continue to increase."

In a fundamental paradigm shift from the traditional model where each individual pharmaceutical company sponsors its own Phase 4 clinical study to investigate the post-approval safety of its drug, the Corrona Psoriasis Registry uses a collaborative model which integrates the post-approval safety study (PASS) commitments of multiple companies into a single, large-scale registry with multiple drug treatment cohorts. This collaborative model offers numerous advantages, including streamlining the workflow for investigators and patients into a single protocol and set of patient questionnaires. The Corrona collaborative model has been designated to support FDA post-approval safety commitments for two recently approved IL-17 inhibitor biologics for psoriasis.

"As an independent registry, the Corrona Registry is well positioned to answer critical research questions facing psoriasis patients on the risk-benefit profile of newly approved drugs, empowering the psoriasis patient community," said Dr. Mark Lebwohl, professor and chairman, Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, chairman emeritus of the NPF Medical Board, and scientific co-director of the registry.

"We greatly appreciate the contributions of participating dermatologists and their patients for enriching the knowledge base accessible to the broader psoriasis community," said Dr. Jeff Greenberg, chief scientific officer of Corrona.

The Corrona Psoriasis Registry is the largest, independent U.S. registry of psoriasis patients. The registry was launched as a commitment to the psoriasis community to help researchers compare the safety and effectiveness of FDA-approved psoriasis therapies.

Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated disease that causes raised, red, scaly patches to appear on the skin. It occurs when the immune system sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis is not contagious. More than 8 million Americans have psoriasis.

Learn more about the Corrona Psoriasis Registry, visit https://www.corrona.org/registries/psoriasis.

About the National Psoriasis Foundation

Celebrating 50 years of patient support, advocacy, research funding, and education, the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) is the world's leading nonprofit fighting for individuals with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. NPF is on a continued mission to drive efforts to cure psoriatic disease and dramatically improve the lives of more than 8 million Americans affected by this chronic immune mediated disease. As part of that effort, in 2016 the NPF created a Patient Navigation Center to offer personalized assistance to everyone with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis. In addition, the NPF has funded more than $15 million in research grants and fellowships to date. Learn more at www.psoriasis.org.

SOURCE National Psoriasis Foundation

Related Links

http://www.psoriasis.org


SAN FRANCISCO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Quri, the leader in Performance Driven Merchandising, is announcing today a partnership with BeMyEye, Europe's leading mobile crowdsourcing business. BeMyEye operates in UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Benelux, Sweden, Czech Republic and Poland. Through the partnership, Quri and BeMyEye will be able to better serve their mutual consumer brand customers both abroad and at home.

This partnership provides multinational clients the opportunity to understand the true retail conditions of their brands and products at retail outlets both in the United States as well as in Europe in a consistent and standardized way. The consolidated offering will display results in a centralized platform, providing store-level merchandising conditions data across the two continents. With this, multinational manufacturers can leverage learnings and insights from one geography to help make better decisions in others.

"This partnership means CPG brands will see a benefit via expanded international coverage and the ability to bring consistency to the way retail merchandising is approached," said Justin Behar CEO of Quri. Luca Pagano, CEO of BeMyEye, confirms that "the partnership was an obvious fit of shared values."

Together, the combined forces of Quri and BeMyEye will make available a mobile workforce of 850,000. They will continue to deliver exceptionally granular levels of in-store merchandising data at incredible speeds to brands and retailers, allowing manufacturers to make more agile merchandising decisions.

About Quri

Quri is the leader in Performance Driven Merchandising, transforming the in-store experience by providing continuous, real-time, store-level visibility into merchandising conditions across all major channels and retailers in the US market.

KraftHeinz, Heineken, Nest, Red Bull, and Johnson & Johnson plus 100+ other global companies rely on Quri to help optimize the $4 trillion dollars spent annually on retail go-to-market and in-store merchandising. Quri is powered by proprietary data quantifying the shopper view in-store and collected by an on-demand retail workforce. For more information on Quri or Performance Driven Merchandising, visit http://quri.com.

About BeMyEye

Founded in 2011 by Italian entrepreneur and innovator, Gian Luca Petrelli, BeMyEye is Europe's largest and most effective mobile crowdsourcing DaaS (Data as a Service) solution for actionable in-store retail and street level data, with more than 400,000 Eyes subscribing to tasks set by leading companies including Mattel, Coca Cola, P&G, Nestle, Samsung, Heineken, Lavazza and Universal.

BeMyEye leverage the power of our crowd to deliver real-time business insights of unparalleled accuracy to brands and retailers of all shapes and sizes whilst ensuring that our 'Eyes' have the potential to earn money in a way that fits in with their lifestyle. BeMyEye connects the Eyes with businesses looking for location-specific information, such as checking joint business plan compliance (such as in-store promotions, product launches and merchandising compliance), identifying numerical distribution or optimising the routines of in-house or agency-based field force teams. The crowdsourced insights uncover reliable, real world insights, from any location, at scale. This method empowers businesses to "see" thousands of locations within moments, giving them the intelligence to identify new revenue streams, uphold brand integrity, track joint business plans and make savings quickly.

The company is headquartered in the UK with offices in Italy, France and Spain, and is a VC-backed company with investment from Europe's leading venture capitalists, Nauta Capital, p101 and 360 Capital Partners.

Contact:

Lena Loo

[email protected]

SOURCE Quri

Related Links

http://www.quri.com


CHICAGO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The finalists for Crain's #Fast50 feature in 2017 are out. Revamp Wholesale made it to #3!

In 2012, ReVamp Electronics took in almost 5,000 iPad repair orders a month, more than the company's 22 technicians could handle. So CEO Anant Handa, 30, had a choice: Scale up or move in a different direction. He chose the latter and took a "leap of faith," as he describes it, into the distribution industry. "At that point, we didn't have the proper funding to grow any bigger, so we were actually forced to pivot," he recalls.

ReVamp Electronics LLC

But Handa knew there was one crucial thing all repair shops needed to survive: parts. During ReVamp's device repair days, the company experienced supply-chain issues firsthand. Receiving consistent quality parts, and quickly, was crucial. Leveraging the overseas connections he'd made completing thousands of repairs the previous years, Handa received about $50,000 worth of inventory on consignment from a Chinese factory to overhaul his business. "Everyone knew who we were from the repair industry, and it was kind of easy to pivot into selling them parts," he says.

ReVamp has grown more than ten-thousandfold in the past five years and is adding yet another tier to its offerings, selling pre-owned devices and partnering with Tessco Technologies, a publicly traded company, to distribute brand-name accessories to the repair channel. Anant predicts this aspect of his business will make up 25 percent of ReVamp's overall revenue by the end of 2018.

"Moving forward we know we need controlled growth because of exponential growth. It sounds great, but it can be a very risky thing," he says.

An industry as ever-changing as mobile electronics makes it challenging to accurately forecast potential business growth long term. Because of this, Handa maintains that the keys to extended success are employing the right people, innovating and diversifying revenue streams, and always being on the lookout for the unexpected. The unknown is where the fun and the real work begins.

The Fast 50 can be viewed here: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/section/fast-50

About Crain's Chicago Business and the Fast 50 Honors: For more than 30 years, business leaders have relied on Crain's as the go-to source for news and information about doing business in Chicago. More than a collection of products, Crain's Chicago Business is a rich media environment  in print, online, through in-person events, mobile and video. Since 2007, Crain's Fast 50 has honored companies in a variety of different sectors in the greater Chicagoland area that have achieved impressive revenue gains over a 5 year period. As such, the project annually offers a reliable snapshot of the region's growth sectors.

Media Contact:

Jerald Hendricks

Phone: 312.546.6680

Email: [email protected]

Related Images

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SOURCE ReVamp Electronics LLC
WINNIPEG, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Richardson International Limited has expanded its oat milling business with the acquisition of European Oat Millers. The acquisition closed on June 15, 2017.

"We are excited to build on our success in value-added processing and extend our food manufacturing footprint to a new geography," says Curt Vossen, President and CEO of Richardson International. "As the largest oat miller in North America, we now look forward to building a presence in Europe to enhance our ability to compete in the global marketplace."

Based in Bedford, England, European Oat Millers is a leader in the oat milling business. It is the second largest oat miller in Europe, producing a wide range of oat products, including various oat flakes, flour and groats, as well as wheat and barley flakes and extruded ingredients and products. Products are sold throughout the U.K., with exports to continental Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

"European Oat Millers is a solid, family-owned business that is well-established in the U.K. We have been very impressed with both the quality of the business and its people and believe it is an excellent complement to our Richardson Milling division," says Vossen. "Looking ahead, we will build on the investments that have already been made, including increasing manufacturing capacity, and will continue to seek opportunities to expand our global business."

"My brother and I are very proud of the business that we have successfully grown over the past three decades," says Bill Jordan, who co-founded European Oat Millers with his brother, David. 'We are pleased to be passing it on to a similar family-owned business that shares both our vision for growth and our core values and we look forward to watching the business evolve."

Richardson first entered the oat milling business in 2013 with the acquisition of three oat processing plants in Canada - Portage la Prairie, Manitoba; Martensville, Saskatchewan; Barrhead, Alberta  and one in the U.S. in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Today, Richardson is the largest oat miller in North America.

Richardson International is Canada's leading agribusiness. Recognized as a global leader in agriculture and food processing, Richardson is a worldwide handler and merchandiser of major Canadian-grown grains and oilseeds and a vertically-integrated processor and manufacturer of oats and canola-based products. One of Canada's Best Managed Companies, Richardson is headquartered in Winnipeg with over 2,500 employees worldwide.

SOURCE Richardson International Ltd.

Related Links

www.richardson.ca


LOS ANGELES, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Saviynt, a leading provider of Cloud Security and Identity Governance solutions, today announced a partnership with Allgress, the AWS-certified compliance platform, to integrate their Regulatory Product Mapping (RPM) into the Saviynt Security Manager for AWS. The partnership will provide AWS customers the ability to understand the breadth of coverage provided by Saviynt to comply with regulatory security frameworks such as DFARS 171, NIST 800-53, and PCI.

Amit Saha, COO of Saviynt, said, "As organizations in regulated industries embrace cloud platforms, it is imperative to meet increasingly complex and evolving compliance mandates. Without a mapping tool such as Allgress RPM, organizations spend significant amount of time building and maintaining these matrices manually. Saviynt automates the compliance process by offering 300+ risk signatures and best practices for AWS that prevent, detect and respond to threats in real-time. By mapping these to regulatory security frameworks, the solution further enhances security and helps our customers to be compliant and stay compliant."

Gordon Shevlin, CEO of Allgress, said, "The Allgress RPM platform has been designed for customers with AWS environments who want to reduce the complexity, increase the speed, and shorten the timeframe of achieving compliance, with legislation such as Sarbanes Oxley, HIPAA, and FISMA. The partnership with Saviynt will give companies a complete 360 view of their compliance mappings, but more importantly, the ability to manage the risk through the Saviynt platform. It's a powerful combination, and we're excited to be partnering with Saviynt to give companies the ability to be compliant even in the most complex IT environments."

"With the addition of Saviynt to Allgress RPM platform, our customers will have a deeper understanding, ability to assess rapidly and easily map their complex compliance requirements to Saviynt's product features. This partnership will go a long way in increasing the trust in cloud platforms and accelerate the adoption with greater confidence," added Vibhuti Sinha, Chief Cloud Officer at Saviynt.

About Saviynt

Saviynt is a leading provider of Identity Governance & Administration (IGA) and Cloud Security solutions. Saviynt enables enterprises to secure applications, data and infrastructure in a single platform for Cloud (AWS, Azure, Office 365, Salesforce, Workday, etc.) and Enterprise (SAP, Oracle EBS, etc.). Saviynt delivers the next generation IGA solution by integrating advanced risk analytics with fine-grained privilege management. With built-in support for continuous compliance management, SOD analysis & remediation, privileged access & role governance, Saviynt provides a best in class IGA 2.0 solution that addresses all your complex security and compliance needs.

About Allgress

Allgress, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in Governance, Risk and Compliance solutions that enables risk, security, and compliance professionals the ability to efficiently manage organizational risk. By utilizing visualization, automation, streamlined workflows, and the integration of existing data feeds, Allgress reduces the complexity and cost of risk management. Unlike other risk solutions, customers derive value in hours rather than months. To learn more, visit http://www.allgress.com.

Contact: Sam Adler, 310-641-1664, [email protected]

SOURCE Saviynt

Related Links

http://www.saviynt.com


BELLEVUE, Wash., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to review an important Second Amendment Foundation case involving firearms rights for individuals convicted of certain non-violent misdemeanor crimes.

The decision allows an earlier favorable en banc ruling for SAF by the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania to stand. In the case of Binderup v. the U.S. Attorney General, the appeals court ruled that individuals convicted of certain non-serious misdemeanor crimes do not lose their fundamental rights under the Second Amendment for life. After SAF won at the appeals court level, the Obama Justice Department sought Supreme Court review.

The case involved a man named Daniel Binderup, who pleaded guilty in 1996 to a misdemeanor charge related to a consensual relationship he had with a 17-year-old female employee. He received three years' probation and a $300 fine. However, because the crime could have resulted in jail time of more than one year for which the federal gun law blocks firearms possession, Binderup sought protection of his rights via the courts.

"While we were confident that our case would once again prevail before the Supreme Court, we're delighted at the high court's decision that allows our victory in the Third Circuit to stand," noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "We established the principle that people who are convicted of certain misdemeanor crimes cannot be stripped of their fundamental right to keep and bear arms for life."

The Third Circuit Court's favorable ruling combined Binderup's case with another SAF case involving a man named Julio Suarez. He was stopped in 1990 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. At the time he was carrying a handgun and spare ammunition without a permit. He pleaded guilty in Maryland state court to the charge and received a 180-day suspended sentence and $500 fine. As a result, he also lost his gun rights because the crime could have resulted in jail time of more than one year. Neither man was ever incarcerated.

"We cannot allow government to simply deny constitutionally-delineated rights on such flimsy grounds," Gottlieb said. "While SAF's goal is winning firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time, this time we won two!"

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

SOURCE Second Amendment Foundation

Related Links

http://www.saf.org


NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Arconic Inc. ("Aaron's" or the "Company") (NYSE: ARNC; ARNC-P; ARNC-PB). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.

The investigation concerns whether Arconic Inc. 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 June 24, 2017, The New York Times published an article entitled "Why Grenfell Tower Burned: Regulators Put Cost Before Safety", describing the causes of the June 14, 2017 fire at the Grenfell Tower apartment complex in London, England that killed at least 79 people. The article reported that Grenfell Tower's facade consisted of panels containing combustible polyethylene cores, manufactured and marketed by Arconic, that "enabled the fire to spread rapidly on the exterior of the building." The article further reported that Arconic's U.K. marketing materials for the facade panels contain a less detailed safety warning than the Company's marketing materials for other European countries.

On this news, Arconic's common share price has fallen as much as $2.89, or 11.32%, during intraday trading on June 26, 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


Americans have celebrated Italian food for decades. Classic Italian dishes have been joined by refreshing, modern twists on tradition that help keep the love affair alive and well with this simple, colorful, flavorful, healthy cuisine.

Born in Lucca, Italy, in 1867, Filippo Berio Olive Oil celebrates 150 years of culinary passion and artistry by combining traditional ingredients in contemporary, unexpected recipes that can help you savor the moment.

For more recipe creations, visit FilippoBerio.com/recipes.

Chicken Cutlet Broccoli Rabe Sandwich

Recipe courtesy of Chef Mary Ann Esposito

Prep time: 17 minutes

Cook time: 13 minutes

Servings: 4

4 tablespoons Filippo Berio Olive Oil, divided

1 small onion, diced

1 pound broccoli rabe, stems removed and leaves cut into 2-inch pieces

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

6 oil-cured black olives, pitted and diced (optional)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

4 chicken cutlets (about 1 pound total)

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup bread crumbs, toasted

8 slices bread, toasted

4 slices provolone cheese (optional)

In 10-inch saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat; saute onion 3 minutes, or until translucent. Stir in broccoli rabe and red pepper flakes; cover and cook over medium heat 2-3 minutes, or until broccoli rabe is wilted. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper, to taste; stir in olives, if desired. Transfer mixture to bowl; cover and keep warm.

In small paper or plastic bag, combine flour and remaining salt. One at a time, add chicken cutlets; shake to coat each cutlet in flour then transfer to plate. Dip cutlets in egg then bread crumbs and return to plate. Set aside.

In skillet over medium-high heat, heat remaining olive oil. Working in batches, brown chicken, cooking 2-3 minutes, or until golden on each side and no longer pink inside.

To serve: Top each bread slice with one chicken cutlet; spread with broccoli rabe mixture. Top with slices of provolone, if desired. Top with remaining bread.

Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza

Recipe courtesy of Chef Mary Ann Esposito

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Makes: Two 9-to-10-inch pizzas

1 pound store-bought pizza dough, at room temperature

1 ripe tomato, thinly sliced

1/4 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, diced

coarse sea salt

2 tablespoons Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 cup shredded fresh basil

Heat well-oiled cast-iron or nonstick 10- or 12-inch frying pan over medium heat 5 minutes.

Divide dough in half; roll one half into round 1 inch smaller than diameter of pan. Cook dough in hot pan until dough begins to rise and bottom starts to brown. Using metal spatula, turn carefully. Layer half the tomato slices over dough; scatter half the mozzarella over top. Lower heat to medium-low; cook until mozzarella melts.

Using metal spatula, transfer pizza to cutting board. Sprinkle with salt; drizzle with half the olive oil. Cut into wedges; sprinkle half the basil over top.

Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Caprese Zucchini Noodle Bowl

Prep time: 15 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Servings: 4

4 medium zucchini, spiralized (instructions at right)

1/4 cup Filippo Berio Delicato Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 cups heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil

1 ball (8 ounces) burrata cheese, torn

Toss together zucchini, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper; let stand 10 minutes, or until zucchini starts to soften.

Gently stir in tomatoes and basil. Divide salad among four bowls. Top with cheese.

How to Spiralize Zucchini

Use zucchini at least 2 inches in diameter for best results. Trim ends of zucchini.

Place spiralizer on smooth surface, such as a countertop, pushing down to adhere suction cups onto surface and secure machine for spiralizing.

Place desired blade into spiralizer. Turn zucchini into long strands, trimming with clean kitchen shears as needed.

A Culinary Journey

As part of its 150th anniversary celebration this summer, a Filippo Berio Food Truck will make a culinary journey from coast to coast. Guests at the truck can sample delicious olive oils, and consumers nationwide are invited to enter a sweepstakes to win a week-long culinary experience at Toscana Saporita, a premier Italian cooking school in Tuscany, Italy.

For every sweepstakes entry, Filippo Berio will donate $1 to the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), an organization supported by Filippo Berio since its foundation in 1990 that helps prepare disadvantaged youth for jobs in the restaurant and hospitality industry.

For additional details, including tour cities and dates, and how to enter the sweepstakes, visit FollowingFilippo.com.

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

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MANASQUAN, N.J., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Throughout the tri-state area, homeowners are preparing to welcome house guests for summer visits. For those eyeing the guest room and thinking it could stand to be spruced up, SMART Carpet and Flooring has good news: They can help -- and they'll bring the showroom with them. Better yet, SMART Carpet and Flooring experts are offering suggestions for easy updates that will make summer guests feel right at home, at some of the lowest prices of the year thanks to the company's Independence Day Super Sale.

Get ready for summer guests and spruce up your spare bedroom!

"Summertime is the traveling season, and most folks enjoy welcoming friends and family to their home for overnight or longer stays," said SMART Carpet and Flooring President Brendan Phillips. "But it's no fun to open the guest room door and see threadbare or stained carpet, bland walls, and cast-off bedding. With a few simple and affordable updates, homeowners can transform the guest room into a traveler's retreat."

This season, says the SMART Carpet and Flooring team, "greige" is all the rage. Mixing neutral, natural tones of gray and beige creates a restful and welcoming guest room. Add crisp white bedding and soft lighting, and accent with colorful accessories in on-trend colors like Pantone's Treetop, Marina, or Deep Grass Green.

For the floors, SMART Carpet and Flooring recommends stain-resistant carpet that feels luxurious underfoot. Their top picks:

Shaw's Because We Can II Clearly Bold collection. Available in three weights and 18 multi-tone colors ranging from the nearly black "Underwater" to the lighter "Alaskan Air," Because We Can is stain- and soil-resistant, made in the USA , and offers an excellent value to cost-conscious homeowners. Try it in the cool gray tones of "Rocky Mountain."

, and offers an excellent value to cost-conscious homeowners. Try it in the cool gray tones of "Rocky Mountain." Mohawk Wear Dated Soft Touch Berber carpet. Available in three patternsWeathered Sand, Lattice, and Paversand 16 natural colors in a range of grays, beiges and browns, this Berber is one of the softest carpets available and features ScotchGard Protector Advanced Repel Technology, with lifetime stain and soil resistance. For a light, airy guest room, try it in Moonlight, a perfect cross between gray and beige.

During the Independence Day Super Sale going on now until July 4th, shoppers can get those choices plus thousands of others at 10% off regular SMART Carpet and Flooring prices, which are typically 50% less than other flooring retailers thanks to the company's innovative mobile showroom business model.

SMART Carpet and Flooring is the original shop-at-home carpet and flooring shopping experience in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, with the first SMART Carpet mobile showroom hitting the road in New Jersey more than 20 years ago. Today, the company is the leading at-home flooring supplier in the tri-state area, allowing homeowners to choose from thousands of carpet, tile, wood, vinyl, and stone flooring samples in the comfort of their own homes, against their own lighting and decor, with the help of trained flooring experts. SMART Carpet and Flooring assists customers throughout the flooring process, from removing old flooring to installing and even financing beautiful new flooring. Appointments are available seven days a week, including evenings.

About SMART Carpet and Flooring

SMART Carpet and Flooring eliminates the hassle of buying new carpet and flooring by doing everything at the client's home, where color and quality selection matter most. Because the company is a mill-direct buying service and not a store, SMART Carpet and Flooring customers can save up to 50% off typical store prices. SMART Carpet and Flooring includes everything from measuring and layout to quality padding, installation and financing.

Contact:

Danielle D'Angelo

SMART Carpet and Flooring

732-292-6100

[email protected]

http://www.smartcarpet.com

SOURCE SMART Carpet and Flooring

Related Links

http://www.smartcarpet.com


With this certification, Spectrum Health joins an elite group of health care organizations focused on highly-specialized stroke care. It is the first Grand Rapids hospital to achieve the highest level of certification for stroke care. To be eligible, hospitals must demonstrate compliance with stroke-related standards as a Primary Stroke Center and meet additional requirements, including those related to advanced imaging capabilities, 24/7 availability of specialized treatments, and providing staff with the unique education and competencies to care for complex stroke patients.

Spectrum Health underwent a rigorous onsite review in May, 2017 when Joint Commission experts evaluated compliance with stroke-related standards and requirements.

"By achieving this advanced certification, Spectrum Health has thoroughly demonstrated the greatest level of commitment to the care of its patients with a complex stroke condition," says Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., president and CEO, The Joint Commission. "Certification is a voluntary process and The Joint Commission commends Spectrum Health for successfully undertaking this challenge to elevate the standard of its care for the community it serves."

"The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association congratulates Spectrum Health on achieving Comprehensive Stroke Center certification," said Nancy Brown, chief executive officer, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. "Meeting the standards for Comprehensive Stroke Center certification represents a commitment to deliver high quality care to all patients affected by stroke."

"Spectrum Health is pleased to receive advanced certification from The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association," said Tamer Abdelhak, MD, division chief, inpatient neurology, Spectrum Health. "The certification provides us with the framework to create a culture of excellence."

Established in 2012, Advanced Certification for Comprehensive Stroke Centers is awarded for a two-year period to Joint Commission-accredited acute care hospitals. The certification was derived from the Brain Attack Coalition's "Recommendations for Comprehensive Stroke Centers" (Stroke, 2005), "Metrics for Measuring Quality of Care in Comprehensive Stroke Centers" (Stroke, 2011) and recommendations from a multidisciplinary advisory panel of experts in complex stroke care.

Stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

The Joint Commission

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association

The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association are devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke  America's 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 American Heart Association is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. The American Stroke Association is a division of the American Heart Association. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

The familiar Heart-Check mark now helps consumers evaluate their choices in hospital care. Each mark given to a hospital is earned by meeting specific standards for the care of patients with heart disease and/or stroke. The Heart-Check mark can only be displayed by hospitals that have achieved and defined requirements set by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. For more information on the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Hospital Accreditation Program visit www.heart.org/myhospital.

Spectrum Health

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system, based in West Michigan, offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of 12 hospitals, including Helen DeVos Children's Hospital; about 180 ambulatory and service sites; about 3,200 physicians and advanced practice providers, including about 1,400 members of the Spectrum Health Medical Group; and Priority Health, a health plan with about 796,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan's largest employer, with 25,400 employees. The organization provided more than $326 million in community benefit during its 2016 fiscal year. Spectrum Health was named one of the nation's 15 Top Health Systemsand in the top five among the largest health systemsin 2017 by Truven Health Analytics, part of IBM Watson Health. This is the sixth time the organization has received this recognition.

SOURCE Spectrum Health

Related Links

http://www.spectrum-health.org


Produced by the same team that compiles the 26-year-old Star Tribune 100 report of the best-performing public companies in Minnesota, Top Workplaces recognizes the most progressive companies in Minnesota based on employee opinions measuring engagement, organizational health and satisfaction. The analysis included responses from over 69,000 employees at Minnesota public, private and nonprofit organizations.

The rankings in the Star Tribune Top 150 Workplaces are based on survey information collected by WorkplaceDynamics, an independent company specializing in employee engagement and retention.

Perforce Software was ranked twelve on the small company list, out of a total of seventy companies.

"Perforce opened its Minneapolis office in January of 2016, and we are very proud of the fact that we have already earned a top workplace in Minnesota," said Janet Dryer, CEO of Perforce. "We have grown to over fifty employees in Minnesota out of over 225 global Perforce employees, and creating a focused, fun and rewarding work environment is key to our continued success here and around the world."

Star Tribune Publisher Michael J. Klingensmith said, "The companies in the Star Tribune Top 150 Workplaces deserve high praise for creating the very best work environments in the state of Minnesota. My congratulations to each of these exceptional companies."

About Perforce

Enterprises across the globe rely on Perforce to build and deliver complex digital products faster and with higher quality. Perforce is best known for its highly scalable version management and collaboration platform that securely manages change across all digital content  source code, art files, video files, images, libraries - while supporting the developer and build tools your teams need to be productive, such as Git, Visual Studio, Jenkins, Adobe, Maya and many others. Perforce also offers complete project lifecycle management tools to accelerate a project's delivery cycle by linking the requirements, test plans, source code, and helpdesk in an integrated platform. Perforce is trusted by the world's most innovative brands, including NVIDIA, Pixar, Scania, Ubisoft, and VMware. The company has offices in the US, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Australia, and sales partners around the globe. For more information, please visit www.perforce.com.

Media Contacts

Global

Colleen Kulhanek

Perforce Software

Ph: +1 510-473-3069

[email protected]

UK/EMEA

Maxine Ambrose/Nicola Males

Ambrose Communications

Ph: +44 1491 412944

[email protected]

SOURCE Perforce Software

Related Links

http://www.perforce.com


FREMONT, Calif., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Broadband Forum today announced it has welcomed 15 new members  including three start-ups  as it continues to address the fast-changing broadband landscape.

The broad range of industry expertise displayed by the new member companies highlights the continuously expanding breadth of the Broadband Forum's work which has grown to include a strong focus on next-generation broadband technologies such as virtualization, Software Defined Networks (SDN), the Internet of Things (IoT), next-generation optical networks, 5G and Gfast.

The latest additions are CableLabs, EANTC, Fujitsu Limited, Genesis Technical Systems, Go!Foton, Jabil Circuit (Shanghai) Company, MaxLinear, Radisys, Shenzhen Gongjin Electronics, SK Telecom, Telekom Slovenia, Tellabs, TiBit Communications, VoltServer and Works Systems (Tianjin) Co. Ltd.

Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum, said: "We're delighted to be able to welcome so many new members into the Broadband Forum, including  for the first time  start-up companies, as this is where so much innovation is happening. The work the Forum is carrying out to deliver on our Broadband 20/20 vision is attracting a lot of interest from companies across the industry and the Forum is the perfect platform for them as every member has an equal voice, whether they are a start-up or a long-established operator. Today the broadband industry is changing and evolving at a rapid pace and the addition of these new members demonstrates the Forum remains a clear voice amid the changes."

Broadband 20/20 focuses on leveraging emerging technologies and approaches to enable new services and business opportunities across the entire network-enabled broadband ecosystem from user devices to Cloud data centers.

A number of initiatives have been launched to deliver on the vision, including the Cloud Central Office (CloudCO) project, an evolution of the popular TR-069 protocol into the world of the IoT and consumer electronics with the User Services Platform, and preparation for a significant cooperation with 3GPP that will lead to the advance of 5G on a unified network.

Richard Stanfield, CEO at Tibit Communications, a start-up developing next-generation pluggable devices designed to virtualize the access network, said: "Joining the Broadband Forum is a significant step for TiBit Communications. Its work in the fields of virtualization and GPON were crucial in our decision to join and we look forward to working with the Forum to further develop these technologies."

Stephen Eaves, CEO and Founder of VoltServer, a start-up which develops innovative power distribution products, said: "Joining the Broadband Forum is a significant step for us and provided us with a way to gain customer contacts, learn about the industry and help us know what is going on in standards development to help us navigate the future."

For more information on the Broadband Forum's work, visit: www.broadband-forum.org.

Other companies interested in joining the Broadband Forum can contact Rhonda Heier at [email protected] to request an invitation to attend the Forum's Q3 meeting in Helsinki, Finland, from Monday, September 11 to Thursday, September 14.

About the Broadband Forum

Broadband Forum, a non-profit industry organization, is focused on engineering smarter and faster broadband networks. Our work defines best practices for global networks, enables service and content delivery, establishes technology migration strategies, engineers critical device & service management tools, and is key to redefining broadband. Our free technical reports and white papers can be found at www.broadband-forum.org. Twitter @Broadband_Forum.

For more information about the Broadband Forum, please go to http://www.broadband-forum.org or follow @Broadband_Forum on Twitter. For further information please contact Brian Dolby on +44 (0) 7899 914168 or [email protected] or Jayne Garfitt on +44 (0) 1636 812152 or [email protected].

SOURCE The Broadband Forum

Related Links

http://www.broadband-forum.org


CITY OF INDUSTRY, California, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Sugarmade, Inc. (OTCQB:SGMD), today announces its BudLife Intelligent Cannabis Container System brand identity. Sugarmade's business strategy is to launch BudLife within the single most important worldwide cannabis market, the U.S. states of California, Washington and Oregon. Sugarmade and its partner, Plantation Corp., have launched a new website, http://www.BudLife.net , which provides information about the market and the BudLifeproduct line and its technology.

BudLife products, based on patented technology will be launched, as a new, breakthrough category in intelligent packaging to deliver all the benefits of preservation and stability to cannabis without the need for refrigeration. The goal is to establish a unique paradigm in preservation efficiency and longevity that sets a new gold standard for the intelligent packaging industry. Sugarmade and its partner company, Plantation Corp. plan to achieve this goal by manufacturing and marketing the first intelligent container system that maintains the medicinal integrity of this plant for up to six months.

Jimmy Chan, CEO of Sugarmade commented, "We believe BudLife products, which we plan to launch later this year, will represent a revolution in the storage of cannabis. By enabling storage of cannabis for up to six months, and perhaps longer, we believe the market pricing dynamic of cannabis will forever be changed. Storage will enable cultivators, processors and dispensaries, to better control the flow of product, and thus the pricing, through the entire supply chain. Consumers will also be better served as BudLife will have important features to preserve terpenes and THC, while also potentially significantly reducing pathogen growth. As the State of California begins to release draft requirements, we believe the BudLife product will be the right product at the right time."

Sugarmade, Inc. is a product and brand marketing company investing in products and brands with disruptive potential. Sugarmade's brands include CaliGrownSupplies.com, CarryOutSupplies.com, FreeHand ThumbTray, and Sriracha Seasoning Stix, a revolutionary culinary seasoning product under official license from Irwindale, California- based Huy Fong Foods, Inc., the maker of Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. For more information on the Company's products, please visit http://www.Sugarmade.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements also may be included in other publicly available documents issued by the Company and in oral statements made by our officers and representatives from time to time. These forward-looking statements are intended to provide management's current expectations or plans for our future operating and financial performance, based on assumptions currently believed to be valid. They can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "would," "could," "will" and other words of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. Examples of forward looking statements include, among others, statements relating to future sales, earnings, cash flows, results of operations, uses of cash and other measures of financial performance.

Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others such as, but not limited to economic conditions, changes in the laws or regulations, demand for products and services of the company, the effects of competition and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or represented in the forward looking statements.

Any forward-looking information provided in this release should be considered with these factors in mind. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this report.

For inquiries please contact Jimmy Chan at +1(888)982-1628 or [email protected].

SOURCE Sugarmade, Inc.
MIAMI, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- When the nation's premier meeting for obstetric, neonatal and women's health nurses opens today, all eyes will be on Victoria and Super Tory  Gaumard Scientific Company's powerful wireless/tetherless duo for maternal-fetal and neonatal patient simulation training.

Gaumard will demonstrate the pair today through June 28 at booth #404 in the New Orleans Convention Center during AWHONN 2017, the annual meeting of the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.

As the world's most advanced neonatal patient simulator, the new Super Tory perfectly complements Victoria, the most advanced mobile maternal-fetal simulator.

Super Tory is so realistic that it accurately responds to real mechanical ventilation in the neonatal intensive care unit.

And Victoria, first introduced in 2014, has new anatomically-accurate features that make it easier than ever to treat Victoria as if she were a real expectant mom.

Victoria's new eyes, for example, can focus on and interact with her caregiver, enabling users to conduct a neurological-assessment that evaluates impaired eye motion for warning signs of a stroke, head trauma, drug use, cranial nerve impairment and other conditions.

Super Tory

Respiratory problems are one of the leading causes of neonatal intensive care unit admissions, with nearly 10 percent of newborns needing some form of respiratory assistance.

With Super Tory, nurses and respiratory care teams can rehearse resuscitation and care protocols using real equipment to improve speed and efficiency.

Super Tory's lifelike limb and facial movements and programmable skin coloration simulate a wide range of visual cues seen in ill as well as healthy newborns. Starting with APGAR scoring, every visual assessment provides a wealth of health information.

John Eggert, Gaumard's executive vice president, said, "We designed Super Tory with unparalleled anatomical and physiological accuracy to give nurses thorough preparation for high-risk, low-frequency emergencies."

"Super Tory provides lifelike realism to a degree never seen before in neonatal simulation."

Nurses can monitor Super Tory with real medical equipment as they train to assess newborns for such conditions as early onset sepsis, hyperbilirubinemia, and pneumonia with pneumothorax.

Critical metrics such as ECG-derived respiratory monitoring, pre- and post-ductal SpO2, NIBP and capillary refill time can be evaluated in real time. And Super Tory can be paced and defibrillated using real energy, just as in a live clinical situation. Her facial expressions, chest wall movement and programmable arm and leg movements provide valuable information for care givers.



Super Tory's lifelike lungs feature programmable levels of compliance, can achieve normal chest rise with as little as 15 cmH2O, and can illustrate the high recoil associated with stiff lungs. For the first time, students and professionals can simulate all stages of respiratory management, including diagnosis, treatment, weaning and rehabilitation, as they would in real situations.

Super Tory is wireless and tetherless to ensure continuity of care as she moves from the labor and delivery room to the NICU. She can be utilized in training scenarios anytime, anywhere and remains fully functional in transit due to an internal, rechargeable battery that provides up to eight hours of operation -- an unprecedented technological feat in a simulator that is just eight pounds and 21 inches.

This is the first neonatal simulator to offer heart and lung functionality as well as motion in a mobile platform -- capabilities that allow Super Tory to simulate complex pathologies and respond to interventions with unparalleled realism.

Super Tory includes ten scenarios and an accompanying guidebook that cover both common and rare clinical cases seen throughout the continuum of care of neonates.

Super Tory further expands the Gaumard neonatal high fidelity product line, which already includes Newborn Hal and Newborn Tory, for those who demand an even higher level of fidelity including physical movement and actual mechanical ventilation. These features enable learners to experience advanced-level scenarios as in actual clinical practice.

Watch Super Tory in this dramatic action video.



Victoria

From early pregnancy complications, high-risk deliveries, and postpartum emergencies to non-gravid scenarios for general nursing care, Victoria simulates a full range of obstetrical events to facilitate teamwork and deepen critical thinking skills in learners of all levels.

More than a childbirth simulator, Victoria is a complete simulation solution developed from decades of obstetrical experience -- a comprehensive package of tools and support to help improve patient safety in women's health through education and training.

Skills trainers are also more realistic than ever. New models include:

Super OB SUSIE S500.300, a childbirth torso for labor and delivery management skills training with an anatomically accurate pelvis and full-term neonate to help learners develop clinical skills transferable to scenario-based exercises.

ZOE S504.200, a gynecologic skills training torso featuring uniform, elastic skin, ischial spines and coccyx and realistic cervices and uteri. ZOE provides invaluable experience with speculum and bimanual examinations, minilaparotomy, catheterization and much more.

About AWHONN

The Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses promotes the health of women and newborns and strengthens the nursing profession through the delivery of advocacy, research, education and other professional and clinical resources.

About Gaumard Scientific

Gaumard Scientific Company has designed, manufactured and marketed simulators for health care education for more than 60 years. Users worldwide recognize Gaumard products for their innovation in simulation.

Gaumard customers include the military, emergency medical services, major teaching hospitals and nursing schools.

In 2000, Gaumard launched the revolutionary family of NOELLE maternal and neonatal care simulators that changed the way training is conducted. In 2004, Gaumard pioneered the use of fully tetherless technology with the introduction of the family of HAL simulators. In 2014, the company introduced Victoria, its most advanced, mobile maternal/fetal simulator as part of the NOELLE family.

Gaumard manufactures its products at its world headquarters in Miami. The company sells simulators through its own representatives in North America and through 200 distributors in 70 countries.

For more information, visit www.gaumard.com. Follow Gaumard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/GaumardInFocus ; on Facebook at www.facebook.com/

gaumardsimulators ; and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/

gaumardmedsimulators.



View a video of Gaumard customer testimonials at http://bit.ly/1Oqhwcl. To view a video demonstration of Victoria, see http://bit.ly/1OSPBNd.

Click here to see a schedule of all upcoming events at which Gaumard will demonstrate its patient simulators.

Company Contacts:

Peter Eggert

Senior Vice President,

Vice President International Operations

(800) 882-6655

[email protected]

James Archetto

Vice President Corporate Planning

(800) 882-6655

(305) 484-3309 Mobile

[email protected]

Media Contacts:

Russo Partners

Amiad Finkelthal

(646) 942-5626

(917) 217-1838 Mobile

[email protected]

Scott Stachowiak

(646) 942-5630

(646) 300-3590

[email protected]

SOURCE Gaumard Scientific Company

Related Links

http://www.gaumard.com


"I'm so honored to be an example for all the women out there who dream of starting their own business," said Suzy Batiz, Founder and CEO of Poo~Pourri. "I want to these women know that, if you trust yourself, you can overcome any struggle. And that you can change your life at any moment."

Since 1986, EY has honored entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, spirit of innovation and discipline have driven their companies' success, transformed their industries and made a positive impact on their communities. Now in its 31st year, the program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as:

Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company

of Starbucks Coffee Company Pierre Omidyar of eBay, Inc.

Mindy Grossman of HSN

of HSN Robert Unanue of Goya Foods

of Goya Foods Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn

and of LinkedIn Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks

and of Arista Networks Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani

of Chobani James Park of Fitbit

As a Southwest award winner, Batiz is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 18, 2017.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by EY, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the US by SAP America, Merrill Corporation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

In the Southwest region, sponsors also include Colliers International, Haynes and Boone LLP, RHSB, M&M Special Events, Smith Frank & Partners, D CEO Magazine and SocialStrategy1.

About Poo~Pourri

Since 2007, Poo~Pourri Before-You-Go Toilet Spray has been stopping bathroom odor before it begins so you can leave the bathroom smelling better than you found it. With over 250 million combined video views and over 22 million bottles sold, Poo~Pourri has become a pop culture sensation and start-up success. Poo~Pourri is sold in over 10,000 independent retailers and nationwide retailers including CVS, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ulta, QVC and Amazon.com. Poo~Pourri earned the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval in 2013 and an Edison award in 2014. The company was also ranked on Inc.'s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies. To learn more, visit www.poopourri.com.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year

Entrepreneur Of The Year, founded by EY, is the world's most prestigious business awards program for entrepreneurs, chosen from an independent panel of judges including entrepreneurs and prominent leaders from business, finance, and the local community. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global awards program of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries. Ey.com/eoy

About EY's Growth Markets Network

EY's worldwide Growth Markets Network is dedicated to serving the changing needs of high-growth companies. For more than 30 years, we've helped many of the world's most dynamic and ambitious companies grow into market leaders. Whether working with international mid-cap companies or early stage, venture-backed businesses, our professionals draw upon their extensive experience, insight and global resources to help your business succeed. For more information, please visit us at ey.com/sgm or follow news on Twitter @EY_Growth.

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies all over the world. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In doing so, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member of the global EY organization that provides services to clients in the US.

For more information, please visit ey.com.

Contact:

Rebekah Riley | 972.818.8200

SOURCE Poo~Pourri

Related Links

http://www.poopourri.com


TEL AVIV, Israel, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

TechSee, the pioneer in Intelligent Visual Support powered by AI for corporates' customer support departments, today announced it has successfully completed a USD 7.5 million Series A round of financing. The round is led by Planven Investments with participation of existing investors OurCrowd and strategic investors innogy, Comdata Group and other investors.

"The new investment will help TechSee leverage its strong momentum and market leadership to further accelerate its market penetration, technology development and bring innovative products to our customers and prospects. Our Investors strong network in Telecommunication, Utilities and Financial Services is a force multiplier for TechSee's leadership position in the emerging "Support of Things" category across Telecommunication, Consumer Electronics and Financial Services markets," said Eitan Cohen, Co-Founder and CEO of TechSee.

"As investors in innovative hi-tech companies with proven technologies and looking for active shareholders' support to attack their reference markets, we believe that TechSee fits perfectly with our investment strategy. We are proud to have coalesced such a diverse and value-added shareholders' base for this financing round, and are excited to partner with them to proactively help TechSee's management in the execution of their growth plan," said Fabio Parpajola - Investment Director of Planven and new TechSee board member.

"We backed TechSee in its nascent beginnings, and the company's explosive growth since then is a testament to the massive potential of AI-powered technologies in unexpected verticals," said Yori Nelken, TechSee board member and a Partner at OurCrowd First, TechSee's earliest investor. "We have worked closely with the talented TechSee team as they developed a disruptive cognitive technology stack paired with an agile business model that delivers exponential savings and previously untapped value to their clients."

About TechSee: TechSee is global Leader in Visual Support Technologies for the Smart Home. TechSee revolutionizes the customer support domain by providing the first intelligent visual support solution powered by artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

TechSee's visual support solution today empowers technical support teams across the globe to execute visually interactive remote diagnoses and resolutions of problems; it is building a massive database of every interaction and resolution to enable customers to experience the rapid, wholly automated, robotic visual resolution of technical issues via their smartphones. TechSee is headquartered in Tel Aviv with offices in Boston and Madrid.

About Planven Investments: Planven Investments, based in Lugano - Switzerland, is the family office of Mr. Carlo De Benedetti. It mainly invests in Israeli and EU hi-tech businesses with proven and distinctive technologies, by providing capital, real active support and deep network in the European corporates world to support their business expansion.

About OurCrowd First: OurCrowd First is Israel's premier early-stage venture capital fund, seeding and scaling a portfolio of early-stage ventures that are computing and actuating the connected world by leveraging the exponential technology convergence of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, the Internet of Things, 3D Printing, digitally enabled Precision Agriculture, Autonomous Robotics, Digital Health, Blockchain technology and AR/VR.

About innogy: innogy SE is an established European energy company. With its three business segments Networks & Infrastructure, Sales and Renewable Energies, it addresses the requirements of a modern, de-carbonized, decentralized and digital energy world. The focus of innogy's activities is to offer existing and potential customers innovative and sustainable products and services, allowing them to use energy more efficiently and increasing their quality of life.

About Comdata Group: Comdata Group is the international partner of choice for BPO of Customer Operations in various sectors (Tlc, energy utilities, finance, insurance, manufacturing, advanced retail, e-commerce). Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Italy, Comdata Group serves more than 400 clients in 14 countries, via 60 operating centers globally. Comdata Group is one of the leading European and Latin American players for the outsourcing of voice-based services such as contact centers, and non-voice services such as back office processes, credit and document management.

Contact:

Liad Churchill

[email protected]





SOURCE TechSee
Launching with help from internet pet celeb Manny the Frenchie, the new Dremel 7300-PGK is designed to be easier to use, more efficient and gentler. Its clear attachment was specifically designed to help pet owners avoid cutting nails too short or causing any pain to the pet. The tool features a quiet motor and won't crack, splinter or break a pet's nails. It also captures nail filings, and its simple hinged construction allows for easy cleaning and assembly.

Amber Chavez and Jon Huang, Manny's owners who also own four other dogs, know firsthand there's an immense benefit to grooming pets at home, like saving time and money by eliminating grooming fees and frequent visits.

"Our favorite part about having a Dremel rotary tool is just the convenience," said Huang. "We don't have to drive to the groomers. And the dogs are more comfortable. They're not with a stranger; we're doing it."

In addition to the Dremel 7300-PGK, the Dremel brand designed a Pet Nail Grooming Attachment Kit and a Pet Nail Grooming Accessory Kit to complete its updated pet offering. Both the pet grooming attachment and accessory kits can be used with the Dremel 7300PT, a previous pet tool. The attachment kit, which features the AT01-PGA Nail Guard, is also compatible with all Dremel rotary tools with the exception of the Dremel 4200 and the Dremel Micro 8050.

Dremel 7300-PGK Pet Nail Grooming Kit At a Glance:

Dremel 7300-PGK rotary tool

Dremel rotary tool Rechargeable battery and charger

Rechargeable battery and charger AT01-PGA Nail Guard

AT01-PGA Nail Guard EZ402 Mandrel

EZ402 Mandrel Four SD60-PGA sanding discs

Dremel Pet Nail Grooming Attachment Kit At a Glance:

AT01-PGA Nail Guard

AT01-PGA Nail Guard EZ402 Mandrel

EZ402 Mandrel Four SD60-PGA sanding discs

Dremel Pet Grooming Accessory Kit At a Glance:

Ten SD60-PGA sanding discs

"With the Dremel 7300-PGK, you'll be able to achieve professional results without leaving your home," said Ed Pchola, director of Dremel product marketing. "Your pet's nails will have a smoother finish than when using nail clippers, and the tool's two variable speed settings allow for more control."

Dremel, best known for its rotary tool used by Makers to accomplish numerous tasks and applications, introduced its first pet-specific rotary tool almost 15 years ago. The Dremel brand's partnership with Manny the Frenchie to launch the Dremel 7300-PGK includes videos, photos and social media cross-promotional marketing.

In a brand-conducted survey among veterinarians, professional dog groomers and people who groom pets at home, the top benefits of the Dremel 7300-PGK included:

The reduction of anxiety for the pet and owner.

The reduction of anxiety for the pet and owner. The ability for the owner to accurately, easily and gently trim pet's nails.

The ability for the owner to accurately, easily and gently trim pet's nails. The means for the owner to remove sharp edges from nails.

The Dremel 7300-PGK Pet Nail Grooming Kit, Pet Nail Grooming Attachment Kit and Pet Nail Grooming Accessory Kit are available online and in store at select retail locations (MSRP $39.99 USD, $17.99 and $4.99, respectively). For additional information on the new Dremel 7300-PGK, watch an online video with step-by-step instructions or learn more about Manny's at-home grooming with Dremel. For more information, visit www.Dremel.com.

About Dremel

Since inventing the high-speed rotary tool in 1934, the Dremel brand has been helping Makers with its full line of versatile, easy-to-use tool systems that deliver the perfect solution for almost any job. From our Dremel rotary tools, Multi-Max oscillating tools, Ultra-Saw and Saw-Max multi-saws, and Fortiflex flex shaft tool to the Idea Builder 3D printer, Makers have come to know and trust the brand to complete their projects. Combining compact size, ergonomic design, precision and versatility with a wide range of highly engineered accessories, Dremel tools can be used to accomplish numerous applications in a variety of materials.

Today, as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Robert Bosch Tool Corporation in Mount Prospect, IL, Dremel celebrates 85 years in business and maintains its commitment to innovation and quality. Regardless of what the task may be, the Dremel brand is dedicated to empowering Makers through creativity, precision and project enjoyment.

SOURCE Dremel

Related Links

http://www.Dremel.com


With the full participation of the band members, to commemorate the 10 th anniversary of Our Love to Admire , UMe will release three special expanded-edition reissues of this beloved classic: a two-LP vinyl set , a double LP with bonus DVD , and a CD/DVD set on August 18, 2017. The LP and CD will debut a sparkling new edition of the original album, remastered for this release by Gavin Lurssen with all of its original packaging intact. Additionally, the LP editions will be available in a limited colored vinyl version exclusively through The Sound Of Vinyl, as well as standard black vinyl.

The bonus DVD captures the band's 12-song performance at the London Astoria on July 2, 2007, marking the first time that these performances will be available in the U.S. The DVD includes live versions of several songs from Our Love to Admire , along with such earlier Interpol favorites as "Narc," "Obstacle 1," "Public Pervert," "Evil" and "NYC."

Interpol formed in the late 1990s and quickly established a dense, intoxicating sound featuring layers of guitar, bass and synthesizers. The band came up through the vibrant New York scene, alongside such notable contemporaries as the Strokes and the National, but gained crucial early attention in Britain, where they recorded a prestigious live session for legendary BBC DJ John Peel.

Our Love to Admire marked a critical and commercial breakthrough for the band. Recorded at New York's Electric Lady and the Magic Shop studios with producer Rich Costey (Muse, Death Cab for Cutie), the album boasts an expansive, cinematic sound that drove home such notable songs as "The Heinrich Maneuver," "Pioneer to the Falls," "No I In Threesome," "Mammoth" and "Rest My Chemistry."

Upon its release, Our Love to Admire debuted in the Top Five in both the U.S. and the U.K. Uncut described the album as "a majestic, grandiose, machine-tooled album, subtly orchestrated with gothic pianos and doomy organs." Billboard noted that the band "retains its flair for dramatic images and ominous guitar lines... with producer/mixer Rich Costey onboard, these signatures uncoil into more complex soundscapes."

In the years since its original release, Our Love to Admire has remained a cornerstone of Interpol's body of work, and continues to stand as one of the key albums of the musical era in which it was created. Now, with these distinctive 10th anniversary editions, this modern classic shines more brightly than ever.

TRACK LISTING (2LP & CD) DVD 01. Pioneer To The Falls 01. Pioneer To The Falls* 02. No I In Threesome 02. Narc 03. The Scale 03. Mammoth 04. The Heinrich Maneuver 04. Rest My Chemistry* 05. Mammoth 05. Obstacle 1* 06. Pace Is The Trick 06. Public Pervert* 07. All Fired Up 07. Hands Away* 08. Rest My Chemistry 08. The Heinrich Maneuver 09. Who Do You Think 09. Evil 10.Wrecking Ball 10. Not Even Jail* 11.The Lighthouse 11. NYC*

12. Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down*

* previously unreleased

This year Interpol will also celebrate the 15th Anniversary of their debut album Turn On The Bright Lights by playing the record in its entirety.

Turn On The Bright Lights Tour Dates:

August 9 - Prague, CZ - Lucerna Music Bar

August 10 - Vienna, AT - Arena

August 12 - Buftea, RO - Summer Well Festival

August 13 - Belgrade, RS - Belgrade Fortress

August 15 - Budapest, HU - Sziget Festival

August 16 - Munich, DE - Muffathalle

August 19 - Luxembourg, LU - Den Atelier

August 20 - St. Malo, FR - La Route Du Rock

August 22 - Asolo, IT - AMA Music Festival

August 23 - Milan, IT - Carroponte

August 25 - Zurich, CH - Zurich Open Air Festival

August 27 - Copenhagen, DK - The Koncerthuset

August 29 - Tilburg, NL - 013

August 30 - Groningen, NL - Oosterpoort

September 1 - London, UK - Alexandra Palace

September 3 - Manchester, UK - Albert Hall

September 5 - Paris, FR - Le Trianon

September 9 - Madrid, ES - DCode Festival

September 23 - Queens, NY - Forest Hills Stadium *

September 30 - Los Angeles, CA - LA State Historic Park *

October 17 & 18 - Mexico City, MX - Pepsi Center WTC

* denotes w/ Deerhunter and Battles

CD/DVD - https://UMe.lnk.to/InterpolLoveCDDVD

LP - https://UMe.lnk.to/InterpolLoveLP

LP/DVD - https://UMe.lnk.to/InterpolLoveLPDVD

Limited Edition Colored-Vinyl - https://thesoundofvinyl.us/interpol-our-love-to-admire-exclusive-color.html

interpolnyc.com

facebook.com/interpol / twitter.com/Interpol

instagram.com/interpol

SOURCE UMe
BOSTON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorneys Suzanne E. Durrell and Robert M. Thomas, Jr. of the Whistleblower Law Collaborative are pleased to announce that the United States has settled a federal False Claims Act case brought by their whistleblower client, Eben Steele, against Medi-Lynx Cardiac Monitoring, LLC, AMI Monitoring, Inc., Spectocor, LLC, and others.

Medi-Lynx, AMI, and Spectocor operate as Independent Diagnostic Testing Facilities providing remote cardiac monitoring services to health care providers such as physicians and hospitals who use the Defendants' PocketECG monitoring device. Under the terms of the settlement, the companies and Joseph H. Bogdan, owner of AMI and Spectocor, have agreed to pay more than $13.4 million to resolve allegations that they defrauded Medicare through a scheme to cause unwitting physicians to order cardiac monitoring services at the greatest level of reimbursement regardless of medical necessity or reasonableness. Defendants designed and used an online enrollment portal to steer physician customers who used the Defendants' PocketECG device to select the most expensive monitoring service, telemetry, for their Medicare patients even though the physicians intended to select less expensive monitoring services, such as Holter or event monitoring. Through this scheme, Defendants submitted, and caused the submission of, false claims to Medicare for unnecessary and unreasonable telemetry services.

Eben Steele, a former employee of AMI/Spectocor, brought Defendants' fraud to light by filing a complaint under the False Claims Act in March 2014 in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. Under the False Claims Act, a private citizen (known as a "relator") who suspects or knows of fraud against the government can act as a whistleblower and file a sealed complaint on behalf of the government. If the case is successful, the relator is entitled to a share of the government's recovery. For his efforts, Mr. Steele will receive some $2.43 million from the government.

Mr. Steele, who had been in the industry for many years, explained: "I was offended by this underhanded scheme. Not only was it overriding the doctor's judgment about what the patient needed, but it was lining the Defendants' pockets at the expense of the taxpayer. I am very grateful to Bob Thomas and Suzanne Durrell for helping me right this wrong and guide me through the process. I also want to thank Assistant U.S. Attorney Bernard Cooney who grasped the scheme quickly, and worked with us to aggressively pursue the case. I greatly appreciate everyone's hard work."

Ms. Durrell commended Mr. Steele for coming forward. "He was rightfully disturbed by the electronic sleight of hand the Defendants were using to trick doctors into ordering unnecessary and expensive monitoring. Whistleblowers like him are vitally important in the fight against health care fraud."

Mr. Thomas added, "Mr. Steele was a pleasure to work with and we cannot overstate the outstanding work of the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office, particularly Assistant U.S. Attorney Bernard Cooney, who tenaciously led the prosecution, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Caffrey. We are also grateful for the strong support provided by investigators in the U.S. Attorney's Health Care & Government Fraud Unit and at the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services."

Ms. Durrell and Mr. Thomas were aided by excellent local counsel, Neil S. Cartusciello and James A. Kozachek of Cartusciello & Kozachek, LLC in Bordentown, New Jersey.

A copy of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey's press release is https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/cardiac-monitoring-companies-and-executive-agree-pay-134-million-resolve-false-claims-act.

The Whistleblower Law Collaborative is recognized nationwide for its successful representation of whistleblowers, and handles cases involving the federal and state false claims acts, as well as the SEC and IRS whistleblower programs. Successes for its clients include health care fraud cases against Amgen, International Nephrology Network, Elan, Eisai, Forest Labs, Pfizer, Serono, Amedisys, and WellCare Health Plans.

For more information, contact:



Bob Thomas 617.371.0934

[email protected]

or

Suzanne Durrell 617.333.9681

[email protected]

Follow us on Twitter @ThomasDurrell and Facebook.com/Whistleblower Law Collaborative

www.WhistleblowerLawCollaborative.com





SOURCE Whistleblower Law Collaborative

Related Links

http://www.WhistleblowerLawCollaborative.com


TEL AVIV, Israel, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Upstream Security, a cloud-based cyber-security platform for connected and autonomous vehicles, recently completed their seed round, securing $2M in an investment led by Glilot Capital Partners, a venture capital fund specializing in Enterprise Software that was recently ranked as the 3rd best performing fund in the world (according to Preqin), with investment by Maniv Mobility.

Upstream Security leverages advanced cloud technologies, big data, and machine learning to provide OEMs and large fleets with unprecedented, comprehensive, and non-intrusive defense. Utilizing their cloud-based layer-7 security gateway and strong analytics engine, threats are detected and prevented before they reach the vehicle's network.

Upstream Security was founded by security veterans Yoav Levy and Yonatan Appel in 2017. Mr. Levy, CEO, has 18 years' experience working for leading companies, including Check Point, Juniper Networks, and Broadcom. He served in a special unit in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Mr. Appel, CTO, specializes in application security and network security, with 18 years' experience, including in Check Point, Imperva, and Microsoft. He served in a technological unit in the IDF's Intelligence Corps.

"We cracked the code of vehicle security, being the first to offer a cloud-based platform that detects and prevents large-scale attacks on connected and autonomous cars," explained Yoav Levy, Co-Founder and CEO of Upstream Security. "Our ability to prevent attacks before they reach the vehicles' network is a unique and superior solution. We are gaining good traction with OEMs and fleet management companies."

"Protecting cars from cyber-attacks is a huge challenge, which the automotive industry will have to solve in the coming years," said Arik Kleinstein, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Glilot Capital. "We believe that Upstream's cloud-based, big data, machine learning technology, is perfectly suited to solve today's connected cars hazards, as well as the risks associated with tomorrow's autonomous vehicles."

"As we see vehicles become more advanced, more connected and ultimately more automated, they also become more vulnerable. Upstream Security brings the right team at the right time to give assurance to connected car owners and fleet operators that they are secure," said Mike Granoff, founding partner of Maniv Mobility. "Their unique solution goes beyond in-vehicle security to cover the broad scope of communications between cars and fleets."

Upstream is part of Capsula.Studio smart mobility group.

About Upstream Security

Upstream Security is the first cloud-based cyber-security solution that protects the technologies and applications of connected and autonomous vehicles. Founded by cyber-security veterans, Upstream Security leverages big data and machine learning to provide OEMs and vehicle fleets with unprecedented, comprehensive, and non-intrusive defense. With Layer 7 security, real-time data protection and anomaly detection, attacks are identified and blocked before they reach and harm the vehicle's network. Upstream Security is headquartered in Herzliya. To learn more, visit:

http://www.upstreamsecurity.com

About Glilot Capital Partners

Glilot Capital Partners is a seed and early stage venture fund that invests in Israel's most extraordinary entrepreneurs. They back teams that develop sophisticated technology, particularly in the areas of enterprise software. The fund creates an environment that makes it possible to generate real, lasting value for both sides of the investment equation. Among the companies Glilot has invested in thus far, five of the first six have been acquired by Microsoft, CA Technologies, Palo Alto Networks, Marketo and Intuit. Glilot Capital Partners was founded in 2011 by Kobi Samboursky and Arik Kleinstein, former entrepreneurs and veterans of the IDF's most elite intelligence unit, and currently manages $125M across its funds.

About Maniv Mobility

Maniv Mobility, Israel's first venture capital fund dedicated exclusively to the new mobility future, has deep connections throughout the global automotive industry, as well as the policy and technology communities. Investing primarily in early-stage Israeli startups, we are mobility specialists - including connectivity, data, autonomous vehicle technologies such as sensors and software, as well as mobility-as-a-service business models. With wide portfolio of sector-leading startups, we actively use our experience, networks and resources to help our founders turn their ideas into great companies.

Press Contacts:

Upstream Security

Yoav Levy, Co-Founder & CEO, +972-54-6673769

[email protected]

Or

Glilot Capital Partners

Hagar Sagi, Director of Marketing, +972-546-833983

[email protected]



SOURCE Upstream Security and Glilot Capital Partners
CLEVELAND, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- US demand for fertilizers is forecast to total 28.1 million metric tons in 2021, according to Fertilizers: United States, a report recently released by Freedonia Focus Reports. Demand for nitrogen fertilizer  the largest type segment  is forecast to drop due to falling acreage of corn.

Further losses will be prevented by the requirement for annual application of nitrogen fertilizer, along with strong demand for organic food items, which will preclude decreases in demand for organic fertilizer.

These and other key insights are featured in Fertilizers: United States. This report forecasts US fertilizer demand in metric tons of nutrients to 2021. Total demand is segmented by fertilizer type in terms of:

nitrogen

phosphate

potash

organic

other fertilizers such as secondary nutrients and other micronutrients

Total demand is also segmented by application as follows:

corn

wheat

soybean

cotton

other agriculture, such as fruits and vegetables

non-agriculture, such as landscaping

To illustrate historical trends, total demand and the various segments are provided in annual series from 2006 to 2016.

More information about the report is available at

https://www.freedoniafocusreports.com/pub/10912471.html

About Freedonia Focus Reports

Each month, The Freedonia Group  a division of MarketResearch.com  publishes over 20 new or updated Freedonia Focus Reports, providing fresh, unbiased analysis on a wide variety of markets and industries. Published in 20-30 pages, Focus Report coverage ranges from raw materials to finished manufactured goods and related services such as freight and construction. Additional Materials & Chemicals reports can be purchased at www.freedoniafocusreports.com or marketresearch.com.

Analysis is intended to guide the busy reader through pertinent topics in rapid succession, including:

total historical market size and industry output

segmentation by products and markets

identification of market drivers, constraints, and key indicators

segment-by-segment outlook in five-year forecasts

a survey of the supply base

suggested resources for further study

Press Contact:

Corinne Gangloff

+1 440.684.9600

[email protected]

SOURCE The Freedonia Group

Related Links

http://www.freedoniagroup.com


ALLENTOWN, Pa., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Creditsafe USA today released the findings of an in-depth analysis of the US manufacturing industry. Despite recent overall consistent performance, the study highlights several areas of concern across the entire sector in particular the rate of bankruptcy signaling the possibility of an industry slowdown. With the manufacturing industry being the largest area of employment in the US, any decline could have a catastrophic effect on the overall US economy.

"The Creditsafe Guide: US ManufacturingGlobalization, Automation and Robotization," looks at the overall credit risk for US companies within the manufacturing sector. According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the manufacturing sector is the largest in the United States with approximately 600,000 actively traded companies. Representing 16.35% of all companies in the country, it is the biggest sector for both the number of people employed and annual sales revenue. In 2016, U.S. manufacturers contributed $2.18 trillion to the U.S. economy, representing 11.7% of the overall GDP.

"Although the manufacturing industry currently appears to be healthy, there may be signs that this strength may be short lived," explained Matthew Debbage, CEO of Creditsafe USA and Asia. "The biggest indicator lies in the number of bankruptcies, with an overall bankruptcy rate of 0.34%. While this has improved in recent years, it is still higher than the overall national average. In addition, this industry faces increasing pressures with competition from lower cost off shore importers, increasing cost of raw materials. Recent bankruptcy filings by companies such as Kansas City-based CST Industries Inc. and Georgia-based manufacturer of solar cells - Suniva, underscore the potential future for this sector."

Highlights of the report include:

**U.S. manufacturing industry is the single largest contributor to the country's GDP accounting for 11.7% in 2016 which totaled $2.18 trillion.

**Small companiesthose with less than 100 employeescomprise 94.48% of the sector as compared to 94.82% of all U.S. businesses

**Majority of US manufacturing businesses have been in existence longer than those in other industries with more than 23.88% operating for two to five years as compared to only 2.32% nationally

**From 2012-2015, there was a 35% decrease in the number of bankruptcies within the manufacturing sector but the overall bankruptcy rate significantly higher than that of all other US businesses.

**The manufacturing industry ranks third in the highest number of bankruptcies per 100,000 companies with 362, following behind Construction with 459 and Other Services at 412

"Having nearly double the number of subcategories of its nearest rivals - wholesale and retail - the manufacturing industry is the most diverse of all the industry categories, ranging from pet food to electronic good manufacturers. This sector includes some of the largest companies in the world such as US Steel Corporation, General Motors and The Ford Motor Company, as well as many thousands of smaller ones. The sheer size and nature of this industry makes it extremely vulnerable to many external market forces. It is a sector that needs to be closely monitored, as it poses a significant risk to the health of overall US economy if there is continued decline," said Debbage.

Creditsafe's global database is one of the most rapidly expanding and most comprehensive in the industry. It is updated over a million times a day with information gathered from over 200 sources. In 99.9% of the cases, reports requested by customers are delivered instantly online. And, over 40% of Creditsafe's customers, leverage the company's internationally reporting capabilities.

Creditsafe offers customers unlimited and open access to information and ratings on companies in every industry in almost every country. Each day, over 200,000 users around the world leverage the company's database to make over 450,000 business decisions. Currently, Creditsafe has 14 offices around the world and maintains the only truly global international database of online credit information. Globally, the company reported a 28 percent growth in revenue over the past twelve months.

About The Creditsafe Group

The Creditsafe Group is the world's most used supplier of company business intelligence, with ten Creditsafe Group reports downloaded every second. Privately owned and independently minded, Creditsafe is looking to change the way business information is used by providing high-quality data in an easy to use format that every-one in an organization can benefit from.

Founded in Norway in 1997, Creditsafe has offices in countries all over the world including: the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States. Globally, Creditsafe employs over 1,200 people and has more than 90,000 subscription customers. Three years ago, the Creditsafe Group opened offices in the U.S. under the name Creditsafe, Inc. Its U.S. operations are headquartered in Allentown, Pa. with another facility in Phoenix, AZ. For more information, please visit www.creditsafe.com.

To download a copy of this study, please visit: www.creditsafe.com

For more media inquiries or additional information, please contact: [email protected]

In this analysis, Creditsafe used the following criteria:

**1For the analysis, the US manufacturing industry is defined to include all companies with 2-digit North America Industry Classification System (NAICS) of 31,32 & 33

**An actively trading company or organization is one engaged in any business activity (business activity means carrying on a trade or profession, or buying and selling goods or services with a view to making a profit or surplus)

**A company is defined as a single physical location at which business is conducted. A business may consist of more than one physical location.

SOURCE Creditsafe

Related Links

http://www.creditsafe.com


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Valpak, a leader in local print and digital coupons, announced today that Aaron Beatty has acquired Valpak of Tri County PA, a territory that has been serving local businesses and residents since 2013. Beatty plans to mail his first Valpak Blue Envelope in August to approximately 30,000 households in Clearfield, Jefferson and Elk counties, which includes the areas of DuBois, Clearfield, Brookville, Punxsutawney, St. Mary's and Ridgway.

Having previously served as the director of marketing for Beatty Restaurant Enterprises Inc. and LiJo Inc., franchise groups of McDonald's in the DuBois area, Beatty will bring over 17 years of strategic media and marketing experience. In fact, during his time in this role, Beatty was one the first customers to mail with Valpak of Tri County PA when it opened in 2013, and quickly became friends with its previous owners, Ted and Yvonne Rosselli. Currently, Beatty serves as president and owner of Galaxias Properties LLC, a property management company within the Tri-County Area.

"Having previously been a customer of Valpak of Tri County for the last four years, along with my marketing background, I naturally gravitated toward the Valpak business model," said Beatty. "Now as a Valpak franchise owner, I look forward to working side-by-side with other businesses throughout the Tri County area to leverage the brand's full suite of effective media and advertising services."

A leader in cooperative direct mail, Valpak mails coupons to nearly 37 million demographically targeted households per month in 47 states and three Canadian provinces. In addition to its flagship Blue Envelope, Valpak offers its business customers an impressive portfolio of digital advertising products including valpak.com, Smartphone apps, Google partnerships, website development, mobile web optimization, and reputation management.

"Aaron brings with him a unique perspective as both a former Valpak customer, and now business owner, making him the perfect candidate to assume ownership of the Tri County territory," said Shak Turner, director of franchise sales for Valpak. "From a franchising standpoint, Aaron has come full circle and we're excited for him to apply his many years in the marketing industry to his new business venture."

With more than 25 million Americans using couponing apps each month, Valpak's digital offerings have been a big draw for new franchisees. Digital coupon use is on the rise, and ample gains are projected in 2017. In the past year, Valpak's print offerings have also expanded with on-envelope advertising and circulars.

Ideal candidates for Valpak franchise ownership should possess a desire to join a trusted, industry-leading brand, work within a proven franchise system, develop relationships with local businesses and have a comfort level with selling new, digital technologies. Franchisees should also have a minimum liquidity of $75,000, and a minimum net worth of $150,000.

For more information on Valpak franchise opportunities, please contact Shak Turner at [email protected] or 727-399-3091 or visit www.valpakfranchising.com.

About Valpak

Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, Valpak is one of the leading direct marketing companies in the U.S. and Canada. We provide print and digital advertising through a network of 150 local franchises. From mailbox to mobile phone, Valpak brings exciting local business offers and opportunities to millions of consumers. Each month, our well-known Blue Envelope of savings is mailed to nearly 37 million demographically targeted households in 47 states and in three Canadian provinces. Our digital suite of products, including valpak.com, reaches more than 110 million users.

CONTACT: Dave Williams

Valpak

727-319-5443

[email protected]

Alexya Williams

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Valpak
MIAMI, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, VaporFi announced the reintroduction of the Air device, by releasing the Air 2 Mini Vaporizer. The original VaporFi Air dates back to the company's launch and has always been a popular vaporizer that delivers powerful performance in an ultra-compact size.

"Brand loyalists have always considered the Air a great device, so bringing it back by popular demand has been well-received by both our brick-and-mortar and eCommerce stores," said Nick Molina, VaporFi's CEO.

A latest version of the Air model, the Air 2 has been improved upon since the original model that dates back to VaporFi's beginnings. Boasting a larger 1.4ml tank, 1.1ohm atomizer resistance, top airflow design, over discharge protection and a top fill design, the VaporFi Air 2 offers a high quality, all in one vaping experience to both experienced and new vapers looking for a versatile yet powerful performance.

"The Air 2 is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades," added Nick Molina. "It it's designed for dual use, meaning vapers can experience both e-liquids and oils with proper coil add on. With that and the slim, but powerful design, it's no surprise vapers love it, and we're happy to offer it again, but only better using today's latest and greatest vape tech," he continued.

The Air 2 is receiving favorable reviews and a warm reception:

"This stylish and discreet platform allows vapers of all experience levels to embark on a low-key vaping experience that retains both a healthy list of features and a hefty performance," said Vaporizer Views, "The Air 2 Mini Vaporizer by VaporFi will become the ideal solution for a successful transition or for those that are more experienced who are just looking for an ultra compact on-the-go device."

"Featuring a small footprint, a minimal design and based on an all-in-one platform, the all new VaporFi Air 2 Mini Vaporizer has plenty to offer, including a reasonable performance offering. It's truly one of the best on-the-go devices available on the market," said Blake Brown of Guide to Vaping.

"Tip of the cap to VaporFi for filling a gap in the vaping market. The Air 2 adds a lot of convenience to your lineup, especially if you vape oils in addition to e-liquid. A nice super compact vape pen is hard to come by," said Brad in his review on Vape Pen Starter Kit.

The new Air 2 Mini Vaporizer comes in a complete starter kit including: 2 VaporFi Air 2 1.1ohm Stainless Steel Coils, 1 USB Charging Cable, and a VaporFi Air 2 Mouthpiece. A full description and product details can be found online. Those interested in VaporFi's newest products and innovations can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To find a VaporFi store nearest you, find a location here.

About VaporFi

VaporFi is an electronic cigarette/vapor products manufacturer that couples its strong presence in the online e-commerce vapor market with U.S. and international retail locations. Having launched to immediate success and experienced rapid expansion through franchising, VaporFi remains the most exciting brand of electronic cigarette, e-liquid and vapor products around. For more information on the brand, products and locations, visit www.VaporFi.com.

VaporFi is part of the International Vapor Group, who owns other popular brands such as Direct Vapor, Motley Brew and South Beach Smoke.

Media Contact for VaporFi:

Michael Bilello

813-732-0180

[email protected]

SOURCE VaporFi
LOS ANGELES, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - The world's top 3-axis, 2-in-1 handheld gimbal stabilizer for GoPro Hero 3/4/5, the VILTA by Freevision (http://www.freevisiontech.com), is excited to announce its availability online at Target.com!

https://www.target.com/p/freevision-vilta-g-3-axis-2-in-1-handheld-gimbal-stabilizer-for-gopro-black/-/A-52638428

In a statement to the media discussing the VILTA's launch onto Target's online store, Freevision's North American Marketing Executive Matt Huang said, "We are so excited to have Target on-board and their validation of the VILTA. We look forward to continuing our mutual growth in the coming season."

Since its release into the American marketplace since the 2017 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the VILTA by Freevision has been one of the most talked about gimbals, offering consumers features not found with any other device:

ULTRA-HIGH STABILITY - VILTA adopts the most advanced efficient motor control algorithm and servo control algorithms in the industry. It has extremely fast response speed and high control precision, which achieves an image stability exponentially higher than competitive products.





TWO IN ONE - Through the quick-release structure, the handheld gimbal can easily be transformed into a wear-type head. The bottom of the dome is equipped with a quick folding connection port, suitable for GoPro original accessories (mounts).





AUTO CALIBRATION - Without complicated calibration procedures, VILTA applies its own patented adaptive sensor algorithm and intelligent calibration system.





INTELLIGENT BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (BMS) - The gimbal base battery and handle battery are independent intelligent battery management systems. The Smart Battery System (SBS), can accurately manage the battery power and extend the battery life. This highly efficient dual battery system provides a long battery life of up to 6-8 hours; Purchase of an additional power adapter can extend the GoPro camera while in operation





QUICK OPERATION MODE - Selfie, Follow, Semi Follow, Center Alignment and more, plus manual shooting settings by hand via 4-way joystick

You can now film and record all types of ultra stable high-quality videos while hiking, biking, skateboarding, watching sports, at concerts, or just leisurely traveling around your favorite city.

Further information: Zack Teperman - ZTPR - [email protected]

SOURCE ZTPR
MISSION, Kan., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- VinSolutions, a Cox Automotive brand that provides software solutions spanning the scope of dealership operations, will host its annual VinWorx User Summit on July 11-12 at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

The free user summit will provide attendees training on improving CRM utilization. Speakers, break-outs and software training sessions will focus on a variety of topics relevant to auto dealers around the country. Dealers will learn to use data to improve customer retention and create a results-driven atmosphere. Additionally, the summit will address what dealerships can expect from the advent of more elements of the car selling process taking place digitally and how to prepare to succeed in that environment.

"Automotive and marketing trends are changing on an ongoing basis, coupled with a shifting sales forecast in automotive. For dealerships to stay ahead of their competition, they need to know how to create a personalized customer experience and how to maximize marketing, lead-generation, and ongoing customer engagement. VinWorx is the perfect setting for dealers to gain some new insights, skills, and approaches to making their dealerships more profitable," said Mark Vickery, senior director of Performance Management, VinSolutions.

VinWorx attendees will learn how to make the most of VinSolutions' tools, and speaking and breakout sessions will focus on three themes related to VinSolutions' Connect CRM  Connect, Ignite and Succeed. Keynote speakers at VinWorx include: Cox Automotive chief operating officer Mark O'Neil, Tim Mueller, Automotive Industry Strategist from Google, PCG Communications founder Brian Pasch, and Mike Burgiss, Vice President of Digital Retailing from Cox Automotive.

Attendees will walk away from the largest VinWorx ever knowing how to use the CRM to create and build customer connections that will lead to a more profitable and successful dealership. Attendees will also leave the summit with a network of peer connections to share knowledge and ideas with, as well as training that will help them become best-in-class dealers.

"We are always asked by our customers what can be done to make them better dealers," continued Vickery. "At VinWorx, you can have that conversation with VinSolutions experts and your peers from across the country."

For more information or to register for VinWorx, please click here.

About VinSolutions

VinSolutions helps make every customer connection count by providing individual dealers and dealer groups with sophisticated yet easy-to-use software solutions that span the scope of dealership operations. With its cloud-based system, VinSolutions' all-in-one internal management, sales and service marketing solutions platform is accessible from anywhere an Internet connection is available, including mobile devices. VinSolutions has been named to the Inc. 5000 every year since 2011 and has received numerous industry awards for its innovative products. VinSolutions is OEM certified by every major manufacturer and is Autosoft, CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds and Dealertrack DMS certified. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Mission, Kansas, VinSolutions is a Cox Automotive brand. Visit VinSolutions online at vinsolutions.com

SOURCE VinSolutions

Related Links

http://vinsolutions.com


BETHESDA, Md., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE: WD) (the "Company") announced that it has hired Heather McClure as a vice president in its Capital Markets group. Based out of Walker & Dunlop's Dallas office, Ms. McClure will assist the Company in continuing to grow its Capital Markets platform in the Texas region. She will be responsible for arranging debt for all types of commercial real estate properties across the United States using a wide range of capital sources.

Bill Wein, senior vice president and chief production officer, commented, "It's very exciting for Walker & Dunlop to continue growing its Capital Markets team with the addition of Heather, a talented industry veteran. Heather's experience and her extensive lender relationships will be an asset to our platform in the Dallas area, where there is still significant opportunity for us to increase our market share and client base. We look forward to welcoming Heather to the Walker & Dunlop team."

Ms. McClure has 17 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, she was senior vice president on the Capital Markets team at Behringer, where she sourced and structured approximately $1.9 billion in financings for multifamily, hotel, office, mixed use, and data center properties. She previously served as director at Prudential Mortgage Capital Company.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the largest commercial real estate services and finance companies in the United States providing financing and investment sales to owners of multifamily and commercial properties. Walker & Dunlop, which is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, has over 550 professionals in 28 offices across the nation with an unyielding commitment to client satisfaction.

SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.walkerdunlop.com


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Last Studio Standing, (www.laststudiostanding.com) the largest hand drawn studio in the Americas, kicked off its move into the English language market by acquiring William Gibson's sci-fi masterpiece Hinterlands. Gibson is best known as the father of the cyberpunk movement and coined the term "cyberspace". The first installment of his work will be brought to the screen in 2018.

Personal Shuttle Hinterlands the Television Series

"It is such a great story," says Jonathan Kitzen, CEO of Last Studio Standing. "We know we can do more with it because animation is an all-powerful tool that can create anything." One of the reasons Last Studio Standing has moved to developing science fiction is the ability to produce content at the fraction of the cost of live action. "We plan on making something that looks like Gravity mixed with Blade Runner, and this story offers us a huge pallet of possibilities, for about $100 million less than a traditional live action film," says Kitzen.

In Hinterlands, a Russian space mission vanishes in mid-flight to Mars and reappears two years later. When a rescue mission reaches the ship, they find the cosmonaut dead but a seashell grasped in her hand. What follows is the discovery of a passage to another place, where the technology isn't necessarily more advanced but just very different from our Universe. All future missions fail to bring back any digital data, only handwritten notes survive, and the crews come back dead or insane. This sets the stage for an intense mystery of what lies on the other side. The production focuses on the massive economic and social upheaval that follows and how it informs and changes the lives of the characters in the story.

"The mystery of the unknown is the most powerful story telling tool there is, and when you have the opportunity to combine it with science-fiction, to be able to show the audience the way things might be in the future, there is this real magic there," explains Hernan Zajec. "Jonathan wants us to use a lot of physics modeling for the movement, so it has this realism to it, which is what science-fiction is, and this is a really fun challenge!"

The show goes to great lengths to ensure scientifically accurate and feasible concepts and stories. "We want this to appeal to the hard core sci-fi lovers and we will not treat the audience as idiots," says Kitzen. This means far more world building and a more extensive rulebook for the writers to follow to create a sense of consistency.

The studio plans to make a pilot and release it as a theatrical film, and will continue with a 100 x 30 episode television series. There is a five-year plan for the series, which includes the possibility of an additional spin-off series. The team says the show will take animation to a place where no film has ever gone before.

About Last Studio Standing

Last Studio Standing is a merger between ConVRter Technologies, a Canadian based corporation and the recipient of National Research Council funding for experimental vision systems and Conexion Creativa, an award winning Colombian animation studio with the largest library of any Latin American company. It is currently the largest hand drawn animation studio in the Western Hemisphere.

For interviews and press inquires, please contact:

Sandra Herve

[email protected]

416.732.0363

SOURCE Last Studio Standing

Related Links

http://www.laststudiostanding.com


NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In the US, XL Catlin has entered into an exclusive underwriting agreement with The McGowan Companies to provide workplace violence insurance to US businesses.

Nearly two million American workers are victims of workplace violence each year, according to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). OSHA puts workplace violence as the second leading cause of worksite deaths in the US.

"Continued workplace violence incidents have prompted many businesses to ask  what if it happens to us? And if it does, will we be prepared to handle it?" said Denise Balan, Senior Vice President and head of US Kidnap & Ransom insurance business. "Workplace violence can result in employee injury, business interruption and reputational damage. Our Act of Workplace Violence and Stalking Threat Insurance combines comprehensive expense reimbursement with access to crisis management consultants, all aimed at assisting businesses with minimizing the threat of workplace violence and, in the event that it occurs, helping them recover."

According to Paul Marshall, Managing Director of the McGowan Companies, "From higher education to hospitality, from manufacturing to healthcare facilities -- businesses of all sizes, across industries, can find themselves at the center of a workplace violence incident. By teaming up with XL Catlin, we are able to offer our clients access to the most comprehensive workplace violence insurance on the market."

The McGowan Companies will offer XL Catlin's Workplace Violence and Stalking Threat insurance on surplus lines or admitted basis with liability limits up to USD 5 million. The policy covers expenses related to a workplace violence incident including public relations counsel, psychiatric, medical or dental care, employee counseling, temporary security measures, and rehabilitation expenses, personal accident, legal liability and business interruption expenses.

About the McGowan Companies

The McGowan Companies are an industry leader for specialized insurance programs. Through McGowan Program Administrators (MPA), the company designs, administers and markets highly-specialized programs of insurance. To learn more, contact Paul Marshall at 937.949.5816 x5951, [email protected], visit mcgowanprograms.com.

About XL Catlin's Insurance Operations

XL Catlin insurance companies offer property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance products globally. Businesses that are moving the world forward choose XL Catlin as their partner. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com.

About XL Catlin

XL Catlin is the global brand used by XL Group Ltd's (NYSE: XL) insurance and reinsurance companies which provide property, casualty, professional and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com.

SOURCE XL Catlin

Related Links

http://xlcatlin.com


NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zandre Campos, CEO of ABO Capital, a leading international investment firm headquartered in Angola, announced today that fifteen students from Complexo Escolar Privado Internacional (CEPI), traveled to Oswego, N.Y. to attend the GENIUS International High School Project Olympiad at the State University of New York at Oswego. GENIUS Olympiad took place from June 12 through June 17 and provided secondary school students with opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge needed to be citizens, leaders, scientists, artists, writers, engineers, and policy makers of the future who will promote and contribute to greater environmental sustainability.

"This was an amazing opportunity and learning experience for the students," said Mr. Campos. "I was happy to support the students on this trip because it is crucial to empower young people and provide them with outstanding educational opportunities. An educated workforce will help Africa to develop new industries and strengthen its economy."

Fifteen CEPI students from 6th through 12th grade traveled to the GENIUS Olympiad. The students attended several educational on-campus events and visited local attractions and universities. The students competed with 12 projects and received several accolades including two bronze medals and two honorable mentions in science; two honorable mentions in robotics; one silver medal, one bronze medal and four honorable mentions in literature; and one bronze medal and one honorable mention in art.

A sample of the projects presented include:

Antioxidant, Detoxifying, and Cleansing Properties of Cochlospermum Angolensis (Borututu Bark)

Two students examined the extract from Borututu bark and found that it works well as an antibacterial. In their research, the extract worked better than bleach and eliminated most of the bacteria from a petri dish. They concluded that the Borututu bark has antibacterial properties that can replace chemicals in soaps, antibacterial gels and other products to kill bacteria in a more natural way.

Kiabo: Immunity Booster and Intestinal Tract Lubricant

Two students hypothesized that Kiabo, or okra, has properties that would benefit the immune system of HIV positive patients. The students found that along with the use of an antiretroviral, Kiabo allows HIV patients to maintain a good lifestyle. Kiabo is an immunity booster, helps prevent anemia and can act as a respiratory soother. The students are going to continue the research with Hospital Esperanca, Luanda .

HOPE -BOT

Students developed a robot, named Hope-Bot, to show that robots can be used to benefit the environment. Using simple plastic Lego pieces, some small motors and sensors, a robot was built to identify trash. The Hope-Bot was able to identify different colored cubes and put them into different colored containers to represent recycling.

ABO Capital recently announced the purchase of CEPI, an award-winning school that provides education excellence for pre-school through high school students. Education is a key focus of Mr. Campos and ABO Capital plans to open up three additional schools in the near future.

"After speaking to several of the students who attended the GENIUS Olympiad I am excited to follow their educational careers because I believe they all have very bright futures and will make a difference in Africa," added Mr. Campos.

About ABO Capital

ABO Capital, formerly Angola Capital Investments, is an international investment firm that invests in companies in the healthcare, technology, energy, transportation, hospitality and real estate sectors throughout Africa. The mission of ABO Capital is to create global value for developing countries in Africa, while contributing to their economic development.

About Zandre Campos

Zandre Campos is one of the great, innovative business leaders and global entrepreneurs emerging out of Africa. Currently, he is chairman and CEO of ABO Capital, an international investment firm headquartered in Angola with holdings throughout the Globe. Mr. Campos was named one of the Top 25 African business influencers and was a recipient of the Distinguished Business Excellence Award by African Leadership Magazine. He is frequently quoted as an expert on Africa in the media and is a recurring contributor for The Huffington Post and US News & World Report. He recently addressed both students and professors at the NYU Africa House on the opportunities in Africa.

SOURCE ABO Capital

Related Links

http://www.abocapital.net


New Delhi, June 22 : Terming the opposition's presidential candidate Meira Kumar as "Dalit ki Beti", RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Thursday said the JD-U's decision to support NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind was a "historic blunder" and called for a review. But JD-U ruled out any change in its stance.

"Today, I am appealing to (Bihar Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar to reconsider his decision and support the daughter of Bihar," Lalu Prasad told reporters after Meira Kumar was fielded after a meeting of 17 opposition parties led by the Congress.

"Don't make a historic blunder. It was a wrong decision of your party (to back Kovind)," Lalu added.

The RJD leader's remarks came a day after the JD-U announced support to Kovind in the July 17 Presidential election. The JD-U also skipped the opposition meeting here.

Lalu Prasad's RJD and Nitish Kumar's JD-U along with the Congress are partners in the ruling Grand Alliance in Bihar.

Lalu said he would meet Nitish Kumar and urge him to reconsider his decision to support Kovind.

"I am going to Patna tomorrow (Friday). I will speak to him. I will tell him not to make a historic blunder by supporting Kovind. He should not give up the ideological battle," he said.

The RJD chief said it was Nitish Kumar who took the initiative to unite the opposition on the Presidential election.

"Nitish had said he would go along with the opposition candidate. But his party yesterday announced support for Kovind on the basis of his personality," he said. "Choice is not made on the basis of personality but on ideology.

"We had come together to stop the fascist forces," the RJD leader said.

The Janata Dal-United, which is in the ruling alliance in Bihar along with the Rashriya Janata Dal and the Congress, said it had arrived at the decision "after considering all aspects".

The decision to support Kovind was taken after looking into all aspects, JD-U spokesperson K.C. Tyagi told IANS.

"And political decisions are not changed all the time," Tyagi, a Rajya Sabha member, said.

Lalu Prasad also attacked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not discussing the name of its Presidential candidate before the announcement, saying, "The BJP never communicated their choice of Presidential candidate before announcing it.

"What are they doing in return for us? They are pressurising me to surrender."

The RJD chief made it clear that despite JD-U's decision to back Kovind, there was no threat to the Bihar government.

"Whether he betrayed us or not he knows that. We have our coalition there and the government will continue. Their is no threat to our government," he said.
Turin, June 23 : DNA tests showed that a newborn thrown to his death from a second floor apartment in northwest Italy last month was conceived when his mother had extramarital sex, Turin daily La Stampa reported.

The full-term baby, named Giovanni by doctors, was found by a street sweeper in Settimo Torinese lying in the road early on May 30 but died half an hour after being rushed to Turin's Regina Margherita hospital by ambulance.

Giovanni's mother, 34-year-old Valentina Ventura, is under arrest for murder while her husband, who claimed to have been unaware that she was pregnant, is a witness in the ongoing investigation of the infant's death.

"His version of events is truthful and credible," La Stampa quoted the prosecutor spearheading the probe, Giuseppe Ferrando, as saying.

No family member attended Giovanni's funeral.

Ventura, who has a young daughter, reportedly denied during her pregnancy that she was expecting a child and said she gave birth alone at the family's apartment.

"I threw my baby out of the window as soon as he was born in the bathroom. I don't remember anything else," she allegedly told police.
New Delhi, June 25 : With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set for his first face-to-face interaction with US President Donald Trump on Monday, almost every strategic analyst feels the outcome of this meeting will be the first indication of Washington's policy towards India in the Trump era.

Barring a few voices, the chorus suggests that Modi should approach the visit with minimal expectations and hope to establish a personal rapport with a mercurial Trump.

The official position of the government, however, is that Trump's personality is not an issue as the relationship between the two countries "is institutional in nature", not personal.

Yet the style of functioning of both Modi and Trump are personality-driven as has been seen in Modi's interactions with world leaders including Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and in Trump's meetings with Shinzo Abe (Japan), Xi Jinping (China) Angela Merkel (Germany).

Former Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor says Modi must hope to establish a personal rapport with Trump.

"Given President Trump's somewhat erratic track record, it will be wise to approach the visit with minimal expectations. The PM must hope to establish a personal rapport with the US President, who is known as man of personal likes and dislikes," Tharoor told IANS.

He said Modi should also "gently" set the record straight on Trump's "gratuitous and misplaced attack" on India over climate change.

"Beyond that, Modi needs to put India on Trump's radar screen, from which we appear to have been absent since his election."

While announcing the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, Trump had accused India of signing the accord to get "billions and billions and billions" of dollars from developed nations.

Modi is to meet Trump on Monday afternoon (late night as per Indian time) after his meetings with senior officials and dignitaries of the US administration.

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar flew into Washington ahead of Modi to meet senior officials in the Trump administration and to lay the groundwork for the high-profile visit.

Strategic analyst Uday Bhaskar described the incumbent US Presidency as the "most disruptive" in recent history and said the most significant issue for Modi will be to get a sense if there will be policy continuity in the India-US relationship.

"The disruption has been particularly visible in relation to Trump overturning the major policies of Obama.

"The challenge for Modi is to ascertain the Trump commitment to the bilateral. For instance, there is no US ambassador appointed yet. Is this an indicator," asked the Director of Society for Policy Studies.

Bhaskar agreed that personal chemistry of the two leaders would play a role. Despite the hiccups in Indo-US relations, the personal chemistry between Modi and Obama was visible.

"The moot question is whether the meeting will lead to such affable personal chemistry and whether there will be policy continuity in the India-US relationship post-2008 -- when India was accorded exceptional nuclear status due to the high-level political resolve at the time.

"Dealing with Trump is a means to that end. So maybe Modi needs a deft and effective Trump technique," Bhaskar told IANS. "By the way, they are both Twitter addicts."

Analysts admit that recent Trump policy posturing has been less than favourable for India.

"While announcing the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, Trump accused India of obtaining unfair and undue advantage and this led to a firm rebuff from Delhi. The Trump promise to reduce immigrant workers and the number of H1B visas is of direct relevance to the Indian IT industry," a foreign policy expert said.

Bhaskar added that Modi would have to convincingly project that India's interests are aligned with US interests. "Modi's 'Make in India' objective has to be harmonized with the Trump commitment to 'Buy American' and 'Hire American'."

Modi and Trump have already had three conversations over telephone.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the whole gamut of the India-US relationship would be on the table when the two leaders meet.

"The idea of the bilateral talks will be to give a thrust and direction to the robust and expanding relationship often described as the defining partnership of the 21st century," he said.

(Vishav can be contacted at vishav@ians.in)
New Delhi, June 26 : A man who fled after attacking his estranged wife with a sickle has been arrested from his home village in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place in Punjabi Basti in Nangloi area of west Delhi on Saturday night, police said.

The man, identified as Dharmendra, a truck cleaner, was held from his house in village Kathar in Unnao.

Police received a call that a woman had been stabbed in Punjabi Basti. On reaching on the spot, the team found the victim identified as Ritu with injuries to her neck and left hand and got her admitted to a hospital, said Deputy Commissioner of Police M.N Tiwari.

"She told police that she was married to Dharmendra 11 years ago but living separately with her daughter in Nihal Vihar area as he was a habitual drinker and used to beat her," he said.

The woman, who had been working in a garment export factory in the Sultanpuri area, for the last two years, said that she was returning home from work and had reached near the Nangloi flyover T-point, when Dharmendra came from behind and attacked her with a sickle. When she cried for help, he escaped from the spot," Tiwari added.

The sickle involved in the crime was also recovered from the bushes of Suraj Mal stadium, he said.
Washington, June 26 : US President Donald Trump lashed out at Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, saying the former Secretary of State "colluded" with the party in the presidential primary to defeat Senator Bernie Sanders.

"Hillary Clinton colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat Crazy Bernie Sanders. Is she allowed to so collude? Unfair to Bernie!" Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday, CNN reported.

The tweet is an apparent reference to a cache of nearly 20,000 hacked Democratic National Committee emails released by WikiLeaks nearly one year ago that Sanders' supporters' said bolstered their claims that the party favoured Clinton.

The tweet comes as congressional committees and Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller continue investigations into Russia's efforts to influence the US election and the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian officials, including allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russia in an effort to defeat Clinton during the presidential campaign.

Trump, his campaign and Russian officials have denied any collusion took place between them.

Without mentioning Sanders' name, one of the hacked DNC emails appeared to show a DNC staffer asking others to ask the candidate about his faith, saying it would weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters.

Another seemed to depict an attorney for Clinton's campaign advising the committee on how to defend her against an accusation by the Sanders campaign of not living up to a joint fundraising agreement.

The fallout from the release of the emails prompted Sanders and his supporters to call for DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida to resign as party chair. Schultz, a Clinton ally, stepped down from that position at the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention.

Clinton's spokesman Nick Merrill declined to comment for this story.

Former Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, a CNN political commentator, said Trump should move on from the election and address concerns over threats to the nation's elections.

"The Washington Post called the Russian intervention in the 2016 election the 'crime of the century,' and much of our campaign and election infrastructure still remains as vulnerable today as it was then," Mook told CNN.

"Rather than stoking divisions from the last election, the President should be bringing the country together to defend our country and our democracy."
Pyongyang, June 26 : North Koreans marked the Day of Anti-US Struggle with a mass rally in the capital city, state-media reported on Monday.

Senior members of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and high-level government officials joined representatives from all walks of life on Sunday to denounce the US for starting the Korean War on June 25, 1950, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

They also held a public procession following the rally, reports Xinhua news agency.

Speakers at the event accused the US of using "all kinds of the cruel methods and means to commit an unheard-of holocaust and vandalism" and making "wholesale use of germ and chemical weapons prohibited by international law" said KCNA.

Participants said the atrocities against the Korean people "were recorded in history as scars never to be healed".

Similar mass rallies were held across the country .

The Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice, leaving the peninsula virtually in a state of war ever since.
Toronto, June 26 : Toronto set a record of holding the biggest-ever yoga event in North America as yoga guru Baba Ramdev led thousands of people through yoga asanas at the International Centre here on Sunday.

The day-long mega event was organised by the non-profit International Day of Yoga Canada (IYDC) in collaboration with the Indian consulate here.

Top leaders, including Canada's Science Minister Kirsty Duncan, Ontario state's Indo-Canadian Minister Dipika Damerla, Ontario Opposition Leader Patrick Brown, mayors, and members of Parliament joined the event as Baba Ramdev put them through over two hours of yogic asanas in the morning session.

Brahma Kumari Sister Shivani led the evening meditation session.

It was all fun and laughter as Ramdev guided people, including the VIPs, through tough yogic exercises, highlighting the benefits of each asana.

Administering an oath to the crowd to do yoga everyday, he said: "People look for solutions outside, but everything is inside us. My mission is to take yoga to every corner of the world."

"Even if one percent people of the world practise yoga, it will usher in prosperity and world peace and there won't be any wars. Yoga has nothing to do with any religion."

Referring to his Patanjali Ayurved business empire as a charity and non-profit organisation "for the benefit of mankind", Ramdev said his mission is to build the world's biggest university which teaches modern education and India's ancient wisdom and knowledge.

Amid applause, the yoga guru said he had never attended any bigger yoga event than this one anywhere outside India.

Terming the yoga celebrations an "exciting and important event", Duncan greeted the huge gathering in Punjabi, saying: "Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, Assalam Aleikum. Mera naam Kirsty Duncan hai. Mainu bahut khushi hai...."

Indian Consul General Dinesh Bhatia, who put together the event in collaboration with community organisations, said yoga is India's gift to the world and lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for getting it recognised as International Day of Yoga. He introduced Ramdev to Canadians as "the brand ambassador of yoga and Ayurveda" and a crusader against corruption and black money.

Welcoming people to the yoga celebrations in Canada, IYDC Chairman Satish Thakkar highlighted the economic benefits of yoga in terms of medical costs for modern society. He said the mission of IYDC is to take yoga to the mainstream in Canada by organising even bigger yoga events in the future.
Rome, June 26 : Italy's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) took a drubbing in mayoral run-offs on Sunday, losing 12 out of 16 larger cities to the centre-right including historic strongholds such as the northwest port city of Genoa.

Of the cities which previously had PD-backed Mayors, the PD only managed to make gains in the southern city of Lecce and the northeast city of Padua.

PD leader and former premier Matteo Renzi, who is eyeing a return to power, said on Facebook that Sunday's poll results were "patchy".

"In terms of the total numbers of mayors, the PD is ahead, although it could have gone better," he wrote on Monday. "Some losses hurt, starting with Genoa and L'Aquila," he went on.

"But local elections and national elections are completely different things."

The PD was the overall victor in the local polls, winning 67 of the councils in towns against 59 for the centre-right, and eight for the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement, according to a YouTrend pie-chart graphic tweeted by Renzi on Monday.

The Five Star Movement - which surveys say is slightly more popular than the PD nationwide - achieved dire results in the first round of voting on June 11 and made the run-off in only one of the 25 largest cities.

In the northern city of Parma, its incumbent Mayor was re-elected as an independent after he fell out with the Five-Star Movement leadership and left the party.

In the Genoa run-off, a candidate backed by Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the anti-immigrant Northern League party won with 55.24 percent of votes - over 10 percent points more than the centre-left candidate.

Northern League party leader Matteo Salvini claimed the Genoa result proved that Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni had lost the country's support and should go.

"Today Gentiloni should resign," Salvini said. "Italians want change."

Turnout in Sunday's run-offs was low at 46 percent, as the searing temperatures across much of Italy may have kept voters away from the ballot box.

The mayoral vote was seen as a litmus test ahead of national elections due by the end of May next year.

However, the first-past-the-post system used in local elections and which favours coalitions may not be the voting system for the general election, where proportional representation is currently used.

The local poll results were a boost for Forza Italia leader and ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi, but also for his main rival Salvini, heightening a leadership battle between the two.
Shillong, June 26 : Eid-ul-Fitr, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, was on Monday celebrated across Meghalaya with prayers for peace in the country and across the world.

"We are sad about the situation across the world and even in our country. Allah will listen to our prayers for peace, stability, development and happiness in the world," said Shillong Muslim Union General Secretary Sayeedulah Nongrum.

Thousands of men and children clad in new clothes offered prayers in Eidgahs and mosques in Shillong, Dawki, Nongpoh, Lad Rymbai, Byrnihat and in the Garo Hills region.

The biggest congregation was at the Eidgah of India's first glass mosque, the Madina Masjid in Shillong, where over 10,000 people offered prayers.

Every Muslim family donated to charity so that the poor can also celebrate the festival.

After prayers, Muslims visited the houses of relatives and friends to greet them. Guests were treated to "sheer khorma" (sweet made of vermicelli, milk and dry fruits) and other delicacies.

Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister Mukul Sangma greeted the people on the occasion.

Purohit hoped "this joyous festival which celebrated the end of Ramadan will reinforce our belief in human values like compassion, sacrifice, brotherhood and harmony."

Sangma said Eid-ul-Fitr "enables each one of us to reaffirm our commitment to spread the spirit of love, compassion and empathy and further strengthen the elements of understanding, tolerance and solidarity."

Muslims constitute four percent of the nearly three million people of predominantly Christian Meghalaya.
New Delhi, June 26 : It has been 20 years since boy wizard Harry Potter first entered the lives of us "muggles" (those without magical powers), with "The Philosopher's Stone". To mark the the anniversary, publisher Bloomsbury India has come up with a special "house" edition.

The edition of J.K. Rowling's debut novel has exclusive book cover designs based on the four Hogwarts houses -- Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

"This is a limited edition and the designs have been especially made to mark 20 years of the first book. The Potter maniacs can now grab a copy of the book according to their favourite Hogwarts house," Bloomsbury India's Marketing Manager Meenakshi Singh told IANS.

Rowling's book went on to unleash "Pottermania" with readers of all ages eagerly waiting for the next installment of the popular series, which went on to span seven books, all of them also becoming hit films. The boy wizard also reached the stage with a play dealing with a now adult Harry's difficult relations with one of his sons unveiled last year.
New Delhi, June 26 : National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind will visit Srinagar on June 28 as part of his campaign for the July 17 election.

Union Ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Jitendra Singh will accompany Kovind, who will meet members of Parliament and state assembly of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who are part of the electoral college, at the official residence of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, informed sources said on Monday.

The BJP shares power with the PDP in the state.

BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav, in charge of the party's affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, will also go with Kovind.

A day later, Kovind will visit Chandigarh to seek support from members of Parliament and assembly of the BJP and ally Akali Dal from Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh.

On his visit to Chandigarh, Kovind will be accompanied by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

On June 30, Kovind will be in Delhi and is likely to meet MPs here. The new indirect tax regime -- the Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- will be launched at the midnight of June 30 in the Central Hall of Parliament in an hour-long event. Members of Paliament are likely to remain in Delhi for the event.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H.D. Deve Gowda will be present at the special event.

Earlier on MOnday, Kovind reached Uttarakhand, where he was received by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.

Accompanied by Union Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, Kovind held a meeting with legislators and parliamentarians of the state at the official residence of Rawat.

After filing his nomination on June 23, Kovind, 71, started his election campaign from Uttar Pradesh on June 25.

He is pitted against former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, the candidate of opposition parties including the Congress.

Kovind is widely expected to sail through the presidential election.

The NDA, including the Shiv Sena and the PDP, commands support of 48.93 per cent of the electoral college, which is made up of members of Parliament and all state legislatures.

With the backing of parties outside the alliance, like Telangana Rashtra Samithi (2 per cent), AIADMK (5.39 per cent), YSR Congress (1.53 per cent) and Biju Janata Dal (2.99 per cent), the support base for the NDA's presidential candidate reaches nearly 63 per cent, with Janata Dal-United contributing 1.91 per cent.

The counting of votes will take place on July 20. President Pranab Mukherjee's term ends on July 24.
Washington, June 26 : Don't expect a lot of deliverables from the Trump-Modi meeting, says an American commentator.

Writing in The Washington Post, Josh Rogin says the Monday meeting between the US President and the Indian Prime Minister was scheduled before the Group of 20 meeting in Germany in July so that they could develop some rapport before meeting there.

Although both Donald Trump and Narendra Modi have some things in common, "the question remains whether his (Modi's) dalliance with Trump will be a one-night stand or will blossom into a full-on romance", Rogin said.

Rogin said a close relationship which Trump had promised before his election victory was yet to materialize due to many factors.

These include a mix of transition dysfunction, the distractions of the more urgent issues and a shortage of senior Trump administration officials with India experience.

"The Modi government, unlike some other Asian powers, has not pushed itself in front of the Trump team, instead pursuing a dual-track policy of cautious engagement mitigated by hedging."

The Trump-Modi meeting "is intended to ... get the US-India relationship back on an upward trajectory.

"The fact that Modi will have dinner, not lunch, with Trump is meant to signal respect, officials said."

Rogin noted that Modi had recently made high-profile visits to Russia, France and Germany, and that he may be preparing for alternatives in case his push to warm ties with Washington under Trump doesn't pan out.

Rogin said: "At some point, for real progress to be made, the two sides will have to tackle their differences, including on H1-B visas, trade irritants and India's approach to intellectual property.

"The Trump administration also must settle on its own foreign policy for India to be reassured that strategic interests remain aligned.

"Modi's task is to convince Trump that spending more time and attention on India fits into his America First agenda.

"Trump's job is to convince Modi that his bet on the US will pay off in real ways long after their dinner is over."
June 26 (IANS) Amid a series of fake doctor cases in Bengal, yet another person with a fake MBBS degree was arrested from West Bengal's Nadia district on Monday.

"A fake doctor named Bapi Nag has been arrested from Nadia district's Hanskhali area for allegedly claiming himself to be a skin specialist while he did not have an authentic MBBS degree," said an officer from Hanskhali police station said.

According to police, Nag, a resident of South 24 Pargana district's Bongaon, could only produce an old certificate of a diploma in MBBS from some university in Assam during the interrogation.

"The accused has been arrested and several documents have been seized from his chamber. We would produce him to court tomorrow (Tuesday)," the officer added.

A number of fake doctors have been taken into custody by the state police and the CID over the past one month, while more than 500 medical practitioners, reportedly having doubtful credentials, are under CID's radar.
Mumbai, June 26 : It has been 25 years since his first film "Deewana" hit the screens, and the magic of Shah Rukh Khan's super stardom was there for all to see outside his bungalow Mannat on the occasion of Eid on Monday. Thousands of fans gathered to get a glimpse of the actor, who says it's this love that keeps him motivated.

Shah Rukh worked in the television industry before moving on to films. "Deewana" had released on June 25, 1992.

Asked about how he keeps himself motivated, Shah Rukh told the media here: "For instance, today, so many people are waiting outside my house just to see me... There is unexpected love that we all get. People motivate me."

This year, Eid is all the more special for him because it marks 25 years of "Deewana", which set the pace for a successful career for the actor, who has earned the epithet of Bollywood's 'Badshah'. He is happy about doing something that "I love doing".

"Twenty-five years is a long time... It means half of my lifetime I spent here in this industry. I will be turning 52 this year. I can never thank people enough to have tolerated me for years with love," Shah Rukh told media with folded hands at the ballroom of a hotel here.

These days his daughter Suhana is seen very comfortable in front of the camera. Asked about rumours that she will also pursue a career in films, the father of three said: "Just because they come out to the public does not mean they want to be an actor. My children will finish their studies as there's a rule in my house that they have to be minimum a graduate."

"So, both Suhana and Aryan have to finish their studies before anything else. After that, if they want to be an actor, they will study to be an actor."

Shah Rukh also has son AbRam.

For Eid, the actor had organised a special meet-and-greet for the media. He said his other plans for the day included spending time with his children and family members. He said he even would like to cook for them.

"I only can make pasta, and I made it once when my daughter said, 'Theek thaak bane hai (They are okay)', which means this time I will make it better," quipped Shah Rukh, adding that he is neither a foodie nor fussy about food.

He mentioned though that "some biryani will come in from Salman's (Salman Khan) house".
Shillong, June 26 : Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel breached the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim and destroyed two makeshift military bunkers over a week ago in Lalten area of Doka La sector, an official said on Monday.

Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat is expected to visit Sikkim to take stock of the situation shortly, the official told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

There was no official comment from the Indian Army or Defence Ministry.

The Chinese Defence Ministry confirmed the border trouble but accused Indian troops of crossing the border with China "in an attempt to prevent a road construction by the Chinese side.

"Indian troops' provocation has violated the consensus and relevant agreements on border issues between the Chinese and Indian governments, seriously endangering the peace of the border areas," Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang said on Monday.

Ren urged the Indian side not to complicate border issues and reiterated China's firm resolve to safeguard its sovereignty.

The road construction was carried out on China's territory and India had no right to interfere, Ren said.

An Indian Army brigadier said on the condition of anonymity that the Chinese PLA had objected to Indian bunkers in the Lalten area of Doka La sector for a while.

"They claim that our bunkers are on what they see as their side of the LAC. They smashed two makeshift bunkers and tried to advance further but our men resisted them and pushed them back," he said.

The Indian Army and the PLA officials held a meeting on June 20 and discussed the matter.

"The situation is still tense as the PLA showed no signs of giving up. The Indian Army has sent reinforcements to the area and our men are on high alert 24x7," the official said.

China had refused to let the first batch of around 50 pilgrims, who were supposed to travel to Kailash Mansarovar Lake in Tibet, to go through Nathu La route.

However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang refused to tell journalists in Beijing why China had stopped the Indian pilgrims.

"According to my information, the foreign ministries of the two countries are maintaining communication on the issue," Shuang said.

The PLA said in a statement: "The China-Indian border in Sikkim has been delineated by historical treaties. After the independence of India, the Indian government has confirmed in writing several times, acknowledging that there is no objection to the border between the two sides.

"The construction of the above-mentioned roads (Donglang sector) by the Chinese side is entirely a sovereign act in its own territory and the Indian side has no right to interfere," it said.

In the same area in November 2008, Chinese forces had destroyed some makeshift Indian Army bunkers.

The development comes amid bilateral tensions over various issues, including India boycotting the One Belt One Road summit in Beijing and China scuttling India's NSG bid.
Washington, June 27 : US President Donald Trump hailed the Supreme Court decision to allow the entry into force of some portions of his travel ban denying entry to refugees and citizens of six Muslim-majority nations, saying that it will allow him to "protect" the country.

"Today's unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security," Efe news quoted Trump as saying on Monday. "It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective."

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the Trump administration's appeals of lower court rulings blocking the travel ban. It allowed parts of the travel ban to stand and agreed to hear the case in the fall.

The travel ban had been blocked by two lower courts, which ruled that Trump abused his authority and discriminated against Muslims as a religious minority by issuing the ban by executive order.

However, until it can issue a definitive ruling, the court authorized the Trump administration to deny US entry to people affected by the ban who do not have relatives in the US or who have no previously established plans to work at companies or study at educational institutions in the US.

"My number one responsibility as Commander in Chief is to keep the American people safe. Today's ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nation's homeland," Trump said in his statement.

Thus, the decision will allow the 120-day ban on refugees to be implemented, given that those people are fleeing their countries of origin and have no prior relationship with US individuals or institutions.

The other basic portion of Trump's initiative, which will remain partially blocked, will be the prohibition on US entry to citizens of Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Libya, although entry will be allowed for people from those countries who have relatives or job contracts in the US.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a communique that it will provide more details regarding implementation of the ban after consulting with the State and Justice Departments.

After Trump's original January 27 executive order, several states, including Hawaii, sued in federal court and got it blocked, prompting the administration to craft a new order in March that included changes aimed at allowing the measure to pass muster in the courts.

The March 6 executive order, revised from the earlier version that was blocked by courts, called for a 90-day ban on travellers from six countries -- Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
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Since the beginning, we've been laser-focused on providing the highest quality, lowest priced disposable gloves to a multitude of industries. Past News Releases RSS

My Glove Depot announced today the launch of https://myglovedepot.com, featuring more than 100 different types of medical grade disposable gloves, all at Depot prices. Prior to the introduction of the new e-commerce website, the companys Sacramento, California-based leadership team has been supplying disposable gloves directly to healthcare and dental customers since 1993.

"Since the beginning, we've been laser-focused on providing the highest quality, lowest priced disposable gloves to a multitude of industries, all combined with superb customer service", says Bryan Shields, President and CEO of My Glove Depot. "Now, we're thrilled to offer our customers a new, beautiful, easy way to order gloves 24/7 through our new website."

The website offers an extraordinary selection of high quality, comfortable and durable gloves, including the latest technological advances in chloroprene, nitrile, latex and vinyl. The best, most versatile brands are featured, including Adenna, Cranberry, Medline, Blossom, Aurelia and many others. To minimize customer costs, all gloves are sold only by the case.

Every glove from My Glove Depot has one thing in common - all are medical exam grade, which takes the guesswork out of choosing the right brand, color, material, texturing, and type for your use. Also contributing to a good experience on the site are the extensive category descriptions, offering advice and information in every section.

"Born in the medical industry, high grade disposable exam gloves are now used to provide safety for dental, tattoo, automotive, food service, janitorial, salon, and several other industries," said Mr. Shields. "The website lets buyers shop on their own terms, regardless of market segment. Ideally, you can find the right glove quickly and easily, and be assured of its application to your need."
Cheryl Ollis, who is deaf & blind, trains another young woman how to navigate the kitchen "The best thing about having Cheryl work at the center is we have a lot of clients who have dual diagnosis, and Cheryl is a fantastic role model," says Carolyn McGahan.

When Cheryl Ollis mentions she is Deaf-Blind, another famous person tends to come to mind  Helen Keller. Helen Keller was a well-known author and lecturer who became deaf and blind after an illness when she was 19 months old. Helen, with her teacher Annie Sullivan, didnt let her disabilities hold her back. In 2017, we are celebrating Helen Keller Deaf-Blind Awareness Week from June 25-July 1.

For Cheryl, Helen Keller is a role model, but she also illustrates just how important it is to have someone there to teach you how to navigate through your daily life when you are Deaf-Blind.

Cheryl was born deaf, but, when she was five years old, surgery helped bring back some of her hearing. She also had difficulty with her vision at night, but didnt realize she had a vision problem until she was diagnosed with Ushers Syndrome and Retinitis Pigmentosa, at 28 years old.

These two diseases cause gradual blindness, and when Cheryls employer learned about her diagnosis, they decided she could no longer do her job and fired her. I didnt know where to go, where to turn to, she says. I thought, This is it; my world has just ended.

But her world had not ended. Cheryl learned about the Division of Blind Services and met with counselor Terri Titus to discuss her options. Terri knew Cheryl needed additional support, so she referred her to Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) as well. VR is a federal-state agency that helps people with disabilities get or keep a job.

The two agencies worked together to provide the guidance and education Cheryl needed to re-enter the working world. VR provided hearing aids and technical aids for amplification. She attended Daytona School for the Blind to learn how to handle her new disability in her daily life, but working again was always her plan.

She definitely wanted to work, says Terri. That was her main goal. She just couldnt see herself not working.

I wanted to work with other people with disabilities, Cheryl explains. Because Im deaf and blind, I wanted to show them the way I had learned to live with my disabilities. The Conklin Center was just the place to do that. Cheryl dropped off her new resume and inquired about any open positions. They offered her a part-time position as an instructional aide for the dormitory staff. After six months, she moved up to full-time in the Activities of Daily Living Department.

Carolyn McGahan, Director of Adult Programs at the Conklin Center, says Cheryl was a perfect fit for the job. The best thing about having Cheryl work at the center is we have a lot of clients who have dual diagnosis, and Cheryl is a fantastic role model. They feel that Cheryl can relate to them better than the other staff.

Cheryl teaches the students how to do laundry, cleaning, shopping, and cooking. Shes grateful for the help she received along the way from everyone involved in her journey back to successful employment. And she loves her job because, I am helping students learn to live independently and learn skills and techniques the way I had to go through it.

About Vocational Rehabilitation

Floridas Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) is a federal-state program committed to helping people with disabilities become part of Americas workforce. The employer-focused website, https://abilitieswork.employflorida.com/, allows businesses to search at no charge for employees who are ready to go to work, as well as to post available jobs. VR has 90 offices across Florida, and last year helped 5,194 Floridians with significant disabilities find or keep a job. For more information about VR and its services, call (800) 451-4327 or visit http://www.Rehabworks.org.
Today at ISTE 2017, education technology company, Learning.com, launched Digital Literacy Assessments for fifth and eighth graders, a dynamic new set of tools to measure students proficiency with digital devices. This easy-to-use, high-quality assessment tool allows educators to pinpoint and close critical gaps in students digital literacy skills. Aligned to the 2016 ISTE Standards for Students, the assessments are designed to prepare students for success in school, college and careers and to maximize schools technology return-on-investment.

While todays students may be able to swipe and tap, many lack some of the basic digital literacy skills that they will need to complete high school, be successful in college and navigate the rest of their lives, said Learning.com CEO Keith Oelrich. We developed our new Digital Literacy Assessments to provide teachers with the information they need to help students bridge their skills gap before they reach high school.

Building on the strength of Learning.coms previous assessment tools, TechLiteracy Assessment and 21st Century Skills Assessment, Digital Literacy Assessments provide educators with tangible data to assist them in gauging student proficiency in the use of digital devices and applications for the purposes of communication, expression, collaboration and advocacy. These diagnostic assessments, which can be applied at any time during the school year, give teachers a guide for developing specific curriculum plans, empowering them to design classroom instruction that meets students needs. Summative assessments can be implemented at the end of the year to measure student growth.

Digital Literacy Assessments are available as a standalone resource or as a supplement to EasyTech, a self-paced digital literacy curriculum for grades K-8 that provides interactive lessons to help students develop the digital literacy skills they need to confidently take online assessments and to prepare them for success in college and their future careers. The new assessments measure expertise across the seven education standards identified by ISTE: empowered learner, digital citizen, knowledge constructor, innovative designer, computational thinker, creative communicator and global collaborator. The 2016 ISTE Standards for Students are designed to ensure that learning is a student-driven process of exploration, creativity and discovery, no matter where they or their teachers are in the thoughtful integration of education technology.

Running on HTML5, Digital Literacy Assessments are device compatible and require no special software, plug-ins or apps, allowing schools to use their existing technology. An optional technology survey, as well as enhanced reporting analytics at the student, class, school and district level, are also available.

Digital Literacy Assessments are featured in Learning.coms ISTE Booth 1846.

About Learning.com

Founded in 1999, Learning.com currently partners with one in six school districts and serves five million students nationwide. Learning.com provides K-12 solutions to help students, teachers, and schools excel in a digital world. Districts equip their students with the technology and 21st century skills needed for success on online assessments, college, and the workforce using Learning.coms digital literacy solutions. Learning.coms digital content tools help districts build and share custom digital curriculum helping them meet their instructional goals, facilitate personalized learning, and address budget challenges. Through implementation services and professional development, Learning.com serves educators as they integrate technology and digital content into instruction.
EBMS, a leader in innovative healthcare solutions, announces the addition of a Chief Information Officer to the executive team, and the appointment of James Vertino to serve in the role. Vertino has a proven track record in innovative technology and business integration, as well as a deep understanding of the healthcare industry.

I am very excited to join such a dynamic team of professionals focused on driving better ways to deliver healthcare to an industry in dire need of improvements, Vertino said. I plan to hit the ground running, partnering with the EBMS technology, clinical, and operational teams to develop best-in-class products and solutions for our clients.

As CIO, Vertino will lead EBMS technology platforms and processes, enhancing data analysis capabilities and client support. Vertino has extensive experience in IT leadership and product development. He spent the last six years as CIO of HealthPlan Services, where he spearheaded the creation of products and services to assist large healthcare payers with the enrollment and financial management of healthcare reform. His previous experience includes serving as CIO at CareSource Management Group, Vice President of Technology for MetLife, and Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Equity Technologies at Lehman Brothers.

EBMS products and services make us a healthcare leader, and its important for us to be a leader in technology, as well, said Melissa Lyon, Executive Vice President of Human Resources. Jims industry experience and knowledge clearly align with EBMS strategic goals. His leadership will strengthen our technology and data capabilities.

Some of Vertinos initial work will include growing EBMS business by increasing automation and strengthening systems processes. This will ensure EBMS can focus on whats most critical, like large claims, cost containment, better integration, customization, and quality of service.

James Vertino is an innovator who will create unique services for EBMS and its customers, said EBMS President Kevin Larson. I look forward to seeing the exciting solutions our IT division produces under his leadership.

As he begins his new position, Vertino will meet with EBMS clients and also present at the 24th Annual EBMS Health & Business Symposium in Billings in July.

Our everyday actions at EBMS have a direct impact on the lives of the people we serve, and technology can continue to improve everything across the board, Vertino said. Thats why customers have chosen this business... to improve care.

EBMS, Montanas first third party administrator for self-funded healthcare, started nearly 40 years ago with two employees and one client. Now, 275 employees serve more than 200 clients throughout the U.S. EBMS offers a full suite of health management services, including onsite clinics, pharmacy services, and wellness, disease management, and medical management programs. As one of the nations premier industry leaders, EBMS works with clients and brokers to achieve better health and financial outcomes for the workforce and the companys bottom line. Learn more at http://www.ebms.com.
Co-Co-Collabo by Boston artist Cyrille Conan I see my painting practice as an anchor to keep me connected to truth and nature. I consider the intuitive approach as the best way to parallel my own nature and mirror my frame of mind.

Boston Childrens Museum has announced it will open a new gallery exhibit, Co-Co-Collabo, by Boston artist Cyrille Conan. Conan will exhibit two site-specific murals which have been influenced by parenthood. One mural will be inspired by collage collaborations he has made with his three-year-old daughter, Colibri Jimenez-Conan.

In a time when resources for the arts, humanities and nature are in flux, Cyrille expresses that as a parent, he needs to instill in his daughter the importance of being in nature and expressing creativity. I see my painting practice as an anchor to keep me connected to truth and nature, said Conan. I consider the intuitive approach as the best way to parallel my own nature and mirror my frame of mind.

Conan has been developing a vocabulary of mark making, collage, and textures to allow the experience of creating the murals to be as honest and intuitive as possible. Each layer informs and dictates the final composition until he finds a visual balance of form, color and repetition.

Building on past installations by Eve Ewing and Joanna Tam, Conans site-specific installation creates a direct channel between contemporary artists and children. By creating an immersive, yet durable, installation, Co-Co-Collabo provides opportunities that inspire and broaden a childs developing notion of what it means to be part of nature, a creative being, and an artist.

Conan is a French born, New York City native. He earned his BFA in Painting from the Hartford Art School before planting his roots in Boston. While his primary practice is still painting, he works in a variety of mediums and scales.

Cyrille has produced site-specific installations and murals in numerous states as well as local galleries and public spaces in Boston, including The Cyclorama, The MFA/Boston and City Hall.

The installation is scheduled to run June 26  September 17, 2017.

For additional information, please visit http://www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org.

About Boston Children's Museum

Boston Childrens Museum engages children and families in joyful discovery experiences that instill an appreciation of our world, develop foundational skills, and spark a lifelong love of learning. More information about Boston Childrens Museum can be found at http://www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org. Become a fan of the Museum on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

Hours and Admission

The Museum is open daily from 10:00 a.m.  5:00 p.m. Fridays until 9:00 p.m. Adults, $16, children (1-15) and senior citizens, $16; children under 12 months and Museum members are always free. Fridays 5:00 p.m.  9:00 p.m., all visitors $1.

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Acquisition allows us to give our customers a more complete home decor experience

Brewster Home Fashions, a family-owned distributor and manufacturer of wallcoverings and home decor products, has purchased the assets of Fetco Home Decor, Inc. This transaction expands Brewsters product offerings even further into the home decor category.

Fetco was a leading designer and importer of photo frames, metal wall art, and wall decor since it was founded in 1974. Their high quality home decor accessories are sold virtually in all decor retailers in the U.S.

Brewster Home Fashions originated as a family run regional wallpaper distributor in 1935. Since its inception, the company has grown to be one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of wallpaper in the world. In 2006 Brewster launched their WallPops brand, specializing in peel and stick wall decor. Their innovative peel and stick wallpaper has taken over the market since its introduction in 2015, positioning Brewster Home Fashions as a leader in innovation for the product category.

Paul Feinstein, President of Brewster Home Fashions, said hes looking forward to this exciting expansion for Brewster. The acquisition allows us to give our customers a more complete home decor experience in the wall art and home accent categories. Product expansion remains a long-term goal for Brewster.

Adding the core product design and development team from Fetco adds an additional dimension to our growing business. They have been a leader in the frame and wall art industry for decades. We are proud to be continuing their work, CEO Ken Grandberg commented.

Both companies are headquartered in Randolph, Massachusetts, allowing for a smooth consolidation between the facilities.
Novayste Team - June 2017 Beyond delivering quality value to our clients, we want nothing more than to have a team that challenges, supports and trusts one another.

Novasyte recently earned the recognition of Best Places to Work' for 2017 by the San Diego Business Journal.

Recognizing organizations regionally for their commitment to employee satisfaction and a culture of openness and engagement, the research study is completed by an independent research firm specializing in identifying and recognizing great places to work.

We couldnt be more thrilled to have earned this recognition, said Tim Gleeson, Novasyte CEO. Beyond delivering quality value to our clients, we want nothing more than to have a team that challenges, supports and trusts one another. This speaks to our culture and with a business specializing in people and technology, we are excited to hear our employees are enjoying their journey on the Novasyte team.

The assessment is a two-part process designed to gather detailed data about each participating company. In part one, the employer completes the Employer Questionnaire. In part two, full-time employees complete a satisfaction survey, as they desire.

100 percent of Novasyte employees participated in the study.

ABOUT NOVASYTE

Novasyte partners with med-tech companies, offering outsourced commercial service teams for clinical, sales, field technical and recall support. Our flexible model enables us to build, deploy and manage teams that expand and contract to meet our clients' customer-facing needs. Program success is tracked and measured with our real-time business intelligence analytics that provide our clients with critical insights into their most important resources - their people and their customers.
We are truly honored to receive this recognition on behalf of our talented team, their supportive families, valued clients, trusted advisors, and our industry network who are responsible for our continued success, said Dave White, partner.

Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting, a national healthcare consulting firm based in Denver, Colorado which provides leadership and guidance in the areas of strategy, valuation, compliance and operations for hospitals, health systems, physician groups and other health organizations, was named one of 50 Colorado Companies to Watch at the ninth annual awards dinner on June 23 at the Denver Marriott City Center.

Colorado Companies to Watch is a unique program that honors 50 high-performing companies that provide valuable services, create jobs and enrich communities throughout the state. It recognizes leadership and the true economic impact innovative companies have on Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. The program offers distinct insight into the states economic landscape, drawing attention to organizations that have significant impact on their industries, communities and regions, as well as our state as a whole. With nearly 1000 nominations each year, its an honor to be selected as one of only 50 winners.

We are truly honored to receive this recognition on behalf of our talented team, their supportive families, valued clients, trusted advisors, and our industry network who are responsible for our continued success, said Dave White, partner. Pinnacle has experienced significant growth the past few years, and its an honor to be included in this group of innovative, forward thinking companies.

About Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting

Founded in 1998, Denver-based Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting (PHC) provides leadership and guidance through a broad range of strategic, financial, operational and transactional services for hospitals, health systems, physician groups, law firms and other health care organizations to improve business performance and long-term sustainability.

A trusted advisor to hundreds of hospitals and health organizations around the country, PHC specializes in business and compensation valuation services, service line strategy and physician alignment, cost reduction and operations improvement, physician practice management and compensation planning, medical billing, coding and compliance support. Learn more at askphc.com.

About Colorado Companies to Watch

Colorado Companies to Watch is an awards program honoring companies headquartered in the state of Colorado. The 400 companies that have been honored since the programs inception demonstrate high performance in the marketplace or exhibit innovative products or processes. The program is designed to seek businesses from a wide range of industries throughout the state, not just the major metropolitan areas. The 50 companies selected each year make an astounding impact on Colorado's economy by collectively providing thousands of jobs and contributing millions of dollars in revenue. The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) launched the program in 2009 in conjunction with the Edward Lowe Foundation and valuable community partners from across Colorado.

For more information on Colorado Companies to Watch, visit ColoradoCompaniestoWatch.org, facebook.com/ColoradoCompaniestoWatch and Twitter @ColoradoCTW.

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Podiatry Management, a publication professionals within Podiatric Medicine look to for staying current on topics within the field has, since 2001, recognized Podiatrists whom carry a high-level of influence within Podiatry. The list is a prestigious one, comparable to that of Forbes Magazine's 40 under 40 list, absent the age restriction. Podiatry Management began this initiative in 2001, compiling a list every five years.

Consulting editors of the publication are asked to select 25 Doctors of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) based on how influential they are, compiling a list of already known heavy hitters in the field. This year, to create balance, readers of the magazine's online publication, PM News, were invited to participate in the composition of the list, on the condition the Podiatrist still practices medicine.

In Part 2 of the Most Influential Podiatrists list, Dr. Gene Mirkin of Foot and Ankle Specialists of the Mid-Atlantic, LLC (FASMA), stands out for being a leader in large group practices. Dr. Mirkin serves as FASMA's President and one its founding members. Dr. Mirkin is also a nationaly recognized author, and has held high positions in the past as Treasurer of the Maryland Podiatric Medical Assocaition and Chief of Podiatry at two major Maryland hospitals.

The Podiatric Supergroup was established in 2011, growing from a small number of practices and doctors in Maryland to 31 locations and 50 doctors across Maryland, Washington D.C. Virginia and Pennsylvania. The organization is also notable in that it owns its own Pathology lab situated at its Rockville, Maryland corporate headquarters. As the practice grows, it will be interesting to see if FASMA will further promote an integrative approach to Podiatric Medicine.
Red Banks venues, restaurants and bars, retail shops and the local arts community all gel to make the ideal atmosphere to celebrate the creativity of independent filmmakers. Jay Webb, Artistic Director, Indie Street Film Festival

The Indie Street Film Festival will return to Red Bank from July 26th through the 30th featuring more than 60 independently produced narrative, documentary and animated films, panel discussions, Q&As with filmmakers, live art, an interactive community mural project, a community cookout, and both live and DJ music performances. Two sets of Jersey Shorts showcasing the work of local filmmakers and New Jersey locations and subjects will also be featured.

Narrative feature films in competition include:

The Ring Thing, directed by William Sullivan (Provincetown Film Festival)

Like Me, directed by Robert Mockler (SXSW)

Beat Beat Heart, directed by Luise Brinkmann (Slam Dance, Filmfest Munich 2016)

Life Hack, directed by Sloan Copeland (Brooklyn Film Fest, SoHo Int. Film Fest)

Documentary feature films in competition include:

Barbecue, directed by Matthew Salleh (SXSW)

Hotel Coolgardie, directed by Pete Gleeson (Slamdance, Hot Docs)

Olancho, directed by Ted Griswold and Chris Valdes (Brooklyn Film Fest)

Unrest, directed by Jennifer Brea (SXSW, Hot Docs, Sundance Special Jury Award)

The winning films will be selected by a jury consisting of noted film critics, producers and filmmakers. Industry experts including Aaron Hillis (Indiegogo), Alison Willmore (Buzzfeed), Dominic Davis (Rooftop Films), Heidi Reinberg (Producer) and Leah Sapin (Human Rights Watch) will join others in awarding the winning feature films with the prize of a 1 week theatrical screening in New York City and optional online distribution through Indie Street Media. Jury awards and audience awards will be announced at a live ceremony on the evening of Sunday, July 30th.

Highlights include the NJ premiere of Unrest, an eye-opening documentary shot and directed by Jennifer Brea, as she tackles the very personal subject of chronic fatigue syndrome. Life Hack, featuring Sean Kleier (Odd Mom Out) and Devin Ratray (Nebraska, Blue Ruin), is an incredibly relevant comedic cautionary tale about our digital privacy or complete lack thereof.

New Jersey talent will of course be showcased, including the world premiere of Brothers, the latest work from Jack Ballo, who directed the critically acclaimed 2016 documentary Destinys Bridge, about the plight of a homeless community living off-the-grid in the woods of Lakewood, New Jersey, and Pasquales Magic Veal, a dark comedy featuring Vincent Pastore, who played Big Pussy in The Sopranos.

Donald Sumpter (Game of Thrones, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Adam Long (Happy Valley), star in The Knackerman, a narrative short funded by Creative England and the BFI Network. In Cul-De-Sac, from the team behind the Academy Award-winning short Curfew, a married couple's bubble of suburban normality is punctured when they find a surprise inside their toddler's teddy bear.

Cop Dog, the sixth animated film in Bill Plympton's Oscar-nominated Guard Dog series, finds its plucky dog-hero with a new occupation: patrolling our airports sniffing for illegal drugs. Several other shorts will make their NJ premiere, including films written by screenwriters for NBC's THIS IS US and SYFY's CHANNEL ZERO, as well as performances from actors such as Jimmie JJ Jeter (Hamilton) and Chris Carfizzi (Showtime's Billions).

Indie Street Film Festival Artistic Director Jay Webb noted that in addition to the incredibly diverse films from around the world that will be screened and discussed, this years schedule includes events linked to films showcased in the festival as well as New Jersey themes.

From a live art performance by local artist Ronnie Jackson, who carves New Jersey landscapes and scenes into surfboards, a cookout after the screening of the documentary Barbecue with local sponsors, to a Liquid Lights creative workshop, we know festival attendees will enjoy what ISFF brings to the community, Webb added. What sets this festival apart from other film events is the integration and cooperation of Red Banks venues, restaurants and bars, retail shops and the local arts community which all gel to make the ideal atmosphere to celebrate the creativity of independent filmmakers.

Indie Street, the world's first co-op distribution brand, is a VOD platform that unites the most talented self-distributing filmmakers to share audiences, resources, and company profits, and home to award-winning members with honors from Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca film festivals. ISFF is more geared toward cooperation than competition, so all feature films accepted into the festival are awarded the opportunity to join Indie Street as a partner filmmaker and be promoted through its VOD platform. Winners from each feature film category will enjoy a shared 1 week theatrical release in NYC.

Films and events will be held at multiple theatrical venues in Red Bank, including the historic Count Basie Theatre, the Two River Theater, Bow Tie Cinema and Red Bank Middle School. For a complete schedule and to purchase tickets, please visit http://www.indiestreetfilmfestival.org. 5 day Passes are available for films only (Film Buff Pass for $99) or for all films and parties (All-access Pass for $169) and can be purchased by visiting the festival website.

All-access passes are also on sale now that include entry to all festival events, open bar at nightly parties brought to you by sponsors Flying Fish Brewery and Prairie Vodka, as well as discounts at local businesses. Single event tickets will be available soon. Keep up with breaking news on social media:

facebook.com/IndieStreetFilmFestival  twitter: @IndieStFilmFest  Instagram @IndieStFilmFest.
SignUpGenius has hired Jeff Richek as chief financial officer for the company. Im looking forward to facilitating SignUpGenius growth to help even more people impact their communities with our organizing tools.

SignUpGenius, the leading online sign up service for event and volunteer management, has expanded its executive team with the addition of Jeff Richek as Chief Financial Officer.

Richek is responsible for driving financial strategies as the company continues to quickly grow and empower more people to change the world by making it simple to organize groups. Richek previously worked as Vice President of Finance at Bold, a SaaS company that provides tools for job seekers and companies looking to hire.

I am excited to join the leadership team of such a dynamic organization, Richek said. Im looking forward to facilitating SignUpGenius growth to help even more people impact their communities with our organizing tools."

The companys executive team also grew earlier in 2017 with the addition of Chris Lucas as Chief Business Development Officer.

SignUpGenius recently added to its web development, customer support and marketing teams as well, bringing its employee count to 32. The company has more than doubled its staff since moving to a larger office in Ballantyne Corporate Park in June 2015, and continues to hire in areas that help provide more solutions to its 8 million to 12 million monthly users.

SignUpGenius ranked 14th on the 2017 Best Employers in North Carolina list among small and mid-size companies, its second consecutive year on the list. The Charlotte Business Journal placed SignUpGenius ninth on its 2016 Best Place to Work list among midsized companies in the Charlotte area.

About SignUpGenius

SignUpGenius simplifies the process of coordinating events and people by providing online sign ups for nonprofits, schools, sports, churches, families, colleges, businesses and organizations. By enabling up to 12 million unique visitors per month to sign up for tasks online, SignUpGenius has done away with the need for paper sign ups, "reply-all" emails and phone trees.
The new GTA Virtual Automotive Training applications take the auto shop class of years ago to a whole new level.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, many of the fastest-growing jobs through 2022 will be in career and technology education (CTE) fields. To help ensure that schools can leverage the power of mixed reality to prepare students for jobs in these growing fields, Silicon Valley-based mixed reality education provider, zSpace, today announced new additions to CTE applications on its platform, with automotive training courses from Shenzhen

GTA Education Tech Ltd., a leader in smart education solutions in China.

Unveiled today at ISTE 2017 in San Antonio, the new GTA Virtual Automotive Training uses zSpaces mixed reality environment to give students hands-on experience with all of the essentials of auto mechanics as they explore and repair engines, the clutch, transmissions, the powertrain system, wheels and axles, suspensions, and steering and brake systems. Theyll be able to look at these complex mechanical systems from all angles, learning how they work and practice making repairs in mixed reality.

Compared to traditional automotive training education, the GTA Automotive VR Training System displays automobile structure vividly from multiple angles, and stimulates students sense organs by using their eyes, ears, and hands in virtual training. Mixed reality training avoids potential risks present in traditional training, involves no material consumption and or the space required for actual automobiles, and allows for repetitive training.

The new GTA Virtual Automotive Training applications take the auto shop class of years ago to a whole new level. Traditional textbooks and courseware are two-dimensional and hands-on training with actual cars is irreversible and expensive, said Paul Kellenberger, zSpace president and CEO. With these applications, students practice repairs and techniques repeatedly, building strong skills, and schools save money and space, and better prepare students for the work force.

GTA Virtual Automotive Training and all of zSpaces mixed reality applications for learning will be featured on the companys Virtual Reality Tour Bus, Booth #3519, at ISTE 2017, June 26-28, in San Antonio.

About Shenzhen GTA Education Tech Ltd.

Established in 2000, Shenzhen GTA Education Tech Ltd. is a leading giant in smart educationservices, high-end financial information services and professional data services. It offers integrated solutions of smart education to educational institutions, ranging from those focused on early childhood education to college and university as well as vocational education. Such solutions incorporate top-down design, educational informatization, teaching and training simulation software, modern educational equipment, educational resources and value-added services. In addition, GTA also provides vocational skills training for the public on O2O education platforms (MOOC and more), as well as integrated solutions for data application, financial research and trading to financial and investment institutions. For more information, visit http://www.gtafe.com.

About zSpace

zSpace delivers the ultimate learning experience to inspire curiosity and accelerate understanding. Our product, zSpace, combines elements of VR and AR, on an all-in-one computer, to create lifelike experiences that are immersive and interactive. Among its numerous awards and accolades, zSpace was named Cool Vendor by Gartner, Inc., Best in Show at ISTE by Tech & Learning Magazine for three consecutive years and was ranked #143 on the 2016 Inc. 500 list. zSpace is a privately held, venture backed company located in Sunnyvale, California, and has been granted more than 25 patents for its innovative technologies. For more information, visit http://www.zspace.com, or follow on Twitter @zSpace.
Getting workers attention is one challenge. But benefit professionals also need to communicate effectively with staffers whose preferred channels range from emails they can access from their desktops to social posts they can pick up on their smartphones.

NEW YORK, NY (June 26, 2017)  Employers with benefit start dates in the first quarter of 2018 are falling behind in their open enrollment preparations, according to Employee Benefit Advisers latest Open Enrollment Readiness Benchmark.

The composite OERB score for this group, which represents nearly 70% of all employers, dropped two points in April to an overall readiness level of 39 out of 100.

Just as troubling, the number of activity-related red flags, which indicate a serious lack of preparedness, rose from 10 to an all-time high of 12. Planning and designing employee communications, which received a score of just 17, remains the open enrollment readiness activity that presents the biggest obstacle for employers.

Explaining benefits to employees is one of the hardest things to get right, said John McCormick, Editorial Director of SourceMedias Employee Benefits group, which includes EBA and Employee Benefit News. Getting workers attention is one challenge. But benefit professionals also need to communicate effectively with staffers whose preferred channels range from emails they can access from their desktops to social posts they can pick up on their smartphones.

Other highlights from the first quarter Benchmark report:



Smaller companies with 50 to 150 employees are very much behind the curve. Most strikingly, more than 25% of these

smaller employers have not yet met with their benefits adviser to begin planning their next open enrollment period.

Midsize employers are also struggling. For example, nearly 15% of these companies have yet to begin shopping for a

health plan to offer.

While large employers with more than 1,000 employees lead small and midsize organizations in most every enrollment

preparation activity, they are still lagging in certain key areas. For instance, 21% of these organizations have yet to put in

place a plan that will boost employee enrollment engagement.

The Open Enrollment Readiness Benchmark is a data-based performance benchmark that gauges how prepared employers are for their annual employee benefits enrollment periods. The benchmark is sponsored by ADP. To produce the results, SourceMedia Research and EBA each month survey 400-plus prescreened HR and benefits executives at organizations of various sizes and across multiple industries. These professionals are asked to rate their completion levels for 26 activities  from selecting health plans to reviewing enrollment metrics  that take place during the four critical phases of open enrollment process: benefit plan design, employee preparation, employee enrollment and post-enrollment analysis. Scores range from a low of 1 to a high of 100 and reflect the degree to which an employer considers itself prepared for a particular activity. The activity scores are then averaged to determine scores for each of the four phases and an overall readiness score. EBA published a complete analysis of the most recent OERB data this week.

About Employee Benefit Adviser

Employee Benefit Adviser (EBA) is the information resource for employee benefit advisers, brokers, agents and consultants, providing the current awareness and perspective they need to anticipate changes in the marketplace and optimally serve their clients. EBA delivers a broad range of critical content, including comparative market data, legal and regulatory updates, the latest products and services, and best practices in benefits delivery  including health insurance, vision and dental insurance, and voluntary and retirement benefits. The benefits broker community relies on EBA to stay connected, through its website comment forums, its social media communities and live events.

About SourceMedia Research

SourceMedia Research is a full-service B2B market research service that draws upon SourceMedias market expertise and proprietary database of engaged executives to develop information and insights for clients. SourceMedia Research provides research solutions for marketers, agencies and others targeting sectors such as banking, payments, mortgage, accounting, employee benefits and wealth management.

About SourceMedia

SourceMedia, an Observer Capital company, is a business-to-business digital marketing services, subscription information, and event company serving senior-level professionals in the financial, technology and healthcare sectors. Brands include American Banker, PaymentsSource, The Bond Buyer, Financial Planning, Accounting Today, Mergers & Acquisitions, National Mortgage News, Employee Benefit News and Health Data Management.

About ADP

Powerful technology plus a human touch. Companies of all types and sizes around the world rely on ADPs cloud software and expert insights to help unlock the potential of their people. HR. Talent. Benefits. Payroll. Compliance. Working together to build a better workforce. For more information, visit http://www.adp.com/business.

For more information, please contact:

Dana Jackson

dana.jackson(at)sourcemedia.com

212-803-8329

John McCormick

john.mccormick(at)sourcemedia.com

212-803-8509
Compendium, the company behind New York Times best seller What Do You Do With an Idea? and other inspirational gift products, was named one of the 2017 Washington's Best Workplaces by Puget Sound Business Journal (PSBJ).

This prestigious annual list is determined by surveys which measured employee satisfaction based on topics such as training, culture, and confidence in leadership. Out of hundreds of applicants, these scores placed Compendium among the regions top employers.

Its an honor to receive to this award, says President and CEO Kobi Yamada. Compendiums motto is Live Inspired and we want to carry that into every facet of our company. We strive to create a work environment thats fun, inspiring, and rewarding. Its gratifying to know that our employees feel the same way."

Compendium has an office in Seattle and two warehouses in Everett, WA and Louisville, KY. The company cultivates a positive work environment by offering flexible work schedules, a pet-friendly office, and a profit-sharing program. They also schedule time for fun and relaxation with bi-weekly massages, volunteer days, themed lunches, and festive holiday parties. Every Halloween the company shuts down for an office-wide party filled with games, treats, and costumes.

Compendium and the other honorees will be celebrated at a festive event at Seattle Mariners Safeco Field. The lists and their rankings will be revealed that evening and published in a special report in the Puget Sound Business Journal on Aug. 4.

About Compendium, Inc.:

Since 1985, Compendium has turned everyday items into extraordinary gifts, and everyday occasions into memorable events. The Seattle-based company creatively combines fresh, vibrant design with thoughtful and inspiring words to create gift books, journals, greeting cards, stationery, and desk accessories sold online and in thousands of specialty gift stores nationwide. Their products celebrate the best parts of the human spirit and highlight what it truly means to live inspired. For more information about Compendium, visit their website at live-inspired.com.
Phantom Screens Head Office Were not just thinking about ourselves and about Phantom Screens. Our ambition is to positively affect peoples lives and make a difference. How we act as a corporation is more than just about making money. Its about our community

The year 2017 is an exciting one for many reasons. Firstly, as Phantom Screens fellow Canadians know, it is their nations 150th birthday and they are excited to join citizens across the country in celebration. The British Columbian company is especially excited because they too are reaching a milestone this year. On July 2nd 25 years ago, Phantoms unique retractable screen design was conceived in a small garage here in Abbotsford. Today, they remain innovators in their field and continue to stand by their remarkable products, customer service, and culture of stewardship. To recognize this important date, while paying homage both to Canadas 150th birthday and their own corporate values, they have partnered with Habitat for Humanity and are planning to raise $150,000 in support of the "The carter Work Project."

Habitat for Humanitys vision is, simply, A world where everyone has a decent place to live and they pursue this by bringing people together to build homes, communities, and hope. As a dedicated partner and volunteer of Habitats for over thirty years, former American president and first lady, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, plan to build 150 homes across all Canadian provinces and territories in July of 2017. This will become Habitat Canadas largest build project to date. Supporting the Carters in this initiative is Phantom Screens, who continue to practice good stewardship as their core values suggest.

Since the companys inception 25 years ago, they have held fast to these esteemed values. Were not just thinking about ourselves and about Phantom Screens. Our ambition is to positively affect peoples lives and make a difference. How we act as a corporation is more than just about making money. Its about our community, said C. Esther De Wolde, Chief Executive Officer of Phantom Screens. While they approach their 25th anniversary on July 2nd, they stay true to this claim by not only celebrating themselves, but by diligently working towards their $150,000 goal for Habitat Canada. Their team has not only contributed financially to this goal, but have volunteered their time as well. A few employees will even be travelling across Canada to build homes alongside Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter this summer.

The organization remains grateful for the blessings theyve experienced over the past 25 years and plans to continue to use their success to help others in their community, nation, and around the world. Phantom is excited to mark a quarter century of wonderful business. They look forward to July 2nd and all that this day represents.

About Phantom Screens

North Americas leading provider of retractable screens, Phantom Screens offers insect protection, solar shading, temperature control and enhanced privacy for doorways, windows, and large openings such as patios, verandas, and lanais. Phantom retractable screens are designed to pull into place when required and retract out-of-sight when not in use. Every Phantom screen is professionally installed and backed with a Limited Lifetime Warranty for added peace of mind.
North American Title Company Logo Larry is an incredible addition to our team, resulting from his years of experience in this business, paired with his extraordinary energy.

North American Title Co. (NATC) has hired Larry DiMare as assistant division manager for Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties. DiMare has been in the title industry for over 18 years, working in nearly every county in the Bay Area but spending the majority of his career in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Larry is an incredible addition to our team, resulting from his years of experience in this business, paired with his extraordinary energy, said Kelli Nielsen, senior vice president, NATC division manager. Throughout his distinguished career, he has demonstrated unwavering passion and commitment to developing talent and cultivating successful teams.

North American Title is pleased to have him onboard and excited about our future together, added Nielsen.

DiMare spent nearly 19 years with a national title company, working as a sales representative, sales manager and then as vice president, county manager. He graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in business.

My greatest passion as a manager is to recruit good people, place them within a positive work environment, and encourage them to be and do their best every day, said DiMare. And while I thrive on the sales side of the title industry, I have also worked the escrow side. My ability to understand both facets of the business will enable me to drive collaboration and positive outcomes across the operation.

DiMare is located at the NATC western region corporate office at 1855 Gateway Blvd., Suite 600, Concord, CA 94520, and can be reached at telephone number (925) 326-8170.

About North American Title

With more than 1,200 associates and a network of branches from coast to coast, North American Title Group, LLC (NATG) is among the largest real estate settlement service providers in the United States. Consisting of both agent and underwriter operations, NATG reported total gross revenues in fiscal 2016 of $360 million. The company also has the resources and stability of a wholly owned subsidiary of an S&P 500 company with over $15.3 billion in assets (fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 2016). North American Titles agency network operates nationally under the name North American Title Co. and similar names (NATC) in 18 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia, in addition to the District of Columbia. Through its relationship with an expanding affiliate network, NATC provides real estate settlement services in all 50 states. NATG is headquartered in Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.nat.com
SOXHUB and Hancock Askew Team Up With Hancock Askews forward-thinking approach, and SOXHUBs innovative audit solutions, internal audit teams will have the tools, technology and expertise they need to build best-in-class compliance programs.

SOXHUB, the leading provider of enterprise audit management solutions, and Hancock Askew, a leading accounting firm with a national focus on providing risk advisory services, today announced a strategic partnership to help companies modernize their risk and compliance processes.

In a continued commitment to deliver best-in-class services, Hancock Askew will now offer SOXHUB to its clients as a part of the firms risk advisory solutions. Clients, through contracting with SOXHUB, will have full access to SOXHUBs holistic suite of SOX, Operational Audit, and ERM solutions to streamline and automate their entire internal audit program.

SOXHUB is proud to partner with Hancock Askews trusted advisory services, said Jay Lee, VP of Business Development at SOXHUB. Our companies are committed to transforming the way internal audit teams work. With Hancock Askews forward-thinking approach, and SOXHUBs innovative audit solutions, internal audit teams will have the tools, technology and expertise they need to build best-in-class compliance programs.

Hancock Askew is excited that our clients will have the opportunity to implement SOXHUBs solutions. As a leading SOX and internal audit provider for many public and large private companies, we are excited that there is an easy-to-use SaaS solution that our clients can easily implement to facilitate the project management process, increase visibility as it relates to the results of internal audits and eliminate the manual tracking of spreadsheets and other documents, said Chad Miller, Risk Assurance & Advisory Partner at Hancock Askew.

About SOXHUB

SOXHUB is a SaaS technology company revolutionizing enterprise SOX, operational audits, and audit management software. In March, SOXHUB received a strategic investment from Donnelley Financial Solutions (NYSE:DFIN), a leading provider of financial reporting software. This investment brings SOXHUB together with ActiveDisclosure, from Donnelley Financial Solutions, to offer the most comprehensive compliance solution available today. With SOXHUB, enterprises can collaborate, manage, analyze and report on critical internal controls data in real time. We offer a full suite of audit management solutions for SOX management, ERM, operational audits, and workflow management. SOXHUBs clients include industry-leading pre-IPO to Fortune 50 companies looking to streamline their accounting and audit functions. Learn more about SOXHUB at http://www.soxhub.com.

About Hancock Askew

Hancock Askew is a professional services firm tracing its origins back to 1910. Hancock Askew assists companies in identifying and capitalizing on business opportunities and is committed to helping clients succeed. The firm provides services that include audit, tax, accounting, internal controls and risk management, transactions, business valuations, cost segregation and other critical business consulting services. With offices in Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia and Miami, Florida, and with risk assurance clients across the U.S., our staff of 100 professionals provides support to an array of clients ranging from emerging businesses, large corporations, nonprofit organizations and publicly traded companies. For more information about Hancock Askew, visit http://www.hancockaskew.com.
Female Muslim nurses are also symbols of the youth and examples to Muslim background girls in the country.

Muslim females of all ages around the world are being denied the opportunity to receive a quality education and to develop professional skills. At Sulu State College in the predominantly Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines, the School of Nursing has provided such opportunity. However, the school is surrounded by high poverty and communal violence. Students struggle to complete their studies.

Socialpreneur can help, for example, supporting 50 additional female nursing students with their basic educational needs, classroom materials, education fees and the cost of licensing exams. These young women demonstrate the potential success for Muslim women around the world. In addition, as health care providers, the nurses are providing vital services to all community members and expanding the employment base in one of the most economically deprived areas of the world. They are also symbols of the youth and examples to Muslim background girls in the country.

Angel investor & socialpreneurship activist Tey Por Yee, together with Gomif Partners, is launching the Accelerator17 2.0, a seed capital investment program through socialpreneurship crowdfunding. The first part of the program shall start with road show from New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and ends in Singapore.

Tey Por Yee (Larry) is a venture capitalist investing in businesses with socially responsible business initiatives. Gomif Partners, co-lead by Larry, shows the tech-savvy startups on New York Cyber Workshop, how easy to contribute to society by using the Internet, besides making a profit from the business.

Gomif will pick up an equity stake in qualified startups as part of the program. Interested candidates can visit http://www.gomif.com and submit business plans online. The program is preparing for the launch of Accelerator17 2.0 some time in July.

About Gomif Partners

Gomif Partners (GP) is an early stage investment crowdfunding network joint lead by socialpreneur Larry Tey Por Yee and several private venture partners. GPs investors invest in and work with information technology companies at any stage but they are primarily focused on seed and early stage investments. GP is interested in socially responsible business models, especially renewable, retail, manufacturing, software, and services surrounding this concept. Visit http://www.gomif.com

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and of alternative finance. In 2015, it was estimated that worldwide over US$34 billion was raised this way. Crowdfunding has been used to fund a wide range for-profit entrepreneurial ventures such as artistic and creative projects, medical expenses, travel, or community-oriented social entrepreneurship projects.
Intellipaat Intellipaat turns up the heat on competition by opening the floodgates to enterprise training!

Indian Edtech firm Intellipaat is going from strength to strength. It launched its hugely successful Data Science Course program to specifically target the B2B segment in order to help the next generation of corporate organizations benefit from the power of Data Science.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Diwakar Chittora, CEO of Intellipaat said, We have been closely watching the corporate landscape for quite some time now. We are currently focusing on providing the corporate world with the right training and skillsets required to take any enterprise to the next level. This is critically important in todays day and age of heightened uncertainty, massive lay-offs and dwindling corporate profits.

Intellipaat co-founder Mrs. Shilpi Jain adds, Today Data Science is an ever expanding domain encompassing business analytics, machine learning, statistical computing and even artificial intelligence. It is extremely exciting for enterprises that embark on this lucrative journey of leveraging Data Science capabilities into their organizations.

Intellipaat Data Science Training Highlights:



35 hours of online classroom training

28 hours of e-learning videos

56 hours of Exercise and Project Work

24*7 dedicated support

Lifetime access to LMS

Lifetime upgrade to latest version of e-learning videos

Corporate entities interested in upskilling their workforce can enroll in the Intellipaat Data Science training batches and get their employees trained within a weeks time. The CEO, confirms, This one week rigorous and dedicated training is equivalent to 6 months of industry experience in Data Science for the employees of the said corporate entity.

This training can also be taken by individual professionals who want to get ahead in their careers as well. Intellipaat has rapidly grown ever since being launched in 2011 and today boasts of a learner base of over 4,00,000 professionals spread across +30 countries.

Education technology is a global phenomenon growing at an annual rate of 17% and is expected to reach $252 Billion by 2020. Intellipaat CEO Diwakar Chittora concludes, Intellipaat surely is at the forefront of being one of the top Edtech firms by 2020 globally.

Intellipaat has recently launched multiple new training courses including Salesforce training and has witnessed a steep rise in learners interest in the last 3 months.
Cloud Filter for Chrome from Smoothwall Smoothwall has really taken the time to get the input of districts that will use this product to provide a better solution for their customers, -- Monica Chartier of the School District of Florence in Florence, Wisconsin.

Todays digital learning environment requires students to stay connected beyond the walls of the classroom. To protect students as they use school-issued devices to access the internet off campus, Smoothwall, a world-class provider of internet security and content filtering solutions, announces a new cloud-based, remote filtering tool for the Chrome browser.

Cloud Filter for Chrome enables districts to provide a customizable level of URL filtering on devices using the Chrome browsers when those devices are off-site and no longer connected to the school network. Providing a seamless experience, devices will switch automatically from on-premises filtering to cloud-based filtering once students leave the network.

Cloud-based filtering caters to the needs of the modern, connected school by eliminating boundaries that affect where and how students learn, said Terry Heath, CEO of Smoothwall. Its vital to provide students with the appropriate resources and protection at home and at school.

Development of the Cloud Filter for Chrome is a direct result of feedback received from K-12 districts across the U.S., including the School District of Florence County located in Florence, Wisconsin.

Smoothwall has really taken the time to get the input of districts that will use this product to provide a better solution for their customers, said Monica Chartier, information technology technician at the district. Having a way to filter Chromebooks using the same extension both on and off campus will be very beneficial and time saving.

Designed to complement robust on-premise devices from any provider, the Smoothwall Cloud Filter for Chrome is easy to use and can be deployed in minutes. Early iterations of the product will include filtering by level, a simple way to scale filtering stringency to preferred levels and a simplified reporting module, to heed of problems early.

The Cloud Filter for Chrome will be fully available in August 2017. To learn more about the cloud-based, remote filtering tool, visit Smoothwall at ISTE booth #2340 or https://us.smoothwall.com/cloud-filter-for-chrome/.

About Smoothwall

Since 2001, Smoothwall has provided a content-aware web filtering solution that delivers real-time, content-aware analysis without relying on URL lists or curtailing the user experience. By allowing filtering, monitoring and reporting on actual web content, Smoothwall keeps students and staff using The Web You Want. For more information please visit our website at http://www.smoothwall.com.
Two new members were elected to the University City Science Centers Board of Directors at its annual Shareholders Meeting on June 9, 2017: Jeremy Nowak, President, J Nowak Strategy and Michele Masucci, Ph.D., Vice President for Research Administration at Temple University. The Science Center also announced the election of Glen N. Gaulton and Kenneth L. Kring, and re-election of David P. Holveck and Richard P. Jaffe, as Directors Emeriti.

Masucci, Nowak, Gaulton, Kring, Holveck and Jaffe join the following current and emeritus members of the Science Center Board:



Dario C. Altieri, M.D., President and CEO, The Wistar Institute

Maxine Ballen, Director Emerita, University City Science Center

Kerry R. Benson, Chief Information Officer, The PFM Group

M. Brian Blake, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Provost, Drexel University

Kenneth J. Blank, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, Rowan University

Dawn A. Bonnell, Ph.D., Vice Provost for Research, University of Pennsylvania

Craig R. Carnaroli (Chairman of the Board), Executive Vice President, University of Pennsylvania

Christopher Cashman, Chairman and CEO, Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Ernest Dianastasis, CEO, The Precisionists, Inc.

Michael A. DiPiano, Managing General Partner, New Spring Capital

Jane H. Hollingsworth, Managing Partner, Militia Hill Ventures and Chief Executive Officer, Immunome Inc.

Osagie O. Imasogie, Senior Managing Partner and Founder, Phoenix IP Ventures

J. Larry Jameson, M.D., Ph.D., Robert G. Dunlop Professor of Medicine, Executive Vice President, University of Pennsylvania for the Health System, and Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Russel E. Kaufman, M.D., Executive-in-Residence, Pappas Capital; Director Emeritus, University City Science Center

David R. King, Senior Advisor, Atonarp, Inc.

Stephen K. Klasko, M.D., MBA, President and CEO, Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health System

Carl Kopfinger, TD Bank Community Capital Group - Senior Vice President & Managing Director, TD Bank, N.A.

Keith Leaphart, D.O., MBA, Founder, Wallsome

William J. Marrazzo, President and Chief Executive Officer, WHYY, Inc.

Keith A. Orris, Senior Vice President for Corporate Relations and Economic Development, Drexel University

Kathleen M. Shay, Esq., Partner, Duane Morris LLP

Stephen Spinelli, Jr., Ph.D., President, Philadelphia University

Thomas J. Todorow, Executive Vice President for Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia

Richard W. Vague, Managing Partner, Gabriel Investments

Tara L. Weiner, Science Center Director

Stephen T. Zarrilli, President and CEO, Safeguard Scientifics

Stephen S. Tang, Ph.D., MBA, President and CEO, University City Science Center

About the Science Center

Located in the heart of uCity Square, the University City Science Center is a dynamic hub for innovation, and entrepreneurship and technology development in the Greater Philadelphia region. Founded in 1963 as the nations first urban research park, it provides business incubation, programming, lab and office facilities, and support services for entrepreneurs, start-ups, and growing and established companies. Graduate firms and current residents of the Science Centers business incubator support one out of every 100 jobs in Greater Philadelphia and drive $12.9 billion in economic activity in the region annually. For more information about the Science Center, go to http://www.sciencecenter.org or view our 2016 Annual Review at UCSCReview.org
A webcast and survey regarding social media marketing usage and best practices in the construction industry is announced by the Construction Marketing Association (CMA). The Social Media Summit - Construction Webcast is scheduled for Thursday September 21, 2017 (1 pm CST), and is free to both CMA members and non-members.

The webcast will feature panelist Amber Proctor, Ditch Witch Sr. Marketing Communications Manager, and Steve Roop, Director of Interactive at the Littlefield Agency. CMA Chairman Neil Brown will share the results of the national survey on social media marketing in construction.

A national survey will identify social media practices for Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) firms, along with construction brands of all types and sizes, and ultimately the effectiveness of different social media approaches.

Social media is now a primary marketing strategy for all types of brands in the AEC industry," states CMA Chairman Neil M. Brown. "Our national survey and webcast panelists will provide insight into social media usage and best practices."

To register for the free Social Media Summit - Construction Webcast,

link to: http://www.constructionmarketingassociation.org/CMI_Events.cfm.

To take the Social Media in Construction - Survey, link to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Social-Media-Construction-AEC

###

ABOUT CMA

The Construction Marketing Association (CMA) provides professional development and training, resources and information, networking and recognition to marketers in the construction industry. CMA sponsors the annual Construction Marketing STAR Awards, and the Certified Construction Marketing Professional (CCMP) program. Full information on the association is available on the website at http://www.ConstructionMarketingAssociation.org. The site links to the award-winning Construction Marketing Blog with marketing news, resources and related content, and the association's Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn pages. Questions? Contact Neil Brown at 630-868-5061.

ABOUT Amber Proctor

A 17-year veteran of the Ditch Witch organization, Sr. Marketing Communications Manager Amber Proctor has played a major role in achieving "digital leadership" with in-depth social media strategies including an engaged Facebook base of over 225,000 Followers, and a YouTube channel that receives over 60,000 views a month. Other social channels implemented for Ditch Witch include Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and even Snapchat. Beside social, Amber manages web and search for one of the most admired brands in the equipment category.

ABOUT Steve Roop

Steve Roop is Director of Interactive Strategy at Littlefield Advertising, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Steve brings enormous real-world digital experience to his role that includes helping move ESPN from a traditional TV brand to a powerhouse on the web. Other credits include developing and managing websites for big brands like the Breeders Cup and the LPGA. Since joining Littlefield, hes been a key catalyst in web development, content management, and social media for multiple business brands, many of whom were first in their respective industries to implement digital and social channels.

ABOUT Neil M. Brown

Neil Brown is Chairman of the Construction Marketing Association, and CMO of Construction Marketing Advisors. Over more than 20 years, he has managed award-winning marketing for some of the most successful brands in the construction sector including Emerson Electric, USG and Bosch Tools. Prior to the agency-side, Brown was a brand manager at manufacturer IDEAL Industries, and later CMO of an architectural metals manufacturer. Neil is a frequent speaker, author and contributor to BtoB magazine, Advertising Age, Marketing News and the Construction Marketing Blog. He holds a BSMarketing from Southern Illinois University, and an MBA from Northern Illinois University. In 2012, he published the book, Tools of the Trade: Modern Marketing for Construction Brands.
I truly believe that our country owes a huge debt of gratitude to our U.S. veterans. Helping them make a smooth and successful transition from serving our country to financial independence as a franchise owner is our small way of saying thank you.

This month, Closet & Storage Concepts / More Space Place announced it will offer U.S. military veterans a 25% discount on its initial franchise fee as part of the Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative (VetFran) through the International Franchise Association Franchise Education and Research Foundation.

Bob Lewis, President and CEO of Closet & Storage Concepts / More Space Place, holds a personal reverence for the countrys military veterans as the son and the son-in-law of World War II veterans injured in combat, as well as the uncle of a current member of the U.S. Army. Lewis sees the program as an avenue for saluting these honorable men and women and the sacrifices they have made.

I truly believe that our country owes a huge debt of gratitude to our U.S. veterans. Helping them make a smooth and successful transition from serving our country to financial independence as a franchise owner is our small way of saying thank you, explained Lewis.

Not only does Lewis see the program as a way to give back, he also views it as a way to reach out to potential franchise owners with a highly desirable skill set. Although no veterans currently own a Closet & Storage Concepts or More Space Place store of which Lewis is aware, he has heard high praise for military-veteran franchisees from fellow franchise executives.

Having worked in a structured environment, military veterans bring a unique skill set to the marketplace that positions them to successfully execute a proven business model, said Lewis, who added that such qualities make for excellent franchisees.

The VetFran Program uses the three-tiered STAR system inspired by military ranks to help potential military-veteran franchisees assess their franchise options and to recognize the level of commitment of the companies participating in the program. Closet & Storage Concepts / More Space Place earned a 3 STAR rank, meeting all the criteria for a 5 STAR rank with the exception of the number of units open, falling just eight units shy of the 50 required for 5 STAR recognition.

In addition, the 25% discount offered by Closet & Storage Concepts / More Space Place is 10 percentage points higher than the minimum 15% discount for a 1 STAR rank and 5 percentage points higher than the minimum 20% discount to achieve a 5 STAR rank.

Closet & Storage Concepts / More Space Place has more than 400 employees and 42 locations nationwide, positioning the company as one of the largest in the space-saving home furnishings & improvement industry.

In 2017, the company opened one new Closet & Storage Concepts franchise location in Modesto, California, and two new More Space Place stores, Americas #1 retailer of the Murphy bed, in Greenville, South Carolina and in San Antonio, Texas.

Im feeling quite optimistic about our companys future, said Lewis. I hope that by participating in the VetFran Program, we will encourage some of our countrys veterans to join us on the path to success.

For information on franchise opportunities with Closet & Storage Concepts or More Space Place, contact: Tom Harris at (760) 728-8228 or email at tomharris(at)closetandstorageconcepts(dot)com.

About Closet & Storage Concepts

Headquartered in West Berlin, NJ, Closet & Storage Concepts designs, manufactures, and installs a wide variety of custom closet, garage, laundry room, pantry, home office, wall bed, and other home storage products. The company was founded in 1987 by President and CEO Bob Lewis in the southern New Jersey/Philadelphia market. In 2000, Closet & Storage Concepts began offering franchise and dealer business opportunities in the United States and Canada. The privately held company has 13 locations, three company-owned and 10 franchise-owned, in 11 states. For more information, please call 1-800-862-1919 or visit http://www.closetandstorageconcepts.com.

About More Space Place

Headquartered in Clearwater, Fla., More Space Place manufactures and sells Murphy beds, custom closets, and other space-saving solutions for residential and commercial use. Currently, there are 29 franchised retail stores located in 10 states. The franchise got its start in 1985 through a license agreement with the original Murphy Bed Company, the company established by William L. Murphy, the inventor of the Murphy bed. Since then, More Space Place has established itself as the premier retailer for wall beds. For more information, please call 1-888-731-3051 or visit http://www.morespaceplace.com.

Contact

Vince Powers

vpowers(at)powersbc(dot)com

610-644-1022
Today at Cisco Live, Ciscos annual IT and communications conference, NetBeez announced that it is showcasing their network monitoring agents as a Cisco Preferred Solution Partner. The Internet of Everything (IoE) continues to bring together people, processes, data and things to enhance the relevancy of network connections. As a member of the Cisco Solution Partner Program, NetBeez is able to quickly create and deploy solutions to enhance the capabilities, performance and management of the network to capture value in the IoE.

NetBeez is a user-friendly product for network managers primarily interested in early fault detection and quick troubleshooting of complex wide area networks. The system relies on active wired, wireless, and virtual sensors that continuously test connectivity and application performance. Cisco customers that have an Integrated Service Router at remote branch offices can easily deploy NetBeez monitoring agents as ISR virtual services.

As a Cisco Preferred Solution Partner, NetBeez has achieved Cisco compatibility certification for one solution, and can provide its customers with 24-hour, 7-days-a-week customer support. For more information on NetBeez, go to: http://www.marketplace.cisco.com/catalog/companies/netbeez-inc.

Additionally, NetBeez is an exhibitor at Cisco Live on June 26-29 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. NetBeez is located at booth 2900 in the World of Solutions and booth i14 in the Cisco Investments Pavilion. NetBeez CEO Stefano Gridelli will host a session titled Distributed Network Monitoring with Raspberry Pi on Tuesday, June 27 at 3:15 p.m. and Wednesday, June 28 at 11:45 a.m. in the Investments Pavilion Theater. For more information on Cisco Live, visit: http://www.ciscolive.com/us/.

About NetBeez

NetBeez, Inc. was founded in 2013 and provides the only fully-scalable network performance monitoring solution designed for network managers interested in early fault detection and quick troubleshooting of complex wide area networks. The system relies on wired, wireless, and virtual sensors that continuously test connectivity and application performance, allowing network problems to be detected before they affect the end-user. This proactive identification and troubleshooting of complex network issues significantly reduces IT's time to resolution. Please visit http://www.netbeez.net for further information.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.
ACE Award Winners

On Thursday, June 22, the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce hosted its Annual Meeting and Awards for Chamber Excellence (ACE) Luncheon. During the luncheon the Chamber recognized companies and individuals who demonstrated excellence, industry innovation and Chamber support throughout the year. The Chamber also recognized member milestone anniversaries, installed its new board members and heard from Mike Clarke, who shared how the Chamber supported him while he was launching Access National Bank.

Chairman, Charles Kapur, Vice President, Access National Bank is continuing as Chairman for a 2nd term. Charles spoke of the accomplishments of the past year, including a successful B2G Matchmaking Conference, large member retention numbers and continued growth and spoke of his goals for the coming year as being a leading chamber in innovation and technology.

Delegate Pat Herrity administered the oath of office to our incoming and second term Board members, who included:



Matt Brennan, Brennan & Waite, PLC

Mike Coogan, Leidos

Michael Delpierre, Conversion Pipeline

Kevin Krestch, Hyatt Regency Reston

John Dierdorff, Reston Hospital Center

Mike Franz, SOSi

Bruce Gemmill, John Marshall Bank

Leila Gordon, Reston Community Center

Kelly McSweeney, Google

Maggie Parker, Comstock

Laura Siko, Northern Virginia Community College

Mark Watts, CST Group CPAs, PC

Each year, through the ACE presentation, the Chamber recognizes outstanding businesses, volunteers and committees that are leaders in their industry and make the Reston Chamber a successful place to do business. The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce is proud to present the winners of this years Awards for Chamber Excellence:

Committee of the Year: Ambassadors Committee

Small Business of the Year: Pinots Palette - Reston

Medium Business of the Year: Not Your Average Joes - Reston

Large Business of the Year: Leidos

Member of the Year: Kevin Taylor, Communicate By Design

New Member of the Year: Jennifer Rhodes, Tagence

Volunteer of the Year: Dave and JoAnne Adams, Dave & JoAnne Adams Group  Coldwell Banker

Residential Brokerage



Presidents Award: Michael Delpierre, Conversion Pipeline

Pinnacle Award: Angela Inzerillo, Impact Business Solutions

ABOUT THE GREATER RESTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce is the catalyst for business growth and entrepreneurship by providing quality programs, education, connections and advocacy for our members and organizations in Western Fairfax and the Dulles Corridor. Learn more at http://www.RestonChamber.org.
Cuebiq, the largest provider of accurate and precise location data in the U.S., has expanded its international footprint to China through an exclusive partnership with GeTui, a mobile internet integrated service provider based on big data. GeTui currently reaches close to a billion distinct devices in China. As part of the partnership, Cuebiq and GeTui developed a joint machine-learning platform that makes it possible to process and visualize this extensive amount of data into actionable insights and reports about Chinese consumers offline behaviors and trends. The partnership elevates Cuebiqs global user base close to 2 out of 5 smartphone users worldwide*.

GeTuis reports will become a component of Cuebiqs Analytics suite, which the company will make available to retail, quick service restaurants, automotive, and financial services clients on an exclusive basis outside of China. Clients will be able to understand footfall data to retail locations across China, identify visit trends, and measure footfall performance by stores in the Chinese market. Other use cases include exploring cross-shopping activities, understanding share of visits, and discovering consumers brand affinity.

Our partnership with Cuebiq allowed us to build a joint machine-learning platform to analyze and synthesize our data report into actionable trends and insights enhancing our capabilities in a unique way said FangYi, CEO of GETUI. Were excited to continue working with Cuebiq and having this enriched perspective.

We are thrilled to be partnering with GeTui and provide value to them through our analytical capabilities, said Antonio Tomarchio, CEO, Cuebiq. We are very excited to expand our footprint beyond US, Canada and Europe to Asia, and China specifically. Through this partnership, and thanks to GeTuis reporting, we are able to unlock actionable insights based on anonymous users footfall trends at retail locations across China and are providing value not only to GeTui, but also to other businesses worldwide looking for insights into the Chinese market.

To help support this partnership, Cuebiq built out a team of local data scientists to analyze and aggregate the insights into reports. The office is based in Shanghai.



Source: Statista (2017 estimate smartphone users worldwide: 2.32B)

About Cuebiq

Cuebiq is the largest provider of accurate and precise location data in the U.S. Its leading data intelligence platform analyzes location patterns of 61 million monthly active U.S. smartphone users on over 180 mobile apps, allowing businesses to glean actionable insights about real-world consumer behaviors and trends. Cuebiq provides clients geo-behavioral audiences for cross-platform ad targeting, the industry's only SaaS based real-time campaign optimization and footfall attribution tools, and offline location analytics. Cuebiq does not collect any personally identifiable information. Its privacy-sensitive methodology has earned the company membership status with the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), the leading self-regulatory industry association dedicated to responsible data collection and its use for digital advertising.

About GeTui

GeTui is the leading professional push solution provider in China. Trusted by hundreds of thousands of developers, GeTui provides Android and iOS push notification SDK to increase engagement, retention and revenues for Apps. GeTui has built its own data management platform with leveraging distinctive data segmentation methodology and leading big data technology. GeTui now becomes a Mobile Internet integrated service provider based on big data. It has demonstrated expertise in a variety of industries such as marketing, tourism and real estate.
U.S. Top Consumer Goods Brands 2017 While legacy consumer goods brands appear to be traditional, the rookie Ben & Jerrys thrives to be different and sets itself apart by being outspoken and unconventional," stated Mario Natarelli, managing partner at MBLM.

MBLM, the Brand Intimacy Agency focused on strategy, design, creative and technology, today revealed that among consumer goods industry brands, Ben & Jerrys which ranked seventh, stands out for its unconventional and outspoken brand appeal. The youngest brand in the category, Ben & Jerrys was the only one that led in being indulgent versus focusing on nostalgia, the dominant category convention.

Ben & Jerrys ranking so high demonstrates that it is possible for younger brands to take on the giants of an industry and cultivate highly intimate consumer bonds, often challenging the status quo, stated Mario Natarelli, managing partner at MBLM. While legacy consumer goods brands appear to be traditional, the rookie Ben & Jerrys thrives to be different and sets itself apart by being outspoken and unconventional.

Ben & Jerrys goes against the grain of the consumer good industry. The brand is defined by the way it breaks the mold, primarily in its mission to pursue the sustainable corporate concept of linked posterity, and also the way it markets its products, sources its ingredients and participates in sociopolitical conversation.

The brands ice cream is made with fair trade ingredients and its Caring Dairy program encourages dairy farmers to raise happy cows. The brand ranks second in the consumer goods industry and fourth in the overall study for the archetype of indulgence, but it sets apart from other indulgent food brands by providing a globally responsible way for consumers to treat themselves. The brand is also known for its bold, progressive political stances. Additionally, it is very effective on social media. It has more social media mentions per sales dollar than any other restaurant brand with 5,627, which is 66 percent more than the second-place brand Chipotle, according to NetBases Social Media Industry Report 2016: Restaurant Brands. Ben & Jerrys also grows its audience by tapping into existing ones with its pop-culture-themed flavors such as Cherry Garcia (Jerry Garcia) and Bob Marleys One Love.

The top 10 brands for the consumer goods industry are: Hersheys, Quaker, Lays, Kelloggs, Campbells, Nabisco, Ben & Jerrys, Pillsbury, Heinz and Betty Crocker.

Other U.S. consumer goods industry findings from MBLMs 2017 report include:



Nostalgia, which focuses on memories of the past and warm, poignant feels, is the archetype most associated with the industry

The top three brands for millennials are Lays, Ben & Jerrys and Heinz

Hersheys also ranks first with men and women, those 45-64 years old, and those earning $35,000-$75,000

Individuals who earn over $100,000 prefer Kelloggs

This years report contains the most comprehensive rankings of brands based on emotion, analyzing the responses of 6,000 consumers and 54,000 brand evaluations across 15 industries in the U.S., Mexico and UAE. MBLMs reports and interactive Brand Ranking Tool showcase the performance of almost 400 brands, revealing the characteristics and intensity of the consumer bonds.

To download the full Brand Intimacy 2017 Report or explore the Ranking Tool please visit: http://mblm.com/brandintimacy/.

Methodology

During 2016, Praxis Research Partners conducted an online quantitative survey among 6,000 consumers in the United States (3,000), Mexico (2,000), and the United Arab Emirates (1,000). Participants were respondents who were screened for age (i.e. 18 to 64 years of age) and annual household income ($35,000 or more) in the U.S. and socioeconomic levels in Mexico and the UAE (A, B, and C socioeconomic levels). Quotas were established to ensure that the sample mirrored census data for age, gender, income/socioeconomic level, and region. The survey was designed primarily to understand the extent to which consumers have relationships with brands and the strength of those relationships, from fairly detached to highly intimate. It is important to note that this study provides more than a mere ranking of brand performance and was specifically designed to provide prescriptive guidance to marketers. We modeled data from a total of 54,000 brand evaluations to quantify the mechanisms that drive intimacy. Through factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and other sophisticated analytic techniques, the research allows marketers to better understand which levers need to be pulled to build intimacy between brands and consumers.

# # #

About MBLM: Founded in 2004, MBLM is the Brand Intimacy Agency, which is dedicated to creating greater emotional connections between people, brands and technology. With offices in nine countries, its multidisciplinary teams help clients deliver stronger marketing outcomes and returns for the long term. To learn more about creating and sustaining ultimate brand relationships, visit mblm.com.
Davidson Gerson Gallery traces history of American glassmaking from 18th century to today

The Henry Ford announced today that the Davidson-Gerson Gallery of Glass, its newest permanent exhibition inside Greenfield Village, is now open. The new gallery traces the history of American glass making from the 18th century through the present, including works by important designers like Louis Comfort Tiffany and contemporary masters of the Studio Glass movement.

The Henry Fords American glass collection is one of the most comprehensive in the United States, numbering approximately 10,000 pieces. The Davidson-Gerson Gallery of Glass features more than 700 pieces of glass drawn from the collection, including pieces from the recently-acquired Bruce and Ann Bachmann collection of studio glass as well as the collection of Byron and Dorothy Gerson. Located inside the Liberty Craftworks district, the new gallery is adjacent to the Glass Shop to give guests the chance to see talented glassblowers at work and explore one of the richest collections of American glass anywhere in the world right next door.

Guests to the gallery will see the story of Americas first industry unfold from early attempts to produce household objects and window glass in the 18th century to the technical innovations in the 19th century, which led to the country becoming the worlds leader in mass-produced glass. The exhibit looks at how glass went from utility to art, over a period of 300+ years. The gallery includes cases featuring some of the most visually interesting bottles and flasks, a small sampling of The Henry Fords encyclopedic glass collection, and a digital experience kiosk where visitors can peruse glass objects on display and in storage.

The new unique experience blends the creative vision of renowned architectural firm James Carpenter Design Associates in New York with the historic preservation sensitivity of Quinn Evans Architects that is true to the mission of The Henry Ford. The gallery, installed in the former McDonald and Sons Machine Shop, combines the old with the new, including a glass-block entry and custom-designed glass cases to create a state-of-the-art-presentation of glass, storytelling and overall unified guest experience.

The Davidson-Gerson Gallery of Glass inside Greenfield Village was made possible by a generous grant from the William Davidson Foundation in memory of William Davidson and in honor of his sister Dorothy Gerson. The William Davidson Foundation is a private family foundation that honors its founder and continues his lifelong commitment to philanthropy, advancing for future generations the economic, cultural and civic vitality of Southeast Michigan, the State of Israel, and the Jewish community.

This activity is also supported by the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs. For a closer look inside The Henry Fords collection visit: https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/greenfield-village/districts/davidson-gerson-gallery-of-glass/

About The Henry Ford

The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan is an internationally-recognized history destination that explores the American experience of innovation, resourcefulness and ingenuity that helped shape America. A national historic landmark with an unparalleled Archive of American Innovation, The Henry Ford is a force for sparking curiosity and inspiring tomorrows innovators. Nearly 1.8 million visitors annually experience its five attractions: Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, Benson Ford Research Center and The Henry Ford Giant Screen Experience. A continually expanding array of content available online provides anytime, anywhere access. The Henry Ford is also home to Henry Ford Academy, a public charter high school which educates over 500 students a year on the institutions campus. In 2014, The Henry Ford premiered its first-ever national television series, The Henry Fords Innovation Nation, showcasing present-day change-makers and The Henry Fords artifacts and unique visitor experiences. Hosted by news correspondent and humorist, Mo Rocca, this Emmy-winning weekly half-hour show airs Saturday mornings on CBS. For more information please visit our website thehenryford.org.
Hopes are fading for dozens of people still missing following a deadly landslide in southwestern China, where 10 bodies have been recovered so far.

Officials say 93 people remain missing after a huge landslide Saturday buried the mountain village of Xinmo in Sichuan province. Provincial officials on Sunday lowered the earlier body count from 15.

As of Sunday night, only three people,a couple and their month-old baby, had been rescued after the wall of rock and debris destroyed at least 40 houses.

More than 3,000 people -- police, soldiers and civilians -- are participating in the rescue efforts, according to officials, and have been working nonstop to search through the rocks and rubble for survivors.
San Jose Attorney Josh Jachimowicz Joshua R. Jachimowicz has been named a partner at Jachimowicz Law Group. A San Jose, California, firm.

Jachimowicz Law Group is proud to announce that attorney Joshua R. Jachimowicz has been named a partner of the San Jose, California, firm. Jachimowicz is the son of firm owner and veteran attorney Albie B. Jachimowicz.

Joshua Jachimowicz practices criminal defense and personal injury law in the Bay Area. He started working as a law clerk at Jachimowicz Law Group in 2009, while attending law school. He received his Juris Doctor in 2011 from the Santa Clara University. During the same year, he was admitted into the bars for the state of California and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He previous earned a bachelors degree in physics from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2006.

While attending law school, Jachimowicz met his future wife, Caitlin Robinett Jachimowicz, who is also an attorney with Jachimowicz Law Group. She practices criminal defense and civil litigation.

Joshua and Caitlin live with their daughter, Penelope, in Morgan Hill, California, where Jachimowicz Law Group recently opened a second office. Robinett Jachimowicz also serves on the Morgan Hill City Council.

Albie Jachimowicz is a former San Mateo County police officer who received his Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University in 1982. He has represented clients in state and federal court, including for murder cases. Elite Lawyers named him an Elite Personal Injury and Criminal Attorney in California in 2016.

About Jachimowicz Law Group:

Jachimowicz Law Group represents Northern California clients in matters of criminal defense and personal injury. The firm also has experience in cases of employment law, workplace accidents and business litigation. They have convenient office locations in San Jose and Morgan Hill. To schedule a free consultation with one of the attorneys, call 408-246-5500 or visit http://www.jachlawgroup.com.
Cigarette Soup now streaming across digital platforms Cigarette Soup tells the story of a young aspiring journalist who gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is embedded with a small band of American soldiers during the height of the war in Afghanistan.

DLP Media announced today that it will be donating proceeds from their new film Cigarette Soup to the Semper Fi Fund. The Semper Fi Fund has been providing financial assistance and support to wounded, critically ill and injured service members of all U.S. Armed Forces and their families since 2004. Cigarette Soup starring Tobias Truvillion, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Dina Shihabi and Joe Perrino is now available on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, Verizon FiOS and others. Details are available at http://www.cigarettesoup.com.

"The Semper Fi Fund is a key component in our countrys ability to support and care for our returning veterans and their families from wars and peace keeping missions. Their drive to work non-stop to assist those that put their lives on the line for us is something we feel needs all our help, said the films writer and director Damian Voerg. "We hope that we are able to bring audiences into the lives of our service members in combat while being able to give some support to an organization like the Semper Fi Fund that has given so much to veterans and their families."

Cigarette Soup tells the story of a young aspiring journalist who gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is embedded with a small band of American soldiers during the height of the war in Afghanistan. After a surprise attack, they become separated from their unit and find themselves trapped in an insurgent bunker, surrounded on all sides by the enemy. During their time together, the journalist is able to interview these brave soldiers and uncover who they are, where they come from and their unique personal path they have taken. He finds that in the face of terror, there is still kindness and hope, even in the worst face of humanity.

Cigarette Soup is distributed by Gravitas Ventures and now available on all the major VOD platforms like iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay and Vudu as well cable networks including Verizon FiOS and Dish Network. Be sure to check your local cable company. Cigarette Soup won Best Feature Film at the 2014 Long Island International Film Expo. Cigarette Soup is distributed by Gravitas Ventures. For more details on the Semper Fi Fund visit semperfifund.org.

About Damian Voerg:

Cigarette Soup is the feature film debut of writer & director Damian Voerg. He has written and directed numerous films including Situation featuring Joseph Gannascoli who played Vito on The Sopranos. Damians next feature Cope - which he wrote and will be directing - is slated for a 2018 release. Voerg is a native of Saugerties, New York, the home of Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and Col. Roger Donlon, the first recipient of the Medal of Honor for the Vietnam War. Damian is also the author of several scripts including an epic true story set in 1911 Europe, entitled The Rome Prize.

About Semper Fi Fund:

The Semper Fi Fund provides urgently needed resources and lifetime support for post-9/11 wounded, critically ill and injured members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. Case managers from the Semper Fi Fund work one-on-one with service members and veterans in order to understand and support their individual needs immediately and throughout their lifetime. We keep our overhead low so our impact on the lives of service members and veterans is high. The Semper Fi Fund has been awarded the highest ratings from charity watchdog groups for six consecutive years: A+ from CharityWatch, one of only two veteran nonprofits to receive this rating, and 4-Stars from Charity Navigator. Learn more at semperfifund.org.

About Gravitas Ventures:

Gravitas Ventures is a leading all rights distributor of independent cinema. Founded in 2006, Gravitas connects independent filmmakers and producers with distribution opportunities across the globe. Working with more than 500 content partners, Gravitas Ventures has distributed thousands of films into over 100 million homes. Their most recent releases include Jonathan Hocks Fastball, Colin Hanks All Things Must Pass, Being Evel from Academy Award winning director Daniel Junge and producer Johnny Knoxville, Backstreet Boys: Show Em What Youre Made Of, director Adam Nimoys documentary, For The Love of Spock, Richard Bransons harrowing tale, Dont Look Down, Katie Holmess feature directorial debut, All We Had, and the comic documentary Dying Laughing. For more information, please visit gravitasventures.com, follow @GravitasVOD on Twitter and @gravitasventures on Instagram.

Contact:

Cigarette Soup

Alfred Hopton

ahopton.pr(at)gmail(dot)com

Semper Fi Fund

Sandy Hendren

sandy.hendren(at)semperfifund(dot)org
Alysia Heun and David Celaya

Realty Executives International is excited to announce the promotions of company leaders David Celaya to Vice President, and Alysia Heun to Vice President of Franchise Services.

David Celaya has spent the last decade studying the market in roles that have spanned both the mortgage and real estate industries. He joined the Realty Executives network in 2008, beginning in real estate sales. He quickly stood out as a top-performer and was tapped for a Regional Trainer position at Realty Executives International in 2011. In 2015, he took on greater responsibility as the VP of Training and Product Development, translating the needs of Brokers and agents into the development of proprietary technology tools and training.

David brings a critical, agent-centric perspective, and in his new role as Vice President he will continue to be instrumental in the growth and development of the Realty Executives brand, says David Tedesco, CEO of Realty Executives International.

Alysia Heun is an MBA graduate with a diverse background in hospitality, education and marketing. She joined the company as a Franchise Support Specialist in 2013, quickly advancing to Director of Franchise Services. In her time at the company she has built a comprehensive support and concierge services system, setting the pace for the industry as this department answers 3x the requests in half the time compared to the industry average. Heun was recently named in Franchise Business Reviews Women in Franchising report.

"In her expanded role as Vice President of Franchise Services, Alysia will take the helm of the Communications Team in addition to her current responsibilities, bringing Realty Executives Internationals Franchise Services teams closer together, adds Tedesco.

Realty Executives International continues to expand, refining the brand to better support growth and development. The company is expected to grow to 25,000 to 30,000 agents within the next few years, and will be rolling out new programs geared towards high-performing agents and teams soon.

About Realty Executives Intl. Svcs. LLC

Established in 1965, Realty Executives International is one of the largest and most established real estate franchise systems in the world today, with over 8,000 agents and 500 offices globally. The company offers disruptive, flexible pricing models for unrivaled mobile technology, business tools, training and service while providing protected territories to qualified franchisees worldwide. The Scottsdale-based, privately held company has been ranked as a leader in the real estate industry by publications like Entrepreneur, Success and Inc. magazines. For additional company information visit http://www.RealtyExecutives.com.
CMA Vocal Group of the Year Little Big Town and the 2017 CMA Music Teachers of Excellence. Photo: Dusty Draper / CMA. The CMA Foundation has been a great friend to NAfME and the teachers and students for whom we advocate. The generosity of the CMA Foundation on behalf of music education advocacy is boundless.

The generous support of music education by the Country Music Association (CMA) and CMA Foundation over the past 11 years is well known in music and music education circles. And in recent years, the influential voice of the CMA Foundation has been heard on Capitol Hill.

National Association for Music Education (NAfME) is proud to name the CMA Foundation the 2017 Stand for Music award winner. The CMA Foundation is the sixth recipient of the Stand for Music Award. Previous recipients include: Andrew Dost of the band fun. (2014); Brooklyn-based band San Fermin (2015); Barbershop Harmony Societys 2009 International Champion Quartet, Crossroads (2016); and Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington (2016) for their work on the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which included, for the first time in history, music listed as a stand-alone subject, necessary for a well-rounded education.

NAfME is grateful to the CMA Foundation for their tireless support of the cause of music education, said Michael J. Blakeslee, NAfMEs Executive Director and CEO. The CMA Foundation has been a great friend to the Association and the teachers and students for whom we advocate. From their financial and personnel support of NAfME affiliate Give a Note Foundations Music In Our Schools Tour; to recognizing music educators as Music Teachers of Excellence for the past two years and awarding them grants; to joining us on Capitol Hill these past two years to advocate for music; to bestowing a $150,000 grant to Give a Note and NAfME for research on music education access in the United Statesthe generosity of the CMA Foundation on behalf of music education advocacy is boundless. Moreover, the research results will help future benefactors know where the need is greatest for music education, and where the infrastructure exists to make gifts sustainable and impactful, so they can best focus their resources.

The CMA Foundation works from the belief that every child who wants access to music has the right to it, and that every music educator should know they are an invaluable part of their students success, said Joe Galante, CMA Foundation Chairman. NAfME has been a tremendous partner to the Foundation as we pursue these important, common goals, and we are honored to stand next to them as advocates.

The Stand for Music Award is bestowed upon supporters who:

 demonstrate excellence in their craft of music or support those who do;

 amplify the benefits of music education and training, such as: innovation, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and other 21st century skills;

 speak to musics power in the lives of students as they prepare to be our nations next leaders and innovators; and

 support music teachers and the schools and communities that support them.

NAfMEs Stand for Music Award is its most prestigious music education advocacy honor. Bestowed only upon select, appropriate recipients through the course of NAfMEs 110- year history, the award recognizes personal commitment to the promotion of the music education cause, both through engagement with policymakers and outreach to potential music education supporters.

On June 29, NAfME will lead the single largest gathering of music education advocates to Capitol Hill. The event also will feature advocacy training, a special Collegiate Advocacy Summit, and an award ceremony, including the presentation of the Stand for Music Award to the CMA Foundation.

NAfME is grateful to the CMA Foundation for its enduring support of the importance of ensuring access to music education programs, for all young people.

###

National Association for Music Education, among the worlds largest arts education organizations, is the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. NAfME advocates at the local, state, and national levels; provides resources for teachers, parents, and administrators; hosts professional development events; and offers a variety of opportunities for students and teachers. The Association orchestrates success for millions of students nationwide and has supported music educators at all teaching levels for more than a century. With more than 130,000 members, the organization is the voice of music education in the United States.

Follow NAfME on Twitter (twitter.com/nafme) and on Facebook (facebook.com/nafme).

For additional information, contact Catherina Hurlburt at catherinah@nafme.org or 703-860-4000, ext. 216.

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CMA created the nonprofit 501(c)(3) CMA Foundation in 2011. Guided by the generosity of the Country Music community, the CMA Foundation focuses on improving and sustaining music education programs everywhere while supporting worthwhile causes important to the Country Music Association. In 2017, the CMA Foundation has earmarked a record $3.1 million to 44 in- and after-school music education programs across the country, bringing the Foundations total contributions to date to more than $17.5 million, touching the lives of one million students. For more information, visit CMAfoundation.org or the CMA Foundation official Facebook page (facebook.com/cmagivesback).

Contact: Courtney Beebe at CMA Foundation

cbeebe@CMAworld.com or (615) 244-2840
Set to run from July 1st to September 1st and is open to all incoming freshmen and students enrolled in a secondary education institution. We wanted to give back by helping someone with their college dream, while also teaching students and their parents about campus safety.

SABRE, the number one brand of pepper spray trusted by police and consumers worldwide, is holding a national scholarship Sweepstakes that will award one winner with $15,000 in scholarship funds.



The Safe Is Smart Scholarship Sweepstakes is set to run from July 1 to September 1just in time for the back to school season.



Recent campus safety statistics show an increased danger for studentsparticularly femaleswith up to 1 in 5 college women encountering sexual assault and nearly 10,000 students each year enduring aggravated assaults and robberies during their time in college.

SABRE is working to enhance awareness of the safety steps students need to take when they get to campus. However, they also want to encourage students with the chance at winning a scholarship to apply to their studies.

Our decision to award a scholarship was twofold, explains SABRE CEO David Nance. We wanted to give back by helping someone with their college dream, while also teaching students and their parents about campus safety.



SABRE has spent more than forty years in the personal safety market and partnered with elite law enforcement professionals to further their understanding of self-defense tactics.



"Our goal is to help educate as many students as possible about the importance of personal safety, and by doing so, we are sharing important tips, as well as information about our safety products that can help students escape to safety should it arise," said Nance.

SABRE is encouraging students to follow these safety tips both on and off campus.



Before unpacking their boxes, students should check out what free safe ride or walking services are offered by the campus.

Students should take a safety seminar or attend a self-defense class. Many colleges offer them free or for credit, and the techniques and strategies can be lifesaving.

For students moving from dorms to apartments, a personal alarm provides portable security. SABRE offers many compact options as well as a Dorm/Apartment Kit for keeping personal belongings safe.

Prepare themselves with pepper sprays and gelsone of the most effective ways to deter or distract an attacker, and permitted on most campuses. SABRE has the most potent and reliable options on the market.

Stick togetherthere is safety in numbers, so stay close to friends when going out or coming home late from parties.



For parents, this time in their familys lives are excitingbut also stressful as they are seeing their children go off on their own, often for the very first time, said Nance. Were hoping to give them peace of mind by teaching their kids how to stay safe both on and off campus.



The Safe Is Smart Scholarship Sweepstakes is open to all incoming freshmen and students enrolled in a secondary education institution.



To enter, go to: http://www.safeissmart.com/scholarship. Entrants will watch a video about campus protection and the latest in personal safety, before being able to register and submit their information.



About

SABRE, the no. 1 pepper spray trusted by police and consumers worldwide, is family owned and operated with four decades of experience and is the leading brand in personal safety. The companys law enforcement grade pepper sprays provide consumers with the same superior quality chosen exclusively by the New York Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and law enforcement agencies worldwide. SABRE has trained 3,500 officers around the globe on the use of force and how to use pepper spray. SABRE also has a line of consumer personal alarms and home security systems, and is dedicated to educating its customers. SABREs Personal Safety Academy is available through certified instructors around the world to help teach personal safety skills to SABRE users. Learn more at http://www.SABREred.com, on Facebook at SABRE-Security Equipment Corporation, on Twitter @SABRERed or on Instagram
Elba Pareja-Gallagher, founder of ShowMe50

APICS, the premier professional association for end-to- end supply chain management, and ShowMe50, the one-of- a-kind non-profit for closing the gender leadership gap have joined forces in Atlanta. Together they will deliver unique programming to accelerate the business imperative for greater gender diversity at the top.

I started ShowMe50 because I know the subtle and not-so- subtle barriers women face inside corporate America, said founder, Elba Pareja-Gallagher. Through this alliance with APICS we will inspire men and women to lead change inside their companies and break down those barriers in win-win ways.

Goals for the partnership include:



Engage men in the conversation and the solutions to close the gender leadership gap

Strengthen the engagement of women in APICS to increase their participation in professional and leadership development programs

Identify and support qualified women to fill industry speaking and panel roles and board seats

Launch the High Performing Diverse Board Training program designed to modernize non-profit board-level leadership and behaviors

Grow ShowMe50 Lean In Circle and Ambassador membership

APICS Atlanta is excited to partner on this initiative to become leading advocates for greater gender diversity in our industry, said Scott W. Luton, Executive Vice President of APICS Atlanta. We believe the APICS/ShowMe50 alliance will be a game changer for attracting, developing and retaining diverse talent in supply chain and manufacturing. On behalf of our entire Board of Directors, we believe this new strategic partnership will add significant value to our service to the Metro Atlanta and Georgia market.

The next APICS Atlanta event is September 12th, 2017, where the organization will be partnering with the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance and Rise Against Hunger to host a community service and networking event. The next ShowMe50 Lean In Circle meets on July 17, in Sandy Springs. Information can be found on their respective websites.

About APICS: APICS is a global professional association dedicated to promoting the principles of operations and supply chain management through research and education and through professional certifications: Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM), Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) and Certified in Logistics, Transportation and Distribution (CLTD) recognition for individuals. APICS also offers SCORE assessments and certifications for corporations. Founded in 1964, the non-profit APICS Atlanta Chapter conducts a wide variety of programming that offers professional development, best practices and networking for its almost 700 members in the Metro Atlanta area. For more information, please visit our website at: http://www.apicsatlanta.org/.

About ShowMe50: ShowMe50 is an Atlanta-based organization that is helping to drive internal and external discussions in the corporate world regarding increasing the advancement opportunities for women and how these opportunities also benefit men. In conjunction with the Lean In Circle movement popularized by Facebooks Sheryl Sandberg, ShowMe50 looks to identify and remove the barriers women face inside their companies and teach employees how to influence their companies to change the policies and practices that limit opportunity. More information can be found at http://www.showme50.org/.
Last month, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed an executive order declaring a public health emergency in response to a statewide opioid epidemic, allowing Florida to accept a federal grant worth more than $54 million over the next two years.(1) Novus Medical Detox Center, a leading Florida-based drug treatment facility, applauds the move for its potential to help more Floridians transition into treatment and recovery, but notes that further efforts are needed on a national level to resolve the current U.S. opioid crisis.

Drug overdoses claimed the lives of 3,228 Floridians in 2015, while the overdose death rate increased 22.7% over the previous year.(2) Opioids alone caused 2,538 deaths statewide in 2015, and contributed to an additional 1,358 fatalities.(1) In total, Florida medical examiners documented 3,896 occurrences of prescription opioids, methadone and/or heroin as a primary cause of death, whether alone or in combination, and 3,397 additional occurrences in which opioids were present in the decedents system at time of death.(3)

Floridas staggering opioid overdose statistics are not an anomaly, but rather a symptom of a larger national epidemic. This problem wont go away on its own; it requires ongoing interventions at the federal, state and local levels, asserted Bryn Wesch, CFO of Novus Medical Detox Center. Governor Scott has taken a critical first step in declaring a state of emergency over the opioid crisis and accepting a federal grant to fund prevention, treatment and recovery services. The next step is to reach out to Floridians struggling with substance use disorders and connect them to appropriate opioid treatment programs.

According to a 2016 report by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, substance use disorders affect 20.8 million Americans; yet only 1 in 10 receive any kind of specialty treatment.(4) Murthy emphasized that addiction is not a character flaw, but a chronic illness that should be treated with the same skill and compassion as other medical conditions. Wesch is hopeful that the cultural shift driven by Murthy and other healthcare officials, together with increased funding, will mark a turning point in the opioid epidemic and help close the current treatment gap.

State officials should make an effort to inform citizens of the types of support and resources available to them. Individuals with opioid use disorders are more likely to seek help if they know theyll be facing treatment rather than reprisals or recriminations, explained Wesch. For years, Florida has been at the epicenter of the opioid crisis, and has suffered mounting fatalities as a result. By declaring a state of emergency and taking proactive measures to address the current epidemic, our state has the opportunity to establish itself as a leader in opioid treatment and recovery. I can only hope that other states will learn from our example.

To ensure the best chance of success, Wesch calls for outcome-focused interventions and individually customized treatments. She encourages opioid users to seek out medically supervised detox programs, which are designed to help ease patients through the discomfort of opiate/opioid withdrawal and prepare them for the next stages of treatment, such as rehab or counseling. Finally, Wesch urges state programs to include ongoing support and assistance that promotes lasting, long-term recovery.

For more information on Novus Medical Detox Center and its medically supervised opiate and opioid treatment programs, visit https://novusdetox.com.

About Novus Medical Detox Center:

Novus Medical Detox Center has earned The Joint Commissions Gold Seal of Approval for Behavioral Health Care Accreditation as an inpatient medical detox facility. Licensed by the Florida Department of Children and Families, Novus provides safe, effective alcohol and drug treatment programs that are based on proven medical protocols and designed to minimize the discomfort of withdrawal. The facility is located on 3.25 acres in New Port Richey, Florida, in a tranquil, spa-like setting bordering protected conservation land. Intent on proving that detox doesnt have to be painful or degrading, Novus set out to transform the industry by bringing humanity into medical detox with individually customized treatment programs and 24/7 access to nursing care and withdrawal specialists. Today, Novus is renowned as a champion of industry standardization and a staunch advocate of patients fighting to overcome substance use disorders. Frequently recognized for its contributions to the industry and local community, Novus has become a regular source to media publications such as The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, and has ranked in the Tampa Bay Business Journals Fast 50, the Florida Business Journals Top 500 and the Inc. 5000 list of Americas fastest-growing companies. For more information on Novus medically supervised detox programs visit https://novusdetox.com.

1. Auslen, Michael. Gov. Scott Declares Public Health Emergency Over Opioid Crisis; Miami Herald; May 3, 2017. miamiherald.com/news/health-care/article148355444.html

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Drug Overdose Death Data; CDC website; last updated December 16, 2016. cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html

3. Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Medical Examiners Commission; Drugs Identified in Deceased Persons by Florida Medical Examiners: 2015 Annual Report; September 2016. http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/cms/MEC/Publications-and-Forms/Documents/Drugs-in-Deceased-Persons/2015-Annual-Drug-Report.aspx

4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General. Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon Generals Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health, Executive Summary; November 2016. addiction.surgeongeneral.gov/executive-summary.pdf
The new innovations we are releasing today have never before been available as a unified solution in the classroom or home and we believe it will significantly transform the K-12 education experience.

PowerSchool, the leading provider of K-12 education technology solutions, today announced major new updates to its Unified Classroom platform. Enhanced with a student-centric approach to learning, the Unified Classroom connects the classroom and home in a single solution. From improved data-driven instruction to a 360-degree view of a students performance, the new release enables educators to personalize and individualize instruction to drive student success.

In an independent survey of teachers and administrators commissioned by PowerSchool, 97% said using disparate technology solutions was a significant obstacle impacting their efficiency, productivity, and ability to effectively instruct in the classroom. With the Unified Classroom, teachers interact with an easy-to-use dashboard to view and action all of their key data and tasks eliminating the need for multiple systems. From administration, to instruction, and key communications, the solution is designed to give teachers time back to spend with their students.

In today's learning, students, teachers, and parents benefit from real-time access to content, knowledge assessment, and immediate feedback, said Kecia Ray, Executive Director for the Center of Digital Learning. The easier it is to access real time information related to student performance, the easier it is to improve instruction and learning outcomes.

The new dashboard also identifies early warning signs of declining student performance such as absenteeism, missing assignments, and any drop in grades. This gives parents and teachers alike a comprehensive view of where students are in their path to success.

When teachers have to search for information in multiple platforms, it creates a barrier to successfully assessing, evaluating, analyzing, and providing recommendations on student performance, stated Reinette Chenard of Regional School Unit 10 District in Maine. The Unified Classroom will give us greater insight into student data to better drive curriculum decisions. It is going to be extremely convenient for our teachers and administrators to dig deeper into the data, create interventions if needed, and monitor progress and student growth.

The 2017 summer release of PowerSchools Unified Classroom includes six major updates:



New unified user experience designed in collaboration with educators to optimize their time  Interact with an easy-to-use and simplified user interface that provides a unified calendar, notifications, events, notes, centralized actions, search, and reporting allowing more time for personalized learning and collaboration.

New 360-degree view of students enabling effective data-driven instruction - Track all aspects of a students behavior, attendance, assignments, digital content usage, grades, discussions, wikiprojects, eportfolio, and progress throughout their entire educational career -- from attendance, to academic performance and standard learning mastery -- now in real time, with a single classroom solution.

New unified learning and assessment platform for personalized instruction  Empower teachers and administrators to implement best practice instructional strategies with over 60 item types. These include accessibility, robust item banks, a learning management system with blended learning content from curriculum providers and open education resources, all allowing you to continually adjust instruction to enhance each students educational experience.

New early warning and student progress analytics to ensure student success for all - Gain real-time visibility into student performance to identify where they may be struggling based on attendance, student engagement, grades and standard progress to enable proactive positive behavior enforcement, intervention, and individual learning paths.

New student and parent portal with activity feed to drive increased engagement  Connect the home to the classroom  now teachers, parents, and students can all communicate, collaborate, and access the same information and activities in real time to help optimize student learning.

New platform support to securely integrate with other classroom tools - Increase security with a new embedded identity management system to help teachers securely integrate centralized account management and multi-factor authentication with other systems used in conjunction with the Unified Classroom.

The team at PowerSchool is driven by a passionate belief that unified and simplified technology is critical to empowering educators and parents to help students reach their full potential, said Hardeep Gulati, PowerSchool CEO. The new innovations we are releasing today have never before been available as a unified solution in the classroom or home and we believe it will significantly transform the K-12 education experience.

PowerSchool is showcasing the new innovations at ISTE 2017 in their Classroom of the Future interactive exhibit in room 207A. You can also learn more about the new functionality within the Unified Classroom by visiting unifiedclassroom.com.

About PowerSchool Group LLC

PowerSchool is the leading K-12 education technology provider of solutions that improve the education experience for 100 million students, teachers, and parents in over 70 countries around the world. We provide the industrys first Unified Classroom experience, empowering teachers with best-in-class, secure, and compliant online solutions, including student information systems, learning management and classroom collaboration, assessment, analytics, behavior, and special education case management. We streamline school office and administration operations with online solutions for student registration, school choice, and finance/HR/ERP. We drive student growth through digital classroom capabilities and engage families through real-time communications across any device. Visit https://www.powerschool.com/ to learn more.
With Smart Play in the Lightspeed Systems Web Filter and Lightspeed Systems Relay for Chrome, safe YouTube and Vimeo access can be enabled with one click. "With Smart Play, IT departments can expose their students to millions of learning opportunities at the click of a button," says Lightspeed Systems President and CEO Brian Thomas.

Today, at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) annual conference, ed-tech solution provider Lightspeed Systems unveiled Smart Play, an innovative new tool to ease safe video streaming in K-12 schools. Backed by a video database of 26 million videos and counting, this groundbreaking feature opens educationally valuable videos to students while protecting them from explicit and graphic content.

Ensuring students have access to appropriate online video content is one of the top IT challenges K-12 schools face today. Giving students unrestricted access to sites like YouTube and Vimeo makes unsafe content available, violating Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA) standards; however, blocking all access to these sites limits valuable educational opportunities. While solutions for this issue exist, they have been difficult and time-consuming for schools to implement.

Smart Play  available within Lightspeed Systems Web Filter and Chromebook filtering/monitoring solution Relay for Chrome  utilizes machine-learning technology to analyze video content and make an unrivaled selection of educational videos available to students. At the time of launch, Smart Plays database included more than 26 million videos, and hundreds of thousands of videos will be added to this total each day. IT administrators using Web Filter or Relay for Chrome can enable this revolutionary new tool with just one click in the solutions interface.

When we speak to school IT professionals around the world, they almost always ask us what they can do to make YouTube content safe and available to students, says Lightspeed Systems President and CEO Brian Thomas. Until recently, all the options at their disposal gave students too much access or not enough. With Smart Play, IT departments can expose their students to millions of learning opportunities at the click of a button while blocking videos that dont belong in schools.

To learn more about Lightspeed Systems Web Filter and Lightspeed Systems Relay for Chrome, visit http://www.lightspeedsystems.com.

About Lightspeed Systems

Lightspeed Systems partners with schools to make learning safe, mobile and easily managed. Partnered with 6,500 districts in the United States and 25,000 schools around the world, Lightspeed Systems offers integrated solutions for smarter K-12 school networks: Web Filter, Mobile Manager, Management Bundle for Windows, and Relay for Chrome. To learn more, visit http://www.lightspeedsystems.com.
As a company rooted in online marketing solutions, it is our mission to continually develop and deliver industry leading products and services that help our customers connect with end users throughout their path to purchase.

Dominion Web Solutions, the leading online classifieds marketplace and marketing software solutions provider for commercial and recreational dealers, announced today that it has changed its company name to Trader Interactive. The name change directly reflects the companys focus on creating innovative online interactions for businesses and consumers, while leveraging the strength of the Trader brand.

The announcement also follows the recent appointment of Lori Stacy as the company's CEO. Stacy has been a loyal member of the Trader family for 20 years, holding other senior level executive positions and successfully managing businesses in varying industries such as recreational, marine, travel, and parenting.

The new name emphasizes our commitment to finding innovative ways for buyers and sellers to interact said Stacy. As a company rooted in online marketing solutions, it is our mission to continually develop and deliver industry leading products and services that help our customers connect with end users throughout their path to purchase.

With a brand portfolio that includes business-to-consumer websites Cycle Trader, RV Trader, ATV Trader, PWC Trader, Snowmobile Trader and Aero Trader, as well as the business-to-business brands Commercial Truck Trader, Commercial Web Services, Equipment Trader, and RV Web Services  Trader Interactive attracts over 7 million unique visitors monthly and serves over 6,700 customers collectively.

Along with the name change, the company adopted all new corporate branding including a new logo, visual identity, and website that can be found at http://www.TraderInteractive.com. The changes are effective immediately and will be implemented across the company's products and services.

The announcement follows Trader Interactive's recent acquisition by Eurazeo, a leading global investment company listed in Paris, and Goldman Sachs, Merchant Banking Division.

About Trader Interactive

Trader Interactive is the leading online classifieds marketplace and marketing software solutions provider to commercial and recreational dealers. Our mission to bring buyers and sellers together remains the core of our businesses. With a robust portfolio of B2C brands, consisting of Cycle Trader, RV Trader, ATV Trader, PWC Trader, Snowmobile Trader and Aero Trader, and a suite of industry leading B2B brands including Commercial Truck Trader, Commercial Web Services, Equipment Trader and RV Web Services -- Trader Interactives sites produce over 7 million unique visitors monthly. We are focused on supporting our dealer and manufacturers by driving impressive results and committed to providing innovative products to ensure that our customers generate leads, drive sales and maximize profits. Trader Interactive has 10 businesses and approximately 300 employees with our home office located in Norfolk, VA.
"These are two very populist leaders," with aspirations for transformation, notes Satu Limaye. He is director of the Washington office of the East-West Center, an American nonprofit group dedicated to promoting public diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region.

"We're really seeking to roll out the red carpet," a senior U.S. official said of the visit, which will feature the first dinner Trump will host at the White House for a foreign dignitary. "It'll be a long interaction and lots of time for the two leaders to get to know each other," the senior official told White House reporters Friday.

"It's going to be a robust discussion," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said of what will be the first face-to-face talks between India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The bearers of two potentially clashing slogans, "Made in India" and "America First," will finally meet Monday at the White House.

The news from Modi's and Trump's tweets is likely to come from their announcement of transactions, rather than geopolitical agreements. "The U.S. wants to treat India as a major defense partner in concrete terms [on a par] with our closest allies and partners," says the senior White House official.

While Trump likes to set the tone with a very firm handshake, the barrel-chested Indian leader breaks the ice with bear hugs. What they have both embraced is enthusiasm for Twitter, and they are among the most followed political figures on social media. Both will surely want to tout the success of this visit in 140 characters or less.

Their origins are not only separated by a distance of 12,000 km: Modi helped his father sell tea from a Gujarat street stall, while Trump's tutelage was in property development. "Their personal backgrounds don't matter at this point," Limaye tells VOA. "They are professional dealmakers."

 Billion-Dollar Drone Deal Expected

A California drone-maker, General Atomics, confirms a deal is imminent for the sale of 22 Guardian (MQ-9) unarmed drones to India's navy for maritime patrolling. The deal, estimated to be worth up to $3 billion, originally raised concerns at the State Department about putting such sophisticated surveillance capabilities in the Indian Ocean, where tensions could arise between India and its rival Pakistan.

"We don't believe they represent a threat to Pakistan," counters the U.S. official. "It's not a zero-sum game." Also highlighted will be a tentative deal between Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems to produce F-16 fighter jets in India.

A senior White House official notes these defense deals support "thousands of American jobs," but that may not be enough to appease some U.S. commercial sectors. With a $24 billion trade surplus in Indias favor, American manufacturers want action by Washington on a range of issues, including tariffs and localization, intellectual property and eliminating price controls on medical devices.

"I think this is an opportunity for the prime minister and President Trump to sit down and figure out ways that both sides can grow their economies through the right set of trade policies," the vice president of international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers, Linda Dempsey, told VOA.

 India's Values, Ideas Are Close to U.S.

On the other hand, a former high-ranking U.S. diplomat who served as ambassador to India in the early 1990s under President George H.W. Bush, Thomas Pickering, says he is concerned the two leaders will focus on short-term economic gains, at the expense of nurturing a longer-term strategic relationship.

Pickering tells VOA the Trump administration should see that India "espouses values and ideas that are much closer to ours than the other dominant country in Asia" -- China. A focus on commerce rather than geopolitics may come as a relief to traditionally nonaligned India.

"India doesn't want a relationship with the U.S. built on an anti-China policy," says Limaye.

The two governments are working on a joint statement about fighting terrorism, and a senior White House official says: "We can expect to see some new initiatives on counterterrorism cooperation."

 India Expects More Attention from U.S.

There is angst in New Delhi that Trump has not paid adequate attention to India, especially in contrast to his repeated praise for China and its leader, Xi Jinping.

For Trump, "Foreign policy, on the whole, is not a priority, with the exception of the hot-ticket issues generating the headlines: Russia, Syria, ISIS, and the like," says Michael Kugelman, deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center. "In that regard, India has indeed been left in the lurch."

"There have been two very good [Trump-Modi] phone calls," a senior White House official rebuts. "It would be wrong to say this administration has been ignoring or not focusing on India."

Trump has generally been positive about India in public messaging. He previously visited Mumbai as a businessman, and he has Trump-branded properties in the country.

"He's not new to India," says the senior White House official, who also emphasizes that the president appreciates the contribution Indians have made to the U.S. economy, in particular through their embrace of innovation and entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley.

Both Trump and Modi enjoy support from a significant portion of the 3.5 million-member community of Indian-Americans. "This is the ballast in the relationship," says Limaye. "But I don't think it's a determiner."

Trump has named several members of the community to important positions. Nikki Haley is U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Ajit Pai is chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and Seema Verma runs Medicare and Medicaid programs under the Department of Health and Human Services.
Fans meeting their favorite romance authors at the last Romance Writers of America event. There are 36 million adults in the United States who lack basic education and literacy skills. For adult students, literacy is the key to higher learning and a window to the world. Over the years, RWAs donations to ProLiteracy have helped break the cycle.

Romance Writers of America (RWA) is the 2017 recipient of the ProLiteracy Presidents Award for the groups service and dedication to adult literacy. Each year RWA hosts an annual book-signing event in support of adult literacy. At the "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing, hundreds of romance authors meet with and sign books for fans, with the proceeds from book sales going to ProLiteracy and local literacy programs. Romance Writers of America has raised more than $1 million in total donations since 1990.

There are 36 million adults in the United States who lack basic education and literacy skills. For adult students, literacy is the key to higher learning and a window to the world. Over the years, RWAs donations to ProLiteracy have helped break the cycle of poverty, elevate workforce skills, and improve the quality of life for adults worldwide, says Kevin Morgan, president and CEO of ProLiteracy. ProLiteracy is thankful to the authors, readers, publishers, and literacy partners who have supported us, and helped RWA to improve so many lives through literacy.

"On behalf of the board, the members, and the staff of Romance Writers of America, I wish to sincerely express our appreciation for being selected to receive the President's Award, says Allison Kelley, executive director of RWA. RWA began working with Laubach Literacy in 1991, and we are very proud of our long-standing relationship with the combined organization now known as ProLiteracy Worldwide. Storytelling is fundamental to the human experience, and romance fiction explores issues of universal and eternal human interest, thus RWA and its members support the axiom that literacy is individually and culturally vital. We are proud not only of the money that we have raised through our partnership with ProLiteracy Worldwide, but how lives have been changed."

The 2017 "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing will be held on Saturday, July 29 from 3:00  5:00 p.m. at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort, Pacific Hall. The event is open to the public and is free of charge to attend. You do not need to register to attend this event as a fan. Florida Literacy Coalition is the local recipient this year.

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About ProLiteracy:

For more than 60 years, ProLiteracy has been working across the globe to create a world where every person can read and write. ProLiteracy promotes adult literacy through content development, programs, and advocacy. Our goal is to help literacy programs increase the quantity and quality of services provided. ProLiteracy has 1,000 member programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and works with 52 nongovernmental organizations in 34 developing countries. For more information about ProLiteracy, please visit http://www.proliteracy.org.
Alliance Logo

The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities released a statement today on the impact the Senate health care bill will have on populations served by the Medicaid program.

"The Senates health care bill, H.R. 1628, The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, was developed without benefit of hearings, public debate or input from either health care consumers or health or human services professionals. As drafted, it would fundamentally alter our countrys health care and human services systems, noted Susan N. Dreyfus, president and CEO of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities.

We are particularly concerned about the proposed changes to the Medicaid program. The Medicaid program provides low-income children, adults, people with disabilities, and older adults access to the services they need to live healthy and productive lives. Like the House-passed American Health Care Act, this bill proposes to change the way Medicaid program is financed by the federal government. The changes will have a ripple effect on local and state economies as well as many other systems such as child welfare, education, and senior services.

The nonprofit, social services sector, which is uniquely positioned at the intersection of families, communities and the systems they rely on, believes there are essential elements needed to improve and reform our health care system. If we are to truly reform the system and bend the cost curve, we must provide health care consumers access to a minimum floor of essential benefits and preventative care, regardless of the state they live in. We must fulfill our nations promise to better integrate behavioral health and primary care. The health care system needs to factor in the social and economic factors, which are the biggest predictors of health. Health system reform must be designed to address disparities and integrated to ensure better health outcomes.

We believe there is a better approach to reforming our health care system  one that ensures gains, not losses for those who rely on Medicaid and one that provides adequate and timely payment to providers of vital behavioral and health care services.

In its current form, we cannot recommend that our strategic action network of more than 450 agencies support this bill. We must also consider the proposed tsunami of cuts across social services programs and the threats to the charitable tax deduction that when viewed together, will drastically undermine the growth potential for our families, workforce, and communities.

We urge members of the Senate to slow down the process and take the time to involve communities, consumers, and health and human service professionals in the critical decisions that may negatively impact millions of people. Together, lets craft a reform bill that will improve health care access and affordability, offer preventative and essential benefits to all, and integrate systems of support to improve the lives and health of all Americans.

MEDIA NOTES: To arrange an interview, please contact Jennifer Devlin at 703-876-1714 or Jennifer.devlin(at)cox(dot)net.

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE FOR STRONG FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES

The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities is a national organization dedicated to achieving a vision of a healthy society and strong communities for all children, adults, and families. The Alliance works for transformational change by representing and supporting its network of hundreds of nonprofit human-serving organizations across North America as they translate knowledge into best practices that improve their communities. The Alliance serves more than 450 member organizations, representing a significant force in the nonprofit human services sector.
From 20-22 June, the SQUARE Brussels Exhibition Centre in Brussels, Belgium, was the scene of Commercial UAV Expo Europe, the trade fair and conference on the integration of drones for major industrial & commercial applications. The Expo was the very first truly pan-European drone event. It counted over 500 visitors from 50 different countries and 52 exhibiting companies which presented the most exciting drone innovations. During the Expo, an international jury of drone professionals selected and presented the Drone Hero awards to the most creative drone innovations. The Belgian Defence Minister Steven Vandeput handed over the awards to the winners Thursday afternoon.

Lisa Murray, Director of Commercial UAV Expo Europe, about the Expo: In launching Commercial UAV Expo Europe, we brought together the commercial drone ecosystem from throughout Europe to advance this ground-breaking technology. As the Expo counted visitors from 50 different countries we succeeded to create a truly pan-European forum. From education and exhibits to networking and a Drone Hero contest celebrating drone innovation, it was all there in one place.

Steven Vandeput, about the drone industry in Belgium and Europe: There still needs to be done a lot of work regarding the regulation of drones in Europe. As it is a rapidly evolving industry, it is key for our country to have these regulations in place as soon as possible and to continuously invest in research and innovation via the triple helix model, in which universities, industry and government intensively collaborate.

Stunning innovations from real drone heroes

The Drone Hero awards, which represent a cooperation between the European drone cluster EUKA and Commercial UAV Expo Europe, were handed over yesterday afternoon by Minister Vandeput, to 5 stunning innovations. The winners get an all-access pass and/or an exhibit space in Las Vegas at Commercial UAV Expo Americas, from 24-26 October 2017.

High potential drone hero

The high potential drone hero is Drone Radar (Pawel Korzec, Poland). The aim of the DroneRadar is to vastly improve airspace safety by providing a simple, available to all solution to performing, monitoring and integrating UAV operations with the manned aviation flow in European airspace. A rapidly growing number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle operations have caused major concern over flight safety. Air Traffic Management institutions, like ATC, FIS are finding it difficult to track such operations as the majority of those are conducted by amateurs with no aviation background and little or no knowledge of both airspace structures and flight rules. Up to now there has been no means or concept of integrating such operations into the mainstream ATM flow, which would allow for creating awareness of them and their monitoring. DroneRadar is the first, ANSP integrated system platform allowing for such integration. DroneRadar is a non-restrictive, mobile, cloud based platform which allows the precise registration and monitoring of drone operations via social sourced information. The system is based on simple concepts easily understood by amateurs but at the same time provides sophisticated functionality for Air Traffic Services and for professional users such as military and governmental institutions. Clearly, DroneRadar is a solution many UAV operators and ATM institutions have been waiting for and has enormous potential for structuring procedures needed to integrate UAV operations into the ATM flow. Detailed analyses of the collected statistics, may be used for risk assessment, and may be a great input for SMS (Safety Management System) analyses. DroneRadar confront all regulations which apply to FIR and present them in easy to understand way, to all users (professionals and amateurs). DroneRadar is fully operational in Poland since December 2015.

Creative drone hero

The most creative drone hero is Mine Kafon Drone Project (The Netherlands). Using current technologies, clearing or even detecting all land mines across the entire world would take over 1100 years. The established processes are slow, dangerous, expensive, and completely unacceptable if we want to solve the problem in our lifetime. Growing up on the edge of Kabul in a little town called Qasaba in Afghanistan, Massoud and Mahmud Hassani, the brothers behind the Mine Kafon Drone project, currently living in The Netherlands, experienced the horrors of land mines from an early age. These experiences fuelled older brother Massoud to develop a solution for a safe and smart solution to detect and clear land mines. Massoud and Mahmud Hassani stunned the world in 2012 with Mine Kafon, a wind powered anti land mine ball looking like a dandelion The Mine Kafon is approximately the height and weight of an average man, allowing it to trigger landmines as it rolls over them using the power of the wind. After three years of work, the team is ready to present the Mine Kafon Drone: an unmanned airborne demining system that uses a three step process to map, detect and detonate land mines. The Mine Kafon Drone, an airborne demining system developed to clear all land mines around the world in less than 10 years

Innovative drone hero

The most innovative drone hero became the Voliro hexacopter which has been developed, assembled and programmed as a student project of Cliff Li at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). It has the unique capability of being able to hover in any arbitrary orientation, even vertically or upside down. Unlike standard multicopters, the position and the orientation are completely decoupled and can be steered independently. This is achieved by six additional tilting motors which allow the rotor units to turn around its axes. The Voliro hexacopter is a platform which expands the potential of conventional drones and allows many future applications. As it can fly vertically, it could also drive with a chassis on a wall and perform tasks like bridge inspection or creating paintings on the wall. Voliro is a student project which started one year ago at ETH Zurich. 11 bachelor students  mechanical and electrical engineers, industrial designers  developed, assembled and programmed a completely new hexacopter. It can tilt the motors around its axes which gives it the ability to completely decouple its position and orientation and perform acrobatic maneuvers in the air.

Start-up drone hero

The most promising start-up drone hero is Vectrino (Jelena Petkovic, Croatia).

In recent years, mosquitoes represent a growing health threat because their vector potential increases and new cases of mosquitoes carry diseases are constantly evolving. Therefore, their systematic suppression is governed by legislation. So far, conventional methods of treatment mosquitoes have numerous defects: non-selective application of insecticides, vegetation and weather opportunities which have a major impact on the (un)successful treatment, difficulty treating hard accessible areas and others. This is why a group of authors designed a new way of larviciding with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) using edge spectra of visible red light (NIR) to clearly notice the places where mosquitoes breed. By locating those places, automatic calculation of area and volume of water it is possible to automate the drones to independently perform larvicidal treatment dosing exactly the optimal amount of larvicide only where such treatment is necessary. Vectrino Ltd. is a dynamic company that creatively uses the latest advanced technology combined with knowledge/experience from specific areas and activities in achieving various business goals: analysis, monitoring, maintenance and planning. The company owns and, if necessary, obtains all necessary permits, while respecting the current regulations, requirements and laws of the Republic of Croatia.

International drone hero

Ampyx Power (Richard Ruiterkamp, The Netherlands) is awarded as international drone hero. The Ampyx Power Airborne Wind Energy System can generate cost-effective power and has minimal impact on the environment as it comprises less than a tenth of the material than a wind turbine with the same capacity. In the future we can provide abundant renewable energy at cost levels below any other methods of electricity generation. The system consists of an autonomous aircraft, a drone, tethered to a generator on the ground. Wind drives the tethered aircraft at an altitude of 450 m. Tensile force causes the tether to be reeled out from a winch. Once the tether is reeled out to a predefined length, the aircraft automatically descends towards the ground causing the tether to reel in. Then is ascends and repeats the process. The aircraft utilizes a vast array of sensor suites which provide the autopilot with critical information to perform the task safely.

Public award

The public award went to Guy Verhoeven (Belgium). He is the founder of Skycan, a fast growing Belgian drone-company. He worked for 23 years in a hospital before he became a licensed drone-pilot. Hes not nursing anymore but, even in the drone-business, he never stops trying to help. Everyday a person gets lost. What if it is someone you love? Guy searched for a company that builds drones (GL) for search and rescue. He found the perfect thermal-fusion camera, specially build for drones and works together with Idronect (a drone platform that will allow rescue services to create an online scenario in minutes). Now Guy wants to realize his project:

Working with different rescue-services.

Finding pilots who wil learn to fly with the Salvator-drone.

Have different drones spread across the country so help can get there fast. Every minute is important.

Installing a tracking system for Salavator that will allow rescue teams track exactly where the drone is in real time.

Installing the best solution for the rescue teams to see the drones camera in real time. The more eyes the better.

For more pictures and footage of the European Drone Heroes, please visit: https://www.dronecommunity.biz/drone-hero-europe/

About Commercial UAV Expo Europe

Commercial UAV Expo Europe, presented by Commercial UAV News, is a conference and exhibition exclusively focused on the commercial drone market in Europe covering industries including Surveying & Mapping; Civil Infrastructure; Aggregates & Mining; Construction; Process, Power & Utilities; Precision Agriculture; Law Enforcement, Emergency Response and Search & Rescue (SAR). The next edition will take place at the SQUARE in Brussels 11-13 June 2018.

Contact and more information:

Lee Corkhill  Diversified Communications  +1 207 842 5520 lcorkhill(at)divcom(dot)com

Kim Heylen  youEngine - +32 3 260 96 42  kim.heylen(at)youengine(dot)be
IKEA U.S. is inviting IKEA FAMILY members and friends to participate in College Life Your Way, a special nationwide*, in-store event from Friday, July 14, 2017 through Sunday, July 16, 2017. The weekend-long event is meant to excite and inspire students and parents preparing for college living and provide a fun-filled opportunity for securing all of their back to college needs  from dorm decor to suit their style, to furnishing a new apartment. During the event, IKEA FAMILY members and shoppers will be able to participate in inspirational college-related activities and workshops, as well as receive access to exclusive deals and giveaways throughout the weekend.

College is an exciting time for students and their parents. As students settle into new living situations, we believe they all deserve the opportunity to create their own space, reflective of their unique personality, said Wanda Fisher, Regional Marketing Manager, IKEA U.S. During this event, we invite everyone to explore affordable and stylish solutions that will contribute to creating a functional and comfortable college living experience for any student.

Designed to reward IKEA fans and their friends, the College Life Your Way event will include the following in-store offerings**:



In-Store Activities & Workshops: From style quizzes to DIY product workshops and tips for combining varying roommate styles, college students and parents will learn tips and tricks for college decorating and living with a series of relevant free in-store activities and workshops.

IKEA Food Offers***: Throughout the weekend, FAMILY members can save on delicious, sustainable and nutritionally-balanced food offerings, including daily deals at the IKEA Restaurant and a $5 off any $25 in-store purchase in the Swedish Food Market. From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 15, all shoppers can enjoy a FIKA Break, during which consumers can try free IKEA food and beverage samples from the IKEA restaurant.

IKEA FAMILY Giveaways: Both early-bird and lucky IKEA FAMILY members will be eligible for exciting giveaways throughout the weekend event. Giveaways include:

+ Daily scan to win giveaways of $100 gift cards (two giveaways per day per store) when IKEA members show their cards at checkout.

+ Daily doorbuster giveaways of select IKEA products for the first 250 FAMILY members to enter the store and show their FAMILY card on each day of the event, no purchase necessary.

IKEA FAMILY Offers: IKEA FAMILY members can save big with a $25 off $150 spent coupon during the event, as well as exclusive product offers on must-have college essentials, including:

+ GASPA and DVALA extra-long twin sheets. Valid July 14  16, 2017.

+STUVA loft bed/desk. Valid July 14  16, 2017.

+Select picture frames. Valid July 14  16, 2017.

+20% off select desks. Valid July 12 - 25, 2017.

+20% off KALLAX shelf unit. Valid July 12 - 25, 2017.

+ 20% off SAMLA boxes. Valid July 12 - 25, 2017.

Throughout the weekend, IKEA encourages participants to share their College Life Your Way experiences using #IKEAYourWay. For more information on the College Life Your Way event and specific activities and offers at your local store, please visit http://www.ikea-usa.com/collegelivingyourway.

Beyond this one-weekend special event, IKEA shoppers can continue to get more out of each IKEA store visit by becoming an IKEA FAMILY member. The no-cost membership includes perks like special discounts, gift card giveaway entries with each purchase, complimentary coffee and tea in the IKEA Restaurant, and more. During the College Life Your Way event, shoppers will have the opportunity to sign up for the ongoing rewards program.

About IKEA

Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered home furnishings of good design and function at low prices so the majority of people can afford them. There are currently more than 385 IKEA stores in 48 countries, including 42 in the U.S. IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment. For more information see IKEA-USA.com, @IKEAUSANews, @IKEAUSA or IKEAUSA on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest.

DISCLAIMER

*IKEA Brooklyn and IKEA Columbus will not be participating in this event. IKEA Paramus will not be participating in this event on Sunday, July 16.

**Activities and offerings vary by store. Visit http://www.ikea-usa.com/collegelivingyourway for a full listing of events, activities, and offers at your local IKEA.

*** IKEA Carson will not be participating in any IKEA Food offers.
Realty Executives Welcomes New Edmonton Brokerage, Adds 15 REALTORS as Newest Executives

Realty Executives International has signed its newest brokerage in Edmonton, Alberta welcoming 15 new real estate agents as its Executives. Led by Darlene Reid and Steven Reid, Rock Point Realty will be known as Realty Executives Vision. The duo combines a top 5% performer in Edmonton in Darlene, with Steven as the firms new broker, a lawyer and an instructor at the REALTORS Association of Edmonton. After seven years of successfully growing our own brokerage, were excited to join Realty Executives and are immediately adding new Executives with lucrative incentives and support from the franchisor. Its great to be the first new Realty Executives brokerage in Western Canada now that Realty Executives International is investing in developing the territory itself in Alberta, comments Darlene.

The franchisor, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, will host events with Darlene, Steven and its other brokers in the Edmonton area to recruit agents in the next few weeks. These events will give brokers and agents a chance to see Realty Executives latest pricing, technology, training, marketing and concierge support for top performing agents. As the founder of the 100% commission concept, Realty Executives has a long reputation as the innovator in real estate brokerage and agent services. It attracts top performers through its disruptive pricing plans that put more money in agents and brokers pockets. This gives us the opportunity to continue to give our home buyers and sellers the best deals and service in the area, says Steven Reid.

Western Canada, incorporating Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba, is the newest direct investment front for Realty Executives International, owned by True North Companies. Realty Executives is the sole real estate brand and franchise system among the diverse set of True North brands were developing in Western Canada. Were investing millions of dollars in expansion throughout Canada, with over 20 corporate owned locations and nearly 100 employees, as well as hundreds of agents and dozens of Realty Executives franchises, says David Tedesco, CEO of Realty Executives International and True North Companies.

About Realty Executives Intl. Svcs. LLC

Established in 1965, Realty Executives International is one of the largest and most established real estate franchise systems in the world, with over 8,000 agents and 500 offices globally. The company offers disruptive pricing models particularly attractive to top performing agents. Its unrivaled mobile technology, business tools, training and concierge service are coupled with protected territories and financing for qualified franchisees. The Scottsdale-based, privately held company has been ranked as a leader in the real estate industry by publications like Entrepreneur, Success and Inc. magazines. For additional company information visit http://www.RealtyExecutives.com.

About Realty Executives Vision

Realty Executives Vision began as Rock Point Realty of Edmonton, Alberta. It is led by Darlene Reid and Steven Reid, B.A., LL.B. Darlene is a perennial top 5% sales performer in Edmonton, while Steven is a lawyer and instructor at the REALTORS Association of Edmonton and will be the broker of the new franchise. Darlene has served on the Member Services Committee of the Association, while Steven consulted on and will instruct for its new Services for Success Course for new REALTORS. Darlene and Steven built their brokerage of 15 agents into a distinct powerhouse offering buyers and sellers cash back and flat rate listings, coupled with unparalleled personal service and Edmonton real estate expertise.
2017 OTIS-Teratology Society-DNTS Annual Meeting It is an understatement to say the legalization of marijuana has the potential to impact Colorados children and families.

From exposure during pregnancy to a childs neurological development, it is an understatement to say the legalization of marijuana has the potential to impact Colorados children and families, said Larry Wolk, MD, Chief Medical Officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. That potential impact is why Dr. Wolk will join top international researchers for a meeting never before held in Denver that brings together world-renowned experts presenting the science behind birth defects research.

The meeting, which is held jointly with the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS), the Teratology Society and the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society this week at the Grand Hyatt Denver, will have a special focus on the effects of marijuana exposure during pregnancy. Dr. Wolk will serve as the Keynote Speaker Monday, June 26 at 8am. Then, a Marijuana and Child Development Symposium, which features scientists from the University of Colorado at Denver, University of California at San Diego, Yale University and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, takes place Tuesday, June 27 at 3:05pm.

According to MotherToBaby, a service of OTIS that offers information to the public about exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding through traditional and digital avenues, the growing rate of marijuana use during pregnancy is deeply concerning. A federal survey published late last year indicated that almost 4 percent of expecting mothers said they had used marijuana in the past 30 days. This rate is almost twice that for other illicit drugs used in the previous month by pregnant women.

The survey was conducted in 2014. In a survey just 12 years prior, only 2.4 percent had said they used marijuana in the past month.

As scientists specializing in the effects exposures can have during pregnancy, this trend is extremely worrisome and were here to work together to find answers, said Stephen Braddock, MD, OTIS/MotherToBabys president and a professor of Pediatrics at Saint Louis University. At MotherToBaby, we are frequently contacted by women who want to know if marijuana is safe in pregnancy. New information that will be shared at this meeting will help us to gain a better idea of what the risks are, so that we can better educate expectant and nursing moms as well as healthcare providers.

While data are somewhat limited, we know there are risks associated with marijuana use in pregnancy, but we also need to be thinking about the potential impact of cannabis on the adolescent brain, added Diana Dow-Edwards, PhD, President-elect of the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society, marijuana symposium co-chair, and professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. New and breakthrough science will be presented by some of our speakers and we hope the knowledge stimulates discussion among concerned Denver-area health care providers and the general public alike, noted Susan Makris, PhD, Teratology Society Public Affairs Committee chair, marijuana symposium co-chair and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientist.

Additional scientific information presented during the meeting includes e-cigarette use in pregnancy and the latest Zika virus findings. More information and the full annual meeting program may be found on the 57th Annual Meeting website. One day registration is available for any local scientists and health care providers interested in attending.

About OTIS/MotherToBaby

MotherToBaby, a service of the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS), is a suggested resource by many agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) Office of Womens Health. OTIS was established in 1987 as a way of connecting world-renowned experts in the field of birth defects research to the general public. Today, MotherToBaby affiliates around the world provide the most cutting-edge and up-to-date information about the risks of medications, chemicals, herbal products, illicit drugs, diseases and much more during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. More than 100,000 women and their health care providers seek information about birth defects prevention from MotherToBaby every year. MotherToBaby has been able to embark on new outreach efforts to reach underserved populations and launch new communication technologies through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, as well as through the generous donations made by the public. To learn more about MotherToBaby, the ways to contact its network of experts via app,text, live chat, email and phone line, or how to support its services, please visit http://www.MotherToBaby.org.

About the Teratology Society

The Teratology Society is made up of nearly 700 members worldwide specializing in a variety of disciplines, including developmental biology and toxicology, reproduction and endocrinology, epidemiology, cell and molecular biology, nutritional biochemistry, and genetics as well as the clinical disciplines of prenatal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, neonatology, medical genetics, and teratogen risk counseling. Scientists interested in membership in the Teratology Society are encouraged to visit http://www.teratology.org. The societys official journal, Birth Defects Research, is published by John Wiley & Sons in partnership with the Teratology Society.

About DNTS

The Developmental Neurotoxicology Society (DNTS) is focused on studies of the origins of neurodevelopmental disorders and the long-term effects of chemicals and drugs on health and well-being. We promote scientific research on the developmental origins of brain disorders at all life stages. For more information, please visit us at http://www.dntshome.org. The societys official journal, Neurotoxicology and Teratolog y, is published by Elsevier in partnership with DNTS.

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Media Contact: Nicole Chavez, 619-368-3259, nchavez(at)mothertobaby(dot)org
Heritage Woods of Minooka, a new affordable assisted living community, is open and welcomed its first residents this month.

The community, located at 701 Heritage Woods Drive behind Jewel in Minooka, serves older adults of all incomes, including those on Medicaid, who need some help to maintain their independence.

Heritage Woods operates through the Illinois Supportive Living Program, which provides a residential alternative to nursing homes.

The three-story building houses 101 studio and one-bedroom apartments. Each of the private apartments features a kitchenette, spacious bathroom with shower and grab bars, individually-controlled heating and air conditioning units, and an emergency alert system.

In addition, Heritage Woods of Minooka has community areas, including a dining room, fitness area and library.

Certified nursing assistants, working under the direction of a licensed nurse, are on-duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Worn Jerabek Wiltse Architects, PC, which has offices in Chicago and Champaign, designed the community. Horve Builders, of Forsyth, Illinois, was the general contractor for the nearly $18 million project.

When fully occupied, the community will provide 50 to 55 full-time and part-time jobs. Annual payroll with benefits is projected to be nearly $1.5 million.

Heritage Woods of Minooka joins more than 50 other communities operated by Gardant Management Solutions, including the Heritage Woods buildings in Bolingbrook, Dwight, Plainfield and Yorkville. Gardant is the largest assisted living provider in Illinois and the 12th largest provider in the nation.

Individuals interested in learning more about Heritage Woods of Minooka can call 815-467-2837.

For information about the assisted living, senior living and memory care communities Gardant manage, can call 877-882-1495 or visit http://www.gardant.com.
Top Jacksonville Web Design Firm

10 Best Design has selected the winners of its Best Jacksonville Web Design Firm awards for June 2017, honoring Station Four and DiscoverTec as well as Big Drop Inc.

10 Best Design is an organization whose professionals thrive on providing clients with up to date, helpful information about the digital marketing world. For this reason, the representatives of the company are pleased to provide the public with a new award category: Best Web Design Firm. This release includes more information about the leading Jacksonville web design businesses for June 2017 as well as some of the other digital firms that topped the list.

Top web design firm Big Drop Inc is an organization that is committed to providing clients with cutting-edge, detail-oriented web design and development strategies that will help them connect with prospective buyers in the online realm. The representatives of the organization know that innovative, aesthetically-engaging websites appeal to online audiences. As such, they focus on implementing all of the graphic design strategies necessary to make clients site a visual masterpiece. In addition to developing sites that are conspicuously creative, the Big Drop Inc representatives maintain a results-oriented approach which increases the client's likelihood of attaining an exceptional outcome.

Station Four is the community business owners should trust when they are ready to move their company forward in the internet domain. As a leading Jacksonville web design agency, Station Four is committed to maintaining a detail-oriented approach to web optimization, and this is why they excel in perfecting each individual element of the client's product pages. This includes the aesthetic component as well as the site's dimension of usability. In addition, the Station Four crew realizes that maintaining a customer-oriented approach to work keeps the business owner's brand vision on center stage. This client-centered outlook empowers the corporate leader to ensure that her or his unique plan for brand representation is implemented quickly and correctly.

DiscoverTec also earned a spot on the list of leading Jacksonville web design businesses. Business owners who want their brands to thrive online should turn to the professionals of DiscoverTec. The representatives of the community are passionate about providing clients with the results-centered services that increase the likelihood of the business owner obtaining an exceptional return on investment (ROI). Additionally, the DiscoverTec professionals are addicted to innovation, meaning that they know how to develop websites that are remarkably original. For cutting-edge web optimization services that really work, companies should consider choosing DisocverTec.

For more information about the award winners, please visit http://www.10bestdesign.com.
First Annual Fishing Charter

ServiceMaster 24 Hour has been the main provider of disaster restoration and cleaning services in the Tampa, FL area since 2003 and they regularly host fundraising events to help organizations in their local community. On May 19, 2017, ServiceMaster 24 Hour, along with Enterprise, ServiceKing Collision, and Safelite AutoGlass, hosted the first annual P&C on the Sea Fishing Charter with all proceeds going to the Florida Sheriff Youth Ranches organization. The event had approximately one hundred participants and with the help of sponsors and donors, the event raised over $8,000 for the Florida Sheriff Youth Ranches.

The P&C on the Sea Fishing Charter event began with a 5-hour fishing charter out of Johns Pass at Hubbards Marina and ended with a fish fry at the Friendly Fisherman restaurant next door. Participants were treated to food and drinks with music and dancing, and there were also silent auctions, giveaways, and raffle prizes. ServiceMaster 24 Hour and their partners raised $8,319.86 for the Florida Sheriff Youth Ranches organization which exceeded the total amount they hoped to raise from this event. Florida Sheriff Youth Ranches is an organization that runs residential facilities, summer camps, and youth outreach programs to give troubled young boys and girls hope for their futures and help them develop into responsible adults.

About ServiceMaster 24 Hour

ServiceMaster 24 Hour has been the leading provider of disaster restoration and cleaning services for Tampa, FL and the surrounding areas of Pasco, Pinellas, and Hillsborough counties since 2003. They began business at a time when the Tampa, FL market was underserved and they have since grown to cover much of the greater Tampa area. The technicians of ServiceMaster 24 Hour are IICRC certified and they use the latest equipment and restoration methods to help homes and businesses that have sustained serious damage in a disaster. Their commitment to quality work and good customer service has earned them several awards including the 2008 Business of the Year Award from the Brandon Chamber of Commerce and the 2012 Large Business of the Year Southshore Chamber award.

About RestorationMasterFinder.com

RestorationMasterFinder.com, or RMF, is a lead generation website built and developed by Proceed Innovative to help businesses in the disaster restoration, furniture restoration, and cleaning industries generate quality sales leads. RMF consists of highly optimized micro-sites that help attract relevant local search traffic to increase the number of quality leads and improve conversion rates. RMF is highly visible on major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing as well as many local, vertical, and social media web portals.
John Q Hammons Embassy Suites NW Arkansas Hotel JQHs relationship with dormakaba allows us to be at the forefront of safety and security in the hospitality industry and to bring peace of mind to our guests, meeting planners, and employees. Past News Releases RSS Le Pavillon Hotel Implements...

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dormakaba, one of the top three companies in the global market for access and security solutions, announced that John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts (JQH) standardized the guest room door locks on all of the companys hotel properties with dormakabas Saflok electronic door locks. dormakaba manufactures the Saflok and Ilco electronic door locks and provides installation and service for these locking systems. JQH owns and manages a portfolio of 35 hotels representing approximately 8,500 guest rooms/suites in 16 states. The hospitality company also operates more than 1 million square feet of meeting space. Click here for information on electronic door locks from dormakaba.

JQH has an excellent relationship with dormakaba and has used Saflok locking system since 1995. The two companies share a common goal of installing an innovative system that provides the best protection at a fair price, said Bill George, JQHs vice president of capital planning and asset management. Both companies are focused on ensuring the customer is priority one.

Springfield, Missouri-based JQHs hotel portfolio represents brands that include Marriott, Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Renaissance, Sheraton, IHG, Chateau on the Lake Resort / Spa & Convention Center, and Plaza Hotels Collection. All hotel brands in the award-winning companys hotel portfolio have approved Saflok electronic locks.

According to George, JQH is currently rolling out Safloks RFID system across the companys hotel portfolio nationwide.

Saflok is a proven leader in electronic hotel lock technology. JQHs relationship with dormakaba allows us to be at the forefront of safety and security in the hospitality industry and to bring peace of mind to our guests, meeting planners, and employees, George said. We appreciate the Saflok safety and security features, including the reliability aspects, customization, ease of use, and flexibility for mobile access.

Stephen Pollack, vice president  marketing for dormakaba, said, John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts is one of the most respected names in hospitality. dormakaba and JQH have a long-standing relationship of trust that has benefitted guests and both of our companies. We value that relationship and will continue to deliver the highest quality systems and services JQH and our customers expect.

George also noted that there are several benefits to having a standardized dormakaba electronic hotel lock system across JQHs property portfolio.

With the new lock implementation in progress, we have the opportunity for orderly technological innovation, customization at the portfolio and property levels, cost and training efficiencies, and elevated access control of spaces during meetings and events, George said.

About dormakaba

dormakaba is one of the top three companies in the global market for access and security solutions. With strong brands such as Dorma and Kaba in our portfolio, we are a single source for products, solutions, and services related to doors and secure access to buildings and rooms. With around 16,000 employees and numerous cooperation partners, we are active in over 130 countries. dormakaba is headquartered in Rumlang (Zurich/Switzerland) and generates an annual turnover of over CHF 2 billion. Click here for information on electronic door locks from dormakaba.

SIX Swiss Exchange: DOKA (formerly: KABN / KABNE) Further information at http://www.dormakaba.com

About John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts

Springfield, Missouri-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts (JQH) is a leading private, independent owner and manager of hotels in the United States, representing brands such as: Marriott, Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Sheraton, IHG, Chateau on the Lake Resort / Spa & Convention Center, and Plaza Hotels Collection. With a portfolio of 35 hotels representing approximately 8,500 guest rooms/suites in 16 states, JQHs properties are dominant in their markets. Founded on the extraordinary vision of John Q. Hammons and built on his continued legacy of excellence spanning more than 50 years, JQH has become one of the most recognized and award-winning companies in the hospitality industry. Built to be the best, JQH continues to set the standard in hospitality management and hotel development. Go to http://www.jqhhotels.com for more information, or connect with JQH on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
Monsoon rains will finally drench the country later this week as it comes under the influence of seasonal rain front, the Korea Meteorological Administration said Sunday.

About 5 mm of the summer's first monsoon rains fell on Jeju Island on Saturday but then the rain front moved south.

Rain will return to Jeju on Thursday and fall in South Jeolla Province on Friday, across southern parts on July 1, and most parts on July 2, the KMA said.


This solution, which combines ElevenOS and the casting management appliance from Expectation2, is a game changer, stated Che (Chase) Bliayang, director of information technology for CSM Corporation, management company of the Element in Redmond, Wash.

Eleven, the industrys pioneer in cloud-based guest Wi-Fi management software, announces new features, usability enhancements, and integrations to the ElevenOS guest Wi-Fi platform. Developing software that fits the needs of the market, Eleven is committed to building a platform that enables the next generation of personalized Wi-Fi experience that build loyalty.

Simplify the User Experience with Dashboards and Templates: Hotel staff and brand-level IT administrators get a real-time 360-degree insight into Wi-Fi activity, including connected device types and status, guest usage, and revenue generated with ElevenOS hospitality-centric dashboard. Wi-Fi usage and revenue reporting can be viewed at the individual property level, across areas of the hotel, including the conference center or across all properties to allow brands to optimize Wi-Fi performance for guest satisfaction.

A simplified portal content editor provides templates to allow for consistent brand standards with some flexibility at the property level. Non-technical staff can configure authentication options, set up Internet service plans and pricing and add compelling images, messaging or even advertising to engage guests and drive revenue.

Authenticate Once, Connect Automatically to Drive Loyalty: ElevenOS offers the widest array of log-in options, including lifetime authentication with the Wi-Fi Alliance Passpoint HotSpot 2.0 specification to allow guests to log-in once and connect automatically thereafter. ElevenOS pre-built integration with PMS and CRM systems mean loyalty members can be rewarded with free or premium, automatic Wi-Fi connection every time they arrive at any brand property.

Connect Guest Devices to Cast Content to the In-Room TV: Seventy-eight percent of guests want to stream their own content when staying at a hotel (eHotelier, 2017). With each guest carrying an average of three devices, the complexity of creating secure, automatic connection to the in-room TV, thermostat and other controls is significant.

ElevenOS enables hotel brands to offer a seamless guest journey with dynamic assignment of their devices upon check-in to a Personal Area Network dedicated to their room that only they can see. Upon arrival, guests are automatically connected to the devices in their room, so they can cast their favorite content to the TV. Upon check-out, guest devices are cleared and the in-room devices are prepared for the next guest.

This solution, which combines ElevenOS and the casting management appliance from Expectation2, is a game changer, stated Che (Chase) Bliayang, director of information technology for CSM Corporation, management company of the Element in Redmond, Washington. Our guests have full control to cast from their personal devices without the need to download an app or enter a code. Meanwhile, were able to limit setting changes to ensure network integrity. This incredibly seamless experience is perfect for todays connected guest.

Manage Guests and Back of House Devices with Enterprise Device Management: More hotel brands today are going mobile with smartphones and tablets replacing traditional desktop computers. ElevenOS allows hoteliers to manage property, vendor and employee owned devices with enterprise grade management tools, logging and security leveraging IEEE 802.1X with a local database and remote authentication capabilities.

Extend the Capabilities of Existing Systems with Pre-Built Integrations: Eleven continues to innovate to enable hotels to leverage guest profile, loyalty level, and billing information via CRM PMS data to provide a more personalized and comprehensive Wi-Fi experience. ElevenOS now integrates with Cendyn Hotel CRM Suite and various PMS providers to bring together Wi-Fi analytics with valuable customer insights that enable hotels to serve their customers with better, more tailored service.

As a pure cloud platform, ElevenOS integrates seamlessly with properties existing network hardware to deliver robust guest W-Fi without replacing onsite hardware. In addition to integrations with Nomadix and Ruckus Networks, ElevenOS has added support for Cisco Meraki and Aeronet, Aruba Networks, Extreme Networks and certification for Oracle Hospitality OPERA.

Eleven is leading the way to deliver the next generation guest Wi-Fi experience that goes beyond just connecting guests to the Internet, said Peri Pierone, CEO of Eleven. The ElevenOS guest Wi-Fi platform sets the foundation for great Wi-Fi-driven experiences like automatic connection via Passpoint and content casting to the in-room TV that deliver personalized experiences that guests truly want.

To learn more, visit Eleven at booth #307 at HITEC, June 27-29 in Toronto.

ABOUT ELEVEN

Eleven pioneered the development of cloud-based guest Wi-Fi management software for the hospitality industry in 2002. The ElevenOS central authentication platform enables hotel brands to centrally manage guest Wi-Fi across multiple devices, properties and providers with real-time analytics. With ElevenOS, hoteliers can effectively leverage their Wi-Fi network to identify and engage guests to improve brand loyalty. An open platform, ElevenOS easily plugs into leading network hardware and service providers and requires zero proprietary infrastructure. Thousands of hotel and cruise brands trust Eleven to keep more than 9 million guests connected every month. For more information, visit http://www.elevenwifi.com.
The Eze Hybrid Cloud innovation was born of Eze Castle Integrations years of private cloud experience, deep Microsoft partnership and award-winning service organization.

Eze Castle Integration, Inc., a leading managed service provider to the financial industry, today launched the Eze Hybrid Cloud, a complete multi-cloud solution encased in award-winning service and support. The Eze Hybrid Cloud combines the premier Eze Private Cloud with Microsoft Cloud services to deliver a secure and flexible environment fully managed by Ezes world-class service organization.

The Eze Hybrid Cloud innovation was born of Eze Castle Integrations years of private cloud experience, deep Microsoft partnership and award-winning service organization. Eze Hybrid Cloud draws layers of security and resiliency from the Eze Private Cloud, applications from the Microsoft Cloud and 24x7x365 expert support from the Eze global service team.

Eze Castle Integration recognizes that clients across the financial sector have different risk profiles, application requirements and technology needs. We also know that regardless of the underlying platform, receiving outstanding service and support are of the utmost importance. That is why we built the Eze Hybrid Cloud, said Mark Coriaty, Chief Strategy Officer, Eze Castle Integration. With the Eze Hybrid Cloud, we expand our cloud services to a broader market while delivering the premier service for which Eze Castle Integration is known.

To build this flexible cloud platform, Eze Castle Integration and Microsoft established a direct connection between their cloud platforms. Eze Castle Integration is a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP). Beyond Microsoft, the Eze Hybrid Cloud has direct connectivity to platforms across the financial industry including pre- and post-trade counterparties and trading networks. Through these direct connections, Eze Castle Integration can deliver excellent user experiences, improved performance, deeper security and comprehensive network monitoring.

To learn more about the Eze Hybrid Cloud, visit: http://www.eci.com/hybrid

About Eze Castle Integration

Eze Castle Integration is the leading provider of managed IT services, complete cloud solutions and cybersecurity to more than 650 financial firms worldwide. The companys products and services include Cloud Services, Managed Cyber Security Solutions, Technology Consulting, Outsourced IT Support, Project & Technology Management, Professional Services, Telecommunications, Voice over IP, Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery, Archiving, Storage and Colocation. Eze Castle Integration is headquartered in Boston and has offices in Chicago, Dallas, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Singapore and Stamford.

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Heilind Electronics will be exhibiting at InterSolar North America in San Francisco from 7/11 through 7/13.

Heilind Electronics, a leading global distributor of electronic components, will be an exhibitor at this years InterSolar North America -- the industry's most attended solar event and the premier networking platform for the North American solar industry. At the event, Heilind will have samples and related literature from leading solar product manufacturers like Amphenol, Brady, Burndy/Wiley, Circuit Assembly, HellermannTyton, Heyco, Panduit, Staubli and TE Connectivity.

Among the many products Heilind will have on display are its 1500V photovoltaic (PV) connectors, which it offers through Amphenol, Staubli and TE Connectivity. The company will also be featuring its other PV connectors, contactors, grounding products, wire management and identification devices, PV tooling and related items. We are excited to be a part of the InterSolar show for the sixth year in a row, said Mark Ferris, Supplier Business Manager, Heilind Electronics. As a premier distributor of components to the photovoltaic solar market, we offer an extensive inventory of balance of system products. Were looking forward to serving the needs of organizations in the industry.

Heilind Electronics works with customers of all sizes, from startups to large multinational OEMs. The company will have representatives at booth #L9009 for the duration of the exhibition, which will be held from July 11 through July 13 at the Moscone Center West Hall in San Francisco, California.

About Heilind Electronics

Founded in 1974, Heilind Electronics, Inc. (http://www.heilind.com) is one of the world's leading distributors of connectors, relays, sensors, switches, thermal management and circuit protection products, terminal blocks, wire and cable, wiring accessories, and insulation and identification products. Heilind has locations throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong and China. Follow Heilind on Facebook at facebook.com/Heilind and on Twitter at twitter.com/Heilind.
San Francisco Home Care San Francisco has a large, aging population and is partial to local home care services over impersonal national chains.

NuevaCare, a top provider of home care services to Bay Area families, is excited to announce the opening of a new office in the city of San Francisco to improve its customer outreach for San Francisco residents seeking home care and caregiver services in San Francisco and nearby communities. The new office enhances the company's presence in the Bay Area's second largest city for those who may prefer a local San Francisco caregiver agency to a larger, more impersonal national chain.

San Francisco has a large, aging population and is partial to local home care services over impersonal national chains, explained Kamran Nasser, CEO of NuevaCare. "For this reason, we're excited to open a San Francisco office to make it easy for the city's residents to select a local caregiver agency. He continued, "With operating from San Francisco in addition to our offices in San Mateo and Palo Alto, we are now reaching a significant population of the mid-peninsula Bay Area who may benefit from our unique home care offerings."

As part of the new San Francisco office opening, the company has launched a companion website at http://nuevacare-sanfrancisco.com/. Those interested in a detailed discussion of their San Francisco home care needs are urged to not only visit the new website but to reach out for a consultation, as no two situations are the same. For example, those seeking home care for Alzheimer's for San Francisco residents can visit http://nuevacare-sanfrancisco.com/alzheimers-dementia/. The new office is located at 75 Broadway, Suite 202, San Francisco, CA 94111.

Home Care Services for San Francisco

As the population of San Francisco ages, more and more area residents and their families are interested in home care services. Home care services, as opposed to assisted living facilities and/or nursing homes, enable older adults to "age in place," meaning to stay in their homes and enjoy a higher quality of life in familiar surroundings. Home care agencies have emerged in recent years to coordinate quality care for the elderly. In this competitive marketplace, many impersonal national chains compete as "brokers" of caregiver services. However, many San Francisco residents like residents of other key Bay Area cities such as Palo Alto or Burlingame may prefer a more local agency that can provide a higher quality of service. With a new San Francisco office, NuevaCare is bringing a fresh, personalized point of entry to quality home care services for residents of the "City by the Bay."

About NuevaCare

A premier technology based home care company based in San Mateo and servicing Burlingame and the San Francisco Bay Area, NuevaCare delivers responsive, quality, and affordable in-home care to those who need care due to old age or recovering from surgery or illness. Services available include diabetic management, meal preparation and support for activities. NuevaCare services clients in diverse Bay Area cities from Burlingame to Santa Clara, San Mateo to San Francisco, Foster City to Hillsborough and everywhere in between. NuevaCare provides hourly, live-in, overnight, and 24/7 care. Recognized as one of the best home care agencies in the Bay Area, NuevaCare can be found at http://nuevacare.com/. NuevaCare is licensed by California Department of Social Services, Home Care Services Bureau, license #: 414700022.
Red Herring Top 100 North America Healthcare Winner This one deserves a special mention because it impacts lives. LifeAssist represents the best from North Americas technology startups and Red Herring Top 100 just acknowledges how impactful its solution is. Past News Releases RSS STANLEY Healthcare Partners with...

Red Herring today announced the winners of its Top 100 North America event, recognizing the continents most exciting and innovative private technology companies. LifeAssist had been selected from thousands of entrants. The ceremony, led by Red Herring chairman Alex Vieux, was preceded by two days of keynote speeches, discussions and finalist presentations.

LifeAssist won in the healthcare category based on presenting its CircuraTM + RosieTM SaaS platform that provides a secure, HIPAA compliant long term care solution for content delivery, care coordination and collaboration. LifeAssists RosieTM is the in-home device managing medical adherence, care coordination, powerful caregiver tools, calendar activities and reminders, share notes and pictures.

Its a great experience and LifeAssist is honored to compete and be selected as a winner of the North America Top 100 for Healthcare by the Red Herring editorial staff and esteemed panel judges, said Val Ornoy, CEO and co-founder of LifeAssist. It validates our mission and vision to leverage technology to inform, enable and enhance quality of life for anyone requiring long term care.

Red Herrings editors have been evaluating the worlds startups and tech companies for over two decades. It gives them the ability to see through the industrys hype to pick firms that will continue on a trajectory to success. Brands such as Alibaba, Google, Kakao, Skype, Spotify, Twitter and YouTube have all been singled out in Red Herrings storied history.

LifeAssist was selected from a large group of innovative healthcare technology companies competing in our Top 100 awards 2017, said Alex Vieux, chairman of Red Herring. This one deserves a special mention because it impacts lives. Thousands of them. LifeAssist represents the best from North Americas technology startups and Red Herring Top 100 just acknowledges how impactful its solution is. 
This Financial Poise webinar series is one of several Newbie Litigator School series. They are designed specifically for attorneys starting civil litigation or as a refresher on litigation fundamentals. This series is a purposeful introduction to different components and phases of litigation.

The "Newbie Litigator School" series covers



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The 3rd episode of the "Newbie Litigator School II" series is available now on demand! "Settlement & Mediation" (Register Here) features Moderator Kathryn Nadro of Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Hammer. Kathryn is joined by Damian Capazzolla of Law Offices of Damian Capozzola, Adam Hirsch of Robinson Curley & Clayton, Jim Goldberg of Bryan Cave and Kelsey Knowles of Belin McCormick.

The vast majority of cases settle before they reach trial. This webinar covers negotiating a successful settlement for a client. Panelists discuss both private settlements and mediation basics. Presenting an effective case to either a mediator or the opposing party is also covered.

Each episode is delivered in Plain English understandable to business owners and executives without a background in these areas. Yet, it is proven to be valuable to seasoned professionals. Each episode in the series brings you into engaging, sometimes humorous, conversations.

Every Financial Poise webinar is designed to entertain as it teaches. Moreover, every Financial Poise episode in a series is designed to be viewed independently of the other episodes. Participants will enhance their knowledge of this area whether they attend one, some or every episode.

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Bear home takes shape: PENETRON ADMIX SB was added to concrete for the Andean Bears viewing building, which was used for the foundation wall holding the glass that will be half-submerged underwater. Many of the habitats at the Nashville Zoo with moist and wet environments are the ideal conditions for PENETRON crystalline technology to excel and provide maximum protection. Past News Releases RSS Penetron Just What The Doctor...

Ole Miss Sports Fans Benefit from...

Ready for the Rain: PENETRON Helps...

The Grow Wild phase of construction at the Nashville Zoo at Grasmere  including new bear, monkey and rhino habitats  has just been completed in time for the busy summer season. PENETRON crystalline materials provided a cost-effective waterproofing solution.

Protecting concrete exposed to outdoor environmental conditions from deterioration means primarily sealing the porous concrete against the penetration of water or chemicals. For amorphous structures found in zoo habitats that feature sculpted rock landscapes, waterfalls and pools, a crystalline admixture capable of generating non-soluble crystalline networks throughout the cracks, pores and capillary tracts of the concrete is the optimal solution.

Many of the habitats at the Nashville Zoo with moist and wet environments are the ideal conditions for PENETRON crystalline technology to excel and provide maximum protection, explains Christopher Chen, Director of The PENETRON Group. In addition, the non-toxic admixture has zero impact on the sensitive fauna and flora in the habitat.

Over the past year, the construction activity at the Nashville Zoo included two new animal exhibits and vastly upgraded existing habitats. The new habitats include: a large Andean Bears exhibit, with a Peruvian lodge in a hillside landscape where Andean bears and a few other species live; an elevated walkway through the woods with a tree-top view of Spider Monkeys; and the repurposed elephant habitat that now houses a herd of White Rhinoceros.

PENETRON ADMIX was used by the construction team to provide an integrated waterproofing solution for all water-related habitat areas that feature waterfalls, pools, and foundation structures for the viewing areas. Specifically, PENETRON ADMIX SB was added to all concrete used: for the Andean Bears viewing building in the foundation wall holding the glass; areas where the glass is half submerged underwater; and in the shotcrete work for the waterfalls and pools in all the new habitats.

Delivered in pre-measured soluble bags, PENETRON ADMIX is easily mixed in during batching and unaffected by climatic conditions, becoming an integral part of the concrete matrix for the life of the concrete, notes Mr. Chen. Adding PENETRON ADMIX to the concrete mix eliminates the need for any surface-applied protection systems.

One of the most popular family destinations in the western Tennessee region, the Nashville Zoo at Grasmere began on the historic Grasmere plantation in the late 1980s and quickly advanced to a world-class facility. The 200-acre site lies only a few miles from downtown Nashville and is open year-round.

The PENETRON Group is a leading manufacturer of specialty construction products for concrete waterproofing, concrete repairs and floor preparation systems. The Group operates through a global network, offering support to the design and construction community through its regional offices, representatives and distribution channels.

For more information on PENETRON crystalline technology solutions, please visit www(dot)penetron(dot)com, email: CRDept(at)penetron(dot)com or contact our Corporate Relations Department at 631-941-9700.
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The White House has tapped former State Department adviser Victor Cha as the next U.S. ambassador to Korea, diplomatic sources said last week.

Cha is Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a professor at Georgetown University.

A senior State Department official confirmed the news, saying Cha is the most likely candidate for the post. But Cha said he has heard nothing officially from the White House, and understands that no decision has been made.

The post has been vacant since the last ambassador, Obama protege Mark Lippert, left abruptly after the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. Deputy Chief of Mission Marc Knapper is working as charge d'affaires.

Cha has also been mentioned as a candidate for assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs due to his experience as a former director for Asian affairs in the National Security Council under George W. Bush.

But Trump is having trouble filling senior posts in his erratic administration. Jon Huntsman, the former ambassador to China, has been selected as the new ambassador to Russia. He accepted the offer and already did the paperwork in April, but his nomination has not been made official yet.

Word is going round diplomatic circles in Washington that candidates have to pass a "loyalty test" to feed Trump's ego, and several candidates have failed at this last hurdle.

Former Governor of Iowa Terry Branstad, who has known Chinese President Xi Jinping personally for 30 years, was confirmed by the Senate as the new ambassador to Beijing in May. And banker William Hagerty was confirmed as the new ambassador to Japan.


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According to a press statement by the press secretary to the sector minister, Issah Alhassan, the news article cited the Assin South District Agricultural Officer, Jacob Sackey as having complained about a maize variety supplied by the ministry to farmers in the district under the initiative as being poor in quality and unable to withstand pests and other weather conditions.

However, the ministry has stated emphatically that per the records available, MoFA never supplied the maize variety used by farmers in the said district.

Our investigations reveal that at the time farmers were planting their seeds, MoFA supplies had not reached them so they took the initiative to procure their own seeds which later turned out to be of poor quality, the release said.

Apart from this, the District Agricultural Director has emphatically denied ever granting an interview to Joy FM and stating that farmers were not happy with the variety supplied by MoFA.

The statement underscored that the ministry never supplied those so-called 'alien' seeds which later turned out to be of poor quality.

MoFA additionally noted that the ministry went through rigorous technical processes before approving seeds for distribution to farmers under the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme.

It is, therefore, refreshing to note that all farmers who were supplied with the certified improved seeds delivered under the hand of the Technical Committee at MoFA are so much satisfied with the varieties as evidenced in reports received by the ministry across the length and breadth of the country, the statement added.
"The most important part of me, the thing that I've loved the most, that has moved me most my entire life, I haven't even put down so my children can hear it when I'm gone," Scarborough said in an interview.

"They'd always seen the studio, the equipment, the guitars all over the place, but they didn't know how important it was to me."

On Friday, Scarborough released his debut five-song EP, a cleanly produced collection of dad-rock tracks indebted to '70s power pop, '90s radio rock, and a little bit of his anger with President Donald Trump.

Over the years, the "Morning Joe" host has indulged in his musical proficiencies fairly publicly.

Throughout 2016, his band played regular gigs at the Upper West Side bar Prohibition, attended by the "Morning Joe" crew and the occasional media celebrity like Arianna Huffington.

He debuted a song criticizing baby boomers on "Morning Joe" in 2014 after losing a bet, played a generic blues riff with Elvis Costello after the 2010 midterm election results rolled in, and serenaded daytime television viewers with a pop-country ballad on "The View."

But at 54, the former congressman isn't satisfied confining his musical ambitions to his living room or home studio.

Scarborough raised eyebrows earlier this week after announcing that Friday's EP, "Mystified," would be the first of dozens that he planned to release over the next several years, having written more than 400 songs in his lifetime.

With 50 songs recorded over the past year already, he is dead serious about keeping his promise, which Scarborough said would slowly convince people that his music isn't a celebrity vanity project.

"Did you ever see 'Cast Away' with Tom Hanks?" Scarborough said. "It's like the wave just keeps coming and keeps coming."

The initial offering is a collection of songs he wrote with musicians he met over the years in studios in New York and Connecticut. Producers who worked on Coldplay's megahit "Viva La Vida" and with the arena-rock indie band The National also assisted.

The EP has a few musical modes: Songs like "Mystified" center on palm-muted guitar riffs and radio-rock synthesizer leads a la The Cars, while tracks like "Superbad" are wordy mid-tempo '90s Beck soundalike tracks with Scarborough's observations on how "the hipsters and the losers and the freaks shuffle around like shadows on Brooklyn streets."

For television personality, his late-career musical awakening stirs more passion in him than some of the subjects that propelled him to political prominence in the first place.

In an interview with Vanity Fair last year, Scarborough contrasted his enthusiasm for playing music with his boredom sitting in a room while President Bill Clinton urged him and a small group of Republican senators to support going to war in Bosnia.

Despite decades in the public eye as a member of Congress and a political pundit, Scarborough said it had taken him a year to get comfortable enough performing his own music because he felt self-conscious about pursuing his passion.

"I remember being sworn in, I was 30, 31 years old," Scarborough said. "And I'm looking to the left and right of me and everybody's crying, tears streaming down, wiping their eyes. And I sat there saying, 'Why are they crying?' And I've felt the same with everything I've done except music. Music is the thing that has always meant the most to me, so it's what has made me freeze up the most."

And while he doesn't usually write love songs  Scarborough said that while one of the EP's tracks "Let's Fall In Love" is about his "Morning Joe" cohost and fiancee, Mika Brzezinski, he hadn't been interested in writing romantic songs  there are increasingly more instances in which his political opinions boil over into his now-public music.

The MSNBC anchor acknowledged that while his songs had rarely focused on political issues, "Trump has been very much an inspiration" for his recent songs.

Scarborough"Mystified," the first track on his new EP, started out as a song "about what a loser I was." But he realized that the lyrics reflected aspects of the American political landscape, and that inspired the group to shoot a music video about life in Trump's America and the president's actions toward Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Though the band has 50 songs in the can already, Scarborough's musical take on political topics are likely to show up on one of the many EPs he plans to release throughout the first term of the Trump administration.

"I've got another song called 'Stand,' which is you might even call it a protest song," he said. "For as long as this chaos goes on that we all cover  there's probably going to be a topical song, and I think that will also be a more natural step forward. Joe on TV talking politics is kind of more of a natural transition to music."

And while Scarborough's music may be an easy target for music-blog snark, of the aging figures in politics and media who have occasionally demonstrated musical skill for political gain or personal pleasure, Scarborough has exhibited a bit more performative courage than his peers in politics and media.

Politicians like former Secretary of State John Kerry and Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, who covered "Sweet Home Alabama" with Scarborough on the campaign trail in 2008, have confined themselves to the rhythm section of bands they've performed in. And though he has teased his musical chops, fellow NBC Universal personality Lester Holt has taken a backseat during rare performances, looking, for example, as if he were trying to blend with The Roots when he appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon."

"Morning Joe" viewers accustomed to Scarborough's heated televised exchanges or early-morning polemics would find musical Joe a more easygoing presence.

Scarborough spoke briefly at Thursday's album-release concert, attended by NBC executives, "Morning Joe" cohosts, and Fox News personalities like Eric Bolling and Shepard Smith, cracking a dad joke about how long his band had been together, inviting Brzezinski onstage, and thanking his staff.

But mostly, he just played his music.

"What I really want is somebody who says, 'You know, I really don't like his politics, but he's a good musician,'" Scarborough said. "And we got that pretty fast."
This was revealed by the Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia at a press conference after arriving from a four-day official visit to China.

He said he met with the Vice President of the China Development Bank and we were able to successfully negotiate the reactivation of the remainder of the entire loan that was given to Ghana.

READ ALSO: Vodafone assets to be sold within 14 days over tax default

Under the previous government, there was a $3 billion master facility that was given to the government. $1 billion or so was disbursed for the Atuabo Gas Plant but the remaining $2 billion or so was frozen for certain reasons.

We were able to successfully discuss and address some of the concerns and they have agreed to discuss and address some of the concerns and they have agreed to technically unfreeze that amount, Dr. Bawumia said.

Following the approval by the International Monetary Fund Board to increase Ghanas commercial borrowing ceiling from US$$800 million to US$3.4 Billion on December 14, 2011, the Master Facility Agreement (MFA) on the loan was signed on December 16, 2011.

The loan agreement was approved by Parliament in August 2011 amid concerns over the terms and conditions of the agreement, particularly, the collateralization of oil against the loan.

Before the NPP took over office, the current Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko accused the Mahama-led government of approving a proposal to lure the CDB to unfreeze the remaining $2 billion of the $3 billion loan.

In the original Master Facility Agreement, the government committed to supplying, as collateral security, 13,000 barrels per day of crude oil up to 2027 to service the CDB facility, according to him.

However, the Chinese considered this deal unsatisfactory because of the slump in oil prices, and therefore the remaining tranches were not released.

In making a new offer to the CDB, the government proposed the export of all the Natural Gas Liquids to be processed by the Ghana Gas processing plant at Atuabo from 2018, estimated at the value of $1.5 billion.

The then Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper, who confirmed Mr. Agyarkos claims, said the offer was to involve gas, for a period of 19 years, starting in 2018.
A glorious and troubled era came to an end Saturday when the board of the Lotte conglomerate formally ousted its ailing founder Shin Kyuk-ho.

The board of Lotte Holdings, the Japanese firm that controls the confectionery and retail empire, made the decision to oust Shin from the conglomerate he founded 70 years ago citing his old age.

Shin (95) has dementia and has been embroiled in an unsightly spat between his two sons over control of the group.

His retirement pay was capped at around W180 million (US$1=W1,138). He will retain the title of honorary chairman.

Shin is the sole surviving founder of one of Korea's chaebol or squid-like family-owned conglomerates. He established Lotte in Japan in 1948 as a chewing gum manufacturer and gradually expanded the business into Koreas fifth-largest, branching out into retail, hospitality and a raft of other areas.


Im not sure there is a string attached [to the loan]. This is why I said that we went with our own thinking in terms of how we want the financing model to be. Of course, for any partnership, we presented the case that whatever investment China makes in Ghana, its a good thing for them as it is for us. Its a win-win situation, he stated.

Nobody goes to invest in another country and say that they want to lose and the whole structuring of the financing model. Its a joint venture structuring, so if the enterprise is good it will benefit everybody; its not one that we say there are the strings attached. Its a financing model. For example, the One- District-One-Factory, you dont have to take that loan or that facility. Nobody will force you to go and take it, but if you think it will help you in setting up the factory, you go to the bank and arrange for that particular financing. But if you think you have a better financing arrangement, you go there. Its not by force [the $2billion] is just providing you with alternatives. So for us, its a partnership, joint venture, that we are going to do in many aspects of the economy with China. So there are no strings attached.
The Vice President made the disclosure in Accra after arriving from a four-day visit to China.

He said: The Peoples Republic of China and the State and Private Sector Enterprises have together committed to support the economic transformation agenda of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. So far the commitment that we received in China before leaving amounted to 15 billion dollars.

There is a possibility that within the next month or so there are some discussion that we couldnt conclude and another 4 billion dollars will be added to that. Of course, we will follow these through.

At various meetings during the 4 day visit, leading Chinese companies and agencies of the government of China signed these MoU totaling about 15 billion. In the area of industrilisation for example the China National Building Materials Equipment Export and Import Cooperation signed a facility with the Private Sector led by the Association of Ghana Industries.

Chinas commitment to invest in the Ghanaian economy comes at a time the government has launched a crackdown on illegal Chinese miners.

A number of them are standing trial for defying a ban on illegal mining while some have been deported for forged immigration papers.

Breakdown of investment

China has unlock the remaining $2 billion China Development Bank loan agreement reached earlier under the Mahama administration.

It has committed $10 billion to railway infrastructure development.
The mobile learning initiative is part of the Otumfuo Charity Foundation and was launched in Kumasi to address learning conditions of rural communities.

Joining the Asantehene to celebrate the Akwasidae, Africa Head of ECOM Global, Rahul Gopinath, said the companys sponsorship aims to expand access to educational resources in cocoa growing areas, whilst providing knowledge on best practices in cocoa farming.

According to him, the support fulfills the companys strategic vision of increasing prosperity in rural Ghana, adding the company will explore other development partnerships through the support and guidance of the Asantehene.

ECOM Global Cocoa took over from Armajaro in 2013.

Over the period it has been involved in bettering the lives of rural communities through its operation.
According to the company, since the figure is in dispute, it is unfair for GRA to make categorical statements on it.

Officials of ACI Construction an Accra based news agency The Finder that its tax consultants are working with GRA to reconcile the figures and when agreement is reached on the actual amount owed, the company would make plans to pay.

They explained that figures in the books of ACI Construction show that the amount owed is not up to the GH?14million (GH?14,312,974.19) that the GRA has put out.

Like all other state agencies, we have a great deal of respect for the GRA, the reason we are co-operating with them to resolve the disputed amount and ensure its eventual settlement, a company official told this paper.

The National Coordinator for the Task Force at the GRA, Henry Sam, declared Roland Agambire, the Agams Group Chairman, wanted but lawyers for the company described it as defamatory to his person.

READ ALSO: Vodafone assets to be sold within 14 days over tax default

According to the lawyers, declaring Mr Agambire wanted was in bad taste.
As usual, the legendary Hiplife group stormed Nima to feast with hundreds of Muslim kids who are celebrating this important day.

In photos shared on social media, the trio were spotted serving sumptuous meals to the kids as well as interacting with the elderly present.

That won't be the end to their celebration today.

VVIP will also hold their annual Sallafest tonight in Nima. The concert will bring together thousands of Muslims across the Muslim communities in Accra.

VVIP believes that the people of Nima contributed immensely towards their success and that there is the need for them to also come out with events such as Sallah Fest as a means of giving back to the community.
To do the things that we want to do in research, we need money and as at now, the money that is given for research is just about 0.025 percent of our GDP. And that is not enough to pay the scientist much more to undertake research, the minister said at a forum on innovation organised by Accra-based Citi FM.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that he will start by devoting one percent of GDP into research and that is very good news indeed. And he put me at the ministry to do things for him; Im serving at his pleasure. So I will remind him all the time of his promise to enable me function as a scientist and a doctor in that respect, he added.
Speaking at the Black Star Square on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr on Monday June 26, the president said it behoves the country to concentrate on factors that unite its citizens and not those that will cause division.

He said: I am particularly grateful to God that I am able to celebrate my first ever Eid with you as President of the Republic. I ask you to pray to God for me and members of my government that we may govern according to his will. I believe that we are a blessed nation, a nation where people of different faiths live together in peace and harmony.

We must cherish this longstanding bond that exists amongst our people and use it as a basis for advancing the course of our country.

On my part I continue to commit myself with the principles of our constitution which enjoins on me fairness towards all Ghanaians, irrespective of the religious difference.

As a Christian, I am deeply respectful of the Islamic faith which together with Christianity and Judaism are called the Abrahamic faith.

We must, therefore, emphasise the things that bind us rather than the ones that divide us. I pay my respect to you, Sheikh Dr Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, you are a true icon of our generation.

The president further urged Muslim youth across the country to celebrate this years Eid-al-Fitr festival in moderation.
The court also sentenced former Ewha president Choi Kyung-hee to two years behind bars for giving Choi's daughter illegal favors and lying about it under oath in a National Assembly hearing. Namkung Gon, the university's former head of admissions, was sentenced to one year and six months in jail.

The sentence, for a minor charge of pressuring Ewha Womans University to admit her daughter by trading on her connections, bodes ill for Choi in core charges in her epic trial alongside Park. It was the first ruling since prosecutors began investigating the massive corruption scandal last October.

The Seoul Central District Court on Friday sentenced ex-President Park Geun-hye's confidante Choi Soon-sil to three years in jail for obstructing official duties.

Choi's daughter Chung Yoo-ra, who a gold medal in the group dressage event at the 2014 Asian Games, was admitted to Ewha in October that year under a last-minute rule change for equestrians despite attending almost no classes in her final year in high school and being by all accounts no academic heavyweight.

She caused outrage with a Facebook message telling her detractors, "If you don't have the means then blame your parents. Money equals ability."

Choi contacted several Ewha officials to have her daughter admitted. The court said evidence "established complicity" between Choi and the Ewha officials. "The defendants all deny the charges, but their part in Chung's preferential treatment is proven." It added that Choi committed "too many illegal acts and violations" to accept her defense of "a mother's excessive love."

Choi and Park are still on trial on charges of soliciting W52.9 billion in bribes and extorting W77.4 billion in donations to two dodgy non-profits Choi controlled from Samsung and other conglomerates, as well as a raft of other charges. The punishment for bribery ranges from 10 years to life, and on the evidence of this first judgment they are unlikely to get off lightly.

The sentence came on Choi's 61st birthday. She made no comment but her attorney, Lee Kyung-jae, said she will appeal.
On this auspicious occasion, let us hold on to the virtues we have cultivated in this holy month of worship and sacrifice, he said. The virtues of love, patience, empathy, sacrifice and building bridges with people of all faith, race and nationality.

He continued: Let us also pray for our beloved country Ghana; let us pray for peace, unity and prosperity. Let us rededicate ourselves to the service of the Almighty, to the service of humanity and to the service of our nation, Ghana. May the Almighty Allah be our guide and guard in everything we do.

He further said the Eid al fitr celebration is an occasion to show gratitude to the Almighty Allah for taking us through a very successful period of fasting and to show kindness to our fellow human beings.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from dawn until dusk.

Majority of Ghanaian Muslims will join the Chief Imam today at the Independence Square for prayers.
But Mr Commey has argued that his opponents are behind such claims as he is not giving them the chance to distract him from his duties.

People say Im stubborn and yes Im stubborn because President Akufo-Addo has confidence in me and thats why he appointed me. And anyone that will frustrate your work to prevent you from achieving your goals must be crushed or else you wont get there, he told Accra-based Asempa FM.

In the performance of your duties you might step on some toes, which is accepted. You can even deliberately step on toes to achieve results and apologise afterwards because we need to get results. If that is why people are badmouthing me then too bad and that is unfortunate, but that will not deter me from doing what I have to do and have been doing in this countrys politics for the past 25 years, Mr. Commey said.
According to an official statement from the presidency and signed by the Director of Communications, Eugene Arhin, the state visit is upon the invitation of President Edgar Lungu.

"President Akufo-Addo will hold bilateral talks with President Edgar Lungu, aimed at deepening the bilateral ties between the two countries, as well as exploring other areas of co-operation to the mutual benefit of the two peoples.

Whilst in Zambia, the President will visit Ndola, a city in Zambias Copperbelt Province, where he will be the Special Guest of Honour at the 53rd Zambia International Trade Fair," the statement said.

"He will be accompanied by the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway MP, and officials of the Presidency and the Foreign Ministry.

President Akufo-Addo and his delegation will arrive in Ghana on Thursday, 29th June, 2017", the statement added.
LONDON  Theresa May has agreed a 1.5 billion deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in order to prop up her minority government.

The deal is a 'confidence and supply' arrangement, where the DUP will support the Conservative minority government and vote with it on the Queen's speech this week.

Part of the agreement is a financial package worth 1 billion over two years for Northern Ireland, along with an extra in 500 million of already committed funds being made available to the province.

In a statement Prime Minister Theresa May said I welcome this agreement which will enable us to work together in the interest of the whole United Kingdom, give us the certainty we require as we embark on our departure from the European Union, and help us build a stronger and fairer society at home."

Speaking in Downing Street, the DUP leader Arlene Foster that her party and the Tories were committed to "building prosperity for all."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said "this Tory-DUP deal is clearly not in the national interest but in May's party's interest to help her cling to power."

Speaking to the House of Commons Damian Green, first secretary of state, said "the Conservative party has never been neutral in its support for the union," but the Conservatives remain "fully committed to the Belfast agreement and its successors."

In response Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said that it was a "shabby and reckless deal," and the "true cost for peace in Northern Ireland could be significantly higher."

The deal means that the pension triple-lock will stay, as will the winter fuel allowance.

Both of these were pledged to be scrapped in the Conservative manifesto. Defence spending will be kept at 2%, and the armed forces covenant will be extended to Northern Ireland.

Foster said that "our aim has been to deliver for all of the people of Northern Ireland," and that their "guiding principle has been acting in the national interest."

May said that "the agreement makes clear that we remain steadfast to our commitments as set out in the Belfast Agreement and its successors, and in governing in the interests of all parts of the community in Northern Ireland."

The deal establishes that the DUP will vote with the minority government "on the Queens Speech, the Budget, and legislation relating to Brexit and national security."

Commenting on the deal, Corbyn said "Austerity has failed. Cuts to vital public services must be halted right across the UK, not just in Northern Ireland. Where is the money for the Tory-DUP deal coming from? And, will all parts of the UK receive the much needed additional funding that Northern Ireland will get as part of the deal?"
Since Senate Republicans released their healthcare bill, t

"I have to strongly disagree with the characterization that we are somehow ending the Medicaid expansion. In fact, quite the contrary. The Senate bill will codify and make permanent the Medicaid expansion, and in fact we'll have the federal government pay the lion share of the cost," Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania told Face The Nation on Sunday.

Despite Toomey's statement, the BCRA phases out the Medicaid expansion over several years beginning in 2021, with the idea that those who fall out of Medicaid eligibility will access coverage through the individual insurance market.

The CBO threw cold water on both the talking point that the BCRA doesn't end the expansion or cut Medicaid funding.

The CBO's analysis found that 22 million fewer people would have insurance under the bill by 2026. Cuts to Medicaid would reach $772 billion by 2026.

The CBO also said that it does not expect many of those who fall out of Medicaid eligibility under the BCRA to purchase insurance "because of the expense for premiums and the high deductibles" for individual market plans.

Here's what Medicaid is projected to look like under the BCRA, compared to Obamacare.

Cuts to Medicaid spending were notably $62 billion less over the next decade than what is proposed in the American Health Care Act, the bill passed by the House in May.

Medicaid covers more than 74 million Americans, including low-income people, families, and kids, as well as pregnant women, people with disabilities, and the elderly.

Here's a breakdown of the percentage of federal funding each state receives for Medicaid. Dark blue states are most likely to feel the cuts proposed by the BCRA.

The bill scales back federal funding for Medicaid  which is more than half the spending for the program at the state level. That would leave states  which also fund the program  with fewer resources.
The memos were written by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who spent years working in Moscow. Steele wrote the memos for Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm based in Washington, DC that was hired by never-Trump Republicans to dig up dirt on the president in the early days of his candidacy.

The dossier alleges that Page was part of a "well-developed conspiracy of cooperation between (Trump associates) and the Russian leadership." It alleges that Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russia's state oil company Rosneft, offered Page the brokerage of a 19% stake in the company in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions on Russia when Page was in Moscow last July.

While there, the dossier alleges, Page also met with senior Kremlin internal affairs official Igor Diveykin, whom US officials believe was responsible for the intelligence collected by Russia about the US election. Page traveled to Moscow again in December to meet with Rosneft officials, he told reporters at the time.

Page denied all of the allegations throughout five separate interviews and more than 10 hours of questioning from the FBI, according to The Washington Post, which first broke the news

The FBI may be taking cues from Steele's dossier because it has worked with him in the past, according to Wood.

Steele, who cultivated an extensive network of Russian sources during his time on British intelligence agency MI6's Moscow desk, apparently worked with the FBI on Russia- and Ukraine-related matters between 2013 and 2016  specifically with the FBI's Eurasian Joint Organized Crime Squad, according to a lengthy profile in Vanity Fair.

The squad "was a particularly gung-ho team with whom Steele had done some heady things in the past," Vanity Fair reported. "And in the course of their successful collaboration, the hard-driving FBI agents and the former frontline spy evolved into a chummy mutual-admiration society."

The relationship was so "chummy" that the FBI offered to pay Steele to continue his work in October, The Washington Post reported in February.

Some of the dossier's more outlandish claims, including salacious accounts of sexual escapades, have not been confirmed. Trump has dismissed the dossier as "phony stuff" and "fake news."

But comparing Steele's reports, which were written between June and December, with events that unfolded before and after the election reveals a series of coincidences that has added to questions surrounding Russia's interference in the election.

An informal adviser

The FBI obtained a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrant  and has renewed it more than once  to monitor Page's communications last summer after he traveled to Moscow.

Page told Business Insider when he learned of the FISA warrant that he "was so happy to hear that further confirmation [of surveillance] is now being revealed." He called the warrant "unjustified" and "illegal."

But the bureau's application for the warrant, The Washington Post reported earlier this year,

There were contacts Page had with Russian intelligence officials that he did not disclose, according to the Post, and unanswered questions about a court case involving a Russian spy who tried to recruit him in 2013.

Page found himself at the center of a Russia-related firestorm in late February after USA Today reported that he met Russia's ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, during an event at the Republican National Convention. At least two other Trump associates, former adviser J.D. Gordon and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, now the US attorney general, also reportedly spoke with Kislyak at the convention.
In lifting most of the injunctions on the executive order, the court distinguished between foreign nationals "who have a credible claim of a bona fide" family tie to the United States and those who do not.

And in a key sentence about an injunction related to the ban's 120-day suspension of the entry of all refugees, the court wrote: "When it comes to refugees who lack any such connection to the United States, for the reasons we have set out, the balance tips in favor of the government's compelling need to provide for the nation's security."

The Harvard law professor and famed attorney Alan Dershowitz told Business Insider that the court's sentence on refugees was critical in the ruling.

"That's the key," he said.

Dershowitz, who says he believes Trump's order is constitutional, said it is now increasingly likely the court will uphold key sections of the ban.

"I do think that the court's decision to allow the ban to go forward with regard to individuals with no connections to the United States suggests they will uphold much of the ban, the most important parts of the ban," he said. "And this is what I've been saying for months now  that the court will distinguish between people with connections to the United States and people who don't have connections to the United States."

The executive order bars citizens of Libya, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, and Sudan from traveling to the US. Green-card holders are exempt from the ban.

The ruling allows the order's ban on travel from those countries for 90 days, and for all refugees for 120 days, with the court's exceptions. The White House has said the temporary ban is needed so it can review its vetting process. It is possible the ban will be no longer active by the time the court hears the case. The court asked both parties to address whether the case would be moot by then.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly called for barring all Muslims from entering the US. Opponents of the ban have used Trump's past statements to argue that it's intended to target Muslims and violates the Constitution.

A previous version of the order also barred citizens of Iraq and did not include exceptions for people with green cards.

"It's a complex and unusual order in a lot of ways," Deborah Pearlstein, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University who served in the Clinton administration, said in an email. "The only thing that's clear: Neither side of this case should come away feeling like they have any certain path to victory."

Key for Pearlstein is whether the ban is still in effect when the court hears arguments.

"The question everyone should be asking  how much should we read this partial stay as a ruling on the merits of whether the ban is actually unconstitutional?" she wrote. "This sets up a big test of presidential power  but only if the administration decides to make its ban permanent between now and September. The court just deftly put the ball back in the president's court."

Trump celebrated the high court's order, saying in a statement that the decision was a "clear victory for our national security" that would allow the travel suspension to "become largely effective."

"As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm," he said. "I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive.

"I am also particularly gratified that the Supreme Court's decision was 9-0," he added.
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President Moon Jae-in will have dinner with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at the White House during his visit between June 29 and 30.

Trump has mostly taken visiting foreign leaders to his private resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, but that was widely seen as too blatant a mixing of Trump's business interests with his public office.

He also invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who meets him Monday, to the White House rather than the resort.
Sinzu had pleaded guilty to the offense.

He was said to have stolen bank card numbers and identified information of their owners.

He had encoded the bank numbers into blank cards, changed the account PINs, and withdrawn cash from ATMs with which he had bought goods from stores in the Idaho area, reports said.

Sinzu, whose music career has taken a nosedive over the past years, was arrested as he was about to board a flight.

It was gathered the police found a card encoding device and more than $6000 on him.

According to Idaho Statesman, the rapper was charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, eight counts each of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, and possession of several fraudulent bank cards.
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
Aboyi, 28, resides at the palace of the chief of Kpeyegi in the FCT.

The Judge, Mr Aliyu Ibrahim, ruled that an attempt to commit an offence was punishable with one year imprisonment with option of fine or both while the offence of rape was punishable with 14 years imprisonment.

He, however, gave Aboyi an option of N 50, 000 as fine taking into consideration the fact that the defendant was a first-time offender.

The Prosecutor, Mr Mamud Ismaila, told court that the defendant was reported to the Jikwoyi Police Station by the mother of the victim on June 14.

He said that the complainant had put her daughter to sleep and left her in the room to attend to other chores.

But while the girl was fast asleep, the defendant who is a neighbor went inside the house and attempted to abuse the little girl sexually before the complainant walked in on him and raised an alarm.

The complainant caught the defendants hands in the private part area of the minor and spilled semen on her body.

The prosecutor told court that medical examinations from a government hospital revealed that the girl had been indecently assaulted but there was no penetration or sexual defilement.

After listening to the charge, the defendant pleaded guilty and pleaded with the court for mercy.

I cant explain myself and why I was doing it, please forgive me, the convict had pleaded.
He, however, denied the charges.

Handing down her verdict, Justice Raliatu Adebiyi, said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubts.

She said: The defendant is hereby sentenced to 25 years in prison each for the offences of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and armed robbery.

The sentence shall run concurrently and shall begin from the period of his remand.

During the trial, Mr S.A. Aigoro, the counsel to the defendant in his allocutus, had appealed to the court to temper justice with mercy.

The defendant has been in prison custody since 2011, I pray that this court has mercy on him.

According to the prosecuting counsel, Mrs O. Ahmed-Muili, Jericho committed the offences alongside others who are now at large on June 26, 2011 at No. 4, Baale St., Ilaje, Ebute Meta, Lagos.

Jericho and his accomplices while allegedly armed with guns and cutlasses, robbed Mr Ifesinachi Ogodo, a student, of his two laptops, three mobile phones and N5,000.
The accused, who resides at Tse-Akough in Jato-Aka, Benue, is standing trial on two counts  illegal possession of firearm and causing harm.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Adama Owochio, told the court that the accused attacked Mr Iorpine Ikyaaibo also of Tse-Akough in a farm, beat and stabbed him on the head and back.

He said that the incident occurred on June 5.

Owochio said that the accused was also armed with a pistol and had the intention of shooting Ikyaaibo but was overpowered by him.

The prosecutor said that a locally made pistol with 7.62mm ammunition was recovered from the accused during police investigation.

He said that the offences contravene Section 247 of the Penal Code, Law of Benue, and Section 3 (1) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provision) Act, 2004.

The court did not take the plea of the accused due to lack of jurisdiction.
The gang members, Suoyo Paul, a 42-year-old Bayelsa State-born ex-militant, confessed to be the armourer of the gang who supplied most of the guns and ammunitions used by the gang while Chukwuemeka Ikenna Bosah, a 32-year-old, said he was led into the gang because he needed money for his wife who needed to undergo a Caesarian Section operation.

Another key member of the gang, Chukwumah Nwosu, a 42-year-old indigene of Aba, Abia State, Evans allegedly lured him back from his base in Vietnam to join the gang which was responsible for many high profile abductions where millions of dollars were collected from victims with Evans living in great affluence with mansions in highbrow Magodo Phase II GRA in Lagos, and two other mansions in Ghana.

First to speak was Suoyo Paul:

"I am an ex-militant under the Amnesty Programme put in place by the Federal Government when Evans contacted me to supply his gang with guns and ammunitions.

I am from Bayelsa State. I was being paid N65,000 monthly for the amnesty they granted me but my master used to deduct N10,000 from it every month.

I then went into sea diving job for which I was paid sums ranging from N50,000 to N500,000 for items recovered. But while working as divers, all of us were still in the militant camps at Bayelsa, Calabar, and Delta.

At times, we would break pipelines or kidnap oil workers, especially foreigners working with oil companies, and they used to pay ransom fast.

It was my master, the late who owned the camp and the guns we used for militancy. We got annoyed with the oil companies because they did not care to employ indigenes of the states or develop the areas.

The amnesty was granted us in 2009, during the late President Yar'aduas regime. In 2010, I met Evans because he used to come to the camp to collect guns from my master, Soboma.

He would come to the militants camp with Barrister Yellow to meet Soboma. I do not have Evans phone number and he does not have my number too.

I was surprised when Evans later called me. He asked me about my children and I told him that my master had been killed.

He asked me to text the number of the gangs second in command identified as . He said he would like to see us in Lagos. He sent N30,000 for our journey to Lagos.

When we alighted at Cele Bus Stop at Ijesha (Lagos), one elderly man came and took us to one hotel at Iyana Ejigbo area. We stayed there for two weeks without seeing Evans.

I did not go for any kidnapping with Evans. I only supplied him guns. It was the number he used to call me that the police traced and arrested me.

Chukwuemeka Ikenna Bosah

Bosah confessed that he decided to join the gang when things became difficult for him and he could not raise the amount needed for his wife to undergo an operation when she was pregnant with their third child.

Explaining his involvement with the gang, Bosah said:

I used to manage a restaurant at No. 9, Yakoyo Road, Sabu, which is in Ogun State. I later traveled to Ghana to engage in 419 business (obtaining by false pretense).

While in Ghana, luck smiled on me one day and I hit $43,000. I rented a shop for my wife and also rented a house where I lived with my family which included two sets of twins. I also opened a bigger restaurant than the one I ran in Nigeria.

I was doing well until six months later when the owner of the building where I resided gave me a quit notice, claiming that I paid the rent to the wrong person. The matter affected my business so badly that I decided to relocate to Nigeria.

When I returned to Nigeria, I started doing Internet fraud to survive. I told a white woman who was desperate to marry a black man that I would marry her, and she started taking care of me.

She was sending me a lot of money until some enemies of progress called her and told her that I was married with a set of twins. She cut off the relationship.

Unfortunately for me, I was penniless at the time she cut off the relationship. The worst happened when my pregnant wife went for ante-natal care and the doctor told her that the only safe way she could be delivered of the baby was a Cesarean Section operation because the baby was inside the Fallopian tube.

When I narrated my plight to my friend, Nwosu, he told me that there was a friend of his who had just returned from abroad. He assured me that he would talk to the man to help me with money for the operation my wife intended to undergo. That was at Cele Bus Stop (Lagos).

We entered a Keke (commercial tricycle) to Jakande Estate. There, we met Evans who came in a Lexus SUV. This was around the year 2015.

Evans told us to enter his car and I saw some men with fez caps. I also saw one of them in the back seat give a gun to another one in the front seat with Evans.

Before I knew it, the driver used the Lexus SUV to block a car and they ordered the big man in the car to come down at gun point. When the man came out, he fainted.

Evans then ordered Nwosu and I to carry the big man and put him inside his (Evans) vehicle and they zoomed off.

While we were putting the man inside Evans vehicle, Nwosu stole his gold ring. He later gave it to me to sell in order to solve my wifes problem. I sold the ring for N60,000 and used the money to settle the bill for the operation.

When Evans discovered that we stole the victims ring, he became angry with me. He gave Nwosu the sum of N1.5 million to give to me as my share of the ransom, but Nwosu deducted N50,000 from it.

For Nwosu, he had traveled to Vietnam to hustle when his business collapsed in Nigeria and it was Evans whom he knew before he traveled called on him to come back to Nigeria to join the gang.

I am a native of Aba, Abia State. I traded in female wears and accessories like bags and shoes before I met Evans in 2014 at Dominos Pizza, Apo Junction, Festac Town, Lagos, while he selling fuel and engine oil in the black market at Alafia.

I later went to Yaba to sell shoes. I traveled to Vietnam for two years. When I came back in January 2015, I met Evans again. We discussed drug trafficking business and I told him how I lost all my money to drug business.

He then promised to sponsor me on drug trafficking trip, but he said I should give him some time.

The next day, Evans called me and when I met him, he told me to enter his car but I did not know that we were going for a kidnap operation.

I only realized when the vehicle blocked a man and Evans and the others got out, pulled the man out of his car, and drove away with him.

When we and the other people in the car had passed Second Rainbow Junction, Evans told me to join another car that was following his SUV.

On getting to Villa Park area, they doubled crossed another vehicle and took a man from it and we left. On getting to Cele Bus Stop, Evans asked , the driver of the other car, to drop me.

He gave each of us N1.5 million. Unfortunately, the person I gave the money to help me procure a South Korea visa embezzled it. I later gave money to one agent and he also bolted with it. I was later arrested.
The gang, according to security reports, not only rape their female victims, but kill their them in the most dreadful way by using stones and pestles to batter the victims head and going away with the brain and blood.

In some instances, they are also said to slice open pregnant womenand making away with the foetus of the unborn baby.

A resident of the Ikorodu community, Rasheed Adedeji Fatuga, has traced the origin of the dreaded gang which he said started like child's play in July 2016 and laments the fact that a year after, the gang members and their activities are yet to be curtailed.

Fatuga who posted the throwback history of the gang on the Ikorodu Ambassadors Facebook page narrated how the evil started and called on the security operatives to step up their game and restore sanity to the area.

"#Throwback to July 16, 2016, when the notorious Badoo Gang first started their nefarious activities in Ibeshe, Ikorodu.

Today's date is June 26, 2017, and their deadly actions still go on. Shame, Shame, Shame, on all concerned and constituted authorities in Ikorodu for not neutralizing this evil act up till now!

And to the beautiful people of Ikorodu, keep praying and keep watching. Be security conscious! Do not lose your guard!

#Badoo is Real. They are a Network. Alfas, Pastors might be among, even females will be among them.

Do not trust anyone; watch who you talk to and watch what you say outside!

#ProudlyIkoroduAmbassadors #SayNoToAllFormsOfViolence #Peace.

The questions Ikorodu residents want answers to are: Who is Badoo in Ikorodu? When will Badoo killings in Ikorodu end? If after a year of the activities of these ritualists or cultists in Ikorodu, and the Lagos Police still has no answers, then we are done for.

No one knows who the people behind Ikorodu killings are and where they are from! Badoo in Ikorodu 2017 makes the biggest Ikorodu breaking news.

Ikorodu crisis today, Badoo caught in Ikorodu tomorrow. The Lagos Police has to do something fast about these cultists.

They are a bunch of faceless terror group committing outrageous crimes in Ikorodu. What they do is to visit families living in a building that isnt fully completed or guarded by a fence.

They then use bricks and grinding mortar to hit their victims on the head, wipe their blood with a cloth and leave the scene like that.

This issue is now a big thing in Ikorodu that one cannot joke about being a Badoo. Arararo, Adamo in Ikorodu, had one of these experiences when someone falsely raised an alarm that some four people were Badoo members.

The residents pounced on the four guys immediately and they were beaten to death. It later turned out that the four guys were only land speculators.

Many other members of Badoo have been killed in Ikorodu, and one was recently apprehended with a pestle in his hand in Ibeshe, Igbogbo. Another was beaten and burnt to death in Aga, Ikorodu.

The latest attacks of these terrorists occurred in Ogijo. First, a pastor was hit, but he survived and receiving treatment in the hospital. At another time, a couple was killed. A few weeks ago, it was in Itamaga, a family of five, including a pregnant woman, completely annihilated.

The residents are appealing to the Lagos State Police to please do something swiftly. It is over a year, and yet, nothing concrete has been put in place for the activities of Badoo to end."
On Sunday, June 25, the BBC aired a recorded audio of the president's message to we Nigerians. There are two problems with the message.

Firstly, it was an audio recording and not a video recording. This would not help kill the rumours that the President is gravely ill. Secondly, the message is in Hausa, a language that Northern Nigeria speaks.

Before I speak further on the President, this is what he said "I am immensely grateful to God for his mercy in guiding us successfully to conclude another Ramadan fast. My greetings to all Nigerian Muslims and our brother Christians on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr.

"May the lessons of Ramadan namely; piety, self-denial, prayers and generosity to the poor and needy be with us for all time.

"I, again, appeal to all Nigerians to avoid reckless statements or actions against our fellow countrymen. We should all resolve to live in peace and unity in our great country, which is the envy of many less endowed nations."

Not many Christians in Nigeria speak Hausa so I don't know who our President is referring to in that clip. Let's get into the nitty gritty of the matter. Imagine Olusegun Obasanjo addressing the nation in Yoruba or Goodluck Jonathan addressing the country in his native tongue. The feedback would have been terrible.

The country of a multi-ethnic nation such as Nigeria shouldn't be seen as biased. Unfortunately, Buhari's audio clip delivered in Hausa doesn't make it seem he is the president of the entire Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is now obvious he only reckons with the North because that is his base. As for the rest of us- to thy tent oh Israel.

This is just the latest misstep of this tone deaf administration. It is sad that the Presidency feels it unnecessary to divulge the President state of health to the people who put him into power.

Daddy Bubu has taken us for granted. He is treating himself abroad with taxpayer's money and hasn't bothered to update the citizens about his closely guarded condition.
The dispute over the institution's financial situation has caused a lot of finger-pointing between the governments of Osun and Oyo state, who both own the school, and the school's management.

On Sunday, Aregbesola issued a statement through his Commissioner for Information, Mr. Adelani Baderinwa, accusing the management of frustrating the governments' efforts to resolve the crisis.

He said efforts of his government and the Governor Abiola Ajimobi-led Oyo state government were being sabotaged by "some members of staff and management".

He said the 'internal enemies' are getting in the way of auditing the institution's finances, alleging that some mismanagement must be going on.

The statement read, "It is worrisome and disturbing, especially in this recession time, to know that LAUTECH runs 97 bank accounts when the Treasury Single Account has become the order of the day. There are 10 Chief Accountants which is not so in other universities.

"More worrisome too is that LAUTECH has lost money in many distressed banks, according to the report of the visitation panel.

"It is surprising that a more viable LAUTECH with student population of 26,360 undergraduates paying average of N70, 000 tuition, part-time students of over 2,000 paying average of N120, 000; 1,560 academic postgraduate students paying N150,000; professional postgraduate students of 2600 paying average of N250,000; pre-degree, distant learning and other programmes cannot survive on its own."

Last week, the institution's Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) rejected claims that the school unions were preventing the audit of the school's accounts, as claimed by both state governments.

In a statement, the union called the claims a "deliberate misinformation and manipulation of facts".
Bindow made the call while fielding questions from newsmen in Yola.

He observed that the 3Rs process was slow particularly in Adamawa where over 90 per cent of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had left camps for their respective communities.

To be honest, most of our Adamawa IDPs had left camps for home and not much has been done to rehabilitate and reconstruct their areas.

Our major problem now in the insurgency affected areas is that of damaged bridges that is seriously affecting movement of people and goods.

The bridge project is a big work that the state cannot handle without help from the Federal Government, and I want to appeal to companies given contracts for the job to expedite action, Bindow said.

The governor, who wished Adamawa people a happy Eid-el-Fitr celebration, said reports reaching him so far showed that the celebration has been peaceful across the state.

Also speaking on the issue, Sen. Binta Masi of the affected Adamawa North Senatorial District expressed optimism that something would be done soon as the bridges had been captured in the budget.

ALSO READ: Suicide bombers attack UNIMAID again

Masi lauded the ongoing house-to-house distribution of foodstuff to returnees in the areas by federal government.

However, she appealed to government to extend the support to cover farm inputs particularly fertiliser, which she said is too costly in the open market, for the returnees to afford.
According to Premium Times, there were two blasts that were followed by hours of shooting.

The first attack happened around 10:15pm before the second one around 11pm.

One of the dead victims is said to have been a female security officer.

Danjuma Gambo, a professor of Mass Communications at the institution confirmed the attack early on Monday, saying three suicide attacks took place.

However, Victor Isukwu, the Borno police public relations officer, while confirming the incident, called for caution about the details.

He said, "Lets not speculate yet. At Unimaid only one male suicide bomber died; three university security personnel injured among which one later died."
The felicitation is in a statement signed by Mr Moses Olafare, the Oonis Director of Media and Public Affairs on Monday in Ile-Ife.

Ogunwusi cautioned Nigerians against hate speeches and urged the Muslims to emulate Prophet Mohammed, who remains an embodiment of the tenets of Quran and principles of Ramadan.

He expressed his displeasure over the sacrilegious attitude of some Muslims, especially those in positions of authority, who during or after Ramadan, refuse to desist from ungodly acts of criminality.

God is perfect; He made Ramadan the most precious month of the Islamic calendar (Hijri).

He made it obligatory for the Muslims to fast throughout the month with a view to purifying themselves.

It is unfortunate that many people, who are supposed to be guided by the tenets of the Holy Quran and principles of Ramadan, only observe the fasting for the fun of it, Ooni said.

He emphasised the importance of Ramadan and Eid el-Fitr as periods when Muslims are encouraged to forgive and forget their differences.

The Holy Quran was first revealed during the month of Ramadan, so it is the month of the Quran.

Therefore, disobedience to the teachings of Ramadan is disobedience to the Holy Quran.

Oba Ogunwusi also prayed for the quick recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari from his ill-health.

He also urged Nigerians to always support the government and leaders with their prayers.

As the Eid el-Fitr symbolises the sharing of love and joy with one another, Nigerians should pray for the government at all levels.
Gbajabiamila, who cut his birthday cake at a prison decongestion initiative for the release of the inmates at the prison, said the gesture was also in the spirit of the Eid-el-Fitr.

He said that the 40 inmates were unable to pay their fines.

We decided to think out of the box to add value to the lives of other people we may not know.

We are not releasing criminals; these are men who had the misfortune of finding themselves here by misdemeanour  hawking, loitering and the like  but couldnt be out for inability to pay their fines.

Some have been here for six months for inability to pay N10, 000, N20,000, and I think this is a reflection of poverty, the lawmaker said.

He said that lawyers were involved in going through the case files of the released inmates, and their fines had been paid.

He used the opportunity to re- emphasise the need for unity in the country, noting that the released inmates were chosen without ethnic, religious or political reasons, but because they are Nigerians.

The lawmaker said that divisive agitation in the country was due to marginalisation.

He also called for removal of prisons from the exclusive list so that states would be able to play roles that would help to decongest prisons.

Gbajabiamila also said that magistrates contributed to congestion in prisons by remanding some accused persons on whose cases they had no jurisdiction.

He called for a change as well as equipment of the police for better investigation.

Earlier, the officer in charge of Kirikiri Medium Security Prison, Mr Oluwaniyi Emmanuel, thanked the lawmaker for the initiative, saying it was unprecedented.

He appealed for help to make the prison better, saying the facility meant for 1700 had 3553 inmates.

One of the freed inmates, Ugbo Joseph, thanked the lawmaker, and prayed God to bless him.
IBB, as he is fondly called, said that time has come for the devolution of more powers from the federal level to the states.

He also called on leaders of various levels to desist from fuelling violence and hate speeches.

According to Vanguard, IBB revealed that un-guarded utterances led to Nigerians civil war.

The former military dictator also called for the establishment of a state police force.

IBB said "Nigeria, my dear country, is not a stranger to crisis, nor is she immune to it. In a profound sense, she can be said to have been created out of crisis, a nation state that will continue to strive to subdue and transcend crises. In over a century of its formalized colonial architecture, Nigeria has grown and made remarkable progress in the midst of crises.

"The most tragic and horrendous episode in Nigerias history has been the 30 month Civil War of July 1967 to January 1970, in which many of our compatriots lost their lives. Indeed, many others also suffered terrible injuries of human and material dimensions. So, who really wants to go through the depth and dimensions of another Civil War in Nigeria again?

"Who does not know that that Civil War was preceded and started by intolerance and a series of hate pronouncements, hate speeches, hate conducts and actions that were inflicted upon one another by the citizens?

"Today, with a deep sense of nostalgia, I still carry within my body the pains of injury from the Civil War: there is nothing romantic about war; in any form, war is bad, condemnable and must be avoided. I need hardly say I am very worried by the current on-going altercations and vituperations of hate across the country by individuals, well-known leaders, religious leaders, group of persons and organizations.

"We need to remind ourselves that conflicts are not evidently the stuff of politics and governance, particularly so of democracy, hence we must apply caution in our utterances, body language and news reportage. The management of conflicts is the acid test of maturity, of mutual livelihood and of democratic governance.

"We cannot and we must not allow the current hate atmosphere to continue to freely pollute our political landscape unchecked. Personally, I reject the proceedings of hate and their dissemination and urge my fellow citizens to strongly condemn the scourge and orgy of the current crisis which, in my view, is an outcome of vengeful appetites within the multiple contexts of our democratic governance and the profound inequalities that have distorted our social relations. "Nonetheless, it is not the place of leaderships to fuel and hype conflicts nor should we allow losers and gainers of our governance regimes to make pronouncements and threats that exploit our ethnic, religious and geopolitical construct. "Democracy, anywhere in the world, is a work in progress; and one that is subject to constant evolution and debate. The drums of war are easy to beat, but their rhythms are difficult to dance. Starting wars or political upheavals comes with the slightest provocation, but ending them becomes inelastic, almost unending with painful footages of the wrecks of war.

"I have been involved and its ripples are tellingly unpalatable, with gory details of destruction and carnage. I am a Nigerian, a citizen, patriot and concerned stakeholder. It is my strong belief that Nigeria can attain greater greatness if we all nurture our minds in the direction of building a nation, and accepting responsibility for its successes and failures. We cannot deny or repudiate our progress at nation-building in spite of the limitations and challenges that we have continued to experience.

"As a people, we need a proper study and understanding of our history in order to correct the warped perceptions of our past so as to minimize the dangers of badly skewed stories of our democratic experience in governance; and to regenerate mutual confidence and uphold the tenets of living together as one country.

"No one government or administration can provide all the answers to the myriad of problems and challenges confronting us as a country; no matter how determined, resolute, committed and motivated such a government is. The citizens have their roles to play, and their obligations to fulfill in order to motivate government in achieving its stated goals and objectives. Governance is a function of the leadership and the followership. It is a two-way traffic that demands certain responsibilities from those involved.

"Of late, Nigeria has become so sharply divided with emotions running high on the least provocations. Once tempers are that high, the fault-lines become easily visible and with the slightest prompting, the unexpected can happen. But I want to believe that Nigerians are still their reasonable selves, highly endowed in various skills and intellectually empowered to compete anywhere in the global arena.

"As a Nigerian, I have had the rare privilege to benefit from robust relationships from different people across the socio-political divide; East, West, North and South. I have also immensely interacted with persons from all the numerous tribes, cultures and ethnic configurations dotted across the entire gamut of Nigerias expansive lands. I have made friends, built alliances, nurtured relationships and sustained linkages amongst Nigerians of all shades and opinions. In fairness, Nigerians are great people.

"In those hours, moments and duration of friendship and camaraderie, no one talks about origin, geopolitical zones or even states. The issue of religion does not dictate the flow of discourse. We deal with ourselves based on our character and content, and not the sentiments of what part of the country we hail from. The inalienable fact that Nigerians can live in any part of the country to pursue their legitimate aspirations is a strong indication that we have accepted to invest in the Nigerian project, and are no longer driven by mutual suspicion but mutual respect. "That we have not fully realized our potentials as a great nation is not enough reason for us to want to demolish the foundation of our nationhood or rubbish the labours of our heroes past; both of which are borne out of our collective efforts to build a truly great nation, and great people.

"If we have repeatedly done certain things and not getting the desired results, we need to change tactics and approach, and renew our commitment. It is our collective responsibilities to engender a reform that would be realistic and in sync with modern best practices. For example, restructuring has become a national appeal as we speak, whose time has come.

"I will strongly advocate for devolution of powers to the extent that more responsibilities be given to the states while the Federal Government is vested with the responsibility to oversee our foreign policy, defense, and economy. Even the idea of having Federal Roads in towns and cities has become outdated and urgently needs revisiting.

"That means we need to tinker with our constitution to accommodate new thoughts that will strengthen our nationality. Restructuring and devolution of powers will certainly not provide all the answers to our developmental challenges; it will help to reposition our mindset as we generate new ideas and initiatives that would make our union worthwhile.

" The talk to have the country restructured means that Nigerians are agreed on our unity in diversity; but that we should strengthen our structures to make the union more functional based on our comparative advantages. Added to this desire is the need to commence the process of having State Police across the states of the Federation.

"This idea was contained in my manifesto in 2010 when I attempted to contest the presidential elections. The initial fears that State Governors will misuse the officers and men of the State Police have become increasingly eliminated with renewed vigour in citizens participation in, and confidence to interrogate power.

"We cannot be detained by those fears and allow civilization to leave us behind. We must as a people with one destiny and common agenda take decisions for the sake of posterity in our shared commitment to launch our country on the path of development and growth.

"Policing has become so sophisticated that we cannot continue to operate our old methods and expect different results. I also want to appeal to the Nigeria media to be more circumspect in their news reportage. They should always weigh the security implications of the contents of their news and the screaming headlines that stare us in the face every day, especially at this fragile period of our political emanations.

"The media play an important and remarkable role in shaping the flow of discourse. Their level of influence is also not in doubt, but as the fourth estate of the realm, it has a greater responsibility to moderate public discourse in a manner that will cement inter- and intra-cultural relationships.

"If Nigeria works, it benefits all her citizens; if it fails, it hurts all her citizens too. The media should be patriotic in its present engagements to berth a new Nigeria of our dreams. On a final note, I really wish we see strength, determination, commitment and confidence in our diversities rather than adversities. As a heterogeneous country with flourishing skills and numerous endowments, we should dictate the pace in Africa and lead by example of what is possible amongst a people that are focused and determined to pursue common national goal.

" As a former Military President who had the rare privilege to travel around Africa to sustain the African cooperation through peace-keeping operations, I have come to the conclusion that nations are driven by a common ideal and not by the homogeneity of their race. I saw Somalia, such a homogeneous conclave yet one of the most troubled countries in Africa today. I saw South Sudan, which broke away from the old Sudan, but peace and stability have eluded them. Rwanda genocidal experience is not romantic either.

" But a President from the minority ethnic group has repositioned the country to assume its pride of place in the comity of nations. That a people share common identity, language, history, doctrine, culture, mores and values is not synonymous with development, growth, stability and peace.

"When we went into peace-keeping operations in Sierra Leone, Somalia, Liberia and Congo, we had in mind to sustain oneness in Africa even though we are a continent of different countries all bearing different logos and identities. Our motivation was simply that we are Africans.

"I am therefore appealing to the sensibilities of all of us, young and old, leaders and followers, groups and organizations, that in the interest of peace and stability of our country, we need to sheathe the sword. At 76, I have seen it all. I have seen war. I have fought war. And I have survived war, even though I still suffer the pains and injuries of war, it is part of the selfless sacrifice to keep the union afloat.

"We must build a country that is forward looking for our children and future generations of Nigerians. We cannot afford to toil with the destinies of the 170million Nigerians by the shape of our discourse and the content of our interaction. We must carry out conscious attitudinal orientation that will change the mindset of our youths and the held beliefs of the elderly.

" We must explore the therapies of dialogue and constructive engagements in our desire to make life more meaningful for our people. My friends cut across all regions, zones and states. I am proud to be a Nigerian because I see hope in the youthful population of Nigerians. I see remarkable skills and raw talents that can stimulate enterprise and innovations.

"This is the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan, a month in which Muslim faithful have dedicated their lives to seek closeness to God, and forgiveness of their inequities. It is a month of penance; a month of prayer for physical, moral and spiritual rejuvenation, regeneration and rebirth.

I urge my countrymen and women to use the occasion to look ahead with hope and renewed dedication to the service of our country."
Dr Kemi Dasliva-Ibru, the founder of WARIF, stated this at the inauguration of the organisations Educational School Programme (WESP) in Lagos.

Dasilva-Ibru explained that the programme was an initiative that was implemented by WARIF in May 2017 to prevent cases of sexual assault and rape.

She said that through the WESP initiative, accurate data had been obtained on the prevalence of cases of sexual assault and rape in school children as well as identified their patterns of behaviour.

According to her, over 1000 questionnaires were distributed anonymously to school children between the ages of 13 -16 in 10 selected government secondary schools in Lagos.

The founder said 86 per cent of the respondent, both male and female, believed that sex education can help reduce the incidence of rape and sexual assaults.

She said it was furthered revealed that 52 per cent of boys noted that the types of films they watch contribute to why boys may engage in rape.

DaSilva-Ibru said key findings in the survey revealed that one in four adolescents knows at least one survivour of rape.

She also said one in three adolescents identified fathers as abusers, while one in every eight girls is willing to report a case of rape or sexual assault.

Also speaking, Mr Bolaji Salami, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID), Panti, Lagos commended the NGO for its activities.

Salami said the Nigerian Police was committed to ensuring that victims are not only given adequate attention at the family units but convicted offenders are brought to book.

He said that most of the cases referred to his station at Yaba in the last two years were prosecuted.

The deputy commissioner expressed happiness that people no longer shy from reporting cases of sexual assault and rape in the country as it used to be.

The Director of the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), Mrs Bukola Salami, frowned at a situation where most families prefer to settle cases of rape and sexual assaults involving family members out of court.
Nigeria is better off as a strong and united nation of diverse people. We need each other and shall be happy together, Bello told newsmen on Sunday in Minna, after observing the Rakat prayers to mark this years Eid-el Fitr celebration.

He advised Nigerians supporting secession to redirect such energies toward building a country of their dreams as Nigeria was big enough to accommodate everyone and every interest.

The governor also advised Nigerians to focus on issues that were of common interest, and cautioned against rumour mongering and other vices that could breed mutual distrust and suspicion.

Bello expressed optimism that the country would soon overcome its economic challenges, saying that his optimism was supported by current economic indicators confirming that the economy was regaining lost grounds.

The governor promised to deploy available resources toward improving the welfare of the people, and urged Niger residents to support government policies to ensure they had the needed impact.
The NGO is also known as Doctors Without Borders The remaining 100 were treated in Niger.

Dr. Simba Tirima, Deputy Head of Mission, Operational Center Amsterdam, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja that the victims in the two states received drugs distributed by the organisation.

It is a bit tricky to estimate how much was spent for treating the affected people because we also deal with other diseases apart from lead poisoning at the same time.

I will say the cost implication for their treatments is worth millions of dollars; one drug administered per person costs about three dollars and a patient takes up to six drugs per day, he said.

He explained that the poison was due to environmental contamination from artisanal gold mining, adding that in 2010, eight villages were affected in Zamfara.

He said that 5,500 people, including old and young, were affected in the eight villages in Zamfara, adding that in June 2010 the NGO took measures to avoid more deaths.

He said as at end of May, about 430 out of 5, 500 affected victims in Zamfara remained in the treatment programme.

We treated both old and young ones; while the state government sponsored the remediation of all contaminated areas.

In Niger, he said two villages, including Unguwar Magiro and Unguwar Kawo in Rafi Local Government Area were affected by contamination from artisanal gold mining in April 2016.

He said that MSF treated the lead poison victims and facilitated the remediation of the affected areas in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment to ensure children were no longer exposed to the contaminant.

He noted that children were mostly affected because of their sensitivity to lead poison, adding that the poison had the capacity to damage childrens memories and bodies in ways that would not be discovered easily.

He said effects of lead poison could pose dangers on children in future, adding that they could have problems of kidney failure, aggressive nature, among others if MSF had not given adequate attention on time.

He said a workable safer mining programme for artisanal miners would be best way to sustain, reduce and prevent lead poisoning associated with artisanal gold mining in Nigeria.

NAN reports that no fewer than 400 children in Zamfara and 30 children in Niger were reported dead from lead poisoning in 2010.

Lead comes from the dust created by rock-ore gold mining activities; the dust settles on the ground in compounds and it gets inside the children through the mouth.

Lead poisoning could be entirely prevented by stopping exposure to the poison, but difficult to treat once the poison is inside the body.
National President of the union, Ibrahim Khaleel stated this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.

According to Kaheel, Bayelsa state was leading in indebtedness to local council workers with between 10 to 16 months, followed by Kogi between seven to 15 months; Delta State eight to 14 months.

Kaduna 12 months; Oyo three to 11 months; Edo 10 months; Abia five to nine months; Kwara two to nine months; Benue nine months and Nasarawa seven months.

Ondo, Ekiti, Imo with six months; Zanfara have not implementing minimum wage, Adamawa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Plateau owing four months, Taraba and FCT three months.

While Osun state has been paying half salaries for 24 months and few staff were owed few months in Enugu, he said.

The union noted that Ekiti has refused to remit union dues for the past nine months and Ogun has not also remitted its deduction for seven months.

The national president also said that 700 staff members were owed between one to three months in Cross River State.

He called on the governors of the states to offset the salaries and other allowances of local government workers with the second tranche of the Paris Loan Refund released to them.

He said that failure to do so, the union would be forced to mobilised and shut down all local government councils in the country.

Khaleel called on the state governors not to divert or tamper with the second tranche of Paris Club Loan refund but use it to offset the entitlement of the workers.

He, however, said the union was aware that some state governors were already claiming that the amount released was not in conformity with the published figure.

ALSO READ: NULGE urges govt to pay workers outstanding salaries

We want to state in strong term that no governor should either divert or tamper with the fund.

This should be an avenue where the backlog of arrears of salaries owed the Local Government workers and some other welfare packages should be settled.

Such as leave bonus, arrears of promotion benefits, arrears of annual increment and non implementation of minimum wage most especially in Zamfara State are resolved and paid.

We, therefore, use this medium to appeal passionately to the State Governors to use this 2nd Tranche of Paris club loan refund to clear the backlog arrears of outstanding salaries.

This is in order to ameliorate the untold hardship they are currently passing through due to this ugly situation, he said.

He added that the union will not tolerate a situation where any state governor will hide under any guise to deny Local Government workers their legitimate salaries and allowances.
The Ooni of Ife also asked youths to stop complaining about the government, adding that they have the power to determine the outcome of elections.

According to The Sun, Oba Ogunwusi said youths in Nigeria don't understand that they are powerful stakeholders in the Nigerian project.

The monarch also warned against promotion of hate speeches across the country.

He said If you are not happy with your president, you go for another election, and you will vote your president out. If you are happy with your president, you will continue with that government for them to be in power.

Truth be told, we Nigerians dont know our power yet. We dont know our voting power, yet. Until we know it, we wont stop complaining, especially the youth. Once we know it, we wont complain again.

My school of thought is let us, first of all, organise ourselves and let us talk positively about this country. Let us stop derogatory, hate speeches. Things that will continue to divide everybody further.

ALSO READ:How

Truth be told, the youth dont know their power yet. Fortunately, power belongs to the youth of Nigeria. Once they can get themselves together, that power belongs to them.

So my advice to them is to stop hate speeches. They should stop being not focused. I understand the frustrations, I understand absolutely. I live all my life for the youth every day of my life, I live it for the youth.

My advice; 2019, they should vote right. Whoever that they think will do Nigeria justice, that will not divide us further, that will unite us further, and make us be a better nation, let us rally round that person, he added.
Last week, Justice Surajudeen Onigbanjo of an IgbosereHigh Court ruled that the government's eviction of the residents was unconstitutional and ordered the government to enter into negotiation talks with them to discuss resettlement plans.

The judgement also barred the government from evicting any other residents of other waterfront communities in the state without first providing alternative settlements for them to relocate to.

The government also argued that the judgement was in conflict with the facts that the government presented in court.

The government said contrary to the misreported chain of events, no unconstitutional demolitions were carried out until a violent clash between two rival groups in the community resulted into a fire that destroyed the community and drew the attention of the the state fire service.

It further said it barred residents from reconstructing the illegal shanties and ordered them out of the community because they were a security threat to the state.

The Otodo Gbame community is a slum of shanties occupied by peasants, mat-weaving fishermen and divers.

Thousands of residents were rendered homeless when the poor fishing community was set on fire then bulldozed on March 17, 2017, with many of them getting chased into the lagoon on boats.

At least three people died during the forceful eviction process enforced by armed police that came in helicopters, gunboats and police trucks.

A day before the March evictions, a High Court had barred the state government from bringing down all illegal waterfront communities like the Governor had threatened to do.
Addressing the troops, Abubakar said the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) had recorded a lot of successes in the fight against insurgency.

I felt it necessary for me to be here to celebrate with you and to also express the appreciation of NAF and indeed the Commander-in-Chief to all of you for what you have been doing.

We are very happy with the effort you are putting in, we have achieved so much, Abubakar said.

He said more aircraft would be provided, particularly for training and courier service, to fly personnel between Yola and Maiduguri as well as other NAF stations nationwide.

The idea is to make you have some form of contact with your family wherever they are.

Abubakar also said that NAF would be sending some personnel for training in Egypt and South Africa alongside other training opportunities within Nigeria.

We are becoming more professional and discipline. All issues that have to do with welfare in terms of training, welfare, uniforms and other flying kits required had been provided.

We are doing all that to ensure that you are safe and have what is required in terms of skills and training to be able to discharge your responsibilities effectively.

He asked them to key into the NAF Investment Project that has been providing houses to personnel through monthly contribution.

Earlier, the Air Officer Commanding Tactical Air Command, Air Vice Marshal N.A Balogun, lauded the CAS for his commitment to improving the capacity of NAF in areas of operation and welfare.

He said the troops were committed to continue to deliver their best to secure the nation.
The governor disclosed this on Monday when he inaugurated a 27-man Education Revitalization and Strengthening Committee being chaired by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor performed the inauguration during the 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Sokoto Education Development Trust Fund (SEDTF).

Tambuwal disclosed that civil servants on Grade Levels 1 to 6 would pay one per cent of their basic salaries as education levy.

Similarly, those on Grade Levels 7 to 12 would pay one and a half per cent, while those on Grade levels 13 to 16, would pay two per cent.

Tambuwal said, The high powered committee was set up as part of measures being implemented under the declaration of the state of emergency in the education sector.

The committee was also set up as part of the proactive strategies by the state government to revive education from its state of coma."

This action was premised on some disturbing statistics from development partners that the state still lags behind in education, especially girl child education.

The committee is therefore charged with the responsibility of increasing enrollment, retention and completion of school by pupils, he said.

Tambuwal further said that the terms of reference of the committee include: the rehabilitation, expansion and construction of schools, with the collaboration of the schools based management committees in the state.

In the same vein, the governor said that the committee would work out modalities for grassroots mobilisation of parents to enroll their children in both western and Islamic schools.

It will also work to ensure improved quality of teaching and learning, as well as equity, irrespective of gender.

The sultan is globally recognised as a committed leader and he has zero-tolerance for non compliance just like he led the successful war on the menace of polio, Tambuwal, averred.

In his acceptance, the sultan commended Tambuwal for reposing tremendous confidence in the members of the committee and promised to work diligently in the discharge of the onerous responsibility.

We will work assiduously in the discharge of this noble assignment, without fear or favour, and in the absolute fear of God.

The committee will recommend the sacking of all unqualified teachers, as there are many of them, with some of them always absent from their duty posts."

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the fund and second republic President Shehu Shagari lauded the state government, sultanate council of sokoto and some individuals for their sustained support to it.
Little wonder, this church has been called many names and has been involved in a lot of controversies.

Thus, there is a need to shed some light on this unique church.

Here are five 'interesting' beliefs that separate Jehovah's Witnesses from other churches.

1. Jehovah Witnesses believe that Jesus is not part of the Trinity: The Catholic church and other churches believe in the Trinity which consists of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jehovah Witnesses believe differently. They believe that Jesus is not a part of the Trinity but the Son of God. This belief is based on Mark 12:29.

2. This church believes that Jesus is the King of Gods Kingdom in heaven: According to Jehovah Witnesses, there is a Kingdom of God, which is a real government in heaven and Jesus rules this kingdom. This ruling began in 1914. Revelation 11:15 is the basis of this belief. It says, "Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: The kingdom of the world is now the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.

3. This church abstains from blood transfusions: Unlike other churches that have no problem with blood transfusions, Jehovah's Witnesses avoid it. This is because they believe that blood represents life, hence the need to obey and respect it as the giver of life by abstaining from blood transfusions.

4. Religious titles have no place in this church: Jehovah Witnesses disapprove of religious titles like deacon, elder and the likes. This is because they do not think that much reverence should be given to imperfect men. Thus, Jehovahs Witnesses refer simply to ministers as brother. This is based on what Jesus said: You are all brothers.Matthew 23:8.

5. Jehovah Witnesses do not believe in Hellfire: This church believes that unbelievers will not go to a fiery hell of torment known as Hell. Instead, they will be completely destroyed forever.

Jehovahs Witness started in the 19th century. It began with a small group of Bible students in the United States.

They studied the Bible, comparing it to the doctrines of other churches.

When things didn't add up, they started publishing their learnings in what is now known as The WatchtowerAnnouncing Jehovahs Kingdom.

Charles Taze Russell led the Bible studies and was the first editor of The Watchtower.

While other churches might refer to him as their founder, Jehovah's Witnesses do not see him as such because they believe that Jesus is the founder of Christianity and their organisation.

Meanwhile, Jehovah's Witness in Russia has been officially declared an 'extremist organisation' by the Supreme Court.
Swedish newspapers Expressen and Aftonbladet reported shortly afterwards that a Swedish government plane carrying Gustafsson had landed at Stockholm's Arlanda airport and that he had been welcomed home by his family, but neither the government nor airport officials would confirm that information.

Gustafsson, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 along with South African national Stephen McGown and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke.

Rijke was freed in April 2015 by French special forces.

The Swedish foreign ministry provided no details about McGown's fate.

Gustafsson was on a motorcycle trip from Sweden to South Africa when he was kidnapped.

He, Rijke and McGown were seized along with several other Westerners by a group of armed men while on the terrace of their hotel.

Rijke's wife managed to escape, but a German who tried to resist the abduction was killed.

Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. It was among several jihadist groups that took control of Mali's north in 2012 before being ousted by a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

"I've already spoken with Johan and he is doing well and is overwhelmed by everything going on," Wallstrom told Swedish Radio.

String of kidnappings

A South African charity appointed by the families to negotiate the release of Gustafsson and McGown said it had no news about McGown.

"We have no information... I don't think Stephen has been released," said Imtiaz Sooliman, head of Gift of the Givers.

The charity said in May 2017 that it was giving up its negotiating efforts after hitting a "dead end".

According to Swedish media reports, Gift of the Givers had been negotiating a ransom with the hostage-takers.

AQIM had released several videos of Gustafsson and McGown over the years, but very little has been known about the kidnappers' demands.

Gustafsson's family had repeatedly pleaded for his release in statements to the media, but on Monday his father Goran Gustafsson refused to comment on his release.

"I don't want to talk right now, I can't. You'll have to excuse me," he told news agency TT.

Several other Westerners have been kidnapped in Mali in recent years.

In January 2016, Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly was kidnapped by AQIM, also in Timbuktu, after repeated threats from jihadists, and a proof of life video was released one year later.

Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti, a Colombian nun, was kidnapped in February of this year in southern Mali by armed men from an unidentified jihadist group, and her whereabouts remain unknown despite several arrests.
That followed pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties who are part of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition and follow a strict interpretation of religious rules.

Such parties have often played a kingmaker role in Israeli politics and have opposed years of efforts by more liberal Jews to win equal rights for women at the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism.

Women and men currently pray in separate areas at the site in Jerusalem's Old City, where religious affairs are overseen by Israel's ultra-Orthodox establishment.

A compromise reached more than a year ago and hailed as "historic" at the time would have created a third space near the wall, open to both women and men.

Sunday's cabinet vote froze the deal -- effectively cancelling it -- despite the government having earlier endorsed it.

In a sign of the tensions the decision provoked, the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental organisation that helped mediate the deal, heavily criticised the move and cancelled an event with Netanyahu scheduled for Monday evening in response.

Yair Lapid, an opposition figure and leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said the decision meant Israel was "the only democracy in the world without equality for Jews."

'Political pressure'

"Did Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers decide to cancel the framework because they thought it was the right thing for the people of Israel?" Lapid said on his Facebook page.

"Of course not. They did it because the only thing which motivates them is political pressure."

Netanyahu had not publicly commented on the decision, but his cabinet secretary, Tzachi Braverman, said the premier had ordered that a solution should still try to be reached through dialogue.

Netanyahu's coalition, seen as the most right-wing in Israel's history, holds 66 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament.

Ultra-Orthodox parties control 13 of the coalition's seats. Some 10 percent of Israel's population are considered ultra-Orthodox.

The Western Wall, located in Jerusalem's Old City, is venerated by Jews as a remnant of a wall supporting the Second Temple complex, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

It is the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.

Israel's cabinet initially approved the mixed prayer plan in January 2016 after careful negotiations.

It was however never implemented, as ultra-Orthodox parties, under pressure from their supporters, moved to block it.

A case being examined by Israel's top court has put pressure on ultra-Orthodox parties to move to have the deal revoked.

The supreme court is expected to rule soon on a petition filed by more liberal religious movements to force the government to implement the agreement and create the mixed prayer space.

'Insult to the majority'

Sunday's move to back out of the deal prompted anger among Jewish movements in the United States, home to more than five million Jews, most of whom are not Orthodox.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu's decision to say 'no' to his previous 'yes' is an unconscionable insult to the majority of world Jewry," Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the US-based Union for Reform Judaism, said in a statement.

Jacobs said later he had cancelled a meeting with Netanyahu that had been scheduled for Thursday.

It is a sensitive issue for Israel, which relies on the United States as its most important ally, providing it with strong diplomatic support and more than $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) per year in defence aid.

Many Israelis see support from Jewish communities in the United States and worldwide as essential.

"We cannot let narrow-minded politicking threaten the unity of the Jewish people,"Yohanan Plesner, president of the respected Israel Democracy Institute think tank, said in a statement.

"If we expect Jews abroad to support the state of Israel, we must also ensure their religious equality. Israel's national security is at stake."

But for Israel's ultra-Orthodox establishment, changes such as mixed prayer betray Jewish tradition.

"There was and shall remain one Western Wall to one people," Religious Affairs Minister David Azoulay of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party told army radio.
"I'm here to appeal to the goodness of some of the wealthiest nations on the face of the planet to please continue to step up at a time such as this," Beasley said after meeting EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

"I want the United States to contribute more, the EU to contribute more," he said.

He appealed to wealthy EU countries like Britain, Germany and especially France to send more aid, saying Paris was contributing too little at $30 million.

He said of the 20 million people facing famine, 5.7 million are children who are malnourished, with around 1.5 million of them severely so.

"Our numbers are showing us that if over the next three to four months, if we do not receive the resources we need to provide the food, you're looking at the possibility of 600,000 children dying," Beasley said.

"We need another $1.0 billion for the four countries," he added.

He added that the WFP had already cut rations in half for South Sudanese refugees in Uganda to spread aid to the most vulnerable in the four countries.

He said efforts to fight the famine have been hampered by the media focus on the French far-right politician Marine Le Pen, Brexit and the presidency of US President Donald Trump, while also noting donor fatigue at a time of conflicts worldwide.

"Because of all the distraction, I don't think the world knows the direness of the plight," he said.

Beasley, a former Republican governor of South Carolina and a Trump supporter, also predicted that Washington would correct its move away from foreign aid.

"I think President Trump, the White House and the (Congressional) leadership are coming to see the value of humanitarian assistance in fighting extremism," he said.
In a flurry of weekend tweets and a prerecorded television appearance, Trump said his predecessor failed to act after the CIA informed him in August that Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally ordered an operation to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the November election.

"Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action?" he asked in one tweet.

In another, alluding to a Washington Post article that laid out the Russia timeline, he tweeted: "Obama Administration official said they 'choked' when it came to acting on Russian meddling of election. They didn't want to hurt Hillary?"

A top Trump aide, Kellyanne Conway, was more blunt still.

"It's the Obama administration responsible for doing absolutely nothing from August to January with the knowledge that Russia was hacking into our election. They did nothing. They're responsible," she said Sunday on ABC.

Some Democrats saw abundant irony in Trump blaming Obama for indecisiveness against a Russian operation that Trump himself has long seemed to play down -- including when he fired FBI chief James Comey for pursuing his investigation of "this Russia thing."

But one influential Democratic lawmaker joined in the criticism of the previous president.

Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN that he understood that the Obama administration was worried about being seen as "trying to tip the scales for Hillary Clinton."

But he went on: "The American people needed to know. I didn't think it was enough to tell them after the election... I think the administration needed to call out Russia earlier, needed to act to deter and punish Russia earlier and that was a very serious mistake."

Another Democrat, Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the intelligence committee, expressed similar disappointment.

"I am troubled learning this new information that the Obama administration didn't do more," he told CNN on Friday. Such matters should transcend politics, he added.

'Quite sad'

The Washington Post, in a behind-the-scenes account of the Obama response to reports of Russian meddling, said that amid confidence that Clinton would win and for fear of Obama being seen as interfering, the administration warned Moscow but left countermeasures for later.

The Post said Obama issued four warnings to the Russians -- including one he delivered directly to Putin -- causing Moscow to pull back on possible plans to sabotage US voting operations.

But after Trump's shock victory in November, some Obama administration officials expressed regret at the lack of tougher action.

"Wow, did we mishandle this," a former administration official told the newspaper.

In an interview with Sunday's "Fox and Friends" program, Trump groused about Obama's response, saying: "If he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? He should have done something about it. But you don't read that. It's quite sad."

Following Trump's election win, Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats and added new sanctions.

Schumer pushes back

While Schiff criticized Obama, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer pushed back hard.

The New York lawmaker helped steer a bill through the Senate this month to toughen sanctions against Russia and bar Trump from weakening them on his own.

The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, but Trump administration officials have been working to weaken the House version.

"If Donald Trump wants to do something about Russia and Russia meddling, instead of saying Obama didn't do enough, support our sanctions bill," Schumer said on ABC.

Criticism of Trump's failure to sharply condemn Russian interference has continued to vex his administration.

As recently as Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer could not give a clear answer when asked repeatedly whether Trump believes the Russians interfered in the 2016 elections.
He was sentenced to 12 years and two months behind bars by Judge Sergio Moro, who heads the "Car Wash" probe tackling the giant embezzlement and kickbacks scheme.

The 56-year-old Palocci -- a finance minister under Lula and chief of staff for Rousseff, both from the Workers' Party -- is negotiating a plea bargain with prosecutors.

That could add to the avalanche of evidence already driving scores of investigations into political leaders including Lula, who faces five corruption court cases.

Moro is currently considering a verdict in one of those cases, in which Lula is alleged to have received a seaside apartment as a bribe from one of Brazil's biggest construction companies, OAS.

Palocci played a central role in the "Car Wash" scheme, most of which unfolded when the Workers' Party was in power from 2003 to 2016, when Rousseff was ejected in an impeachment procedure for breaking government accounting rules.

Prosecutors said Palocci was a pointman in the flow of "bribes between the Odebrecht construction group and intermediaries of the Workers' Party," laundering more than $10 million used for party campaign finances.

Odebrecht, an industrial conglomerate with projects around the world, named Palocci "the Italian" in its list of code names for politicians regularly taking bribes in exchange for lucrative contracts with Petrobras and other favors.

Lula has repeatedly denied taking any bribes during or after his presidency. He describes Moro's investigation as a campaign to prevent his return to power.

Rousseff's impeachment last year and replacement by her center-right vice president Michel Temer was branded by the left as a coup d'etat. Lula now hopes to make a dramatic comeback in elections set for October 2018.

However, the multiple corruption cases could stop him in his tracks, since an upheld guilty verdict would bar him from running for office -- or potentially see him imprisoned.

A new opinion poll by Datafolha released Monday showed Lula would win the first round of a presidential election. However, in a hypothetical second round runoff, he would draw with environmentalist Marina Silva and Moro himself.

Moro has not declared an interest in running for office, but is hugely popular for his anti-corruption work.

Other than his legal troubles, Lula faces the handicap of having by far the highest rejection rate of any candidate, with 46 percent of Brazilians saying they would never vote for him.
Lieutenant Colonel Salam al-Obeidi was speaking to AFP inside the devastated Old City, about 50 metres (yards) from what is left of the "Hadba" leaning minaret the jihadists blew up four days earlier.

"Sixty-five to 70 percent of the Old City has been liberated, there is less than a square kilometre left to retake," said Obeidi, from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service that has spearheaded the assault.

He estimated that only "a few hundred Daesh fighters" were left in the Old City, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

The ornamental brickwork on the base of the 12th century "Hadba" (Hunchback) minaret, which was Mosul's symbol and one of the most recognisable landmarks in Iraq, was visible in the background.

The cylindrical shaft of the minaret came tumbling down when IS on June 21 detonated explosives the jihadists had rigged to it.

The jihadists simultaneously blew up the nearby Nuri mosque, where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave his first sermon as IS leader in July 2014, his last public appearance to date.

The narrow, windy streets of the Old City, an area packed with heritage treasures covering about three square kilometres on Mosul's west bank of the Tigris, were littered with rubble.

The fighting has been among the most intense in the three-year-old war against IS and AFP reporters said the destruction in old Mosul was extensive, with some buildings still standing but none unscathed.

The jihadists, who have no escape from their last redoubt in the Old City, have mounted a fierce defence using booby traps, mortars, suicide attacks and snipers.
After Brussels last week firmly placed the liquidation ball in Rome's court, Padoan's ministry said late Friday that the government would put up state cash to rescue the stricken Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca.

Both face bankruptcy and European authorities had urged Italy to devise a rescue framework, selling off their good assets and transferring toxic assets to a "bad bank," essentially financed by Rome.

The Italian government will stage the rescue with support from the country's biggest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo.

Padoan said 4,785 billion euros would be set aside immediately to "maintain capitalisation" of Intesa Sanpaolo, which has made that a condition of any cooperation.

For its part Intesa has put one symbolic euro on the table and attached a further string to the deal by insisting its share dividend policy remain unaffected.

Rome will provide a further "guarantee" of 400 million euros, Padoan said, with the remaining cash going to cover a huge hole due to bad loans.

"This decree allows the stabilisation of the Venetian economy and safeguarding of the economic activity of the Venetian banks," said Padoan.

Risky loans

Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni portrayed the move as necessary to shore up the situation of current account holders and simple savers as well as of bank workers, in order to bolster "the good health of our banking system."

The 19-member eurozone has expressed concern at the perilous state of some Italian banks as Rome tries to address piles of risky loans sitting on the books of some of them.

In a statement released Friday night, the Italian finance ministry said Rome would "adopt necessary measures to ensure banking activity is fully operational, with protection for all current account holders, deposits and senior shares."

Media reports suggested the bill to the Italian taxpayer from the "bad bank" would be around 10 billion euros.

There is also the issue of some 3,500 to 4,000 bank employees set to lose their jobs as well as associated early retirement costs, La Repubblica reported Saturday.

Earlier this month, the EU anti-trust authority approved Italy's massive rescue of another troubled bank, its third-largest and oldest, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS).

Founded in Siena in 1472, BMPS has been in deep trouble since the worst of the eurozone debt crisis.

Rome is set to take a majority stake on a provisional basis to prevent bankruptcy and inject capital in line with EU rules, whilst limiting the burden for Italian taxpayers after the lender failed to raise funds on the market last year.

In exchange, Rome must accept a drastic EU-approved restructuring plan for BMPS expected to involve mass layoffs.
The sprawling, resource-rich country of just three million sandwiched between Russia and China was once viewed as an oasis of democracy full of economic promise.

But it has struggled in recent years with mounting debt and low voter turnout.

The next president will inherit a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout designed to stabilise its economy and lessen its dependence on China, which purchases 80 percent of Mongolian exports.

But voters have heard little from the three candidates about unemployment and jobs -- their top concerns in opinion polls -- as campaigns have instead focused on their opponents' allegedly shady pasts.

Among the accusations are a 60 billion tugrik ($25 million) scheme to sell government posts, hefty offshore accounts and a clandestine donation from a member of a South Korean church -- all of which the candidates have denied.

The campaign was also marked by moments of anti-Chinese sentiment, with candidate Mieygombo Enkhbold of the parliament-ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) publishing his family tree to rebuff claims that he had Chinese blood.

"(The election) is truly testing the nerves of voters," Gerel Orgil, a Mongolian public opinion analyst, told AFP. "It's been like watching a bullfight."

Run-off looms

Enkhbold, a horse breeder and former mayor of Ulan Bator, is considered the establishment candidate.

He faces brash businessman Khaltmaa Battulga of the outgoing president's opposition Democratic Party, a property tycoon and former head of the judo association.

The third candidate is Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, a former independent who once headed a feng shui practise.

While Enkhbold and Battulga are considered the main contenders, Ganbaatar is expected to garner enough votes to trigger the country's first ever run-off.

Power struggles

Several voters described the campaigns as "dark" and accused the candidates of using smear jobs to distract from real issues.

"Ganbaatar is the only one who speaks the voice of the regular people of Mongolia," said Zundui Gombojav, a 60-year-old unemployed disabled man.

"For 27 years, we have chosen the two largest parties, but they have done nothing."

Other voters were concerned that electing Enkhbold would give absolute power to the MPP, which already holds the majority of seats in parliament.

Daram Erdebayar, a 61-year-old retired teacher, had previously been loyal to the MPP, but decided to support Battulga after a recording surfaced in which Enkhbold and other MPP officials were allegedly discussing a plan to hand public jobs to the highest bidders.

He said several teachers in the capital's "ger" districts -- slums comprised of yurts and ramshackle houses on the city outskirts -- were abruptly fired in recent years after working in the same schools for decades.

His colleagues suspected that they were replaced with individuals who had bribed the city education authority, Erdebayar said.

Not everyone favoured shaking up the status quo.

Lying in bed in the yurt that she shared with her three children, Jamiynsurengiin Olzod said all she wanted from the government was a grant to buy a new sewing machine.

The 35-year-old seamstress lives off child welfare allowances and sales of handmade traditional garments during Mongolia's two biggest holidays, the Lunar New Year and Naadam.
He said he hopes to "abolish the anachronistic system of guarantees and intervention rights", with a deal providing for the withdrawal of the Turkish army.

The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.

Turkey maintains around 35,000 troops in northern Cyprus.

The so-called guarantor powers of Turkey, Britain and Greece retain the right to intervene militarily on the island.

Greek and Turkish Cypriots are at odds over a new security blueprint, but their leaders are under pressure to reach an elusive peace deal.

"I am going to Switzerland to participate in the Cyprus conference, with the sole aim and intent of solving the Cyprus problem," Anastasiades said.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci is also set to attend the summit, which is expected to last at least 10 days.

Greece, Turkey and Britain will send envoys along with an observer from the European Union.

UN-led talks on the island hit a wall in late May after the sides failed to agree terms to advance toward a final summit.

Unlocking the security question would allow Anastasiades and Akinci to make unprecedented concessions on core issues.

But they have major differences on what a new security blueprint should look like.

Anastasiades's internationally recognised government, backed by Athens, seeks an agreement to abolish intervention rights, with Turkish troops withdrawing from the island on a specific timeline.

Turkish Cypriots and Ankara argue for some form of intervention rights and a reduced number of troops remaining in the north.

Turkish Cypriots want the conference to focus on broader issues of power-sharing, property rights and territory for the creation of a new federation.

jpegMpeg4-1280x720Much of the progress to date has been based on strong personal rapport between Anastasiades and Akinci, leader of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

But that goodwill has appeared frayed in the build-up to their meeting in Switzerland.
The tanker veered off the road when the driver lost control in Bahawalpur, eastern Pakistan, police official Mohammad Akhtar told CNN.

As the tanker began leaking out profusely, villagers were said to have rushed to the scene to scoop fuel - it exploded in the process.

About 123 people were initially reported dead.

According to CNN, Nishtar Hospital, which is treating many of the wounded, said in a statement that more than 100 people were injured in the blast.

Bahawalpur's Victoria Hospital said it was treating 40 victims, all of whom had suffered burns on at least 70% of their bodies, the report said.

A state of emergency has been declared in the city, Punjab provincial government spokesman Salman Sufi said.
Some 30,000 Catholics gathered at the city's central cathedral square for a mass honouring Archbishop Teofilius Matulioni, who was officially recognised as a martyr in December by Pope Francis.

Lithuania's Soviet-era rulers repeatedly sent him to prisons and labour camps for standing up to the atheist regime.

Addressing the crowd, Vatican representative Cardinal Angelo Amato hailed Matulionis's "heroism" under "ruthless dictatorships which strove to annihilate the Church."

"Torture did not bend his will. He did not give in to hatred," Amato said.

Those gathered, including pilgrims from neighbouring Russia, Poland, Belarus and Latvia, cheered as a huge painting showing Matulionis dressed in prison garb was unveiled.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, who attended Sunday's beatification mass, said Matulionis remained steadfast in his commitment to the truth during his many years behind bars.

Nearly 2,000 kilometres away, Pope Francis congratulated Lithuanians during Sunday Mass at St. Peter's Square.

In order for him to be canonised as a saint, the Vatican will have to attribute a miracle to the beatified Matulionis.

The Soviet regime imprisoned him for a decade in 1946 after he refused to condemn armed Lithuanian resistance against Moscow's rule and criticised its repression of Catholics.

He was eventually released and managed to keep secretly in contact with the Vatican from behind the Iron Curtain despite being spied on for years.

He died in 1962 in Soviet-occupied Lithuania at the age of 89 under mysterious circumstances.

There is widespread suspicion that he was injected with poison by a nurse on orders of the Soviet KGB secret police.

The Soviet Union annexed Lithuania and fellow Baltic states Latvia and Estonia during World War II under a deal with Nazi Germany.

Mass deportations to Siberia and Central Asia followed.

In 1990, after three years of peaceful protest, Lithuania was the first republic to break free from the Soviet Union.

It joined the European Union in 2004.
"I would like to remind and warn all organisations and institutions that campaign and pretend to protect homosexual interests ... we are going to arrest whoever is involved and charge them in courts of law," the state-owned Daily News quoted Interior Minister Mwigulu Nchemba as saying.

In the country's latest attack on its homosexual community, Nchemba also said foreigners involved in such campaigns would be "deported within no time ... they will not have even the time to unplug their mobile phones from the socket."

"Those who are interested in homosexuality should go and live in countries that entertain such businesses. If there's any organisation in the country that supports and campaigns for homosexuality ... it shall be deregistered."

Nchemba's comments come just days after President John Magufuli slammed NGOs who campaign for gay rights, saying they should be countered even if this meant losing foreign aid.

"Those who teach such things do not like us, brothers. They brought us drugs and homosexual practices that even cows disapprove of," Magufuli said in a speech last Thursday.

Gay male sex is punishable by anything from 30 years to life imprisonment under Tanzanian law, but there is no such ban on lesbian relations.

However, politicians have largely ignored the gay community -- which has not experienced the levels of discrimination seen in other countries such as neighbouring Uganda -- until a recent spike in anti-gay rhetoric by the government.

Last July, the regional commissioner for the port city of Dar es Salaam, Paul Makonda, announced a crackdown which was followed by arrests in clubs.

Dozens of men suspected of being gay have been detained and taken to hospital for anal exams to confirm their homosexuality.

In the same month, the government banned the import and sales of sexual lubricants, which Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said encouraged homosexuality that led to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

And in February, the government said it was stopping many privately-run health centres from providing AIDS-related services after they were accused of providing services to homosexuals.

The government also said it would publish a list of gay people selling sex online, but retracted this threat several days later.
FIT-AGAIN QPR midfielder Jordan Cousins believes he and his team-mates have all the tools at their disposal to enjoy a productive opening week of pre-season training in Portugal.

The Rangers squad arrived at the Cascade Wellness & Lifestyle Resort in Lagos late on Sunday night, before being thrown in at the deep end with a triple training session on day one.

The resort itself ticks all the boxes for a pre-season campaign and Cousins himself admitted the Rs can have no excuses about the environment theyll be working in over the next six days.

Everyone is in good spirits and as a squad, you couldnt wish for better facilities to train in, he told www.qpr.co.uk.

Everything is catered for here - from the pitches, to the gym, to the hotel, to the food. Its all first class.

Its been a good, tough start to pre-season, he added.

The boys have come back in good shape and the manager has made it clear how happy he is with the work weve done in the summer, so were all in condition to really hit the ground running.

For Cousins, who was restricted to just 21 appearances in his first season at Loftus Road last term owing to injuries, the next few weeks are seen as crucial, as he completes his comeback from a torn quad, sustained in March.

I feel good within myself and hopefully all that hard work Ive put in will pay off, he said.

I had one week off and then I was in for the whole summer, doing at least three sessions a week.

I feel in good shape and Im ready to really kick on now.





Manager Ian Holloway gets his message across at the start of day one There was plenty of running in the Algarve sunshine on the first day Conor Washington and Jordan Cousins hit the ground running Thirsty work as Joel Lynch takes on fluids during a break Grant Hall sports the Romania '98 look following his return this summer It might be the first day but the ball made an early appearance Darnell Furlong conserves some energy by hitching a ride on Jack Robinson Is that a small or a grimace, Yeni Ngbakoto? Keep on running lads! RGC, Bidwell and Smithies amongst others Jamie Mackie smiling like only he can on day one of pre-season Share Article

He added: Last season was really frustrating for me.

From March onwards, when I tore my quad off the bone, all Ive been thinking about following that operation was getting fit for pre-season.

It was a setback but Im more determined than ever to be fit for the new season.

Ive missed being in and around the lads on the training pitches.

The main thing for me is to stay fit and make sure my body is in the right condition to prepare for a 46-game league season.

Ill do everything I can to be in the managers plans come the start of August when the action gets underway.

Between now and then its up to me to show him what I can do.

I feel in good shape and Im ready to really kick on now. Jordan Cousins Share
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Amtrak has named longtime aviation executive Richard Anderson as its president and chief executive officer, effective July 12.

Anderson, 62, former chief executive officer of both Delta and Northwest Airlines, will serve in a co-CEO capacity with current CEO Wick Moorman through Dec. 31, 2017, at which time Moorman will become an advisor to the company. Moorman joined Amtrak in September 2016 as a transitional CEO tasked with improving the companys operations, streamlining the organizational structure, and helping recruit his successor.

Richard brings to Amtrak his experience running one of the largest global commercial air carriers, said Amtrak Chairman of the Board Tony Coscia. The board believes he is the right leader at the right time to drive the quality of customer service that our passengers, partners and stakeholders expect and deserve while continuing our path towards operational and financial excellence. The board also appreciates all that Wick continues to do to improve Amtraks safety culture and strengthen our operating performance, including the important renewal work at New York Penn Station.

Anderson most recently was executive chairman of the Delta Air Lines board of directors after serving as the airlines CEO from 2007-16. He was executive vice president at United Healthcare from 2004-07 and CEO of Northwest Airlines from 2001-04, which later merged with Delta. Anderson, an attorney, also served in the legal division at Continental Airlines and was a former county prosecutor.

It is an honor to join Amtrak at a time when passenger rail service is growing in importance in America. I look forward to working alongside Amtraks dedicated employees to continue the improvements begun by Wick, said Anderson. Amtrak is a great company today, and Im excited about using my experience and working with the board to make it even better. Im passionate about building strong businesses that create the best travel experience possible for customers.

Moorman said, Richard is a best-in-class industry leader and isnt afraid to face challenges head-on. He has helped companies navigate bankruptcy, a recession, mergers and acquisitions, and 9/11. Hes a leader with the strategic vision and tactical experience necessary to run a railroad that benefits our customers, partners and stakeholders nationwide.

Anderson is a native of Galveston, Texas, where his father worked for the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, according to a statement from Amtrak.
RIDEAU Transit Group (RTG) has awarded Alstom a $C 300m ($US 227m) contract to supply 38 Citadis Spirit low-floor LRVs for the Stage 2 O-Train light rail expansion project in Ottawa, Ontario, which received federal funding on June 16.

Alstom had previously received an order for 34 Citadis Spirit LRVs from a subcontract agreement in 2013. Alstom will maintain the vehicles for a period of 30 years.

The order comes after the mayor of Ottawa, Mr Jim Watson, unveiled plans to extend the Confederation Line and expand Stage 2 of the O-Train LRTproject.

Currently, Alstom employs 120 people at the Belfast Yard Maintenance and Storage Facility (MSF) in Ottawa, where the vehicles are being assembled and tested. The first Citadis Spirit vehicle achieved commercial operating speed during dynamic tests on the Confederation Line alignment in March 2017.

For data on LRV orders from around the globe, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
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The resurrection of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), a proposal that would bring Australia into a strategic grouping with India, Japan and the US, has again been floated, this time in ministerial talks between Australia and Japan in Tokyo.

Australia has a perfect right to form associations, groupings, dialogues and alliances with whomever it chooses. Foreign, including Chinese, criticism should not be regarded as a barrier. However wise statecraft does not deal only with entitlements and rights, it also considers consequences, need, timing and the best use of limited resources. The option of pursuing a four-way strategic grouping between Australia, India, Japan and the US needs to be considered from these perspectives.

With regard to consequence, it would be irresponsible not to consider the impact on Chinas security perceptions. Will a Quad arrangement increase perceptions among China's leaders that the US is leading an effort to contain Chinas rise? Probably, because we know that, historically, China has feared encirclement.

Will it strengthen the influence of hawks in the PLA who regard peaceful coexistence with the US and other Asia Pacific great powers as fanciful? Again, probably.

Will it increase the overall level of distrust in US-China, Japan-China and India-China relations? This is also likely.

Could it lead to China increasing its levels of defence spending? Yes, quite possibly. Chinas defence spending as a share of GDP is currently less than half that of the US. Beijing could increase this figure without placing undue strain on its economy.

Will a Quad reverse Chinas land reclamation and building of military facilities in the South China Sea? Almost certainly not. It is likely that only the use of force could now bring that about. No country has an appetite for a war over military installations that are currently not harming any states security and prosperity.

It should also be added that public denials that such a grouping 'has nothing to do with China' would ring hollow. Politicians who participate in this kind of dissembling are not serving their countrys long term interests. More distrust simply adds up to a worsening of Australias security environment. Clever strategy is about maintaining deterrence while avoiding an escalation of tensions.

Given all these risks, is formalising a four way quasi-alliance something we need to do at this juncture?

To start with, Australias close alliance with the US is at record highs and needs no further strengthening. Moreover, Australia shares strong and improving bilateral military ties with both Japan and India. These include strategic-level talks as well as practical forms of cooperation, including naval and maritime security exercises. Australia also has a three-way arrangement with the US and Japan, the Trilateral Security Dialogue, which has facilitated closer relations including limited forms of intelligence cooperation and a bilateral logistics agreement. If we ever needed to operate in a coalition force with either country, these habits of cooperation, and the personal connections they engender, would position Australia well.

So why go further? Why form this coalition now when we already have strong bilateral linkages with each of the individual countries that would form the QSD? If there is a need for a balancing coalition this should happen when the threat becomes clearer. What might be a manifestation or indication of such a threat? China using force would be an indication, perhaps by attempting to enforce an air identification defence zone, or shooting down or sinking an aircraft or ship traversing contested zones of the South China Sea. If China acted in this way it would be a sign of a state willing to use violence to achieve its ends. It would be a threat and there would be no alternative but to prepare for worse scenarios.

It also needs to be understood that Japan and India each have their own rivalries with China, including unresolved and bitter territorial disputes. The Quad carries a risk, small but real, of sending ambiguous and unhelpful messages. It might suggest to some that Australia would take Japan or Indias side in these disputes, and might even be willing to become involved if the disputes escalate to conflict.

There is also an opportunity cost to resurrecting the Quad. Australia should not increase cooperation with distant major powers like Japan and India at the cost of continuing to build closer relations with the countries in our close neighbourhood. Southeast Asia and the Pacific are our home and neighbourhood. Australian defence cooperation can arguably do more good there, reinforcing linkages and helping improve the skills and capabilities of local defence forces. The countries of Southeast Asia are the land bridge and waters that enabled attacks on Australia in 1942. Australias defence strategy has from the 1970s rightly placed high priority on these countries.

Professor John Blaxland recently wrote that Australia needs to hold its nerve. As we begin to feel the first real turbulence from what Coral Bell called 'The End of the Vasco de Gama Era' - that is, the end of Western global dominance - Australia needs to parse its choices more carefully than ever before. It needs to gingerly step through a bewildering array of possible futures to find the path that preserves Australias interests but does not lead to war.
Cooperation among Southeast Asian states has never come easy, but the surge of Islamist militancy in the region is encouraging Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines to give it another try.

This week, the three countries formally launched trilateral patrols in the Sulu and Celebes seas  a vast expanse that has become a hub of piracy, militancy and smuggling. They have discussed the possibility since 2016, when the Abu Sayyaf, a jihadist group aligned with the Islamic State, conducted a string of kidnappings in the Sulu Archipelago. Whatever differences that may have impeded the patrols, however, were put aside during the siege of Marawi city, a provincial capital in the restive Philippine region of Mindanao.

Of course, the patrols alone will not rid the Philippines or its neighbors of jihadists. The same issues that have routinely hindered collective action throughout Southeast Asia will limit the scope of the program, if not undermine its effectiveness altogether. But the initiative does amount to a step toward regional integration, even as it proves the indispensability of the United States and its allies in Southeast Asia  playing directly into U.S. strategy in the Asia-Pacific.

A Divided Region

The slow start to the patrols in the Sulu and Celebes seas shows just how elusive integration has been in Southeast Asia. Historically, mountains and island chains, not to mention starkly divided ethnic communities, have tended to produce inward-looking countries too preoccupied by instability and too suspicious of foreign meddling to bother to assimilate. (Singapore is a notable exception.) Today, the region is insufficiently connected by infrastructure but riven by territorial disputes and by unaddressed insurgencies in its farthest reaches. Though the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations has tried to solve these problems, it has held tight to its founding principle of non-interference in members internal affairs, opting instead to avoid the joint pursuit of economic and security agendas.

The Malacca Strait Patrols are an important exception. Launched by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in 2006 (Thailand joined in 2008), the joint air and sea patrols have reduced the threat of piracy in one of the worlds most important shipping lanes. The trilateral patrols in the Sulu and Celebes seas, officially at least, will be based on the model established in the Malacca Strait.

But key differences between the two initiatives show why familiar geopolitical constraints on cooperation in Southeast Asia will be more of a problem for the new initiative. In the Malacca Strait, territorial disputes were resolved long ago. Singapores willingness and ability to commit the lions share of resources  and host an intelligence fusion center at Changi naval base  gave the initiative clear leadership, ensured effective information-sharing, and helped to offset the underdeveloped capabilities of the three (original) participants.

The sailing wont be as smooth in the Sulu and Celebes seas, where Malaysia has unresolved border issues with both Indonesia and the Philippines. (Particularly problematic is the Philippines claim to Malaysias Sabah state.) Though the countries have tentatively agreed to grant each other hot pursuit rights  which allow countries to follow enemies across borders  they may not be as agreeable in practice. Most pirate attacks, for example, take place close to the shores of islands within Philippine territory, so the responsibility to let in foreign militaries would fall mostly on the government in Manila, which has been the most reluctant to commit to the patrols. It doesnt want to allow its counterparts to follow militants onshore, where the battle will ultimately be won or lost.

Sovereignty isnt the only impediment. The three countries may have the military capability to establish relatively secure transit corridors along key shipping lanes. But without effective intelligence coordination or the resources to expand patrols beyond narrow corridors, the program will struggle to stop cross-border flows of militants and weaponry. As it stands, the Sulu-Celebes operation would require separate command centers for each country rather than a single hub for intelligence coordination. (Singapore, which was present at the launch as an observer, has offered to help establish a similar fusion center.) And its unclear whether participants have the resources needed to sustain operations in an area that is so much bigger than the Malacca Strait, let alone one with multidirectional shipping lanes.

The initiative will therefore struggle to expand beyond narrowly focused, loosely coordinated operations. Success against the jihadists, as has already been the case, will come down to discrete efforts of each country  both at sea and on land. Indonesia and the Philippines, in particular, both lack the naval capabilities to go at it alone.

Subtle and Steadfast

Despite all these constraints, we expect joint patrols to be modestly successful in their mission. But the initiative is useful in other ways. If the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia can resolve disputes or put aside their mutual suspicions, the patrols would be a template for cooperation on other issues  an important consequence for a region historically beset by disunity.

Its disunity also shaped the way foreign powers engaged the region, and in this regard the patrols will be similarly useful. The U.S., for example, has been gradually boosting security assistance and cooperation in the region for years through such programs as the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative. U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific like Australia and Japan have followed suit. But these efforts have generally been confined to bilateral arrangements. China prefers it this way; Beijing sees bilateral engagement as a way to maximize economic leverage with individual states and to keep ASEAN from unifying against it. The United States has no illusions about ASEANs ability to develop into a broad defense alliance. But on issues that require multilateral cooperation, Washington is keen to encourage regional states to stand up to threats as one, supported as they are by its naval fleets.

To be effective, the Sulu-Celebes patrols will need to be multilateral. They will need to expand beyond the trilateral format, first by being willing to let Singapore and neighbors like Brunei and Thailand share the resource burden. (Malaysias defense minister said he expects as many as five more countries to join.) They would also need to allow outside powers to contribute where native capabilities are lacking. After all, the Malacca Strait Patrols have relied heavily on U.S. intelligence support and have grown to now include countries such as India.

There is no shortage of candidates in these crowded waters. Japan has expressed interest in contributing to the Sulu-Celebes initiative too, and its newest warship has become a regular visitor to Southeast Asian ports in recent months. And though Indonesia continues to harbor long-standing suspicions about Australias strategic ambitions, Jakarta has signaled that it could tolerate an Australian presence in the Sulu-Celebes seas. China is also keen to demonstrate that it can provide the security benefits to Southeast Asian states traditionally provided by the Americans  and thus relieve them of their need for U.S. alliances. But ultimately, only the U.S., with its unmatched navy and the rotational access it secured to eight Philippine military bases through the 2015 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, is singularly positioned to contribute. In fact, it is already helping Manila address the onshore side of the fight. (The U.S. also stations five littoral combat ships in Singapore and launches surveillance flights from Malaysia.)

Foreign powers wont participate in the patrols anytime soon. Chinese ships would cause particular unease, but most Southeast Asian states remain wary of outside involvement on principle. The launch of the Malacca Strait Patrols, for example, was motivated as much by concerns that the spike in piracy would invite U.S. intervention as it was by the problem of piracy itself. The U.S. has largely contributed from behind the scenes ever since  and likely will again. But subtle and steadfast is how the U.S. prefers its power be perceived in Southeast Asia.
A limited defense budget will force the Kremlin to make difficult decisions to prioritize its most critical defense needs.

The Russian military will temper its maritime ambitions as it reinforces its continental capabilities.

Russia will not entirely abandon the seas, however, as its greatest security concern will remain its nuclear deterrent, comprising land, air and maritime components.

Russia's military modernization efforts are entering a critical stage. The state armaments program (GPV), covering 2018-2025, is due to be finalized in September. The plan will determine not only the country's weaponry capabilities well into the 2030s, but also the strategic direction of the Russian military at large. Early indications point toward a significant downgrade in Russia's maritime ambitions as Moscow amps up its focus on continental power.

As Russia evaluates where its military will be heading over the next several years, the Kremlin's primary constraint will be financial. After almost two decades of explosive growth, Russia's defense budget has started to face considerable headwinds in recent years, since a sharp decline in oil prices in 2014 curtailed the country's financial freedom. Its fiscal challenges culminated this year, when the Kremlin cut the defense budget by 5 percent. The reduction, the first since the 1990s, means Russia won't be able to achieve its official goal of modernizing 70 percent of its forces by 2020. The total funds in the 2018-2025 GPV are expected to be just half of what the Defense Ministry was hoping for. Consequently, the Kremlin will have to make tough decisions about how the Russian military prioritizes its investments. Economic turbulence and industrial issues have already delayed finalizing the GPV by two years, and Russia can no longer afford to postpone decisions on matters of its military future.

A Sinking Ship

Key parts of the Russian navy, meanwhile, are in desperate need of funding. Though the navy has undergone some notable modernization programs over the last decade, for the most part it still relies on small or aging warships. The Russians have not built a new type of surface warship larger than a frigate since the end of the Cold War, and the country's sole aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, was first launched in 1985. If Moscow wants a powerful oceangoing navy with large surface warships and carrier aviation, it has no choice but to allocate substantial funds to its navy as part of the 2018-2025 GPV.

But it's already becoming clear that the necessary funding won't materialize. The Russian Ministry of Defense appears to be prioritizing established  and less risky  weapons programs over new ones. That puts Russia's navy at a disadvantage because the force has not undertaken a large surface combatant program since the Soviet Union collapsed. Furthermore, the limited defense budget will focus on cost-effective weapons systems rather than on pricey flagship programs, leaving no room for the enormous expense of building large warships. Dimming Moscow's maritime prospects all the more, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, a key figure overseeing the defense industry, said in May that unlike the United States, Russia is not a maritime power. Instead, he emphasized, it is a continental power. (In the same vein, Rogozin questioned the need for Russia to field an aircraft carrier.) A meeting in mid-May between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kremlin military leaders confirmed these statements, and Russian media later announced that the development of destroyer warships and a new aircraft carrier would be indefinitely postponed.

Putting the Money Where It Matters

Still, at least one part of Russia's naval dreams will avoid the chopping block: nuclear submarines. The country's top defense consideration has long been its nuclear deterrent, which involves a troika of land-based missiles, nuclear-capable bombers and nuclear ballistic missile submarines. During the Cold War, nuclear submarines were so prized that the Soviet surface navy became more or less an auxiliary arm of its submarine force tasked with protecting the underwater craft using a bastion strategy. Russia's military will continue to value its nuclear deterrent above much else in the years ahead.

Aside from ample funding for nuclear submarines in the upcoming GPV, early signs suggest Russia is further strengthening its air force. The Kremlin will put money into more strategic transport aircraft and advanced combat jets, with a focus on upgrading fourth-generation jets as opposed to pursuing newer, more cutting-edge models such as the T-50 stealth fighter. Russia will also home in on investments to make its air and ground forces more nimble, flexible and lethal, including precision-guided munitions; enhanced electronic warfare capabilities; upgraded command and control equipment; space assets; and improved intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance gear, namely drones.

As for the regions that are set to benefit most from the 2018-2025 GPV, the expectation is that Russia will keep focusing on its Southern and Western military districts. The zones are responsible for important operational areas including the Baltics, Ukraine and the Caucasus. The Kremlin will also prioritize the Arctic Joint Strategic Command  which will receive military district status by 2020  because it involves a key portion of Russia's nuclear forces and aligns with the military's strategic focus.

Russia's defense priorities reflect what the government perceives as its greatest security threats. From Moscow's perspective, the No. 1 risk remains the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's encroachment on its western flank, which calls for a powerful nuclear deterrent reinforced by dependable and lethal ground and air forces. Russia is increasingly embracing missions that involve projecting power into distant regions  from the Arctic to Syria  as well, so long as the areas have a friendly ground base from which to operate. With these considerations in mind, the Kremlin will place high value on building up a light and flexible ground force with an enhanced strategic air transport fleet. Moscow recognizes, after all, that it cannot be a great maritime power and a great continental power at once.
This article first appeared in Les Echos.

DATONG  "It's the end of a story," sighs Chen Yixian.

The slender 56-year-old wears a permanent smile, but it can hardly conceal his despair as he watches bulldozers and trucks laboriously pushing their loads in the distance. In this huge open-pit mine at Sandu, 400 kilometers southwest of Beijing, all color seems to have disappeared. Coal is everywhere, the mountain excavated a little more each day. The intermittent palisades cannot prevent the thick black dust from invading the surrounding roads and villages. Mining activity in the province of Shanxi is visible for miles around: not only the pervasive dark dust, but also the smell of sulfur that permeates the atmosphere.

On this spring day, the sky is blue and the sun is visible, a luxury in a region that is among the most polluted in China. It is also the result of a fall from grace of a once glorious industry.

A few years ago, Chen Yixian was rubbing his hands together. He came to Shanxi as a miner before deciding to buy a mine with other investors in 2006. "At the time, you could buy a big mine for a few million yuan," he recalls. He witnessed the surge in the price of coking coal, boosted by the extraordinary demand of a Chinese economy with double-digit growth rates. "The inhabitants were even digging behind their houses!" he recalls. The wealthy owners of private mines made millions.

"In 2008 it was the belle epoque," he says, sinking into an old sofa at a construction site cabin overlooking his mine. "The golden age is over. Now, all I want is to finish this operation and turn the page. There is no future for small private mines." He's ready to start thinking about his reinvention "in logistics." Or why not even to realize a childhood dream: a television series for which he has already written the script: "A story of heroism, fighting the Japanese invaders in my village," he said.

The story of Chinese coal started growing darker in 2014. After doubling in a decade and surpassing four billion tons annually, domestic consumption  more than half of the world's demand  began to decline. This resulted in a fall in prices and the profitability of mining companies. Several factors led to the upset. Growth fell gradually to its lowest level in a quarter of a century. The structure of the economy changed: Beijing began its difficult rebalancing toward service sectors (now more than half of the GDP), which are far less energy-intensive than heavy industry. The slowing down of infrastructure work through last year diminished the demand for steel and cement, two sectors that consume a lot of coal.

Environmental constraints

And that is not all. In a country where cities are suffocating under a fog of pollution and the population's exasperation is growing, Beijing is driven by environmental constraints. The world's leading emitter of CO2, China is gradually reducing the share of coal in its energy mix, down to 62% in 2016. Tim Buckley, director of studies at the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis in Australia, said China was continuing its energy diversification much faster than expected.

Lauri Myllyvirta, who follows the coal industry at Greenpeace, said there has been a rapid growth in renewable energy production in China and that since 2013, all additional energy requirements have been covered by non-fossil sources.

China is the world's biggest coal producer and is seeking to reduce its overcapacity, estimated at 1.5 billion tons, which is more than all the United States mines combined. Beijing has taken a series of measures since the end of 2015: a moratorium on the development of new mines or coal-fired power plants; closure of small mines; and the grouping of around 15 large coalfields, among others. The country has almost 10,000 mines, nearly 4,000 of which will be closed by 2020. The number of coal companies is expected to be reduced by half, to about 3,000, according to the latest mining plan. In February 2016, China also announced its intention to eliminate 500 million tons of overcapacity within three to five years.

"Also, though it's a taboo subject in China, the government is announcing job cuts in the coal and steel sectors," says Sylvie Cornot-Gandolphe, an energy consultant at the French Institute of International Relations. Approximately 1.3 million jobs are being phased out in coal, or about 20% of jobs in the sector.

"But the most radical reform was the one implemented as of April 2016," continues Cornot-Gandolphe. Beijing banned national mining companies from producing more than 276 days a year, instead of the usual 330. As a result, production plummeted and prices rose so sharply that China had to ease the ban ahead of the cold winter.

In charge of 40% of the country's coal production, Shanxi, a province of 35 million, has been strongly affected by the decline in demand and is at the front line of Beijing's capacity-reduction program. Over the past three years, the province has had one of the lowest economic growth rates in the country. "We closed three mines and reduced our production capacity by 3.75 million tons last year," said Zhang Youxi, head of the Datong Coal Mine Group, the country's third-largest public mining group, with over 175,000 employees. "Our secretary general [President Xi Jinping] asked us to do the addition and substraction: eliminate the underdeveloped and old production sites and and grow the more modern and less polluting ones," he said.

Datong, known as the "coal capital," where the public company is located, bears the signs of these changes. Time seems to have stopped on the windswept square in front of the entrance to the Tong Jia Liang mine at the gates of the city. Wooden panels cover shops in the vicinity and the few fruits and vegetable hawkers have plenty of free time to play with their cellphones. "There are only old people here," one of them laments. And for good reason: The mine closed its doors last fall.

"Apart from coal, there is nothing"

A few years ago, most miners left the surrounding buildings and were relocated by the company to an immense public housing estate closer to the center of Datong. Here, 38-year-old Zhang Hui [an assumed name] lives with his wife and two children. He was one of 4,000 miners from Tong Jia Liang. Helmet in hand, he prepares to begin his night shift in another mine where he has been reassigned. "The front-line miners have all recovered but other employees have to stay home," he said. There is no future in coal, new mines need fewer employees, wages are falling, the cost of living is rising. But what if you are not very educated and have no connections or money? Here, apart from coal, there is nothing."

Frightened by the slightest risk of social instability, the Chinese authorities insist that no miners will remain unemployed. The president of the Datong Coal Mine Group said more than 6,000 miners in his group were transferred to other mines and activities within the sector, such as services and coal-fired power plants, or that they got early retirement.

But miners' wages have fallen and payment is often late. "Before, I could earn 7,000 yuan a month [about $1,030], now it does not exceed 5,000," said Zhang Hui. I have to pay a portion of my salary to miners who have not found a job. Another miner said he did not earn more than 4,000 yuan a month.

"We've been abandoned," said a miners widow who joined the conversation at the foot of a building.

A year ago, at the height of the crisis, thousands of miners went on strike in northern China, fearing for their jobs and demanding to be paid. In cities like Datong, the social impact has been considerable. Beijing set up a fund equivalent to nearly $15 billion to reclassify 1.8 million coal and steel workers who will lose their jobs. "This will probably not be enough," say analysts at Capital Economics.

Without any skills, "some of the employees are hardly reclassifiable," observes Zhang Bo, a professor of economics at Shanxi University. Some will return to agriculture or try to work in tourism."

Even as China slows down and turns away from its heavy industries, investing massively in non-fossil energies, the page on coal remains unturned. The capacity of the power stations will increase by 20% by 2020; China does not need them, but will keep them running to support the local economy and preserve jobs. The restructuring of the Chinese coal industry has only just begun.
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LUKE SKYWALKER: X-WING PILOT

40th Anniversary Collection

As a pilot for the Rebel Alliance, Luke Skywalker fought in many of the battles of the Galactic Civil War. His most important appearance, however, may have been his role in the one of the war's earliest battles - the Battle of Yavin - and in the destruction of the Galactic Empire's ultimate weapon: the Death Star. In this battle, Skywalker (flying as Red Five) unexpectedly assumed leadership of Red Squadron and led the attack on the moon-sized battle station. Using the Force and two expertly fired proton torpedoes, Skywalker adeptly navigated his versatile X-wing starfighter through the battle station's trench to its thermal exhaust port and struck the Death Star's main reactor, causing the entire structure to explode. Though the battle was over, this was not the last that Luke would see of a Death Star...

Revealed February 15, 2017 on The Star Wars Show, Hasbro's Star Wars Celebration Orlando 2017 exclusive Luke Skywalker: X-Wing Pilot 40th Anniversary 6-inch action figure celebrated the Star Wars franchise's milestone by releasing a slight repaint the first action figure from The Black Series 6-inch action figure collection. The action figure featured on this page was originally released in 2013 and can be seen here. This version, on a special foil classic Kenner inspired card, was made available primarily to attendees at Star Wars Celebration Orlando 2017, and sold out quickly. Even post event online sales when fast. No one could have anticipated how popular this release would be, but it is destined to enjoy increased secondary value for some time.
It is learned that half of the 16 Indian sailors aboard the vessel were handed over to Nigeria on Friday.
Unfortunately for the early Saturday bands, they were welcomed by a much smaller crowd and wetter venue. A couple of the earlier bands' performances got cancelled due to the rain, including Wanderwild.
'...Else we will let the situation develop to a dangerous level where much greater violence will be the only outcome,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).

On June 22, 2017 -- a holy day of Ramazan for all Muslims -- Mohammad Ayoub Pandith, a deputy superintendent of police in charge of the Jama Masjid area in Srinagar, was attacked by a mob, stripped and stoned to death.

This killing comes on the heels of Indian Army Lieutenant Ummer Fayyaz's murder in cold blood on May 10.

The manner in which both murders were committed shows that the separatists have begun to target loyal individuals while the separatist leaders continue to live a life of luxury and are protected by the very police they target.

As expected, the otherwise vociferous human rightswallahs are deafeningly silent.

It will be a mistake to ignore these direct challenges to the authority of the Indian State.

Three decades ago, a similar incident took place in Punjab.

On May 15, 1983, Deputy Inspector General of Police Avtar Singh Atwal was gunned down by tterrorists on the steps of the Golden Temple.

The murder of a respected police officer was widely condemned by all except the extremists.

In retrospect, many historians feel that this was the right time to act against the extremists sheltered in the Golden Temple. But nothing was done and the situation was allowed to drift for over a year.

In a year's time, by June 1984, the Sikh extremists were on the verge of declaring independence, forcing the government of the day to finally act.

The result was Operation Blue Star that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocents and storming of the Sikh holy shrine. The scars of that event have not healed even after three decades.

The proverb a stich in time is worth nine was never truer in the case of the Punjab problem as it is in the current situation in Kashmir.

The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. But what is happening in the mosques in Kashmir is that under the garb of religious sermons, separatists are using mosques -- especially the Friday sermons -- as a propaganda tool.

Is it any wonder then that virtually every Friday after the 'sermon', mobs come out and indulge in stone throwing and other violent acts?

DySP Ayoub Pandith's murder can likely be attributed to the provocations at the mosque. Is this not incitement to murder?

It is time the government took firm action against the misuse of religious places.

The time to act is now, else we will let the situation develop to a dangerous level where much greater violence will be the only outcome. Punjab offers a useful lesson in this respect.

Control of the Friday sermon is not new.

Many Muslim countries strictly monitor the mosques and come down heavily on any political use of the religious platform.

Having said that, it is also incumbent on the government to be totally impartial in this respect.

Hate speeches by sadhus and mahants should attract the same provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

The State must not only be impartial in this respect, but also be seen to be so.

The slogan of 'Azaadi' evokes a great deal of sympathy in many liberal hearts in India. But what sort of 'Azad' Kashmir will it be?

The Kashmiri Pandits -- 200,000 of them -- have no place in the separatists' scheme of things.

The separatists also call for imposition of strict Sharia rule in Kashmir.

They are against education for women. This has been seen in the spate of burning of girls' schools in Kashmir.

There are separatists who admire ISIS and want a similar murderous regime in Kashmir.

Do the liberals who side with the Kashmir separatists want that kind of future for Kashmir?

Do the Kashmiris themselves realise what future they will have?

Many Kashmiris want their state to be part of Pakistan. Pakistan is a State that has ethnically cleansed their country of non-Muslims.

From 13% of the population in 1947, Hindus and Sikhs today number less than 1 percent.

If Jammu and Kashmir is to be merged with Pakistan, what will be the fate of the Hindus of Jammu and the Buddhists of Ladakh? Do the liberals have any answer to this question?

Let us also not forget that close to 20% of Kashmir's population is Shia.

With the massacres of Shias in Pakistan a norm -- on June 23, more than 30 Shias were killed in a targeted bomb blast at Parchinar -- will they be safe in Pakistan?

It is time these questions are asked.

Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) is a military historian.

IMAGE: Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohammed Ayoub Pandith's funeral in Srinagar, June 23, 2017. Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com
A day after seven persons died in a tragic cable car crash in Gulmarg in Kashmir, officials in-charge of the ropeway claimed that safety norms were followed and the accident can be best explained as an act of God.

The Jammu and Kashmir government had on Sunday ordered a probe into the incident in which four of a Delhi family and three local youth had lost their lives.

There was no deviation from the Standard Operating Procedure. The weather suddenly turned bad and strong winds caused the uprooting of a tree that fell on the cable, Director, Tourism, Mehmood Shah said.

General Manager of the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation, Reyaz Ahmad, said the accident was an act of God.

We always follow the safety manual and never operate the cable car if any risk is involved. The uprooting of the tree due to abrupt blowing of high velocity wind, which led to the accident, can at best be explained as an act of God, Ahmad said.

Police have registered a case into the incident and started investigations into whether there was any violation of SOP.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has on Sunday ordered a probe and also announced ex-gratia relief of Rs five lakh in favour of next of kin of the killed.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the four members of a Delhi-based family, who died in the accident, have been brought on Monday evening to Nagpur, the city the deceased hailed from.

Jayant Andraskar, 42, his wife Manisha 38, their daughters Anagha and Janhvi, and three local tourist guides had died in the Gulmarg accident.

Their bodies were brought to Nagpur around 5.15 pm in a Jet Airways flight for last rites.

The Andraskars hailed from Nagpur, but had shifted to the national capital seven years ago after Jayant started working in the Directorate of Technical Education there.

His wife was a homemaker. One of their daughters was a student of class I, while the other was in playschool.

With the news of their death, a pall of gloom descended on Old Subhedar layout area here, where his family members, including his parents and siblings, live.

Jayants brother-in-law Saurabh Wandhare said that they were supposed to come to Nagpur on June 29 to attend his (Jayants) mother-in-laws death anniversary.

Jayant and his family members were on a vacation in Nagpur between May 12 and June 6 and they also attended my marriage last month, he said.

One of the neighbours remembered Jayant as a good and humble person. He was very respectful towards others, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met President Donald Trump for their first summit with focus on pushing the strategic ties amid the United States' strong message to Pakistan by declaring Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist.

In a special gesture, Trump and the first lady Melania came out on the South Portico of the White House to receive Modi.

At the White House portico, they exchanged pleasantries and had a brief interaction before going inside for the summit meeting.

Trump and his wife warmly welcomed Modi and they were seen exchanging pleasantries and having a brief interaction before going inside the White House.

As the two leaders sat for the meeting, Modi expressed gratitude to Trump and the first lady for the warm welcome extended to him.

He said the welcome extended to him was a welcome to 125 crore people of India.

The prime minister said Trump has been paying attention to India's growth march and economic progress.

He recalled that Trump had visited India in 2014 even before he became the Presidential candidate and had made warm observations about him, which he could never forget.

Among the issues on the table were counter-terrorism cooperation, defence partnership, global cooperation, trade and energy.

Prime Minister Modi, while thanking Trump for the warm welcome rendered to him, said the kind of welcome he was given, it was a welcome to the 125 crore people of India.

"I think I will have a lot to speak after the meeting. The way President Trump and the First Lady have welcomed me in Washington, DC. I am extremely grateful to them for the respect and the grand welcome. This is a welcome to the 125 crore people of India. I am extremely grateful to them," he said.

Modi said Trump has been following Indias growth march and economic progress.

Heaping praises on Prime Minister Modi, Trump said that he had been reading a lot about him and that he would want to congratulate him for the exemplary leadership he has shown, primarily, economically.

Describing Narendra Modi as a great Prime Minister, President Donald Trump on Monday discussed with him ways to push the bilateral strategic ties.

As the two leaders sat for the meetings Trump, who had recently described Modi as a true friend, said it was a great honour for him to receive the prime minister.

He is such a great Prime Minister. I have been speaking with him and reading about him. He is doing a great job. Economically, India is doing very well and in so many other ways. I would like to congratulate him for this, he said in brief comments.

With ANI inputs.

IMAGES: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the White House on Monday. Photographs: Kevin Lamarque, Carlos Barria/Reuters
A Facebook post by a filmmaker against the lynching of a Muslim teenager has spawned a powerful online campaign, leading to protest marches being held in five cities across the country.

Thousands have pledged to hit the streets this week in support of the campaign, Not In My Name.

Citizen protests will be held in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru simultaneously on June 28, the filmmaker, Saba Dewan, said, adding that it reflected the anger and grief of the people.

I never realised the response would be so overwhelming. Despite the debilitating violence, these protests will make us feel we are alive and spark hope, Dewan said.

The campaign sought to reclaim the Constitution and resist the onslaught on the right to life and equality, the Gurgaon-based documentary filmmaker said.

The protest in Delhi will be held at the Jantar Mantar around 6 pm. The family of 17-year-old Junaid -- killed by a mob when he was on his way home to Ballabhgarh after shopping for Eid in Delhi -- will also be invited to join the demonstration, Dewan said.

An image designed by graphic artist Orijit Sen featuring blood-stained chappals, a metal rod and the message Not In My Name is being shared by hundreds on social media sites along with an appeal to join the protest.

Please carry banners with the slogan - NOT IN MY NAME. This is a citizens protest open to all. Everyone is welcome but without party or organisational banners, the invite reads.

It all started on June 24 with Dewans post calling for protests against the spate of lynchings that have taken place in different parts of the country in recent weeks, the latest being the murderous attack on Junaid on June 22.

If not now, then when? Why wait for political formations to organise a demonstration? Why cant all of us as citizens repulsed by the violence get together in protest at the earliest next week at Jantar Mantar under the banner - Not in my Name, it said.

Junaid was stabbed to death on a Mathura-bound train, which he had taken with his two brothers after shopping at Delhis Sadar Bazar. A group of men hurled communal slurs at the boys and attacked them after an altercation, allegedly over seats.

Image: Muslims hold posters and tie black ribbon on their arms during a protest against recent mob lynching in Haryana, after offering Eid-al-fitr prayers in Ahmedabad on Monday. Photograph: PTI Photo
IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington, DC on Monday. Photographs: @MEAIndia/Twitter

India and the United States on Monday discussed ways to step up counter-terrorism cooperation and reviewed the situation in Afghanistan as two top American officials met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, DC just before his first meeting with President Donald Trump.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis separately called on Modi, setting to tone for the summit meeting between the prime minister and Trump.

The issues that figured prominently in these discussions included terrorism, Afghanistan and the situation in the Asia Pacific region.

There was a strong focus on terrorism and cooperation in counter-terrorism, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay told reporters while briefing on the meeting between Modi and Tillerson.

It is very clear that given the challenges that the two countries have faced and continue to face and the rest of the world also faces from this global menace of terrorism, the discussions in the courtesy call touched upon how the two sides have cooperated in countering terrorism and the broad direction in which they can develop this cooperation further, he added.

Modi conveyed to Tillerson that the fulcrum of Indias foreign policy is to have good relations with all nations, in particular with its neighbours.

Discussions between Modi and Mattis focussed on the Asia Pacific region, with a veiled reference to the South China Sea over which China is laying an absolute claim.

Baglay said both India and the US believe in respect for international law, rule-based order and freedom of navigation.

He said there was discussion also on counter-terrorism and on the situation in Afghanistan and the conversation with Mattis briefly touched upon how the two countries can work together on the issue.

Mattis also appreciated Indias role in Afghanistan, Baglay said.

In the context of the evaluation that is currently underway in the US on policy in context of the situation in Afghanistan, both sides decided that they would remain in touch, consult, cooperate and focus on the security situation in Afghanistan, the spokesman said.

IMAGE: Defence Secretary James Mattis also called on PM Modi.



Modi underlined that he wishes all its neighbours and countries grow just as India is growing and share the prosperity, in line with his mantra sabka saath, sabka vikas (cooperation with all, development for all).

Baglay added that both the meetings essentially conveyed the warmth of the relationship and the strong desire of both sides to consolidate multidimensional global strategic partnership between the two countries.

Modi also welcomed and endorsed the view and conveyed Indias desire also to walk side by side with US for consolidating this partnership, which is very valuable and has global implications.

That came through very strongly in both these meetings, he said.

Modi put the India-US partnership in context of the changing global situation and said the world is very keenly looking at India and US and their partnership, which has been described as the defining partnership of the century, Baglay said.

Tillerson conveyed to Modi that Trump was eagerly looking forward to receiving him at the White House and having discussions with him, Baglay said.

Tillerson also mentioned the desire of both sides to strengthen the India-US partnership in strategic areas as well as on economic cooperation.

Baglay noted that the meetings are in the nature of courtesy meetings and very specific matters were not discussed in great detail.

On the meeting with Mattis, Baglay said the Defence Secretary referred to the op-ed written by Modi in the Wall Street Journal, where he mentioned that there is no need for any hesitation in seizing the moment and opportunity to consolidate, strengthen and expand the partnership and take it on an upward trajectory.
Pakistan-based Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin was on Monday declared as a global terrorist by the United States, just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first meeting with President Donald Trump.

The State Department took the step against Salahuddin, who hails from Kashmir, as he had 'vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir Valley into a graveyard for Indian forces'.

The action against the Kashmiri militant group's 71-year-old head, whose original name is Mohammed Yusuf Shah, comes against the backdrop of upsurge in terror activities and recruitment in the Valley.

The US decision, which was welcomed by India, marks a serious blow to Pakistan where he has been taking refuge for the last 28 years, allegedly with the help of Pakistani authorities.

He is also the head of United Jihad Council, a conglomerate of several terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed which operate out of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The announcement came just a few hours before Modi's meeting with Trump.

As a consequence of this designation, US citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with 71-year-old Salahuddin and all of Salahuddins property and interests in property subject to United States jurisdiction are blocked.

'Under Salahuddins tenure as senior HM leader, HM has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people,' the State Department said in a statement.

Following the designation of Salahuddin as a global terrorist, the State Department in a notification said he has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.

India welcomed the US' move and said it vindicated its long-standing position that cross-border terrorism has been behind the disturbances created in Kashmir since last year.

"India welcomes this notification. It underlines also quite strongly that both India and the US face threat of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in Washington, DC.

"This notification has just come, we will look at the notification and what its specific provisions are," he said.

"The outfits that Syed Salahuddin leads have perpetuated from the territory of Pakistan and PoK. Cross-border terrorism against India including in the state of J-K for several years. In that sense we would welcome this notification."

"It underlines also quiet strongly the fact the both India and the US face threat of terrorism and they are working together to counter this threat, not in one particular area, but globally because terrorism knows no boundaries," he said.

The US decision significantly came on a day Salahuddin issued a video message calling for a week-long agitation to mark the first death anniversary of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was killed by security forces in an encounter on July 8 last year.

Before taking to militancy, Salahuddin had contested assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in 1987. He had lost in the polls which were widely believed to be rigged.

Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organisations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system.

'Designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations,' the State Department said.
The United States Supreme Court on Monday permitted the Trump administration to partially reinstate the travel ban which would affect people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The Supreme Court said in Mondays ruling: In practical terms, this means that [the executive order] may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. "All other foreign nationals are subject to the provisions of [the executive order].

The apex also agreed to hear the governments appeal of lower court rulings blocking the immigration order from taking effect nationwide, reports the Hill. The court will take up the case in October.

As a result of the decision, people who do not have a bonafide relationship with a person or entity in the United States would be barred from entry. People who can show they have a relationship to a person or entity will be allowed to enter the country.

The order would be effective within 72 hours.

After the US government announced the travel ban in January earlier this year, an appeals court blocked it for being discriminatory.

-- With inputs from Agencies

Image: A man holds an umbrella during a protest of US President Donald Trumps travel ban. Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters
Yogi Adityanath on Monday completed 100 days in office as Uttar Pradesh chief minister but it was a low-key anniversary with no big event to showcase the achievements of the government.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government, which assumed office on March 19 after bagging 325 of the 403 assembly seats along with its allies, faces major challenges, some of the biggest being raising funds for the farm loan-waiver and law and order issues, including communal clashes.

The loan-waiver, a pre-poll promise of the BJP, has the finance department burning the proverbial midnight oil as it tries to offload the sudden fiscal burden of nearly Rs 36,369 crore.

This, coupled with Rs 34,000 crore for the implementation of the seventh pay commission recommendations, has put an additional burden of Rs 70,000 crore on the states coffers, an official said.

There are other challenges too. Like arranging funds for mega projects like the Purvanchal e-way.

The government has also admitted it could manage to make just 63 per cent of the states roads pothole free by the June 15 deadline set by the chief minister.

Distribution of free laptops among students, mentioned in the BJP manifesto, is another unfinished promise. The scheme was inaugurated on March 19 but there is no launch date yet.

The 45-year-old saffron clad chief minister and his cabinet colleagues have already sought more time saying they inherited a jungle raj from the Samajwadi Party government and it would take them some time to set things in order.

As the state government was busy preparing a 100-day achievement document, opposition parties stepped up their attack.

State Congress spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi ridiculed the ruling party for making promises that it could not meet. Two months of the Adityanath government have not sent out any strong message on any of the issues which were part of BJPs campaign -- improved law-and-order situation and better administration, he said.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati alleged that the Dalits, the OBCs as well as forward castes, including Brahmins, have been facing atrocities in the state in an apparent attempt to associate Adityanath and his government with Kshatriyas only.

As head of the Gorakhnath Peeth, Adityanath has often associated himself with Kshatriya symbols.

He is often seen surrounded by mostly Kshatriyas and has supported Thakur leaders of other parties too. In 2013, he came out in support of Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya who was accused of conspiring to kill a deputy superintendent of police.

Not known to take the frequent barbs directed at him lying down, former chief minister and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav recently took on the Yogi government, saying, I never knew officers wielded brooms so well. Now the question is how much filth have they cleared so far?

He said the deadline to make state roads pothole-free by June 15 remained a pipe dream.

Asked about the Yogi governments decision to probe the expressway and river front projects launched during the SP rule, Akhilesh said, Will this government do any work...or will it only conduct probes? This government should try to do better work than us.

Refuting criticism on law and order, state cabinet minister Shrikant Sharma said, A special cell will be constituted in the CMs office for crime-monitoring, which will be done personally by the CM.

SP leaders, who have carried criminals and rapists with them in their cars, should introspect, he added.

Since taking office on March 19, the Adityanath government has recommended CBI probes into several projects of the previous regime led by Akhilesh Yadav, leaving the SP fuming.

The government has become an inquiry committee. It is resorting to such tactics to smokescreen its failures...It smacks of politics of vendetta, SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury said.

He said the state was under an undeclared Emergency since the saffron party came to power.

For almost a month after Adityanath took over the reins of the state, some 80 presentations were made by as many departments before him.

Counting the governments achievements, Principal Secretary (Information) Avaneesh Awasthi said it has half a dozen significant measures, starting with the Rs 36,500 crore loan waiver and the power-for-all agreement.

The power-for-all agreement with the Centre promises electricity around the clock to district headquarters and 18 hours a day to all villages.

A panel of Group of Ministers constituted by the chief minister has submitted a report on a new mining policy and on clamping down on illegal mining, a major problem in UP.

A portal being launched under the CMOs supervision to allow people to file complain on illegal land-grab could be a game-changer too, officials said.

Another key decision was making transfers and postings of bureaucrats merit-based and free from extraneous pressures as reflected in wide-scale transfers done by the government.

Image: Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministerr Yogi Adityanath during Mango Festival in Lucknow. Photograph: Nand Kumar/PTI Photo
Marbella, Malaga -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/26/2017 --The most important documentation that our office advises to request to the seller or his legal representative before acquiring a property is the following:



Spanish Land registry certification.



This is a document that contains information taken from the Spanish Land Registry regarding the property in Spain, which includes the identification of the same, the identity of the owner or holders, and the extent, nature and limitations of these.



First occupancy license in Spain.



It is the document granted by the corresponding Spanish Town Hall that proof that the property meets the requirements of the building license.



Copy of the previous Purchase Title Deed of the property of the current owner



This document allows us to check how the property was acquired.



Latest receipts of IBI tax and garbage Collection tax.



In addition to checking the possible debts that could be with respect to these local taxes, with the receipt of rates, the So known "Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles" or IBI we will obtain the cadastral reference, which will allow us to calculate the fiscal value of the property in Spain



Latest utility bills of the property in Spain ( water and electricity bill).



Mainly we will ask for water and electricity bills, it is also advisable to request other possible contracts that the property may have as internet or telephone, in case the purchaser wish to continue with these utility contract.



Requesting latest utility bills of the property, it will allow us to verify that there is no existing debt's of supplies on the property and at the same time we will be used to make the relevant changes of ownership once the transaction is completed.



Energy efficiency certificate.



As from June of 2013 this document is compulsory at the time of renting and selling properties.



A Spanish architect should issue and register this certification that includes information about the energy characteristics of the Spanish property.



Contact details of community of owners in Spain



In order to ascertain if the property has community debts and also to know the situation of the complex (It allow us to check if there is any lawsuit against the developer, there is any problem on the complex or even if the complex has any urbanistic file open) it is advisable to request to the vendor the following:



 Latest minutes of the board of owners.

 Statutes or norms regulating the Spanish community.



On completion date the selling party must provide a certificate issued by the community of owners which certifies that the property that you are interested in acquiring has no Debts.



At our law firm in Marbella, all lawyers are registered members at the Malaga Bar Association. We advise you on matters of purchase and sale of real estate, wills, inheritances, commercial and labour matters, contracts, quantity claims, civil and criminal proceedings, competition law, trademarks and trade names.



About Welex

Welex, law firm in Marbella that offers its services throughout all Spain.



http://www.welex.es

info@welex.es

+34 952775521
Body cameras for the Mooresville Police Department have arrived. Find out when they will be used.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a roundtable summit during the Belt and Road Forum at the International Conference Center at Yanqi Lake, north of Beijing, May 15, 2017.

Last month, China's official news agency insisted that the country's ambitious "Belt and Road" initiative has nothing to do with its industrial overcapacity problem.

On the same day, the official English-language China Daily reported that it does.

The disagreement over China's excess production capacity is central to understanding its many motives for its "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" plans to build infrastructure outside its borders for trade with Europe and Africa.

The initiative, also known as "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR), could involve U.S. $1 trillion (6.8 trillion yuan) of investment in as many as 64 countries on the trade routes, foreign experts have said.

The question is whether the government is using OBOR to shift China's surplus capacity overseas, opening doors for bloated steel and cement industries to offload production and pollution consequences onto developing countries to escape downsizing pressure at home.

Supporters say OBOR is nothing of the sort.

"The Belt and Road Initiative is by no means a strategy to export China's industrial overcapacity, but a proposal that brings shared benefits to all," the Xinhua state news agency reported on May 4, citing Wang Yiwei, a professor at Renmin University's School of International Relations.

In a commentary on May 11, Xinhua also denied any connection, while conceding that China is "troubled by industrial overcapacity" and that "a good number" of OBOR projects will involve Chinese suppliers.

"To use such an unsophisticated link to discredit the initiative, in and of itself, says more about the inadequacy of the observer to acknowledge the wider benefits of the project," the official commentary said.

Yet, on the same day, China Daily drew just such a link in comments of a top rail official in a report on last month's Belt and Road Forum.

"Infrastructure projects and international capacity cooperation will boost economic growth and employment, ... in different countries or regions along the initiative," said Liu Hualong, chairman of China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. (CRRC).

Two days later, a top government planning official drew an even closer connection at a press preview of the Belt and Road Forum.

"Expanding cooperation in production capacity is an important vehicle for promoting the Belt and Road Initiative," said Ning Jizhe, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in remarks paraphrased by Xinhua.

Two foreign policy initiatives

The controversy over the linkage is the result of the government's effort to promote two foreign policy initiatives simultaneously, even if not in coordination.

The first, Belt and Road, has drawn widespread publicity, thanks in part to last month's forum, attended by 29 heads of state and government.

The second, industrial capacity cooperation, emerged in 2014 during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to neighboring Kazakhstan, where China agreed to take part in U.S. $14 billion (95 billion yuan) of projects using its surplus capacity to build infrastructure, highways, and housing, according to Xinhua.

In 2015 during a four-nation South American tour, Li offered to build entire industries in developing countries from scratch, using machinery and manufacturing processes threatened with shutdowns at home.

"Capacity cooperation means more than export of finished products, but also the transfer of the whole industrial chain to help other countries beef up their manufacturing capability," an NDRC official said at the time.

The concept of industrial capacity cooperation surfaced at a time when China faced intense pressure to cut its own enormous overcapacity in industries including coal, steel, and building materials, which has been blamed for low prices, pollution, and unfair competition.

The government's support for transplanting entire industrial processes overseas gave Chinese manufacturers an incentive to comply with domestic capacity-cutting targets.

But critics charged that industrial capacity cooperation would only export overcapacity and pollution. Proponents of the Belt and Road Initiative now seem concerned that OBOR may be painted with the same brush.

David Bachman, a China scholar and University of Washington professor of international studies, suggested that it will be hard to separate OBOR from industrial capacity cooperation.

"My sense is that it's an important factor," said Bachman.

"But this is a classic example of political maneuvering where, on the one hand, Xi is extending the grand vision of China in the world," he said. "On the other hand, it's an effort to deal with a number of China's internal problems."

Bachman sees a mix of motives behind the drive for Belt and Road engagement, which spills over the lines between the two initiatives.

China is eager to advance its standing in the world and win international support in relation to U.S. influence, while addressing a host of domestic concerns including excess capacity, employment and productive use of its foreign exchange, he said.

In addition to manufacturing, China is seeking to employ its countless construction firms, "now that China has built all the infrastructure they could possibly need," Bachman said.

Arguments over the links between the two initiatives and their motivations may inevitably devolve into debates over the formation of Communist Party political concepts, ideological campaigns and the succession of slogans.

"It's almost a fool's errand to try and disentangle all of this and figure out what really is Belt and Road and what is other stuff," said Bachman.

"Whatever it is, people are going to say it's Belt and Road, and that will give them legitimacy in some way to do what they want to do," he said.

The map shows Rongchen, Xiongxian, and Anxin counties in northern China's Hebei province, where officials are building the Xiongan New Area. RFA graphic The same issues

Some of the same issues were raised in April after the government announced plans to develop the Xiongan New Area in three relatively low-intensity counties of Hebei province southwest of Beijing.

Xi's plan to build a special economic zone that would reduce congestion, pollution and property speculation in the capital city touched off a gold rush among real estate and industrial interests to invest in Xiongan.

Despite a government crackdown on speculation, developers and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw the effort to ease environmental pressures as a golden opportunity that threatened to create some of the same problems in a new location.

Within days of the announcement, more than 30 centrally-administered SOEs made plans to pursue business and development projects in the Xiongan area, although its exact location had yet to be disclosed, state media said.

SOEs expecting big government-backed infrastructure investments included China Telecommunications Corp., China Eastern Airlines, China National Machinery Industry Corp. and China Energy Engineering Corp., China Daily said.



In one unusual corporate response that may be a measure of the development pressures, state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. said it had already started to relocate some of its core businesses to the nearby city of Baoding, although it is well inland.

"This relocation process will now be expedited and intensified in the wake of the new area announcement," said China Daily, citing the company.

In 2015, the Ministry of Environmental Protection ranked Baoding as China's most polluted city based on 2014 air quality readings, Britain's The Guardian reported.

It is unclear how moving more industrial operations to Baoding will help.
UPDATED at 10:21 A.M. on 2017-06-27



Cambodias opposition party on Monday praised improvements in the countrys electoral process a day after the release of official results from a commune ballot held earlier this month, but said a number of factors unfairly tipped the vote in favor of Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling party.



Slightly more than 7 million Cambodians, or more than 90 percent of registered voters, turned out for commune council polls on June 4, a record turnout in a test of public opinion ahead of 2018 general elections.



According to official results released Sunday by the National Election Committee (NEC)the nations top electoral bodythe ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) won 21 provinces, while the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) won the capital Phnom Penh, as well as Siem Reap, Kompong Cham, and Kompong Thom provinces.



The CPP secured 1,156 of 1,646 commune/sangkat chief posts, the CNRP won 489 and one commune leader post went to the Khmer National United Party, the NEC said. The CPP received nearly 51 percent of all votes and the CNRP received nearly 44 percent, while the rest went to 10 other parties.



The NEC called the election a great success for Cambodian citizens that had helped the nation progress in accordance with the principle of pluralist liberal democracy, and proceeded smoothly and successfully with commendations and acceptability from all stakeholders.



Following the release of the official results on Sunday, the CPP issued a statement declaring its acceptance of the NECs findings, which it said stemmed from a genuinely free and fair election  in accordance with the constitution and statutes of the Kingdom of Cambodia under a neutral, free and safe political environment.



Cambodias Ministry of Foreign Affairs also welcomed the results Sunday, saying in a statement that the fundamental rules of democracy and transparency have been widely respected at every stage of this long process  [while] a few minor problems that have been addressed and corrected cannot be regarded as major obstacles to congratulate Cambodia for the successful organization of this free and fair election.



Election flaws



On Monday, the CNRP released a statement noting improvements in voter lists, voter registration, and candidate lists, but slamming the commune ballot as having failed to satisfy the principles of free and fair elections.



Ahead of the election, the opposition said, former CNRP president Sam Rainsy was pressured and banned from returning to Cambodia in connection with what has been called a politically motivated conviction; courts were used to persecute CNRP lawmakers, supporters and a variety of other stakeholders; and government officialsincluding Hun Senhad threatened civil war should the CPP lose the vote.



During the two-week election campaign period which began May 20, the opposition was discriminated against for campaign event locations, CPP-friendly media were given preferential treatment, civil servants were obligated to campaign for the ruling party, and the CPP engaged in vote buying, it said.



The CNRP said that on election day, more than one million Cambodians working overseas were denied the right to vote because the government did not provide them the means to do so, while factory employees were not given time off from their jobs to submit their ballots.



On the day of the vote count, military personnel were present and counting took place behind closed doors at some polling stations, the opposition said, while the NEC rejected a CNRP request for a vote recount, despite electoral laws that allow for recounts when election results differ by at least 0.5 percent.



Significant limitations



The CNRPs assessment of the commune polls followed one by the Situation Room group of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)including the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL), Licadho, and Adhocon Saturday, which applauded improved election management, but noted significant restrictions on political freedom and limits to fairness.



The Situation Room has found that the election process has been significantly improved and made more transparent than before, in terms of voter registration and voter list management, candidate registration, polling and counting process, and the announcement of electoral results, the group said in a statement.



But it added that the conduct of the election campaign and electoral dispute resolution need to be improved and noted that significant irregularities or issues occurred prior to the election which established a context that negatively impacted the fairness of the vote.



Among those factors, the statement said, were an environment of political suppression, a lack of transparency and inequities in campaign finance, misuse of state resources, an unequal playing field, the lack of an independent judiciary, and the intimidation of civil society by security officials.



These problems combined to result in significant limitations on the quality of the poll, such that elections in Cambodia cannot yet be considered fully free and fair, the Situation Room said, calling for measures to resolve the issues ahead of next years general elections.



Never satisfied



Speaking during a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh on Monday, Hun Sen slammed the elections detractors and suggested they would only be happy if the CPP lost.



For the Cambodian Peoples Party, we have already declared that we accept the results, and we consider the election free and fair, he said.



On the contrary, a political party and the so-called Situation Room of civil society organizations consider it otherwise. But I think they would only call [an election] free if they could have free access to the Prime Ministers house to kill him right on the spot.



Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 30 years, said the countrys opposition is never satisfied with election results.



Only if they could take control of the Peace Palace would they consider the election free and fair, he said, referring to the Office of the Prime Minister of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.



They have failed to achieve their plan to take hold of the Senate. Thats why they consider the election neither fair nor free.



Reported by Leng Maly for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.



CORRECTION: An earlier version of the story erroneously stated that 89.52 percent of registered voters turned out for the commune election, the CPP won 22 provinces, and the CNRP won the city of Siem Reap.
More than 100 people are still missing and presumed dead in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan after Saturday's massive landslide, with just three peoplea couple and their babyfound alive, residents told RFA on Monday.



It was terrible, devastating; I don't know how to describe it," one resident who lives not far from the now-buried Xinmo village in Sichuan's Mao county said.



"Only three people were left alive out of the entire village. All of the houses were completely buried, but they were sleeping in the kitchen and they weren't crushed," he said.



"Everyone else was buried underneath it. Everyone they have dug out has been dead. Not one was [dug out] alive," said the resident of a village some two kilometres away from the disaster site.



"We heard the rockslide. We never thought it would be such a massive disaster," the resident said.



Meanwhile, the government has clamped down on the flow of information from the disaster site, issuing orders to all Chinese media outlets to stick to official news copy issued by Xinhua news agency or other central-government outlets, sources told RFA on Monday.



"To begin with, they saved three people, but in fact none of them had been buried under the landslide," the source said. "Since then, there hasn't been a single survivor."



He said the powerful propaganda department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party has issued strict instructions to local media over coverage.



"The first duty of journalists at the scene is to sing the praises [of the rescue effort and reconstruction efforts]," the source said. "They are using people's lives to make paeans of praise. They don't learn any lessons."



Funding concerns



Meanwhile, local residents cast doubts on whether officially allocated emergency funding would be properly allocated.



A second Mao government official said she "had no idea why people would think that."



"They seem to think that we'll embezzle all of this money when we get it, but I can't explain it to them individually," she said. "We will be spending every payment we receive according to government requirements."



"We will also be publishing details online, and ... payments like this are usually audited anyway, even by the audit bureau at county level," she said.



An official who answered the phone at the Mao county government offices on Sunday confirmed that no more survivors have been found.



"No, there haven't," the official said, when asked if any survivors had been dug out from under the landslide, but declined to give further details.



"You should call [the emergency hotline] for specific figures," the official said. But an employee who answered the phone said that no figures were available.



Around 10 people had been confirmed dead when rescue efforts were suspended Monday evening owing to the risk of further landslides.



More than 60 homes in Xinmo are under the rocks and earth, where a large chunk of hillside slid off after prolonged heavy rain.



But orders were given to around 3,000 rescuers to call off the search after monitoring equipment found "movement and deformation" of the nearby hillside, state news agency Xinhua reported.



Rescue work had already been hampered by the sheer thickness of the layer of mud and rock covering the buried village, People's Armed Police traffic force chief of staff Gao Qiao told journalists.



"You can see that there was a huge amount of mud and rock that fell on the site, and the roads there are very narrow," Gao said. "This affected our ability to move in heavy machinery to help with the rescue effort."



"We think that many people remain buried under the landslide, but it is very difficult to get them out," he said.



Frequent disasters



Floods and other rain-triggered disasters are frequent in rural and mountainous parts of China.



In January, at least 12 people were reported dead after a landslide crushed a hotel in the central province of Hubei, while more than 70 perished in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen after a pile of improperly stored earth collapsed onto nearby buildings.



In August 2010, experts said overdevelopment and environmental mismanagement were at least partly to blame for a mudslide in central Chinas Gansu province that left more than 1,000 people dead in Zhouqu county.



Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Siu-san and Wong Si-lam for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.




Scavengers dig for raw jade stones in piles of waste rubble next to a jade mine in Hpakant, northeastern Myanmar's Kachin state, Oct. 4, 2015.

One person died on Monday in a clash between security forces and migrant workers trying to scavenge gems at the Wakyae jade mine in the resource-rich Hpakant township mining region of northern Myanmars Kachin state, sources at the scene said.

Witnesses told RFAs Myanmar Service that 20-year-old Zaw Wai was killed when police opened fire to stop about 1,000 jade scavengers who were entering the mine, while others said he had died during a clash between police and the scavengers.

The migrant workers beat security officer Kyaw Swe Oo and destroyed some machines owned by the company that operates the mine, said Kachin state police officer Colonel Ye Tun Oo, adding that a few masterminds were behind the riot.

Six policemen led by Police Sergeant Myo Min Oo were there at that time, he said. Police tried to stop the scavengers, and officer Kyaw Swe Oo opened fired because police couldnt stop them. Zaw Wai was then killed.

The incident comes amid growing tensions between companies working at jade-mining sites, and scavengers trespassing on authorized mining areas searching for cast-off stones to sell.

In May, guards working at the Nansibon Jade Mine near Hkamti township killed four migrant workers and wounded 11 others trying to search for cast-off stones at the site when they fired on them.

The area had also seen a significant number of deaths over the past few years from a string of deadly landslides where slag heaps have collapsed on scavengers.

The growing number of accidents prompted Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation Minister Ohn Win to vow last August to keep migrant workers out of Myanmars jade mining sites.

At the time, he said the government would begin checking entrances to the mining areas for illegal migrant workers in an effort to stop the scavengers and send them back to their home villages.

Hpakant, which lies about 400 miles (640 kilometers) north of Myanmars capital Naypyidaw, is the center of the countrys jade mining industry and produces some of the highest-quality jade in the world.

Much of the gem is exported or smuggled to neighboring China, where demand for the precious stone is high.



Reported Kyaw Myo Min for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
A young Uyghur woman deported from Vietnam to China after trying to join her family in exile has vanished in police custody, her father says, breaking a three-year silence to ask for information on her whereabouts and condition.



Rizwangul Tursun, now 21, was part of a group of 16 Chinese citizens, including four women and two children, sent back on April 18, 2014, following their arrest at Vietnams Bac Phong Sinh border crossing for trying to enter the country illegally, sources said in earlier report.



She had been trying to join her father, Tursun Semet, who had successfully escaped with six family members into Turkey from Kargilik county in the Kashgar prefecture of northwestern Chinas Xinjiang region the year before.



I have not learned anything about the fate of my daughter since the day she was deported to China, Tursun told RFAs Uyghur Service, speaking from Istanbul, Turkey.



So far, none of my relatives in my hometown Kargilik have been informed of any charges against her. Nor have any of my friends or neighbors.



Tursun said he had at first not pressed publicly for information on his daughters whereabouts for fear of prejudicing her case by speaking from outside Chinaa sensitive political concern for Chinese authorities fearful of foreign support for Uyghur separatist movements.



But now, enough is enough, he said.



This is a heavy burden to bear for a father living in exile, Tursun said. At this point, and as a last resort, I would like to ask for the help of the international community in getting information about my daughter.



I want to know where she is being held, and on what charges, he said.



A risky path



Reached for comment, Kargilik county police declined to provide details of Rizwanguls case, adding, We are not allowed to provide any information without permission from departments at a higher level.



Officials at the the Kashgar prefecture police department meanwhile hung up the phone on learning they were speaking to a reporter interested in Rizwanguls case.



Fired from his job at a Chinese bank after the birth of his third child, in violation of Chinas family planning laws, Tursun left Kargilik and went to Hotan prefecture, and later moved to Xinjiangs regional capital Urumchi.



I had no registration papers for my three children. As a result, I lived and worked underground, he said.



We were unable to live freely and safely in our own country, and that is why I was forced to take the risky path of leaving the country without legal documents.



Tursun said that he has cried many times during the last three years over worries for his daughters fate, being careful to hide his feelings from his children and his wife.



This hits a helpless father very hard, he said. I wouldnt wish for anyone to go through the pain I feel.



Reported and translated for RFAs Uyghur Service by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Richard Finney.




Spider-Man crew socks, Pac-Man hoodies, Harry Potter luggage  the new BoxLunch store opening Wednesday at Chesterfield Towne Center carries an assortment of licensed and unlicensed pop culture merchandise.

Its called BoxLunch because thats an end goal. For every $10 spent on licensed merchandise, the California-based company donates the cost of a meal to an organization alleviating hunger through a partnership with Feeding America.
A judge has ruled that the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association has legal standing to challenge a Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles decision allowing electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. to open a company-owned dealership in the Richmond region.

After an hourlong hearing on Monday, Richmond Circuit Court Judge Gregory L. Rupe ruled that the dealers association is indeed an aggrieved party that can legally appeal to the circuit court to challenge a decision made in December by Virginia DMV Commissioner Richard D. Holcomb to grant Teslas application for a new dealership.

California-based Tesla, which makes battery-powered cars sold online and at company stores, is already outfitting a store at 9850 W. Broad St. in western Henrico County. The company plans to open the store, located in a former furniture store, this summer, a spokesman said.

Rupes ruling does not affect whether the store can open, but it does allow the dealer groups challenge to proceed to further court hearings.

Tesla said it is confident that the court will ultimately uphold Holcombs decision.

The courts decision today is disappointing, but Tesla remains fully committed to doing business in Virginia and serving the public interest in sustainable energy better than any franchise auto dealer could, Tesla said in a statement released Monday after the hearing. As the lawsuit proceeds, we will continue to vigorously defend the right of consumers in Virginia to purchase directly from Tesla.

During the hearing, lawyers for Tesla and the Virginia Attorney Generals office argued that the dealers association lacked legal standing to appeal Holcombs decision because the trade group is not in the auto business itself and has no direct financial interest in the case. Rupe denied motions by Tesla and the DMV to dismiss the dealers associations appeal on that basis.

It is not surprising that the Richmond Circuit Court found that VADA (the dealers association) had standing, but Judge Rupe will still need to rule on the merits, and my sense is that the losing party will appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court, said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.

Tesla, which was founded by tech industry tycoon Elon Musk, applied to the DMV in January 2016 to open its second company-owned retail store in Virginia.

The dealers association, which represents independent, franchise dealerships in the state, opposed the companys application during a DMV administrative hearing last year. The dealers group argues that Tesla should be required to sell its cars through independent dealerships, as other automobile manufacturers do, under a state law that prohibits manufacturers from owning dealerships in most circumstances.

Tesla contends that its direct-to-consumer sales model and the technical complexity of its vehicles make it impossible for independent dealers to sell them profitably.

Holcombs decision to grant Teslas application for a new store went against a DMV hearing officers recommendation that the companys request be denied because it did not meet the requirements for an exemption from the state law. The dealers association subsequently accused Holcomb of bowing to political pressure.

Tesla opened its only other company store in Virginia near Tysons Corner in February 2015, but only after going to court and reaching a legal settlement with the DMV and the dealers association.
Greg Lowe calls it the nomadic life of a hospital CEO.

He was born in Utah and has worked in Minnesota, Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida.

Joe Mazzo was born in Long Island, N.Y., and has worked in Tennessee, North Carolina and Utah.

But both hope their latest moves will keep them settled in Virginia for a while.

Lowe took over HCA Virginias Chippenham & Johnston-Willis Hospitals in November, while Mazzo moved into his new role at HCA Virginias John Randolph Medical Center in late May.

One found his way into hospital executive positions after serving others through a mission trip and the other by first working in the trenches as an emergency department nurse, but both hope to lead their respective hospitals through an uncertain time in health care and to expand service offerings to patients in their regions.

***

Lowe came to Chippenham & Johnston-Willis Hospitals from Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce, Fla., another HCA hospital where he worked as CEO for three years.

The two hospitals are relatively large compared to other hospitals in the area. Chippenham boasts 466 beds, and Johnston-Willis has 292.

His interest in health care administration blossomed out of an experience in Mexico, where he participated in a religious service mission for two years, starting when he was 21 years old.

It was great because it gave me a lot of time to focus on what I believe is important in life: service to others and my faith, said Lowe, 44. It really helped me solidify what kind of an individual I wanted to be and how I wanted to live the rest of my life.

He gravitated toward the business side of health care and attained his masters in health care administration from the University of Minnesota after receiving his bachelor of arts from the University of Utah.

I just wanted to be part of something bigger, he said. I liked making sense of chaos.

Considering the uncertainties facing the countrys health care system, Lowe may have a great deal of chaos to contend with. The fate of the Affordable Care Act is still up in the air, as Congress considers dismantling the law to enact entirely different health care rules.

While major changes to the federal law would almost certainly have an impact on community hospitals, Lowe said he deals with the pressures by keeping the hospitals mission at the center of what he does.

I always like to say, What are we here for? Were here for three things: to help improve our community health, serve others, and save peoples lives, he said. And I think, if we focus on those things  those additional stressors? Well work through them.

Flexibility, he said, is key when working as a CEO for a large hospital.

You come into work thinking youre going to do one thing and have a schedule for the day, and it completely changes depending on what walks through the door in the ER, or if something occurs with an employee, or something in the community, or the weather  any kind of national disaster or a snowstorm, he said.

His goals for the Chesterfield County hospitals center around expanding the services they offer, including their trauma services. Right now, Chippenham Hospital is preparing for a $20 million project to expand its emergency department.

Within that is a new pediatric ER because our existing pediatric department isnt big enough for the volume of patients that were seeing, he said.

Though he spends most of his days working on big-picture ideas for the hospitals, Lowe said he will often visit various hospital departments and speak with staff members.

Kathy Bowers, the endoscopy director at Chippenham, said the hospitals current administration is one of the most supportive she has seen since working there for the past 30 years.

You feel that theyve got your back, and it means the world to us, she said.

Lowe learned to speak Spanish fluently after his trip to Mexico and he uses that skill to communicate with some employees and patients. Though he chose to pursue the business side of health care following that trip, he said he never lost interest in the personal side.

***

For Mazzo, 43, the new head of the 147-bed John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell, working in the administrative side of health care was a natural progression from his time as a nurse.

When I was in clinical, you got to see things firsthand  how things worked and, unfortunately, sometimes didnt work, he said. And so as I got more experience with hospital and clinical operations, I started seeing how I could have an impact, and I wanted to make a difference.

Mazzo received his degree in nursing from Queens University in Charlotte, N.C., then his masters of arts from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York.

He most recently worked as chief operating officer of Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, Utah, another HCA hospital.

His route to becoming a hospital administrator was not the typical progression that many follow  with internships and fellowships that eventually lead to assistant executive positions.

For Mazzo, it was more of a zig-zag, he said. Typically, nurses are pegged for the chief nursing officer role, but he had a mentor while working in Tennessee who created a role for him that then allowed him to step into other executive positions.

I dont know how anybody does it without having a clinical background, he said. I dont see how anybody knows the business without being in the trenches. It never lets me forget why Im here. You could get very distracted by staring at those books and those sheets and every initiative under the sun.

But when you can hold someones hand while they die or you could save someone at the most crucial time  that never goes away.

He was a nurse for about 15 years before moving to the administrative side.

He is planning to get his nursing license in Virginia so that when the stresses of the administrative offices become too much, he can go down to the nursing stations.

Theres something therapeutic about leaving this office and going down to a nursing unit and just helping out, he said. It keeps me grounded. Plus, I can only stare at so many spreadsheets at a time.

He is still in the process of getting to know John Randolph Medical Center and the Hopewell area, but said he would like to expand its services eventually.

I think theres tons of potential here, he said. Those backbones are what you need to build on.

He hopes to ride the current uncertainty in the national health care environment by staying as informed as he can, he said.

Being informed is the first step, he said. Thats the benefit of being in HCA and having the bandwidth of knowledge  were constantly getting updates, and theyre constantly lobbying legislatures, and were staying abreast of whats going on.

My personal beliefs are that, regardless of how we are going to carve out the payer strategy ... health care is still always going to be based on how good the quality is, how efficient you are, and how well you treat your patients.

***

Both new CEOs families have yet to join them in Virginia, but they will be making the move in a few months, and both plan to settle in Midlothian.

For now, Lowe and Mazzo are focusing on learning about their respective markets and making plans to expand the services available to their patients. And they are planning to combat the uncertainty in health care by providing good care to their patients.
A new business trend is brewing in Virginia and universities are creating programs to fill vacant jobs in the quickly growing craft beer industry. Virginia Commonwealth University is offering a new certificate program for budding brewers and brew enthusiasts.

The program will offer two tracks, business of craft beer and the craft brewer certificate, which will cover aspects of making and managing beer production for different size breweries.

The program will start in July with one course, Introduction to Craft Beer, which will cost $199 and cover types and styles of beer, history and industry growth. The instructor for the course will be announced later this week. The full program will also include faculty with different expertise from departments throughout the school.

VCU will collaborate with breweries such as Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Stone Brewing, Center of the Universe Brewing Co., Ballast Point Brewing Co., and Ardent Craft Ales.

The courses will be open to the public. They are not part of a degree program, so individuals will not go through the regular VCU admissions process. Individuals are able to register through the Office of Continuing and Professional Education. Participants must be 21 years or older and have completed a college-level course in both chemistry and biology.

VCU is not the only Virginia university to offer craft beer courses. The University of Richmond and Virginia Tech both offer classes tailored for aspiring brewmasters.

URs beer brewer professional certificate program runs from April to January and is available to non-students over the age of 21. It costs $2,199 and includes an introduction to brewing, brewing science and process, brewing as a business, and a brief internship.

In 2011, the Brewers Association reported only 40 breweries in Virginia, but its updated report from 2016 includes 164. There have been over 1,500 job postings relating to craft beer in the past 12 months in Virginia, according to the Office of Continuing and Professional Education at VCU.
Scores of youthful campers carrying backpacks and pillows began congregating in the parking lot at St. Bridget School on Sunday afternoon, gearing up for a week of community service as they put their faith to work for the good of others.

Among the early arrivals was a group of 43 from St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church outside Pittsburgh. Gordon Kalamasz, 17, who has done this sort of work in three other cities in past summers, said he enjoys meeting campers from other Catholic parishes around the country who come together with the common mission of helping the less fortunate. This time, two younger brothers came with him.

Fellow St. Margaret Mary camper Madison Foster, 16, said this is the second summer she has devoted a week to painting and other chores. When reminded there are easier ways to spend a week in the summer, she acknowledged that was so. But this is much more fun, she said.

In all, about 240 campers  mostly high school students  from Catholic parishes in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Northern Virginia gathered at St. Bridget Catholic Church in Richmonds West End. They will eat and sleep at the adjacent school and go out into the community during the day to lend helping hands to a variety of local nonprofits such as Coal Pit Learning Center, Little Sisters of the Poor, and Boaz and Ruth in Highland Park.

The St. Bridget camp is part of Catholic HEART Workcamp, an organization based in Orlando, Fla., that this summer is marshaling the energy of about 12,500 young volunteers to work on community service projects in more than 50 cities across the United States. This is the 25th year of the national program. St. Bridget has been sending campers to out-of-town camps for more than a decade, and this marks the fourth consecutive year it has hosted a camp.

Richmond is a special location because the community really chips in and supports, said Kelly Naas, the camp director who is based in Orlando.

Campers work together in teams at the various sites, giving them the opportunity to meet people and help others and see what we all share in common, said Anne-Marie Condlin, a St. Bridget parishioner who has served as co-manager for each of the four camps hosted here and is co-manager this year with Scott Fresco.

As for the community work itself, Condlin said, There are no strings attached.

We serve people not to convert them or change them, she said. Theres no ulterior motive other than having God work through us and his love be shared with people.

For the next few days, campers will be washing windows, pulling weeds, painting walls, repairing fences and getting to know the people they are helping at the various nonprofit organizations.

St. Bridgets Megan Fitzsimmons attended six camps as a camper and has worked as a member of the traveling staff for the past month at camps in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. This week, she gets to introduce her fellow staff members to Richmond and St. Bridget, where she will manage the kitchen.

She fondly remembers her days at past camps helping to build wheelchair ramps for people who were homebound and couldnt get out of their houses unless they had relatives come in to literally pick them up and take them out of the house to appointments.

Seeing the ramp ... let them get out and have their freedom was awesome, said Fitzsimmons, a recent civil engineering graduate from Virginia Tech who soon will head to Charlotte, N.C., to start a job in land development design. Faith-based service is such a good way to teach students about their faith and help them learn more about it while theyre serving other people. Its such a cool thing.

We get to go out and see so much and meet so many people who need our help. You get caught up in this bubble during the year if youre not doing this kind of work. You just dont realize the amount of people that need help.

Condlin said coordinating a week of hands-on community service also requires a lot of hands, from volunteers across the parish and the community. Bon Secours has provided sponsorship through grants, and there are contractors and suppliers who also have pitched in to make the week possible.

All of those different people from different walks of life sharing their gifts and talents to serve the community at large, she said. To me, its amazing.

Mary-Katherine McCarty, 26, now a chaperone for campers, also participated for years as a camper. She recalled the year she and other campers cleaned the home of a woman who had become a hoarder. The campers organized her home and packed up her things in a sensitive way, McCarty said, and got to know the woman in the process.

As we were leaving, she wanted to get our addresses and send us notes, McCarty recalled. On a piece of paper, she had written My angels. I just thought it was really remarkable that she referred to us as her angels.
Richmond police have cleared one man in last week's triple shooting  which they are now calling a homicide  near the 17th Street Farmers Market in Shockoe Bottom.

Police described the man they are seeking in a statement: a black male with a light complexion in his mid-20s. He is about 6 feet tall with short, dark hair and a skinny build. At the time, he was wearing a white T-shirt with a pattern and dark running pants with stripes down the leg.

The man was driving a dark gray, four-door Nissan sedan with a yellow New York license plate.

Another man, who police dentified through surveillance footage, has been cleared, according to department spokeswoman Koury Wilson.

Shortly before 3 a.m. on June 18, police responded to the intersection of North 17th and East Franklin streets after two people, a man and woman, were shot. They were taken to a local hospital, and have since been released.

While at the scene, officers were told a third victim, Robert D. Turner Jr., 26, of the 400 block of Winston Street, was driven to a hospital, where he died.

Police initially called the shooting a death investigation, but are not investigating Turner's death as a homicide.

Anyone with information about this homicide is asked to call Detective J. Bridges at (804) 646-4494 or Major Crimes Det. Sgt. A. Jackson at (804) 646-0606 or contact Crime Stoppers at 780-1000 or at www.7801000.com.
A Henrico County jury has called for a 65-year sentence for a man convicted of purchasing heroin at Short Pump parking lots so the drugs could be resold in Charlottesville, where the defendant lived.

The jury recommended that decadeslong sentence for Norell Sterling Ward, 46, last week after convicting him on a count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and on two counts of possessing heroin with the intent to distribute, said Matthew C. Ackley, a deputy Henrico commonwealths attorney.

Attorneys in the case could not say whether a 65-year term, if enacted, would set any type of record punishment for this type of crime, but all agreed it would represent a significant sentence.

I can tell you that this is a high sentence and likely reflective of the community awareness of the heroin problem in Henrico, Ackley said.

Ward was identified as a midlevel heroin distributor who would travel from Charlottesville to Short Pump to buy heroin in parking lots so the drugs could be distributed back in Charlottesville, Ackley said. The prosecutor said its estimated Ward distributed 4 to 6 kilograms of heroin over a roughly 18-month period.

The defendant would purchase the drugs from parking lots at Short Pump-area businesses including McDonalds, Whole Foods, Target and 7-Eleven, Ackley said.

Henrico Circuit Judge Richard S. Wallerstein Jr. will now weigh whether to follow through on the jurys recommendation and impose the full 65 years at a September sentencing.

Kevin Purnell, Wards attorney, said that for a man whom prosecutors said was a midlevel dealer, the jurys suggested prison sentence represents a significant amount of time.

As eye-catching as a 65-year term would be, Purnell said state law allowed for a punishment of 5 to 40 years for each of the three felony charges, meaning the jury could have recommended Ward face a maximum of 120 years.

Purnell said his client maintains his innocence amid the convictions.

In addition to the prison time, jurors also recommended Ward pay a $65,000 fine.

Richmond attorney Steven Benjamin, a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said state law prohibits judges from imposing higher sentences than the ones recommended by juries.

Judges are the ultimate authority in deciding what sentences are imposed, and can suspend portions of any prison time a jury recommends, Benjamin said. But he added a caveat to that observation.

Historically, judges rarely reduce a jurys sentence, Benjamin said.

Benjamin said Virginia is one of the few states, if not the only state, where juries make sentencing recommendations. When they do, Benjamin said they do so without a set of sentencing guidelines  a written outline for how much prison time should be imposed based on a number of factors, such as a defendants criminal record. Judges are encouraged to set their sentences within the sentencing guidelines, although theyre not required to do so, Benjamin said.

Ackley said Ward bought his heroin from a drug organization run by Shawn Lamont Bailey, a 46-year-old Henrico man who pleaded guilty in January to two felony counts of distributing heroin near his West Broad Village home.

Bailey is to be sentenced next month. Under a plea deal, Bailey agreed to plead guilty in return for spending between 8 to 10 years in prison.

Ward, who is going to be formally sentenced on Sept. 13, has a criminal history that includes convictions for two burglaries as well as a conviction for possessing heroin, Ackley said.
Albemarle County police are investigating a suspected murder-suicide that took place near Barboursville early Sunday morning.

Police found Jordan Cavanaugh-Jackson, 26, of Barboursville, dead after responding to reports of gunshots in the 3500 block of Creels Mill Road. Jacksons brother Christian Cavanaugh had fled the scene in a pickup truck, according to police.

About 10 minutes later, officers spotted Cavanaughs vehicle, which had crashed in the 1700 block of Stony Point Road. They found Cavanaugh inside, dead of an apparent gunshot wound.

This is the first homicide of the year in Albemarle County. The department has reported one homicide per year in the county since 2013.

Police called Sundays murder-suicide an isolated incident and said there is no danger to the general public.

No other details about the incident were released Sunday.

Anyone with information is asked to call the county police at (434) 296-5807.
Someone was trying to kill him. William Morva was certain of it.

He couldnt breathe and he was withering away, he told his mother in a jailhouse call.

Somebody wants me to die, and I dont know who it is, he said. They know my health is dwindling, OK?

He sounded paranoid. His voice grew more frantic with each call over several months on the recorded lines.

How much more time do you think my body has before it gives out? he asked just months before he escaped from custody, killing an unarmed guard and later a sheriffs deputy before his capture in woods near Virginia Techs campus.

Morva faces execution July 6 for the 2006 killings.

With the date looming, Morvas family, friends and lawyers are pressing for clemency from Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, in what has become a broader national push to eliminate capital punishment for people with severe mental illnesses such as Morvas delusional disorder.

Supporters say the jury at Morvas trial was given inaccurate information about his mental health and are asking McAuliffe to commute his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In recent years, the Supreme Court has ruled that juveniles, whose brains are not fully developed, and people with intellectual disabilities are not eligible for the death penalty. Lawmakers in eight states, including Virginia, Tennessee and Indiana, have introduced bills that would expand the prohibition to people with severe mental illnesses.

A vote on an Ohio measure pending in the state legislature is expected this fall. It is backed by a coalition of providers of mental health services, social justice groups, religious leaders, former state Supreme Court justices and former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican.

The bills address punishment, not guilt or innocence. If lawmakers in Columbus sign off on the measure, Ohio would become the first state to pass an exclusion for severe mental illness among the 31 that retain the death penalty.

***

Bipartisan legislative efforts underscore shifting views of capital punishment, and new ideas about whether it can be applied consistently and fairly.

Advocates for reform say the penalty was not intended for people who are incapable of distinguishing between delusions and reality, and that jurors often misunderstand mental illness.

The reformers efforts have been met with resistance mostly from prosecutors and law enforcement officials who say jurors already can factor in mental illness at sentencing and that the exemptions are too broad.

Morva, 35, exhausted his legal appeals when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up his case in February.

It hurts me so much to know that there is nothing I can do to fix him, Elizabeth Morva, his mother, said in an affidavit in support of her son.

Morva was 24 when he fatally shot a decorated sheriffs deputy, Cpl. Eric Sutphin, and beloved hospital security guard Derrick McFarland. Each was married and the father of two children.

If someone had intervened sooner, I truly believe William would never have killed those two men, his mother wrote. But I cannot change the past. I can only say that I am so sorry and ask that my son please be spared.

Attorney Dawn Davison of the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center says the jury in Morvas 2008 trial did not consider his psychotic disorder because experts in that case did not have access to Morvas complete history. Morva was under the influence of his delusions when he escaped and killed Sutphin and McFarland, she said in submitting Morvas clemency application.

Relatives of the victims did not return phone calls seeking comment on Morvas petition.

Mary Pettitt, the Montgomery County commonwealths attorney who helped prosecute Morva, has urged McAuliffe to let the jurys verdict stand.

To assert some 10 years later that all three of the original experts were wrong is absurd, Pettitt wrote in a letter to the governor. With enough time and motivation, one can always find an expert to say what you want to hear, but that doesnt mean it is true or accurate.

McAuliffe is reviewing the case and declined to be interviewed in advance of a decision. The governor is personally opposed to the death penalty, attributing his views to his Catholic faith. He has allowed two executions to go forward, while commuting the death sentence of Ivan Teleguz in April because the sentencing phase of his trial was flawed and unfair.

***

It has been years since Morva accepted in-person visits from his lawyers and his mother.

He insists they are part of the conspiracy to kill him.

Long before Morva committed the murders, there were signs that he was not well. In his senior year at Blacksburg High School, Morvas parents moved back to the Richmond area, where his father had worked in engineering. Morva stayed behind but dropped out of school weeks before graduation.

In Blacksburg, he walked barefoot in winter and sometimes slept in the Jefferson National Forest, buried in piles of leaves. He was known at the local coffee shop for diatribes about politics and religion, and confided in family and close friends about what he said were special powers he possessed to fix the worlds problems.

Morvas early encounters with police came in 2002 when he was 20. Friends say their free-spirited, compassionate classmate who had been active in Amnesty International became consumed by unusual eating patterns  large amounts of raw meat, nuts and pine cones  and spent hours in the bathroom.

In August 2002, Virginia Tech police found Morva after 9 p.m. half-naked on the floor of a womens bathroom on campus. Officers turned him over to the Blacksburg police and called Elizabeth Morva.

They said, Maam, hes not normal. I said Im beginning to realize that. And they said, Maam, your son needs help.

Morvas mother, a classroom aide for special education students, declined to be interviewed for this story. Her statements are drawn from transcripts of Morvas robbery trial and sworn written statements she submitted for her sons appeals.

At the time of his 2002 arrest, Morvas mother tried to get him help.

She asked police for a temporary detention order to force an evaluation.

But by then, Morva had calmed down and police said a detention order was not needed. Morva was instead charged with trespassing, released and banned from the university campus.

In the years that followed, Morva worked briefly at a hair salon, in construction and as a waiter.

At his fathers funeral in early 2004, he showed up barefoot and disheveled. At dinner with his mother soon after the funeral, Morva lectured loudly about the plight of indigenous people. He was in training, he told her, to live in the wild and fight on behalf of Native Americans.

Elizabeth Morva gently suggested that her son see a therapist.

His mind was not normal. His thoughts were not normal, they were disconnected, she said.

The next year, those undiagnosed, untreated problems landed Morva in jail, his supporters say.

***

Morva was charged in 2005 in a series of botched robberies and burglaries.

In an attempted robbery, Morva, masked and carrying a shotgun, crept up to a convenience store, only to find the doors locked, then ran off and hid in woods  where police found him.

Jailed for a year while awaiting trial, Morvas mental health deteriorated. His mother did not bail him out, thinking that he would finally get psychological treatment.

Morva told his mother that he was dying, that someone was torturing him and intentionally withholding medical care  and with that mindset, was convinced he had to flee.

He believes anybody would have done exactly what he did, said Davison, the lawyer who has worked on Morvas appeals since 2009. The escape, she said, was all part of this effort to save his life. Hes incapable of seeing things any other way.

In August 2006, a deputy escorted Morva to the Montgomery Regional Hospital for minor injuries. In a bathroom, Morva knocked him unconscious and took his gun. Morva then shot McFarland, the unarmed hospital security guard, from 2 feet away as hospital colleagues watched in horror.

He killed Sutphin the next day as the deputy was on a wooded trail in the hunt for the fugitive. Morva shot Sutphin in the back of the head.

The jury that decided Morvas fate in 2008 heard from two doctors who diagnosed him with schizotypal personality disorder similar to schizophrenia. They noted his rigid thinking and odd behavior, as well as that Morvas maternal grandmother had been treated for schizophrenia in the 1950s. But the doctors told jurors that Morva was not delusional, an assessment his lawyers dispute  and a determination that later was rebutted by another doctor in what now is the key contention before McAuliffe.

Prosecutors portrayed Morva at trial as extremely intelligent and extremely dangerous. The jury reviewed a letter Morva wrote to his mother one month after landing in jail, in which he promised to kick an unarmed guard in the throat, and then I will stomp him until he is as dead as Ill be.

Morvas lawyers acknowledged his horrible crimes but said Morva was hurting the people that he thought would put him back in jail. The jury did not hear from Morvas mother, who said she wanted to testify to explain, not justify, his actions.

After three hours of deliberations, the jury imposed the death penalty.

Before the judge formally sentenced him to death, Morva, in his chance to address the court, called himself Nemo.

Im almost done. You may kill me, thats guaranteed. I cant fight. Theres nothing more I can do. But there are others like me, and I hope you know that. And soon theyre going to get together. Theyre going to sweep over your whole civilization, and theyre going to wipe these smiles off of your faces forever.

***

In the lengthy appeals process, a federal judge agreed to appoint a forensic psychiatrist to evaluate Morva.

By then, Davison and her colleagues had collected dozens of sworn statements. The trial experts, Davison said, had lacked the complete picture, and that meant that the jury did, too.

High school classmates, roommates, relatives and co-workers swore to what they had observed up close and consistently in Morva during the years leading to the killings.

The new psychiatrist reviewed their statements and medical records and met with Morva in state prison in 2014.

She concluded that Morvas delusions began years before the murders and recommended antipsychotic medication.

Morvas appeals were restricted to narrow legal questions about his trial. The appeals courts could not take up the question of whether Morva was mentally ill when he killed McFarland and Sutphin.
William Faulkner described himself as a failed poet. According to one version of Faulkners observation, a novelist is a failed short-story writer, and a short-story writer is a failed poet. Richard Prevear titles the introduction to a new translation of Pushkins novels and tales, Pushkins Descent Into Prose. One of the most romantic scenes in movie history occurs in The Third Man when Anna asks Holly Martins who he is. Im just a hack writer who drinks too much and falls in love with a girl, he answers as a zither plays in the background and a tear courses down Annas cheek  not because she is beguiled by Holly but because she is haunted by Harry Lime. Orson Welles played Lime, vanished into the labyrinth of postwar Vienna. Petersburgs Joseph Cotten played Holly. He is buried in Blandford Cemetery.

Educating Rita, a comedy about a working-class woman who flees a suffocating life to study literature under a professor played by Michael Caine, includes this exchange: What does assonance mean? What? Dont laugh at me. Assonance, its a form of rhyme. Whats an example? Do you know Yeats? The wine lodge? No, W.B. Yeats, the poet. No. Well, in his poem The Wild Swans at Coole Yeats rhymes the word swan with the word stone. You see? Thats an example of assonance. Oh, yeah, means getting the rhyme wrong. Ive never thought of it like that. Mere anarchy has been loosed upon the world, indeed.

In My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer, Christian Wiman writes: I am a poet. To be a poet in contemporary America is to become accustomed to, let us say, muted reactions to ones work. He adds that the sensation is not limited to American composers of verse. The circumstances exist in other countries and in other languages. Wiman cites the poets monkish devotion to the inner voice. The silence within you, he explains, allows that source to speak.

Wiman spoke at St. Stephens Episcopal Church several years ago and drew a full house. While signing books afterward, he chatted with a parishioner about the Book of Common Prayer and the King James. Anglicans, they agreed, are a Prayer Book people. Their sacred texts are to be not only read but heard. The same applies to Shakespeare and other Elizabethan dramatists  to Abraham Lincoln as well. The liturgy invites laity to join clergy as they celebrate church rites. Worship is a communal experience. The Eucharist is called Communion for a reason. There is no division at the rail.

The Psalms, too, are poems. They form the center of Morning Prayer. Christ Jesus knew them. His last words on the cross came from memories formed perhaps even in the womb. Poetic meter translates into spiritual perception. We shall not want.

Allison Seay, associate for Religion and the Arts at St. Stephens, writes a parish newsletter, Wellspring: Poetry for the Journey, which encourages the study and appreciation of verse. A recent issue focused on Christina Rossetti, author of the carol, In the Bleak Midwinter. In Wellspring, Seay identifies wind as a metaphor for faith. Who has seen the wind? Rossetti wonders. Neither you nor I. But when the trees bow down their heads, the wind is passing by. Faith resembles the wind, unseen but known. The opposite of faith, Seay cites Anne Lamott as saying, is not doubt but certainty. Readers of Lamotts novels might challenge Faulkners thesis but only she knows. Seays reflections bring grace to the written word.

The 2017-18 poetry series at St. Stephens will include Natasha Trethewey, a former poet laureate of the United States. She earned a masters at Hollins. Her collection, Native Guard, examines the Civil War, its causes and its legacy, with an understanding as profound as a historians. Poetrys cadences convey liberating perceptions. As a mayoral commission addresses the statuary on Monument Avenue, Trethewey ought to serve as an expert witness. Her poems at least belong on the required reading list.

Trethewey has the Hollins connection. Rita Dove, another former poet laureate, teaches at the University of Virginia. Nikki Giovanni is a professor at Virginia Tech. Once upon a time Edgar Allan Poe lived in Richmond for a spell. During a literature class at McGuire Veterans Hospital, a patient asked the guest teacher to read Anabel Lee. She wept throughout.

A retreat to the Cambridge monastery of the Society of St. John the Evangelist  tweets forgetting, by tweets forgot  introduced a pilgrim to the poems of Mary Oliver. He also almost fainted upon seeing his first Botticelli. Olivers public appearances go SRO. Poetry might not outsell Bill OReilly, but it feeds flocks starved for surcease. Poetry forums in churches and libraries meet a great hunger. Literature is a form of defiance. Verse is daily bread. Do this in remembrance of him.
A workplace fatality at the WestRock Co. plant in Covington was caused by the paper mills failure to maintain equipment, state regulators have determined.

In citing the company for what it deemed a serious violation of occupational safety rules, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry imposed a $7,000 fine.

A subcontractor employee was killed Oct. 6, 2016, when a manhole cover on a pressure vessel unexpectedly blew open and struck him, according to a report from the state agencys investigation.

Bolts used to keep the cover closed had been overtightened, stripping the threads and causing the circular metal door to become unfastened and swing outward with deadly force  hitting Kent Duane Johnson as he sat on a footstep next to the pressure vessel, the report stated.

Johnson, a mechanical engineer who had traveled from his home in Minnesota to provide technical support for an upgrade project at the plant, died from blunt force trauma to his chest and neck, an autopsy determined at the time.

Stripped threads on other bolts in the area where the manhole cover gave way to high pressure signaled a problem that was not addressed, the Department of Labor concluded. The manholes were opened and closed on a regular basis, and employees sometimes would use mallets on the bolts to secure them, the report stated.

WestRock was cited for failing to provide a place of employment which was free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.

To prevent a similar incident in the future, the agency recommended that WestRock management create a program to regularly inspect the manholes and train employees on the proper way to tighten the bolts to keep them securely closed.

Those actions were taken in April, and the case was closed in May. It took more than a month for the state Department of Labor to release its report after a request was made through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

Asked about the case on Monday, WestRock officials referred questions to their attorney in Richmond. Drew Gallalee said he could not comment because of a notice of potential legal action made by Johnsons family.

Johnson, 57, of Cushing, Minnesota, was self-employed and traveled across the county to do service engineering work at paper and pulp mills, often when the plants were closed for the night, friends have said.

The accident at WestRock happened at 3:15 a.m. in a Recovery Department building where two stainless steel pressure vessels, each one about 35 feet long, are used to process white liquor and lime mud under high pressure and 200-degree temperatures as part of the paper-making process.

Each vessel has eight manholes about 2 feet in diameter along its length to allow employees to monitor the process through glass panels, shutting the system down and making adjustments when needed.

Johnson was providing technical support on a retrofit of one of the vessels, which had been turned off, when the manhole cover on the second one, in operation about 15 feet away, gave way and struck him.

At the time, Johnson was working for Valmet, a subcontractor hired by WestRock for the upgrade project. The Department of Labors investigation found no violations by Valmet.

WestRock, which was created in 2015 in a merger of Richmond-based MeadWestvaco Corp. and Georgia-based Rock-Tenn Co, is a major employer in Alleghany County. It makes paper and packaging at a sprawling plant that is visible from most parts of downtown Covington.
June 24, 2017 David Michael (Mike) Woolwine Sr., 69, of Christiansburg, went to be with our Lord on Saturday, June 24, 2017. Mike is preceded in death by his mother, Virginia Kathleen Woolwine; and father, Charlie Woolwine; and one brother, Donald Woolwine. He is survived by his loving wife of 44 years, Shirley Kaye Woolwine; his children and their spouses, David Michael Woolwine Jr., Karen Sorochinski, Amanda Barrett, and Stephanie Morris; along with his eight grandchildren, Michael, Cody, Will, Catie, Brady, Braxton, Kaylee, and Ashlynn; his two brothers, Leroy Woolwine and Luther Woolwine; numerous nieces and nephews; and his two best friends, Ernie Wade and Tony Bowman. Mike loved being a husband, dad, and paw paw. He loved us and everyone he met so much. He was a supportive and loving husband, father, brother, paw paw, and friend. Anyone who knew Mike knew he loved his Virginia Tech Hokies and helping anyone in need. If you knew him, you knew what an honor it was to be in his presence. A Funeral Service will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 in the McCoy Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Jimmie Lee Price officiating. Interment will follow in the Sunset Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday evening, June 27, 2017 at McCoy Funeral Home, 150 Country Club Dr. SW Blacksburg. Arrangements by McCoy Funeral Home.
As a mother, an American, and a human, I am appalled that the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA), a dangerous step in the wrong direction for our nations health care system. For a bill with the word care in its title, it is utterly lacking in compassion and leaves behind our most vulnerable communities.

Congressman Morgan Griffith says he stands up for struggling families in our district, yet he voted for billions of dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest individuals and corporations, paid for by taking health care away from many of his constituents, including rural families. These tax cuts put at risk the health care of millions of children, seniors, people of color, and people with disabilities and illness.

AHCA would slash Medicaid and shift the cost for coverage to the states. Medicaid currently covers nearly half the births in the U.S. and 70 percent of nursing home patients. Those most deeply impacted by this change would be low-income families, people with disabilities, pregnant women and premature babies, communities of color, and the elderly.

Congressman Griffith and the Republican Party call themselves pro-life, yet this bill proves otherwise. If we truly want all American lives to thrive, then we must invest in health.

Health care is no place for games, greed, and scarcity myths. We have enough resources for every citizen to have quality, affordable healthcare.

We have enough.

I want my tax dollars to keep the people in my community and my country safe, healthy, and thriving.

ALYSSA SHORT

BLACKSBURG
ALROSA President meets with representatives of Israeli diamond industry

26 june 2017 News

ALROSA President Sergey Ivanov met with the President of Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) Yoram Dvash and the Chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute (IDI) Shmuel Schnitzer. The parties discussed topical issues of the diamond market and the current situation in the Israeli diamond industry.

The parties discussed the IDEs initiatives for the development of cutting and polishing in Israel. The Israel Diamond Exchange President told about new diamond manufacturing factories established in the territory of the Diamond Exchange, projects for the development of Internet-trade in polished diamonds, and informed ALROSAs management about the International Tender Center launched early this year  a trading platform for diamond producers.

The Israeli diamond sector management also welcomed the efforts of ALROSA and other members of the Diamond Producers Association to resume the generic diamond marketing program.

Sergey Ivanov highly appreciated achievements of Israeli colleagues in the sphere of separate trade in natural and synthetic rough diamonds. Due to a ban on the trade in synthetic rough diamonds on the platform of the Exchange, tax and other measures, including the use of state-of-the-art detection devices, there is no issue of undeclared synthetic diamonds in Israel. There is no doubt that lead natural diamond producers must be confident in such an approach, noted ALROSA President.

In conclusion of the meeting, Yoram Dvash and Shmuel Schnitzer invited ALROSA to participate in the celebration of the 80-th anniversary of the Israel Diamond Exchange.

The first diamond exchange in modern Israel was established in 1937. The Israel Diamond Exchange is located in the complex of buildings in Ramat Gan. It unites about 3,100 participants from different areas of the diamond business. The Exchange is a member of international organizations, such as the World Diamond Council and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.




Rescuers, firefighters and air force pilots in helicopters searched for survivors. There wasnt a passenger list. 24 people had been sent to hospital. Some of the survivors described hearing a loud explosion near the mens bathroom before the accident. Water flooded on board and people were sucked under by the sinking ship. Those on the first and second floors sank immediately, survivor Lorena Salazar told the media.



Accident localisation on the map

Margarita Moncada, the head of the disaster response agency in Antioquia state, said that according to a preliminary report 99 people were rescued. Some others saved on their own. Its unclear what caused the boat to sink but its known that about a month ago the vessel was found filled with water and sinking at its dock. Nobody really knows what happened. None of the passengers were wearing a life vest. The usually festive town was silent after accident. The authorities made a call for scuba divers to assist with the search. Sunday , the Colombians celebrated a long holiday weekend. President Juan Manuel Santos traveled to the scene of the tragedy to personally inspect ongoing rescue efforts. The Guatape Mayors Office declared three days of mourning.
Knorr-Bremse

L.B. Foster Company's wheel flange lubrication systems will be available to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and South Africa thanks to a recent distribution agreement with German-based Knorr-Bremse Rail Vehicle Systems.

The partnership with Knorr-Bremse leaves us even better placed to meet the needs of our customers and access markets that we expect to deliver substantial growth, said L.B. Foster Senior Vice President Rail Business John Kasel.

In the past, LB Foster relied mainly on decentralized distribution of its wheel flange lubrication systems in Central Europe and South Africa through local dealers.

LB Foster has delivered wheel flange lubrication solutions for decades and enjoys a market leading position in North American and Asian markets, said Mark Cleobury, member of the Management Board at Knorr-Bremse. With our close-knit sales network we are well positioned to boost market penetration in the Central European markets and South Africa.

Knorr-Bremse says the new partnership is already proving successful in a large-scale project: The two companies are currently engaged in equipping 240 TRAXX locomotives being built by Bombardier Transportation for South African railroad operator Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) with wheel flange lubrication systems and solid sticks. Knorr-Bremse is involved in the development and supply of the braking systems for this project. Wheel flange lubrication systems are standard equipment on modern rail vehicles. Mounted on the wheel flange and flange back, the lubrication sticks minimize wear at these points. As a result, these systems extend the rail grinding intervals and prolong the service life of the wheels. The supply and distribution agreement means that Knorr-Bremse is now in a position to complement its existing product portfolio with tried-and-tested wheel flange lubrication systems, along with the associated solid sticks and services, while L.B. Foster can now target the German-speaking markets as well as Poland and South Africa more accurately.
RailPros Field Services, a provider of railroad engineering and field support, has named Terry Tate as Assistant Vice President of Rail Operations. He will focus on the expansion of existing projects and the development of new business ventures.

Tate has more than 35 years of experience in transportation operations management with Union Pacific and Southern Pacific. He most recently served as General Director of Quality Service for UP, providing marketing, sales and business development leadership for the railroads Western Region.

Tate holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Finance and Transportation from the University of Colorado and a Master of Business Administration from Brandman University.

Terry brings extensive strategic development experience and business acumen to our company, says Johnny Johnson, President of RPFS. By leveraging these assets, he provides RailPros Field Services with tremendous growth opportunities.

RailPros Field Services offers a railroad support services including design and engineering, project and construction management, roadway workers in charge (RWIC), inspection, project management, and railroad coordination.
German stocks rose notably on Monday as the Italian government unveiled plans to bailout two banks in the Venice region and a closely-watched survey showed German sentiment unexpectedly surged to a record high in June,

The Ifo business confidence index rose to 115.1 from 114.6 in May, suggesting that the pace of economic growth in Europe's largest will accelerate sharply in the months ahead.

The benchmark DAX was up 98 points or 0.77 percent at 12,831 in late opening deals after losing half a percent on Friday.

Commerzbank rallied nearly 2 percent and rival Deutsche advanced 1.5 percent after the Italian bank bailout.

Insurer Allianz rose about 1 percent after selling its 90 percent stake in regional bank Oldenburgische Landesbank to U.S. private equity firm Apollo.

Automaker Volkswagen rose over 1 percent after its Slovak unit reached an agreement with a trade union on salary rise.

Nordex climbed almost 2 percent on receiving an order for ten N131/3900 turbines from Turkey.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TKPYY.PK) and Seattle Genetics Inc. (SGEN) announced that the Phase 3 ECHELON-1 clinical trial met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement in modified progression-free survival or PFS versus the control arm. ECHELON-1 is a randomized, multicenter trial evaluating ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) as part of a frontline combination chemotherapy regimen in 1,334 patients with previously untreated advanced classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

ADCETRIS is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed to CD30, a defining marker of classical Hodgkin lymphoma. ADCETRIS is currently not approved as a frontline therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma.

Patients in ECHELON-1 were randomized to receive either a combination of ADCETRIS+AVD (Adriamycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine) or ABVD (Adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine), a recognized standard of care for frontline Hodgkin lymphoma. The results of the ECHELON-1 trial demonstrated that combination treatment with ADCETRIS resulted in a statistically significant improvement in modified PFS versus the control arm as assessed by an Independent Review Facility (hazard ratio=0.770; p-value=0.035).

The two-year modified PFS rate for patients in the ADCETRIS arm was 82.1 percent compared to 77.2 percent in the control arm. Interim analysis of overall survival (OS), the key secondary endpoint, also trended in favor of the ADCETRIS+AVD arm

Takeda and Seattle Genetics plan to submit these results to regulatory authorities for approval in their respective territories.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
European stocks surged higher on Monday, with banks leading gains, after Italy moved to shore up confidence in its fragile banking system.

The Italian government agreed to bail out two banks in the Venice region at a cost of 5.2bn euros after the European Central Bank ruled that those banks were "failing or about to fail".

Investor sentiment also remained supported by higher oil prices, upbeat German sentiment data and news that Swiss consumer group Nestle has become the latest target of U.S. activist investor Daniel Loeb.

A closely-watched survey showed German business sentiment unexpectedly surged to a record high in June, suggesting that the pace of economic growth in Europe's largest will accelerate sharply in the months ahead.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 3 points or 0.77 percent at 390.60 in late opening deals after declining 0.2 percent on Friday.

The German DAX was rising 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 index was rallying 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was moving up 0.7 percent.

Intesa, Italy's largest retail bank, jumped 4 percent and rival UniCredit rose 3 percent after the Italian bank bailout.

Spanish banks BBVA and Banco Santander were up 1-2 percent, while Commerzbank rallied 2.5 percent and Barclays advanced 1.5 percent. French banks BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale all rose over 1 percent each.

Nestle shares soared 4 percent after activist investor Daniel Loeb's Third Point LLC hedge fund took a $3.5 billion stake in the world's largest food and drinks company. Sector peers such as Unilever and Danone gained 1-2 percent.

Oil & gas exploration company Tullow Oil climbed 3 percent, Total SA rose 0.4 percent and Repsol added half a percent as crude oil prices edged higher after hitting a ten-month low late last week.

German insurer Allianz rose over 1 percent after selling its 90 percent stake in regional bank Oldenburgische Landesbank to U.S. private equity firm Apollo.

Automaker Volkswagen gained 1.3 percent after its Slovak unit reached an agreement with a trade union on salary rise.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Nestle SA's (NSRGY,NSTR.L) shares were gaining around 4 percent in Zurich trading after billionaire activist investor Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point LLC bought a $3.5 billion stake in the Swiss food giant. The acquisition of about 1.25% stake in Nestle is said to put pressure on the company to find ways to accelerate growth.

While disclosing its Nestle position in a letter to investors, Third Point argued that the company should sell its 23 percent stake in French cosmetics firm L'Oreal SA. The hedge fund, which in recent years pressed for change at Yahoo and Japan's Sony Corp., also advised the firm to improve its margins, buy back stock and shed non-core businesses.

The fund reportedly said in a statement on Sunday, "Despite having arguably the best positioned portfolio in the consumer packaged goods industry, Nestle shares have significantly underperformed most of their U.S. and European consumer staples peers on a three year, five year, and ten year total shareholder return basis."

Nestle, the biggest player in a packaged food industry, has been struggling long amid a slowdown in emerging , weak prices in developed markets as well as increasing demand for fresher, healthier products.

Mark Schneider, Nestle's chief executive since January, has been trying to reignite growth at the company. In February, he dropped a long-running sales-growth target after missing that goal for the fourth straight year. Recently, Nestle said it would look to sell its $900 million-a-year U.S. confectionery .

Third Point said in its letter, "We feel strongly that in order to succeed, Dr. Schneider will need to articulate a decisive and bold action plan that addresses the staid culture and tendency towards incrementalism that has typified the company's prior leadership and resulted in its long-term underperformance."

The hedge fund advised that the company should set a formal margin target of 18 percent to 20 percent by 2020 to help improve productivity.

Nestle's shares were trading at 85.45 Swiss francs, up 4.08 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Crude oil futures crept higher Monday, stemming steep recent losses on talk of OPEC's resolve to re-balance oil .

It is thought that numerous OPEC members cannot cope with low oil prices much longer without risking domestic issues. Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and others are showing signs of strain.

However, OPEC's supply quota plan with Russia has flopped. U.S. producers are flooding the market with oil, keeping prices well below $50 a barrel.

"This plan has failed to notch up the ultimate goal of rebalancing the oil market, mainly due to the reluctance of OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cut oil output," Mohammed al-Shatti, a deputy chairman of the Kuwait Petroleum Corp., told Kuwaiti News.

Baker Hughes on Friday said U.S. drillers added 11 oil rigs this week, the biggest increase in three weeks. The rig count has risen 23 weeks in a row, the longest streak on record.

WTI light sweet crude oil was up 8 cents at $43.10 a barrel, near its lowest in ten months.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
By SA Commercial Prop News

Addressing Sapoa conference, Mark Stevens, Fortress Income Fund CEO said it was still highly risky to invest institutional capital in the likes of Nigeria, because property laws and regulatory frameworks were not strong enough yet.



Property Investors are still concerned that a lack of strong legal structures and reliable rules are making the decision to invest in other African countries difficult as opposed to investing in Europe  SA Commercial Prop News has learned.

CEO of Fortress Income Fund, the very successful diversified property group, Mark Stevens said it was still highly risky to invest institutional capital in the likes of Nigeria, because property laws and regulatory frameworks were not strong enough yet.

Stevens was a part of a panel at the South African Property Owners Association's (Sapoa) conference, held in Cape Town last week.

Fortress has invested in industrial property in South Africa - in fact it owns the most of listed industrial property in the country. It invests in Western Europe through its stake in Hammerson plc and in central and eastern Europe through New Europe Property Investments (Nepi) and Rockcastle Global Real Estate which own assets in countries including Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Nepi and Rockcastle are set to merge into the largest property fund on the JSE with a market capitalisation of over R85bn.

Fortress is part of the Resilient REIT group of companies. Resilient REIT had plans to build ten shopping centres in Nigeria, but these have been put on hold.

"We have been unable to spend the money which we raised in Nigeria. The economic policies related to currency control are not conducive to investing for us," said Resilient REIT MD Des de Beer a few months ago.

"Nigeria is on ice in our portfolio for the time being. We are looking to move our efforts elsewhere," he said.

Rendeavour CEO and founder and developing market investment expert, Stephen Jennings, said many African countries were actually offering very high growth relative to a decreasing degree of political and conflict risk as compared with the likes of Western Europe and the US.

He said many South African investors may have taken their money out of the continent because of push factors without considering strong genuine opportunities in Africa.

Stevens said he still believed political risk had caused trouble in SA's economy. It had created volatility.

"We are in a recession and recent ratings downgrades have prompted investors to buy assets offshore. SA's government needs to stay out of running much of the economy," he said.
The Attorney Generals Office is on the verge of finalising the Alcohol Control Bill.

The new legislation is designed to tackle the growing threat posed by the abusive use of alcohol and unlawful production of liquor in Samoa

The need for reform of laws relating to alcohol is aimed at reducing harm such as criminal offending where alcohol is a significant contributory factor and is aligned with the Strategy for the Development of Samoa 2012-2016 for an improved quality of life for all, said the Samoa Law Reform Commission (S.L.R.C) in its report to Cabinet.

It also supports the strategic direction of the Law and Justice Sector Plan 2012-2016 with focus on enabling a safe and stable Samoa, and one of the key Sector goals, i.e. community safety.

The assessment was initially called by then Attorney General Aumua Ming Leung Wai in 2013 to review laws relating to the sale and consumption of alcohol with the objective of reducing the harm caused by alcohol in Samoa and to make recommendations for reform.

And after consultation with the stakeholders including public forums in Savaii and Upolu coupled by audible concerns from the Judiciary Branch, the S.L.R.C in its findings noted that Alcohol related harm has been increasing exponentially over the years and members of the judiciary have expressed grave concern over the prevalence of alcohol in the commission of offences, as well as recidivism among offenders brought before them.

They (judiciary) also noted the increasing rates of serious violent offending fuelled by cheap alcohol such as fagumaso.

And in its recommendation endorsed by Cabinet, the Commission has not only recommended greater regulation of the alcohol industry but has also recommended the implementation of alcohol education and awareness programs and policy measures as well as the strengthening of existing programmes.

One recommendation is to improve criteria for a license to manufacture alcohol including the verification of the safety of the formulae or the brewing methods and minimum qualifications of a brew master.

The legal age to purchase alcohol is retained at 21 years old however, the Commission is calling for the excise tax on alcohol to be revised as well as excise tax brackets.

For example the percentage of increase of excise tax of a tax bracket should correspond with the percentage of increase of the content of alcohol for that tax bracket.

Additionally, the maximum price for alcohol should also be removed from the General Price Order. The revision is to curtail the sale of cheap alcohol.

To that effect the S.L.R.C is recommending the Alcohol Control bill, prompted as a result of increase in alcohol related crimes, accidents and road fatalities.

Consequently data from the Accident Compensation Corporation is a telling story.

Contained in the Commissions are statistics from the A.C.C detailing the number of fatal accidents related to the consumption for alcohol.

From 2009 to 2013 - 894 alcohol related claims were filed with the A.C.C.

And from that data;

- 63 out of 894 applications for compensation have been heard or considered by A.C.C in which alcohol was found to be a contributing factor;

- 26 out of 1027 accidents were reported in which alcohol was found to be a contributing factor resulting in death, where dependents are entitled to compensation;

- 13 out of 894 accidents were reported in which alcohol was found to be a contributing factor resulting in permanent work disability.

Although the figures fluctuate between the years, there is a clear significant increase from 2009 to 2013, of claims concerning accidents, disability and death where alcohol is a contributing factor.

Parliament has also been looking into present legislations targeting the processing of local liquor.

One of the main concerns by the lawmakers is none compliance by the local manufacturers in complying with the alcohol content of liquor processed locally.

And at the moment the Attorney Generals Office is tasked with finalizing the Alcohol Control Bill to be tabled in parliament in the coming sessions.
The Minister of Women, Community and Social Development, Faimalotoa Kika Stowers, has defended the Nofotane programme against criticisms from a fellow Member of Parliament.

The Nofotane project is run by the Samoa Victims Support Group with assistance from UN Women. It is designed to address the stigma associated with women who marry into families. It is also geared towards empowering them.

But the goals of the programme were questioned by Member of Parliament Sulamanaia Fetaiai Tuiavasa who said the programme has the wrong focus.

This programme is trying to promote the nofotane when that is what they are, they are nofotane, he said, adding that no stupid family in Samoa would treat the nofotane women any differently.

But the Minister disagrees.

Speaking in Parliament, she made it clear that while the Nofotane project is not a government project, her Ministry supports the initiative as part of overall effort to reduce gender-based violence.

I want to elaborate on this subject, as I received many calls about this issue, she said.

I must address it because the public is listening and most especially women whose feelings were hurt. I want to be the voice of these women, to express their displeasure.

They felt belittled yet the womens role is vital to the development of families, villages, churches, countries and the government.

Sulamanaia disagreed that he belittled women.

The intention is not to belittle the nofotane but the point is how the nofotane are being used to get money and to promote this project, he said.

If the nofotane women are being used by this project, the money should go directly to the nofotane.

Its clear this grant is not directed to the nofotane. I am appealing to you to have these funds directed to your Ministry then you can distribute to the nofotane women in the villages, that is my concern.

The nofotane women are being used to gain money, but they dont benefit from it.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi intervened.

The focus of the meeting has shifted due to emotions generated from unfounded opinions, he said.

The funds received are not for distribution. They are for projects to raise awareness in villages, targeting women who have been abused.

But Minister Faimalotoa was still unimpressed with Sulumanaia.

She said his comments were insensitive and its such attitudes that need to change.

ABOUT THE NOFOTANE PROJECT

The Nofotane Project aims to improve the economic empowerment of women and to increase womens participation in domestic and community matters.

The project focuses on improving the quality of life for married women living with their husbands families.

S.V.S.Gs programme is one of the 24 funded programmes, selected from 1400 applicants worldwide by the UN Women Fund for Gender Equality, to be implemented in 2016-2018. This is a first for Samoa and the first for the Pacific region.
A 38-year-old male from Savaii has been charged for indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Salaa Moananu Salaa said the incident happened when the girl was making her way home from school.

According to reports from the Vaitoomuli Police Office the nine year had just finished school and she was on her way home, said Salaa.

The accused saw the little girl and called her. She went to him and thats where he allegedly sexually assaulted her."

The man is scheduled to appear in Court next Monday.

Salaa also advised the parents to look after their children.

This is a very young victim and she shouldnt have been left alone. The ministry is advising the parents to work together with the ministry of police in decreasing these sorts of crimes, he said.

We as parents play a huge role in our childrens lives and that is to ensure they are safe because nowadays we never know what could happen.

We need to be alert at all times and we need to look after our children.
Australia now knows that Samoas Mailelani is naturally good

Mailelani have cemented their position internationally as one of Samoas leading skincare and natural beauty product producers.

Earlier this month with the support of Pacific Trade Invest (P.T.I) Australia and the Samoa Agribusiness Support Project Mailelani showcased their beauty products at the Naturally Good Trade Expo in Sydney, Australia.

The Naturally Good Expo is Asia Pacific's premier business event for the natural, organic and healthy products market. It's the biggest showcase of what's new and next in retailing and manufacturing natural products.

The Naturally Good Expo was the perfect platform for Mailelani to both showcase their products to an international audience and connect directly with Australian retailers and distributers, said Mona Mato, Export Services Manager, P.T.I Australia.

The expo has also given Mailelani valuable insight into their competitors as they have had the chance to see firsthand how they market and position themselves.

Mailelani was exhibiting alongside top international brands such as Dr. Brooner and Living Nature, it was great to see that the work that Sylvie and Kitona have put into developing new packaging and diversifying Mailelanis product range has paid off. The feedback from retailers at the expo has been very encouraging.

Kitiona and Sylvie Salanoa started Mailelani in 2015 as an initiative to provide a source of income to rural areas in Samoa through creating products with local ingredients which are handmade by locals.

Since their humble beginning, Kitonia and Sylvie have slowly and steadily grown their business.

Their long-term dream is to expand their business into international markets, enabling them to support more local growers. Attending the Naturally Good Expo was a big step forward for Kitona and Sylvie in realising their dream.

Mailelani founder Sylvie Salanoa said being able to exhibit at the Australian Naturally Good Expo was an eye-opening and valuable experience.

Starting from very small beginnings, to exhibiting alongside top Australian natural and organic companies was a very special moment for us, she said.

We learnt that we are one of the rare companies who create authentic handmade products from scratch. The majority of the companies exhibiting had their products made by manufacturers.

Its made it clear how we can differentiate ourselves against the competition, our story is what sets us apart. The exposure we had during the expo with the opportunity to meet directly with retailers and distributors was very valuable and we received some great feedback.

Id like to thank P.T.I Australia and Samoa Agribusiness for their support. Mailelani is a partner project of the Samoa Agribusiness Support Project, which helped Mailelani through its Agribusiness Innovation Fund, to attend the Naturally Good expo.

The objective for the innovation fund is to enable SABS project partners to attend trade fairs or events, where the business can promote its range of products to potential export markets and establish future trading partnerships

P.T.I Australias support in lead up to the Expo and on the ground in Sydney was fantastic. We are very grateful and excited about what the future may hold.

Pacific Trade Invest Australia (P.T.I Australia) is an agency of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. P.T.I Australia works with export and investment ready Pacific Island businesses establishing opportunities in international markets with a focus on Australia.




Together as one.

That was the theme of a two-day camp for youth members of the Catholic Church  Upolu Vicarage Central.

Held at Don Bosco during the weekend, more than fifty church members attended the camp.

Father Petelo Vito told the Samoa Observer that the main purpose of the camp is for youth members to come together as one family in Christ.

Not only that but for them to learn more about the relationship with one another, Father Vito said.

This is our second annual camp. Its all about coming together as one to strengthen faith in our Heavenly Father and in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Looking at whats happening today, Father Vito said the church needs to rise up to help young people.

Young people need the church - they need Christ, as leaders in church, families and everywhere in the world we need to give young people the opportunity to be followers of Jesus Christ.

For He is the only answer for the world today, Hes our only refuge and strength.

The eleven parishes within the Vicarage Central region include, Toamua, Lepea, Tulaele, Vaiusu, Sinamoga, Palisi, Tamaitai o le Mauga, Vailima, Vaoala, Malololelei and Moamoa.

A mass at Sinamoga Catholic Church ended the two-day camp yesterday.
As a non-governmental organization, the Samoa Victim Support Group and its work is sustained by donor funding, grants, donation and volunteer support.

While funding are usually for a specific project or area of work, volunteer support is relied upon to fill the gap in the human resources required to keep things moving.

And the Group has been blessed with a variety of capability contribution from local and international volunteers; some are qualified experts in their field of work and have taken time out to help S.V.S.G, others are working towards completing a qualification, and have chosen to take up internship with S.V.S.G.

Regardless of who they are or what they do, what we have in common with the S.V.S.G volunteer family of supporters is the passion to lend a hand.

Last week saw refresher training by David Sutton, a psychiatric nurse from New Zealand, volunteering for S.V.S.G.

The training was for staff and facilitators of counseling programme for court referred offenders of violence. It covered mental illness awareness and suicide risk, from the New Zealand perspective and accepting that the experience of mental illness may be different in Samoa.

Mr. Sutton is in Samoa for three months with his wife Kathy Basire who has been volunteering with S.V.S.G as well.

Ms. Basire is a criminal lawyer who has spent ten years as a Crown Prosecutor in Christchurch. She has been working in the office assisting with case work, document preparation and with the Nofotane project as well as training the S.V.S.G juniors on the experience of sexual violence victims.

Both Mr. Sutton and Ms. Basire have spent time at the shelter helping with the under 3s. They have five children of their own and are due to return to New Zealand on 7 July.

From Netherlands, the S.V.S.G has a young intern, Simone de Vries, who chose S.V.S.G for her intership towards her Social Work education at the HZ University of Applied Sciences.

She volunteered at the School of Hope and later at the main office for three months, from March to May 2017. She has returned home and continues to keep in touch with SVSG.

Thank you so much again for the opportunity of working with S.V.S.G. I loved it and Ill probably look back on this for the rest of my life as such a good experience, she said.

During the months of March, April and May I worked as a volunteer at S.V.S.G. The first four weeks I taught English and Maths at the School of Hope.

Here I got to meet the wonderful and strong women and children living and working at the Campus. I loved this, although Im not a natural teacher.

After the Easter break I went to work at the S.V.S.G office, which was something totally different, but also very nice, since I got to spend more time with my colleagues.

During my time at the office I helped working on the Nofotane project. I found this very interesting, because S.V.S.G is trying to better the position of Nofotane women in Samoa, while at the same time not trying to change the FaaSamoa.

In my three months I really feel like I got a pretty good glimpse of Samoan life. I got to experience the good things about Samoa, but I also saw some problems in society. And thats where S.V.S.G steps in and helps and cares about the people that really need it. I will not forget my time with SVSG and Ill try to be an advocate for SVSG in the future.

The President of S.V.S.G, Siliniu Lina Chang is extremely grateful.

S.V.S.G is grateful to the support from its family of volunteers. There has been an exchange of knowledge and skills, most importantly, amazing experiences. Thank you so much to our family of volunteers for making a difference through your services.
Dear Editor,

Re: Balance would be a mix of both lifestyles

Some good points raised by Mr. Hartin. Its a worry.

There emerges a picture of a society imbued with culture and religiosity albeit, with a modern government that despite its progress and expediency in securing funding, is not remedying issues associated with growing population, resultant demands on infrastructures, unemployment, internal corruption, a taxing church and village oligarch for faalavelave, family dependency, a G.D.P that shows higher expenditure on imports than income from exports, increasing value shift from immaterial to material, increasing imbalance of wealth distribution, the haves vs have nots, poor level of education, etc.

Its all very dystopian and dire.

Obviously something isnt working. The system is broken. It broke a long time ago.

The government blames the individual and the family unit of the individual, the church blames the devils work in the individual, the village punishes the family of the individual, the family asks for money from aiga overseas and the cycle continues on until eternity.

Heres a suggestion, translate the teaching of Buddah into Samoan and make sure it is compulsory reading. Look at Buhtahn, a Buddhist nation that values Happiness over its GDP.

They have the understanding that by clinging on to the desire for wealth, comfort, pleasure, self indulgence, one becomes ignorant of of the fact that the desire for these very things is the cause of human suffering! This would apply to all sectors of our society... We are a desirous people.

We desire rest and food, status and power, honour and wealth, recognition and fame... We desire unobtainable things which we search for endlessly, greedily, ignorantly, when in fact its all delusionary.

We suffer for our attachment, our egos, our want.

Buhddism seems philosophically more in harmony with the old ways of seeing things, maybe we need to go back to our roots and rediscover what is truly important in life.

S. Matagi
The file of a criminal investigation involving a Cabinet Minister accused of forgery has been submitted to the Attorney Generals Office for a final review.

This was confirmed by the Acting Assistant Commissioner, Salaa Moananu Salaa, in response to questions from the Samoa Observer.

Salaa would not confirm the identity of the Minister.

But when the Samoa Observer approached the Minister in question for a comment yesterday, he declined.

"I cannot comment, he said. Please contact my attorney."

It was not possible to get a comment from the lawyer.

But the Police have labeled their investigation as a high profile criminal case.

Salaa confirmed the Police have concluded their investigation.

It has now been submitted to the A.Gs office for a final review, he said.

They have also been asked for their recommendations as to the appropriate charge(s) in this case. The criminal case against the Cabinet Minister is around allegations of forgery.

According to Salaa, the investigation into the case has been in the pipeline for more than a year.

Asked what criminal charges the Police recommended in their report, Salaa said they only investigated the allegations.

The police did not recommend any criminal charges, he said. That task has been left up to the Attorney Generals office.

He further explained that usually the Police conduct their investigation and then proceed to file charges against anyone accused.

However there are certain cases where we refer to the Attorney Generals office for their review and advice.

Like this case, its a high profile criminal case where a Cabinet Minister is involved.

Yes, we seek their review and advice to assure that we cover every loop hole, if there are any.

According to Salaa, they are now waiting for the Attorney General on the next move for this case.

Its been three weeks since the file has been submitted to the AGs office. They will be the ones to direct us as to what are the appropriate charges for this case.

Questions sent to Attorney General, Lemalu Herman Retzlaff, were not responded to at press time.
Negotiations are continuing on the sale of Bluesky to a Fiji-government owned company, Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (A.T.H).

This was confirmed by the Chief Executive Officer of A.T.H, Ivan Fong, who was in Apia last week.

The transaction where weve signed to have interest in buying Bluesky is on foot, Mr. Fong told the Samoa Observer.

At this stage what weve done is applied for the regulatory consent for the transfer of licenses in American Samoa, Samoa and Cook Islands.

That process is on the way right now and weve had discussions with the Office of the Regulator and what we know is our application seemed to be all in order.

Mr. Fong said it shouldnt be too long before the final details are confirmed.

At this point in time, because each country has their own rules and regulations to go through about the application, and to determine whether or not they will issue the consent. So at this stage in the entire jurisdiction thats where we are at.

The Chief Executive said they have been in regular contact with the Office of the Regulator about the proposed transaction.

Specifically for Samoa weve had some discussions with the Regulator.

They have sought for some clarification but we understand the information required seems to be all in place and I think they are confident.

They can now go through and start the process to assess A.T.Hs application so once they let us know where it is, I think everyone will know too.

Mr. Fong went on to say that all they can do now is to wait and see what the Office of the Regulator comes up with.

At the moment we cannot speak for the Regulator for sure because that is their prerogative, he said.

All we know is that weve done all that theyve required of us and if anything else we are happy of course to discuss with them.

Last week, the Unit Trust of Samoa (U.T.O.S) inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (A.T.H).

A.T.H is in the motions of buying BlueSky American Samoa, which is 100%, owned by Spanish communications company Amper. And the purchase gives A.T.H the majority shareholding in the Bluesky Group.
GUATAPE, Colombia (AP)  Scuba divers on Monday continued their search for bodies from a submerged boat in Colombia as authorities turned their attention to what led the tourist ferry to sink with more than 150 passengers on board, leaving at least seven people dead and nine missing.

Prosecutors were treating the wreckage site at the Guatape reservoir outside Medellin as a crime scene and looking for any clues as to whether the company that owned the boat named El Almirante was negligent.

Dramatic videos circulating on social media show the turquoise-and-yellow-trimmed party boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-deck roof. Survivors described hearing a loud explosion near the men's bathroom that knocked out power a few minutes after the boat began its cruise around the giant lake. As water flooded on board, pressure built and people were sucked under by the sinking ship

The tragedy Sunday would've been even deadlier if not for the quick reaction of recreational boats and jet skis who rushed to the scene to pull passengers from the fast-sinking vessel.

Residents of the normally festive town laid flowers at a monument overlooking the lake as family members of those missing waited for word on their loved ones.

Jorge Barragan said his three elderly aunts had taken his daughter to Guatape from Bogota to celebrate early her 15th birthday. He said they had been planning the trip for months and it was about to wrap up but instead ended in tragedy with two of his aunts dead and one still missing.

"My daughter said there was no time to do anything," said Barragan, who rushed to Guatape from the capital as soon as he heard news of the accident. "The floor began to shake and everything sunk."

Complicating the search is the lack of a passenger list, so authorities have been relying on family members and survivors to report their whereabouts. On Monday Civil Defense authorities said the number of people missing was down to 9 from more than three times that amount a day earlier.

Divers are sweeping for trapped bodies around the wreckage at a depth of over 30 meters (100 feet). But the search in the frigid, algae-filled water is slow-going and reaching the crushed first floor deck is dangerous with such poor visibility.

It's unclear what caused the boat to capsize.

Some survivors and people who witnessed the tragedy unfold from the shore said the boat appeared to be overloaded. But President Juan Manuel Santos, who traveled Sunday to Guatape to oversee search efforts, said it was sailing well below capacity. Although floating devices were on board, none of the passengers were using them or provided safety instructions before embarking.

"Nobody really knows what happened," said Santos, adding that naval officials were brought in to carry out an investigation.

The reservoir surrounding the soaring rocky outcrop of El Penol is a popular weekend destination a little more than an hour from Medellin. It was especially busy Sunday as Colombians celebrated a long holiday weekend, some of them taking a $5 pleasure cruise on El Almirante.

The Transportation Ministry said the company that owned the boat, and 12 others, had its certification renewed in December. Nonetheless, the government on Monday decided to suspend the company's license.

Carlos Espinosa, an independent journalist from Guatape, said a few months ago townspeople awoke to find the El Almirante filled with water and sinking at its dock, suggesting that perhaps the vessel wasn't ready to return to the water. Prosecutors confirmed the report but said there was no indication of structural flaws.

"What makes you angry is there are no controls by the government," he said.
In San Diego Countys biomedical academic centers and businesses, the research advances keep on coming.

So do the large drug and medical-device companies, seeking to capitalize on the fruits of this knowledge. Last weeks BIO 2017 convention in San Diego highlighted these advances, such as a breakthrough in producing biofuel from algae that was engineered by Synthetic Genomics in La Jolla.

And the history of these breakthroughs goes back decades, bringing in billions of dollars from major pharmaceutical companies. In recent years:

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Such deals are the fruits of years of biomedical research in the San Diego region.

Locally produced blockbuster products include Humira for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases; Rituxan, the cancer drug that also treats autoimmune diseases; and the PSA screening test for prostate cancer. On the instrumentation side, the worlds most powerful DNA sequencers come from Illumina in San Diego.

Big medical corporations keep on striking partnerships, mergers and other agreements with local life-science institutions that may one day mature into blockbuster purchases.

Some of these companies have taken their San Diego ties deeper by establishing a major physical presence in the area. For example:

Last week, Eli Lilly & Co. held its grand opening for an expanded research center on Campus Point Drive near Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. Now with 300,000 square feet, the center has doubled in size. Lilly CEO David Ricks took part in the opening ceremony.

Takeda Pharmaceutical is building a new center for its research activities in San Diego. The building in the UTC area will unite two operations now housed separately. It will include a company cafeteria designed to be easily accessible to others in the life-science community.

Thermo Fisher has turned the headquarters of Life Technologies into its own branch in Carlsbad, with about 1,500 employees. In April 2013, Life Technologies employed about 1,200 people in Carlsbad.

Other life-science companies with a significant footprint in San Diego include Pfizer, Novartis, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Celgene. Each of these pharmaceutical businesses employs a few hundred people at its local site.

Moreover, the local units are collaborating with one another.

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a genetic test for non-small cell lung cancer developed by Thermo Fisher in partnership with San Diegos Pfizer group and Novartis. The test simultaneously screens tumor samples for biomarkers associated with three FDA-approved non-small cell lung cancer drugs from Pfizer, Novartis and AstraZeneca.

Our FDA approval  of the first next-generation sequencing-based test designed to expedite targeted therapy selection for non-small cell lung cancer patients from weeks to a few days speaks to the value of having a presence in the San Diego region, said Mark Stevenson, president of Life Sciences Solutions for Thermo Fisher Scientific. This breakthrough test is the result of our collaboration with San Diegos Pfizer group in an effort to drive genomics-based precision medicine.

What follows is a look at some of these companies, how they established their presence here and what keeps them around.

Eli Lilly

The Indianapolis-based drug company was the first to invest in San Diegos biotechnology industry, with its $400 million purchase of Hybritech, San Diegos original biotech company, in 1986.

That purchase didnt work out so well for Lilly, which eventually sold Hybritech. However, its 2003 purchase of Applied Molecular Evolution, also for $400 million had a happier ending. AME became the core of the Lilly Biotechnology Center, established in 2009.

The centers research produced the psoriasis drug Taltz, (ixekizumab), a monoclonal antibiody approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year.

Another monoclonal drug from Lillys biotechnology center, galcanezumab, treats migraine. In March, Lilly announced that the drug had successfully completed three Phase 3 clinical studies. The company said it intends to file an application to sell galcanezumab in the second half of this year.

The centers expansion, at a cost of $90 million, adds automated organic chemical synthesis to Lillys capabilities in San Diego, said Thomas Bumol, head of the center. This synthesis is in a unit called the Lilly Life Science Studio.

The studio will allow researchers across the globe to remotely design synthesize and screen investigational molecules in ways previously thought to be impossible, Bumol said.

This expansion joins the world class structural biology capabilities already here which today have helped the overall innovation portfolio of small and large molecules for Lilly.

So by merging our biotechnology and next generation chemistry capabilities in San Diego, we believe weve created a unique world-class collaboration site for pharmaceutical research and development.

Takeda Pharmaceutical

Like Eli Lilly, Takeda also came to San Diego by acquiring a local biotechnology company, Syrrx, in 2005. That became Takeda California, which handles about 20 percent of all the companys research. About 250 people now work out of Takeda California, said David Weitz, head of the unit. Research is focused on three areas, oncology, gastrointestinal and central nervous system diseases.

Takeda has just signed a contract for constructing a new 165,000 square-foot building in the UTC area to consolidate Takedas two existing locations in San Diego, Weitz said. The new location will hold about 300 employees. The target completion date is January 2019.

The parcel now contains the manufacturing plant for Amylin Pharmaceuticals, a company purchased in 2012 by Bristol Myers Squibb for a total of $7 billion. BMS then shut down Amylins San Diego operations. That plant will be torn down so Takeda can construct a build-to-suit facility on the seven-acre site, Weitz said.

One of the really key features of this building is our intention to make it an external innovation and collaboration hub for San Diego, Weitz said. Our cafeteria and all-employees space is actually outside security purposely. so that we can welcome the community in for events.

Its this balance between it being our space and something we can really have our signature on, but at the same time be really open to the public, he said. Its pretty casual. You dont have to go through badging, theres far less escorting. It will lower the barrier to people just getting together, sit down and have a coffee and chat.

Johnson & Johnson

A huge drug, medical device and consumer goods company, Johnson & Johnson hardly needs introduction. Its also famous for its biotechnology deals.

In 2013, Johnson & Johnson agreed to buy prostate cancer drug developer Aragon Pharmaceuticals for up to $1 billion, including $650 million cash upfront.

But the maker of Tylenol, Band-Aids and Neutrogena beauty products also operates units whose ties to the parent company arent as widely known.

One of those units, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, operates a research and development arm in San Diego, employing about 370 people and 100 contractors.

The units 300,000 square-foot-building on Torrey Pines Mesa also houses JLABS, a business incubator that occupies about 45,000 square feet. JLABS was established in 2012 in San Diego as a means of keeping Janssen connected to sources of new ideas.

JLABS has grown from one location in San Diego to a total of nine, said Melinda Richter, head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation at JLABS. Tenant companies get logistical support, and can strike deals with Janssen, if both agree. Companies are free to seek alliances elsewhere.

San Diego is a primary hub for us for talent, whether its our internal R&D program or our external R&D partnerships, Richter said.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

One of the countrys most highly valued biotech companies, Boston-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals is finishing its own expansion of a San Diego research center.

A new building will more than double the facilitys size on Torrey Pines Mesa from 80,000 to 170,000 square feet, a project scheduled to be done this year. On June 22, the contractor, BNB Builders, held a topping out ceremony for the nearly completed project.

The newly expanded center will house 250 employees, up from its current capacity of 180.

Vertex received nationwide attention on Jan. 30, 2015, when President Barack Obama outlined his Precision Medicine Initiative. Among those attending was Bill Elder Jr., a medical student who takes Kalydeco, a drug for cystic fibrosis discovered at the San Diego unit of Vertex.

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
As record-setting temperatures surged into the triple digits in parts of California this week, the manager of the states electrical grid put out an urgent plea: Turn down the AC and conserve power to avoid rotating outages.

The two-day flex alert by the California Independent System Operator drew headlines from dozens of media outlets across the state and country. It also sent electricity prices on the wholesale market soaring four to five times higher than normal  a cost that will be passed on to utility customers.

There was no statewide shortage of electricity  not even close, according to a Times analysis of federal and state energy data.

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Even as the mercury climbed, consumers used 44,184 megawatts Tuesday  3,656 fewer than the forecast. But the system can generate about 71,000 megawatts, which means there was 38% unused capacity. Thats well above the 15% reserve required by the state for emergencies.

Some energy experts said the flex alert was unnecessarily alarmist.

The notion that the sky is falling is a little bewildering to us, said Robert McCullough, of Oregon-based McCullough Research, who works as a consultant for power companies.

Theres no question that flex alerts will attract peoples attention, he said. But with actual usage at times falling as much as 10% below Cal-ISOs forecast, he said someone failed to seriously analyze the data. I would hate to report into the utility executive with that information. This would be a career-ending moment.

Robert Freehling, an energy policy consultant who has done work for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the Imperial Irrigation District, also questioned the grid operators computer models and analyses.

Theres been a very heavy overestimation of demand, he said, noting that the statewide flex alert certainly raised eyebrows.

Even the utility companies said that the increased demand caused by rising temperatures had not created an energy shortage.

Were looking at normal operations, Robert Laffoon-Villegas, a spokesman for Southern California Edison Co., said as he gave his companys report during a media call Tuesday.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was hit the hardest with some 377,000 customers in the San Francisco Bay Area out of power at some point through Thursday, said Lynsey Paulo, a spokeswoman for PG&E. By Thursday afternoon, power outages had been reduced to typical daily levels, she said.

But the source of the outage wasnt consumers draining the power supply nor a lack of power plants.

This is not an energy supply issue at all, Paulo said. Transformer failure has been the No. 1 cause for heat-related failure for us.

No one questions PG&Es transformer troubles in the Bay Area, but critics said the problem was localized and didnt require the statewide alert.

Cal-ISO says its complicated. Spokeswoman Anne Gonzales defended the grid operators decision to call the first flex alert of the year.

She said the western heat wave is being described as the worst in 11 years. Cal-ISO must consider not only the heat itself but also the potential for wildfires to disrupt the electrical grid at the same time some power plants might be offline, she said.

We plan for the peaks and worst-case scenarios during a heat wave, knowing that one wildfire can make all the difference in transmission, Gonzales said.

The flex alert, Gonzales said, is one way to help ensure adequate supply. It is simply asking consumers to help prevent strain on the system and avoid potential problems.

We call flex alerts after consideration to all impacts, including cost, economy, health and safety, and overall reliability, Gonzales said.

When a flex alert is issued, consumers are asked to voluntarily cut back electricity use during peak hours, typically between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Although Edison reported typical operations, it did take some added precautions  such as canceling or reducing maintenance outages of its distribution equipment. And Edison crews were working to restore service to customers affected by wildfires, Villegas said.

Cal-ISO acknowledged during the media call Tuesday that this heat wave did not require the heightened measures developed last summer in response to concerns about energy shortages in Southern California.

The Los Angeles area is on guard as it moves through its second summer without the troubled Aliso Canyon natural gas storage plant, the largest holding facility for the fuel in the state.

The storage plant, operated by Southern California Gas Co., was taken offline after one of the companys 115 wells leaked, forcing thousands of residents in nearby Porter Ranch from their homes. The utility sealed the leak and closed the well in February 2016, but it cant replenish natural gas supplies in the storage facility until it is deemed safe.

Without Aliso Canyon, utilities, regulators and Cal-ISO worry that if a lengthy heat wave engulfs the region, there wont be enough fuel to power lights and air conditioners or to keep gas pilot lights lit.

The utility industry warned of up to 14 days of blackouts last summer without Aliso Canyon  a prediction that never materialized.

To McCullough and others, Cal-ISOs warnings this week amount to an expensive miscalculation.

On Tuesday, for example, electricity prices shot from the typical $50 per megawatt-hour to $200 to $300 per megawatt-hour as the wholesale market reacted to news of anticipated increased demand. Some of that difference will ultimately be passed on to consumers.

This is akin to crying wolf, McCullough said. I dont see any emergency.

ivan.penn@latimes.com

For more energy news, follow Ivan Penn on Twitter: @ivanlpenn

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UPDATES:

8:50 a.m.: This article was updated to provide additional details about Southern California Edisons preventative measures.

This article was originally published at 4 p.m. on June 23
I recently returned from another day at Donovan State Prison where I spend time with Defy Ventures as a mentor to a group of 34 inmate entrepreneurs in training (EIT). There were 53 volunteers, many of them the repeat, usual suspects that my gang has assembled over time, but let me also give a shout-out to Denise Gitsham, who brought a group of 20-plus as well.

A theme that runs through the program is that our EITs are already entrepreneurial. They ran businesses with overhead and employees, they had revenue, gross margin, cost of goods and net profit; the only limiting issue to their success was that many of their schemes were illegal. But the idea of the hustle is deeply ingrained in my boys. They do not need to be encouraged to do the hard work. They are already highly motivated.

Richard Florida, who writes for the Atlantic magazine, tells this story. I asked a very successful venture capitalist what it took to be successful at high-tech start-ups. He stared right back at me and blurted out, About the same thing it takes to be a successful drug dealer.

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Professors Ross Levine, UC Berkeley, and Yona Rubenstein, London School of Economics, ask the question: Are risk-taking young rule breakers more likely to grow up to become entrepreneurs. And the answer behind door No. 3 is yes. People who found their own businesses are more likely to have engaged in cutting classes, vandalism, shoplifting, gambling, assault, and using alcohol and marijuana. But hang on, all is not lost. They were also more likely to have higher levels of education, score higher on aptitude tests and have higher levels of self-esteem. Wow, talk about a complex dichotomous puzzle. We applaud good behavior, but it appears that the gangsta in us might be a more prevalent determinant of future earning power. (The study actually refers to an Illicit Activity Index.) I wonder if Homeland Security knows about this.

The study shows that the incorporated entrepreneur makes more money than the unincorporated. But the study also discounts that self-employment alone does not necessarily reflect entrepreneurism. (Yours truly does not agree here.) After all, the LLC vehicle (Limited Liability Company) is enormously prevalent today and any smart hustler would try to avoid the corporate double taxation of today.

Here comes the crusher. Entrepreneurs were twice as likely as salaried employees to report having taken something by force in their youth. They were 40 percent more likely to have been stopped by the police. Yikes. I had a misspent youth and didnt know it. It is the high-ability person who tends to break the rules as a youth who is especially likely to become a successful entrepreneur.

The Donovan/Defy day has an exercise called step to the line where certain sentences are called out and if it applies, you step to the line. This is the moment when both the volunteers and the EITs look across at each other and are asked hard questions about their own past  education, crime, poverty, hunger, divorce, gangs, violence, abuse, loss of innocence  hard stuff. On each call out, when I looked down the line I was amazed to see many of the volunteers (all successful individuals) standing there with some darkness in their past. They had some personal scars, which I guess was why they had volunteered to come.

Now, there is always a study that can prove something, and I am inclined to take this one with two grains of salt, but the core finding gives me even more resolve to work within the prison system to teach and encourage entrepreneurship. My boys will hustle harder, and I am a believer in second chances.

Finally, the study touches the third rail of privilege. Even if the smart and illicit tendencies are predictive of entrepreneurship, the overwhelming majority of the people who fall under this category are white and well-off, who in slightly different circumstances (they did something illegal but did not get caught or had a good lawyer) might find themselves as Bubbas cellmate. After all, when the question was asked if you had ever done something illegal (like driving under the influence or shoplifting), but gotten away with it, almost every volunteer was standing on the line.

Neil Senturia, a serial entrepreneur who invests in early-stage technology companies, writes weekly about entrepreneurship in San Diego. Please email ideas to Neil at neil@blackbirdv.com.

Rule No. 527: There but for the grace of God go I.
Final plans are being ironed out for a trio of Hilton-brand hotels on the upper end of the Buena Vista Lagoon, a reedy freshwater pond at the Oceanside-Carlsbad border thats been the focus of a long-running restoration debate.

Called the Inns of Buena Vista Creek, the hotel project is proposed for 12.5 acres east of Jefferson Street and just south of state Route 78. The vacant land, wedged between the Carlsbad mall and the highway, was created in the early 1970s with sediment dredged from the lagoon.

The business-class properties would be four to six stories tall, with a separate shared events pavilion, a four-story parking structure and other amenities.

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Local environmental groups had hoped to preserve the land but lacked the money to purchase it.

In an ideal world, we would have liked to see that whole parcel acquired for open space, Diane Nygaard, president of the environmental group Preserve Calavera, said Friday. But its clear thats not going to happen.

Instead, they worked for years with the owner  Jenna Development of Signal Hill, near Los Angeles  on an agreement to restore part of the property and the adjacent creek to its natural state.

They worked very constructively with us for a long time, said Nygaard, adding that the site was in desperate need of improvement. This is a terribly degraded piece of land. Its been a weed patch for years.

A representative of Jenna Development could not be reached this week to discuss the project.

The Buena Vista Audubon Society, the Buena Vista Lagoon Foundation, the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians and other local groups also participated in the effort to minimize the environmental effects of the project..

The land is an environmentally sensitive location along the creek, at the tip of the lagoon and near the lower end of the 134-acre Buena Vista Creek Ecological Reserve that Preserve Calavera worked for years to see created.

We were concerned because they have this creek reserve on one end and the lagoon reserve on the other end, said Joan Herskowitz, an Audubon Society board member. We wanted to make sure that there is a wildlife corridor (between the reserves) that can be traversed by birds and other animals.

The hotel property may include part of a planned Waves to Waterfall trail that eventually would allow pedestrians and cyclists to travel along the creek from the beach to the historic El Salto Falls just east of the Quarry Creek project. Ideally, that trail would link to the Coastal Rail Trail and other regional pathways.

It will take 20 or 30 years, but the pieces are starting to fall into place, Nygaard said.

Meanwhile, the lagoon  Southern Californias only freshwater lagoon  has been filling with silt and sediment since the last time it was dredged in 1983. A man-made weir near Coast Highway separates it from the ocean.

A decades-long proposal to restore the lagoon hit some hurdles years ago when state and local groups couldnt agree on whether it should remain a freshwater lagoon, or go back to its natural state. Without intervention, the entire 200-acre lagoon will eventually become a marsh or grassy field. At this point, even if a restoration plan moves forward, its unclear where the money would come from.

Final environmental documents for the hotel project could go to Oceanside officials for approval before the end of this year, City Planner Jeff Hunt said Wednesday. But numerous other agencies, including Carlsbad, will still need to OK all or parts of the plans.

Its still got a lot of the process to go through, Hunt said.

In 2011, a consultant representing the property owners said they hoped to break ground on the project within a year. However, like any coastal development, the planning hasnt been easy.

Its safe to say there are some citizen concerns, Hunt said.

Those concerns include how the hotels would affect public views, traffic and wildlife. Final environmental documents addressing those issues and others are expected to be presented to the Oceanside City Council by the end of this year.

Most of the site is in Oceanside, making that city the lead agency on the project. A little more than two acres is in Carlsbad, though most of that land is to be left as open space.

The project also will need approvals from the California Coastal Commission, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and other agencies, Hunt said.

A project description filed with the Oceanside Planning Department in October said the project will include a three-lane bridge across the creek to connect the complex with the adjacent Shoppes at Carlsbad mall. The hotels also will have direct access to Jefferson Street.

Preliminary plans submitted to the city show the westernmost hotel, the tallest, would be a Hampton Inn, the second would be an Embassy Suites, and the third would be a Homewood Suites, all brands in the Hilton chain.

philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @phildiehl
Its been more than 20 years since Disney imagineer Roland Rolly Crump retired, but the Carlsbad artists indelible stamp can still be seen at the companys Disneyland theme park in Anaheim.

During the 60s, Crump designed and carved the totems that stand outside The Enchanted Tiki Room, built the iconic ghostly contraptions for The Haunted Mansion and helped develop Its a Small World. His 40-year contribution was honored with a Walt Disney Legends Award in 2004, and on Aug. 11 a documentary about his life will be shown at the Oceanside International Film Festival.

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The Whimsical Imagineer, produced by Vista filmmaker Ken Kebow, traces Crumps unlikely path from a comics artist with a historically bad portfolio to a revered senior designer whose name is permanently enshrined on a store window on Disneylands nostalgic Main Street: Fargos Palm Reader, Roland F. Crump.

Now 86, Crump and his wife, Marie, share a sunny two-story Carlsbad condominium where every inch of wall space is decorated with his paintings, mobiles and models, which range from original Disney sketches to colorful portraits of Josephine Baker and geishas, pen and ink female nudes and vibrant Day of the Dead designs.

Although Crump had lucrative side jobs over the years designing counter-culture posters, Ball guitar string packages and themed malls and attractions, his life and heart will forever be connected with Walt Disney.

I loved him, Crump said of his former boss, who died in 1966. He was the leader of the pack. He knew how to take ideas to the next level and he loved all of his guys. He could climb inside of you and see through your eyes.

Crump said he started drawing as soon as he could hold a pencil, filling sketchbooks from the age of 3 with stick figures and eventually more sophisticated comics art. After seeing Disneys animated Three Little Pigs in 1933 as a toddler, he dreamed of working one day at the studio. That opportunity came in 1952, when a friend arranged for the 22-year-old amateur artist to present his drawings to executives at the 60-acre Disney studio in Burbank.

I didnt know what animation was and it scared the poop out of me when I figured it out, he said. Someone told me I had the worst portfolio of anyone ever hired by Disney Animation Studios.

For the next several years, Crump worked as an in-betweener, finishing the painting on animation cels drawn by the lead artists for films including Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty. For One Hundred and One Dalmatians, he spent six months doing nothing but painting the spots on dozens of cartoon puppies. The work could be tedious and the pay was low, but he loved the creative, playful atmosphere at the studio.

In the early 1950s, Disney began work on his theme park. Intrigued, Crump started hanging around the model studios, hoping he would be asked to contribute. In 1959  four years after Disneyland opened  he was finally invited to join WED Enterprises design department.

The reason was a short 8-millimeter film Crump had made years before of an art exhibit he created by turning strips of metal into air-driven propellers. Disney saw the film and wanted Crump to create a field of flowers with propeller petals for an indoor ride. Impressed by Crumps energy and honesty, Disney would later put him on some of the parks most high-profile projects.

For the Tiki Room, which was first conceived as a tropical restaurant with caged live birds, Crump created the outdoor pre-show where animatronic tiki gods talk to the audience. His very first sculpture, Maui, the mighty one, is still in operation.

In mid-1963, Disney asked his imagineers to come up with an international childrens boat ride for the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. Working from designs by artist Mary Blair, the team built more than 300 singing and dancing dolls and hundreds of toys and backdrops in just nine months.

Before Disney would sign off on the ride (which would reopen at Disneyland in 1966 as Its a Small World), the design team had to assemble the whole set, with music and electronic dolls, inside a sound studio. Then they pushed Disney through the different sets in a rowboat on wheels so he could see it himself from every angle.

For the Worlds Fair exhibit, Crump designed a large monument for its entrance. He created a model for the tall, delicate propeller-filled sculpture, the Tower of Four Winds, which was inspired by his favorite artist, Alexander Calder. But when engineers reimagined his design in life size, it became heavy, short and squat. Crump didnt spare his criticism with his boss.

Walt asked me what I thought and I said its a piece of crap. He said it cant be a piece of crap because I paid $200,000 for it, Crump recalled, saying that Disney insisted his employees call him by his first name.

Rather than installing the tower at Disneyland, Crump instead created the huge animated clock on the front of the ride, which still sends out a parade of tin soldiers and dolls every 15 minutes.

It still brings tears to my eyes when I see people coming out with a smile, he said of his work on the ride.

Crumps next big project was the Haunted Mansion, where he and designer Yale Gracey spent four years building all of the rides spooky illusions. They had so many extra models and drawings that Disney promised hed use them in a Museum of the Weird that riders would walk through as they exited, but it was not to be.

Disney was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1966 and told only his family. Employees were told he was hospitalized for a polo injury but Crump could see Disney was gravely ill when he came to meet with the imagineers after his release.

His eyes were already sinking back in his head, I thought oh my god, this man is sick. Two weeks later he died, Crump said. It was the worst thing that ever happened in my life. Not only was everyone profoundly sad but the management didnt know what to do without him.

Crump said Disney left behind 25 years of plans, including Disney World and EPCOT in Orlando, but the companys management didnt know how to bring his plans to fruition. There was mismanagement and cost overruns and cheap shortcuts were made.

Disneyland hugs you but this park didnt, he said of Floridas Magic Kingdom. They lost that love and caring. It wasnt Disney anymore. What we were left with was a dogs breakfast.

Disillusioned, Crump left Disney in 1970 to start his own design firm, which created an ocean theme park for Jacques Cousteau, a themed shopping mall in Texas, a themed palace room at a fort in Oman and much more. And for the next 25 years he continued to do consulting and jobs for Disney, both in Orlando and Anaheim. Many of his original designs (including the Disneyland bandstand and trashcans) are still in use today.

You became a sacred cow when you worked with Walt and I was a young sacred cow, he said. These older rides and attractions represent the flavor of Walt and he was like a magician. He could tap it and it would be forever.

Crump retired to North County in 1995, where he continued to paint. In 2003, he was exhibiting some paintings in Oceanside when Marie walked into the gallery. They had met 40 years earlier when they both worked for Disney (she was a secretary in the studio wardrobe department), but this time they fell in love.

It was Marie who introduced Crump to Kebow, a Disneyland aficionado who was amazed by Crumps accomplishments and wanted to capture his story on film before it was too late.

Hes such a great storyteller. I could sit and listen to him for days, Kebow said. I wanted to tell the story of his relationship with Walt and how Walt trusted his team to realize his vision.

Released in April, The Whimsical Imagineer won the Audience Award at the 2016 Newport Beach Film Festival. The 30-minute documentary makes its local premiere at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Brooks Theatre, 217 N. Coast Highway, Oceanside. Crump will also be honored by the festival on Sunday, Aug. 14, with a lifetime achievement award.

Crump said he loves Kebows film and hes honored by the award. Although hes proud of his work, hes humble about his contributions to the Disney legacy.

I feel very fortunate. I was in the right place at the right time, he said. There were all these great artists and minds there. I just felt like the crumbs on the table.
A June 7 opinion piece called How not to build a ship: the USS Ford by Dan Grazier and Pierre Sprey in the San Diego Union-Tribune came to my attention while following the development of the USS Ford.

The piece is highly skewed in its presentation of the facts and very biased in its conclusions. It attempts to make two points. First, that the Ford is a technology failure of the first order. Second, that it costs way too much.

There are some facts, in terms of the development process and cost, which were not presented.

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Creation of a New Weapons System

The first point is that the introduction of new technology should not have any risks (or unknowns.)

For example, aircraft carriers have used steam catapults for over 80 years. All the bugs have been worked out so it is a highly reliable system.

With this I agree. However, I dont agree that a newly designed carrier, the first in 40 years, should necessarily stick to the tried and true.

If the telecommunications networks of the United States had stayed with the tired and true, we would all still be using rotary dial phones instead of smart phones.

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Actually, the Nimitz-class carriers were more of an engine upgrade, from diesel to atomic, than a redesign of the Forrestal-class carriers. And the Forrestal class was mostly a size upgrade from the Essex-class carriers. Basically, the mechanical and electrical system designs of the U.S. carrier fleet go back to the pre-WWII carriers of 80 years ago.

You should expect that the risk of introducing even one new technology into the system will create a fair number of risks or unknowns.

This derives from an engineering principle that The first instant of a superior principle is always inferior to a mature example of an inferior principle. Apparently, this is a principle of which Mr. Grazier and Mr. Sprey are unaware.

Continuing to follow the development of the B-52A and B-52B, it became obvious that the program should be halted. But it wasnt.

In this case, the functional design changes in the Ford class are more architectural in nature, turning many of the complex mechanical systems into electrical, electronic, automated or computerized systems.

To anyone studying the advance of engineering and technology, that makes sense. And as any enterprise architect knows, any change in the basic architecture of a system can, and generally will, cause major changes in the functions.

This, in turn, causes a significant number of risks, some of which may be high impact.

Lets look at example of a weapons system with major architectural changes.

In 1945 at the end of WWII, the United States had the largest and arguably the technologically most advanced fleet of aircraft in the world. At that point, a new bomber, the B-36, was being put into production.

The problem was that the B-36 still used WWII technology. Technology advancements, like jet engines and non-mechanical flight control systems, were making it obsolete as it rolled out of the factory.

By 1946, the recently created Air Force wanted a new type of bomber -- one that could travel transoceanic distances at high-speed and altitude, which meant the highly unreliable and fuel-guzzling jet engines of the early 1950s.

Northrop and Boeing started some initial development. But by the end of 1947, they both had developed several prototypes and both came up short of meeting Air Force requirements.

In fact, only the intervention of the Secretary of the Air Force stopped Boeings contract from being canceled.

By May 1948, and by evaluating several jet engines, Boeing thought it was able to meet the performance requirements of the Air Force, at least according to its design.

However, the Boeing-Air Force team found that the engines the design used were far less fuel efficient than they thought. So the program was again delayed for approximately a year and half, with several stops and starts, while the engine components of the design were changed several more times.

Then, as soon as the first prototype called XB-52 started ground testing, its pneumatic control system exploded, setting the program back again. The new technology had failed, meaning more delays and more cost overruns.

Continuing to follow the development of the B-52A and B-52B, it became obvious that the program should be halted. But it wasnt  and it led to an aircraft, the B-52H, that is still of significant utility after more than 60 years.

Should the United States accept the risks of the new architecture and its technologies, as with the XB-52 or the Ford-class carrier, and then attempt to find these unknowns through testing and perform risk reduction exercises to eliminate or ameliorate them?

As an example, Mr. Grazier and Mr. Sprey state that the Electro Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is fine in theory -- the actual theory being that the acceleration on an EMALS is much more controllable than with a steam catapult.

If you think about it, as you let the air out of a balloon, the pressure of the air rushing out decreases. The steam catapult acts the same way. When an aircraft is thrown off the deck by a steam catapult, the initial spike of pressure is at its greatest. The aircrafts airframe must absorb that shock.

Because of the time involved, keeping the pressure in the pipe constant, and because steam requires mechanical controls, it introduces significant latency into the system. This means that the system is not nearly as controllable as the potential of any electrical-electronic system.

Electricity moves at a much faster speed than the steam or oil of a mechanical hydraulic system. Therefore, as the programming is refined, an EMALS should be able to increase the throw force as the aircraft goes down the catapult, keep it constant, or reduce it, depending on the type of aircraft and many other factors.

As Mr. Grazier and Mr. Sprey discuss, the prototype versions in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and perhaps the current version of the EMALS currently installed on the USS Ford have engineering issues.

So what? The problems they cite indicate that the EMALS works better than expected by the simulations and modeling and that the forces of the magnets must be refined, in part or in total, by refining the EMALS programming.

Refining the programming will not resolve all of the problems they cite and some rewiring may be required. But, again, so what? As with any other complex system, The initial version of a superior system is always inferior to a mature version of an inferior system.

Cost of the First in Class Carrier

In berating the cost of this new weapons system and discussing the huge cost overruns (in terms of billions of dollars,) Mr. Grazier and Mr. Sprey forget the real impact on the federal budget.

While Defense Department spending is a significant component of the U.S. federal discretionary budget, the overwhelming part of the budget goes to entitlements, or non-discretionary spending.

Based on Congressional Budget Office figures for fiscal year 2016, the combination of the Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and all other welfare programs costs $2.595 trillion. Thats approximately $7.1 billion per day.

Looking at the development of the Ford class of aircraft carriers in a dollar comparison, so far the USS Ford has cost less than two of those entitlement days.

Robert S. Ellinger is a system engineer in New York who worked for Northrop Grumman and other defense contractors until 2011. He has had no contact with any defense contractor since then. He writes a blog called Organizational Economics.

Guest Voices is always open to new points of view. If you have an opinion to put forth in a column, email us at jen.steele@sduniontribune.com
Muslims across Southern California marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Sunday, breaking a month of fasting with prayers and celebrations.

Eid al-Fitr, Islams second holiest holiday, began this weekend and is observed for up to three days. The festival is a chance for the community to celebrate after a month of abstaining from eating, drinking and other sensual pleasures as a way to improve moral character.

Eid is a joyous time for all Muslims to be grateful for what we have, said Dr. Ahsan M. Khan, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Los Angeles East Chapter. It is a time for us to celebrate peace on Earth, engage in service to others and rejoice in the bounties provided by God.

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Muslims gather at Middle Ground Muslim Center to offer Eid al-Fitr prayers Sunday in Upland. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

About 500,000 Muslims live in Southern California, with more than 120,000 in Orange County, the second-largest population of Muslims in the United States.

At Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, more than 15,000 worshippers donned their finest outfits and gathered on the infield grass for prayers and festivities. During Eid, it is customary to visit friends and families and greet each other with the phrase Eid Mubarak, which means blessed holiday.

At the Islamic Center of South Bay, families were treated to a community breakfast before gathering at the Mulligan Family Fun Center for an outdoor celebration that included go-kart riding and rock climbing. The Islamic Center of the San Gabriel Valley hosted an array of food vendors after prayers.

In Upland, hundreds of Muslims from different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds gathered for morning prayers at the Middle Ground Muslim Center. An evening celebration was planned at the King Fahad Mosque in Culver City while more than 1,000 congregants were expected to gather for morning prayers on Monday at Baitul Hameed Mosque in Chino.

About 500,000 Muslims live in Southern California. Above, worshippers at Middle Ground Muslim Center. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Breaking with a tradition that began in 1996, President Trump did not host an iftar dinner at the White House this year. In the past, the dinner has been attended by leaders of the U.S. Muslim community.

Instead, Trump and First Lady Melania issued a brief statement Saturday:

As [Muslims] commemorate Eid with family and friends, they carry on the tradition of helping neighbors and breaking bread with people from all walks of life. During this holiday, we are reminded of the importance of mercy, compassion, and goodwill. With Muslims around the world, the United States renews our commitment to honor these values.

But late last month, Trump issued a statement intended to mark the beginning of Ramadan that was condemned by members of the Muslim community because of its focus on terrorism. This is an excerpt from that statement:

This year, the holiday begins as the world mourns the innocent victims of barbaric terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and Egypt, acts of depravity that are directly contrary to the spirit of Ramadan, according to the White House statement. Such acts only steel our resolve to defeat the terrorists and their perverted ideology.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also declined to host an Eid celebration this year, breaking a two-decade tradition of the department.

frank.shyong@latimes.com

Twitter: @frankshyong

UPDATES:

7:20 p.m.: This story was updated with new information about more holiday festivities.

This story was originally posted at 2:30 p.m.
Its wonky, its obscure, and its becoming a deal.

As San Diego County works on finalizing next years budget, a nearly $2 billion fund and how it should or shouldnt be spent has become one of the most contentious matters in county fiscal policy.

At a recent hearing on the $5.69 billion proposed budget people filled four overflow rooms to give moral support as others appeared before supervisors to make 90-second arguments for how they think public money should be spent.

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Loosen up those purse strings, Tracy Carter, president of SEIU Local 221, the union that represents county workers. She was one of 107 people who signed up to testify, many of which wanted the county to put a part of the $2 billion fund in next years budget.

But that may just be a warm-up.

Plans for that money will also likely be fought over in next years county supervisor elections, as term limits force longtime incumbents Bill Horn and Ron Roberts out of office. Both began serving on the board when the county was on the verge of bankruptcy and have, with two other long-term colleagues, favored a tightfisted approach with county money, setting a policy to not spend one-time funds on recurring expenses, using cash rather than interest-bearing bonds to pay for capital projects, and having a hearty financial reserve.

It grows out of the experience that each of us lived through in the mid-90s when this place was a pig pen, Roberts said. I know that my parents grew up in the Depression, and they have a different attitude from my own kids.

Still, there are billions in the countys bank account. Some of the countys employees unions and others want some of the money used to increase services to residents.

You can have excellent, excellent (financial) health, but that doesnt mean you have to have this extra amount to be healthy, Kyra Greene, the director of the Center on Policy Initiatives, a research organization that often work with county employees. Labor unions and a small business association also want the county to spend from its reserves.

This massive account has, as many things in municipal finance, an innocuous name that undersells its significance, and a series of policies that determine how the money can be used. Officially dubbed a fund balance, but more colloquially called a rainy day fund or just simply reserves, its the money in the general fund that hasnt been put into the operational budget, minus liabilities.

It grows when the county doesnt appropriate some of the revenue it collects, when budgeted jobs are left unfilled, when costs are under budget, and when operations are more efficient than expected, among other measures.

Within the fund, each dollar falls into one of five categories, each with different policies that say how it can be spent.

Because of the different rules, the concept of a $2 billion fund just sitting in a county bank account just waiting to be spent is misleading, according to supervisors.

Its really a misnomer, Supervisor Dianne Jacob said. All but almost $750 million is restricted, or committed, so were not looking at $2 billion. Were looking, realistically, at a little less than $750 million.

About $13.5 million cant be spent at all because its in inventory or receivables. Another $272.5 million can only be spent in specific ways as allowed by laws, grant terms, or creditors.

The government has more latitude how it spends money in the remaining three slices, which are collectively called, in finance-speak, unrestricted funds and total $1.72 billion. The county supervisors with top staff set the policies that determine how each dollar in these three slices can be spent.

While some of the $1.72 billion is earmarked for specific purposes, supervisors could decide to spend the money on other things, said Greene of the Center on Policy Initiatives, which advocates more money on social safety net programs and mental health services.

The restrictions are completely at their discretion, she said. They could also decide to reassign those funds.

The unrestricted funds include $592 million that is already committed to multi-year construction, road, infrastructure, paying down pension debt and other projects as determined by the supervisors.

Another $381 million more is already assigned to next years budget or for paying bills on multi-year contracts.

Finally, there is $747 million slice that is unassigned and can be spent without restriction. The county uses this money as a safety net protect itself from economic uncertainties, expenses incurred by major natural disasters and protection from unexpected state and federal funding cuts. Occasionally, it will use it for one-time expenses, like a plan from Jacob and Roberts to spend $25 million on affordable housing that was approved by the board last week.

We would like to see it invested in programs that help the community that were in, and the market that were in, thrive, Mikey Knab, the director of operations for Ponces Restaurant, and a member of the Main Street Alliance, an association of small San Diego businesses.

Ideally, that money would go to social workers that help more eligible people sign up for food assistance programs, government-subsidized health insurance, and, of particular importance for his industry, job training, Ponce said.

But changing the plan for that money would mean that some expenses might not be able to be paid, putting the county in financial risk, said Tracey Sandoval, the countys deputy chief administrative officer/ auditor and controller.

Some of the money in the fund is slated to offset dips in pension investment returns. It also will be used to pay for capital projects, or other long-term, big-ticket projects. In all, there are around $1 billion in future expenses  from pension payments that are decades away to new facilities that must be built  that the county currently doesnt have the money in its coffers to pay for today, according to Sandoval.

The amount of our fund balance is taken in context of a very long-term strategy Sandoval said.

There is no real right fund balance for any government, or any specific formula that would say exactly how much money should be in a reserve, said Chris Morrill, the executive director and CEO of the Government Finance Officers Association, a group supervisors and county staff use for fiscal advice.

Governments need to tailor-fit their fund balance to their unique circumstances. If a county is prone to costly natural disasters (floods, fires) or likely to see a cut in state funds, it will adjust the reserve accordingly, he said.

Its really up to each community to have that discussion based on its own funding sources, its expenditures, its infrastructure needs, and its risk tolerance, Morrill said.

His organization has one major guideline: Governments should keep an unrestricted fund balance at least large enough to keep running for at least two months. San Diego sets its minimum  some $600  by calculating actual expenses from the $3.61 billion general fund, rather than the entire budget, which is larger.

But still there can be some wiggle room if circumstances allow, Morrill said.

Bill Statler, the former head financial officer for several Southern California cities who now trains municipal finance professionals and consults with the International City Manager Association, reviewed San Diegos fund balance and said it appears to be appropriate and on par with other jurisdictions.

There also needs to be a solid policy for how the funds are managed. There should be clear rules for how money from the reserve can be spent, and how the funds should be replenished if levels dip below a certain threshold.

Typically, a best practice policy is to say that to the degree you are going to dip down in the reserves, what are the circumstances, he said. And typically, those should be one-time circumstances.

Reoccurring expenses, like salaries for a larger government workforce, isnt a contender for the reserve funds because it will slowly and steadily drain that purse empty, Supervisor Jacob said.

Fair and simple, its bad budgeting, she said. Thats what gets governments in trouble. Its like paying your mortgage out of your savings account. Then what?

Greene said overspending from reserves would be unwise, but the county has more breathing room than it appears. Money is added to reserves so consistently that a portion of it can safely be used for recurring expenses.

Theyre taking ongoing money and turning it into one-time money, she said.

While many are pushing to use reserves to expand services, neither the supervisors nor county staff have given any indication that they plan to do so.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841
Two Marines were severely burned in an explosion at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Sunday night, a military official confirmed.

The unidentified victims were working on an F/A-18 near hangar No. 2 when the incident happened about 10:20 p.m., authorities said.

Both were rushed to the UC San Diego Burn Center, one in critical condition, said Maj. Kurt Stahl, a Miramar spokesman.

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Our prayers are with them tonight, he said.

The Marines were part of a reserve unit based out of Fort Worth, Texas.

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the explosion.

Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com

UPDATES:

June 26, 1:20 a.m.: This story was updated with additional details.
Fire investigators have determined that a blaze that caused $250,000 in damage to a Pacific Beach house early Monday was intentionally set, a fire captain said.

Crews arrived at the home on Soledad Road near Alta Vista Way around 12:15 a.m. and found a home engulfed in flames, said San Diego Fire-Rescue Capt. Shannon Mueller.

It took firefighters around 25 minutes to knock down the blaze.

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Neighbors initially told firefighters that they believed the homeowner was inside the home during the fire, but firefighters conducted a search and determined no one was home.

Mueller said arson investigators are conducting interviews and are still in the early stages of their investigation. No suspect information was released.

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
A Georgia mother and daughter suffered broken bones and black eyes during an attack at the familys restaurant involving customers upset that their chicken was cold and that they didnt get enough French fries.

The fight at the Qwik Chick take-out stand, which was reported Thursday, left owner Jeanette Norris with a broken nose and her 15-year-old daughter with a concussion in a case called the Baxley police chief called pure brutality.

Ive been here, what, 41 years - 30 of them as chief. I have never seen anything like this. Ive never heard of anything like this, said Chief James Godfrey to WTOC TV.

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Take a look.

Jeanette Norris told the television station that the couple complained that their meals were not to their liking and she refunded their money. But after some words back and forth the woman lost it and started swearing and beating on a window of the eatery, she said.

Norris then went outside to tell the pair that she was going to call the police and the woman responded by punching and slapping her in the face. She went berserk, she said to WTOC.

Her daughter, who was sitting in a truck parked outside, witnessed the altercation and jumped out of the vehicle and the man then turned and punched her square in the face. The video shows the teen being knocked into a chair before she gets up seemingly in a daze. A woman is seen running over and comforting the stunned and crying girl.

He couldve killed her wrote Norris on her Facebook page.

Talking to mother & daughter assaulted by 2 customers who complained their food was cold. Beat down caught on camera. Story tonight @WTOC11 pic.twitter.com/SmtJixS1Et  WTOC Dal Cannady (@wtocdalcannady) June 23, 2017

Police are still looking for the couple, who they identified as Nathaniel and Latasha Smith. They could face charges of aggravated battery and cruelty to children, according to WTOC.

In the meantime, residents are lining up at the chicken shack to show their support.

On Facebook, Norris thanked everyone for their good wishes. And, she pleaded for anyone with information about the pair to come forward

We need help in finding these people. Oh excuse me. I meant scumbags, she wrote.

Customers line up to support Baxley business after assault video goes viral. pic.twitter.com/S24krY5zSO  WTOC Dal Cannady (@wtocdalcannady) June 26, 2017

619-293-1710

debbi.baker@sduniontribune.com

twitter.com/Debbi_Baker
Gerrymandering has been a standard tactic in U.S. politics since 1812, when Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed a bill that helped his fellow Republicans by packing rival Federalist Party voters into a handful of election districts. California has also been home to gerrymandering hardball. After the 1980 census, Rep. Phillip Burton, D-San Francisco, became a legend among political fixers for cutting up Californias 45 congressional districts into what Newsweek described as a mosaic of bizarre fishhooks, meanders and cul-de-sacs. The districts helped Democrats pick up six seats.

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Thankfully, California voters approved Proposition 11 in 2008 and Proposition 20 in 2010 to assign redistricting duties to a commission. The timing was perfect, because since the 2010 census, advanced statistical analysis has enabled the most extreme gerrymandering the nation has ever seen.

Now the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Gill v. Whitford, a challenge to election borders crafted by Wisconsin Republicans in 2011 for the state Assembly. The gerrymander was so effective that in 2012, Republicans won 60 of the 99 seats despite Democratic candidates winning more votes.

Per the unusual process of how the federal courts handle legal challenges to redistricting, a panel of three federal judges reviewed the gerrymander and concluded in November on a 2-1 vote that the Wisconsin Assemblys election borders were unconstitutional because of how much they diminished Democrats electoral clout. The dissenting judge noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had in the past explicitly allowed states to engage in partisan gerrymandering  so long as district borders didnt unfairly limit the influence of African-Americans.

But as much as originalists hate it, judges change their minds in response to new circumstances. Given how much the Wisconsin gerrymander helped Republicans and hurt Democrats, the argument that gerrymandering makes some voters much more equal than others  that it has evolved from a crude bludgeon to a scalpel capable of carving up democracy  has resonance. The ruling rejecting the Wisconsin redistricting made this point and described the practice as trampling on both First Amendment political speech rights and the 14th Amendments guarantee that every individual must receive equal protection under the law.

Which brings us to Justice Anthony Kennedy, who once again appears to be the swing vote between four conservative justices who revere precedents and four moderate-liberal justices who see the Constitution as a living document. Kennedy has already wrestled with this specific issue in the 2004 Vieth v. Jubelirer case. In his concurring opinion joining a decision upholding a gerrymander, Kennedy wrote about his reluctance to set a new standard that decreed what level of partisanship was excessive. But he also added, That no such standard has emerged in this case should not be taken to prove that none will emerge in the future.

What will Kennedy do now? Maybe no one should hold out hope. Just last month, in a gerrymandering case focused on racial sequestration in North Carolina, Kennedy signed a dissent in which Justice Samuel Alito strongly defended political gerrymandering as a traditional domain of state authority.

But what was done in Wisconsin shouldnt be acceptable. A state tradition that enables shabby abuses of power isnt a tradition worth preserving.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion
Great for dogs, now do something for cats

Regarding San Diego shelter institutes daily walks for its dogs (June 20): Now that the dog-walking issue has been improved, lets talk about the other caged animal that is greatly overlooked, cats. Cats often are confined to cages for months at a time when there are no volunteers to hold, pet or brush them. Cats need the human touch too and they can be trained to walk on a leash.

Some type of recreational area needs to be created so cats can have some attention too. More community rooms or areas that can be easily sterilized between each user would go a long way to keep cats from getting sick and being euthanized. The Camp Pendleton shelter has an inexpensive but clever outdoor enclosure so cats can get sun and fresh air.

A shelter is about more than just dogs, and cats have suffered for too long.

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Joan Pond

Encinitas

Our leaders need to look out for animals

Regarding Volunteer says shelter fired her for adopting out dog that was slated to die (June 14): So let me get this straight. Two county animal shelter volunteers get the ax for finding a home for a dog that was walking the plank. The county would have killed it if they hadnt stepped in. I had to check the date on the newspaper to make sure it didnt say April 1.

Every day I wake up and discover new levels of lunacy in the world. I get it that people cant keep from screwing people. But I start throwing things around my house when I hear about people treating animals like dirt. No, actually, people treat dirt better than they do animals. After all, you can build something on dirt.

Those who presently hold elective office in San Diego County, if they dont step up with a loud voice and an army of investigative personnel and get the animal shelter situation turned around, I will vote them out.

Kevin Kilpatrick

San Diego

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Service dog owners are responsible citizens

Regarding Smokers, dog owners run in same circles (June 21): While Elizabeth Lunn is entitled to rant against smokers and dogs, I feel compelled to address her blanket condemnation of all dogs, including service dogs.

I am a volunteer with a nationwide and highly respected organization that raises dogs to help people with disabilities.

These dogs are trained extensively to be good citizens in public for approximately two years and we who raise and train them are also trained to pick up after them. Always.

Leaving them at home is not an option for the puppy raiser or, eventually, for the recipient. On the contrary, these dogs will allow more freedom to those people to move about in public. Lastly, the law mandates that people with service dogs be allowed in public places.

Mary Jane Bagby

Carlsbad

Pet store bill makes good sense for all

Regarding Puppy wars (June 18): I found Mike Bobers opinion piece to be misleading. Responsible breeders dont sell their dogs to pet stores. Puppy mill retailers are ignorant about the history and nature of the animals they sell yet tell consumers that the animals come from reputable breeders, good environments and humane conditions.

The public is being scammed into paying outrageous prices for inferiorly bred and unhealthy animals. A warranty is usually a replacement for a dead dog with another puppy mill dog. AB 485 would not affect reputable, local breeders. Retailers can continue doing business by selling adoptable dogs and merchandise.

Puppy mills are breeding livestock. Laws to protect these animals are minimal, at best. Lets protect our animals and stop the horror of commercial breeders who only care about making money and dont care who gets hurt in the process.

Ronnie Steinau

Encinitas

Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed a big win to President Donald Trump on Monday by allowing parts of his travel ban to take effect while the court prepares to hear arguments for the case in the fall.

Reaction was swift. The Trump administration quickly declared it a clear victory for our national security and the American Civil Liberties Union to say, Well see him in court.

So, how exactly did Trump land a big win from Mondays decision?

The Supreme Court unanimously agreed to remove the lower court stay on Trumps executive order to restrict entry to travelers from mostly Muslim countries like Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen with a few exceptions.

Travelers with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States will be allowed to enter. Those include people with relatives in the United States, or those who work in the U.S. or are attending a conference or a university.

Three justices  Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch  dissented in part with the courts consensus, saying they would have allowed the travel ban to take full effect as it was written and worrying that the opinion would lead to legal disputes about what constitutes a bona fide relationship and who has a credible claim.

The executive order had been on hold since March when it was challenged in federal courts in Hawaii and Maryland. Those challenging the orders argued that the travel ban amounted to a religious test and that Trumps campaign rhetoric and tweets were evidence of it.

But the White House has insisted that Trump is simply exercising his authority to act on behalf of national security. Remarks from Trump on Monday reiterated that position.

The travel ban has divided Americans on the left and the right. Monday morning the decision was cast by some as a victory for Trump and national security and seen by others as a setback for refugees who are fleeing conflict in some of the countries listed in the ban. Some celebrated. Saw were confused.

Even as the Supreme Court settles some of the issues that the White House raised in court, questions remain as to whether the executive order could still take effect given that it was supposed to last only 90 days.

Close to five months have passed since Trump signed the travel ban. Will the argument for national security still hold in October after all this time has passed?

Have some thoughts to share?

Join me in a conversation: Shoot me a private email with your thoughts or ideas on a different approach to this story. As always, you can also send us a tweet.

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez

Read The Conversation on Flipboard.
The Supreme Court decided on Monday to let a limited version of President Donald Trump s travel ban take effect, at least until a full decision is made following a hearing as early as October in the courts fall session.

The decision is a win for a president who had had several court losses on the issue as his administration advocated for the ban. Attorneys in appeals courts had argued that the March 6 executive order  introduced by Trump citing national security grounds  targeted Muslims or did not comply with federal immigration law and were able to temporarily block the ban until the Supreme Court overruled them on Monday.

Read the full decision by the Supreme Court here.

So who exactly is banned from traveling to the United States after the decision? Heres what you need to know.

The ban is specific to new visas for residents of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and prohibits entry for anyone who lacks a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. That might include something like a family member in the U.S. or admission to a U.S. university.

Those with who have already secured visas are fine to enter.

RELATED: Why Supreme Court's travel ban decision is a big win for Trump

From the courts opinion:

For individuals, a close familial relationship is required. A foreign national who wishes to enter the United States to live with or visit a family member ... clearly has such a relationship. As for entities, the relationship must be formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course.... The students from the designated countries who have been admitted to the University of Hawaii have such a relationship with an American entity. So too would a worker who accepted an offer of employment from an American company or a lecturer invited to address an American audience. Not so someone who enters into a relationship simply to avoid [the travel ban]: For example, a nonprofit group devoted to immigration issues may not contact foreign nationals from the designated countries, add them to client lists, and then secure their entry by claiming injury from their exclusion.

The travel ban also allowed Trumps 120-day block of all refugees, and the Supreme Courts decision addressed them similarly. At least until a new decision can be made in October, refugees cannot enter the U.S. unless they have a bona fide relationship with someone here.

This terminology may open the door to new court cases as lawyers argue over who truly does and does not have a bona fide relationship. Justice Clarence Thomas , joined by justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, wrote in partial dissent to the courts main opinion that it will invite a flood of litigation until this case is finally resolved on the merits, as parties and courts struggle to determine what exactly constitutes a bona fide relationship, [and] who precisely has a credible claim to that relationship.

Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after the Supreme Court decision.

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin
Theres something about our culture that encourages people to accumulate all manner of items large and small  the weirder the better.

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Let us descend for a harrowing moment into the mind of a passionate collector of things. I like plastic cockroaches, which I have by the hundreds. I like the fact that people find them revolting, the collector said when we talked recently. I also like plastic fake food, which fills the linen cupboards in my house. And I collect Lee Harvey Oswalds, and 

Wait. Assassin Oswald? That Lee Harvey? Yes, the collector affirmed. Hes been demonized for too long.

Isnt that just a little bit creepy? I wondered.

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The swift reply: Well, some people think I could be insane.

Hes not. Hes actually the highly regarded theatrical set painter Paul Wilson, of Phoenix, who in his leisure time is a serious collector of improbable items large and small. Which, if you want to call that insane, feel free.

Collectors are the last bastion of individualism in a world of conformity.

Theres nothing crazy about the undisputed fact that Americans have long devoted themselves to building all manner of personal collections. Thats different from being a hoarder, but it can sometimes, in extreme cases, seem nearly as disturbing.

Several weeks ago, out of perverse curiosity, I went in search of the oddest, most bizarre collections I could find  the nuttier the better  which is how I stumbled upon Paul Wilson, who collects everything Lee Oswald. I didnt need to wait long to hear from other folks on this subject. A day after I put the word out on social media, my inbox was flooded.

From a well-known Kentucky journalist whos on the country-music beat: Among her most prized samples of historical hair are clippings from Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. From a New York investment banker and a Connecticut editor: Each reported on the whereabouts of notable beer-can collections, three said to be worth at least a million bucks apiece. From an L.A. photographer: able to direct me to a massive trove of toenail clippings. From an art collector in Wisconsin: specializes in amateur films documenting monkey acts. Monkey acts! Isnt that fantastic in a barely normal sort of way?

Many of the messages I received were freaky and delightful in equal measure, detailing personal collections that suggest either a sick state of mind or discerning curatorial skills. Harry Rinker, who has long written a newspaper column about collections, told me, Collectors are the last bastion of individualism in a world of conformity. Further, he said, English-speaking countries are where you will find the most avid collectors, adding that, according to an eBay study, 60 percent of Americans collect something. If you havent discarded certain things, then youre a collector, he said. Maybe  but it seems to me it may just as easily mean that youre lazy.

Of the messages that rolled in when I inquired about peculiar collections, one of my favorites pointed me toward Chuck Diehl, a Baltimorean who had fallen hard for washing machines. It just turned me on completely! Diehl once told People magazine about his first encounter with the appliance. For decades, Diehl carefully archived old washers, storing many in his apartment. He so ideally captured the eccentric collecting phenomenon that I thought I should try to find him. The trace ran dry at a Home Depot, where Diehl, not unexpectedly, had sold washers. Ah, well. Id like to imagine that his career eventually spun to an end there because, of course, hed been too much of an agitator.

In the last issue, Neuhaus wrote about his adventures with DNA testing.

This article is featured in the May/June 2017 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/26/2017 -- In real terms, the Philippine construction industry registered an average annual growth rate of 12.0% during the review period (20122016). This growth was supported by the Philippines Development Plan 20112016, under which the government invested heavily on transport infrastructure projects, residential buildings and social infrastructure. Investment in energy projects under the Philippines Energy Plan 20122030 also contributed to growth during the review period.



GET SAMPLE REPORT @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1268606-construction-in-the-philippines-key-trends-and-opportunities-to-2021



The Philippine construction industry is expected to continue to grow over the forecast period (20172021). Industry growth will be supported by the country's development plan 20172022, as well as population growth, urbanization, and favorable government policies with regards to public-private partnerships (PPPs).



In February 2017, the government launched the Philippines Development Plan 20172022, with an aim to make the Philippines an upper-middle-income country by 2022. Consequently, it plans to reduce unemployment from 5.5% in 2016 to 3.0% by 2022.



The industry's output value in real terms is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.79% over the forecast period; compared to 10.68% during the review period.



Construction in the Philippines, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2021 report provides detailed market analysis, information and insights into the Philippine construction industry including:



- The Philippine construction industry's growth prospects by market, project type and construction activity



- Analysis of equipment, material and service costs for each project type in the Philippines



- Critical insight into the impact of industry trends and issues, and the risks and opportunities they present to participants in the Philippine construction industry



- Profiles of the leading operators in the Philippine construction industry



- Data highlights of the largest construction projects in the Philippines



Scope



This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the construction industry in the Philippines. It provides:



- Historical (2012-2016) and forecast (2017-2021) valuations of the construction industry in the Philippines 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 the Philippines



Reasons to Buy



- Identify and evaluate market opportunities using 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 critical and actionable insight.



- Assess business risks, including cost, regulatory and competitive pressures.



- Evaluate competitive risk and success factors.



Key Highlights

- The government's plan to bridge gap between the demand and supply of affordable houses in the country is expected to support the growth of the residential construction market over the forecast period. According to the government estimate, demand for housing units is growing by 345,941 units annually and it is expected to reach to 6.2 million units by 2030. To meet this, the government plans to provide financial assistance to middle- and low-income families through various programs, such as the Pag-IBIG Affordable Housing Program, Community Mortgage Program (CMP), Core Housing Program and the Abot-Kaya Pabahay Fund Developmental Loan Program (AKPF - DLP).



- With robust and modern infrastructure vital for economic growth, the government is focusing on infrastructure development. Accordingly, in September 2016, the National Economic and Development Authority announced its plan to spend PHP8.2 trillion (US$173.9 billion) on nine infrastructure projects by 2022.



- In the Budget 2017, the government increased its total spending on the Department of Transport by 25.0%, rising from PHP42.6 billion (US$903.3 million) in the budget 2016 to reach PHP53.3 billion (US$1.1 billion). The government also increased the budget of Department of Public Works and Highways by 18.3%, rising from PHP384.4 billion (US$8.2 billion) in 2016 to PHP454.7 billion (US$9.8 billion) in 2017, to improve the country's transport infrastructure.



- In March 2017, the government approved National broadband plan with an aim to support economic development and growth. Through this, the government aims to create investment opportunities and ensure social and economic inclusion. Consequently, the government plans to deploy fiber optic cables and wireless technology across the country with an investment of PHP200.0 billion (US$4.3 billion), to equip all schools and government offices with a high speed internet connection.



- Over the forecast period, the government's plan to expand the capacity of manufacturing plants is expected to support growth of the industrial construction market. Under the Manufacturing Resurgence Program (MRP), the government aims to enhance the existing capacity of manufacturing industries, support new entries, increase employment, and maintain the competitiveness of industries by 2025.



Table of Content: Key Points

1 Executive Summary

2 Industry Outlook

2.1 Commercial Construction

2.2 Industrial Construction

2.3 Infrastructure Construction

2.4 Energy and Utilities Construction

2.5 Institutional Construction

2.6 Residential Construction

3 Key Issues and Developments

4 Market Data Analysis

4.1 Construction Output and Value Add

4.1.1 Construction output by project type

4.1.2 Construction output by cost type

4.1.3 Construction output by activity type

4.1.4 Construction value add by project type

4.2 Commercial Construction

4.2.1 Commercial construction output by project type

4.2.2 Commercial construction output by cost type

4.2.3 Commercial construction output by activity type

4.2.4 Commercial construction value add by project type

4.3 Industrial Construction

4.3.1 Industrial construction output by project type

4.3.2 Industrial construction output by cost type

4.3.3 Industrial construction output by activity type

4.3.4 Industrial construction value add by project type

4.4 Infrastructure Construction

4.4.1 Infrastructure construction output by project type

4.4.2 Infrastructure construction output by cost type

4.4.3 Infrastructure construction output by activity type

4.4.4 Infrastructure construction value add by project type



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Xiaomi has great news for Redmi Note 4X owners and users. The Chinese tech company has recently rolled out its latest bug fix and security patch for the Redmi Note 4X. The latest update reportedly will be bringing in a variety of fixes on some important features of the device.

Xiaomi is a privately owned Chinese electronics company that designs, develops and sells smartphones, laptops and other consumer related products. Founded in 2010, it is now one of the emerging companies in the consumer electronics industry and been named as the fifth largest smartphone maker in 2015.

Xiaomi popular products are the Mi and Redmi smartphone series, Mi Pad tablet series, Mi Notebook Air laptops and Mi Note phablets line. Just recently, the Chinese company once again rolled out the latest bug fix and security patch for the Redmi Note 4X and reports are saying that it brought a lot of fixes in the device.

According to Gizbot, Xiaomi has released the latest MIUI 8.2.10.0 update for the Redmi Note 4X that will also come with the latest May security patch. The Chinese electronics company has been consistent in giving updates on all its smartphone devices and other gadgets. The update involves bug fixes for the lock screen, the notification bar, the status bar and some microSD related issues.

Xiaomi allows the latest update some changes on the device such as a newly added swipe to delete the lockscreen notifications, a newly added UI adjustment for toggles and a newly added battery saver toggle. There will also be optimization on the lock screen PIN layout, changed icons for USB charging and keyboard switching and an updated floating notification.

Xiaomi also fixed the notification shade issue during the incoming call, the opacity issues after using third party themes, the landscape mode issue with third party themes, the freeze issue when the device is opened for the first time and the first notification issue that be can't be removed when swipe. There will also be an added Home Screen settings, a fixed part of UI for deleting apps and an animation adjustment on the Launcher.

GoAndroid further added that the update would be appearing for the 3GB model with a Snapdragon 625 chipset and not for the 4GB version. Some Redmi Note 4X owners say that they are expecting an Android Nougat update but the Xiaomi company has released any comment on it.

Xiaomi packed the Redmi Note 4X with a Snapdragon 625 processor, a 3GB/4GB RAM and a 32GB/64GB internal storage. It also has a 5.5-inch Full HD display, a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front shooter and a 4,100mAh battery.
A research team from the California Institute of Technology has now announced the results of a study based on its observations on all the planets discovered by Kepler. The findings show that small planets seem to come in two specific types -- and the type depends on the planets size.

According to The Economist, Keplers early discoveries showed that there is an abundance of worlds whose size is intermediate between Earth and Neptune -- the fifth and the fourth largest planets, respectively, in the solar system. However, since the gap between both planets size is big, the intermediate exoplanets have been categorized in two sizes.

On one side of the range are mini-Neptunes that presumably have rock and ice cores and on the other side of the spectrum are rocky worlds with little or nil atmospheres. The latter, termed as super-Earths, has been found to be the largest of terrestrial worlds that have a composition similar to the inner planets of the solar system. However, it is still unclear if there is a prototype that represents an overlap of both kinds, particularly due to the absence of accurate measurements of exoplanets diameters.

The Kepler discoveries, backed by the findings of the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, also show a clear difference in mini-Neptunes and super-Earths. For instance, the smallest mini-Neptunes have a diameter twice that of Earth and the maximum diameters of super-Earths are 1.75 times that of Earth. Furthermore, the gap between the two, which is a 50 percent difference in volume, indicates that bodies of intermediate size are unstable.

The research team has suggested that the gap is due to the way planetary atmospheres originate. According to The Wire, scientists also think that lack of intermediate-sized objects between the two types of worlds is a result of the bodies, which would otherwise fill the gap, having insufficient gravity to hold onto their atmospheres.

Another interesting occurrence noticed by the team is that though a large number of mini-Neptunes has been discovered -- with almost every planetary system explored by Kepler containing one -- it is surprising that there is none in the solar system. This has baffled the experts and they are banking upon future missions to help get an answer.
Analysis of satellite and model data showed that worldwide coral reef bleaching may finally be ending. Scientists will still have to monitor the temperatures of sea surface over the next six months, but it seems that so far, there has been no further bleaching in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

In the American scientific agency's official website, NOAA stated that tropical coral reefs around the world have now seen above-normal temperatures, with over 70 percent experiencing prolonged high-temperatures. Such high surface temperatures are usually the cause of bleaching in corals, with U.S. coral reefs being hit the hardest. Already, Florida and Hawaii experienced two straight years of severe bleaching, three straight years in the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands and four straight years in Guam.

Despite the seemingly dangerous events, some coral reef areas did avoid bleaching to the point of damaging conditions. Jennifer Koss, director of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, stated that there are proactive steps to take to ensure that coral reef ecosystems become more resilient and to find innovative ways of increasing coral populations.

While bleaching seems to be tapering off some areas, Guam still seems to be in danger of more bleaching. In fact, a USA Today report noted that the NOAA Coral Reef Watch is already forecasting a bleaching Alert Level One within five to eight weeks. At this level, coral bleaching is likely to happen. At Alert Level Two, coral death is foreseen.

Guam's record has been negative for a few years now. NOAA reported that Guam experienced coral bleaching in 2013, 2014 and 2016. Despite not experiencing coral bleaching in 2015, it still got damaged by extremely low tides.

Bleached coral can still survive and recover, if the right conditions present themselves. However, they are still highly vulnerable and can die at a faster rate than their polyp growth, making recovery more difficult.
Aliens are among us. At least, that is what hacking group Anonymous claims. The internet collective posted on YouTube a video that said "NASA says aliens are coming!"

This statement was based on NASA's recent meeting with the U.S. Science Space and Technology Committee, when Professor Thomas Zurbuchen, an associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, stated that the world is "on the verge of making one of the most profound, unprecedented, discoveries in history." Just recently, NASA also announced that the Kepler space telescope was able to identify 219 "potential new worlds," 10 of which fell into the Goldilocks Zone. This zone refers to an area that is "not too hot, not too cold, but just right" to sustain life.

According to Zee News India, Professor Zurbuchen also noted that the recent advances of NASA, such as the discovery of hydrogen in Saturn's Enceladus, and the Hubble's promising results from the oceans of Jupiter's Europa, are signs that humanity is closer than ever to discovering alien life.

The video uploaded by Anonymous featured its trademark "newsreader" in a Guy Fawkes musk, with a distorted computer voice. The video quoted a NASA spokesman at the committee, saying that, "There are many who claim that unofficially, mankind has already made contact with aliens."

It also went on to say that there have been confirmation of the existence of over 3,400 exoplanets orbiting other suns, which then continued on to make newer discoveries. To date, NASA's Kepler mission actually discovered 2,300 confirmed exoplanets.

But does this mean that Anonymous is on the verge of a scientific breakthrough regarding alien life forms? Science Alert says, no, they are not. The site said that while Zurbuchen's statement does sound tantalizing, these were taken out of context. What he and the rest of the scientific community were excited about is in fact the advances made to search for extraterrestrial life -- not that they already have evidence of the alien existence.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is going to build eight more satellites for its Galileo satellite navigation system in collaboration with a German-British consortium. The agreement was signed at the International Paris Air Show with prime contractor OHB, a German company, and the British origin Surrey Satellite Technology that is going to be in charge of the navigations systems.

The Galileo satnav system, an alternative to USAs GPS, is owned and funded by the European Commission, and ESA signed the deal on its behalf. "Europe's Galileo navigation constellation will gain an additional eight satellites, bringing it to completion," the ESA said in a statement.

To date, 18 Galileo satellites have been launched into Earth's orbit and four more satellites will be launched later this year. An addition of eight satellites is going to be built and tested by OHB. After they are launched, the constellation of satellites will include 30 orbiters and its total cost is being estimated at $11 billion.

Twenty-four of the satellites will be operated in three orbital planes. The rest of the satellites will remain in orbit and on the ground as spares. The Galileo is expected to be fully functional by 2020 by the European Commission.

According to Deccan Chronicle, the project has faced many setbacks. One of them included the positioning of satellites in the wrong orbit. The Galileo project has also taken 17 years and over thrice the amount of the original budget. It went live in 2016; however, the initial services were provided with a weak signal. The eight new satellites for the civilian-controlled service will be based on the approved designs of the earlier ones but will incorporate improvements based on the setbacks faced and subsequent lessons learned.

The project is strategically important for Europe currently relies on USAs GPS and Russias GLONASS -- two military-run rivals. Moreover, neither of the two options provide the guarantee of uninterrupted service.
FLORENCE, S.C.  82-year-old Jim Williams has spent the past 15 years as the regional coordinator for Toys for Tots in the Pee Dee area.

Williams, a retired Marine Corps sergeant, entered the organization through the Marine Corps League and has helped provide toys for hundreds of families in need across five different counties. What started as just a few hundred toys organized in his garage has grown to thousands of toys stored in his own storefront warehouse in Freedom Plaza off of South Irby Street.

Last year, Williams said Toys for Tots in Florence received more than 1,700 toy applications and distributed toys to more than 8,000 children. In less than a week, however, Williams 15-year commitment could come to a sudden end.

The Toys for Tots storage space and two other storefronts are going to be leased by another business entity, and Williams, along with nearly 5,000 toy donations, will need to be moved out of the location by Saturday. Williams said he has been searching for more than three months for a place to relocate but hasnt had much luck.

I got to move out, Williams said. Ive been trying to get the word out. If we dont get it, Ill turn over all the toys to Salvation Army, and thatll be the end of Toys for Tots in Florence.

Williams has asked real estate agents, community leaders and other business owners to point Toys for Tots in the right direction but hasnt made any traction. Though Saturday is only a tentative move-out date, Williams would like to find a suitable storefront to move into sooner rather than later.

Williams said he is looking to move into a storefront location with between 1,000 and 3,000 square-feet of space. He said he also is looking to move into a place rent-free with the understanding that the landlord could receive a tax write-off from Toys for Tots. Williams said he would pay for utility costs among other expenses.

The Toys for Tots organization has been a passion for Williams, and he said he will continue to coordinate the Pee Dee operation for as long as he can. Williams fears that if he doesnt find a new space, hundreds of families in need will suffer.

There is a need locally for what we do. It will be a need here for years, Williams said. Its nice when you see a child come in and get a toy. Its a great organization.

I will stay with it another 20 years if the good Lord lets me.

To contact the Florence Toys for Tots, call 843-496-3040.
Since the inauguration of the third set of locks, 26 June 2016 with the transit of the 9,400 teu Cosco Shipping Panama, some 1,535 neo-panamax vessels, to date,have transited through the new locks.

Our forecast did not include the mix of cargo we have seen in the expanded Canal during this first year of operations, he says.

The 10,500 teu Hapag Lloyd Valparaiso Express will have the honour to enter history and commemorate today the expanded waterway anniversary.

On June 20, Cosco Glory became the 1,500th neo-panamax to transit the new locks. However, most of the neo-panamax were of the range of 10,500 teu, increasing the Panama Canal tonnage by 22.2% during the period 26 June to date if comparing the same period in 2016 and 2017.

The surprise was to see three neo-panamax vessels of over 13,000 teu during this past month of June, one a week due to the service Ocean Alliance where they went to 13,000 teu up from 10,500 teu. We did not expect it, said Quijano. And we saw some 15 new liner services transiting through the new locks since the inauguration.

MSC is so far the first user of the expanded Canal, 11.9%, followed by MOL, 10.9%, Shell, 8.5%, Evergreen, 7.6%, Helios, 5.3%, Cosco, 4.9%, Swiss Marine, 4.5%, BW Gas, 3.6%, Cheniere marketing, 3.5%, CMA CGM, 3.1%, Yang Ming, 2.9%, K Line, 2.8%. Three big liners are at the bottom of the scale with NYK, 1.7%, Maersk, 1.5% and Hamburg Sud with 1.0%.

An average of 5.9 vessels daily transit the expanded Canal, surpassing the original forecast of two to three during the first year of operation. Boxships represent 51.3% of traffic, followed by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, which represent 31.5% and 9.1% respectively. Other segments such as bulk carriers, tankers, car carriers, and passenger vessels have also transited the new locks. The months of January and February were the peak for LNG transits from the US Gulf, Houston and Sabine Pass. All the new constructions of LNG vessels have now the dimensions to transit through the expanded Canal, Quijano adds.

Forecast for fiscal year 2017 [October 1 to September 30] point at 391m tonnes and 12,789 transits and we have seen new players arriving in the lead since Japan has is now the 4thcustomer before Chile while Mexico and Colombia have climbed the ranks because of their imports of LPG and LNG, comments Quijano. We even had for the first the transit of an Equatorial Guinea LNG vessel going to Mexico.

Panamas recent decision to open diplomatic relations with China will not impact the number of transits through the waterway since it is the second largest user of the canal but it will definitely improve [Panama] commercial relations with this country.
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Press Release

June 25, 2017 SEN. LEILA M. DE LIMA'S STATEMENT ON THE ARREST WARRANT ON ALLEGED DRUG CHARGES ISSUED BY MUNTINLUPA CITY RTC BRANCH 205 The latest issuance of a warrant of arrest against me by the RTC of Muntinlupa, Branch 205 will of course be contested by my lawyers. A motion for reconsideration will be filed on the ground that there is no probable cause and the prosecution's case is extremely weak, the weakest among the three (3) trumped-up drug charges, especially after the person the government has identified as my link to the commission of the offense charged, my co-accused in this particular case, already executed a statement denying my involvement. My accusers say that Mr. Jose Adrian Dera alias Jad Dera is a nephew and an aide of mine. I do not know him at all. Dera himself already denied any relationship or connection to me whatsoever. I continue to have faith in the judiciary. In the process of the prosecution of my cases, I am optimistic that the handling judges will more and more realize the unreliability of the witnesses against me, as well as the incredibility of their stories. In the end, all of these so-called witnesses will be proven to have been lying all along, or have simply been threatened to falsely testify against me. The truth will still come out in the end. In the meantime, I will continue to exhaust legal remedies to fight my illegal arrest and detention. Muli, inosente po ako sa lahat ng mga paratang nila sa akin.
Press Release

June 25, 2017 Trillanes pushes for massive recruitment of troops for the AFP In light of the current security issues in the country, Senator Antonio "Sonny" F. Trillanes IV has filed a bill providing for an increase in the standing force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines through the recruitment and special enlistment of Provisional Enlisted Personnel (PEP). According to Trillanes, a former member of the AFP, "The situation in Mindanao, as well as other security threats, demands a larger force from our military. However, budgetary concerns continue to become a challenge in supporting the pension and retirement needs of the military retirees." The proposed measure under Senate Bill No. 1473, seeks to establish a new system for the recruitment of enlisted personnel, who shall be called Provisional Enlisted Personnel. An additional 20,000 PEP will be recruited who shall only serve a tour of duty of 5 years. They will undergo the same training and receive the same salary as that of their equivalent Regular Enlisted Personnel. After their tour of duty, in cognizance of their contribution, those who will not be reenlisted as Regular EP will be entitled to training and educational benefits, and will be given priority in hiring in the Civil Service, particularly in the law enforcement services and related agencies. To resolve the budgetary concern brought about by the current pension system in the military, membership in the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) will be compulsory for the PEP and those PEP who will be absorbed later in the regular force, thereby creating a new and separate pension system for them to be managed by the GSIS. The current retirees and active personnel of the AFP will still retain their old pension system. "I am pushing for this measure to allow the armed forces to increase and strengthen its standing force while providing a long-term solution to the looming military pension crisis. More importantly, it hopes to address our security needs at this time," Trillanes further added.
Press Release

June 25, 2017 Sen. Joel Villanueva's Eid al-Fitr message We join all Muslims in the Philippines and all over the world as we mark the culmination of Ramadan. We pray that we become stronger and united amid the conflict our fellow Filipinos in Mindanao are still facing. This is the time when both our faith and resolve are tested. May this day serve as a reminder for each one of us to truly exemplify a teaching common to all religions - to embrace peace and love. We also take this opportunity to acknowledge the good-heartedness of Muslims in Marawi City who helped shield their Christian neighbors. This is not the time to see our differences but a chance to look after one another. Together, let us pray for peace to prevail in Marawi City and the rest of Mindanao, peace that would put an end to poverty and usher progress in a land that has long been deprived of the greatness it deserves. Eid Mubarak!
Press Release

June 26, 2017 PNR fare hike should produce value-for-money results - De Lima Senator Leila M. de Lima today said the Philippine National Railway (PNR) should be able to translate its PhP3 fare hike scheduled on July 1 to a better and convenient service to its estimated 45,000 daily passengers. De Lima, author of Senate Bill (SB) No. 370 which seeks to provide the rehabilitation and revitalization of the PNR system, said the agency must guarantee value-for-money with a 25 percent fare hike. "Granted that the fare hike is the only immediate solution to shoulder the maintenance of the trains, the PNR should be able to produce measurable and satisfactory results with the additional P3 hike," she said. "With its fare hike, I'm hoping that the PNR has a solid plan for its maintenance. Be mindful that the passengers of the train are forking over their hard-earned money for convenience," she added. The PNR announced it would implement a P3 increase for the minimum fare of its train on July 1, for the first 14 kilometers. An additional P5 will also be implemented for every zone traveled after. This would bring the minimum fare of the train to P15, with a maximum fare of P53 for a whole trip. According to data from the Department of Transportation, the PNR had a monthly ridership of at least 189,000 passengers in 2014. Given this figure, the fare hike could yield an additional revenue of P567,000 not counting the additional P5 per zone traveled after the first 14 kilometers. While PNR may be considered a crucial component for economic growth, De Lima said while she has to concede to a price hike, she also believes that the amendments to the existing PNR law will address long-term gaps, which cannot be resolved through a price hike. "A vehicle toward economic progress, the PNR does not only serve as a railroad and transportation system. It is an indispensable element to infrastructure connectivity. Its rehabilitation will impact not only the daily lives of Filipino commuters, but also the whole country," she said. "Congress is in the best position to help the PNR. Thus, I urge my colleagues to support the proposed rehabilitation of one of the oldest operational train systems in the country. Before even choosing to hike the fare, let us instead revise the governing law of the PNR to fast-track the rehabilitation and revitalization of the train infrastructure," she added. If passed, the Senator's SB 370 shall grant the PNR a capital stock of P100 billion, up from the existing P250 million allowable stock. It will also grant the agency exemption from all import duties on all railway materials, rolling stocks, spare parts, and equipment, in order to reduce the cost of maintaining and improving train service and operations for the benefit of the public. De Lima hopes that her proposed PNR Rehabilitation measure would be considered once Congress resumes its session next month.
Press Release

June 26, 2017 HONTIVEROS TO PUBLIC: DON'T STOKE FLAMES OF ISLAMOPHOBIA Coinciding with the celebration of the end of Ramadan, Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday appealed to the public not to discriminate against internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Marawi who are seeking temporary shelter in nearby cities after fleeing the armed conflict between government troops and the Maute terrorist group. Hontiveros said that there were reports that a number of Maranaos have complained of discrimination. They said that some house and apartment owners in nearby provinces have refused to rent out their properties after learning of their identities. "I appeal to the public not to stoke the flames of Islamophobia. Discrimination breeds hate. It builds walls. It sustains unjust wars," Hontiveros said. Hontiveros said that while she understands the public's security concerns, she warned them not to mistake discrimination for vigilance. "This is the time for unity and solidarity. Amid these challenging times, we should not give in to our fears and prejudice. Let us not play into the script of the Maute terrorists, who want to sow fear and hate between Christians and Muslims," she said. The Senator urged appropriate government agencies to look into alleged cases of discriminatory practices against people displaced by the Marawi crisis, particularly Filipino-Muslims. "The Duterte government must ensure that the well-being of all internally displaced persons are taken care of, including their protection from all forms of discrimination. They have suffered so much. Let us not add to their pain," she said. Hontiveros lauds military Meanwhile, Hontiveros lauded the 8-hour truce implemented by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Marawi City in observance of the Eid'l Fitr. She also commended the AFP for its decision to spare mosques from its military attacks. This despite reports that some mosques are being used by the Maute group as hiding places and vantage areas to launch sniper attacks. "I laud the AFP for exercising religious sensitivity even as it continues with its effort to defeat the Maute terrorist group. I hope that this series of good gestures from the military will extend to heeding the Filipino-Muslim community's call for an end to the indiscrimate aerial bombings," Hontiveros said. "Even without Martial Law, I am confident that our brave and professional soldiers will be able to eliminate the terrorist threat in Marawi while respecting the cultural and religious sensitivities of our Muslim sisters and brothers," Hontiveros concluded.
Message of Senator Loren Legarda

Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Co-Author of RA 9177 (Act Declaring Eidul Fitr a National Holiday)

"I join Muslims all over the world in celebrating the Eidul Fitr with fervent prayers that the conflict in Marawi would end soon. Let us show solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters by striving to build peaceful communities where differences are respected.

"As a feast of great importance to Muslims, the Eidul Fitr has been a familiar occasion even to a Catholic-dominated nation, and I hope that it goes beyond familiarity and would pave the way for deeper understanding among Filipinos regardless of faith or religious belief.

"Let us all reflect on the virtues of humility, patience and generosity that this celebration signifies. Eid Mubarak!"
Editor s note: Here are five Bay Area startups worth watching this week.

Seeing children grow up with phones in their hands, Prerna Gupta and husband Parag Chordia were worried that Generation Z  the Snapchat generation, as they call it  was missing out on the novelty of a good book.

But instead of trying to persuade the younger generation to read paperbacks, they instead decided to bring stories to them on the medium they know best: texting. In December, the couple released Hooked, an app that presents stories in the form of text messages.

We consume almost all our media through the phone, said Gupta, the CEO. So we started to think about how can we make reading more engaging in a world where we are competing for attention with social media.

Hooked is free, but users need to pay if they want access to all its material. According to Apple, which publishes rankings of apps by downloads and purchases, it is consistently topping the charts for in-app purchases. Gupta said about 20 million people have installed the app.

The stories are told in the form of text messages exchanged back and forth between fictional characters. Hooked is one of many digital book alternatives that have topped the app charts over the past few months.

The San Francisco company has picked up $6 million in funding from 24 investors, according to Crunchbase.

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Gupta and her husband hope to move into different media, such as video and virtual reality. They have nine employees, and contract with authors, who submit ideas and are paid if the story is accepted. Hooked also recently started accepting submissions from readers.

Our belief is that there is something fundamental about reading great stories, and that demand for reading doesnt change, Gupta said. But, she added, the format certainly will.

Also trending:

What it does: Created Sense, a sleep-tracking system.

What happened: It shut down. According to Axios, the company was looking for a buyer to no avail. CEO James Proud announced the closure in a Medium post. He could not be reached for comment.

Why it matters: After more than $40 million in venture capital, this startup demonstrates a simple truth of the tech world: Startups can fail. Another maxim: Hardware is hard.

Headquarters: San Francisco

Funding: $40.5 million

Employees: 11-50

What it does: A Web server that helps an application or website load quickly. Its users include Uber, Airbnb, Hulu and Netflix.

What happened: CEO Chad Torbin did not know why his company was trending last week, but said the company is popular in the developer space.

Why it matters: Loading information quickly is critical because of users short attention spans. As Torbin explained: If you open Uber and it takes too long to load, youre going to close it and go to Lyft.

Headquarters: San Francisco

Funding: $41 million

Employees: 100

What it does: Manages the relationship between donors and family foundations, corporate philanthropy arms and government agencies.

What happened: The startup just unveiled its Grantseeker software, which helps nonprofits track their funds as well as where the money is going. It also helps donors find which organizations are best suited for their money.

Why it matters: Billions of dollars in grants are handed out every year. CEO Jason Ricci said his companys algorithm can help donors and foundations track where that money is having an impact.

Headquarters: San Francisco

Funding: $26.2 million

Employees: 84

What it does: This company created an algorithm to help firms sort through job applicants.

What happened: It was recently named one of Inc. magazines top 25 most disruptive companies of the year. It also picked up another round of funding in March.

Why it matters: Sending in an application for a job can sometimes feel like dropping it into a black hole. This algorithm sifts through candidates who have applied to the company in the past to make sure qualified candidates dont slip though the cracks.

Headquarters: San Francisco

Funding: $14 million

Employees: 20

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadadni

How we pick the companies

Every week, The Chronicle and Crunchbase, a San Francisco firm that tracks key businesses in technology, analyze private Bay Area companies based on their financial backing, employees and activity on Crunchbase. We feature five that are moving up in the ranks. For more information on the companies: www.crunchbase.com
Steven G. de Polo / Getty Image

A married couple killed last week when their minivan collided with a dump truck on Highway 1 at Pomponio State Beach has been identified as residents of San Mateo, officials said Monday.

Dennis Vernak, 83, and his 79-year-old wife, Helena, were leaving Pomponio State Beach Thursday about 4:11 p.m. when a dump truck hit their Toyota Sienna minivan as they pulled out of the parking lot, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Rafe Swan/Getty Image

A pair of teenager were arrested in connection with a theft on the UC Berkeley campus in which a student was thrown to the ground and robbed of his cell phone, police said Monday.

The robbers, who were not named because of their age, were both 15-year-old boys, UC police said in a release.
The Oakland police supervisors who oversaw the bungled investigation into the departments scandal involving a sexually exploited teenage girl may never come up on administrative charges.

At issue are repeated delays in the city and federal court investigations into the matter, and their possible effect on the one-year statute of limitations for disciplining police for alleged misconduct under the state Peace Officers Bill of Rights.

New Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick  who would have a big say over possible discipline for any Police Department investigators who fouled up  did not get an advance warning of the scathing report into the scandal that the departments federal court monitor issued last week. She is only now going through the case in detail.

Meanwhile, the one-year clock on filing any disciplinary charges is ticking. Loudly.

I have been banging on this over and over, said Jim Chanin, an attorney whose civil rights lawsuit against police in the early 2000s led to the federal court oversight of the department. The clock is either ticking or already ticked out on some of the officers and supervisors involved.

Allegations of Oakland cops sexually exploiting the teenage girl who called herself Celeste Guap first surfaced in September 2015, when Officer Brendan OBrien committed suicide and left a note detailing his and other officers involvement with the girl.

According to the federal monitors report, then-Police Chief Sean Whent initially did not believe Guap was credible and sent an unmistakable signal that this case was not a priority.

One witness said Whent had described the case as bull, although the former chief denies saying that.

The report also said investigating officers showed bias against the victim. One investigator reportedly called the victim a whore.

Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth became aware of the investigative shortcomings six months later, in March 2016, the report said. At about the same time, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson ordered the federal monitor to take over the internal investigation, and a new team of Oakland cops was ordered to review the case.

In June, Schaaf and Landreth  who assumed day-to-day oversight of the department after Whent abruptly resigned  hired an independent investigator to review the initial probe. The investigator, however, was told to hold off until the new internal affairs probe was completed and never interviewed anyone.

When federal monitor Robert Warshaw learned in January that nothing was happening, he turned his own investigators loose on the city, and last week, they produced the report that portrayed not just the Police Department but also Schaaf and Landreth in an unflattering light. Then he handed the whole matter of disciplining the officers who fouled up the probe back to the city.

So now the question becomes: When did the statute-of-limitations clock start ticking?

Chanin says that, for some of the officers and supervisors, it will be when Kirkpatrick learns their identities. Its unclear whether she knows yet.

However, Michael Rains, an attorney whose firm represents a number of police unions, says the clock started when police brass or city officials learned there might be a problem. That was a while ago  in fact, the one-year deadline might already have expired.

They can try to argue otherwise, but when it goes to court, they are going to lose, Rains said.

High court connection: The U.S. Supreme Court said last week that it will take up the most important gerrymandering case in more than a decade  and it turns out that a San Francisco political scientist played a significant role in the court action.

Eric McGhee, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, had been puzzling over the question of how to draw Californias congressional district boundaries impartially ever since he joined the nonpartisan think tank about 10 years ago.

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.

It was like an itch I had to scratch, McGhee said.

McGhee, 44, was determined to measure just how much partisanship was involved when the states lawmakers carved up the district maps after the 2000 census.

He later crossed paths with a lawyer, Nicholas Stephanopoulos, and they came up with what they call the efficiency gap  a way to measure how politicians load up safe districts where Democrats or Republicans have a clear majority. The idea is to create wasted votes for the enemy party, either by loading far more of its supporters than needed into a district or spreading them thinly across many districts.

The result was an article published in the University of Chicago Law Review in 2015. It caught the eye of a legal expert working to challenge district lines in Wisconsin that had benefited Republicans.

The efficiency gap became a key factor when a three-judge federal appeals court ruled in November that GOP state lawmakers had drawn up maps to stack the deck for their party.

My goal when I started all this was to promote a conversation, McGhee said. It never occurred to me in a million years that all this would happen. Its been pretty amazing.

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
In the summer of 1967, former Secretary of State George Shultz was definitely not frolicking in Golden Gate Park with flowers in his hair. He was teaching economics at MIT University prior to his storied tenure overseeing the national budget, the Treasury and later, assisted the end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

But surrounded by far-out fronds and exotic blooms amid the Conservatory of Flowers steamy environs at the Surrealistic Summer Solstice jam and spectacular Photosynthesis light show, his wife, Protocol Chief Charlotte Shultz, shared that her secretary thought the historic 50-year-old scene sounded pretty cool.

I explained to George what happened here during the Summer of Love, and he thought it was a great idea to celebrate this anniversary, she said. Especially, he said, the world needs a lot more love now and San Francisco, a city of love, can lead the way.

This city-sponsored tribute set on the verdant valley fronting the conservatory, a landmark 1879 wood-and-glass greenhouse, featured a rollicking, free concert curated by Hardly Strictly Bluegrass producer Dawn Holliday that sizzled with sponsored Meyer Sound, another 50-year-old institution founded by sound wizards Helen and John Meyer.

Technically, the VIP confab inside the conservatory was also free. But a majority of those guests had previously ponied up the cash to bathe the Victorian-era beauty in artful, flower power illuminations for 30 minutes every night at sundown, now through Oct. 21.

The fete was a bit of a belated birthday bash for former Mayor Willie Brown, who sparked the lights fundraising in March when he asked friends to donate to the project in lieu of presents.

Dreamed up by Ben Davis, founder of Illuminate, which established Leo Villareals Bay Lights as a permanent exhibition on the Willie L. Brown Jr. Bridge, a partnership blossomed among Conservatory Director Matthew Stephens; San Francisco Recreation & Parks General Manager Phil Ginsburg; S.F. Parks Alliance CEO Drew Becher; and Obscura Digital lighting artists, who created the groovy show inspired by conservatory flora and 60s-era iconography such as doves and mandalas.

The conservatory looks like a blank canvas waiting for light activation thats consistent with the energy that happened in the park 50 years ago, Davis said. This project sets a template for whats possible when a city and its people work together in that Summer of Love spirit.

While the project is termed a temporary installation, its been designed so that the possibility of permanence wafts overheard like a cloud of medicinal herb.

However, unlike 50 years ago, as Recreation & Parks Commission President Mark Buell pointed out, smoking  of any substance  is no longer legal in Golden Gate Park.

In 1967, a year before I was drafted to Vietnam and drove my VW bus to Oklahoma for induction, there were pockets of smoke everywhere in the park, he recalled with a laugh.

Other guests savored their 60s recollections, too. At least the parts they remember.

One of our first dates was to see the Grateful Dead at the Warfield 33 years ago, said Katherine Feinstein, who with her husband, Rick Mariano, wore the bands colorfully trippy T-shirts. Or was it 34 years? Oh, God, Im old!

Former Supervisor Angela Alioto, resplendent in a tie-dye T, was busted in 1967 by her brother, Thomas, for attending the Human Be-In at the tender age of 15.

Later that year, I was sitting at the corner of Haight and Ashbury with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, who was reading poetry, and somebody else, she said, with a laugh. That proves it really was 50 years ago because I have no idea who that other person was.

Arriving in her psychedelically adorned Summer of Love Rolls-Royce, Donna Ewald Huggins said her art car is a tribute to her music-loving parents who encouraged their kids to experience the citys vibrant 60s music scene  even dropping them off at Avalon Ballroom or the Panhandle.

Joby Pritzker, a technology investor with his familys Tao Capital Partners and chairman of the Marijuana Policy Project, was born too late for the Summer of Love. But he revels in that 60s spirit, thanks to his parents, Susan and Nick Pritzker, who introduced him to the music of the Beatles and Grateful Dead.

Its not often I can walk to the park wearing my Grateful Dead medallion and tie-dye velvet coat, he says, modeling his threads from Love on Haight. Burning Man is the gathering for my generation. And a lot of tech entrepreneurs and engineers get inspired by a similar vibe there.

But Willie Brown had everyone elses reminiscences beat: While living in the Haight, working with then-S.F. Public Works Director Ed Lee on changing licensing issues for Huckleberry House (which was founded to assist runaway Summer of Love teens), he actually knew Janis Joplin.

As darkness fell, organizers prepared to flip the switch. But first Mayor Lee paid tribute to the exhibitions artistry and San Francisco artists.

I love our artists because they represent our citys culture and values. Tonight Obscura Digital artists have changed this conservatory canvas into a kinetic piece of our cultural history, he toasted. Here in San Francisco, we still believe in love; we still believe in building bridges; we still believe in protest. And we will continue to be a beacon of hope at home and a beacon for the rest of the world.

Catherine Bigelow is The San Francisco Chronicles society correspondent. Email: missbigelow@sfgate.com Instagram: @missbigelow
When the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the United States on June 26, 2015, husbands Clayton and Michael Price-Brown were congratulated by an unexpected source: Their 92-year-old El Sobrante neighbor, Carmen Watson.

Weve been surprised by who some of our biggest supporters have been, said Michael, 53, a Berkeley Realtor. But to get that support and acknowledgment two years ago from her at 92 was something else. It felt like anything was possible.

Longtime activists Stuart Gaffney and his husband, John Lewis, were at the victory celebration in the Castro that June day. They had been chasing marriage for years: Gaffney, 54 and Lewis, 58, were one of the first 10 couples married in San Francisco during the Winter of Love on Feb. 12, 2004, and again on June 17, 2008, the first full day of marriage equality in California. They were plaintiffs in the 2008 lawsuit that overturned Californias ban on same-sex marriage.

I remember standing on a stage with Stuart in the Castro two years ago and feeling like, Look at what we were able to accomplish as a community, Lewis said. It was a moment that felt safe. But I think we knew the struggle continued.

In the two years since the Obergefell vs. Hodges decision, these and other Bay Area same-sex couples have in many ways settled into lives as ordinary as those of their heterosexual counterparts. Theyre grappling with home ownership in the competitive Bay Area market, planning their monthly budgets and discussing starting families.

With San Franciscos history as an LGBT mecca and site of important victories in the marriage equality movement, its not surprising that the numbers reflect that the Bay Area is a hub for married same-sex couples. A September 2016 report by the Treasury Department showed that, based on tax filings, San Francisco had the highest rate of gay male marriages in the United States at 3.2 percent, while Oakland had the highest rate of lesbian marriages at 2.1 percent, according to the New York Times. Nationally, Gallup reported in 2016 that nearly 1 million adults were in same-sex marriages, a 33 percent surge over the previous year when same-sex marriage was available only in 37 states and the District of Columbia. A more recent Gallup report found that 10.2 percent of LGBT adults in the United States are now married to their same-sex partners, up from 9.6 percent in 2016.

But now, as the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision approaches, their feelings of triumph are tinged with uncertainty. The election of President Trump has changed the political and social landscape, raising concerns about the status of LGBT rights and marriage equality. Two years in, a gay wedding can still feel like a form of activism in itself.

Having a family is maybe the most political thing Ive done in my life, said Kevin Wisney-Leonard, 49, who lives in Piedmont with his husband John Leonard, 54, and their 12-year-old daughter, Ayden. Its not that way for straight couples.

It was like flipping a light switch after the election, said Sam Garanzini, the co-founder of the Gay Couples Institute in San Francisco. All the sessions we experienced that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, everyone was distraught. It was like a national tragedy had happened, and like in any tragedy, couples were dealing with it together. Concerns ranged from emboldening prejudice among individuals to an anti-LGBT agenda.

Words of wisdom

Bay Area couples share advice on the second anniversary of gay marriage

Family law specialist Cheryl Sena said she received roughly a dozen phone calls from couples after the election inquiring about whether they needed to pursue additional legal protections for their relationship.

Although pages related to LGBT rights disappeared from the White House website following the inauguration, and Trump has not acknowledged Gay Pride month as President Obama did during his two terms, his administration also hasnt announced any intentions to challenge marriage equality. In his first interview with 60 Minutes following the election, Trump told Lesley Stahl he was fine with legalized same-sex marriage. (Vice President Mike Pence has been a known opponent of legal same-sex marriage.)

But nationally, there are attempts to undermine LGBT protections at the legislative level. In March, the Human Rights Campaign reported that it was tracking 100 anti-LGBT bills in 29 states, including several religious freedom bills that allow for discrimination against LGBT people in adoptions and other services in Alabama, Texas and South Dakota. High courts in Washington state and Colorado have both heard cases involving vendors refusing to provide services for same-sex weddings, citing their religious beliefs.

Its not something you see people of the heterosexual community having to face, Sena said. For gay people, theres general concern theyre never outside some scrutiny or far from having their rights taken away from them.

Even with these potential dark clouds on the horizon, married life continues for same-sex couples. Many are also considering how they can best take action in ways big and small.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

San Franciscans Ingrid Hu Dahl and Courtney Howard, who got married in 2014 in Berkeley, are starting to talk about whether or not to become parents.

Whether we have kids or not, I knew she was that person I wanted to have a family with, said Howard, 33, head of global platform operations team at Apple. We purchased a home together, and are planning for our future.

Howard and Hu Dahl, 37, the director of design education at Capital One, are also in the beginning stages of planning a personal foundation to give to organizations that fight for gender equality, LGBT rights, and whatever those issues are in the future, Howard said.

In my vows I recognized the inherent danger (were in) as out queer lesbians, Hu Dahl said. As I saw Trump become our president, I wondered about protecting my wife. Could our rights be revoked? An attack on a lesbian couple on the New York subway in May was a vivid reminder for Hu Dahl of those concerns.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

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San Francisco husbands Christopher Shields, 43 and Shad St. Louis, 49, say that although they are concerned about possible erosion in protections for LGBT people, the questions they ask themselves as a couple are mainly about things like who is going to cook that night and adding pets to the family. The same stuff everyone else always took for granted, Shields said.

For others, activism is woven into their daily lives.

Mason Trinca/Special to The Chronicle

Sunshine Mattison and Crystal Shanks were married in 2014, and after almost three years, Shanks says that it does feel like a different identity, from single to married. Part of marriage is creating little rituals: We dance in the kitchen every morning over tea, Mattison said.

Although both women say they have been conscious of increased hostility against LGBT people via the news and social media in other parts of the state and country, they say theyve mostly felt protected in what they call the Bay Area bubble of LGBT inclusiveness.

Wisney-Leonard and Leonard say that bubble extends to family life as well. Their daughter Ayden is one of several children of same-sex parents in her class in Piedmont: Theres even another family with two dads named Kevin and John.

But for couples like Randy Moore and his husband Greg Peters, the awareness that they are living in a moment that would have been almost unimaginable a generation ago remains. Sometimes Moore, 49, the manager of the Loro Piana boutique in Union Square, thinks about his uncle William and his longtime partner Robert, who first lived together in the Castro in the 1950s, the landmark gay neighborhood that Moore and Peters also call home.

They saw the city and (same-sex) relationships evolve, Moore said of his uncles, who are both deceased. They had joint checking accounts, all that stuff, but they never had the ability to legalize it. Were living in a time in the U.S. my uncles never had the luxury of experiencing.

Tony Bravo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tbravo@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TonyBravoSF
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Californias concealed-weapons law, a virtual ban on carrying a hidden handgun on the streets of San Francisco and most other urban areas, survived a U.S. Supreme Court challenge by gun groups Monday.

Over the dissents of Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, the court denied review of a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the century-old law. Thomas said the ruling, now final, treated the constitutional right to bear arms as a disfavored right.

The law requires private citizens to obtain licenses from local law enforcement offices to carry concealed handguns in public. Although sheriffs offices in rural areas generally grant licenses to those claiming a need to pack a gun for self-defense, license permits in metropolitan areas, including San Francisco and Oakland, are generally denied to private citizens, other than police and security guards.

California is one of eight states that allow local governments to deny concealed weapons permits. The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the Constitutions Second Amendment protects the right to possess a gun in the home for self-defense, but has not ruled on whether, or to what extent, the Constitution grants a right to carry firearms in public.

The courts action Monday promotes public safety, respects Second Amendment rights and values the judgment of sheriffs and police chiefs throughout the state, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, whose office defended the law, said in a statement.

Adam Skaggs, chief counsel for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a San Francisco gun-control organization, said the action was the latest in a long line of court decisions rejecting gun-lobby challenges to the smart gun laws that keep our families and communities safe.

Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition, which joined the challenge to the state law, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the courts rebuff.

We hope sometime soon theyre going to be willing to take the right Second Amendment case, he said.

In separate cases, Combs group and the National Rifle Association are challenging recent California laws that ban possession of gun magazines that hold more than 10 cartridges and prohibit sale of semiautomatic weapons with bullet buttons that enable speedy reloading.

The California concealed-weapons law was challenged by two men who were denied permits by sheriffs in San Diego and Yolo counties.

A panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 2-1 in 2014 that the law violated the right to bear arms in self-defense. But the full appeals court allowed the law to remain in effect, and a larger panel upheld the licensing requirement in a 7-4 ruling last June.

The Second Amendment does not protect, in any degree, the carrying of concealed firearms by members of the general public, Judge William Fletcher said in the courts majority opinion.

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.

Several other federal appeals courts also have concluded that states can restrict carrying loaded guns in public, but in 2012 an appellate panel struck down an Illinois ban on carrying concealed weapons.

Thomas, joined by Gorsuch, argued in a dissenting opinion Monday that the Supreme Courts 2008 ruling on the rights of law-abiding Americans to possess guns at home implied that they had such rights outside the home as well.

It is extremely improbable that the (Constitutions) framers understood the Second Amendment to protect little more than carrying a gun from the bedroom to the kitchen, Thomas said. I do not think we should stand idly by while the state denies its citizens that important right, particularly when their very lives may depend on it.

The case is Peruta vs. California, 16-894.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com
The U.S. Supreme Court said last week that it will take up the most important gerrymandering case in more than a decade  and it turns out that a San Francisco political scientist played a significant role in the court action.

Eric McGhee, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, had been puzzling over the question of how to draw Californias congressional district boundaries impartially ever since he joined the nonpartisan think tank about 10 years ago.

It was like an itch I had to scratch, McGhee said.

McGhee, 44, was determined to measure just how much partisanship was involved when the states lawmakers carved up the district maps following the 2000 census.

He later crossed paths with a lawyer, Nicholas Stephanopoulos, and they came up with what they call the efficiency gap  a way to measure how politicians load up safe districts where Democrats or Republicans have a clear majority. The idea is to create "wasted" votes for the enemy party, either by loading far more of its supporters than needed into a district or spreading them thinly across many districts.

The result was an article published in the University of Chicago Law Review in 2015. It caught the eye of a legal expert working to challenge district lines in Wisconsin that had benefited Republicans.

The efficiency gap became a key factor when a three-judge federal appeals court ruled in November that GOP state lawmakers had drawn up maps to stack the deck for their party.

"My goal when I started all this was to promote a conversation," McGhee said. "It never occurred to me in a million years that all this would happen  its been pretty amazing."

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
Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle

In a region where Mavericks-sized swells of wealth and poverty crash against each other, San Mateo Avenue in San Bruno is a patch of middle-class calm. The signs painted on the windows advertise income tax preparation, clock repair and childrens toys  in short, necessities for local shoppers. A few windows are papered up. Power tools and stacks of four-by-sixes are visible through others. The proximity of YouTube and Genentechs corporate offices can be felt, but faintly.

Only after youve walked up and down the avenue a few times, it may strike you: There are few restaurant rows in the Bay Area as densely varied as this one in the heart of San Bruno. You can shop for halal meat, fresh masa and taro leaves at the markets here. A Mexican seafood spot is flanked by a Pacific Islander kava bar and a classic American sandwich shop, all located across the street from restaurants specializing in Korean tofu stew and Beijing-style hot pots. There are also Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, Thai, Brazilian and Pakistani places on this three-block strip. A Hawaiian grill and a Guatemalan bakery are on the way.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration took a big step Monday toward clearing the way for construction of two giant tunnels that would siphon water from the Sacramento River and send it south to farms and cities.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service determined that the tunnel project, officially known as California Water Fix, would harm several endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, but that an extra 1,800 acres of habitat restoration, on top of the 30,000 acres the project calls for, would offset the damage.

Paul Souza, Pacific Southwest regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the additional habitat was without question the biggest change from earlier drafts that determined that fish would be harmed. Souza said agency biologists would monitor fish and make changes to the project if necessary to protect them once construction starts.

A top ambition of Gov. Jerry Brown, the estimated $17.1 billion twin tunnels would be the largest water project in California since the 1960s, when former Gov. Edmond G. Brown, Jerrys father, built the State Water Project that carries runoff through an aqueduct from the mountains of Northern California to much of the state.

The 4-story-high tunnels would take water from the Sacramento River and run it 35 miles under the delta, bypassing two massive pumps at the deltas southern end that are powerful enough to reverse the natural flow of water and draw fish to their deaths.

About 25 million people in Southern California and 750,000 acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland depend on the states northern rivers for fresh water.

The tunnels need clearance from the two agencies that wrote the roughly 1,000-page report, known as biological findings, released Monday. The agencies are responsible for enforcing the federal Endangered Species Act, to ensure the project does not harm endangered species, including 35 native fish, plants and other animals in the delta.

Independent biologists say half a dozen fish in the delta are close to extinct, including the delta smelt, sturgeon, steelhead trout and several native salmon.

Jon Rosenfield, a fish biologist at the Bay Institute, an environmental group in San Francisco, called the agencies opinions disappointing and unacceptable.

Its clear that the Cal Water Fix will lead to declines in delta smelt and winter-run chinook salmon, among other species.

He said the only way to help the fish is to limit the amount of water taken from rivers.

Proponents say the tunnels will improve conditions for fish by eliminating the deadly pumps while making water deliveries to the south more reliable. Critics say the tunnels will allow Southern California cities and farms in the San Joaquin Valley to take more water and starve the delta of freshwater.

Michelle Banonis, assistant chief deputy director at the state Department of Water Resources, called the federal assessments a momentous step toward the future. But the project still requires several additional approvals by state agencies.

Another key question is its financing. Water users are required to pay for the project, and must get enough water from it to justify its cost. Among the key players are the Westlands Water District, the largest water district in the nation and run by growers in the dry west side of San Joaquin Valley, and big city water districts such as Southern Californias Metropolitan Water District. These users must decide soon whether they are on board.

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But the new assessment may not provide the certainty of a steady supply of water that these investors would need. Souza and Barry Thom, West Coast regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said that the opinions cover only the projects first construction phase and that a new biological opinion, potentially years down the road, would be required to cover how the tunnels are operated and how much water users get.

Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham said the district has not decided whether to participate, saying he expects a decision in September that will be based on an analysis of projected water supply benefits and costs.

Westlands has consistently stated that it will not obligate itself to billions of dollars of debt unless it is reasonably certain that the districts water supply will be restored.

Birmingham added that without a significant water supply benefit that is affordable, Westlands is unlikely to participate.

The projects faces intense opposition from delta lawmakers and environmental groups and has been stalled for much of the past decade. But there has been movement in the past year, including the Metropolitan Water Districts $175 million purchase of five delta islands in the path of the proposed tunnels that could be used for their construction.

Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com
As illogical as it may sound (because it is), we sometimes forget that history happened in living color. Thats because were so used to seeing early still photography and early 20th century newsreels and other film footage in black and white.

The Smithsonian Channel has an answer for that, and its not exactly a stroke of genius, but it really does put history in a whole new multicolored light: America in Color, premiering Sunday, July 2, comprises colorized images from the nations past from the 1920s to the 1960s. All of it, of course, was originally filmed in black and white.

Yes, its a gimmick, but the thing about gimmicks is that sometimes, theyre kind of cool, and this one definitely is.

The premiere episode pulls the curtain back on the 1920s, showing us dancing flappers, Charles Lindbergh taking off for Paris in 1927 and other signal events of the Roaring decade. But even the most familiar images become more real when a touch of color is added.

Even more fascinating, though, are less familiar episodes from the decade. The Great Mississippi Flood, for example, and the movies of Solomon Sir Jones, an African American preacher who was an amateur filmmaker and documented black life in Oklahoma in the 1920s.

We also see colorized footage of life in the Greenwood section of Tulsa in the early 1920s. Although African Americans were afforded few opportunities elsewhere in the U.S., over time, they started new businesses in Tulsa and grew prosperous. Racism and hatred drove a white mob to swarm the neighborhood, killing more than 300 and setting many buildings on fire. We see rare footage of the devastation, which would of course be heartbreaking even in black and white, but packs a greater wallop in color.

The decade ended with a crash, of course, on Black Tuesday in 1929. The nations economy took such a hit that when the Empire State Building opened two years later, it was all but vacant, making it a towering emblem of the Depression, not the celebration of the Empire States prosperity that it was planned to be.

The second episode covers the 30s, the bread lines, the Bonus Army of veterans seeking a promised bonus for having served their country and demonstrations by Ford Motor Co. workers that resulted in several being shot by Henry Fords private security detail.

The colorization is relatively subtle, compared with, say, Turners more garish approach to classic films. The film doesnt look as though it was shot in color, but rather, it looks like what it is: black and white film that has been gently colorized. That decision ends up being appropriate here: Watching America in Color is like looking at those vintage colorized postcards from the early 20th century.

The subtlety enhances history rather than overwhelming it, making America in Color dazzling in a quiet way.

David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook. Email: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WaitWhat_TV

America in Color: Historical documentary series. Premieres 8 p.m. Sunday, July 2, on the Smithsonian Channel.
Diplomacy talk: A panel with foreign affairs experts, U.S., Iran, Saudi Arabia: A New Diplomatic Calculus? The discussion is from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. at the World Affairs Auditorium, 312 Sutter St., Suite 200 in San Francisco. Tickets cost $20. For information: http://bit.ly/2rRlx4H.

Impeachment march: Nationwide marches will call for President Trumps impeachment. The march in San Francisco begins at 1 p.m. along the Embarcadero and will head to Powell and Market streets. For information: http://bit.ly/2sYoEER.

Where money should go: A discussion on how to invest public and private dollars, and what questions are most pressing for policymakers, investors and organization leaders. The event begins at 12:30 p.m. at the SPUR Urban Center, 654 Mission St., San Francisco. For information: http://bit.ly/2sVj0pM.

Environmental action: A conversation with the Sierra Clubs executive director and local environmental justice groups on what people can do to take action against President Trumps environmental agenda. The event is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the International Hotel Manilatown Center, 868 Kearny St., San Francisco. For information: (510) 848-0800.
California Highway Patrol

An Antioch motorcyclist suspected of vandalizing multiple cars he sped past on the highway over several days was busted when a California Highway Patrol helicopter crew spotted him in the act and tracked his bright-green bike to his home, officials said Monday.

The 29-year-old man, Eric Winston Poole Jr., spent at least three days last week racing down the highway on a lime-green Kawasaki at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour, slowing down only to kick, punch and smash the side view mirrors of vehicles he was passing, the CHP officials said.
Ron Chapple/Getty Image

The body of a San Francisco man who drowned after he rescued his 5-year-old daughter when their kayak overturned near Rio Vista was pulled from the water by search crews hours after the river tragedy, officials said.

The 40-year-old man was identified as Roni Avila Alvarado, according to the Sacramento County coroners office.
Bags containing human remains were found over the weekend by workers at a Hayward warehouse connected to a person of interest in the disappearance in May of a San Francisco Uber driver, officials said.

Investigators from the San Francisco Police Department and Alameda County Sheriffs Office were called to the building on Saturday after workers discovered several bags of human remains that could be those of missing Uber driver Piseth Chhay, police said.
The San Francisco Pride Parade had a political edge to its floats and signs this year, as participants publicly expressed their intent to "resist" the new Trump administration.

Plenty of the signage along the parade route  from parade participants and those in the crowd  had a political bent. They ranged from variations on the "Resist!" message to a pointed "Make America Gay Again" sign, with obvious echoes to Trump's campaign motto.
BOSTON  Danielle Ramos student-debt nightmare was supposed to be over.

Like thousands of others who studied at failed for-profit colleges, she was promised by the U.S. Education Department under President Barack Obama that her federal loans would be forgiven by now. But as the weeks tick by with no reprieve, the 30-year-old college student fears the financial burden will force her and her 4-year-old son to move back with her parents.

Im a single mom, so thats really scary, said Ramos, of Framingham, near Boston. Its just a lot of uncertainty. Im probably going to have to rely on family to help me, and it doesnt feel fair.

Borrower advocates say the pipeline to loan forgiveness appears to have slowed significantly since President Trump took office, stirring concern that some students may be left in the lurch. Some also see it as a sign that the department is veering from its predecessors years of work to rein in fraudulent for-profit colleges.

Education Department officials dispute those claims, saying theyre working quickly to clear a backlog that was inherited from the previous administration.

When Obama left office, 16,453 borrowers were waiting for loan cancellations that had already been approved, and more than 64,000 others had filed new applications. For months, advocates say, it appeared few or none of those cases were being processed. Democrats in the Senate requested an update from the Education Department in May but say they received no response.

On Monday, the Education Department released data showing that 7,085 of the 16,453 previously approved claims have now been discharged, amounting to $92 million in loans. According to the data, which were provided first to the Associated Press, another 7,300 cases are in the final stages of the process and will be discharged shortly, while the remaining 2,000 are currently being processed by the department.

Still, the wait has left some borrowers paying for loans that were promised to be wiped clean by now. Some have lost wages and tax returns to debt collectors.

Ramos ran up $15,000 in debt to attend the American Career Institute, a chain of for-profit colleges that abruptly closed in 2013 after she received nine months of training as a medical assistant. Now enrolled at MassBay Community College and working toward a certificate in surgical technology, Ramos says she hasnt heard any update on her debt cancellation and worries shell still have to pay it back.

Because of the education I got at MassBay, Im going to be able to get good-paying job. But its not fair that Im going to have to use that money to pay back something that didnt deliver, she said.

The Obama administration cracked down aggressively on for-profit colleges that enticed students to take on hefty loans with promises they couldnt keep. It pressured chains including Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute to close, and it approved at least $655 million in loan cancellations from those chains.

Under Trump, the departments new data suggest, no new loan discharges have been approved from the pool of 64,301 pending applications. A department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In its last three months, the Obama administration approved more than 12,000 loans for discharge, said Pauline Abernathy, executive vice president of the Institute for College Access and Success, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Oakland. In its first five months, the Trump administration has approved zero, while tens of thousands of applications languish and borrowers are left waiting for relief.

In May, a group of Democratic lawmakers urged Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to speed up the process. Attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., later told DeVos the delay was harming borrowers. And a coalition of 31 advocacy groups for military veterans sent a letter to members of Congress this month saying many veterans are waiting for loan discharges, adding that any delay is an affront to defrauded service members.

After publicly saying little on the topic for weeks, DeVos said this month that nearly 16,000 cases are now being processed and that some borrowers should expect to obtain discharges within the next several weeks. Her statement didnt provide an explanation for the delays.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a Democrat, said the slowdown cant be explained as a hiccup in the new Republican administrations transition to office.

This is the Trump administration stepping on a bunch of people who have already been stepped on many times before, Warren said in an interview. Students who were cheated by predatory for-profit schools should not have to wait another day to get their loans canceled.

For some borrowers, the wait has stretched more than a year.

Sarah Dieffenbacher is waiting on an application she filed in March 2015 after taking out $50,000 in federal loans to attend a Corinthian Colleges campus in Ontario (San Bernardino County). She has since defaulted on her loans, and a collector is trying to garnish her wages. On June 9, a federal judge reviewing her case told the Education Department to make a decision within 90 days.

On June 14, DeVos drew a new round of criticism from borrower advocates when she announced plans to rewrite Obama-era rules that were meant to streamline the complex path toward loan forgiveness. She described the rules, which were set to take effect in July, as a muddled process thats unfair to students and schools.

An Education Department spokeswoman said the 64,301 pending cases will be reviewed under current rules.

Collin Binkley is an Associated Press writer.
The Senate health care bill introduced last week would lead to 22 million fewer Americans having health insurance by 2026, while reducing the federal deficit by $321 billion, according to an analysis released Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The figures present a fresh challenge for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is pushing to bring the bill to a vote on the Senate floor this week before lawmakers head home for the Fourth of July recess.

The projected 22 million uninsured Americans is similar to the 23 million that would be without insurance under the House bill by 2026. The Senate bill, however, would save the federal government $202 billion more than the House bill. The largest savings would come from reductions in federal Medicaid spending, which would decline by 26 percent by 2026, according to the analysis.

By 2018, 15 million more people would be uninsured under the Senate plan than are uninsured today, primarily because the penalty for not having insurance would be eliminated, the CBO found.

The Senate measure  part of the GOP effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act  would end some parts of President Barack Obamas health care law. Like the House bill, it would eliminate the requirement for individuals to buy insurance and repeal the taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans that paid for the expansion of coverage to millions of people since the law took effect in 2014.

On Monday, GOP Senate leaders added a so-called continuous coverage provision that would require people who had gaps in insurance coverage of at least 63 days the previous year to wait six months, after signing up for insurance, before their new coverage kicks in. This was added to help stabilize the individual insurance market by encouraging healthy people to maintain their insurance coverage  while stopping short of imposing an all-out mandate, like the one under the ACA.

The Senate bill, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act, would end the increased federal funding to state Medicaid programs that began under the ACA. That funding allowed California to enroll 5 million new poor residents in the program. And it would change the way Medicaid  called Medi-Cal in California  gets funded in the long run by capping the amount of money the federal government provides states each year, and tying that number to a growth rate that is slower than the growth rate of health care costs.

But the proposed legislation would keep in place the general structure of the ACA subsidies that, in California, go to about 1.5 million residents who buy insurance on Covered California. However, the Senate bill would change the eligibility requirements to receive this assistance, making it no longer available for tens of thousands of low-income people who earn between roughly $42,000 and $48,000 a year. The subsidies under the Senate proposal would be linked to a less generous insurance plan with a higher deductible  meaning even those who would continue to receive assistance would probably shoulder higher out-of-pocket costs.

Older Americans, regardless of whether they receive subsidies, could pay much higher premiums under the GOP plan because both the House and Senate bills would allow insurance companies to charge older people up to five times more than what they charge younger people. Under current law, they cannot charge more than three times more.

These changes would mean that among the low-income population that buys subsidized insurance on the exchange, older people in their 60s would see large spikes in premiums, while some younger people in their 20s would see modest decreases in premiums. Under the Senate plan, generally, the poorer and older you are, the more your premiums would rise.

California consumers monthly premiums would more than double under the Senate plan, from $190 to $386, according to data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. This figure applies to low-income Californians across all age levels who receive federal subsidies to buy plans on Covered California insurance exchange.

In San Francisco, premiums for 60-year-olds who earn $20,000 a year would increase by 552 percent, according to data from Kaiser. The same group of people in Alameda County would see premiums rise 491 percent.

In contrast, some higher-earning consumers in their 20s who buy on the exchange would see their premiums drop  by 12 percent in San Francisco and by 15 percent in Alameda County for a 27-year-old earning $40,000 a year, according to Kaiser.

The American people deserve better care, which is exactly what were working to bring them, McConnell tweeted after the CBO report was released.

If your idea of better care is charging people more for care and kicking 22 million off coverage, we need to talk, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, tweeted in response.

There are some differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. If the Senate passes its measure, the two houses would have to reconcile the differences before sending the legislation to the presidents desk. Changes to the Senate bill are anticipated this week, as several GOP senators  from both the moderate and conservative wings of the party  have expressed reservations about the measure and could lobby for amendments.

Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat__Ho
Food & Wine, the glossy, chef-focused food magazine, is moving to Birmingham, Ala., joining a stable of other publications owned by Time Inc. that includes Cooking Light and Southern Living.

Hunter Lewis, editor of Cooking Light, will become Food & Wines new editor in chief, replacing Nilou Motamed, who is leaving the company after a little more than a year. Motamed had taken over from Dana Cowin, who edited the magazine for more than 20 years. The magazine started in New York in 1978 as the International Review of Food and Wine.

The media, and particularly the food media, is facing an inflection point, and so are the restaurants we cover, Lewis said last week. You can create and do business in food anywhere now, and this move is a reflection of the hybrid approach were going to take to covering food.

Food & Wine will take up residence in the multimillion-dollar complex  housing 28 test kitchens and 13 photography bays and video studios  that Time opened in 2015. The center produces food-related content for a wide variety of Time publications, not just its food titles.

When we built these kitchens a year and a half ago, there was nothing else like it in the country, Lewis said. We even have an outdoor kitchen there.

Around the time the complex opened, Time was moving out of its longtime home in the Time-Life Building at Rockefeller Center, and as part of that move, Food & Wine got a new test kitchen and photography studios in Manhattan. Lewis said that those operations would remain after the magazine moved to Alabama and that the magazines digital team would stay in New York.

Ruth Reichl, the former New York Times restaurant critic who was the editor of Gourmet magazine when it closed in 2009, said it made sense for Time to consolidate its food publications in Birmingham, where costs are cheaper.

This is something the New York-centric food world is going to be facing more and more, Reichl said. I was in Charleston for the food and wine festival and talking with Andrew Carmellini  the New York chef and restaurateur  who said half the people hed bumped into were his former employees. No one can afford to open a restaurant in New York anymore.

Reichl said the Birmingham complex would put Food & Wine on the cutting edge of what is happening digitally in food publishing. Food 52 and Eater are just taking over that space, and theyre building audiences fast, she said. If youre a legacy magazine, youd better figure out a way to do things that are more original, and you need resources to do that.

Time has parked its digital food desk in the Birmingham complex. The desk aims to steer collaboration and promotion for all the companys food-related content. It is led by Stacey Rivera, who came to Time Inc. from Conde Nast.

The kitchens are an amazing vehicle for creating not just recipes but also creating stories, Lewis said, pointing to Well Done, an Epicurious-like site that Time introduced three months ago with a focus on how-to cooking videos. Lewis said the videos on Well Done had already attracted 265 million views.

He said the move to Alabama was partly to save money  Time Inc. has struggled since it was spun off from Time Warner three years ago  but also to give Food & Wine a more national flavor. This was less about cutting costs and more about maximizing the facilities we have in Birmingham, he said. There are sophisticated food eaters and wine drinkers everywhere now, in cities big and small.

The relocation is a gamble, though. Unlike Times other food titles, which cater more to home cooks and beginners, Food & Wine has developed a following among chefs, wine connoisseurs and restaurateurs. Its New York offices have for almost 40 years been a sort of crossroads for visiting chefs and high-end advertisers like Rolex.

By Stephanie Strom is a New York Times writer.
General Mills has unveiled a new yogurt product, called Oui by Yoplait, that it hopes will cause a ferment in the marketplace the way Greek yogurt did a decade ago. The company describes it as a French-style yogurt; the texture is relatively thick since the yogurt is not stirred or transferred after being heated and cultured. Whether the product can restore General Mills leadership in the yogurt business is unclear. For each of the past four quarters, the companys U.S. yogurt sales by value have fallen in the 10 to 20 percent range.

A healthier policy?

Google has quietly started removing personal medical records from its search results, a departure from its typically hands-off approach to policing the Web. Such information is only pulled when the company gets specific requests from individuals, a company spokeswoman said. Health records can occasionally appear online without consent, sometimes by mistake. Google has also removed Web pages with identifying financial information, such as credit card numbers; with content that violates copyright laws; and revenge porn  sexually explicit images uploaded without consent.

Swan song

Tim Westergren, CEO of the Oakland streaming music service Pandora Media, is preparing to step down, the technology news website Recode reported. The news comes less than a month after satellite radio service SiriusXM paid $480 million to buy a major stake in Pandora, which has struggled to increase profit despite drawing about 76.7 million active listeners during the first quarter. Westergren, who co-founded the company 17 years ago, intends to stay on until a new CEO is found, according to Recode, which cites sources familiar with the companys plans.

Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techchronicle
Celebrities, models and game changers gathered Sunday, June 25 for the 2017 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

The A-listers gathered together on the red carpet to show off their gowns, getups, and outfits for the photographers and while many stunned, including Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah, others fell flat.
Clay McLachlan/Belcampo

Belcampo's Russian Hill restaurant (1998 Polk St.) has closed for renovations and will reopen August 1; the adjacent butcher shop remains open as usual.

The news is just another chapter in what's been a busy few months for the sustainable butcher shop/restaurant.
The city of Sacramento could be preparing to build a large-scale monument tribute to its early founding days, if the city's waterfront manager, Richard Rich, is successful in his efforts.

As the city begins to revive Old Sacramento as a traveler-friendly destination, Rich  who is a former Disney Imagineer  wants to mark the area with an "iconic" structure with the metropolitan presence of St. Louis' Gateway Arch or Seattle's space needle, as the Sacramento Bee reports.
If you were dead set on finding a connective thread between the disparate parts of the operatic double bill that had a brief and dazzling run over the weekend at Walnut Creeks Festival Opera, you could maybe say that both The Seven Deadly Sins  Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brechts dark morality tale set to song and dance  and Leoncavallos more familiar Pagliacci concern people traipsing across the country in search of a livelihood.

Yeah, I dont buy it either. So instead lets just posit that both halves of this enterprise, which opened a two-performance stand at the Lesher Center for the Arts on Saturday night, June 24, featured some of the finest theatrical and musical work this scrappy company has put on the stage in years. And if the result felt more like two separate offerings yoked together than a seamless evening of opera  well, a little thematic inconsistency seemed a small price to pay.

Certainly its been a long time since Ive witnessed an artistic reclamation job as thorough and thrilling as the one that was worked on The Seven Deadly Sins. Its a piece that gets performed pretty regularly, but rarely in a way that turns Weill and Brechts tart cynicism into something fully stage worthy.

This time around, though  in a vivid and imaginative stage production directed and choreographed by Mark Foehringer, and featuring a superb cast under the musical leadership of conductor Bryan Nies  the piece sparkled and shone afresh.

Sins tracks a Candide-like female protagonist through a septet of mythic American metropolises in search of a nest egg with which she can return to her home and family in Louisiana. The main character is represented onstage by two performers  the singing Anna I (the brilliant and physically intense soprano Laura Bohn) and the speaking and dancing Anna II (Sonja Dale, in a performance of beautifully compact kinetic energy)  and a four-voice male chorus represents the family back home, watching over her with fretful, pious homilies.

Too often, this construct yields either confusion or simply a string of alluring but indistinguishable set pieces. But Foehringer, with a few deft strokes, made each vignette  a new sin, a new city  into something distinctive and surprising.

Peter Cromptons spare but vivid set design played out under a large roadside billboard like something out of a 1930s historical drama, its message and decor changing to reflect the moral situation of each scene. And a corps of five lithe, responsive dancers used Foehringers ideas  by turns winningly abstract and directly narrative  to create a new dramatic vista each time.

Next to the revelatory charge of Sins, the production of Pagliacci that followed intermission felt comparatively traditional. The tale of a traveling theatrical company in rural Italy, beset by sexual jealousy to the point of murder, played out as usual, with all its hot-blooded emotion and meta-theatrical commentary intact.

But a conventional approach is often just what a piece like this needs, and conductor Michael Morgan, taking the baton handoff from Nies, led a performance that was at once lush and urgent, moving from scene to scene with the assurance of a master.

Tenor Alex Boyer, in his company debut, mustered a large, potent sound that brought a welcome measure of anguish and dark menace to the role of Canio; his delivery of the famous showpiece Vesti la giubba lacked nothing in the way of grit and vocal power.

Just as fine was baritone Roberto Perlas Gomez, whose turn as the malicious Tonio  and before that, the witty embodiment of the Prologue  was marked by warm vocal tone and a robust theatrical presence. As Nedda, soprano Hope Briggs sang with full-voiced glamour, even if her stage demeanor was a bit stiff, and there were good contributions from Zachary Gordin (Tonio) and Robert Norman (Beppe).

Festival Opera continues to make its way  tirelessly, intrepidly, optimistically  through a tangle of financial and organizational challenges. A production like this, which constituted the companys entire summer season, is a reminder of just how invaluable it is to the local artistic scene.

Joshua Kosman is The San Francisco Chronicles music critic. Email: jkosman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoshuaKosman

Festival Opera: 2 p.m. Sunday, June 25. $44-$94. Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. (925) 94409610, www.festivalopera.org
LOS ANGELES  A SpaceX rocket carried 10 communications satellites into orbit from California on Sunday, two days after the company successfully launched a satellite from Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off through low-lying fog at 1:25 p.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. It carried a second batch of new satellites for Iridium Communications, which is replacing its orbiting fleet with a next-generation constellation of satellites.

About 7 minutes after liftoff, the rockets first-stage booster returned to earth and landed on a floating platform on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, while the rockets second stage continued to carry the satellites toward orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 on Friday launched from Cape Canaveral and boosted a communications satellite for Bulgaria into orbit. Its first stage also was recovered after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX in Hawthorne (Los Angeles County), believes reusing rocket components will bring down the cost of space launches.

Iridium plans to put in place 75 new satellites for its mobile voice and data communications system by mid-2018, requiring six more launches, all by SpaceX.

The $3 billion effort by the McLean, Va., company involves complex procedures to replace 66 operational satellites in use for many years. Some of the new satellites will be whats known as on-orbit spares, or older satellites that remain in orbit on standby for use if the newer ones malfunction.

Swapping out and deorbiting some old satellites has already begun, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a pre-launch call with reporters.

Several old satellites have been moved into lower orbits to use up their remaining fuel and configure the solar panels for maximum drag so they will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up.

The first re-entry was believed to have occurred on June 11, Desch said.

Its hard to celebrate something like that, but these satellites have put in almost 20 years of service, and making sure weve cleaned up after ourselves as we deploy our new constellation is a priority, he said.

The new satellites also carry payloads for joint-venture Aerions space-based, real-time tracking and surveillance of aircraft around the globe, which has implications for efficiency, economy and safety  especially in remote airspace over the oceans.

This will truly be a revolutionary aspect of air-traffic control, said Aireon CEO Don Thomas.

John Antczak and Christopher Weber are Associated Press writers.
BOSTON  The co-owner of a pharmacy deemed responsible for the deaths of 76 people in a national meningitis outbreak tearfully apologized to the victims on Monday and was sentenced to nine years in prison, far less than the victims had wanted.

Im sorry for your extraordinary losses, Barry Cadden said, wiping his eyes.

A dozen victims who were sickened or lost loved ones asked the judge to give Cadden the harshest penalty allowed under the law for the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak, which sickened hundreds of people.

Cadden was acquitted of second-degree murder charges under federal racketeering law but was convicted on conspiracy and fraud charges. He must report to prison by Aug. 7 but remains free on bond until then.

The outbreak was traced to contaminated injections of medical steroids made by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass.

Prosecutors say Cadden, 50, ran the center in a dangerous way by skirting industry regulations on sterility in an effort to push production and make more money. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan said the center was a massive reckless and fraudulent organization.

At Caddens sentencing Monday, victims told stories of shattered lives and unbearable loss caused by the tainted steroids made by Caddens company.

Penny Laperriere, whose husband died after receiving a contaminated steroid shot, said Cadden destroyed her family.

Who gave him the right to play God? the Michigan woman said.

She said her husband, Lyn, received the shot to try to get relief from his back pain. He died in 2012.

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Cadden to 35 years in prison. Caddens lawyer said he should get 2 to 3 years.

The outbreak of fungal meningitis and other infections in 20 states was traced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contaminated injections of medical steroids, given mostly to people with back pain.

The CDC put the death toll at 64 as of October 2013. Federal prosecutors say 12 more people have died since then, raising the total to 76. More than 700 people were sickened.

The scandal prompted increased scrutiny on compounding pharmacies, which differ from ordinary drugstores in that they custom-mix medications and supply them directly to hospitals and doctors. In 2013, in reaction to the outbreak, Congress increased federal oversight of such pharmacies.

NECC used expired ingredients and falsified logs to make it look as if the so-called clean rooms had been disinfected, prosecutors said. After the outbreak, regulators found multiple potential sources of contamination, including standing water and mold and bacteria in the air and on workers gloved fingertips.

Caddens lawyer, Bruce Singal, told the jury Cadden was not responsible for the deaths and pointed the finger at Glenn Chin, a supervisory pharmacist who ran the clean rooms where drugs were made. Chin has pleaded not guilty goes on trial in September.

Denise Lavoie is an Associated Press writer.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court ruled Monday that churches have the same right as other charitable groups to seek state money for new playground surfaces and other nonreligious needs.

But the justices stopped short of saying whether the ruling applies to school voucher programs that use public funds to pay for private, religious schooling.

By a 7-2 vote, the justices sided with Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Mo., which had sought a state grant to put a soft surface on its preschool playground.

Chief Justice John Roberts said for the court that the state violated the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment by denying a public benefit to an otherwise eligible recipient solely on account of its religious status. He called it odious to our Constitution to exclude the church from the grant program.

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.

But the states Department of Natural Resources rejected the application, pointing to the part of the state constitution that says 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 said.

Justice Sonya Sotomayor took the rare step of reading her dissent from the bench, saying the ruling weakens Americas long-standing commitment to separation of church and state.

This case is about nothing less than the relationship between religious institutions and the civil government  that is, between church and state, she wrote, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Court today profoundly changes that relationship by holding, for the first time, that the Constitution requires the government to provide public funds directly to a church.

Some religious groups cheered the decision, which was closely watched for the effect it may have on school voucher programs. But in a carefully worded footnote, Roberts said the ruling was limited and did not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination.

Civil liberties groups called the ruling a blow to the principle of church-state separation.
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MINNEAPOLIS  The mother of Philando Castile, a black motorist killed by a Minnesota police officer in July, has reached a nearly $3 million settlement with the city that employed the officer, avoiding a wrongful death lawsuit that attorneys said could have taken years to resolve.

The settlement to be paid to the mother, Valerie Castile, who is the familys trustee, was announced Monday and comes less than two weeks after officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter and other charges connected to her sons death.

Castile, a 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker, was shot five times by Yanez during a traffic stop after Castile told the officer he was armed. Castile had a permit for his gun. The shooting gained widespread attention after Castiles girlfriend, who was in the car with her then-4-year-old daughter, live-streamed its gruesome aftermath on Facebook.

The acquittal of Yanez, who is Latino, prompted days of protests, including one in St. Paul that shut down Interstate 94 for hours and ended with 18 arrests.

The $2.995 million settlement for Valerie Castile will be paid by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, which holds the insurance policy for the city of St. Anthony. The plan for distribution of funds requires approval by a state court, which could take several weeks.

Robert Bennett, who along with attorney Glenda Hatchett is representing Valerie Castile, said a decision was made to move expeditiously rather than have the case drawn out in federal court, a process that would exacerbate and reopen terrible wounds. The settlement will also allow the family, the city and community to work toward healing, Bennett said.

No amount of money could ever replace Philando, a joint statement from the attorneys and city of St. Anthony said. With resolution of the claims the family will continue to deal with their loss through the important work of the Philando Castile Relief Foundation.

Bennett said the foundations mission is to provide financial support, grief counseling, scholarships and other help to individuals and families affected by gun violence and police violence.

The settlement happened faster than others stemming from the killings of black men by police officers elsewhere. Last week, a $1.5 million settlement was reached in the case of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old who was killed by a white officer in Ferguson, Mo. That settlement came nearly three years after the death of Brown, whose parents sued the city.

Amy Forliti is an Associated Press writer.
1 Wildfire: The nations largest wildfire has forced more than 1,500 people from their homes and cabins in a southern Utah mountain area home to a ski town and popular fishing lake. The fire near the Brian Head Resort has grown to 67 square miles and burned 13 homes. It was ignited June 17 by someone using a torch tool to burn weeds. Investigators know the suspect, but have not yet identified the person or disclosed what charges may be filed. About 175 people were briefly allowed back to their homes near Panguitch Lake under escort, said Denise Dastrup with the Garfield County Sheriffs Office.

2 Climate change: A bipartisan group of mayors from across the country on Monday unanimously backed an ambitious commitment for U.S. cities to run entirely on renewable sources such as wind and solar in two decades. As the U.S. Conference of Mayors wrapped up in Miami Beach, leaders from more than 250 cities voted on symbolic resolutions pushing back against President Trump on climate change and immigration. Most mayors also signed a deal to do their part to uphold the terms of the Paris climate accords, even after the Trump administration pulled out of the agreement.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that President Trump could enforce part of his travel ban, aimed at nations with overwhelmingly Muslim populations, at least until the court decides in its next term whether the ban is constitutional.

But until then the wording of Mondays decision generated mostly confusion about who will be permitted to enter the country, who cant and who decides.

The main subject of uncertainty was a statement by six of the nine justices saying that, while Trumps executive order is in effect, officials can exclude residents of the targeted nations or refugees if they lack a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

While allowing portions of the executive order to take effect Thursday, the justices did little to define the bona fide relationship that would exempt new arrivals from the travel ban.

Some advocates for immigrants and refugees said virtually all would-be entrants have established ties with family members or organizations in the U.S. and would be exempt from the ban. Other advocates said many thousands of refugees would be stranded in hostile surroundings.

The courts wording is incredibly vague and will cause massive confusion as it is implemented, said Corinne Duffy of Human Rights First, a nonprofit that filed arguments against Trumps order.

Justice Clarence Thomas, who argued in dissent that the court should have let the entire executive order take effect, said the court majority set up an unworkable standard that would invite a flood of litigation in the same courts that had ruled Trumps order illegal.

Mondays order set aside rulings by federal appeals courts in Richmond, Va., and San Francisco blocking Trumps March 6 executive order, a revision of an earlier version that was also barred by federal courts.

When they return for a new term in October, the justices will be tasked with weighing the presidents broad power over immigration and national security against arguments that Trump targeted Muslims, in violation of the constitutional ban on religious discrimination, and provided no evidence to justify a temporary but blanket exclusion of more than 180 million residents of six nations.

With Thomas and Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch indicating support for Trumps order Monday, the deciding votes most likely will belong to Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose rumored retirement on the last day of the courts 2016-17 term failed to materialize.

But its not clear how much will be left to decide when the justices hear the case at the start of their 2017-18 term. By then, Trumps 90-day ban on U.S. entry from six nations will have expired, and his 120-day prohibition on all U.S. admission of refugees, those fleeing violence and hardship in their homelands, will be nearly finished as well.

While those clocks are running, according to the executive order, the Trump administration will be tightening rules for screening immigrants and refugees from countries that are potential sources of terrorism.

The justices said Monday they fully expect the administration to complete its review promptly and notify foreign governments, within 90 days, of any changes they must make in their own procedures. The court also asked for arguments from both sides in the case on whether the travel ban had actually expired on June 14  90 days after Trump first announced it  even though lower courts had kept it from taking effect.

Its an open question, said Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor of immigration law at Santa Clara University, whether this case is still a live case.

Trumps order would ban U.S. entry for 90 days of anyone from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen. Populations of those nations are between 90 and 99 percent Muslim.

Anyone holding a U.S. visa would be exempt from the order, and consular officers would be permitted to issue individual exemptions in hardship cases. U.S. consulates revoked between 60,000 and 100,000 visas of would-be entrants under Trumps first order before courts blocked it.

In addition to the accompanying 120-day ban on refugees from any country, Trump proposed to reduce overall U.S. refugee admissions from 110,000, the number approved by then-President Barack Obama, to 50,000 for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. Refugee advocates said the Trump administration has slowed its processing of refugees, limiting admissions to 46,000 so far for the 12 months that started last October.

A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled May 31 that the ban on entry from the targeted nations appeared to be an unconstitutional act of religious discrimination. The court cited Trumps advocacy as a presidential candidate for a ban on Muslim immigration, his selection of the targeted nations, and comments by the president and his advisers suggesting his executive order was a thinly disguised Muslim ban.

On June 12, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco blocked both the travel ban and the refugee exclusion, but with a different rationale: that federal immigration law bans discrimination based on national origin, and that Trump had presented no evidence that all residents of the six nations, or all refugees, presented threats to national security.

Trump  who had publicly belittled his March 6 revision as a watered-down version of his earlier, broader order  hailed the Supreme Courts action Monday as a clear victory for our national security.

But some immigrant and refugee groups said it would have little immediate impact because of the exception for those with bona fide relationships.

Almost anyone coming to the United States who has a visa or is a refugee has established ties with a U.S. resident or organization, said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Program, a plaintiff in one of the court cases. She said refugees already approved for admission usually have relationships with families or with nonprofit resettlement organizations.

The only classification that appears to be subject to the 90-day ban, under Mondays order, are people applying for visas as tourists who dont know anyone in the U.S., said Karen Tumlin, legal director of the National Immigration Law Center.

But an attorney on the same side in the case, Hardy Vieux of Human Rights First, said the loosely defined order will leave refugees stranded in difficult and dangerous situations abroad.

Mark Hetfield, president of another plaintiffs organization, HIAS, formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said the order will have a tragic toll on those who fled for their lives and played by our rules to find refuge in the United States.

The first interpretations of the courts order and its exemptions will come from Trumps Homeland Security Department when the order takes effect Thursday.

If the department starts using the order to exclude large numbers of migrants and refugees, said Omar Jadwat, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney in the case, well be there for an immediate legal challenge.

The Supreme Court cases are Trump vs. International Refugee Assistance Project, 16-1436, and Trump vs. Hawaii, 16-1540.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @egelko
Two teens were arrested in connection with a gang-related brawl that injured five people at Monte Rio Beach on Saturday evening, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's deputies found as many as 16 people fighting with bottles, cans, sticks and knives when they responded around 6:40 p.m., sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Police discovered human remains Saturday morning in Hayward that may be that of a missing San Francisco Uber driver, police said today.

Police and Alameda County sheriff's deputies went to a warehouse in Hayward at 10 a.m. following a discovery by workers there of what appeared to be human remains.

Sheriff's K-9s searched the warehouse and alerted investigators to the presence of possible human remains.

Then staff from the San Francisco medical examiner's office arrived took out several bags of body parts.

ALSO Person of interest in missing SF man case may have fled country

Police said they do not know the identity of the person found in the warehouse.

The condition of the remains means that DNA will have to be used to identify the person.

The warehouse is connected to a man, Bob Tang, who is a person of interest in the disappearance of San Francisco Uber driver Piseth Chhay.

Chhay has not been seen since May 14, according to police.

Tang is also missing and may have fled the U.S. to Cambodia. Tang's car was found May 25 at a parking lot at San Francisco International Airport.

Tang was last seen by his wife on May 22 and reported missing May 24.

Police said Tang and Chhay are family acquaintances. Police are working with federal law enforcement officials to find Tang. Tang is thought to be the last person to see Chhay.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration took a big step Monday toward clearing the way for construction of two giant tunnels that would siphon water from the Sacramento River and send it south to farms and cities.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service determined that the tunnel project, officially known as California Water Fix, would harm several endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, but that an extra 1,800 acres of habitat restoration, on top of the 30,000 acres the project calls for, would offset the damage.

Paul Souza, Pacific Southwest regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the additional habitat was without question the biggest change from earlier drafts that determined that fish would be harmed. Souza said agency biologists would monitor fish and make changes to the project if necessary to protect them once construction starts.

A top ambition of Gov. Jerry Brown, the estimated $17.1 billion twin tunnels would be the largest water project in California since the 1960s, when former Gov. Edmond G. Brown, Jerrys father, built the State Water Project that carries runoff through an aqueduct from the mountains of Northern California to much of the state.

The 4-story-high tunnels would take water from the Sacramento River and run it 35 miles under the delta, bypassing two massive pumps at the deltas southern end that are powerful enough to reverse the natural flow of water and draw fish to their deaths.

About 25 million people in Southern California and 750,000 acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland depend on the states northern rivers for fresh water.

The tunnels need clearance from the two agencies that wrote the roughly 1,000-page report, known as biological findings, released Monday. The agencies are responsible for enforcing the federal Endangered Species Act, to ensure the project does not harm endangered species, including 35 native fish, plants and other animals in the delta.

Independent biologists say half a dozen fish in the delta are close to extinct, including the delta smelt, sturgeon, steelhead trout and several native salmon.

Jon Rosenfield, a fish biologist at the Bay Institute, an environmental group in San Francisco, called the agencies opinions disappointing and unacceptable.

Its clear that the Cal Water Fix will lead to declines in delta smelt and winter-run chinook salmon, among other species.

He said the only way to help the fish is to limit the amount of water taken from rivers.

Proponents say the tunnels will improve conditions for fish by eliminating the deadly pumps while making water deliveries to the south more reliable. Critics say the tunnels will allow Southern California cities and farms in the San Joaquin Valley to take more water and starve the delta of freshwater.

Michelle Banonis, assistant chief deputy director at the state Department of Water Resources, called the federal assessments a momentous step toward the future. But the project still requires several additional approvals by state agencies.

Another key question is its financing. Water users are required to pay for the project, and must get enough water from it to justify its cost. Among the key players are the Westlands Water District, the largest water district in the nation and run by growers in the dry west side of San Joaquin Valley, and big city water districts such as Southern Californias Metropolitan Water District. These users must decide soon whether they are on board.

But the new assessment may not provide the certainty of a steady supply of water that these investors would need. Souza and Barry Thom, West Coast regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said that the opinions cover only the projects first construction phase and that a new biological opinion, potentially years down the road, would be required to cover how the tunnels are operated and how much water users get.

Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham said the district has not decided whether to participate, saying he expects a decision in September that will be based on an analysis of projected water supply benefits and costs.

Westlands has consistently stated that it will not obligate itself to billions of dollars of debt unless it is reasonably certain that the districts water supply will be restored.

Birmingham added that without a significant water supply benefit that is affordable, Westlands is unlikely to participate.

The projects faces intense opposition from delta lawmakers and environmental groups and has been stalled for much of the past decade. But there has been movement in the past year, including the Metropolitan Water Districts $175 million purchase of five delta islands in the path of the proposed tunnels that could be used for their construction.

Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com
A tourist boat packed with about 160 passengers for the weekend capsized Sunday on a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin, leaving at least six people dead and 31 missing, officials said.

Rescuers including firefighters and air force pilots in helicopters searched for survivors at the Guatape reservoir where El Almirante ferry sank. A flotilla of recreational boats and jet skis rushed to the scene, pulling people from the boat as it went down and avoiding an even deadlier tragedy.
GUATAPE, Colombia  Scuba divers on Monday continued searching for bodies in a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin where a tourist ferry packed with more than 150 passengers capsized, leaving at least seven people dead and nine missing.

After suspending their search overnight due to a lightning storm, divers by midmorning Monday had pulled a seventh body from the underwater wreckage. Authorities were also turning their attention to the causes of the sinking and whether the company that owned the boat named El Almirante contributed to the accident.

A flotilla of recreational boats and personal watercrafts had rushed to the scene Sunday, pulling people from the boat as it went down and avoiding an even deadlier tragedy.

Survivors described hearing a loud explosion near a mens bathroom that knocked out power a few minutes after the boat began its cruise around the lake. As water flooded on board, people were sucked under by the sinking ship. But it remained unclear exactly what caused the boat to sink.

In the absence of a passenger list, authorities have been relying on family members and survivors to report their whereabouts. On Monday the number of people missing was down to 9. Of those who survived the crash, three remain hospitalized but are out of danger, said Margarita Moncada, the head of the disaster relief agency in Antioquia state.

A group of a few dozen scuba divers were working Monday in hour-long shifts, looking for bodies trapped in the frigid waters around the wreckage at a depth of over 100 feet.

Some survivors and people who witnessed the tragedy unfold from the nearby shore said the boat appeared to be overloaded. But President Juan Manuel Santos, who traveled to Guatape to oversee search efforts, said it was sailing well below capacity. None of the passengers was wearing a life vest.

Nobody really knows what happened, said Santos, adding that naval officials were brought in to carry out an investigation.

The reservoir surrounding the soaring rocky outcrop of El Penol is a popular weekend destination a little more than an hour from Medellin. It was especially busy Sunday as Colombians celebrated a long holiday weekend, some of them taking a $5 pleasure cruise on El Almirante.

The Transportation Ministry said the company that owned the boat had its certification renewed in December.

Luis Benavides and Christine Armario are Associated Press writers.
JERUSALEM  The Israeli government froze a long-overdue plan Sunday to open a mixed-gender prayer area at Jerusalems Western Wall, a major policy reversal that infuriated the liberal streams of Judaism that represent most Jews in the United States.

Israel had approved the plan in January 2016 to officially recognize the special prayer area at the Western Wall  the holiest site where Jews can pray  a compromise reached after years of negotiations between liberal Israeli and American Jewish groups and the Israeli authorities. It was seen as a significant breakthrough in promoting religious pluralism in Israel, where the ultra-Orthodox authorities govern almost every facet of Jewish life.

But the program was never implemented as powerful ultra-Orthodox members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus coalition government raised objections to the decision after they had initially endorsed it. Under ultra-Orthodox management, the wall is separated between mens and womens prayer sections.

Netanyahu, trying to placate both his coalition partners and wealthy American Jewish donors, had promised the new $9 million plaza for mixed-gender prayer would be established. On Sunday, he ordered top aides to formulate a new plan but said little more. In another controversial decision Sunday, his government promoted a bill to maintain the ultra-Orthodox monopoly over conversions.

It set off a cascade of criticism from liberal groups both in Israel and abroad.

Im outraged by this government decision. I think it shows cowardice, said Anat Hoffman, chair of the Women of the Wall group, which has pushed for egalitarian access to the wall.

American Jews have been pushing for the new prayer area and had warned that if the deal did not go through it would lead to a dangerous rupture with North American Jewry.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the President of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest stream of Judaism in the United States, said the decision could lead many to rethink their support for Israel.

There is a limit to how many times you can be delegitimized and insulted, he said. This is the core mission of the Jewish state  to be a home for all Jews ... it is unthinkable but the unthinkable just happened.

Aron Heller is an Associated Press writer.
THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images

JERUSALEM  Two high-profile groups of Jewish leaders on Monday canceled meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protest his governments decision to scrap plans for a mixed-gender prayer area at Jerusalems Western Wall.

The dramatic moves reflected the widening gulf that has opened between Israel and the Jewish diaspora over how Judaism can be practiced in Israel. Most American Jews belong to the more liberal Reform and Conservative streams and feel alienated by Israels ultra-Orthodox authorities, which question their faith and practices.
SEOUL, South Korea  South Koreas foreign minister indicated strongly on Monday that her government would honor an agreement to deploy a U.S. missile-defense system despite protests and economic retaliation from China.

The deployment of the antimissile battery, known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, had been approved under Park Geun-hye, the South Korean president who was ousted on corruption charges in March. But President Moon Jae-in, who replaced Park in a special election last month, has cast doubt on the deal.

The fate of the missile battery, some of whose key components have already been installed in South Korea, had threatened to become a contentious topic when Moon meets with President Trump in Washington this week.

Since taking office, Moon has ordered his government to stop installing additional components of THAAD until it completes a domestic review, including an environmental assessment. The move provoked fears in Washington that Moon might be looking for an excuse to cancel the deal, even though he insisted that it did not mean his government would reverse the decision made under Park.

On Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the domestic review was to strengthen public support for the missile system by shoring up its political legitimacy. Calling the deployment an alliance decision, she said South Korea would continue to collaborate on the basis of mutual trust.

My government has no intention to basically reverse the commitments made in the spirit of the alliance, Kang said at a forum jointly organized by the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington.

The United States and Parks government had insisted that THAAD was necessary to guard against the growing ballistic missile threats from North Korea.

But China has vehemently criticized the THAAD deployment at its doorstep, calling it a threat to its own national security. In recent months, many South Korean brands have been boycotted in China in what was considered to be economic retaliation.

On the campaign trail, Moon expressed doubt that Parks decision was in the countrys best interest. He also questioned whether THAAD would be effective in defending South Korea from the Norths missiles.

As he and his conservative rivals have bickered over the system, it has become a crucial test of Moons attitude toward the alliance with Washington. Since his election, however, Moon has sought to dispel misgivings that his government would weaken the relationship, repeatedly emphasizing its importance. With North Koreas missile programs advancing, he has also vowed to bolster South Koreas defense.

Kangs remark Monday was one of the clearest indications from Moons government that it would honor the THAAD deal for the sake of the alliance.

Two days earlier, thousands of demonstrators briefly encircled the U.S. Embassy in Seoul during a peaceful anti-THAAD march.

Choe Sang-Hun is a New York Times writer.
ASX-listed supermarket chain operator Woolworths has sold New Zealand clothing and homeware retailer EziBuy for an undisclosed sum to Sydney-based investment firm Alceon Group.

Woolworths decided to quit the EziBuy in the middle of last year when it wrote off A$309 million of the business and had since sold it to Alceon. Woolworths bought EziBuy for NZ$350 million in August 2013 from founders Peter and Gerard Gillespie and Australian private equity firm Catalyst Investment Managers.

"Woolworths has undertaken a comprehensive sales process to ensure the right decision was made for EziBuy with a buyer who has indicated a desire to work with the team to continue to build the business," the Australian retailer said in a statement on its website. Alceon has "extensive experience and operations in the retail sector."

The decision to sell EziBuy was part of a wider move at Woolworths to lift profitability, including measures to lay off staff and close underperforming supermarkets.

Documents filed with the Companies Office today show Woolworths' EziBuy Holdings shareholding is now held by Alceon via a new New Zealand holding company, New EziBuy Ltd, with Alceon directors Richard Facioni and David Wilshire. The pair are also directors of ASX-listed retailer Noni B which Alceon took control of in 2014. Since then, Noni B has bought the Queenspark and Events brands, and last year bought James Packer's Pretty Girl Fashion Group for at least A$75 million.

Facioni and Wilshire are joined on the EziBuy Holdings board by Hilbertus Marinus van der Velde, replacing Woolworths company secretary Richard Dammery and chief financial officer David Marr.

Woolworths shares rose 1 percent to A$25.61, and Noni B shares last traded at A$1.655.

(BusinessDesk)

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NEW DELHI: As the Indian companies leverage the potential of digital printing, Japanese printing technology major Konica Minolta is set to help businesses switch to digital industrial printing for superior output, a top company executive has emphasised.

In 2016-17, Konica Minolta sold over 18,000 units in the black and white segment and around 2,000 units in the coloured segment.

"We target to increase these numbers in coming years to eye the top market share. We achieved over Rs 500 crore revenue in 2016-17 and our target is to increase the company revenue at the pace of double digit growth (year-on-year)," Kuldeep Malhotra, Vice President (Sales, Sales Planning and Communication), Konica Minolta Business Solution India, told IANS in an interview.

"The company's overall plan is to expand its footprint in diverse markets in the country and help printing businesses switch to digital industrial printing to enhance the business output," Malhotra told IANS.

India has emerged as a growth engine in the global economy thanks to an unprecedented growth in pivotal sectors including IT, Retail, SMBs and government.

"This is creating tremendous opportunities for us. India is also witnessing a rapid shift to digitisation, owing to government efforts coupled with a young tech-savvy population. We are dedicated to catalyse this transition with our industry leading digital printing solutions tailored for varied industry verticals," Malhotra noted.

Konica Minolta has continued to witness a double digit growth in India for the last six years and maintained its leadership in production printing market.

"The colour printing segment is witnessing a rapid growth in the country as the difference in costs between monochromes vs colour output is steadily decreasing. The new age offices and start-ups are also preferring colour outputs as compared to traditional prints," the top executive added.

When it comes to industrial printing, businesses are increasingly eyeing to deploy new digital printing solutions as the demand for high-quality outputs in minimal time is at an all time high.

"The printing businesses in India are also witnessing the demand for a host of different printing jobs with stringent deadlines. This is further fueling the growth of the new cutting-edge industrial printing solutions to cater to the customer demands as well as offer maximum operational efficiency at the same time," Malhotra told IANS.

Last month, Konica Minolta launched its new "Accurio Press" series printers in India.

"Our new series is a complete modular line-up of industrial digital printing solutions to help printing businesses achieve efficiency, productivity and reduce labour-related expenses," said Daisuke Mori, Managing Director of Konica Minolta India.

While demonstrating the company's high-end printing and web solutions at an exhibition in Greater Noida earlier this year, Yuji Nakata, Managing Director of Konica Minolta India, told IANS that the company has got the strongest infrastructure in India with nearly 200 engineers working on development of the products.

"India is the highest growing market for the company," Nakata added.

While the printing industry in the country is witnessing a major growth, the demand for varied jobs and rigorous deadlines of customers is proving to be a major challenge for printing businesses.

"We are committed to address this challenge with new industry leading digital printing solutions incorporated with our proprietary cutting-edge technology. We are also aggressively raising our footprint in the country via strategic partnerships to spread awareness to businesses regarding the new challenges and trends encircling this segment," Malhotra said.

At present, the company is focused on principal verticals including industrial printing, Information Technology along with Small and Medium Businesses.

"In terms of technological innovation, we will continue to invest significantly in our R&D division to come up with trend setting printing solutions for both enterprises and homes to bolster the digital revolution in the country," Malhotra told IANS, adding that the company is ready with a new line-up in colour printers catered to meet the needs of Indian enterprises.

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LISBON: India and Portugal on Saturday launched a joint international startup hub soon after Narendra Modi expressed his amazement that there has been no bilateral Indian Prime Ministerial visit ever to this European nation that is home to around 70,000 people of Indian origin.

The decision to launch the startup hub was taken during Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa's visit to India in January this year.

"Portugal has emerged as one of the most vibrant European ecosystems for entrepreneurship," Modi said during a joint address to the media with Costa, who traces his origin to Goa, after bilateral discussions.

"India too has its own viable startups and industry. The startups here is an exciting space that blends youth, idea, technology, innovation and creativity to generate value and wealth for the benefit of the society," he said.

Given Goa's strong cultural and historic connection with Portugal, Modi's visit, the first leg of his three-nation tour that will also take him to the US and the Netherlands, is significant.

Modi said that it was "surprising for me to know that there had never been a bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Portugal".

"However, I take satisfaction in the fact that this is the second summit between India and Portugal within a period of six months," he said.

Costa visited India in January this year after becoming head of government last year.

"Our economic ties continue to follow an upward trajectory. Bilateral trade has grown 17 pct last year," Modi said.

"And, the foreign direct investment from Portugal to India, though small, has doubled during 2016-17. But, there is much more that we can do to increase the flow of goods, services, capital and human resources between our two economies."

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Page Content

Graduation at the Point Blanche Prison.

On Friday, June 23rd, 40 inmates of the Point Blanche Prison received their certificates for the various courses they followed and successfully completed during a graduation ceremony held at the facility.





Certificates were awarded to the graduates in the fields of music, Christian education, preparations for GED, mathematics, computer classes and the English and Dutch languages.





Among the invited guests were Minister of Justice, Rafael Boasman, representing the Minister of Education was Shermina Powell, members of the commission of supervision of the prison, Johannes Schols, Ludwina Hodge and Wilfred Manning, coordinator of education at the Miss Lalie Center Mr. Lenrich Wilson and the public relations officer for the minister of justice Fernando Clark.





The ceremony got on the way at 9.30 with an opening prayer by Rev. Elfreda Lake followed by the words of welcome and inspiration to the graduates by the prison directors Steven Carty and Wilfred Williams. The Minister of Justice, Rafael Boasman addressed the graduates, urging them to make the right choices in life. The minister pointed out that he too has made choices in life, some good and some not so good, and had to live with the consequences. He encouraged the graduates to look towards the future and not to linger on the negative choices made in the past.





Before receiving their certificates, some of the graduates displayed their talents with poetry, a musical performance and a display of projects learned in computer classes.





Together with the representative of the minister of education and the prison directors the proud instructors handed out the certificate for the subject they covered to the graduates.





The team of seven external instructors at the prison consists of Rev. Elfreda Lake, Bernard Hollis, Oswald Francis, Joan Sharplis, Vernon Illidge, Sheena Romney, and Julian Grill while Leo de Windt and Les Brown serve as the prisons internal instructors. The instructors are supported by the mentors H.A. Concincion, S. Williams and S. Janga.





Before ending the official part of the ceremony, the vote of thanks was delivered by one of the graduating inmates who recited two of his poems which had the attendees in awe followed by a gracious round of applause.





The ceremony was followed by snacks and drinks for the graduates and the invitees.

In photo: (l to r) Ms.Shernima Powell, representing the minister of Education, Coordinator of the Miss Lalie Center Mr. Lenrich Wilson, Minister of Justice Rafael Boasman, Prison Directors Steven Carty and Wilfred Williams.




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Union members at the Australian National University have launched a campaign against proposed changes to their working hours that could see them work into the evening without penalty rates.

The National Tertiary Education Union and the ANU are negotiating a new enterprise agreement for university employees including librarians, some research staff, maintenance and IT workers.

The NTEU and ANU are in negotiations. Credit:Louie Douvis

The conversation has broken down around a proposal to roster librarians on from 8am to 10pm, instead of until 6pm, and IT staff from 7am to 7pm, instead of from 8am to 6pm.

NTEU ACT secretary Rachael Bahl said changing the hours staff may be required to work effectively removed penalty rates and entitlements. The proposal is understood to affect about 300 ANU employees.
Reverse psychology may be to thank for Verity McWilliam's elevation as the ACT's newest Supreme Court associate judge on Monday.

After she swore an oath upon a small white bible given to her as an infant by her godmother, she told a packed court room that shortly into her legal career she feared the law wasn't for her.

Verity McWilliam, who grew up in Canberra, is the ACT's newest Supreme Court associate justice. Credit:Karleen Minney

Her second week working at Price Waterhouse Coopers litigation had her sleep deprived and overwhelmed, and upon hearing she wanted to quit, her mother suggested a career in publishing instead.

Associate justice McWilliam ignored the advice and stayed on, and years later has returned to Canberra to join the bench of the Supreme Court, balancing the gender make-up for a 50:50 split between male and female justices.
Virgin Australia passengers complained to the airline ombudsman more often than Jetstar passengers last year, new figures show.

The industry-funded Airline Customer Advocate's 2016 annual report shows Tigerair again received the highest rate of complaints across the top-five most complained about issues out of Australia's four largest carriers.

Tigerair received 31.9 complaints for every million passengers over refunds, delays and cancellations, baggage services, fees and charges, and airport customer services, the report shows. That is down from 37.7 complaints per million passengers in 2015.

Virgin Australia, Tigerair's full-service sister carrier, was the subject of 13.5 complaints about those issues per million passengers carried, up from 10.5 in the prior year.
Baoshan: Crown Resorts staff including executive Jason O'Connor are expected to plead guilty when their court case is heard on Monday in Baoshan District Court, outside Shanghai.

The trial of the 19 Crown staff and former staff is expected to be heard in one day, with a verdict issued this week.

Family members of the Crown employees arrived at the court in a fleet of silver vans, wearing smog masks and dark glasses as a shield from media cameras. They were shepherded from the vans and through a media throng in small groups by Crown security consultants.

Jenny Jiang, who had arranged visas for Crown clients and was one of only three defendants on bail, arrived with her husband Jeff Sikima.
Baoshan: Three Australian Crown Resorts staff who have been detained in China for eight months will be released within weeks, after being sentenced in Baoshan District Court.

Nineteen Crown staff pleaded guilty to the crime of promoting gambling on Monday, in a trial that lasted half a day.

Crown's head of VIP Operations, Jason O'Connor, from Melbourne, was sentenced to 10 months including time served, so is expected to be released on August 14.

Four other staff members - Crown's head of China, Alfred Gomez, and three Chinese nationals - received the same sentence.
The threat of Amazon disrupting Australia's grocery market is overblown and independent supermarkets are better off focusing on their local customer than hitching themselves to the online bandwagon, the outgoing boss of wholesaler Metcash says.

The company, which supplies 1683 IGA supermarkets nationwide, was the best performing stock on the ASX on Monday, jumping 5 per cent after handing down better than expected full-year results.

The sector has been in a slump and dipped further last week on news Amazon was buying American grocery chain Whole Foods, signalling it wanted to take a bite out of a market previously considered less vulnerable to disruption by the e-commerce giant.

But Metcash chief executive Ian Morrice said it was too early to know if Amazon would include a fresh food offering when it opened in Australian, which could happen as early as next year.
Scientists from Oxford and Coventry Universities have just published research suggesting the brain-boosting effects of regular sexual activity on 50-somethings' verbal fluency and visual memory. You can only assume champion Scrabble players go at the act of intimacy like crazed stoats.

None of these revelations come as a huge surprise. Poets have known for centuries that passion is the path to the most enthralling verse. No one walks away from the collected works of Shakespeare without knowing they've encountered a writer with extensive experience of physical rapture. It just took science a while to catch up.

Frequent exercise improves almost every aspect of human function, so it makes sense horizontal exercise is a universal panacea.

Professors at Rutgers University in New Jersey, armed with a state-of-the-art MRI scanner, have shown the brain floods with blood, oxygen and nutrients at the point of orgasm - activating key areas associated with neurological function. It's not often I can boast this, but as far as I know I'm the only British woman to have donated an orgasm to science as part of Rutgers' ongoing research project. (Yes, this did involve self-stimulation in a clanking metal tube in a sterile white room, but I will not elaborate in this newspaper.)

My trip to New Jersey allowed me to talk to the boffins at some length about the physical, mental and emotional benefits of sex. Frequent exercise improves almost every aspect of human function, so it makes sense horizontal exercise is a universal panacea. Men who remain sexually active are less likely to suffer prostate cancer, while female enthusiasts enjoy cardiovascular benefits. There's also evidence that people who maintain active sex lives live longer than those who don't. And then there's sex's mood-enhancing properties: swifter and surer than any medication.
My daughter celebrated her 14th birthday at the weekend. Around the table for dinner were four of her closest friends and former classmates through many years of primary school.

These friendships have been hard won, forged not from common interests but from something much more elusive and valuable: empathy. My daughter, who has Down syndrome and accompanying difficulties, finds it very hard to make friends. Not surprising in the fast-changing landscape of childhood where she is often left behind. She doesn't get the joke, cannot easily follow a conversation and is not on social media. She exists largely in an imaginary world where she protects herself from the pain of reality with an arsenal of strange behaviours.

Principals will be encouraged to get the health checks every second year..

For her party she couldn't decide between having a Princess Ball or an Alien Invasion. In the end, it was a mixture of both. One of her female guests thoughtfully came dressed as a prince, and the only boy present obligingly sat and made a mask, with glue, glitter and sequins. Afterwards, we all ate a Green Monster birthday cake.

I offer this vignette, painful as it is to write about, as a testament to the power of inclusive education. Not just from my daughter's perspective, but from that of her friends. The fact that they are here, a bunch of teenagers at a Saturday afternoon Princess-cum-Alien birthday party shows that they have learned something which in this country is unfortunately not taught; empathy.
Rogue Greens senator Lee Rhiannon could soon be expelled from the party after all nine of her federal colleagues made a formal complaint about her conduct during recent school funding negotiations.

But Senator Rhiannon's hardline factional supporters have hit back at party leader Richard Di Natale and his allies, calling on them to retract the complaint and hinting at retaliation if it goes any further.

The Left Renewal faction says it is "deeply disappointed" in the parliamentary team for "cruelly and publicly" undermining Senator Rhiannon.
One of the Turnbull government's most senior ministers has been caught on tape predicting same-sex marriage could be legalised "sooner than everyone thinks".

In comments that could antagonise the conservative forces inside the Coalition, senior Liberal moderate and Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne suggested plans were afoot to change the government's policy of a plebiscite.

Mr Pyne's remarks were made at a gathering of moderates on Friday night before the party's federal council meeting in Sydney at the weekend, according to a leaked tape obtained by News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt.
The Greens have twice censured rogue senator Lee Rhiannon for disloyalty and fear she will continue to destabilise the party if they impose a similar sanction for undermining their school funding negotiations.

Leader Richard Di Natale held talks with his MPs on Monday as they weighed Senator Rhiannon's future, with expulsion from the party room believed to be a live option despite threats from her militant factional allies.

Figures in the NSW party, where Senator Rhiannon has significant influence, are considering withholding funding from the federal party if the attack on her escalates, and some believe a permanent split could be looming.

The party room will meet again in the coming days to make a final decision but there is little hope it will end the worsening disunity.
Earlier this month Lena Dunham wrote an ode to bright red lipstick in Vogue. Drawing on examples from politicians, activists, fashion designers and her own mother, artist Laurie Simmons, Dunham argued that wearing red lipstick was an inherently bold and defiant act; a powerful way to express your femininity and amplify your opinions in what is, at this moment, an aggressively patriarchal culture. "The revolution," wrote Dunham, "will wear red lipstick."

Dunham also believes that bright lipstick just looks really great. And what is feminism right now but an embrace, not just of fashion and femininity, but of every sort of beauty?

Glossy ... Kaia Gerber is the face of Marc Jacobs' new Hi-Shine lip lacquer.

Oh, it's terribly fashionable at the moment. Dunham cited the Prada and Topshop collections as proof, but look at any style-conscious celebrity and you'll note they are leading with their lips. Kerry Washington, I mean of course  her lips are stupendous. And she usually goes for a slightly orange red. And what about Priyanka Chopra? Her lips are very often painted a deep crimson and they look stunning. Gal Gadot ventured into dark burgundy territory at the Mexico premiere of Wonder Woman.

But for me? Personally? I just ... can't. I think, perhaps because, I was a teenager in the 1990s when bold, dark, matte lips were considered the business. This means that I associate red lipstick with awkward teenage experimentation  specifically, my own. Also? I've always had pink undertones. I won't go so far as to call my skin the colour of bacon as it upsets my mother, but you get the idea.
First daughter, entrepreneur, "woman who works" and White House adviser Ivanka Trump is headed to court.

A district judge ruled that Trump must give a deposition in a lawsuit brought against her brand by Italian luxury shoe company, Aquazzura.

Ivanka Trump is headed to court. Credit:Getty

The shoe company claims that, not for the first time, Trump's eponymous shoe line has copied their design, with the brand claiming that its popular "Wild Thing" shoe was re-created almost identically in Trump's "Hettie" sandal.

However Trump  who has distanced herself from the clothing label that bears her name to avoid potential conflicts of interest in her new role in the White House  claims that she wasn't involved in designing the shoe, stating, "I had no involvement in the conception, design, production or sale of the 'Hettie Shoe'." She then put the blame on her footwear licensing partner, Marc Fisher, who is also being sued.
In both cases, a speaking tour would be a metaphorical two-fingered salute to their accusers and victims. What has either man learned from their brush with the law, or the impact their accusers say the assaults have had on them? On the face of it, not much. In an affidavit for a civil suit Cosby said, "I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection". To my mind, the biggest issue is that a speaking tour of this kind would give Cosby, Brock and other alleged and convicted high-profile perpetrators a powerful platform to promote the idea of "grey rape" to other men, when what they need is clear advice about consent  and that has the potential to do serious harm.



"Grey rape" is a particular kind of rape myth that has gained traction over the last decade. It was first coined in a 2007 Cosmo article entitled, "A New Kind of Date Rape", which described it as "sex that falls somewhere between consent and denial and is even more confusing than date rape because often both parties are unsure of who wanted what". Proponents of "grey rape" tend to blame "hook-up culture" and changes in sexual mores for blurring the boundary between how men and women are supposed to act, as opposed to the old-fashioned notion that men are biologically conditioned to seek out sex and it's a woman's job to rebuff their advances. Now that it's okay for women to have casual sex, how are men supposed to navigate the gauntlet of "mixed signals" and "blurred boundaries"?

If this idea that a lack of clarity around consent exists can be normalised, "grey rapes" can be excused as an accident  something that results from a misunderstanding. In all its manifestations, "grey rape" offers perpetrators an excuse and argues some forms of sexual assault are less serious or trivial. It's not "real rape". Campaigners have long fought to retire this enduring myth of "real rape" and raise awareness of "date" and "acquaintance" rape. "Real rape", as traditional thinking has defined it, happens when a half-crazed man jumps out from behind the bushes, assaults a woman with force and she actively fights him off  all the better if she sustains serious physical injury. But we now know that the vast-majority of rapes don't fit this description. Most rapes occur in private homes, the victims know their perpetrators, and alcohol is often involved  with evidence it is frequently used as a weapon. We also know women commonly freeze during an assault, so the expectation that they should actively fight off an attacker is just plain wrong. As the wider community and courts have begun to understand the reality of rape, "grey rape" has arrived to muddy the waters (although it's essentially a rebranding of date or acquaintance rape that draws on many of the same myths that fuel the belief there's only one kind of "real rape"). A speaking tour as proposed by the likes of Cosby and Turner is essentially a vehicle for sexual assault perpetrators to commune with other men to normalise and lessen the severity of their behaviour, by furthering the idea that there is a grey area when it comes to consent. Instead of teaching them about affirmative consent, however, they're encouraged to see themselves as victims of an unfair system, rather than recognising that sex without gaining consent is criminal.

David Lisak, a US psychologist who has done extensive research on "undetected rapists" has written extensively about the difficulty of preventing acquaintance rape due to perpetrator's lack of self-awareness. "They don't wear ski masks, they don't wield knives, so they don't see themselves as rapists," he has said. Young men need good advice that turns on its head outdated idea that men are entitled to assume they've received consent from a variety of "signals" they are free to interpret at will. They need advice that puts responsibility to actively seek consent on their shoulders, rather than leave it to women to risk life and limb to fight off an attacker, or ensure they don't do anything that could subsequently be interpreted as sending the wrong "signals". Loading Some call it "affirmative consent", some call it "enthusiastic consent". I have a strong suspicion neither would feature prominently in the thinking of Cosby or Turner. Their message, I believe, would be tinged in grey.
Julia Files and Anita Mayer, physicians at the Mayo Clinic, started seeing a pattern: When their male colleagues were introduced at conferences, they were usually called "Doctor." But the men introduced them and other female doctors by their first names.

The pair quickly realised they weren't alone. Sharonne Hayes, another Mayo doctor, had noticed the same thing. While a male colleague would be introduced as "Dr. Joe Smith," for example, the women were often simply called "Julia," "Anita" and "Sharonne."

"I doubt that it's purposeful but no doubt that it's dysfunctional." Credit:iStock

So the three decided to study speaker introductions at "grand rounds" - events where doctors, researchers, residents and medical students present medical problems and treatments for discussion. Their research showed that unequal introductions were real - that women were less likely than men to be introduced by professional title when men did the introducing.

"It gets down to perception of expertise, perception of competence," said Files, an associate professor of medicine at Mayo and the lead author of the study. "We know that in other settings, choices of words really impact women's progress in careers."
New blast resistant doors, bullet proof panels and anti-intruder fences will be installed at some of Australia's at-risk foreign embassies, as part of moves to keep federal government employees safe overseas.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has flagged installation of the security upgrades at some of the nation's more than 100 overseas diplomatic installations, embassies and high commissions through an approach to market, including for blast mitigation systems, vehicle barriers and bullet proof building materials.

Guards outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, where a car bomb in September 2004 killed nine people. Credit:Ed Wray

Blast resistant enclosures for guard booths, security mesh, bullet proof and intruder resistant doors and windows are being sourced by the government, as well as technology to block forced entry, security counters, document pass through drawers and intercom systems.

Bomb blast net curtains will also be purchased, designed to stop injury or death from flying glass and debris during an explosion.
Clover Moore has suffered a major blow after her hand-picked deputy, prominent doctor Kerryn Phelps, quit the Lord Mayor's team of independents on Monday night, blaming a lack of transparency.

Cr Phelps, elected to council as the first on the ticket of Cr Moore's independent group last year, will remain on council but will no longer be part of what is, in effect, the Lord Mayor's party.

Cr Phelps said in a statement she had been asking questions about the council's expenses policies but had been "concerned about the resistance I have encountered in simply asking for what I consider to be reasonable information."

But Cr Moore immediately savaged her decision to resign during Monday night's council meeting, and questioned her motivations.
The wanted fugitive linked to former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale's decision to carry $50,000 in cash through a Melbourne airport is back behind bars after almost a year on the run.

Police in Sydney arrested Hui Tian on Thursday, before he was extradited on Saturday to Queensland, where he spent the remainder of the weekend in the watchhouse.

Barrister Sam Di Carlo has been fined $4000 for contempt. Credit:Jorge Branco

The 32-year-old appeared briefly in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday morning, charged with breach of bail and a series of outstanding fraud and forgery offences.

In a rare sight for Brisbane's lower-level arrest court, high-profile barrister Sam Di Carlo represented Mr Tian, who did not apply for bail.
The details surrounding the "shocking" death of a Queensland woman have been published to raise awareness and continue the push to speak out on domestic violence, a Brisbane coroner says.

KH, as she is referred to in Brisbane coroner Christine Clements' non-inquest findings published last week, was 35 when she was killed by her abusive partner "C" in their rural Queensland home in 2011.

The woman's death was an "appalling crime", Brisbane coroner Christine Clements said.

The mother-of-one had been with C for about two years, travelling around rural Queensland in a caravan before they settled into a rental property in mid-2010.

In May that year, C was charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm for punching KH in face in April.
Queensland police would get powers to stop and search people, their phones, computers and Facebook photos following a terrorist attack, under proposed laws.

Under the changes, police would not need a warrant to be able to stop, detain and search people, vehicles and anything in their possession  laptops and mobile phones, for example  during a declared emergency or terrorist emergency.

The extraordinary emergency powers would be used in a declared area, for example where explosives had been used, people were being held hostage or if several people were wounded in a crowded place and it was not known who the attacker was.

Police Minister Mark Ryan introduced the Counter-Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment this month, mentioning the attacks in London, France, Sweden and Belgium.
A teenager charged over the death of Queensland toddler Mason Jet Lee might have been present when the child suffered a critical blow, a court has heard.

Ryan Robert Barry Hodson was charged in July last year with the manslaughter of 22-month-old Mason, who died from severe injuries in Caboolture on June 11, 2016.

The court heard the teen may have been present when toddler Mason Lee suffered a criticla blow.

A successful bail bid in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday heard the crown case - described by prosecutor Vicky Loury as "compelling" - now also alleged Hodson may have been there when a blow was administered to the victim.

But the court also heard there was "no direct evidence" about who was responsible for the critical blow to Mason's abdomen, or when the injury occurred.
A man's body has been found in a house west of Melbourne.

Emergency services were called to an address in Deer Park about 4.30pm on Monday.

They found the dead man inside the Erin Square residence, a Victoria Police spokesman said.

Horrified residents are returning from work to find their street cordoned off as homicide detectives investigate.
She was heard scratching and murmuring through the floorboards.

Neighbours had seen the blonde woman earlier removing fence palings from a rear boundary of the derelict house in Essendon's Miller Street.

The ramshackle residence in Essendon where a woman was trapped for days under the floor. Credit:Chris Hopkins

On Sunday, firefighters pulled her "extremely dehydrated and incoherent" from a small space under the kitchen.

"It was weird, very weird," one neighbour said on Monday.
The selection process for Western Australia's next police commissioner should be restarted following claims of political interference and the sudden departure of a respected panel member, the opposition says.

A panel assembled by the Public Sector Commission had a shortlist of candidates, but former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty recently withdrew from the committee with little explanation.

Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan.

Premier Mark McGowan said on Sunday there might have been some personal issues on top of an interview scheduling conflict, but there have also been claims of political interference in the process.

"Everyone's certainly entitled to their view, and they can express it, but there should be no interference," WA Police Union president George Tilbury told 6PR radio on Monday.
A 21-year-old Perth man accused of killing his own baby might not face a trial until April next year.

Dylan Clinton O'Meara appeared in the West Australian Supreme Court on Monday having previously denied unlawfully killing his seven-month-old son Shisui Grady O'Meara at their Rockingham home in April last year.

O'Meara with his son Shisui. Credit:Facebook

According to ABC News police told the Perth Magistrates Court in April that O'Meara had forcibly pulled the baby out of his cot while preparing him for a feed during the night of April 8, 2016, breaking the child's forearm, wrist and elbow.

When the child cried in pain, O'Meara put a blanket in his mouth to try to settle him, police said.
Police say a hammer, a machete and a knife were used in a home invasion in Mandurah on Sunday night that left a father-of-four in hospital with a broken nose.

Three men forced their way into 36-year-old Ben Verelst's home on Sutton Street at 5.30pm and began trashing property.

They attacked Mr Verelst, breaking his nose, before fleeing with his wallet, phone, keys and car.

Speaking to 9 News Perth Mr Verelst said he had been staying with his mother since the attack, too scared to return to his own home.
Shaken passengers on a Kuala-Lumpur-bound AirAsia flight that had to return with a technical failure on Sunday morning have spent the night at Perth Airport while the faulty plane was under investigation, according to one passenger.

Radio 6PR spoke to 23-year-old passenger Emily from Brisbane, who had been on the X A330 flight, and was now waiting to board a replacement flight with her mum to finally reach their holiday destination.

She said the airline assured them they weren't being put on the same aircraft that suffered a suspected engine failure the day before.

"They have told us it's not the same aircraft and that it has gone under investigation," she said.
Medellin, Colombia: The Australian consulate in Bogota is making urgent inquiries to establish whether any Australians were on board when a Colombian tourist ferry packed with 150 passengers sank.

Authorities have said at least six people were killed, after revising the toll from nine and 31 were reported missing after the ferry capsized on a reservoir near the city of Medellin on Sunday local time shortly after taking off.

A major rescue effort involving Colombia's air force and firefighters from nearby cities searched for survivors at the Guatape reservoir where the accident took place. Medellin's mayor appealed to motorists to stay off roads to facilitate the arrival of rescuers, ambulances and first responders.

"The most important thing right now is to save lives," Mayor Federico Gutierrez said.
New York: Michael Bloomberg will throw his financial might into helping beleaguered American mayors, creating a $US200 million ($264 million) philanthropic program aimed at backing inventive policies at the city level and giving mayors a stronger hand in national politics.

Bloomberg plans to announce the initiative on Monday in a speech to the US Conference of Mayors in Miami Beach, Florida, where he will castigate federal officials and state governments around the country for undermining cities. He plans to describe the program, called the American Cities Initiative, as a method of shoring up the global influence of the United States despite turmoil in Washington.

A wealthy former mayor of New York who seriously explored running for president in 2016 as an independent, Bloomberg, 75, has embraced a public role since the election as a kind of elite-level organiser against certain policies of the Trump administration.

In an interview, Bloomberg said his city-focused initiative would serve in part as an extension of his advocacy for national policies that address climate change, gun violence, public health and immigration. That largely liberal agenda is aligned with the growing aspirations of big-city mayors, who are mainly Democrats and who have vowed to check conservative mandates emerging from Washington by using their power at the local level.
The court also said it would allow a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to go into effect on the same grounds, allowing the government to exclude from the United States refugee claimants who do not have any "bona fide relationship" with an American individual or entity. Protesters demonstrate against the travel ban in May. Credit:AP Three of the court's conservatives said they would have granted Mr Trump's request in full, including Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch. The case is Mr Trump's first major challenge at the Supreme Court, where he restored a 5-4 conservative majority with the appointment of Mr Gorsuch, who joined the bench in April. There are five Republican appointees on the court and four Democratic appointees. The US Supreme Court Building in Washington. Credit:AP

Justice Clarence Thomas warned that requiring officials to differentiate between foreigners who have connection to the US and those who do not will prove unworkable. "Today's compromise will burden executive officials with the task of deciding - on peril of contempt - whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country," Mr Thomas wrote. That indicates that people from the six countries and refugees who have family, business or other ties would not be barred from entry. But those seeking visas to enter the US with no such ties could be barred. But what counts as a bona fide relationship - or even whether existing visa holders are secure - may force lower-court judges to again weigh in on the immigration fight before a final ruling from the Supreme Court on the legality of President Donald Trump's travel ban. "How individuals will prove such a relationship, and whether the burden of proof will be on the government or the individuals seeking entry, remains to be seen," Cornell University Law School professor Stephen Yale-Loehr said in an email. "I predict chaos at the border and new lawsuits as foreign nationals and refugees argue that they are entitled to enter the United States."

In its 13-page order temporarily allowing a portion of the travel ban to go into effect on June 29, the justices detailed some examples of a bona fide relationship. They include a foreign national who wishes to live with or visit a family member, a student who has been admitted by a university, or a worker with an offer of employment from a US business. But as Justice Clarence Thomas warned in a brief dissent, even this temporary order may prove "unworkable" and lead to a "flood of litigation" as US customs and border officials wrestle with whether persons from the six counties have sufficient ties. Courts "will struggle to determine what exactly constitutes a 'bona fide relationship', who precisely has a 'credible claim' to that relationship," he said. The March 6 order called for a 90-day ban on travellers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to enable the government to implement stronger vetting procedures. It was blocked by federal judges before going into effect on March 16 as planned. Mr Trump issued the order amid rising international concern about attacks carried out by Islamist militants like those in Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin and other cities. But critics have called the order a mean-spirited, intolerant and un-American "Muslim ban". The state of Hawaii and a group of plaintiffs in Maryland represented by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the order violated federal immigration law and the Constitution's First Amendment prohibition on the government favouring or disfavouring any particular religion. Regional federal appeals courts in Virginia and California both upheld district judge injunctions blocking the order.
PHILIPSBURG:--- It is easy to assign a PR person or agency to immediately issue a run-of-the-mill press release the day after the event, stating that the Caribbean Aviation Meetup on St.Maarten was a success. No doubt, that the event was indeed a significant accomplishment. But it was better to wait a week, do the debriefing first and evaluate the various comments and suggestions that are received. How can one recognize whether the conference was a success and what may be expected for the conference next year?

This years conference may have been called a regional conference with international ambitions. The participant from the farthest away, New Zealand made a 33-hours trip to get to conference and several participants came from Europe. In total twenty countries and territories were represented. Next year, it will be a full- fledged International conference for the benefit of the region. There is already a serious interest of companies and organizations from Germany, Norway, Israel, Colombia, Belize, and Brazil, to send representatives. Because of the globalization, one has to look ahead to set a date and examine which other international conferences are held in the industry in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

The date for the 3rd Caribbean Aviation Meetup next year will be June 12-14, 2018. What also underlines the success of an event are the inquiries by countries whether it could be held there. Currently there are inquiries from The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, and of course St.Maarten.

Two companies that came to the event to explore the opportunities in the Caribbean have decided to establish an operation or branch in the region. Immediately following the conference, the executive of one of them has submitted a company internal 16-page report on the findings and information gathered during the conference. If the person would not see an opportunity, it would only have been a one-page report and in essence saying: forget it. The question remains where these companies are willing to settle. In order to explore such, the various islands should have competent networkers from both the public and private sector at the conference. This exploration and evaluation will again happen next year by other companies from abroad.

At this years conference, two airports in the region had decided to send six and more staff members because of the educational content and value of the conferences presentations.

Government officials cannot always afford the time away from the office, or their institution cannot cover the expense of sending several of its staff members. And so, the transportation department of CARICOM which is located at their headquarters in Guyana, inquired if it was possible to follow the conference through online streaming. That is something that will be looked into for next year because it is important that the conference content will be disseminated as widely as possible for the benefit of the region. But the inquiry itself shows the growing importance of Meetup.

In the week after the event, the various comments came in varying from Thank you so much for the invitation to attend and participate in one of the best aviation forums in this part of the world to My hearty congratulations for arranging what I found to be an extremely worthwhile and successful conference.

There are the typical post-conference reports in the media. Along the news that during the event, The Bahamas was honored with the Sapphire Pegasus Award for its international promotion of the country and the Caribbean, was published in twenty-six media outlets in the region. However, the international media representatives that were on location to cover the event, are currently writing their feature articles about individual subjects that were discussed, or are processing the interviews they had with persons of interest. The articles will be published in various monthly media outlets. As an example, one journalist informed us that his editor of an international magazine based in the UK has approved the publication of five articles on the airlines in the region in their monthly magazine between now and December.

Summarizing and Responding to the question was the Caribbean Aviation Meetup a success, without exaggeration the answer is positive. With confidence, the planning and preparation for next years conference have already started.
GREAT BA(DCOMM):--- The Collective Prevention Services (CPS), has been in contact with family doctors about notifying the CPS surveillance system if they come across cases of conjunctivitis, also known as red eye or pink eye.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has issued an epidemiological update after five countries and territories of the Americas have reported outbreaks of conjunctivitis. These are the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Martinique, The Bahamas and Brazil.

Outbreaks of conjunctivitis in other countries of the Region are under investigation according to PAHO.

CPS, a department of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour, has followed suit with respect to PAHOs recommendation: In light of the increased transmission of conjunctivitis in some countries and territories of the Region, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) encourages Member States to strengthen surveillance and implement control measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

The most common causes of conjunctivitis are viruses, bacteria, irrita, ts and allergens. The virus and bacteria are very contagious. In Guadeloupe where laboratory tests were performed on a set of samples from suspected cases, they were positive for enteroviruses. Conjunctivitis bacteria is a leading cause of children being absent from daycare or school.

Symptoms of conjunctivitis can include: pink or red color in the white of the eye(s); swelling of the thin layer that lines the white part of the eye and the inside of the eyelid; increased tear production; feeling like a foreign body in the eye (s) or an urge to rub the eye (s); itching; irritation, and/or burning; discharge (pus or mucas); crusting of eyelids or lashes. Conjunctivitis is also one of the symptoms of Zika mosquito-borne disease.

Conjunctivitis can spread easily from person to person. You can greatly reduce the risk of getting conjunctivitis or spreading it to someone else by following some simple good hygiene steps.

If you have conjunctivitis, you can help limit its spread to other people by following these steps: wash your hands often with soap and warm water; wash them especially well before and after cleaning or applying eye drops or ointment to your infected eye; if soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Avoid touching or rubbing your eyes; wash pillows, sheets, washcloths, and towels often in hot water and detergent; wash your hands after handling such items.

Do not share personal items, such as pillows, washcloths, towels, eye drops, eye make-up, or eye glasses; do not use swimming pools.

If you are diagnosed with bacterial or viral conjunctivitis (aka Red eye, Pink eye), limit your contact with other individuals until you are better; keep your child home from school or daycare until he/she is no longer contagious.

Its usually safe to return to school or work when symptoms have been resolved. To minimize the risk of transmission, it is important to practice good hygiene.

If symptoms persist, you should contact your family physician who can then refer you to an eye specialist.

For additional information you can contact CPS at: 542-2078 or 542-3003.
GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- Monday, June 26 marks International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. It is also an internationally recognized day in support of Victims of Torture.

According to the UN (United Nations), nearly 200 million people are using illicit drugs such as cocaine, cannabis, hallucinogens, opiates and sedative hypnotics worldwide.

In December 1987 the UN General Assembly decided to observe June 26 as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The UN was determined to help create an international society free of drug abuse.

This day is supported by individuals, communities and various organizations all over the world. While the UN General Assembly adopted a political declaration to address and fight against this global drug problem, Sint Maarten is paving its way also to address this problem, as part of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) 16, on Peace, Justice and strong Institutions, from a local perspective.

Research against Violence and Abuse was conducted by UNICEF in 2012 entitled, The Situation of Children and Adolescents in Sint Maarten.

The report stated that a contributing factor of students dropping out of school not only relates to students with behavioral problems but also those who use drugs and are physically violent with other students.

A child protection system has been set up which includes a six-step protocol for detection and intervention in cases that a child has been abused, neglected, mistreated or if there has been some kind of violence.

Relational violence also referred to as domestic violence has to do with physical and/or sexual violence. This violence does not only affect adolescents, but also children, and is generally invisible and not reported.

Besides, women and children, it also affects men, parents and the elderly. In 2010, directives were put in place which identified children as victims when they were witness to relational violence.

As of January 2014, a change came in the Civil Code, BWI article 243 where the Court of Guardianship was appointed as the Central Reporting Center on Child Abuse.

The tasks of the Court of Guardianship entails the following: Registering the abuse; investigating the safety of the child; advise the individuals and or entities by reporting or intervening in the child abuse cases:

1. Execute the intervention measures. These are either:

(a) Warning

(b) Removing from parental custody. This is done after permission from the Public Prosecutor or Judge.

2. Press charges against the perpetrator. This is done in the event the legal guardian does not do it.

The following figures are related to child abuse over a three-year period.

Physical abuse 14 13 22

Psychological/

emotional abuse 2 1 5

Sexual abuse 19 8 6
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle has teamed up once again with Scotiabank to host the 7th Annual Scotiabank Rotary/Rotaract Spelling Bee Competition for elementary school students aged 9-10 years old.

The objective of this Spelling Bee is to improve literacy and enhance the students educational experience. With Scotiabanks commitment, Mid Isle Club is confident that this years Spelling Bee will be successful once again.

For the second year, Mid Isle will be offering tutorial sessions to the students who will be participating. The schools will be able to sign up with Mid Isle members for the students to be assisted by Rotarians and Rotaractors to learn the words which will give them a better chance to advance to the second and third rounds.

The Scotiabank Rotary/Rotaract Spelling Bee will take place at the Belair Community Center on the Sundays, October 15th, 22nd, and 29th. The Spelling Bee is a fun, competitive way of teaching the students and improving their vocabulary.

The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle meets Tuesday at 7 pm at Marys Boone in Simpson Bay. For more information please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit our Facebook page, Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister Plenipotentiary Doran-York recently met with Honorable Vice Chair of the Council of Advice, Mrs. Mavis Brooks Salmon at the Sint Maarten House in The Hague.

Vice Chair, Mrs. Brooks-Salmon, who also served as Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary during the time of the Netherlands Antilles, is also no stranger to Minister Doran-York, who deemed it an honor to welcome and meet with the Vice Chair, for the first time in an official capacity, since her tenure as Minster Plenipotentiary.

The main discussion point was the working relationship between the Cabinet and the Council of Advice, especially where it pertains to proposals for Kingdom Laws and Decrees of General order.

Minister Doran-York also explained how her core task of representing Sint Maarten during the Kingdom Council of Ministers meetings, and other official meetings, has been thus far and gave an update as to the current status of the Cabinet, what has been achieved over the past year, as well as what the upcoming plans were.

In closing, it was agreed by both parties, to continue the great working relationship that already exists between the two entities, as they strive to do all in their power to take Sint Maarten to the next level.
PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten  The Central Committee will meet in a session on June 27, 2017.

This Central Committee meeting is a continuation of the meeting which started on March 9, 2017, with a continuation on June 1, 2017. The continuation meeting has been set for Tuesday, June 27, 2017, at 11.00 hrs. in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is:

Draft Code of Conduct Members of Parliament.

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.

Continuation Central Committee meeting regarding the current state of affairs of NV GEBE on Monday

The Central Committee will meet in a session on June 26, 2017. The Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure, who is the Shareholder Representative of GEBE, as well as the Management Board of NV GEBE will be present.

The Central Committee meeting was requested by Members of Parliament, F.A. Meyers, T.E. Heyliger, S.M. Bijlani, T.E. Leonard, and C.M.M. Connor. This is a continuation of the meeting which started on May 15, 2017 with a continuation on, May 24, 2017, and June 1, 2017.

This continuation meeting has been set for Monday, June 26, 2017, at 11.00 hrs in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is:

Deliberation on the current state of affairs of GEBE.

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.





Central Committee meeting about Approval delegation to participate in Curacao Flag day on Monday

The Central Committee will meet in a session on June 26, 2017.

The Central Committee meeting has been set for Monday, June 26, 2017, at 14.00 hrs in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is:

Approval composition delegation and provisions Members of Parliament to participate in Flag Day Curacao on July 2, 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.





Central Committee meeting about National Ordinance amending the Civil Code on Tuesday

The Central Committee will meet in a session on June 27, 2017. The Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor will be present.

The Central Committee meeting has been set for Tuesday, June 27, 2017, at 14.00 hrs in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is:

Ontwerp van Landsverordening tot wijziging van het Burgerlijk Wetboek en enkele andere landsverordeningen in verband met de vervanging van de zevende titel A van Boek 7A door een nieuwe titel 10 van Boek 7 regelende voorschriften voor arbeidsovereenkomsten (Draft National Ordinance amending the Civil Code and some other national regulations relating to the replacement of Seventh Title A of Book 7A by a new Title 10 of Book 7 Regulatory Arrangements for Employment Contracts)

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.




Macomb County residents show their support in voting for a millage that will benefit the men and women who have served their community and country
'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever': What to know before you see it
Students look at drugs displayed at a primary school in Handan, Hebei province, on Friday. The event, which was held by local police, aimed to help teach the children about the dangers of illegal substances.[Photo by Hao Qunying / For China Daily]

Artificially made active ingredient of marijuana one of dozens in tests

China may ban a deadly synthetic component of marijuana, along with more than two dozen other potent synthetic drugs, by the end of the year, according to a police official.

Last week, the Ministry of Public Security announced the ban of four synthetic drugs, noting the concurrence of the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the China Food and Drug Administration.

Now the evaluation has expanded. The additional drugs being evaluated - known collectively as novel psychoactive substances, or NPS - include 4-CEC, a psychoactive stimulant related to methamphetamine, but potentially even more dangerous, like the drug PMMA, which was banned last week, said Yu Haibin, an official at the ministry's narcotics control bureau.

He said the drugs are likely to be listed as controlled substances by Chinese authorities before the end of the year after experts complete an in-depth assessment.

Hua Zhendong, a doctor of analytical chemistry at the National Narcotics Laboratory, said about a dozen professional experts, including government officials, anesthesiologists, forensic scientists and university professors, are conducting a three - to six-month research project on the substances.

"The 30 NPS have been frequently ordered online and exported abroad, while some foreign media outlets have reported deaths caused by the use of such substances," Hua said.

Yu said that once the assessment is complete, the results will be submitted to the ministry, the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the China Food and Drug Administration for review, with the three central agencies making a joint decision on whether to ban the drugs.

Deng Ming, deputy director of the bureau, said that NPS have similar or more potent affects than traditional drugs.

In recent years, more than 100 deaths have been reported in Western countries due to NPS abuse.

Figures from the ministry show that since October 2015, police have arrested 10 suspects involved in NPS production or trafficking, and destroyed eight operations found to be manufacturing the drugs.

Meanwhile, the police have confiscated 1,753 kilograms of NPS and 10 tons of raw materials used for producing them, according to the ministry.

Foreign parties typically conduct business with Chinese accomplices online, including ordering drugs, purchasing materials and transferring money, Yu said.

On June 19, Chinese authorities announced the banning of four synthetic drugs: U-47700, sometimes called "U-4" or "Pink", which more than seven times more potent than morphine, and was linked to the death of musician Prince; MT-45, which has a similar effect to morphine, and is associated with hearing loss and unconsciousness; PMMA, which is a psychedelic stimulant related to methamphetamine, but is potentially more dangerous; and 4,4'-DMAR, which is known by its street name "Serotoni". The bans will take effect on Saturday.

According to the ministry, 138 kinds of NPS, including 23 kinds of fentanyls, have been listed as controlled substances in China, while nine categories of NPS and 789 subcategories have been discovered worldwide.

Deng said that Chinese authorities will deepen law enforcement cooperation with other countries to curb NPS-related crimes.

Justin Schoeman, country attache for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in Beijing, said measures by Chinese authorities to ban NPS in China help save lives in the US.

Among the 30 drugs being tested are AMB-FUBINACA (the synthetic form of a component of marijuana), and 5F-ADB - also known as 5F-MDMB-PINACA, an active ingredient in synthetic cannibis (marijuana) products - and 4-CEC, another psychoactive substance.
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A 3-year-old child rides on the back of an ox to preschool with his father leading the rope walking ahead. [Photo/Chengdu Business Daily]

What is the most luxurious way one can enjoy a ride in big cities? Not a sport car or a limousine to your expectation, but something much more eye-catching.

Photos of a three-year-old child on the back of an ox to preschool with his father leading the rope walking ahead have become an online sensation on Chinese social media.

In fact, the boy started this unique way of going to kindergarten last winter, which is about three kilometers away from home, in Chengdu, the capital city of Southwest China's Sichuan province.

A donkey and a pony is also part of the kid's transportation modes, which are all kept by his father Li Li, a follower of ancient Chinese civilization, who believes traditional culture should be part of daily life.

"When he rides the ox or the donkey, he is able to interact with the animal," Chengdu Business Daily quoted Li Li as saying.

"It is a way to promote communication between me and my son. l will impart my knowledge about seasonal plants, as well as reciting poems to him."

The mother of the the kid was worried that her son would fall off the animal, "I normally don't go along as my husband picks up my son with an ox or a donkey. I am afraid that the ox would be frightened."
El-Aaiun (Refugee Camps), June 18, 2017 (SPS) - Saharawi people on Saturday celebrated the 47th dual anniversary of Zemla historic uprising and national day of missing persons by organizing a number of activities coinciding with the anniversary of the event.

In the presence of the President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, members of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front and SADR government and other participants, the Secretariat of the Political Organization of the Polisario Front organized a conference on the occasion to shed light on Zemla uprising, which formed a pivotal event in the history of the national Sahrawi resistance, in the break with colonialism and revealing its plans, and the impact left by its prominent leader Sidi-Mohamed Brahim Basiri, symbol of peaceful resistance in Western Sahara.

The participants in the conference organized a sit-in, where they raised slogans in solidarity with the Saharawi masses in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. (SPS)

062/090/TRA




Brussels, 25 June 2017 (SPS) - The Intergroup on Western Sahara in the European Parliament on Saturday called on the UN Human Rights Council to conduct an "urgent" investigation into the situation of the Saharawi political prisoners of the "Gdeim Izik" group, denouncing the "dramatic" situation of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.

"We call on the UN Human Rights Council to conduct an urgent investigation into the situation of the prisoners of Gdeim Izik", said the intergroup in a statement issued after the deferral, once again, of the appeal proceedings of these prisoners.

"Once again, we denounce the dramatic human rights situation in the occupied territories of Western Sahara," it said in its statement, recalling the inalienable right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, a right Which must be exercised, according to the intergroup, through a referendum in accordance with international law and UN resolutions.

Reaffirming the right of the Saharawi militants of "Gdeim Izik" to "a fair trial", the intergroup on Western Sahara condemned "strongly" the violation of international law in this "politically motivated" trial.

The intergroup also called for the "immediate" provisional release of the Saharawi prisoners, calling for an investigation into all allegations of torture to identify their perpetrators who "must be held responsible."

"We urge the European Union (EU) and its member states to raise the issue of the fate of the prisoners of Gdeim Izik with the Moroccan authorities at the highest level, to go to meet the prisoners and to monitor the court proceedings, in accordance with the commitments of the EU on human rights", pleaded the Intergroup.

The President of the Intergroup, Swedish MEP Jytte Guteland, reiterated the appeal of NGO Amnesty International to a "fair and equitable" trial for the Saharawi prisoners, stressing the need to investigate human rights violations, which according to the reports of international observers are "worrying".

Calling the trial of the prisoners of Gdeim Izik a "farce", MEP Fabio Massimo Castaldo said that the procedure followed by the Moroccan authorities "is not in line with the fundamental principles on the right to a fair trial as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ". (SPS)

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Food hall and cafe Fodder, Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate Caravan Park and the Great Yorkshire Show have been shortlisted for the awards.

Based on the showground in Harrogate, all are owned by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and all of their profits go back into the Societys charitable work.

Nigel Pulling, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Agricultural Society, said:

We are absolutely thrilled that four of our businesses have been shortlisted for the prestigious White Rose Awards. To make the final shortlist is an achievement in itself and testament to the hard work of our teams. We look forward to the final later this year!

The 159th Great Yorkshire Show from Tuesday 11 to Thursday 13 July, attracts over 130,000 visitors across three days and has been shortlisted in the Yorkshire Event category.

Now recognised as Englands premiere agricultural event, the show will see thousands of top class animals compete for much-coveted silverware. There will be cooking demos, stunts and displays, a celebrity fashion show, farming seminars and much more.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society is funded by the profits made from Fodder, Yorkshire Event Centre and Harrogate Caravan Park which are all overseen by Managing Director Heather Parry.

Heather said:

To be shortlisted in four different categories is something truly special and reflects the high standards we strive to achieve across all our operations. Whether its our corporate clients, farmer suppliers, diners and shoppers to our holidaymakers and show visitors, we strive to offer a first class experience with a big Yorkshire welcome and being shortlisted recognises our goal.
Then visit the display of lamb feeding equipment on the Volac stand at NSA NI Sheep 2017 in Ballymena Mart on Monday, July 3.

See how the Volac Eco Automatic Feeder dramatically reduces your workload, enhances lamb performance and adds to farm income.

Easy to use the Eco Feeder automatically mixes milk powder and water in small, fresh batches at the correct temperature and consistency. Thus giving lambs their feed as nature intended on demand rather than just twice a day.

Problems such as bloat and stomach upsets are avoided so ensuring machine reared lambs perform at least as well as those left on a ewe.

Certainly that is the experience of Hilary and Roger Bell of Kells, Co Antrim who have used a Volac Eco Feeder this past four years when lambing 550 ewes.

The positive impact on their workload and performance of machine reared lambs has exceeded all expectations. In 2016, for example, 106 lambs were reared by the Bell family on their Volac Eco Feeder to leave an average gross margin of 30.51 from an average sale price of 80.51.

Like many progressive flock owners Hilary and Roger take one lamb away from any set of triplets to be machine reared along with those left as orphans or from mothers short of milk.
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STAMFORD  Camille Figluizzi has had a place in the citys public schools for nearly four decades.

Shes been a special education teacher, administrative intern, an elementary school principal, assistant principal of Stamford High School and most recently, principal of Westhill High School for 19 years.

But the longtime Stamford educator said she rode into town on her then-husbands coattails, never expecting to become the fixture she became.

My husband came here looking for a job and he told them Hire my wife too or I cant move out here, Figluizzi, 61, said during an interview with the Stamford Advocate on the last day of school.

Figluizzi was a popular woman that day. She could barely make it down the hallway to her office in the Finch Building at WHS as people popped out to hug her goodbye and hand off flowers and gifts.

Her husband only taught at Stamford High for a handful of years before enrolling in graduate school for his MBA. Figluizzi, however, found a mentor in the special education department at Roxbury Elementary School and put down deeper roots in the Stamford Public Schools system.

I was so lucky to find wonderful mentors and Ive had amazing students in Stamford, she said. But I also had so many great personal development and career opportunities here. I made my friends here early on and never had a thought of leaving.

Figluizzi, who has a bachelors degree in special education from Southern Connecticut State University, fell into administrative work almost by chance.

While working as an administrative intern in the special education department at Rippowam Middle School, the district asked her to fill in for a retiring assistant principal at Westover Elementary.

I thought it was a joke. I didnt show up to the first interview because I thought it was a joke, Figluizzi said.

It wasnt a joke, and Figluizzi had her first administrative job.

I really enjoyed that, and decided that I would look at administration and went back to school, she said.

Figluizzi went to Fairfield University to obtain her masters degree, and continued her administrative career as assistant principal of Stamford High School for seven years.

I loved high school and teenagers and all of the activities that go along with high school, she said.

But Figluizzi wasnt done rising in the ranks yet. She said she spent most of her time as assistant principal at SHS hoping to someday run a high school of her own.

My mentor, Michael Nast, was very smart and told me, Camille, you cant just show up and be a high school principal, you have to do other work first, Figluizzi said, laughing at her impatience.

She leapfrogged from Stamford High to Toquam Magnet Elementary, where she served a short stint as principal before moving into the leadership position at Davenport Ridge Elementary.

Then, in 1998, the stars finally aligned for Figluizzi.

She took the principal job at WHS that year, as the school headed into some of its most transformative years.

Figluizzi was at the helm as the school nearly doubled in size  it had only two buildings when she began as principal almost 20 years ago. There are now five buildings on the Westhill campus, making it the largest high school in the city with more than 2,100 students.

One of the things I love about Westhill is the diverse community of students here, she said. I also love the challenge of putting together a cadre of teachers that makes a school work  its not just one teaching style or one personality  its putting all of these pieces together to make a school culture.

But Figluizzi said her proudest moment at Westhill was winning the Project Opening Doors grant, a program that encourages students to take AP classes and tests.

It has led us to become one of the state leaders in AP test takers that reflect the diversity of our school, she said.

Nurturing diversity has also been one of Figluizzis greatest challenges, she said. The principal spent years trying to build a teaching force that reflected the student body.

We often had to be patient and keep looking, but we also relied on our current teachers networking with their friends and eventually students started coming back here to teach, she said.

The educator says she leaves WHS and Stamford Public Schools feeling fulfilled by her 38 years in the district.

I have no regrets, she said. I just want to slow down, and at some point you have to go. I would never say Let me see if I love it less next year  thats always been the same for me.

Figluizzi, a Norwalk resident who grew up in Southington, is retiring to spend more time with her father, her siblings and her two children, a Stamford High graduate and a Westhill High graduate.

nnaughton@stamfordadvocate.com; @noranaughton
Mentally, socially, professionally -- sleep impacts nearly every aspect of our lives and it can be crucial to our success. And while getting enough sleep is important, its also about getting the right sleep.

Related: Sleep In and Make Millions: Why You Don't Need to Wake Up at 5 A.M.

An unpublished study by Fitbit, led by Johns Hopkins University professor Dr. Michael T. Smith, Jr., looked at aggregated data from millions of nights of sleep from Fitbit wearers to discover the importance of different types of sleep. The report, which took into account previous published studies, tracked sleep stages in real time rather than in an artificial sleep environment or lab.

Throughout a nights sleep, we go through different stages, including light sleep, deep sleep and REM (rapid eye movement). Each stage plays an important role in various aspects of our health and well-being, and will determine how you feel the next day.

So how can you get the most out of each stage? For starters, have a routine. While waking up early can give you more time in the day to get things done, dont just do this once. In fact, waking up earlier than usual can have a negative effect, decreasing the amount of REM you get, according to the Fitbit study. REM sleep affects your well-being -- its the time when you dream the most, thus helping renew your mind and regulate emotions. In short, you should have a consistent sleep schedule.

Related: 12 Habits to Dramatically Improve Your Sleep

Ever wonder why you feel so tired when you dont get enough sleep? Its because youre cutting into the amount of time you have in deep sleep, the sleep stage which is responsible for feeling refreshed and energized in the morning. Deep sleep is responsible for physical processes in the body such as cell regeneration, human growth and moods.

When sleeping less than seven hours, your body may not be getting enough of both deep and REM sleep, the two sleep stages that are very important to many aspects of maintaining your overall health, Smith said in a press release.

If youre a gen Zer, chances are youre getting enough shut-eye at night. Out of all age groups, the study found that those ages 13 to 22 get the most sleep, averaging 6 hours and 57 minutes a night. Baby boomers came in second, with the average boomer snoozing 6 hours and 33 minutes every night.

Related: Not Getting Enough Sleep? Blame Your Job.

But that doesn't mean baby boomers are getting the right sleep. In fact, the study found that as people get older, the amount of deep sleep they get decreases. The study found that 17 percent of an average 20-year-olds sleep at night is spent in deep sleep, while this number decreases to 12 percent for a 70-year-old. If youre female, its also likely that youre getting more zzzs at night, compared to men. An average female millennial gets 6 hours and 53 minutes of sleep at night, while the average male millennial gets 6 hours and 28 minutes.

Image credit: Fitbit

Related:

What You Need to Do to Get the Best Sleep, According to Fitbit

A 'Week-Day Hack' That Makes It Look Like You Work Long Hours

Your Crazy Erratic Sleep Routine Is Making You Less Productive



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


Giant panda Meng Meng looks out of her container after arriving in Germany from China on Saturday. Meng Meng and her companion Jiao Qing will be presented to the public at Berlin Zoo on July 6. Provided By Associated Press

BERLIN - Germany was bracing for panda mania as two furry ambassadors arrived from China on Saturday, destined for a new life as stars of Berlin's premier zoo.

The pair, named Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, flew in on a special Lufthansa cargo plane, accompanied by two Chinese panda specialists, the Berlin Zoo's chief vet and a ton of bamboo.

After a long trip the new zoo stars were greeted by Chinese Ambassador to Germany Shi Mingde and Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller.

"This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Germany. I wish that the pandas as the 'ambassador of friendship' would be adored by German people," Shi said while greeting the pandas at the airport.

"We are delighted that Berlin has gained another fantastic attraction with these bears," Mueller added.

After just over a week's acclimatization, they will be unveiled to the public by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, most likely two days before the G20 summit of world leaders hosted by Germany.

Germany and China have nurtured increasingly close economic ties, and over the last year have also taken on the leading role in championing free trade as President Donald Trump shifts the United States away from market liberalization with his "America First" push.

The excitement over the pandas was evident in the run-up to their arrival, with the zoo publishing a daily blog about the pair.

The 12 hour, 20 minute journey to Germany was carefully prepared, with "bamboo snacks" to keep the pandas happy and absorbent mats to ensure the transport box stays dry and odorless.

And their new home at Berlin's zoo will measure about 5,500 square meters and comes fitted with a wooded climbing area and an artificial stream.

Meng Meng means "dream" in Chinese, while Jiao Qing translates as "darling", though the Chinese characters are a composite of "tender" and "festive" or "celebration".

And the pandas' main dish - bamboo - will cost tens of thousands of dollars each year.

The zoo will look to offset part of its outlays through merchandising.

China has previously given three pandas to Germany, but the last one, 34-year-old Bao Bao, died in Berlin in 2012, having become the oldest male panda in the world.

Afp - Xinhua
T he Co-op Bank is to unveil a 700 million rescue deal that will bring an end to more than three years of uncertainty for its four million customers.

On Monday the battered bank said it is no longer for sale, ending talks with a Qatari-Swiss consortium which was the last outside bidder still interested in a deal.

That means the US hedge funds who saved the bank several years ago will now bolster the balance sheet, a source of relief to customers who have stayed loyal, and the Bank of England, which was nervous about the possibility of another bank failure.

Today the Co-op Bank said it is in advanced discussions with hedge funds Blue Mountain Capital Management, Cyrus Capital Partners, GoldenTree Asset Management and Silver Point Capital about a deal which is expected to see the funds pump in up to 250 million of fresh capital, with 450 million more in a debt-for-equity swap.

The wider Co-op Group, which has a 20% stake in the bank, is likely to see that stake fall to less than 2%, assuming it does not take part in the swap.

The Co-op Bank said today: Given the advanced nature of the proposal, the board has decided to discontinue the formal sale process. A final announcement is likely any day which is also expected to confirm that the Co-op pension scheme will, in effect, be cut in two, with one being looked after by the bank and one by the group.

The Co-op Bank has been under intense scrutiny ever since the then chairman, Paul Flowers, was filmed buying crystal meth and crack cocaine in 2013. He also blamed his use of male escorts on the stress of the bank job.

He was later defrocked as a Methodist minister.

Todays statement says that the Bank might be in a good enough state by 2021 to start paying dividends to investors.

This year, it reported a loss of 477 million  the fifth in a row but less than the 610 million it lost in 2015.

The Co-op Bank is well known for its ethical stance, which its board said made it a strong franchise with significant potential to prospective buyers.

Those buyers  thought to include Virgin Money and CYBG  were said to be keener to pick and choose individual assets than bid for the whole.
E d Bussey has a mysterious past. Recalling his earlier career, the former Navy officer-turned-entrepreneur refers to a stint in the security field.

He declines to elaborate, saying only that the work is not listed on his LinkedIn profile, but luckily we have plenty more to talk about.

The now silver-haired Cambridge graduate went from the Navy to the Foreign Office, then on to that job in counter-terrorism policy or whatever it was, before joining online retail trailblazer Figleaves at the height of the dot-com boom. After that, he flogged a fledgling app business to Vodafone.

Today, hes running Quill, a company he founded in 2011 to help brands turbocharge sales through content such as how-to videos.

He says: I could see that all businesses in the e-commerce sector were going to have to embrace content in a way they never had before. There were some companies doing this very well, like Net-a-Porter, but 99% of the rest were a million miles from that.

"In parallel, I had a series of conversations with publishers who were really struggling with the monetisation of content.

Busseys solution was to create a network of vetted specialists, covering lots of languages and across thousands of topics, who can together handle the volume of content businesses needed to create. They work remotely, connecting to a central team via a platform, bringing down costs.

Google, Very owner Shop Direct, Virgin Holidays, Travelex, John Lewis, House of Fraser, Arsenal and Mothercare are among clients.

Quill can do the so-called hero content  the glossy mags and flashy ad materials  but its speciality is primary content, in other words product and category descriptions and destination guides.

In the politest way I can, I ask if, compared with his previous roles, this seems a little less sexy?

We are at the unsexy end of the funnel, Bussey, a father of two, admits. One of my frustrations has been that a marketing department will spend an awful lot of money, tens of millions of pounds, further up the funnel on awareness, but drive people to pages of product that are badly written, contain spelling mistakes and HTML code, and wonder why it doesnt convert.

But what we see is a meaningful impact of what we do on the revenues of our clients.

And, to be fair, I can imagine the stats Quill boasts would be enough to get your typical boss excited. It claims to produce content 75% faster and 40% more cheaply than can be done in-house or through a traditional agency. The results include a fifth more web traffic and a more than doubling in sales.

Busseys entrepreneurialism dates back around three decades to his university days when he founded a small publishing business and sold it to a fellow undergraduate before embarking on his naval career.

The buyer, Mike Ross, was the person who brought Bussey to lingerie and swimwear retailer Figleaves.

It was a massive career transition but it was possible to do that in 1999 and 2000 because no one else knew anything about the internet either, Bussey, 49, laughs.

Despite his lack of knowledge, he ended up as business development and marketing chief in a team that clocked up a lot of firsts, including being the first non-North American vendor to go live on Amazon Marketplace.

There were a few mis-steps, though. We got massively distracted by going into the States. We should have done what Asos did and expand into more ranges first.

With that experience, the yoga and mountain-climbing enthusiast opted to spread his wings beyond retail and joined mobile app company ZYB, which Vodafone snapped up 18 months later in 2008.

He was dead set on founding his next venture and when he wasnt consulting for the likes of Charles Tyrwhitt and trekking across the North Pole (Im really glad I did it but I wouldnt do it twice), he developed the concept behind Quill.

Now Bussey and backers, including angel investor and Toptable founder Karen Hanton and venture-capital firm Smedvig, are planning to expand into new markets. Germany, France, Scandinavia and the US are likely to be first on the list.

There is also a big opportunity to work with more fast-growing fintech firms and banks and to create more video, such as product reviews and shoppable or interactive clips for customers.

We want to create a world leader in our space, and weve got the chance to do that.

Looks like Bussey has exchanged that mysterious past for an interesting future.
T he sight of Jeremy Corbyn at the age of 68 being feted at Glastonbury might be cheering for those of us who are working beyond normal retirement age, but it should send a chill down the spine of the Tory high command. For the most important split in British politics is no longer one of class or income, but one of age. The young overwhelmingly vote Labour, the old Conservative.

William Shakespeare wrote: Crabbed age and youth cannot live together, (at least he is thought to have been the author). After Glastonbury, maybe Corbyn is able to show how they can.

Certainly, our 91-year-old Queen was better able to connect with the victims of the Grenfell Tower catastrophe than our 60-year-old Prime Minister. There are stories that the Conservatives are seeking to jump a generation when they choose their next leader, but this is not about the age of politicians. It is about who can create an optimistic vision of the future for the next generation. Old and young have no option but to live together. Who can best frame the policies that will help them to do so harmoniously?

The Labour answer is for government to play a greater role; put crudely, tax and spend. The old wont go a bundle on that  they remember the Seventies. The Tories can point out that it actually will be the young who will, one way or another, have to pay those taxes, not companies or the rich.

They can show that the company sector in Britain pays a rather larger share of taxes than in most other developed countries and that the top 1% of income tax payers are responsible for nearly 30% of all receipts. They can argue that, for all the talk of austerity, public spending as a percentage of GDP is higher now than in the early years of the Labour government, when Gordon Brown was in his prudent mode. They can point out that for hundreds of thousands of young Europeans the UK does offer better opportunities than their home countries. That is why they come. And so on.

But none of this seems to wash with the youth vote. The Labour sums might not add up, but the appeal remains enormous. Though this Government is preoccupied with Brexit talks, it must make a start of tackling the concerns of the next generation  assuming it survives long enough to do so.

There are a number of areas where the Government can begin. David Willetts, the former Conservative universities minister, now chairman of the Resolution Foundation, has set out some ideas. Top of his list is to build more homes. It is widely appreciated that the surge in house prices has given the baby-boomers, those born between the mid-Forties and early Sixties, a huge windfall in wealth. Less well-known is that quite small differences in the year of birth creates large differences in life chances. For example, an adult born between 1980 and 1985 has, on average, half as much wealth at the age of 30 than one born five years earlier. Baby-boomers have half the wealth in the country; millennials, those born between the early Eighties and mid-2000s, have just 2%.

Building more houses and flats would not tackle wealth inequality directly, but by increasing the stock of housing, it would help to curb the rise in house prices. A society in which young people cannot hope to own their own home is a catastrophe. Build more homes and they can.

University tuition fees must be tackled. Whatever view one takes of the fairness or otherwise of the English system, heading into ones first job with an average debt of 32,000 or more is daunting. For a start, the interest charged on student debt is too high. Admitting that two-thirds of students will never pay off their debt acknowledges that the system is unsustainable. The idea mooted by Corbyn  that student debts should be written off  is hardly likely to become policy under any government, including a future Labour one. But carrying on with the present system is hopeless too.

The greatest challenge, however, is to improve education (and access to education), at all levels and for all people.

The present generation of young working people are competing not only against their contemporaries in Europe  whatever happens in the negotiations, movement of jobs between the UK and the EU will continue  they are competing directly or indirectly against their peers throughout the world. Education is the answer, and it is the responsibility of each generation to ensure that the next one is better equipped than it has been.

The UK is only middle of the pack among the main developed nations in the achievements of those aged 16, according to the OECD Pisa study. Worse, we are if anything slipping down the rankings. We are right to celebrate our best universities, at or towards the top of the global league. But we are uneven, and too many schools are not good enough.

But none of this will convince the young that the Tories have their best interests at heart until and unless they really do. This is not just about political advantage. It is about helping to nudge the country towards a more balanced, decent society.

The second line of that poem is: Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care. Well, youth is evidently not full enough of pleasance, but age jolly well should be full of care  so it can do better for the next generation.
M odel trains maker Hornby on Monday insisted investors ignore a reluctant takeover bid from its majority owner Phoenix ahead of a bid deadline next month.

The board, led by temporary chairman David Adams, said the 32.375p bid significantly undervalues the Margate-based company, best known for its Thomas the Tank Engine toys and 200 miniature Virgin Train sets.

Phoenix wrote to investors laying out the mandatory cash offer on Friday after a 20.9% purchase of shares from activist investor New Pistoia Income fund took its stake over 55%.

That prompted the Takeover Panel to force Phoenix into a mandatory full cash bid.

Phoenix has maintained Hornby should remain listed on the junior stock market, a tacit admission that it does not want to buy the 45% of the company it does not already own.

The bid was also at a nil-premium to the share price, another sign it is a reluctant suitor. The shares were down 1p today, or 3%, to 32.50p.

Phoenix is chaired by Roger Canham, the former chair of Hornby who stepped down last week. Pistoia, the activist which sold its stake to Phoenix, had agitated for change at the group, including Canhams removal.

Shareholders have until July 14 to accept the offer.

Hornby, led by chief executive Steve Cooke and advised by Numis, plans to write to shareholders laying out more details about its rejection.
A fter 40 years, we Brits never got our heads around Europe. We could never understand that, in EU diplomacy, compromise is the watchword. Laws are there to be used as a guide, not rigidly imposed and copper-bottomed as we have here in Britain.

So you get a situation where, in spite of tough new European rules banning state bailouts of banks, Italy is pushing through a deal for taxpayers to pump 17 billion (15 billion) into two collapsed lenders in the industrial north.

The funding package for Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca breaches the letter of the EU rules, but makes sense in terms of their spirit.

Taxpayer bailouts were banned to prevent the public ever again having to fund the big, rich bondholders and depositors investing in our banks. But in Italy, unusually, most of the bonds are held by households. To have let these banks collapse would have meant hurting families in the region and destabilised the local economy. Not clever with elections around the corner.

As for depositors, they had to be protected to save Italys still-fragile banks from future bank runs.

Hawks in Germany were today complaining that Italy had breached the new bail-in laws. The same hawks whose demands on Greece nearly killed it.

Italy should have bailed out its banks with taxpayer money as Ireland and Spain did before the new rules came in. But it didnt.

Now Rome, and the European Central Bank, have come up with a pragmatic, European fudge. Good.
I nvestors checked into Premier Inn owner Whitbread today as they backed the hotels sector to ride out the impact of recent terror attacks.

The FTSE 100 company, which also owns Costa Coffee, reported robust trading last week but said little on the impact of the tragic attacks in Manchester and London.

However, Morgan Stanleys analysts said a field trip of hotels run by the top operators including Premier Inn showed demand remained strong.

While the terrorist attacks in Manchester and London did cause an immediate demand dip, this was very short lived and it has seen a very quick bounceback, analyst Jamie Rollo said after a tour of the companys Tower Bridge hotel.

The tour clearly impressed as Rollo and his team raised their forecasts for revenue per available room to 2% growth, which translates to a 1% increase in Morgan Stanleys pre-tax profit forecasts for this year to 605 million.

The write-up lifted Whitbread to the top of the FTSE 100, up 81p, or 2%, to 4040p. The blue-chip index started the week 38.65 points higher at 7462.78 as the oil price recovery  Brent was up 48 cents to $46.02 a barrel  helped it to claw back some of last weeks losses.

Durex-to-Dettol group Reckitt Benckiser rose 95p, or 1.2%, to 7951p as Credit Suisse gave its backing to the 13 billion takeover of US baby milk maker Mead Johnson.

The investment bank said it looked as though Reckitt had timed its purchase very well.

Beleaguered shareholders of Capita got a boost after the outsourcer confirmed the sale of its asset management services arm for 888 million.

The sale to Australias Link Group, which was announced late on Friday, surprised most in the City who were expecting bidders to fork out around 700 million. The shares were lifted 19.5p to 711p.

North Sea oil firm EnQuest surged 2.75p, or 9%, to 32.25p as its Kraken field started producing oil, one of the largest new fields to come on stream in the North Sea in a decade.

On AIM, brickmaker Michelmersh jumped 7.25p, or 10%, to 79.25p after buying Barnsley-based Carlton Main Brickworks for up to 38 million.
 Complaining isnt a strategy, Amazons Jeff Bezos likes to say to rival companies facing bankruptcy from the internet insurgency he leads. What is true for business holds for politics. There are many people complaining about Jeremy Corbyns trip to Glastonbury  from Tories whingeing about the BBC coverage to the disdain of Labour moderates for its middle-class Bolshevism. As if either would turn down the opportunity to address tens of thousands of adoring fans, if only they could find them. Both need to stop complaining and start counteracting.

Although it may not feel like it, the Tories face the easier task. Yes, the election left the party listing and leaderless. In public, Tory MPs profess loyalty to Mrs May; in private, their only conversation is who will replace her. The fact that today Westminster waits on the DUPs Arlene Foster is a foretaste of what life without a majority looks like. Conservative politics is going to be dominated by the who, where and when of this political psychodrama. But the party would do well to consider also the what.

What is the purpose of Conservatism? If it is only Brexit for Brexits sake, then the crushing experience of tough EU negotiations will make the country weary of Tory zealotry. If their economic policy amounts to ditching fiscal prudence and attacking business, and their social mission is measured only by the size of state spending, people might well ask: why not have Corbyn, and get the real thing? It is fashionable to say the Conservatives lost seats because Mr Corbyn got the young to vote. The polling analysis tells the truth: the Tories went backwards not only with the young but the middle-aged too; graduates deserted them as well as students; support among ethnic minorities fell; and the party of the just about managing found that a majority of working people voted Labour.

Here in London, a few years ago Labour led the Conservatives by just two per cent; today they lead by 26 per cent. The deal with the DUP will prove costly in all senses  and threatens to accentuate the damage that the partys enthusiastic embrace of hard Brexit has already done. The Tories need to rediscover their purpose and articulate the case for internationalist, compassionate pro-business government that reforms public services to spread opportunity and celebrates modern Britain.

Jeremy Corbyn gives a speech at Glastonbury Festival

Momentum

If that sounds a daunting challenge, then pity the centre Left.Mr Corbyn apparently told Michael Eavis, the millionaire who runs Glastonbury, that he expects to be prime minister within six months. His actions in the six days that followed the election suggests he is much more interested in strengthening the grip of the far Left. Rather than reach out to what now pass for moderates, he snubbed most of them in the construction of his shadow cabinet. Festival-goer Tom Watson was dumped as party chair and in his place is the ex-leader of the miners union. Across the party the momentum, in every sense, is with the Corbynistas. Expect the final coup de grace against the enfeebled social democrats at this years conference.

What are the moderates to do? Forming a new centre party feels like a forlorn dream, conjured up in the New York salon of Mr D Miliband. The barriers to entry are huge and the poor performance of the current centre party, the Lib-Dems, hardly suggests there is room for another one. The only realistic option is to heed the words of Hugh Gaitskell and fight, fight, and fight again to save their party  over every conference resolution, every parliamentary position and in every committee.

Their basic insight is the right one: the fields of Glastonbury are not the streets of Britain. The country does not want the economic ruin, union power, unilateral disarmament and class war that Labours leader offers. Instead of complaining about Corbyn, they need a strategy to supplant him.
I n this space last week I used the phrase internal refugee crisis of the possible medium-term impact of the Grenfell fire. As I did so, I wondered whether I might not be guilty of over-dramatising things. A week on, Im feeling a little less cautious.

At the time of writing, 60 tower blocks whose cladding has been subjected to combustibility tests have failed those tests. That is, unless I misread the reports, every single building tested. And those 60 buildings represent just a tenth, so far, of the number that need to be checked up and down the country.

Many of the buildings so far identified are in London: five in Camden, three in Barnet, two in Wandsworth and one each in Hounslow, Islington, Lambeth and Brent. In Chalk Farm the Chalcots estate of around 4,000 people was yesterday being evacuated  chaotically, as accounts have it; with a large handful of residents refusing to leave. What if that is repeated countrywide?

The numbers are guesswork. Were not going to see 600,000 people suddenly homeless. Most of the unsafe towers are not being evacuated: Chalcots also presented a whole raft of other fire-safety issues. But let us say, for the sake of argument, that that jaw-dropping 100 per cent of all buildings tested figure is, if an outlier, not a complete fluke: that were going to be finding that hundreds of buildings are wrapped in firelighters. And lets say that the fire safety in these buildings will often prove in keeping with the shoddy, regs-dodging, on-the-cheap practices that furnished them with their cladding. Would you bet against it?

That would mean many of these buildings will need to be evacuated for the several weeks it will take to make them safe. Some will complain that this is an over-reaction: what are the chances of another fire so soon? But imagine if that gamble were taken and lost  if another one went up like Grenfell after the council knew it to be unsafe and declined to evacuate its inhabitants. Imagine the human cost. Imagine  which is what the local authorities and the Prime Minister will be doing  the political cost.

So it does not seem alarmist, or even unreasonable, to suppose that in the next few weeks London and other cities across the country are going to see exactly what I described: an internal refugee crisis. That will surely dwarf every other social and political issue for as long as it lasts.

Britain, we were told, is so stretched in its resources that the Prime Minister felt it necessary to scrap the Dubs amendment, reneging on the promise to house 3,000 child refugees from the Calais Jungle and cap the figure at 350. We have more than 10 times that number homeless in Camden alone as of yesterday, and they cant be written off as foreigners, not our problem, and packed off back to Syria. And that is with only one building in 10 even having been tested so far.

This is a potential emergency way beyond the scope of local authorities to resolve on their own. Theyve had a decade of cuts, they are forbidden by law from running a deficit  and this is going to cost a lot of money. We can hope the little platoons of the voluntary sector will pitch in. We can hope that those with empty houses offer them; that hotels with spare rooms make them available at cost; that the deep-pocketed reach for their wallets; and that the way Grenfell showed Londons community at its best continues. But crossed fingers is not a strategy for housing tens of thousands of people.

The Prime Minister this morning chairs a meeting of the fire safety task force.

There is a hell of a lot  a shell of a lot  for them to talk about.
T ony Blair had his Britpop epiphany before the cool fled the scene, Bill Clinton and Bruce Springsteen stumped together to get Barack Obama to the White House, while Hillary girlfriended Beyonce.

Pop and politics are strange bedfellows with a natural affinity. Both seek to seize the moment and make something of it that will seal the dominance of party or band. Now the Labour leader is basking in his, Oh Jeremy Corbyn moment.

Both politics and pop have loyal followers, hangers-on, glory-seekers and detractors. Both are made and broken by the ephemeral spirits of the age. The moment Jeremy broke through the tribal lines of cultural awareness was when his benediction via a White Stripes meme became not just a Glasto moment for the enthused or suggestible but a wider riff, even if satirical  I found a group of well-heeled, Right-leaning folk chanting it at the weekend, the ultimate cultural appropriation.

Mixing pop and politics/He asks me what the use is, sang Billy Bragg. However you feel about Oh Jeremy, the moment the pop Zeitgeist connects with political events matters.

One of the ways the Cameron ascendancy outwitted its rivals was to take a party not widely associated with rollicking good times and declare, in simple terms, that modern Tories could rock.

When I made The Jam Generation radio documentary, in which PM Dave sang the praises of Paul Weller and The Smiths, there were two schools of reply. One was: Hes more like me than I ever thought. The other was How dare he appropriate our music.

Jeremy Corbyn's first Glastonbury in 60 seconds

But the fact political leaders were happy to engage in the debate about favourite groups and bandy info about lyrics connected contemporary culture to politics. Without that link, politics becomes a desert of the imagination: a specialist pursuit of the committed or plain odd.

When Theresa May took the Tory helm I joked that we had moved from the 2000s back to the era of Abba (her own choice on Desert Island Discs)  and thus a retro feel. I had no idea quite how true that would turn out to be: generational dislocation is unignorable in its electoral impact.

You do not need to be at the vanguard of fashion to capture a mood, but you do need to embody a connection to it. Mario Cuomo, the long-serving mayor of New York, quipped that politicians campaign in poetry but govern in prose. True enough  but the bassline of all this is pop. No guarantee of final success, of course: see Neil Kinnock and Tracey Ullman, or Bernie Sanderss Feel the Bern. Still, the canniest practitioners know better than to let their rivals have all the best tunes.

Anne McElvoy is senior editor at The Economist
When my mother moved from her hometown of Chengdu, Sichuan province, to Auckland, New Zealand, in 2002 to start life afresh at the age of 38, she called it her "second birth".

She also chose for herself an English name: Jane, after the famous Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte's novel, whose strength and independence have inspired her for many years.

Mom grew into that name so naturally. She learned English at a local community college, made new friends and practically ran our household during my father's frequent trips away. When I think of Mom now, the image of Eyre often comes to mind.

Cecily Liu

Chinese people commonly choose their own English names when they move overseas. It is to make our names more pronounceable, we say, but we know the real bonus is the chance to pick our own names, like picking a new identity.

Shakespeare's Romeo once said, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", but I find names can shape a person, especially young immigrants settling into a new life overseas before their personalities are fully developed.

A family friend of mine, once a quiet and timid boy in China, became outgoing in Auckland where he is known as Henry, a name shared by many powerful British kings in history. Another classmate, who named herself Penelope after a character in Homer's classic, The Odyssey, carried a mythical feeling to her presence, especially when she recited text in our Latin classes.

Of course, we don't think so deeply when picking names. When I picked my own name as a child, I looked through "A List of Common English Names" at the back of my father's big dusty English dictionary and picked "Cecily" perhaps with the same casualness of shopping for a new dress.

Little did I know, Dad's English dictionary was rather old, and Cecily was no longer a common English name. Now many friends tell me I share their grandmothers' name.

All through secondary school, I was the only student named Cecily, and strangely in my new name I felt okay to be different-a stark contrast to my primary school days when I just followed my classmates' ways.

Nowadays our society is more tolerant of diversity, and that includes diversity of names. Some of my friends refuse to take English names, reasoning that an English name will somehow dilute their Chinese identity. In recent years, globalization and ethnic diversity in big cosmopolitan cities have made unpronounceable foreign names increasingly the norm.

Interestingly, I have noticed that more and more of my British friends who go to China to study or work are taking up Chinese names. Their eyes light up with excitement as they explain subtle meanings behind the Chinese characters that make up their names, which they chose themselves, of course.

Looking at these carefully created character combinations, I felt perhaps these new Chinese names would also give my British friends a new identity and new start in China. And that their choosing of Chinese names would be seen by their Chinese friends as an open willingness to reach out toward another culture; a little step toward building bonds and common understanding.

Contact the writer at cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com
D isgraced former Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman believes he was convicted on little or no evidence [Ex-mayor Rahman loses latest bid to overturn five-year ban from office, June 22].

There were 27 files of evidence presented against him in 2015. Rather than waste thousands of pounds on appeals, Rahman would be wiser to admit that he did wrong, pay his debts and move on.

It seems that local authorities and the police are still not taking voter fraud seriously. A survey on election day in Tower Hamlets found that none of the voter fraud helplines provided by the police and council functioned. No wonder there were so few complaints received.

Commander Stuart Cundy is leading the Met inquiry into voter fraud in Tower Hamlets, following criticism of the Met by the London Assembly Police Committee. He has promised not to leave any stone unturned; we must hold him to his word.

Andy Erlam

Join the conversation: #esnewsviews
She is one of the world's most successful and well-respected fashion designers, but even Stella McCartney isn't immune to making professional mistakes.

Speaking to Kirsty Young for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, McCartney revealed her regret over enlisting supermodels Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Yasmin Le Bon to walk her graduate runway show during her time at Central Saint Martins.

"I look back on that moment and just feel a bit embarrassed that I was so naive."

"They were my mates, and thats who I was hanging out with when I was at college."

Naomi Campbell walks Stella McCartney's Graduate Fashion Week runway / Rex Features

"I mean, Kate was living with me for a period of time and thats what I was engaging in outside of my college life, so when it came to choosing the models for my degree show, I kind of thought, well, I might as well ask my friends."

"I can understand why it was obviously headline news, and why it probably p***** off my fellow students off a tad."

25 most shocking runway moments - In pictures 1 /33 25 most shocking runway moments - In pictures Victoria's Secret 2002 Animal rights activists from PETA rushed onto the Victoria's Secret stage as Bundchen took to the runway with signs reading 'Gisele Fur Scum' AFP/Getty Images Yeezy Season 4 Kanye West's hotly anticipated Season 4 show quickly fell apart thanks to the f'row's 3 hour wait in scorching sunshine for the show to begin before models collapsed due to the heat Getty Images for Yeezy Season 4 Vivienne Westwood 1993 Fashion royalty Naomi Campbell fell spectacularly on the Vivienne Westwood London catwalk due to her 5 inch platforms Rex Features Anna Sui SS18 Gigi suffered an unfortunate runway mishap when she lost one of her shoes at the Anna Sui show. Luckily, her sister Bella was on hand to help out Getty Images For NYFW: The Shows Vivienne Westwood SS18 Vivienne Westwood caught everyone's attention when the 76-year-old designer closed her SS18 show by jumping on the shoulders of one of her muscle-bound male models Getty Images Tom Ford AW18 Tom Ford sent models down the catwalk wearing nothing but boxer shorts at socks at his AW18 collection during New York Fashion Week Men's Getty Images Valentino AW15 Derek Zoolander and Hansel thrilled the fashion crowd when they made a surprise entrance on the Valentino finale in Paris Getty Images For Paramount Pictures Michael Kors SS17 Bella Hadid followed in Naomi's footsteps as she fell head-over-heels on the Michael Kors runway in New York Rex Features Rick Owens SS16 The designer known for using shock tactics outdid himself when he sent models down the runway carrying one another upside down in body harnesses Getty Images Balenciaga SS12 When the front row benches began to collapse beneath the front row, guests including Anna Wintour and Mario Testino were forced to stand throughout the show Rex Features Jean Paul Gaultier 1992 Another designer known for his ability to shock an audience, Jean Paul Gaultier went one better in 1992 and enlisted pop icon Madonna to walk his catwalk topless Getty Images Christopher Kane SS17 A fashion collaboration no one saw coming, Christopher Kane sent 26 pairs of Crocs down his London runway Balenciaga SS18 Balenciaga then took the rubber shoes to new levels creating platform Crocs, which raised quite a few eyebrows Splash News Louis Vuitton AW11 Kate Moss lit up the Paris catwalk as she smoked a cigarette while she walked on National No-Smoking Day AFP/Getty Images Rick Owens AW15 His second appearance on this list, shock specialist Rick Owens sent his models down the AW15 catwalk with their genitalia on show Getty Images Bobby Abley SS18 The first Teletubby to hit the London Fashion Week runway, Bobby Abley enlisted the help of Dipsy to close his SS18 show Getty Images Chanel AW17 The king of dramatic and big-budget spectacles, Karl Lagerfeld finished his AW17 showcase with a rocket taking off from the runway in the Grand Palais Getty Images Philipp Plein AW17 The so-called 'Hot Felon' made his New York Fashion Week debut walking for Philipp Plein having been discovered after his mugshot went viral Getty Images Kenzo SS17 Designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon enlisted the help of real-life nude models to appear as statues on their Paris runway Getty Images Maison Margiela AW15 Disgraced designer John Galliano made an unexpected return to the runway with his inaugural couture collection for Maison Margiela Rex Features Chanel SS10 Lily Allen took her title of 'muse' to the next level as she unexpectedly appeared alongside her band via a trap door to serenade the Chanel front row AFP/Getty Images Marc Jacobs AW16 Lady Gaga showed off her best poker-face as she took to the Marc Jacobs runway in New York behind model-of-the-moment Kendall Jenner Katherine Hamnett AW03 Fashion got political in 2003 as Katherine Hamnett gathered celebrities such as Jodie Kidd to walk her runway wearing t-shirts emblazoned with 'Stop War Blair Out' Scott Barbour/Getty Images Stella McCartney AW17 Stella's models paid tribute to George Michael at Paris Fashion Week with a surprise finale dance performance AFP/Getty Images Simone Rocha AW17 Simone Rocha proved her runway has no age limit as she enlisted 73-year-old Italian model Benedetta Barzini to walk her London showcase AFP/Getty Images

Revealing that she believed the models didn't just walk the show because of their relationship, McCartney said: "It was a very Brit moment."

"It was a moment where Brit was flying and these girls were travelling the world representing Great Britain. I do think had another person asked them I think they mightve done it."

Kate Moss walks Stella McCartney's Graduate Fashion Week runway / Rex Features

"It was a moment where they were like yeah! Well do a degree show for Britain'."

Naomi with Stella after the Graduate Fashion Week showcase / Rex Features

However, when Young seemed cynical that this would be the case, the 45-year-old admitted: "I mean of course they were doing it for me because we were friends [laughs], who am I trying to kid?"

How supermodels were scouted - in pictures 1 /21 How supermodels were scouted - in pictures Kate Moss When? 1988

At what age? 14

Where? At JFK airport with her father Rex Features Twiggy When? 1966

At what age? 17

Where? At the hairdressers Getty Images Linda Evangelista When? 1981

At what age? 16

Where? At a Miss Teen Niagara beauty pageant (that she didn't win) Getty Images Elle Macpherson When? 1982

At what age? 18

Where? On a skiing holiday in Colorado Getty Images Christy Turlington When? 1983

At what age? 14

Where? Horse riding in Florida AFP/Getty Images Cindy Crawford When? 1983

At what age? 17

Where? After being photographed for a newspaper she received such positive feedback that she entered Elite Model Management's Look of the year competition Naomi Campbell When? 1986

At what age? 15

Where? Shopping in Covent Garden AFP/Getty Images Claudia Schiffer When? 1987

At what age? 17

Where? In a nightclub AFP/Getty Images Heidi Klum When? 1992

At what age? 18

Where? She won a competition called Model 92 out of 250,000 contestants in Germany and was offered a contract immediately Getty Images Gisele Bundchen When? 1994

At what age? 14

Where? Shopping in Sao Paulo, Brazil Getty Images Alessandra Ambrosio When? 1995

At what age? 14

Where? She was a finalist in the Brazilian 'Elite Model Look' competition Getty Images Miranda Kerr When? 1997

At what age? 13

Where? She won a modelling contest for Dolly magazine when she was 13 years old Getty Images Rosie Huntington-Whiteley When? 2003

At what age? 16

Where? She was signed with modelling agency Profile after a stint of work experience there Getty Images Karlie Kloss When? 2005

At what age? 13

Where? Walking a charity fashion show in her hometown of Missouri Getty Images Jourdan Dunn When? 2006

At what age? 15

Where? In a Primark store in Hammersmith AFP/Getty Images Cara Delevingne When? 2009

At what age? 16

Where? At school Getty Images

One side of her business that McCartney will seemingly never regret is her decision to steer clear from using fur, leather or feathers in her collections.

Asked by Young whether people had tried to change her mind, McCartney revealed that it has happened "a number of times" in her career.

"Its never going to change for me, its in my DNA. And actually, its the one thing I think that makes my fashion brand modern and relevant and current, and I think its the one thing that makes the others not."

"I dont use any PVC, all my viscose now is from sustainable wood, its such an exciting way for me to approach my business."
E arly 20th-century Paris is to be brought to life at Tate Modern with a virtual reality room forming part of a blockbuster Modigliani show.

Visitors will be given headsets immersing them in the city, which was home to the Italian painter for more than a decade until his death in 1920 aged 35.

The move to the French capital brought Amedeo Modigliani into contact with innovative artists such as Pablo Picasso and had a major impact on his work. Although individual artists at Tate Modern have experimented with virtual reality technology, it is the first time the gallery has used it to this extent in a major show. Curator Nancy Ireson said the experience would be quite extraordinary and enhance the feeling of the city.

She said: It is still very early days in terms of the actual content development, but what the show is really about is Modigliani in Paris  so it is a show about a city and about the experience of arriving in a different place and becoming somebody different.

Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and Andre Salmon, 1916 / Public Domain

The gallery has worked with tech giant HTC. Paul Brown, general manager of HTCs virtual reality platform Vive Europe, said the use of VR could revolutionise the way people create and experience art. He said: Our relationship with Tate is another step towards bringing people closer to art than ever before.

More than 100 Modigliani works will go on display in November including portraits, sculptures and the largest group of his nudes ever to be shown in this country. The artists striking approach to painting nudes made his name. His only solo show became notorious when it was raided by Parisian police after complaints of indecency.

Ms Ireson said the paintings were made at an important stage in Modiglianis career when he became more professional. There is such a freedom in these works and they are so startling, the composition is very bold and you can really feel the figures pushed out into the front of the picture, she said. These are very modern nudes.

Summer exhibitions worth travelling for 1 /10 Summer exhibitions worth travelling for Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne (Until September 17) Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne John Minton Pallant House Gallery in Chichester (July 1 - October 1) Royal College of Art Quentin Blake: The Only Way to Travel The Jerwood Gallery in Hastings (June 14 - October 10) Quentin Blake, 2017 Wyndham Lewis: Life, Art War Imperial War Museum North in Manchester (June 23 - January 1)  IWM Art That Continuous Thing: Artists and the Ceramics Studio, 1920 to Today Tate St Ives (Until September 3) Courtesy of the artist, Rob Tufnell, London and Studio Voltaire London. Phyllida Barlow Turner Contemporary in Margate (Until September 24) Stephen White Alphonse Mucha: In Quest of Beauty The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool (June 16 - October 29) Mucha Trust Portraying a Nation: Germany 1919-1933 Tate Liverpool (June 23 - October 15)  DACS 2017. Leopold-Hoesch-Museum & Papiermuseum Duren Cornelia Parker: Verso The Whitworth in Manchester (June 16 - November 5) Cornelia Parker Howard Hodgkin: Painting India The Hepworth Wakefield (July 1 - October 8)

The exhibition will also consider the influence of the women in his life, particularly the English poet Beatrice Hastings and another of his lovers, Jeanne Hebuterne, who killed herself in despair after his death from tubercular meningitis. Several portraits of her will be on show, including one from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The show, sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, runs from November 23 to April 1.
F our months departed from Londons restaurants has had us daydreaming.

Do you remember that time we ate? has been the way weve started most conversations during lockdown. And yet, even with a good 15 weeks to think about it, we still cant decide where to eat.

Do we want noodles in north London? Or a bao bun in Borough? With a flood of the capitals top restaurants having now reopened or pencilled in their reopening dates, were overwhelmed with dishes to revisit  so weve decided to make a list of the very best.

In all honesty, the list could be 10 times the length if we had the time, and we freely admit there are some big names and local favourites that aren't (yet) on the list. In some cases, that may be because the restaurant hasnt yet confirmed its reopening date  it would be cruel to tempt you with something if you can't put a date in the diary to tuck in.

From Michelin-starred signature dishes to the best fast food in the capital, here are 30 dishes you need to try in London.

Bone marrow and parsley salad, St John  From July 29

Not only has this dish kicked off countless wonderful meals over the course of St Johns 25 years, but it also gets credit for putting British cooking back on the global culinary map. Roasted bone marrow, coaxed out onto toast, cut perfectly with salad of parsley, shallots and capers. A nose-to-tail revolution, and utterly divine.

EC1, E1, stjohnrestaurant.com

Pici cacio e pepe, Padella  Open now

Heavenly: The cheesy dish

Five years ago, you would have thought anyone queuing for pasta in London to have lost their minds  this dish changed that. The starlet of Padellas much coveted is this plate of pici  hand-rolled fat worms of eggless pasta  with a mirror-shine sauce of parmesan cheese and pasta. Simple but unrivalled  and itll set you back just 6.

SE1, EC2, padella.co

Smoked eel sandwich, Quo Vadis  Open now

Jeremy Lee cooks many things to a legendary level at Quo Vadis  his pies could so easily have also made this list  but he gets the nod here for his unrivalled take on the fancy sandwich. Smoked eel, horseradish cream and Dijon mustard, served with red onion pickle  a combination so popular Lee says he nearly ran out of eel on post-lockdown reopening.

26-29 Dean Street, W1D 3LL, quovadissoho.co.uk

Buttermilk Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Around the Cluck / 12:51  Open now

James Cochran found his signature dish early on, but its so good it should stay with him for the rest of his career. While he has chops and can do more beyond, theres something special in the way he works with his chicken; hotly spiced, gorgeously crispy, beautifully soft on the inside. A long-standing favourite and, though 12:51 presently cant operate as it did before, there are tables at his new project Around the Cluck, operating out of the same site.

107 Upper St, N1 1QN, 1251.co.uk

Snails, LEscargot  Open September 3

LEscargot is one of Sohos old aristocrats and in its grand, beret red dining room there is always a mischievous sense of fun  perhaps because it is still such a smart, suited, chandeliered place, and people are often drinking themselves rather silly. The clue to good eating is in the name; the snails come still clinging to their shells, submerged in a butter and parsley sauce. Dive in; you will emerge stinking gloriously of garlic. It wont matter a jot; roll on the red wine and settle in for a long, comforting night.

48 Greek St, Soho, W1D 4EF, lescargot.co.uk

Bacon naan, Dishoom  Open now at Shoreditch, Kings Cross and Carnaby, open in Kensington on July 24

Londoners spent decades believing bacon in a bap with some ketchup (or brown sauce, but lets not have that argument now) couldnt be beaten  and then Dishoom came along. This breakfast sandwich fills a fresh naan with bacon, a slathering of cream cheese, a luxurious tomato and chilli chutney, coriander and an oozing fried egg if you feel so inclined. Hangover be gone.

E2, W1, N1, W8, dishoom.com

Marinara, 50 Kalo di Ciro Salvo  Open now

Superlatives should be used in moderation  but heck it, this might just be Londons best pizza. This under-the-radar London iteration of a Naples pizzeria serves an unrivalled marinara: just tomato sauce, oil, garlic and oregano. No need for any more  with a sauce this good and a base so fine and perfectly charred, you can stop mourning your cancelled Italian holiday at first bite.

7 Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5BY, 50kalo.it

Whole turbot, Brat  Open now at Climpsons Arch, Shoreditch restaurant open from July 21

Benjamin McMahon

Tomos Parrys talents with a turbot first came to feverish acclaim at Mayfair restaurant Kitty Fishers, but they are now the star attraction at his Michelin-starred solo spot. This whole fish  grilled Basque-style, over hot coals and in a specially designed cage  softens as if it has melted, and is basted at the table in an emulsion made with its own juices.

E8, E1, bratrestaurant.com

Lamb chops, Melabes  Open now

Perhaps because its quietly tucked in among its unassuming neighbours down on the wrong end of High Street Kensington, Melabes is often overlooked by Londons food lovers. An unwarranted shame, as this partly Middle Eastern, partly Mediterranean set-up is really very good. The lamb chops, which come all smokey and burnished from the grill, are perfect; pink as a Vegas sign inside, but the fat all soft and dripping and delicious. A must, whatever the order.

221 Kensington High St, W8 6SG, 020 7937 3003

Souffle Suissesse, Le Gavroche  Open now

Le Gavroche  the street urchin  is perhaps not for everyone. It is a Mayfair time machine, a reminder of how things were done once upon a time. Fortunately, it happens that how things were once done was very well indeed, and lunch or supper here is a masterclass in traditional French luxury (and often, happily, includes very large glasses of wine). Staff make the place, anyone who has been gently teased by the twins pretending to be each other will know. A tendency towards the old ways does mean the cooking offers little in the way of evolution or revolution, but new, after all, isnt always better. Michel Roux Jrs cheese souffle, baked on double cream, stuns. It is so overwhelmingly tasty; utter decadence that clings to the taste buds.

43 Upper Brook St, W1K 7QR, le-gavroche.co.uk

BBQ Butter chicken wings, Brigadiers  Open now

Brigadiers is a bold, boisterous sort of place: a labyrinthine City dining room, packed to the rafters with beer and Indian food that is indisputably gutsy. But arguably its finest moment comes in one of its smallest packages  these chicken wings may be diminutive, but are mightily spiced, deftly charred and dripping with ghee-fuelled succulence.

1-5 Bloomberg Arcade, EC4N 8AR, brigadierslondon.com

Confit potatoes at The Quality Chop House  Open now

Yes, there are some high quality chops on offer at this 150-year-old Clerkenwell restaurant but blimey, leave room for the chips. Fine slices of potato are stacked into architecturally sound wedges, and confited until shatteringly crispy on the outside and devastatingly soft in the centre. They have been much imitated in recent years, but never bettered.

88-94 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3EA, thequalitychophouse.com

Pig's Trotter, French House  Open now

Upstairs in the Soho local, Neil Borthwick is quietly running one of the areas best kitchens. He orders in particularly good oysters, does brilliant things with brill and with his pigs trotter, he has a dish that is rich and fatty, but with a beautiful salty cut that makes it madly moreish. The menu tends to change often upstairs in the French, but have this if its on. That little dining room is somewhere to go in early for lunch and stay until late, eventually spilling down into the pub below, to drink pints  they do pints now, not just halfs  all while merrily reliving the joys upstairs.

49 Dean St, W1D 5BG, frenchhousesoho.com

Potato and roe, Core by Clare Smyth  Open now

Clare Smyth has a knack that must infuriate other chefs; she is able to take the simplest of ingredients  say, a single carrot and a smattering of lamb mince  do something devilish with it and charge rather a lot for it; so good are the results, though, that few mind. Smyths sorcery is perhaps best witnessed with her signature, the potato and roe. It is simply a potato on a plate in a little sauce, but then it is also perhaps the best potato dish in the world; it has this wonderful salty richness, a certain seaside intenseness. It is glorious; so too is the smoked chicken that tends to come as an amuse bouche. Youll be treated here.

92 Kensington Park Rd, W11 2PN, corebyclaresmyth.com

Classic bao, Bao  Open now at Borough, Soho open from August 4

London has buns in abundance, but we still bow down to the fluffy superiority of Bao. The Taiwanese restaurant has become a cross-town favourite, thanks to its pleasingly pert rice buns (they are genuinely very pert, no crassness intended) and carefully considered fillings. The classic order comes filled with braised pork, fermented veg, coriander and a dusting of peanut powder.

13 Stoney Street, SE1 9AD, baolondon.com

Clay pot baked crab and pork glass noodles, Kiln  July 24

When we say Kiln is one of the hottest spots in town, we mean it  hang over the counter at the Thai barbecue and youre not far out of range for the odd flame. Baking in the heart of the swirling heat is this must order: shimmering glass noodles, coated with a silky sauce enriched with fatty slicks of Tamworth pork belly and improbably unctuous crab meat.

58 Brewer Street, W1F 9TL, kilnsoho.com

Jamon croquetas, Barrafina  Open now at Coal Drops Yard and Dean Street, open at Adelaide Street from July 30

A dish like this should be elusive  it is far too easy to eat seven portions of croquetas in a single sitting, which is why we presume Barrafina makes you queue. Very sensible. As the crunchy coating gives way to the oozing centre, enriched with the flavour of Spanish jamon (the best ham in the business), were already planning our next visit.

N1, W1, WC2, barrafina.co.uk

Fish pie, J Sheekey  Open now

John Carey

Long an actors favourite, J Sheekeys glamour has never lost its lustre. Its kept its regulars and charmed newcomers with a menu that plays the greatest hits of fine dining favourites. Seafood is Sheekeys thing; simply done sole is beautiful here, crab comes three ways, brill brushed in butter is beyond satisfying. The fish pie is famous though, and rightly so; beneath the flaking pastry is a sea of cream, mustard and white wine, in it bobbing cod, haddock and salmon. It is simple but never fails; it does on its own for lunch, but is a failsafe at supper, too.

28-32 St Martin's Ct, WC2N 4AL, j-sheekey.co.uk

Porterhouse steak, the Guinea Grill  Open from July 20

London is not short of steakhouses, but the Guinea does not number among them. A pub  a proper one  it is tucked down a Mayfair sidestreet, away from everything and yet still perpetually busy. Besides the small bar is a dining room that looks much as it must have done when the likes of Sinatra was in (or Bette Midler, or Kylie, or Regan, or, or, or), where theyve long served prime Aberdeen Angus cooked on a smoking hot grill. The Guinea is all about having a good time  pints, red wine, brandies, the lot  but they cook beautifully, and their handling of a good piece of beef is second to none.

30 Bruton Place, W1J 6NL, theguinea.co.uk

Omelette Arnold Bennett, The Wolseley  Open now

Dont worry, no Arnolds were harmed in the making of this dish. Alongside impeccable service and an arguably perfect dining room, you could add another highlight to your breakfast at The Wolseley by ordering this creamy, haddock-filled dish, named for the writer who inspired its creation while staying at the Savoy.

160 Piccadilly, W1J 9EB, thewolseley.com

Puree de pommes de terre, Le Comptoir Robuchon  Open early September

The late Joel Robuchon may have been the most decorated chef of his and perhaps any other era, but his signature stayed humble  mashed potato. Until youve had it, it is hard to believe it could be quite so good; mash, after all, is mash. No matter the scepticism, it will always surprise; it is almost silly that so little could taste of so much. A side, it will match almost everything on the menu; of which, the lamb with aubergine on the menu of classics is extraordinarily good.

6 Clarges St, W1J 8AE, robuchonlondon.co.uk

Ragu, Lina Stores  Open July 21

Sohos Lina Stores  the pasta bar, not the longstanding Italian deli it comes from  is the sort of restaurant one longs for; small, fun, friendly, not too pricey. They do small plates of near perfect pasta; their ragu, whether lamb or veal, is a gem. A good ragu is hard to find  too often theres too little meat, or meat not cooked for long enough  but here, they spend the time over it, cooking slowly, carefully. No restaurant can compare with a Nonna, but Lina gets gratifyingly close.

51 Greek St, W1D 4EH, linastores.co.uk

The Ari Gold, Patty & Gold  Open now, excluding Kingly Street, Old Compton Street and Goodge Street locations

Theres a cheeseburger on every high street in the capital  but not all of them are created equal. Patty & Bun has got the classic combination down to a tee with its curiously named Ari Gold burger: a fat, 35-day aged patty is served medium rare, and topped with gooey American cheese, smokey house mayo and tangy pickled red onions.

Various locations, pattyandbun.co.uk

Beef brisket bun, Smokestak  Open now

David Carters Shoreditch restaurant occupies itself by giving the entirety of Kansas City a run for its money on a daily basis. The star turn at this lauded barbecue restaurant is its beef brisket bun  the meat is soft and juicy, riddled with its fats in the centre, while charred and treacle-like on the outside, paired perfectly with pickled chillies. To remember it is to salivate, we assure you.

35 Sclater Street, E1 6LB, smokestak.co.uk

Xiao long bao, Din Tai Fung  Open now

Few dishes in the capital have been known to cause queues of four hours. Thats exactly what the world-famous xiao long bao dumplings did when top Taiwanese restaurant group Din Tai Fung first opened in Covent Garden. An intricately folded out layer (made by chefs trained for at least 18 months) gives way to succulent meat and a broth you could take on by the bowlful.

5 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8PT, dintaifung-uk.com

Biang biang noodles, Xian Biang Biang Noodles  Open now

There are oodles of noodles in the capital, but Guirong Weis triumphant take is one of the finest. First finding followers at her north London restaurant Xian Impression (soon to reopen for dine-in, but not yet), the dish of has inspired a whole spin-off restaurant in Spitalfields. Thick, hand-pulled, chewy noodles soak up all the spice and zing of the special sauce they swim in  very special indeed.

62 Wentworth Street, E1 7AL, xianbiangbiangnoodles.com

Cauliflower shawarma, Berber & Q  Open now

Its not often that the main event at a barbecue restaurant is the veg, but Berber & Q have achieved just that. The cauliflower shawarma here is cooked on their flaming grill until softened and charred, before being doused liberally in tahini, pomegranate molasses, coriander, pomegranate seeds and a scattering of dried rose petals.

338 Acton Mews, E8 4EA, berberandq.com

Steak tartare imperial, Bob Bob Ricard  July 21

Theres Press For Champagne buttons, lobster in your mac and cheese and anything that stays still long enough gets gilded  there is no point in going small at Bob Bob Ricard. Steak tartare is a luxurious pick at the best of times, but the Imperial upgrade here comes with a dollop of caviar  even without the finishing touch, the tartare itself is one of the best in the capital.

1 Upper James Street, W1F 9DF, bobbobricard.com

Dover sole with crab butter, Bentleys Oyster Bar and Grill  From October 1

There are so many delights at Bentleys, its tricky to pick a single one. This could so easily have been a plate of rigorously sourced oysters, the fish pie, the decadent Royal seafood platter. It is however, the Dover sole that wins. A sublime piece of fish always, expertly cooked without fail  choose it either filleted with beautiful crab butter, or grilled and whole for a simple pleasure. Over in the City, Corrigan does similarly brilliant things with lobster at Daffodil Mulligan.

11-15 Swallow Street, W1B 4DG, bentleys.org

Breakfast, Hawksmoor Guildhall  From September 1

Your Full English is not full in comparison to the Hawksmoor breakfast at the steak connoisseurs Guildhall restaurant. The mind-boggling two-person spread swaps bacon rashers for an entire smoked chop, serves its bubble and squeak with short rib, puts trotter meat into its baked beans, and adds grilled bone marrow to all the usual trimmings.

10 Basinghall Street, EC2V 5BQ, thehawksmoor.com
W ales is having its moment in the sun, and not just because of the  whisper it  good weather.

Its because 2017 is the countrys Year of Legends, celebrating its history, storytelling tradition, natural attractions and creative minds, from Roald Dahl and Gillian Clarke to Dylan Thomas. Lonely Planet, meanwhile, has named North Wales one of the top regions to visit in 2017  the only part of the UK to earn a coveted spot on the list.

Theres something for every kind of traveller here, whether youre looking for a romantic retreat, a family holiday, an active escape or a city break. Plus, during festival season, the countrys calendar is packed with first-rate events.

With a fifth of Wales designated as national park, this is a place thats full of big landscapes. And the long days and milder weather of summer are just made for long hikes, whether you plan to conquer Britains third-highest mountain, Snowdon, or a gentler peak in the Brecon Beacons.

But Wales dramatic interior landscape is not its only draw  the coast is also unmissable. Wales has 230 beaches and 50 islands to explore, from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in the south to rugged Anglesey in the north. Yet, despite its obvious natural charms, Wales isnt just somewhere for embracing the great outdoors.

As youd expect from a country celebrating its legends, its got history in spades, packing in 641 castles  more per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Four of them  Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech and Beaumaris  are even encompassed into a Unesco World Heritage Site.

And once youre done exploring these medieval structures, you can admire more recent feats of engineering such as Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape  both also listed by Unesco.

If you needed any more reason to visit right now, there are culinary events happening all over Wales this summer, as well as top-notch dining destinations that show off its legendary produce all year round. Wherever you go, you can be sure of a warm Welsh welcome.

For more details visitwales.com
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing on an estate in north London left a man fighting for life.

Emergency services were scrambled to the Dover Court Estate in Canonbury shortly after 2am on Monday.

Police officers, paramedics and Londons Air Ambulance all attended the scene at Westcliffe House in Baxter Road.

The man, aged 29, was rushed to an east London hospital where he remains a critical condition, Scotland Yard said.

The woman, aged 22, was also taken to hospital but her injuries are not believed to be as serious.

A spokesman for the Met Police said: Next of kin are aware. A 22-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

She was taken to north London hospital - her condition is not life threatening. Enquiries continue.
A mother-of-two caught smuggling drugs to prisoners was today starting a jail sentence after top judges ruled that parenthood cannot be a trump card for criminals.

Prison officer Safak Sinem Bozkurt, 28, sneaked 11,700 of cannabis in her bra, plus mobile phones and SIM cards, past security at the young offender institution where she worked.

She was given a two-year suspended sentence at Southwark crown court after pleading with the judge not to jail her because she is a mother.

However, following a challenge by Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC, Court of Appeal judges have ruled the sentence was too lenient and Bozkurt should be jailed for two years and eight months.

Lord Justice Gross, sitting with Sir Alan Wilkie and Judge Peter Collier QC, said the plight of her children had to be balanced against the seriousness of her crimes. The offending here was serious, it was done for venal motives. The offender should have thought about the consequences, he said.

With respect to the judge, we are driven to the conclusion that the sentence was not only lenient, but unduly lenient, and cannot stand.

Bozkurt, from Islington, was caught out during a staff search at Isis young offender institution in Thamesmead in July last year. She was found to have 117g of cannabis in her bra, as well as mobile phones, SIM cards and charging cables stuffed into her waistband.

She had been offered 1,000 per consignment of smuggled goods, and agreed because she needed to clear debts and pay for the criminology masters degree she was studying.

Bozkurt was first sentenced in April by Judge Martin Griffith after pleading guilty to two counts of taking prohibited items into a prison.

But at the Court of Appeal, Paul Jarvis, representing the Solicitor General, argued the judge had paid too much attention to the plight of her children, aged four and seven. While impact on children was important it could not be a trump card for offenders to dodge jail, he said.

The appeal judges considered childrens rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but also found that the amount of goods smuggled was a problem.

They help to maintain a criminal economy and power structure within the prison, said Lord Justice Gross. It is important a very clear message is sent: conduct such as this on the part of a prison officer means immediate custody.

Bozkurt was allowed to go home after the hearing last Thursday week and told to report to jail today to start her sentence.
A Muslim looked on in horror as her car was deliberately set on fire in a hate crime attack.

The woman has been left afraid to leave her home in Basildon following the incident in which petrol was poured under the car before being set alight.

Police have confirmed that they are treating the attack as a hate crime after the victim told them it was religiously motivated because she is the only Muslim living in the street.

An Essex Police spokesman said a fire service investigation found the blaze was deliberate. Initial enquiries were carried out and officers from Basildon CID are now investigating.

Sidra Naeem, an Islamic adviser for Essex Police and the fire service, said the woman was now afraid to leave her home.

Petrol was put under the car and it exploded in front of her eyes, she said. It was reported by a couple of people to the police, the fire brigade also know, all the neighbours know and the race hate panel was also notified.

She was the only Muslim person in that whole row of houses. She hasnt come out of her house ever since  shes too scared and worried.

The attack happened at about 10.45pm on Wednesday, June 7.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Pudney said: We will not tolerate hate crime in any form.

If you are a victim of hate crime  whether that offence takes place online or in the street  it is important that you report that to us so we can help you.

Anyone carrying out hate crime in any form will be dealt with robustly, investigated and prosecuted.
Analysts expect Chinese investors to continue to buy into the United Kingdom, despite uncertainties surrounding Britain's decision to leave the European Union.

And many of the acquisitions will be made by small and medium-sized businesses.

The situation was summarized in a report released on Friday that tracks 438 Chinese outbound deals made globally in 2016- a 20 percent increase on the 363 deals made in 2015.

The 2016 deals had an aggregate value of $216 billion, a significant change from 2015's $87 billion.

The report was compiled by the Shanghai-based M&A advisory company DealGlobe and by Hurun, the Chinese company that became well known for publishing an annual rich list.

Feng Lin, founder and CEO of DealGlobe, said factors leading to the increase in M&A activity include Chinese companies' search for overseas growth and intellectual property; and their ease of access to financing.

One trend Feng highlighted was the increasing activity of small and medium-sized Chinese companies. From among the total number of M&A deals made in 2016, only 13 percent were made by State-owned enterprises. The remainder were made by private companies and financial investors, such as private equity funds. This trend became clearer in the first quarter of 2017, when 83 percent of outbound transactions were led by private companies.

Deals leading the 2016 global acquisitions league include ChemChina's $43 billion acquisition of Switzerland's Syngenta, State Grid's $12.4 billion purchase of Brazil's CPFL Energia SA and Bohai Financial Investment Holding buying CIT Group's aircraft leasing assets for $10 billion.

Then, in the first quarter of 2017, Chinese outbound deals slowed. A total of 89 Chinese outbound deals were announced with a value of $26 billion, a drop from the $39 billion from 107 deals during the same period last year.

But experts are still optimistic about the longer-term acquisitions landscape.

"The temporary drop in the first quarter this year may be a reflection of market participants becoming more rational, meaning those acquirers still in the market may be more rational companies keen to invest in post-merger integration and realize synergies more efficiently," said Michelle Wang, director of marketing at DealGlobe.

The United States ranked first as a destination for Chinese companies' outbound deals, with 84 transactions. The UK ranked fourth, equal with Australia, with 25 deals.

Gerard Lyons, a director of the Bank of China in the UK, said Brexit uncertainties makes the UK keen to attract more Chinese acquisitions, particularly in sectors including technology innovation and infrastructure, both of which are also sectors that China is keen to invest in abroad.

Meanwhile, Chinese buyers still have many lessons to learn in the international acquisitions, said Gary Miller, a partner at the law firm Mishcon de Reya.

"Steps, such as taking the time to get to know the target companies' unique cultures, ensuring the right contracts are in place in structuring the deals, and that the right reporting procedures are present, will all contribute toward helping Chinese buyers realize value for their acquisitions in the end," said Miller.
F ormer pop mogul Jonathan King has appeared in court accused of sexually abusing nine teenage boys during his music career.

The 72-year-old allegedly attacked a 16-year-old boy in 1970 and carried out a string of sex assaults on eight victims between 1978 and 1988.

He has been charged by Surrey Police through Operation Ravine, an investigation into claims of sexual abuse at the Walton Hop Disco in Walton-on-Thames.

King, appearing under his real name Kenneth George King, wore a suit and Nike trainers and smiled as he confirmed his identity from the dock.

Prosecutor Deborah Jeffrey said: Mr King faces 18 charges in relation to historic allegations of sexual assault by nine different men.

King, who lives in Bayswater, claims to have discovered Genesis in the Sixties as a fledgling music producer, and went on to produce hits for 10cc and the Bay City Rollers. He was a Top of the Pops regular in the Eighties and in the 1990s produced the Brit Awards.

Kings lawyer Steven Bird told the court he intends to fight the charges.

District Judge Emma Arbuthnot freed King on bail to appear at Southwark crown court on July 24.
A father-of-two who suffered a cardiac arrest during a 10k charity run in central London has thanked two hero doctors for saving his life.

Fellow runners Claire Barker and Rachael Mitchell stopped to help Paul Alexander, 44, after seeing him in a collapsed state during the Vitality 10,000 event last month.

The doctors, who both work in the intensive care unit at Evelina London childrens hospital, performed CPR chest compressions. Then, with the help of an A&E consultant from Kings College Hospital and a paramedic, who were also on the scene, they used a defibrillator from a rapid-response car to shock his heart back into life.

Mr Alexander was about 40 minutes into the race, which starts at St Jamess Park, when he collapsed. The doctors had been running to raise money for Evelina, part of the Guys and St Thomas NHS trust.

They were reunited several days later when Mr Alexander, a retail manager from Sandhurst, Berkshire, came out of critical care at St Thomas  and he joked that it was only because he was a faster runner that they were following behind.

Runners take part in the Vitality London 10km run 2017 / AFP/Getty Images

Mr Alexander, who has no memory of the race, said: I was very lucky that the doctors happened to be there. Theyre my heroes for saving my life and it was amazing, and very emotional, to meet them.

It was incredible that they felt the responsibility to stop and help someone else  not everyone would. Im so grateful.

Dr Barker said: What happened to Paul really shows how important it is to know how to give CPR effectively. If Pauls blood hadnt been pumped around for a while through CPR, the shock from the defibrillator wouldnt have worked and his heart would not have started beating again.

Dr Mitchell said: It felt very different helping someone who needed urgent medical treatment out on the street rather than in the hospital setting that were used to. Were so pleased that we were able to use our skills to make sure Paul survived and it was great to be reunited with Paul to see his improvement.

Mr Alexander has undergone tests and doctors believe he may have cardiomyopathy, a disease that caused his heart to become enlarged. He has been fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or pacemaker, which helps to treat irregular heartbeat. He is awaiting further tests to find out whether his condition is genetic.

I feel incredibly lucky, he said. I often run alone in the woods near my home and this could have happened anywhere so Im lucky it happened in a race when there were people behind me who knew what they were doing.
A pensioner who is refusing to leave her home on the Chalcots estate today claimed her car was towed away to force her out and accused Camden council of deploying an army of security marshals.

Rajwant Ludher, who owns a flat in Bray block, said she had been left walking the streets with nowhere to go.

Ms Ludher, a police and court service interpreter in her seventies, added: They towed away my car, I didnt know why. They only told me yesterday I had to go. But where can I go? I have no family, I am from Malaysia, have been in Britain since I was a student.

The security here is like an army  its like a war zone here. They are a law unto themselves. Its terrible the way we have been treated.

More than a hundred marshals in high-vis vests were on the estate today as a handful of residents remained. The occupants of 600 flats have been of-fered temporary accommodation in hotels and warned they may not be able to return for up to a month while cladding is removed and safety work done on gas pipes and fire doors.

On duty: marshals on the Chalcots estate, which the council wants to make safe / Jeremy Selwyn

Cathy Mitchell, 56, who returned to get medication, said the move to a hotel had been a nightmare ... we were told to go and had to pack up at 1am. We had to pay ourselves. We have been reimbursed now but its not the point. My daughter has been sick and we are all distressed.

Paul Urquart and wife Michelle said: They were quite intimidating on Saturday night, the police came in to calm it all down. They were blocking our way.

Residents evacuated from Chalcots Estate tower blocks arrive at Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre and Library in Camden / EPA

One old lady is bedridden and could not move but had no one explaining stuff to her at first. Another woman came back from an operation. People are desperate, this has been handled terribly. Now there are marshals on every floor. We feel like we live in a prison.

Camden council leader Georgia Gould, who has been knocking on doors to convince residents to leave, said: The last thing I want to do is force people out. The conversations Ive been having with residents is that they are happy to work with us.

Chalcots Estate resident accosts Camden Leader Georgia Gould

The council and fire brigade advise in the strongest possible terms that residents in Taplow, Bray, Dorney and Burnham [blocks] should evacuate and take up one of our temporary accommodation options, as this is the safest place for you to be.

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Last night fire broke out in a council block less than a mile away in Hampstead

A woman who gave her name as Maryana said she jumped from the balcony of her second-floor flat in Waxham House to escape smoke that was thick as a mountain.

One man was treated for smoke inhalation after 60 firefighters tackled the blaze.
T his is the moment angry protesters clashed with police as a demonstration turned violent in east London.

Shocking footage shows riot officers lining the streets as they try to contain demonstrators attempting to push through their human barrier.

A young woman standing on a raised platform can be seen shouting: free land at the officers amid the chaotic scenes in Forest Gate.

She is joined by two other women on the platform who can also be seen remonstrating with police.

Six officers were injured and four were taken to hospital as clashes erupted following the death of a young father after a traffic stop.

Forest Gate: Riot police tried to contain crowds as the protest descended into chaos

Other images from the scene showed riot police lining the streets as angry demonstrators set fire to bins and hurled bricks at officers on Sunday night.

Four people were arrested for offences including disorder, arson and criminal damage in connection to the chaos.

Crowds had joined a march demanding justice for Edir Frederico Da Costa, a 25-year-old man who died after being detained by police on June 21.

Protesters were pictured lighting fires in the streets of east London / PA

He died in hospital after being stopped in a car by Metropolitan Police officers in Newham six days earlier.

Campaigners claim Mr Da Costas neck was broken and that he was brutally beaten after the car, which contained three people, was stopped in Woodcocks, Beckton.

But watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said a preliminary post-mortem on Thursday indicated there were no spinal injuries caused by police.

Bricks and other objects are thrown at police during violent protests in Forest Gate

In statement on Friday, the IPCC said it released the information due to concern over rapid spread of false and potentially inflammatory information.

The protest descended into violence hours after the march began on Sunday afternoon, when the demo began outside Forest Gate police station.

Two police cars were damaged in the shocking scenes. And of the six injured officers, one suffered facial injuries and another suffered head injuries.

In statement, the Met said most of the protesters had dispersed by 3am.

A spokesman said: Four people have been arrested. One person was arrested on suspicion of disorder offences; three others were arrested on suspicion of arson and criminal damage.

They have all been taken to east London police stations where they remain in custody.

Riot police lined the streets as demonstrators gathered in Forest Gate / PA

Earlier in the day, the protest appeared to be peaceful  with demonstrators carrying Black Lives Matter banners and chanting justice for Edson.

Borough Commander Superintendent Ian Larnder tried to calm tensions as he answered questions from organisers, telling the crowd: "I am here because l care deeply about what is going on."

But a flurry of angry comments such as "you are protecting them" was hurled at Mr Larnder as members of the crowd pressed him about alleged police brutality.

"Police officers are all accountable to the law, they are being investigated," Mr Larnder said.

Witnesses told of car windows being smashed and missiles being thrown as the protest threatened to spill into a full blown riot.
A fundraiser for Grenfell Tower victims has been postponed after the venue objected to bashment music being played, claiming it would attract a poor quality demographic.

Trapeze Bar in Shoreditch was due to host the night on June 29 with the aim of raising 1,000 for those affected by the disaster.

But organisers Haqiqi Events say they had no choice but to cancel the event when the bars general manager objected to crap trap and bashment music being played.

His email stated: I am disappointed that I see your artwork and flyers have described that your music genres include Bashment and Trap music.

Trapeze: No bashment allowed / TRAPEZE BAR

Both of which were not described when we requested information about the event.

These types of music are crap and we do not entertain them as they attract poor quality demographic and result in problems.

In a tweet to followers, shared online by urban stars including grime artist Stormzy and Lethal Bizzle, Haqiqi said the night was being postponed and later hit out at the venue for passive racism.

What is bashment? Bashment is a genre of music which derives from dancehall and ragga. The uptempo, hard style, originated in Jamaica during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The genre, which often features MCs using Jamaican patois, exploded in London clubs during the 2000s. Popular artists include Elephant Man, Vybz Kartel and Mavado.

They wrote: We are not associating with a business like this.

In a statement, Haqiqi Events founder Taireen Hussain called for the venue to make a donation to the Grenfell Tower victims.

She wrote: We had the aim to have a night that throws down the stereotypes, crushes division and demolishes the bad name we so frequently hear for RNB, Hip Hop and Trap nights.

We were bitterly disappointed.

In a statement, Trapeze apologised for the row and vowed to help the promoters re-arrange the night for a new date.

They wrote: The owners of Trapeze apologise for the recent actions and opinions expressed by the Trapeze General Manager.

Trapeze are committed to a policy of welcoming all Guests into the venue and does not discriminate in the terms of race, age, colour, sex or national origin.

The management team of Miroma Leisure, owners of Trapeze are undertaking a full investigation of the matter and will take affirmative action following the outcome.

We have spoken with the promoters and offered them another date of their choice and offered to double the money raised on the night for Grenfell as a gesture of goodwill.

Bashment, a music genre with its roots in dancehall, has previously led to rows in other parts of the capital.

Last year, Croydon council launched an investigation after a town centre bar banned the music, branding it unacceptable.
M ore than 1,000 fire doors were missing from Camden tower blocks evacuated in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, the Government has said.

Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid said that concerns over the use of flammable cladding was "not the whole story" behind the evacuation in north London and outlined a string of failures over insulation, breaches of internal walls and missing fire doors.

Thousands of residents living on the Chalcots Estate in north London were evacuated by Camden Council on Friday evening after firefighters said they could not guarantee the safety of the buildings.

Responding to concerns from MPs over fire safety in tower blocks, Mr Javid said on Monday "literally hundreds of fire doors were missing".

800 households to be evacuated from Camden high-rises to allow fire safety works

He told MPs: "When the commissioners went into those tower blocks in Camden, in their own words, they found multiple fire safety inspection failures, failures which frankly should not have happened in tower blocks of any type, certainly those tower blocks in Camden.

"For example there were problems with gas pipe insulation, there were stairways that were not accessible, there were breaches of internal walls and most astonishingly there were hundreds, literally hundreds, of fire doors missing.

"The estimate by Camden Council itself is they need at least 1,000 fire doors because they were missing from those five blocks.

Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures 1 /18 Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures The top section of the death trap Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn The tower today, after the flames were extinguished Jeremy Selwyn A close up of the tower's damaged windows PA Fire service personnel survey the damage PA The tower today, after it emerged at least 17 were killed Jeremy Selwyn Rows of blackened windows after the fire Jeremy Selwyn Police sent in sniffer dogs today to search for bodies Jeremy Selwyn PA The Grenfell Tower at dawn today Jeremy Selwyn Donations have flooded in for victims Jeremy Selwyn Water is sprayed on Grenfell Tower PA Rows and rows of blackened windows. It is feared over one hundred people may have perished Jeremy Selwyn Part of the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Fire crews examine the wreckage PA

"So that had nothing to do with the cladding.

"Clearly something has gone wrong there, drastically wrong, but it's an example when these issues need to be looked at very carefully this is happening in this day and age in our country."

Local authorities and housing associations must act immediately to ensure public safety regardless of cost, as the Government will offer financial assistance, Mr Javid said.

Responding to a later question, he did not rule out the potential for further evacuations similar to that carried out by Camden.

He told MPs: "Thankfully there have been no other councils who have come forward, so far, with a need to have an evacuation and hopefully, there are many more tests to take place so I don't want to pre-judge them, what's happened at Camden will be a rare occurrence."

Labour's Karen Buck, of Westminster North, asked Mr Javid if he has the legal powers to require leaseholders to install fire doors.

Mr Javid replied: "Is it often the case, not exclusively, that many leaseholders have removed fire doors and clearly that's not acceptable.

"I believe all legal powers are there and certainly one of the lessons from this tragedy, and certainly what we've seen in Camden so far, is to make sure we take a much greater interest in enforcement."

Additional reporting by PA
A cyclist has been rushed to hospital with life-changing injuries after he was hit by a lorry on a busy north London road.

The man, aged in his 50s, was hit by the vehicle on Upper Street, Islington, on Saturday just after 5pm.

Paramedics and police rushed to the scene, Theberton Street, while Londons Air Ambulance also landed nearby.

The bike-rider was rushed to an east London hospital and remains there being treated for his injuries.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the driver stopped at the scene.

Police cordoned off the road on Saturday afternoon.

Detectives from the Mets Serious Collision Investigation Unit are investigating what happened.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or via Twitter @MetCC .
T hick black plumes of smoke could be seen for miles across the capital as separate fires raged at a scrapyard in east London and in Canary Wharf.

The first blaze was caused when more than twelve vehicles caught fire in a car storage yard in Rainham.

Crews were then also called to the scene of a second fire in the Canary Wharf area. The two fires broke out within an hour of each other.

Plumes of smoke could be seen across the capital, as workers took to social media to post pictures of both scenes on Monday afternoon.

Six fire engines and 30 firefighters were called to the flames in Rainham just before just before 1.30pm. Crews were called to reports of cars alight in Ferry Lane.

Both fires could be seen from central London / Andrius Kasparavicius

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: "Six lorries, six cars and one 40 foot fork lift truck is alight.

"The Brigade was called at 1.21pm. Fire crews from Wennington and surrounding fire stations are at the scene.

The cause of the fires are not yet known.

After the second blaze broke out in Canary Wharf, social media users posted dramatic images as smoke billows into the air.

Witnesses said the area, a building site in Preston's Road, was evacuated while firefighters battled the flames.

The brigade said crews were at the scene, which is 10 miles away from the scrapyard fire, by about 2pm.
F ire-fighters rushed to a council block in Hampstead on Sunday night after a fire broke out on the second floor.

Video of the blaze shows fire crews running into the burning building on Mansfield road as smoke billowed from the second storey.

The residential street, located next to the Royal Free Hospital, has been closed off as emergency services attend the blaze.

Multiple fire engines and ambulances were lined up outside the block of flats.

London Fire Brigade tweeted that they had nearly 60 fire-fighters and officers attending.

A bystander tweeted a picture of the emergency services at the scene, writing: "Fire in a flat at Waxham #GospelOak - massive response from all emergency services, no injuries but a few families needing a bed tonight."

The fire was reported to be under control by 10pm, although LFB officers remained at the scene to continue "dampening down".

A LFB spokeswoman said an entire flat on the second floor was damaged in the fire - the cause of which is not yet known.
A packed carriage of commuters burst into a rendition of Happy Birthday while stuck on a Tube train for more than an hour during rush hour delays.

Crowds of passengers were stuck underground on the Circle line train for an hour and 20 minutes on Monday morning after a major signalling failure at Earls Court.

Furious passengers on the District, Piccadilly and Circle lines complained of being late for work and described onboard chaos with babies crying and people becoming angry.

But on one westbound Circle line train, which had ground to a halt between High Street Kensington and Gloucester Road, the mood was a lot brighter.

At one point a crowded carriage burst into song to celebrate a fellow commuters birthday.

Cheers: Dozens of people burst into cheers and sang happy birthday. / Troy Schneider

The last line of the song and passengers cheers were captured on camera by one commuter, Troy Schneider, who told the Standard: I have no idea how it started, I think three or four guys [singing] for a woman.

About 30 to 40 people joined in. Then somebody yelled, anyone else have a birthday today?

A younger women put her hand up and they asked her name and we sang again.

I bet a few more minutes on that train would have resulted in some more songs. It was a much needed break after an hour stuck on a really packed train.

He said despite the long delay, sparked by the signalling problem at 9.30am, the mood was pretty good.

I was a little concerned for some elderly riders all sitting on the floor. But all seemed fine.

The entire Piccadilly and District lines were suspended while engineers worked to fix the signal failure. After around an hour the lines reopened, but severe delays were continued into the afternoon.

The Circle line was also part suspended and suffered delays.

Transport for London promised that everyone affected would be automatically refunded.

Steve White, operations director for London Underground, said: We are very sorry for the disruption caused to customers this morning which was due to a power network failure in the Earls Court area at around 9.30am.

Our engineers worked hard to get services running normally as quickly as possible by using our backup power supply. We will be automatically refunding any customers affected by the disruption by the end of the week.
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Are you concerned about your access to affordable healthcare? Are you afraid of losing you present healthcare insurance? Are you paying too much for healthcare? Join us as we explore these issues. We will view and discusss the documentary "Fix It, Healthcare on the Tipping Point". The film was two years in the making. It was an outgrowth of one corporate executives search for an affordable healthcare program for his employees. More than forty voices are heard advocating for reform, including: activists, health policy experts, economists, physicians, nurses, patients, business and labor leaders.
E U nationals living in Britain will not be separated from their families as a result of Brexit, Theresa May has said.

Setting out plans for protecting EU nationals rights once the UK leaves the bloc, the Prime Minister said no families will be split up.

Mrs May said EU nationals could still bring dependent family members to join them in the country, and will be able to apply for settled status after five years.

"No families will be split up. Family dependants who join a qualifying EU citizen here before the UK's exit will be able to apply for settled status after five years," she told MPs in a Commons statement.

"After the UK has left the European Union, EU citizens with settled status will be able to bring family members from overseas on the same terms as British nationals."

Brexit: Theresa May said EU nationals will not be split form their families / PA

Mrs May, who outlined her plans to fellow EU leaders at last week's Brussels summit, said the proposals would offer certainty for the 3.2 million EU nationals currently resident in the UK.

She said: "Under these plans, no EU citizen currently in the UK lawfully will be asked to leave at the point the UK leaves the EU.

A Government paper outlines how EU nationals with five years' continuous residence in the UK would be able to apply for "settled status" - effectively granting them indefinite leave to remain.

"They will be treated as if they were UK citizens for healthcare, benefits and pensions," Mrs May told the House.

PM sets out 'fair and serious offer' for EU citizens

But Jeremy Corbyn said the offers to assure the rights of EU citizens are "too little, too late" and prove the Government would use people as "bargaining chips" over Brexit.

The Labour leader said guarantees for EU nationals in Britain should have been made directly after the vote to leave the European Union last year, rather than waiting until "complex and delicate" trade negotiations began.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Corbyn said: "The Prime Minister went to Brussels last week to make what she described as a generous offer to EU nationals in this country.

"The truth is it is too little, too late. That could have been done and should have been done a year ago when Labour put that very proposal to the House of Commons.

"But by making an offer only after the negotiations have begun, the Prime Minister has dragged the issue of EU citizens and families deep into the complex and delicate negotiations of our future trade relations with the European Union, which she herself has been willing to say may result in failure.

"This isn't a generous offer. This is confirmation the Government is prepared to use people as bargaining chips."
T eachers and unions have reacted in anger after exam papers in maths and economics were apparently leaked hours before 60,000 pupils took their exams.

Details of the A-level Edexcel paper Maths C4 which was taken on Friday by 50,000 pupils, and an another paper Economics 3, taken last Monday by 10,000 students, were allegedly seen on an online forum. Pearson, which runs the Edexcel exam board, said all students would be marked fairly.

Today the head of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) union, Mary Bousted, said the apparently leaked papers were yet more evidence the exam system in the UK is broken.

She said timed exams are not the best way to assess young peoples abilities and problems are regularly occurring during the exam period  including unanswerable questions.

She said: The issue of exam errors is unlikely to go away as the English education system reverts back to exams as the default mode of assessment at GCSE and A-level. As the quantity of exam papers increases, on current evidence, the quality of exam questions may decrease.

Speaking out: ATL union head Mary Bousted said exam quality could fall as the number of papers increased / DAILY MAIL/BRUCE ADAMS

When you consider just how important exam outcomes are going to become, determining A-level choices and student life chances, then the requirement to do just one thing present candidates with an exam with questions they can access and answer  becomes paramount.

The subject of the economics paper was allegedly leaked one hour before pupils sat the exam by a user on the online forum Student Room. Their comment said the paper would cover austerity and the national living wage.

Snapchat images of the C4 maths paper were allegedly being shared the night before the exam, and a photo of a question was also available online. Suzanne Claudett, head of art at St Peters Independent School in Northampton, wrote on the Times Educational Supplement website that control was needed from the exam boards.

She said: Wondering now how many students took advantage of this? Then also thinking about students in creative subjects where leaks/mistakes are impossible. Not a level playing field.

Julia Roberts, a teacher at Crackley Hall School near Coventry, said: This will mean that pupils who havent cheated will get lower grades. Including my own daughter as this was her paper.

Pearson said: We are continuing to investigate the allegations of exam malpractice, which we take extremely seriously. If a breach is confirmed then we will ensure that all students are marked fairly based on their performance in the exam.
T heresa May today spent 1 billion of taxpayers money on a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party to prop up her wobbly government.

A smiling Prime Minister welcomed Arlene Foster, the leader of the Northern Ireland party, to Downing Street this morning to shake hands on the agreement.

The headline sum is understood to be worth about 96 million for each of the 10 Northern Ireland MPs promising to back Mrs May in certain key votes.

But the full cost to UK taxpayers will be far greater because the deal also includes dropping Tory manifesto plans to means-test winter fuel payments to pensioners and scrap the triple lock, which ensures above-inflation state pension rises. In addition, some 183 million of farming subsidies for Ulster are also guaranteed after Brexit. The entire deal is due for renewal in two years.

Mrs Foster, with her Westminster group leader Nigel Dodds and chief whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, posed in triumph with Mrs May outside No 10 before going in to formalise the deal.

But ex-Tory chairman Chris Patten said the toxic brand of the DUP would taint Mrs May, while Mayor Sadiq Khan winced at pork-barrel politics that would cost Londoners in higher taxes.

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Mrs May said the confidence and supply agreement would work for the whole of the UK

I welcome this agreement, which will enable us to work together in the interest of the whole United Kingdom, give us the certainty we require as we embark on our departure from the European Union, and help us build a stronger and fairer society at home, she said. In the interests of transparency, the full terms of this agreement have been published.

Mrs Foster said the headline deal was worth 1.5 billion in extra spending power for the Northern Ireland executive. In addition to financial support of 1 billion over two years, she said, further devolution will give the executive more control over spending worth 500 million.

Mrs Foster said the deal would allow the executive to boost the economy and invest in new infrastructure, as well as ... in the future of our health and education sectors.

We welcome this financial support of 1 billion in the next two years as well as providing new flexibilities on almost 500 million previously committed to Northern Ireland, she said. As a consequence, spending power of almost 1.5 billion will be available to address the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland and the effect these have had on the economy and its people.

The headline deal is equivalent to handing every man, woman and child in Northern Ireland 550 each to spend on local services. But the cost to UK taxpayers will include much higher sums. The winter fuel payment cuts were expected to save the Government 8.5 billion over five years, which will now have to be found. Curbing the triple lock might have saved 7 billion in some years, according to estimates.

The two-year length of the deal suggests the parties expect another general election in 2019. Otherwise it will be renegotiated, meaning more bills.

Who are the DUP?

The agreement also includes a consultation on cutting air passenger duty for Northern Ireland, raising the prospect of another giveaway in future. Corporation tax in the province may be devolved to the Stormont executive, allowing cuts in the rate. Blocking means-testing of the winter fuel allowance paid to 12 million pensioners and the abolition of the triple-lock is another huge victory for the tiny party. Both were contentious items in the Tory manifesto that were dropped from the Queens Speech.

Former Conservative chairman Grant Shapps tweeted that the party would have won this months general election outright if the pensioner benefits had been guaranteed, not threatened. He wrote: Hmm. No change to winter fuel payments, triple-lock pensions & long-term care. With this manifesto, we could have had a stonking majority!

Mrs May said the deal respected the Good Friday peace agreement and urged Nationalists and Unionists to restore the Stormont executive before a deadline for direct rule to be imposed.

Time is running short for the parties to come together and reach agreement to re-establish a power-sharing executive by June 29, she said. I hope the parties will look beyond their differences and come together with a shared sense of common purpose to serve all communities in the best interests of Northern Ireland.

Women's March against Tory deal with DUP 1 /10 Women's March against Tory deal with DUP Activists hold placards as they gather in Parliament Square EPA Women march to Downing Street for a rally EPA Activists gather in Parliament Square for a women's protest against the Tories' deal with the DUP EPA An activist holds a placard in Parliament Square EPA Activists gather in Parliament Square EPA A woman holds up a pro-Jeremy Corbyn placard EPA An activist in Parliament Square holds up placards during the women's protest EPA Two women hold up pro-Jeremy Corbyn placards EPA

Lord Patten said the DUPs hardline stance on issues such as gay equality would harm the Tories and cost taxpayers. He said: The DUP is a toxic brand and the Conservative Party has got itself back into the situation where theres a danger of it looking like the nasty party, to borrow from Theresa May. Every vote will cost you.

Every vote, you will have to find some way of paying for it and then explain to the Scots and the Welsh and people in the North-East why they cant have the same thing too.

The agreement covers four areas of House of Commons divisions where defeat would bring down the Government or be against the national interest, including votes on Brexit, future confidence votes, the autumn Budget and issues of national security. However, it does not cover day-to-day voting on other matters, which means the DUP is free to hold the Government to ransom if it wants to get its way.

DUP backing means this weeks critical vote on the Queens Speech package of proposed laws  the moment Mrs Mays new government must prove itself to remain in power  should be passed by a slender majority of up to 13.

Northern Ireland already gets about 21 per cent more public spending per head of population than the UK average. It is understood that the DUP asked for more money for infrastructure, including new roads, enhanced spending on schools and health as well as economic reforms including lower corporation tax for the region.

Mr Khan told the Standard: There is understandable concern that the Government will throw gratuitous pork-barrel projects at the DUP in order to buy their support  but that will come at the expense of every other region of Britain.

Like many Londoners, I feel deeply uncomfortable about the idea of the DUP playing any role whatsoever in propping up a minority Tory government.

The Prime Minister must make a crystal-clear statement that she rejects the illiberal and intolerant social views of the DUP and give a cast-iron guarantee that LGBT rights and womens rights will not stall or go backwards at the expense of her staying in power.
A fter more than a fortnight of talks, Theresa May has agreed a deal with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party.

Mrs May and DUP leader Arlene Foster shook hands on the agreement, which will see the DUP vow to support the Tories in key Parliamentary votes in exchange for a package of pledges.

Among the details of the agreement is an extra 1 billion of funding for Northern Ireland, as well as a guarantee to keep the state pension "triple lock" which the Tories had wanted to scrap.

Until now the details of the deal have been kept under wraps, but were announced on Monday.

Here is what you need to know about what is included in the agreement.

Why has there been a deal?

A deal was needed after the Conservatives failed to win a majority in the General Election, leaving Mrs May forced to find MPs from other parties who could lend their support.

The Tories were the largest party but only won 318 seats, which is eight short of what was needed to rule on their own.

Today's deal comes after a fortnight of talks. / Getty Images

To get the amount of seats needed, Theresa May was forced to look for support elsewhere. The DUP had 10 seats and, combined with the Tories seats, would make enough for a majority in a deal called a confidence and supply.

What do the Conservatives get from the deal?

In short, the DUP have helped the Tories and Theresa May stay in power. Without their support, the Conservatives would not be able to form a Government.

Under the deal, the DUP will agree to vote for the Queens Speech, which sets out the Governments planned laws for the next Parliament. If all goes to plan, the Queens Speech should be passed by a majority of 13.

Conservative sign deal with DUP

It also ensures the DUP will support the Government on votes where, if the Tories were defeated, could bring down the Government or be against national interest.

That includes votes on Brexit, future confidence votes, the autumn Budget and issues of national security.

But the deal does not cover day-to-day voting so the DUP does not have to back every Government bill.

What does the DUP get from the agreement?

Northern Irelands power-sharing executive will receive an extra 1 billion in funding over two years, on top of the extra 500 million they usually get.

This works out as an extra 550 each for every man, woman and child in Northern Ireland to spend on services.

On top of the financial support, some of the Conservatives' manifesto policies have been withdrawn at the request of the DUP.

What Tory policies have been scrapped?

Among the Conservatives manifesto pledges which have been dropped are:

Introduction of means-testing for the winter fuel allowance

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Downgrading the triple-lock  which ensures above-inflation state pension rises - to a double-lock.

What else is in the deal?

The Nato commitment to spend at least two per cent of national income on defence will be met.

Both parties have committed to implementing the Armed Forces Covenant  which promises to treat the armed forces and their families fairly - "throughout the United Kingdom". The DUP has previously claimed the covenant has not been fully implemented in Northern Ireland.

The deal says the Conservative party will "never be neutral in expressing its support" for the Union but will "govern in the interests of all parts of the community" in Northern Ireland.

The DUP will have "no involvement" in the Government's political talks in Northern Ireland and "recognises the need for early restoration of inclusive and stable" devolved government.

How will the DUP spend their extra 1 billion?

The extra money breaks down as:

400 million for infrastructure projects (200 million per year for two years)

200 million for improvement of health service (100 million per year for two years)

150 million for ultra-fast broadband (75 million per year for two years)

Smiles: Theresa May greets DUP leader Arlene Foster at No 10 today / PA

100 million for tackling deprivation (20 million per year for five years)

100 million to address immediate pressures in health and education (50 million per year for two years)

50 million for mental health services (10 million per year for five years)

What have politicians said about the deal?

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, is understandably pleased with the extra money for Northern Ireland and said she was delighted.

The Prime Minister said the DUP and the Tories "share many values" and the agreement was "a very good one".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the deal was "not in the national interest".

Welsh and Scottish leaders reacted furiously to the deal. Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones described the agreement - which includes 1 billion in new funding for Northern Ireland - as "unacceptable" and a "straight bung" to prop up a "faltering" Conservative minority government.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "Any sense of fairness sacrificed on the altar of grubby DUP deal to let PM cling to power, & Scots Tories influence in No10 shown to be zero".

Protest outside Downing Street against DUP alliance 1 /16 Protest outside Downing Street against DUP alliance Downing-street-DUP-protest-1 Protesters gather at parliament Square AP Downing-street-DUP-protest-2 A woman holds a sign protesting Theresa may's minority government AP Downing-street-DUP-protest-3 Protesters march towards Downing Street AP Downing-street-DUP-protest-4 People protested the DUP's hardline stance on social issues AP Downing-street-DUP-protest-5 The group Stand Up To Racism joined the demonstration Getty Images Downing-street-DUP-protest-6 Protesters chanting outside Street Getty Images Downing-street-DUP-protest-7 People hold placards in Parliament Square EPA Downing-street-DUP-protest-8 Police line up alongside protesters outside Downing Street Getty Images Downing-street-DUP-protest-9 A man protesting Theresa May's new government Getty Images Downing-street-DUP-protest-10 People held signs reading "Corbyn In, Tories Out" AP Downing-street-DUP-protest-11 People held signs in support of Labour leader jeremy Corbyn AP Downing-street-DUP-protest-12 Protesters chant outside Downing Street AP

Downing Street has said that as the allocation is being made as part of the block grant to Northern Ireland, there will be no knock-on funding boost for other parts of the UK through the Barnett formula, the mechanism used to distribute Treasury funds to the devolved nations.

How long will the deal last for?

The entire deal is due for renewal in two years.
A Canadian soldier has become the first female infantry officer to command troops guarding the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Captain Megan Couto, 24, spoke of her pride after being made Captain of the Queen's Guard but said she would just focus on doing her job to the best of her ability.

Her Canadian unit The Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) - known as The Patricia's - has been invited to the UK to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada, which is celebrated this year.

Captain Couto said: "I'm just focusing on doing my job as best I can and staying humble.

Captain: Megan Couto is the first female soldier to lead the Queen's Guard

Any of my peers would be absolutely delighted to be Captain of the Queen's Guard and I'm equally honoured."

Before marching with her troops from Wellington Barracks to nearby Buckingham Palace, the officer said: "I'm not feeling too nervous.

Captain Couto: She hails from Canada / PA

We've practised enough and all the guys have been through their paces - I've just to focus on saying the right commands."

The role of Mounting the Queen's Guard usually falls to the British Army's Household Division, which is largely made up of male troops.

Captain Megan Couto at Wellington Barracks / PA

While women in the British Army have served on frontline duties in a variety of roles, until July last year they were banned from ground close combat roles, so no female infantry officer has served as Captain of the Queen's Guard.

The Government is opening up combat roles to women over a phased three-year term.

From November last year, some units of the Royal Armoured Corps have been open to women.

This change will apply to roles in the infantry of which the Queen's Foot Guards are part, which will be open to women by the end of next year.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: "I have always wanted roles in our armed forces to be determined by ability, not gender.

"Women have already given exemplary service in recent conflicts, working in a variety of highly specialised and vital roles.

By opening all combat roles to women, we will continue to build on these successes and improve the operational capability of our military".

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Manitoba, Canada, was named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, daughter of the then-Governor General of Canada.

Princess Patricia had special links with Buckingham Palace, the place of her birth on March 17 1886. Her father was Prince Arthur, the third son of Queen Victoria.
T he Government has now confirmed that sixty high-rise buildings in 25 local authority areas have failed fire cladding safety tests, the Government has said.

Local authorities ordered urgent checks of the material used on the buildings after police confirmed that the cladding on Grenfell Tower contributed to the fast-spreading fire.

The number has been steadily rising all weekend and has almost doubled since Saturday.

The announcement came after Communities Secretary Sajid Javid revealed all of the buildings that have so far submitted cladding samples have failed combustibility tests.

Tests: Sampls of the cladding have been sent off for tests / AP

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said Doncaster, Norwich, Stockton-on-Tees and Sunderland all had buildings that failed tests, while Manchester, Plymouth and Portsmouth have already been named.

Islington, Lambeth and Wandsworth joined Barnet, Brent, Camden and Hounslow on the growing list of London boroughs, while 11 other areas are yet to be named.

Chalcots Estate resident accosts Camden Leader Georgia Gould

Camden Council leader Georgia Gould said around 200 residents from 120 households were still refusing to leave their homes in four tower blocks evacuated in the Chalcots Estate in north London.

She took the decision to clear 600 flats on Friday night after London Fire Brigade inspecting officers identified concerns over the combination of external cladding, fire doors, gas pipes and insulation.

Up to three thousand people were evacuated from the tower blocks / EPA

Around 60 people stayed in nearby Swiss Cottage leisure centre on Saturday night, as 3,000 displaced residents faced weeks in temporary accommodation.

Ms Gould explained some residents have issues, including agoraphobia, and want to be sure they have got suitable accommodation before moving out of their flats.

"I'm going myself back to the blocks to knock on doors and have those conversations," she told BBC News.

She added: "The last thing I want to do is force people out of their homes, and the conversations I have been having with residents in these buildings is that they are happy to work with us."

The council said it could take two to four weeks for the four blocks to be made safe.

Notting Hill Grenfell Tower Fire - In pictures 1 /49 Notting Hill Grenfell Tower Fire - In pictures A blaze rages through Grenfell Tower block in Notting Hill Jeremy Selwyn Aerial view of the fire at Grenfell Tower, Notting Hill Jason Hawkes Jeremy Selwyn Aerial view of the fire at Grenfell Tower, Notting Hill Jason Hawkes Jeremy Selwyn A firefighter investigates a floor after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower PA Exhausted firefighter rest on steps of houses after ours of tackling the blaze Alex Lentati Jeremy Selwyn Residents wave frantically at a window during the blaze Nigel Howard Emergency personnel operate during the fire at the Grenfell Tower, a 27-storey apartment block in North Kensington, London EPA A police officer helps to evacuate a local resident from close to the scene of a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London Reuters Debris and ash surrounding Grenfell Tower in the West Lancaster estate, Latimer road Jeremy Selwyn A fleet of ambulances at the scene ready to deal with the injured AFP/Getty Images A firefighter rests during the battle against the blaze at Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn Firefighters prepare to enter the building to tackle the flames EPA Nigel Howard Smoke billows from a fire that has engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London PA Flames engulf the tower block in Notting Hill AFP/Getty Images This shocking image shows flames engulfing the 27 storey tower Jeremy Selwyn Police and Emergency services at the scene of a major fire in Notting Hill after a block of flats Grenfell Tower is engulfed in flames Nigel Howard A person peers out of a window from the building on fire in London AP Firefighters react as a huge fire engulfs the Grenfell Tower AFP/Getty Images Smoke rises from the fire at the Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey apartment block in North Kensington, London EPA Smoke billows across the London skyline follwing a fire at Grenfell Tower in the West Lancaster estate Alex Lentati Aw omen react followign the blaze at Grenfell Tower Alex Lentati Smoke billows across the London skyline follwing a fire at Grenfell Tower in the West Lancaster estate Jeremy Selwyn A water jet douses the fire at the Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey apartment block seen through a fence in North Kensington EPA Young children wear protective face masks near the burning 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images Two men hug within the security cordon as Grenfell Tower is engulfed by fire AFP/Getty Images A man (circled) looks from a window as smoke pours from a fire that has engulfed the 27-storey Grenfell Tower PA Smoke billows across the London skyline follwing a fire at Grenfell Tower in the West Lancaster estate Alex Lentati Firefighters on the scene at Grenfell Tower on Latimer Road early this morning Alex Lentati A view of debris from the Grenfell Tower fire covering a football pitch EPA Aerial view of the closed of Westway follwing a the fire at Grenfell Tower in the West Lancaster estate, Latimer Road. Jeremy Selwyn Fire fighters tackle the building after a huge fire engulfed the 24 story Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images A local resident is carried to receive some medical aid at a community centre close to a fire that has engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower PA

Ms Gould said they have more hotel spaces and 100 flats of their own properties on Maiden Lane which they have just built, becoming available for residents on Monday.

"We hope to get many people into more secure accommodation as quickly as we can," she said.

"The priority is to make sure that the people in those blocks have somewhere that they can directly go to and making sure that they are safe."

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has backed the council's decision to evacuate the tower blocks.

"I think they've done the right thing. Look, you've got to err on the side of caution. You can't play Russian roulette with people's safety," he told Sky News
T he firm which supplied cladding believed to be responsible for the Grenfell Tower disaster has ended global sales for high-rise blocks.

Acronic announced on Monday afternoon that it would be discontinuing sales amid growing concern about the safety of its cladding following the blaze.

At least 79 people died in the disaster on Wednesday, June 14.

It is believed the Reynobond PE cladding was partly responsible for the fire gutting the tower block within just minutes of breaking out.

PM calls Grenfell Tower an 'unimaginable tragedy'

A statement from the firm said: "Arconic is discontinuing global sales of Reynobond PE for use in high-rise applications.

"We believe this is the right decision because of the inconsistency of building codes across the world and issues that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy regarding code compliance of cladding systems in the context of buildings overall designs."

Coated in aluminium, the material has a plastic core which is suspected to have accelerated the spread of the deadly blaze.

The Government has confirmed that 60 high-rise buildings in 25 local authority areas have failed fire cladding safety tests, with the cladding already reportedly banned in some European countries.

On Friday night, about 4,000 people were evacuated from the Chalcots estate in Camden after the local authority tested the cladding and found it to be unsafe.

People living in 20 of the flats refused to leave the site, with some residents complaining the evacuation was an "overreaction".

Prime Minister Theresa May has asked local councils to speed up safety tests on tower blocks in the UK.

Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures 1 /18 Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures The top section of the death trap Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn The tower today, after the flames were extinguished Jeremy Selwyn A close up of the tower's damaged windows PA Fire service personnel survey the damage PA The tower today, after it emerged at least 17 were killed Jeremy Selwyn Rows of blackened windows after the fire Jeremy Selwyn Police sent in sniffer dogs today to search for bodies Jeremy Selwyn PA The Grenfell Tower at dawn today Jeremy Selwyn Donations have flooded in for victims Jeremy Selwyn Water is sprayed on Grenfell Tower PA Rows and rows of blackened windows. It is feared over one hundred people may have perished Jeremy Selwyn Part of the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Fire crews examine the wreckage PA

Housing minister Alok Sharma has called for thousands more people to be evacuated from tower blocks across the country in wake of the disaster.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said Doncaster, Norwich, Stockton-on-Tees and Sunderland all had buildings that failed tests, while Manchester, Plymouth and Portsmouth have already been named.

On Monday, inquests were opened into the deaths of some of the victims of the blaze, including a five-year-old boy.
A passenger plane heading for Cuba was forced to turn back to Manchester Airport with a broken wing.

The Thomas Cook flight landed in Manchester on Monday afternoon and was pictured with the tip of its left wing missing.

The plane, which was reportedly carrying more than 300 passengers, turned around over Ireland after pilots noticed a low oil alert.

Thomas Cook has since said the landing had nothing to with the broken wing, with planes safe to fly in that condition.

The flight was a Thomas Cook flight to Cuba / Shutterstock / jremes84

A spokeswoman said: Thomas Cook Airlines flight MT2652 to Holguin returned to Manchester as a precaution after a low oil indication, unrelated to the wing.

Safety always comes first and the aircraft will undergo a full safety check before returning to service.

We are sorry to our customers for the delay and will get them back on the way as soon as possible.

The flight was due to depart for the Caribbean on Monday, but was grounded by the technical fault within just minutes of taking off.

Simon Rowlinson posted on Twitter: Thomas Cook Safest Airline? Not when they use sticky tape to repair their planes. Not sure anyone should be flying to Cuba on this one.

He added: Now at hotel in huge queue for food. Partner in tears, hotel filthy, holiday ruined.

Thomas Cook said it had arranged overnight accommodation for the passengers while the plane undergoes maintenance.
T housands more residents in high-rise blocks should be evacuated if necessary to keep them safe even before tests on cladding come back, the housing minister said today.

Alok Sharma also called on town halls and other social housing bodies to speed up sending samples of cladding to be checked.

He issued the plea after it emerged that just 60 tests were completed by the weekend  with all failing to meet safety standards  despite the Grenfell Tower fire happening 12 days ago.

The Building Research Establishment can test 100 samples a day and was said to be working around the clock.

But some councils took at least a week before even taking samples on their buildings to send for checking.

Housing minister Alok Sharma / PA Archive/PA Images

Amid growing concerns over the delays, Mr Sharma said: People should not wait for the checks to come back from these cladding results, they should act now, get the fire service in, check the buildings that they think may be affected and put in place mitigation measures if required or as in the case of Camden, if they need to evacuate, that needs to happen.

"In Camden it was not just the cladding, there were other multiple failures when it came to the fire safety regime.

Some fire services around the country, though, were struggling to cope with the number of requests to carry out checks.

Evacuation: Residents were ordered to leave their homes on the Chalcots Estate in Camden. / EPA

So far half of the 14 local authority areas that were publicly confirmed by the Government to have cladding which failed the official test were in London.

They were Barnet, Brent, Camden, Hounslow, Islington, Lambeth and Wandsworth.

Thousands of residents have been evacuated from four tower blocks on the Chalcots Estate, Swiss Cottage, after firefighters said they could not guarantee the safety of the buildings due to concerns over fire doors, gas pipes and insulation, combined with external cladding.

Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures 1 /18 Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures The top section of the death trap Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn The tower today, after the flames were extinguished Jeremy Selwyn A close up of the tower's damaged windows PA Fire service personnel survey the damage PA The tower today, after it emerged at least 17 were killed Jeremy Selwyn Rows of blackened windows after the fire Jeremy Selwyn Police sent in sniffer dogs today to search for bodies Jeremy Selwyn PA The Grenfell Tower at dawn today Jeremy Selwyn Donations have flooded in for victims Jeremy Selwyn Water is sprayed on Grenfell Tower PA Rows and rows of blackened windows. It is feared over one hundred people may have perished Jeremy Selwyn Part of the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Fire crews examine the wreckage PA

Cladding is being removed from three towers in Barnet  Granville Point, Harpenmead Point and Templemead Point.

The Newlon Housing Trust confirmed Rivers Apartments, in Tottenham, has the same cladding reportedly used on Grenfell Tower but that the London Fire Brigade confirmed it would be considered a low fire risk building after modifications.

Islington council said cladding was to be removed from one of eight blocks tested, Braithwaite House.

Cladding on Clements Court, Hounslow, failed the fire safety test and will be removed as soon as possible, the borough council said.

Wandsworth said cladding on Castlemaine Tower in Battersea and Sudbury House in Wandsworths centre failed the test but the buildings had been declared safe by the fire service.

Lambeth said it was working closely with the landlord of Park Heights, Network Homes, to ensure resident safety. The London Fire Brigade have inspected the building and have said the property does not need to be vacated due to its safety features, which include sprinklers, said a spokesman.

In Brent, Octavia Housings Elizabeth House, High Road, Wembley, failed the cladding test but said it had a range of safety features including sprinklers.

While not on the Government list, Tower Hamlets council said cladding on Denning Point tower block did not fully comply with the requirements of safety tests, and Ferrier Point tower in Newham was understood to be one of three buildings found to have cladding panels with aluminium composite material similar to Grenfell.

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At least 11 more areas have faulty cladding but have yet to be identified by the Government, with more than 500 more social housing buildings needing to be checked.

Minutes Silence Held for Grenfell Tower at Glasto

Mr Sharma added: We would say to all landlords out there, who own these buildings: Please urgently send those samples in.

Scotland Yard has said the Grenfell investigation had confirmed that the blaze started in a Hotpoint fridge-freezer, and that the cladding and insulation on the building failed all safety tests.

As Theresa May was due to chair another meeting in Whitehall on the disaster, Mr Sharma denied that there was a cover-up over the number of people who died in the blaze, which is at least 79. Some local residents claim it could be over 100.

Mr Sharma said the authorities wanted to establish a clear a picture as possible over the number of fatalities and would not act against people who had been sub-letting properties or if there were any immigration issues which could be discouraging individuals from speaking out.

Regulations, he said, were very clear that that type of cladding on Grenfell was non-compliant on buildings over 18 metres.
T heresa May has pledged that no EU national currently living lawfully in the UK will be made to leave on the day of Brexit, provided British expats are given the same assurance.

The Prime Minister said she wants to offer "certainty" to the estimated three million EU expats in the UK  a million of which live in London  and ensure that families are not split up by Brexit.

However she has made clear that the proposals would be adopted if the same rights are granted to UK citizens living in the remaining 27 EU states in a reciprocal settlement.

A Government paper outlines the governments stance on "safeguarding the position of EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU".

Heres what the Governments Brexit plan means for EU citizens living in Britain:

EU citizens who have lived in the UK for five years

Under Government proposals, a new "settled status" would grant EU migrants who had lived in the UK for five years rights to stay and access healthcare, education, welfare and pensions.

A new light touch online system will process applications that will give applicants the same indefinite leave to remain status as many non-European nationals who have also lived in Britain for five years.

Theresa May has promised that the system will be streamlined, doing away with the 85-page permanent residency application form which has been the subject of loud complaints from EU expats.

A new EU settled status residence document, similar to a visa, will prove the person can legally live and work in the UK and will be backed up by an entry on a Home Office central database or register.

The application process will enable those who wish to do so to get their new status at their earliest convenience, the paper adds.

It says: "For those who have already obtained a certificate of their permanent residence, we will seek to make sure that the application process for settled status is as streamlined as possible."

EU citizens who have lived in the UK for less than five years

Those resident for a shorter period will have the opportunity to stay on until they have reached the five-year threshold.

EU citizens who arrived before the cut-off date will be able to apply for temporary status until they have lived in the UK for five year, after which they will be able to apply for settled status.

Those arriving after the cut-off date but before the date of Brexit will have a "grace period" - expected to be two years - within which to regularise their immigration status with a view to later seeking settled status.

The paper adds that this group "should have no expectation of guaranteed settled status".

When will the cut-off point be?

The cut-off date is yet to be set, but will come between the day when Britain formally notified Brussels of its intention to quit on April 29 2017 and the day when it finally leaves, expected to be March 29 2019.

However it is thought that the UK is reserving the option of setting an early cut-off for residency rights in case there is a late surge of migrants arriving as Brexit approaches.

Theresa May suggested last week that she could set an early cut-off date for residency rights and rejected a Brussels demand for the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to retain powers to enforce rights following Brexit.

What does it mean for families?

EU nationals living in Britain will not be separated from their families as a result of Brexit, Theresa May has said.

Setting out plans for protecting EU nationals rights once the UK leaves the bloc, the Prime Minister said no families will be split up.

Mrs May said EU nationals could still bring dependent family members to join them in the country, and will be able to apply for settled status after five years.

Family dependants who join a qualifying EU citizen in the UK before the UKs exit will be able to apply for settled status after five years "irrespective of the specified date". the paper says.

It adds: "Those joining after our exit will be subject to the same rules as those joining British citizens or alternatively to the postexit immigration arrangements for EU citizens who arrive after the specified date."
A professor at a community college says she was publicly lynched after she was fired in a row sparked by her views on a blacks only event.

Political commentator Lisa Durden was dismissed as the adjunct communications professor at Essex County College in New Jersey, roughly two weeks after she gave a fiery interview on Fox News Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Essex County College's president Anthony Munroe said officials at the school had received complaints about her heated interview with Carlson.

In the exchange, Durden defended a Black Lives Matter chapters decision to host a Memorial Day event in New York exclusively for black people.

She said to Carlson: Boo hoo hoo. You white people are angry because you couldn't use your white privilege card' to get invited to the Black Lives Matters all-black Memorial Day celebration.

She defended the group for wanting to have one day where they didnt want white folks.

Carlson responded by calling her hostile and separatist and crazy.

He added: Youre demented actually. Youre sick and what youre saying is disgusting and if you were a Nazi I would say the same thing to you.

The school suspended Durden two days after her comments, which drew both criticism and praise on social media, and she was fired on Friday.

Lisa Durden said she was "publicly lynched" after getting the axe

Munroe said in a statement that the administration was immediately inundated with feedback from students... expressing frustration, concern and even fear that the views expressed by a college employee would negatively impact their experience on the campus.

He added: In consideration of the Colleges mission, and the impact that this matter has had on the Colleges fulfilment of its mission, we cannot maintain an employment relationship with the adjunct.

Durden said the firing was unjust, claiming there was no due process, there were no facts.

She said in an interview with The Washington Post: "I was publicly lynched. They didnt let me finish the class and they disrupted the learning process.

She added that she had the right to exercise free speech, and said: This particular day was a hard topic. It was a debate. It was not meant to be something that was an easy conversation.
R ussia is poised to block the highly encrypted Telegram messaging system, claiming it was used by terrorists behind the St Petersburg metro attack in April in which 15 people died.

It follows concern expressed by UK and European experts over a platform that has been dubbed the communications tool of choice for Islamic State.

The FSB security service, once led by Vladimir Putin, today said it had credible information St Petersburg suicide bomber Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, 22, and alleged associates used Telegram messenger to hide their criminal plot.

However, opposition figures in Russia claimed the real reason for the crackdown was that Telegram is used by Mr Putins political foes, and a presidential election is due to be held next March.

Moscow wants Telegram to share its users online chats and cryptokeys if asked. Watchdog Roskomnadzor warned it must obey the law or be blocked.

Telegram was set up by Pavel Durov, who accused the authorities of ignorance over encryption.

Specifically, Moscow wants Telegram to share its users online chats as well as its cryptokeys with law enforcement agencies when requested.
H olidaymakers today told of their miracle escape after a Colombian tourist ferry sank in a giant lake with the loss of at least six lives.

The El Almirante went down on the Penol reservoir in Guatape  28 miles east of Medellin  five minutes after it departed. The dead are all believed to be Colombians and include ferry captain Luis Jaramillos daughter, Valentina who was working on board.

Videos on social media showed the boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-floor roof as it sank in a matter of minutes.

Survivors described hearing a loud explosion near the mens lavatories which knocked out the power after the ferry began its cruise around the lake.

Recreational boats and jet skis headed to the scene, pulling people from the boat as it went down at about 2.30pm local time yesterday. About 100 people were helped to safety and another 40 reached land by themselves.

Smaller boats go to the aid of those on the sinking tourist ferry / REUTERS

Margarita Moncada, head of the disaster response agency in Antioquia state, said nine people had been killed, but President Juan Manuel Santos who arrived in Guatape later  put the number of fatalities at six. Divers were today searching for another 16 people believed to be missing.

Survivor Nora Perez, who was on the ferry with 20 relatives, said it started to move from one side to another as she was with a cousin on the second floor. The captain told us to move to the right and then yelled at us to move to the left and then finally, to go forwards. But by then it was already sinking on all sides, she said.

Ms Perez claimed the skipper was among the first to jump into the water after urging passengers to follow him. My cousin broke one of the viewing windows and we both leapt into the water. I dont know how to swim and I have no idea how I stayed afloat. Its a miracle Im still alive.

People who survived the capsizing of a ferry, cry as they wait for more information about their missing friends and relatives / AP

Another survivor, Eder Tobon, said: We began to hear a loud noise next to the shop and mens bathroom. One of the girl shop workers went to have a look and started shouting that water was coming in. There was tremendous confusion because people started panicking and we were stopped from going to the upper decks.

I took hold of two children and waited for the boat to sink. Those on the first floor went down very quickly, before the volunteer rescuers managed to reach us.

About 170 people are believed to have been on the 280-capacity ferry.

One of the largest ferries used on the four-mile-long reservoir, it was less than a mile into a 50-minute trip. Many passengers said they were given no life-jackets as they boarded.

The only foreigner known to have been hospitalised is a Belgian woman who was treated for a panic attack.

Local media reported that the ferry had been in three previous accidents.
T im Westwood may have had one or two unwanted charges to his credit card after he accidently posted his bank details to his public Snapchat.

The Capital FM DJ meant to send the information to his girlfriend so that she could get nails, hair and a wax done ahead of their date, but made a slight error.

On Sunday night, every person who follows the radio star had access to the very personal message, before it was quickly deleted.

While the intended recipient remains a mystery, the message read: Baby looking forward taking you to dinner on Thursday.

Error: Tim Westwood posted the embarrassing message on his Snapchat

I appreciate you may wanna get nails, hair and a wax. Even some new shoes or a clutch bag.

Use my card its black with private banking so theres no limit ( but dont be buying a new car lol).

Not happy: Tim Westwood cuts up all his credit cards

After realising his error, Westwood told fans that he had been forced to cut up all of his credit cards and was now stranded in Bermuda without aces to funds.

So f***ed up! Accidentally Snapchat my credit cards, he wrote on Instagram.

Had 186 screen grabs! Now Im in Bermuda with no credit cards. Guess I got a lot of 419 Boys on my snap.

Luckily for the DJ, the all-important CVV code wasnt made public, making it unlikely that anybody could have actually accessed his account.

A number of his fans told him to stop over-reacting, with one person writing: Yea it with out cvv code so it's sound stop acting massive.
GRAND ISLAND  In recent years, Grand Island has hosted a number of prominent goat shows that are helping to focus attention on an industry that holds a lot of potential in Nebraska.

Recently, the American Boer Goat Association is holding its national show at Fonner Park, bringing participants from nearly 30 states to Grand Island. The Hall County Fair, the Nebraska State Fair and in September the AKSARBEN Stock Show will all feature goat shows as well. A focus on raising goats as 4-H and FFA projects is also introducing a new generation to a lean protein source that is consumed by 63 percent of the world and is being consumed more and more in the United States because of its nutritional value.

Last Wednesday, June 14, Noah Teel of Stillwater Okla., was named the national champion in the Yearling Percentage Boer Doe Show.

Teel said he and his family have been raising Boer goats for 16 years.

It is a big moment, he said. It means lots.

Like many of the young people at the American Boer Goat Association National Show, Teel started out raising goats as part of a 4-H project.

My brother started with goats as a 4-H project, he said. He graduated and I had a niche for it and just continued to do it.

From there, it has blossomed into a family enterprise.

It just grew and we loved the goats and now have been doing it for 16 years, Teel said.

This year, there are about 1,600 Boer goats at Fonner Park for the national show. Joe Airoso of Sacramento, Calif., is a board member of the American Boer Goat Association.

People have driven a long way to get here, Airoso said about the large national contingent attending the show. This is the capstone show of the year, not only for a lot of these breeders but for our association.

The goats in the Yearling Percentage show have to be 50 percent of more Boer goat. They run in age from 12 to 14 months.

This is an extremely large show, Airoso said. It is probably one of the biggest. The class was so big that we had to split it in half.

The percentage yearlings were being judged primarily on conformation, breed characteristics and structural integrity, along with their ability to show meat, muscle and skeletal strength.

There were people of all ages in the show ring.

The American Boer Goat Association is very family oriented, Airoso said.

The association is made up of everything from hobby farmers to full-time goat producers and everything in between, he said.

Also, many of the members are full-time farmers and ranchers who have a goat enterprise as part of their operation. Many producers, he said, run their goats alongside their cows as goats can consume types of grasses that cattle do not. Ranchers also like goats to get rid of noxious weeds, such as leafy spurge, in their pastures.

It is kind of a broad range of backgrounds and applications, Airoso said. It is a great project for young kids because goats are smaller and more docile and cheaper to raise than a cow, which is a lot bigger and harder to manage.

Demand for goat meat in the U.S. is growing, with more than a million carcasses slaughtered last year. Because of the growing demand, the U.S. has to import goat meat from abroad, which can put domestic producers at a disadvantage as many of the countries from which the goat meat is imported have government subsidies for their goat producers.

We are still pork, chicken and beef, but with the changing demographic of the population, goats are becoming more and more in demand, Airoso said.

Lee Dana is a Boer goat producer from Clay Center who has been a member of the American Boer Goat Association for about 12 years.

Dana, who is also a cattle producer, first learned about Boer goats on the Internet and then later attended a goat show in Missouri.

I was intrigued with them and they were so stocky compared to any other goats that I had seen, he said.

It was the desire to provide some show wethers for 4-Hers that got Dana into raising Boer goats.

It is probably the fastest growing 4-H project there is in the livestock part of it, Dana said.

Goats occupy a lot of our time, he said.

We are trying to produce breeding stock for people here in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Iowa, Dana said. Ive sold goats to most of the surrounding states. We are trying to provide some top quality breeding stock to new ABGA members and some older members.

Dana said he is optimistic about the future of the goat industry in Nebraska.

He said as more and more pasture land is turned into cropland, there will also be those acres that cant be farmed and re-fenced for cattle, but that is where goats and sheep have a niche for producers.

I think goats are probably going to be the choice, Dana said. More than 60 percent of the worlds population eats goat meat and ethnic populations are growing in Nebraska. The fastest growing meat market is goat meat. I can see more Americans catching on to goat meat because it is leaner than chicken. It is one of the healthiest protein sources you can eat. As more people start to catch on to it, I think we are going to see a bigger market.
SIDNEY  The University of Nebraska-Lincoln shared updates on its latest dryland agriculture research with regional producers Wednesday during its annual High Plains Ag Lab Field Day.

Theres close to 100 people here today, which is a good turnout, said Jim Schild, associate director of the Panhandle Research and Extension Center and an Extension educator.

Its been going on since the 1970s. Because its a dryland research site we look at the conditions that are unique to the high plains system, Schild said.

Crop experts at the centers test plots northwest of Sidney discussed wheat, proso millet, field peas and a few forage crops, including oats, as well as related topics such as herbicides, planting schedules, yields and alternative crop options, even forage crops for ranchers.

We try to help the cattle producers become more profitable, Schild said. One thing we always focus on is varieties, because they change every year.

A discussion of field peas, for example, included when to plant, when to treat weeds and pests and how they compare both nutritionally and economically with other protein sources such as distillers grain, a byproduct of the ethanol industry. Charts handed out during the sessions listed varieties, brands, yields, test weights, protein content, days to maturity and plant height, covering the past few years of research data.

Similar information was available for wheat varieties. Workshops covered wheat fungicides, viruses, pests, herbicides and variety testing.

The university produces field guides and summarizes much of its research information on websites, said Dave Ostdiek, communications technology specialist. Eventually it will all be available on the High Plains Ag Lab link on Panhandle.unl.edu.

On the bottom of the page theres a link to the High Plains Ag Lab. We update the information thats being shared here, as well as other research studies, he said.

A related site, cropwatch.unl.edu, has sections for all major Nebraska crops, including wheat. Producers can take a virtual variety tour by accessing pages for all of the recommended varieties, which include descriptions and tables with three-year averages.

Either you can come and listen or you can access all the tables and charts. All of this will be summarized, and its updated annually, he said.
Mihai Tudose, the Social Democratic Party (PSD)'s proposition for Prime Minister, was designated by President Klaus Iohannis for Premier on Monday evening, after consultations at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace with the parliamentary parties.

"This crisis we are going through - as it is a political crisis - does a lot of harm to Romania. It harms the Romanian economy, Romania's image throughout the world and I believe (...) this crisis should be put an end to, and very fast. We must have a new government as soon as possible, a government starting to solve the still unsolved problems, namely the problems that have come up because this crisis that started inside the PSD. (...) Taking all these into account and taking into account that there is an urgent need for a new government, I designate Mr Tudose as the next Prime Minister, who will have discussions in the coming days and will come before Parliament with a governmental team," Iohannis said at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.According to the head of state, PSD and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats ( ALDE ) maintain they are still holding the majority in Parliament."These two parties have come together to the consultations and have forwarded a proposal in the person of Mr Tudose. The Opposition parties, in fact, didn't have concrete proposals for the prime minister office and the talks didn't point to a political understanding existing among Opposition parties. (...) I am asking the parliamentary parties, not only PSD and ALDE, to start right away to draw up an agenda allowing the completion of the parliamentary procedures this very week," Iohannis showed.
I think bridges have helped define my life.

When I was a small child, my oldest sister Aileen would drive us from Granite City to the Famous-Barr store in downtown St. Louis by crossing the McKinley Bridge. The original bridge was the most terrifying bridge imaginable. The only barriers erected to keep from going off the side were some thin metal chains strung up every so often between very fragile looking posts. When we reached the bridge, my sister and I would crouch down from the back seat on to the floor, close our eyes and say Hail Marys until we reached the other side.

It probably is the reason for my lifelong aversion to crossing bridges over large bodies of water.

As I grew older, I realized how much I needed bridges. The Poplar Street Bridge allowed me to drive the daily fifty-mile round trip to Webster University so I could stay home and go to college at the same time. (Of course, I always drove on the inside lane so I couldnt see over the side).

My other siblings chose to attend colleges farther away from home. I got to have my mom and dad all to myself during those years. It was like being an only child! Number eight puts you very far down the list of priority, especially when you have seven sisters and brothers who feel it is their right to dictate every step I took in life. It felt like I had multiple parents at all times.

I never got away with anything. So experiencing life as an only child for a few years was pretty cool.

With age comes wisdom and knowledge  hopefully  and the concept of bridges metaphorically includes not just the physical but also the spiritual. Pope Francis spoke of building bridges instead of walls during his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Instead of building barriers among countries, he suggested building a connection among different groups. How do we go about doing this when it seems like everywhere you look, people are fighting each other over race, religion, politics, health care, weapons and warfare, economics, taxation. The list goes on and on.

How do we create the bridge in religion? When the riots broke out in Ferguson three years ago, the Archdiocese sent a letter to the parishes asking that we pray and get involved. St. Louis University in conjunction with Metropolitan Congregations United held workshops for parishioners to help them prepare for joint meetings and events. The sacred conversations began with our sister parish the Rock church.

Two of our parishioners, Mary Factor and Ginny Schrappen, spearheaded events with Rock church covering social justice, social awareness and social equality. They scheduled meetings at both churches, including potlucks and movie nights.

The goal was for everyone to explore the generalities that take place on both sides.

Factor said that it was important to understand why blacks were targeted unjustly. Both groups lived with the same problems but we didnt live with the racial injustices they experienced. She asked, What are our commonalities, what do we share? Surprising, through discussions we discovered that we share more issues than what divides us.

Schrappen spoke about the trepidation felt from both groups at the beginning.

This was new and unchartered territory for many of them. Several were definitely out of their comfort zone. Suspicion is hard to overcome. But time, prayer and faith helped to build some bridges and take down several walls. Three years later, the meetings continue, the discussions continue, prayers continue.
Although the Senate Republican health care bill doesnt explicitly eliminate the protection for consumers with pre-existing health conditions to buy health plans, some say its now meaningless.

Under the Affordable Care Act, consumers with pre-existing conditions could not be denied coverage.

In the 142-page draft Senate bill released Thursday, Republicans give states, particularly governors, the authority to choose what benefits are required in health insurance plans. That could result in lack of essential coverage or costly coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.

Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers were required to cover 10 essential health benefits, including mental health coverage, maternity care, prescription drug coverage and hospitalization.

Under the Senate bill released Thursday, the governor of a state could decide to nix all the benefits protected under the current law.

So although consumers would not be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition, the services or prescription drugs they need to treat that condition might not be covered.

The (pre-existing condition) protection is meaningless, Linda Blumberg, a health policy expert with Urban Institute, said of the provision under the Senate bill.

The pressure is there to reduce premiums, and one way to do that is to have the ability to exclude certain benefits.

The essential health benefits under the Affordable Care Act were an important step to set a benchmark across the country on what essentially defined insurance. Having those minimum standards allowed consumers to shop for coverage with the expectation that they knew what was included in health plans.

Ryan Barker, vice president of health policy for the Missouri Foundation for Health, said this aspect of the Senate bill has huge repercussions in Missouri, a state that is battling an epidemic of opioid addiction.

Mental health and substance abuse services are required benefits under the current law.

Before the ACA, plans purchased on the individual market could exclude drug coverage or maternity coverage. And without coverage requirements, theres no incentive for insurers to offer certain benefits, according to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The difficulty is that insurers would be very reluctant to offer some of these services unless they were required in all policies because people who need these benefits would disproportionately select policies covering them, the report said.

Hospitals are concerned patients will choose policies that dont cover much. Currently, hospitalization for overnight stays and surgeries is a required benefit under the ACA.

You could end up with people who have worthless policies, said Dave Dillon, spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association.
If its muggy, then its buggy. A mild winter followed by a wet spring and humid summer has created perfect conditions for ticks to thrive, along with the diseases they carry.

There have been 140 cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever reported in Missouri this year, up 80 percent over the five-year median. Ehrlichiosis, another bacterial disease transmitted by ticks, is up 25 percent with 92 reported cases. The less common tick-borne disease tularemia is also on the rise, with 15 cases compared to the average of nine for this time of year.

In Illinois, the Department of Public Health said the number of tick-related illnesses had grown from about 40 confirmed cases in 2000 to 200 in 2010. The unofficial total for 2016 is nearly 350 cases. The numbers were not broken down by type of disease.

Without a long frost, not as many ticks got killed off as in an extreme winter, said Dr. Steven Lawrence, infectious disease specialist at Washington University.

Lawrence said hes noticed more patients testing positive lately for tick-borne illness at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The patients typically come in with fever and headache but dont always know theyve been bitten.

Its important that health care providers ask whether or not somebody has potentially been exposed to ticks, Lawrence said.

And if theyve been outdoors in Missouri this year, the probability is high. Ticks are active any time the ground is not frozen. Without a significant freeze, more ticks survived the winter, and so did their hosts such as mice and deer. The two most common ticks in Missouri are the American dog tick, which can carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and the lone star tick, which can carry ehrlichiosis.

Of the three tick-borne diseases most commonly spread in Missouri, Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the most serious. It causes a rash along with the fever and headache. The diseases can be effectively treated with antibiotics if treatment is started quickly.

Most tick bites do not lead to infection. Still, its important to get ticks off the body quickly, since infection typically requires the tick to be attached on the skin for 24 hours or more.

While the increase in illnesses suggests a correlating rise in the tick population, the St. Louis County Health Department no longer performs tick surveillance because of a lack of funding, said Dr. Fredrick Echols, director of communicable disease control services.

We always encourage simple things like wearing boots, pants, long shirts and light colored clothing so you can identify a tick before it bites you, Echols said.

Its too early to know whether the summer will also bring an increase in mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus, which usually shows up in July and August when the mosquito population peaks. Last year there were 11 cases of West Nile virus in the state, including six in the St. Louis area. So far there have been no cases of Zika virus transmitted by mosquitoes in Missouri.

Scientists have warned that diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes will continue to rise because of climate change. Warming temperatures mean the bugs will live longer and travel further each year.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.
ST. LOUIS  An attorney for the organization representing black police officers in St. Louis says the shooting of an off-duty black police officer by a white colleague raises questions about whether race played a role in the shooting.

But attorney Rufus Tate Jr. is urging everyone to wait for the results of the departments internal investigation before making any conclusions.

The off-duty officer was shot late Wednesday after he heard the commotion of a car crashing near his home, police said. It turned out to be a stolen car that had fled police. Three black men inside had fired shots at officers during a pursuit.

The three armed people in the car fled after the crash, police. Two officers fired at them, hitting one in the ankle.

Interim Chief Lawrence OToole told reporters early Thursday at Barnes-Jewish Hospital that the off-duty officer, 38, with 11 years on the force, was hit in the exchange of gunfire between the men in the car and officers.

But the Post-Dispatch learned the officer was shot in a separate encounter away from the initial confrontation between the officers and suspects. The department released a statement Thursday afternoon saying OTooles remarks were based on preliminary information. They confirmed that uniformed officers encountered the off-duty officer, who was armed with his department-issued weapon, and ordered him to the ground. He complied with their commands, and when the officers recognized him, they told him to get up and walk toward them.

A third officer just arriving at the scene and fearing for his safety fired one shot at the off-duty officer, striking him in the arm, police said. That officer is 36 , with eight years on the force.

Tate, who represents the Ethical Society of Police, wants to know why the initial information OToole gave differed so much from the actual events, why it took so long for the department to correct the record and what the off-duty officer did to make the white officer fearful enough to fire a shot. Tate says the off-duty officer carried his badge in his hand.

Was there ever a warning given? Tate said.

Tate said only the physical evidence coupled with the officers statements will answer those questions.

He is one of the good guys in blue, and were looking to see how the investigation plays out for the benefit of every man and woman in blue in the department, Tate said.

Tate said the shooting raises several issues, including whether protocols for off-duty officers exist to prevent friendly fire incidents.

If there is a policy, we want to know why did it fail and what needs to be in place to eliminate the risk of this kind of thing happening again, whether its a police officer or any other black male involved in any regrettable shooting, Tate said.

A spokeswoman for the police department declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
ST. LOUIS  The St. Louis Zoo is no place to carry guns, a judge has ruled.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty on Friday ruled that a gun rights activist from Cincinnati who had pressed the issue, along with anyone else with knowledge of the order, is barred from concealing or carrying guns inside the zoo, a publicly funded institution.

Moriartys order makes permanent a temporary ban issued in June 2015 after gun rights activist Jeffry Smith said he planned to lead a group of armed people into the zoo to challenge its policy prohibiting guns. The day after the temporary order, Smith entered the zoo wearing an empty holster.

The judge said the zoo argued it fits the state laws definition of a gun-free zone in that it is both an educational facility and a gated amusement park as defined by the states open-carry statute.

The zoo has shown that the safety, patronage and image of the zoo will be compromised if visitors are permitted to carry firearms or other weapons on zoo property, which would significantly harm the level of visitorship, as well as the mission, the public image and autonomy of the zoo as an institution, Moriarty wrote in her ruling.

Moriartys ruling said the zoos gun ban does not violate the constitutional rights of gun owners because it is narrowly tailored to support a reasonable government purpose and would survive strict scrutiny as stipulated in a 2014 gun rights amendment to the Missouri Constitution.

The zoo had argued in court that its gun ban is legal because the 90-acre campus, which has on-site preschool and childrens education programs, constitutes a classroom. The zoo said it also believes its campus meets the states definition of a gated amusement park. More than 486,000 students participated in the zoos educational programs in 2015.

Smith, the gun rights activist, could not be reached for comment Monday, but he has said he believes Missouris gun laws and the 2014 state constitutional amendment guaranteeing gun rights mean people can carry firearms in publicly funded institutions such as the zoo.

His lawyer, Jane Hogan, said Monday that she and Smith disagree with the decision and will appeal it to a higher court. She said Moriarty has made an overly broad interpretation of terms mentioned in the states gun laws.

To say that its a school or an amusement park, then any McDonalds that has a playground would be an amusement park because they have rides and sell food, Hogan said. The legislature has given us no guidance here. When they say amusement park, we dont know what they mean because they use place of amusement in other statutes. So we have to assume they mean something different.
St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly is "strongly considering a run" for the Illinois congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, Kelly confirmed to the Post-Dispatch Monday.

If Kelly joins the race, it will mark the entrance of the first major Democratic political figure in the 2018 battle for the Illinois 12th Congressional district. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is pushing him as a candidate, sources have said.

The district, which includes parts of the Metro East and a large swath of Southern Illinois, has been a battleground seat nationally in the past few years and may be again next year.
JEFFERSON CITY  Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Missouri in a case focusing on religious freedom Monday, the decision could be another political notch in the belt of the states top lawyer.

Attorney General Josh Hawley, who is being touted as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate in the 2018 election, praised the high courts decision giving churches the same right as other charitable groups to seek state money for nonreligious needs.

With todays ruling, the United States Supreme Court has made clear that the First Amendment does not permit government to discriminate against churches or religious organizations on the basis of faith, Hawley said in a statement.

Hawley, a political novice, won his first bid for political office after highlighting his role in another religious freedom case before the Supreme Court.

He was on a team of lawyers who successfully defended Hobby Lobbys claim that it shouldnt have to comply with certain elements of the Affordable Care Act.

Hawley last week did not rule out a potential bid for the Senate against Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is up for re-election next year. In April, prominent Missouri Republicans, including former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth, announced their support for Hawley.

The 37-year-old from Columbia says talk of him running for the Senate is premature chatter.

Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, also is mulling a bid. In a statement issued Monday, she said she also supports the Supreme Court decision.

McCaskill also issued a statement agreeing with the ruling.

I think most Missourians would agree that, no matter what kind of school our young kids attend, they should all have access to a safe area to play, McCaskill said.

In its decision, the court found that the state should not have denied Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia a grant to put a rubberized surface on its playground on the basis that it is a religious organization.

Hawley had recused himself from the case, citing private practice work with the plaintiff. During the campaign, he said he opposed the states position on the case, which started under former Gov. Jay Nixon.

University of Missouri political scientist Peverill Squire said the political upside of the decision is positive for Hawley.

My guess is if he chooses to run, this is one thing on the margin that could help him. It is not likely to alienate a lot of people in the electorate, Squire said.

John Messmer, political scientist at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, agreed.

Personally its a win for him. Its not outlandish to say its a win for any Republican in the state, Messmer said.

St. Louis University political scientist Ken Warren said the ruling could help Hawley in a Senate run, but predicted that such a race likely will be less about issues than party affiliation.

A run for the Senate will come down to typical partisan lines, almost regardless of the issues, Warren said. People are going to vote on the basis of their partisanship.
WASHINGTON  In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court overturned lower courts Monday and decided in favor of a Columbia, Mo., church, that had argued that its constitutional rights had been violated by the state Department of Natural Resources denial of scrap rubber for its playground.

Writing for the majority in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia vs. Comer, Chief Justice John Roberts proclaimed that Trinity was asserting a right to participate in a government benefit program without having to disavow its religious character.

The express discrimination against religious exercise here is not the denial of a grant, but rather the refusal to allow the church  solely because it is a church  to compete with secular organizations for a grant, Roberts wrote, in a decision in which Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Samuel Alito concurred.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented. In a strongly worded dissent twice as long as Roberts majority, Sotomayor warned that the court today blinds itself to the history of church-state separation, and leads us instead to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a constitutional commitment.

Missouris top elected officials praised the decision, despite the fact that it was the state  under the previous administration of Democrat Jay Nixon  that had argued that it had constitutionally denied Trinity participation in a scrap-rubber program based on a 19th-century state constitutional amendment.

In a statement, Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, said that people of faith won an important victory today.

Earlier this year, I reversed Missouris policies that discriminated against religious organizations, he said, of his April decision to Nixons policy and allow religious organizations to receive state grants under the program. The ACLU and others attacked our decision. We did not back down, and we will continue to fight for people of faith.

Attorney General Josh Hawley, who is being pushed by some Republicans to run for the U.S. Senate next year, said the decision created a great day for Missouris Trinity Lutheran Church, and an even better day for religious freedom in America.

Hawley singled out Nixon by name, saying the previous governor was wrong to interpret Missouris constitution to require such unlawful discrimination. Todays decision means discrimination of this kind will never be permitted again in the state of Missouri, or anywhere.

Other reaction

David Cortman, the lawyer who argued the case for Trinity, said the ruling was not a government endorsement of religion.

Cortman, who works for the Alliance Defending Freedom, added, As the Supreme Court rightly found, unequal treatment that singles out a preschool for exclusion from such a program (that Missouri offered) simply because a church runs the school is clearly unconstitutional.

Rep. Ann Wagner. R-Ballwin, who also may run for the Senate in 2018, issued a statement praising the decision, saying: I stand with the many faith-based organizations across Missouri that provide valuable services to the community.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., called ita key victory for Americans right to religious liberty.

But Daniel Mach, head of a program on freedom of religion for the ACLU, issued a statement saying the ACLU was disappointed in the decision.

Religious freedom should protect unwilling taxpayers from funding church property, not force them to foot the bill, he said. The courts ruling, however, focuses specifically on grants for playground resurfacing and does not give the government unlimited authority to fund religious activity.

In his majority decision, Roberts wrote that the express discrimination against religious exercise here is not the denial of a grant, but rather the refusal to allow the church  solely because it is a church  to compete with secular organizations for a grant.

The consequence (of denying the church) is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees, Roberts wrote, referring to the churchs attempt to cover pea gravel with the states recycled rubber. But the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.

But Sotomayor said it was difficult to separate the playground from the religious expression going on inside the church.

Within its walls, worshippers gather to practice and reaffirm their faith, Sotomayor wrote. And from its base, the faithful reach out to those not yet convinced of the groups beliefs. When a government funds a house of worship, it underwrites this religious exercise.

Todays decision, Sotomayor concluded, discounts centuries of history and jeopardizes the governments ability to remain secular.

But in oral arguments in April, several justices had noted that other public services, like fire and police, are routinely given to houses of worship without constitutional harm. The majority continued that line in its decision, arguing that the church was only asking to compete for something with secular groups.

Trinity Lutheran is not claiming any entitlement to a subsidy, Roberts wrote. It is asserting a right to participate in a government benefit program without having to disavow its religious character. The express discrimination against religious exercise here is not the denial of a grant, but rather the refusal to allow the church  solely because it is a church  to compete with secular organizations for a grant.

Strong decision

Religious and constitutional groups had looked upon the decision with great interest.

Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, said the court issued a strong decision in defense of religious freedom, reminding states that they cannot exclude groups or individuals from public benefit simply because of their religion.

And Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a proponent of school choice in which public dollars could ostensibly go with students to religious schools, called the decision a great day for the Constitution that sends a clear message that religious discrimination in any form cannot be tolerated in a society that values the First Amendment.

Melissa Randol, executive director of the Missouri School Boards Association, said the ruling was quite narrow and does not address the issue of school vouchers or the constitutionality of the provision in the Missouri Constitution that prohibits the expenditure of taxpayer dollars for private schools that are not accountable to the public for student achievement or how tax dollars are spent. Nothing in the ruling changes that prohibition.

She said the association remains strongly opposed to public subsidies for unaccountable private institutions.

The Comer in the decision is Carol S. Comer, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. But Greitens decision to allow future grants to be made available to religious institutions in competition with secular groups had created a unique situation in which Missouri was essentially arguing against itself.

James Layton, a former solicitor general for Missouri, argued the states case pro bono before the court after Hawley had recused himself and his office.

The court had directed its sharpest questions at Layton during oral arguments here in April. Layton had argued that a bright line should be maintained prohibiting state funds for state aid for churches and other religious organizations.

Breyer equated rubber for the schools playground with vaccinations for the states children, and other justices noted that there was a secular use for the playground when neighborhood kids came to swing and climb.

But Layton said then that Missouri did not want to be selecting among churches. We dont want to be in a position where we are making a visible, physical improvement on church property.

But with the decision Monday, and with the states current political hierarchy taking the opposite position of Laytons, Missouri and the 7-2 court have set a new precedent.

Just how wide is now the subject of debate.

While religious conservative groups hailed it as a sweeping decision for religious liberty,

Layton said two aspects of the decision could make it less sweeping than some are portraying it.

One is the fact that a footnote describing the case as express discrimination got only four of nine possible votes, he said.

Second, and perhaps of more immediate importance, the court was not asked to and did not rule that Missouris bar on public money going to churches was unconstitutional on its face, nor that just because Missouri has a scrap tire program that gives grants to some preschools, it must give them to all, Layton said.

The court ruled that if the state has a generally available public benefit program, it cannot make churches ineligible because of their religious character. But the Court did not hold that the state cannot have criteria that ultimately exclude churches  so long as the criteria do not include religious status.
It was the mystery of the missing roof.

On Friday, St. Louis resident Laura McInnis discovered that nearly half the shingles on her perfectly good roof were missing. A haphazardly secured tarp covered the damage. A pile of tiles were strewn on her property, with some beer bottles mixed in.

I had no idea what happened, she said.

McInnis had just moved to Michigan with her husband, Chris McInnis. The couple were set to close the sale of their house in the 5600 block of Rosa Avenue in the Princeton Heights neighborhood.

But on Friday, Laura McInnis was contacted by a watchful neighbor.

The tarp your roofers put on yesterday is starting to blow up and back, her neighbor texted her.

What roofers? McInnis said.

She and her husband soon concluded that a crew started work on the wrong house  their house  then realized their mistake and bolted, she said.

The couple posted in neighborhood Facebook groups asking if anyone had spotted roofers in the area. One neighbor said she thought the roofers drove a blue van and were in the neighborhood Thursday morning.

An insurance agent, a neighborhood leader and a handyman from the area all came out unprompted to help scan the area for the van, said Matt McInnis, Laura McInnis brother-in-law.

They were all really into it, Matt McInnis said. Like the whole neighborhood was talking about it. They were all angry and wanted to find these people.

Eventually the family found a neighbor with a surveillance camera that caught an image of a blue work van rounding the corner, Laura McInnis said.

She posted the photo on Facebook on Friday evening and about 24 hours later got the big lead in her case. A neighbor had spotted the van working on Itaska Street, about a third of a mile away from her missing roof.

Matt McInnis went to the street and was searching for the right house when he spotted a U.S. Postal Service worker.

I thought: The mailman always knows all, Matt McInnis said. And he did.

The postal worker said he spotted the van himself and pointed to the right house, Matt McInnis said. The McInnis family was eventually able to identify the homeowners and track down the roofing company.

They were shocked and very apologetic, Laura McInnis said.

McInnis declined to give the companys name because she believes they have now done the right thing, she said. The company completely replaced the roof Monday.

"It looks great now from the photos," McInnis said. "And they got it done in one day, so that was really nice."

McInnis and her husband officially closed the sale on the house Tuesday.

Im finally able to breathe, Laura McInnis said. A lot of people came together to help us. To me, it just proves the idea of community. It shows neighbors really do want to help each other.
Warwick Boat Club's Marcus Willis.

ENERGY broker Jutton Associates Limited has been shortlisted in this years years TELCAs, the Energy Live Consultancy Awards.

The company, based in Cygnet Court, Timothys Bridge Road, Stratford upon Avon, is one of seven nominated in the Energy Buying Team category.

In all there are 84 companies in the running for 12 awards, with the winners to be announced in London this week.

The judging panel includes Louise Kingham, chief executive of the Energy Institute, and Jaz Rabadia, senior wnergy manager at Starbucks.

Jutton Associates was formed in 2008. Managing director, David Jutton, said Im so proud of the team here at JAL, this shortlisting is external recognition both of our industry knowledge and expertise as well as the hard work looking after our customers.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that Eid celebrations have been dimmed due to loss of innocent lives in terror attacks in the recent days and Bahawalpur Ahmadpur Sharqia oil tanker fire tragedy.

PTI chief congratulated the entire nation over moon-sighting however, he added that the Eid celebrations were no longer the same owing to terror attacks and the fire incident.

My Eid Message pic.twitter.com/fq8jrlRfzp  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) June 25, 2017

He hoped that the moon of Shawwal brings in peace and stability in Pakistan and the people get rid of alleged corrupt system.

Imran Khan further expressed hope that Kashmiris will meet with the freedom and right to their self-determination.
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah spent Eid day with the troops deployed on forward posts of Pakistan Navy located in Sir Creek area bordering India. The Naval Chief was accompanied by officiating Commander Coast Rear Admiral Athar Mukhtar during the visit.

The Naval Chief offered Eid ul Fitar prayer with PN personnel at HQ 31st Creeks battalion, Sujawal and interacted with the officers and men deployed there. Later the Admiral visited Ghani post located near Pakistan-India border and had informal interaction personnel.

Naval chief lauded their level of motivation and determination to safeguard maritime frontiers of the country at critical area under very harsh topographic environment comprising marshes, swamps and unpredictable waterways.

Admiral Zakaullah highly commended the troops for their dedication and selfless devotion to sacred duty by celebrating Eid along Indian borders and away from their families.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday visited the victims of Ahmedpur East oil-tanker incident victims. He also met the families of the deceased.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) department of the Pakistan army, General Bajwa was also briefed on the occasion by Nishtar Hospital vice chancellor and the in-charge of Burn unit about the treatment of the injured.

COAS met families of Shuhdas at Multan Gar."Nation proud of their sacrifices.Nothing more sacred than laying one's life for country"COAS.2/2 pic.twitter.com/YLd49zEprB  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) June 26, 2017

Later on, army chief also met the families of the deceased at Multan Garrison.

COAS visited injured of APE at Nishtar Hosp Multan. Appreciated efforts of first responders. Incidents avoidable thru pub awareness. (1of2) pic.twitter.com/JsY96RECoY  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) June 26, 2017

He said on this occasion that such incidents can be avoided in future by educating the masses. He said that no sacrifice meant more than laying your life for the country and the nation was proud of its martyrs.
Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah has said that there are attempts to make JIT probing the Panama case as well as the Supreme Court controversial.

Talking to media after offering Eid-ul-Fitr prayer here Khursheed advised the prime minister that if declared disqualified a new prime minister should be installed. Lashing out at chief of PTI Imran Khan Khursheed said that after 2018 elections he would ask Imran how wickets fly.

Its always confusing before any contest but once the race starts the strong are sifted from the weak. The joining of PTI by Firdous Ashiq Awan and Babar Awan would make no difference to the Peoples Party, he added.

Lashing out at the government Khursheed said that tall claims are being made about mega projects but in reality there is not a single Burn Centre in Bhawalpur. If there had been one there had not been so many casualties, he added referring to the tragic oil tanker incident that claimed over 150 lives and injured 108 others.
Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a sweeping list of demands issued by four Arab states is an unlawful intervention against Qatar's sovereignty and a violation of international law.

Speaking on Sunday, Erdogan said he welcomed Dohas rejection of the demands because we consider the 13-point list against international law," Turkeys official Anadolu news agency reported.

Turkey and Iran threw support behind Qatar, and started shipping food to the country after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic ties, and cut all land, sea, and air contacts with the emirate on June 5.

"What we are talking about here is an attack on the sovereign rights of a state," Erdogan said, adding "there cannot be such an attack on countries' sovereignty rights in international law."

Qatar on Saturday denounced the ultimatum as unreasonable and an impingement on its sovereignty.

The sanctioning countries accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism and destabilizing the region, allegations vehemently denied by Doha.

The punitive measures have raised human rights concerns, with UK-based rights body Amnesty International saying the sanctioning countries are toying with the lives of thousands of Persian Gulf residents as part of their dispute with Doha.

The demands include Qatar shutting down its Al Jazeera news network, which has ruffled feathers time and again among Saudi Arabia and its allies with its critiques, as well as limiting its ties with Iran and closing down a Turkish military base.

Erdogan dismissed calls for Turkey to close the military base in Qatar, calling it a "disrespect" to his country.

Turkey has sent two contingents of troops with columns of armored vehicles to Qatar since the crisis erupted on June 5, with Defense Minister Fikri Isik saying further reinforcements would be beneficial.

According to Hurriyet newspaper, the two countries will hold a joint exercise following the Eid al-Fitr holiday which started on Sunday.

The report said the number of Turkish troops sent to Qatar could eventually reach 1,000, with an air force contingent also envisaged.
In search of echoes of a novel Smriti Daniel visits Aracataca in Colombia, the town at the heart of Colombias most famous novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquezs book, One Hundred Years of Solitude View(s): View(s):

Have you heard the story about Gabriel Garcia Marquezs 80th birthday party? Gabo was famous by this time, his years as a poverty stricken journalist having given way to his career as Colombias most famous novelist. At 55, he had become the first of his countrymen to win a Nobel Prize for Literature. At 80, he was being asked to return to where it all began. He had not been to Aracataca in 25 years, and yet it was much the same. Thirteen-hours away from Bogota, it remained a dusty, rural town; home to just 25,000 people.

It was famous, however, by another name. If you were looking for Macondo, the fictional town at the heart of One Hundred Years of Solitude -Gabos most famous book  you would begin your search in Aracataca. You are introduced to Macondo in the first few pages of the book, as the second generation of the Buendia family faces a firing squad. Over the course of the novel, you see the town founded and watch the gypsies arrive. The Buendias multiply. You stay awake through a plague of insomnia; You stand by as the banana company arrives and departs;You hear rumours of distant wars until fighting erupts on these streets; You survive a torrential rain that lasts four years, eleven months, and two days, until finally, you witness the destruction of a whole town by a hurricane as a man stands by, reading its history.

But in Aracataca, the dream of Macondo survived. It was where Gabo was being asked to return for the birthday party to end all birthday parties. The authorities shared their plans to inaugurate the Macondo Express. The promise was that the new line would bring tourists and prosperity to the town.

The train carriages would be painted a happy colour and decorated with the yellow butterflies that had come to be associated with Gabo.Gabo made the trip and arrived to find thousands of people waiting to meet him. There was a parade and a marching band. All of his oldest friends were there. Journalists from The Guardian and the New York Times covered the event. Gabo was overwhelmed.

But, a few weeks later, when the writer had an inquiry made about the new express connection, he found out that soon after his arrival, the new carriages had simply been loaded onto trucks and taken away. The publicity stunt had had a shelf life of a few hours. There would be no express connection to the Aracataca. In truth, no one was surprised.

Memories of a massacre

So you travel to Aracataca not by train, but by bus. Its three hours away from Cartagena de Indies and out of the window you see small villages, and homes built on stilts in the marshlands. Mangroves cover long stretches on your right and on your left, the Caribbean glints in the noonday Sun. (You remember then Jose Arcadio Buendia setting out from Macondo only to find it is surrounded by water on all sides).

To travel in this part of Colombia, with a book by Gabo in your hands, is to find the fact in the fiction. The events and characters from the book, that seemed so fantastical when you first read about them, make perfect sense here. But perhaps that is only because you are a stranger, and eager to find echoes of a novel you love, in the landscape you are discovering.

Soon, you abandon the coast, turning inland to where mountains lie cloaked in thick forests. This is banana country, and the plantations stretch out on both sides of the road. Once American banana companies brought wealth and suffering to Aracataca. In the town of Cienaga you see the evidence of a fraught past  here a solemn memorial to the massacred United Fruit workers takes the shape of a tall statue in the main plaza. The figure brandishes a machete in his right hand.

Do you remember that moment in One Hundred Years of Solitude? The day when the banana plantation workers, in the middle of their general strike over their dismal working conditions, gather in protest? It is a crowd of 3,000  men, women and children  who are told they can present their case to the provinces civil and military leader.

But no dignitary steps down from the train. Instead an official reads out a decree that gives the bunch of hoodlums five minutes to disperse. No one moves, until the soldiers start firing into the crowd. The hail of bullets finds every target except one. In the eerie silence that follows, all the bodies, only one of whom is alive, are loaded on a train headed for the coast; the ocean will be their grave. When Jose Arcadio Segundo awakes in a nest of corpses, escape means jumping off the train and walking back to Macondo. But he finds Macondo is in denial and no one in the town will believe him. Eventually, all traces of the brutal murders are wiped from existence and memory.

Gabo did not invent the massacre, as Cienaga can testify. The United Fruit Company existed, and still does exist in other guises. However, Gabo freely admitted to taking literary licence with the facts. We do not know, for instance how many died, or who gave the orders. Cover-ups and political machinations have long muddied these waters.

Today, in Aracataca, it can feel like horrors are both forgotten and forgiven. Time has left only a nostalgia for the days of the banana plantations, when there were jobs to be had, and prosperity was possible.

Your bus takes you on a short trip, to deliver you to the stairs of a house in a state of advanced dilapidation. The man who lives inside tells you it used to belong to the banana company. The last foreign occupant was an American who was a reliable shot. As a young boy, your host heard the story of how the American turned his rifle on striking banana plantation workers as they gathered outside his door.

Your hosts name is Jorge Leal Molina. His parents bought this house, a long time after the American had deployed his weapon in rage and fear. There was a time when Jorge wanted nothing to do with this place. He left the banana zone, left the Caribbean coast, and went looking for a life in Spain, where his grandmother had once lived.

The news of the assassinations brought him back.

They found his mother first, dead from the bullet in her chest. His brother lay not far from her, shot in the back of the head. Jorge would eventually discover what had happened, how the guerrilla group known as The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had kidnapped a relative his mother trusted, and had forced him to come back and kill her.

Having now returned, Jorge has chosen not to leave. He has become a local leader, a voice for victims of a conflict that pitted the state against guerrilla groups for 52 years. A tenuous peace deal was signed in 2016, but with half the country against it, it can seem that every day the uncertainties multiply. In the middle of this, Jorge intends to run for mayor.

His courage, his capacity for optimism, for hope, feels familiar to you. It is the same on the island where you live.

A museum more magical then real

Your arrival in Aracataca has been timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude. A sign on one wall welcomes us to the Land of the Nobel, another bears testimony to the place the sleepy town held in Gabos life and work: Aracataca, reads the quote from the author,to which I returned one day and discovered that between reality and nostalgia was the raw material for my work.

Your first stop is the railway station. You watch in wonder as the longest train that any of you has ever seen passes by; some 300 carriages loaded with ore from the mines thunders down the track without pause. Another one of these monsters trundles by every thirty minutes. (When the train first arrived in Macondo, a woman is driven mad by the strangeness of a machine so loud that it sounds like the kitchen dragging a village behind it.)

From the houses nearby, the sounds of salsa are carried over by the wind.

Wandering through this town, you watch locals as they watch you. Your arrival appears to be the most interesting thing to happen today. In your survey of the town, you discover most of the roads are unpaved. They are lined by mango trees, heavy with small, sweet fruit; when you eat one, you stain your white dress. The homes that line the dusty streets are simple and a long drought means few have running water. The town square is overrun with young children playing run and catch. Your host is a family in the village. You find loose pills on the mattresses in the doctors spare bedroom.

The big tourist attraction is the museum dedicated to Gabo. It is supposed to be his house, and yet his house was burned down to the ground many years ago. This unfaithful reconstruction includes bedrooms, a smithy for the making of gold fish and a study for his grandfather. A bunch of bananas hangs in the corner of the dining room, with helpful directions for anyone who has never sampled one before: You have to peel it before you eat it.Everything here is a recreation; a kind of architectural magical realism.

Aracataca has long been embroiled in a fight to claim Gabo. They have little to show for it. Gabos ashes are divided between Mexico City (where he spent much of his life in exile) and Cartagena de Indies. In 2014, the Harry Ransom Center at University of Texas celebrated the acquisition of his archive, including an unfinished novel. When the authorities set about building the museum in 2006, Gabo reviewed the blueprints of the $350,000 restoration but had little else to do with the project.

You are not entirely surprised to discover that people in this town are divided about Gabo. Over the years, residents have complained to visiting journalists with some bitterness of neglect; their most famous son should have given money to this town, they say, or at least arranged to give back to them after his death. Aracataca is left, for most part, only with memories.

While walking around, you are invited into the home of Aracatacas former mayor; 86-year-old Carlos Nelson is one of Gabos oldest friends. I drank with him before he was famous, the bluff old man tells you. Nelson knew the author first when they were both 16, and then again when Gabo was deported from Venezuela. Gabo came back then as an encyclopaedia salesman. His profits never seemed to stretch much further than his next bottle of pure cane rum.

The bottle cost 60 cents at that time, says Nelson.I remember when he came, he would come crying: I sold one, I sold one. The profits from the encyclopaedia sales went towards a worthy cause. We would sit up and drink till eight or ten at night, and then start again the next day at noon. Sometimes we would steal chickens and cook them the following day.

Aracataca was different then, remembers Nelson. It was a small town. There was no aqua duct, and the water used to be delivered by truck. Everybody knew everybody else, and we slept with our doors open. Today, Aracataca has many faces, as thousands of internally displaced people have been driven out of areas occupied by the guerrilla and right-wing paramilitary groups. It is hard to find work, and the community is beset with drug-related crimes.

Does Nelson recognize Aracataca in Macondo?

They are nothing alike, Gabos old friend tells you, his face closing off at what must be the most predictable of questions. Its completely different.

The author is a Gabriel Garcia Marquez Cultural Journalism Fellow for 2017.
Greerton Villages popular annual Yarn Bombing event is back.

Mainstreet Manager Sally Benning says a record 60 trees are being wrapped in colourful yarn that has been knitted, woven or crocheted this year.

Yarn bombers aged four to 90 years old, from Te Puke and Tauranga, have been working over many months to create the tree embellishments, with 45 of the trees dedicated to not-for-profit organisations.

As well as brightening up Greerton Village over winter, the aim of the outdoor public art display is to build awareness of some of the many non-profit charities that provide a myriad of services and support for people in Tauranga.
The ability to have children start school in a group rather than in dribs and drabs as they blow out the candle on their 5th birthday has been welcomed by local principals.

But school communities will be consulted before any changes are made.

The passing of the Education Amendment Bill last month means that schools can now opt to have children starting school from the beginning of the school term closest to their birthday, rather than on the day or week of their 5th birthday.

The cohort entry option means some children could start school up to eight weeks before they turn five and some will start several weeks after their 5th birthday.

Pillans Point School principal Matt Simeon says the cohort entry option does suit bigger schools such as his that can see a handful of new entrants start each week.

The school currently has a roll of 515 but is expecting up to another 75 five-year-olds to start by the end of the year.

From a planning side of things cohort entry is an advantage. For example, I can advertise for staff to start at certain times.

Our local cluster of schools have begun conversations but we havent made any clear decisions as a group. Having spoken to some of our feeder ECEs (early childhood centres) they can see pros and cons. They will have some kids for longer and some there for shorter periods.

The school already asks parents to start their children at school on the Monday after their birthday, which is easier for the classroom teacher to manage than having children start five days a week.

If we could start a whole bunch of new entrants together in a group of 15-16 thats better for everybody, says Matt.

The Mid-Canterbury Principals Association has collectively decided that schools in the region wont be enrolling any children under the age of five, however the Western Bay of Plenty Principals Association has not yet had any discussion as a group.

President Dane Robertson, who is principal of Kaimai School, is not an advocate of children starting school too early.

In a newsletter to Western Bay of Plenty principals he said that out of 206 countries, New Zealand was one of only 21 that starts children at school at the age of five. Research shows that starting school later can be beneficial to childrens development.

Peter Reynolds, chief executive of the Early Childhood Council, said some early childhood centres would struggle financially with groups of children leaving at once and some parents may take their children out of early childhood education early to save on fees.

Dane agrees it would be cheaper to place a child in a school classroom than in an early childhood centre.

Perhaps it is time we stopped doing what is fiscally prudent and start implementing what is based on research, and is morally honourable.
Workplace bullying. You have either been affected by it or know someone who has.

Tauranga man Max Christoffersen is sharing his views on the topic that people tend not to talk about.

Ive never liked the phrase workplace bullying.

It seems a bit weak and somewhat anemic.

I much prefer my own custom-built phrase, Psychopathic Workplace Intimidation (PWI) as the description of the conduct that seems to be the raison detre of the modern successful manager.

PWI is widespread across working life. It is planned, malicious, vicious and designed to belittle and disempower.

It is always a power game and one that is often disguised in language and conduct designed to mirror the appearance of successful management culture described in whatever new popular culture journal the human resources team believe is the new testament of HR psychobabble and corporate culture.

To those who observe from afar, PWI is a near relative of obsessive compulsive disorder. But its a professional affliction that is approved by HR departments who value the ability PWI sufferers have to inflict, project and destroy the professional confidence, ability and self-esteem of those around them.

In my observation of such professional conduct (both near and from a distance) it is that those afflicted with PWI appear to be the ones who are promoted up the corporate ladder.

In higher education, the health sector, central government/councils and private practice those with the track record of intimidation, exploitation and unjustified track records of premature staff departures are those who go far.

Such conduct is rewarded, encouraged and endorsed. And its the HR managers who are doing the applauding.

I could name the managers Ive worked with who are afflicted with PWI, but they are not the unwanted inspiration for this column. HR managers are.

Ive long wondered what HR managers do and why they are needed. Every HR manager Ive seen in action appears to have aspirations for grander corporate goals.

But those career goals are always hidden behind coded jargon and deflection from the real issues that those working at the coal-face are aware of on a day-to-day basis. HR managers appear to be immune to the culture that they have by nature of their responsibility for staff recruitment created, groomed and matured.

One of the greatest barriers to a growing economy is the view that so many Kiwis hate their work and feel undervalued for 40+ hours each week. And yet HR managers are seldom ever seen when the consequences of rampant PWI are left unchecked.

They are invisible and unaccountable. I have yet to see an HR manager sacked for allowing and by proxy promoting through deliberate inaction the rampant spread of a toxic working culture in an organization. But I could name a few who should have been.

Im not even sure who HR managers work for and strangely  neither do they. On-line discussions between various HR professionals has raised the issue of whether they are working for the employee or the employer? The answer here would appear obvious to anyone outside the lunatic fringe of HR zealotry.

I have never met an HR manager that has inspired me to value my organisation to the same level my workmates have. If I need inspiration it often comes from the floor.

Managers in NZ have a poor track record and the growing culture of workplace intimidation would suggest that if anyone is to lose their jobs in the ongoing recession it should be those in middle management who display all the signs of workplace power Uber Alles.

We all have to engage with HR departments and today, dealing with HR staff scares me.

Just when you think you understand the new HR dance imported typically from overseas fads documented in self-help journals and web sites for HR professionals, it changes for a new fad that will impact on anyone applying for work.

Whether its a name change from HR to People and Performance the name game is always changing in a misguided bid to rebrand the exercise of hiring staff in seductive, self aggrandizing jargon.

A quick Google search reveals theres a new emerging culture on the HR landscape. The old way is now being taken over by newly created professional mantras ranging from talent acquisition and leadership development to culture evangelism and the growth and promotion of the new HR, which seems to be the same as the old HR only with new words.

It seems simple to me. You employ the best people for the job. You secure the budgets, the top-down mandate and the manpower necessary for them to complete their clearly described tasks and let them get the job done without workplace barriers (like PWI afflicted managers and toxic work place cultures) getting in the way. HR is easy. Its the people working in HR that arent.

The words and culture of modern HR is so fundamentalist in tone and language that I find myself rushing to judgment to declare that Im not a believer. American style pulpit evangelism is always an act of salesmanship.

And HR is all too close to the same religious culture that values style over substance. Its lost on me as I and others engage with HR managers as the first point of contact as businesses attempt to recruit new staff from a glut of well qualified unemployed men and women in NZ.

Heres a tip HR managers. Communicate. There are few things more disturbing than communicating with an organization with HR staff who fail to demonstrate common courtesies to prospective employees.

Ask anyone seeking work. HR Client Account Managers fail to communicate and leave prospective workers hanging for weeks and sometimes months without a courteous word received.

And many job applicants never hear anything at all from major institutions with staff who appear too busy reading management magazine espousing the New HR to let candidates know where their job application is at in the process.

Sadly that HR time could also have been put to good use dealing with the psychopaths in suits. The HR industry is littered with stories of PCI bullying in action.

The bullying tactics range from public put-downs in meetings to deliberately leaving staff out of the communications loop and then holding them accountable for the work-place disaster they were powerless to avoid. One colleague was recently taken behind closed doors to discuss the use of the word amongst in a private HR session.

Verbal warnings were issued as a result of this word choice. Youd think there were more important things to discuss. And who endorsed this workplace crime? The HR department.

Ive come to understand that HR managers are a curious bunch with a near religious view of the significance of their work.

I could trust them more and become a believer in HR as a professional discipline if I knew they valued and understood people as much as they claim to understand their employers corporate goals and aspirations.

If they could demonstrate an equal amount of empathy for the employee as they do for the employer, HR departments may become valued by all for their professional integrity. This for me and many others seems a long way off.

If NZ is to climb out of a recession, it may start with HR managers recognizing that they have played their part in contributing to NZs corporate culture through devotion to unsustainable policies, imported US based management culture and workplace indifference to signs of manager power-plays that went unchecked.

HR managers may be the first line of economic recovery by learning to communicate professionally, work diligently with respect for human frailties and recognizing that they too have made mistakes. NZ may have a chance if the HR industry recognises and acts on its own failings and creates a local solution rather than importing HR jargon and culture from afar.

Too many Hamiltonions know all too well of the ongoing corporate cancer at their workplace and the rampant inaction and indifference HR staff displayed when they sought support. It is time that bullying was removed from the discourse and psychopathic behaviour is included. Because that is what it is.

There are managers still working in the old HR model of endorsed workplace intimidation. They were hired, promoted and lauded for this ability by faceless HR departments. I look forward to learning of their demise.

You know who you are.

The Ministry of Business and Innovation defines workplace bullying (PWI) here:

http://www.osh.govt.nz/publications/factsheets/bullying.html

The PSA view is here;

http://www.psa.org.nz/Campaignsandissues/WorkplaceBullying.aspx

More information and case stories here:

http://www.leadershipchallenge.co.nz/beyondbullying/
Gwendoline Keel, Jussara Bierman and Colleen Te Arihi are the three new trustees on the Tourism Bay of Plenty board, appointed by Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

Mayor Greg Brownless is welcoming the new trustees to the board.

The Tourism Bay of Plenty board will be strengthened by the complementary skills of Gwendoline, Jussara and Colleen, says Greg.

They have the particular skills and experience identified by the panel that will help Tourism Bay of Plenty meet its recently revised strategic objectives.

The appointment of trustees to their Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) is one of the most important roles Councils have to ensure agreed outcomes are effectively delivered on by the CCO.

Des Hammond, Tourism Bay of Plenty chairman is delighted to welcome Gwendoline, Jussara and Colleen to the board.

They bring vast and diversified experience and fantastic connections across the sector, says Des.

Colleen has broad experience and is well known across the Bay of Plenty. Her iwi connections and mana are extensive and we are honoured she has agreed to join our board.

"Jussara is a marketing guru and having lived in China very recently she brings a global insight that is helpful when marketing off-shore and online. Gwendolines legal background, with a compliance speciality when paired with tourism/major event experience will assist Tourism Bay of Plenty with implementation of our visitor economy strategy.

Gwendoline Keel.

Were looking forward to their contributions to further enhancement of the contribution the tourism sector brings to this region.

Tourism Bay of Plenty is a trust and CCO, jointly controlled by Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

The two councils appointed the three trustees to the board, commencing June 1.
HENDERSON, N.Y. -- Rescue teams are continuing to search Lake Ontario for two teenagers who disappeared under the waves near Henderson Harbor this weekend, according to authorities.

Officials began the search Sunday afternoon and continued throughout the night and into Monday, according to the State Police.

The two boys, who are about 14 and 18 years old, were cliff diving into the water near Robert Wehle State Park and Henderson Harbor, according to the Coast Guard. They were last seen about 30 yards offshore around 3:30 p.m. when they both went under water and didn't resurface, police said.

The waves were 4 to 5 feet high Sunday and extremely choppy, officials said.

Coast Guard members from Oswego and Sackets Harbor and a helicopter from the Canadian Coast Guard were called in to search the waters. State police were on the nearby shore.

Officials are now using sonar equipment to search under the water for the two boys, with the Coast Guard helicopter still circling the skies, said Jack Keller, a State Police spokesman.

Joshua Becktell and Daniel Herrera, U.S. Air Force members based in Watertown, told the Watertown Daily Times they were walking in the park when they saw a group of teenagers standing near a cliff calling for help.

The teens told the two men four people had dove into the water. Becktell and Herrera were able to climb down and help two teenagers, a boy and a girl, get back to safety, but the other two boys never resurfaced, according to the newspaper report.

A number of other agencies, including the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the Henderson Fire Department, aided in the initial search. Keller said officials will remain until the two boys are found.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- There are nine people who want to be Syracuse's next mayor. We asked each to evaluate the person who's held that job the last eight years.

Mayor Stephanie Miner, a Democrat, was elected in 2009 and again in 2013.

We asked the candidates for their thoughts on Miner's administration:

At [last] Monday's forum, most of you said, in some way or another, that things in the city need to change. If you had to assign the current mayor a grade, A through F, for her eight-year tenure in office, how would you evaluate her administration? Explain your reasoning.

There are six Democrats in the race, as well as a Republican, a Green and an independent. Click on a candidate to jump to his or her response or scroll through all responses below.

Raymond Blackwell (D)

Alfonso Davis (D)

Chris Fowler (D)

Howie Hawkins (G)

Laura Lavine (R)

Marty Masterpole (D)

Joe Nicoletti (D)

Juanita Perez Williams (D)

Ben Walsh (I)

The candidates' written answers to the question are given below, in no particular order. They are provided as submitted, with minor editing for style. They were asked to limit responses to 250 words.

Look for a new candidate question each week. Have something you'd like to ask all the candidates? Email Chris Baker at cbaker@syracuse.com with the subject line "weekly question."

Ben Walsh (I)

I proudly served the City of Syracuse as deputy commissioner of neighborhood and business development under Mayor Miner from January 2010 through March 2016. As a life-long independent more interested in public service than politics, the mayor provided me with an opportunity to give back to the city I love and empowered me to make tough decisions, even when we didn't agree. For that, I will be forever grateful.

As I reflect on the end of Miner administration, I do so with mixed emotions. I view the early years of the administration as some of the most productive in the city's recent history. From the successful renegotiation of the sales tax agreement, to the creation of the Greater Syracuse Land Bank, Mayor Miner's first term was largely characterized by progress, collaboration and alignment among our community leadership.

As the relationships among our leaders began to deteriorate, however, so did that feeling progress. While there have been some notable recent wins, including the redevelopment of the Hotel Syracuse, regretfully I view much of the mayor's second term as a series of missed opportunities hindered by partisan bickering, protracted litigation and other distractions. In summary, I view the Miner administration as a tale of two terms, the first of which I would grade a "B+" and the second a "C".

As Syracuse's first independent mayor, I will rise above party politics and the tired disputes of the past to bring people together and ensure the city's best days are ahead of us.

Juanita Perez Williams (D)

Having served on her senior staff for the first 19 months of her administration, I had a unique perspective into the mayor's leadership style and her approach to governing. She is smart with good intentions and I commend her for declaring Syracuse a sanctuary city, raising the minimum wage and advocating against a city-county merger.

However, I would only assign the mayor a grade of C for her eight-year tenure in office. Her divisive leadership style impeded her ability to implement substantive change. Our city faces many serious challenges such as poverty, crime, public health, economic development and education. Addressing these concerns requires collaborative and cooperative relationships with community, regional and other government partners.

As mayor, I will use a combination of executive, legislative, intergovernmental, and community-driven actions to create visible changes in people's lives. We will not be daunted by the fiscal challenges or past ways of doing things with which we will be greeted on our first day in office. Rather, we will utilize every resource, expert, and potential partner available to us to solve problems on behalf of real people.

I am the only candidate to present a 100-day plan and I encourage you to read it to see how we will take immediate action to address the complex issues that Syracuse residents care about.

Marty Masterpole (D)

Your Mayor's Performance



1-Experiencing significant difficulty

2-Experiencing some difficulty

3-Managing comfortably

4-Capable and competent

5-Highly capable and competent

Constituent Services & Advocacy 1 2 3 4 5 Listening and responsiveness X Infrastructure X Crime reduction X Maintaining city services X Budget 1 2 3 4 5 Understanding and recalling X Using procedures X Reasoning and problem solving X Explaining and communicating X Economic Development & Investment 1 2 3 4 5 History: Land Bank and home rehabs X Downtown revitalization X Science: innovative approaches X

Your Mayor as a Worker Rarely Sometimes Most of the time Always Works well independently X Works well with others X Keeps trying even when tasks are difficult X Presents work carefully X Your Mayor's Engagement Rarely Sometimes Most of the time Always Behaves well X Mixes well with others X Sensitive to others' feelings X Behaves well in the playground X Manages and expresses own feelings well X

Narrative: Mayor Miner has been faced with difficult challenges as mayor. Crumbling infrastructure, rising crime, and a financial crisis. Individually, she has managed these difficulties thoughtfully and carefully; investing in revitalizing neighborhoods, economic development and innovative solutions to infrastructure issues. Additionally, she has worked diligently and passionately to advocate for the City of Syracuse on the county, state and national level. However, at times, her passionate opinions have fueled divisiveness rather than collaboration with other leaders putting the city at a detriment due to personal politics. Overall grade: B.

Howie Hawkins (G)

I give Mayor Miner a D - barely passing - because the city is not bankrupt... yet. She initiated no progressive solutions for fiscal decline, concentrated poverty, or segregated schools.

Fiscally, Miner followed the conservative playbook. She endorsed the 2010 New York Mayors' Task Force recommendations for wage freezes, benefit rollbacks, and labor rights concessions designed to balance budgets on the backs of municipal workers. She repeatedly cut services, from closing the Ida Benderson Senior Center and Fire Station 7 to this year cutting the street repair budget in half. Miner rightly criticized Gov. Cuomo's victim-blaming narrative for upstate city fiscal problems. But she merely called for "an honest conversation" instead of publicly championing specific progressive solutions, like a restoration of former levels of state revenue sharing to pay for unfunded state mandates.

Poverty concentrated further because residential segregation by race and class increased by design. City policies and subsidies gentrified downtown, pushing low-income people out. Inner Harbor development was approved for exclusively upscale housing.

School segregation by race and class grew as tracking within the school district increased, funding and socioeconomic disparities with adjacent affluent school districts increased, and the state's test-punish-and-privatize agenda threatened half the city's public schools with privatization into still-segregated charter schools. Experience proves that when working-class and middle-class children go to school together, race and class achievement gaps close substantially and middle-class children do better as well. But Miner - and, to be fair, all the city and county leadership - have been AWOL on school desegregation.

Chris Fowler (D)

One of the fundamental reasons I'm in this race is because politics as usual is not working. I appreciate the question, but I am choosing to focus on the future. The culture of our politics has become so toxic and divisive. Unless we challenge the way things have always been done, things are unlikely to change. Syracuse continues to struggle with concentrated poverty, poor economic performance, a lagging job market, and continued population loss. I'm focused on reversing those trends.

Others may assign a grade for Mayor Miner, but you may want to consider their prominent roles in this administration or the city government. Is this the same grade they would assign for themselves? It's easy to look backwards; hindsight is always 20/20. It's harder to look forward, but that's what I choose to do.

Imagine a city where the culture of leadership is forward-thinking, innovative, and willing to try new approaches to persistent problems. Imagine a civic culture that says, "Yes, we can do that here." Imagine a city that inspires, empowers, and cultivates leadership from its community members, entrepreneurs, and hard working citizens. Imagine having the tools and support to make our neighborhoods more stable, secure, and socially connected. Imagine vibrant, locally-owned businesses that create careers, develop bustling main streets, and instill a true sense of belonging. That city can be Syracuse...OUR city. That Syracuse is waiting for us. I've always had a vision for a healthier, vibrant, and thriving Syracuse. It's time for us to put it into action.

Laura Lavine (R)

Concentration of poverty: Paul Jargowsky of Rutgers University reported that Syracuse has, "the highest level of poverty concentration among blacks and Hispanics of the one hundred largest metropolitan areas."

Record homicide rate: In 2016, 31 people were murdered.

Solve rate: among the lowest in the state.

Brookings Institute: Syracuse ranked 100th out of 100 metropolitan areas in economic growth. We ranked 80th out of 100 in prosperity and 83rd in inclusion.

Architectural Digest/Trulia: Syracuse is among the 10 worst cities in the country for millennials.

24/7 Wall St.: Syracuse is one of the "worst U.S. cities" in which to live based on crime rates, employment growth, attractions, educational attainment, etc.

"Today, some 31% of Syracuse residents live in poverty, roughly double the New York State poverty rate of 15.4%. The high poverty rate is likely fueled, in part, by a struggling job market. The city's annual unemployment rate of 6.6% is well above the statewide unemployment rate of 5.3%. Total employment in the city fell by about 1% between 2013 and 2015, even as employment nationwide climbed 4% over the same time period.

"Often indicative of less desirable places to live, property is relatively cheap in Syracuse." The typical area home is worth less than a third of the statewide median home value.

Syracuse City School District: Approximately 60% graduation rate.

The voters should assign the grade in November by deciding if they want more of the same or someone with proven experience to lead a turnaround.

Joe Nicoletti (D)

It will be up to history to evaluate Mayor Miner's performance and legacy during her tenure as Mayor. Ultimately, it will be up to the residents of Syracuse to grade her performance after her full record can be viewed over time.

As a candidate for mayor of Syracuse it is my responsibility to the citizens to outline a platform that will move our city forward with a 21st century agenda. Our schools must prepare our children for the job market of today; the city must ensure that qualified residents get jobs whenever economic benefits are sought from the city by developers. A renewed focus must be placed on providing quality neighborhood services, returning to community policing and developing solutions to fight the heroin epidemic and the associated gang violence it fosters. We are a proud people and we want more than anything to feel a renewed sense of hope and pride in our city.

Most of all, at this time, our city needs an experienced and trusted friend at the helm who can lead a team of the best and the brightest that will bring innovative ideas and new technologies to City Hall. The next mayor must also build the partnerships with the county, the state and the federal governments to secure the funds to implement these new strategies that will transform our city to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

I believe I am the right person at the right time, ready to serve with strength, knowledge and perseverance to get the job done for Syracuse.

Alfonso Davis (D)

I respectfully give Mayor Stephanie Miner a D for her eight-year tenure in office, due to many city issues and resident concerns that have not been successfully addressed. For example, the $18.5 million deficit the city will now have in her final year, our increased poverty level, increase in homicide and crime and the need for an investment in economic development to benefit our entire city. Therefore, it is important to have a mayor that has not been under the Miner administration that will bring new change and a big picture vision. Under my administration as mayor of Syracuse, these four areas will be a top priority to begin to turn around the city and make our residents and budget a priority again.

One solution that I would like to revisit as mayor which has been successful in other NY regions and California, is an effective Community Benefits Agreement. A CBA provides inclusiveness and accountability in how development subsidies are distributed, it can be tailored to the community's needs and includes job quality standards, local hiring programs, and affordable housing requirements. This can be a solution to our poverty, homicide and crime rates and the need for economic development in the city.

The deficit that will now need to be covered by the city's reserves will leave the fund the same, which is not an improvement. I plan to meet with state representatives to discuss better options for the budget that would be more conducive to the city's needs. I would also like to build on current relationships with our largest property owners to explore opportunities to contribute additional funding to the city's real estate and public services costs.

Raymond Blackwell (D)

Mayor Miner has done a remarkable job. Without her sales tax agreement with the county executive the city might be filing for bankruptcy right now. She has been present at community functions such as the annual Southern Missionary Baptist church Christmas pageant and the Living Waters, MLK celebration. Fiscally conservative and socially liberal Miner has tried to keep the peace. My goal as the next mayor of Syracuse is to continue the work Mayor Miner has done and take it to another level. "A" plus from Ray Blackwell.

Read the candidates' answers to questions about:

Poverty

Deer

Their best idea

Property taxes

The Land Bank

Sanctuary city

Crime

The NYS Fair gondola

More on the mayor's race:

Snitches, privilege and neophytes: Takeaways from the 2nd forum

Which candidates have kids in city schools?

Syracuse's next mayor will inherit a city on the brink of financial disaster
To the Editor:



As a taxpayer, parent and educator, I must offer some response to the current misinformation being circulated aggressively to educators in New York state by the New York state Department of Education in support of the Excelsior program.



The independent college sector, affordable to nearly all of those eligible for Excelsior, has repeatedly raised concerns about the negative impact on college choice and regional economies of this program. The response from some state legislators has been that they will need to see "blood on the street" before making changes to the program, a metaphor that I find to particularly inept and inflammatory in the current political environment nationally.



Here are the facts:



Official information from NYSED to educators and families says that students must "take 30 credits per year" to remain qualified. The fact is that students must "complete" 30 credits per year to remain qualified - there is a difference; failing this, the scholarship becomes a loan.



Official information from NYSED indicates that students must be "on track" to graduate in four years. The fact is that students must "graduate" in four years - again, a big difference - or the scholarship becomes a loan



Maintaining full-time enrollment and completing on time are an admirable goals. The fact is that many students are not able to complete 30 credit hours per year for many reasons, including work and family commitments. Fewer still complete in four years for the same reasons. In either case, these students have just taken on a loan with no information at all about what the cost or timeline of repayment will be, as these rules are still being written on the fly in this hastily rolled-out program.



The residency requirement - that students accepting this scholarship/loan will be required to live and work in New York state following their graduation, largely buried in pronouncements about the program - is also admirable from an economic development standpoint. And it would be more admirable if in-state jobs were guaranteed for these students in their chosen field upon graduation. They are not.



And finally, current media advertising about this program describes it openly as "free college." Again, far from truthful. The cost of room and board, fees, books and miscellaneous runs anywhere from $10,000 to 15,000 a year at most SUNY schools. There is nothing "free" here.



As a SUNY graduate, I applaud an effort to increase access to higher education for families of modest means. That is why at my college the average cost of attendance is only slightly higher than at a SUNY school thanks to generous institutional (read "non-taxpayer") aid. Students and families should choose the college best fitted to their needs and interests, and should not be held to vague and poorly defined standards on their enrollment, graduation and choice of place to live and work following graduation.



Ron Chesbrough, Ph.D.

President

Cazenovia College






To the Editor:



As Syracuse voters sort through the large field of mayoral contenders, we hope they consider this: We need a mayor who understands that the school district is an integral part of the city.



The mayor faces a critical paradox. Without direct authority over how the Syracuse City School District is financed or run, the mayor must assume responsibility for it. This is true because faith in our city schools (or lack of it) is key to the city's future. It's also true because the biggest problems in the schools are simply reflections of unsolved community-wide issues.



For example, the homelessness experienced by one in 10 Syracuse students mirrors the density of poverty in parts of our city. And, even though neighborhood schools might make it easier for parents to be involved in their kids' educations, this is not a viable option until we address segregation and inequity in the city's housing stock. Safe transportation for all students isn't a real possibility until we figure out how to clear snow from walkways and crime from our streets. Challenges of this magnitude can't be solved by the school district alone.



Only the most creative, collective solutions will succeed. We need a mayor who sees the big picture and helps us see it too. We need a mayor who is a real leader!



Pamela Percival

Parents for Public Schools of Syracuse, Inc.

Syracuse
It is an obituary no parents of a 15-year-old should ever have to write.

But with teen suicides seemingly more and more common in our social media age, one western Pennsylvania family decided to address the issue head-on by being forthright and frank in their 15-year-old daughter's obituary, as reported by WJAC-TV in Johnstown.

"In an effort to debunk the rumors about Sadie's death we would like to share this information," the obituary on the Louis Geisel Funeral Home website stated:

"Yes, Sadie took her own life, she hung herself. It is hard to fathom that someone so young could be so troubled. Sadie was seeking help, she was in counselling and taking medication, but it was all too much for such a young soul to live with."

Sadie is Sadie L. Riggs, 15, of Bedford, Pa., who died Monday.

In wake of her death, her family decided to speak bluntly about the "bullies" who they said were so very effective at making Sadie "feel worthless."

"Sadie had a tough life and until a recent incident at school she handled everything life served her," one obituary passage read, adding:

"For a young lady so excited about going to the high school things sure went terribly wrong for her. For the bullies involved, please know you were effective in making her feel worthless," the obituary said. "That is all between you and God now, but please know that it is not to(o) late to change your ways."

"Sadie's death has taken us to dark places, we will stick together and protect one another as we try to make sense of this tragic loss. To all the bullies out there, I just want you to know that as much as we despise your actions never, ever do we wish for you to feel the paralyzing pain that engulfs our bodies, a pain so severe that it makes the simple act of breathing difficult or the guilt that leaves us wondering what we could have done differently-or that struggle to remember the last words we spoke."

Sadie, whose funeral is set for Saturday in Bedford, is survived by her father, Eric Riggs, and stepmother, Alicia Smith, of Bedford, and her biological mother, Beverly (Dodson) Riggs of Hopewell and by her maternal aunt, Sarah Smith, with whom she lived.

And in her brutally frank obituary, her heartbroken family reserved their final message for her:

"Sadie, it was a privilege to have you in our lives and we will always love you. May you find peace in the arms of God and may we all be kind to one another," the obituary said.

"Our hearts are beyond broken."
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At a Glance Expert's Rating Pros Compact, refrigerator-friendly design.

The cheapest Alexa device you can buy. Cons Reliance on AA batteries limits Alexas abilities.

Suggested items often priced outrageously high.

Amazon Fresh too geographically limited. Our Verdict The Amazon Dash Wand wont solve your pantry problems just yet, but its a cool device at a killer price.

Amazon will sell you groceries, one way or another. Case in point: The day before it announced plans to buy Whole Foods for a cool $13.7 billion, it released Amazon Dash Wand, a small Alexa-powered gadget that will likely be just as integral to the companys produce push. Amazons new scanning stick is Jeff Bezoss latest attempt to link the virtual world with the physical one. But even though its not Amazons first shot at a home shopping assistant, its definitely the first fully formed one. Combining the ease of a Dash button with the versatility of the relatively unknown Dash scanner and the smarts of an Echo, Dash Wand could be the thing that finally streamlines the way we buy groceries, and eliminates checkout lines, empty refrigerators, and even trips to the store. But thats going to take a while.

Mentioned in this article Echo Dot (2nd generation) Read our review

For today, Dash Wand has too many quirks and shortcomings to be considered a threat to your local supermarket. While its cheap enough to be an impulse buy, it probably wont do much to enhance your existing Amazon-Alexa experience, at least not yet. Dash drawbacks Amazons wand is basically Dash 2.0. Like the companys first bar-code scanner, which was limited to Amazon Fresh customers, the 6-inch stick has a rubberized loop at the top for hanging purposes, but this time around its also magnetic. Unlike the Echo, the Dash Wand needs to be within reachkeeping it in a drawer will severely cut down on its use and usefulnessand its refrigerator-friendly design is definitely one of its best qualities. Christopher Hebert/IDG Dash Wands releiance on AA batteries cuts down on Alexas usefulness. The Dash Wand concept is pretty simple: Its a basic barcode scanner that hooks into the massive Amazon shopping ecosystem. As soon as you scan something available for purchase on Amazon, that item is automatically added to your shopping cart. Once youre ready to buy it, just head over to your Amazon cart in the app or a browser as usual, and complete the checkout process. Even with Alexa built in, Dash Wand is very much an active device, in that it doesnt respond to a wake word. Like the Echo Tap and the Alexa Voice Remote for Fire TV, you need to press the button to activate it, a consequence of Dash Wand being powered by a pair of AA batteries. Amazon kindly includes a set in the box, but with Wi-Fi, a bar-code scanner, and an AI assistant, I have to assume it will burn through them pretty quickly. While your Dash Wand will likely live on your refrigerator, for most customers, whats inside the icebox is off-limits. Unless you live in one of the areas served by Amazon Freshcurrently limited to the Seattle, Northern California, Southern California, New York, and Philadelphia areasproduce and other perishables wont be added to your Amazon cart when you scan them. Christopher Hebert/IDG The bottom of Dash Wand contains a laser bar-code scanner. Thats a deficiency thats likely to be corrected within a year or two, once the fruits of Amazons Whole Foods purchase begin to be realized. It might have been a coincidence that Dash Wand was released the day before the announcement of Amazons Whole Foods purchase, but the Dash Wand is clearly built for a grocery store. Its not hard to imagine a day when you can scan some items and have them show up within an hour, or even take your wand to your local Whole Foods store to do your own scanning. Simple scanning

Mentioned in this article Echo (first generation) Read our review

As far as the other items in your house, Dash Wand will work pretty well, eventually. My wand struggled to read bar codes the first time around, but after a reset it performed much better. Thankfully, the setup process is a snap, requiring little more than signing into your account and typing in your Wi-Fi password, both of which are done via the iOS or Android app. (Note that the Dash Wand works with 2.4GHz networks only.) Christopher Hebert/IDG Scanning items with your Dash Wand is as easy as it as at a grocery store. To use it, you need only press its button and the bottom bar-code scanner springs to life, ready to read whatevers placed in front of it. It struggled occasionally with bar codes that were curved and some items didnt show up at all, but for the most part it worked as well as a department store price checker kiosk. I tested a variety of items, from salad dressing to soda to a Sonos Play:1 speaker, and the wand dutifully added them to my cart, though when head over to the app or site to check out, make sure to pay attention to whats inside it. If Amazon doesnt sell the exact item in question (which happens more than you think), it will offer an alternative. For example, when I scanned a can of Goya Red Kidney Beans, it offered an 8-pack or a bag of dry beans instead. This is fine, but youll need to pay close attention to the cost. Amazon often suggested items that were priced outrageously high. In the case of the red beans, the price for a case of eight cans was $19.59, a surcharge of 150 percent over the average supermarket price of $0.99 a can.

Mentioned in this article Hiku Read our review
Librarians now take on the role of first responders in drug overdoses as the United States continue to grapple with an opioid epidemic.

Librarians In At Least 3 US Cities Trained To Use Drug Overdose Antidote

In at least three cities namely Denver, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, library staff members now know or are about to learn how to use naloxone, more popularly known for its brand name Narcan, a drug used to reverse overdoses.

The training comes with rise in the number of opioid users and an increase in overdoses in libraries, which are not just repository of books but also serve as a hub of services in impoverished communities and a go-to place for homeless people during the day.

Libraries See Deadly Drug Overdoses

Over the past two years, some libraries have become sites of deadly drug overdoses. As the so-called drug tourists flood in Kensington, Philadelphia, claimed to have the purest heroin in the East Coast, heroin users shot up in the library's bathroom, which has been the site of nearly half a dozen overdoses over the past 18 months.

Marion Parkinson, who oversees libraries in North Philadelphia including McPherson Square Library, said that the problem has become so bad last summer that McPherson library, which sits in a neighborhood laced by drugs and poverty, was forced to close for three days due to needles clogging the library's sewer system.

People who use the library's bathroom now have to show their ID to monitors who record their names and enforce a time limit on bathroom use. Prior to this though, a man was found in the bathroom with a needle in his arm convulsing. A dose of Narcan was at the library at the time but the staff did not know how to use it.

Librarians Helping Save Lives

What transpired prompted Parkinson to get library employees trained to use the drug for reversing overdose.

One of the employees at the McPherson library, Chera Kowalski, has learned how to reverse opioid overdose with Narcan. She now switches from librarian to medic when somebody overdoses at or near the library. Kowalski has already saved six lives since April.

"That's a lot for a librarian," said library guard Sterling Davis.

Opioid Epidemic In The US

Figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 91 Americans die every day due to opioid overdose. CDC also said that drug overdose and deaths linked to opioid continue to rise in the country. In just 15 years from 2000 to 2015, more than half a million people in the United States died from drug overdoses, majority of which involve an opioid.

Naloxone has been green-lighted by the FDA in 2015. Health authorities hope that making opioid overdose antidotes more widely available can help save lives.

"Naloxone is non-addictive, and expanding training on how to administer the drug can help basic emergency medical service staff reverse an opioid overdose and save more lives," CDC Senior Health Scientist Mark Faul said.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
SeaWorld has been facing serious challenges especially after the release of the documentary Blackfish. Now the company confirms that it is being investigated by two federal offices with regard to certain statements it made regarding the impacts of Blackfish on the company.

Two Federal Investigations On SeaWorld

SeaWorld has been struggling in recent years due to the negative publicity brought by the documentary Blackfish, which began a series of campaigns and proposals regarding captive killer whales.

Now, in a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, SeaWorld has confirmed that it has received a subpoena just this June in relation to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation regarding certain statements made by the company and its executives with regard to the impact of Blackfish. It has also received subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the same matter.

In response, SeaWorld's Board of Directors formed a Special Committee to advise and assist the company regarding the investigations. They also pointed out in the filing that the company has been cooperating with the government inquiries, and will continue to cooperate with any inquiries or requests that it would make.

Making no lengthy comment on the matter, a spokesman for the company stated that the filing itself "covers everything the company has to say regarding the government inquiries."

SeaWorld's Struggles

Though it did not specify in the filing which specific statements the government inquiries are probing, SeaWorld had previously reported having significantly lower revenues in 2014 and even more so in 2015 as a result of the backlash regarding its alleged ill-treatment off orcas in captivity. Further, the company's stocks also took a strong hit.

The struggle began in 2014 and SeaWorld has since fought and made changes to reflect the public's concerns. In 2015, SeaWorld replaced its killer whales show to showcase them in their natural setting instead.

The company also released a marketing campaign in early 2015, focusing on the members of the population who were neither for nor against the company. However, it seems as though SeaWorld is still struggling to return to the success that it had before Blackfish.

Despite the challenges and after its decision to stop the breeding of orcas in captivity, SeaWorld celebrated the birth of the last baby orca to be bred and born in the park. Takara, the calf's mother, was already pregnant when SeaWorld announced its decision to stop breeding.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The National Cyber Security Center confirms that members of United Kingdom's parliament have been targets of a determined cyber-attack.

According to the center, which detected the unusual activity in the system on the evening of June 23, hackers carried out a sustained attack with the intent of identifying accounts with weak passwords. To prevent further damage, parliament members and staff would temporarily only be able to access their emails in Westminster.

Cyber-Attack On The Parliament

It is unclear whether the recent cyber-attack is connected with reports that login credentials of parliament members, staff, and police were being sold and traded online in Russian websites.

"Closer investigation by our team confirmed that hackers were carrying out a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in an attempt to identify weak passwords. As a precaution, we have temporarily restricted remote access to the network," Parliament authorities informed affected users.

What is clear, however, is that the attack specifically targeted email accounts so security measures have been set-up to ensure accounts are unavailable remotely. Of course, that means urgent messages may not be able to get through the system but upper House of Lords representative Chris Rennard has a solution for such cases.

Cyber security attack on Westminster Parliamentary e.mails may not work remotely Text urgent messages @LibDemLords @LabourLordsUK @Torypeers  Chris Rennard (@LordRennard) June 24, 2017

U.K. officials and security experts were not at all surprised that the parliament was targeted by hackers this time around. Even international trade minister Liam Fox expressed that the attack was to be expected, considering all the news reports and previous attacks the country experienced.

"We know that our public services are attacked so it's not at all surprising that there should be an attempt to hack into parliamentary emails," Minister Fox said.

The House of Commons released a statement with regard to the incident and promised to keep everyone updated on the case.

Statement regarding cyber incident. pic.twitter.com/fAbDkAfdbj  Commons Press Office (@HoCPress) June 24, 2017

Not The First Attack

The United Kingdom has had its fair share of cyber-attacks. Just this May, cyber-attacks victimized 70 countries and held U.K. hospital systems at ransom for up to $600 in bitcoins. The attack on U.K. health services forced some hospitals to turn away patients unless it was an emergency.

In October 2016, the United Kingdom also suffered from a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that affected internet services run by Dyn.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
What a time to be alive  what a time for aerospace engineering: SpaceX, under the helm of Elon Musk, has successfully launched and landed the second Falcon 9 rocket in just roughly 48 hours.

SpaceX Successfully Launches Reused Falcon 9 Rocket

The mission, for its client Iridium, a global satellite telecommunications provider, saw SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launch from the company's Vandenberg Air Force base on June 25 in California, carrying a payload of 10 satellites meant to push forward Iridium's ambitions to create a global network.

The launch, which lends SpaceX two big achievements in its "weekend doubleheader," show the company's progressive prowess in building and reusing rockets  though not without failures here and there, surely. Iridium comes as SpaceX's ninth rocket launch for 2017  the most the company has completed in just a single year.

The rocket's 230-foot-tall first stage, housing nine engines, descended on the drone ship called "Just Read the Instructions." Together with "Of Course I Still Love You" for Cape Canaveral launches, the company's drone ships  landing platforms in the ocean  take inspiration from sci-fi author Iain M. Banks.

Earlier in the day, Musk had warned that landing Falcon 9 might be tricky that time around, in part because of weather conditions, which were described as borderline, The Verge notes.

Sped up version of today's rocket landing on the Droneship Just Read the Instructions (guess it did) A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Jun 25, 2017 at 2:41pm PDT

Why SpaceX's Reusable Rockets Matter

Despite Musk's forewarning, the rocket landed without problems, marking the company's 13th successful landing overall and its eighth at sea. Why does that matter? Well, SpaceX's future rests on its ability as a space company to convince clients that it can reuse its rockets.

SpaceX's success could undercut other space companies that typically have to build new rockets for every mission  a costly and inefficient method of bringing things into space, especially now that SpaceX can offer more cost-effective solutions. Reusing rockets is a crucial concept SpaceX has studied and labored over to slash costs in rocket manufacturing, engineering, and launching.

This has never been done before, for the record, so SpaceX has essentially made history  and is making history, still. The innovation could pave the way for larger space travel ambitions, such as going further into space, possibly Mars.

Iridium

As for Iridium, SpaceX's successful Falcon 9 launch brings the company's satellite count to 20. That's nowhere near its plan to bring 75 satellites in total intended to innovate phone and data coverage globally, but surely it's progress nevertheless. Should Iridium continue using SpaceX's services, it could complete its constellation sooner than expected.

SpaceX's back-to-back launches feature the shortest span between two succeeding launches, shooting a refurbished Falcon 9 booster skyward on Friday, June 23, launching Bulgaria's first communication satellite into space.

However, SpaceX originally didn't plan for its week to be so hectic. The launch on Friday was originally scheduled for last weekend until the company had to replace a valve in the fairing  or the cone holding the satellite.

That said, the surprise schedule shake-up doesn't seem to have affected the company's rocket launches one bit  and the most recent launch could further prove that SpaceX is on its way to launch, land, refurbish, and relaunch more rockets going forward.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Earlier this June, benchmarks revealed the potential core specs of Google's highly anticipated Pixel XL 2, code-named "Taimen."

According to the listing, the smartphone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and 4 GB worth of RAM. This time around, a new leak points to those exact same components while contradicting just a few of them, more or less "confirming" some of the specs in store.

Pixel XL 2 Specs Leak

The word in town is that the Pixel XL 2 will not only have the aforementioned Snapdragon 835 and 4 GB RAM but also a 5.99-inch 1440p OLED display, which is a notable increase compared with the Pixel XL. More than that, it's said to feature narrower bezels than its predecessor.

At the very least, a 128 GB model is going to be available, but other storage options have yet to be unearthed.

As for the other nitty-gritty details, the Pixel XL 2 is going to retain the Pixel's glass and metal combo for the back panel. It's apparently not going to jump into the dual-camera bandwagon, though, sporting just one camera with dual-LED flash.

Pixel 2 Specs Leak

Also known as "Walleye," the Pixel 2 will be fitted with a 4.97-inch 1080p FHD display, similar to the 2016 Pixel.

Speaking of which, it'll not only have more or less the same screen but also an almost identical design as the previous generation, including the large bezels.

That said, what constitutes as an upgrade for the Pixel 2 will be in terms of processing power, as it has the same Snapdragon 835 and 4 GB of RAM as the Pixel XL 2.

However, Google is allegedly ditching the 3.5 mm audio jack in favor of a set of stereo speakers, which a lot of users aren't ready to give up just yet as evidenced by Apple's move with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

So far, the only configuration that's been said to be available is a 64 GB model.

Nexus, Pixel Fingerprint Scanner

The leak says that the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 have different names used to refer to their fingerprint scanners in their preproduction software, where the former has "Pixel Imprint," while the latter has "Nexus Imprint."

Before anyone gets ahead of themselves, it's hard to tell whether or not this is a sign of the return of Nexus devices. The discrepancy between the two may simply be because the developers used a placeholder name, after all.

Interestingly enough, LG is said to provide the display panels for the Pixel 2 line, which aligns with reports of Google investing at least $880 for OLED screens. As everyone knows, the South Korean brand has manufactured Nexus devices for Google before.

The 'Original' Pixel XL 2 Scrapped

Some may be wondering what happened to the "original" Pixel XL 2 or "Muskie." From the look of things, Google dropped the midsized smartphone, choosing "Taimen" over it instead.

That means the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 are now technically "Walleye" and "Taimen" respectively.

For the record, "Muskie" was reportedly supposed to retain the Pixel XL's 5.5-inch display.

Now the leak comes from XDA-Developers, and the website says that it's "confident in the validity of the details presented below, given the source's track record."

Still, until anything is official, it's recommended to take the news with the proverbial grain of salt, but considering what we have here, it isn't a stretch to think they might turn out to be true.

Also, the report doesn't mention anything about a release date, but there's a chance the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 will go official sometime in October  that is, if Google will follow the same schedule as it did for the first Pixel phones.

Are you pumped up to see the next iteration of the Pixel and Pixel XL phones by Google? Feel free to drop by our comments section below and let us know.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Xavier, a new malware discovered for the Android operating system, was discovered by cybersecurity firm Trend Micro in over 800 apps on the Google Play Store.

Xavier is not like most Android malware that have been detected though, as it has a few tricks that make it a bit more dangerous.

Xavier Malware Found In Android Apps

According to Trend Micro, Xavier is capable of stealing and leaking the user information stored in an infected Android smartphone. Alarmingly, the malware was discovered in over 800 apps on the Google Play Store, ranging from picture editors to ringtone changers.

Xavier has mostly affected Southeast Asia, with the top three countries in terms of the highest number of download attempts being Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia. There are fewer download from the United States and Europe, but that does not necessarily mean that users from these locations are safe from the malware.

The discovery of Xavier follows Judy, which was described as possibly the largest ever Android malware campaign. Judy, which infected as many as 36.5 million devices, enabled an illicit ad-clicking function that allowed the company behind the malware to generate revenue from Google ads.

What Makes Xavier Different?

Judy and Xavier are both malware that infect Android devices, but they have different purposes. The perpetrators of Judy unleashed the malware to earn money from fraudulent ad clicks, while the attackers behind Xavier look to acquire user data from infected smartphones. Xavier is also capable of downloading and running code in infected devices.

The arguably more malicious intent behind Xavier, however, is not what differentiates it from most malware. According to Trend Micro, after Xavier downloads codes from a remote server and executes them in an infected Android device, it uses various techniques to make it nearly undetectable.

Xavier is a new version of AdDown, a group of malware that started two years ago. Xavier, however, has added encryption and a secure connection to its features. Through them, Xavier can transmit information siphoned from a victim's device to a remote server without any knowledge of the affected user.

How To Protect Yourself Against Xavier And Other Malware

Xavier is a scary piece of malware, and Trend Micro has listed the Android apps carrying it on the third page of its report. Users who have installed any of them are highly recommended to delete the Xavier-carrying app, and if possible, to also perform a factory reset on their device after backing up data. Just to be safe, users could also change the passwords on the online accounts that they access through their Android device.

To further protect themselves from Xavier and other forms of malware, users are also recommended to only download apps from known companies. It is not enough that the app is present in the Google Play Store; users should check the background of the app makers to see if they are legitimate companies in good standing.

Users are also urged to install the latest versions and updates for their Android device as soon as they are made available, as they come with security patches to protect users from vulnerabilities.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Great Barrier Reef is not only the worlds largest living structure, now currently assaulted by coral bleaching episodes that threaten its very existence.

Its also valued at a staggering AU $56 billion ($42 billion), according to Deloitte Access Economics in a report commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

'Too Big To Fail'

The figure makes the Great Barrier Reef too big to fail, according to the foundations director Steve Sargent as reported by HuffPost Australia.

According to the landmark report released Monday, June 26, in Australia, the reef contributed AU $6.4 billion to the Australian economy in financial year 2015 to 2016, as well as $3.9 billion to Queenslands economy alone. It also employs 64,000 Australians, and if all of them lost their jobs today, the state would see its highest rate of unemployment in 25 years.

The Great Barrier Reef provided $6.4 billion to the countrys economy in the same period, meaning for every $200 of wealth created there, $1 came from it. The reef also exceeded the total income generated by many small nations, from Greenland and Fiji to East Timor and Vanuatu.

"No single Australian natural asset contributes as much in terms of brand and icon value to international perceptions of Brand Australia as the Great Barrier Reef," the report stated.

A massive bleaching event, however, struck the world heritage site in 2015 and continued to inflict damage on coral reefs across the globe. Scientists announced earlier this month that the massive event seemed to be ending, yet its still too early to celebrate.

Global warming is deemed the most urgent of its concerns, leading to two mass bleaching of the poor reef in as many years and the devastation of huge portions of the 350,000 square kilometers of corals.

No. 1 Culprit In Reefs Destruction

The report used economic modeling to arrive at the figures and was based on six months worth of analysis. It comprised a survey of 1,500 Australians and international respondents from 10 nations that discovered how people valued the reef for numerous reasons, such as tourism and the belief that Australians wouldnt be the same without it.

The study offered an intimate glimpse into the contribution of the natural wonder not only to the tourism sector but also to a country and global marine biodiversity as a whole.

And whats to blame for its inevitable decline? According to Professor Will Steffen of the Climate Council of Australia, the top culprit is no other than the burning of fossil fuels by humans.

"The science is absolutely clear  continuing to mine, drill and burn coal, oil and gas will kill the Great Barrier Reef over coming decades," Steffen warned.

The council has called for the Queensland and federal governments to retract support for the controversial Carmichael mine, which would deliver coal to India directly across the vulnerable reef and pump 4.7 billion tons of carbon and other emissions into the atmosphere.

The Great Barrier Reef is ultimately deemed priceless in its own uniqueness by the report authors. Sargent hoped that the report findings would drive everyone to do their share to protect the reefs future as citizens, as business leaders and across all levels of government.

Last month, Australia hosted a summit attended by over 70 global marine experts working on a blueprint on how to best tackle threats to the reef. Potential solutions being eyed included the development of coral nurseries, boosting the culling of crown-of-thorns starfish, as well as intensifying monitoring systems and priority sites for restoring corals.

On June 3 too, UNESCO pushed for accelerated efforts for saving the reef, hitting the current pace of programs as ineffective in its long-term salvation.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The citizens also called for the drafting of a new constitution and the resignation of Attorney General Patricia Benavides. | Read More
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Poor quality storage facilities and planned large-scale acquisitions to the collection of the Australian War Memorial will see a new $16.1 million facility built at Mitchell.

Federal Parliament is considering plans by the memorial to build a new single level 6000 square metre large technology objects repository at its existing site, between Flemington Road and Vicars Street.

Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson. Credit:Jen White

The facility is set to become home to military aircraft, battle tanks and troop movement vehicles used in conflict zones and will feature temperature and humidity controls and solar power supply.

Currently the memorial faces a storage deficit of nearly 2000 square metres, with the new facility expected to assist during redevelopment plains for the main memorial site in Campbell.
The ACT government is considering reopening the old Symonston periodic detention centre for female prisoners, with the female accommodation at the prison overflowing.

The prison has 29 beds for women, but with as many as 45 female prisoners at a time this year, it has had to give them beds in the health unit and the "management unit", officials have told ACT parliament's estimates hearings.

New treatments have helped cut hepatitis c rates in Canberra's prison from 30 per cent to three per cent. Credit:Rohan Thomson

Corrective Services executive director Jon Peach said the directorate was looking at whether it could "repurpose" existing beds at the prison, while ensuring women were still kept separate. If that was possible, it could create space for 57 female beds.

The directorate was also considering reopening Symonston, which had been decommissioned. That would depend on how much work was needed to bring it up to scratch.
Christine Holgate with Australia Post chairman John Stanhope at Tuesday's press conference in Sydney. Credit:Ben Rushton "Over the past seven years, we have transformed Australia Post into Australia's leading parcels and e-commerce company and introduced critical reforms to the letters service," he said. "With post now entering a new stage in our transformation, it's the perfect time for Christine to take the helm." Blackmores chief Christine Holgate will lead Australia Post. Credit:Wayne Taylor Mr Stanhope said Ms Holgate had a track record of delivering results in "large, complex organisations".

At a press conference in Sydney, Mr Stanhope said he was "incredibly impressed" by Ms Holgate when they worked together at Telstra, where she was head of business sales and he was chief financial officer. Ahmed Fahour and John Stanhope appeared before Senate Estimates in early 2017 to explain high salaries at the government-owned company. Credit:Andrew Meares I'm a passionate advocate for Australian business seizing the opportunity that's on our doorstep in Asia. New Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate Her experience growing Blackmores throughout Asia "will be invaluable to us", he said. "While we have chosen the best candidate, it is also great to have our first woman MD and CEO in our history of more than 200 years," Mr Stanhope said.

"Ahmed will officially leave our business on the 28th of July," he said. "He will be a hard act to follow but I am very confident that we have chosen exactly the right person for the job." The chief executive position at Australia Post has been the subject of some controversy in recent months due to Mr Fahour's remuneration. Mr Stanhope confirmed the board no longer sets the managing director's salary. This change comes after Communications Minister Mitch Fifield raised concerns about Mr Fahour's $5.6 million pay including bonuses in 2015-16 and lack of disclosure. While Mr Fahour's salary was set by the board, earlier this year Senator Fifield requested the CEO's remuneration be declared as one set by the government's pay panel. As such, Ms Holgate's salary had been set in "accordance with the parameters set by the Commonwealth Remuneration Tribunal".

She will receive a base salary of $1.375 million a year, with the potential to earn 100 per cent of that as a bonus. As Blackmores chief executive she earns a base salary of $872,325, with bonuses and super taking her 2016 salary to about $2.8 million. That is in contrast to Mr Fahour, who may receive a three-year bonus of up to $6 million this year, plus his $2 million salary, plus short-term bonuses. The long-term bonus will be granted at the board's discretion. Ms Holgate said she felt privileged to be appointed. She said the pay was "good value" for getting a chief executive, but also described the role as a social service. Australia Post was "at the fabric of our society" and is unique because it "touches every home and every business", she said. It could also help build the economy through improving commerce between Australia and Asia.

"How could you not want to be part of that journey?" she asked. However, she would not comment on her strategy for the government-owned corporation. "It would be insulting to the employees [and] to the executive team, if I was to start to predict what I thought the strategy was  [I need] time to learn and not just to walk in the door and assume [I] know all the answers," she said. Ms Holgate was named CEO of the year in 2015, the same year Blackmores shares enjoyed a 254 per cent increase, which took them to a record high of $220.90 in January 2016 as overseas demand for its vitamins and health products skyrocketed. The shares have since retreated below $100 and were down 4.2 per cent on Tuesday on news of her departure, to close at $89.81. She also may be the first managing director with direct experience as a postie. As a university student, she spent six weeks doing early-morning shifts sorting mail during the Christmas rush.

"When I was 18, I took on a Christmas job as a postman," she revealed on Tuesday. "And I saw this incredible role that these people do in the community. They knock on every front door and they are so trusted ... while letters may be declining, that is a very unique place that they have in our society and I want to work with those people and see how we can leverage and build that opportunity." At its half-year results in February, Australia Post announced a pre-tax profit of $197 million from revenue of $3.5 billion. Its parcels division delivered most of the profit. Annual revenue is close to $7 billion. Blackmores on Tuesday morning announced to the ASX Ms Holgate's move, saying she would be leaving the company after nine years in charge. "It is with regret that we announce Christine's departure," Blackmores chairman Stephen Chapman said.

The company had asked its founder, Marcus Blackmore, to stand in as interim chief executive in addition to his role on the board while a replacement was sought. "I'd like to personally thank Christine for the outstanding leadership she has provided," Mr Blackmore said. "She has strengthened our strategy and management team so we are exceptionally well positioned for the future." Mr Fahour released a statement on Tuesday afternoon congratulating his successor. "Christine's skill set and international experience make her an ideal fit given Australia Post's shift to e-commerce and our ongoing commitment to serving the community," he said.
There is a good reason why Network Ten's 17,000-strong army of small shareholders were not allowed in to Sydney's Wentworth Sofitel Monday afternoon to get some answers as to how a network, which raised so much cash from them, collapsed this month.

Ten's lead administrator, Mark Korda, told a press conference after the creditor's meeting that their "preliminary view is that there is no value for the shareholders."

The company has torched all their dough and the only shareholder seats left at the table are for the network's billionaire investors  James Packer, Bruce Gordon and Lachlan Murdoch  who went guarantor on the broadcaster's loan from the Commonwealth Bank.

That's right, Gina Rinehart sits with the mug punters on this one.
Canberra's publicans have raised eyebrows with their attempt to gain access to up to 200 state-of-the-art poker machines like those in use at the Canberra Casino and community clubs.

The ACT government, acting at the behest of The Greens, has been working to reduce the number of such machines here since 2014-2015. It is extremely unlikely the Labor-Greens coalition will reverse its position now.

It would also be poor policy to create a situation where local hotels, which have largely proved they can remain viable without pokies revenue, are suddenly afflicted with a gaming dependency.

That is the situation in many other jurisdictions and it has not always delivered good outcomes for hoteliers. This is especially the case for smaller venues not suited to large scale gaming.
The ageing of Australia's population means the retirement village industry is expanding rapidly. The proportion of the population aged 65 and above has risen from less than 10 per cent 50 years ago to about 15per cent today and is forecast to surge to 25 per cent by 2042.

Ethical management of the sector is fundamentally important to the wellbeing of millions of citizens, many of them vulnerable because of deteriorating health. By 2042, the number of people 65 and above will have grown to 6.2 million from 2.5 million 15 years ago.

A six-month joint investigation by Fairfax Media and the ABC's Four Corners into one of the biggest companies in the sector, ASX-listed Aveo, should spark concerns across the nation. Led by Fairfax journalists Adele Ferguson and Sarah Danckert and ABC producer Klaus Toft, the investigation reveals the highly profitable Aveo is exploiting its residents through rapacious fees and other unfair policies, including voluminous and convoluted contracts. In a booming real estate market, residents have been losing tens of thousands of dollars on their properties.

The company's shareholders are clearly unimpressed; the shares fell by more than 10 per cent on Monday as investors dumped the stock amid concerns about the blow to Aveo's reputation and credibility.

We believe corporate and government authorities should react, too. The industry was recently significantly deregulated, allowing people to direct to service providers like Aveo the government funding they receive for low-care assistance. There should be an official review of the sector's corporate governance standards, which are overseen by under-resourced state-based consumer affairs watchdogs. We believe calls by residents and consumer groups for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to intervene have great merit.
Two Liberal MPs have been secretly working on a plan to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia as soon as August, with a draft copy of the laws well advanced and consultation with advocates under way.

Fairfax Media can reveal WA senator Dean Smith and NSW lower house MP Trent Zimmerman are working on a private members' bill they hope will be presented to Parliament to legalise same-sex marriage through a conscience vote, rather than the Turnbull government's stated policy of a national, non-binding plebiscite.

It's understood cabinet ministers Christopher Pyne and George Brandis - both of whom support same-sex marriage - are aware of the existence of the bill, which is designed to end the political impasse over the issue and get it off the political agenda before the next federal election.

Senator Smith and Mr Zimmerman have been consulting with the director of legal advocacy at Melbourne's Human Rights Law Centre, Anna Brown, who is also the co-chair of Australians for Equality, on the details of the legislation.
Now the internet is getting very hot and bothered about Steve Carell, aged 54.

As Max Berlinger wrote in a sharp critique of Obama's post-presidential style in GQ , "It wasn't even until Obama left the White House for good that we learned his dorky dad style was nothing more than an elaborate act to suppress his inner style god (though we had our suspicions )."

Steve Carell has the internet all in a bother with his sleek new look. Credit:Getty

If there's one thing the internet really can't quite handle it's a middle-aged man experiencing something of a style renaissance.

It's all in the detail ... Steve Carell nails middle-aged man style. Credit:Getty

Yes, Steve Carell from The Office. Steve Carell who plays nice, bumbling dad characters. And yes, Steve Carell who was in that Ryan Gosling movie where he had a makeover (a movie trope usually left to women removing their glasses and suddenly becoming a babe) and turned from frumpy dadbod to suave man about town in custom Zegna suits. So, really, we always knew he had it in him.

Anyway, Carell is on the press circuit to promote his new movie, Despicable Me 3 (yes a kid's movie, yes these feelings about Steve Carell's hotness feel a bit weird in this context). And new shots of him man-about-towning in London have posed this question: When did Steve Carell turn into such a silver fox?

In said photos he wore a navy jumper layered over a chambray shirt that fit just so with perfectly pressed chinos and brown leather sneakers. His tortoiseshell sunglasses, an item scientifically proven to make people significantly better looking, were not the kind of transition lenses often found on gentleman of his vintage. They were cool.

His silver hair was tousled just so.
What exactly is Ivanka Trump's role working for her father's administration in the White House? Apparently it has nothing to do with politics.

The daughter of US President Donald Trump, who was made a federal employee in March following months of speculation about whether she would be stepping up to take on the traditional roles of a "First Lady", has said she tries to "stay out of politics".

Speaking on conservative morning television show Fox & Friends, the fashion mogul turned White House occupant revealed she is more than happy to take a step back from the political world, saying she feels "blessed" to be part of her father's rise to power, but is no "political savant".

"His political instincts are phenomenal. He did something that no one could have imagined he'd be able to accomplish," she said. "I feel blessed just being part of the ride from day one and before... But I don't profess to be a political savant."
It is up to the states to make changes on the legislative front, but the federal government should be congratulated for setting the agenda nationally, Dr Gannon said.

He renewed calls for WA-style exemptions, and said he was optimistic that the states would be on board in terms of making legislative changes to reflect the needs of doctors seeking help for mental distress.



"I think the changes will happen in NSW and I'm very hopeful it will be in the other states. It's not a difficult change [re making changes to mandatory reporting].



"My only fear is that the government will think that's doctors' health ticked. It's far more complicated than this."



The AMA NSW's Brad Frankum and NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, who have also campaigned strongly for change in the mandatory reporting laws, reaffirmed their support for changes in the law in the interest of doctors' health in the state.



"Young doctors in the recent ministerial forum [in June, organised by NSW Health] say that they reported that they had various pressures on them ... they also reported that they had a reluctance to seek out medical help themselves because they felt at risk of being reported," Mr Hazzard said.

Mr Hazzard said there was confusion over the mandatory requirement laws, which served a useful purpose in some cases.

"But my view at the moment is more inclined for the need for it to be changed on the basis that if the perception has become a reality for those young doctors, that becomes their reality, and they're not prepared to seek out help, then that is extremely damaging."

Medico legal insurer Avant said it strongly supported the adoption of the WA-treating-practitioner exemption from mandatory reporting, saying there should be "no barriers to doctors seeking treatment".
An alleged organised crime figure who went on the run after being charged over a major drug supply ring has been caught hiding in a coastal town in the NSW Hunter region.

Darren Rispen, 42, became one of NSW's most wanted men after he disappeared in 2014 while on bail for dozens of serious offences.

Rispen, then 40, had been caught up in a Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad (MEOCS) investigation targeting a Sydney-based drug ring with international links.

Police have been searching for the fugitive for 2 years after he failed to show up to court.
The search for the owner of an empty canoe found carrying fresh bait and fishing rods in Moreton Bay will continue on Tuesday.

Police launched a massive search after the canoe was found floating in waters near South West Rocks on Peel Island on Monday morning.

Police are urging anyone who recognises the canoe to come forward. Credit:QUEENSLAND POLICE MEDIA

Up to a dozen boats and three helicopters scoured the area.

Acting Inspector Steve Watterson said police were still unsure if anyone had fallen out of the canoe or if it had floated away from a camp site.
Many small business owners are already aware of the potential costs associated with workplace health and safety, but most don't consider the risks to themselves and their employees outside of typical workplace accidents.

Our idea of occupational health and safety generally stops at the obvious physical risks we see experience at our workplace  such as fire hazards or poor air quality  but with a year-on-year increase in the number of workplace claims related to mental health, there is a timely reminder of this growing, yet discrete workplace risk.

Mental health awareness training can be useful for small business owners and staff.

The dialogue around mental health in the workplace is certainly changing, though at least 35 per cent of employees still state they would not want their manager to know if they were suffering from a mental illness.

This could be for many reasons, such as feeling it would jeopardise their job security and their chances for promotion within the company, or feeling as though they wouldn't receive support from their co-workers.
Western technology companies, including Cisco, IBM and SAP, are acceding to demands by Moscow for access to closely guarded product security secrets, at a time when Russia has been accused of a growing number of cyber attacks on the West, a Reuters investigation has found.

Russian authorities are asking Western tech companies to allow them to review source code for security products such as firewalls, anti-virus applications and software containing encryption before permitting the products to be imported and sold in the country. The requests, which have increased since 2014, are ostensibly done to ensure foreign spy agencies have not hidden any "backdoors" that would allow them to burrow into Russian systems.

But those inspections also provide the Russians an opportunity to find vulnerabilities in the products' source code  instructions that control the basic operations of computer equipment  current and former US officials and security experts said.

While a number of US firms say they are playing ball to preserve their entree to Russia's huge tech market, at least one US firm, Symantec, told Reuters it has stopped cooperating with the source code reviews over security concerns. That halt has not been previously reported.
Google's finally giving up its long-standing habit of riffling through your inbox to see what you're interested in, perhaps paving the way for enhanced security.

If a service is free, you're the product. Never was that pearl of wisdom more true than when talking about Google's suite of free tools like Gmail and Google Drive.

They're fantastic services, offering free features that were once out of reach for many people  when Gmail first launched with a whopping 1GB free inbox people assumed it was an April Fools joke  and in return all Google asks is that you trade a little privacy. Or a lot, depending on how you look at it.

Google is an advertising company and it's well known that it serves up targeted ads alongside your inbox by looking for keywords in your email. This only applies to free personal Gmail accounts, not business G Suite accounts.
It's the line with a train every 22 minutes in the peak, which is almost as bad as peak-hour service levels get on Melbourne's suburban rail network.

As an added inconvenience for passengers on the Altona Loop, Metro sometimes bypasses the line when its trains are running late, leaving them stranded without warning for the better part of an hour.

Jennifer Williams at Altona station, with its single-track railway. Credit:Joe Armao

"It's very unreliable, you can't tell whether you are going to get on a train or not," says Jennifer Williams, a spokeswoman for commuter body the Altona Loop Group.

The long wait between trains mostly comes down to the fact that the loop is a single track, which limits the frequency with which trains can run to a maximum of three an hour, and causes cancellations when even the most minor delay hits.
A man who was shot and killed at his Deer Park home may have been dead for a week before neighbours found his body.

The 49-year-old man was found dead in his home on Erin Square, from where he ran a sewing business, about 4.25pm on Monday.

But police are appealing for anyone who may have heard gunshots or seen anything suspicious in the area about 3am on Tuesday, June 20.

Detectives believe the man, of Asian background, sewed clothes at the address, but said it was too early to know whether his death was related to any of his business dealings.
OMAHA  A Plattsmouth man learned Monday afternoon that he would pay restitution of more than $800,000 and spend five years on supervised release for committing bank fraud.

Mark A. Tincher, 59, appeared in the United States District Courthouse in Omaha for a federal sentencing hearing. Tincher had pled guilty to one count of bank fraud as part of a plea agreement in March. U.S. District of Nebraska Chief Judge Laurie Smith Camp presided over both the plea hearing in March and Mondays sentencing hearing.

Authorities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a lengthy investigation into Tinchers business dealings. Their work revealed that Tincher had maintained separate checking accounts at Plattsmouth State Bank, Murray State Bank, Glenwood State Bank and Nebraska City-based Arbor Bank. He had maintained those accounts from April 1, 2010, to June 2, 2010.

Authorities said Tincher conducted a scheme known as check kiting at the banks during that time. Tincher manipulated checks between the four institutions to create artificially-inflated bank balances. He then used those inflated bank balances to conduct business in Plattsmouth and other cities.

Officials with the U.S. Attorneys Office of the District of Nebraska said Tincher used the check kiting scheme to defraud Plattsmouth State Bank out of approximately $700,000. They said he also defrauded Glenwood State Bank out of approximately $90,000.

Tinchers lawyers and federal prosecutors negotiated a plea agreement that called for Tincher to avoid any prison or jail time. Smith Camp said Monday that she would accept the plea deal and not make prison time a component of her sentence. She said Tincher could have received 27-33 months in prison if a plea bargain had not been worked out.

Smith Camp began Mondays hearing by overruling several objections from the defense about the plea deal. The defense had objected to the amount of the money the prosecution said Tincher had taken from the banks. Tinchers lawyers had made their objections because the amount of a potential fine would vary based on the amount of fraudulently-taken money.

The topic of a monetary fine filled a large portion of the 30-minute hearing. Probation officials told the court Tincher could receive a fine ranging from $12,500 to $1,000,000 for the bank fraud crime.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan T. Lehr asked the court to administer a fine in the range of $50,000. She said Tincher would be able to pay that amount in addition to his restitution fees. Tincher currently has business interests in several states.

In looking at Mr. Tinchers assets, he has the assets to cover that type of fine, Lehr said.

Tincher spoke briefly before the court. He said he was remorseful about taking part in the check kiting scheme.

Your honor, I sincerely apologize for the offense I have committed, Tincher said.

Smith Camp said prosecutors often conduct complex investigations for crimes such as bank fraud. She said Tinchers case fit that description.

Crimes we describe as white-collar crimes are always challenging, Smith Camp said. They involve defendants who often have no prior criminal record and who could be described as pillars of their community.

Smith Camp ordered Tincher to a sentence of time served with five years on supervised release. Defendants who are on supervised release in the federal court system follow regulations similar to those of traditional probation. Conditions include obeying all laws, attending regular meetings with probation officials, maintaining continuous employment and avoiding contact with people who have committed felonies.

Smith Camp ruled Tincher may not leave the state of Nebraska without obtaining prior approval from probation officials. She said this would help Tincher remain accountable to federal officials.

Smith Camp ordered Tincher to pay restitution to the banks in the amount of $833,404.65. She also ordered him to pay a $50,000 fine in installments of at least $10,000 per year. Tincher will also be required to pay a $100 special assessment fee immediately.
VCE students will no longer receive their final score over SMS after a damning report found VCE authorities failed to perform basic risk assessments when they handed confidential student data to a digital marketing company.

Fairfax Media has obtained a Deloitte report ordered by Education Minister James Merlino after 2293 students received a text with their ATAR scores five days early.

The redacted report, marked "Private and Confidential", found that an outsourced programmer working in Sri Lanka for marketing company Salmat Digital was responsible for the bungle.

The programmer meant to send out an SMS confirming the students' registration, but instead sent out their results.
Madrid: A judge in the Spanish capital Madrid has ordered artist Salvador Dali's body be exhumed to get samples for a paternity suit, Spanish media report.

Spanish woman Pilar Abel says the painter is her father, after he had an affair with with her mother - a maid - in 1955.

Ms Abel first began to investigate her paternity a decade ago, after she said her mother and grandmother repeatedly told her the renowned artist was her father.

In 2007, she obtained hair and skin from a death mask of Dali and took a DNA test to see if they matched her. However, the results were inconclusive.
Washington: Donald Trump will tout surging US exports of oil and natural gas during a week of events aimed at highlighting the country's growing energy dominance.

The President also plans to emphasise that after decades of relying on foreign energy supplies, the US is on the brink of becoming a net exporter of oil, gas, coal and other energy resources.

As with previous White House policy-themed weeks, such as a recent one focusing on infrastructure, the framing is designed to draw attention to Mr Trump's domestic priorities and away from more politically treacherous matters such as multiple investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

With "Energy Week", Mr Trump is returning to familiar territory  and to the coal, oil, and gas industries on which he's already lavished attention. Mr Trump's first major policy speech on the campaign trail, delivered in the oil drilling hotbed of North Dakota in 2016, focused on his plans for unleashing domestic energy production. The issue has also been a major focus during Mr Trump's first five months in office, as he set in motion the reversal of an array of Obama-era policies that discourage both the production and consumption of fossil fuels.
Russian dolls: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Credit:AP Methods vary. Sweden has launched a nationwide school program to teach students to identify Russian propaganda. The Defence Ministry there has created new units to seek out and counter Russian attempts to undermine Swedish society. In Lithuania, 100 citizen cyber-sleuths dubbed "elves" link up digitally to identify and beat back the people on social media employed to spread Russian disinformation in daily skirmishes they call "Elves v Trolls". French President Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin in the Galerie des Batailles at Versailles, France, last month. Credit:AP In Brussels, the European Union's East Stratcom Task Force has 14 staffers and hundreds of volunteer academics, researchers and journalists who have researched and published 2000 examples of false or twisted stories in 18 languages in a weekly digest that began two years ago.

"What we try to do centrally in Brussels is put all of those pieces of the jigsaw together," Giles Portman, head of the task force, said at a conference last year. And beyond exposing Russian efforts, European countries are also moving to suppress them. France and Britain have successfully pressured Facebook to disable tens of thousands of automated fake accounts used to sway voters close to election time, and it has doubled to 6000 the number of monitors empowered to remove defamatory and hate-filled posts. The German cabinet recently endorsed legislation - now before Parliament - to impose fines of up to $US53 million ($70 million) on social-media companies that fail to remove posts deemed to be "hate speech". Some especially notorious recent examples concerning migrants have been traced to Russian origins. And sometimes the effort goes face-to-face. Here in Riga, Vladimir Dorofeev, a 42-year-old reporter for the Kremlin's Sputnik news site, widely regarded as a conduit for propaganda as well as news, found out personally how Latvian authorities deal with the challenge.

In Dorofeev's first week on the job, the Latvian Security Police questioned him about Sputnik's local staff size, its editor and its payment procedures. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?," he said they asked him. "Do you understand they can use you?" His answers went into the files, to become part of a standing counter-intelligence investigation, the kind Latvia has undertaken since it broke free of the Soviet Union in 1991, to ferret out clandestine Russia meddling. "Maybe this is new to the Western world, but not for us," said Normunds Mezviets, the security service chief here. "For 20 years, we've been calling attention to this. There is no reason to panic." Russia has not hidden its liking for information warfare. The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov, wrote in 2013 that "informational conflict" is a key part of war. Actual military strength is only the final tool of a much subtler war-fighting strategy, he said. This year, the Russian Defence Ministry announced the creation of a new cyber-warrior unit.

No longer able to compete in conventional military terms - the US defence budget is about eight times larger than Russia's - Moscow has emphasised this less expensive but difficult-to-thwart tactic. "Weaponising information" involves the dissemination of factual distortions and outright lies to achieve political ends. It builds on decades of experience wielding propaganda, going back to the Soviet era. In that sense, Europe has had more years of exposure than the US. "There has always been Russian propaganda, false information, attempts to smear people - that's nothing new," said Carl Bildt, a former prime minister of Sweden who was in Tallinn, Estonia, recently for a cyber security conference. What is undeniably new, though, is the digital sophistication that Moscow can now employ: hacking and releasing documents from the US Democratic National Committee during the US presidential election last year and the campaign of France's Macron this year, for example, or infiltrating the network of the German Parliament. Russian officials have denied hacking France and Germany and have tended to shrug off the wider allegations, with Russian President Vladimir Putin calling them "nonsense". Putin's apparent goal, intelligence officials and Russian experts say, is to weaken Western unity, restore Russia's influence in the world and, not least, shore up support at home. Especially since Putin's return to the presidency in 2012, the Kremlin has portrayed the West as Russia's principal antagonist - supporting popular revolutions in Libya, Ukraine and Syria; backing pro-democracy civil society groups, including independent media; and, more recently, deploying NATO troops in four countries that border Russia.

Russians began experimenting with information warfare 10 years ago in Estonia, followed by attempts at disruption in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Finland, Bosnia and Macedonia. But the full power of the disinformation arsenal became apparent only in 2014, following the street protests that overthrew the corrupt, Moscow-friendly government of Ukraine. As Russian troops, in uniforms without insignia, seized Crimea, Russian media portrayed the fighters loyal to the new government in Kiev as Western-backed fascists and Nazis intent on massacring the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine. That version of events didn't get much traction in the West, but it was effective in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where Russian-backed separatists were quick to launch an insurgency. Washington, the Russian press said, was preparing for World War III against Russia. The disinformation was effective at home in Russia, too. US and European intelligence agencies, research groups and journalists describe the Russian disinformation campaign in Europe as an online network of networks that together amplify particular, distorted, anti-Western themes and news items by using hidden ownership, trolls and automated bots. US intelligence agencies also say Russia covertly funds political parties, think tanks and social organisations in Europe, but they have offered little evidence for these allegations.

In Eastern Europe, hours of combative political talk shows on Russia's domestic channels, featuring Russian nationalists tearing down Western straw men to the roar of approving audiences, carry past borders by way of the Internet and airwaves and reach Russian-speaking populations. In many of Russia's immediate neighbours, there are no Russian-language alternatives to the channels and websites backed by Moscow. In Scandinavia, Russian efforts are more devoted to the harassment of mainstream journalists and online trolling on social media and news websites. In Western Europe, local-language versions of the Russian outfits RT and Sputnik use automated bots, Twitter and Facebook accounts to spread their spin to far-right and far-left news websites, from which it sometimes seeps into the mainstream media. "These are pretty well-designed messages for local audiences," said Jakub Janda, the deputy director of the Prague-based European Values think-tank. "They're targeting local decision-makers and the public, and they're trying to shift their opinions." Monitoring these so-called news websites has become a core mission for some security services. In Sweden, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, which usually prepares for chemical spills, bomb threats and natural disasters, is also monitoring websites for exaggerated news stories about refugees and crime, subjects "the Swedish population is afraid of right now," said Michael Tofvession, who heads the agency.

"Those are our vulnerabilities," he said. "Most of the malicious activities are aimed at eroding trust within our societies between different groups, political movements, the elites and the people," said Jonatan Vseviov, permanent secretary of Estonia's Ministry of Defence. Russia's efforts in Estonia have not had much success to date, largely because many in society are aware of such propaganda, the government is vigilant and the nation's ethnic Russians have little desire to join with the Kremlin because they live better in Estonia than they would across the border, analysts say. The counter-assault in Europe involves researchers in Britain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Ukraine and Latvia. In Slovakia, some 1400 advertisers have agreed to boycott a list of false, conspiratorial websites compiled by one non-profit research organisation. Political leaders also are appealing to the public and mainstream media to ignore predictable releases of embarrassing documents stolen by Russian hackers in an effort to tip elections in favour of pro-Russian candidates. In France, the media complied with a government ban on reporting documents stolen from Macron's campaign and published less than 48 hours before voting.

Consortiums such as StopFake.org about Ukraine and Correctiv.org in Germany have sped up fact checking with new digital tools and with crossborder journalistic partnerships. Traditional news organisations have increased fact checking, too, with project such as Le Monde's Decodex in France and BBC's RealityCheck. And they have developed tools readers can use to identify what they call "fake news" outlets. A good-spirited competition has broken out between government, researchers and investigative journalists to be the first to reveal the latest Russian attempt to pollute the legitimate news ecosystem, said Inga Springe, director of the Baltic centre for investigative journalism, Re:Baltica. In April, her website published an article under the headline "Three Baltic Russian-language news sites known collectively as Baltnews are secretly linked to the Kremlin's global propaganda network". Using a clue originally unearthed by the Estonian security service, Re:Baltica painstakingly traced the websites' ownership from Latvia to the Netherlands and then to Rossiya Segodnya, a news agency owned and operated by the Russian government. "It was our biggest scoop," said Springe, who was surprised "the Kremlin didn't try to hide the network behind more offshore companies".
London: All 75 high-rises in Britain that have been tested for fire safety since the Grenfell Tower tragedy have failed, a leading government official said, raising concerns that even more buildings may have to be evacuated while emergency repairs are undertaken.

Addressing the House of Commons on Monday, Sajid Javid, the minister for communities and local government, said all 75 towers in Britain whose cladding had so far been tested for combustibility had failed. He said hospitals and schools would also be tested to ensure they had not been built with cladding that could easily catch fire.

Hundreds of families were ordered to evacuate apartments in the five high-rise buildings of the Chalcots Estate in northwest London on Friday night in an urgent scramble after it emerged that, among other safety risks, the buildings had exterior cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower.

At least 79 people died in Grenfell Tower on June 14, in London's deadliest fire in more than a century.
New York: Matthew Howard was leaving a New York amusement park at the weekend when he heard someone screaming.

He looked up to see a girl dangling about eight metres off the ground from a slow-moving gondola ride. Her little brother sat next to her in the two-person pod, crying hysterically for help, saying he couldn't hold on.

Mr Howard and his 21-year-old daughter, Leeann Winchell, positioned themselves under the girl as the ride stopped and security came running. A crowd of onlookers gathered, many filming, others calling for help.

"I said, 'It's OK to let go  I'll catch you, honey. I'm not going to let you fall,"' said Mr Howard.
Shanghai: Nobel prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has been released from a Chinese prison on medical grounds, after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.

Mr Liu was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2010, but was unable to attend the ceremony to accept it as he had been imprisoned in China two years earlier for co-authoring the Charter 08 manifesto calling for democratic reform.

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel and Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu had supported Liu for his "unflinching and peaceful advocacy for reform" over 20 years.

According to the Nobel Prize website, the manifesto advocated the gradual shifting of China's political and legal system in the direction of democracy. He was arrested in December 2008, and sentenced a year later to 11 years' imprisonment for undermining the state authorities.
British prime minister Theresa May has revealed the price of power: an extra billion pounds to Northern Ireland over the next two years in exchange for the votes her government needs to survive.

The cash, equivalent to $1.7 billion, will help build a big motorway interchange and a new "ultra-fast" broadband network, as well as provide a cash injection for hospitals, schools and mental health services in the province.

In return the Democratic Unionist Party has promised to support key parliamentary votes, giving May's Conservatives a slim working majority in Westminster.

But the deal immediately met fierce criticism, with some calling it a "bung" or a "bribe" - and Wales' first minister calling it an unfair agreement that will weaken the United Kingdom.
STAMFORD, Conn., June 26, 2017 -- Automotive industry veterans Maryann Keller and Glenn Mercer have formed an alliance targeting automotive startups and the investors funding them. The collaboration is intended to help selected startups maximize their opportunities within the automotive industry by leveraging the knowledge of these two leaders. "Startups in automotive often begin with a solid theoretical grounding within their niche, but have little practical knowledge of how the industry actually functions on a day-to-day basis" explains Keller.

Whether it's autonomous cars, fintech disruptors, media properties, or even ride-sharing apps, startups are now rapidly contributing to innovation within the automotive industry. Although no one has the crystal ball to identify which of these will eventually succeed, many entrepreneurs and investors have already chased deals where, as Mercer points out, a failure to take into account auto industry practicalities has led to disappointment. "It's easy to see where entrepreneurs can misread the landscape. Take online used-car marketplaces. While these may attract funding as sexy asset-light app-based ventures, industry economics can become serious stumbling blocks. For example, the allure of avoiding a physical car lot may fade as the firm realizes it has replaced costly real estate with costlier logistics, as cars are repeatedly shuttled from sellers to buyers. In the case of the physical car store, the customer takes on the burden of getting to the sales point, and of taking their purchase home later."

Keller is known for her prescient calls about trends and turns in the automotive industry for over 40 years. As a former Wall Street securities analyst and later as well-known industry consultant, she early on called for Detroit to pay attention to the Japanese, spearheaded the early public-offerings of a number of dealer groups, and questioned the viability of many automotive "disruptors" during the early days of the Internet. She is an advisor and investor in the successful startup Appraisal Lane where she helped the company with its early success. As Jeff Risner, CEO of Appraisal explains, "Maryann was a valued resource throughout the process of forming and funding The Appraisal Lane. Our industry has attracted venture capital investors but without the knowledge of how specific segments of the industry work, the success rate for many of these businesses and investments is likely to be low." Maryann currently serves on the boards of DriveTime and AutoCanada, and she's also been involved as an advisor or investor in dozens of other automotive companies.

Mercer is known for his two decades as a Partner with McKinsey & Co.'s automotive practice (where he interacted with hundreds of projects annually), and a decade of independent work as an advisor to venture capital, private equity, and public equity investors. He continually refreshes his industry knowledge via research projects. For example, working on behalf of NADA, the National Automobile Dealers Association, he recently completed an in-depth study on the future of automotive retail. Mercer also has served on a variety of automotive-related boards, and has been involved with automotive research groups from IMVP to Gerpisa and more.

Keller and Mercer have significant experience in the investment advisory space, with notable firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byer on the venture capital front, Greenbriar Equity Group in the private equity realm, and leveraged buyout specialists KKR as past clients. Martin Bruncko, Co-Founder and General Partner of Steam Capital, a London-based venture capital fund focused on early stage "deep tech" (automotive and otherwise) European companies, states "With the acceleration of autonomous vehicle R&D, the proliferation of mobility service experiments, and intensified activity in automotive business-model innovation (e.g. new approaches to the online marketing of cars), there is a great deal of funding chasing a huge number of startups, few of which have some if any automotive-world real-world experience. This kind of advisory service could go a long way toward helping such startups and their investors dodge any number of obstacles to and opportunities for commercialization, which are well-known to Keller and Mercer, if less known to the venture capital community."

Operations of the startup alliance practice will be led by Ken Elias, a Partner with MK&A, and a former vice president of Priceline.com, investment banker, and automotive dealer. The practice will advise startups of any size within the automotive space where the alliance can provide added value, with a particular emphasis on the "nuts and bolts" of industry operations, rather than on "deep tech" expertise (e.g. in artificial intelligence) that these startups typically bring to the table. As Elias explains, "there is a lot of money chasing innovative tech start-ups in the automotive industry. While many have good ideas, oftentimes the entrepreneurs and investors actually have little or no automotive experience. We can help them better understand the industry, outline where opportunities could be found, assist in the strategy development, and, sometimes, prevent investors from chasing projects that have fundamentally flawed theses."

For more information, visit www.maryannkeller.com

RELATED LINKShttp://www.maryannkeller.com
A Hooper man was sentenced to a lengthy prison term Monday morning in Dodge County District Court by Judge Geoffrey Hall for sexually assaulting a 5-year-old child.

Vincent Litle, 31, was sentenced by Hall to spend the next 50-65 years in the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

Following his arrest in early June 2016, Litle was charged with four counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child, a Class IB felony; visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct; a Class ID felony; child abuse, a Class IIIA felony; and one additional IIA felony.

Dodge County Attorney Oliver Glass said during a Monday interview with the Tribune that the state dropped all charges except the first-degree sexual assault of a child because that offense carries the weight of a 20-years to life in prison because sexual penetration occurred.

Because Litle was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in the first degree, the Good Time Law of Nebraska wont apply until 15 years have already been served. After the 15 years have been served, with all good time, Litle will be required to spend a bare minimum of 25 additional years in prison, meaning he would be eligible for release when he is 71 years old.

To me this is a fair sentence, because maybe a person at 71-years-of-age wont be as apt to commit this type of horrible crime, Glass said.

Following his arrest, Glass said that Litle was interviewed by Hooper Chief of Police Matt Schott. After having his Miranda Rights read, Glass said Litle went into great detail about the crimes he committed. During a pre-sentence investigation with probation, however, Glass said Litle tried saying that he didnt remember exactly what happened during the time of the sexual assaults, which spanned from May 1 through June 10 of 2016.

And now hes trying to say he doesnt remember any of it, and I told the court that I dont buy that, I think he does remember it and hes just trying to not take any sort of responsibility for his actions, Glass said. And when Judge Hall pronounced sentencing, he agreed with me.

For Glass, handling any sort of case with atrocities committed against a child is difficult.

The harm that is caused to children is so great in these cases that you just hope that maybe this little (child) will go through therapy and can grow up and this guy wont be around and that maybe (the child) can forget that it ever happened and hopefully lead a normal life, Glass said. But I dont honestly know if that can happen, and thats the thing that is hardest to deal with in these cases. Just knowing that these little children might have to live with this the rest of their lives.
if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...
Midland University is planning to launch the Midland University Code Academy this fall, a first-in-the-region program designed to prepare students for in-demand tech jobs. Led by faculty and mentors who are web development professionals, classes will be held at the universitys Omaha campus, released information from Midlands Communication Department says.

There is a huge demand in Omaha for people with coding skills, but those jobs are being left unfilled, said Micah Yost, lead faculty for Midland University Code Academy through a released statement. The Code Academy is designed specifically for people with no previous background in web development. Our goal is to provide the needed tools for a student to be career-ready as a front-end developer.

No other college in the region offers this type of code education. Midland University Code Academy is designed by industry professionals with an eye on meeting the demands of Omaha-area companies.

Those attending the Code Academy will develop skills that will allow them to build custom websites, code web applications, create custom emails, build web-based games, code mobile web applications and customize online user experiences. Classes are held three nights per week at the Omaha campus, located in the Old Mill business district.

Midland University Code Academy begins with 14-weeks of learning the essentials of code and web development. Students build upon those skills through a 12-week focus area, such as JavaScript, or WordPress. Wrapping up the Code Academy is a nine-week capstone experience working with local partner companies on actual projects. Throughout the Code Academy, students will receive one-on-one mentoring sessions with those working in the profession, released information says.

Students who sign up for the entire program will receive financial incentives and be automatically enrolled in Midland University Code Academys career placement network.

By the end of the Code Academy, students will be armed with the technical skills needed to succeed in this field, and they will have an impressive portfolio to match. Our community will benefit from graduates trained and ready to invest in the Omaha job market. Yost said.

The first session of classes begins Sept. 5. To learn more about Midland University Code Academy, people are encouraged to visit code.midlandu.edu.

Yost, lead faculty for the Code Academy, is founder and president of Method Mark, an Omaha firm that provides marketing and strategy expertise to area companies. He is an investor and advisor to a number of local small businesses and startups.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A lifetime of pain, demonstrated through the words of a woman victimized in her childhood, had consequences for a Steinbach man last Thursday, as he was handed a 30-month jail sentence for possessing and distributing child pornography.

Court heard that over 20,000 child porn images were found on Jason Day-Boisverts computer in 2015. Many were duplicates but over 4,000 were unique, explained crown attorney Bruce Sychuk. Nearly 200 videos, including some duplications but mostly unique files, were also found.

Sychuk highlighted that some of material was part of a collection featuring one particular child victim, common among child pornography rings. Sychuk introduced as evidence a victim impact statement from the child, who is now an adult, who was made to participate in child pornography by an abusive father.

I still have nightmares that images of me are spread around the Internet, the woman said in the statement, describing how her childhood memories continue to leave her with sleepless nights.

I still havent learned the trick to let my mind rest.

Day-Boisvert had no previous criminal record.

I am so ashamed of what Ive done, Day-Boisvert told the court. I never want to do anything like this again.

While the 40-year-old was credited for the remorse shown and his decision to plead guilty, Judge Ken Champagne also stressed the impact of what is sometimes viewed as a victimless crime.

Too many children are being harmed, Champagne said, Their lives are being destroyed by child porn.

Champagne noted how the issue of child pornography distribution, aided by new technology, is been addressed with increasing penalties. He accepted the joint recommendation from the Crown and defence for the two and a half year prison term.

Once released, Day-Boisvert will be placed on the national sexual offender registry. He will face other conditions including being barred from doing a job or volunteer work with anyone under the age of 16 and be prohibited from contact with anyone under the age of 16 without the supervision of an adult. He will also face technology restrictions including a requirement to make his computer available for searches by police up to twice per month.
Queen Elisabeth wears pearls  and an upside-down tiara! (Grand Ladies Site)

Queens Pearls Are Ill

(originally appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3 Dec 1911)

Queen Elizabeth [1] is thinking of giving her long rope of splendid pearls a sea bath. They have been ill since she was stricken with fever and have lost much of their luster. Hers is one of the finest collections in Europe, and of all her beautiful jewels the Queen cherishes the pearls the most.

Queen Elisabeth wears her pearls (Grand Ladies Site)

Pearls have long been known to require intimate association with human beings, for even when pierced to the heart and strung into a rope they demand light and air and contact with the warm, velvety skin of women. Queen Elizabeth called in the best experts of Brussels and Amsterdam to examine her pearls, and they decided that radical treatment is necessary to restore their beauty. It is probable that the pearls will be hidden in the sea, as were the pearls of Queen Alexandra of Great Britain [2]. After three months submersion they recovered all their former life.

Lithograph by Adolf Dauthage of Empress Elisabeth of Austria wearing pearls, ca. 1856 (Wikimedia Commons)

These tears of the sea, like opals and turquoises, seem to be actually sympathetic, quickly responding to the mood of their wearers. The late Empress of Austria [3] had exactly the same experience with her pearls as Queen Elizabeth, for she, too, was ill with typhoid fever. Experts sank them in the Adriatic and a squad of men from a naval vessel still was on guard over them when the Empress was assassinated while on a visit to Geneva in 1898. It is said by Brussels jewelers that the sea treatment has been continued almost without interruption since, and they are showing but little improvement.

Elise Thierss pearl necklace, ca. 1924 (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

The splendid string of 150 perfectly matched pearls worn by Mme. Thiers, wife of a former President of France and bequeathed by her to the French nation, are still one of the prizes of the Louvre [4]. Yet their value has depreciated fully one-half, for, being shut up in a locked case and denied that intangible something that comes from being worn by women, they have lost much of their beauty and are becoming dull and lifeless.

When presented to the nation they were valued at $250,000, almost $2000 each. They were the envy of all Europe, and for years have been visited by collectors and lovers of pearls from all over the world. But today, experts say, they are scarcely worth half their former valuation, and will continue to depreciate, for there are reasons why they cannot be given a sea bath.

Queen Elisabeth wears her pearls with her Cartier tiara, ca. 1920 (Wikimedia Commons)

NOTES

1. Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1876-1965), born Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, was the wife of King Albert I of Belgium. Through her father, she was a niece of Empress Elisabeth of Austria; through her mother, she was a granddaughter of the exiled King Miguel of Portugal. She was Belgiums queen consort from 1909 to 1934, when her husband unexpectedly died in a mountaineering accident. News reports noted that she was ill with typhoid fever in late 1910. She recovered, and she lived another half century, long enough to see both her son (King Leopold III) and her grandson (King Baudouin) on the Belgian throne.

2. Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (1844-1925), previously Princess Alexandra of Denmark, was the wife of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. She had several magnificent sets of genuine pearls, but she was also known for wearing faux pearls.

3. Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary (1837-1898), born Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, was the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary. Better known as Sisi (especially after a series of popular German films about her were made in the 20th century), she was a beautiful woman whose privileged life was marred with tragedy, including the death of her son, Crown Prince Rudolf, in the Mayerling Incident of 1889. She was assassinated while walking along a promenade in Geneva in 1898.

4. We covered the death of the pearls of Elise Thiers in a previous post, which you can read over here. The Louvre sold the pearls, along with the rest of the Thiers collection, in 1924. The necklace was purchased by Cartier and later either sold or dismantled.
Brazos County residents who still owe on their 2016 taxes face a Friday deadline and have six ways to make a payment.

The Brazos County Tax Office allows payments by mail, online, in person, to be made at a drive-though window and dropped off in a box outside or inside the building.

Officials said the payments must be made by Friday to avoid penalities.

Records show roughly 6,000 taxpayers still have a balance to pay on last year's taxes, including some who already are subject to the penalty and interest for late payment but after Friday also will have to pay an attorney fee.

Payments sent through the mail aren't postmarked until reaching the processing center in Houston, so officials recommend not waiting until Friday to mail it because it could result in penalities.

Payments can be paid online with a credit or debit card at brazostax.org, or payments can be drafted directly from a bank account by paying with an e-check, according to officials who said there's a fee for those services but users will be provided the amount before wrapping up the transaction so they can decide whether they'd prefer to pay in a different manner.

The tax office is off Pendleton Drive between Copperfield and Boonville roads at 4151 County Park Court in Bryan. Questions can be asked at 979-775-9930. To avoid a line, a drop box for payments is available in the tax office lobby, and there is a secure box in the drive-through area for after-hours payments. Payments made after 5 p.m. will be credited the next day.

Brazos County Tax Assessor-Collector Kristeen Roe said the phone call volume is expected to be high and encouraged residents to use the website for balance and account information.
My country, Kenya, is in an election year and tensions are rising. During the vote in 2007, tribal rivalries spilled over into violence: around 1,200 people died and thousands were displaced or orphaned during the fighting. As we get closer to the August polling day, many people fear something similar will happen again.

This fear is rooted in a political system that often works to aggravate these tribal divides, rather than heal them. There are 42 tribes in Kenya, but since Independence the country's President has emerged only from the two largest: the Kalenjin (my own tribe) and the Kikuyu. They uphold their position in part through policies that favour their own tribes people, and they incite fear that any candidate from a minority tribe might do the same.

Most people therefore cast their vote along tribal lines, rather than based on the integrity of the candidate. At a government level this creates a status quo of sorts, but at a community level it can create powerlessness, fuel division, erode faith in the political process, and make peace fragile.

I believe the exploitation of tribalism for political gain overshadows the presence of a more positive reality: that each tribe in Kenya possesses strengths and skills unique to them, and which collectively help create the health and wellbeing of our nation. For example, the Kikuyu are known for their entrepreneurial spirit, the Kalenjin for their cash crops, the Luos for their fishing and mechanics, the Maasai for their cattle, goats and herbal medicine, the Gusii for their farming of bananas, avocados and sugarcane, and the Luhya for their poultry and hospitality. Urbanisation and trade is bringing these different tribes together, and in the process, our interdependence becomes more apparent and more important. But this truth gets drowned out in Kenya, let alone internationally.

Beyond tribes, I see interdependence all around me in the natural world, and between humans and the natural world, as we work towards improving conservation efforts in the Maasai and elsewhere.

For Kenya to thrive, we need to encourage the message of interdependence and peace between our tribes. We must address the entrenched tribal division and stifled community voice that corrupt political tactics have brought about. I believe that the development sector can play a key role in making this change happen, and I think that my involvement with a local health and wellbeing network gives some clues as to how we might do this.

In this network, people come together voluntarily from across their community to form what we call a cluster', because they want to see sustainable, community-led change. A cluster begins by celebrating the different strengths and resources that we have. We then identify a vision for our community, and we use our own strengths and resources to sustainably pursue this vision. We access training and support from outside of our community if we need to, but it is from within the community that we identify solutions, and work to unlock them.
Veterans Day deals and activities this Friday

Area veterans can be treated to a variety of deals, discounts and ceremonies this Veterans Day.
Dear Annie: My husband loves to read your advice, but when it comes to my giving him advice, its a different story. We were married in our early 20s and have somehow stayed married for more than 35 years. We dont have very good communication skills.

We have a very cute house on a popular street. A lot of people comment on how nicely its decorated from the outside. Little do they know that my husband is a hoarder.

I have controlled the main rooms in our house, but he has slowly taken over our basement and garage. The stress of all this stuff is starting to make me feel ill. When I bring it up, he just puts me down any way he can think of to stop the conversation about his hoarding. I definitely have accumulated stuff  weve lived in our house for over 30 years  but I dont have a problem getting rid of things.

He is a motivated person with other things but has self-medicated every day of our marriage. He has a normal job but is always so stressed out. He has zero motivation to get rid of all the junk because now its out of control, and he continues to add to the piles. He spends countless hours in the basement, but nothing ever looks any different.

He has a very controlling personality and temper, so if you get rid of anything (for example, a huge garbage bag full of napkins or empty boxes he collects so he can fill them up with stuff), he starts slamming doors, yelling and throwing things. He shows more emotion about getting rid of that junk than he does about most anything else.

This is causing me to be depressed, angry and desperate. He would never get help for this, so what do I do?

 Bogged Down

Dear Bogged Down: Living with clutter can be very unhealthy, both mentally and physically. But understanding the psychology of hoarders might help you find some renewed patience with your husband and sanity for yourself. Hoarding is a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder, a condition your husband could no more control than any physical disorder. Accept that its not only beyond your control but also beyond his and youll feel surprisingly lighter.

Next, reach out to a mental health professional. If your husband refuses to go at first, then go on your own, as this disorder is impacting your life, too (and poses a safety risk). For more resources, visit the International OCD Foundations page on hoarding disorder at https://hoarding.iocdf.org.

Finally, you mentioned that your husband self-medicates every day. Assuming that means drinking, I strongly advise you to attend Al-Anon. Find a group in your area at http://www.al-anon.org.

Annie Lane, a graduate of New York Law School and New York University, writes this column for Creators Syndicate. Email questions to dearannie@creators.com.
Anyone with human feelings is outraged by North Koreas murder of Otto Warmbier.

The term murder is justified, although we dont know exactly how this bright, adventurous student was brutalized after his arrest on a tourist visit to North Korea. No other word describes the crime of sentencing Otto to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster, then holding him for more than a year while he lay in a coma  and cutting off any diplomatic access to him.

Yet note that, unlike Sen. John McCain, President Trump did not use the word murder in denouncing Warmbiers death.

Thats because the Trump team, like three previous administrations, is struggling to find a strategy to prevent Pyongyang from fully developing nuclear weapons. Trump advisers must have warned him to avoid threats that might provoke North Korea.

So will there ever be justice for Otto? And will there ever be punishment for North Koreas human-rights crimes against its own people, which may rival those of the Nazis or Khmer Rouge in their horror and scope?

In the dichotomy between the nuclear issue and the extraordinary human and personalized dimension of what North Korea has wrought, the human rights piece gets overlooked, says Scott A. Snyder, director of the program on U.S.-Korea relations at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Few Americans are aware of the massive system of concentration camps run by the North Koreans for anyone deemed the least critical of the regime  and for the families of such traitors. A U.N. commission report, in 2014, complete with satellite photos of the camps, estimated that hundreds of thousands of political prisoners have perished in these camps over the past five decades.

The inmate population has been gradually eliminated through deliberate starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape, and the denial of reproductive rights enforced through punishment, forced abortion, and infanticide, the commission found.

The unspeakable atrocities that are being committed against inmates of the political prison camps resemble the horrors of camps that totalitarian states established during the 20th century.

Given such chilling fanaticism, the vicious treatment of Otto Warmbier does not seem so surprising. But the University of Virginia student was also a huge victim of geopolitical circumstances, says Snyder. His arrest in January 2016 came just at the time of North Koreas fourth nuclear test and his trial not long before their fifth. That meant the Obama administration, and the international community were consumed with how to impose sanctions on North Korea and make North Korea hurt.

Perhaps the Obama White House should have tried harder to win Warmbiers release  as Trump implied in a tweet. But at a time when Washington was taking a tough line on sanctions, Pyongyang was unlikely to have responded to a request on a hostage without receiving concessions. And concessions were not in the cards.

Which brings us again to the dilemma that U.S. administrations, including Trumps, have struggled with unsuccessfully since the 1990s: How to get the North Korean regime to stop threatening its own people, the region, American citizens and the world?

When Trump took office, many of his supporters  and many of my readers  assumed he would just bomb North Korea into submission. The problem with that approach, even before Kim Jong-un tested nukes and a whole range of missiles, was that his heavy artillery could respond to a conventional strike by destroying Seoul, the South Korean capital. His artillery could also kill many of the 30,000 U.S. soldiers based in South Korea.

Today, Kims missiles can reach Tokyo and he has an arsenal of chemical weapons. Nor would bombing be likely to end the North Korean regime, or destroy Kims hidden nuclear stockpile. It would just make him move more quickly to put warheads on ICBMs that could reach the United States.

In other words, a military option offers huge risks and insufficient rewards, as Trump already appears to realize. So he placed his hopes heavily on China, whose economic support is essential to Pyongyangs survival. He hoped that Beijing would pressure Kim into better behavior.

Trumps latest tweets indicate that that hope has faded, as most China experts had predicted. China fears instability in Pyongyang, and regime collapse, more than it fears Kims nuclear program.

So Snyder believes its time for Trump to downgrade his full faith in Beijing, and increase coordination with allies South Korea and Japan. He also thinks Trump should consider secondary sanctions on Chinese firms and banks that do business with Pyongyang.

But if Warmbiers death affected Trump as deeply as he claims, Snyder also hopes it will impel the White House to factor the human-rights issue into a new approach.

Because North Korea is so isolated, and international access to the country so limited, the regime is able to commit its human-rights outrages out of sight. That isolation can be breached, and transparency imposed, says Snyder, if the international community publicizes the powerful indictment of abuses contained in the U.N. report.

North Korea treasures international prestige, Snyder notes, and shining a bright light on their humanitarian crimes may force Kim to reconsider some practices. It might also lead to better treatment or release of three captive Americans.

This one (Warmbier) case helps the human-rights dimension break through, Snyder says, adding, That wont bring satisfaction and accountability.

But if the United States finally leads the way in shining a light on North Koreas obscene crimes against humanity this might at least give some meaning to Otto Warmbiers death.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. shoots down a Syrian fighter-bomber. Iran launches missiles into eastern Syria. Russia threatens to attack coalition aircraft west of the Euphrates. What is going on?

It might appear a mindless mess, but the outlines are clear. The great Muslim civil war, centered in Syria, is approaching its post-Islamic State phase. Its the end of the beginning. The parties are maneuvering to shape what comes next.

Its Europe, 1945, when the war was still raging against Nazi Germany, but everyone already knew the outcome. The maneuvering was largely between the approaching victors  the Soviet Union and the Western democracies  to determine postwar boundaries and spheres of influence.

So it is today in Syria. Everyone knows that the Islamic State is finished. Not that it will disappear as an ideology, insurgency and source of continuing terrorism both in the region and the West. But it will disappear as an independent, organized, territorial entity in the heart of the Middle East.

It is being squeezed out of existence. Its hold on Mosul, its last major redoubt in Iraq, is nearly gone. Raqqa, its stronghold in Syria and de facto capital, is next. When it falls  it is already surrounded on three sides  the caliphate dies.

Much of the fighting today is about who inherits. Take the Syrian jet the U.S. shot down. It had been attacking a pro-Western Kurdish and Arab force (the Syrian Democratic Forces) not far from Islamic State territory.

Why? Because the Bashar Assad regime, backed by Iran, Hezbollah and Russia, having gained the upper hand on the non-jihadist rebels in the Syrian heartland (most notably in Aleppo), feels secure enough to set its sights on eastern Syria. If it hopes to restore its authority over the whole country, it will need to control Raqqa and surrounding Islamic State areas. But the forces near Raqqa are pro-Western and anti-regime. Hence the Syrian fighter-bomber attack.

Hence the U.S. shoot-down. We are protecting our friends. Hence the Russian threats to now target U.S. planes. The Russians are protecting their friends.

On the same day as the shoot-down, Iran launched six surface-to-surface missiles into Syrian territory controlled by the Islamic State. Why? Ostensibly to punish the jihadists for terrorist attacks two weeks ago inside Iran.

Perhaps. But one obvious objective was to demonstrate to Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni Arabs the considerable reach of both Irans arms and territorial ambitions.

For Iran, Syria is the key, the central theater of a Shiite-Sunni war for regional hegemony. Iran (which is non-Arab) leads the Shiite side, attended by its Arab auxiliaries  Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Shiite militias in Iraq and the highly penetrated government of Iraq, and Assads Alawite regime. (Alawites being a non-Sunni sect, often associated with Shiism.)

Taken together, they comprise a vast arc  the Shiite Crescent  stretching from Iran through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean. If consolidated, it gives the Persians a Mediterranean reach they have not had in 2,300 years.

This alliance operates under the patronage and protection of Russia, which supplies the Iranian-allied side with cash, weapons and, since 2015, air cover from its new bases in Syria.

Arrayed on the other side of the great Muslim civil war are the Sunnis, moderate and Western-allied, led by Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, Egypt and Jordan  with their Great Power patron, the United States, now (post-Obama) back in action.

At stake is consolidation of the Shiite Crescent. Its already underway. As the Islamic State is driven out of Mosul, Iranian-controlled militias are taking over crucial roads and other strategic assets in western Iraq. Next target: eastern Syria (Raqqa and environs).

Imagine the scenario: a unified Syria under Assad, the ever more pliant client of Iran and Russia; Hezbollah, tip of the Iranian spear, dominant in Lebanon; Iran, the regional arbiter; and Russia, with its Syrian bases, the outside hegemon.

Our preferred outcome is radically different: a loosely federated Syria, partitioned and cantonized, in which Assad might be left in charge of an Alawite rump.

The Iranian-Russian strategy is a nightmare for the entire Sunni Middle East. And for us too. The Pentagon seems bent on preventing it. Hence the Tomahawk attack for crossing the chemical red line. Hence the recent fighter-bomber shoot-down.

A reasonable U.S. strategy, given the alternatives. But not without risk. Which is why we need a national debate before we commit too deeply. Perhaps we might squeeze one in amid the national obsession with every James Comey memo-to-self?
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Linkedin Alfred Bayle (Inquirer.net/Asia News Network)  Sun, June 25, 2017 14:08 1965 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6bef39 2 Science & Tech fidget-spinners,Google Free

Google has been known to insert quirky little games into its search engine depending on the occasion and current fads. With the most recent in thing being fidget spinners, its not surprising that soon enough, Reddit user redditboston posted about finding a virtual fidget spinner inside Google Search.

By Googling in the word spinner, users will see a window at the top of search results which shows a spinning virtual spinner.

Clicking on SPIN spins the virtual spinner which will eventually slow down to a stop. Users can click on SPIN as much as they like to increase the spinning speed. (Google/File)

Read also: Popular fidget spinners do not aid focus, medical experts claim

Clicking on SPIN spins the virtual spinner which will eventually slow down to a stop. Users can click on SPIN as much as they like to increase the spinning speed.

Apart from the usual three-holed bearing fidget spinner, users can also switch to a number wheel. This wheel can be configured to have from two numbers up to twenty, by clicking on the upper right corner. Apart from the usual three-holed bearing fidget spinner, users can also switch to a number wheel. (Google/File) If guessing what number comes out is not your idea of passing the time, you could use it to draw lots between 20 people or less.

Topics :

This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Los Angeles, United States  Mon, June 26, 2017 14:09 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6cc8ca 2 Science & Tech SpaceX,NASA,SpaceX-Falcon-9-rocket Free

The American company SpaceX on Sunday successfully placed 10 satellites for the communications company Iridium into orbit using a Falcon 9 rocket.

After launching as scheduled from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 1:25 pm local time (2025 GMT), the Falcon 9's first stage returned less than eight minutes after taking off.

As planned, it landed on a barge floating in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX has successfully landed multiple rockets on both land and water, as part of its effort to bring down the cost of space flight by re-using multimillion dollar components instead of jettisoning them in the ocean after launch.

This NASA TV video grab obtained June 5, 2017 shows the SpaceX Dragon seen seconds away from its capture with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. SpaceX's first-ever recycled spaceship arrived June 5, 2017 at the International Space Station, two days after the unmanned Dragon cargo capsule launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Live images on NASA television showed the spaceship approaching the orbiting outpost, then being grabbed with the station's robotic arm at 9:52 am (1352 GMT)."Capture complete," said NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who operated the robotic arm from inside the station.(Handout / NASA TV / AFP /File)

Read also: Indonesian students' tempeh experiment arrives in space

It was the second series of Iridium satellites launched by SpaceX, after a set of 10 were delivered in January.

In total SpaceX, which is headed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, will launch a series of 75 satellites for Iridium's satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT by 2018.

The $3 billion project is a bid to upgrade the Virginia-based Iridium's global communications network.
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Linkedin Djemi Amnifu (The Jakarta Post) Maumere, East Nusa Tenggara  Mon, June 26, 2017 20:47 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6e0e38 1 National chicken-farmers,NTT,farmer Free

As many as 486 farmers from four villages in Sikka regency, East Nusa Tenggara, are being introduced to chicken farming through a program dubbed Improving Ecosystem, Management and Livelihood around Mount Egon.

The program was jointly tailored by Wahana Tani Mandiri (WTM) and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) with the aim to improve farmers livelihoods.

We teach farmers about the best practices in raising chickens. We also giving each farmer two hens and one rooster, so they can start their own [chicken farm], program coordinator Herry Naif told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Participants have learned how to build cages, ways to prevent avian diseases and even various marketing strategies. Herry added that the program had also donated 202 chickens through two farming groups, Rulaling and Hewer Limang.

Rulaling head Sensimus Bajo praised the program, saying that it was a positive gesture from both organizations in their attempt to empower local farmers.

I wish there will be a continuation of this program, as it can inspire other villages to follow the same path, he said. (dic)
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 18:36 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6dd8e7 1 Business 7-Eleven,Modern-Internasional,APINDO,Indonesian-Employers-Association,Hariyadi-Sukamdani,retail-store,alcohol-ban,minimarket Free

The alcohol sales ban at minimarkets and a low profit margin are likely the main causes behind the planned permanent closure of 7-Eleven convenience stores in Indonesia, a business group leader has said.

Publicly listed PT Modern Internasional, the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores in the country, has recently announced that it would close down all of its outlets starting on June 30 after a major potential investor decided to drop plans to acquire the companys retail business.

I heard that the alcohol ban has contributed to the drop [in sales] as they started to lose one of their competitive advantages compared to other [convenience stores], Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani said on Monday.

He said that the retail business was very tight in terms of competition and had a rather slight margin, although 7-Eleven had a good initial concept by providing space for visitors to gather, just like cafes or restaurants.

Earlier this month, Modern Internasional announced that an anticipated deal worth Rp 1 trillion (US$75.08 million) between its subsidiary PT Modern Sevel Indonesia and PT Charoen Pokphand Restu Indonesia (CPRI)  part of publicly listed poultry firm PT Charoen Pokphand Indonesia  had been canceled.

Alcohol contributed roughly 10 percent to the total sales of 7-Eleven stores, Modern Internasional director Henri Honoris once said.

He considered the alcohol sale ban as detrimental to business and has been forced to close down 25 underperforming 7-Eleven stores this year alone. (tas)
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Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Semarang  Mon, June 26, 2017 12:41 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6c9ca5 1 National #IdulFitri,#Ramadhan2017,Idul-Fitri-2017,Idul-Fitri,remission,prison,prisoners,Central-Java,Semarang Free

The Law and Human Rights Ministry has cut the sentences of 4,902 inmates across Central Java by 15 days to two months as part of the Idul Fitri remission policy for Muslim prisoners who display good behavior, said Bambang Sumardiono, the head of the ministry's Central Java office.

As a result, 96 prisoners were freed during Idul Fitri.

The prisoners who received remissions had been convicted of various crimes, including corruption.

"We proposed the inmates to get sentence cuts but the decision was in the hands of the minister," he said on Sunday.

Read also: MPR speaker entertains guests with political jokes, conversation

Meanwhile, Kedungpane Penitentiary in the provincial capital of Semarang extended visiting hours by three hours to 3 p.m. to allow detainees and prisoners to celebrate Idul Fitri with their families and other loved ones.

The extension applies for four days starting today [Sunday], penitentiary warden Taufiqurahman said.

The prison has asked for backup personnel from the military and the police to boost the prisons security.

As of June, the correctional facility held 1,405 people, consisting of 617 detainees and 788 inmates.

There are a total of 12,059 prisoners across Central Java, according to data from the ministrys Directorate General of Corrections.

Nationally, a total of 66,481 inmates imprisoned for various crimes have had their sentences reduced under the Idul Fitri remission and 382 inmates got early release thanks to the policy. (kuk/bbs)
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Linkedin Agnes Anya and Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 20:00 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6dffa1 1 City #IdulFitri,Hotel,families Free

Idul Fitri is also a moment when urban families are reminded about the meritorious help of housemaids, as their absence during the long holiday may cost their employers millions of rupiah.

Having a son in kindergarten, a toddler and with a third child on the way, 33-year-old employee Maria Yulita and husband Tito Dipokusumo had to rack their brains to ensure all their daily needs were well-fulfilled given that, like most people in Greater Jakarta, their maid had temporarily left the metropolitan city to celebrate the biggest Islam's holiday in her hometown.

Both Maria and Tito agreed that it would be best to spend the holiday at some hotels after celebrating Idul Fitri, which fell on Sunday, at their parents' house.

"As our maid went back to her hometown and I am pregnant, we feel overwhelmed having to take care of our house, while at the same time looking after the children and preparing for Idul Fitri," said Maria, who lives in Ciputat, South Tangerang. "Hence, we decided to stay at hotels after the second day of Idul Fitri [on Monday]."

Maria has booked a room for her family at a hotel in Ancol, North Jakarta, for two days and at another hotel in Bogor, West Java, for another two days.

"Whenever I book a hotel, I not only choose the well-rated ones, but I also check whether it has a swimming pool and if its rooms are big enough for four of us," she explained.

The stay, she further said, will also be a good family experience, in which she and Tito can spend most of their time with their children, while also pampering themselves with the hotels' facilities. They are spending Rp 2.8 million (US$210) for the hotel costs alone.

Meanwhile, Marisi Dameria Hutajulu annually books a hotel for her and her family during Idul Fitri in hopes that they can enjoy their holiday together in a convenient environment.

"During Idul Fitri eve, it is always noisy at my neighborhood  not because of takbir [chanting to praise to Allah], but because children light up firecrackers all night long," said the 53-year old mother of four living in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta.

However, considering that such an event only happens once a year to ring in the religious day, Dameria and her family, who do not celebrate Idul Fitri, choose not to be bothered by the issue.

Instead, every year they prefer to stay in a hotel for three days with their extended family from Idul Fitri eve onward.

This year, she said, she actually planned to stay with 14 family members at a hotel in Gunung Sahari, Central Jakarta, but it was canceled due to a family issue.

Mudik, the phenomenon in which Muslims, including housemaids, go back to their hometowns has apparently benefitted hotels in Greater Jakarta, including The Dharmawangsa Jakarta, South Jakarta.

"Usually, during Idul Fitri, our guests are from Jakarta. [...] The maids' homebound exodus brings [financial] blessing [to the hotel]," conceded the hotel's spokeswoman Lira Dachlan.

The hotel even provides special offers to lure prospective families, such as a special room program in which guests get a 15 percent discount on laundry services, spa facilities and food and beverages.

Room rates start from Rp 2.5 million.

The hotel also provides shuttle buses from and to the hotel and nearby shopping malls.

Similarly, Jayakarta Hotels and Resorts  particularly those in Jakarta  welcome more personal guests than groups during Idul Fitri, said its president director, Aswin Dhanu.

"Forty-five percent of guests coming to our hotels [in Jakarta] are those temporarily left by their maids," he said, adding that in the same period, occupancy rate of the company's chains in Yogyakarta, Bali and Bandung in West Java reach 90 percent.
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Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung  Mon, June 26, 2017 18:33 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6dcfbf 1 National religious-differences,children,Bhinneka-Tunggal-Ika,Trips Free

That we should also make friends with those who share other religious beliefs.

The statement was made by an elementary school student named Felix, who had just visited five different houses of worship in Bandung with 24 other students from different schools under the guidance of the Bhinneka community.

The program was created by the group to answer current concerns over the rise of religious conflicts and sectarian politics that might jeopardize the countrys future.

Another participant, 12-year-old Alexander Jeremy Santoso, expressed his enthusiasm over the chance to visit various houses of worship, describing a Hindu temple in the tour as unique.

This was also my first chance to enter a mosque. But the best part [of the tour] was the cathedral because we saw so many interesting symbols with stories behind them, he recalled.

During the program, the group of students was invited to visit five different houses of worship, namely the Al Ukhuwah Mosque, Wira Satya Temple, Vimala Dharma Monastery, Cibunut Church and St. Peter Cathedral.

They were divided into smaller groups comprising various religious beliefs and were encouraged to interact and get to know one another.

Commenting on the trip, Ali Abdullah, one of the communitys activists, confirmed that the program was the direct result of members concerns over the tendency of Indonesians nowadays to harbor a negative impression toward people from different backgrounds, especially religious beliefs.

We need to tear down the mental barriers, so people could see each other without prejudices. We did this by getting [the students] to experience by themselves the idea of making new friends with different religious identities, he said.

The program has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response as hundreds of school children have enrolled to gain the same experience.

We are going to organize other trips as well. They will get their turn, Ali assured.

However, he also acknowledged that there is still a long road ahead, as those children would still need many other forms of education to solidify their growth as tolerant human beings and humanists.
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 14:53 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6cffb2 1 National Idul-Fitri-2017,Darmin-nasution,Coordinating-Economic-Minister,Indonesian-dishes Free

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution is hosting an open house to celebrate the second day of Idul Fitri at his official residence on Monday and he is leaving the choice of dishes up to his wife.

The event is being held at the Widya Chandra ministerial housing complex in South Jakarta.

Darmin, who is wearing a light green batik shirt, said he does not have favorite food and always lets his wife, Salsia Ulfa Sahabi Manoppo, arrange the best menu for guests visiting the house.

"My wife [chose] the menu. I just accept anything," he told reporters, adding that his family had a North Sumatran meal at his private residence yesterday as he was born in the province.

Darmin is serving his guests traditional Indonesian dishes, including lontong cap gomeh (rice cake with various richly flavored side dishes), es cincau (grass jelly), sate Padang (West Sumatra-style satay) and martabak telor (pan-fried flatbread stuffed with egg and beef).

During last year's Idul Fitri open house at his official residence, the orchid-loving minister and his family served dishes from North Sulawesi, where his wife is from.

Darmin welcomed many guests on Sunday, including Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto and Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar, executives of several state-owned enterprises and representatives of embassies of various countries, such as Turkey and France.

"We just pray and are thankful in this Idul Fitri" he said. (tas)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 19:23 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6de500 1 City Depok,waste Free

The post-fasting Idul Fitri celebrations have produced an increase in waste in Depok, West Java, according to a local official.

Cipayung landfill in East Jakarta recorded a 100-150 ton increase of waste production from Depok in the week leading up to Idul Fitri.

The waste is dominated by food waste. Our staff must work during the holiday to collect all of this garbage, Cipayung landfill unit head Iyay Gumilar said on Monday.

Nearly a week ahead of Idul Fitri, Depoks waste volume reached 850 tons from some 700 to 750 tons on normal days.

We expect to see a constant increase [in garbage] for another week after the two-day holiday. We have been working extra hard to remove waste stacks from the side of the roads, Iyay said, adding that workers made their rounds to pick up trash six or seven times a day from five times on regular days.

He said the waste volume in Cipayung landfill had reached over capacity, with mounds reaching nearly 30 meters in height.

He urged the Depok administration to open a new landfill with a daily capacity of at least 500 tons to ease the burden at Cipayung landfill.

Depok has a waste processing unit and a waste bank, but they can only process less than 100 tons of waste a day, he said as quoted by tempo.co. (dra)

Topics : Depok waste
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 14:21 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6cdbc4 1 Business Idul-Fitri-2017,open-house,OJK,Financial-Services-Authority,muliaman-hadad Free

While most Indonesians are using the long Idul Fitri holidays to return to their respective hometowns, some financial service industry bosses are choosing to stay in Jakarta instead.

Outgoing Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Muliaman Darmansyah Hadad said that he would just be roaming around Jakarta, visiting family and friends during the holidays.

Muliaman was born and raised in Bekasi, West Java. "I already visited my family in Bekasi. You can call it 'out of town' if you want," he said during an open house at his official residence in South Jakarta on Monday.

Meanwhile, Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) executive director Fauzi Ichsan said that he would spend this holiday with family in Jakarta to make up for the little time he spent with his children on workdays.

"Our family mostly resides in Jakarta and me, as the younger generation, I have to visit my seniors in the Financial System Stability Committee [KSSK]," Fauzi said, referring to a team consisting of the Finance Ministry, Bank Indonesia (BI), the OJK and LPS that oversees the finance sector.

On the first day of Idul Fitri on Sunday, Fauzi visited open houses at the State Palace and at Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati's official residence.

On Monday, after paying a visit to Muliaman, he planned on visiting Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution and LPS chairman Halim Alamsyah. (tas)
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 15:35 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6d2401 1 Business Idul-Fitri-2017,open-house,Wimboh-Santoso,Darmin-nasution,OJK,Financial-Services-Authority,financial-superbody,new-commissioners Free

As he prepares to assume his new position in mere days, newly elected Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Wimboh Santoso took the time to pay a friendly visit to Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution on the second day of Idul Fitri on Monday.

He came to Darmins official residence at the Widya Chandra Ministerial housing complex in South Jakarta to celebrate the holy festivities.

The current president commissioner of state-owned lender Bank Mandiri spoke to Darmin for about 30 minutes.

Wimboh, along with six other newly elected commissioners, will be sworn in at the Supreme Court on July 21 for the 2017-2022 period.

They will replace the current board of commissioners chaired by Muliaman D Hadad.

Wimboh said he decided to stay in Jakarta during Idul Fitri this year, but conceded to missing his hometown of Boyolali, Central Java, particularly the citys signature dishes, such as satay, gulai (thick curry), tongseng kambing (lamb stew) and timlo (clear soup filled with various garnishes).

I like all dishes [from Boyolali]. They are all delicious, Wimboh said. (tas)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 16:23 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6d6452 1 City #IdulFitri,Ragunan-zoo,Ancol-Dreamland-Park Free

Ragunan Zoo in Ragunan, South Jakarta, the capital's largest green area, predicts that more than 100,000 people will have visited the zoo by the end of Monday, the second day of Idul Fitri.

At 3 p.m. on Monday, the zoos management said it has already welcomed 90.964 tourists.

Last year, it hosted more than 800,000 visitors over the two-day Idul Fitri holiday, Ragunan spokesperson Wahyudi Bambang said as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com

Meanwhile, some 60,000 holidaymakers flocked to Ancol Dreamland Park, in North Jakarta, according to Rika Lestari, the parks manager of Corporate Communication.

Other popular tourist destinations, such as Fantasy World (Dufan), Sea World, Atlantis and Ocean Dream Samudera (ODS) have also been packed with holiday-goers. (hol)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 16:40 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6d9ba5 1 National GNPF-MUI,Jokowi,Jokowi-administration Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo was lauded for his decision to meet leaders of the National Movement to Safeguard the Indonesian Ulema Councils Fatwa (GNPF-MUI), known for its stance against the administrations policy on national unity, at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday.

Accompanied by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, and State Secretary Pratikno, Jokowi met a GNPF-MUI delegation led by Bachtiar Nasir.

Read also: GNPF-MUI seeks to ease tension with President during Idul Fitri meet

Chairman of the Presidents Volunteer Forum (Bara JP) Sihol Manullang praised Jokowi for his willingness to meet the Muslim organization, calling the move a call for the people to move on.

For the sake of the nation, [President] Jokowi is willing to meet, talk and cooperate with anyone, Sihol told kompas.com.

It is reported that the GNPF-MUI met the President in hopes of easing tensions and make way for a smoother avenue of communication with the administration.

The organization was the mastermind of a string of mass rallies protesting the leadership of former Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, using his backgrounds as a Christian of Chinese descent as one of its objections.

Meanwhile, the government has campaigned for unity despite the nations diverse races and religions.

Sihol said he hoped the meeting could help the GNPF-MUI understand the presidents way of thinking.

Hopefully, Jokowi can also gain useful suggestions from the group, he added. (kuk/ika)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 18:07 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6dc77f 1 National Kadin,Idul-Fitri-2017,open-house,Rosan-Roslani Free

Killing two birds with one stone was what Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman Rosan P. Roslani had in mind when hosting an open house event at his residence in Kemang, South Jakarta, on Monday afternoon.

As he was welcoming guests, Rosan said he initially intended to throw a celebration party for his 10-year-old son, Razan Roslani, who just underwent a circumcision.

"Actually, this open house event was intended as a celebration of my son's circumcision, but I thought I might as well throw the event to celebrate the end of the Ramadhan month," he said.

It is common for Indonesian parents to celebrate a circumcision, which marks an important step forward in a boys adolescence.

Guests at the open house laughed as the master of ceremony slipped and accidentally invited them to congratulate the bride instead of congratulating the parents.

Among the invited guests were prominent officials and figures, such as Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Jakarta deputy governor-elect Sandiaga Uno, National Mandate Partys (PAN) Jakarta branch chairman Eko Hendro Purnomo, businessman Aburizal Bakrie and son Anindya Bakrie, and former lawmaker Eko Patrio.

Roslan also invited several representatives of various embassies as well as celebrities.

The open house started at 3 p.m. and is scheduled to end at 6 p.m. (dea/tas)
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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan  Mon, June 26, 2017 17:29 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6db78c 1 National terrorist-attack,Medan,police,IS Free

North Sumatra Police said on Monday that perpetrators of Sunday mornings attack on a checkpoint post at the provincial polices headquarters had targeted to steal weapons for terrorist acts.

They were going to take weapons for future attacks on the police and military, North Sumatra Police Spokeswoman Sr. Comr. Rina Sari Ginting told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The two attackers, identified as Sawaluddin Pakpahan and Hardi aka Ardial Ramadhana, sneaked into the polices checkpoint post and stabbed to death Adj. First Insp. Martua Sigalingging, while wounding Brig. Erbi Ginting.

The commotion and Gintings cries for help attracted the attention of several mobile brigade (Brimob) personnel, who then chased the assailants, shooting Ardial dead and wounding Sawaluddin.

Read also: Medan Police attackers linked to IS: Police

Both perpetrators were allegedly connected to the terrorist group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which is suspected to be behind the recent Kampung Melayu twin bombings at an East Jakarta bus station. Police suspect the group is affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) movement.

After Sundays attack, North Sumatra Police officers searched through Sawaluddins house in Medan, where they confiscated a combat knife, an IS flag and several documents on how to fight and commit suicide.

Police also apprehended and named five people as suspects for their alleged connections to the attack, one of whom is Sawaluddins wife. (kuk)
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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan  Mon, June 26, 2017 16:45 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6dab24 1 National TerrorAttacks,terrorism,Medan,police,#IdulFitri Free

The North Sumatra Police have confirmed that the two perpetrators of Sundays attack on a checkpoint post at the North Sumatra Police headquarters in Medan were affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist movement.

North Sumatra Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Rina Sari Ginting said that investigators had identified the perpetrators and are continuing their probe into the case.

Our investigation has indicated that the perpetrators had IS links, she said.

National Police chief Tito Karnavian has also previously said that the two perpetrators were connected with the IS-linked terrorist group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

Read also: Facebook launches plan to combat online extremism

At 3 a.m. on Sunday, two perpetrators snuck into the Checkpoint 3 post and stabbed to death a resting police officer and wounded another.

Adj. First Insp. Martua Sigalingging died from stab wounds to right cheek, chin, upper neck and left chest.

Rina said that one of the assailants, identified as Sawaluddin Pakpahan, died after being shot by mobile brigade (Brimob) officers, while his accomplice, named Hardi, was arrested alive.

She added that both attackers were Medan citizens. (ecn/bbs)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 14:41 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6cf1bd 1 City Bekasi,crime Free

Two mugging attempts have occurred in Greater Jakarta within a week, with the latest conducted by an apparent street busker on Saturday, according to police.

Bekasi Police spokeswoman Erna Ruswing said on Sunday that a street busker, identified only as OAA, 28, was arrested after he allegedly attempted to rob Arif, 26, and Ade, 25, at gunpoint in the Pekayon subdistrict, Bekasi. Later the police found out that the gun was a lighter shaped like a gun.

He used the lighter to scare his targets, Erna said.

Arif and Ade stopped their motorcycle at a traffic light at about 2:30 p.m, when a man approached and pointed the gun-shaped lighter at their faces. The assailant then asked the two men to bring him to the East Bekasi toll road. Ade, who was driving the motorcycle, said he felt threatened and decided to carry the street busker with him.

Ade said he then intentionally dropped the motorcycle and screamed for help. The panicked hijacker tried to escape but was quickly arrested by police from a post nearby.

There was also a kitchen knife and a gun-shaped lighter in [a confiscated] bag, Erna said as quoted by kompas.com.

In a recent incident on June 20, another woman claimed that she was mugged at a gunpoint at Mega Glodok Kemayoran Mall in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta. It was later found out that the robber used a toy gun. (hol)

Topics : Bekasi crime
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 19:45 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6df528 1 City Idul-Fitri,Cipinang-Penitentiary Free

Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta has teamed up with several institutions to deploy more security personnel amid the high number of visitors over the Idul Fitri holiday.

"These two days are very crowded. We deployed 150 officers from the East Jakarta Police, Jatinegara Police and subdistrict military command," the prisons security division head Wisnu said as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com on Monday.

Since the first day of Idul Fitri on Sunday, thousands of visitors have flocked to Cipinang prison to see their incarcerated relatives, causing long lines at waiting rooms and forcing officials to apply a strict queueing system.

According to past figures, the number of people visiting the prison during Idul Fitri can reach 3,500, from 300 to 500 on regular days. (agn/ika)
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Linkedin Dicky Christanto Wulandaru (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 20:51 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6e2c6d 4 National Jakarta-administration,Anies-Baswedan-Sandiaga-Uno,campaign Free

There are still four more months to go before governor-elect Anies Baswedan takes his oath and some of the Jakarta administrations apparatuses are already gearing up for his campaign programs.

The North Jakartas Trade and Micro, Small and Medium-sized Entrepreneurship sub-agency, for example, is currently organizing a database for the future use of Anies entrepreneurial program, popularly known as the One Kecamatan (district) One Center (OK-OCE) entrepreneurship program.

"We are currently improving data on the number of entrepreneurs in North Jakarta, so it can be used for the OK-OCE program. Right now, according to our existing records, there are 8,000 entrepreneurs from various sizes in our watch," said the sub-agency head Arfian.

The existing entrepreneurs, he went on, would be further selected by the new governors team before granted with funding assistance. He also welcomed new entrepreneurs to enroll in the program. (agn/dic)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 15:34 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6d1be4 1 Business OJK,Financial-Services-Authority,muliaman-hadad,Wimboh-Santoso,new-commissioners,financial-superbody Free

The Financial Service Authority (OJK) is preparing a smooth transition to welcome newly elected members of its board of commissioners.

Outgoing OJK chairman Muliaman Darmansyah Hadad said the new commissioners have already visited the superbodys office to discuss what had already been done, what was ongoing and future activities.

The new team will assume its position on July 21.

"The transition will not be gradual, but simultaneous. After that, the new commissioners will hold their first meeting to discuss their responsibilities and positions [in the OJK]," Muliaman said during an open house event at his official residence in South Jakarta on Monday.

OJK has nine commissioners, comprising a chairman, deputy chairman and two commissioners, which are assigned by the Finance Ministry and Bank Indonesia (BI) as their representatives.

The other five commissioners handle different sectors, namely banking, non-banking, capital market, education and consumer protection, and audit.

The new OJK lineup will consist of Wimboh Santoso, now Bank Mandiri president commissioner; Riswinandi, PT Pegadaian president director; and Nurhaida, OJK capital market commissioner.

It will also have the presence of Heru Kristiyana, OJK deputy banking commissioner; Hoesen, former Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) director; Tirta Segara, BI spokesperson; Ahmad Hidayat, BI Internal Financial Department director; Mirza Adityaswara, BI senior deputy governor; and Mardiasmo, deputy finance minister.

Wimboh was seen among the guests at Muliamans open house event, but Muliaman said they did not speak at length about the formers new job.

"I know Wimboh well; we both worked at BI," he said. (tas)
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Bahawalpur, Pakistan  Mon, June 26, 2017 22:52 1963 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6e3ae4 2 World Pakistan-blast,victims Free

Pakistan began Eid in mourning Monday as the death toll from an oil tanker explosion rose to 153, with scores more injured after they were caught in a fireball while scooping up spilt fuel.

Dozens of grief-stricken relatives waited outside hospitals in Bahawalpur, the nearest major city to the disaster, to claim the bodies of their loved ones as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived to visit victims.

"The day of Eid has become a day of mourning and pain for us," Sharif told the media outside Victoria Hospital, adding he has ordered an inquiry and compensation of two million rupees ($20,000) for the families of the dead, and one million rupees for the injured.

Eid al-Fitr, a normally joyous occasion, marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The tanker overturned early Sunday on a main highway from Karachi to Lahore while carrying some 40,000 liters of fuel. It exploded as crowds gathered to scavenge for fuel, ignoring warnings to stay away.

The accident quickly drew scores of people from a nearby village, many armed with whatever containers they could find despite warnings from the driver and police of the danger.

Minutes later the tanker exploded, engulfing the crowd as well as dozens of other vehicles in a massive fireball that sent a plume of thick smoke into the sky.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 15:40 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6d31a3 1 World Taiwan,Tsai-Ing-wen,Idul-Fitri-2017,#Ramadhan2017,#IdulFitri Free

An Idul Fitri greeting from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen may be special for Indonesians, especially for those who are migrant workers in Taiwan.

Tsai expressed her Idul Fitri wishes through a video posted on her official Facebook page on Sunday. She closed her speech with three words in Indonesian: Selamat Idul Fitri [Happy Idul Fitri].

Tsai added in a caption accompanying the video that she invited people to feel the warmth of the celebration and blessed Muslims to be happy during the festivity, as several places in the country would celebrate Idul Fitri.

About 60,000 Muslims reportedly live in Taiwan. About 90 percent of them come from the local Hui ethnic group.

Read also: BRI grabs 15% share in remittance market

The video drew a positive response from several Indonesians, such as a Facebook user identified as Deyus Mubarok who wrote in the comment section: Im Indonesian and I [] thank you. Thank you Taiwan President!

Thank you so much to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen [for taking] care [of] Indonesian Muslims [in] Taiwan, another Facebook user identified as Echi Dewii Er commented.

Since getting elected in mid-2016, Tsai has pledged to reduce her country's economic reliance on mainland China while also strengthening ties with New Zealand, Australia and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia.

Taiwan is home to around 240,000 Indonesian migrant workers. (kuk/bbs)
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Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung  Mon, June 26, 2017 16:14 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6d5e91 1 National road-accident,#IdulFitri,#IdulFitriExodus,#Ramadhan2017,Idul-Fitri-2017 Free

A minibus rolled over and crashed in Namun village, Nagreg, Bandung regency, West Java, on Monday after its driver allegedly hit the brakes while traveling at a very high speed.

No fatalities was reported in the crash, though one passenger was reportedly suffered head injuries and a broken leg, said West Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Yusri Yunus.

"All injured passengers were rushed to the Cicalengka Regional Hospital," he said on Monday.

Read also: Four killed in Purbalingga bus plunge

The minibus was reportedly speeding while traveling from Garut to the provincial capital of Bandung and the driver was attempting to evade a stopped vehicle that appeared in front of him.

"The driver hit the brakes hard and the minibus lost its balance and rolled over to the left of the street," Yusri said.

The actual number of passengers inside the bus was unknown. (bbs)
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Linkedin Scott Hamilton and Richard Partington (Bloomberg) London  Mon, June 26, 2017 11:26 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6c3c83 2 Business Bank-of-England,BOE,Mark-Carney,financial-stability,Brexit,UK Free

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, Mark Carney reassured a nation going into political paralysis following the Brexit vote that the Bank of England (BOE) stood ready to flood the financial system with cash.

This week, the governor will re-examine whether its time to start taking back some of that bank support following rapid growth in consumer credit, a first step toward normalizing policy in the UK.

As Carney prepares to deliver his biannual assessment of UK financial stability, he could force Britains biggest banks to raise the levels of capital they employ.

Any increase would reverse actions taken in the immediate aftermath of Britons decision to leave the European Union, after which the BOE pumped liquidity into the banking system and announced a package of emergency measures to support growth.

It is time for them to start removing some of the stimulus they put in on the macroprudential side, said Philip Rush, chief economist at Heteronomics in London. After the referendum, there were some signs of panic, but the consumer shrugged it off. Most metrics are suggesting things are back to normal.

The BOEs Financial Policy Committee (FPC)set up after the 2008 crisismet last week and is scheduled to release its report on Tuesday.

The governor will give a press conference, where questions about Brexit will probably dominate.

With consumer lending growing at an annual 10 percent pace amid hot competition among banks to sell credit cards and personal loans, UK regulators are reviewing lending standards.

The pace of borrowing and level of debt may spur the FPC to revisit its decision to lower the so-called countercyclical capital buffer on banks UK exposures to zero taken after the referendum.

Officials, who reassessed the level at this months meeting, have previously said they prefer it at 1 percent in normal times and that any changes would come into effect with a 12-month lag.

That level was the path they were on prior to the referendum vote, said Claire Kane, an analyst at Credit Suisse in London. She, along with Rush, predicts an increase to a 0.5 percent buffer on Tuesday and said the BOE may work to moderate and to stem the growth in credit, particularly consumer credit.

Questions may also be asked about the BOEs Term Funding Scheme (TFS), a tool implemented by the Monetary Policy Committee, and whether drawdowns should be extended past the current February deadline.

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch including Alastair Ryan and Michael Helsby have warned the program has helped cause excessive competition among banks.

These exceptional levels of monetary assistance to the UK economy have helped boost lending with about 106 billion pounds (US$135 billion) in cheap term liquidity from the TFS and its predecessor, the Funding for Lending Scheme, according to analysts at UBS Group AG led by Jason Napier.

Removing that support would cut the supply of credit to the UK economy and reduce the risk of a bubble, should the BOE feel the nation can handle tighter conditions. Banks may increase lending rates to protect profit margins in response to a higher cost of funding.

We, and I am sure all of the challengers, are planning for the TFS to finish next February, Paragon Group CEO Nigel Terrington said by email.

The rate banks pay depositors could increase as a consequence, although lending rates will probably be raised to maintain profitability margins, he added.
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Linkedin Devina Heriyanto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 13:06 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6ca3e5 1 Destinations aceh,travel,destination,#Aceh,#destination,tourism,#travel,#traveling,traveling Free

When people hear of Aceh, what comes to mind is a puritan area where nothing fun ever happens.

Aceh began to adopt Islamic law in 2001 after a wave of decentralization allowed provinces in Indonesia to issue regional laws. The 2005 Helsinki Agreement that ended the decades-long insurgency in Aceh also strengthened the enforcement of the sharia, but it was not until 2014 that Aceh fully embraced the Qanun Jinayat.

Aceh is not a two-dimensional place constrained by sharia rules. Here are some reasons why visitors should not be discouraged to visit Aceh:

Read also: Aceh: a guide for visitors

Weed-laced food

Cannabis is not a taboo for Acehnese people, as the substance is traditionally used as a spice in the kitchen. Cannabis is believed to add flavor and tenderness to meat-based dishes like curry. The plant was originally cultivated on coffee plantations under Dutch rule as a cheap method of keeping pests at bay.

Acehnese restaurants in Jakarta do not use cannabis for legal reasons.

Coffee country

Any self-proclaimed coffee lover must have heard about Acehnese Gayo, one of the most popular single-origin coffees in the world. Coffee is inseparable from Acehnese daily life, as reflected in the countless traditional coffee shops found in the province. Aceh people can stay for hours in a coffee shop, talking about anything from art to politics.

A must-visit is the legendary Warung Kopi Solong (Solong Coffee Ulee Kareng), with kopi sanger (robusta coffee and condensed milk) and espresso as favorites. The joint does not offer kopi luwak (civet coffee) as its profit is donated to mosques and it would be inappropriate to give money from excrement.

Stunning beaches

A post shared by Farah D Asmoro  (@fardwb) on May 11, 2017 at 2:18am PDT

The beaches of Aceh are often overshadowed by those of Bali and Lombok, which also means they are less crowded and cleaner. The sharia-compliant beaches are closed at 6 p.m. and it is forbidden people who are not muhrim (lawful spouses or close relatives) to swim together. However, there are non-sharia beaches as well, most notably the white-sand Lampuuk Beach.

Aside from beaches, Aceh plans to develop outdoor activities to boost tourism. Alas River in Aceh is being developed by the Tourism Ministry for rafting.

Culinary treats

Mie Aceh is your gateway food to the great culinary delight that is Acehnese food. Rich in spices, Acehnese food might take a few bites to get used to, and then hook you right in. Try ayam tangkap (fried chicken with salad leaves), keumamah (dried fish with thick curry sauce), martabak Aceh (savory pancakes) or dodol Aceh (glutinous sweet).

Read also: 5 traditional must-try culinary delights of Aceh

Tsunami museums

A post shared by maysa dara fhonna (@maysadarafhonna02) on Jun 12, 2017 at 9:55pm PDT

We get it, there are museums everywhere. But where else in the world can you relive the experience of the 2004 tsunami that paralyzed Aceh? The Aceh Tsunami Museum, designed by Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil, showcases photographs depicting Banda Aceh's devastation after the tsunami.

Also visit PLTD Apung, a 2,600-tonnage ship wrecked in the middle of the city that bears witness to the disastrous power of the tsunami. Now the ship is a tourist destination and education park. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Sydney, Australia  Mon, June 26, 2017 10:30 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6c1b8d 2 News AirAsia,Airlines,plane,aviation,Australia,Malaysia Free

An AirAsia flight to Malaysia was forced back to Australia Sunday due to a technical problem, with one passenger saying the plane was "shaking like a washing machine".

The Airbus A330 from Perth to Kuala Lumpur experienced problems about 90 minutes into the journey.

It landed safely, with Perth Airport reporting a "technical issue".

"The pilot identified technical issues, turned around and returned," an airport spokesman told AFP, adding that emergency crews were put on standby but not needed.

The Malaysian low-cost carrier said only that "flight crew are taking precautionary measures to check the aircraft".

It was the second scare involving an Airbus A330 in Australia this month, with a China Eastern plane making an emergency landing in Sydney after a huge hole appeared in one of its engine casings.

Terrified passengers on that flight described a very loud noise soon after it left Sydney for Shanghai. No one was hurt.

Read also: Batik Air opens Indonesia  India route

The West Australian newspaper cited passengers on Sunday's flight as saying they heard a bang and then the plane started shuddering.

"You could tell by the cabin crew's reaction that it was really bad, said Sophie Nicolas, who said she heard a small explosion from the left wing. "It was terrifying."

Another passenger, Brenton Atkinson, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the whole plane started shaking, far more than standard turbulence.

"It was essentially the engine seized up I think, that's what they told us anyway," he said.

"It was literally like you were sitting on top of a washing machine. The whole thing was going. We could see the engine out the window which was really shaking on the wing.

"Once we landed we realized one of the blades had actually come off the turbine."

The airline suffered its first fatal incident in December 2014, when AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashed in stormy weather off Indonesia with 162 people on board.

That followed two Malaysia Airlines incidents in the same year which left hundreds dead, raising concerns among some travelers about the safety of the country's carriers.

Topics : AirAsia Airlines plane aviation Australia Malaysia
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, June 26, 2017 19:39 1964 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6de9e6 1 News Barack-Obama,Michelle-Obama,bali,travel,#BarackObama,#MichelleObama,Obama,#Obama,#travel,#Bali Free

Former United States president Barack Obama and his family have reportedly visited several tourist attractions during their Bali holiday so far, including the Agung Rai Museum of Art, the Jatiluwih rice terraces and Ayung River.

Obama, his wife Michelle and their two daughters arrived in Bali on Friday evening for a five-day vacation on the Island of the Gods.

On Saturday, the family visited Agung Rai Art Museum (ARMA). Located on Jl. Raya Pengosekan, Ubud, the museum exhibits collections of both traditional and modern paintings from foreign and local artists, including Ida Bagus Made and Anak Agung Gede Sobrat.

During their museum visit, the Obamas were also welcomed by Pendet and Tumbuk Padi dance performances. According to tempo.co, the former president expressed an interest in a 1930s painting by I Gusti Nyoman Lempad.

Read also: Barack Obama to explore Bali, Yogyakarta and Jakarta

The next day, the Obamas reportedly went to Jatiluwih village in Tabanan. Known for its breathtaking views of rice terraces, the area is located around 54 kilometers from Denpasar and is included in UNESCOs list of World Heritage Sites.

Obama and his family reportedly walked through the 500-meter hiking route circling the paddy fields. They then visited Pura Subak, meeting local farmers.

Former US president Barack Obama (center) and his entourage take a break after a walk through the field while visiting the Jatiluwih tourist site in Tabanan on Bali island on June 25.(AFP/STR)

On Monday, Obama and his family members made their way to Ayung River in Bongkasa Village, Badung, which is located a stones throw away from their hotel, the Four Seasons Resort Ubud. Kompas.com reported that Obama and his entourage spent two hours cruising the river, using six boats accompanied by five professional guides.

Obama is scheduled to leave Bali on June 28. The former first family will also visit Yogyakarta and Jakarta. (wir/jes)
Having recently come under fire for their portrayal of suicide in their adaptation of Thirteen Reasons Why, Netflix chiefs are now facing a significant backlash over their portrayal of the eating disorder Anorexia in their original film, To The Bone, starring Lily Collins.

To The Bone is due to be released worldwide on 14th July 2017 via Netflix. The film stars Lily Collins as Ellen, a young lady who is sent to a group home to be looked after by her doctor, William Beckham (Keanu Reeves), as she tries to recover from her illness.

The film, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance Film Festival, has already attracted a variety of comments and criticicism over how faithful and realistic the portrayal of the illness actually is.

Some critics have been wholly stark in their negativity, summising the project as 'A pretty, middle class, white girl has an illness that requires her to spend some time being looked after by a sexy alternative therapist.'

The film has also attracted negative publicity from a number of young people's mental health charities, over concerns about how it might act as a 'thinspiration'.

Most damningly, Australia's top psychologists are labelling the film as a "manual" for eating disorders worldwide. Leading the backlash is Butterfly Foundation Chief Christine Morgan, who warned the film may serve as copycat material for impressionable young people worldwide.

Ms. Morgan said: We know that images of people who are seriously ill with an eating disorder are powerful triggers. We also know that these images can inspire copycat behaviour, especially for those suffering with Anorexia Nervosa.

She continued: Netflixs To The Bone hasnt understood this fact, and hasnt acted responsibly.

Child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg also commented on the matter, noting: Eating disorders are the biggest killers out of any psychiatric illness for young people so we really dont need this.

He also expressed scepticism over the perceived "moral compass" of the American streaming giants, following the recent announcement of a second season of Thirteen Reasons Why.

Despite this, not everyone is taking a negative stance on the Marti Noxon film. The director is herself bullish on the project, taking a stance that the disorder needs to be spoken about and not treated as an elephant in the room, as only then will sufferers truly start to recover and move on.

Some journalists, including Frances Coleman-Williams, who has herself faced an eating disorder for a number of years, have sprung to the film's defence, praising the fact that "Ellen looks grey and gaunt (in some scenes) and excessive exercise takes a toll on her body, causing bruising and causing her to faint."

Despite this brief respite, Netflix bosses must be concerned about the general perception of their more controversial programmes. Having already been accused of glamourising the concept of suicide in Thirteen Reasons Why, they must know they will need to tread carefully when exploring a topic as delicate as anorexia, not shying away from the more scary elements and thus giving it the justice it requires on-screen.

By doing this, however, they must not in turn create a hypothetical portrayal of the illness that makes it seem like a short-term pain for a long-turn romantic, sexualised gain, which To The Bone appears dangerously close to converging into.

To The Bone stars Lily Collins and Keanu Reeves and is set to be released worldwide to stream on Netflix from 14th July 2017. Check out the film's trailer below:
Today we take a look back at Paul Thomas Andersons most scrupulous work - all in honour of his 47th birthday.

Paul Thomas Anderson has released seven films, with his eighth, Phantom Thread releasing at the end of 2017. Each one of these films has offered something special: an insight into a small aside of American society. This is where a PTA film begins, at a place, a well-known, identifiable location. This might be on a beach in The Master, a diner in Hard Eight or an oil mining plantation in There Will Be Blood. A connection is sparked, between audience and film. Although this is a choice made by a lot of filmmakers, in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie this is quickly followed by a dramatic insurgence of intrigue and a beguiling sense of the unknown, as characters are introduced and the audience is greeted by the style of PTAs filmmaking. Characters drop in, one by one. Stories begin to emerge and the film begins to form. Paul Thomas Anderson has revered a style of storytelling and perfected a subtle application of style that develops, grows and reforms with every piece of work.

Paul Thomas Andersons debut feature Hard Eight opens with Phillip Baker Halls Sydney offering to buy John (John C Reily) a cup of coffee, this is followed by an intimate exchange, that explores Johns motives. Hard Eight has a very simple story that could sometimes be observed as over-simplified or boring, but what drives this film is the characters and their conversations. The relationship between John and Sydney is always unpredictable and quickly evolves from the Newman-Redford Sting relationship with the two trying to cheat the casinos. Even at the film's end its hard to pinpoint any evaluation on what really happened. Each character in the film, John and Sydney, as well as Clementine (Gwenyth Paltrow) and Jimmy (Samuel L Jackson), are all faced with people they can barely trust.

What leads from this is a small cast of characters who are all masquerading as someone else, all of which could unravel at anytime. Hard Eight is a beautiful meditation on character, technically, from a writing perspective, as well as presenting yourself differently to so many people that the person you are becomes a character of your former self. It is a great film, but also one that steadily introduces his storytelling style, consideration for characters and thoughtful photography.

Punch-Drunk Love is a rom-com with Adam Sandler in the lead, except it isnt that straightforward. Pauls vision of a romantic comedy is something so much more powerful, subtle and studious. Hot off the success and critical acclaim of Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson amped up his filmography even more with a clever subversion of an already done-to-death genre. Adam Sandler brings us Barry Egan, an odd fellow with an unusual way of viewing the world. The film presents his life when different events are thrown at him; a love interest or a criminal involvement all lead to Barry having to deal with his own humanity.

Like Hard-Eight, it is difficult to pin down a linear plot (PTA films are very hard to describe) within Punch Drunk Love, it is more of an interesting chapter within Barrys life. This is a very dense film, symbolism and themes that wont be visible initially, but it's enjoyable and emotional and the emotional beats make it all the more involving. Adam Sandler gives possibly his best performance of his career due to Andersons direction and walks the line of sadness and comedy almost perfectly. Barry navigates a world that doesnt understand him and beckons psychological cracks to form. This isnt a film about love, it isnt a film about anything specific, its a film about trying to exist when everything and everyone is saying you shouldnt.

Where Punch-Drunk Love and Hard Eight follow a characters unravelling throughout a series of events, The Master is about picking apart an already unravelled and unstable man, testing him and guiding him. It follows Freddie Quill (Joaquin Phoenix), a fresh-out-the-uniform WW2 veteran, who, after struggling to reconvene in society finds The Cause, a pseudo-religion/cult (some believe this film is based on the creation of Scientology) who welcome him into their practice. Quill meets the leader of the practice, Lancaster Dodd, or The Master (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and through this an odd relationship forms.

Through weird therapeutic exercises that seem to force Freddie to confront himself, it allows him to spill his psyche and locate the causes of his current attitudes. The Master is a very complex film and a first viewing can leave the viewer overwhelmed and a little confused; it is definitely one of PTAs more daunting films in terms of its thematic punches and odd occurrences. Joaquin Pheonix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are both fantastic, diving so deep into their character pulling out memorable sequences and conversations.

All of Paul Thomas Anderson's films are excellent, which is a very hard thing to pull off. Inherent Vice harkens neo-noir from the 1970s with a stylish PTA finish; Magnolia turns narrative standard on its head; Boogie Nights makes an intense and emotional crime drama out of the 70s porn scene and There Will Be Blood is probably the finest period drama of this decade.

Hard Eight is available on Netflix now, and Phantom Threads is due to be released at the end of the year.
T he Catalonian summer offers a range of modern musical and cultural festivals. Meet the most famous of artists, see human towers, take to the skies in air balloons, be dazzled by fireworks and more...

One of the most popular festivals on the Costa Brava is the Cap Roig Festival One of the most popular festivals on the Costa Brava is the, which offers a series of outdoor concerts in an auditorium of the botanical Jardins de Cap Roig. The festival takes places from the 7th July to the 22nd August this year and features incredible artists such as Passenger, Wilco, Norah Jones + The Candles and Jason Derulo. Not only can you get your musical fix at this festival, but also the opportunity to wine and dine at Michelin starred restaurants.

Barcelonas Gracia Festival, If youre looking for something a bit more culturally historical, check outwhich is running throughout August 2017. The festival involves all of the towns of Catalonia, which each celebrate in honour of their patron saints with a host of dancing, parades, music and incredible firework shows. This year is set to be extra special as the festivals 200th anniversary which means even more beautiful hand-crafted street decorations and activities including huge human towers.

European Balloon Festival For a truly magical experience in Catalonia, you can take to the skies at Thein the small town of Igualada, which is running from the 5th to the 9th of July this year. Travellers can enjoy the spectacle of over 50 hot air balloons circling the town and even competing in races! Bike riding, sumo wrestling and juggling workshops... they've got it all! Stay long into the night to witness the air balloons filled with coloured lights and surrounded by beautiful firework displays.

ViJazz Penedes Festival For the more sophisticated traveller, thecombines renowned wines of the Penedes region with the soft melodies of acclaimed jazz music. There are over 300 types of wine and cava from 40 different Penedes cellars showcased at the festival that visitors can enjoy.

As well as this, the wine fair offers tasting and pairing sessions run by renowned wine experts and sommeliers. You can also see some of the biggest names in jazz music including James Brown and Joan Chamorro play free concerts at historical sites in the region.

Havanera Festival If youre more of a performer than a listener, thetakes place on 1st July 2017 and gives attendees the chance to sing the havanera music with Cuban fishermen. This style of music is part of the tradition that created Tango and was brought to the Costa Brava in the 19th Century by repatriates. With a beautiful backdrop of white houses and small fishing ports, the village of Calella is the perfect setting to unwind with the havanera music and a glass of flambeed rum known as rom cremat.

International Costa Brava Fireworks Also, each summer, the Costa Brava town of Blanes plays host to theContest. Set during the Festa Major de Santa Ana de Blases, the festival is in honour of the town's patron saint and sees pyrotechnics companies from around the world compete to put on the most innovative and dazzling fireworks display. The 2017 line-up will host 16 companies who will entertain crowds each evening with amazing shows of light and sound along the Blanes seafront, with shows attempting to impress judges across two categories  'popular' and 'technical'.

Long story short, whatever your plans, make sure you have room for a trip to Catalonia. It is sure to bring culture, colour and flavour to your summer!
The 26th June marks an astounding 20 years since the release of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.

Celebrate the milestone of this wildly successful book and movie franchise with eight attractions spread throughout England. Each one will transport you to the wondrous and magical land of Harry Potter, with Butterbeer and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans galore.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour  The Making of Harry Potter

If the unique wizarding wardrobes are of interest to you then take yourself to Hertfordshire and marvel at many of the 25,000 items of clothing unveiled from the 21st July to the 4th September.

Finally understand where the fabulous designs for robes, gowns and remarkable disguises came from by following the intricate journey that displays everything from initial sketch to finished costume.

You will be one of the first group of people to see the narrative inspired outfits for the rather glamorous Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter, such as the patterned leather suit that matched the scales of dragons used in the TriWizard tournament.

Hero costumes play the most thrilling part of the display, any true HP fan will without-a-doubt recognise every single outfit worn by Harry, Ron or Hermione.

Northumberland Alnwick Castle  Broomstick Lessons

For all those who wished desperately that flying lessons would replace P.E, here is your chance to finally try the mesmerising sport.

Experience the thrill of flying in the very spot that Harry Potter had his first lesson with the wise advice of Alnwicks resident wizarding professor. A 20-minute session is free with admission and available until the 29th October, so get to it!

British Library Exhibition  Harry Potter: A History of Magic

All the ins and outs of the Potterverse will be available to muggles from the 20th October to the 28th February 2018.

To really get your inquisitive nose twitching the exhibition will include previously unseen material from JK Rowling and Bloomsbury, alongside the British Librarys own collection of magical wizarding books.

Just remember to leave the books where you found them; magical books are not as forgiving as muggle ones. Only 16 for adults and between 5 and 11 for concessions.

Enigma Quests London  Virtual trip to Hogwarts

If you are still awaiting your letter, dont worry, your time has come! Enigma Quest is an escape game with a magical twist; your very own virtual trip to Hogwarts. Hone your magical skillset with obstacles and tests worthy of Harry Potter himself. Three to five of you can experience the one hour game, so take your friends and make it a truly realistic visit.

Its not extortionate either, only 90 for three of you to test if your bravery is on a par with Potters.

Enigma Quest is only a 10-minute walk from Leadenhall Market, a Harry Potter filming location - so there is plenty to do if you want to make a day of it!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  The Sequel

Obviously the last Harry Potter film couldnt be the end. The play, first released in script form, is presented in two parts which you can see either on the same day or over two consecutive days.

The play is a completely original new story written by JK Rowling, Jack Throne and John Tiffany, which unveils fresh storylines and new characters, beginning from the last section of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Harry is still there of course, now the overworked Head of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry for Magic. His three children have grown up in a magical house much different to Harrys childhood, but they still face challenges.

Most of the play is set on Albus, the middle childs, trials and difficulties as a child of the extraordinary and legendary Harry Potter.

Tickets for this enchanting play are in high demand: they are on sale until 22nd July 2018 and cost from 15 to 70 for both parts.

Oxford self-guided tour  Follow in Harrys footsteps

Oxford saw a great deal of otherworldly activity during the filming of this spellbinding franchise.

Christ Church College may look familiar as it is was the inspiration for the Hogwarts Great Hall and had a very popular staircase that was used many times throughout filming, specifically when Professor McGonagall meets the first years at the beginning of the Philosophers Stone.

When the main characters are such ragamuffins as Potter, Granger and Weasley then a notable amount of each film will be spent in the Hogwarts Infirmary, for which the Divinity School at Bodleian Library was used.

Finally finish your tour with a wander around the cloisters at New College where, to everyones delight, MadEye Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret.

Brit Movie Tours - Harry Potter Experience

The grandest tour of them all is available. The ultimate Harry Potter experience is now a two day tour led by a specialist in the books, films and history of locations. What more could you want?

Your enchanting adventure begins in Lacock village in Wiltshire. This is the infamous location of Professor Slughorn house and Godrics Hollow, where he who shall not be named murdered Harrys parents.

Gloucester Cathedral is next on the list, where the cosy Gryffindor Common Room was brought to life, followed by a sneak peek at the Dursleys Home.

The second day is even more packed than the first, beginning with a trip to Oxford to check out all the filming locations previously mentioned and ending at the Warner Bros Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter.

This one of a kind trip costs 1,800 for two people and 1,900 for four people, so definitely try to get a gang together. It sounds rather expensive, but it is definitely worth splashing out as that includes the Professional guide that you can quiz continuously, an air-conditioned vehicle and the entry to Warner Bros Studio Tour.

Platform 9  King's Cross London  Shop

Finally, no true Harry Potter fan can prove their allegiance to the magical world without their own Hogwarts Scarf. Whether you're courageous or cunning the Potter Shop at Platform 9  is where you can buy it, alongside your wand and any other irresistible merchandise you can see.

The shop is located at King's Cross, so you can pretend youre about to board the Hogwarts Express and of course get a photo of yourself about to crash through a wall with a trolley. The assistant will even hold the scarf back to make it look like youre running.
Travelling just isn't the same anymore if you don't plaster photos of your trip onto your social medias. With over 95 million images shared to Instagram every day, the popularity of image sharing has reached new heights and it is becoming easier than ever to pinpoint travellers favourite locations.

TravelBird Travel aggregatorhave compiled a list of the 470 most instagrammed tourist hotspots in the world and have ranked the attractions based on the number of tags they have received.

So add these iconic attractions to your bucket list and get tagging.

10. Oktoberfest, Germany

The beer event of the year attracts over 7 million people over the 16 days and has been tagged in 2,252,885 Instagram snaps. You can expect to see some people looking Wurst for wear scrolling through these images.

9. Notre-Dame, France

One of two Parisian landmarks to feature on this list, the Notre-Dame cathedral attracts millions of religious and non-religious travellers each year and has featured in 2,571,129 Instagram posts.

Practice run... A post shared by Rick Robbins (@whitepinerick) on Jun 20, 2017 at 2:08pm PDT

Do one thing that scares you #notredame #paris A post shared by ismail gurel (@igurel) on Jun 20, 2017 at 4:07am PDT

8. Times Square, New York, USA

No trip to New York is complete without visiting Times Square and unsurprisingly the iconic bright lights of NYC have been shared on Instagram 2,560,272 times.

Naked Cowboy is in the house! Times Square vibes #nakedcowboy #timesquare #timesquarenyc A post shared by New York Live with Mickey (@mickmicknyc) on Jun 20, 2017 at 12:58pm PDT

#usa #nyc #newyork #timesquare #night #view #bestsummerever #inlove A post shared by Aleksandra Jaskulska (@oolcis) on Jun 20, 2017 at 10:03am PDT

7. Big Ben, London, UK

Londons most iconic landmark stands at number 7 on this list and has been tagged in 2,561,617 Instagram photos.

Missing this view today My beautiful London and one of my favorite views Where's your favorite spot to be? A post shared by Sharing Reviews (@online.reviews) on Jun 20, 2017 at 5:34am PDT



6. Las Vegas Strip, Nevada, USA



The vibrant Vegas Strip has featured in 3,653,548 Instagram posts. With scaled-down versions of some of the other attractions on this list, you could kill multiple birds with one iPhone. The vibrant Vegas Strip has featured in 3,653,548 Instagram posts. With scaled-down versions of some of the other attractions on this list, you could kill multiple birds with one iPhone.

#lasvegasstrip #lasvegas #welcomesignlasvegas #sunsets #nevada #blingbling #sunset_ig A post shared by Robyn Towner (@robyntowner) on Jun 20, 2017 at 1:49pm PDT

5. Berlin Wall, Germany



The famous wall that once separated the East and West is today a tourist hotspot which attracts millions of people to take pictures in front of the impressive graffiti. There have been 4,595,501 photos taken and shared on Instagram at the Berlin Wall. The famous wall that once separated the East and West is today a tourist hotspot which attracts millions of people to take pictures in front of the impressive graffiti. There have been 4,595,501 photos taken and shared on Instagram at the Berlin Wall.

New favorite city #berlin #berlinwall #streetart #graffiti #blackandwhite #red #germany #traveling A post shared by Sabina Sedlakova (@sabinasedlakova) on Jun 20, 2017 at 2:07pm PDT



4. South Beach, Florida, USA



Located within Miami Beach, this picture perfect stretch has been featured in many films and television shows. The 24/7 party town has featured in 4,689,396 Instagram posts. Located within Miami Beach, this picture perfect stretch has been featured in many films and television shows. The 24/7 party town has featured in 4,689,396 Instagram posts.

3. Walt Disney World, Florida, USA



Known as the happiest place on Earth, its not surprising that this tourist haven is so high up on the list. Over 5 million pictures have been taken in the theme park on the East Coast of the U.S. Known as the happiest place on Earth, its not surprising that this tourist haven is so high up on the list. Over 5 million pictures have been taken in the theme park on the East Coast of the U.S.

Remembering this beautiful night & running to the Magic Kingdom to capture this sunset! #waltdisneyworld #takemeback A post shared by Disney World Memories (@takeme2disneyworld) on Jun 19, 2017 at 7:36pm PDT

2. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France



This truly iconic structure attracts tourists in their droves with travellers trying to capture the most beautiful snaps they can. The Eiffel Tower appears second on this list and has featured in over 7 million Instagram posts. This truly iconic structure attracts tourists in their droves with travellers trying to capture the most beautiful snaps they can. The Eiffel Tower appears second on this list and has featured in over 7 million Instagram posts.

1. Disneyland, California, USA

Taking the title of the most instagrammed tourist attraction in the world is Disneyland in California, with over 14 million tags. The first Disney park to exist is truly iconic in its own right.

There's a clear reason why I keep coming back to this view. #mickeysfunwheel #covebar #beautiful #sunset A post shared by Carolyn J Randolph (@chasingcarolyn) on Jun 19, 2017 at 8:47pm PDT
Deep down, were all ever so slightly immature  which is why something like a penis-shaped rock is so popular with tourists visiting Norway.

And its also why everyone rallied around the landmark Trollpikken when it was cruelly vandalised.

The famous rock now dislodged (Carina Johansen/AP)

Over the weekend, a mysterious bandit targeted Trollpikken and literally chopped it off from the hill it sat on outside the city of Egersund.

It was discovered cracked, complete with drilling holes in the rock  something that experts say strongly suggests it was cut off on purpose.

raising money When the news broke, activists startedto repair Trollpikken. As of Monday morning, theyd managed to raise 147,010  well on the way to reaching the 200,000 target.

The name Trollpikken roughly translates as The Troll Cock and is a popular hiking spot  particularly considering how hilarious the Instagram pictures you can get out of it are.

And dont worry, because police are launching an investigation into the incident. Tor Helge Stavik of the Sor-Vest Police District told TV2: This type of violation of the law carries potential punishment of up to six years in prison.

For now, well guiltily giggle over a slew of immature jokes about how Trollpikken will rise again
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Watertown landowners will be involved in new Corps flood-control study

After 30 years, a new flood control feasibility study will include the input of landowners and supply a multitude of options other than a dry dam.
It's our annual Labour Weekend tradition ...The Sound 'Hall Of Fame' Countdown... Where we honor the greatest 500 songs of all time as voted by you.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Cloudy with occasional rain during the afternoon. High 63F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Rain. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 53F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.
The last days of the Newfie Pride

There were many nights he didnt sleep. The numbers and scenarios turned over and over in his mind, making rest impossible. Id get up two, three oclock in the morning, night after night, come out to the kitchen table and work the numbers every ...
Job Title: Team Assistant

Organization: World Bank

Duty Station: Kampala,

Uganda

Reports to: Executive

Assistant

Job #: 171284

About World Bank:

The World Bank Group is one of the worlds largest sources of funding

and knowledge for developing countries. It uses financial resources and

extensive experience to help our client countries to reduce poverty, increase

economic growth, and improve quality of life. To ensure that countries can

access the best global expertise and help generate cutting-edge knowledge, the

World Bank Group is constantly seeking to improve the way it works. Key

priorities include delivering measurable results, promoting openness and

transparency in development, and improving access to development information

and data.

Job Summary: The Team

Assistant will provide the World Bank Country Office in Kampala, Uganda with

administrative and client support to the Operational Staff. The job implies

frequent interaction with other institutional units, staff in other locations

(locally and internationally), Government officials, consultants and external

organizations.

Key Duties and

Responsibilities: The Team

Assistants duties and accountabilities include, but are not limited to, the

following:

Operational and administrative support:

Use desktop processing skills to produce

complex texts, reports, presentations, charts, figures, graphs, etc.,

according to World Bank format and distribution.

Collect and input data provided by Task

Team Leaders into the central database, including processing new project

status reports.

Stay abreast of the Organizations

directives and ensure effective processing of all project documents.

The Team Assistant will draft

correspondence (standard letters, memos, faxes, etc.) conforming to the

Organizations regional standards, using proper grammar, punctuation and

style and proofread materials;

Draft minutes of meetings and provide

assistance in editing large documents.

Maintain up-to-date unit project files

(both paper and electronic) and retrieve data from various sources and

compile these for use by the Country Manager and/or the Country Management

Unit (CMU).

Information Management and Client interaction:

Answer internal and external queries on

the assigned portfolio or, as necessary, take accurate and comprehensive

telephone messages, and route them to appropriate persons to handle.

Maintain current distribution lists,

phone/address lists of project/product contacts, and distribute documents

for the team.

Co-ordinate with service units, and liaise

frequently with team members both in Washington and in the Country Office;



Keenly track and report on appropriate

aspects of the Teams operational activities

Time management & Logistics planning:

Co-ordinate time management and schedules,

taking current and future priorities into account, anticipate and monitor

changes, and communicate the information;

Track assigned tasks/project steps/

timetables using modern office management technologies, coordinate with

relevant staff, provide assistance and/or information on project-related

matters;

Solve non-routine problems creatively and

resourcefully and assist in preparation and logistical planning for

various events, e.g. conferences, workshops, negotiations, board

presentation and signing, etc.

Other Duties:

Serve as a back-up to other staff and Task

Team Assistants on project and administrative tasks.

Occasionally perform Analytical tasks as

may be requested by the Team Leader.



Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:

The applicant for the World Bank Team

Assistant t job placement should hold a Diploma in Secretarial studies or

an equivalent.

At least two years of administrative

experience in a busy office environment.

Excellent interpersonal and communication

skills, and ability to interact tactfully with people of all levels.

Demonstrable team spirit and strong desire

to actively contribute to a Banks objectives.

Willingness and ability to assist in any

ad-hoc tasks that may come up.

Excellent word and data processing skills

(Word, Excel, Lotus Notes, etc.)

Ability to pass relevant Bank Group test

at time of recruitment (English language).

Excellent command of written and spoken

English

Personal Competencies:

Deliver Results for Clients :

Responds to client requests in a timely manner. Demonstrates positive attitude and

responsiveness to client requests and has basic understanding of the role

of the department and of the larger organization. Is able to execute tasks and complete

requests in a consistent and timely manner

Collaborate Within Teams and Across

Boundaries: Works cooperatively and displays an open, helpful

attitude toward others and approaches conflicts as common problems to be

solved. Values the importance of

others views and is aware of impact of work on larger World Bank Group.

Shows positive, constructive attitude:

Shows interest in and helps to solve routine problems. Considers own behavior in context of

World Bank Groups values and mission and adapts to changing circumstances

Seeks opportunities to grow and further

develop own capabilities: Shows interest in knowledge, learning,

and enhancing own skills. Interacts

positively with others for the exchange of information and ideas and

receives and incorporates feedback from others.

Makes decisions appropriate to scope of

job: Seeks assistance and guidance from others where appropriate

and uses own judgment to make timely and sound decisions

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested candidates who wish to join the

World Bank in the aforementioned capacity are encouraged to send their

applications Online by reviewing details at the web link below and clicking

Apply Now on getting a broader insight of vacancy.

th July

2017 Deadline: 12July2017
Organization: United Nations

Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS)

Duty Station: Moroto, Uganda

Reports to: Security Adviser

(SA) or Deputy Security Adviser (DSA)

Job ID: 10650

About UNDP:

The United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) is

responsible for providing leadership, operational support and oversight of the

security management system to enable the safest and most efficient conduct of

the programmes and activities of the United Nations System



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:

The Radio Operator will manage an

efficient emergency coordination center

Operate VHF & HF radios, sat-phones

and maintain daily radio and operations log book.

Conduct radio checks as requested by the

UN security operations.

Act quickly in the event of an emergency

and contact relevant authorities to contain and help solve critical

incidents.

The jobholder also coordinates and

follows-up with QRF for incident occurrences

Obtain security clearance for trips to and

from UN operational areas country-wide

Record and track UN vehicles and staff

movements during missions

Periodically check and maintain an updated

list of important contacts, agency contacts, SMT, OMT, Warden list and

contacts etc

Prepare and maintain updated UN

information boards

Maintain a detailed incident log book for

the daily security reports

Gather, compile and forward to the

Security Officers and Data Assistant security information for regular

reports

The jobholder will keep stock of radio

room equipment

Report all faults relating to the

efficient functioning of the Radio room

Receive and place incoming and outgoing

telephone calls and faxes

Keeps a register of office phone

utilization

Prepare and conduct emergency

telecommunications briefing for new staff

Be flexible to replace colleagues while on

leave within and outside duty station

Perform any other tasks as may be assigned

from time to time.



Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:

The ideal applicant for the United Nations

Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) Radio Operator job placement

should have completed Secondary School Education with both O and A

level certificates

At least two years of experience in telex,

facsimile and radio operations as well as a certificate in Radio

Communications.

Personal Competencies:

Commitment to the ideals of the United

Nations Charter and the Organizations core values  Professionalism,

Integrity and Respect for Diversity

Planning and Organizing:

Demonstrated ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and

monitor his/her own work plan with minimum supervision. Ability to work

under pressure or in crisis situations. Availability to travel within the

area of responsibility.

Creativity: Ability to actively

seek to improve services, offer new and different options to solve

problems/meet client needs, and promote and persuade others to consider

new ideas

Teamwork: Proven interpersonal

skills and the ability to listen and work in a multi-cultural,

multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity

Communication: Proven and

sustained communication (verbal and written) skills.

NB: The United Nations

does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (Application, interview

meeting, processing, or training). The United Nations does not concern itself

with information on applicants bank accounts.

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested candidates who so desire to join

the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) in the

aforementioned capacity should endeavor to Apply Online by Clicking on the link

below. Please further review job requirements and if competent Click Apply Now.

th July 2017 Deadline: 5July 2017
US arms maker Lockheed Martin Corp has expressed optimism for its partnership with Tata Advanced Systems to build F-16 fighter jets, saying that if selected, the deal has the potential to generate economic benefit and jobs in the US and India.

A statement by Marillyn Hewson, chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, following her meeting with visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi here, said, The meeting with Prime Minister Modi today was very productive and I appreciated the opportunity to discuss ways we can strengthen the ties between our two countries.

Lockheed Martin has a strong history of working in partnership with Indian government and industry to deliver products and technologies that support national security for India and the region, while generating economic benefit and jobs in the US and India, the statement added.

It said that the meeting was a great opportunity to highlight the recently announced partnership with Tata Advanced Systems to offer the F-16 to meet India's multi-role fighter jet mission.

The F-16 is a combat-proven, multi-role fighter that will provide the Indian military with enhanced capabilities and foster greater collaboration with the US forces.

According to the statement, if selected, the partnership with Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems to build the F-16 in India will support the advancement of Indian manufacturing expertise while also generating new manufacturing and engineering jobs in the US.

The partnership was recently announced ahead of Prime Minister's state visit to the United States.

The deal was signed on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show.

If they win the contract, Lockheed Martin will shift its manufacturing base from Texas to India. They believe there is an export potential of $15 billion in this region apart from the IAF contract.

Apart from full service for the F-16s, Tata will also be responsible for all upgrades on the aircraft. The F-16s will be manufactured exclusively in India if this approx. $2 billion deal goes through.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India has now emerged as a business-friendly destination, more so with the upcoming implementation of landmark GST beginning next month, while asking CEOs of top US companies to invest in the country.

Modi, during his meeting with the CEOs of top 20 American firms, also said India attracted the largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) as a result of the NDA government's policies in the last three years.

In the round table interaction with the group that included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon, he spoke about the reforms undertaken by his government, saying they numbered over 7,000, and were aimed at "ease of (doing) business and minimum government, maximum governance."

"Interacted with top CEOs. We held extensive discussions on opportunities in India," Modi tweeted after the meeting that lasted for about 90 minutes.

He said the world is now focused on India's economy, especially in areas like manufacturing, trade, commerce, and people-to-people contact, due to a young population and a rising middle-class.

"The whole world is looking at India. 7,000 reforms alone by GOI for ease of (doing) business and minimum government, maximum governance," Gopal Bagley, spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, quoted the prime minister as saying.

India's growth presents a win-win partnership for the country and the US, and American companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that, Modi told the CEOs.

"If America becomes stronger, India will be a natural beneficiary," he said.

On the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Modi said its implementation is a complex task that may well turn out to be "a subject of studies in US business schools."

"This shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly," he said.

During the interaction at the Willard Hotel, where he is staying, Modi gave a patient hearing to the wish-list of the top bosses.

The Prime Minister pointed out opportunities for tourism through developing hotels in "PPP (public private partnership) model" at 500 railway stations, Baglay said.

Modi said his government has focused on improving the quality of life of the people, and added that working towards this end requires a global partnership.

Therefore, he added, India is working on principles like 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance', efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.

"In concluding remarks, PM stresses imp of coopn 4 start up, innovation &tapping huge intellectual, edu & vocational training potential in India," Baglay tweeted.

The CEOs lauded the prime minister's initiatives of demonetisation and digitisation of economy and the GST, the spokesman said.

The CEOs also expressed support for 'Make in India', 'Digital India', 'Start Up India' and other flagship initiatives of the government.

According to Indian officials present at the meeting, several CEOs showed willingness to be partners in skill development and education initiatives in India. They also mentioned social initiatives being undertaken by their companies in India in women empowerment, digital technology, education and food processing.

Infrastructure, defence manufacturing and energy security also came up for discussion during the meeting.

"CEOs applaud reform measures and steps taken by the government to improve ease of doing business," Baglay tweeted.

"CEOs outline priorities in India and suggestions for mutually beneficial partnerships in line with inclusive growth," he said, adding that they reaffirmed their commitment to growing with India and attested to its attractiveness as an FDI destination.

Pichai told reporters after the meeting that they were excited about investing in India.

Praising the steps being taken by the Indian government in the last three years, he said the US companies are looking forward to the roll out of the GST.

"Good," said Cook as he emerged out of the meeting.

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) president Mukesh Aghi said the CEOs praised the reforms being undertaken by the prime minister and underscore his efforts to make India a business-friendly destination.

Responding to a question, Aghi said the H-1B visa issue was not discussed at the meeting.

Among other CEOs present at the meeting were Shantanu Narayen from Adobe, Ajay Banga from Mastercard, David Farr from Emerson, Doug McMillon from Walmart, and Punit Renjen from Deloitte Global, Jim Umpleby from Caterpillar, Alex Gorsky from Johnson and Johnson, Jamie Dimon from JP Morgan Chase, and Marillyn Hewson from Lockheed Martin. USIBC president Aghi was also present.

Posting a picture of the prime minister with the CEOs on Twitter, Bagley said, "strengthening the Indo-US economic partnership".

In a recent policy document, USIBC said the US-India commercial and strategic relationship supports global security, promotes economic growth and creates jobs for both countries and the global economy.

"Today, as we witness a paradigm shift in the erstwhile global order, an opportunity has emerged for both countries to set new standards in bilateral ties that will be bound by their shared values," USIBC said.

Noting that US-India trade has tripled over the last decade, reaching a historic high of nearly $110 billion in 2015, USIBC said there is an opportunity for both the countries to also sync their regulatory and standards system to increase trade and investment.

In a separate statement, Jagdip Ahluwalia, executive director of Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston, said the United States and India share a very symbiotic relationship, and Modi's first face-to-face visit with Donald Trump is important to strengthen the relationship between the two.

"On behalf of Houston, the energy capital of the world and home of the world's largest Medical Center the IACCGH, and the strong Indian American community hope to welcome Prime Minister Modi to Houston in the not too distant future, Ahluwalia said.
Leading US congressmen have called on President Donald Trump to press Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove barriers to US trade and investment, ahead of their first meeting today.

The lawmakers, from the Republican and Democratic parties, said in a letter to Trump that high-level engagement with India had failed to eliminate major trade and investment barriers and had not deterred India from imposing new ones.

"Many sectors of the Indian economy remain highly and unjustifiably protected, and India continues to be a difficult place for American companies to do business," they wrote, noting that a 2017 World Bank report ranked India 130th out of 190 countries for ease of doing business.

The lawmakersRepublican House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady and Ranking Member Richard Neal, and Republican Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and Ranking Member Ron Wydensaid the bilateral economic relationship "severely underperforms" as a result of India's failure to enact market-based reforms.

They said the barriers covered multiple sectors and included high tariffs, inadequate protection of intellectual property rights, and inconsistent and non-transparent licensing and regulatory practices.

Among US goods affected were solar and information technology products, telecommunications equipment and biotechnology products, they said.

The lawmakers also pointed to limitations on foreign participation in professional services, restrictive foreign equity caps for financial, retail, and other major services sectors and barriers to digital trade and internet services.

"The list is long and growing," they said.

Meanwhile, Modi met with about 20 leading US CEOs in Washington on Sunday, before his first meeting with Trump on Monday at the White House, when he will seek to revitalize ties that have appeared to drift, in spite of the priority they were afforded under former President Barack Obama.

While progress is expected in defense trade and cooperation, Trump, who campaigned on an "America First" platform has been irritated by the growing US trade deficit with India and has called for reform of the H1B visa system that has benefited Indian tech firms.

Other signs of friction have included Trump accusing New Delhi of negotiating unscrupulously at the Paris climate talks to walk away with billions in aid.

Indian officials reject suggestions that Modi's "Make in India" platform is protectionist and complain about the US regulatory process for generic pharmaceuticals and rules on fruit exports to the United States.

They stress the future importance of the huge Indian market to US firms and major growth in areas such as aviation, which will offer significant opportunities for US manufacturers.
In a shift from his routine jobs of handling internal security threats from Kashmir to India's vast coastline and the northeast, Rajiv Jain, Director of Intelligence Bureau, has been asked by the Union government to develop a uniform model for ranking police stations in the country and identify the 10 best police stations.

Besides ranking the police stations, the officers will be honored in the next DGP/ IGPs conference which is addressed by the prime minister and attended by the top police brass in the country.

Over the years, the Union home ministry and the top police brass have been flummoxed over how to improve local policing and make it citizen-friendly. This is an area that has suffered neglect far too long. No solution has been thrown up despite intervention from many quarters.

After an intensive brain storming session with the top police officers in the last few months, the Narendra Modi government has hit upon the idea of recommending the Rajasthan model of ''grading police stations'' to all states and union territories. The home ministry feels that this will inculcate a spirit of competition among the police forces in the country to ensure they are up to the mark as far as crime prevention and prosecution rate are concerned.

"The fact that the issues are being handled at the highest level is ensuring that the state police chiefs and others are on their toes. The police stations need extra attention because they act as platforms for direct interface with the public," said a senior IPS officer explaining that the MHA wants to improve the image of the average Indian policeman.

The home ministry hopes that the system of grading police stations and providing them facilities according to the grading will not only bring healthy competition, but ultimately result in improvement in law and order situation, crime prevention and prosecution rate.

Meanwhile, the DIB has decided to constitute a committee to help him identify the ten best police stations. Simultaneously, attempts are being made by the MHA to inculcate soft skills among police officers as well as the constabulary to polish up the image of the police personnel. The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) has been roped in to assist the police forces to identify domain experts across states to help the police departments in this new exercise.
The Operation Prahar is believed to have shaken the confidence of Naxalites here in the area as, for the first time, security forces have delved deep inside the Naxal core area in Sukma and launched a major offensive against them.

The security forces engaged the Naxalites' first battalion, comprising of top commanders, in Sukma's Tondamarka dense forest areas.

A composite squad of Chhattisgarh Police's Special Task Force, District Reserve Group (DRG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit  CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) began the operation based on inputs about the location of Maoist hideouts in the interiors of Bastar. The 56-hour operation ended on Sunday morning.

P. Sunder Raj, DIG Bastar, told ANI that according to the ground inputs, a large number of Maoists including their senior cadre have been killed. The exact Maoists' casualties will be announced after proper verification.

He said that this was a successful operation and wherein the security forces entered the haven of the Naxalites and gave them a tough fight.

The police officer further said that the anti-Naxal operation continued with full steam despite the monsoon.

We will continue to target the 'weakening' Maoist network, Sunder Raj said.

Section commander Korsa Mahesh, who carried a reward of Rs eight lakh on his head, has been killed in the operation, and a SLR (self loading rifle) was recovered from him.

Abhishek Meena, SP, Sukma, said, For the first time, the joint forces entered deep into the core area of the Maoists where their top commanders operate. Earlier, the security forces suffered heavy losses whenever they tried to enter the area. But, this time the scenario was different and as per reports, many senior Naxalites have been killed in Operation Prahar.

Meena also said that this operation, which was based on impeccable intelligence inputs, has broken the myth of the villagers that nobody can enter deep into the base of the Naxalites.

It's unfortunate that we lost our three jawans, but the Operation Prahar has proved that not only can the Naxalites' base be hit, but the hitting party can return safely, Meena said.

All the jawans are upbeat and want to launch a similar anti-Naxal operation soon, the Sukma SP said.

He added that it is likely that top Naxalite commander Hidma might have been leading around 250 top commanders during the encounter.

Hidma led the first battalion of Naxalites which was targeted in this operation.

The 25-year-old dreaded commander is believed to have launched major attacks on the security forces, like the May 2013 Jeeram Valley attack, in which many top Chhattisgarh Congress leaders were killed, the recent March 11 attack in Sukma in which 25 CRPF personnel were killed, and Dantewada ambush in April 2010 in which about 76 CRPF troopers were killed.

Earlier in the day, Special Director General of Police (Naxal Operations), D.M. Awasthi told ANI that three District Reserve Guard jawans have been killed and five suffered injuries.

Over one dozen Naxalites dead and eight to 10 were injured. It was a 56-hour-long operation. Approximately, 1,500 people participated in this joint operation that ended today. All the corpses could not be brought because of heavy firing. The firing lasted 12 hours approximately. It was the first initiative of its kind. Exact numbers will be received soon, Awasthi said.
In February 2013, the Left Front won 50 of 60 the assembly seats in Tripura. The BJP managed 1.54 per cent vote share49 of its 50 candidates lost deposits. Yet, Amit Shah says the BJP will rule Tripura after assembly elections early next year.

It could be political bluster, but his party men claim the tide has begun to turn. On a two-day visit last month, Shah revved up party machinery in Tripura. He listened intently to local leaders, took notes, and apportioned work to everyone. He ordered that they harry the Manik Sarkar government with charges of corruption and lack of development, and promise seventh pay commission scales if the BJP is voted to power. The state government employees still draw pay based on the fourth pay commission.

We will promise to implement it in the first cabinet meeting, and involve them in agitations. If employees cannot participate, their families can. This way we will reach out to 7 or 8 lakh people, Sunil Deodhar, BJPs Tripura in-charge told THE WEEK. Tripura has 25 lakh voters.

After Shahs visit, the BJP agitated for 15 days for the raise. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be the next visitor to Tripura, to inaugurate a development project and hold a rally. The party has invited its new hindutva poster boy, Yogi Adityanath, to visit the state, as 90 per cent of Other Backward Caste people here belong to his Nath sect. There are 18 Gorakhnath temples here.

Shah is touring all states, to prepare his party for an encore in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He spent two days even in Lakshadweep, which has just one seat. There he met the state in-charge, district in-charge, mandal in-charge and booth in-charge. They were in the same room. Imagine the kind of boost they get, a BJP leader said.

Booth management has been Shahs hallmark. Now he is focusing on 120 Lok Sabha seats, most of them in the south and the north-east. We were defeated in these seats. The strategy is simple. To strengthen the organisation. To understand the problems of these areas and hold agitations. To bring people closer to us and make them aware of 106 schemes run by the Central government, Shah told THE WEEK.

Shah is working on his partys weak statesAssam, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal. He has visited them three times each. Now he is on a tour of 110 days with a set templatehold a roadshow, dine at a dalits house, celebrate the local icons, meet local leaders, meet intellectuals, and address a press conference. He has already visited Telangana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat during this tour since April.

Most of the 120 seats are in south India. To win them, the BJP is engaging with regional outfits, championing local issues and claiming opposition space.

The Dravidian ideology and regionalism are in decline. With Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa fading from the political arena, it is BJPs turn, Murlidhar Rao, general secretary and party in-charge for Tamil Nadu, told THE WEEK.

The BJP has strengthened its hold on the different factions of AIADMK. The longevity of the government in Tamil Nadu depends on the BJPs wishes. Even for superstar Rajnikanths new role as a political figure, the BJP would be pulling the strings, it is claimed.

In Telangana, Rao said, the BJP is claiming the vacant opposition space. The Congress is weak; many of its leaders have joined the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi. In Andhra Pradesh, a shift is happening despite the BJP being an ally of the ruling Telugu Desam. There is no growth [for leaders] in regional parties, which only a national party offers, Rao said.

In poll-bound Gujarat, new caste leaders like Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mavani and Alpesh Thakor can hurt the BJP, if they support the Congress. Shah begs to differ. You take any election prediction or coverage before all state elections in Gujarat. It was said we would lose, but results proved otherwise, he told THE WEEK. Immediately after selecting R.N. Kovind as the candidate for president, Shah went to Gujarat to meet booth workers and open a district office.

In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP is following the Uttar Pradesh template. We are consolidating our presence. We have started four different yatras from four Lok Sabha constituencies, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, who flagged off one of the yatras, told THE WEEK. The CBI case against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh can only help the BJP in the elections.

Shah will next visit Odisha, from July 4 to 6, where the party had recently held its national executive meeting. The PMs image and our relentless attacks on the Biju Janata Dal are working in our favour, BJP general secretary in charge of Odisha, Arun Singh, told THE WEEK. The party got 34 per cent of votes in the local body elections a few months ago.

Though Modi continues to be the most prominent brand for the BJP, it is Shahs military-like precision that works to sustain the wave. To keep the party machinery well oiled, Shah has divided the country into seven zones, where separate coordination meetings are held.

Last year, he asked 12 national leaders to cover three states in four months each. Each Rajya Sabha member of the party was asked to look after a Lok Sabha seat it had lost in 2014. Core groups were set up in all states. They meet every two months and submit a report to him.

Giving an example of his gruelling work style, a leader said, Shah would ask even a booth in-charge about the number of voters in his area. How many votes were cast, and how many were for the BJP? And did the booth in-charge contact voters who did not vote for the BJP? And how many times were they approached? Shah is a taskmaster.

In contrast to Modis rhetorical flourishes, Shah does ruthless plain-speaking, be it in interviews or in rallies or to his party members. Many BJP leaders dread it. He does not soften his words with courtesies.

The BJP has changed a lot after the arrival of the Modi-Shah duo. They have focused on building the organisation. The party turned from cadre-based to mass-based, and programmes were launched to keep the members emotionally attached to the ideology. Nine lakh members were trained in the last one year.

Shahs love for libraries, which he inherited from his grandfather in Mansa, is going strong. At the national executive meeting in Bengaluru in 2015, he announced the building of party offices in all districts, setting up of libraries and e-libraries, and recording of each event conducted by every BJP unit across the country.

To set up offices, land has been bought in 287 of 550 districts where the party didnt have a permanent office. The target is to have offices in all districts by 2019.
CEDAR RAPIDS | Two Mexican citizens and a U.S. citizens who sold identification documents belonging to U.S. citizens pleaded guilty this week in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Ari Hernandez-Chacon, 47, a Mexican citizen illegally residing in Columbus Junction, was convicted of one count of possession with intent to transfer identification documents and one count of aggravated identity theft.

In a plea agreement, Hernandez-Chacon admitted on Feb. 25, 2016, he sold three Social Security cards and three birth certificates to an undercover agent, knowing that the documents belonged to U.S. citizens.

Hernandez-Chacon admitted the identity documents he sold belonged to real people who had no arrest records to avoid problems for the person using the stolen identities.

Magali Marroquin-Garcia, 37, a Mexican citizen illegally residing in Columbus Junction, was convicted of one count of possession with intent to transfer identification documents and one count of aggravated identity theft.

In a plea agreement, Marroquin-Garcia admitted on May 12, 2016, she sold three Social Security cards and three birth certificates to an undercover agent, knowing that the documents belonged to U.S. citizens.

Elba Torres, 56, a U.S. citizen from Bettendorf, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to transfer identification documents and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Man illegally residing in Hampton sent to federal prison HAMPTON | A man from Mexico illegally living in Hampton who stole the identity of a U.S. cit

In a plea agreement, Torres admitted between June 2015 and March 2017, she conspired with Hernandez-Chacon and Marroquin-Garcia to unlawfully sell Social Security cards she knew belonged to U.S. citizens.

Torres sold an undercover agent identification documents, including Social Security cards and birth certificates, on September 1, 2016, September 16, 2016, and November 29, 2016.

Sentencings before U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after presentence reports are prepared.

Hernandez-Chacon and Marroquin-Garcia remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal pending sentencing. Torres remains free on bond previously set.

Hernandez-Chacon, Marroquin-Garcia, and Torres each face a possible maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment on the possession of identification documents count and a mandatory sentence of 2 years imprisonment to be served consecutively on the aggravated identity theft count.

They each also face a $500,000 fine, $200 in special assessments, and 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations.
In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Justice (retired) C.S. Karnan says his fight against corrupt judges will go on, and he will get justiceif not today, tomorrow. Excerpts:

Why were you hiding and not facing the law?

I was not hiding. A legal process was still on against my conviction. [My] mercy petition also is lying with the President of India.

But the Supreme Court wants you behind bars.

That was wrong on the part of the Supreme Court....

Do you maintain your view on the judges whom you called corrupt?

Yes, my view is unchanged.

Are you depressed?

Not at all. I am in good shape. I am eating and doing all jobs.

How did you spend your days while hiding?

I was reading every day.

What were you reading?

I was reading every bit of IPC [Indian Penal Code] and CrPC [Criminal Procedure Code]. Also, I was reading legal documents. I am trying to understand more on the issue.

Are you hopeful that you will get a reprieve?

Yes. My counsel and friends are working hard to convince the government to protect me. I think something would be worked out. The matter will go to Parliament one day. Also, I am hopeful that the president will accept my plea.

How do you say this?

Wait. It will become a historic development in the history of judiciary.

But the Supreme Court said your petition could be heard by the same bench that convicted you.

They are wrong. I was sentenced without any trial.

What would you do now?

First, I will secure bail or suspension of the order, and then I would continue with my fight against corrupt judges. I am not against the court, but some corrupt judges.

What about your plea for presidential clemency?

I have learnt that it is pending with the home ministry. People are seeing how a dalit judge got such a raw deal.

What will you do after the term of your sentence is over?

Same thing I did in the past, but a little differently. I will work as a social activist and expose corrupt judges. I know I would not have the status of a sitting judge anymore.

Are you happy that you were not arrested as a judge?

Yes, I am. They tried so much but they could not. I gave up my security and took a break. The break will continue for some time, and again there will be work for the nation.
(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

The Lakewood Yeshiva Bochru who was held in Russia for a few months and released this past Friday, was given an Aliya on Monday morning at the Satmar Shul in Lakewood. He Bentched Gomel and the Shul broke into singing and dancing after he finished hi Bracha.

Read the full story of his ordeal by clicking here.

(Charles Gross  YWN)
The father of a 12-year-old boy from the Kochav neighborhood of Tel Aviv was worried on Friday when he son failed to return home. It was already after midnight, and when he parents phoned his cellphone, there was no response. They decided to involve police, calling the emergency 100 number to report him missing.

Police arrived at the home in a timely fashion and they were given a description of the missing youth as well as a photo. As they were preparing to begin the search for him, the door opened and in came the missing son. According to the father, he was frightened and surprised. It was almost 2:00AM and to the dads amazement, he learned his son had been detained by police close to their neighborhood.

Speaking to the media, the dad said This is Chelm. One hand is looking for the child while another hand is detaining him and one is unaware of the other. The dad explained to Ynet his son asked police to phone his home to notify his dad but police shut off his phone and prevented him from making contact with his parents.

It was further explained police threatened a group of youths, telling them if one did not volunteer to accept a summons for disturbing the peace, they would all receive one and taken to the police station. The children were afraid of police, as well as their parents. The youth decided to step forward and take the summons for all of them. When he was given it, the summons, he was shocked to learn it was 350 shekels, far more than he expected or could afford. After giving him the summons, he was finally permitted by police to head home.

The dad was angry that police did not permit his son to phone or at the very least, to notify him themselves.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A Jerusalem police spokesman reports three minors are in custody for an attack that took place against a mispallel who left the tziyun of Shimon HaTzaddik on a Shabbos morning. The attack took place on the morning of Shabbos Shelach.

The Arab youths saw the man walking with a tallis on as he was leaving the area after davening.

Police learned that after spotting him, the three crossed the street and began hurling rocks at the victim. The victim began running from the area. police spotted the man running and headed to him, fearing something was wrong. After learning what occurred they headed out in search of the suspects. The victim sustained light injuries.

The suspects were found in the yard of an area home. They were arrested and being charged in a hate attack. They were arraigned and their remand extended until last week. They have since been indicted.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called on Israels attorney general Avichai Mandelblit to open a criminal investigation against Bladna, an Israeli-Arab non-profit organization that she says incites Druse youth against IDF enlistment.

Incitement against IDF enlistment is not only a violation of the law, but harms the cultural fabric and ethos of Israeli society, said Shaked. It is inconceivable that this illegal activity occurs under the noses and with the backing of elected officials.

Shakeds statement came in response to a report released by the Im Tirtzu organization, which claimed that Bladnas anti-enlistment activities were in violation of the law because they targeted Druse youth who are required to serve in the IDF.

According to the report, Arab members of Knesset including Joint List head Ayman Odeh have publicly supported the organization and have participated in their events at recent as April 2017. The report also notes that Bladnas donors include the US-based New Israel Fund and the European Union, which donated nearly 2,000,000 NIS to the group in 2015.

Druse members of Knesset also responded to the report.

I am proud of the members of the Druse community who enlist in the IDF and sanctify the blood covenant that exists between the Druse community and the State of Israel, said Minister of Communications Ayoub Kara.

I will not allow for any organization, whether political or extra-parliamentary, to harm the unique and strong social fabric created over the years by inciting against IDF enlistment.

Yisrael Beitenu MK Hamad Amar, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, pointed to the high percentage of Druse enlistment, calling their loyalty to the state unquestionable.

Not Bladna nor any other organization will be able to uproot the deep and strong connection between the Druse community and the State of Israel, said Amar.

Kulanu MK Akram Hasson also responded to the report by requesting the non-profit registrar to disband Blanda. They will not succeed in stoking the flames of quarrel between brothers, said Hasson.

Chairman of the Subcommittee for Personnel in the IDF, MK (Likud) Amir Ochana, announced his intention to convene an emergency committee session to discuss the findings of the report.

We cannot allow for the haters of Israel to harm the IDF and its soldiers, said Ochana. These despicable individuals are trying to discourage IDF enlistment of the Druse community, which includes the best of our warriors and heroes.

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg emphasized how the New Israel Fund and European governments are trying to brainwash Arab youth against integrating in Israeli society.

It is inconceivable that anti-Israel incitement can penetrate unhindered into Israeli schools, said Peleg. It is important to note how the ones to suffer the most are the Arab youth who are being brainwashed to oppose the society in which they live.

We are calling on the Attorney General to open an investigation against this foreign agent organization, for both inciting the Druse sector against IDF enlistment and for engaging in seditious activity by calling on an entire population of society to oppose the state.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The crisis continues surrounding the hemo-oncology unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital continues, and has even made its way from the court of public opinion to Israels High Court of Justice.

The doctors who resigned from the pediatric bone-marrow unit remain in a stand-off with the Ministry of Health and Hadassah Director-General Prof. Zeev Rothstein.

During the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, 1 Tammuz, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the crisis while the media was present. Following are his remarks pertaining to the crisis: I would like to refer to the crisis at Hadassah. It has gone on far too long. Attempts have been made, also by me, via the Health Minister who has worked tirelessly on the matter, and by others, including the President, to resolve the crisis. These attempts have not succeeded. A motion has been filed with the High Court of Justice, which will convene on Wednesday and we are all awaiting the discussion.

I request that the sides make a final effort, which will not be simple, to restore the status quo ante  so that these tired and sick children will not continue to suffer  and then allow six months or a year to consider matters. If the issue is not resolved with this simple proposal and since the sick children are in a tent in Sachar Park, I have appealed to the court to advance its discussion tomorrow. There is no reason to wait another two days and cause the children unnecessary suffering.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman released his own statement, adding, I join the words of Prime Minister Netanyahu and call on the doctors to return to work, accepting the offer to return to their previous status for an experimental period during which the issues can be weighed towards bringing solution to the suffering of the children.

This is time to get up and exhibit national responsibility for the good of the children and their parents. The Health Ministry, with me at the helm, will do everything to implement the agreement reached due to the efforts of President Rivlin, including meeting the demands of parents and returning to the situation that which existed ahead of the crisis for the good of the children.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Parents of children admitted to the hemo-oncology unit have sent a harshly-worded letter to President Reuven Rivlin informing the president they are launching a hunger strike, explaining that have changed their minds and are unwilling to abide by the comprise reached by him. They are advancing politically on our backs the parents accuse while Health Ministry officials announce a willingness to enter into direct talks. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, 1 Tammuz, called on the doctors to return to their previous posts and use the interim period to reach an agreement for the good of the children.

The children are admitted to the bone-marrow unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem. The dispute surrounds the hospital decision to close the pediatric unit and incorporate it into the adult unit. The doctors who resigned insist this is being done at the expense of the care to the children, citing the unit it too specialized to be a part of the adult unit. Hospital officials maintain the care is what it must be and they would never compromise the care of the children or any patient.

The hospital enjoys the backing of the Health Ministry, with Minister Yaakov Litzman standing firmly behind Hadassah Director-General Prof. Zeev Rothstein.

Shaare Zedek Hospital signaled it would open the pediatric unit, but Litzman was quick to announce he would not permit this to happen. The parents, who side with the doctors who resign, are now stepping up their battle by announcing the hunger strike, citing there is no justification for preventing the opening of the unit at Shaare Zedek, adding for if not, there is no pediatric unit in the capital. The parents add the area is extremely specialize, and there are only about 40 qualified physicians in the entire country today.

Attorney Eliad Shraga, who represents the parents, has taken the case to the High Court on their behalf. The case is on the courts docket for Wednesday, 4 Tammuz.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Japanese air bag maker Takata Corp. is expected to file for bankruptcy protection in Japan and the U.S. on Monday, having been dragged into financial trouble by millions of faulty air bag inflators that can kill or injure people.

The inflators, which fill up air bags in the event of a crash, can explode with too much force and spew metal shrapnel. At least 16 deaths worldwide and more than 180 injuries are blamed on the inflators. They also touched off the largest automotive recall in U.S. history, that began in 2008, with up to 69 million inflators and 42 million vehicles affected. Worldwide, about 100 million inflators are being recalled.

What car owners need to know about the massive recall:

WILL THE RECALLS CONTINUE?

Yes. Automakers are ultimately responsible for the safety of their vehicles, and they have been funding the recalls.

Takatas assets are expected to be sold for $1.6 billion to a rival company, Key Safety Systems, and part of Takata will remain under a different name to make replacement inflators for the recalls. Money from the sale will go to pay claims against Takata, including a court-ordered $850 million that will reimburse automakers for their expenses.

Another $125 million will go to victims and Takata will pay a $25 million fine to the U.S. government. Its not clear yet where the rest of the $1.6 billion will go.

WHATS WRONG WITH THESE AIR BAGS?

Three independent reports concluded that the chemical Takata uses to inflate its air bags  ammonium nitrate  can degrade after long-term exposure to environmental moisture and high temperatures. If the ammonium nitrate degrades substantially, it can cause the inflators to become over-pressurized and rupture during air bag deployment. In the air bags being recalled, Takata didnt use a chemical desiccant, a drying agent that can counteract the effects of moisture.



HOW CAN I FIND OUT IF MY CAR HAS BEEN RECALLED?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a complete list of models covered by current and future Takata recalls. The full list can be found on the agencys website . The governments website also allows drivers search for open recalls . Owners should input the cars vehicle identification number, or VIN, which can be found on the title or registration card, or on the drivers side dash or door jamb. The VIN check page will be updated as automakers announce more recalls.

Cars and trucks made by 19 companies are included in the recall.



WHICH CARS ARE MOST AT RISK?

The government says vehicles younger than six years old arent currently at risk of an air bag inflator rupture even if theyre in a high humidity region, because it takes time for the ammonium nitrate to degrade. But the risk grows as the vehicle ages.



HOW LONG WILL I HAVE TO WAIT FOR A REPLACEMENT?

That varies by model, age of the car and manufacturer. For many models, dealers have ample parts in stock. Yet only about 15.5 million of the 69 million inflators had been replaced as of the end of April.

Parts are not yet available for some models, and other models havent been recalled yet. More recalls are coming as more parts are made. Some Takata replacement inflators will have to be replaced again because dont have the drying agent. Other manufacturers are also supplying replacement air bags.

Remaining recalls are being phased in through the end of 2020. The phases are based on the age of the vehicles and exposure to high humidity and high temperatures. Owners will be notified when there is a remedy available and should get the repair immediately.

Some automakers are offering loaner cars until replacement parts are available.



HOW CAN I SEE IF A USED CAR HAS HAD THE RECALL REPAIR?

Dealers can legally sell used cars without notifying customers about open recalls. The governments VIN search goes back 15 years, so check the NHTSA website. Carfax, which sells vehicle history reports, also lets people check open recalls for free.



SHOULD I DISABLE MY AIR BAG WHILE IM WAITING FOR A REPAIR?

No. If youre in a crash, its far more likely that the air bag will protect you than hurt you. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that front air bags have saved 43,000 lives since they were required in the 1990s.

(AP)
CLEAR LAKE | Two Mason City men have been indicted on federal drug dealing charges following a traffic stop in April that yielded more than a pound of meth, according to police.

Matthew V. Query, 33, and Ronald W. Frank, 30, have each been charged in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

Last week's indictment alleges the two men had been conspiring with each other and other individuals since 2012 to distribute methamphetamine.

Query and Frank were arrested around 10:45 a.m. April 3 during a traffic stop in the 2900 block of Fourth Avenue South in Clear Lake, according to a Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's Office statement.

Deputies say the stop was part of an ongoing drug investigation, in which the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Mason City Police Department and the North Central Iowa Narcotics Task Force provided assistance.

Query and Frank each were charged in Cerro Gordo County District Court with felony possession with intent to deliver meth and a drug tax stamp violation. Frank also was charged with marijuana possession.

Those charges are being dismissed due to the federal indictment, according to court documents.
Why are Republicans struggling mightily to reach a consensus on how to overhaul the nations tax system?

The GOP is supposed to be really good at cutting taxes. President George W. Bush cut taxes. So did President Ronald Reagan, though he also raised them.

Why is President Donald Trump, who has promised the largest tax cut ever, having so much trouble accomplishing one of his main initiatives?

Some questions and answers about why tax overhaul is hard and why Republicans have been unable to reach a consensus.



WHATS THE HOLDUP?

After weeks of private negotiations, the White House and congressional Republicans still dont agree on exactly what they want to accomplish.

House Republican leaders are firm that they want to completely overhaul the tax system for businesses and individuals. They want to make the tax law simpler and more efficient, and they want the changes to endure beyond the next decade.

They want to cut tax rates, but they dont want the changes to add to the federal governments long-term debt. That means Congress would have to eliminate a lot of exemptions, deductions and credits, and probably come up with a new source of revenue.

The White House is all about tax cuts. Administration officials have talked about simplifying the tax system and getting rid of deductions, but have offered few specifics.



WHY NOT JUST CUT TAXES?

A growing number of Republicans say they would rather cut taxes than tackle the difficult task of overhauling the tax system. House Speaker Paul Ryan vehemently opposes this approach.

Heres why:

Republicans are working to pass a tax plan under a procedure that requires only a simple majority in the Senate, preventing Democrats from blocking it. But to use this procedure, the package cannot add to the governments long-term debt.

That means simple tax cuts would have to be temporary, like the ones passed under Bush.

Every expert agrees that temporary reforms will only have a negligible impact on wages and economic growth, said Ryan, R-Wis. Businesses need to have confidence that we will not pull the rug out from under them.



WHY IS RYAN PUSHING FOR A TAX ON IMPORTS?

Ryan is pushing a plan that would increase taxes on imports and cut taxes on exports. Its called a border adjustment tax.

One reason Ryan likes it is because it would raise enough revenue  about $1 trillion over the next decade  to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent without adding to the governments debt.

The tax would provide strong incentives for U.S.-based companies to keep their operations in the United States and perhaps persuade companies to move overseas operations to the U.S.

The tax, however, has no support in the Senate because senators fear it would increase the cost of consumer goods.



HOW WOULD RYANS TAX WORK?

The border adjustment tax is a cash-flow tax in which corporations could deduct business expenses immediately instead of depreciating them over time. But interest on debt would no longer be deductible, though current debt would be grandfathered.

A U.S. company that makes a product and sells it domestically would pay a 20 percent tax on the profit. A U.S. company that makes a product and exports it would pay no taxes on the proceeds from the sale.

Both of these companies could deduct the cost of making their products as a business expense.

The tax is often described as a tax on imports because companies that import goods would also pay the tax, but they could not deduct the cost of imported goods as a business expense.

For example, if a U.S. retailer imports a product from China for $5 and sells it for $10, the retailer would have to pay tax on the entire $10.

If a U.S. retailer buys a domestically-produced good for $5 and sells it for $10, the retailer would only pay tax on the $5 profit.

Retailers that rely on imports hate the proposed tax. U.S. exporters love it.



WHY NOT JUST CUT LOOPHOLES?

A popular idea on Capitol Hill is to cut tax rates for everyone  individuals and corporations  and make up the lost revenue by eliminating special-interest loopholes.

The numbers, however, dont add up.

On the corporate side, if Congress eliminated just about every tax break enjoyed by corporations, it would raise only enough revenue to lower the corporate tax rate to 28.5 percent, according to an analysis by Scott Greenberg, a senior analyst at the conservative Tax Foundation.

Ryan wants to lower the tax rate to 20 percent; Trump wants to lower it to 15 percent.

Greenberg modeled the effects of eliminating 54 different tax breaks enjoyed by corporations, including the widely used domestic production credit and the popular credit for research and development.

If lawmakers are interested in paying for a large corporate rate cut solely by closing corporate loopholes or repealing special preferences, then they will be greatly disappointed, Greenberg wrote.

(AP)
The United States says some demands on Qatar (KUH-tur) by its Mideast neighbors will be very difficult to meet. But the U.S. isnt rejecting the demands outright.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says in a statement that a list of demands from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates includes major areas that provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to a resolution.

Hes calling for Qatar and the other Arab countries to sit together to work through the list.

Tillerson is also calling for a lowering of rhetoric to help ease the tension. He says the U.S. is supporting Kuwaits efforts to mediate.

The demands include shuttering Al-Jazeera and severing ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Tillerson had previously insisted any demands be reasonable and actionable.

(AP)
Israel on Sunday 1 Tammuz retaliated to Syrian rocket fire into the Golan Heights for a second consecutive day. The rocket fire is attributed to spillover from the ongoing civil war in that country.

While there were no reported causalities from Sundays retaliatory strike, Syrian media outlets did report a number of people were killed in Saturdays air force strike.

The IDF on Sunday announced two Syrian artillery positions were targeted along with an ammunitions truck. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the start of the Sunday cabinet meeting announced We are not prepared to accept any spillover or trickle of fire from any front whatsoever. We will respond strongly to any firing at our territory.

After Sundays attacks the Syrian army issued a statement, warning the Israeli enemy of the consequences of continued attacks.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Walla News quoting Syrian media sources, is reporting that a number of people have been killed in a Monday morning 2 Tammuz IDF attack in Quneitra, adding the attack hit a pro-Assad militia post.

The IDF spokesman denies any IDF offensive in Syria today, Monday.

Earlier Monday morning there were reports of additional mortar fire spillover from Syria into the northern Golan Heights. The IDF spokesman stated no siren sounded and it is unware of any mortar shells landing in Israel during the morning hours.

A non-IDF source reports that one round fired in an UNRWA base across the border entered northern Israel. No injuries were caused but it resulted in a brush fire.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Reform Movement officials responded angrily to the cabinet decision to freeze the Kosel arrangement vis-a-vis the egalitarian prayer area.

The cabinet on Sunday, 1 Tammuz, decided it was freezing the current situation in line with the religious status quo and any change will demand cabinet approval. Hence, the planned egalitarian prayer area is on hold indefinitely.

In response, members of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors canceled a dinner scheduled for Monday evening with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

The board is holding its conference in Jerusalem and in light of the cabinets decision, the decision was made in a showing of protest against the cabinets ruling, which many view as surrendering to the chareidim.

It is noted that among organizers of the conference there was disagreement over whether to cancel the dinner or not. It would appear this is a first step of many that are likely to follow determined to pressure PM Netanyahu to move ahead with the egalitarian prayer area as he signaled Reform and Conservative leaders would be the case.

Major contributors affiliated with the Jewish Agency for Israel such as Abe Foxman have expressed anger of the decision made on Sunday, permitting the chareidi parties to dictate policy and preventing the Reform/Conservative foothold at the holy site as they expected would be the case.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Northern district police report that divers on Monday afternoon 2 Tammuz were summoned to begin searching for a missing swimmer. The search resulted in locating his lifeless body in deep water. He was pronounced dead on the scene following resuscitation efforts. He was identified as a resident of Tel Sheva, a Bedouin community in the Negev.

Kinneret Authority officials and police remind the tzibur of basic safety measures.

One should not enter waters off-limits to swimmers and when lifeguards are not on duty.

After the deeper waters for fear of the undercurrent.

It is advised to keep small children out of the water unless accompanied by an adult.

Do not enter the water under the influence of alcohol.

Just a few days ago, the body of another missing swimmer was discovered after several days of searching.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Police spokesman unit)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday, 2 Tammuz, at the Tel Aviv University Cyber Week, made the following remarks showing his commitment to the nations cyber community and its continued advancement:

A few years ago, I decided to establish Israel as one of the five leading cyber powers in the world and I think by all accounts, were there. But, the jury in cyber security is always out. And its a constant challenge.

Cyber security is serious business. Its serious business for two reasons: the first reason is that its a serious and growing threat. And its a growing threat everywhere because everything, every single thing is being digitized. And the distinction between hi-tech and low-tech is rapidly disappearing. And as that happens in one country after another, in one industry after another, in one critical infrastructure after another, and as we enter the world of the internet of things the need for cyber security is growing exponentially.

This is a problem for all governments, not only to protect their military or their security organizations or their critical infrastructure, their businesses and every single organization. How you approach this is something that governments grapple with and we decided to apply a rule that we use in the military when you have a lot of forces scattered in the field and you cant really organize them, you decide: okay, were going that way. And everybody fall in line and we sort of organize ourselves as we move.

Our decision in this case was to create a national cyber defense authority and we are organizing them around the cyber net so that everybody has secure information between the government and the various organizations and the business organizations. We can communicate in a secure way and the parties inside the net can communicate with each other. Not only to respond to attacks but to prevent them, to prevent them by early warning, to prevent them also by guidance, by teaching a systemic doctrine to the extent that you can be systemic in this business. We are experiencing every month dozens of cyber-attacks on the national level. And at any given moment, including right now, there are probably three to five attacks on the national level that emanate from various sources  the usual suspects and a few others.

So we have set up our own system, its constantly evolving, and a 100 or so big companies that have joined and organizations that have joined the cyber net is growing, more will follow, I predict at the end just about everybody will be there because everyone needs it.

And we are ready to cooperate with other countries; we are ready to cooperate with other governments because in general, again with some reservations, were better together.

The second reason why cyber security is a serious business is because its a great business because its growing geometrically, because, forgive me all of you who are in this business, because theres never a permanent solution. Never. Never. Its an endless business. Any of you old enough to remember Mad magazine? Remember Spy vs. Spy? You know, this is Spy vs. Spy except that its done in a very fast pace which is constantly increasing. So, the battle for market share in a fast-growing market is open to anyone, although there are certain requirements and I think certain barriers to entry. But this produces an endless crop of companies.

We in Israel have, I dont know, I havent counted, 600-700 startups and theyre continuously added and weeded out, added and weeded out. This is a fast geometrically rising market and you have to be chess players, except, you have to be speed chess players in this. This is what Israel excels in and this is why its a great advantage today in this business to come from Israel.

[Translated from Hebrew]

I just said that most of the governments, in fact, all of the governments in the world that I come into contact with want cooperation with Israel on hi-tech and just about every one of them wants cooperation with us on cyber technology and cyber security technology and of course, this is going to come to full expression in the upcoming visit of the Prime Minister of India, my friend, Narendra Modi, whos coming here in a few days. We look forward to receiving him.

This is an expression of the change in Israels status. There used to be a thing called the Arab boycott, remember that? Well, thats dissipated for many, many reasons, strategic and others.

But the prominence of Israel in the technological field and in the cyber field have made Israeli companies very, very attractive. So, because we have a lot of speed chess players, because we have hundreds of startups, because we have demonstrable success in providing solutions in this rapidly changing sphere, Israel has become an attractive target for cyber security investment, and I think if I tally it roughly as we can see, in 2016 we have about 20% of the global private cyber security investment around the world. The fact that youre here in this conference means that you recognize that simple fact.

So here is the end of my brief speech. Cyber security is serious business. Its a serious threat and its a big business.

And I want to thank you all for coming to do cyber business here in Israel.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. whose meetings with Trump associates have attracted intense scrutiny and apparently forced at least one cabinet member from his job, is reportedly being recalled to Moscow.

Kislyak had been expected to depart the nations capital, but news outlets had previously reported that he was bound for a new post at the United Nations in New York City. On Sunday Buzzfeed News reported that Kislyak was instead recalled home.

His expected departure comes amid multiple investigations, including by the FBI, into Russias meddling in the 2016 election and the Kremlins potential ties to the Trump team. The ambassador, himself, has been dubbed the most radioactive man in Washington, in the wake of his meetings with President Donald Trump and members of the presidents team.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner each had previously undisclosed meetings with the ambassador.

The FBI and congressional committees have focused particular attention on a December meeting involving Kislyak, Flynn and Kushner.

After that meeting and others came to light, Flynn stepped down from his post as national security adviser, and Sessions recused himself from involvement in the FBIs investigation into Russian election interference.

READ MORE U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
Trinity Lutheran Church in Missouri applied for a state grant to fix up its pre-school playground. The State of Missouri has a program that provides rubber from recycled tires to cover play areas like Trinity Lutherans. Missouri declined the grant because of a state constitutional provision that no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, or denomination of religion. Missouri is one of thirty-nine states with similar constitutional restrictions, which are referred to as Blaine Amendments. Agudath Israel has fought against these constrictions for decades.

Trinity Lutheran v. Comer asks whether Missouri can exclude religious institutions from otherwise secular and neutral aid programs under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The courts decision will play a key role in many of Agudath Israels legislative initiatives, and could pave the way for more children to be able to access governmental for school choice and in other areas.

In response to todays ruling, Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israels Vice President for federal affairs and Washington director, issued the following statement:

Todays Supreme Court opinion in Trinity Lutheran is one of the most significant rulings on religious liberty in many generations, and it bodes well for the future in providing a full measure of equality for American persons and institutions of faith. It is Agudath Israel of Americas hope and belief that the ruling will have broad effect across our nation, particularly in states that have Blaine Amendments, and will find widespread application to many areas, including school choice and security grant programs, that are of vital interest to the Orthodox Jewish community.

Agudath Israel has fought for decades against Blaine Amendments, which represent a dark cloud over our nations history. They are debilitating provisions born of bigotry specifically targeting religion and its adherents. That they have been allowed to remain in force in our day is an explicit endorsement of this despicable prejudice. The Courts decision, once and for all, rejects this hostility toward religion and the religious, and cannot help but seriously undermine and limit the scope and application of these Blaine provisions.

The unjust and absurd consequences of Blaine Amendments are well demonstrated by the Trinity Lutheran case. To prohibit religious institutions  and only religious because they were religious institutions  from participating in programs that help ensure the health and safety of schoolchildren as they play in playgrounds is a stark and dangerous departure from our law and an extreme that shows the extent of this unmasked hostility.

The Supreme Court has affirmed loudly, at this time when religion is under attack from many different quarters, that religion qua religion may not, under our Constitution, be segregated out and suffer discrimination in American public life. Agudath Israel looks forward to, and will continue to fight for, a future where all Americans are entitled to enjoy the benefits of full and equal participation in the services and benevolence our government offers to it citizens.

(YWN Headquarters  NYC)
In a groundbreaking victory upholding the constitutional right to freedom of religion, a New Jersey judge dismissed a slander and defamation lawsuit against a rabbi who told congregants to avoid all contact with a person who was found to be msarev bdin by a Beis Din.

The plaintiff in the case, which was brought to New Jersey Superior Court in December 2016, had been going through a difficult divorce when he was summoned to a Din Torah. The plaintiff ignored the hazmana, prompting the Beis Din to issue a seruv labeling him as being in contempt of court, but despite the associated sanctions, the plaintiff continued to come to shul as before.

Unsure how to interact with a fellow congregant who had been officially classified as msarev bdin, members of the shul asked the Rav to clarify the halachically appropriate way to handle the situation. The Rav advised them that, al pi halacha, they were not permitted to speak to the plaintiff, do business with him or associate with him in any way, and having been given a psak by their Rav, the congregants followed his directive.

Several years later it was the Rav who found himself summoned to legal proceedings as the husband in the divorce case filed suit against him in secular court, charging him with defamation and slander. According to the plaintiff, the Ravs instructions to his congregants had caused him tremendous harm, both personally and professionally. Unsure how to proceed, the Rav called the Agudahs New Jersey office whose legal services division put him in contact with attorney Ronald Coleman, a partner with the firm of Archer & Greiner.

Mr. Coleman agreed to represent the Rav pro bono and succeeded in convincing the judge that the Ravs actions were protected under the constitutions First Amendment. The case was dismissed, affirming an important rule of law allowing rabbonim to carry out their religious duties without fear of retribution and affirming the right of Beis Din to issue a seruv, with all of its associated consequences, against a recalcitrant husband.

We are gratified the judge did not hesitate to address explicitly the important First Amendment issue raised in the claim against the rabbi, said Mr. Coleman.  In reaffirming the rule that secular courts have no jurisdiction over a Ravs conduct as a congregational leader, the court strengthened the rule of law, of which freedom of religion is a pillar under the Constitution.

Rabbi Avi Schnall, Director, Agudath Israel of Americas New Jersey Region, said, We are very grateful to attorney Ron Coleman for his willingness to defend the rav in this case. This case does more than affirm a Ravs first amendment right; it empowers Rabbonim to lead their Kehilas and Batei Din to issue a psak without the fear of being litigated.

(YWN Headquarters  NYC)
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On hearing the detail of Theresa Mays deal with the DUP, one couldnt but help think of the American politician Everett Dirksen. The budget disciplinarian famously declared: A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon youre talking real money.

One must conclude that there is a price worth paying to keep Jeremy Corbyn away from the money tree of government.

But the Tories have to be careful that they dont sacrifice the financial credibility built under Cameron-Osborne.

Done deal: Theresa Mays agreement with the DUP is littered with fiscal pitfalls

All of Philip Hammonds efforts so far to continue with the process of balancing the budget and bringing down Britains national debt of 1.7 trillion have failed.

The Chancellors Budget idea of making the self-employed pay more National Insurance had to be withdrawn, leaving him and the Prime Minister with egg all over their faces. His effort to increase the tax on dividend income was lost in the final bargaining among parties before Parliament dissolved before the election.

The DUP deal is littered with fiscal pitfalls. The Barnett formula, which sets the fiscal settlement for Scotland, is unaffected by the terms of the DUP stitch-up.

But the idea that the other devolved nations will not be making demands for special treatment is cloud cuckoo land. Even though Labour may be in charge in Wales and the SNP in Scotland, it is hard not to believe that some Tories would also be thinking that a door has opened.

Similarly, Hammond is clear that post-Brexit the UKs regions need to start playing catch-up with London. One can imagine that newly installed Tory mayors, such as Andy Street in the Midlands, will be thinking they would like some cash too.

Mays attempt to deal with inter-generational issues by taking some of the goodies away from pensioners has backfired.

The triple-lock  which means that the universal state pension rises by the best of consumer prices, earnings or 2.5 per cent  is being saved by the DUP alongside the winter-fuel allowance. In his March Budget, Hammond pushed out the date for balancing the books until 2025. That goal is disappearing over the horizon.

The irony is that the British public has imbibed the political language of austerity, but it hasnt happened.

Big items of Government spending, such as the NHS and education, have continued to rise in real terms.

And although the annual deficit has shrunk by two-thirds as a percentage of total output, the countrys debt burden will still stand at 89 per cent of gross domestic product this year and 83.2 per cent in 2022, according to the IMF.

Free-wheeling spending may look more attractive than budgetary discipline but, as we learnt in the past, it is the road to ruin.

Russias march

EU citizens may still be worrying about their future in Britain but there is no such trouble for the oligarchs from the former Soviet Union.

The latest to secure his future in UK plc is Mikhail Fridman, who has swooped on health chain Holland & Barrett in a 1.8bn deal. H&B may have 1,150 shops, a heritage dating back to 1870, a turnover of 610m and some remarkable profit margins, but the price paid looks generous for a chain of stores, often in secondary locations, which need more than a lick of paint and some fresh packaging on its own-brand products.

Fridman is not the first oligarch to join our nation of shopkeepers. Waterstones may be run by British bibliophile James Daunt but the money-man behind the bricks and mortar is Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut. Roman Abramovich bought his way into Britain with Chelsea FC.

And newly knighted Ukrainian Sir Len Blavatnik, owner of Warner Music, has proved to be one of the great philanthropists, supporting a variety of causes ranging from the school of government at Oxford University to the Tate, as well as other charities. Long may it last.

King coal

Rio Tinto looks set to recommend the offer by China-controlled Yancoal for its Hunter Valley assets in Australia, despite a better offer from London-quoted Glencore.

The grand-daddy of British miners figures it has regulatory approval for the Yancoal deal and there is no harm in keeping China, where it does 43 per cent of its business, onside.

Maybe, but shareholders deserve to be given the opportunity to consider the highest offer on the table.

And policymakers in Canberra might feel happier if the Sino-grip on the Australian economy was kept at arms-length.
Celebrity jewellery designer Theo Fennell has rescued his firm one month after it called in administrators.

The 65-year-old said he was thrilled after leading a management buyout with backing from private equity investor Endless.

He has been involved with the company, which has a flagship store in South Kensington, London, since its founding in 1983 but has not controlled it for years.

Centre stage: Theo Fennells celebrity clients include Naomi Campbell

Now he is pledging to take the company back to our roots after its collapse was blamed on expanding far beyond its core sites in Central London.

The Old Etonian told the Mail on Sunday: Endless really understands the uniqueness and the ethos of the business. So much of what we do is bespoke or one-off that we cannot be an airport brand.

Fennells celebrity clients include Naomi Campbell and the company also creates trophies for some of the worlds most prestigious sporting events, including the Italian and Monaco grand prix.

The entrepreneur was forced off the board in 2008 but returned to the London-based company a year later with a diluted shareholding.

Administrators said the firm had not been strong enough to support its rapid growth  with 28 partnerships opening around the world.
Top job

Former Yahoo boss Marisa Mayer could be heading for the top job at taxi-hailing app Uber.

The 42-year-old is reportedly among candidates in the running to replace Travis Kalanick, 40, who quit last week amid a sexism row.

In the fast lane: The 42-year-old is reportedly among candidates in the running to replace Travis Kalanick

Rising dough

Profits have leapt 4.9 per cent to 34.6m at family-owned bakery Warburtons.

The business has introduced healthier products including bread with added protein as it battles a drop in sliced bread buying.

Home work

As many as 8.2m British employees now work from home at least one day a week, research by Virgin Media has found.

The study found home working has increased by 25 per cent in the last five years, and is set to grow.

Audit swap

Food chain Pret a Manger has replaced auditor KPMG with Ernst & Young after ten years.

The Sunday Telegraph reported the switch in auditor was to comply with US governance rules ahead of a potential New York listing.

Profits down

Profits at price comparison website Go Compare dropped to 21.9m last year due to costs for its stock market float, but revenues rose to 142.1m.

It went public in November last year, with shares closing on Friday at 105p.

Growth slows

Electronics giant Dixons Carphone is set to reveal a 9 per cent jump in annual pre-tax profits to around 487.5m when it announces its full-year results on Wednesday. But profit growth will be down on last years 17 per cent rise.
Power and water company bosses were facing criticism last night after raking in millions despite complaining of out of control costs and missing leak targets.

Gas and electricity provider SSE provoked an outcry when it handed boss Alistair Phillips-Davies, 49, a 72 per cent pay rise  weeks after he railed against a cap on bills.

Iain Conn, 54, the boss of British Gas owner Centrica, also took home 4.1m while warning that a price cap could force the company to put up prices.

Sky high: Campaigners are now calling for change on executive pay in a sector where customers have little power to vote with their feet

Thames Waters new chief executive Steve Robertson, 59, was handed a 54,000 bonus despite the companys huge fines for water leaks.

And National Grid boss John Pettigrew, 48, was paid 4.6m.

It comes as analysis by the Mail reveals bonus targets in the sector put profits far above customer service and performance.

Campaigners are now calling for change on sky-high executive pay in a sector where customers have little power to vote with their feet.

Tony Smith, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water, said: Many customers would question the fairness of a senior executive being handsomely rewarded, regardless of whether the company had broken one of its customer commitments.

It sends the message to households that the bottom line is always more important than good customer service. Water companies should reflect on whether they are getting the balance right.

Centrica boss Conns bonus of 759,000 was based on a formula weighted 62 per cent on cash flow. The rest was on strategic objectives  in his case including leadership tone and helping the company grow.

SSE boss Phillips-Davies bonus of 910,000 was based on a formula weighted 50 per cent on financial targets and 15 per cent on customers.

Other utilities companies have a similar weighting. Severn Trents chief executives bonus was weighted 57 per cent on profit, while Thames Waters is 50 per cent on cash and profit, 25 per cent customer service.

The boss of regulator Ofwat is now calling on Thames Water to show that management rewards give appropriate weight to performance for customers as well as financial performance.

It is among a string of changes Jonson Cox wants at the company following a series of major water and sewage leaks. His intervention, made on Friday, is unprecedented for a sitting regulator.

Will Hodson, co-founder of the gas and electricity switching site The Big Deal, said the level of pay in the sector felt like a slap in the face for customers whose prices had gone up.

He added: There is no price cap and chief executives are trousering incredible remuneration packages based on the profits that come almost at the expense of those vulnerable customers.

I think its risky for these companies to incentivise their chief executives by profitability alone.

If that profitability is coming so clearly at the expense of customers then its very risky because the Government is going to come under increasing pressure to deliver that price cap.

I think they should incentivise it more towards how many new customers they are bringing in, to customer satisfaction levels, and to customer service.
Sainsburys is exploring potential sweeteners in a bid to fend off a rebellion against its takeover of Nisa.

The chain has tabled a 130m bid for the mutual and is doing due diligence following Tescos swoop on wholesaler Booker.

But some of Nisas 1,400 members  who own the retailer and will vote on the deal  are unhappy at the lack of consultation.

Pushing ahead: The chain has tabled a 130m bid for the mutual and is doing due diligence following Tescos swoop on wholesaler Booker.

One unnamed London member is asking shopkeepers to contribute to a legal fund to challenge the board, which he accused of selling us cheap. Sainsburys is in talks with Nisas bosses and is believed to be looking at ways for shopkeepers to retain some independence.

The grocer is also considering giving members staggered payments over three years and offering them the opportunity to stock Sainsburys own brands so they will have more buying power.

Nisa has received interest from several buyers. But it is thought Sainsburys offer, at around 2,500 a share, was favoured by Nisas board.
JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin today insisted cross-border trade with Ireland will flourish after Brexit as he announced his company's biggest investment ever.

The pub chain headed by the vocal Brexit-backer will plough 13million into building a new hotel and pub in Dublin as it opens new bars in the UK.

The group already has 40 hotels in the UK and seven in Ireland - but the new 98-bedroom complex will be its largest and will provide 200 jobs.

JD Wetherspoon has shrugged off Brexit uncertainty to announce its biggest investment ever. Pictured: Chairman Tim Martin who backed Brexit

Development work on a row of derelict properties in the centre of Dublin will begin in February 2018, with the pub and hotel set to open early 2019.

JD Wetherspoon shares ticked up 1 per cent to 10.05 at the bell this morning.

Wetherspoon chairman Mr Martin, who donated 200,000 to Vote Leave before the referendum, told This Is Money: 'Trade and investment will continue, inside or outside the EU, as the Brexit campaign has emphasised.

'The biggest investors in the UK in the catering industry, for example, are American  Starbucks, McDonalds and others - and the EU and UK have no trade deal with America.

'Wetherspoon has four pubs in the Belfast area and four in Dublin and plan to open more pubs in both cities.

'Cross-border trade and investment will continue after Brexit, as the Irish and UK governments have made clear.'

JD Wetherspoon generated 1.5billion revenue with an operating profit of 108million in 2016

Since the Brexit vote, Mr Martin has accused the EU of bullying the UK and used several company updates to rip into German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former French president Francois Hollande and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

He has also lashed out at former chancellor George Osborne, the IMF, the Bank of England, the CBI, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and PwC, who he claims were too negative about the impact of a Leave vote.

Announcing the investment on Monday, he said of the Dublin site: 'We are looking forward to developing the site into a fantastic pub and hotel.

'It will be the biggest single investment undertaken by Wetherspoon and will result in our largest hotel alongside a superb pub.

'Our pubs in the Republic of Ireland are thriving and we are confident that the pub and hotel will be a great asset to Dublin and act as a catalyst for other businesses to invest in the city.'

The investment is part of a wider expansion of the FTSE 250 chain which generated 1.5billion revenue with an operating profit of 108million in 2016.

A host of new Wetherspoons pubs are set to open this summer including in Bexhill on Sea in East Sussex, Ramsgate in Kent, Biggleswade in Bedforshire and Gorleston in Norfolk.
Activist investor Dan Loeb has snapped up a 2.8bn stake in Nestle after launching an attack on the food conglomerate.

Loeb said he had taken a 1.3 per cent stake through his hedge fund Third Point and has already begun productive conversations with the KitKat and Rowntrees confectionery owner about improving its margins.

It is the biggest bet of the billionaires two-decade career.

Third Point said it was rare to find a business of Nestles quality with so many avenues for improvement. Nestle has been under pressure to boost profitability after rival Unilever fought off a 115bn takeover approach from Kraft Heinz earlier this year.

Unilever responded by promising to increase shareholder returns and putting its spreads business, which includes Flora and I Cant Believe Its Not Butter, up for sale. Meanwhile, rival Reckitt Benckiser has moved to sell its food operation after buying baby formula-maker Mead Johnson.

Loeb said Nestles share price and performance did not compare well with rivals.
The Italian government has been forced to rescue two more banks as the nations slow-burn financial crisis rages on.

Two days after the European Central Bank warned that Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca were likely to fail, taxpayers have been warned they may have to commit as much as 15bn to helping the two lenders in the Venice region.

The pairs branches and staff will become part of Italian retail bank Intesa, which has paid 1 for the assets.

Under pressure: Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni said the rescue would protect savers and ensure the good health of our banking system

But it is thought their collapse could still mean up to 4,000 job losses.

Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni said the rescue would protect savers and ensure the good health of our banking system.

It is estimated that Italian banks have around 307bn in bad loans  almost a third of the eurozones total bad debt.

The two banks are the latest in the region to ask the government for help after the state rescued Monte dei Paschi Di Siena Banca in December to cover a 7.7bn shortfall.
Britain has another new housing minister - its fifteenth since 1997. The question is, will he be able to deliver the Conservatives' promise of a million new homes by 2020?

Alok Sharma, Conservative MP for Reading West and formerly parliamentary under secretary of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is a qualified accountant and a banker of 16 years.

He is also the Prime Ministers infrastructure envoy to India, but aside from that, he has had little experience in the past in building and the housing and mortgage markets.

Responsibility for housing in Government is changing hands almost 20 times faster than the average home

Among stints as a member of the Commons Treasury select committee, a member of the Commons science and technology select committee, a parliamentary Private Secretary at the Treasury, Sharma also held the position of Conservative Party Vice Chairman from 2012 to 2015.

It's an impressive CV for a politician first elected in 2010, arguably bearing the hallmarks of another ambitious minister in the housing seat, which has traditionally been seen as a stepping stone to higher profile cabinet roles.

This is not lost on those in the housing industry, who have been forced to explain the practical challenges in delivering new homes to no fewer than fifteen housing ministers in the past 20 years.

Responsibility for housing in Westminster has now changed hands six times since 2010 - from John Healey, to Grant Shapps ,to Mark Prisk, to Kris Hopkins, to Brandon Lewis, to Gavin Barwell and now to Alok Sharma.

A quick calculation by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association claims the continuing changes mean that responsibility for housing in Government is changing hands almost 20 times faster than the average home.

Peter Williams, executive director of IMLA,said: 'Events of the last week have clearly left a lot of issues on the agenda for the Government to tackle.

Responsibility for housing in Government is changing hands almost 20 times faster than the average home

'However, the chronic shortage of house building and the need for a joined-up policy across all housing tenures are recurring challenges that have faced every new housing minister and administration for longer than most people care to remember.

'With talk turning to the need for cross-party agreement and a common approach to negotiating Brexit, it would surely make sense to adopt a similar consensual, non-partisan approach to determining housing policy to put the UK property market on a more stable footing for the long-term.'

Williams is reiterating calls made repeatedly by industry heavyweights over the years, most recently in the Redfern Review published late last year.

Sharma replaces Gavin Barwell, who lost his Croydon Central last week

This report suggested a big problem preventing Britain from building was the lack of a clear and long-term plan. Governments are in power for five years and housing takes time to deliver.

There is therefore big political incentive to say you're going to build homes and much less political incentive to deliver on that.

To address this, the Redfern Review recommended Government set up an all-party independent housing commission to establish a long-term strategy to deliver homes.

This recommendation was not implemented in the Government's subsequent housing white paper.

The Government has pledged to build 1.5million homes between 2015 and 2022. However, critics argue that it has not the strategy in place to deliver this ambitious target.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said: 'Vital to this will be ensuring that the recommendations within the 2017 housing white paper, that aim to diversify the supply of new homes and revitalise the SME house building sector, are delivered in full.'

However, he expressed fears that targets could fall short in light of the recent general election result.

'The Conservative Partys manifesto opened up the possibility of local authorities taking a more active role in house building,' he said.

'This suggests the Government was still open to new and radical approaches to solving the housing crisis. It would be a shame if such radicalism was now dropped in light of a hung parliament.'

Sharma replaces Gavin Barwell, who lost his Croydon Central seat after getting just 24,221 votes compared to Labour's 29,873. He meanwhile, has gone on to fill the role of Prime Minister Theresa May's chief of staff.
26 June 2017

EAM Solar ASA "EAM" or "the Company" has entered into two separate funding schemes in order to increase the litigation efforts against Enovos, Avelar and associated companies.

The funding schemes are a litigation funding agreement and an equity rights issue, fully underwritten by the Company's largest shareholders. The two initiatives will significantly strengthen the Company's financial "litigation war chest" and enable EAM to expand its ongoing legal processes in Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland and other relevant jurisdictions in the foreseeable future.

The litigation funding agreement with Therium Litigation Funding IC and the equity rights' issue will in the outset contribute with more than EUR 5 million to cover future legal costs based on the current budgets for legal costs in the period 2017 through 2021. This funding comes in addition to the free cash flow from ordinary operations, significantly enhancing the legal strength of EAM going forward.

The dialogue with Therium was initiated in November 2016, and following a comprehensive due diligence conducted by Therium in close collaboration with EAM's management and EAM's legal counsels in Italy and Luxembourg, Therium decided to participate in and invest in the EAM litigation efforts in June.

The key financial metrics for the litigation funding agreement and the equity rights issue is that Therium in the case of a claim award to EAM Solar ASA will receive in the range 5 to 10% of the anticipated claim award, and the dilution of non-participating shareholders in the equity rights issue will be approximately 20% (excluding any revenue from sale of subscription rights).

"We have during the past year made significant progress in the ongoing legal processes. With the proposed initiatives to put in place further financial resources, we strengthen our capabilities to seek justice and expand our pan-European efforts against the companies and individuals that were involved and responsible for the P31 fraud against EAM. The fact that Therium, as a specialist Litigation Fund, after a comprehensive due diligence decides to invest in our litigation efforts, further confirms the strength of our case against the responsible for the P31 fraud," says Viktor E. Jakobsen, CEO of EAM in a comment.

Therium is one of the most established global litigation financing firms, founded in London and Jersey in 2009, with a presence in London, New York, Jersey, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia and Germany, and a market-leading track record of generating superior returns for its investors. In April 2015, Therium secured $300 million to invest in commercial litigation financing, the largest ever single investment in the litigation-funding sector, globally. Therium Nordic AS has been active since the spring of 2016 and has been well received by the legal communities and leading law firms in Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Therium Nordic AS has so far funded a number of meritorious claims for Nordic claimants.

"Therium has worked with EAM and their experienced team of international legal advisers for several months, with the intention to make a major investment in this extraordinary case. We are very pleased, and proud, through our investment decision to contribute significantly to EAM seeking justice in this complex, but strong case", says Henrik A. Jensen, chairman of the board in Therium Nordic AS.

The litigation funding transactions follows a ruling where the Criminal Court of Milan ordered the conservative seizure (see OSE release 8 June 2017) in favour of EAM Solar ASA and EAM Solar Italy Holding S.r.l., on all assets belonging to Marco Giorgi and Igor Akhmerov (previous directors of Aveleos SA and associated companies), up to the total amount of more than Euro 33 million. The Court's decision was made in order to secure a possible compensation of part of the cash outlay made by EAM companies in July 2014 in conjunction with the P31 fraud also involving Aveleos SA, Avelar Energy Ltd and Enovos Luxembourg SA. The Court furthermore decided not to grant a conservative seizure against Enovos Luxembourg SA and Avelar Energy Ltd since the Court deemed these companies to have sufficient financial resources to meet any future payments of damages claims to EAM.

The amount identified by the court in this conservative seizure ruling is not to be interpreted as a limitation to the final damages claims that may be awarded EAM Solar ASA in the criminal proceedings in Milan and elsewhere.

The proposed litigation funding comprises a maximum amount of approximately EUR 2.3 million divided into three equal tranches. The first tranche of EUR 776,865 has been committed, and Therium may provide two additional tranches in the same amount in the future at their own discretion if the Company needs further funds to cover legal costs. The funding is non-recourse and does not constitute a debt, however, Therium will upon a successful claim award receive four times the invested amount on any committed tranches.

In connection with the proposed Rights Issue, the Company has entered into an underwriting agreement with the Company's main shareholders of NOK 30 million who upon and subject to certain conditions underwrite the subscription of all the shares to be offered in the forthcoming Rights Issue.

The investment bank Carnegie and the law firm Wiersholm has acted as the Company's financial and legal advisors.

"We are grateful for the continued backing and support from our shareholders and we remain dedicated to rectify the damages inflicted on EAM and our shareholders following the fraudulent actions by Aveleos SA, Avelar Energy Ltd and Enovos Luxembourg SA and their representatives", says Viktor E. Jakobsen in a comment.

For further details about the transactions see separate OSE releases. The summons for an Extraordinary General Meeting will be issued at a later date.

For information, please contact:

Viktor E Jakobsen, Executive Director, phone +47 9161 1006, viktor@eam.no
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By Mark Hallum

A new plaque commemorating the victims of 9/11 in Bayside got a new look Saturday.

Bayside resident Don Norton organized the effort to recognize the sacrifice of first responders and city employees and unveiled the metal monument with state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and over 100 supporters of the effort.

The placard reads All gave some, some gave all, with badges for FDNY, NYPD, Port Authority Police, FDNY Paramedics, the city Department of Sanitation and the New York State courts.

Sixteen years ago we, unfortunately, had to look tragedy in the eye as our city came under attack, Avella said. On that day, we saw the lengths that our first responders would go to in order to protect us. I am extremely proud to be able to honor those heroes with the dedication of this small token of my enormous gratitude.

According to Norton, he and Avella were joined by Assemblyman Edward Braunstein (D-Bayside) along with members of FDNY, NYPD and the American Legion in nearby Auburndale.

The plaque at 204th Street between 33rd and 32nd Avenue was unveiled by the children of a firefighter who died on 9/11.

The memorial previously at the site had become old and faded, according to Norton.

It was made of glass and after I think five years, it just got crumby looking, Norton said. Residents in the area had chipped in to have the glass cut for it.

The money for the new plaque came from Avellas campaign funds for state Senate.

Lights were installed to keep the memorial illuminated at night.

Ive never seen a plaque like it. Its that nice, Norton said. Its just beautiful.

The plaque cost Norton $1,023, and Avella contributed $1,000.
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By Bill Parry

Two formerly homeless men will work full-time cleaning Roosevelt Avenue between 82nd Street and 90th Street, beginning July 1.

State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) secured a $75,000 state allocation for the Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless, the non-profit that helps homeless people get back into the workforce by offering them jobs where they sweep the streets and pick up trash.

New York City has been facing a homeless crisis for years, but I am sure this initiative will help some of our less fortunate New Yorkers get a job and job training to get out of that cycle and back into the workforce, Peralta said. In addition, these workers will also contribute to increase the quality of life in the community  in this particular case, along a busy stretch of Roosevelt Avenue, one of the most active thoroughfares in the city.

The two workers, Robert Perez and Louis Robertson, will alternate weeks and one of them will clean between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. Peralta called the arrangement a win-win for the community.

This work experience will provide the participants with a safety net, and hopefully lead them to full-time, permanent jobs, Peralta said. In this case, the same team will be operating in this area of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst, allowing for neighbors, shoppers and business owners to know the workers who will keep the place nice and clean.

ACE has been helping homeless New Yorkers get back into the workforce for 25 years.

We re very proud to join Sen. Peralta in his efforts to keep the district looking beautiful, ACE Executive Director Jim Martin said. We consider it an honor and a privilege to be invited into this community and we look forward to getting to work.

Meanwhile, City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) joined the Department of Sanitation and Woodside on the Move last Friday to announce 108 new trash bins in his district. Van Bramer allocated nearly $60,000 from the City Council discretionary fund to have 32 new trash bins installed in Woodside, 27 in Sunnyside, 34 in Long Island City and 15 more in Dutch Kills and Astoria.

After allocating nearly $60,000 for 108 new trash bins throughout western Queens, Im thrilled to join with DSNY and Woodside on the Move to unveil a beautiful new bin right here on Woodside Avenue, Van Bramer said. With more than a hundred new trash bins in Woodside, Sunnyside, Long Island City, Dutch Kills and Astoria, it will be easier than ever to throw trash in a bin rather than on the ground, keeping our streets clean for all.
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By Naeisha Rose

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit Tuesday against 14 anti-choice protesters who have threatened patients of the Choices Womens Medical Center in Jamaica.

The harassment started in 2012, and came to a head Oct. 29, 2016, according to Schneiderman, when a protester harassed a woman who had her child with her as she approached the center, located at 147-32 Jamaica Ave. The individuals are being charged with violating the New York City Clinic Access Act.

The tactics used to harass and menace Choices patients, families, volunteers and staff are not only horrifying  theyre illegal, said Schneiderman. The law guarantees women the right to control their own bodies and access the reproductive health care they need, without obstruction. Well do what it takes to protect those rights for women across New York.

Choices Womens Medical Center provides gynecological, reproductive and behavioral health services. It was one of the first clinics in New York City to provide abortions since it was legalized in New York State in the 1970s, according to the centers founder, Merle Hoffman.

I have been on the front lines of this struggle for womens rights and womens freedom for nearly 50 years, Hoffman said. I have endured bomb threats, death threats, multiple evictions and the maiming and murder of colleagues and friends. And I am still here, because I made a vow to my first patient.

According to Schneidermans lawsuit, protesters have subjected incoming patients to a barrage of unwanted physical conduct, as well as verbal abuse, threats of harm, and lies about the clinics hours and its services.

Allegedly leading a faction of the protests is Pastor Kenneth Griepp of Church at the Rock, located at 1288 East 92nd St. in Canarsie, Brooklyn. The lawsuit contends he has gathered with up to 23 people to rally outside the center every Saturday since 2012.

Some of the current and former members of the church who are being sued are Ronald George, Patricia Musco, Randall Doe, Osayinwense Okuonghae, Anne Kaminsky, Brian George, Sharon Doe, Deborah Ryan, Angela Braxton and Jasmine Lalande.

Dorothy Rothar, a Sister of St. Joseph, who works with Helpers of Gods Precious Infants, an anti-abortion religious organization in Brooklyn, according to the Precious Infants website, is also being sued.

The remaining defendants are Prisca Joseph and Scott Fitchett.

Joseph allegedly colluded with clinic escorts in an effort to get close to patients as they approach the clinic, and she allegedly followed them closely and harassed patients, clinic escorts and staff as they approach the clinics entrance, according to the suit.

Fitchett is accused of standing outside the clinic chanting murderer, murderer at approaching individuals and filming patients. according to the suit.

Pastor Griepp and Sister Rothar could not be reached for comment.
Gettysburg, PA, June 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Leading and managing change is vital at all stages of your organizations business lifecycle, especially as the human services industry constantly evolves. Successful executives are usually good change managers. Ensuring a steady succession plan for future leadership, managing change during mergers or acquisitions, or identifying and implementing new financial systems, are often handled well. However, introducing and optimizing new technology is often misperceived as just a technology implementation when it is really a strategic change management initiative.

Join Denny Morrison, Ph.D., Chief Clinical Officer at Netsmart, on July 20 at 2 p.m. ET for Organizational Leadership, Change Management & Technology Implementation  Is There A Link?, a discussion of how managing the effects of changing technology, culture and leadership can create better outcomes for consumers and organizations.

In this 90-minute executive web briefing, learn how to:

Be aware and agile during the strategic and cultural changes technology acquisition creates

Be technologically literate no matter your executive position

Harness the potential of technology to create new models of personalized, quality care

Proactively have the right people and processes in place for when change does occur

Minimize disruptions and empower your team to embrace change

To learn more about this executive web briefing or take advantage of free online registration, please visit: https://www.openminds.com/event/organizational-leadership-change-management-technology-implementation-is-there-a-link/

At the conclusion of the webinar, all registrants will receive (at no charge and regardless of attendance) a recording of the webinar and an electronic copy of the presentation slides.

* * *

About Netsmart

Netsmart is the largest healthcare IT provider solely focused on integrating behavioral health and post-acute care with the rest of healthcare. Netsmart is passionate about integrating care across all aspects of a community. As a leader in healthcare, we know that healthcare doesnt always happen in a traditional clinical setting so were committed to working alongside our clients to innovate the most effective and intuitive technology possible. Our clients are strong advocates for those that dont always have a voice, which is why Netsmart is dedicated to leading change within the industry by breaking down barriers to provide a holistic view of each individual.

Our more than 500,000 users in more than 24,000 organizations across the U.S. work together with Netsmarts 1,300 associates to connect communities and information across the care spectrum. Our technology ensures comprehensive data flows between behavioral health; addiction treatment; intellectual and developmental disabilities; child and family services; public health; long-term/post-acute care; home health; hospice; palliative care; private duty and vital records, to ensure providers have consistent and reliable information at their fingertips when it is needed.

The only thing constant in healthcare is change. Netsmart brings significant expertise working with human services and post-acute care providers, state billing requirements and healthcare technology to these communities. More importantly, we understand the importance of clinical adoption; training and support; regulatory compliance; and the need to connect to the rest of healthcare. Our solutions and services are built with those challenges in mind and are designed to solve them so our clients can focus on what they do best: provide quality care to their communities.

Learn more about how Netsmart is changing the face of healthcare today. Visit www.ntst.com , call 1-800-472-5509, follow us on our CareThreads Blog, LinkedIn and Twitter , like us on Facebook or visit us on YouTube.

ABOUT OPEN MINDS

OPEN MINDS is a national health and human service industry market intelligence firm. Founded in 1987 and based in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the 75+ associates provide innovative management solutions designed to improve operational and strategic performance. Learn more at www.openminds.com.
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By Bill Parry

Doughboy Park in Woodside, the 1.7-acre public space on Woodside Avenue and 52nd Street, will receive a $750,000 overhaul, City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) announced last week.

The parks World War I memorial statue and plaza will be revitalized as part of the work that will be scheduled after community scoping meetings are held to discuss possible designs.

Doughboy Park is a sacred place in the heart of Woodside to honor the sacrifice of our brave servicemen and women who fought on the front lines to protect our freedoms, Van Bramer said. As we approach the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I next November, we must honor our duty and responsibility to maintain the dignity of this sacred ground. Im proud to join veterans from our community to announce $750,000 from the City Council budget to revitalize Doughboy Park, which will include work to the Doughboy memorial statue and plaza. This is a victory for our veterans and for all who enjoy the added beauty and amenities of this great park right here in Woodside.

The statue of a Doughboy, which is an informal term for an American infantryman particularly who served during World War I, stands on the east side of the park and portrays a bandaged soldier in a uniquely solemn and reflective stance. The statue was last restored in 1990 and the plaza surrounding it was renovated in 2001 with new benches, fences and greenery.

In 2007, a stone plaque was installed bearing the names of 13 servicemen from Woodside who were killed in World War II. The park hosts an annual 9/11 memorial service and in 2006, a plaque was dedicated to the 34 people who lived or worked in Woodside who died in the Sept. 11th attacks at the World Trade Center.

Meanwhile, Van Bramer joined state Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan (D-Long Island City) last Friday to announce that after years of relentless advocacy from the Hunters Point community, the city Department of Transportation will install an all-way stop sign at the intersection of 51st Avenue and 5th Street, which is near several schools.

For years, Ive stood with parents, students, and the community in Long Island City who have tirelessly called for a stop sign at this dangerous intersection, Van Bramer said. There is nothing more important than keeping our children safe, and the installation of this stop sign and other traffic calming measures is a victory for the parents and students on Long Island City.

In addition to the all-way stop signs, speed bumps will be added to a slow zone along 5th Street between 46th Avenue and 46th Road. After a request for the stop signs was denied last winter, Van Bramer joined students and teachers Jan. 31 to erect their own peoples stop sign, and after continued pressure, the DOT re-evaluated the intersection and approved the request.

DOT is committed to working in Long Island City to make this growing communitys streets safer, DOT Queens Borough Commissioner Nicole Garcia said. Thanks to the leadership of the Council member, Assembly member and all of the advocacy by the students and parents and teachers, we are very happy with the results of the last study approving the stop sign.
SARATOGA SPRINGS  The city Charter Commission amended its draft charter to include future salaries for the mayor and city council.



Bob Turner, chair of the commission that is rewriting the city charter, said the salary amendment approved Monday will set the salary at $40,000 with medical insurance paid in full for the mayor and at $14,500 for city council members with no insurance. Currently, the mayor and city council members receive an annual salary of $14,500 plus medical insurance valued up to $18,000 per year for their part-time positions.



The proposed charter indicates that salaries for the 2020 city council and mayor would be determined by the 2018 city council and mayor. Plans for the salaries will only take effect if the proposed charter, which calls of a government run by a city manager, is approved by voters in November. If so, the city manager's salary would be determined by the city council.

"A number of citizen have voiced their concern with giving a city council a blank check to set their salaries," Turner said. "We felt we needed to put a salary in there. We just felt that the city council shouldn't be setting their own salary."



The amendment would also allow for pay increases, but no increase would take effect until after an election cycle.



"That way they can be held accountable by the voters," Turner said.



The 15-member volunteer commission determined the salaries after reviewing the New York Conference of Mayors City Salary Data from 49 cities. It found the average salary for a mayor is $50,000 and $11,139 for city council members. The data also showed that it is unusual for part-time city council members to receive health insurance.



"Right now, a city council member, if they serve for 10 years, will get health insurance for life," Turner said. "A lot of people said they don't want to pay for that."



The charter commission also voted to add an amendment to strengthen the ethics provisions in the proposed charter. The amendment would encourage that all city government activity to be conducted in public "to the greatest extent feasible."



"Saratogians value transparency in local government," Turner said.
Scott G. Baber/Warren County Sheriff's Office

LAKE GEORGE - A Florida man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly assaulting a woman during a domestic dispute, Warren County Sheriff's Office said.

Scott G. Baber, 52, of Port Charlotte was charged with felony assault, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and harassment after he alleged caused significant injuries to the woman.
Paris

The jihadis' targets in Europe are depressingly repetitive: the Brussels metro, the Champs-Elysees in Paris (twice), tourist-filled bridges in London (twice) and a U.K. rock concert. And that's just the past few months.

The steady stream of attacks on centers of daily life have drawn pledges from Europeans not to let terrorists change how they live, but in ways large and small they already have.

There is a heightened awareness and quicker reactions, especially in the hardest-hit countries of France, Britain and Belgium, that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago.

In Brussels on Tuesday, a 36-year-old Moroccan man shouting "Allahu akbar!" set off a bomb among subway commuters. The bomb didn't detonate in full and a soldier shot him dead.

It was another Muslim, Mohamed Charfih, who demanded that the subway's doors be closed before the attacker could enter.

"I heard people on the platform shouting for help," he told the news site DH. He looked out and knew what he saw. "I screamed to close the doors immediately. I asked to get out of there as fast as possible and that everyone get down on the floor."

That reaction, blocking the door and fleeing, has become part of official instructions on what to do in case of an attack in France. Signs have been posted in public areas and even schools showing people running, ducking beneath a window, or using heavy furniture as a barricade.

Tensions are high enough in central Paris that on Thursday the quick-response police unit reacted to a witness' phone call about a man wearing a sidearm by tackling him on the street, only to learn that he was a ranking member of the anti-terrorism squad, according to French media.

In Britain, decades of IRA attacks prompted the installation of country-wide TV surveillance cameras  one of the most expansive systems in the world. Paris is quickly ramping up its own camera system, to the point where authorities were able this week to track the minute-by-minute path of the man who tried to attack a Champs-Elysees gendarme patrol until the moment he rammed their vehicle. The man died of burns and smoke inhalation  the only casualty of his act  but left behind a substantial arsenal.

Both Britain and France have installed barriers around airports, train stations and other public buildings in recent years. Since the Westminster bridge attack in March, however, talks are under way to install even more barriers on bridges and around crowded places such as London's Borough Market, where three attackers this month went on a stabbing rampage after crashing their vehicle on a busy street not far from London Bridge.

Echoing France, London's security authorities have issued advice to pubs and restaurants since the attacks with the message of "Run, Tell and Hide." The advice includes establishing whether the threat is inside or outside and not waiting for police to decide whether the venue should be locked down or evacuated.

Few British commuters have changed their habits. After suicide bombers in 2005 struck trains and buses during a busy London morning rush hour, scores of commuters started riding bicycles to work. That method of transport has its own problems in London  with the number of annual cyclist deaths a rising concern.
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THE ISSUE:

Lawmakers leave town with urgent business unaddressed.

THE STAKES:

Will school children and taxpayers suffer for their needless impasse?

More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion See More Collapse

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New York's 212 legislators went home last week, and took hostages with them.

The hostages included most of the state's counties and all the taxpayers in them; more than 1 million New York City students; and nearly 48,000 kids who are on the waiting lists for charter schools. And all the parents of all those kids.

In classic Albany fashion, the blame for all this isn't so easy to place. Or, perhaps more accurately, it's all too easy to pick the culprit of your choice.

You can blame Senate Republicans for tying renewal of mayoral control of New York City schools to an expansion in the number of charter schools in the city.

You can blame Assembly Democrats for upping the stakes by tying mayoral control of schools and the charter expansion to the renewal of sales taxes in 53 counties.

You can blame Gov. Andrew Cuomo for failing to exercise leadership and bring together his fellow Democrats and the Republicans who in no small way owe their continued power in the Senate to his antipathy for members of his own party.

The sad part is that the governor and lawmakers all know this: When everyone's to blame, no one is.

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Meanwhile, real problems loom. If mayoral control isn't renewed by June 30, oversight would revert to local school boards, whose track records were too often marred by incompetence and corruption. Whether or not you're a fan of Mayor Bill de Blasio or his predecessor Mike Bloomberg, the city's schools have been better run since the buck stopped with one high-profile, accountable public official.

This uncertainty is simply no way to run a school system of any size.

As for charter schools, there are legitimate arguments for and against them that time and experience have yet to settle. The fact remains, however, that plenty of parents are satisfied enough to keep sending their children to them, not just in New York City but in places like Albany. In New York City alone, 106,600 students are voluntarily enrolled in 216 charters, with another 47,800 waiting to get in.

One could argue that it's not unreasonable to tie two New York City issues together for the sake of negotiation, as Senate Republicans did. Still, given the interest of wealthy conservative political contributors in expanding charter schools and diminishing the power of teacher unions, one has to wonder if the interest of a Senate Republican majority that holds only two of the 26 seats in New York City is really all about the children of millions of constituents they don't represent.

They do, on the other hand, represent most of the counties that will be in dire straits if they don't get the permission they need every two years to keep their local sales taxes above the 3 percent state limit.

We get political horse-trading. But with the clock ticking down to the June 30 expiration of mayoral control of New York City schools, it is unconscionable for lawmakers, with a passive-aggressive assist from the governor, to hold so many New Yorkers hostage, children most of all.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Group Ten Metals Inc. (TSX.V:PGE) (OTC:DCGCF) (FSE:5D32) (the Company or Group Ten) is pleased to announce it has entered an agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Stillwater West project, consisting of 282 claims adjacent to, and contiguous with, Sibanye Golds Stillwater mine in south central Montana, USA. Sibanye acquired the operation, which is the highest-grade platinum group element (PGE) producer in the world and the largest outside South Africa and Russia, through a US$2.2 billion acquisition of Stillwater Mining Co. in May 2017. Group Tens acquisition of the highly-prospective Stillwater West project positions the Company as the second-largest land holder in the Stillwater Igneous Complex. The acquisition includes a substantial exploration database that is currently under review by the Group Ten technical team. Updates on these efforts are expected in the coming weeks.



A photo accompanying this release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f4328329-a3b6-4beb-b71f-5f59671deb42

The Stillwater and East Boulder mines occur along the Johns-Manville (J-M) Reef, the richest PGE deposit in the world with over 19.9 million ounces of proven and probable palladium and platinum ore reserves at an average grade of 15.64 grams/tonne)1. Group Tens Stillwater West project covers over 2,200 hectares (22 square kilometers) in two claim groups with each parcel including over 17 kilometers of strike length parallel to the J-M Reef within the Stillwater complex. Past work on the project resulted in the identification of multiple targets with a primary focus on high-grade PGE and gold deposits as well as generating significant geological and exploration data which will be instrumental in Group Tens advancement of the project.



Stillwater Mine East Boulder Mine Ore Tonnes

(000s)



Avg. Grade (g/t)





Contained Oz.

(000s)



Ore Tonnes

(000s)



Avg. Grade (g/t)





Contained Oz.

(000s)



Proven Reserves 2,947 20.39 1,932 2,388 13.78 1,055 Palladium 15.93 1,509 10.63 826 Platinum 4.28 423 2.74 229 Probable Reserves 10,978 19.55 6,900 23,115 13.37 10.024 Palladium 15.27 5.389 10.63 7,845 Platinum 4.28 1,511 2.74 2,179 Total P&P 13,924 19.70 8,832 25,503 13.40 11,079

1Sibanye and February 2017 Corporate Presentation and Company filings available on www.sedar.com Total Proven and Probable Montana reserves as of December 31, 2015 of 39,427,000 tonnes grading 15.64 grams/tonne for 19,911,000 contained ounces.

Group Ten is further pleased to announce that Mr. Justin Modroo, a professional geologist and geophysicist based in Montana, will join the Companys team for the Stillwater West project and will bring his considerable expertise in ultramafic systems to Group Tens other PGE projects, including the Companys Wellgreen-area Ni-PGE assets in the Kluane Ultramafic Belt of Canadas Yukon Territory.

President and CEO Michael Rowley comments We are excited to have secured such prospective ground in one of the premier PGE producing districts in the world, where Group Ten now holds the second largest position in the Stillwater complex. We are also pleased to have been able to concurrently retain local expertise and a substantial exploration database to guide our efforts there. The Stillwater West project significantly expands our exposure to palladium and platinum, which continue to show strong fundamentals going forward. Palladium specifically has been a leader in the precious metals markets as one of the top performing commodities in 2017.

Past work on the Stillwater West project includes broad soil and rock geochemical sampling, geologic mapping and some initial drilling. Results of these programs demonstrate the occurrence of multi-kilometric scale areas of highly anomalous palladium, platinum, gold, copper and nickel values in soil and rock samples.

By the terms of the agreement, the Company may earn a 100% interest in the Stillwater West project from Picket Pin Resources LLC, a private Montana company, by completing the following (all US currency):

issue a total of 3.6 million shares of the Company starting with 900,000 shares within ten days of regulatory approval and 900,000 shares on or before May 31 of each of 2018, 2019, and 2020; complete $40,000 in cash payments with $20,000 on or before each of May 31, 2018 and 2019; make advance royalty payments until commencement of commercial production of $15,000 within ten days of exchange approval, $30,000 on or before May 31, 2018, and $50,000 on or before May 31, 2019 and annually thereafter; and execute a work contract for a minimum of $50,000 per year for the duration of the option agreement for technical and management work.

Upon completion of the option agreement, Group Ten would own 100% of the property subject to a 2% NSR royalty with a buy-down provision to purchase 1% of the NSR for $2 million. The issuance of shares per the agreement is subject to regulatory approval.

Mr. Rowley further noted, The acquisition follows our strategy of acquiring high-quality assets in world-class districts and complements our portfolio of holdings in the Kluane Ultramafic Belt in Yukon adjacent to Wellgreen Platinum, and in the Rainy River district of Ontario adjacent to First Mining Finances Goldlund project. We look forward to engaging with Mr. Modroo and the local technical team. Regular updates are anticipated as we continue our data analysis and plan exploration for the project.

Quality Control and Quality Assurance

Garth Kirkham, P.Geo., is the qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, and he has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

About Group Ten Metals Inc.

Group Ten Metals Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of high-quality platinum, palladium and gold exploration assets in North America. The Companys suite of holdings include large land positions adjacent to Sibanyes Pd-Pt Stillwater mine in Montana and Wellgreen Platinums Ni-PGE project in the Yukon Territory, and the Black Lake-Drayton gold project in the Rainy River district of northwest Ontario.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

GROUP TEN METALS INC.

 Michael Rowley 

Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director

Email: info@grouptenmetals.com

Web: http://grouptenmetals.com

Tel: (604) 357 4790

TF: (888) 432 0075

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Group Ten 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 or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Group Ten and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Monet Software Takes On Call Center Week 2017

Its that time of year again! Call Center Week 2017 is in full swing and attendees are sure to gain some valuable insights this year. The event, held June 26-30 in Las Vegas, brings together some of the best minds in call center solutions. Its a great opportunity for call center industry professionals to get together and discuss some of the advances that have taken places recently, as well as where there is room for improvement.

This year, Monet Software (News - Alert) will be attending the event and exhibiting at booth 1320. There, the companys representatives will be focusing on how Monets award-winning workforce management solution seamless integrates with Salesforce Service Cloud. This interoperability improves case and chat management; provides better forecasts; offers real time workforce visibility; and results in greater customer satisfaction. So, whether a call center is looking to fill the gap between its help desk schedules and adherence or speed case resolution, Monet workforce management solutions integration with Salesforce Service Cloud will be able to help.

Of course, you dont have to take my word for it! Go ask Monet yourself by stopping by booth 1320 in the Mirage Resort. Monet will be exhibiting there until June 30, and the companys representatives will be happy to answer any questions regarding the Monet WFM/Salesforce Service Cloud integration, as well as concerns about quality monitoring, performance management and speech analytics. Given that its solutions have helped so many companies deliver more efficiency to their call centers, Monet is likely the company to go to with any call center-related concerns.

Call Center Week 2017 has something to offer everyone. With workshops such as Create a Culture of Engagement, Empower Your Team to Deliver Personalized Service Across Channels and Differentiating Customer Experience in the Age of the Mobile Consumer, its clear that the event is all about providing the best possible customer experiences, each and every time. There will also be classes offered to strengthen call center management practices. For instance, classes such as Hiring for Retention: Building Blocks for Staffing your Contact Center for the Next Generation are sure to help educate managers so that they can battle the ongoing struggle of high agent turnover rates.

No matter what companies are looking for, Call Center Week 2017 is guaranteed to have an exhibitor, workshop or master class to help address all needs. So make sure to stop by this week in Las Vegas, and dont forget to check out booth 1320 while youre there!
[June 26, 2017] Quri Announces Partnership with BeMyEye, Europe's Leading Mobile Crowdsourcing Business, to Extend Coverage Across the Atlantic

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Quri, the leader in Performance Driven Merchandising, is announcing today a partnership with BeMyEye, Europe's leading mobile crowdsourcing business. BeMyEye operates in UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Benelux, Sweden, Czech Republic and Poland. Through the partnership, Quri and BeMyEye will be able to better serve their mutual consumer brand customers both abroad and at home. This partnership provides multinational clients the opportunity to understand the true retail conditions of their brands and products at retail outlets both in the United States as well as in Europe in a consistent and standardized way. The consolidated offering will display results in a centralized platform, providing store-level merchandising conditions data across the two continents. With this, multinational manufacturers can leverage learnings and insights from one geography to help make better decisions in others. "This partnership means CPG brands will see a benefit via expanded international coverage and the ability to bring consistency to the way retail merchandising is approached," said Justin Behar CEO of Quri. Luca Pagano, CEO of BeMyEye, confirms that "the partnership was an obvious fit of shared values." Together, the combined forces of Quri and BeMyEye will make available a mobile workforce of 850,00. They will continue to deliver exceptionally granular levels of in-store merchandising data at incredible speeds to brands and retailers, allowing manufacturers to make more agile merchandising decisions.



About Quri

Quri is the leader in Performance Driven Merchandising, transforming the in-store experience by providing continuous, real-time, store-level visibility into merchandising conditions across all major channels and retailers in the US market. KraftHeinz, Heineken, Nest, Red Bull, and Johnson & Johnson plus 100+ other global companies rely on Quri to help optimize the $4 trillion dollars spent annually on retail go-to-market and in-store merchandising. Quri is powered by proprietary data quantifying the shopper view in-store and collected by an on-demand retail workforce. For more information on Quri or Performance Driven Merchandising, visit http://quri.com.

About BeMyEye

Founded in 2011 by Italian entrepreneur and innovator, Gian Luca Petrelli, BeMyEye is Europe's largest and most effective mobile crowdsourcing DaaS (Data as a Service) solution for actionable in-store retail and street level data, with more than 400,000 Eyes subscribing to tasks set by leading companies including Mattel, Coca Cola, P&G, Nestle, Samsung, Heineken, Lavazza and Universal. BeMyEye leverage the power of our crowd to deliver real-time business insights of unparalleled accuracy to brands and retailers of all shapes and sizes whilst ensuring that our 'Eyes' have the potential to earn money in a way that fits in with their lifestyle. BeMyEye connects the Eyes with businesses looking for location-specific information, such as checking joint business plan compliance (such as in-store promotions, product launches and merchandising compliance), identifying numerical distribution or optimising the routines of in-house or agency-based field force teams. The crowdsourced insights uncover reliable, real world insights, from any location, at scale. This method empowers businesses to "see" thousands of locations within moments, giving them the intelligence to identify new revenue streams, uphold brand integrity, track joint business plans and make savings quickly. The company is headquartered in the UK with offices in Italy, France and Spain, and is a VC-backed company with investment from Europe's leading venture capitalists, Nauta Capital, p101 and 360 Capital Partners. Contact:

Lena Loo

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/quri-announces-partnership-with-bemyeye-europes-leading-mobile-crowdsourcing-business-to-extend-coverage-across-the-atlantic-300479638.html SOURCE Quri

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[June 25, 2017] Aireon is One Step Closer to Providing 100 Percent Global Aircraft Surveillance

Second Iridium NEXT Launch Delivers Another 10 Aireon(SM) Payloads to Orbit MCLEAN, Virginia, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aireon announced today the successful launch and deployment of the second batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites, carrying its space-based automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) payloads. This launch has increased the total number of Aireon payloads in orbit to 20 with another 55 destined for space in a series of six additional launches planned for the next twelve months. Aireon's technology will provide real-time, 100 percent global air traffic surveillance and tracking, which will for the first time bring aircraft visibility to all regions of the planet. "With two successful launches under our belt, we are making great progress towards bringing our service to a reality," said Vinny Capezzuto, chief technology officer and vice president of engineering, Aireon. "Just like with the first batch of our payloads, we will go through a rigorous process of testing and validating ach individual payload, pushing their limits to maximize operational effectiveness."



Since the first successful launch in January, Aireon has activated 8 payloads and has received over one billion aircraft position reports. In addition, the company has conducted successful flights tests with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NAV CANADA, which validated the technology's capabilities and allowed for further fine tuning. The Aireon payloads, which were manufactured by Harris Corporation, will be hosted on all 81 Iridium NEXT satellites, 75 of which are scheduled for launch. The operational Iridium NEXT constellation will consist of 66 satellites, with the remaining nine serving as on-orbit spares and six additional ground spares. For additional information about Aireon, please go to www.aireon.com.

For additional information about Iridium NEXT, please visit www.IridiumNext.com. About Aireon LLC Aireon is deploying a global, space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system capable of surveilling and tracking ADS-B equipped aircraft around the globe in real-time. The system will be used to provide ADS-B coverage that will span oceanic, polar and remote regions, where current surveillance systems are limited to line-of-site and densely populated areas. Aireon will harness the best of aviation surveillance advancements already underway and extend them globally in order to significantly improve efficiency, expand safety, reduce emissions and provide cost savings to aviation stakeholders. In partnership with leading ANSPs from around the world, NAV CANADA, ENAV, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) and Naviair, as well as Iridium Communications, Aireon is developing an operational, global, space-based air traffic surveillance system expected to be available by 2018. For more information about Aireon, visit: www.aireon.com. PRESS CONTACT: Jessie Hillenbrand

Aireon

+1 (703) 287-7452

[email protected] Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/527399/Aireon_LLC_Logo.jpg SOURCE Aireon LLC

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[June 25, 2017] NZ Tech company creates digital tool to combat 'prejudice'

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 'Unconscious bias' in the field of recruitment and hiring is commonplace in most developed economies. For example, studies have shown that a 'foreign' named applicant will be 3x less successful in getting an initial job interview than someone with a duplicate CV but a more 'local' name. But unconscious bias severely limits our ability to build optimal and diverse workforces that can innovate and compete on the 21st century world stage. Furthermore, with unprecedented talent shortages plaguing every developed economy in the world, we cannot afford to disadvantage the very job applicants who represent the best possible solution to our talent problems. "Unconscious bias in our recruitment and hiring practices is hurting our ability to recruit the 'best person for the job' and that is costing our organisations opportunity, growth, and success, " states Alan Cox, CEO of FluentIQ. FluentIQ, a New Zealand technology company, have created an automatedEnglish communication testing platform that enables no-bias recruitment practices and allows companies to access the global talent pool with confidence.



In the first research study of its kind, the FluentIQ US Employability Survey 2017, studied 120 US hiring managers in order to create a scorecard that could replace an interviewer's subjectivity with reliable data. These scores are now a world first benchmark for English as a foreign language (EFL) job applicants, their recruiters, and hirers. The full report - 'Prejudice' and the State of Recruitment 2017 and the FluentIQ Employability Scorecard are available free of charge for download using the links provided.



Using FluentIQ, recruiters and hirers will now be able to effectively filter, screen, and select global candidates without bias and with complete confidence. ABOUT FLUENTIQ At FluentIQ, our mission is simple: Improve lives through language. This is why we developed a technology platform that automatically assesses an individual's ability to communicate in English. This platform powers FluentIQ Test Center which is disrupting the English language testing industry with a product aimed at global talent and their recruiters and hirers. FluentIQ was founded in 2015 and is proudly located in the heart of the Innovation Precinct in Christchurch, New Zealand. To find out more about us, please go to: About Us MEDIA CONTACT Alan Cox

CEO, FluentIQ

[email protected]

+64 21 981 268 SOURCE FluentIQ

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[June 25, 2017] Bureau Veritas offers VR Laboratory Experience at MWC Shanghai

HONG KONG, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services announces that it will offer to the visitors an Virtual Reality (VR) Experience of their modern Wireless Laboratories right at their Stand #W2.B01 in SNIEC Industry Hall, Shanghai, China during 28 - 30, June. Come and explore our modern wireless laboratories virtually covering SAR, EMC, OTA, and RF testing chambers. All Smartworld products undergo testing to verify a number of needs, whether it is to validate design concepts and performance, to identify bugs that could impact performance in the field or to demonstrate compliance with an ever growing list of criteria. What's more - We will be additionally showcasing our suite of solutions for key Smartworld segments, allowing visitors at our Stand to explore the range of services we provide for Connected Persons, Connected Cars, Smart Phones and Smart Homes. Register (https://www.surveymonky.com/r/MWCSH2017) to book a time to get an exciting VR experience at our Stand. Explore what happens within a modern Smartworld laboratory, virtually:



How many people have explored a test lab?

What does an EMC Chamber look like?

Why do we perform OTA testing?

How does SAR testing work and what is involved?

What equipment do you need for a RF chamber?

What do these acronyms stand for? Attending our At-stand activities would also get a chance to win a Xiaomi Health Tracker wristband. We look forward to welcoming you. Additional Information

Bureau Veritas Invite >> click here

About Mobile World Congress Shanghai >> click here

The MWC Brochure >> click here

The MWC Attendee Registration >> click here About Bureau Veritas Bureau Veritas is a world-leading provider in testing, inspection and certification. Founded in 1828, the group has more than 72,000 employees in 1,400 offices and laboratories around the globe. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performances by offering innovative services and solutions in order to ensure that their products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environment protection and social responsibility. Bureau Veritas is listed on Euronext Paris and belongs to the Next 20 index (Compartment A, code ISIN FR 006174348, stock symbol: BVI) Website: www.bureauveritas.com Bureau Veritas' Consumer Products Services division is a leading global quality assurance provider for the global consumer product and retail markets. It offers an array of specialized services including testing, inspections, audits and engineering services for a wide range of consumer products. These products include hard goods; toys and juvenile products; soft goods; premiums; electrical and electronic products including wireless and mobile devices; automotive equipment; food products as well as health, beauty, cosmetics, and household products. Website: www.bureauveritas.com/cps Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170623/1883550-1 SOURCE Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services

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[June 25, 2017] SYSTRAN Introduces World's First Automatic Translation System for Classic Literature

SEOUL, South Korea, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SYSTRAN International (Chairman Lucas Ji, www.systrangroup.com), the world's no.1 provider of Intelligent Language Processing Services supporting multilingual translation, has provided an artificial intelligence-based automatic translation (NMT) solution to National Information Society Agency(NIA) for translating Korean classics into modern language. SYSTRAN's NMT Solution has been introduced to translate Korean classics into modern language for the first time. This solution is considered as one of the representative examples of the convergence of humanities and scientific technology. It is also expected to contribute to secure academic assets and create a future growth engine. 'Diaries of the Royal Secretariat Translation Project' began in 1994 and is expected to be completed in 2035, 27 years sooner than in the original plan by introducing SYSTRAN's NMT Solution.



SYSTRAN has shown differentiated translation technique based on NMT(artificial intelligence-based). Compared to translation engines that are based on statistics and rules, text is processed in sentence unit and paragraph level for high-quality translation and better understanding for context. It provides optimized translation to clients with SYSTRAN's domain based solution. SYSTRAN is expected to implement high quality translation with a specialization in 'Korean Classics Translation Project' based on know-how from 13 DB projects of Institute for the Translation of Korean Classics and its unique language processing skills. In addition, by building sentence to sentence or paragraph to paragraph parallel corpus, this solution will be widely used for contrastive analysis and translation comparison research between Korean classics and modern literature in the future.

According to Lucas Ji, Chairman of SYSTRAN, "As the value awareness of cultural heritage increases globally, the demand and need for classic literature translation is growing. SYSTRAN is the world's no.1 provider of Intelligent Language Processing Services. Starting with the translation of Korean classics, SYSTRAN will expand its business to a variety of national heritage value preservation projects throughout Asia and Europe." Contact Person: Gibeom Kim

Office: 14th Floor, 110, Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu (Cambridge Gangnam Building), Seoul, Korea

Cell number: : +82 10 2805 5663 SOURCE SYSTRAN

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[June 26, 2017] BW Businessworld's BFSI CXO Summit - Banks Will Turn Into Apps

MUMBAI, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A day-long BFSI CXO Summit held by BW Businessworld in association with PwC on June 16 at St. Regis, Mumbai, saw experts from the financial world decoding the future of the banking industry. The event which saw an audience turnout of more than 550, was graced with the presence of over 100 banker delegates and more than 100 information technology experts. The summit highlighted the need for banks to match steps with technology. "Innovate, innovate, innovate, because customer expectations and experiences are changing faster than the technology itself," said P C Panigrahi, General Manager, Financial Inclusion Department, Union Bank of India, while speaking at the BW Businessworld BFSI CXO Summit 2017. Banks and financial institutions should adopt digital technologies, and take cues from social media, use big data and analytics and shift the definition of banking experience for the masses. The event had more than 15 organizations showcasing new technology. Defining the new age banking strategy, experts echoed each other in stressing that banks will eventually turn into apps and thereby, provide for safe online transactions which will become the biggest challenge down the line. According to speakers, digitalization of banks, focus on safe online banking, data centers, and cloud storage is the way ahead for the banking industry. The panel discussions during the summit pointed out that industry landscape is changing with the advent of technology and players must lead this change. Lalit Popli, Head IT, ICICI Prudential, noted that as Indins we are less concerned about the security of our information. "When it comes to our computers, we don't buy authorized software. That itself opens up your data to security breaches. We have seen with Wannacry, how many small sectors, have been affected by it."



Anand Ramamoorthy, MD, McAfee talked about the importance of cybersecurity in the digital world at the BW Businessworld BFSI CXO Summit saying, "The banking sector is vulnerable and is the only sector that has 300% chance of getting breached. The banking sector has an interesting complexity because of the demographics in security hence the main problems that we need to concentrate on are vulnerability while transacting digitally, resource constraints and inefficient security teams." Mr. Prashant Singh, UIDAI, Government of India emphasized on how Aadhar has brought a paradigm shift in the identity management of citizens of the country.

The prominent speakers from the banking sector were Mrutunjay Mahapatra, CIO & DMD, State Bank of India; Shiva Kumar Bhasin, CTO, State Bank of India; Sanjay Narkar, CTO, IFDC Bank; Gaurav Zutshi, Chief Digital Officer, Aditya Birla Financial Services; A K Kapur, Deputy Managing Director, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI); Ashutosh Jain, Chief Information Security Officer, Axis Bank and many more. Many IT experts including Anand Ramamoorthy, Managing Director, McAfee; Shrikant Shitole, Managing Director, Symantec India; Sunil Mahale, Vice President and Managing Director, Nutanix India; Arindam Mukherjee, Director Operations - Enterprise Sales, Cisco India & SAARC; Jason Stirling, Senior Vice President & GM Asia Pacific, Nuance Communication; Rajan Sharma, Vice President and Practice Head, HCL Infosystems Ltd also attended the event. The summit sponsored by 20 companies saw the presence of leading banks like State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, DCB Bank, IDFC Bank and many others. The summit was held in association with top corporates including HCL Infosystem, McAfee, Cisco, Nutanix, Symantec, Redhat, Suse, Stratus, Checkpoint, EDB, Senrysa, Nuance, Amit Software and many more. Best performing banks were also felicitated in the summit on the basis of growth, size, sustainability of operations and risk. The results of the award ceremony have been carried out in the 'Best Bank' issue of BW Businessworld Magazine and also on the online platform of BW Businessworld (http://www.businessworld.in). About BW Businessworld BW Businessworld , led by Mr. Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, is the fastest growing business media house in India. Its network spans across online communities, magazines and it conducts 70 of its own IP events - all of it to keep its communities meaningfully engaged with each other. #BFSICXOSummit Media Contact:

Gaurav Srivastava

GM, Conference Sales

BW Businessworld

+91-8377816310

[email protected]





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[June 26, 2017] Xpress Money is Focusing on Business Expansion in Europe

LONDON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ~ Meet the Xpress Money team at Money 2020 (booth B-6) to be part of the $575 billion global remittance industry ~ Xpress Money, one of the world's most dependable money transfer brands, is set to strategically expand its business in Europe by partnering not just with traditional money transfer players but with banks, retail chains, telecos, fintech companies, startups etc. that are looking to collaborate to tap newer audiences and deliver additional value to existing consumers. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151023/279887LOGO )

The team is geared to meet present and potential partners at Money 2020 Europe to be held in Copenhagen from June 26th - 28th, 2017. Xpress Money has consolidated its expertise under its 'Plug & Play' business solutions to offer payment solutions to any company lookig to foray into the ever-growing remittance industry.



Speaking about the expansion plans, Sudhesh Giriyan, COO, Xpress Money, said, " We want to create a remittance ecosystem where both the customer as well as the service provider are empowered and get maximum value for their money. Customers are not just looking for convenient money transfer services, but for brands they can trust their earnings with. 'Plug & Play' seamlessly encompasses Xpress Money's legacy and expertise - the ideal combination that customers and partners look for. The platform provides the most comprehensive solutions for online and offline remittances and helps companies manage transactions and compliance - the technology is for everyone, from startups to global enterprises. Our proprietary API is also perfectly compatible with any system, eliminating the need for any modification by the partner company". Xpress Money has partnered with NICE Actimize, the global leader in financial crime risk management to ensure the safety of its customers' money at all times. 'Plug & Play' assures an effortless integration into the world of remittance - an industry that offers endless possibilities.

About ' Xpress Money ' 'Xpress Money' is a global money transfer brand with a thriving presence in more than 160 countries across all continents through 180,000 agent locations. 'Xpress Money' has come to be known as the most dependable international money transfer brand and provides its customers a simple, fast & safe way to transfer money through innovative technology, superior customer service and its extensive worldwide network. For more information, follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/XpressMoney, Twitter: @Xpress_Money or visit http://www.xpressmoney.com SOURCE Xpress Money Services Ltd.

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[June 26, 2017] Modo Selected for Mastercard's Start Path Global 2017 Summer Class

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Modo, the payments technology company leading the connection of legacy financial services infrastructure to new digital experiences, today announced their participation in the Mastercard Start Path Global 2017 Summer Class. Modo's COIN is already being used by global payment and commerce giants like Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Verifone, FIS and Klarna. During its participation in the Start Path program, the Dallas-based startup hopes to receive the operational support needed to continue expanding the applications powered by their technology. "As self-proclaimed #paymentsgeeks, joining Mastercard Start Path will connect us to the resources we need to reimagine financial technology at a greater pace," said Bruce Parker, CEO of Modo. "We look forward to joining the cool kids in our industry to refine the vision for our COIN technology and bring our business to new heights." "Collaborating with Modo allows Mastercard to explore new ways for consumers, merchants and financial institutions to make and receive payments," said Amy Neal, Vice President, Mastercard Start Path Global. "By connecting Modo to our network of experts and partners, we can build the technologies of tomorrow more quickly." Modo recently participated in the Start Path Immersion Week in London where they developed a tailored plan that will deliver tangible value and help Modo to scale. For the next six months, Modo will receive access to Mastercard expertise, resources, and solutions. Modo joins Start Path in the Startup City at Money20/20 Europe. Modo CEO, Bruce Parker, will also be speaking with Ather Williams, Head of Global Tansaction Services, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, about Modo's partnership with the bank for global digital disbursements at the conference. Their session is in Track Room 5 on Tuesday, June 27th at 3:50PM CEST.



Press Contact

Rob Wells

[email protected] About Modo

Modo's COIN platform connects new digital experiences to payments systems worldwide. Modo can take monetary value from just about any source, and deliver it to just about any destination, without requiring partners to modify their systems. Truly a 'shipping container for global payments', the Modo COIN simplifies the complex world of payments in the digital era. Visit https://modopayments.com to learn more, or follow Modo on Twitter @ModoPayments to learn nothing but potentially get some laughs. About Mastercard Start Path Mastercard Start Path is a global effort to support innovative startups developing the next generation of commerce solutions today. Start Path was launched in 2014 with an objective to help startups to grow their businesses faster than they could by themselves. Startups that join the program can benefit from the knowledge of a global network of Mastercard experts, access to Mastercard customers and partners, and the ability to innovate on top of Mastercard solutions. Mastercard customers that join the program as partners get connected to the best and brightest startups and gain access to innovations from across the globe. For more information visit www.startpath.com or follow Mastercard Start Path on Twitter at @MAstartpath. About Mastercard Mastercard, www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world's 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, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/modo-selected-for-mastercards-start-path-global-2017-summer-class-300479310.html SOURCE Modo

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[June 26, 2017] SES Networks and Primacom to Deliver High Speed Broadband Connectivity to Vessels in Asia-Pacific

SES (News - Alert) (Euronext Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) announced today it has signed a multi-year agreement with leading Indonesian satellite communications provider Primacom (PT Primacom Interbuana). Primacom will use SES Networks' Maritime+ service to deliver the highest levels of reliable high-speed broadband connectivity to vessels operating in Asia-Pacific region. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170625005049/en/ SES Networks and Primacom to Deliver High Speed Broadband Connectivity to Vessels in Asia-Pacific (Photo: Business Wire) The innovative fully-managed service will enable Primacom to double broadband speeds for connecting vessels traversing international and domestic maritime routes within the Asia-Pacific region. SES Networks' Maritime+ service combines SES's global ground and space infrastructure to deliver the highest levels of reliability and connectivity to vessels that are seeking connected and autonomous shipping operations. "The managed Maritime+ service is an ideal fit for Primacom as it gives us the flexibility to allocate bandwidth based on the needs of our customers. The efficient use of capacity also allows our budget-conscious customers to run new applications for the first time. Thanks to this customised and cost-efficient service, we are now able to provide the reliable and seamless connectivity that vessels need while traversing across oceans," said Rosjanto, Senior Vice President of Product Support Development Technical Division at Primacom. Steve Collar, CEO at SS Networks, said, "Broadband satellite connectivity is critical to realising the potential of the growing maritime sector in Indonesia and Asia-Pacific. SES Networks' Maritime+ service, coupled with an extensive global reach and ground network, enables Primacom to offer flexible, reliable connectivity services to its customers. The customisable and cost-effective platform makes access to high-speed connectivity at sea possible for local and international operators in the region, empowering them to tap the maritime market's strong growth."



For further information please contact: Follow us on:

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Blog: https://www.ses.com/news/blogs

Media Gallery: https://www.ses.com/media-gallery

SES White papers are available under: https://www.ses.com/news/whitepapers About SES SES is the world-leading satellite operator and the first to deliver a differentiated and scalable GEO-MEO offering worldwide, with more than 50 satellites in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and 12 in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). SES focuses on value-added, end-to-end solutions in four key market verticals (Video, Enterprise, Mobility and Government). It provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions, and businesses worldwide. SES's portfolio includes the ASTRA satellite system, which has the largest Direct-to-Home (DTH) television reach in Europe, and O3b Networks, a global managed data communications service provider. Another SES subsidiary, MX1, is a leading media service provider and offers a full suite of innovative digital video and media services. Further information available at: www.ses.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170625005049/en/

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[June 26, 2017] Streaming In Hotel Rooms Just Got Easier

TORONTO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HITEC BOOTH #1311 -- Today, SONIFI Solutions, Inc. announced website pairing for STAYCAST, hospitality's leading in-room streaming solution. With website pairing, guests simply visit a website to connect to the in-room TV  no app required. "Guests already love the simplicity of STAYCAST  they can easily stream their own content without having to enter personal credentials into the hotel room TV," says Kara Heermans, VP of Product Management and UEX at SONIFI. "But as app fatigue grows, guests and hoteliers wanted an option that would not require any additional app downloads to connect. The website pairing innovation came directly from listening to our customers and their respective guests." SONIFI's website pairing technology works with any mobile browser and is backwards compatible with existing STAYAST installations with no additional requirements.



With website pairing, hotels have yet one more way to provide a safe and secure streaming experience. STAYCAST enables an isolated connection between the TV, the Chromecast and the guest's mobile device, so that guests can only stream to the TV(s) in their own room. Hotels can now choose to enable that isolated connection via website pairing, via integration with their own app, through Wi-Fi authentication, or via a SONIFI app  whichever option aligns with the guest experience they wish to create. "Making it easier for guests to watch their favorite content in their hotel room is just one example of our desire to help hoteliers build memorable guest experiences," says Heermans. "SONIFI has made it a priority to relentlessly pursue ideas that simplify technology  through innovation, integrations, key partnerships, and quality service and support."

Website pairing with STAYCAST is now available worldwide  stop by SONIFI's booth at HITEC (#1311) for a live demo. For more information, on STAYCAST and web pairing, visit http://www.sonifi.com/staycast/index.php. About SONIFI Solutions, Inc. SONIFI Solutions, the leader in innovative guest engagement solutions for the hospitality and healthcare industries, serves 500 million travelers in over 1.1 million hotel rooms annually. The company's core services include: internet services, mobility, interactive television, and free-to-guest solutions along with unparalleled nationwide technical support and professional services. For more information, please visit www.sonifi.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/streaming-in-hotel-rooms-just-got-easier-300479368.html SOURCE SONIFI Solutions, Inc.

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[June 26, 2017] Facewatch Appoints New CEO to Lead UK Facial Recognition Roll-Out

LONDON, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses to lead way in fighting crime and improving public safety Facial recognition technology and a 'self-help' approach to crime prevention can save businesses millions and help to protect the public in commercially operated spaces, according to Nick Fisher, the newly appointed CEO of Facewatch. With new investment following the completion of a successful fund raise, Facewatch is now poised to roll-out its secure cloud-based facial recognition system in retail and other business locations in the UK with Fisher - a former senior executive at Phones 4U and Dixons Retail - leading the strategy. He said: "Businesses are continually fighting a losing battle against low-level crimes which police are hard-pressed to investigate and solve due to limited resources being needed for major crimes. "Our work with businesses is showing that just 10 per cent of low-level crime is reported and only five per cent is solved, which means that businesses of all sizes are paying a high price for rising petty criminal activity, and there is growing apathy among victims. "In a wider context, we are living with the threat of terrorist ttacks, and so more locations where facial recognition is in operation can provide additional intelligence in support of our country's overall security ecosystem."



The solution, Fisher believes, is for businesses to be more proactive in deterring and preventing crime by utilising all the benefits of significant advances in technology, which Facewatch is ready to deliver. "Businesses need to adopt a self-help approach with the right tools and support to make cost-effective changes and re-position how they protect their customers, employees and profits from crime," Fisher added.

Facewatch is a secure, cloud-based platform that enables businesses and police to capture and share CCTV evidence, offender images and intelligence with each other. The technology makes it possible to capture and share algorithm versions of cropped facial images securely to the cloud, where they are analysed and compared to watch lists of known offenders and persons of interest within seconds. When there is a match, an instant alert is sent back to the business. Fisher, who was working as a business consultant to Facewatch prior to taking up the CEO role, has led the funding round to bring additional investment of 1.41 million into the business, bringing the total funding to date to 7 million. The latest investment round will provide working capital to help fund the roll-out of facial recognition and other services in conjunction with strategic partners, including Stanley Security and NEC NeoFace Watch. "After a short time looking at the business model, the relationships and the future strategy and market opportunity with developments such as facial recognition, accepting an invitation to lead Facewatch was a hugely exciting proposition for me," said Fisher. Simon Gordon, founder and Chairman said: "I am delighted and proud that we have someone of Nick's calibre running Facewatch, with the team he brings with him, and am looking forward to supporting him as he takes Facewatch to the next and most exciting stage on our journey." MEDIA CONTACT: Eric Woollard-White, [email protected]



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[June 26, 2017] Cars.com Releases 2017 American-Made Index

CHICAGO, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cars.com has released its American-Made Index, an annual ranking of the "most-American" vehicles. For the first time in the list's history, the Jeep Wrangler has topped the index as the overall "most-American" vehicle for 2017. The 2017 Cars.com American-Made Index is in fact topped by two Ohio-built SUVs from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the Jeep Wrangler (including the Wrangler Unlimited four-door) and second-place Jeep Cherokee. "Over the American-Made Index's 11-year history, the number of models meeting our original criteria has fallen due to the globalization of automobile manufacturing  from more than 60 vehicles in the index's inaugural year to eight last year," said Joe Wiesenfelder, Cars.com's executive editor. "By the original requirements, only three 2017 models would have qualified this year. With that, we've revamped the AMI to account for the changing landscape and to reinforce factors representing the domestic economic impact when a buyer purchases one model versus another. Cars.com analyzed more than 100 light-duty passenger vehicles built in the U.S. to arrive at the top 10." For 2017, the revamped index now bases the ranking on five key criteria. Assembly location: The location in which the vehicle's assembly plant is located Domestic parts content: Percentage of a vehicle's parts content originating in the United States and Canada as determined by the American Automobile Labeling Act Country of engine origin Country of transmission origin U.S. factory employment: Each automaker's direct U.S. factory employment relative to its sales footprint







Rank Make/Model U.S. Assembly Plant Location(s) 1 Jeep Wrangler/Wrangler Unlimited Toledo, Ohio 2 Jeep Cherokee Toledo, Ohio 3 Ford Taurus Chicago 4 Honda Ridgeline Lincoln, Ala. 5 Acura RDX East Liberty, Ohio 6 Ford F-150 Dearborn, Mich./Claycomo, Mo. 7 Ford Expedition Louisville, Ky. 8 GMC Acadia Spring Hill, Tenn. 9 Honda Odyssey Lincoln, Ala. 10 Honda Pilot Lincoln, Ala.

Two Ohio-built SUVs from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles topped Cars.com's 2017 American-Made Index: the Jeep Wrangler (including the Wrangler Unlimited four-door) and Jeep Cherokee. Their domestic-parts content were among the highest figures Cars.com observed in this year's AMI: 74 percent for the Wrangler, 75 percent for the Wrangler Unlimited and 70 percent for the Cherokee. All engines and nearly all transmissions for the Wrangler and Cherokee hail from the U.S., and FCA assembles both nameplates in Toledo, Ohio. "In an era of build-American sentiment, a sizable portion of shoppers still care where their car comes from," said Wiesenfelder. "That said, it is important for shoppers to remember that the logo on the vehicle doesn't necessarily tell the full story. The cars on this year's list of the 'most-American' hail from automakers headquartered in Europe and Asia as well as North America. Conversely, some vehicles with distinctively American brand names rank low by AMI standards." In a recent Cars.com survey among in-market car shoppers, it was determined that 25 percent of respondents would consider buying only from an American manufacturer (compared with 13 percent in 2016), and only 5 percent would consider buying solely from a foreign manufacturer. Other insights gathered from consumers include1: Of the 25 percent of respondents who consider buying only from American manufacturers, over 50 percent cite support of the local economy and brand loyalty as their primary reasons.

When asked which cars were believed to be the "most American," nearly three-quarters of respondents included the Chevrolet Corvette, Ford F-150, Ford Expedition and Ford Taurus, and only 10 percent included the Honda Ridgeline, this year's fourth "most-American" vehicle.

Nearly 28 percent respondents who identified as being between 18-24 years old would consider buying only from American manufacturers, compared with 21 percent of those who identified themselves as being at least 55 years old. For more information on the 2017 Cars.com American-Made Index, including a deeper dive into the data and methodology, visit www.cars.com/news or click here. About Cars.com

Cars.com is a leading online destination that helps car shoppers and owners navigate every turn of car ownership. A pioneer in automotive classified, the company has evolved into one of the largest digital automotive platforms, connecting consumers with local dealers across the country anytime, anywhere. Through trusted expert content, on-the-lot mobile app features, millions of new and used vehicle listings, a comprehensive set of research tools and the largest database of consumer reviews in the industry, Cars.com helps shoppers buy, sell and service their vehicles. Cars.com companies include DealerRater, Auto.com, PickupTrucks.com and NewCars.com. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Chicago. For more information, visit www.Cars.com ______________________________

1 Cars.com internal data, 2017 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carscom-releases-2017-american-made-index-300479383.html SOURCE Cars.com

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[June 26, 2017] Ultrasound Research Group at Neurotechnology Announces New 3D Printing Method Based on Ultrasonic Manipulation Technology

VILNIUS, Lithuania, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ultrasound Research Group at Neurotechnology today announced that it is developing a new, patent-pending ultrasonic 3D printing technology. This new technology will enable 3D printing and assembly of almost any type of object using a wide range of different materials and components. Because of the non-contact nature of ultrasonic manipulation, even small particles in the submillimeter range and sensitive components can be easily handled without causing any damage, enabling its use in many different prototyping and manufacturing scenarios. As a demonstration, the Ultrasound Research Group has created a prototype printer that can assemble a simple printed circuit board (PCB), and the company has produced a video that further explains this innovative technology. The demonstration prototype employs an array of ultrasonic transducers for the positioning of electronic components on a PCB board. In order to ensure high positioning accuracy, it uses a camera for detecting the position of the PCB and the various electronic components. A laser is used for soldering the elements onto the PCB in a non-contact way, complementing the non-contact component manipulation. "Ultrasonic manipulation can handle a very large range of different materials, including metals, plastics and even liquids," said Dr. Osvaldas Putkis, research engineer and project lead for Neurotechnology's Ultrasound Research Group. "Not only can it manipulate material particles, it can also handle components of various shapes. Other non-contact methods, like the ones based on magnetic or electrostatic forces, can't offer such versatility."



Ultrasonic manipulation is a non-contact material handling method which uses ultrasonic waves to trap and move small particles and components. It has a few key advantages over conventional mechanical handling methods: It can be used for manipulating material particles and components with very different mechanical properties and shapes,

It can deal with a large range of particle and component sizes, from a couple of millimeters down to a submillimeter range,

It can manipulate very small components while completely avoiding the presence of electrostatic forces, and

It can manipulate sensitive components without causing any damage. The Ultrasound Research Group at Neurotechnology has strong expertise in the development of transducer technology and dedicated electronics for array control, ultrasonic field modelling and ultrasonic particle manipulation. Neurotechnology has a patent pending for a 3D printing apparatus and method employing ultrasonic manipulation. The company invites other companies to take part in further development and application of this technology.

For more information about Neurotechnology's ultrasonic 3D printing and manipulation technology go to www.neurotechnology.com.



About Neurotechnology Neurotechnology is a developer of high-precision algorithms and software based on deep neural network (DNN) and other AI-related technologies. The company offers a range of products for biometric fingerprint, face, iris, palmprint and voice identification as well as AI, computer vision, object recognition and robotics. Drawing from years of academic research in the fields of neuroinformatics, image processing and pattern recognition, Neurotechnology was founded in 1990 in Vilnius, Lithuania and released its first fingerprint identification system in 1991. Since that time the company has released more than 130 products and version upgrades. More than 3000 system integrators, security companies and hardware providers integrate Neurotechnology's algorithms into their products, with millions of customer installations worldwide. Neurotechnology's algorithms have achieved top results in independent technology evaluations, including NIST MINEX and IREX. Neurotechnology's Ultrasound Research Group was created in 2014 and has since been working on ultrasonic 3D printing projects and other ultrasound-related research. Media Contact

Jennifer Allen Newton

Bluehouse Consulting Group, Inc.

+1-503-805-7540

jennifer(at)bluehousecg(dot)com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ultrasound-research-group-at-neurotechnology-announces-new-3d-printing-method-based-on-ultrasonic-manipulation-technology-300479013.html SOURCE Neurotechnology

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[June 26, 2017] TriMedx Acclaimed Among Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces in North America

TriMedx today announced its recognition as one of the Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces in North America. The annual award, issued by Achievers, an industry leading provider of employee recognition and engagement solutions, commends top employers that display leadership and innovation in engaging their workforces. TriMedx will be honored alongside the other recipients of the Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces Award at an awards gala to be held on September 11th, 2017 at the historic Saenger Theatre in New Orleans as part of the Achievers Annual Customer Experience Conference (ACE). "Employee experience remains a top priority for employees in 2017," observed David Brennan, Achievers general manager. "The impressive Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces Award winners are using rewards and recognition to foster positive, productive workplaces. We're excited to learn from them and honor their accomplishments." The Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces Awards are judged by an esteemed panel of academics and thought leaders in the field of employee engagement. The 2017 judging panel also included representation from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), HR Technology Conference and HRO Today.The judges evaluated each applicant company based on the Eight Elements of Employee Engagement: Communication, Leadership, Culture, Rewards & Recognition, Professional & Personal Growth, Accountability & Performance, Vision & Values and Corporate Social Responsibility.



Barb Burcope, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, TriMedx adds, "At TriMedx we focus on engaging and rewarding our associates through a variety of programs, including our recognition program 'Sparx', which is facilitated by Achievers. Receiving this award the past two years shows the impact of our efforts as our leaders work to remain engaged with our ever-growing, dispersed workforce. I, along with our associate engagement team, look forward to attending the awards gala in September and celebrating this accomplishment with other honorees." For more information about TriMedx, visit www.trimedx.com.

About TriMedx Created by healthcare for healthcare, TriMedx understands that patients are the number one priority. Headquartered in Indianapolis, TriMedx started as a hospital clinical engineering department focusing on reducing expenses, optimizing service and enhancing the patient experience through innovative medical equipment management programs. Today, TriMedx is recognized around the globe as a leader in medical equipment management. About Achievers The Achievers Employee Recognition and Rewards solution provides companies with a robust foundation for their employee engagement initiatives by enabling both social and rewards-based recognition. Designed for today's workplace, Achievers' innovative cloud-based platform can increase employee engagement and drive business success. It empowers employees to recognize and reward each other in real time and aligns employees with company values and goals. Delivering millions of recognitions annually, the Achievers platform inspires employee loyalty, engagement and performance. Visit us at www.achievers.com. Achievers is a Blackhawk Network company and is headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170626005677/en/

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[June 26, 2017] AEVI Partners with Epos Now to Deliver Bespoke Cloud POS Systems to the Global Retail and Hospitality Market

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at Money20/20 AEVI and Epos Now announced a partnership to bring customizable, cloud-based POS systems to AEVI's Global Marketplace, the B2B app store for smart business management. This collaboration will allow merchants to operate their POS system away from their premises, while protecting valuable data, and building a fully customizable and scalable solution for their business. Epos Now's sophisticated POS systems are trusted by over 30,000 merchants across the world and can be tailored to an individual customer's needs, whether they are in hospitality or retail. Their solution has integrated payments software options, as well as comprehensive, cloud-based data reporting capabilities. The AEVI and Epos Now partnership will scale up the geographical reach of Epos Now's cloud POS system by extending it to hospitality and retail companies on a global level. Epos Now is joining AEVI at Money 20/20 Europe in Copenhagen from 26-28 June at Booth E26 to showcase the partnership in further detail. There will be an open networking drinks at the booth on Tuesday at 5pm, which are open invitation. Edward Johnson, Epos Now Global Business Development Director says, "The reason for our existence is to improve the lives of our merchants and make them more successful. We fast became the leading POS provider in the UK across both retail and hospitality, and recently repeated the model in the U.S. - it's great to develop partnerships like this to extend our reach into other new geographical markets." "Joining up with Epos Now is really exciting, as it means we are adding yet another invaluable solution to our Global Marketplace," says Mike Camerling, Director of Marketplace, AEVI. "Our clients' merchants can now benefit from Epos Now's innovative POS solution. With our new Community 2.0 developer portal now open we are also creating a space for even more app developers to join our mission to pioneer the payments market to do more." AEVI continues to lead the pyments community towards an open ecosystem championed by collaboration, providing banks and acquirers with the capabilities to differentiate themselves on more than just price and technical specifications. To find out more about how AEVI continues to grow its choice of value-added apps and services please visit community.aevi.com.



About AEVI AEVI brings acquirers closer to their merchants and merchants closer to their consumers, with an open ecosystem that combines apps, payment services and a multi-vendor selection of payment devices. Selecting from a marketplace of high-quality apps and services, acquirers can quickly create differentiated, innovative SmartPOS solutions under their own brands. Our centralized payments as a service platform eliminates obstacles, and helps acquirers simplify the complex payment landscape with a single integration and access to a comprehensive suite of cloud-based, back office reporting tools for enhanced control and flexibility. We welcome acquirers, app solution partners and hardware vendors to build on our vision of an open, collaborative payments ecosystem, unrestricted by device vendors, currencies, borders or regulations.

| www.aevi.com | AEVI International GmbH is a subsidiary company of Diebold Nixdorf and is headquartered in Germany with operations in the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic. About Epos Now: Epos Now is an award-winning, global point-of-sale provider helping over 30,000 businesses across the world to safeguard their profitability. Over 5 billion worth of transactions were processed through Epos Now systems in 2016. Business owners benefit from cloud-based software, which connects point-of-sale seamlessly with accounts, inventory and CRM systems as well as over 100 other business applications. Learn more at www.eposnow.com. About Money20/20: Founded in 2011 and acquired by Ascential plc in 2014, Money20/20 creates destination events where the most innovative people in payments, FinTech and the broader financial services industry connect. Famed for their high-impact networking, the Las Vegas (October) and Copenhagen (June) editions are widely considered unmissable by the industry they serve. The new Asian edition will debut in Singapore in March 2018. Money20/20 is the space where the industry's smartest visionaries and innovators come together to create the future of money. Money20/20 is an Ascential event. www.money2020.com About Ascential plc: Ascential is a global business-to-business media company that informs and connects the business world in 150 countries through market-leading Exhibitions & Festivals and Information Services. Ascential powers the prestigious Cannes Lions festival for the branded communications industry, the world's premier payments and financial services congress Money20/20, Spring Fair/Autumn Fair, the global fashion trend forecasting service WGSN, environmental risk data business Groundsure, e-commerce analytics provider One Click Retail and MediaLink, the strategic advisory and business services firm. Ascential's premium products enable focus, growth and value. The company provides customers with world class content and connections empowering their businesses to be the best informed and best connected. www.ascential.com Money20/20 Europe media contacts:

Veronica Malley

[email protected]



AEVI Press & Media Contact:

Amelie Arras

PR and Communications

On behalf of AEVI

Ad Astra (UK) Ltd

[email protected]

Tel.: +44-(0)-1243-535-063



[email protected]

Tel.: +49-(0)-5251-693-3375

SOURCE AEVI

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[June 26, 2017] Line Corporation Introduces Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Determination of the Details)

LINE Corporation (NYSE:LN) (TOKYO:3938) (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President & CEO: Takeshi Idezawa; hereinafter the "Company") announced on February 23, 2017, the introduction of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (J-ESOP; hereinafter called the "Plan"; and the trust to be established based on the trust agreement concluded with Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. for the Plan, hereinafter called the "Trust") and has now determined the details, including the date of establishment of the Trust, etc. at the Board of Directors Meeting held today. In conjunction with the introduction of the Plan, the Company has simultaneously decided to assign 1,007,810 new shares (3,999,997,890 yen) to Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust E). For details, please refer to "Notice Regarding the Offering of Shares to Be Issued through Third-Party Allotment in Accordance with the Introduction of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan" dated today.







1. Overview of the Trust (1) Type of Trust: Trust of money other than money trust (third-party trust) (2) Purpose of Trust: To provide stock of the Company and other assets to beneficiaries, in accordance with the Regulations on Stock Compensation (3) Trustor: The Company (4) Trustee: Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. (Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. will conclude a comprehensive trust agreement with Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd., which will become the successor trustee) (5) Beneficiary: Persons who have acquired the right to receive assets pursuant to the provisions of the Regulations on Stock Compensation (6) Trust Agreement Date: June26, 2017 (7) Trust Period: From June 26, 2017 to the termination of the Trust (The Trust termination date is not yet decided; the Trust will continue as long as the Plan continues.) (8) Plan Start Date: July 18, 2017 (tentative) (9) Share Acquisition Date: July 18, 2017 (tentative) (10) Share Acquisition Amount: 3,999,997,890 yen (tentative)

Notice Regarding the Offering of Shares to Be Issued through Third-Party Allotment in Accordance with the Introduction of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan LINE Corporation (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President & CEO: Takeshi Idezawa; the "Company") announces that it passed a resolution at its board meeting held today to conduct an offering of shares by means of a third-party allotment (the "Third-Party Allotment"), in accordance with the introduction of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (J-ESOP; the "Plan") that was announced on February 23, 2017, as follows. 1. Overview of the offering (1) Payment date Tuesday, July 18, 2017 (2) Type and number of shares to be issued 1,007,810 shares of common stock (3) Issue price 3,969 yen per share (4) Total issue price 3,999,997,890 yen (5) Method of offering or allotment Third-party allotment (6) Prospective Allottee Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust E) (7) Other The offering is subject to notification in accordance with the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act being effective. 2. Purpose and reasons for the offering The Company announced its introduction of the Plan on February 23, 2017, and then passed a resolution regarding detailed matters of the Plan at its board meeting held today. (For a summary of the Plan, please see the "Notice Regarding Introduction of Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Determination of the Details)" announced today. The new shares to be issued through the Third-Party Allotment will be allotted to Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust E) (the successor trustee entrusted by Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd., the trustee for the Plan) that is in charge of holding and disposing of the Company's shares and is established upon introduction of the Plan. 3. Amount, use, and scheduled timing of use of funds to be procured (1) Amount of funds to be procured (estimated net amount after expenses) Total amount to be paid (yen) Estimated expenses of

issuance (yen) Estimated net amount after expenses

(yen) 3,999,997,890 yen - 3,999,997,890 yen Notes) 1. The "Estimated expenses of issuance" are paid apart from "Total amount to be paid," and the "Total amount to be paid" wholly becomes the "Estimated net amount after expenses." 2. The "Estimated expenses of issuance" are 21,250,000 yen, and they do not include consumption tax or the like. They includes estimated registration expenses, advisory fees and expenses of listing on a stock exchange. (2) Use of the funds to be procured The estimated net amount after expenses of 3,999,997,890 yen mentioned above will be appropriated entirely to operating funds, including payment of expenses on and after the payment date. The funds will be managed in the Company's bank account until they are used for the above purpose. 4. View on reasonableness of use of funds The Company believes that the planned use of the funds to be procured by issuing new shares through the Third-Party Allotment is reasonable, as it will contribute to the operation of the Company's business. 5. Reasonableness of issuance terms and conditions (1) Basis for calculation of issue price and details thereof In order to determine the issue price non-arbitrarily, the Company set the issue price at 3,969 yen (any fraction less than one yen is rounded off), the average closing price of the Company's common stock traded on Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. during the one-month period from May 24, 2017, to the day immediately preceding the Board of Directors meeting at which the resolution for the Third-Party Allotment was passed (June 23, 2017). The reason for adopting the average closing price of the Company's common stock traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange during the one-month period immediately preceding the resolution at the Board of Directors meeting is because the Company considers that it is more objective and reasonable as a calculation base to use the leveled value of the average share price over a certain period, rather than using the price at a specific point, since special factors such as temporary fluctuations in the share price are eliminated. In addition, the reason why the Company has adopted the most recent one-month period as the calculation period is that the Company believes it is more reasonable to adopt a certain period in which the average share price is closest to the most recent market price than to adopt the most recent three or six months. The issue price of 3,969 yen is equal to (i) the closing price (3,995 yen) of the Company's stock on the business day immediately preceding the date of the resolution at the board meeting multiplied by 99.35%; (ii) the average of the closing prices (3,988 yen, any fraction less than one yen is rounded off) of the Company's stock during the three months starting from the business day immediately preceding the date of resolution at the board meeting multiplied by 99.52%, and (iii) the average of the closing prices (3,935 yen, any fraction less than one yen is rounded off) of the Company's stock during the six months starting from the business day immediately preceding the date of resolution at the board meeting multiplied by 100.86%. Taking these into consideration, the Company believes that the issue price for the Third-Party Allotment is not especially favorable to the prospective allottee and is reasonable. Regarding the issue price stated above, 3 Corporate Auditors who attended the board meeting (2 of which are outside Corporate Auditors) have expressed their opinion that the price is not especially favorable to the prospective allottee. (2) Basis for assessing that the number of shares to be issued and level of share dilution are reasonable The number of shares to be issued through the Third-Party Allotment corresponds to the number of shares expected to be granted to the employees of the Company and those of its subsidiaries ("Relevant Employees") during the trust period in accordance with the Regulations on Stock Compensation; and it will be 0.46% of the total issued and outstanding shares (219,309,500 shares) as of May 31, 2017 (rounded off to two decimal places) and 0.46% of the total voting rights (2,192,959 voting rights) as of May 31, 2017 (rounded off to two decimal places). It is unlikely that the shares involving the Third-Party Allotment may be placed on a stock market all at once. In addition, the Third-Party Allotment will enhance morale and motivation of the Relevant Employees and contribute to securing excellent human resources and their long-term success, thereby enhancing the Company's corporate value. As such, the Company believes that the level of share dilution is reasonable, and there will only be a minor effect on the secondary market. 6. Reason for selection of prospective allottee (1) Overview of the prospective allottee 1) Name: Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust E) 2) Details of Trust Agreement (J-ESOP Agreement): Type of Trust: Trust of money other than monetary trust (third-party trust) Purpose of Trust: To provide stock of the Company and other assets to beneficiaries, in accordance with the Regulations on Stock Compensation Trustor: The Company Trustee: Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. will conclude a comprehensive trust agreement with Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd., which will become the successor trustee. Beneficiaries: Persons who have acquired the right to receive assets pursuant to the provisions of the Regulations on Stock Compensation Trust Agreement Date: June 26, 2017 Trust Period: From June 26, 2017 to the termination of the Trust Share Acquisition Date: July 18, 2017 (tentative) 3) Relationship between the listed company and the prospective allottee: There is no capital relationship, personnel relationship or business relationship between the Company and the prospective allottee. The prospective allottee is not a related party of the Company. (1) Name Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd. (2) Address Tower Z, Harumi Triton Square, 8-12, Harumi 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (3) Name and title of

representative Akira Moriwaki, President & CEO (4) Business description Master trust services, asset administration services for securities, asset administration services for defined contribution pensions (5) Capital 50,000 million yen (6) Date of establishment January 22, 2001 (7) Number of shares issued and

outstanding 1,000,000 shares (8) Fiscal year end March 31 (9) Number of employees 653 (as of September 30, 2016) (10) Main business partners Business corporations and financial corporations (11) Main banks - (12) Major shareholders and their

shareholding ratio Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. 54% The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited 16% Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Company 10% (13) Relationship between the

parties Capital relationship: N/A Personnel relationship: N/A Business relationship: N/A Ties to related parties: N/A (14) Business results and financial conditions over the last three fiscal years (unit: million yen, unless otherwise specified) Fiscal year ended March 31, 2015 March 31, 2016 March 31, 2017 Net assets 59,419 60,385 60,771 Total assets 1,993,528 5,473,232 11,424,703 Net assets per share (yen) 59,419 60,385 60,771 Ordinary revenue 23,785 24,500 23,462 Ordinary income 1,792 1,721 990 Net income 1,129 1,129 674 Net income per share (yen) 1,129.20 1,129.27 674.44 Dividends per share (yen) 230.00 230.00 135.00 * Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd. is a subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.; based on our research on public information posted on Mizuho's website and disclosure materials (such as the Business Code of Conduct), the Company confirmed that none of the prospective allottee nor its officers or major shareholders (major contributors) have any connection with anti-social forces, and submitted a confirmation letter to that effect to Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. (2) Reason for selecting the prospective allottee In accordance with the introduction of the trust to be created under the trust agreement to be executed with Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. regarding the Plan, the Company allots the shares to the Trust E opened at Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd., the successor trustee, pursuant to the trust agreement. (3) Prospective allottee's policy on holding shares In accordance with the above-mentioned trust agreement, the prospective allottee, Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust E), will possess the shares of the Company in order to provide the trust assets (such as shares of the Company) to the beneficiaries during the Trust Period, in accordance with the Regulations on Stock Compensation. If the prospective allottee, Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust E), transfers all or part of the allotted shares within two years from the payment date (July 18, 2017), the Company will obtain from the prospective allottee informal consent to concluding a pledge agreement with the Company, under which the prospective allottee shall immediately report to the Company, in writing, the purchaser's name and address, the number of shares transferred, the transfer date, transfer price, transfer reason, transfer method, etc., thereof, and the Company shall report the details of the report to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.; and the details of the report shall be made available for public inspection. (4) Confirmation that the prospective allottee has the funds required for payment The Company has confirmed through the J-ESOP Trust Agreement that with respect to the monetary equivalent to the funds required for payment by the prospective allottee, the initial trust money to be contributed by the Company to the Plan will exist within the trust assets as of the allotment date, as stated in the "Notice Regarding Introduction of Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Determination of the Details)" announced today. For details, please refer to the "Notice Regarding Introduction of Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Determination of the Details)" announced today. 7. Major shareholders and shareholding ratios after the offering Before the offering (as of May 31, 2017) After the offering NAVER CORPORATION 79.80% NAVER CORPORATION 79.43% MOXLEY & CO LLC 5.13% MOXLEY & CO LLC 5.11% CBHK-KOREA SECURITIES

DEPOSITORY -SAMSUNG 0.72% CBHK-KOREA SECURITIES

DEPOSITORY -SAMSUNG 0.71% The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd.

(trust account) 0.45% Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd.

(Trust E) 0.46% BNY GCM CLIENT ACCOUNT

JPRD AC ISG (FE -AC) 0.37% The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd.

(trust account) 0.45% Japan Trustee Service Trust Bank, Ltd.

(trust account) 0.32% BNY GCM CLIENT ACCOUNT

JPRD AC ISG (FE -AC) 0.37% BNP PARIBAS SECURITIES

SERVICES LUXEMBOURG/

JASDEC/ HENDERSON HHF SICAV 0.25% Japan Trustee Service Trust Bank, Ltd.

(trust account) 0.32% STATE STREET BANK WEST

CLIENT -TREATY 505234 0.24% BNP PARIBAS SECURITIES

SERVICES LUXEMBOURG/

JASDEC/ HENDERSON HHF SICAV 0.25% THE BANK OF NEW YORK 134168 0.24% STATE STREET BANK WEST

CLIENT -TREATY 505234 0.24% RBC IST 15 PCT LENDING

ACCOUNT - CLIENT ACCOUNT 0.22% THE BANK OF NEW YORK 134168 0.24% Note) 1. The major shareholders and shareholding ratios after the offering are based on the register of shareholders as of May 31, 2017. 2. The foregoing shareholding ratios are the ratios of voting rights held against the total number of voting rights. 8. Outlook for the future There will be a minor impact on the business prospect for the current fiscal year. 9. Procedures under the Business Code of Conduct Since the Third-Party Allotment (i) results in share dilution of less than 25%, and (ii) does not cause a change in controlling shareholder, obtaining an opinion from an independent third party and confirming the intention of the shareholders as set forth in Article 432 of the Securities Listing Regulations established by the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. are not required. 10. Business results and equity finance position for the past three fiscal years (1) Results for the past three years (Consolidated) Fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 December 31, 2015 December 31, 2016 Revenue 86,366 million yen 120,405 million yen 140,704 million yen Profit before tax from

continuing operations (?

shows loss) 6,262 million yen ?530 million yen 17,989 million yen Profit for the period (?

shows loss) 2,004 million yen ?7,972 million yen 7,103 million yen Profit attributable to the

shareholders of the

Company (? shows

loss) 4,206 million yen ?7,581 million yen 6,762 million yen Basic earnings per share

(? shows loss) 24.05 yen ?43.33 yen 34.84 yen Dividends per share - yen - yen - yen Equity attributable to the

shareholders of the

Company 71.41 yen 101.39 yen 738.53 yen Note) The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). (2) Number of issued and outstanding shares and number of potential shares (as of May 31, 2017) Number of shares Percentage of issued and outstanding shares Number of issued and outstanding shares 219,309,500 100.0% Number of potential shares at current conversion price (strike price) 21,371,500 9.74% Number of potential shares at lower-limit conversion price (strike price) - - Number of potential shares at upper-limit conversion price (strike price) - - Note) "Potential shares" refers to shares convertible from stock options. (3) Recent stock prices 1) Most recent three years Fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 December 31, 2015 December 31, 2016 Opening price - yen - yen 4,900 yen High - yen - yen 5,230 yen Low - yen - yen 3,780 yen Closing price - yen - yen 4,010 yen Note) The Company listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 15, 2016, therefore there are no applicable stock prices before that. 2) Most recent six months December

2016 January 2017 February

2017 March

2017 April

2017 May

2017 Opening price 4,450yen 3,990yen 3,590yen 3,830yen 4,245yen 3,810yen High 4,465yen 4,195yen 3,950yen 4,320yen 4,370yen 3,935yen Low 3,930yen 3,530yen 3,490yen 3,805yen 3,795yen 3,655yen Closing price 4,010yen 3,625yen 3,870yen 4,275yen 3,865yen 3,810yen 3) Stock prices on the transaction day immediately preceding the date of resolution to issue new shares As of June 23,

2017 Opening price 4,000yen High 4,035yen Low 3,980yen Closing price 3,995yen (4) Equity finance position during the most recent three years Issuance of new shares by public offering (domestic offering and overseas offering) Payment date For overseas offering: July 14, 2016 For domestic offering: July 15, 2016 Amount of funds to be procured 109,402,000,000 yen (estimated net amount after expenses) Issue price 2,295 yen Number of shares issued at the time of offering 174,992,000 shares Number of shares issued through such offering 35,000,000 shares (For overseas offering: 22,000,000 shares; for domestic offering:13,000,000 shares) Total number of shares issued after the offering 209,992,000 shares Initial plan regarding use of funds upon issuance For repayment of short-term borrowings and corporate bonds; For capital investment; For operating funds; For investment in and financing for LINE Mobile Co., Ltd. (formerly LMN Co., Ltd.) that operates LINE mobile services, and LINE MUSIC Co., Ltd.; For investment and financing through investment funds of the Company's group, and investment under the growth policy via the LINE business portal service. Planned timing of use of funds at the time of issuance Repayment of short-term borrowings: FY ended December 2016 Repayment of corporate bonds: FY ended December 2016 Capital investment: FYs ended December 2016, December 2017, and December 2018 Operating funds: FYs ended December 2016, December 2017, and December 2018 Investment in and financing for LINE Mobile Co., Ltd. and LINE MUSIC Co., Ltd.: FY ended December 2016 The specific timing of the investment under the growth strategy was not determined. Current status regarding use of funds As originally planned, the funds are being used for the repayment of short-term borrowings and corporate bonds, capital investment, operating funds, investment in and financing for LINE Mobile Co., Ltd. and LINE MUSIC Co., Ltd., and investment under the growth strategy. Issuance of new shares through third-party allotment in accordance with domestic and overseas offering via over-allotment Payment date August 16, 2016 Amount of funds to be

procured 16,545,375,000 yen (estimated net amount after expenses) Issue price 2,295 yen Number of shares issued

at the time of offering 209,992,000 shares Number of shares issued

through such offering 5,250,000 shares Total number of shares

issued after the offering 215,242,000 shares Allottees (i) Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. 1,950,000 shares (Capital increase by domestic third-party allotment) (ii) Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC 3,300,000 shares (Capital increase by overseas third-party allotment) Initial plan regarding use

of funds upon issuance For investment under the growth policy via the LINE business portal service Scheduled timing of use

upon issuance The timing was not determined. Current appropriation

status The funds are being used for investment under the growth strategy regarding the LINE business portal segment. 11. Terms and Conditions of Issuance (1) Type and number of shares to be issued 1,007,810 shares of common stock (2) Issuance price 3,969 yen per share (3) Total issuance price 3,999,997,890 yen (4) Amount of stated capital to be increased 1,999,998,945 yen (5) Amount of capital reserve to be increased 1,999,998,945 yen (6) Payment date Tuesday, July 18, 2017 (7) Method of offering or allotment Third-Party Allotment (8) Prospective allottees Trust & Custody Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust E) (9) Other The issuance is subject to notification in accordance with the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act being effective. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170626005804/en/

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[June 26, 2017] LINE Corporation Issues Stock Options (Warrants)

LINE Corporation (NYSE:LN) (TOKYO:3938) (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President & CEO: Takeshi Idezawa; "the Company") announces that it determined at its board meeting held today the terms and conditions of warrants that are to be issued in the form of stock options to directors and executive officers of the Company and the director of a subsidiary, and passed a resolution to solicit subscribers for the warrants, among others, as follows. 1. Reason for issuance of stock options (warrants) The purpose of the issuance is to provide the Company's directors and executive officers and its subsidiary director with an incentive to improve corporate earnings and enhance corporate value. 2. Specific details of stock option (warrant) issuance to the Company's directors (1) Name of warrants LINE Corporation 20th Warrants. (2) Total number of warrants 12,621 warrants. The above total number of warrants is the number of warrants planned to be allotted. If the number of warrants to be allotted declines, such as where applications for subscription are not made, then the total number of warrants to be allotted shall be the total number of warrants to be issued. (3) Amount of payment for warrants The amount to be paid in upon allotment of each warrant shall be the amount obtained using the following formula: (x) the option price (fractions less than 1 yen being rounded off) per Company share calculated by the Black-Scholes Model based on various conditions as of the date on which warrants are to be allotted, as set forth in (10) below (the "Allotment Date"), multiplied by (y) the number of shares subject to each warrant (the "Number of Allotted Shares"). Any person who is allotted a warrant shall, instead of paying the amount to be paid-in, offset the payment with his/her remuneration claim that he/she has against the Company. (4) Class and number of shares to be issued upon exercise of warrants The class of shares to be issued upon exercise of warrants shall be shares of common stock of the Company and the Number of Allotted Shares shall be 100 shares. However, if the Company conducts a share split (including gratuitous allotment of shares of common stock of the Company; the same applies below to the description of a share split) or share consolidation of shares of common stock of the Company, the Company shall adjust the Number of Allotted Shares using the following formula; and any fractions less than 1 share arising due to such adjustment shall be rounded down. Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment

= Number of Allotted Shares Before Adjustment  Share split or share consolidation ratio Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment shall be applied, in the case of a share split, on or after the record date of the share split (if no record date is determined, the effective date of the share split); and in the case of a share consolidation, on or after the effective date of the share consolidation. However, if a share split is conducted on condition that a proposal is passed at the Company's shareholders' meeting to reduce the amount of surplus and increase the amount of stated capital or capital reserve, and where the date of the close of that shareholders' meeting or any date before that is to be the record date for the share split, then the Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment shall be applied on or after the date immediately following the date on which the shareholders' meeting is closed. When adjusting the Number of Allotted Shares, the Company shall notify or publicly notify such parties holding each warrant as stated in the warrant register ("Warrant Holder(s)") of necessary matters up to the date immediately before the date of application of the Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment. However, if the Company is unable to notify or publicly notify up to that date, it shall notify or publicly notify it promptly after the application. (5) Value of assets to be contributed upon exercise of warrants 1) The value of assets to be contributed when each warrant is exercised shall be the Number of Allotted Shares multiplied by the amount paid per share that can be delivered by exercise of that warrant (the "Exercise Price"). The Exercise Price shall be obtained by multiplying 1.05 by the average closing price in ordinary trading of the Company's shares of common stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for each day (excluding any day on which no trade is executed) of the month preceding the month in which the Allotment Date belongs, and any fraction less than 1 yen arising due to such calculation will be rounded up. However, when the amount of the Exercise Price calculated this way is less than the closing price (or closing price of the immediately preceding trading day when there is no closing price) of the shares of the Company's common stock on the Allotment Date, the Exercise Price shall be that closing price. 2) If the Company falls under any of the following items (a) to (c) after the Allotment Date with respect to its common stock, it shall adjust the Exercise Price using each of the respective formulas (the "Exercise Price Adjustment Formula") set forth below; and any fractions less than 1 yen arising due to the adjustment shall be rounded up. (a) When conducting a share split or a share consolidation







Exercise Price

After

Adjustment = Exercise Price

Before Adjustment  1 Share split

or share consolidation

ratio

Exercise Price After Adjustment shall be applied, in the case of a share split, on or after the record date of the share split (if no record date is determined, the effective date of the share split); and in the case of a share consolidation, on or after the effective date of the share consolidation. However, if a share split is conducted on condition that a proposal is passed at the Company's shareholders' meeting to reduce the amount of surplus and increase the amount of stated capital or capital reserve, and where the date of the close of that shareholders' meeting or any date before that is to be the record date for the share split, then the Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment shall be applied on or after the date immediately following the date on which the close of the shareholders' meeting took place. (b) When issuing new shares of the Company's common stock or disposing of treasury shares at a price lower than the market value (excluding where the foregoing is conducted by exercising warrants) Number

of

Shares

Already

Issued + Number of

Shares to be

Newly Issued  Amount to be

Paid (News - Alert)-in Per

Share Exercise

Price After

Adjustment = Exercise Price

Before

Adjustment  Market Value Per Share Number of Shares Already Issued + Number of Shares to be Newly Issued (i) The "Market Value" used in the above Exercise Price Adjustment Formula shall be the average (calculated to the second decimal place and rounded off to the first decimal place) closing price (including indicated quotation; the same below) in ordinary trading of the Company's shares of common stock on a listed financial instruments exchange (if the Company's common stock is listed on more than one financial instruments exchange, the principal exchange that is determined to be the most appropriate, considering the trading volume, pricing ratio, and other factors concerning the Company's common stock, during the period mentioned later) in 30 trading days (excluding days without a closing price) starting on the 45th trading day before the application date of the Exercise Price After Adjustment. (ii) The "Number of Shares Already Issued" in the above Exercise Price Adjustment Formula shall be the amount obtained by deducting the number of treasury shares concerning the Company's common stock, from the total number of issued shares of the Company's common stock as of the date one month before the application date of the Exercise Price After Adjustment (if there is no record date), or as of the record date (if there is a record date). If the Company disposes of treasury shares of its common stock, the "Number of Shares to be Newly Issued" in the above formula shall be replaced by the "Number of Treasury Shares to be Disposed of". (iii) The Exercise Price After Adjustment shall be applied on or after the date immediately following the date on which the relevant amount is paid-in (if the period for pay-in is determined, the last day of that period), or if there is a record date for the subscription, on or after the date immediately following the record date. (c) In addition to the above, if it is appropriate to adjust the Exercise Price because of the Company's merger with another company, among others, after the Allotment Date, the Company shall adjust the Exercise Price as necessary to a reasonable extent. (d) When adjusting the Exercise Price, the Company shall notify or publicly notify the Warrant Holders of necessary matters up to the date immediately before the date of application of the Exercise Price After Adjustment. However, if the Company is unable to notify or publicly notify it up to that date, it shall notify or publicly notify it promptly after the application. (6) Exercise period for warrants The exercise period for warrants shall be from July 18, 2018 to July 18, 2027 (the "Exercise Period"). However, if the last day of the Exercise Period falls on a Company holiday, the immediately preceding business day shall be the last day. (7) Matters regarding stated capital and capital reserve that are to increase when shares are issued upon the exercise of warrants 1) The amount of stated capital to increase when shares are issued upon the exercise of warrants shall be the amount equivalent to half of the maximum amount of increase in stated capital calculated according to Article 17, Paragraph 1 of the Rules of Corporate Accounting. If fractions less than 1 yen arise due to the calculation, then the fractions shall be rounded up. 2) The amount of capital reserve to increase when shares are issued upon the exercise of warrants shall be the amount obtained by deducting (x) the amount of stated capital to be increased set forth in 1) above from (y) the maximum amount of increase in stated capital mentioned in 1) above. (8) Restriction on acquisition of warrants by transfer Acquisition of warrants by transfer shall be subject to approval by resolution of the Company's board of directors. (9) Conditions for exercise of warrants 1) In the case of death of a Warrant Holder, an heir of that holder cannot exercise that holder's warrants. However, the foregoing shall not apply if the Company's board of directors approves such exercise. 2) Warrant Holders must be in the position of director of the Company or its associated companies (i.e., the associated companies as set forth in the Ordinance on Terminology, Forms, and Preparation Methods of Financial Statements, etc.) when exercising the warrants. However, this shall not apply in cases of the retirement of a director of the Company or its associated companies due to the expiration of his or her term of office, or other cases determined to have a reason to be justified by the Company's board of directors. 3) Each warrant cannot be exercised partially. (10) Allotment date of warrants July 18, 2017 (11) Date of payment of money to be made in exchange for warrants July 18, 2017 (12) Matters regarding acquisition of warrants If a proposal under the following items 1), 2), 3), 4), or 5) is approved at the Company's shareholders' meeting (in the case where a resolution at a shareholders' meeting is not required, if a resolution is passed by the Company's board of directors or a determination is made by a delegated executive officer in accordance with Article 416, paragraph 4 of the Companies Act), the Company may acquire a warrant without compensation on a date separately determined by the board of directors (or by a delegated executive officer in accordance with Article 416, paragraph 4 of the Companies Act): 1) a proposal to approve a merger agreement by which the Company will be a disappearing company; 2) a proposal to approve a split agreement or a split plan by which the Company will be a splitting company; 3) a proposal to approve a share exchange agreement or a share transfer plan by which the Company will be a wholly-owned subsidiary; 4) a proposal to approve an amendment to the Company's articles of incorporation establishing a provision, with respect to all issued shares of the Company, that an acquisition of those shares by transfer shall require the Company's approval; or 5) a proposal to approve an amendment to the Company's articles of incorporation establishing a provision, with respect to shares of the class subject to the warrants, that an acquisition of those shares by transfer shall require the Company's approval, or with respect to the shares of that class, that the Company shall acquire all of those shares by a resolution of the Company's shareholders' meeting. (13) Matters regarding delivery of warrants in conjunction with organizational restructuring If the Company conducts a merger (limited to where the Company will disappear in a merger), absorption-type split or incorporation-type split (in each case, limited to where the Company becomes a splitting company), or share exchange or share transfer (in each case, limited to where the Company becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary) (collectively, the "Organizational Restructuring"), the Company shall deliver to Warrant Holders who hold the remaining warrants (the "Remaining Warrants") at the time immediately preceding the effective date of the Organizational Restructuring (i.e., in each case, the date on which the absorption-type merger becomes effective, the date on which a stock company is incorporated through the consolidation-type merger, the date on which the absorption-type split becomes effective, the date on which a stock company is incorporated through the incorporation-type split, the date on which the share exchange becomes effective, or the date on which a wholly-owning parent company is incorporated through the share transfer; the same below) warrants of any of the stock companies listed in Article 236, Paragraph 1, Item (viii), (a) to (e) of the Companies Act (the "Restructured Company"), upon the respective Organizational Restructuring. In this case, the Remaining Warrants shall disappear, and the Restructured Company shall newly issue warrants. However, an absorption-type merger agreement, consolidation-type merger agreement, absorption-type split agreement, incorporation-type split plan, share exchange agreement, or share transfer plan shall state that warrants of the Restructured Company shall be delivered according to each of the following: 1) Number of warrants of the Restructured Company to be delivered The number equivalent to the number of the Remaining Warrants held by the respective Warrant Holders shall be delivered. 2) Class of shares of the Restructured Company subject to warrants Common stock of the Restructured Company. 3) Number of shares of the Restructured Company subject to warrants To be determined according to (4) above by taking into consideration the conditions and the like for the Organizational Restructuring. 4) Value of assets to be contributed upon the exercise of warrants The value of assets to be contributed upon the exercise of each warrant to be delivered shall be the amount obtained by taking into consideration the conditions and the like of the Organizational Restructuring, and by multiplying (x) the Exercise Price after the Organizational Restructuring, which is obtained by adjusting the Exercise Price determined according to (5) above by (y) the number of shares of the Restructured Company subject to the warrants, which is determined according to 3) above. 5) Exercise period of warrants The exercise period shall be from the later of either (i) the commencement date of the period in which warrants may be exercised as set forth in (6) above, or (ii) the effective date of the Organizational Restructuring, to the expiration date of the period in which warrants may be exercised as set forth in (6) above. 6) Matters regarding stated capital and capital reserve that are to increase when shares are issued upon the exercise of warrants To be determined according to (7) above. 7) Restriction on acquisition of warrants by transfer The acquisition of warrants by transfer shall require the approval of the board of directors of the Restructured Company. 8) Other conditions for exercising warrants To be determined according to (9) above. 9) Clauses regarding acquisition of warrants To be determined according to (12) above. (14) Arrangement concerning fractions less than 1 share arising due to the exercise of warrants If the number of shares to be delivered to Warrant Holders exercising their warrants includes any fractions less than 1 share, the fractions shall be rounded down. (15) People who are to be allotted warrants, the number thereof, and the number of warrants to be allotted Allottee Number Number of warrants Directors of the Company Four (4) 12,621 3. Specific details of stock option (warrant) issuance to executive officers of the Company and the director of a subsidiary (1) Name of warrants LINE Corporation 21st Warrants. (2) Total number of warrants 11,419 warrants. The above total number of warrants is the number of warrants planned to be allotted. If the number of warrants to be allotted declines, such as where applications for subscription are not made, then the total number of warrants to be allotted shall be the total number of warrants to be issued. (3) Amount of payment for warrants The amount to be paid in upon allotment of each warrant shall be the amount obtained using the following formula: (x) the option price (fractions less than 1 yen being rounded off) per Company share calculated by the Black-Scholes Model based on various conditions as of the date on which warrants are to be allotted, as set forth in (10) below (the "Allotment Date"), multiplied by (y) the number of shares subject to each warrant (the "Number of Allotted Shares"). Any person who is allotted a warrant shall, instead of paying the amount to be paid-in, offset the payment with his/her remuneration claim that he/she has against the Company. (4) Class and number of shares to be issued upon exercise of warrants The class of shares to be issued upon exercise of warrants shall be shares of common stock of the Company and the Number of Allotted Shares shall be 100 shares. However, if the Company conducts a share split (including gratuitous allotment of shares of common stock of the Company; the same applies below to the description of a share split) or share consolidation of shares of common stock of the Company, the Company shall adjust the Number of Allotted Shares using the following formula; and any fractions less than 1 share arising due to such adjustment shall be rounded down. Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment

= Number of Allotted Shares Before Adjustment  Share split or share consolidation ratio Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment shall be applied, in the case of a share split, on or after the record date of the share split (if no record date is determined, the effective date of the share split); and in the case of a share consolidation, on or after the effective date of the share consolidation. However, if a share split is conducted on condition that a proposal is passed at the Company's shareholders' meeting to reduce the amount of surplus and increase the amount of stated capital or capital reserve, and where the date of the close of that shareholders' meeting or any date before that is to be the record date for the share split, then the Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment shall be applied on or after the date immediately following the date on which the shareholders' meeting is closed. When adjusting the Number of Allotted Shares, the Company shall notify or publicly notify such parties holding each warrant as stated in the warrant register ("Warrant Holder(s)") of necessary matters up to the date immediately before the date of application of the Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment. However, if the Company is unable to notify or publicly notify up to that date, it shall notify or publicly notify it promptly after the application. (5) Value of assets to be contributed upon exercise of warrants 1) The value of assets to be contributed when each warrant is exercised shall be the Number of Allotted Shares multiplied by the amount paid per share that can be delivered by exercise of that warrant (the "Exercise Price"). The Exercise Price shall be obtained by multiplying 1.05 by the average closing price in ordinary trading of the Company's shares of common stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for each day (excluding any day on which no trade is executed) of the month preceding the month in which the Allotment Date belongs, and any fraction less than 1 yen arising due to such calculation will be rounded up. However, when the amount of the Exercise Price calculated this way is less than the closing price (or closing price of the immediately preceding trading day when there is no closing price) of the shares of the Company's common stock on the Allotment Date, the Exercise Price shall be that closing price. 2) If the Company falls under any of the following items (a) to (c) after the Allotment Date with respect to its common stock, it shall adjust the Exercise Price using each of the respective formulas (the "Exercise Price Adjustment Formula") set forth below; and any fractions less than 1 yen arising due to the adjustment shall be rounded up. (a) When conducting a share split or a share consolidation Exercise Price

After

Adjustment = Exercise Price

Before Adjustment  1 Share split

or share consolidation

ratio Exercise Price After Adjustment shall be applied, in the case of a share split, on or after the record date of the share split (if no record date is determined, the effective date of the share split); and in the case of a share consolidation, on or after the effective date of the share consolidation. However, if a share split is conducted on condition that a proposal is passed at the Company's shareholders' meeting to reduce the amount of surplus and increase the amount of stated capital or capital reserve, and where the date of the close of that shareholders' meeting or any date before that is to be the record date for the share split, then the Number of Allotted Shares After Adjustment shall be applied on or after the date immediately following the date on which the close of the shareholders' meeting took place. (b) When issuing new shares of the Company's common stock or disposing of treasury shares at a price lower than the market value (excluding where the foregoing is conducted by exercising warrants) Number

of Shares

Already

Issued + Number of

Shares to be

Newly Issued  Amount to be

Paid-in Per

Share Exercise

Price After

Adjustment = Exercise Price

Before

Adjustment  Market Value Per Share Number of Shares Already Issued + Number of Shares to be Newly Issued (i) The "Market Value" used in the above Exercise Price Adjustment Formula shall be the average (calculated to the second decimal place and rounded off to the first decimal place) closing price (including indicated quotation; the same below) in ordinary trading of the Company's shares of common stock on a listed financial instruments exchange (if the Company's common stock is listed on more than one financial instruments exchange, the principal exchange that is determined to be the most appropriate, considering the trading volume, pricing ratio, and other factors concerning the Company's common stock, during the period mentioned later) in 30 trading days (excluding days without a closing price) starting on the 45th trading day before the application date of the Exercise Price After Adjustment. (ii) The "Number of Shares Already Issued" in the above Exercise Price Adjustment Formula shall be the amount obtained by deducting the number of treasury shares concerning the Company's common stock, from the total number of issued shares of the Company's common stock as of the date one month before the application date of the Exercise Price After Adjustment (if there is no record date), or as of the record date (if there is a record date). If the Company disposes of treasury shares of its common stock, the "Number of Shares to be Newly Issued" in the above formula shall be replaced by the "Number of Treasury Shares to be Disposed of". (iii) The Exercise Price After Adjustment shall be applied on or after the date immediately following the date on which the relevant amount is paid-in (if the period for pay-in is determined, the last day of that period), or if there is a record date for the subscription, on or after the date immediately following the record date. (c) In addition to the above, if it is appropriate to adjust the Exercise Price because of the Company's merger with another company, among others, after the Allotment Date, the Company shall adjust the Exercise Price as necessary to a reasonable extent. (d) When adjusting the Exercise Price, the Company shall notify or publicly notify the Warrant Holders of necessary matters up to the date immediately before the date of application of the Exercise Price After Adjustment. However, if the Company is unable to notify or publicly notify it up to that date, it shall notify or publicly notify it promptly after the application. (6) Exercise period for warrants The exercise period for warrants shall be from July 18, 2018 to July 18, 2027 (the "Exercise Period"). However, if the last day of the Exercise Period falls on a Company holiday, the immediately preceding business day shall be the last day. (7) Matters regarding stated capital and capital reserve that are to increase when shares are issued upon the exercise of warrants 1) The amount of stated capital to increase when shares are issued upon the exercise of warrants shall be the amount equivalent to half of the maximum amount of increase in stated capital calculated according to Article 17, Paragraph 1 of the Rules of Corporate Accounting. If fractions less than 1 yen arise due to the calculation, then the fractions shall be rounded up. 2) The amount of capital reserve to increase when shares are issued upon the exercise of warrants shall be the amount obtained by deducting (x) the amount of stated capital to be increased set forth in 1) above from (y) the maximum amount of increase in stated capital mentioned in 1) above. (8) Restriction on acquisition of warrants by transfer Acquisition of warrants by transfer shall be subject to approval by resolution of the Company's board of directors. (9) Conditions for exercise of warrants 1) In the case of death of a Warrant Holder, an heir of that holder cannot exercise that holder's warrants. However, the foregoing shall not apply if the Company's board of directors approves such exercise. 2) Warrant Holders must be in the position of director, auditor, executive officer, or employee of the Company or its associated companies (i.e., the associated companies as set forth in the Ordinance on Terminology, Forms, and Preparation Methods of Financial Statements, etc.) when exercising the warrants. However, this shall not apply in cases of the retirement of a director, auditor, or executive officer of the Company or its associated companies due to the expiration of his or her term of office, or other cases determined to have a reason to be justified by the Company's board of directors. 3) Each warrant cannot be exercised partially. (10) Allotment date of warrants July 18, 2017 (11) Date of payment of money to be made in exchange for warrants July 18, 2017 (12) Matters regarding acquisition of warrants If a proposal under the following items 1), 2), 3), 4), or 5) is approved at the Company's shareholders' meeting (in the case where a resolution at a shareholders' meeting is not required, if a resolution is passed by the Company's board of directors or a determination is made by a delegated executive officer in accordance with Article 416, paragraph 4 of the Companies Act), the Company may acquire a warrant without compensation on a date separately determined by the board of directors (or by a delegated executive officer in accordance with Article 416, paragraph 4 of the Companies Act): 1) a proposal to approve a merger agreement by which the Company will be a disappearing company; 2) a proposal to approve a split agreement or a split plan by which the Company will be a splitting company; 3) a proposal to approve a share exchange agreement or a share transfer plan by which the Company will be a wholly-owned subsidiary; 4) a proposal to approve an amendment to the Company's articles of incorporation establishing a provision, with respect to all issued shares of the Company, that an acquisition of those shares by transfer shall require the Company's approval; or 5) a proposal to approve an amendment to the Company's articles of incorporation establishing a provision, with respect to shares of the class subject to the warrants, that an acquisition of those shares by transfer shall require the Company's approval, or with respect to the shares of that class, that the Company shall acquire all of those shares by a resolution of the Company's shareholders' meeting. (13) Matters regarding delivery of warrants in conjunction with organizational restructuring If the Company conducts a merger (limited to where the Company will disappear in a merger), absorption-type split or incorporation-type split (in each case, limited to where the Company becomes a splitting company), or share exchange or share transfer (in each case, limited to where the Company becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary) (collectively, the "Organizational Restructuring"), the Company shall deliver to Warrant Holders who hold the remaining warrants (the "Remaining Warrants") at the time immediately preceding the effective date of the Organizational Restructuring (i.e., in each case, the date on which the absorption-type merger becomes effective, the date on which a stock company is incorporated through the consolidation-type merger, the date on which the absorption-type split becomes effective, the date on which a stock company is incorporated through the incorporation-type split, the date on which the share exchange becomes effective, or the date on which a wholly-owning parent company is incorporated through the share transfer; the same below) warrants of any of the stock companies listed in Article 236, Paragraph 1, Item (viii), (a) to (e) of the Companies Act (the "Restructured Company"), upon the respective Organizational Restructuring. In this case, the Remaining Warrants shall disappear, and the Restructured Company shall newly issue warrants. However, an absorption-type merger agreement, consolidation-type merger agreement, absorption-type split agreement, incorporation-type split plan, share exchange agreement, or share transfer plan shall state that warrants of the Restructured Company shall be delivered according to each of the following: 1) Number of warrants of the Restructured Company to be delivered The number equivalent to the number of the Remaining Warrants held by the respective Warrant Holders shall be delivered. 2) Class of shares of the Restructured Company subject to warrants Common stock of the Restructured Company. 3) Number of shares of the Restructured Company subject to warrants To be determined according to (4) above by taking into consideration the conditions and the like for the Organizational Restructuring. 4) Value of assets to be contributed upon the exercise of warrants The value of assets to be contributed upon the exercise of each warrant to be delivered shall be the amount obtained by taking into consideration the conditions and the like of the Organizational Restructuring, and by multiplying (x) the Exercise Price after the Organizational Restructuring, which is obtained by adjusting the Exercise Price determined according to (5) above by (y) the number of shares of the Restructured Company subject to the warrants, which is determined according to 3) above. 5) Exercise period of warrants The exercise period shall be from the later of either (i) the commencement date of the period in which warrants may be exercised as set forth in (6) above, or (ii) the effective date of the Organizational Restructuring, to the expiration date of the period in which warrants may be exercised as set forth in (6) above. 6) Matters regarding stated capital and capital reserve that are to increase when shares are issued upon the exercise of warrants To be determined according to (7) above. 7) Restriction on acquisition of warrants by transfer The acquisition of warrants by transfer shall require the approval of the board of directors of the Restructured Company. 8) Other conditions for exercising warrants To be determined according to (9) above. 9) Clauses regarding acquisition of warrants To be determined according to (12) above. (14) Arrangement concerning fractions less than 1 share arising due to the exercise of warrants If the number of shares to be delivered to Warrant Holders exercising their warrants includes any fractions less than 1 share, the fractions shall be rounded down. (15) People who are to be allotted warrants, the number thereof, and the number of warrants to be allotted Allottee Number Number of warrants Executive officers

of the Company Nine (9) 9,616 Director of one of the

Company's subsidiaries One (1) 1,803 Total Ten (10) 11,419 End. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170626005807/en/

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[June 26, 2017] Expansion of Successful Online Population Health Resource Gives U.S. Cities Access to Key Health Data

NEW YORK, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hundreds of United States cities will be able to identify their most pressing health needs more accuratelythanks to a nationwide expansion of the City Health Dashboard, an innovative health data visualization tool. Created by the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Medical Center and the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at NYU, in partnership with the National Resource Network, the City Health Dashboard launched earlier this year in four cities. It will expand to 500 additional cities over the next two years through a $3.4 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundationwith the ultimate goal of becoming a central health improvement planning resource for U.S. cities with populations of 70,000 or more, or one-third of the U.S. population.

Users of the City Health Dashboard have the ability to view their city's performance in 26 key measures of health, like obesity and primary care physician coverage; and drivers of health status, such as housing affordability, high school graduation rate, food access, and opioid deaths. For many of the measures, data can be accessed at the neighborhood level. Marc Gourevitch, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone and the program's principal architect, points out that the City Health Dashboard responds to increased interest by cities in data on benchmark measures of health, health determinants, and equity. Currently most data of this scope has only been available at the county levelposing challenges to urban health improvement efforts. "There is an old adage: 'what gets measured is what gets done," Dr. Gourevitch says. "Community leaders want accurate, actionable, and precise data to advance initiatives that improve health, bring down costs, and focus on community wellbeing. We're excited to be at the vanguard of providing this important information to cities across the country." How the City Health Dashboard Works The City Health Dashboard places in the hands of city leaders and community organizations a responsive and highly reliable web interface with regularly refreshed health-related dataoverseen by a team of epidemiologists, population health and urban policy experts, and geographic information system specialists.



Data presented by the City Health Dashboard are drawn from federal and state governments and other organizations that apply rigorous methodology to data collection, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency. "In our work with cities across the nation, we've learned that their governments want to improve the physical health of their residents as well as the fiscal health of their municipalities," says David Eichenthal, JD, executive director of National Resource Network. "Nationally scaling this resource will help place health at the center of local agenda-setting, improve efficiencies, save city-level expenses, and address the need for comparable data at the local level."

The expanded City Health Dashboard will offer enhanced technical support features to cities more actively engaged in data-driven policy-making. All cities will have access to features to compare peer cities and neighborhoods, tools for tracking performance, and resources to deep-dive into more advanced microdata interfacing. The four pilot citiesFlint, Michigan; Kansas City, Kansas; Providence, Rhode Island; and Waco, Texasare already incorporating the City Health Dashboard into their efforts to improve health. For example, Prosper Waco, a nonprofit organization, is using the site to help determine its inner city's need for services related to high teen birth rate. Says Dr. Gourevitch: "We hope the site will serve as a platform for cities to share and gather knowledge to improve outcomes on some of the most pressing health challenges our society faces." Media Inquiries:

Elaine Meyer

Phone: 646-501-2895

[email protected] About the Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine

The Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine is a diverse group of faculty researchers and staff working in New York City and around the globe to improve the health of populations and advance health equity by developing and testing real-world solutions in partnership with healthcare systems, communities, policymakers, and other sectors. For more information, visit med.nyu.edu/pophealth and follow us on Twitter @NYULMCpophealth. About National Resource Network

The National Resource Network is a component of the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative, and is a $10 million technical assistance program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Network is being implemented by a group of leading experts from the private and public sectors, including Enterprise Community Partners, Public Financial Management, HR&A Advisors, New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the International City/County Management Association. The Network develops and delivers innovative solutions to American cities to help them address their toughest economic challenges. More information about the National Resource Network is available online at nationalresourcenetwork.org. You can also follow the National Resource Network on Twitter @NatlResourceNet. About the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU

NYU Wagner has been educating and preparing the world's future public service leaders since 1938. Our students translate personal commitment into nonprofit, public, and private sector careers that have an impact on the world's most pressing issues. Our faculty conduct research that changes the way people frame, understand, analyze, and act on issues of public importance. For more information, please visit www.wagner.nyu.edu. About Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/expansion-of-successful-online-population-health-resource-gives-us-cities-access-to-key-health-data-300479698.html SOURCE NYU Langone Medical Center

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[June 26, 2017] HubSpot To Give Aspiring Entrepreneur $100,000 to Quit Their Day Job

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, HubSpot, a leading inbound marketing and sales software company, launched #SummerStartup, an initiative to find and support the next great entrepreneur. HubSpot is calling for anyone to pitch their business ideas on Facebook in 25 words or less, for a chance to win $100,000 to pursue their passion. To help make their dream a reality, the winner will also receive three years of free access to HubSpot's Growth Stack software suite and the opportunity to be mentored by some of the world's brightest business minds from companies like Netflix, Atlassian, Moz, Harvard Business School, and HubSpot. According to a new, national study from HubSpot, which identifies key factors that influence job satisfaction and overall career achievement, 38% of consumers report their dream job is to run their own company. In addition, 67% also report having considered starting their own business at one point in their lifetime, yet only 10% report ever attempting it. When asked why, respondents named lack of capital, mentorship, and tools as the top three reasons. In response, HubSpot's #SummerStartup contest awards these three benefits to one winner willing to walk out on their day job in pursuit of their entrepreneurial dreams. "Today, the ultimate 'dream job' has shifted dramatically; as we grow up, our ideals and passions change, and now more people are realizing the benefits of running their own company," said Ryan Bonnici, Senior Director of Buzz at HubSpot. "Starting a business is challenging, but building upon your passion is worth it and meaningful. With the right resources and support, entrepreneurs can turn their ideas into reality. We're exited to offer an opportunity that helps make one big dream come true."



The New Dream HubSpot's study demonstrates that today's workforce spends mass amounts of time and money to pursue a career, yet, they remain unhappy in their work. Specifically, the research shows, two-thirds spend four or more years on their education, spending an average of $52,000 with 44% still paying off that debt today. Respondents also cited additional challenges to pursuing careers, ranging from the balance of school, work, and family, to finances, and academic rigor. Despite this effort, 40% of full time employees say they are unhappy in their job. When asked what would make them happy in their career, 42% said starting their own business, more than those who cited changing careers, getting a promotion, or getting a new boss.

The Pursuit of Happiness The study uncovered that the belief that there is a connection between happiness and business ownership may be well founded. Of those who had left jobs to start their own businesses, 90% reported being happier in their career. Entrepreneurs surveyed cited a common recipe for success. 57% attributed success to having access to the tools they needed, 48% said they had the mentors and support they needed, and 35% said they had the capital to get started. By providing all the ingredients in this recipe, #SummerStartup will break down barriers for the winner, giving them capital, mentors, and the tools they need to leave their day job and help bring their idea to market. Entry Details To enter the HubSpot #SummerStartup contest, participants must submit their business ideas in the comments section below the launch video on Facebook in 25 words or less. Selected entrants will be asked to create a short video providing more detail about their idea to be shortlisted for the $100,000 prize; three years of HubSpot's Growth Stack, free of charge; and one-on-one mentorship from executives. The contest is open to residents of the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, and Australia. For more information and contest terms and conditions, please visit https://www.hubspot.com/startups/tools. About HubSpot HubSpot is a leading inbound marketing, sales, and CRM growth stack. Since 2006, HubSpot has been on a mission to make the world more inbound. Today, over 31,000 customers in more than 90 countries use HubSpot's award-winning software, services, and support to transform the way they attract, engage, and delight customers. HubSpot Marketing includes social media publishing and monitoring, blogging, SEO, website content management, email marketing, marketing automation, and reporting and analytics. HubSpot Sales enables sales and service teams to have more effective conversations with leads, prospects, and customers. HubSpot CRM helps sales teams organize, track, and grow their pipeline. All three platforms integrate right out of the box and are available for free to start. HubSpot has been named a top place to work by Glassdoor, Fortune, The Boston Globe, and The Boston Business Journal. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA with offices in Dublin, Ireland (EMEA HQ); Singapore; Sydney, Australia; Tokyo, Japan; and Portsmouth, NH. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hubspot-to-give-aspiring-entrepreneur-100000-to-quit-their-day-job-300479717.html SOURCE HubSpot

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Election results: Check out results from various races across the state
WHAT'S THE POLITICAL FALLOUT AFTER AN EMBARRASSING JACKSON COUNTY JAIL CRACKDOWN?!?!









Monday morning starts with a crackdown on the prison industrial complex in Downtown Kansas City.Now, whilst few people care about law enforcement throwing cots . . . Let's focus on the reality of this situation:Check the round-up:You decide . . .
Black Healing, Tuesday, June 27





"In light of the acquittal of Philando Castile's murder in Minneapolis, the killings of Charleena Lyles in Seattle and Nabra Hassanen in Virginia, our Black communities continue to mourn. Children's activities will be available."

############

The latest activist lament from One Struggle KC . . . A diverse group with good intentions and some questionable tactics that rose up in the midst of the Ferguson riots.Checkit:You decide . . .
KCPD: Child has life-threatening injuries after shooting at neighborhood playground Kansas City police say one child shot another at a playground near 20th St. and Park Tower Road. A child who is believed to be younger than 10 was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said. The shooting occurred shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday.

Shot by another youngster amid increasing local violence while Mayor Sly is mostly concerned with his development agenda. Take a look:
After 170 Years, The Liberty Tribune Merges With Northland Papers The Northland's Liberty Tribune newspaper, one of the oldest weeklies in the country, recently rolled off the printing press for the last time. Since 1846, residents had unfurled their own paper published under the motto, "Willing to praise but not afraid to blame."

Consolidation across the bridge as journalism becomes a tough sell to a nation that mostly gets news via the Internets. Take a look:
WE START THIS WEEK WITH OUR TKC BLOG COMMUNITY PROVEN CORRECT ON ROCK ISLAND CORRIDOR VAPORWARE EMPTY PROMISES!!!

STL Post Dispatch: Missouri reconsidering commitment to cross-state Rock Island Trail

Jackson County: Legislature Approves Bonds To Purchase Rock Island Corridor

Once again Kansas City MSM is keeping this town stupid when it comes to sketchy rail transit development deals that never seem to live up to expectations.To wit . . .For at least two years we've been saying that this transit project is nothing but sound and fury sold by politicos and now the GOP hegemony in Jeff City is finally catching onto this fact.More than a year ago we promised . . .Now check the latest:Refresher on Rock Island:It's athat'll happen some time around theThere have been drawings and plans and even more hype . . .And in all the time the path still looks like a hobo alley . . .Even worse, as the County gets ready to increase taxes . . . Let's not forget that a great many politicos who still hold office approved a big money bond sale for this monstrosity:worth of financing in fact . . .Like it or not, this bomb has now landed in the lap ofand the legislature as they struggle with a jail crisis that just won't quit and continued budget slap fighting.More importantly, for Kansas City voters . . . The New GOP Administration considering putting The Rock Island Corridor onholds a lesson for Kansas City and so much irrational exuberance for rail transit development schemes that neglect far more pressing needs for communities and constituents.Developing . . .
"He might make the majors someday, esp at the point in a season where the Royals are eliminated from postseason, but he won't play more than 100 MLB games in his life."

It was almost to the point that Kansas City Royals fans were giving up on Bubba Starling. The outfield prospect seemed to be making slow, if any, progress towards the major leagues. However, over the past month Starling has been on an absolute tear. He now stands poised to make his major league debut very soon.
The Antiquities Ephorate of Lesvos in the context of the cultural action "Unique finds at the Archaeological Museum of Mytilene" will present on Wednesday at 20:00 the fourth archaeological find within this series of event entitled "Eternal light. Golden wreaths and crowns from the necropolises of Mytilene".

Speaking to Athens Macedonian News Agency the ephor of Lesvos Antiquities Pavlos Triantafyllidis said "important finds of ornament metallurgy from workshops of Macedonia with strong reference to the Lesbian culture of the post classical and Hellenistic era have been unearthed in the ancient necropolises mostly those of Mytilene but also of Mythimna. The fourth exhibit of this series that was selected and presented for the first time is a golden olive wreath deriving from the second half of the 3rd century BC which was handed over to Mytilene Archaeological Museum in 2002 and a golden crown dated back to the last quarter of the 4th century BC".

Mytilene is an ancient city founded in the 11th century BC. It is the capital and port of the island of Lesbos and also the capital of the North Aegean Region.

The writings of Homer

As an ancient city, lying off the east coast, Mytilene was initially confined to a small island just offshore that later was joined to Lesbos, creating a north and south harbor. According to the writings of Homer, the island of Lesvos has been an organized city since 1054 B.C. The early harbor of Mytilene was united during ancient times with a channel 700 meters long and 30 meters wide. The Roman writer Longus speaks of white stone bridges linking the two sides. The Greek word  or Euripus is a commonly used term when referring to a strait. The strait allowed ancient sail boats called Triremes, with 3 tiers of rowers or more. The boats that passed were ca. 6 metres wide plus oars and had depth of 2 meters.

The areas of the city that were densely populated connected the two bodies of land with marble bridges. They usually followed a curved line. The strait begins at the old market called Apano Skala. It was also close to Metropolis Street and ended at the Southern Harbor. One could argue that the channel transversed what is now called Ermoy Street. Over time the strait began to collect silt and earth. There was also human intervention for the protection of the Castle of Mytilene. The strait eventually filled with earth.

Mytilene contested successfully with Methymna in the north of the island for the leadership of the island in the 7th century BC and became the centre of the islands prosperous eastern hinterland. Her most famous citizens were the poets Sappho and Alcaeus and the statesman Pittacus (one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece). The city was famed for its great output of electrum coins struck from the late 6th through mid-4th centuries BC. Mytilene revolted against Athens in 428 BC but was overcome by an Athenian expeditionary force. The Athenian public assembly voted to massacre all the men of the city and to sell the women and children into slavery but changed its mind the next day. A fast trireme sailed the 186 nautical miles (344 km) in less than a day and brought the decision to cancel the massacre.

Rich necropolises

The most significant monument of Mytilene was the theater, built in the natural cavity of the south incline, near the top of the hill, in the 3rd century B.C.. Another significant technical work was the aqueduct of the Roman period. It carried water to a distance of approximately 30 km to the city of Mytilene.

Excavations in Mytilene uncovered stone-paved streets that led outside the city through the rich cemeteries by the roads. Inside the walls of the later Hellenistic city, the water supply system with its clay ducts and the sewage system with its built drains were uncovered. The windward sea walls of the ports, namely the archaic and later wall, built according to the opus testaecum technique with poros, surrounded the oldest part of the city along Euripus. From the 3rd century on, it surrounded the later part of the city, ending up at the large sea walls of the ports, where large jars have been preserved.

The necropolises of Mytilene were rich. The archaic necropolis was near the banks of Euripus on the part of the land, around the north commercial port. For the burials of this time, cist-graves or large jars were used. From the 5th century B.C. up to the end of the Roman Rule, cemeteries were built along stone-paved roads starting from the north, western and south exits of the city, in a distance of up to 2 km from the city walls. Sarcophagi, cist-graves and small cinerary urns were used for burials. Almost all burials, even those outside cemeteries, had rich funeral gifts, in order to certify the affluence of the residents of ancient Mytilene, which had glory, wealth and power almost throughout its historical course.

Mytilene is directly connected with lyric poetry and philosophy. According to literary sources, inscriptions and excavation data, there was a sanctuary of Demetra and Kore at the Castle, a sanctuary of Cybele near the north commercial port, a sanctuary of Apollo Maloeis near the north port outside the archaic city walls and a sanctuary of Zeus near the ancient theater. The worships of Asclepius, Dionysus and Hera are also attested.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Jonathan Lundqvist License: CC-BY-SA

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The Stavros Niarchos Foundation has committed $150 million to a joint effort with Johns Hopkins University to forge new ways to address the deterioration of civic engagement worldwide and facilitate the restoration of open and inclusive discourse that is the cornerstone of healthy democracies.

The gift establishes the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, as an academic and public forum bringing together experts from fields such as political science, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, ethics, sociology, and history. Together, they will examine the dynamics of societal, cultural and political polarization and develop ways to improve decision-making and civic discourse. They also will design and test mechanisms for strengthening democracy through dialogue and social engagement, and convene subject matter experts from a range of perspectives to explore new approaches to divisive issues.

In the U.S. and around the world, the rise in division, distrust and alienation presents a daunting and urgent challenge, said Ronald J. Daniels, president of the university. Today, cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines  coupled with a commitment to strengthen civic dialogue  can give us new insight into these trends and new opportunities for productive policymaking and problem-solving. The Agora Institute represents an extraordinary commitment to these aims, through a unique combination of scholarship, laboratory and place-making. We are thrilled to lead the effort and look forward to partnering with scholars and institutions from across the globe.

The SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins draws its inspiration from the agora of ancient Athens. That central space in the life of the city was originally a marketplace and grew to become a hub of conversation and debate. It was the heart of the Athenian city-states democratic governance, and an early manifestation of the public engagement so critical to modern democracies.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is committed to exploring issues that improve the functioning of civil societies today, and the connection to the Greek agora makes this particularly profound for us, since the agora was the heart of civic life, a common space for people to coexist as citizens rather than individuals said Andreas Dracopoulos, co-president of the foundation. We are very excited to partner with Johns Hopkins and strongly believe in the importance of civil discourse, informed leadership, and the role of educational institutions in restoring a more fair and productive democracy.

The institute will recruit a director and core faculty of 10, and be joined each year by an additional 10 distinguished visiting scholars. The institute will engage graduate and undergraduate students in its work and sponsor annual public events in Baltimore and Athens. Among its programs will be an annual series examining a contested policy issue, such as climate change or trade-related job displacement.

The institute will conduct interdisciplinary research into contemporary vulnerabilities in modern democratic discourse  how citizens are informed, debate, and engage with each other and with government. It will then partner with public and private stakeholders and technical experts to investigate real-world strategies to ease division and strengthen dialogue.

Following the model of the ancient agora, we are bringing together people from different traditions, experiences and points of view to listen and learn from each other, and come to joint understandings that none could reach alone, said Beverly Wendland, dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, where the institute will reside.

A new institute building at the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus will reflect the open character of its namesake, encouraging broad participation and the free exchange of ideas. The design is expected to include multi-use space, open venues, and state-of-the-art seminar and conference rooms.

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

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Source: thenationalherald.com
Bulgaria and Greece will speed up the activities necessary for the completion of the natural gas interconnector project between the two countries. The commitment was confirmed during a meeting between Bulgarias Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova and Greeces Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister Giorgos Stathakis. Petkova is on a Bulgarian delegation visiting Athens, headed by President Rumen Radev, the Energy Ministry in Sofia reported.

The meeting between Petkova and Stathakis focused on the project to build the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria. The two agreed to concentrate their efforts on the procedures for selecting a construction company and obtaining construction permits and all other necessary documents in both countries.

Discussing the funding of the project, Petkova explained that in addition to the 45 million euro approved by the European Commission, the Bulgarian government has confirmed in several consecutive budget years that it will provide a government guarantee of 110 million euro. She added: We are completing the process of obtaining 35 million euro in additional funding for the project under Operational Programme Innovation and Competitiveness. We will count on European solidarity. The question of possible additional grant aid under a Greek Operational Programme was raised during the meeting.

Read full story 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

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright:  License: CC-BY-SA
Morocco-based Masen, a leading renewable energy company, said its president Mustapha Bakkoury recently visited Sweden to meet the country's governmental energy agencies and Cleanergy AB to discuss collaboration opportunities.



Cleanergy AB is a privately held high-tech small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) specialised in the supply of Stirling engine-based renewable energy solutions



Morocco and Sweden have the attributes for good business relations within the energy sector, said a statement from the company.



With Moroccos avant-gardist strategy for renewable energy development, its optimal weather conditions and Swedens innovative technology solutions, focus is on how to continue developing the collaboration between the two countries, it said.



Bakkoury undertook this visit upon an official invitation by the state secretary Oscar Stenstrom, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also met Par Nuder, board member of Cleanergy AB, and other high-level representatives of the Swedish Government and officials of the Stockholm region.



During the meeting, the officials discussed topics such as: Swedens energy strategy and goals for renewables; collaborative efforts between the two countries; and Moroccos roadmap to being global leader within renewable energy



Prior to this visit Cleanergy AB had signed an agreement with Masen to deliver concentrated solar power (CSP) technology to Morocco, said a statement.



The agreement foresees Cleanergy and Masen collaborating to set up demonstration units of its Stirling CSP technology in the Noor Ouarzazate complex and to launch collaborative innovation activities on thermal energy storage systems.



Bakkoury said: We are positioning ourselves as a major player in the renewables sector on a global level. Morocco has set an ambitious objective of 52 per cent renewables within its energy mix by 2030.



Relations with Sweden are part of the strategy to accomplish this, as well as our interest for innovative, state-of-the-art solar power generation technologies, he added.



Jonas Eklind, president of Cleanergy AB, said: They have the worlds largest concentrated solar power plant since 2016  580 MW Noor Ouarzazate complex and will in 2018 supply power to nearly two million people all over Morocco.



We see this aggressive plan and expansion as an opportunity. To enter the African solar power market and collaborate with Masen on development of the CSP technology with storage, is a solution where everyone can benefit, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
At least 123 people were killed when a lorry transporting oil burst into flames near the Pakistani city of Ahmedpur East, reported BBC citing local officials.

A crowd had gathered reportedly to collect fuel leaking from the overturned vehicle when it caught fire. Dozens are being treated in hospital, stated the report.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the tanker had been speeding when it overturned.

People smoking at the scene may have sparked the fire, Pakistan's Geo TV reports, quoting eyewitnesses.

The country's roads are notoriously dangerous, with poor vehicle maintenance and reckless driving contributing to the problem.

Army helicopters were dispatched to ferry casualties to hospitals, army spokesman Major Gen Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet.

Pakistani media have published pictures from the scene, showing charred bodies and vehicles. There are fears that the death toll could rise further.

At least six cars and 12 motorcycles were burnt, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports.

Police sources told Pakistani government news agency APP that the tanker had been carrying 25,000 litres (5,500 gallons) of oil and had been travelling from Karachi to Lahore.

It slipped off a road and overturned in the Kachi P Kachi Pul area, they said, about 8km from Ahmedpur East, in Punjab's Bahawalpur district.

"People living in roadside villages, carrying domestic pots rushed to the scene to collect oil and they also made phone calls to their relatives living in other villages to immediately come to collect oil," the sources said.

Traffic police had tried in vain to keep the crowd away from the tanker as people, including women and children, continued collecting oil in pots, the sources said.

"Suddenly, [a] huge fire erupted in the oil tanker which engulfed all people standing around the vehicle," the police sources added.
Dubai-based QnA International, a B2B event specialist, is set to host a first-of-its-kind summit to discuss the unique challenges the Fourth Industrial Revolution will place on HR and IT departments in Saudi Arabia.



The Fourth Industrial Revolution continues to transform the workplace with artificial intelligence (AI) and automation becoming increasingly prevalent across industries.



The only event dedicated to HR technology in the kingdom, the HR Tech Saudi Summit, will run from November 20 and 21 in Riyadh. It will unite HR executives with the IT industry in Saudi Arabia at a time when the country is making significant investments in leading technology solutions, in line with Saudi Vision 2030.



The summit is the only initiative that brings together HR and IT professionals from the unique business landscape of Saudi Arabia, on a singular platform, to discuss the newest trends, ideas and disruptions over a period of two-days exclusively dedicated to and focused on HR technology, said the organisers.



Sidh NC, director, QnA International, said: The debut of the summit comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is moving towards digitisation and hence uniquely placed to welcome the collaboration between the HR and IT capabilities.



The summit is the first of its kind in the country to address the technological revolution underway in the workplace and debate how best to harness its capacity for the success of business in the public, private and government sectors, he said.



In line with Saudi Vision 2030, the kingdom has pledged to increase investments in technology in order to continue leading the digital transformation of the region.



Under the King Salman Program for Human Capital Development, 500,000 government employees will receive training to upskill by 2020.



All ministries and government institutions will be required to adopt best practice in human capital development and other organisations will be tasked with enhancing engagement and the employee experience.



Enabled by mobile, remote and real time connectivity, digital HR processes now reach beyond payroll and data capture to incorporate functions such as interviewing, performance management and KPI review.



The technology exists for employees in larger organisations to share concerns and feedback, or even complete training remotely, through mobile video.



With discussion focusing on the latest HR technology trends, innovations and disruptive ideas, the event will help leaders from the HR and IT departments to collaborate on effective solutions to modern human challenges, the official added.  TradeArabia News Service


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Washington, June 26

American business schools could study Indias implementation of the complex Goods and Services Tax (GST), Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested, ahead of the rollout of the landmark tax reform measure from July 1.

The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools, Modi said on Sunday while interacting with 20 top American CEOs at a roundtable here ahead of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump.

On GST, the Prime Minister said that this is becoming a reality after years of effort. He added that its implementation is a complex task and went on to suggest that this could be the subject of future case-studies.

Implementation of the GST shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly, the Prime Minister said at the interaction with the group of CEOs that included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Modi told them that his government was working on principles such as Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.

The Prime Minister spoke of the recent reforms, and noted that the Union Government alone has initiated 7000 reforms. He said this indicates Indias quest for global benchmarks. He mentioned the Governments emphasis on efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.

Touted as the biggest taxation reform since Independence, GST will unify 16 different taxes including excise, service tax and VAT, and transform India into a single market for seamless movement of goods and services.

The powerful GST Council, comprising Centre and states, has recommended a four-tier tax structure -- 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. On top of the highest slab, a cess will be imposed on luxury and demerit goods to compensate the states for revenue loss in the first five years of GST implementation.

GST rates would depend upon whether the commodity is used by a rich person or a common man.

State and Union Territory GST laws were passed by all the states and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir, paving the way for smooth roll out of the tax from July 1. PTI
Tribune News Service



Faridabad/New Delhi, June 26

Eid has lost all its meaning, residents of Faridabads Khandwali village said on Monday as they mourned the loss of their son Junaid by wearing black bands during the special morning namaz.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Four days after 17-year-old Junaid was killed on his way back from Delhi after Eid shopping, despair hung like a shroud over the village with Muslim residents wondering if the spate of lynchings would ever end.

Read more:

We could not have celebrated Eid with the usual sense of joy considering how Junaid was killed. So we decided to mark our protest by wearing black bands around our arms, Shakeel, a resident of Khandawli in Ballabgarh near Delhi, told reporters.

He claimed that Muslims of neighbouring villages also protested against the incident by wearing black bands during the Eid morning prayers.

Junaid was stabbed to death on June 22 on a Mathura-bound train, which he had taken with his two brothers after shopping at Delhis Sadar Bazaar. A group of men hurled communal slurs at the boys and attacked them after an altercation, allegedly over seats.

When will this stop? After every such incident, the government offers some compensation and people move on. But the question is, will it ever stop? asked a villager in his 20s.

He also questioned the efficacy of the administration in acting against the accused, wondering why only one arrest had been made in four days.

Before being remanded to police custody by a court in Faridabad district on Saturday, the accused had told reporters that he was in an inebriated state at the time of the incident and had attacked the teenager after being allegedly instigated by fellow passengers. With PTI
Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 25

In shock over the brutal killing of his young son Junaid (19), 55-year-old Jallaludin, a resident of Khandawali village in Haryanas Ballabhgarh district, says Eid will never be the same for the family. One son gone and another hospitalised, the family wants the guilty to be brought to book at the earliest. It has refused police protection, saying there is no threat from fellow villagers.

On June 23, Junaid was stabbed to death on a train that he and his three brothers had boarded at Delhis Sadar Bazar. They were on their way back home after making purchases for Eid.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

One of Junaids brothers was assaulted too by a mob that kept calling them beef-eaters.

Jallaludin is a man with meagre means. He and one of his sons drive a taxi to make both ends meet.

The family was today given a cheque for Rs 5 lakh by the District Red Cross while Wakf Board chairman Rahish Khan announced another Rs 5 lakh and a job to one of Jallaludins sons.

Khushi Mohammad, a cousin of the deceased, said local MLA Tek Chand Sharma had visited the family and offered help too. We sought a government job for a family member. Village sarpanch Nashir Ahmed said the MLA had agreed to take up the matter with the Chief Minister. Now that the family has been given help, the village will hold Eid celebrations as usual, he added. The MLA plans to meet the CM on Tuesday and  do whatever is possible.

Rly Police looking for clues

Faridabad: The Railway Police have announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for anyone providing clues leading to the arrest of those behind Junaids lynching. Only one of the accused, Ramesh Kumar, has been arrested so far. Bechu Giri of AITUC called the attack a well-planned conspiracy. Senior CPM leader Brinda Karat, who visited the victims family on Saturday, lambasted the state government for the incident. TNS
Washington, June 26

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met US President Donald Trump for their first summit with focus on pushing the strategic ties.

In a special gesture, Trump and First Lady Melania came out on the South Portico of the White House to receive Modi.

Trump and his wife warmly welcomed Modi and they were seen exchanging pleasantries and having a brief interaction before going inside the White House.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Just before the talks, Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been doing a great job. Economically, India is doing very well; It is an honour to receive such a great Prime Minister, he said.

As the two leaders sat for the meeting, Modi expressed gratitude to Trump and the First Lady for the warm welcome extended to him.

He said the welcome extended to him was a welcome to 125 crore people of India. The Prime Minister said Trump has been paying attention to Indias growth march and economic progress. He recalled that Trump had visited India in 2014 before he became the President and made nice comments. Among the issues on the table were counter-terrorism cooperation, defence partnership, global cooperation, trade and energy.

Ahead of the meeting, Modi said the logic of the Indo-US strategic ties is incontrovertible and the two countries

have an overriding interest in securing the world from terrorism, radical ideologies and non-traditional security threats. Earlier, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis separately called on Modi, setting the tone for the summit meeting between the Prime Minister and Trump. The issues that figured prominently in these discussions included terrorism, Afghanistan and the situation in the Asia Pacific region.

There was a strong focus on terrorism and cooperation in counter-terrorism, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay told reporters while briefing on the meeting between Modi and Tillerson.

It is very clear that given the challenges that the two countries have faced and continue to face and the rest of the world also faces from this global menace of terrorism, the discussions in the courtesy call touched upon how the two sides have cooperated in countering terrorism and the broad direction in which they can develop this cooperation further, he added.

Modi conveyed to Tillerson that the fulcrum of Indias foreign policy is to have good relations with all nations, in particular with its neighbours.

Discussions between Modi and Mattis focussed on the Asia Pacific region, with a veiled reference to the South China Sea over which China is laying an absolute claim.

Baglay said both India and the US believe in respect for international law, rule-based order and freedom of navigation. He said there was discussion also on counter-terrorism and on the situation in Afghanistan and the conversation with Mattis briefly touched upon how the two countries can work together on the issue.

Mattis also appreciated Indias role in Afghanistan, Baglay said. In the context of the evaluation that is currently underway in the US on policy in context of the situation in Afghanistan, both sides decided that they would remain in touch, consult, cooperate and focus on the security situation in Afghanistan, he said.  PTI
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 26

NDAs presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind will visit Chandigarh on June 29.

He will cover both Punjab and Haryana states during the visit. He will be accompanied by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and party general secretary Anil Jain.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

He will visit the remaining states after June 30 when the GST is rolled out.

Party sources say the BJP leadership is in touch with INLD and Kovind will win will be good percentage.

Meanwhile, party MP Om Birla will also accompany Kovind to Chandigarh.

The BJP presidential candidate will file the fourth set of nomination papers on June 28. The papers will be filed on his behalf by Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who will also accompany him to Srinagar the same day.

Kovind is scheduled to meet Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and PDP leaders on June 29.

For Punjab and Haryana the meeting will take place at Red Bishop, Panchkula.
New Delhi, June 26

The US tonight declared Syed Salahuddin, the chief of Kashmiri militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, as a global terrorist, dealing a major blow to Pakistan just before Prime Minister Narendra Modis first meeting with President Donald Trump.

In a notification, the State Department said Salahuddin, who hails from Kashmir and is based in Pakistan for the last 28 years, has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.

The US took the step against the militant groups head, whose original name is Mohammed Yusuf Shah, as he had vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir Valley into a graveyard for Indian forces.

India welcomed the US move and said it vindicated its long-standing position that cross-border terrorism had been behind the disturbances in Kashmir since last year.

It underlines quiet strongly the fact that both India and the US face threat of terrorism and they are working together to counter it, not in one particular area, but globally as terrorism knows no boundaries, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said here.  PTI
Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Malerkotla, June 26

The promise to make Malerkotla a district will be fulfilled soon. With the status of district, the area will see unprecedented development, said Razia Sultana, local MLA and Minister of State for Public Works Department, at a function to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr here today.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu also attended the event.

The ministers did their best to woo the Muslim-dominated town with promises and funds worth Rs 1.5 crore for the local idgah.

In his greetings to the community, Manpreet said Prophet Muhammad gave the message of peace, brotherhood and coexistence to the world. He announced Rs 1 crore on behalf of the Punjab Government for the local idgah.

In our first Budget, we have already made major announcements to provide all necessary facilities to the Muslim community. These include Rs 3 crore for an Urdu academy in Malerkotla, Rs 10 crore for graveyards in the state and benefits under various welfare schemes, he said.

Sidhu announced Rs 50 lakh for the idgah and assured the people on district status. Our government will also fulfil the promise of establishing a government medical college here, said Sidhu.

Talking to the media at the residence of the local MLA, Manpreet said: We must take steps to revive the states industry for growth. On demanding royalty from Rajasthan for sharing water, he said: I dont have much hope from it. We should not see royalty as a potential source of money to revive our economy. The water sharing agreements were signed decades ago and I believe that we should look forward not backward to generate resources.

Sidhu said the government would not spare anyone who had looted the state.

BSF, Pak Rangers exchange sweets

Amritsar: The two border-guarding forces at the international border - Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers - on Monday exchanged sweets at the Attari joint check post to mark Eid-ul-Fitr. BSF Commandant Sudeep Sharma exchanged sweets with Pakistan Rangers' Wing Commander Bilal Ahmad. Initially, the two forces did not exchange pleasantries and the media waited long to get a camera shot. Then, BSF officials received sudden instructions in this regard. Earlier, they used to exchange sweets at around 9 am, but on Monday, they did so at around 11.30 am. Earlier, there were reports that the two forces would skip the tradition due to continuous ceasefire violations and attack on police and security forces at the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. TNS

Sikhs distribute saplings

Muktsar: To celebrate Eid, some Sikh activists distributed saplings among public outside the Jama Masjid here on Monday. Jasvir Singh Khalsa, president, Sikh Virsa Council, Muktsar, said, "We distributed nearly 500 saplings to commuters to celebrate Eid.". TNS
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 26

An Italian delegation, including Sikh activist Sukhdev Singh Kang, today sought Akal Takhts approval for a specially designed kirpan.

The delegation said the Italian Government had recently allowed Gursikhs to wear the kirpan, made of a flexible material, as it did not look like a weapon.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh said the model would be presented before the five high priests to take a final call.

Last month, an Italian court had upheld a ruling disallowing a Sikh from carrying the kirpan in public, while stating that public safety from weapons was of paramount importance. Kang said:An Italian firm has manufactured this kirpan. After the governments nod, it was distributed among Sikhs. Italian officials Rozy Roberto and El Lorenjo said, The original kirpan carried by Sikhs in Italy appeared more like a weapon. So, the authorities came up with this model to resolve the issue.
Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 26

State Congress chief Sunil Jakhar today alleged that AAP MLAs had themselves removed their turbans during the ruckus in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday.

Replying to a question, Jakhar said, The legislators tried to breach the Assembly protocol. One of them hit a woman marshal and broke another marshals hand. No one tossed their turbans. These just got displaced. The MLAs removed the same and raised a hue and cry to gain political mileage.

Denying the allegation, AAP MLA Pirmal Singh said: Why would any Sikh take off his own turban? We were peacefully protesting against the move to keep MLAs Sukhpal Khaira and Simarjit Singh Bains out of the Vidhan Sabha building. The Speaker told the marshals: Enna nu chukk ke bahar sutto (throw them out of the House). The marshals then manhandled us.

Pirmal further said: Congress MLAs have been breaching the protocol in the past 10 years by sitting on the Speakers chair, standing on benches and creating a ruckus.

Meanwhile, Jakhar, who attended meetings of party workers here, said the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government was working more efficiently than the Narendra Modi-led Union Government that had completed 1,000 days.

The party has won the peoples trust by fulfilling its poll promises within 100 days of forming the government. The waiver of farmers loans is a historic step, he added.

Bains brothers complain to Takht

Amritsar: Lok Insaaf Party MLAs Simarjit Singh and Balwinder Singh Bains on Monday submitted a complaint against Speaker Rana KP Singh to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh. They alleged that Rana had directed the police and the marshals to throw Opposition MLAs out of the House on June 22, which led to tossing of their turbans. Recalling an earlier instance, Simarjit told the Jathedar that during the SAD-BJP rule, he and his brother (Balwinder) were dragged out of the House and their turbans were tossed in May 2016. tns
London, June 26

Prime Minister Theresa May struck a deal on Monday to prop up her minority government by agreeing to at least 1 billion ($1.3 billion) in extra funding for Northern Ireland in return for the support of the provinces biggest Protestant party.

After more than two weeks of talks amid political turmoil sparked by Mays failure to win a majority in a June 8 snap election, May can now be sure her government can pass a budget and Brexit legislation.

May and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster presided at the signing of a three-page so called confidence and supply deal at Downing Street that is some way short of a more formal coalition agreement.

The deal means the DUPs 10 lawmakers will now vote in support of Mays 318 Conservatives in the 650-seat parliament on the budget, legislative agenda, motions of confidence and Brexit.

In return, May agreed to least 1 billion ($1.3 billion) in extra funding over two years for Northern Ireland, agreeing to raise pensions annually by at least 2.5 per cent and to keep universal winter fuel payments for the elderly.

I welcome this agreement which will enable us to work together in the interest of the whole United Kingdom, give us the certainty we require as we embark on our departure from the European Union, and help us build a stronger and fairer society at home, May said in a statement.

May laced her deal with an attempt to end Northern Irelands political crisis by stipulating the money would only be released to a power-sharing executive in Belfast, upping pressure on the DUP to make an agreement with their Catholic nationalist rivals.

The Conservative Party has recognised the case for higher funding in Northern Ireland given our unique history and circumstances over recent decades, DUP leader Foster told reporters in Downing Street. We welcome this new financial support.

The deal with the DUP, which won 292,316 votes in the election, will run for the life of the current parliament due to end in 2022 but will be reviewed after each parliamentary session and most of the funding is due in the first two years. Even with the DUPs lawmakers onside, Mays effective majority is slim and her position remains insecure though she has promised to get her Conservative Party out of what she termed the mess of the election.  Reuters
Ulan Bator, June 26

Mongolians cast ballots today to choose between a horse breeder, a judoka and a feng shui master in a presidential election rife with corruption scandals and nationalist rhetoric.

From its sprawling steppes to its capital and even in yurts serving as polling stations, people began to vote in the landlocked country sandwiched between Russia and China that was once viewed as an oasis of democracy full of economic promise.

Nomadic herders filed into a yurt in the city of Erdene Sum, 100 km east of the capital Ulan Bator to cast their ballots, wearing the traditional deel coat, fedoras and boots.

As a voter I believe justice is the most important thing for Mongolia, said Dendev Boris, 63, who unlike others showed up in a business suit.

There must be justice in every industry, he said. I havent taken the corruption allegations too seriously because they have not been proven.

The next president will inherit a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout designed to stabilise its economy and lessen its dependence on China, which purchases 80 per cent of Mongolian exports.  AFP
Lahore, June 26

Eid celebrations in Pakistan were today overshadowed by the oil tanker explosion as the death toll in the inferno rose to 160 with families rushing to hospitals to claim the bodies of their loved ones most of whom were charred beyond recognition.

The tragedy struck Pakistans Punjab province yesterday just a day before Eid when a tanker carrying 40,000 litres of petrol overturned and burst into flames as villagers had gathered to collect the fuel spilled over the highway at the Ahmedpur Sharqia area of Bahawalpur, 400 km from Lahore.

Rather than celebrating Eid, the victims relatives were waiting outside hospitals to claim the bodies- most of which have been burnt beyond recognition and will be identified only by DNA tests.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was in London to celebrate Eid with his family, cut short his trip and visited the victims at Victoria Hospital. He said it had been decided to hold an in-depth inquiry into the tragedy.

We have to look into what was the condition of that tanker. We will not let this incident go ignored (without reaching any conclusion, he said. Sharif said, Illiteracy and poverty lead to such accidents. Yesterday, some people did politics on television. It is inappropriate. There should be no politics on such tragic incidents, when we should console the injured and affected, he said.

Sharif gave away the cheques for Rs 1 million each to the injured and said Rs 2 million would be given as compensation to the families of those who lost their lives.

The death toll today reached 160 as nine critically injured patients, including four children, today died in Multan, Faisalabad and Lahore hospitals. Doctors are struggling to save 40 patients who have received 60 per cent burns, a senior Rescue 1122 official said.  PTI
Correction: This story originally misstated the annual salary and benefits for TulsaTech Superintendent Steve Tiger. The story has been corrected.

Amid all the deep cuts in education in recent years, one Oklahoma public education system has fared better than others.

Spurred by steadily growing property values, ad valorem taxes have proved to be a support net for many state CareerTech system school districts amid otherwise difficult economic times.

In fact, local funding for the states technology centers, an often overlooked component of education and workforce training in Oklahoma, has actually increased during the latest economic downturn.

Since fiscal year 2011, local funding for the 29 technology center districts across the state has increased 22 percent, according to Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education records.

Today, $4 out of every $5 received by technology centers comes from local sources in the form of property taxes.

State money comprises about 15.7 percent of technology center funding; 3.7 percent comes from federal sources.

The situation is flipped somewhat in the common education system, where state money accounts for about half of the funding for K-12 schools.

So while Tulsa Public Schools looks at closing some schools due in part to reductions in state funding, TulsaTech has been expanding its infrastructure and giving pay raises to both faculty and staff.

We have been very fortunate in that respect that we have had the funding capacity to be able to do that, said John Selph, a former president of the TulsaTech Board of Education, who left the board in 2016.

Earlier this year, the board of TulsaTech approved a three-year employment agreement that includes for fiscal 2018 a $272,215 salary and benefit package for Superintendent/Chief Executive Officer Steve Tiger.

The agreement includes what amounts to a 5 percent increase in the base pay for Tiger compared to his current salary.

The pay hike means Tiger will almost certainly continue to be the highest paid technology center superintendent in the state when the fiscal year starts July 1. Fiscal 2018 salary figures for other school districts were not available.

Overall, Tiger has seen his base pay increase 34 percent in the past four years. He and other officials, former and current, defend his salary, saying it is fair given the size of the district and what others make in comparable positions.

Selph said he would have been hard pressed to justify the pay raises for Tiger and other employees were the districts financial situation different.

If it were flat or to be reduced, I think it would put TulsaTech in a situation similar to what K-12 is experiencing in Oklahoma, Selph said.

Much of the credit for the relative stable funding in the CareerTech system goes to Francis Tuttle, Selph said.

Tuttle, who died in 1997 and is considered the father of Oklahomas nationally acclaimed vocational-technical educational system, drew up a funding system whereby local voters could approve the formation of a district and decide how much ad valorem property taxes to levy to pay, under certain limits.

When Dr. Tuttle, years and years ago, set up the vo-tech system in the state of Oklahoma, he made sure they had a good, stable base of funding, Selph said.

In Tulsa County, a growing property tax base has helped defray recent decreases in state funding at TulsaTech.

In the past four years, local funding to TulsaTech has increased 16 percent to $90.4 million in fiscal 2016, largely due to increasing property values.

State funding, meanwhile, has declined 44 percent since fiscal 2010 at TulsaTech.

Today, property taxes account for about 90 percent of total revenues at TulsaTech, records show.

Still, while TulsaTech officials say the steady local funding has been beneficial, they warn that both TulsaTech and especially other smaller technology centers face financial challenges if state cuts continue.

Thats because, Tiger said, the growth in local income has not kept pace with expenses.

TulsaTech has countered the growth in expenses by offering a voluntary retirement to qualified employees in recent years and by cutting other positions through attrition, Tiger said.

Tiger said he has told his directors to expect a 3 percent cut in funding next fiscal year.

Were trying to do more with less, he said.

The amount of property taxes going to TulsaTech  with a total enrollment of about 34,000  is relatively small compared to what common education schools get, Tiger said.

Since we are such a consolidated huge district, were able to keep the mill levies very small, comparatively to K-12, he said.

The current TulsaTech school district levy is 13 mills. The state allowed maximum for technology center districts is 15 mills.

Two more mills would help our situation a lot; it would add $12 million to $14 million per year in revenue, Tiger said.

I cant promise that request will never happen, he said. Depending upon what happens with other budget situations, it could put us in a desperate situation, but there is no intent to do that because we really take pride in operating as conservatively as we can.

Tiger said he doesnt see TulsaTech pursuing any bond issues as other technology districts have done amid state cuts.

Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education records reflect more modest pay increases for other technology center district superintendents, compared to Tiger. The average total compensation for technology center district superintendents increased 3.3 percent since 2015 to about $184,000. The average base salary was about $151,000.

In another comparison, Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist had a base pay of $239,700 for fiscal 2017. Gists fringe benefits and other pay bring her total annual compensation package to about $350,000.

Gists pay includes $25,000 in annual performance pay, which she has donated each year to the Tulsa Schools Foundation.

Gist is in charge of a $551.5 million annual budget. Tiger commands a $159.4 million annual budget at Tulsa Tech.

Former TulsaTech School Board President Sharon Whelpley said competition from other districts factors into how much the board decided to pay Tiger.

You have to pay to have a good superintendent continue with you, because they are all out there looking, said Whelpley. If you want to maintain that leadership and you want to attract good instructors from the business world ... we have to have somebody that knows TulsaTech and knows CareerTech and is pretty much known all over the state.

TulsaTech spokesman Tony Heaberlin said enrollment at TulsaTech has increased 25 percent in the past five years. Tiger was hired as superintendent/CEO in June 2012.

In addition to the superintendent, TulsaTech has been fortunate to be able to afford pay raises for its instructors and staff, Selph said.

Indeed, a Tulsa World analysis of all teachers working in the technology centers found that the average base wage was about $56,000 per year.

Meanwhile, the average annual pay for common education teachers was about $38,300, according to the World analysis.

Both Selph and Whelpley said it is difficult to make fair comparisons in teacher pay between technology centers and common education.

We train business and industry employees, Selph said. So in order to train them you have to have instructors who you recruit from those industries.

Well, youre not going to pull them away from American Airlines to teach avionics unless they receive something comparable to what they were making at American Airlines.

Whelpley said TulsaTech teachers have different skill sets compared to public educators in grades K-12.

Our teachers come usually from the manufacturing world, Whelpley said. So were competing with their pay in the outside to have them come and train students at TulsaTech.

Tiger said that since becoming superintendent, he is proud that the district has added many new programs including Career Academies for would-be dropouts, embedded trainers for government and businesses, and scholarships for veterans and others who qualify.
The rush for shells, fountains and firecrackers hasnt hit in full force yet. Lines arent wrapping around the TNT Fireworks tents or out the doors at Jakes Fireworks.

Which means its the perfect time for Jeff Gordon to get the first of three hauls out of the way, with two shopping carts full of more fireworks than most can light in one Fourth of July.

Gordon lived in Broken Arrow until seven years ago, when he moved to Locust Grove. In rural Mayes County and outside city limits, he doesnt have to be concerned with the fireworks permits required in communities around Tulsa.

But that doesnt mean Gordon  who said Independence Day is his big holiday  doesnt like the permit systems in many local communities, including his former home of Broken Arrow.

I think its a good idea; you should be able to buy a permit to set fireworks off, Gordon said. So long as the permits going to offset any expense in case something catches fire, I think its a fair trade.

Its silly to not allow people to do that, because people are going to do what they want to do. Youre giving them a way to do it legally, and it makes it safer.

Broken Arrow, along with other nearby cities including Jenks and Claremore, requires fireworks permits for the Fourth of July. Permits in Broken Arrow cost $21 and can be purchased at Broken Arrow City Hall, 220 S. First St., or online at brokenarrowok.gov through July 3.

The permit outlines valid hours of 3-11 p.m. on July 3-4 only, and other rules apply such as supervising minors while shooting off fireworks and disposing of fireworks trash.

Broken Arrow police enforce the permit rules, and BAPD Capt. Patrick DuFriend said the department is using extra patrols specifically assigned to fireworks enforcement.

DuFriend said the permit system in Broken Arrow took time to work well but now makes it easier on the department with fewer complaints and easier enforcement.

Historically, after the first year or two of permits, everyone became familiar with the ordinance, DuFriend said. We found our compliance rates are exceptionally good.

Most everyone has come to understand that you need to h ave a permit and can only do it in specified hours.

Violating Broken Arrows permit ordinance carries heavy fines, including a $500 fine plus court costs for using fireworks outside of permit hours, DuFriend said. Using fireworks without a permit is a $225 ticket plus court costs, he said.

In Tulsa, its illegal to use, possess, sell or transport fireworks inside city limits. Owasso also prohibits sale, use or display inside city limits but has exceptions for fountains and other non-noisemaking, stationary fireworks.

Claremore residents can buy $25 permits in the city clerks office at Claremore City Hall, 104 S. Muskogee Ave., for the week before the Fourth of July. The permits, first approved in 2008, have similar restrictions as other communities including direct supervision for minors and rules about removing trash.

Claremore Fire Marshal Jason Crandall said residents typically wont buy permits until a week before the Fourth of July, and he said he thinks the permit system is an improvement from an outright ban.

Theres been a decrease in injuries and accidents and stuff, Crandall said. I think thats just because you go buy the permit, heres the rules, youre allowed to do this. Youre not sneaking around to do this.

I think with people being able to sit back, relax and light fireworks, it makes it a little safer.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Car dealers are asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to prevent a law putting a sales tax on vehicles from taking effect.

Lawmakers passed House Bill 2433. The measure removes the sales-tax exemption on vehicles, thus imposing a 1.25 percent tax on top of the existing 3.25 percent excise tax.

The measure is set to take effect Saturday.

It is expected to generate slightly more than $123 million for the fiscal year 2018 budget.

Lawmakers had $878 million less to spend in crafting the fiscal year 2018 budget.

The suit alleges that the measure is in violation of a requirement that tax increases receive a super majority vote in the House and Senate. The measure did not obtain a super majority in either chamber.

The suit also alleges the measure is in violation of a prohibition against passage of revenue raising measures in the last five days of the legislative session, which ended May 26.

The bill passed the House on May 24. The measure received Senate approval on May 26.

It has not been and cannot be questioned that HB 2433 was enacted for the sole purpose of raising revenue, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed Friday.

Plaintiffs are the Oklahoma Automobile Dealers Association, Battison Honda and Caitlin Cannon of Ponca City. The associations memberships consists of about 300 new car, truck and heavy-duty truck dealers.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission is the defendant.

The suit asks the court to prevent the Oklahoma Tax Commission from enforcing the measure.

Earlier this month, tobacco companies and others filed suit against a measure that adds a $1.50 smoking cessation fee to cigarettes. Lawmakers could not secure the need votes to pass it as a tax.

The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in that matter for Aug. 8.
Stacey Durrett, 53, of Yukon was arrested June 20 on complaints of attempted murder and arson.

He remained in the Canadian County jail Monday in lieu of $115,000 bail.

Durrett is accused of attempting to kill his cousin and his cousins son in Calumet by tying an extension cord to the door handle of their mobile home and blowing up a propane tank, Canadian County Sheriff Chris West said.
There is speculation today that two cast members from The Real Housewives of Sydney could be ditched if the show returns.

The Daily Telegraph quotes unnamed sources that tip Lisa Oldfield and Athena X will be culled, in the wake of the show being heavily criticised for being too extreme with its on-screen abuse.

Foxtels Brian Walsh has previously noted the bad language went too far.

A lot of the women in this show were nasty for nastys sake and have no redeeming features.

I particularly felt Lisa Oldfield and Athena X Levendi were driving their own agendas.

Bravo Networks in the US refused to screen the series despite previously screening the Real Housewives of Melbourne.

A spokesman for the show said: No decisions have been made as yet.
This week on Dateline reporter Dean Cornish travels to LAs infamous Skid Row where tiny houses for the homeless are addressing a city crisis.

As the cost of living rises in Australia, the gap between the haves and the have-nots is precariously thin. House and rent prices are skyrocketing  and homelessness is a frightening possibility for more people than ever before.

In Los Angeles, this is already a reality for more than 57,000* people who now live on the citys streets. Squeezed out of the housing market, the number of homeless has soared by a staggering 23%* in the last year  forcing LAs City Mayor to declare a homelessness crisis.

But a controversial pint-sized idea is helping provide a possible short-term solution to the citys emergency while attracting global support  tiny houses for the homeless.

This Tuesday, Dateline reporter Dean Cornish travels to LAs infamous Skid Row filming alongside some of the citys hardest-hit individuals to investigate the homelessness crisis in Hollywoods backyard. As local authorities struggle to respond, Dean explores how one man is going rogue to try to solve it  one tiny house at a time.

Elvis Summers builds tiny houses to bring dignity to some of the citys increasing number of homeless. No one should be homeless. But especially in one of the richest countries in the world, he tells Dateline.

One of those people hes helping is Raven. At just 9, Raven fled a violent home and now lives under a tarpaulin next to a freeway. She once had a tiny house, but city authorities have banned them.

The city always kicks us out from where were staying. They tell us to clean up and move. Who wants to constantly move their stuff every day, you know. Its not easy, Raven tells Dateline.

In the city of angels, Elvis mission means he isnt considered one by the powers-that-be.

Authorities have accused the tiny homes of threatening public health and safety and Dean discovers a constant game of cat and mouse as Elvis tries to deliver the homes and avoid the citys sanitation clean up.

Can Elvis tiny homes help Raven and others like her avoid the mean streets of LA?

The tiny house idea is very simple. Its shelter. I mean food, water and shelter are not optional  they are required for human survival, Elvis tells Dateline.

People need shelter now. And if I have to build a tiny house for every last person until Im 500 years old, then thats what Im gonna do.

Tuesday 27 June at 9.30pm on SBS.
Seven News US Bureau Chief Mike Amor has been named television Journalist of the Year at the Los Angeles Press Clubs 59th annual Southern California Journalism Awards.

This is the second year in a row he has been awarded the honour.

Amors coverage of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting and the special feature In Cold Blood: The Chris Lane Story, were key stories amongst the three awards won by the Seven News team.

Seven Network Director of News and Public Affairs Craig McPherson said: This major award is outstanding recognition of Mikes work and the work of Seven News exceptional US team.

Other Aussie wins went to Phil Goyen, Nine News for Best News Feature: Divided States of America. His Life from Death story was also recognised in the Investigative category.

Rachael Dyer, Darren Curtis, and Timothy Myers won Best International News Feature for Ghost Cats of Los Angeles with Dyer recognised in Social Media for Behind the Scenes at the 88th Academy Awards.
Slime Cup returns to Nickelodeon this week, with kids from Australia and New Zealand competing for the series title.

Each episode features three teams who undertake slimy inflatable obstacle challenges such as Pizza Dash and Unlucky Dip,

Kristy Best is presenter on the ground with The Thundermans own Jack and Kira commenting in studio.

The six episode series will screen at 5.30pm each Friday from this week, until the grand finale on Friday, August 4.

Friday, June 30 at 5.30pm on Nickelodeon.
The Australian Competition Tribunal has rejected plans by Racing.com to unbundle racing rights from Racing NSW, Racing Victoria and Racing Queensland.

Racing.com, a joint venture between Racing Victoria and Seven West Media, wanted to impose conditions on racing bodies to follow certain conditions when conducting future media rights auctions.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports these would include unbundling their rights across free-to-air television, pay television and digital channels.

But the tribunal ruled the proposal would have undoubtedly assisted the commercial position of racing.com, and found it may prevent racing bodies obtaining maximum value during their negotiations with SKY.

Racing NSW, Racing Queensland, Perth Racing and Thoroughbred Racing SA also disapproved.

Racing NSW chief executive Peter VLandys said Racing.coms claim incorrectly and quite offensively infers that racing bodies are not sufficiently sophisticated or commercially savvy to adequately deal with their media rights.
Reese Witherspoon returned to her old Stanford dorm last week to talk to the students of the University's Graduate School of Business. However, the celebrity decided to go on a little side trip.

Apparently, per E News, Reese Witherspoon went to her old dorm at Stanford University. For the record, she attended the Ivy League in the mid-1990s. What is more interesting is that she met a lucky student, who is as beautiful as her, named Caitlyn.

Caitlyn is the new resident in the old dorm of Reese Witherspoon. The latter eventually posted a photo of her trip down memory lane on her official Instagram account. Alongside a photo of her and Caitlyn, the 41-year-old actress said that Caitlyn was "so nice" that she even "welcomed her in".

Famous for the name Elle Woods, a movie character, Witherspoon is also an entrepreneur and a producer now. Her professional screen debut happened in 1991 with the movie "The Man in the Moon". In it, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award.

The following year, she took a role in "Desperate Choices: To Save My Child" and "Jack the Bear". On the other hand, Witherspoon starred in the comedy-drama "Pleasantville" in 1998. This time, she won the Young Hollywood Award for Breakthrough Performance. Nevertheless, her biggest break probably is Elle Woods in the 2001 film "Legally Blonde", wherein she got her second Golden Globe nomination.

According to Today, Witherspoon was an English Literature major. However, she was not able to finish her studies because she had to focus on her acting career. Well, it is now safe to say that things really worked out for her.

The "Big Little Lies" star went back to Stanford University to take part in the school's "View From the Top" speaker series. In it, famous and well-respected members of the community share advice and lessons with the University's current students. Stanford Graduate School of Business also shared a photo of Witherspoon on Instagram during her session. In the end, the actress told the graduates via Twitter to "keep dreaming big."
Bergen Community College aims to prepare students for the professional world through a new program designed to improve their fashion senses. Read on for more details.

According to North Jersey, the "Move for Success" project was launched at the Bergen Community College campus in Paramus. Aside from teaching students how to dress properly for internship and job interviews, it will also provide them access to free clothing.

Possibly the "first of its kind" in the area, "Move for Success" helps students write industry-specific resumes as well. Another key aspect of the program is a "career closet" in the Pitkin Education Center.

Housed in Room B-105, the on-campus boutique is filled with donated clothing. All of the garments here are offered for free. Two dressing rooms, a seating area, and gorgeous racks are found inside too. The boutique will be operated by students, which then serves as an additional training.

Bergen Community College President B. Kaye Walter and Ridgewood Moving Services (Mahwah) President Cynthia Myer came up with the idea last fall. Walter said Myer was the one who invited her to a meeting attended by New Jersey female chief executives.

At the moment, the career closet is made up of professional clothes collected by Myer. Through the Ridgewood Moving Services, she has gathered garments from clients who were "purging" their unwanted stuff.

Although the program was already launched on Thursday, final details are still being ironed out. Walter and Myers said that they will continue collecting donations to ensure that the boutique remains fully stocked.

Anyone who is willing to give something for the project may drop it off at The X-Change Office located at the Pitkin Education Center at 400 Paramus Road. They could also direct their donations to the Ridgewood Moving Services warehouse at 575 Corporate Drive in Mahwah.
Recently reports have surfaced claiming that Samsung is planning to roll out its Galaxy Note 8 phablet in August 2017. The report indicates that the launch event will transpire in New York City. Nonetheless, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 smartphone might be the tech giant's priciest mobile device ever.

The South Korean tech titan will roll out its new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with two rear snappers and a curved screen. Samsung is reportedly geared up to continue its Note series even after Galaxy Note 7's debacle in 2016. The tech giant suffered a lot due to Galaxy Note 7's fire-prone batteries.

The famous tech leaker, Evan Blass, made it known that the Galaxy Note 8 phablet might be Samsung's most expensive handset ever. The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is going to have a 999 or $1,117.85 price tag when it launches, Indian Express reported.

Nevertheless, the Galaxy Note 8 will feature a 6.3-inch edge-to-edge Infinity Display, which is the same size as the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. The Note 8 will also have the same 18:5:9 aspect ratio like the Galaxy S8 series. The upcoming Samsung flagship smartphone will have more power and a shorter battery life compared to the Galaxy Note 7, Uproxx reported.

Samsung's highly anticipated flagship smartphone will be up for grabs with the top-of-the-line Exynos 8895 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chipsets. But, some reports are claiming that the upcoming flagship device will have Qualcomm's Snapdragon 836 processor. The Snapdragon 836 chipset will boast a 2.5GHz octa-core processor as well as a 740MHz GPU.

Furthermore, the tech company has apparently improved S-Pen's overall functionality, making the special stylus more useful and functional. Reports are mounting up on the internet claiming that the upcoming Note 8 will support Samsung's DeX Station, allowing its users to use the handset as a computer. Also, the upcoming device will boast a 6GB of RAM and a 3,330mAh battery.

Watch The Video Here:
During the MOSEC 2017 event, the security wing of Chinese Internet media giant Tencent, KeenLab's Liang Chen, demonstrated a working jailbreak for the second beta of iOS 11, which rolled out to developers less than two days ago. But, the jailbreak being demoed will not result in a public release.

Jailbreak makers are having a tough time exploiting a highly secure operating system, such as the iOS 11. The fact that Liang Chen demonstrated a jailbreak for the iOS 11 beta 2 could only mean that the jailbreak tool was written for a flaw that carried over from the first beta version of iOS 11. As the Pangu hacking group failed to unleash its iOS 10.3.1 jailbreak tool even after demoing the tool at a mobile security conference in April 2017, the recently demoed jailbreak tool does not equate for a public release, 1Red Drop reported.

This could indicate that this flaw could go un-patched as the Cupertino based tech giant goes through several iOS 11 beta iterations. Wherein, iPhone 8's implications are very profound.

Nevertheless, there were reports claiming that the Pangu hacking team may no longer be releasing a jailbreak tool. Reports are claiming that Apple is possibly one of Pangu Lab's clients. It has been said that the Cupertino based tech titan paid Pangu $1.25 million to be out in the business of creating a jailbreak tool.

On the contrary, some reports made it known that Pangu has transformed into a proper company, making the jailbreak tool no longer part of their interest. In spite of that, the jailbreak community is hoping for some closure in the next couple of months, International Business Times reported.

In the meantime, Apple device users can utilize the zJailbreak tool. This particular tool can access app stores like DreamStore, Cydia, YIV, Tweakbox and Googios. Apple device users can install the zJailbreak tool like a usual app.

Watch The Video Here:
Two days after SpaceX launched Falcon 9 rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the space agency sent another mission into orbit with 10 new satellites for the voice and data relay network of Iridium. The launch was originally slated to transpire days earlier, but it was cancelled due to a last minute necessary valve replacement.

The initial phases of the launch went according to plan, the second stage enters the low Earth orbit prior to a second burn following the spacecraft separation. All 10 satellites of SpaceX separated as planned that concluded the one hour and 12 minutes after its liftoff. The rocket will return in Southern California in a couple days for inspections.

The double header launchings from different launch sites set a record for the shortest turnaround between SpaceX's two flights. The launches were a milestone the space agency could repeat as it reactivates a damaged launch pad later this year, Space Flight Now reported.

SpaceX rocket launches will be in line with the IridiumNEXT, in preparation for the launches, the American aerospace manufacturer conducted a static fire test on June 20. The eight planned Iridium missions will replace the current fleet of satellites Iridium with newer ones. The recent launches of the aerospace company is the second of the eight missions, the first launch wrapped up in January.

Nonetheless, the new satellites will help SpaceX support a larger bandwidth as well as a faster speed for the voice and data communication. The low-Earth-orbit satellites will have a coverage across entire Earth, which includes across oceans. However, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a statement that Iridium has six more launches scheduled over the following 12 months, The Verge reported.

CEO Matt Desch also said that their operations team is awaiting for this new batch of satellites and is geared up to fire up the testing and validation process.

Watch The Video Here:
Going to college is no joke, especially the money needed to finish a four-year course. However, there are associate degrees that yield a good ROI after graduation. Here are 5 high-paying jobs that only require an associate degree.

Air Traffic Controllers

Air traffic controllers have an annual median salary of $122,950. It only takes two years to complete an air traffic controller's training Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative under the guidelines of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Alaska, Kansas, Hawaii, and New Mexico are some of the states that have a high demand for air traffic controllers.

Dental Hygienists

Dental hygienists provide education and preventive dental care to patients. A lot of community colleges, universities, and technical schools offer dental hygiene programs which typically takes 3 years to finish. Dental hygienists have an annual median salary of $73,330.

Radiation Therapists

Radiation therapists provide radiation treatments to patients. To become a licensed radiation therapist, students need to complete a radiation therapy program from an accredited institution and pass the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists certification exam. States where there is a high demand for radiation therapists are Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Alaska. A licensed radiation therapist can have an average annual salary of $80,220.

Nuclear Technicians

Also on the list of high paying jobs that require an associate degree are nuclear technicians whose annual median salary is around $80,260. Those who want to pursue the career need an associate's degree in nuclear science.

The main responsibility of nuclear technicians includes assisting physicists and engineers by monitoring levels of radiation.

Nuclear Medicine Technologists

Nuclear medicine technologists work in hospitals and laboratories. They take x-ray images of the patient's body and interpret the results. Aside from taking an associate degree program on nuclear medicine technology, requirements to become a licensed nuclear medicine technologist vary by state.
A former Crystal Falls woman is sitting in prison today, but it took more than 30 years for the law to catch up with Jacquelyn Greco. She was convicted in Illinois for first degree murder.

On October 31, 2016, 70 year-old Jacquelyn Greco was found guilty in the plot to murder her late husband, Carl Gaimari. It took a jury less than two hours to reach the verdict. During the trial, Greco admitted to participating in the plot to kill her husband, but she thought it had been called off.

In December 2016, Greco was sentenced to 30 years in prison. She could have received up to 40 years, but the judge granted leniency because Greco did admit to the plot in court.

Gaimari was killed during a home invasion. April 30, 1979, two men entered the couple's home, tied up the family, and later killed the commodities broker. Police believed Greco helped to plan the murder of her husband, using the guise of a home invasion and never closed the case. During their investigation, it was uncovered Greco was having an affair. Prosecutors believed she wanted to marry this other man, but feared she would be left with no money in a divorce.

After taped telephone conversations confirmed their suspicion, an arrest warrant for Greco was issued. In 2013, Greco was taken into police custody, more than 30 years after her husband's death.
Published: June 26, 2017

UT Honors Student Finds Empowerment, Affirmation in Sri Lanka

Although Victoria Sunseri 18 went to Sri Lanka to volunteer with the nonprofit social service organization Community Concern, the trip also became a journey of self-empowerment.



The personal growth I experienced far surpassed anything I could have imagined, Sunseri said. This trip has really allowed me to put all of my fears into perspective, explore my connection with nature and how through nature we are reminded of our transcendent connection with one another and how to be truly confident in my own independence.



Sunseri is the 2017 recipient of the Timothy M. Smith Inspiration Through Exploration Award, an annual grant given to stimulate international travel and writing among Honors Program students. The award was established to honor the life of Smith, a lawyer by trade, whose true passion was traveling the world.



Past recipients have studied mixed-ability dance concepts in England, learned about dolphin-assisted therapy in Turkey, volunteered with a nonprofit providing free cleft surgery to children in Ghana and researched homelessness in Dublin.



Sunseri, a psychology and public health double major from Long Island, NY, helped Community Concern with marketing-related tasks, such as establishing an Instagram account and creating Prezi presentations, training the staff on the use of both. She also conducted interviews with some of the recipients of the organizations assistance, which will be used for their website and donor marketing.



Sunseri became connected to Community Concern through one of her UT professors, Julie Pennington, who introduced Sunseri to her colleague and founder of Community Concern, Sriyani Tidball. Sunseri provided research assistance to Tidball, a human rights activist, who is researching the migration of Sri Lankan women to the Middle East.



It was a super empowering experience. I am so busy during the semester I don't get to reflect that often, and this trip really got me to slow down and appreciate things better, Sunseri said.



Sunseri has a particular interest in human trafficking, which was piqued after an alternative spring break trip with UTs PEACE Volunteer Center. PEACE works to educate students to be active citizens who make their community a priority in every decision they make and work to better it. The trip was to Atlanta to work with an organization that helps the victims of human trafficking and educate the public on the issue.



(The organization's employees) just had so much grace. I know thats a religious term, but for me its a spiritual term and a religious term interchangeably. Being able to be in those situations and the kindness they displayed  these are the kind of people I want to be when I get older, Sunseri said.



She was so moved by the experience she talked her Presidents Leadership Fellows cohort into making human trafficking the focus of their social change project.



I dont want people to think that its only an international issue, because its easier when you think of it as an international issue. But to think that its right in your backyard, its just something thats unfathomable for people, because its so pervasive you just dont see it at that point, Sunseri said.



Sunseri isnt new to international travel. In 2016, she was in associate professor Kevin Fridys travel course on community development that culminated in a trip to Ghana. She stayed behind after the course ended to volunteer in an orphanage.



Someone can tell you that youre going to go on a trip and your life will change, she said. But seeing how your life changes for yourself is a unique experience.



Sunseris ideal career would marry her public health and psychology background, creating mental health interventions for people and trying to integrate behavioral health and medical health practices. Her time in Sri Lanka affirmed this.



Working for the World Health Organization to help create and implement interventions to improve behavioral health and access to mental health services is where my passions lay and this experience only served to embolden my drive to achieve that goal, she said. This trip served to secure my confidence in the paths and steps I have taken academically thus far, to make my goals realities.





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Mountain Goats Topic of June 29 UW Research Center Talk

A charismatic exemplar of the alpine ecosystem, the mountain goat illustrates how the rules of survival are changing for a biological community that lives on islands in the sky. (Bruce L. Smith Photo)

Wildlife biologist and author Bruce L. Smith will discuss mountain goats of the Wests great mountain ranges Thursday, June 29, at the University of Wyoming-National Park Service (UW-NPS) Research Center. The center is located at the AMK Ranch in Grand Teton National Park.

Smith will present Life on the Rocks: A Portrait of the American Mountain Goat as part of the centers Harlow Summer Seminars at 6:30 p.m. at the AMK Ranch, located north of Leeks Marina. A barbecue, at a cost of $5 per person, will take place at 5:30 p.m. Reservations are not required.

Smith retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2004 after a 30-year career as a wildlife manager and scientist. Three years studying and photographing mountain goats in Montanas Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area began a 40-year fascination with the animals. His presentation will look at the mountain goats life and ongoing conservation challenges across the West, including photographs from his 2014 National Outdoor Book Award-winning Life on the Rocks: A Portrait of the American Mountain Goat.

He also will share his recent work in Montana that shows starkly different fortunes for that states native and introduced goat populations.

Bruce L. Smith will speak Thursday, June 29, at 6:30 p.m. at the University of Wyoming-National Park Service (UW-NPS) Research Center in Grand Teton National Park. (Bruce L. Smith Photo)

Smith was named Wyomings Conservationist of the Year in 1997, and he received the John and Frank Craighead Wildlife Conservation Award in 2005. Besides his scientific publications, he writes for magazines and has published five books, including Where Elk Roam: Conservation and Biopolitics of Our National Elk Herd (2012) about the Jackson Hole elk herd, and Stories from Afield: Adventures with Wild Things in Wild Places (2016), a collection of 16 outdoor adventure essays. From his home in Bozeman, Mont., he writes to promote conservation of wildlife and wildlands.

The UW-NPS Research Center provides a base for university faculty members and government scientists from throughout North America to conduct research in the diverse aquatic and terrestrial environments of Grand Teton National Park and the greater Yellowstone area.

For more information about the Harlow Summer Seminars, contact Michael Dillon at (307) 543-2463 or michael.dillon@uwyo.edu.
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UW Researchers to Present at Ecological Society of America Meeting

Seventeen University of Wyoming faculty, staff and students will present their research findings at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America Aug. 6-11 in Portland, Ore.

A number of the research topics are relevant to Wyoming. Elk movement and the spread of brucellosis; nitrogen deposition in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem; Wyoming farmer and rancher perspectives on land management and ecosystem services; and the importance of memory in wildlife migration are among the subjects UW presenters will cover in either oral or poster presentations.

About 5,000 people are scheduled to attend the annual meeting at the Oregon Convention Center.

Here are the UW researchers scheduled to give oral presentations, along with their topics:

-- Angela Brennan, postdoctoral research associate in the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit -- Elk movement and the spread of brucellosis in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

-- Reilly Dibner, postdoctoral research associate in the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources -- How greater short-horned lizards use sagebrush to maintain suitable body temperatures.

-- Joanna Harter, graduate student in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management -- The effects of wetlands variation in prairie landscapes on bird diversity.

-- Abigail Hoffman, graduate student in the Department of Botany -- Using lichen to monitor air quality, including nitrogen deposition from human activities, in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

-- Randa Jabbour, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Sciences -- Evaluating the ecosystem services provided in agricultural landscapes in Wyoming through interviews with both producers and the agriculture and conservation professionals who work with them.

-- Daniel Laughlin, associate professor in the Department of Botany -- The relationship of genetics and environment in plants in areas of northern Arizona.

-- Bethann Merkle, associate research scientist in the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit -- Evaluating ecological inaccuracies in childrens picture books.

-- Jerod Merkle, postdoctoral research associate in the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit -- The importance of memory in wildlife migration.

-- Kyle Palmquist, postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Botany -- How soil and water conditions affect plant diversity in sagebrush ecosystems.

-- Corinna Riginos, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Zoology and Physiology, and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources -- How livestock management at moderate stocking rates is compatible with wildlife conservation in Kenya.

-- Daniel Schlaepfer, former postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Botany -- The effects of climate change engineering, through the reflection of sunlight, on droughts in dryland areas.

-- Rebecca Wilcox, graduate student in the Department of Zoology and Physiology -- Seed dispersal by exotic bird species on Hawaiis Oahu island.

-- Tamara Zelikova, postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Botany -- The impact of leafcutter ants on soils in a Costa Rican rainforest.

Here are the UW researchers scheduled to give poster presentations, along with their topics:

-- Sarah Brannon, undergraduate student in the Department of Zoology and Physiology -- The influence of changing rainfall, parental traits and nest traits on parental care in a tropical bird.

-- Sara Carabajal, graduate student in the Department of Plant Sciences -- The effects of cover crop mixtures on ground beetles at the James C. Hageman Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center near Lingle.

-- Samuel Case, graduate student in the Department of Zoology and Physiology -- The effects of introduced game bird species on seed dispersal in Hawaiian forests.

-- Karen Vaughan, assistant professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management -- Carbon sequestration in the soils of the Snowy Range.


Essence Vegas, Las Vegas premier marijuana dispensary and resource center, invites the Las Vegas community and tourist alike to celebrate the historic addition of recreational cannabis sales in the state of Nevada. Established in 2016, Essence Vegas is the first and only marijuana dispensary on the famed Las Vegas Strip.

Beginning 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 1, 2017 Las Vegas residents and tourists, 21 years or older, can legally purchase cannabis products from the Essence-Strip and Essence-West locations.

To celebrate this monumental transition, Essence Vegas is inviting the Las Vegas community, celebrities, dignitaries, VIPs and tourists to experience the highest quality and widest selection of cannabis products in Las Vegas, including more than 50 strains, vape pens, concentrates, a variety of topicals and a wide variety of edibles, including capsules, cookies, brownies, honey, chocolate and more. First  time customer discounts will be available.

For more information or to order Essence Vegas products online, please visit www.essencevegas.com. Connect with Essence Vegas on Facebook.
The event, which brought key investors and partners together with the companys regional and global leadership, was held on June 22, at the Park Hyatt Hotel. The Investor Day featured keynote speeches from Manulifes global newly appointed global president Roy Gori, as well as interim Asia CEO Philip Witherington.

Paul Nguyen, CEO of Manulife Vietnam, said that Vietnams role as host to Investor Day was testament to the importance of the growing Vietnamese economy.

Manulife has one of the most diverse and rapidly growing footprints of any financial services company in Asia, and we are proud of Vietnams contribution to that growth. Manulifes agency force in Vietnam is its largest in the region, and we have seen tremendous growth in recent times in part because of that on-the-ground strength, Nguyen said. We were truly proud to host part of Investor Day in Ho Chi Minh  and it is a massive vote of confidence in the future of Vietnams economy.

Commenting on the event, Gori said that the companys choice to partly run Investor Day in Vietnam was due to its place in the companys future plans.

Asia is already a very strong engine for Manulife, with our 12 Asian markets contributing about one third of core global earnings, Gori said. The growth of the local market, and our own growth within that market, means that Vietnam plays a large part in our regional success and will continue to do so for many years.

Manulife Vietnam enjoyed a record-setting year in 2016, with annualised premium equivalent (APE) insurance sales 49 per cent higher than the preceding 12 months.

In June 1999, Manulife Vietnam became the first foreign-owned life insurance company licensed in the country. Headquartered at Manulife Plaza, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, Manulife Vietnam has a nationwide network of 55 offices across 40 major cities and provinces as of the first quarter of 2017.

On June 14, 2005, Manulife Asset Management (Vietnam) Company Limited (MAMV), a wholly owned local subsidiary of Manulife Vietnam, was granted licence to operate fund management and portfolio management services, further expanding Manulife Vietnams product offering for its customers.

Throughout its 18 years of operations in Vietnam, Manulife has successfully built a strong reputation for its high quality products and professional services, maintaining its position as a top player in the market. The company offers a wide range of innovative insurance products, including traditional life, health, education, investment and pension solutions.

Manulife Vietnam and SCB celebrate one-year exclusive partnership anniversary Manulife Vietnam and Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) is celebrating the first anniversary of their exclusive partnership.

Manulife Vietnam records 69pc growth in 2015 insurance sales Manulife Vietnam, one of the Vietnams Top 3 insurers, reported annualised premium equivalent (APE) insurance sales of VND1.68 trillion ($75.3 million) in 2015, up 69 per cent from the year before.

Manulife - My Beloved Family given additional optional benefits Manulife - My Beloved Family, a comprehensive financial solution of Manulife Vietnam, now offers five additional optional benefits that help protect customers and their families against a wider variety of risks.

Manulife Vietnam appoints new board chairman Manulife Vietnam, the first licensed foreign-owned life insurance company in the country, last week announced the appointment of Indren Naidoo as the chairman of its Members Council and Board of Directors.
The five-alarm fire that engulfed seven buildings and injured nine residents in the Bronx earlier this week was caused by a "fireworks fight," according to the FDNY. On Saturday, the Fire Marshal arrested and charged three men in connection with the blaze, which took three hours and nearly 200 firefighters to put down, the FDNY said.

After allegedly admitting to the "fireworks fight," Bronx residents Nabindranauth Nandalall and Shivnarine Lauchman, both 23, now face charges of fourth-degree arson, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, and illegal possession of fireworks. A third man, Alejandro Soler, 27, has been charged with illegal possession of fireworks.

"This fire is a reminder that fireworks are illegal in New York Cityand as witnessed in this fire can be dangerous to both Firefighters and civilians alike," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a statement.

The fire began Thursday afternoon at 1136 Olmstead Avenue, quickly spreading through the basement to six other buildings, officials said. Of the nine patients reported, one is a civilian with nonlife-threatening injuries, seven are firefighters with nonlife-threatening injuries, and one is a firefighter in serious but stable condition, according to the FDNY. He was treated at Jacobi Medical Center and has since been released.

"These buildings can collapse very quickly," Chief of Department James E. Leonard told DNAinfo at the scene, adding that two of the damaged homes may need to be demolished.

It remains unclear how many people were displaced in the fire.
Hitachi's new iMRI scanner offers an untold number of advantages for Vietnamese neurosurgeons

On this occasion, the Intraoperative MRI (iMRI) was also introduced for the first time, expecting to foster a leap in neurosurgery in Vietnam.

The workshop attracted the attendance of a great number of leading experts and doctors from Viet Duc Hospital, K Hospital, Bach Mai Hospital, Cho Ray Hospital, Vinmec Hospital, International Neurological Hospital, and Friendship Hospital, among others. The experts and doctors have exchanged useful knowledge and information.

Especially Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dong Van He, director of Viet Duc Hospital's Centre for Neurosurgery and Dr. Yoshihiro Muragaki from Department of Neurosurgery at Tokyo Women Medical University brought updated information about iMRI applications in neurosurgery.

Performing a brain surgery is like driving a race car. The timing of each pit stop is critical for success. As such, iMRI was invented to provide a solution for faster and safer MRI scanning during surgery, said Dr. Muragaki.

Dr. Muragaki updating participants on the advantages of iMRI scanning

Neurosurgery is one of the most difficult and complex surgical procedures because cerebrovascular interventions require millimeter precision to minimise affects to the surrounding normal tissues as well as limit blood loss, pain, and risk of complications during surgery.

Prior to surgery, the patient will receive an MRI examination to determine the location and dimensions of the tumor. However, after the opening of the skull, these tumors are displaced by increased intracranial pressure, leading to difficulties for the naked eye to accurately determine the tumors boundaries.

After the surgery, the patient will have another MRI examination to determine whether the tumor was removed completely, and in some cases, resuscitation is needed to remove the residual lesion after the first surgery.

Thanks to science and technology advancement, iMRI technology is now available in Vietnam, enabling physicians to fully address these issues.

iMRI - One room solution

In some countries with developed healthcare systems, MRI solutions have been applied in two models: two-room and one-room design.

Two-room design (two separate rooms for MRI and operation) has some disadvantages, such as increased risk (due to lengthy patient-shifting intervals between MRI imaging and surgery), and costs (due to space constraints). Meanwhile, time is a decisive factor in the success of neurosurgery.

To address these disadvantages, Hitachi provides an intraoperative solution with its medium/low field open one-room MRI system, where the MRI system is in the operating room, allowing surgeons to perform MRI scans whilst the surgery is on-going. Surgeons need not worry about the interference between the magnetic field and the surgical equipment or the MRI display because they are compatible with the magnetic field.

The event saw the participation of leading experts and doctors from Vietnamese medical institutes

With Hitachis one-room solution, the interval between MRI imaging and surgery is minimised by eliminating the need to roll the patient from the operating room to the MRI and back again.

Furthermore, Hitachis operating table is designed with a rotating mechanism, which allows surgeons to move the patient over to the MRI cabinet safely in one swift motion. All of this serves to minimise the time between MRI imaging and surgical procedures, for a safe and effective surgery for patients.

MRI scan in the middle of surgery

Being able to perform MRI scans on the patient whilst the surgery is on-going provides surgeons with real time information which can greatly aid decision-making in the operating room. Given this feature, surgeons can use real time iMRI scans to verify surgical results and detect any remaining tumors before the surgery is over.

This allows surgeons to perform immediate rectification and achieve complete resection in a single surgery. With iMRI support, surgeons can maximise their potential and achieve better surgical outcomes for patients.

Besides, Hitachis one room system uses an open MRI design with which surgeons can easily observe the patient, reducing surgical risks. Furthermore, high-sensitivity solenoid receiver coils can be installed directly on the fixed head frame, further boosting MRI imaging precision. All above features can be installed and used together with existing surgical instruments and equipment, which helps save costs for hospitals.

Thanks to advanced applications in operation, especially neurosurgery, physicians will be better supported in the operating room, which helps minimise risks that may occur during operation, allowing patients to access better healthcare services, said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dong Van He, director of Viet Duc Hopitals Centre for Neurosurgery.

Prof. Dr. Dong Van He speaking at the event

Ngo Thanh Son, general director of JVC, said: "Neurosurgery remains a concern of medicine and requires absolute speed and accuracy. This is the driving force for us to bring the best products and services that help patients and families feel secure during surgery.

Japan Vietnam Medical Instrument Company (JVC) was established on September 27, 2001. After 15 years of construction and development, JVC has supplied and installed thousands of modern medical systems, especially ones used in imaging diagnostics, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging System, Computed Tomography System, X-ray System, X-ray digitisation system, and ultrasound system, among others.

The company also provides the best technical services to ensure the stable operation of these systems for the purposes of supporting hospitals, medical centres, and clinics in providing advanced medical services for patients.
PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards 2017 has unveiled the Winners and Highly Commended Honourees during an exclusive gala ceremony on June 2 at the ballroom of InterContinental Saigon Hotel.

The venue was filled to capacity, welcoming more than 460 senior industry figures, VIPs, and correspondents.

Dr Phan Huu Thang, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association (VREA) and former general director of the Foreign Investment Agency of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, keynoted the event.

Dr Phan Huu Thang gave the keynote address at the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards 2017 Gala Dinner

The years most coveted award for Best Developer (Vietnam) went to CapitaLand Vietnam, the leading nominee with 10 appearances in the final shortlist, winning a total of six trophies and five Highly Commended distinctions.

It has been another solid year for the Vietnamese property sector. Confidence in the sector is rising, and with the countrys growing middle-class population, the majority of whom are below 35 years of age and are looking to invest in their first home, the boost that these projects get from being awarded at PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards is phenomenal, said PropertyGuru CEO Hari V. Krishnan.

CapitaLand Vietnam CEO Chen Liang Pang accepts the Award for Best Developer (Vietnam) from Thien Duong, managing director of Transform Architecture and chairman of the independent judging panel

Novaland Group CEO Phan Thanh Huy has been named Vietnams Real Estate Personality of the Year 2017 by the editors of PropertyGuru Property Report magazine led by head of publishing Liam Aran Barnes, who presented the special award

Co-organised by Oriental Media Group, the local partner in Vietnam, PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards 2017 was supported by title sponsor Kohler; co-sponsors An Cuong Wood and Malloca; official portal partner Batdongsan.com.vn; official newspaper Vietnam News; media partners Deluxe, Resort and Spa, and PropertyGuru Property Report magazines.

Additionally, valuable support was provided by associations VNREA, British Business Group Vietnam, and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam. official charity CARE Vietnam. The awards official supervisor was BDO, led in Vietnam by audit partner Jeffrey Ong Peng Lock and audit manager Nguyen Thuy Hoa.

The Winners and Highly Commended companies of the third annual PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards 2017

According to organisers, the winners will advance to compete with outstanding developers and developments in the regional grand finals at PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards, to be held in Singapore in November.
Many interests are upset at Trumps new Cuba policy. Puerto Rico isnt one of them
Summer is officially here, arriving last week on a rainbow of LGBTQ celebrations that blended protest and party. Expect more of this hybrid to come, with the sultry days of July turning street solidarity into an extra sweatyand, hopefully, enjoyableactivity. This week's highlights include a DIY town hall, resistance-rejuvenation yoga at Trump Tower, and a nationwide impeachment march. As always, feel free to leave anything we've missed in the comments.

Urge Cuomo to Be a Clean Energy Leader

Clean energy advocates will greet Cuomo outside his fundraiser at the Plaza Hotel on Monday to demand the governor lead the transition to 100 percent clean and sustainable energy. They'll also call on him to "halt the bailout of upstate nuclear power plants"a plan that would cost the MTA and NYCHA millions in additional utility costs, according to one study. Food & Water Watch sponsors the event, along with a host of other green energy groups.

Monday, June 26th, 6 p.m. // The Plaza Hotel, 768 5th Avenue, Manhattan

Where is Peralta? District 13 Town Hall

Some Jackson Heights residents aren't happy that State Senator Jose Peralta hasn't upheld his promise to meet with constituents at a town hall, so they're hosting one anyway at the Jackson Heights Jewish Center on Monday. As DNAinfo reports, Peralta promised to hold a town hall back in February, one month after he joined the Independent Democratic Caucus, but has not yet announced plans to do so. No word yet whether he'll attend Monday's event, which is being hosted by Queens Democrats, No IDC NY, and a handful of other local groups.

Monday, June 26th, 7 p.m. // Jewish Center of Jackson Heights, 3706 77th Street, Jackson Heights

Mayor de Blasio: We Need Good Jobs to Fight Climate Change

A coalition of environmental justice advocates and unions will gather outside City Hall on Tuesday to demand the creation of programs to create "jobs that tackle the main source of carbon pollution in our citybig #DirtyBuildings." As it stands, buildings account for nearly three quarters of the city's carbon emissions, a figure that will need to change in order to achieve his stated goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. While the City Council is currently considering a package of environmental bills, the Climate Works For All Coalition plans to tell lawmakers that those bills don't go far enough in upgrading efficiency standards for buildings.

Tuesday, June 27th, 10 a.m. // New York City Hall

Rally For NYC Women's Bill Of Rights

Members of NYC4CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination) plan to stage a day of action outside City Hall on Wednesday to push for the city's passage of a Women's Bill of Rights intended "to properly support and fund programming to positively benefit women in all five boroughs." Leaders of the group testified at a City Council hearing about the legislation a few months ago, and they hope Tuesday's march, which over 200 organizations have been invited to, will demonstrate the bill's wide-ranging support. The event will feature multiple speakers and culminate with a march across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Wednesday, June 28th, 12 p.m. // City Hall

TakeTrumpTower Resistance and Restoration Yoga

Taking advantage of the privately-owned public spaces within the President's former primary residence, #TakeTrumpTower has been hosting free weekly yoga classes on the Trump Tower balcony throughout the month. The goal is "to offer restoration and rejuvenation to the resistance movement," instructor Emma Conroy writes, since "we all know burnout is real for a prolonged movement." Check the Facebook page for updatesshould the session be interrupted, they'll move to Central Park.

Thursday, June 29th, time tbd // Trump Tower, 725 5th Avenue, Manhattan

Broken Windows Town Hall With Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez will join Public Advocate Letitia James in Sunset Park Friday for a conversation on ending the era of Broken Windows policing. Part of an ongoing series of events focused on police reform, the town hall will look at the impact of low-level quality-of-life arrests on New Yorkers vulnerable to deportation. Coalition to End Broken will co-sponsor.

Friday, June 30th, 6 p.m. // Sunset Park & Rec, 7th Avenue and 43rd Street, Brooklyn

Impeachment March

Two days before Independence Day, hundreds of New Yorkers are expected to march through Central Park to demand the impeachment of President Trump. The NYC event is one of over 30 nationwide Marches For Impeachment planned throughout the country. Check out the general website for a handy "Grounds for Impeachment" section, which lists offenses such as Obstruction of Justice and violation of the Emoluments Clause.

Sunday, July 2nd, 11 a.m. // Columbus Circle and Central Park West
The Dangerous Side-Effects of Plastics, and How to Minimize Their Toxic Impact

Plastics are not only an environmental disaster; these man-made conveniences introduced a century ago are also harming our physical and mental health. Phthalates  chemical compounds used to make plastic more flexible and durable  are found in more products than you might imagine, and have become the human bodys
Cadets on Parade

Almost fifty members of the Gibraltar Cadet Force were inspected by His Excellency the Governor and by the Chief Minister in a parade held in Devil's Tower Camp in Saturday morning. Watched by many local dignitaries and family members, the Cadets marched on to the parade square, accompanied by the Band of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment.

The Governor, Lt Gen Edward Davis, then inspected the Senior Guard whilst the Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo QC, inspected the Junior Guard.

During the parade, twelve junior cadets were presented with their new berets and enrolment certificates to mark the successful completion of their basic training. Prizes were awarded to several outstanding cadets.

The finale of the parade saw the unit being presented with a new Queen's Banner by His Excellency the Governor.

The Gibraltar Cadet Force is a youth organisation which is fully funded by Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar.

The Chief Minister said, 'I am immensely proud that my government provides all the financial support to this unit. The teenagers on parade today, both boys and girls, can consider themselves to be role models for other young people in our community and they should be as proud to wear their uniforms as I am to see them taking part in this parade. It is invidious to pick out particular individuals but I thought the Banner Party's standard of drill was the equal of many professional adult soldiers. The whole unit is a credit to Gibraltar.'
Gibraltar Finance Promotes our Wealth Management Sector

Gibraltar Finance is hosting a series of discussions on Gibraltar as a preferred jurisdiction for the UK and Commonwealth countries in Gibraltar House, London on 28th June 2017. The event has been organised in partnership with the Gibraltar Funds and Investment Association (GFIA).

Drawn from family offices and including leading practitioners from legal and accountancy firms from both the UK and Switzerland, guests will attend sessions that will highlight Gibraltars leading position as an onshore centre for financial services in Europe. The seminar, designed to be interactive, will allow participants to ask questions and learn more about the advantages presented by Gibraltar for global financial family offices and intermediaries.

Paul Astengo, Senior Executive with Gibraltar Finance will introduce Gibraltar and its evolution as a modern financial centre in Europe. Joey Imossi, TEP, Fiduciary Group will then discuss the set up for companies and assets and an overview of Gibraltars structures for private clients and high earners. Finally David Diez de Artazcoz CIO and Director with Atlantic Capital will present on wealth structuring and investment management sharing case studies and live examples with Ashish Gianani, Portfolio Manager at Atlantic Capital.

Albert Isola, Minister for Commerce HM Government of Gibraltar commented, The Gibraltar Finance team working strongly in partnership with the private sector continues to take our message to audiences in London which is a very important market for us. In keeping with our stated ambition, we have harnessed the benefits that Gibraltar House in London offers for an increasing number of bespoke events. We very much look forward to welcoming our guests for what, I am certain, will be a thoroughly worthwhile experience. We have worked hard over recent years to ensure that we have a modern and up to date legislative platform. This is at the very core of our proposition and leads the way in these important areas that continue to be a focal point for the continued success that Gibraltar enjoys.
Please, gas me up. Gas me! Chance the Rapper shouted to a cheering BET Awards audience tonight while receiving the networks Humanitarian of the Year award. Its hard to imagine getting even more gassed up after Michelle Obama publicly celebrates you multiple times, but thats Chance for you. The former First Lady praised the Chicago performer in a video introducing the award, which you can watch below. In his acceptance speech, the Coloring Book rapper enumerated the challenges facing the world today, including releasing prisoners jailed for marijuana-related crimes, fixing the Chicago public-school system, and seeing justice served when police officers shoot and kill black civilians. Earlier this year, Chance donated $1 million to Chicagos public schools after sitting down with Illinois governor Bruce Rauner to discuss education reform, a meeting that left him more than a little frustrated. It feels a little early to get something like this, but my God doesnt make mistakes. I like to think that hes putting this enormous pressure on me to see how I react, Chance mused onstage. Im a good man and Ill become a better man, he concluded. Thank you, black people. Thank you, Mom. I love yall.
This week on Claws, we slip a little further out of stabilitys grasp. Everything seems to be calming down for a millisecond, until it all promptly becomes the absolute worst. The episode ends with something that made me scream, HOW DARE YOU at my television. Lets do this.

Virginia is the center of attention after stumbling into Rollers funeral after-party and declaring that she was attacked. When she finally starts to explain what happened, its clear this child has an active imagination. Her entire explanation has air quotes around it. She was kidnapped the night that Roller was killed, then they put a bag over her head, drove her to the swamp, and tied her to a toilet. Then, they put peanut butter on her feet and swamp pigs licked the peanut butter off her feet.

Okay, Karrueche. Then she says that there werent any pigs. The alleged kidnappers were licking Virginias toes. When she escaped, she walked along the highway for miles until someone saved her. She called her roommate on a pay phone and came right to the funeral. She also cant pronounce the name Titus. After Desna offers to take her home, she lays into her for creating an impossible and almost impressive amount of detail. Virginia thinks she created a distraction, but Desna knows shes just created a series of details to fact-check. Which is exactly what Uncle Daddy is going to do. He heads over to Chip, his detective, and wants him to check out Virginias story. Virginia heads home with Desna and Dean decides that because of all of the crime and violence, hes going to become a bodybuilder like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Meanwhile, Jen and Bryce are about to become the two newest and most incompetent members of Uncle Daddys gang. Uncle Daddy wants Bryce to take over the clinic ever since Roller died. Jen rightly thinks that Bryce shouldnt take over the clinic because its a dumb idea. Too bad Uncle Daddy offers Bryce $10,000 for just one week of work at the clinic  and he picks up a machine gun after making the offer.

Virginia is spilling her guts at Desnas salon and telling everyone even more details about her harrowing adventure, like how her feet were so cold she thought they were going to fall off. Polly remembers that it was 95 degrees in the shade that week. UM, WELL SHE FELT COLD, OKAY POLLY?

Virginia exploits her status as a woman who escaped kidnapping to get Jen to bring her a Squirt with extra lime and a shrimp salad sandwich. That is the most Florida lunch order in the history of lunch. The only way it could have been more Florida if she was getting conch salad from a guy with a cooler in a parking lot. Chip shows up and he wants to talk to Virginia about her ordeal. Desna listens in and rushes into the room once she realizes that Virginia is giving enough detail to blow her story wide open. Virginia seems to think its okay that these locations actually exist. Desna and Virginia head out to the gas station where Virginia claims she made her pay-phone call. Desna tries to bribe the clerk to remember Virginia, but surprisingly, $25 isnt enough. Virginia offers up a blow job. In her mind, she thinks that makes her a hero. I mean, I cant argue with the fact that she definitely sees it that way. Desna tries to tell Virginia that she should explore other workplace skills.

Ann and Dean are on the beach and Ann is trying to train Dean to become a bodybuilder. Well, not exactly a bodybuilder, but shes going to help him get prison cut. Unfortunately, her increasingly crazy one-van-stand is stalking her and sending her flowers. Ann tries to get rid of her, but Dean rushes off because hes disappointed that Desna wont get him what he wants or what she promises. Dean breaks my heart at least twice an episode.

Jen convinces Desna to train Bryce on how to run the clinic and she reluctantly agrees because Jen snuck her into a New Edition concert back in the day and it was the best night of her life. I was too young to ever go to a New Edition concert during their prime, but after seeing that medley on the BET Awards, I would do just about anything in return for that experience. Desna goes over to the strip club and Uncle Daddy puts down his four-boobed mermaid whittling practice and welcomes her to the family business again.

Underneath all of this, Desna has been battling with her real-estate agent, Mandy, who is trying to dodge Desnas calls. Unfortunately for Mandy, she cant dodge Desna showing up in an ah-mah-zing dress and updo at a networking party for professional women. Desna just wants another shot and Mandy throws around a few dog whistles about what might be a better fit for Desna. Suddenly, a group of women crowd around Desnas nails and want her to do everyone in their bridal party for a bachelorette weekend. Mandy cant deny the appeal of Desnas talents and agrees to come along to get the full manicure experience.

At the clinic, the unstable doctor and Bryce are trying to get the hang of the new routine. While Bryce is trying to sell his self-help solution to someone waiting to get their dose of illegal oxytocin, someone in the waiting room has a seizure and the doctor has to climb on top of him. Bryce lets in a delivery guy during the chaos and he goes right into the storeroom. We all see where this is going, right? The delivery guy steals their entire supply.

Desna entertains the bachelorettes and takes them to the strip club for the wildest night of their life. Mandy has such a great time she agrees to talk to the previous owners of the salon Desna wants to buy. Shes getting a second chance!

Meanwhile, Uncle Daddy finds out about the theft. He brings in Jen, Bryce, and Desna to scold them for not being prepared and letting some delivery guy to rip them off. Theyve lost $80,000 and everyone is on the hook until that money is paid back. So everyone is in forever.

Jen freaks out, starts smoking again, and goes to square dance with a Jewish guy. (Everyone has their self-care routine.) Desna goes to comfort her, but Jen cant seem to shake how stuck she feels. Uncle Daddy welcomes two guys into the strip club and  *GASP*  its the delivery guy and the guy who had a stroke! They drop off the boxes of pills and Uncle Daddy says, It worked like a charm, didnt it? I knew it would. He pays them for their time and they leave. Finally, Desna is in the shower looking forlorn before she climbs into bed.

She asks someone, What took you so long? AND ITS ROLLER! GHOST ROLLER? IRL ROLLER? ONLY TIME WILL TELL.
Photo: Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

In an age of superhero movies and TV anti-heroes, fictional villains are more complex than ever before. This week, Vulture examines villainous entertainment in all its forms.

Theres a lot to admire about Batman Returns, the 1992 sequel from director Tim Burton that celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. The script by Daniel Waters, who also wrote the sharp, 1988 black comedy Heathers, is equal parts lurid and alluring. Burton and cinematographer Stefan Czapsky heighten the gothic melodrama of Gotham by creating a surreal cityscape where the fantastic lurks around every corner. Composer Danny Elfmans swooning score frames the film as a dark fable. And theres an attention to detail and intimacy that the superhero genre has lacked as its gained renewed prominence in the 25 years since.

But perhaps the best part of the movie is Michelle Pfeiffer. The last quarter century has also seen countless comic villains come to life onscreen  Tom Hiddlestons vengeful trickster Loki and Heath Ledgers madcap manic Joker being notable examples  but Pfeiffers Catwoman still towers over them all. She remains the most incisive depiction of villainy the genre has ever seen cinematically.

Batman Returns follows the titular Caped Crusader, Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), as he protects his beloved city from ruthless industrialist Max Shreck (Christopher Walken), and the deformed crime boss known as the Penguin (Danny DeVito). Among all the latex, leather, and snowcapped buildings, Pfeiffer enchants as Selina Kyle, the secretary pushed to her death by Shreck, who miraculously survives and goes on to become the vengeful Catwoman. Moments after she falls, Selina is overrun by a horde of cats. Her body twitches as if her soul is trying to reconfigure itself. A cat gnaws at her bloody hand. Her eyes pop open as if a wire has been tripped, bringing her back to the land of the living. What follows is one of the most transfixing sequences of a supervillains awakening ever filmed. Its hard to believe Pfeiffer wasnt the first choice for the role  Annette Bening was originally signed on but had to drop out due to her pregnancy. While Bening is a good actress, its difficult to imagine anyone matching the fierce dedication Pfeiffer brings. Catwoman could easily be played as a mere fetish object  lust first, pathos second. (Just look at what happened with Margot Robbies Harley Quinn.) But the way Pfeiffer inhabits the role, along with Waterss script, invites a more complex reading.

I first became transfixed by Pfeiffers Catwoman as a young girl  I was drawn to her because of her anger and refusal to fit into the narrow identities society grants women, a crucial lesson I only have been able to put into words as an adult. Catwoman isnt just a dramatic adaptation of a long-running villainess. She embodies the conversations about autonomy and the subjugation of lower-class women that were occurring in the early 1990s as third-wave feminism emerged: Shreck is able to kill her without much thought because shes just a lowly, poor secretary with no one to go home to. Once she comes back to life as Catwoman, she functions as a representation of the schism that forms within women due to the patriarchal demands thrust upon us, stuck between the demure woman she was forced to be and the Gorgon who shirks societys rules to fulfill her own cravings.

All great comics villains operate as reflections of the main hero. The Jokers chaos consistently undermines the order and control that defines Batmans psyche. As a paragon for peace, Wonder Woman naturally faces off with the god of war, Ares. At first glance, the Penguin seems to be a dark reflection of Batman given the fact that hes an orphan with his own string of bad luck who could have easily crossed Bruce Waynes path in some upper-crust prep school if things went differently. But its Catwoman who is the more potent mirror given the dueling halves of her character. Like Batman, shes torn between principle and desire, between the inability to get over tragedy and the means to carve a better future. But they have conflicting approaches to how they deal with the darkness that defines them. He seeks justice, she seeks vengeance. Hes a rich member of Gothams one percent, shes a lower-middle-class woman without strong ties to the community. As a villain, shes not out for something as pedestrian as utter, senseless destruction, but vengeance against a world that curbed her desires  and the man responsible for her death.

While Pfeiffers Catwoman is widely seen as the best cinematic take on the character, Pfeiffer herself hasnt been given her due for what shes accomplishing as an actress in the role. Its important to understand the context of Pfeiffers career in the early 1990s. She wasnt a box-office juggernaut, but a character actress reluctantly placed in Hollywoods lineage of blonde bombshells. She was in the midst of an enviable hot streak of critically lauded roles including Dangerous Liaisons, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Russia House, and Frankie and Johnny. Each role earned her either an Academy Award or Golden Globe nomination. But look at how this Rolling Stone profile of Pfeiffer  pegged to her role as Catwoman  opens. It focuses in on Keaton as he watches Pfeiffer deliver one line of dialogue offscreen: Off to the side, Michael Keaton, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, was enjoying the hell out of the moment. Oh, it was tasty. Here was Ms. Two-Time Oscar Nominee, Ms. Actors Actor, Ms. TOTAL Get-It-in-Two-Takes PROFESSIONAL, held in check by a few pounds of wet, sucking latex and a pair of pointy ears, Hershey writes. Aside from the undercurrent of teasing condescension, this glosses over is the depth of her performance: Its Pfeiffers nuanced physicality and vocal stylings that define Catwoman as both a maven and a monster.

If you close your eyes and listen to Pfeiffers voice, you can track the entirety of Selina Kyles arc. In her first few scenes as Selina, her voice is a soft murmur, frazzled at the edges. She says her lines in a way that almost register as a whisper, as if shes afraid of the sound of her own voice. But once she transforms into Catwoman, her voice drops an octave and sounds like a demented Lauren Bacall. Theres something electrifying in hearing how Selina comes into her own. Her voice simmers, purrs, bites. She draws out her words with dramatic flourish, like a cat stretching its back in the sun. Theres also something feral and unhinged about her laugh. Through her voice, we can hear a woman both drawn to and afraid of her own darkness.

What makes Catwoman more than a fetish object is the way Pfeiffer physically leans into the grotesque nature of the character. Dont believe in her dedication to the role? The scene of her putting a bird in her mouth was real. As Burton recounts to the Hollywood Reporter, I dont think Ive ever been so impressed. She had a live bird in her mouth while the camera was rolling. It was four or five seconds, and then she let it fly out. It was before CG, it was before digital. Or take the scene in which she comes up with her new Catwoman persona. When she first walks into her apartment, Pfeiffer staggers like a newly reanimated corpse. Her head tilts back in maniacal abandon as she furiously sews the costume shell come to prowl the streets of Gotham in. Her body hunches as she paints the prissy pink apartment in black spray paint. Yes, shes sexy, but in the way the deadliest femme fatales are sexy. Theres too much menace and anger for her to be considered merely an object to be lusted after  she plays too active of a role in her own destiny for that.

In the final scenes of the movie, as shes coming apart at the seams, Catwoman lurches between Shreck and Batman. Her body heaves. Her voice moves from silken to venomous at a clip. Burton and cinematographer Stefan Czapsky shoot her with a seductive gaze, but Pfeiffer makes the moment frightening, in turn eschewing any male gaze or simplistic rendition of a femme fatale. Shes not a dream girl, shes a nightmare.

Even though Batman Returns is likely my favorite superhero film, Ive never been much of a fan of Keatons Batman. But the character is undoubtedly at his best when he tussles with Catwoman. Sexual intensity is not something audiences have come to expect with superhero films  its a curiously muted genre when it comes to romance and sexuality. (The recent pairing of Gal Gadot and Chris Pine in Wonder Woman being a wondrous exception.) What makes Catwoman even more intriguing is that she operates as both a villain and an amazing love interest. How these two sides of her operate, particularly in scenes with Batman, lends the film a kinetic charge. Its also a welcome change for a love interest to figure out that her paramour and the superhero are the same man. One of the smartest decisions Batman Returns makes in crafting Catwoman is that the stakes of her villainy are personal and grounded, which manifests both in this romance and in other crucial qualities that define her. She wants vengeance for her death, and for the treatment shes received from men for years on end. Being a poor secretary gave her little autonomy in life. As Catwoman, she can indulge in the whims most woman extinguish in order to survive day by day.

By the time she lurches toward Shreck in the Penguins lair during the final scene, each of her nine lives falling by the wayside with a gunshot blast, its clear happily ever after is a mere fantasy. But at least the vengeance shes so desperately craved becomes possible. Her hair a voluptuous mess, mask ripped off with blood marks all over her face, she sings all good girls go to heaven like some demented lullaby. By the time she kisses Shreck using a taser to electrocute them both, its evident why her villainy cuts so deep  this is a tragedy wrapped up in a fetishistic love story. Were the same  split right down the center, Batman says to her in the final moments of the film before ripping off his mask to reveal the man underneath. I would love to live with you in your castle. Forever just like in a fairy tale, she says, then scratches him across the face. The love story that undergirds Catwomans relationship with Batman  and makes her villainy all the more poignant  is defined by its masochism. These are two people mired in their own darkness, who recognize it in one another. Its the kind of romance that finds beauty in the grotesque and humanity in the fantastic. When she sits atop him, giving him not so much a kiss but a lascivious lick, its clear this love story is doomed. The great, powerful Batman can only stand idly by watching the only woman he connected with send herself straight to hell.

The way Catwoman and Batman slink, fight, and tear at each other is sexually charged and emotionally dynamic in ways superheroes are rarely allowed to be. But my favorite Catwoman moments are when shes all alone. When I watch the film today, seeing Catwoman deadpan, Honey, Im home, laugh maniacally at no one in particular but at life itself, and glide through a darkened department store before deciding what to steal, I get a thrill that has rarely been replicated watching other female villains. Despite the excess of her character  the latex costume, blood-red lips, the wild self-destructiveness  theres an honesty to her emotional tapestry. This is what it looks like when a woman has been pushed to the edge.
Salvador Dali. Photo: Getty Images

Salvador Dali  celebrated surrealist artist and the guy responsible for that poster in your freshman dorm room  will be exhumed, 28 years after his death, to get samples for a paternity test. Tarot card reader (yes, really) Maria Pilar Abel Martinez claims Dali is her father; her mother was a maid who worked for the artists next-door neighbors in Cadaques, Spain. She says they had an affair in 1955 and she was born the following year. Dali had no other known children.

According to the BBC, Martinez reportedly underwent two paternity tests, both in 2007, but never received the results. She has since filed suit against the Spanish state and a judge ordered the exhumation as a result.

Cant wait to see the end of this Maury episode.
T.J. Miller on Silicon Valley. Photo: HBO

Bachmanity insanity no more: Silicon Valley said good-bye to Erlich Bachman, the shows resident crude eccentric played by T.J. Miller, in last nights episode. Vulture broke the news that Miller wouldnt return to the show back in May, and in the time since, Miller has promised that his exit would be definitive. During Sundays season finale, Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) gives the boss of an opium den in Tibet a fistful of cash to keep Bachman there for five years. (Not exactly what we expected, but sure  thats one way to write him out.)

Now, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Miller has explained the circumstances of his surprising departure. When HBO offered him a reduced role  only three or five episodes a season  he said he preferred a clean break because of his busy schedule. It felt like a breakup with HBO, Miller said. The final phone call was them going like, Well, I dont think this is the end of Erlich. I still want to see him on television, and I was like, I know but I think this is for the best.

Bachman, a fan favorite, was becoming less integral to the show, Miller said, which is what made him funny: I actually think the writing with Erlich gets funnier and funnier the more inessential and irrelevant he becomes. Hes an annoyance. Miller said his co-stars took the news well, but as for parting ways with Thomas Middleditch and executive producer Alec Berg, he had this to say:

I think that HBO and Alec Berg, specifically, kind of thought  and I guess apparently Thomas Middleditch  I guess they thought, Alright, maybe this is the end of the character. But like everything in the show, well sort of solve this and then its back to normal. And they just didnt imagine that I would be in a position of being like, I think thats it.  I dont know how smart [Alec] is. He went to Harvard, and we all know those kids are fing idiots. That Crimson trash. Those comedy writers in Hollywood are fing Harvard graduates and thats why theyre smug as a bug  I think that in television you usually have one element that is very challenging, very frustrating. Its an obstacle, right? So youre doing the best work that you can do. Alec was that for me, and I think I was that for Alec. And a very good article was written that says that Erlich in the show is just this constant annoyance to Richard  And I think in some ways, that is analogous to real life. I think in some ways Thomas Middleditch is  we have a contrarian relationship, like a big brotherlittle brother relationship. And this is also an opportunity for me to be like, Let me just step off, dude. Like, just do your fing thing. Youre amazing. I did a two-man improv show with him for a decade. Hes amazing.

Miller said he never watched Silicon Valley, but might tune in for one character. If I have a terrible day, Ill probably tune in to see what Zach Woods said on an episode because you know hes a winner.
Photo: Showtime

David Lynch and Mark Frosts revival of Twin Peaks has defied all expectations, daring viewers to rethink the way they discuss television. It is a theory-proof show, a mystery series that works beautifully in the moment but laughs in the face of traditional TV theorizing. How could someone possibly predict where Twin Peaks is going when were not even sure where its taken us so far? After the seventh episode, it appeared the shows narrative might return to some sort of relative normalcy, but instead it rocketed ever higher into the Lynchian stratosphere.

When youre watching a typical prestige show like Westworld, you can feel pretty safe in assuming that the big mysteries will be solved. There is no such presumption on Twin Peaks: The Return, and yet its difficult not to ask questions again and again each week. Here are five of the biggest in light of Part 8, the episode that aired last Sunday.

What the hell is happening?

While the Eraserhead-level surrealism of episode eight might lead some to throw up their hands and assume it all means nothing, its a relatively straightforward hour from a thematic standpoint. The rupture of normalcy created by violence and evil is a common theme in Lynchs work, and its certainly part of the fabric of Twin Peaks. Bob was the manifestation of pure evil in the original series when a father abused, raped, and killed his own daughter. In Part 8, we may have seen the creation of Bob himself: When the first atom bomb was successfully tested in White Sands, New Mexico, it ruptured the balance of humanity in irreparable ways for the rest of time. Lynch also seems to be playing with another theme: the idea that evil doesnt manifest itself immediately, and the impact of violent actions takes time to be felt. A decade after the bomb test, small-town America is attacked by a soot-covered murderer, supernatural forces, and a bug-frog hybrid. Its especially telling that a young woman is the one presumably destroyed by the action of evil men in the episodes final moments. Think of Part 8 as a mirror reflecting the themes of the series overall, as well as a possible origin story for the shows greatest villain.

Where is Phillip Jeffries?

David Lynch wanted David Bowie to return to the role he played in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, but Bowie passed away before they could shoot his scenes. Still, Jeffries seems to be a major player in the narrative of the The Return, tying the current iteration of the show directly to the film. Heres what we know: In 1987, Jeffries disappeared in Buenos Aires, returning two years later in exactly the same clothes and muttering questions about identity and Dale Cooper. He also mentions a meeting of evil entities in a room above a convenience store. (Is it the same one we saw after the atom bomb goes off?) Jeffries then disappeared again, seemingly returning to Buenos Aires back in 1987. His name arose again this season in relation to Evil Cooper, who has been working with Jeffries  or perhaps an evil doppelganger of the original man. When Ray Monroe shoots Evil Coop, he calls Jeffries to tell him the deed has been done. Could Jeffries return to the show played by a different actor? And will we learn where hes been or what hes done for the last 25 years?

What is the significance of the Giants riddle?

In the first episode, the Giant told Cooper in the Black Lodge, 4-3-0. Richard and Linda. Two birds with one stone. Given the Giants ability to see the future and past, it felt like one of the few surreal lines of dialogue that would pay off. After all, his prophecies in the original series came true. So, what does it mean? Weve met the violent Richard Horne, so it seems that hes the Richard in question, although thats not certain yet. And what about Linda? In episode six, a woman with that name was mentioned by Mickey, a resident of the Fat Trout Trailer Park, who spoke of taking care of his wife, Linda, as he drove into Twin Peaks with Carl Rodd. Might these two be the Richard and Linda? How on Earth are they related? What does 4-3-0 mean? Is it a coincidence that Andy was supposed to meet the man who owned the truck that Richard was driving at 4:30? Is anything a coincidence on this show?

What happened to Audrey Horne?

Sherilyn Fenn is set to return to the role that made her famous, but her absence has raised a great deal of questions about what exactly happened to Audrey in the last quarter-century. Heres one very upsetting theory: Richard Horne is her son and Evil Cooper is the boys father, which would explain his vicious dark side. Given the strong suggestion in episode seven that Evil Cooper assaulted Diane, its not hard to believe that he would also try to corrupt his doppelgangers relationship with Audrey. Even more disturbingly, he may have done so while Audrey was comatose in the ICU, as Doc Hayward mentioned in episode five. Lets hope Audrey shows up soon to set things straight.

What is humming in Ben Hornes office?

In episode seven, Ben and Beverly are trying to track down a noise in Mr. Hornes office. Is it important to the overall narrative, or is it one of those classic Lynchian asides that adds to mood but not plot? Perhaps the humming is related to the trapped Josie Packard, even though Joan Chen wasnt included in the cast of the revival. Is it a portal to the Black Lodge, somehow getting louder because of whats going on with Evil Cooper and Dougie Jones? Any answer is possible, including that it means nothing at all. Twin Peaks being what it is, who knows if well ever find out.
Photo: Suzanne Tenner/Suzanne Tenner/SHOWTIME

Warning: Spoilers for Twin Peaks: The Return below.

The eighth episode of Twin Peaks: The Return is one of the greatest hours of television Ive ever seen: horrifying, horrifyingly beautiful, thought-provoking and thought-annihilating; a work that owes as much to expressionistic and surreal painting, musical performance, and installation art as it does to narrative and experimental cinema. Though it initially appears to be uncoupled from the shows main story line, on second viewing, it plays more like an extended parenthetical or interlude, almost like a live storytellers fourth-wall-breaking aside to the audience. Among other things, Part 8 allows the series to present an elaborate, visually and sonically dazzling origin story, not so much for the demon BOB (represented by stylized images of the face of Frank Silva, the late actor who played him in the original series) but for the postwar United States of America. Thats not all its doing  I would not be surprised if entire books were written about this one hour  but its what Im going to touch on here, as a prelude to revisiting the episode again later this week.

Before I go any further, I should offer the standard caveat. When Im writing about Twin Peaks: The Return, Im not trying to explain anything. Im just transcribing my train of thought after watching the show. I dont know (or care) if anything that David Lynch and Mark Frost & Co. are doing is intentional, and I doubt either of them mean for the work to be decoded or solved by recappers or Redditors like algebra equations. Thats not to say theres no internal logic to the show, or that Lynch and Frost are just futzing around and burning through Showtimes money; I do think the series is unquestionably more radical than the original, as well it had to be, given that 25 years have elapsed, producing dozens of notable series that were partly inspired by Twin Peaks, including The Sopranos, Carnivale, The X-Files, Lost, The Leftovers, Hannibal, Riverdale, and American Gods, to name just a few. As the show has unfurled  at a daringly measured pace, paying scant attention to cast members from the original series, save Kyle MacLachlan and a handful of regulars in the Twin Peaks sheriffs department  it has gradually coalesced into something that makes sense and tells a story, though not in a way that weve been conditioned to expect. All that being said, a big part of what makes the new Twin Peaks so exhilarating is the way it forces us to watch television differently, process story and images differently, and look inward (toward our own thoughts and experiences) to figure out what happened and what it means, rather than looking outward toward the hive mind of social media. As I wrote after the show debuted, Lynch and Frost are rewiring our brains.

Im going to concentrate on the meaning of the atomic bomb here, mainly because Im so dazzled by it that I cant mount a coherent response to the rest of the episode, a largely black-and-white trip into painterly horror that feels, even more so than in the shows first few episodes, that Lynch has come full circle to his roots as a primarily experimental filmmaker.

Throughout the late 1940s, 50s, and early 60s, the United States was presented in popular culture and by much of the mainstream press as a placid, even plasticized surface, even though its depths roiled with discontent, discrimination, institutionalized violence, and an insidiously bland sort of greed. Lynch is not normally thought of as a political filmmaker, and he might yawn in the face of any interviewer who dared suggest such a thing, but his entire career has been filled with signature images that feel like distilled, iconic statements about modern life in general, American life specifically. His very first feature, 1977s Eraserhead (which was visually referenced in the first two episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return and was referenced again in Part 8), had more to say about American sexual shame, emasculation, and the withering of the mid-20th-century, industry-driven city as any number of earnest essays in The New York Review of Books, but because such commentary seemed incidental (that is, embedded in the images and situations), the film was treated more as an exercise in pure dream logic  which it absolutely was, of course. Lynch revisited those same ideas in 1986s Blue Velvet, which opens by craning down beneath a small town suburban lawn with a white picket fence and roses to reveal hordes of beetles writhing underneath. We might want to look at Part 8 as a daringly extended cousin of that Blue Velvet opening, connecting the cycles of history and public life with the lives of individual characters. After all, much of Lynchs work is driven by secrets that are held tight because the secret-keeper cant bear to confront their horrible reality.

The most startling flashback in the history of American television is the one that takes us from a black screen to the first successful test of an atomic bomb in New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m. (Lynch and Frost make sure to note the time as well.) It might or might not be significant that the first detonation was code named Trinity, and this series is built around a trinity of Dale Cooper figures: the BOB-possessed Coop, the good Coop whos been trapped in the Black Lodge for 25 years, and Dougie Jones, an outwardly ordinary executive at a Las Vegas insurance firm who, in the Lynch tradition of beetles beneath green lawns, secretly has a mistress and a prodigious gambling problem. The mushroom cloud (CGI, not stock footage) is observed from a high, moving angle. This vantage point takes a godlike view of humanity assuming the power of a god, initiating a military-industrial complex Frankenstein narrative. The music, significantly, is Pendereckis Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, an unorthodox, largely symbol-based score that sometimes directs the musicians to play at various unspecific points in their range or to concentrate on certain textural effects. (Rather like Twin Peaks itself.) Bits of Pendereckis piece have been used in other genre works with a strong horror component, notably Children of Men, The People Under the Stairs, and The Shining.

That last film is notable because of the Stanley Kubrick connection. The section following the bomb blast is structured as an homage to the Stargate sequence that ends Kubricks 1968 classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. That work and this one are both so clearly concerned with ideas of evolution (and the role of weapons in furthering evolution) that its safe to say that Lynch is leaning into the comparison. Confidently, too.

It is the highest praise to say that, of all the filmmakers whove referenced the final section of 2001, Lynch seems to me the only one to have created something that equals it even as it humbly bows to its example. The post-bomb sequence takes us through what appears to be a series of tunnels, some comprised of nuclear hellfire but others of a more tantalizingly organic texture (as if to literalize the idea, expressed in Kubricks tunnels of light, that humanity was reborn after 1945). The use of the bomb claimed hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives, and was justified retroactively as necessary to make Japan surrender, but even in the immediate aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, historians, tacticians, philosophers, and pundits questioned whether any strategic objective could justify unleashing a genocidal monstrosity of science, the likes of which not even the prophet Mary Shelley could have imagined.

The episode is filled with figures and creatures that seemed to have slithered out of primordial ooze even as their appearance is accompanied by electronic or electrical distortion noises (notably, David Lynch serves as his own sound designer on this series). The post-bomb sequences feel like a nightmare of Eisenhower/Kennedyera American hypocrisy, with the proverbial chickens of the atomic age coming home to roost via a series of invasive and brutal acts, perpetrated against oblivious Americans in small town or suburban settings. (Speaking of chickens: See Eraserheads chicken baby.) Theyre just going about their business, working in soda shops and enjoying innocent dates and broadcasting songs at a Podunk radio station, while unbeknownst to them a hideous evil unleashed by the bomb is secretly creeping up on them, preparing to squeeze the blood and brains from their heads, crawl inside their sleeping mouths, or (in the case of the coffee-shop waitress) knock them unconscious with Lynchian record-skip noises and incantations broadcast over the same airwaves that previously offered golden oldies.

The mind-bending climax of the episode intertwines images of the got a light? guy invading the radio station and crushing employees skulls with shots of a hideous frog-cockroach hybrid, seemingly hatched from an egg on the nuked salt flats of New Mexico. Both narratives of creeping violence have the feel of a curse being visited upon a society that tacitly condoned one of historys greatest sins, nodding to a rich tradition of postWorld War II science-fiction cinema in which monsters birthed by atom bomb tests (and other scientific or military experiments that were essentially stand-ins for atom bomb tests) menaced teenagers and their adult guardians in Norman Rockwellian small towns and suburbs. The final section is also redolent of William Butler Yeatss much-quoted poem The Second Coming, which ends with:

The darkness drops again but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Yeats wrote that poem in 1919 as a response to the then-unprecedented horrors of World War I. This episode feels at times like a cousin to Yeatss poem, its arrival delayed by nearly a century, conceived and directed by a couple of influential baby-boomer artists whove spent much of their adult lives in a land of plenty, enjoying its fruits while remaining aware, consciously and unconsciously, of the monsters that have always lurked beneath the nations cheery surface. A friend once grimly joked that the history of the United States is the plot of many of its ghost stories: The place was built atop an old Native-American burial ground, and they moved the grave markers but not the bodies. No specific American outrage is name-checked in Part 8 besides the invention and use of the atom bomb, but the karmically inflicted bloodbath that coats the screen in the episodes final 15 minutes feels like payback for any manner of sins, from Native-American genocide to slavery to Jim Crow  a collective uprising against the adorable white folks for whom Lynch has demonstrated both instinctive affection and deep distrust throughout his career. (That the killers in Lynchs films are always played by white men cements the feeling of karmic payback. As Walt Kelly memorably said in Pogo, We have met the enemy and he is us.) The final season of David Chases Lynch-obsessed The Sopranos also quoted Yeats and was likewise a reckoning with boomer indulgence and American moral and imperial decline, but Lynch and Frost have dug into that notion in much purer, more mysterious and terrifying way, drilling into the collective subconscious and drawing up a series of images that scar the mind. The dream monsters have escaped the dreaming mind, and their prayer is to linger with you.
This list has been updated to include releases through September.

Much ink has been spilled this spring about Americans thirst for dystopian fiction, stories that tell us how bad things can get. There have been a few good books along those lines, especially Zachary Masons Void Star. We should be glad that so far the literature of 2017 is nothing like our polarized politics. Its multivalent, eclectic, and impossible to predict.

An Odyssey by Daniel Mendelsohn

After the authors father turned 81, he asked to sit in on his sons class on Homer and later the pair set off on a themed cruise tracing the possible path of Odysseuss journey. Mendelsohns account is a poignant and funny memoir as well as a stirring work of literary criticism. The book is an education.

The Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick

Hardwick changed the face of popular American literary criticism with her broadside on the state of book reviewing in 1959, and for half a century she continued to set the standard in her wide-ranging essays, puncturing stale myths and refining our idea of what constitutes genius.

Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh

The characters in this story collection are at the ends of their ropes and out of their dirty minds  just the right state for that epiphany weve all been waiting for.

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

What 18-year-old college freshman isnt a total dumb-dumb and how much worse was it for the teens who showed up in the mid-1990s when email was a new thing and its modes of humiliation werent yet codified? In her first novel, Batuman, author of The Possessed, plumbs the depths, to great comic effect.

The Invention of Angela Carter by Edmund Gordon

Angela Carter changed Anglophone literature, reviving the gothic style and pioneering magic realism, before she died much too soon in 1992 at age 51. Gordons biography renders the author an unforgettable character in her own right.

Moving Kings by Joshua Cohen

Fresh from the IDF, the Israeli immigrants in this novel go to work for a Jersey moving company that displaces people in and around the tri-state area, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes otherwise. In an era that prizes likability, Cohen takes his gentrification novel to ugly places in prose thats always high-end.

Notes on a Foreign Country by Suzy Hansen

When the New Jerseyborn Suzy Hansen, a veteran reporter for the New York Observer and The New York Times Magazine, moved to Istanbul ten years ago she soon discovered the country where shed grown up wasnt the America the rest of the world knew: an imperial power that in many places has been anything but benign. Her book is an awakening to the idea that our American dreams have come at the expense of a million other destinies.

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

A poets memoir of coming home as a 20-something refugee from the hipster archipelago to the reactionary heartland, Priestdaddy is the rare book that veers from hilarious to heartbreaking and back from page to page.

The Schooldays of Jesus by J. M. Coetzee

The second volume in the Nobel laureates projected trilogy about refugees bereft of their memories in a strange Spanish-speaking land, Schooldays is an education in Dostoevsky, Bach, and Plato that delivers the pleasures of a thriller.

So Much Blue by Percival Everett

Three plots from the life of a cynical and disabused painter intertwine in this elegant and haunting novel that moves from Rhode Island to Paris to El Salvador and through meditations on war, love, family, and art.

Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang

These stories of Chinese immigrant families in New York, told through the eyes of their precocious and prickly daughters, boil over with pain, love, and bittersweet laughter. Zhang at her best is a virtuoso of the sinuous sentence, veering with acrobatic ease between the registers of innocence and experience.

South and West by Joan Didion

Two of Didions 1970s magazine assignments  to write about the Gulf Coast and the Patty Hearst trial  never took flight, but the notes for those projects collected here are both fascinating historical documents and revealing glimpses at a great writers methods.

Void Star by Zachary Mason

A vision of the future replete with drones, artificial intelligence, rising seas, and a desertified corn belt, Masons novel is the years most cerebral and chilling dystopia.

Wait Till You See Me Dance by Deb Olin Unferth

Worth it for the title story alone, Unferths collection certifies her as a virtuoso minimalist and an heir to Diane Williams and Lydia Davis.

White Tears by Hari Kunzru

What starts as story of music and friendship moves into the tricky territory of cultural appropriation before becoming a ghost story about the shames of American history.
Friday, June 23rd was a special day at the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum in Everett, Washington. Not only did they fly their deHavilland Mosquito T Mk III for the first time over American soil, but it also saw the arrival of their freshly restored FG-1D Corsair. Mosquito TV959 arrived at the museum back in December, fresh off the boat from her Ardmore, New Zealand based restorers, AvSpecs Ltd. During her test flights in New Zealand, the Mosquito flew in silver dope primer and temporarily marked as a Royal New Zealand Air Force example, NZ2337. However, during the reassembly process in the USA, museum technicians repainted her as an RAF FB.IV night intruder variant, NS838. She now has a full suite of 20mm cannon and .303 machine guns. The real NS838 served in 605 County of Warwick Squadron. During the period that Flt Lt Alan Wagner flew NS838, she gained the nickname Wags War Wagon, and he officially became an ace in the aircraft during the night of March 5/6, 1944.

Aviation legend, Steve Hinton made the first North American flight in TV959. According to Cory Graff, Flying Heritages military aviation curator, Hinton came out a few days before the flight to perform engine and system checks. The first flight lasted just 18 minutes, but everything went well. There were just a couple of post-flight squawks to run down. Hinton was apparently very pleased with the aircraft overall. Cory added, It was an awesome day having the Mosquito and the Corsair flying together for the first time here at the museum. The Mosquito is a great addition to our Hurricane and Spitfire.

Following TV959s first post-reassembly flight, there are now three airworthy deHavilland Mosquitos in North America, with the other two being Jerry Yagens Mosquito FB.26 KA114 in Pungo, Virginia, and Bob Jens B.35 VR796 in Victoria, British Columbia. After so many years without any flying examples of de Havillands most famous aircraft, it is gratifying to all warbird enthusiasts to see such a renaissance of the type, with at least two more slated to join their ranks in the coming years. TV959s first official appearance will be at the museums SkyFair event on July 22nd.

Shortly before TV959s flight, the museums FG-1D Corsair Bu.88303 arrived following an extensive and highly detailed restoration at Ezell Aviation in Breckenridge, Texas. Bu.88303 rolled off the production line in Akron, Ohio in April, 1945, and is perhaps the only surviving Goodyear-built Corsair to have seen action during WWII. She flew combat missions from Zamboanga in the Philippines with VMF-115 during the last weeks of the Pacific Campaign.

The museum has owned this aircraft for the best part of 20 years, but the project has been on the back burner until very recently. Ezell Aviation, known for their expertise on all-things-Corsair, has returned her to her former glory. She looks very much like she would have done shortly after joining VMF-115. Her first post-restoration flight took place just a few days prior to her cross-country trip to Everett. Mike DeMarino flew her in to Paine Field. The Corsair arrived just in time to make her first public performance, which took place during the Pacific Theatre Day show on Saturday, June 24th! The event was a great success, made all the more special by the recent arrival. Here is to many more years of safe and successful flying for FHCAMs latest arrivals. Many congratulations to all concerned!

Video by AirshowStuff.com



Video by Randy Malmstrom

WarbirdsNews would like to thank Cory Graff for taking the time to help with this article, and of course to Joe Kunzler for being on the scene for us to capture these lovely images. Many thanks also to Ryan Sundheimer of AirshowStuff.com and Randy Malmstrom for the videos of the Mosquito.
The Great Barrier Reef is worth $56 billion.

That's the "total asset value" according to a new Deloitte Access Economics report that calculates the World Heritage site's full economic, social and iconic brand value for the first time.

While many Australians would consider the reef priceless, Deloitte believes you can put a number on it.

It arrived at the $56 billion figure after an extensive six-month analysis that drew on research from dozens of economic and scientific sources, as well as a survey of 1500 people from 10 countries.
Cory Bernardi is poised to announce a Victorian MP is joining his Australian Conservatives party just days after applying to register the party in Victoria ahead of next year's state election.

Fairfax Media understands the South Australian senator will on Monday reveal the Victorian upper house MP Dr Rachel Carling-Jenkins will defect to the Australian Conservatives. And further defections in Victoria and possibly NSW are anticipated, according to party insiders.

Fairfax Media can reveal Senator Bernardi's party has broken the 10,000 mark for memberships nationally. By contrast, the Victorian division of the Liberal Party is understood to have about 13,000 members and the NSW division about 10,500. Support has fallen since the 2015 leadership change from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull, but senior sources have scotched internal party claims made by disaffected members that the number in NSW has slipped below 10,000.

Dr Carling-Jenkins represents the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and her defection will spell the end of the troubled party's representation across the country. It also follows the federal Coalition's successful passage last week of a schools funding formula, which short-changes Catholic schools by up to $3 billion. The DLP's last federal representative John Madigan also defected to set up his own John Madigan's Manufacturing and Farming Party. It flopped when he was booted out of the Senate in the double dissolution election last year and he has since joined the Australian Country Party.
Prince Harry admits he once "wanted out" of the royal family.

His confession follows his recent comments when he cast doubt that any of the royals "wants to be king or queen".

Prince Harry meets dignitaries and members of the Invictus Team Australia Squad at the official launch at Admiralty House. The Invictus Games will be held in Sydney, October 2018. Credit:Toby Zerna

In an interview for the Mail on Sunday, the fifth in line to the throne said the time he spent in the Army - when he was "just Harry" - was "the best escape I've ever had" and he once considered giving up his title.

"I felt I wanted out but then decided to stay in and work out a role for myself," he said.
McDonald's has become the latest major fast food chain to introduce delivery, partnering with UberEATS to offer the service at 12 of its Perth restaurants.

McDelivery will operate within a 10-minute zone from its stores in East Victoria Park, Morley, William Street, Melville, Ascot Waters, Maylands, North Perth, Jolimont, Innaloo, Northbridge and South Perth.

McDonald's will introduce a delivery service at some of its Perth stores. Credit:Christopher Pearce

A delivery fee of $5 will apply to each order, with deliveries expected to start taking place by the end of this week.

The fast food giant is the latest to join Perth's rapidly expanding food delivery market, with Deliveroo's orders increasing by 75 percent from January to May, and UberEATS signing up more than 400 restaurant partners since October.
Mosul: The people of Mosul celebrated their first Eid without Islamic State in three years on Sunday after the militants were ejected from much of the Iraqi city.

Children gathered in squares on the eastern side of the city. Some played on old swings and others with toy guns and rifles, which were among the toys allowed by Islamic State militants after they took over the city in June 2014.

The militants implemented an extreme version of Islam which associated toys with a face, like dolls, with idolatry. They encouraged youngsters to train on weapons and changed text books to reflect their military ideology. Children were asked to add up bombs or bullets in maths exercises.

Eid prayers were allowed under Islamic State but festivities marking the Muslim holiday were not.
Famed Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was fired by the president a few months back, and ever since the chattering class has been speculating about his next move. Now we know, and for the time being, it's not running for governor. Nay, Bharara, scourge of corrupt politicians and small-time Bronx drug dealers (but not Wall Streeters), is becoming a blogger.

The New York Times reports that Preet is joining his brother Vinit's media company Some Spider Studios, specifically, by writing for the news and culture site Cafe and hosting a podcast with the groan-inducing title "Stay Tuned With Preet." The Times writes that Bharara plans to discuss legal issues, including in-depth analysis of specific cases.

Preet Bharara has been active as a zinger mill on Twitter since his firing by Trump, directing much of his dad humor towards the president's possible obstructing of the investigation into Russian meddling in the election. If the overnight internet sensations of the last few months are any indication (hi Eric Garland) that is one surefire way to build a media brand.

Vinit Bharara, 45 and three years Preet's junior, founded Cafe in 2014. He's rich from starting an e-commerce site called Diapers.com and then selling it to Amazon for around $540 million. Some Spider, Cafe's parent company, has attracted top talent in its short tenure so far, including a creative director from Buzzfeed, an executive from Fusion, and the chief technology officer of the New York Times.

On Cafe, Preet wrote in an announcement:

I am excited for a number of reasons beyond the presumed job security that derives from working for your sibling. First, it is an opportunity at this extraordinary moment in history to add my voice to both classic and current-day debates about justice an fairness in the law, government and society. It is a natural extension of everything that has led me to this point. Second, it is a chance to speak with considerable editorial space and freedom, with the benefit of a platform that permits more than 140 characters at at time. Finally, it is a privilege to work alongside a fearless and visionary entrepreneur like my brother, Vinit, who defied the odds to create an exceptional company like Quidsi with Some Spider investor Marc Lore, our high school classmate. This enterprise will be no different and that is a thrilling thing to be a part of.

The erstwhile top prosecutor is also working on a book, is a "distinguished scholar in residence" at New York University School of Law, whatever that means, and will organize a conference called Cafe Con with his little bro.
Williamsburg's Brooklyn Bowl plays host to the Williamsburg Wine Bash on Monday evening, when over 60 wines will be on offer, along with food from local restaurants. The wine selection is curated by Sherry-Lehmann, while food will be on hand from Andrew Carmellini (who does a lot of the food at nearby William Vale Hotel), Chef Al Di Meglio of Barano, Robert Arbor's Le Gamin Cafe, Lorenzo and Francesco Panella and Chef Emanuele Baldassini of Antica Pesa and Wylie Dufresne's Du's Donuts. Tickets $200.

Celebrate two years of Two Bridges bar Mr. Fong's with pizza and mezcal. The Market Street bar begins its birthday party on Tuesday at 8 p.m. with the promise of pizza from Scarr's and mezcal cocktails from Yola Mezcal. There will be three DJs performing throughout the night in addition to a special live performance.

As a preview for his forthcoming Williamsburg restaurant Fire & Ice, Noma co-founder Chef Mads Refslund will be cooking at n'eat on Monday and Tuesday in the East Village. Refslund will serve five courses including Littleneck Clams with Cashew Milk; Farmers Egg, Cauliflower & Aged Parmesan; Diver Scallops, Horseradish & Buttermilk; and Frozen Beetroot with Cherries & Sheepmilk Yogurt. There are two seatings for both nights and dinners are $145 per person.



Atoboy (Clay Williams)

Taste the culinary stylings of Chef Choong Hu Lee from Michelin-starred restaurant Zero Complex in Seoul, Korea, on Wednesday at Atoboy in the Flatiron. The dinner kicks off their sumer Korean Chef Series and will feature seven courses including Eggplant with Dungeness Crab, Green tomato, and Cilantro; and Octopus with Paprika, Olive, and Marigold. The dinner will cost $90 per person; reservations available here.

Also on Wednesday, Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer's Toro NYC hosts chef Aaron Sanchez for a crawfish boil at the Meatpacking District restaurant. The menu goes beyond just the "full throttle" crawfish boil to include shrimp & octopus with avocado, Mexican cocktail sauce and saltines with Louis dressing, plus Cajun spiced corn, Churro Horchata Bocadillos and Churros with horchata ice creamand tacos! Tickets ($75 per person) are available by emailing events@toro-nyc.com for either the 5:30 p.m. or 8 p.m. seatings.

On Friday, The Shack Shack at Madison Square Park will be serving a burger imported from the Meiji-Jingu Gaien Shack in Tokyo. A burger created by Zaiyu Hasegawa of Tokyo's two Michelin-starred Jimbocho Den will be on the menu for one day only while supplies last. Swing by the park to try the DEN Shack ($6.99), an Angus beef burger topped with applewood-smoked bacon, DEN miso ShackSauce, sansho pepper and house-pickled cucumbers. Also available: the Black Sesame Shake ($5.29), made with vanilla frozen custard blended with black sesame puree.
I love being a Texan and all that goes with it. Everything is bigger and better here, at least that is my humble opinion. I have always had an interest in ...

12 years ago
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jun. 26, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 26, 2017 | 03:45 PM | PADUCAH, KY

An organization that advocates for workers in the nuclear weapons industry will honor Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and Allied Chemical workers this week with an exhibit at Lourdes Hospital.



Cold War Patriots is a community resource and advocacy group that helps nuclear weapons and uranium workers and their families. It will be displaying its Remembrance Quilt Experience, a traveling tribute to the men and women who worked in the nuclear weapons and uranium industries, beginning this Wednesday.



An interactive kiosk with a behind-the-scenes look at the atomic weapons program in the U.S., profiles of the men and women who made it possible, and the massive industrial process that made up the nuclear weapons program are also included.



A private reception for Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and Allied Chemical workers and their families will be held at the Marshall Nemer Pavilion at Lourdes Hospital in the Borders Community Room on June 28 at 10 a.m. This reception will feature a special presentation about the exhibit and refreshments. Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and Allied Chemical workers or family members can call 888-903-8989 to obtain a free ticket.



To learn more about the Cold War Patriots Remembrance Quilt Experience, visit: www.coldwarpatriots.org/quilt.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 26, 2017 | 12:04 PM | MARSHALL COUNTY, KY

A man who reported a shooting in Marshall County early Monday morning has been arrested.

According to the Marshall County Sheriff's Office, deputies were dispatched shortly after 2 am to a report of a shooting at a home on Justin Lane. The caller stated that a woman had been shot, and that he had been chased through the woods by the same perpetrator.

A police investigation revealed that no one had been shot, shots had not been fired and there was not a gunman on the loose.



Forty-three-year-old Jerry D. Odom of Fredonia was arrested and charged with falsely reporting an incident.

Another man at the home, 32-year-old Christopher McKinley of Sturgis, was found to be wanted on a Crittenden County warrant. McKinley was arrested and served the warrant.
By The Associated Press

By The Associated Press Jun. 25, 2017 | 07:31 PM | LOUISVILLE, KY

Police say an off-duty Kentucky corrections officer is in stable condition after he was shot during an attempted break-in at his home.

Police said on Facebook that the Louisville Metro Corrections officer was shot Saturday at his Clarksville, Indiana home.

Clarksville Police said the investigation is ongoing.

Clarksville Police Maj. Scott Merchant tells The Courier-Journal that the officer was shot before 11 p.m.

Tracy Dotson, Corrections Fraternal Order of Police president, said the officer was released from the hospital early Sunday and is sore, but is doing OK.

Merchant says police are working to determine if a man they apprehended in the case is the correct suspect.

Authorities have not named the officer.

___

Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com
By The Associated Press Jun. 26, 2017 | 12:07 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Lawyers for a medical news publication have asked a Kentucky appeals court to release the secret testimony from a member of the family that controls one of the country's largest manufacturers of prescription painkillers.

The Kentucky attorney general's office sued Purdue Pharma in 2007 for its deceptive marketing of OxyContin, an addictive prescription painkiller. The case was settled in 2015 for $24 million. But before it settled, former company president Richard Sackler gave an on-the-record deposition that is part of the court file. Sackler is a member of the family that controls the company.

The court sealed the records as part of the settlement. STAT, owned by Boston Globe Media, asked the court to unseal the records. A state judge agreed to do that last year, but Purdue Pharma appealed.
Longtime activist Frances Crowe before she is taken to Berkshire County House of Corrections after her arrest for trespassing on a Tennessee Gas Pipeline Saturday.Frances Crowe, considered a legend for her peace activism and anti-nuclear efforts, was pushed in her wheelchair to the edge of the open pipeline trench with seven other Sugar Shack Alliance members, causing Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. workers to stop heavy machine work and call police.Surrounded by state police after her arrest, fellow activists pushed her uphill through the pipeline easement to the backseat of a sheriff's cruiser, and when asked how many times she has been arrested, she smiled."Not enough," she said, prompting loads of laughter.This is the third time Crowe has been arrested since she turned 90, after a long life with numerous arrests.The arrests Saturday were a third round of peaceful protests since the Kinder Morgan subsidiary began work last month to its $93 million Connecticut Expansion Project, a 13-mile natural gas storage loop, part of which will run through an existing pipeline corridor in Otis State Forest.The project, which was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last year, has stirred anger from local residents and activists for many reasons, and particularly because the company - after a court battle with the state - won an easement of roughly two miles of state-owned and protected land.Crowe, who lives in Northampton, said she's been at this since 1945, when she was 26. After becoming a peace activist, and later a war tax refuser, she said she was part of Shut It Down, a group that helped close the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in 2014. Now it's hydro-fracked gas she is working against."I am very much opposed to taking our fuel out of the ground," she said. "We can meet our needs with wind and solar. This is the answer for the future." "My life has been devoted to trying to wake people up," she added."We just don't want anyone to get run over here," said Major Michael Habel, gesturing to all kinds of blocked traffic on this rough rural road. "We understand that they have the right to do this."The protesters then walked the road to their staging ground, holding up tractor-trailers carrying pipes and other workers, who rolled down their windows to talk to police. The group sang and cheered as Crowe was arrested. While six were put in the van headed for jail, Connie Harvard got arrested partly so she could stay with Crowe.Watching the scene, which again stopped traffic, activist Terran Giacomimi said Crowe was an inspiration."She's a fighter," she said. "For the people."
STATE BUDGET VETO OVER-RIDE COMPLETE AND OFFICIAL WEDNESDAY

FROM WRAL IN RALEIGH MID-DAY UPDATE WEDNESDAY...

For just the third time in state history, North Carolina lawmakers have voted to override a governor's veto of their budget.

After little debate, the House cast the final vote Wednesday morning, 76-43, concluding the override within about 24 hours of the veto's arrival at the legislature.

House senior budget writer Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, spoke in defense of the $23 billion spending plan, pointing to raises for teachers and state employees, a 1 percent pension increase for retirees and funding for hurricane relief, rural school construction and a new incentive program for large "transformative" projects.

"We also are not ashamed to say that we are providing tax relief for middle-class, working families and businesses," Dollar said.

"Have the policies of this General Assembly worked? Yes, they have worked," he said, reminding the House that the state has run budget surpluses for the past three years. "This budget follows in that trend that we have established that will keep this state moving forward.

"This state is growing. People are voting with their feet, businesses are moving to this state," he argued. "Much of that is due to the policies that this General Assembly has adopted."

Speaking for the Democrats, House Minority Leader Darren Jackson said the good things in the budget are "overshadowed by the bad," especially the tax cuts included in the spending plan, which, he warned, "appears to put a $600 million hole in our budget by 2020."

Jackson, D-Wake, predicted that the tax cuts would make it impossible for the state to get teacher pay up to the national average or give future raises to state employees.

"The moneys there for special projects for special people, of course," Jackson said, referring to the hundreds of millions in pork-barrel spending in the plan. "Budgets are about priorities, and that was clearly a top one."

He also denounced what he called "petty partisan paybacks," such as budget cuts that will require Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein to lay off as many as half of the special and criminal prosecutors who defend the state.

"Im still waiting for someone to justify that cut," Jackson said.

All 74 Republicans voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto, along with two Democrats  Rep. Bill Brisson, D-Bladen, who almost always votes with the GOP, and Rep. Ken Goodman, D-Richmond, whose district would benefit from some of the earmark projects.

The spending plan takes effect Saturday. In the meantime, lawmakers are working on proposed changes to i
News

50 days to go for deadline to achieve Emiratisation target, says ministry

Companies with 50 or more employees are targeted to raise their Emiratisation rate by 2% of their overall skilled jobs. Fines for failure to achieve the Emiratisation target will come into force on Jan.1, 2023, as an Dhs72,000 annual contribution will be imposed for every UAE national not appointed.




The AOC La Liviniere which gathers 6 villages (Azillanet, Azille, Cesseras, Felines Minervois, La Liviniere & Siran) is officially born in 1999, taking the name of the village of La Liviniere (pictured on left), it was the 1st of its kind in the Languedoc (that's why the first Cru I guess) and the result of many years (let's say 30 years to this day) of common work, 2 persons having done much of the work to lead the other growers : Maurice Piccinini (who was the president of the Cooperative then) and Roger Piquet. The planted surface today is 350 hectares and the total surface of the area (with some potential for more vineyards) is 2700 hectares. 30 or 40 years ago this area was basically dedicated to making ordinary table wine and given the potential and qualities they chose the right direction in bringing the other producers toward a higher quality production.

Narbonne , Languedoc The second day of our press trip was devoted to the Appellation communale Minervois La Liviniere, also one of the exclusive high-end AOCs of Languedoc, which they call the 1er Cru du Languedoc. The area is located north-west of Narbonne on a Causse bulging from the southern foothills of the Massif Central from which cooler winds make the climate milder than in the Languedoc plains. The area is just gorgeously beautiful with patches of vineyards on remote valleys, old villages, winding roads with little traffic and dry stone walls made without mortar that seem to have been standing there for centuries. This is the part of Languedoc where you hope they didn't have parcels uprooted to get the EU subsidies (it alas happens).

View on parcels near the village of Felines-Minervois

There are more than 40 vignerons involved in the production of AOC Minervois La Liviniere, they are mostly small-size farms and the good point is that the number is going up, meaning new domaines are popping up, some of the new domaines come from the outside, like the multi-domaine group Gerard Bertrand who settled here 20 years ago by buying back a domaine. Total yearly production is about 11 500 to 12 000 hectoliters, with a slow but steady increase year after year.

The vineyards that are scattered all around in small valleys, on the slopes or along villages can be as high as 350 to 400 meters with the Meditteranean 60 kilometers away. the area is backed to the Montagne Noire (black mountain), a big if little known mountain range which blows coooler winds in summer that have a positice influence on the maturity of the grapes.

The parcels are often planted on terraces the old way with lots of stones on the surface as well as round pebbles. The Causse is made with limestone (of the chalky as well as the grey type) alternating with clay & marl but there's also schists (you can guess them on the strats on the right).

Gorgeous view

We also had a tour with 2 4WD around on the side roads to have a visual experience of the topography and I was impressed by the remoteness and even isolation of many of the parcels, we're far away from the image of endless plains covered with irrigated vineyards. And the area is authentic Provence landscape and plants, we stopped a couple times and we spotted thyme, rosmarin, everlasting and even wild lavender (I shamelessly took away some thyme to bring back to Paris).

The Appellation focused mainly on the three following varieties Syrah, Grenach & Mourvedre, the Syrah finding here favorable terroirs for its expression. Mourvedre is here certainly on its western-most latitude for its maturity but it's often in areas on the edge that a given variety yields beautiful results. Grenache feels comfortable in all situations, rustic nough to handle water stress on the driest terroirs. As accessory varieties they also have Carignan, often old vines on these terraces that give good results when you know how to wait. They have Cinsault too, plus a few local varieties that can be blended too for a better tension.

Guy Sabarthes

Several people guides us during this day and here again someone from the Cooperative is credited for being very active in the push to bring this appellation up with strict quality and farming requirements. The Cooperatives in the Languedoc don't have often a good image but here it was pivotal for the start of this appellation communale, and the president of the Coop today, Guy Sabarthes, looks like he has a real faith in keeping improving the farming practices and general quality here. The Coop is named Vignerons de La Liviniere and is part of Alliance Minervois, a regrouping of several Coops of the region. The cooperative of La Liviniere counts as one among the 40 producers of the appellation and it makes a total volume of 1500 hectoliters, 1000 being organicly farmed.

Capitelle, or vineyard shack

If you're into architecture stuff, the area has great things to see, like the vineyard shacks named capitelles in this region. The growers and workers would build them all the while working on their parcels, certainly using stones they took out while tilling or plowing their arid parcels. They're made like the walls bordering the terraces, with large flat stones and without any mortar to keep them together, that's amazing how they hace resisted a couple centuries, and there's a way to make the ceiling so that it holds by itself, great job and a very natural insulation against the heat. The sun can be punishingly hot here and vineyard workers basically walked to work here from their village, possibly sleeping in these shacks if necessary or at least hiding from the sun (or the rain) the time to eat a piece of bread and have some wine.

Varietal conservatory

Guy Sabarthes showed us the grape-varietal conservatory that was put in place here in the 1990s, it is located in the middle of nowhere in the hills along a gravel road, it holds about 50 varieties (several vines per variety), some being rare local varieties. they use the wood from these vines when they need to replant a parcel. They also isolated a variety (pic on left) which seems to be found nowhere else, they haven't given it a name yet and experts are doing research on it to know more about its origin (they have now a dozen of vines of it). They took the samples from 100-year old vines spotted in the region, they had 3 prospecting campaigns to find the interesting vines, scouting systematically these very old parcels in order to select the most interesting vines. Technicians checked that the chosen vines were healthy without hidden problem or disease, and they found a total of 48 grape varieties, some of them with odd names like Terret Blanc, Grand Noir de La Calmette, Verjus, Trepat, Bobal, Rivairenc Noir, Brun Fourca, Jacquez, . Then they looked out for a virgin piece of land where they would plant these selected samples for a genetic conservatory, they found this land surrounded by bushes and woods and planted the vines in 2007 & 2008.

the parcel is farmed by some of the coop growers and there's an interesting story : during one of the past years the appointed grower forgot to to a preventive spraying against oidium and all the vines got affected by oidium except the mysterious unknown variety... This variety has no fixed name yet but the temporary name is Grapy (the owner of the old parcel was named Gradin and there was a pylone or pylon in the parcel). This unknown variety seems not to be very productive, which might be the reason why it was not multiplicated by the growers in the past. And on the tasting side it's pretty interesting, very aromatic with a Cabernet style, they're vinifying on a small scale to see what it yields all the while having geneticians digging for its filiation.

Nicolas Fabrie plowing for Clos D'Ora

At one point we passed timely on a narrow road along a terrace where a man was walking his mule to plow the parcel, this is Gerard Bertrand's Clos D'Ora, the flagship domaine of the multi-domaine group which is wholly farmed on biodynamie, as explained by Richard PLanas who was with us in the 4WD vehicules. The domaine makes 9 hectares and was spotted by Gerard Bertrand in 1997 who discovered with soil expert Jean-Claude Jaquinet that the potential for terroir wines was unique here. they subsequently invested massively here, building anew from the ruins of a former sheepfold on the top of the hill to receive guests and also for a state-of-the-art vinification/cellar facility.

Nicolas Fabrie is the full-time worker overlooking the farming here, and this mule (named Victorieux) is doing a pretty nice job. From what I understand the whole domaine is plowed with the two animals that they keep for that purpose, the 8 parcels being mostly walled with the typical flat stones. There was a nice sheperd dog too (named link) who was a bit afraid of our company and of my camera, it was certainly not used to such a crowd (10 people)...

Video : Nicolas explain his work

Nicolas has a long lineage of growers/vignerons bhind him, working in this area, they found documents recently tracing his ancestors around the year 1600. He feels lucky to have the chance to work in their steps and in these conditions, doing the vineyard work year around. Richard Planas added something about the replacement of missing vines here, after trials in this particular parcel they decided to first plant the rootstock, leaving them grow a few years before grafting it with the chosen variety when they will be strong enough, it is understood that grafting works better on mature rootstock.

See the video when Nicolas returns to work with his mule and happy dog, as well as this other Video

Clos Centeille 2011

We then had a tasting of 9 wines, 3 by 3, these were the different selections made recently by 3 juries, one of journalists, one of sommeliers and one of vignerons... I wished we had tasted more, these people may have passed a couple of nice wines, you never know as it also can depend of the moon days. Here is my own selection of the best :

__ Clos Centeille Minervois la Liviniere 2011. Nice balance and drinkability, ample and juicy with a nice Umami mouthfeel. Very harmonious. 14 % alc.

Mourvedre, Grenache Noir & Syrah. The Mourvedre is trained on lyre trellising in this domaine. Hand picking. Total destemming, open fermenters with numerous pigeages (stomping) during the fermentation, 4-week maceration, press juice added to free run. Sells for 19 .

Prima Donna 2014

__ Domaine de l'Oustal Blanc, Prima Donna, Minervois La Liviniere 2014. Refined, elegant, with a nice quality of extraction (nothong rough or excessive), silky tannins with freshness all around, you'd think it makes 14 % but not its 15 %. Very nice wine if indeed powerful. Ugly triangular label but never mind.

40 % Syra, 60 % Grenache, yields 25 hectoliters/hectare; Grenache goes through a 18-month elevage in demi-muids (large capacity barrels), Syrah same time in 3-wine-old barrels. 6 more months in blending vat before bottling. Sells for 26  retail.

Champs du Lievre 2015

__ Champs du Lievre (means Fields of the Hare in French) Minervois la Liviniere 2015. Interesting bitterness in the mouth, quite a lot of extraction though. 2nd mouth & swallowed : Superb thin tannins, elegant wine with good drinkability in spite of its 15 % alc.

60 % Syrah and 40 % Grenache Noir, vines aged around 20 average, no use of herbicide on the parcels, yields 35-45 hectoliters/hectare, hand picking on selections to get the right maturity, separate vinifications with temperature control, 21-day maceration, pigeage and racking by hand, 18-month elevage in new oak. Owner Nicolle Meyer. Sells for 19  retail.

The whole selection

Here are the wines we tasted that day, on the left the individual selections (3 by 3) by the jury of journalists, center the sommeliers and right the vignerons. On the whole I'd say that whoever these journalists were their selection was the closest to what I liked, then comes the vignerons', but I didn't like very much the sommeliers' choice.

The Chateau Maris Dynamic 2014 was rather good also with a refined tannic texture, although too much extracted I think; it's an organic domaine (Ecocert).

A white at last !........

You may ask if there are whites in this country, yes there are but not in this appellation area, or like this one they're labelled as Vin de France. During lunch this white was welcome, we had several "aperitifs" now and then on the two days and doing it with strong reds isn't properly adequate under the sun of Languedoc at this season and we weren't really sipping and refilling, we actually waited for the main dishes to come.

__ Chateau Faiteau, cuvee la Gine, white Vin de France, made from old vines of Terret Gris and Grenache Gris scattered among a parcel of Carignan (an old-time complantation it seems). Hand picking in small boxed to keep intact berries, fermentation temp kept at 17 C (62,6 F), raised on fine lees; sells for 6,5  retail. This is obviously a southern, generous white, but they shoud make more of them, just to quench the thirst of these farm workers plowing under the sun...
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Richardson International Ltd. has made its first foray into Europe with the acquisition of an English oat milling business, and a senior company official said Monday its hopefully just the beginning.

I think we see this as a great starting point, a beachead if you will, company president and CEO Curt Vossen said Monday after the company announced the purchase of Bedford-based European Oat Millers for an undisclosed sum.

Vossen said not only are there other expansion opportunities in Europe, but the company can also use it as a base to access other parts of the world.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Curt Vossen, president and CEO of Richardson International, says it made it's first foray into Europe with the acquisition of European Oat Millers, an English oat milling company.

So yeah, this is, we hope, one of several more opportunities that well encounter in the future.

He said the company isnt pursuing any other overseas acquisitions at the moment. Instead, its focusing on integrating European Oat Millers into its Richardson Milling division, which also includes three oat-processing plants in Canada and one in the United States.

Well walk before we run. Theres a lot of integration that goes on. This is not a small company, and its a new environment for us. So theres a lot of learning to do in terms of the marketplace and the normal way of doing business in a different part of the world on a day-to-day basis.

Vossen said the potential benefits of expanding into Europe extend beyond Richardson International.

I think its also great for Winnipeg that we, headquartered here, can grow outside the traditional sandbox of Canada or Western Canada So lets see what we can do, and see if we can export some good old Canadian know-how to other parts of the world.

Manitoba Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Chuck Davidson said the deal illustrates the kind of opportunities that can arise from the new free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union.

Those companies that a little bit ahead of the curve, like Richardson, are going to make some inroads. So this is a good sign for Manitoba.

Davidson said it also underscores how big a player Richardson International has become.

They really are a global, international player. I think we may look at them in Winnipeg and in Manitoba as that sort of home-grown company. But when you look at the size of their portfolio and the size that they are, this is really not a surprise that theyre going into foreign markets. And the fact theyre looking at going into more into the future speaks highly of the business model theyve put together.

He said hopefully Richardson Internationals expansion into European, and the exposure that will generate for Manitoba will help make it easier for other local companies to do the same.

European Oat Millers is a family owned firm and Europes second largest oat miller. It has two processing plants in Bedford, and produces a wide range of oat products, including various oat flakes, flour and groats (hulled or crushed grain), as well as wheat and barley flakes and extruded ingredients and products. Its products are sold throughout the United Kingdom, with exports to continental Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Vossen said all of the companys employees have been retained, and the companys previous owners and founders  Bill and David Jordan  have been invited to serve on the new firms board of directors. The newly formed subsidiary, Richardson Milling U.K., hopes to build on the investments the previous owners have already made, including increasing manufacturing capacity.

Bill Jordan said in a written statement that he and his brother are very proud of the business they have successfully grown over the past three decades.

We are pleased to be passing it on to a similar family-owned business that shares both our vision for growth and our core values, and we look forward to watching the business evolve, he added.

Richardson International entered the oat milling business in 2013 with the acquisition of three Canadian oat processing plants in Portage la Prairie, Martensville, Sask., and Barrhead, Alta., and one plant in South Sioux City, Neb. It is the largest oat miller in North America.

The company is also a worldwide handler and merchandiser of major Canadian-grown grains and oilseeds, and a vertically-integrated processor and manufacturer of both oats and canola-based products.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government has approved Nutrition North subsidies for the stranded town of Churchill.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs MInister Carolyn Bennett said in an interview in Winnipeg Monday afternoon that federal officials will soon move money to Churchill retailers.

Within my department, and with (Health Minister Jane) Dr. Philpott, we can confirm we will open up Nutrition North for as long as the railroad is not in operation, Bennett said.

JUSTIN SAMANSKI-LANGILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Indigenous and Northern Affairs MInister Carolyn Bennett confirmed on Monday that the federal government will be granting Nutrition North subsidies to help offset higher food costs for the residents of Churchill due to the closure of their rail line this spring.

She had scant details, but said there would very quickly be federal subsidies paid to retailers to offset higher costs of flying in essential supplies after the rail line to Churchill was flooded out May 23. Denver-based owner Omnitrax says the line will be closed indefinitely.

Bennett said her regional office will begin dealing with people in Churchill promptly.

This is a relief, Mayor Mike Spence said in a phone interview from Churchill after getting the good news from federal officials earlier Monday. We knew this was coming, its just a matter of when it was coming. Next is to work out the mechanics.

Spence said Nutrition North addresses the costs of shipping in enough food by air, but didnt immediately know the money involved. We know theres going to be significant savings, the mayor said.

A spokeswoman for Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said the province is pleased to learn Churchill will receive the food subsidy.

Provincial officials are analyzing the anticipated impact this program extension will have on food prices, said Olivia Billson. We continue to work collaboratively with Churchill officials and local businesses to address the immediate and long-term needs of the community imposed by the rail line outage.

Bennett said dealing directly with Omnitrax is not part of her ministerial file, nor could she speculate on the possibility of bringing fuel, food and other materials to Churchill by sea before the freeze-up in early October.

There needs to be a long-term solution, said the minister.

She said federal ministers are constantly in contact with the province and with Churchill, searching for solutions. However, Bennett could not comment Monday on other possible federal financial support.

Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid pointed out that theres been treacherous sea ice, which has delayed possible supplies shipped by freighter from Montreal.

The province talked last week about bringing in supplies by barge from Moosonee, Ont., but made no commitment to financial help.

She was not meeting with the provincial government while in Winnipeg, Bennett said.

The minister was in the city to attend an event at the Manitoba Metis Federation.

MMF president David Chartrand was far more aggressive than Bennett  he demanded Omnitrax get the tracks fixed.

At the very least, Chartrand said, Omnitrax should run trains as far north as the flood-damaged areas to serve indigenous communities along the line.

The MMF is building a new office in Churchill and needs to get its construction materials into the town, Chartrand said.

Well be pushing to get some answers from Omnitrax, Chartrand said.

Chartrand said that he has not met with Omnitrax in Winnipeg since the rail line was closed.

They havent been to Churchill either, said Spence.

No, of course not, thats not what they do, the mayor scoffed. Do they come to our community? Of course not.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Glen Buhr cant help but get involved when he belongs to an organization.

I guess I have a disease called volunteerism, the 83-year-old Transcona resident says.

From the Transcona Curling Club to the residents association at the RV park in southern Texas where he and his wife spend winter, Buhr has volunteered at many places over the years.

SUPPLIED Glen Buhr, 83, is the longtime treasurer and occasional president at the Winnipeg Gliding Club, a non-profit group dedicated to the promotion of gliding and soaring.

He is most passionate about his volunteer work for the Winnipeg Gliding Club. He joined that not-for-profit organization, which is dedicated to the promotion of gliding and soaring, in 1967.

In those 50 years, about the only time I havent been treasurer of the club was when I was president, Buhr says.

His background as a chartered accountant has made fulfilling the role of treasurer a natural fit.

Its all self interest, Buhr says of why he volunteers. The club operates solely with volunteer labour from its members. In order for me to be able to glide, I do have to do my share and help.

Gliders are motorless aircraft that use meteorological phenomena known as thermals in order to maintain and gain height.

Buhr says he has been interested in flying since he was a child.

He recalls what it was like learning to glide.

It was something I could do quite well fairly quickly, he says. The first time the glider was in a thermal and climbing without a motor was my greatest memory of what gliding really is. It seemed miraculous to me, even though I understood the theories.

Since learning how to glide, Buhr has flown more than 3,000 times. He estimates he was instructing student gliders on 2,000 of those flights.

Some of his favourite gliding experiences have taken place in Invermere, B.C., where he and some friends from the club used to travel.

The challenge of being from the Prairies and flying a glider over the Rocky Mountains made for some memorable moments.

I had about a 450-kilometre flight one day, Buhr recalls. The was exceptional. Thats my longest-ever flight.

The club operates its own airfield 30 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, near Starbuck. It provides flight training for student members, and owns two two-person gliders, one single-seat glider and two tow planes.

Buhr bought himself his own glider 10 years ago, after surviving an episode of colon cancer. He has a trailer near the airfield and spends every weekend there.

Mike Maskell, a member of the clubs board of directors, praises Buhrs dedication to the organization.

Glens certainly very knowledgeable about the club and its inner workings, Maskell says. Hes a very easy-going guy who is always quick to lend a helping hand.

When he isnt gliding, Buhr enjoys spending time with his wife. They have two adult children as well as a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He insists that other than his gliding hobby, his life is pretty low-key.

You know the stereotypical accountant? Buhr asks. Thats what I am, except I happen to be one who goes gliding.

If you know a special volunteer, please contact aaron.epp@gmail.com.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and local Habitat for Humanity organizers have an additional $1.2 million to build more than 20 new homes in the province next month.

MP Doug Eyolfson (Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley) and the provincial Families Minister Scott Fielding announced the federal and provincial governments are contributing a total of $1.2 million to the Habitat for Humanitys Carter Work Project beginning July 10.

If people have affordable stable housing, they have the means to get education and find employment, Eyolfson said on Monday.

The Habitat For Humanity build site in the 200 block of Lyle Street. (Justin Samanski-Langille / Winnipeg Free Press)

I truly believe home ownership can lift people up, Fielding said.

The total cost for this summers Carter work project in Manitoba is $6.5 million.

The 34th annual Carter project is building 21 new homes in Winnipeg  15 at the site of the former Winnipeg Police Service St. James district station on Lyle Street  along with two in Brandon and two in Portage la Prairie from July 10 to 14.

We couldnt do what we do without the federal and provincial governments, Sandy Hopkins, Habitat for Humanity Manitobas CEO, said.

Its actually the second time Carter, and his wife Rosalynn, will be in Winnipeg for a Habitat build. They brought their hammers to their first Canadian build in 1993.

Habitat For Humanity Manitoba CEO Sandy Hopkins speaks at a press event announcing a combined investment of $1.2 million from the provincial and federal governments into affordable housing for Manitobans. (Justin Samanski-Langille / Winnipeg Free Press)

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you ever wanted to make like a tree and leaf, Canada Day 2017 is your big chance.

Everyone is invited to the corner of Portage Avenue and Main Street at 8 a.m. on July 1 to be part of the 201 Portage Canada Day Living Maple Leaf, hosted by Downtown Biz, at one of the countrys most famous intersections.

While the first 2,500 guests will receive an official Canada Day Living Maple Leaf shirt, everyone participating is asked to wear a red shirt.

nearly 4,000 Winnipeggers form a living flag at Shaw Park in 2015. (DanHarperPhoto.com / Downtown Winnipeg BIZ)

Participants will be arranged in the shape of a maple leaf  one of Canadas most widely recognized symbols and the centre of the Canadian flag  by organizers. The official photograph will be taken from atop the building at 201 Portage Avenue.

Due to the special celebration for Canadas 150, we will be doing a maple leaf and we hope to do the largest maple leaf possible, said Tineke de Jong, the director of marketing, events and communications for Downtown Biz.

De Jong said the City of Winnipeg gifted the use of the Portage and Main intersection. She said it is hoped that 4,000 or more people will converge on Canadas most iconic intersection, many of whom may never have set foot there because pedestrian traffic is usually prohibited.

It is pretty much the centre of Canada and its one of the gateways to the West in Winnipeg here. Portage and Main is our most iconic intersection, De Jong said.

Past Canada Day celebrations have seen Living Flags created in various other iconic spots around the city including 3,158 last year at Shaw Park. Other Living Flags in Winnipeg on past Canada Days have been created at the legislature (2011, 2012, 2013) and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in 2014.

Winnipeg won the title in 2015 for the largest living flag in the country with 3,850 people at Shaw Park.

The reason for the maple leaf (instead of the full flag) is primarily due to the space that we have at Portage and Main. Its a little bit of a tighter space. But theres three reasons, really. One is the space, two is were hoping for more people coming out this year than in previous years due to the location and the special celebration this year for Canadas 150 and the maple leaf is a lot easier to expand (to accommodate more people) than a Canada flag, said De Jong.

Its still very iconic, were not trying to take anything away from the Canada flag but were just using the maple leaf. Weve found in the past years when weve done the flag that most people want to be part of the maple leaf. This year, everyone gets to be part of the maple leaf.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In Josh Mathews earliest memories of school, he can picture his teacher speaking, but he cant understand the words.

Thats how he experienced that moment in kindergarten. New to Canada from the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain, Mathews didnt speak a word of English.

It took Mathews, now 18, until about Grade 3 to get a solid grasp of the English language.

STEFANIE LASUIK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Josh Mathews, 18, is a Fort Richmond grad.

The word accepted next to his name on Harvards online admission system rang loud and clear.

I almost fell down, Mathews said of the moment he first saw it.

Only about five per cent of applicants get into Harvard University, figures on the Ivy League schools website show. Mathews parents moved him and his brother to Canada when he was five in hopes of a better life and a better education.

Tears rolled down his moms face when she found out her oldest son would be going to Harvard, despite Mathews plea to her not to cry. Harvard is placed in the top five universities in the world in most rankings  and the institution will pay about 75 per cent of his way.

It wouldnt be possible to go without the financial assistance, Mathews said.

Fort Richmond Collegiate believes its the biggest Harvard aid a graduate of its school has ever received. Harvard makes it possible for students to attend by giving them a form of monetary assistance.

Mathews hopes to complete his bachelors degree in science at Harvard before moving on to medicine. He spends most of his time outside school volunteering at hospitals. Mathews delivers meals to patients at Victoria General Hospital and works in the gift shop at Health Sciences Centre.

I just really like being able to interact with patients and getting to know them as people, he said.

His family started a half-hour spiritual service for people in senior care homes who cant get out to go to church. He strums his guitar and his younger brother, Nathan, plays the piano while their dad, Mathews Itty, presides over the worship.

At school, hes Fort Richmonds student council president and a member of Reach for the Top, an academic trivia competition. He excelled in advanced placement (AP) courses, which are roughly equivalent to first-year university classes. Mathews took AP chemistry, biology, physics, calculus, English, band, choir and French.

You get to learn more in those classes, so its fun, he said.

Despite his successes, Mathews teachers say hes humble.

Hes personable, well-rounded, understated and well-liked, said his AP physics teacher, Daniel Collonval.

Between studying and volunteering, Mathews has few minutes to spare. But it doesnt bother the new grad.

Even though theres not as much free time with extracurriculars, I think its just a matter of being able to manage the time between and learning not to stress as hard, because usually the worry doesnt help anyway, he said.

Mathews is most looking forward to Harvards famous library and its atmosphere. Students at Harvard come from diverse backgrounds, and Mathews is excited to meet them.

I like the aspect of being able to learn not just from the classes but also from interacting with other students, he said.

stefanie.lasuik@freepress.mb.ca
The camp is located near the confluence of the North Fork of the Sun River and Cabin Creek, about 30 miles northwest of Augusta. Officials said Hellmuth has limited outdoor experience in Montana and was not dressed for the elements.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial Progressive Conservative government has backed down from a controversial move, after being stung on the weekend by accusations it was trying to balance its budget on the backs of preschool children living with special needs.

Rebecca Chambers four-year-old son Henry, who has been diagnosed with autism, had his funding for a daycare aide approved. (Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press)

Just two days after an exclusive story in Saturdays Free Press detailing information about the governments hold on all additional funding applications for its Child Care Inclusion Support Program  which pays the cost for aides to assist children with special needs at daycare centres and nursery schools  Families Minister Scott Fielding said the government has done an about-face.

I had some consultations with our premier, Fielding said Monday.

All the applications that are pending and meet criteria will be supported I know the premier feels strongly about this, too, and that our most vulnerable people are covered.

Fielding said he wouldnt comment on why the government changed its mind so quickly on this file when other controversial cuts  including closures to Winnipeg emergency rooms and Misericordias Urgent Care  are going ahead. He said he would comment only on matters that come under his portfolio.

He said with this issue, it is important sometimes to take a breath.

We want to listen to our citizens its always important to listen to people.

A step in the right direction

Just minutes before Fielding spoke with the Free Press Monday afternoon, parents of two preschool children living with special needs said their children suddenly had been approved for funding.

Devin Newton holds two-year-old daughter Hailey. (Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press)

I am relieved to hear the government has reconsidered their approach so that children needing support will receive it, said Devin Newton, father of two-year-old Hailey, who lives with Down syndrome.

Continuing to fund this essential program is a step in the right direction and I am looking forward to full implementation of the Accessibility for Manitobans Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Rebecca Chambers, mother of four-year-old Henry, said she received separate phone messages Sunday from a government official and day-care employee, notifying her the funding had been approved.

I really think it was (the Free Press) story that did it  the calls came before (other stories) about it, Chambers said.

Chambers said her son, who was diagnosed with autism last year, got a spot at a daycare after four years of waiting and was originally told there was no money to pay for an aide.

The government pays $12.5 million so 1,053 children with special needs can go to daycare or nursery schools.

But, until late Monday, parents of preschool children living with special needs who wanted to put their children in daycare or nursery schools were being told the government had put on hold all additional funding applications until further notice.

Earlier Monday, Fielding admitted his priority when he got to the office was to order his staff to identify the ones who are the most critical and urgent.

It was the first thing I did when I got to the office on Monday, Fielding admitted during a scrum at the site of an upcoming Habitat for Humanity housing building project.

A terrible decision

Liberal health critic Jon Gerrard said earlier Monday he was angered when he learned about this issue.

Its the last place there should be cutbacks, Gerrard said. Its a terrible decision.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Families Minister Scott Fielding: '...obviously, anybody who is in critical or urgent need, we will prioritize these people.'

This funding is critical for these kids. Whether a child with Down syndrome or has cerebral palsy, they not only need the extra help, but it comes at a really critical part of their lives. If you can help them now it makes a big difference in their future.

NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine said shes had lots of calls from families worried about funding for their child.

When you have a child that has special needs or disabilities or cognitive-development issues, you are already under stress, she said. There are families that I have spoken to who are just crying and just devastated and so worried.

Fontaine wonders if the provincial government is hoping to use newly announced federal child-care funding to assist in financing the Child Care Inclusion Support Program. She said Manitoba must take responsibility for funding the initiative.

Earlier this month, the province signed on to an agreement with the federal government for more than $46 million during the next three years to create more child-care spaces.

But while all the provinces and territories are agreeing to create spaces which affect families more in need  including those with children living with special needs  its not known if the money can be used to fund aides for these children.

Fielding admits they hope the provinces recent agreement with the federal government also could help pay for aides for these children.

 with files from Larry Kusch

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Efforts by Winnipegs Jewish community to rescue a persecuted religious minority are being questioned by some members of the group they sought to help.

In a letter to the Jewish Post and News late last month, members of the Yazidi community said they have some very serious criticisms of how Operation Ezra has been operated. Operation Ezra is a multifaith campaign led by the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg to privately sponsor Yazidi refugees who were targeted for genocide by the Islamic State.

Seven families  41 people in total who were living in refugee camps  have arrived in Winnipeg through Operation Ezra in the last 12 months.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Nafiyo Naso welcomes relatives at Richardson International Airport last year. Several of the first Yazidi refugees to arrive in Winnipeg under Operation Ezra were related to Naso.

While we greatly appreciate everything that has been done on behalf of members of our community by Operation Ezra, there are many questions about how the families that have been brought here by Operation Ezra were selected, said the letter signed by 32 Yazidi community members.

The May 24 letter said theyve tried to raise their concerns with Operation Ezra leaders and their concerns were dismissed.

Weve never been invited to meet with them or consulted, said Hadji Hesso, director of the Canadian Yazidi Association. Operation Ezra is consulting with one person in the Yazidi community who doesnt belong to the Yazidi association and whose family members have been sponsored by the charitable group, he said.

A spokesman for Operation Ezra said theyve shared information about their selection process with critics in the Yazidi community.

Michel Aziza said families are selected by a committee made up of respectable and respected individuals representing some of the most active organizations behind Operation Ezra. The selection is based on the amount of funding available and the applicants eligibility. They must have valid Iraqi passports and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) registration letters and numbers, and can confirm theyre willing to leave the refugee camp and emigrate to Canada.

Preference is given to young families or families that have grown children who can easily find jobs after their arrival in Winnipeg, he said.

Aziza admitted the first two families sponsored by Operation Ezra are related to Nafiya Naso and her extended family.

This is simply because Nafiya is the reason why the project was launched in the first place, Aziza said.

At the time, she was the only Yazidi person speaking out on the plight of her people. She was also the only Yazidi person we knew.

In August 2014, Naso told the Free Press about family members in northern Iraq who faced death from Islamic State terrorists who were holding thousands of Yazidis under siege on top of Mount Sinjar. They faced death from exposure if they stayed on the desert mountain in blistering heat, or death and sexual slavery for the young women and girls if they surrendered.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Operation Ezra spokesman Michel Aziza (holding out his hands) says families are selected by a committee of respectable and respected individuals.

Aziza said Operation Ezra was formed in response to their plight.

When enough funds were raised for the first families, we just asked Nafiya (Naso) if she had relatives we could sponsor, said Aziza. The first family of eight are Nafiyas aunt, uncle and cousins. The second family is a single 19-year-old man who left his family behind and is Nafiyas cousin. The subsequent five families as well as the next three families we are currently working on are not related to Nafiya.

Operation Ezra is the only one of its kind in North America, he said. The goal is to raise awareness of the plight of the Yazidi people and to bring as many to safety as they can with a focus on successful integration in a new life in Canada.

Hesso said the association has tried  and failed  to reach out to some of the newly arrived Yazidi families sponsored by Operation Ezra and invite them to community events such as their New Years celebration in April.

They dont talk to us. They say they cant, said Hesso. Theres someone who in some way wont let them, he said. They dont want them to mix with the community. For the Yazidi New Year in April, two separate events were held for Winnipegs 200 Yazidis  one for the Operation Ezra newcomers and one for the Yazidi Canadian Association members.

We want the community to be one, Hesso said. We dont want there to be any divides.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2017 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Climate change is real. Continued debate about this fact is counterproductive and diminishes our available window for action.

What remains open for discussion  or should be  is how Manitoba, as part of national and international efforts, can contribute its responsible share to the solution.

In 2015, more than 190 countries signed the Paris Climate Agreement to slow the rise in global temperature. Subsequently, the federal government initiated The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. The framework sets a Canadian greenhouse gas emissions target of 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

HANDOUT Revenue from a carbon tax, if earmarked for investments in innovative energy technologies, could dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Further, the federal government announced the implementation of a price on carbon. Starting in 2018, the price of carbon will be $10 per tonne of C02 emissions, and will rise by $10 a year until 2022. That means by 2022, carbon emissions will cost $50 a tonne.

The federal government has been unequivocal  carbon pricing is coming, but provinces are able to design their own pricing system. The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce believes strongly in a made in Manitoba system; one-size-fits-all solutions rarely work in a country as diverse as Canada.

Details on the Manitoba system have been scant, but anything put in place must ensure our businesses stay competitive with those in other jurisdictions. Theres much truth, although perhaps inconvenient truth, in the old adage Dont throw out the baby with the bathwater.

The U.S. federal government has been clear it will not put a price on carbon any time soon. Acting without regard to the fact our business communitys largest competitors will not face emissions penalties is illogical at best, and destructive at worst.

However, the federal government has been adamant that a price is coming. The train has left the station; we can either stand on the tracks in defiance or build the track ahead to determine where it goes. It is incumbent upon the federal government, which put the train in motion, to allow Manitoba the latitude to do just that.

To ensure our carbon price lets local business remain competitive  particularly in the face of American policy  independent data on the effects of different carbon-pricing levels on the economy must be made publicly available. For example, if data show a price above $30 per tonne damages our local or provincial economy significantly, then the carbon price simply cannot rise above that.

A clear correlation needs to be shown on how implementing a carbon price has reduced greenhouse gas emissions. If we put a price in place and emissions continue to rise, what have we accomplished? A review mechanism needs to be adopted to determine whether a carbon price has been successful in reducing emissions and at what cost to jobs, growth and community prosperity.

A carbon price will potentially raise hundreds of millions of dollars in provincial revenue. How we recycle these revenues will spell the difference between Manitoba seizing the green economy opportunity and making a bad situation worse.

It is imperative this revenue not go to debt or deficit financing. All revenues collected need to do what the carbon price is intended to: reduce emissions and promote the green economy.

A carbon price will particularly affect manufacturing, transportation and agriculture industries. Theyll need to be offered transitional supports. Likewise, support needs to be set aside for low-income Manitobans who are least able to adapt to any new costs.

Other revenue from the carbon price must go toward investments in innovative technologies that will reduce emissions. For example, a $25,000 investment in energy-efficiency technologies in a transport truck can reduce that vehicles fuel intake by 22 per cent a year  the equivalent of taking more than seven cars off the road.

As well, investments should be made to support the acceleration of Manitobas green economy. We have green energy and clean-tech advantages over other jurisdictions, and revenues from a carbon price can position Manitoba as a global green-energy superpower.

The introduction of a carbon price also presents an opportunity for the province to step back and look at our entire taxation ecosystem. That system has not been reviewed in 17 years, and our code has become riddled with inconsistencies. With a possible PST cut coming, now is the time for an independent commission to provide recommendations on how to make our entire taxation system more competitive, fair and efficient.

Climate change is real. The urgency to respond with effective, immediate action is real. The need to act without damaging the livelihoods of Manitobans is equally real, and requires a realistic framework to achieve enduring success.

Loren Remillard is president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. A full copy of the chambers position on carbon pricing is available at winnipeg-chamber.com.
SPRING GROVE, Minn.  A year after it began making bourbon whiskey, the areas first craft distillery  RockFilter Distillery  opened to the public Wednesday in downtown Spring Grove.

Its cocktail room offers samples, and whiskey and cocktails are available for purchase there.

The room opened for Spring Groves Homecoming celebration, which began Wednesday and ends today. The event is held once every 10 years.

Rural Spring Grove farmer Christian Myrah and his wife, Trisha, are majority owners of the distillery. Its at 113 Maple Drive, in part of a former creamery and across from a city park.

In an interview before the Homecoming celebration, Myrah said he hadnt yet decided what the cocktail rooms hours would be after that event. Myrah recommended checking the website www.rockfilterdistillery.com or the distillerys Facebook page for information about hours.

RockFilters first products are bourbon whiskey, and its first two can be purchased in the cocktail room. Myrah hopes to have the distillerys spirits available in liquor stores, grocery stores, bars and restaurants by late summer. Well initially be in Minnesota, he said, while planning to eventually expand distribution to other states.

RockFilters flagship bourbon, Giants of the Earth, is made with corn, rye and sorghum, and won a bronze medal in this years American Distilling Institute completion and a silver medal at the Heartland Spirits Festival.

Its Fence Jumper premium bourbon is made with Oaxacan green corn and cherrywood-smoked rye and won a silver medal at the American Distilling Institute competition and a bronze medal at the Heartland Spirits Festival.

The distillerys third bourbon, Stones Throw, is expected to be available later this summer. Its made with corn, rye and oats. It won a bronze medal at the Heartland Spirits Festival.

RockFilter Distillerys fourth product will be an organic rye whiskey that doesnt yet have a name. It should be available by the end of the year.

State law limits the cocktail room to selling only one 375-milliliter bottle of bourbon per customer per day. The cocktail room is selling bottles of Giants of the Earth bourbon for $35, while limited-edition bottles of Fence Jumper bourbon are priced at $100 each.

Its an agricultural venture that adds value to agricultural products, Myrah said of the distillery, which eventually may make additional kinds of spirits, such as brandy.

The distillery makes its products from organic grain grown by Myrah and his father, Leonard Myrah, who also farms near Spring Grove.

Myrah has the grain for the distillery ground at Schechs Mill between Houston and Caledonia, Minn. Built in 1876, the water-powered mill still uses its original equipment.

Were using local resources, Myrah said of using Schechs Mill. Theres not many people using stone-ground grain to make whiskey. It kind of differentiates us.

RockFilter Distillery began making its bourbons in April 2016, and the first products aged for a year before being available for purchase.

Most of our products probably will be (aged) in the one- to four-year range before theyre available, Myrah said. They will age in charred oak barrels. Myrah mostly uses two barrel sizes  15 gallons and 30 gallons.

The areas limestone formations are conducive to making good whiskeys, Myrah believes. Limestone-filtered water in Kentucky often is cited as contributing to the success of distillers in that state, which produces most of the nations bourbon whiskey.

Myrah is a 1988 graduate of Spring Grove High School, and has been on the Spring Grove School Board since 2008.

He and his family moved back to Spring Grove in 2006. Before that, he served in the Navy for 11 years, flying combat jets. A member of the U.S. Navy Reserve since 2006, Myrah spent eight months in Afghanistan in 2013. I was in charge of a drone detachment there, he said.

I decided to drive tractors again rather than fly airplanes, Myrah said of returning to the Spring Grove area. I love this area. It has a good quality of life. Its a good place to raise kids. He and his wife have three children.
For Jade Fang, her profession is a real gift.

Born in Taiwan, Fang is a second-generation acupuncturist who followed her parents footsteps and has been helping people heal in Winona for almost a decade.

Fang hasnt always been around the Midwest. When she was 6, she moved to Florida from Taiwan and grew up there, watching her mom curing people at her acupuncture clinic. By being exposed to the techniques from her family, she decided to go into the same field as well.

She then attended college and kept pursuing her education goal through a master program in acupuncture at the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine. Afterward, she took up an internship in Shanghai that gave her the practical knowledge she needed to start her own business.

In 2009, love brought her to Minnesota, and Fang opened up her acupuncture clinic in downtown Winona.

I was scared at first, Fang said. It wasnt easy to move from Shanghai to Minnesota.

At her clinic, Fang wants to make sure her patients experience complete relaxation in a cozy and warm environment. Her meditation room features a welcoming space that provides enough seats for a group of people.

As the clients walk in, she turns on healing music and asks them to point out the location of their swelling. She then inserts a few needles in a patients ear, calf or knee, asks them to lie on the chair and relax for 20 to 25 minutes.

To relieve pain, Fang has a unique style of acupuncture that consists in placing the needles on the opposite side of the swelling.

Community member Betty Dennis said she was surprised Fang would insert the needles on the opposite side of her calf. She said she had acute back problems, and Jade has helped her make remarkable progress over time. Before trying acupuncture, she could not vacuum or dance with her husband, but she is now able to do so, with small movements.

I feel refreshed, Dennis said. This is the place to come.

While Dennis visited Jade for back problems, community member Rita Hanson went in Jades clinic the first time in 2010, when she had sciatica. Hanson said she used the clinics services frequently and felt a lot better. During the first treatment, she recalled falling asleep from the deep relaxation her body was experiencing.

At the end of each session, I have much more energy for the rest of the day, Hanson said.

Fang said she considers her duties to be different from a doctors. While a doctor prescribes a medication for a patient, she provides the treatment right away. Most people will relax no matter their pain or swelling.

Its like a deep meditation, Fang said. When patients leave, they are immediately calmer; its instant gratification.

For Julie Johnston, acupuncture became an answer to her hand injury. Before coming across Fangs clinic, she used to drive to La Crosse for an expensive private session, and would not sit on the chair long enough to feel relaxed. Fangs technique helped her situation when no other option was working. Treatment after treatment, she healed slowly and was able to use her hand again.

It would surprise me because the swelling would go down, Johnston said.

At the end of her sessions, Fang said people heal in different ways, and their experience is very personalized. Through her technique, Fang said she can cure people of all ages for allergies, headaches, dizziness, asthma, colds and other illnesses. Usually, those who walk in with anxiety or depression, benefit a lot from a group setting, she said.

However, progress is gradual.

Its not a miracle cure. It works with your body, and its very gentle, Fang said.

Dennis, Hanson and Johnston said Fangs clinic is very affordable for them; one of the reasons they have been able to visit her many times and heal gradually.

Some acupuncturists choose individual acupuncture, but Fang calls her style a community acupuncture, aimed to make her service more accessible and easier for the community. Fang is also a member of Peoples Organization of Community Acupuncture, and receives support from other acupuncturists who share the same goal as her: to work cooperatively to increase affordability and make community acupuncture as widely available as possible.

As a new alternative medicine in the Midwest, when Fang first opened up her office, she said people were afraid of its side effects and had a poor knowledge of the medicine, but then they realized how effective it could be and made her feel more accepted. Most people share with Fang that they are afraid of the needles, and she tells them they are not ejection needles, but they are applied on the outermost layer of the skin.

After I opened, there has been a lot more openness, Fang said. Its becoming more commonplace.

Today, more hospitals and clinics are starting to have their own staff acupuncturists, Fang said. Through POCA, Fang hopes to create social change in health care, as many people cannot get the health they need because they cannot afford it. Moreover, she would like to help open up and recommend even more affordable clinics in other towns, cities, and states, for those who drive far to reach their closest clinic.

We want to be available and accessible, Fang said. We all help each other. We are like a resource.

In her community, Fangs goal is to educate people on the benefits of acupuncture and to help them understand alternative medicine is not scary, but simple and effective. Sometimes, people visit her as their last choice of treatment, but she hopes to make acupuncture part of an everyday cure.

She mentors new acupuncturists and shares with them the secrets of running a business. What she enjoyed the most as an acupuncturist in Winona has been charging a price everybody can afford, and seeing people gradually get better.

Its really meaningful work, Fang said. I feel like its a gift to do what I do.

I was scared at first. It wasnt easy to move from Shanghai to Minnesota. Jade Fang, acupuncturist
Rod Blagojevich was governor of Illinois from 2003 until 2009, when he was impeached. Two years later, Blagojevich was convicted of extortion and soliciting bribes. He was sentenced to 14 years in the slammer.

During the trial, Judge James B. Zagel pointedly addressed Blagojevich as governor. In his sentencing remarks, Zagel explained why.

It serves as a reminder to those of us who vote and those of us who dont, Zagel said. It reminds the voters of the maxim The American people always get precisely the government that they deserve. Your case is another lesson for us.

Judge Zagels point, I think, was that no politician takes office without the consent of the voters  their votes as well as their abstentions. Voters take responsibility, however, only for the good ones. Both an informed, engaged electorate that turns out to vote and an uninformed, apathetic electorate that stays home deserve what they get.

The maxim that a democracy will get exactly the government it deserves is widely and incorrectly attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville. It actually came from Joseph de Maistre, a mostly forgotten French philosopher of the reactionary counter-revolution school that preferred authority, faith and tradition to liberty, reason and fraternity.

Every nation gets the government it deserves, de Maistre said. In his view, a wise and virtuous nation deserved and would be rewarded with an enlightened despot. His favorite sovereignty was the Vatican.

In this early period of the Trump counter-revolution, I have heard many variations on de Maistres theme, including one from former President Barack Obama.

People have a tendency to blame politicians when things dont work, but as I always tell people, you get the politicians you deserve, Obama said in May. And if you dont vote and you dont pay attention, youll get policies that dont reflect your interest.

He meant, You got Trump.

Obamas adage is more in the spirit of H.L. Mencken than de Maistre. Mencken wrote, Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

In my experience, people say that America gets the government it deserves when they despise the regime in power, when they are bitter and at the end of their wits. Since Trumps election, I have been fighting a strong urge to join the de Maistre-Mencken school. It isnt a charitable urge.

Philosophically, the whole concept is incoherent.

It makes no real sense to say that a whole nation or a people deserve something in a moral sense, whether good or bad. An individual can be said to deserve something. So perhaps can a team and other kinds of smaller, coherent organizations or communities. But not a nation. And what constitutes deserving? A good nation will be rewarded and a bad one punished? What constitutes good? Can a nation have good karma?

Rhetorically and emotionally, however, it resonates to think we get the government we deserve. A population that, compared to similar countries, turns out to vote at low rates, has low civic literacy and low engagement with parties, campaigns and public service shouldnt be surprised to find it thinks it has low quality representatives and government.

The idea of a deserving electorate is further muddled because democracies are not perfect reflection of the voters will. For example, the individuals and organizations that finance campaigns and lobby government have disproportionate power that is independent of the popular vote.

I am inclined to think that sometimes we get what we deserve, sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we get shafted  at least in our modern presidents. I can argue for this in a way everyone can dislike.

Sometimes a presidential candidate turns out to be exactly the kind of president most voters thought  in a good way. Voters made wise assessments and deserve these good presidents. I would put Eisenhower and perhaps Kennedy in that group.

Sometimes voters pick candidates who dont really seem made of presidential timber, whom they are ambivalent about and who then turn out to be predictably so-so as presidents. I nominate Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush for this category. Sometimes these candidates become much worse presidents than even tough critics thought they would be, such as George W. Bush.

Sometimes voters get lucky, and the winning candidate does much better than expected as president. I put Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama in that category.

And some candidates deep and obvious character flaws and moral handicaps are obvious to the whole world yet they still win. In this group belong Richard Nixon, a disaster; Bill Clinton, a scandal and an embarrassment; Donald Trump, a disaster in the making, perhaps on an unprecedented scale.

So in this sense, I agree with de Maistre, Mencken and Obama. Donald Trump is the president we deserve. We elected him eyes wide-open and so shame on us. I hope our punishment is not too severe.
SAN FRANCISCO (TNS)  Recent scandals have put Uber on such shaky ground that a lawyer representing aggrieved drivers has filed a lawsuit against Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp  the ride-hailing firms co-founders  in case the company doesnt survive long enough to defend itself.

Describing the lawsuit filed Thursday in the Superior Court for the State of California in Los Angeles County as a precaution in the event Uber goes bust, attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan acknowledged that her new filing shares many similarities with a 2013 class-action suit she filed alleging Uber wrongly classified drivers as independent contractors.

I filed this as a precaution to ensure that if we are successful, and Uber is not around to see the end of this case, Travis Kalanick and others will be personally liable for that debt to the drivers, Liss-Riordan said.

Last year it looked like Uber was unstoppable, and its only trajectory was up, and now it looks like the opposite. I wanted to take measures to protect drivers if things do turn south.

The suit, filed on behalf of plaintiffs Christopher James of Arcadia, Calif., and Christine Beatleston of San Francisco, alleges that Kalanick, Ubers chief executive until he resigned earlier this week, and Camp, board chairman, advised the company to misclassify drivers.

The lawsuit alleges that this misclassification cheated drivers out of expense reimbursements. The lawsuit also alleges that the co-founders advised Uber to cheat drivers out of gratuities.

Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case shares many similarities with the 2013 lawsuit, which, filed in Federal court by Liss-Riordan, is ongoing. Both lawsuits seek reimbursement for expenses such as gas and mileage. Both want the defendants to pay tips to drivers that were collected but never paid out. (In its early days of operation, Uber marketed that tips were included in the passengers fare; this week the company added tipping to its app).

Liss-Riordan has filed more than a dozen lawsuits against Silicon Valley technology companies, alleging that many have misclassified drivers and delivery workers as independent contractors. As independent contractors, workers are not entitled to expense reimbursements or benefits such as health insurance, social security or paid time off. Unlike employees, independent contractors are also not guaranteed a minimum wage.

The most high-profile of Liss-Riordans cases is her class-action against Uber. In San Franciscos Federal Court, Judge Edward Chen certified the class in 2015, which at the time numbered some 240,000 Uber drivers in California (the number of drivers in California is likely much higher now). Uber, however, appealed the certification, arguing that the majority of its drivers had signed an arbitration agreement, which forbids them from taking part in class-action suits against the company. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will be hearing arguments in September.

If the appeals court rules to exclude drivers who signed Ubers arbitration agreement from participating, then the class size could drop to between 8,000 and 10,000 drivers.

Uber also tried to settle that particular case with Liss-Riordan last year for $100 million, but Judge Chen threw out the settlement because he believed the amount was too low.

There have been no further discussions about a settlement, Liss-Riordan said.

While Ubers arbitration agreements are broad, legal experts said a lawsuit brought against individuals instead of the company could potentially get around such an agreement.

You may recall that Gretchen Carlson tried the same thing against Fox News when she was bound by an arbitration agreement with Fox, said Richard J. Reibstein, a lawyer who specializes in employment law at Pepper Hamilton. She claimed her lawsuit against Roger Ailes was not governed by the Fox arbitration agreement because Mr. Ailes was not a party to the arbitration provisions.

Fox settled the lawsuit with Carlson last year for $20 million.

Last year it looked like Uber was unstoppable, and its only trajectory was up, and now it looks like the opposite. I wanted to take measures to protect drivers if things do turn south. Shannon Liss-Riordan, attorney who filed a lawsuit Thursday against Ubers co-founders
A state management plan that would implement a visitors fee at Pewits Nest State Natural Area and fence off sections of the property will be considered by the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board on Wednesday.

If approved, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources plan for the property off Highway W west of Baraboo will create an official hiking trail from the areas parking lot to two scenic spaces overlooking the cliff gorge and Skillet Creek. It also will construct a stairway to the top of the gorge, along with two overlooks, fence off restricted areas and implement a visitors fee.

DNR conservation biologist Thomas Meyer said the proposed changes at Pewits Nest came with plans to manage 11 other State Natural Areas that share similar characteristics. Pewits Nest was included because its unique features  including steep cliff faces and a 30 to 40 foot gorge  have made the site a popular tourist destination on social media, and the increase in visitors has led to problems with overuse.

The DNR has recorded issues with visitors littering, vandalizing natural features, climbing cliff walls and staying after the areas operating hours. The high volume of foot traffic has caused soil compaction and erosion at the property as well.

DNR ecologist Nate Fayram, who oversees Pewits Nest, said in March that the DNRs management plan is intended to curb illegal activities at the property. One such activity is the popular act of climbing the cliff face and jumping 20 to 40 feet into a deep pool at the west end of the gorge. Although no incidents have proven fatal, cliff jumping has been responsible for several serious injuries in recent years.

Meyer said the DNR received 17 public comments on its management plan from February to March. While opinions were somewhat varied, he said most were in favor of increased restrictions at the property.

They were very supportive of the idea of having a closed area that was clearly defined so that theres no cliff jumping allowed, he said. People were supportive of getting a little bit more assertive with controlling public use.

Meyer said restricted areas at Pewits Nest will eventually be cordoned off by a low, rustic fence. He added that the blockade will be more of a visual barrier than a physical one to maintain the areas natural beauty.

Our belief is that we need to be very sensitive to the aesthetics of that place because its pretty, he said. We dont want to put in some fencing that makes it ugly.

Swimming in the creek will still be allowed, but visors caught climbing the cliffs or entering restricted areas will be subject to a $175 citation. Additionally, visitors caught on the property after its operating hours from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. could receive a $175 fine. Guests bringing in alcohol, food or beverages other than water could be slapped with a $200 ticket as well.

Admission fees for Pewits Nest also are included in the DNR plan. Visitors who dont have a year-round state park sticker will have to purchase a daily pass, similar to the self-service stations at Devils Lake State Park.

Meyer said areas could be blocked off with signs and temporary fencing as soon as the proposal is approved. Other measures that would require state funding, including proposals to charge park fees and construct new facilities, could take more than a year.

The DNR recently posted new rules and restricted access signs around the property, but the precautionary measures appear to be having little to no effect on visitors. About a dozen divers took to the cliff face on Friday afternoon, jumping 20 to 30 feet into the pool at the bottom of the gorge. One Illinois family who took the plunge said the restrictions werent clear because no one was obeying the signs.

While the DNRs law enforcement staff has been subject to budget cuts in recent years, Meyer said DNR officials hope news of new rules at Pewits Nest will spread in the same way the natural area gained popularity through social media.

We do need to have a very clear enforcement presence on this property right off the bat to make sure people know what you can and cant do, he said. Were pretty confident that once people understand the rules, and those who break the rules receive citations, that the word will spread, and well be able to clamp down on illicit and illegal behavior there.
The governor traded his Harley Davidson motorcycle for a 6,000 pound pachyderm this weekend.

Gov. Scott Walker, his wife, Tonette, and dozens of bikers roared into Baraboo Sunday afternoon to wrap up the last leg of a state motorcycle ride to promote tourism with an appearance at Circus World. During his visit, the governor met with museum leaders, was made honorary ringmaster of an afternoon performance under the big top, and even rode an elephant.

Walker said the suspension on the pachyderm differed slightly from his Harley.

Its a little back and forth, he said. If my bike was back and forth, that would only be if I were taking a corner.

Walker said his office decided to end the state motorcycle tour in Baraboo to further express support for Circus World. The governor included in the 2017-2019 state budget a provision that will provide the Baraboo museum with more than $1 million in state support over the next two years, while transferring control of operations from the privately-funded Circus World Museum Foundation to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Circus World Executive Director Scott ODonnell said the museum is grateful to have the governors support. He added that Walkers and his guests excitement and anticipation of the afternoon performance radiated through the grounds.

To have the governor on site is exciting  Its great to see his and Tonettes support, he said. The excitement of him and the group of riders that are here, thats infectious and great to see.

Throughout the weekend motorcycle ride, Walker said he and his entourage also made stops in Westby, Pepin, Prescott, Chippewa Falls, Neilsville and Mauston. While he enjoyed each location, the governor said Circus Worlds big top performance was one of many highlights from the trip.

Even though a fire-juggling unicyclist rode a bit wobbly near the governor and his wife, Walker said the show was spectacular.

My wife literally grabbed my leg, he said about the performer riding a bit too close for comfort. I was glad I was ready for it, but she wasnt.

I dont think there was a part that wasnt entertaining, he added.
Several Sauk County police departments have gotten their paws on pet microchip scanners thanks to the efforts of a local animal welfare group.

The Animal Advocates of Sauk County recently donated universal microchip scanners to Baraboo, Sauk Prairie, Lake Delton and Devils Lake State Park law enforcement.

The groups president, Gretchen Butts, said the donation will hopefully lessen the intake load of lost pets at local animal shelters by allowing police to directly scan and return animals to their rightful owners.

It gets the pet home faster, she said.

Animal Advocates of Sauk County members first met with area police departments in May to see if any might be interested in using the $285 devices. During the meeting, Animal Advocates of Sauk County Board member JoAnn Holston and her dog Molly demonstrated for police how to use a scanner to find a microchip embedded between the dogs shoulder blades.

The chip is about the size of a grain of rice and contains an ID number. When the ID number is entered into an online database registry, the pet owners contact information can be retrieved.

It is part of our effort to bring lost dogs and cats back to their families, said Animal Advocates of Sauk County member Trina Zielinski Anderson, who came up with the idea for the donation. We also conduct low cost microchip clinics to reach this goal.

After several area police departments expressed interest in using the devices, Butts said the group began a fundraising campaign to purchase the scanners. Through several generous donations, she said the group raised enough money to buy one scanner for each interested police department, including Baraboo.

If this gets one dog home, it was well worth it, said Baraboo Police Chief Mark Schauf in a press release issued by the group.

In addition to arming police with pet-identifying technology, Butts said the organization strives to educate people on the importance of having microchips implanted in their pets. Unlike collars or tags, which can be pulled off by pets or removed by people, microchips stay with animals for life, greatly improving their chances of being returned to their owner if they get lost.

That identity is always with them, Butts said.

If other area police departments are interested in receiving scanners, Butts said they may contact the Animal Advocates of Sauk County at justaascwi@gmail.com. She said the organization also plans to hold a low-cost microchip clinic later this summer.
RIOIn the midst of fair season, one parade was shorter than usual and with a few devoted supporters, but with a clear message from start to finish.

Members of the Sierra Club and Wisconsin Safe Energy Alliance (WiSE) came together on Saturday to celebrate a Party for the Planet capped with a Parade on the Pipeline.

This weekend there was a statewide day of action to stand back and appreciate the places that are at risk from the pipeline, said Elizabeth Ward, Conservation Programs Coordinator for the John Muir Chapter of the Sierra Club. In Rio it is a lot of agricultural land that is threatened, and families and communities, so they decided to pull together a picnic and just a fun family event.

The Enbridge Line 61 pipeline carries oil from Superior to the companys Flanagan Terminal near Pontiac, Illinois. The line, which is in the last stages of ramping up to full speed, carries 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day across the state, including through Marquette and Columbia counties, with one pump station north of Portage on Dumke Road.

Activists have opposed an as-yet-hypothetical evil twin which would run parallel to Line 61, bringing together a diverse coalition of those making a point to fight for water quality, against climate change and those in opposition to eminent domain. One group organized by landowners along the path of the line chose the self-explanatory name of 80 Feet is Enough, referring to the 80-foot wide strip of land used by Enbridge.

Anecdotally, there is substantial indication that 200 feet is what they are talking about internally. We know this from pipeline workers, said George Ferriter, a former president and current trustee with the village of Doylestown. Enbridge staff have been in the area, he explained, surveying and posting stakes along the path.

It makes sense, because if theyre going to plan long-range, the additional 200 feet would allow them to abandon lines in place and replace all these lines eventually, said Ferriter.

At the picnic, in an Otsego field, just between Rio and Doylestown, the owner of the property, Charlie Biddle, had mowed stripes coming down a hill leading to a camp, marking the 80 feet of the original easement and the 200 feet that is anticipated as a next step.

Along with enjoying snacks and ice cream, the group shared advice, experience and literature on the subject.

Biddle had brought his tractor out to the site with a hay wagon to give a ride to the top of the hill where Enbridge had replaced the soil over the pipeline after repair, in what he described as one of the roughest places.

And thats just a small problem of the problems we have with it, said Biddle. My thinking is that Line 61 was put in in 68, so thats over 40 years old. Theyll just abandon it, because there is nothing in the contract that says they have to take it out. They only have to repair it if it leaks.

At 1 p.m. the group of a dozen or so activists organized for their parade, as Phyllis Hasbrouck pulled out a long, painted blue tarp symbolizing a river with holes cut in the middle. Volunteers poked their heads through the holes, putting on intricately painted cardboard hats that looked like a beaver, a cat fish, a painted turtle, a song bird, and a loon.

Another six participants took the corners so the river kept flowing, but wasnt carried away by the building winds. The river flowed uphill, followed by Biddle with his tractor and wagon of supporters.

After about 100 yards, they stopped at the top of the hill where Ferriter came out of the river to point out the path of the oil, the returning path of the diluents, and on the other side of the highway, the small church and forest of tall dark pines that would be in the way of any expansion of the pipeline.

During an interview in Madison in April, Enbridges Trent Wetmore, transitioning into the position of director of Superior Region operations, said that concerns of an evil twin installation were unfounded, in part because of changes in market conditions.

The company had done surveying in 2014 and 2015, but he pointed to the cancellation of the Sandpiper Project to bring oil from North Dakota to Superior. During the interview Wetmore emphasized Enbridge as an energy company as opposed to being an oil company, highlighting pivots in investment to renewable energy.

Although thats what theyve been saying, we dont really trust it unless they cancel the Line 3 project, then it is unlikely that there will not eventually be a plan build a pipeline this way, said Ward. And in the meantime, the groups are saying there are certain things for this to happen that shouldnt happen, like allowing eminent domain for a pipeline.
The Reedsburg School Board will ask voters for $32 million this fall.

Board members approved moving forward with a referendum during a June 19 meeting at the school districts Central Office. The vote comes after months of discussion about how to address current maintenance needs, aging systems and projected enrollment increases.

Voting will take place Oct. 10.

The referendum, according to district documents, advises using general obligation bonds to pay for a new school; a new transportation facility; renovations and modernization; furnishings, fixtures and equipment related to updates; and improved security at Reedsburg Area High, Webb Middle, Ironton-La Valle Elementary, Loganville, Pineview Elementary and Westside Elementary schools.

If approved, the referendum would result in 4-cent increase for every $1,000 of a property value, according to a report prepared by Carol Wirth of Wisconsin Public Financial Professionals. A property valued at $100,000, for instance, would see a $4 increase in taxes.

Should the referendum fail, tax bills will decrease by $1.03 per every $1,000 based on 2016 equalized values, according to Wirths report.

It would be financed in two phases, with $10 million locked in at 3.5 percent and $22 million locked at 4 percent, as per Wirths report. Payments would start in 2018 and finish in 2038.

School board members agreed the amount should not exceed $32 million. Community surveys this past spring showed voters are more likely to approve a referendum in the $30 to $35 million range; support dropped off as numbers approached $40 and $50 million, and approval was highly unlikely at the $60 million mark, according to the survey results.

District Administrator Tom Benson said hes very excited about bringing the request to voters. A communications campaign, including public meetings, is the next step.

I look forward to these next three and a half months of sharing information with our public, he said.

Benson said the district wants to move quickly to save money. Construction costs and interest could increase in the future so it may help to arrange future projects with current locked-in rates.

Benson said members of both the Board of Education and the Facility Study Committee recognize property owners can only afford so much, so they tried to narrow down a reasonable request.

Under the plan, South Elementary School would close due to what the district says is outdated structure, small gym, inadequate space and old heating and cooling. Leaders have determined it would make more financial sense to buy a different property and build new but there are no concrete plans yet, Benson said. The districts administrative assistant, Barb Sand, and district documents both confirmed nothing has yet come before the board.

Whether the district would sell, let or keep the South site has also not been decided.

The district feels security is a top issue in all other schools, and with the board and study committee agreeing each building could use improved entrances, clearer views of visitors and perhaps additional cameras. In recent months the board has also talked about creating more educational space.

Although public meetings havent been set yet, anyone can start sending questions or concerns. Benson said hes eager to receive feedback; comments may be shared by calling the district office at 608-524-2016 ext. 2006 or emailing tbenson@rsd.k12.wi.us. They can also be dropped off or shared at the Central Office, 501 K. St., Reedsburg.

Informational meetings will be publicized as they are scheduled, he added.
A bright future in the Great Dismal: Woodpecker partnership records first successful breeding

Banded young: Two very young red-cockaded woodpecker chicks represent the hope for the long-term success of a breeding population in the Great Dismal Swamp. These two are offspring of some of the birds relocated from the Piney Grove population. Photo by Bryan Watts Photo - of - Hide Caption

Conservation partners are celebrating the first successful breeding of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker within the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

Brian Watts of the Center for Conservation Biology reports that two young woodpeckers were banded on the May 20 and flew from the nest cavity during the second week of June.

This event represents a milestone in an ongoing effort to establish a breeding population within the refuge, Watts said.

A total of 18 woodpeckers were moved into the site during the falls of 2015 and 2016 by a broad coalition including several units of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries, the Center for Conservation Biology, The Nature Conservancy, and many volunteers.

Similar in appearance to downy and hairy woodpeckers that are widely recognized and common backyard birds, the red-cockaded woodpecker has a much more specialized ecology.

Watts, the director of the Center for Conservation Biology, explained that red-cockadeds require old-growth pines and are primarily associated with fire-maintained pine savannahs of the Deep South. The shift to shorter rotation forest management and fire suppression virtually eliminated their historic habitat and ultimately led to their federal listing as endangered in 1970. Red-cockaded woodpeckers in southeastern Virginia currently represent the northernmost population known.

Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, this population experienced a catastrophic decline, reaching a low of only two breeding pairs by 2002, Watts said. Heroic efforts to save the species on the only remaining sitethe Piney Grove Preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy  has stabilized and increased the population to 14 breeding groups.

However, Watts pointed out that the conservation community had an ongoing concern about the risks of relying on a single site that could be destroyed by a hurricane or other natural disaster. He added that establishing a second breeding population within the state has been a stated priority for more than a decade.

Early in the year the likelihood of breeding within the swamp seemed like a long shot for 2017. During the run up to the breeding season only five of the eighteen birds that had been moved from other populations remained within the refuge, including two males and three females.

All of these birds were isolated from each other in scattered sites, Watts explained. By early May, birds had formed two breeding pairs and soon each had laid three-egg clutches.

All three of the eggs from the first clutch hatched on May 13, but Watts said that only two of these young survived to be banded on May 20. One of the two birds was grossly underweight, weighing just over half as much as the other bird.

A check on these birds when they were 20 days old revealed that they were both doing fine and both were females. He said that the young birds were observed with the adult pair, flying tree to tree foraging when they were approximately ten days out of the cavity. Unfortunately, the three-egg clutch laid by the second pair disappeared just before hatching  likely taken by a predator.

Successful breeding of red-cockaded woodpeckers within the Great Dismal Swamp during the 2017 season represents a small but significant step in the long recovery of the species along the northern fringe of its breeding range, Watts said. Having the two locally-produced females making their way in the habitat of the swamp increases the population and is a real win for the conservation partnership dedicated to recovering this unique species.

The Center for Conservation Biology is a joint program of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University.




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Introduction

The Tulip Revolution, also known as the First Kyrgyz Revolution, led to the ousting of President Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan in early 2005. The revolution started after the parliamentary elections when Askars candidates become victorious in an election that was marred by election fraud according to foreign observers such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). A massive protest on the behalf of Kyrgyz citizens who were fed up with President Askar Akayevs corrupt, intolerant, and authoritarian regime started after the election. He ascended into power since 1990 and had exceeded the two terms that are permitted by the constitution of Kyrgyzstan.

History

Kyrgyzstan undertook parliamentary election on February 27, 2005. The outcome of the election was a victory for President Askar Akayev as his people had won. Criticism followed, and there was unrest in the country. On March 3, 2005, there was a bomb explosion at the apartment belonging to the opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva of which the Akayev and his government denied responsibility. Protests began from the south and were soon reaching the capital, and on March 10, 2005, Kurmanbek Bakiyev who was the leader of the Peoples Movement Kyrgyzstan joined the protestors. The demonstrators camped outside the parliament building in Bishkek. On March 19, 2005, three thousand people joined the protests in Bishkek and on March 20, 2005, protestors had occupied all cities in the southern part of Kyrgyzstan. Despite the mass protests, Akayev refused to negotiate with the protestors on March 22, 2005. On March 24, 2005, Akayev together with his family fled to Kazakhstan and later to Russia where he handed his resignation on April 3, 2005.

Outcome of the Revolution

The revolution brought to light the corruption that was taking place during Akayevs regime. On March 24, 2005, non-governmental organizations together with public servants and bankers sat to make an inquiry into the corruption allegation against Akayev and on April 21, 2005, the commission released a report about the enterprises controlled by Akayev's family.

The Tulip Revolution brought a regime change in Kyrgyzstan. It forced President Askar Akayev to resign, bringing an end to his dictatorial and corrupt government as was stated by OSCE. It led to the formation of an interim government that was supposed to oversee the restoration of peace in the country. On June 10, 2005, the presidential election took place in which Bakiyev and Kulov appointed the prime minister. The elections were lauded by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as to have been free and fair and well organized.

Akayev then took legal actions against the anti-corruption commission chair in the Bakiyevs government arguing that the corruption cases labeled against him were false. Akayev also sued a newspaper journalist for defamation.

Conclusion

Many believe that the Tulip Revolution was a significant turning point for Kyrgyzstan as this led to the end of the corrupt and intolerant reign of President Akayev. It also set an example to other Asian governments who thought that their governments were not ready for democracy. From this revolution, we learn that lack of transparency and fairness in a state causes unrest. Democracy is, therefore, essential for a government's stability.
MP and Wrexham Council to Discuss How to Step up Efforts to Tackle Antisocial Behaviour in Town Centre

This article is old - Published: Monday, Jun 26th, 2017

Wrexham MP Ian Lucas will meet with Wrexham Council today to discuss peoples concerns about the ongoing issues with anti-social behaviour in the town centre.

Prior to the General Election, Mr Lucas raised a series of questions in the House of Commons with the Ministers responsible for tackling crime, anti-social behaviour and Government policy on new psychoactive substances (formerly known as legal highs).

The questions came off the back of discussions with senior Wrexham Council officers about the issue.

Today Mr Lucas will meet with officers and councillors to discuss the replies and find out what further pressure can be put on the UK Government to help the local authority in tackling the problem.

Although there has been partnership working between a several local agencies to help tackle the problem, Mr Lucas said that countless businesses, shoppers and visitors to Wrexham have spoken to him about the negative impact groups of drug and alcohol users are having on the town centre.

Mr Lucas said: In the General Election campaign, the state of the Town Centre was a constant issue. I am meeting with Mr Jones and Council officers again to stress the importance of this matter. The Council need to find the resources to deal with it. It is the highest priority for Wrexham people.

Any plans for Town Centre regeneration will be hamstrung by allowing the current situation to continue. I told the Conservative Lead Council Member, Hugh Jones, at the last Town Centre Forum meeting on June 6 that the Council needed to introduce more staff to combat anti-social behaviour in the Town Centre.

Work is being done  much of it in partnership with others such as the police, who I have already spoken to on this issue this week  but we need to step up our efforts to address this problem.

I will, of course, continue working to highlight the issue with Ministers in the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and elsewhere. I had raised specific questions at the direct request of the council just before the election was called, and I will be following up responses to these in Mondays meeting.

I will also continue pressing the UK Government for more policing resources as community policing has reduced massively in Wrexham.

We had more police officers, supported by community support officers, before 2010 and the reduction in policing has contributed to the deterioration of the Town Centre environment.

Below  a video uploaded to Facebook by Ian Lucas last night addressing the antisocial behaviour issues in the town.
New Innovation Hub Which Will Help Create 100 New Businesses Opening Soon in Wrexham Town Centre

This article is old - Published: Monday, Jun 26th, 2017

A Wrexham based business hub that will support around 100 innovative new start-ups over the next two years will soon be up and running in the town centre.

The new Business Wales Entrepreneurship Hub, which is supported by the Welsh Government, is being created to provide local entrepreneurs with the help and support they need to help their ventures grow.

In February 2017 Economy Secretary Ken Skates announced that he was providing 1m funding to establish the new business hub in Wrexham in Wrexham  stating at the time that he hopes it would support the creation of 100 new enterprises and 260 new jobs over the next two years.

The initiative will also help provide a significant boost to the local economy.

The new hub will work closely with Welsh ICE (Innovation Centre for Enterprise) to give start ups a bespoke package of support and the very best chance of making their businesses a success.

Welsh ICE already runs a successful innovation centre for starts ups in Caerphilly  offering co-working space, meeting rooms and workshops for entrepreneurs and business start ups in South Wales.

While the exact location for the new hub has yet to be formally announced, the Welsh Government say it will be based in Wrexham town centre. It is also understood that work to procure and prepare the new headquarters is being finalised.

Welcoming the progress, Mr Skates said: I am delighted the Welsh Government is supporting this excellent initiative in Wrexham. It will form an important part of our programme to support businesses across Wales and give start ups and budding entrepreneurs the space and help they need to get their ideas off the ground.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are vital drivers for the economy and we know from the success of other incubators that this collaborative approach will bring a host of benefits to the wider Wrexham area. The new hub building will also provide a real focus to the ongoing regeneration of Wrexham town centre.

Work is now underway to recruit the hubs first set of entrepreneurs, with the next workshop being held in Wrexham on 12th July. I would urge local start up companies looking to get their business off the ground to come along to find out more about the potentially transformative help on offer.

Are you a local entrepreneur who is interested in finding out more about the initiative? The next workshop will be take place at Undegun, 9-11 Regent Street on Wednesday, 12th July

The session will provide local start up enterprises with the opportunity to see more detailed plans for the centre and learn more about the support on offer.

To find out more you can call the Business Wales Helpline on 03000 6 03000 between 8:30am and 5:30pm (Monday to Friday) or via the Business Wales website.
New Policing Degree Will Offer Great Platform For Officers to Develop Their Careers

This article is old - Published: Monday, Jun 26th, 2017

A new police course aimed at educating current and prospective Special Constables to degree level has made arresting developments.

Dr Julie Adams-Guppy was this week unveiled as senior lecturer for the first BA (Hons) Policing undergraduate degree at Wrexham Glyndwr University.

The University is currently recruiting for the new degree, which launches in September 2017.

Dr Adams-Guppy, who is a Special Constable herself, says she is looking forward to overseeing students and engaging them in learning through seminars, workshops and accompanied patrols with experienced officers.

The course will also look at role playing different scenarios faced by officers, including dealing with people in custody, interviewing and stop and search.

Having lectured at universities across the UK and receiving a degree in Law from Oxford University, Dr Adams-Guppy is ready for the challenge.

Its an exciting time to be launching this new course, and Im thrilled to be here at the very start of it, she said.

Its going to be a balance of practical, vocational and taught learning, as well as work experience out on the streets, not just in the lecture theatre.

The degree is a great platform for officers to go forward into the workplace and further develop, or start to develop, their careers.

Dr Iolo Madoc-Jones, a Reader in Social and Criminal Justice at the University, said current Special Constables interested in joining the course should not be put off by the university setting.

This degree is as much about recognising the learning police staff already have to do, and the skills they come to possess, as much as it is about teaching them new things, he said.

There is no guarantee of a job as a regular constable at the end, but this full and part time programme will make students knowledgeable about policing activities and in a good position to apply for relevant roles

Its a Welsh programme for a Welsh force so were looking forward to building on what is already a strong relationship with North Wales Police.

Plans for all police staff to be educated to degree level were drawn-up by the College of Policing, which is responsible for setting training standards for the service.

The Colleges Chief Constable, Alex Marshall, said there was currently not enough investment in training new officers, and only 38% of those entering the police arena have a degree or postgraduate qualification.

Mark Owen, Chief Officer for the North Wales Police Special Constabulary, congratulated the University on launching the degree.

Policing has changed so much over the years, there are different challenges and a more modern outlook on crime and other incident types and how to tackle it is required, he said.

The fact this is not a purely class-based degree  it will be a blended balance of practical and academic  makes it a more attractive prospect which develops the careers of current Special Constable and prospective paid police officers.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones was in agreement and said officers must be given the tools to cope with advances in crime.

I wish Wrexham Glyndwr University well with their new degree course, he said.

In addition to having the right personal qualities, it is important that we equip our officers with the right skills to the job in an increasingly complex world.

While officers need be streetwise, knowing where crime goes on and how to react, a great deal more training is required these days because policing is changing so much.

I am particularly pleased the degree course is based within North Wales and Wrexham Glyndwr University are aiming to recruit candidates from the communities served by North Wales Police.

For more information, visit the Wrexham Glyndwr University website or call the enquiries line on 01978 293439. Visit the Universitys open day on August 19 from 10am-2pm.
Austrias Social Democrats (SPO) have cleared the way for a coalition with the right-wing extremist Freedom Party (FPO) just months ahead of parliamentary elections in October. Austrian Chancellor and SPO leader Christian Kern announced the long-expected break of the taboo (Tageszeitung) in mid-June, stating that a coalition with the xenophobic and anti-Muslim FPO was no longer ruled out in principle.

The so-called Vranitzky doctrine, which was named after former Chancellor Franz Vranitzky and lasted over 30 years, has thereby finally been consigned to history. In 1986, when Jorg Haider took control of the party and led it in a hard-right direction, Vranitzky announced that there would be no further coalitions and ended the governing coalition with the FPO, which until then had been viewed as a liberal party.

The SPO has made use of a so-called values compass to prepare the way for a coalition with the FPO. This was drafted at the direction of the SPO governor of Carinthia, Peter Kaiser. On this basis, the SPO executive agreed on seven principles that the party would insist upon as conditions with any potential coalition partner. Both documents were authored in a way to ensure that the FPO could formally agree to them without further considerations.

Along with a pension reform and cuts to the public sector, the SPO is calling for the strengthening of the police. This overlaps with the FPOs programme. At the same time, the SPO is promising a minimum wage of 1,500 per month and the introduction of an inheritance tax. Both of these promises have been made during the past two elections by the SPO, only to be swiftly abandoned afterwards.

The SPO leadership left no doubt that the presentation of the coalition conditions was aimed directly at cooperation with the FPO. They could no longer say they were being excluded, but would have to decide for themselves if they would return to the playing field, Kern said. Kaiser added, We are in a situation where the wind is not blowing from the left, but coming from the right.

The FPO has already responded to the SPOs attempt to curry favour by stating that it does not view the SPOs conditions as representing a barrier to future cooperation. In reality nothing more is unbridgeable, stated FPO deputy leader and former presidential candidate Norbert Hofer in an interview with Der Standard.

The SPOs openness to work with the FPO at the federal level has long been in the works. Already in 2004, Austrias Social Democrats formed a coalition in Carinthia with the FPO and elected Haider as minister president. In 2015, the SPO agreed to a coalition with the FPO in Burgenland just three days after the election. The notoriously right-wing SPO state party leader, Hans Niessl, has long advocated coalitions with the right-wing extremists. Many other significant figures in the SPO favour a coalition with the FPO, including current Defence Minister Hans-Peter Doskozil.

In Linz, the social democratic mayor Klaus Luger governs in a coalition with the FPO, which he has warmly praised. The trade union wing of the party also works closely with the right-wing extremists. In the workers chamber [an official body for employee representation], and in the unions, contacts with FPO officials are also being nurtured, the magazine Profil wrote recently. Considerable value was placed on a certain degree of discussion, because if they come to power, a negotiating partner for employee interests is required.

The sharp shift to the right by the SPO under Kern, a former rail company boss, coincides with the rise of Sebastian Kurz in the conservative Austrian Peoples Party (OVP). The foreign minister in the current grand coalition in Vienna secured his position in the leadership of the party in a palace coup and then triggered early elections. Kurz has also refused to rule out governing with the FPO. Like the FPO, he advocates harsh policies towards refugees and foreigners, and calls for major social spending cuts.

The formation of an extreme right-wing, anti-working class government is also being supported by pseudo-left forces, which in 2000 were still participating in demonstrations against the OVP-FPO coalition government. Red-blue [SPO-FPO] would be more appetising than black-blue [OVP-FPO], stated Robert Misik, a former member of the Pabloite Group of Revolutionary Marxists (GRM). Misik is today a close friend and flattering biographer of Chancellor Kern.

Under conditions of worsening social and political crisis in Europe, the official left, which has served as a trailblazer for alliances with the far right, is now moving to openly advocate such cooperation. Workers and young people must draw the lessons from this process. There is no lesser evil in the struggle against the far-right, social cuts and war. It is necessary to mobilise the international working class on the basis of an anti-capitalist and socialist programme.
More than 185 people are reported dead in Bangladesh and northeast India from storms, floods and landslides caused by heavy rains that hit parts of India and Bangladesh in mid-June. Four soldiers who joined the rescue operations also died and one is still missing.

The Bangladesh landslides were the worst in the countrys history, including in 2007, when 127 people were killed in southern Chittagong. According to Bangladeshi officials, Chittagong district received 343 mm of rain between June 1314 and power was cut to the district, making the situation worse.

Some of those killed were buried in their homes during the night. According to media reports, villagers desperately attempted to dig the bodies out using shovels. Bangladesh disaster ministry secretary Shah Kamal told Reuters on June 14 that parts of the Chittagong district were still cut off.

Bangladeshs Awami League-led government took no action to prevent or minimise the flood and landslide damage. Those most affected are the rural poor, low-wage workers and rickshaw pullers living in flood- and landslide-prone areas were living costs are lower.

According to initial estimates by Bangladeshs disaster management department, the landslides mainly impacted on three hilly districts in southeast Bangladesh and resulted in the death of 110 people in Rangamati, 32 in Chittagong and six in Bandarban, with many still listed as missing. With search and rescue operations ongoing, these figures are expected to increase.

The Bangladesh government has mobilised military and security forces to deal with the disaster but a week later many soldiers were still unable to reach some remote districts. Department of disaster management chief Reaz Ahmed told the media: Rescue operations are being hampered by bad weather while authorities are still struggling to reach some remote areas.

Rangamati district fire services chief Didarul Alam said authorities were being contacted by survivors from several areas, saying people had been buried by landslides.

Alam said: We did not have enough rescuers to send. He added: We have been unable to reach some of the more remote places due to the rain. And even in the places we have reached, we have been unable to recover all the bodies. A group of about 60 rescue workers were trapped en route to Rangamati on Tuesday after landslides swamped the road.

One survivor Khatiza Begum, whose home was buried in a landslide, explained she was sheltering in a neighbours house when it was hit by a second landslide. A few other families also took shelter there, but just after dawn a section of hill fell on the house, she said. Six people are still missing.

While heavy rains and thunder storms are an annual event in the region, the government makes no serious attempt to minimise the impact of landslides and flooding.

Just a few weeks earlier, Cyclone Mora hit Bangladesh, killing at least seven people and destroying hundreds of houses. Flimsy shelters at refugee camps, near the Burmese border and home to an estimated 350,000 Rohingya people, were also destroyed. The Rohingya have fled Burma to escape violent communal attacks by Buddhist supremacists and the security forces.

Bangladeshi authorities are trying to blame the victims. Syeda Sarwar Jahan, a spokesperson for the Chittagong local government, claimed local residents had ignored warnings. We were able to issue warnings to most areas, but many people did not listen, she said. She even blamed survivors for the shortcomings of the official rescue work, alleging: We could not reach some areas because they were out of telephone range, while others did not respond to our calls.

Apparel workers, rickshaw pullers and day labours live on the vulnerable hill slopes because they have no alternative. Even if they leave the area during the monsoon seasons, they are forced to return to the same areas because the rents are low, between Taka 1,500 ($US18.61) to 6,000 per month.

Last week Bacchu Mia, 60, told the Dhaka Tribune: I continue to be haunted by the deaths of my wife, three daughters and son, and I live in constant fear for my own life because another landslide can take place at any moment. But where else can I go? I used to be a rickshaw puller, but now I cannot do any work because of my asthma. The rent here is nominal, so I have no other option. Seventeen people, including five of Mias family members, died in July 2011, when a portion of the hill protection wall collapsed.

Rokeya Begum, who has been living with his family in the area for three decades, said: After every landslide, the government officials come in with a bunch of promises but soon forget all about us The government could easily undertake a rehabilitation project for poor people like us who live in fear of landslides during every monsoon.

According to a New Age editorial on June 15, more than 230 people have been killed in past ten years by landslides in Chittagong. It noted: While the authorities carry out drives sporadically, and more around and at the time of the monsoon, to evict people living precariously at the crest, slope and foot of the hills in some areas, especially urban, such drives fail to bring about anything positive as the evicted are not properly rehabilitated.

A major cause of these landslides is deforestation and land sales, for which the entire Bangladesh political establishment, including the ruling Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh National Party, are responsible.

As New Age acknowledged: The situation has been further exacerbated by another group of influential people who keep extracting soil from the hills, and thus keep felling trees on the hills, for land and real estate development elsewhere and for the production of bricks at kilns. Shorn of trees and the original land structure, the hills lose the compaction of the soil when it rains and they cannot hold themselves together, causing the landslides.

Though not as severely affected as Bangladesh, floods in the bordering Indian states of Mizoram and Assam have resulted in up to 26 deaths, with many more still missing, and tens of thousands displaced.

Last month, Sri Lanka was devastated by heavy floods and landslides. Over 200 people were killed and more than 700,000 people displaced when the heavy monsoon rain occurred in late May. The whole crisis further underscores the fact that the ruling elites in the Indian sub-continent have no interest in providing for the basic needs of the masses.

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[5 June 2017]
Last month, extensive spring floods damaged a 300-kilometer segment of the Hudson Bay Railroad between Gillam and Churchill, Manitoba. Located in the remote northern region of the province, Churchill, with a population of 900, relies on the railroad for essential supplies and passenger transport, as there is no road over the expanses of permafrost to the town.

In the month since the railroad was shut down, little to nothing has been done to restore service. Residents are experiencing skyrocketing prices for groceries, fuel, and other supplies, which must be flown in by air at up to 3-6 times the cost. At Churchill's Northern Store, run by the North West Company, broccoli is over $8.75, and a package of Kraft Singles Cheese was $17.89. The North West Company, which effectively has a monopoly on groceries and other retail services in Canadas northern and First Nations regions, says it will have to raise prices even further this week.

Travel for residents is also severely constrained. Residents of Churchill and the remote areas around it rely on Via Rails thrice-weekly rail service to the town. Travel to Thompson, the regional hub of Northern Manitoba, is roughly $120 roundtrip by train, but by air, it is over $600. Travel to Winnipeg is over $1,000 roundtrip by air. Via's service is suspended indefinitely, with the trainset stranded in Churchill.

The suspension of rail service is cutting into tourism earnings, as tourist travel to the town is limited to the expensive air flights. While other jobs have diminished, Churchill has experienced a growing tourist economy around beluga whale and polar bear watching, as well as the Northern Lights. In the peak season for whale sightings, that traffic has been reduced because of the Via service suspension.

This crisis has been met by a shocking level of official indifference and inaction from the Hudson Bay Railroad and the provincial and federal governments. A month after the loss of ground transportation, the Department of Northern Affairs is stating that it is exploring the possibility of a food subsidy, and nothing has been done to help residents with transportation.

Denver-based Omnitrax owns the Hudson Bay Railroad, and it quickly publicized aerial photos of the railroad track damaged by flooding on May 23 that circulated within the media. It presented a timeline of four weeks to survey the damage and two additional weeks to report on the damage, while predicting that repairs would take until winter or spring, and demanding that the provincial and federal company contribute to the cost of repairs.

Last week, a starkly different view of the damage emerged. Motorcycle enthusiasts Steve Green and Richard Whittaker had begun a long planned trip from Denver to Churchill on June 9, and were told of the damage to the railroad on June 14 during a stop in The Pas, Manitoba. They decided to ride as far as they could along the damaged railroad tracks and document their condition.

Expecting to have to turn around, they found that water had receded and there were no major obstructions to their travel. Speaking to the CBC, Green noted that he is not an engineer, but having covered the route, none of the damage seemed beyond repair. He emailed photos of each damaged location to the town of Churchill, and the pair received a warm welcome when they arrived, as people were surprised by what seemed like good news, the lack of severe damage.

Yet no work has been done and Omnitrax still states it is surveying the damage, while the government says it is studying the options. CBC and other media outlets continue to use Omnitraxs flooded photos from May in every article, implying that the damage is much worse than it is. While the railroad is constructed partly over permafrost, which presents challenges, undoubtedly damage along a busier freight route would have been fixed weeks ago. As for the government, when CP railroad workers struck in 2012 and 2015, it moved swiftly to put an end to it, rather than spending a month in silence.

Omnitraxs inaction is the second major blow the company has dealt to Churchill. The railroad to the city was completed in 1928 by the government-owned Canadian National Railway. Under the auspices of the Canadian Wheat Board, the railroads purpose was to provide Canadian farmers in the Prairies with a port on the Arctic Sea--Churchill, which was closer by rail than shipping grain east to Montreal or elsewhere. Canadian National was privatized in 1995, and in 1997 it sold the route and the port of Churchill to Omnitrax.

Lofty claims were made by Omnitrax about the money it would pour into infrastructure so long as the government did the same. Repeatedly, the government put tens of millions into maintenance up front, while Omnitrax spent a fraction over the course of years. When the Canadian Wheat Board was disbanded in 2012, it offered a shipping discount to farmers for export at Churchill, Omnitrax replied by dramatically raising the rates and chasing away traffic. Then, last July, it closed the port of Churchill without warning, laying off 70 workers.

Omnitrax is one of several private short line operators in the US and Canada that buys up smaller routes from larger railroads and uses cheaper methods to turn a profit. Its operations in the United States are known for low pay, low maintenance, and high employee turnover. In the past, it has made the decision to sell a route for scrap value instead of operating it.

On the Churchill route, it is likely looking to get out without paying for the cost of repair to the line. On the one hand, it is demanding the government pay for repair. Separately, two different First Nations-affiliated companies are said to be possible buyers of the Churchill route and port for $20 million, but nothing has yet been concluded.
In the third non-conviction of an officer involved in a police killing in less than two weeks, Judge Leslie Ghiz declared a mistrial in the case of Ray Tensing, the white University of Cincinnati police officer who killed Samuel DuBose in July 2015. A first mistrial was declared in November 2016, after four days of deliberation by the jury.

Tensing pulled over DuBose, an unarmed 43-year-old black man, for a missing front license plate. He asked for DuBoses drivers license, which was suspended. When DuBose did not produce his license, Tensing demanded that DuBose undo his seat belt, presumably so he could exit the vehicle and be arrested for driving without a license, a minor offense.

DuBose did not want to exit his vehicle, so Tensing reached into DuBoses car and almost immediately shot DuBose in the head, killing him. DuBoses car then rolled forward slowly. The traffic stop resulted in DuBoses death in about two minutes and was recorded on Tensings body camera.

The defense argued that Tensing feared for his life and was afraid that he would be dragged along or run over by DuBoses car as he drove away. According to the Associated Press, An expert hired by prosecutors said his frame-by-frame analysis of the former officers body camera video showed the officer was not being dragged by the car.

In the immediate aftermath of the police killing, Tensing and a second officer, Eric Weibel, claimed that Tensing was actively being dragged by DuBoses car at the time of the shooting. Weibel claimed a third officer witnessed this as well. The video refutes these claims.

It is unclear if prosecutors will seek to try Tensing a third time.

The mistrial of Tensing follows the June 21 acquittal of the officer who killed Sylville Smith in Milwaukee and the June 16 acquittal of the officer who killed Philando Castile in Minnesota.

Dallas officer charged in January killing of woman in moving vehicle

A Texas grand jury indicted Dallas police officer Christopher Hess in the January killing of Genevive Dawes, a 21-year-old woman who had been sleeping in a vehicle with her partner before police woke her.

Hess was charged with aggravated assault, which carries a sentence between five and 99 years.

In the early morning hours of January 18, Hess and his colleague Jason Kimpel, who was not indicted, woke up Dawes and Virgilio Rosales with flashlights. The officers were investigating a suspicious person call and discovered that the Dodge SUV Dawes and Rosales were sleeping in was stolen. Dawes had purchased the vehicle in December 2016, thinking that the purchase was legitimate.

Dawes, startled, tried to drive away, and backed into a police car at low speed. The lawsuit filed against Hess states: Dawes, still unaware of what was going on or who was blocking her path, pulled her vehicle forward so she could have a clear path to back up. As Dawes backed up her vehicle at a very slow rate of speed, defendants Hess and Kimpel fired at least 13 shots through the passenger side window, striking Dawes four times in the neck, her right tricep, left arm, upper left chest and right forearm.

Dawes died in the hospital as a result of her severe injuries.

Daryl Washington, who is representing the Dawes family, called the shooting egregious, in part because the car was moving slower than 5 mph. We are happy that there may be some justice in this case because the death of Genevive was definitely preventable.

St. Clair Township, Ohio, police kill veteran shooting at a moving train

A Butler County sheriffs deputy shot and killed Jacob Faulkner, a white 32-year-old veteran of the Marines, after responding to a call that Faulkner was shooting at a moving train in St. Clair Township, Ohio.

Faulkners mother, Donna Faulkner, called 911 June 20 to let officers know that Jacob Faulkner was shooting at trains and may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Faulkner had served in Afghanistan.

He has been going through a really rough time, his mother told dispatchers. He doesnt like the sound the train makes.

I dont want him to be killed  it is like he is at war, she said on the call.

The southwest Ohio-based Journal-News reports that Jacob Faulkner returned to his home, which deputies began surrounding.

According to a deputy quoted by the Journal-News, Faulkner walked outside his house unarmed and holding his hands up. He then went into his house and returned with a gun, at which point deputies shot and killed him after shouting a brief warning.

Taylor Henson, the deputy who killed Faulkner, is currently on paid administrative leave. As per Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmosers policy, the shooting will be presented to a grand jury for consideration.

Faulkners family reportedly does not blame Henson and instead describes the case as suicide by cop brought on by PTSD. Nobody is guilty in this, Faulkners brother-in-law Kevin Gitner said. It is PTSD. It is a horrible disease. It takes a lot of our veterans.

There are 20 veterans every day on average that commit suicide in the United States of America, Gitner continued.

After returning from Afghanistan six years ago, Faulkner began taking classes at Xavier University and worked at General Electric, but became withdrawn about two years ago. He was fired from his job and quit taking classes and began arguing with his family.

One of Faulkners neighbors, Edward Paragin, told the Journal-News that he was shaken by the incident. He said that the military treats them [veterans] for physical wounds, but does not do enough for mental illnesses like PTSD.

Seattle Police Department discusses Charleena Lyles shooting on video game stream

After Charleena Lyles, a pregnant 30-year-old Seattle woman with a history of mental illness known to the Seattle Police Department, was killed on June 18, the SPD spoke about the shooting on their official Twitch channel.

The Twitch channel, which is used to stream video games while spokespeople discuss issues, is one of the SPDs many public-outreach efforts, but the decision to discuss a police killing while playing Destiny, a first-person shooter game, was widely criticized as insensitive.

Sean Whitcomb, the SPDs public affairs director, was not shooting in Destiny during the discussion of Lyles controversial killing, and discussed mental-health access. The SPD has shut down its Twitch channel.
The National Union of Students (NUS) presidential elections, at its annual national conference in April, marked the culmination of a right-wing campaign by the British ruling class, together with its appendages in student politics and the media, to oust incumbent radical national president, Malia Bouattia.

Labours Shakira Martin secured a clear majority, winning 56 percent of delegates, and will take over as president on July 1.

Martin headed a joint slate submitted by Labour Students, a Labour Party affiliate associated with its Blairite wing, the Organised Independents. One commentator characterised it as being united by their shared concern to minimise the influence of the left, together with the pro-Zionist Union of Jewish Students (UJS).

Bouattia came in second in front of Conservative candidate Tom Harwood, who managed only a token number of votes largely because the Tory press and student groups rallied behind Martin. The right wing won all but one of the six positions on the National Executive Council (NEC), obliterating the majority enjoyed by radical factions.

Bouattia was elected last year on a manifesto committed to transforming the NUS into a fighting, campaigning union to oppose tuition fees and reverse education cuts. She was hailed by her supporters as the first Muslim, politically Blacka term used by the British pseudo-left to denote all ethnic minorities of colourwoman to lead the NUS. Bouattia is of Algerian descent and belongs to the Liberation faction of the union, which focuses on identity politicsparticularly the social advancement of black and ethnic minority studentsas well as pro-Palestinian causes.

Her candidacy was jointly supported by NUS factions linked to the pseudo-left, including Student Broad Left, the Campaign for Free Education run by the Alliance for Workers Liberty (AWL), the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, as well as the student organisations of the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

The primary consideration of these forces in backing Bouattia had been to revive the tattered reputation of the NUS by way of a radical facelift. The union is widely reviled for assisting successive governments in driving through devastating education cuts, including the tripling of university tuition fees and the scrapping of maintenance grants for university and college students. Under the leadership of Labours Aaron Porter, the union lent its support to the brutal police repression of mass student protests in 2010-11 and worked assiduously to prevent a nationwide demonstration.

Under Bouattias fighting leadership, however, the role of the NUS in strangling opposition to education cuts, and as a training ground for the next generation of political flunkeys on behalf of the capitalist state, has continued unimpeded. Former NUS presidents include Jack Straw and Charles Clarke, both senior ministers in the Labour government of Tony Blair.

Notwithstanding a few protests by its leaders, the main work of the union over the past year has consisted of collaborating closely with the Conservative government in making law the Higher Education and Research Bill. This will open the door to the wholesale privatisation of UK universities and more closely configure research funding to the interests of big business.

Beyond a narrow coterie of careerists, the NUS has not the slightest popular mandate. The average turnout for NUS elections at more than 600 affiliated colleges and universities that elect delegates to the annual national conference was just 17.83 in 2015 (the last available figures). The vast majority of students that sign up to the NUS do so to utilise its on-campus facilities and to take advantage of the student discounts available with a membership card.

Bouattia had attempted to give the Tory legislation a left cover, claiming crucial concessions had been wrested from the government. These include the publishing of data on attainment gaps according to ethnicity and a small delay (until 2020) in the planned link between the Teaching Excellence Framework and fees at English universities. This last measure will create a fluctuating market for undergraduate degrees based on performance criteria for individual universities, meaning fees are likely to rise above the current upper threshold of 9,250 per year at top universities.

These concessions are of a piece with the cynical pledges of Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May to restore fairness and tackle racial disparities in public services outcomes, at the same time as pushing through billions of pounds in public spending cuts.

Despite her assistance in peddling the governments assault on higher education, Bouattias record of criticising some of the crimes of British imperialism and its major allies, albeit in very limited terms, provoked a ferocious backlash from the political establishment and the media. This coincided with identical right-wing machinations against Jeremy Corbyn, the nominally left-wing leader of the Labour Party.

In her former role as NUS Black Students Officer, Bouattia had denounced the UK governments Prevent counterterrorism strategy as a steady descent into a police state in a speech before the United Nations. Prevent, which is directed against Muslim pupils and students, sought to turn teachers and other educational staff into informants on any signs of radicalisation.

Bouattia has also been critical of the involvement of Western powers in the US-instigated Syrian civil war and their exploitation of the atrocities committed by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as an all-purpose justification for war and blatant Islamophobia.

However, Bouattias criticisms have nothing in common with a principled opposition to imperialist war, based necessarily on the international unity of the working class.

Her comments on Syria mirror the hypocritical position broadly upheld by the pseudo-left, of opposing Western intervention at the same time as calling for unequivocal support for the Kurdish forces fighting ISIS. In practice, this means directly lobbying Britain and its allies to provide better arms and more effective air support for the Kurdish YPG (Peoples Protection Units), the principal proxy force of the US imperialism in its over-arching strategy of regime change in Syria.

Pseudo-left factions have ruthlessly enforced this pro-imperialist line. Bouattia herself came under fire for opposing the wording of a September 2014 motion condemning ISIS in solidarity with Kurds, which she thought would provoke further state clampdowns and prejudice against Muslims. Daniel Cooper of the Alliance for Workers Liberty, a member of the NUS National Executive Council, denounced her as a Stalinist for putting flat opposition to everything US imperialism does above questions of democracy, liberation and working-class struggle, in this case the democratic liberation struggle of the Kurds. At the same time, the right-wing press smeared her as an ISIS sympathiser.

The extent of Bouattias objection to Western interference rests solely on the racialist perspective that war all too oftenleads to the suffering of Black peopleas if the wellspring of imperialism was white supremacism and not the irrational division of the world economy into feuding nation states and the rival capitalist oligarchies that they serve.

The extreme subjectivist and postmodernist nostrums that underpin identity politics have proven highly adaptable and furnish a plethora of alternative justifications for lending critical support to imperialism. In the case of Syria, the YPGs adaptation to gender politics has facilitated the pseudo-left in singling out the Kurds for military support among the multi-sided, ethno-religious and national divisions stoked by imperialism as a means of subjugating the vast oil reserves and strategic advantages of North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Although Bouattia does not pose a genuine opposition to British imperialism, significant sections of the ruling class oppose any public criticism of its agenda of austerity, militarism and war. Her election was met with a hysterical, state-endorsed witch-hunt, smearing her as a terrorist sympathiser and an anti-Semite, particularly over her opposition to Israels brutal persecution of the Palestinians and her support for the anti-Zionist protest movement, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

The establishment media endlessly recycled articles she penned for a student blog back in 2011, in which she referred to the University of Birmingham chapter of the UJS as something of a Zionist outpost and criticised reporting by mainstream Zionist-led media outlets on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

While right-wing publications such as the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator and the Jewish Chronicle have led the charge, the entire spectrum of the capitalist press, including the nominally liberal Guardian and the impartial BBC, have accepted as good coin the reactionary conflation of opposition to Israels subjugation of Palestine with anti-Semitism.

On this question, Bouattia can be criticised, at the very most, for the imprecision of her formulations, but she is not an anti-Semite. Her case has not been helped by the Twitter activity of some of her closest NUS allies, however, who have peppered some of their criticisms of Israel with anti-Semitic jibes. This toxic perspective flows directly from the bankrupt protest politics of the BDS, which attributes collective responsibility to all Israeli Jews for the predatory Zionist policies of the Israeli ruling class. In any case, her charges against the media and the UJS have been thoroughly confirmed by the intrigues against her.

In response to Bouattias election, Conservative student organisations mounted a wrecking operation in conjunction with the UJS, campaigning for universities to disaffiliate from the NUS on the phony pretext of institutional racism. This stunt failed to attract any significant support among students, with only five universitiesLincoln, Newcastle, Hull, Loughborough, and, most recently, Surreyvoting to disaffiliate on extremely low turnouts. Nevertheless, Labour Students threatened that the NUS would collapse altogetheri.e., Labour would remove its supportunless the union were reclaimed by moderates.

To be continued
The 10-day ultimatum delivered last week by Saudi Arabia and its alliesEgypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrainto Qatar has dramatically escalated their confrontation with the tiny Persian Gulf state, raising the prospect of military conflict.

The Saudi monarchy has issued demands that are designed to be rejected, so as to create the pretext for further punitive steps beyond the diplomatic, travel and trade blockade imposed earlier this month. Not only is Qatar required to crack down on alleged terrorist and criminal groups, and shut down its Al Jazeera news network, but also to severely downgrade relations with Iran, expel Turkish military forces, toe the diplomatic, military and economic line dictated by Riyadh, and pay unspecified reparations for the supposed damage caused by its policies. All of this is to be monitored by means of intrusive audits for the next 10 years.

Not surprisingly, Qatari officials have rejected the ultimatum, which would transform their country into a vassal state of Saudi Arabia. Turkey, which, along with Iran, has provided aid to Qatar since the imposition of the Saudi embargo, has also flatly dismissed the demands. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the call for the removal of Turkish troops as disrespectful toward Turkey.

While Saudi Arabia has not issued specific military threats, any retreat from its belligerent stand could trigger a political crisis in Riyadh. The Saudi monarchy has hypocritically denounced Qatar as a sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East, but its ultimatum to the Gulf state is bound up with a far broader strategy, aimed at crushing Iranian influence in the region.

The newly-installed Saudi heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, vowed last month to ensure that a war with Iran would be fought on Iranian, not Saudi, soil. The crown prince is publicly acknowledged to be the architect of the brutal Saudi-led war against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has killed some 12,000 people, left over 7 million on the brink of starvation and unleashed a cholera epidemic that threatens many more deaths.

The Saudi demands on Qatar are akin to the ultimatum delivered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Serbia in July 1914, following the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Austrian demands, backed by a blank cheque for military action from Germany, were designed to be rejected in order to provide the casus belli for an invasion of Serbia. Amid the acute geo-political tensions throughout Europe, the Austrian attack on Serbia plunged Europe and the world into war within less than a fortnight.

While it is impossible to predict whether this or that flashpoint will provide the trigger for world war, the worsening global economic crisis is greatly exacerbating tensions between major and regional powers, as each seeks to offload the burden onto its rivals in a scramble for markets, cheap labour and geo-strategic advantage.

As Leon Trotsky warned in 1938, on the eve of World War II, in the founding document of the Fourth International: Under the increasing tension of capitalist disintegration, imperialist antagonisms reach an impasse, at the height of which separate clashes and bloody local disturbances must inevitably coalesce into a conflagration of world dimensions. The bourgeoisie, of course, is aware of the mortal danger to its domination represented by a new war. But that class is now immeasurably less capable of averting war than on the eve of 1914.

Changing what needs to be changed, Trotskys warning applies to the current explosive situation, not just in the Middle East, but also in Eastern Europe and North East Asia. The chief destabilising factor in world politics today is the role of US imperialism, which, in the Persian Gulf, is egging on Saudi Arabia in a manner analogous to Germanys support for Austria in July 1914.

While US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has urged talks and suggested that some of the Saudi demands might be very difficult for Qatar to meet, President Donald Trump has signalled his full support for Riyadhs aggressive action, declaring its blockade to be hard but necessary. Trump has boasted that his visit to Saudi Arabia last month, in which arms deals worth nearly half a trillion dollars were reached, was responsible for Riyadhs tough stance against terrorism and Qatar.

Tillersons more equivocal remarks reflect concerns in Washington, particularly the Pentagon, about the impact of the standoff on the huge US military base in Qatar, home to 11,000 US troops, and the forward base for the US Central Command and US intelligence gathering in the region.

Trump, however, has made no secret of his determination to undermine Iran, in the first instance by ramping up the US-led conflict in Syria. Under the pretext of defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has its roots in Sunni extremists backed by Saudi Arabia and its allies, the US is now seeking to carve out no-go areas or deconfliction zones to use as bases for waging its war to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran and Russia.

The explosive situation in the Middle East is a product of, not just the recklessness of the Trump administration, but a quarter century of criminal wars of intervention by US imperialism, which have destroyed whole societies, killed millions of people, and turned many millions more into homeless refugees. In the process of seeking to secure its dominance over the strategic oil-rich region, the United States has effectively destroyed the state-system imposed by British and French imperialism in the aftermath of World War I, setting off a new great power struggle to redivide the Middle East, a key strategic crossroad between Europe, Asia and Africa.

US imperialism has aligned itself with the most reactionary regimes in the Middle Eastthe Egyptian military dictatorship as well as the autocratic monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Israel has signalled its support for the blockade of Qatar as well as the US war in Syria to oust Assad. Turkey and Iran are actively supporting Qatar, while in Syria, a clash between US and Russian forces threatens to bring the two nuclear-armed powers into direct conflict.

The European powers are by no means indifferent to the unfolding crisis, which threatens their economic and strategic interests in the Middle East, including their developing relations with Iran and Qatar. In a recent interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel criticised the dramatic harshness of relations between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and its allies. He warned that this dispute could lead to war. For its part, France has recently been engaged in joint military exercises with Qatar in the Persian Gulf.

What has been revealed are the emerging fault lines of a war that can quickly drag in regional and major powers and plunge humanity into a catastrophe. Such a conflict is inevitablewhatever the particular trigger in Europe, Asia or the Middle Eastunless the working class intervenes, on the basis of its own socialist and internationalist program, to put an end to the outmoded profit and nation-state systems, the root causes of war.
Former top US general and Central Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus was the keynote speaker at a gala dinner to open the federal council meeting of the ruling Liberal Party in Sydney on Friday night.

Petraeus, who commanded the US operations during bloody surges in Iraq and Afghanistan, insisted that Australia must launch freedom of navigation exercises to challenge Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, and continue to align itself totally with the escalating military activities of US imperialism despite the uncertainties produced by the election of US President Donald Trump.

It was the latest extraordinary intervention into Australian politics in recent weeks by a parade of visiting senior figures within Washingtons military-intelligence complex, including Senator John McCain, the chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, and ex-National Intelligence Director James Clapper.

General Petraeus waived his usual six-figure fee to speak at the Liberal Party event, which allowed the cash-strapped party to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from the 500 corporate guests, who reportedly paid $280 a ticket or $10,000 per table to attend.

Yet there was no criticism in the media of what amounted to a sizeable political donation, in contrast to the witch-hunt being conducted against alleged Chinese-backed donations to political parties.

In fact, the anti-China campaign has been launched, not coincidentally, amid the flurry of high-profile US visits, designed to create the political climate for military confrontations with China.

Like McCain and Clapper, Petraeus spoke as a representative of the US deep state, warning against any deviation from the US alliance and assuring the Australian ruling class that the Pentagon would determine American military policy, not Trump.

Although Petraeus quit as CIA chief in 2012 as the result of a scandal about an affair with his biographer, he remains an influential figure in the military, financial and academic establishment. Before his downfall, he rose spectacularly through the military, culminating in the command of multinational forces in Iraq during 200708, then command of CENTCOM and of occupation forces in Afghanistan. Obama appointed him CIA director in 2011, establishing a precedent for installing a military general in the post.

Petraeuss remarks took the form of a 45-minute question-and-answer session conducted by Brendan Nicholson from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a government-funded think tank.

Asked if Australia and other American allies could rely on the US under Trumps presidency, Petraeus pointedly drew attention to the increasingly provocative US military buildup in Eastern Europe against Russia, plus Trumps blanket approval for whatever actions the Pentagon and battlefield commanders determine.

Petraeus declared: If you follow the money and follow the troopsdont follow the tweets, follow whats going on the groundyoull see NATO forces are moving into the Baltic States and eastern Poland.

US foreign policy showed more continuity than change, but with a definite improvement: You see a commander in chief devolving authority down to the Pentagon or the battlefield commanders for decisions that I think should appropriately be made at those levels.

Petraeus gave an insight into the mentality prevailing in US ruling circles in preparing for wars to defeat any challenges to the global hegemony established by Washington after the defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II.

Speaking in the context of US-China relations, Petreaus hailed a wonderful new book by Harvard University professor Graham Allison titled Destined for War. There was no question mark in the title, he noted. According to the general, the book establishes, after reviewing instances going back centuries, that wars erupted 75 percent of the time when a rising power threatened the interests of the established power.

Petraeus spoke of trying to manage relations with China to ensure that a war did not break out. But clearly the calculation has been made that another global conflagration may be necessary, and that war planning must proceed on that basis.

Turning to Australias role in this scenario, Petraeus was blunt. Nicholson asked him how important it was for Australia to send warship and planes to challenge Chinas control of strategic islets in the South China Sea.

Petraeus replied: Hugely important and I think we have to be firm. You know, lets get the big idea rightbetter be firm.

Nicholson then asked specifically if countries like Australia should carry out freedom of navigation operations within the 12-mile perceived boundaries round those artificial islands?

The reply was unequivocal. Absolutely that should be the case and I think if it can be done as a coalition, it says much more.

This was a message not just to the Australian ruling establishment but to other governments in the Asia-Pacific that have become reliant on China economically.

Aware of Chinas economic weight, as well as popular opposition to going to war, Petraeus acknowledged that these are tough calls for national leaders.

The general spoke of Australias curious duality, where its number one trading partner was also, arguably, the number one security cause for concern.

While nominally hoping to avoid war, Petraeus denounced China in inflammatory terms. He described Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea as an outrageous assertion. He accused China of building islands in the sea, not reclaiming them.

Until now, the Australian government has refrained from entering the 12-mile zones around Chinas islets. However, Petraeus expressed confidence in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, describing him as a wartime prime minister, like former Prime Minister John Howard, whose government was among the first in the world to send troops to join the US invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.

Petraeus also paid tribute to former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard, saying her leadership had been also very, very important in backing the extension of the US occupation of Afghanistan.

While not mentioned at the dinner, Gillard provided the platform for President Barack Obama to announce, in 2011, the US pivot to Asia to counter China. Her role, after ousting Kevin Rudd as prime minister, cemented the bipartisan Labor and Liberal-National Coalition commitment to playing a frontline role in US war preparations.

Interviewed by Fairfax Media, Petraeus also called for Australia to take the lead in the Philippines, where the Turnbull government has just sent two air force surveillance planes to join operations by US Special Forces and the Philippine military against alleged ISIS-linked fighters on the southern island of Mindanao.

Under the fraudulent banner of the war on terrorism, the deployment opens up a new front in Australias involvement in US-led wars, notably in a country where the president, Rodrigo Duterte, had shifted foreign policy toward China, seeking economic benefits.

At the Liberal Party dinner, Turnbull listened intently, along with senior cabinet ministers, including Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Treasurer Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Marise Payne. The next morning, in a speech officially opening the council meeting, Turnbull said the Australia-US alliance was stronger than ever.

Nevertheless, the government remains under pressure to take the lead in the South China Sea, as well as the Philippines. The next visiting US speaker will be Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Command, who has long advocated provocative operations against China in the South China Sea. At the invitation of ASPI, he will speak in Brisbane this Wednesday on Challenges, Opportunities, and Innovation in the Indo-Pacific.
The World Socialist Web Site spoke with workers and young people who attended the Pittsburgh rally against the cuts to health care being pushed by the Trump administration. About 2,000 people attended the rally held Saturday evening organized by moveon.org and featuring Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as the main speaker.

Sergei, 25, a student and part-time worker, explained that he is worried about the cost of his medications if he loses insurance. Im nervous as hell, he said. I have a preexisting condition. Im bipolar, so this is going to drastically affect me once I am no longer able to receive my moms health care when Im 27. Im 25 right now. God knows how Im going to get health insurance after that.

Right now I rely on medication to keep me consistent. Im paying $20 a month, but I think they are like $500 or $600 a month, but I just pay $20 because my health insurance covers so much of it. I get two medications. I know my friends who have mental health issues are on a lot more medications.

It isnt logical why they would want to harm so many people for a potential profit while everything else sort of crumbles. I cant rationalize why an individual would want to hurt so many people.

The tax cuts are disgusting and outrageous. Watching all this happen, the audacity and inhumanity of it. We are better than this. I think everyone should have health care and not have to worry about it.

Pasial is from Europe but currently works in the US. He says that he was at the rally not for himself, but for all those people who dont have health care and those who will lose it if the Senate and House bills go through.

It is not a health care bill, he said. It is about the transfer of wealth from the working class, from the working poor and the middle class to the wealthiest disguised as a health care bill. It has nothing to do with health.

I teach at a university. My health care is paid by my university so my health care situation is relatively good. It is not about myself. It is about the country; many people dont have the advantages that I have. Im not complaining about my own personal situation, Im complaining about an injustice.

Health care is a basic condition for a person to have life and happiness. Access to health care is not a right for the wealthy, it is a right for everyone. It is a basic condition for life. It is not negotiable. The cost of this is going to be blood money for the wealthy.

Herman, a retired worker, spoke on the Trump administrations attack on health care and what it is going to mean for families and the elderly. Trump is pathetic, he is an insult to humanity, he said. He is the liar. He is about the worst thing to hit the streets in the past 20 years. He has no sense of right and wrong. Whatever will make him a dollar off of anyones back he will do it.

A lot of people are going to be hurt, going to be left behind who cant afford medical coverage because this nut and this bag of nuts is going to cause a lot of people to suffer because they cant get medical coverage. The Republicans have nothing at the moment. There are always means to improve some things, but this bill wants to take everything away.

Where are people going to go if they are cut? The biggest problem is that there are no jobs for people to make a decent living and pay for medical coverage. More and more people are going to be without. Not only medical coverage, but food, housing, gas, electricity, waterthose things have to be paid for by everybody.

Thekla Falls is a grandmother and came because of the impact of this on her granddaughter who was born with spina bifida, a debilitating birth defect in which the spinal column does not close all the way around the spinal cord.

This is going to hurt her a lot, she said. I dont like to talk about it because I will start crying. We want her to be as independent as possible and her treatments cost a lot of money.

Both her mom and dad work. He works six days a week, every week so that they can afford her treatments. Right now she is able to get some help, but what is going to happen when this bill goes through? She will never be able to get health insurance.

There are a lot of people out there who have medical conditions who can live better lives if they get treatment. If they take peoples insurance away they are going to destroy a lot of peoples lives. All these politicians care about is the rich and the rich just keep getting richer and richer.

Jim and Sydney are both in the health care field. Jim is a health care provider and Sydney is studying health services at the University of Pittsburgh. Like many other health care providers who attended the rally, Jim and Sydney are worried about the impact of the bill on the access to health care.

Sydney said, Seeing this act go through is kind of scary to me for the position that I am in. I want to help people and this is not what is going to help people. I am currently studying the inequalities in health care in the current system.

The purpose of health services is to end the inequality of health care, to see to it that everyone has equal access to health care. Lots of minorities, and people with different social economic status, dont have equal access to health care. This bill is just going to make it worse.

My grandfather just had extensive abdominal surgery and hes been in and out of the hospital. And he has an incredible pension from the Pittsburgh Port Authority. And if he didnt have that, he wouldnt be getting the treatments that he had.

Im working and make more than the minimum wage and I can barely afford tuition. There is no way that someone making the minimum wage is going to be able to afford health insurance.

Jim added, Im in the health care field as well and I am concerned about those who dont have the means and how this is going to affect them. Many people have preexisting conditions and they will loss their health coverage because they can no longer afford it.
The Australian government has settled a class action lawsuit, agreeing to pay $70 million to 1,905 current and former detainees in the Australian-run refugee prison camp on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, as well as legal costs estimated at $20 million.

The June 14 settlement sought to continue covering up the crimes committed against refugees by successive Australian governments. It prevented the case from going to trial, which would have involved a detailed exposure, in a televised open court, of the abuses at the detention centre.

Corporate media outlets described the outcome as possibly the largest human rights settlement in Australian history. Yet the payments will average only around $36,000 for each claimant, a pitiful sum considering what they have suffered.

Moreover, many of them remain detained, and the entire system of illegally repelling asylum seekers or confining them indefinitely in remote hell holes in violation of international refugee law survives intact.

The settlement proceeds will be split according to how long each person spent at the centre, the injuries they received and whether they were present during particular events, such as a February 2014 attack by soldiers and security guards on prisoners protesting inside the camp in which one detainee Reza Barati, was killed and 77 others injured.

The case was taken to the Supreme Court of Victoria by the law firm Slater and Gordon, on behalf of all persons who were imprisoned on Manus Island between 21 November 2012 and 12 May 2016.

Slater and Gordon class action group leader Rory Walsh acknowledged some detainees would be displeased by the settlement, but said they could petition the court if they wished to continue with a separate case.

Sudanese asylum seeker Abdul Aziz Muhamat told Australian Associated Press that detainees were considering rejecting the settlement. People are saying weve actually been in this place for four years and we have got physical damage and mental damage and this small amount of money wont do anything to help us.

These abuses are a deliberate bipartisan policy, designed to deter or prevent refugees from seeking protection in Australia.

The Manus Island facility was first opened, together with the equally brutal camp on the Pacific island of Nauru, more than 15 years ago by the Howard Liberal-National government as part of its Pacific Solution to stop asylum seekers, fleeing wars and persecution, reaching Australia. In 2012, the camps were reopened by the Greens-backed Labor government of Julia Gillard, and the current Liberal-National government has maintained them since 2013.

The lawsuit was directed at the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as G4S and Transfield (now Broadspectrum), which hold government contracts to operate the detention centre. The main plaintiff was Majid Karami Kamasaee, a refugee from Iran who suffered severe pain and irritation to his skin from pre-existing burns while forcibly imprisoned for 11 months on Manus Island, after his boat was seized by the Australian Navy in August 2013.

According to Richard Ackland, writing in the Guardian, Slater and Gordon lawyers appeared in court more than 50 times before the settlement was agreed, opposing government moves to shut the case down or exclude evidence. At every stage, the government sought to maintain secrecy over the maltreatment and denial of basic rights to the detainees.

There were repeated challenges claiming Public Interest Immunity, seeking to block testimony or evidence that would supposedly endanger national security or the public interest.

The plaintiffs lawyers also confronted the Border Force Act 2015, passed with bipartisan support. The Act made it illegal, punishable by up to two years imprisonment, for anyone, including health care professionals who worked at the centre, to publicly reveal the conditions suffered by the asylum seekers.

Transfield/Broadspectrum followed lockstep with the governments secrecy, requiring all employees to sign confidentiality agreements. In the preliminary rounds of the pre-trial proceedings, orders had to be obtained to permit witnesses to testify without being prosecuted.

In April, the trial judge ruled that the case could be live-streamed internationally. The government vehemently opposed the ruling and demanded that any broadcast be confined to a secure channel and only made available to a student law class.

Slater and Gordon reportedly conducted over 200 witness interviews and gathered more than 200,000 documents. Some 70 witnesses were willing to testify, despite confidentiality concerns.

The final 166-page Statement of Claim was full of damning allegations about neglect, inadequate shelter and accommodation, poor quality food, kitchens with rats running around, filthy toilets, squalid and overcrowded conditions, oppressive heat and humidity, inadequate medical and healthcare, and physical and psychological injuries.

Detainees were not issued with basic personal supplies, including shoes, soap or even toilet paper. They could not obtain any medication or contact the ill-equipped medical centre without written permission, which would normally take two to three days, regardless of the severity of the situation.

Guards used humiliation tactics, involving physical and verbal violence. This included sexual harassment and threats of solitary confinement.

The statement also asserted false imprisonment since the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court last year ruled that the detention was unconstitutional (see: PNG court declares Australian refugee detention camp illegal).

The statement established that Australia controlled the centres operations and was therefore liable for the brutality inflicted on the asylum seekers. All construction and maintenance of the centre, management of detainees and restrictions on movement in and around the centre were funded by Australia and implemented by Commonwealth officers, or subject to the direction or approval of Commonwealth officers.

This further exposes the myth pedalled by the government that PNG, not Australia, is responsible for the operations of the centre.

Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton defiantly insisted the settlement was not an admission of liability in any regard. Dutton instead claimed it was a prudent decision to minimise the governments costs.

The Labor Partys immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann declined to comment, effectively backing the decision, in line with Labors ongoing support for indefinite offshore imprisonment of refugees.

The Greens sought to use the settlement to hide their political responsibility for the reopening of the Manus and Nauru camps in 2012 by the minority Labor government, which depended on the Greens parliamentary votes to stay in office.

Greens immigration spokesman Senator Nick McKim declared that by accepting this settlement, Dutton and the Liberal Party take responsibility for the atrocities at the centre. In reality, both by propping up the previous Labor government and by supporting the underlying framework of refugee and immigration restrictions, the Greens are equally culpable.

The court settlement underscores the lengths to which Australian governments will go to hide their crimes against asylum seekers. While Australia is on the frontline of US-instigated predatory wars in the Middle East, which have created the greatest refugee crisis since World War II, it is overseeing the systematic torture and illegal imprisonment of those fleeing for their lives.
Over the weekend, Senator Bernie Sanders spoke at rallies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; and Charleston, West Virginia, opposing the Senate Republicans health care bill.

The rallies each had an attendance of about 2,000 people, according to media reports. MoveOn.org sponsored all the rallies and local progressive, pseudo-left and trade union groups sponsored in individual cities. The Kanawha Valley chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) cosponsored the Charleston rally, while the Service Employees International Union District 1199 cosponsored the Columbus rally.

The Better Care Reconciliation Act is the Senate version of the House Republicans American Health Care Act (AHCA), passed last month to repeal and replace the Obama administrations health care legislation, commonly known as Obamacare. Both the Senate and House bills call for savage attacks on health care for working people, including the ending of Medicaid as a guaranteed government benefit program.

Medicaid is the government health insurance program for the poor and disabled jointly administered by the federal government and the states. It currently covers some 69 million people, nearly 20 percent of the US population. It was established in 1965, along with Medicare, the government health insurance program for the elderly. Enactment of the Trump administration measure will lead to the destruction of one of the three bedrock social programs dating from the 1930s and 1960s, the other two being Social Security and Medicare. Those programs will become the next targets for privatization and dismantling.

Senate Republicans plan to pass Better Care before the July Fourth Independence Day recess, setting the stage for negotiations between the Senate and House of Representatives and President Donald Trumps signing into law of a final version.

There is immense popular opposition to the attack on health care embodied in the legislation, which would slash Medicaid by over $800 billion and provide tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans totaling more than $700 billion. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the House version would strip 23 million people of health insurance. Enactment of the measure would constitute one of the largest and most blatant redistributions of wealth in American history.

A poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal revealed the depth of popular opposition to the House bill, which is similar to the Senate version. Only 16 percent of Americans thought the AHCA was a good idea, while 48 percent thought it a bad idea. Even among Republicans it had only 34 percent support, with 17 percent opposed.

Earlier this year, as the House bill was moving through that chamber, town hall meetings around the country addressed by Republican congressmen saw constituents denounce and shout down politicians backing the bill. In some cases, congressmen had to flee meeting halls under police protection.

Health coverage for tens of millions of working people has already been eroded by Obamacare, which slashes health costs for corporations and the government while increasing out-of-pocket costs and reducing benefits for consumers. Now Trump and the Republicans are going significantly farther in denying people access to health care.

Sanders and his faction within the Democratic Party are well aware of the explosive anger in the working class and among broad sections of the middle class over the attack on health care. That is why, under conditions where the Democratic Party establishment is pleading with the Republicans for a reactionary compromise and is too petrified of the potential for mass political unrest to call for public protest, Sanders is seeking to get ahead of the situation and make sure that social opposition is channeled once again behind the Democratic Party, where it can be stifled and dissipated.

At the beginning of his Pittsburgh speech, Sanders stressed the reactionary character of the Republican bills: Let me be as clear as I can bethis so-called health care bill passed in the House last month is the most anti-working-class piece of legislation passed in the House of Representatives in the modern history of this country. And the Senate bill in some respects is even worse. He went on to describe the legislation as a massive transfer of wealth from working families to the very, very rich.

But the perspective Sanders advanced was anything but a call for mass social and political protest. Instead, the stated goal of his rallies was to put pressure [on] senators in those statesspecifically, Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginiaand Senate Republicans at large to vote against the legislation.

The bankruptcy of this approach is underscored by the fact that Toomey was part of the 13-senator working group that drafted the Republican bill in secret. In his speech, Sanders addressed Toomey directly, pleading with him to vote no.

This is an attempt to derail and demoralize working-class opposition by diverting it into futile efforts to pressure the bribed political representatives of big business. It is of a piece with Sanders endorsement of Hillary Clinton, the favored candidate of Wall Street and the CIA, in the 2016 elections, and his so-called political revolution to transform the Democratic Party.

Sanders and other speakers promoted his bill for Medicare for all. The Vermont senator knows full well that such a measure will never be passed by Congress, having no chance of acceptance by either of the two capitalist parties. Moreover, Sanders supports Obamacare, which involves a $700 billion cut in Medicare spending. He backed Clinton for president, despite her explicit opposition to an extension of Medicare to the entire population.

Just two weeks ago in his keynote speech to the Peoples Summit in Chicago, Sanders touted the California Senates passage of a single-payer health care bill as evidence of the supposed success of his political revolution in shifting the Democratic Party to the left. On Friday, however, California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Democrat, effectively killed the bill, blocking it from coming to a vote in the states lower legislative chamber.

Even if Medicare for all were implemented nationally, it would be woefully inadequate to meet the needs of working people. The program has already been significantly privatized, and Medicare recipients are forced to pay private insurers for expensive supplemental insurance plans to cover essential medical services and prescription drugs.

Perhaps the point most underscored by the rallies is how bare-bones health coverage already is for working-class Americans. Most of the speakersincluding health care professionals and spokespeople for Planned Parenthood and other organizationsspoke about the ongoing health care crisis in the United States, including the opioid epidemic, inadequate access to mental health services, difficulties in accessing contraceptives, and the high rate of uninsured and underinsured Americans. Nevertheless, the speakers generally argued that Obamacare was a progressive step in the right direction.

This proved a difficult circle to square for the speakers, especially Sanders. After all, if Obamas Affordable Care Act was a progressive reform, why are working class people facing such a health care catastrophe?

Both the Obamacare status quo and the Republican proposals entail immense suffering for workers and a further decline in their standard of living. The only way to guarantee adequate health care for everyone is the socialization of health care: the removal of profit considerations and the placing of the health care industry under public ownership and the democratic control of the working class.

This can be achieved only through a complete political break with the Democratic Party and all of its promoters, including Sanders, and an independent political movement of the working class for socialism.

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Health care and the fight for socialism

[24 June 2017]

The Democrats fraudulent opposition to Trumpcare

[21 June 2017]
Anyone wondering why Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz is far behind the Christian Democrats (CDU) Angela Merkel in the polls received their answer at the SPDs party congress in Dortmund on Sunday. The party, which was once built by workers, presented itself in the disgusting manner for which it is justly reviled as the party of social cuts, militarism and the intelligence services.

In his speech, which lasted more than 80 minutes, Schulz constantly attacked Merkel from the right. He did not utter a word about the pressing problems confronting millions of workers and young people: precarious working conditions, poverty and the acute danger of war. Instead, he complained that the CDU/CSU was not conducting an election campaign, and called for more police and an increasingly aggressive German and European foreign policy. Merkels statement that one can to some extent no longer rely on the US, was criticised by Schulz with the remark, Well, can one be less concrete? To what extent is some extent? Ever since the election of the erratic President Trump, Schulz continued, it had been clear that the US government was no longer reliable.

Like the Left Party and Greens, the SPD is playing a leading role in transforming the widespread opposition to the right-wing billionaire in the White House into support for German militarism. The German army had to be paid the necessary respect and billions more had to be invested in the army, declared Schulz amid the raucous applause of the delegates.

The election programme, adopted unanimously, reads in part like a strategy paper from the military or intelligence agencies, for whom the SPD speaks. It called for a European defence policy and the gradual establishment of a European army, both dominated by Germany.

In the section Germanys responsibility in the world, it is stated, Our country has become a partner asked and called upon to do more in the framing of international relations. We are ready to assume leadership responsibilities in Europe and beyond together with our partners, and provide a stronger contribution to the resolution of regional and global security problems.

This explicitly includes military interventions. The SPD acknowledged its support for a modern armed forces capable of action, which must have appropriate capacities for national and collective defence as well as for overcoming international crises. The soldiers had to be able to rely on the best possible equipment being made available and sufficiently qualified personnel to support them  to this end, measures necessary for recruiting trainees and creating the operational framework must be implemented.

The SPD continued to repeat its few demagogic phrases about more social justice at the congress ad absurdum. Schulz explicitly praised new French President Emmanuel Macron, whose cabinet extended the state of emergency within the past week and is preparing major attacks on the working class. Another celebrated speaker at the congress, alongside Schulz, was former SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, whose Agenda 2010 began a process of unprecedented social attacks and forced millions of workers into low-paid, precarious jobs.

The SPD and trade unions know that the anger and disgust over the growth of social inequality and militarism they have created is mounting, and they fear open class struggles. This is why they are calling for more police and additional powers for the intelligence services. The war on terrorism merely serves as a pretext for the intensification of the abolition of basic democratic rights and their actions against refugees.

Schulz, the son of a police officer, could barely control his demand for a strong state at the party congress. A fighting-ready police was required, he declared, before thanking the police present in the congress hall. Merkel and the CDU were too relaxed on questions of internal security, he continued. The North Rhine-Westphalia CDU had between 2005 and 2010 cut police numbers to the breaking point and now they are shedding crocodile tears because there are security problems. This is just hypocrisy!

The election programme is even more explicit: We want to have more police officers visible on our streets. We need more investigators for a better and quicker uncovering of so-called petty crime like burglaries and stealing. For this we want to better equip the police: with more well-trained personnel. The SPD plans concretely to create 15,000 new positions in the federal and state police.

In addition, the Social Democrats intend to expand video surveillance, strengthen cooperation between police and domestic intelligence and build up the intelligence services. We want to put the spying deterrence of our intelligence agencies in the technical and legal position to enable them to act more effectively against cyberattacks and spying by foreign agencies. We will expand the federal agency for security in information technology (BSI), the programme states.

In addition, there will be more Internet surveillance and censorship. Beyond that, we want to combat the spread of hate crimes and so-called fake news  the spread of illegal content like hate speech, insults and slanders in social media should be pursued better and more swiftly, the Social Democrats demand in a section entitled It is time for more security in daily life.

The SPD cynically blames the population for the rise of right-wing parties in Germany and Europe. Schulz complained that a lack of respect led to a lack of trust, including in the state. And the right-wing populists exploit this! Like the le Pens, that multimillion family business of xenophobia and racism! Or the inheritors of Mr. Strache in Austria! Or the unspeakable Geert Wilders!

In reality, the SPD bears central responsibility for the rise of the right. On the one hand, the SPD created the social misery that drives many impoverished people to desperation. On the other, the SPD produces the political frustration exploited by right-wing demagogues by pursuing policies in the interests of the rich that they sell as an allegedly left party.

In the face of mounting class tensions, the Social Democrats are now adopting the programme of the far right so as to divide the working class and direct its anger into right-wing channels. To do so, they are playing the anti-Muslim card. We want to enforce a zero-tolerance policy towards hate preachers and Islamists, the programme states. Extremist Islamist mosques [will be] closed and their financing banned.

The demand for stronger deterrents against refugees also sounds like it has been lifted from the programme of the right-wing Alternative for Germany. The external borders must be better protected against illegal crossings  we therefore want to strengthen the mandate and work of Frontex, the European agency for border protection and coastguard. Rejected asylum seekers would be more strictly deported to their country of origin.

Following the party congresses of the Left Party and Greens, the SPD congress has now also underscored that the struggle against social inequality, the rise of the right and the return of German militarism requires a break with the red-red-green parties, including all of their pseudo-left appendages. All of these parties are opponents of the working class and defend the banks and major corporations. Only the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP) advocates a socialist programme and fights in the working class for a revolutionary programme in opposition to capitalism.
Ulrich Rippert is chairman of the Socialist Equality Party (SGP) and is standing for the SGP in North Rhine Westphalia for the federal elections on 24 September.

On June 20 more than 8,000 Volkswagen workers went on strike in Slovakia, halting production at the companys plant in the capital city of Bratislava. The strikers are demanding a wage increase of 16 percent and improved working conditions. Management has rejected their demands and is offering a miserly 4.5 percent raise this year, 4.2 percent next year and a one-time 350 bonus.

After negotiations broke down Thursday local union officials said the strike would continue over the weekend and into this coming week.

In Germany, the IG Metall union, which has 120,000 members at six VW plants, is maintaining its silence about the Slovakian strike while working to isolate the embattled workers from their class brothers and sisters in Germany and throughout Europe.

Neither the union nor its representatives on the VW Works Council at the companys headquarters in Wolfsburg have made a single statement. When questioned by the World Socialist Web Site, an IG Metall press spokeswoman in Wolfsburg, Anita Pohlig, said, We are not making any comments on the strike activities at the Bratislava plant. Asked if this meant the IG Metall was opposed to the strike, Pohlig replied, As I said, no comment.

As the candidate of the Socialist Equality Party (SGP) in North Rhine Westphalia for the federal elections, I appeal to all workers to support the strike of the Slovakian VW workers. I especially urge VW workers in Germany and internationally to take active solidarity action with their colleagues in Bratislava. This is first strike at Volkswagen since the company moved to Slovakia in 1991, and the first strike in a large car factory in the Eastern European country since the introduction of capitalism.

The demands of the striking workers are fully justified. The claims by the company and the media that Slovakian VW workers receive a monthly salary of 1,804 ($US2,020) and are privileged top earners is a blatant lie. WSWS readers from Bratislava report that production line workers do not earn more than 800 ($US896) per month. Even if other allowances and the Christmas bonus are included, this is still not enough to pay the exorbitant prices and rents in the Slovakian capital. Rent in Bratislava for a small two-room apartment, for example, is about 700 a month, and often over 1,000 for a three-room flat.

The strike expresses a growing self-confidence of the working class in Slovakia and other Eastern European countries. The French PSA group (Peugeot/Citroen) and the South Korean manufacturer Kia were recently compelled to increase wages in their Slovakian plants by 6.3 and 7.5 percent respectively. The time when the large auto manufacturers could reap huge profits through the super-exploitation of workers is coming to an end. Throughout the factories workers are refusing to accept poverty wages while the corporate and financial overlords live in luxury and splendor.

The growing militancy of workers has led to increased concern in corporate, media and trade union circles. Leading German business daily Handelsblatt wrote last Thursday, Bratislava is only three-quarters of an hour by car from Vienna, where workers receive double or triple for doing the same job. Under the headline, Rude awakening in auto paradise, the paper of finance capital writes, For a long time, Slovakia was considered an auto paradise. Low wages, low taxes, and an industrial policy under government chief Robert Fico, who read the wishes from the lips of the auto manufacturers. But the location is developing into a nightmare for the Wolfsburg auto giant.

What Handelsblatt means by the nightmare for Wolfsburgs corporate management, is the possibility that the strike will spark resistance throughout the region. In the neighbouring Czech Republic, a worker earns even less than an autoworker in Slovakia. The corporations fear that workers in other Eastern European countrieswhich have long used by European corporations to drive down wages and conditions throughout the continentwill follow the example of the Slovakian VW workers. This could lead to a wildfire of class struggle that could spread to Germany and Western Europe itself.

With the collusion of IG Metall, the CGT in France and Unite in the UK, the global auto giants have imposed savage wage and social benefit cuts on workers throughout Western Europe. In the German factories, temporary and contract employees are already forced to work for wages that are just as miserable as in Bratislava, side-by-side with permanent workers making far higher pay and benefits.

For more than 25 years, the major international corporations have used Eastern Europe as an extended workbench and low-wage haven. After the Stalinists re-introduced capitalism into these countries, the corporations shifted a significant portion of their operations to Eastern Europe to exploit the well-trained workforce at a fraction of the wages paid in the West.

The extreme exploitation is based on two factors. First is a corrupt trade union bureaucracy, which operate unions that impose managements dictates in every factory and stifle all resistance. The second is the political confusion that prevailed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.

The collapse of the anti-working-class Stalinist regimes and the introduction of capitalist exploitation in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe was presented as the supposed failure of socialism and triumph of capitalism and so-called democracy.

A quarter of a century later, the true character of capitalist restoration is evident. The attacks on the wages and social gains of workers have not been confined to Eastern Europe. Instead they are taking place in every country, including throughout Europe, the United States and Asia. Everywhere the ruling classes are waging a war against the living standards of the great majority of the population while a small clique at the top of society enriches itself without restraint. According to a report by Oxfam, the eight richest billionaires in the world now possess as much wealth as the poorest half of the worlds population, i.e., 3.6 billion people!

In the USthe country celebrated as a shining example of capitalist prosperitythe gap between rich and poor has grown exponentially. With President Donald Trump, a government of billionaires, military brass and right-wing extremists has now taken power that threatens the whole world with war.

Behind this is the insoluble crisis of the capitalist system, which subordinates all social needs to the ever-greater accumulation of wealth by the capitalist owners. The private ownership of the means of production, the profit principle and the nation-state system on which capitalism rests cannot be reconciled with an increasingly integrated global economy based on an international division of labour and world-wide exchange. Just as they did one hundred years ago, the capitalists are reacting to the crisis of their system with attacks on the working class, dictatorship and war.

The strike of the VW workers is vital because it is directly linked to this global development of the class struggle. The fight to defend the Slovakian VW workers must be the starting point for a broad political mobilisation of the working class against social inequality, poverty and war.

However, if this struggle is to be successful it cannot be limited to a trade union perspective. A massive transnational corporation like VW and the powerful financial institutions that stand behind it cannot be fought on a national basis or through impotent appeals to political parties that are thoroughly controlled by the global corporations.

The trade union Modern odborov Volkswagen split last year from the corrupt OZ KOVO, which is closely linked to IG Metall and VW management. While calling the strike under the pressure of militant workers, the Slovakian union abides by the same nationalist conception of social partnership with the bosses as its predecessor and IG Metall. The union has already signaled its willingness to end the strike as quickly as possible and reach a compromise that will maintain the pariah status of workers.

It is no coincidence that Zoroslav Smolensky, the head of the new trade union, was a functionary of the old OZ KOVO for many years.

It is necessary to set up an independent action committee to guide the strike and to establish links with other factories and workers.

The strike must be extended! Lines of communication and links need to be established with VW workers and all workers across Europe and in other countries. The strike must be the starting point for a broad industrial and political counter-offensive by the working class.

The struggle against low wages and social cutbacks requires a socialist perspective and an international strategy. It is only within the framework of a policy aimed at unifying workers world-wideregardless of their origin and nationalityagainst the capitalist profit system that the strike can develop the required resilience and tenacity.

In this struggle, the SGP will provide all the necessary support possible. We call on all workers to contact us to discuss these questions and build the essential leadership for this struggle.
DECATUR  The sounds of celebrating Independence Day can sometimes be mistaken for something more sinister and usually require a visit from law enforcement to sort out.

Illinois is one of seven states that bans the sale, use and possession of consumer fireworks. Decatur police Lt. Brad Allen said that while the department has not found many people with illegal fireworks in recent years, they typically get a lot of calls about loud noises around the Fourth.

"We usually check all of the calls out, investigate them and take action if we need be," Allen said. "A lot of people think that they're gunshots."

The Macon County Sheriff's Office said it has so far gotten 34 noise complaints about fireworks this year. Sgt. Ron Atkins said that the best way for people to avoid disturbing their neighbors is to be mindful of when and where they host their displays.

"If they're legally using any kind of fireworks, most people have a good tolerance after the sun goes down," he said. "When you start getting past 9:30, 10 p.m., some people start getting irritated."

While fireworks are an integral and colorful part of many Fourth of July celebrations, law enforcement is also reminding residents to use them safely and legally. It is possible to obtain a permit to use consumer fireworks in the state through local government offices. To do so, applicants need to pass a fireworks safety course and an official site inspection.

Allen said that it's important for people to fully understand which fireworks are banned by the state. In Decatur, being caught with consumer fireworks is a city code violation, and the police have the authority to confiscate them  no matter in which state they were purchased.

Several well-known types of fireworks, such as firecrackers, bottle rockets and Roman candles, are not allowed in Illinois

"You can buy fireworks in other states, but that doesn't mean you can bring them back to Illinois," Allen said. "But I think that's pretty understood."

Decatur Fire Inspector Mike Wigginton thinks that while the laws are strict, they are effective in pushing people to seek out safer, more responsible ways to enjoy fireworks in the area.

"I think the regulations are kind of tightening up to close those gaps of safety," he said. "They lead people to public displays so they can let the experts handle the fireworks."

Allen said that whether someone decides to go to a public display or purchases consumer fireworks legally with a permit, being safe is ultimately a personal responsibility.

"Use them for their intended purpose," he said. "Don't try to get creative and don't put yourself in any situations where you'll endanger yourself."

Wigginton agreed, and considers the promotion of safe fireworks this Fourth of July as a priority for the fire department.

"Safety, safety, safety," Wigginton said. "That's what we most try to encourage."
TIFTON, GA -- A Tifton man who fought for the United States in Iraq continues giving back to his community.

Iraq veteran Mike Pops Purvis donated his 2004 Harley Davidson to the Tifton Terminal Railway Museum this weekend.

Purvis says the bikes represents 9 soldiers he fought with who died in action in 2005.

We wanted to put it in the museum here so everybody could get it and appreciate it. And they could see those names and realize that was real people and the freedom they got is because of people like those nine guys, said Mike Pops Purvis.

If you would like to see the motorcycle in person, you can visit the museum Thursdays through Saturdays from Noon to 5 p.m.
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Americas first memorial to the nations servicemen killed in World War I sits on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River in Klickitat County.
A United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) near the Golan Heights was reported by the IDF to have been hit by a number of bullets on Monday morning after residents originally raised fears that they heard mortar explosions in the area.

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Upon receiving the reports that the residents had heard the booms of projectiles, the IDF immediately began scouring the area in search for the alleged explosions.

Smoke on the Syrian border (:  )

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However, by 10am troops had determined that the sounds were actually echoes from bullets that had struck the UNDOF outpost adjacent to the fence in the northern Golan Heights.

Explosions in the Golan Heights last week (:  )

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No injuries were caused and the Israeli population in the north had not been given any extraordinary instructions. However, farmers are still not allowed to approach orchards near the border in the area of Quneitra.

The General Command of the Syrian Army warned Israel overnight Sunday against what it described as aggression for the IDFs reprisal attacks meted out following the spillovers from the country, adding that it holds the Israeli enemy responsible for the dangerous consequences of the recurrence of these operations."

Smoke on Syrian border (Photo: Avihu Shapira)

On Sunday, the IDF said it attacked a series of targets belonging to the Syrian military after several projectiles from Syria landed in the Golan Heights for a second day.

Golan Heights (Photo: Shlomo Perez)

The military said it targeted two Syrian artillery positions and an ammunitions truck. There were no immediate reports of casualties. But as an added precaution, the military instructed Israeli civilians from gathering in open areas in the border area.

In a statement issued overnight Sunday, the Syrians accused Israel of deliberately attempting to abet terrorists.The Israeli enemy has again attacked one of our military outposts in a desperate attempt to support terror organizations and to raise the their low morale, a Syrian statement read.
The Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency has canceled a dinner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was scheduled to take place Monday evening, in light of the governments decision on Sunday to freeze progress on plans to construct an egalitarian section at the Western Wall.

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The Board of Governors said in a statement that it would be changing its entire agenda for the remaining two days of its meetings in Jerusalem in order to address the ramifications of the government decision. A delegation of Reform leaders from Israel and North America later announced that it too had canceled a meeting with Netanyahu, planned for Thursday.

While the members of the Board of Governors were at odds with one another over whether the dinner should be canceled or not, on Sunday evening they decided to stick to the original plans. However, the plan was changed overnight when they announced that they would be canceling it on Monday morning. Jewish leaders, mostly from the United States, were furious over the governments move, slamming it as a slap in the face and a violation of a commitment they had received from the prime minister.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism and a member of the Jewish Agencys Board of Governors, said the meetings could not go on as if nothing happened. He said that canceling the plan to construct an egalitarian section at the Western Wall and cabinet ministers approval of the Conversion Bill were the culmination of a serious crisis between the Israeli government and the Diaspora Jewry. He added that Jewish leaders felt they had nothing to talk about with the prime minister.

"The prime minister made this decision without even a discussion with key leaders of the North American Jewish communities," Jacobs said. "The decision cannot be seen as anything other than a betrayal, and I see no point to a meeting at this time," stated Jacobs.

The Western Wall. Government decision was never implemented due to Haredi pressure (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Netanyahu's office tried to deflect the criticism on Monday, noting that there are already arrangements for egalitarian prayer and saying that construction to expand that area would continue.

"It is important to Prime Minister Netanyahu that every Jew is able to pray at the Western Wall," said Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman. He said that he and Cabinet Minister Tzachi Hanegbi had been instructed to "continue dialogue" to reach a solution.

"I recommend that those trying to exploit this issue be precise with the facts," Braverman said.

The decision to create an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall was approved by the government in early 2016, but was never implemented due to pressure exerted by the ultra-Orthodox parties. As part of the historic compromise which was reached at the time between the liberal and orthodox religious movements, it was decided to build a pluralistic plaza at the holy site which would guarantee full freedom of religion for all people and allow for egalitarian prayer with the active participation of both men and women.

Until now, the prime minister has been reluctant to cancel the plan in order to avoid creating fissures with the Diaspora Jewry, much of which is liberal and in favor of freedom of religion. The plans supporters have warned in the past that canceling it would lead to an unprecedented crisis with the worlds Jewish organizations, mainly in North America, which might abandon the State of Israel in the diplomatic arena. In light of the complicated predicament in which Netanyahu found himself, the government decision remained valid but was not been implemented for a year and a half.

Since its liberation in 1967, the Western Wall has been run by the rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites in accordance with the law. Due to its religious nature and the rabbis control over it, the site adopted orthodox practices over the years, just like a synagogue. Protocol at the wall sees a complete separation between men and women in the prayer plaza, and women are forbidden to perform mitzvot (commandments) that are considered to be reserved exclusivesly for men, such as wearing tefillin, wearing a prayer shawls annd leading prayer services.

On Sunday, Netanyahu accepted the Haredi position to maintain the existing status quo at the plaza. From the outset, the leaders of the Haredi parties had demanded that the plan be nullified but as of Sunday, they agreed to freeze the plans in order to prevent a situation in which there is no governmental decision on the issue, which would clear the way for a High Court of Justice ruling on the issue. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz were the only ones who voted against freezing the plan.

Women of the Wall. A badge of shame on the government (Photo: AFP)

Leaders of the ultra-Orthodox parties welcomed the decision, saying it reflected the will of the majority of the Jewish people to preserve the sanctity and status of the Western Wall. The governments decision to freeze the Western Wall plan sends a clear message to the entire world that Reform Jews have no access to and recognition at the Western Wall, said Health Minister Yakov Litzman.

Rabbi Gilad Kariv, director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, strongly protested the decision, calling it a shameful and miserable move of giving in to the Haredi parties pressures and a severe blow to the fundamental interests of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. The prime minister and his partners lent a hand to an anti-Zionist move which harms Israel's ties with the Diaspora and weakens millions of Jews connection to Jerusalem.

Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman said, The fact that the prime minister, who initiated and led the Western Wall plan himself, is caving and reneging on this historical decision is badge of shame on the government, and especially on its female ministers who disgracefully used their votes against women. This is a very bad day for women in Israel, when a prime minister waives their rights while groveling to a tiny handful of aggressive men who force their religious practice, and intentionally harming and ignoring more than 51 percent of the population.

The Women of the Wall will keep praying as they do at the womens section with a Torah scroll, prayer shawls and tefillin, until equality for women reaches the Western Wall too. Just like you wont ask a religious man to remove his skullcap, dont ask us to avoid praying as our conscience tells us to.
Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Ronen Bergman and Haaretz columnist Yoel Marcus have been named winners of the 2017 Sokolow Prize for Journalism, awarded by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality.

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Journalist Itai Anghel, a staff reporter for Channel 2s investigative and current affairs program Uvda, and Channel 10s chief international correspondent Nadav Eyal, who writes op-eds for Yedioth Ahronoth, will be awarded the prize for electronic journalism.

The panel of judges on the journalism prize was led by journalist Ilana Dayan, alongside Prof. Amal Jamal, Army Radio Commander Yaron Dekel, Dr. Oren Meyers and journalist Shaul Amsterdamski.

Ronen Bergman. Important and brave journalistic scoops

The committee members decided to award the prize to Dr. Ronen Bergman for a series of important and brave journalistic scoops published in Yedioth Ahronoth, they said in a statement, mentioning some of his notable stories: The situation at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute; the exclusive interview with late Brigadier-General Yitzhak Yaakov, who was head of the IDF's weapons research and development program; the revelation of the dangerous smallpox vaccine scandal; the exposure of radio communication recordings during the Yom Kippur War; and the last conversations with late Mossad chief Meir Dagan.

Veteran Haaretz journalist Yoel Marcus will receive the Sokolow Lifetime Achievement Award.

The panel of judges on the electronic journalism prize was led by Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer, alongside Prof. Haya Bar-Itzhak, Prof. Miri Gur Aryeh and journalists Amos Harel and Anat Tal Shir.

Nadav Eyal. 'Innovated foreign news coverage'

Nadav Eyal won the award for a series of outstanding reports in the past two years on issues relating to the influence of globalization, including a series of reports on the wave of Syrian refugees in Europe, as part of which he accompanied Syrian families on their journey. Eyal innovated foreign news coverage by leaving the studio and going outside, the committee members wrote.

Itai Anghel was selected by the committee for his outstanding journalistic work and for making battle zones and distant and urgent conflicts accessible to the Israeli viewer while taking on a significant level of personal risk.

The Sokolow Prize, in memory of Hebrew journalism pioneer Nahum Sokolow, is awarded by the Tel Aviv Municipality to encourage journalists who excelled in their journalistic work and left their mark on the profession. The awards are given for investigative reports and in-depth articles of special public importance and journalistic excellence, published in the two years before the award is granted.

Recipients of the award will receive a monetary prize of NIS 18,000 (roughly $5,000) in a ceremony that will be held in December in the presence of Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai, the panel of judges and previous winners of the award.
Israel is making efforts to quash or defeat a vote set to be held in the coming days by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which will include a clause stating that Israel is not the sovereign power over Jerusalem.

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The resolution was submitted by Arab countries and will be voted upon by 21 nation representatives during the UN bodys World Heritage Committee when it meets July 212 in Krakow, Poland, for its annual assembly. Israel needs seven votes against in order to block the motion.

The clause about Jerusalem was a last-minute addition inserted into the resolution which already included the notion that the Cave of the Patriarchs will be recognized as a world heritage site.

Photo: AFP

The declarations within the resolution establishes an international acceptance that the Cave of the Patriarchs is a Palestinian Muslim site, setting the ground for a broader question of sovereignty and the historical right over a place that the Palestinians claim for themselves.

In the context of the peace process, a declaration of the resolutions adoption would impose limits on Israeli construction, the protection and development of the site and on specific areas in the vicinity.

Photo: AP

If the Cave of the Patriarchs is indeed recognized as a world heritage site therefore, Israel will be condemned each time it erects a security checkpoint or conducts work in the area on the grounds that is is damaging a world heritage site.

The site is a major tourist attraction and has long been on the Palestinian Authoritys list of priorities for claiming it as its own.

The wording of the proposal regarding Jerusalem is watered down when compared to that voted upon last year when UNESCO's World Heritage Committee adopted a Palestinian-sponsored resolution which ignored the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount or the Western Wall.

Cave of the Patriarchs (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Nevertheless, the text does still take an aggressive stance on Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, presents Israel and an occupying power and deems its decisions invalid.

In its first move of disapproval of the vote, Israel has turned down a request by UNESCO to visit Hebron ahead of the upcoming vote by the organization to register the town's Old City as a Palestinian World Heritage Site.

"As a matter of principle, Israel will not provide legitimization to any Palestinian political move under the guise of culture and heritage," said Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen.

In May, Italy was the first to announce it would not be voting in support of a UNESCO resolution which took place on Israels 69th Independence Day, denying Israels sovereignty over Jerusalem. A string of other nations followed suit including Greece, Great Britain, Germany, Lithuania and Holland.

TPS contributed to this report.
Leaders of the Reform movement in Israel and abroad have called off their planned meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this Thursday.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism and a member of the Jewish Agencys Board of Governors, said the meetings could not go on as if nothing happened. He said that cancelling the plan to construct an egalitarian section at the Western Wall and cabinet ministers approval of the Conversion Bill were the culmination of a serious crisis between the Israeli government and the Diaspora Jewry. He added that Jewish leaders felt they had nothing to talk about with the prime minister.
Iraqi troops have captured Mosul's al-Faruq neighborhood, in the northwestern side of the Old City, from Islamic State militants, the military said.

The district is located opposite the historic Grand al-Nuri Mosque, which was destroyed by the militants last week. Islamic State is still in control of the mosque's ground.
Chairman of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky accused the Israeli government of weakening relations Monday morning following a decision the previous day to freeze progress on plans to construct an egalitarian section at the Western Wall to cater for the holy sites more liberal visitors.

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The decision came on the heels of pressure exerted by Haredi parties opposed to the move.

We are not prepared to accept that the Israeli government takes steps that weaken the relations between the Jewish people and the State of Israel, Sharansky said during an interview with Ynet, adding that the agency was taken by complete surprise by the turnaround.

Natan Sharansky (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

There was a simple meeting, Sharansky fumed. We gathered from all over the world to celebrate 50 years since the liberation of Jerusalem and the Kotel and 120 years since the (creation of) the Zionist movement. Suddenly we are encountering a complete surprise in the governments decision that goes against Herzls (the founder of the Zionist movement) vision, against David Ben-Gurions and Zeev Jabotinsky's, according to whom the State of Israel is the home for all Jews.

Sharansky asked rhetorically whether the symbol that unites Jews should also be the thing that divides them. We wont agree or allow this to happen. We will go to every politicians in Israel and explain to him the severity of the decision.

Asked whether he was disappointed in Netanyahus conduct personally, Sharansky replied: This isnt a matter of anger or a personal issue. I have been a friend of the prime minister for more than 30 years and that is manifested in cooperation on matters that are extremely important to the Jewish people.

Nevertheless, Sharansky did not hold back when it came to revealing that he was personally angry.

Women of the Wall. A badge of shame on the government (Photo: AFP)

These were promises, commitments and agreements that have existed between us for years," he added. It was an initiative of the prime minister that the Kotel would be for one people. To cancel it like this in a single moment? There is no doubt that it infuriates me but it isnt a personal matter.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Jewish Agency implored "each Member of the Knesset and all elected public officials to take all necessary action to ensure that these dangerous and damaging steps are halted."

The statement also vowed to "continue to build a broad coalition of Israelis, together with partners from around the world, who care passionately about keeping our people united and who are committed to the unity of the Jewish people."

Earlier in the morning, the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency announced that it would be cancelling a dinner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was scheduled to take place Monday evening, in light of the decision. The decision was condemned by the board as a slap in the face and a breach of an agreement sanctioned by the government.

In addition, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism and a member of the Jewish Agencys Board of Governors, said a planned meeting with Netanyahu could not go on as if nothing happened.

He said that cancelling the plan to construct an egalitarian section at the Western Wall and cabinet ministers approval of the Conversion Bill were the culmination of a serious crisis between the Israeli government and the Diaspora Jewry. He added that Jewish leaders felt they had nothing to talk about with the prime minister.
We made a mistake. We believed the government, we believed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we believed that we must finally stop this quarrel between us over the Western Wall, and we accepted a compromise agreement. But the governments decision on Sunday, a cynicaleven viciousdecision, took this historic agreement and threw it in the faces of millions of Jews around the world, adding a slap.

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Listen carefully, Jews of the diaspora: Not only will you have no share or claim to the Western Wall, but conversion in the Jewish state will be performed exclusively according to the Orthodox Judaism.

We made a mistake. We wanted to make Jerusalem a matter of consensus again, so that we Jews would finally stop fighting with each other over something that belongs to all of us. But we were deceived. The compromise agreement made us give up the right to pray in an egalitarian manner at the Western Wall that we know. We have been fighting for this for decades, but out of a sense of historical responsibility andlets admit itthe huge pressure we have been under, we acted against our natural instinct, and perhaps unwisely agreed to compromise.

Liberal Jewish groups. The shock is greater than the insult of being slapped in the face

We made a mistake. The findings of a survey published recently by the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, in honor of 50 years of Israeli sovereignty at the Western Wall, indicate that we must recalculate our route. The Israeli public clearly supports us: Sixty-two percent of Israelis are in favor of an egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall, and only 9.3 percentless than the percentage of people identified as ultra-Orthodox in Israelbelieve that Conservative and Reform Jews should be forbidden to pray at the Western Wall according to their practice.

The prime minister was so determined at first, when he convened us for the historic negotiations, and the cabinet meeting that approved the agreement in January 2016 was so festive. In an unusual move, Netanyahu asked Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky to join the meeting via satellite. The transmission was not very successful, Sharansky was cut off, but Netanyahu wouldnt give up. He knew it was the right decision.

Then-cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit won the parties trust, and while the Haredi ministers voiced their reservations in the meeting, they knew they had gained quite a lot. They voted against it, but were actually in favor of it.

Immediately after the vote, the Foreign Ministry excitedly informed all its representatives abroad and the worlds Jewish communities of the decision. After a decades-long battle, the Israeli government had finally managed the get the parties to compromise. The accepted plan was painful for all parties involved, but each found something to lean on to excite its supporters.

Looking back, I admit that the Haredim gained more than we did in this plan. They won the familiar, famous part of the Western Wall, as well as regulations that would determine once and for all that the common practice at the site would be Orthodox. They were forced to accept a mixed entrance to the compound and the official presence of Conservative and Reform Jews on the other side. We received our own public domain, including a budget and certain recognition, but were forced to give up on what the majority of the Jewish people perceive as the Kotel itself. For years, we fought for every share and inheritance at the Western Wall, only to find ourselves being shoved to a piece of the Wall.

On Sunday, the Jewish leadership around the world was dumbfounded, and this shock is greater than the insult of being slapped in the face. It may be an ending. There is nothing less Zionist than what the Israeli government did. It proved to its people, and to its enemies, that Israel is no longer the Jewish peoples state. But rather, a state that denies its own people.

Now, it is up to the High Court to decide. We could have saved us all five years of negotiations and let the High Court decide a long time ago, but we believed that a compromise was better than arm wrestling and internal fights. It turns out we were wrong. The High Court may pull the governments chestnuts out of the fireand if it does, I assume we wont be brave enough to withdraw from the plan we officially accepted. But what a terrible lesson to have learned. How did we let the Israeli government fool us this way?
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday afternoon that the Conversion Law which passed in the Knesset Plenum on Sunday, which will enable the Israeli Orthodox rabbinate to retain exclusive control over all conversion matters, signified the forcing of religion and an attempt to turn Israel from a Zionist state to a Halachik (Jewish Law) state.

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Speaking at his Yisrael Beytenu party faction meeting, Lieberman added that his party submitted an appeal to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation against the Conversion Law.

Furthermore, he also reiterated his shock at the governments decision on Sunday to freeze plans to construct an egalitarian section at the Western Wall to cater for the holy sites more liberal visitors.

Avigdor Lieberman (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

It suddenly came up on the days itinerary, he claimed. It is appropriate to discuss the issues of religion and state in the Special Committee.

He wasnt the only one to say that the topic was dealt with in an abnormally quick and haphazard manner. Other members of the coalition claimed that nobody knew it was even going to be raised in the cabinet discussions.

They took a subject that is so volatile and complicated and dealt with it in the most inappropriate way, one minister said.

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid also weighed in on the matter of the egalitarian plan. We are banishing Jews from the Kotel, he contended.  What happened to the unity of Israel? What happened to the notion of Jews dont banish Jews?, Lapid said during his own party meeting.

Yair Lapid (Photo: AFP)

An absolute majority of Israeli citizens are opposed to these two decisions that passed yesterday in the government. An absolute majority of Israeli citizens know that these decisions were imposed on the government by a minority, with the help of political acrobatics and political manipulation, he said in reference to the Haredi parties who welcomed the move.

Despite the discord that ensued within the coalition as a result of the decision, Lieberman assured his listeners that he had no interest in stirring up trouble over the issue.

We havent come in order to threaten with crises. On the contrary, we want avoid crises. There is a stable coalition and we dont want to rock it. I hope that we can solve this crisis quickly, he said. This doesnt add to the good atmosphere in the coalition.

The defense minister argued that the true champions of religion were those who bring people closer to it rather than those who distance people from it. This is not the way...We are against forcing religion and we are against a country based on halacha, he declared.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri filed a request for another hearing in the High Court of Justice regarding the opening of supermarkets in Tel Aviv on Saturday, after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit refused to submit a request on behalf of the state.

Deri said that "in view of the honor of Shabbat and against the background of the importance of halachah, there are grounds for holding another hearing."

Two months ago, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition that sought to prohibit the Tel Aviv municipality from approving 164 supermarkets and recreation areas on Shabbat, and ruled that there was no cause for intervention.

The High Court did not object to the hearing.
The Israel Defense Prize was given Monday evening to the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile project. The prize was also given to a project led by the Prime Minister's Office, whose details were not made public.

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The Arrow 3 is an Israeli developed, long-range, surface-to-surface missile system that is funded by several Israeli security organizations, namely the Israel Aerospace Industries, the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the Defense Ministry and the Israeli Air Force. It is considered one of the best anti-missile defense systems in the world, due to its long-range capabilities and high precision level.

The Arrow 3 (:  ")

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Though its details were not revealed, the second project to be given the award was chosen due to its "extraordinary operational daring, combined with impressive technological innovation."

The award was presented to the two projects' representatives by President Reuven Rivlin, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkott and Defense Ministry Dir. Gen. and IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Udi Adam.

The Arrow 3 being launched (Photo: Defense Ministry)

It was Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, who originally decided to award such a prize, as a way of acknowledging the contributions of developers to the young state's security. The prize itself is named after Eliyahu Golomb, who was a commander in the Jewish resistance organization the Haganah. So far, the award has been given to 178 projects and over a thousand individual recipients. 52 people have won the award twice, and seven have won it more than twice.

Among the projects to receive the Israeli Defense Prize are the Uzi machine gun, the Galil assault rifle, the Gabriel missile, the Popeye missile, the Merkava tank the Calanit artillery shell and the Iron Dome defense system.

Rivlin, Lieberman and Eisenkott with the prize recipients (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Speaking at the ceremony, President Rivlin said, "The Israeli public doesn't know how much it owes you, the recipients. Those who live in our area know that we must be quicker, sharper and more sophisticated to win against those who wish us ill. You have chosen to dedicate your creativity, not to look after your own interests, not to wait until you make it big. In 2017, this is not taken for granted.

"In this day and age, those who dedicate themselves, their creativity, their initiatives and their dreams to Israel's security, deserve the recognition, respect and above all the greatest of hugs from the citizens of Israel."
Sevan Startup Summit 2017 tent camp business forum will be held from 24th to 31st of July. The Summit is being organized for the 2nd time in Armenia. The application submission process was open for 2 months and the deadline was 20th of June. Overall, the Summit has received 309 applications, from which 100 will be selected. Top 70 startups and 30 software developer teams will be selected after the interviews. The number of applying people reached up to 3000, of which only 1000 will become participants of the Summit.

The preparatory works will begin from the 1st of July. Together with the volunteers, the organizers of the Summit will prepare the startup camp before the 24th of July. Overall, there will be 200 volunteers, who will be selected from applied 1500 volunteers. During the Summit, there will also be journalists and photographers, who will illustrate the everyday activities of the Summit.

Due to a large number of participants, the educational program has also been enlarged. During the 7 days of the Summit, there will be 10 lectures and 30 Campfire talks. During Campfire talks, the successful representatives of the business world will tell their success stories around the campfire. In the territory of camp, there will permanently be 20 mentors, who will lead and help the startups.

For the first time in Armenia, there will be Campfire Pitch for business stage and early stage startups, who will present their pitches to around 20 investors invited both from Armenia and abroad. This format is aimed to attract investors from abroad to develop the startup eco-system in Armenia.

To recall, Sevan Startup Summit is a yearly tent camp event, which was organized for the first time in 2016 and has enlarged the scale of the events more than three times. The organizers are sure that the Summit will be continuous with more intense schedule.
US President Donald Trump on Monday demanded that investigators apologize for looking into Russian interference and possible collusion with his 2016 election campaign, accusing predecessor President Barack Obama of having "colluded or obstructed," but he did not provide evidence.

Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller, along with several congressional committees, are investigating allegations by US intelligence agencies that Russia used cyber attacks and fake media stories to help Republican Trump against his Democratic Party opponent, Hillary Clinton.

"The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win... and did not want to 'rock the boat.' He didn't 'choke,' he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good," he wrote on Twitter.

Russia has denied meddling in the election and Trump has repeatedly called the investigations a witch hunt.

In a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday, Trump said he had learned that Obama had known about the Russia issue long before the election but that he "did nothing about it."

An official from Obama's White House, who spoke on condition of anonymity, rejected Trump's criticism and noted that Obama had raised the meddling issue directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The Obama administration's interest in making sure the response was bipartisan wasn't for the sake of being bipartisan. It was necessary because we needed the buy-in from state and local election administratorsmany of whom were Republican partisans and/or skeptical of federal government," the official said.
Minister of Education Naftali Bennett is expressing some disappointment with the White House, saying the election of Donald Trump has not brought about the boom in West Bank settlement construction many had expected.

Bennett, leader of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, says the settler movement expected a building boom after Trump's election. Many members of the president's inner circle, including his son-in-law and chief Mideast envoy Jared Kushner, have close ties to the settler movement.

But Trump has instead urged Israel to restrain construction as he tries to restart peace talks.

"Unfortunately from our perspective, he's sort of going down the same unsuccessful path that his predecessors did," Bennett said in an interview Monday. "So yes, there is disappointment out there."
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.

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Zabka, Warszawa, 166 m2

Lokal znajduje sie w budynku apartamentowym Unimax Development w inwestycji Viva Vitolin, przy ul. Grochowskiej 87 w Warszawie. Bedzie dostepny w 4Q 2023 roku (podpisanie umow przeniesienia wasnosci).
When I call my family, who dairies in Kansas, during the month of June, one of the guaranteed topics of discussion will be the weather. You can be sure that sometime during this summer month, the farm will either be concerned about getting hit by a storm or cleaning up from such an event.

I can recall more than one June day in my childhood where I was attempting to beat a storm back to the farm with a load of wheat in the grain cart. After one particularly close call, my family and I were reminded that perhaps we would do well to have a protocol in place for employees during bad weather.

That was the exact topic Cornells Rob Lynch, D.V.M., addressed in a recent Pro-Dairy e-Leader Newsletter article. One of the forgotten protocols he suggested farms consider was an evacuation and emergency response protocol.

He said, Our hope is to never need to use emergency protocols, but it is important that everyone on the farm keep safe if they ever need to respond to an emergency.

In the case of my familys farm, one such emergency is severe weather. Employees are now trained to be aware of the weather and stay in close communication during such events. My dad emphasizes that he needs to know where employees are and that they are safe.

Another recommended protocol by Lynch regarded the reporting of animal mishandling. He suggested that employees need to not only understand how they should handle cattle, but also how to keep each other accountable for humane treatment.

Finally, Lynch recommended having a protocol for updating protocols. Revisions to protocols are inevitable, make sure you have a procedure in place to purge all working versions of those old protocols (keep one in the file cabinet with the treatment sheets as part of your stored records) so employees do not accidently pick up an outdated one, he shared.

The author is an associate editor. She covers feeding and nutrition, youth activities and heads up the World Dairy Expo Supplement. Maggie was raised on a 150-cow dairy near Valley Center, Kansas, and graduated from Kansas State University with degrees in agricultural communications and animal sciences.
Washington: US President Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of colluding with the Democrats to defeat "crazy" Senator Bernie Sanders, who was the former Secretary of State`s rival for the party`s presidential nomination.

"Hillary Clinton colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat crazy Bernie Sanders. Is she allowed to so collude? Unfair to Bernie," Trump tweeted on Sunday.

During last year`s election campaign, it came to light that officials with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had discussed various strategies to defeat Sanders and favour Clinton as the party`s presidential candidate.

In July 2016, WikiLeaks published more than 19,000 controversial e-mails stolen from the DNC, in which Democratic officials discussed assorted strategies to weaken Sanders` candidacy.

The WikiLeaks revelations forced DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign and also created significant internal divisions among Democrats given that Sanders supporters felt deceived.

During the election, many Sanders backers wound up voting for Clinton, but others cast blank ballots or even voted for Trump, who -- like Sanders -- gave a voice to many discontented working class people.
Islamabad: Pakistan has deployed a special military force of 15,000 for the protection of Chinese working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and other similar projects in the country.

This comes after China raised concerns about the safety of its nationals in Pakistan following the abduction of a Chinese couple last month.According to local media reports, President Mamnoon Hussain informed visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that protecting Chinese nationals in Pakistan was the "top priority" of Islamabad.

Two Chinese nationals were kidnapped on May 24 from the Jinnah town area of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. Unidentified abductors had forced the two Chinese nationals, a man and a woman, into a vehicle at gunpoint and drove away, the Dawn reported.

The two Chinese nationals were teachers at a private language school in Quetta. Another Chinese national reportedly managed to escape, while a passerby was injured during firing by the abductors.

Both China and Pakistan are also probing the ISIS claim that the Chinese couple have been killed by them.

The killing of two Chinese nationals by the Islamic State in Pakistan`s Balochistan province, has sparked an outage on social media, with Chinese netizens demanding that their government send PLA troops to Pakistan to avenge the killings.The reports about the killing of two Chinese nationals in Balochistan generated a cascade of discussion on Weibo, a Twitter-style Chinese social media platform, with many users calling for revenge, the South China Morning Post has reported.

"We shall start a war against IS, killing them on behalf of the two murdered Chinese," said a user going by the name Zhou Qi Bei Hou.

Chinese officials have yet to directly confirm the deaths, but a spokesman of the Chinese foreign ministry said Wednesday that Beijing is investigating whether the pair described in some reports as Chinese language teachers were illegally preaching in Pakistan before they were abducted and killed.In an earlier press conference, the ministry said it had been told by Pakistan that the pair had "probably died".

"It is time to fight violence with violence," another user said.

Beijing has been restricting such content from going online, but tens of thousands of comments regarding the atrocity remain.
Washington: American business schools could study India's implementation of the "complex" Goods and Services Tax (GST), Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested, ahead of the roll out of the landmark tax reform measure from July 1.

"The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools," Modi said yesterday while interacting with 20 top American CEOs at a roundtable here ahead of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump.

On GST, the Prime Minister said that this is becoming a reality after years of effort. He added that its implementation is a "complex" task and went on to suggest that this could be the subject of future case-studies.

Implementation of the GST shows India can take big decisions and implement them swiftly, the prime minister said at the interaction with the group of CEOs that included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai from Google, John Chambers from Cisco and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Modi told them that his government was working on principles such as Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.

The Prime Minister spoke of the recent reforms, and noted that the Union Government alone has initiated 7000 reforms. He said this indicates India's quest for global benchmarks. He mentioned the Government's emphasis on efficiency, transparency, growth and benefit for all.

Touted as the biggest taxation reform since Independence, GST will unify 16 different taxes including excise, service tax and VAT, and transform India into a single market for seamless movement of goods and services.

The powerful GST Council, comprising Centre and states, has recommended a four-tier tax structure -- 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent. On top of the highest slab, a cess will be imposed on luxury and demerit goods to compensate the states for revenue loss in the first five years of GST implementation.

GST rates would depend upon whether the commodity is used by a rich person or a common man.

State and Union Territory GST laws were passed by all the states and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir, paving the way for smooth roll out of the tax from July 1.
New Delhi: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Emergency imposed in 1975 underlined the need for eternal vigilance to preserve democracy, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday backed his remark saying that the young generation must remember the dark chapter in India's electoral history.

"I think Prime Minister Modi's inclusion of imposition of Emergency in 'Mann ki Baat' was a message to the people that we must not forget the black day of the imposition of Emergency. The Congress, which claims to be today's paragons of virtues, says it has no tolerance towards any kind of limitation of freedom. It is actually responsible for the sin of imposing emergency and ensuring that people did not have civil liberties," BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao told ANI.

Echoing similar sentiment, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said the Congress has no right to point fingers at the Modi Government while having a black chapter of Emergency in past.

"What Prime Minister said was right. The Congress points fingers at us and what they did during their regime by imposing Emergency cannot be forgot so soon. People had to face many difficulties and harassment during the Emergency. The Congress has no right to speak against our Government," Lekhi said.

Yesterday, PM Modi had called the Emergency imposed on June 25, 1975 as a 'black night' which could not be forgotten.

He had recalled that democracy-lovers had fought a big battle against the Emergency imposed by then PM Indira Gandhi and had said that pro-democracy "heritage" needed to be strengthened.

In his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat', PM Modi had also said that it was essential to remember the incidents which have caused harm to democracy and move ahead towards the positives of democracy.

"Democracy is not only a system. It is our culture... Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," he had said, as per PTI.

"Along with Jaiprakash Narayan, many prominent leaders were jailed. Even the judiciary did not remain unaffected by the shadow of the Emergency. The media was completely rendered useless," PM Modi had further said.

"The democracy lovers had fought a big battle and showed how democracy was engrained in the hearts of every citizen of the vast country. That was reflected through the elections. That is our heritage and we have to strengthen that heritage," he had said.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: President Donald Trump on Monday heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they met at the White House for a 'working dinner.'

President Trump said that it's an honour to host such a PM who has done a great job and continues to do well for the nation in so many ways.



You have done a great job, economically and you are doing well in so many ways, I would like to congratulate you: President Trump to PM Modi

On his arrival, PM Modi thanked President Trump and the First Lady for the warm respect accorded to him and said that it does not only belong to him but to the entire nation.

Earlier, Modi, who arrived here on the second leg of his three-nation tour, held a series of meetings with top officials of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis.

PM is scheduled to spend more than four hours at the White House during which the two leaders and their respective delegations will hold series of meetings.

The Indian prime minister arrived here on Sunday as part of his three-nation tour to Portugal, the United States and the Netherlands.
Washington: The US State Department on Monday designated the notorious Pakistan-based Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist, a major development in the fight against terror.

The announcement came just hours before the much-awaited meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House.

Salahuddin runs the dreaded Kashmiri militant group from Pakistan.

Last year, the Hizbul leader, also known as Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah, had vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict.

He had also threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley "into a graveyard for Indian forces".

Salahuddin, who is featured on NIAs most wanted list, reportedly operates out of a safe house in Pakistan.

In June this year, he hailed slain terrorist Burhan Wani as a martyr.

He also heads the United Jihad Council that conducts terror activities in India.

In 1987, Salahuddin had contested the Assembly polls in Kashmir on a Muslim United Front ticket.
Chennai: Chennai is facing an acute crisis of drinking water since past few months.

All the four lakes in the city have been dried up and drinking water supply to the state capital has been slashed by almost 50 percent.

According to NDTV, Chennai, that requires 830 million litres of water on a daily basis, has been getting only half of it for the past few days from authorities. In some areas, the piped water is being supplied only once in three days. At least 300 water tankers have been deployed by the authorities to supply water in the city.

The Veeranam lake in Neyveli, a town that is located at around 200 km away, from where Chennai receives supply through a huge pipeline, has turned dry too.

The authorities, however, are tapping other resources in the area to pump 90 million litres a day to Chennai through the same pipeline.

Earlier this month, the Egmore railway station, which needs 7.5 lakh litres of water a day, was facing a huge crisis.

The groundwater in Chennai and its surrounding areas is replenished by five lakes -- Puzhal, Sholavaram, Kaliveli, Pulicat and Maduranthakam -- all located within a 60-km radius of the city.

In 2015, the lakes had overflowed due to unseasonal rains, causing devastating floods in Chennai.

In 2016, both the North East monsoon and the South West monsoon failed in Tamil Nadu, leaving is with a huge water crisis.

Besides, there are thousands of water bodies in Chennai. Green activists claim that had these water bodies been maintained, the city would have never suffered from water crisis.

The activists blame rapid urbanization for the lack of upkeep of these water bodies.
New Delhi/Washington: Apple CEO Tim Cook is reported to have told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his company is positive about the production of the iPhone SE in Bengaluru.

Cook was among the 21 US corporate leaders who met Modi in Washington on Sunday.

According to industry sources, Cook apprised the Prime Minister about the production of Apple`s popular iPhone SE model at its Bengaluru facility and the app developers working for Apple.

In May, Apple began the initial production of a small number of iPhone SE in Bengaluru, where it had opened its App Accelerator to provide specialised support for developers earlier this year in March.

"iPhone SE is the most popular and powerful phone with a four-inch display in the world and we`ll begin shipping to domestic customers this month," Apple had told IANS in an email earlier this year.

IANS also learnt that to begin with, it will be a trial run with small quantities of iPhone SE units being assembled at the facility.

The industry sources also revealed a photograph of the SE device being assembled in India which Apple began with Wistron Corporation, its Taiwanese manufacturing partner.

As far as app developers are concerned, India now accounts for at least 740,000 app economy jobs attributable to iOS.

App developers in India have created close to 100,000 apps for the App Store -- a growth of 57 percent in 2016. Sources said that Apple has already trained thousands of iOS developers in its accelerator in Bengaluru.

Earlier this year, an Apple India spokesperson told IANS that developers from India are now creating amazing apps for its platform.

"There are several app developers from India who are now part of the growing innovative community globally," the spokesperson had told IANS.

On June 1, Philip Schiller, Apple`s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing said the global developer community, including many from India, has earned over $70 billion since the App Store`s launch in 2008.

"$70 billion earned by developers is simply mind blowing. We are amazed at all of the great new apps our developers create and can`t wait to see them again next week at our Worldwide Developers` Conference," Schiller said in a statement.

The Cupertino-headquartered tech giant is expected to run its India business fully on renewable energy by the end of this year, sources revealed.

Apart from Cook, Google CEO Sunder Pichai, Shantanu Narayen from Adobe, Ajay Banga from Mastercard, Punit Renjen from Deloitte Global and USIBC president Aghi were also present in the group that met Modi on Sunday.

Modi later tweeted, "Interacted with top CEOs. We held extensive discussions on opportunities in India."
Ulan Bator: Mongolians cast ballots on Monday to choose between a horse breeder, a judoka and a feng shui master in a presidential election rife with corruption scandals and nationalist rhetoric.

From its sprawling steppes to its capital and even in yurts serving as polling stations, people began to vote in the landlocked country sandwiched between Russia and China that was once viewed as an oasis of democracy full of economic promise.

Nomadic herders filed into a yurt in the city of Erdene Sum, 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital Ulan Bator to cast their ballots, wearing the traditional deel coat, fedoras and boots.

"As a voter I believe justice is the most important thing for Mongolia," said Dendev Boris, 63, who unlike others showed up in a business suit.

"There must be justice in every industry," he said. "I haven`t taken the corruption allegations too seriously because they have not been proven."

The resource-rich nation of just three million has struggled in recent years with mounting debt and low voter turnout.

The next president will inherit a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout designed to stabilise its economy and lessen its dependence on China, which purchases 80 percent of Mongolian exports.

But voters have heard little from the three candidates about unemployment and jobs -- their top concerns in opinion polls -- as campaigns have instead focused on their opponents allegedly shady pasts.

Among the accusations are a 60 billion tugrik ($25 million) scheme to sell government posts, hefty offshore accounts and a clandestine donation from a member of a South Korean church -- all of which the candidates have denied.

The campaign was also marked by moments of anti-Chinese sentiment, with candidate Mieygombo Enkhbold of the parliament-ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) publishing his family tree to rebuff claims that he had Chinese blood.

"(The election) is truly testing the nerves of voters," Gerel Orgil, a Mongolian public opinion analyst, told AFP. "It's been like watching a bullfight."

Enkhbold, a horse breeder and former mayor of Ulan Bator, is considered the establishment candidate.

He faces brash businessman Khaltmaa Battulga of the outgoing president's opposition Democratic Party, a property tycoon and former head of the judo association.

The third candidate is Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, a former independent who once headed a feng shui practise.

While Enkhbold and Battulga are considered the main contenders, Ganbaatar is expected to garner enough votes to trigger the country's first ever run-off.

Several voters described the campaigns as "dark" and accused the candidates of using smear jobs to distract from real issues.

"Ganbaatar is the only one who speaks the voice of the regular people of Mongolia," said Zundui Gombojav, a 60-year-old unemployed disabled man.

"For 27 years, we have chosen the two largest parties, but they have done nothing."

Other voters were concerned that electing Enkhbold would give absolute power to the MPP, which already holds the majority of seats in parliament.

Daram Erdebayar, a 61-year-old retired teacher, had previously been loyal to the MPP, but decided to support Battulga after a recording surfaced in which Enkhbold and other MPP officials were allegedly discussing a plan to hand public jobs to the highest bidders.

He said several teachers in the capital's "ger" districts -- slums comprised of yurts and ramshackle houses on the city outskirts -- were abruptly fired in recent years after working in the same schools for decades.

His colleagues suspected that they were replaced with individuals who had bribed the city education authority, Erdebayar said.

Not everyone favoured shaking up the status quo.

Jamiynsurengiin Olzod, a 35-year-old seamstress who lives in a yurt with her three children, said all she wanted from the government was a grant to buy a new sewing machine.

"Enkhbold has experience and is known abroad," she said. "His reputation can help him get foreign aid."
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Goris community of Syunik province will gather the mulberry lovers.

The Mulberry festival will be held on July 1. Nune Manukyan  founding director of Arenia festival foundation, told Armenpress this year certain changes were made in the program. She informed that this year the festival will be held in Karahunj, one of the settlements of Syunik province.

This year the program has been transferred from Goris town to Karahunj. As you know, community consolidation has taken place, and now Karahunj is included in the Goris consolidated community. There are perfect favorable conditions for holding the festival. There are numerous mulberry trees in Karahunj, and everyone will have a chance to taste mulberry there, Manukyan said.

An interesting celebration is expected for visitors. The festival guests will witness the distillation process of mulberry vodka and can also enjoy the drink. During the festival there will be a taste-sale of dishes, preserves, dried fruits specific to Syunik province.

The festival will be accompanied by cultural events, song and dance, theatrical performances and orchestras. Participants are also expected from Artsakh. Numerous surprises and interesting moments are expected during the festival.

The festival aims to boost tourism in the province. Nune Manukyan said although the festival is being held already for the 4th time, still time is needed for the local people to feel the results on them.

Unfortunately, in the recent period we were holding the festival different days every year, and this really hindered its development. Such approach is not in the policy of the foundation. We have decided to hold the festival the first Saturday of July. This is fixed and will not change, she said.

According to her, in this case tourism companies can include the festival in their tour packages. Nune Manukyan added that although the festival still faces recognition problem, there are already tourism companies which present proposals on participation in the Mulberry festival.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. The translation of Hovhannes Tumanyans Barekendan into Hindi is yet another occasion to bring the two nations closer.

The initiator of the idea, as well as the translator, is Santosh Kumari Arora  an Indian Ambassador for Peace, lecturer at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Yerevan State University.

Mrs. Arora talked to ARMENPRESS on this occasion.

ARMENPRESS: Mrs. Arora, how did you decide to realize this initiative?

Santosh Kumari Arora: My goal is to serve for the two peoples, and see them joyous. I am trying to maximally assist these two nations in bringing them closer to each other. This was one of these steps, I also sometimes hold master classes in Indian cuisine. I do everything what depends on me. If Ill be able to bring a smile to at least one person, Ill be happy.

ARMENPRESS: Why Tumanyan?

Santosh Kumari Arora: I think Tumanyans tales have features which shape positive human values. I want these values to be known to everybody. Hovhannes Tumanyan was very religious. I have also translated Tumanyans Akhtamar, The master and the slave, and Sutlik Vorskan, which havent yet been published. Tumanyans works should be translated not only in Hindi, but also other languages.

ARMENPRESS: Is there a goal to send the books to India?

Santosh Kumari Arora: Definitely, I will personally go to India, visit schools, talk to teachers and directors. They dont need much explanation. If they read it once, they will understand that Indian schools really need this. In India, they also want to translate their literature into Armenian. The financial issues are the only thing which hinders it.

ARMENPRESS: What will this translation give to the Indian children?

Santosh Kumari Arora: It will shape a good person. People should read Tumanyan from an early age. I tell my grandchildren many of his tales as well.

ARMENPRESS: Where there any linguistic difficulties while translating it?

Santosh Kumari Arora: I didnt have any difficulties while translating because I live within this people, I know the Armenian people very well, I am familiar with their mentality and way of thinking, its not only the language that I know, but also what the author meant by writing a given word. In addition, the two languages are very similar. There are many words having the same roots in these languages.

ARMENPRESS: Is there a writer in Indias literature who you compare with Tumanyan and his writing style?

Santosh Kumari Arora: We have many unique writers in India, for example Premchand, Rabindranath Tagore. Premchands tales are especially close to Tumanyans, however I havent noticed Tumanyans direct link to God in any other writer.

ARMENPRESS: Are you planning to translate other works from Armenian literature?

Santosh Kumari Arora: I am planning to tranlsate the Sasna Tsrer (Daredevils of Sassoun) epic soon, I am working on creating a Armenian-Indian dictionary and I want to finish it very soon. I will also try to create a phraseology dictionary and a conversation guide, however I dont have financial support yet. I am also thinking about sending some translated work to India and publish it there.

ARMENPRESS: Do the books get sold in Armenia?

Santosh Kumari Arora: The books arent being sold, I donate them to my good students as an encouragement. There are no Hindi readers here. Hindi is currently only taught in the faculty of Oriental studies, but only twice a week during a semester. And this period is very short for becoming a translator. There is no other Hindi lecturer in the University besides me.

ARMENPRESS: Mrs. Arora, how many years have passed since who settled in Armenia for permanent residency?

Santosh Kumari Arora: I am living in Armenia since 1987. I go to India every once in a while, however I wasnt able to go in the last 4 years.

ARMENPRESS: Did you adapt to Armenia easily?

Santosh Kumari Arora: I didnt have a problem of adaptation, since all nations are one family for me. All peoples are the same, people themselves have decided the religions and nationalities.

ARMENPRESS: Did you have any job offers from other locations?

Santosh Kumari Arora: Ive been invited from many places, but I cant stay anywhere more than a week, then I run back to Armenia. I have a family here, my friends. The Armenian spirit exists only here.

Interview by Anna Grigoryan
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Aliya Mustafina  head of archiving and documentation department at Kazakhstans Ministry of Culture and Sports, is impressed with the works carried out in Armenia aimed at collecting and maintaining archival materials.

She arrived in Armenia to take part in the 18th Forum of the Eurasian Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives which was held on June 21.

Such Forum is a unique platform which enables to get acquainted with the development trends of archival activity in participating countries. We always have friendly relations with Armenias National Archive, its director Amatuni Virabyan always warmly hosted us, thats why we very easily establish cooperation. Unfortunately, at the moment we dont have any joint project, and I believe this is the path we need to work on in future since we have common pages of history, and such programs, scientific-research works will allow to more thoroughly present the history of the countries: both the history of Armenia in Kazakhstan, and vice versa, Aliya Mustafina told Armenpress, adding that it will be interesting for new generation to study each others history.

She informed that they plan to initiate long-term programs by putting an emphasis on the digitization process of documents where Kazakhstan has some experience.

Nevertheless, this is quite a new format of work which requires research at various directions, time and effort so that to achieve results with the National Archive of Armenia. We have large Armenian community in Kazakhstan, we are well familiar with the Armenian culture starting from everyday life, cuisine up to Armenians being as masters especially in jewelry field. Our researchers are mainly interested in Armenian written sources, she said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. On June 25 Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan attended the festive event dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Base Metals company, press service of the Artsakh Presidents Office told Armenpress.

In his welcoming speech President Sahakyan noted that the company's traversed path was fertile in accomplishments and entailed a source of pride.

"I would like to express gratitude to the company's entire staff for their hard work. I am confident that you will continue your work with the same zeal, especially when there are many works to do and long-term programs in the field, he said.

The Artsakh President added that the state had great expectations from the exploitation of the Kashen mining complex, and the Base Metals company would maintain its status as one of the economic locomotives of the Republic.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Finance Minister Vardan Aramyan doesnt consider the increase of state debt as a problem from nominal perspective, reports Armenpress.

During the discussion of the 2016 state budget performance report at the joint session of parliamentary standing committees, the Minister said it is obvious that if revenues are not enough to carry out the expenses, there is a need to borrow a debt.

It is impossible without that. Moreover, if we look, we will see that companies are not satisfied only with capital. They invest the capital, then enter borrowed markets and take resources from there in order to develop. All companies have a debt index, he said in response to a question of ARF faction MP Armenuhi Kyureghyan.

The Minister added that Armenia will continue to borrow a debt, but the important thing is to gradually regulate the relative figures.

We need to gradually reach the point that GDP-state debt ratio will stabilize or will decline to some extent since over the past years we face a very sharp increase. The more we can reduce the ratio, the calmer environment we will have. On the other hand, we know that we need to borrow a certain amount of debt to have an economic growth. In other words, if we are able to reach the point that our economy grows faster than debt, it means that we run normal policy. We must pay attention to this, the Finance Minister stated.

According to him, state debt-GDP ratio must stabilize at the expense of GDP growth. He said the right policy is to borrow a debt and serve it for capital expenditures, as well as to make efforts to certainly revise the expenses to increase the productivity of the economy.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Armenias Parliament on June 25 met with Chairman of Mazhilis (lower house) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Nurlan Nigmatulin in Seoul, press service of the Parliament told Armenpress.

In his speech Speaker Babloyan said he is happy to meet with the Chairman of Mazhilis in the 25th jubilee year of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Kazakhstan. He highly appreciated the normal development of Armenian-Kazakh relations at various spheres and expressed readiness to assist in further intensifying Armenia-Kazakhstan inter-parliamentary ties highlighting the role of parliamentary friendship groups in this regard.

The Armenian Parliament Speaker attached importance to the high level of political dialogue between both countries and the significance of bilateral visits in the development of relations.

In this context Ara Babloyan wished good luck on holding Astana EXPO-2017, the opening ceremony of which was also attended by Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan.

Speaker Babloyan congratulated Kazakhstan on its membership to the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member and expressed hope the two countries will continue the constructive cooperation both in the UN and other international and regional organizations.

Coming to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Babloyan said he expects the balanced stance of the Kazakh side on this issue in accordance with the stance of the OSCE Minsk Group.

He also invited Nurlan Nigmatulin to Armenia.

In his turn Chairman of the Mazhilis Nurlan Nigmatulin congratulated Ara Babloyan on his election and said the parliamentary cooperation between Armenia and Kazakhstan is at a high level. He noted that there is a need to further boost cooperation in cultural, economic and educational spheres since all preconditions exist for that.

The Speaker of Mazhilis added that the two countries have obvious similarities in governance sphere as a result of the recent constitutional changes in Kazakhstan. Mr. Nigmatulin also invited Speaker Babloyan to visit Kazakhstan.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. On June 26, pilots of jets and helicopters of the Armenian Air Force displayed their flying skills and maneuvers in the skies, as today marks the 25th anniversary of formation of the Armenian Air Force, the air defense forces and the electronic warfare divisions.

The aerobatic show was held in Yerevans Erebuni airbase.

Photos by Mkhitar Khachatryan

Pilots displayed their skills above the skies of Yerevan, maneuvering their gunships to the awe of the spectators, which was followed by search & rescue and paratroopers parachuting down.

Armenias defense minister Vigen Sargsyan congratulated the troops on the celebration, and said that the air force is the source of pride and inspiration for all peoples of the world who have their own armed forces and military traditions, as well as the symbol of defense, battle-worthiness and power of the country.

In his words, the anniversary of the Armenian Air Force has an honored and unique place in the military calendar.

This is a unique celebration, which is an occasion to take a look back, re-appreciate the Armenian air forces path, which was created in the difficult days of war, value our achievements and define a new threshold for reaching even more significant achievements. This holiday also draws the attention of our entire society on the people, due to the daily hard work of whom the Armenian aviation was forms, the minister said, wishing peaceful skies, inexhaustible energy and continuous achievements.

According to the minister, when speaking about the Armenian Air Force, it is impossible not to remember the veterans, who are retired but still spare no efforts in keeping the honor of the force high.

Sargsyan said that it is due to the efforts of these people, their superiors and friends that the vein nourishing military aviation  the Armenak Khamperyants military aviation university  was created.

I am proud that the university can be called a research university, because today the devices designed and created there are equipping the Armed Forces. We await their fresh ideas with hope and faith, which will give birth to new achievements of the Air Force, he said.

Lt. General Movses Hakobyan, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces reassured that the Air Force staff is well trained.

The Armenian Air Force was formed simultaneously with the Army. The results which we saw from our pilots prove that we have a well trained staff ready to assist the other branches of the Armed Forces, he said.

The Armenian Air Force was created in 1992.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Former MP of Israels Parliament Alexander Tsinker, founder of Israel-Armenia parliamentary friendship group, is in Armenia in order to discuss the preparation works of new Armenian-Israeli public forum, reports Armenpress.

Last year a platform was formed with participation of former chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs of Armenia Artak-Zakaryan and Knesset Vice Speaker Tali Ploskov which must have served for implementation of joint programs, business investments, technological development opportunities, as well as cultural dialogue in both countries through the engagement of concerned persons.

Co-founder of the forum from the Armenian side, Armenian military diplomat, founder of the National Defense Research University (NDRU) Hayk Kotanjyan said two years before the discussions on holding the forum were being held which eventually resulted in its implementation.

In accordance with the agreement of heads of inter-parliamentary friendship groups we made a decision to create a non-political platform which will accompany the activity of these groups and will prepare basis for the cooperation of specialists and professional organizations of the two states. It was necessary to legitimize this platform, and heads of the groups approved the creation of the forum with a protocol at the joint session, Hayk Kotanjyan said.

Co-founder of the forum Alexander Tsinker said the first Armenian-Israeli friendship group has been formed by him in 1999, and holding such public forum pursued another goal that regardless of parliamentary elections, the changing staff of lawmakers, the forum will continue its activity instead of starting it every time from zero. The vivid example of this is that head of the friendship group Artak Zakaryan has been transferred to a new post, as Deputy Defense Minister, and now Gagik Minasyan will replace him, he said.

A group of journalists from Israel also arrived in Armenia who toured Armenias beautiful sites.

As on May 19 Yerevan-Tel Aviv flight launched, and unfortunately this was not circulated at the information platform, thus we decided to deal with this issue. I met also with President of the State Tourism Committee Zarmine Zeytuntsyan who wanted to again meet with us to discuss tourism-related issues. It is possible one of the Israeli companies may deal with tourism PR in Armenia, he said.

Alexander Tsinker informed that the first session of the forum will be probably held on September 10-13, and for that purpose Knesset Vice Speaker Tali Ploskov and group of MPs, as well as businessmen will arrive in Armenia.

The delegation of Israels Minister of Regional Cooperation will arrive in Armenia in July.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Vache Gabrielyan, Vice-PM and minister of international economic intergration and reforms finds Armenias membership to the Eurasian Economic Union to be beneficial for the country.

During a press briefing in the Parliament Mr. Gabirelyan stressed that the government has carried out comparable analysis on one hand between EEU member Armenia, and on the other hand Georgia and Moldova  which are in the Euro association process  to evaluate probable effects.

We evaluated the countries which passed EU Association  Georgia and Moldova. I think overall the EEU membership is positive for us. In terms of the financial flows we receive more than we give, he said.

In his words, prior to joining the EEU, Armenia was trading with Russia, whereas after joining the Union several advantages were granted. Now we are within the same union, which resulted in facilitated customs procedures, customs duties have decreased. The World Bank says in terms of the Doing Business index we had commercial conditions improvement, which relates to the improvement of the very customs conditions, he said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Former member of the Israeli Knesset, founder of Israel-Armenia parliamentary friendship group Alexander Tsinker, who has arrived in Armenia to discuss the ongoing works of the newly established Armenian-Israeli social forum, feels in Armenia like at home every time he arrives in Armenia. The former Knesset member has lived in Yerevan for 28 years and now he assures  todays Yerevan has changed.

When arrive at Zvartnots I remember the years when I went on business trips and then returned to Armenia I felt that I am coming home. Last time I was in Armenia in 2006, and I can say that much has changed during these 11 years. Now Yerevan seems to be a holiday-city. I have the impression that people who have arrived in Armenia with me have come here not with me, but to me, Armenpress reports Tsinker told the reporters.

Alexander Tsinker noted that Armenia has some problems and Israel is ready to present its experience, for instance, its fight against emigration. We should do so that people do not abandon Armenia, but vice the versa, they should come back. Israel does a lot in this direction, he said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. In their opening speeches at the summer session of the PACE all the political groups of Europe announced that the current President of the PACE Pedro Agramunt does not enjoy any trust and has to step down, member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, member of the National Assembly of Armenia Naira Zohrabyan told Armenpress.

A corresponding draft will be put to the vote tomorrow, which suggests amendment of the PACE Charter, according to which recall mechanism will be established. Interestingly, during these years no recall mechanism has been in force for the PACE President or Secretary General. Here there are already two aspects  the moral one, meaning will Pedro Agramunt have the morality to step down, if not the legal aspect will come into force, she said.

Naira Zohrabyan noted that when it comes to Pedro Agramunt, there is no sense in talking about resignation, since the impression of the long discussions on his issue this morning is that he has chosen the most humiliating option for him.

Everyone talked about corruption in the PACE, distrust towards Agramunt, but he seems to have chosen after me the deluge option. He knows he is under veto, he has no right to chair PACE sessions, or make any expenditure from the budget, but he prefers to prolong this process of humiliation, trying to discredit the PACE in this way, Zohrabyan said.

Earlier it became known that one of the 5 main political groups of the PACE, the European People's Party (EPP) gave a vote of no confidence to PACE President Pedro Agramunt by majority of votes on June 26.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Number of tourists visiting Artsakh rose by 42% in April 2017 against the same period of 2016, while in May this number rose by 222% against May, 2016, Armenpress reports advisor to the President of Artsakh Tigran Abrahamyan informs.

As it could be predicted, this progressive pace of growth in the tourism sphere is fostered by the construction of Vardenis-Martakert road, the economic influence of which has been mainly reflected in the tourism sphere. I want to also note that in the first quarter of this year 10% growth in the sphere has been recorded against the same period of 2016, Abrahamyan posted on his Facebook page.
The Sifting and Winnowing plaque mounted on the front of Bascom Hall on the UW-Madison campus.
ZWAAGDIJK, The NetherlandsEropartner announced it now has the top-selling Bnaughty Deluxe from boutique brand B Swish in stock and ready for shipment.

The Naughty Deluxe has been updated and improved for 2017 with new colors, better materials, a stronger motor and more intuitive features.

The Bnaughty Deluxe is a pleasure trove with its silky bullet boasting six powerful and quiet functions long with a compact and ergonomic remote controller with easy-to-use backlight controls.

With a classically styled silicone bullet with tapered smooth ridges, the size and shape of the bullet rests against the users sensitive areas perfectly. A new, stronger motor is better than ever for all kinds of external stimulation. The 6-functions are cycled through the click of a button on the ergonomically designed remote, now with a luxurious softtouch grip, and is lit up by a red light for easy play in the dark.

The Bnaughty Deluxe is conveniently powered by two AAA batteries, which are now easier and faster to access thanks to a one-touch battery eject button. As a member of B Swishs Deluxe Line of personal massagers, the Bnaughty Deluxe arrives in sleek packaging and is available in three new sexy colors: Raspberry, Royal Purple and Black. A velvety pouch is also included, perfect for storage and travel.

For more, visit Eropartner.com.
BROOMFIELD, Colo.Eldorado Trading Company has partnered with adult pleasure products manufacturer Shibari and intimate cosmetic brand Shunga to bring their products to Eldorado customers.

We are happy to bring the Shibari line back to Eldorado customers. When Eldorado previously carried the line it was a consistent top seller, said Eldorado Director of Purchasing Jon Vogt. Shunga has been a strong brand in the industry with distinctive packaging and products. We are excited to be able to offer it to our customers.

Shibari, makers of the iconic Shibari Wand, offers quality, affordability and innovation to customers. In addition to wands, the Shibari line consists of wand attachments, vibes and Kegel balls to name a few. Shibari strives to create quality products at affordable prices for everyone to enjoy.

Shunga first started in 1988 in Montreal, Canada, as a high-end cosmetic company. Twelve years later the company decided to launch a new brand of intimate cosmetic products and Shunga Erotic Art was born with the idea that making love is an art. Shungas product offering includes aphrodisiac oils, edible body powders, love-enticing balms, sensual massage oils and cream, stimulants, lubricants and more. Shunga is known for the sleek lines and erotic Japanese art on their packaging. The award-winning line has won fourteen industry awards including the 2015 Sign Magazine Award for Best Wellness Products. All of Shungas products are 100 percent made in Canada.

Shibari and Shunga products are now in stock and shipping. To learn more about what products Eldorado carries from these two manufacturers or to place an order, call (800) 525-0848, email [email protected] or visit Eldorado.net.
MANHATTANThe Romantic Depot announced its grand opening of its newest location, the first in upper Manhattan, at 3418 Broadway in Harlem.

Romantic Depot Manhattan sex shop boasts 3,200 square feet at Broadway at 139th Street, and stocks more than 100,000 romantic items, including sexy lingerie, sex toys, shoes, adult toys, flavored lubricants, games, gag gifts, bachelorette gifts, BDSM toys, bondage restraints, fetish toys, and even a state-of-the-art smoke shop.

Romantic Depot Manhattan is focused on providing a clean, safe and comfortable shopping experience and has expanded its huge line of lingerie for both men and women.

Romantic Depot decided on opening uptown, in Harlem becauseas per their general manager and spokeswoman Erin Anistonquite frankly there were very few options for couples and singles uptown to buy a piece of sexy lingerie and literally no place you could even buy a vibrator, other than in pharmacies that do not have a very good selections.

We focus our efforts to ensure our stores are well lit, clean and our sales associates are put through rigorous training to ensure our customer service is friendly and informative, Aniston added. We are most well known for having our stores extremely well stocked with the newest and deepest inventory selection of erotic toys in the New York area with customer service being a priority. Romantic Depot has over six stores and collectively has over 3,000 Google and Yelp reviews with a nearly perfect 5 star rating.

Romantic Depot Manhattan vibrator store and adult toy shop is also offering monthly free sex-ed workshops which focus on community related issues like, practicing safe sex, the proper use of sexual wellness products and how to teach parents how to prevent children from accessing pornography and violence on the internet.

Romantic Depot was founded in 2000 in West Nyack, N.Y., with a focus on creating a comfortable and inviting store environment catering to women and couples.

Romantic Depot Sex Stores immediate future plans are focusing on expanding to Queens and Brooklyn to join existing locations, in the Bronx, Elmsford in Westchester County, West Nyack in Rockland County and Paramus and Lodi in Bergen County.

Romantic Depot Manhattan vibrator store and adult toy shop is making a special offer during its grand opening, offering New Yorkers 20 percent off reward cards for free, as well as offering a free gift to anyone who walks through the door during the grand opening.

For more info and directions, visit RomanticDepot.com.
The Democrat leadership has made constant, profound and incredible pronouncements that one's supportive vote for Republicans is tantamount to surrendering Democracy forever. Understanding their sincere thinking in their extreme position: How will you still vote on this election day?

Democrat; because the continuance of this Democracy from the existential threat of extreme Republicans is paramount.

Republican; the process of having a choice is the democratic method within what so called "Democracy" does exists.
With House and Senate passing General Fund budget by veto-proof margins, $23 billion spending measure now in Cooper's hands

A 10 percent average pay increase for teachers over the next two years.

Returning more money to taxpayers by cutting taxes for middle-class families and small businesses.

Exceeding Cooper's $300 million appropriation to the state Rainy Day Fund by an additional $63 million, and matching his$100 million request for disaster relief from Hurricane Matthew.

Adding more pre-Kindergarten slots to the budget; the bipartisan budget increases them by 3,525, eliminating 75 percent of the waitlist for at-risk children.

Surpassing one-time bonus for state retirees the governor requested with a recurring cost-of-living-adjustment.

Meeting the governor's demand to fund opioid and substance abuse treatment statewide.



Senate leader Phil Berger (at podium) and House Speaker Tim Moore (at left), along with other legislative leaders, urge Gov. Roy Cooper to sign the 2017-19 General Fund budget at a Thursday news conference. (CJ photo by Don Carrington)

Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, used Gov. Roy Cooper's own words to urge him to sign a $23 billion General Fund budget, reminding him the N.C. Constitution gives more power to the General Assembly than the executive branch.Flanked by large posters - one with quotes by Cooper citing his priorities, and another with green checkmarks showing they were included in budget - Berger and Moore noted at a Thursday news conference that nearly 70 percent of the legislators, a veto-proof margin, passed a budget in line with the major items Cooper desired.Berger said.He noted the legislature's budget mirrors the governor's, and spends 2 percent less, although Cooper called itCooperBerger said. He accused the governor of "playing to the extreme left-wing" of the Democratic Party.and honor the pledges he made to North Carolinians, Berger said.If he does not sign theBerger warned,The Senate gave final approval Wednesday to the budget conference report by a 39-11 margin. The House on Thursday backed the budget by a 77-38 vote.Cooper spokesman Ford Porter responded by echoing Cooper's earlier accusations that legislative Republicans are giving more tax breaks to the wealthy, and shortchanging education, the economy, and middle class families.Porter said in the statement.Porter said.Moore also cautioned Cooper not to veto the budget. He cited many of the same provisions as Berger that satisfy Cooper's budget demands:Moore noted that in 2011, when the GOP took majority control of the General Assembly, the state was $2 billion in debt, and now has $1.8 billion in reserve savings, a nearly $4 billion swing.He said with hard work, and by setting priorities, the state's fiscal fortunes have rebounded.Tax cuts and wise economic development programming have put North Carolina in a position where it is now negotiating with a major company that could bring 8,600 jobs to the state, Moore said.He did not name the industry or the company, though he did mention the jobs boom created when BMW built a vehicle manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, S.C. When asked for a timeline on a potential deal, he said it would be this year.in the budget, Moore said.But raising the standard deduction helps the working poor the most, he said. Currently a married couple earning $17,500 pays no state income taxes. In 2018, a married couple earning $20,000 or less would not pay any tax. That change affects roughly 95,000 state residents.Moore said.During a question-and-answer session, the lawmakers were asked about budget cuts to the Attorney General's Office that Attorney General Josh Stein said were draconian, and would make the state less safe.Berger said.The attorney general's client is the state of North Carolina, and in many respects that means its elected representatives, he said. "There have been instances where the attorney general seems to believe that is not his job," Berger said.The agency's budget was reviewed closely, and the funding levelBerger said.The budget also directs Cooper not to hire outside counsel without express approval and funding from the General Assembly.Berger said. If the governor wants to sue the state he should use private funds, and Berger said he was confident Cooper could getMoore chided Cooper for challenging so many legislative policy decisions in court.to change the balance of power, Moore said.Berger said the difference with the legislature using tax dollars to hire outside attorneys is that lawmakers are defending state actions, not trying to overturn state laws.
Landowner's widow says notary did not witness lease she and late husband signed



An artist rendering of solar panels overlaying a CJ aerial photograph of the Respess property surrounding the Terra Ceia Christian School. (CJ graphic)

Gertrude Respess claims Wilkinson Solar, and its parent company Invenergy Solar Development, last year took advantage of her dying husband Rhonda to obtain farmland for a large solar installation in Beaufort County.Gertrude's attorney Mario Perez also says a notarized statement filed with the Beaufort County Register of Deeds was not true, because the notary was not present when Rhonda and Gertrude Respess signed the memo authorizing the lease and an easement on their property.Perez says Gertrude has asked the company to cancel the lease, which could delay or kill the 74-megawatt solar project.Last July, Invenergy contractor April Montgomery persuaded the Respesses to sign a lease for control of their 237-acre tract of farmland surrounding Terra Ceia Christian School in Beaufort County, east of Washington. Rhonda Respess died Oct. 16.Perez sent a letter dated June 6 to Invenergy contractor April Montgomery asking the lease to be canceled.The letter states that when Rhonda signed the documents, he had known for several months he was dying of cancer.the letter said.As for the lease, Gertrude said no notary was present at signing, Perez told Carolina Journal.He said Gertrude would return any money she has received from the lease. She does not want the solar facility and "wants a return to the status quo," the letter said.Wilkinson Solar formerly launched the project on March 13 of this year when it applied to the North Carolina Utilities Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to construct a 74-MW solar facility, covering approximately 600 acres. The commission has conducted public hearings but has not yet approved the project.A document titled "Memorandum of Solar Lease and Easement Agreement" recorded Oct. 11, 2016 with the Beaufort County Register of Deeds contains the signatures of Gertrude Respess and Rhonda Berl Respess. On a separate page, Lee County notary public Sarah Kerns affirmed those signatures. Kerns stated that on July 22, Rhonda Berl Respess and Gertrude Respess personally came before her and executed the document.Gertrude Respess maintains no notary was present. She said April Montgomery was the only Invenergy representative present when she and her husband signed documents.According to her LinkedIn page, Sarah Kerns was employed in 2016 as a planning manager for REAP (renewable energy and preservation), a Sanford-based consulting company Montgomery owns.Kerns' job duties included theKerns left that job at the end of 2016. She now works for the City of Dayton, Ohio. CJ telephoned Kerns June 20 to discuss the document she notarized. She asked CJ to email her a copy for review. Along with the document, CJ asked her if the Respesses appeared before her on July 22, 2016. Kerns did not respond to multiple phone messages.Later that day, she sent an email directing further questions to Invenergy, but the email did not answer the question, "Did they appear before you?" Instead, Kerns said, "The document was notarized July 22, 2016."The following day Kerns made a harassment claim to the local police department naming the CJ reporter. A police officer contacted the reporter, who said he believed Kerns may be involved in a crime related to her role as a notary public. (See Police Report .)CJ contacted Invenergy Senior Analyst Ryan Van Portfliet, an employee working with Montgomery on the Wilkinson project, for comment. He said he would look into the notary issue but had not responded at press time.The North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State Notary Public Section regulates and defines state policy for notaries public, educating, testing, qualifying, and commissioning them.Notaries public acknowledge signatures, administer oaths and affirmations, and verify or prove signatures.By state law, it is a Class 1 misdemeanor if a notary "Takes an acknowledgement of administers an oath or affirmation without the principal appearing in person before the notary." It's a Class 1 felony if a notary "Takes an acknowledgment or administers an oath or affirmation without the principal appearing in person before the notary if the notary does so with the intent to commit fraud."Notary complaints can be filed with the Secretary of State online at http://www.sosnc.gov/tip/
Student loan debt, now totaling roughly $1.3 trillion, is the second largest source of debt in the United States. This is especially concerning given that there are presently eight million people in default on their student loans.Under federal law, colleges, especially those with open enrollment such as two-year technical schools, face severe consequences if, for three consecutive years, 30 percent of student borrowers default on their loans.If that happens, colleges risk losing all federal funding, including Pell Grant money, a major income source for two-year schools.To avoid having Pell Grant funding withdrawn, many of North Carolina's community colleges, for example, have stopped participating in student loan programs altogether. A majority of the state's 58 community colleges have opted out.Leaving federal loan programs is the only option many colleges have to protect their Pell Grant eligibility. That's because another option-minimizing default risk on the front end of the financial aid process-is not open to them.For example, it is illegal for colleges to weigh factors such as a student's program of study or borrowing history to determine loan amounts, even if school officials may doubt the student's ability to make loan repayments in the future.Some organizations, such as the National Association of Student Financial Aid and Administrators (NASFAA) have criticized this law.NASFAA proposes that colleges should be allowed to limit loans on the basis of students' borrowing history, academic records, and intended majors.The U.S. Department of Education in 2011 began an initiative allowing participating colleges to limit student loans in ways similar to those NASFAA suggests. However, the experiment, which includes just 24 colleges, is scheduled to end this month because, according to the Department, there is insufficient evidence it has been effective.This is likely welcome news to New America, a think tank in Washington, D.C. It published a report in May arguing that limiting loans for students at risk of default is not a reasonable option. The report suggests that allowing colleges to limit loan amounts also would limit access to higher education, especially for low-income students.New America argues that loans provide important financial support beyond tuition, and that students who struggle to cover basic living needs are more likely to drop out of school and eventually default on any loans that they may already have taken out.Of course, some low-income students do rely on federal loans to make up for living costs. However, New America paints an overly broad picture.Perhaps not offering any federal loans would be detrimental to low-income students. But it's not the case that limiting student loans after weighing factors such as academic history, cumulative debt, or intended program of study would somehow unfairly target them.Besides, the current system, which awards loans on an almost no-questions-asked basis, is rather extreme. It seems reasonable to expect that colleges should have at least some control over their students' borrowing practices.As mentioned earlier, schools have legitimate reasons for limiting student loans, and community colleges in particular have a good reason for doing so.For example, Jeff Lowrance, public information officer and special assistant to the president at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in Charlotte, said in a Martin Center interview that his college pulled out of the federal loan program because the possibility of losing the Pell Grant was "too big of a risk."Lowrance noted that out of the roughly 20,000 students at CPCC, over 11,000 relied on the Pell Grant in the 2014-2015 academic year. "You can imagine how crippling that would be if we lost our ability to offer Pell Grants," he said.Mitchell Community College (MCC), also in North Carolina, does not participate in the federal loan program for similar reasons.Jeremi Watkins, a financial aid specialist there, said in an interview that MCC decided to not offer federal loans because "students in a community college setting tend to default more [often]." Watkins also emphasized that most students at his college already had their financial needs met by the Pell Grant.Indeed, in North Carolina and across the country, many low-income students, especially those at community colleges, rely on such grants to fund tuition and other expenses.The U.S. Department of Education reported that, in the 2012-2013 academic year, more than three million community college students received Pell Grant money. The funds allowed them to "pay for tuition, books, transportation, and living expenses."When faced with the prospect of losing Pell Grant eligibility, it makes sense that many community colleges, such as Central Piedmont and Mitchell Community College, would want to stop participating in federal loan programs. This is a reasonable policy for financial aid departments to adopt given the limited options they currently have.But colleges should not have to choose between protecting the Pell Grant and offering loans to students who may benefit from them, even if at community colleges those students are few and far between. As the New America report notes, there are some low-income students for whom loans might be required if they are to complete coursework.Still, there needs to be a mechanism to ensure responsible borrowing. The growing problem of student loan defaults shows that the current system is not encouraging responsible borrowing, and creating negative unintended consequences for students and colleges.Penalizing schools for high student loan default rates is sensible, but only if they are given flexibility to try to stop the problem before it arises.
Strategic Directions | Feature

USD Voice: Changing the Conversation with Students

A Q&A with Chris Wessells

At the University of San Diego, developers are working on an incubator project that allows students to "talk" with the university, in their own voices and with their own choice of words. The program, called USD Voice, is fully operational and currently lets students conduct day-to-day business, from questions about events on campus, to directory information and campus locations and hours.

The system is much more than a hierarchy of responses based on voice command recognition  it uses natural language processing to analyze queries and consult appropriate data sources. USD Voice is still in Version 1.0, and developers are experimenting with a variety of information applications. They are also examining their options for leveraging technology development and tools already appearing in the marketplace  technology emerging from companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple.

Here, Vice Provost and Chief Information Officer Christopher W. Wessells explores how USD Voice is enhancing his institution's communications with students.

"I absolutely think we are headed toward the integration of natural language processing with teaching and learning practice in higher education."  Chris Wessells

Mary Grush: Have many universities explored natural language processing for their communications with students and other constituencies? How did your institution get started with USD Voice?

Chris Wessells: I'm sure there are other universities experimenting with natural language processing in various contexts, but USD Voice is the first project we know of that applies this technology to the day-to-day events and business of the university.

USD Voice is one of the areas where we are investing in experimentation with new technologies. I view Voice as an incubator project: The underlying premise is that natural language processing will help people interact expeditiously with the university, to get information in a simple way  information that is highly relevant for them.

Grush: Is your work with USD Voice foreshadowing a trend in computing applications?

Wessells: We believe that, looking to our future, there will be a range of devices and services available on the Internet of Things that support this type of information processing  for example, technologies similar to Amazon Echo, or Google Home, or Apple's Siri, and others that are already available.

Grush: What will this type of technology do for people?

Wessells: It will allow people to get information quickly  information that's relevant to their immediate or future needs. The simple task of asking questions and receiving answers is a way to advance the speed and ease by which we gain information. It simplifies and streamlines queries.

Grush: Where are you in your experimentation or development with USD Voice?

Wessells: It is fully operational and deployed throughout campus. We began work on the project in early 2016 and launched Version 1.0 in the summer of 2016.

But for my IT organization, Version 1.0 is still an experiment, just in its infancy. As a development project, it has been successful thus far  especially if you consider that we already see many ways that it can be improved and have plans to follow up on those improvements.

Grush: Was USD Voice developed specifically for the students?

Wessells: Interestingly, no. Originally, we talked about USD Voice as a means of getting parents and alumni more engaged with activities on campus. But we quickly realized that there's also a big potential for students that we could explore. So, we looked at the implications for parents, alumni, off-campus students, our 2,500 residential students, and other constituent groups. Watching this project "take off" has been exciting.
Today we take a look at the Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto by Marrero Cigars. The company was founded by Joel Vazquez Marrero in 2014. To produce his cigars, Marrero works with the Tabacos de Costa Rica factory located in Costa Rica. Since launching, Marrero has built a portfolio of five brands, one of them being Tesoro Mio (translates to My Treasure). The Tesoro Mio line is Marreros Ecuadorian Connecticut offering. Marrero and Don Olman Guzman from Tabacos de Costa Rica took the Tesoro Mio blend and placed a barber-pole wrapper on both Ecuadorian Connecticut and Habano, and thus the Tesoro Mio Barberpole was born. The Tesoro Mio Barberpole was intended to be a limited seasonal release, but late last year Marrero made the decision to take it to regular production. Ive recently smoked the Tesoro Mio Barberpole in the Perfecto size. Overall, I found this to be another solid release out of Tabacos de Costa Rica.

Tabacos de Costa Rica is quietly becoming a factory on the rise. Over the past few years, releases from Bombay Tobak and LH Cigars have landed on the Cigar Coop Cigar of the Year Countdown. Brands such as Atabey, Byron, Brun del Re, Xiphos and Cuba Rica have also come out of this factory.

Without further ado, lets break down the Marrero Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

The blend to the Marrero Tesoro Mio Barberpole is a multi-national one. In addition to the Ecuadorian Connecticut and Habano barberpole, the blend is also highlighted by Peruvian tobacco, a tobacco used in many blends coming out of Tabacos de Costa Rica.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut/Habano

Binder: Ecuadorian Habano

Filler: Peruvian, Nicaraguan, Dominican

Country of Origin: Costa Rica (Tabacos de Costa Rica)

Vitolas Available

The Marrero Tesoro Mio Barberpole is offered in two sizes  each available in 20-count boxes

Perfecto: 5 x 52

Torpedo: 6 x 52

Appearance

The combination of the Ecuadorian Connecticut and Habano wrappers on the Marrero Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto deliver a nice contrast of light and medium brown colors. The seams on the barberpole are neatly arranged. The wrappers had a light coating of oil. While this cigar had some visible veins, it had a smooth surface. The footer is open with a small nozzle tip. There is a slight taper with a rounded cap at the tip of the cigar.

The band to the Marrero Tesoro Mio has a white background. The front of the band has a shield-like design with an image of a knight with the Costa Rican landscape in the background. Toward the top of the shield is the text MARRERO in gold arranged in a curved fashion. Toward the lower part of the band is a blue ribbon design with the text TESORO MIO in white font. The shield has gold trim with a crown on top. The remainder of the band has gold, blue, and gray design elements. On the left side of the band is the text COSTA RICA in blue font while the right side has the text PURA VIDA  also in blue font. The far right of the band has the text MARRERO CIGARS in landscape mode in blue font.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

I opted to go with a straight cut to remove the cap of the Marrero Tesoro Mio Barberpole. I used a regular straight cut as opposed to the Credo Special T cutter that I normally use for figurado vitola. I opted to make a thin cut to maximize the tapering of the perfecto. Once the cap was removed, I proceeded with the pre-light draw. On the cold draw, I detected notes of cream, coffee, and cedar. Overall, I considered this to be an excellent pre-light draw. At this point, I was ready to light up the Tesoro Mio Barberpole and see what the smoking experience would yield.

Flavor Profile

The Marrero Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto started out with notes of cream, coffee, and cedar. There also was a slight herbal note in the equation. As the cigar burned through the tapered nozzle, the cream notes remained primary with the other flavors in the background. Meanwhile, there was a mild cedar note on the retro-hale.

Once the Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto reached the main base of the cigar, the coffee notes emerged as the primary flavor. The cream notes joined the cedar and herbal notes in the background. As the cigar moved though the second third, the coffee notes remained in control. There was an increase in herbal notes and a decrease in the cream notes. Toward the second half, the cedar notes also increased in intensity on both the tongue and retro-hale.

By the last third of the Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto, the cedar notes displaced the coffee as the primary flavor. The herbal notes were a close secondary and the coffee notes were more distant. This is the way the Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto came to a close. The resulting nub was firm to touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

Construction-wise, the Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto is rock-solid, and this was reflected on the burn and draw. There was a slight curvature on the burn line early on, but then the cigar maintained a straight burn line and followed a straight burn path for the remainder of the smoke. The cigar had a firm ash with a salt and pepper color. The burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

I found the draw also to be excellent for a perfecto. The tapered area where I clipped a near-minimal amount of cap allowed for a smooth draw. This made the Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto to be an enjoyable cigar.

Strength and Body

The Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto started out dialed-back, but increases in intensity as the smoking experience progressed. The opening stages of this cigar started out with mild strength. By the time the cigar reached the midway point, the strength level increased to mild to medium and by the midway point it reached medium.

Meanwhile, the body started out mild to medium-bodied and by the second half moved into medium-bodied. While the strength and body were both medium in the second half, both attributes still increased in intensity, however neither reached medium to full range.

Overall, I found the body to maintain a slight edge over the strength  particularly in the second half.

Final Thoughts

Im a fan of barber-pole cigars, but many of them fall short in terms of expectations. This was not the case with the Marrero Tesoro Mio Barberpole Perfecto. While brands such as Camacho have released barber-pole figurados, this is still not a common format/vitola. I liked the perfecto format for this blend, and I liked the flavors produced. Its another example out of an excellent blend out of Tabacos de Costa Rica.

Given this is not a powerful cigar, this is a cigar I could recommend to a novice or experienced cigar enthusiast. At under $7.50 per cigar, its a nice value. Its a cigar Id smoke again  and its worthy of a box split.

Summary

Key Flavors: Coffee, Cream, Cedar, and Herbal Notes

Burn: Excellent

Draw: Excellent

Complexity: Medium

Strength: Medium

Body: Medium

Finish: Very Good

Rating

Assessment: 3.5-Box Split

Score: 90

References

News: Marrero Tesoro Mio Barberpole Becomes Regular Production Offering

Price: $7.65

Source: Marrero Cigars

Brand Reference: Marrero Cigars

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop

Note: Marrero Cigars using the spelling barberpole for this release.
MONDAY, June 26, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- "Genome sequencing" of healthy people reveals that some are at risk for rare genetic diseases, a new study shows.

And doctors need to be sensitive when revealing that information, the researchers said.

"Sequencing healthy individuals will inevitably reveal new findings for that individual, only some of which will have actual health implications," said study lead author Dr. Jason Vassy. He's a clinician investigator at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Vassy and his colleagues said they found "reassuring evidence" that doctors can be trained to manage their patients' sequencing results appropriately.

Moreover, "patients who receive their results are not likely to experience anxiety connected to those results," Vassy said in a hospital news release.

Whole genome sequencing entails analysis of the 3 billion pairs of letters in someone's DNA. Scientists anticipate the technology will usher in a new era of predicting and preventing disease, but how people will react to this personal information is a big question mark.

For this study, the researchers analyzed nearly 5,000 genes associated with rare genetic conditions in 50 healthy people. The investigators found that 11 of the people -- almost one-quarter -- had gene variants predicted to cause previously undiagnosed rare disease.

Two of those 11 patients had signs or symptoms of the underlying conditions. One had variants linked to an eye disease called fundus albipunctatus, which impairs night vision. The second had a variant associated with variegate porphyria, which explained the patient's mysterious rashes and sun sensitivity.

The other nine patients had no evidence of the diseases predicted by the genetic testing. For example, two patients had gene variants associated with heart rhythm abnormalities, but their hearts showed no signs of problems. It's possible, but not certain, that they could develop heart problems in the future, the study authors said.

As part of the study, the patients' primary care doctors were taught how to interpret a one-page report of their patients' genome testing results. They also had access to genetic specialists for consultation. The doctors then used their own judgment in deciding how to handle their patients' test results.

While the findings appear promising, "continued research on the outcomes of sequencing will be needed before the routine use of genome sequencing in the primary care of generally healthy adults can be medically justified," Vassy said.

Study co-author Dr. Heidi Rehm said the team was "surprised" to see how many ostensibly healthy individuals are carrying a risk variant for a rare genetic disease.

"This suggests that the potential burden of rare disease risk throughout our general population could be far higher than previously suspected," said Rehm, an associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School.

However, she said the likelihood that someone carrying one of these variants will eventually develop the disease is not fully known.

The study was published June 26 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

More information

The U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute has more on genetic testing.
Morva is Hungarian-American





The Hungarian Government and European Union are trying to stop the execution of a Virginia inmate.









Morva was convicted of killing Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputy, Corporal Eric Sutphin, and security guard Derrick McFarland during a prison escape in 2006.





His lawyers filed a clemency petition Tuesday.





They said jurors did not know Morva suffered from a severe mental illness.





His attorneys want to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole.





Both Hungary and the European Union have reached out to Governor McAuliffe to stop the execution.





According to the Mercy for Morva Group, he is a Hungarian-American dual national.

William Morva: "The trial experts lacked the complete picture," and that meant that the jury did, too

William Morva Morva was charged in 2005 in a series of botched robberies and burglaries. Morva was charged in 2005 in a series of botched robberies and burglaries.





In an attempted robbery, Morva, masked and carrying a shotgun, crept up to a convenience store, only to find the doors locked, then ran off and hid in woods - where police found him.





Jailed for a year while awaiting trial, Morva's mental health deteriorated. His mother did not bail him out, thinking that he would finally get psychological treatment.





Morva told his mother that he was dying, that someone was torturing him and intentionally withholding medical care - and with that mind-set, was convinced he had to flee.





"He believes anybody would have done exactly what he did," said Davison, the lawyer who has worked on Morva's appeals since 2009. The escape, she said, "was all part of this effort to save his life. He's incapable of seeing things any other way."





In August 2006, a deputy escorted Morva to the Montgomery Regional Hospital for minor injuries. In a bathroom, Morva knocked him unconscious and took his gun. Morva then shot McFarland, the unarmed hospital security guard, from 2 feet away as hospital colleagues watched in horror.





He killed Sutphin the next day as the deputy was on a wooded trail in the hunt for the fugitive. Morva shot Sutphin in the back of the head.





The jury that decided Morva's fate in 2008 heard from two doctors who diagnosed him with schizotypal personality disorder similar to schizophrenia. They noted his rigid thinking, odd behavior, and that Morva's maternal grandmother had been treated for schizophrenia in the 1950s. But the doctors told jurors that Morva was not delusional, an assessment his lawyers dispute - and a determination that later was rebutted by another doctor in what now is the key contention before McAuliffe.





Prosecutors portrayed Morva at trial as "extremely intelligent and extremely dangerous." The jury reviewed a letter Morva wrote to his mother 1 month after landing in jail, in which he promised to "kick an unarmed guard in the throat and then I will stomp him until he is as dead as I'll be."





Morva's lawyers acknowledged his horrible crimes but said Morva was "hurting the people that he thought would put him back in jail." The jury did not hear from Morva's mother, who said she wanted to testify to explain, not justify, his actions.





After 3 hours of deliberations, the jury imposed the death penalty.





Before the judge formally sentenced him to death, Morva, in his chance to address the court, called himself Nemo.





"I'm almost done. You may kill me, that's guaranteed. I can't fight. There's nothing more I can do. But there are others like me, and I hope you know that. And soon they're going to get together. They're going to sweep over your whole civilization and they're going to wipe these smiles off of your faces forever."





In the lengthy appeals process, a federal judge agreed to appoint a forensic psychiatrist to evaluate Morva.





By then, Davison and her colleagues had collected dozens of sworn statements. The trial experts, Davison said, had "lacked the complete picture," and that meant that the jury did, too.





High school classmates, roommates, relatives and co-workers swore to what they had observed up close and consistently in Morva during the years leading to the killings.





The new psychiatrist reviewed their statements and medical records and met with Morva in state prison in 2014.





She concluded that Morva's delusions began years before the murders and recommended antipsychotic medication.





Morva's appeals were restricted to narrow legal questions about his trial. The appeals courts could not take up the question of whether Morva was mentally ill when he killed McFarland and Sutphin.





"That's what the governor can do," Davison said. "The governor is his last hope."





It has been years since Morva accepted in-person visits from his lawyers and his mother.





He insists they are part of the conspiracy to kill him.





Long before Morva committed the murders, there were signs that he was not well. In his senior year at Blacksburg High School, Morva's parents moved back to the Richmond area, where his father had worked in engineering. Morva stayed behind but dropped out of school weeks before graduation.





In Blacksburg, he walked barefoot in winter and sometimes slept in the Jefferson National Forest, buried in piles of leaves. He was known at the local coffee shop for diatribes about politics and religion, and confided in family and close friends about what he said were special powers he possessed to fix the world's problems.





Morva's early encounters with police came in 2002 when he was 20. Friends say their free-spirited, compassionate classmate who had been active in Amnesty International became consumed by unusual eating patterns - large amounts of raw meat, nuts and pine cones - and spent hours in the bathroom.





In August 2002, Virginia Tech police found Morva after 9 p.m. half-naked on the floor of a women's bathroom on campus. Officers turned him over to the Blackburg police and called Elizabeth Morva.





"They said, 'Ma'am he's not normal.' I said, I'm beginning to realize that. And they said, 'Ma'am your son needs help.'"





Morva's mother, a classroom aide for special-education students, declined to be interviewed for this story. Her statements are drawn from transcripts of Morva's robbery trial and sworn written statements she submitted for her son's appeals.





At the time of his 2002 arrest, Morva's mother tried to get him help.





She asked police for a temporary detention order to force an evaluation.





But by then, Morva had calmed down and police said a detention order was not needed. Morva was instead charged with trespassing, released and banned from the university campus.





In the years that followed, Morva worked briefly at a hair salon, in construction and as a waiter. And at his father's funeral in early 2004, he showed up barefoot and disheveled.





At dinner with his mother soon after the funeral, Morva lectured loudly about the plight of indigenous people. He was in training, he told her, to live in the wild and fight on behalf of Native Americans.





Elizabeth Morva gently suggested her son see a therapist.





"His mind was not normal. His thoughts were not normal, they were disconnected," she said.





The next year, those undiagnosed, untreated problems landed Morva in jail, his supporters say.



AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Urgent Action



William Morva, a 35-year-old US-Hungarian national, is due to be executed in Virginia on 6 July. A psychiatrist has diagnosed him with delusional disorder, and concluded that this contributed to the crimes for which he was sentenced to death. The jury was not told that he had this serious mental disability.

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:



* Calling for commutation of William Morvas death sentence and medical care for his mental disability;

* Noting the diagnosis of delusional disorder, but that the jurors were told he had a less serious mental disability and did not experience delusions, denying them a full picture of who they were being asked to sentence;

* Explaining that you are not seeking to downplay the seriousness of violent crime or its consequences.













Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of forwarding this one!

Contact below official by 6 July, 2017 (by 22 June if possible, in case of early decision):

Governor Terry McAuliffe,

Common Ground for Virginia

P.O. Box 1475, Richmond,

VA 23218, USA



Phone: +1 804-786-2211 | Fax: +1 804-371-6531

Email (via website): (via website): https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office/ Twitter: @TerryMcAuliffe



Salutation: Dear Governor



Note: The Governors contact form requires a US-based address and telephone number in order to submit an appeal. We encourage you to use the comment form on their website, and if you are based outside of the US, to instead use AI USAs New York contact details as your address/telephone number:

Amnesty International USA New York Office

5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY, 10001, USA

Phone: 212.633.4187 Governor Terry McAuliffe,Common Ground for VirginiaP.O. Box 1475, Richmond,VA 23218, USA: +1 804-786-2211 | Fax: +1 804-371-6531Salutation: Dear GovernorAmnesty International USA New York Office5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY, 10001, USAPhone: 212.633.4187





 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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: WSLS news, June 24, 2017: The Washington Post, Ann E. Marimow, June 24, 2017
SOUTH DAKOTA - The Pennington County Public Defender's Office is asking the county for about $350,000 to help defend a man facing the death penalty for the alleged murder of his ex-girlfriend.





The Rapid City Journal reports that the extra costs in Jonathon Klinetobe's case involve expert evaluations, travel expenses and witness fees.





The 27-year-old Klinetobe, of Sturgis, is charged with first-degree murder for the stabbing death of Jessica Rehfeld.





Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Klinetobe and Richard Hirth, an alleged accomplice.





Eric Whitcher, director of the public defender's office, says it's a complex issue and death penalty cases are "extremely expensive."





He could not elaborate because of a judge's gag order.





Authorities say they believe Rehfeld's May 2015 death was a contract killing.





Her body was discovered last summer.

 | 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!

: Associated Press, June 25, 2017
Top U.S. officials recently met with their Chinese counterparts in Washington in the first session of the Diplomatic and Security Dialogue between the U.S. and China since it was created by Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump at Mar-a-la-go in April.

At a press briefing, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the discussions productive, dealing both with the possibility of expanding cooperation where the two countries have a shared security interest; and addressing issues where the United States and China have significant differences.

The security threat posed by North Koreas nuclear and ballistic missile program, which the United States regards as the most serious threat facing the nation, was a leading topic.

Secretary Tillerson said he emphasized to Chinese officials that they have a diplomatic responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on the [North Korean] regime if they want to prevent further escalation in the region.

Another frank exchange of views occurred over the South China Sea. The U.S. position remains unchanged, Secretary Tillerson said: We oppose changes to the status quothrough the militarization of outpostsand excessive maritime claims unsupported by international law, and we uphold the freedom of navigation and overflight.

He noted that China committed to resolve their disputes peacefully, and in accordance with recognized principles of international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

During the discussions, the two countries also decided to increase coordination to face the global threat posed by terrorism, and to work toward a long-term risk reduction effort between their militaries and government.

Lastly, the United States was clear about its determination to stand up for human rights and universal values. We will not be shy about raising our concerns about Chinas human rights record, Secretary Tillerson stated, adding that he had been direct and candid with the Chinese about the issue.

Secretary Tillerson said the action-items agreed to by the two countries during the Dialogue have set the foundation for additional areas of cooperation and have started the implementation of Presidents Trumps vision for constructive, results-oriented bilateral relations.
Never mind the hike. Where's the hammock?

A new poll about summer travel finds that the No. 1 thing Americans want to do on vacation is ... nothing.

Almost three-fourths of Americans say resting and relaxing is very or extremely important to them when they go on vacation, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Among those dreaming about kicking back is Yari Blanco of Brooklyn, New York, who recently tweeted, "Your girl needs a vacation. The kind where you lay by a crystal blue beach and nap in a hammock." Blanco, who's been busy working on a website she recently launched called TheGirlMob, hopes to squeeze in some relaxation time in July and maybe a trip later this year to Portugal.

A look at seven key findings from the survey:

1. STAYCATIONS AND UNPLUGGING

Interestingly, most Americans say staying home and doing nothing isn't ideal. Instead, they want a change of scenery. Of those who plan a summer vacation, 92 percent are going away and only 8 percent are making it a staycation. More than half of those polled said relaxing at home doesn't count as a real vacation.

How about unplugging?

Only 22 percent "completely disconnect" while on vacation. A third don't even try to get away from the internet and social media. Some of those surveyed  42 percent  say they dial back their time online a little.

Americans under 30 are the most plugged in. Just 13 percent say they're likely to completely disconnect on vacation.

But most Americans do avoid working on vacation. Sixty percent of workers say they don't check in with work at all when they're on vacation, while 32 percent say they work or check in with work a little. Eight percent may fall into the workaholic category: They work or check in with the office "a lot."

The term "bleisure" has been a buzzword recently in the travel industry, describing a combination of business and leisure travel. But most Americans (69 percent) don't consider extending a business trip to be a real vacation.

2. TOP VACATION ACTIVITIES

Sightseeing was ranked important by 55 percent of those surveyed, followed by experiencing local culture and cuisine (51 percent), visiting family (46 percent) and spending time in nature (45 percent).

But there's a gender gap. Shopping is more popular with women than men (22 percent versus 9 percent), and women also prioritize sightseeing (60 percent versus 49 percent) and visiting family (52 percent versus 40 percent) more than men.

3. AIRLINE REGULATIONS

Many Americans support more government regulations on airlines  perhaps a logical response to recent headlines over passengers being hauled off flights in disputes with airline staff. Six in 10 respondents want the government to regulate airline policies for bumping passengers and handling overbooked flights. Nearly half would like to see more regulation regarding flight delays and cancellations.

Shiva Rajagopal of Fort Lee, New Jersey, is among those supporting regulations to bar airlines from forcing people off flights. "I've had a couple of bad experiences being bumped out of flights," he said. Airlines shouldn't be able to do it "no matter what the compensation is," he said, because sometimes "you have to be in a particular place at a particular time."

4. TRAVELING COMPANIONS

The stereotypical image of families piling into a car for a summer trip isn't too far from reality. Among married couples, 87 percent vacation with their spouses. Among parents, 87 percent vacation with their kids. Three-fourths of vacationing parents will drive rather than fly.

Most vacationers, married or not, travel with others. Overall, 68 percent will travel with a spouse or significant other and 49 percent will travel with other relatives or friends. Just 14 percent of vacationers will travel solo, including about a quarter of unmarried travelers.

Sixty-one percent of vacationers say they'll drive, 31 percent will fly and 4 percent will cruise. Another 1 percent will go by train, 2 percent by bus.

5. TIME VERSUS MONEY

Half of the public expects to spend less than $1,000 for their summer holiday and half anticipate laying out more.

Time is the luxury most people desire. Nearly two-thirds of Americans would prefer a less extravagant vacation over a longer one.

6. LODGING

For accommodations, hotels and motels are most popular, used by 45 percent of summer vacationers. Another 22 percent will stay with friends or relatives. Rentals of homes, condos or apartments were the choice of 17 percent, while 9 percent will sleep in a tent, cabin or RV.

7. NON-VACATIONERS

The poll also found, in results released previously, that 43 percent of Americans won't take a summer vacation, with 49 percent of non-vacationers saying they can't afford it. Another 11 percent said they can't take time off from work, while 3 percent said they don't like to be away from work. The survey also found that 41 percent of working Americans do not get paid vacation time from their employers.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,022 adults was conducted May 10-14 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
Across South Sudan, Yemen, Nigeria, and Somalia, 20 million people are at risk for famine, said U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Speaking recently in New York at a UN Security Council Open Arria-Formula Meeting on the Risk of Famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and Northeast Nigeria, Ambassador Haley warned, In Nigeria, those who have liberated towns from Boko Haram have reportedly discovered people eating grass and bugs off the ground. In Yemen, families cannot afford to pay for the transportation of their starving children to the few treatment centers that are still open. In Somalia, some mothers are forced to walk more than a hundred miles with their crying children just to find a reliable source of food and water.

In Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen, and Somalia, she said, people are not dying from some natural disaster, but from something manmade: armed conflict.

Since last fall, the United States has given more than $1 billion in assistance to these four countries. In 2017, the United States has provided one quarter of the humanitarian funding for these countries, according to UN data. The United States will continue to lead in bringing together resources to help overcome this crisis. And, as we heard today, others are stepping up too, with the World Bank expanding its operations to include famine response for the first time. These funds provide food and clean water, specialized nutrition and medical care, shelter, education, protection, and other life-sustaining services.

Access, the Ambassador noted, remains a key obstacle. Because of war, food cannot reach the people who need it. In South Sudan, Yemen, and Nigeria, warring parties need to let the food in. In Somalia, the challenges caused by years of conflict with terrorist organizations are compounding the impact of a drought. So the answer to famine is not rocket science. The answer is that we must put pressure on armed groups to allow food into places that dont have it.

The U.S calls on the UN Security Council to hold all governments accountable when they refuse to allow access to help their people in need. The longer we wait to act, said Ambassador Haley, the higher the cost.
The African Union is an indispensable partner to both America and the United Nations in promoting peace and security to Africa, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

Speaking at a UN Security Council Briefing on UN-AU Cooperation on June 15th, Ambassador Haley remarked, The African Union has a unique capacity to anticipate crises, mediate conflicts, and deploy troops and police on short notice. They do this, moreover, in some of the most challenging environments in the world. We applaud the increasing leadership the AU has exercised in contributing to peace operations and battling terrorist and insurgent groups.

In Somalia, she noted, the AU quickly deployed to provide security for a fledgling government in 2007. A decade later, thanks to the bravery and courage of the AMISOM troop- and police-contributing countries, Somalia is on a gradual path toward stability and peace.

In Darfur, the AU partnered with the UN to stabilize a complex conflict, and across the continent, the AU is partnering with sub-regional organizations and countries to respond to emerging and complex threats, from tense electoral transitions in West Africa to Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin.

Progress has been made but better cooperation is needed in planning operations, she said.

We welcome the AUs efforts to put in place effective mechanisms to respect human rights in all of its missions, she noted. This will require the creation of rigorous procedures for screening and selection of troops and police, followed by training and monitoring of personnel. Violations and abuses must be reported and independently investigated. Perpetrators must be held accountable. On this, there will be no compromise.

The men and women who plan and conduct peace operations are given a great responsibility, said Ambassador Haley. People in the most vulnerable of situations rely on them for their safety  often for their lives. It is essential that we get this right.
Emerging reports suggest that the Nigerian movie industry has yet again lost another veteran actor in the person of Victor Eze.

CKN Nigerian reports that the veteran actor reportedly died after a brief illness.

It is still unclear what ailed the actor, but details from CKN Nigeria claims his death has been confirmed by the former President of Actors Guild of Nigeria, Mr Segun Arinze.

Victor Eze was famous for his roles in numerous movies and dance productions, but most especially for his role as Alika in epic series, Fuji House of Commotion.

READ ALSO: Top 19 quotes in photos: It is time to Negotiate with Kanu, there is no Nigeria without Igbos

Former Big Brother Naija housemate, Thin Tall Tony, has taken to his Instagram to mourn the actor. He wrote:

Victor Eze's death is coming after Nollywood lost one of its own Veteran Actress, Moji Olaiya, who died in Canada few months after she gave birth.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

In a similar vein, the supreme pastor of Liberation Church, Lagos, Pastor Chris Okafor gifted Nollywood ailing actors N3.5 million on Sunday, January 29, 2017.

The pastor presented a cheque of N3.5 million to the Save Nollywood Actors Foundation (SNAF) team led by actress Ejiro Okurame to take care of sick among them.

The cheque was issued during a special service for ailing Nollywood actors many of who attended the service for special prayer.

Check out below the video from late Moji Olaiya's funeral in Lagos:

Source: Legit.ng
The packaged food industry is being forced to make big changes with the evolving world economy. Many big brands have invested in major adjustments to stay competitive. Meanwhile, companies that arent changing fast enough are having to answer to activist investors.

The center-store grocery game is changing. (Flickr / Chris Waits)

Dan Loeb and his hedge fund Third Point just announced a new $3.5 billion stake in Nestle SA. In a letter to investors on Sunday, Loeb specifically pointed to Nestles inability to adjust to a lower growth world. In other words, the Nestle business model hasnt adjusted for a lower growth reality for the sector, something peers have wised up to.

Nestle is $260 billion business which makes it the largest food company in the world. It has its hands in everything from candy and infant formula to coffee, pet food and bottled water.

While its peers have adapted to this lower growth world, Nestle has remained stuck in its old ways, Loeb wrote in in the letter. While Nestle has stood still, its peers have pursued productivity increases aggressively and made other changes in order to deliver earnings growth and create shareholder value in a slower sales growth world.

The Nestle model of 5% to 6% annual organic sales growth and margin improvement is no more, explained Loeb, which could threaten future dividend growth for shareholders.

In fact, his four focuses for the companyproductivity improvement, returning capital to shareholders, portfolio reshaping and monetizing units (specifically LOreal for Nestle)speak to the current playbook in the food industry.

Shrinking shelf space and new forms of competition

Organic sales growth for leading CPG companies have disappointed in recent years. In fact, Goldman Sachs Jason English pointed out in a recent note that the US packaged food group he covers set a new all-time low in organic sales, declining 1.6% in the first quarter. And, as shown in the chart below, sales have been tepid over the last few years, with a marked slowdown this year.

Story continues

Overall category demand growth has slowed particularly for center-store categories, as opposed to peripheral categories where you typically find fresh foods. According to English, center-store is where once-loved grocers like Whole Foods (WFM)now being acquired by Amazon (AMZN)are struggling to get items off the shelves in a way that generates strong returns. This is exacerbated by competition from new entrants, as the barriers to distribution are falling, English said.

Shifts in the retail environment pose risks broadly for center-store processed food manufacturers, according to Piper Jaffrays Michael Lavery. We expect continued downward pressure on pricing from intense retail competition We also expect ongoing volume pressure, driven by continued shifts in consumer preferences and potentially exacerbated by shrinking shelf space and growing competition from prepared foods and meal kit delivery services.

Packaged food names like General Mills (GIS), Kellogg (K) and Campbell Soup (CPB), have well underperformed the market in the last year, as shown in the chart below (the S&P, in green, is up 20% while those three names are in negative territory).

And activists have been keen on this trend. In August 2015, Bill Ackmans Pershing Square took a $5.5 billion stake in snack-maker Mondelez (MDLZ), pushing for cost cuts, revenue growth and an eventual sale. Sound familiar?

Meanwhile, names in the sector have worked to reformulate their models, a point Loeb highlighted in his letter. Amid slowing sales, food names have restructured their portfolios in order to bring out value.

Splits, spin-offs, mergers, restructurings

Mondelez itself was a product of that pressure. In 2011, after being pressured by Nelson Peltzs Trian fund, Kraft split into the domestic Kraft with brands like Jell-O and Velveeta and the international Mondelez with emerging markets snack brands like Oreos and Ritz crackers. Prior to Krafts announcement of a split the company had barely moved for a decade. The new units, meanwhile, have reached for growth. The March 2015 announcement that Kraft would merge with Heinz, in a deal backed by Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, marked the last piece of a long series of breakups for the food manufacturer. (And Kraft Heinz recently bid for Unilever, albeit unsuccessfully.)

Sara Lee, which was mentioned in Loebs letter, split in 2012 after years of losing market share, into its packaged meats business, Hillshire Brands, and an international coffee company, D.E Master Blenders (which was later bought by a European conglomerate). Hillshire got not one, but two bidsfrom Pilgrims Pride (PPC) and the ultimate winner Tyson Foods (TSN), which paid a 70% premium for it in 2014.

Milk company Dean Foods (DF) spun off WhiteWave Food, its soy and almond milk segment, in 2013. WhiteWave, which posted strong growth, was then acquired by Danone for $10 billion in a transaction completed earlier this year.

Conagra (CAG) has also been struggling to reinvent itself after selling its private label business for $2.7 billion in 2016 to focus on its branded business, including reportedly a failed bid for Pinnacle Foods (PF).

Other giants have been pressured to break up, including Pepsi (PEP). Nelson Peltzs Trian advocated for a complete separation of the giants snacks and beverage business as well as potential merger with Mondelez, where he is a board member. Peltz ultimately exited the position after strong stock performance.

The bottom line: The status quo isnt working in this industry and companies are divesting and recombining in the search for growth.



Nicole Sinclair is markets correspondent at Yahoo Finance

Please also see:

On Amazon buying Whole Foods: The ramifications for all of retail are seismic

This may be as good as it gets for earnings growth, BofA analyst says

Economist warns: Once again, the Feds credibility is on the line
Concerns over the cultural appropriation of a Native American sun symbol have led Madison officials to consider redesigning the citys flag, Mayor Paul Soglin said.

The design for the flag was developed in 1962 by Rick and Dennis Stone to symbolize the city on trips with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps.

Two light blue segments split by a diagonal white middle segment represent Lake Monona and Lake Mendota separated by the Isthmus, with a symbol in the center meant to be an aerial view of the state Capitol building.

But the central image also closely resembles an ancient sun symbol that originated with the Zia Pueblo tribe in New Mexico.

Ald. Arvina Martin, 11th District, the City Councils first Native American member, said that after her election in April, members of the Native American community approached her with concerns about the flag and the cultural appropriation of Native American symbols.

Martin, who is an enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and is also Stockbridge-Munsee, said its possible community members didnt feel comfortable voicing their discomfort about the flag with previous council members. She said her districts response to changing the flags symbol has been overwhelmingly positive.

People are excited that native voices are being listened to, and that the city is taking their concerns seriously, Martin said.

Soglin, who heard about the controversy this past month, said its a good time to look at a redesign.

Given the designs original intentions, Soglin said he thinks it shouldnt be difficult to redesign an emblem that isnt offensive to anyone. He also said that hes not sure that an image of the Capitol building is appropriate for the citys flag.

Were a city, not the state (of Wisconsin), Soglin said. Ive always wondered why the Capitol building was the key symbol on our flag. Weve got the Isthmus, weve got two lakes. I think this is fit for a good community discussion about what the city flag should look like.

Martin said that she and Ald. Maurice Cheeks, 8th District, are talking about how to approach the redesign process, making sure the new design incorporates community input.




Old Faithful Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is best known for its Old Faithful geyser and its stunning wildlife.

But the national park also sits atop a supervolcano, simmering just under the surface. You can see some of the evidence of its active state in the hydrothermal activity that bubbles up, including Old Faithful, which shoots water every few hours.

Between June 12 and June 19, Yellowstone experienced an earthquake swarm of 464 events, the majority of which were magnitude 1 or below. The University of Utah, which monitors seismic activity in Yellowstone, noted that these swarms are common.

"This is the highest number of earthquakes at Yellowstone within a single week in the past five years, but is fewer than weekly counts during similar earthquakes swarms in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010," scientists from the university told the Star Valley Independent in a statement.

Yell_June2017_Swarm_06192017 Update 1024x530

What is a supervolcano?

Supervolcanos are characterized as volcanic centers that have had eruptions that covered more than 240 cubic miles. The US has two: one at Yellowstone and another at Long Valley in California.

Yellowstone has had three major events in the past 2.1 million years, which led to the creation of the calderas, or large volcanic craters.

Screen Shot 2016 07 11 at 1.29.10 PM

It has been hundreds of thousands of years since a major volcanic eruption. The last one was about 174,000 years ago, and it led to the West Thumb Geyser Basin, which extended the Yellowstone Lake.

What would happen if it were to erupt again?

Scientists don't think Yellowstone's supervolcano would be erupting any time soon (at least not in the next thousand years). The odds of it erupting within a given year are one in 730,000, according to the US Geological Survey. So if you're planning a trip there, you shouldn't be too concerned.

If it did erupt, it could have some pretty extreme effects on the surrounding areas.

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For starters, the eruption could emit ash that would expand over 500 miles (seen below). For comparison, this map shows the area that the Mount St. Helens' 1980 eruption ash reached.

Screen Shot 2016 07 11 at 1.28.44 PM

Molten lava more than 1,000 degrees oozing from an eruption might be less of a concern than the ash. The eruption would likely cover the ground with as much as 4 inches of gray ash, which could be detrimental to crops growing in the Midwest.

Along with the ash, the supervolcano would spew a whole bunch of gasses, including sulfur dioxide, a gas that can lead to acid rain as well as global cooling as it reflects the sun away from the Earth.

The explosion likely wouldn't wipe out human life, but it certainly would be destructive, especially to the western half of the US.

In the meantime, researchers are keeping a close watch on Yellowstone to check for warning signs that an eruption might be underway.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

NOW WATCH: Theres a live supervolcano underneath Yellowstone National Park  heres what would happen if it erupted





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The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, February 20, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

By Jeffrey Dastin

(Reuters) - If Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) hopes to revolutionize grocery delivery, then its bid to buy Whole Foods Market Inc (WFM.O) for $13.7 billion will be just the start of a long and costly process.

The e-commerce giant would need to add a large network of specialized grocery distribution warehouses, former AmazonFresh employees and logistics experts said. This is something Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and other competitors have already done. Whole Foods, with a relatively small distribution footprint of its own, does little to change the picture for Amazon, they said.

Amazon has a little more than 3 million square feet of U.S. warehousing dedicated to its existing AmazonFresh and Prime Pantry grocery programs - a tenth of the warehouse space Wal-Mart has for specialized food distribution, according to logistics consulting firm MWPVL International Inc.

"AmazonFresh really was for lack of a better word an after-thought," said Brittain Ladd, who until March was a senior manager for the grocery delivery program, which launched in 2007.

One key to Amazon's success in general retail sales has been its speed in delivering products to consumers, facilitated by warehouses located strategically throughout the United States. As of 2016, the company had about 100 million square feet of space in its fulfillment and data centers, some of it outfitted with state-of-the-art robotics to boost efficiency.

Facilities for distributing fresh food are far more complicated than ordinary warehouses. A single facility can need a half dozen or more temperature settings to house products from Popsicles to berries. Some require certification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and extra care must be taken to keep shelves clean and prevent pests from contaminating food.

Whole Foods has over 1 million square feet of warehouse space for distribution to its markets, and a chunk of its inventory goes straight from suppliers to stores, MWPVL said.

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"It's a peanut. It's nothing," MWPVL President Marc Wulfraat said of Whole Foods' distribution. "If Amazon wants to become a dominant grocery company in a short period of time, then there would be an investment required, and it would be big."

Amazon, which did not return requests for comment, has not detailed its plans for Whole Foods.

12 OR MORE GROCERY WAREHOUSES NEEDED

Amazon's fulfillment expenses jumped 31 percent in 2016 - a bit faster than in prior years and faster than its retail sales growth - to $17.6 billion, according to its annual regulatory filing.

Industry experts estimate the company would have to add a dozen or more grocery warehouses, particularly if it wanted to supply Whole Food stores in addition to homes. The cost to do that is unclear.

They said Amazon would likely continue to rely on United Natural Foods Inc (UNFI.O) to supply Whole Foods with hard-to-source products, but would probably aim to cut costs and handle more of the distribution for conventional items.

Even using Whole Foods stores to provide food for delivering to nearby urban shoppers would have hard limits, since many outlets lack the floor space to handle thousands of online orders.

"Its a space issue for stuff coming through. Its a labor issue for people tripping over each other," said Tom Furphy, former vice president of consumables and AmazonFresh, and now chief executive of Consumer Equity Partners. There would also be a risk that "the quality starts to go down because the e-commerce orders are getting better product."

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Sue Horton and Cynthia Osterman)
Welcome to Fix My Finances, Yahoo Finances personal finance series. Each episode, we take a look at one viewers financial state of affairs and offer advice, insight and information on a variety of issues, including how to save more, spend less and pay off lingering debt.

This episode we spoke with Sina, a 29-year-old soldier in the US Army with a wife and three daughters. Sina, who was deployed to Afghanistan, now lives with his family in Hawaii. His financial issues stem from trying to help a friend with money troubles.

Sina wanted to help a friend, but cosigning a loan is almost always a personal finance no-no.

Co-signers bewareyoure on the hook too!

Sina cosigned on a car loan in 2009 with the goal of helping his buddy establish his credit. While Sina was serving in Afghanistan, the friend couldnt make the payments on the car and ended up filing for bankruptcy. The bank took possession of the car, crushing Sinas credit score. He didnt know what had happened until he went to buy a car for himself a year later.

Heres where Sina went wrong. When you cosign a loan, you agree to assume responsibility for the debt if the other person cant make payments, said Stephanie Genkin, a certified financial planner based in New York City. If the borrower doesnt make regular payments and defaults on the loan, it will affect the credit of both signers. Even though it wasnt your loan, it stays on your credit report for seven years, Genkin said.

When it comes to rebuilding his credit score, Sina is going to have to be patient and diligent. It takes time to recover from a major financial mistake.

Undoing the damage

There are some things Sina can do to mitigate the damage. He can file a dispute with the credit bureaus and let them know that he was on active military duty when the borrower defaulted and the car was repossessed. If the lender cant verify that the repossession is valid or fails to answer the dispute within 30 days, then it can be removed from his credit report. Theres no guarantee, but its worth a try.

The damage to his credit score should be reduced during the seven-year period if he makes on-time payments on his credit card and car loan.

Watch the video to learn more about how Sina can fix his finances.

Want to be a part of this new series? We are looking for people in their 20s and 30s who need a money makeover. Apply here.




U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage for a rally at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S. June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Scott Morgan

President Donald Trump could have landed himself in more trouble by admitting that he doesn't have tapes of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey  and saying he floated the suggestion he did in an attempt to influence Comey's congressional testimony.

It all started when Trump tweeted: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"

The tweet came three days after Trump stunningly fired Comey. The president and his former FBI director had been at odds amid an investigation into whether anyone associated with Trump's campaign colluded with Russian officials to meddle in the 2016 election.

Trump admitted this week that he didn't record his conversations with Comey. He suggested in a Friday interview that he floated the idea of tapes to pressure Comey to keep his story straight when he appeared to testify before a Senate committee about the Russia probe.

"When he found out that I, you know, that there may be tapes out there, whether it's governmental tapes or anything else  and who knows  I think his story may have changed," Trump told "Fox & Friends."

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

James Robenalt, a partner at Thompson Hine law firm who wrote a book about the Watergate scandal, said Trump may have complicated things for himself with this statement. The president is now facing an investigation into whether he obstructed justice with his firing of Comey.

"He's trying to influence a witness," Robenalt said. "There are multiple obstruction crimes under our law, and one of them is intimidating a witness."

The problem is that Trump "seems to be conceding that he was trying to influence  if not intimidate  Comey and his testimony," Robenalt added.

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"The fact that [Trump] knew when he said it that he didn't have tapes  to me is an indicator that he was doing it for an improper purpose," he said.

Robenalt said investigators would likely try to establish a pattern of obstruction, and this could contribute to that overall picture.

Trump could claim that he wasn't trying to pressure Comey to lie, but rather that he was pressuring Comey to tell the truth with his implication that there were recordings of their conversations.

And here, there are multiple events that led to the obstruction of justice investigation  Trump firing Comey, and what Comey has characterized as a request to lay off of his investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The possible intimidation could be viewed as another factor.

"That's a pattern of conduct that fits into an obstruction mode where they're trying to act in a way that obstructs an investigation," Robenalt said.

Robenalt also drew parallels between Trump and former President Richard Nixon, who resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal after recordings emerged of his conversations from inside the White House. After news of the tapes emerged, the White House admitted that a crucial 18.5 minute conversation between Nixon and his chief of staff after the Watergate break-in had been erased.

"In the middle of the question of who erased the tape," another Nixon chief of staff, Alexander Haig, "said there may have been sinister forces involved, which is a direct echo of Trump," Robenalt said.

In explaining his tweet, Trump referenced alleged government surveillance that he believes is being conducted, saying, "you never know what's happening when you see that the Obama administration, and perhaps longer than that, was doing all of unmasking and surveillance."

"This whole mention of sinister forces was like a way of diverting attention in some strange way from what really happened," Robenalt said. "With Trump saying maybe somebody else did taping, it makes me wonder are there tapes, did tapes exist at one point that have now been destroyed, are there tapes out there that he's aware of but that he didn't do himself."

NOW WATCH: 'Where is Sean?': Things got awkward when April Ryan asked Sarah Sanders why Spicer didnt attend the WH briefing





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According to RICPs 2017 Retirement Literacy Survey, 70 percent of people age 65 and older will need long-term care (LTC) at some point in their lives. And the 82 percent of respondents that feel they will not need LTC may not understand the devastating impact a critical illness can have on both their financial future and their family.

"It is extremely hard to put a good retirement plan in place when consumers are not literate about the risks they face, and the misunderstandings about long-term care shown in the survey indicate that people don't understand the huge burden a long-term care event will have both on their finances and family," said Jamie Hopkins, retirement income program co-director at the American College of Financial Services.

Hopkins discussed with Fox Business what you need to know regarding long-term care coverage and why this benefit should be included in your retirement planning.

Boomer: What does a typical LTC policy cover that my Medicare/Medicaid does not?

Hopkins: Far too many people do not have a long-term care plan in place and a number of misconceptions are driving this lack of planning. One common misconception for many Americans is the role of Medicare in covering long-term care costs. Medicare is designed to cover health care costs and is not designed to cover long-term care expenditures. Instead, that charge belongs to Medicaid. But, in order to be eligible for Medicaid, an individual must have effectively spent down his or her own assets first before becoming eligible for the program. This is where long-term care insurance can step in to protect a persons savings while still providing for long-term care. Medicaid also only covers the barebones of care and does not cover all types of home or institutional care that a long-term care insurance policy might cover. A long-term care insurance policy can help protect ones savings, provide peace of mind, and help the individual maintain control of his or her care.

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Boomer: When is the best time to buy a LTC policy?

Hopkins: The best time to buy a long-term care insurance policy is while you are younger and in good health. This means looking into a policy in your 40s or early 50s. Once people reach age 60, a much higher percentage of long-term care insurance applicants are denied coverage due to underwriting concerns.

Boomer: Why dont more people buy LTC?

Hopkins: A well-developed long-term care plan can help you get the care you want, provide proper funding, and help ease the burden on your family. While long-term care insurance can provide a valuable benefit to retirees, it remains underutilized due to a variety of factors. A mix of cost, the safety net of Medicaid, misconceptions, and denial all inhibit further use of long-term care insurance.

First, long-term care insurance costs money and is not cheap. The premiums, which can be thousands of dollars a year, often do not feel affordable for many Americans, especially when Medicaid provides a safety net for those that run out of money.

Furthermore, many Americans do not understand the differences between Medicare, Medicaid, and long-term care insurance which could be hindering proper long-term care planning. In the 2017 RICP Retirement Income Literacy Quiz conducted by The American College of Financial Services, roughly 40% of respondents were unable to answer more than 1 out of 5 questions on long-term care funding correctly. Additionally, many Americans are in denial about the fact that they are likely to need long-term care at some point in retirement. This is the superman complex; while Americans realize the prevalence and severity of long-term care costs, individuals still often deny that they will need care themselves.

Boomer: What are the drawbacks to buying LTC?

Hopkins: Long-term care insurance can be helpful in the right situation but, it is not for everyone. For many, long-term care insurance premiums are not affordable. Additionally, most long-term care insurance policies require ongoing premiums and these premiums have seen steep annual increases over the past few years. The uncertainty surrounding premium hikes can be a significant drawback for a retiree living off of a fixed income. Another issue many Americans have with long-term care insurance is the use-it or lose-it aspect of insurance. Many people feel hesitant buying insurance that they might never receive a payment from if they end up not needing long-term care or if their policy lapses. However, it is a good thing if you make it all the way through retirement and end up not needing long-term care!

Boomer: Will a long-term care policy pay family members who take care of their loved ones?

Hopkins: The reality is that most long-term care is provided informally and in an unpaid fashion by family members at home. But, unfortunately, not all long-term care insurance policies reimburse family members for providing long-term care. While there are still companies offering policies that cover family member provided care, these have become less widely available over the past few years. As such, it could be difficult to find a policy today that is both viewed as affordable and still covers family member provided care giving in the home.

Boomer: Are there any other options available?

Hopkins: In recent years hybrid long-term care policies have become more popular than traditional long-term care insurance policies. Hybrid policies mix together life insurance or an annuity payment with a long-term care insurance feature. These policies can sometimes require less underwriting, have fixed premium payments, and provide a death benefit or lifetime income stream even if long-term care services are not required. Hybrid policies help provide a layer of long-term care funding while alleviating the use-it or lose-it concern many individuals have towards long-term care insurance.

Related Articles
* Historical bias has been to study mostly males

* Scientists say sex "blindspot" could misdirect studies

* Differences between male, female mice can have big impact

By Kate Kelland

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Research labs may be short-changing women by ignoring differences between male and female animals in experiments to discover new drugs, suggesting sexual equality in scientific studies is overdue, researchers said on Monday.

In research using mice of both sexes, scientists at Britain's Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute found that gender differences could impact results in more than half of their experiments.

Since these early-stage laboratory studies underpin research into treatments for human diseases, the scientists said sex differences should be an important factor in designing future studies.

"A person's sex has a significant impact on the course and severity of many common diseases, and the consequential side-effects of treatments  which are being missed," Natasha Karp, who co-led the study, wrote in the journal Nature Communications.

With an historic bias towards the scientific study of males, the common approach in biomedical research has been to ignore sex or to analyse only one sex and assume the results applied to the other.

"This was a scientific blindspot that we really thought needed exploration," Karp said.

U.S. regulations requiring that both sexes be included in human clinical trials were introduced 20 years ago. Yet in 2006, only 41 percent of people in U.S. trials were women, up from 9 percent in 1970, the researchers said.

Yet sex influences many common conditions, including heart diseases, autoimmune diseases and asthma.

For animal studies, an international review in 2011 and 2012 found that 22 percent did not state the sex of the animals. Of those that did, 80 percent used only males and 3 percent both sexes.

In this latest study, Karp's team quantified the difference between male and female mice by analysing around 230 physical characteristics of more than 50,000 mice.

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They found that in the control group, their sex had an impact on 56.6 percent of quantitative traits, such as bone mass, metabolism and blood components, and on 9.9 percent of qualitative traits, such as whether their head shape, coat and paws were normal or abnormal.

In mutant mice that had a gene switched off for experimental purposes, gender modified the effect of the mutation in 13.3 percent of qualitative traits and up to 17.7 percent of quantitative ones.

Judith Mank of University College London, who worked with Karp, said the findings showed that "only studying males paints half the picture." (Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by John Stonestreet)
Student loan servicers might give you the runaround about this federal benefit

Thousands of teachers, social workers, first responders, nurses, doctors and other government and nonprofit workers could have their federal student debt forgiven starting in October.

But the road to debt forgiveness is not a cakewalk. Many of these borrowers have complained to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that their loan servicers have given them incorrect information about public-service loan forgiveness and made errors with their loans that disqualify them for the program.

Here's how the public-service loan forgiveness works: If you take out a federal student loan, you have your loans forgiven after making 10 years of on-time payments and by working for an employer the Department of Education deems to be serving the public good. Qualified employers include local, state and federal government agencies and nonprofit organizations. (Private lenders don't offer this option.)

Since 2012, borrowers could certify with the Education Department that their employment would qualify them for public-service loan forgiveness. The number of borrowers who have been approved has grown rapidly, to 552,931 as of the end of last year. (See chart below.)

Nearly two-thirds of borrowers who have certified interest in public service loan forgiveness make less than $50,000 per year, according to the CFPB.

Some qualified borrowers will be able to use this benefit starting this year because public-service loan forgiveness was created in 2007.

The Government Accountability Office estimates 25 percent of U.S. workers are employed in jobs that could qualify them for public-service loan forgiveness if they have student loans and know about the program.

More from College Game Plan:

This student debt strategy can save you more than $18,600

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Some critics of public-service loan forgiveness argue that the program redirects limited federal aid from college students of low-income families who need it the most to people with graduate degrees who can afford to pay off their loans.

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"Public-service loan forgiveness is a program that mainly benefits grad students," Jason Delisle, a resident fellow at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, told CNBC in May.

The median debt load of those enrolled in public-service loan forgiveness is more than $60,000, and nearly 30 percent of people who have been certified for the program have borrowed more than $100,000, according to a 2016 analysis Delisle undertook for the Brookings Institution (see chart below).

One problem with controlling the costs of public-service loan forgiveness is that the Department of Education has an open-ended definition of what public service is, Delisle said. He sees public service as a redundant benefit because federal student loans already offer loan forgiveness under income-based repayment plans .

Public-service loan forgiveness is tax-free to borrowers and only takes 10 years. Borrowers who have their loan forgiven through income-based repayment plans have to wait for up to 25 years.

Student loan forgiveness through income-based repayment plans doesn't let borrowers completely off the hook either. D ebt canceled by student-loan repayment plans is taxed as income. Lawmakers should address this flaw with income-based repayment, Delisle said.

Trump's plan for public-service loan forgiveness

The Trump administration's first budget proposes to curtail the program and estimates that will save $27 billion over the next decade.

The administration wants to end public-service loan forgiveness for federal loans issued July 1, 2018, or later, except those provided to borrowers to finish their current course of study. To be sure, the budget is a wish list, and Congress sets the spending priorities for the federal government.

Trump's budget may have had the unintended effect of making public-service loan forgiveness more popular with borrowers.

"The budget proposal has raised awareness about public-service loan forgiveness. Borrowers realize that Congress will probably not retroactively take away that benefit, so they want it while it is still available," said Aaron Taylor, executive director of the AccessLex Center for Legal Education Excellence.





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The former clerk for Oregon Municipal Court faces a raft of felony charges after police said he stole cash that was intended to pay municipal fines and altered records to cover the thefts.

Dennis L. Geske, 61, of Sun Prairie, was charged earlier this month with four counts of misconduct in office, four counts of felony theft and four counts of fraudulent writings for the thefts totaling $31,209, which are alleged to have occurred between September 2012 and September 2016.

Geske had worked for the municipal court since 2007.

According to a criminal complaint, Geske admitted to police that he stole cash a lot of times but tried to limit the amount he took each month so that it wouldnt be noticed. But after Geske resigned or was fired from his job  Geske and Oregon Municipal Judge Beth Cox differ on how he left  Geskes successor began to notice discrepancies in case records and contacted Cox in January, the complaint states.

Looking over records, the complaint states, it appeared that cash had been collected from individuals for fines and receipts were issued by Geske for those collections, but computer records were changed to conceal the thefts.

I did it a lot of times if you notice Hispanic names, people hard to track, Geske told Dane County Sheriffs Detective Jessamy Torres, according to the complaint. I knew the situation someday Id get caught at it cause basically you have the proof of it right there in front of you.

According to the complaint:

Geskes successor discovered numerous cases in which there were inconsistencies and incomplete files and records, including many cases in which the payment due had been changed in computer records to zero, an attempt to make them look as though a case had been dismissed or no money for fines had been collected for that case. Still, there were hand-written receipts, written by Geske, indicating that defendants had paid fines in those cases.

The present clerk found scores of such cases. By changing the number to zero, village workers told police, the courts computer program doesnt flag the case as having money that was collected and is due to be deposited into a village bank account.

When he was shown examples of this by Torres, Geske initially said he didnt know who had done that or why, but later admitted he had done it.




Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett visits the BNSF booth before the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. May 6, 2017. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Store Capital, a real estate investment trust, said Monday that Berkshire Hathaway invested $377 million in the company.

That amounted to 9.8% of outstanding shares purchased at $20.25 apiece, Store Capital said in a statement. Its shares gained by as much as 11% to $23.10 in premarket trading.

Store Capital invests in single-tenant real estate for profit.

"An investment in our company from one of historys most admired investors represents a vote of confidence in our experienced leadership team and an affirmation of our profit-center real estate investment and management approach," said Christopher Holk, Store Capital's CEO. He was referring to Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett.

Buffett has said real estate was a solid investment that was less volatile than stock prices and likely to produce gains. In 2016, he said he didn't believe that US real estate was in a bubble.

This investment follows Berkshire Hathaway's provision last week of a 2 billion Canadian dollar ($1.51 billion) credit line to Home Capital, Canada's largest non-bank lender that accepted responsibility for misleading investors about problems with how it underwrote mortgages.

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Each of the thousands of protesters in a remote northwestern Pakistani city had either lost a relative or knows someone among the more than 250 people killed and wounded in the most recent bombings.

As the Shiite residents of Parachinar, a picturesque city overshadowed by the snowcapped Spin Ghar (White Mountain Peak) in Pakistans Kurram tribal district, hardship and tragedy are nothing new.

Parachinars estimated 500,000 Shia, mostly members of the Pashtun Turi and Bangash tribes, have survived years of persecution by taking up guns to defend their community against a hard-line Sunni Taliban onslaught following bloody sectarian clashes in 2007.

Officials and doctors said 72 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in three bomb blasts at a busy Parachinar market on June 23.

Most of the victims were shopping for the Eid al-Fitar festival, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, when adult Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.

Locals say at least four people were killed in Parachinar after security forces opened fire on protesters staging a sit-in after the bombings. Government forces, however, say they had fired into the air to disperse the angry crowd that gathered after the attack.

The sons of our tribe are spending their Eid day in a protest camp here. I hope this will awaken the conscience of our rulers, tribal leader Muzamil Agha told protesters in Parachinar on June 26. We also have a plan B and plan C and are determined to act on those unless our demands are met.

Locals say they want Islamabad to thoroughly investigate and punish the officials responsible for security lapses in Parachinar. They also want the Kurram militia to be deployed there. Most members of this paramilitary force are recruited from the regions Bangash and Turi clans.

Agha said they are determined to continue the sit-in on a major square near government offices in Parachinar until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and powerful army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa show up for negotiations.

We want these leaders to come and sit with us in this rain-soaked protest camp, he said. We will not relent before we are heard.

The protest is reminiscent of a 2013 sit-in by the Shiite Hazara community in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan Province. The Hazaras refused to bury more than 100 community members killed in a suicide bombing, and their sit-in prompted protests across Pakistan and ultimately compelled Islamabad to accept their demands, which included the dismissal of Balochistans civilian government.

We want the army and Frontier Corps [paramilitary] units deployed here to be immediately investigated, said another protesting leader, Munir Hussain Agha. They are responsible for security within the area encircled by a ditch theyve dug around this city.

On June 25, General Nazir Butt, a senior military officer, visited Parachinar to assure its residents of government support.

He urged locals to support the security forces in restoring normalcy to the city, according to a statement by the Pakistani militarys media wing.

Abubakar Siddique wrote this story based on Radio Mashaal correspondent Tariq Orakzais reporting from Hangu, Pakistan.
French English

Bone Therapeutics receives Intent to Grant Notice from European Patent Office for allogeneic bone cell therapy platform

European IP protection for company's allogeneic technology expected until 2029

Gosselies, Belgium, 26 June 2017; 7am CEST - BONE THERAPEUTICS (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BOTHE), the bone cell therapy company addressing high unmet medical needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases, today announces that the European Patent Office (EPO) has notified the Company of its intention to grant a key patent covering its first-in-class allogeneic cell therapy technology.

Once granted, the patent titled, "Osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells using a combination of growth factors", will provide legal protection to Bone Therapeutics both for the manufacturing methods and for the distinct cell type used in its allogeneic cell therapy technology. Specifically, the patent covers methods to manufacture differentiated and biologically active osteoblastic (bone-forming) cells from bone marrow stem cells, using a specific combination of growth factors, and also covers a new class of osteoblastic cells suitable for allogeneic administration to the patient.

Bone Therapeutics will now validate the patent in several countries in the European Union, potentially allowing IP protection for its allogeneic bone cell therapy platform until 2029. Patents from the same patent family have already been granted in Japan, Australia and Singapore and applications are pending in the USA, Canada, India and South Korea. ALLOB, Bone Therapeutics' most advanced allogeneic bone cell therapy product, is currently being evaluated in Phase I/IIA clinical trials for delayed-union fractures and spinal fusion, for which interim results are expected in the third quarter this year.

Thomas Lienard, Chief Executive Officer of Bone Therapeutics, commented: "This notice from the European Patent Office confirms our allogeneic bone cell therapy technology is both innovative and distinctive. When granted, this European patent will significantly strengthen our IP position in the field of bone cell therapy, giving us further validation for the scientific and commercial development of our cell therapy products whilst also enhancing our position with respect to new partnerships."

Dr. Miguel Forte, Chief Medical Officer of Bone Therapeutics, further noted: "Obtaining this patent is an important step in the development of our allogeneic bone cell therapy technology. It will provide a solid IP protection for our current work and for future technological advances, allowing us to continue our efforts to create patient-centric and commercially interesting bone cell therapy solutions."

About Bone Therapeutics

Bone Therapeutics is a leading cell therapy company addressing high unmet needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases. Based in Gosselies, Belgium, the Company has a broad, diversified portfolio of bone cell therapy products in clinical development across a number of disease areas targeting markets with large unmet medical needs and limited innovation.

Our technology is based on a unique, proprietary approach to bone regeneration which turns undifferentiated stem cells into "osteoblastic", or bone-forming cells. These cells can be administered via a minimally invasive procedure, avoiding the need for invasive surgery.

Our primary clinical focus is ALLOB, an allogeneic "off-the-shelf" cell therapy product derived from stem cells of healthy donors, which is in Phase II studies for the treatment of delayed-union fractures and spinal fusion. The Company also has an autologous bone cell therapy product, PREOB, obtained from patient`s own bone marrow and currently in Phase III development for osteonecrosis and non-union fractures.

Bone Therapeutics` cell therapy products are manufactured to the highest GMP standards and are protected by a rich IP estate covering nine patent families. Further information is available at: www.bonetherapeutics.com.

Contacts

Bone Therapeutics SA

Thomas Lienard, Chief Executive Officer

Wim Goemaere, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +32 (0)2 529 59 90

investorrelations@bonetherapeutics.com

For Belgium and International Media Enquiries:

Consilium Strategic Communications

Amber Fennell, Jessica Hodgson and Hendrik Thys

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5701

bonetherapeutics@consilium-comms.com

For French Media and Investor Enquiries:

NewCap Investor Relations & Financial Communications

Pierre Laurent, Louis-Victor Delouvrier and Nicolas Merigeau

Tel: + 33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

bone@newcap.eu

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors` current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such person`s officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.
InDoubtApproved wrote:

Hey guys, I always loved reading arguments on School choice, and I thought by the time I reached the stage I'm in now, I wouldn't have much trouble deciding. Well, I thought wrong!



The thing is: I've been accepted at Oxford/Said, Cambridge/Judge, and HEC Paris. I'm still waiting on a decision on INSEAD, which comes out March, 18th.

And I'd love your help in deciding among them!



I had the amazing opportunity to visit all their campi, and speak to alumni, admissions staff and attend interviews, which I guess put me on a position of an "informed" applicant.



My background is in IB-M&A, having worked in a large bank and smaller boutiques (5 years WE). I'm planning on making a move to general management (Industry), but I would also like to be well placed if I change my mind and decide to do Consulting instead. I intend to stay in Europe after the program (hence my choice of schools).



So, whack away at my 3 options (Said/Judge/HEC), and if you can, please provide your opinion: if also accepted at INSEAD, should I attend it above your main pick among the other 3?



Current thoughts:





INSEAD

Pros

- Overall great placements. They seem to have the best careers department and the highest salaries across the board. "MBA Juggernaut"

- Ranking and prestige. It occupies (together with LBS) the 1st tier of programs

Cons

- There is no opportunity to do an internship

- The overall culture of partying (I'm not a huge party goer myself) - It seems much less serious than other programs, maybe because of younger admits.

- The fact that 70% of the cohort changes campus during the Program. To strengthen you relationships with colleagues, you have to keep up with them, and this results in a 10 month program in which you have to move abroad TWICE (Fonty to Singapore, and back).





Now, some takeaways from my visits that might not be common knowledge:



- Oxford: Medium city vibe - although small, it is very active and well provided in terms of services and shops. Feels much larger than Cambridge.

- Cambridge: Small city vibe - It is much smaller in terms of services and shops available than Oxford. It also deals (I don't know why) with a LOT more tourists than Oxford (maybe because they all concentrate around King's College). Apparently, inhabitants don't feel very happy about it. Also, the traffic is terrible.

- HEC Paris: What city? - The HEC Campus is huge and gorgeous, and there is a supermarket right next to it, but there isn't much more than that. Jouy en Josas is a very picturesque city, very calm. If you're after exciting activities, good shops or services, you'll have to take the 45 min train ride to Paris.

- INSEAD: Fontainebleau - It is a mixture of HEC Paris and Cambridge. It has an huge amazing campus, and a small city next to it, with some shops and services. Also, the town itself is very touristic, due to the Chateau de Fontainebleau.



Also, note that you are not allowed to have a car if you are a Cambridge or Oxford student. It is an unenforceable rule, but it exists.

Hi! congrats on the admits.There are two points I believe that might not be correct about INSEAD:INSEAD's class of 2015 has an average age of 29. So I don't really understand what you meant by "younger admits". Older professionals, like myself, prefer INSEAD's program because of the length of 1 year."much less serious than other programs": how? why? I really need to hear your point. Just because there are 20 people partying in a video on youtube does not mean the other 480 applicants are playing around. And just because those 20 people are partying, does not mean that they are not serious. I think you'll need to get in touch with current students or alumni and fill the gaps you're missing. Also, how do you explain the fact that the top 3 consulting companies recruit heavily from INSEAD.I believe you should exclude INSEAD for now as the cons stated do no make much sense, except for the last point about the campus change - which I see as a relevant point. This is not to discourage you, but to keep you from accepting a school that you might have not done much research on.Aside from that I cannot help you choose among the other schools. But I do know a friend who attended Oxford and he enjoyed it. It's not heavy focused on consulting so that's when I didn't pay much interest in the program.Good luck
IBfellow wrote:

Hi, I am from India. I am currently an IB Analyst at a "less" known mid-market investment bank. My role is front office (client facing). I have an opportunity to work for a bulge bracket investment bank (think JPM/GS/CS) as an IB Analyst. The role involves supporting the front office foreign team with financial models and IMs.



I would like your opinion on whether a transition from a front office boutique to a back office bulge bracket would reflect poorly on my future MBA application.



I do have valid reasons for the transition though,



a. Low current deal flows with no closure in my current experience and spending most of my time providing valuation services at the boutique;

b. Much higher pay than the current role. Current CTC in line with those earned by fresher IITs. New role will have CTC in line with those earned by fresher tier 1 Indian MBAs;

c. Opportunity to work at a bulge bracket with 1 year of work exp for a role which requires at least 2-3 yrs of work exp, stellar academics and a top undergrad (or b-school MBA);

d. Brand name on the resume with front office training (India office) and/or possible full-time front office (abroad) opportunity at the bulge bracket.



FYI, my Engineering GPA at a US Big ten university is 2.9/4, cleared all levels of CFA and FRM exams and a 730 GMAT. Given my target MBA programs like US Top 11-25, LBS, INSEAD and ISB, will such a possible transition help my future MBA application or hurt it. I plan to enter b-school 4-5 years from now. Also would like to know if b-schools consider the pre-MBA salary progression as a factor in the decision process and will it weight more than the role played within the firm.



Your input here will greatly help me. Thanks.

Nisha Trivedi

mbaMission Senior Admissions Consultant

35 positive reviews on GMATClub, 2020 Top 20 of admissions consultants across the industry per P&Q: https://poetsandquants.com/2020/08/26/best-mba-admission-consultants-of-2020/



Sign up for a free 30-minute consultation at https://www.mbamission.com/consult/mba-admissions/

Read our Insider's Guides to the top b-schools: http://www.mbamission.com/guides.php?category=insiders Signature Read More

Hi, and thanks for writing! I think your reasons for the transition makes sense, especially if the new role ends up giving you increased/more varied responsibility vs. your current role (esp. given your current company has low deal flows). AdComs do take salary growth into account as one factor when evaluating an applicant's career progression. Additionally, the opportunity abroad (if you feel that you have a decent chance of getting it) would definitely enhance your career profile. Ultimately, anytime you make a transition, you just have to be able to give a logical explanation for it and also, explain how it takes you closer to your ultimate career goals - as long as you feel confident that you can do this, the transition isn't likely to hurt you.Hope that helps! Let me know of any other questions._________________
Life becomes more pleasurable and enjoyable when there is money to flaunt and spend anytime you want.

On Sunday, June 5, Muslims all over the world celebrated the end of their 30 days fasting as many of them treated some family members and close friends to a private party.

Such was the case of the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote. The billionaire decided to treat close friends to a private party on his yacht.

Aliko Dangote with Femi Otedola, Donald Duke, Tunde Ayeni, Segun Awolowo for Sallah celebration

READ ALSO: Young policewoman celebrates birthday with police-themed cake

Aliko Dangote who just completed his 30 days fasting hosted the likes of ex-governor of Cross River state Donald Duke, Femi Otedola, Tunde Ayeni, Segun Awolowo, Niyi Adebayo and Sam Njoku on his multi-million naira yatch in Lagos.

Aliko Dangote stages Sallah celebration party for his billionaire friends

Looking at the pictures, the billionaires could be seen chatting with each other as they get ready to eat the meal set before them.

PAY ATTENTION: Get all the latest gossips on NAIJ Gossip App

Watch Legit.ng video below:

Happy Sallah celebration!

Source: Legit.ng
Dane County will stick to the terms of the Paris climate agreement, despite President Donald Trumps pulling the United States out of the accord earlier this month, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said Monday.

The county has already met the countrys previously agreed to goal of reducing 2005 carbon emission levels by 26 to 28 percent. Parisi said the county will continue to try to reduce carbon emissions, increase the use of solar and renewable energy and prepare for the impact of a changing climate.

We can show other units of government and leaders in the private sector that we can make a positive impact on the government and at the same time saving dollars and improving the environment, he said.

A recently created Office of Energy and Climate Change will work with a county climate council to identify ways for the county to meet, or exceed, goals of the Paris climate agreement, he said.

The announcement comes after Trump said this month that he would pull the U.S. out of the agreement that sought to limit the impact of climate change and minimize global temperature increases.

Trump said the deal was unfair to the U.S. and would result in lost jobs, lower wages and closed factories.

But as of May more than 1,200 U.S. cities, counties, states, universities and businesses like Apple and Nike in the We Are Still In coalition have vowed to adhere to the provisions of the climate pact, saying that sticking to the terms of the agreement would create jobs and promote trade while reducing carbon emissions.

The agreement has been signed by 149 countries.

Elsewhere in Wisconsin, UW-Stevens Point and the cities of Milwaukee and Glendale have agreed to meet the goals of the Paris climate accord.

The Dane County Board will review a resolution affirming its support of the countys move in the coming weeks.

Dane County will send a letter to the Wisconsin Counties Association this week to encourage other counties in the state to join the coalition or agree to meet goals of the Paris agreement.

With the state and federal government putting their heads in the sand with climate change, its up to us at the local level to fight climate change and lead by example, Parisi said.
As much as women suffer domestic violence, some married women have been outlined as husband beaters and find every opportunity at which they would raise their hands on him.

In Zimbabwe, a 43-year-old woman identified as Susan Mudzengi has arrested for beating up her husband, Paul Ndlovu for not attending the same church with her.

Mudzengi was reported to have beaten up her husband who is about 10 years older than her for worshipping at an African Apostolic Church. She has been charged to court for domestic violence and public indecency.

Woman beating her husband

PAY ATTENTION: Get all the latest gossips on NAIJ Gossip App

According to Zimbabwean NewsDay, the woman was formally charged on Thursday, June 22 and was slammed with additional charge after she was spotted stripping at the police station in order not to be detained in cell.

The prosecutor Munyonga Kuvarega revealed that: Ndlovu was served with supper by his daughter and when he finished eating, Mudzengi grabbed him by the neck and pushed him to the floor before she sat on him and assaulted him several times with fists. The accused also destroyed Ndlovus Bible, anointing oil and Mwazhas (his pastors) picture. The complainant managed to escape and reported the matter to the police, leading to Mudzengis arrest.

READ ALSO: It's selfish, inconsiderate not to share your husbands - Kenyan leader tells wives

They said that Mudzengi became violent and removed her clothes hearing that she would be detained as she removed her clothes but it took the intervention of female police officers before she wore her clothes and was escorted to into the cell.

Watch Legit.ng video below:

Source: Legit.ng
A 29-year-old has been arrested after he was allegedly caught stealing two laptops just few hours after he was employed at a hotel.

A newly employed staff of a hotel in Oyo state, has been arrested for allegedly stealing two company laptops barely 24 hours after he gained employment.

It was reported that the young man was said to have visited the hotel on Friday, June 23, in order to seek for employment and was employed by the management of the hotel on the spot after serious plea.

29-year-old man caught stealing hours after employment at a hotel in Oyo state

READ ALSO: It's selfish, inconsiderate not to share your husbands - Kenyan leader tells wives

Just few hours after employment, two laptops were declared missing and investigations revealed that the newly employed staff had made away with the companys properties.

Legit.ng gathered that he was immediately handed over to the police after he was arrested by the Hotel security guards at white sand stadium, Idera Ilu.

PAY ATTENTION: Get all the latest gossips on NAIJ Gossip App

However, the hotel manager said: The man came to seek for a job in hotel and just after the night when we have closed, He went away with this two laptops.

Watch Legit.ng video below:

Source: Legit.ng
A Republican health care plan that could receive a vote in the U.S. Senate as early as this week retains coverage protections for people with pre-existing health conditions  but U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson says that needs to change.

Johnson, R-Oshkosh, is among a cadre of undecided GOP senators who could determine the fate of the proposal.

A Johnson op-ed in The New York Times published Monday makes clear that  unlike some GOP moderates who fear the proposal will reduce health care access, particularly through deep Medicaid cuts  Johnson doesnt think the bill goes far enough to roll back former President Barack Obamas health care law, also known as Obamacare.

Johnson previously urged Republican senators to slow the effort to bring the bill up for a vote as soon as this week. But the op-ed was Johnsons first detailed explanation of his concerns with the measure.

Johnson wrote that the Senate bill is flawed in part because it leaves in place the pre-existing-condition rules that drive up the cost of insurance for everyone.

Obamacare bars insurers from denying coverage to people or charging them more based on a pre-existing health condition.

The Senate bill largely preserves those protections, though it would permit states to allow insurers to not cover costs associated with some conditions, according to a Washington Post report. A bill that passed the U.S. House last month would permit states to allow insurers to charge more to cover people with pre-existing health conditions if that person had a break in coverage.

In the op-ed, Johnson writes that we should look to improve successful models for protecting individuals with pre-existing conditions, models underway prior to Obamacare, such as those in Maine and Wisconsin.

In the past, Johnson has cited high-risk coverage pools as a solution for people with pre-existing conditions.

Experts told the Wisconsin State Journal earlier this year that Wisconsins high-risk pool, which operated from 1979 to 2014, was a huge factor in the states success in offering a competitive insurance market for individual coverage.

The flipside: the pool was too expensive for many people and left more than half a million residents uninsured. The pool had a six-month waiting period for coverage of pre-existing conditions and a lifetime cap of $2 million, similar to high-risk pools in other states but unlike coverage under the federal health law.

CNN correspondent Dana Bash tweeted late Monday that Johnson told her he would vote against proceeding on the health care plan if Senate leadership insisted on moving forward this week.

State Journal reporter Logan Wroge contributed to this report.
The people of Wisconsin elect their attorney general to uphold the law of the land, including defending in court the constitutionality of the laws enacted by the Legislature.

Six years ago, after several years of control by the Democratic Party, the citizens of Wisconsin elected a majority Republican Legislature in both the Assembly and Senate and a Republican governor. Among the legislation passed and signed into law in 2011 was an Assembly map setting the borders of voting districts. That map is the law of the state of Wisconsin, and it is my constitutional responsibility to defend the law creating that map against court challenges.

My duty would be the same if the map had been enacted by Democrats.

Late last year, in a sharply divided 2-1 decision, a three-judge trial court invalidated the Assembly map as too political, on a theory that the Supreme Court has never adopted, not once, in any case. The plaintiffs theory in this case is so legally flawed that it would call into question one out of every three maps drawn by legislatures in the United States.

And the plaintiffs theory is so extreme that even the maps that a federal court drew for Wisconsin in 2002 would be invalid under the guise of having too much political impact.

I asked the Supreme Court to review the three-judge courts decision and, not surprisingly, the Supreme Court has agreed to do so. Even more telling, the Supreme Court also blocked the three-judge courts decision from even taking effect. The Supreme Court does this in rare cases, and only after concluding that the strength of the partys argument and the harms the party and the public will suffer are so powerful that extraordinary relief is necessary.

Written just two days after the Supreme Courts action blocking the three-judge courts decision, a Wisconsin State Journal editorial attacked me for seeking to overturn a decision made by the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, rather than publicly urging the Legislature to enact a different law, under which the Legislature would no longer draw Assembly maps.

The editorial is rife with errors. To begin with, the decision to invalidate Wisconsins map was not made by the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, as the editorial inaccurately claims, but rather by a divided three-judge trial court, whose decision the Supreme Court has already blocked.

The editorial also misrepresents the proper function of the attorney general in our states constitutional system. The role of the attorney general under Wisconsins Constitution is to defend the laws that the Legislature passes, so long as there is a good faith basis to make such arguments.

In this case, of course, there is much more than a good faith argument: The divided three-judge courts decision is entirely unprecedented and has now been blocked by the Supreme Court. It would be inappropriate, and contrary to my responsibility under the Wisconsin Constitution, for me to criticize the very law I was elected to defend in court and to advocate for the enactment of a replacement law.

As attorney general of Wisconsin, I am proud to defend the laws that the peoples representatives adopt. Any attorney general, from any party, would have the same responsibility.


Today we are talking about Andrew Johnson. Johnson was vice president under Abraham Lincoln, and became president in 1865 after Lincoln was killed.

His name sounds like that of an earlier president, Andrew Jackson, and also like a later president, Lyndon Johnson.

But Andrew Johnson served in the years just after the Civil War. You can remember Johnson this way: He was the first U.S. president to be impeached.

Early life

Andrew Johnson grew up in a poor family in the southern state of North Carolina.

As a child, Johnson had little formal education. Instead, he trained to be a tailor.

When he was a young man, Johnson moved to Tennessee, another southern state. He opened a tailoring business, where he made, repaired and sold clothing.

When he was 18 years old, he married. His wife, Eliza McCardle, was only 16. They went on to have five children together.

Eliza McCardle Johnson did not come from a wealthy family, either. But she was better educated than her husband, and she helped him develop his reading and writing skills.

She also supported his gift for public speaking. Johnsons speeches were especially popular with workers in their community. They liked his criticism of the states wealthy planters.

The workers also liked his politics. At the time, Johnson supported measures that permitted slavery to expand across the country. He was clear in his speeches that he did not support equality between whites and African-Americans, whether enslaved or free.

In time, Johnson held many political offices: mayor, Tennessees governor, state legislator, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives. When the Civil War began, he was a member of the U.S. Senate.

Although he was a Southerner, he did not believe the Southern states had a right to withdraw from the Union. When the other Southern senators resigned from the U.S. Congress, Johnson stayed.

As a result, most Southerners considered him a traitor. But most Northerners considered him a hero.

Election of 1864

By 1864, the American Civil War was three years old. The conflict was becoming increasingly fierce and bloody. That year, the states that remained in the Union held their presidential election.

The president, Abraham Lincoln, wanted to win re-election and continue directing the Unions war effort. But he was not sure that voters in the opposition Democratic Party would support him.

So he turned to Andrew Johnson to be his choice for vice president.

Johnson was a pro-slavery Democrat. Lincoln was an anti-slavery Republican. In the U.S. tradition, presidential candidates do not usually choose someone from a different party to serve as vice president.

But in this case, Lincolns Republicans did. They called the Lincoln-Johnson partnership the National Union Party.

Political leaders hoped Johnson would appeal to Democrats who supported the war effort, to workers and to small farmers. The plan  along with several military successes for the Union  helped carry the National Union Party to victory.

The swearing-in ceremony the following March, however, suggested some of the difficulties ahead. Johnson was sick. To feel better, he had a lot of alcoholic drinks the night before the ceremony. The next morning, he drank some more.

When Johnson stood to give his speech, he appeared unsteady. He talked about his poor family and his simple beginnings. Then he spoke angrily about wealthy Southern planters who had withdrawn from the Union. He became increasingly confused.

Other people in the crowd wrote later that they felt embarrassed by Johnsons behavior. And some Republicans began calling already for his resignation  or even impeachment.

Those critics could not have predicted that in a few weeks, Johnson would be the president.

Presidency

A few very important events happened in the weeks after Lincoln and Johnson were sworn-in.

In April, Lincoln was shot and killed. Johnson took office as the new president.

The following month, the Civil War officially ended. The Confederate States of America was no more.

And that December, a majority of states approved the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That amendment ended slavery across the country.

President Johnson, therefore, guided the process of re-uniting the North and South, and supervised the transition of many African-Americans from slavery to freedom. That period in U.S. history is called Reconstruction.

Members of Congress from the Northern states had been thinking for a long time about how to carry out Reconstruction. The most extreme lawmakers, the Radical Republicans, wanted to punish former Confederate officials and extend political and civil rights to African-Americans.

Johnson had different ideas. In the first months of his presidency, before Congress had met, Johnson pardoned many former Confederate officials.

He also let Southerners rebuild their state governments as they wished. Those governments quickly passed laws called Black Codes.

Black Codes restricted the freedom and rights of African-Americans. They permitted white land owners to control African-Americans labor, much as they had when the workers were slaves. The laws were enforced by all-white police and militia.

Radical Republicans in Congress  as well as African-Americans  objected strongly to the Black Codes. When Congress finally did meet, Republican lawmakers voted for a measure to help and protect formerly enslaved people.

But Johnson vetoed the measure. He said the bill would give the federal government too much power.

Johnsons veto was one move in a political war between the president and many Republicans.

In time, lawmakers got the upper hand. The Republican Congress soon took control of Reconstruction. Against Johnsons wishes, they succeeded in passing several major pieces of legislation.

One was the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It recognized that everyone born in the United States  including African-Americans, although not Native Americans  was a citizen.

Another was the extension of the Freedmans Bureau Act, the measure that Johnson had earlier vetoed. For two more years, the federal government was authorized to help people displaced by the Civil War.

Finally, lawmakers passed a measure barring the president from dismissing any top officials without the approval of Congress.

President Johnson ignored the measure. When he believed the secretary of war did not treat him respectfully, the president ordered that man's dismissal.

In answer, members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson. In other words, they charged him with a crime. It was the first time in U.S. history that a president has been impeached.

But impeached does not always mean removed from office. The case moves to the Senate. There, senators act as a jury. They decide whether the president is guilty. Two-thirds of the Senate must agree to convict the president.

In the case of Andrew Johnson, 54 senators considered his case. For him to be removed from office, 36 would need to find him guilty. But only 35 did. His position was saved by a single vote.

Legacy

Although Johnson survived impeachment, he was not nominated as a candidate for president in the next election. Instead, he returned to his home in Tennessee, then competed for a seat back in Congress.

On the third try, he succeeded. Johnson is the first and only  so far  former president to serve as a senator.

He did not stay in the position long, however. A few months after returning to Congress, Johnson died suddenly after suffering a stroke. He was 66 years old.

Today historians have mixed feelings about his presidency. Johnsons supporters approve of his limits on the federal government and belief in a firm separation of powers among Congress, the president and Supreme Court.

But most historians believe Johnsons Reconstruction policies were extremely damaging. They did not help re-unite the North and South. And they extended the suffering of African-Americans and the countrys history of racial oppression.

Im Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

[Editor's note: The original story mistakenly said that 20 senators had to find Johnson guilty for him to be removed from office, but only 19 did. In fact, a majority at that time would have been 36 senators. Only 35 found Johnson guilty.]

Listening Quiz

See how well you understand the story by taking this listening quiz. Play each short video, then choose the best answer.

Quiz - America's Presidents: Andrew Johnson Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

impeached - adj. charged a public official with a crime while in office

formal - adj. received in a school

tailor - n. a person who makes clothes

ticket - n. a list of the candidates supported by a political party in an election

unsteady - adj. not standing or moving in a steady and balanced way

embarrassed - adj. made uncomfortable by foolish behavior

transition - n. a change from one state or condition to another

convict - v. to prove that someone is guilty of a crime in a court of law

stroke - n. a serious illness caused when a blood vessel in your brain suddenly breaks or is blocked


Native Americans are questioning the leading theory of how the first peoples in North America arrived on the continent.

For years, scientists have been debating where the first Native Americans came from, and when they arrived in North America.

The scientific community generally agrees that a single wave of people crossed a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska around 13,000 years ago.

This theory is called the Bering Strait Theory, named after the waterway between eastern Russia and western Alaska. Yet some Native Americans feel that theory is too simple and culturally biased.

Theories from the religion before science.

The first European explorers to arrive in the Americas did not use science to explain the people they found. The explorers instead looked to the Bible. Christianitys holy book suggested that human beings were created around 4,000 years ago. Biblical tradition holds that all humans are related to the first man, Adam. That would include native peoples whom Europeans considered as primitive or simplistic.

"Dominant science believed in a concept of superiority," said Alexander Ewen. "And that created an idea that either people were genetically inferior or that there were stages of civilization, and Indians were at a lower stage," he said.

Ewen is a member of the Purepecha Nation. He wrote a book called the "Encyclopedia of the American Indian in the Twentieth Century."

Early scientists felt the "primitives" they discovered in the Americas did not have the technology to have sailed the oceans. So they decided that Indians had reached North America by some unknown land bridge. They found their answer in the Bering Strait.

Ewen says that scientific theory has lasted to this day, even with new discoveries and technology. Yet new findings suggest that Indians arrived much earlier and by using different methods.

"In the first place, it's simplistic," said Ewen. "The people in this hemisphere were, and are, extremely diverse, more than any other place in the world."

Conflicting theories

In the 1930s, scientists studied a number of bones from ancient mammoths. The bones were discovered in the American community of Clovis, New Mexico. Among them were several unusual spear points, which the scientists named Clovis points.

Since then, tens of thousands of the Clovis points have been found across North America. Some have even been found in South America, as far south as Venezuela.

This led scientists to decide the Clovis people must have been America's first peoples. They believed the Clovis people arrived about 13,000 years ago.

Additional discoveries in the 1970s led some scientists to push back the arrival date. Archaeologist James Adovasio dated artifacts found in Pennsylvania's Meadowcroft rock shelter to be up to 16,000 years old. But other scientists criticized the methods he used to arrive at that date.

All fields of science are in the debate

Other scientists have expressed their ideas on the subject. In 1998, University of California-Berkeley linguist Johanna Nichols argued that it would have taken up to 50,000 years for a single language to split into the many languages spoken by modern Native Americans. This theory meant that Americas first peoples would have arrived closer to 19,000 years ago.

Geologists have said that it would not have been possible to cross the Bering Strait by land until 10,000 or 12,000 years ago. This led to theories that early humans might have sailed down the Pacific coast into the New World.

In 2015, a Harvard University geneticist, Pontus Skoglund, noted genetic links between Amazon Indians and the native peoples of Australia and New Guinea.

Yet a Smithsonian Institution anthropologist was criticized for suggesting Stone Age Europeans sailed across the Atlantic thousands of years before Christopher Columbus.

In April of 2017, researchers in California studied crushed bones they say came from an ancient Mastodon. Mastodons are no longer alive, and were related to modern elephants. The researchers think the creature they studied was killed by humans 130,000 years ago. However most scientists reject this theory because the findings cannot be confirmed.

Native American accounts

Some Native American tribes have their own beliefs of how their people came to the continent.

Montana's Blackfoot tradition says that the first Indians lived on the other side of the ocean, but their creator decided to take them to a better place. "So he brought them over the ice to the far north," the story says.

The Hopi people of Arizona say their ancestors had to travel through three worlds before they finally crossed the ocean going east to a final new world.

And Oklahoma's Tuskagee people believe the "Great Spirit" chose them to be the first people to live on the earth.

However, few scientists seem to take those beliefs seriously. Joe Watkins, supervisory anthropologist at the U.S. National Park Service, says scientists are uneasy about the time references and possibility for more than one explanation.

Yet he does not feel the beliefs should be dismissed completely.

"I do believe most of them carry within them kernels of truth of use to researchers, he adds.

Im Phil Dierking.

Cecily Hilleary reported this story for VOANews.com. Phil Dierking adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

How do you think the first people came to the Americas? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

artifact - n. a simple object (such as a tool or weapon) that was made by people in the past.

bias - n. a tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others that usually results in treating some people unfairly

geologist - n. a science that studies rocks, layers of soil, etc., in order to learn about the history of the Earth and its life

inferior - adj. low or lower in quality

kernel - n. the small, somewhat soft part inside a seed or nut

linguist - n. a person who studies the science of languages

primitive - adj. very simple and basic 

reference - n. the act of referring to something or someone

spear - n. a weapon that has a long straight handle and a sharp point

superior - adj. high or higher in quality
Its been half a year since HMD Global unveiled the Chinese version of the Nokia 6 smartphone. Now the company is getting ready to sell its first Nokia-branded device in the United States.

The Nokia 6 will be available from Amazon.com in July for $229.

Honestly, the most impressive thing about the phone is the brand name. While its not built by the same Nokia that brought us classic cellphones from the pre-smartphone era, HMD Global was founded by a group of former Nokia executives that acquired the rights to use the Nokia name from Microsoft which had previously acquired them from Nokia.

The Nokia 6 does have solid specs for a mid-range phone, including a 5.5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a microSD card slot for up to 128GB of removable storage.

The phone has a 16MP rear camera with dual tone flash and phase detection autofocus and an 8MP front camera with autofocus and an 84 degree field of view.

Other features include stereo speakers, a 3,000 mAh battery, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, and a fingerprint sensor. The Nokia 6 has a micro USB port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. And it features an aluminum unibody design.

The Nokia 6 is a GSM phone that you should be able to use the Nokia 6 with T-Mobile and AT&Ts networks in the US, although theres only partial support for AT&Ts 4G LTE network, since bands 29 and 30 are not supported. Theres no support for Verizon or Sprint.

Nokia also unveiled a few smaller and/or cheaper phones earlier this year. But theres no word on if or when the Nokia 3 or Nokia 5 will be available in North America. Rumor has it that a high-end phone called the Nokia 9 is also on the way.
Credit: Queensland University of Technology

Is our tech-laden modern world wearing out your eyes? QUT eye health researcher and optometrist Associate Professor Scott Read says it's a case of not just stopping to smell those flowers, but having a good look at them too.

Spending more time outdoors is one of his top five everyday tips (see below) for keeping your eyes healthy.

"There's two known benefits to being outside in today's world  it gives your eyes a chance to focus on things further away and have a rest from close-up work, and it also exposes our eyes to brighter outdoor light which appears to reduce our risks of developing short sightedness," Professor Read, pictured above, said.

Professor Read, who is director of research at QUT's School of Optometry and Vision Science, has researched some of the reasons behind the world's growing myopia epidemic, with short-sightedness now affecting more than 25 per cent of the Australian population.

He led a study into children's light exposure and eye growth last year which linked increased exposure to outdoor light with preventing or reducing myopia in kids.

And then there's the mystery X factor.

"We now know that getting less than 60 minutes outdoor light exposure per day is a risk factor for myopia," Professor Read said.

"Children need to spend more than an hour and preferably at least two hours a day outside to help prevent myopia from developing and progressing.

"What we don't know is why. What is it about outdoor light that makes it so beneficial?"

Professor Read's next proposed research projects will attempt to answer this "why?".

He hopes to investigate how light exposure affects the back of the eye (including the retina and choroid)  an area researchers still know relatively little about  and new ways to measure it.

"We know it's beneficial to be outside and we know it's to do with that outdoor light exposure," Professor Read said.

"Now we need to find out how that light actually affects the eye growth and the vascular structure at the back of the eye.

"This vascular structure  called the choroid  changes as people become more short-sighted, and it can change fairly quickly.

The tissue can expand or contract, and with short-sightedness it gets thinner as you become more short-sighted. Our preliminary findings also suggest that children who have greater light exposure each day tend to show less thinning of the choroid.

"I want to investigate how and why this actually happens."

One of the keys will be developing new methods and tools to 'see' more of the back of the eye.

"At the moment, standard imaging methods allow us to see about 3 per cent of the back of the eye so we are developing ways to widen this area of imaging and see more of the eye so that we can better track how it changes with light exposure over time," he said.

"It could be the key to developing the next generation of lenses for glasses that could focus light differently on the back of the eye and slow the development of short-sightedness."

Professor Read worked in clinical optometry practice for six years before returning to university to do his PhD at QUT and embark on a research career. He is a member of the university's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.

Top five everyday tips for good eye health:

Spend more time outdoors  it's been linked with reduced risk of myopia (short-sightedness). Take regular breaks from close work and screen time  try shifting your focus and looking at something in the distance every 20 minutes or so when doing close work. Don't smoke  it increases the risks of cataracts, macular degeneration and damage to your optic nerve. (And maintain a healthy weight to lessen your chance of diabetes, which can cause eye problems.) Know your family's eye health history and get regular check-ups (adults and kids), especially if there are hereditary eye conditions. Get plenty of sleep  a bad night's sleep contributes to eye fatigue

Seven interesting eye facts:

Eating dark leafy greens and egg yolks is good for your eyes  they contain lutein and zeaxanthin which are important nutrients for eye health. The 'carrots help you see at night' story started in World War II when the UK Ministry of Food attributed ace fighter pilots' night vision to eating plenty of carrots. (The root vegetable does have a lot of beta-carotene, a naturally occurring pigment that nourishes the eye, but there's no official research showing it will make you a top gun.) Newborns often don't produce tears. They make crying sounds, but typically the tears don't start flowing until they are about 4-13 weeks old. The average blink lasts for about 1/5th of a second. Eyes are thought to have first developed in animals, in a very basic form, around 550 million years ago. Out of all the muscles in your body, the muscles that control your eyes are the most active. You blink more when you talk.

More information: Scott Andrew Read. Ocular and Environmental Factors Associated with Eye Growth in Childhood, Optometry and Vision Science (2016). Scott Andrew Read. Ocular and Environmental Factors Associated with Eye Growth in Childhood,(2016). DOI: 10.1097/OPX.0000000000000915 Scott A. Read et al. Light Exposure and Eye Growth in Childhood, Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science (2015). DOI: 10.1167/iovs.14-15978 Journal information: Optometry and Vision Science
In his lab in Lake Nona, Dr. Peter Crawford has been studying nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition that's closely linked to obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

He is using cutting edge metabolic and genetic tools to try to figure out how and why nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or "fatty liver," progresses into a more severe form, putting the patients at a higher risk of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer.

"It's a real scare, and it's directly linked to the obesity epidemic," said Crawford, a physician and research scientist at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.

In nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, liver cells retain fat. The condition has a strong association with developing cardiovascular disease. In a small portion of individuals it can progress to the point that they need a transplant or get cancer.

The disease began making its mark on medical charts not long after obesity became an epidemic in the 1980s.

Its cause is not exactly known, but it is strongly linked to diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol, making it the most common liver disorder in Western industrialized countries. By 2030 the condition will be the most common reason for liver transplants in the United States, according to a 2014 study by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic.

Meanwhile, most patients who have fatty liver aren't aware of it, and the condition can evade primary care providers too, because it usually doesn't affect the results of routine blood work. For those who are eventually diagnosed - usually after the disease progresses to its more severe form - there are currently no drugs available.

"When you combine the fact that the natural history of the disease is unclear; it's difficulty to diagnose, treat and stage it; and there's no FDA-approved medicine, it becomes a huge issue," said Dr. Jaideep Behari, associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and director of Fatty Liver Clinic.

The issue is more pronounced in states like Florida, where more than a quarter of the population is obese, and as a result more likely to have type 2 diabetes.

For local doctors, who continue to see liver disease cases related to hepatitis infections and alcohol abuse, fatty liver is a rapidly growing third category.

"It's becoming an epidemic," said Dr. Nasim Ahmed, a gastroenterologist at Gastroenterology Consultants CFL in Orlando

At Digestive and Liver Center of Florida, one of the large local independent practices, the proportion of patients who have liver disease because of alcohol, hepatitis and obesity is almost equal these days, said Dr. Srinivas Seela, one of the practice's founding partners.

"It's frustrating that these patients have no medical treatment," said Dr. Harinath Sheela, a Seela's partner and brother.

About 10 percent to 15 percent of the patients develop the more severe condition called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, but it's not yet known which patients are more likely to fall in this category, adding to doctors' frustration.

For now, the standard treatment is lifestyle change. Patients are advised to lose weight and get their diabetes under control, although not all patients follow the advice.

But there's hope, because fatty liver has become an active area of research.

At least 200 drugs targeting the conditions are currently in clinical trials and a handful are in the advanced stages of research. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease has created a nationwide clinical research network to conduct studies for preventing and treating the disease.

"So it's possible that there will be a therapies within the next three to five years that will decrease the rates (of the disease)," said Behari of the University of Pittsburgh.

He was also encouraged by Crawford's research.

Crawford's recent findings from animal studies has amplified the silent dialogue between liver cells and their neighboring immune cells, showing that when certain fuels produced by the liver cells are off balance, the immune cells in the liver go rogue and cause scarring and worsening of fatty liver disease.

"That's a very exciting finding," said Behari, who's not involved in the research. "Anything that helps us open up that black box and understand the disease at the molecular level is a big deal."

Crawford, who's in the process of publishing the results of his most recent study, hopes the findings would pave the way toward developing a drug and help identify patients who are at a higher risk of developing severe forms of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

He added that the findings also reiterate another important point.

"One way to look at it is that even in one strict cell type, having a balanced nutrition is important," Crawford said.

2017 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: University of Queensland

The implementation of an Indigenous-led suicide intervention program will begin in Queensland's rural and remote communities in July.

Researchers from The University of Queensland have consulted extensively with Indigenous communities to develop relevant and sustainable training programs for 'gatekeepers'.

UQ Rural Clinical School's Director of Indigenous Health and project leader Dr Maree Toombs said culturally tailored Indigenous gatekeeper training is needed to address the increasing rates of suicide among Indigenous people living in rural and remote areas.

"For frontline intervention to be effective, our gatekeepers need to be able to identify suicide risks and start early intervention strategies," Dr Toombs said.

"These are often remote communities so they have to be self-sufficient, and programs with high levels of community involvement are the most effective.

"Using the local language or jargon can go a long way towards breaking down some of the barriers which prevent people from getting help."

The project's community consultation phase involved more than 90 individuals from 28 community organisations in Southern Queensland.

"We found that existing suicide prevention programs were time-intensive, included content that was not relevant to Indigenous people, and were not sustainable," Dr Toombs said.

"We heard that many people were unaware of the services that were available, meaning they did not know where to turn for help.

"Gaps in services meant police were often called when matters came to a head, adding to the trauma and meaning suicidal people were less likely to be open to assistance."

Dr Toombs said, because becoming a gatekeeper could be confronting, it was important they receive practical training with examples relevant to their communities.

"Gatekeepers will also be connected with peer support and responders through training networks, and a mobile phone application that is currently being developed," Dr Toombs said.

The community consultation report has been published in BMC Psychiatry.

More information: Bushra Nasir et al. An Australian Indigenous community-led suicide intervention skills training program: community consultation findings, BMC Psychiatry (2017). Bushra Nasir et al. An Australian Indigenous community-led suicide intervention skills training program: community consultation findings,(2017). DOI: 10.1186/s12888-017-1380-5
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

An exercise program comprised of gentle exercises and taught by home care aides can help frail older adults perform basic daily activities, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago published in The Gerontologist.

"Despite evidence proving the benefits of regular physical activity for all people, regardless of age and ability, our health care system and long-term care norms encourage dependent behavior in older adults," said corresponding author Naoko Muramatsu, associate professor of community health sciences in the UIC School of Public Health and fellow of the UIC Institute for Health Research and Policy.

"This study challenges our passive care model and is one of the first to test an intervention for frail seniors using home care aides," she said.

The program, called Healthy Moves for Aging Well, includes three low-risk, gentle exercises: a seated step-in-place, arm curls and an ankle point-and-flex to home-bound older adults. Aides remind clients of their health goals and provide motivation to complete the exercises daily during regular visits.

For the study, Muramatsu and colleagues looked at the outcomes of 54 clients aged 63 to 101 living in Chicago who participated in Healthy Moves for Aging Well in a Medicaid and state-funded home care setting for four months. The researchers saw improvement in the ability to perform basic activities, such as getting to the toilet and pouring a drink from a carton, and light daily tasks, such as preparing meals and doing laundry.

"Improvement in these small tasks makes a large difference when it comes to quality of life, especially in a society that has not yet caught up to the needs of its aging population," Muramatsu said. "Few physical activity programs target older adults who have difficulty with basic activities, such as standing and walking. Programs that do so effectivelythrough physical or occupational therapy, for exampleare often too expensive for wide dissemination among this group of people."

"We are excited to see function and health outcomes improve, and we are also very excited to see that participation and satisfaction with the program was high," Muramatsu said. "This tells us that the program is sustainable for wider dissemination."

Ninety-eight percent of clients reported high levels of satisfaction with the program and 80 percent reported the program was "just right."

And, clients are not the only ones who benefit from this program. The research also found the program empowered and benefited home care aidesone of the fastest growing occupations is the U.S.who often lack access to wellness initiatives provided in more traditional workplaces. These secondary findings are published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Muramatsu plans to enroll approximately 300 home-care aides and their clients, in future studies. The goal, she says, is to develop a sustainable health promotion program that can be used widely by all kinds of people and organizations in community-settings.

More information: Naoko Muramatsu et al. Promoting Seniors' Health With Home Care Aides: A Pilot, The Gerontologist (2017). Naoko Muramatsu et al. Promoting Seniors' Health With Home Care Aides: A Pilot,(2017). DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnx101
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Patients with dementia may actually die sooner if their family caregivers are mentally stressed, according to a new study from the University of California, Berkeley.

From 2007 until 2016, UC Berkeley researchers tracked the mortality of 176 patients with neurodegenerative diseases that are corrosive to brain function. They also measured the mental health of the family members who took care of them.

Their findings, to be published June 26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate that patients tended by caregivers with depression, anxiety and other symptoms of mental illness typically died sooner than those being looked after by caregivers in good mental health.

For example, compared to patients who were cared for by relatives in fairly good mental health, patients tended by family members in poor mental health died, on average, about 14 months sooner.

"Our finding of the strong relationship between patient survival and caregiver mental health underscores the profound intertwining of the lives and well-being of caregivers and patients as they engage in one of life's most challenging and intimate relationships," said study senior author Robert Levenson, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley.

While the study does not provide definitive causal or directional evidence for the earlier death of patients whose caregivers are in poor mental health, "it highlights the mutual influence both parties' mental and physical states have on one another, and the extraordinarily high stakes that are involved," Levenson said.

The study is thought to be the first to link the mental health of caregivers to the mortality of patients who suffer from a diverse range of neurodegenerative diseases, researchers said.

"These findings make a compelling case that helping preserve the mental health of caregivers may also help the patients in their care," said study co-lead author Brett Ford, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Toronto who worked on the study as a Ph.D. student in psychology at Berkeley.

The 176 caregiver-patient pairs were examined by researchers at Levenson's Berkeley Psychophysiology Laboratory. Caregivers reported their own health and social and emotional well-being and patients were assessed during annual follow-up appointments and phone updates through the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

Of the caregivers, 85 percent were spouses, 8 percent were adult children, and 6 percent were siblings.

"We were able to meet and speak with a number of caregivers, many of whom talked about the challenges of watching their spouse or loved one slowly lose their sense of self and their ability to live independently," said study co-lead author Sandy Lwi, a Ph.D. student in psychology at Berkeley.

A patient's longevity was based on the number of days from their initial assessment at the Berkeley Psychophysiological Laboratory until their time of death, or, if they had not died, until the study cutoff date in May 2016. Of the 176 patients, 76 died during the course of the study.

Overall, the results showed that the mortality risk for patients was greater when their caregiver suffered from poor mental health, even when factoring in patients' gender, age, disease severity and mental health.

More than 7 million Americans are estimated to suffer from neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's (ALS) and Huntington's disease, all of which lead to gradual declines in cognitive, emotional and motor functioning.

The unrelenting progression of these diseases - with a rate of survival ranging from three to 10 years after initial diagnosis - means that patients are often cared for in the home by relatives or close friends who are not being paid for their work.

"Family members and others who provide critically needed care for these patients do heroic and extremely challenging work," Levenson said.

While caregivers may find this work rewarding and necessary, the everyday stress can take a toll on their mental well-being. Up to 40 percent of dementia caregivers suffer from depression. They also report above-average levels of anxiety, social isolation and frustration.

The study notes that poor mental health in caregivers can affect patients' lives in a variety of ways. It can reduce the quality of patient care by raising the risk of neglect or abuse, weaken the patients' immune systems by compromising social bonds between the caregiver and patient, or transmit negative emotions directly to patients through a phenomenon known as emotion contagion, in which one person in a relationship absorbs the emotional responses of the other.

Researchers said they will continue to check in on the surviving caregiver-patient relationships in their study to dig deeper into the dynamics at play.

Meanwhile, the study's results are timely in the face of the rising health needs of aging baby boomers, said Levenson. By 2030, more than 8 million Americans are anticipated to be living with some form of dementia.

"Soaring rates of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases constitute one of the most pressing public health challenges of the present era, and this will become even more challenging as the population ages," Levenson said.

More information: Sandy J. Lwi el al., "Poor caregiver mental health predicts mortality of patients with neurodegenerative disease," PNAS (2017). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Sandy J. Lwi el al., "Poor caregiver mental health predicts mortality of patients with neurodegenerative disease,"(2017). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1701597114
Economic protectionism has been a big part of President Donald Trumps success, but rather than winning, it would be a losing proposition for most Americans.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, and Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, have proposed a continuation of this theme in the form of a border adjustment tax, otherwise known as a tariff, of 20 percent on imported goods. It is being pushed as part of a larger tax reform package, which would likely include a significant reduction to the corporate tax rate as well.

It seems that Ryan has recently been reconsidering the measure, however, after many fellow Republican members of Congress have bristled over the imposition of a tax estimated to cost $1 trillion over 10 years.

Ryan would be wise to withdraw the tax  for both political and economic reasons.

Target CEO Brian Cornell made the consequences of such a tax clear at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing last month.

Under the new border adjustment tax, American families  your constituents  would pay more so many multinational corporations can pay even less, Cornell testified. Eighty-five percent of Americans shop at Target every year. We believe this new tax would hit those families hard, raising prices on everyday essentials by up to 20 percent.

It is true that protectionist measures can preserve some domestic jobs, but at what cost?

American Enterprise Institute economist Mark Perry sought to answer that question earlier this year. Drawing on and updating data from a 1986 Institute for International Economics study that examined 31 case studies of U.S. trade protection  most of which concerned products from the manufacturing sector  Perry found that the average annual consumer losses experienced were more than $516,000 for every domestic job saved by protectionism.

Moreover, Perry noted, the vast majority of jobs lost in U.S. manufacturing have come from automation and increased worker productivity, not trade or outsourcing.

But an American factory where some jobs were saved, or at least prolonged, by protectionist measures makes for a better photo op, and there is no equivalent highly organized lobby to represent the interests of U.S. consumers.

Then there are the additional negative consequences that result if and when other nations retaliate in kind. When asked about the Trump administrations consideration of a cut to steel imports for dubious national security reasons, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom warned that doing so would open a Pandoras box.

Many other countries would maybe also refer to security and, because of that, do a lot of protectionist measures, she told Bloomberg News recently. We will retaliate, of course, she added.

The us-versus-them rhetoric is certainly nothing new in politics, but the economics are pretty clear: Free trade leads to greater consumer choice, lower prices and a higher standard of living, while protectionism stifles growth.

To truly Make America great again, and more prosperous, President Trump and other Republicans tempted by the gilded populism of economic protectionism should realize that free markets and free trade are the best way to improve the fortunes of the vast majority of people, both in and outside American borders.
Mike Spencer lit the fuse and held the firework above his head.

It was a shell-and-mortar-style firework, and directions on the box usually say to put the barrel-like mortar on the ground pointing skyward, pop in the grenade-like shell, light the fuse - and run.

But Spencer, who was visiting his girlfriend in Bigfork, Mont., held it in his hands instead.

Then, "Bang!" The shell never left its tube.

"My hands felt warm," Spencer said. "I looked at them and just saw red."

That's the last thing he remembers of April 30, 2015.

According to friends, he took off running after the explosion and had to be tackled.

He regained consciousness the next day at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he had been airlifted because of the severity of his injuries.

He lost one finger on his right hand and three on his left.

Spencer is one data point in a study by Harborview's Injury Prevention and Research Center of 10 years of patients who came through its doors for firework injuries between 2005-2015. Researchers found that nearly 40 percent of injuries came from shell-and-mortar style fireworks like the one that hurt Spencer.

Since 1999, about 10,500 people have been treated for firework-related injuries every year in the U.S., according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. But there's not much data on what types of fireworks cause the most severe injuries, said Dr. Monica Vavilala, director of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center. Most studies focus on the danger inherent in all fireworks, according to researchers.

"That doesn't give you the sense of how serious these injuries are," Vavilala said. "Here are the consequences, here's what's happening to real people."

Shell-and-mortar fireworks are legal in Washington state, but the injuries they cause are more similar to those inflicted by illegal fireworks, the study found. In fact, they were even more damaging than homemade fireworks.

"Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's safe," said Vavilala.

The typical person to suffer an injury in this study is a 20- to 30-year-old man. But lots of these injuries also happen to bystanders, according to Dr. Brinkley Sandvall, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who worked on the study.

Seventy-eight percent of patients in the study had burns, 43 percent had fractures and 59 percent had soft-tissue injuries. Twenty-one percent of patients had eye injuries, and 70 percent of those lost some or all of their vision. Of the 294 patients examined in the study, 11 had an eye removed, and 67 had a hand injury requiring at least one finger amputation.

"Fireworks don't usually just burn," Sandvall said. "The explosion rips through skin and muscle and bone."

That's what happened to Spencer. He's had 11 surgeries, including one to replace his left thumb with one of his toes. He has a sense of humor about it, calling it his "thoe."

But his injury affects Spencer two years later; he cried "really hard" when he saw himself for the first time on a local TV report in his hometown of Bowling Green, Ky.

"I still kind of wonder if I'm not in denial about it today," Spencer said. "(But) I choose to be happy and not spend my life looking in the rearview mirror."

As for this Fourth of July, Spencer has advice for revelers who want to use fireworks:

"Leave them to the professionals."

2017 The Seattle Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A study investigated whether children whose mothers had an alcohol-related disorder would be at risk of early-life contact with the justice system, which can lead to many negative outcomes across an individual's life span. Such outcomes can include repeated contact with the justice system, social disadvantages and marginalization, and mental-health and substance-use issues.

The study made use of linked administrative data from Western Australia. It used records of women who had a birth recorded on the Midwives Notification System between 1983 and 2007. The exposed cohort included mothers with an alcohol-related diagnosis, which served as a proxy for heavy drinking. A comparison group of mothers with no alcohol-related diagnoses was randomly selected, matching on maternal age within race and the year of the child's birth. The study cohort included 10,211 exposed mothers and 47,688 comparison mothers. Child contact with the justice system was identified from Department of Corrective Services data  including those 10 years or older with a justice-system record for juveniles (10 - 17 years) and/or adults (18 years and older) from 1985 to 2011.

Children whose mothers had a maternal alcohol-related diagnosis had almost twice the odds of contact with the justice system as children whose mothers had no alcohol-related diagnosis. Additional risk was associated with being Indigenous and with markers of social disadvantage such as low socioeconomic status. Significant child-level factors associated with greater odds of justice-system contact included being male, having a mental-health diagnosis or child-protection contact, and academic failure. The authors suggest that these factors be considered in the development of targeted prevention programs.

More information: Katherine Hafekost et al. Maternal Alcohol Use Disorder and Risk of Child Contact with the Justice System in Western Australia: A Population Cohort Record Linkage Study, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (2017). Journal information: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research Katherine Hafekost et al. Maternal Alcohol Use Disorder and Risk of Child Contact with the Justice System in Western Australia: A Population Cohort Record Linkage Study,(2017). DOI: 10.1111/acer.13426
Krasi Vasilev from the University of South Australias Future Industries Institute is helping to develop the bladder cancer tests.

A leading car sensor manufacturer is developing a device to radically simplify bladder cancer testing.

The non-invasive device uses biosensors to test urine and avoids uncomfortable follow up tests where tubes are inserted into the urethra to access the bladder.

In an industry-university collaboration led by SMR Technologies in Adelaide, researchers from the University of South Australia and Flinders Medical Centre are preparing the device for hospital trials.

The SMR Technologies device is based on research by the University of South Australia's Future Industries Institute, which identified a new polymeric compound that binds to cancer specific antibodies in urine.

These compounds are now being turned into nano-structured coatings and combined with point-of-care biosensors in a portable urine test.

SMR Technologies is one of the largest manufacturers of passenger car rearview mirrors in the world with 24 per cent of the global market share in production of exterior mirrors for light vehicles. It is also one of the leading experts for camera-based sensing systems.

However, the decline of the car manufacturing industry in South Australia in recent years has caused the company to seek opportunities in the medical device industry.

An SMR Technologies spokesman said the company was very interested in exploring opportunities in the area of cancer research.

"Cancer is a global issue and we hope that these sensors will play a key role in the fight against the deadly disease," he said.

"The funding is focused on a revolutionary diagnostic device for non-invasive early detection of urothelial cancers.

"These cancers have very high recurrence rates and ongoing patient monitoring currently requires highly invasive techniques."

The spokesman said preliminary results suggested it was a superior method to common cancer detections methods such as cytology and endoscopy.

It is now being scaled up in a AU$9.2 million project and will be trialled on 1000 patients at Flinders Medical Centre to further test its commercial potential.

According to the American Cancer Society, bladder cancer is the world's fourth most common form of the disease. About 77,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2015.

The general five-year survival rate for people with bladder cancer is 77 per cent.

The initial diagnosis of bladder cancer usually follows symptoms such as bloody urine or frequent urination.

Patients are then required to undergo flexible cystoscopy, where a thin tube with a camera and light on the end is inserted through the urethra to the bladder.

Bladder cancer survivors are also subject to regular endoscopies because of the high probability of cancer recurrence.

The new detection device uses the polymer coating technology to bind to the cancer cells in urine samples.

It then uses unique biosensors and micro-optics to identify the presence of those cells.

The non-invasive process enables survivors to test for cancer recurrence in the privacy of their own home without the need to undergo additional cystoscopies.

Lead researcher Krasi Vasilev from the University of South Australia's Future Industries Institute said current urinary diagnostic tests for urothelial cancer were expensive, with limited sensitivity and specificity.

"The thing with bladder cancer is the high probability of recurrence  about 75 per cent within five years, which is why they need constant surveillance," he said.

"Cystoscopy is an invasive procedure where you are at risk for a number of complications such as infections and with about 90 per cent of endoscopies being negative, patients can go away after having invasive procedures that cost a lot of money and are then told they are fine.

"This process will revolutionise how bladder cancer is tested and in the small tests we have done, it is better than other non-invasive techniques like urine cytology."

A research paper describing the technology was recently published online in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

More information: Melanie Macgregor-Ramiasa et al. A platform for selective immuno-capture of cancer cells from urine, Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2017). Journal information: Biosensors and Bioelectronics Melanie Macgregor-Ramiasa et al. A platform for selective immuno-capture of cancer cells from urine,(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2017.02.011

Provided by The Lead
In the picture above, the same horizontal striped pattern has been added to all of the square backgrounds, yet the pattern is much harder to see on the left. These examples demonstrate the three main background properties that affect human ability to see objects: the luminance, the contrast and the similarity of the background to the orientation and shape of the object. Credit: Sebastian, S., Abrams, J. & Geisler, W. (June 26, 2017) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.

Things are not always as they appear. New visual perception research at The University of Texas at Austin, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explains the natural limits of what humans can see and how to find what nature hides.

UT Austin researchers investigated the three main background properties that affect the ability to see objects: the luminance or brightness, the contrast (the variation in luminance) and the similarity of the background to the orientation and shape of the object. Using an experimental and theoretical approach involving analysis of millions of natural images, the researchers found that the ability to detect the differences between the object and the background was predicted directly from the physics of natural stimuli.

"The discovery of highly systematic laws for perception in natural scenesmade possible by constrained statistical samplingis a potential game changer," said the paper's lead author Wilson Geisler, a UT Austin professor of psychology and director of the Center for Perceptual Systems. "It demonstrates how to study complex real-world perception with the same level of rigor that was previously achieved only with simple synthetic stimuli."

In order for people to pick out an object against a background, the object must differ from the background by a "just noticeable difference," a threshold quantified by the minimum difference a person can detect the majority of the time. Even as the properties of both the object and the background vary, the threshold remains in constant proportion to the product of the background propertiesa generalized version of Weber's law.

"The ability of these background properties to mask objects is well known for simple laboratory stimuli," Geisler said. "However, it was not known how these properties combine to mask objects in natural scenes."

The researchers considered the effects of stimulus uncertainty. Under real-world conditions, the properties of the object and of the background against which the object appears will randomly vary from one occasion to the next, creating a stimulus uncertainty that can also affect accuracy in detecting the object.

Their findings showed that the detrimental effects of this uncertainty can be minimized by estimating the luminance, contrast and similarity at the object's possible locations, and then dividing the neural responses at each of these locations by the product of these estimates. The researchers found strong evidence that these computations are done automatically in the human visual system.

Knowing this may lead to improved radiology technology to help radiologists identify abnormalities in the human body; or better security imaging at airports to detect suspicious items in luggage; or enhanced camouflage design to disguise soldiers in war zones, Geisler said.

"There are many potential applications of these findings. For example, radiological images are highly complex, like the natural images that drove the evolution of the human visual system. Thus, the perceptual laws for natural images may predict when a radiologist will have difficulty detecting suspicious objects in a radiological image. These predictions could be used to alert the radiologist to locations where extra scrutiny would be advised," Geisler said.

More information: Stephen Sebastian el al., "Constrained sampling experiments reveal principles of detection in natural scenes," PNAS (2017). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Stephen Sebastian el al., "Constrained sampling experiments reveal principles of detection in natural scenes,"(2017). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1619487114
(HealthDay)For patients with irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D), interferon- concentrations and T HELPER cells are inhibited during symptom flare, according to a research letter published online June 10 in Gut.

Chris Mavrangelos, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, and colleagues conducted a longitudinal study of patients with IBS comparing immune function within patients when they were free of symptoms and when they experienced symptom flare. The authors enrolled 11 patients with long-standing IBS who completed a valid self-report Bowel Disease Questionnaire and donated venous blood samples when free of symptoms and when experiencing a self-reported symptom flare.

The researchers found that symptom scores were significantly higher when subjects had symptom flare compared with being symptom free. When subjects were grouped together or when stratified according to bowel habit, the immune profile did not differ between symptom-flare and symptom-free time points. When subjects were grouped together, cytokine secretion and proliferative capacity did not differ between symptom-free and symptom-flare time points. On stratification by bowel habit, in IBS-D subjects, both interferon- concentrations and T HELPER proliferation were significantly reduced during symptom-flare versus symptom-free time points.

"In order to accurately characterize immune profiles in IBS, researchers should consistently provide information regarding IBS subtype and symptom profile at the time of tissue sampling," the authors write.

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), self-reactive T cell responses cause inflammation and progressive damage to synovial joints. Although genetic risk factors for RA have been identified, environmental causes are also thought to play a role in the onset of RA. Recent work suggests that the disease is initially triggered by immune responses to gut bacteria, but how autoimmunity of intestinal origin plays a role in RA-linked autoimmune responses is unclear.

This week in the JCI a study led by Annalisa Pianta at Massachusetts General Hospital describes two proteins derived from common types of gut bacteria that evoke immune responses in RA patients. N-acetyl-glucosamine-6-sulfatase (GNS) and filamin A (FLNA) were identified as autoantigens that produce responses from both T and B cells in over 50% of RA patients, but not healthy controls or patients with other rheumatic diseases. Although GNS and FLNA antigens were discovered in the synovial joint fluid in RA-affected joints, GNS and FLNA proteins show remarkable similarity to proteins produced by common classes of intestinal bacteria.

It is still unclear how abnormal immune responses to gut bacteria develop and transition to autoimmune destruction of joints in RA patients. However, the findings of this study support the hypothesized link between intestinal and synovial autoimmunity. In addition, the specificity for GNS and FLNA autoantigens for RA provides a pathway for the development of approaches to improve diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

More information: Annalisa Pianta et al, Two rheumatoid arthritisspecific autoantigens correlate microbial immunity with autoimmune responses in joints, Journal of Clinical Investigation (2017). Journal information: Journal of Clinical Investigation Annalisa Pianta et al, Two rheumatoid arthritisspecific autoantigens correlate microbial immunity with autoimmune responses in joints,(2017). DOI: 10.1172/JCI93450

Provided by JCI
Credit: Pixabay

According to the National Onion Association (yes, that's a thing), approximately 170 countries grow onions, and it's estimated that 9.2 million acres of onions are harvested annually around the world. Onions are low in calories and packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. They also go great in your salads, omelets and guacamole recipes.

However, as everyone from expert chefs to culinary novices has learned, onions can bring a tear to your eye, and an expert from the Texas A&M College of Medicine explains why that happens.

It starts underground

Onions are vegetables that grow underground, and beneath the surface are a lot of critters who are trying to grab a bite to eat, but onions have a way to protect themselves.

Sulfur in the dirt mixes with the growing onion and creates amino acid sulfoxides, which are sulfur compounds that readily turn into a gas. When an onion breaks apart, the sulfoxides and onion enzymes are released, and this creates sulfenic acid. The sulfenic acid and onion enzymes react and create syn-propanethial-S-oxidea tough-to-pronounce gas.

This gas floats up from the chopped (or bitten) onion and deters critters (and causes humans to shed tears). It takes a lot of precise chemical reactions, and some vegetables related to onions will produce fewer tears. White, yellow and red onions all have higher concentration of the onion enzyme necessary to create syn-propanethial-S-oxide while sweet onions, green onions and scallions have fewer of the necessary enzymes.

"It really is a complicated chemical process that creates the gas," said Robert H. Rosa Jr., MD, ophthalmologist and professor of surgery and medical physiology at the Texas A&M College of Medicine. "They all act as precursors that create the lachrymatory processor what makes you tear up."

Onions and your eyes

Your eyes are sensitive, and considering their responsibilities, it's good that they have defenses to harmful gases.

"Your eyes have a set of nerves that detect anything that's potentially harmful to your eyes," Rosa said. "Your eyes react to the gas that is formed, and your eyes try to flush it out with tears."

Luckily, the gases that are produced from chopping onions are more nuisance than harm. "Chopping onions can cause some burning and irritation and tears," Rosa said. "Other than that, it's pretty safe on your eyes. It's a temporary sensation with no known long-term effects, nor will it worsen any other conditions, like pink eye."

Also, some people may have more sensitive eyes than others, which is why not everyone will tear up when they chop onions but why others may feel the effects on the other side of the room.

Avoiding the tears

There are a few different ways to avoid tears when you're cutting onions. You can prevent the gas from reaching your eyes by wearing protective goggles, but that may be a bit excessive considering you're in a kitchen and not a laboratory.

"Some people may cut the onions in a bowl of water," Rosa said. "I'd personally recommend using eye drops, like comfort drops, to help lubricate or rinse the eyes and dilute the gas exposure to the eyes."

There has been talk about genetically modifying onions to knock out the alliinase enzyme that causes tears, without changing the particular spice that onions provide in flavor. However, tear-free onions have yet to be commercialized. So, if you're planning to add some onions to your favorite recipes, you may want a couple of tissues handy.
Grandmother and sick baby of a migratory family in Arizona. These types of families were targeted for help by the Farm Security Administration. Credit: NARA/ Dorothea Lange

After much secrecy and no public deliberation, Senate Republicans finalized release their "draft" repeal and replace bill for the Affordable Care Act on June 22. Unquestionably, the released "draft" will not be the final version.

Amendments and a potential, albeit not necessary, conference committee are likely to make some adjustments. However, both the House version  American Health Care Act (AHCA)  and the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) will significantly reduce coverage for millions of Americans and reshape insurance for virtually everyone. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is expected to provide final numbers early the week of June 26.

If successful, the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act would be in rare company. Even though the U.S. has been slower than any other Western country to develop a safety net, the U.S. has rarely taken back benefits once they have been bestowed on its citizenry. Indeed, only a small number of significant cases come to mind.

My academic work has analyzed the evolution of the American health care system including those rare instances. I believe historical precedents can provide insights for the current debate.

Providing help to mothers and infants

The first major federal grant program for health purposes was also the first one to quickly be eliminated. The program was authorized under the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act of 1921. It provided the equivalent of US$20 million a year in today's dollars to states in order to pay for the needs of women and young children.

Sheppard-Towner, which provided funding to improve health care services for mothers and infants, was enacted after a long debate in Congress amid accusations of socialism and promiscuity. Interestingly enough, the act may have passed only due to pressure from newly voting-eligible women.

Overall, the program was responsible for more than 3 million home visits, close to 200,000 child health conferences and more than 22 million pieces of health education literature distributed. It also helped to establish 3,000 permanent health clinics serving 700,000 expectant mothers and more than 4 million babies.

The program continued until 1929, when Congress, under pressure from the American Medical Association, the Catholic Church and the Daughters of the American Revolution, terminated the program. Without federal support, a majority of states either eliminated the programs or only provided nominal funding. Fortunately for America's children and mothers, the Social Security Amendment of 1935 reestablished much of the original funding and expanded it over time.

Helping America's farmers during the New Deal

America's next major program confronted a similar fate. To address the challenges of rural America during the Great Depression, the federal government developed a variety of insurance and health care programs that offered extensive and comprehensive services to millions of farm workers, migrants and farmers.

Some of these programs provided subsidies to farmers to form more than 1,200 insurance cooperatives nationwide. At times, the federal government's Farm Security Administaton (FSA) provided extensive services directly to migrant farm workers through medical assistance on agricultural trains, mobile and roving clinics, migratory labor camps that included health centers staffed with qualified providers, full-service hospitals and Agricultural Workers Health Associations (AWHA).

In all cases, services were generally comprehensive and included ordinary medical care, emergency surgery and hospitalization, maternal and infant care, prescription drugs and dental care.

Although these services were accepted during wartime, the American Medical Association and the Farm Bureau opposed them, which ultimately led to their demise shortly after World War II. Millions of farmers lost their insurance.

Medicaid in the 1980s

Perhaps the most indicative expectations on what will happen in case congressional Republicans are able to pass their proposal hails from the Medicaid program itself.

In the early 1980s, Medicaid underwent a series of cuts and reductions leading to the first contracting in the program's history. These involved both a reduction in federal funding and in eligibility, and an increase in state flexibility to run the program, as do the Republican proposals in Congress.

The cuts pale in comparison to those currently proposed by both the Senate and House. Nonetheless, the results was the first slowing of the Medicaid growth rate. However, this came at a steep cost for many Americans in the form of a significant reduction in enrollment, benefits and access even during a recessionary period.

Protecting America's seniors

The 1980s also saw the creation and quick demise of another health care program. The Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 sought to fill in the gaps of the original Medicare program for America's seniors. Specifically, it sought to provide them with protection from major medical costs and offer them a prescription drug benefit for the first time.

Similarly to the Affordable Care Act, the law had a redistributive foundation by requiring richer seniors to contribute more than poorer individuals. Also, similarly to the Affordable Care Act, it phased in benefits over a period of time.

Congress, confronted by affluent seniors who would have shouldered much of the financial burden of the program, quickly repealed much of the law before its provisions came into effect.

It took more than a decade to provide America's seniors with a prescription drug benefit through Medicare Part D, while only limited steps have been taken to protect seniors from major medical losses.

A serious setback looming?

While a latecomer, the United States has inched closer to the development of a comprehensive welfare state when it comes to health care. While the development has been incomplete, health benefits, once granted, have rarely been revoked except in those few cases described above.

The consequences of those rare cases are nonetheless instructive. States were unable to continue the program without federal support or offer a valid replacement. Indeed, the programs quickly faded away. With them, millions of Americans lost access to health care.

In all three previous cases, the federal government eventually renewed its financial support. However, at times it took time for a replacement program to emerge.

The current changes proposed by congressional Republicans, particularly to the Medicaid program, are tremendously more consequential than anything we have previously experienced.

Indeed, in scale and extent, the proposed changes are unprecedented and would significantly roll back, likely for the foreseeable future, America's safety net.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Persistent moderate to severe mental distress is linked to a significantly heightened risk of death among patients with stable coronary heart disease, finds research published online in the journal Heart.

But no such association was found for those experiencing persistent mild or occasional distress over the long term, the findings show.

Many studies have linked anxiety/depression with an increased risk of heart attack/stroke, but these have mostly been done fairly soon after the event, and been based on a single assessment, say the researchers. And the definitions of chronic/persistent stress in other longer term studies have varied widely.

In a bid to get round some of these issues the researchers looked at the association between occasional or persistent mental distress and the risk of death in 950 people with stable coronary heart disease who were between 31 and 74 years old.

All the participants were part of the Long Term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease Trial and had had a heart attack or been admitted to hospital for unstable angina in the preceding three to 36 months.

They filled in a validated general health questionnaire (GHQ30) at six months, 1, 2, and 4 years after the event to gauge their levels of mental distress.

This was graded according to severity and the length of time it lasted at each of the assessments: never distressed; occasional (of any severity); persistent mild distress on three or more occasions; and persistent moderate distress on three or more occasions. The participants' health and survival were then tracked for an average of 12 years.

During the monitoring period, 398 people died from all causes and 199 died from cardiovascular disease.

The questionnaire responses showed that 587 (62%) of participants said they had not been distressed at any of the assessments, while around one in four (27%) said they had experienced occasional distress of any severity.

Around one in 10 (8%) said they had experienced persistent mild distress, and 35 people (3.7%) complained of persistent moderate distress.

People in this last group were nearly four times as likely to have died of cardiovascular disease and nearly three times as likely to have died from any cause as those who said they had not been distressed at any of the assessments.

No such associations were observed for those who said they had experienced persistent mild distress or those who said they had only experienced it occasionally.

The findings held true even after taking account of other potentially influential risk factors.

This is an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, added to which confining the assessments to a period of four years might have underestimated the true impact of persistent distress, caution the researchers.

Nevertheless, they conclude that the increase in risk of death was "substantial." And they go on to say: "These findings suggest that in patients with stable [coronary heart disease], long term mortality risk is related to the cumulative burden of psychological distress."

In a linked editorial, Dr Gjin Ndrepepa of the Technical University, Munich, Germany, describes the research as an "important and elaborative study which helps to uncover the intricate relationship between psychological distress and cardiovascular disease."

But he points out that although the GHQ-30 is very reliable, it cannot pinpoint the specific nature of stress and is no longer widely used for assessing it. "The possibility is real that [coronary heart disease] itself is the source of distress and a determinant of poor outcome," he writes.And the researchers didn't account for the impact of traumatic life events or socioeconomic factors, he highlights.

Nevertheless, mental distress activates the sympathetic nervous system and boosts stress hormone levels, which, if persistent, can produce potentially harmful physiological changes, some of which may be permanent, he says. And distress can also prompt unhealthy behaviours.

Health professionals should routinely include screening for mental distress in the care provided to patients with coronary heart disease, he suggests.

More information: Persistent psychological distress and mortality in patients with stable coronary artery disease, Heart (2017). Persistent psychological distress and mortality in patients with stable coronary artery disease,(2017). DOI: 10.1136/heartjnl-2016-311097 Editorial: Psychological distress and mortality in stable coronary artery disease: persistence of high distress means increased risk, Heart (2017). DOI: 10.1136/heartjnl-2017-311610 Journal information: Heart
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Whole genome sequencing involves the analysis of all three billion pairs of letters in an individual's DNA and has been hailed as a technology that will usher in a new era of predicting and preventing disease. However, the use of genome sequencing in healthy individuals is controversial because no one fully understands how many patients carry variants that put them at risk for rare genetic conditions and how they, and their doctors, will respond to learning about these risks.

In a new paper published June 26 in the Annals of Internal Medicine by investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, along with collaborators at Baylor College of Medicine, report the results of the 4 year, NIH-funded MedSeq Project, the first-ever randomized trial conducted to examine the impact of whole genome sequencing in healthy primary care patients.

In the MedSeq Project, 100 healthy individuals and their primary care physicians were enrolled and randomized so that half of the patients received whole genome sequencing and half did not. Nearly 5000 genes associated with rare genetic conditions were expertly analyzed in each sequenced patient, and co-investigators from many different disciplines including clinical genetics, molecular genetics, primary care, ethics, and law were involved in analyzing the results.

Researchers found that among the 50 healthy primary care patients who were randomized to receive genome sequencing, 11 (22 percent) carried genetic variants predicted to cause previously undiagnosed rare disease. Two of these patients were then noted to have signs or symptoms of the underlying conditions, including one patient who had variants causing an eye disease called fundus albipunctatus, which impairs night vision. This patient knew he had difficulty seeing in low light conditions but had not considered the possibility that his visual problems had a genetic cause.

Another patient was found to have a genetic variant associated with variegate porphyria, which finally explained the patient's and family members' mysterious rashes and sun sensitivity. The other nine participants had no evidence of the genetic diseases for which they were predicted to be at risk. For example, two patients had variants that have been associated with heart rhythm abnormalities, but their cardiology work-ups were normal. It is possible, but not at all certain, that they could develop heart problems in the future.

"Sequencing healthy individuals will inevitably reveal new findings for that individual, only some of which will have actual health implications," said lead author Jason Vassy, MD, MPH, a clinician investigator at Brigham and Women's Hospital, primary care physician at the VA Boston Healthcare System and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. "This study provides some reassuring evidence that primary care providers can be trained to manage their patients' sequencing results appropriately, and that patients who receive their results are not likely to experience anxiety connected to those results. Continued research on the outcomes of sequencing will be needed before the routine use of genome sequencing in the primary care of generally healthy adults can be medically justified."

Primary care physicians received six hours of training at the beginning of the study regarding how to interpret a specially designed, one-page genome testing report summarizing the laboratory analysis. Consultation with genetic specialists was available, but not required. Primary care physicians then used their own judgment about what to do with the information and researchers monitored the interactions for safety and tracked medical, behavioral and economic outcomes.

Researchers note that they analyzed variants from nearly 5000 genes associated with rare genetic diseases. These included single genes causing a significantly higher risk for rare disorders than the low risk variants for common disorders reported by direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies. No prior study has ever examined healthy individuals for pathogenic (high risk) variants in so many rare disease genes.

"We were surprised to see how many ostensibly healthy individuals are carrying a risk variant for a rare genetic disease," said Heidi Rehm, PhD, director of the Laboratory for Molecular Medicine and a co-investigator on the study who directed the genome analysis. "We found that about one-fifth of this sample population carried pathogenic variants, and this suggests that the potential burden of rare disease risk throughout our general population could be far higher than previously suspected.

However, the penetrance, or likelihood that persons carrying one of these variants will eventually develop the disease, is not fully known."

Additionally, investigators compared the two arms of the study, and found that patients who received genome sequencing results did not show higher levels of anxiety. They did, however, undergo a greater number of medical tests and incurred an average of $350 more in health care expenses in the six months following disclosure of their results. The economic differences were not statistically significant with the small sample size in this study.

"Because participants in the MedSeq Project were randomized, we could carefully examine levels of anxiety or distress in those who received genetic risk information and compare it to those who did not. While many patients chose not to participate in the study out of concerns about what they might learn, or with fears of future insurance discrimination, those who did participate evinced no increase in distress, even when they learned they were carrying risk variants for untreatable conditions," said Amy McGuire, PhD, director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine. McGuire supervised the ethical and legal components of the MedSeq Project.

There has also been great concern in the medical community about whether primary care physicians can appropriately manage these complicated findings. But when a panel of expert geneticists reviewed how well the primary care physicians managed the patients with possible genetic risk variants, the experts determined that only two of the 11 cases were managed inappropriately and that no harm had come to these patients.

MedSeq Project investigators note that the study's findings should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size and because the study was conducted at an academic medical center where neither the patients nor the primary care physicians are representative of the general population. They also stressed that carrying a genetic risk marker does not mean that patients have or will definitely get the disease in question. Critical questions remain about whether discovering such risk markers in healthy individuals will actually provide health benefits, or will generate unnecessary testing and subsequent procedures that could do more harm than good.

"Integrating genome sequencing and other omics technologies into the day-to-day practice of medicine is an extraordinarily exciting prospect with the potential to anticipate and prevent diseases throughout an individual's lifetime," said senior author Robert C. Green, MD, MPH, medical geneticist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, an associate member of the Broad Institute, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who leads the MedSeq Project. "But we will need additional rigorously designed and well-controlled outcomes studies like the MedSeq Project with larger sample sizes and with outcomes collected over longer periods of time to demonstrate the full potential of genomic medicine."

More information: Jason L. Vassy et al, The Impact of Whole-Genome Sequencing on the Primary Care and Outcomes of Healthy Adult Patients, Annals of Internal Medicine (2017). Journal information: Annals of Internal Medicine Jason L. Vassy et al, The Impact of Whole-Genome Sequencing on the Primary Care and Outcomes of Healthy Adult Patients,(2017). DOI: 10.7326/M17-0188
Extreme times demand extreme responses. Australian and New Zealand metal fans, you are about to be vehemently seized by the throat! After hugely successful runs in the USA and Europe, the intemperate NAPALM DEATH, BRUJERIA and LOCKUP gang are heading south to run riot through our part of the world.

Headlining this incredible line-up is none other than NAPALM DEATH. One of the most influential and legendary acts in the history of heavy metal, and considered by all, as the fathers of grindcore. Fifteen albums in, and NAPALM DEATH are in no way, shape or form of slowing down. As stated in their own words, silence sucks, noise is always the answer and they continue to create music that confronts, confounds and eviscerates in equal measure.

Finally after more than 25 years, BRUJERIA storm our stages for the first time hurling at us their razor sharp riffs and spiteful vocals. Walking along the border of death and grindcore, BRUJERIA are a street-level exercise in performance art, with frightening dramatic effect as well as dark satire.

And finally LOCK UP, another savage group displaying their menacing on stage presence for the first time in our region. Consisting of well known metal identities Shame Embury, Nick Barker, Kevin Sharp and Anton Reiseneggar, LOCK UP play a perfect collection of extremities, capturing the dynamics of all the classic thrash, death and grind, but with a more sinister sound Toca rapido o muere  play fast or die!

Spitting out hot and catchy chunks of stoner, sludge, grind, punk and doom are rising, in your face, heavy Australian act, BLACK RHENO. Their hell raising live show, commanding stage presence and bone crushing anthems are kicking down doors for the band already, and nothing seems capable of stopping them.

Tour Dates:

Oct 4th  Auckland, Kings Arms*

Oct 6th  Hobart, The Goods Shed*

Oct 7th  Adelaide, Fowlers Live (The New Dead Metalfest)

Oct 8th  Perth, Capitol

Oct 10th  Melbourne, Max Watts

Oct 11th  Sydney, The Factory

Oct 12th  Brisbane, Max Watts

*BLACK RHENO not performing

TICKETS ON SALE FROM Tuesday June 27th at:

NEW ZEALAND  www.undertheradar.co.nz / www.theticketfairy.com

HOBART  TBC

ADELAIDE  www.moshtix.com.au / www.fowlerslive.com.au

PERTH  www.oztix.com.au / www.eventbrite.com.au

MELBOURNE  www.oztix.com.au / www.eventbrite.com.au

SYDNEY  www.factorytheatre.com.au <http://www.metrotheatre.com. au> www.ticketek.com.au / www.eventbrite.com.au

BRISBANE  www.oztix.com.au / www.eventbrite.com.au
Anyone who wants to follow UK public relations agency Bell Pottinger  which acted as communications adviser for the Gupta family  on Twitter, will now have to request permission.

The company, with its headquarters in London, locked its Twitter account after South Africans mocked and replied to tweets even when posts were related to the UK.

The agencys managing director James Thomlinson also appeared to have locked his Twitter account.

Bell Pottinger received even further backlash from locals after the account was locked, with users mocking the company for the irony of being a communications company which did not want to communicate.

For the last year we have been working to help Oakbay defend itself from attacks on its reputation, correcting misrepresentations and defending it and its owners from politically motivated attacks, the company previously said in a statement.

The company stepped down as the Gupta-owned Oakbays public relations firm in April and was believed to have driven a social media campaign to try and divert attention from the Gupta familys alleged involvement in state capture by emphasising the role so-called white monopoly capital plays in South Africas economy.

In all our work for Oakbay we have seen no evidence of wrongdoing, Bell Pottinger previously said in an emailed statement to Fin24.

Bell Pottinger said it was forced to step down as the companys communications adviser because it has been the subject of a smear campaign, with certain of its partners and staff coming under attack.

It is, therefore, with regret that we have suggested to Oakbay, and have mutually agreed with them, that we will step down from our role as communications advisers with immediate effect, the company previously said.

Fin24
SpaceX launched and landed two Falcon 9 rockets this past weekend.

On Friday, the company launched a refurbished Falcon 9 rocket which carried Bulgarias first communications satellite to orbit. It then landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX then launched a new Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday, which sent a payload of 10 communications satellites into orbit.

The second rocket featured titanium grid fins, which can withstand re-entry heating better than the previous aluminium design.

Both launches and booster landings were successful despite challenging weather conditions.

This weekends launches follow an announcement by SpaceX that it plans to speed up its launch schedule.

Sped up version of todays rocket landing on the Droneship Just Read the Instructions (guess it did) A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Jun 25, 2017 at 2:41pm PDT

Now read: SpaceX to launch US spy plane
The telecommunications industry has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, with smartphones and Internet access making it possible to contact people and businesses from anywhere.

This raises the question: Are telephone books still relevant, considering we can find almost anything online?

Speaking on Radio 702, Telkom spokesperson Jacqui OSullivan said there is still a place for printed telephone directories in South Africa, due to its demographics.

She said many people would rather use a telephone directory to look up the contact details of a person or business, as opposed to using their mobile data to search.

There is also not enough Internet and mobile data penetration across the country to serve all citizens, which means telephone books are still valuable in many communities.

There is, however, a decline in the production of telephone books.

Trudon, which is owned by Telkom, has cut the production of telephone directories from 500,000 to 450,000 over the last year.

OSullivan said there will come a point for mobile data penetration where people will feel comfortable to exclusively use the Internet to find contact information.
German business leaders warn against leaving China

Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister calls Council of Turkic States 'forum of peace' and praises Turkey

Armenia defense minister receives China ambassador, military attache

Lemkin Institute condemns Azerbaijan president's genocidal rhetoric

Dollar goes up, euro rises sharply in Armenia

EU calls on Armenia, Azerbaijan to moderate their rhetoric

Erdogan says Turkey has been waiting at door of EU for 52 years and will give answer when time comes

U.S. fears that European support for Ukrainian strategy will begin to weaken

Armenia, Iran emphasize need to quickly implement agreements reached (PHOTOS)

Armenia soldier wounded by Azerbaijan shooting undergoes surgery

Gas over morality: Hungary guards Azerbaijan's interests

U.S. quietly seeks concessions from Saudi Arabia after Mohammed bin Salman humiliated Biden

Russian Armed Forces complete redeployment of grouping from right bank of Dnieper

IRGC: Adversaries are frightened and on alert

Armenia appoints ambassador to Sri Lanka

Kremlin doesn't consider leaving Kherson 'humiliating'

Israeli president thinks the world is concerned about Netanyahu's far-right coalition partner

Ukraine will seek help from its foreign partners in financing Starlink satellite internet systems

Erdogan: Situation in South Caucasus remains fragile

Marukyan: Azerbaijans Aliyev admitted that his country started 2nd Karabakh war, despite previously insisting opposite

Azerbaijan blackmailing Armenia through Lachin corridor

Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus becomes observer in Organization of Turkic States

Armenia PM: In his latest speech Aliyev flagrantly violated agreement on refraining from threat or use of force

World Bank official: Armenia is one of best countries in terms of credit portfolio performance

Azerbaijan president makes repeated accusations, threats against Armenia

Iran citizens injured in Armenia road accident

US embassy in Armenia closed today

Karabakh MOD: Defense Army did not fire at Azerbaijan positions located in occupied territories

Israel and U.S. counter threat of hypersonic missiles together

U.S. and EU plan to publish new roadmap on artificial intelligence

Armenia ombudsperson meets with Belgium colleagues

Newspaper: Armenia parliament opposition seats to no longer be empty

Newspaper: Armenia parliament committee of inquiry into 2020 war circumstances is inactive

US intends to protect Azerbaijan from threats of Iran

Aliyev, Erdogan discuss results of tripartite meeting in Russias Sochi

Azerbaijan army fires at Armenia positions, uses mortars as well

Amazon becomes world's first public company to lose $1 trillion in market value

EU's odd couple: Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel can't stand each other

US, China set first benchmarks ahead of presidents' meeting

Iranian MFA summons Azerbaijani ambassador to carpet in connection with anti-Iranian propaganda

Washington to resist any attempt by new Israeli government to annex West Bank

Biden thinks Elon Musk's relations with other countries are worthy of being looked at

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister tells Polish senator about consequences of Azerbaijani aggression

Armenian deputy in Vilnius talks about goals of Azerbaijan's aggressive policy

Taliban bans women from gyms

U.S. to send Ukraine another $400 million in military aid

Ursula von der Leyen announces EUR 250 million support package for Moldova

Biden and Jinping meet on sidelines of G20 summit in Bali to be held on November 14

Riches of world get poorer suddenly

State Duma deputy: Interparliamentary format Yerevan-Baku-Moscow will be included soon to solve issues

IMF sees growing risk of economic fragmentation

Armen Gevorgyan to visit Strasbourg, Brussels and Paris

State Duma deputy: Upper Lars border crossing capacity has increased fivefold

UK government freezes over 18 billion pounds worth of Russian assets

State Duma deputy on Zatulin's ban on entering Armenia: These issues must be resolved

Borrell calls for retooling EU infrastructure for rapid transport of military equipment to East

European Parliament clears way for Croatia's admission to Schengen Area

European Council President Michel calls on EU member states to jointly purchase gas to reduce fuel prices

Alen Simonyan congratulates scientists on their professional holiday

Armenian President meets with leaders of several countries in Egypt

Greece accuses Turkey of profiting from the suffering of other countries under sanctions

USAID official says she personally saw how democracy, economic development are progressing in Armenia (VIDEO)

Spain court sentences civilian to prison for spreading fakes

Armenian Embassy in Russia issues statement on Azerbaijan's actions

Indian company to supply 155mm self-propelled artillery guns worth $155mln to Armenia

Japanese minister caught in scandal for talking about death penalty

France changes its ambassador to Azerbaijan

UN General Assembly draft resolution requires Russia to pay reparations to Ukraine

Belarusian State Border Committee: Poland creates tense situation on border

Joint meeting of Armenian National Assembly and Russian State Duma Committee takes place

Iranian President says attempt to destabilize country fails

Deputy: Russian side is informed about importance of withdrawal of Azerbaijani units from the territory of Armenia

State Duma deputy: We can't imagine Russia without Armenia

Georgian PM and Armenian Ambassador discuss cooperation issues

Bali is short of armored limousines for G20 summit participants

FLYONE ARMENIA to start flights between Yerevan, Dubai

Kyodo: Emperor of Japan revealed to have prostate hyperplasia

Iranian intelligence urges Saudi Arabia not to test Tehran's strategic patience

Kazakhstan intends to ship 1.5 mln tons of oil via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline

Former Ombudsman: 2,700 ha of Kapan community of Armenia's Syunik Province are under occupation by Baku

Armenia to ratify cooperation agreement with China

Japan and the US begin major joint exercise

Armenia soldier sustains gunshot wound from Azerbaijan shooting

Armenia legislature speaker receives deputy chair of Russia State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration

PM: If anyone thinks peace agenda is peaceful annihilation of Armenia or Karabakh Armenians, they are sorely mistaken

Armenia Premier: We have 16 missing persons since September 13 military aggression by Azerbaijan

Bitcoin is trading just above $16,000

Armenias Pashinyan: Spreading of fake news by Azerbaijan becomes prelude to new aggression

Armenia PM: Azerbaijan, with its practices, reminds of Al Qaeda and Islamic State, which discredit Islam

PM: Armenia, Karabakh propose Azerbaijan to create demilitarized zone

Pashinyan: There is no Armenia army in Karabakh

All 10 fallen soldiers transferred on October 27 by Azerbaijan to Armenia are identified, buried

Pashinyan: Armenia is going to present new proposal to Azerbaijan

$25M allocated to Armenia MOD

Biden says he will discuss Ukraine conflict at G20 summit

Pashinyan: Armenia has no obligation to construct new roads

Pashinyan: Aliyev not only threatens but is already preparing genocide of Karabakh Armenians

Armenias Pashinyan: Azerbaijan president is attempting to create invented grounds for closing Lachin Corridor

Erdogan tells what relations between Turkey and Armenia depend on

Iran says it has developed first hypersonic ballistic missile
Ansar al-Shariah Pakistan Claims Attacks in Bahadurabad, Karachi, and Mastung in Elimination of Apostasy Campaign
Nestle SA (NSRGY) - Get Free Report shares surged in early trading in Zurich to value the world's biggest food company at an all-time high after activist investor Third Point revealed it had built a stake in the group and pressed for asset sales in increased buybacks.

Shares in the Vevey, Switzerland-based group rose 3.7% in the opening 30 minutes of trading in Zurich to change hand at Sfr85.15 each, extending their year-to-date gain under new CEO Ulf Mark Schneider to 16.6%. The company how has a record market capitalisation of Sfr265 billion ($273.5 billion).

The gains follow news over the weekend that Dan Loeb's Third Point LLC hedge fund had built a 1.3% stake in Nestle, worth more than $3.5 billion, making it one of the company's top 10 shareholders. The activist investor is calling for Nestle to shed assets and increase share buybacks, including the sale of its 23% stake in L'Oreal SA (LRLCY) .

"Despite having arguably the best positioned portfolio in the consumer packaged goods industry, Nestle shares have significantly underperformed most of their U.S. and European consumer staples," Third Point said in a letter to investors on Sunday June 25. "It is rare to find a business of Nestle's quality with so many avenues for improvement."

Third Point said it hoped to have "productive" conversations with Nestle management, but described the company's culture as "staid" and noted a "tendency towards incrementalism that has typified the company's prior leadership and resulted in its long-term underperformance."

Nestle announced June 15 that it's exploring strategic options, including a sale, for its U.S. confectionery business, which could fetch over $1 billion, a move that Third Point said is encouraging.

Schneider, the first outsider to leader the group since 1922, has been deemed "a bit of an M&A junkie," by analysts at Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG. With Schneider at the helm, Germany's Fresenius SE made more than a dozen acquisitions and was said to be the leading bidder to buy Pfizer Inc.'s pump and devices business.
Milwaukee, UberEATS heard you. One of the top things you spent searching for in their app? You know it: the golden arches.

McDonalds customers in greater Milwaukee can now enjoy burgers, fries, beverages and desserts delivered right to them through UberEATS.

Yep. McDelivery on UberEATS is now available at more than 50 McDonalds restaurants throughout Milwaukee.

In fact, according to Peter Forsberg, general manager of UberEATS Milwaukee, more than 1,784 McNuggets have already been consumed during a test phase. The largest order was 20 items  can you do better than that?

"We are excited to bring a new level of convenience and personalization to our customers in Milwaukee with UberEATS," said Jim Carras, Vice President and General Manager, McDonalds Greater Chicago Region. "Our customers have told us they enjoy experiencing McDonalds in new ways, and we look forward to offering more ways to enjoy their favorite menu items."

Customers can place McDonalds orders on the UberEATS mobile app or on UberEATS.com, using the same account they use to take Uber rides and track their order, as an UberEATS delivery partner brings their meal directly to them. An UberEATS booking fee applies to each order.

Get $5 off your first UberEATS order now through Dec. 31 using the promo code MCDSMILE.

Forsberg also shared, "With UberEATS, you can get the food you want, where you want it, delivered at Uber speed. We're thrilled to partner with McDonald's to give fans in Milwaukee easy access to their McDonalds favorites at the tap of a button. People in Milwaukee search for McDonald's in the UberEATS app almost daily, so we're excited to expand our reach and deliver what they've been craving."

McDonalds recently announced that delivery with UberEATS is expanding to additional U.S. markets following a successful pilot in Florida earlier this year.

More than 2,000 restaurants across the country now offer McDelivery with 3,500 available by the end of June.
It's almost time to enjoy the sugar-high-inducing, artery-clogging delights of the Wisconsin State Fair.

Among the tantalizing treats this year are the eight finalists chosen for the fair's fifth annual food competition, The Sporkies, a competition which challenges fair vendors to create the most ingenious concoctions possible.

These creative creations bested 31 entries for the 2017 awards, which will be judged by a panel of local celebrity judges (with help from fairgoers) at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 9 at the Bank Mutual Amphitheater.

Finalists

Budweiser Pavilion Grill Triple Treat (Budweiser Pavilion Grill): includes three savory sliders  one Smoked Jalapeno, Bacon and Cheddar Brat Slider; one Budweiser BBQ Pulled Pork Slider; and one Bourbon Bacon Cheeseburger Slider  stacked and skewered. Buffalo Mac & Cheese Quesadilla (Mexican Grill): featuring a quesadilla grilled to golden brown and stuffed with shredded buffalo chicken, queso mac and cheese, bacon and crushed Doritos. Served with jalapenos and a side of blue cream cheese. Chocomela Nachos (La Coppa Artisan Gelato): features homemade cinnamon sugar tortilla chips begging to be dipped in salted caramel and milk chocolate gelato classics. The nachos are topped with whipped cream, sweet chocolate coating and a salty peanut sauce with peanut pieces. Deep-Fried Grilled Cheese Bites (Tropics at the Fair): tender morsels of grilled cheese bites deep fried to perfection and served with a creamy tomato dipping sauce. Great Balls of Fire Sandwich (Rupenas): this sandwich is loaded with spicy hungarian sausage, garlic sour cream sauce, stuffing balls, pulled pork and creamy coleslaw. Monkey Business (Sazs Barbeque): a dessert burrito stuffed with house-made bacon jam and creamy peanut butter, then deep fried, drizzled with Wisconsin honey, and finished with a sprinkle of chipotle cinnamon sugar. Spaghetti & Meatballs Mozzarella Sticks (Albaneses Roadhouse): includes Albaneses famous spaghetti and meatballs wrapped in a wonton with mozzarella and fried to golden goodness. Served with Albaneses famous red sauce. Three Little Pigs Ravioli (Brew City Pizza): These noodle-less, handmade bacon ravioli are stuffed with three different styles of pork including bourbon bacon jam, house smoked pulled pork shoulder and pancetta. The pork is also accompanied by cream cheese, Wisconsin smoked gouda, scallions, onion and brown sugar. The whole shebang is erved with homemade cherry bourbon bacon BBQ jam.

During the judging event, The Sporkies judges will taste, deliberate and eventually choose the first, second and third place winners of Golden Spork trophies. This years judges include Super Bowl champion LeRoy Butler, OnMilwaukee senior food and dining writer Lori Fredrich, Milwaukee radio veteran Steve Palec and Fox 6 anchor and reporter Nicole Koglin. The event will be moderated by Emmy-nominated "Wisconsin Foodie" host Kyle Cherek.

You could be a judge

One lucky fairgoer will also have the opportunity to join the celebrity panel to taste-test the final creations as a guest judge. Interested foodies will be able to enter the contest starting Tuesday, July 11 at 9 a.m. via Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #SporkiesJudge2017. Entries must be completed by Friday, July 28 at 9 p.m. Instructions on how to enter are detailed at wistatefair.com.

All State Fair guests can also participate in the judging by sampling all of The Sporkies entries between Aug. 3-8 and voting for their favorites. The entry with the most votes will be awarded a fourth Golden Spork Trophy: Fairgoers Fave. Voting will take place on Facebook via a voting app, and on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #FairgoersFave, or at the Guest Services Pavilion, located on Central Avenue near Central Park and the Exposition Center.

For a complete list of Sporkies entries, visit wistatefair.com.
Incase youve forgotten, were about to cop a new tax thatll result in you paying more for international digital products like Netflix.

From the 1st of July you can expect to pay up to 10 percent more for digital products or services purchased in Australia from overseas companies. Its the first time GST will be applied to such purchases.

Most notably, this means your Netflix subscription will cop a hike, but you can also expect to see it applied to Spotify, iTunes and games purchased through platforms like Steam.

We collect and remit tax wherever we are legally obligated to do so, a Netflix spokesperson told The Daily Mail. Theyre yet to confirm whether theyll pass on the entire cost of the GST to the consumer or absorb some of it by reducing subscription fees.

Australian users currently pay $8.99 for a basic package, $11.99 for standard and $14.99 for premium.

Companies like Netflix were previously taking advantage of a legal loophole that freed them from collecting GST on digital products and services exported to Australia. The new law closes that loophole and will likely result in you paying more for dat sweet, premium content.

But on a positive note, itll help local players like Stan compete with the big boys.

It ensures Australian businesses selling digital products and services are not disadvantaged relative to overseas businesses that sell equivalent products in Australia, said Treasurer Scott Morrison when the bill was introduced.

Prepare you wallets, folks.

Source: The New Daily.

Photo: The Simpsons.
Chengzhi Shi checks the connections between the transducer array and the digital circuit. The experimental setup showed the potential of generating independent channels onto a single frequency to expand acoustic communications underwater. Credit: Marilyn Chung/Berkeley Lab

A new strategy for sending acoustic waves through water could potentially open up the world of high-speed communications activities underwater, including scuba diving, remote ocean monitoring, and deep-sea exploration.

By taking advantage of the dynamic rotation generated as acoustic waves travel, the orbital angular momenta, researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) were able to pack more channels onto a single frequency, effectively increasing the amount of information capable of being transmitted.

They demonstrated this by encoding in binary form the letters that make up the word "Berkeley," and transmitting the information along an acoustic signal that would normally carry less data. They describe their findings in a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"It's comparable to going from a single-lane side road to a multi-lane highway," said study corresponding author Xiang Zhang, senior faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division and a professor at UC Berkeley. "This work has a huge potential in high-speed acoustic communications."

While human activity below the surface of the sea increases, the ability to communicate underwater has not kept pace, limited in large part by physics. Microwaves are quickly absorbed in water, so transmissions cannot get far. Optical communication is no better since light gets scattered by underwater microparticles when traveling over long distances.

Binary data representing the word "Berkeley" is converted by the digital circuit to information encoded in independent channels with different orbital angular momentum. The transducer array sends the information via a single acoustic beam with different patterns. The colors in the helical wavefront shows different acoustic phases. Credit: Chengzhi Shi/Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley

Low frequency acoustics is the option that remains for long-range underwater communication. Applications for sonar abound, including navigation, seafloor mapping, fishing, offshore oil surveying, and vessel detection.

However, the tradeoff with acoustic communication, particularly with distances of 200 meters or more, is that the available bandwidth is limited to a frequency range within 20 kilohertz. Frequency that low limits the rate of data transmission to tens of kilobits per second, a speed that harkens back to the days of dialup internet connections and 56-kilobit-per-second modems, the researchers said.

"The way we communicate underwater is still quite primitive," said Zhang. "There's a huge appetite for a better solution to this."

The researchers adopted the idea of multiplexing, or combining different channels together over a shared signal, or multiplexing, is a technique widely used in telecommunications and computer networks. But multiplexing orbital angular momentum is an approach that had not been applied to acoustics until this study, the researchers said.

As sound propagates, the acoustic wavefront forms a helical pattern, or vortex beam. The orbital angular momentum of this wave provides a spatial degree of freedom and independent channels upon which the researchers could encode data.

Letters are encoded onto independent channels, with the amplitudes and phases forming different patterns. Credit: Chengzhi Shi/Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley

"The rotation occurs at different speeds for channels with different orbital angular momentum, even while the frequency of the wave itself stays the same, making these channels independent of each other," said study co-lead author Chengzhi Shi, a graduate student in Zhang's lab. "That is why we could encode different bits of data in the same acoustic beam or pulse. We then used algorithms to decode the information from the different channels because they're independent of each other."

The experimental setup, located at Berkeley Lab, consisted of a digital control circuit with an array of 64 transducers, together generating helical wavefronts to form different channels. The signals were sent out simultaneously via independent channels of the orbital angular momentum. They used a frequency of 16 kilohertz, which is within the range currently used in sonar. A receiver array with 32 sensors measured the acoustic waves, and algorithms were used to decode the different patterns.

"We modulated the amplitude and phase of each transducer to form different patterns and to generate different channels on the orbital angular momentum," said Shi. "For our experiment we used eight channels, so instead of sending just 1 bit of data, we can send 8 bits simultaneously. In theory, however, the number of channels provided by orbital angular momentum can be much larger."

The researchers noted that while the experiment was done in air, the physics of the acoustic waves is the very similar for water and air at this frequency range.

Expanding the capacity of underwater communications could open up new avenues for exploration, the researchers said. This added capacity could eventually make the difference between sending a text only message and transmitting a high-definition feature film from below the ocean's surface. Remote probes in the oceans could send data without the need to surface.

"We know much more about space and our universe than we do about our oceans," said Shi. "The reason we know so little is because we don't have the probes to easily study the deep sea. This work could dramatically speed up our research and exploration of the oceans."
Vent shrimp, a species found around hydrothermal vents on the seafloor, which are also rich in commercially valuable polymetallic sulfide deposits. Credit: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

Biodiversity losses from deep-sea mining are unavoidable and possibly irrevocable, an international team of 15 marine scientists, resource economists and legal scholars argue in a letter published today in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The experts say the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which is responsible under the UN Law of the Sea for regulating undersea mining in areas outside national jurisdictions, must recognize this risk. They say it must also communicate the risk clearly to its member states and the public to inform discussions about whether deep-seabed mining should proceed, and if so, what standards and safeguards need to be put into place to minimize biodiversity loss.

"There is tremendous uncertainty about ecological responses to deep-sea mining," said Cindy L. Van Dover, Harvey W. Smith Professor of Biological Oceanography at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. "Responsible mining needs to rely on environmental management actions that will protect deep-sea biodiversity and not on actions that are unproven or unreasonable."

"The extraction of non-renewable resources always includes tradeoffs," said Linwood Pendleton, International Chair in Marine Ecosystem Services at the European Institute of Marine Studies and an adjunct professor at Duke's Nicholas School. "A serious trade-off for deep-sea mining will be an unavoidable loss of biodiversity, including many species that have yet to be discovered."

Faced with this inevitable outcome, it's more important than ever that we understand deep-sea ecosystems and have a good idea of what we stand to lose before mining alters the seafloor forever, said Pendleton, who also serves as a senior scholar in the Oceans and Coastal Policy Program at Duke's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

Time is of the essence, the experts stress.

"Undersea deposits of metals and rare earth elements are not yet being mined, but there has been an increase in the number of applications for mining contracts," said Elva Escobar of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology. "In 2001, there were just six deep-sea mineral exploration contracts; by the end of 2017, there will be a total of 27 projects."

A sea anemone, living at a depth of more than 4,000 meters in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the eastern Pacific, where deep sea mining is likely to occur. Credit: National Oceanography Centre, UK

These projects include 18 contracts for polymetallic nodules, six for polymetallic sulfides and four for ferromanganese crusts, Escobar said. Of these, 17 would take place in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean between Hawai'i and Central America.

Industry estimates that billions of tons of manganese, copper, nickel and cobalt lie on or beneath the seafloor. These metals are used in electrical generators and motors, metal alloys, batteries, paints, and many other products.

Some mining proponents have argued that companies could offset the inevitable damage their activities will cause by restoring coastal ecosystems or creating new artificial offshore reefs. "But this is like saving apple orchards to protect oranges," Van Dover said.

"The argument that you can compensate for the loss of biological diversity in the deep sea with gains in diversity elsewhere is so ambiguous as to be scientifically meaningless," said Craig Smith, professor of oceanography at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

Deep-sea ecosystems and species can take decades or even centuries to recover from a disturbance, if they recover at all, Van Dover noted.

The scale of some proposed mining operationsthe largest of which will cover more than 83,000 square kilometers, an area larger than Maineand the depths at which some mining is to be conducted (three miles or more below the sea surface) will make reclamation of the affected sites so cost-prohibitive as to be unrealistic, the authors argue. And the approaches needed to perform restorative action are still largely untested.

Deep-sea scientists and legal experts from the United States, Mexico, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland and Australia co-wrote the peer-reviewed correspondence with Van Dover, Pendleton, Escobar and Smith.
Credit: Timothy Strobel

Scientists have found a way to make carbon both very hard and very stretchy by heating it under high pressure. This "compressed glassy carbon", developed by researchers in China and the US, is also lightweight and could potentially be made in very large quantities. This means it might be a good fit for several sorts of applications, from bulletproof vests to new kinds of electronic devices.

Carbon is a special element because of the way its atoms can form different types of bonds with each other and so form different structures. For example, carbon atoms joined entirely by "sp" bonds produce diamond, and those joined entirely by "sp" bonds produce graphite, which can also be separated into single layers of atoms known as graphene. Another form of carbon, known as glassy carbon, is also made from sp and has properties of both graphite and ceramics.

But the new compressed glassy carbon has a mix of sp and sp bonds, which is what gives it its unusual properties. To make atomic bonds you need some additional energy. When the researchers squeezed several sheets of graphene together at high temperatures, they found certain carbon atoms were exactly in the right position to form sp bonds between the layers.

By studying the new material in detail, they found that just over one in five of all its bonds were sp. This means that most of the atoms are still arranged in a graphene-like structure, but the new bonds make it look more like a large, interconnected network and give it greater strength. Over the small scale of individual graphene sheets, the atoms are arranged in an orderly, hexagonal pattern. But on a larger scale, the sheets are arranged in a disorderly fashion. This is probably what gives it the combined properties of hardness and flexibility.

Bond, sp bond. Credit: Timothy Strobel

The researchers made the compressed glassy carbon using a relatively simple method that could be reproduced on a large scale easily and cheaply. In simple terms, they used a sort of machine press that applies high-pressure loads to the carbon. But this must have involved several tricks to control the pressure and temperature in exactly the right way. This would have been a time-consuming process but should still be achievable for other people replicate the results.

New surprises

Carbon materials are continually surprising us  and the emphasis of research has been to find or cook things in between its natural forms of diamond and graphite. This new form is the latest of what seem like limitless ways you can bond carbon atoms, following on from the discovery of graphene, cylindrical carbon nanotubes and spherical buckminsterfullerene molecules.

A material like this  that is strong, hard, lightweight and flexible  will be in high demand and could be used for all sorts of applications. For example, military uses could involve shields for jets and helicopters. In electronics, lightweight, cheaply manufactured materials with similar properties to silicon that could also have new abilities could provide a way to overcome the limitations of existing microchips.

The dream is to find a carbon material that could replace silicon altogether. What is needed is something that allows electrons to move through it quickly and whose electrons can easily be placed into an excited state to represent the on and off functions of a transistor. The researchers behind glassy carbon haven't studied these properties in the new material so we don't yet know how suitable it might be. But it might not be that long until another of carbon is found. So far, decades of hunting hasn't turned up what we need, but maybe we just have to look deep down to find it.

More information: Compressed glassy carbon: An ultrastrong and elastic interpenetrating graphene network, Science Advances 09 Jun 2017: Vol. 3, no. 6, e1603213 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1603213 , advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/6/e1603213.full Journal information: Science Advances

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Since at least the 1920s, anecdotes and some studies have suggested that chimpanzees are "super strong" compared to humans, implying that their muscle fibers, the cells that make up muscles, are superior to humans.

But now a research team reports that contrary to this belief, chimp muscles' maximum dynamic force and power output is just about 1.35 times higher than human muscle of similar size, a difference they call "modest" compared with historical, popular accounts of chimp "super strength," being many times stronger than humans.

Further, says biomechanist Brian Umberger, an expert in musculoskeletal biomechanics in kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the researchers found that this modest performance advantage for chimps was not due to stronger muscle fibers, but rather the different mix of muscle fibers found in chimpanzees compared to humans.

As the authors explain, the long-standing but untested assumption of chimpanzees' exceptional strength, if true, "would indicate a significant and previously unappreciated evolutionary shift in the force and/or power-producing capabilities of skeletal muscle" in either chimps or humans, whose lines diverged some 7 or 8 million years ago.

Umberger was part of the team led by Matthew O'Neill at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix, and others at Stony Brook University, Harvard and Ohio State University. Details of this work, supported in part by a National Science Foundation grant to Umberger, appear in the current early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers began by critically examining the scientific literature, where studies reported a wide range of estimates for how chimpanzees outstrip humans in strength and power, averaged about 1.5 times over all. But Umberger says reaching this value from such disparate reports "required a lot of analysis on our part, accounting for differences between subjects, procedures and so on." He and colleagues say 1.5 times is considerably less than anecdotal reports of chimps being several-fold stronger, but it is still a meaningful difference and explaining it could advance understanding of early human musculoskeletal evolution.

Umberger adds, "There are nearly 100 years of accounts suggesting that chimpanzees must have intrinsically superior muscle fiber properties compared with humans, yet there had been no direct tests of that idea. Such a difference would be surprising, given what we know about how similar muscle fiber properties are across species of similar body size, such as humans and chimps."

He explains that muscle fiber comes in two general types, fast-twitch, fast and powerful but fatigue quickly, and slow-twitch, which are slower and less powerful but with good endurance. "We found that within fiber types, chimp and human muscle fibers were actually very similar. However, we also found that chimps have about twice as many fast-twitch fibers as humans," he notes.

For this work, the team used an approach combining isolated muscle fiber preparations, experiments and computer simulations. They directly measured the maximum isometric force and maximum shortening velocity of skeletal muscle fibers of the common chimpanzee. In general, they found that chimp limb and trunk skeletal muscle fibers are similar to humans and other mammals and "generally consistent with expectations based on body size and scaling."

Umberger, whose primary scientific contribution was in interpreting how muscle properties will affect whole-animal performance, developed computer simulation models that allowed the researchers to integrate the various data on individual muscle properties and assess their combined effects on performance.

O'Neill, Umberger and colleagues also measured the distribution of muscle fiber types and found it to be quite different in humans and chimps, who also have longer muscle fibers than humans. They combined individual measurements in the computer simulation model of muscle function to better understand what the combined effects of the experimental observations were on whole-muscle performance. When all factors were integrated, chimp muscle produces about 1.35 times more dynamics force and power than human muscle.

Umberger says the advantage for chimps in dynamic strength and power comes from the global characteristics of whole muscles, rather than the intrinsic properties of the cells those muscles are made of. "The flip side is that humans, with a high percentage of slow-twitch fibers, are adapted for endurance, such as long-distance travel, at the expense of dynamic strength and power. When we compared chimps and humans to muscle fiber type data for other species we found that humans are the outlier, suggesting that selection for long distance, over-ground travel may have been important early in the evolution of our musculoskeletal system."

The authors conclude, "Contrary to some long-standing hypotheses, evolution has not altered the basic force, velocity or power-producing capabilities of skeletal muscle cells to induce the marked differences between chimpanzees and humans in walking, running, climbing and throwing capabilities. This is a significant, but previously untested assumption. Instead, natural selection appears to have altered more global characteristics of muscle tissue, such as muscle fiber type distributions and muscle fiber lengths."
New DNA-based LASSO molecule probe can bind target genome regions for functional cloning and analysis. Credit: Jennifer E. Fairman/Johns Hopkins University

Discovering the function of a gene requires cloning a DNA sequence and expressing it. Until now, this was performed on a one-gene-at-a-time basis, causing a bottleneck. Scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Medical School have invented a technology to clone thousands of genes simultaneously and create massive libraries of proteins from DNA samples, potentially ushering in a new era of functional genomics.

"We think that the rapid, affordable, and high-throughput cloning of proteins and other genetic elements will greatly accelerate biological research to discover functions of molecules encoded by genomes and match the pace at which new genome sequencing data is coming out," said Biju Parekkadan, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

In a study published online today in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the researchers showed that their technologyLASSO (long-adapter single-strand oligonucleotide) probescan capture and clone thousands of long DNA fragments at once.

As a proof-of-concept, the researchers cloned more than 3,000 DNA fragments from E. coli bacteria, commonly used as a model organism with a catalogued genome sequence available.

"We captured about 95 percent of the gene targets we set out to capture, many of which were very large in DNA length, which has been challenging in the past," Parekkadan said. "I think there will certainly be more improvements over time."

They can now take a genome sequence (or many of them) and make a protein library for screening with unprecedented speed, cost-effectiveness and precision, allowing rapid discovery of potentially beneficial biomolecules from a genome.

In conducting their research, they coincidentally solved a longstanding problem in the genome sequencing field. When it comes to genetic sequencing of individual genomes, today's gold standard is to sequence small pieces of DNA one by one and overlay them to map out the full genome code. But short reads can be hard to interpret during the overlaying process and there hasn't been a way to sequence long fragments of DNA in a targeted and more efficient way. LASSO probes can do just this, capturing DNA targets of more than 1,000 base pairs in length where the current format captures about 100 base pairs.

The team also reported the capture and cloning of the first protein library, or suite of proteins, from a human microbiome sample. Shedding light on the human microbiome at a molecular level is a first step toward improving precision medicine efforts that affect the microbial communities that colonize our gut, skin and lungs, Parekkadan added. Precision medicine requires a deep and functional understanding, at a molecular level, of the drivers of healthy and disease-forming microbiota.

Today, the pharmaceutical industry screens synthetic chemical libraries of thousands of molecules to find one that may have a medicinal effect, said Parekkadan, who joined Rutgers' School of Engineering in January.

"Our vision is to apply the same approach but rapidly screen non-synthetic, biological or 'natural' molecules cloned from human or other genomes, including those of plants, animals and microbes," he said. "This could transform pharmaceutical drug discovery into biopharmaceutical drug discovery with much more effort."

The next phase, which is underway, is to improve the cloning process, build libraries and discover therapeutic proteins found in our genomes, Parekkadan said.

More information: Long-adapter single-strand oligonucleotide probes for the massively multiplexed cloning of kilobase genome regions, Nature Biomedical Engineering (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41551-017-0092 Journal information: Nature Biomedical Engineering
Researchers examine sediments for seismic signatures at the winter waterline of Douglas Lake, Tennessee. Credit: Randel Cox

The Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone (ETSZ), a zone of small seismic faults stretching from northeastern Alabama to southwestern Virginia, may have generated earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater within the last 25,000 years, according to a study published June 27 in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

The ETSZ is the second-most active natural seismic zone in the central and eastern United States, behind the New Madrid Seismic Zone in the Mississippi River region that produced the 1811-1812 magnitude 7+ earthquakes. In historic times, the ETSZ has not produced earthquakes larger than magnitude 4.8.

The ETSZ region is home to several nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams related to the Tennessee Valley Authority, along with major population centers such as Knoxville and Chattanooga, making it important to determine whether the region is capable of a large damaging earthquake.

Randel Cox of the University of Memphis and colleagues searched for signs of ancient earthquakes below the muddy waterline of Douglas Lake, a 1943 Tennessee Valley Authority lake created by impounding the French Broad River. The level of the lake is drawn down in winter to accommodate snowmelt, which exposes river sediments and the signs of past seismic activity.

At two sites along the lake, the researchers uncovered clay-filled fractures, signs of soil liquefaction and polished rock shear fractures called slickenlines, that point to at least three past earthquakes in the area. At one site, a thrust fault with one meter displacement suggests that one of the earthquakes could have been magnitude 6 or even larger.

Clay-filled fissure in sediments at Douglas Lake, Tennessee. Credit: Randel Cox

A combination of features convinced Cox and colleagues that they were looking at a record of past earthquakes rather than signs of an ancient landslide. The researchers are collecting data now indicating that these features cross valley floors, which "strongly corroborate the results of this paper, that these features are related to earthquakes," said Cox.

Using a technique called optically stimulated luminescence to assign dates to the minerals contained in sediments surrounding these seismic features, Cox and colleagues narrowed the possible ages of these earthquakes to between 25,000 and 15,000 years ago. This would place them in the late Pleistocene, during the last North American ice age.

"I think we've got a pretty good case that this is related to active faulting, and that it does demonstrate that at least in periods of time in the past there have been strong earthquakes in the ETSZ," said Cox.

Cox said it might be possible that these large earthquakes were only active during the late Pleistocene, when seismic stresses in the crust changed with the advance and retreat of massive ice sheets. "But we don't have enough data right now to say whether or not this is some kind of ephemeral or maybe periodic activity," he noted.

Post-ice age sediments, which might tell us more about the current potential for large earthquakes in the region, are mostly underwater as a result of Tennessee Valley Authority projects, Cox added.

Cox and colleagues also note that their study adds to a body of research suggesting that the Appalachian Mountains are undergoing a new period of uplift. "The ETSZ is right along the Smoky Mountains, which are a subrange of the Appalachians," Cox said. "We may have found a fault that is accommodating the uplift of the Smokies."

More information: "Paleoseismic evidence for multiple Mw 6 earthquakes in the Eastern Tennessee seismic zone during the late Quaternary," Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (2017). DOI: 10.1785/0120160161 Journal information: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
The map above shows the regions of the world which currently have climatic conditions that facilitate Chikungunya infection. - The lower map shows how the regions which have climatic conditions that facilitate Chikungunya infection will intensify and grow (or subside) through the end of the 21st century if climate change is left largely unchecked. Credit: Nils Tjaden.

The mosquito-borne viral disease Chikungunya is usually found in tropical areas. Researchers at the University of Bayreuth and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm have now discovered how climate change is facilitating the spread of the Chikungunya virus. Even if climate change only progresses moderately  as scientists are currently observing  the risk of infection will continue to increase in many regions of the world through the end of the 21st century. If climate change continues unchecked, the virus could even spread to southern Europe and the United States. The researchers have published their findings in Scientific Reports.

It is the Asian tiger mosquito and yellow fever mosquito that infect humans with the Chikungunya virus. The climate affects the spread of a mosquito-borne virus in two main ways. First, it plays a crucial role in the geographical distribution of the mosquitos, which can only thrive in the long term if temperature and precipitation levels are high enough. Second, the virus replicates especially quickly in the body of the mosquito if the ambient temperature is high and remains relatively constant over the course of the day. For this reason, the risk of being infected with the Chikungunya virus has  until now  been mainly limited to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and South America.

A world map displaying the current risk areas

A team of researchers at the University of Bayreuth led by Prof. Carl Beierkuhnlein and their colleagues at ECDC in Stockholm, Dr Jan Semenza and Dr Jonathan Suk, have investigated the climate conditions that facilitate the spread of the Chikungunya virus. They looked at the factors responsible for the climate conditions in regions that have traditionally had a high rate of infection. The data they collected enabled them to generate a world map displaying those areas where the risk of infection is particularly high. To this end, the researchers selected an approach based on machine learning that is often used in nature and wildlife conservation to develop models for the distribution of various species of plants and animals. The approach makes use of a computer programme based on the so-called "maximum entropy method", which takes care of all the necessary statistical calculations. "In close cooperation with the researchers at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) we were able to derive a sophisticated global overview of the risk of Chikungunya infection," said Nils Tjaden, a doctoral researcher in Bayreuth's biogeography team.

Increased risk of infection due to climate change

How will the current risk areas be affected by climate change? This depends on the underlying assumptions regarding the future course of global climate change on which one's calculations are based. The researchers in Bayreuth and Stockholm used two different climate change scenarios. One of the two scenarios assumes that climate change will progress moderately and that the IPCC target of 2 degrees Celsius per year will only be slightly missed. The average global temperature would increase by 2.6 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 compared to pre-industrial times. On this assumption, the calculations point to a general trend that will make the climate conditions around the world more favourable for Chikungunya infections.

By contrast, the second scenario assumes that climate change will be left unchecked to a large extent. Here the average global temperature would increase by around 4.6 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 compared to pre-industrial times. In this case, the regions at high risk of Chikungunya would grow noticeably. The virus would likely spread to countries in southern Europe as well as to the United States. "Since we have yet to develop a global strategy that would effectively slow down climate change, this scenario appears to be more likely than the other. At temperate latitudes, the risk of Chikungunya infection may reach levels even higher than the projection given in the second scenario," Prof. Beierkuhnlein said. "People have already been infected with Chikungunya in Italy, France, and Florida; however, such cases are still too rare to play any significant role in our model. The climatic potential for new diseases in southern Europe and the US is probably being underestimated," explained Dr. Stephanie Thomas, biogeography researcher in Bayreuth. According to the team's predictions, the risk of Chikungunya is only likely to decrease slightly in two places: India and on the southern edge of the Sahara. The reason? Conditions in those places could become even too extreme for the mosquitos.

The question of how tropical infectious diseases could spread as a result of climate change in Europe and other regions of the world has been a research priority of Bayreuth's biogeography team for more than a decade. Prof. Beierkuhnlein's research group specializes in the analysis of factors that facilitate the spread of insects such as the Asian tiger mosquito, which not only carries the Chikungunya virus, but also the dreaded dengue fever.

More information: Nils B. Tjaden et al. Modelling the effects of global climate change on Chikungunya transmission in the 21st century, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-03566-3 Journal information: Scientific Reports
The weevil was released into Florida's wetlands to stop the spread and growth of melaleuca. Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture

When pesticides and intentional fires fail to eradicate an invasive plant species, declaring biological war may be the best option.

Melaleuca, an invasive, woody tree native to Australia, was introduced into Florida's wetlands in the late 19th century and has caused havoc ever since by invading and displacing native vegetation and harming the biodiversity of the state's freshwater ecosystems.

In 1997, to combat the intruder, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released melaleuca's natural enemya small beetle known as the weevilinto areas where the tree thrived. The weevil, also a native of Australia, feeds on melaleuca, essentially disrupting its natural growing process and killing it slowly over time.

According to University of Miami graduate student Bo Zhang, who earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, over the past 20 years, the weevil has helped reduce melaleuca reproduction by 49 percent and its growth by 83 percent.

That would indicate the weevil is succeeding in its mission to reduce the spread and growth of melaleuca, but is 20 years worth of data enough to predict whether the weevil will vanquish the intruder entirely?

Maleleuca trees in South Florida. Credit: University of Miami

In their study, "Modeling the long-term effects of introduced herbivores on the spread of an invasive tree," published in the journal Landscape Ecology, Zhang said she and her collaborators used an individual-based modeling platform, known in scientific circles as JABOWA-II, to come up with a hopeful answer.

Simulating various outcomes of the weevil's impact on two types of South Florida habitats under attack by melaleucacypress swamps and bay swampsthe researchers found that the wetland's dominant native species may recover in about 50 years from when the weevil was first introduced in 1997, further suppressing melaleuca through competition.

In essence, Zhang said, the model proves that introducing herbivores to an invasive species can save the native species, a finding that can be applied to other studies seeking similar outcomes in the natural world.

"This individual-based model is used for a lot of ecological research but this is the first time it was used to model the long-term effects of an invasive species," said Zhang. "Basically, it can simulate each individual tree inside a plot of land and this provides more detailed information about biocontrol outcomes and, ultimately, what is the best outcome for the future."

She adds that the model also provides researchers or government officials who are monitoring the small beetle's effect on the melaleuca's growth important long-term informationwhat areas need more insects, which need less, or which could disappear in a number of years.

More information: Bo Zhang et al. Modeling the long-term effects of introduced herbivores on the spread of an invasive tree, Landscape Ecology (2017). DOI: 10.1007/s10980-017-0519-6
The World Heritage-listed reef is the largest living structure on Earth and its economic and social value was calculated for the first time in the Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Australia's under-pressure Great Barrier Reef is an asset worth Aus$56 billion (US$42 billion) and as an ecosystem and economic driver is "too big to fail", a study said Monday.

The World Heritage-listed reef is the largest living structure on Earth and its economic and social value was calculated for the first time in the Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

Using economic modelling, it said the reefbigger than Britain, Switzerland and the Netherlands combinedwas worth Aus$29 billion to tourism, supporting 64,000 jobs.

The "indirect or non-use" valuepeople that have not yet visited the reef but know it existswas estimated at Aus$24 billion, with recreational users such as boaters making up the rest.

The study, based on six months' analysis, comes as the reef suffers an unprecedented second straight year of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.

It is also under pressure from farming run-off, development and the crown-of-thorns starfish, with the problems compounded this year by a powerful cyclone pummelling the area.

Great Barrier Reef Foundation director Steve Sargent said the study showed that no single Australian asset contributed as much to international perceptions of "Brand Australia".

"At $56 billion, the reef is valued at more than 12 Sydney Opera Houses," he said.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is under pressure from climate change, farming run-off, development and the crown-of-thorns starfish, with the problems compounded this year by a powerful cyclone pummelling the area

"This report sends a clear message that the Great Barrier Reef - as an ecosystem, as an economic driver, as a global treasure - is too big to fail."

Commenting in the report, US presidential candidate turned conservationist Al Gore said the study was a "much needed, holistic view of the incredible economic value and opportunities provided by the Great Barrier Reef".

"Any failure to protect this indispensable natural resource would have profound impacts not only to Australia but around the world," he added.

'Priceless and irreplaceable'

The study included a survey of 1,500 Australian and international respondents from 10 countries that found people value the reef for a range of reasons - due to its importance for tourism but also the belief that Australia would not be the same without it.

Lead author, Deloitte Access's John O'Mahony, said it was clear the reef was "priceless and irreplaceable".

"But we've been able to look at it as an 'asset' that has incredible value on multiple frontsfrom its biodiversity and job creating potential to its support for critical industries and standing among international visitors to Australia," he said.

Australia last month hosted a summit of more than 70 of the world's leading marine experts to work on a blueprint on how best to respond to the threats facing the reef.

Australia's Great Barrier Reefbigger than Britain, Switzerland and the Netherlands combinedwas worth Aus$29 billion to tourism, supporting 64,000 jobs

Options explored included developing coral nurseries, strategies to boost culling of crown-of-thorns starfish, expanding monitoring systems and identifying priority sites for coral restoration.

Key to the talks was the need to slash greenhouse gas emissions to prevent warming sea temperatures.

Canberra in 2015 narrowly avoided UNESCO putting the reef on its endangered list, and has committed more than Aus$2.0 billion to protect it over the next decade.

But it has been criticised for backing a huge US$16 billion coal project by Indian mining giant Adani near the reef, which environmentalists warn would harm the natural wonder.

Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg insisted protecting the reef was a priority.

"It is critical for reefs worldwide, including the Great Barrier Reef, that international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are effective," he said in response to the study.

"Australia is taking strong action to address the global threat of climate change having ratified the Paris Agreement which will see Australia reduce its emissions by 26 to 28 percent on 2005."

 2017 AFP
Bumble bees, like this one, are among the bee species most vulnerable to increases in temperature. Credit: Elsa Youngsteadt.

A new study from North Carolina State University finds that common wild bee species decline as urban temperatures increase.

"We looked at 15 of the most common bee species in southeastern cities and  through fieldwork and labwork  found that increasing temperatures in urban heat islands will have a negative effect on almost all of them," says Steve Frank, an associate professor of entomology at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the work.

"What's exciting is that we were able to use a relatively easy lab test on individual bees to predict how whole populations will fare at higher temperatures in urban areas," says Elsa Youngsteadt, a research associate at NC State and co-lead author of the paper. "This is a tool we can use for additional bee species in the future, giving us insights into how urban warming affects ecosystems."

In the laboratory portion of the study, researchers established the critical thermal maximum (CTmax) for all 15 bee species. This involved placing the bees in tubes and gradually increasing the temperature until each bee became incapacitated. The most heat-tolerant species included the carpenter bees Xylocopa virginica and Ceratina strenua, with CTmax values of 50 to 51C (122 to 124F). Some of the least heat-tolerant species included a green sweat bee (Agapostemon virescens) and a bumble bee (Bombus bimaculatus), each with a CTmax below 45C (113F). It's worth noting that the CTmax is the temperature at which an insect is incapacitated, but the insect is adversely affected at lower temperatures and may leave a habitat or reproduce less.

"After measuring the CTmax values, we still didn't know whether the way individual bees responded to temperature in the lab would correspond to how bee populations respond to higher temperatures in messy, real-world habitats," Youngsteadt says.

To address this question, the researchers sampled bee populations 11 times over two years at 18 urban sites in Wake County, North Carolina.

The researchers found that the response of the 15 bee species studied in the lab corresponded to each species' abundance in urban yards. In other words, the lower a species' CTmax, the more its numbers declined with urban warming.

"This is certainly relevant for urban heat islands, but it may also help us understand potential effects of global climate change on bee species," Youngsteadt says. "If species that have a lower CTmax are most sensitive to urban warming, they may also be most sensitive to warming in other environments."

The paper, "Physiological thermal limits predict differential responses of bees to urban heat-island effects," is published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

More information: April L. Hamblin et al. Physiological thermal limits predict differential responses of bees to urban heat-island effects, Biology Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0125 Journal information: Biology Letters
Artist's impression of the two forms of ultra-viscous liquid water with different density. On the background is depicted the x-ray speckle pattern taken from actual data of high-density amorphous ice, which is produced by pressurizing water at very low temperatures. Credit: Mattias Karlen

We normally consider liquid water as disordered with the molecules rearranging on a short time scale around some average structure. Now, however, scientists at Stockholm University have discovered two phases of the liquid with large differences in structure and density. The results are based on experimental studies using X-rays, which are now published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (US).

Most of us know that water is essential for our existence on planet Earth. It is less well-known that water has many strange or anomalous properties and behaves very differently from all other liquids. Some examples are the melting point, the density, the heat capacity, and all-in-all there are more than 70 properties of water that differ from most liquids. These anomalous properties of water are a prerequisite for life as we know it.

"The new remarkable property is that we find that water can exist as two different liquids at low temperatures where ice crystallization is slow", says Anders Nilsson, professor in Chemical Physics at Stockholm University. The breakthrough in the understanding of water has been possible through a combination of studies using X-rays at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, where the two different structures were evidenced and at the large X-ray laboratory DESY in Hamburg where the dynamics could be investigated and demonstrated that the two phases indeed both were liquid phases. Water can thus exist as two different liquids.

"It is very exciting to be able to use X-rays to determine the relative positions between the molecules at different times", says Fivos Perakis, postdoc at Stockholm University with a background in ultrafast optical spectroscopy. "We have in particular been able to follow the transformation of the sample at low temperatures between the two phases and demonstrated that there is diffusion as is typical for liquids".

When we think of ice it is most often as an ordered, crystalline phase that you get out of the ice box, but the most common form of ice in our planetary system is amorphous, that is disordered, and there are two forms of amorphous ice with low and high density. The two forms can interconvert and there have been speculations that they can be related to low- and high-density forms of liquid water. To experimentally investigate this hypothesis has been a great challenge that the Stockholm group has now overcome.

"I have studied amorphous ices for a long time with the goal to determine whether they can be considered a glassy state representing a frozen liquid", says Katrin Amann-Winkel, researcher in Chemical Physics at Stockholm University. "It is a dream come true to follow in such detail how a glassy state of water transforms into a viscous liquid which almost immediately transforms to a different, even more viscous, liquid of much lower density".

"The possibility to make new discoveries in water is totally fascinating and a great inspiration for my further studies", says Daniel Mariedahl, PhD student in Chemical Physics at Stockholm University. "It is particularly exciting that the new information has been provided by X-rays since the pioneer of X-ray radiation, Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen, himself speculated that water can exist in two different forms and that the interplay between them could give rise to its strange properties".

"The new results give very strong support to a picture where water at room temperature can't decide in which of the two forms it should be, high or low density, which results in local fluctuations between the two", says Lars G.M. Pettersson, professor in Theoretical Chemical Physics at Stockholm University. "In a nutshell: Water is not a complicated liquid, but two simple liquids with a complicated relationship."

These new results not only create an overall understanding of water at different temperatures and pressures, but also how water is affected by salts and biomolecules important for life. In addition, the increased understanding of water can lead to new insights on how to purify and desalinate water in the future. This will be one of the main challenges to humanity in view of the global climate change.
A new study involving UW researchers shows that mule deer have not habituated to energy development in Wyomings Upper Green River Basin. Credit: Tom Koerner/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Photo

A new long-term study finds that energy development has longer-lasting impacts on mule deer populations than previously thought.

The study, "Mule Deer and Energy DevelopmentLong-term Trends of Habituation and Abundance," appears in the journal Global Change Biology and has implications for energy development planning on federal lands.

"There is a common perception that deer and other big game quickly habituate to disturbances like energy development, but our research clearly shows that is not the case with mule deer," says the paper's lead author, Hall Sawyer.

Sawyer, a biologist for Western Ecosystems Technology (WEST) Inc., led the study along with two others from WESTRyan Nielson and Dale Strickland. Nicole Korfanta and Kevin Monteith of the University of Wyoming Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources were collaborators on the paper.

The researchers used telemetry data from 187 deer across a 17-year period, including two years during predevelopment and 15 years during development, to determine whether deer habituated to energy development in the Upper Green River Basin of western Wyoming. The study found that mule deer did not habituate to gas development, and the population declined by 36 percent despite aggressive on-site mitigation efforts and a 45 percent reduction in deer harvest.

"Our study reveals some of the trade-offs associated with developing energy resources in critical wildlife habitat, and serves as a reminder that mitigation efforts can reduce but not eliminate impacts," Sawyer says. "Long-term avoidance reduces the amount of winter range available for animals which, in turn, reduces the number of animals that can be supported on the landscape."

The findings could alter how federal land-use plans consider the impact of oil and gas development on mule deer and other big-game species.

"Environmental assessments typically consider mule deer avoidance of oil and gas infrastructure as a short-term impact. But these results suggest avoidance behavior is a long-term impact that can affect populations for decades," Korfanta says.

With 17 years of data, this is the longest-running study of oil and gas effects on mule deer.

"The value of a long-term, population-level study is in moving beyond anecdotal evidence. While some individual mule deer continue to use habitat close to oil and gas wells, this study shows that's the exception and not the rule," Korfanta says.

More information: Hall Sawyer et al. Mule deer and energy development-Long-term trends of habituation and abundance, Global Change Biology (2017). DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13711 Journal information: Global Change Biology
A bipartisan group of mayors from across the country unanimously backed an ambitious commitment for U.S. cities to run entirely on renewable sources such as wind and solar in two decades.

As the U.S. Conference of Mayors wrapped up in Miami Beach on Monday, leaders from more than 250 cities voted on symbolic resolutions pushing back against President Donald Trump on climate change and immigration.

"Mayors have been involved in the frontline of climate and energy issues for so long, but the president's actions have really just ignited the excitement of mayors and citizens who want to get to do a whole lot more," said Steve Benjamin, a Democratic mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, who proposed the resolution with three other mayors.

Most mayors also signed a deal to do their part to uphold the terms of the Paris climate accords, even after the Trump administration pulled out of the agreement. They also strongly rejected plans to increase immigration enforcement and vowed to persuade federal lawmakers to reinstate a popular $3 billion program (Community Development Block Grants) that funds local projects across the country. Trump proposes eliminating the grants.

The clean-energy resolution is one of the many measures that will be sent to Congress and the White House hoping to influence legislation. It was proposed by Democratic mayors in the Republican-dominated states of South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Iowa.

In Washington, Republicans and Democrats remain deeply divided over how to deal with climate change. But cities and states are slowly shaping policies to fight floods and add renewable sources of energy. More than 25 U.S. cities such as San Diego and Salt Lake City have already adopted the clean-energy policy, and six smaller cities including Aspen, Colorado, and Burlington, Vermont, have reached goals of generating 100 percent of the energy through renewable sources.

Traditional energy sources still dominate, with many cities saying they need their states to pass legislation to smooth the transition.

David Sandalow, a former undersecretary of energy in President Barack Obama's administration who is now at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, called it an "ambitious goal."

It's "certainly possible in some cities, much more challenging in others," he said.

Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also addressed the mayors on Monday, announcing a $200 million initiative for cities to take on projects that address issues from climate change to gun violence and immigration.

 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Credit: University of Queensland

Men often appear to have an advantage over women in the workplace, but that is not always the case in female-dominated industries.

A study led by University of Queensland School of Psychology researcher Dr Courtney von Hippel has found that men working in 'pink-collar professions'  such as nursing, teaching and child-care  may be vulnerable to negative gender stereotypes.

Dr von Hippel said men working in traditionally female jobs were susceptible to stereotype threat, or the concern of confirming a negative stereotype about their group.

"Nurses, primary school teachers and child protection workers are meant to be gentle and nurturing, traits that are stereotypic of women but not men," Dr von Hippel said.

"Stereotypes about men suggest they are unlikely to have the necessary traits to succeed in 'pink-collar' jobs, in which such stereotypically female traits are thought to be critical for success.

"Not only are men assumed to lack these feminine traits, but they are stereotyped as aggressive, dominant and competitive  traits that are problematic in many 'pink-collar' jobs."

Dr von Hippel examined stereotype threat among men in two traditionally female jobs: primary school teaching and child protection work.

"Male primary school teachers experienced more stereotype threat than women, and those feelings were related to negative job attitudes and commitment for men but not women.

"Male child protection workers who compared themselves with successful female child protection workers experienced stereotype threat that was associated with intentions to resign.

"Men were also expected to perform stereotypic masculine work tasks more than their female counterparts.

"So, despite their advantaged status, men in 'pink-collar' jobs are susceptible to workplace stereotype threat that results in dissatisfaction and disengagement in their jobs and an increased consideration of quitting their profession."

More information: Elise K. Kalokerinos et al. Men in pink collars: Stereotype threat and disengagement among male teachers and child protection workers, European Journal of Social Psychology (2017). DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2246
Mouse lemurs, a primate by classification, may provide insight into human behaviour and well-being. Credit: University of Toronto

Something to Google today: mouse lemurs.

They weigh only about 50g and have big brown eyes. You may think you're looking at a very cute rodent. You're not.

Despite their name, mouse lemurs are actually primates  and our evolutionary relatives.

"We share a few key features with mouse lemurs like bigger that average brains, similar hands and skeletal structure, and certain visual traits," says Malcolm Ramsay. "That's where it ends though. Lemurs, all 100-plus species of them, are incredibly unique and diverse."

A University of Toronto anthropology PhD student, Ramsay is studying mouse lemurs in Ankarafantsika National Park in Madagascar. He began his PhD in 2016, under the supervision of Shawn Lehman, an associate professor in the department of anthropology in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

Ramsay is assisted in his research by Andriamahery Razafindrakoto, a student from the University of Antananarvio in Madagascar, and Jean Bosco (Jhonny) Kenedy, a guide in the Ankarafantsika National Park who has been teaching him Malagasy, the national language of Madagasgar.

"Jhonny knows more about the environment of the park and the ecology of the lemurs than anyone I have met," said Ramsay.

Credit: University of Toronto

A typical day for Ramsay and his team begins before sunrise. They capture, measure, sample and release lemurs, enter data and reset their traps before turning in for the night.

"Usually it's the mosquitoes that drive me to bed, but tonight we found a scorpion under the dinner table so everyone went to bed early," says Ramsay.

Ramsay says that, as a primatologist, he thinks it's important to study all primates, not just the ones that resemble humans.

"Anthropologists typically study primates such as chimpanzees and ask what makes us uniquely human, but studying lemurs allows us to ask and answer broader questions such as what makes us a primate," says Ramsay.

"Lemurs have evolved independently from other primates on Madagascar for millions of years and thus have strange traits like nocturnality, seasonal breeding, and female dominance," he says.

The most important reason to study lemurs though, is they are among the most endangered mammals on earth and rapidly heading towards extinction.

"Humans only arrived on Madagascar in the last few thousand years, and since then many large animals like hippos, giant birds, and at least 15 species of lemurs have gone extinct," says Ramsay. "The remaining lemurs are mostly endangered and living in rapidly disappearing forests."

Ramsay says the problem is exacerbated by the fact that Madagascar is one of the poorest countries on Earth and plagued by food insecurity. In this context, it can be challenging to justify saving lemurs when humans need help as well.

However, "By studying the conservation of lemurs we can also find solutions that improve human well-being," he says. "Many primates, including lemurs, are vital for spreading seeds across forests allowing for new tree growth. A healthy forest has primates and also provides services to people, such as food, water and shelter.

"It is nice to imagine pristine forests with bountiful animals, but that is not the reality on earth. Even in the most 'remote' places, humans are having positive and negative impacts on animals. It is important to understand these impacts in order to inform conservation initiatives rather than simply making assumptions."

While working on his master's degree, Ramsay looked at the impact of roads: specifically whether or not the mouse lemurs are crossing a national highway in Ankarafantisika National Park. After three months of capturing and recapturing the lemurs he found that while they were crossing the highway, but it was a complicated picture.

"Only the male mouse lemurs were crossing the highway, despite the fact that both male and females need to leave the group they are born into and disperse across new areas," says Ramsay.

"We also didn't find any of the typical signs of habitat disturbance  such as lowered body weight which we'd expect to find if there is difficulty finding food.

"So our results on the impacts of roads were varied."

"Given that we could not clearly say either that roads are good or bad for the mouse lemurs, I think one of the main take-aways from our research is that is shows how complex conservation science can be and we need to learn more about what is actually going on here."
A new report from the Research Alliance for New York City Schools provides an in-depth look at high school students' pathways into and through college, revealing large improvements in college access, but also highlighting persistent differences in outcomes for historically underrepresented groups of students.

New York City has made dramatic progress reducing high school dropouts and boosting on-time graduation rates, which rose from 47 percent in 2005 to 70 percent in 2016. At the same time, educational priorities and expectations have changed, with an increased emphasis on graduating students who are college- and career-ready.

This new report, the second in the Research Alliance's New York City Goes to College series, explores how rising high school graduation rates are playing out as students move into and through college. The report follows multiple cohorts of New York City students, beginning with those who entered 9th grade in 2003 and ending with students who began 9th grade in 2008. Researchers followed each cohort for up to 10 years (through the 2014-15 school year).

Doing so allowed them to report six-year college completion rates for the early cohorts, an important metric since many students require more than four years to finish college. Researchers also included students who delayed their enrollment into college, as well as those who "stopped out"that is, left college and returned later.

"Patterns of college going have changed, with many more enrollment options available to students. That demands a wider lens for measuring outcomes," said Kristin Black, the report's co-author and a research fellow at the Research Alliance through the NYU Institute for Education Sciences-funded Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training (IES-PIRT) program.

The researchers used a four-part framework - access, persistence, efficiency, and equity - to examine students' pathways from 9th grade to the end of college. Key findings include:

Access: There have been broad improvements in college access, driven largely by rising on-time high school graduation rates. The proportion of New York City 9th graders who enroll in college has increased over time, from 55 percent of students who started high school in 2003 to 61 percent of those who started in 2008.

Persistence: Higher rates of college access have been eroded somewhat by students leaving after one or two years of college. While the researchers measured a 6-percentage point increase in college enrollment from the 2003 to 2008 cohorts, a third of those gains were lost within the first two years of college for the 2008 cohort.

Efficiency: Although four-year colleges remain the primary source of degrees, increasing proportions of students have enrolled in two-year colleges, with fewer students delaying their college enrollment. Enrollment in two-year colleges is growing faster among students from underrepresented groupsthat is, those from the poorest neighborhoods, Black and Latino students, and young men.

Equity: While all students have seen improved college access over time, gaps in enrollment and outcomes associated with gender and neighborhood income have persisted, and there is some evidence that differences by race/ethnicity have worsened. For example, while the 25-percentage point gap in college enrollment between Asian and Latino students (the highest and lowest attaining groups) remained unchanged from the 2003 to 2008 cohort, the gap between the groups after two years of college actually widened from 27 to 29 percentage points.

"New York City has made extraordinary progress in its high school graduation ratesand these changes have in turn driven improved college access for students who, even 20 years ago, would never have had the opportunity to enroll," said James Kemple, executive director at the Research Alliance. "But addressing deeply rooted inequitiesparticularly those associated with income and raceis proving much more challenging. In future studies, we will be able to see whether the City's current slate of reforms is moving the needle on these inequities."

The New York City Goes to College series is possible as a result of the NYC Partnership for College Readiness and Success, a collaboration between the Research Alliance, the NYC Department of Education, and CUNY. The partnership is aimed at better understanding how to prepare and support students toward college success.
Blocking scams should be easy. Credit: Pixabay

World-wide, credit card fraud and other scams cost the public billions of dollars. While credit card fraud is the clear leader in sheer volume of money lost, "regular scams" still result in a significant amount of money being lost each year.

Globally, credit card fraud resulted in losses of US$21.84 billion in 2015. The so-called "Nigerian scam", usually perpetrated via email, totalled US$12.7 billion in 2013. Overall losses are likely to be much larger however, as many scams go unreported.

While scams that come in over email are increasingly being picked up by spam filters, around 45% of scams in Australia (and likely other countries) are by phone and text message.

Email spam filters are using machine learning techniques to get better at identifying the wide range of scams that can arrive in inboxes. This is by far the most effective way of dealing with scams, as the average member of the public has been shown to be remarkably susceptible.

However, very little has been done about phone and text scams. This is surprising given scammers have quite brazenly stuck to using the same number or area codes over significant periods of time.

One particular scam in Australia, for example, had people claiming to be from the Australian Tax Office. One group, perhaps the same one, are now running a scam from the very same phone number where they claim to be from a motor vehicle accident company wanting to pay compensation for an accident.

This number shows up on sites like "reverseaustralia", where complaints associated with the number are recorded. However, the number is still in operation and despite there being a government agency, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), tasked with dealing with scams of this type, very little is done to tackle scammers directly.

This seems hard to comprehend given it would be relatively easy for government agencies globally to provide a centralised database of numbers associated with scammers. All mobile phones have software available to check phone calls and text messages, and could look up incoming numbers against this database and warn users if there was the slightest suspicion about the caller.

A number of apps are available that actually try and do this using crowdsourced information. Truecaller and Hiya, for example, try and alert a user when someone is calling using a number associated with a reported scam. While these apps are definitely useful in protecting consumers, they are not ideal.

Government agencies like the ACCC in Australia and the Federal Trade Commision in the US receive reports of thousands of complaints from consumers with details of numbers associated with these complaints. It would be trivial for these agencies to make these numbers available to companies like Apple and Google directly to incorporate phone warnings directly into their software without the need for third parties.

The ACCC openly declares that its role is more to provide information than to enforce actual protection because of the difficulty in dealing with scammers.

Google and Apple should, however, be able to do more independently of these agencies. With the advent of machine learning techniques being used to analyse emails, it will be also possible to apply the same technology to phone calls.

Certain techniques used by scammers are an absolute "tell" of a scam. A recent scam in the US, and spreading world wide, has involved the caller asking at some point "can you hear me" with the expectation of the victim replying "yes". This reply is then reportedly edited into a recording in which the question is changed to one asking the victim if they wanted to go ahead with the purchase of a product or service. This evidence is then used to coerce the victim to pay.

But the list of other scam types is fairly consistent, and so is identifiable by software interpreting the conversation in real time.

Governments should apply pressure on companies like Apple and Google to tackle this problem. Until then however, it is worth using one of the third party apps to ward off scams.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

In the year 2100, 2 billion people - about one-fifth of the world's population - could become climate change refugees due to rising ocean levels. Those who once lived on coastlines will face displacement and resettlement bottlenecks as they seek habitable places inland, according to Cornell University research.

"We're going to have more people on less land and sooner that we think," said lead author Charles Geisler, professor emeritus of development sociology at Cornell. "The future rise in global mean sea level probably won't be gradual. Yet few policy makers are taking stock of the significant barriers to entry that coastal climate refugees, like other refugees, will encounter when they migrate to higher ground."

Earth's escalating population is expected to top 9 billion people by 2050 and climb to 11 billion people by 2100, according to a United Nations report. Feeding that population will require more arable land even as swelling oceans consume fertile coastal zones and river deltas, driving people to seek new places to dwell.

By 2060, about 1.4 billion people could be climate change refugees, according to the paper. Geisler extrapolated that number to 2 billion by 2100.

"The colliding forces of human fertility, submerging coastal zones, residential retreat, and impediments to inland resettlement is a huge problem. We offer preliminary estimates of the lands unlikely to support new waves of climate refugees due to the residues of war, exhausted natural resources, declining net primary productivity, desertification, urban sprawl, land concentration, 'paving the planet' with roads and greenhouse gas storage zones offsetting permafrost melt," Geisler said.

The paper describes tangible solutions and proactive adaptations in places like Florida and China, which coordinate coastal and interior land-use policies in anticipation of weather-induced population shifts.

Florida has the second-longest coastline in the United States, and its state and local officials have planned for a coastal exodus, Geisler said, in the state's Comprehensive Planning Act.

Beyond sea level rise, low-elevation coastal zones in many countries face intensifying storm surges that will push sea water further inland. Historically, humans have spent considerable effort reclaiming land from oceans, but now live with the opposite - the oceans reclaiming terrestrial spaces on the planet," said Geisler. In their research, Geisler and Currens explore a worst-case scenario for the present century.

The authors note that the competition of reduced space that they foresee will induce land-use trade-offs and conflicts. In the United States and elsewhere, this could mean selling off public lands for human settlement.

"The pressure is on us to contain greenhouse gas emissions at present levels. It's the best 'future proofing' against climate change, sea level rise and the catastrophic consequences likely to play out on coasts, as well as inland in the future," said Geisler.

The article "Impediments to inland resettlement under conditions of accelerated sea level rise" will be published in the July issue of the journal Land Use Policy.

More information: Charles Geisler et al, Impediments to inland resettlement under conditions of accelerated sea level rise, Land Use Policy (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.03.029
A Guardia Civil officer battling a wildfire near Mazagon in southwestern Spain, which has forced more than 2,000 people to evacuate the area

Spanish firefighters on Monday beat back a wildfire which threatens a renowned national park that is home to endangered species and has forced the evacuation of over 2,000 people from homes, campsites and hotels.

"The weather is evolving as we predicted, winds are clearly more moderate than yesterday," said the official in charge of the environment with the regional government of Andalusia, Jose Fiscal Lopez.

"With all the prudence in the world, we are moderately optimistic," he added.

Over 600 firefighters, soldiers and volunteers supported by water-dropping airplanes were combating the wildfire on Monday at the Donana Natural Park in southwestern Spain near Huelva.

Strong winds and scorching heat complicated initial efforts to fight the blaze, which broke out Saturday near the town of Moguer.

The blaze comes a week after wildfires killed over 60 people in neighbouring Portugal.

There has been no official estimate regarding how much land has been burned but the WWF estimated it has so far affected about 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres).

"The area is an authentic powder keg for fires," the head of WWF Spain, Juan Carlos del Olmo, said in a statement.

The natural park is full of electrical wires, illegal mines with electrical installations surrounded by pine trees, and illegally built buildings, he added.

'Could not breathe'

The fire prompted the closure of several roads and the evacuation of some 2,100 people, including guests at camp sites and several hotels.

Hundreds of people spent the night in gyms or other municipal buildings.

"There was so much smoke that we could not breathe," Macarena Medina, who was forced to flee her home in the resort town of Mazagon, told private television Telecinco.

She said she returned to find her home "without a roof" and with all her belongings "under rubble".

Popular beach resort Matalascanas, located roughly 20 kilometres (14 miles) south of Moguer where the fire began, was completely cut off for a few hours because of the fire on Sunday.

Roads in the area reopened on Monday but remained under tight police control.

The fire has not yet hit the neighbouring Donana National Park, which has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1994 and is well known for the extensive biodiversity of its dunes, wetlands and woods.

"A special effort was made during the night on the front which threatened the park the most," Fiscal Lopez told Spanish public television.

The national park is one of Spain's most important wildlife sanctuaries and a popular tourist attraction.

It is home to a variety of animals, including endangered species such as the Spanish imperial eagle and the Iberian lynx, a large cat found only in Spain and Portugal.

Endangered lynx death

Officials temporarily evacuated a lynx breeding centre on Sunday as a precaution.

A female Iberian lynx died at the Acebuche captive breeding centre on Saturday "due to stress" during its capture for evacuation, the centre said in a statement.

The other lynxes are "safe and sound", said the mayor of Moguer, Gustavo Cuellar. "Each lynx held in captivity is receiving detailed care."

Police were investigating the cause of the fire. The regional president of Andalusia, Susana Diaz, has said that "the human factor cannot be excluded".

She vowed on Monday not to allow "even one metre" of the destroyed land to be rezoned to allow building to take place.

"We will continue until the end to find out what happened," she added.

Spanish environment group Ecologistas en Accion warned that this type of wildfire will become more frequent with climate change and urged the government to make sure no environmental crime goes unpunished.

 2017 AFP
Researchers find declining survival of juvenile steelhead trout in the ocean is strongly coupled with significant declines in populations of steelhead in the Pacific Northwest. Credit: Morgan Bond

Steelhead trout are entrenched in the economy, ecology, and culture of the Pacific Northwest. Declining numbers of steelhead in the rivers flowing through British Columbia, Washington state, and Oregon are troubling fishers and fisheries managers alike. A new study published today in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (CJFAS) shows that survival of young steelhead trout in ocean environments has also been precipitously declining.

Survival of juvenile steelhead in the ocean has recently been considered a possible factor in the decline of these fish but to date long-term survival and abundance trends among Pacific Northwest populations were largely unknown. Now, using multiple decades of data for 48 populations of wild and hatchery steelhead trout, scientists at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have shown that declining survival of juvenile steelhead in the ocean is strongly coupled with significant declines in the abundance of adults.

"We were able to compile data from multiple reports and databases to document survival in the ocean of Oregon, Washington, and BC steelhead trout and show that these trends paralleled declines in adult abundance and also differ among populations originating from different areas," says Dr. Neala Kendall, lead author of the study. "We believe this is the first time these data have been brought together in a single study."

Populations with particularly concerning declines were those in the Lower Columbia River and in Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean and part of the Salish Sea that extends north and south of Seattle, Washington. The study found that among populations in Puget Sound, ocean survival of juvenile steelhead in the 2000s has declined by 77% on average compared to the 1980s; survival averaged 3.1% in the 1980s but dropped to 0.7% in the 2000s.

The study found parallel trends in adult abundance. Specifically, numbers of adults in Puget Sound steelhead populations in the 2000s have declined by 53% on average compared to the 1980s.

The declines in juvenile survival "likely contributed to these fishes' low abundance," says Kendall; abundances are so low that Puget Sound steelhead were listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2007. Steelhead populations in British Columbia included in the study also have all declined in abundance and ocean survival since the 1980s. Declines in survival of juvenile steelhead in ocean environments were not as drastic for populations along the coasts of Washington and Oregon which are not listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Survival and abundance trends, like those generated in this study, can enhance current tools being used to predict changes in steelhead populations. To best conserve steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, especially recovery efforts for Puget Sound populations, "stakeholders and concerned citizens want to better understand why these populations have been struggling and how marine survival has contributed," Kendall says. "With this information, policymakers and managers can have different expectations about Puget Sound and Lower Columbia steelhead [compared to] fish on the coast due to their different marine survival patterns," she adds.

Kendall sees this study as providing further support for ongoing efforts by natural resource agencies and NGOs to improve steelhead survival and protect the habitats these juvenile trout use upon arriving in the ocean. These include reducing shoreline armoring (e.g., construction of seawalls), protecting and promoting forage fish, understanding the impacts of marine mammals, and decreasing exposure to parasites and chemical contaminants.

The research is part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, a US-Canada collaboration of more than 60 organizations conducting research to understand why salmon and steelhead are dying in the Salish Sea.

The article, "Declining patterns of Pacific Northwest steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) adult abundance and smolt survival in the ocean" by Neala W. Kendall, Gary W. Marston, and Matthew M. Klungle was published today in Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.
Ultrasoundsound with frequencies higher than those audible to humansis commonly used in diagnostic imaging of the body's soft tissues, including muscles, joints, tendons and internal organs. A technology called high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is also being explored for therapeutic uses including the removal of uterine fibroids and the destruction of tumors.

The method has limitations, however, in large part because bones in the body reject, refract, distort and absorb the waves. Although most medical applications of ultrasound are able to work around bony structures, two parts of the body are particularly challenging: the liver (because it is mostly confined within the rib cage) and the brain (housed within the skull).

A suite of noninvasive, adaptive focusing techniquesthat allow ultrasonic beams to be focused through the rib cage and skullwill be described during Acoustics '17 Boston, the third joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the European Acoustics Association being held June 25-29, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Jean-Francois Aubry, director of research at CNRS (the National Center for Scientific Research in France) and an invited associate professor at the University of Virginia will explain how the technology behind HIFU is similar to how an optical lens (like a magnifying glass) focuses light. Here, however, an acoustic lens is used to focus multiple beams of ultrasound waves on the area of interestsay, a liver tumor. The beams are generated by piezoelectric transducers, or "elements"devices that convert an electric current to mechanical stress.

"Tumor ablation [destruction] can be achieved by increasing the tissue temperature in targeted regions, until thermal necrosis is obtainedtypically by warming the tissues up to 60 degrees Celsius over a period of 10 seconds," Aubry said. A bone, however, has an absorption coefficient that is 10 times higher than that of soft tissuesthat is, bone absorbs sound waves 10 times more effectively than soft tissuesand this could lead to overheating of the ribs and even severe burns on the overlying skin.

To prevent this, Aubry and colleagues have developed a noninvasive "time-reversal" technique, called the DORT method, which focuses ultrasound waves through the ribs by taking advantage of the imaging capabilities of a multi-element array.

First, a sound impulse is emitted from each element in the array, and the corresponding backscattered echoes from the ribs are recorded. By analyzing the backscatter from multiple elements, it is possible to calculate the shape of an ultrasound beam that will sonicate in between the ribs, completely avoiding the bone.

Ultrasonography in the brain is complicated because the bone of the skull, in addition to heating up when an ultrasound beam is applied, distorts that beam, preventing it from being properly focused on the targeted tissue. One solution is the use of multi-element arrays in conjunction with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR). CT-based simulations allow for an estimation of the phase shifts induced by the skull and the arrays generate beams that correct for those aberrations. MR is used to guide and monitor the treatment. As Aubry will describe in his talk, arrays with 1024 elements are now being used for the treatment of essential tremor, Parkinsonian tremors and brain tumors.

Although adding more and more elements to these probes can improve the focusing of the signal, a greater number of elements also means greater cost. To get around this, Aubry and his colleagues have developed and patented a lens-based transcranial focusing device that uses only one piezoelectric transducer element, covered with a 3-D silicone acoustic lens of variable thickness. This lens-based element, he said, is equivalent to an 11,000-element transducer in terms of its phase-shaping capabilities. Although it is not yet in clinical use, the single-element system could be used for low-intensity applications such as neuromodulation (the modulation of neuronal activity) and to punch localized and reversible openings in the blood-brain barrier; with future modifications, Aubry said, the system could be used to induce tumor necrosis.
Then NAACP President Rachel Dolezal speaking at a rally in downtown Spokane, Washington. (Aaron Robert Kathman), CC BY-NC

Few academics expect to find their work hotly debated in the New York Times. Those who publish in feminist philosophy journals can reasonably expect a certain degree of obscurity. How then did philosophy professor Rebecca Tuvel's article, "In Defense of Transracialism," become the target of an angry petition, vociferous debate and international media commentary?

Published this spring in Hypatia, the article, which argues that changing one's racial identity should be as acceptable as changing one's gender identity, quickly elicited an "open letter" signed by hundreds of academics who demanded the journal retract the article. And in an unprecedented turn of events, the associate editors of the journal issued a long apology saying that the article should never have been published. (The Editorial Board responded with its own statement in support of the author.)

The case of Rachel Dolezal

The outcry is not surprising, given that Tuvel's article begins with the highly publicized case of Rachel Dolezal, the former head of a local NAACP who was born to white parents but has lived for many years as a black woman. Dolezal's outright deception angered many. But Tuvel is right to ask: What does the case of Rachel Dolezal teach us about how we think about race?

Tuvel argues that if we can celebrate the practice of gender transition, we should also accept racial transition. She wonders if society might "shift away from an emphasis on ancestral ties or skin colour of origin toward an emphasis on racial self-identification." Simply put, Tuvel says that we should accept someone's genuine desire to identify differently than their assigned race or gender.

It's not that anyone talking about the Dolezal case condones her deception. But as Jelani Cobb wrote in the New Yorker, while Rachel Dolezal was lying, "she was lying about a lie." Drawing on the story of his own ancestors, which included light-skinned African Americans who looked not unlike Dolezal, Cobb explains it was her knowledge of that history that allowed Dolezal to violate the trust of her community.

Nevertheless, as Cobb argues, it is the historical policing of racial categories that represents an even greater harm.

Glib discussion ignores brutal facts

Rebecca Tuvel, originally from Toronto and currently teaching philosophy of race and gender at Rhodes College, has a history of challenging injustice through philosophical and abstract thought. But in the "open letter" her critics say that she fails to engage with scholars of colour. Elsewhere, philosophy professor Nora Berenstain charges that Tuvel harms the transgendered community by objectifying transgendered bodies.

It is clear that Tuvel's dispassionate stance, common to philosophers, may be interpreted as a kind of glibness. She glides over the political context of transgender communities and skips over the violent facts of racism that make racial boundaries inflexible in the lives of so many people of colour.

By comparing racial and gender transition in abstract ways, we are in danger of forgetting that much racial transition has had its origin in the brutal facts of slavery.

This is about race

However, neither her critics nor her supporters have engaged with Tuvel's argument on transracialism. Tuvel's detractors outright condemn her work and demand that it be stripped from the academic record; her supporters focus on rhetorical claims about academic freedom, "callout culture" or "witch hunts."

But no one is actually talking about race. And not dealing with race is precisely the problem we've had for decades.

My own research into community organizations shows that hyper-emotional resistance to discussing racism inevitably sidetracks work on "diversity." Instead of having productive conversations, people get angry, defensive, or focus on their own guilt, rather than on organizational practices.

So shutting down any attempts, however inelegant, to grapple with the politics of race today only perpetuates that silence. Tuvel deliberately takes race outside of its deeply historical categories in order to unravel its meanings.

It has been well established by genetic analysis that there is no real or biological basis to what we used to think of as "races." And yet the political, social, economic, psychic and physical impact of racial categories has been and continues to be brutal.

We need creative and radical thought

This is the central conundrum. We must recognize the everyday oppression that is based on rigid categories of race and genderbut at the same time, we must absolutely assert that those categories do not define us.

Not surprisingly, Rachel Dolezal's story has become a carnivalesque side-show. Let's not also make a circus of Rebecca Tuvel's work. In treating both of these cases as spectacle, we only cultivate the notion that we would be better off not straying outside racial and theoretical lines, and that to stray is worthy of ridicule and censure.

On the contrary, wide-ranging and radical thought and practice is precisely what we need to not only take us outside deeply entrenched categories of race and gender, but also to explode them.

If we want to imagine race differently, if we want to challenge both racial hierarchies and categories, we will need radical creativity and imagination.

We might take inspiration from the most creative efforts of popular culture today. Some comedic writers, for example, have taken on our absurd notions about race, gender and sexuality.

An episode of The Mindy Project entitled "If I Were a White Man," aired this spring. After being passed over for a job as the head of obstetrics in favour of a less qualified white male colleague, Mindy wishes she were one. In this magic realist farce, Mindy wakes up the next morning in the body of a white man (played by Ryan Hansen), who effortlessly earns the respect of his colleagues and is offered the job as head of obstetrics. "But, don't I need to tell you why I would be an effective leader?" he asks the hiring committee. They chuckle jovially, "We don't need to ask you. We can tell you're a good leader just by looking at you."

Similarly, the comedic team of Key and Peele have made their mark by using transracial theatre to challenge racism. In one tragicomic sketch, Key takes on the guise of a white police officer in a biting satire of recent police shootings.

The point of these comedic interventions is not to change one's race, but to change how we think about racism and sexism. More cultural and intellectual creativity like this might help us to genuinely change how we think about race itself.

We should keep asking difficult questions

One might be tempted to imagine that the production of knowledge happens in isolated ivory towers with little impact on the average person. Explosive academic debates remind us not only that ideas have real and harmful impacts, but also that ideas are, thankfully, continually challenged, fought over and evolving.

We should be brave enough to keep asking difficult questions about race, gender and injustice; we must also be strong enough to weather the pain of getting it wrong. Retracting "In Defense of Transracialism" only narrows the opportunities we have to extend our ways of thinking about gender and race.

Let's instead have conversations about how we might both recognize the daily violence of racism and also craft a different futureone that loosens the suffocating strictures of race and gender. Let's have those conversations with strength, creativity and even some subversive humour.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Scanning tunneling microscopy image of a 2-D material created and studied at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (orange, background). In the upper right corner, the blue dots represent the layout of tungsten atoms and the red dots represent tellurium atoms. Credit: Berkeley Lab

An international team of researchers, working at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley, fabricated an atomically thin material and measured its exotic and durable properties that make it a promising candidate for a budding branch of electronics known as "spintronics."

The material - known as 1T'-WTe2 - bridges two flourishing fields of research: that of so-called 2-D materials, which include monolayer materials such as graphene that behave in different ways than their thicker forms; and topological materials, in which electrons can zip around in predictable ways with next to no resistance and regardless of defects that would ordinarily impede their movement.

At the edges of this material, the spin of electrons - a particle property that functions a bit like a compass needle pointing either north or south - and their momentum are closely tied and predictable.

This latest experimental evidence could elevate the material's use as a test subject for next-gen applications, such as a new breed of electronic devices that manipulate its spin property to carry and store data more efficiently than present-day devices. These traits are fundamental to spintronics.

The material is called a topological insulator because its interior surface does not conduct electricity, and its electrical conductivity (the flow of electrons) is restricted to its edges.

"This material should be very useful for spintronics studies," said Sung-Kwan Mo, a physicist and staff scientist at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) who co-led the study, published today in Nature Physics.

Beamline 10.0.1 at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source enables researchers to both create and study the properties of atomically thin materials. Credit: Roy Kaltschmidt/Berkeley Lab

"The flow of electrons is completely linked with the direction of their spins, and is limited only to the edges of the material," Mo said. "The electrons will travel in one direction, and with one type of spin, which is a useful quality for spintronics devices." Such devices could conceivably carry data more fluidly, with lesser power demands and heat buildup than is typical for present-day electronic devices.

"We're excited about the fact that we have found another family of materials where we can both explore the physics of 2-D topological insulators and do experiments that may lead to future applications," said Zhi-Xun Shen, a professor in Physical Sciences at Stanford University and the Advisor for Science and Technology at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory who also co-led the research effort. "This general class of materials is known to be robust and to hold up well under various experimental conditions, and these qualities should allow the field to develop faster," he added.

The material was fabricated and studied at the ALS, an X-ray research facility known as a synchrotron. Shujie Tang, a visiting postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley Lab and Stanford University, and a co-lead author in the study, was instrumental in growing 3-atom-thick crystalline samples of the material in a highly purified, vacuum-sealed compartment at the ALS, using a process known as molecular beam epitaxy.

The high-purity samples were then studied at the ALS using a technique known as ARPES (or angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy), which provides a powerful probe of materials' electron properties.

"After we refined the growth recipe, we measured it with ARPES. We immediately recognized the characteristic electronic structure of a 2-D topological insulator," Tang said, based on theory and predictions. "We were the first ones to perform this type of measurement on this material."

But because the conducting part of this material, at its outermost edge, measured only a few nanometers thin - thousands of times thinner than the X-ray beam's focus - it was difficult to positively identify all of the material's electronic properties.

This animation shows the atomic structure of a 2-D material known as 1T'-WTe2 that was created and studied at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source. Credit: Berkeley Lab

So collaborators at UC Berkeley performed additional measurements at the atomic scale using a technique known as STM, or scanning tunneling microscopy. "STM measured its edge state directly, so that was a really key contribution," Tang said.

The research effort, which began in 2015, involved more than two dozen researchers in a variety of disciplines. The research team also benefited from computational work at Berkeley Lab's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC).

Two-dimensional materials have unique electronic properties that are considered key to adapting them for spintronics applications, and there is a very active worldwide R&D effort focused on tailoring these materials for specific uses by selectively stacking different types.

"Researchers are trying to sandwich them on top of each other to tweak the material as they wish - like Lego blocks," Mo said. "Now that we have experimental proof of this material's properties, we want to stack it up with other materials to see how these properties change."

A typical problem in creating such designer materials from atomically thin layers is that materials typically have nanoscale defects that can be difficult to eliminate and that can affect their performance. But because 1T'-WTe2 is a topological insulator, its electronic properties are by nature resilient.

"At the nanoscale it may not be a perfect crystal," Mo said, "but the beauty of topological materials is that even when you have less than perfect crystals, the edge states survive. The imperfections don't break the key properties."

Going forward, researchers aim to develop larger samples of the material and to discover how to selectively tune and accentuate specific properties. Besides its topological properties, its "sister materials," which have similar properties and were also studied by the research team, are known to be light-sensitive and have useful properties for solar cells and for optoelectronics, which control light for use in electronic devices.

More information: Quantum Spin Hall State in Monolayer 1T'-WTe2, Nature Physics (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nphys4174 Journal information: Nature Physics
Although the United States has seen a dramatic increase in Mexican and Latin American immigrants since 1970, a recent study by Penn State researchers is one of the few where perceived discrimination is examined in this population. The study found that undocumented Latino immigrants are not the most likely group to report discrimination.

Nancy Landale, professor of sociology and demography, and Ralph Salvador Oropesa, professor of sociology and demography, discovered that U.S.-born, young male Latinos reported encountering the most discrimination in both interpersonal and institutional contexts. The findings were recently published in the Social Science Research journal.

"These results help us understand the growing Latino population's experience within the United States and what it means to be an American. They address what it means to feel excluded in this society and to feel that important opportunities are blocked due to race or ethnicity," said Landale.

There are two theories that may explain immigrants' perceived discrimination: the classic assimilation perspective suggests that as immigrants acclimate to a host nation, the native-born majority population will become more accepting of them and allow integration into the host culture. Contrarily, the ethnic resilience perspective states that as immigrants spend more time in a host country, they become more aware of their place in the social hierarchy and develop an ethnic consciousness to interpret acts of discrimination. Landale states, "The latter theory may hold true for native-born Latinos if lifetime exposure to American society is accompanied by limited opportunities for upward mobility."

In previous studies on Latino-perceived discrimination, the focus was not on discrimination itself, but rather how the perception affects individuals' mental and physical health. This study conducted by Landale and her team is one of the few studies to examine the relationship between legal status and perceived discrimination.

Participants consisted of 1,275 Los Angeles County Mexican and Central American Latinos and over 500 non-Latino white adults who were then categorized into five classes using latent class analysis. The contextual, demographic, socioeconomic and perceived discrimination data were gathered from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS) and the American Community Survey (ACS).

The L.A.FANS is a study of families and their neighborhoods in in L.A. County and the ACS is an ongoing study that collects and provides information about the American nation. Latent Class Analysis is a method of describing groups based on the association of several characteristics and organizing them into classes based on these traits. The relationship between these classes and perceived discrimination responses in interpersonal and institutional domains was then examined.

Landale's team discovered that the highest reporters of discrimination in both interpersonal and institutional contexts were young, U.S.-born Latino males. In contrast, both undocumented and documented Latino immigrants and older U.S.-born Latinos reported lower levels of discrimination.

"What ends up happening to young, U.S.-born Latinos is that they have higher expectations for inclusion than other Latino groups and greater awareness of unfair treatment and blocked opportunities," said Landale. "Consequently, they are more likely to report experiencing discrimination in interpersonal and institutional domains than other Latinos, including undocumented Latino immigrants."

Landale stressed that there is a need for more data on the undocumented Latino population since this group has been hard to study; they are not usually directly identified in data. This lack of information is why it is so important to collect data that fosters understanding of how legal status influences Latinos' experiences within the U.S. The researchers' discoveries expand the limited information available and will aid in understanding discrimination as well as how it affects the quickly diversifying American population.
AEVI Partners with Epos Now to Deliver Cloud POS Systems to Global Marketplace #Money2020

Copenhagen, Denmark, 26/06/2017  Today at Money20/20 AEVI and Epos Now announced a partnership to bring customizable, cloud-based POS systems to AEVIs Global Marketplace, the B2B app store for smart business management. This collaboration will allow merchants to operate their POS system away from their premises, while protecting valuable data, and building a fully customizable and scalable solution for their business.

Epos Nows sophisticated POS systems are trusted by over 30,000 merchants across the world and can be tailored to an individual customers needs, whether they are in hospitality or retail. Their solution has integrated payments software options, as well as comprehensive, cloud-based data reporting capabilities. The AEVI and Epos Now partnership will scale up the geographical reach of Epos Nows cloud POS system by extending it to hospitality and retail companies on a global level.

Epos Now is joining AEVI at Money 20/20 Europe in Copenhagen from 26-28 June at Booth E26 to showcase the partnership in further detail. There will be an open networking drinks at the booth on Tuesday at 5pm, which are open invitation.

Edward Johnson, Epos Now Global Business Development Director says, The reason for our existence is to improve the lives of our merchants and make them more successful. We fast became the leading POS provider in the UK across both retail and hospitality, and recently repeated the model in the U.S.  its great to develop partnerships like this to extend our reach into other new geographical markets.

Joining up with Epos Now is really exciting, as it means we are adding yet another invaluable solution to our Global Marketplace, says Mike Camerling, Director of Marketplace, AEVI. Our clients merchants can now benefit from Epos Nows innovative POS solution. With our new Community 2.0 developer portal now open we are also creating a space for even more app developers to join our mission to pioneer the payments market to do more.

AEVI continues to lead the payments community towards an open ecosystem championed by collaboration, providing banks and acquirers with the capabilities to differentiate themselves on more than just price and technical specifications. To find out more about how AEVI continues to grow its choice of value-added apps and services please visit community.aevi.com.

Other POS News:
Ganesh Yadav was shot by police during deadly protests that roiled southern Nepal in 2015, but he is ready to return to the streets -- a mark of the intense anger still felt as the area prepares to go to the polls. Nepal last month began holding its first local elections in 20 years, a key stage in the country's post-war transformation from feudal monarchy to federal democracy. On Wednesday, voting is due to take place in the southern plains, home to the country's Madhesi ethnic minority, who demonstrated in huge numbers two years ago to protest new federal borders they say will leave them politically marginalised. The Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RPJ-N), the main party representing the Madhesi community, has already said it will boycott Wednesday's polls, raising doubts about their legitimacy and fears of a resurgence in the violence. "This is a fight for equality and dignity," 31-year-old Yadav, a farmer, told AFP as he cradled his one-year-old son at his home on the outskirts of Janakpur in southern Nepal. "I was shot, but I am still joining protests." More than 50 people died in the months-long protests, most of them shot when police fired into crowds of demonstrators -- a response condemned by rights campaigners. Analysts say the government's failure to address the grievances of the community, which makes up around 20 percent of Nepal's population, could be holding back the country's progress. Parties representing the Madhesi have already forced several postponements of the local elections, which are supposed to pave the way for provincial polls and then national elections by January, when the mandate of the current parliament expires. The government recently postponed the polls in the voting area that includes Janakpur -- seen as a potential flashpoint -- until September following local protests. "The unaddressed agendas of the Madhes are in a way holding the country hostage, keeping it from smoothly completing its democratic processes," said lawyer and Madhesi activist Dipendra Jha. The Madhesis, who live in Nepal's populous southern lowlands known as the Terai and share close linguistic and cultural ties with India, have long complained that the existing federal borders deprive them of fair political representation. Many were denied citizenship, rendering them stateless, until a 2006 law that allowed non-Nepali speakers born and raised in the country to become naturalised citizens. - 'Sidelined again' - Yadav said he grew up watching his neighbours mistreated by powerful landowners from the hills of central Nepal and faced racism when he went to study in the capital. "There has always been an attitude of discrimination towards people from the plains," he said. The row that blew up in 2015, shortly after a deadly earthquake in the country, stemmed from a new national constitution that set federal boundaries. The Madhesi say these will leave them underrepresented in parliament and have demanded an amendment that would allow the boundaries to be redrawn. The government has drawn up an amendment, but it is unclear whether it has the numbers it needs to pass the bill in the face of opposition from rival parties. Senior RJP-N leader Rajendra Mahato said his party would hold out even after rival parties said they would take part in the elections. "The government and major political parties have an opportunity to amend the constitution before the September polls, which could make a conducive environment for the election," he said. Mass protests in the Tarai first broke out in 2007, forcing leaders to promise greater regional autonomy and representation in state bodies. That was supposed to be included in the constitution, but Madhesis say its provisions fall short of the promises they were made. In the dusty streets of Janakpur, many hope the government responds before more radical secessionist voices gain support. "If the main parties become sincere, then the constitution amendment would not take so long," said Saroj Mishra, a shopkeeper and community leader. "But our demands have been sidelined again and again."
Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades said Monday he hopes to clinch a reunification deal laying out a new security blueprint for the divided island during a crunch summit in Switzerland this week. Anastasiades will attend United Nations-backed talks at the Alpine Crans-Montana ski resort Wednesday with "complete determination and goodwill... to achieve a desired solution", he said in a statement. He said he hopes to "abolish the anachronistic system of guarantees and intervention rights", with a deal providing for the withdrawal of the Turkish army. The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece. Turkey maintains around 35,000 troops in northern Cyprus. The so-called guarantor powers of Turkey, Britain and Greece retain the right to intervene militarily on the island. Greek and Turkish Cypriots are at odds over a new security blueprint, but their leaders are under pressure to reach an elusive peace deal. "I am going to Switzerland to participate in the Cyprus conference, with the sole aim and intent of solving the Cyprus problem," Anastasiades said. Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci is also set to attend the summit, which is expected to last at least 10 days. Greece, Turkey and Britain will send envoys along with an observer from the European Union. UN-led talks on the island hit a wall in late May after the sides failed to agree terms to advance toward a final summit. Unlocking the security question would allow Anastasiades and Akinci to make unprecedented concessions on core issues. But they have major differences on what a new security blueprint should look like. Anastasiades's internationally recognised government, backed by Athens, seeks an agreement to abolish intervention rights, with Turkish troops withdrawing from the island on a specific timeline. Turkish Cypriots and Ankara argue for some form of intervention rights and a reduced number of troops remaining in the north. Turkish Cypriots want the conference to focus on broader issues of power-sharing, property rights and territory for the creation of a new federation. Much of the progress to date has been based on strong personal rapport between Anastasiades and Akinci, leader of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. But that goodwill has appeared frayed in the build-up to their meeting in Switzerland. The Greek Cypriot presidential election next February has also complicated the landscape, as has the government's search for offshore oil and gas, which Ankara argues should be suspended until the negotiations have reached an outcome.
By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - The rise in global sea levels has accelerated since the 1990s amid rising temperatures, with a thaw of Greenland's ice sheet pouring ever more water into the oceans, scientists said on Monday. The annual rate of sea level rise increased to 3.3 millimetres (0.13 inch) in 2014 - a rate of 33 centimetres (13 inches) if kept unchanged for a century - from 2.2 mm in 1993, according to a team of scientists in China, Australia and the United States. Sea levels have risen by about 20 cms in the past century and many scientific studies project a steady acceleration this century as man-made global warming melts more ice on land. Until now, however, scientists have found it hard to detect whether the rate has picked up, is flat or has fallen since 1990. The study found that early satellite data had exaggerated the rate of sea level rise in the 1990s, masking the recent acceleration. The confirmation of a quickening rise "highlights the importance and urgency" of working out ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to protect low-lying coasts, the scientists wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change. A thaw of Greenland's ice sheet accounted for more than 25 percent of the sea level rise in 2014 against just 5 percent in 1993, according to the study led by Xianyao Chen of the Ocean University of China and Qingdao National Laboratory of Marine Science and Technology. Other big sources include loss of glaciers from the Himalayas to the Andes, Antarctica's ice sheet and a natural expansion of ocean water as it warms up from its most dense at 4 degrees Celsius (39.2F). A U.N. panel of climate scientists said in 2014 that sea levels could rise by up to about a metre by 2100. Several climate experts who were not involved in the study welcomed the findings. "This is a major warning to us about the dangers of a sea level rise that will continue for many centuries even after global warming is stopped," Peter Wadhams, of the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. "A big question in climate science has been whether the rise in global sea level rise is accelerating. Now there is strong evidence that this is indeed the case," said Brian Hoskins of Imperial College, London. A rise in sea levels will threaten low-lying coasts from Miami to Bangladesh, cities from Shanghai to San Francisco and small island states such as Tuvalu in the Pacific. (Reporting By Alister Doyle; Editing by Gareth Jones)
President Emmanuel Macron said Monday France refuses to recognise Russia's "annexation" of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Speaking after talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Paris, Macron said: "France is committed to Ukraine's sovereignty with its recognised borders." Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday visited Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, in a trip that Kiev condemned as a violation of its sovereignty. Western powers accuse Russia of failing to honour its commitments under the Minsk accords framework for ending the violence between government forces and Kremlin-backed rebels in Ukraine's east. EU leaders agreed last week to extend stringent economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, saying Moscow had failed to meet its commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine. The French foreign ministry said OSCE observers in Ukraine were being subjected to "unacceptable intimidation and obstacles". When Macron met Putin in May, shortly after the new French leader took office, he admitted the two had "disagreed on a number of things".
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Monday he would block arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council pending progress in resolving a simmering dispute with Qatar. "All countries in the region need to do more to combat terrorism, but recent disputes among the GCC countries only serve to hurt efforts to fight ISIS and counter Iran," Republican Senator Bob Corker wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. His action could increase pressure on members of the Gulf Cooperation Council to settle the crisis. The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates imposed a boycott on Qatar, their tiny but wealthy neighbour, on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism. They have sent it 13 demands including closing al Jazeera television, curbing relations with Iran, and paying reparations. Under U.S. law, major foreign U.S. arms sales are submitted for review to a small group of lawmakers, including the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, before they can go ahead. Trump considered Corker as a potential vice president and secretary of state, and he works closely with the White House. The administration would be unlikely to ignore his resistance to the arms sales, and U.S. officials said they considered his statement part of a broader effort to solve the Qatar crisis. A State Department official noted that Tillerson called on Sunday for the countries involved to sit down together and discuss ways forward. The official declined comment on arms sales beyond saying the department remains committed to working with lawmakers. It was not immediately clear what sales would be affected. Trump has announced billions of dollars in arms sales since taking office in January. He sees weapons sales as a way to create jobs in the United States. A Corker aide said his action would not affect sales that had already been reviewed by Congress or non-lethal assistance, including training. One sale already cleared by Congress was for up to $350 billion in precision-guided munitions and other offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia. In his letter, Corker said he was pleased with Trump's recent trip to Saudi Arabia, which included a GCC summit. "Unfortunately, the GCC did not take advantage of the summit and instead chose to devolve into conflict," Corker wrote. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Bernard Orr and Tom Brown)
Mongolia's presidential election on Tuesday appeared to be headed towards the country's first ever run-off vote after none of the three candidates secured an absolute majority following a campaign fraught with corruption scandals. The suspense capped a campaign marked by mudslinging between the candidates that overshadowed voter concerns over unemployment in the debt-laden country wedged between Russia and China. Former judoka Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party was leading on 40 percent with most of the ballots counted following Monday's vote, according to preliminary results of the General Election Committee. Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) had 31 percent, slightly and surprisingly leading parliament speaker Mieygombo Enkhbold of the Mongolian People's Party (MPP). The election committee, however, had yet to announce the victor and second place finisher as it waited for results from the last 100 of nearly 2,000 polling stations. It did not say when final results would be announced. Any run-off vote will be held within two weeks. The delay angered Ganbaatar's MPRP, which is seeking to break the domination of the main parties. "The General Election Committee intentionally delayed the reports from the polling stations," Erdenebileg Erdenejamiyan, a senior MPRP official, told reporters. "We believe they are changing the results." - Slew of scandals - On Monday, Mongolians voted in the capital, the country's sprawling steppes and even in yurts serving as polling stations. "I didn't like the campaigns, I felt like I had no one to vote for," Batbayar Nyamjargal, 24, said after voting at a polling station next to a playground in Ulan Bator. "I thought about the decision for a long time, and I'm still not 100 percent sure I made the right choice. All three of them had issues." The resource-rich nation of just three million has struggled in recent years with mounting debt. The next president will inherit a $5.5 billion bailout led by the International Monetary Fund and designed to stabilise its economy and lessen dependence on China, which purchases 80 percent of Mongolian exports. But voters heard little from the three candidates about unemployment and jobs, their top concerns according to opinion polls. Campaigning has instead focused on their opponents' allegedly shady pasts. A video showed Enkhbold and two MPP officials discussing a $60 billion tugrik ($25 million) plan for selling government positions. Battulga, a brash businessman, was haunted by reports of offshore accounts attached to his name, as well as the arrests of several of his associates by Mongolia's anti-corruption body last spring. And Ganbaatar appeared in a video in which he allegedly received a $44,000 donation from a member of the "Moonies," or Unification Church, a South Korean-based Christian group that critics consider a cult. All three rejected the allegations against them. - 'Testing nerves' - The campaign was also marked by moments of anti-Chinese sentiment. Enkhbold published his family tree to rebuff claims that he had Chinese blood. "(The election) is truly testing the nerves of voters," analyst Gerel Orgil told AFP. "It's been like watching a bullfight." Several voters described the campaigns as "dark" and accused the candidates of using smear tactics to distract from real issues. "The biggest problem is that Mongolians don't trust each other. On my Facebook, all I see is fighting. We should be harmonious and civil to each other. We need a president who can unite us," said Nomuna Gankuyag, a recent graduate of Seoul National University in her 30s and an Enkhbold supporter.
Rollersnakes break down Tony Trujillos Vans TNT SG over on their YouTube channel this week. Inspired by the classic Vans Old School, the TNT SG is Tony Trujillos sixth Vans pro model.

Featuring canvas and suede uppers, Pro Vulc construction and an Ultracush footbed, the TNT SG provides the perfect the balance between protection and board feel. Hit the play button to find out what they have to say. Whilst youre at it, head over to the Rollersnakes YouTube channel for regular product reviews, archive footage and plenty more content.

Check out previous Rollersnakes Product Review videos on the Rollersnakes blog.
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The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Better Financial Services GmbH, Better Payment Germany GmbH, Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. 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Casla de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Services (Cl) Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. SA., Deutsche lmmobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsches lnstitut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.l., Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, European Value Added I (Alternate GP.) LLP, Fiduciaria Sant Andrea S.r.l., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., German American Capital Corporation, Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer LandstraBe GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Miesbaden LuisenstraBe/Kirchgasse GbR, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF l Manager S.a.r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul lnkasso GmbH, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo lll Initial GP Limited, MEF I Manager. S. a r.|., MIT Holdings Inc., Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgagelT Inc., MortgagelT Securities Corp., OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentIe", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, PADUS Grundstcks-VermietungsgeseIlschaft mbH, PB Factoring GmbH, PB Spezial-lnvestmentaktiengesellschatt mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Plantation Bay. Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank lmmobilien GmbH, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, RREEF, RREEF America LLC., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisers Private Limited, RREEF Management LLC., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables. LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermielungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sharps SP l LLC, Stelvio lmmobiliare S.r.l., Suddeutsche Vermeigensvewvaitung Gesellschaft mit beschrenkter Haftung, TELO Beleiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Umited, VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., lmmobilienfonds BuroCenter Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, lmmobilienfonds Wohn- und Gescheftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, and norisbank GmbH.

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BT Group plc provides communications services worldwide. Its Consumer segment sells telephones, baby monitors, and Wi-Fi extenders through high street retailers, online BT Shop, and Website BT.com; and offers home phone, copper and fiber broadband, TV, and mobile services in various packages. The company's EE segment offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile network services; broadband, fixed-voice, and TV services; and postpaid and prepaid plans, and emergency services network. This segment also sells 4G mobile phones, tablets, connected devices, and mobile broadband devices from various manufacturers. Its Business and Public Sector segment provides fixed voice, mobility, fiber and connectivity, and networked IT services to retailers, utilities, public sector, healthcare, sports, construction, finance, and educational sectors. The company's Global Services segment offers business communications and ICT services comprising BT Connect, BT Security, BT One, BT Contact, BT Compute, BT Advise, and BT for financial markets. This segment serves approximately 5,500 customers in 180 countries. Its Wholesale and Ventures segment enables communications providers and other organizations to provide fixed or mobile phone services. Its ventures provide mass-market services, such as directory enquiries and payphones; and enterprise services comprising BT Fleet and BT Redcare. This segment also provides broadband and Ethernet, voice, hosted communication, mobile virtual network operator, managed solutions, machine-to-machine, roaming, and media services. The company's Openreach segment engages in the provision of services over the local access network; and installation and maintenance of fiber and copper communications networks that connect homes and businesses. The company was formerly known as Newgate Telecommunications Limited and changed its name to BT Group plc in September 2001. BT Group plc was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg believes a commercial two-hour flight from New York to Shanghai will be available within the next decade or two.

New York to Shanghai in Two Hours?

I think in the next decade or two youre going to see them become a reality, Muilenburg told CNBC.

The super fast flight, which would travel at roughly 3,800 miles per hour, would be available for a select demographic willing to pay a premium for the futuristic form of travel.

While the idea of hypersonic travel sounds great, critics argue the costs involved will prevent the new mode of transportation from becoming commercially viable in the near future.

Its hard for me to see, at least in the next 15-20 years, that its going to be so cost competitive that its going to compel the airlines to take a stab at it, John Plueger, president and CEO of AirLease Corp, told CNBC.

Pluegers skepticism regarding the commercial viability of expedited air travel is warranted considering the failed Concorde flight venture. The Concorde, which shuttled passengers across the Atlantic in three and a half hours, ran for over 30 years without turning a profit for Air France and British Airways. The last Concorde flight ran in 2003.

Muilenburg conceded Boeing has yet to demonstrate the viability of hypersonic travel.

Still work to do on closing the business case to make sense for our customers, said Muilenburg. But we see future innovations where you could connect around the world in about two hours.

Republished by permission. Original here.
The most common activities in Slovakia include fair-mindedness regarding employees, health and safety at work, and environmental protection.

Volunteers from corporate sector help to improve the environment within the initiative Nase Mesto (Our City). (Source: Sme)

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Even at the turn of the millennium central European countries considered corporate social responsibility (CSR) more of a voluntary activity in which companies contributed their funds to charities and thus increased their credibility.

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In recent years, however, the situation has changed and companies have gathered and used more ideas of improving sustainability and living conditions across society. Indeed, the ambitions of many of todays entrepreneurs include sustainable behaviour in all aspects of their business, including the supply chain. Companies more often see sustainability as continuous work on themselves and regularly evaluate their impact on their surroundings, according to Marketa Setinova, coordinator of the Czech branch of the worldwide CSR initiative Global Compact Network.

They also feel much more pressure from their customers, investors and legislation, Setinova told The Slovak Spectator.

Spreading an idea

The idea of CSR today covers overall business behaviour that leads to sustainable development and improvement in the quality of life in society. Even in Slovakia it is no longer simply about the redistribution of profits, but whether companies make their profits in a responsible manner, according to the executive director of the Business Leaders Forum (BLF) Michal Kissa.

In contrast, the startup SmartHead, which focuses on the promotion of CSR, sees that CSR activities still evoke in Slovak companies something complicated and expensive. If companies prosper, they can easily share their success through enhancement of the surrounding environment or support of the areas that need it, said Jan Dudas, co-founder and COO of SmartHead.

Cleaning up a forest can precede team-buildings in nature, Dudas told The Slovak Spectator.

Slovak trends

While there is no specific CSR topic to which companies in Slovakia incline, the most frequent activities are fair-mindedness to employees, health and safety at work, and environmental protection. In addition, Kissa sees many companies doing business with products for disadvantaged people, eco-products and social innovations.

Often it is not only collaboration with suppliers, but also transparency and fair behaviour towards customers, said Kissa, adding that because the government is failing in many areas, philanthropy is another important part of CSR.

The general Slovak public thus also improves its awareness on the issue. Currently, BLF keeps track of the 18 percent of the population that does not know anything about CSR. By contrast, 33 percent even know how to identify responsible businesses, Kissa said.

Responsible firms remain responsible

Among the significant socially responsible companies, experts include mainly IT companies Eset, Pixel Federation and the bank Citibank engaged in the education sector, the retail chain Lidl that planted 500,000 trees in the High Tatras, the energy producer Slovenske Elektrarne contributing to mitigating climate change and the telecom operator Slovak Telekom with its activities for a better life for the hearing impaired.

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Read also: Companies awarded for inspirational projects Read more

Another long-term Slovak CSR contributor is the compressor producer Embraco Slovakia. While employees of the company from Spisska Nova Ves (Kosice Region) became volunteers about 10 years ago, it received the main prize Via Bona for a responsible large corporation in 2013.

Today the company focuses mainly on helping children and young people in the region in fields such as health, sports, education and environment, said Emilia Gondekova of Embraco Slovakia.

Together with the Pontis Foundation it manages an endowment fund, while with the Rozbehni sa! (Run It!) initiative they launched the programme iNOVEum, searching for innovative students in eastern Slovakia.

Different global visions

While developed countries usually apply CSR ideas on a regular basis, current global trends mainly include Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the 2015 OSN summit in New York, 193 member states of OSN officially adopted these activities aimed at reducing poverty and fighting climate change.

The preparation of adoption included the private sector as an important engine in the implementation of goals for the first time, Setinova said. SDGs would take Slovak companies too; at least those with a head of a transnational group which apply strategies for sustainability, she added.

Dudas pointed to the example of Denmark, which puts the needs of society over individuals. The Danish public sector supports the initiative Stop Spild Af Mad (Stop Wasting Food) which has reduced food waste by 25 percent and has saved 4.4 billion Danish Krones over the last 5 years.

All Danes have a deeply rooted idea about helping their environment, hence CSR is usually part of the strategic management of companies already from their formation, Dudas said.

Denmark incorporates CSR into the curriculum at universities, therefore, students take it as a matter of course later in their practical life, Dudas added.

Companies and customers

The development of sustainability and CSR depends on the faith of companies in these ideas, according to experts. Kissa pointed out that CSR should be a response to the specific needs of a companys stakeholders.

If the needs and requirements of these groups change, the activities of companies change too, Kissa said.

In decision-making, companies follow their financial situation, people who decide on company involvement and customer demand. Proper integration of CSR into the long-term strategy may lead to reduction in operating costs, better reputation and gaining or retaining customers, according to Dudas.

In addition, Setinova sees a jump in demand of customers for responsible entrepreneurship. A great example is the case of palm oil, according to which customer interest led to many companies rethinking its use, she said.

How to expand CSR

Though Slovakia cannot catch up to the perception of CSR in western Europe overnight, the public will be more sensitive if media increasingly take on the issue, said Kissa. People will demand products and services from responsible companies and will want to work work in such companies.

Responsibility in business will become a market requirement, because without such an approach companies will not be able to exist in the long term, Kissa said.

Dudas suggests thinking of CSR as a role for all levels of society to promote and adopt initiatives that lead to positive results; take the idea as a big business advantage and teach the next generation to be responsible.
One of the awards went to a Slovak nun and doctor killed in South Sudan in May 2016.

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A nun and doctor killed in South Sudan was named one of the laureates of the Volunteer of the Year 2017 awards granted in early April.

Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak granted the Heart on a Palm award, in memoriam, to Veronika Terezia Rackova, a nun, doctor and missionary, for her selfless help to others. She was killed by soldiers in May 2016 on her way from one of her patients.

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When we are talking about volunteering, we usually say these people are in dangerous areas, close to conflicts and fights, Lajcak said, as quoted by the TASR newswire, adding that Rackovas death is an example of the down side of volunteering.

The award recognises the work and help provided by the deceased missionary to people in South Sudan, said nun Lucia from the Missionary Congregation of the Ministers of the Holy Spirit in Ivanka pri Nitre.

She really loved them, nun Lucia said, as quoted by TASR.

In the category SlovakAid volunteer, Samuel Cellar received the award, while the best foreign volunteer was Aneta Balejova. For the social and medical area, Maria Tomasiova was awarded, and Karola Martakova received the award in the working with children and youth category. The award for volunteering in the education and environment field was granted to Junior Ambassadors of UNICEF Slovakia, while Matej Zilak received the award for his long-term volunteering work.

The corporate volunteer of the year award went to Maria Babusova and the team of volunteers from dm-drogerie markt. Bratislava was selected as a volunteering-friendly city, while Educate Slovakia developed by the AIESEC organisation became the volunteering project of the year.

It is a way to thank the volunteers, said Lajcak, as quoted by TASR. They are people who decided to devote their time, energy and often their health to help those who need it the most.
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Volkswagen's Slovak unit said on Sunday it had reached a wage deal with a trade union to end a six-day strike that has hit production at the country's biggest private employer. A VW spokeswoman said workers will get a 4.7 percent wage rise from this month, another 4.7 percent increase from January 2018 and a further 4.1 percent boost from November 2018 plus a 500 euro (440) one-off bonus. The deal is a compromise between the union's original demand of a 16 percent hike over two years and the company's offer of a combined 8.7 percent boost. About 70 percent of VW's 12,300 workers who joined the strike on Tuesday will return to work, and production lines that normally make about 1,000 cars a day will resume operations on Monday morning, the spokeswoman added. The union confirmed on its Facebook page that an agreement had been reached. "We're ending the strike with a very successful negotiation. We managed to agree on a combined wage hike of 14.12 percent by November 2018," union chief Zoroslav Smolinsky said. VW produced 388,687 cars in Slovakia in 2016, including the Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda marques. The company pays its Slovak employees, excluding top management, an average of 1,800 euros a month including bonuses, double the national average but less than half of the 4,200 euros earned by equivalent employees in Germany, according to the union. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has supported the strike, saying Volkswagen should pay its Slovak workers the same pay as its western European ones. The Finance Ministry has estimated that 12 days of strike would have cut 0.1 percentage point off the country's annual economic output. The company, which exports almost all of its output, did not comment on the impact of the six-day strike. Slovakia's growth is seen at 3.3 percent this year and above 4 percent in coming years, with the auto sector the most important driver. Slovakia, with a population of 5.4 million, produces more than 1 million vehicles a year, making it the biggest per-capita auto producer in the world. Kia Motors Corp <000270.KS> and Peugeot also have plants in Slovakia and Jaguar Land Rover[TAMOJL.UL] is due to open one next year. (Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova; Editing by Adrian Croft)
By James Pomfret and Benjamin Kang Lim HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - When the British handed over Hong Kong to China in 1997, Beijing promised to allow universal suffrage as an "ultimate aim", along with other freedoms, under a "one country, two systems" arrangement agreed with London. That's not going to happen, well placed sources in Beijing and Hong Kong say, as Hong Kong marks the 20th anniversary of that handover. China did offer a contentious electoral reform package in 2014, which allowed Hong Kong a direct vote, but only of candidates pre-screened by Beijing. The city's pro-democracy lawmakers vetoed the package, which critics called "fake democracy". And so Hong Kong's next leader was again chosen this year by a small electoral college stacked with pro-Beijing loyalists. "There will be no second chance," said a source in Beijing with ties to the Chinese leadership, who declined to be named given the sensitivity of the matter. "We can't afford to do it all over again. It's too painful and a waste of time and resources." A senior Hong Kong official said even if China changed its mind, Beijing wouldn't back down on its requirement that candidates be vetted, effectively shutting out pro-democracy contenders for the top job. "A (democratically-elected) chief executive who does not get along with the central (government) will be a disaster for Hong Kong," said the source with ties to the Chinese leadership. "It would lead to gridlock ... Hong Kong people will suffer." The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of China's State Council did not respond to faxed questions. But Chinese authorities have long stated they respect Hong Kong's "high degree of autonomy" and are supportive of lawful and gradual democratic development until universal suffrage is realised. In comments reported by state media on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said "one country, two systems" remained the best way to ensure Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability and vowed to stand by it "unswervingly". SOWN DISTRUST The battle for full democracy in Hong Kong has been a defining issue for the city of 7.3 million. It has sown distrust between China and Hong Kong, polarized politics, hampered governance and stoked mass street protests, including the 79-day pro-democracy Occupy movement of 2014 that tried but failed to wrest democratic concessions from Hong Kong and Chinese authorities. In the process, a young generation has become radicalised, with some agitating for greater autonomy and even independence from China. Authorities have tried to snuff that out. In March, Hong Kong police arrested nine activists including a few leaders of the Occupy movement. That came after two pro-independence, democratically elected legislators were kicked out of Hong Kong's assembly late last year. Beijing's harder line on Hong Kong has been mirrored on the mainland with Xi's crackdown on dissent since coming to power five years ago. Hong Kong's democratic experiment is seen as a litmus test of Beijing's tolerance for eventual political reforms in mainland China, where calls for greater civil liberties and grassroots democracy have been growing, experts say. Britain acquired Hong Kong island in 1842 after the first of two "opium" wars during the height of its imperial power and returned it 156 years later to a rising China. Colonial Hong Kong's governor was appointed and Britain did little to promote democracy until near the end of its rule. INTERNATIONAL PUSH The pro-democracy movement has lost considerable steam following the crackdown on activists, as well as infighting between various democratic groups. But the movement has recently stepped up its longstanding international engagement, particularly with Washington. Last month, Joshua Wong, a skinny, 20-year-old who helped lead the Occupy protests, and veteran democrat Martin Lee told the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China the "high degree of autonomy" promised to Hong Kong had eroded over two decades of Chinese rule. U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio is pushing a "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act", a bipartisan bill to punish Chinese officials who suppress basic freedoms in Hong Kong. The campaign by Wong, who was featured in a recent Netflix documentary, also took him to Taiwan in recent weeks, where 18 pro-independence lawmakers launched a new congressional caucus on Hong Kong, modelled in part on the U.S. initiative. He also travelled to Japan for a lobbying trip this month. "I'm really optimistic that in the future, we can take this as a reference and just get bipartisan support around the world," said Wong, who is facing a possible five-year jail term on "unlawful assembly" charges. PROTESTS AHEAD OF XI VISIT Just days before Xi visits for the 20th anniversary of the handover on July 1, Wong and around a dozen activists, all dressed in black, covered a statue of a golden Bauhinia flower considered a symbol of Chinese sovereignty, in black cloth to symbolise what they called the brutality of the Chinese regime. "One country, two systems a lie for 20 years," Wong and his fellow activists shouted, pumping fists. Tens of thousands of others are expected to attend various protests when Xi is in town including a July 1 rally with the theme "retake Hong Kong for a democratic government". "It's time to let Hong Kong people have democracy and universal suffrage," said Wong. Martin Lee, the 79-year-old barrister widely known as one of the fathers of the democratic movement in Hong Kong said Beijing is trying to "extinguish the fire of democracy that is burning in the hearts of young people". "But if I were to die today, Hong Kong would be fine with young leaders like that." (Additional reporting by Venus Wu in Hong Kong; Jessica Macy Yu in Taiwan and Elaine Lies in Tokyo; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Thousands of anti-government protesters once again took to the streets of Caracas on Saturday (June 24), as international pressure mounted on President Nicolas Maduro to hold free elections. Demonstrators rallied outside an air base where a protester was shot dead by police earlier in the week  and were greeted with tear gas and rubber bullets.  A lorry burns in Caracas during a demonstration against the government of President Nicolas Maduro. jbarreto1974 #AFP pic.twitter.com/vDHR940HRw Frederique Geffard (fgeffardAFP) June 24, 2017 Protesters jumping from water canon during clashes in front of La Carlota Air Base in Caracas, june 24, 2017. #C https://t.co/Dj1ydEOk7r pic.twitter.com/s4em8wueoO Carlos Becerra (@carlosbecerra00) June 25, 2017 Tensions also ran high on the diplomatic front. After Maduro suggested this week Venezuela could return to the Organisation of American States (OAS) if its Secretary General Luis Almagro stepped down, Almagro hit back. Here is my response: I will resign from the General Secretariat the day that free, fair and transparent national elections are held without impediments, Almagro said in a video message posted on Twitter. Almagro conditioned his resignation offer on a long list of demands, including the release of political prisoners such as high-profile politician Leopoldo Lopez, and a guarantee of Supreme Court independence. OAS chief offers to resign if Venezuela holds free vote https://t.co/6WaxpL6ZaY pic.twitter.com/DDFYBFHaiP Reuters Top News (@Reuters) June 25, 2017 Enemies of the fatherland Maduro offered no immediate response to Almagros offer. But he has labeled the OAS a puppet of Washington, and he accuses opposition activists of sowing chaos to plot a coup against him. He warned on Saturday, during a speech marking independence day, that some of those detained would face a military trial and would be severely punished. Desperation, hatred, and fury thrive among the enemies of the fatherland, said Maduro, describing the OASs inability to produce a statement on Venezuela as a victory for the country. Demonstrators are holding rallies on an almost daily basis to demand Maduros resignation and new elections. Seventy-five people have died in the protests over the past three months. At its annual general assembly in Mexico this week, the OAS failed to reach consensus on a resolution about Venezuela, where 75 people have died in three months of protests. Protestors in #Caracas in front of a military base. Its been more than 80 days since anti-Maduro demonstrations started in #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/8XqwfN3IeT Rachelle Krygier (@rachellekrygier) June 24, 2017  A hooded demonstrator stands near a burning motorbike during an anti-government protest in Caracas.  federicoparra #AFP pic.twitter.com/twVBfB5u4A Frederique Geffard (fgeffardAFP) June 24, 2017
A Swedish man held hostage in Mali by al Qaeda has been freed after six years.

Johan Gustafsson is back in Sweden with his family and "in good health and holding up well", according to a statement by Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Margot Wallstrom.

Gustafsson was on a motorbike tour when he was abducted from the terrace of a hotel in Timbuktu in northern Mali in November 2011.

He was held with two other men, Stephen McGown, a South African national, and Sjaak Rijke, from the Netherlands.

Rijke was freed in 2015 after an operation by French Special Forces. McGown's fate is unknown.

"I am extremely pleased to be able to announce that today Johan Gustafsson has been able to return to Sweden and reunite with his family," Ms Wallstrom said in a statement on Monday.

"Johan's situation has affected many of us, and extensive efforts have been made to secure his release."

Al Qaeda-linked militants have caused chaos in Mali in recent years, even taking control of the historic city of Timbuktu in 2012 .

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which operates in Mali and elsewhere in North Africa, has previously claimed responsibility for the deaths of other captives, including French hostage Phillipe Verdon who was beheaded by the group in 2013.

During his six-year captivity Gustafsson and the other hostages appeared in proof of life videos, including one obtained by negotiators in 2015.

In her statement Ms Wallstrom highlighted collaboration between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Swedish Police Authority National Operations Department and other government departments, in Sweden and elsewhere.

"This collaboration has now resulted in Johan being able to return home," she said.

"I would like to urge everyone to show consideration for Johan and his family and to respect their wishes concerning when and whether they will choose to make a statement," Ms Wallstrom said.
LONDON (Reuters) - Talks with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party on a deal to prop up Britain's minority government in parliament are "progressing in the right way", the international development secretary, Priti Patel, said on Sunday. Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives hope to secure DUP support to pass legislation after losing their parliamentary majority in a June 8 election, and with pivotal negotiations on Britain leaving the European Union getting under way. "From what I understand with the DUP, the talks are ongoing and they are progressing in the right way as well, so that deal will come to the conclusion at the right time," Patel told ITV's Peston on Sunday show. "I think the reality is that we have key votes coming forward in the next week on the Queen's Speech and we'll work with the DUP obviously to ensure that they give us that support." The proposed tie-up with the DUP has raised concerns in Conservative ranks over the Northern Irish party's conservative social policies against abortion and gay marriage. But Nigel Dodds, deputy leader of the DUP, told Sky News that such issues would not be part of any deal. "People can always go back through the archives of any political party and find individuals saying things or policies from 20-30 years ago," he said. "But they need to read our manifesto and look at the history of recent years in Northern Ireland where the DUP has been the main partner in government with Republicans to move this province forward." (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Mark Heinrich)
SANTA FE  A plan to increase New Mexico campaign spending disclosure requirements has come under fire from at least one national group, while also raising concern among local nonprofit groups who engage in voter education efforts but dont directly advocate for candidates or ballot measures.

However, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Olivers office insists the proposed rules would not encroach on free speech rights and are crafted narrowly enough to apply only in specific circumstances.

The rules, unveiled earlier this month, would require groups active in New Mexico campaigns to disclose their donors if they spend more than $1,000 on political advertising during an election cycle.

Deputy Secretary of State John Blair said Toulouse Oliver is trying to draw a clearly defined line as to which types of political spending would trigger the disclosure requirements.

She worked with numerous attorneys and experts in crafting the proposed rules to ensure they dont violate constitutional rights, he added.

As far as concerns related to free speech, disclosure and free speech are not mutually exclusive; one doesnt prevent the other, Blair said. The draft rule in no way restricts free speech.

However, some groups have voiced concern about the proposed rules, saying they could, in fact, infringe on their legal rights.

Oriana Sandoval, the chief executive officer of the Center for Civic Policy, an Albuquerque-based nonprofit, said she supports the intent of Toulouse Olivers proposal but is concerned about certain language in the rules.

Were concerned the rules may treat civic engagement efforts  as electioneering, Sandoval said. Just the fact we mention (a candidate) shouldnt trigger a reporting requirement.

Specifically, the rules would require donor disclosure if a political advertisement meeting the spending threshold had no other reasonable interpretation than as an appeal to vote for or against a candidate or ballot measure.

They could also trigger disclosure if any political ad launched within 60 days of a general election specifically mentioned a ballot measure or candidate.

Billboards, radio ads and automated telephone calls targeting legislators and other state officials have been among the various voter education efforts launched by Center for Civic Policy and other similar groups in recent years. The nonprofit groups behind the efforts have in the past successfully fought attempts to make them file with the state as political committees.

Meanwhile, national groups are also weighing in on the issue.

Concerned Veterans for America, a Virginia-based group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, said it would try to prevent the proposed rules from being implemented.

The new measure Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver has proposed would have a troubling impact on freedom of speech, said Dan Caldwell, the groups policy director. Citizens should not be subject to harassment and intimidation by their own government based on the causes they support.

Concerned Veterans for America also lobbied this year against legislation that would have required more disclosure  including donor names  for spending by political committees, nonprofits and independent expenditure groups on most types of political advertising in excess of $1,000.

The bill was passed by both the New Mexico House and Senate but was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Susana Martinez. Much of its contents were then included in the proposed rules the secretary of state rolled out earlier this month.

Three public hearings on the rules in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces  will be held next month, and top Secretary of States Office officials have said theyll listen closely to concerns.

But theyve also defended the basic intent behind the new rules.

No one is banned from participating in politics, but you have to disclose where your money is coming from and how youre spending it, Blair said.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

Robert Herrington was excited when he heard in late May that work on the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project in Nob Hill would be completed by July 22  in time for Route 66 Summerfest.

Herrington, the owner of Townhouse Antique Mall in Nob Hill, says he has been losing thousands of dollars a month since ART construction began.

So he was elated when he saw the news report, thinking that his nightmare would be coming to an end in the near future. He also was happy about the timing, because Route 66 Summerfest generates lots of traffic in Nob Hill, and, for shop owners, that means a major surge in sales.

But reality hit when Herrington went to the Summerfest website and saw that this years event would only stretch from Girard to Carlisle on Central, leaving out the area from Carlisle to Washington, including where Herringtons business is located.

Im irritated, thats what I am, he said.

And hes not alone.

More than a dozen Nob Hill merchants signed onto an opinion piece published in the Journal last week. Among the merchants contentions is that they were promised in meetings last year that Summerfest would not be disrupted.

The citys Cultural Service Department contends it never made that promise.

We always thought there would be some sort of disruption. So much so that we had an alternative plan to stage Summerfest on Silver instead of Central, the department said in a written statement.

I dont think ART had a different message from us on this. The only thing CSD committed to and met  thanks to ARTs crew  is that Summerfest would stay in Nob Hill. Thats it. We didnt make a commitment that it would be the same program area as in years past. We didnt make a commitment that it would stretch all the way to Washington for 2017. We knew we couldnt commit to something like this.

In a statement, the citys transit department said the lawsuit filed last year seeking to halt ART delayed construction by six months.

Prior to the lawsuit last summer we probably would have been finished for the most part with the project by now and would not have impacted Summerfest in Nob Hill at all, the transit department said.

Herrington said the decision to bypass Nob Hill from Carlisle to Washington during Summerfest is just another blow to east Nob Hill businesses.

Everything the city put out on this, as far as Im concerned, has been misleading, he said.

The city issued a news release May 25 headlined ART construction in Nob Hill to finish in time for Route 66 Summerfest. And while the city noted in the release that this years Route 66 Summerfest would take place on Central between Girard and Carlisle, the release did not reveal that about eight blocks of Nob Hill would be left out of this years Summerfest.

The merchants say Summerfest has been celebrated on Central from Girard to Washington for the past seven years.

Robert Steinberg, owner of Stone Mountain Bead Gallery and the author of the opinion editorial published in the Journal, said he went to the meetings on ART last year and merchants pleaded with officials not to disrupt Summerfest or Balloon Fiesta because of the business those events bring in to Nob Hill.

Im disappointed that were being left out of Summerfest, he said.

Reta Bray, owner of Abithas Apothecary, a new age Wiccan supply store, said she went to meetings before ART construction began.

They swore it wasnt going to impact Summerfest then, she said.

Im very frustrated, she added.

Stone Mountain Bead Gallery has canceled the craft fair it has held for Summerfest for the last seven years because there wont be enough foot traffic to make it feasible.

Steinberg said sales at his business are typically 10 times higher for Summerfest, but that wont be the case this year.

Herrington said he typically brings in vintage cars and parks them by his antique shop for Summerfest. The vintage cars drew the Summerfest crowds to his store, boosting sales.

Indeed, Herrington said, the exposure would result in increased foot traffic at his store weeks after Summerfest. But without the Summerfest crowds in front of his store this year, he isnt expecting a surge in business.

But their loss will be other merchants gain.

In addition to staging Summerfest activities on Central from Girard to Carlisle, the city is also planning to use about five blocks of Monte Vista and connecting streets between Central and Monte Vista, according to the citys Cultural Service Department.

The city says it is also working on a plan to help address the East Central businesses that are being left out of this years Summerfest, maybe having a Summerfest shuttle stop at ONiells to get people to this area.

When completed, ART will transform Central Avenue into a rapid transit corridor with a nine-mile stretch of bus-only lanes and bus stations. The $119 million project is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

Bray said that despite all the setbacks, shes trying to maintain a positive attitude. But its been tough. Her receipts in April were half of what they were in April of last year.

Our voices arent mattering on this, she said. Weve been here 29 years in this spot. Ive seen everything. This is the worst of it.

Save
As a former county jail guard heads into his second trial on rape charges, attorneys have filed documents in the case arguing about whether inmates are capable of consenting to sex with corrections officers.

The retrial begins today for Enock Arvizo, who is accused of raping a female inmate in a courthouse elevator. Jurors last month found Arvizo not guilty of one count of criminal sexual penetration, but they could not come to an agreement on a second count. This trial will focus on that charge alone.

Prosecutors argue that an inmate is under nearly total control of the guard and cant meaningfully consent to sex because of that power disparity. They say a question about whether the sex was consensual should not be placed before the jury.

But Arvizos defense attorney argues that nothing in the law indicates that an inmate cannot give lawful consent and jurors should be left to decide if the inmate consented.

In Arvizos first trial, jurors were instructed to consider whether the alleged act was part of jail procedure and whether it was done without consent. But in a brief filed early this month, prosecutors with the state Attorney Generals Office asked the judge to omit that instruction.

Prosecutors point to a 2016 civil case in which Supreme Court justices wrote that the relationship between guards and inmates is oriented around captivity and control and that the power disparity is such that meaningful voluntary consent to sexual intercourse is an unrealistic inquiry.

The jury instruction at issue, prosecutors said, would do nothing but confuse the jury, as it did in the first trial. They noted that jurors asked during deliberations whether there was any legal possibility that an inmate could consent to sex.

Arvizos defense attorney Stephen Lane said there are only two types of rape cases he has identified in which victims are statutorily incapable of giving consent.

Those are cases with child victims and cases where a patient is victimized by a psychotherapist. He said case law indicates that there has to be a statute declaring a class of persons incapable of consenting.

Theres nothing of that sort for inmates, he said. Nothing in the black letter law.

Lane said that failing to instruct the jury to consider consent would constitute fundamental error.

He said that when prosecutors indicted Arvizo, they read the instructions dealing with consent to grand jurors and he questioned why prosecutors are now opposed to including a question about consent.

A spokesman for the Attorney Generals Office said he could not comment on the issue as it is pending before the court. Its unclear when Judge Briana Zamora will determine whether the jury will hear the unlawfulness instruction.

In addition to the allegations involving this woman, Arvizo is facing trial on charges that he raped a second inmate and assaulted a third.
THE RECENT removal of Robert E. Lee and other Confederate statues from New Orleans reminded me that New Mexico should also remove the name of Coronado or anything honoring him at any site in New Mexico.

Coronado was searching for gold, not expanding human knowledge. Anyone Native getting in his way was murdered. During his quest for riches, local pueblo Natives not willing to help him were severely punished. Before arriving here, he destroyed a Zuni pueblo, killing many with lances and guns because the Zunis did not want him entering during a sacred ceremony. Its well documented that he was a butcher and destroyer of worlds. During his first two years in New Mexico, he destroyed 12 pueblos in and around the Rio Rancho area. A roadside sign near my house omits this fact, only stating (there) were up to 12 pueblos here.

During his Pueblo occupation, he made Natives give up their homes and their clothing, mainly buffalo skins, to his troops during the freezing winter. He burned up to 200 Natives at the stake for merely not giving enough clothing or not converting and other minor offenses. Before setting fire to the men and women at the stake, the priests asked the Natives if they wanted to convert and take communion  none did.

Coronado was later put on trial after returning to Mexico City for his crimes but was acquitted in a rigged trial. I dont know if the Catholic Church ever took responsibility for this act; as a Catholic, I hope it did.

Why then would we honor this man who was worse than Southern Confederates who were defending their way of life  not that it was a good way of life. Our legislators and leaders must remove Coronados name from the historic site and replace it with the original pueblos name, Kuaua. Coronado did not discover New Mexico and does not deserve any honors, only a footnote in New Mexico history.

RON LYNN

Rio Rancho
WASHINGTON  The end of the Supreme Court term looms, and with it the prospect  the terrifying prospect  of a retirement. Specifically, the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who will turn 81 next month and is the longest-serving current justice, named to the high court almost 30 years ago.

So if Kennedy is inclined to retire, it is hard to begrudge him that choice. But his departure would be terrible for the court and terrible for the country. It could not come at a worse time. Any court vacancy these days, under a president of either party, triggers a battle between liberal and conservative forces. Kennedys retirement would unleash nomination Armageddon, given the pivotal role he plays on the closely divided court and the feral political environment.

To understand the impact of Kennedys departure, just look back to his selection to fill the seat vacated by Justice Lewis Powell. Like Kennedy now, Powell was the ultimate swing justice; his was the key fifth vote for liberals on issues including abortion rights and affirmative action, topics as charged then as they are today.

President Reagans original choice to take Powells place was conservative federal appeals court judge Robert Bork. The ferocious confirmation fight that ensued  and resulted in Borks rejection  still echoes in todays unceasing warfare over judicial nominations. Kennedys unanimous confirmation  he was Reagans third choice, after Douglas Ginsburgs nomination fizzled over reports that he smoked marijuana with law students  calmed only the immediate furor.

Imagine, then, a Kennedy retirement in this partisan and unstable political landscape. It could make the Bork fight look like a kindergarten squabble. With President Trump under investigation by the special counsel and his approval rating mired below 40 percent, his incentive may be to cater to his base with a pick as far to the right as possible, an instinct enabled by the Republicans move, during the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch, to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.

Justice Kennedy, perhaps it is unfair to pile all this onto your shoulders, but is it really wise to subject an already divided country to even more turbulence?

And to another nomination by this president, with his evident ignorance of the role of the judiciary and disdain for judicial independence?

Your career has been characterized by insistence on civility, respect for the dignity of all individuals, and commitment to the rule of law  qualities absent in our president. Just read Trumps tweets and ask yourself: Do I really want my successor named by this man?

No need to look back to the campaign, and his repugnant comments about the Mexican judge presiding over the Trump University fraud lawsuit. Just consider the presidents tweets about judicial rulings in the case that has now reached your own court. He blasted the so-called judge; assailed slow and political courts; and, most alarming, suggested that blood would be on the judiciarys hands if a terrorist incident took place while his travel ban was being delayed.

The hearing didnt get much attention, but consider, too, the Trump appellate court nominees who came before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. One, Kentucky lawyer John Bush, nominated to the 6th Circuit, posted pseudonymous writings on a political blog that touched on President Obamas Kenyan heritage; referred to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Mama Pelosi and suggested that someone should gag the House speaker. Another nominee, Damien Schiff, nominated to the Court of Federal Claims, used a different blog to denounce anti-bullying efforts for teaching gayness in public schools, and criticize the courts ruling that struck down state laws criminalizing homosexual sodomy.

Oh, and also, to observe that it would seem that Justice Kennedy is  and please excuse the language  a judicial prostitute, selling his vote as it were to four other justices in exchange for the high that comes from aggrandizement of power and influence, and the blandishments of the fawning media and legal academy.

Justice Kennedy, does the president who chose this man really deserve to name your replacement?

E-mail: ruthmarcus@washpost.com. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group.
WASHINGTON  Five months into Donald Trumps administration, only the unwise doubt the presidents intelligence.

Just ask former FBI Director James Comey, who, in addition to being fired by Trump, has been redefined by the president as a dishonest leaker who might have lied were it not for nonexistent tapes of their conversations.

Wait, what?

It takes a craven sort of cunning to pull that one off. One day, Comey, a man admired for his brilliance and integrity, is investigating possible collusion in the 2016 presidential race between Russia and the Trump campaign. The next, hes watching his professional life unravel on television and reading that hes not to be trusted.

Trump didnt stop at upending the mans career, cutting short his FBI directorship by six years. He next tweeted that Comey better hope there were no tapes  his quotation marks  of their private conversation that subsequently became the focal point of congressional investigations.

There were tapes?!

Of course, there were no tapes. Did anyone really think there were? Well, yes, there could have been tapes  just as there could have been a legitimate Trump University. To the credulous goes the nation.

But no president ever admits to tapes, at least not until a subpoena becomes inevitable. Or, as in this case, when the House Intelligence Committee demands such tapes, if they exist.

They dont, Trump finally tweeted after more than a month of hedging. But caveat trumptor: The president says he doesnt personally have any recordings of the conversation, but who knows, what with all the surveillance around these days?

The media, alas, had no choice but to entertain the possibility that there were tapes. Like it or not, theres no ignoring a presidents statements. Thus, television anchors and pundit panels have devoted hundreds of hours to examining the what-ifs and buts of the illusory tapes: What would it mean if they existed? What would it mean if they didnt? Was Trump bluffing?

No doubt enjoying the scramble to his latest manufactured distraction, Trump chided reporters: Youre going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer. Perhaps. But then, life with Trump is a roller coaster of anticlimaxes.

Trump supporters, I suspect, knew all along that he was bluffing. Theyre in on the joke, which is actually a Southern tradition  goofing on the media, saying outrageous stuff for the pleasure of watching reporters write it down. Who cares what reporters think, anyway, goes the thinking.

To them, Trump was taunting Comey the way they wish they could, giving him the what-for. You think youre so tall. Toying with media and other elites has become the sport of both commoners and the king these days. When Trump isnt playing king, hes happy to be the court jester.

We tend to forget, too, that Trump is a professional bluffer. His identity is Donald J. Trump, television star, celebrity wheeler-dealer, a man who grabs what he wants.

Poor Comey. Burdened with seriousness, he wore a black tie to a circus.

When he testified earlier this month before the Senate Intelligence Committee, saying that Trump suggested that he drop his investigation of Michael Flynn, that he wrote memos about his interactions and leaked them to the press because he feared Trump might lie about them  he was obviously telling the truth.

Otherwise, why admit to the leak  otherwise known as discreet information-sharing, which, you may as well know, makes the world go round. It also occurred post-firing and after Trumps tweet about the tapes.

Yet, Trump, who denies everything, has managed to create a fictional narrative that not only justifies his dangling bluff but gilds it as a moral victory: He tweeted about tapes to make sure leaker Comey would be honest when he testified.

Well, now.

It takes a certain kind of intelligence to spin a yarn so counterintuitive and defiantly false that some people will believe it anyway. Alternatively, Trump could be just as confused as he hopes others will be.
WASHINGTON  Why are Republicans struggling mightily to reach a consensus on how to overhaul the nations tax system?

The GOP is supposed to be really good at cutting taxes. President George W. Bush cut taxes. So did President Ronald Reagan, though he also raised them.

Why is President Donald Trump, who has promised the largest tax cut ever, having so much trouble accomplishing one of his main initiatives?

Some questions and answers about why tax overhaul is hard and why Republicans have been unable to reach a consensus.

___

WHATS THE HOLDUP?

After weeks of private negotiations, the White House and congressional Republicans still dont agree on exactly what they want to accomplish.

House Republican leaders are firm that they want to completely overhaul the tax system for businesses and individuals. They want to make the tax law simpler and more efficient, and they want the changes to endure beyond the next decade.

They want to cut tax rates, but they dont want the changes to add to the federal governments long-term debt. That means Congress would have to eliminate a lot of exemptions, deductions and credits, and probably come up with a new source of revenue.

The White House is all about tax cuts. Administration officials have talked about simplifying the tax system and getting rid of deductions, but have offered few specifics.

___

WHY NOT JUST CUT TAXES?

A growing number of Republicans say they would rather cut taxes than tackle the difficult task of overhauling the tax system. House Speaker Paul Ryan vehemently opposes this approach.

Heres why:

Republicans are working to pass a tax plan under a procedure that requires only a simple majority in the Senate, preventing Democrats from blocking it. But to use this procedure, the package cannot add to the governments long-term debt.

That means simple tax cuts would have to be temporary, like the ones passed under Bush.

Every expert agrees that temporary reforms will only have a negligible impact on wages and economic growth, said Ryan, R-Wis. Businesses need to have confidence that we will not pull the rug out from under them.

___

WHY IS RYAN PUSHING FOR A TAX ON IMPORTS?

Ryan is pushing a plan that would increase taxes on imports and cut taxes on exports. Its called a border adjustment tax.

One reason Ryan likes it is because it would raise enough revenue  about $1 trillion over the next decade  to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent without adding to the governments debt.

The tax would provide strong incentives for U.S.-based companies to keep their operations in the United States and perhaps persuade companies to move overseas operations to the U.S.

The tax, however, has no support in the Senate because senators fear it would increase the cost of consumer goods.

___

HOW WOULD RYANS TAX WORK?

The border adjustment tax is a cash-flow tax in which corporations could deduct business expenses immediately instead of depreciating them over time. But interest on debt would no longer be deductible, though current debt would be grandfathered.

A U.S. company that makes a product and sells it domestically would pay a 20 percent tax on the profit. A U.S. company that makes a product and exports it would pay no taxes on the proceeds from the sale.

Both of these companies could deduct the cost of making their products as a business expense.

The tax is often described as a tax on imports because companies that import goods would also pay the tax, but they could not deduct the cost of imported goods as a business expense.

For example, if a U.S. retailer imports a product from China for $5 and sells it for $10, the retailer would have to pay tax on the entire $10.

If a U.S. retailer buys a domestically-produced good for $5 and sells it for $10, the retailer would only pay tax on the $5 profit.

Retailers that rely on imports hate the proposed tax. U.S. exporters love it.

___

WHY NOT JUST CUT LOOPHOLES?

A popular idea on Capitol Hill is to cut tax rates for everyone  individuals and corporations  and make up the lost revenue by eliminating special-interest loopholes.

The numbers, however, dont add up.

On the corporate side, if Congress eliminated just about every tax break enjoyed by corporations, it would raise only enough revenue to lower the corporate tax rate to 28.5 percent, according to an analysis by Scott Greenberg, a senior analyst at the conservative Tax Foundation.

Ryan wants to lower the tax rate to 20 percent; Trump wants to lower it to 15 percent.

Greenberg modeled the effects of eliminating 54 different tax breaks enjoyed by corporations, including the widely used domestic production credit and the popular credit for research and development.

If lawmakers are interested in paying for a large corporate rate cut solely by closing corporate loopholes or repealing special preferences, then they will be greatly disappointed, Greenberg wrote.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter at http://twitter.com/stephenatap
SANTA FE  The New Mexico State Police shot and killed a man about 1:15 a.m. Monday morning after a call reporting an armed and homicidal man near a market in Pecos, east of Santa Fe.

Rip S. Huntington, 36, later was reported to police as having threatened to commit suicide or suicide by cop.

After the initial 911 call came in at 8:30 p.m., State Police attempted to find the armed man man near Griegos Market in Pecos but he was gone.

A short time later, officers heard gunshots being fired close by and then encountered what they believed to the the suspects vehicle, a red Ford Fusion. The driver went northbound on N.M. 63 away from Pecos and toward Interstate 25.

Officers pursued and lost sight of the Fusion before it was found parked on the I-25 frontage road in Rowe (mile marker 307)., near the intersection of the interstate and N.M. 63.

As officers approached, a barrage of gun shots were fired at officers, and they took cover, according to the news release. The interstate was shut down in both directions.

The New Mexico State Police Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) and Tactical Team were called to assist. A member of Huntingons family showed up, identified Huntington as the gunman and told officers Huntington had been threatening to commit suicide or suicide by cop. Officers talked with Huntington on the phone for about two hours.

During that time, Huntington told police he was armed and threatened to shoot officers, the State Police says. Huntington said he had an AR-15 rifle and a handgun and plenty of ammo and officers could hear the sound of a firearm being chambered, according to the news release.

Huntington ended the conversation and refused to surrender, the State Police said.

About 1:15 a.m., at least one shot was fired by a New Mexico State Police tactical team member and Huntington was killed. The State Police news release doesnt say if some specific action or provocation by Huntington preceded the shot being fired.

A person who answered at Griegos store when a Journal reporter called today said the incident that provoked the police response didnt happen at the store and instead took place at a Pecos gas station.

The case is being investigated by the State Polices own Investigations Bureau.

All officers involved have been placed on standard administrative leave.
A District Court judge has released jurors in a retrial against a county jail guard accused of raping a female inmate.

Enock Arvizo was set to go to trial Monday on one count of criminal sexual penetration. The trial was rescheduled for mid-September to allow the court to deal with a question raised earlier this month by prosecutors dealing with whether an inmate can consent to sex with a corrections officer.

Judge Briana Zamora said she planned to issue a written order addressing a request by prosecutors to omit an instruction that deals with consent.

The state Attorney Generals Office is prosecuting the case and said in court Monday that depending on the judges order, they could take the issue to the Supreme Court. They argued that because an inmate is under nearly total control of a corrections officer, meaningful consent is impossible. They said a question of whether the act was consensual should not go before jurors.

But Arvizos defense attorney argued that nothing in the law says that an inmate cannot consent to sex and that jurors should be left to determine whether the encounter was consensual.
At least 200 supporters cheered as Kadhim Al-bumohammed, 64, with his wife and daughter beside him, walked back from the gate of the U.S. Immigrant and Customs Office in Albuquerque with word that his required check-in had been canceled without explanation.

Al-bumohammed is one of an estimated 1,400 Iraqi nationals nationwide who face deportation under a recent agreement between the U.S. and Iraq, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a class-action lawsuit to halt the deportations.

At least one other Albuquerque man, now in ICE custody in El Paso, could face immediate deportation to Iraq, attorneys and family members said.

ICE has not notified Al-bumohammed that he will be deported, but recent events led him to believe that his arrest is imminent, said Rebecca Kitson, an Albuquerque attorney representing Al-bumohammed.

His next regular check-in with ICE had been scheduled in September, but ICE told him on Friday to come in for a special meeting on Monday, she said.

During an emotional news conference outside the ICE offices early Monday, Al-bumohammed pleaded to be allowed to remain in the U.S., where he has lived since 1991.

I have my family, I have my life here, he told supporters. If you just give me fair justice, that is what I need.

The estimated 1,400 Iraqis now in legal limbo all have been issued final orders of deportation, in some cases for past criminal actions. Al-bumohammed was convicted of two misdemeanor domestic violence convictions in California in 1996, Kitson said.

She said her client faces likely imprisonment in Iraq because he worked five years for the U.S. military as a language and cultural trainer during the Iraq war.

It is very likely that he would be tortured or killed if deported, Kitson said. He just admitted here that he helped the U.S. military. If (Iraq) didnt know that before, they do now.

Al-bumohammed briefly discussed his service to the military at a U.S. base beginning in 2004.

An ICE spokeswoman in El Paso did not provide answers Monday to questions sent by email by the Journal.

A statement issued by ICE earlier this month said the agency had arrested a number of Iraqis, all of whom had criminal convictions for crimes including violent felonies.

Al-bumohammeds wife, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and their U.S.-born daughter also made tearful pleas that ICE officials allow Al-bumohammed to remain in the U.S.

Please dont take my dad, said Courtney Al-bumohammed, a student at Manzano High School.

Im only 17 and I have nothing besides him and my mom, said the girl, who broke down in sobs during her remarks. If he leaves, I dont know what Im going to do.

Al-bumohammed said he has four U.S.-born children ages 17 to 21. He is living for now at the Albuquerque Friends Meeting House, a Quaker church in Downtown Albuquerque, Kitson said.

He doesnt want to be arrested in the middle of the night and he doesnt want his kids to witness that, she said.

A close friend, Abbas Alsokaini, 52, was arrested by ICE at his Albuquerque home on June 20 and remained in custody Monday in El Paso, Kitson said.

Alsokainis wife, Brenda Sisneros, came to the news conference at the ICE field office on Monday to call attention to her husbands case.

He is the backbone of our family, Sisneros said of her husband, who has lived in the U.S. since 1997. The couple have been married for 13 years and have three children, she said. They havent told us why they came and got him.

The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit in Michigan in response to the arrests of at least 100 mostly Iraqi Chaldean Christians in the Detroit area in recent months, according to news reports.

Federal District Judge Mark Goldsmith of Michigan last week temporarily blocked the deportation of 114 Iraqi Christians who attorneys said would face death or persecution if returned to their birth country.

The ACLU of New Mexico joined the lawsuit last week to help block deportations of Iraqis living here, said Kristin Greer Love, an Albuquerque attorney with the ACLU.

Until recently, Iraq had refused to accept Iraqi deportees, who remained in the U.S. under supervision orders.

It was after Iraq agreed to accept U.S. deportees that the Trump administration dropped Iraq from its March 6 revised travel ban, according to news reports.

As a result of recent negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq, Iraq has recently agreed to accept a number of Iraqi nationals subject to orders of removal, said an ICE statement reported by CNN last month.

Each of these individuals received full and fair immigration proceedings, after which a federal immigration judge found them ineligible for any form of relief under U.S. law and ordered them removed.
TUCSON, Ariz.  A year after an Arizona greyhound racetrack held its last race, some dogs are still in need of homes.

The Arizona Daily Star reported (http://bit.ly/2u9CnZb ) Sunday Southern Arizona Greyhound Adoption is still busy looking for permanent homes for dogs since the Tucson Greyhound Park closed June 26, 2016.

Tucson Greyhound Park closed to dog racing after the Arizona State Senate passed a bill banning the sport, in part because of concern the dogs were treated inhumanely.

Since the track closed, Southern Arizona Greyhound Adoption has taken in more than 130 greyhounds, 21 percent from the Tucson track and 58 percent from greyhound farms in Kansas, which breed greyhounds to race.

Fourteen dogs are still looking for homes.
A large apartment complex in Albuquerques Northeast Heights has been sold to a Los Angeles-based company that is looking at additional acquisitions in the metro area.

Gelt Inc. on Monday said it purchased the 472-unit Mountain Run Apartments for an undisclosed amount. The seller was Chartwell Capital Partners. The Eagle team of CBRE Albuquerque represented both the buyer and seller in the transaction.

With this acquisition, Gelt has acquired more than 6,000 units valued at $940 million and we are pleased to have entered a new market with this buy, said Keith Wasserman, a partner with Gelt, in a statement. We now have a portfolio that spans eight Western states.

Albuquerque has shown consistent multifamily fundamentals for many years, mainly due to a lack of new supply. While other major cities saw significant rent declines in the last recession, Albuquerque remained stable, and we like that story.

Jeff Harris, COO with Gelt, added: We are seeking cash-flowing, stable investments for the long term, and the supply-constrained Albuquerque multifamily market is conducive to that strategy. Our goal is to own and operate at least 1,000 units here over the next 18 months.

Built in 1985, Mountain Run covers 16 acres at 5800 Eubank NE. It includes 312 one-bedroom units and 160 two-bedroom units within 35 two- and three-story buildings. The complex saw a major renovation in 2012.

Gelt said it will renovate the leasing office, clubhouse and fitness center, as well as conduct upgrades to the sport court, and add barbecue/gazebo areas and a bike room.
WASHINGTON  The House Ethics committee said Monday that it is investigating complaints against two veteran Democratic lawmakers and the top aide to a third Democrat.

Reps. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and John Conyers of Michigan, senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, are under investigation, the ethics panel said.

The panel also is investigating Michael Collins, chief of staff to Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.

The independent Office of Congressional Ethics recommended the investigations, although the exact nature of the allegations is not clear. The ethics panel said in a statement that the inquiries do not in themselves reflect any judgment of wrongdoing.

Joe Shoemaker, a spokesman for Lujan, provided a statement to the Journal calling the complaint frivolous.

It was filed by a highly partisan outside group about activities during the sit-in last year  a complaint that is without merit, Shoemaker added. He was referring to a sit-in last year by Democrats urging House votes on gun control.

Congressman Lujan is committed to abiding by House rules, is confident he has done so in this case, and looks forward to a timely resolution by the Ethics Committee, Shoemaker said.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a conservative-leaning watchdog group, filed a complaint last year that Lujan and other Democrats violated ethics rules by using the House chamber to raise money for campaign purposes. Specifically, the group Lujan and others sent campaign emails featuring photos of themselves during the June 2016 sit-in.

The House ethics manual says House buildings, rooms and offices may not be used for campaign or political activities.

The same watchdog group also complained that Collins improperly served in dual roles, in Lewis Washington office and as treasurer for his 2016 re-election campaign.

Ethics rules bar senior House staffers from serving in any fiduciary role for a political organization, and specifically cite campaign treasurer as a prohibited position for such staffers.

A spokeswoman for Conyers said his office has worked diligently at all times to comply with the rules, is cooperating with the ethics committee and is confident that this matter can be swiftly resolved.

The ethics panel says it will announce further steps in all three cases by Aug. 9.
PHILADELPHIA, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Editage announced travel grants for journal editors from East Asia to attend the 10th Annual North American and European conferences of the International Society of Managing and Technical Editors (ISMTE). After the success of ISMTE's 2017 Asian-Pacific Conference in Beijing, Editage wants to continue to support ISMTE in facilitating a continued open dialogue between editorial offices in the East and the West. Editage Travel grants will be reserved for journal editors from East Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, North Korea, Mongolia, Hong Kong, and Macau).

Editage travel grants involve awards of up to $1,700 and $1,300 towards travel/accommodation for the North American and the European conference, respectively. ISMTE will provide the winners with complimentary registration for the conference and an interview that will be published in Editorial Office News (EON), the official publication of the ISMTE.

Michael Willis, President of ISMTE, expressed his enthusiasm for the initiative, "We are delighted to be working with Editage in launching their Travel Grants. These will help journal editors and managing editors from Asia contribute to the dialogue at our North American and European conferences. Editage's proximity to authors and journals in Asia makes their support valuable to ISMTE, as was evident through their support during our Beijing conference."

Applicants will be required to submit an essay in English. The submission deadlines for entries for the ISMTE 2017 North American and European Conferences are July 3 and August 14, 2017, respectively. Please visit http://www.editage.com/new/editage-travel-grants-ISMTE/ to know more.

About ISMTE

ISMTE aims to connect the community of professionals committed to the peer review and publication of academic and scholarly journals. ISMTE provides peer-to-peer networking, education and training, research and resources for best practices, and development of journal policy. ISMTE connects professionals in the industry through their newsletter, discussion forum, online resources, and meetings. Please visit http://www.ismte.org

About Editage

Founded in 2002, Editage (a division of Cactus Communications) is a global scholarly communications company with offices in Japan, China, South Korea, India, and the United States. Editage has served over 200,000 authors and edited close to 750,000 papers across 1,200 disciplines to date. In addition to offering high-end scientific communication solutions, Editage is actively involved in author education through its comprehensive author resources site Editage Insights. Please visit http://www.editage.com to learn more.
Russian authorities may have a new inroad to bring down a popular messaging service developed in the country  called Telegram  following the investigation into a suicide bombing that took place back in April. According to the Russian security agency, the FSB, Telegram played a significant role in the planning and execution of that attack  which left 15 people dead. The app has already drawn negative attention in Russia due mostly to how the application handles user privacy. Moreover, the Russian government claims that the company responsible for creating the free messaging application have not provided company details for registration. The companys CEO, Pavel Durov, has continued to decry government requests. According to Durov, shutting down the service or banning it would force the current user base of around 100 million users to turn to U.S.-based communications applications like WhatsApp. Going a step further, Durov concludes that complying with state demands would paradoxically compromise user privacy.

For its part, the FSB says that Telegram was used in every stage of preparation for the bombing that took place in the Saint Petersburg metro. Furthermore, it says the app was used by the suicide bomber, his accomplices, and their mastermind abroad. Durov, at the time of the attacks, had said that the application had consistently protected user privacy and would not make deals with any government. Durov also claimed that it isnt just Russian citizens who use the application, but also high-ranking Russian officials.

The case Russian authorities are leveling against Telegram, which is founded in the U.S. despite being more popular in Russia and designed with Russians in mind, is hardly the only case they are making. Rather, it is a case being made on a much wider scale as part of efforts which began on January 1, which force data stored at Russian data centers to be handed over to authorities upon request. Another piece of legislation is also under development that would make it illegal for any messaging or communication application or service to allows for anonymous use. Telegram, with its huge install base and services that allow for video, photo, and message sharing between individuals in groups of up to 5,000 people, just happens to be a very visible target. Both sides of this debate have valid points and it is, as Durov says, very paradoxical. One this is certain. Whether the application was used in the April attack or not, user privacy remains high on the agenda for many people and corporations. That debate doesnt appear to be about to end anytime soon.
However, it is also almost literally at the other end of the globe for pretty much anyone else (except, of course, the Australians), making a trip there quite exhausting for anyone with legs that are over two feet long thanks to the airlines' apparent obliviousness of such people existing.New Zealand has high mountains and gorgeous scenery, and even though it also has very beautiful roads, it's still one of the last places you would have expected the next Tesla Model 3 sighting to come from. And yet a silver release candidate has been spotted at the Auckland airport, being unloaded on a platform among other cargo.Up until this point, most encounters of the third degree have happened near Tesla's Palo Alto headquarters. That region is also the one where the first deliveries will take place later this year. Once that's done, Tesla is going to spread its area of coverage gradually to the East, meaning New Zealand will be among the last to get it. Them driving on the left side of the road not helping their case either.The car that arrived these days in the country, however, had a left-hand-side steering wheel, and also California plates, so it's clearly just visiting. The most likely reason for its presence is that New Zealand is in the midst of winter, so there's plenty of snow around. Another one would be shooting pictures and video for the official press release materials, but we doubt they couldn't have found a few scenic places in the U.S. as well.
Among the things passengers dont want to hear over the PA is the pilot asking them to pray but it reportedly happened twice on the shaky return of an AirAsia X A330 to Perth, Australia, early Sunday. Something happened to one of the engines about 75 minutes into the flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur and the plane headed back. But even though the crew almost certainly shut down the aggrieved turbine, the shaking continued. There were some reports the Rolls-Royce engine shipped a main turbine blade so its possible the windmilling engine transmitted its displeasure to the rest of the airframe for the two-hour flight back to Perth. Video from the incident shows the cabin shaking rhythmically like what one passenger described as an off-balance washing machine.

Multiple sources said passengers reported the captain came over the PA twice asking the unspecified number of people in the back to join him in a word to their favorite deity but the aircraft held together, as it is designed to do, and landed safely, albeit with the passengers ordered to brace. The captain shook hands with everyone as they deplaned. Some passengers took the incident in stride and praised the crew but others had a harder time with the incident. I was crying a lot, a lot of people were crying, trying to call their mums and stuff but we couldnt really do anything just wait and trust the captain, Sophie Nicolas told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Everybody burst into applause when we landed.
Theyre said to be the Air Forces indestructible last line of defense but two of four E-4B airborne command post aircraft have been taken out by the Nebraska weather. The two aircraft, based on Boeing 747-200B civilian airliners, were damaged by a tornado that hit Offutt Air Force Base on June 16. Seven RC-145 reconnaissance planes, which are Boeing 707 derivates, suffered minor damage but six were quickly returned to service. The Air Force did not detail the damage to the big planes, officially designated as the National Airborne Operations Center when theyre airborne, but did confirm they have been taken off the flight line.

Neither of the affected aircraft was the alert aircraft at the time and the Air Force told Air Force Times that the mission can still be carried out with the two airworthy aircraft. No timeline for repair of the pricey aircraft, sometimes referred to as doomsday planes for their central role in the event of a nuclear attack or major disaster. The aircraft are the preferred mount for the Secretary of Defense when he travels and an E-4B shadows the president when he goes out of the country, landing at a neighboring airport as a backup to Air Force One.
It's "energy week" at the White House, the latest of the administration's themed messaging weeks. Axios' Ben Geman helps me sketch how it will unfold:

Tomorrow, Trump will highlight India's multibillion-dollar purchases of U.S. natural gas. Axios' Amy Harder says it's a "a striking contrast to Obama who emphasized climate change and renewable energy when meeting with India  a critical player in the energy and climate debate because of its expected growth in energy use."

Trump will highlight India's multibillion-dollar purchases of U.S. natural gas. Axios' Amy Harder says it's a "a striking contrast to Obama who emphasized climate change and renewable energy when meeting with India  a critical player in the energy and climate debate because of its expected growth in energy use." On Wednesday, Trump and Energy Secretary Rick Perry will meet in the White House Roosevelt Room with governors, tribal officials and others.

Trump and Energy Secretary Rick Perry will meet in the White House Roosevelt Room with governors, tribal officials and others. The big showcase comes Thursday when Trump will make a speech at the Energy Department, with other Cabinet officials, top aides, and industry workers and officials coming along.

comes Thursday when Trump will make a speech at the Energy Department, with other Cabinet officials, top aides, and industry workers and officials coming along. Expanding liquefied natural gas will be a theme, so will the overall message of making the U.S. "energy dominant," the White House official said. Trump will soon be traveling to Poland, which received its first LNG imports from America earlier this month.

Ben's quick take: "Trump-world's frequent use of 'dominant' creates a rationale for easing rules and making more lands and waters available for drilling. They need a big word, because U.S. oil and natural gas production already surged under Obama, reaching records in gas and near-records in oil."
Takata, the Japanese auto parts manufacturer whose defective airbags have led to at least 14 deaths and 70 million recalls in the United States alone, announced the sale of its factories and operations to a Chinese-American rival, Key Safety Systems, and filed for bankruptcy in both the U.S. and Japan, per the NYT.

Think back: After denying that its airbags were faulty and fabricating test results to hide the issue, Takata agreed to pay fines and compensation totaling more than $1 billion earlier this year following a Department of Justice investigation.

The ramifications: Pending regulatory approval, the bankruptcy deal might short Takata's creditors  including some of the world's largest automakers, like Honda  out of millions of dollars.
The N.Y. Times digs into the surprising sidelining of one of Trump's invisible men, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, one of the more impressive "gets' for the Cabinet:

Tillerson's "first opportunity to use [his Middle East] experience  as a behind-the-scenes mediator in the dispute between Qatar and Saudi Arabia  has put Mr. Tillerson in exactly the place a secretary of state does not want to be: in public disagreement with the president who appointed him."

Go deeper: The shadow Secretary of State.
Besides the fact that Republicans historically have been more reliable midterm voters, Democrats may have another problem in 2018: Trump isn't the disaster for his party that so many had assumed.

An L.A. Times front-pager by Cathleen Decker points to Dems' string of special-election losses this year:

"Trump is so distinctive a politician that it's hard to persuade voters that other Republican candidates are carbon copies of the president. Trump's outsized persona makes even those Republicans who share his views seem more moderate, an important attribute to swing voters."

Why it matters: "[V]oters' complicated views of Trump may give Republicans more running room than his popularity figures suggest. The votes cast by individual Republican incumbents [like healthcare in the Senate this week] may be more important to their survival than any linkage with the president."

P.S. Dan Balz "The Sunday Take" column on WashPost p A2, "After Ossoff's loss, do Democrats have a message?": "Right now, the one discernible message is opposition to President Trump. ... What's needed is a message that attracts voters beyond the blue-state base of the party."

"Fault lines and fissures exist between the ascendant progressive wing at the grass roots and those Democrats who remain more business-friendly. ... Trump might not succeed in draining the swamp, but he has tapped into sentiments about Washington that Democrats ignore at their peril."
26 June 2017 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Considered the most sacred Muslim occasion, Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Held since ancient times, this holy event has pious Muslims fasting, practicing extreme self-restraint, praying, doing charitable activities and all such actions that are recommended by Islam.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan was conceived the second year of Hegira, whereby Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina.

Ramadan teaches the faithful to love Allah, to test their will and patience, and to be wiser and more honest.

The Koran was bestowed upon us as a guide for mankind during the final 10 days of this month.

Muslims refer to this night as the Laylat Al-Qadr, meaning the great, powerful night. The Koran says, The night of Al-Qadr is better than a thousand months. Therein descend the angels and the Ruh (Gabriel) by Allah's Permission with all Decrees. Peace! till the rise of Morning (97:1-5).

The history of fasting in Ramadan starts when the Prophet Muhammad determined the holy month in Medina during the second year of pilgrimage.

Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of the Islamic religion and one of its main practices. The resulting hunger is seen as a means of developing sympathy for the less fortunate, while learning to be humble and appreciate all of God's bounties.

Muslims worldwide fast in the daylight hours during Ramadan. For 30 days, they do not eat, drink, smoke, or engage in sexual intercourse during fasting hours, testing their patience and ability to overcome temptations.

Fasting gives Muslims an opportunity to practice self-control and cleanse the body and mind. Many cultures and religions use fasting for this purpose. During Ramadan, fasting helps Muslims with their spiritual devotion as well as in developing a feeling of kinship with other Muslims.

The holy Koran says, "As morning comes and white thread distinguishes from black thread, you may eat and drink and then complete your fast till the night."

Fasting is so important to Muslims for a number of reasons. First, when you are not paying attention to your mortal needs such as food, you may be able to become more in tune with God and your spiritual side. Also, the fast serves to remind Muslims of the suffering of the poor. This idea reinforces the importance of charity during Ramadan.

Fasting is completed with holiday of 'Eid al-Fitr.' On this day, it is required that all wealthy Muslims aid the less fortunate.

Zakat al-Fitr is the term for charity given to the poor at the end of the fasting. Depending on the financial wealth of the family, Zakat should include three kilograms of wheat, barley, raisins, dates or rice for each family member.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
26 June 2017 15:08 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Iranian Minister of Intelligence Mahmoud Alavi has said that his forces have struck a terrorist group possessing large ammunition and arms.

The minister said that following a timely measure taken by the security forces the terrorist group came under attack on Sunday, IRNA news agency reported.

He made the remarks in an interview with reporters on the sidelines of Eid al-Fitr ceremony held on Monday in Tehran. However the minister did not provide further details on the anti-terror operation.

Iranian security forces have arrested dozens of suspects over the past weeks following the terror attacks on capital Tehran. Two separate attacks rocked the capital city on June 7, leaving at least 17 dead and 54 injured.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Health Benefits Of Deep Breathing Wellness oi-Neha Ghosh

We have taken breathing for granted as the body takes care of it without our efforts. But occasionally, it is good to sit and practice deep breathing for a few minutes.

Shallow breathing deprives your system of sufficient oxygen and deep breathing does get more supply of oxygen.

Deep breathing boosts mood and also prolongs longevity. Here are some other reasons why deep breathing is beneficial.

Benefit #1 The body gets rid of toxins through various processes like urinating, excreting and sweating. But do you know that breathing out also helps release toxins from the body. Every time you breathe in, you get some oxygen and when you breathe out you release carbon dioxide. Benefit #2 Deep breathing also reduces stress. The oxygen that gets in relaxes you and helps you think clearly. wellness Breathing Technique To End Snoring And Insomnia When you are stressed up your breathing goes shallow and your muscles get contracted. Breathe deeply and see. Your whole body feels relaxed. Benefit #3 Deep breathing can also help you enjoy an orgasm better. Breathing also boosts blood supply to your privates. Benefit #4 Breathing deeply will also boost your stamina. When you run or do any physical activity, you tend to puff and pant because your lungs struggle to get more air. If you have the habit of breathing deeply, your lungs can train themselves to get in more oxygen and help you keep going. Benefit #5 Some yoga practitioners also say that deep breathing exercises when done for a period of six months can help you give up smoking. wellness Are You Having These Breathing Problems? Benefit #6 Your lungs will stay fit if you cultivate the habit of deep breathing. It acts like an exercise. It can prevent conditions like chest congestion, cold and sinusitis. skin-care Benefits Of Focused Breathing Benefit #7 Deep breathing also improves your blood quality. Blood cells carry oxygen. Deep breathing can get more oxygen into your body.
Press Release For Immediate Release

Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Contact: Media Relations

(404) 639-3286

What was it like at ground zero of the worst outbreak of Ebola in history? This month, CDCs David J. Sencer Museum will be the first U.S. museum to offer an overview of the devastating viral outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa. The exhibition, EBOLA: People + Public Health + Political Will, is open now until May 25, 2018, at CDC headquarters in Atlanta. (See Media Advisory).

The exhibition offers the public a glimpse of public health workers experiences during the outbreak. CDC was there  working 24/7 to stop the rapidly spreading epidemic even as the death toll mounted in crowded cities and rural villages alike.

CDCs Ebola exhibition shows what it was like inside the outbreak for one of the worlds worst public health emergencies, said CDC Acting Director Anne Schuchat, M.D. I hope people will leave the museum recognizing that, with commitment and will, working together, we can change the world and make it a safer, healthier place for everyone.

Stunning photographs by some of the worlds leading photojournalists vividly illustrate the severity of the outbreak and the difficult work undertaken by public health workers to bring it under control. Artifacts on display include crosses made to mark the graves of victims, shipping canisters still dusted with West African clay, and helmets worn by motorcycle drivers who delivered samples through the crowded streets.

In the spring of 2014, CDC first received reports of Ebola virus disease from a remote part of Guinea. Within weeks, a full-blown health and humanitarian crisis had exploded in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Thousands were sick and dying and  for the first time in history  Ebola was spreading in crowded urban centers.

A Liberian traveler brought Ebola to Nigeria; another traveler brought it to the United States. It was clear that without a coordinated, massive response, Ebola would spread exponentially, threatening global health security. CDC and other parts of the U.S. government, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, other governments, private donors, the CDC Foundation, and many international aid organizations mobilized massive resources.

CDC Museum curator Louise E. Shaw knew during the outbreak that history was unfolding and took steps to document it for future generations. The CDC Museum collects and preserves the history of CDC, so all the materials, including oral histories, are now part of the CDC Historic Collection.

We knew that this story needed to be remembered and told, said Shaw. As CDC employees returned from West Africa, they would stop by and drop off gear, field notes, and personal items they had used while fighting Ebola. These items  along with the photographs  remind the viewer that behind the statistics there are very human stories.

The exhibition is supported by CDCs Office of the Associate Director for Communication, the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases (NCEZID) and Center for Global Health (CGH) and the CDC Foundation. CDC worked with WHO, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, USAID, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Peace Corps to identify photographs, documents, and objects. Medecins Sans Frontieres, the International Rescue Committee, the International Organization on Migration, and Riders for Health are among the non-government organizations that contributed to the project.

The CDC Museum will host a media day on June 28, 2017, for journalists to tour and photograph the exhibit. For more information: media@cdc.gov or (404) 639-3286.

Read more about the exhibit here.

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESexternal icon
China National Building Materials (CNBM) - June 2017

This month saw the Chinese government commit US$2bn to Ghanas One District, One Factory programme, an initiative designed to establish at least one viable factory in all 216 districts in Ghana as part of a drive to provide jobs and transform the countrys economy. Under the funding facility agreement, China National Building Materials and Equipment Import and Exports Corporation (CNBM) will provide up to 85 per cent of the financing of viable projects recommended by the One District, One Factory programme. CNBM will also construct the factories for beneficiary companies, including providing them with the necessary equipment on a turnkey basis.
Pakistan's exports continue to rise MoM

26 June 2017

Pakistan cement exporters earned revenues of US$14.86m on exports of 282,304t cement in May, 2017, compared to US$13.49m on 255,778t of exports in the previous month, reports Pakistan's Federal Bureau of Statistics.



These figures represent a MoM increase in dollar value and volumes of 10.2 and 10.4 per cent, respectively. However, when compared with May 2016 (521,220t with a value of US$26.9m), the export value slipped by 44.7 per cent and the quantity was down by 45.8 per cent, according to the country's Federal Bureau of Statistics.



In the first 11 months of the FY016-17 (July 2016 -May 2017), Pakistani cement producers exported 4.18Mt of cement at a total value of US$219.87m compared with 5.58Mt at US$301.24m in the equivalent period of the previous year. This represent a YoY retrenchment both in terms of value (-27 per cent) and volume (-25.1 per cent). During this period, value of cement in US$ fell to US$52.54t from US$53.94t.



During the month of May 2017, exports to Afghanistan decreased from 0.206Mt in May 2016 to 0.097Mt in May 2017 showing a decline of 53 per cent, according to the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA).



Exports to India also registered a decline from 0.135Mt in May 2016 to 0.114Mt during the same month this year, showing a decline of 15.2 per cent. Exports to India are mainly through Wahga border and via India's southern coast.



A spokesman for APCMA expressed concern over falling exports to Afghanistan that have declined by 31.2 per cent during July 2016 to May 2017. They said cement exports to India have registered an increase of 34.6 per cent during July 2016-May 2017 period.

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Genpact Limited provides business process outsourcing and information technology (IT) services in India, rest of Asia, North and Latin America, and Europe. It operates through three segments: Banking, Capital Markets and Insurance; Consumer Goods, Retail, Life Sciences and Healthcare; and High Tech, Manufacturing and Services. The company offers CFO advisory services; and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) services, such as data management, carbon accounting, human rights assessment, sustainability diligence, and ESG reporting. It also provides finance and accounting services, which include accounts payable, such as document management, invoice processing, approval and resolution management, and travel and expense processing; invoice-to-cash services, including customer master data management, credit and contract management, fulfillment, billing, collections, and dispute management services; record to report services comprising accounting, treasury, tax, product cost accounting, and closing and reporting services; financial planning and analysis consisting of budgeting, forecasting, and business performance reporting; and enterprise risk and compliance services, including operational risks and controls. In addition, the company provides supply chain advisory services, and after-sales services; sourcing and procurement services comprising direct and indirect strategic sourcing, category management, spend analytics, procurement operation, and master data management; and sales and commercial services, including campaign, order, and dispute management, lead generation, pricing, and promotion optimization. Further, it offers IT services, which comprise end-user computing support, infrastructure management, application production support, and database management services; and transformation services that include digital solutions, consulting services, and analytics services and solutions. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.
The hottest surface temperature ever recorded was in Iran, where scientists captured a reading of 159 degrees Fahrenheit. Although we cant and shouldnt link every heat wave or record high temperature to climate change, trends show global averages are rising. This will lead to all kinds of problems, including sinking cities and mass migrations.

New data is being released at regular intervals now, detailing what we should expect in coming years. A lot of it is quite alarming, too, as it turns out some parts of the world might become quite literally uninhabitable as a result of rising temperatures.

Climate change and killer heat

The main issue, as some scientists are pointing out, is the number of days with high temperatures in a given year is going to grow considerably in certain regions. Higher temperatures for longer stretches of time? It will spell disaster. One study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, said a significant portion of the worlds population will face existential threats because of rising temperatures within decades.

Around 30% of the worlds population is currently exposed to climatic conditions exceeding this deadly threshold for at least 20 days a year, the study said. By 2100, this percentage is projected to increase to ~48% under a scenario with drastic reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and ~74% under a scenario of growing emissions. An increasing threat to human life from excess heat now seems almost inevitable.

Its scary stuff. We looked at which countries are in the most danger from rising temperatures and put together a list of 15. Its not exhaustive, but these 15 countries could see mass casualties related to climate change over the next century.

1. India

India is a massive country and not just geographically speaking. The countrys population is about 1.3 billion, which is roughly four times as many people as there are in the United States  and in less geographic space.

This could be disastrous when climate change is mixed into the equation. In certain parts of the country, temperatures could soar in coming years, leading to massive body counts. In many cities, temperatures already average nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer.

2. Australia

Most of Australias population already resides along the coasts. Thats because the countrys interior  including the Outback  is basically a giant oven. Climate change, naturally, would likely cause temperatures in certain regions to climb even higher, which could end up killing more people than ever.

Many Australians have already been killed due to heat-related causes, and that could get even worse. Between 1844 and 2010, extreme heat killed more than 5,300 Australians.

3. Brazil

South Americas biggest and most populous country, Brazil is also in danger of seeing more extreme and deadly heat waves as a result of climate change. Brazils cities are also rife with poverty, meaning many people without access to clean water or air-conditioning are particularly at risk. In certain parts of the country, average temperatures already hit near 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. If that goes up in coming decades, things could get very ugly.

4. Pakistan

Pakistan is also in harms way when it comes to the effects of climate change. Heat waves in recent years have killed thousands, and more frequent heat waves will result in more deaths. Few countries are in a worse position to deal with rising temperatures than Pakistan.

5. United Arab Emirates

While Pakistan is preparing for the worst, so are folks in the United Arab Emirates. Most of us know the UAE because of Dubai, as the rest of the country is mostly desert. Temperatures in the country average well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during certain parts of the year. This is also one of several nations in the Gulf region that might become uninhabitable within decades due to extreme heat.

6. Saudi Arabia

Another Gulf region country that will see massive problems due to increasing temperatures is Saudi Arabia. Its much larger and more populous than UAE, but Saudi Arabia will experience the same pains related to climate change. Thousands of people  including foreign pilgrims visiting Mecca  have been killed by the heat over the years. And its only going to get worse.

Now, well swing through the African nations that are in a very precarious position as global temperatures rise.

7. Sudan

Few nations have had a rougher go of it in recent years as Sudan. There have been famines, droughts, and civil wars. And on top of that, the country is facing a lot of uncertainty related to climate change. Temperatures often soar above 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Sudan, and its not uncommon for heat waves to kill dozens. Widespread poverty also means many people dont have access to water or air-conditioning to cool off.

8. Somalia

Sudans nearby neighbor Somalia is perhaps in more trouble than any country in the world. This is mainly due to the fact that there has been a lack of any sort of stability for decades now. There are few places people can go for help. And as weather patterns become more extreme, the needy will be in even more trouble. Disease, malnutrition, and extreme heat can only lead to disaster.

9. Chad

Yet another north-central African country  as this is the main glut of nations that are in very serious trouble  Chad faces the same tough conditions that Sudan and Somalia do. Again, widespread drought and a lack of resources are already making things tough for Chads population, and changing climate patterns will only exacerbate that. Temperatures regularly soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the countrys record high was 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

10. Niger

Located to the west of Chad, Niger is yet another country in the African interior which is in for some turbulence. Much of the country is desert, including the Sahara, where temperatures are known to climb well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit almost daily. And, as youve probably guessed, that has led to plenty of deaths over the years, mostly related to disease, drought, and famine.

11. Mali

We keep moving west through central Africa, which puts Mali next on our list. Though were talking about a different country, in this case, its the same unfortunate story. Mali has been dealing with droughts and famines for decades, and those problems will grow worse as average temperatures rise. Malis hottest recorded temperature was 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and during the summer the average high is 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

12. Mauritania

As we move west along the danger zone, as it relates to climate change, the next country on our list is Mauritania. The country is actually situated along the coast, though its larger portions are inland bordering Mali and Algeria. Its these portions that typically experience the hottest temperatures. Triple-digit temperatures are the average for more than six months of the year in these areas.

13. Nigeria

Nigeria borders Niger to the south and sits along the Atlantic coast. Like the other countries preceding it, Nigeria has experienced significant problems related to disease and famine. Heat waves, naturally, are also a big problem. Again, its mostly in the countrys interior where temperatures soar into the triple digits. But humidity near the coast can also make it very hard to keep cool and hydrated.

14. Thailand

Researchers say countries in the tropical regions will be the hit the hardest by climate change. That includes Thailand. Its already a hot and humid part of the world, and temperatures in Thailand will only increase as climate trends shift in coming decades. Intense and long heat waves are already starting to become the new norm, and many deaths are associated with these temperature spikes  including a number of drownings related to kids trying to beat the heat.



15. Venezuela

Well finish off with Venezuela, a country that is experiencing a number of issues completely unrelated to climate change. But Venezuela, which is located in northern South America, is also facing issues related to forest fires (unlike many other countries on our list) as temperatures rise. Also  and we dont mean to trivialize  but the country appears to be running out of beer reserves as temperatures increase.

More from Culture Cheat Sheet:
Christian school warned: Don't teach Bible passages that are 'offensive' to LGBT people

"Absolutely shocking."

That was the reaction of the head of a public Christian school in Canada upon receiving a letter from the government body providing its funds, warning that the school should not teach Bible passages that could be deemed "offensive" by some people, particularly the members of the LGBT community.

Deanna Margel, Chair of the Cornerstone Christian Academy, in Alberta, Canada, said the instruction from the school's funding body, the Battle River School Division (BRSD), is tantamount to an attack on freedom of religion and freedom of expression, The Christian Institute reported.

She said in its email, the school division told Cornerstone that certain scripture passages can "denigrate or vilify" LGBT people. "Any scripture that could be considered offensive to particular individuals should not be read or studied," the letter stated.

In Alberta, Christian schools like Cornerstone get their public funds by way of an agreement between the school and a board like BRSD.

Cornerstone sought legal advice from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), a religious liberty group which aims to uphold the constitutional rights of Canadians.

A JCCF spokesman pointed out that the trustees of BRSD "have no right to impose their own ideology on schools they disagree with."

In response, a BRSD spokesman said it felt compelled to make the demand following a change in Canada's human rights legislation.

Cornerstone can opt to dismiss the BRSD demand, but in doing so it could lose funding. The school can look for a new board to get public funds or find private funding or shut down, according to The Christian Institute.

Last week, the Canadian Senate overwhelmingly passed a transgender rights bill by a vote of 67 to 11, LifeSite News reported.

The bill adds "gender expression" and "gender identity" to Canada's Human Rights Code and to the Criminal Code's hate crime section.

Critics warn that under Bill C-16, Canadians who deny gender theory could be charged with hate crimes and subsequently fined and even jailed.

Among the critics is University of Toronto psychology professor Dr. Jordan Peterson, who told the Senate committee during a hearing that Bill C-16 is an unprecedented threat to freedom of expression and codifies a false ideology of gender identity in law.
Fairtrade hit by changes in supermarket deal

Sainsbury's is preparing to ditch Fairtrade tea and replace it with their own 'fairly traded' brand.

The supermarket will follow Cadbury and other food giants in leaving the gold-standard ethical trading label and replacing it with their own alternative.

Sainsbury's own Gold, Red and other best-selling tea brands will no longer be Fairtrade certified and instead will be called 'fairly-traded'.

Charity bosses have warned the new standards are 'unclear' and a letter signed by tea farmers in Africa warned Sainsbury's new system was an 'unequal' partnership.

'We believe it will strip us of rights and benefits attained over the years under the Fairtrade system,' they wrote in an open letter, warning Sainsbury's new model 'feels reminiscent of colonial rule'.

'We see the proposed approach as an attempt to replace the autonomous role which Fairtrade brings and replace it with a model which no longer balances the power between producers and buyers.'

A Sainsbury's spokesman said the move was so the company could help farmers adapt to climate change  a possibility not offered by Fairtrade.

'The Fairtrade model is 20 years old and we need to move with the times. Climate change is a perfect example of this as some tea-growing regions are now facing unprecedented effects,' he said.

'A tea farmer in Malawi could have his entire crop wiped out by climate change, which is bad for him and bad for UK consumers. Our new scheme will offer advice on how to mitigate such risks.'

But Fairtrade hit back at the claims with Tim Aldred, head of policy and research, telling Christian Today: 'For years farmers have been telling us that climate change is one of their number one concerns and that's why we have built up expertise across our system and we support communities to become more resilient at every level of Fairtrade.

'We don't just look at ways to mitigate against the effect of climate change in our standards, we also carry out research and invest in programmes on the ground to support farmers. We're also experienced at working with others on these issues when communities most desperately need extra help and have delivered projects on the ground with communities, charities and businesses.

'In recent years, when farmers have already suffered the devastating effects of unpredictable weather, the Fairtrade Foundation has stepped in as a charity. Following floods in Malawi and Hurricane Matthew Haiti we raised public donations and helped farmers whose crops and livelihoods had been destroyed to get back on their own two feet.'

Until now Sainsbury's has been key to the Fairtrade brand and the announcement has spread fears it could be the beginning to the end for the ethical trading phenomenon that began in the 1980s.

'This move by Sainsbury's represents a tip in the balance back to the powerful retailers,' said Sophi Tranchell, managing director of Divine Chocolate, a successful ethical trading company part-owned by tens of thousands of cocoa farmers in Ghana, according to the Guardian.
Julian the Apostate: How Rome's last pagan emperor went to war with Christians

Today marks the death of the Roman emperor Julian, remembered in Christian tradition as 'Julian the Apostate'  a pagan famed for his hatred of Christianity. It's said his dying words were addressed to Christ: 'You have conquered!'

Flavius Claudius Julianus, born around AD 331, grew up amidst a kind of Christian heritage. He was raised by his older son Constantius as a Christian  and Constantius' father (Julian's uncle) was Constantine, the very first Christian emperor, famed for conquering in the name of Christ.

It's said that Julian kept up the act of a Christian, but in his heart he was a pagan  awed by the classical philosophers. And, as the historian J Stephen Lang observed, Julian couldn't see much good in Christianity  his supposedly devout uncle had murdered his own wife and one of his sons, forever marring Julian's vision of the faith.

When Constantius died, Julian became the emperor and went public with his paganism. He also made clear his opposition to Christians  the 'Galileans' as he called them. But unlike his predecessor Nero, Julian didn't have them thrown to the Lions, since he recognised that martyrdom and persecution often seemed to only strengthen the Church.

He sought a subtler way to undermine the Church: he removed the land and financial privileges that clergy and Christians had previously enjoyed, and set out to restore Rome's Hellenistic, polytheistic heritage by rebuilding pagan temples. He later removed Christian educators who didn't believe in pagan legends, and tradition tells of how he executed his two Christian bodyguards when they opposed his policies.

Constantine had showed him a rather bloody vision of Christianity, but looking at wider society, Julian was impressed by the love and generosity of Christians, noting their charity extended not just to their own, but to pagans. Julian attempted to create his own pagan cult, that imitated Christian generosity, but had limited success.

Julian's ambitious rule lasted only two years, he was killed age 32 in battle with the Neo-Persian empire, in AD 363. It's said that on his death  by the stabbing of a spear  Julian's last words were 'You have conquered, O pale Galilean'.

Referring to Jesus Christ, it's a dramatic line which nicely captures Julian's wrestling with Christianity  although it's probable he didn't actually say it.

It would have felt true to many though: Some Christians reportedly saw his death  the fall of empire's last pagan emperor  as God's judgement on Roman paganism.
Justin Welby: We need a cross-party Brexit forum to take 'poison' from debate

The Archbishop of Canterbury is calling for a cross-party Brexit forum to draw the 'poison' from the debate.

Justin Welby said the Grenfell Tower fire and terror attacks on London and Manchester showed an 'urgent' need for reconciliation between faiths, social groups and generations.

In an article for the Mail on Sunday he contrasted the heroic individual responses to those tragedies with the 'failures of government and a sort of tragic unwillingness to face the realities of divisions and people being left behind'.

Describing how communities pulled together after 'storm of events that have tested our deepest values with an almost unrelenting ferocity', he said the country faced a choice between 'selflessness' of individuals and emergency services and the 'inward looking 'me-first' attitudes' of the government's response.

'We have been severely tested in how we handle diversity, integration, social mobility and inequality. Failure in these areas is ultimately a failure of values.'

Writing in the Mail on Sunday Welby said: 'Exit negotiations will be fierce and the differences on what we should aim for, and how, are very deep. They divide our politicians and our society.

'With a hung parliament, there is an understandable temptation for every difference to become a vote of confidence, a seeking of momentary advantage ahead of the next election.

'For that to happen would be a disaster if our negotiators, faced with the united determination of the EU, go into the room without confidence in their backing in the UK.

'It might turn us inwards and forfeit the opportunity to be a country the world admires and blesses for our generosity and vision.'

Welby said politics was 'rightly hard and tough' but proposed a commission chaired by a senior politician as a forum to achieve consensus.

'Recent events have highlighted the urgent need for a process of internal reconciliation, between regions, social groups, faiths and generations.

'The future of this country is not a zero-sum, winner take all, calculation but must rest on the reconciled common good arrived at through good debate and disagreement.'

Warning decisions over the next two years would impact generations to come, Welby said: 'Our values must be shaped by a recognition of the dignity of every human being, regardless of wealth, status or influence.

'They must be values lived at home so that when we play what I believe can and should be a leading role, it is a role for the good of the poorest of the world.'

But the Archbishop's proposal appeared to fall on deaf ears in the Conservative party with international development secretary Priti Patel rejecting the idea.

'We're pretty clear the vote happened last year and we don't need to have a rerun of the arguments of remain and leave,' she told ITV's Robert Peston.

'The technical details, in terms of how we leave, that work is in train already through David Davis and through his government department, working across the whole of the civil service and obviously our colleagues in Europe, but also with our ambassadors as well.'

But Labour's Yvette Cooper, who suggested a similar cross-party commission after the election, agreed and said Brexit could not be sorted through 'back room deals by a government which has just lost its majority'.

'The Government cannot carry on as usual, pretending that the election didn't happen and that the public didn't deliver their verdict on Theresa May's plan. A Brexit deal - if it is to last - must have a mandate and broad backing behind it, instead of something cobbled together by a small Conservative cabal,' she said.

'Justin Welby is right, now we all have a big job to do in pulling our divided country together - and this could be a start.'
UK's Conservative Party agrees 1 billion deal with the Northern Ireland's Protestant DUP

A 1 billion deal has been done between Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party and the Conservative Party to secure a majority for the government of Theresa May in Parliament.

Prime Minister May and DUP leader Arlene Foster went ahead with the 'confidence and supply' agreement in spite of warnings from prominent Conservatives such as Lord Patten, a committed Catholic, that the DUP is a 'toxic brand' that will make the Conservatives look like the 'nasty party'.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that does not permit gay marriage. The DUP is ultra-conservative on issues such as gay rights and abortion and the deal is certain to alarm social liberals on all sides of the political divide.

As Andy Walton writes for Christian Today, because of the DUP's roots in the conservative evangelical Presbyterian community of Northern Ireland, and owing to their socially conservative stance on abortion and gay marriage, the spotlight has been on the wisdom of May's deal.

The 1 billion is for infrastructure such as health. There is also an extra 500 million on the table for additional spending in Northern Ireland.

There was a rash of criticism of the deal on social media, but the blogger Adrian Hilton, known as Archbishop Cranmer, was among those who tweeted his support:

Christians should support fraternal togetherness and political cooperation. The Archbishop of Canterbury exhorted such only yesterday. https://t.co/57j5KeKP3M  Archbishop Cranmer (@His_Grace) June 26, 2017

The deal, published in full, and offered in return for the support of the DUP, comes after two weeks of talks which began after May lost her Parliamentary majority in the June 8 General Election

As part of the deal, signed by Gavin Williamson for the Conservatives and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson for the DUP, there will be no downgrade to the pensions triple lock and the winter fuel payments will remain. It states that the aims, principles and implementation will be reviewed at the end of each parliamentary session.

The DUP has 10 out of Parliament's 650 MPs. The deal is not a coalition, although a 'coordination committee' has been set up. Conservatives will be anxious to ensure it is certainly not a 'coalition of chaos'.

It is intended to last through the term of this Parliament, until 2022, and May hopes it will help her get her Brexit plans through safely.

May said: 'I welcome this agreement which will enable us to work together in the interest of the whole United Kingdom, give us the certainty we require as we embark on our departure from the European Union, and help us build a stronger and fairer society at home.'

Foster said: 'Today we have reached an agreement with the Conservative Party on support for government in parliament. This agreement will operate to deliver a stable government in the United Kingdom's national interest at this vital time.'

Northern Ireland has itself been in crisis since Sinn Fein pulled out of government in January, prompting an election in March and a series of missed deadlines to restore the compulsory coalition between Irish Catholic nationalists and pro-British Protestant unionists. This coming Thursday is the latest deadline set by the British government for the parties in Northern Ireland to reach an agreement is Thursday. The DUP deal with May's party was crucial to Northern Ireland being able to move forward.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
What is an 'active follower of Jesus'?

Last week, new statistics claimed that around one in five British young people follow Jesus. It was an extraordinary figure which seemed to contradict the experience of most youth workers, and provoked huge and healthy debate in the Christian community. At first glance, the idea that 21 per cent of young people describe themselves as 'active followers of Jesus' felt like a large-scale glitch; a demonstration of the limitations of quantitive research. A second stat  that 13 per cent described themselves as 'practising Christians'  was equally puzzling. These numbers just don't relate to our experience.

Except... what if they're actually describing a completely unpredicted phenomenon. What if something else is going on?

We're confused because there clearly aren't millions of teenagers in the UK who fit the pattern of behaviour we understand for Christian belief. It is the case 21 per cent of young people aren't in church  except perhaps for other reasons from Scouting to school assemblies  and 21 per cent aren't engaging in the 'Christian youth' subculture by attending conferences, buying books, downloading podcasts and following Mike Pilavachi on Twitter. The researchers were commissioned by two organisations which would understand Christian practice in quite a traditional way: prayer, Bible study and church attendance being central markers of it. But are those the things that make someone an 'active follower of Jesus?'

If we look at the very first group to have held that title  Jesus' own disciples  we don't actually find direct references to those things. Of course, they were talking with God daily, so that covers the prayer part, and there's no doubt they'd have known their Old Testament (which at the time was just a Testament). Church didn't exist yet, so for them, being an active follower was a much more practical, hands-on pursuit. They listened to Jesus' teaching, they presented him with their questions, they went around helping him meet need, and they became so devoted to telling others about him that after his death they would not stop doing so until people killed them for it. So is that what a Christian should really look like?

Jesus gives his disciples a few simple guidelines to follow if they want to 'come after him' and become followers of his Way. Mainly, he compels them to love the world around them, and to continue the work that he has started in putting a bit of light back into a dark world. Paul then layers on all sorts of other stuff, a sort of New Testament guidebook to replace the Old Testament's rulebook. He tells us that there are certain marks of a Spirit-filled believer, demonstrated through 'fruit'; and warns against some of the behaviours which take us further away from his version of the Good Life. So does following all those instructions make you a Christian?

Those definitions are certainly very different to the one used in the survey. Prayer, Bible reading and church attendance are all good and important markers of faith, but as a list, they don't encapsulate 'active Christ following' as demonstrated in either of the above descriptions very well.

After the publication of my first article on these statistics, the artist Charlie Mackesy challenged me, suggesting that the rather narrow definition of Christianity that I'd presented didn't match up at all with his own teenage faith. In response to the idea that an 'active follower of Jesus' would be someone who prayed, read the Bible and attended church, he said he totally disagreed. 'It took me years to move towards those things even though as a teen I was deeply connected to Jesus,' he countered. 'We have to be careful how we choose to grade people. I'd have run a mile if I'd seen that as a description of a "Christian".'

So the question is, while 13 per cent of young people described themselves as practising Christians and even more as 'Christ followers', what kind of Christianity is it that they're practising? The evangelical version, where they're very much part of the tribe? Certainly not, unless all the other indicators are to be disregarded. So what about the kind described in the teachings of the New Testament, and particularly Paul, by which they're committed to a particular code of ethics, and working to eradicate sin in their lives and access the power of the Holy Spirit? Again, not in any terms that Paul would have been happy with.

There's just one option left then, and it's perhaps closest to the experience of those first disciples. Could it be that around 20 per cent of all teenagers in the UK feel a connection to Jesus, and see him both as a real person who's still alive today, and a leader worth following? Could it be that they are crying out to him with their questions and their deepest longings? They're not connected with church, or particularly interested in the Bible, but they know on a deep level that they can trust him, and privately they do. They're activists, and they're compelled to love others, at least partly because of the work God is doing within them. That might not have been the kind of Christian disciple that the organisers of this survey were looking for, but perhaps that's who they've found.

Before we get too excited, that definitely doesn't mean that they're all queuing up to jump into the box of evangelical Christianity, if only we could just 'reach' them. Many of those kids  like a teenage Charlie Mackesy  would turn and run if we came at them with a Youth Alpha invitation. Yet there is something potentially very exciting going on, and which we hadn't anticipated. In a classic demonstration of the ways in which we often limit God, it might just turn out that he's been working away in the lives of millions of teenagers completely without our knowledge. While we've perhaps understandably been focusing on the kids in church, he's been at work in the ones in our schools, communities and online spaces. What if there are literally millions of young people out there, connected with Jesus in some way, that we never even knew about?

All of which presents a number of challenges to those of us within the church. What then is our message, our offer to these young people? As more experienced Christians, we have a role to play in helping them on the journey, whatever that means. So what is the Christianity that we're going to help them discover? For the last 40 years or so, Christian youth work has been focusing its efforts on developing Christians who will join a church and start adopting practices (and buying Christian stuff along the way). What if instead, it simply aimed to create space for young people to explore the connection that they already feel with Jesus?

What is a Christian? Surely it's just someone who  like those first disciples  wants to follow the Jesus that they somehow know to be real, alive, and more important than anyone else in history. They want to learn from him, and slowly become more like him as they put his words into practice. That kind of stripped-back Christ-following might scare the church half to death, but perhaps it's the kind that an extraordinary number of young people have quietly embraced. Wouldn't that be exciting?

Martin Saunders is a Contributing Editor for Christian Today and the Deputy CEO of Youthscape. Follow him on Twitter @martinsaunders.
Canada Enforces Visa Requirement on Citizens of Antigua and Barbuda Hugo O'Doherty Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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As of June 27, 2017, citizens of Antigua and Barbuda will need a visa to visit Canada. From that date, any existing electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) issued to a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda will become null and void, and affected individuals who had previously been issued an eTA will no longer be able to use that eTA for the purposes of travel to Canada.

The government of Canada has determined that the small Caribbean nation, which has a population of less than 100,000, no longer meets the criteria for a visa exemption.

While the governments official press release did not elaborate on this point, recent media reports have highlighted that the countrys Citizenship by Investment Program allows international investors and their families to obtain citizenship, and therefore a passport, for either a contribution of $200,000 USD, or a real estate investment of $400,000 USD, or an investment into a business of $1,500,000.

Applicants to this program could apply without having any previous ties to Antigua and Barbuda.

Canada continues to welcome visitors from Antigua and Barbuda, while protecting the integrity of our immigration system and ensuring the safety of Canadians, stated the government in a press release.

Approved visa applicants typically receive a multiple-entry visa, allowing them to visit Canada as many times as they wish, for a period up to 10 years. For each visit, visa holders may stay for up to six months.

The government states that most visa applications (about 80 percent) are processed within 14 days. Individuals with travel arrangements to come to Canada before July 11 will be treated on a priority basis at the visa office in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the closest visa office to Antigua and Barbuda. Alternatively, applicants may also apply for a visa online as of June 27.

Citizens of Antigua and Barbuda currently working or studying in Canada can continue to stay in Canada for as long as they are authorized to do so on their work or study permit. Study and work permits, as well as visitor records, remain valid. However, such persons who plan to travel outside Canada and then re-enter will need to apply for a visa to return to Canada.

In the lifetime of the current Liberal government, a number of countries have actually moved from being visa-required to visa-exempt (at least for some citizens, depending on their previous travel history to Canada and country of citizenship). Such instances include Brazil, Romania, Bulgaria, and Mexico.

International investors and entrepreneurs looking to immigrate to Canada through a business immigration program may compare the various programs on offer throughout Canada.

To determine what you need to do to visit Canada, use the Visiting Canada Tool .

 2017 CICNews All Rights Reserved
Think tank NPC has published a report highlighting eight worldwide trends that could help charities improve impact measurement.

The report, Global innovations in measurement and evaluation, looks at how increased data availability and processing power has enabled organisations to gain insights in ways not previously possible.

NPC picks out eight trends from around the world that it thinks have the greatest potential to improve charities measurement, evaluation and programme delivery.

These include remote sensing technology, which the Clean Cookstoves programme has used to detect pollution in peoples homes cross Africa, Asia and North America.

Another example it gives is of palliative care organisations in Australia using shared measurement approaches and benchmark data to share their outcomes data to drive better performance throughout the sector.

The report was informed by interviews with 12 stakeholders, including representatives from Comic Relief and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, feedback from an advisory group, and discussions with project sponsors.

It was funded with by the government as well as Bates Wells Braithwaite, the NSPCC, Oxfam GB and Save the Children.

See in Charity Finance

Anne Kazimirski, report co-author and head of measurement and evaluation at NPC, said: Traditional, resource intensive and solely retrospective approaches do not meet all our measurement and evaluation needs.

New approaches, new technologies and big data are allowing us to measure faster and more effectively which should help charitiesas well as other playersto really focus on what works and so increase their impact. It is vital that charity leaders embrace this agenda.

Claire Hutchings, head of programme quality at Oxfam GB, said she hoped the report would help stimulate ideas and further innovation in impact measurement.

She said: This report highlights examples of how charities and public sector organisations are using evaluation more innovatively to identify what works, for whom and under what conditions in order to inform better service delivery and public policy decisions.
Our weekly summary of the latest movers in the charity sector.

Chief executive

Blood cancer charity Myeloma UK has appointed Rosemarie Finley as its new chief executive. She will join the organisation on 28 June 2017.

Finley joins the organisation from the Epilepsy Society, where she was acting chief executive and chief operating officer.

Finley has over 30 years of senior management experience in the healthcare sector. Shes also a trained nurse, who has held a number of senior positions.

Finance and operations

Professor Charles Swanton has been appointed as chief clinician at Cancer Research UK. Swanton replaces Professor Peter Johnson, who was CRUKs chief clinician from 2008.

Swanton will join CRUKs executive board later in the summer. The role of chief clinician sits within CRUKs senior management team and is responsible for the strategy and shape of the charitys clinical activities both in terms of research but also cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Swanton has had a previous association with CRUK and currently leads a team at the Francis Crick Institute in London analysing lung cancer and how it develops.

Non executive

Children & the Arts have appointed financier and entrepreneur Hussam Otaibi as the new chair of its trustee board.

Otaibi joined the charitys board as a trustee in 2015 and takes up his new role this month, succeeding previous chair Neil Mendoza who steps down after 4 years in the role.

He leads Floreat Merchant Banking and also sits on the board of several hedge funds and investment managers. He is also a patron of the Serpentine Gallery and the Tate.

Adrian Williams has been appointed as the new chair of the Royal Trinity Hospice board of trustees. Williams succeeds Derek Wyatt who is retiring from the organisation on 30 June after 6 years in the role.

Williams has been a trustee of the hospice since 2014. A private equity and investment banker, he has over 25 years experience working in with Bridgepoint, HSBC and Hawkpoint. Since his retirement, Williams has sat on the boards of several companies and non-profit organisation in the UK and overseas.

Musician Ariana Grande is set to be the first patron of the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, which was set up in the wake of the suicide bombing on 22 May.

The fund, which has raised over 11.7m, was set up to distribute funds to bereaved families and those who were injured in the attack, which took place at the Manchester Arena following a concert by Grande.

Grande subsequently staged and performed at the One Love Manchester benefit concert on 4 June, which raised a further 3m for the fund. Grande is also set to be made an honorary citizen of Manchester.

Civil Society Media is hosting its Charity People & Culture Conference on 20 September 2017. For more information, and to book, click here.
CJR recently invited contributions from journalists whose work focuses on the healthcare challenges specific to their communities. We asked each reporter the same question: As the nation anticipates passage of the Better Care Reconciliation Act, what are the health stories that are most urgent for journalists to tell in your region? As the Senate moves towards a vote, well publish more dispatches here, to encourage journalists to cover the changing health care landscape from the ground up.

ILL NEVER FORGET THE DAY Leigh Ann Wilson showed me where her daughter died. Wilson, a home caregiver, introduced me to Bob, an 80-year-old veteran she stayed with, then walked me into his wood-paneled basement. Wilsons 21-year-old daughter, Taylor, overdosed in her car last Augustone of 28 people to OD in a five-hour span in Huntington, West Virginiabut survived. On some nights, Wilson slept in Bobs spare bedroom while Taylor crashed on the blue couch in the basement, in front of a big-screen TV.

Sitting on the couch months later, Wilson recalled how hard she had tried to get Taylor into a treatment program for substance abuse. After Taylors overdose, Wilson worked for 41 days to get her daughter into a residential treatment program, or access to medication-assisted treatment. On the 42nd day, she found Taylor dead on the blue couch. Days after Taylors death, Wilson received a message on her phone saying her daughter had cleared a Suboxone waiting list.

Leading public health experts predict the opioid crisis, which killed about 250,000 Americans over the past decade, may become nearly twice as deadly if it continues on its current trajectory.

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OPIOIDS FORCED HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA, into the international spotlight. The state has a higher rate of drug-related deaths than any other, and just one-fifth of residents who need addiction treatment get it. But casting a spotlight leaves some communities in the dark. Taylors story, and the struggle for access to treatment, is common throughout the south, where I work as a regional correspondent for STAT.

Recently, in my home state of Georgia, I wrote about a deadly string of opioid overdoses attributed to a new form of fentanyl. I wonder whether this tragedy might have been lessened if Georgia didnt rank second-to-last in addiction treatment options among all states. For a forthcoming two-part investigative story, I learned that leading public health experts predict the opioid crisis, which killed about 250,000 Americans over the past decade, may become nearly twice as deadly if it continues on its current trajectory. By 2027, the annual death toll from pain pills, heroin, and synthetic opioids could approach the most horrific numbers from the HIV/AIDS epidemic during the 90s.

RELATED: Reporter posts front pages of LA Times, WashPo & NYTimes. Something was missing.

Only one-tenth of the 2.2 million Americans with opioid-use disorder get addiction treatment. But most providers Ive spoken with believe the Affordable Care Act has helped to expand access in unprecedented ways. Its too early to tell how the Better Care Reconciliation Act will impact these providersa topic the AP recently took on. But local and regional reporters should report on treatment shortages now, in order to ensure that assistance remains accessible to anyone trying to get clean.

Many of the GOP health bills critics may not be well-versed in how the Affordable Care Act affects addiction treatment coverage in their town.

AS HEALTH REPORTERS FOLLOW the Better Care Reconciliation Act, their coverage often focuses on the politics at play, and overlooks the people who stand to lose the most. The Affordable Care Act mandated insurers to provide addiction treatment coverage equal to that for medical care. Many Americans with substance abuse disorders live in southern states like minestates that elected President Trump, and are home to some of the largest addiction treatment shortages in the nation.

Many newsrooms tracked the health care bills numerous stops and starts. But there seems to be less interest in raising awareness about other roadblocks that patients confront when they seek medication-assisted treatment, or that physicians encounter as they provide overly regulated treatment. Many families remain wary of therapies like methadone and buprenorphine, which could help their loved ones. If national reporters must keep covering lawmakers in Washington, then local newsrooms should push to demonstrate the human impact of addiction treatment as though it were any other medical condition.

ICYMI: What a hyperlocal investigative powerhouse looks like

Several local newspapers have committed to this kind of coverage. Theres the Charleston Gazette-Mails Pulitzer-winning reporting, and the Palm Beach Posts series of stories profiling fatal heroin overdose victims. In 2016, the Cincinnati Enquirer launched a full-time heroin beat. Other outlets could follow suit, which might help their readers better understand how Obamacare required insurers to cover mental health and addiction like other sorts of medical and surgical care.

Such coverage might even help addiction treatment avoid the Better Health Care Acts chopping block. Theres been no shortage of health care-related outrage at town halls this year. However, many of the GOP health bills critics may not be well-versed in how the Affordable Care Act affects addiction treatment coverage in their town. Misinformation and misunderstandings persist; a January poll of nearly 2,000 people found that a third didnt know that Obamacare and the ACA refer to the same law.

MY STORY ON TAYLORS STRUGGLE for treatment didnt change any laws immediately. But Wilson is pushing for Taylors Law, which would require health care providers to give West Virginians addiction treatment, even if they cant afford the costs. And Wilsons plight reached US Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. Manchin read a letter from Wilson to his colleagues in Washington, DC. Please, read Manchin, work quickly to prevent thousands of other Taylors from the same fate.

Wilson also shared Taylors story this past weekend, at a crowded health care rally featuring Senator Bernie Sanders.

On behalf of families who have lost children to addiction, Wilson told the audience, I ask any health care law reforms contain a serious effort to ensure addiction treatment for all that need it.

Passage of the GOPs health legislation may yet depend on how the Senate version sits with the American electorate. More local and regional coverage could spur awareness of addiction treatments shortingand, perhaps, help other families in West Virginia and beyond procure treatment for their children before its too late.

ICYMI: Journalist steps into car, begins his morning commute. While inching toward an intersection, the car explodes.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Max Blau is an Atlanta-based journalist who writes narrative and investigative stories for newspapers, magazines, and digital media outlets. You can find his recent work published in Atlanta, Politico, and The Washington Post.
A large British delegation of cruise industry stakeholders will attend China Cruise Shipping, held Nov. 5-7, 2017 in Sanya, China.

The show is the leading Asia-Pacific event for the global cruise industry, and is organized by the China Cruise and Yacht Industry Association (CCYIA). Cruise Industry News is the official media partner of the event. Click here to learn more about the event.

Stewart Gorman, Electronics and Communications Account Manager at UK Trade & Investment, and Yang Haixia, Trade and Investment Officer of the British Embassy, recently met for a third time with representatives from the CCYIA for in-depth discussions regarding British support for the show and the potential for British suppliers to work on cruise ships being build in China.

The Embassy will organize a trade mission to China Cruise Shipping, inviting a number of technology enterprises to attend and also participate in the trade show as exhibitors, and speakers on the ship building panel.
Talking Points

- UK Prime Minister Theresa May agreed a deal Monday with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party that should give her Government a Parliamentary majority.

- That, in turn, means Parliament is likely to pass later this week the Brexit legislation detailed in last weeks Queens Speech.

- The British Pound, however, failed to respond  suggesting a soft Brexit is now priced in.

- See the DailyFX Economic Calendar and see what live coverage for key event risk impacting FX markets is scheduled for the week on the DailyFX Webinar Calendar.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the leader of Northern Irelands socially-conservative Democratic Unionist Party have agreed a so-called confidence and supply deal that should give her a Parliamentary majority to pass the Brexit legislation outlined in last weeks Queens Speech detailing the Governments legislative program.

Although weaker than a full coalition agreement, the deal should ensure that the legislation is passed at the end at the end of the Queens Speech debate that takes place in the House of Commons this week, ending on Thursday.

The Government statement detailing the agreement said that the DUP agrees to support the Government on all motions of confidence; and on the Queens Speech; the Budget; finance bills; money bills, supply and appropriate legislation and estimates.

In line with the parties shared priorities for negotiating a successful exit from the European Union and protecting the country in the light of recent terrorist attacks, the DUP also agrees to support the Government on legislation pertaining to the United Kingdoms exit from the European Union; and legislation pertaining to national security, it added.

Support on other matters will be agreed on a case-by case basis and the DUP has agreed to support the Government in votes in the UK Parliament on this basis.

For May, the deal was crucial before the end of the debate on the Queens Speech as the Governments program, mostly related to Brexit, would have been defeated. No time has yet been set for the vote on the Queens Speech but a House of Commons spokeswoman told Daily FX that six days have been set aside for the debate, taking us up to Thursday. We expect the votes to take place on Thursday. However, as yet, details of when any votes will take place are yet to be confirmed, she said. The legislation will then have to be passed by the House of Lords.

This is all crucial for the Pound, which has been buffeted in recent weeks by the political twists and turns in the UK. The DUP deal adds an element of stability to the political outlook and also increases the chances of a soft  or mutually agreed  Brexit pact between the UK and the EU. However, the Pound barely moved on the deal, suggesting that a soft Brexit is now fully priced in to the markets.

Chart: GBP/USD Five-Minute Timeframe (June 26, 2017)

Chart by IG

This implies that the Pound could be hurt in future weeks by any bumps in the road to Brexit, of which there are bound to be many.

Markets

Index / Exchange Rate Change (Exchange Hours/GMT Session Rollover) Market Close/Last FTSE 100 + 0. 31 % 7,447 DAX +0. 29 % 1 2,771 GBP/USD Unch 1.2 719 EUR/USD -0. 09 % 1.1185 EUR/GBP -0. 05 % 0.8 795

Upcoming UK/EU Event Risk

Events Date, Time (GMT) Forecast Previous CBI Retailing Reported Sales (June) Jun 27 , 10 00 2 2 CBI Total Dist. Reported Sales (June) Jun 27 , 10 00 15 18 BoE Governor Mark Carney Speaks at Financial Stability Report Press Conference Jun 27 , 10 00

--- Written by Martin Essex, Analyst and Editor

To contact Martin, email him at martin.essex@ig.com

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Instead of banning the box to help ex-cons find a job, just get rid of unnecessary occupational licensing. There is a movement to ban employers from asking if a job applicant has a criminal history. The idea is to help ex-cons get back into the workforce so that they dont return to a life of crime. Hans Bader points out that there is a better solution than rely on forcing employers to be ignorant of an applicants criminal past:

People are more likely to commit crimes if they cant find a job after being released from prison, according to a study released by the Manhattan Institute. Occupational licensing regulations make it harder for them to find a job.Reason magazine notes that a ten-year study released last year by the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty at Arizona State University found that formerly incarcerated residents are more likely to commit a new crime within three years of being released from prison if they live in a state where theyre prohibited from getting a license solely for having a criminal record.

Once upon a time, occupational licensing regulations only restricted access to jobs that had unique privileges (such as lawyers, who can send you a subpoena demanding your diary) or that had unique public safety implications (like a surgeon, who can kill you if unqualified). Not anymore.

Now, many occupations that pose no special risks or need for regulation are off-limits to people who have criminal convictions, or never committed a crime, but cant afford to spend years on unnecessary training that is sometimes irrelevant or obsolete. Florida requires interior designers to undergo six years of training, including two years at a state-approved college. Other states force aspiring hair stylists to first attend exploitative beauty schools that often rip off their students. And twenty-one states require a license for travel guides, notes the Brookings Institution. Occupational licensing has expanded from covering 5% of the workforce in the 1950s to 30% today.

More at Competitive Enterprise Institute
The following companies are subsidiares of Pfizer: AH Robins LLC, AHP Holdings B.V., AHP Manufacturing B.V., Agouron Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alacer, Alpharma Holdings LLC, Alpharma Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alpharma Specialty Pharma LLC, Alpharma USHP LLC, American Food Industries LLC, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., Angiosyn, Array BioPharma, Ayerst-Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, BIND Therapeutics Inc., BINESA 2002 S.L., Bamboo Therapeutics, Bamboo Therapeutics Inc., Baxter International - Marketed Vaccines, BioRexis, Bioren, Bioren LLC, Blue Whale Re Ltd., C.E. Commercial Holdings C.V., C.E. Commercial Investments C.V., C.P. Pharmaceuticals International C.V., CICL Corporation, COC I Corporation, Catapult Genetics, Coley Pharmaceutical GmbH, Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc., Continental Pharma Inc., Covx, Covx Technologies Ireland Limited, Cyanamid Inter-American Corporation, Cyanamid de Argentina S.A., Cyanamid de Colombia S.A., Distribuidora Mercantil Centro Americana S.A., Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., Esperion LUV Development Inc., Esperion Therapeutics, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals Inc., Farminova Produtos Farmaceuticos de Inovacao Lda., Farmogene Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Ferrosan A/S, Ferrosan International A/S, Ferrosan S.R.L., FoldRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Foldrx Pharmaceuticals, Fort Dodge Manufatura Ltda., G. D. Searle & Co. Limited, G. D. Searle International Capital LLC, G. D. Searle LLC, GI Europe Inc., GI Japan Inc., GenTrac Inc., Genetics Institute LLC, Greenstone LLC, Haptogen Limited, Hospira, Hospira (China) Enterprise Management Co. Ltd., Hospira Adelaide Pty Ltd, Hospira Aseptic Services Limited, Hospira Australia Pty Ltd, Hospira Benelux BVBA, Hospira Chile Limitada, Hospira Deutschland GmbH, Hospira Enterprises B.V., Hospira France SAS, Hospira Healthcare B.V., Hospira Healthcare Corporation, Hospira Healthcare India Private Limited, Hospira Holdings (S.A.) Pty Ltd, Hospira Inc., Hospira Invicta S.A., Hospira Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, Hospira Ireland Sales Limited, Hospira Japan G.K., Hospira Limited, Hospira Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Hospira NZ Limited, Hospira Nordic AB, Hospira Philippines Inc., Hospira Portugal LDA, Hospira Produtos Hospitalares Ltda., Hospira Pte. Ltd., Hospira Pty Limited, Hospira Puerto Rico LLC, Hospira Singapore Pte Ltd, Hospira UK Limited, Hospira Worldwide LLC, Hospira Zagreb d.o.o., ICAgen, Idun Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Santa Agape S.A., InnoPharma, InnoPharma Inc., International Affiliated Corporation LLC, JMI-Daniels Pharmaceuticals Inc., John Wyeth & Brother Limited, Kiinteisto oy Espoon Pellavaniementie 14, King Pharmaceuticals Holdings LLC, King Pharmaceuticals LLC, King Pharmaceuticals Research and Development LLC, Korea Pharma Holding Company Limited, Laboratoires Pfizer S.A., Laboratorios Parke Davis S.L., Laboratorios Pfizer Ltda., Laboratorios Wyeth LLC, Laboratorios Wyeth S.A., Laboratorios Pfizer Lda., MTG Divestitures LLC, Mayne Pharma IP Holdings (Euro) Pty Ltd, Medivation, Medivation Field Solutions LLC, Medivation LLC, Medivation Neurology LLC, Medivation Prostate Therapeutics LLC, Medivation Services LLC, Medivation Technologies LLC, Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., Meridian Medical Technologies Limited, Monarch Pharmaceuticals LLC, Neusentis Limited, NextWave Pharmaceuticals, NextWave Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, P-D Co. LLC, PAH USA IN8 LLC, PF Americas Holding C.V., PF Asia Manufacturing B.V., PF PR Holdings C.V., PF PRISM C.V., PF PRISM Holdings S.a.r.l., PF Prism S.a.r.l., PFE Holdings G.K., PFE PHAC Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Pfizer Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Wyeth Holdings LLC, PFE Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) LLC, PHILCO Holdings S.a r.l., PHIVCO Corp., PHIVCO Holdco S.a r.l., PHIVCO Luxembourg S.a r.l., PN Mexico LLC, PT. Pfizer Parke Davis, Parke Davis & Company LLC, Parke Davis Limited, Parke Davis Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Parke-Davis Manufacturing Corp., Parkedale Pharmaceuticals Inc., Peak Enterprises LLC, Pfizer, Pfizer (China) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Pfizer (Perth) Pty Limited, Pfizer (Thailand) Limited, Pfizer (Wuhan) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer AB, Pfizer AG, Pfizer AS, Pfizer Africa & Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Veterinarian Products & Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer Anti-Infectives AB, Pfizer ApS, Pfizer Asia Manufacturing Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., Pfizer Atlantic Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Australia Holdings B.V., Pfizer Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Pfizer Australia Investments Pty. Ltd., Pfizer Australia Pty Limited, Pfizer B.V., Pfizer BH D.o.o., Pfizer Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer Biofarmaceutica Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Pfizer Biologics (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Pfizer Biologics Ireland Holdings Limited, Pfizer Biotech Corporation, Pfizer Bolivia S.A., Pfizer Canada Inc., Pfizer CentreSource Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Chile S.A., Pfizer Cia. Ltda., Pfizer Colombia Spinco I LLC, Pfizer Commercial Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Commercial Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Commercial TRAE Trading Kft., Pfizer Consumer Healthcare AB, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare GmbH, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Ltd., Pfizer Consumer Manufacturing Italy S.r.l., Pfizer Corporation, Pfizer Corporation Austria Gesellschaft m.b.H., Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Pfizer Croatia d.o.o., Pfizer Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Development LP, Pfizer Development Services (UK) Limited, Pfizer Domestic Ventures Limited, Pfizer Dominicana S.R.L, Pfizer ESP Pty Ltd, Pfizer East India B.V., Pfizer Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer Egypt S.A.E., Pfizer Enterprise Holdings B.V., Pfizer Enterprises LLC, Pfizer Enterprises SARL, Pfizer Europe Finance B.V., Pfizer Export B.V., Pfizer Export Company, Pfizer Export Holding Company B.V, Pfizer Finance Share Service (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Financial Services N.V./S.A., Pfizer France International Investments, Pfizer Free Zone Panama S. de R.L., Pfizer GEP S.L., Pfizer Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer Global Supply Japan Inc., Pfizer Global Trading, Pfizer Group Luxembourg Sarl, Pfizer Gulf FZ-LLC, Pfizer H.C.P. Corporation, Pfizer HK Service Company Limited, Pfizer Health AB, Pfizer Health Solutions Inc., Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, Pfizer Hellas A.E., Pfizer Himalaya Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Holding France, Pfizer Holding Ventures, Pfizer Holdings Corporation, Pfizer Holdings Europe Unlimited Company, Pfizer Holdings G.K., Pfizer Holdings International Corporation, Pfizer Holdings International Luxembourg (PHIL) Sarl, Pfizer Holdings North America SARL, Pfizer Hungary Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Inc., Pfizer Innovations AB, Pfizer Innovations LLC, Pfizer Innovative Supply Point International BVBA, Pfizer International LLC, Pfizer International Markets Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer International Operations, Pfizer International S. de R.L., Pfizer International Trading (Shanghai) Limited, Pfizer Investment Capital Unlimited Company, Pfizer Investment Co. Ltd., Pfizer Investment Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Ireland Investments Limited, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 1 LLC, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 2 LLC, Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Ireland Ventures Unlimited Company, Pfizer Italia S.r.l., Pfizer Italy Group Holding S.r.l., Pfizer Japan Inc., Pfizer LLC, Pfizer Laboratories (Pty) Limited, Pfizer Laboratories Limited, Pfizer Laboratories PFE (Pty) Ltd, Pfizer Leasing Ireland Limited, Pfizer Leasing UK Limited, Pfizer Limitada, Pfizer Limited, Pfizer Luxco Holdings SARL, Pfizer Luxembourg Global Holdings S.a r.l., Pfizer Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer MAP Holding Inc., Pfizer Manufacturing Austria G.m.b.H., Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Pfizer Manufacturing Holdings LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Manufacturing LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Services, Pfizer Medical Technology Group (Belgium) N.V., Pfizer Medicamentos Genericos e Participacoes Ltda., Pfizer Mexico Luxco SARL, Pfizer Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pfizer Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Animal Health and Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer New Zealand Limited, Pfizer Norge AS, Pfizer North American Holdings Inc., Pfizer OTC B.V., Pfizer Overseas LLC, Pfizer Oy, Pfizer PFE ApS, Pfizer PFE AsiaPac Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Pty Ltd, Pfizer PFE B.V., Pfizer PFE Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Belgium SPRL, Pfizer PFE Brazil Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE CIA. Ltda., Pfizer PFE Chile Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Colombia Holding Corp., Pfizer PFE Colombia S.A.S, Pfizer PFE Commercial Holdings LLC, Pfizer PFE Croatia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer PFE Finland Oy, Pfizer PFE France, Pfizer PFE Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Ireland Pharmaceuticals Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco 2 S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Pfizer PFE Limited, Pfizer PFE Luxembourg S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Mexico Holding 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE Netherlands Holding 1 C.V., Pfizer PFE New Zealand, Pfizer PFE New Zealand Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Norway Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE PILSA Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Peru Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Peru S.R.L., Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer PFE Private Limited, Pfizer PFE S.R.L, Pfizer PFE Service Company Holding Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer PFE Singapore Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Singapore Pte. Ltd., Pfizer PFE Spain B.V., Pfizer PFE Spain Holding S.L., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding 2 S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Switzerland GmbH, Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 2 B.V., Pfizer PFE UK Holding 4 LP, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 1 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 2 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 4 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 5 LLC, Pfizer PFE spol. s r.o., Pfizer PFE Ilaclar Anonim Sirketi, Pfizer Pakistan Limited, Pfizer Parke Davis (Thailand) Ltd., Pfizer Parke Davis Inc., Pfizer Parke Davis Sdn. Bhd., Pfizer Pharm Algerie, Pfizer Pharma GmbH, Pfizer Pharma PFE GmbH, Pfizer Pharmaceutical (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceutical Trading Limited Liability Company (a/k/a Pfizer Kft. or Pfizer LLC), Pfizer Pharmaceuticals B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Global B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Korea Limited, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pfizer Pigments Inc., Pfizer Polska Sp. z.o.o., Pfizer Private Limited, Pfizer Production LLC, Pfizer Products Inc., Pfizer Products India Private Limited, Pfizer Research (NC) Inc., Pfizer Romania SRL, Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A. (Belgium), Pfizer S.A. de C.V., Pfizer S.A.S., Pfizer S.G.P.S. Lda., Pfizer S.L., Pfizer S.R.L., Pfizer SRB d.o.o., Pfizer Saidal Manufacturing, Pfizer Sante Familiale, Pfizer Saudi Limited, Pfizer Seiyaku K.K., Pfizer Service Company BVBA, Pfizer Service Company Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Services 1, Pfizer Services LLC, Pfizer Shared Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Shareholdings Intermediate SARL, Pfizer Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Singapore Trading Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Spain Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Specialties Limited, Pfizer Strategic Investment Holdings LLC, Pfizer Sweden Partnership KB, Pfizer TRAE Holdings Kft., Pfizer Trading Polska sp.z.o.o., Pfizer Transactions Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Transactions LLC, Pfizer Transactions Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer Transport LLC, Pfizer Ukraine LLC, Pfizer Vaccines LLC, Pfizer Venezuela S.A., Pfizer Venture Investments LLC, Pfizer Ventures LLC, Pfizer Worldwide Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Zona Franca S.A., Pfizer spol. s r.o., Pharmacia, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc., Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn S.A. de C.V., Pharmacia Brasil Ltda., Pharmacia Hepar LLC, Pharmacia Holding AB, Pharmacia Inter-American LLC, Pharmacia International B.V., Pharmacia LLC, Pharmacia Limited, Pharmacia Nostrum S.A., Pharmacia South Africa (Pty) Ltd, PowderJect Research Limited, PowderMed, Purepac Pharmaceutical Holdings LLC, Redvax, Renrall LLC, Rinat Neuroscience, Rinat Neuroscience Corp., Roerig Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Roerig S.A., Sao Cristovao Participacoes Ltda., Searle Laboratorios Lda., Serenex, Servicios P&U S. de R.L. de C.V., Shiley LLC, Sinergis Farma-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Site Realty Inc., Solinor LLC, Sugen LLC, Tabor LLC, The Pfizer Incubator LLC, Therachon, Thiakis Limited, Treerly Health Co. Ltd, US Oral Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, Upjohn Laboratorios Lda., Vesteralens Naturprodukter A/S, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AB, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AS, Vesteralens Naturprodukter OY, Vicuron Holdings LLC, Vinci Farma S.A., W-L LLC, Warner Lambert, Warner Lambert Ilac Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Warner Lambert del Uruguay S.A., Warner-Lambert (Thailand) Limited, Warner-Lambert Company AG, Warner-Lambert Company LLC, Warner-Lambert Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Warner-Lambert S.A., Whitehall International Inc., Whitehall Laboratories Inc., Wyeth (Thailand) Ltd., Wyeth AB, Wyeth Australia Pty. Limited, Wyeth Ayerst Inc., Wyeth Ayerst S.a r.l., Wyeth Biopharma, Wyeth Canada ULC, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare LLC, Wyeth Europa Limited, Wyeth Farma S.A., Wyeth Holdings LLC, Wyeth Industria Farmaceutica Ltda., Wyeth KFT., Wyeth LLC, Wyeth Lederle S.r.l., Wyeth Lederle Vaccines S.A., Wyeth Pakistan Limited, Wyeth Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Company, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals FZ-LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Limited, Wyeth Puerto Rico Inc., Wyeth S.A.S, Wyeth Subsidiary Illinois Corporation, Wyeth Whitehall Export GmbH, Wyeth Whitehall SARL, Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) Limited, Wyeth-Ayerst International LLC, and Wyeth-Ayerst Promotions Limited.

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Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, distributes and retails motor fuels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel from independent refiners and oil companies and supplies it to independently operated dealer stations, distributors and other consumer of motor fuel, and partnership operated stations, as well as to commission agent locations. The All Other segment operates retail stores that offer motor fuel, merchandise, foodservice, and other services that include credit card processing, car washes, lottery, automated teller machines, money orders, prepaid phone cards, and wireless services. It also leases and subleases real estate properties; and operates terminal facilities on the Hawaiian Islands. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated 78 retail stores in Hawaii and New Jersey. Sunoco GP LLC serves as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as Susser Petroleum Partners LP and changed its name to Sunoco LP in October 2014. Sunoco LP was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Nearly every state in the union has outpaced the rate of personal income growth in Illinois since the recession set in a decade ago, according to recent economic data.

The personal income figures for all U.S. states have rebounded to surpass pre-recession levels, the Pew Charitable Trusts reported last month, but Illinois 0.8 percent annual rate of income growth was the second slowest pace nationwide, just ahead of Nevada. By contrast, North Dakota had personal income gains averaging 4.5 percent a year.

More HERE
Families of the hostages might call for restraint. But Ottos fate demonstrates that unless the United States forces Pyongyang to assess it is not in its interest to harm them, we have no reason to think their fate will be better than Ottos.

Require  not ask  the Peoples Republic of China to comply with U.N. sanctions. Even though China has signaled it may be more willing to comply with the Trump administrations demands than it was with the previous U.S. administration, we have seen this act before. About 90 percent of North Koreas trade remains with China. This cannot stand. The United States must impose secondary sanctions against Chinese entities that are facilitating North Koreas prohibited nuclear weapon and missile programs. The previous administrations failed to do this. President Trumps should not. []

This one will take more time, but the Trump administration must expand the U.S. missile defense (MD) deployments in the Pacific region and on the U.S. homeland. The United States has various MD systems in place in South Korea and Japan and the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system remains the only system deployed to protect the U.S. homeland. The Obama administration significantly cut the GMD program. The Missile Defense Agency has been playing catch-up ever since. The recently released defense budget did not reflect President Trumps public commitment to defense, let alone missile defense. This must be remedied by significantly boosting the entire defense budget, and especially missile defense, with an emphasis on homeland defense. [Hudson Institute]
EE Times

6/22/2017 01:19 PM EDT

AUSTIN, Texas  Taiwan will invest about $131 million over four years in the island nation's semiconductor industry, according to multiple news reports citing recent remarks by Taiwan's Minister of Science and Technology (MOST).

Reports out of Asia indicate that Minister Chen Liang-gee, speaking at the grand opening of a Phison Electronics fab in Taiwan last week. MOST will invest about $33.5 million per year over the next four years in high-tech chip applications including artificial intelligence (AI), the report quoted the minister as saying.

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Italy's government stepped in at the weekend to liquidate two ailing lenders from the northern region of Veneto in a controversial bid to avoid a bank run.

After an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday, Rome agreed to provide 5.2bn of fresh capital to Intesa San Paolo in exchange for acquiring the 'good' assets of Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca.

That amount included 4.8bn in order to help Intesa maintain its capital ratios and an additional 400m of guarantees to help protect it against the risk that some of those assets might sour.

In parallel, the Italian government said it would offer as many as 12bn in additinal guarantees to help cover potential losses from the two lenders' bad loan portfolios, which would be hived off into a so-called 'bad' bank.

Commenting on the weekend's events in Italy, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets said: "so much for the so called new single European rule book and the much vaunted European Banking Union. It appears that there is one rule for Spanish banks, and the recent rescue of Popular Bank, and another for Italian banks.

"Let's hope the Italian government has deep pockets given that this particular bailout is a fraction of the non-performing loans in the Italian banking system, of which it is estimated there are about 300bn."

As a part of the agreement, the branches of the two Veneto-based banks were to begin trading on Monday under the Intesa brand.

The arrangement was approved by the European Commission despite the fact that it did not 'bail-in' the senior bondholders of the two banks nor its big depositors.

Brussels based its decision on the fact that the liquidation of the two banks meant no competition issues would arise as a result. Furthermore, the EC concluded that to not inject funds would have a disproportionately negative effect on the region's economy.

Intesa was the only lender who tabled a bid for the assets, offering to pay 1.0 for the good assets.

Retail junior bondholders would also be made good by Intesa, who said it would provide 60m to fully reimburse them.

In April 2016, the European Central Bank found the two lenders were in need of 6.4bn of extra capital but neither was able to raise the required amounts in private markets.

As of 0821 BST shares in Intesa Sanpaolo were higher by 3.44% to 2.71.
Qatar is reportedly set to welcome up to 1,000 Turkish troops as the diplomatic row engulfing the state worsens.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed his support for the under-fire state, which has been subject to a blockade from an alliance of its neighbours, led by Saudi Arabia.

The closure of Turkeys military base in Qatar was one of the key 13 demands laid out by Saudi and its allies, who have accused the country of aiding terrorism.

Erdogan came fully out in support of Qatar during a speech on Sunday, calling the demands laid out by the other gulf states for lifting the blockade a breach of international law.

Erdogan came fully out in support of Qatar during a speech on Sunday

"To ask Turkey to pull out its troops from Qatar is firstly disrespectful behaviour towards us," the Turkish president said in Istanbul.

"We dont need permission from anyone to establish military bases among partners. We endorse and appreciate Qatars stance towards the 13 demands."

Saudi Arabia told Qatar on Friday it had 10 days to comply with the list of demands, which included the removal of Turkish troops, scaling down its relationship with Iran and the shutting down of media network al-Jazeera.

Qatar has said it will not comply with the demands ahead of the 3 July deadline, and it is not clear what the Saudi response will be when it passes.
Markets in Asia were higher by end-of-play on Monday, with oil price gains putting some wind up the regions freckle, while Takata filed for bankruptcy as had been widely rumoured in the previous week.

Japans Nikkei 225 managed gains of 0.1%, finishing at 20,153.35, while the yen pulled back from its weekend strength against the greenback, last falling away 0.3% to JPY 111.61.

Embattled airbag maker Takata had filed for bankruptcy in both Japan and the US, reports confirmed on Monday, in the latest chapter of its faulty products saga.

Faulty airbags fitted to cars were linked to at least 17 fatalities, leading to the largest ever product recall in the automobile industry.

Takata shares were suspended from trade in Tokyo, and were set to be delisted from the exchange on 27 July.

Nissan and Toyota were among the carmakers to comment on the Takata bankruptcy, claiming the latest development could make it hard to claw back the high cost of the car recalls.

Toyota shares were off 0.38%, while Nissan was 0.19% ahead.

Also in Japan, ailing technology conglomerate Toshiba was down 3.12%, after the firm was downgraded to the second tier of the Tokyo exchange from the first tier.

The company was still stuck in an extremely long tunnel, filled with accounting scandals, failed US nuclear acquisitions and cash crises, but analysts were hopeful there was light somewhere at the end.

We get the impression that the sale of the memory business opens a path to the resolution of the excess debt problem, noted Citi analysts Kota Ezawa and Takero Fujiwara.

While nothing can be taken for granted  we did detect a sense of progress.

Toshiba last week selected a Japanese state-backed consortium as its preferred bidder for its valuable memory chip division, though it was facing a legal stumbling block from its manufacturing plant joint venture partner Western Digital, which had also wanted a piece of the Toshiba chip business.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was 0.89% ahead at 3,186.05, while the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite finished solidly ahead by 1.36% at 1,896.79.

South Koreas Kospi was up 0.42% at 2,388.66, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong closed ahead 0.79% at 25,871.89.

Volumes were lighter across many of the regions markets, with a dearth of releases giving traders little reason to be energetic.

The start of the week sees only secondary data releases and scarce corporate news, meaning there is little to rock the market boat, noted CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy.

Oil prices were higher as the greenback weakened, with Brent crude last up 0.22% at $45.64 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate adding 0.44% to $43.20.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.08% to finish at 5,720.16, with the utilities and consumer staples subindexes underpinning the benchmark.

Rio Tinto finished the Sydney session 1.26% higher, as traders there had a chance to respond to Glencores move on Friday to raise its offer for the companys coal assets.

The vendor had earlier said it was selecting a bid from Chinese-owned Yancoal.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealands S&P/NZX 50 was up 0.6% at 7,595.50, led higher by fuel refiner and retailer Z Energy, which added 2.4%, while telco Spark was 2.3% higher.

Local subscription broadcaster Sky - unrelated to its London-listed namesake - was down 2.1% after it jointly announced with Vodafones New Zealand arm that they wouldnt take their merger agreement to the appeals stage, after their plans were disallowed by the Commerce Commission regulator earlier this year.

The down under dollars were mixed, with the Aussie last 0.11% stronger on the greenback at AUD 1.3202, while the Kiwi weakened 0.14% to NZD 1.3749.
London stocks were set for a positive open on Monday, taking their cue from an upbeat session in Asia.

The FTSE 100 was expected to open 11 points higher at 7,435.

Investors will be mulling over news that the Italian government has been forced to bail out two banks in the Venice region at a cost of 4.6bn. The good assets of Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca will be taken on by Intesa Sanpaolo for 1 while the bad assets will be left on the government's books, in a rescue Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said was to ensure "the good health of our banking system".

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "So much for the so called new single European rule book and the much vaunted European Banking Union. It appears that there is one rule for Spanish banks, and the recent rescue of Popular Bank, and another for Italian banks.

"Lets hope the Italian government has deep pockets given that this particular bailout is a fraction of the non-performing loans in the Italian banking system, of which it is estimated there are about 300bn."

On the data front, BBA mortgage approvals are at 0930 BST.

In corporate news, Amec Foster Wheeler said it has completed the sale of its circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler business to Sumitomo Heavy Industries for $170m, which will be used to reduce net debt.

The CFB boiler business is the largest part of Amec's GPG unit. The remaining GPG steam generator businesses include the heat recovery steam generator and industrial boilers businesses and these are also expected to be sold during 2017, Amec said.

Ultra Electronics was forced to respond to press speculation over the weekend, after Mergermarket reported it was in talks to acquire its underwater sensors joint venture partner in a bid to strengthen its contractual ties with the US Navy.

The company said it could confirm it was in advanced discussions to acquire NYSE-listed Sparton Corporation, subject to regulator and shareholder approvals.

Should Ultra acquire Sparton, the board said it intended to sell Sparton's other business, the Manufacturing & Design Services (MDS) division.
Pact will allow prime minister to cling to power as unionists extract assurances

Embattled UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday agreed a 1.5bn financial package for Northern Ireland in return for the 10 parliamentary votes of the region's hard right Democratic Unionist Party to help prop up her minority government.

The deal is not a formal coalition, but the unionists will pledge their votes on a "confidence and supply" basis. The financial package is a range of new pledges worth 1bn in addition to 0.5bn alreadt guaranteed by central government.

May inked the deal after a meeting with DUP leader Arlene Foster and other party figures at Downing Street. In a statement, the two parties agreed that "support on other matters will be agreed on a case-by-case basis".

As part of the deal the triple lock guarantee of at least a 2.5% rise in the state pension and winter fuel payments were retained throughout the UK - both had been under threat in the Tories General Election manifesto.

The DUP will also support the government on Brexit-related votes and anti-terror measures, according to the communique.

"I welcome this agreement which will enable us to work together in the interest of the whole United Kingdom, give us the certainty we require as we embark on our departure from the European Union, and help us build a stronger and fairer society at home. In the interests of transparency, the full terms of this agreement have been published," May said.

May is clinging on to power after losing her parliamentary majority in the June 8 snap election. The deal has attracted widespread criticism due to the DUP's anti-abortion and anti gay rights position.

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn slammed the deal and demanded the government explain how it would meet the financial commitments given to the DUP.

"Austerity has failed. Cuts to vital public services must be halted right across the UK, not just in Northern Ireland," he said.

"The government must immediately answer two questions. Where is the money for the Tory-DUP deal coming from? And, will all parts of the UK receive the much needed additional funding that Northern Ireland will get as part of the deal?"

"This Tory-DUP deal is clearly not in the national interest but in Mays partys interest to help her cling to power."

There was also anger north of the border when it emerged that Scotland would not be given any extra funding proportionate to that of Northern Ireland.

First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, called the arrangement a "grubby, shameless deal" that showed that "the Tories have shown that they will stop at nothing to hold on to power - even sacrificing the very basic principles of devolution".

"By ignoring the Barnett formula, Scotland will be missing out on an estimated 2.9bn in funding for our public services - that is the price to Scottish taxpayers for the Tories to stay in power. This breaks the very principles that underpin devolution and the funding settlement the Tories pledged to protect."

The Barnett formula is a system of grants that dictates the level of public spending in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Extra funding - or cuts - from Westminster are allocated according to the population size of each nation and which powers are devolved to them.
The Co-operative Bank is no longer up for sale as it continues talks with investors to boost its capital reserves.

The bank, which almost collapsed back in 2013 due to a 1bn black hole in its finances, said in February that it was beginning a sale process and considering other options to build capital as it failed to satisfy the Bank of England's regulatory requirements.

On Monday, the Co-op reiterated that it is in advanced discussions with investors to raise capital and confirmed that a majority of the key commercial aspects of the proposal have been agreed.

"Given the advanced nature of the proposal, the board has decided to discontinue the formal sale process under the Takeover Code. The bank is, therefore, no longer in an 'offer period' for the purposes of the Takeover Code and, accordingly, the requirement to make disclosures under Rule 8 of the Takeover Code has now ceased."

If implemented, the rescue plan would enable the Co-op to meet the longer-term capital requirements applicable to all UK banks and to continue as a stand-alone entity. It would also "safeguard the bank's values and ethics".

The Co-op also said that its future regulatory capital requirements have improved since January and it is now targeting sustainable profitability in the medium term and a mid-single digit return on equity in 2021.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals has announced the retirement of Michael Raya, the chief executive officer of the US business, along with organisational changes to the US business and a number of senior leadership changes and appointments.

Raya, who was with the business more than 25 years, will retire at the end of this year and the US business will be organised into two entities - a generics division and an injectables unit - both of which will report into the chairman and chief executive, Said Darwazah.

Brian Hoffmann has been promoted to president of the generics division, while Riad Mishlawi will be CEO of the injectables division. Raya will continue to have oversight of the US business, working closely with the team for the rest of the year to transition the business.

Darwazah said: "I would like to thank Mike for his many years of successful leadership of our US business, and wish him well in his retirement. The leadership and organisational changes we have announced today will bring greater organisational focus and alignment, establish a scalable structure to enable continued growth, and strengthen the US leadership team."
Ultra Electronics was forced to respond to press speculation over the weekend, after Mergermarket reported it was in talks to acquire its underwater sensors joint venture partner in a bid to strengthen its contractual ties with the US Navy.

The FTSE 250 company said it could confirm it was in advanced discussions to acquire NYSE-listed Sparton Corporation, subject to regulator and shareholder approvals.

Should Ultra acquire Sparton, the board said it intended to sell Sparton's other business, the Manufacturing & Design Services (MDS) division.

Sparton's Engineered Components & Products (ECP) division is Ultra's 50-50 partner in the long-standing ERAPSCO joint venture.

In 2014, ERAPSCO was awarded an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract by the US Navy which runs until 2019, the Ultra board explained in a statement.

$664m of purchase orders have been received in the first four years and a further $160m of purchase orders are expected to be added in FY18.

Ultra's participation in the ERAPSCO joint venture had brought an extensive knowledge, experience and proven performance to a major customer, the US DoD, the board added.

Ultra is in a unique position to preserve the status quo for the US Navy and help to ensure that the delivery of critical assets to this major customer is not interrupted.

The board said the principal reasons for Ultra pursuing the proposed acquisition of Sparton included the idea that the ECP division of Sparton was an excellent strategic fit with Ultra's existing activities, in a market segment in which the group had extensive experience and well established customers.

It also said the acquisition would enhance Ultra's continuing relationship with a major customer, increase its exposure to the growing sonobuoy segment, provide attractive financial returns for Ultra, and allow Ultra to secure an important revenue and earnings stream.

The directors of Ultra intend to maintain a prudent funding structure for the group and have a medium-term target range for a net debt to EBITDA ratio of below 1.5x.

The acquisition, if agreed, is expected to be funded by Ultra's existing debt facilities and an equity placing of new shares representing up to 9.99 per cent. of Ultra's existing ordinary share capital.

The acquisition of Sparton and the disposal of MDS, if completed, were not expected to alter Ultra's objective of returning to a through-cycle target of 85% cash conversion in the medium term.

A further announcement regarding Ultra's potential interest in Sparton will be made if and when appropriate.
Talks to conclude a trade deal between the United States and European Union will resume after the German elections in September, Americas chief trade negotiator has said. Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, said that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was an "important negotiation" for America and that there were "lot of reasons to do it". - The Times

Some of the Citys most powerful institutional investors have abandoned their opposition to a London listing of Saudi Aramco after a political lobbying drive and an apparent compromise proposal suggested by the regulator, according to reports. Institutions including Royal London Asset Management and the Investment Association had taken exception to a local listing of what is considered to be the worlds most valuable company because it would flout Londons listing rules and risk disenfranchising investors. - The Times

Theresa May will offer to give Europeans living in the UK the same residency, employment, health, welfare and pensions rights as British citizens, but demand that serious and persistent criminals may be more easily deported than at present. The prime ministers 15-page package, which will be published on Monday alongside a statement to parliament, will be designed to give people who arrived in Britain before an agreed cut off date settled status. - The Guardian

A retail investment fund backed by Mikhail Fridman, the Russian billionaire, has struck its first deal, agreeing to buy Holland & Barrett for 1.77bn. L1 Retail is expected to confirm today that it is buying the health retailer from Natures Bounty, an American maker of vitamins and health supplements owned by Carlyle, a US private equity group. Holland & Barrett is Europes largest health and wellness retail chain, with more than 1,150 shops and an online business. - The Times

Power and water company bosses were facing criticism last night after raking in millions despite complaining of out of control costs and missing leak targets. Gas and electricity provider SSE provoked an outcry when it handed boss Alistair Phillips-Davies, 49, a 72 per cent pay rise  weeks after he railed against a cap on bills. Iain Conn, 54, the boss of British Gas owner Centrica, also took home 4.1m while warning that a price cap could force the company to put up prices. - The Daily Mail

The Russian government is suspected of being behind a cyber-attack on parliament that breached dozens of email accounts belonging to MPs and peers. Although the investigation is at an early stage and the identity of those responsible may prove impossible to establish with absolute certainty, Moscow is deemed the most likely culprit. - The Guardian
Royal Bank of Scotland is to cut 443 jobs in Britain as the bank moves its team that arranges loans for small businesses to India. The taxpayer-controlled bank said that the roles would transfer to Mumbai, to be included in the groups growing team there, as part of a restructuring designed to cut costs, first reported in the Mail on Sunday. - Guardian on Sunday

EDF is bracing for a multi-billion euro rise in costs at its Hinkley Point C nuclear site after a fresh evaluation of the project revealed yet another likely delay. An internal review of the troubled project by senior executives at EDFs French headquarters is expected to confirm fears that the state-backed energy giant will not be able to deliver Hinkley on time or in line with its 18bn budget. The French newspaper Le Monde reported over the weekend that sources close to the review have said no one believes it can be delivered by 2025. - The Sunday Teleraph

Rupert Murdoch is about to learn whether the government has cleared his latest bid to buy Sky or whether concerns about competition could yet derail the deal. The culture secretary, Karen Bradley, will this week deliver her verdict on whether to greenlight 21st Century Foxs proposed 11.7bn takeover of the satellite broadcaster, or refer the deal to the competition authorities for further scrutiny. - Guardian on Sunday

Britain faces three years of recession, thousands of company failures and a 66 billion-a-year slump in exports if it suffers a cliff-edge exit from the European Union, according to a leading insurer. The forecast predicts that without a transitional deal in 2019 to keep Britain temporarily in the EU, 3,300 more firms will go bust, the pound will be worth less than the euro, and the economy will shrink 1.2%, staying in recession until 2021. The doom-laden view comes from the worlds biggest trade insurer Euler Hermes, part of global insurance giant Allianz. - Mail on Sunday

Fuel prices have fallen to the lowest levels this year and are set to slide still further as the cost of oil continues to plummet. Official figures show petrol has fallen on average to 115.12p a litre and diesel to 117.18p, down from a high of 120p and 123p respectively in February. The change reflects the fall in the price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, from $57 (44) a barrel in February to $45 at the end of last week. - Mail on Sunday

The international body that represents central banks said a recovery in global trade this year and improving levels of GDP in most countries could create complacency and convince policymakers to ignore warning signs of excessive lending coming from the financial sector. With only two weeks until the G20 summit of world leaders in Hamburg, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) said politicians and central banks needed to keep financial markets in check to prevent another crash. - Guardian on Sunday

Reports that Nicola Sturgeon is to put plans for a second independence referendum on hold to instead focus on delivering a soft Brexit are entirely speculative, a spokesman has insisted. The First Minister had set the timetable of a second ballot on Scotlands place in the UK being held between autumn 2018 and spring 2019 when she announced her plans in March. But in the wake of the general election, in which the SNP saw its share of the vote fall from 50% to 37% as the party lost 21 Westminster seats, she has been reflecting on that position. - Scotsman on Sunday

Turkeys president has described as disrespectful a demand by Saudi Arabia and its allies that it withdraw its troops from Qatar as a step towards ending a deepening dispute with the besieged Gulf state. Two days after the demand was made, Recep Tayyip Erdogan instead reiterated his support for Qatar and described the 13 demands levelled at the Gulf country as preconditions to restore relations as being against international law. - Guardian on Sunday
By Andy Rowell

There is a growing feeling within European capitals that a quiet, but deeply positive, revolution is happening under Emmanuel Macron in France.

Macrons opinion poll rating is high, especially boosted in how the young French president has reacted to Donald Trump on the international stage.

On Friday, there was further evidence of Macrons anti-Trump stance, when former governor of California and star of the Terminator film, Arnold Schwarzenegger, posted a selfie video of himself with Macron, where they mocked Trumps withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris agreement.

The video shows Schwarzenegger saying the pair talked about talking about environmental issues and a green future, before Macron adds: We will deliver together to make the planet great again.

And in another sign that things are changing in Paris, Frances new celebrity Ecological Transitions minister, Nicolas Hulot, has said the country will issue a moratorium on new oil and gas exploration licenses. There will be no new exploration licenses for hydrocarbons, we will pass the law this autumn, Hulot told a French news channel.

A former TV host of nature documentaries, Hulot is a popular environmentalist, and his appointment was seen as a major coup by Macrons new administration.

As the France24 website noted, this is about preventing future oil and gas development, not curtailing current operations:

The measure would essentially kill development of shale oil and gas in mainland France and in the countrys overseas territories, but does nothing to curb ongoing exploration or extraction projects involving conventional oil and gas.

Hulot said that the French government would be hit by costly legal action if it tried to stop current oil and gas operations, which cover about 4,000 square kilometers (approx. 1544 square miles) of the country.

This stance disappointed Frances environmental community, who thought Hulot could have gone further.

There are at least 55 exploration licenses that were previously approved and will likely be extended, and 132 extraction permits awaiting approval, said Juliette Renaud, a fossil fuel industry expert with Friends of the Earth.

If we continue to exploit conventional hydrocarbons, it will be impossible to keep global temperatures from rising above 2C, Renaud added.

While Frances announcement has to be welcomed as a first step and an encouragement for other countries to follow suit, it is not by any means a large oil and gas producer.

In February, production was 15,000 bpd, so the majority of its oil and gas which it consumes was imported.

But it is yet another sign that the days of unfettered fossil fuel extraction are over.
Newark, New Jersey will soon be home to the largest indoor vertical farm in the world. The city just broke ground on the massive, 69,000-square-foot AeroFarms headquarters thats capable of producing up to 2 million pounds of vegetables and herbs annually once its in full operation.

The new $30 million complex dwarfs Japans (already impressive) 25,000-square-foot vertical indoor farm, which had been the worlds largest until now.

Merging agriculture and the latest in technology, the AeroFarms system relies on LED lights, aeroponics (where plants basically grow in nutrient-rich mist) and climate control. Plants grow in stacked racks without sun, soil or pesticides.

The companys patented controlled growing environment purportedly uses 95 percent less water than traditional farms. Photo credit: AeroFarms

In the Bloomberg video below, AeroFarms CEO and co-founder David Rosenberg explains how conditions such as lighting, oxygen, carbon dioxide, temperature and pH balances can be optimized inside the farm to create the perfect growing environment.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXwMM5ra_mU

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If were talking about feeding a planet of 8 billion or 9 billion, we need a new paradigm of how we grow our food. This is it. This is the future, Rosenberg said about the project.

According to projections from the United Nations, the worlds population will reach 9.6 billion people by 2050, 86 percent of whom will live in cities that might be far-removed from traditional farms. For people who live in major commercial cities such as Newark, these sky-high farms allow access to fresh, nutritious food year-round.

Vertical farms have been touted as the future of food and agriculture. As we have mentioned before, these farms are ideal because they grow produce where traditional agriculture would have been impossible. Since growing is done indoors, the plants are immune to inclement weather and natural disasters that can wreak agricultural havoc and cause food shortages. So while we might not think of Newark as an agricultural hub, a vertical farm actually makes a lot of sense for a city with long winters and memories of Hurricane Sandy still fresh.

Not only that, NBC News reported that the project will create nearly 80 local jobs, which is much-needed for a community with twice the unemployment rate of the national average. The farm will also supply fresh produce to local businesses and restaurants, cutting transportation costs and the many miles that food usually travels to get to plates, the news outlet reported.

Newark Mayor Ras. J. Baraka also spoke about how the farm is an important educational tool for the community. Any sort of urban farming will have a positive impact on the physical health of its citizens. There will be opportunities to educate our citizens about eating smart, even on a budget, Baraka told NBC News. Many students who grow up in urban communities never experience rural livingthey have never seen fruits or vegetables growing from their source. What an incredible science lesson it will be to bring classes to this urban farm.
Indoor vertical farming is often derided as a pipe dream and completely infeasible on a commercial scale, but Shigeharu Shimamuras farm proves that indoor farming is not only possible, but profitable. Shimamura started Mirai, an indoor farming company in 2004. When the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, sparking the Fukushima nuclear disaster and causing food shortages, Shimamura seized the opportunity to turn an abandoned, semiconductor factory into what is now the worlds biggest indoor farm.

At 25,000 square feet, the farm can yield up to 10,000 heads of lettuce a day. Thats 100 times more per square foot than traditional methods. One of the major obstacles to making indoor farming cost-effective was lighting. General Electric (GE) who partnered with Mirai, reports, plant factories have typically used fluorescent lamps for artificial illumination, which has low initial costs. But these fluorescent lights didnt increase yields enough to cover the energy costs.

Then, GE and Mirai developed LEDs that generate light in wavelengths adapted to plant growth. While reducing electric power consumption by 40 percent compared to fluorescent lighting, the facility has succeeded in increasing harvest yields by 50 percent. Since the plants grow twice as fast with 40 percent less power, 80 percent less food waste and 99 percent less water usage than outdoor fields, Mirai has been able to recover the initial cost of the LED lights and make the cost of artificial lighting worth it.

For now, it is only half automated because various tasks including harvesting the lettuce are done by hand. Shimamura, however, predicts the emergence of harvest robots, who can seed, transplant, harvest and package the products.

Indoor agriculture takes out many of the risks inherent in outdoor crop production. By controlling light exposure, temperature, humidity and watering levels, you can grow food very efficiently. Indoor farming has the potential to produce food with less energy, less water, less waste and in less space than traditional methods. Because agriculture has such a significant impact on the environment, indoor farming offers solutions to many of the current problems. It could eliminate land conversion and habitat loss, wasteful water consumption and soil erosion and degradation, just to name a few.

Mirai has two smaller factories in Mongolia, where long, harsh winters stunt the growing season and leave Mongolians without fresh vegetables for many months. Instead of importing them thousands of miles from Europe, they are now able to grow them domestically. Shimamura is looking to expand to Hong Kong and Russia in the near future and eventually all over the world.

As for crops besides lettuce, Shimamura says, I believe that, at least technically, we can produce almost any kind of plant in a factory. But what makes most economic sense is to produce fast-growing vegetables that can be sent to the market quickly. That means leaf vegetables for us now. In the future, though, we would like to expand to a wider variety of produce.

In a world facing more and more extreme weather events from climate change, there will likely be more devastating impacts on agriculture, such as those from the Fukushima disaster and Typhoon Haiyan. The GE team in Japan believes that indoor farms could be a key to solving food shortages in the world. Indoor farming takes what factories do best, which is harnessing technology to efficiently produce a good, and what nature does best, which is producing biomass from light, water and nutrients, and combining the two.

If done correctly, indoor farming has the potential to be the best of both worlds. Mirai is by no means the only indoor farming operation in the world. There are more like this one in Chicago. Says Shimamura: Finally, we are about to start the real agricultural industrialization.

Watch how it works:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oYz6E1q158

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Despite dramatic reductions in the death rate from cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke, it remains the leading causes of death, and experts have expressed concern that the number of new therapies coming to market has lagged. A new study from the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University and the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development at Tufts University School of Medicine tracks the progress of developing new therapies, from basic science on mechanisms of cardiovascular disease through the development of new drugs based on this science. The results suggest that the extensive delay in the emergence of new drugs reflects the long timelines for growth of basic research on cardiovascular disease, and that strategies for accelerating new cures should focus on optimizing the growth of biomedical research and better synchronizing drug development with this growth.

The article, which is entitled "Landscape of innovation for cardiovascular pharmaceuticals: from basic science to new molecular entities" and appears in the journal Clinical Therapeutics, tracked the development of 168 drugs currently approved for cardiovascular disease and 178 candidate drugs currently in development along with the maturation of the basic research underlying these products. These results show that the median time from the initiation of research on new drug targets to first approval of a drug based on this research was greater than 40 years, with the time required for maturation of this research contributing the most to the delay in emergence of new products.

"Our analysis shows that there are promising new therapies for cardiovascular disease in the pipeline, but that these therapies only begin to emerge when the underlying science is mature." Said Dr. Jennifer Beierlein, lead author of this research. "The best way to speed drug development is to gain a better understanding of how basic research proceeds and how to accelerate this progress."

"We have made a lot of progress in reducing regulatory review times and creating expedited paths to bring critical therapeutics to market more quickly," said Dr. Kenneth Kaitin, Professor and Director at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. "By looking more holistically at the innovation pathway, this research tells us what we need to do next to accelerate development even further."

This report highlights the critical importance of continued support for the basic research required to discover and develop the next generation of drugs for cardiovascular disease. The authors also point to the risk of initiating drug development without a sufficiently established basis of scientific research.

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The authors on this study included Jennifer M. Beierlein, Laura M. McNamee, Michael J. Walsh, Kenneth I. Kaitin, Joseph A. DiMasi, and Fred D. Ledley. This work was supported by a grant from the National Biomedical Research Foundation.

THE CENTER FOR INTEGRATION OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY at Bentley University brings together faculty, students, and visiting scholars in an interdisciplinary effort to understand and accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries to create public value. The Center is an environment for thought leadership and interdisciplinary scholarship spanning basic science, data analytics, business and public policy. For more information, visit http://www.bentley.edu/sciindustry and follow us on Twitter @sciindustry.

THE TUFTS CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF DRUG DEVELOPMENT at Tufts University School of Medicine provides strategic information to help drug developers, regulators, and policy makers improve the quality and efficiency of pharmaceutical development, review, and utilization. Tufts CSDD, based in Boston, conducts a wide range of in-depth analyses on pharmaceutical issues and hosts symposia, workshops, and public forums, and publishes Tufts CSDD Impact Reports, a bi-monthly newsletter providing analysis and insight into critical drug development issues. For more information visit http://csdd.tufts.edu/ and follow us on Twitter @TuftsCSDD.
Steelhead trout are entrenched in the economy, ecology, and culture of the Pacific Northwest. Declining numbers of steelhead in the rivers flowing through British Columbia, Washington state, and Oregon are troubling fishers and fisheries managers alike. A new study published today in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (CJFAS) shows that survival of young steelhead trout in ocean environments has also been precipitously declining.

Survival of juvenile steelhead in the ocean has recently been considered a possible factor in the decline of these fish but to date long-term survival and abundance trends among Pacific Northwest populations were largely unknown. Now, using multiple decades of data for 48 populations of wild and hatchery steelhead trout, scientists at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have shown that declining survival of juvenile steelhead in the ocean is strongly coupled with significant declines in the abundance of adults.

"We were able to compile data from multiple reports and databases to document survival in the ocean of Oregon, Washington, and BC steelhead trout and show that these trends paralleled declines in adult abundance and also differ among populations originating from different areas," says Dr. Neala Kendall, lead author of the study. "We believe this is the first time these data have been brought together in a single study."

Populations with particularly concerning declines were those in the Lower Columbia River and in Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean and part of the Salish Sea that extends north and south of Seattle, Washington. The study found that among populations in Puget Sound, ocean survival of juvenile steelhead in the 2000s has declined by 77% on average compared to the 1980s; survival averaged 3.1% in the 1980s but dropped to 0.7% in the 2000s.

The study found parallel trends in adult abundance. Specifically, numbers of adults in Puget Sound steelhead populations in the 2000s have declined by 53% on average compared to the 1980s.

The declines in juvenile survival "likely contributed to these fishes' low abundance," says Kendall; abundances are so low that Puget Sound steelhead were listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2007. Steelhead populations in British Columbia included in the study also have all declined in abundance and ocean survival since the 1980s. Declines in survival of juvenile steelhead in ocean environments were not as drastic for populations along the coasts of Washington and Oregon which are not listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Survival and abundance trends, like those generated in this study, can enhance current tools being used to predict changes in steelhead populations. To best conserve steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, especially recovery efforts for Puget Sound populations, "stakeholders and concerned citizens want to better understand why these populations have been struggling and how marine survival has contributed," Kendall says. "With this information, policymakers and managers can have different expectations about Puget Sound and Lower Columbia steelhead [compared to] fish on the coast due to their different marine survival patterns," she adds.

Kendall sees this study as providing further support for ongoing efforts by natural resource agencies and NGOs to improve steelhead survival and protect the habitats these juvenile trout use upon arriving in the ocean. These include reducing shoreline armoring (e.g., construction of seawalls), protecting and promoting forage fish, understanding the impacts of marine mammals, and decreasing exposure to parasites and chemical contaminants.

The research is part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, a US-Canada collaboration of more than 60 organizations conducting research to understand why salmon and steelhead are dying in the Salish Sea.

The article, "Declining patterns of Pacific Northwest steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) adult abundance and smolt survival in the ocean" by Neala W. Kendall, Gary W. Marston, and Matthew M. Klungle was published today in Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.

###

Citation

Please cite Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences as the source of this story and include a hyperlink to the research study: dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2016-0486.

Media Contact

Natalie Sopinka, Communications Coordinator, Canadian Science Publishing, +1 613-656-9846 ext.232, natalie.sopinka@cdnsciencepub.com.

About the Journal

The Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (publishing since 1901 under various titles) is the primary publishing vehicle for the multidisciplinary field of aquatic sciences. It publishes perspectives (syntheses, critiques, and re-evaluations), discussions (comments and replies), articles, and rapid communications, relating to current research on -omics, cells, organisms, populations, ecosystems, or processes that affect aquatic systems. The journal seeks to amplify, modify, question, or redirect accumulated knowledge in the field of fisheries and aquatic science.

Disclaimer

Canadian Science Publishing publishes the NRC Research Press suite of journals but is not affiliated with the National Research Council of Canada. Papers published by Canadian Science Publishing are peer-reviewed by experts in their field. The views of the authors in no way reflect the opinions of Canadian Science Publishing. Requests for commentary about the contents of any study should be directed to the authors.
An international team of researchers, working at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley, fabricated an atomically thin material and measured its exotic and durable properties that make it a promising candidate for a budding branch of electronics known as "spintronics."

The material - known as 1T'-WTe2 - bridges two flourishing fields of research: that of so-called 2-D materials, which include monolayer materials such as graphene that behave in different ways than their thicker forms; and topological materials, in which electrons can zip around in predictable ways with next to no resistance and regardless of defects that would ordinarily impede their movement.

At the edges of this material, the spin of electrons - a particle property that functions a bit like a compass needle pointing either north or south - and their momentum are closely tied and predictable.

This latest experimental evidence could elevate the material's use as a test subject for next-gen applications, such as a new breed of electronic devices that manipulate its spin property to carry and store data more efficiently than present-day devices. These traits are fundamental to spintronics.

The material is called a topological insulator because its interior surface does not conduct electricity, and its electrical conductivity (the flow of electrons) is restricted to its edges.

"This material should be very useful for spintronics studies," said Sung-Kwan Mo, a physicist and staff scientist at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) who co-led the study, published today in Nature Physics.

"The flow of electrons is completely linked with the direction of their spins, and is limited only to the edges of the material," Mo said. "The electrons will travel in one direction, and with one type of spin, which is a useful quality for spintronics devices." Such devices could conceivably carry data more fluidly, with lesser power demands and heat buildup than is typical for present-day electronic devices.

"We're excited about the fact that we have found another family of materials where we can both explore the physics of 2-D topological insulators and do experiments that may lead to future applications," said Zhi-Xun Shen, a professor in Physical Sciences at Stanford University and the Advisor for Science and Technology at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory who also co-led the research effort. "This general class of materials is known to be robust and to hold up well under various experimental conditions, and these qualities should allow the field to develop faster," he added.

The material was fabricated and studied at the ALS, an X-ray research facility known as a synchrotron. Shujie Tang, a visiting postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley Lab and Stanford University, and a co-lead author in the study, was instrumental in growing 3-atom-thick crystalline samples of the material in a highly purified, vacuum-sealed compartment at the ALS, using a process known as molecular beam epitaxy.

The high-purity samples were then studied at the ALS using a technique known as ARPES (or angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy), which provides a powerful probe of materials' electron properties.

"After we refined the growth recipe, we measured it with ARPES. We immediately recognized the characteristic electronic structure of a 2-D topological insulator," Tang said, based on theory and predictions. "We were the first ones to perform this type of measurement on this material."

But because the conducting part of this material, at its outermost edge, measured only a few nanometers thin - thousands of times thinner than the X-ray beam's focus - it was difficult to positively identify all of the material's electronic properties.

So collaborators at UC Berkeley performed additional measurements at the atomic scale using a technique known as STM, or scanning tunneling microscopy. "STM measured its edge state directly, so that was a really key contribution," Tang said.

The research effort, which began in 2015, involved more than two dozen researchers in a variety of disciplines. The research team also benefited from computational work at Berkeley Lab's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC).

Two-dimensional materials have unique electronic properties that are considered key to adapting them for spintronics applications, and there is a very active worldwide R&D effort focused on tailoring these materials for specific uses by selectively stacking different types.

"Researchers are trying to sandwich them on top of each other to tweak the material as they wish - like Lego blocks," Mo said. "Now that we have experimental proof of this material's properties, we want to stack it up with other materials to see how these properties change."

A typical problem in creating such designer materials from atomically thin layers is that materials typically have nanoscale defects that can be difficult to eliminate and that can affect their performance. But because 1T'-WTe2 is a topological insulator, its electronic properties are by nature resilient.

"At the nanoscale it may not be a perfect crystal," Mo said, "but the beauty of topological materials is that even when you have less than perfect crystals, the edge states survive. The imperfections don't break the key properties."

Going forward, researchers aim to develop larger samples of the material and to discover how to selectively tune and accentuate specific properties. Besides its topological properties, its "sister materials," which have similar properties and were also studied by the research team, are known to be light-sensitive and have useful properties for solar cells and for optoelectronics, which control light for use in electronic devices.

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The ALS and NERSC are DOE Office of Science User Facilities. Researchers from Stanford University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Tech University, POSTECH in Korea, and Pusan National University in Korea also participated in this study. This work was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, the National Science Foundation of China, the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea, and the Basic Science Research Program in Korea.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Global solar energy production is taking a major hit due to air pollution and dust.

According to a new study, airborne particles and their accumulation on solar cells are cutting energy output by more than 25 percent in certain parts of the world. The regions hardest hit are also those investing the most in solar energy installations: China, India and the Arabian Peninsula.

The study appears online June 23 in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

"My colleagues in India were showing off some of their rooftop solar installations, and I was blown away by how dirty the panels were," said Michael Bergin, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University and lead author of the study. "I thought the dirt had to affect their efficiencies, but there weren't any studies out there estimating the losses. So we put together a comprehensive model to do just that."

With colleagues at the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Bergin measured the decrease in solar energy gathered by the IITGN's solar panels as they became dirtier over time. The data showed a 50-percent jump in efficiency each time the panels were cleaned after being left alone for several weeks.

The researchers also sampled the grime to analyze its composition, revealing that 92 percent was dust while the remaining fraction was composed of carbon and ion pollutants from human activity. While this may sound like a small amount, light is blocked more efficiently by smaller man-made particles than by natural dust. As a result, the human contributions to energy loss are much greater than those from dust, making the two sources roughly equal antagonists in this case.

"The manmade particles are also small and sticky, making them much more difficult to clean off," said Bergin. "You might think you could just clean the solar panels more often, but the more you clean them, the higher your risk of damaging them."

Having previously analyzed pollutants discoloring India's Taj Mahal, Bergin already had a good idea of how these different particles react to sunlight. Using his earlier work as a base, he created an equation that accurately estimates the amount of sunlight blocked by different compositions of solar panel dust and pollution buildup.

But grimy buildup on solar panels isn't the only thing blocking sunlight--the ambient particles in the air also have a screening effect.

For that half of the sun-blocking equation, Bergin turned to Drew Shindell, professor of climate sciences at Duke and an expert in using the NASA GISS Global Climate Model.

Because the climate model already accounts for the amount of the sun's energy blocked by different types of airborne particles, it was not a stretch to estimate the particles' effects on solar energy. The NASA model also estimates the amount of particulate matter deposited on surfaces worldwide, providing a basis for Bergin's equation to calculate how much sunlight would be blocked by accumulated dust and pollution.

The resulting calculations estimate the total loss of solar energy production in every part of the world. While the United States has relatively little migratory dust, more arid regions such as the Arabian Peninsula, Northern India and Eastern China are looking at heavy losses -- 17 to 25 percent or more, assuming monthly cleanings. If cleanings take place every two months, those numbers jump to 25 or 35 percent.

There are, of course, multiple variables that affect solar power production both on a local and regional level. For example, a large construction zone can cause a swift buildup of dust on a nearby solar array.

The Arabian Peninsula loses much more solar power to dust than it does manmade pollutants, Bergin said. But the reverse is true for regions of China, and regions of India are not far behind.

"China is already looking at tens of billions of dollars being lost each year, with more than 80 percent of that coming from losses due to pollution," said Bergin. "With the explosion of renewables taking place in China and their recent commitment to expanding their solar power capacity, that number is only going to go up."

"We always knew these pollutants were bad for human health and climate change, but now we've shown how bad they are for solar energy as well," continued Bergin. "It's yet another reason for policymakers worldwide to adopt emissions controls."

This work was supported by the US Agency for International Development and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research at Duke University.

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"Large reductions in solar energy production due to dust and particulate air pollution," Mike Bergin, Chinmay Ghoroi, Deepa Dixit, Jamie Schauer, Drew Shindell. Environmental Science & Technology Letters, June 26, 2017. DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.7b00197
DURHAM, N.C. -- Biodiversity losses from deep-sea mining are unavoidable and possibly irrevocable, an international team of 15 marine scientists, resource economists and legal scholars argue in a letter published today in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The experts say the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which is responsible under the UN Law of the Sea for regulating undersea mining in areas outside national jurisdictions, must recognize this risk. They say it must also communicate the risk clearly to its member states and the public to inform discussions about whether deep-seabed mining should proceed, and if so, what standards and safeguards need to be put into place to minimize biodiversity loss.

"There is tremendous uncertainty about ecological responses to deep-sea mining," said Cindy L. Van Dover, Harvey W. Smith Professor of Biological Oceanography at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. "Responsible mining needs to rely on environmental management actions that will protect deep-sea biodiversity and not on actions that are unproven or unreasonable."

"The extraction of non-renewable resources always includes tradeoffs," said Linwood Pendleton, International Chair in Marine Ecosystem Services at the European Institute of Marine Studies and an adjunct professor at Duke's Nicholas School. "A serious trade-off for deep-sea mining will be an unavoidable loss of biodiversity, including many species that have yet to be discovered."

Faced with this inevitable outcome, it's more important than ever that we understand deep-sea ecosystems and have a good idea of what we stand to lose before mining alters the seafloor forever, said Pendleton, who also serves as a senior scholar in the Oceans and Coastal Policy Program at Duke's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

Time is of the essence, the experts stress.

"Undersea deposits of metals and rare earth elements are not yet being mined, but there has been an increase in the number of applications for mining contracts," said Elva Escobar of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology. "In 2001, there were just six deep-sea mineral exploration contracts; by the end of 2017, there will be a total of 27 projects."

These projects include 18 contracts for polymetallic nodules, six for polymetallic sulfides and four for ferromanganese crusts, Escobar said. Of these, 17 would take place in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean between Hawai'i and Central America.

Industry estimates that billions of tons of manganese, copper, nickel and cobalt lie on or beneath the seafloor. These metals are used in electrical generators and motors, metal alloys, batteries, paints, and many other products.

Some mining proponents have argued that companies could offset the inevitable damage their activities will cause by restoring coastal ecosystems or creating new artificial offshore reefs. "But this is like saving apple orchards to protect oranges," Van Dover said.

"The argument that you can compensate for the loss of biological diversity in the deep sea with gains in diversity elsewhere is so ambiguous as to be scientifically meaningless," said Craig Smith, professor of oceanography at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

Deep-sea ecosystems and species can take decades or even centuries to recover from a disturbance, if they recover at all, Van Dover noted.

The scale of some proposed mining operations -- the largest of which will cover more than 83,000 square kilometers, an area larger than Maine -- and the depths at which some mining is to be conducted (three miles or more below the sea surface) will make reclamation of the affected sites so cost-prohibitive as to be unrealistic, the authors argue. And the approaches needed to perform restorative action are still largely untested.

Deep-sea scientists and legal experts from the United States, Mexico, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland and Australia co-wrote the peer-reviewed correspondence with Van Dover, Pendleton, Escobar and Smith.

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They are: J.A. Ardron and D. Jones of the University of Southampton; M. Gianni of the Deep-Sea Conservation Coalition; K.M. Gjerde of Wycliffe Management and the IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme; A. Jaeckel of Macquarie University; L.A. Levin of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego; H. Niner of University College London; L. Watling of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa; T. Thiele of the London School of Economics; P.J. Turner of Duke; and P.P.E. Weaver of Seascape Consultants.

CITATION: "Biodiversity Loss from Deep-sea Mining," C.L. Van Dover, J.A. Ardron, E. Escobar, M/ Gianni, K.M. Gjerde, A. Jaeckel, D. Jones, L.A. Levin, H. Niner, L. Pendleton, C.R. Smith, T. Thiele, P.J. Turner, L. Watling and P.P.E. Waver, Nature Geoscience, June 26 2017. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2983
Modulating the amplitude and phase of light is a key ingredient for many of applications such as wavefront shaping, transformation optics, phased arrays, modulators and sensors. Performing this task with high efficiency and small footprint is a major challenge for the development of optoelectronic devices.

In a recent paper published in Nature Photonics, ICFO researchers Dr. Achim Woessner and Dr. Mark Lundeberg, led by ICREA Prof. at ICFO Frank Koppens, in collaboration with Prof. Rainer Hillenbrand from CIC Nanogune, Iacopo Torre and Prof. Marco Polini from IIT and Dr. Yuanda Gao and Prof. James Hone from Columbia University, have developed a phase modulator based on graphene capable of tuning the light phase between 0 and 2 in situ.

To achieve this, they exploited the unique wavelength tunability of graphene plasmons, light coupled to electrons in graphene. In their experiment, they used ultra-high quality graphene and build a fully functional phase modulator with a device footprint of only 350 nm, which is 30 times than the wavelength of the infrared light used for this experiment. A near-field microscope was used to excite and image the plasmons, allowing an unprecedented insight into the plasmon properties such as their wavelength and phase.

This new type of phase modulator enables graphene plasmons to be used for ultra-compact light modulators and phase arrays with the possibility to control, steer and focus light in situ. This has potential applications for on-chip biosensing and two dimensional transformation optics.

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This research has been partially supported by the European Research Council, the European Graphene Flagship, the Government of Catalonia, Fundacio Cellex and the Severo Ochoa Excellence program of the Government of Spain.

Link to the paper: http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphoton.2017.98.html

Link to graphene at ICFO: http://graphene.icfo.eu/

Link to the research group led by ICREA Prof. at ICFO Frank Koppens: http://icfo.es/research/groups-details?group_id=31
New Rochelle, NY, June 26, 2017 -- Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers announces expanded subscription sales representation by Burgundy Information Services in Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey. These regions join current representation by Burgundy Information Services in the UK, Europe, Russia, and South Africa and extend the companies' cooperation through 2020.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2017, Burgundy Information Services represents a range of publishers, content aggregators, and library technology suppliers from around the world, specializing in negotiating the delivery of services and content to libraries and information centers. Through cooperation with Burgundy, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. has significantly increased the global reach and impact of its peer-reviewed journal portfolio in leading institutions throughout the world.

"Burgundy has proven to be a vital partner in the Mary Ann Liebert business, providing representation of our journals throughout their territories, as well as retaining a close line of communication with our organization in support of our clients," said Wendy Newsham, Director of Institutional Sales and Business Development at Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

"We are delighted to be expanding our relationship with Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.," said Paul Calow, Director at Burgundy Information Services. "Their ability to identify emerging areas of science, technology, and medicine and subsequently deliver high impact content to their respective research communities has helped us greatly in securing renewals and new business throughout Europe over the years. We are excited to now help with the distribution of this essential information to libraries and information centers in Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey."

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About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company universally acknowledged for publishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in the most promising areas of biomedical research, biotechnology and regenerative medicine, clinical medicine, public health, law, environmental studies, and technology and engineering. The company's publications make critical contributions in advancing research and facilitating collaboration throughout the world in academia, industry, and government, and are also highly respected resources for legislators, policymakers, and educators. A complete list of the firm's journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website
A new report from the Research Alliance for New York City Schools provides an in-depth look at high school students' pathways into and through college, revealing large improvements in college access, but also highlighting persistent differences in outcomes for historically underrepresented groups of students.

New York City has made dramatic progress reducing high school dropouts and boosting on-time graduation rates, which rose from 47 percent in 2005 to 70 percent in 2016. At the same time, educational priorities and expectations have changed, with an increased emphasis on graduating students who are college- and career-ready.

This new report, the second in the Research Alliance's New York City Goes to College series, explores how rising high school graduation rates are playing out as students move into and through college. The report follows multiple cohorts of New York City students, beginning with those who entered 9th grade in 2003 and ending with students who began 9th grade in 2008. Researchers followed each cohort for up to 10 years (through the 2014-15 school year).

Doing so allowed them to report six-year college completion rates for the early cohorts, an important metric since many students require more than four years to finish college. Researchers also included students who delayed their enrollment into college, as well as those who "stopped out"--that is, left college and returned later.

"Patterns of college going have changed, with many more enrollment options available to students. That demands a wider lens for measuring outcomes," said Kristin Black, the report's co-author and a research fellow at the Research Alliance through the NYU Institute for Education Sciences-funded Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training (IES-PIRT) program.

The researchers used a four-part framework - access, persistence, efficiency, and equity - to examine students' pathways from 9th grade to the end of college. Key findings include:

Access: There have been broad improvements in college access, driven largely by rising on-time high school graduation rates. The proportion of New York City 9th graders who enroll in college has increased over time, from 55 percent of students who started high school in 2003 to 61 percent of those who started in 2008.

Persistence: Higher rates of college access have been eroded somewhat by students leaving after one or two years of college. While the researchers measured a 6-percentage point increase in college enrollment from the 2003 to 2008 cohorts, a third of those gains were lost within the first two years of college for the 2008 cohort.

Efficiency: Although four-year colleges remain the primary source of degrees, increasing proportions of students have enrolled in two-year colleges, with fewer students delaying their college enrollment. Enrollment in two-year colleges is growing faster among students from underrepresented groups--that is, those from the poorest neighborhoods, Black and Latino students, and young men.

Equity: While all students have seen improved college access over time, gaps in enrollment and outcomes associated with gender and neighborhood income have persisted, and there is some evidence that differences by race/ethnicity have worsened. For example, while the 25-percentage point gap in college enrollment between Asian and Latino students (the highest and lowest attaining groups) remained unchanged from the 2003 to 2008 cohort, the gap between the groups after two years of college actually widened from 27 to 29 percentage points.

"New York City has made extraordinary progress in its high school graduation rates--and these changes have in turn driven improved college access for students who, even 20 years ago, would never have had the opportunity to enroll," said James Kemple, executive director at the Research Alliance. "But addressing deeply rooted inequities--particularly those associated with income and race--is proving much more challenging. In future studies, we will be able to see whether the City's current slate of reforms is moving the needle on these inequities."

The New York City Goes to College series is possible as a result of the NYC Partnership for College Readiness and Success, a collaboration between the Research Alliance, the NYC Department of Education, and CUNY. The partnership is aimed at better understanding how to prepare and support students toward college success.

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About the Research Alliance for New York City Schools

The Research Alliance for New York City Schools - founded in 2008 at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development - conducts studies on topics that matter to the city's public schools. It strives to advance equity and excellence in education by providing nonpartisan evidence about policies and practices that promote students' development and academic success. For more information, please visit http://www.ranycs.org.

About the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media, and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School's mission has been to expand human capacity through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice. To learn more about NYU Steinhardt, visit steinhardt.nyu.edu.
Although the United States has seen a dramatic increase in Mexican and Latin American immigrants since 1970, a recent study by Penn State researchers is one of the few where perceived discrimination is examined in this population. The study found that undocumented Latino immigrants are not the most likely group to report discrimination.

Nancy Landale, professor of sociology and demography, and Ralph Salvador Oropesa, professor of sociology and demography, discovered that U.S.-born, young male Latinos reported encountering the most discrimination in both interpersonal and institutional contexts. The findings were recently published in the Social Science Research journal.

"These results help us understand the growing Latino population's experience within the United States and what it means to be an American. They address what it means to feel excluded in this society and to feel that important opportunities are blocked due to race or ethnicity," said Landale.

There are two theories that may explain immigrants' perceived discrimination: the classic assimilation perspective suggests that as immigrants acclimate to a host nation, the native-born majority population will become more accepting of them and allow integration into the host culture. Contrarily, the ethnic resilience perspective states that as immigrants spend more time in a host country, they become more aware of their place in the social hierarchy and develop an ethnic consciousness to interpret acts of discrimination. Landale states, "The latter theory may hold true for native-born Latinos if lifetime exposure to American society is accompanied by limited opportunities for upward mobility."

In previous studies on Latino-perceived discrimination, the focus was not on discrimination itself, but rather how the perception affects individuals' mental and physical health. This study conducted by Landale and her team is one of the few studies to examine the relationship between legal status and perceived discrimination.

Participants consisted of 1,275 Los Angeles County Mexican and Central American Latinos and over 500 non-Latino white adults who were then categorized into five classes using latent class analysis. The contextual, demographic, socioeconomic and perceived discrimination data were gathered from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS) and the American Community Survey (ACS).

The L.A.FANS is a study of families and their neighborhoods in in L.A. County and the ACS is an ongoing study that collects and provides information about the American nation. Latent Class Analysis is a method of describing groups based on the association of several characteristics and organizing them into classes based on these traits. The relationship between these classes and perceived discrimination responses in interpersonal and institutional domains was then examined.

Landale's team discovered that the highest reporters of discrimination in both interpersonal and institutional contexts were young, U.S.-born Latino males. In contrast, both undocumented and documented Latino immigrants and older U.S.-born Latinos reported lower levels of discrimination.

"What ends up happening to young, U.S.-born Latinos is that they have higher expectations for inclusion than other Latino groups and greater awareness of unfair treatment and blocked opportunities," said Landale. "Consequently, they are more likely to report experiencing discrimination in interpersonal and institutional domains than other Latinos, including undocumented Latino immigrants."

Landale stressed that there is a need for more data on the undocumented Latino population since this group has been hard to study; they are not usually directly identified in data. This lack of information is why it is so important to collect data that fosters understanding of how legal status influences Latinos' experiences within the U.S. The researchers' discoveries expand the limited information available and will aid in understanding discrimination as well as how it affects the quickly diversifying American population.

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This study was funded by grants from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Additional support was provided by Penn State's Population Research Institute, part of the Social Science Research Institute.
Many genes linked to late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) are expressed in myeloid cells and regulated by a single protein, according to research conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published June 19 in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Mount Sinai researchers led an international, genome-wide study of more than 40,000 people with and without the disease and found that innate immune cells of the myeloid lineage play an even more central role in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis than previously thought.

Specifically, the research team identified a network of genes that are implicated in AD and expressed by myeloid cells, innate immune cells that include microglia and macrophages. Furthermore, researchers identified the transcription factor PU.1, a protein that regulates gene expression and, thus, cell identity and function, as a master regulator of this gene network.

"Our findings show that a large proportion of the genetic risk for late-onset AD is explained by genes that are expressed in myeloid cells, and not other cell types," says Alison Goate, DPhil, Professor of Neuroscience and Director of The Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimer's Disease at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and principal author of the study. "Dysregulation of this network is certainly a cause of Alzheimer's, but we have more work to do to better understand this network and regulation by PU.1, to reveal promising therapeutic targets."

Using a combination of genetic approaches to analyze the genomes of 14,406 AD patients, and 25,849 control patients who do not have the disease, researchers found that many genes which are known to influence the age at which AD sets in, are expressed in myeloid cells. This work pinpointed SPI1, a gene that encodes the transcription factor PU.1, as a major regulator of this network of AD risk genes and demonstrated that lower levels of SPI1/PU.1 are associated with later age at onset of AD.

To test the hypothesis that SPI1 expression levels influence expression of other AD risk genes and microglial function, the researchers used a mouse microglial cell line, BV2 cells that can be cultured in a dish. When researchers knocked down expression of SPI1, the gene that produces PU.1 in cells, they found that the cells showed lower phagocytic activity (engulfment of particles), while overexpression of SPI1 led to increased phagocytic activity. Many other AD genes expressed in microglia also showed altered expression in response to this manipulation of SPI1 expression.

"Experimentally altering PU.1 levels correlated with phagocytic activity of mouse microglial cells and the expression of multiple AD genes involved in diverse biological processes of myeloid cells," says Dr. Goate. "SPI1/PU.1 expression may be a master regulator capable of tipping the balance toward a neuroprotective or a neurotoxic microglial function."

The researchers stress that because the PU.1 transcription factor regulates many genes in myeloid cells, the protein itself may not be a good therapeutic target. Instead, further studies of PU.1's role in microglia and AD pathogenesis are necessary, as they may reveal promising downstream targets that may be more effective in modulating AD risk without broad effects on microglial function. Increased understanding is crucial to facilitating the development of novel therapeutic targets for a disease that currently has no cure.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (U01 AG049508, R01-AG035083 and RF-AG054011 and R01-AG044546 and RF1AG053303), the JPB Foundation and F PRIME.

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About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient services -- from community-based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care.

The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 12 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is in the "Honor Roll" of best hospitals in America, ranked No. 15 nationally in the 2016-2017 "Best Hospitals" issue of U.S. News & World Report. The Mount Sinai Hospital is also ranked as one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Geriatrics, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Nephrology, Neurology/Neurosurgery, and Ear, Nose & Throat, and is in the top 50 in four other specialties. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 10 nationally for Ophthalmology, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's, and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital is ranked in seven out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report in "Best Children's Hospitals."

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Researchers find only one hydrocarbon-producing area where production is linked to increased seismic activities at the regional scale

EDMONTON (June 26, 2017)--New research suggests hydraulic fracturing and saltwater disposal has limited impact on seismic events.

For the past two years, UAlberta geophysicist Mirko Van der Baan and his team have been poring over 30 to 50 years of earthquake rates from six of the top hydrocarbon-producing states in the United States and the top three provinces by output in Canada: North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.

With only one exception, the scientists found no province- or state-wide correlation between increased hydrocarbon production and seismicity. They also discovered that human-induced seismicity is less likely in areas that have fewer natural earthquakes.

The anomaly was in Oklahoma, where seismicity rates have changed dramatically in the last five years, with strong correlation to saltwater disposal related to increased hydrocarbon production.

"It's not as simple as saying 'we do a hydraulic fracturing treatment, and therefore we are going to cause felt seismicity.' It's actually the opposite. Most of it is perfectly safe," said Van der Baan, who is also director of the Microseismicity Industry Consortium.

The findings, as well as continued monitoring, will help point industry experts toward developing mitigation strategies for the oft-maligned practice.

"What we need to know first is where seismicity is changing as it relates to hydraulic fracturing or saltwater disposal. The next question is why is it changing in some areas and not others," continued Van der Baan. "If we can understand why seismicity changes, then we can start thinking about mitigation strategies."

Though Van der Baan noted that hydraulic fracturing has been in practice since the 1950s, it has come under increased scrutiny in the last handful of years due to both increased production as well as the use of the increased treatment volumes. He said an important next step will be continued monitoring.

"Hydraulic fracturing is not going away. The important thing is that we need to find the balance between the economic impact and environmental sustainability of any industry," he said.

Van der Baan will be sharing the studies' findings extensively with industry and university students this fall when he travels to 25 different cities in North America to meet with as many different professional societies as this year's Society for Exploration Geophysicists honorary lecturer.

"Human-induced seismicity and large-scale hydrocarbon production in the USA and Canada" appeared in the scientific journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, published by the American Geophysical Union.

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Brian McKay, PhD, will continue his work that has shown that l-dopa -- used to treat Parkinson's disease -- can delay or prevent the sight-destroying eye disease

TUCSON, Ariz. - After showing that individuals who take levodopa, or l-dopa, for movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease are protected from developing macular degeneration, University of Arizona researcher Brian S. McKay, PhD, is taking the next step in his quest to prevent the blinding eye disease, thanks to a $1.7 million R01 grant from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration or AMD, is a degenerative disease of the retina that causes loss of central vision. L-dopa is a naturally occurring molecule made in all pigmented tissues, including the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of the eye, where it has a role in maintaining a healthy macula, the part of the eye's retina that provides the most high-acuity color vision.

Dr. McKay's discovery that the RPE expresses a receptor for l-dopa, and that this signaling pathway fosters the survival of the retina, led to a collaborative observational study that found that patients who take a synthesized form of l-dopa, a common treatment for Parkinson's, were far less likely to develop macular degeneration, and if they did develop the disease, the onset was delayed by nearly 10 years.

"We will follow up this critical observation with cell biological studies to determine how l-dopa's effect occurs," said Dr. McKay, associate professor of ophthalmology and vision science at the UA College of Medicine - Tucson. "This grant will help us determine whether we can re-purpose l-dopa to halt the epidemic that age-related macular degeneration has become."

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of blindness in individuals over age 55 in developed countries and more than 10 million people in the United States have AMD, according to the Foundation Fighting Blindness. AMD is particularly prevalent in the Southwest with its large retired population; in Arizona alone more than 2 million people were age 50 or older in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"The cause of AMD isn't known, so it's difficult to develop strategies to prevent it. There is no cure, and there are no treatments for early AMD, also known as 'dry' AMD. For the roughly 10 percent of AMD patients who develop 'wet' AMD, where abnormal blood vessels grow under the retina, there is an effective treatment, however, it requires repeated intraocular injections, which are expensive and associated with risks, and don't stop the progression of the underlying disease," said Dr. McKay.

Dr. McKay will test whether intersecting pathways related to dopamine signaling may be the actual driving force behind l-dopa's protective effect rather than l-dopa itself. "This is a critical set of experiments because l-dopa is converted to dopamine in neurons and retinal pigment epithelial [RPE] cells. Both RPE cells and the retinal neurons have dopamine receptors," said Dr. McKay. "We identified a signaling molecule, GPR143, that controls two RPE activities likely to protect from AMD, and showed that l-dopa could drive both activities.

"The research will test whether GPR143 or other dopamine-related receptors bring about the protection from AMD in those taking l-dopa. Once the responsible receptors are identified, they can be targeted to develop new drugs or combination therapies to protect people from developing AMD."

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This research is supported by NIH grant 1R01EY026544-01A1.

About the UA College of Medicine - Tucson

The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson is celebrating 50 years of innovation and advancing health and wellness through state-of-the-art medical education programs, groundbreaking research, and advancements in patient care in Arizona and across the United States. Founded in 1967, the College ranks among the top medical schools in the nation for research and primary care and is leading the way in academic medicine through its partnership with Banner - University Medicine, a new division of one of the largest nonprofit health-care systems in the country. For more information, please visit medicine.arizona.edu

About the University of Arizona Health Sciences

The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. The UA Health Sciences includes the UA Colleges of Medicine (Phoenix and Tucson), Nursing, Pharmacy and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, the UA Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona and the greater Southwest to provide cutting-edge health education, research, patient care and community outreach services. A major economic engine, the UA Health Sciences employs almost 5,000 people, has nearly 1,000 faculty members and garners more than $126 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu. Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn
A robot automatically identifies weeds in a field and combats them with a short laser pulse. Sustainable agriculture, which avoids the use of herbicides as far as possible, could benefit from this smart idea. Dr. Julio Pastrana and Tim Wigbels from the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation at the University of Bonn are convinced of this. With an EXIST Business Start-up Grant from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the scientists are now driving forward the development of this practical tool for field work.

Those who want a rich harvest need to drive back weeds so that the crops can grow better. In organic agriculture, herbicides are ruled out as they are considered toxic chemicals, and unwanted plants must be laboriously weeded out. If the expectations of Dr. Julio Pastrana and Tim Wigbels are correct, this time-consuming work can soon be taken care of by robots.

Laser-based weed control can eliminate herbicides

The computer scientists in the Photogrammetry Laboratory at the Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformation at the University of Bonn are currently developing a novel system: using cameras on an all-terrain robot vehicle or even a tractor add-on, unwanted wild weeds should be automatically identified in the various crops and combatted in a targeted way. "The robot shoots the leaves of the unwanted plants with short laser pulses, which causes a weakening in their vitality," reports Dr. Pastrana. "It is thus predicted that we will no longer need to use herbicides on our fields and the environment will be protected," adds Wigbels.

Before forming the start-up, Dr. Pastrana worked in robotics and researched automated image interpretation techniques with Prof. Cyrill Stachniss from the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation at the University of Bonn. Dr. Pastrana completed his doctorate on the detection and classification of weeds with the aid of statistical models at Leibniz Universitat Hannover and built an earlier version of the robot there with a colleague. Wigbels studied Computer Engineering at RWTH Aachen University and then worked in software development within a company.

The researchers are now pushing forward their start-up "Escarda Technologies" for one year at the University of Bonn with an EXIST grant from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. "It is now a case of finding investors and further developing the business plan for the start-up," says Wigbels. The researchers are also using the funding from the Ministry to buy the parts needed to construct a prototype.

Diverse support from the University of Bonn

Prof. Stachniss is supporting the start-up in various ways: Pastrana and Wigbels can thus use laboratories at the institution and consult with colleagues there. What's more, Rudiger Wolf from Technology Transfer at the University of Bonn helped the start-up to submit the application for the EXIST funding. "The advice was very helpful," says Dr. Pastrana, delighted. Both scientists would also like to participate in the start-up round tables organized by Technology Transfer in order to benefit from the experience of other start-ups. The EXIST grant also enables them to attend training programs to prepare them for the challenges of independence.

"The idea combines innovative robots with a current sustainability topic," says transfer advisor Rudiger Wolf. He says the analyses of the market and competition for such an application are sound. Pastrana is convinced of the benefits of the laser-based technique for new agricultural machinery: "Our aim is to contribute to achieving more sustainable agriculture." At the Bonn Idea Exchange by the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, both founders won an award for the best start-up idea.

###

Internet: http://www.escarda.net

Media contact:

Dr. Julio Pastrana

Tel. +49 (0)228/732908

E-mail: julio.pastrana@escarda.net

Tim Wigbels

Tel. +49 (0)228/732908

E-mail: tim.wigbels@escarda.net
When pesticides and intentional fires fail to eradicate an invasive plant species, declaring biological war may be the best option.

Melaleuca, an invasive, woody tree native to Australia, was introduced into Florida's wetlands in the late 19th century and has caused havoc ever since by invading and displacing native vegetation and harming the biodiversity of the state's freshwater ecosystems.

In 1997, to combat the intruder, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released melaleuca's natural enemy--a small beetle known as the weevil--into areas where the tree thrived. The weevil, also a native of Australia, feeds on melaleuca, essentially disrupting its natural growing process and killing it slowly over time.

According to University of Miami graduate student Bo Zhang, who earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, over the past 20 years, the weevil has helped reduce melaleuca reproduction by 49 percent and its growth by 83 percent.

That would indicate the weevil is succeeding in its mission to reduce the spread and growth of melaleuca, but is 20 years worth of data enough to predict whether the weevil will vanquish the intruder entirely?

In their study, "Modeling the long-term effects of introduced herbivores on the spread of an invasive tree," published in the journal Landscape Ecology, Zhang said she and her collaborators used an individual-based modeling platform, known in scientific circles as JABOWA-II, to come up with a hopeful answer.

Simulating various outcomes of the weevil's impact on two types of South Florida habitats under attack by melaleuca--cypress swamps and bay swamps--the researchers found that the wetland's dominant native species may recover in about 50 years from when the weevil was first introduced in 1997, further suppressing melaleuca through competition.

In essence, Zhang said, the model proves that introducing herbivores to an invasive species can save the native species, a finding that can be applied to other studies seeking similar outcomes in the natural world.

"This individual-based model is used for a lot of ecological research but this is the first time it was used to model the long-term effects of an invasive species," said Zhang. "Basically, it can simulate each individual tree inside a plot of land and this provides more detailed information about biocontrol outcomes and, ultimately, what is the best outcome for the future."

She adds that the model also provides researchers or government officials who are monitoring the small beetle's effect on the melaleuca's growth important long-term information--what areas need more insects, which need less, or which could disappear in a number of years.

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Zhang's collaborators on the study are Donald L. DeAngelis from the Wetlands and Aquatic Research Center at the U.S. Geological Survey; Min Rayamajhi from the USDA-ARS Aquatic Weed Research Laboratory; and Daniel Botkin from the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The study was funded by U.S. Geological Survey Priority Ecosystem Science for the Greater Everglades.
Physicists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are seeing an everyday phenomenon in a new light.

By focusing laser light to a brightness one billion times greater than the surface of the sun - the brightest light ever produced on Earth - the physicists have observed changes in a vision-enabling interaction between light and matter.

Those changes yielded unique X-ray pulses with the potential to generate extremely high-resolution imagery useful for medical, engineering, scientific and security purposes. The team's findings, detailed June 26 in the journal Nature Photonics, should also help inform future experiments involving high-intensity lasers.

Donald Umstadter and colleagues at the university's Extreme Light Laboratory fired their Diocles Laser at helium-suspended electrons to measure how the laser's photons - considered both particles and waves of light - scattered from a single electron after striking it.

Under typical conditions, as when light from a bulb or the sun strikes a surface, that scattering phenomenon makes vision possible. But an electron - the negatively charged particle present in matter-forming atoms - normally scatters just one photon of light at a time. And the average electron rarely enjoys even that privilege, Umstadter said, getting struck only once every four months or so.

Though previous laser-based experiments had scattered a few photons from the same electron, Umstadter's team managed to scatter nearly 1,000 photons at a time. At the ultra-high intensities produced by the laser, both the photons and electron behaved much differently than usual.

"When we have this unimaginably bright light, it turns out that the scattering - this fundamental thing that makes everything visible - fundamentally changes in nature," said Umstadter, the Leland and Dorothy Olson Professor of physics and astronomy.

A photon from standard light will typically scatter at the same angle and energy it featured before striking the electron, regardless of how bright its light might be. Yet Umstadter's team found that, above a certain threshold, the laser's brightness altered the angle, shape and wavelength of that scattered light.

"So it's as if things appear differently as you turn up the brightness of the light, which is not something you normally would experience," Umstadter said. "(An object) normally becomes brighter, but otherwise, it looks just like it did with a lower light level. But here, the light is changing (the object's) appearance. The light's coming off at different angles, with different colors, depending on how bright it is."

That phenomenon stemmed partly from a change in the electron, which abandoned its usual up-and-down motion in favor of a figure-8 flight pattern. As it would under normal conditions, the electron also ejected its own photon, which was jarred loose by the energy of the incoming photons. But the researchers found that the ejected photon absorbed the collective energy of all the scattered photons, granting it the energy and wavelength of an X-ray.

The unique properties of that X-ray might be applied in multiple ways, Umstadter said. Its extreme but narrow range of energy, combined with its extraordinarily short duration, could help generate three-dimensional images on the nanoscopic scale while reducing the dose necessary to produce them.

Those qualities might qualify it to hunt for tumors or microfractures that elude conventional X-rays, map the molecular landscapes of nanoscopic materials now finding their way into semiconductor technology, or detect increasingly sophisticated threats at security checkpoints. Atomic and molecular physicists could also employ the X-ray as a form of ultrafast camera to capture snapshots of electron motion or chemical reactions.

As physicists themselves, Umstadter and his colleagues also expressed excitement for the scientific implications of their experiment. By establishing a relationship between the laser's brightness and the properties of its scattered light, the team confirmed a recently proposed method for measuring a laser's peak intensity. The study also supported several longstanding hypotheses that technological limitations had kept physicists from directly testing.

"There were many theories, for many years, that had never been tested in the lab, because we never had a bright-enough light source to actually do the experiment," Umstadter said. "There were various predictions for what would happen, and we have confirmed some of those predictions.

"It's all part of what we call electrodynamics. There are textbooks on classical electrodynamics that all physicists learn. So this, in a sense, was really a textbook experiment."

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Umstadter authored the study with Sudeep Banerjee and Shouyuan Chen, research associate professors of physics and astronomy; Grigory Golovin and Cheng Liu, senior research associates in physics and astronomy; Wenchao Yan, Ping Zhang, Baozhen Zhao and Jun Zhang, postdoctoral researchers in physics and astronomy; Colton Fruhling and Daniel Haden, doctoral students in physics and astronomy; along with Min Chen and Ji Luo of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Cancer tumours manipulate a natural cell process to promote their survival suggesting that controlling this mechanism could stop progress of the disease, according to new research led by the University of Oxford.

Non-sense mediated decay (NMD) is a natural physiological process that provides cells with the ability to detect DNA errors called nonsense mutations. It also enables these cells to eliminate the mutated message (decay) that comes from these faulty genes, before they can be translated into proteins that can cause disease formation. NMD is known among the medical community for the role it plays in the development of genetic diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis and some hereditary forms of cancers. But not all nonsense mutations can elicit NMD, so until now, it's wider impact on cancer was largely unknown.

Biomedical researchers and computer scientists from the University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division and the University of Birmingham developed a computer algorithm to mine DNA sequences from cancer to accurately predict whether or not an NMD would eliminate genes that had nonsense mutations. The work originally focused on ovarian cancers, and found that about a fifth of these cancers use NMD, to become stronger. This is because NMD ensures that the message from a gene called TP53, which ordinarily protects cells from developing cancer is almost completely eliminated. In the absence of NMD, a mutated TP53 might still retain some activity but NMD ensures that this is not the case.

Based on this research, the team predicts that because cancers essentially feed on NMD, they become dependent on it in some cases. If scientists were therefore able to inhibit or control the process, it is possible that they could also control cancer and prevent the progression of the disease.

Dr Ahmed Ahmed, Co-author and Professor of Gynaecology Oncology at the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and the head of the Ovarian Cancer Cell Laboratory, at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford, said: 'Our first observations of evidence of the role of NMD in ovarian cancer were tantalizing. We found that NMD precisely explained why there was almost no expression of TP53 in certain ovarian cancers. We went on to test the role of NMD in other cancer types and the evidence of the role of NMD was compelling. This opens the door for exciting possibilities for customised treatments including individualized immunotherapies for patients in the future.'

Following the ovarian cancer analysis, the team expanded the study to include other cancer types. They analysed about a million different cell mutations in more than 7,000 tumours from the Cancer Genome Atlas covering 24 types of cancer. The team was able to map how each cancer type used NMD revealing the remarkable extent to which NMD helps cancer to survive.

Katherine Taylor, CEO of Ovarian Cancer Action, who part-funded the research, said: 'This is very exciting news. Professor Ahmed and his team have identified how cancer cells rely on a process called NMD for their survival. This discovery could help clinicians identify and inhibit the process, giving them much better control of a person's cancer.

'Ovarian cancer is a very complicated disease and survival rates are low, with only 46% of women living beyond five years after diagnosis. So understanding how we can prevent the disease from thriving is imperative if we are to improve the outcome for more women.

'It's fantastic to see how our funding is helping make real progress and we couldn't do this without the generosity of our supporters. We look forward to seeing where Professor Ahmed takes his research next.'

Moving forward the team will focus on testing their theory and understanding to what degree stopping the NMD process allows them to control tumours.

Co-author, Dr Christopher Yau, a computational scientist at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham said: 'As a result of these findings, we now plan to apply the same computer algorithm to determine if NMD affects cancer patients in The 100,000 Genomes Project. These investigations may pave the way to new treatment possibilities for NHS patients in the future.'

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Notes to editors

Embargoed: Not for Release until Monday 26 June 2017 at 10:00am (BST) / 05 :00am (EDT)

The full paper citation is 'A pan-cancer genome-wide analysis reveals tumour dependencies by induction of nonsense-mediated decay,' and it will be published in Nature Communications on Monday 26 June 2017.

Author credits are:

Zhiyuan Hu1,2,3, Christopher Yau3,4* and Ahmed Ashour Ahmed1,2*

1 Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK

2 Nuffield Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK

3 Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK

4 Centre for Computational Biology, Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

*Corresponding authors

The study was funded by Ovarian Cancer Action, the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, China Scholarship Council and the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A new grant sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) will support an environmental research network designed to identify transdisciplinary research opportunities and collaborations for scientists in the United States and China working to achieve sustainable use of natural resources for food, energy and water systems.

U.S. collaborators establishing the network include scientists with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA), the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Frank Loffler, a UT/ORNL Governor's Chair in Microbiology and Civil and Environmental Engineering with an adjunct appointment in the UTIA Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, will direct the effort.

In addition to $300,000 being provided by the NSF, the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is contributing approximately $150,000 to the project. The initial goals of the effort are to (1) identify transdisciplinary environmental research opportunities that address challenging global issues involving food, energy or water systems; (2) to develop a framework to overcome hurdles to interdisciplinary research both between and among collaborating U.S. and Chinese researchers; and (3) to establish models for education, training, communication and efficacy evaluations of the outputs of the international cooperation. The ultimate goal of the project is to enhance the use of natural resources to meet the needs of the growing human population while maintaining resource levels that are environmentally acceptable and sustainable.

Nicknamed "EAGER: FEWSTERN: US-China Food-Energy-Water Systems Transdisciplinary Environmental Research Network," or FEWS Research Network for short, the project will build upon and extend the efforts of the Joint Research Center for Ecosystem and Environmental Change (JRCEEC), which was established in 2006 and is the foundation for a U.S. State Department-designated Ecopartnership with China. The FEWS Research Network is expected to add new conduits for information exchange, student training opportunities and collaborative efforts between U.S and Chinese researchers in the broad sustainability and environmental change arena.

The FEWS Research Network, along with other UTIA-based U.S.-China programs, will accelerate the formation of academia-industry partnerships by helping to identify cutting-edge research opportunities, team formation and proposal submission in the food, energy and water nexus arena. Over a two-year period of strategic research planning, identification of grand challenges, teaming workshops and proposal development conferences, the FEWS Research Network will generate technical whitepapers and guidance documents supporting international collaboration and research that might be jointly funded by NSF and NSFC.

In addition to Loffler, other members of the FEWS Research Network leadership team include Jie (Joe) Zhuang, Managing Director of JRCEEC and Professor in UTIA's Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science; William Brown, Dean and Director of UTIA AgResearch; Gary S. Sayler, UT Professor Emeritus of Microbiology; and Virginia Dale, ORNL Corporate Fellow, Director of the Center for BioEnergy Sustainability, and Landscape Ecology Group Leader. Dale is also on the faculty of the UT Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

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The first FEWS Research Network workshop is tentatively planned for December 7-9, 2017, in Nashville, Tennessee. Interested scientists should contact Loffler at frank.loeffler@utk.edu or Zhuang at jzhuang@utk.edu.

Through its mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. ag.tennessee.edu.
Gay men and Lesbians who don't feel socially supported feel less secure about their retirement than heterosexual adults, a study from the University of Waterloo has found.

The study of working Canadians aged 45 to 70 found the majority of them believed that retirement by age 62 was achievable. While the number held true for gay men and lesbians who felt socially supported, it dropped by a year more for those that felt isolated or marginalized.

Certainty of retirement age and perceived adequacy of retirement finances were also less secure the less supported gay men and lesbians felt.

"Psychological research shows that the more people feel supported, the more future oriented and planful they are," said Steven Mock, a professor of recreation and leisure studies at Waterloo and author of the study. "Research also tell us that those who may feel marginalized, such as members of the gay and lesbian communities, pay closer attention to social cues then the general population, which could heighten the impact of support perceptions on planning.

"Because perceptions of support appear to have an impact on expectations relating to retirement age and finances, inclusive language and clear support for gay and lesbian clients is something that businesses and financial institutions will need to be aware of when assisting with retirement planning."

As part of the study, the researchers drew on data from the General Social Survey conducted by Statistics Canada in 2007. Analyses included over 6,000 working Canadians aged 45 to 70. Support, in the study, was defined as having people in your life you could trust, rely on and feel close to.

This study, supported by the Royal Bank of Canada, was recently published in the Canadian Journal of Aging.

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Two politicians have been recognised for their invaluable contribution to the dairy industry, and have been awarded 'dairy champions'.

The awards were given by dairy organisation Dairy UK at their annual dinner in London.

Dairy UK is a trade association that represents the interests of producer co-ops, milk processors, dairy farmers and bottle milk buyers.

Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, and Simon Hoare MP are this years winners of the Dairy UK Award.

Commissioner Phil Hogan was honoured with the award in recognition of his commitment to support dairy exports and ensuring the industry is of strategic importance within Europe.

Simon Hoare MP most notably chairs the Dairy All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and is currently leading an inquiry into skills and labour in the British dairy industry.

Mr Hoare also played an integral role in ensuring the exemption of milk-based drinks from the soft drinks industry levy last year.

'Work tirelessly'

Speaking at the annual industry dinner, Dr David Dobbin, chairman of Dairy UK, said: Both winners work tirelessly to promote the dairy industry from farm to fridge.

Its important that we have key decision makers like Commissioner Hogan and Simon Hoare MP to ensure that the industry is protected at home and abroad.

Commissioner Hogans advocacy for food and farming has made a real difference, especially for farmers.

Additionally, Simons proactive leadership in the Dairy APPG has helped to ensure that the interests of the industry are centre stage.

On receiving his award, Commissioner Phil Hogan added: As someone who grew up on a small dairy farm in Ireland, the industry has always been an important part of my life.

The Commission will continue to stand by the sector and I will do anything in my power to support it as we move ahead.

Simon Hoare MP, said: It is a pleasure and duty to speak up for, champion and encourage our vital UK dairy industry.
A 25-year Government plan for food, farming and the environment has been plagued with further doubt and a possible shelving, with government officials saying they cannot guarantee it coming this year.

The 25-year plan was first promised two years ago and had finally been expected in 2017, but officials told The Independent they now cannot guarantee it coming this year.

The industry-led 25-year plan was set up to boost the countrys ambitions for food and farming, setting out how the UK can grow more, buy more and sell more British food.

But Michael Gove's newly appointed role as the environment secretary has raised fears that he could use Brexit to shelve the highly-anticipated idea.

Delays

Farmers have previously criticised the Government for the delays of the long-awaited plan for agriculture and the environment.

Further delays to the publication are set to take place, having initially supposed to be published last summer.

The Government has been seeking farmers' views on a post-Brexit farming and environment policy.

But Ministers have constantly changed their language surrounding the publication, saying the plans will be published 'soon', to 'during this parliament' - meaning it could be published any time from now to 2020, the UK's next general election.

Defra says the Government agrees with the need for a 25 year plan and intends to deliver on the commitments it says it has already made to protect the UKs environmental assets, including: putting in place a new Blue Belt to protect precious marine habitats; spending 3 billion from the Common Agricultural Policy to enhance Englands countryside over the next five years; planting an additional 11 million trees; launching an ambitious programme of pocket parks; tackling air and water pollution; and ensuring the value of Green Belts and AONBs, National Parks, SSSIs and other environmental designations are appropriately protected.
A one-year-old goat was stolen from a farm over the weekend, at around 2am on Saturday (June 24).

Surrey Police are appealing for information following the theft of 'Gertie', the young female pygmy goat, from a farm in Chaldon, Tandridge, Surrey.

The incident took place at around 2am on Saturday 24 June.

Surrey police would like to speak to two males seen in the area, described as tall, slim, wearing hoodies and trousers with black shoes.

The farming industry is rallying around the next Government to take action on the 'blight' of rural crime hitting the UK recently.

Farmers across the UK are increasingly concerned about incidences of criminal activity, including livestock theft.

In particular, sheep rustling has seen a worrying increase. In this month alone, criminals stole more than 30 sheep from a field in the Isle of Skye, Scotland and stole more than 50 sheep in a raid on a north-east farm in Scotland.

And in February, rustlers stole almost 100 sheep worth just under 13,000 in a farm near Falkirk.

The increase in crime has led a team of young tech entrepreneurs to develop a real-time and remote area security system.

If anyone who has acquired a Pygmy Goat over the weekend, or have acquired one in abnormal circumstances, please get in touch on 101 quoting 45170067263.
COP27: Energy and food security must be addressed, farm leaders say
What happened?

Is the death of the cable industry exaggerated? Perhaps, as shares of Altice USA (ATUS 10.31%) experienced a nice pop in their first day of trading. The company, which raised over $1.9 billion in its IPO, saw its stock close at $32.71 per share on Thursday -- 9% over its IPO price of $30 per share.

The issue was sizable enough to make it the second largest IPO of the year next to that of Snap, which raised around $3.4 million in March.

Altice USA remains controlled by its parent company and near-namesake Altice, which is headquartered in Europe. Altice USA basically comprises two large cable operators Altice recently acquired: Cablevision and Suddenlink.

Does it matter?

Altice USA's first-day success will encourage investors who believe there is still potential in the cable industry. For a cabler, Altice USA is fairly well positioned -- despite its relative youth, it's already the fourth largest company in its business.

It is, however, well into the red on the bottom line. In the first three months of this year it booked a $76 million net loss, on revenue that crawled upward by only 1% on a year-over-year basis, to $2.3 billion. Typically for a company in this very capital-intensive field, Altice USA also has a high level of debt -- more than $24 billion at the end of the aforementioned period. The company said it is to use its share of the IPO proceeds to retire some of that debt, but the pile will remain high.

It's difficult to succeed in the cable business, particularly considering many customers are eager to cut the cord and switch to streaming services. The bulls are obviously making an early charge with Altice USA, but I'm not convinced the stock is a good long-term play.


Ricciardo started tenth in Baku after a crash in qualifying, but dropped to 17th early on after pitting on lap 5 to have debris removed from his brake ducts. He steadily climbed the order thereafter, with a notable double pass on Marcus Ericsson and Carlos Sainz into Turn 1 on lap 10 followed by an incredible three-car overtake 15 laps later, following the final safety car re-start.

Every re-start I was able to make positions and make it happen, and that last one was really important, Ricciardo told UK broadcasters Channel 4.

I think there was [Lance] Stroll, [Felipe] Massa, [Nico] Hulkenberg and me, all kind of nearly four wide, and I managed to get into third. That was, in a way, the winning move.

Having moved into second when Lewis Hamilton pitted to have his loose headrest secured, Ricciardo assumed the lead of the race on lap 34 when Sebastian Vettel came in to serve his 10-second stop/go penalty.

I think I was pretty fortunate, said the Australian, who now has five career wins.

Ive only had a few victories but I think pretty much all of them have come under pretty crazy circumstances or the races have been far from dull. Obviously all of them are special. [Baku] was just crazy.

"We havent been necessarily the quickest car on track or all weekend [but] after my crash in qualifying I said be there and capitalise on opportunities and I certainly capitalised on all the re-starts where I was able to gain at least one position if not more.

It was fun to be in the battle for the most part and towards the end, obviously once I got the lead it was just trying to keep the laps I could. We knew we werent setting probably the quickest times on track but I knew if I kept that rhythm it was enough to win.

Ricciardo also acknowledged the latest package of developments to his RB13, which included an upgraded Renault power unit, as being both crucial to his success and a good sign for the future.

"I think this weekend we certainly we looked pretty good in the speed traps and as I mentioned on re-starts I was always moving forward," he added.

"There were all different types of power units in front of me on several re-starts and we were able to  if not pass them, hang with them. Obviously we had a few little updates this weekend and it seems to have helped so yeah, its positive, its positive.

With his haul of 25 points, Ricciardo moved up to fourth in the drivers standings, ahead of Ferraris Kimi Raikkonen who failed to score.
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SUMMARY: Tom's of Maine - the classic American brand of organic, natural products - now offers its soap-free body wash and beauty bar with an all-natural essence of orange blossom.

ABOUT THE BRAND: Tom's of Maine is a different kind of company, one based on the belief that people and nature deserve respect. Over the years they've offered an array of household and personal grooming products ranging from phosphate-free laundry detergent to natural toothpaste. In 2006, Tom's became part of the Colgate-Palmolive Company but their philosophy of developing effective, natural, sustainable and responsible solutions continues.

Tom's of Maine Orange Blossom Body Wash

USE: Tom's of Maine's Natural Orange Blossom Body Wash is a soap-free and sulfate-free shower gel that gently cleans and is clinically proven to maintain skin's natural moisture without artificial chemicals. Carefully selected natural ingredients include sunflower oil, Vitamin E and argan oil for ultimate hydration.

AROMA & TEXTURE: The texture is a silky, creamy gel that quickly lathers. The aroma is a non-perfumey, true-to-life orange blossom scent reminiscent of neroli essential oil.

My only complaint is that there is also an additional, how can I describe it...pasty aroma from the gel itself that prevents this from being a 100% love for me. However, considering the quality of the ingredients, and how minor this unintended aroma is, I'm happy to overlook it.

INGREDIENTS: Water, coco glucoside, glycerin, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, decyl glucoside, sodium chloride, xanthan gum, natural fragrance, sodium gluconate, sodium lactate, citric acid, lactic acid, argan oil, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E acetate).

ABOUT THE PACKAGING: The body wash is packaged in a simple plastic cylindrical bottle with squeeze spout.

WHERE CAN I BUY IT? $6.99 USD for 12 ozs at various online retailers.

PROS & CONS: Tom's of Maine's body washes are free from artificial fragrances, preservatives, animal ingredients and animal testing. There is no sodium laureth sulfate and no parabens! My only qualm was that odd pasty scent.

There are currently 76 reviews of this product on Target.com and the reviews are almost unanimously positive with a 5 out of 5 star rating. Comments include:

"I was pleasantly surprised by this orange body wash. Let's start off by talking about the scent. WOW... So refreshing without being overpowering. I found myself sniffing my arm like a weirdo all day long after using it. Onto the washing part: I find that with most body washes they don't typically last or they irritate my skin. This body wash was very gentle on my sensitive skin and it left me feeling clean day after day. It feels like I'm at a spa when I use it because the scent and the lathering bubbles make me feel like I'm living large! HA. Great product and reasonably priced. I will be purchasing this product again in the future."

...and less than enthusiastically:

"I liked the orange body wash although it wasn't my favorite. The scent was really nice and refreshing, but the consistency was a little too thin for me. I feel like with this product a little doesn't go a long way, the consistency is almost as thin as water. With that being said it is very gentle on the skin which I do like. I also like the fact that it has no harsh chemicals. I love all of the toms products but this isn't my favorite. I received a free sample of this in exchange for an honest review and overall it was ok."

Tom's of Maine Orange Blossom Beauty Bar

USE: Tom's of Maine Natural Beauty Bars are gentle on skin while also helping maintain skin's natural moisture. Their formulas feature organic botanicals - like virgin coconut oil and Moroccan argan oil - and are dermatologist-tested, free from artificial fragrances, preservatives, animal ingredients and animal testing. These bars also use Rainforest Alliance Certified palm oil.

AROMA & TEXTURE: I am in love with this and it is my new favorite orange blossom bath and body product. Unlike the shower gel, I noticed no other unwanted aroma and the orange blossom fragrance is just as strong in the bar soap as it is in the shower gel.

The texture is wonderful; neither a solid cream texture nor a classic glycerin bar, this is kind of a hybrid. My skin was moisturized without any lingering dryness.

INGREDIENTS: Sodium palmate*, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, water, glycerin, natural fragrance, sodium gluconate, sodium chloride, argania spinosa (argan) kernel oil. *Rainforest Alliance Certified

ABOUT THE PACKAGING: The bar is simply packaged in a paper sleeve.

WHERE CAN I BUY IT? $3.99 USD for a 5oz bar at online retailers.

PROS & CONS: Tom's of Maine's bar soaps are free from artificial fragrances, preservatives, animal ingredients and animal testing. There is no soidum laureth sulfate and no parabens! The aroma is wonderful and not too perfumey and the size/price is similar to other specialty supermarket brands.

There are currently 52 reviews of this product on Target.com and the reviews are almost unanimously positive with a 5 out of 5 star rating. Comments include:

"Overall, this product was refreshing and really helped to moisturize my skin while cleaning it as well. I received this product in exchange for an honest review of the product. I LOVE the smell of this bar. It left my skin smelling good all day long. I have troubles finding soaps that don`t irritate my skin and this one was super gentle and left my skin looking/feeling better than before. I would highly suggest trying this product if you want something that has a fresh scent and leaves your skin feeling refreshed after each use."

...and one reviewer commented that it might be drying to some:

"I received a free sample of the orange beauty bar. I have sensitive skin and am usually skeptical about scented body washes. However this body bar had a light natural scent and did the job. I felt clean and refreshed after using this product. The one con is that I felt slightly more dry skin than normal. I would follow up with a lotion after showering if you have dry skin. Overall I would purchase this product again."
Shadow Defra secretary Sue Hayman has written to Michael Gove to urge Defra to clarify its position on neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been linked to a decline in bee health.

In an open letter, Ms Hayman, the Labour MP for Workington, voices her partys objection to neonicotinoids, as stated in their general election manifesto.

She says Mr Gove remains silent on this matter, and calls on the newly appointed Defra secretary and the Conservatives to set out clear policy on neonicotinoids in detail.

See also: MEPs block Conservative bid to stop total ban on neonics

Ms Hayman writes: Colleagues in the European parliamentary Labour Party and the wider Socialist & Democrats group voted this week to keep the (neonics) ban in place.

Labours leadership team have outlined our commitment to maintaining and enhancing existing environmental protections under EU law once the UK has left the European Union.

Support for the EU Commissions ban is an important step towards ensuring a healthy environment for bees and other pollinators.

Ms Hayman states that UK bee populations have fallen 30% since 2007 and numerous studies have linked this decline to the use of neonicotinoids. Yet she acknowledges that this is likely due to a combination of factors.

Crop pollination

And, as approximately 75% of crops rely on insects for pollination, the protection of pollinators is important to ensure the long-term viability of the food chain and British farming.

I am aware of the many pressures faced by British farmers and their concerns that plant protection products are being increasingly restricted, writes Ms Hayman.

However, numerous studies have shown that neonicotinoids do not increase crop yields.

I would therefore seek your (Mr Goves) commitment to funding and promoting research to identify suitable substitutes to neonicotinoids, such as integrated pest management measures which would benefit the farming community but would not pose a risk to the environment, human or animal health.

Ms Haymans letter, published on 23 June, a day after she was pictured by the NFU holding a Back British farming placard, is likely to infuriate farm union leaders.

Thanks to Shadow DEFRA SoS @SueHayman1 MP for showing how committed she is to #BackBritishFarming https://t.co/hM72SkGPBD pic.twitter.com/vUGfnS6D0f  NationalFarmersUnion (@NFUtweets) June 22, 2017

Chris Hartfield, NFU acting chief science and regulatory affairs adviser, told Farmers Weekly that a total ban on neonics would be disastrous for UK arable farming. He said it could put the future of sugar beet growing in the UK and EU at risk, adding that wheat crops could lose 0.6t/ha in yields.

The EU imposed a two-year ban on three neonicotinoids  thiamethoxam, clothianidin and imidacloprid  in December 2013.

Under draft regulations, the European Commission is understood to be considering an extension of the ban to cover all crops, citing a high acute risk to bees.




Haiti - FLASH : Moise reiterates his promise of electricity 24/24 throughout the country in 2 years





Saturday in Trou-du-Nord, at the end of the celebration of St John the Baptist https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21330-haiti-politics-moise-at-the-feast-of-st-john-the-baptist-in-trou-du-nord.html , President Jovenel Moise, reiterated front a large crowd his promise to work so that in the next two years the country will be supplied with electricity 24/24.



Remember that the Head of State had already made this promise to the diaspora in Florida on June 18, where he had explained his intention to realize in the next 18 to 24 months a genuine electricity grid in Haiti comprising 600 km of interconnected grid to the 16 major cities and to ten departments and 4,100 km of medium voltage grid across the country. In addition, Haiti's energy needs are more than 1,000 megawatts while the installed capacity and power delivered do not exceed 280 Mw (some experts estimate it between 150 and 180 MW). In order to achieve this, he mentions a commercial concession within the framework of a public/private partnership for the construction of this national grid and the new production capacities, without specifying the costs and on which potential partners this promise rests...



On the other hand, he says he expects to work with companies capable of generating large amounts of electricity to keep the price per kilowatt hour to about 16 cents (against 24 to 25 cents at the moment), a price that will play, according to him a role of locomotive in the revival of the national economy.



Yet he will have to convince these partners that Haitian consumers will pay their bills, while the State promoter of this project, gives the bad example, with a total debt of unpaid bills amounting to 5 billion gourdes towards the EDH , according to statements by Herve Pierre Louis, the DG of Electricity of Haiti, on 22 June front the Mining and Energy Commission of the Lower House.



On their side, Haiti's international partners are observing the promises of the Head of State with some caution and a lack of understanding, particularly in the energy sector. Several experts, in addition to the financial dimension, describe as impossible the realization of such a grid and the multiplication of production capacity by 3 within a period of 18 to 24 months, evoking at least a period of 5 to 7 years.



The Head of State also gave an update on the major infrastructure projects to be undertaken in Trou-du-Nord and in the country to improve the living conditions and circulation of the population: construction of public markets, kilometers of road as well as the establishment of credit and agricultural processing plants before concluding by asking citizens to pay their tax levies in order to contribute to the actions of the State to place the country on theilometers of road as well as the establishment of credit and agricultural processing plants before concluding by asking citizens to pay their tax levies in order to contribute to the actions of the State to place the country on road to sustainable development.



HL/ SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - UN : Security Council highlights development prospects for Haiti





Saturday, at the end of the mission of the UN Security Council in Haiti, Ambassador Sacha Sergio Llorenti Soliz, Permanent Representative of Bolivia to the Security Council welcomed the determination of the Haitian authorities and institutions to meet the challenges of consolidating the rule of law and governance - prerequisites for the stability and sustainable development of the country.



The Council delegation, led by Bolivia, who chaired the Security Council in June, met with President Jovenel Moise and his Government, the Parliament, the National Police, the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, the Office for the Protection of Citizens, the Superior Court of Auditors, and representatives of civil society and the private sector.



"The encounters with these interlocutors allow us to come to better understanding of the challenges the government and people in Haiti face in this new political context," declared Sacha Sergio Llorentty Soliz.



"We have heard appeals concerning cholera, including the testimony of the victims, and we reiterated the support of the Security Council to the new approach of the Secretary-General," said Llorentty Soliz, adding that Council members also welcomed the support of the entire United Nations system and partners to the Haitian government and people in this regard.



"Haiti has fortunately entered a new period of stability, providing an important window of opportunity for the government and other state institutions to be able to bring forward a programme of reform so needed to allow Haiti to join the path of sustainable development," welcomed the Bolivian diplomat.



The members of the Council welcomed the vision, determination and ambition of their Haitian partners to carry out reforms in different fields. "We felt particularly encouraged by the government and legislature's clear commitment to resolutely address the country's challenges in the field of rule of law and governance, and place an emphasis on strengthen judiciary oversight and accountability," declared Llorentty Soliz. "We are equally encouraged by the authorities' commitment to further strengthen Haitian national police."



After successful meetings, Council members expressed a clearer understanding of the concerns and expectations regarding both the closure of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah) and the transition to the new United Nations Mission for the Support for justice in Haiti (Minujusth), expected to start on 15 October 2017 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20656-haiti-flash-bye-bye-the-minustah-hello-the-minujusth.html



"Our interlocutors gave us first-hand information that allowed us to better understand various aspects and conditions necessary for the successful implementation of the Minujusth established by resolution 2050," stressed the President of the Council "We believe that the new Mission is part of a strategy to ensure a continuous and progressive transition to development."



The interlocutors met in Haiti by the members of the Council reminded them that peace and security are intimately linked to the basic needs of the population "If these basic needs, such as health, education, water and sanitation are not assured, it will be difficult, if not impossible to achieve lasting stability and development," reported Llorentty Soliz.



Reaffirming the support of the United Nations Security Council to the Haitian government and people, the President of the Council stressed that the forthcoming deployment of Minujusth proves the long-term commitment of the United Nations to Haiti. "In the future, we will continue to support in key areas such as strengthening the national police, protecting human rights and reconciling the rule of law," he said.



Llorentty Soliz underlined that this "field visit" of the Security Council and the discussions with the partners will allow to continue the dialogue and the work that is not yet finished.



"We know full well that the country is plagued by many difficulties. We will not find quick fixes overnight. It is a process that will be done on the long term, but the Minujusth will accompany the Haitian people as well as the government," said the President of the Council stressing that a stronger level of national ownership and leadership from the Government is also expected.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Policy : Towards a Hospital Management reform





Marie Greta Roy Clement, Minister of Public Health with technical and financial support from the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) and the International Health Unit of the Center Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (USI), organized a two-day workshop on hospital management reform last week. A reform that is particularly important in the context of projects under construction or reconstruction of hospitals, for which the rehabilitation of infrastructure must necessarily be accompanied by a profound reform of their management.



Opened in the presence of Elisabeth Beton Delegue, Ambassador of France to Haiti, and Ambassador of Canada to Haiti Ms. Paula Caldwell St-Onge, this workshop was devoted to sharing experiences and discussing the results, tools, lessons learned, recommendations and actions envisaged, following the implementation of two specific projects.



The first project is the Reconstruction of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti (HUEH), with an amount of more than 80 million dollars, co-financed by France, the United States and Haiti and including an important component of governance support. This project is now at an advanced stage of physical implementation, but major challenges remain to improve its management in the context of a reopening planned before the end of 2018.



The second project involves the construction of the Gonaives hospital, funded by Canadian cooperation, reinforced by a management support project implemented by the USI.



This workshop made it possible to restore, among other things, the work of two years of support for the strengthening of the HUEH, in particular on themes : governance, human resources, management and finance, medical project and equipment maintenance.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Doing Homework on Vaccines this Back-to-School Season? Here are 10 Ways to Separate Fact from Fiction.
TORONTO  SaveMyChairs has launched an innovative platform and mobile app that will change the future of the pool experience at resorts around the world. Launched today at the world's largest technology show for the hospitality industry - HITEC 2017 - SaveMyChairs will be getting a lot of attention from the industry this week for solving a universal problem that has troubled hoteliers for years.

SaveMyChairs is a global online reservation and payment system that allows guests to reserve their pool chairs in advance exactly "where they want and when they want" with the tap of a button.

"There's nothing worse than waking up early on your vacation to rush to save pool chairs only to see that the crowd has already beaten you there," said Bliss Baker, Co-founder of the company. "We have all experienced this frustrating situation, so we decided to do something about it. We have a passion for transformation so we created an automated, simple, convenient app that will eliminate the stress of having to wake up early on your vacation," added Mr. Baker.

Hoteliers now have the ability to monetize all or part of their pool deck generating brand new revenue or RevPac (Revenue Per available chair).

Resorts have struggled to manage their pool decks given the lack of tools and connectivity with guests. SaveMyChairs now provides our Resort Partners a new toolkit - The Pool Experience Manager (PXM) - to assist in managing their pool decks, chair inventory, and reservations, which will increase guest recognition and enhance the pool experience.

"The outdated model of showing up to the pool and hoping to find pool chairs is a model that no longer suits guest's expectations, " said Mr. Baker. "We believe this new platform will reinvent the pool experience and give our resort partners the means to improve the guest experience while generating new found revenue" he added.

The SaveMyChairs app provides guests with instant access to book pool chairs. Online. 24/7- giving guests both choice and convenience. With this launch, SaveMyChairs is now accepting resort partners who are ready to reinvent their pool experience and generate new revenue.

SaveMyChairs is a provider of a global online reservation and payment system that allows users to reserve pool chairs in advance at our Partner Hotels. For more information, please visit www.savemychairs.com.

Bliss Baker

Co-founder
Hospitality technology firm Monscierge releases new platform-data statistics, detailing the impact on hotel revenues and guests satisfaction scores when hotel employees use Connect Staff by Monscierge. This digital tool is an application on Monscierge's Connect platform for workflow and communication management between various departments of a hotel, with data being captured at every touchpoint for business intelligence analyzation.

Monscierge worked closely with AccorHotels to understand the impact on both guest satisfaction and operational efficiency when empowering hotel staff with mobile technology. AccorHotels deployed Connect Staff to their hotel employees across a number of brands in the UK to digitize workflow management, improve response times and increase service levels. The rapid, low impact deployment yielded immediate improvements in labour efficiency. Data from 100 properties showed that within 6 months, hotels' average guest satisfaction scores had increased by 5 points over the control group who hadn't deployed the product.

Furthermore, the usage data generated by Connect Staff across these properties in 2016 showed a clear correlation between lower incidences of guest complaints and refunds when product engagement was highest.

Monscierge and Accor's Technical Services division in the UK have worked closely to understand the vast amount and variety of data being generated and simplify consumption of the results at a property and regional level. This resulted in significant labour savings at a property level where data no longer needs to digitized from paper logs at the end of each month.

The data is extremely useful for FF&E (fixtures, fittings and equipment) investment appraisal, and has also allowed staff to stagger shift-times accurately to work around the flow and patterns of reactive maintenance jobs - thus increasing efficiency.

"The Connect Staff platform has digitised our entire workflow management process. The business data and analytical insights we now have access to via Monscierge means we can make impactful, real-time decisions and adjustments at an associate, departmental, hotel, regional and brand level. In today's data-driven hospitality world, the ability to access, analyse and apply this sort of data is critical for organisations to compete successfully."  Didier Louis, Technical Services Manager UK & Ireland, Accor Group

Analysis of more than 5 million data points showed the following key highlights for Connect Staff:

 20% immediate improvement in labour efficiency

 Guest satisfaction scores improved 5 points within 6 months

 Less complaints & guest refunds on days where product used most

 More accurate and cost-effective appraisal of FF&E

"One of the things that differentiates Monscierge from competitors is we offer a comprehensive platform. So, where we might have a competitor for each custom feature - SMS, Mobile, Digital Signage and staff workflow solutions I feel no competitor has the business data and analytical insights we now have access to via the platform," says Christy Doherty, VP Global Sales, Monscierge. "This means we can make impactful, real-time decisions and adjustments at an associate, departmental, hotel, regional and brand level. In today's data-driven hospitality world, the ability to access, analyse and apply this sort of data is critical for organisations to compete successfully. "

Monscierge will be hosting hotel technology experience tours at the Fairmont Royal York on June 27th-29th during HFTP's HITEC conference in Toronto. Experience the Monscierge Connect products as a guest or hotel member of staff and learn about new streaming tv solutions with supported mobile device management (MDM) and touch-less deployments using programs such as the Device Enrollment Plan (DEP).

Other features of the tour include mobile applications, responsive web with request functionality, digital door locks, beacon technology, lobby kiosk, digital signage, preventative maintenance and analytics, and more.

To schedule a tour: [email protected]

HITEC 2017 Toronto #1641

Monscierge is a global software company specializing in innovative hospitality solutions for properties, owners and brands. Monscierge has built a powerful, scalable platform that powers their expansive product line, Connect, to help enhance communications and relationships between hotel guest and staff through mobile, tablet, large-format touch-screen devices, and the central web-based platform that manages content. With installations in over 60 countries and multilingual capabilities, Monscierge is dedicated to improving guest experiences and hotel staff efficiency throughout all hospitality service tiers.

Crystal Robinson
San Jose, CA  Angie Hospitality, creator of Angie, the world's first voice-activated hotel guest room assistant, purpose-built for hotels, announces the completion of a successful integration with Fourteen IP's EVOLUTION Voice, a leading cloud-based PBX solution powered by BroadSoft. Among other functionality enhancements, this new technology integration will allow guests of hotels equipped with both Angie and the EVOLUTION Voice system to make and receive calls using voice-command through Angie's built in telephone and integrated Bluetooth speakers.

Fourteen IP's Managing Director, Neil Tolley, commented, "As an industry leader in cloud-based telephony for hotels, we are always looking for ways to improve and enhance our offering. Angie fit directly into our sweet spot of both telephone and internet, allowing us to offer our clients even more interesting capabilities, such as a voice-based in-room service agent and room controls, as well as guest and group engagement."

EVOLUTION Voice is designed to replace existing on-premises telephone systems or PBX with a virtual phone system that is hosted remotely in secure data centers, offering enhanced business continuity, flexibility and scalability. It offers a comprehensive feature set for both guests and staff, including call center and mobility applications and works with most existing bedroom telephones.

Ted Helvey, CEO of Angie Hospitality, commented, "Now more than ever before, technology is having a dramatic impact on the hospitality market and changing how hotels communicate with and serve their guests. Innovation is fundamental to both our companies, so we are delighted to partner with Fourteen IP. Through these types of partnerships, we intend to propel the industry forward in combining the powerful functionalities of telephony and Wi-Fi-based services to enhance guest satisfaction and operational efficiency."

Angie Hospitality officially announced its cloud-powered, interactive guest room assistant in April of this year. The enterprise-class solution is purpose-built specifically to meet the needs of the hospitality industry. Some of Angie's key solutions include acting as a secure in-room Wi-Fi access point, serving as a 24-hour guest room assistant, offering convenient room control over things like lights and temperature, replacing the telephone, supplying a high-fidelity Bluetooth speaker and providing guest and group promotions through her interactive touch-screen.

Angie is currently being implemented at multiple hotel properties in the U.S. and will be available for general distribution in North America and Europe in Q3 2017. For more information on Angie's full range of features, please visit www.angie.ai.

Fourteen IP will be exhibiting their Cloud-powered PBX solution this week at HITEC 2017 in Toronto at booth # 1145. Angie Hospitality will be showcasing its award-winning voice-activated innovation at the E20X Pavilion.

About Nomadix

With more than 25 years of experience, Nomadix enables over 5 million daily internet connections in over 150 countries. With A global reputation for unparalleled reliability and ease of management, its patented gateways are the industry standard in hospitality, used by tens of thousands of properties and supporting millions of rooms worldwide. The company provides hotel and property owners, brands, property management groups and managed service providers (MSPs) with a suite of solutions that will enhance the guest and tenant experience, today and into the future. From in-room entertainment with TV casting, to secure Wi-Fi with an expanded Nomadix Networks portfolio, to Angie in-room voice assistants, to a cloud telephony service  travelers can feel at home wherever they go. For more information, visit nomadix.com.

Andrea Mane

President, Plan A PR & Marketing

407-905-0608
MONTREAL  dormakaba, one of the top three companies in the global market for access and security solutions, announced that John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts (JQH) standardized the guest room door locks on all of the company's hotel properties with dormakaba's Saflok electronic door locks.

dormakaba manufactures the Saflok and Ilco electronic door locks and provides installation and service for these locking systems.

JQH owns and manages a portfolio of 35 hotels representing approximately 8,500 guest rooms/suites in 16 states. The hospitality company also operates more than 1 million square feet of meeting space.

Click here for information on electronic door locks from dormakaba.

"JQH has an excellent relationship with dormakaba and has used Saflok locking system since 1995.

"The two companies share a common goal of installing an innovative system that provides the best protection at a fair price,"

said Bill George, JQH's vice president of capital planning and asset management.

"Both companies are focused on ensuring the customer is priority one."

Springfield, Missouri-based JQH's hotel portfolio represents brands that include Marriott, Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Renaissance, Sheraton, IHG, Chateau on the Lake Resort / Spa & Convention Center, and Plaza Hotels Collection.

All hotel brands in the award-winning company's hotel portfolio have approved Saflok electronic locks.

According to George, JQH is currently rolling out Saflok's RFID system across the company's hotel portfolio nationwide.

"Saflok is a proven leader in electronic hotel lock technology.

"JQH's relationship with dormakaba allows us to be at the forefront of safety and security in the hospitality industry and to bring peace of mind to our guests, meeting planners, and employees,"

George said. "We appreciate the Saflok safety and security features, including the reliability aspects, customization, ease of use, and flexibility for mobile access."

Stephen Pollack, vice president  marketing for dormakaba, said, "John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts is one of the most respected names in hospitality.

"dormakaba and JQH have a long-standing relationship of trust that has benefitted guests and both of our companies.

"We value that relationship and will continue to deliver the highest quality systems and services JQH and our customers expect."

George also noted that there are several benefits to having a standardized dormakaba electronic hotel lock system across JQH's property portfolio.

"With the new lock implementation in progress, we have the opportunity for orderly technological innovation, customization at the portfolio and property levels, cost and training efficiencies, and elevated access control of spaces during meetings and events," George said.

About dormakaba

dormakaba is one of the top three companies in the global market for access and security solutions. With strong brands such as Dorma and Kaba in our portfolio, we are a single source for products, solutions, and services related to doors and secure access to buildings and rooms. With around 16,000 employees and numerous cooperation partners, we are active in over 130 countries. dormakaba is headquartered in Rumlang (Zurich/Switzerland) and generates an annual turnover of over CHF 2 billion. Click here for information on electronic door locks from dormakaba.

SIX Swiss Exchange: DOKA (formerly: KABN / KABNE) Further information at www.dormakaba.com

About John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts

Springfield, Missouri-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts (JQH) is a leading private, independent owner and manager of hotels in the United States, representing brands such as: Marriott, Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Sheraton, IHG, Chateau on the Lake Resort / Spa & Convention Center, and Plaza Hotels Collection. With a portfolio of 35 hotels representing approximately 8,500 guest rooms/suites in 16 states, JQH's properties are dominant in their markets. Founded on the extraordinary vision of John Q. Hammons and built on his continued legacy of excellence spanning more than 50 years, JQH has become one of the most recognized and award-winning companies in the hospitality industry. Built to be the best, JQH continues to set the standard in hospitality management and hotel development. Go to www.jqhhotels.com for more information, or connect with JQH on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Stephen Pollack

Vice President Marketing

1-859-253-4744 x3542
Toronto  June 26, 2017  ASSA ABLOY Hospitality today announces the successful upgrade and implementation of its VingCard Classic RFID door locks at the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel, a sophisticated hotel accommodation situated inside the Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays. By upgrading its previous ASSA ABLOY Hospitality-based room access platform to include VingCard Classic RFID door locks along with the Visionline locking solution, the property ensures against the latest security threats while offering state of the art convenience.

With the implementation of VingCard Classic RFID, the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel gains a contactless solution that provides the latest in anti-cloning technology. Via the use of encrypted data, Classic RFID-based keycards are immune to unauthorized reproduction and can therefore provide a vital extra layer of security that is not available with magstripe technology. Classic RFID's installation along with Visionline provides guests with unmatched peace of mind by allowing hotel staff to cancel lost or stolen keycards remotely. With Visionline, staff members can also oversee all access attempts across the property in real time, offering them the ability to instantly minimize the effects of a suspected security breach or even prevent one altogether.

"Having previously provided guestroom entry solutions for the Renaissance Toronto, we are proud to once again play a part in ensuring that the property maintains only the highest level of security standards," said Markus Boberg, Vice President Business Development at ASSA ABLOY Hospitality. "With the hotel experiencing high guest volume due to its urban downtown location, we welcome the opportunity to enhance guest convenience with solutions that streamline operations and offer the ability for greater personalization."

By using an online-based security access platform, guests can be re-assigned to a different guestroom or have their stay extended without ever having to visit the front desk. Properties equipped with Visionline can also provide guests with the ability to use the same keycard for different areas of the hotel, enhancing the guest experience, while reducing costs. With RFID technology, hoteliers also gain the opportunity to provide guests with an array of key format options, such as wristbands, keychain fobs or stickers in order to better cater to individualized needs.

For more information about ASSA ABLOY Hospitality and its comprehensive line of locking solutions, or to schedule an interview with the team at booth #1101 at HITEC, please contact Dina Magdovitz at [email protected]. You can also learn more at www.assaabloyhospitality.com.

Media Contacts:

Andrea Mane, Plan A Public Relations & Marketing, Inc., Tel: +1 (407) 905-0608, [email protected]

Riise Walker, Marketing Manager ASSA ABLOY Hospitality, Tel: +1 (972) 692-3167, [email protected]

About ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions

The ASSA ABLOY Group is the global leader in access solutions. Every day, we help billions of people experience a more open world.

ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions is dedicated to reimagining how people move through their world. Our expertise in customer journey mapping, innovation and service design leads to the invention of new security solutions that create value for our clients and exceptional experiences for end users.

For the hospitality market, these solutions include integrated software systems, mobile access and location solutions designed to help our customers enhance the hotel guest experience, while improving operational efficiency. In order to provide best-in-class customer service, we offer support in more than 166 countries.

For more information, please visit assaabloyglobalsolutions.com/hospitality and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Andrea Mane

President, Plan A PR & Marketing

407-905-0608
In 2017, more people are searching the web on their phones than on a desktop computer, and are five times more likely to leave a website if it isn't mobile-friendly.

It's imperative for hoteliers to fully understand the benefits of optimising their online marketing efforts for mobile, or run a very serious risk of alienating potential guests and losing business.

Luckily, this process is not rocket science. We've put together a handy high-level 'cheat sheet' you can use to help ensure your transition into the world of mobile is as smooth as possible.

Profile of a mobile user

First, let's consider what a mobile user wants out of their browsing experience. A team of researchers at Google and AnswerLab conducted a series of in-person studies with different focus groups, asking them to complete tasks like make a purchase, book a hotel room and conduct research on their own cell phones.

Their most important findings showed that:

Mobile users are very goal-orientated (make sure that call-to-action button is always visible)

They expect to get what they need from a site easily, immediately and on their own terms

Businesses will ensure success by designing a mobile-friendly site with these needs in mind, but without sacrificing richness of content

"Smartphone bookings are rising around the world, and hotels remain the subsector in which smartphone bookings are most common, generating one in five online bookings in Q2 2016."  Travel Flash Report, October 2016 edition, Criteo

Common frustrations for mobile users

According to technology solutions company Leonardo, some of the most common frustrations for mobile users on hotel or booking websites include:

Tiny, hard-to-read text forcing you to pinch and zoom

Large visuals that load slowly

Pages that stretch beyond the width of your screen, requiring you to scroll around

Small links that are difficult to click with your finger

A frustrating booking process

No clear links or functionality to quickly connect with the hotel

Pages originally optimised for desktop browsers that take a long time to load on mobile

Overall, an unpleasant user experience

A mobile site should be fast, responsive and direct users to their end goal with ease. With that in mind, you can begin to think about structuring your website's content.

Responsive web design explained

A good place to start is considering how to structure your content framework for mobile. Essentially, there are two main approaches:

Responsive web design:

A responsive or fluid design adapts the website's content based on the device you're using. Content will stretch out over a desktop screen, but readjust itself to fit optimally on a mobile or tablet device. This is Google's recommended approach, and is a great place to start. Don't just make your site technically responsive, though. Make sure you provide a seamless, thought-out experience for mobile users (more on that below).

A 'mobile-first' website:

Mobile-first design deems that the mobile version of the website should be at the core of its design, with the desktop version then adapting from there. This method prioritises how content is presented over everything else, optimising the user experience as soon as the visitor hits the homepage on a mobile device. Additional content can then be added to display on bigger screens as necessary. Consider this only if your mobile user statistics far outweigh that of desktop users. Use a service like Google Analytics to determine this.

With that framework in mind, you can begin the process of optimising your website for mobile users. Remember, this won't happen overnight, and constant user testing is imperative in making sure your site runs as smoothly as possible on a mobile device.

Speed matters (a lot)

According to Google, over half of mobile users will leave a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load.

Page loading times must be a critical consideration when building for all platforms, but especially mobile. When mobile users are away from the comfort of a fast WiFi connection, you want to ensure your site loads as quickly as possible on mobile data networks.

Google have a great tool called Test My Site, allowing users to find out how well their website works across mobile and desktop devices. Try it out here.

First impressions mean everything

Tell users which screen orientation works best for viewing your site (landscape or portrait), but make sure content isn't compromised in one particular view

Make sure users never have to pinch, scroll side-to-side or zoom out to see your web pages

Use a big, clear font

Don't use Flash

Don't use pop-ups

Display the hotel address boldly

Include click-to-call functionality, so potential guests can easily contact your property

Include Google Maps integration, allowing people to see your location and helping guests to find their way back to your hotel

Include local insights on things to do and places to eat

Can a user quickly achieve their goal?

Keep menus short, sweet and easy to navigate

Help users get back to the homepage easily by linking through your logo

Are your links and buttons finger friendly? (Incorporate a 'fat finger' design)

Have you placed your most important call-to-action button above the mobile fold?

Make sure your site search is clearly visible

The booking experience must be quick and simple

Can your booking process be simplified? Give this a critical rethink

Provide a visual calendar for selecting dates

Use existing information to maximise convenience. For example, auto-fill forms for returning users

Forms or other windows must not open in a pop-up window or lightbox. These are bad for UX (user experience) and SEO

Use third-party payment services if they help make conversion as easy as possible

Is your content made for the small screen?

Again, is your content easy to read without excessive scrolling or zooming?

Make sure your images and videos are optimised for mobile and load quickly

Your room and facility descriptions must be short and to the point

Add social sharing buttons to your content

It might seem like an overwhelming amount of things to consider, but a lot of these changes are very easy (and inexpensive) to implement. Most web developers are extremely well-versed in optimising websites for mobile users, and are more than capable of guiding you through this process.

Mobile is no longer the future of web browsing and booking, it's a reality. Don't get left behind.

GuestRevu helps hoteliers worldwide to listen to, learn and earn from their guests by enabling them to leverage the power of guest intelligence to build lasting loyalty and drive revenue. GuestRevu's mission is to give hoteliers tools they can use every day to develop a guest-centric culture in their hotels, enhance guest experience, optimise operations, and ultimately, to drive revenue using online surveys and reputation management. With their headquarters in the UK, GuestRevu is a TripAdvisor Platinum Review Collection Partner. For more information please visit www.guestrevu.com

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Navigating Search Engine Marketing in 2017

What has changed in SEM (search engine marketing) that affects the way travel shoppers search for hotels and how a Google hotel search can affect traffic to your properties website? Vizergys VP of Client Marketing, Julie Daniel reviews the challenges of navigating the shifting search engine marketing landscape in 2017.

With each passing year, the competitive skillset required to capture customers conducting Google hotel searches continues to ratchet upward. The need to stay current with search engine updates, changes in travelers shopping habits, the challenges your customers face online, and other trends in the industry has never been more crucial than it is today.

Vizergys Julie Daniel, VP of Client Marketing and the Vizergy Marketing team has put together this report to highlight top challenges facing hoteliers and hotel marketing professionals. We also identify attention-demanding trends in search marketing and give action items to help hoteliers navigate these challenges.

Google steadily evolves its methodology, technology, and user experience, deploying ever-increasing sophistication to present users with relevant results and advance its own profitability through more cleverly integrated advertising. Travelers utilize an ever-broadening range of devices and channels to plan travel, screens are getting smaller, and the proverbial above-the-fold ranking may be gone, presenting hoteliers with a multitude of unique challenges. New opportunities for growth, such as voice search, need to be understood and prioritized appropriately, based on each channels relative market share as an attributable source of hotel business.

Source: 2017 Website Traffic Distribution sample from Vizergy data warehouse (from top performing properties that see a minimum of 38% direct revenue from website)

This report examines some of the latest challenges that have arisen on these three fronts in greater detail, and offers guidance for hoteliers interested in taking full advantage of search marketing in 2017.

The chart to the right represents a healthy distribution of website traffic sources for a typical hotel.

For most hotels, natural search tends to be the largest slice of the pie, critical to maintaining solid ROI.

Hoteliers must be prepared to allocate an appropriate amount of their marketing budget, attention, and other resources to meet the challenges found here, however sizeable they may appear to be.

To capture more direct bookings, hoteliers must invest heavily in search marketing. Google data shows that about 38% of travelers start their travel-planning process within search engines rather than on OTAs, which only garner about 8% traffic in the beginning stages of planning.

Source: Google Report: Summer 2017 Hotel Search Opportunity

Challenge #1: Ever-Evolving Sophistication of Googles Advertising Model

The most significant source of upset for search traffic delivery within the past year has been a major upgrade to Googles display of local listings for hotels, incorporating a prominent metasearch feature.

This section is now diverting much attention away from the organic listings below as an alternative form of advertising, absorbing attention once gained for free through strong placement in the natural results.

For the first time ever, starting in Q4 2016, metasearch has grown to become the most important advertising channel for hotelsoutpacing even AdWords.

Source Credit: Fastbooking 2017: The State of Metasearch Report

In terms of both click volume and return on ad spend, Google Hotel Ads have shown exponential growthwith no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

What prompted this shift?

Googles search results page now incorporates an attractive metasearch feature in users direct line of sight, pulling attention away from its organic listings.

Eye-tracking studies for hotel branded searches from Travel Tripper show that users are drawn to the first few paid ads, the Google My Business listing, and the metasearch feature, which displays room rates from multiple distribution channelsall at the expense of natural results, which fall outside of these key areas:

Source: Travel Tripper

On Desktop

While focusing attention on effective natural search marketing efforts to boost rank, it has become increasingly important to invest as much attention in other paid efforts as well.

Meanwhile, for generic hotel searchessuch as hotels in Parisusers are immediately presented with a set of paid ads, followed by the metasearch engine, which includes a map, customer reviews, contact information, best available rates, images and more. Organic search results are now displayed beneath these two features, far below the fold.

On Mobile

For users searching on mobile phones, a hotels Google My Business listing and metasearch booking engine occupy an entire screen, with many attention-grabbing features pushing organic results beneath this attractive display.

From a UX perspective, Google has engineered the metasearch section into a highly graphic, informative, easy-to-use tool, while its organic listings now appear drab, disorganized, and text heavy by contrast.

Studies such as the one conducted by Travel Tripper show that paid search and Google My Business Listing optimization have become increasingly important to searchers. It is no longer of benefit to hotels to put all their eggs in one basket (natural search or paid search).

Marketers throughout the hotel industry have started to take serious notice of Googles monopoly position, raking in more than $12 billion annually from the travel sector alone.

But unless regulators respond, hoteliers have no choice but to concentrate on making the most of available tools to secure online business.

Challenge #2: Diversification of Devices and Channels Used to Research and Book Travel

As screens get smaller, the importance of adopting aggressive search marketing strategies becomes more important to maintain search ranking and grow market share.

Per Google, 45% of summer travelers search for hotels 6+ weeks in advance.

Source: Google Report: Summer 2017 Hotel Search Opportunity

Hotel customers have been migrating toward mobile devices in ever-increasing numbers.

According to a 2017 report titled From Search Engine to Booking Engine, jointly released by Google and Sojern to explore purchase behavior for todays travelers:

Almost all hotel segments now receive a majority of searches on mobile devices. Mobile queries currently generate over 75% of total searches for some budget-conscious brands. At present, luxury hotels receive comparatively less searches from mobile, averaging at 45% of all queries. Mobile searches are growing rapidly across all hotel segments, with luxury hotels now experiencing the highest level of growth at 23% year-over-year.



The Share of Mobile Hotel Queries

Mobile bookings represent 9% to 15% of hotel bookings on any given day. A slight uptick for mobile bookings is observable during the weekends, as users shut off their desktop computers for work. However, despite the tremendous surge in mobile searches, data shows that most travelers still opt to book hotel reservations on their desktops.



This shift toward mobile devices has multiplied the factor of complexity involved in optimizing user experience, as designers and developers now need to consider all sorts of different screen types.

Inaccurate tracking presents another notorious source of difficulty for hotels. This is particularly true of click-to-call leads and bookings, which often leads to a faulty sense of the online/offline balance in customer acquisition.

Tools like the Vizergy Platform offer easy tracking for many lead-generating channels (Website, PPC Campaigns, Google My Business Listing, etc.) and reporting capabilities to properly illustrate brand impressions and activity across the board.

For example, if you notice that your website has seen a drop in traffic, but an up-tick in overall brand impressions, Vizergys Website Performance Dashboard could show you that your Google My Business Listing has claimed some of that traffic, but ultimately you are still achieving greater overall success online.

Source: Vizergy Digital Marketing System  Website Traffic, Calls and Google My Business Analytics Dashboard

Challenge #3: Newly Emerging Growth Opportunities, such as Voice Search

To compound matters even further, new dimensions spring up on the search front continuously, forcing hoteliers to decide how much time, energy, and money to invest in these emerging technologies.

One of the most crucial frontiers of hotel search marketing that demands attention in 2017 is voice search.

According to comScore and MindMeld, respectively:

40% of U.S. adults use voice search on a daily basis.

60% of voice-searchers have adopted the practice within the last year, and 41% have embraced it in the past six months.

Voice search spans multiple platforms, with four main players at present:

Apples Siri

Google Now

Microsofts Cortana

Amazons Alexa

So heres the million-dollar question: Is your hotel optimized to appear for a voice-based query such as the following example?

Hey Google, I need a hotel in Orlando for less than $100.

Given the current level of usage for voice searchas well as its growth ratehoteliers simply must learn how to leverage this type of technology to compete for search attention.

Takeaways for Hotel Search Marketers

In review of this data, several key conclusions emerge for hoteliers, highlighting a need to take action and adopt new search marketing strategies.

Implement a multi-channel approach to search, including both organic and paid marketing components. Hoteliers overly reliant on a singular source of search traffic leave themselves open to significant upset as Googles interface continually evolves.

Focus equal attention on desktop and mobile users, with campaigns developed for multiple platforms. Ensure your website is mobile friendly and fast to load, to satisfy the needs of travelers on all devices. While most online bookings are still placed on desktop at present, users are increasingly migrating toward mobile for the full scope of trip planning.

Determine the appropriate amount of investment in each channel, based on market share. Ensure that your analytics platform is robust enough to handle continuous testing, measuring, and refining of new and existing tactics, to make all the right decisions. Set up a system to track call conversion accurately, and be sure to import your own call conversion data into Google Hotel Ads, instead of relying on Googles default method of inferring conversion based on call length. Devote immediate attention to voice search, given its current level of usage and explosive growth rate.



Competitors will invest heavily in search marketing from May to July for summer travel, with queries rising. How will you compete?

Source: Google Report: Summer 2017 Hotel Search Opportunity

Need Help with Todays Challenges in Hotel Search Marketing? Rely on Vizergy to position your property ahead of the curve. Were the hotel industrys most practical solutions provider of website design and digital marketing, driving search results worldwide.Hey Google, call Vizergy for me!Contact us at 1.800.201.1949 or results@vizergy.com to learn more about how we can help you to outperform your competition and drive more direct bookings.
Industry Experts Invited to Participate

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) announced today that it is organizing a Blockchain Technology Task Force to prepare for the technology's future impact on hospitality. The task force will be chaired by Lyle Worthington, CHTP, CIO of The Student Hotel and the 2017 HFTP Global President.

"Blockchain technology has been predicted to have the greatest impact on the future of the world economy," said Frank Wolfe, CEO of HFTP. "As the industry's nonprofit brain trust on finance and technology, it is incumbent on us to address the issue before blockchain reaches maturity and assembling a task force is the first step."

This week HFTP is hosting the 45th HITEC (Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference - #HITECTor) at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario Canada, where the topic will be extensively covered in the education program. First an introduction to the technology will be given in the Tuesday, June 26 keynote: The Blockchain Revolution presented by Alex Tapscott. Tapscott is a founding member at IMF's High Level Advisory Group on Fintech, as well as the co-author of the critically acclaimed best-seller "Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money Business and the World."

Following up this session on Wednesday, June 28 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. is the concurrent session Demystifying Blockchain Technology, where speaker Andrew Sanders will specifically address how blockchain technology positively addresses pain points that impact hotel companies and travelers. Sanders held executive and sales leadership positions at global companies specializing in enterprise hospitality technology solutions for over 20 years.

Members of the industry who would like to be considered for the task force should send an e-mail to Blockchain@hftp.org.
Absheron Hotel Group has named Scott Mawhinney as its new Cluster General Manager. Based in Baku, Azerbaijan, Mawhinney will oversee operations at the city's newest resort; the Bilgah Beach Hotel, and the Pik Palace and the Park Chalet hotels, both located in the ski resort town of Shahdag, 200 kilometres north of Baku. Both the Pik Palace and the Park Charles hotels are part of Marriott's Autograph Collection, reserved for the most beautifully orchestrated hotel experiences in the world.

Canada-born Scott Mawhinney brings a wealth of world-class expertise to the role with 25 years of international hotel experience across Asia, Europe, North America, South Pacific and the Middle East.

Most recently, he was General Manager of the multi-award-winning Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Prior to that, he held several senior opening management positions, including the 7-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, and the Pangu 7-star Hotel in Beijing. He also spent eight years in senior executive positions for Shangri-La Hotel & Resorts.

Responsible for operations, financial performance, and sales and marketing of the three properties, Mawhinney will manage 600 employees to ensure the highest quality guest experience standards are achieved.

Jiri Kobos, Managing Director at Absheron Hotel Group says, "We are excited to welcome a person of Scott's impressive performance record to our business. We are confident that he will be an excellent leader and an inspiration to others in the management of these three outstanding properties."

"Overseeing three of Azerbaijan s leading hotels is a great honour for me to take on and I look forward to driving the future growth and development of these unique properties," says Mawhinney. "My vision is to continue to position these hotels as among Azerbaijan's top touristic destinations, given their intriguing location and proximity to many of the country's top year-round attractions."
Employees Love Working from Home. But Are They Engaged?

Posted by Ryan Scott on Monday, 06-26-2017 12:33 am

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We live in an era of increased telecommuting, and employees love it that way. Global Analytics Workplace estimates that roughly 3.7 million employees (2.8% of the workforce) now work from home at least half the time, 50% of the US workforce holds a job that is compatible with at least partial telework and approximately 20-25% of the workforce teleworks at some frequency. There are compelling reasons to support remote work arrangements. Global Analytics Workplace has found that 80% of employees consider telework a job perk, with two-thirds of people wanting to work from home; thirty-six percent of employees would choose working from home over a pay raise; and 37% would take a pay cut of 10% if they could work from home. Clearly, working from home improves employee satisfaction, and there are other significant benefits as well. Telecommuting creates challenges, too, which Ill get to in a moment - as well as a great way to address some of those obstacles. First, the positives. Global...

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The function of Human Resources  assuming it exists - in any size company is best positioned to help mitigate the insider threats of a cyber-attack. HR must take a collaborative role with the companys IT and / or security governance bodies to develop policies and to educate the entire workforce in best practices and action steps to help reduce the threat level of future attacks that might be initiated/facilitated by workforce behaviors and poor HR data security. Clearly, cybersecurity is on the worlds stage, especially in America. Made more visible to the general public through the concerns over the hacking of the democratic national committee and Russias alleged influence over the presidential election, the threat of cyber-attacks invited great publicity. Even before the election, the hacking of records maintained by TARGET, BEST BUY and YAHOO with almost 1.5 billion records stolen (to name just a few) have created great concerns and interest. However, a bit less publicity has been given to and about the threats and executed attacks within any corporation (of any size) stemming from their own employees  or from former employees. It has been often stated that the greatest point of vulnerability to an organizations data is the behavior and lack of mindfulness of the employees themselves. A recent VERIZON data breach investigations report (2015) stated an organizations greatest vulne...
The End-of-Year taxation process is an annual event that can reduce even the most hardened HR professionals to tears. End-of-year payroll processing involves tax calculation, employee compensation, and accurate deductions to be withheld. This is a busy time of the year, and stressful since it involves employee pay, and theres no room for error. Apart from your usual checklist of vital things to do (including auditing employee data and confirming accuracy), theres a lot to contend with. But preparation for year-end doesnt have to wait until March. In fact, it should ideally begin months earlier to ensure a smooth process. As you begin to plan out your approach to the End of Year (EoY) process, something you should definitely keep in mind is what your employees expect from it. Evolving Employee Expectations Did you know that globally, USD 11 billion is lost every year due to employee turnover? And that up to 71% of employees are not fully engaged at their workplace? This alarming phenomenon of employee disengagement may be due to various reasons, but there seems to be a growing mismatch between what the employee expects from the workplace and what he/she actually gets. Expectations are changing fast. With the seamless takeover by technology of every aspect of our lives, employees increasingly want more input into the company activities, more control over their personal information, and more security for their data. And with increasing...
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
Washington, June 26 (IBNS): Cancer tumours manipulate a natural cell process to promote their survival suggesting that controlling this mechanism could stop progression of the disease, according to new research by the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford.

Non-sense mediated decay (NMD) is a natural physiological process that provides cells with the ability to detect DNA errors called nonsense mutations. It also enables these cells to eliminate the mutated message (decay) that comes from these faulty genes before they can be translated into proteins that can cause disease formation.



NMD is known among the medical community for the role it plays in the development of genetic diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis and some hereditary forms of cancers. But not all nonsense mutations can elicit NMD and, until now, its wider impact on cancer was largely unknown.



Biomedical researchers and computer scientists from the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford developed a computer algorithm to mine DNA sequences from cancer to accurately predict whether or not an NMD would eliminate genes that had nonsense mutations.



The work originally focused on ovarian cancers, and found that about a fifth of these cancers use NMD to become stronger. This is because NMD ensures that the message from a gene called TP53, which ordinarily protects cells from developing cancer, is almost completely eliminated. In the absence of NMD, a mutated TP53 might still retain some activity but NMD ensures that this is not the case.



Based on this research, the team predicts that because cancers essentially feed on NMD, they become dependent on it, in some cases. If scientists were therefore able to inhibit or control the process, it is possible that they could also control cancer and prevent the progression of the disease.



Co-author of the paper, published today in Nature Communications, Dr Ahmed Ahmed, of the University of Oxford, said: Our first observations of evidence of the role of NMD in ovarian cancer were tantalizing. We found that NMD precisely explained why there was almost no expression of TP53 in certain ovarian cancers.



We went on to test the role of NMD in other cancer types and the evidence of the role of NMD was compelling. This opens the door for exciting possibilities for customised treatments including individualized immunotherapies for patients in the future.



Following the ovarian cancer analysis, the team expanded the study to include other cancer types. They analysed about a million different cell mutations in more than 7,000 tumours from the Cancer Genome Atlas covering 24 types of cancer.

The team was able to map how each cancer type used NMD revealing the remarkable extent to which NMD helps cancer to survive.

Moving forward the team will focus on testing their theory and understanding to what degree stopping the NMD process allows them to control tumours.

Co-author Dr Christopher Yau, of the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham, said: As a result of these findings, we now plan to apply the same computer algorithm to determine if NMD affects cancer patients in The 100,000 Genomes Project. These investigations may pave the way to new treatment possibilities for NHS patients in the future.

Katherine Taylor, CEO of Ovarian Cancer Action, which part-funded the research, said: This is very exciting news. The team has identified how cancer cells rely on a process called NMD for their survival. This discovery could help clinicians identify and inhibit the process, giving them much better control of a person's cancer.

Ovarian cancer is a very complicated disease and survival rates are low, with only 46% of women living beyond five years after diagnosis. So understanding how we can prevent the disease from thriving is imperative if we are to improve the outcome for more women.


New Delhi, Jun 26 (IBNS): President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday greeted people on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.

"Greetings to all my fellow citizens, particularly my Muslim brothers & sisters, in India & abroad on Idul Fitr #PresidentMukherjee," the President's tweet read.

"May this occasion bring happiness, peace & prosperity & be an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to serve humanity #PresidentMukherjee," he said in a following tweet.

"May this day, strengthen in each one of us, an unflinching faith in our unity and common destiny #PresidentMukherjee," President Mukherjee added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Eid-ul-Fitr greetings! May this auspicious day further the spirit of peace and brotherhood in our society."

An important religious holiday observed by the Muslim community across the globe, Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan.
Srinagar, June 26 (IBNS) : Clashes broke out in Srinagar and few other places of Kashmir on the Eied day on Monday leaving at least 12 people, including to CRPF men, injured as protesters pelted stones and security forces using teargas and pellet guns, reports said.

Besides Srinagar, reports of unrest came from Anantnag, Sopore and Pulwama as Muslims of all classes thronged places of worship for offering Eid prayers at the end of the month-long fasting of Ramazan.

According to media reports, police had to fire tear gas shell in Srinagar, where two Central Reserve Police Force jawans suffered injuries after being hit by stones outside the Eidgah after the Namaz. Police had to lob tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd.

Security forces resorted to firing pellet guns in Sopore to control a violent mob, in which ten people were injured.

A mob resorted to stone pelting at Janglat Mandi in Anantnag town after the Eid prayers, forcing police to burst tea as shells.

Sporadic clashes reportedly continued in Anantnag for over an hour.
Washington, June 26 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

The meeting took place ahead of Modi's crucial meeting with US president Donald Trump.

MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted:"First engagement of the day. Mr. Jim Mattis, Secretary of Defence calls on PM @narendramodi."

In his another tweet, he said: "Preparing the ground for the meeting between the leaders. Mr. Rex W. Tillerson, Secretary of State calls on PM @narendramodi."

Modi will meet US President Donald Trump for the first time at the White House on Monday to hold bilateral talks on important strategic issues, especially on security and economy.



According to reports, Modi and Trump, who have earlier spoken thrice over phone, would be closeted in a a one-to-one meeting for few hours, which is to be followed by a delegation level talk, a cocktail reception and a working dinner- all going to take place for the first time for a foreign leader inside the White House since Trump assumed Presidency.

A host of strategic issues are expected to be discussed, including the civil nuclear deal, bilateral trade and the activities of Pakistan-based terror outfits.

Trump, who described Modi as a "true friend," tweeted on Sunday, "Look forward to welcoming India's PM Modi to @WhiteHouse on Monday. Important strategic issues to discuss with a true friend!

Though general expectations about the outcome of the meeting is said to be "modest", experts see in it a great significance with the two leaders getting to know each other with the possibility, of charting their ways of cooperation in different fields.

Images: Gopal Baglay Twitter page


Bogota, Jun 26 (IBNS): At least nine people were killed after a tourist boat sank on Sunday in Columbia's Guatape water reservoir, a popular tourist hotspot, reports said.

A team of rescue workers are also looking for the 28 people who are missing.

The three-floor ship El Almirante was carrying 170 people when the accident took place.

Rescue coordinator Margarita Maria Moncada told local daily El Colombiano: "We officially have nine people who were found dead, and 99 people who were good from the beginning and immediately rescued. Another 40 people left [the ship] by themselves and are fortunately okay. And there are 28 people who are reported missing."

Following the incident, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos visited the scene and offered his condolences to the bereaved families.

The Guatape Mayor's office has declared three days of mourning.



Image: Viceministerio de Turismo de Colombia


London, June 26 (IBNS): Conservatives signed a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on Monday to form the UK government, two weeks after PM Theresa May failed to secure a majority in a snap election of the country.

Both parties signed the confidence and supply agreement which will operate till the duration of the parliament.

The Northern Ireland political party, the DUP, has agreed to support the May government on all motions of confidence, Queen's speech, the budget, financial bills, money bills and supply and appropriation legislation and Estimates, as per the statement issued by the government.

Support on other cases by the DUP will be decided as it crops up, the statement reads.

May-led Conservative Party failed to secure majority in the recently concluded snap election in UK, as they are short of eight seats to from the government.

The Conservative party had won 318 seats while the opposition Labour Party bagged 261 seats.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) won 35 seats, the Liberal Democrats 12 and the Democratic Unionist Party 10 in the election.

May, who had inherited her government from former UK PM David Cameron in 2016, called for a snap election but failed to seal a clear victory.

Cameron resigned from his post after the defeat in the Brexit as 52% of people voted for an exit from the European Union (EU).

The DUP has also agreed to support the May government on legislation regards to Britain's exit from EU.

The parties recognised the importance of the agricultural sector of Northern Ireland in the signed agreement.

Welcoming the newly signed deal, PM May said: "I welcome this agreement which will enable us to work together in the interest of the whole United Kingdom, give us the certainty we require as we embark on our departure from the European Union, and help us build a stronger and fairer society at home."

"Time is running short for the parties to come together and reach agreement to re-establish a power-sharing Executive by 29 June. I hope the parties will look beyond their differences and come together with a shared sense of common purpose to serve all communities in the best interests of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland needs a functioning devolved government at this important time" she added.

After each parliamentary session, both parties would review the aims, principles and implementation of the signed agreement.

Image: Official Facebook page of Theresa May and Arlene Foster.
Stockholm , June 26 (IBNS) Militant group Al Qaeda has freed a Swedish man who was kidnapped from Mali in 2011, media reports said.

The released person was identified as Johan Gustafsson.

Swedish Minister Foreign Affairs Margot Wallstrom confirmed the issue by posting a statement: "I am extremely pleased to be able to announce that today Johan Gustafsson has been able to return to Sweden and reunite with his family.Johan's situation has affected many of us, and extensive efforts have been made to secure his release."

"I would like to urge everyone to show consideration for Johan and his family and to respect their wishes concerning when and whether they will choose to make a statement," read the statement.

Country's former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted: "Extremely good news. Johan Gustafsson, kidnapped in Timbuktu in 2011 by AQ affiliate, in on his way home to Sweden."



Image: Wikimedia Commons
New York, June 27(Just Earth News): Scientists and technical experts from all over the world are gathering this week in Vienna, Austria, for a meeting convened by the United Nations partner organization working to establish a verification regime to monitor global compliance with the comprehensive ban on nuclear testing.

The Science and Technology 2017 Conference, which opens today and runs through Friday, 30 June in the Austrian capital, is the sixth in a series of meetings aimed at strengthening the relationship between the scientific community and authorities for compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The Conference was convened by the Preparatory Commission for the Treaty, widely known as the CTBTO.

The Conference is seeking to enlarge the engagement of the scientific and technological community in test-ban monitoring. In addition to monitoring such tests, scientists apply CTBTO data for other useful purposes, such as the observation of volcanoes and icebergs. It is also used to study marine mammals, and forecast the weather months in advance, to improve the mitigation of disasters.

The advances of these technologies also help towards the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seek to eliminate poverty and hunger, as well as put in practice measures to combat climate change.

The high-level opening of the 2017 Conference will be tomorrow, 27 June, and will include welcoming remarks by the Executive Secretary of the CTBTO, Lassina Zerbo, and Michael Linhart, Secretary General for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Ministry for Europe of Austria.

Keynote Addresses are expected to be delivered by Princess Sumaya of Jordan, President of the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan; Maria Candida Pereira Teixeira, Minister for Science and Technology, Angola; and Pascale Ultre Guerard, National Centre for Space Studies, France.

For the first time, the 2017 Conference will include a special focus on youth and young scientists. Close to 100 members of the CTBTO Youth Group from more than 50 countries are contributing actively to the substance and the coverage of the Conference and adding their voices and impressions.

Nuclear test-ban treaty and the role of the CTBTO

Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996, The CTBT is a multilateral treaty that bans all nuclear explosions, by everyone, everywhere: on the Earth's surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground. It makes it very difficult for countries to develop nuclear bombs for the first time, or for countries that already have them, to make more powerful bombs.

More than 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out worldwide between 1945 and 1996 when the Treaty was opened for signature. The United States conducted the majority  1,032 in total  followed by the Soviet Union, France, the United Kingdom and China. Since 1996, three countries have broken the de facto moratorium on nuclear testing: India and Pakistan in 1998, and the Democratic Republic of Korea in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2016.

The CTBT has not yet become law. A total of 183 nations have signed on, of which, 166 have ratified it, including three nuclear weapons States: France, Russia and the United Kingdom.

But 44 others who have these specific technologies must sign and ratify the Treaty in order for it to come into force. Of these, the CTBTO says, eight are still missing: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Pakistan and the United States. The last country to ratify this treaty was Indonesia, on 6 February, 2012.

Since the Treaty is not yet in force, the CTBTO is officially called the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. In line with its main task to make preparations for effective implementation of the Treaty, the CTBTO is establishing and provisionally operating the 337-facility International Monitoring System (IMS) to monitor the planet for signs of nuclear explosions, and including its International Data Centre (IDC) and Global Communications Infrastructure (GCI).

Photo: CTBTO Preparatory Commission

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Columbus, Jun 26 (IBNS): Ohio government websites were flooded with IS messages after the terrorist organisation hacked into them, sending a message for US President Donald Trump.

"You will be held accountable Trump, it read, while adding, "you and all your people, for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries."

The official website of Ohio Governor John Kasich was one among those hacked.

OH Dept of Corrections website right now, this is what you see. Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland. pic.twitter.com/dRll4aNiwQ  Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) June 25, 2017

Several sites were down following the attack and were restored hours later, disrupting work.

The group responsible for the act, Team System DZ, has carried out similar attacks in the past.

Image: twitter.com/JoshMandelOhio
Washington, June 26 (IBNS): The Supreme Court upheld US President Donald Trump's travel ban on at least four countries instead of proposed six on Monday, giving the latter a partial win, according to media reports.

Trump in an executive order on Jan 27, banned seven countries to enter into US which includes Libya, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and Iraq.

However, the order after getting dismissed by the lower court, Trump proposed the second list of banned countries, that excluded Iraq.

On Monday, the SC said at least four countries could be banned by the Trump administration, handing over a partial victory to the US President.

The full case will be heard by the Supreme Court in the month of October.

Image: Official Facebook page of Donald Trump.
In Person Outgoing UNAIDS Country Director: Structural Barriers are Preventing People From Getting Tested and Treated

UNAIDS country director for Myanmar Mr. Eamonn Murphy. / Chanson / The Irrawaddy

Mr. Eamonn Murphy is about to take up the position of regional director for the Asia Pacific Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) after holding the position of country director in Myanmar twice: between 2002 and 2004, and most recently since 2012. He has presided over an office that has seen new HIV infections in the country fall by 24 percent since 2010, and AIDS-related deaths decrease by 40 percent.

Last month, Mr. Murphy welcomed the governments third five-year national strategic plan on the issue, and praised the injection of extra funding from the current administration. The Irrawaddys Rik Glauert sat down with Mr. Murphy to learn more about his insights into and his experiences of fighting the HIV epidemic in Myanmar.

What are you most proud of from your time in Myanmar?

The work of UNAIDS is to help others to do their work. You wont see photos of me in the newspaper treating people. We dont make the change alone; we support others who are trying to create change. The fact that the community groups are leading, with the Parliament, in the drafting of legislation on the new HIV law in Myanmar, is a real success for me. We are supporting them, technically, but we are behind. It has been truly nationally owned. That for me is the satisfaction of working in the UN in this particular organization.

The HIV and AIDS treatment program scale up has been very much led by the government. The new policies and decentralization have meant more people are being treated than ever before. Civil society continues to grow and be empoweredwe have done training with groups of men who have sex with men (MSM) and sex workers groups. There has been so much positive change in the last five years, and it has been a privilege to be here and support national leadership. It is Myanmar people leading, not a lot of foreigners telling people what to do.

What unique challenges have you observed concerning the fight against HIV/AIDS in this country?

Every epidemic is different because the country has unique cultural, social, political characteristics that impact it. HIV prevalence among injecting drug users, principally heroin, is high in Myanmarnationally it is 28.5 percent. But there are pockets, particularly in towns in Kachin and northern Shan states, where it is as high as 50 percent. Drug use in these areas is the center of the onionyouve got issues like conflict, cross-border trade in jade, timber, and drugs, a whole range of economic and social factors surrounding it.

Culturally conservative groups can reject modern health interventions, from both a values and a political basisthey see methadone and needle exchange programs as impositions from the central government. Geography is also a major challenge: if people have to travel to get to methadone they will continue to buy heroin at the local market where it is cheaper and easier to come by.

HIV prevalence among MSM is also very highup to between 22 and 27 percent in the urban centers of Mandalay and Yangon. The lack of any law reform in Myanmar for decades is also holding things back. Lawmakers currently have a discrimination protection law for people living with HIV, and if they can also address Section 377 of the penal code that criminalizes unnatural sex, that will help a lot to reduce fear and will reduce new infections. The Suppression of Prostitution Act is also up for revision, which could improve help available to sex workers.

Theres a lot of stigma and discrimination against HIV positive people in Myanmar, which needs to change. If youre a taxi driver in Yangon, why do you need to have a HIV test? Im unaware of anyone getting HIV from riding in a taxi. Critical structural barriers are preventing people from getting tested and treated.

What changes have you seen throughout the course of your time in Myanmar?

The first time I was here [in 2002], HIV/AIDS was highly politicized. In the eyes of the government, any journalist walking through the door was looking to criticize the country, and HIV/AIDS was used as a way to do that. The government didnt like the data coming outthere was a whole range of estimates of infections, from the government, from us, from outside. HIV/AIDS was picked on, compared to other health issues, to criticize in hopes to bring about democratic change. That didnt help us respond to the epidemicthe government went into lockdown and the overall HIV/AIDS numbers were held back. The then health minister Dr. Kyaw Myint was very brave. He set out to establish a fund for HIV treatment and prevention and gained international financial support. He was happy to engage with people and establish formal structures.

In 2012 there was big shift when power moved from the military junta to the Union Solidarity and Development Party. It was really exciting to work with colleagues in the Ministry of Health when I came backmany of them knew what they wanted to change, even though the ability to make that change was hard, but the motives were there and the energy was so strong.

Dr. Pe Thet Khin [health minister from 2011-14] invited a number of different partners and NGOs and was working to establish universal health coverage. He had a very public health approach and was responsible for bringing back medicines into the health systems in 2013.

Things have not changed that fast, of course, and things slowed down over the 2015 election period. With the new National League for Democracy-led government we have seen more openness to decisions, but the bureaucracies are slow to change. The current health minister Dr. Myint Htwe has a very public health approach and has introduced a very progressive new national health plan that HIV will be part of. He is the one driving the change in treatment provision. Devolving decision-making to the states and regions is going to be critical for his vision. It is going to take a while for people to find the confidence in his plans, though.

How has international funding informed the way Myanmar tackles HIV/AIDS?

Myanmar has never been awash with development assistance in the way that some other countries in the region have been, because of international sanctions. And, since 2011-12, health funding has actually been in decline. The budget for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria has not grown; it has shrunk and it is now covering more things. It is understandable that development money is going to the economy and capacity building in the workforce, but the need to fight HIV is still great.

The new government has increased the provision of treatment with new policies and more government money. The new minister has trebled what was put in before to US$15 million as the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria] flatlines. The costings behind the new strategic plan are clever. A World Bank tool and an AIDS epidemic modeling tool were used to optimize the spending. Thats why models of service are changing.

[This change] is out of necessity but it is also out of good logic. The future of public health depends on more domestic resources. But, unfortunately, prevention will lose out in the middle of that, thats where development partners can help. You cant treat yourself out of a HIV epidemic. I encourage development partners to really look at investment in health and HIV and the whole range of social services.

Whats next for you?

Ill be regional director for Asia Pacific. For UNAIDS, that region is all the way from Pakistan and Afghanistan to the Pacific islands. It includes China and Indiaa lot of people. We may not have the large-scale epidemics of Africa, but we have serious numbers at risk or infected and major human rights issues. The challenges are going to be great, but I love a challenge. Its not just about the disease itself, its about the context. The rights of the individuals, their access to rights and services. Of the biggest challenges will be rights issues, because of the concentrated nature of the epidemics. It is marginalized people that are most affected.

Im excited about it, as I will also be able to get back to Myanmar. I would like to refer to the successes of Myanmar too, for other countries to look at. They can ask: How did Myanmar scale up treatment with limited resources available? A lot of it is about commitment. I think there is a lot to be learned from Myanmar. Health reform is a real positive thing here.
Burma Fifth Annual Ethnic Media Conference Convenes in Loikaw

The fifth ethnic media conference kicks off in Loikaw on Monday, June 26. / Thet Htun Naing / The Irrawaddy

LOIKAW, Karenni State  An ethnic media conference eyeing the development of an official ethnic media policy convened in Karenni (Kayah) States capital of Loikaw on Monday.

During the three-day event, nearly 100 journalists from across the country will discuss ethnic media policy frameworks and challenges, as well as the promotion of the rights of women journalists and the role of ethnic media in Myanmars political transition, peace process, and the building of a federal Union.

In his opening address, Nai Kasauh Mon, executive director of ethnic media coalition Burma News International (BNI) and chief editor of the Mon News Agency, urged the participants to provide input on a future ethnic media policy as well as the sustainability of their media outlets, which have a smaller circulation than larger media in central Myanmar.

At this fifth session, we will discuss the formulation of a more comprehensive and coherent ethnic media policy. But such a policy wont immediately be able to be drafted at this conference. At the very least, well need many more recommendations, Nai Kasauh Mon told The Irrawaddy.

The ethnic media conference is in its fifth year. Previous sessions were respectively held in Mon States Moulmein (Mawlamyine), Shan States Taunggyi, Chin States Hakha and Arakan States Mrauk U since 2013. Those conferences focused on networking between ethnic media outlets and their role in the peace process.

The governments information minister U Pe Myint also addressed the ethnic media conference, saying that media would develop alongside Myanmars political transition.

He admitted that he was aware that his ministry needed to do much more to promote the development of ethnic media.

We have plans for the development of ethnic news media and literature. We have an obligation to implement these two things. Therefore we broadcast news on TV and radio in ethnic languages, and we also publish supplements in ethnic languages in newspapers. But we havent done enough. We know that much remains to be done, said U Pe Myint.

Nan Paw Gay, chief editor of the Karen Information Centre (KIC) said that challenges for ethnic media had continued in different forms since the political transition, but that a shortage of human capacity, and financial and technical restrictions remain common issues throughout the country.

These problems have persisted, though we have tried to solve them. So, I want ethnic media to be given a certain extent of no-strings-attached assistance, either by the state government or Parliament or the Union government, without [editorial] independence restricted, she told The Irrawaddy.

Security is one of the concerns for journalists in ethnic areas, said Say Reh Soe, chief editor of Kantarawaddy Times, a local ethnic media outlet based in Loikaw.

As there are many armed groups in Kayah State, tensions between the Tatmadaw and ethnic armed organizations remain. So it is quite sensitive for reporters to gather news in the areas controlled by either group. [The authorities] designate areas as black and brown depending on security levels, he explained, a reference to zones controlled by ethnic armed organizationsdesignated as blackand areas of contested control between the Myanmar Army and ethnic armed groupsbrown. It is a challenge for the security of reporters to gather news in those areas, he explained.

Ethnic media outlets have a better understanding of the situations of their respective areas, and therefore could work in cooperation with Yangon-based media to reach a wider audience and to gain greater financial returns in order to ensure their sustainability, suggested media trainer U Myo Tha Htet of Internews.

The journalistic standards of ethnic media have improved, he said. So, at this point, well seek ways in which they can get financial returns for their sustainability, he added.

U Nay Lin Soe from the Myanmar Independent Living Initiative (MILI), representing persons with disabilities at the conference for the first time, urged the media to write more stories about the abilities of disabled persons both in mainland and ethnic regions.

As a panelist at the conference, he said dignified portrayals of disabled persons, rather than those that describe them as pitiful, would contribute to changes in policies that affect them.

U Nay Lin Soe explained that he hoped that ethnic media, in speaking out about the needs of vulnerable people, would also present the plight of disabled persons from a perspective informed by human rights.

When [media] present the issues of disabled people, they should not present them from traditional point of views, but from the point of view of fundamental rights in modern times, he said.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko
Burma Nationalists Renew Protest Against Religion Minister

Buddhist monks join a protest against the religion minister U Aung Ko in Mandalay. / The Irrawaddy

Mandalay  Nationalists gathered in Myanmars two biggest cities to call for the resignation of the religious affairs minister U Aung Ko on Sunday.

The protesters in Mandalay and Yangon were rallying as they said the government had ignored the list of demands they laid out at a demonstration in Naypyitaw last month.

The demands included the acquittal of a number of nationalists guilty or accused of crimes, the lifting of a nationwide preaching ban on ultranationalist monk U Wirathu, imposed because of his religious hate speech, and an apology from U Aung Ko.

They claim the minister is neglecting Buddhism and favoring Islam, but the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture questioned the authenticity of the protest, alleging that demonstrators were paid to attend.

More than 200 Buddhist monks, nuns, and laypeople rallied at Manawyaman grounds in Mandalay on Sunday, holding placards and shouting slogans that accused U Aung Ko of influencing the state Buddhist authority the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee.

Since the ministry did not follow our demands in the one month that we gave, we are here to urge for the resignation of the minister again, said U Eaindaka, vice president of the Patriotic Young Monks Union.

The protests would continue, he said, if the government continued to ignore the demands.

Our demands are the demands of every citizen, so the government authorities should listen, he said. The minister is not protecting or supporting the wellbeing of Buddhism enough. He did many things to sadden us, the Buddhists, by oppressing the Buddhist monks.

U Eaindaka said articles 361 and 362 of the 2008 military-drafted Constitution declare Buddhism as the national religion and grant other religions the freedom to worship.

But the minister said other religions freedom to worship should be respected, claimed U Eaindaka, adding that Buddhism is the host and should be respected by all other religions, which are visitors in the country.

On the same day outside City Hall in Yangon, roughly 200 people, including monks, protested the same message as the nationalists in Mandalay.

The protesters listed six demands similar to the demands announced in Naypyitaw last month and gave the government seven days to respond to them.

If the government does not respond, they threaten to camp outside Yangons City Hall.
Burma Overruling Diplomats, US to Drop Iraq, Myanmar from Child Soldiers List

A 15-year-old rebel soldier of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in the Kokang region March 2015. / Reuters

In a highly unusual intervention, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to remove Iraq and Myanmar from a US list of the worlds worst offenders in the use of child soldiers, disregarding the recommendations of State Department experts and senior US diplomats, US officials said.

The decision, confirmed by three US officials, would break with longstanding protocol at the State Department over how to identify offending countries and could prompt accusations the Trump administration is prioritizing security and diplomatic interests ahead of human rights.

Tillerson overruled his own staffs assessments on the use of child soldiers in both countries and rejected the recommendation of senior diplomats in Asia and the Middle East who wanted to keep Iraq and Myanmar on the list, said the officials, who have knowledge of the internal deliberations.

Tillerson also rejected an internal State Department proposal to add Afghanistan to the list, the three US officials said.

One official said the decisions appeared to have been made following pressure from the Pentagon to avoid complicating assistance to the Iraqi and Afghan militaries, close US allies in the fight against Islamist militants. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

Foreign militaries on the list can face sanctions including a prohibition on receiving US military aid, training and US-made weapons unless the White House issues a waiver.

Human rights officials expressed surprise at the delisting, which was expected to be announced on Tuesday, the officials said, as part of the State Departments annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

A State Department official said the TIP reports contents were being kept under wraps until its release and the department does not discuss details of internal deliberations.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008, the US government must be satisfied that no children are recruited, conscripted or otherwise compelled to serve as child soldiers in order for a country to be removed from the list and US military assistance to resume.

In the lead-up to Tuesdays report, the State Departments Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, which researches the issue and helps shape US policy on it, along with its legal office and diplomatic bureaus in Asia and the Middle East concluded that the evidence merited keeping both countries on the list, the officials said.

Officials said that although the report had been finalized there was always the possibility of last-minute changes.

Betraying Children

Human Rights Watch said removing Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, from the list would be a completely premature and disastrous action that will effectively betray more children to continued servitude and rights abuses.

The decision also would put the Trump administration at odds with the United Nations, which continues to list the Myanmar military, along with seven ethnic armed groups, on its list of entities using and recruiting child soldiers.

Whats particularly astonishing is this move ignores that the UN in Burma says that it is still receiving new cases of children being recruited by the Myanmar military, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Rights groups have long accused Myanmar of using child soldiers. Bordering both China and India, Myanmar is also of growing strategic importance to the United States at a time of increasing encroachment in the region by China, which has sought closer relations with its neighbor.

Iraq, which has received more than US$2 billion in US arms and training over the last three years, was added to the State Departments Child Soldier Prevention Act List in 2016. However, the flow of US assistance has continued.

Former President Barack Obama handed out full or partial waivers regularly, including last year to Iraq, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan and others out of 10 countries on the list.

Last years State Department report said some militias of Iraqs Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of mostly Shiite Muslim factions with ties to the Iraqi government and backed by Iran, recruited and used child soldiers.

The report said that despite the PMF being funded by the government, Baghdad struggled to control all of its factions.

The government did not hold anyone accountable for child recruitment and use by the PMF and PMF-affiliated militias.

Human Rights Watch said in January that it had learned that militias had been recruiting child soldiers from one Iraqi refugee camp since last spring.

The broader TIP report, the first of Trumps presidency, is sure to be closely scrutinized for further signs that under his America First approach there will be little pressure brought to bear on friendly governments, especially strategically important ones, for human rights violations at home.

The Obama administration, while more vocal about political repression around the world, also faced criticism from human rights groups and some US lawmakers that decisions on annual human trafficking rankings had become increasingly politicized.
Burma U Win Htein: State Counselor Will Oversee Any Cabinet Reshuffle

U Win Htein (center) takes questions at a press conference after the National League for Democracy central committee meeting in Yangon on June 25. / National League for Democracy / Facebook

YANGON  State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will oversee any cabinet reshuffle, said ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party secretariat member U Win Htein on Sunday.

At a press conference held after a two-day central committee meeting at the partys headquarters in Yangon, he said: When it comes to changes of Union-level ministers and deputy ministers, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will review, and she will have the final say, in response to a question on whether there was any cabinet shakeup in the pipeline.

He did not say whether there would be a cabinet reshuffle in the near future.

U Win Htein said the NLD had formed a committee to assess the performance of lawmakers and regional government members.

We are reviewing their performance. But we wont reveal the findings to the public. However, we will submit them to the party Central Executive Committee to get them fixed if needed, he added.

The NLD government came to power in March 2016. In November last year, The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigations deputy minister Dr. Tun Win was abruptly dismissed from the position, becoming the first cabinet member to be fired.

The government did not provide any reason for the dismissal at the time.
Burma Villagers Flee Following Maungdaw Murders

Children walk near the entrance of Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State. / Moe Myint / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  Former village administrator U Maung Mae told The Irrawaddy over the phone on Monday that around 100 residents from Tarein village in Rakhine States northern Maungdaw have left their homes following the killing of two men over the weekend.

Tarein is made up of 84 ethnic Rakhine households, with a total population of 156, the majority of whom rely on agriculture and paddy cultivation.

The State Counselors Office Information Committee released a statement describing the incident, which occurred on Saturday morning. Four men from Tarein reportedly were hunting for tortoises when they were attacked by eight other men armed with machetes; two were wounded and escaped, while one was found dead later on Saturday, and another on Monday. Possible witnesses are reportedly being questioned.

The statement did not elaborate on the cause of the confrontation.

As the authoritiesrelying on eyewitness accountsidentified the perpetrators as Muslims, the incident has contributed to an atmosphere of growing mistrust between the areas Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim communities, many of the latter identifying as Rohingya.

Rakhine landowners in the area once hired local Muslims to farm, and tend cattle. Villagers say that these working relationships have become less common in recent months.

In October of 2016, Muslim militants attacked three border police outposts in the area, killing nine policemen. In the aftermath of the attacks, the Myanmar Army and police carried out joint clearance operations in northern Rakhine State, during which United Nations agencies estimated around 70,000 Rohingya Muslims were displaced. The area remains highly securitized.

The double murder on Saturday has terrified Tareins villagers, former village administrator U Maung Mae said, adding that hearsay has gone viral among members of the community, leading many residents to flee to the town of Maungdaw, where they feel safer.

They are scared to tend cattle outside and go out in search of forest products. How can we survive in this condition? he said.

Ko Thein, a resident from nearby Kyein Chaung village, said that members of his community had also left for Maungdaw and Buthidaung towns.

A border police officer, who spoke to The Irrawaddy on the condition of anonymity, declined to give a specific number of those who had fled, and accused locals of spreading false information. He added that enough police had already been deployed to Tarein.

A series of unresolved attacks on individuals has plagued northern Rakhine State in recent days, allegedly carried out by unidentified groups of masked men whose affiliations and motivations are not known.

An administrator from Khaung Ta Ka village was killed at around 2 a.m. on Saturdayhis son and daughter were reportedly stabbed as they tried to protect their father.

On early Sunday morning, an official from Myo Thu Gyi village, near Maungdaw town, was killed in a similar fashion; his two daughters were wounded in the attack and are receiving treatment at a Maungdaw hospital, according to the State Counselors Office Information Committee.

The committee also reported an incident in which ten masked men attempted to enter the house of Ahmi Ahli, head of Tet Oo Chaung village tract, last week. After being confronted by villagers, the assailants fired guns and fled. A suspect in the attack was reportedly apprehended by border police on Sunday.

A villager from Liek Ya was reportedly attacked as he prayed in a mosque on Sunday. He remains in hospital, and those who perpetrated the incident have not been found.

Last week, the Myanmar military and border police raided what they described as a militant camp the forest of the Mayu mountain range in Maungdaw Township. They killed three men in the process, and confiscated both homemade guns and 20 wooden dummy guns from the scene.
Burma World Bank Arm Defends Mandalay Cement Factory Project Amid Civil Society Opposition

World Bank President Jim Kim visits Yangon in 2014. / World Bank Group

Following an open letter sent to the World Banks President Jim Kim by a coalition of community-based organizations opposing a proposed plan to support the expansion of a cement plant in Mandalay Region and the coal mine that fuels it, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) maintains that the project is worthwhile.

The open letter was endorsed by 174 organizations, all but two of which are based in Myanmar. Sent earlier this month, it claimed that the IFCs proposed financial backing of the expansion of the Shwe Taung Cement Factory and related coal mine contradicted a long list of World Bank and IFC guidelines and objectives.

We emphasize the sheer irresponsibility of this investment and the multiple ways it undermines the IFCs commitment to sustainable investment and shared prosperity through private sector development, it stated.

The proposed plan to expand the cement factory also includes enlarging operations at a coal mine operated by the firm in Sagaing Division that exclusively supplies the cement factory. The IFCs backing of the coal mine expansion and the projects use of coal is one of the major points of contention among civil society groups.

The letter from the coalition also pointed out that Shwe Taung Group chairman Aik Htun co-founded and ran a bank targeted by US authorities for being a Financial Institution of Primary Money Laundering Concern. The Asia Wealth Bank collapsed in 2003 amid a massive crisis in Burmas banking industry.

The letter also noted that Aik Htun was described by US authorities as someone with connections with the narcotics trade. The Sino-Burmese tycoon whose business interests stretch from construction to real estate has denied these allegations, characterizing them as the result of petty jealousy spread during a period when the country was closed off.

The explanation does not appear to hold water with civil society groups that warned in the letter that financing this project would send the message that the IFC disregards the reputational risks associated with the borrower, and is more interested in lining its pockets and that of Myanmars crony elite than promoting sustainable development in accordance with its mandate.

The IFCs country chief in Myanmar, Vikram Kumar, explained in an email response to The Irrawaddy the merits of the IFCs proposal to invest US$15 million and provide a loan of US$20 million in the project that is expected to cost a total of US$110 million.

We believe the cement sector to be critical for Myanmar in the next few years. IFCs financing for Shwe Taung Cement Company (STC) will help triple its productivity, and meet growing demand for raw material for key sectors like infrastructure, housing and ultimately manufacturing, wrote Kumar.

The IFC predicts that the project if it moves forward would generate 200 direct jobs and potentially as many as 4,000 indirect jobs, a figure that was obtained using case studies on the cement industry from other developing countries.

Kumar and his colleagues also disagree with a number of claims made in the letter concerning the projects compliance with IFC and World Bank guidelines. The civil society coalition claims the IFCs proposed investment does not comply with World Bank coal-screening criteria. The letter also claimed that the IFC involvement in the project contradicted a promise from the World Bank that it would avoid supporting coal projects in Myanmar.

As the World Bank has pledged not to finance coal power plants in Myanmar due to their devastating environmental, health and climate impacts, it is not clear why the IFC is considering funding this project, the letter stated.

Kumar counters that the World Bank screening policy on investing in coal-fired power only concerns power plants that contribute power to a national grid.

The project is aligned with this policy in that coal mined by the company is not being used for power generation at the plant, but solely in the cement kiln, a widely used practice internationally, explains Kumar.

Another concern flagged by the coalition opposing the IFCs proposal is that the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) commissioned for the project falls short in a number of areas, including failing to adequately assess existing pollution levels in project site areas.

When asked about this claim, Kumar responded that the consultancy that carried out the ESIA, the UK-based Environmental Resource Management (ERM), is an international and reputable consultancy which is aligned with the IFCs Performance Standards.

The work of ERM, which calls itself the worlds largest pure play environmental and sustainability consultancy, is described somewhat differently in the open letter, whose authors contend that the consultations with local villagers were farcical and were undertaken in an attempt to comply with the IFC Performance Standards.

Some villagers reported a 5-minute question and answer session. This undercuts the Shwe Taung Groups and the IFCs social license to operate, the open letter claimed.

While the open letter also claimed that farmers living near the cement plant had been subjected to judicial harassment for complaining about the impact of the cement plant  which began operating in 2010  on their land and livelihood, Kumar paints a very different situation.

Consultations by IFC and ERM with villages and communities in proximity to the cement plant and mine indicate support for the project and appreciation for community outreach activities by the company, said Kumar.

Date of IFC Decision on Project Unclear

Although a summary of the project posted on the IFC website says the IFCs board was tentatively scheduled to decide about the IFCs involvement at a meeting in Washington on June 8  one day after the letter was sent to World Bank chief Jim Kim  this did not happen. It remains unclear when the 25-member board that Kim chairs will decide on the project.

This project hasnt been submitted to the board and the exact board date is not confirmed yet, said Kumar.

The long list of groups who signed the letter represent a wide swath of Myanmar civil society and include organizations based in every state and region of the country, a number of whom are internationally known including the Karen Environment and Social Action Network (KESAN) and the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG). The latter organized a well-attended protest outside a high-end hotel in the Kachin State capital Myitkiyna last year, citing concerns that the IFC was failing to consult with communities that would be affected by the IFCs water mangement plan.

Another group that signed the letter, Earth Rights International (ERI), a legal-focused NGO that was co-founded by Karen activist Ka Hsaw Wa, is currently suing the IFC in US court on behalf of peasants in Honduras in a suit that alleges that the IFCs backing of a controversial palm oil project on contested land has had lethal implications.

ERIs legal team alleges that the IFC continued to support the Dinant Corporations plantation project despite there being widespread allegations that the firm employed hitmen, military forces, and private security guards to intimidate and kill local farmers who claim Dinants owner stole their land decades prior.

ERI gained widespread attention in international legal circles for suing a US oil giant on behalf of villagers from eastern Myanmar who alleged that they had been used as forced labor for a pipeline project. The lengthy case was eventually settled out of court after the villagers achieved a series of precedent-setting legal victories.
News Despite Opposition, Ministry Says It Will Increase Electricity Prices

National power grid in Dagon Seikkan Township photographed in 2015. / The Irrawaddy

NAYPYIDAW  The Ministry of Electricity and Energy will increase electricity prices soon, said deputy minister Dr. Tun Lwin, citing an annual financial loss of 300 billion kyats concerning the electricity supply.

Pulaw Township lawmaker U Ohn Khin asked during the Lower House parliamentary session on Monday if the government would adjust electricity prices.

The production cost of electricity by state-owned and private power plants is around 92 kyats per unit, but the price sold to users is 69 kyats on average. The government then subsidizes 22 kyats for each unit used, creating a loss of 337 billion kyats during the 2016-17 fiscal year, said the deputy minister.

Because of the subsidies, the government is short of funds to invest in the countrys electricity production facilities for the benefit of national development, said Dr. Tun Lwin. So, we need to cover those costs, added the minister.

Lawmaker U Ohn Khin said that residents in Tanintharyi (Tenasserim) Division have to pay 350 to 650 kyats per unit for electricity from private electricity producers, and that they would not use appliances such as refrigerators or washing machines, even if they received them for free.

They dare not use them due to the high electricity prices. When they buy home appliances, they choose the ones that consume the least electricity, said U Ohn Khin.

The ministry, he argued, cant increase electricity production because of the loss. Its income would not increase as long as electricity production itself does not increase, he said, adding that the local population is growing. So we have been in a vicious circle which should be stopped now, U Ohn Khin said.

Currently, only 38 percent of the countrys population is connected to the national grid, leaving 62 percent of the population without access to government-supplied electricity, said the deputy minister.

Only when those who have access to [government-supplied] electricity pay reasonable electricity prices will we use the money which we have to annually subsidize the building of new grids, said Dr. Tun Lwin.

The previous government attempted to increase electricity prices in November 2013, but aborted its plan in the face of strong opposition from the people.

Currently, households pay 35 kyats per unit for up to 100 units, and 40 kyats per unit for up to 200 units. Any units above 200 cost 50 kyats.

Industrial users pay 75 kyats per unit up to 500 units, 100 kyats from 501 to 10,000 units, 125 kyats from 10,001 to 50,000 units, and 150 kyats from 50,001 to 300,000 units. The unit price drops to 100 kyats for usage that rises above 300,000 units.

At present, as the state-run power plants cannot produce additional electricity, and the ministry has to purchase up to 51 percent of countrys total production from private producers. The government has to buy electricity for 68 kyats per unit from private hydropower plants, and for 158 kyats per unit from private gas-fired power plants, according to the deputy minister.

U Htay Aung, a hotelier in Yangon, has complained about the governments plan to increase electricity prices.

Things such as electricity and rail transportation are not meant to make profit and it is the responsibility of the government to provide such services. We are hardly making profits, and the price increase will surely become a burden to us, he told The Irrawaddy.

Last Friday at a meeting between businessmen and military-appointed Vice President U Myint Swe in Yangon, industrialists proposed tripling electricity rates for household use to 150 kyats, and increasing industrial use from 150 kyats to 175 kyats.

The ministry, in cooperation with the World Bank, is designing its tariff policy and held workshops concerning new electricity rates in April and May, attended by parliamentary committees, energy ministers of divisional and state governments, and experts.
Guest Column The Poet Parliamentan Artistic Administration Ready to Deliver?

Artist Wolfgang Laib with his exhibition titled Where the Land and Water End in the historic Secretariat building in January, 2017. / The Irrawaddy

After Daw Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) strolled to victory in the 2015 General Election, much discussion was dedicated to the demographic make-up of the countrys new ruling party. Analysis of the NLDs new parliamentary body was often critical, characterizing it as both too old and too inexperienced (negative assessments individually, but uniquely damning together), and rightly condemning its decision not to run a single Muslim candidate for office.

One demographic oddity that did make positive headlines, however, was the election to office of 11 poets. In fact, the number of NLD MPs voted in on November 8 who defined themselves as poets was only two fewer than those who listed their profession as politician.

Although there is no doubt that the victory of poet and former political prisoner U Tin Thit over former Defense Minister U Wai Lwin was a sensational story, there is an argument that column inches dedicated to the number of poets in parliament gained more traction due to alliterative potential than newsworthiness. That being said, the phenomenon did highlight an artistic streak running through Myanmars new ruling party.

State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has regularly professed her affinity for the Arts and acts as patron to the Irrawaddy Literary Festival, the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival and the Yangon Photo Festival.

Though at the time of the election, there were few who would have predicted his rise to prominence, President U Htin Kyaw also has literary credentials, being a published author of a book about his father Min Thu Wun, himself a revered poet and luminary of the Khitsan Sarpay movement of the 1930s, widely considered Burmas first modern literary movement.

Add to this list U Zayar Thaw, a former member of seminal Burmese hip-hop act ACID and a Pyithu Hluttaw MP since 2012, and it is easy to see why the elections preceded a period of buoyancy in the creative sector borne of finally having some of our own in positions of power.

There has also been a distinct feeling that despite a lack of confidence in the NLDs ability to bring about peace or narrow the economic divide while the military retains the power it does, the Arts is an area which could see significant development under a supportive government.

In recent months, I have spent a lot of time discussing support for public art initiatives in Myanmar, and although I can only speak for Yangon, there have been positive signs during the first 12 months of the new administration.

In December, the Yangon Region Government collaborated with the Institut Francais de Birmanie to organize the inaugural Mingalabar! Festival, a citywide multidisciplinary celebration of the Arts, which included the largest free, public art performances in Yangons recent history.

In January, the Goethe-Institut was granted permission to install Wolfgang Laibs Where the Land and Water End in the historic Secretariat building. The draw of such an internationally renowned artist coupled with the chance to enter such an iconic building went on to attract almost 20,000 visitors. And with my personal background in photography, it was especially pleasing to see the Yangon Photo Festival being able to move out of the Institut Francais and present a weekend of exhibitions and projections (the theme of which was Myanmars Diversity) to large crowds in Maha Bandoola Park.

The Yangon Region Government has been rightly lauded for making the citys parks and public spaces available for these events, but we should not overlook the fact that each of the examples above were initiated by foreign cultural organizations with far greater operational capacity than the vast majority of Myanmars independent artistic groups.

Established, internationally recognized events such as Beyond Pressure Performance Art Festival and Wathann Film Festival continued to organize essential programming for local artists, as did a plethora of small independent galleries and creative collectives. If the Yangon Region Government is truly interested in promoting public art, then one of its priorities must surely be assisting initiatives such as these so that they are able to operate on a level playing field with the logistical and financial might of new international events.

Wathann in particular is a perfect example of what the current administration should be striving for. In recent years, the Ministry of Information has provided the beautiful Waziya Cinema free-of-charge as a venue whilst financing has been sought from both international funding bodies and domestic commercial sponsorship, leaving the Wathann team autonomy to apply their knowledge and experience to curation and organization.

This marriage of government support, international funding, domestic sponsorship and local organization epitomizes the potential that Yangon has for the development of internationally renowned arts programs.

It should be an ideal time for the Arts in Myanmar: a government which ison paper at least, and with notable exceptions which I will touch on latersupportive, a growing number of progressive domestic and international companies who recognize the economic potential of the creative sector, the simultaneous waning of a long period of censorship and growth of a long-restricted international market.

But most of all there is an impressive number of talented, experienced and capable artists and organizers who have already created spaces for art, virtually unsupported.

Lokanat Gallery, Pansodan Gallery, New Zero Art Space and many other established institutions were founded independently, by artists for the benefit of artists. Each of the institutions named above were also founded under one of the most repressive censorship regimes in modern historyone can only imagine the potential which could be unleashed by a supportive government. And yet on a local level, this has not yet happened.

Unfortunately, many local initiatives in Yangon that are presented under the banner of art or culture can be characterized more accurately as being about money, vanity, or a disturbingly misplaced understanding of what art and culture actually is. Anyone who has visited Myanmar Culture Valley, a conglomeration of chain restaurants opposite Shwedagons West Gate, can attest to this.

Even projects put forward with the very best of intentions seem to be rooted more in idealism than in any understanding of the actual needs of the artistic community.

In December, it was reported that the waterfront between Pansodan Jetty and Sule Pagoda Road would be opened up by the Yangon Region Government and warehouses in the area converted into art spaces for public recreation. March 2017 was touted as an opening date. Although the plans were met with general approval from the wider public, many within the arts community opined that despite being presented as an arts space, there had been worryingly little consultation with the local arts community. Six months on, there is no sign of any art spaces, or even access to the waterfront.

The lack of an inclusive planning process for what would have been a major investment in Yangons creative future, exacerbated by what seems like an increasingly premature and ill-advised public announcement, erodes confidence within the creative community that the government is striving for the same things as them. Good intentions are not enoughwhat is needed is a planning process that includes Yangons creative community from the outset.

The latest place to be touted as a future cultural space is an impressive proportion of the currently-under-renovation Secretariat building 40 percent, according to an advisor to the project, Mr Vinod Daniel.

It has to be assumed that a large amount of that will be dedicated to museum space, but with the Secretariat occupying an entire city block, even with that taken into consideration, it could constitute a major contribution to Yangons available public space for the Arts.

The Thein Sein administration was very open about its desire for Yangon to emulate Singapore when it comes to economics and infrastructure, and Aung San Suu Kyi reiterated this aspiration speaking in Singapore just last year. Much credit for the surprisingly full program of public art in Yangon this year should go to Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, and one of his first international excursions after election to office was a study mission to Singapore.

The reason why this should be interesting to Yangons Arts community is that although most people associate Singapore with the economy and infrastructure that Thein Sein coveted, there are few countries in the world currently doing more to improve their standing in the international Art world.

In 2006, Singapore hosted its first biennale. In 2012, it announced a budget of S$274 million over five years to develop art and culture in the country, and in 2015, it opened the National Gallery of Singapore which now houses the worlds largest collection of Southeast Asian art.

Many will baulk at the idea of the Yangon Regional Government looking to Singapore for pointers on city development, but if Phyo Min Thein and the Myanmar Government really are looking to develop the artistic potential, which this city clearly has, there are worse places for them to be looking.

Right now, Singapore is desperately trying to claw back the cultural heritage it lost in the pursuit of economic progressit is essential that the Myanmar government pays heed to the investment that Singapore is now making and realize that by supporting the Arts from the beginning, they can become regional leaders in the Arts without that kind of financial investment further down the road.

One major issue is that there are no clear indications of what the NLD governments policies are when it comes to the Arts, and no government body whos remit it is to work with contemporary practitioners in a range of mediums.

In most countries this responsibility would fall to the Ministry of Culture, who in Myanmar do control the State Fine Arts School and the National University of Art and Culture. Unfortunately for Myanmars progressive arts scene the curriculums at both of these institutions reflect the extremely traditional and conservative reputation the ministry has.

The NLDs decision to combine the Ministry of Culture with the Ministry of Religious Affairs during a period of heightened nationalist rhetoric and religious intolerance (creating the current Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture), gives little reason to hope that they are planning on increasing their support for progressive self-expression through the Arts any time soon.

Currently the majority of creative organizations and events are obliged to work with the Ministry of Information, whose role is generally limited to content-checking and permit-issuing, and certainly not one of creative support.

If the Arts community in Myanmar is to take advantage of a new, amenable administration, they must push the NLD to create a coherent and inclusive policy for the Arts, which includes convening a body drawn from the Arts community who will be involved in the process of developing and enacting it.

Finally, and not an issue that can be adequately covered here but which cannot be left out of this discussionif there is to be any real progress in the development of the Arts in Myanmar, there must be reassessment of laws currently being misused to arbitrarily restrict freedom of expression and an end to all lingering vestiges of censorship.

Just this week, a human rights leader in Pathein was charged under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Act for live-streaming a play in which his son was participatinga satirical drama called We Want No Warso that his friends were able to watch it.

The Myanmar Army also sued nine students involved in the production for defamation, two of whom are now awaiting trial. Days later, an 18-minute documentary called Sittwe, which depicts young people affected by conflict in Rakhine State, was banned from being shown at the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival, the same festival which lists State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi as its patron.

There is no inherent necessity for art to be political, but it is essential that political and social commentary through photography, filmmaking, performance or any other form of the Arts is not restricted. In a country which has endured years of repression and control, it is inevitable that there will be times when the two overlapthis is exactly the reason why the country now has 11 poets in political office.

It is clear that a slew of poets, a rapper, and a leader who is patron of a few festivals is no reason to consider the current government of Myanmar advocates for the Arts, but with 115 former political prisoners currently serving as elected representatives of the country, surely they should be advocates for freedom of expression. And that is really what we mean when we talk about supporting the Artssupporting creativity and capacity for free expression.

Matt Grace is the founder of Myanmar Deitta, a not-for-profit organisation which works to develop resources for documentary photographers and filmmakers in Myanmar. The organisation manages the only dedicated photography gallery in the country as well as a library and resource centre, scholarship programme and numerous projects related to the Documentary Arts. Myanmar Deitta recently joined with a number of other local creative initiatives to form Pyinsa Rasa, an Arts Collective which works on collaborative creative projects to develop opportunities for arts promotion, education and support.

This article originally appeared in Tea Circle, a forum hosted at Oxford University for emerging research and perspectives on Burma/Myanmar.
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Nick Turse | ( Tomdispatch.com ) |  

The tabs on their shoulders read Special Forces, Ranger, Airborne. And soon their guidon  the colors of Company B, 3rd Battalion of the U.S. Armys 7th Special Forces Group  would be adorned with the Bandera de Guerra, a Colombian combat decoration.

Today we commemorate sixteen years of a permanent fight against drugs in a ceremony where all Colombians can recognize the special counternarcotic brigades hard work against drug trafficking, said Army Colonel Walther Jimenez, the commander of the Colombian militarys Special Anti-Drug Brigade, last December. Americas most elite troops, the Special Operations forces (SOF), have worked with that Colombian unit since its creation in December 2000. Since 2014, four teams of Special Forces soldiers have intensely monitored the brigade. Now, they were being honored for it.

Part of a $10 billion counter-narcotics and counterterrorism program, conceived in the 1990s, special ops efforts in Colombia are a much ballyhooed American success story. A 2015 RAND Corporation study found that the program represents an enduring SOF partnership effort that managed to help foster a relatively professional and capable special operations force. And for a time, coca production in that country plummeted. Indeed, this was the ultimate promise of Americas Plan Colombia and efforts that followed from it. Over the longer haul, we can expect to see more effective drug eradication and increased interdiction of illicit drug shipments, President Bill Clinton predicted in January 2000.

Today, however, more than 460,000 acres of the Colombian countryside are blanketed with coca plants, more than during the 1980s heyday of the infamous cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. U.S. cocaine overdose deaths are also at a 10-year high and first-time cocaine use among young adults has spiked 61% since 2013. Recent findings suggest that cocaine use may be reemerging as a public health concern in the United States, wrote researchers from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in a study published in December 2016  just after the Green Berets attended that ceremony in Colombia. Cocaine, the studys authors write, may be making a comeback.

Colombia is hardly an anomaly when it comes to U.S. special ops deployments  or the results that flow from them. For all their abilities, tactical skills, training prowess, and battlefield accomplishments, the capacity of U.S. Special Operations forces to achieve decisive and enduring successes  strategic victories that serve U.S. national interests  have proved to be exceptionally limited, a reality laid bare from Afghanistan to Iraq, Yemen to the Philippines.

The fault for this lies not with the troops themselves, but with a political and military establishment that often appears bereft of strategic vision and hasnt won a major war since the 1940s. Into this breach, elite U.S. forces are deployed again and again. While special ops commanders may raise concerns about the tempo of operations and strains on the force, they have failed to grapple with larger questions about the raison detre of SOF, while Washingtons oversight establishment, notably the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, have consistently failed to so much as ask hard questions about the strategic utility of Americas Special Operations forces.

Special Ops at War

We operate and fight in every corner of the world, boasts General Raymond Thomas, the chief of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM). On a daily basis, we sustain a deployed or forward stationed force of approximately 8,000 across 80-plus countries. They are conducting the entire range of SOF missions in both combat and non-combat situations. Those numbers, however, only hint at the true size and scope of this global special ops effort. Last year, Americas most elite forces conducted missions in 138 countries  roughly 70% of the nations on the planet, according to figures supplied to TomDispatch by U.S. Special Operations Command. Halfway through 2017, U.S. commandos have already been deployed to an astonishing 137 countries, according to SOCOM spokesman Ken McGraw.

Special Operations Command is tasked with carrying out 12 core missions, ranging from counterinsurgency and unconventional warfare to hostage rescue and countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Counterterrorism  fighting what the command calls violent extremist organizations (VEOs)  may, however, be what Americas elite forces have become best known for in the post-9/11 era. The threat posed by VEOs remains the highest priority for USSOCOM in both focus and effort, says Thomas.

Special Operations Forces are the main effort, or major supporting effort for U.S. VEO-focused operations in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, across the Sahel of Africa, the Philippines, and Central/South America  essentially, everywhere Al Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are to be found

More special operators are deployed to the Middle East than to any other region. Significant numbers of them are advising Iraqi government forces and Iraqi Kurdish soldiers as well as Kurdish YPG (Popular Protection Unit) fighters and various ethnic Arab forces in Syria, according to Linda Robinson, a senior international policy analyst with the RAND Corporation who spent seven weeks in Iraq, Syria, and neighboring countries earlier this year.

During a visit to Qayyarah, Iraq  a staging area for the campaign to free Mosul, formerly Iraqs second largest city, from the control of Islamic State fighters  Robinson saw a recently installed U.S. military medical unit and its ICU set up in tents on the base. In a type of mission seldom reported on, special ops surgeons, nurses, and other specialists put their skills to work on far-flung battlefields not only to save American lives, but to prop up allied proxy forces that have limited medical capabilities. For example, an Air Force Special Operations Surgical Team recently spent eight weeks deployed at an undisclosed location in the Iraq-Syria theater, treating 750 war-injured patients. Operating out of an abandoned one-story home within earshot of a battlefield, the specially trained airmen worked through a total of 19 mass casualty incidents and more than 400 individual gunshot or blast injuries.

When not saving lives in Iraq and Syria, elite U.S. forces are frequently involved in efforts to take them. U.S. SOF are being thrust into a new role of coordinating fire support, wrote Robinson. This fire support is even more important to the Syrian Democratic Forces, a far more lightly armed irregular force which constitutes the major ground force fighting ISIS in Syria. In fact, a video shot earlier this year, analyzed by the Washington Post, shows special operators acting as an observation element for what appears to be U.S. airstrikes carried out by A-10 ground attack aircraft to support Syrian Democratic Forces fighting for the town of Shadadi.

Africa now ranks second when it comes to the deployment of special operators thanks to the exponential growth in missions there in recent years. Just 3% of U.S. commandos deployed overseas were sent to Africa in 2010. Now that number stands at more than 17%, according to SOCOM data. Last year, U.S. Special Operations forces were deployed to 32 African nations, about 60% of the countries on the continent. As I recently reported at VICE News, at any given time, Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and other special operators are now conducting nearly 100 missions across 20 African countries.

In May, for instance, Navy SEALs were engaged in an advise and assist operation alongside members of Somalias army and came under attack. SEAL Kyle Milliken was killed and two other U.S. personnel were injured during a firefight that also, according to AFRICOM spokesperson Robyn Mack, left three al-Shabaab militants dead. U.S. forces are also deployed in Libya to gather intelligence in order to carry out strikes of opportunity against Islamic State forces there. While operations in Central Africa against the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), a brutal militia that has terrorized the region for decades, wound down recently, a U.S. commando reportedly killed a member of the LRA as recently as April.

Spring Training

What General Thomas calls building partner nations capacity forms the backbone of the global activities of his command. Day in, day out, Americas most elite troops carry out such training missions to sharpen their skills and those of their allies and of proxy forces across the planet.

This January, for example, Green Berets and Japanese paratroopers carried out airborne training near Chiba, Japan. February saw Green Berets at Sanaa Training Center in northwest Syria advising recruits for the Manbij Military Council, a female fighting force of Kurds, Arabs, Christians, Turkmen, and Yazidis. In March, snowmobiling Green Berets joined local forces for cold-weather military drills in Lapland, Finland. That same month, special operators and more than 3,000 troops from Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom took part in tactical training in Germany.

In the waters off Kuwait, special operators joined elite forces from the Gulf Cooperation Council nations in conducting drills simulating a rapid response to the hijacking of an oil tanker. In April, special ops troops traveled to Serbia to train alongside a local special anti-terrorist unit. In May, members of Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Iraq carried out training exercises with Iraqi special operations forces near Baghdad. That same month, 7,200 military personnel, including U.S. Air Force Special Tactics airmen, Italian special operations forces, members of host nation Jordans Special Task Force, and troops from more than a dozen other nations took part in Exercise Eager Lion, practicing everything from assaulting compounds to cyber-defense. For their part, a group of SEALs conducted dive training alongside Greek special operations forces in Souda Bay, Greece, while others joined NATO troops in Germany as part of Exercise Saber Junction 17 for training in land operations, including mock behind enemy lines missions in a simulated European village.

#Winning

We have been at the forefront of national security operations for the past three decades, to include continuous combat over the past 15-and-a-half years, SOCOMs Thomas told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities last month. This historic period has been the backdrop for some of our greatest successes, as well as the source of our greatest challenge, which is the sustained readiness of this magnificent force. Yet, for all their magnificence and all those successes, for all the celebratory ceremonies theyve attended, the wars, interventions, and other actions for which theyve served as the tip of the American spear have largely foundered, floundered, or failed.

After their initial tactical successes in Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Americas elite operators became victims of Washingtons failure to declare victory and go home. As a result, for the last 15 years, U.S. commandos have been raiding homes, calling in air strikes, training local forces, and waging a relentless battle against a growing list of terror groups in that country. For all their efforts, as well as those of their conventional military brethren and local Afghan allies, the war is now, according to the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, a stalemate. Thats a polite way of saying what a recent report to Congress by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found: districts that are contested or under insurgent control or influence have risen from an already remarkable 28% in 2015 to 40%.

The war in Afghanistan began with efforts to capture or kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Having failed in this post-9/11 mission, Americas elite forces spun their wheels for the next decade when it came to his fate. Finally, in 2011, Navy SEALs cornered him in his long-time home in Pakistan and gunned him down. Ever since, special operators who carried out the mission and Washington power-players (not to mention Hollywood) have been touting this single tactical success.

In an Esquire interview, Robert ONeill, the SEAL who put two bullets in bin Ladens head, confessed that he joined the Navy due to frustration over an early crush, a puppy-love pique. Thats the reason al-Qaeda has been decimated, he joked, because she broke my fucking heart. But al-Qaeda was not decimated  far from it according to Ali Soufan, a former F.B.I. special agent and the author of Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of Bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State. As he recently observed, Whereas on 9/11 al-Qaeda had a few hundred members, almost all of them based in a single country, today it enjoys multiple safe havens across the world. In fact, he points out, the terror group has gained strength since bin Ladens death.

Year after year, U.S. special operators find themselves fighting new waves of militants across multiple continents, including entire terror groups that didnt exist on 9/11. All U.S. forces killed in Afghanistan in 2017 have reportedly died battling an Islamic State franchise, which began operations there just two years ago.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq, to take another example, led to the meteoric rise of an al-Qaeda affiliate which, in turn, led the militarys secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)  the elite of Americas special ops elite  to create a veritable manhunting machine designed to kill its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and take down the organization. As with bin Laden, special operators finally did find and eliminate Zarqawi, battering his organization in the process, but it was never wiped out. Left behind were battle-hardened elements that later formed the Islamic State and did what al-Qaeda never could: take and hold huge swaths of territory in two nations. Meanwhile, al-Qaedas Syrian branch grew into a separate force of more than 20,000.

In Yemen, after more than a decade of low-profile special ops engagement, that country teeters on the brink of collapse in the face of a U.S.-backed Saudi war there. Continued U.S. special ops missions in that country, recently on the rise, have seemingly done nothing to alter the situation. Similarly, in Somalia in the Horn of Africa, Americas elite forces remain embroiled in an endless war against militants.

In 2011, President Obama launched Operation Observant Compass, sending Special Operations forces to aid Central African proxies in an effort to capture or kill Joseph Kony and decimate his murderous Lords Resistance Army (LRA), then estimated to number 150 to 300 armed fighters. After the better part of a decade and nearly $800 million spent, 150 U.S. commandos were withdrawn this spring and U.S. officials attended a ceremony to commemorate the end of the mission. Kony was, however, never captured or killed and the LRA is now estimated to number about 150 to 250 fighters, essentially the same size as when the operation began.

This string of futility extends to Asia as well. U.S. Special Forces have been providing support and assistance in the southern Philippines for many years, at the request of several different Filipino administrations, Emma Nagy, a spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Manilla, pointed out earlier this month. Indeed, a decade-plus-long special ops effort there has been hailed as a major success. Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines, wrote RAND analyst Linda Robinson late last year in the Pentagon journal Prism, was aimed at enabling the Philippine security forces to combat transnational terrorist groups in the restive southern region of Mindanao.

A 2016 RAND report co-authored by Robinson concluded that the activities of the U.S. SOF enabled the Philippine government to substantially reduce the transnational terrorist threat in the southern Philippines. This May, however, Islamist militants overran Marawi City, a major urban center on Mindanao. They have been holding on to parts of it for weeks despite a determined assault by Filipino troops backed by U.S. Special Operations forces. In the process, large swaths of the city have been reduced to rubble.

Running on Empty

Americas elite forces, General Thomas told members of Congress last month, are fully committed to winning the current and future fights. In reality, though, from war to war, intervention to intervention, from the Anti-Drug Brigade ceremony in Florencia, Colombia, to the end-of-the-Kony-hunt observance in Obo in the Central African Republic, there is remarkably little evidence that even enduring efforts by Special Operations forces result in strategic victories or improved national security outcomes. And yet, despite such boots-on-the-ground realities, Americas special ops forces and their missions only grow.

We are grateful for the support of Congress for the required resourcing that, in turn, has produced a SOCOM which is relevant to all the current and enduring threats facing the nation, Thomas told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May. Resourcing has, indeed, been readily available. SOCOMs annual budget has jumped from $3 billion in 2001 to more than $10 billion today. Oversight, however, has been seriously lacking. Not a single member of the House or Senate Armed Services Committees has questioned why, after more than 15 years of constant warfare, winning the current fight has proven so elusive. None of them has suggested that support from Congress ought to be reconsidered in the face of setbacks from Afghanistan to Iraq, Colombia to Central Africa, Yemen to the southern Philippines.

In the waning days of George W. Bushs administration, Special Operations forces were reportedly deployed to about 60 nations around the world. By 2011, under President Barack Obama, that number had swelled to 120. During this first half-year of the Trump administration, U.S. commandos have already been sent to 137 countries, with elite troops now enmeshed in conflicts from Africa to Asia. Most SOF units are employed to their sustainable limit, Thomas told members of the House Armed Services Committee last month. In fact, current and former members of the command have, for some time, been sounding the alarm about the level of strain on the force.

These deployment levels and a lack of meaningful strategic results from them have not, however, led Washington to raise fundamental questions about the ways the U.S. employs its elite forces, much less about SOCOMs raison detre. We are a command at war and will remain so for the foreseeable future, SOCOMs Thomas explained to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Not one member asked why or to what end.

Nick Turse is the managing editor of TomDispatch, a fellow at the Nation Institute, and a contributing writer for the Intercept. His book Tomorrows Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa received an American Book Award in 2016. His latest book is Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead: War and Survival in South Sudan. His website is NickTurse.com.

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 Nick Turse

Via Tomdispatch.com
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By IPS World Desk | (Inter Press Service) |  

Record high temperatures are gripping much of the globe and more hot weather are to come. This implies more drought, more food insecurity, more famine and more massive human displacements.



In fact, extremely high May and June temperatures have broken records in parts of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the United States, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported, adding that the heat-waves have arrived unusually early.

At the same time, average global surface temperatures over land and sea are the second highest on record for the first five months of 2017, according to analyses by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Europe

In Portugal, extremely high temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius contributed to the severity of the devastating, fast-moving weekend wildfires that ripped through the countrys forested Pedrogao Grande region, some 150 kilometres (95 miles) north-east of Lisbon, leaving dozens dead and more injured.

WMO on 20 June also reported that Portugal is not the only European country experiencing the effects of the extreme weather, as neighbouring Spain  which had its warmest spring in over 50 years  and France, have seen record-breaking temperatures. France is expected to continue see afternoon temperatures more than 10 degrees above the average for this time of year.

Meantime in Spain, spring (from 1 March to 31 May 2017) has been extremely warm, with an average temperature of 15.4  C, which is 1.7  C above the average of this term (reference period 1981-2010), the UN specialised body informs. Many other parts of Europe, including the United Kingdom, also witnessed above average temperatures into the low to mid 30s.

United States

On the other side of the Atlantic, the US is also experiencing record or near-record heat, WMO reported. In parts of the desert southwest and into California, temperatures have hovered near a blistering 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius).

Media reports on 20 June suggested that some plane traffic was halted in and out of Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport in Arizona because it was too hot to fly. The flight cancellations came amidst of one of the hottest days in the past 30 years of record keeping in the US state.

Near record-to-record heat has also been reported in the desert South West US and into California, with highs near 120F (49C) in places. More than 29 million Californians were under an excessive heat warning or advisory at the weekend. Phoenix recorded 118C (47.8C) on 19 June. A number of flights to Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport were reportedly cancelled because it was too hot to fly.

And the so-called Death Valley National Park, California, issued warnings to visitors to expect high temperatures of 100F to over 120F (38C to over 49C). Death Valley holds the world record for the highest temperature, 56.7C recorded in 1913.

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North Africa, Middle East and Asia

Meantime, temperature in United Arab Emirates topped 50C on 17 May, while in the centre of Irans Kuzestan province in the South-East of the country, neighbouring Iraq, temperatures reached 50C on 15 June, said the UN specialised agency.

The heat-wave in Morocco peaked on 17 May, when there was a new reported record of 42.9C Larach Station in northern Morocco.

The high June temperatures follow above average temperatures in parts of the world at the end of May. The town of Turbat in South-Western Pakistan reported a temperature of 54C. WMO will set up an international committee of experts to verify the temperature and assess whether it equals a reported 54C temperature recorded in Kuwait last July.



Unprecedented Record of Displacements

Meanwhile, the world has marked New Inhumane Record: One Person Displaced Every Three Second. Nearly 66 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informed in its report Global Trends, released ahead of the World Refugee Day on June 20.

The figure equates to one person displaced every three seconds  less than the time it takes to read this sentence.

Such an unprecedented high records of human displacements is not only due to conflicts. In fact, advancing droughts and desertification also lay behind this tsunami of displaced persons both out of their own countries and in their own homelands.

On this, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) on June 17, alerted that by 2025 thats in less than 8 years from today 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and two thirds of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions.

Now it is feared that advancing drought and deserts, growing water scarcity and decreasing food security may provoke a huge tsunami of climate refugees and migrants. See The Relentless March of Drought  That Horseman of the Apocalypse

Monique Barbut, UNCCD Executive Secretary, reminded that the worlds drought-prone and water scarce regions are often the main sources of refugees. Neither desertification nor drought on its own causes conflict or forced migration, but they can increase the risk of conflict and intensify on-going conflicts, Barbut explained. See: Mideast: Drought to Turn People into Eternal Migrants, Prey to Extremism?

An Urgent, Potentially Irreversible Threat

In Parallel, the United Nations leading agency in the fields of agriculture has issued numerous warnings on the huge impacts that droughts have on agriculture and food security, with poor rural communities among the most hit victims.

As a ways to help mitigate the effects of the on-going heat waves, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 20 June signed with WMO an agreement to deepen cooperation to respond to climate variability and climate change, represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies, natural ecosystems and food security.

Through this joint work, the two organisations will work on strengthening agro-meteorological services and making them more accessible to farmers and fishers; improve global and region-specific monitoring for early warning and response to high-impact events like droughts.

The agreement was signed on June 19 by FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva and WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas on the sidelines of an international seminar on drought organised by Iran, the Netherlands, and FAO in Rome.

Saving livelihoods means saving lives  this is what building resilience is all about, said Graziano da Silva.

Recalling the 2011 drought in Somalia that saw over 250,000 people perish from hunger, he said, People die because they are not prepared to face the impacts of the drought  because their livelihoods are not resilient enough.

For years, the focus has been responding to droughts when they happen, rushing to provide emergency assistance and to keep people alive, he said, noting that while of course, that is important, investing in preparedness and resilience is essential.

Licensed from Inter Press Service



Related video added by Juan Cole:

AP: Study: Earths Killer Heat Will Get Worse
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TeleSur |  

Erdogan told journalists after Eid al-Fitr prayers that It (the list of demands from Qatars neighbors to lift the ban) is a breach of Qatars sovereignty rights.

On Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared that he supported Qatars response to a list of demands issued by the Arab states that boycotted the emirate.

The president said Turkey endorsed Qatars response to the 13 demands, which include closing the Al Jazeera satellite television network, curbing relations with Iran and shutting a Turkish base in the country.

We consider these demands are against international law, Erdogan told journalists after Eid al-Fitr  the Ramadan festival of breaking the fast  prayers in Istanbul. It is a breach of Qatars sovereignty rights.

Erdogan also said, in his address, that the request for the Turkish military base in Qatar to be closed was disrespectful. Even though they still didnt come back to us on this, asking Turkey to pull back its troops (from Qatar) is disrespectful against Turkey, he said.

Erdogan pointed out that Turkey had offered to set up a military base in Saudi Arabia, in addition to Qatar, but Riyadh had not responded.

Speaking outside a mosque after prayers, Erdogan said he would continue his planned program despite feeling briefly unwell.

I had a little condition about my blood pressure, related to my diabetes, he explained.

Qatar has described the pressure from its neighbors as an illegal blockade that threatens its sovereignty and that the ultimatum by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain was unreasonable.

TeleSur



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Erdogan says Arab demands on Qatar are against international law
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - June 26, 2017) Lumina Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: LUM) (the "Company" or "Lumina") is pleased to announce initial results from the Cangrejos infill drill program. The first four holes summarized below, totaling 2,190 metres showed long intersections of mineralization with average grades above the current Inferred mineral resource gold and copper grades. Hole C17-58 yielded the highest grade intersections that have ever been drilled at Cangrejos. These drill holes have been successful in extending the mineralization, with holes C17-56 and C17-58 both ending in mineralization at down-hole depths of 634 metres and 591 metres respectively. The deposit remains open at depth and these results extend the mineralization approximately 200 to 300 metres below the resource limiting pit that formed the current mineral resource. Drilling is continuing at site, with 3,656 metres drilled in total since March 2017.

Summary Drill Results

Hole Number From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) Au Grade

(g/t) Cu Grade

(%) C17-56 285 634 349 1.09 0.30 C17-57 258 442 184 1.05 0.19 C17-58 286 591 305 1.90 0.30 (including) 292 418 126 3.69 0.54 C17-59 68 318 250 0.78 0.20

In addition to the above results there were significant intercepts of lower grade material in all four holes.

Quality Assurance

All Lumina sample assay results have been independently monitored through a quality control / quality assurance ("QA/QC") program including the insertion of blind standards, blanks and pulp and reject duplicate samples. Logging and sampling are completed at Lumina's secure facility located at the project. Drill core is sawn in half on site and half drill-core samples are securely transported to ALS's sample preparation facility in Quito, Ecuador. Sample pulps are sent to Lima, Peru for analysis. Gold content is determined by fire assay of a 30 gram charge with total copper content determined by four-acid digestion with ICP finish.

Qualified Persons

Leo Hathaway, P.Geo, Senior Vice President of Lumina and the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for the Cangrejos project has reviewed, verified and approved the contents of this news release.

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. The Company 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/.
North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 26, 2017) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (ASX: LLO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (FSE: LY1) (the "Company") is pleased to announce important news on the continued progress of the development of its 100% owned and fully permitted Tuvatu Gold Project in Fiji. The Company has issued a tender for underground mining services and has received competing bids for the EPC contract and fabrication of the Tuvatu processing plant and construction of the supporting infrastructure.

The Company expects to award the Underground Mining Contract following agreement of final terms and conditions. The Mining Contract will be for an initial period of 18 months to perform the following activities:

Enlarge the exploration portal and construct a new production portal

Slash the existing exploration decline

Complete the majority of the decline and level development including ventilation raises

Stope production in available levels

The Company also announces that in addition to the ongoing detailed engineering design by Yantai Jinpeng Engineering (see news release dated May 9, 2017), it has received three competing bids for final engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for the Tuvatu processing plant and supporting infrastructure. The bids are for the construction of a new 210,000 tonne per annum carbon-in-leach (CIL) gold ore processing facility to be fabricated in China to western standards and Fijian Building Code. In addition to the processing plant, the EPC contract is expected to include the following supporting infrastructure:

The dry stack tailings storage

Primary diesel power generation system

Assay lab

Water supply and water treatment infrastructure

Truck shop, warehouse, dry, and other operations infrastructure

Central administration complex

It is envisaged that the EPC contract will be signed as soon as agreement is achieved on final terms and conditions to allow work to proceed quickly. The Company is currently completing the final bulk earthworks design as it intends to start excavation on the mill site to be followed by commencement of mining.

"These developments have run concurrently with our efforts to conclude funding arrangements for the project and will enable full-scale mining, stockpiling, and underground development to begin in tandem with critical path components of the EPC contract", said Lion One CEO Walter Berukoff. "We look forward to providing further guidance with respect to scheduling in due course".

Exploration and infill drilling continues with two drills on site. Assay results are pending in the next few weeks.

About Tuvatu

The Tuvatu Gold Project is located 17 km from the Nadi International Airport on the main island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Discovered in 1987, Tuvatu is a high grade, low sulphidation, epithermal gold deposit hosted inside a South Pacific style volcanic caldera. The deposit occurs along the Viti Levu lineament, Fiji's own corridor of high grade gold deposits. Tuvatu is situated upon a 5 hectare footprint inside a larger 384 hectare mining lease. The project contains numerous high grade prospects proximal to Tuvatu, at depth, and up to 1.50 km along strike from the resource area, giving near-term production potential and further discovery upside inside of one of Fiji's underexplored volcanic goldfields.

Tuvatu was advanced by previous owners through underground exploration and development from 1997 through to the completion of a feasibility study in 2000. Acquired by Lion One in 2011, the project has over 100,000 meters of drilling completed to date in addition to 1,600 meters of underground development.

In January 2016 the Hon. Prime Minister of Fiji, Mr. V. Bainimarama, formally presented the previously granted Tuvatu Mining Lease to Lion One. This concluded the permitting process for the development of an underground gold mine and processing plant at Tuvatu, demonstrating strong government support for Fiji's 85 year-old gold mining industry.

As per its independent June 1, 2015 NI 43-101 PEA Technical Report on the Tuvatu Gold Project, the Company envisages a low cost underground gold mining operation producing 352,931 ounces of gold at head grades of 11.30 g/t Au over an initial 7 year mine life. This includes production of 262,000 ounces at 15.30 g/t through to the end of year three. Estimated cash cost is US$567 per ounce with all-in sustaining cost of US$779 per ounce. Total capex of US$48.6 million includes a contingency of US$6.1 million with an 18 month preproduction schedule and 18 month payback on capital. At a US$1,200 gold price, the project generates net cash flow of US$112.66 million and an IRR of 52% (after tax). The Company is not basing its production decision on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability; as a result there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks associated with its production decision.

Ian Chang, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., Chief Development Officer, is the Qualified Person ("QP") responsible for Tuvatu Mine development. Stephen Mann, Managing Director, member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, is the Qualified Person ("QP") responsible for the Tuvatu Mine exploration program.

For more information on Lion One including technical reports please visit the Company's website at www.liononemetals.com or the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - (Marketwired - June 26, 2017) - IDM Mining Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:IDM)(OTCQB:IDMMF) ("IDM" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of a Feasibility Study (the "2017 FS") for the Red Mountain Gold Project (the "Project"), located in northwestern British Columbia near the town of Stewart, BC. The 2017 FS, confirms the positive economics for a near term, high-grade, bulk mineable underground gold operation at Red Mountain.

"This study demonstrates a high-margin, low-capex underground gold mine with a short development timeline, producing over 90,000 ounces of gold per year over the first two years of operation, with a life of mine average annual production of 78,000 ounces," said Robert McLeod, President and CEO of IDM Mining. "With these positive results now in place, our highest priority is the ongoing exploration and resource expansion drilling adjacent to current reserves, with the objective of extending the potential mine life for Red Mountain. These zones remain open for expansion both along strike and down-dip. Importantly, this Project would be a tremendous economic benefit to my hometown of Stewart BC, and to the citizens of the Nisga'a Nation."

"With the feasibility work now complete, IDM will be filing its Project Application Report for the Project imminently with BC and Canadian regulatory agencies," said Michael McPhie, Executive Chairman of IDM Mining. "The Project enjoys significant support locally and regionally and our goal remains to have approvals in place for a shovel-ready project by mid 2018. We believe that Red Mountain is one of the few development-stage precious metal projects in Canada that could see near term commercial operations."

At a gold price of US$1,250/oz and an exchange rate of C$1.00 to US$0.76, the Project base case estimate (the "Base Case") generates a pre-tax net present value ("NPV") at a 5% discount rate of C$155 million and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 40%. The proposed mine will operate year-round over an initial period of approximately six years. The first two years of gold production averages 91,000 ounces per year, with life of mine average annual gold production of 78,000 ounces. Initial capital expenditure to fund construction and commissioning is estimated at C$135.7 million, with a life-of-mine cost of C$202.4 million (including an average of 10 percent contingency and C$8.6 million in closure costs). The average operating cost is estimated to be C$140.02 per tonne processed.

Feasibility Study Highlights

(all currencies are reported in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified)

Base case economics utilize a gold price of US$1,250 per ounce and silver price of US$17 per ounce and an exchange rate of C$1.00 equals US$0.76;

The pre-tax base case economics indicate a Net Present Value (NPV) of C$155 million at a 5% discount rate with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 40% and a 1.7 year payback of initial capital;

The after-tax base case economics indicate a NPV of C$104 million at a 5% discount rate with an IRR of 32% and a 1.9 year payback of initial capital;

Due to the wide nature of the mineralized zones, the majority of the deposit is amenable to bulk underground mining methods. The project utilizes a year-round design processing rate of 1,000 tonnes per day (tpd) with year-round underground mining;

Average life of mine fully-diluted head grades are 7.53 g/t Au and 21.86 g/t Ag;

Life of project direct cash cost is estimated at US$539 per ounce of gold recovered. Net of the silver by-product, costs drop to US$492 per ounce;

Initial capital costs are estimated at C$135.7 million, which includes a 10% contingency;

The economic model assumes base case gold recovery rates ranging from 92.8% to 88.1% for gold and 90.3% to 78.3% for silver, depending on the mineralized zone;

Average annual payable production of 78,000 ounces of gold and 215,000 ounces of silver;

Mine operating life is estimated at 5.4 years with an overall construction and commissioning period of approximately 15 months;

Opportunity to reduce project capital costs include sourcing used mining and processing equipment and possible sharing of infrastructure costs for the road and powerline with an established independent power producer looking to develop a run-of-river hydro-electric project adjacent to the proposed mill site location; and

Opportunity to increase potentially mineable ounces north of the current resource area, where mineralization has been traced for a further 800 meters. Additionally, further resources may be identified through further drilling both up and down-dip from the AV and JW Zones, and along strike from the 141 Zone and Marc Zone.

Comparison to the July 2016 Preliminary Economic Assessment (the "2016 PEA")

The key differences in the 2017 FS from the 2016 PEA include:

Updated mineral resource estimate - conducted by Gilles Arseneau of ARSENEAU Consulting Services ("ASC") and based on additional infill and step out drilling during the 2016 season;

Revised mine operating schedule - change from seasonal (8 month) mining operation to continuous year-round mining;

Revised production schedule - increased life of mine ("LOM") tonnes, mine life and recovered metal, based on the improved mineral resource estimate;

Revised process flow sheet - change from flotation and concentrate leach to whole ore leaching to improve gold recoveries across mineralization types;

Addition of a water treatment plant;

Addition of a temporary construction camp in Stewart BC;

Additional design considerations for the powerline to the mill site and mine; and

Updated capital and operating costs based on improved detail, information, designs and quotes.

RED MOUNTAIN FEASIBIILIY STUDY AND ECONOMIC RESULTS

The tables below summarize the various assumptions, operational parameters and economic results of the 2017 Feasibility Study. All money values are nominal 2017 Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

The economic analysis in the 2017 FS does not include mineral resources that are not mineral reserves.

Key Aspects and Assumptions of the 2017 FS

Parameter Unit Value Au Price US$/oz 1,250 Ag Price US$/oz 17.00 FX Rate US$:C$ 0.76 Mine Life Years 5.4 Mill Feed Mt 1.95 Throughput Rate t/d 1,000 Average Au Head Grade g/t 7.53 Average Ag Head Grade g/t 21.86 Au Payable Koz 425 koz/a 78 Ag Payable Koz 1,173 koz/a 215 NSR (after Royalties) C$M 683.9 Operating Costs C$M 273.5 C$/t mined 140.02 Cash Costs(1) US$/payable oz 492 All In Sustaining Costs(2) US$/payable oz 611 Pre-production Capital C$M 123.0 Pre-production Contingency C$M 12.7 Total Pre-production Capital C$M 135.7 Sustaining & Closure Capital (Net of Salvage) C$M 60.4 Sustaining & Closure Contingency C$M 6.4 Total Sustaining & Closure Capital C$M 66.8 Total Capital Costs Incl. Contingency C$M 202.4 Pre-Tax Cash Flow C$M 208.0 C$M/a 38 Taxes C$M 63.2 After-Tax Cash Flow C$M 144.8 C$M/a 27

1: (Operating Cost + Refining Costs + Royalties - Silver Credits)/Payable Au Oz 2: (Operating Costs + Refining Costs + Royalties + Sustaining and Closure Capital - Silver Credits)/Payable Au Oz

Economic Results

Parameter Unit Pre-Tax

Results After-Tax

Results NPV 0% C$M 208 145 NPV 5% C$M 155 104 IRR % 40 32 Payback Period Production years 1.7 1.9

Sensitivities

Metal Price Sensitivity(1):

Au Price US$/oz Ag Price US$/oz Pre-Tax NPV 5% (C$M) Pre-Tax IRR Pre-Tax Payback After-Tax NPV 5% (C$M) After-Tax IRR After-Tax Payback $1,150 $15.60 113 32% 2.0 77 25% 2.2 $1,250 $17.00 155 40% 1.7 104 32% 1.9 $1,350 $18.40 196 48% 1.5 131 38% 1.6 $1,450 $17.40 235 55% 1.4 156 44% 1.5

(1) Based on exchange rate of C$1.00 equals US$0.76

Discount Rate Sensitivity:

Discount Rate Pre-Tax NPV

(C$M) After-Tax NPV

(C$M) 0% $208 $145 5% $155 $104 7% $137 $90 8% $129 $84 10% $114 $73 12% $100 $62

Summary of Operating Costs

Operating Cost Unit Cost

(C$/t processed) LOM Cost

(C$M) Mining 72.30 141.2 Processing 45.96 89.8 Site Services 10.40 20.3 General & Administrative (G&A) 11.36 22.2 Total 140.02 273.5

Opportunities to Enhance Value

In addition to the favorable economics outlined in the 2017 FS, there are numerous opportunities to further enhance project value through additional resource expansion and optimization work at Red Mountain.

The sediment-porphyry contact that controls mineralization in the Marc/AV/JW Zones can be traced in the SF Zone for a further 800 meters along strike to the north through sparse drilling with isolated gold intercepts. Further drilling could potentially expand resources both up and down-dip from the AV and JW Zones, and along strike from the 141 Zone and Marc Zone (to the south);

Exploration potential on the property has been greatly enhanced since 1994 by glacial recession surrounding the deposit. A considerable area that was previously under ice is now exposed for the first time and available for exploration proximal to the Red Mountain gold/silver-bearing sulphidation system;

Optimization of mine plans and production schedules to increase project value;

The increased use of used processing equipment, which is presently available from several sources, would reduce the project's equipment cost and overall project capital expenditures and potentially reduce the engineering, procurement and construction schedules;

In the spring of 2016, IDM signed an MOU with Bridge Power Corp., an Independent Power Producer with run-of-river hydroelectric generation rights to Bitter Creek. The companies have shared environmental baseline data, and potentially could share the capital costs for construction of the access road and power line. This would potentially result in substantial cost reductions to the capital and operating costs at Red Mountain;

With road access, in mineral-rich northwestern British Columbia, toll-treatment of nearby deposits could add value to the project; and

Reviewing tax planning strategies that would allow the Company to maximize overall profitability.

Risks

It is the conclusion of the Qualified Persons (the "QPs") that the 2017 FS that will be summarized in the technical report will contain adequate detail and information to support the potentially positive economic result. Industry-standard equipment and operating practices were used in this study. To date, the QPs are not aware of any fatal flaws for the project.

The most significant potential risks associated with the project are: uncontrolled dilution, operating and capital cost escalation, permitting and environmental compliance, metallurgical recoveries, unforeseen schedule delays, changes in regulatory requirements, the ability to raise financing, exchange rate of the Canadian dollar to the United States dollar and metal prices. These risks are common to most mining projects, many of which may be mitigated, at least to some degree, with adequate engineering, planning and pro-active management.

Capital Costs

The capital cost ("CAPEX") estimate includes all costs required to develop, sustain, and close the operation for a planned six-year operating life. The construction schedule is based on an approximate 15-month build period. The accuracy of this CAPEX estimate is +/-15% in accordance with the level of detail for a Class 3 estimate.

The summary CAPEX estimate is shown in the table below. The initial or pre-production CAPEX is C$135.7 million, with sustaining CAPEX totaling C$66.8 million.

Capital Cost Summary

Area Pre-Production

(C$M) Sustaining

(C$M) Total

(C$M) Mining 11.3 38.3 49.6 Site Development 9.0 2.2 11.2 Mineral Processing 37.7 0.4 38.0 Tailings Management 7.2 10.9 18.1 Infrastructure 23.7 - 23.7 Off-site Infrastructure 2.8 - 2.8 Project Indirects 9.3 - 9.3 EPCM 13.0 - 13.0 Owner's Costs 9.1 - 9.1 Subtotal Pre-Contingency 123.0 51.7 174.7 Contingency 12.7 5.2 17.9 Subtotal (incl. Contingency) 135.7 56.9 192.6 Closure Costs - 12.4 12.4 Closure Contingency - 1.2 1.2 Salvage Value - (3.8) (3.8) Total Capital Costs 135.7 66.8 202.4

The estimates were developed using first principles, applying directly-related project experience, and the use of general industry factors. Almost all of the estimates used in this project were obtained from engineers, contractors, and suppliers who have provided similar services to existing operations and have demonstrated success in executing the plans set forth in this study.

The initial capital estimates include all pre-production mining activities in Year -1 and are based on leased mining equipment. The capital estimate includes the down-payment on the leased equipment only, and lease payments are carried as mining operating costs.

The CAPEX estimate includes the costs required to develop, sustain, and close the operation for the planned six-year mine life, which includes a 15-month construction period. The sustaining capital estimate is based on required capital expenditure during operations for tailings storage, limited site development work, and mining infrastructure installations as defined by the mine plan. The closure and reclamation estimate is based on a preliminary estimation of a closure plan commencing in Year 6 and continuing to Year 11.

Geology and Mineralization

Red Mountain is located near the western margin of the Stikine terrain in the Intermontane Belt. There are three primary stratigraphic elements in Stikinia and all are present in the Stewart area: Middle and Upper Triassic clastic rocks of the Stuhini Group, Lower and Middle Jurassic volcanic and clastic rocks of the Hazelton Group, and Upper Jurassic sedimentary rocks of the Bowser Lake Group. Many primary textures are preserved in rocks from all of these groups, and mineralogy suggests that the regional metamorphic grade is probably lower greenschist facies.

Mineralized zones consist of crudely tabular, northwesterly trending and moderately to steeply southwesterly dipping gold and silver bearing iron sulphide stockworks. Pyrite is the predominant sulphide; however, locally pyrrhotite is important. The stockworks zones are developed primarily within the Hillside porphyry and to a lesser extent in rafts of sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks.

The stockwork zones consist of pyrite microveins, coarse-grained pyrite veins, irregular coarse-grained pyrite masses and breccia matrix pyrite hosted in a pale, strongly sericite altered porphyry. Vein widths vary from 0.1 cm to approximately 80 cm but widths of 1 to 3 cm are most common. The veins are variably spaced and average 2 to 10 per metre. The veins are very often heavily fractured or brecciated with infillings of fibrous quartz and calcite. Orientations of veins in the stockworks are variable; however, sets with northwesterly trends and moderate to steep northeasterly and southwesterly dips have been identified in underground workings.

The pyrite veins typically carry gold grades ranging from ~3 g/t to greater than 100 g/t. Gold occurs in grains of native gold, electrum, petzite and a variety of gold tellurides and sulphosalts. The stockwork zones are surrounded by more widespread zone of disseminated pyrite and pyrrhotite alteration.

Metallurgy

Multiple test programs were completed between 1991 and 2015. The most recent test program was completed in 2016-2017 by Basemet Laboratories in Kamloops, BC. The feasibility-level metallurgical test program was completed on variability and composite samples for Marc, AV, JW and 141 zones. Initially the test work focused on the 2016 PEA flowsheet, which included rougher flotation followed by concentrate leach. Pyrrhotite levels varied significantly in the deposit and were found to affect flotation performance due the reactivity and oxidation of the material. As a result, whole ore leach ("WOL") became the focus of the program. Optimization continued primarily on the Marc zone composite and was confirmed with the AV, JW and 141 samples. The final flowsheet included two stages of grinding to target a product size of 80% passing (P 80 ) 25 um, followed by carbon in leach ("CIL"), and acid wash, stripping and electrowinning for the recovery of gold and silver dore.

Estimated Metallurgical Recoveries

Recovery by Zone Au

(%) Ag

(%) Marc Zone 92.8 90.1 AV Zone 88.1 78.3 JW Zone 92.1 90.3 141 Zone 89.9 84.9 Overall Recovery based on the projected mine plan 90.9 86.3

Mineral Resource Estimates

Numerous resource estimates were completed from 1989 to present. During 2000, NAMC conducted a detailed review of all data, re-logged all core within a 20 meter ("m") envelope of the Marc, AV, and JW mineralized zones and reviewed all exploration holes for potential inclusion into the resource. An extensive quality control and quality assurance (QA/QC) review was completed on all exploration work, and a comparative analysis was performed on drill hole data, underground bulk sampling, and geology. The 2000 NAMC resource was reviewed, cross checked, and verified for accuracy in May 2014. The Company drilled 12 core holes on the property in 2014 and 62 holes in 2016. On January 23, 2017, the Company announced an updated Resource Estimate for the Red Mountain Project prepared by Dr. Gilles Arseneau, P. Geo and Andrew Hamilton, P. Geo., This updated Resource Estimate is included in the 2017 FS. The QP has not identified any risk including legal, political, or environmental that could materially affect potential Mineral Reserves development.

Summary of Estimated Resources as of January 23, 2017, reported at 3.0 g/t AU cut-off

Classification Tonnage Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Oz Au Oz Ag Measured 1,246,000 9.40 30 376,400 1,194,000 Indicated 828,700 7.78 17 207,300 461,700 Measured + Indicated 2,074,700 8.75 25 583,700 1,655,700 Inferred 324,700 6.21 10 64,800 105,500

(1) Measured and Indicated Resources are inclusive of Reserves (2) Resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability

Mining Reserve Estimate

The Mineral Reserve for the Project was estimated by Michael Makarenko, P. Eng., an independent Qualified Person of JDS. All Mineral Reserves are Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves. The Mineral Reserves are not in addition to the Mineral Resources, but are a subset thereof.

The QP has not identified any risk including legal, political, or environmental that could materially affect potential Mineral Reserves development.

Summary of Estimated Mineral Reserves as of June 26, 2017

Category Diluted

Tonnes (kt) Au

Grade (g/t) Au

Ounces (kOz) Ag

Grade (g/t) Ag

Ounces (kOz) Proven 1,308 7.82 329 25.09 1,055 Probable 645 6.93 144 15.32 318 TOTAL 1,953 7.53 473 21.86 1,373

1. A gold price of US$1,250/oz and an exchange rate of CDN$1.00 to US$0.76. 2. A gold cut-off grade of 3.55 g/t for longhole mining and 4.10 g/t for development and cut & fill mining. 3. Silver was not used in the estimation of cut-off grades but is recovered and contributes to the revenue stream. 4. Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in summation differences.

Both the Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Estimates take into consideration on-site operating costs (e.g. mining, processing, site services, general and administration, royalties), metallurgical recoveries, and selling costs. In addition, the reserves incorporate allowances for mining recovery and dilution, and overall economic viability.

Mining

The mine plan is based on a ramp access underground mining operation, producing an average of 1,045 tonnes per day of ore from a blend of mining methods:

A combination of transverse and longitudinal longhole stoping for mining blocks dipping steeper than 55, which represents 63% of the reserves. This is the preferred mining method from a productivity and operating cost perspective;

Cut and Fill for mining areas with dips of less than 55 and zones not amenable to longhole stoping, is more selective and represents 33% of reserves; and

The remaining 4% of the potentially mineable tonnage comes from access and stope cross-cut development.

Mining recovery and dilution factors were applied to each mining shape based on the mining method used. Average external dilution for the production stopes was calculated to be 12%.

The deposit will initially be accessed from the existing portal and exploration ramp in addition to a new portal accessing the top level of the mine, which will be used for ventilation exhaust and a secondary escape way. A third lower access, to be used for haulage, will be added in Year 1 of the mine life. Access ramps will be driven at a maximum grade of 15% at a 4.5 m by 4.5 m profile to accommodate 30-tonne haul trucks.

Level spacing for the longhole zones will vary up to a maximum spacing of 25 m. Mineralized zone development will be driven using a 4.0 m x 4.0 m profile. Cut and fill zones will be accessed by attack ramps with a maximum gradient of +/- 17%. Cemented rock fill (CRF) using crushed waste rock will be utilized in a majority of the completed stopes, with rock fill used in secondary cut and fill stopes and longhole stopes at the end of the zones. Ore/waste passes are planned for the Marc and AV zones once the lower access drift is completed.

The ventilation network will consist of primary ventilation fans with mine air heaters located outside of the upper portal, pushing air down the ramp and across the levels exhausting out the second upper and the lower portals. Level ventilation will be controlled by a combination of regulators, ducting, and auxiliary fans.

Mine water and ground water will be collected at the level sumps and allowed to drain down via gravity to the main pump stations placed at strategic locations in the mine. Generally, there will only be two main pump stations in operation at any time. Pump stations have been designed for a peak inflow capacity of 10,000 m3/day. Average inflow volumes were estimated to be 3,450 m3/day.

The 2017 FS mine plan focusses on accessing and mining higher value material early in the mine life. The plan commences with the mining of Marc zone, followed by AV, and then JW and 141 zones. The mine production rate is targeted at 1,045 t/day, over 350 assumed operating days per year.

Mine Production Schedule

Parameter Unit Year -1 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Total Mineable Tonnage kt 5 322 366 366 366 368 159 1,953 Gold Grade g/t 13.59 9.82 8.20 7.20 7.14 6.70 4.72 7.53 Silver Grade g/t 46.26 34.44 27.14 19.63 15.45 17.54 13.31 21.86 Gold Ounces koz 2 102 96 85 84 80 24 473 Silver Ounces koz 8 356 319 231 182 208 68 1,373 Lateral Development m 1,100 4,800 5,000 5,000 5,100 5,100 2,700 28,900 Vertical Development m 50 200 200 100 100 - 50 700 Cemented Rock Fill (CRF) m3 - 90,000 90,000 84,000 68,000 62,000 33,000 427,000 Waste Fill m3 - 21,000 37,000 41,000 54,000 58,000 21,000 232,000

Recovery Methods

The results of the metallurgical test work, together with financial evaluation data, were used to develop metallurgical design criteria and the selected flowsheet for the process facility.

The test work has shown that Red Mountain mineralization can be treated using conventional mineral processing techniques for the recovery of gold and silver. A trade-off study was conducted to compare processing the mill feed material, using either a leach or a flotation/regrind/leach circuit. The CIL circuit was selected based on the results of the trade-off study and metallurgical test results.

The plant will consist of the following unit operations:

3-stage crushing;

Primary and secondary grinding;

Pre-leach thickening and CIL;

Cyanide destruction;

Carbon processing and gold refining; and

Tailings disposal at the TMF.

The grinding circuit product size is targeted at approximately P 80 of 25 um, and CIL to recover gold and silver. The crushing circuit will operate at an availability of 75% while the milling and CIL circuits will operate 24 h/d, 365 d/y at an availability of 92%.

Project Infrastructure

The Project envisions the upgrading or construction of the following key infrastructure items:

Approximately 15 km year-round access road from Highway 37A to the processing plant site;

Approximately 11 km year-round haul road from the processing plant site to the upper and lower mining portals near the top of Red Mountain;

Electrical connection to BC Hydro power grid and a transmission line at 138 kV adjacent to the access road;

Distribution powerline at 25 kV from processing plant site to the upper mine portal;

Process plant located at Bromley Humps;

Tailings Management Facility (TMF) and impoundment located at Bromley Humps;

Temporary development of waste rock storage areas prior to being re-handled into the underground workings as backfill;

Administration office, mine dry, maintenance shop and warehouse facilities;

Mine operations office and emergency facilities at the mine portals;

Tailings effluent water treatment plant;

Process and fire water storage and distribution; and

Temporary construction camp located in Stewart.

Environment, Reclamation, First Nations and Stakeholder Engagement

The project has been designed to minimize short- and long-term environmental impacts, and to maximize lasting benefits to local communities, employees, and shareholders. The goal of the Company is to create a sustainable operation that employs best available technology and practices in all aspects of the design and operation, and considers both the short and longer term effects on the Project. IDM fully respects the traditional knowledge and culture of the Aboriginal peoples who have historically used or travelled through the Project area and will continue to engage in a meaningful and respectful way with Nisga'a leadership and community members.

The Project area watershed is relatively undisturbed by human activities with the exception of an access road that was constructed in the late 1990's but is currently decommissioned.

The key environmental objective is to retain the integrity of the current watershed and local ecosystem during the construction and operation phases of the Project. Upon closure and reclamation of the Project, the goal will be to return the relatively small-disturbed areas to the condition of pre-mine existence.

Pursuant to Section 3(1) of the Reviewable Projects Regulation, the proposed production capacity for the Project exceeds the criteria of 75,000 t/a of mineral material for a new mineral mine and is required to undergo a provincial and federal environmental assessment under the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act (BC EAA) and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA). The Company initiated this assessment process in October 2015 with the filing of a Project Description Report.

Since that time, a number of steps in the process have been undertaken successfully and IDM is planning to file a Project Application Report in early July 2017 that will fulfill the requirements of the federal and provincial environmental assessment processes. Approval for the Project under BC EAA and CEAA is expected in early to mid 2018. Provincial permitting for the Project is being pursued in a synchronous manner with the environmental assessment process.

Tailings and waste rock have been characterized as having potential for metal leaching/acid rock drainage, and tailings process water is expected to contain residual metals and ammonia from destruction of cyanide solutions. The Project incorporates appropriate design features and mitigation measures consistent with best practices for waste and water management to address these issues. These include a fully lined TMF with seepage collection and pump back systems, a water treatment plant to treat effluent from the tailings pond during mine operations, water collection ponds to control suspended sediment concentrations in seepage and runoff associated with the waste rock stockpiles and groundwater discharged from the mine, and backfilling of all underground development rock into the underground mine as part of the mining process.

At closure, the TMF supernatant pond will be drained and a geosynthetic liner installed over the surface of the exposed tailings beach. A graded earthfill/rockfill cover will be constructed on top of the liner and revegetated to facilitate runoff from the surface of the reclaimed TMF towards a permanent closure spillway and to minimize infiltration. The three underground portals will be hydrostatically sealed with engineered bulkheads to allow the mine to flood. Infrastructure will be removed and disturbed sites re-graded to natural slopes. The access roads will be deactivated in accordance with the Forest Practice Code. A full closure and reclamation plan will be developed as part of the environmental assessment and provincial permitting process.

Project Execution and Development

The overall construction and commissioning period for the Project is estimated to be approximately 15 months from the start of the site access road to first gold pour and will be preceded by nine months of engineering and procurement. Engineering, preliminary procurement, preliminary road work and some site prep will take place in Year -2 of the Project. The remainder of the facilities will be built during Year -1.

During Year -1, underground mine development will commence approximately 6 months prior to the final commissioning of the process plant, once the haul road is completed to the upper portal. Initially, mining will commence from the upper portal to develop access to the Year 1 production stopes in the Marc zone and will utilize as much of the existing underground development as possible.

Permanent mine surface infrastructure will be installed during Years -1 and 1, while underground development is ongoing. This includes surface buildings, primary ventilation, water management and a cemented rock fill (CRF) batch plant.

Process plant and TMF construction will begin early in Year -1, as soon as the 15 km road from the plant site to Highway 37A is re-established.

TECHNICAL REPORT

The 2017 FS was prepared and led by JDS Energy & Mining Inc., in collaboration with broad range of industry leading consultants, all Qualified Persons ("QPs") under National Instrument 43-101. The QPs have reviewed and approved the content of this news release. All of the QPs are "independent" of the Company pursuant to National Instrument 43-101.The executive summary of the 2017 FS, prepared by JDS, and subsequently a technical report will be posted on the Company's website www.IDMmining.com and filed on SEDAR www.sedar.com within 45 days.

A copy of the Executive Summary is available on the Company's website.

The following consultants and QPs participated in the 2017 Feasibility Study:

Qualified Person, Designation Company QP Responsibility/Role Gord Doerksen, P. Eng. JDS Energy & Mining Inc. Executive Summary, Introduction, Property Description, Reliance on Other Experts, Infrastructure, Environment and Permitting, Operating and Capital Cost Estimate, Economic Analysis, Project Development, Conclusions Michael Makarenko P. Eng. JDS Energy & Mining Inc. Mineral Reserve Estimate, Mining Methods Kelly McLeod, P. Eng. JDS Energy & Mining Inc. Metallurgy, Recoveries, Process Gilles Arseneau, P. Geo ARSENEAU Consulting Services Ltd Mineral Resource Estimates; Deposit Type, Geology, Drilling, Exploration, Sample Preparation, Analysis and Security; and Data Verification Andrew Hamilton, P. Geo Independent Consultant Ken Embree, P Eng Knight Piesold Ltd. Tailings Management and Water Management Systems Kelly Sexsmith, P. Geo SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. Geochemistry and Hydrogeology Bruce Murphy, P.Eng SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. Mine Geotechnical

Rob McLeod, P.Geo, President and CEO of IDM Mining Ltd and a 'Qualified Person' under NI 43-101 has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release.

ABOUT IDM MINING LTD.

IDM Mining Ltd. is mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The Company's current exploration activities are focused on precious metals in British Columbia, with a primary focus on the high grade underground Red Mountain Project which has entered the BC and Canadian environmental assessment process. Further information can be found on the Company's website at www.IDMmining.com.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 26, 2017) - First Cobalt Corp. ("First Cobalt") (TSX VENTURE:FCC) (OTCQB:FTSSF) and Cobalt One Limited ("Cobalt One") (ASX:CO1) are pleased to announce that following the non-binding, conditional proposal by First Cobalt to acquire 100% of the shares in Cobalt One, as announced by First Cobalt on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") dated June 21, 2017, both parties subsequently signed a letter of intent on June 23, 2017, pursuant to which First Cobalt intends to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Cobalt One by way of a court approved scheme of arrangement (the "Arrangement").

Highlights:

Creates a leading pure-play cobalt exploration company ("MergeCo") with a portfolio of high quality exploration assets and the only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in the Cobalt, Ontario mining camp (the "Cobalt Camp")

Experienced management team based in Toronto, with a proven track record of discovery, development, and finance, and located in close proximity to the Cobalt Camp

MergeCo will be the largest listed cobalt exploration company with a pro-forma market capitalization of $110 million

MergeCo will be listed on the TSXV, the ASX and the OTCQB, subject to regulatory approval

Increased scale of the combined company will enhance its capital markets profile, liquidity, provide greater access to capital across the exchanges and provides for strong rerating potential

Following completion of the Arrangement, it is intended that the Company's Board will be reconstituted to include Cobalt One chairman Paul Matysek, Cobalt One Executive Director Jason Bontempo and Bob Cross

Cobalt One Executive Director Jason Bontempo commented,

"This proposal represents an attractive opportunity for Cobalt One to expand and allow shareholders to benefit from being part of a larger company that is expected to have greater liquidity and access to capital from two of the world's leading capital markets. Cobalt One shareholders would have a meaningful position in the merged company."

Trent Mell, First Cobalt President and CEO commented,

"I look forward to welcoming Jason, Paul and Bob to the Board of Directors. By creating what we believe to be the largest cobalt exploration company in the world, the new company will provide strong leverage to the growth of the electric vehicle market."

Benefits to Cobalt One Shareholders:

Presents an opportunity to leverage First Cobalt's management team's strong in-country mining expertise to ensure optimal exploration and development strategy

Positions MergeCo as the dominant landholder in the Cobalt Ontario mining camp, consolidating almost 50% of the prospective properties in the camp

Greater liquidity and prospect of market re-rating with enhanced scale, capital markets profile and increased access to capital across two listed markets

Cobalt One shareholders will maintain a majority stake in MergeCo, allowing for greater upside as MergeCo progresses with exploration programs

Terms of the Arrangement

Under the terms of the Arrangement, Cobalt One shareholders will receive 0.145 of a First Cobalt common share for each Cobalt One ordinary share (a "CO1 Share"), representing the equivalent of A$0.11 per CO1 Share, based on the last trading price (C$0.76) of First Cobalt shares on the June 23. This exchange ratio implies a total transaction value of approximately $140 million on a fully diluted in the money basis.

The Arrangement is an arms' length transaction, and will constitute a reverse-takeover of First Cobalt under the policies of the TSXV following which it is anticipated that First Cobalt would remain listed on the TSXV as a Tier 2 Mining Issuer. Completion of the Arrangement is subject to a number of conditions, including the entering into of definitive documentation, approval by the shareholders of Cobalt One and First Cobalt and receipt of all required regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSXV and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The Arrangement cannot close until these conditions are satisfied and the required approvals are obtained. Trading in the common shares of First Cobalt will remain halted pending further filings with the TSXV.

Management and Directors

Following completion of the Arrangement, it is intended that the Company's Board will be reconstituted to include Cobalt One chairman Paul Matysek, Cobalt One Executive Director Jason Bontempo, Mr. Robert (Bob) Cross and some or all of the current First Cobalt Board members.

Mr. Paul Matysek is a corporate entrepreneur, professional geochemist and geologist with over 30 years of experience in the mining industry. He was previously CEO of Lithium One, which merged with Galaxy Resources of Australia via a $112M plan of arrangement to create an integrated lithium company. He also served as CEO of Potash One, which was acquired by K+S Ag for $434 million in a friendly takeover in 2011. Mr. Matysek was also the founder and CEO of Energy Metals Corporation, a uranium company that grew from a market capitalization of $10 million to approximately $1.8 billion when sold in 2007.

Mr. Jason Bontempo has 18 years' experience in public company management, corporate advisory, investment banking and public company accounting, qualifying as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young. Mr. Bontempo has worked primarily providing corporate advice and the financing of resource companies across multiple capital markets including resource asset acquisitions and divestments. Mr. Bontempo has also served on the board and the executive management of minerals and resources public companies focusing on advancing and developing mineral resource assets and business development.

Mr. Robert (Bob) Cross is an engineer and Harvard MBA with 25 years of experience as a financier in the mining and oil & gas sectors. He co-founded and serves as Chairman of B2Gold, which has a $3.7 billion market cap and produces almost one million ounces of gold per year. He was also co-founder and Chairman of Bankers Petroleum Ltd., co-founder and Chairman of Petrodorado Energy Ltd., and until October 2007, was the Non-Executive Chairman of Northern Orion Resources Inc. Between 1996 and 1998, Mr. Cross was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yorkton Securities Inc. From 1987 to 1994, he was a Partner, Investment Banking with Gordon Capital Corporation in Toronto.

Advisors and Counsel

Canaccord Genuity Corp. is acting as financial advisor to First Cobalt, Cassels Brock and Blackwell LLP and Jackson McDonald are acting as legal counsel to First Cobalt.

Gilbert + Tobin and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP are acting as legal counsel to Cobalt One.

About Cobalt One Limited

Cobalt One Limited is a cobalt exploration company with high grade projects and the only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction, Ontario, Canada. It has seven high-grade cobalt properties in Cobalt, Ontario which includes; Cobalt Town claims, Lorrain Valley Cobalt claims, Silver Centre Cobalt claims and Silverfields mine property, which has four patented mining claims near Cobalt Town.

Completion of the Arrangement is subject to a number of conditions, including the entering into of definitive documentation, acceptance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the TSX Venture Exchange and disinterested Shareholder approval. The Arrangement cannot close until the required Shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Arrangement will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Information Circular to be prepared in connection with the Arrangement, any information released or received with respect to the Arrangement may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, center, walks with 8th U.S. Army commander Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, right, and Brig. Gen. Kim Tae-up, deputy commanding general of the ROK-U.S. Combined Division, during her visit to Camp Red Cloud, a U.S. military base for 2nd Infantry Division in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. Kang visited the division to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. She lauded the Korea-U.S. alliance during a speech to American soldiers. / Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon



By Kim Hyo-jin



Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha lauded the alliance between South Korea and the United States in a visit to the U.S. Army 2nd Infantry Division (2ID), Sunday.



She visited to mark the 67th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. It is the first time for the country's foreign minister to visit U.S. forces on the anniversary of the Korean War, the foreign ministry said.



Calling the division "freedom fighters" and "heroes and heroines," Kang filled her speech with colorful expressions of appreciation.



"2ID warriors, thank you for your unswerving commitment and devotion. You are truly second to none," she said.



The visit is seen as Kang's show of commitment to bolstering the Korea-U.S. alliance. It conveys a symbolic meaning as it came ahead of President Moon Jae-in's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump this week.



The two leaders are expected to discuss how to deal with North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. The deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here, which has been temporarily suspended for an environmental assessment, will be another key topic.



"In the decades after the Korean War, the ROK-U.S alliance has been the guardian of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, as Vice President Pence said during his visit in April. Our two countries shed blood together. We prosper together," Kang said in a speech to the U.S. soldiers.



Noting that the Korea-U.S alliance stands at a critical juncture due to North Korea's nuclear and missile program, she said, "But I'm confident we can together overcome it. With our ironclad rock-solid alliance and combined defense posture, we can achieve our common goal."













While highly appreciating the U.S. forces' contributions during the Korean War, the minister exemplified the Hungnam Evacuation conducted by the U.S. ship SS Meredith Victory, on which 14,000 refugees were evacuated from the North's territory in December 1950.



Kang said it was code-named "Christmas Cargo," and also known as the "Miracle of Christmas," noting that President Moon's parents were among the refugees. She stressed that Moon will invite veterans of the Hungnam Evacuation on his visit to Washington.



"The Republic of Korea will never forget the noble sacrifice made by U.S soldiers, sailors, airman and marines," she said.



Kang was also briefed about operating arms system and watched a demonstration of combat vehicles.



While taking a ride on an Apache helicopter, Kang asked how American unmanned surveillance vehicles can be compared to North Korea's drones. A U.S. Army official answered, the U.S.'s are "much more capable" and the North's drones are "not even close" to theirs.



The 2ID is known to have fought in a battle at Jipyeong-ri in February 1951 during the Korean War, losing over 7,000 soldiers. The Jipyeong-ri battle became a turning point for the United Nations Command.



It has been stationed in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, for 52 years. This year marks the 100th anniversary of its establishment.



The 8th U.S. Army commander Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal welcomed Kang on behalf of 2ID commander Maj. Gen. Theodore Martin, who was on a business trip to the U.S.



Vandal was accompanied by deputy commanding general of the ROK-U.S. Combined Division Brig. Gen. Kim Tae-up, deputy commanding officer of the ROK-U.S. Combined Division Col. Thomas Drew, and acting U.S. ambassador to South Korea Marc Knapper.




By Spencer Kim





Generally speaking, for decades there have been basically two frames of reference in South Korea  the conservative world view and the progressive world view. There was a certain tribalism mentality in that conservatives or progressives felt the need to subscribe to their "list" of beliefs, or at least defend them from attack by the other side. There were national leaders who pretty much followed the belief list down the line, and there were others who were more flexible in curtailing policies that were proving to be counterproductive (see especially Roh Tae-woo and Kim Dae-jung) but by and large the conservative-progressive fault line endured.

Both conservatives and progressives were, however, united in the ultimate goal of building a Korea that would be strong enough to never again be exploited by a stronger power, as Korea was by Japan in its colonial period.

The events of the past year have shaken the standing frames of reference. What is emerging is a new, more sophisticated synthesis, one which could be a catalyst for subsuming the North Korean nuclear issue into a broader Northeast Asia security architecture.

The thesis of the conservative worldview was that North Korea presented an existential threat, both militarily and ideologically. A strong national defense was necessary as well as a strong counter to North Korean propaganda, which could appeal, especially, to youth susceptible to its nationalist message. The U.S. alliance was the underpinning to national defense, providing nearly an unlimited reserve force against the North and providing a subsidy to Korean defense through expensive naval, air, intelligence and command/control assets. US forces must be accommodated, and anchored, in country. The "slippery slope" of U.S. disengagement was to be avoided. Economically, the country must industrialize and develop an export economy rapidly. Education must be emphasized, technology harnessed to industrialization, and labor costs should be kept reasonable, through suppression of labor agitation if necessary. Large conglomerates were seen as the most expedient and rapid way to grow the economy. Easy credit to large firms, interlocking ownerships, and the use of connections to skirt regulation, were seen as necessary even if sometimes damaging to transparency and strict the rule of law. Some corruption was acceptable as the price of doing business as long as the overall system ran smoothly and economic development was not adversely affected. However, there was also a pride in Korea's adherence to the forms  and as much of the reality as possible  of a liberal democratic form of government.

Because the conservative power structure ruled for most of the post-Korean War era, conservatives had access to more resources for education, especially overseas education, and, correspondingly, English language skills. Consequently, conservative viewpoints were most effectively transmitted to American opinion makers.

The antithetical progressive view was that, while North Korea was a threat to be guarded against, its brotherly "Koreanness" could be a basis for engagement. Its ideology was abhorrent enough that it offered little competition for Southern minds and an attempt needed to be made to understand the North. While industrialization and economic development were important, so were human and labor rights. Democratization was an ultimate goal that was unnecessarily delayed by the authoritarianism used to subsume freedom to economic growth. The U.S. alliance was seen as the bedrock of Korea's security, but there was a feeling that the alliance also served U.S. geopolitical goals and was not fragile; the alliance was as important to the US as to Korea. The U.S. often took advantage of Korea in the relationship, causing insults to national pride. The U.S. alliance could also complicate a growing relationship with China. The connections and corruption of the elites caused the common man to suffer and the benefits of social mobility were often denied him.

The progressive worldview was often distorted in the U.S. by the better access of conservative voices, with progressives often labeled as pro-communist sympathizers, naive dupes of the North, or following a radical socialist economic policy, although in reality they were much closer to the middle of the political spectrum by American standards.

The events of the last year have shaken Korea. The corruption of the Park Geun-hye administration was particularly grotesque in the way it rubbed on the most sensitive raw nerves of what Koreans feel is wrong with their society. Connections, arrogance, illicit funds, extortion and incompetent authoritarianism, combined with the economic uneasiness and impotence against the "system" felt by many Koreans, played a role in generating the mass demonstrations that forced the constitutional system to impeach Park.

That led to the election of Moon Jae-in, who is promising, if one looks at his speeches, pronouncements and appointments closely, not just a switch from a conservative Park administration to a progressive Moon administration, but the creation of a new policy direction that captures elements of both previous worldviews into a new, synthesized set of policies. Moon was defeated in the December 2012 presidential election. Realizing he may run again, he spent four years in self-reflection, information gathering, outreach to Koreans of all stripes, and analysis. He has approval ratings in the 80+ range because what he is saying and doing resonates with what Koreans innately recognize as their country's problems.

Politically, Moon is arguing that policies have to be arrived at transparently to get maximum buy-in by the populace. The concept of a steering elite has to be ended. The sense of powerless alienation by youth must be reversed.

Economically, the conglomerates should not be dismantled but streamlined and small- and medium-sized enterprises should be given better, and fairer, access to financing. The government should stimulate employment in order to generate a greater domestic economic driver.

But most importantly, Moon believes the US-ROK alliance is the bedrock of Korea's national security. It provides a reliable ally to give Korea more security in a region where it is small relative to its neighbors; it is not just an alliance against North Korea. But for the alliance to be healthy over the long run, and enjoy the support of the populace, it cannot appear to subjugate legitimate Korean interests.

How this plays out in the immediate issues of the day is that on THAAD Moon senses that most Koreans feel that THAAD was somehow a "middle of the night secret deal" between the US and the Park Administration that was typical of Park's authoritarian and arrogant style  for which Korea paid a price when China reacted with vicious economic retaliation. He needs to cleanse THAAD by running it through the transparency machine and make it acceptable to the Korean populace. (And he needs time to deal with the Chinese reaction.)

On the North Korean nuclear issue, Moon sees the existential threat but wants to play the long game in removing it. Short term pressure is necessary to make the price that Pyongyang pays clear, but using the crisis to generate momentum to a regional security architecture is the ultimate goal. If North Korea's security concerns can be met, and South Korea's security heightened by a system that locks the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the U.S. into a stable multilateral dynamic, then inter-Korean engagement can also start to move Seoul and Pyongyang toward a modus vivendi that can reap security and economic benefits, and probably improve human rights in North Korea.





Spencer H. Kim is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and co-founder of the California-based Pacific Century Institute. Contact spencer@cbol.com.
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In terms of lives lost and property damaged, floods are just behind tornadoes as the top natural disaster. In the United States, flood damages totaled $8.41 billion in 2011. There were 113 flood-related deaths. Floods can affect any area to some degree; wherever rain falls, flooding can occur.

As water falls to the Earth in the form of rain or snow, it seeps into the ground. But if the ground is frozen or the surface impervious (asphalt or concrete are two contenders) or the soil is already saturated and cannot absorb the water faster than it falls from the sky, problems arise.

The only part of this home in Vicksburg Mississippi above water on May 13, 2011 was the roof. (Image credit: Howard Greenblatt FEMA.gov)

Water running downhill into channels and streams begins to "pile up", eventually overrunning the sides of those channels. How quickly this happens depends on the strength of the precipitation and the slope of the land. Sometimes flooding causes deep water to move quickly, while other times, shallow water may linger, taking days to dissipate.

Types of flooding

Overbank flooding:

What most people think of when they hear the word "flood." Filled to capacity because of heavy rain or melting snow, the water within a river overflows its banks and spreads across the land around it. Sometimes the area covered is wide and flat; water tends to spread out and be slow-moving, and may not appear to travel at all. Common in the Midwest, this kind of flooding can take days to dissipate. In mountainous areas, where water flows together through steep valleys, the flood water tends to move faster and linger for a shorter duration.

Waterfall created during the flood that rapidly formed Lake Canyon Gorge. (Image credit: Richard Sears)

Flash floods:

Water from floods can take time to build up, allowing the population in an area time to be warned in advance. But sometimes flooding occurs quickly. Flash floods gather steam within six hours of the events that spawned them. They are characterized by a rapid rise of fast-moving water. Fast-moving water is extremely dangerous  water moving at 10 miles an hour can exert the same pressures as wind gusts of 270 mph (434 kph), according to a 2005 article in USA Today (opens in new tab). Water moving at 9 feet per second (2.7 meters per second), a common speed for flash floods, can move rocks weighing almost a hundred pounds. Flash floods carry debris that elevate their potential to damage structures and injure people.

Meltwater flooding the Watson River in Greenland. Photo taken on July 12, 2012. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory)

Ice jam flooding:

In cold temperatures, bodies of water are often frozen. Heavy precipitation can cause chunks of ice to push together and create a dam in what is known as ice jam flooding. Behind the dam, water begins to pile up, spilling over to the plains nearby. Eventually, the wall of ice breaks, and fast-moving water rushes downstream much like a conventional flash flood, destroying objects in its path. The water carries huge chunks of ice, which can increase damage to surrounding structures.

Coastal flooding:

This type of flooding occurs along the edges of oceans, and is driven predominantly by storm surges and wave damage. This kind of flooding is usually connected to hurricanes, tsunamis or tropical storms. When low pressures occur in a storm over the ocean, they suck the water toward the center. As long as the eye is over deep water, problems are minimized, but as the storm moves toward land it carries a dome of water that can exceed 25 feet (7.6 meters) in diameter. When the dome reaches the shoreline, it can cause significant damage. At the same time, waves breaking along the shoreline assault beaches and structures, with destructive potential. In a hurricane, 9 out of 10 deaths are caused not by wind but by fast-moving storm surge.

Engineering issues

Flooding may be caused by manmade issues, as well. A weakly constructed dam could receive a more substantive battering than it was designed for and give way, creating a flash flood in the regions downstream.

In case of emergency

Fast- and slow-moving water can create significant problems for people who underestimate their power. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, attempting to drive through flood water is the leading cause of flood-related injury and death. Six inches of moving water can cause you to lose your balance and fall. The best plan is to avoid flood water when at all possible and to make for higher ground.

There are a number of things you can do to prepare for a flood and minimize damage.

Structures should not be built in a flood plain.

Keep your furnace, water heater, and electric panel elevated, especially if you live in an area where flooding is likely.

Put together an emergency kit and make plans with your family  something that is ideal for any emergency situation, not just flooding.

If you find yourself under a flood warning, make sure to pay attention to radio or television warnings.

If you have time prior to an evacuation, turn off utilities at the main switches and disconnect electrical appliances.

Move furniture and important items to higher levels in your house and bring in any outdoor furniture.

Avoid contact with flood water. It may contain oil, gasoline, raw sewage, or any number of undesirable materials.

Wash your hands thoroughly with clean water before eating, and do not drink from contaminated sources.

Damage from a flood depends on a number of things, including how long the water remains before receding and how quickly it was moving. Pay attention to roadways, which could have been weakened or washed out, and may be unsafe. Be careful entering buildings; fast-moving water could have weakened structural supports. If your home was submerged for an extended period, watch for signs of mold, which can cause illnesses.

Dangerous floods in history

The top five deadliest floods in world history occurred when the Huang He (Yellow) River in China exceeded its banks. The yellow silt that provoked the river's name can pile up higher than the land around it, causing the water to spill out of its causeway and onto the flat land surrounding it. Natural ice dams add to the problem. In an effort to control the damage, the Chinese government has built channels, dams and dikes to moderate the flow.

The deadliest flood came in 1931, when between 1 and 4 million people were killed. Thirty-four thousand square miles (88,000 sq km) of land were flooded, leaving 80 million people without homes. In 1887, natural flooding claimed between 1 and 2 million lives.

Strategic military flooding of the river top the third and fourth deadliest spots. In 1642, approximately 300,000 people died to flooding, famine, and plague when the Ming governor of Kaifeng ordered his men to break dikes along the river in an attempt to drown rebels assaulting his city. In 1938, the river was again used as a defensive weapon to halt the advance of invading Japanese troops, killing nearly a million people.

The worst dam collapse in history occurred in 1975, when significant rainfall following a typhoon assaulted the Banqiao dam on the Ru River in China. Almost 4 feet of rain poured down in a single day. A smaller dam upstream broke, sending a wall of water rushing downstream. A total of 62 dams failed in the incident, with walls of water between 10 and 20 feet high pouring onto the plains below. In an effort to control the flooding, some dams were deliberately destroyed with hopes of relieving some of the pressure. Approximately 230,000 people were killed.

Although China takes a frequent beating from flooding, the Netherlands also boast a number of deadly floods in its history. High tides and storms were responsible for the deaths of approximately 100,000 people in the Netherlands and England in 1099. A violent weather pattern known as a "Great Storm" created a storm tide in 1287 that broke a dike and killed up to 80,000 people. The same storm killed people in England. In 1421, the tenth deadliest flood in the world occurred when storms caused dikes to collapse. Water flowed across the lowlands, killing nearly 10,000.

The deadliest natural disaster in American history was the Hurricane of 1900 in Galveston, Texas. The Category 4 storm killed over 6,000 people, with most official reports citing closer to 8,000 dead. Storm surge killed many on trains attempting to evacuate the city. Floodwaters destroyed bridges and telegraph lines, keeping those outside of the city from realizing the extent of the damage for some time.

In fact, storm surge deaths caused by hurricanes dominate the list of flood dangers in the United States. These include the second most dangerous storm, the Okeechobee Hurricane in 1928, which caused over 2,500 deaths. In contrast, Hurricane Katrina claimed fewer than 2,000 lives.

Other dangerous incidents of flooding include a 1972 dam failure in Buffalo Creek, West Virginia. The dam, declared "satisfactory" only four days before the disaster, set off a chain reaction, as pressure from first broken dam caused a second to burst, and then a third. More than 132 million gallons of water were released, claiming 125 lives while injuring more than 1,100 people. Almost all 5,000 of the residents downstream were left homeless.

A 1976 flash flood in Colorado's Big Thompson Canyon after excessive rainfall created powerful water that ultimately killed 144 people and resulted in almost $40 million in damages. Waters reached speeds of more than 30 feet per second, moving 250-ton boulders with their powerful currants.

In the Great Flood of 1993, excessive rainfall in the Mississippi River basin caused significant flooding that did $20 billion in damages over a period of several months.

Floods and Climate

As the globe warms, flooding could become a more widespread problem. Warm air holds more moisture than cool air, so the heaviest precipitation events could become heavier as air temperatures tick upward. In 2015, Climate Central analyzed rain gauge records since 1950 and found that 40 out of the 48 states in the continental United States have seen increased heavy downpours over that time period. The Northeast now sees 31 percent more heavy downpours than it did in 1950. The Midwest sees 16 percent more.

Heavy downpours are defined as events where the precipitation dropped from the skies is more than the amount that accumulates from the top 1 percent of all rain and snow days over the study period. These bursts of precipitation  which usually fell as rain but sometimes as snow, the analysis found  are tough on infrastructure and can cause flooding. NOAA data also shows an increase in one-day precipitation events (single days of either rain or snow) since the middle of the 20th century. Climate models suggest that global flood risk will change as the world warms. One 2013 study in Nature Climate Change (opens in new tab), for example, found large increases in the frequency of floods in eastern Africa, Southeast Asia, parts of India and parts of the Andes under climate change.

In glacial areas, climate change is likely to contribute to devastating floods more directly. Melting glaciers can put pressure on the natural dams that corral meltwater into the stunningly beautiful high-altitude lakes that dot places like the Himalayas and the Andes. When these dams fail, they can cause sudden and catastrophic outburst floods that send water ricocheting into narrow valleys below. In June 2016, researchers observed firsthand a glacial outburst flood at the Lhotse Glacier near Mount Everest that loosed about 4.8 million cubic miles (about 2 million cubic meters) of water from within the glacier itself. Fortunately, a village below the glacier was saved by stone walls that had been recently constructed, and nothing more was lost than a footbridge and one outbuilding.

Related:

Further reading:

Editor's Note: This reference article was first published on Oct. 11, 2012; it was updated with information about climate change and floods on June 26, 2017.
History of the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment provides U.S. citizens the right to bear arms. Ratified in December 1791, the amendment says:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

James Madison originally proposed the Second Amendment shortly after the Constitution was officially ratified as a way to provide more power to state militias, which today are considered the National Guard. It was deemed a compromise between Federalists  those who supported the Constitution as it was ratified  and the anti-Federalists  those who supported states having more power. Having just used guns and other arms to ward off the English, the amendment was originally created to give citizens the opportunity to fight back against a tyrannical federal government.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees the inalienable rights of citizens. (opens in new tab) Shutterstock (opens in new tab) ) (Image credit: Onur Ersin

Interpretations of the Second Amendment

Since its ratification, Americans have been arguing over the amendment's meaning and interpretation. One side interprets the amendment to mean it provides for collective rights, while the opposing view is that it provides individual rights.

Those who take the collective side think the amendment gives each state the right to maintain and train formal militia units that can provide protection against an oppressive federal government. They argue the "well regulated militia" clause clearly means the right to bear arms should only be given to these organized groups. They believe this allows for only those in the official militia to carry guns legally, and say the federal government cannot abolish state militias.

Those with the opposite viewpoint believe the amendment gives every citizen the right to own guns, free of federal regulations, to protect themselves in the face of danger. The individualists believe the amendment's militia clause was never meant to restrict each citizen's rights to bear arms.

Both interpretations have helped shape the country's ongoing gun control debate. Those supporting an individual's right to own a gun, such as the National Rifle Association, argue that the Second Amendment should give all citizens, not just members of a militia, the right to own a gun. Those supporting stricter gun control, like the Brady Campaign, believe the Second Amendment isn't a blank check for anyone to own a gun. They feel that restrictions on firearms, such as who can have them, under what conditions, where they can be taken, and what types of firearms are available, are necessary.

The Supreme Court and the Second Amendment

While the right to bear arms is regularly debated in the court of public opinion, it is the Supreme Court whose opinion matters most. Yet despite an ongoing public battle over gun ownership rights, until recent years the Supreme Court had said very little on the issue.

The Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. (Image credit: Steve Heap/Shutterstock)

One of the first rulings came in 1876 in U.S. v. Cruikshank. The case involved members of the Ku Klux Klan not allowing black citizens the right to standard freedoms, such as the right to assembly and the right to bear arms. As part of the ruling, the court said the right of each individual to bear arms was not granted under the Constitution. Ten years later, the court affirmed the ruling in Presser v. Illinois when it said that the Second Amendment only limited the federal government from prohibiting gun ownership, not the states.

The Supreme Court took up the issue again in 1894 in Miller v. Texas. In this case, Dallas' Franklin Miller sued the state of Texas, arguing that despite state laws saying otherwise, he should have been able to carry a concealed weapon under Second Amendment protection. The court disagreed, saying the Second Amendment does not apply to state laws, like Texas' restrictions on carrying dangerous weapons.

All three of the cases heard before 1900 cemented the court's opinion that the Bill of Rights, and specifically the Second Amendment, does not prohibit states from setting their own rules on gun ownership.

Until recently, the Supreme Court hadn't ruled on the Second Amendment since U.S. v. Miller in 1939. In that case, Jack Miller and Frank Layton were arrested for carrying an unregistered sawed-off shotgun across state lines, which had been prohibited since the National Firearms Act was enacted five years earlier. Miller argued that the National Firearms Act violated their rights under the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court disagreed, however, saying "in the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a 'shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length' at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument."

It would be nearly 70 years before the court took up the issue again, this time in the District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008. The case centered on Dick Heller, a licensed special police office in Washington, D.C., who challenged the nation's capital's handgun ban. For the first time, the Supreme Court ruled that despite state laws, individuals who were not part of a state militia did have the right to bear arms. As part of its ruling, the court wrote, "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home."

The court would rule on the issue again two years later as part of McDonald v. City of Chicago, which challenged the city's ban on private handgun ownership. In a similar 5-to-4 ruling, the court affirmed its decision in the Heller case, saying the Second Amendment "applies equally to the federal government and the states."

In 2016, the Supreme Court again ruled on a right-to-bear-arms case, Caetano v. Massachusetts. The case involved a woman who was in possession of a stun gun for self-defense against an abusive ex-boyfriend. Because stun guns were illegal under Massachusetts law, the woman was arrested and convicted for possessing the weapon. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that stun guns and, indeed "all instruments that constitute bearable arms," are protected under the Second Amendment.

In 2017, the Supreme Court declined to hear Peruta v. California, a gun-rights case centering around concealed carry, or the right to carry a concealed handgun in public. California requires that applicants for a concealed carry license show "good cause," such as a specific threat to a person's safety. A Vietnam veteran named Edward Peruta challenged this requirement as a curtailment of his Second Amendment rights. While Heller was a case about keeping firearms in the home for self-protection, Peruta v. California was about whether that right extends to the public sphere. Justice Clarence Thomas and new justice Neil Gorsuch dissented from the refusal to review the case, indicating that the Supreme Court's newest justice may be particularly conservative on gun rights.

Meanwhile, the battle over gun rights continues at the state level. A 2016 working paper from Harvard Business School researchers found that a mass shooting leads to a 15 percent increase in the number of firearm-related bills introduced into the state legislature that year. The more fatalities, the larger the increase in firearm bills. But the bills aren't always what you might expect: When Republicans hold power in the state legislature after a mass shooting, the number of laws enacted to loosen gun restrictions goes up 75 percent. Democrat-controlled legislatures, on the other hand, did not enact a higher rate of regulation-tightening laws immediately after mass shootings than before.

"This is consistent with survey evidence suggesting that even when a majority supports a gun-control proposal, those opposed to increased gun control are more likely to take actions like writing a letter or donating money to support their side," the researchers wrote.

Despite the recent rulings, the debate on gun control continues. Incidents like those in Aurora, CO and Sandy Hook in Newtown, CT only serve as motivation for both sides to have their opinions heard and considered.

Related:

Editor's Note: This reference article was first published on Jan. 22, 2013. It was updated with new cases and information on June 26, 2017.
Located in Green County, east of Bowling Green, Ky., this sinkhole formed about eight years ago; the owners of the farmland where it formed have since pushed old hay rolls into the hole, where a <a href="http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/son-doong-cave-jungle-inside-110104-0929/">tree has already begun to grow</a>. The walls of the sinkhole are a rich, rusty color, characteristic of the reddish-brown colored silt and dark red clay of central Kentucky's soil.

They've swallowed Corvettes in Kentucky, condos in Florida and homes in Texas. Clearly, sinkholes are not to be sneezed at. But what causes these collapses of supposedly solid ground?

Sinkholes are pits in the ground that form in areas where water gathers without external drainage, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. As water drains below ground, it can dissolve subterranean caverns, particularly in areas where the bedrock is made of water-soluble evaporate rocks such as salt or gypsum or of carbonate rocks such as limestone or dolomite.

Most of the time, sinkholes form gradually. Occasionally, though, the collapse is sudden. Those sudden sinkholes are often the ones that open up and swallow cars, homes and streets. [In Photos: Stunning Sinkholes]

Types of sinkholes

Geologists divide sinkholes into three types. The first is a dissolution or solution sinkhole. In this type of sinkhole, there is little soil or vegetation over the limestone or other bedrock. Water from rain and runoff slowly trickles through crevices in the bedrock, dissolving it. As a result, a depression gradually forms. Dissolution sinkholes sometimes become ponds if the depression gets lined with debris, trapping water inside. Dissolution sinkholes happen slowly and are generally not dangerous, but one that becomes a pond can drain suddenly if water makes it through the protective bottom layer.

The second type of sinkhole is a cover-subsidence sinkhole. These sinkholes happen in areas where sand covers the bedrock. The sand filters down into openings in the rock, gradually causing the land surface to sink. Continued erosion increases the size of the depression. Like dissolution sinkholes, cover-subsidence sinkholes happen slowly.

The most dangerous type of sinkhole is a cover-collapse sinkhole. In these cases, the bedrock is covered by a layer of clay. Beneath this ground cover, however, water dissolves an underground cavern. Gradually, ground sediments begin to erode, or spall, into the cavern from the bottom. The ground continues to crumble from beneath until only a thin layer remains between the surface and the underground opening. When that layer collapses, the sinkhole opens up suddenly, swallowing any structures on top.

The Bayou Corne Sinkhole formed on Aug. 3, 2012. (Image credit: On Wings of Care)

Warning signs of sinkholes

Areas with underlying dissolvable rock are most susceptible to sinkholes. According to the USGS, the most dangerous spots are in Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Missouri and Kentucky.

There are often warning signs before a sinkhole collapse, however. The ground may slump noticeably, causing fence poles or trees to lean. Subsiding soil might also expose buried surfaces of trees or foundations, according to the Suwannee River Water Management District in Florida.

A structure threatened by a sinkhole may show small cracks, and doors and windows may stick or refuse to shut as the structure subtly settles. Circular patches of wilting vegetation or water gathering in small ponds where it never gathered before can also hint that the ground is failing.

An important warning sign is a "chimney hole" or "chimney sinkhole." These are deep vertical holes of varying sizes with steep sides. Florida officials recommend fencing off chimney holes and reporting them to the county.

The Bimmah Sinkhole is near Dibab village in Oman, an Arab state in the Arabian Peninsula. A winding stone staircase leads down to the sinkhole, which is a beautiful aquamarine and emerald color, with the darker green hues resulting from algae growth in the water (Image credit: Erika Bisbocci ebisbocci flickr)

Notable sinkholes

Sinkholes can be very destructive, but they are rarely deadly. An exception occurred in February 2013, when a sinkhole suddenly opened up under a bedroom in a home in Seffner, Fla., sending Jeffrey Bush, 37, tumbling to his death.

Bush's brother Jeremy Bush attempted to rescue him minutes after the sinkhole opened, but found only a dirt-covered hole 20 feet (6 meters) across. Rescue crews deemed the ground too unstable to recover Jeffrey Bush's body, and also condemned the two homes neighboring the residence.

A less tragic sinkhole opened up in February 2014 in Kentucky, swallowing eight cars at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.

An enormous sinkhole in Louisiana in 2012, the Bayou Corne Sinkhole, created an environmental catastrophe by opening up a natural underground oil reservoir. The pit released not only oil, but also methane and hydrogen sulfide to the surface. About 350 people had to evacuate to escape the toxic gases. That sinkhole was caused by an underground mine collapse. [Dramatic Video: Louisiana Sinkhole Swallows Trees]

An Australian family was shocked in August 2016, when a similar human-influenced sinkhole suddenly opened up in their backyard. The water-filled sinkhole in the town of Ipswich in southeast Queensland was caused by the collapse of an old mine shaft.

Sinkholes can also appear when leaking water or sewer pipes undermine roadways. An investigation by the science news site Phys.org in May 2017 found that urban sinkholes seem to be a growing problem as cash-strapped cities neglect aging infrastructure. In January 2017, for example, a 55,000-pound Hydro-Vac truck sunk into a sinkhole in the parking lot of an auto shop in Oakwood, Georgia. The cause was a crumbling storm drain.

"Blue holes" are water-filled sinkholes in caves or in the ocean. The largest is Pozzo del Merro in Italy, which is at least 1,286 feet (392 m) deep. The Bahamas are home to the deepest Blue Hole with an underwater entrance, Dean's Blue Hole. That sinkhole is 663 feet (202 m) deep.

Blue holes are magnets for tourists, which can cause environmental problems. A 2017 study in the journal Tourism Management found that runoff from the paving of parking lots as well as fuel leakage from visitors' cars contaminated the water-filled sinkholes of Quintana Roo, Mexico, some of which were used by the ancient Mayans as sacrificial pits. Pollution levels rose and fell with the vacation season, the researchers reported.

It's difficult to pinpoint the largest sinkhole in the world  these are unstable and difficult to explore geological features, after all  but a leading candidate is China's "Heavenly Pit," the Xiaozhai Tiankeng. This ancient sinkhole is about 2,170 feet (662 m) deep and 1,760 feet (527 m) wide.

Editor's Note: This reference page was first published on March 15, 2014, and was updated on June 26, 2017, with new information.

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Orca whales have claimed the life of another great white shark by eating its liver and leaving it for dead, making it the fourth such gristly death in less than two months.

During a four-day period in early May, researchers reported finding the bodies of three great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) that had washed ashore along South Africa's Western Cape province. All of these sharks were mysteriously missing their livers, necropsies (animal autopsies) showed.

Now, a fourth dead, liverless shark has washed ashore, according to a post today (June 26) on the Marine Dynamics blog, a site hosted by a shark cage diving company. The newly discovered 13-foot-long (4 meters) male shark was missing its liver, testes and stomach, according to the blog post. [See Photos of the Shark Necropsies]

No one saw the sharks' last moments, but their injuries indicate that orcas, also known as killer whales (Orcinus orca), were the culprits, the researchers said.

Researchers performed a necropsy on all three sharks. (Image credit: Marine Dynamics)

"This is the fourth documented deceased white shark since May that we can connect to Orca predation" Alison Towner, a white-shark biologist for the Dyer Island Conservation Trust in South Africa, wrote on the Marine Dynamics blog. "We don't really know how long the sharks will stay away from the area as a result of predation pressure."

Although orcas aren't known to regularly hunt great white sharks, "it's not unprecedented," said Andrew Nosal, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Saint Katherine College in San Marcos, California, and a visiting assistant researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. (Nosal was not involved in the recent shark analyses.)

Scientists know that both orcas and great whites live off the western coast of South Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. Although Nosal wasn't aware of orca-on-shark attacks in that area, he had heard of instances in which orcas have hunted the sharks in other locations, such as off the coast of southern Australia and near the Farallon Islands, a wildlife refuge off the coast of San Francisco, he said.

In addition, orcas are known to hunt and eat the livers of the broadnose sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) off the coast of California, said Chris Lowe, director of The Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach, who wasn't involved with the South African analyses.

Not much is known about orca predation on great white sharks, Nosal said. But any marine biologist can tell you that other marine mammals prey on the livers and internal organs of smaller sharks, he said.

For instance, sea lions routinely hunt leopard sharks off the coast of California. In grisly detail, Nosal described how sea lions grab onto leopard sharks (Triakis semifasciata), and then twist and turn the shark until they can bite just under its gills.

"It's almost like a sweet spot," Nosal told Live Science. "Once they have a good grip just under the gills, they thrash the shark above the water with such force that the shark is actually eviscerated. All of the internal organs come out of that one opening that the sea lion made."

Then, the sea lion gobbles up the internal organs and leaves the rest of the carcass, which will either sink to the seafloor or wash ashore, Nosal said.

A sea lion thrashes a leopard shark by Catalina Island, located off the coast of Los Angeles. Notice how the sea lion has a firm grip just below the shark's gills. (Image credit: J.J. Newman)

Sharks have enormous livers, he noted. Livers are filled with fats that give the shark buoyancy. "Bony fishes have a swim bladder that they can fill with gases, and those gases provide buoyancy for the fish," Nosal said. "Sharks do not have a swim bladder. Instead, they have a very large liver." [Aahhhhh! 5 Scary Shark Myths Busted]

In addition to being filled with fat, shark livers are "very energy- and nutrient-rich," Nosal said. It's unclear why orcas would go after the sharks' livers, but Nosal said he imagines "they have a high metabolism, and they have a lot of nutrient needs, and so those fats might really help them out."

Still, it's impossible to pin the sharks' deaths squarely on the orcas without more evidence, such as video footage or a first-person account, he said.

One commenter on the Marine Dynamics blog wondered whether the sharks could have died from boat strikes, but Nosal dismissed that idea.

"These sharks are certainly common at the surface, and so a boat strike is possible," Nosal said. "However, because three sharks washed up around the same time, three boat strikes are unlikely."

Moreover, when sea lions attack leopard sharks, "we often see these sorts of 'cluster predations,' where the sea lion will eviscerate several sharks around the same time," he said. "So again, all the evidence is consistent with orca predation."

Editor's note: This story was originally published on May 11, 2017, and updated to include information about the fourth dead shark.

Original article on Live Science.
CRISPR technology

(Image credit: vchal/Shutterstock)

It's like someone has pressed fast-forward on the gene-editing field: A simple tool that scientists can wield to snip and edit DNA is speeding the pace of advancements that could lead to treating and preventing diseases.

Findings are now coming quickly, as researchers can publish the results of their work that's made use of the tool, called CRISPR-Cas9.

The tool, often called CRISPR for short, was first shown to be able to snip DNA in 2011 (opens in new tab). It consists of a protein and a cousin of DNA, called RNA. Scientists can use it to cut DNA strands at very precise locations, enabling them to remove mutated parts of genes from a strand of genetic material.

In the past year alone, dozens of scientific papers from researchers around the world have detailed the results of studies  some promising, some critical  that used CRISPR to snip out and replace unwanted DNA to develop treatments for cancer, HIV, blindness, chronic pain, muscular dystrophy and Huntington's disease, to name a few.

"The pace of basic research discoveries has exploded, thanks to CRISPR," said biochemist and CRISPR expert Sam Sternberg, the group leader of technology development at at Berkeley, California-based Caribou Biosciences Inc., which is developing CRISPR-based solutions for medicine, agriculture, and biological research.

Although it will be a few more years before any CRISPR-based treatments could be tested in people, "hardly a day goes by without numerous new publications outlining new findings about human health and human genetics that took advantage" of this new tool, Sternberg told Live Science.

Of course, humans are not the only species with a genome. CRISPR has applications in animals and plants, too, from disabling parasites, like those that cause malaria and Lyme disease, to improving the crop yields of potatoes, citrus and tomatoes.

"[CRISPR] is incredibly powerful. It has already brought a revolution to the day-to-day life in most laboratories," said molecular biologist Jason Sheltzer, principal investigator at the Sheltzer Lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. Sheltzer and his team are using CRISPR to understand the biology of chromosomes and how errors associated with them may contribute to cancer.

I am very hopeful that over the next decade gene editing will transition from being a primarily research tool to something that enables new treatments in the clinic, said Neville Sanjana, of the New York Genome Center and an assistant professor of biology, neuroscience and physiology at New York University.

Here, we take a look at the recent advances in the fights against 10 diseases that demonstrate CRISPR's capabilities, and hint at things to come.

Cancer

(Image credit: royaltystockphoto.com / Shutterstock.com)

A cure for cancer has alluded humankind since the Greek physician Hippocrates, who lived between 460 and 370 B.C., coined the word for this disease: karkinos. But because cancer, like many diseases, results from a mutation in a person's genome, researchers say it's possible that a CRISPR-based treatment could one day slow the speed at which a tumor spreads, or perhaps reverse the disease completely.

Some early work in this area is happening already in China, where regulations governing the use of gene editing in humans are more relaxed than they are in the United States.

In October 2016, a lung cancer patient in China became the first of 10 people in the world to receive an injection of cells that had been modified using CRISPR, the journal Nature reported (opens in new tab). The researchers, led by oncologist Dr. Lu You at Sichuan University in Chengdu, modified the immune cells taken from the patient's own blood and disabled a gene that produces a protein that cancer cells normally hijack in order to divide and multiply. The hope is that without the protein, the cancer cells wont multiply and the immune system will win out.

Research teams in the United States are also eyeing ways to use CRISPR to fight cancer. Dr. Carl June, director of translational research at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and his colleagues received approval in June 2016 from the National Institutes of Health to conduct a clinical trial on 18 cancer patients in late stages of melanoma (a skin cancer), sarcoma (a cancer of soft tissue) and multiple myeloma (a cancer of the bone marrow), according to a statement from the university. For this clinical trial, researchers will use CRISPR to alter three genes in patients' own immune system cells, in hopes of getting those cells to destroy the cancer cells in their bodies.

HIV

(Image credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki | Shutterstock.com)

Eradicating HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has been an uphill battle. Not only does the virus infect the very immune cells in the body that attack viruses, but it's also a notorious mutator. After HIV hijacks a cell in the body and begins to replicate, it generates many genetic variations of itself, which helps it evade drug therapies. This drug resistance is a huge problem in treating people who are infected with HIV, according to the World Health Organization.

CRISPR has HIV lined up in its sight, though. In May 2017, researchers at Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh used CRISPR to snip the virus from the cell it was infecting, shutting down the virus's ability to replicate. This use of the technique, which was tested in three different animal models, was the first time researchers had demonstrated a way to eliminate HIV from infected cells, according to the researchers, led by Chen Liang, a virologist at McGill University in Montreal. They reported the results of their study in the journal Molecular Therapy.

Huntington's disease

(Image credit: Ralwel/Shutterstock)

About 30,000 people in the United States have an inherited condition called Huntington's disease, a fatal genetic disorder that causes nerves in the brain to deteriorate over time, according to the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Symptoms include personality changes, mood swings, unsteady gait and slurred speech.

The condition results from a faulty gene that becomes larger than normal and produces a larger-than-normal form of a protein called huntingtin, which then breaks into smaller, toxic fragments that accumulate in neurons, disrupting their function, according to the National Institutes of Health.

But in June 2017, scientists reported in The Journal of Clinical Investigation that they had reversed the disease in lab mice that had been engineered to have a human mutant huntingtin gene in place of a mouse huntingtin gene. Su Yang, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the department of human genetics at Emory University in Atlanta, and Renbao Chang, at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, used CRISPR to snip out part of the mutant huntingtin gene that produces the toxic bits.

After they did that, the number of toxic fragments decreased in the mice's brains, and the neurons began to heal. The affected mice regained some of their motor control, balance and grip strength. Although their performance on certain tasks was not as good as that of healthy mice, the results showed the potential of CRISPR to help fight this condition.

In a statement, the scientists stressed that more rigorous studies need to be conducted before such a therapy could be used in humans.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy

(Image credit: ChiccoDodiFC/Shutterstock.com)

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a debilitating condition that develops because of a mutation in a single gene, called the dystrophin gene, which is one of the longest genes in the body. A team of researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center led by molecular biology professor Eric Olson is working with CRISPR to find ways to fight Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Because of the mutation in the dystrophin gene, the body doesn't make a functional form of the protein dystrophin, which is essential for muscle fiber health. Over time, the lack of this protein causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness.

In April 2017, Olson and his team reported in the journal Science Advances that they had used a variation of the CRISPR tool, called CRISPR-Cpf1, to correct the mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy. They fixed the gene in human cells growing in lab dishes and in mice carrying the defective gene.

CRISPR-Cpf1 is another instrument in the gene-editing toolbox. It differs from the more commonly used CRISPR-Cas9 in that it's smaller, thus making it easier to deliver to muscle cells, according to a statement from UT Southwestern Medical Center. It also recognizes a different sequence of DNA than Cas9, which came in handy for editing the very long dystrophin gene.

Preventing blindness

(Image credit: Hannah Boettcher / Stock.XCHNG)

One of the most common causes of childhood blindness is a condition called Leber congenital amaurosis, which affects about 2 to 3 per 100,000 newborns, according to the National Institutes of Health. The condition is inherited and is caused by mutations in at least 14 genes that are responsible for normal vision.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company Editas is working on a CRISPR-based therapy to reverse a type of the disease called Leber congenital amaurosis type 10. The company is aiming to file the necessary papers with the Food and Drug Administration by the end of 2017 to start the first human trials on treatments for this condition, the biotech news website Xconomy reported.

Editas was co-founded by Feng Zhang, a bioengineering professor at MIT who demonstrated that CRISPR-Cas9 could be used on human cells. Jennifer Doudna, of the Unversity of California, Berkeley, and Emmanuelle Charpentier, then of the University of Vienna, also demonstrated that CRISPR-Cas9 could snip DNA, and they filed a patent on the technology in 2012. The Broad Institute, which is part of MIT, submitted its patent in April 2014 and fast-tracked it, ultimately getting the patent. The Broad Institute's patent was upheld in February, 2017, after the University of California, Berkeley filed a lawsuit claiming Doudna had been first, Nature reported.

Chronic pain

(Image credit: Stasique/Shutterstock.com)

Chronic pain is not an inherited genetic disease, but scientists are investigating ways to use CRISPR to curb back and joint pain by altering genes to reduce inflammation. Under normal conditions, inflammation is the body's way of telling the immune system to repair tissue. But chronic inflammation can do the opposite and damage tissue, eventually causing debilitating pain.

In March 2017, a team of researchers led by bioengineering assistant professor Robby Bowles of the University of Utah reported that they had used CRISPR to prevent certain cells from producing molecules that are designed to break down tissue and lead to the inflammation that causes pain, according to a statement from the university.

The technique could be used to delay the degeneration of tissue after back surgery, for example. This could speed healing and reduce the need for additional surgeries to correct tissue damage.

Lyme disease

(Image credit: CDC.)

Kevin Esvelt, an evolutionary biologist at MIT, wants to wipe out Lyme disease, which is caused by a tick-borne bacterium that can spread from deer-tick bites to people. If left untreated, the infection can cause joint inflammation, nerve pain, heart palpitations, facial palsy and other problems, according to the CDC.

Although the bacteria that cause Lyme disease are transmitted to people by the deer tick, the ticks themselves don't have the bacteria when they hatch from eggs. Rather, young ticks pick up the bacteria when they feed, often on the white-footed mouse. Esvelt wants to reduce the disease by using CRISPR-Cas9 to genetically modify white-footed mice in a way that would make them and their offspring become immune to the bacteria and unable to pass it along to ticks, Wired reported.

In June 2016, Esvelt presented his solution to the residents of the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts, which have a major Lyme disease problem, the Cape Cod Times reported. Such mice will not be released on the island, however, until further testing is done, and that could take years.

Malaria

(Image credit: James Gathany. Provided by CDC | Paul I. Howell, MPH; Prof. Frank Hadley Collins)

Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people per year. In 2015, the most recent year for which the World Health Organization has statistics, there were roughly 212 million malaria cases and about 429,000 malaria deaths.

To attack the problem at the source, research teams at Imperial College London are aiming to reduce the populations of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. According to a statement from the college, a group of scientists led by professors Austin Burt and Andrea Crisanti will investigate two main courses of action: genetically modifying the male mosquitoes so that they produce more male offspring, and genetically modifying the female insects in a way that lowers their fertility.

In December 2015, the team reported in the journal Nature (opens in new tab) that they had identified three genes to reduce female mosquito fertility. They also announced that they had found that CRISPR could work to target at least one of them.

Crops

(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)

Just as CRISPR can be used to modify the genomes of humans and animals, it can be used to modify the genomes of plants. Scientists are investigating ways to harness the tool's gene-editing ability to reduce disease in some crops and make others more robust.

Sophien Kamoun, a professor at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, England, for example, is looking at ways to remove the genes that make potatoes and wheat vulnerable to disease, PhysOrg reported. Zachary Lippman, a geneticist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, is using CRISPR to develop tomato plants with branches that are optimized to handle the weight of ripe tomatoes and not break, Nature reported. And in California, several labs are trying to harness CRISPR to tackle a plant disease called citrus greening (opens in new tab), which is caused by bacteria that spread by insects that fly among plants in a citrus grove, Nature News reported.

Editing a viable human embryo

(Image credit: Dreamstime)

The speed with which CRISPR-based studies can go from hypothesis to result is astounding. Experiments that used to take months now take weeks, Sheltzer told Live Science. That speed has raised some concerns from policymakers and stakeholders, especially when it comes to using such a technology on humans.

In February 2017, scientists at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued an assessment of human gene editing, saying that it was acceptable but only under certain conditions. The group also said that altering the cells in embryos, eggs and sperm was ethically permissible provided that it was done to correct a disease or a disability, not to enhance a person's physical appearance or abilities, Science News reported.

Although no scientists in the United States have used CRISPR to modify a viable human embryo yet, a team led by Jianqiao Liu of Guangzhou Medical University in China reported such an advance March 1, 2017, in the journal Molecular Genetics and Genomics (opens in new tab). The scientists used CRISPR-Cas9 to introduce and then edit out disease-causing mutations from human embryos. The study was done to show that the genetic editing could be done at the embryonic stage. The embryos were not implanted in a human.

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The rich wetlands of southern Louisiana are sinking faster than previously thought, new data reveals, worsening a decades-long ecological disaster that authorities are struggling to reverse.

"What previous studies have called the worst case is the case that right now is the average," said Jaap Nienhuis, a geologist at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Nienhuis and his colleagues at Tulane have found the coast is subsiding on average about 9 mm (1/3 inch) a year. Some areas, such as those near the mouth of the Mississippi and the Atchafalaya River delta to the west, are settling closer to 12 mm a year.

Periodic flooding of the Mississippi River used to dump fresh soil into those marshes, bolstering the wetlands. But the levees that now prevent those floods keep that soil straitjacketed in the river. The area is also home to a major oil and natural gas industry, and canals cut through the marshes allowed salt water to kill grasses that held the land in place.

As a result, coastal Louisiana has been losing a roughly Manhattan-sized chunk every year to a combination of sea-level rise, erosion, and subsidence. That threatens a rich ecosystem that provides more than 1 billion pounds of seafood a year and provides a buffer when hurricanes spin onto shore from the Gulf of Mexico.

RELATED: Coastal Cities at Risk as Rising Seas Trigger Dropping Sea Floor and Dying Coral

For years, scientists had little more than educated guesses about how much the land was sinking. But instruments installed since Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast in 2005 have now helped Nienhuis and his colleagues develop a map that shows how much different parts of the shore are settling.

Their findings were published recently in the Geological Society of America journal GSA Today. Previous worst-case estimates of coastal Louisanas subsidence ran about 8 to 10 mm a year  and thats before sea-level rise is figured in, Nienhuis said.

"We have no indication that the rate of subsidence is going to change going into the future," he said. "But we do know that the other component, sea level rise, is going to increase. So we have reason to assume this picture is going to get worse."

Sea levels are currently rising around 3 mm a year, but that rate is believed to be accelerating because of climate change. Warmer water expands, while melting glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are expected to contribute more to sea levels in coming decades.

RELATED: Marine Reserves Renew Hope in the Fight Against Climate Change

Louisiana has developed a $50 billion master plan to restore the coast, including plans to divert silt-rich Mississippi fresh water into the marshes, as well as shore up barrier islands and oyster reefs. Nienhuis said his groups research could help guide state officials as that work moves ahead.

"This is definitely not the end product," he said. "Data collection is still going on, so we can update this map into the future. But right now, you should look at spatial patterns like this to see where you should put your coastal restoration efforts."

Original article on Seeker.
A new experiment has simulated the edges of a black hole in a bathtub full of fluorescent green water, shown here.

Mathematicians and scientists have simulated the region around a black hole using waves as they circled a drain in a simple tub of water.

The new simulation has, for the first time, confirmed a long-proposed theory, called superradiance, about how black holes wind down, said study co-author Silke Weinfurtner, a mathematician at the University of Nottingham in England.

"It turns out, waves in our setup follow the same mathematics, if you will, as small fluctuations around black holes," Weinfurtner told Live Science. "For little ripples in the system, this looks like an analogue of a rotating black hole." [Science Fact or Fiction? The Plausibility of 10 Sci-Fi Concepts]

Black-hole spin

Black holes, or incredibly massive and dense celestial objects from which not even light can escape, can be completely described by three characteristics: their mass, their charge and their spin or angular momentum. Black holes gobble up any objects that pass beyond their event horizon; not even gravity can escape their clutches. But what happens on the outskirts of a black hole's event horizon has been a little less clear.

Black holes can also die. One way these ultramassive objects dissolve is through a phenomenon known as Hawking radiation. This concept, first proposed by physicist Stephen Hawking, states that quantum radiation can leak from the edges of a black hole through a process known as quantum tunneling.

But in the past century, many physicists, including renowned mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, have proposed another way in which black holes could essentially wind down: Waves dragged around the periphery of the black hole without crossing its event horizon might gain angular momentum as the black hole itself starts spinning more slowly.

"Usually, when you send a wave toward an object, it will lose part of its energy  its energy will be absorbed by the object or scattered," said study co-author Mauricio Richartz, a physicist at the Federal University of ABC in Brazil. "With superradiance, it's the other way around: The wave approaches the object, and instead, it gains energy."

One scientist even proposed that a similar mechanism might apply to electromagnetic waves as they approach a spinning cylinder. But there was no way to test it because the cylinder would have to rotate at nearly the speed of light to produce detectable levels of superradiance, Richartz said.

Big tub of water

But Weinfurtner and her colleagues thought there might be a simpler way to test the idea  by using water and waves. Weinfurtner first tried simple simulations using a bucket with a hole in the bottom, but that just led to flooding.

For the new study, which was published June 14 in the journal Nature Physics (opens in new tab), the group used a more sophisticated version of a bathtub. The team used a massive, 9.8-foot-long (3 meters) tub with a drain in the center. They put fluorescent green dye in the water. Above the tub they placed light-detecting sensors that detect waves on the boundary between the water and the air, which, in turn, measures changes in wave speed in the water. A special piece of paper with small holes punched into it was also used to track fluid flow in the area around the vortex. As waves approached the circling "black hole" of the drain, they were deflected with about 14 percent more amplitude, or height to the waves, meaning they had actually gained energy.

The new findings show that the phenomenon of superradiance is surprisingly robust, even when conditions are not ideal, Weinfurtner said.

"What if you don't have a strict horizon? What if something can escape again?" Weinfurtner said.

(Obviously, lots of things can escape from a draining tub of water, unlike from a true black hole.)

It turned out that even these imperfect systems demonstrated the phenomenon.

"By extending an old water-wave analogue experiment in a technically challenging and imaginative way, Silke Weinfurtner and her colleagues have created what seems to be the first laboratory demonstration of the fundamental phenomenon of superradiance," Michael Berry, a physicist at the University of Bristol who was not involved in the work, wrote in an email to Live Science. [The Strangest Black Holes in the Universe]

Dark matter and astrophysical questions

The new method could also be a great testing environment for learning more about the mysterious celestial objects, said Luis Lehner, a physicist at the Perimeter Institute in Canada who was not involved in the study.

"Black holes are still very enigmatic objects," so being able to study some of their behavior in a controlled lab setting will help provide further intuition about them, Lehner added.

The findings could also help constrain some models of dark matter, the mysterious material that exerts a gravitational pull and makes up most of the universe's mass, yet doesn't interact with light, Lehner said.

In one type of model, for instance, dark matter is made up of a massive field. For some parameters, the interaction of this dark-matter field would significantly slow the angular rotation of the black hole via superradiance.

"Thus, measurements of black-hole spins can be used to constrain these models of dark matter," Lehner said.

Originally published on Live Science.
The Hinode spacecraft captured this stunning image of the maximum solar eclipse on May 20, 2012, which darkened the sky in parts of the Western United States and Southeast Asia, according to NASA.

If the sun were just a little bit bigger or the moon a bit farther away, total solar eclipses may never occur. But they do, and it turns out this celestial phenomenon that has changed human history, and our perspective of the universe, may be a sheer coincidence.

Total solar eclipses, when the moon nearly perfectly covers the sun, have fascinated humans since at least the time of the earliest civilizations. Some of the very oldest historical records, written on clay tablets in Babylonia around 2,500 years ago, are devoted to observations of eclipses. Astronomers at the time interpreted the events as omens of disaster, while folktales around the world typically explained eclipses as a conflict between the sun and a devouring celestial dragon, wolf or rat.

A few solar eclipses have even changed human history  for instance, by affecting the outcome of a pivotal ancient battle, or by inspiring scientists as they unlocked the secrets of humanity's place in the universe. That's a lot of responsibility for a phenomenon that astronomers sometimes describe as "a celestial coincidence." After all, that's what a total solar eclipse really is: a total coincidence.

"The [diameter of the] moon is almost exactly 400 [times] smaller than the sun's diameter, and the sun is almost exact 400 times further away than the moon," said Mark Gallaway, an astronomer at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. "The consequence of this is that the angular diameter, or the size we see, of the sun and the moon in the sky are almost exactly the same. [The 8 Most Famous Solar Eclipses in History]

Such a nearly perfect match wasnt always the case, however. Because the distance between the moon and the Earth is slowly changing, solar eclipses looked very different millions of years ago  and they will again, tens of millions of years in the future.

"It's a beautiful coincidence  life has been on Earth for about 400 million years, and we're living in this little window of time where this is happening, which is pretty amazing," Gallaway told Live Science.

Celestial coincidence

In short, it's simply an accident of geometry that the apparent disk of the moon is almost exactly the size of the apparent disk of the sun, said astronomer Caleb Scharf, director of the Astrobiology Center at Columbia University in New York City.

"When we start out by calling it a coincidence that the disk of the moon and sun appear to be very similar in size, we're setting up a puzzle where one probably doesn't exist," Scharf told Live Science. "The 'coincidence' is not so very great  it is approximate and it varies depending on the timing of the eclipse and the lunar orbit."

Gallaway added that just as the Earth orbits the sun in an elliptical path, not circular, the moon's orbit of the Earth is also elliptical, differing by around 6 percent from a perfect circle. As a result, the changing distance between the Earth and the moon can make a big difference in the appearance of each eclipse seen from the Earth's surface, he said.

"When the moon is at its furthest, we will get what's called an annular eclipse," Gallaway said, which is an effect also known as "the ring of fire," when the apparent size of the moon is slightly smaller and the solar disk is visible around the moon's edge.

In addition, the moon is very slowly moving farther away from Earth, an effect caused by the bulge of the Earth's ocean tides slowly dragging the moon into a slightly faster and higher orbit. (The same mechanism is causing Earth's rotation to slow down, making the days longer by a very small fraction of a second each year.)

"At the moment, the moon is slowly moving away from the Earth at about the rate your finger nails grow," Galloway said, "so in a few tens of millions of years, we will stop having eclipses like this." [Sun Shots: Amazing Eclipse Images]

Astronomy for dinosaurs

Solar eclipses would also have looked very different in the distant past, when the moon was much closer to Earth and appeared much larger, Gallaway said. (Though perhaps at that time, only dinosaurs would have been around to see it.)

"The moon would have completely covered the sun [at totality of the eclipse], so we wouldn't get all these weird effects like Baily's beads and the diamond ring effect," he said.

Baily's beads are points of light sometimes seen when the sun reappears from behind the moon. Sunlight flooding through lunar mountains and valleys causes the phenomenon. The diamond ring is a similar effect but on a much larger scale, occurring when light from the emerging sun flares out along one side of the moon's disk, Gallaway said.

Although some solar eclipses have played an important role in science, such as the 1919 eclipse that helped verify Einstein's theory of general relativity, these celestial events don't always hold much scientific interest today, he said.

"Eclipses are one of the most well-examined things in science. We know how they work, and to be honest, we're just going out there because we like to see eclipses," Gallaway said.

A few eclipse-related phenomena here on Earth are not fully understood, however, he said. "Weird things happen with shadows, for instance. They look striped during eclipses, which could be because the sun is no longer a point source and everything is effectively illuminated by a circle," Gallaway said.

Scientists have also carried out experiments to determine if the perceived drop in temperature reported by many eclipse observers is real or a psychological effect, he added.

"The fact that birds stop singing  that's also very odd. And the air is reported to go a purple color, possibly because this is a type of lighting source that we've never experienced before," Galloway said.

The human eclipse

Still, the human experience of eclipses is of special interest to Kate Russo, a psychologist and author who has written three books on the topic. Her latest book, "Being in the Shadow: Stories of the First-Time Total Eclipse Experience" (Being in the Shadow, 2017), was released earlier this month.

"A total solar eclipse is unlike any other astronomical event  changes happen above you, around you and within you," Russo told Live Science in an email.

"Totality occurs because of the coincidence in scale, allowing the moon to fully block the sun. But what makes totality so special is how immersive the experience is. It is otherworldly and awe-inspiring on a scale never seen before. You don't 'see' a total eclipse. You 'experience' it," Russo said.

REMEMBER: Looking directly at the sun, even when it is partially covered by the moon, can cause serious eye damage or blindness. NEVER look at a partial solar eclipse without proper eye protection. Our sister site Space.com has a complete guide for how to view an eclipse safely.

Original article on Live Science.
Uncrewed satellites orbiting Earth and other planets in the solar system travel at thousands of miles per hour, their missions spanning years or even decades. They were built to last on their own, but how might space agencies service them if parts break down, or if they run low on fuel?

That's where space robots come in, according to panelists speaking at Future Con, a convention held in Washington, D.C., from June 16-18, where talks and exhibits explored the intersection of cutting-edge science with science fiction and popular culture.

At a June 18 panel "Robots in Space," NASA scientists explained how engineers are designing robots to perform a seemingly impossible precision task in space  refueling satellites that are traveling at thousands of miles per hour. [10 Crazy New Skills That Robots Picked Up in 2016]

Space robots are not new to science fiction, and plenty of machines today perform complex scientific tasks on Earth and in space  from surgically correcting eye defects to helping astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) during spacewalks. Several robots even dwell on the surface of other worlds, such as the Mars rovers: the now-defunct Spirit and the still-active Opportunity and Curiosity.

Experts from NASA's Satellite Servicing Projects Division (SSPD) appeared at Future Con accompanied by a scale model of a space robot called Raven, part of a mission that will be capable of tracking, locating and refueling autonomous spacecraft  including satellites that were not designed to be serviced in space, according to a description on the NASA mission website. The mission, Restore-L, is expected to launch in 2020, NASA reported.

The "three-eyed" Raven

The Raven module recalls the three-eyed raven from the HBO series "Game of Thrones." It also has a trio of "eyes," or sensors, which gather data in visible and infrared wavelengths, and through lidar (radar detection of laser-generated light pulses).

Recently, Raven was sent to the ISS to gather data, Future Con panelist Ross Henry, project manager for the Raven module at SSPD, told the audience. By "watching" vehicles with its three sensors as they approached, docked and departed, Raven gathered valuable information about how spacecraft move, which will help NASA engineers prepare it to locate and track fast-moving satellites, Henry said.

Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager for the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and Ross Henry, project manager for NASA's Raven module, pose alongside a Raven replica at the Future Con panel, "Robots in Space." (Image credit: M. Weisberger/Live Science)

Since the beginning of the U.S. space program, approximately 5,000 satellites have been engineered, of which around 1,400 are in orbit now. Of those, only one is designed to be refueled  the ISS, according to Benjamin Reed, a deputy project manager for NASA's Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office.

Present and future satellite designs will be better suited for servicing in space, but Restore-L will address special trials posed by earlier generations of satellites, thereby significantly extending their useful life spans, Reed said.

A robot's work is never done

Spotting most satellites in the blackness of space is enormously difficult, because they're not "retroreflective," meaning they don't reflect light back to the light source, Reed said. Picture a roadside stop sign  its surface is treated to scatter light so you can see it at night, even when the pole holding it up is effectively invisible. Of all the satellites in orbit, only the ISS and the Hubble Space Telescope are retroreflective, Reed said.

And finding the satellite is just the beginning. A refueling mission will also need to get close to the fast-moving spacecraft  no small feat when both are traveling around 16,400 mph (26,393 km/h), Reed said.

After Restore-L is in position, the tricky work of refueling begins. Robotic arms controlled by operators in Maryland will cut through a protective shield on the satellite, remove the thermal cover, unscrew several protective caps and pump in highly explosive fuel, Reed told the panel audience. And then Restore-L needs to replace all those caps and covers, in the reverse order.

Once the servicing mission is ready to go, NASA probably won't deploy a squadron of refueling robots  more likely, it will design an individual spacecraft capable of refueling a dozen or more satellites, according to Reed.

The project's challenges are considerable, but the progress made by NASA scientists in recent decades is no less incredible, Reed told the audience. The first in-space servicing mission  a spacewalk to repair a damaged solar shield on Skylab  took place in 1973, and the 40 years that followed saw the design, launch and subsequent servicing of Hubble and the ISS  servicing conducted by both humans and robots, he said.

"What's the next 40 years going to bring? I don't know, but it sure is going to be fun to help make that happen," Reed said.

Original article on Live Science.
(Inside Science) -- In the wizarding world of Harry Potter, owls are magical companions that deliver the post. But in Indonesia, wild owls are stolen from their nests and put in cages in pet markets next to hundreds of winged neighbors. Before J.K. Rowling wrote about Harry's snowy owl Hedwig, Indonesians rarely kept owls as pets. Now various kinds of local owls are staples in pet markets. Vincent Nijman and Anne-Isola Nekaris from the Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group in the U.K. believe this attention toward owls may be partially linked to the "Harry Potter" series, and they fear the new demand rewards an environmentally destructive pet industry.

Bird keeping is a popular pastime in Indonesia. While only 3 percent of American households own birds, roughly 20 percent of urban Indonesian households have feathered pets. A survey estimates that 2.6 million birds are acquired each year. Birds are especially popular in Java and Bali, two southern Indonesian islands, and the larger markets there hold more than 16,000 birds on a given day.

Birds also have special meaning in Indonesian culture: A Javan proverb claims that a fulfilled man must acquire a house, a wife, a horse, a dagger and a bird. In the saying, the bird symbolizes the importance of maintaining a hobby.

Vincent Nijman, an anthropology professor at Oxford Brookes University who holds a doctorate degree in ecology and conservation biology, has studied Indonesian bird markets for more than 20 years. Before the 2000s, he would spot one to two owls, if any, in these shops. Now they've become a constant.

"Often we see dozens of them -- up to 30, 40, 50 owls," said Nijman. The most common owls in these markets belong to several similar species called scops owls, which are the smallest and cheapest owls available. In 2016, TRAFFIC, an organization dedicated to monitoring wildlife trade, found that the Sunda scops owl was particularly popular among bird keepers. This type isn't considered to be threatened, but some of its 15 Indonesian scops relatives, like the Javan and Siau scops owls, are vulnerable to extinction.

Owls for sale are typically called "Burung Hantu," which means "ghost bird." Now Nijman claims the birds are just as often referred to as "Burung Harry Potter."

To determine if the rise in the owl trade correlated with Harry Potter's popularity, Nijman and Nekaris organized 109 bird population surveys across 20 markets from 2012 to 2016. They also assessed more than 30 years of market reports, quantifying the owl trade from 1979 to 2010.

From this collective analysis of more than 400,000 birds, Nijman and Nekaris found that before the 2001 film release of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," owls represented less than 0.06 percent of all birds for sale. Since 2008, they've made up over 0.43 percent, a sevenfold increase. Their results were published last month in Global Ecology and Conservation.

From their statistics, the researchers estimate that 12,000 wild-caught owls are sold each year, although Nijman thinks this is a conservative calculation. Given the conditions these birds face, many owls die before they make it to a home, or even a market, he said. "If you have a few-days-old chick and you put them in 35 degrees [Celsius] hot sun, you don't give them any water, you don't give them any food, there's a good chance that, at the end of the day, they don't move anymore."

Even though owl popularity in Indonesia is correlated with the "Harry Potter" craze, this does not prove that "the boy who lived" directly caused this trend. Non-wizarding factors may have influenced owl sales as well. For example, Nijman and Nekaris are quick to point out that the owl trade increased alongside the rise of pet owl interest communities, especially ones online.

"We see it in other places in Asia as well  there is a very, very strong social media presence of owl lover groups," said Nijman. These online communities did not exist before the 21st century; in 2001, only 2 percent of the country could use the internet from home. Now approximately half the population can tap into the web.

Regardless of how owls appeared in bird markets, Nijman thinks the trend may impact wild populations. Almost all local birds found in Indonesian markets are wild-caught, and in some cases, birds are hunted to extinction or near-extinction. Owl trading is a particular concern for Nijman since the birds are important fixtures in Indonesian forests and farmlands. As top predators, they keep prey populations in check and help eliminate agricultural pests.

Owls also face other threats, such as deforestation and harmful pesticides. "And now you have people going out looking to trap them. It's the final whammy," said Paul Jepson, a conservation expert from the University of Oxford who was not involved in this study.

To address the potential threat owl trading presents, Nijman and Nekaris propose that the Indonesian government place owls on the country's protected species list, making wild owl trade illegal. However, it's not guaranteed that calling owls protected would preserve populations; other protected birds still find their way to markets. Jepson says the protection list is well intentioned, but lacks cultural and legal enforcement.

"It's just normal keeping a bird. We don't imagine trying to stop people in the U.K. from keeping dogs or cats," said Jepson. He says that additionally, the Indonesian police force doesn't have the capacity to catch and prosecute wildlife traffickers in forests or markets.

Nijman is aware of the protection list's shortfalls, but he sees it as a stepping stone for future Indonesian conservation efforts. "It gives the intention that this is what we want to protect."

Inside Science News Service is supported by the American Institute of Physics. Olivia Trani is a contributing writer from Richmond, Virginia. Follow her on Twitter @OliviaTrani.
Noida International Airport will be ready by the end of 2024. Delhi and NCR will now have two international airports. The phase one airport will cater to 12 million passengers annually, and the entire airport will cater 70 million passengers. Currently, 1,300 workers are engaged in work at the site. During the peak construction time in 2023, 5,000 workers will be deployed to complete the work.
Liquid water exists in two different forms, new research reveals. Here, an illustration of the water molecule in front of an X-ray pattern from high-density amorphous ice, created by creating high pressures and low temperatures.

Liquid water comes in two forms  low density and high density, scientists have found.

The findings add to the anomalous properties of this ubiquitous, life-giving liquid, which is like no other on Earth.

"The new remarkable property is that we find that water can exist as two different liquids at low temperatures where ice crystallization is slow," Anders Nilsson, a chemical physicist at Stockholm University in Sweden, said in a statement. [The Mysterious Physics of 7 Everyday Things]

Essential element for life

Water is essential for life (at least on Earth). And wherever liquid water exists  whether it's in icebound lakes or scalding hydrothermal vents  tiny microbes have been found. That is why scientists have been excited by the possibility of salty water flows and other evidence of ancient water on Mars  it means there may well have been life early on in the Red Planet's history.

It turns out that water has strange physical properties found in no other liquids known to scientists. For one, it can exist in all three phases at Earth-like temperatures and pressures. For another, its molecular configuration  two hydrogens mated to an oxygen molecule  creates strong polarity, or a highly positively charged region and a highly negatively charged region. That, in turn, allows almost any substance to be dissolved in it; in that way, substances such as calcium ions can travel (dissolved) within water into and out of a cell, for instance, Brian Glazer, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who has studied astrobiology, previously told Live Science. Already, scientists have identified 70 properties of liquid water that differ from other liquid substances.

Researchers have long known that ice can exist in two solid forms: a highly ordered, crystalline form with individual molecules neatly lined up in a repeating pattern, and an amorphous version, where the molecules are scattered more haphazardly. In fact, this amorphous ice is the most abundant type on our planet, and can transform between both a low- and high-density version.

Two phases of liquid water

Scientists wondered whether a similar transition may occur in liquid water. To find out, Nilsson and his colleagues used X-rays to track the distance between individual molecules of H20 at low temperatures. Using this technique, they watched as the water transitioned from an amorphous, glassy, frozen liquid state (essentially, uncrystallized ice), to a viscous liquid, and then almost immediately to another, more viscous liquid with a lower density, the researchers reported today (June 26) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The findings shed new light on the bizarre behavior of liquid water.

"The new results give very strong support to a picture where water at room temperature can't decide in which of the two forms it should be, high or low density, which results in local fluctuations between the two," study co-author Lars G.M. Pettersson, a theoretical chemical physicist at Stockholm University, said in the statement. "In a nutshell: Water is not a complicated liquid, but two simple liquids with a complicated relationship."

Originally published on Live Science.
An experimental drug reduces eye damage in people with a common form of vision loss for which there is currently no available treatment, a new study finds.

The new research sought to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss in industrialized countries, according to the World Health Organization. The disease damages the macula, a tiny spot near the center of the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye. The result is blurriness or a loss of vision straight ahead in a person's field of view, which can have a devastating impact on many daily activities, such as reading, driving or recognizing faces.

The new study included 129 participants ages 60 to 89 in the United States and Germany. All of the participants had a particular type of AMD called geographic atrophyAMD, or "dry AMD." In the 18-month trial, the participants who were given monthly injections of a drug called lampalizumab had a 20 percent reduction, on average, in the size of the area of the retina that is affected by the disease, compared with the control group that was given a placebo injection. [Eye Tricks: Gallery of Visual Illusions]

One group of patients in particular benefited from the drug, experiencing a 44 percent drop in the size of the area affected by the disease. A genetic analysis of these patients revealed that they shared a certain genetic mutation, according to the study, which was funded by the company Genentech.

"The most important implication of these results is that it shows how the genetics of a human disease may be critical for understanding the disease," study co-author Dr. Erich Strauss, a clinical scientist at Genentech, told Live Science. Such research "may guide the discovery of new therapeutic targets to treat the disease and define populations that may benefit most from treatment," he added.

"The fact that we now have something that can possibly slow down the progress of this disease is very exciting to the field, since nothing exists right now," Dr. Wai Wong, a retinal disease specialist at the National Eye Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, who did not take part in this study, told Live Science.

There are two main types of advanced forms of AMD: neovascular AMD, which is sometimes called "wet AMD," and geographic atrophy AMD, or dry AMD. Wet AMD is caused by the growth of abnormal blood vessels that leak fluid into the macula, while dry AMD is linked with the shrinkage of tissue and cell death in the macula. Both forms of advanced AMD occur at roughly the same rates, said study co-author Menno van Lookeren Campagne, an immunologist at Genentech in South San Francisco, California.

There are a few clinical treatments available for people with wet AMD, such as laser surgery or drugs that block abnormal blood vessel growth. However, there are currently no approved treatments for dry AMD, which affects more than 5 million people worldwide, including nearly 1 million people in the United States, the researchers said.

The main reason there are treatments approved for wet AMD and not dry AMD is that discoveries were first made that could help combat the former and not the latter. Specifically, cancer research pioneer Dr. Judah Folkman of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues discovered ways to fight tumors by attacking their supply of blood, and this research proved useful in treating neovascular AMD, saidstudy co-author Brian Yaspan, a geneticist at Genentech.

In previous research, scientists discovered that certain genetic mutations that led to a high risk of AMD were involved with a part of the immune system known as the innate immune system. Unlike the "adaptive" part of the immune system, which remembers previous encounters with germs and destroys them when they invade again, the innate part of the immune system is less specific, attacking anything with common features of germs. [11 Surprising Facts About the Immune System]

The virtue of the innate immune system is that it can respond much more quickly to germs than the adaptive immune system can.

The drug that the researchers used in the study, lampalizumab, targets a component of the innate immune system known as the alternative complement pathway, which can lead to excess inflammation and cell death, the researchers said.

The researchers added that lampalizumab appeared to be safe. The study participants had only a few adverse side effects, such as dry eye, that the researchers suspected might be due to the drug, Strauss said. [7 Bizarre Drug Side Effects]

It remains uncertain why genetic mutations that can boost the risk of this disease persist in the human population. One possibility is that such genetic variants could boost innate immunity in a way that has helped people survive infections. However, "with the increase in life expectancy in the current world population, along with reduced exposure to lethal pathogens," a hyperactive innate immune system "has turned into a disadvantage rather than an advantage," Yaspan told Live Science.

The researchers cautioned that this drug appeared only to slow the disease, not stop it completely. This suggests there may be other avenues of attack against it, Strauss said.

"We need to find out a lot more about the biology of how this disease works," Wong said.

Wong noted that this study had relatively few patients, leaving its findings open to question. Strauss and his colleagues are now conducting a larger Phase 3 clinical trial with lampalizumab to evaluate its long-term safety and efficacy. Only then might the drug be considered for FDA approval.

The scientists detailed their findings online June 21 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Originally published on Live Science.
During Day 1 of HxRefactored 2017, Medgadget had a chance to sit down with two panelists from the Improving the Clinician Experience panel session to learn more about their work. The interviewees were Roy Smythe, CMO of Health Informatics at Philips, and Julie Rish, PhD, Director of Patient Experience Best Practices at Cleveland Clinic.

Mike Batista, Medgadget: During the panel you mentioned how Philips is good at developing stuff but not necessarily healthcare processes. Tell us more about what Philips is specifically doing today to enhance the clinical experience?

Roy Smythe: Philips is attacking this issues of clinical and administrative burden in two ways. First, we have a number of technologies in our product portfolio where we are putting advanced informatics in place to make the physicians job easier. For example, through IntelliSight and IntelliSpace, our pathology and radiology platforms can pull up images of interest both on request and automatically based on what the provider looked at previously for a given patient. In some cases, we can even have our systems taking measurements on those images before the physician needs to request them. The result alleviates workflow burden on the physician. Our next step in this area is providing decision support to the provider. Second, we are active in connected care with direct to consumer solutions and platforms for providers. One of the biggest ways to improve clinical workflow is to remove effort the clinician does not need to do because the patient can do it his or herself. Were seeing clear applications to do this already in use cases with lower acuity patients.

Medgadget: To your second point, if information capture is being trusted to the patient, how do you address the challenges of patient-reported data accuracy and reliability?

Smythe: We recognize the inherent challenges of putting technology in the hands of patients and have a huge R&D effort around making sure data is collected in the right way. Data reproducibility and integrity are all a part of what we do. Additionally, while we do deploy some technologies direct to consumer, much of our technologies first go through the funnel of the provider.

Medgadget: A lot of what were talking about at this conference relies on the collection, use, and analysis of healthcare data. Where are we in terms of effectively leveraging all this information that is becoming available to both patients and providers?

Smythe: I think about it in a framework I call the Three Waves of Healthcare or three time periods of how were going to use data in healthcare. The first wave is effective collection and curation of data. Thats where we are today. Despite what the type says, were still working on best practices to collect and ensure data integrity. The second wave is when clinicians will use the data collected to deliver better are to patients. There have been some early adopters and early wins in this vein but its still the early days of this taking place. Finally, where we all want to be, is the third wave where insights come full circle back to patients. There are three billion people around the world being monitored. We need to get to a point where we dont always need the intervention of a provider to provide valuable insight back to the patient but we need to go through the first and second waves to get there.

Medgadget: How would you respond to the claim that many digital health companies out there today would probably argue that we are already in the third wave of providing personalized, high-value feedback and insight to patients based on self-reported and passively collected data?

Smythe: The future Im talking about and the things that companies like Philips are actively working on goes beyond the limited data you can get from apps. Im talking about being able to look at everything including medical images, genetic profiles, historical vitals, and self-reported data from a patient when analyzing an individuals status and providing feedback. Even if you have all that information about a specific patient, meaningful insights are hard to generate when youre looking at an n of 1. The kind of feedback you can provide a patient only gets useful when the numbers get big. Those are things were looking forward to in the third wave that were still not seeing at scale today. A quote from the famous Dr. William Osler characterizes this point, We are constantly misled by the ease with which our minds fall into the ruts of one or two experiences. Certain things have been shown to be useful in the direct to consumer context but there are insights out there that we dont even know we can provide yet when we look at all the data across large populations. While we might not know what that insight will be yet, we know it will be compelling.

Medgadget: Philips clearly has a bold vision and an exciting trajectory ahead of it. Is Philips growing a lot of these capabilities in house or are partnerships with smaller and early stage companies part of that strategy?

Smythe: Philips brings a lot of capabilities under one roof: engineering, acute care, consumer technology, informatics, and, recently, genomics, among others. We also began as an innovation company and today we spend a full 10% of revenue on R&D which is pretty big considering the size of our company. That said, we know were not going to do it all ourselves. One reason I joined Philips is due to how active the company is engaging in a constellation of partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions. Were constantly evaluating growth stage companies and technology as potential partners as well as potential development targets. When you look across the continuum of care from prevention to aging in place, no one has it all. One way we keep the company fresh is to actively look around at what else is going on around us and form the relationships that make the most sense to driving our overall vision.

Something you might have heard about recently was Philips moving its R&D hub here to Cambridge, MA. Now, our entire digital innovation hub is here as well as our artificial intelligence and genomics teams. This puts us in an optimal position to actively grow the kinds of partnership opportunities I mentioned.

Medgadget: Finally, you mentioned during your panel talk that innovation inherently requires a disruption of existing clinical workflows. Can you elaborate since, from the perspective of an early stage company, were often encouraged to work within existing workflows as much as possible.

Smythe: Lets clarify the difference between iterative innovation and transformational innovation. People always take existing processes and find ways to make them more efficient, thats iterative innovation which is beneficial, but maybe not disruptive. What you always need to ask yourself is whether the process youre optimizing should even exist at all, should or can it be changed dramatically? If it can be scrapped and a completely new process put in place, while that might be harder, thats when you achieve transformational innovation and have the potential to make an even more significant impact. Its important to know which camp you fall into when implementing a new innovation.

Mike Batista, Medgadget: Tell us about the role of the Patient Experience Best Practices group at the Cleveland Clinic.

Julie Rish, PhD: In my group at the Cleveland Clinic, we care about patients, as do clinicians, but recognize they are not always included in the design of clinical practices, spaces, and workflows. So our role is to include them at the forefront of these discussions to get their direct feedback and input. To do this, we find ways to partner with patients and bring them into advisory councils. The key is figuring out what the needs of patients really are. Efforts around better documentation and transparency are great, but do patients really value them? Those are the questions we seek to answer. Patient perspectives and input have always been taken into account in a tangential way. Were taking steps to make patient involvement more intentional.

Medgadget: What are some examples of areas where patient input has been eye-opening?

Julie: Weve had a chance to get patient input on the processes of documentation, billing, and transparency as well as on the physical design of spaces where they encounter their clinical teams. In the case of our physical spaces, it was really interesting to hear that patients and providers wanted the same thing, an opportunity for intimate, human conversation. While we might image spaces for encounters with bell and whistles, at the core, what patients valued was the relationship they built with their provider in the space. So once that insight is uncovered, you start to think about things like how to we minimize the provider needing to turn their back to the patient during an encounter and other things which might hamper relationship building. Another thing were doing is putting patients on committees. If we are interested in patient feedback to improve readmissions and discharge, well get patients willing to be part of committees who are working to figure out solutions to these challenges. Having patients as part of the conversation in all these examples has been invaluable.

Medgadget: How is the Cleveland Clinic acting on this clear, direct patient feedback? As a large clinical organization, I imagine change takes time to implement.

Julie: As weve started to implement patient programs, the feedback generated is being used as the basis for core concepts the clinic can build on moving forward. Big systems like ours inherently take time to enact change but were working hard to see change come to fruition. Were already thinking about current physical spaces and locations within the clinic. Its been exciting to see that, when possible, the system is beginning to implement new standards based on this patient feedback.

Medgadget: Youve talked a bit about the patient experience within the clinical system. Have you begun thinking about things like remote patient monitoring or other programs where there is an important patient experience outside the four walls of the clinic?

Julie: The patient experience beyond the clinical system is something were working towards today at the system level. We feel very passionate about the fact that we should be connecting and partnering with the community we serve as well as the one we hope to serve. Today there are efforts within different departments to engage patients beyond the clinic but were planning to do more to implement strategies across the system in the future. Speaking of thinking about the patient experience beyond Cleveland Clinic, were also looking at generating feedback on experiences from patients and clinicians in our community clinics. These efforts align with our objectives to implement holistic strategies around precision medicine and enhance transitions of care between Cleveland Clinic and local community clinics.

Medgadget: When insights are uncovered, does Cleveland Clinic take the approach of implementing innovation in house or are partnerships an important part of the strategy?

Julie: Cleveland does a lot of innovation and is getting more into the generation and ownership of intellectual property. That said, a lot of our innovation comes from physical technologies like medical devices. Cleveland Clinic is constantly investing in innovation both through partnerships and spin offs of internal projects. Beyond our own efforts, Cleveland Clinic has a good history of learning from others and going to where great work is being done to align with or emulate proven success. Our work on patient experience is a testament to the fact that we know we dont know everything and need to bring in the right perspectives to figure things out and innovate.

Previously: HxRefactored 2017 Day 1: Purpose Driven Design, Health Equity, and the Clinician Experience
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 23, 2017

AT&T is throwing its support behind a proposed online privacy bill that would restore some broadband privacy rules passed last year by the Federal Communications Commission.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) would require all Web companies -- broadband providers as well as businesses like social networking services and search engines -- to obtain consumers' opt-in consent before using their online browsing data for ad targeting. The measure, which tasks the Federal Trade Commission with enforcement, would also preempt state broadband privacy laws. Lawmakers in 19 states have introduced new broadband privacy measures since April, when Congress repealed the FCC's nationwide privacy rules.

"I'm very much in favor of Congresswoman Blackburn's privacy bill," AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn said on the newest episode of C-Span's "The Communicators," slated to air on Saturday.

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The Association of National Advertisers as well as the Internet Association -- which represents some of the largest Web companies -- oppose Blackburn's proposed privacy law.

Quinn praised the measure for several reasons, including that it will create the "same regulatory environment" for all companies, and will create one national framework. Quinn also suggested that Blackburn's bill would allow AT&T to charge customers higher fees if they refuse to consent to online tracking for ad targeting purposes.

AT&T previously rolled out that controversial type of pay-for-privacy pricing system -- which Quinn referred to as "ad-supported Internet service" -- in Austin, Texas. The billing scheme involved charging higher monthly fees to customers who refused to accept ads targeted based on their Web activity. Last year, AT&T retreated from that approach and said it would instead charge all subscribers the lowest rates offered for their speed tiers.

Quinn suggested that the company may try again to roll out that type of pricing structure. "We got an enormous amount of criticism from privacy advocates when we rolled out, in Austin, Texas, an ad-supported Internet service... Privacy advocates screamed about that," Quinn said.

He added, however, that he believes attitudes will change in the future. "As the privacy revolution evolves, I think people are going to want more control, and maybe that's the pricing model that's ultimately what consumers want."
by Philip Rosenstein , June 26, 2017

Video technology provider Kaltura announced on Monday that its OTT TV technology would support the launch of Vodafone TV in Italy, unifying the likes of Netflix, Sky Italia Now TV, and live TV into a single user experience.

The product will feature content discovery, cross-device interaction and watch lists.

Leveraging the mobile carriers 4G network, a Vodafone TV experience is already available in Spain. The set-top box includes a cross-device experience, a cloud-based DVR and modern user interface.

Kaltura OTT TV products are marketed to operators, broadcasters, media companies and content owners across world regions that want to launch advanced TV services.
by Ray Schultz , June 26, 2017

MessageGears, a provider of email software services, has raised $2.75 million in new funding, according to media reports.

The companys existing investors, Covalent Interests and Hallett Capital, led the Series B financing. However, the funding round is not yet closed, and about $499,998 remains to be raised, Finance News Daily reports.

The firm is set to hire 100 new employees, according to Atlanta Business Daily.

The company filed an SEC form D on Friday, signed by CEO Roger Barnette.

MessageGears serves consumer brands such as Expedia, Booking.com, and Runkeeper. It sends more than a billion email marketing messages per month.

The firm secured $2.3 million in Series A funding in June 2016, and in November 2016 hired Barnette as CEO. In May of this year, the company was named as one of Atlantas top 100 fastest-growing companies by Atlanta Business Chronicle.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 26, 2017

Tech companies Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube are launching a new anti-terrorist initiative aimed at removing extremist propaganda while promoting "counter-speech" efforts.

The new Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism marks the latest in a series of steps that Silicon Valley is taking to combat terrorism. Last December, the tech companies announced plans to create a joint database that uses digital fingerprinting techniques to identify and remove photos, videos and other images that can be used to promote terrorism. Several months before, the companies said they would follow EU rules requiring review and potential removal of most "hateful online content" within 24 hours of notification.

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"The spread of terrorism and violent extremism is a pressing global problem and a critical challenge for us all," Twitter said Monday in a blog post about the new effort. "We believe that by working together, sharing the best technological and operational elements of our individual efforts, we can have a greater impact on the threat of terrorist content online."

The initiative announced Monday also includes a plan to counter terrorist propaganda with other points of view.

In the U.S., Web companies are not required to censor their sites. While some people have attempted to sue Twitter, Facebook and other companies for allegedly encouraging terrorism, those efforts have failed in court, thanks to the Communications Decency Act -- a 20-year-old law that immunizes Web companies from liability for crimes committed by users.

But laws in the EU call for Web sites to take down a variety of posts, including terrorist propaganda. Lawmakers in Germany are currently considering a plan to fine social media companies more than $50 million for failing to take down illegal material, including hate speech and posts that incite violence, within 24 hours of being notified.
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, June 26, 2017

WPP continues to consolidate brands throughout its agency empire.

The holding company has confirmed that it is placing the e-commerce specialist Salmon, which it acquired in 2013, under the Wunderman fold. Separately its merging two healthcare communications agencies  greyhealth group (ghg) and Sudler & Hennessey  in the Australia-New Zealand region.

Wunderman is launching a new division called Wunderman Commerce, to which Salmon will contribute. Salmon will continue to operate as a stand-alone brand within Wunderman, working with both Wunderman and other WPP companies. Salmon has operations in London, Amsterdam, New York, Seattle, New Delhi, Beijing and Melbourne.

According to the holding company, the addition of Salmon will enhance Wundermans offering to include enterprise-level retail and mobile commerce capabilities. Salmons expertise includes delivering strategy, platform integration and customer experience solutions across platforms including IBM Watson Commerce, SAP Hybris, Intershop and Magento.

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Salmon in turn will gain access to Wundermans clients, global scale, CRM capabilities and offshore marketing automation centers.

The new merged entity in the AUNZ region will be known as Sudler Sydney, and its designed to create one bigger agency with broader capabilities across the healthcare communications sector.



WPP AUNZ CEO Mike Connaghan stated: We are constantly looking to optimize our portfolio of companies and offer clients the strongest possible solution. Merging these two strong healthcare specialists is a natural evolution, creating scale and more opportunities for our people and clients alike.



Operating under the WPP Health & Wellness AUNZ division, Sudler Sydney will be led by Peter Bernard, formerly Sudler & Hennessey managing director. The merger affects the Australian arm of each agency, but not the global ghg or Sudler & Hennessey brands.

These are just the latest moves WPP has taken to streamline operations within some of its agency groups.

Last month Mindshare absorbed Ogilvys Neo unit which became part of a Performance Group at the media agency, part of GroupM. In late May GroupM folded Maxus, its smallest traditional media agency into the larger MEC.
Advance Auto Parts, Inc. provides automotive replacement parts, accessories, batteries, and maintenance items for domestic and imported cars, vans, sport utility vehicles, and light and heavy duty trucks. The company offers battery accessories; belts and hoses; brakes and brake pads; chassis and climate control parts; clutches and drive shafts; engines and engine parts; exhaust systems and parts; hub assemblies; ignition components and wires; radiators and cooling parts; starters and alternators; and steering and alignment parts. It also offers air conditioning chemicals and accessories; air fresheners; antifreeze and washer fluids; electrical wires and fuses; electronics; floor mats, seat covers, and interior accessories; hand and specialty tools; lighting products; performance parts; sealants, adhesives and compounds; tire repair accessories; vent shades, mirrors and exterior accessories; washes, waxes and cleaning supplies; and wiper blades. In addition, the company offers air filters; fuel and oil additives; fuel filters; grease and lubricants; motor oils; oil filters, part cleaners and treatments; and transmission fluids for engine maintenance. Further, it offers battery and wiper installation; engine light scanning and checking; electrical system testing; video clinic; oil and battery recycling; and loaner tool program services. Additionally, the company sells its products through its website. It serves professional installers and do-it-yourself customers. The company operates stores under the Advance Auto Parts, Autopart International, and Carquest brands, as well as branches under the Worldpac name. As of April 23, 2022, it operated 4,687 stores and 311 branches in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada; and served 1,318 independently owned Carquest branded stores in Mexico, Grand Cayman, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the British Virgin Islands. The company was founded in 1929 and is based in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Imperial Brands PLC, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, imports, markets, and sells tobacco and tobacco-related products in Europe, Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It offers a range of cigarettes, fine cut and smokeless tobacco, papers, and cigars; and next generation product (NGP) portfolio, such as e-vapour products, oral nicotine, and heated tobacco products. The company sells its products under various brands, including Davidoff, Gauloises, JPS, West, L&B, Winston, Parker & Simpson, blu, Pluze, Zone-X, Kool, Horizon, Backwoods, Skruf, Golden Virginia, Rizla, and Dutch Masters. It also engages in the distribution of tobacco and NGP products for tobacco and NGP product manufacturers; and various non-tobacco and NGP products and services. In addition, the company is involved in the management of a golf course; distribution of pharmaceuticals, POS software, and published materials and other products; printing and publishing activities; and provision of long haul transportation, industrial parcel and express delivery, advertising, and support management services. Further, it owns the trademarks; and retails its products. The company was formerly known as Imperial Tobacco Group PLC and changed its name to Imperial Brands PLC in February 2016. Imperial Brands PLC was founded in 1901 and is based in Bristol, the United Kingdom.
By Press Trust of India: Lucknow, Jun 26 (PTI) Deviating from the usual practice, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath did not visit the eidgah here today on the occasion of Eid, prompting his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav to take a swipe at him.

However, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma visited the eidgah.

Reacting to Adityanaths absence, Samajwadi Party president Yadav told reporters, "I am a former chief minister... I am here. He (Adityanath) should tell why he did not come."

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It has been customary for Uttar Pradesh chief ministers to visit an eidgah on the occasion of Eid, which marks the culmination of the holy month of Ramazan.

Adityanath, however, greeted the people on Eid and noted that the festival is a special occasion where the message of joy and peace is spread to the world.

"This festival of happiness enhances the spirit of mutual brotherhood as well as strengthening social unity. It gives everyone a message of peace and harmony in society," he said.

Governor Ram Naik also visited the eidgah and extended greetings to the Muslim community on the occasion of Eid.

The deputy chief minister said, "On one side there is eidgah and on the other Ramlila is played (in Aishbagh). This is an area of Ali and Bajrangbali and when both unite it gives strength to democracy." PTI ABN SMI NSD NSD

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Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets commercial aerostructures worldwide. It operates through three segments: Commercial, Defense & Space, and Aftermarket. The Commercial segment offers forward, mid, and rear fuselage sections and systems, struts/pylons, nacelles, and related engine structural components; and wings and wing components, including flight control surfaces, as well as other structural parts. This segment primarily serves the aircraft original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or engine OEMs of large commercial aircraft and/or business/regional jet programs. The Defense & Space segment provides fuselage, strut, nacelle, and wing aerostructures primarily for U.S. Government defense programs, including Boeing P-8, C40, and KC-46 Tanker. This segment also engages in the fabrication, bonding, assembly, testing, tooling, processing, engineering analysis, and training on fixed wing aircraft aerostructures, missiles, and hypersonics works, such as solid rocket motor throats, nozzles, re-entry vehicle thermal protections systems, forward cockpit and cabin, and fuselage work on rotorcraft aerostructures. The Aftermarket segment offers spare parts and MRO services, repairs for flight control surfaces and nacelles, radome repairs, rotable assets, engineering services, advanced composite repairs, and other repair and overhaul services. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. has a strategic partnership with Sierra Space to enhance access to commercial space economy of the future. The company was formerly known as Mid-Western Aircraft Systems Holdings, Inc. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.
Friday 23rd of June 2017 will be seen by some revellers as the day of Ghana music at Glastonbury, as Pat Thomas and Ata Kak shook the West Holts Stage of this year's Glastonbury music festival in Pilton Farm.

Immaculately dressed in a black 'Up and Down' clothing with touches of the popular Kente hugging his neck from his shoulders, one could tell how proudly Ghanaian Pat Thomas is.

Displaying their raw and curated talents as bandsmen, Pat Thomas, backed by the Kwashibu Area Band, set the West Holts Stage on 'fire' with some real Hi-Life beats.

With a remarkable discipline, rhythmic flow and the typical musicianship that legendary Ghanaians are well known for, Pat Thomas showed the audience how it is sensationally done.

The festival crowd and audience could not stop but clap for their performances from start to finish.

Setting off with his Jazzy Gospel inspired 'Enyininam A Mensuro' was receptively and fantastically applauded by the revellers.

Singing his second 'Odo Beba', was as if the revellers actually know the meaning of the song, given the manner in which they were nodding to the beats.

By the time he landed 'Me Wo Akoma' the crowd were already in the 'Kwashibu' area of Ghana, waiting for Pat Thomas and his band according to their dancing moods.

Swinging into 'Me Ko Aware Namanwoba' took the crowd into a different altitude especially from the way the conga-man was tapping his part of the bargain.

'Sasawa' was another mind blowing episode that saw the band leader Kwame Yeboah in his element switching between guitar and organ renditions.

Unfolding 'Gyiwani' simply mesmerized the crowd arguably above all limits. Because of the stop-start nature of how they played.

'Sika Ye Berima' 'Nyame Ni Mre' and 'Gyae Su' were some of the other songs that caught on well with the revellers.

He delivered 'Ye Damo Ase', 'Naomi' and couple others in a surprising and unprecedented medley which was amazing, due to how the whole band

stage crafted the art of their performance.

The only song he sang in English was 'Yes Indeed' which the crowd danced to, but not as much as they did for the ones he sang in the Ghanaian local dialect.

The two saxophonists of the band are so good with their jazzy mixes in tow as backing vocalists to Pat Thomas' style of singing.

Next Up was Ata Kak. The man who is doing something, distinctively with his style of Ghanaian rap.

He calls his music Rap- A-Dub-Style music. A retro and electro infused funky- led beat reminiscing of the good old American rap days.

Ata Kak and his band certainly knows what exactly the Glastonbury crowd wanted, as they took aim in cooking them an European beat over-laced with a local Ghanaian rap style, that has no equality.

Ata Kak's genre truly has no equality. The style and pace in which he raps is not popular and akin to mainstream rap genres. But that is what sets him apart from the others.

At first, he might not sound serious. But he really knows what energy to bring to a party. Because the Glastonbury crowd did not stop partying with him till he left the stage as energised as he started.

Ata Kak's musicianship speak volumes, because in a typical Ghanaian or African environment, one might think his music will not have a stay. But his music has resonated very well with the festival crowd in Pilton Farm at Glastonbury.

Extending their invite for Pat Thomas and Ata Kak to perform their distinct genres of Hi-life and Rap-A Dub style music respectively at this year's music festival, is laudable and phenomenal by the promoters of Glastonbury festival.
26.06.2017 LISTEN

In part one of this article, we talked about the importance of a social media strategy and how businesses must focus on having their strategy right. A good social media strategy is absolutely imperative for improved social engagement and profit.

Social media continues to grow every day and according to statistics from Internet World, internet penetration in Africa is growing at sturdy and impressive rate of 28.3%. The bulge in connectivity will increase social media pressures since social media has proven to be a lead cause for internet desirability on the continent. The need for a social media strategy is without question an important discussion to be had due to the impact that it is having on marketing, sales and communications. Having a social media strategy requires that a few critical things are done and some important questions answered.

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Must be clearly aligned with your goals

Goal setting is one of the key things that must be infused in a social media strategy. Without the right goal(s), the efforts of your social media strategy cannot be measured. As Peter Drucker (one of the modern Management Gurus) said what gets measured gets managed. A simple goal for a social media strategy can be Using Social Media/ Internet as an Avenue for People to Learn More About My Product in this stated goal social media is seen as an informational tool but not a revenue generator. Likewise, another goal can be Using Social Media/Internet to Increase Revenues by 25%. In this second goal there is a clear focus on revenue generation hence a lot of the strategy will focus on driving quality sales leads.

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What are some 'sample' Social media Goals?

Drive traffic to your website  possibly the 'oldest' social media goal. Increase sales - yes, that's the obvious one! Generate new leads Increase Revenue and Grow/ develop Revenue Channels Create or increase Brand awareness  that might 'translate' into more Followers for all your social footprint or reach of your social media posts, mentions, shares, retweets, etc Boost brand engagement  tat can me more Likes, or more shares of your posts, getting lots of comments per post, mentions, etc. Build a community around your business Increase mentions in the press Research and learn about your customers  for example this is the way KLM uses Twitter to learn more about their passengers. ....

Which Strategy will you choose

Entrepreneurs must understand that choosing not to have a strategy is a strategy.

Doing nothing about your brand on the web can spell doom for you as an entrepreneur. Social media and web presence is an extension of a brand hence not defining what your brand stands for online allows people to fashion out something about what they think your brand must be. This can lead to a wrong impression about the brand and in return affect revenues.

The growth of social media as a marketing/sales tool has led to a boom in experts that can help you design a strategy for your social media efforts. If you do not have the expertise to carry out this task consult and expert. Having a budget for social media should be seen as an essential aspect of any entrepreneurs marketing strategy. But be careful when selecting the expert because the ubiquity of social media has led to a lot of users thinking their experts hence peddling themselves as such. When choosing an expert, choose someone for with a proven track record and has tons of industry experience. Requests testimonials and a portfolio.

Minor Golden Tip: Nobody should own social media strategy in your organization. Social Media does have an impact on all corners of your organization, and should "be more like air (everywhere) than like water (you have to go get it)" . So, a cross- functional interdepartmental team is highly recommended as the team to create and execute a Social Medial Strategy.

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Which social media platform is good for you

Finding the right social media channel for you is very much like going clothes shopping. You go, try clothes and find out what fits and what doesnt. With the help of an expert this task of choosing the right platform can be decided. It is worthy to note that any product that has a visual appeal as part of its sales proposition needs to be on platforms that has a visual element to it such platforms include Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook etc. The avenues for social media marketing and content are numerous hence finding the right one where your targeted audience will converge is important.

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Got Stuck? Get your Social Media inspiration from Industry Leaders, Competitors, Partners & Clients

Elementary my dear' (our favorite Sherlock Holmes expression)....

Check what content and information others in your industry are sharing

Think about how will you distinguish yourself from your competitors' Social postings

There are always those prospects that you are 'missing' - how can you appeal to them?

Consumers of your products/ services- how do they behave?.how do they engage with the various postings out there? How do they use language to post

Have you studied all companies in every industry (not only yours) that have imaginable have managed to distinguish themselves through social media strategies

. Hmmmm..... when is the last time tat you checked the Facebook pages of Coca-Cola? Do you understand how powerfully KLM is using Twitter? Checked the Google+ postings of National Geographic? Sure - almost everybody is obsessed with liking and sharing Richard Branson quotes, but when is the last time you visited any of Virgin's Social Media Channels? GE is doing pretty cool with their Instagram postings- have you seen them?

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A Good Reason to Benchmark

If you do not have a goal in mind, kindly visit the social media pages of companies you admire, snoop around the social media pages of your competitors and have a feel of what youre doing. These days, social media sites such as Facebook give the opportunity for users to review business pages, find out what reviewers are saying about your competitors, adopt best practices that are working for them and do not repeat the mistakes that their users have mentioned they are making.

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Define your Social Media Success Metrics

Whatever you do, unless you measure it, you will never have a clue as to whether you are achieving anything with it, whether you are effective, whether and how much are you improving or worsening a process.

So, you need to define, how you will measure your Social Media Success, so you can monitor it and improve it. Let's rephrase it: What Key Metrics/ KPIs will you use to evaluate the effectiveness of your Social Media Strategy?

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Golden Tip: Demographics Analysis

Who are Audiences? Please define the demographics relating to your Social Media Strategies and analyze all monitored/ reported metrics within tat Demographic Context- otherwise, you got lots of numbers with zero- value interpreted without real-life meaning.

Your demographics will always impact what you can and should try/ attempt to do with Social Media.

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Review constantly

Social media has proven to be a game-changer in marketing, communication and public relations. As an entrepreneur, having social media accounts means you are not allowed to take your eyes of the ball. Reviewing your page daily and checking your messages and receiving feedback allows you to tweak your social media efforts to achieve the desired effect. That is why large and established companies have dedicated teams attending to their social media pages constantly because given the virality and the quick share options embedded into these platforms a single good post can make your brand well-liked and increase visitors likewise a post in bad taste will also lead to negative press.

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In Conclusion

Social Media is a useful tool and some companies have utilized it to their benefit with a lot of success. Having a strategy is the beginning of the journey hence having the right strategy sets you on the right path.

Having a social media page for your business is a good way for engaging prospects and visitors but having a detailed social media page with great content, quality links and accurate details is even better.

Thank you Good Luck,

Kwaku and Spiros

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About the authors: Both Kwaku Abedi and Spiros Tsaltas are associated with a unique Customer Loyalty Startup : HireLoyalty ( www.HireLoyalty.com ) which is coming out of stealth mode in the next few months.

Spiros is also associated with HIREghana ( www.HIREgh.com )

They welcome all your comments/ remarks/ feedback at [email protected]

 2017 Kweku Abedi & Spiros Tsaltas and  2017 HireLoyalty
Rabat (AFP) - Morocco's king has rebuked ministers over delays to a development programme meant to pump investment into a region rocked by months of protests over unemployment and perceived state neglect.

Mohammed VI told ministers Sunday of his "disappointment, dissatisfaction and concern" that the $670 million (600 million euro) programme in the northern Rif region was behind schedule, according to a cabinet statement.

He also cancelled the annual leave of ministers involved in programme so they can "monitor" its progress, it said.

The Rif's main port, Al-Hoceima, has been rocked by protests since October, when a fishmonger was crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve swordfish that authorities had thrown away because it was caught out of season.

Calls for justice snowballed into a wider social movement dubbed Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, or the "Popular Movement", demanding jobs, development, and an end to corruption in the mainly Berber region.

The government responded by relaunching a 2015 programme to improve the region's infrastructure, health facilities and education services by 2019.

Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit said in early June that the projects "respond to 90 percent of the demands of the population".

But security forces have also arrested more than 100 people including Hirak leader Nasser Zefzafi, and clashes between police and demonstrators have continued.

The Rif has long had a tense relationship with central authorities in Rabat, and it was at the heart of the Arab Spring-inspired protests in Morocco in February 2011.

King Mohamed VI relinquished some of his near-absolute control through constitutional reforms following the 2011 protests.
N'Djamena (AFP) - Eight Chadian soldiers were killed in fierce fighting with Boko Haram insurgents at the weekend on islands on Lake Chad, which borders four countries on the edge of the Sahara, Chad's army said Monday.

"Our forces attacked Boko Haram elements on five islands near Nigeria on June 24 and 25," said spokesman Colonel Azem, indicating eight soldiers had died and another 18 were wounded.

He also claimed troops had killed 162 jihadists from the Nigeria-based group.

Chad is part of a five-nation regional force -- comprising Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Benin -- fighting Boko Haram, which is blamed for killing at least 20,000 people and leaving another 2.6 million homeless.

There have been frequent clashes on the many islands of Lake Chad since the Boko Haram conflict began in 2009. The lake borders Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.
Gilbert Frimpong, Software Developer at West Blue Consulting taking participants through some of the e-Manifest system procedures

West Blue Consulting, in partnership with the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has commenced the implementation of the e-Manifest system at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

The e-Manifest system, according to Ransford Mensah, Manager in-charge of training at West Blue Consulting, would allow customs officials to access advanced information on all cargo arriving in the country by air in real time.

He said it would allow authorised customs officials to log in and transact business without hindrance, stressing that the platform has been programmed to operate from end-to-end.

Until recently, customs officials had to shuttle from one airline operator to the other in search of such information.

Speaking at a recently held International Air Transport Association (IATA) Advance Cargo Information (ACI) workshop in Accra, Sector Commander of the Customs Division of the GRA, Theresa Kyei Asare, commented: The e-Manifest system will simplify the process and make the clearing system faster. For example, if you are supposed to deliver the goods within 48 hours, with the electronic manifest, we will be able to deliver within 24 hours or even at a shorter time.

She stressed that the e-Manifest system would also allow a seamless dissemination of information on all cargo due in the country by air to all relevant stakeholders in real time.

The Manifest is the first and foremost document that customs officials require in order to process cargo clearance, Ms Asare added.

This is very welcomed, because it will make our work very simple, efficient and curtail the stress of moving from one airline operator to the other for the manifest manually to commence clearing processes.

But with the e-Manifest, we are talking about five minutes at most and you have all the information you need to speed up the process. This is a win-win for us because it brings respite to us and the importers or shippers as well, Ms Asare told the participants at the workshop.

By Samuel Boadi




On the 22nd June, 2017, the Minister of Education Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh(MP) announced that Abraham Attah of "Beast of no nation" fame had been appointed the Ambassador for the Yet to be introduced Free Senior High School Education programme towards enabling many deprived students in embarking on their Second cycle education.

We do commend the trust and belief shown in granting such an honor to a young person. This shows the trust and belief reposed by the government in the youth and this bold step is deserving of commendation.

The acting leadership of the Union which was brought into being by the Accra Circuit Court following some disturbances affecting the leadership of the Union in recent times and the student leaderships of various institutions Were however disappointed with the choice of Abraham Attah as the ambassador . Regardless of his fame, this is a policy which affects Senior high school Ghanaian Students who school in the country and therefore it's sad having a student of the United States who is not affected in anyway by this policy spearhead this agenda.

This sets a bad example and also serves to portray some level of distrust and disregard for our local educational system. It would have been a great opportunity to grant some level of exposure to someone studying locally. There are over a thousand students who though studying locally have distinguished themselves in other fields such as excelling in sports, Industry, creative arts et al. and are equally deserving of this opportunity even if creative arts were the target group.

This would have been a great opportunity to send across a message that with the right mentality and a hardworking approach to one's studies, you could have such opportunities at your doorstep.

Take the on-going National Science and Maths quiz for example . If the government had chosen someone who excelled during the competition, this would have served as a motivation to all other senior high school students to take their books seriously and strive for excellence since opportunities like this could be available to them.

We do recognize that through his stage play skills, Abraham Attah has become a role model for many young ones across the country but This is however totally unrelated to the educational sector especially in the enactment of this gigantic policy hence as major stakeholders in this decision mandated to partake in the approval of Gorvenmental policies and in the acceptance of whoever manages the enactment of those policies as far as the 1992 constitution is concerned, we are at a loss of words as to the rationale for his selection.

*Through the voices of the over 5million Ghanaian students and within Ghana, We demand that either the government comes out to make it clear the criteria that was used in his selection, his role or they review this decision as we disassociate ourselves from it*

We must also put on notice that the FREE SHS POLICY and other Educational policies implemented or yet to be implemented within last year and the current year respectively are being analyzed and for the first time would be addressed in an educational dialog soon in conformity with the article 25 of the 1992 constitution.

The National Secretariat of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) in conjunction with all blogs and student leaders also wishes all Muslim Youth especially Students of the republic a happy Iddil-fitr celebration as we continue to fight for the interest and better welfare of Ghanaian students.

Signed

Malik S.Y Basintale

Ag. Secretary (Education and Democratization)

0540444414

Michael Amoah

Ag. National President
Ranveer Singh and Ranbir Kapoor dropped by to wish their buddy Arjun Kapoor on his birthday.

By India Today Web Desk: As Arjun Kapoor turned 32, his close buddies from Bollywood came in to ring in his special day. From Ranbir Kapoor to Ranveer Singh to Aditya Roy Kapur, many of his friends visited Arjun's residence late last night to wish him birthday.

The 32-year-old actor, who was busy promoting his upcoming film Mubarakan this Sunday evening, got a visit from his buddies on his birthday. Apart from Ranveer and Ranbir, the party was also attended by Karan Johar and Harshvardhan Kapoor.

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Arjun and Ranveer's bromance has always caught the fancy of their fans, and the Gunday actor did not miss making an appearance at his baba's birthday.

On the work front, Arjun will be next seen in Mubarkan opposite Ileana D'Cruz and Athiya Shetty. The film which also stars Anil Kapoor is set to hit the screens on September 1.

(Photos: Yogen Shah)

PHOTOS: These childhood photos of birthday boy Arjun Kapoor are too cute to miss

ALSO READ: Throwback to Sridevi-Boney's huge showdown where Arjun Kapoor was involved

ALSO WATCH: Up, close and personal with Arjun Kapoor

--- ENDS ---
Swede Johan Gustafsson, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 together with South African national Stephen McGowan and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke. By - (AL JAZEERA/AFP/File)

26.06.2017 LISTEN

Stockholm (AFP) - A Swede who had been held hostage by Al-Qaeda in Mali since 2011 has been freed, the Swedish government said Monday, but the fate of a fellow hostage from South Africa remains unknown.

"It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Johan Gustafsson has been released and can return to Sweden," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement, giving no details about how his release was secured.

Swedish newspapers Expressen and Aftonbladet reported shortly afterwards that a Swedish government plane carrying Gustafsson had landed at Stockholm's Arlanda airport and that he had been welcomed home by his family, but neither the government nor airport officials would confirm that information.

Gustafsson, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 along with South African national Stephen McGowan and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke.

Rijke was freed in April 2015 by French special forces.

The Swedish foreign ministry provided no details about McGowan's fate.

Gustafsson was on a motorcycle trip from Sweden to South Africa when he was kidnapped.

He, Rijke and McGowan were seized along with several other Westerners by a group of armed men while on the terrace of their hotel.

Rijke's wife managed to escape, but a German who tried to resist the abduction was killed.

Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. It was among several jihadist groups that took control of Mali's north in 2012 before being ousted by a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

"I've already spoken with Johan and he is doing well and is overwhelmed by everything going on," Wallstrom told Swedish Radio.

String of kidnappings

A South African charity appointed by the families to negotiate the release of Gustafsson and McGowan said it had no news about McGowan.

"We have no information... I don't think Stephen has been released," said Imtiaz Sooliman, head of Gift of the Givers.

The charity said in May 2017 that it was giving up its negotiating efforts after hitting a "dead end".

According to Swedish media reports, Gift of the Givers had been negotiating a ransom with the hostage-takers.

AQIM had released several videos of Gustafsson and McGowan over the years, but very little has been known about the kidnappers' demands.

Gustafsson's family had repeatedly pleaded for his release in statements to the media, but on Monday his father Goran Gustafsson refused to comment on his release.

"I don't want to talk right now, I can't. You'll have to excuse me," he told news agency TT.

Several other Westerners have been kidnapped in Mali in recent years.

In January 2016, Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly was kidnapped by AQIM, also in Timbuktu, after repeated threats from jihadists, and a proof of life video was released one year later.

Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti, a Colombian nun, was kidnapped in February of this year in southern Mali by armed men from an unidentified jihadist group, and her whereabouts remain unknown despite several arrests.

And Frenchwoman Sophie Petronin, head of an NGO, was abducted in the northern Malian city of Gao in late 2016. No group has claimed responsibility for her disappearance.
Cape Coast, June 26, GNA - As part of its strategy to draw closer to its stakeholders and clients, Natoa Micro-finance Services Limited has opened a new branch at Cape Coast.

The Cape Coast branch is the second in the Central Region after Mankessim while another branch is expected to be opened in Takoradi in the coming days.

Speaking at the opening, Dr Ato Ahenful, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Natoa Micro-finance, said the vision of the company is to become a universal bank to offer good financial support to cushion individuals and businesses.

He said the company reaches out to petty and small scale businesses which needed loans to expand their businesses.

Dr Ahenful said the company was a deposit finance company regulated by the Bank of Ghana and as such it is imperative for them to meet the expectation of clients.

He said it had over GH 5 million in capital and assured clients of enough resources to embark on its business activities adding that 'we are not in to exploit anybody'.

Dr Ahenful said the Cape Coast branch would offer clients common banking services and as such they would also expect stakeholders to have full trust in them as the company has come to stay.

He urged individuals, business and other entities to come on board and do business with them as they would be sure to have flexible loan terms, secured investments and deposit services.

Aside normal universal banking services, Natoa provides special savings accounts, mobile money and e-banking and a business advisory unit with consultants to offer expert advice to customers.

Mr Stephen Osei Tutu, Cape Coast Branch Manager of the Zenith bank, in a fraternal message urged the public to do business with Natoa because they existed to provide good, reliable and satisfactory services to their clients.

He urged customers to pay back loans that they would take to enable the company stay in business.

GNA

By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA
Kinshasa (AFP) - The UN on Monday criticised a decision by a Congolese military tribunal not to prosecute seven Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers for crimes against humanity.

"We regret" the tribunal's decision, Jose Maria Aranaz, director of the United Nations joint human rights office (UNJHRO) and representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the DRC, told AFP.

"Prosecuting these crimes is a way of preventing other legal violations and further excessive use of force by the armed forces," Aranaz said.

The seven soldiers were already on trial for war crimes and other offences -- including murder, mutilation and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment -- apparently committed in the Kasai region.

They are being prosecuted over a video that emerged in February showing a group of uniformed men opening fire on civilians, then walking among at least 20 bodies.

The alleged incident occurred during an operation in a village called Mwanza Lomba in Kasai, according to the government.

On Saturday, prosecutors in the trial, which began on June 5, dropped the war crimes charges, but kept the murder charge and others.

"You can justify dropping the war crimes charges because there is no declared conflict in the Kasai," Aranaz said.

But it would have been important to prosecute the officers for crimes against humanity because it would send "a strong signal in the direction of those who are implicated in the violence in Kasai".

The central Kasai region has seen an explosion of deadly violence in recent months, with reports of gross rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and the use of child soldiers.

More than 3,300 people have been killed in eight months of spiralling unrest, a papal envoy to the country said last week, and UN figures show that 1.3 million people have fled their homes.

The UNJHRO believes "officers should guarantee the proportional use of force by military and police elements under their command" and dismiss all efforts to try to put these acts onto "isolated members in the army," Aranaz said.

The unrest in Kasai began when a local tribal chieftain, known as the Kamwina Nsapu, who was rebelling against the authority of President Joseph Kabila's government, was killed during clashes with the security forces in August 2016.

On Saturday, the UN urged Congolese authorities to pare back their military presence in the region "to prioritise dialogue".
26.06.2017 LISTEN

I am writing this rejoinder nearly 24 hours after I read the news article in which Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, the Founder-President of IMANI-Ghana think-tank (the reporter called Mr. Cudjoes establishment IMANI-Africa), apologizes for both former President Dramani Mahama and those operatives of the extant Obama Administration who negotiated for the transitional resettlement of Messrs. Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin-Atef and Khalid Salih Al-Dhuby in Ghana. The duo had been held in the custody of the United States Military at Cubas Guantanamo Bay Maximum-Security Prison for 14 years, each, on suspicion of having links to the 2001 Al-Qaeda-engineered attacks on New York City and other parts of the American Northeast (See  Secrecy in Gitmo 2 Transfer was Necessary  Franklin Cudjoe Citifmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 6/25/17).

This is rather bizarre because until I chanced across this embarrassingly apologetic news story, I had not known or been aware of Mr. Cudjoes serving as an agent of the American government in Ghana. The IMANI-Ghana think-tank capo tells his audience that he was personally contacted, at least twice, by government operatives in Washington, DC, about the imminent resettlement of Messrs. Bin-Atef and Al-Dhuby in the country. So how come the Parliamentary Opposition Leaders and, indeed, the topmost parliamentary majority leaders and their ranking opposition counterparts were not either jointly or severally informed about this most highly sensitive deal? But even more importantly, what is the procedure for registering Ghanaian citizens, such as Mr. Cudjoe, who are clearly foreign agents in the country, so as to alert our national security agencies about some of these pontifical characters who are publicly and officially parading themselves as public policy experts but are, in fact, agents of some foreign governments?

Well, now that he has publicly identified himself as a foreign agent, it may also be significant to investigate the funding sources of the IMANI think-tank, and the impact that such funding sources has on the general orientation and the quality of data and policy analyses churned out by the Cudjoe Gang.

I personally dont doubt for a split-second that some activities of Ghanas government, as also the American government, are highly sensitive and ought to be deemed as classified for purposes of national security. Nevertheless, it cannot be gainsaid that if a salutary culture of transparency and accountability is to prevail in the way and manner in which our government and public officials conduct the peoples business, then, by all means, let those with clearance be in the know about such highly sensitive or classified information, which is the topmost parliamentary leaders from both sides of the aisle, as it were, vis-a-vis any seismically far-reaching decisions as the government of the day may take in the name and on behalf of the people. I really dont think that this is too much to demand, by way of transparency, accountability and responsible governance.

The case is also bizarre because Mr. Cudjoe, himself, says that if the decision to resettle the Gitmo 2 had been made public by way of a plenary parliamentary debate, congressional representatives from the United States would have swamped the country to prejudice the minds of Ghanaian citizens against the resettlement of the Saudi-born Yemeni terror suspects. Now isnt it strange for Mr. Cudjoe to tell us that American politicians may be more concerned about the security of ordinary Ghanaian citizens than our own elected leaders and policy wonks?

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
26.06.2017 LISTEN

The Omanhene of the Sunyani Traditional Council, Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri II,has urged Muslims youth to desists from having keen interest in illegal mining (galamsey)as its destroys natural vegetation.

He said sunyani traditional council is totally against illegal mining (galamsey) and they support any actions that President Nana Addo will takes on it.

The Omanhene addressing Muslims at the Sunyani Correlation park to mark this years Eid-al-Fitr celebration on Monday June 26, he said Sunyani is peace oriented so lets all continue to protect it and build unity among ourselves. Never over jubilate and engage yourselves in deviant behaviors like smoking and drinking which could end you up in jail or death, he added

He congratulated all Muslims for the successful fasting and prayers they had and thanked them for the prayers uttered on the life of sunyani.

Brong Ahafo regional minister Hon. Lawyer Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh also commended all Muslims for the victorious thirty (30) days fasting and prayers and told them that their prayers before and after the elections is appreciated by the government that is why it has implemented the Inner cities and Zongo development fund which was assured by president Nana Akuffo Addo in his campaign messages.

He said Zongo communities now have their own ministry to show that they are recognized in their government.

The minister said government has released an amount of GHC219m in the first budget made to start the projects "Hon. Boniface Abubakar Sadiq is currently working on it to ensure all zongo communities in the country receives its quota" he added.

"I believe that next years Zongo fund would be larger than this years and it will be focusing on schools, clearing of refuse dumps, construction of gutters, roads and others depending on what the community wants" he stated.

Meanwhile regional chief imam Sheik Alhaji Abdul Kadri Omaln expressed his profound gratitude to Allah and the government officials and Nananom for their commemoration.

Sheik said Eid Ul-Fitr is a very big blessing celebration as mandated by Mohammed and added that Allah has cleans all Muslims and have strengthened and renewed their faith hence they should portray such lives in all their endeavors being it at home, work, schools and many other places.

Ghana will never be destroyed even if all other countries would, since the leaders always engage believers in their governance he stated

He added that the inner city and Zongo ministry created by Nana Addo led government is an expressed that Zongo communities are recognized in governances.

The occasion was graced by Nana Takyi Abbiam (Sunyani Dwantoahene)who speaks on behalf of Omanhen of Sunyani, Nana Bosoma Asor-Nkrawiri II, Hon. Evelyn Kumi Racharson,Sunyani MCE, Hon Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh,MP Sunyani East, regional police commander and among others.
Brussels (AFP) - The UN food agency's director urged the European Union on Monday to help raise the $1 billion needed over the next few months to save hundreds of thousands of children from starving to death in Yemen and three African countries.

In an interview with AFP, World Food Programme Director David Beasley said 20 million people were "on the brink of famine" in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria in the worst humanitarian crisis since 1945.

"I'm here to appeal to the goodness of some of the wealthiest nations on the face of the planet to please continue to step up at a time such as this," Beasley said after meeting EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

"I want the United States to contribute more, the EU to contribute more," he said.

He appealed to wealthy EU countries like Britain, Germany and especially France to send more aid, saying Paris was contributing too little at $30 million.

He said of the 20 million people facing famine, 5.7 million are children who are malnourished, with around 1.5 million of them severely so.

"Our numbers are showing us that if over the next three to four months, if we do not receive the resources we need to provide the food, you're looking at the possibility of 600,000 children dying," Beasley said.

"We need another $1.0 billion for the four countries," he added.

He added that the WFP had already cut rations in half for South Sudanese refugees in Uganda to spread aid to the most vulnerable in the four countries.

He said efforts to fight the famine have been hampered by the media focus on the French far-right politician Marine Le Pen, Brexit and the presidency of US President Donald Trump, while also noting donor fatigue at a time of conflicts worldwide.

"Because of all the distraction, I don't think the world knows the direness of the plight," he said.

Beasley, a former Republican governor of South Carolina and a Trump supporter, also predicted that Washington would correct its move away from foreign aid.

"I think President Trump, the White House and the (Congressional) leadership are coming to see the value of humanitarian assistance in fighting extremism," he said.

"I have been telling my friends on the floor of the Senate and House, if you want to spend another half a trillion dollars on the military, cut the World Food Programme," he said.

lc/bmm
26.06.2017 LISTEN

I cant say that these are envious times for people working to correct the massive wrong done Ghana by a group of greedy bastards and evil dwarves under an umbrella that provides cover only for the tomfools, educated illiterates, and ignorami who make up the upper echelons and support base of the most disgraceful vulture party that ever reared its ugly head in our country.

I, equally, cant say that all is well so long as those nation wreckers of the NDC, briefly described above for the want of more elucidatory language, are not prosecuted and thrown into the dungeons to rot for the grave wrong that they visited on this nation of fa ma nyame unholy folks who are as lame as the horse that John Mahama described us to be. Maybe, we deserved this maltreatment for the nonchalance that we treated our wellbeing with, solely harbouring the greed to make money at the expense of the country that eagerly and lovingly embraced us to her bosom.

DrOpuni, albeit a Dr in the skill of thievery, immediate past CEO of cocobod under the NDC, is still on the loose given the uncountable evidence of corruption, theft, embezzlement of public funds, dissipation of thecocoa stabilisation fund, wanton distribution of fertiliser to friends, NDC compatriots, and others, smuggling of same to neighbouring Ivory Coast, superintending over inflated road contracts, and so on. The fraudster, Ibrahim Mahama, is still on the loose having committed a series of grave fiscal crimes, one of which was the issuance of over 44 dud cheques, while a businessman has gone to prison for issuing just one. What is good for the goose is equally good for the gander!!!

I lament the position of Lands Commissioner that has been maintained by an NDC person,who was and still is the stooge of Ibrahim Mahama. He was behind the leasing out and sale of government properties to lazy NDC urchins, backdating of processes initiated pre-2016 elections. No wonder what is happening in the Volta Region is taking place under his direct supervision.

I also lament the impatience of a section of sensible people with the government. During the campaign prior to the elections, His Excellency Nana AddoDkwaAkufo-Addo stated that if given the mandate, it would take him 18 months to set the country on the right trajectory for onward propulsion. As it is now, his government has barely done 6 months, yet the progress chocked has brightened the light at the end of the tunnel, bringing it closer to actual tangibility.

It has not been rosy, though. Not at all!

The President cannot please everyone, but he can everybody. Let me explain! Amongst our NPP frats, there are those that feel abandoned. That is so wrong! No one has been abandoned except that the process of reconciliation is slow and the wait is quite itchy! But Mr President can please everybody!

Well, if you ask me, it will be done when he sets the country on the path to recovery as he has almost achieved thus far. Thence, prosperity would expressly spread through every nook and cranny in a way that would certainly improve living standards via numerous avenues and social interventions.

So I say to Mr President, WoadarowmaToaso, but please expedite the prosecution of the NDC thieves, and retrieve our moneys, Sir.

To the great osonodites, I say, please have patience with the government. The officials are grappling with the biggest problems that have ever bedeviled this country since the disgraceful ousting of the British Colonial slavers.Let us be more circumspect with our criticism, afterall, Mr President is very aware of events in this country. I trust His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo to deliver. His team is helping him to do just that!

We all are members of his government, whether appointed or not, because it is an NPP administration. So exercise your mandate as agents of change and let us move this country forward rather than criticising one another like the NDC nihilists who suffered humiliation due to similar attitudes.
Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe police arrested prominent protest pastor and anti-government campaigner Evan Mawarire on Monday after he spoke to a group of striking medical students, his family and lawyer said.

Mawarire, who last year led a mass anti-government movement dubbed "#ThisFlag" after he appeared on social media draped in the national colours, was arrested at the University of Zimbabwe, his sister Teldah Mawarire told AFP.

"I am with him at the police station," said his lawyer Harrison Nkomo, adding that Mawarire had been charged with "disorderly conduct in a public place".

Mawarire had earlier posted a video clip of his arrest on social media saying it was linked to his speech to students.

"I have been arrested. I am at Avondale police station," Mawarire said in the 42-second video clip.

"The reason I have been arrested is that I addressed university students whose fees had been increased. I have done nothing wrong."

Scores of placard-wielding students assembled at the main student union building to protest fee increases.

"The students are holding a peaceful protest against the decision to increase their fees two weeks before they sit for their examinations," Allister Pfunde, president of the Zimbabwe National Students' Union told AFP.

"The majority of these students can't afford decent accommodation and proper meals."

The university accused the students of throwing stones and responded by ordering all medical students out of their university halls of residence.

Mawarire's anti-government movement shut down major cities and paralysed public transport and prompted the government to ban public protests.

He was arrested and and charged with "attempting to subvert a constitutionally-elected government" though he has yet to face trial over those charges.
26.06.2017 LISTEN

President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday touched down at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Zambia to begin his three-day state visit.

The President left for the southern African country at the invitation of its President Edgar Chagwa Lungu.

Nana Akufo-Addo is expected to hold talks with President Lungu aimed at deepening the bilateral ties between the two countries, as well as exploring other areas of mutual benefit.

Speaking to Joy News Elton John Brobbey, President of an association that represents the Ghanaian community in the country, Dave Coker, said Nana Akufo-Addos visit is a joyous occasion for the community.

Dave Coker

Weve had Presidents from Ghana wanting to come here but they never come. So we are very happy today because we want to celebrate the Presidents victory [in the 2016] elections, he said.

Vice President of the association, Richard Kwadwo Mensah, also lauded the Ghana mission in the country for addressing their concerns.

Key among concerns of Ghanaians living in the country is the desire of Ghanaian teachers to return home.

Whiles in Zambia, the President will visit Ndola, a city in Zambias Copperbelt Province, where he will be the Special Guest of Honour at the 53rd Zambia International Trade Fair.

He will be accompanied by the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, theMinister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Shirley AyorkorBotchway MP, and officials of the Presidency and the Foreign Ministry.

President Akufo-Addo and his delegation will arrive in Ghana on Thursday, 29th June 2017.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com
The National Identification Authority (NIA) was set up in 2003 under the Office of the President, H. E. J. A kuffour with the mandate to issue national ID cards and manage the National Identification System (NIS).

This resulted in the passing of the NIA Act, 2006 (Act 707) to give it the necessary legal premises on which to operate. The National Identity Register Act, 2008 (Act 750) was also passed to give authorisation for collection of personal and biometric data and to ensure the protection of privacy and personal information of enrolees.

The full mandate of the NIA included the establishment of a national data centre so as to manage a national database, as well as to set up a system to collect, process, store, retrieve and disseminate personal data on the population (Ghanaian citizens  both resident and non-resident, and legally and permanently resident foreign nationals), ensure the accuracy, integrity and security of such data, and to issue and promote the use of national identity cards in Ghana.

Amongst other objectives of the Ghana card when issued were to provide enormous benefit in the areas of health delivery, passport acquisition, acquisition of drivers license , banking transactions, registration of business, credit information , disaster management and electoral registration.

This vision although has had some modifications, was conceived since 1973. It was discontinued after three years of operation due to logistics and financial challenge. It was revisited in 1987 with the establishment of committees to see to its successful implementation but again, economic difficulties crushed the whole process.

The Kuffour government revisited it again and took it to steps further but could not complete the distribution of cards before they lost power in 2008. It is worth mentioning that although directors were appointed to head the authority during the eight year rule of John Mills and John Mahama, little was heard of National Identification Authority during their term of office. Obviously it was not a priority of the government.

The need for a national identification card dominated discussions in Ghana again after the 2012 protracted Supreme Court election petition. Also from 2014 through to 2016, after series of court issues and verdicts, it became clear that we needed a clean voters register. Series of demonstrations were organized for the need to have a clean voters register and some political parties proposed that the only way we could raid our voters register of foreigners and infants was to have a national identification data from which the electoral register could be drawn.

In the run-up to the 2016 general election, the NPP made promises to revive the inactive National Identification Authority by committing resources to the authority to make it run smoothly to deliver on its mandate. The revival of the NIA got a place in the manifesto of the NPP and the then Vice Presidential Candidate made a lot of economic arguments for the National Identification Authority to be up and doing and therefore promised to fix the problems of the authority and get it running effectively/efficiently in the first year of their administration should they win.

At a broad consultative meeting chaired by the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, two weeks after taking power, on Wednesday, January 25, 2017,all the major stakeholders, including the Births and Deaths Registry (BDR), National Identification Authority (NIA), Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Ghana Revenue Authority and National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) underscored the need to have a single national database to aid policy planning and implementation.

Also in attendance were Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Electoral Commission (EC), Driver Vehicle and Licence Authority (DVLA), Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GHIPSS) and industry experts.

The NPP government is convinced that, the National ID scheme would help formalize the economy through the establishment of a national database, using the National Identification System as the primary identifier, with linkages to the databases of institutions such as the Police, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Passport Office, Immigration, Courts, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).

The Vice President stated publicly that the NIA has been given up to September 2017 to begin issuing cards to Ghanaians.

It is in this light of timeline given to the NIA, that, Eagle Eye International (EEI) is concerned. We believe that more time is needed to fix the basics first before the national registration/reregistration/card issuance process starts. In fixing the basics some questions need to be answered to provide a strong foundation for a successful registration and issuance of national identification cards.

One fundamental and important question which remains unanswered is whether or not the new card would incorporate the digital address system. This important question seems to have lost in our discussions leading to having one of the best identification cards in the world. A national identification card that does not have details of where card bearers stay and/work, their streets names and properties is in our view not what we want as a country.

If we really want to reduce crime, reduce loan default rate and increase government revenue then we should complete the digital address system and get street names and house numbers as well as property registry done before we proceed to start discussions about having identification cards.

We should not rush and waste resources to produce substandard cards like we did in the past but rather continue the consultation broadly in orderto reap all the benefits of a modern identification card.

We wish to commend the Akuffo Addos administration for its zeal to restore hope and improve upon the economic misfortunes of Ghana through an effective independent state institutions like the NIA.

#CompleteDigitalAddressSystemBeforeIssueingNationalCards

Thank you.

SDG

EAGLE EYE INTERNATIONAL

Quarshie Egyer Joseph

+233 (0) 245607479

Seth Adu-Adjei

+233 (0) 244702074

Frank Osei Yeboah

+233 (0) 242028199

Isaac Antwi

+233 (0) 244678746
A video starring a cute baby elephant that has gone viral and it shows how all of us look when we run to our mothers after making a boo-boo.

Baby elephant runs to his mother after falling down while chasing birds. Photo: Screengrab from Twitter video

By India Today Web Desk: A hug is the best medicine for a saddened heart and a mother's arms is the safest place for a child, age no bar.

And this, not just for humans.

A video that has gone viral on Twitter shows a baby elephant chasing some birds.

The cute little being is running around, possibly trying his best to make friends with the birds so that he could play with them. For obvious reasons, the birds, that figured it's just a baby elephant, do not fly away but make him chase them.

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Running in circles, the baby elephant could be seen losing its balance. After swaying from one side to another for a second, the calf regains balance and resumes chasing the birds.

BANG!

Seconds after regaining balance, the baby falls flat on his face.

The calf did the most obvious thing next, something any baby would do. Something anyone do if they have that option.

RUN TO MOMMY!

Seeing her baby falling flat on the ground, the mother elephant could be seen running towards him. All moms are alike, aren't they?

Species no bar!

WATCH THE ADORABLE VIDEO HERE:

I don't know what's funnier the baby elephant chasing the birds, or when he fell and ran to his mom???????? pic.twitter.com/6eY3EfMCuG- 8/02? (@Bajandon_7) June 23, 2017

Another video had gone viral last week and in it, two elephants, possibly parents, was seen jumping into a pool to save their baby that fell into it. Watch the video here:

--- ENDS ---
26.06.2017 LISTEN

In the colonial days right throughwhen Ghana attained independence in 1957, we in the Gold Coast learnt in school how inhabitants of British cities, especially London, were battling with fire outbreaks in residential areas as well as industrial set ups. The fires affected the structures involved as well as human beings some of whom were burnt to death,whilemany more got injured in the fires.

I still have in mind the songs we sang about fires in London thus London is burning, London is burning, look under look under,fire fire, fire fire, pour water pour water. In spite of the improvement in fire safety measures in Britain over the years,the fire outbreaks continue withmore frightening ferocity.

In 2012-2013 alone the fire and Rescue Authorities recorded more than 192,000fires in Britain with the current situation getting worse. On June 14, 2017, fire broke out at a tower in London leaving 74 people injured and 12 dead. The number of the dead and injured have since increased.

At least 40 fire engines, 20 ambulance crews and more than 200 firefighters were dispatched by the London Fire Brigadein an effort to minimize loss of life and property. Firemen spokeswoman revealedthat she has never seen that kind of fire in her entire career.

Due to fire safety fears, the British authorities have evacuated more than 800 inhabitants living in buildings within the vicinity where the disaster occurred. Some of these people are being housed in hotels and some hostels.

The reason Most of the buildings in Grenfell Estates area were detected to have been built with materials prone to fires. If Britain. our colonial masters, and a developed nation, is battling with fireoutbreaks all these years what lessons can we draw from their experience to avert fires in our emerging high rise buildings, factories and residential areas.

Mr. Abdul Aziz Muniru, MP for Akan Constituency, in a statement to parliament expressed worried so hedrew the attention of Ghanas parliament to what has happened to the 24 story tower in London and asked parliament to deliberate on it. The Speaker Professor Mike Occqaye was all for action to be taken to avert a similar disaster in Ghana saying we should use the right firefighting equipment and to embark on fire prevention education to deal with the issue.

He is right because as Ghana is growing there are high rise buildings springing up in our cities and urban areas that include the job 600 which houses parliamentarians. Our markets, offices and radio stations can also catch fire as happened to Ghana Broadcasting Corporation stores building in Accra recently.

We must therefore put our house in order by our engineers allowing only the right materials to be used in putting up buildings especially the high rise ones. We must set up a Public Safety Office to be equipped with ways of detecting and preventing fire outbreaks working with Ghana Fire Service and National Disaster Management Organization [NADMO].

We should empower our teachers in basic schools to sensitize pupilson how to detect and deal with signs of fires emanating from gas and electricity and petrol. As suggested by Hon Muniru, fire safety audit must be carried out in all ministries departments and residential areas including patrol, gas stations and factories with the view to detecting problems with them.
26.06.2017 LISTEN

As a Christian, I hate or reject no one, but here is why I oppose President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's ruling Unity Partys government in Liberia.

We can all agree that leading a nation is not easy. Granted. We can all also agree that Liberia is not a very rich nation. We also know that our country has had a very rough past, or turbulent history. We know and can all agree that our country needed to rebuild and put in place various infrastructures that were destroyed by and during the civil conflict.

However, what some of us refused to accept and/or agree to is the fact that our country - I mean the entire Liberia - cannot afford to have a CT scan, nonetheless a fitting laboratory, diagnostic and dialysis center in the past 12 years. What we object to are misrule and theft of public funds.

What kind of leadership has this woman (President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf) provided for the past 12 years? How does she feel about the disgrace, and above all, embarrassment and shame she causes our nation and people day in and out?

A CT scan costs less than US$200,000 dollars and no hospital in Liberia has one. But our president makes budgetary appropriations for individual offices in the millions. The President's overseas and local travels and Per Diem alone are in the millions, so too are some of her high- level officials.

This morning, I cried in my private office in my Delaware home in the US and my civically conscious daughters, 11 and 9, heard me and so they jumped out of their rooms from the second floor to find out why I did, or whether my daily trip to the Baltimore - D.C. areas for business was aborted. My brilliant youngest daughter asked me, "What happened daddy?" I had nothing to offer other than say, "It is President Ellen Johnson Sirleafs Liberia again making news for the wrong reasons. No CT scan in a country where ministers and lawmakers earn US$12,000 a month, and where officials and their on-the-side cohorts embezzled millions."

Right there my youngest daughter said, "Oh my God, is she really a woman, a mother or a human being?" Imagine a 9-year old girl asking this question. The implication of my daughters inquiry is, it is expected, above all else, for a woman, a mother nonetheless a human being to have some compassion. Forget about the leadership, governance and politics of leading a nation. As a female president, the first woman democratically elected president in Africa for that matter, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf should have prioritized women and childrens health. After all, she is a woman and a mother. Yet, she and her officials sit in comfort and thousands of Liberian women and kids lack basic preventive health care services.

Why should Liberian kids die or suffer because our country has no simple medical equipment like CT scan? Does this president feel the pains of the mothers who children died or suffered because irresponsible leadership, governance failure and undressed corruption robbed them of meaningful and life-saving treatments?

My kids care about Liberia because they know that I care about my country a lot. Even though they are tired hearing me talk about a country they have never seen and/or might not even visit if they choose to; nevertheless, they sometimes asked why I do care this much when I am living in a country (USA) that offers me a lota country that gave me graduate education not because I came from wealth, but because all I did was to find a public library, a computer and applied for student loan, which is something I continuously advocate for in Liberia so all students desirous of college education can have the chance to have it.

Like many Liberians, I too know that nowhere is like home and the biggest pride anyone can feel or get is knowing that his or her country men and women are doing better. I love Liberia more than any place on earth. This is why I do what I do despite the associated risks. Or else, I am blessed to be where I am and do what I do. All of us cannot be a nation and people of dead conscience, as the late Archbishop Michael K. Francis would say. Furthermore, it is important to note that no one learns patriotism in school; instead, it is simply just being a human being.

So, one may wonder why I cried today and why I am writing all this. Well, this morning, Ms. Donna Brazile, former acting chairperson of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and former campaign manager for former US Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign who is also a professor at Georgetown University tweeted a GoFundMe photo to me that says, Liberia needs a CT Scan.

Liberians are dying every day from minor complications because our country lacks basic medical equipment, simple drugs and materials. Besides, people laughed at us every day in international circles, and for some of us that engaged international activities, we go in and come out with shame and guilta shame or guilt imposed on us by the political and economic thieves in our government, the officials our rural, illiterate and ordinary people adorn and obey because of the artificially imposed poverty they live under and with.

The unfortunate news is, our leaders and officials of government can own fat bank accounts in the Middle East and Asia, and big hotels through surrogate Lebanese business people; private commercial banks and insurance companies as well casinos and multi-millions homes in Liberia and abroad, but our nation that they snip from cannot have simple things like a well-equipped medical laboratory, diagnostic and dialysis center, or a simple public ambulance system.

No one takes wealth with them when he or she dies. Presidents Tubman, Tolbert, Doe and their officials as well as other rulers in Africa, including the notoriously wealthy Mobutu Sese Sekou, of Zaire did not take a dime with them as they either merit in heaven or rot in hell, depending on their earthly deeds.

So, what does this woman, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and her officials want? Why have they treated Liberia and Liberians in such a manner? The president wants her Lebanese business partners to have a 30-year tax credit from the Liberian government approve for a luxury hotel where only those who stole the countrys wealth can afford to go, sleep and dine while the rest of the country, say a population of 4.5 million people, not only starve due to unemployment, but also die from common illnesses as a result of the lack of an equipment as common as CT scan.

Instead of building a so-called Farmington Hotel, maybe the president should have asked her ghost investors to build a modern laboratory, diagnostics and dialysis center.

As the late Archbishop Michael K. Francis [a man whose courage, virtues, support and mentoring inspired and molded my character for truth, honesty and justice] of the Archdiocese of Monrovia once told me during lunch at his residence in Mamba Point before my pastoral assignment to St. Edward's Parish in Logan Town when I began my pastoral year from the Catholic seminary, "No one takes wealth with them when they face God. So, uncontrollable greed is unnecessary and this is why gluttony is a sin," he said. Mine you, the late Archbishop said uncontrollable greed. It means as humans we can all be greedy, but what we have in Liberia and under President Sirleafs administration is uncontrollable. This is the real problem.

Our country, with the passivity of our president, has nurtured uncontrollable greed and propelled unpatriotic individuals with undesirable wants to be in various functionaries of government. We will hope that our leaders will have the moral courage to apologize to Liberia and Liberians now, or one day.

It is not that some of us want to criticize our president or our government or country. By the way, I love our president and do pray for her more than the thieves in her administration that she fattened with millions in asset and cash. We also wish no arm for President Sirleaf, but we are different from some of the people around her because some of us are taught to stand for fairness, justice and equality. More than that, it is not only the right thing to do, it is common human decency.

This is why we have to speak up and speak out even when they plan or want to eliminate or shut us down. We will speak out because it is the right thing to do as Liberians and as people of faith and virtues. Jesus said, "No greater good or sacrifice than to lay down your life for your fellow human beings."

What is happening in Liberia is immoral, unjust and evil. The money the president allowed to be misused from the country by her disciples at the Ministry of Finance through the quasi Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI) loan program and from various other government agencies could have been put to better use by buying CT scans so that Liberian childrens lives can be saved.

May God bless our country, our president and lead her to see the light so that people abroad, mainly in Western countries, will not have to do GoFundMe to have a CT scan in a country where millions of dollars are stolen and shipped abroad every day.
Rabat (AFP) - Moroccan security forces clashed Monday with demonstrators in Al-Hoceima, activists and witnesses said, a day after King Mohammed VI criticised delays in development in the restive northern city.

The clashes erupted after hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Al-Hoceima in the late afternoon despite police roadblocks, activists said.

They said they had planned to hold a major rally but the police "completely locked down" the city, cutting off routes and using force to disperse protesters.

"Residents could not move about freely... the police systematically intervened to stop people from gathering," a journalist in the city told AFP.

Protesters who had come from the neighbouring towns of Imzouren and Tammassin were pushed back by the security forces, he said.

The demonstrators were "brutally repressed by the security forces", the journalist said.

Clashes also broke out in the town of Ajdir between demonstrators and security forces, the journalist said, adding that some people were injured and a dozen arrested.

Al-Hoceima, a key port in the neglected northern Rif region, has been hit by unrest since October.

It came after a fishmonger was crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve swordfish that authorities had thrown away because it was caught out of season.

Calls for justice snowballed into a wider social movement dubbed Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, or the "Popular Movement", demanding jobs, development, and an end to corruption in the mainly Berber region.

Authorities have arrested more than 100 people including Hirak leader Nasser Zefzafi, and clashes between police and demonstrators have continued for weeks.

Sunday's demonstrators called for the release of Hirak activists.

The government has responded to the unrest by relaunching a 2015 programme to improve the region's infrastructure, health facilities and education services by 2019.

Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit said in early June that the projects "respond to 90 percent of the demands of the population".

Morocco's King Mohammed VI (c) has rebuked ministers over delays to a development programme meant to pump investment into a region rocked by months of protests over unemployment and perceived state neglect

But on Sunday the Moroccan king rebuked ministers over delays to the development programme.

He told a cabinet meeting of his "disappointment, dissatisfaction and concern" that the $670 million (600 million euro) programme in the Rif was behind schedule, according to a government statement.

The king also cancelled the annual leave of ministers involved in programme so they can "monitor" its progress, it said.

The Rif has long had a tense relationship with central authorities in Rabat, and it was at the heart of the Arab Spring-inspired protests in Morocco in February 2011.

King Mohamed VI relinquished some of his near-absolute control through constitutional reforms following the 2011 protests.
26.06.2017 LISTEN

Accra, June 26, GNA - The Muslim Community has expressed gratitude to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his continues efforts to improve the living conditions of people living in Zongo communities.

The Community said President Akufo-Addo had demonstrated commitment towards ensuring unity among all religions in Ghana, particularly the Christian and the Islamic religions.

The gratitude was expressed in appreciation of the President's supports towards this year's Eid-Ul-Fitr, by Alhaji Musa Baba, a member of the Eid Committee at the national prayers to mark this year's Eid-Ul-Fitr at the Black Star Square in Accra.

Alhaji Baba hailed the move made by the President for the establishment of the Ministry of Inner Cities and Zongo Development and the introduction of the Zongo Community Development Fund.

He said it was in a positive light, as the communities had suffered lopsided development for the past years.

The Zongo Community Development Fund seeks among other things to support areas such as education, sanitation, infrastructure, cultural development and employment for inhabitants of Zongo communities throughout the country.

This, the Eid Committee Member said, would enhance the economic status of the inhabitants and thus, improve their standards of living.

This year's National Eid-Ul-Fitr thanks giving prayer was graced by President Akufo-Addo, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and wife, Minister of Information, Mr Mustapha Hamid and other dignitaries.

This, Alhaji Baba, said was first of its kind and that the 'President's love for the Muslim community is exceptional.'

Meanwhile, Alhaji Alhassan Abdullahi Sulley, the Chairman of the Committee assured that though the Ramadan was over, the Muslim community would continue to ensure that peace and tranquillity prevailed in the country.

Alhaji Sulley said: 'We shall endeavour to maintain that culture of self-discipline and tolerance with fellow men, as part of the values we have derived from our just ended spiritual exercise.''

The Eid Committee Chairman noted that Ghana had established ' an enviable reputation as one of the most peaceful nation, with the friendliest and most welcoming people in the West African Sub-region,'' therefore it was prudent to maintain the reputation.

He also said the Muslim community was yet to embark on the Hajj Pilgrimage and it was commendable to note that government was working assiduously to ensure that, the exercise was well executed.

'The preparations by your government in the setting up of an early Board, that has representations from across the length and breadth of our country, gives us a positive indication of a project that will be well executed, when the time comes, and, we pray to that effect,'' he said.

GNA

By Godwill Arthur Mensah/Gideon Ahenkorah, GNA
One of Nigerias top Police detectives, Abba Kyari, has come for Nollywood actress, Kate Henshaw, who had some weeks back, blasted the Nigerian Police for celebrating with a criminal.

After the capture of notorious criminal, Evans, the Police who were behind his arrest were seen posing with him as they celebrate his capture but that did not go down well with the actress.

In replying to Kates statement about the police, Abba Kyari, stated that the actress must be out of her mind for criticizing the Police and not is because she knows nothing.

In his words, Who is Kate Henshaw and what does she know? She must be out of her mind to criticize us. Even in other developed countries, people celebrate the capture of criminals and I wonder why she is running her mouth criticizing us when she has never caught a fly in her entire life.
The police have arrested a 28- year-old man, Tunde Giwa, for allegedly robbing and raping a trader in the Awoyaya area of Lagos State.

The police said Giwa threatened the victim with a knife and other weapons to rob her, adding that the suspect subsequently raped the woman.

It was learnt that the incident happened while she was going to a market in Oyingbo around 5am on May 8, 2017.

The victim said the suspect and his gang members stopped her at a bus stop in Awoyaya, took turns to rape her and made away with her Techno phone, and N8,000.

The case was reported to the police, leading to Giwas arrest. However, the suspect denied the allegations.

He said, I dont know anything about what she is saying. I live on the next street to her residence; we had a misunderstanding in the past and she threatened to deal with me.

When she was raped, she mentioned my name to the police because of the disagreement we had. I was coming from my house when the police stopped and arrested me.

A police prosecutor, Inspector Benedict Aigbokhan, brought the accused before an Ikeja Magistrates Court.
To kick off activities for the annual digital conference, the New Media Conference hosted a school debate at the Children International School in Lekki, Lagos on Thursday, 22nd of June 2017.

The debate, which focused on the subject, 'Social Media and the Classroom; Does Social Media Enrich Education' was discussed between CIS Lekki, going head to head with Dowen College with the aim of understanding their views on how the digital space is perceived by the youth.

The New Media Conference (NMC) is an annual gathering of key stakeholders put together by Founder and CEO, Olorisupergal.com, Oluwatosin Ajibade, is aimed at the gathering of key stakeholders aimed at improving marketing and advertising standards in Africas online/digital media space.

The panel of judges included Brand Strategist/Creative Director  Octo Consult Limited, Jumoke Awe; the Founder  Pearl Africa Foundation, Abisoye Ajayi and the CEO, NudeXP, Laolu Ogundeji.

The debate, which was powered by New Media Conference, Olorisupergal and sponsored by The Octagon Group, saw CIS Lagos, declared winners of the debate after an insightful conversation between both schools.
President Donald Trump View Photos

In his Weekly Address, President Trump said that his Administration is working with Congress to get a bill to his desk to rescue people from the problems of Obamacare.

Trump was Mondays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words:

My fellow Americans,

Millions of families across our nation are suffering under the disaster known as Obamacare. Traveling throughout our country over the last two years, I have met so many of these wonderful Americans, and I have never forgotten their stories.

In Wisconsin, I recently met a proud Veteran and his wife  Michael and Tammy Kushman. When they were forced onto Obamacare and the exchange in 2015, they thought they would be able to keep their doctor-but they couldnt. They thought they would be able to keep their plan  but they werent allowed. They were told their premiums would go down  but instead, they soared by 120 percent upward. It was one Obamacare lie after another. Today, the Kushmans spend $1,400 dollars a month on health insurance  nearly one-fourth of their entire net monthly income.

On the same visit, I met another family, Robert and Sarah Stoll. Robert is a volunteer captain for his local fire department. After their Obamacare premiums nearly doubled, they needed extra money and Sarah had no choice but to leave retirement to pay their bills. But this new income meant they were no longer eligible for the tax credit they had once received, and the federal government actually forced them to repay thousands and thousands of dollars.

These families and so many others are victims of a catastrophic law that is wreaking havoc on our healthcare system and our families.

Democrats in Congress created this calamity and now, if we dont act, millions more Americans will be hurt by Obamacares deepening death spiral.

Americans were promised lower premiums, more choices, and better access. Instead, premiums have doubled nationwide  and insurers are still fleeing the market that Obamacare has nearly destroyed. Americans in nearly one-third of all counties have only one insurer to choose from on the exchanges  and many markets may soon have no insurers at all. It really is a disaster.

The American people are calling out for relief, and my Administration is determined to provide it  and we are working with Congress to get a bill to my desk so we can rescue Americans from this catastrophe.

As families across the nation continue to suffer under this law, I only hope that Democrats in Congress will have the political courage to help fix what we know to be a catastrophic situation  a total disaster  that they have created. To be part of the solution, instead of obstructing  always obstructing  change, blocking reform, and doubling-down on Obamacares failure.

But no matter what, my Administration will never stop fighting for you  and for the healthcare system that you deserve. Well get it done. Even if we dont have any help from the Democrats, well get it done.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
Angels Camp Police Dept. logo View Photos

Angels Camp, CA  The Angels Camp Police Department is asking for residents to be on the lookout for a vehicle that was stolen from the 300 block of South Main Street.

The PD reports that the victim parked the 2000 silver Mazda Protege sedan in her driveway. The keys were left inside of the unlocked car. It has a California license plate number of 4JIZ855. Anyone with information related to the case should call the Angels Camp Police Department at 209-736-2567, but if you see the described vehicle, you are encouraged to call 911.
The petroleum industry has led to a significant economic growth in Nigeria. It created thousands of new jobs and income sources for the country. Still, nothing comes without a price! Let`s take a look at the positive and negative contribution of petroleum to Nigerian economy!

Introduction to the positive and negative contribution of Petroleum to Nigerian Economy

It has been more than forty years since Nigeria found oil on its lands. Since then, the petroleum sector has become one of the primary sources of the country`s economy. Nigeria gets about 90% of its foreign exchange earnings thanks to oil and gas. According to the current estimates, at least 20% of GDP comes from petroleum. Therefore, it`s no wonder that petroleum industry is one of the most crucial in Nigeria.

Oil in Nigeria was discovered in 1956. The first oil state was in Niger Delta. Even today it`s one of the largest oil-producing states in Nigeria. The discovery of oil products in Nigeria was done by Shell-BP. Thanks to this company, Nigeria joined the ranks of oil countries in 1958.

Still, this luxury does not come without a price! Do not forget about pollution! One of the significant disadvantages for Nigerian Economy is the situation with Ogoni people. They have suffered from the oil industry impact the most.

Positive Contribution of Petroleum to Nigerian Economy

The rise of Nigeria in the world arena happened largely because of petroleum. This income source helped to build the country after the devastating civil war. At the beginning of the 1950s, petroleum had an insignificant amount in the total export. According to the statistics, it covered about 2% of export products.

The real rise of petroleum started between 1960 and 1970. Nigeria could provide only about 5 million barrels per year in the 1960s. However, at the beginning of the 1970s, this number rose to a fantastic 600 million barrels. Therefore, governmental revenues from the petroleum industry increased from 66 million Naira in the 1970s to 10 billion in the 1980s.

The energy reserves of Nigeria increased to up to 34 billion barrels. This number only keeps growing! At the beginning of the 2000s, petroleum covered about 80% of total export. Today, it`s about 90%. Still, due to the recent problems in the petroleum industry, the federal government tries to find new ways of export revenues. One of the major sectors of development for the country is agriculture.

For today, Nigeria has four refineries with the installed capacity of 445, 000 barrels per day! These refineries are:

 The First (Port Harcourt.) It was launched in 1965. The initial capacity rate is 35,000, while it was developed to up to 60, 000 at the beginning of the 2000s;

 The Second (Port Harcourt.) It was established in 1989. The current refining capacity rate is 150,000.

 The Kaduna Refinery. It was created in 1980. The current refining capacity rate is 110,000.

 The Warri Refinery. It was installed in 1978. The current rate of refining is 125,000.

The combined domestic refinery systems exceeds the domestic consumption. Therefore, it can be sold to other countries.

READ ALSO: Problems of tourism in Nigeria

Nigeria gets about 90% of its revenues from petroleum products. It can make Nigeria extremely vulnerable regarding the economy. Moreover, there are also negative contribution of petroleum to Nigeria.

Negative Contribution of Petroleum to Nigerian Economy

Ogoni Problems

The Ogoni community is one of the darkest examples of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Ogoni Oil Spills is a disaster not only for the Nigerian eco system but also for Nigerian Economy. Experts show that Nigeria will need billions of dollars to clean up Ogoni Land. Moreover, it`s necessary to do this quickly! Nigeria has already had a few instances of radicalism because of Oil and Petroleum.

The current estimated sum to clean-up all Ogoni Land is about one billion dollars. Still, this price can double and even triple! The reason for that is the socio-economic impact to this area. The UN representatives constantly worry about the violation of human rights in this area. Ogoni people have problems with nutrition, clean water sources, and pollution of their environment.

The petroleum industry in Nigerian economy has created environmental refugees. Ogoni people are one of these refugees who seek better conditions somewhere else. Experts provide the information that it would need about 100 billion dollars to clean up all lands damaged by petroleum in Nigeria!

Niger Delta Avengers

Another example is Niger Delta Avengers. They managed to destroy pipelines and almost create a financial crisis in Nigeria. Due to their activity, Nigeria lost billions of dollars because of the oil loss. Moreover, all these pipelines need fixing now. The Federal government of Nigeria has to invest the government funds into this problem.

Another problem connected with Niger Delta Avengers is related to the security of the State. Nigeria has to invest a lot of money to secure the remained pipelines and refineries from NDA.

Petroleum Contribution to Nigerian Economy

The positive and Negative contribution of petroleum to Nigerian economy can be quite obvious. It`s hard to deny that oil and petroleum industry made Nigeria one of the economic leaders in Africa. At the same time, Nigeria pays a high price for the oil!

READ ALSO: Oil Spillage in Nigeria - History

Source: Legit.ng
Founder and CEO of a startup in Bengaluru lost his arm while fighting a crocodile that tried to attack his dogs. He was operated on after the crocodile bit off his left arm, from below the elbow.

By India Today Web Desk: Forest has rules. Unsaid yet well known. You dare to break the rules of the forest, you pay for it.

The Founder and CEO of Turtle Shell Technologies, a startup based out of Bengaluru -- Mudit Dandwate -- chose to enter a restricted area of Bengaluru's Thattekere Lake in Ramanagara district. The lake is at least 46 km from Bengaluru.

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The IIT graduate, 26, was attacked by a crocodile when he tried to help his two dogs out of the lake. Dandwate, originally from Nagpur, was out on a trekking expedition, along with a friend and two pet dogs.

THE CROCODILE ATTACK

Dandwate's dogs, excited to see a water body, jumped into the lake. Mudit, worried about his dogs, jumped into the lake to help them out of the water but failed to notice the signboard that warned of the presence of crocodiles in the lake.

As he was helping his dogs out, a crocodile attacked Mudit and tore off his left arm from below the elbow, the friend told the police. Mudit was operated on at Hosmat Hospital to where he was taken to after he was rushed to a local hospital for first aid, and is recovering.

TREATMENT

The Times of India quoted Thomas Chandy, Chief of Orthopaedics, as saying, "A crocodile bite is powerful and has crushed the arm, just like in the case of any industrial accident. But crocodile bite is toxic as well. So we are currently performing medical procedure called debridement, where is hand is being cleaned several time to make sure there is no infection."

A report on India.com said that the chances of Mudit regaining his arm are bleak and that the doctors said he would be given a prosthetic arm in another three months.

NDTV quoted Dr Ajith Benedict Rayan, Medical Director of Hosmat hospital, as saying, "His condition is stabilised and he is now out of the ICU and in a ward."

CASE FOR ENTERING A RESTRICTED AREA

B Ramesh, Ramanagara SP, told NDTV that a case has been filed against Dandwate for entering a restricted forest area without permission. The TOI report said that the forest department has now taken over the investigation.

--- ENDS ---
Nigeria has been an independent country for almost 57 years and it has seen its fair share of presidents. However, we have noticed that there is a debate about who was the first Executive President of Nigeria. In this article, we will try to clear up the confusion about the topic, as well as tell you a little bit more about the first Nigerian leader.

When talking about the first Executive President of Nigeria, the main reason for the debate is the differences in perception. There are three answers to this question, depending on what you count as presidency.

Some people go by the book and say that the first President of Nigeria was Nnamdi Azikiwe, popularly known as Zik (1904-1996).

5 facts about Nnamdi Azikiwe

 His nationalistic ideas stemmed from the thoughts of Marcus Garvey, whose teachings are known as Garveyism.

 He had his own group of newspapers called the Zik Group, and this included the West African Pilot and Eastern Guardian.

 Azikiwe was the first Nigerian person to be named to the P. C. (Privy Council of the United Kingdom).

 He is the founder of the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, which opened in 1960.

 During the Civil war, he actually supported the idea of Biafra, however, after some time, he changed his mind.

His first position in the sovereign Nigeria was that of Governor-General in 1960. Three years later, he became the President of Nigeria (or so-called first republic). He remained at the post until 1966, when the coup happened and he was overthrown by the Igbo rebels.

Nnamdi Azikiwe was appointed by the parliament, and his position was mostly ceremonial. That is why a lot of people do not consider him to be the first Executive President of Nigeria. Instead, they argue that the true president should be elected and not appointed, thus, Shehu Shagari, who took the post in 1979, should be considered the first President of Nigeria.

5 facts about Shehu Shagari

READ ALSO: Presidential system of government in Nigeria - facts you should know

 Before going into politics, Shagari used to be a teacher.

 Apart from being the president, he also occupied the posts of Minister of Economic Development, Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Public Works, and of Minister of Finance.

 His presidency fell during the time if what was known as the oil boom, and his policies were focused on gaining the most profits from it.

 Due to him being a Muslim, he was polygamous and had three wives.

 He could have been elected for second term; however, many suspected that he did not win the 1983 election fairly, which was why he was overthrown in 1983.

One would think that two candidates for the position of the first President of Nigeria are more than enough. Nevertheless, there are also people that are not satisfied with either of the previous two options.

When asked who was the first elected Executive President of Nigeria?, they say that it was Olusegun Obasanjo. The reason for this answer is that it was in 1999, when Obasanjo won the democratic presidential election that Nigeria first became what it is today (the fourth republic).

5 facts about Olusegun Obasanjo

 Due to his achievements in the military service, he has been given the name Baba Africa.

 As the Head of State in the years 1976-1979, he worked hard on improving the economy and education and succeeded. He increased the countrys GDP and the number of higher education institutions.

 He served two terms as the President of Nigeria, and both times won the elections with over 60% of votes.

 Most consider Obasanjos style of ruling to be overly authoritative for a democratic country. During his presidency, he often came under fire for being too harsh.

 He has twenty children from four wives.

Each of these three people were commendable presidents in their times. Of course, they were not perfect and had their ups and downs, but still they worked on improving the life of Nigerian citizens. However, it is hard to say definitively which one should be considered the first Executive President of Nigeria, as all three of them were first in one way or another. That is why we have offered you the option to decide for yourself. Which one do YOU think was the first President of Nigeria?

READ ALSO: History of political parties in Nigeria since 1960

Source: Legit.ng
- Osita Okechukwu said Arewa youths were not arrested by security officials as a strategy

- He said the plan is probably to make as little noise as possible about the controversial notice

- He argued that arresting those who signed the notice will only make them and the eviction notice popular

The Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu has explained why he thinks the security operatives in Nigeria have not arrested leaders of Arewa Youths who issued quit notice to Igbos.

Legit.ng gathered that Okechukwu said if the youths who issued the controversial eviction notice to Igbos in the north had been arrested, the already tensed situation would have gotten bad.

He said not arresting the northern youths has helped to contain the agitation for Igbos to leave the north before October 1.

Premium Times reports that Okechukwu argued that arresting agitators would only make agitation more popular than necessary.

He cited an example of Nnamdi Kanu, saying the only reason the Kanu has not been re-arrested by security officials is because arresting him will only make him more popular.

The Director of Voice of Nigeria said if Nnamdi Kanu is not rearrested soon, he will start losing sponsor, because the leader of IPOB only got so much support because he was arrested.

He noted that: Arrest and detention wittingly and unwittingly make agitators celebrities."

READ ALSO: President Buhari will complete his tenure - Osinbajo

Okechukwu allegedly made this statement on Sunday while addressing a statement by President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo John Nwodo that the police are playing double standard by not arresting Arewa youths.

Okechukwu disagreed with Nwodo that the security agencies were playing double standards by not making arrests over the quit notice.

He recalled that it was the arrest and long detention of an equally provocative and unknown Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) that made him a celebrity.

He said: His detention gave rise to the disgusting and sordid situation in the country today. Methinks the non-arrest of Yerima Shetima and cohorts of the Arewa Youths for their arrant, unpatriotic, unconstitutional and provocative quit notice is strategic.

"Strategic in the sense that more than any other factor was the arrest and long detention of harmless, but as well provocative Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which led to this sordid scenario.

"Detention made Kanu with no fixed address became an instant celebrity. Had Kanu not been arrested his agitation could have fizzled out unnoticed.

When asked if he is saying this on behalf of the Inspector General of police, Okechukwu said no.

He said: I didnt consult the Inspector General of the Police or any security officer for that matter, but common sense.

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"The security chiefs might have reasoned that it is better to allow the storm to boil over, instead of creating another celebrity. As time is the healer of all wounds.

Im surprised why Chief Nnia Nwodo, our President General, who loves us, the millions of Ndigbo who live in the north more than ourselves did not worry, why Nnamdi Kanu was not rearrested after serial violation of court order.

"Is it not double standard to allow somebody who flagrantly violates court order to move about freely? If by the same token, Kanu is not rearrested, I bet you that his sponsors will thin down."

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that President of Evangelical Church Wining All, ECWA, Rev. Jeremiah Gado, has stated that Nigeria will never remain the same if the leaders of the coalition of Arewa youths who issued quit notice on Igbos are not arrested.

Gado said major crisis would engulf the country.

Watch video of Nnamdi Kanu addressing followers in Isiama Afara, Abia state:

Source: Legit.ng
- After celebrating a hitch-free Sallah, Maiduguri encountered multiple suicide bombing on Sunday night

- Boko Haram terrorists unleashed seven suicide bombers, killing 16 people

-Thirteen people were injured in the multiple explosions

- For more reports on Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria, please visit: https://www.legit.ng/tag/boko-haram.html

Seven suicide bombers were unleashed on Maiduguri, the Borno state capital on Sunday, June 25, after a peaceful Eid-el-Fitri celebration.

The Punch reports that 16 people, including the attackers were killed while 13 others were injured.

Three of the suicide bombers attacked the University of Maiduguri, detonating explosives at different locations in the school, including the security office. where a personnel died.

I6 were killed and 13 Injured in the multiple bombings that rocked Maiduguri

Addressing a press briefing in his office on Monday, Addressing a press briefing in his office, Damien Chukwu, the police commissioner in Borno state, said: Yesterday (Sunday) 25th June 2017 at about 2221hrs. A male suicide bomber gained entry into the premises of University of Maiduguri and detonated PBIED on his body near the Rapid Response Services Office building.

The suicide bomber died while three University security personnel on duty were injured.

One of the injured security personnel, a female (whose identity was given as Becky Edubi), later died while being attended to at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

In another development at about 2230hrs same night. Four (4) female suicide bombers infiltrated Zannari community in Gwange general area of Jere local government area. Two (2) of the suicide bombers detonated PBIEDs on their bodies in two residential buildings.

"The bombers died killing eight (8) other persons while eleven (11) others were injured.

The third bomber detonated killing himself alone. The fourth female suicide bomber, identity not known, who was arrested also died the same night as a result of injuries she sustained.

Chukwu disclosed that two female suicide bombers detonated PBIEDs on their bodies within the premises of University of Maiduguri on Monday at about 4.08am.

One detonated close to the Entrepreneurship and Skill Acquisition Centre Complex killing herself with no other casualty.

The other suicide bomber detonated behind Works Department complex also killing herself with no other casualty, he said.

The casualty figures were revealed by Damian Chukwu, the Borno state Commissioner of Police

According to him, those who died in the explosion and the injured were evacuated to University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

He disclosed that normalcy has been restored.

Premium Times reports that the incident was confirmed by the Borno police public relations officer, Victor Isukwu, at about 12 midnight on a WhatsApp platform, He only gave sketchy details of casualties recorded, while cautioning reporters not to speculate.

READ ALSO: 6 things Buhari said to Nigerians in his Eid-el Fitri message

At Unimaid only one male suicide bomber died; three university security personnel injured among which one later died, Isukwu noted.

In a BBC Hausa broadcast early on Monday, Danjuma Gambo, a professor in the Mass Communications department of the university who also doubles as the spokesperson of the institution, confirmed the incident.

According to him, three suicide attacks took place in the university last night.

After celebrating a peaceful Eid-el-Fitr during the day, residents could not go to sleep at night as sounds of bombings and shootings rented most part of the night and early hours of the dawn.

An eyewitnesses told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri that the bombing started around 10pm.

The noise of the explosion coming from the university woke us up from the sleep around 10p.m.

Few minutes after, the explosion spread to other parts of the town, especially around London Ciki, Malam Usman Chiroma, a resident of Mairi near the university said.

Three of the suicide bombers attacked the University of Maiduguri

The University of Maiduguri which is about 45km from Kawuri town where the official entrance gate to Sambisa forest is located, has suffered several attacks from the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

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Legit.ng reported an attack on the institution in January which led to the death of a renowned professor of veterinary medicine, who died alongside few others during the first attack.

A month ago, a male Boko Haram bomber attacked the University of Maiduguri barely 48 hours after the tertiary institution was attacked by female bombers.

The bomber who attempted to bomb another students' hostel at the university detonated his explosive device just outside the perimeter fencing of the school.

In the video below, Nigerian Air Force gives an update on operations against Boko Haram in 2017.

Source: Legit.ng
- Some Jewish brothers have proved to Nnamdi Kanu that the Igbos have a Jewish heritage

- They reportedly showed him where Igbos are written in the Torah which is the central reference of Judaism

- Whether the Igbos have a Jewish heritage remains a controversy

Some Jewish brothers visited the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Legit.ng gathered that during the visit, the Jewish faithfuls reportedly showed Kanu where Igbos are written in the Torah to prove that the Igbo people are truly from Israel.

A Facebook user, Chinasa Nworu, who shared the photos wrote: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was surprised to see where Igbos are written in the Torah. The Jewish faithful visited him showed him how Igbos are Jews and are written in the Torah before the wicked Britain deleted it from the English Bible.

READ ALSO: Dialogue with Nnamdi Kanu - Fayose urges FG

The Jewish faithful showed Nnamdi Kanu that the Igbos are Jews

For some time, there has been controversy on whether the Igbos have a Jewish heritage as they claim.

The Igbos claim to be one of the lost tribes of the Jewish family.

Kanu was surprised to see where Igbos are written in the Torah

Reacting to this latest 'discovery', some people were happy happy with the discovery while some others criticised Kanu.

In February 2017, Jewish scientists were in Anambra state to conduct DNA tests to ascertain the possibility about an ancestral relationship between the Igbo people and Jews in Israel.

They were invited by the former president-general of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Dozie Ikedife.

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Before Knau was released from prison, one of his bail requirements was that he must produce three sureties, including a highly respected and recognised jewish leader.

A Jewish Rabbi had to be flown in from Port Harcourt to perfect the bail condition, after which he was released.

In the Legit.ng video below, Nnadi Kanu adresses his followers in Isiama Afara, Abia state. According to him, anyone still in doubt about the coming of Biafra is less than an amoeba.

Source: Legit.ng
By Press Trust of India: Washington, Jun 26 (PTI) Chemicals present in bug- repellent sprays can linger in the dust in our homes for as long as a year, posing a health hazard - especially among children and pets - due to prolonged exposure to pesticides, scientists warn.

Warmer temperatures can lead to a flurry of unwelcome guests to our house - flies, mosquitoes, fleas, wasps, bedbugs and lice.

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Pyrethroids are a common pesticide used to repel these pests, and even though they have been found more or less safe for mammals in laboratory studies, they can cause skin irritation, headache, dizziness and nausea for more sensitive individuals.

Since the active ingredients of household pesticides are often the same as those used in agriculture, researchers wanted to find out if laboratory studies are truly representative of what happens in a home.

Researchers from the the Biological Institute in Brazil found that when used outdoors, microorganisms, rain or sprinklers, and sunlight act to break down the pesticides chemical compounds fairly quickly.

The chemicals in pyrethroid pesticides adhere to cloth, tiled floors and wood differently than they would to outdoor surfaces.

By running concurrent experiments - one in a controlled laboratory and the other in a test house - researchers found that the pesticides used in the controlled experiment broke down more quickly than those in the test house, with 70 per cent of cypermethrin, a pyrethroid pesticide, still found in dust samples around the house after one year.

Researchers said that the persistence of pesticides inside buildings, on surfaces and in the dust in houses can be viewed in a couple of different ways.

On the one hand, when using pesticide products in the home, fewer applications should still maintain a long-term control of pests.

On the other hand, extended persistence increases the likelihood that residents will be exposed to the pesticide, which can be especially worrying for young children and household pets, who spend more time on the floor and are frequently picking up things and putting them in their mouths.

The findings, published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, highlight the importance of further studies to evaluate the actual risks of human exposure to pyrethroids when present in dust and on miscellaneous surfaces. PTI MHN MHN

--- ENDS ---
Editors Note: In this article written by Buchi Obichie, she notes that most of the ethnic agitations within Nigeria and the African continent at large are products of colonialism by the white man. She urges Nigerians to direct their anger at the right source, drop the weapons against each other, and sit together to build a great nation. The writer also notes that the problems caused by the white man must be faced squarely and fixed, for things to get better.

I wrote an article previously about the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, and quite a number of people went up in arms. I find it odd that some people would even assume that I am somehow against the agitations of the Igbo man in Nigeria. As a person of Ibo descent, I do understand how the Igbo man can feel marginalized and out of place in this entity called Nigeria. I am not against the Igbo quest for equality; even though as I stated before, I do not believe Biafra is the answer, nor do I believe that Nnamdi Kanu is the messiah. But while we are still on the subject of ethnic agitation, I would like to consider for one moment, the very source of all the hate we are witnessing around us.

READ ALSO: The fire burned and Nnamdi Kanu disappeared

I have always been a reader of books. I am not one of the most intelligent people out there, but I do my best to stay educated in my mind. What I dont know, I try to find out, if it is important. I recently read the Autobiography of Malcolm X. And as much as I didnt quite appreciate all the Christian bashing, I came to understand the psyche of the man Malcolm, and developed a new found respect for him. As I read the words of Malcolm X, I began to reflect upon our own struggle here. Malcolm referred to the white man as the devil. I may not go as far as calling him that, but I can clearly see how the name fits, based on the white mans past (and even present) actions.

We are divided as a people, largely because of the white man. The British came and left disaster in their wake. They met a land filled with people of various ethnicities, fluid in the mobility from one part to another, but distinct in their cultures and traditions; and in their selfish interest, decided to merge these peoples together. Nigeria was an economic project for the British; and after ransacking this land, they left us to clean the mess.

You see, the white man has always had a modus operandi. Wherever he goes, he seeks out a particular group, and puts that group above the rest. He gives that group just a little more authority; never equal to his own, but more than the rest- enough to make this particular group turn a blind eye to his evil actions, and go against the rest. He does this so he can strengthen his economic and political position within that state, and also so he can keep up his facade of morality. You see, by favoring at least a segment of the populace, it becomes easier to beat his chest and blow his moral horn saying, Look, I am not a bad personand then, that group will concur! This was called: divide and rule!

In Nigeria, the white man did it with the Hausas.

Now let it be known, that I have no hatred for any particular tribe, but I try to speak truth just as I see it. The Hausas were the ethnic group most favored by the British, and they got the choicest positions. So even when the first prime minister called a census, the northern oligarchy conspired to inflate the figures of that region in order to give the north more authority in the new nation, with the blessing of the British. And as the rest of the country watched the blatant injustice unfolding in almost every segment of society, the roots of hatred spread deeper in the ground.

The white man has done this all around the African continent. In 1994, Rwanda had a brutal civil war that in the words of one scholar would prove to be the fastest, most efficient killing spree of the 20th century. In just one hundred days, 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered! Rwanda was colonized by Belgium; and just like the British did with the Hausas, the Belgian colonial masters singled out the Tutsis and favored them above the Hutus. Naturally, a deep divide emerged amongst these two peoples and when the hate reached the boiling point after the departure of the colonial masters, a civil war broke out.

In Kenya, the British did the same thing with the Kikuyu and Luo tribes. As one article in the Washington Post put it, the British had spent decades trying to keep the Kikuyu and Luo divided, quite rightly fearing that if the two groups ever united, their combined power could bring down the colonial order. All around the African continent, the white man left trouble in his wake.

Why are we fighting against one another? When Africa fights, the white man laughs. He looks at us and calls us these unruly, uncivilized people meanwhile; he is the source of most of our problems. Even when he eventually speaks of peace; he does not do it because he loves us, but simply because he does not want our problems to become his. If war breaks out in Nigeria, it would be a catastrophe, and the white man knows it. A nation of close to 200million people- it would be a humanitarian disaster on the largest scale. It would be a disaster the white man cannot look away from because after all, this is the largest African nation! If anything goes wrong with Nigeria, the entire African continent would be affected. That is a problem the white man does not want on his hands; and so, he appeals for calm.

But regardless of the white mans sins, Nigeria now has to clean up its mess. And we have to start first, by channeling the anger towards the right source. Now, this does not mean taking up arms against the white man, but it means dropping the weapons we have picked up against ourselves! What would it take for us to see, that the ones who brought us these problems in the first place, have now left us to ourselves? Can we sit and talk? Can we find a way to rectify these problems that this white man brought us, without chopping off our own heads? Can we recognize that we are stronger together than apart? Can we clean up this mess?

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So, one group was favored to the detriment of the rest, but we are all still siblings. I have 3 brothers; and when I say I would take a bullet for any one of them, I sincerely mean it. As we have grown older, we have realized all the more, that when we stand together, we can overcome almost any challenge. We may carry grievances amongst ourselves from time to time- side eyes at my younger brother- but as a cardinal rule, none of us ever goes against blood. We try not to give any outsider ammunition to be used against any one of us, so we never let cracks show in public. We have come to realize that when one person rises, we ALL rise and when one person falls, we ALL have a problem. We are siblings till the end!

When will Africa (and Nigerians in particular) begin to show the white man that we are stronger than every groundwork he laid to tear us apart?

Nigeria will need more than just words to be fixed. We will need to make tough decisions. The nation is stronger together, but it certainly needs to be restructured, if we are to truly rectify the white mans wrongs. Each region must be treated like an equal participant in the affairs of the whole. Are we prepared to make these tough calls? We must be. Because with every passing moment that we tear each other down, we give the white man even more ammunition against us. While Africa burns, the white lands prosper. For how long will we be fools?

This opinion piece is written by Buchi Obichie.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Legit.ng.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of a Nigerian blasting Queen Elizabeth for messing up Nigeria

Source: Legit.ng
- Chadian soldiers and Boko Haram insurgents engaged in a fierce fight at the weekend

- 8 soldiers were killed and 18 others injured in the fierce battle on five islands on Lake Chad

- 162 Boko Haram terrorists were killed during the clash

Boko Haram terrorists reportedly killed eight Chadian soldiers during a fierce clash at the weekend.

The incident occurred on islands on Lake Chad, which borders four countries on the edge of the Sahara, Guardian reports.

Chads army confirmed the incident on Monday, June 26.

Its spokesman, Colonel Azem, disclosed that eight soldiers were killed and another 18 were wounded.

READ ALSO: Jewish brothers show Kanu where Igbos are written in Torah (photos)

He said: Our forces attacked Boko Haram elements on five islands near Nigeria on June 24 and 25.

According to him, 162 insurgents were also killed by the troops.

Chad is part of a five-nation regional force which comprises of Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Benin, collaborating to fight Boko Haram, a sect that has killed thousands of people and rendered millions homeless.

A month ago, the Nigerian army in its fight against terrorism carried out operations around the fringes of Lake Chad. Thirteen Boko Haram terrorist were killed and 10 others engaged in smuggling of supplies to the terrorists were arrested.

Legit.ng earlier reported a foiled attack on Double, Cameroon, by members of the Boko Haram terrorist group in the early hours of Tuesday, May 23.

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Two Boko Haram bombers who attacked the city ended up getting killed in their own explosion while another one was shot dead by the army.

Watch this video of how the Nigeria Air Force recently attacked a Boko Haram base:

Source: Legit.ng
- Alhassan Muhammad, the DSS Director at the Kano office, made these revelations on Sunday, June 25

- Muhammadu says the planned attacks, if they had succeeded, would have been the bloodiest in Nigeria's history

- The DSS boss says the foiled attacks were a result of the agency's proactiveness and use of intelligence gathered

Not fewer than 30 Boko Haram suspects and a top commander of the terrorist group have been arrested by the Department of State Security Service (DSS), Leadership reports.

The arrests were carried out by the Kano office of the agency which revealed on Sunday, June 25, that the achievement followed a sting operation.

The agency said that arms and ammunition and Improvised Explosive Devices that were ready for use were recovered from the suspects hideouts.

All these were disclosed by Alhassan Muhammad, the DSS Director at the Kano office.

READ ALSO: Soldiers kill 162 Boko Haram insurgents in fierce battle on Lake Chad

Muhammad said the operation was carried out by a combination of policemen and DSS operatives and it led to the arrest of the Boko Haram unit commander who was responsible for Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto.

He said the commander and the 30 other suspects were planning coordinated attacks during Sallah festivity in Kano and other major Northern cities.

He said: We have in our custody about 30 suspected Boko Haram terrorists including a sector Commandant whom we arrested at Rijiyar Zaki and Dorayi areas of Kano in just two days.

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Our joint intelligence gathering and the synergy that existed between all the security apparatus in Kano give a moral buster to our giant efforts in tracking every suspicious movements and make it highly difficult for the terrorists to make any impact.

Recall that Legit.ng had earlier reported that the DSS raised the alarm over the plan by some members of Boko Haram terrorist group to attack Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria.

The secret police said the group members have planned to launch the attack today, June 23, by infiltrating the ranks of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria popularly known as Shittes in Abuja and some of the cities in the North like Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna and Maiduguri.

In a statement released by Tony Opuiyo, the DSS said the terrorists planned to join the Shiites in their procession and unleash mayhem in the city.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of child survivors of Boko Haram attacks in the northeast

Source: Legit.ng
The Nathu La pass is a new route, opened only in 2015. Back then, both China and India indicated that Nathu La was an important route as it would allow the elderly to trek to Kailash Manarovar.

By India Today Web Desk: The Chinese government today said it was in touch with India over the denial of entry to Indian Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims but did not provide a reason about why it shut the Nathu La pass.

Last week, Chinese border officials stopped a group of 47 Indian pilgrims from crossing over into China from Sikkim. The pilgrims intended to use the Nathu La pass, which is a fairly new route, but were stopped by Chinese officials, who cited inclement weather conditions.

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The Chinese then claimed that that the pilgrims were denied entry (once on June 19 and then again on June 24) due to rains and landslides in the Tibet region. (Kailash Mansarovar is situated near Mount Kailash in Tibet).

Today, Chinese Foreign Minister spokesperson Geng Shuang said, "According to my information the foreign ministries of the two countries are maintaining communication on this issue", but did not offer any other explanation.

Meanwhile, Indian government sources have said the Chinese have not provided a formal reason for denying entry to the pilgrims, who have reportedly returned to their respective states.

Notably, the Nathu La pass is a new route, opened only in 2015. Back then, both China and India indicated that Nathu La was an important route as it would allow the elderly to trek to Kailash Manarovar.

There is not information yet on whether the older Lipulekh route has been shut as well.

Last week, when the pilgrims were denied entry, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay had said that some difficulties were being experienced in the movement of pilgrims through Nathu La and that India was taking up the matter with China.

Hundreds of Indian pilgrims undertake Kailash Mansarovar yatra in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China every year negotiating the mountainous terrain.

This year, a total of 350 yatris had registered for the yatra via Nathu La route and they were to travel in seven batches.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Kazakh capital Astana.

In the meeting, Modi had said the two sides should tap their potential in cooperation, strengthen communication and coordination in international affairs, respect each others core concerns and appropriately handle their disputes.

Also Read:

PM Narendra Modi meets China's Xi Jinping during SCO summit in Kazakhstan

Ahead of Modi-Jinping SCO meet, China says India joining NSG more complicated than imagined

Also Watch:

China denies entry to Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims, yatra deferred

--- ENDS ---

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- A military aircraft was sighted hovering around palace of the traditional ruler of Okporoza, Gbaramatu kingdom of Warri south, Delta state

- Although the aircraft was said not to have done anything harmful, it nonetheless caused panic in the embattled community

- But Sheriff Mulade, a chief in the kingdom, said there is no cause for alarm as Gbaramatu kingdom has not done anything to warrant military invasion

A military aircraft, on Monday, was sited hovering around the palace of the monarch of Okporo, the traditional headquarters of Gbaramatu kingdom in Warri south local government area of Delta state.

According to GbaramatuVoice, an online media, there is tension in the community due to heavy presence of military men in the area.

It said the military aircraft hovered around the palace of His Royal Majesty, Oboro Gbaran 11 and the guest house of the community, causing serious panic among residents.

Panic as military aircraft hovers around palace of Gbaramatu kingdom

The GbaramatuVoice further said: The military personnel who arrived the community this morning are presently patrolling guest house and the palace of His Royal Majesty, Oboro Gbaran II. The reason for their presence was yet unknown at the time of filing this report.

READ ALSO: Soldiers kill 162 Boko Haram insurgents in fierce battle on Lake Chad

When contacted, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, chairman of Kokodiagbene community in Gbaramatu kingdom, confirmed the presence of the aircraft.

He said the military aircraft hovered around the palace of the traditional ruler around 12.30pm on Monday.

He, however, told Legit.ng that the aircraft hovered around and left, even as the community remained elusive over its presence.

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Mulade added: But we are not worried, we are not scared. We are not worried because Gbaramatu kingdom is innocent. We did not commit any crime. There is no cause for alarm. Everywhere is calm, there is no panic.

Watch this Legit.ng video

Source: Legit.ng
- The EFCC accused Justice Nganjiwa of allegedly receiving a total of $260,000 and N8.65m through his bank account between 2013 and 2015

- The commission claims the accused acted contrary to Section 82(a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos state, No. 11, 2011 as he could not give account for the source of the funds

- Justice Nganjiwa pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges and the trial judge adjourns the case till October 6 and 10

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday June 24, arraigned a serving judge of the Federal High Court, Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, before Justice A.A. Akintoye of the Lagos state High Court, Igbosere, on a 14 count charge of alleged unlawful enrichment to the tune of $260,000 and N8,650,000.

New Telegraph reports that Nganjiwas arraignment followed the dismissal of a preliminary objection he filed to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to try him.

According to the counsel for the accused, Robert Clarke, only the National Judicial Council (NJC) had the power to deal with the kind of allegations brought against the serving judge by the EFCC by virtue of Section 158 of the 1999 Constitution.

However, the counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, contended that Nganjiwa had no immunity from criminal prosecution despite the fact that he was a serving judge.

READ ALSO: In 2019, Vote whoever won't divide Nigeria - Ooni of Ife

According to the opposition counsel, Section 308 of the constitution, which specified government officials who had immunity as the president, vice-president and state governors, did not include a serving judge.

Despite the fact that Section 158 of the Constitution vested the National Judicial Commission, with administrative power to discipline an earring judicial for misconduct, the NJC did not have the power to look into criminal allegations against judges.

Oyedepo further stated: I therefore urge this court to dismiss the preliminary objection and order Justice Nganjiwa to proceed into the dock for his arraignment.

Oyedepos argument was upheld by the trial judge Mrs. Akintoye in her ruling, as she dismissed Justice Nganjiwas preliminary objection.

The judge stated: This court, having been properly constituted, has the power to try this case. The notice of preliminary objection, I hold, is therefore misconceived and same is hereby dismissed.

Nganjiwa pleaded not guilty to all 14 counts.

In the charges, the EFCC had accused Justice Nganjiwa of allegedly receiving a total of $260,000 and N8.65m through his bank account between 2013 and 2015 and unlawfully enriching himself as a public official.

The EFCC accused the judge of acting contrary to Section 82(a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, No. 11, 2011 as the commission claimed Nganjiwa could not explain the source of the funds.

Justice Nganjiwa was also accused of giving false information to operatives of the EFCC, which, the prosecution said, amounted to an offence under Section 39(2) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2014.

Nganjiwa however denied all the allegations.

Following the arraignment, the trial judge was urged by the counsel for the defense, to admit his client to bail on self-recognizance being a serving judge.

But the EFCC counsel however pleaded with the court not to grant Nganjiwa bail on self-recognizance but to impose serious conditions that would compel his appearance in court for his trial.

Oyedepo argued: I urge Your Lordship to impose serious conditions that will compel the defendants appearance. We know what we went through before we got here.

In view of the claim by the defendant that hes a judge, what should be paramount is the expeditious trial of this case, so that he can know his fate.

However, Justice Akintoye agreed with the counsel for the defense and stated that in view of the fact that Nganjiwa was a serving judge, she was inclined to grant him bail on the basis of self-recognizance

The accused was however ordered by the trial judge to deposit his passport in the custody of the chief registrar of the Lagos State High Court within seven days or that the EFCC should deposit same if the passport was still in its custody.

Ngangiwa was directed to ensure he appeared in court for the entire duration of the trial.

Justice Akintoye adjourned till October 6 and 10 for commencement of trial.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court Abuja, who was recently recalled from suspension by the National Judicial Council (NJC), has resumed sitting.

Ademola was suspended alongside other judges following allegations of corruption brought against them by the federal government.

The NJC in a statement on June 3 stated that Justice Ademola could resume his judicial duties on the basis that the court had exonerated him of the charges preferred against him by the federal government.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of EFCC officials staging walk against corruption

Source: Legit.ng
- NYSC management has said the man that was shot dead in Bayelsa state is not a Corps member

- Samuel Collins was shot dead on Saturday by gunmen suspected to be members of a cult group

- The management said no such name as Samuel Collins was on the list of serving Corps members

The management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has reacted to recent report about a Corps member shot dead in Bayelsa state.

In an earlier report, a 30-year-old man identified as Samuel Collins was shot dead by gunmen suspected to be members of a cult group.

According to the report, he was a corps member who hailed from Port Harcourt in neighboring Rivers State and was a graduate of engineering from the University of Benin.

Reacting to the report, the NYSC in a statement issued on Monday, June 26, said Collins was not a Corps member.

READ ALSO: Soldiers kill 162 Boko Haram insurgents in fierce battle on Lake Chad

The statement read: "Management wishes to state that, contrary to the impression created in the report, the deceased was not a Corps member.

"A search through our records in Bayelsa State showed no such name as Samuel Collins on the list of serving Corps members.

"For the avoidance of doubt, Police in the state have identified the deceased as staff of a Yenagoa-based agency.

"While sympathizing with the bereaved family, we take exception to the misrepresentation of facts in that report, which is capable of sensationalizing the issue of safety and general welfare of our Corps members.

The NYSC management called on all Corps members serving in Bayelsa to stay calm as measures were in place to guarantee their safety.

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Legit.ng had earlier reported that the incident occurred on Saturday evening on Melford Okilo Road, INEC/Kpansia area of Yenagoa metropolis.

Eyewitnesses at the scene disclosed that the young man was shot in the head at close range and died minutes later.

The police have since removed his body and deposited it at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa.

Some months back, the NYSC management commenced investigation into the death of three corps members in various circumstances. The deceased died during the 2016 Batch B (Stream I) Orientation Course in Bayelsa, Kano and Zamfara states.

Meanwhile, see these NYSC members doing wonders at their place of primary assignment in the Legit.ng video below:

Source: Legit.ng
A recent statement by Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, has stirred great reactions amongst Nigerians.

In the now controversial statement, the former governor of Kano state said Nnamdi Kanu has the potential to win presidency, come 2019.

Kwankwaso said the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra may ride on his popularity to contest in the 2019 election. 

Kwankwaso (APC, representing Kano Central in the Senate), also admonished South-East leaders to do more in dissociating themselves from Biafra agitation to prove they are truly for Nigerias unity.

In reaction to Kwankwaso's assertions, Nigerians have taken to social media to air their views regarding the possibility of having Nnamdi Kanu run for presidency in 2019.

Below are what Nigerians have said about the issue.

READ ALSO: Top 19 quotes for the month of June

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Below is a Legit.ng video in which Nnamdi Kanu addressed his followers in Isiama Afara, Abia state.

Source: Legit.ng
The People's Liberation Army of China has slammed India for provoking trouble at Sikkim border after standoff with Indian troops over road project.

By Ananth Krishnan: China's People's Liberation Army has slammed India for "unilaterally provoking trouble" amid an on-going face-off between the two militaries along the border in Sikkim.

Both sides have been in a stand-off after a confrontation over a road project. Reports said the PLA crossed into Indian territory and destroyed two bunkers in the Doka La region in Sikkim. The incident came as China closed the border at Nathu La and prevented the entry of the first batch of pilgrims for the Kailash yatra. Pilgrims at the other entry point in Lipulekh, Uttarakhand, were however allowed.

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In a statement on Monday, PLA spokesperson Colonel Ren Guoqiang disputed the account.

"Recently, the Chinese side in the Donglong area for road construction, was blocked by the Indian Army. The Sino-Indian border has been delineated by historical treaties. After the independence of India, the Indian government has confirmed in writing several times, acknowledging that there is no objection to the border between the two sides."

The PLA added, "The construction of the above-mentioned roads by the Chinese side is entirely a sovereign act in its own territory, and the Indian side has no right to interfere".

'WILL FIRMLY DEFEND LEGIT RIGHTS'

"Earlier, the Chinese side has made a briefing to the Indian side. In this context, the Indian military unilaterally provoked trouble, in violation of the agreement between the two sides and the leaders of the two countries consensus, seriously endangering peace and tranquility in the border areas."

The PLA added, "China is committed to developing bilateral relations between China and India, but will also firmly defend legitimate rights and interests. It is hoped that the Indian side does not make any complication of the border issue and jointly maintains the good momentum of development of bilateral relations."

Previous incidents have been triggered in the western sector of the border in the Ladakh region, which Indian officials attribute to the overlapping claim lines of the as yet undemarcated Line of Actual Control.

Incidents in 2014 and 2015 strained ties, but officials said the past year had seen a declining number of incidents.

The incident in the Sikkim sector, near the India-Bhutan-Tibet trijunction, has again turned the spotlight on the simmering boundary dispute between the neighbours.

Also read: EXCLUSIVE: China concerned by US-India surveillance drones deal

Also read: China 'closely watching' Modi-Trump meet, sends warning on South China Sea

Also read: China says in touch with India on Kailash Mansarovar issue, doesn't give reason for suspending entry

Also watch: China denies entry to Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims, yatra deferred

--- ENDS ---
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Chinas economy is not falling into a black hole. Wheels are in motion for economic reforms.

Chinas mainland equities  known as the A-shares  will be included in the massive MSCI Emerging Markets Index starting in June 2018. Some 222 Shanghai and Shenzhen listed companies made the cut. For now, the weighting is under 1%. In the not so distant future, it will rise to 5%. Brendan Ahern, CIO of KraneShares in New York predicts China A-shares allocation will hit 17% at full inclusion in several years. That additional 17% allocated to China will raise its weight to over 40% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, an index tracked by around $2 trillion in both active and passive investment funds here in the U.S. alone.

Chinas A-shares beat the MSCI Emerging Markets and the S&P 500 on Wednesday, but has been a laggard now for years. The incessant bear narrative on China being on the cusp of a hard landing, a housing bubble burst, or a credit crunch has kept investors away. China is the second largest economy in the world. The slightest hint of over-reach by its lenders, and oversupply caused by municipal level companies who have full-employment as their mandate, has consistently turned investors off to China since 2015. No matter how you measure it  the MSCI China H-Shares index (Hong Kong listed Chinese companies) or the Deutsche X-Trackers CSI-300 A-Shares fund (ASHR), investing in Chinese equity has been a money loser. A-shares ETF in particular are down over 45% since June 26, 2015 while emerging markets as whole rose by nearly 3% and the S&P 500 is up by 15%.



Chinas economy has two very distinct sides to it: on the one side is a dynamic and progressive manufacturing and services economy supporting the rising consumer class and on the other, a heavy industrial sector weighed down by debt and excess capacity whose time is past, says Edmund Harris, portfolio manager for the Guinness Atkinson China and Hong Kong Fund (ICHKX) and the Renminbi Yuan and Bond Fund (GARBX). The stocks included by MSCI reflect both sides. There are good companies in the first group if you know how to look, he says, a nod to active money management instead of ETFs.

Chinas problems of an aging population, oversupply, and a credit bubble still exist, but progress is being made to moderate them.

China has switched to a 2 child policy and will likely completely eliminate restrictions on children. This has boosted the birth rate and will reduce the drop in the working age population between now and 2040. The working age population might even be close to the same if there is effective incentives on having children.

China had 18.5 million births in 2016 and will likely have similar numbers in 2017. This was the level of births in 1999. Sustaining births per year at 20 million would stabilize or allow for very gradual change in the working age population.

The IMF has recently projected that China can sustain 6+% annual GDP growth for 3 years. This is important to give China time to strengthen national, provincial and corporate balance sheets and for the middle class consumer economy to become the main economic driver.

Chinese companies now have have greater sources of capital, foreign capital, and it is possible to have less reliance on local debt.

Chinas large companies have increased coverage of interest payments to over 6 times. This is the best since 2010.
Nearly 3,500 exoplanets have been confirmed so far. In a new Caltech-led study, researchers have classified these planets in much the same way that biologists identify new animal species and have learned that the majority of exoplanets found to date fall into two distinct size groups: rocky Earth-like planets and larger mini-Neptunes. The team used data from NASAs Kepler mission and the W. M. Keck Observatory.

This is a major new division in the family tree of planets, analogous to discovering that mammals and lizards are distinct branches on the tree of life, says Andrew Howard, professor of astronomy at Caltech and a principal investigator of the new research. The lead author of the new study, to be published in The Astronomical Journal, is Benjamin J. (B. J.) Fulton, a graduate student in Howards group who splits his time between Caltech and the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.



This sketch illustrates a family tree of exoplanets. Planets are born out of swirling disks of gas and dust called protoplanetary disks. The disks give rise to giant planets like Jupiter as well as smaller planets mostly between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. Researchers using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory and NASAs Kepler mission discovered that the smaller planets can be cleanly divided into two size groups: the rocky Earth-like planets and super-Earths, and the gaseous mini-Neptunes.

Credit: NASA/Kepler/Caltech (T. Pyle)



Diagram for making planets. This diagram illustrates how planets are assembled and sorted into two distinct size classes. First, the rocky cores of planets are formed from smaller pieces. Then, the gravity of the planets attracts hydrogen and helium gas. Finally, the planets are baked by the starlight and lose some gas. At a certain mass threshold, planets retain the gas and become gaseous mini-Neptunes; below this threshold, the planets lose all their gas, becoming rocky super-Earths.

Credit: NASA/Kepler/Caltech (R. Hurt)



Histogram showing size gap in Kepler planets. Researchers using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory and NASAs Kepler mission have discovered a gap in the distribution of planet sizes, indicating that most planets discovered by Kepler so far fall into two distinct size classes: the rocky Earths and super-Earths (similar to Kepler-452b), and the mini-Neptunes (similar to Kepler-22b). This histogram shows the number of planets per 100 stars as a function of planet size relative to Earth.

Credit: NASA/Ames/Caltech/University of Hawaii (B. J. Fulton)

In essence, their research shows that our galaxy has a strong preference for two types of planets: rocky planets up to 1.75 times the size of Earth, and gas-enshrouded mini-Neptune worlds, which are from 2 to 3.5 times the size of Earth (or somewhat smaller than Neptune). Our galaxy rarely makes planets with sizes in between these two groups.

Astronomers like to put things in buckets, says Fulton. In this case, we have found two very distinct buckets for the majority of the Kepler planets.

Since the Kepler mission launched in 2009, it has identified and confirmed more than 2,300 exoplanets. Kepler specializes in finding planets close to their stars, so the majority of these planets orbit more closely than Mercury, which circles the sun at roughly one-third of the Earth-sun distance. Most of these close-in planets were found to be roughly between the size of Earth and Neptune, which is about 4 times the size of Earth. But, until now, the planets were found to have a variety of sizes spanning this range and were not known to fall into two size groups.

In the solar system, there are no planets with sizes between Earth and Neptune, says Erik Petigura, co-author of the study and a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech. One of the great surprises from Kepler is that nearly every star has at least one planet larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. Wed really like to know what these mysterious planets are like and why we dont have them in our own solar system.

Kepler finds planets by looking for telltale dips in starlight as they pass in front of their stars. The size of the dip is correlated with the size of the planet. But in order to precisely know the planets sizes, the sizes of the stars must be measured.

The Caltech teamtogether with colleagues from several institutions, including UC Berkeley, the University of Hawaii, Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of Montrealtook a closer look at the Kepler planets sizes with the help of the Keck Observatory. They spent years obtaining spectral data on the stars hosting 2,000 Kepler planets. The spectral data allowed them to obtain precise measurements of the sizes of the Kepler stars; these measurements, in turn, allowed the researchers to determine more precise sizes for the planets orbiting those stars.

Before, sorting the planets by size was like trying to sort grains of sand with your naked eye, says Fulton. Getting the spectra from Keck is like going out and grabbing a magnifying glass. We could see details that we couldnt before.

With Kecks new data, the researchers were able to measure the sizes of the 2,000 planets with 4 times more precision than what had been achieved previously. When they examined the distribution of planet sizes, they found a surprise: a striking gap between the groups of rocky Earths and mini-Neptunes. Though a few planets fall into the gap, the majority do not.

The cause of the gap is not clear, but the scientists have come up with two possible explanations. The first is based on the idea that nature likes to make a lot of planets roughly the size of Earth. Some of those planets, for reasons that are not fully understood, end up acquiring enough gas to jump the gap and become gaseous mini-Neptunes.

A little bit of hydrogen and helium gas goes a very long way. So, if a planet acquires only 1 percent of hydrogen and helium in mass, thats enough to jump the gap, says Howard. These planets are like rocks with big balloons of gas around them. The hydrogen and helium thats in the balloon doesnt really contribute to the mass of the system as a whole, but it contributes to the volume in a tremendous way, making the planets a lot bigger in size.

The second possible reason that planets dont land in the gap has to do with planets losing gas. If a planet does happen to acquire just a little bit of gasthe right amount to place it in the gapthat gas can be burned off when exposed to radiation from the host star.

A planet would have to get lucky to land in the gap, and then if it did, it probably wouldnt stay there, says Howard. Its unlikely for a planet to have just the right amount of gas to land in the gap. And those planets that do have enough gas can have their thin atmospheres blown off. Both scenarios likely carve out the gap in planet sizes that we observe.

In the future, the researchers plan to study the heavy-element content of these planets to learn more about their composition. Were living in a golden age of planetary astronomy because we are finding thousands of planets around other stars, says Petigura. We are currently working to understand what these mini-Neptunes are made of, which should help explain why these planets form so easily around other stars and why they didnt form around the sun.

The California-Kepler Survey. III. A Gap in the Radius Distribution of Small Planets

Abstract

The size of a planet is an observable property directly connected to the physics of its formation and evolution. We used precise radius measurements from the California-Kepler Survey (CKS) to study the size distribution of 2025 Kepler planets in fine detail. We detect a factor of over 2 deficit in the occurrence rate distribution at 1.5-2.0 R. This gap splits the population of close-in (P less than 100 d) small planets into two size regimes: R_P less than 1.5 R and RP = 2.0-3.0 R, with few planets in between. Planets in these two regimes have nearly the same intrinsic frequency based on occurrence measurements that account for planet detection efficiencies. The paucity of planets between 1.5 and 2.0 R supports the emerging picture that close-in planets smaller than Neptune are composed of rocky cores measuring 1.5 R or smaller with varying amounts of low-density gas that determine their total sizes.
According to ZDNet, "Brazil is the first country where Huawei is rolling out the CIDC model outside of China." Huawei's leadership in Brazil changed last year. The company highlighted its plan to become a key player in the region. The company's local CEO, Wei Yao, said "We remain committed to stimulating collaboration between the various players within the local ecosystem to develop technologies to cater for local innovation demand" back then. Now, they are living up to that promise.

While other brands are reducing their presence in the area, Huawei opens a research and development center in Brazil. Although this might look like a minor investment for the Chinese brand, it is interesting to see that they managed to team up with a government agency and everything seems to be working fine.

- 5690 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2013 Codrut Nistor - Senior Tech Writersince 2013

In my early school days, I hated writing and having to make up stories. A decade later, I started to enjoy it. Since then, I published a few offline articles and then I moved to the online space, where I contributed to major websites that are still present online as of 2021 such as Softpedia, Brothersoft, Download3000, but I also wrote for multiple blogs that have disappeared over the years. I've been riding with the Notebookcheck crew since 2013 and I am not planning to leave it anytime soon. In love with good mechanical keyboards, vinyl and tape sound, but also smartphones, streaming services, and digital art.
In China, many experts see the Modi government crafting a much closer relationship with the US and deepening defence ties, but at the same time do not expect India to become an ally.

By Ananth Krishnan: China is keenly watching the defence agreements set to be inked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, with particular attention on the deal for surveillance drones that would boost India's capabilities in the Indian Ocean, Chinese experts have said.

The agreement for around 22 unarmed surveillance drones is among the agreements on the agenda, while a deal for co-producing F-16 fighter aircraft was also finalised before the visit between Lockheed Martin and Tata.

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Han Hua, a leading Chinese strategist who is Director of the Center for Arms Control and Professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University, told India Today: "Some people in China are a little concerned. Still, it is not the most advanced technology being shared for example when you look at the F-16s. But that is only one issue of defence cooperation. There is also the transfer of surveillance drones in the Indian Ocean. It will increase India's capability to have a view over the entire Indian Ocean. That is more symbolic than the F-16 joint production."

CHINA CLOSELY WATCHING OUTCOMES

China is closely following the outcomes of the visit. As in Delhi, there was some concern in Beijing following Trump's election considering his unpredictability, although Chinese President Xi Jinping had a surprisingly cordial visit to the US, where he was welcomed at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Han Hua said, "I think the US-India relationship has an impact on the China-US relations. After the Bush administration opened the door to India, people in Washington have been talking about India's role in checking China's rise. Especially after the nuclear deal in 2005, the relationship between Washington and New Delhi has emerged as a concern among Chinese strategists. Especially the nuclear deal, as it's not just a nuclear deal. It is a more symbolic way to show the nature of the strategic partnership between US and India. In that sense, China is concerned."

AT THE SAME TIME, BEIJING NOT OVERLY CONCERNED

At the same time, one reason Beijing is not overly concerned is that in its view, ahead of India on the agenda for Trump is dealing with North Korea. "The Trump administration cannot solve the North Korea problem by itself. Maybe China provide a kind of solution. As many Americans think, China has a high stake in that issue," said Han.

Han, who is also a leading expert on nuclear issues, also said she wasn't sure if Trump would do the heavy-lifting required to push India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group. "We haven't witnessed any specific policy change on NSG after the Trump administration in terms of India's membership. Some people have said the administration supports the membership but a strong statement hasn't been made yet in that issue," she said.

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In China, many experts see the Modi government crafting a much closer relationship with the US and deepening defence ties, but at the same time do not expect India to become an ally as in the case of Japan or even Philippines.

"I think my conviction is India in terms of foreign policy independence that is very well entrenched in the country no matter who is the ruling party." said Han. "Modi, people tend to think is more nationalist or takes a very realistic view on the world rather than the middle-line policies taken by Congress. In my sense, India is still a country with its own pride and glory so I don't think India will go very far from the current foreign policy decision-making. Some people say Modi has already been quite close to the US in strategic terms but for me that trend will go a little bit further but not far beyond the general non-alignment policy."

Also Read:

Ahead of Trump-Modi meeting, 'US approves sale of 22 Guardian drones to India'

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China 'closely watching' Modi-Trump meet, sends warning on South China Sea

Also Watch:

External affairs ministry has emerged as a strong humanitarian force globally: PM Modi in US

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By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) The Congress and Left parties today remained non-committal about their participation in a special meeting at the Central Hall of Parliament on June 30 to roll out the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Congress was considering whether to attend the meeting and suggested that it had not given any concrete assurance to the government on its participation.

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As per earlier reports, former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda are expected to share the dais with incumbent Narendra Modi.

"The Congress party is examining various aspects of the issue including the manner the GST is being implemented causing harassment to the common people, the unorganised sector and small businessmen," Surjewala said.

According to sources, the Congress leadership is divided on its participation with a section of the party feeling that it should abstain.

Other opposition parties, including the Left parties, were yet to decide on whether to participate in the event.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat till May 2014, had opposed the system.

"Why this unseemly hurry with GST before putting systems in place? After all, BJP opposed it for several years, especially then CM, Gujarat (sic)," Yechury tweeted.

The historic Central Hall of Parliament will host a midnight function on June 30 to launch the sweeping tax reform measure, reminiscent of Indias tryst with destiny on the midnight of August 15, 1947.

The government will use the circular-shaped Central Hall, perhaps for the first time, to launch a new taxation system that is set to dramatically re-shape the over USD 2 trillion economy.

The launch event will in all probability start at 11 pm on June 30 and extend into midnight, coinciding with the roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, official sources said.

A gong will be sounded at midnight to signify that GST has arrived. Modi will be the key speaker at the function. President Pranab Mukherjee is also likely to attend the function.

The GST Bill was originally piloted by Mukherjee when he was the finance minister in the previous UPA regime. PTI SKC ENM PYK SMN

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This 24-year-old college dropout had thousands of followers, but that wasn't enough for him.

By Shashank Shekhar: His YouTube lessons on responsible hacking drew thousands of techies. His Facebook page, where he imparted similar tips, had more than 10,000 followers. But Sunny Nehra, a 24-year-old engineering dropout, could not resist the lure of easy money.

According to Delhi Police cyber cell records, Nehra's list of victims reads out the who's who of e-commerce companies, from MakeMyTrip and Yatra.com to Amazon, Flipkart, Big Bazar, Reliance Digital, Myntra. com, Dominos Pizzas, Prestige, Titan, Provogue and Shoppers Stop.

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Nehra's game was up last week when a team of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force busted a gang of five hackers for allegedly duping thousands of international account holders by shopping through leaked data of credit cards. He is now in judicial custody.

TALENT TO CRIME

"This is a classic case of a gifted mind taking up the criminal path," said UP STF's additional superintendent Triveni Singh who arrested Nehra last week. "There are many young techies who are inspired from him. We have several such young criminals on our radar and will soon start a crackdown against them."

Describing his functioning, Singh said after finding loopholes in a payment gateway, Nehra would misuse the leaked data of international credit card users. "They got international credit card details from darknet and some open forums, which are leaked by hackers by compromising card number, CVV and expiry date. Nehra and his gang misused these cards for shopping goods from online portals," Singh told Mail Today.

This is not Nehra's first brush with law. A Delhi Police team also arrested Nehra from a fivestar hotel in Gurugram in January this year, for allegedly stealing e-vouchers worth Rs one crore. Interestingly, Delhi cops echoed UP STF sentiments on Nehra.

"He is a brilliant coder and can easily find shortcomings in online websites and banking channels. He is known for devising newer modus-operandi to hack into classified data. Nehra also has a weakness for five-star hotels and lavish holidays," said a member of the Delhi Police raiding party.

"He loves travelling, staying in high-end hotels or resorts and travelling by air. Even his gang members maintains luxurious life and splurged money on expensive cars," said the officer.

DIGITAL CRIME

The officer said Nehra and his team digitally shoplifted evouchers, allegedly causing a loss of several crore to online shopping sites, payment gateways and credit card holders.

His followers on the internet still swear by him. Some of the netizens Mail Today spoke to said Nehra was inspired from international hacker Snowden. But police suspect that instead of ethical hacking, Nehra was active in darknet community and assisted hackers in detecting vulnerable codes.

The gang sold a large chunk of high-end gadgets to the members of their closed network at a cheaper rate. Nehra has also developed an online association with various hackers in India as well as abroad. He allegedly tied up with professional hackers in India, the Netherlands and Indonesia to hone in his skills.

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Bangalore Police suspect Nehra was involved in a recent case where a hacker had given a 72-hour deadline to an online company asking it to cough up $5,000 (Rs 3.22 lakh), failing which he would share their confidential information.

The company received a threat mail from a person who claimed himself as Sunny Nehra who claimed he had hacked and downloaded the vouchers. The online firm is in the trade of issuing vouchers to the employees of various IT firms.

The investigations are still on.

Also Read

Modern day Eklavya: Delhi law student turns bluffmaster to help teacher secure position in Allahabad High Courthttp://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-law-student-allahabad-high-court-fake-bluffmaster/1/987405.html

India Today Investigation: Jamtara emerges as the biggest den of digital crime

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-investigation-jamtara-digital-hackers-cyber-crimes/1/848727.html

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Capitalas top govt hospitals are flooded with requests for disability certificates for students. The government has made it mandatory for such a certificate to be issued only by a state-run hospital.

By Priyanka Sharma: With school and college admissions being the flavour of season, doctors of city's top government hospitals are battling a rush of people with requests for issuance of disability certificates.

Demands for disability certificates by parents and students come shortly after the Union government revised the disability act and made it mandatory for government hospitals to issue a differently -abled certificate. Previous disability certificates issued by private doctors are invalid now.

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A large number of parents are approaching RML doctors. The psychiatry department at the central government hospital is flooded with demands for disability certificates for students.

MISUSE

In several case, experts diagnosed students with disability certificates with no disability. "It is strange to find that even though the child is ineligible to get a disability certificate, top private practitioners' at leading hospitals have issued the same to him. It is a complete misuse," said a senior psychiatrist at RML requesting anonymity.

Dr Smita Desphande, who heads the department of Psychiatry at RML Hospital told Mail Today, "Our department has been getting at least 10 cases each day, wherein parents ask for disability certificate for their child to get admission done under the disability quota. Parents thus want their children to be categorised under any sort of disability- be it autism, intellectual disability or speech disorder."

Parents mostly come with their kids complaining Specific Learning Disability (SLD). If doctors approve, the child gets an extra hour for writing and preparing for CBSE, entrance and university exams. Mostly, requests come for students of private schools and colleges.

ANYTHING FOR MARKS

"Parents know disability certificates would fetch their kids marks, even if the spelling is wrong, and would allot them extra time during exams. Often they come to us saying, 'My child does not want to take up Science, so make the certificate according to requirements," said a doctor.

"We have a specific tool to calculate the percentage of disability in a child. And when the assessment tool fails to identify any disability, parents force us to still issue a certificate. We were surprised to see that two leading private hospitals in Delhi have made forged disability certificates - which is unethical," said a senior psychiatrist at RML. Teachers, according to experts and doctors, are unaware of disability norms.

RML doctors said parents are misguided by school teachers often.

"There is very poor awareness in teachers. We get the reference from school teachers who ask us to get the certificate done for so and so and our department has been receiving an increasing number of referral case. There is a need for special educators in schools.

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"If a child is found to be not falling under the disabled category completely and is rather differently abled, with 5-10 per cent of disabilty, we provide that particular certificate and also often try to help them improve by intervention or speech therapy. We try to provide them whatever, treatment is required," said Dr Desphande.

Last month, Mail Today had reported that that the Centre is bringing in 14 new categories of physical and mental conditions, under the ambit of the Disability Act, 2006. At present, the act provides the disability rights and benefits to seven special categories of people comprising blindness, low-vision, locomotive disability, hearing impairment, mental retardation, mental illness and leprosy.

The new conditions will apply to people with cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy, specific learning disabilities, deafness, autism, spectrum disorder, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, haemophilia, thalassemia, sickle cell disease, multiple disabilities (condition of any two disabilities or more) and acidattack survivors.

Ministry officials said the previous Right of Persons with Disabilities Act 1995, mentions only seven categories including people having 40 per cent and above disability, providing them all benefits.

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In 2001, disability assessment guidelines were prepared for these categories, but there was no measure to calculate the percentage of disability in a person. "The ministry therefore formed a committee to review how to assess and measure the exiting as well as the proposed disability percentage in a person and accordingly entitlements would be given to the person," an official said.

Also Read

Benefits of Disability Act to cover 14 new categories, including acid attack victims

Acid attack survivor finds love in a wrong number, gets a Bollywood wedding

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For the first time in nearly two decades, the White Host did not host an Iftar dinner to commemorate Eid this year.

By Asian News International: The White House did not host an Iftar dinner to commemorate Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, for the first time in nearly two decades.

United States President Donald Trump and first lady Melania released a statement on Saturday wishing "warm greetings" to those celebrating Eid al-Fitr.

"Muslims in the United States joined those around the world during the holy month of Ramadan to focus on acts of faith and charity. Now, as they commemorate Eid with family and friends, they carry on the tradition of helping neighbours and breaking bread with people from all walks of life," the statement read.

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With this, Trump has broken the annual tradition upheld by the past three administrations that began under President Bill Clinton and was continued by George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

The Iftar dinners were attended by prominent members of the Muslim community as well as members of the Congress and diplomats from Muslim countries.

In the White House, Trump has attempted to ban travel to the US from several Muslim-majority countries.

During his first trip abroad, Trump, however, urged the leaders of 55 Muslim-majority countries for unity in the fight against terrorism.Also Read

India a victim of terror, says Donald Trump, calls upon Muslim nations to do their bit to defeat terrorism Donald Trump will make a U-turn on Muslims after watching these 5 Hindi films. We bet!

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By India Today Web Desk: Allu Arjun's highly anticipated, Duvvada Jagannadham, is in theaters and has got a thumbs up from fans. DJ had a fantastic opening on its first day and reportedly raked in Rs 33 crore. The film witnessed 90 per cent occupancy on its second day and collected Rs 13 crore.

Stylish Star @alluarjun 's #DJ collects a whopping 46 Crs WW in 2 days.. ??? pic.twitter.com/qDrfo4ad80- Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) June 25, 2017

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The film directed by Harish Shankar, opened to mixed response and was panned by the critics. Despite all the reviews, DJ has managed to impress the audience and is expected to fetch more moolah for the producers.

Duvvada Jagannadham tells the story of an undercover cop, DJ (Allu Arjun), who masquerades as an innocent Brahmin, Duvvada Jagannadham. While Allu Arjun was mostly praised for his role, DJ was criticised for its wafer-thin story.

Apart from Allu Arjun's electrifying screen presence, his crackling romance with co-star Pooja Hegde is one of the major highlights of DJ, which has music by Devi Sri Prasad.

Meanwhile, Allu Arjun is teaming up with Vakkantham Vamsi for Naa Peru Surya Naa Illu India, where he is said to play a soldier. He will be also been seen in Lingusamy's Tamil-Telugu bilingual film.

ALSO READ: Duvvada Jagannadham Movie Review

ALSO READ: Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangathavan Movie Review

ALSO SEE: Before Duvvada Jagannadham, a look at Allu Arjun's best performances

WATCH: Duvvada Jagannadham Trailer

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A CRPF constable Santosh Kumar lost his two fingers today during a stone-pelting clash in south Kashmir's Anantnag area.

CRPF jawan Santosh Kumar lost two of his fingers during clashes with stone-pelters in south Kashmir's Anantnag today.

By India Today Web Desk: A CRPF constable Santosh Kumar lost his two fingers during clashes with stone-pelters in south Kashmir's Anantnag today on the occasion of Eid.

Kashmir today witnessed violent stand-off between security forces and civilians in several parts of the Valley

Around five security personnel and 20 civilians have suffered injuries in the stone-pelting incidents.

Clashes erupted in Anantnag after protesters took on security forces in Janglat Mandi area immediately after Eid prayers.

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Similar street agitation broke out in Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama towns in south Kashmir. Similar clashes were reported from north Kashmir's Sopore and Pattan towns too.

Heavy stone pelting was also seen in Pulawama while pellet guns were used in Sopore.

Meanwhile, Indian Army soldiers celebrated and offered sweets to Anantnag residents while stationed on duty.

Eid prayers elsewhere in the Valley ended peacefully.

Also read: See pics: Indian Army soldiers offer sweets to people in Kashmir's Anantnag on Eid

Also read: To protest 17-yr-old's lynching on train, people wear black arm bands during Eid namaaz

Also read: Protests, clashes with forces follow Eid prayers in Kashmir, 10 civilians injured

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By India Today Web Desk: In a true Eid spirit today, Indian Army soldiers distributed sweets to people in south Kashmir's Anantang, while stationed on duty.

This comes on the backdrop of violent clashes between security forces and locals in Janglat area, where protestors pelted stones immediately after Eid prayers.

The clashes, with mobs of young men hurling stones at security forces, then spread to adjoining Achabal area in Anantnag district.

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As many as five policemen have been injured in the clash, spelling a brutal day to celebrate Eid.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today offered Eid prayers at a mosque in the high security Sonawar area.

Also read: To protest 17-yr-old's lynching on train, people wear black arm bands during Eid namaaz

Also read: Was the Kashmir cop's lynching a pre-planned murder? Here's a timeline

Also read: Story of lynching: Kashmir to Haryana, how hate crime thrives in absence of law

WATCH | J&K Police asks its personnel to avoid Eid prayers at public places

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Both PM Modi and President Mukherjee greeted Muslims on Eid-ul-Fitr. Home Minister Rajnath Singh wished Kashmiri Muslims a happy Eid, and said he believed the festival would foster peace in the Valley.

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today greeted his Twitter followers on Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramzan.

Eid-ul-Fitr greetings! May this auspicious day further the spirit of peace and brotherhood in our society.- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 26, 2017

Here is what I had said about the special occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, during the #MannKiBaat programme yesterday. https://t.co/3X91wJ6tl7- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 26, 2017

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Modi is in Washington to hold talks with US President Donald Trump, who wished Muslims celebrating the festival in a statement, ANI reported.

But the White House yesterday broke with tradition by not hosting an Iftar dinner for the first time in two decades.

President Pranab Mukherjee, too, conveyed Eid greetings to his compatriots.

Greetings to all my fellow citizens, particularly my Muslim brothers & sisters, in India & abroad on Idul Fitr #PresidentMukherjee- President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) June 26, 2017

May this occasion bring happiness, peace & prosperity & be an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to serve humanity #PresidentMukherjee- President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) June 26, 2017

May this day, strengthen in each one of us, an unflinching faith in our unity and common destiny #PresidentMukherjee- President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) June 26, 2017

RAJNATH WISHES KASHMIRI MUSLIMS A HAPPY EID

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh wished Kashmiri Muslims a happy Eid.

"I wish our brothers, sisters and dear kids of Kashmir a very happy Eid from the bottom of my heart," ANI quoted Singh as saying.

"I firmly believe that this festival that celebrates humanity and goodness, will bolster peace, brotherhood and happiness in the Valley," he added.

People offered prayers at a mosque in Jammu & Kashmir's Srinagar on #eid pic.twitter.com/fOUGoyD5w7- ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

Bihar: People offer Namaz at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on #eid pic.twitter.com/bYhfARV4aY- ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

(Inputs from ANI)

ALSO READ | Donald Trump ends decades-long White House tradition, no iftar dinner this year

ALSO READ | India a victim of terror, says Donald Trump, calls upon Muslim nations to do their bit to defeat terrorism

ALSO WATCH | PM Modi to visit United States on June 26, will discuss Indo-US ties with Trump

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From Reader Supported News

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that federal officials are worried that their rats and snitches are increasingly facing attacks in prison because of the free availability of court documents identifying them as informants. In response, the federal courts are considering ways to make the criminal judicial process more secret, raising concern among defense attorneys and civil liberties activists.

Federal judicial authorities say that in the past three years as many as 700 "witnesses and informants" have been threatened or injured, and 61 have been killed by other prisoners for testifying against or informing on fellow prisoners.

There is, of course, a huge incentive for turning rat. Prosecutors can cut years off an informant's sentence. Some informants don't go to prison at all. Others are sent to lower-security prisons for their sentences, or even to minimum-security work camps. Prosecutors, in turn, win 98.2 percent of their cases, according to ProPublica, almost all of which are a result of plea bargains. With rats lined up to testify, the defendant doesn't have a chance. The dirty little secret of the American court system is that very few defendants ever get to face their accusers in a court of law or be judged by a jury of their peers. It's a quaint idea, but it never happens.

It's not hard to figure out if a person has testified against you, even if you're incarcerated and have no ready access to the internet. Every federal prison in America, by law, has to have a law library. That law library, again by law, has to allow access to LexisNexis court records. But even if the detailed information about informants isn't in LexisNexis, a prisoner has only to ask somebody on the outside to access PACER, a pay-per-page portal run by the courts, to look at literally every filing from a case. That would include the names of informants, as well as a review of the information the informant provided.

I want to go on record here as saying that I do NOT condone violence against anybody. I do not believe that informants should be targeted for violence or for retribution in any way. But I understand it when that happens. Let me give you a personal example.

When I first went to prison in 2013 after blowing the whistle on the CIA's torture program, my attorneys warned me that the FBI and the Justice Department were likely furious with the (short) 30-month sentence I had received. They had initially sought 45 years in prison, but my knowledge of the CIA's dirty laundry and my willingness to testify on my own behalf forced the government to go to the negotiating table. The attorneys said the FBI and the Justice Department would do almost anything to charge me with something else using prison informants, and they would then seek to add years to my sentence. They said to trust no one. I was on full alert.

A few weeks later, a prisoner approached me in our housing unit and said, "Hey, John. There's a new guy here and he wants to meet you. He says he's the former spokesman for the Taliban in the U.S." I had vaguely recalled a New Jersey-based Afghan-American who had worked for the Taliban, and I remembered that he had gotten himself in trouble with a weapons charge. "No thanks," I said. "I'm not interested." The mandatory federal minimum for an illegal weapons charge is five years.

I was walking around the prison yard three or four days later when an obviously Afghan man walked toward me with his hand extended to greet me. I immediately put my hands up in the air, assuming, I believe correctly, that prison guards were in the distance to photograph me embracing the FBI's rat. I told him to buzz off, using language nowhere near that friendly. "Oh, come on, man," he responded. "We have a lot in common." "We have nothing in common," I said, walking away. "Don't be like that," he called. I turned around again. "You're a rat. You're obviously a rat. Don't ever speak to me again." He was "transferred" three or four days later, having been in my prison for only a week. Either he had either been placed there by the FBI to rat on me or he had the shortest federal sentence in the history of the country.

There's no easy solution to the problem of protecting rats. But that's not really the issue, anyway. The issue is that the government shouldn't have to rely on rats to make cases. The government should rely on evidence. Every defendant should have his or her day in court. Every defendant should have a realistic chance of a jury trial, not just a theoretical one. I guarantee you that the vast majority of rats would say literally anything about another prisoner to get their own sentence reduced. That's their only goal, after all. Where's the justice in that?

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
Thanks to Cindy Sheehan, I know what a Gold Star Family is. I also know that it is a moniker that NO family should aspire to. Just recently I learned a bit about Blue Star Families, thanks to my local Arizona_Sonoran Desert Museum. As I see it, the 'Blue Star' moniker is another that NO family should aspire to.

You see, my beloved ASDM has just signed on to become another of the roughly 2,000 American museums now designated as 'Blue Star Museums'.

For 100 continuous days this summer, as in the past SIX summers, these museums are offering FREE admissions to all active military and/or their families (up to six members total) ! In the case of the ASDM, that represents a give-away of $20.50 for each adult each day. They can visit as often as they like, totally free of admission charges, while the rest of us-you know, the people who work for PEACE, are required to either pay the $20.50 or get a yearly membership (of course, I do get free coffee with my membership card").

I felt compelled to email various Directors at the ASDM, as well as all the members of the Board of Trustees the following:

TO ALL MEMBERS, BOARD OF TRUSTEES ---ASDM

I have been a paying member of the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum since the 1970's, and I periodically receive the newsletters. By and large, I've enjoyed them and find them informative.



On June 2, 2017 I opened "The Desert Dispatch" and was informed that the ASDM is now a "Blue Star Museum". I am profoundly saddened and disgusted after reading about what that means.



I have paid my hard-earned money all these years to maintain my membership, and now I am told that the ASDM is giving away admissions to potentially thousands of people for 100 days continuously solely by virtue of their being in the military or in some way familial to a military person. Just the loss of revenue alone could easily amount to more than $1,200 in a single day if only 10 military families show up. If you multiply that by the 100 days, the ASDM will lose at least $120,000 in admission fees. Do you plan on making up for this loss by yet again increasing my membership fee?



The loss of revenue is not even my main concern. I find it disheartening to see the ASDM fawning over military personnel, when the U,S. Military is known to be one of the most harmful organizations on the face of the earth as far as ecological, environmental and societal impact are concerned. The U.S. Military is destroying the natural world around us, be it air or land or sea. The levels of pollution around military bases are staggering, to the point that many of these areas are now "superfund" sites. Ocean life is being disrupted and destroyed, thanks to undersea explosives testing, high-powered sonar, etc.



I will have no respect for, nor will I honor anyone who willingly joins any branch of the U.S. Military. In so doing they are simply showing to all that a paycheck from the U.S. Government is, in fact, more valuable to them than doing anything constructive towards the earth and our natural environment. They are, in fact, disrespecting and dishonoring these things upon which the ASDM was founded.



My life has been devoted to peaceful conflict resolution, world-wide dis-armament and coexistence. There are many thousands of us in the U.S. and world-wide, and yet all we receive are the calls of "traitor", "America-hater", "coward", etc. If you hadn't noticed, the word "peace" is now a dirty word in the lexicon.



Wouldn't it be wonderful if the ASDM stepped up and found a way to honor those of us who truly value and work for peace and the protection of the natural world, and not just those who pursue and profit from war and destruction?



I notice that among the ASDM's major benefactors are corporations such as Boeing, GE, Caterpillar, ExxonMobil, IBM, and of course, Raytheon. Each of these entities profits massively from conflict, whether it be through material support for the U.S. Military or those of other nations or groups. The simple fact is that it is in their best financial interest to keep conflicts going around the world. I can only hope that those corporations are not exerting, no matter how subtly, an influence over the policies of the ASDM.



Hopefully you will re-think your tie-in to the "Blue Star" organization, or, at the very minimum, consider giving at least equal time and benefit to those of us who actively work for peace and the survival of the rest of the animal kingdom. This could be a huge opportunity for ASDM to set a true benchmark in ecological and environmental issues by opposing activities that go against the fundamental ten ets upon which the ASDM was founded and work only to destroy the things you are trying to preserve here.





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Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people. From these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. -Theodore Roosevelt--

Theodore Roosevelt was describing the Deep State, which goes back farther than I had realized. In fact, it probably goes back as far as democracy does, to the conflict that has always been at the root of societies: Those who have money and power want to keep and expand it regardless of the will of the people, and those who lack money and power want to get some. However, to unravel and try to understand our contemporary permutation, it might help to start with some definitions.

I've felt some confusion regarding the political terms that are tossed around lately, so I looked them up. Definitions differ, but there is enough consensus to get a pretty good idea, and understanding those terms also helps us understand what is going on with the Deep State and why it's so difficult to move forward with a progressive agenda. (Note that these are particularly American definitions. They have other meanings in different parts of the world.)

Neoliberalism: In its original definition, liberalism was not about progressive ideas; it was about small government and individual freedoms. Neoliberalism in the U.S. is based on that original definition of liberalism. It evolved as a backlash against what we now think of as liberal policies, specifically FDR's New Deal, which resulted in a decline in the share of the national income owned by the 1%. Their share peaked in the late 1920s, right before the Great Depression, then fell by more than half over the next three decades because of New Deal policies that helped the people, such as the Social Security Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, and policies that put limits on what the rich could get away with, such as the Glass-Steagall Act (repealed in 1999). But the equalizing trends of the mid- 20th century have now been almost completely rolled back. The rich now hold as large a share of the national wealth as they did in the 1920s. According to The New York Times, the "richest 1 percent in the United States now own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent".

How did they do it? Neoliberals argue that the best path to prosperity is free enterprise and the privatization of absolutely everything: education, healthcare, the military, pensions, prisons, the Internet, national parks and public land, roads, water, food--really everything you can think of. In addition to privatization, they promote deregulation; outsourcing; tax cuts for the rich and fiscal austerity for everyone else; elimination of trade unions; getting rid of environmental and consumer protections; increasing the role of the private sector; and reducing the role of government. When governments are required to provide basic public services like education, healthcare, and infrastructure, they do it by "market-friendly" methods such as vouchers and charter schools, tax incentives, Medicare Advantage plans, deductibles and copays; and giving government contracts to private corporations. Inequality is seen as a good thing, a reward for hard work and talent. Because free markets will insure that people get what they deserve, efforts to create a more equal society merely undermine morality and the work ethic. The rich like to think that they obtained their wealth through merit, ignoring their advantages of education, inheritance, and social class. The poor are expected to blame themselves for their poverty, even when they can do little to change their circumstances. Neoliberals say that they oppose all forms of state intervention in the name of freedom. But to them, freedom really means the right to unconstrained profit for individuals and corporations without any concern for workers or the environment. The iconic neoliberals are Ronald Reagan in the U.S. and Margaret Thatcher in the U.K.

Neoliberals have succeeded on a global scale. Institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and the Maastricht treaty imposed neoliberal policies on much of the world, often without the consent of the people. Neoliberal policies were also adopted among political parties that used to be leftist, such as the Democrats in the U.S. and Labour in the U.K.

Neoconservatives: While neoliberalism is a global movement, neoconservatism is more uniquely American. Beginning in the 1960s, "neocons" are best defined by their foreign policy agenda, which favors increased military spending, an interventionist foreign policy, and unconditional support for the State of Israel. Neocons are largely responsible for the War on Terror, the right to preemptively attack governments that might pose a future threat to U.S. security, and the state of permanent war. They also police their own citizens through increased surveillance, prosecution of whistleblowers and leakers, and reduced government transparency. Like the neoliberals, they use the language of freedom and democracy as a cover for their true intentions. Probably the best-known politicians associated with neoconservatism include George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and John McCain.

The main difference between neoliberals and neoconservatives is one of emphasis: Neoliberals' focus is mostly on economics, while neocons focus on foreign policy and defense. Other differences include social issues: Neoliberals are generally not very concerned about issues like abortion and gay marriage, whereas neocons are, because of their evangelical base. Another is their attitude toward trade: Neoliberalism favors free trade, whereas neoconservatism can sometimes be protectionist, favoring "America first." Neoliberals are usually in favor of immigration, since it can bring both talent and cheap labor; neocons tend to be anti-immigrant.

However, there are more similarities than differences. When Obama was elected in 2008, I was hopeful. But despite a few progressive words and gestures, President Obama's economic policies turned out to be neoliberal: He chose to bail out Wall Street instead of prosecuting them for their crimes, while refusing to bail out the homeowners and others who were Wall Street's victims. His signature healthcare program rejected single-payer in favor of enriching the insurance and drug industries. While not as rabid as some neocons would wish, his foreign policy was definitely interventionist. He bombed seven foreign countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, and Syria. He expanded drone warfare that kills civilians. He sold massive quantities of weapons to foreign governments, fueling more violence in the Middle East. On the domestic front, he increased surveillance of citizens and prosecutions of whistleblowers, he reduced government transparency, and he deported more immigrants than any previous president. Most Democratic politicians were in support of all these policies. The leading non-interventionists in the Senate right now are Rand Paul and Mike Lee, both Republicans.

By the time of the 2016 election, many Americans were fed up with endless war and rule by the rich for the rich. Bernie Sanders filled a deep need, but the Democrats blocked him. While the rise of Trump must be primarily blamed on the Republicans and their encouragement of racism and the Tea Party, Democrats should also recognize their role. While Hillary Clinton gave lip service to a few humanitarian policies such as student debt relief and immigration reform, it was always clear that her allegiance, like Obama's, was with Wall Street and the military industrial complex.

Donald Trump, in contrast, did not look like a Wall Street shill; he even promised to "drain the swamp." He had never been implicated in destroying countries or bombing civilians. He had never been seen chuckling over the death of Muamar Gaddafi nor blamed for the death of an American ambassador.

Neofascism (the politically correct term is Populist Nationalism):

This group sees American identity as white and Christian, and they want to keep it that way by restricting legal as well as illegal immigration and curtailing the power of minorities. They favor economic policies that protect American businesses and workers from foreign competition; in that respect, neofascism is the opposite of neoliberal globalism. Although they distrust intellectuals and those they view as elite, they are pro-business like the neoliberals, and they tend to have very close ties to neocons and the military industrial complex.

Several of Trump's appointees could fairly be called neo-fascists (The following is quoted from How the Trump regime was manufactured by a war inside the Deep State by Nafeez Ahmed)

Steve Bannon was founding executive chair of Breitbart News, "the platform of the alt-right" according to Bannon himself. Breitbart is widely known for its publication of "racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic material." Bannon himself is also a prolific film producer, and has made or contributed to a range of xenophobic films".

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By David Swanson, American Herald Tribune

The U.S. Senate has increased sanctions on the people of Iran and Russia, if the House and President go along. The Senate vote was 98-2, with Senators Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders voting no, the latter despite his support for the Russian half of the bill.

The bill is called "An act to provide congressional review and to counter Iranian and Russian governments' aggression."

"Aggression" is a term of art here meant to convey something like what it means for the U.S. military to accuse a Syrian airplane in Syria of aggression against U.S. forces before shooting it down. Legally, the aggressor is the United States in both situations (in the Syrian war and in the context of these sanctions), but practically speaking resistance to U.S. aggression is perceived in Washington, D.C., as unacceptable hostility.

A fairly honest assessment of the U.S. tactic of sanctions is found on Investopedia.com: "Military action isn't the only option for countries that are in the midst of a political dispute. Instead, economic sanctions provide an immediate way for the U.S. to crack down on rogue countries without putting lives on the line."

"Military action," we should note, is a criminal activity under the U.N. Charter and under the Kellogg-Briand Pact. It is not just "politics by other means," but rather the quintessentially rogue action. When a rogue nation considers other possible crimes as alternatives to war and settles on sanctions, the result is less violent but not always less deadly. U.S. sanctions on Iraq prior to 2003 killed at least 1.7 million people, including at least 0.5 million children, according to the U.N. (something then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said was "worth it"). So, sanctions do "put lives on the line," but they are the tools of a rogue, not of global justice "cracking down" on rogues.

Just like "military action," sanctions do not work on their own terms. U.S. sanctions on North Korea have been failing to overthrow that government, and uniting people behind it, for 67 years. Same story with Cuba for the past 57 years. And Iran for the past 38 years. When I was in Russia recently, prominent opponents of Vladimir Putin told me that they would not criticize him until the sanctions end.

Of course, if the goal is not domestic overthrow but promotion of a nationalist or militarist who will make a good enemy easy to provoke into a war, then arguably there have been dangerous signs of success in North Korea, while the Iranians' reelection of a moderate, and Putin's extremely cool restraint must be infinitely frustrating.

The U.S. does not present sanctions as tools of murder and cruelty, but that's what they are. The Russian and Iranian people are already suffering under U.S. sanctions, the Iranians most severely. But both take pride in and find resolve in the struggle, just as do people under military attack. In Russia, the sanctions are actually benefitting agriculture, just as they have done in Cuba. Necessity is the mother of food production. Still, the suffering is widespread and real. Reinforcing the blockade on Cuba is a criminal action that will lead to deaths (including the deaths of U.S. citizens denied access to Cuban medicines).

The U.S. presents its sanctions as law enforcement rather than law violation. The senate's legislation blames Iran for building missiles and for supporting terrorists and insurgents. The United States, of course, far outdoes Iran in both regards, and building missiles is (sadly) not a violation of any law. Large-scale terrorism, also known as war, is, however, where U.S. criminality really dwarfs Iran and Russia.

The same bill cites the U.S. "intelligence community" with "assessing" in January that "Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the United States presidential election." Thus Russia stands accused (without a shred of proof) of undermining cyber security and elections, things the United States leads the world in. In addition, Russia is accused of "aggression" in Ukraine, something that facilitating a violent coup in Kiev does not apparently add up to. Then there are "human rights abuses" and "corruption within Russia."

If there is any role for a global system of justice to address such matters, there is no role for the U.S. government, the greatest purveyor of violence on earth, the greatest incarcerator of humans on earth, the greatest consumer of petroleum on earth, and a government that has legalized bribery, to do so.

The array of sanctions in this new bill, as in the existing sanctions programs on numerous nations, makes an odd mix. Some sanctions supposedly target human rights, while others are clearly aimed at economic competition -- and communications competition. Various industries are targeted for damage. The production of a report on Russian media is ordered -- as if the United States is not also the leader in promoting its own media abroad.

The silver lining here, as well as -- coincidentally -- the part of the legislation least likely to please the White House is the effort to block Russian fossil fuels pipelines. The Secretary of Exxon Mobil cannot be pleased. If Russophobia were to save the climate from huge amounts of carbon, as well as making it acceptable to demand verifiable vote counting in U.S. elections, there would at least be something to smile about as humanity approaches the brink.

Needless to say, we'd be better off abolishing sanctions along with war as counterproductive, cruel, barbaric forms of hostility in a world that needs cooperation, forgiveness, and generosity as it never has before. When the Soviet Union dismantled itself, abandoned communism, and petitioned to join the E.U. and NATO, and to mutually disarm, the U.S. government made very clear that it values something far higher than eliminating enemies. And that is this: maintaining enemies. Sanctions serve that purpose with Russia and Iran: they maintain enemies, they sell weapons.

They also prepare the ground, as in Iraq, for war. Russia's nuclear weapons, the incredible success of Islamophobia, traditional U.S. racism, and the positioning of the U.S. military in the area all make this very bad news for Iran as the likely next victim. And if a U.S. war is launched against Iran, we are likely to hear from Washington's halls of power as a justification for war the following pathetic confession: "Well, we tried sanctions and that didn't work."
The U.S. Conference of Mayors on Monday unanimously passed three resolutions opposing the military-heavy Trump budget proposal, urging Congress to move funding out of the military and into human and environmental needs rather than the reverse.

The three resolutions are numbers 59 and 60 found on this page.

and number 79 found on this page.

"We are very excited that the entire US Conference of Mayors, from major metropoles such as New York City and Los Angeles to small rural townships, understand that the resources being sucked up by the Pentagon to wage endless wars overseas should be used to address our crumbling infrastructure, the climate crisis and poverty at home and abroad. Congress and the Trump administration should listen to these mayors, as they reflect the needs and hopes of their constituents, not the greed of corporate donors," said Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK.

"The Peace Council applauds the resolve of major city mayors to dramatically cut the U.S. military budget and to take the funds saved to provide money for jobs, education, housing, transportation, seniors, youth, rebuild our roads, bridges, public transportation much more," said Henry Lowendorf of the US Peace Council. "The mayors understand how pouring the wealth of our great country into building war machines and waging wars around the globe does not make us more secure. To the contrary, this gigantic military budget is strangling our country and the many unnecessary wars only generate death, destruction and enemies. We fully support the mayors' call both for inviting the public and city leaders to hearings expressing on how funds saved by cutting the Pentagon budget can be used in our cities and for passing resolutions to our members of Congress demanding that they respond to cities to begin prioritizing the needs of our residents over war profiteering."

"These three resolutions should be read carefully by every member of Congress," said David Swanson, director of World Beyond War. "These are the considered statements of the mayors of this country, as prompted by the citizens of numerous cities that moved their city councils to pass similar resolutions and their mayors to support these."

Information on a campaign to pass resolutions through city councils, and those that have been passed thus far, can be found here:

http://worldbeyondwar.org/resolution

Over 20,000 people signed a petition similar to Resolution 59 here:

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/un-trump-the-budget

Resolution 59 was introduced by the mayor of Ithaca, NY, and had been passed by that city. It concludes with this:

"NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges the United States Congress to move our tax dollars in exactly the opposite direction proposed by the President, from militarism to human and environmental needs."

It also includes these Whereas clauses:

"WHEREAS, President Trump has proposed to move $54 billion from human and environmental spending at home and abroad to military spending, bringing military spending to well over 60% of federal discretionary spending; and

"WHEREAS, polling has found the U.S. public to favor a $41 billion reduction in military spending, a $94 billion gap away from President Trump's proposal; and

"WHEREAS, part of helping alleviate the refugee crisis should be ending, not escalating, wars that create refugees; and

"WHEREAS, President Trump himself admits that the enormous military spending of the past 16 years has been disastrous and made us less safe, not safer; and

"WHEREAS, fractions of the proposed military budget could provide free, top-quality education from pre-school through college, end hunger and starvation on earth, convert the U.S. to clean energy, provide clean drinking water everywhere it's needed on the planet, build fast trains between all major U.S. cities, and double non-military U.S. foreign aid rather than cutting it; and

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By Press Trust of India: Srinagar/Nagpur, June 26 (PTI) A day after seven persons died in a tragic cable car crash in Gulmarg in Kashmir, officials incharge of the ropeway claimed that safety norms were followed and the accident can be best explained as an "act of God".

The Jammu and Kashmir government had yesterday ordered a probe into the incident in which four of a Delhi family and three local youth had lost their lives.

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"There was no deviation from the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The weather suddenly turned bad and strong winds caused the uprooting of a tree that fell on the cable," Director, Tourism, Mehmood Shah said.

General Manager of the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation, Reyaz Ahmad, said the accident was an "act of God".

"We always follow the safety manual and never operate the cable car if any risk is involved. The uprooting of the tree due to abrupt blowing of high velocity wind, which led to the accident, can at best be explained as an act of God," Ahmad said.

Police have registered a case into the incident and started investigations into whether there was any violation of SOP.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has yesterday ordered a probe and alsoannounced ex-gratia relief of Rs five lakh in favour of next of kin of the killed.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the four members of a Delhi- based family, who died in the accident, have been brought today evening to Nagpur, the city the deceased hailed from.

Jayant Andraskar (42), his wife Manisha (38), their daughters Anagha (4) and Janhvi (7), and three local tourist guides had died in the Gulmarg accident.

Their bodies were brought to Nagpur around 5.15 pm in a Jet Airways flight for last rites.

The Andraskars hailed from Nagpur, but had shifted to the national capital seven years ago after Jayant started working in the Directorate of Technical Education there.

His wife was a homemaker. One of their daughters was a student of class I, while the other was in playschool.

With the news of their death, a pall of gloom descended on Old Subhedar layout area here, where his family members, including his parents and siblings, live.

Jayants brother-in-law Saurabh Wandhare told PTI that they were supposed to come to Nagpur on June 29 to attend his (Jayants) mother-in-laws death anniversary.

"Jayant and his family members were on a vacation in Nagpur between May 12 and June 6 and they also attended my marriage last month," he said.

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One of the neighbours remembers Jayant as a good and humble person.

"He was very respectful towards others," he said.

Sachin, one of Jayants cousins, said, "Before joining the Directorate of Technical Education in Delhi seven years back, Jayant had taught in an engineering college in Nagpur and had also worked in Nagpur Improvement Trust."

Assistant professor Mahendra Umre, who had worked with Jayant when he was teaching in the engineering college, said, "He was a very hardworking and ambitious person with a lot of technical knowledge. His untimely demise is saddening."

The Andraskars, who lived in Shalimar Bagh in northwest Delhi, had gone to Kashmir for holidaying on June 22. PTI MIJ ADS

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the Congress

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While the Constitution clearly gives the Congress the responsibility to oversee the conduct of the President, the Republican House and Senate have not addressed the issue of potentially illegal payments received by Trump; reviewed Trump's mismanagement of foreign policy and executive agencies; and only reluctantly moved to have its intelligence committees investigate Russian interference and its ties to the Trump campaign. The reluctance of both the House and the Senate to exercise its constitutionally mandated oversight duties of Trump stands in stark contrast to its previous eagerness to oversee the Obama administration.



The GOP reluctance is all the more surprising because Trump is someone who many of the GOP do not consider a "true" Republican. As a businessman and during his campaign for President, not only did he fail to espouse many of the policies Republicans consider sacred, but he openly supported antithetical policies. And, although since winning office, he has pledged his support to the Republican agenda, one might reasonably suspect him to be viewed with enough suspicion to loosen the ties that would usually bind the Republican Congress to their party's president. Of course, one would only be surprised at the behavior of Republicans if one expected them to be principled.

"-There are three plausible reasons for the Republican dereliction of duty despite their tenuous loyalty to Trump: fear of reprisal by the Republican base; loss of someone who can, at least, partially heal the split between the GOP leadership and base; or support for his agenda and leadership style. Some pundits point to Trump's approval rating of over 80 percent among Republican voters as the key factor. They argue that this extraordinary approval rating coupled with gerrymandering within some states and the political culture of other states, such as those of the old confederacy, spell near certain defeat for any Republican candidate who appeared to criticize Trump. His overall approval ratings are somewhat down, hovering around the high 30s--something any Republican in a purple district or state will certainly consider. Nonetheless, there is evidence of continuing erosion among those Trump voters who were only weakly supportive of him. More importantly, in the short term, approval ratings this low make it virtually impossible for Trump to govern effectively. Still, these ratings do not portend a willingness to impeach him.





and
Never thought of visiting Oman? Well, you might be soon. In our Breakout Role series, we take a look at places that have seen huge increases in tourism in the last few years, and try to figure out whats causing all the hype.

leading tours to Oman in 2000, Peter Gardiner has planned trips for groups of all kinds. In the early days of his England-based company, Omantravel Ltd., Gardiners customers were mostly geologists, bird watchers and other niche-interest travelers.

It was very much an unknown destination then, Gardiner says.

In those days, it was pretty tough for foreigners to visit OmanGardiner remembers an invitation-based visa system that kept most casual vacationers awayand, as a result, the Middle Eastern nation wasnt on the radar for most mainstream western travelers. 17 years later, though, Omantravels tours include beachgoers, history buffs, perfume experts and even beekeepers.

Between easier access and increased interest, Oman is quickly becoming a travel haven, and the countrys number of international visitors has grown by around 7.5 percent each year for a decade. In recent years this growth has been even more substantialbetween 2014 and 2015, foreign tourists grew by an outstanding 17 percent.

Photo: Carla Cometto, CC-BY

Of the many explanations for Omans continued surge, sheer effort is near the top of the list. As it stands now, country doesnt have as much oil as many of its Persian Gulf neighbors, and recently the government has looked toward tourism as a solution.

Infrastructure has boomed as part of these plans: Gardiner says the roads and cellular network are now incredibly advanced, and a soon-to-open >airport, in the capital of Muscat will likely increase air traffic from international hubs.

According to Katrina Subido, the project executive of Old Muscat Tourism and Omani travel company, this work has also come in the form of a diverse marketing strategy, as the country has learned to promote its hospitality industry to new markets and through new platforms, such as social media and international expos.

In promoting the nation as a travel highlight, safety has been a helpful selling point. Sitting within a tumultuous region to say the leastSaudi Arabias diplomatic isolation of Qatar being just the most recent exampleOman has remained a beacon of stability and security, ranking as the World Economic Forums fourth safest country in 2017.

Photo: Andrew Moore, CC-BY

Success like this isnt without growing pains, though, and 2016 stands as an example of how far the country still needs to come. Last year, parts of the travel industry began to slump, as oil prices, a multi-billion dollar trade defecit and economic problems in major markets such as England took a toll on the nations tourism wave.

While it seems as though the country is bouncing back, there are also still questions about what kind of destination Oman will eventually become. With development progressing, Muscat has become an increasingly expensive. The citys hotels are some of the worlds priciest, and the absence of mid-tier and budget hotels may leave non-luxury travelers feeling overwhelmed.

Maybe sometimes the investment has been in the wrong area, Gardiner says. If we could get some decent 3 or 4 star hotels spread over the country, it would help the tourism economy a lot.

Additionally, Gardiner has noticed that many locals havent caught up with the hospitality industry yet, leaving a shortage of guides, drivers and other necessary workers.

[A lot of Omanis] know an awful lot about their own little village or own little area, he says. But theyre not guides for Oman itself[the country is] still learning about tourism.

Photo: Robert Haandrikman, CC-BY

However, price hikes and guide shortages shouldnt be enough to deter any interested vacationer, as the countrys benefits certain outweigh any potential difficulties. Subido says the desert remains the Omans largest draw, with the world-famous Empty Quarter, representing what may be the nations most enchanting attractionas the worlds largest contiguous sand desert, the regions dunes reach as high as 250 feet, and seem to completely epitomize Arabias distinct natural beauty.

The countrys other signature destination is almost certainly Wadi Ghul, which is commonly known as the Grand Canyon of Arabia and features unbelievably dramatic cliffs and crevasses lying underneath the peak of Omans tallest mountain, the nearly 10,000-foot Jabal Shams.

If an arid treks through the heat sound too taxing, though, Omans beaches offer a refreshing alternative that is rare in some Middle Eastern countries. Boasting around 1,700 kilometers of coastline, the nation is home to a surprising number of pristine beachessuch as Al Mughsail in the south and Al Hadd to the countrys eastern tipand a fascinating array of protected sea life.

Of course, Muscat is not to be ignored either: awe-inspiring elegance is on display throughout the capital, but its most notable in the stunning architecture of the Royal Opera House and the Grand Mosque. Additionally, the authentically Arabian charm of the Mutrah Souq marketplace and easy access to beaches make the city completely unmissable.

Flight Rates: Flights from New York to Muscat range between $1,075 and $2,640, while rates from Atlanta cost $930-$2,220.

Travel Concerns: The U.S. State Department lists no major safety concerns for American travelers in Oman, however a tourist visa is required for foreign visitors.

Currency Exchange: 1 USD = 0.38 Omani Rials

More Info: The Omani Ministry of Tourisms website provides information on popular attractions, hotels and the countrys cultural history.

Top photo: Andrew Moore, CC-BY

Dillon Thompson is a freelance writer from Athens, Georgia who, as youre reading this, is probably drinking coffee and listening to hip-hop music a little too loudly.
Its not secret that heroine abuse has been massively on the rise in America. In fact, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under 50. Its gotten so bad, that some cities in Ohio are forced to actively store corpses in refrigerator trucks because the morgues are overflowing with overdose victims.

One of the only ways to resuscitate a drug user experiencing an opioid overdose is to give him a shot of a drug called Narcan. While Narcan has been successful in most instances, the increasing strength of opioid drugs have required more uses of the nasal spray to save victims lives. Naturally, the price of Narcan has skyrocketed almost ten times since the drug was introduced back in 2014. Thats leading to some cities spending an exorbitant of money on the drug so dispatchers can quickly and effectively save lives when responding to an overdose call.

Middletown, Ohio, in particular, is struggling with how to meet these rising costs, WLWT5 NBC reports. Theyve already spent three times as much on Narcan halfway through this year than they did in all of 2017. In order to curb costs, the city has introduced a controversial proposal whereby drug users are put on a three strike system. After your second revival using Narcan, a drug user would be forced to work community service until theyve essentially paid back the cost of the drug. After that? Youre just going to have to die.

A city in Ohio is considering a three strike policy for administering Narcan for overdoses so they can save money https://t.co/oAxZoe2hpj  Roqayah Chamseddine (@roqchams) June 26, 2017

City council member Dan Picardwho first proposed the three-strike systemexplains that while anybody dispatched to a scene is obligated to use Narcan, the new system would give the dispatcher leeway in sending any help at all:

If the dispatcher determines that the person whos overdosed is someone whos been part of the program for two previous overdoses and has not completed the community service and has not cooperated in the program, then we wouldnt dispatch Weve got to do what weve got to do to maintain our financial security and this is just costing us too much money

Again, if help is sent, theyll use the drug, but now the dispatcher would be put in the difficult position of trying to determine if this was a users third offense and ostensibly whether or not the user should be allowed to live.

This is yet another instance where Americans are attempting to blame suffering individuals rather than the companies perpetuating the issue. A better way to attack the problem would be to force the makers of Narcan to stop hiking their prices, and penalize the companies distributing millions and millions of these easy-to-access opioid pills to meet an illegal demand. Letting people die as a cost-saving measure (and ultimately a profits-saving measure, for these bloated pharmaceutical companies) cannot possibly be the right answer.

The three-strike system has yet to be adopted, and until it is, the Middletown fire department is applying for grants and seeking donations to purchase more Narcan. Ironically, Middletown is also the hometown of J.D. Vancemaybe overdose victims can simply pull themselves up by the bootstraps?
As if you needed another reason to adopt a new furry friend, research has surfaced showing that owning a dog can potentially improve your overall health, with dog owners walking about 20 minutes more each day compared to people without canine counterparts.

The study, published by BMC Public Health, looked at 43 dog owners and 43 people without dogsall over the age of 65. Each participant wore an activity tracker that provided continuous tracking for three-week-long periods, with researchers studying the participants for an entire year in total.

It is the first study to compare dog owners and non-dog owners using activity trackers instead of the previously usedand often unreliableself-reported data.

Ultimately, the study found that the dog owners walked an average of 23 minutes more each day, and took an additional 2,760 more steps. Further, the dog owners reported having fewer prolonged periods of sitting down.

What was more important, however, was the pace at which the dog owners walked. Much of the extra walking was done at a moderate speed and was vigorous enough to be counted toward weekly physical activity requirements. As the World Health Organization recommends at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week for the average adult, an extra 20 minutes of moderately-paced walking every day could potentially have a huge effect.

Unfortunately, the study was not a true, randomized clinical trialand therefore cant accurately determine whether owning a dog makes a person more active, or if active people are just more likely to have a canine running buddy. Also, since the participants were all white, British and over the age of 65, these results cant really be applied to the general population.

However, the study didnt definitively show that owning dogs doesnt improve fitness and therefore, its just another reason to take the plunge on adopting a new pet.

Photo: EVERYMAN FILMS (EVERYMAN FILMS), CC-BY

Emma Korstanje is a freelance journalist based out of Athens, GA.
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Blissful:

Standard Def:

In The Sticks with Damion Devlin:

Asa McGill Howe:

Slow Motion Madness:

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Downhill Youngster Johann - Bikepark Lac Blanc:

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Corey Walsh - Full Speed in Portugal:

Mutiny Mixtape 2017:

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Tatum Monod 2013-14 Season Edit:

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Girl Boxer:

When we arrived in Vancouver our friend Caleb Holonko decided he wanted to join in on this trip. So we packed up the truck in Van and set out. The only goal was to push our riding and come home with a solid video. We paid for everything out of our own pockets, filmed the video ourselves, and did everything 100% for ourselves. We couldn't be more proud of what we accomplished in these two weeks!Video: Parallax Media. Rider: Emmerson Wilken.Over the last few years it is sad to see the Santa Cruz/Aptos riding scene fade and transition into different styles in ways that some of us don't mesh with. Digging alone for months on end in the heat, rain, and any other weather possible, Owen's motivation to ride and dig never seemed to seize.Wallace comin' in hot.Watch as Tyson Wise teams up with Matt Staggs to capture a chill rip in AustraliaTristan and I got to the chance to get out and do some last minute shooting before he moved back to Alberta!Friday night, good night for some Sabbath. Riders: Paul, Max, Dylan, Aussie, Sean, Speedy, Derek Dogs: Lucy, BenjiI've never met anyone who rides a bike like Div Devlin. Actually, I've never met anyone like him at all. Such a shredder with ideas that may seem bonkers, until he lands them.Video: Zach Youngberg.Short mash-up of slow motion (120 fps) clips from the past year, enjoy!No shortage of great riding in the alps.Nine year old Propain Gravity Kid Johann Schuhmacher smashing some downhill tracks at Bikepark Lac Blanc, France.Dennis Enarson, Chad Kerley, Chase Hawk, Sean Sexton, and Tom Dugan hit the road with Rockstar and found some of the best spots in Southern California.Straight after placing 2nd at the Vans BMX Pro Cup in Malaga, Corey Walsh headed to Portugal.Featuring Tony Cardona, Brandon Hoerres, Austin Brunger, Jeff Wescott, Dylan McCauley and Devin Fredlund. Shot between Austin and Houston, Texas. Filmed & edited by Josh Babu.Augie Simoncini, Colin Varanyak, Andrew Castaneda, Johnny Raekes, Hobie Doan, Abdul Fufanah, Jonathan Twinn Jaramillo, Charles Littlejohn, Richard Hernandez, Clay Johnson, and Gabe Brooks. The dudes put a few new twists on some old spots, and unearth some fresh gems as well.Produced by Level 1 Productions.This is still unreal.Rodney Mullen has seen it all. Besides inventing the entire platform of street skating as we know it, he's lived through and witnessed every iteration thereoffrom his days as a freestyle champ in the '80s to modern day technical wizardry. And while he knows how to manipulate a plank of wood better than any other living being on the planet, he's also got the uncanny ability to articulate what it means to be a skateboarder better than anyone else. We sat him down for a quick chat, and got his take on the essence of skateboarding for our own private TED Talk. Rodney, we love you. You truly are something special. Congratulations on 10 years of Almost!Jesselyn Silva is only 10 years old, but she's already in the ring. By Emily Sheskin.Title Photo by: SRSuntour To check out videos submitted by fellow Pinkbike members that didn't quite make Movie Mondays here


A brand new Orbea Rallon is here. It is the 5th generation of this bike, and it is the most revolutionary one. Completely redesigned, the Rallon gets modern geometry with a number of very interesting details.



Over the last years, the previous generation of the Rallon was surpassed in terms of geometry and performance, and it was no longer the top tier racing machine it once was. A real change in the enduro bike category was needed for the Rallon if Orbea was looking for something that could do more than just fill a spot in their bike catalog.



Orbea Rallon Details

 Intended use: enduro

 Wheel size: 29"

 Rear wheel travel: 150mm

 65 or 65.5 head angle

 Frame material: carbon

 Metric shock sizing

 Boost hub spacing

 MSRP: 4499 - 7999 Euros / $4999 - $8999 USD (complete bikes)

 www.orbea.com

 Intended use: enduro Wheel size: 29" Rear wheel travel: 150mm 65 or 65.5 head angle Frame material: carbon Metric shock sizing Boost hub spacing MSRP: 4499 - 7999 Euros / $4999 - $8999 USD (complete bikes)

Orbea has gone asymmetric in search of the best possible balance for shock performance, stiffness and driving forces handling.

Bike Technology

A honeycomb structure is used for the downtube protector.

Geometry

The revamped Rallon has been a long term project. Instead of copy-pasting their existing Rallon geometry and technology and launching an enduro carbon frame years ago, they decided to take a more challenging and more expensive route. They were looking for a unique new bike, one that would stand out among the ever-growing field of options.The bike has been conceived to work as a dialed body, and every single detail has been taken into account. Orbea has teamed up with Fox for this project and it's been months of designing, testing prototypes and long-term discussions to get Fox tuned shocks that work at their best with the Rallon frame design and geometry.The most striking feature of the new frame design is the asymmetric front triangle, with a tube running from the top tube to the seat tube on the non-drive side, leaving the shock exposed on the other side. Orbea has used their OMR carbon technology for the Rallon, which is their top of the line carbon construction, to construct the asymmetric frame. The full range features the same monocoque frame and the same carbon fibers.Orbea was looking to build a gravity oriented bike, with a progressive shock performance. They opted for a higher pivot point than in their previous Rallon and their goal was reaching an optimal balance between brake and suspension performance while maintaining an efficient pedaling platform. Orbea has worked closely with Fox Shox to get a tuned performance with the three shocks they offer with the Rallon, claiming that every customer could be able to achieve his desired shock behavior without needing to buy an aftermarket shock.Another Orbea partner in this new Rallon project is DT Swiss, with the renowned brand providing the 30mm wide rims on all the Rallon complete bikes. The Rallon frame features Enduro bearings, 180 mm post mount brake compatibility, internal cable routing, threaded bottom bracket and a 6mm thick downtube protector in a honeycomb structure.Both aluminum and 27.5'' wheels are gone. Orbea offers three builds for the Rallon: the M-LTD, the M-TEAM and the M-10. In every build Orbea offers several parts as an upgrade/downgrade that can change the final price for the complete bike. Some of the parts that are open to a change within the Myo program are are the shock, fork, brakes, wheelset and saddle.Orbea has included the Rallon in their Myo program, which allows the customer to design his own paint artwork at no added cost, giving the chance of owning a unique frame. With the Myo program, available on Orbea's website, the customer can also change the aforementioned bike parts at a competitive price. The promised delivery time for a Myo complete bike goes from 15 to 45 days.The fifth generation of the Rallon has seen a big change in terms of geometry. With a 65-degree head angle in the Lower geometry setting, and 150mm of rear travel paired with a 160mm fork up front, the Rallon sits firmly in the enduro race category. Thankfully, Orbea didn't forget that enduro racing / all-mountain riding includes climbing, and gave the Rallon a relatively steep 76/75.5 seat angle (depending on geometry position). The reach is longer than the previous version, measuring 455mm for a size large, but Orbea didn't go completely wild, saying that they believe in finding a balance for a better performance in different riding situations. The Rallon has been designed around 32mm and 50mm stems, depending on the frame size.Faster is better. But faster, safer and playful is way better. This is how the Rallon felt during two days of riding in the demanding terrain of the Spanish Pyrenees.Rough straight lines? Keep the right body position, hold your bars, don't touch your brake levers and trust your bike - you'll be amazed by how the bike gets the job done. Being used to riding 27.5" wheels on a daily basis, I was expecting the bike to feel like a big ship, as has happened to me with other enduro-oriented 29ers, but that wasn't the case, and when it comes to cornering this bike keeps up with the smaller wheel ones.The frame offers two geometry modes, Low and Lower. You can easily change the position in less than five minutes with a small dedicated tool that Orbea supplies with the frame. I didn't feel the need to go to the lower setting, as the low already feels safe and aggressive enough, but it's nice to have the option go change things up for even gnarlier terrain.As I was between sizes with 1.71m height, I got the opportunity of testing both the S/M and the L sizes. Initially, I felt good on the S/M size, although I found myself a bit too much on the bars, and ended up changing to the L size. The large worked really well for me, feeling stable and in control at high speeds while keeping a surprising maneuverability on tight corners.I tested the Rallon with an air shock, the FOX Float X2 and also the coil shock FOX DH X2. Both shocks work really well on the bike, with the Float doing its job for the usual rides and the DH X2 coming in handy when we rode on extreme terrain and very long descents, setting off from 2700 meters altitude on rocky trails. Taking time to dial in the proper shock settings paid off, and it would have been even better with a longer period of testing. The rear shock kept the back wheel glued to the to the ground, providing plenty of grip and giving room to play with the bike while looking for more speed.On the trails, the Rallon feels stiff and agile. This bike asks for speed, and rides true to its racing-oriented spirit. The climbing and general pedaling position make you feel comfortable without the feeling of fighting against the bike as with some other enduro beasts.A couple of days of riding and testing, even in a demanding area like the Pyrenees Mountains, might not be enough for a final statement on the Rallon, but the first impressions are very positive.
Friday's GRT Practice Day

Race Registration was a mad house, Friday. There were literally racers from all over the globe competing in several different categories in XCT, SXCT and DH in Angel Fire.

Jarod Hanson, racing for the Incycle team, signing in at Registration Friday.

Up on the course, Max Shepherd, racing Junior Expert, throwing a little whip on the hip during practice Friday.

Kialani Hines takes a break during practice to check over her bike and rest in the shade. Friday was for sure the warmest day of the weekend.

Harry Head of the Cube Canada team and Nate Bowman, riding for Santa Cruz Bicycles, scoping lines on the drop in on World Cup, the main trail used for the Pro / Cat 1 race.

Devin Kjaer, scrubs one of the drops during practice. The course has a lot of drops and jumps that if scrubbed could save valuable time.

Austin Dooley of the Incycle team, wraps up practice by hitting the step down with confidence.

Saturday's Pro XCT Action

Erin Huck, who led the Elite Women in the Pro XCT until the first, main climb.

Stans Lady Racer, Alexis Skarda on her way to third place in the beautiful trees of Angel Fire.

Keegan Swenson, riding the Cannondale to a dominating first place finish today. As you can see at the finish line, there is no one in sight behind him.

While they patiently waited for results to finalize, some of the pro ladies got together for a cool photo.

Pro XCT Podiums

On the Women's Pro XCT Podium, first place went to Erin Huck, followed by Amy Beisel in second and rounding out third was Alexis Skarda.

Keegan Swenson on the top step of the Men's Pro XCT in Angel Fire, with Cypress Gorry in second and Payson McElveen in third.

Pro GRT Qualifying

Logan Binggeli, Factory KHS qualified 4th. Will he better his 4th place finish from the last round of the GRT, maybe even beating out team mate, Bruce Klein for the top step in points?

Currently in first place in the points race in Pro Men, Bruce Klein tears into the mountain. He would qualify 2nd in Pro Men.

Shane Leslie on his way to the top seed in qualifying for Pro Men, going a little quicker than three seconds over Klein.

On the Womens side of the Pro GRT, Amanda Batty took the lead qualifying position with a time that was over eight seconds faster than Samantha Kingshill.

Samantha Kingshill looked great in the middle section of the DH course, nearly clearing the massive hip jump. She'll need to find faster gears to beat out Batty on Sunday.

CJ Selig, qualifying seventh, riding for the Truckerco Posse.

This weekend the Pro XCT and Pro GRT return to Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico, a place known for its elevation, technicality and for the most part beautiful weather. Friday fired off with Practice for everyone. The hottest temps of the weekend were forecasted for Friday and despite a few mosquitoes and a little bit of sunburn the racers put in a hard day of practice and line-scoping for the Pro XCT Main Event the following day and the GRT seeding runs.Saturday's main events included the Pro XCT race. First up the ladies of XC set out to battle for Queen of the Mountain.Erin Huck led the Elite Women in the Pro XCT from the start of the first main climb. The trees provided great shade for a start time of 2:30pm, essentially the hottest part of the day, but even at that, temps held in the 70s. The real killer was the elevation, with the base of the mountain at 8,600 feet, finding your lungs was the hardest challenge for the XC racers.The Men followed the Women's race, with seven laps of fast-paced competition.A little higher up on the hill, the Pro GRT Qualifying was going down!At the end of the Qualifying racers found out the scheduled was being bumped by nearly three hours due to a storm which is scheduled to arrive Sunday, so the best thing to do is get those rigs cleaned up and race ready for an early start Sunday.Stay Tuned for Sunday's Final Recap
The world of Sofia Coppola often involves very pretty women in rather ugly situations  The Beguiled is no exception.

Just about a month after its debut at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, Coppola's latest creation (and the first feature since 2013's The Bling Ring) has made its way stateside to entertain a different kind of audience. In a limited release in New York and Los Angeles, The Beguiled tested its ability to appeal to critics and serious movie goers alike after a successful time at the festival where Coppola became only the second woman in history to take home the award for Best Director.

An adaptation of the 1966 novel, originally entitled A Painted Devil, by Thomas P. Cullinan, and inspired in part by the 1971 film of the same name starring Clint Eastwood, The Beguiled tells a familiar story, but this time, Coppola claims, from the female perspective.

It's a couple of years into the Civil War in the heart of Virginia, and Union mercenary soldier John McBurney (a rugged, darkly attractive Colin Farrell) has fallen wounded in the woods. He's discovered by the young Amy (Oona Laurence), who takes him back to the girls seminary school where she lives with a number of other young women under the watchful eye of Miss Martha (a wicked and somehow also whimsical Nicole Kidman), hoping they'll be able to help him recover. The all-female household is immediately shaken up by the presence of a man as all of the women take a liking to Corporal McBurney. However, things take a turn for the worst  and at times for the scarily dark  when both the prim and proper Miss Edwina (Coppola friend and favorite Kirsten Dunst) and the much younger and flirtatious Miss Alicia (a quickly blossoming Elle Fanning) find themselves in competition for the Corporal's affections. One evening with the wrong woman leads to a series of cruel and unusual circumstances, all resulting in a strange battles of the sexes'.



Overall, the film is as aesthetically detailed as all of Coppola's previous work. There is remarkable attention given by the camera to show us the isolation of the young women and their estate, from the long shots focusing on the dark branches and crumbling dead leaves surrounding the premises of the estate to the wrought iron gates keeping everyone locked up from whatever must be more dangerous out in the real world. The dark, spacious but very empty shots continue into the interior of the plantation house of the seminary (the same location where Beyonce shot scenes for last year's Lemonade), where we see ornate furniture and delicately decorated rooms, but even the bodies inside seem to have trouble fully filling them.

This feeling speaks to the larger role women play in the film. Each seems to be trapped inside the world of the seminary because it is supposedly safer than the outside world, but it also prevents the women from being able to fully express themselves. The minute McBurney disturbs their usual routines, the women start to see not only other options, but more largely, possibilities for their lives. Adwina imagines what it is like to not follow all of the rules while Alicia sees the ability to get married, finally having the ability to fully utilize her feminine wiles. And when their guest turns into an intruder, threatening their safety, the women realize their full capacity in coming together to preserve themselves. Each plays a part in the eventual demise and death of McBurney, giving them great agency by the conclusion of the film.

COURTESY OF THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

For this usage of its predominantly female cast, as well as the acclaim Coppola has received in her role as a female director, the label of "feminist film" is being thrown around in relation to The Beguiled. However, these themes have also come under a great deal of criticism from many critics. Coppola, most recently, has come under fire for the feminist language around the film while not having a working understanding of the Bechdel Test when questioned in an interview. It has raised the question: can this be considered a feminist film?



It's a difficult one to answer. There is something seemingly anti-feminist in the idea that the women's worlds are so drastically changed (arguably improved) when a man enters in the picture. They become brighter and more lively, all because of their interest in the Corporal. It hits a nerve, but is this perhaps because of its truth value? It is hard to picture the women having the same reaction to another female boarder at the home, or some other development on the property that changed their daily lives, but it's also disheartening to know some decent dark hair and brooding eyes can turn a person's world so thoroughly upside down. As much as it unsettles, sex and desire is a powerful force in both sexes. It is an interesting choice to highlight this in women in a "feminist" body of work, especially when many visions of feminism express a woman's appreciation of and ability to be independent of something seemingly so frivolous as matters of the heart. The women here prove themselves to have this kind of strength, but not before putting them through what can seem like a sort of test.

There are also problems that have arisen in something less realistic happening in the film: Coppola's "white washing" of the plot by disregarding the slave discussion and removing the female slave, Hallie, from her version of the story although she appears both in the book and the original film. Coppola has come under fire for not only this decision, but also her frequent use of the word "exotic" when discussing her interest in women who live in the south. She said she wanted to give these women a voice. Critics say that these women of privilege, in their corsets, curls, and pearls, are not the women who need the voice  not during the Civil War, and still not today. If Coppola wanted to empower women, those of this belief say it should have depicted all women, more diverse women.

COURTESY OF THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

But, overall, the film is not looking to be a piece of the political discussion, or a historical retelling of actual events. For better or for worse, I will let you decide. I will simply say that it seeks to be a work of cinematic art, and that I believe it can succeed in calling itself such.



It is interesting to watch, has an entertaining plot that will take you from intrigued to amused to fearful in the matter of two hours, and is impeccably acted out by its cast, whose chemistry (whether from being stuck in a hotel together after filming for months, or from working together in previous projects) is incredibly palpable. And with the help of Coppola's husband, Phoenix lends their musical talents to the score, only heightening the experience. But does all of this beauty make up for holes in the plot, undercooked themes of freedom, and ignorance of social constructs affecting both? I believe that depends on the particular viewer.

The Beguiled's strength is in its ability to use precision to create mood. Once the mood fades, just like in any love story, is when things will become more complicated for everyone.

The Beguiled will be in theaters across the country on June 30.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-26 12:00:13

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Canadian Zeolite Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Canadian Zeolite Corp. (TSX Venture:CNZ). has issued a press release with the following headline:Canadian Zeolite Announces Positive Results on Two Year Study for the Remediation of Potash Brine-Impacted GroundwaterTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Canadian Zeolite Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Canadian Zeolite Corp.Source: Canadian Zeolite Corp. (TSX Venture: CNZ, ISIN: CA1368001097, WKN: A2AEE1, OTCQB: CNZCF, FWB: ZEON)Date: June 26, 2017Time: 6:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Canadian Zeolite Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
By Press Trust of India: (Eds: Adds companys quotes)

New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) Dealers of General Motors, which has decided to stop selling vehicles in India by the year-end, will demonstrate at Jantar Mantar tomorrow to protest against the American automaker.

A majority of General Motors 96 dealers, which operate around 140 showrooms across India, are unhappy with the companys offer of just around 12 per cent of total investments they have made, as compensation.

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"Never before have automobile dealers resorted to a dharna as a method of protest. But anguished by the decision of GM India to quit the domestic market without keeping their long standing dealers in the loop, we have been forced to do this," FADA President John Paul Kuttukaran told PTI.

Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the apex body of automobile dealers in the country, has received permission from the authorities concerned to stage a peaceful dharna at Jantar Mantar, he added.

"GM dealers and their employees would be sitting on dharna to draw attention of the ministries concerned to the plight of the dealers and loss of over 15,000 jobs," Kuttukaran said.

When contacted, a General Motors India spokesperson said: "GM India recognises the strong partnership with our dealers and is providing our dealer partners with a fair and transparent transition assistance package based on a methodology that is consistent across all dealers. This has not changed."

The methodology is then applied to the individual circumstances of each dealership. These discussions with individual dealers are confidential and it would not be appropriate to discuss them publicly, the spokesperson said.

"Our dealers are important partners in implementing our transition plan, which is focused on providing continuity and peace of mind for our customers," the spokesperson added.

The companys dealers have already decided to explore the possibilities of filing class action suits against the American automaker in the US over inadequate compensation being offered to them.

As per the conditions set by General Motors, a dealer who does not accept its offer by July 15, would only get 50 per cent of the compensation amount being offered.

In case a dealer does not accept the offer by September 15, he would not get any compensation at all.

In 2015, the company had announced to invest USD 1 billion in India to enhance manufacturing operations and roll out 10 locally-produced models over the next five years.

In January this year, the American firm put on hold its investments on new models for India as it undertook a full review of its future product portfolio in the country.

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On May 18, General Motors suddenly decided to stop selling its vehicles in India as there was no turnaround in its fortunes here after struggling for over two decades to make a mark.

The company will now focus on exporting vehicles from its manufacturing plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra after it stopped production at its first plant at Halol, Gujarat last month. PTI MSS ANU

--- ENDS ---
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Findev Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Toronto, Ontario (FSCWire) - Findev Inc. (TSX Venture:FDI). has issued a press release with the following headline:Findev Inc. Announces AGM ResultsTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Findev Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Findev Inc.Source: Findev Inc. (TSX Venture: FDI, WKN: A2DHVX, ISIN: CA31773A1075)Date: June 26, 2017Time: 6:09 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Findev Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-26 20:52:01

International SOS and Iqarus Announce Joint Venture Partnership

Media:

Susa Comms

Piers Zangana

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piers.zangana@susacomms.com

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International SOS

Suzanne Withers, +44 (0)20 8762 8494

Mobile: +44 (0)7825 425 500

Group Head of PR

suzanne.withers@internationalsos.com

International SOS, the worlds leading medical and travel security risk services company, and Iqarus, a leading provider of intelligent and integrated healthcare for demanding and complex environments, have today announced a joint venture partnership to leverage mutual capabilities and services.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706260061

Tim Mitchell, CEO Iqarus and Michael Gardner, Group Director Medical Services at International SOS celebrate the new Joint Venture Partnership, 'Iqarus, In Association with International SOS'. (Photo: Business Wire)

The partnership will operate as Iqarus, In Association with International SOS, and will see the businesses work together to enhance strategic operations across key service lines.

The businesses will collaborate to develop International SOS Offshore and Occupational Health Centres and Consulting operations and Iqarus Occupational Health Centre of Excellence - both based in Aberdeen. They will also work in partnership across International SOS Government Medical Services business and Iqarus operations in the same area.

As part of the agreement, the businesses will combine expertise in Aberdeen to create a market leading centre of excellence and innovation in offshore occupational healthcare. This will strengthen local capability and global support for Northern Seas clients in the oil and gas industry.

It will also enable the businesses to build and create additional value in contracts and services to supranationals, Governments, IGOs, militaries and NGOs operating in difficult and challenging environments. As a result of this, the joint venture will also be able to develop innovative public private healthcare initiatives to address the need in geographic markets newly opened to the global economy.

The joint venture will be led by Tim Mitchell, CEO of Iqarus. Based out of global headquarters in Dubai, it will link seamlessly into the global reach of the International SOS Assistance and Aero Medical Evacuation services.

Mitchell said: By creating this market leading offering, we will be able to address the rapidly growing need for innovative healthcare initiatives in countries currently underserved by existing healthcare infrastructure. This partnership will also enable us to provide higher quality and even better value for our customers - creating a company which sits at the very heart of innovation and excellence within our industry.

Laurent Sabourin, Group Managing Director, International SOS, added: This joint venture forms part of International SOS strategy to form alliances, partnerships and joint ventures to provide best in class services to our clients. International SOS excels in identifying and driving successful joint ventures and partnerships to complement and strengthen our wholly owned International SOS operations. We remain committed to grow our Medical Services business in the extractive and other industries from its current 900 sites in 90 countries worldwide.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706260061
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-26 12:22:01

J.P. Morgan Named #1 eCommerce Merchant Acquirer in Europe

J.P. Morgan

Maribel Ferrer

Executive Director

Communications

Telephone: +1 30 5579 9493

Email: maribel.ferrer@chase.com

or

Ketchum

Josh Salisbury

Account Manager

Telephone: +44 20 3755 6484

Email: josh.salisbury@ketchum.com

For the second consecutive year, J.P. Morgan (www.jpmorganmerchantservices.co.uk/) ranks as the leader in merchant processing volume for eCommerce transactions in Europe, according to The Nilson Report 1 (www.nilsonreport.com) - the global card and mobile payment industry trade journal. The firms merchant acquiring and payments processing business grew by 10% in volume, surpassed one trillion dollars processed in 2016 and is also ranked by The Nilson Report as the #1 merchant acquirer worldwide.2

J.P. Morgan supports leading and expanding eCommerce companies across a diverse range of industries including the sharing economy, digital marketplaces, fashion, gaming, food, ticketing, insurance and luxury goods. The firm is capable of authorising transactions in more than 130 currencies worldwide. In Europe, the card processor and acquirer partners with companies like Adobe Systems Software, Facebook and Netflix to provide payment acceptance, fraud mitigation and cash management services.

We are a key partner for eCommerce merchants expanding within Europe and pan-European companies looking to expand to North America. They trust our European team to help improve their payments processing and optimise their cash management strategies, knowing that our global reputation stands behind every transaction, said Catherine Moore, European President and Managing Director for J.P. Morgan Merchant Services.

Source:

1The Nilson Report, #1110, May 2017, 2The Nilson Report, #1085, April 2016

# # #

About J.P. Morgan

Merchant Services is the payment acceptance and merchant acquiring business of JPMorgan Chase & Co.  a global financial services firm with assets of $2.5 trillion and operations worldwide. It is a leading provider of payment, fraud management and data security solutions, capable of authorizing payment transactions in more than 130 currencies. J.P. Morgan, through its Merchant Services business, has uniquely combined proven payment technology with a long legacy of merchant advocacy that creates quantifiable value for eCommerce companies. Its processing platforms provide integrated solutions for all major credit and debit card payments as well as mobile payments and processed more than $1 trillion in payment transaction volume worldwide in 2016. According to the 2016 Nilson Reports, it is also the #1 ranked merchant acquirer worldwide and #1 European merchant acquirer of eCommerce transactions.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706260055
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for King's Bay Gold Corporation--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Winnipeg, Manitoba (FSCWire) - King's Bay Gold Corporation (TSX Venture:KBG). has issued a press release with the following headline:Kings Bay Announces $750,000 Non-Brokered Private Placements FinancingTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on King's Bay Gold Corporation, or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/King's Bay Gold CorporationSource: King's Bay Gold Corporation (TSX Venture: KBG)Date: June 26, 2017Time: 7:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of King's Bay Gold Corporation and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for MMEX Resources Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---AUSTIN TX (FSCWire) - MMEX Resources Corp. (OTC Pink:MMEX). has issued a press release with the following headline:MMEX Resources Corp. Announces Strategic Relationship with VFuels on Construction of 10,000 Barrel-Per-Day Crude Distillation Unit in Permian BasinTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on MMEX Resources Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/MMEX Resources Corp.Source: MMEX Resources Corp. (OTC Pink: MMEX)Date: June 26, 2017Time: 9:45 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of MMEX Resources Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
Myfloralkart.com, the leading online gift store has announced the Friendship Day gift collection for 2017.

Friends Day Gifts

PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-26 08:18:32

Press Information

Myfloralkart

Shop No.L-11, Jain Mandir Market, South-ex-2 New Delhi,



Sunil Singh

PR Marketing Head

9899886258

email

https://www.myfloralkart.com/occassion/friendship-day.html





# 350 Words

Shop No.L-11, Jain Mandir Market, South-ex-2 New Delhi,PR Marketing Head9899886258

The celebrations commence on 6 August this year but the authorities are all set to accept orders for the delivery services. The customers from worldwide locations can henceforth place orders for the Friendship Day gifts anytime.There is a plethora of options from freshly baked cakes, flowers, chocolates soft toys and much more to purchase at the portal. Additionally, there is a range of assorted items on the website to combine with and send flowers to Punjab ( https://www.myfloralkart.com/send-flowers-to-punjab.html) depending on the need of preparing a great gift to hamper. The authorities have set competitive rates for all products on the site without compromising the quality.The portal has a separate category at the product gallery for Friendship Day gifts. However, the authorities are extremely cooperative and flexible in offering order customization facilities on request.The customer support team is very active and cordially welcomes all visitors assisting them in the selection and ordering process. Addressing the media on the Friendship Day gift launch, the CEO of Myfloralkart said, Every year we get orders for Friendship Day gift hampers from across the nation and from people of all age groups. He further added, Our concern is to provide plenty of options for every single visitor to cater his/her needs at the best.The ideology of the company delivers only high-quality goods at best prices while ensuring on time delivery. The company is already working through the strenuous processes to bring bestseller gift stores, florists and bakeries into the network to ease the matters for the customers send flowers ( https://www.myfloralkart.com/flower/flower-bunches.html) to Bathinda or other small cities in the country. This is the best way to express love to friends by sending flowers on this friendship day with myfloralkart. This company provides express delivery of flowers with same day delivery.About MyFloralKart Myfloralkart.com is the largest online store in India to offer gift delivery services fast across all cities and remote locations. The website has clutter-free product gallery with well-organized categorization to ease the search and ordering process for the visitors.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Portable Oxygen Concentrators Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026"report to their offering

Portable Oxygen Concentrators Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-26 10:53:56

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







# 644 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

According to a latest report published by Future Market Insights titled Portable Oxygen Concentrators Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 20162026, the global portable oxygen concentrators market is anticipated to register a CAGR of 7.8% between 2016 and 2026 in terms of value.Portable oxygen concentrators supply oxygen to patients suffering from respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. The concentrator separates nitrogen and oxygen from air in the environment and then supplies 95% pure oxygen to patients. POCs are easy to carry as they are smaller in size compared to stationary concentrators. Moreover, POCs are of great use to mountaineers and travellers in places where oxygen is inadequate.According to Future Market Insights, the global portable oxygen concentrators market is likely to witness substantial growth owing to increasing prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, growing consumer awareness for oxygen therapy devices, and a changing consumer lifestyle. Further, adoption of new technologies in medical devices, increasing government expenditure towards healthcare and medical devices development and production, and a rise in investment by companies manufacturing homecare products is likely to boost the growth of the global portable oxygen concentrators market during the forecast period (2016  2026). However, high product costs and stringent FDA regulations pertaining to medical devices are some of the factors likely to restrain the growth of the global portable oxygen concentrators market during the forecast period.Segmentation highlightsThe global portable oxygen concentrators market has been segmented on the basis of Product into Continuous Flow Portable Oxygen Concentrator and Pulse Flow Portable Oxygen Concentrator; and on the basis of End User into Hospitals, Homecare, Ambulatory Surgical Centres, and Travel Agents.Request For Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1061 The Pulse Flow Portable Oxygen Concentrator product segment is projected to be valued at US$ 1890.3 Mn by 2026, registering a CAGR of 9.0% over the forecast periodThe Homecare end user segment is projected to be valued at US$ 1820.5 Mn by 2026 and is likely to witness a CAGR of 9.0% over the forecast periodRegional market projectionsThe global portable oxygen concentrators market is segmented into the seven key regions of North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, MEA, and Japan. Growing geriatric population consequently increasing the requirement for homecare settings particularly in high income countries with increasing number of patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases is expected to result in significant growth of the North America portable oxygen concentrators market. The North America region is expected to report incremental opportunity of US$ 781.7 Mn between 2016 and 2026. Evolution of health insurance system is expected to contribute largely to the revenue generation potential and attractiveness of the Eastern Europe portable oxygen concentrators market. Rising adoption of portable oxygen concentrators in chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases patients for better care is expected to fuel revenue growth in the Japan portable oxygen concentrators market over the forecast period. High product cost of portable oxygen concentrators is expected to hamper sustainable adoption in the APEJ region. Lack of product awareness is expected to hamper market growth in the APEJ and MEA regions.Send An Enquiry@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1061 Vendor insightsThe report profiles some of the top companies operating in the global portable oxygen concentrators market such as Koninklijke Philips N.V., Inogen Inc., Chart Industries Inc., Resmed Inc., Invacare Corporation, Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare, Precision Medical Inc., Besco Medical Co. Ltd., Oxus America, Inc. (Oxus), Foshan Keyhub Electronic Industries Co. Ltd., O2 Concepts LLC, and GCE Group. Key strategies adopted by leading market players in the global portable oxygen concentrators market include product approvals and commercialisation, efficient entry into markets in emerging countries, and adoption of latest innovative technologies in healthcare, thus strengthening regional proficiency and addressing customer needs effectively. New product launches, product innovation, and geographical expansion are anticipated to form the core of these strategies during the forecast period.Browse Full Report@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/portable-oxygen-concentrators-market
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-26 18:42:12

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# 400 Words

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for South American Gold Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Las Vegas, NV (FSCWire) - South American Gold Corp. (OTC Pink:SAGD). has issued a press release with the following headline:Rehaba Asks, Do You Pee When You Laugh?To view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on South American Gold Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/South American Gold Corp.Source: South American Gold Corp. (OTC Pink: SAGD, ISIN: US8363011011, WKN: A1H89U)Date: June 26, 2017Time: 12:42 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of South American Gold Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
By Press Trust of India: Panaji, Jun 25 (PTI) Goa Governor Mridula Sinha urged Goans to "always maintain national unity and communal harmony in the true secular spirit" on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.

"I would like the people of Goa to take solemn pledge on the auspicious day to always maintain national unity and communal harmony in the true secular spirit.

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"May this day deepen the spirit of harmony, peace and solidarity in the society," the Governor said in her Eid-ul-Fitr message which was released today.

Sinha also said Prophet Mohammad blessed us with eternal message of love, compassion and universal brotherhood.

"At this juncture when the world is afflicted with violence, social tensions, communal hatred and religious fanaticism, the perennial message of Prophet Mohammad assumes great relevance to be followed by all the people irrespective of their religion, caste and creed," she added.

The festival of Eid-ul-Fitr marks the culmination of the holy month of Ramzan. Let us on this occasion rededicate ourselves to the service of humanity and follow the path of love and universal brotherhood, Sinha said. PTI RPS NRB

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PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-26 15:28:13

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# 404 Words

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for RTG Mining Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Subiaco, Western Australia (FSCWire) - RTG Mining Inc. (TSX:RTG). has issued a press release with the following headline:RTG Joins Landowner Backed Consortium Proposal in Respect of the Copper-Gold Panguna Project in Bougainville Announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange and Toronto Stock ExchangeTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on RTG Mining Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/RTG Mining Inc.Source: RTG Mining Inc. (TSX: RTG, ISIN: VGG738971032)Date: June 26, 2017Time: 9:27 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of RTG Mining Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-26 10:02:01

Hard Brexit puts UK at risk of losing membership with European Union agencies that two thirds of security professionals believe help keep the UK secure

Tripwire Survey: Majority of Cyber Professionals Not Confident UK Government Can Protect Itself From Cyberattacks

Tripwire, Inc.

Ray Lapena, +1 714-624-8862

PR Manager

rlapena@tripwire.com

Tripwire, Inc., a leading global provider of security and compliance solutions for enterprises and industrial organisations, today announced the results of a survey of 350 information security professionals that found 69 percent are not confident in the ability of the U.K. government to protect itself from cyberattacks in 2017. The survey was conducted June 6-8, 2017, at Infosecurity Europe 2017 at the Olympia Conference Centre in London.

Additionally, when participants were asked if they thought European Union agencies like Europol and ENISA help keep the U.K. more cyber secure, 68 percent said yes.

With the highly publicised investigations and speculations into election hacking across the world, it seems only logical that people will start to wonder about their own governments cyber resiliency, said Tim Erlin, VP at Tripwire. The recent WannaCry outbreak in the U.K. has shown us what happens when government entities and national infrastructures are not protected from todays cyberthreats.

Europol director Rob Wainwright told members of Parliament last year that Britain would become a second-tier nation to Europol after Brexit. This, coupled with the continued indication of a hard Brexit, could jeopardize the U.K.s relationship with EU bodies, including Europol and ENISA.

Erlin added, What the results of this survey show is that seasoned cybersecurity professionals are not confident that the U.K. government is protected from hackers. They also value the relationship that the U.K. has with friends and colleagues in the EU-funded agencies. The importance of an EU-wide coordinated effort to combat cyber risk should not be forgotten during withdrawal negotiations, as these efforts are clearly valued by the U.K.s cybersecurity community.

About Tripwire

Tripwire is a leading provider of security, compliance and IT operations solutions for enterprises, industrial organizations, service providers and government agencies. Tripwire solutions are based on high-fidelity asset visibility and deep endpoint intelligence combined with business context; together these solutions integrate and automate security and IT operations. Tripwires portfolio of enterprise-class solutions includes configuration and policy management, file integrity monitoring, vulnerability management, log management, and reporting and analytics.

Learn more at www.tripwire.com, get security news, trends and insights at www.tripwire.com/blog, or follow us on Twitter @TripwireInc.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706260051

Tripwire survey: 69% of cyber pros not confident in U.K. government's ability to protect itself from cyberattacks.
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.




Few opposition parties leaders are contemplating to boycott the event keeping small traders sentiments in mind.

By Supriya Bhardwaj: While NDA government is going all out to celebrate GST roll out, deliberations are on in Opposition camp whether to attend the much talked about event in the Parliament or not.

Few opposition parties leaders are contemplating to boycott the event keeping small traders sentiments in mind.

The Opposition is brainstorming whether to be or not to be part of NDA government's an hour long mid-night session of Parliament to roll out GST.

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Samajvadi party's Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agarwal has termed the current GST Bill as 'anti-traders' move.

"What does the government want to prove by rolling out GST on June 30 midnight? Nehruji (first Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru) has announced our freedoms at stroke of midnight, this government is announcing that small traders will be made slaves through GST," said Agarwal.

While left is saying that they are not going to make it mandatory for their leaders to attend the GST roll out event, Congress is deliberating on all aspects.

"All we can say at the moment is that deliberations are on in the party. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh and other senior leaders will decide what will be party's stand," said Congress party's communication department chief Randeep Surjewala.

The government plans to roll out GST on midnight of June 30 in the presence of President of India Pranab Mukherjee.

Also read:

What is the GST bill? Here's all you need to know about India's biggest tax reform

GST scare: Fearing losses Chandigarh chemists stop buying stocks Ahead of GST launch, some traders confused over new tax regime

After meeting PM Modi, Google's Sundar Pichai says excited for July 1 GST rollout

WATCH | Here's all you should buy before GST rollout

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On the first Sunday in September, called "Liberation First Sunday" , Florida churches band together in a Statewide effort to secure the petitions needed to place the Restoration of Voting Rights Amendment on the November 2018 Ballot

By: Florida Voters Campaign PAC

Media Contact

Florida Voters Campaign PAC. Mylah Kate Robinson

***@gmail.com

954-793-0592 Florida Voters Campaign PAC. Mylah Kate Robinson954-793-0592

End

-- The Florida Voters Campaign PAC has called upon all Florida churches of various faiths to stage petition gathering events or opportunities for their members to complete a petition for the Restoration of Voting Rights Amendment; poised to appear on the 2018 ballot, which can only happen if enough petitions are received and verified by February 2018.In Florida, over 1.5 million citizens are prevented from voting because (in the past), they were convicted of a felony offense.... many which are non violent offenses, although they have paid their debts to society, having served their time and are tax paying citizens... still they are precluded from voting or participating in the franchise. A nation that believes in second chances, has essentially closed the door. Having our churches rise to the occasion, we can fix that.Regarding the importance of "Liberation First Sunday", Michael Dobson, Chariman of the Florida Voters Campaign says, "There are times when Churches have to rise up and remind even political leaders what is moral and just in a society. For instance, it is moral and just for those who have paid for a mistake to be given a second chance, and as tax paying citizens be allowed to cast a vote for those who are making determinations about where their tax dollars goes. It is moral and just that when one has paid their debts to society for their mistakes, that they be given a "second chance" and be allowed to participate in the franchise that defines American citizenship. "Mr Michael Dobson, also adds that, "the Florida Voters Campaign PAC calls upon every elected official and community leader in Florida to join our churches, and support this important effort".The Restoration of voting rights Amendment received the approval of the Florida Supreme court on April 20, 2017 after subimtting a little over 70,000 petitions in March 2017, which were required to trigger the courts review of the language. The initiative now must present to the State of Florida a total of 766, 200 verified and/or certified petitions by February 1, 2018, before it can be placed on the November 2018 ballot. To find out how you or your church can participate in Liberation First Sunday, visit the Florida Voters Campaign PAC website at http://www.floridavoterscampaign.org
Creative and innovative tailor-made travel venture to Nepal for the discerning, individual traveller.

Contact

Mark Knowles

***@snowcattravel.com Mark Knowles

End

-- Internationally renowned travel guide book publishers, "Insight Guides" have chosen Snow Cat Travel to be their travel experts and supply partners for Nepal.With the launch of Insight Guides innovative online travel booking service offering private, tailor-made trips, Snow Cat Travel will be providing Insight Guides with both their expertise in client support for bookings, but also as the providers of a full destination management service for all Insight Guides clients booking a trip to Nepal.Mark Knowles, the UK based Sales Manager for Snow Cat Travel said, " This is a very exciting venture for both Snow Cat Travel and Insight Guides and we are delighted to have been chosen to work Insight Guides as they are such a prestigious travel brand".Snow Cat Travel has painstakingly hand-crafted five very varied, suggested programmes for Nepal for Insight Guides, all of which are now live on the Insight Guides website.Mark from Snow Cat Travel adds, "our brief was to create a series of special and imaginative suggested tours for three different customer profile types for Insight Guides; cultural, family and active. But, what we really liked was that Insight Guides wanted to go much further than that and to allow their customers to be able to tailor-make their own unique trip to Nepal online by themselves".Such an innovative approach and away from the "usual suspects" of fixed, group itineraries and "just trekking", presented several unique challenges and a change in the way of thinking to achieve this.But, this has ultimately resulted in real choice and flexibility for the customer.With "just a click", the Insight Guides travel customer can select their travel dates, change accommodation, get an up to date price according to the size of their private party, as well as add a number of unique excursions ranging from a Private Everest Helicopter Flight, to a dinner in a Gurkha family home.Insight Guides customers who are looking for something "extra-special", or would prefer a little more 1:1 advice are also able to request the support of a "local Nepal expert" too.As Mark says, "the more discerning traveller demands experiential, imaginative trips and to be recognised and acknowledged as an individual. With our input, Insight Guides have achieved both flexibility and uniqueness for the customer. The result is no two booked trips will probably be the same. Whether the customer knows precisely what they want, is in search of 'ideas and insipiration' or would like some local expert advice as to 'possibilities', the customer focussed nature of this venture has been the key in being able to providea genuine, custom Nepal travel experience".See the suggested Nepal trips:See the full Snow Cat Travel product range for Nepal: http://snowcattravel.com/ nepal-holidays/ 4591194813 For more information, please contact Mark: sales@snowcattravel.com
Henderson Franklin's 2017 Florida Trend Magazine's Legal Elite

Contact

Gail Lamarche, Director of Marketing

***@henlaw.com Gail Lamarche, Director of Marketing

End

-- Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A. is pleased to announce that Attorneys Matthew Belcastro, Michael Corso, Thomas Gunderson, Russell Schropp and Robert Shearman were named to the 2017 Florida Trend Magazine's Legal Elite. To compile the list, Florida Trend asked actively practicing Florida attorneys to name the attorneys that they hold in highest regard, lawyers with whom they have personally worked and would recommend to others. The resulting list represents fewer than 1.5% of active Florida Bar members.In addition, Attorneys Amanda Brock, Traci McKee, Kayla Richmond and Luis Rivera were recognized as this year's Legal Elite Up and Comers. Florida Trend invited all members of the Florida Bar to nominate young attorneys who exhibit excellence in the law. The votes were tallied by an independent research firm and a Blue Ribbon Panel of prominent lawyers reviewed the list of attorneys who garnered the most votes. The entire 2017 Legal Elite report can be viewed at www.FloridaTrend.com/LegalElite.Henderson Franklin is the largest, locally-based law firm between Tampa and Miami with over 50 attorneys dedicated to providing a wide range of legal services in the areas of business and tax planning, business and civil litigation, employment law, estate planning, family law, intellectual property, workers' compensation, real estate, and land use and environmental law. Since 1924, Henderson Franklin has been assisting clients build their homes, businesses and communities in Southwest Florida. Henderson Franklin operates offices in Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Sanibel Island and Naples (by appointment only). For more information on the attorneys mentioned above or Henderson Franklin, please visit www.henlaw.com.
By: TP Mechanical

Contact

Tara Teepe

***@tpmechanical.com Tara Teepe

End

--Tara TeepeMarketing CoordinatorTP Mechanical513-898-8908tara.teepe@tpmechanical.comwww.tpmechanical.comMitch WilcoxPublic Relations ManagerThe Deciding Factor513-459-9064, 513-526-6537mitch.wilcox@decidingfactor.uswww.decidingfactor.usColumbus, Ohio (June 26, 2017)  TP Mechanical, a leading mechanical contractor based in Cincinnati, Ohio, won three safety awards at the 2017 Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Ohio safety luncheon on June 16. The event was held at the Boat House at Confluence Park (679 W. Spring St., Columbus, Ohio 43215).The awards earned by TP Mechanical include: AGC of Ohio Construction Safety Excellence Award (CSEA) Specialty Division Over 1 Million Hours AGC of Ohio Certificate of Commendation for Excellent Safety Record 2016 (Zero Incident Rate for 50,000 Work Hours and Over) AGC of Ohio Three-Year Associate/Specialty Contractor 325,000 Hours and Up Report Card Average"We are honored to receive these distinguished awards from the AGC of Ohio, and more importantly, to have the dedication to exemplary safety practices of our entire team recognized,"said TP Mechanical President and CEO Bill Riddle. "At TP Mechanical, we treat the health and safety of our employees, clients and the general public with the utmost seriousness. It is our primary goal to ensure everyone returns home to their family at night."According to the AGC of Ohio website, "AGC's SEA program is the industry's elite safety excellence awards program. CSEA recognize those construction companies that excel at safety and health performance, examining each candidate's commitment to safety and occupational health management and risk control. The CSEA selection process is comprehensive, closely examining each candidate's commitment to safety and occupational health management and risk control. It includes: the review of a company's commitment to management, active employee participation, safety training, work site hazard identification and control, and safety program innovation."TP Mechanical's first core value is "Safety First, Always First." It is fundamental to the company's mission  "TP Mechanical Contractors strives to be the premier contractor that builds everlasting value by transforming our industry through a culture based on safety, honesty, quality, innovation and servant leadership.""We don't just say 'Safety First, Safety Always.' We live it," said TP Mechanical Corporate Safety Director Rick Absher. "Ensuring the safety of our employees, clients and jobsites is our foremost priority. We are appreciative of this recognition of our commitment to safety and proud of our current streak of more than 2.9 million hours without a lost workday injury."Visit http://www.tpmechanical.com/ about-tp/safety/ As one of the leading providers of mechanical contracting, service and fabrication in the Midwest, TP Mechanical services the Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Lexington, Louisville, and Indianapolis markets. TP Mechanical delivers end-to-end solutions to our customers, from pre-construction expertise through contracting and fabrication to service and maintenance for piping, plumbing, HVAC/R and fire protection. We do this as a relationship-focused organization that leverages six decades of experience providing innovative solutions with excellence that drive down costs, enhance safety, increase value and deliver speed to occupancy.
Tour Offers Highlights of Italy, Slovenia, Austria, and Croatia

By: Katarina Line

Walking through Plitvice Lakes National Park

Media Contact

Daniel Hauptfeld

***@katarina- line.com

212-616-1190 Daniel Hauptfeld212-616-1190

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-- Celebrating 25 years as Croatia's premier small ship cruise company and DMC, Katarina Line has announced the final two departure dates in 2017 for its newly expanded "Lakes and Mediterranean Harmony" small group guided tour. Featuring highlights of Italy, Slovenia, Austria, and Croatia, the 8-day tour introduces guests to the unique cuisine, architecture and scenic, natural wonders of the four destinations. The tour, which begins in Venice and ends in Split, has guaranteed departure dates of September 15 and October 14."From the art and architecture of Venice to the fresh air of the Alps and the stunning waterfalls of the famous Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, every day is a visual and gastronomic adventure on Katarina'stour," said Daniel Hauptfeld, marketing director for Katarina Line. "It's a true 'tour-de-force' for the eyes and the senses, with carefully curated experiences that highlight the best attractions of these unique destinations."After kicking off with a guided tour of Venice, Katarina Line'stour continues to Slovenia for a tour of Bled Castle. Perched high above the cliffs overlooking Lake Bled, it is the oldest castle in the country. A boat ride on the lake, rated among the top five activities in Bled, is also on the itinerary. In neighboring Austria, guests visit Lake Worth and, later, the university town of Klagenfurt, where the dramatic Lindwurm fountain  also known as the dragon fountain  dominates the old city square.Other highlights of Katarina Line'stour include a visit to Croatia's Pula Arena, considered one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters in the world. Guests will also explore the Vrelo Cave in Fuzine, estimated to be nearly four million years old, where traces of prehistoric man have been found. They will also be treated to lunch at Bitoraj, renowned for its cuisine, which offers a blend of the traditional and regional gastronomy.The scenic lakes and waterfalls of the Plitvice Lakes, a UNESCO World Heritage site, conclude the final days of the tour, which also include a boat ride, among other activities. Guests can then connect to one of many Katarina Line cruises that depart from Split, further extending their holiday with a cruise on the Adriatic Sea.Tour price includes all transfers in modern, air-conditioned buses, five overnights with breakfast and two with both breakfast and dinner; gastronomical experiences that include olive oil tasting and truffle tasting; local, English-speaking guides, all admissions fees to activities on the itinerary, including the boat rides, cave exploration, and lake tours, as well as two lunches in local restaurants and a farewell dinner."With four distinct destinations offering a wide range of activities, sightseeing and gastronomic experiences, Katarina Line'stour is a great introduction to the cuisine, heritage, architecture, and natural beauty of these picturesque lands," said Hauptfeld.Katarina Line, the leading, award-winning DMC in Croatia and Croatia's premier small ship cruise company with weekly guaranteed departures from the end of April to mid-October, operating out of the major tourist centers of Opatija, Split and Dubrovnik. With a growing fleet of more than 50 ships in four different categories (increasing to six in 2018), the company serves more than 100,000 clients that include 26,000 cruise guests of all ages and budgets. Katarina Line itineraries give travelers the opportunity to explore the stunning natural environment and picturesque Mediterranean towns of Croatia while hopping from one island to another, offering guests unique opportunity to experience the true Croatia. The company enjoys an exceptional relationship with travel agents, which account for more than 90% of all bookings worldwide. Katarina line is a member of many different travel associations, including USTOA, ASTA, NTA, ACTA, RDA, STAN and ETOA. For more information, call toll-free 1-800-485-3121 or visit http://www.katarina- line.com
In an exclusive video accessed by India Today, Hafiz Saeed's brother-in-law, Abdul Rehman Makki, the man handling JuD's activities in the absence of 26/11 mastermind, is seen praising the terrorists who attacked CRPF convoy in Srinagar on Saturday (June 25).

By Arvind Ojha: Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, may be under house arrest in Pakistan but his terror group continues to plot and execute strikes on the Indian soil.

In an exclusive video accessed by India Today, Hafiz Saeed's brother-in-law, Abdul Rehman Makki, the man handling JuD's activities in the absence of 26/11 mastermind, is seen praising the terrorists who attacked CRPF convoy in Srinagar on Saturday (June 25).

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The video, which is said to be shot on Sunday, shows Makki extolling Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists when they were holed up inside a school in Srinagar.

"For the last 24 hours, the battle has been continuing in Srinagar. Lashkar soldiers are fighting against Indian Army in Kashmir," Makki is heard telling a gathering at JuD headquarters in Lahore.

"They are fighting against the cruel Indian Army. If we can't help them in any way, then I request you to remember them in your prayers," Makki goes on to say.

14-HOUR-LONG GUNBATTLE IN SRINAGAR

The Army killed two terrorists who had taken refuge inside DPS, Srinagar, school building after a 14-hour-long encounter on Sunday.

The terrorists had first targeted the 29th Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force at Pantha Chowk in Srinagar killing a sub-inspector and injuring two other securitymen.

SAEED'S ARREST A SHAM

Saeed was put under house arrest by the Nawaz Sharif government on April 30 reportedly after the US clearly told Islamabad that it'll have to face sanctions if it fails to act against JuD and Saeed.

Hafiz Saeed and his four aides have been detained for "spreading terrorism in the name of jihad", Pakistan's interior ministry had told a judicial review board. However, the latest video has once again nailed Pakistan's lie.

JuD is believed to be the front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba . The organisation is accused of involvement in militant activities in India and has already been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in 2014.

ALSO READ:

Srinagar: 2 terrorists killed in DPS encounter, 3 Army personnel injured

Srinagar: 1 CRPF soldier martyred in Lashkar terror attack

Was the Kashmir cop's lynching a pre-planned murder? A timeline of how it happened

ALSO WATCH:

Video confirms Jamaat-ud Dawa planned terror attack on CRPF convoy in Srinagar

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Multilogistyka has leased 1300 sq m of modern warehouse and office space in Segro Business Park Warsaw in Ozarow. Axi Immo has represented the tenant during the selection of property and negotiations of lease conditions. Segro Business Park Warsaw, Ozarow is located in the immediate vicinity of the A2 motorway

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A new tenant signed a lease agreement in the Equal Business Park in Cracow. Integer Group Services, a company based in Cracow, will lease a space of 3,100 sq m. Knight Franks branch in Cracow acted on behalf of Grupa Cavatina, the property owner, in the leasing process. Grupa Cavatina,

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At a June 24 reception at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, two of the most decorated writers in America today picked up their latest awardsthe ALAs Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction: Matthew Desmond took home nonfiction honors for his book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, and Colson Whitehead for his novel The Underground Railroad.

This one means a lot, because the ALA were one of the first promoters of Evicted, Desmond told librarians. Whitehead, meanwhile, thanked librarians for having his back no matter what genre his books have taken over the last 18 years.

Now in its sixth year, The Carnegie Awardswhich are now announced in January at the ALAs Midwinter Meeting, with a reception to follow at the ALA Annual Conferencehave become firmly established as coveted award.

This years ALA selection committee had plenty of validation on their choices: In March, Desmond won the National Book Critics' Circle (NBCC) nonfiction honors; In April, both Desmond and Whitehead took home Pulitzer Prizes, and last November, Whitehead won the National Book Award.

In his acceptance speech, Desmond also thanked librarians for all the work they do on behalf of those in need, and for embracing his book as a way to change the conversation about poverty in America.

We wanted this book to have a real world impact. We wanted to change the public policy conversation today, Desmond said. This book has kind of made a dent. The fight continues, and there is still a lot of work to do, but whatever way out of this mess, one thing is certain: this degree of inequality, this level of social suffering, this wreckage that Evicted tries to tell about, this cannot be us.

Whitehead acknowledged that he is just trying to enjoy what has been a pretty much once-in-a-lifetime experience.

People say, isnt it going to be hard to follow this book up? And I go, yes it will be hard. It was hard to write the first book. It was hard to write the second. They're all hard to write. If they were easy, they wouldn't be worth doing.

Whitehead also thanked librarians for their unwavering support, despite his penchant for writing vastly different styles of books.

People also ask me are you worried about people's expectations? How are you going to follow this up, And I guess I've learned a few things about writing by changing styles. I am used to disappointing people. Sag Harbor brought me a new readershipits a coming of age tale about growing up in the 80s. And I followed that up with a book about a zombie apocalypse and lost all those people, he said to laughter. When I talk to booksellers, they tell me how hard it is to hand sell some of my books because I do keep popping around. But theres this one group that doesn't seem to mind if I keep changing genres, and that you guys.

In addition, to talks by Desmond and Whitehead, mystery and crime author Sara Paretsky delivered a rousing keynote, in which she urged librarians and book lovers to fight for truth, free speech, and the future of literature.

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction are made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Two Dollar Radio, the Columbus, Ohio-based small press, is opening a bookstore where it will sell its own titles, alongside a carefully-curated selection of books published by other independent literary presses.

In September, Two Dollar Radio will move into its new headquarters in the city's South Side neighborhood. Aside from an office to house its publishing operations, the building will also feature a bookstore, cafe, and a bar. The press' expansion is following a trend set by other small literary presses: in 2016, Milkweed Editions opened a bookstore in the Open Book literary center near downtown Minneapolis, followed a few months later by Curbside Splendor Publishing, which opened a bookstore in Chicagos Revival Food Hall in the National building.

An 1,800-square foot space in the front of the building that has been leased and is being built-out this summer will house the bookstore, cafe, and bar. The company's publishing operation will be located in the 1,100-square-foot back area, which also includes enough space for storage. The entire enterprise will operate under the business name, Two Dollar Radio Headquarters.

The publisher's bookstore will emphasize the offerings of independent publishers, and the cafe will be vegan, serving only plant-based items, as well as locally-roasted coffee and tea.

Eric Obenauf, co-founder of Two Dollar Radio, has a service industry background and will manage food operations for the bookstore's cafe, while editorial/marketing assistant Brett Gregory will oversee the location's bar. Obenauf's friends will staff the booksore/cafe/bar for the operation's first few months in business, but Obenauf said he expects to hire one full-time and two part-time employees in the fall. Besides Obenauf, there are currently two full-time employees at Two Dollar Radio.

Two Dollar Radio was founded by Obenauf and his wife, Eliza Wood-Obenauf, in 2005, to publish literary fiction. In 2013, the press expanded to include a film production arm.

Two Dollar Radio is publishing seven titles in 2017, up from five in 2016. This year's list includes the press first work-in-translation, Seeing People Off by Jana Benova, which was originally published in Slovakian and won the European Union Prize in 2012. Two Dollar Radio is also publishing its first collection of essays, They Cant Kill Us Until They Kill Us by MTV News music columnist Hanif Abdurraquib. A 2016 release, The Gloaming by Melanie Finn, was named a New York Times notable book in 2016, and Two Dollar Radio is publishing Finns next novel, Fine Things, in May 2018, which will be the press first hardcover release.
Blue Rider Press, established in 2011 by David Rosenthal to publish a select number of fiction and nonfiction titles, is being discontinued. The announcement was made in a memo sent from Penguin Publishing Group president Madeline McIntosh to Penguin Random House employees.

McIntosh said that while Blue Rider has had a good number of successes, the imprint has faced the particular challenge of being a small startup in a hypercompetitive market, with results that have not been as consistent as we need them to be. As a result, McIntosh said, existing and upcoming Blue Rider books will be released under the Dutton imprint.

The closing of Blue Rider means that Rosenthal, and associate publisher Aileen Boyle, will be leaving PRH in the coming months.

The Bluer Rider move also affects the Plume trade paperback imprint, which was moved under Rosenthal in 2015. Plume will now also move under Dutton and McIntosh said it is still being decided whether new paperback originals will be released under the Plume or Dutton names. Similarly, the fate of the Blue Rider name will be determined at a later date.

Blue Rider had done about 24 titles annually. Among the authors it published were Jeff Bridges, James Carville, Elvis Costello, R.A. Dickey, Delia Ephron, Carrie Fisher, Michael Hastings, Jewel, Patrick Kennedy, Chuck Klosterman, Bill Maher, Stuart Scott, Lesley Stahl, Mike Tyson, and Neil Young.

Total staff was about eight. In her memo, McIntosh said Penguin has been meeting with the affected employees to discuss their options. McIntosh also noted she is talking to agents and authors affected by the move with the goal of ensur[ing} the most beneficial future for each title.
Junaid (17) was stabbed to death while his two brothers - Hasim (21) and and Sakir (23) - were injured by a mob in a train when they were returning home from Delhi after Eid shopping.

By India Today Web Desk: People in Ballabgarh's Kandhawali village in Haryana wore black arms bands during Eid prayers to express their angst over lynching of a 17-year-old in a train last week.

Junaid (17) was stabbed to death while his two brothers - Hasim (21) and and Sakir (23) - were injured by a mob who also allegedly passed slurs against them after the dispute over the seat on board the Delhi-Mathura passenger train between Ballabgarh and Mathura stations on Thursday (June 22) night.

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Situation in Junaid's village - Kandhawali - remains tense as people demand strict and fast action against the culprits.

DCP Vishnu Dayal, who has been camping in the village, told India Today that one accused has been arrested so far and others involved in the incident have been identified and would be nabbed soon.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED

The arrested accused, before being remanded to police custody by a court in Faridabad district, told reporters that he was in an inebriated state at during the incident.

However, Hashim gave a different account indicating that there was no dispute over seats in the train.

Giving details, he said that they finished their Eid shopping from Sadar Bazaar in Delhi and boarded a train from there on Thursday.

"When we sat in the train, it was almost empty. By the time it reached Okhla, the compartment was full. About 20-25 persons boarded the train from Okhla. My brother Junaid was asked by an aged man who boarded the train to give seat to him. He got up and gave the seat to him," he said.

"All of a sudden the group of 20-25 persons who had boarded the train from Okhla station pushed us and my brother Junaid fell down. When I and Junaid told them why they were pushing they pointed to a skull cap on my head. They told us that we are Muslims, anti-nationals, Pakistani, ate beef and then while hurling abuses at us they pulled my cap and threw it down. They also tried to pull my beard," Hashim said recounting the harrowing experience.

Hashim said that later the group started beating him and his brothers in the train.

ALSO READ:

Man lynched, 3 thrashed over rumours of beef eating on Delhi-Ballabhgarh train route

Ballabgarh victims brother recalls horrific train incident

Investigations on in Ballabgarh train lynching incident: Police

WATCH: Delhi: Man lynched, 3 injured in train over rumours of beef consumption

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HarperOne Takes a Road to Change

Kathryn Helmers at Creative Trust, Inc. sold world rights to Michael Maudlin, executive editor and senior v-p of HarperOne, for The Road to Change by Ian Morgan Cron. In it, the author, who previously co-wrote 2016's The Road Back to You with Suzanne Stabile, continues his exploration of the Enneagraman ancient personality typing system with roots in Christian and Islamic mysticism. Scheduled to publish in winter 2019, The Road to Change presents ways that the Enneagram can be used as a tool for spiritual growth and a deeper connection to God.

Lisa Bevere Re-Ups with Revell

In a world rights deal brokered by Esther Fedorkevich of the Fedd Agency, Revell acquisitions editor Andrea Doering bought Adamant: Finding Truth in a Universe of Options by Lisa Bevere. Bevere is the bestselling author of 2016s Without Rival, which was also published by Revell. In the new book, Bevere draws on passages from Scripture to encourage Christians to maintain their faith in God despite a world of constantly shifting values, according to the publisher. Adamant is slated for publication in April 2018.

Zondervan Nabs a Hit Designer

Jana Burson of the Christopher Ferebee Agency sold world rights to Zondervan acquisitions editor Stephanie Smith for the debut by Tiffini Kilgore, owner of a Christian-themed home decor business, House of Belonging. The company, which designs hand-lettered wooden signs and other home furnishings, has attracted celebrities and authors such as Rebekah Lyons and has been featured in Country Living, Project Nursery, and more. The untitled memoir, which is scheduled for February 2019, will chronicle Kilgore's marriage at age 16, two subsequent divorces, how she launched a successful design business, and the role that prayer has played in her life.

Brazos Confronts the Guns Epidemic

Jim Kinney, executive v-p at Baker Publishing Group, acquired world rights to Beating Guns: A Book for People Who Are Tired of Violence by Christian activist Shane Claiborne and Mennonite pastor Mike Martin. The book, which will be released by Baker's Brazos Press imprint in fall 2018, will, the publisher said, explore the political, moral, and spiritual ramifications of the link between God and guns in the U.S.

Sounds True Searches for Wisdom

Marleen Seegers of 2 Seas Agency sold world English rights to Sounds True acquisitions editor Melissa Valentine for In Search of Wisdom by spiritual teachers and thought leaders Matthieu Ricard, Christophe Andre, and Alexandre Jollien. Slated for publication in June 2018, the book features a conversation between the three authors about the human experience, including questions about how to achieve happiness and freedom, according to the publisher.

Bobby Schuller Signs a Double with Nelson

Bobby Schuller, a pastor and the host of the Christian television program Hour of Power, signed a two-book deal brokered by Matt Yates of Yates & Yates with Nelson Books senior v-p and publisher Brian Hampton. The first book, You Are Beloved: Living in the Freedom of Gods Grace, Mercy, and Love, is based on a motivational statement of faith featured on Hour of Power that reminds believers that they are beloved by God. You Are Beloved is set for May 2018. The second book, tentatively titled Change Your Mind, Change Your World, is slated for April 2019.

Literary Agent Lands at RWW

Literary agent D. Patrick Miller sold world rights to his own book, How to be Spiritual without Being Religious, to Red Wheel/Weiser's Greg Brandenburgh. The book, which is scheduled to publish in fall 2018, is a guide to practical faith free of dogmatism, the publisher said.
After providing similar support for the telcos Spanish operations, video technology provider Kaltura has announced that its over-the-top (OTT) technology is seeing use in the launch of Vodafone TV in Italy.





The services TV set-top box (STB) is said to offer an advanced cross-device TV experience, accessing the Vodafone 4G network with cloud DVR and a modern user interface. The personalised live and on-demand TV experience, includes enhanced content discovery, favourites, cross device interaction and watch lists.Subscribers have access to a growing catalogue of content from a range of different television and OTT sources, available through live, video-on-demand (VOD), catch-up, start over, cloud DVR and apps. The service also brings together the content libraries of the likes of Netflix and Sky Italia Now TV with known TV channels, in a unified and intuitive experience.Kaltura says that its technology allows Vodafone to deploy a number of business models, making it easy to offer new price plan services. Its architecture and services are claimed to be able to make it easy for Vodafone to continue to expand this service on a regular basis through frequent software updates.Vodafone Italy has introduced one of the most ambitious and cutting-edge pay-TV services out there. We are so proud to have a global powerhouse like Vodafone leveraging Kalturas technology as part of its quad-play strategy, commented Ron Yekutiel, Kaltura co-founder, chairman and CEO. Kaltura proves yet again its ability to deploy in rapid time a premium pay-TV service for a tier-1 customer.
After just over two years of operation during which time it has counted upon the pay-TV giant as a key customer, video compression firm V-Nova is now the beneficiary of a minority equity stake from Sky.





Sky now joins other leading companies such as Eutelsat as an investor in the London-based video firm. The 4.5 million investment is being made by Sky Italia with whom V-Nova began working in 2015, and has used its solutions for contribution and IPTV applications. V-Nova believes that its relationship with Sky will enable the pay-TV provider it to understand more about the compression technology and its potential relevance and application in the future.In April 2017 V-Nova unveiled version two of its flagship Perseus video processing technology , designed to address current video delivery challenges and attempt to close the gap between consumer expectations for video services and networks capacity constraints. It is said to fundamentally expand the codecs capability to enhance performance, simplify deployment into real-world environments and reduce operating costs through improved efficiency. This launch came on the heels of a strategic purchase by V-Nova itself in the form of buying the full global patent portfolio of video imaging experts Faroudja Enterprises . The purchase marked V-Novas first acquisition and the Faroudja technology will see use in improving the flagship Perseus, integrated without requiring modifications to the standard codec.
Preliminary results show that Albania's ruling Socialist Party is on track to win a new governing mandate in an election seen as key to the countrys future relationship with the European Union.

With more than half of the votes counted, the party of Prime Minister Edi Rama won almost 52 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said on June 26.

It would secure the Socialists 76 seats in the 140-seat chamber -- 11 more than in the previous election in 2013.

According to the partial count, the opposition center-right Democratic Party of Lulzim Basha was on track to win about 29 percent of the vote, or 40 seats -- a loss of nine seats compared to 2013.

Ramas current junior coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), received almost 16 percent of the vote -- some 4.5 percent more than in the previous poll.

Official results were expected later on June 26.

If the partial results hold, it would allow the 52-year-old pro-Europe Rama to set the political agenda without the need for a coalition.

Rama has become increasingly at odds with the LSI and its former leader, former Prime Minister Ilir Meta, who is now president-elect after being voted to the mostly ceremonial position by parliament.

Although the elections apparently went off smoothly, voter turnout was 44.9 percent, a record low for a general election in Albania. In 2013, turnout was 52.7 percent.

Because of the low turnout -- which some people blamed on the record-high temperatures and celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan -- the election commission extended voting by an hour past the scheduled closing time.

The Socialists and Democrats were the leading parties looking to gain an outright majority in the parliament of the NATO-member, Muslim-majority country of 2.9 million people.

The Democrats had threatened to boycott the elections, demanding that Rama resign ahead of the vote to ensure a fair process.

The United States and the EU brokered a deal in May that overhauled election rules and allowed the opposition greater oversight over the process.

Rama is seeking his second term as prime minister. He described the vote, held in front of international observers, as a pivotal moment for the country and its hopes to join the EU.

Rama, who has voiced concerns about Russian influence in the country, has said he would like to complete EU accession talks by the end of this year.

His rival, Basha, has also said he favors EU membership, calling it the "divine mission of the Democratic Party."

The country gained EU-candidate status in 2014, but movement has been slowed by a perceived lack of reforms, including those involved with the election process, and longstanding corruption.

While in power, the Socialists have improved tax collection and ruled over an improvement in economic growth -- 3.45 percent last year from less than 1 percent four years ago.

However, they were unable to fulfill promises to create 300,000 new jobs and provide free health care for everyone over 40 years of age.

The country has come under scrutiny for its massive levels of marijuana production, and it is a major transit route into Europe for cocaine and heroin.

Basha, 43, a former transport and interior minister, accuses Rama of ignoring Albania's problems and glossing them over with "facades and palm trees."

Both Rama and Basha previously served as mayors of the capital of Tirana.

With reporting by VOA, dpa, AP, Reuters, and Balkan Insight
Sushma Swaraj, as described by the Prime Minister, is a 2 am minister whose promptness on social media has earned her more than 8.3 million followers on Twitter alone.

Narendra Modi and Sushma Swaraj were once part of rival camps. Photos: PTI.

By India Today Web Desk: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's fiercest critics are likely to agree with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that she has given a "human face" to diplomacy.

Sushma Swaraj, as described by the Prime Minister, is a 2 am minister whose promptness on social media has earned her more than 8.3 million followers on Twitter alone and a host of admirers cutting across political lines.

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Narendra Modi has time and again lauded the External Affairs Minister for reaching out to people and holding her own while representing India at various international forums.

It is now well known in India- anyone in trouble tweets to Sushma Ji, she promptly replies and the Government takes prompt action: PM- PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 25, 2017

In January this year, Narendra Modi patted Sushma Swaraj for her "proactive and prompt" response in reaching out to "distressed Indians abroad using social media".

Earlier, after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stayed the execution of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by Pakistan, Modi immediately spoke to Sushma and thanked her.

In September last year, Sushma Swaraj's powerful speech against Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly after the Uri terror attack was lauded by Narendra Modi. "Congrats to EAM @SushmaSwaraj for a firm, effective and fine articulation of a wide range of global issues at UNGA," tweeted the Prime Minister.

GIVING COLD SHOULDER TO EACH OTHER

Sushma Swaraj and Narendra Modi, however, had just about a cordial relationship when the BJP-led NDA formed the government at the Centre in 2014.

Sushma, always believed to be a part of the LK Advani camp, largely stayed away from Narendra Modi's campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha election in 2014. While campaigning for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Swaraj reportedly did not mention Modi's name even once.

Before the Lok Sabha election results were announced, Narendra Modi had invited several senior BJP leaders, including Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari to his chief ministerial residence in Gujarat. Sushma Swaraj, however, was not seen at the meeting.

Yet, Sushma was given the charge of the high-profile Ministry of External Affairs in the Narendra Modi government.

MEA REVAMP UNDER SUSHMA SWARAJ

Since taking over as the External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj has tried to take the MEA out of the government buildings and turn it into a 24x7 accessible ministry for people.

Sushma was largely credited for helping Indian national Uzma Ahmed, who was allegedly forced to marry a Pakistani man, return home in May this year.

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"I am proud to be an Indian citizen. Sushma madam would call me every day to say we are fighting for you, you are our daughter, you are India's daughter," Uzma said on her return to India.

Sushma played a crucial role in bringing Geeta, the speech and hearing impaired girl who had crossed over to Pakistan when she was seven or eight years old, back to India in 2015.

Narendra Modi's appreciation for Sushma Swaraj during his recent address to the Indian diaspora at a community event in Virginia shows how the dynamics between the two leaders have changed over the last three years.

ALSO READ:

Modi lauds Sushma for figuring in Foreign Policy Global Thinkers List 2016

Day after Sushma attacks Meira Kumar with a 2013 video, Congress takes Swaraj down memory lane

Uzma Ahmed: Pakistan is a well of death, thank you PM Modi, Sushma Swaraj for helping me return to India

ALSO WATCH: Uzma Ahmed recounts her ordeal in Pakistan, says thankful to Sushma Swaraj

--- ENDS ---
The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top-ranking U.S. military officer, has arrived in Kabul on a previously unannounced visit as Washington considers sending more troops to Afghanistan.

General Joseph Dunford was due to meet with Afghan officials as well as U.S. and coalition leaders and troops during his visit, which was expected to last several days.

International troops ended their combat mission in Afghanistan in December 2014, and the withdrawal of foreign troops led to a deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.

But U.S. media report that U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis now plans to recommend sending another 3,000 to 5,000 troops to Afghanistan in order to break what he calls a "stalemate" between government forces and the Taliban.

The United States currently has about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa
In the best soap-opera tradition, the ongoing process of constitutional reform in Georgia has yielded drama aplenty over the past week.

Just days after the Council of Europes Venice Commission of legal experts made public its final comments on the proposed draft amendments, the 115 lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party unanimously approved a slightly different text in first and second readings at an emergency parliament session on June 22 and 23, ignoring appeals by President Giorgi Margvelashvili and NGOs to resume discussion of the draft with the aim of achieving the widest possible consensus.

The last-minute change, which triggered outraged protests from NGOs and opposition parties, reflected the decision taken by Georgian Dream on June 19 behind closed doors to postpone from 2020 until 2024 the proposed transition from the current mixed majoritarian-proportional electoral system to a fully proportional one. Observers attribute that volte-face to a rift within Georgian Dream, with a younger generation amenable to change being effectively held hostage by older majoritarian lawmakers averse to risking the loss of their mandates. One majoritarian, Kakha Okriashvili, is on record as telling the news portal InterpressNews on June 15 that the mixed system is better for Georgia and should not be replaced by a fully proportional system.

Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and parliament speaker Irakli Kobakhidze, the constitutional lawyer who chaired the state commission tasked with drafting the amendments, have both hailed the parliament vote, which the three opposition parliament factions all boycotted, as a step forward in Georgias democratic development.

By contrast, parliamentary and extraparliamentary opposition parties alike have denounced what they perceive as an attempt to codify changes aimed solely at facilitating the preservation indefinitely of Georgian Dreams constitutional majority. The Alliance of Patriots, which has six mandates in the 150-member parliament, and the extraparliamentary Free Georgia party have threatened to launch street protests, the news portal Caucasian Knot reported.

The planned transition from the current mixed majoritarian-proportional system, in which 73 of the 150 lawmakers are elected from single-mandate constituencies and the remaining 77 under the proportional system, to a fully proportional system is one of the two issues that proved most contentious during the four-month discussion of the proposed amendments that got under way in January. The second is the role of the president, including as head of the National Security Council, and the planned abolition of direct presidential elections.

Those two provisions consequently figured prominently in both the preliminary comments and the more detailed and critical subsequent evaluation of the draft amendments handed down by the Venice Commission. With regard to the electoral system, the Venice Commission expressed overall approval of the planned transition to a proportional system, noting that a mixed system tends to lead to the governing party receiving an overwhelming parliamentary majority.

At the same time, it strongly criticized three related provisions that its experts perceived as deviating from the principles of fair representation and equality of the vote. Those were the imposition of a ban on electoral blocs, together with the preservation of the existing 5 percent threshold to qualify for parliamentary representation, with the party that polled the largest number of votes being granted an additional bonus in the form of those mandates that remain unallocated as a result of votes cast for parties that fail to surmount the 5 percent hurdle. In the five parliamentary ballots between 1999 and 2016, an average of 12.85 percent of votes were cast for parties that failed to qualify for representation; in 2016, the figure was 19.82 percent.

The Venice Commission said that, taken together, those three mechanisms limit the effects of the proportional system to the detriment of smaller parties and pluralism, and deviate from the principles of fair representation and electoral equality to a larger extent than seems justified by the need to ensure stability. It further questioned whether the winner-take-all model for distributing unallocated mandates serves to guarantee political pluralism.

The commission therefore strongly recommended considering other options that would ensure a more equitable division of parliament mandates. Those alternatives included lowering the threshold for representation to 2-3 percent and/or establishing a maximum upper limit for the number of wasted votes allocated to the winning party so that the latter has a workable, but not an overwhelming, parliamentary majority.

Alternatively, the commission suggested, the constitution could provide that 9/10 of the parliament seats (i.e. 135 out of 150) shall be distributed to the parties that have received more than 5 percent of the votes according to the principles of proportional representation, while the remaining 15 seats will be given to the winning party (or the winning party and the second party) as premium.

With regard to the election of the president, the Venice Commission expressed approval of the decision to delay the transition from a direct to an indirect ballot from 2018 until 2023. But it also advocated checks and balances to ensure that a ruling party with a large parliamentary majority would not automatically be in a position to engineer the election as president of its preferred candidate, thereby undermining the role of the president as an impartial arbiter.

In the event, Georgian Dream tweaked the draft amendments on June 21 to lower the barrier for representation under the proportional system in the 2020 parliamentary election to 3 percent. In line with the Venice Commission recommendations, it agreed on the maximum number of additional parliament mandates the winning party will receive as a result of votes cast for parties that do not qualify for representation. Indirect presidential elections will require a qualified majority in an open vote in the first round. In addition, candidates for the Supreme Justice Council and the Constitutional Court, and for the post of public defender, must receive three-fifths of the vote in parliament.

Sixteen opposition parties from across the political spectrum, including the former ruling United National Movement and European Georgia, which split from it earlier this year, have nonetheless addressed a statement to the Council of Europe secretary-general, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Venice Commission, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and foreign ambassadors in Tbilisi calling for a halt to parliamentary discussions of the draft (which the three parliamentary opposition parties boycotted last week) and the submission of a revised draft to the Venice Commission, all of whose recommendations would then be incorporated into the final version. They characterized the amended constitution unilaterally endorsed by Georgian Dream as antidemocratic, adding that it does not reflect the will of the Georgian people, and cannot be considered a legitimate document.

The 16 signatories warned that failure to reopen the discussion and amend the draft could undermine democratization and long-term political stability.

Meanwhile, 16 of the 23 NGOs aligned in the Coalition for a European Georgia launched a parallel appeal to suspend discussion of the proposed amendments in order to enable foreign experts to advise on those provisions, such as the planned abolition of the National Security Council hitherto chaired by the president, that directly affect the countrys defense capacity.

Individual opposition parties and political figures have been even more outspoken in their criticism. European Georgia, which has collected 150,000 signatures in support of its demand that the proposed constitutional amendments be submitted to a nationwide referendum, branded the document approved by Georgian Dreams parliament faction as not the constitution of Georgia, but that of constitution of Georgian Dream and [its founder, billionaire] Bidzina Ivanishvili.

(European Georgia split earlier this year from the former ruling United National Movement, which in 2010 similarly pushed through parliament, disregarding opposition criticism and without the monthlong public debate Georgian Dream conducted, constitutional amendments intended to enable then-President Mikheil Saakashvili to remain in power as prime minister after the end of his second presidential term.)

Opposition claims that the text of the amendments voted on by the Georgian Dream parliament faction last week was completely different from that approved by the Venice Commission appear to be a classic example of Georgian hyperbole. Similarly open to question is the opposition parties claim that during the discussion of the proposed changes by the state constitutional commission, not a single proposal by the president, the public defender, or opposition parties was taken into consideration.

That assertion is at odds with parliament first deputy speaker Tamar Chugoshvilis statement that 80 percent of such proposals were taken into account. It also ignores the fact that President Margvelashvili and his staff chose to boycott the work of the commission from the outset, a decision that the Venice Commission deemed regrettable.

Among the concessions Georgian Dream made in the course of the discussion were the postponement from 2018 to 2023 of the transition from direct to indirect presidential elections and that beginning in 2023 the president should be elected not by the 150 lawmakers as initially envisaged but by an electoral college that would also include representatives from all of Georgias regions, including the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Under the existing constitution, the proposed constitutional amendments will be submitted for a third and final reading at the start of the autumn parliamentary session. The hypothetical possibility thus exists for further revisions to be made. Whether the widest possible consensus, which both the Venice Commission and President Margvelashvili have called for, is realistic is questionable, however, in light of the intense animosity that exists between Georgian Dream and the United National Movement on the one hand, and between Margvelashvili and his team and parliament speaker Kobakhidze on the other.

Minister for Internally Displaced Persons Sozar Subari, who in 2009 publicly excoriated then-President Saakashvili for turning a blind eye to corruption and police brutality, summed up the perception that the United National Movement and its offshoot European Georgia systematically challenge and criticize every single statement by Georgian Dream, regardless of its merits.

Reaching consensus with the United National Movement is impossible...If we announced that tomorrow we shall win back [the breakaway republic of] Abkhazia, they would stand up and walk out of parliament [saying] You shouldnt do that, InterpressNews quoted Subari as saying on June 22.

As for the well-documented hostility between Margvelashvili and Kobakhidze, the two crossed swords yet again last week: When Kobakhidze invited the president to engage in a live televised studio debate about the merits of the proposed constitutional changes, Margvelashvili countered by proposing that a debate be held in the presidential palace in the presence of representatives of all political parties and NGOs, an audience that would be largely on his side. Kobakhidze rejected that format, complaining that the presidents role with regard to amending the constitution has been destructive from start to finish. Margvelashvili for his part complained that the only substantive constitutional changes are directed against the president.

Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio is scheduled to travel to Georgia later this week, Caucasus Press reported on June 23, quoting Buquicchios spokesperson. Whom he intends to meet with is not clear. Kobakhidzes credibility may have been damaged by the postponement of the transition to a fully proportional system, given his constant assurances, which the Venice Commission noted with satisfaction, that the Georgian authorities would not adopt any proposed amendment that the commission assessed negatively.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have closed in on the final Islamic State (IS) militant holdouts in the Old City section of Mosul, as the culmination of an eight-month battle appeared to be near.

Lieutenant Colonel Salam al-Obeidi on June 25 told the AFP news agency that "65 to 70 percent of the Old City has been liberated -- there is less than a square kilometer left to retake."

He was speaking from the war-torn Old City, a few meters from what is left of the iconic leaning minaret of the Grand al-Nuri Mosque, which IS militants had blown up four days earlier.

The fall of the Old City and the full liberation of Mosul would mark a major victory over IS, three years after the Sunni extremists overran government forces to capture Iraq's second-largest city.

In July 2014, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared during a Friday Prayer service at the mosque to announce the formation of an Islamic "caliphate" over Iraq and Syria.

But U.S.-led Iraqi forces have mostly driven IS from Mosul, the extremists' final significant stronghold in Iraq. A U.S.-led Arab-Kurdish coalition is closing in on the extremists as well in Raqqa, their final major holdout in Syria.

A senior Russian diplomat on June 22 said Baghdadi was likely killed in a Russian air strike, although the claim has yet to be confirmed.

Army commanders say the IS "caliphate" is now down to 1 square kilometer, with a "few hundred" extremists holding out.



However, fighting continues to be intense and up to 500,000 civilians remain behind IS-held lines, military officials said. They added that desperate militants will likely hold out until death.

IS "members don't turn themselves in," Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad al-Tamim said. "And if they don't get killed, their last option is to blow themselves up and commit suicide."

Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a top counterterrorism commander, told AFP he was confident of victory.

"We will finish the operation within a few days. The end is going to be very soon...it will take days," he said from the Old City.

In the liberated areas of Mosul on June 25, people celebrated their first Muslim Eid holiday in three years without an IS presence.

Children played on swings in squares on the eastern side of the city, which had been taken by Iraqi forces months ago before the assault on western Mosul was launched.

Residents said Eid prayers were allowed under IS rule but festivities were not.

For many residents, the festivities could not overshadow the destruction of the historic leaning minaret and the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque as well as much of the rest of their city.

"Eid is not the same," said one man who did not want to give his name for fear of an IS return.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters
Russia says Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told his American counterpart to "take measures to prevent provocations" against Syrian government forces.

In a June 26 telephone call with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Lavrov urged Washington to take measures to prevent provocations against Syrian government troops conducting operations against terrorists," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department.

The communique was issued after Israel said it had fired on Syrian positions on June 25 in response to projectiles from Syria that landed in the occupied Golan Heights.

The call was the second between Lavrov and Tillerson in less than a week. It came as U.S.-Russian relations continue to spiral downward.

During the previous call, Lavrov accused U.S. forces of undermining the Syrian government's offensive against Islamic State fighters.

U.S. forces have stepped up military actions in Syria in recent weeks, shooting down drones and a Syrian Air Force jet, prompting Russia to warn it will start tracking U.S. aircraft over Syria.

With reporting by AFP
24 An Afghan boy looks through the scope of a toy gun as other children ride on swings during the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in Kabul, on June 25. (Reuters/Omar Sobhani)
Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the "festival of breaking the fast." The holiday marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. During the celebration, believers attend prayers at their local mosques and dress in traditional clothes. People visit their relatives and friends, share food, and donate money to charity.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has appointed Mihai Tudose -- previously Romania's economy minister -- as the countrys prime minister-designate in a move that clears the way for a new leftist Social-Democrat-led government to be formed by the end of this week.

Iohannis told reporters on June 26 that he decided to name Tudose as prime minister-designate after taking into consideration the [countrys] current crisis, the urgency to end it...as it harms the economy and Romania's external image abroad.

The move comes after the Social Democratic Party ousted one of its own party members, Sorin Grindeanu, from the prime ministers post in a June 21 no-confidence vote.

Grindeanu had been in office since January, but the governing Social Democrats filed the no-confidence motion after saying that he had failed to implement the party's political agenda.

Grindeanu claims that the powerful leader of Romanias Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, pushed for the no-confidence motion in order to replace him with a party loyalist.

Normally, as party leader, Dragnea would be prime minister, but a 2016 vote-rigging conviction disqualifies him from holding the post.

Dragnea said Tudose was one of six potential prime ministers the party had considered. The other five declined the position.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
It's a "great gift to humanity" in the bumptious parlance of Beijing.

China's grand plan to revamp trade corridors to Europe involves around 60 countries and hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of new networks of roads, ports, railways, power stations, and energy pipelines.

But the so-called One Belt, One Road (OBOR) project doesn't appear to pack many presents for Russia. In fact, analysts say, it largely ignores China's sprawling frenemy to the north and its 11 time zones' worth of aging infrastructure and potential investment.

"If you look at how the [OBOR] is being rolled out, you can tell that Russia almost doesn't feature in it," Sijbren de Jong, a strategic analyst at The Hague Centre on Strategic Studies, told RFE/RL.

While the OBOR "belt" of proposed rail and pipeline networks in former Soviet states crisscrosses Central Asia and spans Belarus and Ukraine, links in Russia appear mostly limited to its southern periphery, along with Moscow and St. Petersburg and new pipelines to Kazan and Irkutsk.

The approach hasn't stopped Moscow from publicly embracing Beijing's effort to recreate overland ("one belt") and sea routes ("one road") between China and Europe reminiscent of the ancient Silk Road.

"I hope that it has paved the way for a new stage of cooperation in Eurasia," President Vladimir Putin told journalists after a nationally televised appearance on June 15, adding, "I have no doubt that we will work together...[to] benefit both the Chinese and Russian peoples."

Sharing the limelight is an acceptable trade-off for Beijing, according to Raffaello Pantucci, director for International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

"I think from a Chinese perspective, it's a no-cost thing to let the Russians do this posturing and show off, because at the end of the day [China] will still do the deals that they want, and ultimately Russia is in a disadvantageous position," Pantucci said.

But OBOR's success could ultimately cost Russia a sizable chunk of Chinese investment, a further loss of markets to Chinese firms, and lucrative construction deals in Central Asia as Beijing gains greater access to natural resources.

Great Expectations

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the One Belt, One Road initiative in 2013 as a way for the world's second-largest economy to achieve several main aims. He argued that China could provide jobs, direct industrial overcapacity into new markets, bring economic growth to underdeveloped western China, expand Beijing's political and economic influence internationally, and reduce delivery times and costs in trade with Europe. (EU-China turnover is worth more than 1.5 billion euros, or $1.67 billion, per day.)

Xi has dismissed suggestions that OBOR is ultimately aimed at boosting Beijing's political influence and challenging the United States' global standing, saying there is no "political agenda" and the intended result is a "big family of harmonious coexistence."

Drawn up with financing predominantly coming from China and the specially created Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, OBOR has been touted as the centerpiece of Xi's foreign policy; he has predicted that Chinese trade with OBOR countries could reach $2.5 trillion by 2025.

There has been relatively modest cooperation so far between Moscow and Beijing: Chinese companies invested more than $225 billion internationally in 2016, but only 2 percent of it in Russia.

"Certainly China doesn't have the interest that the Russians hoped that it might have to kind of upgrade existing Soviet transportation links, especially across Russian Siberia," Alexander Cooley, the director of Columbia University's Harriman Institute, told RFE/RL.

The handful of Sino-Russian deals that have emerged are not all proceeding so well for Moscow, OBOR observers said.

"The Chinese know that the Russians need them much more than the other way around," de Jong said.

The Power of Siberia natural-gas pipeline is a case in point, he said. Signed by Beijing and Moscow in mid-2014 with the West ramping up punitive responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it is the largest planned pipeline in Russia's Far East. It was originally slated to carry gas to northeastern China by 2019, but the project is moving "at a snail's pace," de Jong said.

What's more, de Jong added, "the Chinese drive a tough bargain." Beijing secured a "bottom price" for the gas itself, he said, and is charging hefty interest on loans to build the pipeline because of the "political-economic risk" of doing business in Russia.

Pivot Toward Asia?

Putin has "taken OBOR and presented it as a critical [success in] the development of Russian-Chinese relations and framed it as an initiative that is compatible with its emerging Greater Eurasia agenda," according to Cooley.

The Russian president's hopeful pronouncements this month on Russian-Chinese economic relations came exactly one year after he announced his vision of "a great Eurasian partnership" between Moscow and Beijing at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. In that 2016 speech, Putin rolled out his Greater Eurasia idea as part of Russia's proclaimed economic "pivot toward Asia" in response to Western sanctions over Ukraine.

The Russians, on the one hand, are mindful about what is going on because they fear a loss of influence in their backyard, of course. But at the same time, there is not that much that they can really do about it."

Putin's vision of reinforced economic ties with China is predicated on OBOR working together with the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a 2-year-old, Kremlin-conceived economic grouping of five former Soviet countries (Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan).

"The main thing we should do is combine our efforts within the [EEU] and the Chinese Silk Road initiative," Putin said earlier this month. "Can this be done? I'm sure it can."

EEU officials involved in negotiating an economic agreement with China and its ambitious venture have cautioned that talks on such a deal could take up to 10 years, according to Alexander Gabuev, a senior associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

The Harriman Institute's Cooley said Russia was hoping "OBOR can help jump-start the EEU and all of this will be part of this Greater Eurasia initiative that Moscow has conceived of over the last year or so."

He suggested that Putin's Greater Eurasia idea was "kind of a public admission...that [Russia is] not going to be the dominant economic power in Eurasia...[and] they have to accommodate this new reality that is China."

Cooley said China has already become the main supplier of public goods in Central Asia: "In other words, infrastructure, pipelines, roads, railways. [China] is the country that is really making the large investments" in the region.

The approach lends itself to an expanded political role, too. When Beijing established the China-Central Asia gas pipeline, for instance, it didn't set up a consortium of the three countries involved but rather established three joint ventures -- China-Kazakhstan, China-Uzbekistan, and China-Turkmenistan -- making Beijing the de facto mediator.

EEU + OBOR = Slow Going

Although Putin has signed two agreements with Xi pledging that the EEU will work with the OBOR, some see the Russia-led bloc as an effort by Moscow to maintain its influence in Central Asia.

Russia's history in Central Asia -- pioneering in the 18th century and later through a decades-long association as Soviet republics -- has led Moscow to regard the region as firmly within its sphere of influence.

"The Russians, on the one hand, are mindful about what is going on because they fear a loss of influence in their backyard, of course," de Jong said. "But at the same time, there is not that much that they can really do about it."

De Jong suggested that EEU members "actually are much more interested" in being part of the OBOR initiative "because that's actually where the money is coming in."

China has so far ignored the EEU and negotiated individually with bloc members like Kazakhstan to sign infrastructure deals as part of OBOR.

But the Royal United Services Institute's Pantucci told RFE/RL that some Chinese officials think the EEU could serve OBOR well.

"If you are looking at crossing Eurasia with lots of little markets along the way, well, you've got lots of tariff barriers to cross to get your goods across the border -- you've got lots of different markets and different standards," Pantucci said. "[But] if you have one common standard like the Eurasian Economic Union, actually that could work quite well, because it would mean -- from a Chinese perspective -- you basically cross one border to get into the common Eurasian Economic Union space, and then one border at the end to get out and into Europe."
Kyiv has hailed Russia's announced withdrawal from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson as another key battlefield success in Ukraine's operation to liberate territory occupied by Moscow after its unprovoked invasion.

"Ukraine is gaining another important victory right now and proves that whatever Russia says or does, Ukraine will win," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on November 11 in a tweet that included a video purporting to show Kherson residents removing a billboard that proclaimed "Russia is here forever."

Earlier on November 11, Russia said it had completed the withdrawal of its troops from the strategic southern city two days after Moscow announced the surprise pullout.

A regional lawmaker said on the same day that Ukrainian armed forces were in the final stage of reclaiming the west bank of the Dnieper River from Russian troops.

Serhiy Khlan, a deputy for Kherson Regional Council, said a Ukrainian flag had been raised in Kherson, as multiple videos circulating on social media purportedly showed Ukrainian soldiers planting their yellow-and-blue flag on administrative buildings in the city and local residents celebrating.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement earlier in the day that it had finished the pullout from Kherson city at 5 a.m. on November 11 and not a single unit of military equipment was left behind.

However, Khlan said some Russian soldiers had been unable to leave the city and had changed into civilian clothing and urged local residents to stay at home while Ukrainian troops cleared the city.

"The number of these people is not known," he told a news briefing, without citing evidence for the claim.

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.

Khlan also said, without citing evidence, that many Russian troops had drowned attempting to flee across the river.

The head of the joint coordination press center of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine, Natalya Humenyuk, said Russian troops "have been changing into civilian clothes for two weeks."

"This should focus our forces as it means saboteur operations cannot be ruled out," Humenyuk told a separate briefing.

"Because of this, we are not rushing to announce our successes in other directions and in other towns."

Russia did not immediately comment on Khlan's or Humenyuk's remarks.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on November 10 that it would take Russia at least a week to withdraw, telling Reuters in an interview that Russia had 40,000 troops in the Kherson region and that it still had forces in the city.

Kherson controls both the only land route to Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and the mouth of the Dnieper, which bisects Ukraine.

Recapturing the city could provide Ukraine with a launching pad for supplies and troops to try to win back other lost territory in the south.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's public broadcaster quoted local residents as saying on November 11 that the Antonivskiy bBdge, the only nearby road crossing from Kherson city to the Russian-controlled eastern bank of the Dnieper, has collapsed.

The Suspilne broadcaster published a photograph showing whole sections of the bridge missing. The next road crossing across the Dnieper is more than 70 km from Kherson city.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the bridge's collapse.

Recapturing the city could provide Ukraine a launching pad for supplies and troops to try to win back other lost territory in the south.

The Ukrainian General Staff said retreating Russian forces have been looting homes and destroying critical infrastructure, while forcibly evicting residents from the settlements still under their control.

"The Russian invaders continue to loot the settlements from which they are retreating. The enemy is also attempting to damage power lines and other elements of the transport and critical infrastructure of the Kherson region as much as possible," the military said, adding that Russian mines continue to wound civilians.

Elsewhere, six civilians were killed in a Russian rocket attack on Mykolayiv overnight, the mayor of the southern Ukrainian city said on November 11, as Ukrainian troops continued their advance in the direction of Kherson.

The mayor of Mykolayiv, Oleksandr Sienkovych, said on November 11 that the people were killed when Russian rockets hit a residential area of the city, destroying a five-story building.

"As of 10 a.m., six people were killed by the impact of the attack on the residential building," Sienkovych said.

Fierce fighting continues in Bakhmut and Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region as well as in the adjacent Luhansk region, the military said, adding that heavy Russian shelling pounded about 20 settlements in the Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Mykolaiyv regions.

In his nightly address late on November 10, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: "Today we have good news from the south. The number of Ukrainian flags returning to their rightful place within the framework of the ongoing defense operation is already dozens. He added that 41 settlements have been liberated.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpa
On June 27, Tajikistan marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Tajik Peace Accord that ended a five-year civil war there.



The man who will be taking much of the credit for achieving peace in Tajikistan is President Emomali Rahmon, aka "Asosguzori sulhu vahdati milli -- Pesvo'i millat" ("Founder of Peace and Unity -- Leader of the Nation.")



The first part of this title, bestowed upon Rahmon by Tajikistans parliament in December 2015, seems overly generous.



Rahmon was indeed a part of efforts to reach peace in Tajikistan, but he was just one of many people involved in the process.



Civil war broke out in May 1992 and by years end conservative estimates put the death toll at more than 20,000. Half a million people, nearly one-tenth of Tajikistans population at the time, had lost their homes. More than 100,000 citizens of the country had fled to Afghanistan.



The country was falling apart and even the combatants could see such devastation could not continue much longer.



The United Nations arranged peace talks; appointed a special representative for Tajikistan, Ramiro Piriz-Ballon, to push these talks forward; and created the UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UMOT), military observers sent to monitor the warring factions compliance -- or more often record their noncompliance -- in respecting agreements reached at the peace talks.

WATCH: Twenty Years Later: The Tajik Civil War And Its Aftermath

The first round of talks between the Tajik government and battlefield opponents the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) took place in Moscow in April 1994 after some shuttle diplomacy by Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Adamshin, who had been traveling between Dushanbe and Tehran, where the UTO leadership was based.



Also attending were representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (known as the Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe until December 1994), and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

This first meeting set the agenda for later talks. The two sides would work on a political settlement, address the problems of refugees and internally displaced people, and the structure of a future government in Tajikistan. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev later proposed establishing a National Reconciliation Forum, which became the National Reconciliation Council.

The talks were almost derailed entirely in mid-July 1994 when Tajikistans parliament announced that a referendum on a draft constitution and a presidential election would be held simultaneously later that year.

The UTO stepped up its military campaign in response.

UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali threatened to suspend the UNs participation in further talks.

The warring parties agreed to return to the negotiating table.

A second round of talks were held in Tehran in September 1994; and a third round in Islamabad in late October and early November of that year -- both rounds resulting in agreements for cease-fires that never took hold.

But higher officials from both sides attended the second and third round of talks, showing they were gaining in importance. First Deputy Chairman of Tajikistans Supreme Soviet Abdulmajid Dostiev led the government delegation. Hoja Akbar Turajonzoda, the First Deputy Chairman of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), the backbone of the UTO, led the oppositions delegation.

On November 6, 1994, the new constitution was approved in the referendum. One of the changes was the reinstatement of the position of president, which had been removed in changes to the constitution in 1992.

Emomali Rahmon, who, as speaker of parliament had been head of state in Tajikistan since November 1992, was elected to the newly recreated post of president.

It was, however, the closest presidential election in postindependence Central Asia, with Rahmon receiving 59.5 percent of the vote and his challenger, Abdumalik Abdullojonov, a former prime minister and a former ambassador to Russia, receiving 34.7 percent, despite accusations of vote-rigging and other campaign violations.

The fourth round of peace talks was due to start in January 1995 in Moscow but was postponed after the Tajik government announced that parliamentary elections would be conducted in late February 1995.

The presidential and parliamentary elections would become a major impediment to peace talks for months, because one of the key issues being discussed was a power-sharing agreement that would give the UTO places in Tajikistans government.

Government representatives at talks in 1995 and 1996 would point to the presidential and parliamentary elections as popular mandates that could not be revoked to give the UTO government positions.

Peace talks became more complicated. The fourth round did finally happen in Moscow in April 1995, but the next round was postponed several times due to disagreement over the venue.

The fifth round opened in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, at the start of December 1995 with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov calling on the warring factions to share a dinner table and eat the "plov of peace."

The opposition left on the first day, claiming Russian warplanes had bombed UTO positions in the Garm and Pamir regions. Talks were optimistically delayed until mid-January 1996, but it soon became apparent that that date would not be met.

Russia stepped in and put pressure on the Tajik government. In late January 1996, President Boris Yeltsin spoke about Russias commitment to Tajikistan, the Russian troops deployed there, and the financial help Russia was providing Tajikistan.

Yeltsin said Russia was "tiring of holding Tajikistan in its arms."

Talks in Ashgabat resumed on January 29, 1996, but the governments new chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov, said negotiations were near collapse.

Peace negotiations were continually postponed. The Tajik peace talks in Ashgabat would not conclude until July 1996, and in between January and July Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Russia Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov made separate trips to Ashgabat in an attempt to keep negotiations going.

While the Tajik government and UTO were engaged in fighting each other and in talking about peace, events inside and outside Tajikistan were occurring that would reinvigorate efforts toward a resolution of the civil war.

Four years into the war, there were individuals on both sides who had grown powerful and were increasingly operating independently. Mahmud Khudaiberdiev and the Sadirov brothers, who were mentioned in an earlier Qishloq Ovozi, are examples.



Rahmons challenger in the 1994 presidential election, Abdumalik Abdullojonov, had teamed up with two other former prime ministers -- Jamshed Karimov and Abdujalil Samadov -- to form the National Revival Movement (NRM) in spring 1996 and the new group was rapidly gaining popularity, especially in the northern Sughd region where some 40 percent of Tajikistans population lived.



The movements supporters were calling for the NRM to have seats at the peace negotiations.



And at the end of September 1996, the Taliban captured Kabul and continued driving northward, to areas where the UTO had established bases and where tens of thousands of refugees from Tajikistan were sheltering.

Russia, in particular, was worried the Taliban might reach an agreement with the UTO at a time when the latter was making battlefield gains in the mountains of central Tajikistan.



In December 1996, Rahmon traveled to Khostdekh in northern Afghanistan to meet face-to-face with UTO leader Said Abdullo Nuri.



Peace talks resumed in Tehran in early January 1997 and would move between Tehran and Moscow as the Tajik government and UTO worked out an agreement that would, among other things, give 30 percent of the places in government to the UTO; create the National Reconciliation Commission to propose constitutional amendments and prepare for parliamentary elections; and declare an amnesty for opposition members and a legalization of the parties that made up the UTO.



Rahmon and Nuri, and UN special representative for Tajikistan Gerd Merrem (who replaced Piriz-Ballon in June 1996) signed the agreement in Moscow, with the Russian and Iranian presidents looking on.



It had taken eight rounds of negotiations and several dozen other meetings in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Russia to reach a peace agreement.



Scores of diplomats had been involved.



Individual countries and international organizations would continue to help Tajikistan in the years that followed to help alleviate the damage done to the country during the civil war and prevent the conflict from returning.

Salimjon Aioub (@Aioubzod) of RFE/RL's Centralasian.org contributed to this report. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.
By Press Trust of India: border peace: China

By K J M Varma

Beijing, June 26 (PTI) The Peoples Liberation Army today accused the Indian military of stopping the construction of a road in what it claims to be China?s "sovereign territory" in the Sikkim section of the India-China border and said the move has "seriously damaged" border peace and tranquillity.

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In a statement, the Chinese defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said recently China had begun the construction of a road in DongLang region, but was stopped by Indian troops crossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

"The China-India boundary in Sikkim has delineated by historical treaty. After the independence of India, the Indian government has repeatedly confirmed it in writing acknowledging that both sides have no objection to Sikkim border," the statement said.

"For China to build the road was completely an act of sovereignty on its own territory and the Indian side has no right to interfere," it said.

Earlier, the Chinese side briefed the Indian side on this issue, it added.

"In this context, the Indian troops unilaterally provoked trouble which was in violation of the relevant agreement between the two sides and the mutual consensus of between the leaders of the two countries," it said.

"This seriously damaged peace and tranquillity in the border areas. China is committed to developing bilateral relations with India, but also firmly defend its legitimate rights and interests," it said.

"We hope that the Indian side will meet China halfway, and do not take any actions to complicate the boundary problem, and jointly maintain momentum of good development of bilateral relations".

Tension mounted in a remote area of Sikkim after a scuffle broke out between personnel of the Indian Army and the PLA, leading to Chinese troops damaging bunkers on the Indian side of the border.

The incident happened in the first week of June near the Lalten post in the Doka La general area in Sikkim after a face-off between the two forces, which triggered tension along the Sino-Indian frontier, official sources in New Delhi said.

After the scuffle, the PLA entered Indian territory and damaged two make-shift bunkers of the Army, the sources said.

After the India-China war of 1962, the area has been under the Indian Army and the ITBP, which is the border guarding force and has a camp 15km from the international border.

This is apparently the reason why China stopped a batch of 47 Indian pilgrims from crossing through Nathu La border in Sikkim into Tibet to visit Kailash and Manasarovar.

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Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the media here that the Foreign Ministries of both the countries were in touch over the entry of 47 Indian pilgrims blocked by China from entering Tibet at the Nathu La border in Sikkim.

"According to my information, the two governments are in touch over this issue," Geng told reporters, declining to elaborate whether it was due to any weather-related issues like landslides and rains.

He said the issue was being discussed by the two foreign ministries. China last week refused entry to 47 Indian pilgrims who were scheduled to travel to Kailash Mansarovar through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim.

The pilgrims were scheduled to cross over to the Chinese side on June 19 but had failed to do so due to inclement weather. They waited at the base camp and tried to cross again on June 23 but were denied permission by the Chinese officials.

This is the second route agreed by the two counties for the Kailash yatra. Till 2015 the Yatra was being organised by External Affairs Ministry since 1981 only through Lipu Pass in the Himalayas connecting the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand in India with the old trading town of Taklakot in Tibet.

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The Nathulla route enabled pilgrims to travel 1500 km long route from Nathu La to Kailash by buses. PTI KJV NSA

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The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned lower court orders that blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's administration from enforcing its 90-day ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries.

The ruling on June 26 means Trumps executive order for the travel ban can be partially imposed.

The court left one category of foreigners protected: those with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

In the unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court on June 26 also agreed to hear arguments in the case in October.

The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court to hear its arguments in the case after two U.S. appeals courts upheld lower court rulings that halted the ban in order to allow legal challenges claiming the ban discriminates on the basis of religion.

The ban would apply to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen who try to enter the United States.

Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after it is cleared by the courts.

Trump insists the ban is necessary for U.S. national security, despite complaints from critics who say it singles out Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The Trump administration says it needs the ban to allow an internal review of the screening for visa applicants from the six countries. The review is expected to be completed before October 2.

In a statement issued shortly after the June 26 court ruling, Trump said the unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for U.S. national security that allows him to use an important tool for protecting our nations homeland.

It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective, Trump said.

As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm, Trump said in the statement. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive.

Trump initially had issued a travel ban for seven predominantly Muslim countries and a temporary halt on all refugees entering the United States.

The order caused widespread disruption at international airports and led to protests from Muslims, rights groups, and others.

The Trump administration said it thought it addressed the legal concerns with a revised order, but federal courts still blocked the order.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Supreme Court ruling on the travel ban was an "important step" toward restoring separation of powers between branches of government in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a June 26 statement that it will implement the travel ban "professionally, with clear and sufficient public notice, particularly to potentially affected travelers, and in coordination with partners in the travel industry."

Yemen's government said it was disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court decision and did not believe that the travel ban will help to combat terrorism.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa
After meeting in Paris, the French and Ukrainian presidents have voiced hope of making progress in resolving the conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron told a joint news conference with Ukraines Petro Poroshenko on June 26 that he expected consultations to be held within a four-way process known as the Normandy format before a G20 summit in Germany on July 7-8.

It was not immediately clear whether the consultations would occur in person or take the form of a telephone conversation between the leaders of the countries involved  France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine -- as was the case on a number of occasions in the past.

Poroshenko said that he was "much more optimistic" following his meeting with Macron, adding that "peace can take the form of ending the Russian aggression."

"We have agreed that we will put on paper projects of possible solutions for the Normandy format," he also said.

A cease-fire agreement brokered by France and Germany was signed in Minsk in February 2015 aiming at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 10,000 people since it began in April 2014, according to the United Nations.

But the deal has failed to end artillery fighting in Ukraines east, with each side accusing the other of violating the truce.

Macron said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared his determination to resolve the conflict, adding that he disagrees with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's view that the hostilities in Ukraine could be resolved outside of the Minsk agreement framework.

Tillerson told U.S. lawmakers on June 14 that it is very possible that the government of Ukraine and the government of Russia could come to a satisfactory resolution through some structure other than Minsk that achieve Minsk."

My caution is I wouldnt want to handcuff ourselves to Minsk if the parties decide to settle this through a different agreement, Tillerson also told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Macron also insisted that France refuses to recognize Russia's illegal annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in March 2014, saying, "France is committed to Ukraine's sovereignty with its recognized borders."

The comments come two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Crimea on a trip that Kyiv condemned as a violation of its sovereignty.

Poroshenko called for the release of Ukrainians held by separatists in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as well as in Russia.

"One hundred and twenty-eight Ukrainian captives are held on the occupied territory and more than 40 in Russian jails, he said. We would expect that a revival of the consultations in the Normandy format will enable us to achieve instant progress in this highly sensitive area."

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the four leaders of the so-called Normandy group may hold a phone conversation soon.

"Such a possibility is being worked out via diplomatic channels," Peskov said.

Poroshenko's visit to Paris comes after European Union leaders last week agreed to extend the bloc's economic sanctions against Russia by six months.

The sanctions were first imposed by Brussels in 2014 as a response to Russias annexation of Crimea and its military backing to the separatists who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, Interfax, and TASS
The treason trial of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was quickly adjourned after formally opening on June 26 in a courtroom in the capital, Kyiv.

Judge Vladyslav Devyatko adjourned the case until June 29 after Yanukovych, who is in Russia, did not show up in the courtroom.

His lawyer, Vitaly Serdyuk, said on June 26 that Yanukovych was eager to take part via video link, and "testify according to norms of international law." But Ukrainian authorities, according to Serdyuk, were not making this possible.

During the preliminary hearings, which started on May 5, Yanukovych's defense insisted that the court must formally ask Russia for assistance to set up a video link for his client.

The court has rejected the request, saying Yanukovych can take part via any video link available on the Internet -- meaning that a formal request is not needed.

Yanukovych abandoned office in late February 2014 and fled to Russia in the face of protests triggered by his decision to scrap plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and improve trade ties with Moscow instead.

Dozens of people were killed when his government attempted to clamp down on the Euromaidan protests.

Yanukovych is accused of treason, violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and abetting Russian aggression.

After he fled, Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and fomented separatism in eastern Ukraine, where a war between the government and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 people.
Maruti Suzuki may dominate the bestselling cars list in Indian market, but a completely different picture emerges when we look at the most exported cars. In 2018, the most exported cars list is dominated by foreign manufactures such as Ford and Hyundai.

Ford Ecosport tops the list with 91,694 units exported in 2018. It was at number one position in 2017 also. Ford and Hyundai grab three positions each in the list while the rest is taken by Volkswagen, Chevrolet, Nissan and Maruti Suzuki.

At number two is Chevrolet Beat with exports of 79,495 units. GM has stopped selling its cars in the Indian market, but exports are still on. Chevrolet Beat is manufactured at Talegaon facility near Pune and exported to markets such as Argentina, Chile, Peru and Central America. Beat was at second position in 2017 also with exports of 81,157 units. At third spot is Ford Figo with exports of 57,353 units.

Other cars featured in the list are Volkswagen Vento (53,801), Hyundai Grand i10 (50,350), Nissan Sunny (42,534), Hyundai Creta (40,138), Hyundai Verna (31,751), and Ford Figo Aspire (18,863 units). 2018 list of most exported cars is quite similar to 2017, with just a rearrangement in position of certain cars in the list. Only exception is Hyundai Verna that is a new entrant in the list. Nissan Micra that was there in 2017 list is missing in 2018 list.

In the top 10 list of most exported cars in 2018, Indias largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki stands at 8th position with exports of 38,363 units of Baleno. This is a downgrade for Baleno, as it was at 7th position in 2017 with exports of 40,012 units. Maruti recently revealed that they have plans to pump up exports to 10% of their total production. This means, if they achieve their aim of manufacturing 2 million cars in 2020, they plan to export 2 lakh cars a year  which would make them leader in car exports as well.

Its surprising to see that other leading home-grown car manufacturers such as Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have failed to make it to the most exported cars list. It clearly shows that Indian car manufacturers have an uphill task of making their products sellable in international markets.
Europe's wild snakes could face a growing threat from a fungal skin disease that has contributed to wild snake deaths in North America, according to an international collaborative study, led by conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) alongside partners including the U.S. Geological Survey. The new study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Caused by the fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, snake fungal disease (SFD) can lead to symptoms including skin lesions, scabs and crusty scales, which can contribute to the death of the infected animal in some cases. SFD was first recognised in wild snakes in eastern North America around a decade ago. Prior to this study, the only wild populations found to be affected had been those in the central and eastern United States.

Now, an analysis of samples collected from wild snakes in the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic between 2010-2016 has confirmed the presence of the pathogen and SFD in Europe for the first time. While the disease poses no known risk to humans or livestock, scientists are calling for further research to fully understand the significance of SFD to Europe's snake populations.

Lead author and wildlife veterinarian Dr. Lydia Franklinos said: "Our team at ZSL found evidence of SFD in grass snakes (Natrix natrix) from the UK and a single dice snake (Natrix tessellata) from the Czech Republic. The analysis found that the fungus strains from Europe are different to those previously identified in North America -- suggesting that rather than being introduced across the Atlantic, or vice versa, the disease could have been present below the radar in European snakes for some time.

"Of all terrestrial vertebrate wildlife, we probably know least about health conditions that affect reptiles such as snakes, so this study represents an important milestone and one that will hopefully encourage greater focus in understanding the threats facing these animals."

Dr. Jeffrey Lorch, a microbiologist with the USGS National Wildlife Health Center and the study's co-author, said: "The fungus that causes SFD is already known to occur across the eastern half of the U.S. and infect over 20 species of snakes. Comparing how SFD affects wild snakes on different continents may help us pinpoint the factors causing the disease to emerge and help managers identify mitigation strategies."

The increasing emergence of deadly fungal pathogens -- including white-nose syndrome in bats, chytridiomycosis (chytrid) in amphibians and SFD in snakes -- is of grave concern to wildlife disease experts worldwide.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit created the Golden Week program to improve outcomes for infants born prematurely at 28 weeks' gestation or earlier. The program has resulted in a 30 percent relative risk reduction in infant mortality or severe intraventricular hemorrhage within the first week of life.

"Our goal is to provide the best care for each of our patients," said Vivek Lal, M.D., assistant professor in the University of Alabama Division of Neonatology and director of the Golden Week program. "Through the Golden Week program, we have standardized care that infants receive during their first week of life, ultimately improving their survival rates. The program provides guidance for physicians and nurses on clinical and nonclinical aspects of caring for an extremely preterm newborn."

The Golden Week core committee at UAB developed a standardized set of orders to establish consistency among care for premature infants born at 28 weeks' gestation or less. The program includes clinical guidance on respiratory support, thermoregulation, nutrition and fluid management, infection prevention, and neurological status. Standardized orders were set for nonclinical practices, including parent support and satisfaction, as well as staff and team building.

Recently, UAB's Golden Week program was recognized by the Gage Awards for Innovation and Excellence, which honors the outstanding work of members of America's Essential Hospitals. The strategic priorities of America's Essential Hospitals include identifying and disseminating evidence-based best practices that enhance the quality of care for all -- especially vulnerable people.

"Recognition from the Gage Awards solidifies the work that we are doing with the Golden Week program," Lal said. "We hope practitioners across the nation recognize that the caregiving during the first week of a preemie's life is crucial."

Over a 50-day span, physicians and nurses participated in phased educational programs with monthly follow-up classes to continue training on the Golden Week program and its protocols to follow while caring for preterm infants in the UAB RNICU.

"Knowing and following these guidelines decrease morbidity rates in preterm infants and could ultimately save a young life," Lal said.

The Golden Week core committee is composed of a multidisciplinary staff, who meet monthly to discuss staff feedback, review data and make needed improvements. The UAB RNICU and core committee are currently looking at short-term and long-term outcomes of the program in relation to an infant's health in order to continue the advancement of care for preterm infants.
The survival rate of U.S. gunshot victims has not shown a marked improvement, as other recent studies have suggested, according to new research from Duke University and the University of California, Davis.

The purported increase in survival rate had been credited to improvements in emergency treatment and medical care of critically injured patients. But on close analysis, researchers found problems in the way data was collected and coded.

"Our analysis shows that neither the estimate of nonfatal shootings nor the fatality rate changed much in the decade after 2003," said Philip Cook, ITT/Terry Sanford Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy.

Cook is lead author of the study published online June 22 in the American Journal of Public Health.

The researchers analyzed statistics from 2003 to 2012 from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS)-All Injury Program and from the more detailed NEISS Firearms Injury Surveillance Study. The data comes from a sample of approximately 90 hospitals with six or more beds that provide 24-hour emergency care. It is then extrapolated to produce an annual estimate of the number of gun assault injuries.

The number of gun homicides is an actual count -- not an estimate -- from the Centers for Disease Control.

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During the 10-year period, some hospitals withdrew from the NEISS survey and were, in two cases, replaced by hospitals that "implausibly reported orders of magnitude more gunshot cases," the authors wrote.

The researchers also found a large decline in the number of gun assault cases classified as injuries of "unknown" cause and a large increase in gun assaults being correctly classified.

"As a result, it created an illusion that there were many more nonfatal gunshot cases than before," Cook said.

Previous analyses had interpreted the NEISS data to mean nonfatal assaults had increased 49 percent from 2003 to 2012 while the gun homicide count stayed steady. This suggested many fewer gunshot victims were dying and led to a presumed drop in the fatality rate from 25 percent to 18 percent.

After adjusting for the data reporting problems, the purported increase in nonfatal gun assaults disappeared. The adjusted estimate of nonfatal cases was 41,874 in 2003 and 41,996 in 2012, while homicides numbered 11,920 in 2003 and 11,622 in 2012. The fatality rate held steady at 22 percent.

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Given that the U.S. population increased by 8.3 percent during the decade, from 290 million to 314 million, the population-adjusted rate at which Americans were shot actually declined, Cook noted. It dropped from 18.54 per 100,000 Americans to 17.07 per 100,000 Americans, a decline of 7.9 percent. That trend has reversed in the last few years.

Study co-author Garen Wintemute, a practicing emergency physician, professor of emergency medicine at UC-Davis, and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program there, said he questioned the previous interpretation of the NEISS data because it did not match other sources or the experiences of trauma centers.

"The idea that there was a sharp reduction in the death rate failed a basic test of plausibility," Wintemute said. "Absolutely, there have been major improvements in emergency medical care and delivery, but they have taken place over decades. In the short run, they simply could not account for the large change.

"In addition, reports from individual hospitals have shown fatality rates increasing, not decreasing. The on-the-ground experience conflicted with what the administrative data showed."

Cook added that understanding trends in gun violence is challenging because consistent, accurate data is hard to come by. Despite difficulties with the NEISS, it is important because "it is the only national estimate of injury we have."
By Press Trust of India: Maharajganj (UP), Jun 26 (PTI) Indias border with Nepal was sealed today, 48 hours before the municipal polls in the neighbouring country, to prevent anti-social elements from crossing the international boundary and vitiating the election atmosphere, officials said.

The border at Sonauli was sealed at 8 AM this morning, preventing vehicles from crossing the check-post, leading to long queues of trucks on both the sides.

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Pedestrians were, however, being allowed to cross the border, but only after thorough checking, officials said.

Municipal elections will be held in Nepal on June 28.

Some Madhes-centric parties have opposed the elections seeking that the Constitution be amended to accommodate their demands for more representation in parliament and redrawing of provincial boundaries.

"A decision to seal the border was taken at a high-level meeting of a coordination committee," said V K Singh, District Magistrate, Maharajganj.

The meeting was attended by officers of the local administration, police, border guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Army, customs, immigration and other departments of both the countries.

SSB, which works under the command of the Union home ministry, guards the 1,751 km long Indo-Nepal border.

Uttar Pradesh shares a 599.3 km long open border with Nepal touching seven districts - Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Sidhharthnagar and Maharajganj. PTI COR SMI ADS

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As NASA's Parker Solar Probe spacecraft begins its first historic encounter with the sun's corona in late 2018 -- flying closer to our star than any other mission in history -- a revolutionary cooling system will keep its solar arrays at peak performance, even in extremely hostile conditions.

Every instrument and system on board Parker Solar Probe (with the exception of four antennas and a special particle detector) will be hidden from the sun behind a breakthrough thermal protection system (TPS) -- an eight-foot-diameter shield that the spacecraft uses to defend itself against the intense heat and energy of our star.

Every system will be protected, that is, except for the two solar arrays that power the spacecraft. When the spacecraft is closest to the sun, the solar arrays will be receiving 25 times the solar energy they would while orbiting Earth, and the temperature on the TPS will reach more than 2,500F (1,370C). The cooling system will keep the arrays at a nominal temperature of 320F (160C) or below.

"Our solar arrays are going to operate in an extreme environment that other missions have never operated in before," said the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab's Mary Kae Lockwood, spacecraft system engineer for Parker Solar Probe.

New Innovations to Survive the Inferno

The very outermost edges of the solar arrays are bent upward, and when the spacecraft is closest to the sun, these small slivers of array will be extended beyond the protection of the TPS in order to produce enough power for the spacecraft's systems.

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The incredible heat of our star would damage conventional spacecraft arrays. So, like many other technological advances created especially for this mission, a first-of-its-kind actively cooled solar array system was developed by APL, in partnership with United Technologies Aerospace Systems (UTAS) in Windsor Locks, Connecticut (which manufactured the cooling system), and SolAero Technologies of Albuquerque, New Mexico (which produces the solar arrays).

"This is all new," Lockwood said of the innovations related to the actively cooled solar array system. "NASA funded a program for Parker Solar Probe that included technology development of the solar arrays and their cooling system. We worked closely with our partners at UTAS and SolAero to develop these new capabilities, and we came up with a very effective system."

The Parker Solar Probe cooling system has several components: a heated accumulator tank that will hold the water during launch ("If water was in the system, it would freeze," Lockwood said); two-speed pumps; and four radiators made of titanium tubes (which won't corrode) and sporting aluminum fins just two hundredths of an inch thick. As with all power on the spacecraft, the cooling system is powered by the solar arrays -- the very arrays it needs to keep cool to ensure its operation. At nominal operating capacity, the system provides 6,000 watts of cooling capacity -- enough to cool an average-sized living room.

Somewhat surprisingly, the coolant used is nothing more than regular pressurized water -- approximately five liters, deionized to remove minerals that could contaminate or harm the system. Analysis showed that, during the mission, the coolant would need to operate between 50F (10C) and 257F (125C) -- and few liquids can handle those ranges like water. "Part of the NASA technology demonstration funding was used by APL and our partners at UTAS to survey a variety of coolants," said Lockwood. "But for the temperature range we required, and for the mass constraints, water was the solution." The water will be pressurized, which will raise its boiling point above 257F.

The solar arrays feature their own technical innovations. "We learned a lot about solar array performance from the [APL-built] MESSENGER spacecraft, which was the first to study Mercury," said Lockwood. "In particular, we learned how to design a panel that would mitigate degradation from ultraviolet light."

The cover glass on top of the photovoltaic cells is standard, but the way the heat is transferred from the cells into the substrate of the panel, the platen, is unique. A special ceramic carrier was created and soldered to the bottom of each cell, and then attached to the platen with a specially chosen thermally conductive adhesive to allow the best thermal conduction into the system while providing the needed electrical insulation.

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From Ice to Fire: Launch Challenges

While the extraordinary heat of the sun will be the spacecraft's most intense challenge, the minutes immediately following launch are actually one of the spacecraft's most critical early performance sequences.

When Parker Solar Probe launches on board a ULA Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, in summer 2018, the cooling system will undergo wide temperature swings. "There's a lot to do to make sure the water doesn't freeze," said Lockwood.

First, temperatures of the solar arrays and cooling system radiators will drop from that in the fairing (about 60F, or 15C) to temperatures ranging from -85F to -220F (-65C to -140C) before they can be warmed by the sun. The pre-heated coolant tank will keep the water from freezing; the specially designed radiators -- designed to reject heat and intense temperatures at the sun -- will also survive this bitter cold, thanks to a new bonding process and design innovations.

Less than 60 minutes later, the spacecraft will separate from the launch vehicle and begin the post-separation sequence. It will rotate itself to point at the sun; the solar arrays will release from their launch locks; the arrays will rotate to point to the sun; a latch valve will open to release the warm water into two of the four radiators and the solar arrays; the pump will turn on; the spacecraft will rotate back to a nominal pointing orientation, warming up the two coldest and unactivated radiators; and power from the cooled solar arrays will begin recharging the battery.

In another first, this complex and critical series of tasks will be completed autonomously by the spacecraft, without any input from mission control.

The water for the two unactivated radiators will remain in the storage tank for the first 40 days of flight; after that, the final two radiators will be activated.

"One of the biggest challenges in testing this is those transitions from very cold to very hot in a short period of time," Lockwood said. "But those tests, and other tests to show how the system works when under a fully heated TPS, correlated quite well to our models."

Thanks to testing and modeling, the team studied data and increased the thermal blanketing on the first two radiators to be activated, in order to balance maximizing their capacity at the end of the mission, and further reduce the risk of water freezing early in the mission.

Keeping Cool, Autonomously

When Parker Solar Probe is hurtling past the sun at some 450,000 miles an hour (724,000 KPH), it will be 90 million miles from mission controllers on Earth -- too far for the team to "drive" the spacecraft. This means that adjustments to how the spacecraft is protecting itself with the TPS need to be handled by Parker Solar Probe's onboard guidance and control systems. These systems use new and effective autonomous software to allow the spacecraft to instantly alter its pointing to maximize protection from the sun. This autonomous capability is critical to the operation of the spacecraft's solar arrays, which must be constantly adjusted for optimal angle as Parker Solar Probe hurdles through the sun's harsh, superheated corona.

"During solar encounters, very small changes in the wing angle of the solar array can vastly change cooling capacity needed." Lockwood said that a one degree change in the array angle of one wing would require 35 percent more cooling capacity.

The constant challenge is to make sure the spacecraft and the arrays are staying cool.

"There's no way to make these adjustments from the ground, which means it has to guide itself," Lockwood said. "APL developed a variety of systems -- including wing angle control, guidance and control, electrical power system, avionics, fault management, autonomy and flight software -- that are critical parts working with the solar array cooling system."

Added Lockwood: "This spacecraft probably is one of the most autonomous systems ever flown."

That autonomy, along with the new cooling system and pioneering solar array upgrades, will be crucial to ensuring that Parker Solar Probe can perform the never-before-possible science investigations at the sun that will answer questions scientists have had about our star and its corona. Learn more about those questions at http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu/The-Mission/index.php#Science-Objectives.
An international team led by the University of Chicago's Institute for Molecular Engineering has discovered how to manipulate a weird quantum interface between light and matter in silicon carbide along wavelengths used in telecommunications.

The work advances the possibility of applying quantum mechanical principles to existing optical fiber networks for secure communications and geographically distributed quantum computation. Prof. David Awschalom and his 13 co-authors announced their discovery in the June 23 issue of Physical Review X.

"Silicon carbide is currently used to build a wide variety of classical electronic devices today," said Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering at UChicago and a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. "All of the processing protocols are in place to fabricate small quantum devices out of this material. These results offer a pathway for bringing quantum physics into the technological world."

The findings are partly based on theoretical models of the materials performed by Awschalom's co-authors at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. Another research group in Sweden's Linkoping University grew much of the silicon carbide material that Awschalom's team tested in experiments at UChicago. And another team at the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology in Japan helped the UChicago researchers make quantum defects in the materials by irradiating them with electron beams.

Quantum mechanics govern the behavior of matter at the atomic and subatomic levels in exotic and counterintuitive ways as compared to the everyday world of classical physics. The new discovery hinges on a quantum interface within atomic-scale defects in silicon carbide that generates the fragile property of entanglement, one of the strangest phenomena predicted by quantum mechanics.

Entanglement means that two particles can be so inextricably connected that the state of one particle can instantly influence the state of the other, no matter how far apart they are.

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"This non-intuitive nature of quantum mechanics might be exploited to ensure that communications between two parties are not intercepted or altered," Awschalom said.

The findings enhance the once-unexpected opportunity to create and control quantum states in materials that already have technological applications, Awschalom noted. Pursuing the scientific and technological potential of such advances will become the focus of the newly announced Chicago Quantum Exchange, which Awschalom will direct.

An especially intriguing aspect of the new paper was that silicon carbide semiconductor defects have a natural affinity for moving information between light and spin (a magnetic property of electrons). "A key unknown has always been whether we could find a way to convert their quantum states to light," said David Christle, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago and lead author of the work. "We knew a light-matter interface should exist, but we might have been unlucky and found it to be intrinsically unsuitable for generating entanglement. We were very fortuitous in that the optical transitions and the process that converts the spin to light is of very high quality."

The defect is a missing atom that causes nearby atoms in the material to rearrange their electrons. The missing atom, or the defect itself, creates an electronic state that researchers control with a tunable infrared laser.

"What quality basically means is: How many photons can you get before you've destroyed the quantum state of the spin?" said Abram Falk, a researcher at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Resarch Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., who is familiar with the work but not a co-author on the paper.

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The UChicago researchers found that they could potentially generate up to 10,000 photons, or packets of light, before they destroyed the spin state. "That would be a world record in terms of what you could do with one of these types of defect states," Falk added.

Awschalom's team was able to turn the quantum state of information from single electron spins in commercial wafers of silicon carbide into light and read it out with an efficiency of approximately 95 percent.

The duration of the spin state -- called coherence -- that Awschalom's team achieved was a millisecond. Not much by clock standards, but quite a lot in the realm of quantum states, in which multiple calculations can be carried out in a nanosecond, or a billionth of a second.

The feat opens up new possibilities in silicon carbide because its nanoscale defects are a leading platform for new technologies that seek to use quantum mechanical properties for quantum information processing, sensing magnetic and electric fields and temperature with nanoscale resolution, and secure communications using light.

"There's about a billion-dollar industry of power electronics built on silicon carbide," Falk said. "Following this work, there's an opportunity to build a platform for quantum communication that leverages these very advanced classical devices in the semiconductor industry," he said.

Most researchers studying defects for quantum applications have focused on an atomic defect in diamond, which has become a popular visible-light testbed for these technologies.

"Diamond has been this huge industry of quantum control work," Falk noted. Dozens of research groups across the country have spent more than a decade perfecting the material to achieve standards that Awschalom's group has mastered in silicon carbide after only a few years of investigation.

"There are many different forms of silicon carbide, and some of them are commonly used today in electronics and optoelectronics," Awschalom said. "Quantum states are present in all forms of silicon carbide that we've explored. This bodes well for introducing quantum mechanical effects into both electronic and optical technologies."

Researchers now are beginning to wonder if this type of physics also may work in other materials, Falk noted.

"Moreover, can we rationally design a defect that has the properties we want, not just stumble into one?" he asked.

Defects are the key.

"For decades the electronics industry has come up with a myriad of tricks to remove all the defects from their devices because defects often cause problems in conventional electronics," Awschalom explained. "Ironically, we're putting the defects back in for quantum systems."
A Mississippi State University researcher is developing new miniature models to better understand the factors that lead to heart disease and sickle cell anemia.

Renita Horton, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, is using clear polymer "chips" to create cellularized microtissue models, which she then uses to study the mechanisms that lead to cardiovascular related diseases. She hopes this work can aid in improving patient outcomes by identifying novel targets that can be exploited to mitigate some of the organ damage caused by sickle cell disease.

"In Mississippi, cardiovascular disease is a huge problem," Horton said. "If we can understand the factors that contribute to the disease, we may be able to identify strategies to better treat, if not prevent, the disease. Our aim is to create models that can generate results which can reliably show what one might observe in the body during disease."

Horton came to MSU in March 2016 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Horton established the Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Laboratory in MSU's Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. The Lexington native is hopeful her research will enhance understanding of vaso-occlusions, a painful complication of sickle cell anemia, and other mechanisms that contribute to organ damage and ultimately death in sickle cell patients. Horton was motivated to pursue this area of research after her older sister lost her battle to the disease.

Horton received her undergraduate degree from MSU in chemical engineering in 2005. She first became affiliated with Harvard when she participated in a National Science Foundation funded research experience for undergraduates summer program at the university's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. After graduating from MSU, Horton went on to receive a master's and doctorate from Harvard in engineering sciences with a concentration in biomedical engineering.

Approximately six undergraduate and master's students work in Horton's Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Laboratory. The lab designs biomimetic microsystems, which can mimic features of specific organs to predict the organ's response to different stimuli. In vitro models, such as those Horton uses, can serve a wide range of research purposes, reducing the risk to human or animal subjects. For example, cardiomyocytes, the cells that cause the heart to beat, can be cultured within the chips and then treated with different drugs to see the effects.

"With our microfluidic based models, we can look at what's happening in a system, isolate a certain portion of that, and then start to ask questions on a more focused scale," Horton said. "We know that many different cells make up the heart and make it function, but with heart disease, we're really interested in when the heart starts to dysfunction. In our case, we start by manipulating cardiomyocytes to understand how they respond to changes in the microenvironment to enhance our understanding of disease onset. As we go along, we can build more complexity into our system to more closely mimic the whole organ."

As her research moves forward, Horton hopes to strengthen recent collaborations with University of Mississippi Medical Center, which has a clinic for sickle cell patients. With her chips, Horton will examine environmental factors that lead to vaso-occlusion. The end goal, Horton said, is to use her small chips to have a big impact on the well-being of humans.

"If you have a positive or an adverse effect in the chip, this may suggest that a similar effect will likely be observed in a human or in animals," Horton said. "That's a huge benefit to some of the in vitro work we're trying to do here. The ultimate goal is finding solutions to help the patient. We want to use this not just to make observations, but to create something that's practical."
Many people spend increasing time sitting during their work days, but breaking things up with regular brisk walks, while also taking daily 30-minute walks, significantly lowers levels of fatty acids that lead to clogged arteries, researchers from New Zealand's University of Otago have found in a first-of-its-kind study.

Increased sitting is known to be associated with an increased risk of a cardiovascular disease, diabetes and death from all causes. Otago scientists have previously established that office workers taking brisk walks for two minutes every half hour lower their blood glucose and insulin levels.

Now, the most recent Otago study shows this sort of activity also reduces triglyceride (lipid) levels when measured in response to a meal consumed around 24 hours after starting the activity. High levels of triglycerides are linked to hardening of the arteries and other cardiovascular conditions.

The research recently appeared in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology. Recent Otago MSc graduate Ashleigh Homer's work on the study led to an Australian government-funded scholarship to complete her PhD with sedentary behaviour researcher Professor David Dustan at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne.

Study lead author Dr Meredith Peddie of Otago's Department of Human Nutrition says that earlier international research had overwhelmingly failed to detect evidence that regular walking breaks affect lipid levels, but this is likely due to the effect generally not being immediate.

In what is known as a randomised crossover trial, 36 participants completed four two-day interventions in the Otago study:

Prolonged sitting

Prolonged sitting with 30 minutes of continuous walking at the end of the first day

Sitting with two minutes of moderate intensity walking every 30 minutes

A combination of the continuous walking and regular activity breaks described above

Blood levels of triglycerides, which are non-esterified fatty acids (otherwise known as free fatty acids), glucose, and insulin responses were measured in the participants over five hours on the second day of the experiment.

The researchers found that, overall, short regular walking breaks, 30 minutes of continuous physical activity -- and especially the two combined -- appear to have good potential to improve people's metabolic health, Dr Peddie says.

"We believe there is an important health message here -- the traditional half-hour block of moderate to vigorous activity is important, but so is limiting long periods of sitting by undertaking regular short bouts of activity throughout the day.

"This approach, if maintained over months or years, may be enough to explain why individuals who regularly break up sedentary time have better cardio-metabolic health outcomes."
People who vape as well as smoke traditional cigarettes may find it harder to quit as they don't see themselves as smokers, according to research undertaken by Kingston University in London.

Describing a typical smoker as smelly, inconsiderate and lacking self-control, many who use e-cigarettes -- also known as vaping -- while continuing to smoke traditional cigarettes are likely to try to distance themselves from a group they regard negatively, the research found. One participant commented that he would be offended if labelled a smoker and another said he regarded himself as a vaper because it was more socially acceptable -- despite both participants still smoking traditional cigarettes.

Dr Tushna Vandrevala, an expert in Health Psychology and Senior Lecturer at London's Kingston University who co-wrote the report, said there was limited evidence about why, despite being promoted as a means of smoking cessation, the use of e-cigarettes did not always help smokers to kick the habit.

"Our study suggests this may be linked to identity," Dr Vandrevala said. "People who exclusively smoke cigarettes and wish to dissociate themselves from the negative smoker identity tend to quit. But those who continue to smoke alongside using e-cigarettes tend to dissociate themselves from the negative image of a traditional smoker. They view themselves as an enhanced or healthier version of the person they were when they smoked and therefore belong in an in-between position," she added.

Professor Adrian Coyle, Kingston University's Chair in Social Psychology and co-author of the report, explained that this in-between position depended on who they were with at the time. "Dual users seem to inhabit a position of sort-of-smoker or sort-of-vaper, depending on whether they are with smokers or vapers at the time," he explained.

The study, which was based on data collected by final-year psychology students at Kingston University in London and has been published in the online journal Health Psychology Open, explored the key motivating factors for people taking up e-cigarettes and examined how people's experiences of vaping differed to smoking.

Financial concerns and health concerns were cited as key reasons for taking up e-cigarettes in favour of traditional cigarettes, as well as being able to use e-cigarettes in environments where smoking is forbidden. Peer influence also played a factor, with vaping seen as cool and more socially acceptable by many of the participants.

However, it was the issues around identify and social perceptions which proved fascinating to Dr Vandrevala and Professor Coyle, and have prompted them to investigate issues of identify among dual users further.

"We need to see how sustainable this in-between, sort-of-smoker and sort-of-vaper identity proves to be for dual users. It may be difficult for them to sustain if it's psychologically uncomfortable and if it's undermined by peers who are solely smokers or vapers," Professor Coyle said. "And if it's hard to sustain, do dual users revert to using traditional cigarettes only or do they become exclusive vapers?"

Latest figures from ASH show that, while the number of current cigarette smokers who also vape rose from 2.7% in 2010 to 17.6% in 2014, this plateaued in 2015 and increased slightly to 19.4% in 2016.

The growing number of dual users highlights the need for more research in this area, Dr Vandrevala said.
Microbiologist Steve Techtmann won a DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA) to study microbial biosignatures that identify what waters they traverse.

Techtmann, an assistant professor in biology and researcher at the Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Technological University, is looking for a single microbe. Or rather 22 of them. At each port he visits around the world -- from Singapore to Rotterdam to Green Bay -- he hopes to find a unique microbe species in each place. If the microbe's genome is distinct enough, then it could be used as a marker to see where ships have traveled. Eventually, the technique could be used to enhance defense as well as environmental monitoring.

He will be traveling this summer and fall to gather water samples from ports and ship bilges from 22 ports around the world. His work started closer to home with ports around Lake Superior where Techtmann's team found at least one unique genus in several cities around Lake Superior.

"The ship is like a fly trap for microbes as it's running through these ports," Techtmann says, adding that different microbes may prefer open water over bilges, since they tend to be dark, varying in nutrient levels and sometimes oily. "The other challenge is that ships could be bringing in microbes from other ports, which complicates the signature."

To sort out what microbes are found where, Techtmann and his research crew will gather 30-50 samples from the 22 ports they'll study. In many microbial studies, as few as three or four samples can be used to examine the microbes in an environment. But to sort out what microbes are signature species and which ones are also present in bilge water -- and then to compare all the various ports to see if there's overlap -- requires extra computing power and therefore more samples. He will combine machine learning and genome sequencing to develop a sensitive tool that screens all the different water samples and identifies the make-up of each.

This could lead to what Techtmann calls "spatial sensors" where identifying key microbes provide insight into the interface between biology and geography. Microbial spatial sensors could potentially be used to assess whether a wetland is fully recovered or to monitor a contaminant's spread.

"On a basic level, it's trying to understand what makes a set of organisms live in one place over another," he says, adding that there is a saying in microbial ecology that "everything is everywhere -- but nature selects."

Determining the microbial biosignatures of ports around the world is one way to see if this hypothesis holds up -- or if it goes out with the bilge water.
Premature infants still have a greater risk compared to full-term babies of dying of SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths despite recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics that hospital NICU's provide more safe infant sleep education to parents before they go home.

"While we can't undo a preterm birth, we can help compensate for the accompanying elevated risk of sudden infant death syndrome and other sleep-related infant deaths by helping families adopt the beneficial practices that include putting an infant on his back to sleep and keeping the sleep environment clutter free," said Barbara Ostfeld, professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and program director of the SIDS Center of New Jersey.

Ostfeld and co-author Thomas Hegyi, professor of pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson and medical director of the SIDS Center of New Jersey, published a study this month in Pediatrics which found that infants born between 24 to 27 weeks had a more than three times higher chance than babies born full term of dying before their first birthday of a sudden unexpected infant death, which is comprised of SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths.

The risk was high, according to researchers, even when factors, including smoking and inadequate prenatal care, were taken out of the equation. While the level of risk decreased for premature infants born closer to full-term, they were still significantly higher, according to the study.

In their research, Ostfeld and her colleagues analyzed United States infant birth and death certificates between 2012 and 2013 and found the risk of dying from SIDS and other sleep-related causes in the first year was highest for those born between 24 and 27 weeks. While 0.51 deaths were reported for every 1,000 births between 39 to 42 weeks, there were 2.68 deaths for every 1,000 births between 24 and 27 weeks.

Every year in the United States about 3,500 infants die of a sleep-related death, a significant decrease from 25 years ago when the American Academy of Pediatrics released its landmark guidelines that all babies should be placed on their back to sleep.

New recommendations were released again in 2011 and 2016 to address SIDS other sleep-related deaths -- 25 percent of which are caused from suffocation, entrapment and asphyxia -- which have increased. The AAP also recommended keeping infants in a consumer product safety commission approved crib, bassinet or portable crib near the parent's bed.

"It's important that neonatal intensive care units assess how well they are complying with these guidelines and teaching about safe infant sleep practices," said Ostfeld. "Pediatricians need to remind parents and grandparents at every office visit."

Ostfeld said researchers need to develop more evidence-based interventions for increasing compliance with safe sleep practices, and also need to address potentially treatable intrinsic factors that elevate risk for the preterm infant. Besides unsafe sleep practices, other causes for infant mortality include smoking, poor prenatal care and poverty, she said.

Based on the most recently available national data, New Jersey has the lowest rate of sudden unexpected infant deaths in the nation."The extensive statewide education programs conducted by the SIDS Center of New Jersey in collaboration with its many partners have contributed to these improvements," Ostfeld said.

To reinforce the impact of advice given in the NICU, Ostfeld and Hegyi, a neonatologist, will be meeting with New Jersey's network of neonatal providers to discuss the research findings and to re-enforce the long-standing recommendations of the AAP.

"Prematurity is a challenge," Hegyi said. "What we need to do is make sure parents and families understand what they can to do when they leave the hospital to keep their baby safe."
Lisbon, June 07, 2017 (SPS) - The Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC) called for the release of Sahrawi political prisoners from the Gdeim Izik group who are currently being unfairly tried in Rabat.

CPPC recalled that the process of the authorities of the Kingdom of Morocco against this group dates back to the events of November 2010, when thousands of Saharawi residing in the territories of the Western Sahara, illegally occupied by Morocco, decided to set up a camp in Gdeim Izik, 15 km from El Aaiun, as a form of struggle for respect for the human rights of the Saharawi people by Morocco, the occupying power.

The CPPC, in solidarity with the Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan prisons, sent letters to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in March this year, and to the Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy , Frederica Mogherini.

CPPC said in its communique that the manifest and persistent refusal by the authorities of the Kingdom of Morocco to respect the rights of Saharawi political prisoners and the UN conventions are of great concern to the CPPC and that they deserve a clear condemnation.

Finally, the CPPC reaffirmed its solidarity with the just cause of the struggle of the Saharawi people for their right to self-determination and independence, and their demanded pressure on Morocco to comply with UN decisions. SPS

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Madrid, June 18, 2017 (SPS) - Malaga Municipal Group for the People has just called in a motion tabled at the Municipal Council of Malaga to promote solidarity with the Saharawi people and to recognize the legitimate government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

This political group also proposes, in its motion reported by the press, to recognize the Polisario Front as the sole and legitimate representative of the Saharawi people recognized by the UN and to give it diplomatic status in Spain.

Malaga Municipal Group for the People also urges the central government of Madrid and the international community to promote all the necessary political initiatives to reach a just and definitive solution to the Western Sahara conflict through a referendum on " Self-determination, in accordance with United Nations resolutions.

In their document, the members of the political group also demand the Moroccan authorities to "stop persecuting the Saharawi human rights activists and free all Saharawi political prisoners". Malaga group for the people also ask the Moroccan authorities to clarify the fate of more than 400 Saharawi people who have disappeared.

The municipal councilor of the Remedios Ramos group, in a statement explaining the motives of this motion, recalled how Spain has abandoned the Saharawi territory without completing the process of decolonization in addition to the invasion of this territory by Morocco.

The illegal occupation of the territory of Western Sahara by Morocco has provoked a long war which has forced hundreds of thousands of Sahrawis to live in exile and for those remained in the territory, they suffer from the violation of their collective and individual human rights, he said.

The same source stresses the administrative and historical responsibility of Spain as a former colonial power and asks it to assume its responsibility so that the Saharawi people can regain their freedom and return to their land. (SPS)

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By India Today Web Desk: Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif break up in January 2016 left their fans shocked. But more than anyone, it was filmmaker Anurag Basu who was tensed about the whole situation as the ex-lovers were shooting for his much-delayed film Jagga Jasoos back then.

When many predicted that the film was doomed due to the lead actors splitsville, Anurag Basu was worried too. But in a recent chat show, Basu revealed that Ranbir-Katrina's break-up never affected Jagga Jasoos.

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He said he was initially worried, but the two were way too professional on film sets. "I did, on the first day when the news broke out and they came to the set. But on that very day, I realised that they are trying to concentrate more, and that has really helped me as a director," he said on the chat show.

He added, "I'm being very selfish and it must have been very difficult for both of them, but they were actually trying very hard to be professional for the first two-three days and after that it was fine. It never affected the film. It's not that I'm giving a very political correct answer but this is a fact."

Ranbir and Katrina are currently busy promoting the film together. Jagga Jasoos, which also stars Govinda and Saurabh Shukla, will hit the screens on July 14.

ALSO READ: Exes Ranbir-Katrina click first ever selfie after break-up

ALSO READ: Ranbir Kapoor stalks Katrina Kaif on social media. He is just your average ex-boyfriend

ALSO WATCH: Ranbir Kapoor opens up on break-up with Katrina Kaif, says he's over it

--- ENDS ---
Brussels, 24 June 2017 (SPS) - The President of the European Coordination of Committees in support of the Saharawi people, Pierre Galand, protested Friday against the way French television channel France2 presented documentary "Morocco seen from the sky ", denouncing an attempt to make Western Sahara as a Moroccan territory.

"I would like to express my total disapproval of the way in which your channel France 2 presented the documentary of Pascal Plisson and Ali Baddou, on 22 June 2017, in the evening: 'Morocco seen from the sky,'" he wrote in a letter to the French Television Mediator, Gora Patel.

Pierre Galand considered that even if the images captured by Yann Arthus-Bertrand are "superb", the channel should not "authorize" the diffusion of a so-called "documentary" which is not more than "a propaganda film of the Moroccan government that attempts to present Western Sahara as Moroccan territory, map and interventions of the supporting journalist ".

"In presenting this documentary, which is a partisan, you are helping to seriously harm the interests and rights of the Saharawi people," he warned, reminding the television channel that Western Sahara is a non-autonomous territory, occupied and colonized by Morocco.

Pierre Galand demanded the French television channel to broadcast a correction "on behalf of the right of viewers to correct information" as part of a program as well as on its web site. (SPS)

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New York, 25 June 2017 (SPS) - The UN Special Committee on Decolonization, known as the Committee of 24, reaffirmed its mandate for the decolonization of the territory of Western Sahara, disavowing formally Morocco which wanted to question it.

In its report sanctioning the work of its substantive session which ended on Friday evening in New York, the Committee of 24 unanimously reaffirmed its commitment to the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination.

The Committee issued a scathing response to the Ambassador of Morocco to the United Nations, Omar Hilal, who tried, in vain, to call into question this mandate, by claiming falsely that the settlement of the conflict in Western Sahara was the exclusive prerogative of the Security Council alone.

The Special Committee reiterated in its conclusions that it was mandated by the United Nations to review and complete the process of decolonization of Western Sahara.

The Committee of 24, therefore, unanimously decided to support all resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council concerning the settlement of the Saharawi question, instead of supporting only the resolutions of the Security Council adopted since 2007 as Morocco wanted.

In sum, the Special Committee rejected all demands made by Morocco, including its resort to prevent the adoption of a provision that the report of the meeting be approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Committee unanimously adopted this provision in its final report.

It also confirmed the status of the Polisario Front as the sole and legitimate representative of the territory of Western Sahara by granting it the right to participate in its works as such.

At the end of its work, the Committee of 24 adopted, without vote, a draft resolution on economic activities detrimental to the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories.

The General Assembly would, if it adopted the text, invite Governments and the United Nations system to take all possible measures to ensure that the permanent sovereignty of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories over their natural resources is fully respected and safeguarded in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Organization relating to decolonization.

The draft resolution also provides for legislative and administrative measures against the companies involved in the plundering of these resources. (SPS)

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As of 2017 two-thirds of the world population is using cell phones. Thats five billion people with cell phones and many of them with more than one. The gr0wth in cell phone use has been phenomenal. There were one billion users in 2003, two billion in in 2007, three billion by 2010 and four billion by 2013.

The rapid spread of cell phones had the most impact in poor countries with few phones of any kind and little or no Internet use. The cell phone became simultaneously the first phone and personal computer most people got their hands on because by 2008 most cell phones were both. In the poorest countries many people used texting (it's cheaper) most of the time but their cell phones give them an unprecedented ability to send, and receive information, to or from anywhere in the world. This has brought on many changes.

The cell phone was more than a social revolution. These cheap and compact devices phones revolutionized life and culture in poor countries. Before cell phones came along few people in poor nations had phones because landline (traditional cooper wire) networks were expensive to build and operate. It was even worse because these telephone networks were usually government monopolies and the government officials were corrupt and inept. Cell phone networks were cheaper to set up and in poor countries the governments generally let foreign operators come in, after paying the usual bribes and learned that, so far at least, it was best to leave them alone. Cell phones proved to be far more popular than local rulers expected and became too popular to mess with.

Even Somalia, after ten years of anarchy in the 1990s, found local businessmen willing to set up cell phone networks. Again, the popularity and usefulness of these devices were something that even local warlords became dependent on. The warlords still demanded protection money from the cell phone system operators, but not so much that the operators would go out of business.

At first Islamic radical groups tried to ban the use of cell phones that provided Internet access. The Islamic terrorists believed that because you can use these devices to access porn they are forbidden to Moslems. According to most Islamic terror groups porn meant any picture (especially videos) of a woman showing skin. Not all, just a lot of more than the Islamic terrorist lifestyle police allowed on the street. Previous attempts to ban cell phones in general failed because these devices were and are too popular even with young Islamic terrorist recruits. In some areas the Islamic terrorists persisted, if only because many people used their cell phones to let the security forces know what the Islamic terrorists were up so.

Cell phones and email make it possible for terrorist groups to stay in touch and make plans, thus many terrorists wanted to keep their phones. In poor countries Islamic terrorists also tried to ban the use of money transfers via cell phones, saying this results in unIslamic banking practices. The use of cell phone accounts to store and transfer money has been a boon to undeveloped areas that lacked banks. The locals and the people in charge of Islamic terror group wanted to keep the phones for banking services also. Worse for the Islamic terrorists was that the widespread prevalence of cell phones also insured that photos of Islamic terrorist atrocities got taken and quickly distributed worldwide.

The Islamic terrorists had good reason to fear cell phones, something many of them also used these devices constantly and it soon became know that the Americans could use that to track you. In Afghanistan the Islamic terrorists tried to shut down cell phone service at night because they believed that the Americans were able to track them via cell phones only if the towers were active. In some parts of Afghanistan the Islamic terrorists damaged or destroyed cell phone towers if necessary to force cell phone companies to shut down service at night.

Actually, NATO had several ways to track the Islamic terrorists at night and forcing towers to be shut down at night made the Islamic terrorists even more unpopular with the locals and hardly interrupted the American tracking efforts.

The Islamic terrorists themselves make heavy use of cell phones, especially since service was installed in many rural areas. The cell phone companies made deals with the local tribal leaders whose people demanded cell phone service. Not so much to call in the police, but to stay in touch with friends, family and the few government services that are available. The phones also were good for business, because useful information was easier to get and it was now easier to buy and sell products. This cell phone popularity forced the Islamic terrorists to compromise, and not try and shut down rural cell phone service entirely. But even trying to shut it down at night becomes one more thing that makes the Islamic terrorists unpopular.

It was the same story in Iraq, where five years after Saddam was ousted in 2003 there were three million cell phones in Iraq and many rural areas were getting access to phone service for the first time ever. The phones are very popular, especially among the young. Islamic terrorists fought cell phone use in Iraq as well. Sometimes they would try to ban musical ringtones for cell phones, and insisting that clerics, reading verses from the Koran, be used instead. The Islamic radicals were particularly upset at how cell phones allowed young men and women to operate more freely than in the past. More of them, for example, were skipping the usual arranged marriage and just taking off with lovers.

By 2008 most of Africa (including Somalia) had cell phone service. At that point only about 18 percent of Somalis had one (compared to 40 percent in their southern neighbor, Kenya). But because the fees were low (local service could be had for $10 a month, while overseas calls cost about thirty cents a minute) the number of users climbed rapidly in the poorest of nations. This was driven in part by the arrival, after 2006 inexpensive smart phones became the thing to have. This was mainly because cheap (under $300) Chinese models showed up and sold well even in places like Somalia.

Cell phones radically changed the way warfare, and peacekeeping, was conducted. This was first noticed in Iraq, where cell phone use went from nearly zero in 2003, to nearly a third of the adult population by 2008. A similar revolution was underway in Afghanistan. While cell phones gave the bad guys better communications, it also made them vulnerable to eavesdropping. It gets worse. In both countries, cell phones enabled people to express their dislike for terrorist violence by quickly and discretely reporting the location and activity of local terrorists. The bad guys have found no countermeasure for this. Trying to collect all the cell phones in the vicinity, or blowing up cell phone towers, merely make them more hated, and drives more people to risk their lives fighting the terrorists.

But it's not just terrorists who have taken a hit from the spread of cell phone use. It's much harder to run a police state now. With all those cell phones out there, the state can no longer control information flow by simply seizing a few radio and TV stations. The cell phone use leads to Internet use, and, as the Chinese government was one of the first police states to learn that means no one has the kind of control dictators were accustomed to for the last century. Some police states have tried to solve the problem by simply not allowing the public to have cell phones or Internet. That, however, has a side effect of crippling the economy (even more than the damage a police state inflicts). Even tyrants like their luxuries, and you need some kind of economic activity to get the goodies.

The impact has been most acute in poor countries that went from no widespread availability of any phones to inexpensive cell phone and Internet service in only a few years. But while industrialized nations see 80 percent of the population with cell phones there is still room to grow in less affluent areas. In sub-Saharan Africa only 44 percent of the population has access to cell phones and India, which was late to allow widespread and inexpensive service, is only at 54 percent penetration. Despite that future growth is fastest in those two areas and even long-time holdouts like North Korea and Cuba have had to allow the cell phones in to survive.
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) Eid has lost all its meaning, residents of Faridabads Khandwali village said today as they mourned the loss of their "son" Junaid by wearing black bands during the special morning namaz.

Four days after 17-year-old Junaid was killed on his way back from Delhi after Eid shopping, despair hung like a shroud over the village with Muslim residents wondering if "the spate of lynchings" would ever end.

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"We could not have celebrated Eid with the usual sense of joy considering how Junaid was killed. So we decided to mark our protest by wearing black bands around our arms," Shakeel, a resident of Khandawli in Ballabgarh near Delhi, told reporters.

He claimed Muslims of neighbouring villages were also protesting the incident by wearing black bands during the Eid morning prayers.

Junaid was stabbed to death on June 22 on a Mathura-bound train, which he had taken with his two brothers after shopping at Delhis Sadar Bazar. A group of men hurled communal slurs at the boys and attacked them after an altercation, allegedly over seats.

"When will this stop? After every such incident, the government offers some compensation and people move on. But the question is, will it ever stop?" asked a villager in his 20s.

He also questioned the efficacy of the administration in acting against the accused, wondering why only one arrest had been made in four days.

Before being remanded to police custody by a court in Faridabad district on Saturday, the accused had told reporters that he was in an inebriated state at the time of the incident and had attacked the teenager after being allegedly instigated by fellow passengers. PTI SBR MIN

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The U.S. Navy recently decided to develop an anti-ship version of its Tomahawk cruise missile, which was originally designed so ships could attack stationary targets deep inside enemy territory. In addition to the anti-ship upgrade current Tomahawks will be refurbished to extend their useful life from 15 to 30 years and new ones will continue being made so that Tomahawks can remain in service until 2040. By then it will be replaced by the NGLAW (Next Generation Land Attack Weapon).

Development of a successor to the Tomahawk has been underway since the 1990s and the current (NGLAW) concept is for a cruise missile that will be heavier (2.2 tons), have a longer range (2,000 kilometers), and a larger (one ton) warhead than the Tomahawk. The NGLAW will be stealthier and use a combination of new guidance and targeting systems to improve the chances of success. Price will probably be the key factor but it is expected to cost at least twice as much as the current Tomahawk. The Tomahawk, when it showed up in the 1980s, was one of the first UAVs, it just wasn't reusable. But UAVs that carry bombs and missiles and can be reused are going to provide competition for NGLAW

Since the 1990s Tomahawk has received more and more upgrades and new capabilities. The more recent ones led to the anti-ship capability as well as overall improvements in the guidance system and defensive capabilities against electronic jamming. The need for these new features was seen in 2015 when the navy tested the current Block 4 Tomahawk to see ifs its new two way communications capability could enable it to effectively hit moving targets. The Block 4 managed to do so, but not under combat conditions. That is, not with warships using defensive or electronic weapons to shoot down the incoming missile or mislead its guidance system. The recent navy test used a nearby aircraft (which could be a UAV) that was tracking the exact location of the target ship. That could also be done from a space satellite. Thus a fully developed anti-ship capability for Tomahawk will require upgrades in the guidance system to make it capable of operating without constant two-way communications.

The navy is aware of the fact that Tomahawk is not the ideal anti-ship missile. Against modern defenses anti-ship missiles have to move faster than a Tomahawk and be equipped with a better terminal guidance system. The speed problem cannot be fixed, but the Tomahawk could be equipped with a more capable terminal guidance system. That might be able to handle the tracking and targeting systems for gun and missile systems designed to knock down anti-ship missiles when they get close. In any event, Tomahawk Block 4 has a way to go before it is a competitive anti-ship missiles against modern warships. But developing and testing upgrades will give Tomahawk a useful anti-ship capability, just not make it the most effective anti-ship missile out there.

There are apparently some novel concepts for using a radically new anti-ship warhead that turns Tomahawk into a two stage missile with the warhead making the final attack at much higher speed. That may not work but because Tomahawk is a stable and reliable design with lots of combat experience it is easier to tinker with the guidance system, warhead and range and come up with affordable new capabilities that work. That works because one reason for the continued usefulness of Tomahawk is its ability to do more and more things reliably.

Because of these constant improvements and consistent reliability American (and other) warships continue to use Tomahawks in combat on a regular bases. The targets tend to be on land and not mobile. Most of these uses are publicized, but some are not. Several hundred Tomahawks were used against Libya in 2011 and that demonstrated the effectiveness of Tomahawks in delivering major airstrikes on short notice, anywhere in the world without losing more expensive manned aircraft and exposing their pilots to getting shot down and captured.

The Tomahawk was introduced in 1983 and over 6,000 have been manufactured so far. The U.S. Navy has fired over 2,200 in combat and over 600 for training and testing. The U.S. Navy currently has over 3,000 Tomahawks on its warships or in storage.

The current Tomahawk, the RGM-109E Block 4 Surface Ship Vertical Launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missile weighs 1.2 tons, is six meters (18 feet) long, has a range of 1,600 kilometers, getting there at a speed of 600-900 kilometers an hour, flying at an altitude of 17-32 meters (50-100 feet), and propelled by a jet engine generating only 600 pounds of thrust. Accuracy is on a par with JDAM (10 meters/31 feet). The Block 4 Tomahawk can be reprogrammed in flight to hit another target and carries a vidcam to allow a missile to check on prospective targets.

In 2012 the Block 4s were recently upgraded so that they can hit moving targets. This was for making Tomahawk capable of carrying out some anti-ship missions, although it can also hit moving land targets. The Tomahawk has been a primary land attack weapon for surface ships and submarines since the 1990s. The Block 3 entered service in 1994, but the Block 4 was a big upgrade with the addition of GPS and remote control in flight.
Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol. It produces conventional, premium, and reformulated gasolines; gasoline meeting the specifications of the California Air Resources Board (CARB); diesel fuels, and low-sulfur and ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuels; CARB diesel; other distillates; jet fuels; blendstocks; and asphalts, petrochemicals, lubricants, and other refined petroleum products, as well as sells lube oils and natural gas liquids. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned 15 petroleum refineries with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.2 million barrels per day; and 12 ethanol plants with a combined ethanol production capacity of approximately 1.6 billion gallons per year. It sells its refined products through wholesale rack and bulk markets; and through approximately 7,000 outlets under the Valero, Beacon, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultramar, and Texaco brands. The company also produces and sells ethanol, dry distiller grains, syrup, and inedible corn oil primarily to animal feed customers. In addition, it owns and operates crude oil and refined petroleum products pipelines, terminals, tanks, marine docks, truck rack bays, and other logistics assets; and owns and operates a plant that processes animal fats, used cooking oils, and inedible distillers corn oils into renewable diesel. The company was formerly known as Valero Refining and Marketing Company and changed its name to Valero Energy Corporation in August 1997. Valero Energy Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 61,000 kilometers (km) of operational electricity transmission and distribution lines; 5,300 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 7.3 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 360,000 long-term contracted sub-metering services. This segment also offers heating and cooling solutions; gas distribution; water heaters; and heating, ventilation, and air conditioner rental, as well as other home services. Its Transport segment offers transportation, storage, and handling services for merchandise goods, commodities, and passengers through a network of approximately 22,000 km of track; 5,500 km of track network; 4,800 km of rail; 3,800 km of motorways; and 13 port terminals. The company's Midstream segment offers natural gas transmission, gathering and processing, and storage services through approximately 15,000 km of natural gas transmission pipelines; 600 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage; 17 natural gas processing plants; and 3,900 km of gas gathering pipelines, as well as one petrochemical processing complex. Its Data segment operates approximately 148,000 operational telecom towers; 8,000 multi-purpose towers and active rooftop sites; 10,000 km of fiber backbone; 1,600 cell sites and approximately 12,000 km of fiber optic cable; and 2,100 active telecom towers and 70 distributed antenna systems, as well as 50 data centers and 200 megawatts of critical load capacity. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management Inc.
The toll of farmer suicides have risen to 25 since June 6 - the day police opened fire at farmers in Mandsaur.

By Hemender Sharma: In less than weeks time another incidents of farmer suicides have been reported from Madhya Pradesh.

The toll of farmer suicides have risen to 25 since June 6 - the day police opened fire at farmers in Mandsaur.

The farmers who committed suicide today were from Dewas and Tikamgarh respectively. No suicide note has been recovered from the spot of the incident.

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On June 22, four farmers committed suicide in different parts of Madhya Pradesh.

Among the 4 farmers who committed suicide are 48-year-old Gulri Kurmi of Sagar, Mahesh Tiwari of Chhattarpur, Shatrughan Meena of Hoshangabad and Shyam Yadhuvanshi of Chindwara.

According to the family members of those committed suicide on June 22, the deceased were distressed over heavy debts.

Also read:

Madhya Pradesh: 4 farmers commit suicides in 24 hours

Kerala farmer commits suicide, government initiates probe

Maharashtra: Farmers clash with police, block highway near Thane, several cops injured

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On June 17, a jury in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, was unable to reach a verdict in a criminal sexual-assault case against Bill Cosby: Andrea Constand claimed that in 2004 Cosby had given her pills that rendered her unable to protest, then digitally penetrated her against her wishes. After days of deliberation in the courtroom outside Philadelphia, the judge declared a mistrial  ABC reports that there were two not-guilty holdouts among the 12, who are required to reach a unanimous verdict  and District Attorney Kevin R. Steele announced that he would retry the case as soon as possible. Cosbys team took the lack of a verdict as a victory: Mr. Cosbys power is back, declared spokesman Andrew Wyatt.

The details of Constands allegations were hauntingly familiar to those who had followed the accusations against Cosby over the past several years. In a 2015 story in New York, 35 women who had come forward to accuse Cosby of rape or sexual assault posed for the magazines cover  alongside an empty chair, meant to symbolize the accusers not present, and all the women who have never spoken of their own assaults. To date, at least 60 women have made similar accusations against Cosby. Chelan Lasha, one of those women, explained to New York how going public had made her feel, a sentiment echoed in Wyatts response to the trial: Im no longer afraid, said Lasha. I feel more powerful than him.

A number of the women who spoke to New York are involved in their own pending civil litigation against Cosby. But they werent able to press criminal charges; the statute of limitations had expired. And so Constands case, some felt, would also serve as a verdict for them. Several even flew in for the trial. Victoria Valentino, Jewel Allison, Linda Kirkpatrick, Lili Bernard, Therese Serignese, and Barbara Bowman woke up at 5:30 each morning to line up for a seat in the courtroom. Ive been talking about this stuff for two and a half years, Valentino told me last week. I wanted to see it completed, to come to fruition. None of us thought wed ever see him go to trial, and we wanted to stand witness, to let Andrea know she wasnt alone, and let the world know we were standing in our truth. (Although the judge allowed just one other accuser to testify, jurors disclosed in selection that they were aware of the mass of accusations against Cosby; in 2005 testimony that was admitted as evidence in this trial, Cosby admitted to procuring quaaludes to get women to have sex with him.)

Many of the women have become activists. Valentino and Bernard were involved with a successful effort to end Californias statute of limitations on rape and sexual-assault crimes. Through their work, they became close with Caroline Heldman, an Occidental College professor who accused Bill OReilly of sexual harassment earlier this year. She joined the group for the trial, an extension of what one of them described in 2015 as a sorrowful sisterhood.

Bill Cosbys Accusers Tell Their Stories

For Valentino, seeing Cosby in person and listening to the details of the trial  which focused on what precisely was in the three pills the comedian gave Constand, inconsistencies in her account, and why she maintained contact with him after the alleged incident  triggered anger. Justice for Andrea would have been justice not just for all of us survivors of his but all survivors of rape, all women. His spokesmans comment about Cosby getting his power back struck her as both a cruelly chosen word  Rape is all about power and control, said Valentino  and simply incorrect. Hes still out on bail. Nothing much has changed, although no one will take a drink from him again.

Bernard  who like Constand accuses Cosby of having drugged her before an assault  had a deeply emotional reaction to the mistrial. Andrea is so strong and gentle. She was consoling us when we started sobbing, said Bernard. If so many people can come forward and still be disbelieved, the devaluation of womens voices is clear. Allison was more philosophical about the nonverdict. In order for us to have justice, we have to have a just world, she said. Pulling 12 strangers from different walks of life, who have different privileges, and getting them all on the same page is difficult. This is the first time in our history that we are openly dealing with rape collectively as a country. We have a lot more work to do, and in my opinion the onus largely is with men.

The women plan to come back for the retrial. This was just the dress rehearsal, said Bernard. Round two is coming up.

*This article appears in the June 26, 2017, issue of New York Magazine.
Photo: fergregory/Getty Images

New Yorks Sex Diaries series asks anonymous city dwellers to record a week in their sex lives  with comic, tragic, often sexy, and always revealing results. This week, a 26-year-old TV reporter seeing someone in a ten-year relationship: 26, straight, FiDi.



DAY ONE

9 a.m. I roll out of bed dragging my feet. Im a reporter for a local TV station. Im happy I landed in New York for my first job after graduating, but breaking news isnt my strength  I prefer human-interest stories. My mom pushed television on me when I started college. I dont have a regional accent and people consider me more attractive than most (I do, too), so I decided to give it a shot.

10 a.m. Shooting in Brooklyn for my first story of the day. I hate the topic. Why is breaking news always so depressing? Its refreshing to cover a fluffy story every once in a while. As a black woman from SoCal, its exciting to be in NYC  but news is just exhausting.

10:30 a.m. The lawyer I met during a court story last week texts me: Hey hot stuff. Lets call him Mark. Hes quirky, a white guy. I like quirky. Hes also handsome, with really straight teeth. We make plans to get drinks tomorrow. Im looking forward to it, and I dont know if its because I havent had sex since March or because I actually like him a little bit. Maybe both.

Noon I take a small break to get lunch. Since news doesnt stop, I never get a real lunch break, just downtime between stories. I decide against a BLT and get a spinach salad with black beans. A cute white guy lets me go in front of him in line and we start flirting a little. Until I moved to New York, I never dated white guys. I grew up in a pretty diverse, middle-class suburban neighborhood. There were plenty of white guys in my high school and college  dating interracially was just something I didnt really consider. But over the two short years Ive been here, Ive dated a really diverse group of men.

8:36 p.m. Im home. I spread out on the couch and take off my bra (the best part of arriving home is freeing the boobs). A guy I hooked up with recently texts me  Im tempted to invite him over, but we work together. And hes married. Doubly negative. Our messages are flirty, and then I get bored and ignore him.

DAY TWO

9 a.m. I wake up with one thing on my mind: Its Friday and I want to get drunk.

3 p.m. Mark and I plan to meet at 8 p.m. for margaritas. He texts me to tell me that his lawyer friends will be there. I tell him to let me know when hes wrapping up with them. Im pretty outgoing, but I dont feel like being in any awkward social interactions tonight.

6:56 p.m. I have a change of heart and text Mark to tell him I dont mind meeting his friends.

8:38 p.m. I roll into the bar late but everyones too drunk to care. Mark introduces me to his friends. Theyre instantly complimenting me  even his female friends. Im cautious about women. Sometimes women get weird around attractive women  even the ones who are just as attractive.

11 p.m. After a couple of tequila tonics (dont knock it until you try it), Im feeling great. His friends dwindle as we sit at the bar, talking about our backgrounds. I ask if hes dated a black girl before. He has and says race isnt a big thing to him. Its not a big deal to me either  I just have no interest in being anyones experiment or ebony fantasy. Drunkenly, I tell him about the married man at work. He doesnt seem like hes judging me, maybe because hes ten years older than me.

Midnight Our body language is very sexual. Im sitting close to him and his knee is between my legs. I excuse myself to go to the bathroom. My panties are slimy.

12:06 a.m. I come back and sit down. Immediately, he blurts out, I have a girlfriend. He explains that he thinks Im very pretty and he wants to get to know me. He says hes been with his girlfriend three years  and they live together. Now I just want to go home.

12:20 a.m. Im giving him the silent treatment and trying to figure out what I should do. I do really like him  but I need to think more when Im sober. I tell him Im leaving and get an Uber. His feelings look hurt. Good. Fuck him.

12:23 a.m. My Uber is nine minutes away and hes waiting with me. Im thinking about hopping in a cab. He grabs my waist and pulls me toward him. Were both drunk and Im horny. He tries to kiss me, but I turn away and his lips land on my neck  thats my spot. I turn my head toward him, but then my Ubers here, so I pull away.

DAY THREE

12 p.m. I love tequila. It never gives me a hangover.

3 p.m. I dont really know what to make of last night. I like Mark a lot, but just like with my co-worker, NOTHING will come from someone who isnt available. Mark has texted me three times since I woke up. He says he wants more of me.

5 p.m. I decide to text Mark back. He replies immediately that he wants to see me. But I cant tonight  I have plans with a guy I met on a story. Hes in his 40s, also a lawyer. Hes divorced and very wealthy. I like older men for a few reasons, but mainly because theyre so established. Well call this one Gerald.

9 p.m. Gerald and I have dinner at the Capital Grille. Hes so intelligent. I like him, but not enough to have sex with him  yet.

10 p.m. Im bored and thinking about Mark. I wrap up with Gerald and head home.

11 p.m. Still thinking about Mark. I wonder if his dick is big?

DAY FOUR

10 a.m. Gerald sends me a sweet message when I wake up: Enjoyed spending yesterday evening with you, beautiful, enjoy your day. I ignore it.

Noon Mark texts to see if Im up for a movie. I tell him I have a short day tomorrow and suggest we go after I get off. He tells me that it depends on his court schedule but that tomorrow might work.

7 p.m. Nothings really going on: I spend the rest of the night watching Shameless and eating Grubhub (sesame chicken with fried rice and a vegetable egg roll).

DAY FIVE

1 p.m. Mark texts and says today works. We make plans to meet at the AMC on 34th Street later on.

1:30 p.m. My workday is over in 30 minutes and Im getting antsy. My mind is wandering  I want to know what Marks girlfriend looks like. Twenty minutes of social-media research later, I find her. Shes a major prosecutor and it looks like theyve been together almost ten years, not three. Im proud I found all this information, especially since theres no trace of her on his abandoned Instagram. Shes super-successful, a semi-cute blonde who looks a little bland  I dont like how Im feeling.

3 p.m. Hes late, and I still dont really know what to make of our situation. At this point, its definitely the intrigue thats driving me. I buy my ticket and some nachos and head into the theater. I have one small bottle of bourbon for him and tequila for myself. I pour the tequila into a half-cup of soda. He finally strolls in.

5:15 p.m. The movies over, and were definitely tipsy. Im horny and start kissing his neck, but the credits are rolling and the lights come on. We sit in the theater until everyone leaves. He takes his dick out and I breathe a sigh of relief: Its medium-size, but thick. Perfect. Im stroking it and decide to go down on him  but people start filing in for the next movie. I quickly sit up. He rushes to cover himself with his briefcase.

6 p.m. We start walking back toward his office. I feel weird. We hug good-bye and he grabs my ass. Who knew white men loved asses so much?

DAY SIX

10 a.m. At work the next day, I still feel weird about yesterday. He has a girlfriend!

Noon Mark texts and asks if we can grab an early dinner. I tell him about a Mexican restaurant near my apartment. I dont know 

3 p.m. Press conference about a stabbing that happened in the Bronx. Yada yada.

5 p.m. Im wrapping up work and thinking about the movie theater again. Gerald texts to ask if Im free for dinner. I lie and tell him I have to do overtime.

6 p.m. In an Uber heading to the restaurant where Im meeting Mark. Im looking at his girlfriends Facebook page. There are a lot of old pictures of them together, dating back to 2007  they must have met in law school. They seem happy together. I wonder what sort of person she is and where she grew up. What do they do on the weekends? Thinking about their life together starts to make me feel insecure. The car pulls up to the restaurant, and I quickly clear my search history, just in case.

6:20 p.m. Mark is in a booth waiting for me with a shot of tequila. Classy. Hes wearing a suit and carrying his briefcase since he just came from court. We do a couple of shots and stumble to my apartment.

7 p.m. I change into girl boxers and a tank. I jokingly tell him not to watch but he does. Were on my couch chatting mainly about his relationship. I ask him why he cheats on his girlfriend. He doesnt give me a clear answer; the insecure feeling starts to creep back. He gives me a long, deep kiss. I get up and slide my shorts off. He grabs me from behind and grinds his dick on me. He takes his clothes off and we kiss until we end up on my bed. He goes down on me  I dont particularly like his oral, but I appreciate the effort. I fake a few moans and pull him up. He kisses my neck then teases his dick into me  I cant catch my breath, its so good, almost too good. I come hard, then he keeps going until he finishes on my stomach. We take a shower together and he asks me if I need a shower cap. Hes so white, LOL.

8 p.m. I feel sad because hes not staying over. I think he senses it and kisses my forehead. Not the forehead kiss! After he leaves, he texts to say he wanted to stay. I text him back a sad face. His girlfriend is lucky.

10 p.m. I feel really sad. To make myself feel better, I Google, Why do men cheat? Results: Men have evolved to spread their seed. All men cheat. ALL MEN CHEAT. I go to sleep with him on my mind. I feel clingy. I kinda am.

DAY SEVEN

10 a.m. Wake up and grab a banana. Im definitely going to be late to work. Ugh.

Noon Gerald and I confirm plans to see a Broadway show later. Hes sweet.

2 p.m. Work, work, work, work, work, in my Rihanna voice 

2:10 p.m. Mark texts that he wants to see me. I know nothing will come out of our little scandal. I deserve better. Im smart, pretty, and successful enough for my age. I decide to ignore his text.



3:30 p.m. I grab Shake Shack for a late lunch. Mid-bite, Mark texts me, ??? I respond, Your girlfriend is lucky: Youre funny and you have great sex. I know Im going to catch feelings.

4 p.m. He writes back, Are you suggesting we stop? I dont want to be unfair to you. I tell him I want him to answer that. He responds and suggests we take a break and see where were at in two weeks. I agree 

7 p.m. Gerald and I go see a show. Im distracted with thoughts of Mark. Gerald keeps patting my knee in a friendly way. I like Gerald because he seems genuinely concerned with my well-being, but the situation feels a bit sugar-daddyish. I wonder how long his generosity will last without me having sex with him?

9:15 p.m. The play ends and we take a cab to Hillstone, where we share a platter of sushi and a bottle of rose. Midway through dinner, hes tipsy  or acting like it  and asks what my favorite sex position is. I fake-laugh it off but realize right then that Im never going to have sex with him. After dinner, he asks me if I want to see his condo, which is close. I lie and tell him I have to be up early. He doesnt dispute it and hails a taxi for me. I give him a small courtesy kiss on the lips. Ill be ignoring his calls and messages from now on. Hopefully, Ill meet someone on another story  someone whos single, who doesnt make me feel like a call girl.

Want to submit a sex diary? Email sexdiaries@nymag.com and tell us a little about yourself.
Puntamba in Ahmednagar district was the place where the farmers strike had began and later spread to a state wide agitation.

By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Calling the recent loan waiver announced by Maharashtra govt as unfair a group of farmers from Puntamba village in Maharashtra, met NCP chief and former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar in Mumbai Today.

The group of farmers claimed that the recent package is unfair to farmers who regularly repay their loans.

Puntamba in Ahmednagar district was the place where the farmers strike had began and later spread to a state wide agitation.

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According to the members of the delegation the former union agriculture minister has promised to look into their demands.

On Saturday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced a Rs 34,000 crore loan waiver scheme, under which loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh would be completely waived off. Fadnavis had claimed that the "historic' scheme would benefit nearly 90 lakh farmers of the state.

"The government had announced a special package for regular loan payers, by giving them a bonus of Rs 25,000 or 25 per cent of the loan paid - whichever is higher. But this unfair to farmers like us who regularly repay loan," said Dattatray Dhanavate one of the member of the delegation.

"We want that cap to be increased to fifty thousand,"dhanawate added.

Meanwhile, the group also plans to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with their grievances on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day Shivsena President Uddhav Thackeray too demanded a group to monitor the loan waiver scheme. Uddhav met the farmers in Puntamba and Nasik yesterday.

The Shivsena President though has expressed satisfaction over the loan waiver package, has demanded formation of a study group for the same.

Also read:

Shiv Sena lauds Maharashtra CM Fadnavis for loan waiver, says farmers will be indebted to government

Mumbai: Shiv Sena joins Opposition to demand loan waiver for Maharashtra farmers

Shiv Sena elected representatives to donate a month's salary for farm loan waiver

Jaitley on farm loan waiver: States should generate funds from own resources

WATCH | Exclusive: Inside look at Hizbul Mujahideen's terror camps in PoK

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By Press Trust of India: DUP

By Aditi Khanna

London, Jun 26 (PTI) British Prime Minister Theresa Mays Conservative party today struck a power deal with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party for her minority government by agreeing to provide an extra one billion pound for the development of the province, ending the two week-long political uncertainty.

The two parties had been locked in talks since the June 8 general election threw up a hung Parliament and May entered Downing Street on the assumption that the DUPs 10 MPs would be backing the Tories in Parliament to make up for a lack of overall majority in the House of Commons.

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Under the so-called "confidence and supply" arrangement, the DUP will back May on key votes, which would threaten the governments survival if they were lost.

"We share many values in terms of wanting to see prosperity across the UK, the value of the union, the important bond between the different parts of the UK," the British prime minister said.

"We very much want to see that protected and enhanced and we also share the desire to ensure a strong government, able to put through its programme and provide for issues like the Brexit negotiations, but also national security issues," she said.

The talks between the two parties, which have been ongoing for weeks, focused on financial support for Northern Ireland and the shape of Brexit.

According to the deal, there will be 1 billion pound extra fund for Northern Ireland over the next two years.

There will be total 1.5 billion pounds in funding - consisting of 1 billion of new money and 500 million of previously announced funds - to be spent over the next two years.

The funds were expected to be used to boost Northern Irelands economy and offer investment in new infrastructure, health and education.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said the "wide-ranging" agreement was "good for Northern Ireland and for the UK".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, however, said the deal was "clearly not in the national interest".

A three-page document outlining the terms of the agreement has been published today with further details on the financial arrangement expected later.

The DUP said the deal would apply for the lifetime of the Parliament, scheduled to last five years, but would also be reviewed at the end of the current session in two years time.

"A confidence and supply agreement has been made between the Conservative & Unionist party and the Democratic Unionist party. This means the DUP will support the Conservative government on votes on the Queen?s Speech, the Budget, and legislation relating to Brexit and national security,? a Downing Street statement said.

May shook hands with DUP Foster as she and other senior party figures arrived at Downing Street today to finalise the pact.

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The two leaders then watched as Conservative party chief whip Gavin Williamson and his DUP counterpart Jeffrey Donaldson signed the historic documents for the confidence and supply arrangement.

Speaking outside Downing Street, Foster said the agreement would bring stability to the UK government as it embarked on the Brexit process.

"Our aim in these negotiations has been to deliver for all of the people of Northern Ireland and the support measures which we are announcing will be to the benefit of all our people. We welcome this financial support of one billion pounds in the next two years," Foster said outside the Downing Street.

She said the Tories had now recognised the case for higher funding in Northern Ireland and will publish details of financial support to be made available in due course.

Both parties had agreed there will be no change to the pensions triple lock and the universal nature of the winter fuel payment across the UK, things May had planned to change in her election manifesto but later dropped.

The arrangement does not guarantee support on all legislation in the Commons, although it is expected the DUP will back the majority of the governments programme for the next two years after many of its more controversial policies were dropped.

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The Tories fell nine seats short of an overall majority after May?s decision to call a snap election earlier this month backfired.

The support of the DUP will give the party an effective working majority of 13, as the other Northern Ireland party ? Sinn Fein ? do not take up their seven seats in Parliament and Speaker John Bercow and his three deputies ? two of whom are Labour MPs ? do not take part in votes.

Opposition Labour party have demanded details of how much the deal will cost UK taxpayers and what financial promises have been made.PTI AK PMS AKJ PMS

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This week, the aviation industry was taken by surprise when American Airlines made an announced that Qatar Airways, the government-owned airline asked to acquire a minimum stake of 10% in the U.S. based air carrier.

The overture, which on Thursday was disclosed by American, sent shares of the U.S. air carrier up 1.2%. However, in a letter sent to his employees, CEO at American Doug Parker said he was confused by Qatars interest since the two airlines have battled over the governments subsidies Qatar Airways receives.

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Parker added in the letter than anyone can acquire shares of our airline on the open market, but the company is not excited about the outreach made by Qatar.

American, Delta Air Lines as well as United Airlines and their respective unions sent a letter in March to President Donald Trump which asked the president to enforce the trade agreement with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that are in place to keep competition on level ground for all. The U.S. air carriers accuse Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways of having an unfair advantage through receiving large subsidies from the governments in their native countries.

Qatar Airways, on its official website, said it is planning to make its initial investment of 4.75%, worth approximately $808 million, in American, which is the most that the airline allows without needing an advanced approval for the companys board of directors.

The Persian Gulf based airline said it see an excellent investment opportunity with American Airlines.

The statement added that Qatar Airways believes in the fundamentals of American Airlines and has the intention of building a passive position within the airline that will have no involvement in its operations, management or governance

An airline analyst for an online research group said that report was awkward given the airline industrys allegations in the U.S. of unfair practices by carriers in the Middle East.

However, interest by Qatar Airways could be looked at as a way for it to strengthen its ties with a major revenue source because the U.S. is the No. 1 destination Qatar Airways and represents over 8% of its flying overall.

However, tensions across the Persian Gulf might also be in play, said analysts. Qatar has recently engaged in a diplomatic battle with its neighbors in the Gulf region Saudi Arabia, which has led to the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt to cut diplomatic ties as well with Doha, the capital of Qatar, over claims the government there supports extremist organizations.
Prime Minister Modi met prominent entrepreneurs like Apple's Tim Cook, Google's Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella from Microsoft and Ajay Banga from Mastercard, and also addressed the Indian diaspora in Virginia.

By India Today Web Desk: On the first day of his two-day US tour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed India's growth story in a meeting with chief executives of top American companies. Addressing the Indian community later, PM Modi tore into Pakistan while pointing out that no country questioned India's surgical strikes on terror launchpads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in September last year.

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"When India talked of terrorism 20 years back, many in the world said it was a law and order problem and didn't understand it. Now terrorists have explained terrorism to them so we don't have to," Modi said at a community reception at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

"When India conducted surgical strikes the world experienced our power and realised that India practices restrain but can show power when needed," PM Modi said.

Prime Minister Modi met prominent entrepreneurs like Apple's Tim Cook, Google's Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella from Microsoft and Ajay Banga from Mastercard at a round table conference in Hotel Willard Intercontinental. He highlighted the reforms like the Goods and Services Tax, saying that this landmark initiative could be a topic of study in US business schools.

Here is all you need to know: "The whole world is looking at India... India's growth presents a win-win partnership for India and US both. US companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that," he said at the meeting of CEOs. He spoke about the implementation of the landmark initiative of GST saying that it could be a subject of studies in US business schools. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took at dig at the UPA regime saying, "In three years, there has not been one stain on my government. Indians detest corruption." The prime minister also spoke about the surgical strike on militant camps in Pakistan across the LoC in September 2016. "Surgical strikes proved that India, which normally follows restraint, can also defend its sovereignty if needed. No one in the world criticised or questioned India, Modi said, except "those at the receiving end of it," PM Modi said to loud cheers. "The youth of India understands technology and the importance of technology very well.Increased usage of technology brings transparency in systems. Through technology driven governance we are creating an 'Adhunik Bharat'," Prime Minister said while addressing the Indian diaspora. He praised External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her efforts to help Indians in any part of the world. "The way Sushma Swaraj has worked and helped every Indian abroad is commendable. It is now well known in India, anyone in trouble tweets to Sushma ji, she promptly replies and the government takes action," he said. Prime Minister will meet President Donald Trump today. They will hold bilateral talks to give directions to the ties which were affected after the Republican's victory in the presidential elections. The two leaders will spend around five hours together -- beginning with a bilateral discussion, delegation-level talks, followed by a reception and a working dinner. Issues that are expected to be discussed are: Defence cooperation, boosting economic ties, combating terrorism and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. Earlier this month Trump administration pulled out of the Paris climate accord, accusing India of seeking profit from it. According to reports the leaders would "seek common ground" on the issue. However another point of friction, H1B visa programme, will not be discussed.

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PM Modi meets US CEOs: Growth of India a win-win deal for both nations

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NEW YORKDan Loeb has amassed a $3.5 billion (U.S.) stake in Nestle SA, targeting Europes largest company in the biggest bet of his two-decade career as an activist investor.

Third Point, Loebs hedge fund, owns about 40 million shares in the Vevey, Switzerland-based company, according to an investor letter released Sunday after Bloomberg first reported the position. The fund encouraged Nestle to sell its stake in cosmetics maker LOreal SA, increase leverage for share buybacks and adopt a formal profitability target, among other suggestions. The shares rose as much as 4.8 per cent in Zurich, the biggest intraday advance since January 2015.

It is rare to find a business of Nestles quality with so many avenues for improvement, wrote Third Point, which holds a 1.3 per cent stake.

The Nestle position adds to a recent push into Europe for Loeb, whos better known for his campaigns in the U.S. and Japan. Third Point, citing an improved economic outlook and declining political risks in the region, has invested in UniCredit SpA, the second-largest listed bank in Italy, and German utility EON SE.

Loebs investment in Nestle ratchets up pressure on the European consumer-goods industry after rival Unilever rebuffed an unwanted takeover approach from Kraft Heinz Co. earlier this year. The Anglo-Dutch company, while contrasting its long-term approach with what it described as a push for short-term profits by the U.S. company, responded by promising to boost shareholder returns and put its slow-moving spreads business up for sale. Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC has moved to sell its food business after acquiring baby-formula maker Mead Johnson, while Danone SA is selling the Stonyfield yogurt business after acquiring soy milk maker WhiteWave.

The Third Point investment also puts a spotlight on Nestles new chief executive officer Mark Schneider, after 2016 sales growth fell to the slowest pace in at least a decade and the stock price lagged behind other consumer giants in recent years. For Loeb, Nestle represents not only his single largest investment since Third Point was founded in 1995, but also the biggest company hes ever targeted to improve shareholder returns. Its market capitalization of $263 billion as of last week is the largest in Europe.

We are convinced that Mark Schneider has very ambitious plans for Nestle, including some or all of Third Points proposals, Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst at Bank Vontobel AG, wrote in a note. Third Points move might be seen as hostile to Nestle, but could well be a great ally and accelerator for Mark Schneider in his strategic plan.

Schneider, the first Nestle outsider to run the worlds biggest food producer in nearly a century, has already started shifting the companys priorities toward healthier foods and faster-growing businesses since taking the helm on Jan. 1. Nestle said this month it may sell its U.S. chocolate and candy unit, which includes brands such as Butterfinger and Baby Ruth.

As always, we keep an open dialogue with all of our shareholders and we remain committed to executing our strategy and creating long-term shareholder value, Nestle said in an emailed comment Monday.

While Third Point applauded Nestles plans for the confectionery business and called Schneider a high-caliber executive with an impressive track record, the hedge fund urged him to articulate a bold action plan that addresses Nestles staid culture and tendency towards incrementalism.

Ultimately, they have been very slow to respond to changes in the market, James Santo, a senior vice president at asset manager Northern Trust Corp. in Sydney, said by phone on Monday. Thats clearly why were seeing the pressure coming from the shareholders now.

Nestle, which makes everything from Nespresso coffee to Gerber baby food, should conduct a review of its more than 2,000 brands and reduce exposure to underperformers, Third Point said. The company should adopt a formal target of boosting its operating profit-margin to as much as 20 per cent by 2020, from about 15 per cent in 2016, and double its leverage ratio to free up more cash for stock buybacks, the hedge fund said.

The time is also right for Nestle to sell its LOreal position, Third Point said. Nestle owns about 23.2 per cent of the cosmetics giant, a stake valued at about $27 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. LOreal rose as much as 4.8 per cent in Paris trading.

The LOreal stake could be divested via an exchange offer for Nestle shares that would accelerate efforts to optimize its capital return policies, immediately enhance the companys return on equity, and meaningfully increase its share value in the long run, said Third Point, which retained former Sara Lee Corp. executive chairman Jan Bennink to advise on the investment.

A LOreal spokeswoman declined to comment.

Consumer companies have become popular targets for activist shareholders. In 2015, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman amassed a $5.6 billion stake in snack giant Mondelez International Inc. and called for management to improve the companys performance, leading to cost cuts. Procter & Gamble Co. attracted Nelson Peltzs Trian Fund Management LP, which revealed its position in the consumer-products maker in February and has since amassed a stake valued at about $3.3 billion, according to its latest regulatory filing.

Loeb is aiming high with Nestle as activist investors enjoy a resurgence of client inflows and returns. Third Points flagship fund gained almost 10 per cent in the first five months of 2017, part of an industry-wide rebound that saw event-driven funds return 5.6 per cent on an asset-weighted basis, the most among the main strategies tracked by Hedge Fund Research Inc.

Still, not everyones convinced Nestle needs drastic changes to secure its future.

Anything is possible, but Im not am not totally convinced that Dan Loeb has a better strategic vision for the company than its own management, Stephen Macklow-Smith, head of European equity strategy at JPMorgan Asset Management in London, told Bloomberg TV. Given its very, very powerful portfolio, particularly in areas like Nespresso, its pretty well placed for the future.

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CHICAGOTim Hortons U.S. franchisees are banding together to lobby for corporate-level changes at the coffee chain, which is owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc., the fast-food giant that also runs Burger King.

The move follows a similar Canadian alliance  dubbed the Great White North Franchisee Association  that formed in March. The Canadian franchisees filed a class-action suit earlier this month, arguing that Restaurant Brands executives have breached their obligations to local branch operators.

The stores are lacking profitability and the franchisees feel that Tim Hortons is not helping them, said Robert M. Einhorn, an attorney at Zarco Einhorn Salkowski & Brito in Miami who is representing the U.S. alliance.

Like its Canadian counterpart, the U.S. group says Restaurant Brands has diverted ad funding to other purposes, intimidated store owners and hiked costs for key products such as coffee and bacon, the Great White North Franchisee Association said in a statement on Monday.

The U.S. group also says that the parent companys restaurant inspections are unfair and harassing.

They keep changing the rules, Einhorn said. They fail many of the stores, which serves to demoralize the franchisees.

Restaurant Brands said its franchisees are the foundation of its system and pledged to work closely with them in the U.S.

We are committed to continued collaboration with our franchise advisory board, the members of which are elected by our franchise owners, to ensure that the Tim Hortons brand is healthy for the long run by focusing on what will help us serve our guests and the iconic Tim Hortons brand now and in the future, the companys press office said in an emailed response to questions.

Restaurant Brands was created by 3G Capital Inc., the private equity firm thats famous for boosting profit by trimming costs and overhead expenses.

The new U.S. alliance is backed by almost half of the countrys Tim Hortons franchisees, including owners in the chains key markets of Ohio, Michigan and New York. There are 4,600 Tim Hortons restaurants globally, including about 700 in the U.S.

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Finally, some good news on a Monday morning.

A tentative deal between LCBO staffers and management was reached after midnight. I dont know the details of this labour agreement and, frankly, I dont care. If both sides are happy, cheers. The crucial thing is we dodged a strike at our sanctioned liquor outlets before a long weekend, which is like stumbling upon a vial of antivenin seconds before a cobra sinks its fangs into your calf.

Do we not have enough to worry about? In this age of Donald Trump and tribal politics, as the world seems to be spinning in the wrong direction, did we really need to lose sleep over our stockpiles of alcohol?

Its ridiculous. But the fear of a strike was palpable. In recent days, the lineups around the GTA made the inside of every LCBO look like the only grocery store in a small coastal town 48 hours before a hurricane was expected to make landfall.

I was forced to tinker with the rations ratio in my own emergency bunker, donating cans of soup and boxes of pasta to the food bank to free up room for my old friends Captain Morgan, Jack Daniels and Mademoiselle Grey Goose.

Then on Sunday, I got some serious stink-eye from two clerks at Loblaws, since four arms were apparently needed to ring through the high volume of wine and beer in my wobbly cart. I havent felt this sheepish since Grade 10 sex ed.

Do you own a restaurant? one of the clerks asked.

No, I dont own a restaurant. What you are witnessing is the extreme consumerism of an unhinged man who is staring into the abyss of an indefinite dry spell at a time when the news he follows is driving him to drink.

May I remind you both there is a fifth film in the Transformers franchise, which is like getting punched in the face after you fall down four flights of stairs. There is also a rumour floating around about a Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez duet that, if true, will no doubt be a song that gets pumped into my home all summer by my insouciant daughters. Kim Kardashians daughter, meanwhile, wants to name her puppy Baby Jesus. I cant take much more of this.

Now hurry up and bag those bottles!

As it turns out, our strike fears were misplaced  at least for now.

But if theres a way to make Mondays good news even better, Id say we bulwark this averted tragedy by taking pre-emptive steps to prevent a strike from ever happening. There is no point in installing a fire alarm after your house burns down. Coming up with the winning lottery numbers after the draw wont earn you a dime.

And that is why it is time to declare the LCBO an essential service.

Now before the teetotallers and anti-booze warriors jump down my throat like a revolting mocktail, I will acknowledge a six-pack of ignorance. Im sure there are strong arguments against this possibly idiotic idea. There could also be unintended consequences that could arise from turning the LCBO into an essential service, including the possibility that the guy with the Led Zeppelin hair and cantankerous demeanour may one day earn $249 an hour to unload crates of Bombay Sapphire.

Alas, peace of mind is not cheap.

I can also hear people muttering, Are you crazy? Not everyone drinks.

To which Id reply: Yes, well not everyone will need to call the cops in their lifetime. Should we allow law enforcement to go on strike? What about paramedics? Or front-line TTC workers, especially the ones who are not failing on-the-job drug tests?

Remember how disruptive the garbage strike was a few years ago? And guess what?

Nobody craves a glass of garbage after a stressful day.

If my fellow Ontarians really disapprove of this idea, we could make it a temporary provision, you know, like a war measure or travel ban. The lawyers and bureaucrats will need to hammer out the language. But Im thinking something like: The LCBO is hereby an essential service until Donald Trump leaves office.

After that, since alcohol sales are likely to plunge by 60 per cent across the free world, we might not even need LCBO stores to open on Sundays.

But for now, we should not be held hostage by any possibility of a liquor strike. Nobody should have the right to weaponize a bargaining position by threatening our supply of libations. Some nights, all that stands between my slow fall into madness is that vodka martini.

When the world is this screwed up, alcohol is a human right.

vmenon@thestar.ca

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The myth: Canada is a nation of patriotic beer drinkers who, when raising a glass, fill it with hearty Canadian suds which contain a higher alcohol content than the watery swill distilled south of the border.

Canadas most popular beers are U.S. brands.

Budweiser is No. 1. Coors Light is the top light lager.

After centuries of proud home brewing  using pristine Canadian waters to create pint perfection from yeast, hops and barley  we are now reaching for the American beers we once dismissed as sissy imitations of the real stuff.

Have we lost our malted minds?

Canadas king of beers  Bud  was created to slake thirsts in St. Louis, which is a long way from Montreal, where Englishman John Molson first set up shop in 1786. Bud and Coors Light, along with other bestselling interlopers Heineken, Corona and Busch, have so successfully muscled their way into Canadian culture, our traditional beers have yielded considerable Commonwealth ground.

Remember Joe, the charming patriot in The Rant commercial for Molson Canadian that aired 17 years ago? Jeff Douglas, a native of Truro, N.S., who played Joes character, said the beer that made him famous  Molson Canadian  isnt always available when he steps into Toronto pubs for a freshly pulled draft.

Certainly the places I frequent around here, youd be hard-pressed to find Canadian on tap, said Douglas, now co-hosting CBC Radio Ones As It Happens.

Im from the East Coast so when I go home, I do see more (Canadian) in rural places, (but) not as much here.

For the record, Molson Canadian is the countrys top Molson-named product.

Our beer landscape was once dominated by stand-alone Canadian giants Molson, Labatt and Carling-OKeefe. By the 1960s, beer was sold across the board in brown stubbies. The battle among the big three breweries for drinker loyalty was fierce until the 80s and 90s when the market began shifting with brewery mergers, foreign ownership and the return of the long-necked bottles on shelves.

Stephen Beaumont is a beer expert and author. Hes co-written the World Atlas of Beer (with Tim Webb) and in November, his newest work, Best Beer, will be released.

I dont think Canadian beer is very Canadian anymore, Beaumont said in an interview, referring to what he calls the Americanization of the Canadian beer market.

There were decisions made at a corporate level to focus on American brands, he continued.

So you dont hear a lot about Labatt Blue anymore but you hear a hell of a lot about Bud.

Hold my Bud  theres more shocking news to type.

Beaumont said its complete mythology that Canadian products were ever stronger, boozier beverages than American offerings.

Certainly, the taste differs. Canadians traditionally created more malty, malt-forward or flavour-forward beers than Americans, who instead were using adjuncts and various things to lighten the body and the flavour of their products, Beaumont said.

As for alcohol content, beer on each side of the border was always about the same  but measured differently.

Americans calculated by weight while Canadians used volume, and 4 per cent alcohol by weight is almost equal to 5 per cent by volume, said Beaumont, a former bartender.

So really, the difference in our alcohol contents was fairly negligible.

Statistics tell a story, too.

Were buying less beer as  pinkies up, folks  wine makes steady gains.

Beer remains the nations top alcoholic drink, with $9 billion in sales (from liquor stores, agencies and other retail outlets) and 42 per cent of the market over fiscal 2014-15, according to Statistics Canada. A decade earlier beer sales sat at 47.9 per cent.

Wines market share is climbing, at 31.4 per cent in 2014-15  up from 26 per cent in 2005-06, Statscan reported.

Beer Canada, a voluntary trade association, has found in its upcoming Industry Trends 2016 report:

Those in the Yukon consumed the most beer per capita (based on the legal drinking age population) over the calendar year at 128.74 litres.

In Nova Scotia  Jeff Douglass home  its 76.3 litres, about four more than Ontario beer drinkers. Douglas said quaffing habits on the East Coast arent necessarily similar to those in big cities like Toronto.

I know back home, no one is going to judge you by the beer you bring to the party, said Douglas, who still has Rant-era friends at Molson Coors.

Its not like you fail if you bring a two-four of Canadian. In those places, its still a) the fact that you brought anything and b) the fact that you showed up. I do think there are still those places where its simply about the tailgate or going up to the fishing camp where brands like Canadian still have a big, big foothold.

In craft brewing, theres a growing foothold, too. There are about 644 licensed breweries in Canada.

Creemore Springs Brewery made the town of Creemore, about 125 kilometres northwest of Toronto, famous with its popular premium beers. Molson Coors Canada acquired the brewery in 2005 and has completed a $19-million expansion, including a Stayner distribution centre.

Christine Jakovcic is the chief marketing and consumer excellence officer for Molson Coors Canada. She said the companys decision to advertise products in a portfolio strategy  including brand beers, craft beers, cider and malt-flavoured beverages  reflects Canadians desire for more choice.

Consumers are more interested in variety and we just want to make sure were meeting all those needs, Jakovcic said.

The very thing that makes craft beer distinct  small-batch brewers who cater to niche markets  prevents these products from overtaking the monster sellers like Bud and Coors Light.

When you get down to the craft levels, youre not talking about Canadian beer anymore  youre talking about drink local or youre talking about beer styles, author Beaumont said.

The Yukon, with a population of about 40,000, has a craft brewery with a no-nonsense name  Yukon Brewing  and a fun slogan: Beer worth freezin for.

Two engineers from Ontario, Bob Baxter and Alan Hansen, met in the Yukon in the 1980s. They became canoeing buddies and Baxter said after some campfire talks gone crazy about getting into business, they did. In 1997, the friends opened their brewhouse in Whitehorse.

Their beer names reflect the land theyve come to love: Midnight Sun, Longest Night, Lead Dog and the regions best selling draft, Yukon Gold.

Of course we use Yukon water, which is great brewing water, said Baxter, noting the staff of 20 makes about one million litres annually to sell locally and to Alberta, B.C. and the Northwest Territories.

Canada has lot of water. Lots of brewing know-how. Truckloads of beer choices. But it lacks its own unique, truly Canadian beer type  like a Pilsner or the India Pale Ale.

We have not taken a beer style and made it our own, said Beaumont, who noted even Brazil is using Amazonian fruits (for taste) and woods for aging barrels to develop a distinct Brazilian beer.

Beaumont recalled that in the earliest years of the Great American Beer Festival, a category called Golden Ale/Canadian-style Ale once existed (from 1996 to 2000). The author said it was basically a golden ale with a solid malt body but that ale, and the festival category, have vanished.

Canadas embryonic commercial brewing history was seeded in the mid-1600s when the first intendant of New France, Jean Talon, sailed across the Atlantic and down the St. Lawrence to (among other survivalist things) fill hogsheads in the name of leroi. Some of the countrys pioneering brands are still recognized today.

Despite centuries of brewing mastery, we still looked southward (with unbecoming disdain) to pump up our pinted pride. Beaumont said our beer-goggled sense of superiority is completely related to our relationship with Americans.

What gave Canada this beer identity was the fact it wasnt American beer and weve said Canadian beer is better than American beer,  Beaumont said.

You dont have anyone saying that anymore because a lot of what we drink is American beer.

What was that cheery line from the old jingle out of St. Louis?

When you say Budweiser  youve said it all.

Correction  Aug. 31, 2021: This article was updated to correct that stubbies dominated the beer market in Canada in the 1960s.

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From athletes and actors to politicians and scientists, some of Canadas most celebrated have sat for Canadian photographer Don Dixon, who is hoping to shoot and interview 150 icons to mark Canadas 150th birthday. Dixon began his self-published project in 2010 with a portrait of actress Jane Eastwood. He is now only 23 icons away from completing his goal, although he still hopes to secure funding to turn his work into a book.

We as Canadians need to recognize the important contributions that we are making to the world, says Dixon, currently based in San Francisco. We have the talent, experience and expertise to take a leading role in the world on a multitude of fronts, we just dont know it.

Measha Brueggergosman, soprano

The Canadian culture is incredibly unique. Its so unique because we have shied away from really defining it. Its so strong and so well-regarded and so respected worldwide, but we are, by nature of being Canadian,  we just have a hard time embracing how awesome it is. In some ways I feel like until we can have a clear understanding of what it is we have here, we will never rightfully and justifiably and sustainably protect it. Because theres no future without true identity. I feel like were on the cusp of losing who we are because we are scared about who we might be.

Roberta Bondar, astronaut, neurologist

I think of Canada as a place of promise; I think of it as a place of tremendous environmental importance to the whole world; and I think its a place where people are underrated. I think, by and large, we are a country that, yes, maybe we have a reputation for being quieter and being peacekeepers and peacemakers, but we are still striving to develop that kind of international reputation.

Donovan Bailey, Olympic champion sprinter

Canada is incredible  as we grow as a nation, we see that we are starting to be even bigger and better. And one of the things we should do is own what weve done, own our success. Its something that Ive done and sometimes been criticized for it, but I truly believe that Canada is the best, and when I was honoured to be serenaded by the national anthem in the victories over the 10 years of my career, they were the greatest, proudest moments in my life, other than my two kids.

Hazel McCallion, former mayor of Mississauga

The topography of Canada is fantastic. We have the mountains, we have the rivers, we have the streams, we have the beautiful coastlines, Pacific and Atlantic. Its so natural. Yes, we have our urban centres that are growing rapidly, but it still has beauty. And it has such a variety of beauty  every province is different and every part of the country is different and even the people are different. Theres a difference in the people who live in the West to those who live in the Maritimes. And so we are blessed with uniqueness, second to none.

Dr. Tak Wah Mak, scientist, geneticist

Canada is a country of relative harmony  at the end of the day we recognize we are Canadians and we work together. I have been in science now for 40 years and I have interacted with people at many different levels (in the U.S.), so I get to know the dynamics . . . For example, at Harvard you could have, in a very small field, five experts, but they wont work with each other. In Canada, we have an expert in one field and Im in a different field and someone else is in a different field, but we try to get together and make it work. I like that kind of attitude.

Atom Egoyan, director

We have this openness and this generosity of spirit, which is what Canada is about for me ultimately. Its a sense that we are all part of this venture which is unprecedented; of people having a strong identity, a sense of where they are from and incorporating that into this new identity that is being formed and being assessed and being felt by all of us as its progressing. Its an ongoing experience, and were testing tolerances and were testing all sorts of things that have never explored anywhere else in the world to the degree that we are living it now in this country.

Beverley McLachlin, chief justice of Canada

I think we in Canada are very fortunate to have inherited a good justice system based on the rule of law, in a country where fairness is treated as a fundamental value and where we recognize that justice is not just something for the rich and powerful but something that every man, woman and child in Canada is entitled to.

Lt.-Gen. Romeo Dallaire, humanitarian and former senator

Im not sure we realize the enormity of the responsibility that our society has within the construct of humanity  that what we have garnered in our communities  in our education systems, the values and references that we have and our desire and our comprehension of hard work  are essential tools to move us and humanity from an era of trying to survive whats happening to us, to an era where we can help humanity thrive. And we can be a leading edge because we havent even approached the full potential of what this nation can do in the world.

Perry Bellegarde, Assembly of First Nations National Chief

There is still that debate between Indigenous peoples: should we be celebrating (Canadas 150th)? Or should we be saying No, we are not going to celebrate that. Its all about colonization. But I say this: we are going to celebrate that 150th birthday. Why? Because we are still here. And we can still hear Cree being spoken, we can still hear Ojibwe being spoken, we can still hear Mikmaq being spoken, we can still hear Mohawk and Blackfoot . . . So in spite of all those things that weve endured for 500-plus years  we are still here as Indigenous peoples and we are embracing the diversity across Canada and we are going to keep making it a better and richer country than it is.

Adrienne Clarkson, former governor general

I always say in Europe you have countryside, in Canada we have nature, and thats a very, very big difference. Nature has formed us. I think thats what really will always hold us as long as we are a country. Its not just because of the climate, although that has also characterized our nation, but its because we are really a people who know what it is to be able to get out and be by yourself.

For more information on Don Dixon and his work: www.asylumartists.com

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OTTAWAA majority of Canadians believe the factors driving recent political upheaval in other Western countries are on the rise here too, a new poll suggests.

But The Canadian Press/EKOS Politics survey indicates those who support challenges to the status quo here are somewhat different than those behind it elsewhere, suggesting a version of northern populism could be brewing in Canada.

Most of the elites will tell you its not really happening here, were pretty immune to this sort of thing, said Frank Graves, president of EKOS.

But when we ask Canadians, theres room, and perhaps fuel, for populism in other parts of society.

Populism is the term most-often used to describe the political movement that led to outsider Donald Trumps ascendance all the way to the U.S. presidency, and Britain's shocking referendum in support of exiting the European Union.

To see where Canadians stand, the survey pulled together common themes to fashion a definition: opposition to trade and globalization, support for more restrictive immigration policies and distrust of those considered to be elite.

The question was then put to 5,568 Canadians between June 1 and June 19: Many people talk about the rise of these factors in the U.S. and Europe. What do you think about it? And is it happening here?

Seventy-one per cent said they believe it is, and is on the rise to either a moderate or high degree.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.3 percentage points, 19 times out 20.

Of those surveyed, only 33 per cent thought populism was a bad thing, 42 per cent were on the fence and 20 per cent thought it was positive.

Digging into those numbers reveals some differences between who supports populism in Canada, compared with who was understood to be driving it around the world.

Take free trade.

Both Trumps upset victory in the U.S. election and Britain's referendum in favour of exiting the EU were campaigns won in part on a rejection of trade liberalization.

Among Trumps key campaign pledges  ripping up the North American Free Trade (NAFTA) deal.

Only about 50 per cent of Americans surveyed last month by Pew Research were in support of NAFTA, and exit polls from the U.S. election suggested 65 per cent of Trump supporters believed free trade took away jobs.

But the CP/EKOS survey suggests that 81 per cent of Canadians support trilateral trade between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

Trumps largest base of support was among Americans who defined themselves as white, while in the U.K., data suggest areas with the lowest percentage of foreign-born residents voted overwhelmingly in favour of leaving the EU.

In Canada, of those polled, 22 per cent of people who werent born here thought populism was a good thing, compared to 18.5 per cent of those whose parents were both born here.

If Trump populism is rooted in the white working class, that explicitly does not appear to be the case in Canada, the survey said.

How Canadians view the economy and the future appears to be shaping their views on populist themes.

The poll suggests Canadians outlook is gloomy  29 per cent of those surveyed think their lives will improve over the next five years, 35 per cent think it will stay the same and 33 per cent think it will get worse.

Of those who describe themselves as having fallen behind during the last five years, 25 per cent support populism.

More people who define themselves as working class or poor also see populism as a good thing than do those who are upper or middle class, the poll indicates.

Overall, we see quite a different political landscape where continued economic stagnation and decline are fuelling a uniquely Canadian expression of populism that is less white and less closed than the expressions in Europe and the United States, the report said.

It is more rooted in a new class conflict across the diminished middle class and the burgeoning working class.

What that may mean for Canadian politics could be seen in the educational backgrounds and political affiliation of those who support populism.

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau began his mandate, he enjoyed uniform support across the educational spectrum.

But the poll suggests that support is becoming increasingly confined to those with a university degree. Forty-two per cent of university degree holders think populism is a bad thing.

Meanwhile, the poll indicates those with a high school or college education are going back to the Conservatives. Twenty-six per cent of those with a high school diploma told pollsters populism is bad, as did 30 per cent of those with a college education.

We have effectively divided ourselves into two Canadas, the poll said.

Those relatively comfortable with national and federal direction (i.e., progressive Canada) and conservative Canada, who are decidedly unhappy with where we are headed.

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When it comes to the cloudy territory of vaping regulations, smoking experts and industry advocates agree that a federal bill cant arrive to clear the air quickly enough.

Vaping products have been available in Canada for more than half a dozen years  comprising of a variety of devices, such as e-cigarettes, that produce vapour for the purpose of inhalation, come in many flavours and formats and may or may not contain nicotine.

Consensus exists in the scientific community that vaping products are less harmful than cigarettes, says Dr. Robert Schwartz, executive director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit.

He is quick to add, however, that vaping products are not benign.

Even those who think theyre far less harmful than cigarettes will agree that they are sufficiently harmful such that if you are not a smoker of regular cigarettes you ought not to be using e-cigarettes, Schwartz said.

Bill S-5, which passed first reading in the House of Commons on June 15, creates a wide-ranging regulatory framework for vape products including quality control provisions and banning the sale of the products to minors.

While advocates openly embrace the bill overall, one clause  which restricts promotion of vaping products that compares their health effects to those of tobacco products  continues to draw concern.

We dont believe that were in a position to make health claims because were not clinicians, were not doctors, were not scientists, said Darryl Tempest, executive director of the Canadian Vaping Association. But we do believe in the harm reduction properties of vaping.

Industry advocates such as Tempest, and Mississauga-based Moshi Vapor company owner Beju Lakhani, believe that consumers benefit from being given this type of comparative information at the point of sale.

When consumers reach out, one of the things we often do is try to point them in the right direction so that they can make their own decisions, Lakhani said.

Tammy Jarbeau, spokesperson for Health Canada, said that eventual regulations under the bill, if it passes, may allow for a limited list of comparative phrases to be used.

There also may be room under the legislation for the dissemination of educational information about the relative risks of vaping and smoking, as long as it is not done for the purpose of promotion.

Schwartz says that the government should be wary of any kind of communication that would constitute marketing of vaping products because for-profit enterprises will always be motivated to attract a bigger customer base.

But he, too, is concerned about the difficulty of conveying to smokers  and only smokers  that there is an alternative option available to them. One way, he said, might be to require vendors or manufacturers of tobacco products to include information about vaping where their products are sold.

Both Tempest and Lakhani praised Bill S-5 overall, saying that regulation of the vaping industry will be necessary for its success as a replacement for tobacco.

For the industry to survive and thrive and to truly be a viable alternative to smoking for smokers in Canada then the product has to be safe, it has to be regulated and manufacturers have to ensure that theyre abiding by common best practices, Lakhani said.

If and when Bill S-5 receives Royal Assent, Health Canada will still need to develop specific vaping regulations.

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After having spoken on phone three times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump finally met in person today.

President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House (Twitter: ANI)

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his US visit extending an invitation to US President Donald Trump and his family to visit India.

Modi and Trump had a one-to-one meeting, followed by a delegation level talk and will now head for a cocktail reception and a working dinner.

PM Modi is the first foreign leader to be hosted by the Trump administration.

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They spoke about bilateral trade, peace in Afghanistan and India's concerns over Pakistan-based terror outfits.

LATEST UPDATES

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to US ends, he leaves for Netherlands.

Further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice perpetrators of 26/11 attacks, Pathankot & other cross border attacks: MEA

India, US call on Pakistan to stop its soil from being used as terror launch pads: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar

Terrorism was identified as a key challenge. Discussions also held on NSG,UNSC: S Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary

The meeting was very cordial, focused and open, there was a great degree of ease: S Jaishankar,Foreign Secretary

#WATCH PM Narendra Modi leaves from the White House #ModInUS pic.twitter.com/BUR5X35v5v- ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves White House.

For the First Lady, PM presented a hamper containing a traditional, handcrafted Himachali silver bracelet, tea and honey from Kangra valley

PM Modi presented Pres Trump a folio containing an original commemorative postal stamp that had been issued by India in 1965. pic.twitter.com/9TxzEIQVns- ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

On security challenges, our growing security and defense co-operation is very important, says PM Modi.

I invite you to India along with your family and hope that you will give me an opportunity to host you: PM Modi

Destroying terrorists and safe havens will be our aim: PM Modi

We agreed to work closely on boosting maritime trade and cooperation: PM Modi

India is committed to peace in Afghanistan, rebuilding that country is our top priority: PM Modi

I laud your commitment towards strong India-USA bilateral relations: PM Modi

We discussed the problems arising due to terrorism and radicalisation: PM Modi

Trade, commerce and investment are key areas. Technology, innovation and knowledge economy are also areas we are are actively looking at: PM Modi

We consider USA a valued partner in our flagship programmes: PM Modi

We held talks on wide range of issues pertaining to the India-USA relationship: PM Modi

Both India and USA are global engines of growth. Eliminating terrorism is among the topmost priorities for us: PM Modi

Talks today will mark a very important page: Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Looking forward to exporting more US energy to India as your economy grows incl major long term contract to purchase natural gas: President Trump

Both countries are affected by terror, and we resolve that will destroy radical Islamic terror: President Trump

I welcome the Prime Minister of the biggest democracy, Terrorism is biggest threat to democracy: Donald Trump

We will destroy radical Islamic terrorism: President Donald Trump

PM Modi invited my daughter Ivanka to lead US delegation to the global entrepreneurship in India, and I believe she has accepted: President Trump

You have a big vision for improving infrastructure and fighting corruption: President Trump

You have a true friend in the White House...our ties have never been stronger and better: President Trump

The relationship between India and USA has never been better: President Trump

I have always had a deep admiration for your country and your people, the rich culture and traditions: President Trump to PM Modi

Delegation level talks end.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump to issue a joint statement shortly.

Thank you for ordering equipment from US; no one makes military equipment like the US: Pres Trump during delegation level talks with India- ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

Delegation level talks between India and USA begin at White House.

You have done a great job economically and you are doing well in so many ways,I would like to congratulate you: President Trump to PM Modi

Its a great honour to have PM Modi here who has been such a great PM: President Donald Trump- ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tells media that he remembers that when Donald Trump visitd India, he had warm words for him,"I remember that with gratitude"

President Trump has welcomed me with immense warmth. I thank him for the welcome: Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at the White House.

Mr. Rex Tillerson, @StateDept Secretary held discussions with PM @narendramodi. pic.twitter.com/gVEYiEsXqp- PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 26, 2017

"There was a strong focus on terrorism and cooperation in counter-terrorism," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay told reporters

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis separately called on Modi, setting to tone for the summit meeting between the prime minister and Trump.

--- ENDS ---
Sitting in circles in Trinity-Bellwoods Park with their bikes splayed out on the grass around them, the cyclists seemed excited and a little nervous. Some knew each other, some didnt. For the vast majority, Saturdays race was a first.

Even the races organizers, Kiki Knox and Ashley Hurrle, were keyed up. It was a first for them, too  and for the city. Toronto has never had an alley cat race for women, transgender, femme, and gender nonconforming riders only, as far as they knew.

Alley cats are DIY bike races that require cyclists to hit a certain number of checkpoints throughout the city before speeding to the finish  checkpoints that remain a secret until the race starts. The races are unsanctioned, meaning the streets are open to traffic. Alley cats are a test of urban navigation and street-riding savvy as well as speed, with a bit of scavenger hunt mixed in.

Races are dominated by fast guys, said Knox. Professional bike couriers often compete in them, and the vibe can be intense, even aggressive, others say. Its male-dominated, and it looks closed off from the outside . . . (we) wanted to make it a much more open experience.

Knox and Hurrle began organizing the W.T.F. Alley Cat  Women, Trans, Femme-identifying  in March. Similar races have been organized in U.S. cities, but not in Toronto.

I talked to a lot of older couriers in the scene, and they said theyve never heard of anything like this, added Knox. Ashley and I were so stoked. We were like, lets do it. Lets organize the first one. Especially one in time for Pride weekend.

As riders cycled up on Saturday evening, they exchanged a $10 registration fee for a spoke card, a laminated square with the races logo that would be tucked into the wheel and serve as a racing bib.

At 6:30 p.m., Knox and Hurrle called everyone together. Thirty racers had signed up.

Despite alley cats reputation for lawlessness, the duo began with an exhortation. We dont want anyone to have a bad time, or get hurt. Please ride safely, ride considerately.

The pair start passing out a printed sheet with a list of the eight checkpoints. Some hopped on their bikes immediately. Others huddled around maps, plotting out the ideal route. The checkpoints spanned the city, from Wychwood Barns to Corktown Common and the West Toronto Railpath to Liberty Village. The race would be about 30 kilometres depending on the route.

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The final checkpoint  the finish line  was Bike Pirates, the volunteer-run, DIY workspace in Parkdale. At 7:30, cheers went up as three riders came into view, but they passed by shaking their heads. They still had another checkpoint to hit.

Minutes later, three riders coasted to the door of the shop, flushed and sweaty. They dumped their manifests, shredded and soaked with sweat.

And you did it in a dress?! one volunteer said to Amber Urbshas, who finished in first place. So good.

Most of the riders worked in groups, helping each other out with routing and strategy. But this wasnt a Little League game where everyone gets a trophy.

I was planning on going a little softer, but Im too competitive, said Urbshas.

Its so nice to bike with a bunch of girls who are going super quickly. It feels really good, said Lily Hansen-Gillis, a first-time racer who came in second.

Close to 10 p.m., Knox and Hurrle handed out awards inside Bike Pirates. After the top three spots, prizes were handed out for the first single-speed bike, first geared bike, and first out-of-towner. There were awards for first first-timer, first mullet, and DFL  a colourful expression for dead last. The winners got prize bags filled with gear donated by the races more than 30 sponsors: bike shops, sex shops, pie stores, more.

After a raffle dispensed with more donated loot, the night morphed into a general party.

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They came. They saw. They disrupted.

Black Lives Matter, whose inspired protest against police in uniform last year brought Toronto Pride to a crashing halt and anti-Black racism among police to the forefront, found their message amplified across North America this year.

Other chapters of the Black Lives Matter group protested Pride in various cities: in New York City  where about 100 of Torontos finest had made their way in a huff; in Seattle, where they staged a 30-minute protest  one minute for every year in the life of Charleena Lyles, recently killed by police; in Minneapolis, where they protested the death of Philando Castile, chanting no justice no pride; in Vancouver, where they staged a separate march altogether to honour queer-trans people of colour. Here, protesters also staged a die-in, in which five people lay down on the hot pavement and others drew chalk figures around them.

In Toronto, where Pride comes during an inquest into the death of Andrew Loku, the mentally ill Black man killed by a police officer in 2015, the young activists showed up on Sunday after the parade had passed, not to put themselves front and centre, but to remind people they are still challenging anti-Black racism within Pride, within queer-trans communities.

Pride is actually ours. Queer and trans people of colour actually started this, said BLM co-founder Rodney Diverlus. We dont need to register for a deadline, we dont need to tell you were coming, we dont need to pay money for a float. Were just going to take up space.

Perhaps Diverlus should have said reclaiming our space, the space created by queer and trans people of colour, who played a major role in the Stonewall Riots 50 years ago this week. The series of riots, named after Stonewall Inn, a New York bar patronized by queer and trans people that was frequently and violently raided by police, were seen as the first major protests against police on behalf of LGBTQ people.

Key among protesters were transgender community organizers such as the Latina Sylvia Rivera and Black transwomen Marsha P. Johnson and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, but those roles have been erased over time as the movement has been whitewashed.

No doubt, Toronto is one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world. No doubt, Toronto police are heroes to many people, including gay people of colour. No doubt, BLM doesnt speak for all Black people  no group ever speaks for all.

Yet, liberation of some is not liberation of all. Thats not so difficult to grasp, is it? There are disparities in how we experience the police. You dont have to hate the police to agree with BLM  its not a zero-sum game. However, theres a reluctance to understand the unique cruelty of anti-blackness.

Black Lives Matter was reviled as a hate group last year for protesting that lack of equal treatment, and making demands for more inclusivity. That demand already made an impact; Anu Radha Verma, a curator of brOWN/out, a Pride event focused on the South Asian gay community, publicly thanked BLM on CBC for making her Saturday event possible.

Do you know who is a hate group? The KKK, about a dozen members of which turned up in full regalia to crash an LGBTQ parade in Florence, Ala., earlier this month.

Which would you call hateful? Protesting against those who are the instruments of your oppression? Or stomping on the oppressed, when they rise to resist?

What that resistance has made clear to some of us straight folks looking from the outside in, and perceiving the LGBTQ communities as a unified force of good, is that anti-Black racism exists everywhere, and the rainbow just covered up the streaks of racism within. Disagreeing with BLM does not make you racist, but being able to place how Black people experience police in your blind spot makes you privileged.

For some gay people, their history or experience of discrimination doesnt seem to have exempted them from discriminating against others.

There was Darryl DePiano, the owner of iCandy, the Philadelphia gay bar whose audio recording calling Black queer men ni-ni-ni-ni-n-word was broadcast on loud speakers in April. There was the other gay bar in N.Y.C. where multiple complaints surfaced about people of colour being discriminated against and not being allowed in. (Rebar, the bar in question has denied that.) These are not isolated incidents.

Pride is not about race, say those who have never been excluded  or targeted  on the basis of their skin colour. Its about celebrating gay successes, they say. Except that acceptance and protection have not been extended to all people.

How equal is equality, when its only for a few?

Shree Paradkar tackles issues of race and gender. You can follow her @shreeparadkar

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The Federal Court has ordered Ottawa to reconsider dozens of immigration applications from rejected applicants from China who failed to disclose they hired the same unregistered consulting firm.

In a decision released last week, Justice Richard Southcott ruled in favour of the 57 former clients of Beijing-based Flyabroad, saying immigration officials shouldnt have rejected them without giving each a fair opportunity to respond to the concerns raised.

Immigration officials should crack down on ghost consultants, but what happened in this case is the government actually went after the clients, said Wennie Lee, one of six lawyers for the applicants, who applied for permanent residence under the federal skilled workers class.

The whole point of the legislation (requiring disclosure) is to protect these individuals from falling into the traps of the ghost consultants. The court found it problematic how the government proceeded with this case.

In what was believed to be Canadas biggest attempt to crack down on unlicensed consultants, sometimes called ghost consultants, operating abroad, Ottawa rejected en masse immigration applications filed from the address of Flyabroad over the last two years on the grounds of misrepresentation.

None of the applicants declared the use of Flyabroad in the Immigration Departments required authorization form, but their applications all included the return address belonging to the company and had other similarities, such as the labelling and style of some documents.

In June 2015, the applicants received a procedural fairness letter from the department, accusing them of using the services of an unauthorized immigration representative. In response, some of the clients claimed they hired the company only for its translation and clerical services, but not immigration advice.

In an email to the Star, Flyabroad spokesperson Zhang Hongxia said she felt sorry for what her former clients had endured because of what she called unruliness at the Immigration Department.

The immigration officers did not treat applicants respectfully or quote immigration law appropriately. Their attitude was really disappointing, Zhang wrote.

I felt sorry for them since they themselves endured so much, costing so much both in human capital and to Canadian taxpayers. Everyone is a loser except for the lawyers.

In a previous note to the Star, Zhang said the services Flyabroad provides include translation, document preparation and notarization that are legal in Canada and China.

Under Canadian laws, only lawyers in good standing and immigration consultants licensed with ICCRC, a national professional regulatory body for consultants, can offer immigration advice for a fee.

A couple of applicants claimed in their defence they had fallen prey to the fraudulent activities of a ghost consultant and provided officials with a copy of the instructions and the template, as well as the contract that they signed with Flyabroad.

Based on the applicants response to the fairness letters, officials at the Canadian visa post in Hong Kong concluded its more than likely the applicants misrepresented themselves by claiming they hired Flyabroad for translation and clerical help. Hence, each of the applicants was deemed inadmissible to Canada for five years.

Regardless of how closely a particular applicants procedural fairness response may mirror the template, or how compelling or untenable the officers determination that a particular applicant misrepresented his or her relationship with Flyabroad . . . each of the applicants was entitled to comment on the officers concerns before that determination and the inadmissibility finding were made, wrote Justice Southcott.

Southcott did not cite any wrongdoing on the part of Flyabroad.

Neither did the judge clarify whether paid translation and courier services amount to providing immigration advice, or if applicants are obliged to disclose the use of ghost consultants.

However, he did emphasize the prohibition against unauthorized consultants is an important matter and warned that an applicant using a ghost consultant has an obligation to answer these inquiries truthfully.

Lawyer Matthew Jeffery, who represented some of the applicants, hoped immigration officials would not take the court decision as an invitation to pester applicants with the question of whether they used a ghost consultant and reject their applications if they are deemed not forthright.

Since the immigration ministers own lawyers conceded that there is no obligation for an applicant to disclose this information, revealing that information should have no impact on the application, said Jeffery. But the concern remains that Justice Southcotts decision does not make that sufficiently clear.

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Ontario will call an independent public inquiry into the Elizabeth Wettlaufer case now that the former nurse has been sentenced for murder in a spate of nursing home killings.

It is our hope that through the inquiry process, we will get the answers we need to help ensure a tragedy such as this does not happen again, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Health Minister Eric Hoskins said in a statement Monday.

What happened was a tragedy. Thats why we are establishing an independent public inquiry to look into the circumstances in this case.

Wettlaufer was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years for the eight killings of elderly nursing home residents.

No details on who will head the inquiry or when it began were released as the government decides on the scope of the probe and sets it in motion with an order in council.

On behalf of the Ontario government, we want to express our deepest condolences to the victims, their families and the communities in Woodstock and London and the surrounding areas, the statement added.

The province has been under fire, along with Ontarios self-regulatory College of Nurses, for a lack of oversight and transparency in the case after Wettlaufer was fired from a nursing home for a medication error in 2014, after which more deaths occurred.

We want to assure the public that Ontarios 78,000 long-term care residents are safe in their homes, the statement from the cabinet ministers said.

Our oversight system in Long Term Care specifically focuses on the safety and security of our residents and we will continue to work to ensure all of our homes are meeting the highest standards.

Hoskins had hinted recently that the government would call a public inquiry once Wettlaufers case was completed in the court system.

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Differences with Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown have triggered the mass resignation of volunteers from two Tory riding associations in Ottawa.

The Ottawa West-Nepean executive board quit on Friday to protest the controversial nomination there last month where there were ballot-stuffing allegations.

That exodus followed the Kanata-Carleton Progressive Conservative riding associations decision to break with the party on June 11, complaining of a toxic and destructive environment.

They are loyalists to MPP Jack MacLaren, who left the Tories to join the fledgling Trillium party late last month.

In a letter to PC executive director Bob Stanley, departing Ottawa West-Nepean riding association president Emma McLennan said the entire executive would step down.

The board is resigning because we strenuously disapprove of the undemocratic decisions that Patrick Brown and the party leadership have made in relation to the OWN (Ottawa West-Nepean) nomination process, McLennan wrote.

We will not continue to support a leadership that condoned the serious, even fraudulent, irregularities at our nomination meeting, the long-time party volunteer continued.

Frankly, what this party has done to Ottawa West-Nepean is stunning and unforgivable, she wrote.

When you denied our members their right to a fair vote, you made a mockery of the basic principles of democracy that we value as Canadians.

Earlier this month, Robert Elliott quit as the Conservatives third vice-president and policy chair to protest shenanigans in the May 6 nomination.

The nine-year party vice-president, and chief returning officer for the 2015 Tory leadership contest won by Brown, questioned why there were 28 more ballots in boxes than people that had registered to vote.

Karma Macgregor defeated runner-up Jeremy Roberts by 15 votes in Ottawa West-Nepean. Roberts abandoned a challenge to the result, which has been accepted by Brown.

Nomination problems there, in Newmarket-Aurora, and in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas, where there is a legal challenge to the results, have led the Tories to hire private-sector auditors PwC to oversee candidate elections.

The situation in Kanata-Carleton differs because it is about political ideology, not electoral problems.

In a June 11 email to PC executive director Stanley, former riding association president Tim Broschuk decried the centrist direction Brown is taking the Tories.

After almost a decade of volunteering, first as donors, then as door knockers and later as riding executives, we believe that weve been here long enough to understand the trajectory of the partys culture, its people and its identity, wrote Broschuk.

We can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as we have ever seen it, he continued.

The party has veered so far from the place we joined that we can no longer in good conscience say that we identify with what it stands for. We knew it was time to leave when we realized that we could no longer look our members in the eye and tell them what a great party we had.

Broschuk said he and the other executive members were alarmed that many of the leadership in our party dont display a Conservative culture.

It astounds me how little the partys leadership gets a basic truth: if members dont trust you they will eventually stop supporting you. It doesnt matter how clever you are. I hope this can be a wake-up call for you.

Rick Dykstra, the PC party president, played down the controversies in the two Ottawa constituencies.

There will be new annual general meetings in these ridings to elect new executive members, who I know will help us mount a formidable campaign effort to beat the Liberals in the next election, Dykstra said in an email.

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GUATAPE, COLOMBIAA tourist boat packed with about 160 passengers for the holiday weekend capsized Sunday on a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin, leaving at least six people dead and 31 missing, officials said.

Rescuers including firefighters from nearby cities and air force pilots searched for survivors at the Guatape reservoir where El Almirante ferry sank. A flotilla of recreational boats and jet skis rushed to the scene, pulling people from the boat as it went down and avoiding an even deadlier tragedy.

Dramatic videos circulating on social media show the turquoise and yellow trimmed party boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-floor roof as it sank into the water in a matter of a few minutes. Survivors described hearing a loud explosion near the mens bathroom that knocked out the power a few minutes after it began its cruise around the giant lake. As water flooded on board, pressure built and people were sucked under by the sinking ship.

Those on the first and second floors sank immediately, survivor Lorena Salazar told local media. All we could do was scream and call for help ... it was completely chaotic.

Margarita Moncada, the head of the disaster response agency in Antioquia state, said that according to a preliminary report, 99 people were rescued and another 40 managed to find a way to shore on their own. Speaking to reporters from the reservoir, she said nine people had been killed and around 28 are still missing.

But later Sunday President Juan Manuel Santos arrived to Guatape and said 122 people were either rescued or found their way to shore and were in mostly good condition. Six had died and another 31 were missing, he said. The discrepancies in the number of fatalities could not be immediately reconciled.

Its unclear what caused the boat to sink.

Some people who witnessed the tragedy from the nearby shore said the boat appeared to be overloaded, but Santos said it was sailing well below capacity. None of the passengers were wearing a life vest. Complicating the search, there wasnt even a passenger list.

Nobody really knows what happened, said Santos, adding that naval officials were brought in to carry out an investigation.

Carlos Espinosa, an independent journalist from Guatape, said about a month ago townspeople awoke to find the El Almirante filled with water and sinking at its dock, suggesting that perhaps the vessel wasnt ready to return to the water.

What makes you angry is there are no controls by the government, he said.

As night fell, the usually festive town was silent as people began to register the magnitude of the loss. Among those huddled under the rain near the port looking for information about loved ones was Alberto Villegas, who was separated from a cousin and uncle in the mad rush to abandon the sinking ship.

All we ask is that they dont give up the search, Villegas said.

Authorities were at a loss to say exactly how many people were on the boat and asked passengers or their loved ones to report to a rescue centre hastily set up along the shore. They also made a call for scuba divers to assist with the search.

The reservoir surrounding the soaring rocky outcrop of El Penol is a popular weekend destination a little more than an hour from Medellin. It was especially busy Sunday as Colombians celebrated a long holiday weekend.

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WASHINGTONDemocratic Rep. Adam Schiff and President Donald Trump dont agree on much about Russias meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, but they agree on this: President Barack Obama should have done more to stop Moscow from interfering.

Obama made a very serious mistake in not doing more about Russias intervention in the presidential election campaign, Schiff, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday.

The administration needed to call out Russia earlier, and needed to act to deter and punish Russia earlier, Schiff said on CNNs State of the Union. I think the Obama administration should have done more when it became clear that not only was Russia intervening, but it was being directed at the highest levels of the Kremlin.

Obama did announce in December a series of sanctions against Russia for its attempts to influence the November election, including the expulsion from the U.S. of 35 suspected intelligence operatives.

Schiff said the sanctions should have come sooner and been stronger. Obama also should have let the voters know about Russias actions while the campaign was still going on, he said. What I urged at the time was he should have spoken out to the American people and said, This is what Russia is doing, Schiff said.

Trump also questioned why Obama administration officials took no action on Russia before the election. Since the Obama administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T! he said in a Twitter posting to his 32.8 million followers.

Trump said on Fox News Sunday that if Obama had the information about Russian meddling, why didnt he do something about it? He should have done something about it. But you dont read that. Its quite sad.

Appearing on ABCs This Week on Sunday morning, Kellyanne Conway, counsellor to the president, struck a combative tone, saying: Its the Obama administration that was responsible for doing absolutely nothing from August to January with the knowledge that Russia was hacking into our election.

Then, referring to a Washington Post story last week, she said: I have a hacking question for the Obama administration: Why did you, quote, choke, in the name of one of their senior administration officials? Why did you do nothing? Why didnt you inform candidate Trump?

Conway was referring to a quotation in the article by a former senior Obama administration official involved in the Russia discussions who said the Obama White Houses handling of the Russia hacking was the hardest thing for him to defend from his time in government, and added, I feel like we sort of choked.

With files form The Washington Post

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LONDONThe doorbell woke Yassin Adam just before 1 a.m. A neighbour was frantically alerting others on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower about a fire in his apartment. My fridge blew up, the man shouted.

Residents of Grenfell Tower had complained for years that the 24-story public housing block invited catastrophe. It lacked fire alarms, sprinklers and a fire escape. It had only a single staircase. And there were concerns about a new aluminum facade that was supposed to improve the building  but was now whisking the flames skyward.

The facade, Adam said, burned like a fire that you pour petrol on.

The incineration of Grenfell Tower on June 14, the deadliest fire in Britain in more than a century, is a national tragedy. Londons Metropolitan Police Friday blamed flammable materials used in the facade for the spread of the blaze and said the investigation could bring charges of manslaughter.

At least 79 people died, a toll that is expected to rise as more bodies are recovered. A formal government inquiry into the fire has just begun.

Read more:

Grenfell Tower fire a warning for Toronto on housing crisis: Micallef

Number of Britain apartment buildings that failed fire safety tests now 60

The facade at Grenfell Tower, installed last year in panels known as cladding and sold as Reynobond PE, consisted of two sheets of aluminum that sandwich a combustible core of polyethylene. It was produced by the U.S. manufacturing giant Alcoa, which was renamed Arconic after a reorganization last year.

Arconic has marketed the flammable facades in Britain for years, even as it has adjusted its pitch elsewhere. In other European countries, Arconics sales materials explicitly instructed that as soon as the building is higher than the firefighters ladders, it has to be conceived with an incombustible material. An Arconic website for British customers said only that such use depends on local building codes.

Adam, 44, had seen posters telling tenants to shut their doors and stay inside in the event of a fire. But Adam, his wife, his daughter and his pregnant sister ignored the instructions and ran.

Anyone who listened to the fire brigade and stayed where they are, Adam said in an interview the next day, they lost their lives.

How Is That Possible?

The first call to the London Fire Brigade came at 12:45 a.m., according to an official statement. Six minutes later, as the first firefighters reached the scene, brigade veterans struggled to fathom the speed of the blaze.

How is that possible? one firefighter exclaimed, his astonishment captured in a video shot inside his vehicle as it sped toward the building.

It has jumped all the way along the flats  look!

How are we going to get into that? another asked, using an expletive.

Flames in an ordinary fire burst out of windows, moving from the inside out. Grenfell Tower burned in reverse, moving inward from the buildings exterior. The flames quickly tore upward in streaks through the facade, filling apartments with toxic black smoke and encasing the building in a cylinder of fire.

Built in 1974, the original concrete structure, built without cladding, was designed to contain a fire in one apartment long enough for firefighters to prevent it from spreading very far. But refrigerators in most apartments appear to have been positioned against an exterior wall, next to a window and just a few inches from the cladding installed in the renovation.

When the refrigerator on the fourth floor burst into flames, the fire ignited the flammable cladding and shot up the side of the building.

U.S. regulators by 1998 began requiring real-world simulations to test any materials to be used in buildings taller than a firefighters two-story ladder. The U.S. codes say you have to test your assembly exactly the way you install it in a building, said Robert Solomon, an engineer at the National Fire Protection Association, which is funded in part by insurance companies and drafts model codes followed in the United States and around the world.

No aluminum cladding made with pure polyethylene has ever passed the test, experts in the United States say. As a result, U.S. building codes have effectively banned flammable cladding in highrises for nearly two decades. And partly because of the influence of U.S. architects, many territories around the world follow the U.S. example. But not Britain.

Safety vs. Cost

The legacy of the Great Fire of London, in 1666, is still felt in Britains building codes, experts say. The codes have focused primarily on the principle of stopping the spread of flames between buildings or, within larger structures, between units.

But as early as 1999, after a fire in Irvine, Scotland, British fire safety engineers warned Parliament that the advent of flammable cladding had opened a dangerous loophole in the regulations. The Irvine fire saw flames leap up panels at Garnock Court, a 14-story public housing block. One resident died, four others were injured and a Parliamentary committee investigated the causes.

To a certain extent, we are hoisted by the petard of what happened here in 1666, the Great Fire of London, and we look at fire as a horizontal problem, with a fire in one building affecting the exterior of another building, Glynton Evans, a fire safety adviser to the firefighters union, said to Parliament. The problem with cladding is that it will, if it is able, spread fire, and it will spread it vertically.

The firefighters and engineers warned Parliament that British codes required only that the aluminum used in cladding resist ignition, even though the heat of a fire would breach the surface and expose the flammable material inside. Nor did the British rules require a test to evaluate risks in real-world conditions.

But manufacturers argued against new tests or rules. Using fire-resistant materials was more expensive, a cost that industry advocates opposed.

Business-friendly governments in Britain  first under Labour and then under the Conservatives  campaigned to pare back regulations. A 2005 law known as the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order ended a requirement for government inspectors to certify that buildings had met fire codes, and shifted instead to a system of self-policing. Governments adopted slogans calling for the elimination of at least one regulation for each new one that was imposed, and the authorities in charge of fire safety took this to heart.

If you think more fire protection would be good for U.K. business, then you should be making the case to the business community, not the government, Brian Martin, the top civil servant in charge of drafting building-safety guidelines, told an industry conference in 2011, quoting the fire minister then, Bob Neill. (Should we be looking to regulate further? No would be my answer, Neill added.)

Two years later, in 2013, Martin defended the existing regulations. Moving to a requirement that the exterior of a building be noncombustible, Martin said, limits your choice of materials quite significantly.

In 2014, the Fire Protection Research Foundation, an organization in the United States, counted 20 major highrise fires involving cladding. In at least a half-dozen, the same type of panels installed at Grenfell Tower caught fire. A 2014 fire in Melbourne, Australia, resulted in multiple investigations into the dangers of combustible cladding. Another fire broke out in Dubai, around a 60-story skyscraper, on New Years Eve 2015, and yet another, around a 70-story skyscraper there, in April.

But in Britain, still no changes were made.

Pray for Us

Hassan Ibrahim, who lived on the 23rd floor of Grenfell Tower, was travelling outside England the day of the fire. His wife, Rania, and their two small children were not so lucky. As the smoke and flames sped upward, Rania Ibrahim debated with a neighbour whether to risk opening her door.

Dont open the front door, her neighbour told her. You are not going to be able to breathe  you are just going to bring the smoke in. You have your children. Standing near the door with all the smoke is not going to help you.

Maybe someone outside? Ibrahim asked plaintively.

For a moment, she threw the door open. Hello! Hello! Come here, she shouted into the blackened hallway. Then she gave up and retreated. OK, OK, I closed it, she said. I am not going to go.

Ibrahim recorded a video as she fretted over what to do  and then posted it online as the fire was still raging.

The fire service said it received 600 calls from the building that night, some lasting an hour. Speaking in Arabic over a telephone, Ibrahim said: We are on the last floor. The last floor is the one that has not caught fire yet.

Then, a few moments later, she said: Its over. It is here.

Pray for us, she added.

Her husband arrived at the charred hulk of the building the next day. His wife and children are still listed among the missing.

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BEIJING  Imprisoned Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo has been transferred to a hospital after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, his former lawyer said Monday.

The deteriorating health of Chinas best-known political prisoner was immediately met with dismay by the countrys beleaguered community of rights activists and lawyers, who called it a blow to the democracy movement.

Liu, 61, is receiving treatment at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang, lawyer Mo Shaoping told The Associated Press. Liu was diagnosed on May 23 and prison authorities then gave him a medical parole, though it was not clear exactly when he was transferred to the hospital, Mo said.

Liu, a literary critic and Chinas most prominent democracy campaigner, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 after being convicted of inciting state subversion for writing and disseminating Charter 08, a manifesto calling for an end to single-party rule.

The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norway-based Nobel committee, which cheered Chinas fractured, persecuted dissident community and brought calls from the U.S., Germany and others for Lius release, but also infuriated Beijing. In April, Beijing finally normalized relations with Oslo after a six-year hiatus.

The Liaoning Provincial Prison Administrative Bureau, which oversees the prison where Liu was incarcerated, confirmed in a statement on its website Monday that Liu had received a medical parole. It said the China Medical University No. 1 Affiliated Hospital in Shenyang formed a team of eight nationally known experts in the field of tumours that drew up a treatment plan for Liu.

It was unclear exactly what treatment Liu was receiving but as of 10 days ago his condition was stable, Mo said, citing Lius family. He noted, however, that medical parole is only granted to prisoners who are gravely ill and unable to be treated at the prisons medical facilities.

Mo said Liu was likely to be closely guarded at the hospital in Shenyang and unable to receive visits from friends or return home. Normally, most people will be allowed to go home, or to be with their families, or hospitals, but Liu Xiaobo is a special case, Mo said.

I dont think he will be allowed to meet with people other than close relatives, he added.

Mo said he believed Lius wife, Liu Xia, had travelled to the city. At Lius apartment building in Beijing, AP journalists were accosted Monday by half a dozen plain clothes and other security officers and physically blocked from going beyond the first floor.

Geng Shuang, a spokesman for Chinas foreign ministry, said Monday he was not aware of the latest development in Lius case.

The news of Lius diagnosis shocked and saddened fellow human rights activists who have admired the sacrifices Liu and his wife have made in the hope of achieving peaceful political change. Activists have also been alarmed by Liu Xias gradual descent into depression after the soft-spoken poet and artist was forcibly sequestered by state security at home during her husbands imprisonment.

Its known that Liu Xiaobo and his family have made a tremendous sacrifice for the cause of freedom and democracy in China, said Shanghai-based legal scholar Zhang Xuezhong. This is unfortunate news for him and his family, and its a blow to Chinas democracy movement, as so many people have placed hope in him, and rightfully so.

Zhang said no effort should be spared in treating Liu, and his family must be fully informed of his treatment plans. His life is so important that I think he should get the best possible treatment with full knowledge of his family, even if his family has to make agreements with the government, Zhang said.

Guo Yuhua, a professor of sociology at the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing, said she was angered by the news. Those with conscience have given so much to this country, yet they are persecuted by the totalitarian rule, she told AP. Those who have done evil will sooner or later be held accountable, and written into the history to be spat on forever.

She urged Beijing to provide the best medical treatment for Liu and facilitate his travel if he and his family wish to seek treatment outside China. Life and dignity should be first and foremost in this case, Guo said.

In Washington, Lius international lawyer, Jared Genser, said he was deeply concerned by the circumstances of the dissidents parole.

It is unconscionable that the government neglected Dr. Lius health, despite repeated calls from the international community to ensure proper care. The Chinese authorities must provide Liu Xiaobo open access to his counsel and to the international community so that his wishes at this difficult time can be ascertained and honoured, he said in a statement.

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MULTAN, PAKISTANPakistans prime minister cut short a trip abroad to rush to the side of victims of a massive fuel tanker fire as authorities on Monday raised the death toll to 157.

The truck, carrying some 25,000 litres of gasoline, was travelling from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore when the driver lost control and crashed on a highway outside the town of Bahawalpur early on Sunday.

Alerted by an announcement over a loudspeaker at a local mosque, scores of villagers rushed to the scene to collect the spilled fuel. When the fire broke out, the villagers were engulfed in flames, many burned beyond recognition.

Dr. Nahid Ahmed at the Nishter Hospital in Multan, about 100 kilometres away, said four of the victims that were brought from Bahawalpur had died overnight, bringing the death toll to 157. Ahmed said 50 more severely burned victims were being treated at his hospital.

Read more:At least 153 killed after Pakistan oil tanker fire

Rescue official Mohammad Baqar at the Bahawalpur hospital said 20 more victims were transported on Monday by a military C-130 plane to Lahore for better medical care.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who visited the Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur on Monday, ordered that more of those most critically hurt be transferred to bigger hospitals in the area, Baqar said.

Sharif cut short his trip abroad and rushed back home, reaching Bahawalpur on Monday to visit the victims and console the affected families. Sharif also announced 2 million rupees  almost $20,000  as financial assistance for each family that lost someone in the highway inferno. Sharif also handed over cheques of $10,000 for each burn victim being treated at the hospital in Bahawalpur.

This is not compensation, no compensation is possible for precious human life, but it is to help the affected families in distress, Sharif said.

Many of the bodies will have to be identified through DNA testing, said Baqar.

I have never seen anything like it in my life. Victims trapped in the fireball. They were screaming for help, said Abdul Malik, a police officer who was among the first to arrive at the scene.

When the flames subsided, he said, we saw bodies everywhere. So many were just skeletons. The people who were alive were in really bad shape.

The dead included men, women and children.

The disaster struck on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr that follows the holy month of Ramadan. While Saudi Arabia and most other Muslim countries started celebrating the holiday Sunday, Pakistanis are marking it on Monday.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed to the White House by US Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hug while making statements in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington (Pic: AP)

By India Today Web Desk: Leaders of world's two largest democracies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump, met at the White House for the first time today.

In a rare gesture Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed to the White House by US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, making him the first world leader to be hosted at the White House.

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The two leaders held delegation level talks and then issued gave a joint statement at a press conference in White House's Rose Garden.

HERE IS WHAT THEY SAID "India has a true friend in the White House," President Donald Trump said. Praising PM Modi's efforts, Trump said, "India is the fastest growing economy in the world. We hope we will be catching up you very soon." "PM Modi and I are word leaders in social media, we are believers we hear directly from the elected members," said President Trump. Donald Trump applauded India's reformative Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying, "India is the fastest growing economy. We are going to catch up very soon. In 2-3 days India will carry out its biggest ever tax overhaul, we too are going to do that soon." Speaking about terrorism, Trump said, "Both countries are affected by terror, and we resolve that we will destroy radical Islamic terror." "Looking forward to exporting more US energy to India as your economy grows including major long term contract to purchase natural gas," President Trump said. US President Donald Trump said that it is important that barriers be removed for export of US goods to India and reduction of trade deficit. "Pleased to learn about an Indian airline's recent order of 100 new American planes. It will support thousands of American jobs," said President Trump. Talking about Afghanistan and North Korea, Trump said, "Want to thank Indians for their contributions in Aghanistan and joining us in applying new sanctions against the North Korean regime, that is causing tremendous problems. Problems caused by North Korean regime need to be dealt with rapidly." Prime Minister Narendra Modi began the media address talking about job creation. "Growth, job creation, breakthrough technology will be drivers of partnership between US and India," PM Modi said. "Today we discussed terrorism, extremism, radicalism. This is big area of our future cooperation; Eliminating terrorism is among the topmost priorities for us," PM Modi said. "India is committed to peace in Afghanistan, rebuilding that country is our top priority. Increasing instability in Afghanistan is a cause of concern for us. We are having close consultation, communication and coordination with the US in this regard," PM Modi said. PM Modi said that the United States is 'primary partner' for India's transformation. On security challenges, "Our growing security and defense co-operation is very important," he said. Prime Minister Modi invited Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump to lead US delegation to the global entrepreneurship in India. Donald Trump said Ivanka has accepted the invite.

Also Watch: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Donald Trump address joint conference, speak about terrorism

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In rare gesture, President Trump and Melania together welcome PM Modi at White House

MINUTE BY MINUTE UPDATE

--- ENDS ---
NEW YORKSeveral potential jurors at the federal securities fraud trial of Martin Pharma Bro Shkreli were excused on Monday after telling the judge they couldnt be impartial toward the flamboyant former pharmaceutical CEO because of his notoriety for raising the cost of a life-saving drug 5,000 per cent.

At jury selection in a Brooklyn courtroom, U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto questioned the potential jurors at sidebars out of earshot from Shkreli. One called him the face of corporate greed, another labelled him the most hated man in America and a third gestured as if wringing his neck.

Yet another was sent home after confiding that when she saw Shkreli sitting at the defence table, I said in my head, Thats a snake. 

Opening statements could come as soon as Tuesday.

Read more: Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli has Twitter account suspended for harassing female journalist

Since his high-profile arrest in late 2015 when he was led into court in a grey hoodie, the 34-year-old Shkreli has been free on bail and free to speak his mind on social media in ways that could complicate his defence. He went on Twitter to label members of Congress imbeciles for demanding to know why his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis and HIV, from $13.50 to $750 per pill.

He took to YouTube for a series of lessons on chemistry and stock market analysis. His Twitter posts mocking a freelance journalist turned so creepy  one showed a fake photo of him canoodling with her  that his account was shut down. And on Facebook, he mused about the possibility of being unjustly imprisoned.

Shkreli travels to the beat of a very unique drummer, exasperated-sounding defence attorney Benjamin Brafman said at a pretrial hearing this month.

Columbia law professor John Coffee compared the situation to U.S. President Donald Trumps unruly tweeting habits. A lawyer can caution him, he said. But just like Trump, he doesnt have to listen.

Though Shkrelis notoriety came from Daraprim, the federal securities fraud case is unrelated. Prosecutors say that after Shkreli lost millions of dollars through bad trades through his side business hedge fund, he looted a second pharmaceutical company for $11 million to pay them back. The defence has argued that he had good intentions.

Everybody got paid back in this case, his lawyer said. Whatever else he did wrong, he ultimately made them whole.

The defence has floated the possibility that it would put Shkreli on the witness stand to try to highlight how he grew up in a working-class Albanian family in Brooklyn, taught himself chemistry, interned at a financial firm founded by CNBCs Jim Cramer and struck out on his own to become a rising star in biotechnology startups. He wanted to develop new life-saving drugs after seeing several classmates and other children he knew struck down by debilitating disease, court papers say.

Prosecutors call it a ploy to portray the boyish-looking Shkreli as a Horatio Alger-like figure who, through hard work and intelligence, is in a position to do great things if only the jury would ignore the evidence and base its verdict on sympathy. The real Shkreli was a con man often undone by his own mouth, they say.

Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund manager vilified for buying a pharmaceutical company and jacking up the price of a lifesaving drug more than fiftyfold, was arrested on securities fraud charges in December 2015. (The Associated Press)

The government has cited claims by one of Shkrelis former employees that Shkreli harassed his family in a dispute over shares of stock.

I hope to see you and your four children homeless and will do whatever I can to assure this, Shkreli wrote the employees wife, according to court filings.

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WASHINGTONThe Supreme Court is allowing U.S. President Donald Trump to forge ahead with a limited version of his ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries to the U.S. Trump hailed the decision as a victory for national security, but its likely to set off a new round of court disputes over anti-terror efforts and religious discrimination.

The justices will hear full arguments in October in the case that has stirred heated emotions across the nation and pointed rebukes from lower courts saying the administration is targeting Muslims. Until then, the court said Monday, Trumps ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen can be enforced if those visitors lack a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

The ruling sets up a potential clash between the government and opponents of the ban over the strength of visitors ties to the United States. A senior official said plans already had been written to enforce the ban aggressively. But immigrant groups said relatively few people try to enter the United States without well-established ties. Those groups said they will be sending lawyers and monitors back to American airports, where the initial, immediate implementation of the ban in January caused chaos and confusion.

Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the ban would be implemented starting 72 hours after being cleared by courts. That means it will take effect Thursday morning.

The president has denied that the ban targets Muslims but says it is needed to protect the nation from terrorist activities committed by citizens of the six countries. All six have been designated as presenting heightened concerns about terrorism and travel to the United States.

The 90-day ban is necessary to allow an internal review of screening procedures for visa applicants from the countries, the administration says. That review should be complete before Oct. 2, the first day the justices could hear arguments in their new term.

The ban will have run its course by then, raising a question of whether the justices will even issue a decision in the case or dismiss it because it has been overtaken by events.

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The court asked both sides to address the issue of timing, along with questions about whether the ban is aimed at Muslims, the impact of Trumps provocative campaign statements and federal courts authority to restrain the president in the area of immigration.

A 120-day ban on refugees also is being allowed to take effect on a similar, limited basis.

Three of the courts conservative justices said they would have let the administration apply the bans without the limits imposed by their colleagues.

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, said the government has shown it is likely to win the legal case in the end. Thomas said the governments interest in preserving national security outweighs any hardship to people denied entry into the country.

Trump hailed the courts order as a clear victory for our national security, especially after lower court rulings that blocked the travel ban in its entirety. He said in a statement that his number one responsibility is to keep Americans safe.

His administrations implementation plans, largely orchestrated by White House adviser Stephen Miller, focus on refusing entry to people who are unable to show a substantial and pre-existing tie to a person or institution in the United States. The plans were described by a senior official who was familiar with them, speaking on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to discuss them publicly by name.

But some immigration lawyers said relatively few people would fall under the ban because people coming to study, work or visit family members already have sufficient relationships with others already is in the country.

This order, properly construed, should really allow for only the narrowest implementation of any part of the ban. Its going to be really important for us to make sure the government abides by the terms of the order and does not try to use it as a backdoor into implementing the full- scale Muslim ban, said Omar Jadwat, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who is representing some of the challengers to the travel ban.

The courts opinion explained the kinds of relationships people from the six countries must demonstrate to obtain a U.S. visa.

For individuals, a close familial relationship is required, the court said. For people who want to come to the United States to work or study, the relationship must be formal, documented and formed in the ordinary course, not for the purpose of evading the travel ban.

Another U.S. appeals court stomped on U.S. President Donald Trump's revised travel ban on June 12, saying the administration violated federal immigration law and failed to provide a valid reason for keeping people from coming to the country. (The Associated Press)

The opinion faulted the two federal appeals courts that had blocked the travel policy for going too far to limit Trumps authority over immigration. The president announced the travel ban a week after he took office in January and revised it in March after setbacks in court.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said the ban was rooted in religious animus toward Muslims and pointed to Trumps campaign promise to impose a ban on Muslims entering the country as well as tweets and remarks he has made since becoming president.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the ban does not comply with federal immigration law, including a prohibition on nationality-based discrimination. That court also put a hold on separate aspects of the policy that would keep all refugees out of the United States for 120 days and cut by more than half, from 110,000 to 50,000, the cap on refugees in the current government spending year that ends Sept. 30.

Trumps first executive order on travel applied to travellers from Iraq and well as the six countries, and took effect immediately, causing chaos and panic at airports as the Homeland Security Department scrambled to figure out whom the order covered and how it was to be implemented.

A federal judge blocked it eight days later, and that was upheld by a 9th circuit panel. Rather than pursue an appeal, the administration said it would revise the policy.

In March, Trump issued the narrower order.

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DENVERA Colorado clash between gay rights and religion started as an angry Facebook posting about a wedding cake but now has big implications for anti-discrimination laws in 22 states.

Baker Jack Phillips is challenging a Colorado law that says he was wrong to have turned away a same-sex couple who wanted a cake to celebrate their 2012 wedding.

U.S. Supreme Court justices said Monday they will consider Phillips case, which could affect all states. Twenty-two states include sexual orientation in anti-discrimination laws that bar discrimination in public accommodations.

Phillips argues that he turned away Charlie Craig and David Mullins not because they are gay, but because their wedding violated Phillips religious belief.

After the couple was turned away in 2012, they complained about Masterpiece Cakeshop on Facebook, then filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The state sided with the couple.

It solidified the right of our community to have a right to public accommodations, so future couples are not turned away from a business because of who they are, Mullins said Monday.

Read more:

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Phillips says that artisans cannot be compelled to produce works celebrating an event that violates the artists religion. A lawyer for Phillips pointed out that another Denver-area baker was not fined for declining to bake a cake with an anti-gay message.

The government in Colorado is picking and choosing which messages theyll support and which artistic messages theyll protect, said Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which took the bakers case.

The decision to take on the case reflects renewed energy among the high courts conservative justices, whose ranks have recently been bolstered by the addition of Justice Neil Gorsuch.

The Colorado case could settle challenges from at least a half-dozen other artists in the wedding industry who are challenging laws in other states requiring them to produce work for same-sex ceremonies.

Those cases include a Washington state florist who has been fighting a lawsuit filed after she refused to provide services for a gay wedding in 2013.

And earlier this month, owners of a Phoenix calligraphy studio filed suit against a city anti-discrimination ordinance that could lead to jail time if the Brush & Nib Studio denied service for a same-sex union.

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South Koreas new president has come up with a bold but simple plan for dealing with North Koreas nuclear-armed dictator Kim Jong Un: Talk to him.

Moon Jae-in is expected to present his plan later this week in Washington to a skeptical Donald Trump.

Talk is not a new idea for dealing with this dangerous part of the world. Between 1998 and 2008, in an attempt to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea adopted a so-called sunshine policy of economic and diplomatic engagement with the North  with mixed success.

Some tensions were indeed eased. Family visits were allowed across the border dividing the two Koreas. South Korean industries were allowed to set up factories in Kaesong, a North Korean special economic zone.

But the rapprochement did not cause North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. The sunshine policy was eventually scrapped by a new and more conservative administration in Seoul.

Now it is back again in a modified form. And while it is unlikely to wean dictator Kim from nuclear weapons, it has the advantage of differing from the worlds current policy toward the North, a policy which clearly isnt working.

No one knows what to do about North Korea. It is small but belligerent, poor but armed to the teeth.

It already has the capacity to destroy much of South Korea with conventional artillery and is probably just a few years away from possessing nuclear-armed missiles that can hit North America.

It routinely issues blood-curdling threats against Japan, the U.S. and South Korea.

North Koreas adversaries have persuaded the United Nations to impose hefty economic sanctions on the country until it gives up its nuclear ambitions.

They havent worked.

The Americans have urged China, North Koreas major trading partner, to use its influence to curb Pyongyang.

That hasnt worked either. Even Trump, who put much faith in China, has admitted on Twitter that Beijing hasnt delivered.

The reason is straightforward. China may not much like the regime in neighbouring North Korea. But it fears its collapse  and the power vacuum this would create  even more.

Meanwhile, according to the London-based Financial Times, the North Korean economy is doing surprisingly well.

Kim has quietly allowed Chinese-style crony capitalism to take root with the result that, in the cities at least, wages have grown substantially.

In short, Kims two-track strategy of nuclear armament plus economic growth appears to be succeeding.

Given all of this, Moons plan to encourage talks with North Korea isnt as naive as his critics say. Short of restarting the dormant Korean War, everything else has been tried.

On the cultural front, Moon has already offered to let Pyongyang host some portions of the 2018 Winter Olympics, now scheduled to take place in the South.

In a recent Washington Post interview, Moon suggested reopening the Kaesong industrial complex in the North, which was closed last year by Seoul in retaliation for Pyongyangs ongoing missile tests.

A senior Moon adviser has gone even farther, suggesting at a recent conference that Seoul could scale back the joint military exercises it stages with the U.S. in exchange for a suspension of the Norths nuclear testing.

The adviser also suggested that the entire nuclear issue could be linked to the equally contentious issue of hammering out a peace treaty to formally end the decades-old Korean War.

In his meeting with Trump later this week, Moon is expected to explain why re-engagement with the North makes sense. Hes also expected to explain why he thinks Seoul should take the lead (albeit with U.S. consultation) in any such talks.

Who knows how Trump will respond? On the one hand, he himself has suggested talks with North Koreas Kim. On the other, hes a keen observer of the American popular mood.

Following the death of U.S. student Otto Warmbier after almost 18 comatose months in a North Korean jail, that mood is not very sympathetic to the idea of talking to Pyongyang.

Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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The most disheartening aspect of Bill Cosby planning a series of town hall meetings on how to avoid sexual assault accusations is that people will show up.

Cosbys representatives announced the tour after a sexual assault case against the entertainer was declared a mistrial. At the meetings Cosby, who more than 50 women have accused of assault, will advise people, especially young athletes and married men, on how to avoid these charges.

As Jodi Omear, a spokesperson for U.S. anti-sexual violence organization RAINN, said in the New York Times, It would be more useful if Mr. Cosby would spend time talking with people about how not to commit sexual assault in the first place.

And yet a seminar that seemingly teaches people to toe a line they shouldnt want to go near is neither new nor surprising.

The Internet is rife with seminars and resources meant to undermine respect for womens autonomy and safety, whether through blatantly promoting sexual assaults or encouraging more subtle transgressions. But whats even more troubling is the numbers they attract.

Take two recent cases in Canada.

Last week, the Star reported on two Toronto pickup artists who were secretly filming women for video tutorials on seduction. In at least one case, women were filmed in various states of undress without their consent. But because their faces had been obscured, police said the men couldnt be prosecuted.

The previous week, a Calgary man was arrested on accounts of voyeurism and child pornography, accused of uploading photos and videos of women to the Twitter account Canada Creep. The account was active for a year and only veered into potentially illegal territory when it started posting up-skirt shots.

Both cases are examples of a perceived entitlement to womens bodies. Legal or not, the photographing of a woman where the intent is to objectify and sexualize her for an unknown audience is a profoundly disrespectful and dehumanizing act.

Despite this, both endeavours had thousands of followers  the YouTube channel had 77,000, the Twitter account 17,000.

That's cause for real concern. Yet the solutions are far from obvious.

One of the best methods to combating sexual assault, as the Canadian Womens Foundation points out, is teaching consent, a measure provinces have adopted in their school curriculums, and one thats needed, given a 2015 study by the organization that found although 96 per cent of Canadians believe all sexual activities should be consensual, only one in three understands what it means.

But fighting the kind of deep-rooted entitlement that creates the conditions for sexual assault needs to go far beyond the classroom. Everyone in society needs to speak out against not only the perpetrators of these acts, but the people who show up, whether to a town hall or a Twitter feed, to support them.

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General Mills' (GIS) - Get Free Report Yoplait is likely hoping this new addition to its family of yogurt will boost slumping sales.

On Monday, June 26, General Mills announced the introduction of Oui by Yoplait, a French-style yogurt, which the company said is made with "simple ingredients" like whole milk, pure cane sugar and real fruit.

Oui, which comes in eight flavors, will be released to retailers in the U.S. sometime in July. The yogurt is packaged in small, glass jars that resemble either baby food or jam from the early 1900s, and will be sold for a suggested price of $1.49 each.

"We wanted to bring something special to our U.S. consumers, something we have been enjoying during visits with our French colleagues for many years, but hard to replicate in large quantities here in the U.S.," David Clark, president of U.S. Yogurt at General Mills, said in a statement.

Probably the primary reason Yoplait, which is also the producer of Greek yogurt, is seeking to spruce up its offerings is because its yogurt sales have been under heightened pressure for more than a year now, as consumers turn to more fulfilling healthy snack options. In its recent third quarter, General Mills said it saw its U.S. yogurt sales fall 20%.

TheStreet recently tried out Oui, which has about 150 calories per jar, and found it to taste slightly sweeter than regular yogurt and to have more of a custard-like consistency.

Here are the eight flavors of Oui.
If Qatar Airways seriously wants to form a relationship with American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) - Get Free Report , it should stay away from a plan to let British Airways PLC use its aircraft and crews to fly through a possible flight attendant strike, American Airlines pilots said.

"Qatar Airways' offering to perform struck work against British Airways aircrew families {provides} a clear example of business relationship dysfunction," said Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American's 15,000 pilots.

Such a deal would "dash any hope of {American} ever developing a positive business relationship with {Qatar}," Tajer said.

"The possibility of developing a positive business relationship always exists, but only when Qatar Airways agrees to play by the rules, to stop peddling their influence against our company using ill-gotten funds and to stop trying to undermine workers' rights to negotiate a fair and equitable workplace," he said.

About 83% of American Airlines workers are union members.

On Thursday, American reported in filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Qatar's CEO had told American CEO Doug Parker he wants to acquire 10% of American's shares.

Qatar said subsequently that it plans an initial investment for up to 4.75% of American shares, the maximum American permits without advance notice to its board.

Qatar said it "believes in American Airlines' fundamentals and intends to build a passive position in the company with no involvement in management, operations or governance."

American shares closed Wednesday at $48.43. Shares opened Thursday, after Qatar's interest was reported, at $50.50. Shares closed Friday at $48.63, apparently a sign that investors have shrugged off the possibility of a significant impact from Qatar's bid.

On Thursday, the British Civil Aviation Authority said British Airways had requested approval to "wet lease" nine Qatar aircraft from July 2 through July 16, the dates of a proposed strike by some British Airways flight attendants.

Wet leases involve leasing aircraft with crews to operate them.

Qatar owns 20% of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (ICAGY) , which owns British Airways.

Qatar's bid to invest in American has gotten a thumbs down not only from the APA, but also from the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents American's flight attendants; the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at most U.S. airlines, and from Parker.

American, Delta Air Line Inc. (DAL) - Get Free Report , United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) - Get Free Report and most of their unions have opposed the rapid expansion of Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates in the U.S. because the three Middle East carriers are heavily subsidized by their governments, in violation of the Open Skies agreements that have enabled their U.S. expansion.

In a letter to employees on Thursday, Parker said American finds Qatar's interest "puzzling given our extremely public stance on the illegal subsidies that Qatar, Emirates and Etihad have all received over the years from their governments.

"While anyone can purchase our shares in the open market, we aren't particularly excited about Qatar's outreach," Parker wrote.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Children gathered in squares on the eastern side of the city. Some played on old swings and others with toy guns and rifles, which were among the toys allowed by Islamic State militants after they took over the city in June 2014.

By Reuters: People in the Iraqi city of Mosul celebrated their first Muslim Eid holiday without Islamic State in years on Sunday after the militants were ejected from much of the city, and hoped the battle to recapture the remaining area would soon be over.

Children gathered in squares on the eastern side of the city. Some played on old swings and others with toy guns and rifles, which were among the toys allowed by Islamic State militants after they took over the city in June 2014.

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The militants implemented an extreme version of Islam which associated toys with a face, like dolls, with idolatry. They encouraged youngsters to train on weapons and changed text books to reflect their military ideology. Children were asked to add up bombs or bullets in maths exercises.

Eid prayers were allowed under Islamic State but festivities were not.

But for many, Sunday's Eid celebrations were overshadowed by the destruction of their historic leaning minaret, blown up by the militants on Wednesday, and fears for thousands of civilians trapped in the Old City in western Mosul still under Islamic State control.

"It won't be real Eid before we return home," said a man in his 60s, displaced from the western side of the city, across the Tigris river, where fighting continues.

Some expressed sadness over the destruction of the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri mosque and its leaning 150-foot (45-metre) minaret.

Click here to Enlarge ISIS took over Mosul in 2014 but was ejected from most parts of the city this year by Iraqi forces (Photo: Reuters)

"Eid is not the same," said a man who declined to give his name as fear is still present even though Iraqi forces dislodged the insurgents from the eastern part of the city months ago.

Iraqi forces took the eastern side from Islamic State in January, after 100 days of fighting, and started attacking the western side in February. The militants are now besieged in Mosul's Old City.

Islamic State retaliated with a series of suicide attacks in Hay al-Tanak, a poor neighborhood west of the Old City.

"The security forces blocked a violent attack carried out by (people wearing) explosive belts, in Hay al-Tanak," said a military statement, showing pictures of black smoke it said came from fires set to houses and cars by the militants.

The Iraqi military didn't confirm Islamic State statements that the insurgents took control of Hay al-Tanak and began attacking the nearby Hay al-Yarmuk neighborhood. Witnesses said they saw residents fleeing the area.

"As our heroic forces are closer to declaring final victory over the Daesh (Islamic State) gangs, I offer my most sincere congratulations for Eid al-Fitr," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement.

A U.S.-led international coalition is providing air and ground support in the eight-month-old offensive to drive the militants from their de facto capital in Iraq.

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About 350 Islamic State fighters, most of them non-Iraqis, are defending their remaining stronghold in Mosul's densely populated Old City, an Iraqi general said on Sunday. He expected the battle for the city to end in days.

TRAPPED

"Most of the dead bodies are foreigners, most of the fighters are foreigners, we see some trying to escape across the Tigris," said Major-General Sami al-Arithi, a Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) commander.

The U.S.-trained urban warfare units are leading the fight in the narrow alleyways of the historic district which lies by the western bank of the Tigris.

More than 50,000 civilians, about half the Old City's population, remain behind Islamic State lines, complicating the troops' advance, Arithi told state TV.

The civilians are trapped in crumbling old houses in harrowing conditions, with little food, water or medicines, according to those who have escaped.

Aid organisations say Islamic State has stopped many from leaving, using them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.

Click here to Enlarge Citizens of Mosul mark their first Eid without ISIS in years (Photo: Reuters)

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Iraqi authorities were hoping to declare victory in the northern city by Eid, a three-day festival which started on Sunday for Mosul's Sunni Muslim population and many Iraqi Shi'ites, celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Arithi said the CTS were about 25 metres (yards) from the Nuri mosque, from where Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his "caliphate" over parts of Iraq and Syria three years ago.

The Iraqi government once hoped to take Mosul by the end of 2016, but the fighting has dragged on as the militants reinforced positions in civilian areas, launched suicide car bomb attacks, laid traps and kept up sniper and mortar fire.

The fall of Mosul would mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate". Islamic State remains in control of large areas of both Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and has been assumed to be hiding in the Iraqi-Syrian border area. There has been no confirmation of Russian reports over the past week that he has been killed.

In Syria, the insurgents' "capital", Raqqa, is nearly encircled by a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition.

ALSO READ:

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Islamic State blows up historic Mosul mosque where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared self-styled caliphate

US confirms killing of top Islamic State cleric

ALSO WATCH:

India Today penetrates Islamic State's India module, terror tapes reveal recruitment drive in Kerala

--- ENDS ---
The rescue of two failing Italian lenders helped to lift European benchmarks higher Monday, with solid gains for lenders in Southern Europe in particular.

Good assets from both Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca were sold to Intesa Sanpaolo (ISNPY) for a nominal sum while the Italian government agreed to provide the rescuer with a 4.8bn ($5.3 billion) cash injection to help mitigate any potential impact on Intesa's capital buffer.

Some voices have criticized the deal as it leaves the bad assets in the hands of the Italian tax payer and exposes the public purse to the prospect of a much larger hit further down the line.

However, the crucial earlier concern over the financial impact on retail bondholders has been mitigated with guarantees, which could also provide a template for future rescues.

Milan's FTSE MIB led Europe's benchmarks higher, with a gain of close to 1% in noon trading, topping the 21,000 level. Also in Southern Europe, Madrid's IBEX gained more than 0.5% during the session, which is notable given that the last bank rescue took place in the country.

London's FTSE 100 added 0.30% to close at 7,446 while, in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.56% to clse at 5,295. Frankfurt's DAX index rose 0.29% before settling at 12,770.

In individual stocks the biggest mover in the banking sector was Intesa Sanpaolo, unsurprisingly, after it was effectively paid by the Italian government to take on the good assets of two regional banks. Shares were up more than 4%. CaixaBank (CIXPF) and Sabadell (BNDSY) were both big risers in Spain.

Elsewhere across the Continent, Nestle (NSRGY) - Get Free Report was a big mover with a gain of more than 4% in early trading after a U.S. hedge fund led by investor Dan Loeb declared a $3.5 billion stake in the Swiss confectionery maker and began pushing for a change of strategy.

Hikma (HKMPY) was among the big gainers in the pharmaceuticals sector after the company unveiled a leadership change and reorganization of its U.S. business. The shakeup of the business comes in response to several years of rapid growth for Hikma, and is expected to position the drugmaker for further expansion in years to come. It also follows the high-profile failure of a key drug approval in May.
Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. engages in designing, building, overhauling, and repairing military ships in the United States. It operates through three segments: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Newport News Shipbuilding, and Technical Solutions. The company is involved in the design and construction of non-nuclear ships comprising amphibious assault ships; expeditionary warfare ships; surface combatants; and national security cutters for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. It also provides nuclear-powered ships, such as aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as refueling and overhaul, and inactivation services of ships. In addition, the company offers naval nuclear support services, including fleet services comprising design, construction, maintenance, and disposal activities for in-service the U.S. Navy nuclear ships; and maintenance services on nuclear reactor prototypes. Further, it provides life-cycle sustainment services to the U.S. Navy fleet and other maritime customers; high-end information technology and mission-based solutions for Department of Defense (DoD), intelligence, and federal civilian customers; nuclear management and operations and environmental management services for the Department of Energy, DoD, state and local governments, and private sector companies; defense and federal solutions; and unmanned systems. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Newport News, Virginia.
This is a current list of the top 250 companies by market capitalization on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Learn more .

Many investors understand the reasons for having a diversified portfolio. One way to accomplish this is to diversify within an asset class. For equity investors in the United States this can mean investing in both growth and value stocks.

It can also mean investing in international stocks. And when investors want to do this, they need look no further than our neighbor to the north. Canada has a range of stocks for investors to consider. This article will focus on strategies that investors can use when looking to invest in Canadian stocks.

Why Buy Canadian Stocks?

There are a few reasons for investors to consider Canadian stocks as part of their diversification strategy:

A Large Natural Resources Sector  The sheer size of the country and its location lets investors know that it is an area rich in natural resources. This also means that the country has a source of current and future wealth.

An Advanced Skills-Based Economy  In this regard, Canada is similar to other western nations. The difference is that it is not as common to find these skill-based professions in a country with so many natural resources.

Stability  Canada is not exempt from any problems that impact the global economy. However, the country is known for stable financial and business policies that have kept the economy relatively stable. This Goldilocks economy has meant that many Canadian stocks havent enjoyed the outsized growth of some U.S. equities. However, it also comes with a bit of protection against downside risk.

How Have Canadian Stocks Performed?

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, there was a time when U.S. stocks and Canadian stocks performed nearly identically. Heres a graph that shows the performance of the S&P 500 Index vs. the TSX Index



Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence

You can see that with a couple of exceptions, the two indexes performed remarkably similar. That all changed around 2012 and Canadian stocks became less attractive.

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence

This disparity is widely due to one sector, technology. However, Canadian technology stocks have been on the rise. And in 2022, the country is benefiting from renewed interest in materials stocks as well as a spike in commodity prices.

What Are the Best Sectors of Canadian Stocks?

For different reasons finance, materials, and energy stocks are among the best performing stocks as of September 2022. Heres a brief overview of each sector and some of the top names for investors to consider.

Financial  Similar to the United States, Canada has a strong banking industry. Many Canadian banks have a track record of solid performance that can provide long-term value to a portfolio. And several of these stocks pay dividends with attractive yields for investors.

This sector makes up the largest percentage of the TSX at roughly 30%. And the Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY)is the top-weighted constituent in the TSX. Beyond the Royal Bank of Canada some of the other top-performing Canadian financial stocks include:

Materials and Mining  Canadian stocks can be an ideal choice for investors looking to diversify into gold and precious metals without owning the physical metal. Canada has a large natural resources sector. So, its not surprising that there are a number of gold mining companies with Canadian origins. This sector also gives investors exposure to other components in the mining and agriculture sectors. This sector makes up approximately 11.5% of the TSX. Some of the top Canadian materials and mining stocks include:

Energy  Canadian stocks offer both traditional fossil fuel-based energy stocks as well as some renewable energy stocks. This sector makes up approximately 18.5% of the TSX. Some of the top Canadian energy stocks include:

Technology  As mentioned earlier, technology stocks have largely been the domain of the United States. As evidence of this, information technology stocks make up only about 5.5% of the TSX. However, there are a few Canadian companies that have become stars in the new economy being created. Some of the more popular names include:

What Are the Risks of Investing in Canadian Stocks?

One concern about investing in Canadian stocks is that they can be heavily weighted towards cyclical industries. For example, as of February 2022 financials (33.5%), energy (14.8%) and industrials (11.7%) made up nearly 60% of the index. That may be too much for some investors particularly because those sectors all tend to correlate roughly the same way as the economic cycle. But as a long-term play, Canadian stocks are worth considering with a small part of your portfolio.

How to Buy Canadian Stocks

Buy Individual Stocks on a Stock Exchange

Hundreds of Canadian stocks have dual listings on either the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the NASDAQ. This is the most convenient way to get exposure to Canadian stocks because there are no barriers to stock ownership. These shares can be purchased in U.S. dollars directly from the exchange just like purchasing a U.S. stock.

However, for a full list of the best Canadian stocks, investors should look at the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The TSX is one of the oldest stock exchanges having been founded in 1852. Its also the third largest stock exchange in North America in terms of market capitalization.

The Toronto Stock Exchange includes approximately 1,500 companies. It allows investors to trade stocks, investment trusts, exchange-traded products, bonds, commodities, futures, options, and other derivative products. All transactions on the TSX are executed in Canadian dollars.

Invest in a Mutual Fund or ETF

There are many mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that supply exposure to Canadian stocks. Some funds supply exposure to both U.S. and Canadian stocks. Other funds hold just Canadian stocks. Some examples of those include:

BMO S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF

Horizons S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF

Vanguard FTSE Canada All Cap ETF

As with investing in any asset class, investors need to consider their investment objective, time horizon and risk tolerance before choosing a fund that fits their needs. Investors will also want to pay attention to the funds fee structure to ensure youre making the most efficient use of your capital.

The Final Word on Investing in Canadian Stocks

Investing in Canadian stocks is one way for investors to add diversification to their portfolio. MarketBeat provides a list of the top Canadian stocks that trade on the TSX. This is Canadas version of the NYSE or NASDAQ in the United States and includes many of the same stocks.

Thats one advantage of investing in Canadian stocks is that many have a dual listing which removes many of the obstacles that can come with investing in international stocks.

However, investors should be aware that many of the best Canadian stocks are in highly cyclical industries which can lead to underperformance when those sectors are out of favor. Still, due to their relative stability and in some cases an impressive dividend, Canadian stocks may have a place in an investors portfolio.
AptarGroup, Inc. provides a range of dispensing, sealing, and material science solutions primarily for the beauty, personal care, home care, prescription drug, consumer health care, injectable, and food and beverage markets. The company operates through three segments: Pharma, Beauty + Home, and Food + Beverage. The Pharma segment provides pumps for nasal allergy treatments; and metered dose inhaler valves for respiratory ailments, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases in pharmaceutical market; elastomer for injectable primary packaging components; and active material science solutions. The Beauty + Home segment primarily sells pumps, closures, aerosol valves, accessories, and sealing solutions to the personal care and home care markets; and pumps and decorative components to the beauty market. The Food + Beverage segment offers dispensing and non-dispensing closures, elastomeric flow control components, spray pumps, and aerosol valves to the food and beverage markets. It sells its products through own sales force, as well as independent representatives and distributors in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. The company has a strategic partnership with PureCycle Technologies LLC to develop ultra-pure recycled polypropylene into dispensing applications; and a collaboration with Sonmol for developing a digital therapies and services platform targeting respiratory and other diseases. AptarGroup, Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has broken his silence over the lynching of a 17-year-old Muslim boy onboard the Delhi-Mathura passenger train.

By Manjeet Sehgal: Breaking the silence over the lynching of 17-year-old Junaid on board the Delhi-Mathura passenger train on Thursday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has condemned the incident.

Khattar also appealed for peace and has promised speedy probe in the case. He said, "The incident is very sad. I appeal the people to maintain peace. The police has arrested one of the accused involved in Junaid's killing and search is on to nab other accused."

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The Chief Minister added that the state government has provided financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to Junaid's family.

People in Junaid's village- Ballabgarh's Kandhawali village in Haryana wore black arms bands during Eid prayers today to express their angst over the lynching.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Junaid and his two brothers- Hasim (21) and Sakir (23) were thrashed in the train over suspicion of carrying beef. Junaid was stabbed to death, whereas his brothers were brutally beaten.

Police officials, who made the arrest in the matter however said that the argument erupted over seats.

Meanwhile, one of the brothers - Hasim - who also came under attack spoke to India Today and recounted how other passengers on the train, instead of helping the victims, egged the attackers on.

Hasim said that while they were attacked, the other passengers started instigated the attackers to continue with the beating. 'Unhone koi madad nahi ki, blaki kaha maaro inko (They did not help, but instead said beat them up),' Hasim told India Today.

News agency ANI quoted one of the accused expressing regret over the incident. 'Regret it, was drunk, but I didn't make the beef taunts or attack the victim, my friends did,' the accused man said.

Also read: To protest 17-yr-old's lynching on train, people wear black arm bands during Eid namaaz

Also read: Man lynched, 3 thrashed over rumours of beef eating on Delhi-Ballabhgarh train route

Also read: Ballabgarh victims brother recalls horrific train incident

Also watch: Delhi-Ballabhgarh train lynching case: Brother of teen killed recounts horror

--- ENDS ---
Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. provides home and security products for residential home repair, remodeling, new construction, and security applications. It operates in three segments: Plumbing, Outdoors & Security, and Cabinets. The Plumbing segment manufactures, assembles, and sells faucets, accessories, kitchen sinks, and waste disposals under the Moen, ROHL, Riobel, Victoria+Albert, Perrin & Rowe, and Shaws brands in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Europe, and South America directly through its own sales force, as well as through independent manufacturers' representatives to wholesalers, home centers, mass merchandisers, and industrial distributors. The Outdoors & Security segment offers fiberglass and steel entry door systems under the Therma-Tru brand; storm, screen, and security doors under the Larson brand; composite decking and railing under the Fiberon brand; and urethane millwork under the Fypon brand. This segment also manufactures, sources, and distributes locks, safety and security devices, and electronic security products under the Master Lock and American Lock brands; and fire resistant safes, security containers, and commercial cabinets under the SentrySafe brand. It serves home centers, hardware and other retailers, millwork building products and wholesale distributors, specialty dealers, and remodeling and renovation markets, as well as locksmiths, industrial and institutional users, and original equipment manufacturers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Central America, Japan, and Australia. The Cabinets segment manufactures custom, semi-custom, and custom cabinetry, as well as vanities for the kitchen, bath, and other parts of the home directly to kitchen and bath dealers, home centers, wholesalers, and builders in North America under the AOK, Diamond Brands, Homecrest, Kitchen Craft, Omega, and EVE brands. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.
Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes products serving the oil, natural gas, industrial, and renewable energy industries in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Drilling & Downhole, Completions, and Production. The Drilling & Downhole segment designs, manufactures, and supplies products, and provides related services to the drilling, well construction, artificial lift, and subsea energy construction markets, including applications in oil and natural gas, renewable energy, defense, and communications. This segment offers drilling technologies consisting of capital equipment and a line of products consumed in the drilling process; well construction casing and cementing equipment, and protection products for artificial lift equipment and cables; and subsea remotely operated vehicles and trenchers, submarine rescue vehicles, specialty components and tools, and complementary subsea technical services. The Completions segment offers hydraulic fracturing pumps, cooling systems, high-pressure flexible hoses, and flow iron for pressure pumping, hydraulic fracturing and flowback services markets; wireline cable and pressure control equipment for well completion and intervention service markets; and coiled tubing strings and coiled line pipe. The Production segment designs, manufactures, and supplies products, and provides related equipment and services for production and infrastructure markets. This segment offers engineered process systems, production equipment, specialty separation equipment, and various industrial valves for oil and natural gas customers, power generation, renewable energy, and other general industrial applications. The company was formerly known as Forum Oilfield Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. in August 2010. Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The Pixel 2 XL is the best pure Android phone you can buy, with a gorgeous 6-inch OLED screen, easy access to Google Assistant, sharp cameras and very long battery life.

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 .

Update: Google has discontinued the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, although you can buy them used. We recommend the newer Google Pixel 4a.

The Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are anything but conformists. Unlike with other flagship phones, you won't find dual-lens cameras or edge-to-edge screens on these handsets.

Instead, Google focused on making these the smartest smartphones ever. And based on my testing, the new Pixels aptly fit that description, with a versatile Google Assistant you can now summon with a squeeze and a new object-recognition feature in the camera app that's truly impressive.



Design

"Send it back  it still needs more bezel!" Thats how I imagine the insane conversation about the regular Pixel 2 took place at Google's headquarters. At a time when other phones are stretching their screens to reach practically from one corner to the other, the front of the Pixel 2 is a throwback in the worst possible sense of the word.

I measured the top and bottom bezels at over 0.6 inches, compared to 0.2 inches for the Galaxy S8. Seeing that gorgeous 5-inch OLED screen sandwiched between such large blocks of black glass is downright offensive.



It's not all bad news, though, as the two front-firing stereo speakers get nice and loud, offering richer audio than the speaker on the bottom edge of the Galaxy S8. Plus, if you're adamant that a phone be easy to use with one hand, you'll prefer the Pixel 2's more-compact dimensions of 5.7 x 2.7 x 0.3 inches, versus 6.2 x 3 x 0.3 inches for the Pixel 2 XL. The Pixel 2 weighs a fairly light 5 ounces, compared to 6.2 ounces for the Pixel 2 XL.

The Pixel 2 XL also has a much more modern vibe, as its 6-inch display covers much more of the phone's face. The top and bottom bezels measure a more eye-pleasing 0.4 inches and 0.35 inches thick, respectively. This handset also sports stereo speakers above and below the screen.



Around back, you'll find Googles trademark two-tone design on both phones, with a stripe of black glass across the top around the camera and flash, and sturdy aluminum covering the bottom three-quarters of the phones. The fingerprint sensor is positioned right in the center, beneath the stripe, making it easy to reach.

Google offers a range of colors for the Pixel 2, including Just Black, Clearly White, Black and White (which reminds us of the cookie), and Kinda Blue. The Pixel 2 XL comes in Just Black and Black and White.

Unfortunately, neither the Pixel 2 nor the Pixel 2 XL features a headphone jack. Google includes a USB-C dongle in the box, but you're probably better off just going wireless.

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL: Specs Compared

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Pixel 2 Pixel 2 XL Price $649 $849 OS Android 8.0 Android 8.0 Display 5 inches (1920 x 1080 pixels) 6 inches (2880 x 1440 pixels) CPU Snapdragon 835 Snapdragon 835 RAM 4GB 4GB Storage 64GB, 128GB 64GB, 128GB Rear Camera 12 MP (f/1.8) 12 MP (f/1.8) Front Camera 8 MP (f/2.4) 8 MP (f/2.4) Battery 2700 mAh 3520 mAh Headphone Jack No No Charging USB-C USB-C Size 5.7 x 2.7 x 0.3 inches 6.2 x 3 x 0.3 inches Weight 5.01 ounces 6.2 ounces

Durability: Not the toughest phone

We tested the Google Pixel 2 XLs toughness by dropping it on its face onto wood from a height of 4 feet and 6 feet; we then dropped it on its edge and face onto concrete from 4 feet; we then dropped it on its edge and face from 6 feet onto concrete.

The Pixel 2 XL survived drops from 4 and 6 feet onto wood with no issues. However, when this phone landed on its face from 4 feet onto concrete, the screen cracked, obscuring the front camera.

An edge drop from 6 feet didn't do too much more damage, but a face drop from that height caused half the screen to go black. As a result, the Pixel 2 XL earned a fairly weak toughness score of 4.3 out of 10.

To see the results of other smartphones, as well as our complete scoring methodology, check out our smartphone drop tests.

Google Assistant: Squeezable and smart

When I first heard about Active Edge on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, I thought it was a gimmick. But after using it just for a few minutes, I changed my mind. With a firm, quick squeeze toward the bottom of the phone, you can activate Google Assistant, which is faster and more accurate and versatile than Siri.

For instance, I said, "Play BoJack Horseman on my living room TV," and Google Assistant on the Pixel 2 launched the Netflix app right to this deranged cartoon on my big screen. Of course, it helps that I had a Chromecast plugged in to the set, but that's exactly Google's plan: to show you how its hardware and software work well together across its growing ecosystem of products. The Google-owned Nest thermostat also works with Google Assistant, so you could say, "Set the temperature to 68 degrees."

With the Assistant just a squeeze away, I had no problem finding out how the Yankees were doing against the Astros (not great), telling the Pixel 2 to snap a selfie, summoning up all the photos I took that day, or firing up my Liked from Radio Playlist on Spotify. Sure, I could do all of this by saying, "OK, Google," first, but I found it more convenient and less awkward to use Active Edge.

You can also adjust the sensitivity level of the squeeze required and allow the Active Edge feature to work when the screen is off. I rarely activated the Assistant by accident.

While Apple charges $999 for the privilege of owning a colorful OLED display and enjoying its wide viewing angles and perfect blacks on the iPhone X, and while the OLED Galaxy S8 starts at $750, you can get this screen tech on the Pixel 2 for $649

The Pixel 2's 5-inch screen isn't the sharpest, at 1920 x 1080 pixels, and it's much smaller than the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8, but it produced an excellent 148 percent of the sRGB color gamut. When I watched the Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer on the Pixel 2's display, the golden orange around the insanely cute porg's eyes popped against its white fur, and the reflection of two clashing weapons in Captain Phasma's gleaming, silver helmet looked gorgeous.

The Pixel 2 XL's 6-inch screen sports a sharper, 2880 x 1440-pixel resolution. This panel registered a slightly lower 130 percent of the color gamut, but its colors are just about as accurate on paper. The Pixel 2 XL's display scored 0.26 on the Delta-E error test (0 is perfect), and the Pixel 2 hit 0.29.

The Pixel 2 XL's had some issues at launch. We found that there is a blue tint present on the Pixel 2 XL's panel at off-angles and that there was some graininess when viewing solid colored backgrounds. The Pixel 2 XL was also reportedly suffering from burn-in issues, with the icons at the bottom of the display staying on the screen even when they're not supposed to be present.

MORE: The Best Smartphones You Can Buy Today



Fortunately, a new update from Google provided more saturated hues via a new mode, and it should also mitigate burn-in.

The Pixel 2 XL is the phone you want to have outdoors, as it registered a higher 438 nits on our light meter, compared to just 346 nits on the Pixel 2. The Galaxy S8 notched 437 nits. The smartphone category average is 433.

Similar to the Galaxy S8 and Note 8, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL offer always-on displays, which show you the time and notifications at a glance. But the new Pixels go even further, with a Now Playing feature that can recognize music playing in the background and automatically display the title and artist.

From there, you can double tap the track to learn more about the song or to play it. It sometimes took 30 seconds or more for Now Playing to kick in, but it's not designed to replace Shazam; it's more about serendipitous discovery.

Google Lens: Amazing potential

While the cameras on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL take great-looking images, that's not what really makes the photo experience stand out. That would be Google Lens, an object-detection feature in the Camera and in Google Photos app.

With Google Lens, the Pixel 2 can recognize landmarks with ease, such as the Flatiron Building in New York City. I just snapped a photo, then tapped on the lens icon on the bottom of the screen; Google Assistant then displayed an information card on the building with info from Wikipedia.

I had mixed results when taking pictures of businesses. After I took a shot of the neon sign for Gleason's Tavern, Google Assistant gave the the star rating and a brief description of the establishment, along with its hours of operation. But Google Lens didn't recognize the sign for Dough, which is a premium donut shop.

Google Lens worked pretty well on a business card; the phone easily picked up the email address of the contact and his phone number. Last but not least, I tried photographing a Spider-Man Homecoming movie poster, and the phone returned a synopsis and rating from Rotten Tomatoes.

Google Lens will be coming to other Android phones later, but for now at least, it's a Pixel exclusive.

There's one other camera feature that's coming that I did not have a chance to test, which is AR stickers. With this perk, you'll be able to insert characters from franchises like Stranger Things and Star Wars right into your images.

Cameras and Image Quality: Great, but no iPhone 8 killer

Considering the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL sport single rear 12-megapixel cameras, you might think that they're snapping pics with one arm tied around their backs compared to dual-lens camera phones. Nope. They aren't, and that's because these phones are smart enough to offer a Portrait mode (bokeh effect) through software that works even on the phones' front 8-MP camera.



In one portrait I took of my colleague Cortney with the Pixel 2, the New York City skyline blurred into the background, but not too much  just enough for her red-orange hair, blue shirt and green jacket to pop. As I zoomed in, though, I noticed that one part of a building behind her didn't have the blur effect. It's too bad that you can't preview Portrait Mode results in real time, as you can with the iPhone 8 and Galaxy Note 8; the bokeh effect is applied after you take the shot.

In terms of overall image quality, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 Plus give the best camera phone, the iPhone 8 Plus, a run for its money. But they don't surpass it.

In this shot of the Flatiron Building, the Pixel 2's HDR+ setting brought out more details in the shadows than the iPhone 8 Plus did. The iPhone's image has a bit better contrast, but overall, the Pixel 2's image is the one I would share on Facebook or Instagram.

The iPhone 8 Plus pulled ahead with this shot of an outdoor art piece. The iPhone 8 Plus delivered a brighter image with more vibrant oranges, blues, purples and pinks.



Indoors, at the Lego store, it was a toss-up between the Pixel 2 and iPhone 8 Plus. The image of a Lego man in a top hat captured by Google's phone delivered more-realistic hues, while Apple's camera delivered a brighter image.

The iPhone 8 Plus won on this close-up of a lantana flower. The image turned out brighter than the Pixel 2 XL's shot, making it easier to tell that the sun was shining, although I could make out a great amount of detail in the leaves on both photos.



If you're an Android fan and you've been jealous of Apple's Live Photos, you'll get a kick out of the Motion photos feature on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 Plus. It captures a few seconds of video with each image and plays it back with a loop-like effect, as I noticed in one shot I took that had moving cars in the foreground.

Performance: Faster real-world speed

With the same Snapdragon 835 processor as the Galaxy S8 and the same 4GB of RAM as the Galaxy S8 and S8+, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL might be expected to offer the same performance. Actually, they're faster in real-world tasks.

On our video-editing test, in which we transcode a 2-minute 4K video clip to 1080p in the Adobe Clips app, the Pixel 2 took 2 minutes and 55 seconds, compared to 4:07 for the Galaxy S8. The Galaxy Note 8 took 3:03, and that phone packs 6GB of RAM. The Pixel 2 still wasn't nearly as fast as the iPhone 8 and its A11 Bionic chip, which needed 42 seconds.

Next, we opened up a 5.1 MB PDF file. The Pixel 2 took just 2 seconds, compared to nearly 6.41 seconds for the Galaxy Note 8. The iPhone 8 took 0.74 seconds.

The Pixel 2 didn't fare as well on synthetic benchmarks. On Geekbench 4, which measures overall performance, the Pixel 2 notched 6,282. That's a little bit behind the Galaxy S8's score (6,295) and well short of the Galaxy Note 8's showing (6,564). The iPhone 8 was in another league, at 10,170.

When performing everyday tasks, like running two apps side by side in split-screen mode, the Pixel 2 felt snappy and responsive. I played the demanding Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade game  busting up tanks with my mech  without any lag.

Battery Life: Excellent

Both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL beat their Apple and Samsung foes in endurance. On the Tom's Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 4G LTE (in this case on Verizon), the Pixel 2 lasted a strong 11 hours and 7 minutes. The Pixel 2 XL lasted about an hour longer, at 12:09.

These runtimes far surpass the 9:40 smartphone average, and they beat the respective times of the iPhone 8 (9:54) and iPhone 8 Plus (11:16) and the Galaxy S8 (10:39) and Galaxy S8+ (11:04).



The Pixel 2 XL easily makes our list of the longest-lasting phones. Plus, you can expect even longer battery life should you choose T-Mobile for your Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL, as we've found that phones tend to last longer on that network.

One bummer, though, is that neither the Pixel 2 nor the Pixel 2 XL supports wireless charging. You'll need to plug in a USB-C cable if you want juice. Google claims that you'll get up to 7 hours of power in just 15 minutes. On our tests, we saw the Pixel 2 get up to 19 percent capacity in just 10 minutes, reaching 39 percent by the 30-minute mark.

Android Oreo: Minor (but welcome) upgrades

It's no surprise that Google's own phones are the first to ship with the new Android Oreo software installed. The updated OS doesn't offer dramatic improvements, but there are some worthwhile new features.

The new picture-in-picture mode isn't one of them. Although you can already run two apps side by side, picture-in-picture lets you exit an app and still see a floating window of one of the supported apps, such as YouTube and Google Maps. In the case of YouTube, you need to be signed up for YouTube Red ($9.99 per month) for this feature to work. I was able to easily drag a small window of the playback window around the screen as I worked in another app, but I just didn't see it as very practical.

I found the app shortcuts feature, which is similar to the 3D Touch feature on iOS, more useful. You long press an app icon to activate various shortcuts without having to open the app; for instance, you can long press the Phone app to quickly dial one of your top three contacts, or long press the Camera app to Take a video or Take a selfie.

Similarly helpful are the notification dots. When you log press an icon that has a dot on the upper right corner, you'll see the waiting notification without having to open the app. This came in handy for the Gmail app.

With Google's new ARCore initiative, compelling augmented reality apps will be making their way to certain Android Oreo phones, such as the Galaxy S8. The apps will be hitting the Google Play store this winter.

Oreo has lots of other features, including ones under the hood to optimize performance and battery life, as well as to enable stronger security. See our full Android Oreo review along with a look at the top 21 Oreo features.

Accessories: Not your average add-ons

With a lot of phones, the accessories are an afterthought, but not with the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. The new Pixel Buds ($159) are wireless headphones that let you carry on a conversation with someone else in their native language. Leveraging Google Translate and Google Assistant, these headphones help you say phrases in any one of 40 languages, and your Pixel 2 will utter that phrase aloud so that the person you're speaking with can understand you.

(Image credit: Google Pixel Buds. Credit: Google)

I did not have an opportunity to test out the Pixel Buds yet, but I look forward to it.

Another new accessory on the way is Google Clips, a pricier $249 camera that you can attach to pretty much anything to record video of loved ones, allowing you to keep your hands free. Because it uses machine learning, the Clips camera not only knows when there's a person in the frame to take a shot, but it can also learn who your friends and family members are over time.

If you're looking to get into virtual reality, there's also a new version of the Google Daydream View headset ($99), which offers improved comfort and optics with a wider sweet spot for content and increased resolution.

Bottom Line

With the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, it's clear that Google has chosen AI as its weapon of choice to fight the smartphone war. And given the company's prowess in machine learning, this is a smart move that has paid off. I found myself using Google Assistant a lot more in just a few days than I do Siri in a whole month with the iPhone, and not just because I was testing the new Pixels. Google Assistant understood me even when I didn't utter the exact right words, and I loved being able to summon it with just a squeeze.

If you own other Google gear, such as the Google Home Mini (which you can get for free right now when you order the Pixel 2) or Chromecast, the Assistant's powers multiply. In a way, Google is starting to pull away from other Android phone makers, because the company is creating its own Apple-like walled garden. It's a more purposeful fragmentation.

The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL also benefit from faster performance than the Galaxy S8, stellar front and back cameras and long battery life. Overall, I prefer the sleeker designs and curved edge-to-edge displays on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, and the iPhone 8 Plus remains the king of camera phones. But if you want a pure Android experience, you'll love the $849 Pixel 2 XL. The Pixel 2's bezels are just way too big and it's screen too small for me to take this phone seriously, even for its relatively low $649.

Credit: Shaun Lucas/Tom's Guide


A decent price for some excellent hardware and software should make the Nokia 8.3 5G a better option than it feels like. But other phones like the Pixel 5, OnePlus 8 and Galaxy S20 FE offer more for the same price.

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Nokia 8.3 5G: Specs Price: $699

Display: 6.81-inch LCD (2400 x 1080; 60Hz)

CPU: Snapdragon 765G

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 128GB

Rear cameras: 64MP main (f/1.9); 12MP ultrawide (f/2.2); 2MP macro; 2MP depth

Front camera: 24MP (f/2.0)

Battery size: 4,500 mAh

Size: 6.8 x 3.1 x 0.35 inches

Weight: 7.76 ounces

Recent months have seen an explosion in the number of $699 phones that balance some premium features with prices well below what youd pay for a flagship device. Include the Nokia 8.3 5G in that group. Like its fellow $699 phones, this device built by HMD Global offers a reliable processor and a list of other specs that, on paper, seem quite competitive for the asking price. It certainly offers a better bang for buck than the Nokia 7.2.

And yet to my dismay, I dont like the Nokia 8.3 5G. Sure, there are some clear positives to go with that affordable price. But with so many other similarly priced phones on the market, our Nokia 8.3 5G review revealed an ultimately lackluster device that doesnt offer anything truly special to stand out from the crowd. Lacking some features that others have for the same cost makes it very forgettable.

Note that there are actually two 5G phones carrying the Nokia 8 name  this model and the Nokia 8 V 5G UW , which is an identically priced version retooled to work with Verizons high-speed 5G network. Other than that, these two Nokia 8 devices are essentially the same.

HMD Global actually introduced the Nokia 8.3 5G nearly a year ago, though it didnt reach the U.S. until very late in 2020. The $699 phone is available unlocked from Amazon (opens in new tab) as well as the Nokia website (opens in new tab). That $699 gets you a phone with 128GB of storage  double the amount found in the Verizon version of this same phone  and 8GB of memory.

Over in the UK, youll fork over 499.99 for a 64GB/6GB variant and in Australia, you get the same specs as the US for AU$899.

As far as the US is concerned, the Nokia 8.3 5G faces fierce competition from the likes of the Pixel 5 ($699), the Galaxy S20 FE ($699), the OnePlus 8T ($749). But there are even cheaper 5G phones like the Pixel 4a 5G ($499) and Galaxy A71 5G ($599) that measure up well against the Nokia 8.3. That presents HMD Global with an uphill battle in trying to carve out a space for this device. And as well see, it isnt always successful.

Nokia 8.3 5G review: Design

Ill just get the obvious out of the way. The Nokia 8.3 5G is a big phone  a real Oh Lawd He Comin on the Chonk Cat scale. I have large hands, and I can safely say that this is a two-handed device thats difficult to stash in a pocket.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Nokia 8.3 5G comes in at 6.8 x 3.1 x 0.35 inches and a weight of 7.76 ounces. For reference, the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra , a large device in its own right, measures 6.5 x 3 x 0.32 inches and weighs 7.34 ounces. So surprisingly, the Nokia 8.3 is the heavyweight of these two devices.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Beyond that, the Nokia 8.3 5G is a looker with a gorgeous deep blue finish on the back. Its a fingerprint magnet, though, but when its wiped clean, its beautiful. Ill hand it to HMD  they designed a really pretty phone that catches light wonderfully.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The round, Zeiss-branded quad camera module sticks out noticeably from the Nokia 8.3s back, meaning the phone doesnt lay flat when you set it down on a table. For some reason, this has always bugged me, but your level of irritation may vary.

Along the right side of the frame is the Nokia 8.3s SIM/SD card tray, the volume rocker, and the power button, which doubles as the fingerprint sensor. Over on the left side is the Google Assistant button all by its lonesome. Thats an awkward placement that invites accidental presses, should you try to unlock the phone thinking youre hitting the power button. It doesnt help that both buttons are placed directly opposite of each other.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Over on the face of the Nokia 8.3 5G, theres a hole punch cutout for the front-facing camera in the top left corner and a rather noticeable chin with a Nokia logo. Im not a huge fan of the design direction here, especially with the comparatively large bottom bezel. Other phones in this price range minimize the chin, but HMD Global seemingly hasnt gotten the memo.

The Nokia 8.3 5G lacks any kind of IP rating for water resistance, so be careful with it near water. Theres also no wireless charging, something similarly priced rivals such as the Pixel 5 offer.

My other disappointment with the phone physically is the mono bottom-firing speaker. Its tinny and doesnt sound good at all. Notifications and system sounds made me grit my teeth, so I set the phone to vibrate and forgot about it until I watched a YouTube video. Having come from using a Pixel 4 XL and its stereo speakers, I found the Nokia 8.3 5Gs audio rather underwhelming.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Dont get me wrong, I mostly like the design of the Nokia 8.3 5G, even if it is a behemoth. Plus, theres a headphone jack on the bottom next to the USB-C port, something a lot of phone makers forego these days. There are just some quirks or poor decisions in other parts of the design that left me scratching my head.

Nokia 8.3 5G review: Display

Its the 6.81-inch 2400 x 1080 IPS LCD panel that makes the Nokia 8.3 5G so big. You get a 20:9 aspect ratio with a grand total of 386 pixels per inch, meaning that its not as sharp as a QHD display, though resolution will be fine for most people.

Colors are plenty vibrant with the display covering 142.5% of the sRGB color gamut. Thats more than the 128.8% covered by the Pixel 5 and about equal to the 140.6% covered by the LG Velvet , one of the more colorful displays weve seen among the $699 phones. Contrast on the Nokia 8.3 5G is pretty good, and the displays brightness hit a maximum of 607 nits with adaptive mode turned on. Thats about equal with the 610 nits that the Pixel 5 managed. Overall, the Nokia 8.3 features a nice LCD panel, even if it lacks the punch of an OLED with noticeably weaker blacks to boot.

When discussing color accuracy, the Nokia 8.3 5Gs display hits a Delta-E score of 0.28 in our lab tests (where the lower score is best). That beats the Galaxy S20 FEs 0.3 and the OnePlus 8Ts 0.29.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The big display is great for media consumption, especially gaming. Playing Xbox Game Pass titles such as Destiny 2 or Master Chief Collection was a joy especially with headphones hooked up. Dare I call the Nokia 8.3 5G screen immersive? I think so. It may not win awards, but it gets the job done with decent colors and good brightness.

The sad part about the Nokia 8.3 5Gs display is that the refresh rate is locked at 60Hz. If you havent experienced Android at higher frame rates before, Id forgive you for not caring. But once you see a 90Hz screen like the Pixel 5s or 120Hz like the Galaxy S20 FE, its really hard to forget how smooth scrolling is on those comparably priced phones.

Nokia 8.3 5G review: Camera

The Nokia 8.3 5Gs quad camera setup features a 64MP main shooter, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, a 2MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. Many of the images shot under well-lit conditions offer decent colors and detail. The ultrawide sensor is also fun and produces some good wide-angle pictures, perfect for large groups or landscape shots.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Only half of the camera array is useful, however, with the macro proving to be effectively pointless in comparison to a good zoom on the main lens. I also didnt notice too much use of the depth sensor in my photos compared to what I captured with my Pixel 4 XL  if anything, the Nokias shots appear to lack depth in comparison to the Pixels pictures.

You can see some real differences between the Nokia 8.3 5G and my Pixel 4 XL in this sample shot of a forest. The Nokia 8.3 5G seems to have overexposed the scene, while the Pixel captured sharp details and has a better sense of depth. The Nokias shot feels almost flat in comparison. Theres not a whole lot of color or light going on in this scene, but the Pixels image is noticeably better than the Nokias.

In this photo of my living room window (from the ground level under pitch black conditions), you can see the true difference between Googles Night Sight and the Nokia 8.3 5Gs night mode. The Pixel 4 XL pulls in so much more light and contains less noise than the Nokias effort. While you can still make some details, like the bricks and mortar of my house, the Nokia shot is noticeably darker. Both photos caught some of the tree shadows cast from a distant street light, which impressed me, even if the Pixels is clearer.

The Pixel 4 XL also captured the colors of the railroad bridge much better than the Nokia 8.3 5G. The latter warmed up the temperature more than the Pixel, making the rust look much more orange than it is in real life. Everything about that bridge is faded and the Pixel captures that true-to-life detail.

Lets chat about the portrait mode on the Nokia 8.3 5G. I had my photographer stand the same distance away from me with both phones, and you can clearly see the differences in just the zoom levels, though thats not the biggest takeaway from this comparison. More critically, theres a difference in how much light both phones bring in, with the Pixel 4 XL being a clear winner in both brightness and clarity. Toward the bottom of the picture on my sleeves, the Nokia made things noisy and blurry. If I was going to post either on my Instagram, the Pixel is the obvious winner with both its realism and artistic vibe.

When discussing the performance of the Nokia 8.3s 24MP selfie cam, you can see some notable differences between its self-portrait and the one I shot with the Pixel 4 XL. The Nokia cooled things down a lot, likely due to the blue from my shirt. The Pixel, meanwhile, captured the light better and kept the temperature much closer to reality. It also brought in the blue and even the threads of my shirt better than the Nokia, which sort of flattened my attire like it did with the outdoor shot we talked about at the top of this section.

Nokia 8.3 5G review: Performance

The Nokia 8.3 5G rocks a Snapdragon 765G, a step down from the Snapdragon 865 found in many of last years flagship Android phones. Still, the 765G is a very capable and reliable chip, and unless youre a spec junky, this chipset will be more than enough for your needs.

The Nokia 8.3 5G flies without a hitch, locking and unlocking quickly. Animations remain smooth and consistent, apps open almost immediately, and gaming performance is strong. The 8GB of RAM inside the Nokia 8.3 5G also helps things run well, and Im very impressed with how the Nokia 8.3 5G feels in daily use. I never once was left wanting for more oomph.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

In Geekbench 5, the Nokia 8.3 5G scored 1,878 for multicore. Compared to Snapdragon 865-powered phones like the Galaxy S20 FE (2,928) and OnePlus 8T (3,203), that is a lower score. But it was also better than a lot of other Snapdragon 765G-based phones like the Pixel 5 (1,617 on Geekbench 5) or the Snapdragon 765-powered Samsung Galaxy A71 5G (1,796).

In the graphics department, the Nokia 8.3 5G managed to earn a score of 1,664 (10 frames per second) in the 3DMark Wildlife Unlimited test. That was better than the Pixel 5 (1,160), but slightly behind the LG Velvet (1,680).

As noted, the Nokia 8.3 5G works just fine with low-band 5G coverage like the nationwide networks launched by AT&T and T-Mobile. If you want high-speed millimeter wave-based 5G, though, youll need to look elsewhere  like the Nokia 8 V 5G UW.

Nokia 8.3 5G review: Battery life and charging

Battery life is one of the Nokia 8.3 5Gs strongest selling points. The efficient Snapdragon 765G combined with the 4,500 mAh battery powering the phone makes for an excellent team, easily getting through two days in my use. Your mileage will vary depending on what you do and what you have going on in the background, but its possible to skip charging this at night sometimes.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

While we tested the Nokia 8.3 5Gs battery using the custom Toms Guide test where we have a phone surf the web over cellular until it runs out of power, we ran into a strange problem where the device would shut off with 10% of its battery still left. While we tried some fixes, including consulting with HMD Global, we were never able to run the test to its full completion, so we cant include the Nokia 8.3 5G on the best phone battery life list. Thats a shame, because the phone was usually around the 10 hours, 12 minutes mark when it hit 10% and shut down, so it likely would have lasted more than 11 hours. It certainly beat the Nokia 8 V 5G, which only lasted 8 hours and 26 minutes on the full test.

The Nokia 8.3 5G offers decent recharge speeds, getting back to 36% after half-an-hour of charging. Thats about equal to the Nokia 8 V 5G (34%), and Motorola Edge 5G (36%). An iPhone 12 mini can get to 60% in that time if you spring for a 20W charger.

Nokia 8.3 5G review: Software

Software is another of the Nokia 8.3 5Gs strengths. HMD Global is one of the last holdouts for the Android One program, which ideally operates a lot like Googles own Pixels do with fast updates.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Out of the box, you have a very stock, Pixel-like Android experience. Theres no fluff, no tweaks, just a clean interface. Having used Pixels (and Nexuses before them), Im well accustomed to Googles semi-minimalist vision. People who are used to Samsungs One UI or something similar may find things to be a bit spartan, but trust me, youll adjust.

There is, however, a sticking point with the software. See, HMD Global has promised two OS updates for the Nokia 8.3 5G, which is all well and good until you realize that Android 11 is one of those updates since this phone ships with Android 10 out of the box. That means the phone wont receive an Android version update past this years Android 12, especially with the Android 11 update now arriving on the Nokia 8.3.

Nokia 8.3 5G review: Verdict

Compromise is the name of the game with the Nokia 8.3 5G. Considering its affordable flagship pricing, I honestly expected more from this phone given what other similarly priced devices offer. But $699 earns you a Nokia phone with no wireless charging, IP rating or special features beyond 5G connectivity.

I have a soft spot for the Nokia brand name, so I wanted to like this phone. But when your $699 can buy you a Galaxy S20 FE or a Pixel 5, both of which have more to offer, its hard to justify a Nokia 8.3 5G purchase. And for $200 less, you can grab yourself a Pixel 4a 5G with the same Snapdragon 765G SoC and a better camera.

Despite some great performance and battery life, a good display and a pleasant software experience, theres not a lot that stands out about the Nokia 8.3 5G. In a world with so many similarly priced competitors, this is a phone that gets lost in a crowd.
A meeting of the three services chiefs was held last week and discussed the integration of their facilities for training of intelligence gathering and handling military communications.

By Ajit Kumar Dubey: In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's directions for increasing jointness, the three services chiefs met here last week and discussed the integration of their facilities for training of intelligence gathering and handling military communications and logistics.

"A meeting of the three services chiefs was held last week under Chairman, Chiefs of Staffs Committee Admiral Sunil Lanba where they discussed the implementation of the recommendations of the Shekatkar committee for increasing jointness among the three forces," defence sources told Mail Today.

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The recommendations were submitted to the defence ministry by the Lt Gen DB Shekatkar committee. After that, the defence ministry has now cleared a large number of these recommendations and given them to the three services for their comments for further implementation.

"In the meeting, the three services are in agreement on the issues such as integrating the logistics and signals along with having a common training facility for intelligence gathering for the three services," said the sources.

Since the recommendations of the Shekatkar committee were formed after its members held discussions with the three services, there is a general agreement on many of the issues before the services, the sources added.

In the field of gathering military intelligence, all the three services have their training schools at different places. This includes the Army's Military Intelligence Training School and Depot in Pune, and officers from the other two services also attend courses over there.

JOINT TRAINING SCHOOLThe committee has suggested that the army school be converted into a joint training school for the three services where the spies of all the three services can be trained jointly as this will help in better coordination among services in the future also.

The committee has also suggested the establishment of a joint services war college for training for middle-level officers (the higher command course for instance) even as the three separate war colleges - currently at Mhow, Secunderabad and Goa - for the army, air force and the navy could continue to train younger officers.

PERMANENT CHAIRMAN

Sources said the proposal to appoint a permanent chairman, chiefs of staffs committee for looking after the joint issues of the tree services was also moving ahead steadily as a study instituted at the combined commanders' conference held in Dehradun earlier this year has been completed and submitted to government.

Former defence minister Manohar Parrikar had set up the Shekatkar committee in order to enhance the combat capabilities of armed forces and it had made several important recommendations, including increasing the retirement age of jawans by two years, doing away with manpower in non-combat arms and shutting down military farms.

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The committee has also suggested "optimising" non-combat support arms in the army such as supply corps, ordnance and electrical and mechanical engineers who service cars and heavy vehicles.

Also Read

Arun Jaitley gets additional charge of Defence Ministry as Parrikar heads to Goa

Defence partnership, counterterrorism on agenda of PM Modi, US President Trump meet

--- ENDS ---
Sharad Pawar said that he was expecting BJP-led NDA to field someone like L K Advani as he has immense experience of governance.

By Pankaj P. Khelkar: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar said that he expected the BJP-led NDA to field "someone like L K Advani or Murli Manohar Joshi" for the July 17 presidential election.

Speaking in Pune, Pawar said Meira Kumar was the "best pick" by the opposition. Asked about NDA's candidate Ram Nath Kovind, Pawar said it was an "internal matter" of the ruling coalition and he can't comment on it but Pawar added that he was expecting someone like Lal Krishna Advani to be their candidate as he was the deputy prime minister and has immense experience of governance.

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The NCP chief said that the NDA must have had some other criteria because of which they did not field LK Advani or Murli Manohar Joshi who is a scholar, has a PhD degree and was a university professor as their presidential candidates.

"Murli Manohar Joshi was a union government minister for quite a long time. He has immense parliamentary experience and a doctorate to his credit," Sharad Pawar added.

NCP Chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday had called in for a press meet to share his party's views about the steps taken by the Maharashtra government to waive off loans of 40 lakh farmers that amounts to around Rs 34,000 crore.

"DEMONETISATION HARDLY BENEFITTED ANYONE"

Also at the conference, Sharad Pawar hit out at the BJP government over demonetisation and said that he is sure that the step that BJP government took on November 8, 2016 hardly benefited anyone. Pawar said that an according to a recent international report about demonetisation, the move hadn't benefited anyone at all.

Pawar demanded an explanation from the government about the interest charges over the demonetised money that has been deposited in cooperative banks in the last 10 months.

NCP Chief said that a fortnight ago, he along with Maharashtra's former agriculture minister Dilip Walse-Patil and a few others met with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and had requested him to exchange the demonetised currency that is lying deposited in 155 District Central Co-Operative Banks. Around Rs 2,000 crore is still lying in these banks and it won't be exchanged by The Reserve Bank of India unless, a notification is issued by the Union Government under the Specified Bank Note Liability Act 2017.

FARM LOAN WAIVER

Sharad Pawar appreciated the approach of Devendra Fadnavis and his government towards debt ridden farmers but said this won't put an end to every problem.

Pawar said that the government should work on giving Minimum Support Price (MSP) to farmers and also implement the recommendations by Swaminathan Committee which enhances the profitability in agriculture, "by ensuring a minimum of 50 per cent profits over the cost of production."

Talking about the situation prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir, the former defence minister said strict measures were needed to improve the internal security and curb the infiltrations from across the border. Pawar also said that the youth in Kashmir should be provided with employment opportunities and be regularly counselled so that they don't indulge in activities like stone pelting.

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ALSO READ:

Farm loan waiver inadequate, will push for inclusion of all

1993 Mumbai blasts: When then Maharashtra CM Sharad Pawar lied about a 13th blast

ALSO WATCH:

Sharad Pawar most hated politician by Indian youth

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) The governments disaster relief force is set to tackle an emergency faster than ever before, taking three times less time to respond to a phone call than it did earlier.

The response time taken by the control room of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for answering a call for help has been brought down to 5-6 seconds from the earlier 15-20 seconds, a new blueprint for the force states.

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The document, accessed by PTI, seeks to enable a team to reach a spot or deploy equipment during a calamity or other emergencies within the "golden hour" -- the one-hour crucial period when relief is considered most effective.

Keeping in view the importance of a quick response in the event of an earthquake, landslide or other such disasters, the central force recently re-worked its old operational blueprint and set new timelines for different tasks, training its rescuers accordingly.

The new blueprint, which has been put into effect, states that the first rescue team will board a four-wheeler within 15-20 minutes after being intimated, as against the earlier 30-40 minutes.

"There is a special vigilance team that is mandated to check if the new timelines are being followed and achieved. The NDRF response begins with the first call to the control room. All activities with their accurate time taken are logged into a check book," a senior official said.

The time taken for a few other operational procedures has also been minimised, the official said.

A boat in a marooned area should now be inflated in 60 seconds as compared to 5-6 minutes earlier. A tower light is to be erected in 45 seconds as compared to the earlier two minutes and a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) suit has to be donned by every person trained for this special combat task in 2:40 minutes as compared to eight minutes earlier.

"These new timelines have been prepared and implemented keeping in mind the best practices in the disaster response domain, the world over. The sanctity of the golden hour, the first hour during an emergency, not only holds good for medical situations but also for a disaster response," the official said.

NDRF responders are being trained to meet these "tough but doable time parameters" every day, the official said.

Other operational procedures that have been accelerated include assembling and operating a chainsaw in one minute as compared to 2:30 minutes, assembling quick deployable antennae in one minute as compared to three minutes in the past, assembling an air lifting bag in 60 seconds as against three minutes and making a chipping hammer operational in a minute as compared to three minutes earlier.

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"The aim to reduce the overall response time of the force is to bring in promptness and quick reactions so that more lives are saved and the impact of the disaster is minimised," the official said.

The government recently enhanced the deputation tenure for personnel joining the elite force to nine years from the present five.

The force, which has more than 14,000 personnel, comprises 12 battalions deployed for disaster response in various parts of the country. It was raised in 2006 with men and women from paramilitary forces such as the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB.

Each NDRF battalion has a strength of 1,149 personnel. Each of its battalions has domain experts and teams of engineers, paramedics, technicians, electricians and canine handlers along with trained rescuers.

The force is mandated to undertake special disaster operations and combat roles independently and also assist local authorities in launching a quick rescue and response operation to save life and property. PTI NES BDS

--- ENDS ---
The ethical shopping label is facing new competition from companies opting to create their own certification programs.

You probably know what the Fairtrade symbol looks like. It has a blue and yellow yin-yang, two halves separated by a black swoosh. It appears on coffee, tea, chocolate, bananas, dried fruit, and other tropical food products. For years, it has offered a mark of reassurance to shoppers that the product they're buying comes from farmers who have been paid fairly for their work. It has other implications, too, such as no children working on farms, better environmental stewardship, and, perhaps most notably, an annual premium paid to farming communities for investment in programs and infrastructure of their choice.

But Fairtrade's heyday might be over, according to a recent Long Reads article. Writer Samanth Subramanian describes how companies have begun withdrawing from the Fairtrade program, which threatens its entire existence. He writes,

"Companies are losing faith in labels such as Fairtrade  losing faith in their ability to secure the future of farming and the future of commodities that drive corporate profit, but also losing faith that these independent stamps of sustainability carry any value at all any more."

It's not because companies are unconcerned about sustainability. If anything, the topic is hotter than ever and being able to prove that they're doing something about it matters tremendously. There is a general sense, though, that Fairtrade just doesn't cut it anymore, that it's not offering the kind of tangible benefits that make paying the minimum commodity prices and annual premiums worthwhile. Recent studies have found that the financial benefits don't trickle down to hired help and that some children can still be found laboring on West African cocoa farms.

When Sainsbury's announced in 2017 that it would stop selling Fairtrade tea and replace with its own in-house certification called Fairly Traded, it was met with outrage; but as a representative explained, "We were paying these premiums, but it wasnt clear where the money was going. Fairtrade isnt good at keeping tabs on it. It wasnt always going to medicines and schools and things like that, as we found through our own investigations."

 Fairtrade

In response, companies have developed their own in-house certification programs and labels. To name a few, Mondelez has Cocoa Life; Nestle has Cocoa Plan; Starbucks has CAFE Practices; Barry Callebaut has Cocoa Horizons; Cargill has Cocoa Promises; McDonald's has McCafe Sustainability Improvement Program. Though they may be well-intentioned, Subramanian suggests that these in-house programs have serious shortcomings. He says, "In my conversations with Starbucks and Mondelez, farmer welfare rarely came up. The tacit assumption seemed to be that if the companies help farmers improve their productivity, their lives will improve in tandem."

Another questionable practice is that some in-house programs do not give premiums directly to communities to use as they wish. Funds must be approved for use by a committee appointed by the company, an arrangement that is uncomfortably reminiscent of colonial times. At the time of Sainsbury's announcement, Fairtrade Africa wrote in an open letter,

"[This] model will bring about disempowerment. We are extremely concerned about the power and control that Sainsburys seeks to exert over us which actually feels reminiscent of colonial rule. We work for, OWN our product and OWN our premium. We see the proposed approach as an attempt to replace the autonomous role which Fairtrade brings and replace it with a model which no longer balances the power between producers and buyers."



In-house certification screams conflict of interest, of course, and is indeed the argument that Subramanian ultimately makes in his compelling article. When a corporation is left to "mark its own homework" (think Volkswagen and Boeing), evidence of cheating abounds. And while companies may say they want greater 'flexibility' in contrast to Fairtrade's fairly rigid standards, Subramanian says that what they really want is greater control  "control over how commodities are priced, how to select or discard producers, how farmers farm, even how they live. This may look, for firms and even for consumers, like efficiency, but the effects can be dysfunctional."

Nor is it a fair portrayal of how fair trade certification operates. It may seem rigid, but that's because it sets higher standards than the norm. This is precisely why it benefits farmers so much. When asked to comment, Fairtrade America's COO Bryan Lew told TreeHugger,

"Fairtrade has never pretended it can solve global trading imbalances by itself, or that certification alone is the answer to the systemic poverty and other challenges in global supply chains. Fairtrade distributes more value back to farmers and workers, so they can get a fairer share of the benefits of global trade."



It has also been suggested that flooding the marketplace with labels and logos, each one claiming its own slice of the ethical pie, will lead to fatigue among shoppers  a state that would benefit corporations. Once people start thinking that "any claim of sustainability is an improvement over no claim," they become susceptible to greenwashing.

We live in increasingly uncertain times. The average age of farmers is getting older, with fewer young people joining the profession. Climate change threatens yields as never before, and it's believed that half of coffee-producing regions will be unworkable by 2050. In this context, Fairtrade is more important than ever, holding companies accountable to an external standard and empowering farming communities to make their own decisions.

While it may not be perfect, the organization has demonstrated a willingness to change and adapt. It has recently decided that premiums exceeding $150,000 "must hire an external auditor to inspect the way it accounts for the money," and is offering its services as a consultancy to companies creating their own labels.

I think it's too soon to suggest that Fairtrade is on its way out, but not too soon to say that it needs our help. Show your support by buying Fairtrade products, asking your retailers for them, and questioning companies about their own certification programs. As for Lew's opinion on how much fair trade may be struggling, he says it is "far from finished, as the millions of farmers, workers, companies and consumers who believe in making trade fair will testify. Fair trade will only be finished when fair and equitable trade becomes the norm and not the exception."

Read the whole lengthy piece here.
David Chipperfield turned a pile of rubble into a masterpiece of renovation and rehabilitation.

We have long been fans of Carl Elefantes mantra the greenest building is the one already standing and have promoted renovation, restoration, revitalization and repurposing of buildings. But at the Neues Museum in Berlin, David Chipperfield has shown an entirely new approach to reconstruction. The project was completed in 2009 but I had a chance to visit on a recent trip to Berlin.

Museum exterior after bombing/Public DomainThe Neues, originally designed by Friedrich August Stuler in 1855, was almost bombed flat in World War II. It was on Museum Island, which ended up on the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall, and for some reason was left as a ruin instead of being demolished. After the wall fell and the city merged into one again, David Chipperfield won a design competition to restore it, except he didnt do a traditional restoration to what it was before, but essentially built on top of the ruin. This did not make everyone happy. According to Michael Kimmelman, writing in the New York Times, many Germans objected to what they called ruin nostalgia and wanted it rebuilt the way it was.

But Mr. Chipperfields museum looks so beautiful and is so eloquent that it short-circuits doubt and criticism. Germans who complained over the years about ruin nostalgia (they were the real nostalgists) said that the country, by association with such a symbolic site, shouldnt continue to be held hostage to the worst episode in German history. Better, they argued, rebuild the Neues Museum as it originally looked, from scratch, without all the bullet holes and rotting columns.

Jonathan Glancey picks up the theme in the Guardian:

There were those who argued that the museum should be restored to exactly how it had been. Others wanted a modern whitewashed affair with plenty of neutral gallery space, to help the artworks hold their own against the architecture. Some simply objected to the idea of a British architect working on such an important German building. But the judges were won over by Chipperfield, who brought in another British architect, conservation specialist Julian Harrap, to help him create what can only be described as a piece of architectural sorcery: a beguiling mixture of the restored and the new that should silence most, if not all, of his detractors.

And what a job it was. There is the central stair as originally built:

Original grand stair/Public Domain

Here it is, after the bombing:

stair after bombing/Public Domain

With the rubble cleaned out:

Stairwell cleaned out, via David Chipperfield/via

As reconstructed by Chipperfield, with the exposed brick on the sides and his new stairway inserted:

 David Chipperfield

My photo from the top of the stairs looking back.

Lloyd Alter/ view from top of stairs/CC BY 2.0

In other parts of the building, fragments were picked up out of the rubble and reassembled. Here was a spectacular structure of domes built on top of iron frames:

Lloyd Alter/ Domes on metal frames/CC BY 2.0

Here they were reassembled with pieces of fresco:

 David Chipperfield

I wish I had taken more photos, but the significance of what I saw really didnt sink in until after I had left and thought about it for a while.

Lloyd Alter/ column with bullet holes, plaster and brick/CC BY 2.0

I can see why some might think doing this kind of restoration is a little bit close to home, a mix of ruin and bullet holes. But it is so evocative, rising from the dead. Kimmelman thought so, too, noting that the Neues Museum isnt Lazarus exactly, but its almost a miracle. And with it Berlin has one of the finest public buildings in Europe.

 Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

It is also one of the most beautiful and challenging restorations I have ever seen, anywhere.
- Highly trained police officers have been deployed to protect the six presidential aspirants who will face off at the ballot in August

- The officers include a team of highly trained sharpshooters, elite combat officers and officers trained in VIP protection

- In addition top police chiefs have been deployed to act as liaisons with political parties to ensure that the elections are peaceful

- Should a presidential aspirant die before the General Election, the election would be postponed for two months

The police service has deployed highly trained police officers to protect the six presidential aspirants ahead of the Tuesday, August 8 General Election.

READ ALSO: Violent protests mar the end of Uhuru's Meru visit

The team includes sharpshooters and elite officers trained in VIP protection.

Speaking to the press, George Kinoti - the police spokesperson reiterated that the best had been given to the officers to ensure that the aspirants were adequately protected.

All candidates are sufficiently protected. We have committed to provide full security not just to presidential candidates but to their teams as well. The officers are trained and equipped appropriately, said Kinoti

He added that should the need arise, more security shall be sought from the nearby police stations.

READ ALSO: Uhuru vows to stop interfering in Meru politics after meeting hostile crowd

Raila is assigned 12 bodyguards, six at his home and six who travel with him based on the fact that he is former Prime Minister.

Kalonzo Musyoka- a former Vice President enjoys similar treatment although his security is classified.

READ ALSO: Don't even think about it: Raila warns female Jubilee CS

Already, Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy enjoy the protection of the paramilitary officers who are attached to the presidential escort.

PLO Lumumba speaks about the Raila conspiracy :

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Source: TUKO.co.ke
- National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has been involved in an ugly clash with a senior Muslim leader

- Duale teared into Chief Kadhi Sheikh Ahmed Muhdhar after Muhdhar announced that Sunday, June 25, would not be Eid-Ul-Fitr but rather Monday, June 26

National Assembly Majority Leader, Aden Duale, has caused controversy again after publicly attacking a senior Muslim religious leader.

The fiery Garissa Township MP turned to social media to condemn Chief Kadhi Sheikh Ahmed Mudhar for announcing that Sunday, June 25, would be Eid-Ul-Fitr but rather Monday, June 26.

Muhdhar, on Saturday, June 24, had cautioned that the moon was yet to be sighted and directed all Muslims in the country not to celebrate the holy event Sunday.

READ ALSO: Raila 'gives' KNUT's Wilson Sossion a 'good' job

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has caused controversy again after publicly attacking a senior Muslim religious leader.

READ ALSO: Al Ghurair begins printing ballot papers amid NASA protests

Duale in a rant on social media seen by TUKO.co.ke, accused the Chief Kadhi dividing Kenyan Muslims which was against the constitution as his office was meant to bring Muslims together.

Duale claimed the Muhdhar was misleading Muslims with his careless statement on Eid-Ul-Fitr celebration.

''It's irresponsible and out of order for the Kenyan Chief Khadhi to mislead and divide the Muslim Umma using an office created by the constitution under article 170 for the unity and interest of the Muslim,

''The Chief Khadhi can not work in isolation of the Muslim leaders and organizations when making a decision on the destiny of the Umma,'' Duale said.

READ ALSO: Kisumu gubernatorial rivals come together in harmony and it is amazing

Chief Kadhi Sheikh Ahmed Mudhar and Garissa Township MP Aden Duale.

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On Sunday, June 25, Muslims in Kenya and around the world marked the end of Ramadan with feasting and celebration with Eid-Ul-Fitr.

The Kenyan government had gazetted Monday, June 26, as a public holiday for Eid-Ul-Fitr with Muslims yet to break their fast on Sunday marking the day with prayers at Sir Ali Muslim ground in Ngara led by the Chief Kadhi.

Have something to add to this article or suggestions? Send to news@tuko.co.ke

PLO Lumumba speaks about the Raila conspiracy

Source: TUKO.co.ke
According to intelligence reports received by the army on the communication between local terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the local community heads and especially women, are raising questions over the "spilling of blood of own people" in the fight with government.

Local community heads in Kashmir are raising questions over the aspilling of blood of own peoplea?.

By Manjeet Negi: After the lynching of Jammu and Kashmir police officer Mohammed Ayub Pandith in Nowhatta and murder of Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz, there are indications in the Kashmir Valley that common people are resenting the brutal killings of own people by the militant groups.

According to intelligence reports received by the army on the communication between local terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the local community heads and especially women, are raising questions over the "spilling of blood of own people" in the fight with government.

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"The women are questioning the local terrorists on this issue as a large number of Kashmiris are working in the police force, the army and other government services, and this can lead to a blood bath in the future," a source said.

Sources indicated that the killing of Lt Fayaz and Pandith could be a result of the ongoing feud between different factions of the terror groups to increase control over terrorism in the state.

In view of the incident, the security forces have also warned their men about possible attacks from different terror groups on them or their families, as the relentless operations by the security forces against the terrorists have made them desperate.

The killings of both Fayaz and Pandith have created a sense of insecurity among the Kashmiris and these killings are being resented by the common people as an attack on own people.

The police force has also been told to keep a check on the incidents of terrorists attending funerals of militants and also take action against those attending with AK-47s and other weapons.

The security arrangements in the state have been increased, additional forces are being rushed and existing ones are being redeployed at many places to take on the terrorists' attempts to attack the Amarnath Yatra.

Meanwhile, the security forces killed two terrorists who had attacked a CRPF convoy in Srinagar's Pantha Chowk area and had gone into hiding inside a school on the outskirts of the city.

The late night encounter started after the terrorists attacked a CRPF convoy, after which security forces surrounded and eliminated them. Two army troops, including one officer from the Para (Special Forces), were injured in the gun battle and have been shifted to the military hospital there.

In the last six months, more than 85 terrorists have been eliminated by the security forces in operations both on the Line of Control and the hinterland.

Also Read

Nowhatta lynching: Police officer Mohammed Ayub Pandith's family alleges security lapse

Srinagar: DSP Ayyub Pandith beaten to death by mob outside Jamia Masjid

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Only Soul Alive, other Memorable, Hilarious Phrases by William Chepkut

Former Ainabkoi Member of Parliament William Chepkut passed away on Saturday, October 8 at a Nairobi hospital. We now look at some of his memorable quotes.
- Al-shabaab militants paraded a captured Kenyan vehicle in Somalia during the Idd Ul Fitr celebrations on Sunday, June 25

- Photos of the militants marching alongside the vehicle have gone viral eliciting sharp reactions among Kenyans

- The Kenyan vehicle which has been converted into a technician was also used to carry the militants to the venue of the celebrations

A section of Kenyans were outraged after photos of al-Shaaab militants celebrating Idd ul Fitr appeared on social media.

READ ALSO: Ababu Namwamba's KSh 1.2 billion pet project in Budalangi collapses days after Uhuru's inspection (photos)

The photos show the militants celebrating, carrying flags and marching alongside a captured Kenya Police vehicle in Jilib.

The militants dressed in full combat gear showcased their powerful weapons as they marched to the venue of the celebrations.

READ ALSO: Moses Kuria blames NASA for the collapse of KSh 1.2 b Sigiri bridge inspected by Uhuru

READ ALSO: Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho encounters hostility in Mombasa (video)

TUKO.co.ke has learnt that the Kenyan police vehicle had been converted into a technical and was used to ferry the militants to attend the celebrations.

READ ALSO: Kabogo declares war on DP Ruto, vows to teach him a lesson in 2022

Photos shared by journalist Yassin Juma elicited angry reactions from Kenyans who questioned the motive for the information.

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Source: TUKO.co.ke
At least two companies from the United States plan to take part in the development of river shipping in Ukraine.

Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelian said this on the results of his trip to the U.S., the Center for Transport Strategies reports.

"At least two American companies intend to develop river navigation, build barges in Ukraine," Omelian said.

According to the minister, during his trip to Washington, more than a dozen meetings with members of the Congress from the Republican and Democratic parties were held, the negotiations were held with the heads of the departments of transport, trade, finance, the State Department, and a number of American companies.

As reported, Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelian paid a visit to the United States from June 13 to June 23.

ish
The Trump Administration supports the continuation of sanctions against the Russian Federation.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this in an interview with Ukrainian TV channels, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"The new U.S. Administration takes a historic decision  the sanctions will be extended until the Minsk agreements are implemented," Petro Poroshenko said.

The President stressed that the U.S. and the EU had a unified position on sanctions against the Russian Federation, noting that the U.S. Congress supported the sanctions.

In addition, according to Poroshenko, the U.S. should play a coordinating role with regard to sanctions against Russia within the framework of the G7.

ish
The issue of providing Ukraine with U.S. defense weapons can be resolved in October.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this in an interview with Ukrainian TV channels, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"The issue of supplying defense weapons will be resolved within the current fiscal year, and you know that it lasts until October, and we also hope that these positions will be accepted and implemented," Petro Poroshenko said.

He has noted that the text of the defense agreement has been almost agreed, and within two-three months the United States Secretary of Defense is expected to visit Ukraine, during his visit these agreements can be signed.

ish
Ukraine did not unleash a conflict with Russia; on the contrary, Russia is an aggressor that also occupied Crimea.

French President Emmanuel Macron said this at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday in Paris, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We need to understand that aggression comes from Russia, that is, not Ukraine is an aggressor. We also do not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea. We know who launched the war," Macron said.

He has noted that all parties are obliged to fulfill their obligations under the Minsk agreements.

"I think we have several months to achieve success in these agreements. I understand that this is not the optimal format, but I do not see better proposals so far," the French president said.

ish
06/23/2017

By David Perry

Natasha Campagna understands the deep, human impact that entrepreneurship can have.

As the manager of Sandbox by DMZ at Ryerson University in Toronto, one of Canadas largest business incubators, she helps young entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life. Through her program, a 17-year-old and his classmate built a prototype for Heartwatch, a wearable heart monitoring system that alerts emergency responders when there is cardiac distress. The student created it because his mothers heart could stop beating at any minute, a constant worry for him when he was at school.

Creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs to tackle big problems is a priority for Campagna, so she came to Lowell to learn about best practices for promoting entrepreneurship through education. She was among the 300 attendees at the sixth annual Deshpande Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education, co-sponsored by UMass Lowell and the Deshpande Foundation. The event drew people from across North America as well as Ireland and Bombay to discuss ecosystems, curriculum, commercialization and trends.

Im here to discover and bring back ideas for potential collaborations. Ive already heard a lot of cool ideas that might help us, Campagna said.

Over three days, breakout workshops and panel discussions offered fuel to education and business leaders to create the next generation of economy-driving entrepreneurs. Attendees assembled at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center heard keynotes from Jerry Engel, a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur and founder of the University of California, Berkeleys Lester Center for Entrepreneurship; Worcester Polytechnic Institute President (and former NASA executive) Laurie Leshin; and high-tech superstar Bob Metcalfe, who is now Professor of Innovation at the University of Texas.

Chancellor Jacquie Moloney described the impact an entrepreneurial approach can have in higher education. She called UMass Lowell an absolute poster child for how important entrepreneurship is.

She noted that eight years ago, the university was struggling, state funding was declining and infrastructure was long overdue for an overhaul. Enrollment had dipped, too.

Today, however, things have turned around, thanks to the adoption of entrepreneurial practices across the university. Business entrepreneurship is in absolutely everything we do. It has transformed this university. While there hadnt been a new building in 30 years, weve added 13 in the past six years  and this is one of them, she told the crowd.

Moloney called the conference a place where educators and others invested in the future of entrepreneurship join forces to ensure that we are doing all we can to prepare students and assist startups for success in this important component of the global economy.

In his Tuesday morning keynote, Engel advised educators to set the table, then help students translate aspirations into action.

Act like a metronome, Engel said: Keep time the way drummers and bassists hold down a bands rhythm, and be ready to help students if they fall out of time. But respect their knowledge of the world and its needs, he advised.

Engel, who arrived at the University of California, Berkeley to pioneer curriculum and faculty development in entrepreneurial education, encouraged attendees to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship at their own colleges and universities.

This is really about you, he said. The world we are living in demands we bring into the classroom our experiential capacity.

Tuesday evening featured the annual Deshpande Symposium Awards, presented to four institutions and one individual to recognize exceptional work to advance entrepreneurial education.

The Excellence in Curriculum Innovation in Entrepreneurship Award went to Purdue University for its offerings of innovative educational courses and programs to further entrepreneurship education.

Ohio University won the Excellence in Student Engagement in Entrepreneurship Award, which recognizes an institution that encourages student leadership and engagement and supports the development of entrepreneurial awareness, skills and practice.

The Exemplary Practice in Technology Commercialization Award, which recognizes an institution for comprehensive programs that accelerate innovative research into commercialization, went to the Georgia Research Alliance.

The Outstanding Contributions to Advancing Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education Award, which goes to the individual who has demonstrated extraordinary achievements in entrepreneurship in higher education, was presented to Barry Rosenbaum, senior fellow with the University of Akron Research Foundation.

And the institution that helped that Toronto teen develop the device that would tell him about his mothers heart activity also earned an award. Ryerson University of Toronto won the Entrepreneurial University award.
According to the latest reports, 154 people have lost their lives in the massive oil tanker fire in Punjab, Pakistan.

Pakistani rescue workers examine the site of an oil tanker explosion at a highway near Bahawalpur, Pakistan (AP Photo)

By Indo-Asian News Service: The death toll from the horrific oil tanker explosion in Pakistan's Punjab province has increased to 154, the media reported on Monday.

The speeding tanker carrying 25,000 litres of petrol was on its way from Karachi to Lahore on Sunday when it overturned on a highway near Bahawalpur city as the driver lost control when a tyre punctured, reports The News International.

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A large crowd of people gathered, many to collect the leaking fuel. But, the tanker exploded in about 45 minutes later.

Rescue workers said over 200 people were injured in the horrifying incident, most of them in critical condition.

The Toll Could Further Increase As Dozens Are Still In Critical Condition.

"The people of the area and passers-by had started gathering fuel when it exploded, burning everybody alive," provincial government spokesman Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan said.

An estimated 20 children were among the dead, The News International quoted Khan as saying.

The police tried to clear the area before the tanker exploded but the people ignored them, Khan said.

The officials said most of the bodies could not be identified as they had been charred and would require DNA test for identification purposes.

The driver of the tanker survived the accident and was taken into police custody, he said.

Meanwhile, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has ordered an inquiry into the gruesome incident.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has cut short his London trip over the incident while Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister, has announced a compensation package of 2,000,000 Pakistani rupees ($19,100) for the victims and 1,000,000 Pakistani rupees ($9,550) for the injured.

ALSO READ | Pakistan: 62 killed, 100 injured in multiple attacks on eve of Eid

ALSO WATCH | At least 120 burn to death in oil tanker fire in Pakistan's Bahawalpur

--- ENDS ---
Parking in Connaught Place (CP) from July is set to get expensive as NDMC has decided to remove the Rs 100 cap.

By Press Trust of India: Those parking their vehicles in Connaught Place for longer hours will soon have to pay more with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) deciding to remove the current cap of Rs 100.

At present, those parking their vehicles in CP have to pay Rs 20 per hour for the first five hours and a flat rate of Rs 100 beyond that.

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However, as per the new plan the cap will be removed and the users will have to pay extra charges on per hour basis.

EXTRA CHARGES FOR NIGHT HOURS

"There will be no cap on the parking charges. One will be charged Rs 20 for every extra hour even after the current five-hour limit. Earlier, even if somebody was parking for three to four days he or she was liable to pay only Rs 100," a senior NDMC official said.

"There will be extra charges for parking during night hours and the rates will be decided soon. The new rates will come into effect from July," the official added.

The Urban Development Ministry had in February announced a plan to make Connaught place vehicle free to decongest the area.

However, due to inadequate parking facilities and lack of e-rickshaws to help with last mile connectivity, the project has not yet taken off.

Also read: Delhi horror: Woman falls in love with gym trainer, slits throats of husband, mother-in-law

Also read: Coming soon on Delhi Metro: Automated driverless trains

--- ENDS ---
Almost 40 years after the upheaval of the Khmer Rouge regime, residents of Bati commune near the Cambodian border with Vietnam are still without electricity.

In Thnanh village, just six kilometers from the major provincial city of Bavet, residents question why, in a town known for its gaudy casinos and cross-border trade, they cannot light their homes.

Many have now turned to solar power.

Sun Sothea, 35, one of many market traders in the village says that despite the erection of pylons and wires crisscrossing the streets, villagers have had to seek alternatives to power their homes.

Ive been wondering why there is electricity and wires and poles, but no power, he said.

Sothea bought a solar panel last year for about $400, which brings enough power to his home to use lights and fans to fend off the incessant heat.

I cannot use it with big things, like running machinery or water pumps, he said. We still need electricity soon.

Another villager, In Boy, 65, said the local community banded together and called on the authorities to supply electricity some time ago, but he too has resorted to solar power for his basic needs as no response was forthcoming.

Since I have been waiting for electricity for so long, I decided to buy solar power to use, he said. Its so boring when theres no electricity. I dont know what to say. Other residents in other areas have it.

Many here still use batteries, candles and lamps. Chhim Chhaiya, 32, a garment worker, cannot afford to buy a solar panel, adding that she often uses a flashlight to cook after dark.

I long for electricity as soon as possible. I will be very happy to have lights in my home, she said.

Chan Sarun, Bati commune chief, said he was not responsible for the lack of power. I dont know why there is no electricity. I want it too.

A new $12.5 million solar farm being build by Singaporean firm Sunseap International in Bavet city expected to be finished in August may go some way to alleviating the villagers concerns.

Kelvin Ang, project manager at Sunseap, said the 10 megawatts produced by the plant would help improve the energy shortage in all areas covered by the national electricity authority, Electricite du Cambodge (EdC).

He added that the solar farm would supply about a quarter of Svay Rieng provinces energy demands at peak times.

We understand EdC is now working very hard to expand more and more its grid to remote areas where there is no electricity, Ang said.

With the energy sent from Phnom Penh and the energy produced from our solar farm, we believe Svay Rieng will no longer face energy shortages.

Cambodia generates about half of its electricity from hydropower, while it imports significant amounts from Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

Men Vibol, the provincial governor, claimed the province had sufficient levels of electricity, adding that the reach of the power grid to rural areas was to blame.

Its not a shortage, he said. It depends on connectivity. We now almost have coverage across the whole province.



Villagers living near the under-construction solar farm, say switching to state electricity from private providers is cheaper.

Kim Navy, 26, who recently made the switch, said she had her power bills cut in half after ditching a private supplier.

It is good if the price is lower. If the solar farm provides low cost and reliable power, it is good, he said.
The ruling Cambodian Peoples Party claimed victory in 70 percent of communes in the June 4 commune elections, according to official results announced on Sunday.

The National Election Committee (NEC) said the CPP had secured 1,156 seats out of a possible 1,646 and more than 3.5 million votes, with the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party gaining control of 489 local authorities, up by 449 from its pre-election total.

The Khmer National United Party won the remaining seat.

The CPP welcomed the results, but the CNRP claimed the elections were unfair, despite election observers raising few complaints of irregularities on polling day.

Sok Eysan, CPP spokesman, said the party was satisfied with the final tally.

The Cambodian Peoples Party accepts the official result gratefully since the CPP has always fulfilled its duty and been responsible for its actions, he said.

Yim Sovann, CNRP spokesman, did not answer a question about whether the party accepted the results.

The political situation was bad even before [former party leader] Sam Rainsy was not able to participate in the election. There was violence and detention of activists and human rights workers daily. Those factors made the election unfair and not free, he said.

He suggested that the NEC should reevaluate its vote-counting procedures before the general election in 2018, without giving specifics.

Hang Puthea, NEC spokesman, could not be reached.

Civil society groups on Saturday released a statement claiming the election was unfair and freedom-restricted while admitting that there were significant improvements compared with previous elections.
Albanians voted in parliamentary elections Sunday as the country looks to bolster its democratic credentials ahead of potential European Union membership talks.

After polls closed, officials said preliminary turnout was just over 45 percent based on data from more than half of the polling stations, compared to 53.5 percent four years ago.

Preliminary election results are not expected until Monday.



The ruling Socialists and the rival Democrats are the leading parties looking to gain an outright majority in the parliament of the NATO-member country of 2.9 million people.

The country gained EU candidate status in 2014, but movement has been slowed by its perceived lack of reforms, including those involved with the election process.

Eighteen political parties are running for 140 seats in parliament in Sunday's vote. The main contenders are Prime Minister Edi Rama's Socialist Party and the opposition Democratic Party led by Lulzim Basha.

Opinion polls showed the Socialists slightly ahead of the center-right Democratic Party.

All main parties campaigned on a reform agenda, pledging faster economic growth, pay increases and lower unemployment, which stands at about 14 percent.



Some 6,000 police officers were on duty for election security, while more 300 international observers came to monitor the vote.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has tried to reassure millions of Europeans living in Britain that their lives and those of their families will not be disrupted when London leaves the European Union in 2019.

May's post-Brexit residency proposals offer EU nationals "settled status" in Britain with broadly the same rights as native-born English, Scots and Welsh, and the same access to health care, education, welfare and pensions. EU "settlers" would be subject to British law without recourse to the European Court of Justice.

"We want you to stay," May said in a message to the estimated 3.2 million European nationals living in Britain. Her aim, she said, was to "completely reassure" anyone now living legally in Britain that they would not be asked to leave when the country breaks all ties to the EU.

Five years of residence in Britain is required for Europeans who wish to apply to stay on in the country in the future, according to the government proposal. Those already living in Britain but for a shorter period can remain until they are eligible to apply for "settled status." European nationals living permanently in Britain would lose that status, in most cases, if they stay outside the country for more than two years.

May delivered essentially the same proposal last week in Brussels to EU leaders, who said it did not meet all necessary criteria. The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, said Monday that "a number of limitations remain worrisome and will have to be carefully assessed."
Noted Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo has been released from prison on a medical parole.

He was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer last month and is being treated at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang, according to his lawyer.

Liu, who is 61, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for advocating democracy in China.

In 2010, the Norway-based Nobel committee awarded him the peace prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." The recognition from the committee infuriated the Chinese government.

The international community has been calling for Liu's release for years.
Donald Trump may be uniquely suited to push for Middle East peace: the Israelis as well as key Arab players, each for their own reasons, are all looking like admirers who seek to please. But out-of-the-box thinking will be needed nonetheless.

Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner was in the region last week to hear ideas about a final-status deal. According to a Palestinian official who participated in the meetings, he asked both sides for proposals to take to the U.S. president.

This resurfaces the formula pursued in vain by presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, which presupposes a near-total pullout from the lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war and sharing of Jerusalem.

Palestinians say they're giving up three-quarters of pre-state Palestine. Israelis see their small country made smaller still in a hostile region teeming with jihadis and struggle with how to divide Jerusalem between countries that will need a border.

Complicating matters are 600,000 Israelis now living in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Various plans envisioned land swaps to incorporate some settlements on the Israeli side  but many people would still need to be removed from their homes, raising real prospects of violence. Resultant maps, with borders snaking around neighboring villages and towns, are all ungainly to various degrees.

Then there's the Palestinian demand for refugees, including millions of descendants, to have at least theoretical rights to return to Israel  a non-starter for most Israelis. In what seems tit for tat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the Palestinians to dutifully recognize Israel as a "Jewish state," even though a fifth of its citizens are Arabs who in many cases identify primarily as Palestinians.

Partial deal

Past more moderate Israeli governments have made offers they considered very far-reaching, but none quite satisfied the Palestinians. With few expecting Netanyahu to even approach the past offers, the focus could soon fall on a partial deal that sidesteps excessive ambition.

In one scenario, a Palestinian state arises on lands Israel can comfortably evacuate under present realities  the existing Palestinian autonomous zones set up in the 1990s, plus other parts of the West Bank, plus Gaza, if the coastal strip can be retaken from the Hamas militants who seized it in 2007. Final borders, Jerusalem and the refugee issue would wait, as would declarations of eternal peace.

"We must not nullify any option for a final settlement. We must only seek to make the interim period as manageable as possible; to enable the parties to get used to the mutual benefits of peace and quiet," wrote Tsvi Bisk in Israel's Haaretz, recommending a little land for a little peace.

Despite rising nationalism, the Israeli electorate does want movement and there is an expectation Netanyahu and his right wing would be amenable to a partial pullout  even if they may still need to be pushed on details. Indeed, it might cement further their rule.

The Palestinians have objected to such notions in the past, fearing that Israel will be happy to unload most of the Palestinian population in this way but then never return to the table, rendering the intended interim phase permanent in effect.

Sunni role

That's where the Sunni Arab world being rather assiduously courted by Trump might play a role, offering both sides carrots.

Israel would joyously welcome any normalization  an embassy in Riyadh, trade relations with the Emirates, security cooperation in the Gulf. But the Palestinians, impoverished still and traumatized, may have even more to gain from an Arab embrace: aid and investment for their nascent state, and improvements in the lot of Palestinians who across the region are oppressed in various ways.

Trump may have the leverage to nudge this along. His apparently good relations with key corners of the Arab world may seem odd given his anti-Muslim campaign rhetoric, but they rest on some solid pillars.

First, he has firmly taken the Saudi side in that country's tussle for regional hegemony versus Iran. That contrasts with Barack Obama, who sought to neutralize Iran's nuclear program through diplomacy, and despite reaching a multilateral deal to achieve this is widely seen in the region as an appeaser.

Second, unlike Obama, Trump does not torment authoritarians over human rights. Many of the region's rulers conflate political Islam with Islamic terrorism, justifying crackdowns on dissent  and the new administration seems to not quibble with this. And Egypt's government, which came to power after the military overthrow of an elected Islamist president, feels rehabilitated and welcome in Washington again.

Across the Sunni Arab world there is interest in resolving the century-old Israeli-Palestinian issue and focusing instead on pacifying the smoldering region and containing Iran.

In an unusual meeting of the minds, Israel's nationalist leadership agrees. Gone is American public moralizing over the Palestinians. Instead come exhortations to "deal"  something many Israelis feel the Palestinians never genuinely did in decades of sticking like glue to their core demands.

Indeed, many Israelis had general difficulty warming to Obama. With striking disregard of his repeated acts of support, they seemed receptive to the nationalist message that he was naive at best. And even liberal Israelis are grateful to see a U.S. leadership that calls out the United Nations for what they view as an irksome obsession with the Palestinians at the expense of other oppressed groups around the globe.

It will be extremely difficult for the Netanyahu camp in Israel  which is often joked of as a branch of the U.S. Republican Party  to rebrand Trump as anything but a friend, even if pressure should arrive.

And from Jerusalem to Ramallah and Riyadh, all the players project a view of Trump as mercurial and impulsive enough that he must be handled with caution and a wary smile. It's a landscape that may make the Middle East, for all its vexations, uniquely fertile ground for U.S. diplomacy at the moment.
The initiative has been christened as Hindu Chetna Sangam inspired from a mammoth RSS gathering Shiv Shakti Sangam held on January 3, 2016 in Pune.

By Kiran Tare: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will organise a mega gathering of its cadres and common people on January 7, 2018 across the Konkan region including Mumbai.

The initiative has been christened as Hindu Chetna Sangam inspired from a mammoth RSS gathering Shiv Shakti Sangam held on January 3, 2016 in Pune.

The RSS has decided to organise separate gatherings at the taluka level in 267 places in the Konkan region unlike Shiv Shakti Sangam where around 85,000 workers and 50,000 people had gathered at one place.

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On an average, 1,000 people are expected to attend the gathering at each taluka. Thus, approximately 2.50 lakh people will attend the gathering across the region, which has a status of prant (state) in the Sangh organisation.

WHAT ARE RSS' PLANS

"The idea is to demonstrate the sajjan shakti (strength of good people)," said Uday Kulkarni, the prant seva pramukh at a meeting in Thane on Sunday. The organisation is also going to launch a mobile application where those who want to attend the gathering can register. The app is likely to be activated in October.

A senior worker said that RSS is looking to reach out to each and every locality of minimum 10,000 households in the region through the gathering. "We have plans to get everyone involved in the initiative. We will approach various social organisations, dignified people and representatives of each sector of the society to make the gathering a grand success," he said.

The RSS hopes that the gathering will give a boost to the organisation. The number of people attending the RSS shakhas (units) and its initiatives in social field has gone up multi-fold after the Shiv Shakti Sangam.As a part of the preparations the RSS is going to observe swadeshi sanmaan fortnight between August 1 and 15 with a focus on opposing goods manufactured in China.

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A settlement has been reached for the family of a black motorist whose dying moments were caught on a Facebook livestream after he was shot by a police officer last year in the U.S. state of Minnesota.

The nearly $3 million settlement will be paid to the family of Philando Castile.

His family represented by his mother, Valerie Castile, will bypass any federal wrongful death or civil rights lawsuits arising from his death.

Castile was at a traffic stop when he was fatally shot by St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez after Castile told Yanez he was armed. The 32-year-old was supposedly reaching for something when he was shot seven times at close range.

Earlier this month, Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter and other charges, sparking days of protests that ended with 18 arrests.

A joint statement released Monday by the city of St. Anthony and the attorneys representing the Castile family said, "No amount of money could ever replace Philando. With resolution of the claims the family will continue to deal with their loss through the important work of the Philando Castile Relief Foundation."

The squad car video shows the shooting, but does not show the build up to the shooting, creating room for debate. In her livestream video, Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, says that Castile was reaching for his wallet, not his gun. Castile had a permit for his gun.

Yanez testified earlier this month, describing how he feared for his life and said that Castile ignored his pleas to not pull out his gun. The squad car footage that captured the moments before the shooting shows Castile saying, "I'm not pulling it out" before Yanez opened fire.

The city of St. Anthony is offering Yanez a "voluntary separation agreement" from the police department, in which he would no longer be an on-duty officer.
Families in Pakistan began holding funerals Monday for the victims of the overturned oil tanker fire.

Officials say more than 150 men, women and children were killed Sunday when they rushed to the scene to gather leaking fuel. Authorities say more than 100 people were injured in the explosion outside the town of Bahawalpur and many of them are in critical condition. Some of the critically injured have been airlifted to the Punjab provincial capital of Lahore for treatment.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cut short a trip aboard and was in Bahawalpur Monday where he consoled the families of the victims.

The tanker was traveling on the main highway from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore when the driver lost control of the vehicle.

An announcement over a mosque's loudspeaker that an overturned tanker truck had sprung a leak sent scores of villagers racing to the scene to gather spilled fuel. Then the wreck exploded, engulfing people and nearby vehicles.

Fuel is a high value commodity in Pakistan, and despite the risks, the possibility of obtaining it for free draws many to accident scenes.



Local police said the driver of the tanker survived and was taken into custody.

The disaster happened on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Roads are usually crowded at that time with people traveling to be with their families for the Eid celebrations.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars and have been on the brink of another several times, a worrying prospect given that both have growing stockpiles of nuclear weapons and questions about how secure they are.

The arms race between the South Asian neighbors has moved to enhancing the delivery systems for the warheads, which could annihilate the subcontinent several times. India's recent launch of more than 100 satellites with a single rocket foreshadows the capability of sending up a missile with multiple nuclear weapons.

The volatility of the situation is further exacerbated because neither country has a national missile defense system, and it likely would take several years to get one in place.

While the policy of mutually assured destruction has kept hostilities from overheating so far, experts believe that a misunderstanding or misadventure could escalate to a full-fledged war with nuclear weapons in play.

And there are plenty of risks.

Kashmir a flashpoint

Kashmir has been a flashpoint since the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 and caused the most recent flare-up last November. Both sides accuse each other of harboring terrorists who launch cross-border attacks. Therefore, the question is whether the nukes in South Asia could fall into the wrong hands during mobilization in the fog of war.

Nuclear arms experts Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris estimate that Pakistan has 120-130 nuclear warheads compared with India's 110-120. India is said to have a stockpile of 540 kilograms of weapons grade plutonium, enough to produce 130 warheads. Pakistan has 3,100 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, sufficient to build 300 warheads. That's a lot to keep an eye on.

The nukes were safe when these were in storage areas in both countries, Michael Krepon, co-founder and senior associate at Stimson Center, said in an interview with VOA's Urdu Service. But when these have to be moved around in a state of war, it surely raises a red flag about their security on many counts.

Serious concerns

The biggest concern was about Pakistan's tactical weapons, which have a very short range, Krepon said. It means that these will have to be moved very close to the battlefield. There are fears that independent groups who want to settle scores with either Pakistan or India could attack them.

Secondly, these could be attacked by Indian warplanes. Thirdly, since the fissile material has to be transported separately to combine with the main structure, this fissile material could also come under attack. These factors pose greater concerns, especially in the United States.

Professor Scott Sagan of Stanford University adds: The plausible place to move these tactical nuclear weapons would be to roads where these would be less vulnerable to Indian attack due to their flexibility. However, this also generates a fear that these could become vulnerable to terrorists' seizure in whole or in part. The same was true for India.

The countries have continued to expand their nuclear capacity long past the stated goal of a credible deterrence the vow of no first use. No first use policy in India was a misnomer, and India would opt for the first strike if it deemed necessary, said Mueed Yousuf of the United States Institute for Peace.

Professor Paul Kapoor of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School added: If India used nuclear weapons, it would use them in massive way to inflict an unacceptable harm to adverse countries.

A two-pronged policy

Zamir Akram, a former Pakistani ambassador and U.N. representative, said Pakistan's nuclear doctrine initially was based on India's much larger superiority in conventional weapons. However, in response to India's Cold Start doctrine, allowing it to attack Pakistan with conventional weapons to prevent nuclear retaliation, Pakistan changed its policy of minimum credible deterrence to full spectrum response with tactical weapons armed with low-grade nuclear material for use in the battlefield, Akram said.

Kapoor says that results in a two-pronged policy: use low-grade tactical nuclear weapons in a conventional war, and use nuclear weapons in case of an imminent nuclear attack by India.

While Pakistan had a bigger stockpile of nukes as compared to India, the induction of very short-range tactical weapons into its conventional warfare mechanism was a worrying factor, Krepon said.

India developed its first strategic ballistic missile in 1996 with a range of 250 kilometers. During the last decade, it has added medium- and long-range missiles that can reach Pakistan and China.

Pakistan has missiles capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads up to 2,750 kilometers, enough to target all major Indian cities, and cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
With U.S.-backed Iraqi forces close to ending the Islamic State group's grip on Mosul, security forces in neighboring Iraqi provinces are increasingly concerned about extremists moving into their areas.

Kirkuk, Diyala and Salahuddin provinces have recently witnessed a surge in IS activities, and local security forces fear possible terror attacks by IS militants fleeing Mosul.

IS terrorists have raised their black flags in many villages and plains across the provincial borders, said Lieutenant Colonel Faruq Ahmed, head of the security department in Tuz Khurmatu, 200 kilometers from Mosul. Some of those areas have not had many IS fighters since 2014.

IS controlled large swaths of land in the three provinces when it swept across northern and western Iraq in 2014.

After Mosul, recapturing Hawija

With the exception of the city of Hawija, west of Kirkuk, IS later lost most of that territory to Kurdish and Iraqi forces, supported by the U.S.-led coalition, along with Iran-backed Shi'ite militias known as Popular Mobilization Forces. Iraqi officials say recapturing Hawija will be their next goal after the Mosul offensive is completed.

Intelligence reports tell of IS movements across the borders of all three provinces, and Ahmed said security forces in Tuz Khurmatu are on high alert for possible imminent attacks.

Villagers living in the outskirts of Sulaiman Bek, a town in eastern Salahuddin province, said they saw 10 trucks full of IS fighters crossing into Qara Tapa town, north of Diyala.

Kurdish forces, the Iraqi army and PMF are closely coordinating together to respond to any IS surprise attacks, Ahmed said.

IS hit-and-run attacks

A Kurdish commander, Colonel Luqman Muhammad, leads Peshmerga forces in the triangle where the borders of Kirkuk, Diyala and Salahuddin meet. He told VOA that IS militants have been moving into the three provinces in small groups  10 to a dozen fighters  to avoid being targeted by coalition airstrikes.

IS fighters have been staging hit-and-run attacks against Kurdish Peshmerga, Iraqi army units and Shi'ite militias.

Peshmerga forces foiled a major IS attempt last week to control the strategic border triangle, Muhammad said, thanks to support missions flown by warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition.

The planes hit them about three times and forced them to disperse, he said. We killed two of them and seized a lot of weapons after two hours of confrontation.

Militants pressure villagers

Muhammad said increased IS activity could continue for some time after the extremists are driven out of Mosul. Islamic State fighters have managed to establish secret cells in the region, he said, by appealing to disenfranchised Sunni Arabs.

Ever since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the three provinces near Mosul have been in a state of flux. Their populations are a complex of Sunnis, Kurds and Shi'ites. Sunni leaders tell VOA their community feels increasingly marginalized by Kurdish and Shi'ite groups that have territorial ambitions in the region.

Khairuallah Abdullah, a Sunni activist from Kirkuk, told VOA that IS fighters are pressuring Sunni villagers to support their insurgent attacks on Shi'ite and Kurdish forces.

IS uses money to buy the loyalty of villagers who have just returned to their homes, he said. Those who refuse to pledge loyalty, especially the village headmen, face torture and death.
Israel's government formally suspended plans on Sunday for a mixed-gender prayer space at Jerusalem's Western Wall, bowing to opposition from Orthodox Jewish politicians to reforms at one of Judaism's holiest sites.

The decision will put Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at odds with the Conservative and Reform movements of Judaism that have large followings outside Israel but will smooth his relations with ultra-Orthodox parties in his ruling coalition.

The wall is revered as a vestige of Judaism's two ancient temples and access to it is segregated by gender. Most religious rites take place in the men's section in accordance with centuries-old Orthodox standards that hold sway in Israel.

The government has faced calls by more progressive Jewish movements in Israel and abroad to add an egalitarian section along the wall and in 2016 voted 15-5 to do so, over the objections of ultra-Orthodox cabinet members.

But in the face of opposition from the two ultra-Orthodox parties in Netanyahu's coalition, the plan never got off the ground. Last week, the two parties proposed rescinding the 2016 decision.

At its weekly meeting on Sunday, the cabinet voted to formally freeze its implementation, the officials said, and Netanyahu instructed a minister from his Likud party to formulate a new proposal.

"Today's decision signifies a retreat from that agreement and will make our work to bring Israel and the Jewish world together increasingly more difficult," Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, a main outreach group to Jewish communities abroad.

The mixed-gender section was to have been located at a separate expanse of the wall that, when seen from the plaza looking toward the wall, stands to the right of the current Orthodox-administered compound where men and women will still worship separately.

More liberal streams of Judaism, which outside of Israel have larger followings than Orthodoxy, chafe at the restriction. The wall is officially administered by an ultra-Orthodox rabbi.
After a tumultuous year of politics and religious divisions, Eid al-Fitr has come peacefully to some of Jakartas poorest neighborhoods, which have been particularly affected by recent events.

Thousands of faithful converged on Jakartas historic Sunda Kelapa fishing harbor on Sunday morning for sholat, the morning prayers of Eid al-Fitr, the festival that ends the holy month of Ramadan.

But this Ramadan, a time of fasting and reflection, followed a year of upheaval in Jakarta politics. The city was cleaved by Islamist protests against the Chinese Christian governor Ahok, whose eventual election loss came only after a maelstrom of sectarian tensions against religious minorities and ethnic Chinese Indonesians.

The coastal communities near Sunda Kelapa had a big personal stake in the Jakarta election. Historic neighborhoods like Luar Batang and Pasar Ikan (fish market) were targeted for evictions by the previous governor, Ahok, and combined their fight for land rights with vociferous participation in the anti-Ahok protests last year.

Many were overjoyed that his rival, Anies Baswedan, won the election, but they arent relaxing just yet. Pasar Ikan residents observed Eid prayers on prayer rugs laid over the rubble that underlies most of their slum, which is largely composed of makeshift tents and informal structures.

We are still in the shadow of the threat posed by the Djarot administration, said Dharma Diani, a Pasar Ikan resident and land rights activist, referring to Ahoks deputy governor who is leading Jakarta until Anies takes office in October.

Even on the most festive day of the Muslim calendar, said Diani, We are still worried, not calm yet. And we wont be until Pak Anies is inaugurated.

A tide turned between the Jakarta election and Ramadan, at least for the Islamist groups that have pushed the agenda in recent months. The government announced its intent to ban the hardline group Hizbut Tahrir and issued a warrant for the arrest of Habib Rizieq Shihab, who leads the Islamic Defenders Front, widely know as FPI.

That means Ramadan proceeded largely without incident in the worlds largest Muslim country. There was even markedly less sweeping, or policing establishments that serve alcohol or food during daylight hours by thuggish acolytes of groups like FPI.

Families started filtering into picturesque Sunda Kelapa, near Pasar Ikan, just after daybreak in veiled prayer robes for women and hats and shawls for the men; they rolled out prayer rugs and newspapers to sit on until the brief communal prayer at 7:30.

Afterward they decamped to houses and the streets to joyously eat during daytime for the first time in a month. Most of those who remained in Jakarta for Eid are longtime locals: during this weekend, the city empties out as most residents go back to their extended families villages and hometowns, a migration known as mudik.

Ive lived in North Jakarta my whole life, so for us, mudik has never been far, joked Fitri, 35, a woman who attended sholat at Sunda Kelapa.

Others expressed relief that the month had come to an uneventful end. Jakarta police ramped up security around the city during the festivities.

Alhamdulillah, we have had a peaceful Ramadan after the Jakarta election, said Rizky, a 50-year-old man.

Indonesian Islam has long been so diverse that there isnt even, historically, a set date for Eid, one of the most important Muslim holidays: major Muslim bodies like Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah have disagreed on the exact date by a day, with apparently little incident. But for the past six years, the government has issued a suggested Eid date that is widely observed. Unity, meanwhile, was also a major theme of Sunday mornings sermons.

"Our homeland stretches from Sabang [Aceh in the West] to Merauke [Papua in the East] and has allowed us to build, prosper and maintain unity," an ulama, or religious scholar, said in a sholat sermon broadcast from Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta.
The urgency was easy to find inside the private receptions and closed-door briefings at the Koch brothers' donor retreat in Colorado Springs, where the billionaire conservatives and their chief lieutenants warned this weekend of a rapidly shrinking window to push their agenda through Congress.

No agenda items mattered more to the conservative Koch network than the GOP's promise to overhaul the nation's tax code and repeal and replace President Barack Obama's health care law. At the moment, however, both are bogged down by GOP infighting that jeopardizes their fate.

There is urgency, said Tim Phillips, who leads the network's political arm, Americans for Prosperity. We believe we have a window of about 12 months to get as much of it accomplished as possible before the 2018 elections grind policy to a halt.

The window for action may be even smaller, some Koch allies warned at a weekend donor retreat that drew roughly 400 participants to the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The price for admission for most was a pledge to give at least $100,000 this year to the Kochs' broad policy and political network. There were also at least 18 elected officials on hand. Some hosted private policy discussions with donors while others simply mingled.

In between meetings, Rep. Dave Brat, R-Virginia, predicted dire consequences in next year's midterm elections should his party fail to deliver on its repeated promises.

If we don't get health care, none of us are coming back, he said in a brief interview. We said for seven years you're gonna repeal Obamacare. It's nowhere near repealed.

It's the same for tax reform, Brat said: We don't get taxes through, we're all going home. Pack the bags.

There was a sense of deep frustration from conservative officials and donors alike in some cases, who decried the pace of progress in Washington with Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade.

Texas-based donor Doug Deason has already informed a handful of congressional Republicans that the Dallas piggy bank is closed until he sees more action. He said he was recently approached by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, about hosting a fundraiser.

I said, 'No I'm not going to because we're closing the checkbook until you get some things done,' Deason said, noting he's encouraged nearly two dozen major Texas donors to follow his lead.

Get Obamacare repealed and replaced, get tax reform passed, Deason continued. Get it done and we'll open it back up.

While some donors threatened to withhold campaign cash, Koch's team outlined a broader strategy to help shape the debate.

Already, Americans For Prosperity claims a paid staff of more than 400 full-time activists in 36 states. Koch officials said that the network's midterm budget for policy and politics is between $300 million and $400 million.

The group is actively lobbying Senate Republicans to change their current health care proposal, which it views as insufficiently conservative.

We are not committed to the Senate bill in its current form, but there is still time to make changes and we're actively working to improve it, Phillips said.

At the same time, Koch's allies are aggressively pushing forward on the taxes. The network is running what it describes as a first wave of digital ads calling on more than 50 House and Senate Republicans in both parties to overhaul the nation's tax code. Later in the summer, Philips said, Americans for Prosperity will begin hosting rallies and other events to generate momentum for a tax overhaul in all 36 states where they have full-time operations.

Sean Lansing, AFP's chief operating officer, warned that the Republican Party's House majority could be in jeopardy if the Republican-led Congress doesn't follow through.

If they don't make good on these promises...there are going to be consequences, and quite frankly there should be, Lansing said.

Republicans would have to lose 24 seats to lose the House majority. And in a handful of recent special elections, the GOP has prevailed, despite President Donald Trump's low approval ratings.

Another Koch donor, Chris Wright, of Colorado, says Republicans likely have a 10-month window before any chance of major policy action is suffocated by next year's midterms.

If we don't get anything done by then, the elections probably don't go very well, Wright said. They may not go well anyway.
The prime minister of the southern African kingdom of Lesotho, who fled what he called an attempted coup, is in South Africa to discuss recent unrest in his country.

Thomas Thabane accused Lesotho's Deputy Prime Minster Mothetjoa Metsing, who is now in charge of the country, of orchestrating the unrest.

Regional ministers of the Southern African Development Community were to meet Sunday with Thabane and Metsing to resolve the political stalemate that led to the alleged coup over the weekend, SADC executive secretary Stergomena Lawrence Tax said.

Tax said calm appears to have returned to Lesotho after gunshots were heard when military police surrounded government buildings and Thabane's official resident during an alleged coup attempt Saturday in the capital, Maseru.

We have intervened by encouraging the leaders to resolve their differences in a democratic manner. We are encouraging them to ensure that everything goes back to normal and that is happening. The situation has normalized now, Tax said.

Alleged coup attempt

Thabane, who fled with his family to neighboring South Africa after receiving intelligence that he was the target of a military assassination attempt, described the unrest as a coup attempt.

However, military spokesman Major Ntlele Ntoi said the military was trying to secure the country before a mass anti-government demonstration scheduled for Monday.

"What happened this morning was that the command of the Lesotho Defense Force was acting after receiving several intelligence reports that amongst the police service, there are some elements who are actually planning to arm some of the political, party political youth fanatics who were on the verge of wrecking havoc," Ntoi said.

U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon has called for respect for the constitutional order and democratic rule.

In a statement Sunday, Ban welcomed efforts by the SADC, the Commonwealth and other partners in Lesotho to support the restoration of trust among members of the government.

The United States called for a "peaceful dialogue" and respect for the democratic process in the kingdom.

'Want my neck'

In a phone interview with VOA, Thabane said the situation involved "total indiscipline" in the army. He said soldiers were "running around the streets, threatening people" and "quite openly stating that they want my neck."

Thabane accused a former top military commander of leading the unrest. He said he would return to his country as soon as he knew he "was not going to get killed."

Military officials in Lesotho, a country of about 2 million people, have denied plotting a coup.

Thabane told VOA the attempt to overthrow his administration stemmed from his fight to root out corruption in Lesotho. He urged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to help restore order.

A South African government spokesman, Clayson Monyela, said no one is claiming leadership in Lesotho. However, he said the military's actions have the markings of a putsch.

"Although no one has claimed to have taken over government through the use of force, by all accounts the activities of the Lesotho defense force thus far bear the hallmarks of a coup d'etat," he said.

A rocky recent history

The mountainous kingdom, surrounded by South Africa, has repeatedly been beset by political instability since gaining independence in 1966. Until then it had been a British protectorate known as Basutoland.

A peaceful election in 2012 produced a three-party coalition government that many observers hoped would bring lasting stability  but the fragile government reportedly collapsed several months ago.

In June, South Africa had issued a stern warning to Lesotho after the prime minister suspended parliament in what appeared to be an attempt to dodge a no-confidence vote.

Instability is inherent in Lesothos political system, said Tom Wheeler, a former South African diplomat who is now an independent analyst.

"Well, I suppose the problem is its a democracy," Wheeler said, noting that coalition partners and the opposition disagreed "with what the prime minister is doing, and therefore have pulled the plug on the coalition. And I think thats the cause of the instability.

"This man whos the prime minister is a democratically elected person from a not-majority party, and that sort of instability is built into the system."

Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy with a king whose powers are largely ceremonial.

South Africas role

Wheeler said South Africans should not be overly concerned about upheaval in the enclave, despite their history of armed intervention in Lesotho's previous political crises.

"Its not going be a big issue," he said, recalling that in 1998, Mangosuthu Buthelezi  a tribal leader whod held senior positions in the African National Congress  was South Africas acting president while Nelson Mandela was abroad.

He sent an SADC force to Lesotho to try to prevent a coup. The troops were repulsed by the Lesotho army. It was a great embarrassment to South Africa, Wheeler said.

"So I think we would stand back and say, Get on with it, boys, its not our problem, and not be worried about it."
More than 75 people, mostly young children, have gotten measles in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Nearly all were unvaccinated.

Measles is one of the most highly contagious diseases that exists. All it takes is a sneeze or a cough to spread the virus in tiny droplets through the air.

One person can infect up to 18 others. Each one of those people infects another dozen or so people, and it spreads from there.

Ninety percent of those exposed will get the virus, unless they have been vaccinated or have already had measles.

The measles virus can linger on doorknobs, tables, any surface for up to two hours. Touch it and you're exposed.

'Not a trivial disease'

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, says, "Measles is not a trivial disease. If you have a measles outbreak, a proportion of people are going to have serious complications."

The complications can be as serious as permanent brain damage. It can leave a child blind or deaf. Measles also kills.

Dr. Peter Hotez is a professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He's also the director of Texas Childrens Hospital Center for Vaccine Development.

Hotez told VOA, "In the pre-vaccine era, we had about 500 kids die of measles every year in the U.S. and 50,000 hospitalizations."

And that's not all. Dr. Flavia Bustreo at the World Health Organization says measles can have lingering consequences.

"Measles can lead to pneumonia, and a reduction in immune function for some time after the infection, so the child becomes weaker and more susceptible to other infections," Bustreo said.

The U.S. was declared measles free in 2000. Last year the World Health Organization declared the Americas measles free. This came after a 22-year campaign to eradicate this disease in both North and South America. The achievement was considered a historic milestone.

International hub

So, why, you could ask, have more than 75 people, mostly children, gotten measles in the Midwestern state of Minnesota?

All cases of measles in the Americas are imported. In Minnesota, the outbreak started among the Somali-American community and spread because this group had low vaccination rates for measles.

Minneapolis is an international hub where people arrive from countries around the world. As of now, no one knows the identity of the first patient with measles, whether it was someone visiting from abroad or if an unvaccinated American brought the disease home after traveling overseas.

Like most pediatricians in the U.S., Dr. Hope Scott counts herself lucky to have never seen a case of measles. "The kids who get measles are really, really sick. Its a pretty big deal to get measles," she says.

The first signs of measles are a runny nose, cough and a fever followed by a blotchy rash that starts on the face and then spreads all over the body. Once the rash appears, the fever spikes.

An infected person can spread the virus to others about four days before the rash appears and for about four more days afterward.

Hospitalizations

About a third of the children who have acquired measles in Minnesota have been hospitalized. There is no treatment that can get rid of a measles infection, but doctors can treat the symptoms.

Patsy Stinchfield, a nurse practitioner who's overseeing care at Children's Minnesota, where these children have been treated, says they are exhausted and dehydrated when they arrive. But, she told VOA, that so far none of the children has suffered any complications.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has asked doctors to work with parents who are reluctant to get their children vaccinated.

Reston Town Center Pediatrics in Virginia allows parents to set up a delayed vaccine schedule for their children, to a point.

Scott says the practice will work with the parents until the child is about 2 years old. Then, if the child is not vaccinated and the parents don't have a plan to do so, Scott said the office sends them a letter saying their children can no longer be treated at the practice.

Measles is not just a childhood disease. Adults can get it, too, and adults are also at risk for complications.

The best protection is to get two doses of the measles vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children get the first dose after their first birthday and the second when they are 4 to 6 years old. The two doses together provide 97 percent protection against measles.

Stinchfield said Children's Minnesota has a walk-in clinic for measles vaccinations. She said before the outbreak, about 500 children would get vaccinated against the virus in a week. Since the outbreak, 3,000 people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds get vaccinated each week.
Southern California taxi driver Gurmukh Singh faces deportation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. His request for asylum was turned down 18 years ago, and he has been trying ever since to get the decision reversed. In early May, the husband of an American wife and father of two teenage daughters was detained.

That's when his congressman, Representative Alan Lowenthal, stepped in and filed a private immigration bill that would legalize Singh's status.

While members of Congress can intervene in individual immigration cases, the process recently became harder as the Trump administration changed the way immigration authorities approach such cases.

What is a private bill?

A private bill is a piece of legislation creating a law affecting a particular individual or a small group of people. Such bills can provide relief from another law, grant a unique benefit or relieve someone from legal responsibility for an allegedly wrongful act. Often, members of Congress introduce these bills to address the status of individuals who have exhausted all their other options in the U.S. immigration system.

How often does this happen?

Private bills are not commonly used. Between 1986 and 2013, 94 private bills were enacted. Almost 300 private bills have been introduced since 2010, says Jill Marie Bussey, the advocacy director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. She says the actual number of those enacted will be small.

"They're like Hail Mary passes," Bussey added, "It's a situation of last resort."

What are the changes to private bills?

In the past, ICE would delay deportations of undocumented immigrants with private bills pending in Congress  about 70 cases in the last six years, according to the agency. But in May 2017, ICE informed Congress it would only defer deportations for up to six months and only after receiving a written request by the chair of the House and Senate judiciary committees or one of their subcommittees. Committee chairs are usually members of the majority party.

ICE says that the majority of private bills are intended to confer lawful permanent resident status by "circumventing the normal immigration law framework."

Bussey says that private bills are used infrequently and only in situations when there's no way to resolve the immigration case under current law.

"This is not about circumventing," she said, "this is about providing protection in very unique ways."

Robert Law, director of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says the changes will make for a fairer process. "This is truly an example of individualized, case-by-case analysis and discretion," he said about private bills.

But some members of Congress feel the guidance upsets the balance of power.

"This is a mean-spirited action that tramples firm, longstanding practice between two coequal branches of government," said Dianne Feinstein and Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Immigration Subcommittee.

Can members of Congress still intervene?

Members of Congress can still impact immigration cases in other, less formal ways. Bussey says members can call a local ICE office to get involved in a deportation or the U.S. State Department, when a case involves visa issues.

"There's human error in all of this stuff," said Bussey. "Even doing everything the right way, you know you've completed the forms properly, you know you've completed the case, things can go wrong."

That's exactly how freshman Representative Charlie Crist, a Democrat from Florida, was able to assist the Huynhs, longtime family friends who run a jewelry store in his district. He told VOA about walking into their store last Christmas to discover an emotional Mrs. Huynh.

"She was telling me about her daughter Kim who had gotten married a year prior and yet her husband wasn't allowed to come [from] Vietnam to be with her in America," Crist said. He joined Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was already making regular phone calls to the State Department.

In the end, State Department officials interviewing Kim's husband spotted a picture of Crist in Kim's Saigon apartment and asked if he was a family friend. Three days later, he had his visa.

Where are lines drawn?

The responsibilities for regulating immigration are divided between Congress and the executive branch.

"Deferred action and parole are meant to be very, very limited, under very narrow circumstances," Law said. "There needs to be that clear line about what the letter of the law is and, if there are problems with the law, then we have a legislative process to fix it."

Bussey says that when members of Congress get personally involved in immigration cases, they learn more about "what's going on with these agencies, what people are facing day to day and, hopefully, they can learn from that."
The Shiv Sena, which is the BJP's alliance partner in Maharashtra, praised the Devendra Fadnavis government for reaching out to leaders across political parties on the issue of farm loan waiver.

By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: The Shiv Sena, which has earlier attacked Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for failing to meet farmers' demands, has praised the Fadnavis government for announcing the farm loan waiver.

In its editorial mouthpiece Saamana, the Shiv Sena, which is the BJP's alliance partner in Maharashtra, lauded the Devendra Fadnavis government for reaching out to leaders across political parties on the issue of farm loan waiver.

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The editorial said that farmers in the state will always be indebted to the Fadnavis government.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently announced a Rs 34,022 crore loan waiver which is expected to provide relief to at least 89 lakh farmers in Maharashtra.

LOAN WAIVER NOT A FASHION

In its editorial, the Seva Sena was, however, critical of the debate surrounding farm loan waiver putting a stress on the state's coffers. It said that the loan waiver was important to check the spate of farmer suicides in Maharashtra.

Uddhav Thackeray lashed out at those who called farm loan waivers "a fashion" and said that for the Shiv Sena the fight was about saving the farmers and their families.

SHIV SENA FOUGHT FOR FARMERS

The Sena also attacked the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for trying to take the credit for farm loan waiver.

In the Saamana editorial, the Shiv Sena said that Uddhav Thackeray-led party constantly supported farmers and promised them of a loan waiver for which the party even took on its own government in the state.

The editorial said that the Shiv Sena would continue to put pressure on the government to help the 40 lakh farmers who could not be covered under the recently announced loan waiver.

In the editorial, the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that his party would also look into the issue of the cases registered against farmers during the recent agitation in the state.

ALSO READ:

Mumbai: Shiv Sena joins Opposition to demand loan waiver for Maharashtra farmers

Shiv Sena elected representatives to donate a month's salary for farm loan waiver

Jaitley on farm loan waiver: States should generate funds from own resources

ALSO WATCH: Loan waiver has become a fashion, says Venkaiah Naidu

--- ENDS ---
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he is "confident in the growing convergence" between India and the U.S. as he prepares to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Modi stated his optimism for economic growth and increased bilateral trade between the two countries.

"In an uncertain global economic landscape, our two nations stand as mutually reinforcing engines of growth and innovation," he wrote.

On Sunday, Modi met with top American business executives and members of the Indian diaspora on his first visit to the U.S. since Trump was elected president.

Meeting with tech leaders



At a hotel meeting in Washington with leaders of some of the top American technology companies, the prime minister extolled the virtues of doing business in India where he said there was "minimum government," making it easy to do business in the South Asian nation.

Among those attending the meeting were Google's Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Systems, who are all Indian Americans. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Apple's Tim Cook also attended the meeting.

Indian diaspora



Later Sunday, at a hotel in Northern Virginia, the prime minister met with nearly 1,000 members of the Indian community in America.

Modi will meet with President Trump at the White House Monday for the first face-to-face discussion between the two leaders. Ahead of the meeting, Trump tweeted Saturday that he was looking forward to discussing strategic issues with a "true friend".



The two governments are working on a joint statement about fighting terrorism, and a senior White House official says: We can expect to see some new initiatives on counterterrorism cooperation."

There is angst in New Delhi that Trump has not paid adequate attention to India, but Trump has generally been positive about India in public messaging. He previously visited Mumbai as a businessman, and he has Trump-branded properties in the country.

Modi, who like Trump, came into politics from a business background, is also expected to meet with a number of American CEOs, securing a deal with California drone-maker General Atomics for the sale of 22 Guardian (MQ-9) unarmed drones to Indias navy for maritime patrolling, as well a tentative deal with Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems to produce F-16 fighter jets in India.
Launched a year ago, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on drugs has resulted in thousands of deaths, yet the street price of crystal methamphetamine in Manila has fallen and surveys show Filipinos are as anxious as ever about crime.

Duterte took power on June 30 last year, vowing to halt the drug abuse and lawlessness he saw as "symptoms of virulent social disease."

Thanks to his campaign, government officials say, crime has dropped, thousands of drug dealers are behind bars, a million users have registered for treatment, and future generations of Filipinos are being protected from the scourge of drugs.

"There are thousands of people who are being killed, yes," said Oscar Albayalde, Metro Manila's police chief told Reuters. "But there are millions who live, see?"

A growing chorus of critics, however, including human rights activists, lawyers and the country's influential Catholic Church, dispute the authorities' claims of success.

They say police have summarily executed drug suspects with impunity, terrorizing poorer communities and exacerbating the very lawlessness they were meant to tackle.

"This president behaves as if he is above the law - that he is the law," wrote Amado Picardal, an outspoken Filipino priest, in a recent article for a Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines publication. "He has ignored the rule of law and human rights."

The drug war's exact death toll is hotly disputed, with critics saying the toll is far above the 5,000 that police have identified as either drug-related killings, or suspects shot dead during police operations.

Most victims are small-time users and dealers, while the masterminds behind the lucrative drug trade are largely unknown and at large, say critics of Duterte's ruthless methods.

If the strategy was working the laws of economics suggest the price of crystal meth, the highly addictive drug also known as 'shabu', should be rising as less supply hits the streets.

But the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency's own data suggests shabu has become even cheaper in Manila.

In July 2016, a gram of shabu cost 1,200-11,000 pesos ($24-$220), according to agency's figures. Last month, a gram cost 1,000-15,000 pesos ($20-$300), it said.

The wide ranges reflect swings in availability and sharp regional variations. Officials say Manila's street prices are at the lowest end of the range. And that has come down, albeit by just a few dollars.

"If prices have fallen, it's an indication that enforcement actions have not been effective," said Gloria Lai of the International Drug Policy Consortium, a global network of non-governmental groups focused on narcotics.

The problem is, according to Derrick Carreon, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency's spokesman, that while nine domestic drug labs have been busted, shabu smuggled in from overseas has filled the market gap.

"Demand needs to be addressed because there are still drug smugglers," Carreon said.

While smuggled shabu has kept the price down in the capital, the official data shows the price has gone up in the already substantially more expensive far-flung regions, like the insurgency-racked southern island of Mindanao.

Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao last month after militants inspired by Islamic State stormed Marawi City, and the army's failure to retake the city quickly has dented the president's image as a law-and-order president.

Afraid of the dark

Surveys by Social Weather Stations (SWS), a leading Manila pollster, reveal a public broadly supportive of Duterte's anti-drug campaign, but troubled by its methods and dubious about its effectiveness.

SWS surveys in each of the first three quarters of Duterte's rule showed a "very high satisfaction" with the anti-drug campaign, said Leo Laroza, a senior SWS researcher.

In the most recent survey, published on April, 92 percent said it was important that drug suspects be captured alive.

Respondents also reported a 6.3 percent rise in street robberies and break-ins. More than half of those polled said they were afraid to venture out at night, a proportion that had barely changed since the drug war began, said Laroza.

"People still have this fear when it comes to their neighborhoods," he said. "It has not gone down."

Public and police perceptions of crime levels seem to diverge.

The number of crimes committed in the first nine months of Duterte's rule has dropped by 30 percent, according to police statistics cited by the president's communications team.

Albayalde, the capital's police chief, said people, particularly in Manila, felt safer now, especially due to a crackdown on drug users who he said commit most of the crime.

In the first 11 months of Duterte's rule, police say 3,155 suspects were shot dead in anti-drug operations. Critics maintain that many of them were summarily executed.

Police say they have investigated a further 2,000 drug-related killings, and have yet to identify a motive in at least another 7,000 murders and homicides.

Human rights monitors believe many of these victims were killed by undercover police or their paid vigilantes, a charge the police deny.

For residents of Navotas fish port, a warren of shacks near Manila's docks, the body count is too high. There were nine killings in a single night in Navotas earlier this month, according to local media.

In mid-May, said resident Mary Joy Royo, a dozen gunmen arrived on motorbikes and abducted her mother and stepfather.

Their corpses were found later with execution-style gunshots to the head and torso.

"They should be targeting the drug lords," Royo told Reuters. "The victims of the drug war are the poor people."

Ripple effect

As the death toll has risen, so has domestic and international outrage.

In October, the Hague-based International Criminal Court said it could investigate the killings if they were "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population."

Police operations were halted for much of February after it emerged that anti-drug police abducted and killed a South Korean businessman last year, but the outcry over the rising body count has rarely slowed the killing or led to prosecutions.

The Philippine Commission on Human Rights is investigating 680 drug-war killings.

"In this country the basic problem is impunity," Chito Gascon, the commission's chairman, said. "No one is ever held to account for the worst violations. Ever."

Police chief Albayalde says that the force's Internal Affairs Service (IAS) investigates all allegations of abuse by his officers.

"We do not tolerate senseless killings," he said. "We do not just kill anybody."

IAS told Reuters it had investigated 1,912 drug-related cases and recommended 159 officers for dismissal due to misconduct during anti-drug operations, although it didn't know whether any had yet been dismissed.

Earlier this month, 19 police officers charged with murdering two drug suspects in their jail cell in November were released on bail and now face trial for the lesser crime of homicide.

Duterte, who has repeatedly urged police to kill drug suspects, had already vowed to pardon the officers if they were convicted.

"You have a head of state who says, 'Kill, kill, kill,' a head of state who says, 'I've got your back,'" said CHR's Gascon. "That has a ripple effect."
An unidentified armed group in Central African Republic shot and killed a Red Cross worker in a town where more than 100 people have died in militia attacks in recent weeks, the Red Cross said on Monday.

Joachim Ali, a Red Cross volunteer in the diamond-mining town of Bangassou in the southeast of the country, was killed on Friday evening while on duty at the organization's compound, according to a spokesman.

He is the second Red Cross worker to be killed during the conflict, after a driver died in 2014. The Central African Red Cross Society is investigating Ali's death, a statement said.

Thousands have died and a fifth of Central Africans have fled their homes in the conflict that broke out after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in 2013, provoking a backlash from Christian anti-balaka militias.

Thirteen of the 14 armed groups along with representatives from the government signed a peace accord last Monday in Rome brokered by the Roman Catholic Sant' Egidio peace group.

About 50 people were killed in the town of Bria, northeast of the capital, in fighting between factions shortly afterwards.
A plea by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Gulf states to tone down their rhetoric in a rapidly escalating diplomatic standoff involving Qatar, Saudi Arabia and three Saudi allies appears to be falling on deaf ears.

Bahrain, one of the Saudi allies, has accused Qatar of creating a military escalation in the deepening dispute by letting in more Turkish troops.

And Iran angered the Saudi-allied group by saying that a Saudi-led blockade of Qatar is "unacceptable." Tehran pledged to keep Iranian air space and sea routes open for Qatar to weather the blockade imposed on the tiny emirate by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

In a phone call late Sunday with the Qatari emir, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told him, "Tehran will stand by Qatar's government," according to a statement released by Iran's Foreign Ministry. "Iran's air space, ground and sea will always be open to Qatar as a ... friendly nation," said Rouhani, adding the cooperation between the two countries will remain "continuous."

The Saudis and their allies have demanded Qatar scale back ties with Iran.

Terror funding charges

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain accuse Qatar of funding terrorism and fomenting regional instability; but only two of the demands in a list of 13 made public last week focus on funding of jihadist or militant groups. Other demands include Doha shuttering its international broadcaster, Al-Jazeera, whose Arab-language broadcasts especially have long angered the Saudis and other dynastic Gulf leaders. They see Al-Jazeera as an arm of Qatari foreign policy, fomenting dissent.

They also want the emirate to sever ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Sunni Islamist movement accused by some countries of being a terrorist organization. The Muslim Brotherhood denies it supports violence and several affiliates have participated in democratic politics.

Qatari officials say the Saudis, who have also been accused of funding Islamic militants, want to force Doha to realign its foreign policy with Riyadh.

But Sunday, Tillerson said it would be very difficult for Qatar to meet some of the Saudi demands. He urged all parties to negotiate an end to the Persian Gulf standoff, the worst diplomatic crisis among Gulf allies in decades.

The Saudis have given Qatar until July 3 to comply with its demand, but Qatar has rejected the demands as unreasonable, saying they impinge on the emirate's sovereignty. Tillerson said "there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution."

Disagreement deepens

The mood Monday appeared to darken with an increase in the rhetoric. Bahrain's foreign minister lashed out at Qatar and  without directly naming it  Turkey, whose president has close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. About 100 Turkish troops with armored vehicles have arrived in Doha since the crisis erupted, along with cargo planes loaded with supplies, and Turkey appears set to send another 900 soldiers.

"The foundation of the dispute with Qatar is diplomatic and security-oriented, never military," Bahrain's foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, said on Twitter. "Bringing in foreign armies and their armored vehicles is the military escalation that Qatar has created," he added.

In a show of support, Turkey rushed through legislation to send more troops to Qatar days after the blockade was imposed on Qatar three weeks ago. On Sunday, Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, dismissed the Saudi-led demands as unlawful interference in Qatar's domestic affairs.

"To ask Turkey to pull its troops from Qatar is, firstly, disrespectful behavior toward us," he said in Istanbul. "We don't need permission from anyone to establish military bases among partners."

According to Qatar's economy minister, Nihat Zeybekci, Turkey has sent more than 120 cargo planes of supplies to the emirate.

"These moves should not be seen as being directed against anyone," he said, adding that Turkey was just working to meet the daily needs of the Qatari people. "We hope these problems will be resolved soon."

The standoff in the Gulf has exposed rifts in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Some analysts argue that mixed messages coming out of Washington risk prolonging the crisis. Trump tweeted his support of the Saudis, but the State and Defense departments have been more cautious, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis assured Doha of continuing support.
Human rights groups say the international community, including the United Nations, needs to press Lao authorities on human rights issues.

The calls come amid a string of harsh jail terms handed down by Lao courts against critics of the Communist government.



Rights groups point to Laos failures in taking significant steps to remedy a poor human rights record and tough restrictions on freedom of speech, association and assembly.



Three Lao migrant workers were recently sentenced to jail terms of between 12 and 20 years for comments posted on social media while in Thailand and because they attended a protest outside the Lao Embassy in Bangkok.



The three  two men, Somphone Phimmasone, Soukan Chaithad and a woman, Lodkham Thammavorg  were arrested when they returned to Laos after posting the messages critical of the Laos government on social media in Thailand.



Harsh sentencing



The United Nations Human Rights Office for South East Asia (OHCHR) responded in a statement after receipt of official notification, saying it was alarmed by the harsh sentencing and called for their release.



The workers posted messages on social media critical of the government in Vientiane, alleging corruption, deforestation, and human rights violations.



The three were paraded in custody on state-run TV at police headquarters in Vientiane. In an official news report, the government said the three had been arrested for threatening national security by using social media to tarnish the governments reputation.



The UNs OHCHR acting regional representative, Laurent Meillan, said the sentencing of the workers represented a very harsh punishment, which is not necessary or proportionate and violates the international human rights obligations of Lao PDR.



Meillan criticized the government for holding the three incommunicado and then forcing them to apologize on state television for being traitors to the governing party, the government and the Lao People.



He said the confessions on national TV were disturbing and in contradiction with the right to a fair trial.



Conflicting versions



Rights activists said authorities had provided differing versions of the arrests and detention of the three leading up to the sentencing.



Other concerns raised by rights organizations included families being warned by authorities against taking legal action after the verdict or seeking legal representation for their relatives in court.



Andrea Giorgetta, Asia Desk director with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), said the verdicts have raised concerns over the Lao judicial process.



Basically, the government of Laos claims that all the procedures were duly followed, and we know that this is not true and we know that that the right to a fair trial wasnt respected beginning from when they actually paraded the three suspects at a press conference, Giorgetta said.



Laos has faced criticism over several cases of harsh sentencing of activists and individuals in past years. In 1999, authorities detained three activists for attempting to stage a peaceful protest. They were sentenced to 15 years in jail.



In 2003, two Hmong were sentenced to 12 and 20 year sentences after serving as guides for foreign journalists reporting on the Hmong in Laos. Lao authorities said they had been guilty of obstruction of justice.



Lack of international reaction

Deputy Asia Director for Human Rights Watch, Phil Robertson, said the Lao government appeared to persist with harsh jail terms given there was little significant international reaction compared to the reaction to similar cases in Thailand or Myanmar.



Laos believes it can get away with such harsh sentencing because no one is paying attention, 'little Laos' isnt on the top of anybodys priority list. And the system of justice and incarceration there is opaque, that no one is ever going to find out what actually happened to the people once they are sent away [to jail], Robertson said.



Rights activists have raised their frustrations with regional governments and the international community, including the UN, for what they say is a failure to press Laos harder to improve its human rights record.



Debbie Stothard, secretary-general of FIDH, says the international community needs to take more action to address rights issues in Laos.



Its about time we went beyond statements of concern and condemnation to actual policies that affected other forms of engagement with the Laotian regime. Laos receives funding  it receives aid and it receives lots of income, revenue through foreign investment and trade and its about time we put our money where our mouth is, Stothard told VOA.



In an email comment to VOA, a U.N. spokesperson for the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Laos said the UN office was in fact working closely with OHCHR and the other UN agencies to promote human rights in Laos.



This work included advocating international rights, norms and standards. The spokesperson said the UN had an ongoing dialogue with the Laos government, including the specific cases of the three migrant workers.



After talks with Lao authorities in February, the European Union (EU) said in a statement it had pressed rights issues in a frank and open atmosphere including cases of persons who have been detained or disappeared.
Social media giants Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft say they are forming a working group to remove terrorist content from their platforms.

The global technology companies announced Monday they are creating the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism which will help them share technical solutions to remove terrorist and extremist postings.

The companies are facing growing pressure from governments around the world to quickly remove hateful content. They have previously begun working together to create fingerprints for videos or pictures with extremist information that can be shared across social media platforms.

The tech firms say the new forum will also help them to commission research to fight terrorist speech as well as to work with counter-terrorism experts.

The forum will formalize and structure existing and future areas of collaboration between our companies and foster cooperation with smaller tech companies, civil society groups and academics, governments and supra-national bodies such as the EU and the U.N., the companies said in a statement. The scope of our work will evolve over time as we will need to be responsive to the ever-evolving terrorist and extremist tactics.

Last week, European heads of state called on tech companies to develop new technology to automatically detect and remove extremist content. Germany has proposed a new law that would fine social media firms up to $56 million if they do not quickly remove extremist postings.
A SpaceX rocket carried 10 communications satellites into orbit from California on Sunday, two days after the company successfully launched a satellite from Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off through low-lying fog at 1:25 p.m. PDT from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. It carried a second batch of new satellites for Iridium Communications, which is replacing its orbiting fleet with a next-generation constellation of satellites.

About 7 minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first-stage booster returned to earth and landed on a floating platform on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, while the rocket's second stage continued to carry the satellites toward orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 on Friday launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and boosted a communications satellite for Bulgaria into orbit. Its first stage was recovered after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, believes reusing rocket components will bring down the cost of space launches.

Iridium plans to put in place 75 new satellites for its mobile voice and data communications system by mid-2018, requiring six more launches, all by SpaceX.

The $3 billion effort by the McLean, Virginia, company involves complex procedures to replace 66 operational satellites in use for many years. Some of the new satellites will be so-called on-orbit spares, or older satellites that remain in orbit on standby for use if the newer ones malfunction.

Swapping out and deorbiting some old satellites has already begun, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a pre-launch call with reporters.

Several old satellites have been moved into lower orbits to use up their remaining fuel and configure the solar panels for maximum drag so they will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up.

The first re-entry was believed to have occurred on June 11, Desch said.

"It's hard to celebrate something like that, but these satellites have put in almost 20 years of service, and making sure we've cleaned up after ourselves as we deploy our new constellation is a priority," he said.

The new satellites also carry payloads for joint-venture Aerion's space-based, real-time tracking and surveillance of aircraft around the globe, which has implications for efficiency, economy and safety  especially in remote airspace over the oceans.

"This will truly be a revolutionary aspect of air-traffic control," said Aireon CEO Don Thomas.

The technology, which requires aircraft to be equipped with certain equipment, is undergoing testing involving eight of the initial batch of Iridium NEXT satellites.

The Iridium NEXT program also will bring an end to so-called "Iridium flares," which space enthusiasts have observed for years. The new satellites will not create visible flashes of reflected sunlight as they passed overhead.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the number of Americans without health insurance would rise by 22 million during the next decade under the U.S. Senate's version of a health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act.

That number is one million lower than the CBO estimated under the House of Representatives bill that narrowly passed last month. The CBO said Monday the Senate bill would reduce the federal deficit by $321 billion by 2026, compared to a $119 billion reduction for the House version.

Estimates for both bills expect average health insurance premiums to rise in the first two years, but fall beginning in 2020, while people pay more out of their pocket for deductibles and copayments.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the CBO score shows the Senate bill is "every bit as mean as the House bill."

"Republicans would be wise to read it like a giant stop sign urging them to turn back from this path that would be disastrous for the country, for middle class Americans and for their party," he said.

The White House criticized the CBO as having a "history of inaccuracy" when it comes to estimating the effects of health care laws. It further reiterated that President Donald Trump is committed to repealing and replacing the ACA, also commonly referred to as Obamacare, saying the program "has failed the American people for far too long."

Several Republicans have indicated they will not support moving forward with the party's bill in the Senate, putting the measure at risk of failure with Republicans holding only a 52-48 majority. Those opposed include moderates concerned about how the new law would hurt constituents back home and conservatives who say the bill leaves too much of the current system intact.

With no Democrats expected to support the Senate bill, Trump on Monday used Twitter to continue his criticism of the opposition lawmakers as "obstructionists," saying they "have no policies or ideas."

"Republican senators are working very hard to get there, with no help from the Democrats. Not easy! Perhaps just let OCare crash & burn!" Trump wrote.

The new health care bill would end the requirement that Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine. It would phase out subsidies to help lower income people buy insurance, curb taxes on the wealthy and cut hundreds of billions of dollars in funding over the next several years for the government's health care program for the poor and disabled.

Ever since Obamacare was enacted in 2010 without any Republican votes, House Republicans have voted dozens of times to repeal it, a futile effort as long as Obama was president. But repeal of the law could be possible with Republicans in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

If the Senate approves its repeal version, either the House would have to pass the same bill or reconcile its version with the Senate's before Trump could sign it into law.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he thinks his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, did not react to Russian meddling in last year's election when he learned of it because he thought Trump's challenger, Democrat Hillary Clinton, would win.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concluded last August, three months ahead of the November 8 election, that Russian President Vladimir Putin had directly ordered a cyber campaign to discredit the U.S. presidential election, defeat or at least damage Clinton and help Trump win.

Obama, according to a Washington Post report last week, weighed for weeks on how to respond to the CIA finding. But ultimately Obama did not make any direct response until late December, weeks after Trump had won the election, when he expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian compounds in the eastern United States that the U.S. believed Moscow was using for intelligence gathering.

In a series of Twitter comments, Trump said, "The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win and did not want to 'rock the boat.' He didn't 'choke,' he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good."



Trump claimed that "the real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling."

Later, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump "does believe [Obama] should have" done more to thwart the Russian meddling, but did not say what measures the former president should have undertaken.

In his tweets, Trump also defended his own actions against allegations his campaign aides possibly colluded with Russian officials to help him win and that he obstructed justice by firing James Comey, the former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, while he was heading the agency's Russia investigation.

A special counsel, headed by another former FBI director, Robert Mueller, is now leading the criminal investigation of Russian interference in the election and numerous congressional probes are also underway.

Trump offered his own early conclusion of the official investigations that are likely to last for months.

"With 4 months looking at Russia under a magnifying glass, they have zero 'tapes' of T people colluding," Trump said. "There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology!"

Trump, not wanting to diminish his victory, for months has been dismissive of the claims of Russian interference in the election, even though in January, before he took office, he acknowledged that Russia had hacked into computers at Democratic national headquarters in Washington and that Putin directed the cyberattack.

The file-sharing group WikiLeaks subsequently disclosed thousands of emails in the weeks leading up to the election that showed embarrassing behind-the-scenes efforts by Democratic operatives to help Clinton win the party's presidential election.

Clinton has said the steady drumbeat of information in the emails was one reason she lost the election after national surveys showed she was likely to win.
U.S. President Donald Trump Monday said a four-month probe into allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russia has turned up nothing, and he deserves an apology.

In a barrage of Twitter messages on Monday, Trump also accused former President Barack Obama of failing to act in response to intelligence reports that Russia was meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections because he thought Democrat Hillary Clinton would win the presidency despite the Kremlin's clan destine efforts.

Following up on the Twitter posts, spokesman Sean Spicer told White House reporters the president believes Russia was "probably" involved in election interference, and may not have been the only country doing so. Neither Spicer nor Trump indicated what action they thought Obama should have taken to counter Russia's election interference.

Spicer said Trump has been consistent in his position since January: "He believes that Russia probably was involved, potentially."

"Some other countries as well could have equally been involved - or could have been involved, not equally," the spokesman said, adding that Trump "stands by the statement that he made in January."

Asked specifically whether Trump believes intelligence assessments that Russian meddling was intended to help him win, Spicer said, "Ive never asked him that specific question."

Last August, three months before the American vote, the Central Intelligence Agency concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had directly ordered a cyber campaign to discredit the presidential election and to defeat or at least damage Clinton, thereby helping Trump win.

Obama pondered for weeks how to respond after being briefed on the CIA finding, The Washington Post reported last week. Ultimately, he made no direct response until after Trumps election victory, when he expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian facilities that the U.S. believed Moscow was using for intelligence gathering.

The Post article quoted a former senior Obama administration official involved in the White House deliberations on Russia as saying, "It is the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend. ... We sort of choked."

In a two-part Twitter post Monday, Trump seemed to be replying to the Obama official quoted in The Post article. "The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win and did not want to 'rock the boat.' He didn't 'choke,' he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good."

In a second two-part tweet, Trump wrote, "The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling. With 4 months looking at Russia under a magnifying glass, they have zero 'tapes' of T [Trump] people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology!"

Spokesman Spicer suggested to reporters Monday that Obama administration officials should be made to answer some serious questions about what they did or did not do in terms of acting on the intelligence they received months before the election.

I think its pretty clear that they knew all along that there was no collusion," Spicer said, "and thats very helpful for the president.

Spicer said Trump is taking action to prevent any further election interference: He signed an executive order on cyber security to strengthen our ability to combat anybody from interfering, not just in our election but in a lot of our key cyber infrastructure.

For months Trump has reacted dismissively to claims that Russian interference influenced the election, even though in January, before he took office, he acknowledged that Russia had hacked into computers at Democratic national headquarters in Washington and that Putin directed the cyberattack.

The file-sharing group WikiLeaks disclosed thousands of emails in the weeks leading up to the election that showed embarrassing behind-the-scenes efforts by Democratic operatives to help Clinton win the partys presidential nomination in mid-2016. Clinton has said the steady drumbeat of information about the emails was one reason she eventually lost the election, although national surveys had indicated she would win.
While Uddhav Thackeray demanded formation of a study group to monitor the package, RSS chief has courted controversy by saying that the loan waiver was not a permanent solution.

By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Even after Maharashtra government's loan waiver package of Rs 34,000 crore, the dispute over loan waiver seems to be far from over.

While Uddhav Thackeray demanded formation of a study group to monitor the package, RSS chief has courted controversy by saying that the loan waiver was not a permanent solution.

After unprecedented farmers' strike, Maharashtra government on Saturday announced a loan waiver package of Rs 34,000 crore. The state government called the scheme named after Shivaji Maharaj a historic step that would benefit close to 90 lakh farmers.

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However, the package had its own share of controversy as it has pitched the allies Shiv Sena and BJP against each other.

Even after the announcement of loan waiver, Uddhav Thackeray went on to meet protesting farmers in Puntamba village of Ahmednagar district that was epicenter of the protests.

Although Uddhav expressed satisfaction over loan waiver, he also said that the loan waiver was possible because of Shiv Sena's efforts.

Uddhav though expressed satisfaction over the loan waiver; he did not forget to claim that it was because of the Shiv Sena that the loan waiver has happened.

"There should be study group to monitor the loan waiver package. The government must announce the exact number of farmers who have benefitted from the scheme.

Shiv Sena is a part of the government and it has every right to know," said Thackeray in a press conference in Aurangabad.

Uddhav also demanded the government to withdraw cases filed against agitating farmers.

While the Shiv Sena tried to clinch credit, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat made yet another controversial remark by downplaying the loan waiver.

While speaking at a function in Mumbai the RSS Chief said, "Loan waiver is not the permanent solution. Farmers need to be educated about farming with lesser investment."

Bhagwat added that farmers should not be dependent on government and that if they think on short term profits they will become debt-ridden.

Meanwhile, a group of farmers from the Puntamba village met NCP chief Sharad Pawar expressing displeasure over the package. The group of farmers claimed that the recent package is unfair to farmers who regularly repay their loans.

The core committee of the protesting farmers too have rejected the loan waiver package. Incidentally, the Opposition too is demanding loan waiver without conditions to all the farmers.

Also read:

Shiv Sena lauds Maharashtra CM Fadnavis for loan waiver, says farmers will be indebted to government

Maharashtra: Upset over loan waiver, Puntamba farmers meet Sharad Pawar

--- ENDS ---
U.S. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford arrived in Afghanistan Monday with a mission to pull together the final elements of a military strategy that will include sending nearly 4,000 more U.S. troops into the country.



Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be meeting with Afghanistan officials as well as American and coalition leaders and troops.



U.S. Marines in Afghanistan's turbulent Helmand province are rekindling old relationships, and identifying weaknesses in the Afghan forces that the Trump administration hopes to address with the new strategy and the targeted infusion of American forces.



The top U.S. commander in Helmand says that although the Afghan forces have improved their ability to fight, they still need help at some key underpinnings of a combat force.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to take Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and Iraq off a list of countries that use or recruit child soldiers, in an announcement set for Tuesday, according to media reports.

The Reuters news agency reported last week that by delisting those countries, Tillerson is overruling recommendations from State Department experts and senior diplomats. Reuters also cited officials as saying the announcement is expected to be made as part of the department's annual Trafficking in Persons report.

The list, created through the Child Soldier Prevention Act, prohibits offending nations from receiving certain kinds of U.S. military aid.

In response, Human Rights Watch on Monday called on Tillerson to keep Myanmar and Iraq on the list.

Taking Burma and Iraq off the list "when they continue to use child soldiers, is both contrary to U.S. law and harms children still in the ranks," said Jo Becker, HRW's children's rights advocacy director. Becker also said that unless Tillerson reverses his decision, he will "gravely damage U.S. credibility in ending the use of children in warfare."

Myanmar has been on the list since its inception. Despite recent efforts to reduce recruitment, the country has yet to pass a law to criminalize the use of child soldiers and has refused to give U.N. observers access to ethnic armed groups.

"This isn't the time to let Burma [Myanmar] off the hook for its use of child soldiers," said Becker. "U.S. and U.N. pressure has led to important progress, but as long as children are still being recruited and found in its army's ranks, Burma should stay on the list."

Iraq was added in 2016. That year, HRW reported that government-backed tribal militias were recruiting children from displaced persons camps in Iraq in the fight against Islamic State. Despite Iraq being on the list, then-U.S. President Barack Obama issued a waiver to allow $3 billion in military aid to flow into that country last year.

"The Child Soldiers Prevention Act gives the president some discretion in applying sanctions against countries using child soldiers, but it doesn't give the State Department discretion to take off countries that belong on the list," Becker said. "Tillerson should do what the law requires and return Burma and Iraq to the list."
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that states cannot bar churches and other religious organizations from receiving taxpayer-funded grants for programs that have non-religious intent.

In the 7-2 ruling, the justices sided with Missouri's Trinity Lutheran Church, which had been denied state funding for a playground improvement project.

The church, which operates a preschool and day care, sued the state of Missouri after being ruled ineligible for a state-funded program that helps nonprofit groups buy rubber playground surfaces made from recycled tires.

The program's administrators denied the application citing the state's constitution, which prohibits aid from going either directly or indirectly to religious programs.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court's majority, said "the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand."

In a footnote, he underscored the limitations of the case, saying it involved "express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing" and that it "did not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination."

Despite the annotation, supporters of school choice saw the case as a victory that could possibly pave the way for vouchers to be used at religious schools.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos praised the ruling, saying that it "sends a clear message that religious discrimination in any form cannot be tolerated in a society that values the First Amendment."

"We should all celebrate the fact that programs designed to help students will no longer be discriminated against by the government based solely on religious affiliation," she said in a statement posted on the Department of Education's website.

DeVos is a proponent of school voucher programs, which use public money to help low-income students attend private schools, including religious ones.

Critics say providing government funds to private charter schools could undermine the public school system and hurt schools serving poor neighborhoods. Supporters say charter schools provide students from poor areas with a better choice.
A rights group and the wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez are demanding that Venezuelan authorities investigate allegations that he is being tortured in a military prison.

On Saturday, Amnesty International released a statement asking that authorities cease "any act that endangers [his] physical and psychological integrity" and his life. The statement noted the "special gravity" of Lopezs case, saying he had been isolated for roughly three weeks and denied access to visits by relatives.

Lopez, a leader of the Popular Will party and former mayor of Caracas Chacao district, is serving a 13-year sentence in Ramo Verde military prison for allegedly inciting violence in a 2014 anti-government march that left 43 people dead. The United Nations, numerous rights groups and international leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump have identified him as a political prisoner and called for his release.

Lopez reportedly shouted from inside the military prison that he was being tortured, according to a video released Friday by his wife, activist Lilian Tintori. In the video recorded from outside the prison, a man is heard shouting, "Lilian, I am being tortured. Denounce!"

Ultimas Noticias, a newspaper aligned with socialist President Nicolas Maduro, on Saturday published photographs showing Lopez receiving medical attention and a bag of food.

On Sunday, Tintori said she had not been able to meet with her husband since early June. She accused authorities of manipulating or falsifying the photos, saying they were taken three months ago, based on his haircut and clothing.

"They didnt let me in  to see Leopold and to see his state. I still dont know anything about him," she said in Spanish to reporters, in a video posted on Facebook.

As of Sunday, Maduros administration had not responded to the torture allegations.

In early May, Lopez was rumored to have died, and the government released a proof of life video.
China and Vietnam face a stiff new test in avoiding a showdown over undersea oil drilling after Beijing cut short a high-level meeting last week, but experts say the two sides will eventually patch things over.

Fan Changlong, vice chairman of Chinas Central Military Commission left early from a defense border meeting in Vietnam Thursday due to working arrangements, the official Xinhua News Agency in Beijing reported. Fan had met earlier in the week with Vietnams Communist Party general secretary, president and prime minister.

Talks cancelled

Neither side is saying officially whether something else led to the cancellation. Analysts who track Vietnam believe it comes down to a disputed South China Sea oil exploration tract in Vietnams hands as well as Hanois recent contact with Chinese rivals Japan and the United States.

Most analysts believe China was either sending Vietnam a signal about its deepening ties with the U.S. and Japan or pressing it to stop exploring for oil near Chinas nine-dash line or maybe both, said Murray Hiebert, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.

China claims most of South China Sea

China claims more than 90 percent of the sea, citing a so-called nine-dash demarcation line, though a world arbitration court rejected the legal basis for that claim in 2016.

Unless Hanoi reads the signal correctly and makes the changes China demands, we can expect Beijing to send more warning shots across Vietnams bow in the months to come, Hiebert said.

Beijing claims to the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea overlap Vietnams exclusive economic zone 370 kilometers off its east and south coasts.

Vietnam explores for oil

China probably pulled its general out of the talks to warn Vietnam about oil exploration at block 136, said Le Hong Hiep, research fellow with ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. The block lies southeast of mainland Vietnam and near a nine-dash line that China uses to mark its maritime claims stretching from Brunei and Malaysia past the Philippines to Taiwan.

Before cutting short his visit, the Chinese general told Vietnamese leaders the South China Sea islands had belonged to China since ancient times, Xinhua said. China uses historic usage as a basis for its maritime claims.

From the Vietnamese perspective, its on the continental shelf of Vietnam and Vietnam has sovereign rights over that area, and furthermore after the ruling last year by the arbitral tribunal, China does not have any legitimate claim over that area, Le said.

Other reasons for the general to leave

China probably bristled further when the Vietnamese prime minister met U.S. President Donald Trump in May and a group of Japanese politicians the following week. China resents Japan and the United States for offering military aid for Southeast Asian claimants to the disputed sea.

Oil exploration disputes have caused previous confrontations in the volatile China-Vietnam maritime rivalry, giving the latest disagreement a risky edge.

Past incidents

In 2011, Chinese vessels, in the same region in question today, cut a cable being placed underwater by a Vietnamese survey crew, the government in Hanoi said then. In 2014, vessels rammed one another as Chinas chief offshore driller positioned an oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam.

Disputes over maritime sovereignty led to deadly clashes between Vietnam and China in 1974 and 1988, as well.

Hanois state-owned oil firm Petrovietnam says on its website that in 2013 it had signed a contract to explore for oil again at block 136.

But China insists its still a disputed area and they believe that Vietnam is violating a common understanding between the leaderships of the two countries, Le said. In the background there is some resentment against Vietnams recent rapprochement with the U.S. and Japan as well, so I think there are a few things at work here.

Reconciliation expected

Vietnam will probably try to put aside the Chinese generals sudden departure to get along with China, experts say.

Vietnam cannot afford to have permanent antagonistic relations with China or to go out of their way to antagonize China because they have to sleep with their eyes open every night, said Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia-specialized emeritus professor of politics at The University of New South Wales in Australia. China has the worlds third strongest armed forces after the United States and Russia.

Calculated exchange

Exchanges over border issues work for both sides, he added. One, its a positive step, but two it also served propaganda functions for both sides to beam back into their country, to netizens who hate each other, cooperation of a positive nature.

Vietnam and China stepped up dialogue after the world arbitration ruling. Border defense talks had been in place since 2013. Senior leaders also met in January to discuss maritime cooperation that could include a joint search for undersea oil or gas. Both countries also value the sea's fisheries.

China, for its part has attached high importance to the development of military relations with Vietnam and is willing to join hands with the Vietnam side to further push forward the ties, Xinhua quotes the Chinese general saying last week.

Both countries know that they will have to continue to work towards finding a balance where they can both benefit economically and co-exist politically, said Jonathan Spangler, director of the South China Sea Think Tank in Taipei.
Officials and residents in Somalia's Puntland region say they saw a large ship off the country's coast explode and gradually begin to sink Monday.

Witnesses in the coastal town of Muranyo describe the ship as looking like a warship, although it was not possible to immediately identify the vessel. They say two other ships in the area came to the aid of the sinking ship and rescued its crew.

The region is frequently patrolled by the European Union Naval Force Somalia to disrupt piracy and protect vulnerable shipping, including World Food Program vessels.

"The ship sank around sunset on Monday. Then, two warships came. Locals saw them evacuating the crew. No one has contacted us and we had no ability to extend a rescue at nighttime," said Ali Shire Osman, the chairman of the northern Somali port town of Alula.

One witness described the scene to VOA's Somali service: "A huge explosion happened, which sent plumes of smoke mixed with waves of water into the air. It was a deafening blast and then the ship started to gradually sink," said Mohamed Ahmed. "Then two white warships came to the scene and are still there."

Local fishermen said they returned to shore after the explosion, fearing the impact of the blast. "We are worried that what has happened might affect us and our fishing environment," said Abdirahamn Omar, a fisherman in the town.

The town near where the incident happened is 44 kilometers east of Alula, which has been one of the pirate hubs in Somalia.

In April, observers warned that piracy could be making a comeback along the coast of Somalia, after gunmen hijacked two ships in 48 hours.

At the peak of the piracy crisis in the early 2010s, Somali pirate gangs were responsible for hundreds of attacks on commercial ships traveling in the Gulf of Aden, the western Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.

According to annual reports compiled by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), Somali pirates hijacked 49 ships in 2010 and took more than 1,000 crew members hostage. The pirates and their backers sometimes split windfalls of more than $5 million for the release of a ship and its crew.

But Somali piracy virtually disappeared just three years later, after international navies began regular patrols of shipping lanes and ships took new security measures, in some cases carrying armed guards on board.
Zimbabwe police have arrested a popular pastor after he addressed protesting university students.

Lawyer Harrison Nkomo said Evan Mawarire, a preacher and anti-government activist, was Monday charged with disorderly conduct in a public place.



He said police picked up Mawarire for addressing medical students protesting against a planned fee increase by the University of Zimbabwe.



The lawyer said police were "assessing whether to allow him pay a fine or take him to court."



Mawarire rose to prominence in July 2016 when he used social media to organize the biggest anti-government protest in a decade.



He later left for the United States, claiming his life was threatened after a court dismissed charges against him.



He is due to appear in court on Sep. 25 for allegedly subverting a constitutionally elected government.
Claires is struggling to pay back more than $2 billion in debt. (David McNew/Getty Images)

The last day of seventh grade ended at 11:56 a.m., and by 1 p.m., Paola Giron and her friends were at the mall, heading into Claires.

We come here all the time, said Giron, 13, wearing a T-shirt that read I woke up like this.

But after 20 minutes of searching, the group emerged with just one purchase among the five of them: an eyeshadow palette that cost $3.99.

The 13-year-olds, who had already shopped at Forever 21 at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, were rationing their limited funds. And increasingly, that means Claires  which this afternoon was running a Buy 3, get 3 free promotion  is side-stepped for similarly priced (sometimes cheaper) wares at competitors such as Forever 21 and H&M.

The accessories mainstay, awash in pink and purple, has long been a go-to for mall-roving pre-teens in search of charm bracelets ($7.99 for five), ombre glitter headbands ($5.99) and pom-pom-topped pens ($4.99).

But after nearly six decades in American malls, Claires is facing an uphill battle to stay afloat. The retailer  which says it has pierced 94 million ears, more than any other company  has reported 11 consecutive quarters of declining sales and racked up more than $2 billion in debt, prompting speculation among analysts that it could be among the next to face big trouble.

So far this year, more than 300 retailers have filed for bankruptcy, including mall staples BCBG Max Azria, Rue21, Wet Seal and the Limited. Others, including Macys, Sears and Bebe have closed hundreds of stores.

[Sears says it will close 20 more stores]

Its mass destruction at American malls, and Claires is right in the middle of it, said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of retail consulting and investment banking firm Davidowitz & Associates. Claires, which at one time was the most profitable chain in the business, has become a complete train wreck.

Its been a confluence of bad news for the Chicago-based chain, which has long relied on groups of girls coming into its stores with their weekly allowances or birthday money. Fewer Americans are going to malls these days, and those who do increasingly are shopping at fast-fashion chains like H&M, Forever 21 and Zara, all of which have boosted their accessories sections in recent years.

And although Claires, which also owns the accessories brand Icing, has built up its website in recent years, analysts say online shopping is a tricky proposition for the companys young shoppers, many of whom dont have access to a credit card.

Claires  which is about impulse-driven purchases  has become a victim of changing mall traffic trends, said David Silverman, a retail analyst at Fitch Ratings, which recently deemed Claires at risk of filing for bankruptcy. Claires did not respond to a request for comment.

Adding to its woes is $2.17 billion in debt, much of it dating to 2007, when private-equity firm Apollo Global Management bought the company in a leveraged buyout valued at $3.1 billion. Claires has struggled to pay back those debts, and in 2016, shuttered more than 150 stores in an effort to cut costs. Last spring, the company hired Ron Marshall, the former chief executive of now-defunct bookstore chain Borders, as its chief executive.

[The unfortunate thing about Macys: Just about everything]

Many other private-equity-owned retailers are facing similar troubles, including Gymboree, which filed for bankruptcy two weeks ago, as well as Nine West Holdings, Davids Bridal and Neiman Marcus, which earlier this year said it was considering putting itself up for sale after more than a decade of attempting to pay down its debt. The company, which has nearly $5 billion in outstanding debt, has since called off plans for a sale.

Once you pile on billions of dollars in debt, forget it, Davidowitz said. Youre destined to fail. Look at Neiman Marcus  they cant even function, and thats Neiman Marcus.

But it hasnt always been that way for Claires, Davidowitz said.

For a long time, the suburban-Chicago-based business was hailed as a retail darling, with huge profits and a solid customer following.

They were turning profits that were just unheard of, he said. Add to that inventory that doesnt take a lot of space. Teeny space and big profits. It was a magical business.

But over time, much of that luster has faded. Last year, the chains sales fell 6.5 percent to $1.3 billion.

Back at the mall in Arlington, Va., 8-year-old Katherine Masten had just finished window-shopping at Claires.

I think its the first store I really, really liked, she said, adding that she had been going there since she was 3. I like that it has girly stuff and stuff that I love. (Among those items: A neon bear-shaped phone case with a pom-pom tail for $12.99 that her mother wouldnt let her buy.)

But her older sister, Samantha, 14, says she has moved on: I just felt like I got older but Claires didnt, she said, adding that she now frequents H&M, Nordstrom and Pink, the Victorias Secret spin-off targeted at teenagers.

Her mother, Karla Masten, shook her head in agreement.

Claires is amazing, she said. Until a certain age.

Over at Forever 21, MacKenzie Tate, 14 was looking for a new clutch.

I guess its been a while since Ive been to Claires, she said. I always just come here now. Like right now, my top, my jeans and my bag are all from Forever 21.

Read more:

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that he is looking forward to the rollout of GST and called it a testimony to the fact that reforms can be pushed through.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that he is looking forward to the rollout of the GST. (Credits: Reuters)

By India Today Web Desk: After meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the CEOs' Round Table in the United States on Sunday, Google's Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said everyone is excited to invest in India and so is he.

Speaking about the discussion Modi held with top US business leaders, Pichai said, "It (the discussion) was very good. I think it was a discussion across many countries and I think the prime minister was looking for insights into how India can attract more foreign investment and I think there were many many good ideas to discuss. But I think everyone is excited to invest more in India and I am excited we can all do it together."

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Pichai also said that he is looking forward to the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), slated for Friday midnight, and called it a testimony to the fact that reforms can be pushed through. "We are all looking forward to the July 1 rollout. I know it's been a very difficult thing to do. So, I am excited to see it happen. It shows that you can achieve reform by pushing hard for it and I hope its just the beginning."

#WATCH: Google CEO Sundar Pichai says "we are all looking forward to the July 1st #GST roll out, excited to see it happen" pic.twitter.com/hdDwyfXkBO- ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2017

GST will be rolled out on July 1, during a special midnight session of Parliament that will be held on the intervening night of June 30-July 1.

On the first day of his two-day US tour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed India's growth story in a meeting with top American CEOs of global giants. The CEOs' Round Table was attended by Apple chief Tim Cook, Walmart head Doug McMillon, Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, Google head Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella.

While addressing the roundtable meeting with US Business leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools. He added that growth of India presents win-win partnership for India and US as companies in US have a great opportunity to contribute to that. PM Modi also added that world is looking at India at present.

"The whole world is looking at India... India's growth presents a win-win partnership for India and US both. US companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that," Modi said.

"7,000 reforms alone by GOI for ease of business and minimum government and maximum governance," said PM Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet US President Donald Trump today. PM Modi is expected to have talks on a host of strategic issues. Official sources said that the leaders are likely to discuss 2008 civil nuclear deal, however, agreement on nuclear reactor projects are unlikely.

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Also Read:

PM Modi in US: No one questioned India's surgical strikes, world witnessed our power

PM Modi meets US CEOs: Growth of India a win-win deal for both nations

Also Watch:

PM Modi meets top American CEOs, says whole world is looking at India

--- ENDS ---


Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou on Sept. 5, 2016. (Photo by Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images; photo illustration by Nick Kirkpatrick/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.]

Early last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House. Sent by courier from the CIA, it carried eyes only instructions that its contents be shown to just four people: President Barack Obama and three senior aides.

Inside was an intelligence bombshell, a report drawn from sourcing deep inside the Russian government that detailed Russian President Vladimir Putins direct involvement in a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race.

But it went further. The intelligence captured Putins specific instructions on the operations audacious objectives  defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump.

At that point, the outlines of the Russian assault on the U.S. election were increasingly apparent. Hackers with ties to Russian intelligence services had been rummaging through Democratic Party computer networks, as well as some Republican systems, for more than a year. In July, the FBI had opened an investigation of contacts between Russian officials and Trump associates. And on July 22, nearly 20,000 emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee were dumped online by WikiLeaks.

But at the highest levels of government, among those responsible for managing the crisis, the first moment of true foreboding about Russias intentions arrived with that CIA intelligence.

The material was so sensitive that CIA Director John O. Brennan kept it out of the Presidents Daily Brief, concerned that even that restricted reports distribution was too broad. The CIA package came with instructions that it be returned immediately after it was read. To guard against leaks, subsequent meetings in the Situation Room followed the same protocols as planning sessions for the Osama bin Laden raid.

It took time for other parts of the intelligence community to endorse the CIAs view. Only in the administrations final weeks in office did it tell the public, in a declassified report, what officials had learned from Brennan in August  that Putin was working to elect Trump.

[Putin ordered effort to undermine faith in U.S. election and help Trump, report says]

Over that five-month interval, the Obama administration secretly debated dozens of options for deterring or punishing Russia, including cyberattacks on Russian infrastructure, the release of CIA-gathered material that might embarrass Putin and sanctions that officials said could crater the Russian economy.

(Whitney Leaming,Osman Malik/The Washington Post)

But in the end, in late December, Obama approved a modest package combining measures that had been drawn up to punish Russia for other issues  expulsions of 35 diplomats and the closure of two Russian compounds  with economic sanctions so narrowly targeted that even those who helped design them describe their impact as largely symbolic.

Obama also approved a previously undisclosed covert measure that authorized planting cyberweapons in Russias infrastructure, the digital equivalent of bombs that could be detonated if the United States found itself in an escalating exchange with Moscow. The project, which Obama approved in a covert-action finding, was still in its planning stages when Obama left office. It would be up to President Trump to decide whether to use the capability.

In political terms, Russias interference was the crime of the century, an unprecedented and largely successful destabilizing attack on American democracy. It was a case that took almost no time to solve, traced to the Kremlin through cyber-forensics and intelligence on Putins involvement. And yet, because of the divergent ways Obama and Trump have handled the matter, Moscow appears unlikely to face proportionate consequences.

Those closest to Obama defend the administrations response to Russias meddling. They note that by August it was too late to prevent the transfer to WikiLeaks and other groups of the troves of emails that would spill out in the ensuing months. They believe that a series of warnings  including one that Obama delivered to Putin in September  prompted Moscow to abandon any plans of further aggression, such as sabotage of U.S. voting systems.

Denis McDonough , who served as Obamas chief of staff, said that the administration regarded Russias interference as an attack on the heart of our system.

We set out from a first-order principle that required us to defend the integrity of the vote, McDonough said in an interview. Importantly, we did that. Its also important to establish what happened and what they attempted to do so as to ensure that we take the steps necessary to stop it from happening again.

But other administration officials look back on the Russia period with remorse.

It is the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend, said a former senior Obama administration official involved in White House deliberations on Russia. I feel like we sort of choked.

The post-election period has been dominated by the overlapping investigations into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia before the election and whether the president sought to obstruct the FBI probe afterward. That spectacle has obscured the magnitude of Moscows attempt to hijack a precious and now vulnerable-seeming American democratic process.

Beset by allegations of hidden ties between his campaign and Russia, Trump has shown no inclination to revisit the matter and has denied any collusion or obstruction on his part. As a result, the expulsions and modest sanctions announced by Obama on Dec. 29 continue to stand as the United States most forceful response.

The punishment did not fit the crime, said Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia for the Obama administration from 2012 to 2014. Russia violated our sovereignty, meddling in one of our most sacred acts as a democracy  electing our president. The Kremlin should have paid a much higher price for that attack. And U.S. policymakers now  both in the White House and Congress  should consider new actions to deter future Russian interventions.

The Senate this month passed a bill that would impose additional election- and Ukraine-related sanctions on Moscow and limit Trumps ability to lift them. The measure requires House approval, however, and Trumps signature.

This account of the Obama administrations response to Russias interference is based on interviews with more than three dozen current and former U.S. officials in senior positions in government, including at the White House, the State, Defense and Homeland Security departments, and U.S. intelligence services. Most agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

The White House, the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

Deeply concerned

The CIA breakthrough came at a stage of the presidential campaign when Trump had secured the GOP nomination but was still regarded as a distant long shot. Clinton held comfortable leads in major polls, and Obama expected that he would be transferring power to someone who had served in his Cabinet.

The intelligence on Putin was extraordinary on multiple levels, including as a feat of espionage.

For spy agencies, gaining insights into the intentions of foreign leaders is among the highest priorities. But Putin is a remarkably elusive target. A former KGB officer, he takes extreme precautions to guard against surveillance, rarely communicating by phone or computer, always running sensitive state business from deep within the confines of the Kremlin.

[Vladimir Putin: From the KGB to president of Russia]

The Washington Post is withholding some details of the intelligence at the request of the U.S. government.

In early August, Brennan alerted senior White House officials to the Putin intelligence, making a call to deputy national security adviser Avril Haines and pulling national security adviser Susan E. Rice aside after a meeting before briefing Obama along with Rice, Haines and McDonough in the Oval Office.

Officials described the presidents reaction as grave. Obama was deeply concerned and wanted as much information as fast as possible, a former official said. He wanted the entire intelligence community all over this.

Then-CIA Director John Brennan testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June 2016. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/AP; photo illustration by Nick Kirkpatrick/The Washington Post)

Concerns about Russian interference had gathered throughout the summer.

Russia experts had begun to see a troubling pattern of propaganda in which fictitious news stories, assumed to be generated by Moscow, proliferated across social-media platforms.

Officials at the State Department and FBI became alarmed by an unusual spike in requests from Russia for temporary visas for officials with technical skills seeking permission to enter the United States for short-term assignments at Russian facilities. At the FBIs behest, the State Department delayed approving the visas until after the election.

Meanwhile, the FBI was tracking a flurry of hacking activity against U.S. political parties, think tanks and other targets. Russia had gained entry to DNC systems in the summer of 2015 and spring of 2016, but the breaches did not become public until they were disclosed in a June 2016 report by The Post.

[Russian government hackers penetrated DNC]

Even after the late-July WikiLeaks dump, which came on the eve of the Democratic convention and led to the resignation of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) as the DNCs chairwoman, U.S. intelligence officials continued to express uncertainty about who was behind the hacks or why they were carried out.

At a public security conference in Aspen, Colo., in late July, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. noted that Russia had a long history of meddling in American elections but that U.S. spy agencies were not ready to make the call on attribution for what was happening in 2016.

We dont know enough . . . to ascribe motivation, Clapper said. Was this just to stir up trouble or was this ultimately to try to influence an election?

The August intelligence on Putin obtained by the CIA seemed to fill some of those critical gaps.

Brennan convened a secret task force at CIA headquarters composed of several dozen analysts and officers from the CIA, the NSA and the FBI.

The unit functioned as a sealed compartment, its work hidden from the rest of the intelligence community. Those brought in signed new non-disclosure agreements to be granted access to intelligence from all three participating agencies.

They worked exclusively for two groups of customers, officials said. The first was Obama and fewer than 14 senior officials in government. The second was a team of operations specialists at the CIA, NSA and FBI who took direction from the task force on where to aim their subsequent efforts to collect more intelligence on Russia.

Dont make things worse

The secrecy extended into the White House.

Rice , Haines and White House homeland-security adviser Lisa Monaco convened meetings in the Situation Room to weigh the mounting evidence of Russian interference and generate options for how to respond. At first, only four senior security officials were allowed to attend: Brennan , Clapper , Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and FBI Director James B. Comey. Aides ordinarily allowed entry as plus-ones were barred.

Gradually, the circle widened to include Vice President Biden and others. Agendas sent to Cabinet secretaries  including John F. Kerry at the State Department and Ashton B. Carter at the Pentagon  arrived in envelopes that subordinates were not supposed to open. Sometimes the agendas were withheld until participants had taken their seats in the Situation Room.

Throughout his presidency, Obamas approach to national security challenges was deliberate and cautious. He came into office seeking to end wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was loath to act without support from allies overseas and firm political footing at home. He was drawn only reluctantly into foreign crises, such as the civil war in Syria, that presented no clear exit for the United States.

Obamas approach often seemed reducible to a single imperative: Dont make things worse. As brazen as the Russian attacks on the election seemed, Obama and his top advisers feared that things could get far worse.

They were concerned that any pre-election response could provoke an escalation from Putin. Moscows meddling to that point was seen as deeply concerning but unlikely to materially affect the outcome of the election. Far more worrisome to the Obama team was the prospect of a cyber-assault on voting systems before and on Election Day.

They also worried that any action they took would be perceived as political interference in an already volatile campaign. By August, Trump was predicting that the election would be rigged. Obama officials feared providing fuel to such claims, playing into Russias efforts to discredit the outcome and potentially contaminating the expected Clinton triumph.

Before departing for an August vacation to Marthas Vineyard, Obama instructed aides to pursue ways to deter Moscow and proceed along three main paths: Get a high-confidence assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies on Russias role and intent; shore up any vulnerabilities in state-run election systems; and seek bipartisan support from congressional leaders for a statement condemning Moscow and urging states to accept federal help.



President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference at the White House in December. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/AP; photo illustration by Nick Kirkpatrick/The Washington Post)

The administration encountered obstacles at every turn.

Despite the intelligence the CIA had produced, other agencies were slower to endorse a conclusion that Putin was personally directing the operation and wanted to help Trump. It was definitely compelling, but it was not definitive, said one senior administration official. We needed more.

Some of the most critical technical intelligence on Russia came from another country, officials said. Because of the source of the material, the NSA was reluctant to view it with high confidence.

Brennan moved swiftly to schedule private briefings with congressional leaders. But getting appointments with certain Republicans proved difficult, officials said, and it was not until after Labor Day that Brennan had reached all members of the Gang of Eight  the majority and minority leaders of both houses and the chairmen and ranking Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees.

Jeh Johnson, the homeland-security secretary, was responsible for finding out whether the government could quickly shore up the security of the nations archaic patchwork of voting systems. He floated the idea of designating state mechanisms critical infrastructure, a label that would have entitled states to receive priority in federal cybersecurity assistance, putting them on a par with U.S. defense contractors and financial networks.

On Aug. 15, Johnson arranged a conference call with dozens of state officials, hoping to enlist their support. He ran into a wall of resistance.

The reaction ranged from neutral to negative, Johnson said in congressional testimony Wednesday.

Brian Kemp, the Republican secretary of state of Georgia, used the call to denounce Johnsons proposal as an assault on state rights. I think it was a politically calculated move by the previous administration, Kemp said in a recent interview, adding that he remains unconvinced that Russia waged a campaign to disrupt the 2016 race. I dont necessarily believe that, he said.

Stung by the reaction, the White House turned to Congress for help, hoping that a bipartisan appeal to states would be more effective.

In early September, Johnson , Comey and Monaco arrived on Capitol Hill in a caravan of black SUVs for a meeting with 12 key members of Congress, including the leadership of both parties.

The meeting devolved into a partisan squabble.

The Dems were, Hey, we have to tell the public,  recalled one participant. But Republicans resisted, arguing that to warn the public that the election was under attack would further Russias aim of sapping confidence in the system.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) went further, officials said, voicing skepticism that the underlying intelligence truly supported the White Houses claims. Through a spokeswoman, McConnell declined to comment, citing the secrecy of that meeting.

Key Democrats were stunned by the GOP response and exasperated that the White House seemed willing to let Republican opposition block any pre-election move.

On Sept. 22, two California Democrats  Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam B. Schiff  did what they couldnt get the White House to do. They issued a statement making clear that they had learned from intelligence briefings that Russia was directing a campaign to undermine the election, but they stopped short of saying to what end.

A week later, McConnell and other congressional leaders issued a cautious statement that encouraged state election officials to ensure their networks were secure from attack. The release made no mention of Russia and emphasized that the lawmakers would oppose any effort by the federal government to encroach on the states authorities.

When U.S. spy agencies reached unanimous agreement in late September that the interference was a Russian operation directed by Putin, Obama directed spy chiefs to prepare a public statement summarizing the intelligence in broad strokes.

With Obama still determined to avoid any appearance of politics, the statement would not carry his signature.

On Oct. 7, the administration offered its first public comment on Russias active measures, in a three-paragraph statement issued by Johnson and Clapper . Comey had initially agreed to attach his name, as well, officials said, but changed his mind at the last minute, saying that it was too close to the election for the bureau to be involved.

The U.S. intelligence community is confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations, the statement said. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russias senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.

Early drafts accused Putin by name, but the reference was removed out of concern that it might endanger intelligence sources and methods.

The statement was issued around 3:30 p.m., timed for maximum media coverage. Instead, it was quickly drowned out. At 4 p.m., The Post published a story about crude comments Trump had made about women that were captured on an Access Hollywood tape. Half an hour later, WikiLeaks published its first batch of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

To some, Obamas determination to avoid politicizing the Russia issue had the opposite effect: It meant that he allowed politics to shape his administrations response to what some believed should have been treated purely as a national security threat.

Schiff said that the administrations justifications for inaction often left him with a sense of cognitive dissonance.

The administration doesnt need congressional support to issue a statement of attribution or impose sanctions, Schiff said in a recent interview. He said many groups inadvertently abetted Russias campaign, including Republicans who refused to confront Moscow and media organizations that eagerly mined the troves of hacked emails.

Where Democrats need to take responsibility, Schiff said, is that we failed to persuade the country why they should care that a foreign power is meddling in our affairs.

Ample time after election

The Situation Room is actually a complex of secure spaces in the basement level of the West Wing. A video feed from the main room courses through some National Security Council offices, allowing senior aides sitting at their desks to see  but not hear  when meetings are underway.

As the Russia-related sessions with Cabinet members began in August, the video feed was shut off. The last time that had happened on a sustained basis, officials said, was in the spring of 2011 during the run-up to the U.S. Special Operations raid on bin Ladens compound in Pakistan.

The blacked-out screens were seen as an ominous sign among lower-level White House officials who were largely kept in the dark about the Russia deliberations even as they were tasked with generating options for retaliation against Moscow.

Much of that work was led by the Cyber Response Group, an NSC unit with representatives from the CIA, NSA, State Department and Pentagon.

The early options they discussed were ambitious. They looked at sectorwide economic sanctions and cyberattacks that would take Russian networks temporarily offline. One official informally suggested  though never formally proposed  moving a U.S. naval carrier group into the Baltic Sea as a symbol of resolve.

What those lower-level officials did not know was that the principals and their deputies had by late September all but ruled out any pre-election retaliation against Moscow. They feared that any action would be seen as political and that Putin, motivated by a seething resentment of Clinton, was prepared to go beyond fake news and email dumps.

[The roots of the hostility between Putin and Clinton]

The FBI had detected suspected Russian attempts to penetrate election systems in 21 states, and at least one senior White House official assumed that Moscow would try all 50, officials said. Some officials believed the attempts were meant to be detected to unnerve the Americans. The patchwork nature of the United States 3,000 or so voting jurisdictions would make it hard for Russia to swing the outcome, but Moscow could still sow chaos.

We turned to other scenarios the Russians might attempt, said Michael Daniel, who was cybersecurity coordinator at the White House, such as disrupting the voter rolls, deleting every 10th voter [from registries] or flipping two digits in everybodys address.



The Moscow International Business Center in Moscow. (Photo by Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg News; photo illustration by Nick Kirkpatrick/The Washington Post)

The White House also worried that they had not yet seen the worst of Russias campaign. WikiLeaks and DCLeaks, a website set up in June 2016 by hackers believed to be Russian operatives, already had troves of emails. But U.S. officials feared that Russia had more explosive material or was willing to fabricate it.

Our primary interest in August, September and October was to prevent them from doing the max they could do, said a senior administration official. We made the judgment that we had ample time after the election, regardless of outcome, for punitive measures.

The assumption that Clinton would win contributed to the lack of urgency.

Instead, the administration issued a series of warnings.

Brennan delivered the first on Aug. 4 in a blunt phone call with Alexander Bortnikov , the director of the FSB, Russias powerful security service.

A month later, Obama confronted Putin directly during a meeting of world leaders in Hangzhou, China. Accompanied only by interpreters, Obama told Putin that we knew what he was doing and [he] better stop or else, according to a senior aide who subsequently spoke with Obama. Putin responded by demanding proof and accusing the United States of interfering in Russias internal affairs.

In a subsequent news conference, Obama alluded to the exchange and issued a veiled threat. Were moving into a new era here where a number of countries have significant capacities, he said. Frankly, weve got more capacity than anybody both offensively and defensively.

There were at least two other warnings.

On Oct. 7, the day that the Clapper-Johnson statement was released, Rice summoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to the White House and handed him a message to relay to Putin.

Then, on Oct. 31, the administration delivered a final pre-election message via a secure channel to Moscow originally created to avert a nuclear exchange. The message noted that the United States had detected malicious activity, originating from servers in Russia, targeting U.S. election systems and warned that meddling would be regarded as unacceptable interference. Russia confirmed the next day that it had received the message but replied only after the election through the same channel, denying the accusation.

As Election Day approached, proponents of taking action against Russia made final, futile appeals to Obamas top aides: McDonough , Rice and Haines . Because their offices were part of a suite of spaces in the West Wing, securing their support on any national security issue came to be known as moving the suite.

One of the last to try before the election was Kerry. Often perceived as reluctant to confront Russia, in part to preserve his attempts to negotiate a Syria peace deal, Kerry was at critical moments one of the leading hawks.

In October, Kerrys top aides had produced an action memo that included a package of retaliatory measures including economic sanctions. Knowing the White House was not willing to act before the election, the plan called for the measures to be announced almost immediately after votes had been securely cast and counted.

Kerry signed the memo and urged the White House to convene a principals meeting to discuss the plan, officials said. The response was basically, Not now,  one official said.

Election Day arrived without penalty for Moscow.



White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough in 2014. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images; photo illustration by Nick Kirkpatrick/The Washington Post)

The tabledrop

Despite the dire warnings, there were no meltdowns in the United States voting infrastructure on Nov. 8, no evidence of hacking-related fraud, crashing of electronic ballots or manipulation of vote counts.

The outcome itself, however, was a shock.

Suddenly, Obama faced a successor who had praised WikiLeaks and prodded Moscow to steal even more Clinton emails, while dismissing the idea that Russia was any more responsible for the election assault than somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.

The White House was mortified and shocked, said a former administration official. From national security people there was a sense of immediate introspection, of, Wow, did we mishandle this. 

At first, there was no outward sign of new resolve.

After his failed pre-election bid, Kerry returned with a fallback proposal, calling for the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate Russian interference and make recommendations on how to protect future elections.

The panel would be modeled on the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, producing a definitive report and making recommendations that led to the overhaul of U.S. intelligence agencies.

The idea was that if you think doing something aggressive is too inflammatory, then we shouldnt have a problem getting to the truth about what happened, said an administration official familiar with the Kerry plan. Trump was expected to oppose such a plan, but setting it in motion before he was sworn in would make it harder and uglier politically for him to block.

Supporters confidence was buoyed when McDonough signaled that he planned to tabledrop the proposal at the next NSC meeting, one that would be chaired by Obama. Kerry was overseas and participated by videoconference.

To some, the tabledrop term has a tactical connotation beyond the obvious. It is sometimes used as a means of securing approval of an idea by introducing it before opponents have a chance to form counterarguments.

We thought this was a good sign, a former State Department official said.

But as soon as McDonough introduced the proposal for a commission, he began criticizing it, arguing that it would be perceived as partisan and almost certainly blocked by Congress.

Obama then echoed McDonoughs critique, effectively killing any chance that a Russia commission would be formed.

McDonough declined to comment on the principals committee meeting on the commission or any other sensitive matters but acknowledged that he opposed the idea, in part because he believed it would be premature to do so before U.S. intelligence agencies and Congress had conducted their investigations.



White House staffers listen as President Barack Obama speaks about the election results on Nov. 9, 2016, in the Rose Garden. (Photo by Susan Walsh/AP; photo illustration by Nick Kirkpatrick/The Washington Post)

Demoralized

Several officials described the post-election atmosphere at the White House as somber. It was like a funeral parlor, according to one official who said that work on Russia and other subjects slowed as officials began to anticipate the damage to Obamas policies and legacy.

Others disputed that characterization, saying that the NSC carried on with no interruption or diminution of focus. Nobody got paralyzed by grief, a high-ranking official said. We all did our jobs.

Rice declined to comment on White House deliberations or other sensitive matters but said that the administration always planned to respond to Russia, regardless of the outcome of the election. We felt it was on our watch and that we had to do something about it. It was our responsibility, Rice said.

Whatever the case, work on Russia did not resume in earnest until after Thanksgiving, in part because Obama made his last foreign trip.

Rice again ordered NSC staffers to finalize a menu of punitive measures to use against Moscow. The list that took shape was a distillation of ideas that had been circulating for months across three main categories: cyber, economic and diplomatic.

Again, the discussion ran into roadblocks.

Spy agencies wanted to maintain their penetrations of Russian networks, not expose them in a cyber-fusillade.

Treasury Department officials devised plans that would hit entire sectors of Russias economy. One preliminary suggestion called for targeting technology companies including Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based cybersecurity firm. But skeptics worried that the harm could spill into Europe and pointed out that U.S. companies used Kaspersky systems and software.

Several senior administration officials called for imposing sanctions on Putin personally or releasing financial records or other information that would embarrass him. Some objected that the latter proposal would send the wrong message  the United States would be engaging in the same behavior it was condemning. In any case, it was not clear how long it would take U.S. spy agencies to assemble such a Putin dossier.

By December, those of us working on this for a long time were demoralized, said an administration official involved in the developing punitive options.

Then the tenor began to shift.

On Dec. 9, Obama ordered a comprehensive review by U.S. intelligence agencies of Russian interference in U.S. elections going back to 2008, with a plan to make some of the findings public.

A week later, in one of Obamas final news briefings, he expressed irritation that such a consequential election came to be dominated by a bunch of these leaks. He scolded news organizations for an obsession with titillating material about the Democrats that had dominated coverage.

Then he unloaded on Moscow. The Russians cant change us or significantly weaken us, he said. They are a smaller country. They are a weaker country. Their economy doesnt produce anything that anybody wants to buy, except oil and gas and arms.

It was a rare outburst for Obama, one that came amid a wave of internal second-guessing, finger-pointing from members of the defeated Clinton campaign, and the post-election posturing of Putin and Trump.

There was another factor at work, however.

Obamas decision to order a comprehensive report on Moscows interference from U.S. spy agencies had prompted analysts to go back through their agencies files, scouring for previously overlooked clues.

The effort led to a flurry of new, disturbing reports  many of them presented in the Presidents Daily Brief  about Russias subversion of the 2016 race. The emerging picture enabled policymakers to begin seeing the Russian campaign in broader terms, as a comprehensive plot sweeping in its scope.

Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security adviser, said that the DNC email penetrations were initially thought to be in the same vein as previous Russian hacking efforts against targets including the State Department and White House.

In many ways . . . we dealt with this as a cyberthreat and focused on protecting our cyber infrastructure, Rhodes said in an interview. Meanwhile, the Russians were playing this much bigger game, which included elements like released hacked materials, political propaganda and propagating fake news, which theyd pursued in other countries.

We werent able to put all of those pieces together in real time, Rhodes said, and in many ways that complete picture is still being filled in. Rhodes declined to discuss any sensitive information.



National security adviser Susan E. Rice looks over documents in the Oval Office in October. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; photo illustration by Nick Kirkpatrick/The Washington Post)

Obamas darkened mood, the intelligence findings and the approaching transfer of power gave new urgency to NSC deliberations. In mid-December, as Cabinet members took turns citing drawbacks to various proposals for retaliating against Russia, Rice grew impatient and began cutting them off.

Were not talking anymore. Were acting, she said, according to one participant.

Rice moved swiftly through a list of proposals that had survived months of debate, a menu that allowed principals to vote for what one participant described as heavy, medium and light options.

Among those in the Situation Room were Clapper , Brennan , Kerry and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Rice challenged them go to the max of their comfort zones, a second participant said.

Economic sanctions, originally aimed only at Russias military intelligence service, were expanded to include the FSB, a domestic successor to the KGB. Four Russian intelligence officials and three companies with links to those services were also named as targets.

The FBI had long lobbied to close two Russian compounds in the United States  one in Maryland and another in New York  on the grounds that both were used for espionage and placed an enormous surveillance burden on the bureau.

[On the Eastern Shore, a 45-acre Russian compound kept its secrets close]

The FBI was also responsible for generating the list of Russian operatives working under diplomatic cover to expel, drawn from a roster the bureau maintains of suspected Russian intelligence agents in the United States.

Cabinet officials were prompted to vote on whether to close one Russian compound or two, whether to kick out around 10 suspected Russian agents, 20 or 35.

Kerry laid out his departments concerns. The U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Tefft, had sent a cable warning that Moscow would inevitably expel the same number of Americans from Moscow and that departures of that magnitude would impair the embassys ability to function.

The objections were dismissed, and Rice submitted a plan to Obama calling for the seizure of both Russian facilities and the expulsion of 35 suspected spies. Obama signed off on the package and announced the punitive measures on Dec. 29, while on vacation in Hawaii.

By then, the still-forming Trump administration was becoming entangled by questions about contacts with Moscow. On or around that same day that Obama imposed sanctions, Trumps designated national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, told the Russian ambassador by phone that the sanctions would soon be revisited. Flynns false statements about that conversation later cost him his job.

The report that Obama had commissioned was released a week later, on Jan. 6. It was based largely on the work done by the task force Brennan had established and made public what the CIA had concluded in August, that Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President-elect Trumps election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton.

It also carried a note of warning: We assess Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the U.S. election to future influence efforts worldwide.

Sanctions minimal impact

The punitive measures got several days of media attention before the spotlight returned to Trump, his still-forming administration and, later, the initial rumblings of the Russia crisis that has become a consuming issue for the Trump White House.

But the package of measures approved by Obama, and the process by which they were selected and implemented, were more complex than initially understood.

The expulsions and compound seizures were originally devised as ways to retaliate against Moscow not for election interference but for an escalating campaign of harassment of American diplomats and intelligence operatives. U.S. officials often endured hostile treatment, but the episodes had become increasingly menacing and violent.

In one previously undisclosed incident on July 6, a Russian military helicopter dropped from the sky to make multiple passes just feet over the hood of a vehicle being driven by the U.S. defense attache, who was accompanied by colleagues, on a stretch of road between Murmansk and Pechenga in northern Russia. The attempt at intimidation was captured on photos the Americans took through the windshield.

An even more harrowing encounter took place the prior month, when a CIA operative returning by taxi to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was tackled and thrown to the ground by a uniformed FSB guard. In a video aired on Russian television, the U.S. operative can be seen struggling to drag himself across the embassy threshold and onto U.S. sovereign territory. He sustained a broken shoulder in the attack.

Though conceived as retaliation for those incidents, the expulsions were adapted and included in the election-related package. The roster of expelled spies included several operatives who were suspected of playing a role in Russias election interference from within the United States, officials said. They declined to elaborate.

More broadly, the list of 35 names focused heavily on Russians known to have technical skills. Their names and bios were laid out on a dossier delivered to senior White House officials and Cabinet secretaries, although the list was modified at the last minute to reduce the number of expulsions from Russias U.N. mission in New York and add more names from its facilities in Washington and San Francisco.



A compound near Centreville, Md., that was being used by Russian diplomats is seen in a 2015 satellite photo. The compound was closed in December as part of a U.S. sanctions package. (Photo obtained by The Washington Post; photo illustration by Nick Kirkpatrick/The Washington Post)

The compounds were even higher on the FBIs wish list.

At one point in the White House deliberations, intelligence analysts used aerial images of the facilities to show how they had been modified to enhance their espionage capabilities. Slides displayed in the Situation Room showed new chimneys and other features, all presumed to allow for the installation of more-sophisticated eavesdropping equipment aimed at U.S. naval facilities and the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade in Maryland.

Rice pointed to the FBIs McCabe and said: You guys have been begging to do this for years. Now is your chance.

The administration gave Russia 24 hours to evacuate the sites, and FBI agents watched as fleets of trucks loaded with cargo passed through the compounds gates.

When FBI agents entered the sites, they found them stripped of antennas, electronics, computers, file cabinets and other gear, officials said, their hasty removal leaving visible markings on floors, tables and walls.

Economic sanctions are widely seen as the United States most potent lever, short of military force. Russias economy is dwarfed by that of the United States, and nearly every major Russian institution and oligarch depends to some degree on access to U.S. and Western financial institutions, networks and credit.

Sanctions that the United States and Europe imposed on Russia in 2014 for its actions in Ukraine were damaging. Coinciding with a sharp drop in oil prices, those measures contributed to a 4 percent contraction in the Russian economy and sent its reserves plunging.

The election-related sanctions, by contrast, have had no such impact.

Officials involved in designing them said that the main targets  Russias foreign and military intelligence services, the GRU and FSB, and senior officials at those agencies  have few known holdings abroad or vulnerable assets to freeze.

I dont think any of us thought of sanctions as being a primary way of expressing our disapproval for the election interference, said a senior administration official involved in the decision. Going after their intelligence services was not about economic impact. It was symbolic.

More than any other measure, that decision has become a source of regret to senior administration officials directly involved in the Russia debate. The outcome has left the impression that Obama saw Russias military meddling in Ukraine as more deserving of severe punishment than its subversion of a U.S. presidential race.

What is the greater threat to our system of government? said a former high-ranking administration official, noting that Obama and his advisers knew from projections formulated by the Treasury Department that the impact of the election-related economic sanctions would be minimal.

A U.S. cyberweapon

The most difficult measure to evaluate is one that Obama alluded to in only the most oblique fashion when announcing the U.S. response.

We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized, he said in a statement released by the White House.

He was referring, in part, to a cyber operation that was designed to be detected by Moscow but not cause significant damage, officials said. The operation, which entailed implanting computer code in sensitive computer systems that Russia was bound to find, served only as a reminder to Moscow of the United States cyber reach.

But Obama also signed the secret finding, officials said, authorizing a new covert program involving the NSA, CIA and U.S. Cyber Command.

Obama declined to comment for this article, but a spokesman issued a statement: This situation was taken extremely seriously, as is evident by President Obama raising this issue directly with President Putin; 17 intelligence agencies issuing an extraordinary public statement; our homeland security officials working relentlessly to bolster the cyber defenses of voting infrastructure around the country; the President directing a comprehensive intelligence review, and ultimately issuing a robust response including shutting down two Russian compounds, sanctioning nine Russian entities and individuals, and ejecting 35 Russian diplomats from the country.

The cyber operation is still in its early stages and involves deploying implants in Russian networks deemed important to the adversary and that would cause them pain and discomfort if they were disrupted, a former U.S. official said.

The implants were developed by the NSA and designed so that they could be triggered remotely as part of retaliatory cyber-strike in the face of Russian aggression, whether an attack on a power grid or interference in a future presidential race.

Officials familiar with the measures said that there was concern among some in the administration that the damage caused by the implants could be difficult to contain.

As a result, the administration requested a legal review, which concluded that the devices could be controlled well enough that their deployment would be considered proportional in varying scenarios of Russian provocation, a requirement under international law.

The operation was described as long-term, taking months to position the implants and requiring maintenance thereafter. Under the rules of covert action, Obamas signature was all that was necessary to set the operation in motion.

U.S. intelligence agencies do not need further approval from Trump, and officials said that he would have to issue a countermanding order to stop it. The officials said that they have seen no indication that Trump has done so.

Karen DeYoung and Julie Tate contributed to this report.

Read more:

Trump administration moves to return Russian compounds in Maryland and New York

Every Russia story Trump said was a hoax by Democrats: A timeline


A collection of Harry Potter books  and cat, Dudley  at the authors home. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

He was so cute: Blond hair, blue eyes and a killer smile. He was dressed in a black robe with a fake scar on his forehead and regaling our fifth-grade class with his book report on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As a 10-year-old with only the most sophisticated of tastes (give me a Baby-Sitters Club any day), I thought the synopsis  and his excitement  about this brand-new book sounded ridiculous and childish. But we all do crazy things to connect with our crushes, so I decided the novel couldnt be that bad and began reading the Harry Potter series.

I was behind the times, of course. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone  or Sorcerers Stone, for us simple-minded Americans  made its debut in the United Kingdom 20 years ago Monday, on June 26, 1997. Anniversary events, from new exhibitions to broomstick lessons, are springing up worldwide to celebrate the occasion, showcasing author J.K. Rowlings tales long-reaching effect.

Millennials like myself are looking at the date wondering how it can possibly be that two decades have passed since we first met Harry, Ron and Hermione, the characters who grew up right alongside us.

It wasnt until 1999 that I began the books in earnest, adamant that I would not fall for the spell they had cast over the rest of the world.

I was wrong.

I wasnt into magic, didnt enjoy unrealistic genres and wasnt much for following the whims of a crowd. But within pages of that first book, I fell hook, line and sinker.

It helped that Harry and I were the same age. As soon-to-be-11-year-olds with an inability to keep our mouths closed at appropriate times, I felt a kinship with this fellow ill-shaped glasses wearer. My backstory was nowhere near as tragic as his, but we both had the terrible habit of sometimes feeling alone even when surrounded by people. But I never felt alone when I was reading the books.

The well-worn spines of the Harry Potter series. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Every few years over the next decade or so, I would wait with breathless anticipation to grab a copy of the newest installment. I was too young for midnight release parties  and refused to dress up  but Id show up at Borders first thing in the morning to grab my beloved hardcover copy and begin reading immediately.

As an anxious child, reading was one of the few things that took me out of my head. Its hard to focus on every single thing that could go wrong or overthink every action when youre preoccupied watching someone elses life unfold. With Harry, for a few hours each day, I was transported to someone elses world, which, for an overly complicated mind like mine, was extraordinary in its own right.

But the series wasnt just an escape. Though seemingly a childrens book to those not accustomed with its twisting plots, the Harry Potter books helped me deal with death in a way I could not have anticipated. Over the course of its print publication, I lost a grandfather, an uncle and a grandmother  all sudden and all devastating. I was not comforted by the fact that Harry had experienced great loss, too, but rather by how the books approached death as a whole. Sirius Black told Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban, The ones that love us never really leave us, and I chose to believe that was true. If someone else could deal with a tragedy much greater than mine, then surely I could be strong, too.

The series also made me feel like it was okay to not be okay. Nearly the entirety of the fifth installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, followed a depressed, overwhelmed and short-tempered Harry. If this magical, powerful, popular boy could feel so beaten down and lonely, then I was allowed to be a hormonal and miserable girl who hated the world sometimes, too. (Im so sorry, Mom and Dad, for what you had to put up with during my 14th year of life.)

Our timelines always seemed to have a way of aligning like that. As Harry dealt with burgeoning crushes and the painful parts of friendship, I grappled with similar issues (minus the whole fighting the Dark Lord thing). And though I had long moved on from blond boy, our bond over Harry was ever present, and we would geek out with each other on the days that the new films debuted, both so excited to see our favorite story in theaters.

The series seemed to mark time in my life in a way I didnt realize until it was over. The last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, came out less than two months after I graduated from high school. Reading it was a unique experience. At 18, I was wrapping up a story I had started at 10. Harry and I were both leaving our childhoods behind for the greater unknown. I took solace in the fact that the movies were ongoing, but when the eighth and final film hit theaters in 2011, shortly after I had graduated from college, the girl who didnt dress up drew a small lightning-shaped scar on her forehead and shed a tear (okay, several) over the end of an era.



Dressed and ready to see the last Harry Potter film in theaters in 2011. (Courtesy of the author)

As the first book celebrates its 20th anniversary, I cant tell you exactly how many times Ive read it or the others. But at least once a year for the past 18, I have cracked open a spine, slipped back into my childhood and lost myself for hours in a magical world.

Caitlin Moore is the pop culture digital editor at The Post.
Before you order a double scoop or get out the ice cream maker, consult our this-vs.-that guide to the frozen treats of summer.



Frozen custard cone at the Milwaukee Frozen Custard store in Chantilly, Va. (Larry Morris/The Washington Post)

Scooping up gelato at Pitango in the District. (James M. Thresher/For The Washington Post)

Ice cream (and frozen custard) vs. gelato

To be designated as ice cream, the FDA stipulates that the product contains at least 10 percent fat. If it has more than 1.4 percent egg yolks, then it can be called frozen custard, French ice cream or French custard ice cream.

[The keys to crafting a superior ice cream float]

Gelato (Italian for frozen) is more dense, as there is less air whipped into it as its churned. Gelato typically has less fat than ice cream, as it is often milk-based (instead of cream) and contains little or no egg yolks.



Vanilla soft-serve ice cream at Sfoglina in Van Ness. (Deb Lindsey /For The Washington Post)

Frozen yogurt from the Canadian chain Yogen Fruz. (Jeffrey MacMillan/For The Washington Post)

Soft-serve vs. fro-yo

While its not mentioned per se in FDA regulations on frozen desserts, that swirly, old-time favorite known as soft-serve typically contains between 3 and 6 percent fat (although youll see some purveyors, such as Chambersburg, Pa.-based Trickling Springs Creamery, push the fat up as high as 10 to 12 percent).

The fat content in fro-yo, short for frozen yogurt, can vary depending on whether regular, low-fat or nonfat yogurt is used. When served straight from their churning machines, both soft-serve and fro-yo have soft, airy swirls.



A storage area at Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream plant in Laurel, Md. Dreyers low-fat ice cream line is called Slow Churned. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

Ice milk vs. low-fat

Ice milk contains less than 10 percent fat; fresh from the freezer, it tends to be rather hard and have a few icy particles. Youre not likely to see it around these days, though. In 1994, the FDA allowed manufacturers to label ice milk as low-fat ice cream, and the designation has since come to replace ice milk as a term. Low-fat ice creams today tend to include stabilizers and additives that help mimic the mouth feel of a higher-fat ice cream.



Lavender Pom-Berry Sorbet; find the recipe at washingtonpost.com/recipes. (Goran Kosanovic/For The Washington Post)

Ritas is a popular chain that makes Italian ices. (Michael Temchine/For The Washington Post)

Sorbet vs. Italian ice

Sorbet can be made with practically anything  fruit, vegetable, chocolate, for example. But it almost always lacks dairy and egg products; its ideal texture is smooth and mostly free of icy shards. Fruit-based Italian ice (think Ritas brand) is similar in texture to a slushy that has been frozen; it has an icy crispness and loose-set. However, store-bought brands such as Luigis are packed into small containers and frozen solid.



Strawberry Creme Fraiche Sherbet. Find the recipe at washingtonpost.com/recipes. (Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post)

Sherbet vs. sherbert

Linguist Dan Jurafsky writes in his 2014 book The Language of Food that the name sherbet originates from the Arabic word sharab, the name for fruit syrups consumed for health and refreshment. (The root of the word means drink.) In Persia, syrups made from orange blossoms, sour cherries and the like were called sharbat  in Turkey, serbet  from the same Arabic word.

Sherbert, on the other hand . . . just kidding! Theyre the same. In a blog post, the dictionary Merriam-Webster writes that when the word was imported into English in the early 17th century, the extra r crept in incidentally and is now an accepted  if not as common  way of spelling and pronouncing it. By FDA standards, sherbe(r)t must contain between 1 and 2 percent fat.
Students who received publicly funded vouchers in Indiana and Louisiana appeared to lose significant academic ground in the first two years after switching to private schools but then caught up to their public-school counterparts in subsequent years, according to two studies made public Monday.

The studies do not show that vouchers led to significantly stronger math and reading performance overall, even as President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos promise to pour billions of dollars into expanding vouchers nationwide.

Vouchers are direct government payments that families use as scholarships to attend private schools, and they are bitterly contested.

Both sides could claim a measure of validation from the new research: advocates of school choice who say it isnt fair to judge voucher programs based on test results from a students first year in private school, and critics who say vouchers drain funding from public schools without improving achievement.

[Nations only federally funded voucher program has negative effect on student achievement, study finds]

Douglas Harris, a Tulane University professor of economics and director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, which released the Louisiana study, said the new research underlines that the immediate effects of big education policy changes are likely to change over time.

But the experience in Louisiana has to give pause to anyone pushing broad federal or statewide programs, he said, adding that there are no examples of any statewide program producing overall positive academic results.

Louisianas program is meant for children from low- and moderate-income families who attend low-performing public schools. Started as a pilot program in 2008, it expanded statewide in 2012 and now helps more than 7,000 students pay for private education.

Previous studies found that students in the Louisiana Scholarship Program performed significantly worse on math and reading tests than their public-school counterparts in the first year after receiving a voucher. Their performance also was weaker in the second year, although less so.

But by their third year in the voucher program, students were performing no differently from their peers in math and reading, according to the new research conducted by professors Jonathan Mills and Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas and released Monday by the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans.

The study examined the performance of a small subset of voucher recipients: those who were in grades three through five in 2012 and whose first-choice schools had fewer open seats than applicants. Students who won lottery admission to those schools were tracked over time and compared to those who did not.

The researchers acknowledge that because of that methodology, their findings may make the voucher program look better than it actually is, because they examined student performance only at schools that are strong enough to attract many applicants.

They also cautioned that their results apply only to the narrow band of students they studied and not to students who applied to the voucher program at a younger age. Those students had no test-score record before applying and therefore couldnt be as directly compared to public-school students, but they appeared to lose significant ground in math.

Nevertheless, the results heartened John White, Louisianas superintendent of education, who said improving performance over time shows that his states approach to vouchers is working.

We dont take this study as evidence that vouchers work or dont work, White said. We take it as a promising sign that the way that Louisiana has chosen to regulate private school choice can really work.

Louisianas voucher program is one of the most highly regulated in the country. Unlike in most other programs, participating private schools may not exercise selective admissions. They must agree to administer state standardized tests to voucher students, and schools with weak test scores may not enroll more voucher students.

Free-market purists on the political right had argued that Louisianas rules discouraged many strong private schools from taking part in the states voucher program, leading to weak academic results early on. White said he thinks the new results show the opposite: When schools face consequences for failure, it pushes them to improve.

Researchers wrote that they could not say how much the threat of sanctions contributed to the improvement over time, but that they thought other factors played a larger role. Three years gave students time to adjust to their new schools, for example, and gave private schools time to adjust to preparing for standardized tests that had long been used to measure achievement in public schools.

Indianas voucher program is, like Louisianas, relatively heavily regulated. But it is far larger, helping more than 34,000 students pay private-school tuition in the 2016-2017 school year.

[How Indianas voucher program soared, and what it says about education in the Trump era]

Initially meant to help poor children escape lower-performing public schools, its eligibility criteria later expanded to include middle-class children and those who have never attended public schools, leading to criticism that taxpayers are subsidizing tuition for families that would have chosen private schools anyway.

R. Joseph Waddington of the University of Kentucky and Mark Berends of the University of Notre Dame chose to focus on only those students who used the vouchers to transfer from public to private school, comparing them to students with similar characteristics who remained in public school.

The researchers, whose study has not yet been released in an academic journal, examined students who were in grades three through eight, and therefore required to take standardized math and reading tests, between 2011 and 2012, the first year of the program, and 2014 and 2015.

On average, voucher recipients math performance declined compared with that of their public-school counterparts, while there was no difference between the two groups in reading.

As in Louisiana, voucher recipients achievement changed significantly over time: They underperformed public-school students in math during their first two years in private school, according to the study, but then improved, with no discernible difference between the two groups by the fourth year. Losses in reading were erased by the third year, and voucher students even appeared to surpass their public-school peers in the fourth year.

But many students returned to public school before they reached years three and four, and researchers wrote that the improvement in later years among voucher recipients could be because the weakest students were no longer counted among them. Those students who returned to public school experienced what the researchers described as modest-to-substantial achievement losses during their time in private schools.
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on Thursday approved a two-year, $4.7 million contract with Correct Care Solutions to provide medical and psychiatric services to inmates at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.

The Nashville-based company has been providing those services at the jail for more than a decade. However, several supervisors expressed frustration with the selection process, saying they had little choice but to stay with the current provider, even though two competing firms submitted proposals with lower price tags.

Supervisors also questioned whether the process of reviewing the proposals had been tainted because Correct Care Solutions has made campaign contributions to Sheriff Michael L. Chapman (R), who is responsible for overseeing the contract.

Correct Care Solutions, formerly known as Conmed, has provided medical and psychiatric services to inmates at the jail for 12 years, according to a staff report. The company has made periodic financial contributions to the reelection campaigns of Chapman and his predecessor, Stephen O. Simpson.

Supervisors concerns about the contract first surfaced publicly at the June 13 meeting of the boards Finance Committee.

I have significant unrest with this item, Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) said, adding that the committee had few options because the contract would expire soon. We literally have no choice today [other] than to extend this contract because . . . the contract is up June 30.

Randall and board Vice Chair Ralph M. Buona (R-Ashburn) criticized state regulations that prohibit the staff group evaluating the proposals from considering cost when ranking the firms. Under the regulations, the staff-member group was able to negotiate costs only with the top-ranked firm.

Two of the four providers competing for the contract submitted lower nonbinding fee proposals than Correct Care Solutions. One was $600,000 less.

In my opinion, we are wasting $600,000 in taxpayer money over the next two years, Buona said. Because the system says you can only negotiate price with the number-one-ranked guy. And we cant request a binding price with their proposal.

The states procurement system is rigged, and its rigged for special interests, Buona said.

Randall, a mental-health therapist who formerly counseled inmates in Prince William County, said she was knowledgeable about the companies that had submitted proposals.

Correct Care Solutions is a good company, she said. But Im also familiar with the other ones, and I dont know that one outpaces the other to the tune of $600,000.

After confirming that there would be a provision allowing termination of the contract before it expires, Randall asked that the staff be directed to analyze the cost effectiveness of having county staff members directly provide medical and psychiatric health-care services to the inmates.

Correct Care Solutions drew attention in 2011 when The Washington Post reported that the company had made campaign contributions to Simpson over a seven-year period. The company has also made several campaign contributions to Chapman since he defeated Simpson in 2011.

Campaign finance reports indicate that Chapmans campaign accepted $3,880 in contributions from a representative of Correct Care Solutions in 2014. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the company gave Chapmans campaign $3,000 in 2016. Chapman, who was reelected in 2015, will not be up for election again until 2019.

Cheryl Middleton, the county purchasing agent, said in an email that the staff group that evaluated the proposals for the medical services contract  and gave the top ranking to Correct Care Solutions  included three representatives of the sheriffs office and one from the county Department of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Services.

Sheriffs office spokesman Kraig Troxell said in a written statement that Chapman was not involved in the selection process.

Supervisor Koran T. Saines (D-Sterling) abstained from the final vote on the contract because of the campaign contributions to Chapman.

We know that the sheriff was not part of the process, Saines said. Not saying the sheriff did anything wrong, because we know its legal for him to do so. . . . I just have a personal belief that I [should] abstain from the vote.

Buona responded that corporations routinely make contributions to politicians.

Every one of us have corporate contributions, he said, adding that Chapman did not participate in the evaluation whatsoever.

The board approved the contract 8 to 0, with Saines abstaining.
Montgomery County Council member George Leventhal has formally entered the 2018 county executives race, promising a culture of customer service for all taxpayers and continued support for the poor, elderly, disabled and homeless in Marylands most populous locality.

You have every right to expect that when you interact with Montgomery County government, you get an answer to your question and a satisfactory effort to solve your problem, Leventhal, 54, told supporters Saturday at Wheaton Regional Park.

Leventhal (D-At Large), who lives in Takoma Park, has actually been running for months, collecting the small individual donations needed to qualify for public matching funds under the countys new campaign finance system.

Council members Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda) and Marc Elrich (D-At Large) are also running for the Democratic nomination.

The primary is scheduled for June 26, 2018, and others may enter the field. Potomac wine executive David Trone said hell likely run for county executive if Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) chooses to remain in his 6th District congressional seat. Delaney has been weighing a run for governor. Other possible contenders include former council member Mike Knapp and Del. Benjamin F. Kramer (D-Montgomery). The lone Republican candidate to announce so far is activist attorney Robin Ficker.

George Leventhal (D) (Photo by Neal Schlosburg)

Incumbent executive Isiah Leggett (D) is retiring after three terms.

Leventhal, serving his fourth term on the council, is the longtime chairman of the health and human services committee. He was a key figure in establishing Montgomery Cares, which provides health care to the uninsured.

Paraphrasing Hubert Humphrey, Leventhal said: I believe a community should be judged not on how it cares for those with the most resources, but how it cares for those who most need a government on their side.

Leventhal also led the passage of a controversial 2015 bill that barred cosmetic pesticides from private lawns. The measure is being challenged in court by lawn care companies, homeowners and a trade association for the pesticide industry.

Like Elrich and Berliner, Leventhal is term-limited on the council under the provisions of the ballot question approved by Montgomery voters in November, which limits council members and the county executive to no more than three consecutive terms
In effort to increase inclusion and diversity, Rockville hung about 150 flags off of light poles on downtown streets. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

After a spike in hate crimes over the winter, Rockville officials came up with what they thought would be the ideal way to affirm the citys commitment to diversity and inclusion: fly the flags of all 193 member countries of the United Nations from downtown light poles.

Did you know that more than a third of Rockvilles residents were born outside of the United States? Its true! enthused the YouTube video posted by the suburban Maryland city to promote the flags when they went up  each one next to an American flag  in time for Memorial Day. Residents were encouraged to find their country of origins flag, take a selfie and send it to the citys Twitter feed.

Within weeks, officials of this diligently progressive Montgomery County seat discovered that celebrating diversity is not a simple business and that good intentions can be derailed by unintended consequences.

Some U.S. military veterans protested the presence of the Iraqi flag at Hometown Holidays, the citys annual three-day street festival celebrating Memorial Day, where Gold Star mothers and the wounded would be in attendance. If it was 10 years after World War II, would we fly the Japanese flag or the German flag in downtown Rockville? asked Darrin Jones, an Army veteran of the 1991 Gulf War.

At least a couple of flags were stolen. An Ethiopian resident complained that his countrys flag was upside down. It turned out he was looking at the Bolivian flag, which has the same stripes of red, yellow and green but ordered in reverse.

A participant waves the former South Vietnam flag during a Tet parade in the Little Saigon area of Westminster, Calif., in February. The flag of the former country is often at dispute and seen as a symbol of resistance against the current communist government in Vietnam. A similar dispute has emerged in Rockville, Md. (Nick Ut/AP)

The loudest protest came from Montgomerys large Vietnamese community. Trinh Nguyen was furious when he learned that the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam  the communist regime that defeated his homeland of South Vietnam in 1975  was flying outside Rockville Memorial Library.

That red flag is painted by the blood of 3 million Vietnamese plus more than 58 thousand American GIs, the 75-year-old former captain in the South Vietnamese army wrote in a June 8 email to Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D). Now a retired pharmacist, he said the flag that should be flying is the one that belonged to his vanquished country, South Vietnam, with three red stripes against a field of yellow.

Leggett, whose office had nothing to do with the flag program, forwarded the message  and scores like it  to Rockville city officials.

A day later, the city removed the Vietnamese flag from its site in Rockville Town Center. But instead of retiring the banner, officials placed it in a less conspicuous location along West Montgomery Avenue. A Vietnamese resident spotted it, triggering a new round of protests and a second removal.

Diane Vu, Montgomerys liaison for Asian communities, said that for many Vietnamese Americans, the communist flag evokes memories of the wars brutal aftermath, when as many as 2.5 million South Vietnamese were sent to re-education camps and tens of thousands perished.

Others, like Vus mother, fled by sea with other boat people, who drowned by the thousands. She was nine months pregnant with Vu when the inhabitants of her boat were rescued after 10 days in open water.

For them seeing the flag incites a lot of anger and sadness and brings back horrible, terrible memories, Vu said.

In an effort to increase inclusion and diversity, Rockville hung about 150 flags off of light poles on downtown streets. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Hoan Dang is a member of the board of the Association of Vietnamese Americans, a Silver Spring nonprofit group that advocates and provides direct services for Marylands 24,000 Vietnamese, about 9,000 of whom live in Montgomery.

I think the city of Rockville had good intentions, but there is a lack of understanding, he said. In a letter sent Friday to Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton, the group recommended that Rockville display the South Vietnamese flag.

Newton said the city initially took down the Vietnam communist regimes flag  a yellow star against a field of red  but only to verify that it was actually recognized by the United Nations. Once that was confirmed, it went up again.

The flag program, which originated during a discussion at a diversity town hall in February, was not intended to endorse any specific government or political system, Newton said, but to show respect for the citys diverse population. She acknowledged that the effort may need a few tweaks.

Suffice it to say, we are reevaluating whether we will show both [Vietnamese] flags or only the flag that is recognized by the community, she said.

Other U.S. cities and counties have worked through the same issue, sometimes through the leadership of Vietnamese American elected officials. Earlier this year, San Jose City Council member Tam Nguyen, who escaped Vietnam as a teenager, led passage of a bill to ban the communist flag from city flagpoles and to recognize the old South Vietnamese banner. Seattle did the same in 2015. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted in 2004 to recognize the South Vietnamese flag.

Tim Chestnutt, director of the citys Recreation and Parks Department, which oversaw the flag placement, said the whole episode has been a crash course in a subject he never realized was so complex.

Weve learned more about flags in the last month than we ever knew, he said.
Rajendra Balaji, Tamil Nadu Milk and Dairy Development Minister has blamed the private dairy owners for adulteration. He didn't even spare his party spokesperson Vaigai Selvan for siding with them.

By Pramod Madhav: Tamil Nadu Milk and Dairy Development Minister Rajendra Balaji has once again surprised everyone by insulting his party spokesperson for allegedly siding with the private milk producing companies.

Rajendra Balaji has already become a laughing stock for alleging that private dairies' produced milk is adulterated. He even claimed that he would commit suicide if proven false. The minister faced embarrassment when his own department submitted a report in the court stating that no harmful adulterants were found as claimed by the minister in the Madras High Court.

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When questions about this development were put forward to the minister, he lashed out against a private milk vendor, Ponnusamy, for allegedly trying to stop him from proving his claim right.

"He is sending men to various labs like Guindy and Pune, as I'm sending sample to those labs. They are just trying to sabotage it. Some private industries did commit adulteration and I know about it", he maintained.

"Their conscience knows if they have committed adulteration, and with time it will be proven. Action will be taken against them", he claimed.

But, the astonishing part was how Balaji acted towards his party spokesperson Vaigai Selvan's comments against the minister. "He is a man who would speak for a mere amount of 500 rupees, you can't take him seriously", he said.

Rajendra Balaji is under serious criticism even from his own party for trying to create panic about the milk adulteration issue.

Also Read:

Sasikala in jail but 'mafia from Mannargudi' is here to stay. Who are they?

After RTI query, EC orders FIR against Tamil Nadu CM Palaniswami, TTV Dinakaran

Tamil Nadu war for thrones: Number crunching begins as TTV Dhinakaran makes a comeback

--- ENDS ---
Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George's), appears with Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to announce a state transportation project in Oxon Hill in 2016. The longtime senator will announce Monday that he is running for county executive. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

State Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D) on Monday became the first candidate in the race to succeed outgoing Prince Georges County Executive Rushern L. Baker (III), touring the Maryland suburb and promising to focus on core issues like schools, health care and economic development.

I want our students to do well, but I want to know our students are actually doing well, Muse, 59, said outside Crossland High School, a reference to recent allegations that county school officials tampered with student grades to artificially boost graduation rates. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Sunday asked the state education board to investigate the claims.

At a strip mall outside the gates of the U.S. Census Bureau in Suitland, Muse promised to continue efforts to attract development that would draw out workers from behind the iron fence dividing the federal campus from the neighborhood.

If youre going to work here, we want you to be a part of this community, the veteran politician and pastor said, as campaign volunteers cheered around him.

Muse has spent more than two decades in Annapolis, having been elected a state delegate in 1994 and a state senator in 2006. He lost a race for county executive in 2002.

In an interview, he said he would bring bold leadership to county government.

Our county has been in chaos over issues politicians have raised that our citizens never asked for, Muse said, referring to efforts to add seats to the county council, raise taxes to generate more money for schools and lengthen the amount of time politicians can stay in office. I know we can do better.

Political insiders say the county executives race likely will also include Democrats Angela D. Alsobrooks, the states attorney for Prince Georges, and former congresswoman Donna F. Edwards. In the heavily Democratic county, winning the party primary  which is scheduled for June 26, 2018, is tantamount to winning the general election.

Baker, who is term-limited, is running for governor.

[C. Anthony Muse: A pastor-turned-politician with a passion to heal]

Muse, who in the legislature represents a swath of southern Prince Georges, has emerged as a popular figure among some party activists who, like him, have a reputation for challenging leadership.

But as one of the more socially conservative members of his party, Muse has also taken positions during his career that appear out of step with many Democratic voters in the county, including on gaming and same-sex marriage.

Muse says he began his life in an abusive, working-class Baltimore home and was abandoned at the age of 12. After passing through several foster homes, he was adopted and raised by a United Methodist pastor, the Rev. George Stansbury.

He graduated from Morgan State University and earned a masters in divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary. He began his career in ministry at the age of 20, at a United Methodist church in Ellicott City, Md., and later moved to a church in Brandywine, winning over congregations with his passionate oratory and charisma.

He founded Ark of Safety Christian Church in Upper Marlboro after breaking with the Methodists over theological differences and a legal dispute.

In Annapolis, Muse has sponsored dozens of bills advocating for resources for domestic violence survivors and tightening laws against their abusers; championed juvenile justice reforms; and worked with colleagues to expand eligibility for the expungement of certain criminal convictions.

He has been a vocal critic of Bakers restructuring of the local school board and has called for the resignation of schools chief Kevin Maxwell. Muse also has blasted the administration and county council over campaigns to extend term limits, raise property taxes and add at-large members to the legislature.

He is known for responding to problems affecting his constituents, such as a slope failure that forced people out of their homes in Fort Washington in 2014.

People are saying they dont trust government, he said outside Crossland. I have a history of trust with this community. What I have said, I have done. My word is my word.
(nasa photo/Plans to launcha sounding rocket from the Eastern Shore of Virginia have met with one delay after another, most or all of them apparently beyond NASAs control. The rocket is to deploy chemicals that will create clouds intended to aid in studies of the ionosphere and the aurora. )

A rocket launch scheduled for the NASA site on Virginias Eastern Shore has been postponed 10 times this month, hinting at the hazards and hardships involved in rocket science.

The latest delay was reported Friday, when the space agency said the launch of its Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket, which had been scheduled for Saturday, was again put off. NASA said it was because of expected cloud cover.

The rocket was to be sent up from the Wallops Flight Facility to support ionospheric research by creating luminescent chemical clouds at that lofty level of the atmosphere, 46 or more miles above the earth. The clouds would be visible along much of the Eastern Seaboard.

But clouds and other impediments have deferred the launch over and over. On June 1, wind was the culprit; on June 2, clouds; and on June 3, it was boats in the impact area. And so it has gone. It has not gone unnoticed that clouds--the ones relatively close to the earth--have thwarted plans to create clouds far above the earth.

But low level natural clouds would obviously make it difficult to see the artifically created clouds.

A new launch date has not been set, NASA said.
It was somewhere around his 9,000th delivery that Frederick Leboyer began questioning his methods and those of his colleagues  obstetricians who worked in noisy, brightly lit operating rooms and concluded each birth by picking the infant up by its heels and smacking it on the bottom.

The ensuing wail was, according to tradition, the sign of a happy, healthy, newly breathing baby.

For Mr. Leboyer, who died May 25 at 98, it began to seem like the low point in an act that was no less painful than a stabbing.

Yes, hell exists, he wrote in Birth Without Violence, a 1974 prose poem that served as his medical cri de coeur. It is not a fairy tale. One indeed burns there. This hell is not at the end of life. It is here. At the beginning.  This is birth. This is the torture, the Calvary.

Mr. Leboyer, a French physician whose hatred of the medical establishment led him to stop using the title doctor and eventually close his private practice in Paris, was described variously as a quack, a radical revolutionary and a spiritual guru. A pilgrimage to India and a subsequent foray into psychoanalysis opened his eyes to the horrors of childbirth, he said, leading him to advocate for birthing methods that were gentler on newborns, if sometimes less convenient for the doctors who helped bring them into the world.

To help transform births into nativities, as he once put it, he called for dim lighting in the delivery room and a minimum of noise and conversation. Slapping was forbidden, and the umbilical cord  providing the child air for so many months  was typically not cut until it stopped beating. The baby would be placed on the mothers belly, gently massaged with bare hands, and eventually taken to a warm bath designed to imitate the amniotic fluid.

Mr. Leboyer shot to fame after he outlined his methods in Birth Without Violence, which became a bestseller in France and was subsequently translated into more than a dozen languages, and in an accompanying 21-minute film set to the music of a Japanese flute.

A newborn and his mother need a loving artists attention, not the impersonal manipulation of a highly trained engineer, he told the New York Times in 1974, chastising his peers for taking a sterile, technology-driven approach to childbirth.

For the most part, the medical community chastised Mr. Leboyer in return. Newborns should always be handled with surgical gloves, said critics, and bright lights were necessary to determine the infants color, an early health indicator.

Yet Mr. Leboyers methods gained traction with mothers, if not doctors, and  in part because of their insistence  soon began appearing in hospitals around the United States and Europe. His teachings led in part to the development and popularization of the waterbirth technique, through acolyte Michel Odent.

I dont think there are many people spanking babies or shining bright lights on them today, John T. Queenan, an official at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, told the Times in 1989. But if anyone told me they were doing Leboyer as originally described, bath and all, Id be very surprised.

Perhaps most controversially, Mr. Leboyer insisted that his methods were central not only to the happiness of the infant, but also to the happiness of the full-grown adult. The trauma of childbirth, he said, often while recounting the story of his own birth, was never fully forgotten.

Mr. Leboyer was born Alfred Lazare Levy to a Jewish family in Paris on Nov. 1, 1918. Through psychoanalysis, he claimed to recall that his mother, a painter, suffered terribly when she gave birth to him  with forceps, without anesthesia and three weeks late. His father was in the wine and diamond trades, and died when Alfred was about 17.

Alfred Levy graduated from the University of Paris, and during World War II he moved with his younger brother to Megeve, a ski resort across the border from Vens. The siblings changed their names to Leboyer  a French alteration of Levy  to avoid being captured by the occupying Nazis.

His brother, Maurice Levy-Leboyer, became a prominent economic historian and died in 2014. Frederick Leboyer died at his home in Vens, Switzerland, several weeks after suffering a stroke, said a nephew, Antoine Leboyer of Geneva.

He is also survived by his wife of 12 years, Mieko Yoshimura of Vens. He said he regretted having no children.

In addition to Birth Without Violence, Mr. Leboyer wrote poetry and books including Loving Hands (1976), which taught mothers how to massage their newborns, and Inner Beauty, Inner Light (1978), which taught yoga for pregnant women.

Following his trip to India, Mr. Leboyer said he seemed to see a kind of inner light in each person. When the Times contributor Steven Englund visited his Parisian home in 1974, Mr. Leboyer displayed prints showing Renaissance-era depictions of the baby Jesus. See how the light shines from the Infant Christs face? he said. There is no reason why that cannot happen for all babies. But first we must stop treating them as mere squalling digestive tracts.
Police to step up their boating enforcement

The Marine Unit of Prince William County police will increase monitoring next weekend for boating under the influence, as part of the national Operation Dry Water campaign, officials said.

From Friday to July 2, law enforcement will be looking for impaired boaters. Boaters will notice an increased police presence on the waterways and at recreational boating checkpoints such as Leesylvania State Park.

The department is also offering the following tips for staying safe on the water this summer:

 Be a sober boater. Alcohol use is the leading contributing factor in recreational boater deaths. Alcohol and drug use impairs a boaters judgment, balance, vision and reaction time.

 Wear a life jacket.

 Take a boating safety education course.

For information, visit operationdrywater.org.

Police release countys 2016 crime report

Last week, Prince William County police released their 2016 crime report, which showed a continued decline in the countys crime rate.

According to the report, 13.7 crimes were committed per 1,000 residents in 2016, down from 14.7 crimes in 2015.

Although crimes against property (larceny, robbery and arson) and crimes against people (homicides, assaults and sexual assaults) collectively decreased from the previous year, murders more than doubled. In 2016, 22 people were murdered in the county  the highest rate in the 15 years for which statistics have been reported.

Visit pwcgov.org for the complete report.

Manassas firefighter to be honored by club

Brad Fairbanks was named the City of Manassas Fire and Rescue Departments Responder of the Year by the Manassas Rotary Club.

Fairbanks, who joined the department in 2012, is responsible for the citys self-contained breathing apparatus and performs fit testing on all career and volunteer members.

Last year, he received the Silver Medal of Valor for bravery from the Prince William County Chamber of Commerce
A four-hour shutdown of part of the Capital Beltway in Northern Virginia was a traffic calamity during Monday mornings rush-hour commute after two crashes in the Alexandria area. In one, a driver left her vehicle after it was hit, then was fatally struck as she tried to cross the highway.

The crashes happened just before 5 a.m. along the inner loop near the Van Dorn Street interchange. The closure caused backups for hours that at one point stretched 10 miles as crews reconstructed the incidents. Several detours were put in place and drivers were advised to avoid the area throughout the morning rush.

The name of the woman who was killed wasnt immediately released Monday, pending notification of relatives.

Virginia State Police said the initial investigation found that a Nissan Maxima stopped in the left lane of the Beltway. Officials said it wasnt known why the vehicle stopped.

A Chevrolet pickup truck tried to avoid striking the car but wasnt able to stop and hit the Nissan, police said.

The woman who was driving the Nissan then got out of her car and walked to another lane, police said, and was hit by a Chevrolet Malibu. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said in a statement that at least one other person in a vehicle was taken to a hospital with injuries that werent considered life-threatening. The crashes were under investigation Monday.

With traffic backed up for miles, some drivers got out of their cars and stood outside their vehicles to try to see what was happening.

Transportation officials encouraged drivers to use Telegraph Road and Eisenhower Avenue as detours, but that did little to relieve congestion. Lanes on the inner loop were reopened shortly before 9 a.m.
Twenty-nine shots were fired and four people were wounded late Sunday night in Southeast Washington. No one was killed.

The incident happened just before midnight Sunday in the 5900 block of Southern Avenue SE near East Capitol Street SE.

One person was shot in the chest and another was shot in the arm, according to a police report. A third person was shot in the hand and wrist. Another victim, police said, drove himself to a hospital after being shot in the leg.

They were all treated at hospitals for their injuries.

A Shot Spotter device picked up the sound of 29 shots that were fired along Southern Avenue.

Witnesses were not able to give descriptions of the suspects, according to D.C. police. Several buildings and cars in the area were also damaged.
A 30-year-old man has been arrested and charged in the death of a man found shot inside a car in Laurel.

Prince Georges County police said Patrick Andre Stran, of no fixed address, was involved in the slaying of 33-year-old Marvin Bryan. Stran was charged with first- and second degree murder.

The killing happened March 25 around 5:20 a.m. when officers were called to the 13000 block of Edinburgh Lane for the report of a shooting. The victim, who was later identified as Bryan, was found inside a car suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead on the scene, police said.

Stran was arrested in California on May 22. He was extradited to Prince Georges County. Police said the two men had known each other for several years and were involved in an on-going dispute. They did not reveal what the dispute was about.

Stran is being held without bond at the Department of Corrections.
Police take Eulalio Tordil, a suspect in three fatal shootings in the Washington area, into custody in Bethesda on May 6, 2016. (Alex Brandon /AP)

A Maryland man who killed his wife at the start of a lethal two-day shooting rampagepleaded guilty to first-degree murder in her death Monday.

The plea that Eulalio Tordil, 63, entered in Prince George's County Circuit Court comes two months after the former federal protective service officer was convicted in the fatal shootings of two strangers as he attempted to steal vehicles in neighboring Montgomery County while he was on the run.

Tordil fled into Montgomery after killing his wife in the parking lot of a Prince Georges school in front of one of his stepdaughters.

He faces a maximum of life without parole for the death of his wife and is scheduled to be sentenced in Prince Georges on Sept. 6.

[Suspect in custody in shootings at mall, grocery store, high school]

On May 5, 2016, Tordil confronted wife Gladys Tordil, 44, in the lot of High Point High School in Beltsville where she was picking up her daughters. After an argument and physical assault, Tordil shot his wife in front of one of the girls and fled the scene, prosecutors said.

This was a tragedy of amazing proportions, said Prince Georges County States Attorney Angela Alsobrooks.

Two months before the shooting, Gladys Tordil, a chemistry teacher at Clarksburg High School, had filed a restraining order alleging her husband physically abused her and her daughters. He hit her and threatened to hurt her if she left him, she said in court documents. And he forced her children to do push-ups or locked them in a dark closet as a form of punishment, she said in court filings.

A judge granted the restraining order that required Eulalio Tordil to turn over his weapons to authorities, but he kept one gun that law enforcement didn't know about.

The two young women who were looking forward to graduating from high school last year had a stepfather who abused them, then showed up at the school and then murdered their mother, Alsobrooks said.

Tordil on Monday also pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of a good Samaritan who tried to intervene outside the high school.

With a shaved head and goatee, Tordil appeared in court in an orange uniform and spoke mostly to respond to the judges questions.

[Man arrested in Md. killing spree allegedly menaced his wife, stepdaughters]

We look forward to the sentencing so that we can show that he is more than these two days reflect, said Tordils public defender, David Edgar Booth Jr.

The shooting rampage stoked panic and caused school lockdowns in the region.

Tordil had rented a car to conceal himself and confront his wife at the high school when one of her daughters came upon the scene in the parking lot, Alsobrooks said. This was a man who was calculating, who was evil, she said. Gladys Tordil in her last moments screamed to her daughter to run back to the school.

[Maryland rampage suspect pleads guilty in murders of strangers]

The day after his wifes shooting, Tordil went on a rampage, fatally shooting Malcom Mike Winffel outside a busy shopping mall and Claudina Molina outside a grocery store in Montgomery County.

Tordil shot each as he was trying to steal vehicles to try to thwart police efforts to track him. At least two others were wounded in his attacks.

During one of the failed carjackings, Tordil lost his eyeglasses, preventing his being able to drive far before police took him into custody.

Tordil faces up to four life sentences without the possibility of parole in Montgomery County for the killings of Winffel and Molina. He is scheduled to be sentenced in those cases July 7.
The District

Hotel is evacuated after kitchen fire

The Westin Hotel on Thomas Circle NW was temporarily evacuated Saturday evening after a fire broke out in the kitchen and smoke billowed from the top of the building.

The fire appeared to be confined to the kitchen, where it was brought under control in about 20 minutes, said Vito Maggiolo, spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. He said smoke went up through an external duct system. No injuries were reported.

With the fire out, guests began returning to the hotel, the fire department reported.

The attention attracted by the smoke was heightened by the timing of the fire. It came only hours after a huge blaze destroyed an apartment house on Peabody Street NW.

The building once operated as the Vista International Hotel. In a room at the Vista, then-D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arrested on drug charges in 1990 in an FBI sting.

 Clarence Williams

and Martin Weil

Maryland

Pilot dies in crash of ultralight aircraft

A 71-year-old man was fatally injured on the Eastern Shore Sunday in the crash of the ultralight aircraft he was flying, the state police said.

They said Michael Malick of Federalsburg died at a hospital after the crash at a privately owned residential landing strip in Federalsburg.

Investigators said the aircraft hit a power line, police said. The police identified the aircraft as a Dream Machine 582. Online information describes it as a powered parachute with a motor and wheels.

Police said they think Malick owned the grass airfield where the crash occurred.

 Martin Weil

The Region

Endangered turtles hatch at National Zoo

Two turtles from a critically endangered species hatched this month at the National Zoo in what the zoo called a conservation success years in the making.

The Bourrets box turtles emerged from their shells on June 12, the zoo said.

They were said to be healthy and thriving, weighing about 25 grams each. That might sound weighty, but it is less than an ounce. Their mother weighs about 50 times as much, zoo officials said.

According to the zoo, scientists estimate that the turtles numbers in the wild have declined about 90 percent since the 1950s to about 2,300. Their native habitat is evergreen forests in Laos and Vietnam.

 Martin Weil
Couples from throughout the region reaffirmed their marriage vows at a special Mass on Sunday by Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington. (Bill OLeary/The Washington Post)

A n audible gasp went through the crowd.

The Rev. Richard Kramer had just rattled off some incredible numbers.

Gathered under the basilica dome, he told the crowd, were 722 couples, who among them represented a combined total of 32,024 years of marriage.

The Jubilarian Mass, held Sunday afternoon at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, was a celebration of the marriage anniversaries  ranging from 25 to 75 years  of the many couples gathered there. In addition to renewing their vows, couples received a special blessing and personalized certificates marking their anniversaries.

It was a special Mass to celebrate the visible sign of Gods love, the sacrament of marriage, and the importance of strong marriages for both the church and the world, said Kramer, who is the director of family life and pastoral resource development for the Archdiocese of Washington.

Enrique Palangdao kisses Nina, his bride of more than 50 years, at Sundays Mass. (Bill OLeary/The Washington Post)

It is incredible to see hundreds and hundreds, and hundreds of couples celebrate their anniversaries, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington. It is a public testimony to enduring human love.

But thats not to say that any of this is easy, even though the basilica was teeming with couples who have spent the better part of a century together.

The message today is that marriage works and that commitment is a beautiful thing, Wuerl said. Too often, there is a tendency . . . to look at things in the short term and not to realize that you have to work at good things. So the gathering of these couples, and the public recognition of their years of deep mutual commitment, are an inspiration and an example to young men and women, he said.

Amancio and Marilen Pascaran, 74 and 72, celebrated their 50th anniversary in April by treating themselves to a transatlantic cruise. They had marked their 40th anniversary at this same Jubilarian Mass 10 years earlier, and were back to mark their golden jubilee.

Originally from the Philippines, where they met as college students, the Pascarans, who live in Bowie, Md., exuded a joyful and youthful energy. When asked how they have made their marriage last so long, Amancio, with a laugh and a twinkle in his eye, said: I let her do anything she wants.

Marilen did not object to this characterization, and expanded on her husbands answer. Its about keeping a busy schedule so that theres no time to disagree, she said. But more importantly, its about learning to give and take.

You have to compromise  thats the biggest thing, she said.

Marion Miles and her husband of 58 years Solomon Miles, joined hundreds of couples from throughout the region in celebrating their marriages. (Bill OLeary/The Washington Post)

Seated behind the Pascarans were high school sweethearts Obie and Mary Spence, 81 and 77, of the District. They also credited their 58-year-long marriage to finding happy mediums.

Its yes and no, give and take, disagreeing and agreeing, Obie said. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't choose nobody else.

For Olney, Md., residents Antonio and Maria Pinto, 51 and 46, their 25-year marriage has been an act of honoring their word to God.

When you go before God and say its forever, its forever, Maria said.

The longest-lasting marriage celebrated Sunday was that of Robert and Laurin Balkam, who are marking 75 years together.

The Roman Catholic faith and his marriage have been the two greatest opportunities that life has presented him, Robert said in a video produced by the Archdiocese of Washington ahead of the Mass.

 [L]ike the faith, Laurin has enriched me, she has instructed me, she has corrected me, she has encouraged me, she loves me, he said.

And how have they made their marriage endure for three-quarters of a century?

Well, my answer is that you do it one year at a time, and then it adds up, Robert said.

Wuerl likes to talk to couples as they leave the Mass, and over the years he has learned a thing or two about marriage from them.

One secret, couples have told him, is always to say youre sorry when you recognize that you were in the wrong. Another secret is to not let a day go by without saying, sometime during the course of the day, to your spouse, I love you. 

It may sound simple, Wuerl said, but those three words go a long way.

But perhaps one lesson that has stuck with him the most is from a couple who had been married for 50 years, and who had never gone to bed at night without saying a prayer together.

It was their way of reminding themselves that God is part of our lives and our marriage, Wuerl said, and it is perhaps this that is the most important factor for a long-lasting marriage.

I think that is the secret to how we have hundreds of couples . . . celebrating thousands of years of marriage, he said.
Several US government websites were hacked with a message that purports to support the terrorist group ISIS.

By AP: Government websites, many of them in Ohio, were hacked Sunday with a message that purports to be supportive of the Islamic State terrorist group.

A message posted on the website of Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich said, "You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries."

The message, left by "Team System Dz," also ended, "I love the Islamic state."

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The same message also infiltrated government websites in the town of Brookhaven, New York, according to news reports in that state, as well as the website for Howard County, Maryland. In the past, the group also claimed responsibility for similar hacks in the past in Richland County, Wisconsin, and in places such as Aberdeen, Scotland, and Sweden.

Several other government websites were hacked in Ohio, including that of first lady Karen Kasich, Medicaid, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and the Casino Control Commission.

'ALL AFFECTED SERVERS TAKEN OFFLINE'

Tom Hoyt, chief communications officer for Ohio's Department of Administrative Services, was among Ohio officials who confirmed the hack.

"All affected servers have been taken offline and we are investigating how these hackers were able to deface these websites," he said. "We also are working with law enforcement to better understand what happened."

He said the hacking in Ohio happened at about 11 am EDT. He hoped the websites would be up and running sometime Monday.

The websites in Brookhaven and Howard County also remained down on Sunday. When asked about the outage on the Brookhaven site, a spokeswoman who answered the phone at the New York town's police department simply offered a "no comment."

The hack is part of ongoing cyberterrorism that has impacted governments and corporations across the globe.

Some see these types of hacks - sometimes called "defacement" - as simply a nuisance, though in some instances, they have been disruptive to work and government life.

But others see cause for alarm. "Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland," Josh Mandel, the Ohio treasurer and a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said in a tweet Sunday.

Authors of the website "Cryptosphere," which tracks hackers worldwide, have detailed dozens, if not hundreds, of similar hacks in recent years by the so-called Team System DZ, which they called a "pro-ISIS hacker crew" and claim are based in Algeria.

Impacted websites, they said, have included those for a synagogue in Florida, the student union at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, for UK Rugby and a number of websites on Wordpress.

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ALSO READ | How ISIS lures youth with women, meat, chocolates to recruit in Kerala. An India Today exclusive

ALSO READ | Is Pakistan indirectly paving way for ISIS in Kashmir by using its videos to fuel militancy?

ALSO WATCH | Zakir Naik's outfit radicalised Indian youth to join ISIS

--- ENDS ---
Their original plan was to work at Six Flags.

The girls theyd meet. The fun theyd have. Free admission to the amusement park on days off. Perfect, right?

It was the total package, said Nolan White, 17.

Except Nolan and his friends didnt get the jobs. Too much competition.

So they tried something else, said Raymond Bell, who understood the spirit of the boys plan and has his own plans for them. But well get to that later.

See, the teens decided to make lemonade out of lemons and become entrepreneurs by selling cold, bottled water to hot tourists on a parched Mall.

We bought the water, like 15 cases. And a cooler and two totes, Nolan said, outlining his business plan. We charged a dollar a bottle. The plan gave them a significant profit margin.

Makes sense. Some of the water fountains on the Mall dont work, vendors arent everywhere, and the District topped out at 95 degrees last week.

Heck, even the U.S. Park Police in the District encouraged folks to hit the water bottles with a retweet of something their New York outpost sent out: HYDRATE, while working/exercising outdoors during hot weather. Drink water before you feel thirsty.

So selling water during last weeks heat wave is the kind of get-up-and-go that most of America would cheer.

But instead, the D.C. Water Boys became a national story. And another clear example of the way the world continues to see them. And fear them.

[Park Police criticized for detaining water-selling youths]

Selling Water While Black was enough to get the teens  one 16 and two 17  handcuffed and humiliated by Park Police working an undercover sting targeting illegal vendors.

Nolan and his buddies were dumping the melting ice out of their bins, about to head home, when they were surrounded by three undercover officers who pulled out their badges and cuffed the boys before questioning or conversation even began, Nolan said.

There they were, hands behind their backs, one splayed on a sidewalk, as tourists walked by and gawked.

It was embarrassing. All these people watching us, thinking were just criminals, Nolan told me. He had never been in handcuffs before. He said they hurt.

But he kept remembering what his mom told him  the mantra of every black childs mother. She told me to stay calm, do whatever the officer said, cooperate, Nolan said.

Its what black kids are used to.

My kids sell water and everyone smiles at them, tweeted Tim Krepp, a D.C. author and tour guide who happened upon the scene Thursday and took the photos that went viral. These kids do it and get arrested. It IS racist.

Why handcuffs? It was just water.

They broke the law! Twitter howled.

Nope. The haters and I both know this isnt the way police would treat white kids who set up a lemonade stand without understanding the rules.

I really didnt know you had to have any kind of permit for it, Nolan said. I just thought it was something you could do.

Heres where we get back to the race part.

The kids were handcuffed for the safety of the officers and of the individuals, Park Police spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Rose said in a statement.

There you have it. Fear is what it comes down to.

Fear of Trayvon Martins Skittles.

Fear of Tamir Rices toy gun.

Fear of Michael Browns size.

Fear of water bottles?

Over and over again, we see non-black folks acting out of fear when they interact with black Americans.

The fear factor was firmly established last week when a Minnesota jury decided that being afraid of a black man was reason enough for a police officer to kill him.

Officer Jeronimo Yanez testified that he feared for his life when he killed Philando Castile, a 32-year-old school cafeteria worker who was calm and cooperative in one of the clearest videotaped police shootings America has seen. Castiles girlfriend live-streamed his death from their car on Facebook when it happened last July, and dashboard-camera video shown at Yanezs trial this month shows an equally devastating angle of the killing.

[Officer acquitted in Philando Castile shooting]

That officer didnt see a beloved cafeteria worker who knew every kids name. He didnt see the gun owner licensed to carry a concealed weapon. Nope. He saw danger. His fear was his license to kill.

What happened to the D.C. Water Boys obviously is different. No one was shot or killed.

I asked Nolan if his mom was mad at him  when she finally picked him up, after about an hour and a half in handcuffs in 90-degree heat. His answer was heartbreaking.

She was happy that I was alive, he said.

The youths were eventually uncuffed and released. But the judgment that society placed on them that day  handcuffs and public humiliation, rather than a stern warning and a reading of the rules that would be more appropriate for kids  will stay with them for a lifetime.

When all they wanted was a summer job.

Heres where we get back to Raymond Bell.

The mother of one of the Water Boys (who also is a godmother to another) called Bell last year to ask about his job training program, the HOPE (Helping Other People Excel) Project.

Bell trains people for jobs in information technology  screen replacement techs, tech support and so forth. He has a summer program for high school students and a year-round program for adults, graduating about 150 people and placing them in jobs every year.

I know its not the sexiest thing, Bell explains. But we need more positive images out there that are not just about rapping, singing and playing ball. It bothers me that so many kids see that as the only path to success.

Only, the boys had the Six Flags plan. An understandable miscalculation for a teen.

But that didnt pan out, Bell said.

So after someone in his social circle identified the kids from Krepps photo, Bell went into his files to find their information and called the mom .

Nolan walked into the HOPE offices Monday.

Bell immediately gave him a black, gold and blue HOPE Project shirt to put over his white tank top. Bell showed him a binder full of job offers for past graduates. Nolan told him about his dream of training as an electrician and carpenter and renovating and flipping old homes.

But this, he said, looking at the job offers to work in IT, this would be an upgrade on my dream.

So Bell laid out the rules and told him about all the work and training hed be doing this summer.

Im ready to take on that responsibility, sir, Nolan told him.

And then he called his friends to tell them about the job. The total package.
A federal judge Monday said his court order holding up construction of Marylands Purple Line will remain in effect while the state continues to fight a lawsuit opposing the light-rail project.

In a 12-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon rejected the states plea to reinstate the projects federal environmental approval, which Leon revoked in August. Construction on the 16-mile Purple Line cant begin  and the state cant secure $900 million in federal grants  until a court restores that approval.

Leon said the states lawyers did not meet two stringent requirements. The state, he said, did not show a likelihood of success in appealing part of the lawsuit that it lost and did not prove it would suffer irreparable harm if the project is further delayed.

Leon rejected the states arguments that legal delays are costing taxpayers $13 million a month and put the project at risk of being canceled, which would cost millions in contract termination penalties. Leon noted that the state signed a $5.6 billion public-private partnership after the plaintiffs asked him to suspend the projects environmental approval and continued to spend money on pre-construction work amid legal uncertainty.

[Maryland suspends key elements of Purple Line work]

Maryland was explicitly on notice that plaintiffs were asking me to vacate the [environmental approval] and could have structured its public-private arrangements to better protect its financial interests in case the environmental approval was suspended, Leon wrote.

Leons ruling probably will have little effect on the speed of the legal case because Maryland officials have asked an appeals court to decide the same issue. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has yet to rule on whether the environmental approval should be reinstated during the lawsuits appeal.

[Maryland seeks emergency appellate court ruling to begin Purple Line work]

The state is appealing Leons August decision that the ridership forecasts done as part of the Purple Lines environmental study failed to adequately account for Metros safety problems and declining ridership. The Purple Line would be separate from Metro, but 27 percent of its riders are expected to use it to reach Metro stations.

Federal transit officials have said studies show that the Purple Lines ridership would be one of the most robust among U.S. light-rail systems, even if no Metro riders used it, and that ridership would not affect the rail lines environmental footprint.

The plaintiffs have said the rail line should not be built until questions surrounding its potential environmental impacts have been resolved. Starting construction, they say, would destroy trees, wildlife habitat and other environmental resources.
Two more candidates have filed paperwork to compete for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) next year.

Alison Kiehl Friedman, an expert in combating human trafficking, and Deep Sran, founder of the Loudoun School for the Gifted, join an already-crowded field.

Democrats think they have a chance to flip the Northern Virginia seat, which has been in Republican hands since 1980, after the area backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

Comstock supporters say the congresswomans ability to outperform GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump by 16 points to win a second term cemented her dominance in the district.

The district includes Loudoun County and parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties, as well as Clarke and Frederick counties to the west. As the closest thing to a battleground district in the region, it attracts more than its share of activists and donors.

Alison Kiehl Friedman is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) in 2018. (Courtesy of the Friedman campaign)

[Why a programmer from Maryland wants Northern Virginia to Dump Comstock]

A native of Takoma Park, Md., Friedman, 38, grew up in an activist household. While pregnant with Friedman, her mother founded Voters for Choice with Gloria Steinem and her father worked for a nonprofit organization that helped build assets for the poor.

Friedman earned a bachelors degree at Stanford University and worked at People for the American Way before joining the staff of then-Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.). She served as executive director of the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking, and in 2009 went to work for the State Departments anti-trafficking office.

Friedman said she was inspired to run by her daughter. The girl had written to Trump urging him to love instead of hate in the spirit of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but feared he would discover her letter and bring guns to our house, Friedman said.

If my daughter is brave enough to write a note like that, she said, I do have the ability to do more, and what Ive always loved doing is working on protecting the worlds most vulnerable.

She disputed Comstocks claim that she leads on human trafficking because she supported legislation that President Barack Obama signed. Friedman opposes Trump on a host of issues, including, she said, his disregard for institutions vital to our democracy and his scapegoating of people of color and immigrants.

Friedman, who is pursuing an MBA through Oxford University, left the State Department in 2015 and moved from the District to McLean in April.

Deep Sran, the founder of the Loudoun School for the Gifted, is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.). (Deep Srans campaign for Congress)

The newest candidate, Deep Sran, 45, grew up in Silver Spring, attended Montgomery County public schools and earned a bachelors degree from the University of Maryland and a law degree from Georgetown. He worked for firms in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington for three years but always felt like education was the way to make lasting social change.

Returning to the University of Maryland, he earned a doctorate in educational psychology and went on to teach and serve as curriculum director at the Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School. He moved to Ashburn, in the district where he is seeking office, in 2004, and still lives there with his wife and two daughters.

Tired of the long commute, he started a small private school, the Loudoun School for the Gifted, about a decade ago as a laboratory for education ideas that could work in public school, he said.

Its purely Field of Dreams  if you build it they will come, he said. I love education. It is in my mind the way to build a better world.

Sran, whose parents are from India, said that with his background and experience, he can relate to the districts robust South Asian community.

I understand why small-business people dont tend to vote for Democrats, he said. On the other hand, my whole life has been about social justice.

At least seven Democrats, including Friedman and Sran, are running or say they plan to run for the party nomination to challenge Comstock.

State Sen. Jennifer Wexton, a former prosecutor from Loudoun County; Lindsey Davis Stover, who worked in Veterans Affairs during the Obama administration; and Dan Helmer, a Rhodes Scholar and Army veteran, announced their campaigns early, followed by David B. Hanson, a retired Navy intelligence officer from Clifton.

Kimberly Adams, past president of the Fairfax teachers union, said she will begin her campaign next month.

Democratic leaders in the congressional district will decide early next year whether to nominate a candidate through a state-run primary open to all voters or a party-run process.
Senate Republicans bill to erase major parts of the Affordable Care Act would cause an estimated 22 million more Americans to be uninsured by the end of the coming decade, while reducing federal spending by $321 billion during that time, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The forecast issued Monday by Congresss nonpartisan budget scorekeepers appeared to rapidly erode Republicans confidence in the bill, with at least four GOP lawmakers saying by the evening that they would vote against even starting debate on it.

By late Monday, several senators and aides appeared nervous and unsure about the path forward. They hedged on the timing of that procedural vote and suggested the workweek could stretch beyond Friday. Still, there was some hope for salvaging the effort, and GOP leaders were still looking for ways to make last-minute changes that might garner crucial support.

Yet the breadth of the resistance highlighted Majority Leader Mitch McConnells increasingly difficult challenge.

The projection of uninsured numbers and federal spending had been awaited as a crucial piece of evidence while McConnell (Ky.) and other Republican leaders try to hurry a vote on the bill this week. They already were navigating an expanding minefield of criticism from their partys moderate and conservative wings.





The release of the 49-page CBO report late Monday afternoon seemed to worsen the bills prospects. No new senators immediately said they would back the legislation, and Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.) signaled that they would vote against starting debate Tuesday on the bill in its current form. A fourth senator, Dean Heller (R-Nev.), had expressed his opposition last week.

Collins, a moderate Republican, tweeted that the measure would hurt [the] most vulnerable Americans and failed to solve the problems of access to care in rural Maine where, she wrote, hospitals are already struggling.

The Senate bill could undergo further changes before such a vote is scheduled, which could prompt these senators to reconsider. But if the Democrats vote as a bloc, McConnell can afford to lose no more than two Republicans for a procedural motion to succeed.

Asked whether McConnell and other Senate leaders had amassed enough support to pass the measure, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) responded, Anyone would tell you they dont.

The CBO estimated that two-thirds of the drop in health coverage a decade from now would fall on low-income people who rely on Medicaid. And among the millions now buying private health plans through ACA marketplaces, the biggest losers would roughly parallel those under legislation passed recently by the House: The sharpest spike in insurance premiums would fall on middle-aged and somewhat older Americans.

Its analysis of the Senate measures impact on federal spending  $321 billion saved over a decade  compared with $119 billion for the Houses version.

Paul labeled the Better Care Reconciliation Act a terrible bill and repeated his contention that it would not go far enough in repealing the sprawling health-care law enacted seven years ago by a Democratic Congress and president.

McConnell took to the Senate floor just before the reports release to press anew for rapid action. He made it clear that the bill, already tweaked early Monday, could be negotiated further to try to win over holdouts.

The American people need better care right now, McConnell said. This legislation includes the necessary tools to provide it.

Democrats quickly seized on the CBOs projection of how much the ranks of the uninsured would grow.

Republicans would be wise to read it as a giant stop sign, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) told reporters. No matter how the bill changes around the edges, it is fundamentally rotten at the center.

Former CBO director Doug Holtz-Eakin, a Republican who is now president of the American Action Forum, said the report draws basically the same conclusions as the budget offices earlier analysis of the House measure. He predicted that GOP senators are going to get beaten on the head with the CBO report like its a club.

The fresh figures come as President Trump, in a sharp pivot from the praise he initially lavished on the House bill, has been urging the Senate to provide Americans more generous help with health insurance. On Sunday, the president repeated during a Fox and Friends TV appearance a word he had used in a private White House lunch with a group of GOP senators earlier this month: that the Houses version is mean.

On Monday, the White House again sought to cast doubt on the budget offices credibility. The CBO has consistently proven it cannot accurately predict how healthcare legislation will impact insurance coverage, it said in a statement. This history of inaccuracy, as demonstrated by its flawed report on coverage, premiums, and predicted deficit arising out of Obamacare, reminds us that its analysis must not be trusted blindly.

According to the latest report, the Senate bill would mean that an estimated 15 million fewer Americans would have coverage next year, compared with the number if the ACA, commonly called Obamacare, remained in place. At the end of the decade, the 22 million increase in the ranks of the uninsured would include 15 million low-income Americans who would otherwise be on Medicaid and 7 million with private insurance. That total is about a million less than the 2026 impact of the House plan.

The Senate plan would reduce federal spending to help people afford premiums for individual health insurance policies significantly more than under the House version. The Senates version would cut spending on tax credits by $408 billion by 2026  compared with a $276 billion reduction in the House plan. The difference lies, in part, because the Senates version would not permit people with incomes as high to qualify for tax credits and would restrict federal help to health plans sold through the ACAs marketplaces. The Senate would tie the tax credits to skimpier health plans than the current subsidies.

And while the Senate bill would phase out the ACAs Medicaid expansion more slowly than the House legislation, cuts to the public insurance program for the poor still would account for by far the largest share of the reduction in federal spending under the Senate bill  $772 billion over the coming decade. In a briefing for reporters, CBO staff members said that they had not analyzed the bills effects on Medicaid cuts beyond the coming decade but that the reductions inevitably would be greater for a second decade.

While they differ in important details, both the Senate GOPs plan and the American Health Care Act narrowly passed by House Republicans in May share the goal of undoing central aspects of the ACA.

Both bills would eliminate enforcement of the laws mandate that most Americans carry health insurance, relying on subtler deterrents to keep people from dropping coverage. The House version would let insurers temporarily charge higher rates to those who let their coverage lapse, while the Senate added a provision Monday that would let health plans freeze out customers for six months if they let it lapse.

In different ways, both would replace federal subsidies that help the vast majority of consumers buying coverage through ACA marketplaces, instead creating smaller tax credits that would provide greater assistance to younger adults while making insurance more expensive for people from middle age into their 60s.

After two years, both also would end subsidies that now help about 7 million lower-income people with ACA health plans afford deductibles and copays. And both would repeal an array of taxes that have helped to pay for the ACAs benefits, including levies on health insurers and on wealthy Americans investment income.

For the Senate bill, the CBOs estimates of insurance coverage and federal spending are influenced by the fact that its forecast covers a 10-year window and the legislations most profound changes for the nations health-care system are tilted toward the latter part of that period.

The bill would, for instance, leave in place the ACAs expansion of Medicaid through 2020. After that, it would begin a three-year phaseout of the federal money that under the ACA has paid almost the entire cost of adding 11 million Americans to the programs rolls in 31 states.

That means the extra funding wouldnt disappear until the mid-2020s  roughly when sharp new restrictions on federal payments for the entire Medicaid program would take effect.

Over the weekend, the senior Democrat on the Senate subcommittee that oversees the CBO said in a tweet that he had asked the budget office to estimate the Senate bills effect on insurance coverage over a longer time horizon. GOP is hiding the worst Medicaid cuts in years 11, 12, 13 and hoping CBO stays quiet, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote.
One month before Election Day, Jared Kushners real estate company finalized a $285 million loan as part of a refinancing package for its property near Times Square in Manhattan.

The loan came at a critical moment. Kushner was playing a key role in the presidential campaign of his father-in-law, Donald Trump. The lender, Deutsche Bank, was negotiating to settle a federal mortgage fraud case and charges from New York state regulators that it aided a possible Russian money-laundering scheme. The cases were settled in December and January.

Now, Kushners association with Deutsche Bank is among a number of financial matters that could come under focus as his business activities are reviewed by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is examining Kushner as part of a broader investigation into possible Russian influence in the election.

The October deal illustrates the extent to which Kushner was balancing roles as a top adviser to Trump and a real estate company executive. After the election, Kushner juggled duties for the Trump transition team and his corporation as he prepared to move to the White House. The Washington Post has reported that investigators are probing Kushners separate December meetings with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, and with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, the head of Vnesheconombank, a state development bank.

The Deutsche Bank loan capped what Kushner Cos. viewed as a triumph: It had purchased four mostly empty retail floors of the former New York Times building in 2015, recruited tenants to fill the space and got the Deutsche Bank loan in a refinancing deal that gave Kushners company $74 million more than it paid for the property.





The White House, in response to questions from The Post, said in a statement that Kushner will recuse from any particular matter involving specific parties in which Deutsche Bank is a party. Kushner and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Deutsche Bank loans to Trump and his family members have come under scrutiny. As Trumps biggest lender, the bank supplied funds to him when other banks balked at the risk. As of last year, Trumps companies had about $364 million in outstanding debts to the bank.

Democrats from the House Financial Services Committee wrote on March 10 that they were concerned about the integrity of a reported Justice Department investigation into the Russian money-laundering matter given the Presidents ongoing conflicts of interest with Deutsche Bank, citing the suspicious ties between President Trumps inner circle and the Russian government. The Justice Department did not respond to a question about whether it is following up on the money-laundering settlement that Deutsche Bank reached with New York state regulators in December.

On May 23, the Democratic members asked Deutsche Bank to disclose what it had learned in its internal review about whether Trump may have benefited from the improper Russian money transfers. The bank refused, citing U.S. privacy laws. The Democratic letter also raised the possibility that the bank had conducted a similar review of Kushner  without mentioning his name  by referring to a review of accounts held by family members, several of whom serve as official advisers to the president.

The Democrats wrote that it was important to learn more about Deutsche Bank loans to Trump and family members to determine whether they were in any way connected to Russia.

(Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

The refinancing loan with Deutsche Bank is mentioned in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a public offering of mortgage-backed securities. It states that Kushner and his brother, Joshua, will be guarantors under what was called a nonrecourse carve-out. Such guarantees require more than a loan default to kick in. They are commonly known as bad boy clauses, a reference to how a lender could seek to hold the guarantor responsible for the debt under circumstances that might include fraud, misapplication of funds or voluntary bankruptcy deemed inappropriate. The terms of the guarantee, which generally are not secured by collateral, are negotiated between lender and borrower.

The way to look at this is, so long as youre not a bad boy and dont do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about, said James Schwarz, a real estate lawyer who is an expert in such clauses. To the extent you would do something fraudulent, then you have things to worry about.

The corporate loan and Kushners personal guarantee are not mentioned on his financial disclosure form, filed with the Office of Government Ethics. Blake Roberts, a lawyer who represented Kushner on the matter, said in a statement to The Post that Kushners form does not list the loan guarantee because the disclosure relied on published guidance from OGE that he said clearly states that filers do not have to disclose as a liability a loan on which they have made a guarantee unless they have a present obligation to repay the loan.

The Post sent the language cited by Kushners lawyer to Don Fox, a former general counsel and acting OGE director. After reviewing the wording, he said in an interview that he would have advised Kushner to disclose the personal guarantee of the $285 million corporate loan because of its size and possible implications.

If I were still at OGE and somebody came to us with that set of facts, I would say, By all means, disclose it,  he said, referring to the spirit of the law.

After being informed of Foxs statement, Roberts contacted Fox to present his view that no disclosure was required. Fox said in a follow-up email to The Post that even if OGE advised there was no requirement to disclose, he would not have argued that point but I would have nonetheless recommended Jared over report in this instance given the magnitude of the contingency and the public interest in liabilities  actual and potential  to Deutsche Bank.

Separately, Kushner disclosed that he and his mother have a personal line of credit with Deutsche Bank worth up to $25 million.

The Deutsche Bank deal was one of the last Kushner orchestrated before joining the White House. It is among the dozens of complex transactions that he was involved with during his decade in the real estate business.

Although Kushner divested some properties in an effort to address potential conflicts, he retains an interest in nearly 90 percent of his real estate properties, including the retail portion of the former New York Times headquarters, and holds personal debts and loan guarantees.

The deal that led to the Deutsche Bank loan is rooted in a holiday party held in late 2014 at the Bowlmor bowling alley, which is located in the retail portion.

At the party, Kushner decided that the four retail floors of the building, while rundown, could be transformed into a thriving tourist destination, according to his associates.

The building passed through several owners after the newspaper sold the property for $175 million in 2004 to Tishman Speyer. Tishman sold it three years later for $525 million to a company called Africa-Israel Investments. (Those transactions prompted Trump a few months ago to poke fun at the Times, tweeting that the dopes at the newspaper gave it away.)

Africa-Israels decision to purchase the building was made by its chairman, an Uzbek-born Israeli citizen, Lev Leviev. He is one of the worlds wealthiest men, known as the King of Diamonds for his extensive holdings in Africa, Israel and Russia. He was then expanding his real estate holdings in New York City.

Leviev told the New York Times shortly after the buildings purchase that he was a true friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, largely through his work with an influential Jewish organization in the former Soviet Union. The newspaper wrote that he kept a photo of Putin in his office in Israel. Levievs company said in a statement to The Post that Leviev does not have a personal relationship with Putin but has met him on a few occasions. Levievs statement said he was referring to his belief that Mr. Putin has been a true friend to the Jewish people in Russia.

In 2008, a year after the buildings purchase, Leviev invited Trump to his Madison Avenue store, an ultra-high-end establishment called Leviev Jewelry, where they were photographed together, according to the Leviev statement. Leviev hoped to work with Trump on Moscow real estate deals, according to an article in Kommersant, a Russian newspaper. The Leviev statement said that the two never had any business dealings with one another, contrary to speculation.

Six years later, Kushner saw an opportunity for his own company.

Leviev, whose company was having financial difficulties, according to an Israeli press account, sold the buildings 12-floor office portion for $160 million, a transaction that did not involve the four retail floors.

Levievs daughter, Chagit, took charge of her fathers U.S. subsidiary and set out to find a buyer for the retail portion of the building. The company said it would entertain offers no lower than $300 million.

Kushners company offered $265 million, which was rejected. Kushner himself then negotiated with Chagit Leviev and others in 2015 and succeeded with a $296 million offer, according to an official involved in the matter.

It was a very hard back-and-forth New York negotiating style, said Kushners broker, Lon Rubackin. Levievs partner in the deal, Five Mile Capital, did not respond to a request for comment.

Few knew it at the time, but the negotiations were nearly consummated when Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, ran into Chagit Leviev on May 4, 2015, at an after-party for a Metropolitan Museum of Art gala  an encounter that was memorialized in a picture posted on Instagram.

Such a pleasure seeing @jaredckushner and his stunningly beautiful wife @ivankatrump last night [at] the #metballafterparty, Chagit Leviev wrote.

The deal was signed a week later and closed in October 2015. The Leviev company said in a statement to The Post that Kushner simply made the highest offer and there was no political element to the transaction.

Kushner took over a property that was only 25 percent leased, according to a company official. His company recruited tenants, offering some a years free rent to lock in long-term contracts, according to an SEC filing. As a result, the building was nearly fully leased, with higher rents, including new tenants such as National Geographic.

The strategy paid off when Kushners company went to Deutsche Bank for refinancing. An appraisal cited in SEC filings for the package of mortgage-backed securities placed the value at $470 million, a 59 percent increase in a year. The bank declined to release the appraisal, but a person involved in the deal said that such a rapid increase was unusual when New York real estate was rebounding from recession, and credited Kushner for finding stellar tenants.

In a statement, Kushner Cos. President Laurent Morali said the propertys value increased sharply for a simple reason: the buildings dramatic turnaround. We had a vision for the property when we purchased it that no one else had, and are proud to say that we executed on it.

Kushners company took out $370 million in new loans in October 2016, giving it $74 million more than the purchase price a year earlier. Along with $285 million from Deutsche Bank, Kushners firm received $85 million from SL Green Realty, where Kushner had once worked as an intern. SL Green spokesman Rick Matthews said the deal made sense because the building has been mostly leased, giving it increased value.

The Deutsche Bank loan was delivered just before the bank  which has long been under investigation by federal and state authorities  agreed to pay a $7.2 billion U.S. penalty in December for mortgage securities fraud in its packaging of residential mortgages. The bank also paid a $425 million New York state fine in January for failing to properly track large transfers from Russia.

Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee wrote in their March 10 letter that because press reports indicate the Justice Department is continuing to investigate the money- laundering case, they are concerned about the integrity of this criminal probe in light of Trumps ongoing conflicts of interest with Deutsche Bank. Bloomberg News has reported that the Justice Department has requested records related to money laundering from Deutsche Bank as part of a probe.

Alice Crites and Steven Rich contributed to this report.
Ohio

Websites hacked with pro-Islamic State message

Several government websites, many of them in Ohio, have been hacked with a message that purports to be supportive of the Islamic State terrorist group.

A message posted on the website of Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) said, You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries.

The message, left by Team System Dz, ended, I love the Islamic state.

According to the New York Post, the same message also infiltrated government websites in Brookhaven, N.Y.

The websites in Ohio hacked with the message also include that of first lady Karen Kasich.

A spokesman for Ohios Department of Administrative Services said that all affected servers are offline and that the agency is working with law enforcement officials.

 Associated Press

Missing girl found alive: The FBI says a North Carolina teenager who went missing more than a year ago has been found alive in Georgia, and a 31-year-old man faces charges. FBI spokeswoman Shelley Lynch said Sunday that the girl, 17, has been reunited with her parents after being found overnight at a home in Duluth, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta. Agents arrested Michael Wysolovski on charges that include sex offenses, cruelty to children and false imprisonment. The girl was 16 when she left home near Charlotte in May 2016. WBTV reported last year that her parents found a diary detailing plans to run off with an older man she met online.

Space X rocket launched: A SpaceX rocket carried 10 communications satellites into orbit from California on Sunday, two days after the company successfully launched a satellite from Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off through low-lying fog at 1:25 p.m. Pacific Time from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. It carried a second batch of new satellites for Iridium Communications, which is replacing its orbiting fleet with a next-generation constellation of satellites.

Protesters disrupt Twin Cities Pride Parade: Demonstrators protesting the police shooting of Philando Castile disrupted the Twin Cities Pride Parade in downtown Minneapolis on Sunday just moments after it began. About 200 protesters began marching along Hennepin Avenue and at one point staged a die-in. Parade organizers on Friday invited police to participate in the annual parade after initially asking them to minimize their participation because of tensions over a jurys recent acquittal of a Minnesota officer who fatally shot Castile during a traffic stop last year. But Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau, who is the citys first openly gay police chief, called that decision divisive.

 From news services
By India Today Web Desk: The US today designated Syed Salahuddin, the head of Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, as a specially designated global terrorist, a move welcomed by India which said it underlines quite strongly that both the countries face threat of terrorism.

The move by the State Department comes just hours before the first meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House.

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"India welcomes this notification. It underlines also quite strongly that both India and the US face threat of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

Syed Salahuddin has been charged under Section 1(b) of Executive Order (EO) 13224, which imposes sanctions on foreign persons who have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.

As a consequence of this designation, US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with Salahuddin and all of Salahuddin's property and interests in property subject to United States jurisdiction are blocked.

Mohammad Yusuf Shah, AKA Syed Salahuddin, is the senior leader of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen.

In September, 2016, Salahuddin vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir Valley "into a graveyard for Indian forces."

Under Salahuddin's tenure as senior Hizbul leader, Hizbul has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people.

Today's action notifies the US public and the international community that Mohammad Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.

Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system. Moreover, designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations.

Also read:

Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin's family lives cosy life in Kashmir

Terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin moved to Pakistan Army camp

WATCH | Exclusive: Inside look at Hizbul Mujahideen's terror camps in PoK

--- ENDS ---
Detroit-area college student Jennifer Carr, who has been homeless in the past, is in her first semester at Wayne County Community College. (Chris Ehrmann/AP)

Jennifer Carr knows shes not the profile of a typical college student. The Detroit-area woman is 37 and has battled alcohol and heroin addiction. She also has been homeless in the past and even now is categorized as someone who is precariously housed.

Carrs story is not unusual. Studies suggest that thousands of students at community colleges nationwide could be considered homeless or precariously housed, either because they have been thrown out of a home, evicted, or sleep in a shelter, car or abandoned building.

I didnt have anywhere to go. I lived in my car. I didnt have my job anymore, and I got evicted from my apartment, said Carr, who is in her first semester at Wayne County Community College District in Detroit. I was ashamed I was living in my car.

The few researchers who study the issue say that there is scant data, but that they think a surprisingly large number of college students are homeless. Although some colleges have started to offer programs to help with housing or food needs, more is left to be done.

For many people, its a contradiction in terms  homeless college student, said Paul Toro, a psychology professor at Wayne State University. If youre a college student, you had to be with it enough to get yourself into college, so obviously you cant be homeless.

Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, recently released a national survey about homelessness taken at 70 community colleges across 24 states.

Were the third study to find either 13 or 14 percent, so its consistent, Goldrick-Rab said. But at the same time, my bigger concern, and the thing that staggers me a little bit, is thinking this could be an underestimate.

She found that a third of the 33,000 students surveyed said they were food insecure.

Goldrick-Rab is concerned that the numbers could be higher, because electronic surveys are not the best way to reach students. Response rates were about 5 percent.

Toro is doing similar research in Detroit, where he has found that about 5 percent of Wayne State students are homeless or precariously housed.

Take Wayne States student population of around 30,000 and take 5 percent of it, you know, its a lot of people, he said, So youre talking about 1,500 students, roughly, at Wayne State.

Goldrick-Rab said a reason the problem may go unreported is perception.

We have sort of had this attitude of like, The kids are all right,  she said. We framed it as the solution, right, we framed it as, You want to get out of poverty, you go to college. I think we falsely told ourselves, Well youd be out of poverty then when you went to college. Youre not  not until you complete the degree and often times not for years after that.

Carr said the stigma needs to end.

You need to talk about it more. I mean, you cant judge people, she said. Theres people that want it so bad, they want to go to school so bad that theyll do anything, so we definitely need to talk about it.

Another challenge for some students is they might not have a bed at night because the local homeless shelter would run out of room while theyre in classes.

I know students this is happening to, and I have seen it in my research, Goldrick-Rab said.

Barbara Duffield, executive director of a nonprofit group that promotes success for homeless children, said the problem can be fixed.

At the K-12 level, we have a very strong federal policy, a very strong program, that has clear requirements for what school districts need to do to identify these students to connect them to resources and to keep them stable in school, said Duffield, of SchoolHouse Connection. We dont have a similar federal policy yet that really takes the concept of the K-12  you know, single point of contact, somebody to help you navigate  and adapt it to post-secondary.

Duffield said some colleges in Michigan and Florida have a point of contact or programs for homeless college students.

The Helping Individuals Go Higher program at Wayne State is one. The program was founded by Jacqueline Wilson, wife of Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson. It gives a one-time award ranging from $500 to $2,500 to help students with emergencies such as needing to buy food or clothing, or making tuition and car payments. The awards are mostly funded through private donations.

Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University have similar programs.

Goldrick-Rab said more private charities or businesses should get involved with housing. She cited the Southern Scholarship Foundation in Florida, which, for more than 60 years, has provided rent-free housing to homeless college students.

Carr, who is seven months sober and living in transitional housing, continues to pursue her education and eventually wants to study social work at Wayne State University.

I just try to do what I need to do every day just to get up and go out and take care of stuff, she said. I dont want to stay stuck. I want to move on.
From left, European Council President Donald Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe leave a G7 summit event in Sicily last month. A candidate running against Merkel criticized her reaction to Trump. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

GERMANY

Challenger to Merkel

calls her soft on Trump

Angela Merkels main challenger slammed the German chancellor for not going far enough in spurning an erratic Donald Trump, setting up the U.S. president as a primary target in an election year.

German Social Democrat Martin Schulz cited Merkels statement in a Bavarian beer tent last month that the era of reliable relations with the United States is to some extent over. Merkels pronouncement was vague, Schulz said, and didnt squarely reject Trump and his demands for increased German defense spending.

We dont know whether we can rely on the U.S., but we know very well that we can no longer rely on an erratic President Donald Trump, Schulz told a Social Democratic Party (SPD) conference Sunday in Dortmund, in Germanys industrial heartland. We have to forge our own path.

Under Schulz, the SPD is struggling to regain momentum against Merkels Christian Democratic-led bloc three months ahead of the Sept. 24 election.

 Bloomberg News

IRAN

Dozens arrested as crackdown continues

Iranian authorities have rounded up at least 50 people suspected of links to militant groups in a western province, a prosecutor said Sunday, the latest in a string of mass arrests following twin bomb and gun attacks in Tehran in early June. The arrests came days after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard fired missiles from western Iran into eastern Syria, aimed at bases of the Islamic State, which had claimed responsibility for the attacks in the capital.

An appreciable number of suicide belts, electronic detonators and weapons have been seized from the detainees, provincial prosecutor Nemat Sadeqi told the state news agency IRNA.

Iranian authorities have announced numerous arrests since the Tehran attacks.

 Reuters

ISRAEL

Syrian targets struck for 2nd straight day

Israel said it attacked Syrian military targets Sunday after stray shells from fighting in Syrias civil war landed inside the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The Syrian shells struck an open area in the northern Golan Heights, causing no injuries, and in retaliation the Israeli military said it targeted two artillery positions and an ammunitions truck belonging to the Syrian regime.

It was the second day in a row that errant fire from Syria drew Israeli retaliation.

Israel has largely stayed on the sidelines of Syrias civil war, keeping watch over the Golan Heights frontier and occasionally carrying out airstrikes or returning fire if there is a specific threat.

It captured the Golan in a 1967 Middle East war.

 Reuters

U.S.-backed Syrian groups take Raqqa district: A U.S.-backed Syrian coalition of Kurdish and Arab groups advanced against the Islamic State in the jihadists Syrian capital, Raqqa, taking the al-Qadisia district, they said. The Syrian Democratic Forces began its assault on Raqqa this month after a long campaign to isolate Islamic State inside the city. It took Qadisia, located in the west of Raqqa, after three days of intense fighting, it said.

Turkish police block LGBT march in capital: Police equipped with riot shields and tear gas deployed in central Istanbul to enforce a ban on the citys annual gay and transgender pride march, blocking off a main street and dispersing demonstrators gathered nearby. Organizers had planned the march before authorities announced the ban just a day earlier, citing threats from an ultranationalist group.

UAE leader appears in video three years after stroke: The president of the United Arab Emirates made a rare public appearance in a video released by the state-run news agency to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who was shown with family members in Abu Dhabi, suffered a stroke in January 2014, underwent emergency surgery and has since been seen very little in public.

Albanians head to polls: Albanians voted in parliamentary elections, with the ruling Socialists and rival center-right Democrats seeking a majority to push through judicial reforms vital for membership of the European Union. The first official results are due Monday.

 From news services
I was pleased to read in the June 22 Local Digest item Park for blacks now on landmarks register [Metro] that Montgomery Hall Park in Staunton, Va., has been added to the Virginia Landmarks Register, along with 20 other sites.

My father, Charles J. Waller, was instrumental, along with other black citizens of Staunton, in the citys acquisition of the property to be used for a recreational facility for the African American community.

Early in the 1940s, my father unsuccessfully petitioned the Staunton City Council to open Gypsy Hill Park, the city park for the white citizens of Staunton, to black residents with full use of all of that parks facilities. In April 1942, he filed a petition to run for the City Council in June of that year with this issue as his platform, becoming the first African American in Staunton to seek a spot on the council. Although he was not successful in that attempt, he continued to press for equal rights for Stauntons African American citizens throughout his life and his career as a practicing physician in Staunton.

His request to the City Council in January 1946 resulted in the establishment of Montgomery Hall Park. He would be proud to know that the park is now in the register, and, as one of the 21 sites designated by Virginia Department of Historic Resources for listing, is nominated to be on the National Register of Historic Places.

Kay W. Springwater, Washington
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, the 31-year-old who last week was named crown prince of Saudi Arabia, has been working assiduously to win friends and influence people in Washington. Hes acquired a lot of admirers, including in the Trump White House, by outlining plans to reform and modernize the Saudi economy, loosen domestic social controls and  not least  undertake tens of billions of arms purchases in the United States.

Yet as Prince Salman formally takes position to succeed his 81-year-old father, King Salman, there is growing reason for doubt about his capabilities. His market-oriented economic reforms look stalled. Meanwhile, his aggressive initiatives in foreign affairs are proving self-defeating  and damaging to the interests of the United States.

[A young Saudi prince could jump-start the kingdom  or drive it off a cliff]

As defense minister, Prince Salman has been closely associated with Saudi Arabias military intervention in Yemen, which began not long after his father ascended to the throne in January 2015. In every respect, the campaign has been a failure. It has not achieved the declared aim of driving rebel Houthi forces from the capital, Sanaa, and it has led to severe casualties caused by the bombing of civilian targets. Human rights groups have accused the Saudis and their allies, including the United Arab Emirates, of war crimes.

Worst, the Saudi coalition has helped create one of the worst humanitarian crises the world has seen in decades. Some 17 million Yemenis are at risk of famine. A cholera epidemic has infected more than 200,000 people since April, according to the United Nations. On average, according to U.N. reporting, a child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen due to malnutrition, diarrhea and other preventable causes.

Though it long ago became clear that the war is unwinnable, the Saudi leadership persists  and has succeeded in persuading the Trump administration to renew support, including bomb deliveries, that the Obama administration suspended. The Saudis say their Houthi enemies are a proxy for Iran, but many experts believe they overstate that case. Meanwhile, the war detracts from the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State, from which the Gulf nations have withdrawn resources.

Then there is the blockade of Qatar by four Sunni Arab countries, another Saudi-led initiative, that began June 5. Saudi leaders said their purpose was to end Qatari support for terrorism  a dubious claim that nevertheless won the support of President Trump. Yet not until last Friday, following public criticism from the State Department, did the block-aders present their demands. A number have nothing to do with terrorism: For example, Qatar is to close down the Al Jazeera television network, the Arab worlds most popular news outlet, which provides an outlet for critics of the regions dictatorships. The Saudis further demand the closure of a military base in Qatar maintained by NATO member Turkey.

The largest U.S. air base in the Middle East is also located in Qatar and is a hub for operations against the Islamic State. Notwithstanding Mr. Trumps supportive statements, the boycott risks serious harm to U.S. interests. Like the Yemen war, it should give cause for care in embracing the new Saudi crown prince. Though he may be charming, his adventurism makes him a questionable ally.
President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would seem to be kindred spirits. But despite a lot of sweet talk as Modi arrived in Washington for a White House meeting Monday, the question remains whether his dalliance with Trump will be a one-night stand or will blossom into a full-on romance.

Trump and Modi are alike in many ways. They both came to power on populist, nationalist waves with promises to confront Islamist terrorism and stand up to China. Both rule large democracies with a clear interest in increasing their security and economic and diplomatic cooperation. Their social media followings currently rank first and second , respectively, among world leaders.

Under a Trump administration . . . we are going to be best friends, Trump told the Republican Hindu Coalition a month before the election. There wont be any relationship that will be more important to us.

Yet that close relationship has yet to materialize, due to a mix of transition dysfunction, the distractions of the urgent and a shortage of senior Trump administration officials with India experience. The Modi government, unlike some other Asian powers, has not pushed itself in front of the Trump team, instead pursuing a dual-track policy of cautious engagement mitigated by hedging.

Trumps first-ever meeting with Modi comes after his meeting dozens of other world leaders, including the prime minister of Montenegro. Mondays meeting is intended to break through the malaise and get the U.S.-India relationship back on an upward trajectory.

This is an opportunity for President Trump to reaffirm Indias importance to the United States, the fact that the U.S. supports India playing a larger role in the Asia Pacific, a senior administration official said. President Trump believes a strong India is good for the U.S.

Trumps commitment to building on the momentum in U.S.-India ties established by his two predecessors is significant, as far as it goes. The two sides are working on a joint statement meant to codify shared values and pledge increased strategic cooperation. The fact that Modi will have dinner, not lunch, with Trump is meant to signal respect, officials said.

But dont expect a lot of deliverables. The meeting was scheduled before the Group of 20 meeting in Germany next month so that Trump and Modi could develop some rapport before seeing each other there.

One big potential announcement is that, after weeks of deliberation, the Trump administration has agreed to sell India almost two dozen Guardian drones, a deal worth more than $2 billion that would represent the first such U.S. sale to a non-NATO ally.

Even that deal is symbolic of how cautiously the U.S.-India relationship continues to be viewed in New Delhi. Modis government has also been negotiating with Israel to buy drones in case the United States doesnt come though. Modi will visit Israel next week.

Modi has also recently made high-profile visits to Russia, France and Germany. Experts say hes preparing alternatives in case his push to warm ties with Washington under Trump doesnt pan out.

Modi has invested a huge amount of political capital in the U.S. since he took power, said Bharath Gopalaswamy, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council. The Indians still believe that the U.S. leadership in this part of the world is crucial, and they would not prefer any other leaders [in the region]. But they are deliberately keeping their options open.

There are some positive signs coming out of the Trump White House on India. White House official Kenneth Juster will soon be named U.S. ambassador to India, a choice welcomed in New Delhi. Lisa Curtis, the top National Security Council staffer working on South Asia, is a strong supporter of a strong U.S.-India relationship.

The NSC is coordinating a broad interagency South Asia policy review, the goal of which is to regionalize issues such as counterterrorism and the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Those steps, along with the sure-to-be-positive Trump-Modi meeting on Monday, are probably enough to sustain the relationship for now. At some point, for real progress to be made, the two sides will have to tackle their differences, including on H1-B visas, trade irritants and Indias approach to intellectual property.

The Trump administration also must settle on its own foreign policy for India to be reassured that strategic interests remain aligned. Does Trump share Indias concern about Chinese expansion in South and Central Asia? Its hard to tell. Is Trump prepared to aggressively confront Pakistan on its support for radical groups? Nobody knows.

Modis task is to convince Trump that spending more time and attention on India fits into his America First agenda. Trumps job is to convince Modi that his bet on the United States will pay off in real ways long after their dinner is over.

Read more from Josh Rogins archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Jon Ossoff is chief executive of Insight TWI and was the Democratic candidate for Congress in the special election for Georgias 6th Congressional District.

On Nov. 9, Americans awakened to a startling reality: In the absence of broad, enduring citizen engagement, the door is left open for darkness to creep in and gain a foothold in our democracy.

Amid that awakening, I launched my improbable campaign for Georgias 6th Congressional District. It grew into something bigger than I could have imagined.

Here in Georgia, in a district considered safe for Republicans for decades, we built a grass-roots organization powered by thousands of volunteers and hundreds of thousands of small-dollar donors.

(Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

The right wings national apparatus fully mobilized to defend the status quo in Washington at any cost. I was defeated. But we put up a hell of a fight.

Grass-roots politics, linking small-dollar fundraising to massive local volunteer organization, showed that it can rival the power of a right-wing machine comprising super PACs backed by entrenched interests and mega-donors. These outside groups were forced to spend nearly $20 million defending a seat gerrymandered never to be competitive.

From the beginning I believed that to compete in this district we had to run a different kind of campaign  a campaign that put grass-roots organizing and personal contact with voters above all else. And our campaign tapped into and grew a grass-roots movement the likes of which Georgia had never seen before. This community stood up with undaunted fighting spirit, participating in the largest field program ever run in a U.S. House race and driving a get-out-the-vote effort that brought Democratic turnout in this special election up to general election levels.

The campaign reached out to tens of thousands of voters who had never heard directly from a campaign before. Some 10,000 more people voted for a Democrat in this off-year special election than did for Barack Obama in this district in 2012. Thousands of Democrats and new voters considered extremely unlikely to turn out made their voices heard.

The intraparty disputes that dominate national commentary on Democratic politics were nowhere to be found in the 6th District. On the ground, Democrats were committed to strike the first blow of this new era on behalf of decency and progress.

We ran an economy-first campaign centered on local prosperity and opportunity. I focused on the development of metro Atlanta into a world-class commercial capital, on affordable higher education and technical training, on research and development to drive innovation in Georgias tech sector, on renewal of our transportation infrastructure and a commitment to fiscal responsibility, on pointing out that taxpayers are rightfully upset that the federal government wastes hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

We paired this economic platform with an unwavering support for a womans right to choose, Americans with preexisting conditions, criminal-justice reform, Medicare and Medicaid, voting rights, immigration reform, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, anti-corruption efforts and U.S. leadership to fight climate change. We built a coalition that generated massive Democratic turnout, engaged communities long ignored by local political leadership, and final vote tallies will likely show that we won a majority of independents. And in districts like Georgias 6th, we will not compete unless we build coalitions.

I remained committed to civility and optimism throughout the campaign, and I remain committed to civility and optimism now. Hope, decency and unity are not mere catchwords. Theyre essential to the defense of our republic at a time when hatred and deception have become the dominant forces in American politics.

Its difficult to convey the depth of my gratitude to the hundreds of thousands of people who made this effort possible, giving new voice and agency to thousands of Georgians. In particular, the extraordinary determination and hard work of female activists here in Georgia was the beating heart of the campaign. The grass-roots organization that we built neighborhood by neighborhood is intact, battle-hardened and ready for the future.

We lost, but I am proud of the campaign we ran, and I am proud of my community for standing up against the odds. I launched this campaign believing that America can become stronger, more prosperous and more secure only if we stay true to the values that unite us. I still believe that, and Im not done fighting.
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) threw himself off a political cliff last week when he declared full-throated opposition to the Senate version of the Obamacare repeal bill, and it remains to be seen if Heller is hanging by a limb out of sight and can climb back to electoral sanity or has hit rock bottom in his public career.

Individual Senate Republicans face different political realities, but the caucus must somehow get the votes necessary to return the revised Obamacare repeal and replace bill to the House. To fail to do so is to condemn not only Heller and Arizonas Sen. Jeff Flake to certain doom but probably others among the eight GOP senators up for reelection. The grass roots disgust with this betrayal will be so deep as to endanger every senator, even in deep red states such as Mississippi, Texas and Utah.

The political crosswinds and upheavals in the country are already beyond predicting anything, so to add even more cause for grievance by betraying the central promise of the congressional GOP is beyond irresponsible. It is political insanity. Shut the door to the consultants, and throw out the polling senators. If the GOP defaults on its core promise, it is doomed as a party to minority status, probably as early as 2018 and certainly in 2020.

To fail this week almost certainly forfeits the House majority in next years midterm elections but perhaps also the Senates, and with the latter, the ability to confirm Supreme Court justices and lower court judges, pass budgets under reconciliation, have any chance at serious tax reform and of course approve the crucial repeal of the Defense Department sequestration.

This is of course an imperative vote on saving American health care. Next year, for example, there potentially will be at least 18 counties in Ohio without even a single option for an individuals seeking coverage. The swaths of America where there is only one provider are large and growing. Choice for consumers is a delusion, and soaring deductibles have made health care an illusion to millions more.

Obamacare is a catastrophe on its own terms, but the consequences of not passing its repeal are worse even beyond those awful health-care outcomes. It will forfeit every other Republican goal because failing to deliver on the central promise of eight years of debates and campaigns will shatter the credibility every Republican, not just those who block the bill. The party as a whole will be gravely wounded, perhaps beyond healing for a generation or more.

I dont have to guess about this. I have been talking to the center-right of the country for three hours a day Monday through Friday for the past 17 years. I know the central argument of the conservative activists everywhere in the United States is that Beltway Republicans cannot be trusted to do anything hard. That argument was dented by the discipline with which the GOP put up with the mainstream media and Democrats slings and arrows in the fight over replacing Justice Antonin Scalia. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) rightly calculated that to surrender that hill would be to lose not just a political battle but the political war stretching long into the future. It was that big of a deal to the base.

The same is true of Obamacare. To vote no on whatever compromise arrives is to express contempt for the Republican Party as a whole  and its grass-roots activists and base voters  and for those ideas it stands for on all major matters, from a strong defense to low taxes to an originalist Supreme Court.

Thus Heller seemed to declare himself a hollow man when he said he could not vote for it, a man without any core beliefs because with his rambling statement he endangered all alleged core GOP beliefs, and thus the GOP will not support him. It isnt about primaries; primary opponents need not materialize. It is about millions of conservatives who will simply give up on politics.

This is a make-or-break moment for Senate Republicans and the party itself. Sadly, for this conservative, the tone-deafness of Heller may not be unique. It may not even turn out to be particularly rare. We will know in a week. And not one GOP senator will be able to say he or she wasnt warned.
In Henry Olsens June 23 op-ed, How Reagan would fix Obamacare, there is a further supporting argument for such government intervention:

Conservatives were in sync with Frederick Hayek, a 1974 Nobel Prize-winning economist, who supported departing from free-market principles in certain circumstances, especially to help the poor, the sick and victims of natural disasters.

In The Road to Serfdom, Hayek stated: The case for the states helping to organize a comprehensive system of social insurance is very strong. There are many points of detail where those wishing to preserve the competitive system and those wishing to supersede it by something different will disagree on the details . . . there is no incompatibility in principle between the states providing greater security in this way and the preservation of individual freedom.

Some contempory conservatives quote Hayek to support their free-market principles but fail to recognize the exceptions he made for social insurance.

Lawrence Larry Schwartz, Fairfax

With the release of the Senate version of the American Health Care Act, I hope we can all assess its merits and risks irrespective of party affiliation. The individual mandate in Obamacare rubbed many people the wrong way but was necessary to pay for the plan. If the new plan leads to 22 million more people becoming uninsured and makes it difficult for states to continue to fund Medicaid (and tax breaks for the uber-wealthy), we need to consider that as well.

The complicated health-care system in this country had been broken for a long time before Obamacare, and it needs a solution. We shouldnt rush it.

Roger McCreery, Bethesda

The June 23 front-page article Senate GOPs health plan debuts amid doubts provided highlights of the Republicans plan and discussion of the political issues surrounding the way forward.

The release of 142 pages of complex legislative text furthers the perception that leadership does not want the public to understand the intent and the implications before rushing a vote. I have read and understand the text, but only because I once did so as my day job. I was a principal architect of former president Richard Nixons Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan and a legislative staffer for the Medicare provisions of the Affordable Care Act. I do not think much of the specifics of the current proposed plan.

As an alternative, I offer a simple, two-part proposal that is easy to understand and debate: repeal the problematic individual market exchanges and replace them with equivalent federal funding to states to expand Medicaid to allow lower-income people now receiving subsidies to buy in, and to authorize and provide funding to the Health and Human Services Department to allow other non-covered individuals to buy in to Medicare with age-related subsidies. These programs are working very well for millions and could be easily and effectively expanded.

Health-care coverage is simply too essential to not receive the most thorough and informed debate.

Ronald M. Klar, Arlington

The nearly full-page June 23 graphic What the Senate bill changes about Obamacare was incomplete and therefore misleading about the key provisions of the Senates Trumpcare bill. The graphic covered everything but the essence of this bill: a huge tax cut for the wealthy. Wouldnt the tax cut have fit in the Other key elements of the plan section?

The June 23 article Limited coverage, subsidies for some in proposed health-care overhaul included no example of the main beneficiaries of the bill  the ones getting a trillion-dollar tax cut over the next decade. Was there no room for 86-year old man with $80 billion in assets living in Omaha in the list of who benefits and who loses under Trumpcare?

Abetting the Republican pretense that this bill is about health care is not objective journalism; it is hiding half the truth in darkness.

Kevin DeGroat, Manassas Park

Regarding the graphic on the Senate bill changes to Obamacare:

I am troubled by the fact that Senate Republicans have been working on their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act behind closed doors.

The ACA helped small business owners like me offer better, less expensive health-care coverage to their employees. Before the ACA, my business saw annual double-digit premium increases, and, as a result, we had to ask our employees to cover more of the cost. But once the laws provisions went into effect our rates began improving substantially. Now we have more options when it comes to insurance carriers and health plans, but that will all change if the replacement plan becomes law.

The Senate must do what the House didnt: prioritize whats best for the country over party loyalty and drop their reckless efforts to repeal the ACA.

Mike Brey, Laurel

The writer is a member of the

Small Business Majoritys Small Business Council.
To succeed in gutting health coverage for millions of Americans, Senate Republican leaders need to get a series of lies accepted as truth. Journalists and other neutral arbiters must resist the temptation to report these lies as just a point of view. A lie is a lie.

Lie One: Democrats and progressives are unwilling to work with Republicans and conservatives on this issue. If we went and got the single greatest health-care plan in the history of the world, we would not get one Democrat vote, President Trump told an Iowa crowd last Wednesday.

In fact, Democrats, including President Barack Obama when he was in office, have said repeatedly that they would like to work with Republicans to improve the Affordable Care Act. Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumers office put out a list of such offers, including a June 15 letter from Schumer to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling for a cross-party meeting to find a way to make health care more affordable and accessible.

But Democrats can never be complicit in a wholesale repeal of Obamacare that would take health coverage away from millions of Americans.

[How could any senator justify a vote for a bill this bad?]

This first lie is important because it rationalizes the Republican claim that the bill has to be draconian because it cant pass without support from the partys most right-wing legislators. This is not the best possible bill, said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). It is the best bill possible under very difficult circumstances.

But those circumstances have been created by the GOP itself. A completely different coalition is available, but Republicans dont want to activate it because they are hellbent on repealing Obamacare. Why?

This brings us to Lie Two: This bill is primarily about improving health care for American families. No, this effort is primarily about cutting taxes. When it comes to health care, the main thing the bill does is take money away from providing it to pay for the tax reductions it contains and for future bonanzas the Republicans have promised.

The tax cuts in this legislation alone would amount to some $700 billion over a decade, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. About $33 billion of this would go to tax cuts conservatively averaging $7 million every year to each of the 400 highest-income families in the country. What could $33 billion buy? The CBPP reports it would be enough to pay for the expansion of Medicaid in Nevada, West Virginia, Arkansas and Alaska. Talk about income redistribution.

A telltale: One of the main Republican complaints about Obamacare has been that the deductibles and co-pays under ACA policies are too high. But the Republican bill only makes this problem worse.

As the New York Times Margot Sanger-Katz wrote: Many middle-income Americans would be expected to pay a larger share of their income to purchase health insurance that covers a smaller share of their care.

If this bill were truly about health care, Republicans would take all the tax cuts out and use that money to ease the pain their bill would cause. But they wont, because the tax cuts are the thing that matters to them.

(Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)

Lie Three: The Senate bill is a compromise. Really? Between whom? The House wants to destroy Obamacare quickly, the Senate a bit more slowly while also cutting Medicaid more steeply over time. This is only a compromise between two very right-wing policies.

Imagine you are negotiating with two creditors who say you owe them $1,000 and you insist you owe nothing. The first creditor wants the money quickly. The second says you can take a bit little longer, but you have to pay $1,200  and he has the nerve to call this a compromise. Nowhere in this deal is your position taken into account. Welcome to the logic of the Senate health-care bill.

[Replacing Obamacare is a make-or-break moment for Republicans]

I hope I never have to write about Lie Four, which would be Republican senators who surely know better  including Susan Collins, Dean Heller, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake, Shelley Moore Capito and Rob Portman  justifying their votes for this monstrosity by claiming that its the best they could do.

Heller signaled doubts about the proposal on Friday, which is a step in the right direction. But only by killing this bill would these senators open the way for reasonable fixes to the ACA. Do they really want to say someday that one of their most important votes in the Senate involved taking health care away from millions of Americans? I would like to believe they are too decent for that. I hope Im not lying to myself.

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US Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by allowing his temporary bans on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries.

By Reuters: The US Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by allowing his temporary bans on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and all refugees to go into effect for people with no connection to the United States while agreeing to hear his appeals in the closely watched legal fight.

The court, which narrowed the scope of lower court rulings that had completely blocked his March 6 executive order, said it would hear arguments on the legality of one of Trump's signature policies in his first months as president in the court's next term, which starts in October.

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The justices granted parts of his administration's emergency request to put the order into effect immediately while the legal battle continues.

The court said that the travel ban will go into effect "with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."

The Supreme Court left the lower-court injunctions against the ban in place, but only with respect to the challengers to the ban themselves and others in similar circumstances, meaning they involve people in the United States who have relationships with foreign nationals abroad and whose rights might be affected if those foreigners were excluded from entry.

But the court said the injunctions were too broad to also include barring enforcement of the ban against foreigners who have no connection to the United States at all. "Denying entry to such a foreign national does not burden any American party by reason of that party's relationship with the foreign national," the court said.

The court also said it would allow a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to go into effect on the same grounds, allowing the government to exclude from the United States refugee claimants who do not have any "bona fide relationship" with an American individual or entity.

Three of the court's conservatives said they would have granted Trump's request in full, including Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch.

TRUMP'S FIRST MAJOR CHALLENGE

The case is Trump's first major challenge at the Supreme Court, where he restored a 5-4 conservative majority with the appointment of Gorsuch, who joined the bench in April. There are five Republican appointees on the court and four Democratic appointees.

The March 6 order called for a 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to enable the government to implement stronger vetting procedures. It was blocked by federal judges before going into effect on March 16 as planned.

Trump issued the order amid rising international concern about attacks carried out by Islamist militants like those in Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin and other cities. But critics have called the order a mean-spirited, intolerant and un-American "Muslim ban."

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The state of Hawaii and a group of plaintiffs in Maryland represented by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the order violated federal immigration law and the Constitution's First Amendment prohibition on the government favoring or disfavoring any particular religion. Regional federal appeals courts in Virginia and California both upheld district judge injunctions blocking the order.

THE REVISED ORDER

Trump signed the order as a replacement for a Jan. 27 order issued a week after he became president that also was blocked by federal courts. The revised order was intended to overcome the legal issues posed by the original ban, which also included Iraq among the nations targeted and a full ban on refugees from Syria. The revised order also jettisoned language that gave preferential status to persecuted religious minorities, which critics said could be taken as favoring Christians and other religious groups over Muslims.

Trump has called the March order a "watered down, politically correct" version of the January one. But the order still embodied his "America First" nationalist message and reflected his views of the dangers posed to the United States by certain immigrants and visitors.

The administration has said the travel ban is needed to allow time to implement stronger vetting measures, although it has already rolled out some new requirements not blocked by courts, including additional questions for visa applicants.

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--- ENDS ---
WONDERFUL AS it is to recall the glories of the manned space program  the exhilaration and sense of infinite possibilities for humanity  there were also setbacks, disasters and disappointments. Something similar is happening now with polio and the worlds longest and most ambitious quest to eradicate the poliovirus, which is highly contagious, largely strikes children under 5 years old and can cause permanent paralysis. Thanks to vaccination, the eradication effort is closer to success today than at any time in 30 years. Yet all of a sudden, a new outbreak has appeared in Syria. Is the goal about to be lost?

Not exactly, but the mixture of optimism and worry is warranted. As recently as the mid-1980s, polio paralyzed more than 350,000 children a year in 125 countries where it was endemic. As Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates pointed out recently, thats 40 cases an hour. By contrast, so far this year, the last three endemic countries have reported a total of only six cases of wild poliovirus, fewer than at any moment ever: four in Afghanistan and two in Pakistan, and none so far this year in Nigeria. This is an extraordinary accomplishment by people, biomedicine and philanthropy. Just a few years ago, Pakistan, for example, appeared to be spinning out of control, with vaccination workers murdered while on the job, and whole sectors beyond reach of immunization. Globally, some 16 million people are walking today who might otherwise have been afflicted with paralysis from polio, Mr. Gates noted.

The numbers are so low today that eradication may indeed be within reach, if there is not another setback in the remaining endemic countries. For this, immunization and surveillance must be sustained. On June 12, philanthropists and governments once again backed the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private partnership aimed at the second-ever eradication of a disease, after smallpox. At the Rotary International convention in Atlanta, $1.2 billion was pledged. Up to $150 million raised in the next three years by Rotary International, which has been at the forefront of the battle since 1985, will be matched two-to-one by the Gates Foundation, which pledged a total of $450 million, including the match. The remaining will come from other donors, all to make sure there is no relapse and a final fight to the finish.

The one dark spot is Syria, where a fresh outbreak has paralyzed 17 children, most from Mayadin, south of Deir al-Zour, and one child from Raqqa, where the Islamic State is headquartered. This is the second polio outbreak of the war. It was caused by a weakened form of the virus from the polio vaccine itself, which in rare cases mutates and becomes virulent against the unvaccinated, spreading through contaminated sewage or water. The real culprit is the upheaval of war. Fortunately, there is an effective vaccine and a fair amount of experience in extinguishing such an outbreak, and with enough effort and immunization, it can be contained.

The moonshot may yet succeed.
The Supreme Court on Monday permitted a scaled-back version of President Trumps ban on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries to take effect, deciding to hear the merits of the case in the fall but allowing Trump for now to claim a victory in the legal showdown.

The courts unsigned order delivered a compromise neither side had asked for: It said the government may not bar those with a bona fide connection to the United States, such as having family members here, or a job or a place in an American university.

But the justices indicated that lower courts had gone too far in completely freezing Trumps order banning new visas for citizens of six countries  Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen  for 90 days and putting the refugee program on hold for 120 days.

The Governments interest in enforcing [the executive order], and the Executives authority to do so, are undoubtedly at their peak when there is no tie between the foreign national and the United States, the court wrote.

[What the Supreme Courts travel ban ruling means]

Trump called the ruling a clear victory for our national security. In a statement, he said: As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive.

He added that he was particularly gratified that the Supreme Courts decision was 9-0.

The president said last week that the order would go into effect 72 hours after being approved by the courts.

In the opinion, the court said it will hear arguments in the case  which raises fundamental questions about religious discrimination and the presidents broad powers to protect the nation  when it reconvenes in October.

In the meantime, the justices nudged the Trump administration to get on with what it said would be a temporary pause to review vetting procedures.

We fully expect that the relief we grant today will permit the Executive to conclude its internal work and provide adequate notice to foreign governments within 90 days, the court said.

That means that by the time the court takes up the case in the fall, circumstances could be quite different. Depending on the results of the review, Trump could push to extend the measure or even make it permanent.

A group of Muslim protesters gathers during a rally against the travel ban at San Diego International Airport on March 6. (Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images)

The court also told lawyers to address whether the justices consideration of the case in the fall might be moot, because administration officials will have had time to review vetting procedures.

Leon Fresco, who served as deputy assistant attorney general for the office of immigration litigation in President Barack Obamas Justice Department, said the limited travel ban seems to affect two types of people who dont necessarily have ties to the United States: those seeking U.S. visas as visitors and those trying to get visas through a government lottery meant for people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.

The State Department would not say how many visa seekers the ban would affect.

Anyone with a school acceptance letter, job offer or family member already here would probably be able to obtain a visa and travel as normal.

Interpretations of the courts decision diverged widely among immigration lawyers and advocates.

Some, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, suggested that the decision would allow for only the narrowest implementation of the travel ban, affecting very few would-be travelers from the six countries.

But other groups, such as Amnesty International USA, warned of grave consequences, such as a renewal of chaos at airports and an enforcement of the ban that would tear families apart.

[Federal appeals court says Trump travel ban violates Constitution]

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch would have let the ban take effect as the Trump administration crafted it, and Thomas wrote that the court had made an implicit conclusion that the Government has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits.

The courts revised order will burden executive officials with the task of deciding  on peril of contempt  whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country, Thomas wrote.

Such a compromise, he wrote, will lead to a flood of litigation over what constitutes a bona fide relationship.

The travel ban has been a major point of contention between Trump and civil rights groups, which say it is motivated by unconstitutional discrimination against Muslims.

Trump contends that the ban is necessary to protect the nation while the administration decides whether tougher vetting procedures and other measures are needed. He has railed against federal judges who have blocked the move.

Because the executive order was stopped by lower courts, travelers from those countries have been entering the United States following normal visa procedures. Trump initially moved to implement the restrictions in January, in his first week in office.

[Analysis: Trump travel ban wouldnt have kept out anyone behind deadly terrorist attacks]

His first executive order went into effect immediately and resulted in chaos at airports in the United States and abroad as travelers from the targeted nations were stranded or sent back to their countries.

Lawyers for challengers to the order rushed to federal courts, and the order was stayed within days. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit eventually said the order could not be implemented, infuriating the president, who said he would take the case to the Supreme Court.

Instead, his administration regrouped and issued a second order in March. It added a section detailing national security concerns, removed Iraq from the list of countries affected, deleted a section that had targeted Syrian refugees and removed a provision that favored Christian immigrants.

Trumps lawyers told courts that the new order was written to respond to the 9th Circuits concerns. But new lawsuits were immediately filed, and federal judges once again stopped the implementation.

A federal district judge in Maryland blocked the portion of the order affecting travelers from the six countries. A judge in Hawaii also froze that portion, as well as the part affecting refugee programs.

Appeals courts on both coasts upheld those decisions.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond agreed with U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang in Maryland, who sided with opponents in finding that the ban violates the Constitution by intentionally discriminating against Muslims. In a 10-to-3 decision, the appeals court noted Trumps remarks before and after his election about a ban on Muslims and said the executive order in context drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.

Meanwhile, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit said Trump had not adhered to federal law under which Congress gives the president broad power in immigration matters. They said that national security is not a  talismanic incantation that, once invoked, can support any and all exercise of executive power.

In both appeals courts, a minority of conservative judges said their colleagues were making a mistake. Judges should consider only whether the executive orders were proper on their face, they said, without trying to decide whether the president had ulterior motives, and should defer to national security decisions made by the executive branch.

The Supreme Court surely will shudder at the majoritys adoption of this new rule that has no limits or bounds, wrote dissenting 4th Circuit Judge Paul V. Niemeyer.

Justice, Homeland Security and State department officials said they were still studying the decision to determine exactly who it affects and how it might be carried out.

The Supreme Courts opinion seems unlikely to re-create the chaos that ensued after Trump issued his first travel ban, causing tens of thousands of visas to be revoked and some travelers to be detained and sent away from U.S. airports.

Trump already had rescinded and revised his first order so that it affected only the issuance of new visas, and the justices left intact an even more limited version. Advocates nonetheless said they would deploy people to watch for potential abuses.

The courts decision threatens damage to vulnerable people waiting to come to the U.S.: people with urgent medical conditions blocked, innocent people left adrift, all of whom have been extensively vetted, said former British foreign secretary David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee.

After Mondays court ruling, Trump issued his low-key statement through normal White House channels.

That was in contrast to his thunderous Twitter offerings when courts previously disagreed with him. He wrote in one such post: People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!

Abigail Hauslohner and Ann E. Marimow contributed to this report.
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear an appeal of a 9th Circuit Court ruling on a California law on carrying concealed weapons. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

The Supreme Court will not intervene in a lower courts decision that the Second Amendment does not protect the right to carry a concealed weapon in public.

Gun-rights advocates had asked the court to review a California law that gives local sheriffs power to require that those seeking concealed-carry permits show a particular need, such as a threat.

Whether the Second Amendment secures an individual right to bear arms for self-defense outside the home is the perhaps the single most important unresolved Second Amendment question, said a brief filed by the California Rifle and Pistol Association Foundation.

Because California bans carrying weapons openly in public, the association said the state law can effectively prohibit carrying a gun in any manner outside the home.

In a 7 to 4 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the San Diego sheriffs policy of reserving concealed-carry licenses only for those who can document a special need for self-defense passes constitutional muster.

Based on the overwhelming consensus of historical sources, the court concluded that the protection of the Second Amendment  whatever the scope of that protection may be  simply does not extend to the carrying of concealed firearms in public by members of the general public.

The Supreme Court has also upheld laws in Maryland and New Jersey that impose such restrictions on concealed-carry permits.

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, said the court should have accepted the case.

The Courts decision to deny certiorari in this case reflects a distressing trend: the treatment of the Second Amendment as a disfavored right, Thomas wrote, adding. For those of us who work in marbled halls, guarded constantly by a vigilant and dedicated police force, the guarantees of the Second Amendment might seem antiquated and superfluous. But the Framers made a clear choice: They reserved to all Americans the right to bear arms for self-defense. I do not think we should stand by idly while a State denies its citizens that right, particularly when their very lives may depend on it.
Mexican federal police and forensic experts stand next to the body of Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca under the Paso Del Norte border bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. (Associated Press/AP)

The Supreme Court declined Monday to decide a case involving the cross-border shooting of an unarmed Mexican teenager by a U.S. Border Patrol agent, returning the matter to a federal appeals court for reconsideration.

The narrow ruling came in an unsigned order, accompanied by dissents from three justices, suggesting a conflicted court when it comes to questions of how the country polices the daily churn along the border.

In putting off a decision, the high court acknowledged a disturbing incident resulting in a heartbreaking loss of life but said it would be imprudent to decide whether the 15-year-olds family has a right to sue in the United States before a federal appeals court reviews a separate Supreme Court opinion issued last week.

In that case, the high court reinforced protections for government officials, who are generally shielded from civil lawsuits when they have acted in good faith in carrying out their duties.

The Court of Appeals here, of course, has not had the opportunity to consider how the reasoning and analysis in Abbasi may bear on this case, the high court said, referring to its new opinion in Ziglar v. Abbasi. It would be imprudent for this court to resolve that issue when, in light of the intervening guidance provided in Abbasi, doing so may be unnecessary to resolve this particular case.

The high court also announced Monday that it would schedule two immigration-related cases for re-argument, signaling that the justices were deadlocked. Those cases, centered on the rights of detained immigrants and the deportation of immigrants who commit serious crimes, were argued before Neil M. Gorsuch filled the courts ninth seat in April.

Rehearings are rare, but the high court has scheduled do-overs in the past during times of transition, including after the retirement of Justice Sandra Day OConnor and before the arrival of Samuel A. Alito Jr. in 2006.

[Justices divided on cross-border shooting that left Mexican teenager dead]

The cross-border case arose from a June 2010 event in an unusual place: the wide concrete culvert that contains the dry bed of the Rio Grande, separating El Paso from Juarez, Mexico. The actual border runs unmarked along the middle.

Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa Jr. was patrolling the area by bike when Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca and his friends played a daring game: running up the steep embankment on the U.S. side to touch the tall fence and then racing back to Mexico.

Mesa said he and other agents were under attack from a rock-throwing gang, but cellphone videos of the incident indicated that was not true. Mesa grabbed one of the youths and then, while holding on to him, shot at Hernandez, killing him as he peered from behind a bridge piling on the Mexican side.

Mexican authorities charged Mesa with murder, but the U.S. Justice Department said he had not violated government policies concerning the use of force and refused to extradite him.

The boys parents sued in the United States, but lower courts said the Constitution does not reach across the border  even 60 feet  to give rights to those without a previous connection to the United States.

Even as it declined to rule, the high court said Monday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit wrongly granted Mesa qualified immunity, or protection from being sued, based on the assumption that Hernandez was not a U.S. citizen. Hernandezs nationality and ties to the United States were unknown at the time Mesa fatally shot him.

Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in their dissent that Hernandezs parents did have a right to sue for damages in U.S. courts because Mesa is a federal officer who was firing from U.S. territory at a person whose nationality he did not know at the time.

Constitutional protections should apply to the culvert, with its unmarked invisible line of a border, Breyer wrote, in part because of its sufficient involvement with, and connection to, the United States.

Justice Clarence Thomas also issued a separate dissent, saying that he would have affirmed the appeals court ruling.

The case is Hernandez v. Mesa.
David Mullins, right, and Charlie Craig, seen in Denver in 2013, sued a Colorado bakery, saying the business refused them a wedding cake for a family reception after they were married in a Massachusetts ceremony. (Brennan Linsley/AP)

The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will consider whether a Denver baker acted lawfully in refusing to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple, setting up a major test next term weighing religious freedom against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Lower courts had ruled that Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, had violated Colorados public accommodations law, which prohibits refusing service to customers based on factors such as race, sex, marital status or sexual orientation.

Also Monday, on the second anniversary of the courts decision finding a constitutional right for gay couples to marry, the justices overturned an Arkansas courts ruling that allowed different treatment on birth certificates for married heterosexual couples and same-sex ones.

The plaintiffs were two lesbian couples who conceived children through artificial insemination.

The case of the Denver baker is similar to lawsuits brought elsewhere involving florists, calligraphers and others who say their religious beliefs wont allow them to provide services for same-sex weddings. But these objectors have found little success in the courts, which have ruled that public businesses must comply with state anti-

discrimination laws.

(Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)

[Colorado court sides against baker who cited religious beliefs, refused same-sex marriage cake order]

The decision to grant the case came as a surprise, because the court first considered it last September. It was continually relisted for further discussion at the private conferences at which the justices decide which cases to take.

That indicates that Phillipss request that the court take the case was bolstered by the addition of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who has displayed a deeply conservative streak since joining the court in April. The case will be heard in the term that begins next October.

In 2014, the justices declined to revisit a New Mexico Supreme Court decision that found that a photographer violated a state civil rights law when she declined to photograph a lesbian couples commitment ceremony.

In the Colorado case, David Mullins and Charlie Craig visited Masterpiece Cakeshop in July 2012, along with Craigs mother, to order a cake for their upcoming wedding reception. Mullins and Craig planned to marry in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriages were legal at the time, and then hold a reception in Colorado.

But Phillips refused to discuss the issue, saying his religious beliefs would not allow him to have anything to do with same-sex marriage. He said other bakeries would accommodate them.

The couple filed a complaint, and in 2014, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission determined that Phillipss action violated state law. That ruling was upheld in Colorado state courts.

Phillipss lawyers stressed artistic freedom more than the bakers religious beliefs in their reaction to Mondays Supreme Court announcement.

Every American should be free to choose which art they will create and which art they wont create without fear of being unjustly punished by the government, said David Cortman, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. It imperils everyones freedom by crushing dissent instead of tolerating a diversity of views. We are all at risk when government is able to punish citizens like Jack just because it doesnt like how he exercises his artistic freedom.

The American Civil Liberties Union represents Mullins and Craig. The law is squarely on David and Charlies side because when businesses are open to the public, theyre supposed to be open to everyone, said James Esseks, director of the ACLUs LGBT Project.

Craig said in a statement: While were disappointed that the courts continue debating the simple question of whether LGBT people deserve to be treated like everyone else, we hope that our case helps ensure that no one has to experience being turned away simply because of who they are.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2015s Obergefell v. Hodges that marriage is a fundamental right that states may not prohibit to gay couples. But how that decision affects related issues has generated numerous legal battles.

The justices settled one of those battles with their ruling in the Arkansas case, Pavan v. Smith, reversing the state Supreme Court and saying the state must list same-sex parents on birth certificates.

When a woman gives birth in Arkansas, state law generally requires that the name of the womans male spouse appear on the birth certificate, regardless of his biological relationship to the child. But the state court said that rule did not have to be followed if the mother was married to a woman.

To refuse to list both women on the birth certificate, the courts unsigned opinion said, is to deny married couples access to the constellation of benefits that the state has linked to marriage,  quoting the Obergefell decision.

[Supreme Court rules gay couples nationwide have right to marry]

Elsewhere around the country, the Washington Supreme Court found that Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlenes Flowers in Richland, Wash., violated a state civil rights law that bars discrimination in public businesses on the basis of sexual orientation. The court also ruled that the law does not infringe on her free speech.

The Texas Supreme Court is considering a challenge to Houstons provision that gives the same benefits to spouses of gay workers as it does to those of straight workers. Gay rights activists say the Obergefell decision should have settled the issue.
Chinas only Nobel Peace Prize recipient and most famous dissident, Liu Xiaobo, was taken from prison to a hospital Monday for treatment of his advanced liver cancer, his lawyer told The Washington Post.

Liu, 61, who participated in the 1989 pro-democracy Tiananmen Square demonstrations, became Chinas first Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2010 for advocating greater freedoms in his country  and is the only laureate serving a prison sentence.

He was arrested in 2008 and subsequently sentenced to 11 years in prison for inciting subversion of state power. China has held him incommunicado since  in hopes of erasing any memory of him, according to colleagues and human rights activists.

Liu was diagnosed with liver cancer on May 23, and the parole application was approved last week, said his lawyer, Mo Shaoping. He is now in a hospital in Shenyang. Some family members have already visited him.

The Jinzhou Prison administration of Liaoning province confirmed Lius parole Monday. In a statement posted on its website, officials said a medical team consisting of eight cancer doctors is developing a treatment program.

Many of his supporters were not even aware he was sick.

We are shocked and devastated to learn that our dear friend and mentor Liu Xiaobo, Chinas jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been suffering from cancer in Chinas brutal prison environment, said a statement by Wuer Kaixi and Wang Dan, his friends and former student leaders from 1989. Liu Xiaobo was an important partner in our democratic movement of 1989. He was  and continues to be  our personal mentor. We are convinced that his strength and optimism will make it possible for him to overcome the disease.

In its daily briefing, Chinas Foreign Ministry said it had no information on the matter.

But if Liu has been allowed to leave prison or granted a form of parole, it does not mean he has been "released" or is free to communicate with the outside world, experts said.

Under Chinese law, a prisoner granted medical parole is "still serving his/or her sentence, albeit in a location other than the prison itself, " said John Kamm, head of the Dui Hua Foundation, a U.S-based group that campaigns for the release of political prisoners in China. "It is likely that Liu Xiaobo is being supervised by armed guards."



[Eleven countries slam China on human rights. U.S. refrains.]

In 2010, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize while in prison, his family was prevented from traveling to Norway to accept the award. His wife, Liu Xia, has also been under house arrest since then. The award was presented to an empty chair, which later became a symbol of Chinas repression.

Adding injury to insult, Liu Xiaobo has been diagnosed with a grave illness in prison, where he should never have been put in the first place, said William Nee, China researcher for Amnesty International. The Chinese authorities should immediately ensure that Liu Xiaobo receives adequate medical care, effective access to his family, and that he and all others imprisoned solely for exercising their human rights are immediately and unconditionally released.

Liu was arrested in 2008 for his role in the writing of Charter 08, a manifesto calling for Chinas democratic transition that was signed by thousands of people inside the country.

His publications have since been banned in China.

When the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded him the prize in 2010, it cited his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. Beijing condemned the award, and relations with Norway suffered for years.

[China has not been able to hide Liu Xiaobos ideas]

Rose Tang, who was a student participant in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989, said Liu was one of the last hunger strikers in the square on June 4 when Chinese troops killed or arrested thousands of protesters, and he played a key role in negotiating safe passage for students out of the area.

Liu was a fellow at Columbia University when the protests erupted and flew back to be with the students.

Tang, who now lives in New York, recalled how Liu sent a fellow protest leader to negotiate with troops to allow the students to leave, potentially saving the lives of up to 2,000 people.

Bullets were flying over our heads and some students (including me) wanted to stay and fight till the end, she said. Student leaders were disputing among themselves. Liu and his fellow hunger strikers made the crucial decision.

Sophie Richardson, China director for Human Rights Watch, said that while Lius release for treatment came as a relief, she feared that little has changed.

That he was ever in prison at all says all one needs to know about Chinese leaders profound hostility toward peaceful expression and the rule of law, she said. It appears highly unlikely that his release will equal real freedom  for him, or for all others who simply seek peaceful, positive change in China, she said.

Denyer reported from Seoul. Luna Lin in Beijing and Paul Schemm in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.

Read more:

Chinas Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize

Opinion: China has not been able to hide Liu Xiaobos ideas

Xia Liu: A voice for my husband

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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A photo illustration with the logo of Telegram, an encrypted messaging app popular among Russian officials, including at the Kremlin. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

Russias powerful state security agency said Monday that terrorists used the encrypted messenger app Telegram to plan a deadly attack on the St. Petersburg metro, a disclosure that buttressed lawmakers efforts to curb the anonymous use of encoded chat programs popular among jihadists, opposition activists and government officials alike.

The statement by the Federal Security Service (FSB) came as Russias lower house of parliament, the Duma, moved forward on several laws targeting anonymity on the Russian segment of the Internet, including a ban on the use of virtual private networks that mask IP addresses. The government of President Vladimir Putin is increasingly enforcing legislation demanding that social networks store their information in Russia, blocking the employment site LinkedIn earlier this year in an apparent effort to pressure larger networks such as Facebook to comply with the law.

Now, the Duma is looking at laws that will ban anonymity on messenger apps, requiring users to register with real names verified through telephone numbers (which in turn are tied to passport data). The Duma has passed a first reading of the bill, despite a government commissions concerns that the legislation is vague.

[Russias aggressive response to St. Petersburg bombing raises questions]

The revelations by law enforcement Monday, tying the messenger app to a terrorist attack that rocked Russias second-largest city this spring, may speed the passage and enforcement of the law. The bombing of a metro train in the city killed 15 people, including the bomber, and injured at least 45.

During the investigation into the terrorist attack of April 3 in St. Petersburgs metro, FSB received reliable information that the suicide bomber, his allies and his foreign curator used the Telegram messenger to conceal their criminal plot during all the stages of preparation for the terrorist attack, said the counterterrorism agency, which was once headed by Putin.

It is widely known that terrorist groups, including the Islamic State, use encrypted chat messengers, and specifically Telegram. A 2016 report by the Middle East Media Research Institute noted that Telegrams strong encryption and flexibility have made it the app of choice for many ISIS, pro-ISIS and other jihadi and terrorist elements.

In Russia, where surveillance in politics is rife, the app is also popular among journalists, nongovernmental organizations and opposition leaders. Anonymous insiders, claiming to know the inner workings of the Kremlin, spill those secrets daily on several channels on the site.

Telegram is also popular among Kremlin officials. Dmitry Peskov, Putins personal spokesman, regularly responds to journalists via Telegram, as do other federal and regional officials.

[Islamic State seizes on Internet tool to promote terror]

If the services of this messenger become inaccessible, we will switch to a different one, Peskov told journalists Monday when asked about the Kremlins use of Telegram. Well see what is more convenient. In this case, there is competition. There is diversity.

The furor over Telegram has largely played out in public, with Russian officials from an oversight agency sparring with Pavel Durov, 32, the founder of Telegram and emigre enfant terrible of the Russian start-up scene.

Roskomnadzor, the Russian communications regulator, said Friday in an open letter that it would block Telegram soon if Durov did not register it on an official list of information distributors, making it subject to the bill passing through the Duma.

Durov fired back, saying Telegram has blocked more than 5,000 groups associated with extremism since the beginning of June.

[The secret American origins of Telegram]

It will be sad if Russian security services exploit this tragedy as a pretext to strengthen their influence and authority over the population, he wrote Monday on VKontakte, the social network he created. He left Russia in 2014 after VKontakte was taken over by business interests he said were allied with Putin.

Separately, Durov rejected calls from Roskomnadzor to share a back door, or keys, to the encrypted messages sent through Telegram, saying they do not exist. He also said that other messengers and virtual private networks would allow extremists to avoid the ban.

To defeat terrorism through blocking, one must block the Internet, Durov concluded.

While Telegram is popular in political circles, it is far from the countrys most popular messenger service. According to 2016 data from the mobile provider Beeline, just 7.5 percent of customers used Telegram, while 68.7 percent used WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, and 45.7 percent used Viber, owned by the Japanese company Rakuten.

Read more:

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Britain on Monday confronted a rapidly growing fire-safety crisis after tests of the exterior cladding on dozens of public-housing towers revealed a 100 percent failure rate, raising fears that this months deadly inferno in London could be replicated elsewhere.

Out of 75 high-rise buildings tested since last week, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid told Parliament late Monday afternoon, not one passed. Thats up from 60 failures out of 60 on Sunday  with hundreds more towers yet to be examined.

Javid said the government will immediately expand testing to include schools, hospitals and private residential buildings  suggesting that the scope of the problem could be far beyond what was suspected even days ago.

The revelations came less than two weeks after Londons 24-story Grenfell Tower was transformed overnight from a home for hundreds into a charred ruin  and a death trap for at least 79 people.

At the time, officials described it as a horrific anomaly  an unprecedented blaze, in the words of the citys fire commissioner, the likes of which had not been seen in modern Britain.

(Karla Adam,Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

But after the dozens of failed safety inspections and the hurried evacuation of thousands of public-housing residents, Grenfell is looking like something else entirely: a dire warning.

Critics say that far from being an isolated case, the blaze is symptomatic of a loose regulatory system that allowed as many as 600 towers to be encased in a material that helps spread flames, rather than stop them.

And the problems may not end with residential high-rises.

This is massive. This is only the tip of the iceberg, said Arnold Tarling, a British surveyor and fire-safety expert. Cladding is not just on high-rise apartments but on schools, leisure centers, hospitals, office blocks, hotels  you name it.

He added: My view is: Assume it doesnt work.

[London police confirm deadly high-rise fire began in an apartment fridge]

For the cash-strapped local councils that manage the public- housing buildings  and for the tens of thousands of residents who live in them  the dismal test results have brought an agonizing choice: evacuate without a plan for where people should go next, or allow them to stay and risk another fire.

Damage to Grenfell Tower is seen after the catastrophic fire in west London. (Peter Nicholls/Reuters)

Everyone is absolutely terrified, said Kathleen Hughes, who cares for her husband, who has Alzheimers disease, on the seventh floor of a north London high-rise that is wrapped in cladding similar to the kind used at Grenfell. There are a lot of children on that top floor. We have one staircase.

Her building has not been evacuated, and she said that despite her fears, she hopes it wont be. Im 75, for Gods sake, she said. I dont need all of this on top of what I got.

For the British government, rapidly growing evidence of the scale of the problem has brought a different kind of question, but one thats no less difficult: Why was a type of cladding that was long restricted on high-rises in the United States and continental Europe permitted to be used on towers in the United Kingdom?

The maker of the cladding tiles  the U.S.-based successor to metals giant Alcoa, which is now known as Arconic  said Monday that it is not allowing the product to be used on tall buildings worldwide.

We believe this is the right decision because of the inconsistency of building codes across the world and issues that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the firm said in a statement.

The cladding  known as Reynobond PE  has sheets of aluminum surrounding a flammable plastic core. Its cheaper than a fire-resistant version, also sold by Arconic, that has metal in place of the plastic.

British investigators have said the Grenfell blaze began when a refrigerator in a fourth-floor apartment caught fire. The flames rapidly climbed the buildings exterior, using the cladding and insulation as fuel. The building was engulfed in fire within minutes, and it burned for days.

The British government said last week that as many as 600 high-rise buildings have the cladding and need to be tested. But only a fraction have been, prompting the government to blame local authorities for the delays.

I am concerned about the speed at which samples are being submitted, said Javid, the communities secretary. I would urge all landlords to submit their samples immediately.

Javid said that private landlords should also send in samples for the government to test, and that hospitals and schools will be examined. Until Monday, the tests were focused exclusively on public housing.

The revelation that potentially dangerous materials were so widely used has triggered recriminations, especially given that the dangers had been known.

[After a tragedy many saw as preventable, London fire survivors vent their anger]

As recently as May, the Association of British Insurers warned the government about the risks posed by flammable cladding, particularly the potential for it to cause fire to spread upwards uncontrollably.

Investigators have said they are considering manslaughter charges, although they have not said whom they would charge.

John McDonnell, a senior figure in the opposition Labour Party, has said Grenfells victims were murdered by political decisions that were taken over recent decades.

Karen Buck, another Labour lawmaker, called the failed fire-safety tests evidence that what started at Grenfell is turning into a national emergency.

The tragedy of Grenfell Tower exposes the overstretched state of social housing, especially in London, Buck, who used to represent the area where Grenfell is located, wrote in a piece for the Guardian newspaper.

The crunch in local housing budgets and space has not only left communities with potentially hazardous buildings. It also

has complicated decision-making over what to do with residents who live in them, and who may need to be housed elsewhere while the dangerous cladding is removed.

The north London council of Camden decided late Friday to remove 4,000 residents from four buildings that failed cladding and other fire-safety tests.

The Grenfell fire changes everything  we need to do everything we can to keep residents safe, Georgia Gould, Camdens council leader, said in announcing the move.

But Camden  which is offering residents the equivalent of up to $250 a night to stay in hotels  has been the exception. In the vast majority of cases where buildings have failed their tests, residents are staying in place.

As soon as Charlie Lawrence saw news of the Grenfell fire, he had a feeling that his building was covered in the same plastic tiling. I had a gut instinct, he said.

His instinct was correct: The cladding on his building in the north London neighborhood of Islington failed the test.

But at least for now, he and his neighbors are staying put while scaffolding goes up to take the cladding down.

For Lawrence, an unemployed 20-year-old with a 19-month-old son, the predicament has inspired dark thoughts about what happened at Grenfell  particularly a baby who was thrown from a window in a last, desperate act by a mother who was engulfed in smoke.

You dont want to be thinking those kinds of things, he said, especially if it can be stopped before it even happened.

Read more:

What the Grenfell Tower fire tells us about Londons housing crisis

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A Ukrainian armed-forces tank is stationed outside a building in the flash-point eastern town of Avdiivka, just north of the pro-Russian rebels' de facto capital of Donetsk, in this photo from February. (Alexey Filippov/AFP/Getty Images)

On a warm afternoon in Ukraines breakaway east, as the front line rumbled with only occasional shellfire, Stanislav Aseev, a 27-year-old undercover journalist, was heading home to Donetsk.

Many of his colleagues had long since fled the battle-scarred industrial city  a separatist stronghold where freedom of expression is harshly repressed. Despite this, during three years of war, Aseev remained, publishing stories under a pseudonym to avoid repercussions from the citys new masters. Outside working hours, jazz, jogging and philosophy offered him relief from the conflict.

On June 2, as he approached Donetsk, Aseev contacted his mother and promised to visit the next day. He never arrived.

After repeated phone calls went unanswered, worried friends and relatives headed to Aseevs apartment. His front door had been smashed open, and his possessions  including a work laptop  had been seized. Authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic (DNR) would give them no information.

It has since emerged that DNR security agents are holding Aseev incommunicado in an unspecified facility. His friends worry that he has been subjected to beatings and torture. That is not an unreasonable concern  according to human rights investigators, it has become standard practice for anyone in detention in Donetsk.

A Ukrainian serviceman investigates a damaged building near the front line in the Ukrainian village of Olginka earlier this month. (Sergey Vaganov/European Pressphoto Agency)

No one can guarantee that he will survive, said Egor Firsov, a former member of parliament and a university friend of Aseevs who is campaigning for the journalists release.

Aseev has joined the hundreds of people  or possibly 1,000 or more  who are missing or held as prisoners of war

in eastern Ukraine. Although front-line hostilities have reached a simmering deadlock, a dirty war persists in the wider, lawless region. Civilians attempt to survive on contested ground, pinned between marauding forces accused of pillage, violent intimidation, sexual abuse, torture and even summary execution.

The United Nations has documented accounts of such war crimes, recording arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances across the conflict zone, particularly in territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists. Denied access to relatives or legal counsel, captives are kept in secret prisons, basements and other dire, improvised detention areas. The exact number of missing people is unknown, but the International Committee of the Red Cross says it could be up to 2,000.

There are many sick people walking around with guns these days, one resident of a front-line village told U.N. investigators. If they want to kill us, they will just come. Who can protect us from this?

A new report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights suggests both forces are carrying out extrajudicial executions. In March, the body of a missing man was found near a government-held front-line town. An officer from the SBU  Ukraines successor agency to the KGB  was subsequently arrested and released on bail.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian soldiers allegedly looted a house, set it on fire, shot the occupant and buried the body in a nearby forest.

Last October, in rebel-held Horlivka, two civilians were shot dead, allegedly by pro-Russian gunmen. When the corpses were found, separatist authorities are said to have prevented relatives from seeing and identifying the bodies.

One of the most high-profile victims of the wave of clandestine, wartime detentions is Igor Kozlovsky, an authoritative theologian with expertise in world faiths, martial arts and yoga. He is the former regional head of religious affairs and co-founder of an academy and spiritual center. As a university professor, he taught philosophy to Aseev  the now-imprisoned journalist  and held this gifted student in high regard.

When he lectured, it was like watching Elvis, said his 39-year-old nephew, Denis Kozlovsky. He was so charismatic, so exciting  an international man but also a patriot with a deep love of Ukrainian traditions.

When separatists moved to take power in Donetsk in 2014, Igor Kozlovskys wife and younger son fled while he stayed behind to care for their older, disabled son, who could not be moved without special equipment. He settled into an isolated life, rising at dawn to practice yoga, write poetry and care for his son, even as the fighting intensified.

In January 2016, a gang grabbed him off the street. Later, in custody, he called his nephew to say he had been held in a basement and tortured. A military tribunal later found this confirmed pacifist guilty of illegal possession of weapons and threw him into one of Donetsks notorious prisons  hotbeds for tuberculosis. His health deteriorating, Kozlovsky was held for about a year in a damp, dark cell, then transferred to another prison in Horlivka.

Relatives have desperately tried to secure the 63-year-olds release by engaging the few lawyers accredited to work in the DNR. Invariably, they have been cheated. Middlemen have offered to arrange his freedom for $100,000, but Denis Kozlovsky said he believes they are charlatans.

If he was a guerrilla, then his arrest would be easier to accept. But he was man of peace, dedicated to finding common ground between religions, he said. Prisons in Donetsk are bad places, but my uncle is strong. Spiritually and psychologically, he is more prepared than most to survive.

But the odds are stacked against prisoners such as Kozlovsky; the process of swapping POWs is haphazard and poorly coordinated. The warring parties have failed to exchange data regarding detainees DNA, which would help establish the whereabouts of many missing people and relieve the uncertainty and despair borne by their relatives, the United Nations said.

Beyond these black sites, front-line communities face the threat of pillage. Troops have looted and commandeered homes of displaced residents, so some civilians endure the risk of shelling to protect their properties.

Troops on both sides of the line impose such harsh restrictions that those remaining in front-line areas are isolated and fully dependent on soldiers for water, food and fuel, the investigators say.

Brutal and vile treatment of prisoners, indefinite detention and the use of solitary confinement are common to both sides. But abuses occur on a greater scale in breakaway territory, where even the young are vulnerable. (Last August, five teenagers were detained by DNR security agents and have been held since.)

Investigators accuse Ukrainian law enforcement officers of systematically using torture and ill treatment to extract confessions from suspected separatists. These methods include extreme beatings, waterboarding, suffocation and electric shocks. Detainees are typically forced to sign a testimony that they have neither read nor written.

As one torture victim later explained, Thinking about my finger being cut off was too much for me, so I told them what they wanted to hear.

Investigations into complaints of torture are often corrupt and ineffectual, fueling a culture of impunity as perpetrators walk free.

You need to be a kamikaze if you register your injuries, one detainee, who had been tortured, told investigators. If they learn about it, they will make you disabled and will deal with your family.

For now, the fate of Aseev, the undercover journalist, is unknown. His last story  titled Between Heaven and Hell  was published from the eastern war zone on the same day as his disappearance. The young reporter knew the dangers but did the job regardless.

Many will say its an unjustified risk. But, above all, I do this for myself, Aseev said in an earlier interview with the Ukrainian newsweekly and website Zerkalo Nedeli. This is my education, which cannot be purchased with any amount of money. . . . The old, timeworn notion that in war there are no winners is becoming a kind of mantra here.

Read more:

TV in breakaway Ukraine has a distinct Soviet tint to it

Ukraine turns a blind eye to ultra-rightist militia

War in Ukraine helps smugglers in the black market get richer

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
FBI agents have repeatedly questioned former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page about his contacts with Russians and his interactions with the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Over a series of five meetings in March, totaling about 10 hours of questioning, Page repeatedly denied wrongdoing when asked about allegations that he may have acted as a kind of go-between for Russia and the Trump campaign, according to a person familiar with Pages account.

The interviews with the FBI are the most extensive known questioning of a potential suspect in the probe of possible Russian connections to associates of President Trump. The questioning of Page came more than a month before the Russian investigation was put under the direction of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Page confirmed Monday that the interviews occurred, calling them extensive discussions. He declined to say if he has spoken to investigators since the March interviews.

He said the FBI agents acknowledged that Im a loyal American veteran but indicated that their management was concerned that I did not believe the conclusions of a Jan 6. U.S. intelligence report describing Russian government interference in the U.S. election. Our frank and open conversations gave me confidence that there are still logical, honest individuals at the bureau who respect civil rights and the Constitution, he said.

(Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

As he has for months, Page said the accusations against him are lies spread by supporters of Hillary Clinton and former president Barack Obama, aimed at weakening the Trump administration.

Because it is against the law for an individual to lie to FBI agents about a material issue under investigation, many lawyers recommend that their clients not sit for interviews with the bureau without an attorney present. Page said he spoke without an attorney and wasnt concerned about the risks because he told the truth.

In April, The Washington Post reported that Page had been the subject of a foreign intelligence surveillance court order beginning in the summer of 2016.

Spokesmen for the FBI and the special counsel declined to comment.

The probes being overseen by Mueller include whether any Trump associates conspired with agents of the Russian government to interfere with the U.S. election, whether associates of the president may have engaged in financial crimes or other wrongdoing, and whether the president may have attempted to obstruct justice in the probe of one or more of his associates, according to officials familiar with the investigation.

The FBIs questioning of Page came during a tumultuous time for Trump and the Russia probe. On March 20, FBI Director James B. Comey publicly confirmed that the FBI was investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russias efforts.

A few days after that statement to Congress, Trump separately asked Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion between Trump and the Russians, according to officials. Coats and Rogers refused to comply with the requests, which they both deemed to be inappropriate, according to two current and two former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private communications with the president.

Over a four-week period in March, Page met repeatedly with FBI agents, who pressed him on claims made in a secret dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer, according to people familiar with the probe.

The dossier includes accusations that Page was part of a well-developed conspiracy of cooperation between [Trump associates] and the Russian leadership. The dossier also claimed that in July 2016 Page met with Igor Sechin, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and senior Kremlin official Igor Divyekin. Page has denied the accusations, saying he did not meet with Sechin and never heard of Divyekin until the dossier surfaced in January.

Page was one of the first Americans to come under scrutiny in the FBIs Russia investigation, and its unclear what, if any, new information was gleaned from the FBI interviews. He has called the government surveillance of his communications a violation of his civil rights. Page has been outspoken in denying the allegations, repeatedly calling the investigation a politically motivated witch hunt.

A decade ago, Page worked in Russia for Merrill Lynch, and in 2016 he raised eyebrows among U.S. foreign policy experts when he criticized U.S. sanctions on Russia and urged better relations between the two countries. In March 2016, Trump named him as a foreign policy adviser to his campaign, but the campaign dropped him in September after questions arose about his ties to Russia. Trump officials have repeatedly said he was not an influential figure in the campaign. Page has said that while he spent many hours in Trumps campaign headquarters, he never briefed Trump.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Monday that he would withhold consent from all U.S. arms sales to Persian Gulf countries until the ongoing dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is resolved.

While congratulating President Trump on signing a joint statement of unity last month with the Gulf Cooperation Council, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that recent conflicts among GCC members only serve to hurt efforts to fight ISIS and counter Iran. ISIS is an acronym for the Islamic State.

For these reasons, before we provide any further clearances . . . on sales of lethal military equipment . . . we need a better understanding of the path to resolve the current dispute and reunify the GCC.

It was unclear what power Corker has to stop what the administration has said were $110 billion worth of arms deals signed with the Saudis during President Trumps trip there last month. Laws governing such sales require congressional notification but not formal consent, although administrations for decades have upheld an informal practice of obtaining approval from the two committee chairmen before officially notifying Congress and triggering a 30-day review process.

If an administration chooses to ignore the chairmen, sales can be stopped only by a joint resolution of both chambers.

But regardless of its legal standing, Corkers statement serves to buttress Tillersons efforts to move the GCC parties toward resolution. Many lawmakers have grown increasingly uneasy at the White Houses perceived tilt toward Saudi Arabia, which they see as practicing its own ultraconservative interpretation of Islam, and acting at the expense of other U.S. regional partners.

[By backing Saudi Arabias vision of the Middle East, Trump may be sowing the seeds of conflict]

A Senate resolution to block a $510 million sale of precision-guided munitions, which had been withheld by the Obama administration on the grounds that the Saudis were using U.S. weapons indiscriminately in Yemen, was only narrowly defeated earlier this month.

A Corker aide said that major lethal arms sales to any GCC member state that have been acknowledged or announced publicly by the administration but not formally notified to Congress could be affected.

Until lifted by Corker, the aide said, it could impact portions of the deal announced by the Trump administration in Saudi Arabia that have not yet been formally notified to Congress. The deals include naval vessels, helicopters, tanks and other major weapons systems that Trump has variously said would bring thousands and tens of thousands of defense industry jobs to the United States.

The regional dispute began early this month when GCC members Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with Egypt, broke relations with fellow GCC member Qatar, imposed restrictions on its land borders and airspace, and expelled its citizens.

The other countries charged Qatar with supporting terrorism and attempting to undermine their governments, and they criticized what they said were Qatars too-friendly relations with Iran. Trump immediately expressed support for the move, while Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called for mediation.

Over the past several weeks, Trump has repeatedly sided with the Saudis, calling what is in effect a blockade of Qatar hard but necessary, while Tillerson has warned of negative humanitarian and military effects. Qatar is the regional headquarters of the U.S. Central Command and hosts an air base from which U.S. counterterrorism strikes in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are planned and launched.

Last week, a State Department spokeswoman said the department was mystified over the failure of the blockaders to come up with a promised list of complaints against Qatar and actions they were demanding to resolve the situation.

At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions really about their concerns about Qatars alleged support for terrorism, or were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC countries? spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

The six-member collection of authoritarian monarchies has always been less than cohesive, with the Saudis claiming leadership and Qatar challenging its dominance and differing on issues such as forming a working relationship with Iran, which Qatar favors.

The list of demands on Qatar, which was leaked Thursday, included requirements that Qatar shutter its popular Al Jazeera news channel  which has been critical of neighboring monarchies  and scale back its relations with Iran. Of all the GCC countries, only Saudi Arabia and Bahrain do not have formal diplomatic relations with Iran.

It also demanded that Qatar close a Turkish military base in that country and sever ties with terrorist organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

Some of the 13 demands addressed long-standing concerns about Qatars support for extremist groups and a more liberal interpretation of Islam. But others, including a requirement that Qatar pay compensation to the Saudis and others for policies that have damaged them internally, appeared designed to punish Qatar for its failure to recognize Saudi leadership in the region.

Tillerson said in a statement Sunday that Qatar has begun its careful review and consideration of requests presented by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.

While some of the elements will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution, Tillerson said.
The website of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, pictured in April, was hacked on Sunday. (Ron Schwane/Associated Press)

Several Ohio government websites, including that of Gov. John Kasich (R), were hacked Sunday and defaced with an anti-President Trump, pro-Islamic State message.

The regular homepages of the sites were replaced with a black screen that featured brief statements that ended with I love Islamic State.

Officials shut down the sites while they worked to reestablish control.

Other local government websites also were struck, including the site for Howard County, Md.

The hacking was allegedly done by an entity calling itself System Dz, which has taken credit for breaches of local government websites for more than two years. The FBI has been investigating those hacks. FBI spokesmen did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

The System DZ hacks typically take place on weekends, targeting small government websites.

Sundays online vandalism featured a black screen with text that said: You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries.

Representatives for the Ohio governor did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Sunday.

Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) reacted angrily to the development, writing on Facebook: Wake up freedom-loving Americans. Radical Islam infiltrating the heartland.
The Supreme Courts decision to allow portions of President Trumps travel ban to take effect is a win for the administration, but the impact will be far less severe than President Trumps initial version of the measure.

That is because the high court effectively allowed Trump to ban from coming to the United States only citizens of six majority-Muslim countries who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. It also nudged the president to complete his promised review of vetting procedures, which might mean the issue is resolved by the time the court is set to fully consider the ban in its October term.

For now, if you are not a U.S. citizen and have a relative here, have been hired by a U.S. employer or admitted to an American university, you can still probably get a visa. But if youre applying cold as a visitor or through the diversity visa program, you probably cant.

[Supreme Court allows limited version of Trumps travel ban to take effect, will consider case in fall]

The facts of these cases illustrate the sort of relationship that qualifies, the court said in an unsigned opinion. For individuals, a close familial relationship is required. A foreign national who wishes to enter the United States to live with or visit a family member  clearly has such a relationship. As for entities, the relationship must be formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading [the executive order].

(Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

The justices wrote that an immigration-rights nonprofit group could not simply add a foreign national to a client list just so that person could travel to the United States.

They said the same standard would apply to refugees wanting to come to the country, and those with U.S. connections would effectively be exempt from the 50,000-refugee cap the ban sought to impose.

There could, of course, be disputes. In a dissenting opinion that said the travel ban should have been allowed to take effect in full, Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch, wrote that the decision would prove unworkable.

Todays compromise will burden executive officials with the task of deciding  on peril of contempt  whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country, Thomas wrote.

[Trumps big travel ban win? Lets not get carried away.]

When Trump issued his first travel ban, chaos ensued. The State Department provisionally revoked tens of thousands of visas, and some travelers were detained and sent away from U.S. airports, prompting a flurry of legal challenges. That will not be the case since the Supreme Courts decision.

Trump had revised and rewritten his executive order, and it now affects only the issuance of new visas to people from six Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Syria. That means no one should be blocked at a U.S. airport but rather will simply be denied a visa.

Leon Fresco, deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Immigration Litigation in President Barack Obamas Justice Department, said that in some ways the courts ruling restores long precedent.

It has never been the case for 100 years that someone can simply sue us for not getting a visa, he said.

[Supreme Court sides with religious institutions in a major church-state decision]

But Fresco said the decision also puts pressure on the administration to review its vetting procedures  and possibly end the ban. Thats because the administration has posited the ban as a temporary measure, designed to alleviate officials investigative burdens while they assessed what information they need about travelers coming to the United States.

The visa ban was supposed to last 90 days, the refugee ban 120 days. In the interim, the homeland security secretary was to have asked the affected countries to provide information about their citizens requests for U.S. visas, review the data and report to the president which countries could not adequately comply.

But the administration said it felt blocked by a U.S. district judge from even conducting such a review. Trump signed a memorandum earlier this month indicating that the order would take effect within 72 hours of when the injunctions on his ban were lifted or stayed.

The Supreme Court wrote that the government now should be able to do its work. We fully expect that the relief we grant today will permit the Executive to conclude its internal work and provide adequate notice to foreign governments within the 90-day life of [the order], the justices wrote.

The court said it would take up the travel ban fully in its October term; their ruling Monday only partially lifted lower courts stays on the measure. By that time, the 90-day period will have run, and Fresco said the administration will be pressed to come up with good reasons for imposing a ban.

If there is not an answer to the question on the first day of oral arguments about why this ban is still in place, that is going to make the court much more skeptical about the governments reasons for having this ban, Fresco said.
It was March 2020, and the world was closing down as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. At first, the news of...
Nicole Not Done Yet: What We're Watching
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., says the Democratic Party has a clear messaging problem.

Franken was asked on MSNBCs Morning Joe on Monday how members of the corporate wing of the party might be able to erase the limousine Democrat image in the minds of some voters.

We gotta stop riding in limousines, Franken replied.

But the comedian and former Saturday Night Live star quickly pivoted to an attack on the GOP health care bill, which would slash Medicaid for millions of Americans and cut taxes for the wealthy.

If youre talking about limousines, how about the top 400 people in terms of tax cuts here? Franken said. The amount of money theyll get in tax cuts would pay for Medicaid for 750,000 people.

Franken then cited a recent survey in the New England Journal of Medicine which concluded that for every 750,000 people who lose Medicaid coverage, 1,000 to 2,000 people will die.

Related: CBO likely to say millions lose coverage under Senate health care bill

So that means you are killing one to two thousand people  killing them! Franken said. Basically, people on Medicaid have better health care outcomes; they have access to a doctor. They dont have to have catastrophic costs; they dont go bankrupt. This works and it saves lives.

The senator used the same term former President Barack Obama used to describe the Senate Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

This is mean, Franken said, adding: This is worse than mean  it is cruel.

Earlier in the interview, Franken gave President Trump credit for tapping the vein of an electorate eager for a non-politician to tear the Washington, D.C., establishment apart.

They wanted somebody different, Franken said. And, you know, every once in a while, he would hit [on] something. You know, when he said in South Carolina, that George W. Bush lied us into the war, remember how shocked everyone [was] that someone would say that in a Republican debate  especially in South Carolina, a military state? And everyone said, Yeah!'

Read more from Yahoo News:
Tirana (AFP) - Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama was on his way Monday to securing a second term, offering him the chance to lead the Balkan country into European Union accession talks.

Preliminary results from 80 percent of polling stations showed the Socialists won about 49 percent of votes in Sunday's parliamentary election, while their main rivals in the centre-right Democratic Party took less than 30 percent.

The Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), traditionally the kingmaking party in Albanian politics, was on track to win 15 percent of the vote.

But 52-year-old Rama, an artist and former Tirana mayor who took power in 2013, seemed likely to secure an absolute majority in the 140-seat parliament, allowing the Socialists to rule alone.

Voter turnout, at less than 50 percent, was one of the lowest in an Albanian election since the fall of communism in the early 1990s.

While politicians stayed cautiously quiet about the results, Albanian media outlets were less reserved, with the Gazeta Shqiptare newspaper declaring "victory for the Socialists".

The rival Tema daily announced "a second term with an overwhelming majority" for Rama in parliament.

Rama himself did not proclaim victory, though he struggled to hide his satisfaction on his Facebook account, where he posts regularly.

He wished Albanians a "good day" over a map of the country filled in with the pink colour of the Socialist Party and the text "75+", an allusion to the number of seats he expects to win.

- Weak rival -

A tall former basketball player who often dresses casually in T-shirts, Rama campaigned with pledges to bolster economic growth and complete sweeping reforms of Albania's notoriously corrupt judicial system, which have been demanded by Brussels.

"Prime Minister Edi Rama succeeded in convincing Albanians that to implement reform of the judicial system and establish rule of law, he needed a second mandate," said independent analyst Alexander Cipa.

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He said Rama also benefited from the "significant failure of the rightwing opposition, even in its traditional strongholds", explained in part by the "weakness" of the Democrats' leader, 43-year-old lawyer Lulzim Basha.

Basha, an admirer of US President Donald Trump, struggled to emerge from the shadow of his mentor Sali Berisha, a 72-year-old former president and prime minister who remains a towering figure on the right.

The vote was seen as a test of democratic development in the EU-hopeful country of 2.9 million people, where elections over the past quarter-century have been marred by fraud, violence and disputed results.

A statement from Brussels said Sunday's polling "took place in a calm and orderly manner", while international observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said "fundamental freedoms were respected".

But the OSCE also warned that public trust in the electoral process had been reduced by "the continued politicisation of election-related bodies and institutions, as well as widespread allegations of vote-buying and pressure on voters".

- Long road ahead -

Albania has been an official candidate for EU accession since 2014 and Rama hopes to open negotiations by the year's end, but the road to membership remains long.

In its last report on Albania in November, the European Commission said the judicial system remained "slow and inefficient" and marred by corruption.

It also noted that criminal gangs behind Albania's lucrative but illicit cannabis cultivation and trafficking remained at large.

The Democrats accused Rama of links to organised crime and turning the country into a "drugstore" -- accusations the premier rejected.

Although Sunday's soaring temperatures and the end of Ramadan were thought to have affected turnout, disillusionment with the state's economic development may also have played a part, analysts said.

Albania remains one of the poorest countries in Europe with an average monthly wage of 340 euros ($380) and unemployment affecting nearly one in three young people, fuelling the highest emigration levels in the world.

The two main parties offered similar socio-economic platforms, liberal in inspiration.

"These elections have opened the door for Albania to join the European Union and Albanians deserve it," said Dylbere Cani, a 60-year-old shopkeeper in the capital.
By Michael Georgy AIN ISSA, Syria (Reuters) - A civil council expected to rule Raqqa once Islamic State is dislodged from the Syrian city pardoned 83 of the jihadist group's low-ranking militants on Saturday, a goodwill gesture designed to promote stability. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have gained significant ground in the battle for Raqqa, the operational base for Islamic State over the past three years and a symbol of its self-proclaimed caliphate. Senior SDF figures predict Raqqa could fall within months. That would be a severe blow to Islamic State, which has plotted shooting and bomb attacks around the world from Raqqa, a city of about 300,000 before the militants seized it. The 83 Islamic State prisoners were transported to the headquarters of the Raqqa City Council in the village of Ain Issa, north of Raqqa, in an amnesty coinciding with the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. One by one, they stepped down from buses, the youngest 14 years old. Leila Mustafa, co-leader of the council, read out a speech as the militants, released because they had no blood on their hands and held no senior posts, stood silently in neat lines. Sweets were handed out on trays in the sweltering heat, in what officials hoped would be the start of a new chapter in the men's lives. Speakers forecast a brighter future for Syria, which has been locked in a multi-sided civil war for six years involving regional powers and a U.S.-led coalition whose air strikes put Islamic State on the defensive. "We would never release senior Daesh officials or anyone who has blood on their hands," senior council member Omar Aloush told Reuters, using a derogatory term for Islamic State. "We are giving these men a second chance." On the street outside the council, he told the Islamic State members, some of whom had surrendered, that they would be integrated into society and given a chance to attend schools. Speeches were followed by applause from all sides. The men walked past council members and shook their hands, before tasting freedom and reuniting with their families. Several young Islamic State members, like 17-year-old Kays al-Hadi, provided a simple explanation on why they joined IS. "There were no opportunities before they arrived," he said. The amnesty may be one small step towards easing tensions that run deep in Raqqa after three years of ruthless Islamic State occupation, followed by war. Council officials acknowledge they face huge challenges in rebuilding a city with a traumatized population and devastated infrastructure. Abdel Rahman Kalas, 43, worked in the Islamic State department that imposed taxes on Raqqa citizens. "I have seven children," he said, as former militants walked away after the ceremony to face the uncertainty that hangs over Raqqa. "I had no choice but to cooperate. They paid me $115 a month." (Reporting by Michael Georgy; editing by Mark Heinrich)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Brexit minister David Davis said on Sunday he was "pretty sure" he could negotiate a good deal to leave the European Union, something that would require a transitional arrangement for around one or two years. Davis, who launched the Brexit talks with EU negotiator Michel Barnier last week, also threw his support behind Prime Minister Theresa May, saying he took his share of the blame for advising her to hold an early election this month in which her Conservatives lost their parliamentary majority. Telling members of the Conservative Party to stop being "self-indulgent" at a time when local media are rife with reports about who will replace May, he said: "I happen to think we've got a very good prime minister." Asked whether he was sure there would be a Brexit deal, Davis told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "I am pretty sure, I am not 100 percent sure, it's a negotiation ... You can be sure there'll be a deal, (but) the deal I want is the free trade agreement, the customs agreement and so on. "I said it will be turbulent, there will be difficulties, but at the end of the operation there is a point of common interest in both sides, where we gain by being able to exploit global markets, where they gain by having a friendly and comfortable ally, not an irritating member of the club." May, struggling to restore her authority after the botched June 8 election, outlined her proposals on Friday to give EU citizens in Britain broadly the same rights after Brexit as they now enjoy - a plan that received a muted response. But Davis said he expected the issue of EU citizens' rights - seen as one of the easier parts of what will be a complicated Brexit negotiation - would be agreed "moderately quickly". He also said Britain wanted a transitional agreement to make sure businesses were not thrown into different trading circumstances on the day that the country leaves the EU. "We think that there will be a transitional agreement, not that long .. I think one to two years is more likely," he said. "Let's start talking about how it is going to work." (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated at LGBTQ Pride marches worldwide Sunday.

At the New York City march, participants included Chelsea Manning, who was celebrating her first Pride since being released from prison as a free transgender woman.

SEE ALSO: Chelsea Manning Instagrammed her 'first steps of freedom'

The ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, tweeted a photo of Manning looking stunning on a float with a rainbow-coloured heart.

The tweet said: "Happy first Pride march, Chelsea Manning!"

Manning later clarified it was not her first Pride march, just the first one since her release in May:

this was NOT my first pride march, just the first one since getting released   Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) June 25, 2017

She also posted a picture on Instagram from the march, saying: "Honored to represent the @aclu at this years @NYCPrideMarch lost my voice from screaming so much thank you":

was honored to represent the ACLU at this years NYC Pride March <3 started to lose my voice from screaming so much <3 A post shared by Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea87) on Jun 25, 2017 at 11:59am PDT

In the picture, Manning is sitting next to Gavin Grimm, a transgender high school student who sued his local school board for the right to access the boys restroom.

Since her release from military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she served seven years of her 35-year sentence for distributing troves of U.S. military documents to Wikileaks, Manning has been very active on Instagram.

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People reacted to the ACLU tweet sending love and praise to her:

You go girl! Proud of you!   ari avalanche (@pageofarcas) June 25, 2017

Spotted in the plaid is Chelsea Manning #NYCPride2017 pic.twitter.com/Tj5vjEiFep  Meghan McDonald (@meghanfmcdonald) June 25, 2017

just saw a picture of chelsea manning enjoying herself at a pride parade. i feel rejuvenated  Mayor Nicky Flowers (@yiffpolice) June 25, 2017

We made this for her. Yesterday in Mexico City's pride  pic.twitter.com/HWuEb9Sdwh  Nat R Scott #JA4Me (@nat_riverascott) June 25, 2017

I'm happy about Pride but mainly because it means seeing picture of Chelsea Manning being happy at Pride.  ThirtyHelens (@30_Helens) June 26, 2017
BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Hong Kong from June 29 to July 1 to mark the 20th anniversary of the handover of the Asian financial hub from British colonial rule to the mainland, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday. Hong Kong was handed back to China under a "one country, two systems" formula, promising a high degree of autonomy on July 1, 1997. Xi's visit comes at a time when many Hong Kong residents see China as increasingly interfering in city affairs. Of particular concern were the abduction by mainland agents of some city booksellers who specialized in critical material and Beijing's efforts in disqualifying two pro-independence lawmakers elected to the city legislature. An annual protest to press for full democracy in the city is expected to take place after Xi's departure on the afternoon of July 1. During Xi's first visit to Hong Kong as China's president, he will oversee the swearing in of new Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam. Lam, chosen as chief executive by an electoral college stacked with Beijing loyalists, has promised to heal divisions in the city and improve the government's relationship with the opposition and the public. (Reporting by Venus Wu in HONG KONG and Jake Spring in BEIJING; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Chameleon Mummified Alive by the Tropical Sun pic.twitter.com/BRPieQtHyl  Romina Jakki (@ThursthylpSumpl) June 21, 2017

A thirsty chameleon that perished during its desperate search for water may no longer be of this world, but its mummy  naturally preserved by India's hot, tropical climate  has intrigued people the world over.

That includes those who think it's a hoax.

The Indian chameleon (Chamaeleo zeylanicus) was likely looking for water from an old pipe that had been dry for years, said filmmaker and writer Janaki Lenin, who found the critter and posted photos of it on Twitter. The animal was still clutching the pipe, even in death. [Photos: 11 Colorful Chameleons of Madagascar]

"The tragic story of a chameleon," Lenin tweeted June 18. "He must have remembered drinking water from this pipe a couple of years ago. But we had disconnected it." (Lenin removed the tweet yesterday, June 21.)

However, not everyone is convinced by this turn of events. It's strange that the dead chameleon was gripping the water pipe, said Christopher Raxworthy, the curator-in-charge of the Department of Herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Chameleons that are dehydrated or weak lose their ability to grip and climb, and drop to the ground when they're close to death, Raxworthy told Live Science in an email. "I suspect someone put the dry chameleon on the pump as a joke, or to stage this," Raxworthy said.

But Lenin defended her story.

"My family lives on a private farm with no access to outsiders," Lenin told Live Science in an email. "None of the locals will touch chameleons, because they think they are venomous. Also, my husband is a well-known herpetologist and has seen his fair share of pranks, [too many] to be fooled by one."

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Mummy mystery

If Lenin's story is legit, then it's likely that the intense sunlight and dry heat hastened the mummification of the chameleon, said Alan Resetar, manager of the Amphibian and Reptile Collections at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, who was not involved with the chameleon finding.

"The dry wind, too, would desiccate  would pull the moisture out of the animal fairly quickly," Resetar told Live Science.

During her examination of the mummy, Lenin noticed two small holes in its skin, she said. These were likely caused by ants that ate the chameleon's organs, probably speeding up the mummification process, according to National Geographic.

The moment an organism dies, the bacteria that live in the creature's gut turn against it, accelerating decay by gulping down its soft tissues. That's why some ancient cultures eviscerated dead people (removed their organs) so that the individuals could more easily be mummified, Live Science reported previously.

The ants might have similarly eviscerated the chameleon, but only a necropsy (an animal autopsy) or a medical-imaging scan could tell for sure, Resetar said.

Still, animals and humans that retain their organs can be mummified if it's hot and dry enough. In 2003, an African crowned bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus occipitalis) found in Niger near a dried-out pond was naturally mummified with all its organs intact, Resetar said.

The mummy of a bullfrog that naturally mummified in Niger. Copyright Aquila Wilks/The Field Museum

Moreover, he recalled an odd experience with mummies while he was working for a trucking company one summer during college. One day, Resetar was asked to check on a truck in the back lot that had been sitting there for months, if not years, he said.

"I opened it up, and there was a litter of mummified kittens inside the truck," Resetar said. "The mother must have escaped or been away when the truck door was closed, trapping the kittens."

The intense heat inside the truck's cab  "it was like a furnace," Resetar said  likely played a role in the kittens' deaths, and facilitated their mummification, he said.

"It was sad," Resetar said. "The thought still stays with me, and that was 40 years ago."

While finding naturally mummified animals is not an everyday occurrence, experiencing high temperatures is becoming more common as climate change heats up parts of the world. Higher-than-usual temperatures can kill animals, especially those that are ectotherms, or cold-blooded, according to National Geographic.

"A lot of these reptiles who live in the desert or tropics, they're in areas that are already almost as hot as they [the animals] can survive, so even a small increase in temperature beyond that could push them into pretty severe heat stress," Jeanine Refsnider, a herpetologist at the University of Toledo in Ohio, told National Geographic.

Original article on Live Science.

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Eleven people were killed in Mexico's Veracruz state by criminal gangs on Saturday, including four children and the head of the state's federal police and two other federal police officers, Governor Miguel Angel Yunes said. Veracruz is home to rival drug cartels including the Zetas and Jalisco New Generation, or CJNG, which are fighting over drug trafficking turf. Armed gunmen shot and killed the three police officers, including the head of the federal police in Veracruz, Camilo Juan Castagne, at a restaurant in the city of Cardel. In the port city of Coatzacoalcos, two adults and four children were killed, while two women were killed in the city of Orizaba. "We are not facing human beings, we are facing beasts, cowards, villains, people who are capable of killing children so as to have the citizens Veracruz living in fear," Yunes in a video posted online as he visited the crime scene in Cardel. "We will not allow them to impose their law of violence in Veracruz, we will not allow organized crime to rule in Veracruz," he said. Some 30,000 people have disappeared in Mexico since drug violence increased sharply around 2007. Since former president Felipe Calderon sent the army out to battle drug gangs at the end of 2006 more than 150,000 have been killed. (Reporting by Adriana Barrera and Anthony Esposito. Editing by Jane Merriman)
The President speaks to Putin over the phone in January, just days after taking office: Getty Images

Donald Trump reportedly wants to hold a bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin, despite caution from several officials in his administration.

Both Mr Trump and Mr Putin are expected to attend a multinational summit next month in Germany.

While the US President is eager for a meeting with all the diplomatic trimmings, calling for media access and all the typical protocol associated with such engagements, many officials from the State Department and the National Security Council reportedly believe it would be better for the two to maintain their distance in the midst of probes into Russias alleged meddling in the 2016 election.

Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security Secretary under Barack Obama, said last week that the Russian President directed the cyber attacks aimed at disrupting and discrediting the USs presidential race. Congressional and federal investigators are also probing whether Trump campaign officials colluded with Russian operatives.

Some advisers have reportedly suggested that instead of having a full bilateral meeting, Mr Trump and Mr Putin should do either a short, informal pull-aside on the sidelines of the summit, or that the US and Russian delegations hold strategic stability talks, which usually dont involve presidents.

Asked about the report that Mr Trump wants a full bilateral meeting, Mr Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that the protocol side of it is secondary.

The two leaders will be attending the same event in the same place at the same time, Mr Peskov said, so in any case there will be a chance to meet. However, the spokesman added that no progress in hammering out the details of the meeting had been made.

Mr Trump has only recently appeared to acknowledge that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

In a series of tweets, the President criticised the Obama administrations response to Russias alleged meddling, which he had previously labelled as fiction created by Democrats.

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In the coming weeks, Mr Trump is likely to have to make a decision about whether to veto a bipartisan bill that imposes new sanctions against Moscow. The legislation would also make it impossible for the President to act alone to lift economic penalties that were levied by Mr Obama.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
The President commemorated a rare victory for his administration in a statement from the White House: AFP/Getty Images

President Donald Trump cheered the Supreme Court's unanimous decision to allow portions of his administration's controversial travel to be implemented, kicking a final decision down the road until the fall.

"Today's unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security. It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective", Mr Trump said in a statement provided by the White House. "As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive".

Lower courts had largely blocked the travel ban since March, when the administration attempted to put the second travel ban into place. Those courts cited statements made by Mr Trump during the 2016 campaign and after, saying that his comments made it appear as though the ban were based on religious concerns, and would be in violation of religious protections provided in the Constitution. The Supreme Court did not cite those statements, and instead noted that Mr Trump has a vested interest in protecting national security as president.

The Supreme Court's decision allows the travel ban to go into effect for foreign nationals who don't have a "bona fide relationship with any person or entity in the United States". The opinion was unsigned, but was agreed to by the entire court. Foreign nationals from six majority-Muslim countries will be barred from entering the United States for 90 days. The ban could be put in place in as little as 72 hours following the Supreme Court's decision.

"My number one responsibility as Commander in Chief is to keep the American people safe. Today's ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nation's homeland. I am also particularly gratified that the Supreme Courts decision was 9-0", the President wrote in his statement.

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Foreign nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen will be blocked from entering the US unless they have the "bona fide relationship" within the US.

That foreign nationals from those countries pose a particular threat to the United States is not at all clear. Internal data sets and reports from the White House have indicated that the administration's argument for the travel ban isn't backed up by empirical reasoning. An analysis of roughly 90 cases of foreign-born terrorists found that most had probably embraced extremist ideologies after entering the US, not before, according to one White House study.

Another, drawing on FBI data, demonstrates that the administration's argument for restricting refugee admission - which would be stopped for 120 days under the ban - is also flawed. The report indicates that most issues related to refugees don't actually come from the countries impacted by Mr Trump's ban, and so that restriction would have no impact on those other countries.
President Trump on the South Lawn of the White House. (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP)

WASHINGTON  As the Senate barrels toward a vote on the health care bill that caps per-person Medicaid funding and undoes the expansion of the program under Obama, opponents of the measure point to Trumps many campaign 2016 statements promising to protect Medicaid.

I am going to save Medicare and Medicaid, Donald Trump tweeted in 2015. The Republicans who want to cut SS & Medicaid are wrong, he tweeted that July. Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it, he told campaign supporters in 2015. It was a position hed held from the earliest days of his candidacy  and before. I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid, he said in May 2015, before formally declaring his presidential bid.

In supporting a bill that cuts Medicaid after promising not to, Trump has made the most significant domestic policy about-face of his young presidency  and what is one of the biggest flip-flops by a Republican president since George H.W. Bush signed a tax increase after pledging, Read my lips: no new taxes during the Republican National Convention in 1988.

After Bush set aside that promise in 1990 as part of a budget compromise, he saw his popularity plummet more than 20 percentage points. Support for his presidency rebounded during the Gulf War but then sank again, and during the 1992 campaign Democrats hammered him over his read my lips promise as part of building a negative portrait of his political character.

But as much as Democrats plan to run against the Better Care Reconciliation Acts Medicaid cuts in 2017 and 2018, should they be unable to block the bill this summer, the politics of the situation are sufficiently different that its unlikely Trumps broken promises will hurt him in precisely the same way Bushs did. And thats because Bush went against his party in raising taxes, spurring outrage among conservatives  especially an ambitious House member from Georgias Sixth District named Newt Gingrich  while Trumps position finally puts him in sync with his own party, after campaigning on promises that even he acknowledged were outside the mainstream of Republican thinking on entitlement programs.

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Vice President George H.W. Bush accepting the nomination of Republican presidential candidate, August 18, 1988. (Photo: AP)

[Hillary Clinton] wants to knock the hell out of your Social Security, she wants to knock the hell out of your Medicare/Medicaid. And Im going to save them, OK? he said in a speech in Ambridge, Pa., a month before the election. This is a little reversal for the Democrat/Republican, but Im going to save them because were going to  were going to make our country rich again.

And Trump could scarcely be less popular with Democrats already; with approval numbers once again at 36 percent in the Gallup tracking poll, the only people he has left to lose are Republicans and the minority of independent voters that still signal support.

Trump has been proud of keeping his promises since taking office, regardless of how broadly unpopular they may be, and shows no signs of changing course. (The different versions of the Obamacare overhaul effort have polled as low as 16 and 17 percent.) When Trump rallied in Iowa last week, the arena was decorated with signs announcing Promises Kept.

The big question is how the base Republican voters who backed Trump will take this shift in policy. If the endgame is to save money, [the GOP] might be on the right track. But thats not the endgame that Donald Trump campaigned on, former Arkansas governor and staunch Trump supporter Mike Huckabee said Monday.

The BCRAs changes would rapidly alter the individual insurance market, and much of the projected rise in the number of uninsured by 2018 will come from a sharp decline in the number of people signing up in that market in order to avoid fines, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The changes to Medicaid are back-loaded and will have the most on-the-ground impact starting in 2021, but would ultimately lead to $772 billion in spending cut from the program.

A number of analyses have found that Trump voters who choose to stay insured and are in the individual market are most likely to be hit by the changes to the plans offered there.

Medicaid is the primary source of medical coverage for more than 70 million low-income Americans, including two-thirds of the elderly in nursing homes and nearly 40 percent of children.

Protesters outside of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells office, June 22, 2017. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

A PARTY FOR THE WEALTHY? All that said: Progressive advocacy group Priorities USA on Monday released a poll showing that there has been a slide in how voters view Trump since his election. To an extent unseen in past polling, voters see Trump as siding with the wealthy and big corporations over regular people, pollsters working for the group wrote. In a similar survey in January, our post-election survey showed considerably more Obama-Trump voters believed Democrats to favor the wealthy more than Trump did. Health care appears to be a key factor behind this trend.

The pollsters reported that Obama-Trump voters are exactly the kind of voters most likely to be persuaded by Democratic messaging about the Republican health care bill and suggested that health care remains the most effective wedge that could potentially bring these persuasion targets back into the Democratic fold.

Unsaid: The American people have an enormous bias against disruption in the health care sector, even as they frequently express a desire for change to it. It took until April 2017, when Obamacare was under threat of being repealed under Trump, for the law to register majority approval for the first time in Gallup polling that had been ongoing for five years.

CALL YOUR SENATOR, SAY U.S. SENATORS. Heres a sign of just how cut out of the conversation on health care legislation Democratic senators have been: High-profile U.S. senators have been reduced to urging their constituents to call their colleagues across the aisle.

This weekend we must keep up the pressure on the Republican health care bill. Make those calls.  Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 24, 2017

Remember: The health care bill isnt over until the bill is dead. If we raise our voices together, we can win this fight  (202) 224-3121.  Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 26, 2017

Pick up your phone. Call your Senator. Tweet them. Write them. Do it now. pic.twitter.com/MEuRRqfBx7  Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) June 25, 2017

RING-AROUND-THE-CAPITOL. Planned Parenthood is planning to encircle the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday with a human chain in a protest of the BCRA.

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Read more from Yahoo News:
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday countries which promised to get back weapons supplied to Kurdish YPG fighters in northern Syria were trying to trick Turkey and would eventually realize their mistake. Ankara was infuriated by a U.S. decision last month to arm the YPG, which Washington sees as a vital ally in the battle against Islamic State in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa but which Turkey deems an extension of the outlawed Kurdish PKK. The PKK, designated a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, has been waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey since the 1980s. Turkish defense ministry sources said on Thursday the United States had pledged that weapons provided to the YPG would be taken back once Islamic State was defeated. However Erdogan, addressing members of his ruling AK Party in a speech marking the start of the Islamic Eid holiday, appeared to dismiss those assurances, saying Turkey's friends and allies were cooperating with terrorists. "The ones who think they are tricking Turkey by saying they are going to get back the weapons that are being given to this terrorist organization will realize that they are making a mistake eventually," he said. "But it will be too late for them," he added, saying that if violence spilled over Syria's border into Turkey, Ankara would hold to account anyone who supplied arms to the YPG. "We will make the real owners of those weapons... pay for any bullet that will be fired to our country, for every drop of blood that will be shed," he said. U.S. President Donald Trump decided to arm the YPG fighters, who form a main part of the U.S.-backed force fighting Islamic State inside Raqqa, despite protests from NATO ally Ankara and a direct appeal from Erdogan at a White House meeting last month. Erdogan said the decision contravened the military alliance's framework of cooperation. Faced with turmoil across its southern border, Turkey last year sent troops into Syria to support Syrian rebels fighting both Islamic State and Kurdish forces who control a large part of Syria's northern border region. "I want all the world to know that in northern Syria, on our border, we are never going to allow a terrorist state to be established," Erdogan said. (Reporting by Omer Berberoglu; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Paris (AFP) - A former minister in French President Emmanuel Macron's government who is under investigation over a property deal was elected head of the ruling party's parliamentary group Saturday.

Richard Ferrand quit a junior government post as minister for territorial cohesion on Monday, a day after being elected as a deputy for Macron's new party.

Macron had asked him to run instead for the more senior role presiding over the 308 deputies representing his Republic on the Move (REM) party at the National Assembly.

Ferrand was elected by a show of hands with two abstentions, a deputy present at the vote told AFP.

In a statement issued by REM, Ferrand promised to pursue the party's drive to "renew political practices" in parliament.

The president has defended Ferrand over press reports that he favoured his wife in a lucrative property deal with a public health insurance fund when he headed the company.

Ferrand has denied any wrongdoing.

But a number of ministers stepped down from their jobs earlier this week to defend themselves against allegations of wrongdoing.

Macron's pledge to clean up politics in France was a key part of his platform during a presidential campaign that saw some of his rivals hit by corruption allegations.

Ferrand, a former socialist, was one of the first to rally to Macron during his meteoric rise. He was elected Sunday to a seat in his native Brittany.
By Gina Cherelus

(Reuters) - The family of Philando Castile, a black motorist shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop in Minnesota last year, reached a $3 million settlement with the city of St. Anthony, city officials and family lawyers said Monday.

The agreement between the Minnesota city and Valerie Castile, the victim's mother, comes a week after the officer who shot Castile, 32, five times was found not guilty of any crime - the bloody aftermath that was seen by millions of people after Castile's girlfriend livestreamed it online.

Castile's death drew national attention, coming amid a wave of high-profile police killings of black men, which sparked street protests in cities across the United States.

A jury of seven men and five women, 10 of whom were white and two black, last week acquitted St. Anthony Police Department officer Jeronimo Yanez for his role in the killing. Yanez testified that he had feared for his life after Castile told him that he was carrying a firearm and reached for his wallet when Yanez asked to see identification.

Diamond Reynolds, the girlfriend in the passenger seat who broadcast the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook Live, testified that Castile never reached for the handgun he was licensed to carry.

Shortly after the verdict, the City of St. Anthony said Yanez, the son of a Mexican immigrant, would not return to active duty and it was negotiating a "voluntary separation agreement" with him.

"I'm mad as hell right now," Valerie Castile told reporters after the verdict. "My first-born son died. ... Just because he was a police officer, that makes it OK." She said the verdict shows "the system continues to fail black people."

The family's attorney had said at the time it planned to file a civil lawsuit in federal court.

Video footage of the fatal shooting from the dashboard camera of a police car showed how quickly the incident unfolded, but shed no light on whether Castile had reached for his gun. Prosecutors had argued Yanez was not justified in firing his gun, saying Castile was courteous and non-threatening.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the state capitol in St. Paul after the verdict, and a series of speakers demanded justice for minorities in the American judicial system and stronger accountability measures for police.

(Reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Bernard Orr)
Chicago (AFP) - The family of a black motorist fatally shot by a Minnesota police officer, whose dying moments were livestreamed on Facebook, said Monday it had reached a nearly $3 million civil settlement with the US city that employed the acquitted cop.

The death of Philando Castile -- one in a series of high-profile shootings of African-Americans by police -- stunned the nation. His girlfriend Diamond Reynolds took to Facebook to livestream his agony as blood spread on Castile's shirt and the officer continued to yell orders with his gun drawn.

Jeronimo Yanez, 29, was found not guilty of manslaughter earlier this month for shooting the 32-year-old Castile during a traffic stop last year, after the driver informed the officer that he was carrying a gun, for which he had a legal permit.

The $2.995 million settlement with St Anthony, a suburb of the state capital St Paul, avoids a federal civil rights lawsuit, "which may have taken years to work its way through the courts, exacerbating the suffering of the family and of the community," according to a joint statement released Monday by the city and Castile family attorneys.

"No amount of money could ever replace Philando," the statement said, adding that the money -- to be paid by the city's insurance and not through taxpayer funds -- would be used to fund a foundation in Castile's name.

Police car video of the shooting released last week shows the exchange between Yanez and Castile lasting less than a minute before the officer shoots Castile at close range.

Following Yanez's acquittal, St Anthony said it would no longer employ him as a police officer.

The verdict, which sparked renewed protests in Minnesota, was the first of a string of three trials in one week in which US prosecutors failed to secure convictions of police officers in questionable shootings -- revealing the difficulty of prosecuting such cases, even with video evidence.

The trial of a former University of Cincinnati police officer accused of killing motorist Sam DuBose ended in a mistrial on Friday after the jury could not reach a unanimous decision.

And a Wisconsin jury last week acquitted a former police officer in the murder of Sylville Smith, a 23-year-old man who was carrying a pistol during a brief foot chase that ended with Dominique Heaggan-Brown fatally shooting him.
London (AFP) - Captain Megan Couto became the first female infantry officer to command the troops protecting Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, as a Canadian battalion took over guard duties on Monday.

Based in the central province of Manitoba, The Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry has been invited to Britain to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of modern Canada.

Queen Elizabeth is the head of state of Britain, Canada and 14 other realms including Australia, Jamaica and New Zealand.

Couto, 24, has been given the prestigious role of Captain of The Queen's Guard, responsible for guarding the London palace.

"I'm just focusing on doing my job as best I can and staying humble. Any of my peers would be absolutely delighted to be Captain of The Queen's Guard and I'm equally honoured," she said.

Carrying her sword and wearing a scarlet tunic and white Wolseley helmet, Couto marched her troops to Buckingham Palace from the nearby Wellington Barracks in the historic and colourful ceremony.

The changing of the guard, conducted on four days a week, draws thousands of tourists to Buckingham Palace and Monday was no exception, with large crowds outside the gates in summer sunshine.

"I'm not feeling too nervous," Couto said beforehand.

"We've practised enough and all the guys have been through their paces -- I've just to focus on saying the right commands.

"Princess Patricia was granddaughter to queen Victoria and born in Buckingham Palace (in 1886), so it seems to be appropriate for us to be guarding her childhood home."

Elite soldiers have protected the monarch since King Henry VII established the Sovereign's Bodyguard in 1509.

The British Army initially said Couto was the first female officer to captain The Queen's Guard, but later corrected this to say she was the first female infantry officer, the role having been performed by non-infantry female officers before.

It blamed the slip-up on "over-enthusiasm".
(Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: AP, Getty)

Yahoo News continuing coverage of the Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare comes in the latest Health Care Declassified. Well combine our own reporting with the best insights from around the Internet to give you the latest on the future of health care in America.

~

Republicans are taking turns spinning the Senates long-promised health care bill to meet a self-imposed deadline of passing it by the end of the week, before Congress adjourns for the July 4 recess.

Top Trump officials and sitting GOP senators took to the talk shows over the weekend to counter widespread criticism of the recently released Better Care Reconciliation Act. Among the issues were future cuts to Medicaid and how many Americans would lose health insurance under the bill.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway denied Sunday on ABC that the Senates health care legislation would cut Medicaid.

These are not cuts to Medicaid, George, Conway told host George Stephanopoulos. This slows the rate for the future and it allows governors more flexibility with Medicaid dollars because theyre closest to the people in need. Medicaids imperative, its founding was meant to help the poor, the sick, the needy, the disabled children, some elderly women, particularly pregnant women. We are trying to get Medicaid back to its original moorings.

Conway defended her claim Monday on Fox & Friends, stating that Medicaid would continue to be funded, and that if a person is able-bodied and you would like to go and find employment and employer-sponsored benefits, then you should be able to do that.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price backed Conways statement, saying, We would not have individuals lose coverage. And Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., agreed: No one loses coverage, he said.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) leaves a meeting of GOP senators in the U.S. Capitol June 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Monday that 22 million fewer people would have insurance in 2026 under the bill than under the current law. Thats a slightly better outlook that the CBOs prediction earlier this year for the Houses version of the bill, which projected that 23 million fewer Americans would have health insurance.

Story continues

Toomey also argued that the legislation would codify and make permanent the Medicaid expansion.

But the GOP bill would actually slash funding to Medicaid, marking one of the Republicans attempts to walk back the Obama administrations efforts to fund health care for more low-income individuals.

President Trump, who has lauded the Senates bill on social media, tweeted earlier this year that ObamaCare is a complete and total disaster  is imploding fast! Earlier this week, the president offered up more criticism of the Obama-era policy, calling it broken and dead.

But a recent Kaiser Health Tracking poll suggests that the public would disagree with the presidents claim that Obamas health care plan is dead, reporting that about half of those surveyed view Obamacare favorably. In contrast, only about 31 percent of the public view the Houses bill favorably, the poll reports.

Republicans have rushed to defend other aspects of the bill. Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson suggested that individuals with preexisting conditions should pay more for their health care insurance, comparing them to cars involved in automobile accidents.

We know why those premiums doubled, Johnson said. Weve done something with our health care system that you would never think about doing, for example, with auto insurance, where you would require auto insurance companies to sell a policy to somebody after they crash their car.

Republicans face a key week ahead in their battle to pass the long-promised health care reform. At least five Republican senators have expressed their opposition to the bill, leaving GOP leadership scrambling to win the support of 50 of the 52 Republicans in the Senate to secure its passage before their vote.

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Trump still believes House bill is mean

President Trump stood behind his characterization of the House health care bill as mean on Sunday, despite Speaker of the House Paul Ryans efforts to show the president supports the bill.

Mean. That was my term because I want to see, and I speak from the heart, I want to see a bill with heart, Trump said during an interview on Fox & Friends.

Despite reports that Trump had called the American Health Care Act mean during a private lunch meeting with GOP congressmen and asked them to amend it to make the bill more generous, Ryan claimed that the president still fully supports the bill.

I dont think that accurately reflects the presidents sentiments about the House health care bill, Ryan said on Fox News Americas Newsroom. I think that was some kind of a misinterpretation of a private meeting.

Trump, however, says he stands by his initial assessment.

Health care is a very complicated subject from the point that you move it this way, and this the group doesnt like it. You move it a little over here. You have a very narrow path, and honestly, nobody can be totally happy, even without the votes, he said.  Taylor Rogers

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McConnell, polio survivor, refuses to meet with March of Dimes

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at the Capitol in Washington on June 20, 2017. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

The Better Care Reconciliation Act and its predecessor, the American Health Care Act, have been met with heavy criticism from medical and patients rights groups since they were introduced. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to meet with many of those organizations, including the March of Dimes, which treated the senator for polio when he was a child.

When McConnell contracted polio at 2 years old, his mother took him to Warm Springs Hospital in Georgia to receive physical therapy that prevented him from losing his ability to walk, McConnell explained on the Senate floor in 2005.

We were fortunate. Where my mother was living while my dad was overseas was with her sister in east-central Alabama, only about 40 or 50 miles from Warm Springs, McConnell said.

So my mother was able to put me in the car, go over to Warm Springs, and actually learn from those marvelous physical therapists who were there what to do, he said.

The nonprofit organization that funded the hospital, National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later changed its name to the March of Dimes. It was one of 120 organizations that claimed to have asked to meet with McConnell regarding Senate Republicans health care bill while it was being drafted, only to be told that the Senate majority leader was too busy.

Our organizations represent and provide care for millions of Americans living with ongoing health care needs who rely on Medicaid, and we cannot support policies that pose such a grave risk to patients and consumers, the organizations said in an open letter to McConnell last week.

AARP, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network also signed the letter.  Taylor Rogers

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Quid pro quos rumored to secure votes

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., during a press conference where he announced he will vote no on the proposed GOP health care bill. (Photo: Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Amid increasing uncertainty that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has the 50 votes he needs to pass his health care legislation, there have been increasing reports that the potential naysayers may negotiate in exchange for their votes.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., is reported to be considering voting yes in exchange for eliminating the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump in his state, something he has repeatedly called for. Heller called the nuclear waste facility a thorn in Nevadas side in an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee meeting in April.

I believe this ill-conceived project would not only cause significant harm to the well-being of my home state and all Nevadans, but it also poses a national security risk that is too great to ignore, Heller said.

Heller announced that he would not support the Better Care Reconciliation Act in its current form in a press conference on Thursday.

Its going to be very difficult to get me to a yes, Heller said.

Heller is one of five GOP senators who have publicly said they do not support the health care bill. In order for it to pass, three of them would have to vote yes, assuming Vice President Pence acts as a tiebreaker.  Taylor Rogers

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Health insurance giant becomes bills first major supporter

The office building of health insurer Anthem is seen in Los Angeles, California. (Photo: Gus Ruelas/Reuters)

Health insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield has publicly endorsed the the Better Care Reconciliation Act, despite widespread condemnations from medical and patients rights groups. The company said it believes the legislation will stabilize the market for individual healthcare plans, which was one of the bills major goals.

We believe the Senate discussion draft will markedly improve the stability of the individual market and moderate premium increases, Anthem said in a statement Monday afternoon.

Anthem cited market uncertainty as the major reason it pulled out of Obamacare markets in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana.



Today, planning and pricing for ACA-compliant health plans has become increasingly difficult due to a shrinking and deteriorating individual market, as well as continual changes and uncertainty in federal operations, rules and guidance, including cost-sharing reduction subsidies and the restoration of taxes on fully insured coverage, the company said in a statement.

Anthem still offers insurance in Obamacare markets in 11 states. It didnt announce its plans for those markets.  Taylor Rogers

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Read more from Yahoo News:
By Sue-Lin Wong MAO COUNTY, China (Reuters) - Rescue workers in southwestern China pulled bodies out of piles of rock and mud on Sunday as they searched for 93 people missing after a landslide buried a mountain village, with some residents giving up hope of finding survivors. A huge landslide crashed down on the village of Xinmo, in mountainous Sichuan province, as dawn broke on Saturday. Authorities at the scene said on Sunday that 10 bodies had been confirmed recovered, contradicting a report by the Xinhua state news agency on Saturday saying that 15 people had been confirmed killed. On Sunday industrial excavators removed rubble at the site of the landslide while workers in hard hats searched for signs of life as relatives of the lost cried or looked on stone-faced nearby. "This is useless," villager Han Jianying, searching for missing family members, told Reuters. "Everyone's going to be in pieces anyway." Heavy rain triggered the landslide, authorities said. More light showers are likely but are not expected to affect the search, state broadcaster China Central Television reported. A couple and their two-month-old baby were the only survivors reported to have been found alive. Authorities reduced the number of missing after 15 people were confirmed as safe, the Xinmo village propaganda department said on its microblog. It was not clear if the 15 had been rescued or had simply been away at the time of the disaster. The rescue involved more than 3,000 people despite the danger of more landslides, Xinhua reported. Geological experts said the chances of anyone surviving under the rubble were slim, Xinhua reported. "We weren't able to pull anyone out alive," said Wu Youheng, who lives in a neighboring village and rushed to help on Saturday. "We pulled out two people but they were already dead. I think it's too late, they're unlikely to find anyone else alive." The area is prone to landslides but the scale of Saturday's slide was unprecedented, Wu added. Wu's wife, Zhang Xiaohong, said they often sleep in other villages for fear of landslides but could not afford to move to a safer part of Mao county. County residents are primarily poor farmers of the Qiang ethnic minority and the area is the target of a poverty alleviation project, government officials said. Much of those efforts focuses on attracting tourists to nearby scenic spots and an ancient village. Xinhua reported that all 142 tourists in the area had been evacuated from the area. The names of the missing were posted on government websites. Wang Yong, a member of China's State Council, or cabinet, dispatched to the disaster site, urged an all-out search-and-rescue effort and measures to prevent further disasters by monitoring geological activity, Xinhua reported. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in offering his condolences, said in a statement that the United Nations is prepared to offer any support. Sichuan province is prone to earthquakes, including an 8.0 magnitude tremor in central Sichuan's Wenchuan county in 2008 that killed nearly 70,000 people. For a graphic on the landslide in China, click: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/CHINA-LANDSLIDE/010041RT3V8/CHINA-LANDSLIDE.jpg (Additional reporting by Reuters television, Jake Spring in BEIJING and Michelle Nichols in NEW YORK; Writing by Jake Spring; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel and David Goodman)
India initiated its request to buy 22 Guardian MQ-9B unmanned aircraft for maritime surveillance last year: Getty

Donald Trump is expected to authorise the sale of $2bn (1.6bn) worth of surveillance drones to India.

The US President met Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time this week  an encounter watched closely by analysts for clues of the depth of ties the new US administration seeks.

Both trade and defence ties were heavily bolstered under US President Barack Obama, but policy differences between Mr Trumps administration and New Delhi have thrown the future of the relationship into question.

India initiated its request to buy 22 Guardian MQ-9B unmanned aircraft for maritime surveillance last year.

Mr Modi reportedly wants the drones for surveillance of the Indian Ocean  waters that China's navy increasingly traverses after establishing its first overseas base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti.

India's neighbour Pakistan would likely be opposed to the drone sale.

So far in his presidency, Mr Trump has focused on outreach to China, India's strategic rival, as he looks for help to rein in North Korea. But both Washington and New Delhi share concerns about China's growing military presence in the region.

India does not have a formal alliance with the US, but defence ties have intensified in recent years with joint drills between the two militaries and defence sales.

The South Asian nation, which has traditionally bought most of its defence equipment from Russia, is looking to upgrade its capabilities.

Since 2008, India has signed more than $15bn (11.8bn) in US defence contracts, including for C-130J and C-17 transport aircraft, P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, Harpoon missiles and Apache and Chinook helicopters.

Ashley Tellis, an expert on South Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said last week that the US decision to offer the Guardian aircraft to India is significant as the UN has a standing policy of declining export of such advanced drones, unless they are going to countries involved in combined operations with US forces.

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Mr Modi's visit to the US is likely to be low key, compared to when Mr Obama was in office and is aimed at building a personal bond between the two leaders.

Mr Modi will be the first foreign dignitary to be hosted for dinner at the White House during Mr Trump's presidency.

Both leaders share a populist streak and a knack for using social media. They are also likely to find common ground on combating Islamic extremism.

Mr Modi will likely urge a tougher stance on Pakistan over militants that India blames for attacks on its territory.

But there could be increased strains on trade issues. India is among nations singled out by the Mr Trump's administration for their trade surpluses with the US, which in India's case came to $30.8bn (24.2bn) in 2016.

New Delhi is also closely watching the administration's review of the H1B visa program, under which thousands of skilled Indian workers come to the US.

New Delhi was also irritated by Mr Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord.

Announcing the decision, the US president said New Delhi had made its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid.

India denies that and said it will continue to be part of the accord, regardless of US participation.

Associated Press contributed to this report
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's government on Sunday cancelled a landmark deal to create a space for women and men to pray together at the Western Wall, angering activists who have fought for the change for years.

Women and men currently must pray separately at Jerusalem's Western Wall under strict interpretation of Jewish law.

The deal to alter rules at one of Judaism's holiest sites was called off following pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition.

Ultra-Orthodox coalition members Shas and United Torah Judaism said on Sunday that Netanyahu had accepted their position to "freeze" the plan, a move that "reflects the will of most of the nation that seeks to safeguard the Western Wall's sanctity and status".

Progressive Jewish activists had long sought to change the rule in the face of strong opposition from the ultra-Orthodox establishment, which oversees religious activity at the Western Wall.

In what was hailed a "historic" deal, Israel's cabinet had in January 2016 approved a plan to create a third section at the Western Wall where women and men would be allowed to pray together.

The new prayer section would not have been under the control of the ultra-Orthodox establishment, which opposed it and managed to prevent its implementation until this point.

Sunday's vote by the cabinet effectively cancelled the deal.

The decision was a "de-facto cancellation of the plan," the ultra-Orthodox parties said in a joint statement, noting it could only be changed by a further government decision.

Shas and UTJ also stressed the importance of cancelling the agreement before an upcoming court ruling.

Israel's supreme court is expected to soon rule on a petition filed by more liberal religious movements to force the government to implement the decision to create the mixed prayer space.

- 'Deep disappointment' -

Story continues

The freeze was welcomed by Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau as an amendment to the earlier "mistaken" decision, while critics described it as a "capitulation" that would damage ties with the Jewish world beyond Israel, most of which is not Orthodox.

A key figure in crafting the compromise plan to create the mixed prayer space expressed his "deep disappointment" at Sunday's decision to cancel it.

Natan Sharansky said the move would "make our work to bring Israel and the Jewish world closer together increasingly more difficult".

Sharansky is chairman of the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental organisation that works to bring Jewish immigrants to Israel and to link the country to the diaspora.

Anat Hoffman, the chairwoman of Women of the Wall, which has pushed to change rules at the holy site for years, called it "a terrible day for women in Israel when the PM sacrifices their rights while kowtowing to a handful of religious extremists".

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, one of two ministers who opposed the vote, described the move as "a severe blow to the unity of the Jewish people and communities and the fabric of relations between Israel and the Jewish diaspora".

The Western Wall, located in Jerusalem's Old City, is the holiest site where Jews are permitted to pray.

It is venerated by Jews as a remnant of a wall supporting the Second Temple complex, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Israel's ultra-Orthodox establishment wields legal power over a range of issues in the country and has often played a kingmaker role in its politics.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli forces fired on Syrian regime positions after projectiles from the war-torn country hit the occupied Golan Heights on Sunday, the army said, in the second such exchange in two days.

The military "targeted two artillery positions and an ammunitions truck belonging to the Syrian regime," a statement read, noting the army had also ordered Israelis to keep away from open areas near Quneitra, where internal fighting was heavy.

Hours earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Syrian spillover and Israeli retaliation that took place on Saturday and reportedly resulted in the death of two Syrian soldiers.

"We will not tolerate any spillover or trickle whatsoever -- neither mortars nor rockets, from any front. We will respond strongly to any attack on our territory or our citizens," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.

Israel has conducted multiple air strikes in Syria since that country's civil war erupted in 2011, most of which it has said targeted arms convoys or warehouses of its Lebanese arch-foe Hezbollah, which is a key supporter of the Syrian regime.

"We also view with utmost gravity Iran's attempts to establish itself militarily in Syria as well as its attempts to arm Hezbollah -- via Syria and Lebanon -- with advanced weaponry," Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

Around 510 square kilometres of the Golan are under Syrian control.

The Israeli side of the Golan Heights has been hit sporadically by what is thought to be stray fire from fighting between forces loyal to Syria's government and rebels.

Syria and Israel are still technically at war.
Istanbul (AFP) - Organisers of the annual Gay Pride march in Istanbul insisted Saturday that it would go ahead in the city's Taksim Square despite a ban by the authorities over "safety concerns".

Activists had called the parade for 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday but the city governor's office said that Taksim was not an official rallying ground.

"There will be no permission for a demonstration or a march on the said date considering the safety of tourists in the area... and public order," it said in a statement.

City officials also said there had been no formal application to call a rally and that they only heard of the event through social media.

Lara Ozlen from the organising committee of the Gay Pride parade, said the governor's office statement was a "lie".

"They had known about our plan long before because we presented a petition weeks ago," Ozlen told AFP.

City authorities also urged citizens to ignore calls to participate in the parade and to abide by the security forces' warning.

The annual Gay Pride event has been banned in Istanbul since 2015.

Last year, organisers were denied permission to march with the city on the edge over bombings blamed on Islamic State group and Kurdish militants, sparking anger from gay rights activists.

Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who defied the ban.

- 'Right' to march -

Amnesty International in a statement expressed "deep concerns" over the ban on the parade.

"That decision ignores LGBTs and their supporters' right to peaceful assembly," it said.

"Turkey should protect Gay Pride rather than banning it."

This year, the march coincides with the first day of the Islamic feast of Eid al-Fitr, and far-right groups have warned on social media against the parade.

"It is obvious that a peaceful march is part of our constitutional right," Ozlen said.

"It's been known for years. Instead of protecting us, to say 'do not march' just because some will be disturbed is undemocratic."

Story continues

Turkey imposed a state of emergency in the wake of last year's failed coup to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with critics saying their freedoms are not safeguarded.

Lawyer and LGBT activist Levent Piskin said calling a march was "not a crime" but added that the situation was gradually deteriorating for LGBT people in Turkey.

"Lawlessness is at its height during the state of emergency," he told AFP.

Piskin claimed LGBT people had been subjected to attacks over the last two years from nationalist and conservative quarters.

Thousands took part in previous Istanbul pride marches, which were among the most significant LGBT events in the mainly-Muslim region.
Some former Uber customers are willing to use the ride-hailing service again now that former CEO Travis Kalanick has left the company, a survey by Morning Consult found.

The survey was conducted between June 15-21 on 1,652 Uber users. On June 21, Kalanick stepped down from his position as Uber CEO after pressure from investors. His resignation follows the end of an internal investigation into the company led by former Attorney General Eric Holder. The probe was launched after a former employee wrote a blog post detailing her sexual harassment experience at Uber.

Read: Who Will Be Ubers Next CEO? The Search Is On Following Travis Kalanick's Departure

Will Customers Come Back To Uber?

After respondents saw headlines about numerous scandals at Uber, 23 percent of respondents said the news made them stop using the app as frequently. The revelations also pushed some Uber users completely off the platform, as 19 percent of survey participants said they deleted the app afterwards, while 13 percent said they stopped using the app but didnt delete it altogether.

Now that Kalanick has departed from Uber, some customers who stopped using the app before might come back.

Respondents who stopped using Uber or didnt use it as frequently were asked: Which of the following, if any, would most cause you to use Uber once again, or use it as often as you once did?

Price for rides was the winner, at 35 percent, but 28 percent said the firing of Kalanick and installing new leadership would get them back on the app. The survey found 18 percent said they would return if Uber stepped up on data privacy and 14 percent said nothing would make them go back to using the ride-hailing service.

Uber Users Are Aware Of Company Scandals

Besides sexual allegations, Uber was hit by other numerous scandals this year. In February, the New York Times released a report shedding light into Ubers toxic work culture. It detailed instances of cocaine use, homophobic verbal abuse and harassment at the company.

Story continues

The ride-hailing service is currently in a legal dispute with Waymo over self-driving technology information. Waymo sued Uber earlier this year claiming Uber benefited from stolen self-driving car technology from the Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google.

Read: Uber Waymo Lawsuit: Court Filing Reveals Travis Kalanick Knew Fired Engineer Had Google Information

Uber was under fire this year after a video surfaced of Kalanick arguing with a driver. The company also found itself in trouble with the Department of Justice after the revelation of Ubers use of its Greyball tool, which collected data to evade authorities and operate its services illegally. Furthermore, the company was affected by the #deleteUber campaign earlier this year, which took off after President Donald Trump introduced his travel ban.

The survey found customers are aware of what is going on at the company, as 57 percent respondents said they mostly heard about bullying, sexism and sexual harassment at the company. The scandal that was least heard about was the #DeleteUber campaign earlier this year (40 percent).

The survey found Uber users have been aware of other scandals, as 55 percent said they heard about the series of resignations from the companys top management. Fifty-one percent said they were aware of concerns with Ubers privacy and security protections when it comes to user data, 49 percent said they heard about the video of Kalanick and the Uber driver, 45 percent said they heard about the Uber-Waymo dispute and 45 percent said they heard about the investigation on the companys greyball tool.

Scandals aside, Uber customers are still very satisfied with the service. Among participants surveyed, 76 percent said they were satisfied with cost of the service, 79 percent said they were satisfied with the quality of drivers and 80 percent said they were satisfied with pick-up and wait times. Customers were also happy with the app itself, customer service and the number of drivers in the area.

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BOGOTA (Reuters) - At least eleven miners at an underground coal mine in Colombia have died and two remain missing after an explosion caused by methane gas, the government said on Saturday. The explosion took place on Friday in the Cucunuba municipality in Cundinamarca province, an area where illegal underground coal mining is widespread and accidents are not uncommon. "The partial total is 11 dead, one injured and two trapped," the government said in a statement. "The last three bodies have been located and will be taken to the mouth of the mine to be handed over to the relevant authorities." Legal coal mining in the mountainous Andean country, the world's fifth-largest exporter of coal, is dominated by Cerrejon, Drummond Co Inc [DRMND.UL] and Glencore PLC [GLEN.L]. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta,; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Nick Zieminski)
An Obama sighting is a thing to behold these daysand everyone seems to go nuts when they do appear, even if it's just Michelle or Barack introducing rappers at award ceremonies.

It's safe to say, the former first family is busy and might not be missing us as much as we miss them. The crew was spotted rafting in Bali, Indonesia, Sunday where they are currently on vacation. And, well, when you're rafting down a river in Bali, chances are you're not thinking about the state of American democracy or the American people. We don't blame them.

SEE ALSO: Michelle Obama's latest Instagram post gives new meaning to squad goals

The Obamas are with Barack's sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, visiting her side of the family in Indonesia, where Barack lived for a few years during his childhood.

President Obama with his family and his sister Maya and her family in Bali. pic.twitter.com/Epn9f8focn  meta (@metaquest) June 25, 2017

Barack moved with his mother at the age of 6, and stayed until he turned 10, before returning to Hawaii. While visiting his former home, the family trekked to Bongkasa Village in Badung on Bali island where they donned matching safety gear and hopped in a raft.

Former US president Barack Obama (3rd L), his wife Michelle (2nd L) and his daughters Sasha (front C) and Malia (R) go rafting at Bongkasa Village in Badung on Bali island on June 26, 2017. Barack Obama kicked off a 10-day family holiday in Indonesia that will take in Bali and Jakarta, the city where he spent part of his childhood, officials said on June 24. / AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Image: AFP/Getty Images

Look at those adventurous faces :')

Former US president Barack Obama (2nd L), his wife Michelle (3rd L) and his daughters Sasha (front C) and Malia (2nd R) go rafting at Bongkasa Village in Badung on Bali island on June 26, 2017. Barack Obama kicked off a 10-day family holiday in Indonesia that will take in Bali and Jakarta, the city where he spent part of his childhood, officials said on June 24. / AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Image: AFP/Getty Images

Their weekend also included a visit to the Jatiluwih rice terraces in Tabanan on Bali Island.

Former US president Barack Obama (C) and his entourage take a break after a walk through the field while visiting Jatiluwih tourist site in Tabanan on Bali island on June 25, 2017. Obama kicked off a 10-day family holiday in Indonesia that will take in Bali and Jakarta, the city where he spent part of his childhood, officials said. / AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Image: AFP/Getty Images

Former US president Barack Obama (C) and his entourage take a break after a walk through the field while visiting Jatiluwih tourist site in Tabanan on Bali island on June 25, 2017. Obama kicked off a 10-day family holiday in Indonesia that will take in Bali and Jakarta, the city where he spent part of his childhood, officials said. / AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Image: AFP/Getty Images

Barack will be making a speech to the Indonesian Diaspora Congress on July 1, wrapping up their nine-day vacation shortly after, according to AP.

Don't forget to bring Bo and Sunny next time, though! We miss them just as much. 
California native Frank J. Kerrigan, 82, is going to bring charges against Orange County after a coroner wrongly identified a dead body as his homeless son, Frank M. Kerrigan, 57, leading his to hold a funeral and bury a stranger's body instead.

The father was notified that his son was found dead behind a Verizon store in Fountain Valley, Orange County, on May 6, 2017. When he wished to identify the body, he was told by the coroners office that he did not need to do so because they had already matched his sons fingerprints to the state register.

When somebody tells me my son is dead when they have fingerprints, I believe them, Kerrigan said, OC Register reported. If he wasnt identified by fingerprints I would been there in heartbeat.

Read: Who Is Bruce Davis? Charles Manson Follower's Parole Request Blocked By California Governor Again

Coffin

Photo: Getty Images/Jeff J Mitchell

Kerrigans attorney, Doug Easton, told local newspaper My News LA that officials lied about the fingerprint match and instead matched the appearance of the dead body to an old photograph of the younger Kerrigan from his drivers license.

An estimated $20,000 funeral was held May 12 at Holy Family Catholic Cathedral in Orange County where the Kerrigan family buried a stranger, thinking it was the body of their mentally ill and homeless relative. At the funeral, Kerrigan, overwhelmed with grief, believed it was his son inside the casket when he took a peek inside.

I took a little look and touched his hair, Kerrigan recalled, according to OC Register. I didnt know what my dead son was going to look like.

Read: California Travel Ban: What Is The Travel Law And How Many States Are Involved?

However, a friend of the presumably deceased man called Kerrigan on May 23 to tell him that his son was alive and well. Kerrigan junior even got on the phone and talked with his grief-stricken father.

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The Orange County Sheriffs Department has launched an investigation into the coroners botched identification after publicly admitting the error in a press release Saturday and vowing to review their identification procedures in order to prevent future mistakes like this one.

The department extends regrets to the family of Frank M. Kerrigan, 57, for any emotional stress caused as a result of this unfortunate incident, the sheriffs department said in the statement.

No details have been released regarding the name or other information about the man who was buried in the place of the younger Kerrigan.

Keep in mind that an internal investigation is going on that will look into everything that was done, Orange County Sheriffs Lt. Lane Lagaret said. We cannot discuss the specifics of the case due to pending litigation.

The California father will be filing a claim against Orange County next week which will be followed by a lawsuit that alleges the younger Kerrigans civil rights were violated because the coroners office failed to make adequate efforts to correctly identify the body.

Kerrigans daughter, Carole Meikle, told OC Register: We thought we were burying our brother. Someone else had a beautiful send-off. Its horrific.

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Kevin Feige at the D23 Expo 2015. (Photo: Getty Images)



There was a great disturbance in the Force last week when Lucasfilm announced the departures of directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller from the still-untitled Han Solo Star Wars story. And those millions of voices crying out in shock only grew louder after Ron Howard was officially announced as the well-liked duos replacement, a choice that perhaps isnt particularly surprising when you look back at the Oscar-winning directors filmography. The choice to eject Lord and Miller from the Millennium Falcon ultimately fell to Kathleen Kennedy, the veteran producer who inherited the keys to the Star Wars franchise after Disney acquired both it and the rest of Lucasfilm from the far, far away galaxys original architect, George Lucas.

Not surprisingly, that decision has made Kennedy a target for fan ire, even as many people have also risen to her defense. One person who absolutely understands her position is Kevin Feige, the producing force behind another valuable Disney-owned galaxy: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kathys an unbelievable inspiration over the past few years that Ive been lucky enough to get to know here, Feige tells Yahoo Movies, while chatting about the latest installment in the ever-expanding MCU, Spider-Man: Homecoming, which opens in theaters on July 7. All the movies shes made became the reason that I wanted to make moves. Being on the inside of any movie you understand. Youve got to oversee the whole thing and take care of the vision of the overarching film. I would trust Kathy with any of the decisions she has to make, because shes been making them amazingly for 30-plus years.

Its worth noting that Feige has overseen several high-profile directorial comings and goings from previous Marvel movies. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins was initially slated to helm Thor: The Dark World before stepping away to be replaced by Alan Taylor (who had his own behind-the-scene troubles during production), and Edgar Wright nurtured Ant-Man for years only to part ways with Marvel due to differences in their vision of the film. (Thats similar language that Lord and Miller used in their exit statement.) For his part, Feige says that creative differences can be a very real obstacle for movies being made on the level of Han Solo or Homecoming. Thats almost always what it is. Sometimes for the press that doesnt seem like enough. But when youre making a movie that requires creative decisions to be made every minute of every hour of every day, thats what it comes down to.

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With each new report that emerges from the Han Solo set, it does sound as if Lord and Millers particular style of filmmaking  which previously resulted in such success stories as 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie  simply didnt gel with the producing team behind the film or, perhaps, its star, Alden Ehrenreich. As another young filmmaker who graduated from humble origins (the low-budget 2015 thriller Cop Car) to a pre-existing franchise universe, Homecoming director Jon Watts faced a potentially similar culture clash. But the director calls his time in the MCU a great experience that didnt leave him feeling like an outsider in the creative process.

I can only talk about my specific experience  I have no idea what happened on that [Han Solo] movie, Watts emphasizes. If anything, I was less worried about someone kicking me off the movie as the camera crew coming out from behind the scenes and revealing this was all an elaborate prank! That would make more sense to me than the fact that I was in charge of this huge movie. I tried to be as upfront and transparent as possible from the beginning about how I saw the movie, and what I was trying to do so there would be no miscommunication along the way. If you feel like you can still see some sort of semblance of my style or personality in the movie, than thats good.

While press and fan speculation will continue to swirl around the Han Solo film up until its release date, Feige feels that, for general audiences, behind-the-scenes drama ultimately matters less than the drama playing out onscreen. Really nothing matters until the lights go down on opening day. Speaking for myself, every decision you make as a part of production these films is done thinking about what will the experience be live for the audience who stood in line, bought their ticket and sat down to watch the movie. For the most part, I hope that when the lights go down, the slate is wiped clean and the audience says, Whaddya got? If the movie doesnt work, you try to analyze what happened. And if the movie works, thats all that matters. Some Jedi-level producing wisdom, that is.

Watch: Homecoming Star Tom Holland Admits He Sleeps in Spider-Man Blanket:



Read more from Yahoo Movies:
London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives struck a hotly contested pact with a Christian fundamentalist party on Monday that will allow her party to govern after they suffered an electoral disaster.

The deal reached with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was slammed by opposition parties as political bribery, amid concerns about its impact on the province's delicate peace process.

It comes after May lost her parliamentary majority in the general election on June 8, which she had called to boost her support ahead of Brexit talks on Britain's divorce from the European Union.

"I welcome this agreement which will enable us to work together in the interests of the whole United Kingdom," May said in a statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, Northern Ireland will receive an extra 1.0 billion (1.1 billion euros, $1.3 billion) from the state over two years.

The DUP said it would back the government in any confidence votes and to pass budgets, as well as supporting it on Brexit-related legislation.

For any other parliamentary votes, the DUP -- which has 10 MPs -- said its support would be given on a case-by-case basis.

- 'Not in national interest -

The pact's first test in parliament will come with a post-election confidence vote expected on Thursday.

There was consternation from the opposition at the alliance, which has also attracted concern from some Conservatives over the DUP's hardline stance on social issues.

"This Tory-DUP deal has not been done in the national interest but in the interest of @Theresa_May and the @Conservatives' own political survival," Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted.

Gerry Adams, leader of the republican party Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, said the deal "provides a blank cheque for a Tory Brexit which threatens the Good Friday Agreement".

That agreement in 1998 helped end decades of bloodshed between Northern Ireland's Protestant and Catholic communities. Cooperation between Britain and EU member Ireland lies at its heart.

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On Twitter, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said "any sense of fairness sacrificed on the altar of grubby DUP deal to let PM cling to power".

The DUP supported Brexit but has emphasised the need to keep the border with the Irish republic open, and its leader Arlene Foster said the deal would back a Brexit process "that supports all parts of the United Kingdom".

- 'Hell of a mess' -

The DUP was founded by the late Protestant firebrand Ian Paisley, who for decades brooked no compromise with Northern Ireland's Catholic minority before entering into an unlikely power-sharing deal with Sinn Fein.

The DUP opposes gay marriage and abortion. Some representatives have been criticised for homophobic comments and for denying climate change.

There is particular concern over the peace process. London's neutrality is key to the fragile balance in Northern Ireland.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney was in Belfast Monday as part of negotiations aimed at restoring a power-sharing alliance between the DUP and Sinn Fein nearly four months after local elections in Northern Ireland.

If the parties cannot come to an agreement by Thursday, Northern Ireland may be returned to direct rule from London.

Coveney said May's deal with the DUP was a matter for those parties, but stressed that a restored local government was Northern Ireland's best bet to ensure its "unique circumstances" are recognised at Westminster.

The Conservatives have 317 seats in the 650-seat parliament after the June 8 election and need the support of the DUP's 10 MPs to be able to govern.

Foster said: "This agreement will operate to deliver a stable government in the United Kingdom's national interest at this vital time."

She said the extra money would be spent on infrastructure, health and education, benefitting the whole of Northern Ireland, after concerns voiced by Sinn Fein.

Discussions on a deal between the Conservatives and the DUP began immediately after the election, stirring up further resentment against the embattled May who was left weakened by the political setback.

Conservative grandee Chris Patten described events leading up to the power-sharing deal, including last year's Brexit referendum called by May's predecessor David Cameron, as "the most damaging thing that's happened politically during my lifetime".

"It sees us now in a situation where thanks to the pretty calamitous decisions of two Conservative prime ministers, we're in one hell of a mess," he told reporters.
Dortmund (Germany) (AFP) - Social Democrat chief Martin Schulz lashed out Sunday at Chancellor Angela Merkel, accusing her of "arrogance" as he sought to reverse his party's plunging popularity three months before general elections.

Schulz's decision to take his party's reins initially jolted the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to life, but the trend has reversed.

With weeks to go before Germany heads to the polls on September 24, the SPD is trailing Merkel's centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) by 15 percentage points, according to a survey published Sunday by Bild am Sonntag.

Schulz was in a combative mood at Sunday's special congress gathering party rank-and-file to approve their campaign programme, with harsh words for Merkel whom he accused of launching an "attack against democracy" by "systematically refusing debate on the future of the country".

Merkel's tactic, he said, is to hold off on airing her views rather than engage, thereby making people lose interest in politics.

While the Social Democratic Party (SPD) takes position on issues, "the other side is silent," said Schulz.

"That's what one calls in circles in Berlin asymmetric demobilisation. I call it an attack against democracy," charged Schulz, whose party is a junior partner of Merkel's grand right-left coalition.

"The biggest danger is the arrogance of power," he warned.

But CDU general secretary Peter Tauber hit back quickly, saying on Twitter: "The desperation must be so deep that we democrats are being accused of attacks against democracy".

The general secretary of Merkel's Bavarian allies CSU, Andreas Scheuer, also told Passauer Neue Presse that the "personal attacks against the chancellor... show the huge helplessness of the SPD".

- Gay marriage, social justice -

Meanwhile in Dortmund, Schulz underlined his party's push for "social justice", with higher taxes for big earners and free schooling for all.

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He also laid down gay marriage as a condition for any future coalition involving the SPD.

"I will sign no coalition deal in which marriage for all is not inscribed," said the 61-year-old former European Parliament chief, who was rewarded with 10 minutes of applause for his 90-minute speech.

The SPD's call for gay marriage comes just a week after the Greens set a similar condition, putting pressure on Merkel's CDU, which has so far refused to allow same gender couples to wed.

The SPD will be hoping its campaign programme will help it regain ground, but Schulz himself has warned of a "rocky road" ahead after his party suffered heavy losses in three straight state elections viewed as dress rehearsals ahead of the September vote.

For analysts, the sudden drop in support for Schulz's SPD boils down to the government's success in curbing a refugee influx that saw 890,000 migrants arrive in 2015.

Schulz initially "was presented as an alternative to Madame Merkel," said Gero Neugebauer, a political science analyst at Berlin's Free University.

"He was relatively new and had criticisms against the chancellor's immigration policy which had divided public opinion," added Neugebauer.

But migrant arrivals have tapered off, and Merkel's CDU and CSU "have won increasing trust that they have the best strategy to deal with the refugee situation," Renate Koecher from opinion research group Allensbach Institute wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

- 'Not too late' -

But former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sought to boost morale, telling the congress on Sunday that "there is still time to turn the tide" as many voters decide only at the last minute.

Warning the party against wavering, the veteran SPD heavyweight said that "there can be no self-doubt along the way."

Party members are so far still keeping the faith, perhaps for want of an alternative.

"The SPD should not be underestimated. Angela Merkel is trying to lull the voters to sleep and keep them away from the election... but she won't succeed this time," Leon Hahn, who heads the party's youth wing in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, told AFP.
By Rich McKay

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (Reuters) - A Georgia man was ordered on Monday to remain in jail on charges related to the disappearance of a North Carolina teenager found alive over the weekend after she had been missing for more than a year.

Hailey Burns, now 17, disappeared from her home in Charlotte about 13 months ago. After authorities received a tip late Saturday regarding her possible whereabouts, they found her being held at a house in Duluth, Georgia, about 25 miles north of Atlanta, FBI spokeswoman Shelley Lynch said on Monday.

"Agents from the local office and Gwinnett County police went out to the location and took the suspect in custody without trouble," Lynch said in a phone interview.

The suspect, Michael Ren Wysolovski, 31, appeared in court in Lawrenceville on Monday on local charges of false imprisonment, aggravated sodomy, interference with custody and cruelty to children.

Magistrate Judge Jane McKinney appointed Wysolovski a lawyer and ordered him to stay in jail without bail. The lawyer was not in court and did not immediately comment by phone.

Authorities have not released further details about the case.

Neighbors told local media they rarely saw the teenager at the well-kept home, and neither she nor the man there ever spoke to them.

Burns' parents told WSOC-TV in Charlotte that their daughter met Wysolovski online, and he apparently drove to North Carolina to meet her.

"(He) got her in the car, brought her straight to his house and she pretty much had to stay there the whole time," the mother Shaunna Burns told the TV station.

Shaunna Burns said the tip that led to the girl's rescue came from a woman in Romania, whom their daughter also met online and told she was missing. Within hours, the woman reached out to the parents.

The teen's parents, who in the past told local media they woke up on May 23, 2016, to find their front door unlocked and Hailey gone, posted jubilant messages on Facebook after she was found safe.

"We never gave up," the father Anthony Burns wrote. "She is happy and grateful to be home. We can now breathe again."

(Reporting by Rich McKay; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Bernard Orr)
A protestor holds a sign at the airport in San Diego, California opposing Donald Trump's travel ban in January 2017: Getty

The US Supreme Court is set to make a ruling on Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on the last day of its current term.

The executive order had put a halt to all travellers from six Muslim-majority countries  Syria, Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen  entering the US for 90 days.

The Trump administration said the ban was in the best interests of national security. Mr Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail: "A complete shutdown of Muslims ... Until country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."

The White House said vetting processes for visas and those attempting to enter as refugees had to be reviewed and strengthened in those 90 days.

The original travel ban included Iraq also. An exception was made after it was pointed out to the administration that several interpreters and others who aided US troops during the war would have been barred from entering the US.

The initial order was met with thousands of protestors at airports across the country with makeshift legal aid clinics set up in waiting areas for arriving travellers. Two lower courts put a halt to the revised 6 March order.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled the order was unconstitutional because it imposed religious discrimination.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the largest circuit in the country, ruled that the immigration ban required a more substantive national security reason than the White House provided. They cited Mr Trump's favoured medium of communication, Twitter, in their argument.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has maintained his message from January 2017: It's not a Muslim ban. It's not a travel ban ... It's a vetting system to keep America safe.

However, on 5 June Mr Trump tweeted that it was in fact "a travel ban".

People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017

The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017

A recent study by Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, a nonprofit media centre, and news outlet Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting found that only three of the 201 domestic terror incidents that occurred between 2008 and 2016 "involved a perpetrator or alleged perpetrator" that came from one of the six travel ban countries.

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The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear the appeal of the lower courts and fulfil the White House's request that the ban be implemented while litigation is ongoing.

If the Court rules to allow the ban to proceed, implementation would begin within 72 hours. Though the order does not apply to citizens of the six countries already in the US or those holding valid visas when the ban goes into effect, many worry people will be caught in the legal confusion caused in January when the order was first implemented.

Should the full bench of nine judges rule to keep the ban on pause, the White House could still review the order and issue another revised one.

Even if the court schedules arguments, 26 June is the last day of the current term for the court. Any oral arguments will be scheduled after the 90-day ban and review period has already taken place.

The travel ban could be rejected all together as well. However, legal experts have said this is unlikely given the political leanings of each of the Justices.

Another issue at play on the last day before the summer recess is the rumoured retirement of Justice Robert Kennedy, who is turning 81 soon. Though Mr Kennedy was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, he has proven to be more left-leaning on social issues such as reproductive rights, gay marriage, and limiting the use of the death penalty.

His retirement would mean Mr Trump would have an opportunity to appoint another conservative Justice in addition to Neil Gorsuch, calling into question landmark rulings such as Roe v. Wade on the right to abortions.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 84, has indicated no signs of stepping down from her lifetime appointment on the bench.
Caracas (AFP) - Thousands of Venezuelans marched Saturday in a new flare-up of protests against Nicolas Maduro, as the embattled president claimed several people had been detained over an alleged "coup" plot aimed at triggering a US military intervention.

Protesters in the capital and other cities marched on military installations, where they demanded an end to "brutal repression" and called for Maduro's resignation and new elections.

"Let's send a message to the armed forces: Are you going to continue killing Venezuelans or respect the Constitution?" opposition deputy Jose Manuel Olivares said.

A 22-year-old protester died outside the base on Thursday, three days after a 17-year-old was killed when national guardsmen opened fire. The death toll in three months of protests now stands at 75.

The government and opposition blame each other for the violence. The opposition coalition known as MUD called on the military on Saturday to "lower its weapons."

Saturday's protests coincided with the commemoration of the Battle of Carabobo of June 24, 1821, which marked a decisive step towards Venezuela's independence from colonial rule.

Addressing a crowd after a traditional military parade, Maduro claimed that an unspecified number of people had been detained and would face military trial over an alleged coup plot, backed by Venezuelan opposition leaders and aimed at precipitating a US intervention in the country.

Maduro has repeatedly claimed that the United States is to blame for the grave political and economic crisis in the oil-producing country, which has fueled the often violent demonstrations of recent months.

"All the detainees are under military jurisdiction because they are involved in the coup, and have violated laws fundamental to the independence, peace and sovereignty of our country," he said. "They will be severely judged."

"I am not exaggerating when I say it would have involved the arrival of American ships and troops in Venezuelan waters, on Venezuelan soil," Maduro said.

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- War of words -

Earlier Saturday, the head of the Organization of American States dug in his heels in a war of words with Caracas, flatly rejecting its demand that he resign in exchange for the country's continued membership in the regional body.

Luis Almagro, the OAS secretary-general, has been at the center of an angry tiff between the organization and the Maduro government, which in April initiated the two-year process of withdrawing from the group.

Venezuela has grown increasingly irritated by Almagro's pointed criticisms. He has accused the government of violating human rights, interfering in elections and detaining political prisoners.

Brushing off Maduro's suggestion that he step aside, Almagro said in a video, "We will never give up until we have the freedom of Venezuela in our hands."

He said he would resign only "when free and transparent national elections are held ... (and) when all political prisoners are released and exiles are given amnesty."

He set a further condition: the prosecution of "the murderers of each of the protesters, as well as of their chain of command."

- Torture claim -

Despite Almagro's efforts, the OAS General Assembly, meeting this week in the Mexican resort of Cancun, was unable to reach agreement on a plan to deal with the instability in Venezuela.

Maduro called the OAS's failure to advance a plan "a diplomatic and political victory" for Venezuela, and said his country would "never" return to the grouping.

Meantime, Maduro's critics were angered anew on Saturday after the release of a video on which an opposition leader's voice is allegedly heard crying out from a prison window that he is being tortured.

"Lilian, they are torturing me! Report them! Report them!" the voice of Leopoldo Lopez is said to be heard on a video made by his wife, Lilian Tintori, outside the Ramo Verde military prison near Caracas.

Tintori said her husband, a leader of the Popular Will party, is being held incommunicado.

Lopez is serving a sentence of nearly 14 years after being convicted of inciting violence during anti-Maduro protests in 2014 that left 43 people dead. Human rights groups have called the charges politically motivated.

burs-ec/mdo
By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - An oil tanker crashed and exploded on a road in Pakistan on Sunday, killing 146 people, many of whom were collecting leaking fuel before it ignited, government officials and rescue workers said. The speeding tanker overturned on a sharp bend on a highway on the outskirts of the city of Bahawalpur. The driver lost control when the vehicle blew a tire, a provincial government spokesman said. A large crowd of people gathered, many to collect fuel in containers, and the tanker exploded in a huge fireball about 45 minutes later. Rescue workers said that about 80 people had been injured. "People of the area and passers by had started gathering fuel when it exploded, burning everybody," provincial government spokesman Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan told Reuters. An estimated 20 children were among the dead, he said. The accident happened the day before Pakistan celebrates the Eid al-Fitr festival, when families get together to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Many bodies were burned beyond recognition and television pictures showed piles of burnt out motorcycles, apparently those of people who were collecting fuel or watching events unfold. Police had tried to clear the area before the tanker exploded but people ignored them, Khan said, adding that the initial crash had blocked the road, causing a traffic tailback. The driver of the tanker survived the accident and was taken into police custody, he said. The explosion took place on a stretch of highway cutting through the village of Ramzan Joya. Khalil Ahmed, a 57-year-old former government employee who lives in the village, said he had lost 12 relatives in the fire, which firefighters extinguished in two hours. "One body has been recovered and 11 others are still missing," Ahmed said. "After the spill, people began calling their relatives to come and gather the oil, and some showed up from nearby villages as well. There must have been 500 people gathered when the fire began." Oil is a precious commodity for villagers in Pakistan, where more than 60 percent of the population survives on $3 a day, according to a World Bank survey. "People were collecting oil in bottles, cans and household utensils. We tried to get them to move back before the fire started but no one was listening," Ahmed said. He estimates that about 100 people from the small hamlet are missing. "The day of judgment has arrived for our village," he said. About 50 people were killed in bomb attacks in Pakistan on Friday but there was no suggestion of an attack on Sunday. "According to initial reports, somebody tried to light a cigarette," said rescue services spokesman Jam Sajjad Hussain. Police in the area could not be reached for immediate comment. About 40 people with serious burns were airlifted to hospitals in the nearby city of Multan. For a graphic on the Oil tanker explosion in Pakistan, click: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/PAKISTAN-TANKER/010041RV3VB/PAKISTAN-ATTACK.jpg (Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Robert Birsel and David Goodman)
After a month of fasting, prayer and alms-giving, Muslims around the world will welcome the end of Ramadan either June 25 or 26, depending on when the new moon is seen. Eid al-Fitr means "festival of the breaking of the fast" and it is one of the biggest celebrations in the Islamic year.

Since Eid begins with the first sighting of the new moon, most of the Muslims have to wait until the night before Eid to verify its date. The starting date varies each year and from country to country due to geographical location. After the moon is seen, it is celebrated for three days and on the morning of the first day, Muslims gather for prayer.

This festival is infused with different traditions that vary in different countries. Most people use the three days for visiting their friends and relatives. Other traditions include the "Eidiyah", in which cash gifts are given to children from elders and relatives.

Read: Eid Al-Fitr 2017 Quotes, Greetings And Wishes

The occasion is seen as a time of forgiveness and of being grateful to Allah for helping people to complete their fasting. Many Muslims show their gratitude to God by donating food or clothes to the less privileged.

We take a look at Eid celebrations in some of the different countries.

Eid celebrations in Jakarta

Photo: Reuters

Eid celebrations in New Jersey

Photo: Reuters

Eid celebrations in Pakistan

Photo: Reuters

Eid celebrations in Gaza City

Photo: Reuters

Eid celebrations in Egypt

Photo: Reuters

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Eid celebrations in Egypt

Photo: Reuters

Eid celebrations in Kosovo

Photo: Reuters

In most Muslim nations, the three days of Eid are observed as public and school holidays. In the U.S., it is not so, but many employers and schools allow time off for Muslim workers and children, particularly in areas with a high Muslim population, according to USA Today. The most standard greeting on this occasion is "Eid Mubarak" which means to "have a blessed Eid."

In different countries, the festival is celebrated in different ways. In south Asia, with minor differences, the Eid al-Fitr is celebrated in a similar fashion. The night before Eid is called "Chaand Raat" where women apply henna on their hands and feet. Special sweets like "Sevaiyan" (vermicelli pudding), "Haleem" (mutton stew), "Kebabs" and "Nihaari Gosht" are big attractions. Families go to shops to purchase new clothes and other things.

In Indonesia and Malaysia, Eid is celebrated in similar ways. In Indonesia Eid al-Fitr is known as "Idul Fitri" or "Lebaran" and in Malaysia, it is known as "Hari Raya Aidilfitri."

Read: When Does Ramadan 2017 End?

In the U.S. and Canada, Eid prayers are offered in Islamic centers, open parks or convention halls or mosques. Prayers are practiced multiple times to accommodate the large number of attendees in some cities. In the U.S., annual prayers are conveyed in many large cities throughout the nation where there are large numbers of Muslims. In Canada, Eid prayers are held in the larger cities of Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Ottawa.

On the ocassion of Eid al-Fitr, some prominent personalities such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Apple CEO Tim Cook, London Mayor Sadiq Khan took to Twitter to greet people on the eve of the festival.

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The El Almirante ferry sinking in a reservoir near Medellin, Colombia: Gente 305

A rescue operation was underway in Colombia after a tourist boat with about 150 people on board sank in a reservoir near Medellin, killing at least nine people.

The air force said on Twitter that it was sending a helicopter to the Guatape reservoir while Medellin's mayor said firefighters and scuba divers were heading to the town on Sunday.

Videos circulating on social media show a multi-storey ferry sinking as a number of recreational boats rushed to the scene to pull people from the sinking vessel.

Eduardo Rivera, director of a hospital in Guatape, told Teleantioquia that three people killed in the accident had arrived at the medical facility.

Authorities did not immediately say how many people had been rescued or were missing.

Survivors told local media that the boat, called El Almirante, appeared to be overloaded and none of the passengers on board were wearing life vests.

The reservoir surrounding the soaring rocky outcrop of El Penol is a popular weekend destination a little more than an hour from Medellin. It was especially busy Sunday as Colombians celebrated a long holiday weekend.

Authorities did not immediately say how many people had been rescued or were missing.

Survivors told local media that the boat, called El Almirante, appeared to be overloaded and none of the passengers were wearing life vests.

The reservoir surrounding the soaring rocky outcrop of El Penol is a popular weekend destination a little more than an hour from Medellin.

It was especially busy on Sunday as Colombians celebrated a long holiday weekend.

AP
Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that President Barack Obama should have taken action once he learned of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

Schiff, D-Calif., in an appearance on CNNs State of the Union, said the American people needed to know high-level Russian officials were attempting to interfere with the U.S. election process.

"I think the Obama administration should have done a lot more when it became clear that not only was Russia intervening, but it was being directed at the highest levels of the Kremlin," Schiff said.

President Donald Trump, who for months has rejected the notion of Russian interference, appeared finally to acknowledge the possibility in a series of tweets Saturday.

"I just heard today for the first time that Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it," Trump said in the interview broadcast Sunday by Fox News. "But nobody wants to talk about that."

Read: Russia Inquiry Just Beginning, Schiff Says

Trump has called the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russian officials a witch hunt, and former FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee the president asked him to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynns contacts with Russians.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Russian hackers stole embarrassing emails from the Democratic National Committee and leaked them to WikiLeaks. They also planted fake news stories on social media, one of which implicated top Democrats in a child trafficking ring run out of a Washington pizza parlor.

The Washington Post reported Friday the interference was directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and aimed at defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clintons presidential bid. The FBI opened an investigation July 22, and some lawmakers were briefed in September, but the White House did not disclose the plot publicly until after the election.

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Read: Susan Rice Says Vladimir Putin Is Lying

Schiff said Obama should have done a lot more and disclosed the interference much earlier.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., agreed in an appearance Sunday on CBSs Face the Nation.

I don't know why there's so much skepticism, not believing what the intelligence community is telling you. I do, and I have found it to be extremely beneficial to me to make decisions with, Manchin said.

We knew there was a serious problem, and it was verified. I dont know why we dont go forward and impose more sanctions. 

"What was known back in August and once it was verified and cross-checked should have been made public. It should have been made public, OK? That wasn't done," Manchin said.

Manchin said treating Putin as an ally and a friend is wrong.

"Russia is not our friend.  I don't look at him as a friend. I don't look at Russia. And I am very skeptical of what they're doing, their intentions. There are a lot of good people in Russia that don't have any say whatsoever," Manchin said

Putin has attributed the interference to patriotically minded Russian hackers, likening them to artists.

"[Artists] may act on behalf of their country, they wake up in good mood and paint things. Same with hackers, they woke up today, read something about the state-to-state relations. If they are patriotic, they contribute in a way they think is right, to fight against those who say bad things about Russia," Putin told reporters at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum earlier this month.

In March, Putin flatly denied involvement, saying, Read my lips: No.

The Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to direct the investigation into Russian interference in the election. Trump, however, said the inquiry hurts our country, and his surrogates in recent weeks have been attempting to paint Muellers investigation as a partisan effort to damage the Trump presidency.

Mueller, who is known for staying above the political fray, has appointed more than a dozen lawyers to conduct the inquiry, including Andrew Weissmann, who led the Enron investigation.

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Glubokovo (Russia) (AFP) - A young girl with a garland of flowers in her hair sings to the setting sun before a group of women join in nearby.

"We give our thanks to you, oh sun," they chant.

In the tiny village of Glubokovo, some 80 kilometres east of Moscow, several hundred people gathered to mark an ancient pagan ceremony to celebrate the summer solstice.

Women sang in circles as men collected firewood for a gigantic bonfire that formed a blazing centrepiece for the festivities.

The pagan ritual is believed to be one of the oldest in the world and marks the shortest night of the year.

But while it may have its roots in Russia's ancient past, the celebration has made something of a modern comeback in recent years as more people have become interested in the country's pagan history.

Self-proclaimed priestess Lada Korneyeva told AFP that the practice has been growing in popularity since the early 2000s as it struggled out from under a ban during Soviet times.

"More and more people are looking for meaning, because they are not satisfied with what they see on television," she said.

"In the Communist era it was simple: the authorities told you that you were soviet. Then we started saying: you are Russian, you are not. But what does it mean to be Russian?"

"Some people have found the answer here in their history and their roots."

But while Korneyeva insists that the search for spirituality is driving more people to paganism, the small community still faces some hurdles from suspicious authorities.

Russia's influential Orthodox Church frowns upon their practices and "anti-terror" legislation from 2016 placed some curbs on the pagans who fear they could be punished for spreading their beliefs.

- 'Forget logic' -

As the sun sets over the participants the high-priest gathers those present with the beat of drum and addresses them.

"Look at what is around you my friends: our father the sky, our mother the Earth. Today, remember that you are part of nature," he intones.

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The priest then leads the believers to four wooden totems that represent the major pagan gods of love, war, fertility and water, where he offers a blessing.

"When I am in Moscow I am a very rational person," says believer Alexander Mayarov.

"But here, I forget logic. I listen to the wisdom of my ancestors."

The ceremony lasts several hours and culminates in the lighting of a the bonfire which all the participants then dance around.

As they looked into the flames other participants said that they had turned to paganism after failing to find enough spiritual succour from the faiths in which they were raised.

"I have the feeling that our beliefs are more pure than religion," Elena Volkova, who was christened Orthodox, said, as her six-year-old daughter ran by the flames.

"Our values are more universal, respect each other, respect our traditions, love nature," said Maxime.

The 21-year-old said he did not understand why the Orthodox Church and authorities appeared "afraid" of paganism.

"We don't do any harm to anyone, we just want Russians to find their love of nature again."
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, and most other Gulf Arab states will celebrate the Muslim Eid al-Fitr feast on Sunday to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, regional media said on Saturday. Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will also start the holiday on Sunday, media reports said. The Sultanate of Oman said Monday will be the first day of the Eid. The timing of Eid can vary in different countries depending on the sighting of the new moon, which marks the start of the month in Islam's lunar calendar. Regional stock markets are closed during the holiday. Saudi Arabia's stock exchange will be closed from June 25 and will resume trading on July 2. (Reporting By Ahmed Tolba; editing by John Stonestreet)
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and French President Emmanuel Macron got together to discuss environmental issues and took a shot at President Donald Trump in a 10-second video posted on social media Friday.

"I'm here with President Macron, we are talking about the environmental issues, the green future," the Hollywood star-turned-politician said as he was flanked by an upbeat Macron.

"We will deliver together to make the planet great again," said Macron, riffing off Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again" as he gave a thumbs up.

I was truly honored to meet with President @EmmanuelMacron about how we can work together for a clean energy future. He's a great leader. pic.twitter.com/MSoxjIruup  Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) June 23, 2017

READ: Did Trump Win Feud With Arnold Schwarzenegger? Former Governor Says He's Leaving 'The Celebrity Apprentice'

Both Schwarzenegger and Macron have been critical of Trump's policies and decisions surrounding the environment, particularly when the president announced that the U.S. was pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, which was designed to mitigate the effects of global warming.

"One man cannot destroy our progress. One man cant stop our clean energy revolution. And one man cant go back in time," Schwarzenegger said in a video posted on June 1. "Protecting our environment will not destroy our economy. The bottom line is, great environmental policies do the opposite. They pump up the economy."

BREAKING: Arnold Schwarzenegger has a blunt message for Donald Trump. #ParisAgreement pic.twitter.com/YI8fcxEeox  ATTN: (@attn) June 2, 2017

Similarly, Macron gave a speech and tweeted the "Make The Planet Great Again" slogan following Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement.

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"To all scientists, engineers, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the United States, I want to say that they will find in France a second homeland," Macron said in his response to Trump. "I call on them: Come and work here with us  to work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment. I can assure you, France will not give up the fight."

I call on you to remain confident. We will succeed, the French leader continued. Because we are fully committed, because wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility: Make our planet great again.

READ: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Former California Governor, Criticizes Trump For Cutting Funds From After-School Programs

Both men have also had a strained public relationship with the president. In March, Trump had a Twitter feud with Schwarzenegger over the actor's ratings after he took over hosting duties from Trump on "The Apprentice."

Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

Schwarzenegger responded by taking a shot at Trump's approval ratings.

"Oh, Donald, the ratings are in, and you got swamped. Wow. Now you're in the thirties?" he retorted in a video.

Meanwhile, Macron had two tense handshakes with Trump in May, which Macron later described as "not innocent."

"My handshake with him, it's not innocent," Macron told the Journal du Dimanche. "It's not the alpha and the omega of politics, but a moment of truth."

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Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, who has been at the center of the investigation into whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign, reportedly will retire and head home next month.

Kislyak, 66, plans to end his decadelong tenure as Russias top diplomat in Washington at a going away party July 11 to be hosted by the U.S.-Russia Business Council at the St. Regis Hotel.

BuzzFeed reported Sunday Kislyak will head home, quashing reports he would be appointed to a senior position at the United Nations in New York.

Read: Obama Should Have Disclosed Russia Investigation Earlier, Schiff Says

Moscow has not confirmed Kislyaks departure date, BuzzFeed said. He is expected to be replaced by Anatoly Antonov, who is on the European Unions sanctions list.

Kislyak has been seen as Russias spymaster in the United States, a role he denies. He is a central figure in the downfall of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who admitted he misrepresented his contacts with Russian officials.

The visit of Kislyak and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the Oval Office earlier this year also touched off a furor when U.S. media were barred from the session, and pictures published by Russian media showed President Donald Trump and the two diplomats yukking it up. During that meeting, Trump reportedly told the Russians he was relieved he had fired FBI Director James Comey because of the pressure created by the investigation into Russian interference with the election.

Read: Is Kushner Russia Story Fake? Republicans Say Maybe, Dems Say Doubtful

Questions also have been raised about contacts between Kislyak and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who neglected to mention his encounters with Kislyak during his confirmation hearing.

The Washington Post reported presidential son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner met with Kislyak in December and suggested setting up a back-channel communication, using Russian embassy equipment to avoid surveillance by U.S. intelligence. Kislyak reportedly relayed the offer to Moscow on a monitored circuit.

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The White House denied the story, and Kislyak said Russian policy is not to comment.

Kislyak, a former nuclear physicist, has been a fixture on the Washington diplomatic party circuit and the controversy has not made a dent in that.

kislyak

Photo: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told Newsweek the concern over Kislyak is overheated, saying its his job to make as many contacts as possible as well as advocate for the policies of his government. He also described Kislyak as very professional.

Before becoming ambassador to the United States, Kislyak served as deputy minister of foreign affairs, ambassador to Belgium and head of the Russian mission to NATO. He first joined Russias diplomatic service in 1977, working in the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Until recently, Kislyak maintained a low profile with the press but was known for lavish parties at the Russian compound.

Kislyaks successor also served as deputy minister of foreign affairs and is a former military officer. Antonov was put on the EU sanctions list in response to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine and is considered a hardliner against the West. His appointment was approved by the State Dumas foreign policy committee May 18.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

NEWARK, N.J.  Despite the torrential rain outside, Newark residents filed into St. Stephens Church, in the heart of the citys multiethnic Ironbound neighborhood, last Monday night for a meeting with Peter Harvey, the federal monitor assigned to oversee the implementation of court-ordered reforms by the Newark Police Department.

Newark was one of 14 police departments to enter into consent decrees with the Department of Justice during the Obama administration as a result of investigations into unconstitutional practices by police in cities across the country. Now, that department is led by an outspoken opponent of police oversight: Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Law-enforcement agencies, local judicial systems and civil-rights advocates are all looking for signs of how the change in leadership will play out in cities under consent decrees  and in those without them as well.

In late March, Sessions issued a memo ordering a broad review of all the departments existing investigations, training, compliance reviews and other engagements with local law enforcement agencies  including existing or contemplated consent decrees  to ensure that they do not undermine the Trump administrations law and order agenda.

Harvey had been slated to discuss the findings of his first quarterly report on the Newark departments progress. But he was met with repeated accounts of abuses at the hands of the department he was monitoring  including threats, harassment and physical assault against civilians.

He kicked the door in, as if he was my personal enemy, said Julio Sancho, describing an encounter with a Newark police officer whod become aggressive after Sancho, an Ecuadorian immigrant who has lived in Newark for 17 years, questioned the officer about why he was ticketing cars across the street. With the help of an English translator, Sancho described in Spanish how the officer proceeded to physically assault him, pepper-spraying his childrenthe youngest of whom is 4 years oldas they yelled for him to stop.

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My children are traumatized, said Sanchos wife, Gloria Solano, becoming choked up as she corroborated her husbands account.

Peter Harvey, appointed to oversee reform of the police in Newark, N.J., talks to Newark residents June 19, 2017. (Photo: Caitlin Dickson/Yahoo News)

I dont feel safe being protected by the police, said Erica Lizotte, who lives with her partner, Corey Ross, and their four children, ages 5 to 12, in the Hyatt Court projects. Though the public housing complex is the setting of most of the violent crime in the citys East Ward  including a shootout in January that killed a 16-year-old boy and injured three other teens  Lizotte said, I would feel safer being protected by people in my neighborhood than by police.

The conduct youre describing is exactly why the Newark Police Department got put under a consent decree, said Harvey, a former New Jersey attorney general. The consent decree was the result of a three-year investigation by the Justice Departments civil rights division, which found rampant racial profiling, unlawful stops and searches, excessive use of force, and theft, among other unconstitutional patterns and practices, in the Newark Police Department.

Despite Sessions assertion in his March memo ordering the review that It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies, police and city officials in Newark as well as several other jurisdictions under DOJ monitoring insist they are committed to following through on their court-ordered reforms  with or without the attorney generals support.

In New Orleans, the current attorney generals comments on his departments policies dont impact our commitment to constitutional policing and ongoing reform, Beau Tidwell, a New Orleans Police Department spokesman, told the New Orleans Advocate following the release of Sessions memo.

Jonathan Aronie, the lead monitor for NOPDs consent decree, agreed. The consent decree is in place, he stated at the time. There are no changes to it.

I do think [the Newark police] are committed, but frankly they also have no choice, said Dianna Houenou, policy counsel for the ACLU of New Jersey, pointing out that once a consent decree is put into effect by a federal district court, it becomes legally binding.

Ultimately the monitor is independent and reports to the judge, said Vanita Gupta, who ran the DOJs civil rights division from 2014 until President Obama left office. The hope is that even without as rigorous Justice Department engagement, there will still be really robust enforcement.

Right, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta. (Photo: Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty Images)

Thats why, Gupta said, choosing a monitor  a process now underway in Baltimore, which came under DOJ scrutiny after Freddie Gray died from injuries sustained in the back of a police van  is so important.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said police reforms would continue there as well, though perhaps with less stringent oversight from the DOJ. In its latest progress report, released earlier this month, the Cleveland monitoring team found CPD to be noncompliant in almost half of its consent decree duties, including the creation of a Force Review Board and a requirement that officers clearly report the justification for all stops, searches and arrests. The department was deemed partially compliant on key reform areas like the development of new policies for lawful use of force and bias-free policing.

The Monitoring team has run out of words to capture the depth and breadth of the progress that needs to be made to cure the current inability of Cleveland residents to have complaints about city employees fairly and fully addressed in a timely manner, read one part of the latest report.

And in Albuquerque, police Chief Gordon Eden told the local CBS affiliate that the department would carry on with the reforms it has been implementing under a consent decree since 2014. Yet Shaun Willoughby, president of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, said he hoped the review would provide an opportunity to discuss what he called unrealistic expectations from a law-enforcement, boots-on-the-ground perspective.

In his latest assessment, released in April, independent monitor James Ginger reported that the Albuquerque Police Department has made progress in some areas while demonstrating deliberate non-compliance in several others. And despite the police chiefs earlier statement, at a hearing to discuss the report last month, Ginger said hes observed a palpable shift in the attitudes of department leaders, suggesting less serious commitment to reform.

Demonstrators outside Albuquerque police headquarters protest a police shooting that left a suspect dead. (Photo: Russell Contreras/AP)

As far as Im concerned, these consent decree processes are really about assuaging the concerns of white, middle class residents, said David Correia, an anti-police violence activist and professor at the University of New Mexico. Correia attended the progress hearing last month and said the DOJ attorney there was praising APD in ways they never had before, despite the negative tone of Gingers report. The DOJ representative assured the meeting that there had been no instructions from Washington to soften enforcement.

Though Correia is careful not to suggest that it doesnt matter if Sessions calls off the dogs, he questions whether consent decrees can provide a real solution to longstanding, systemic police problems.

It doesnt change the fear of the police in Albuquerque of homeless native people who are a particular target in Albuquerque  theyre just as scared of the cops as theyve ever been, he said. But it stops the newspaper from writing editorials critical of police. It stops prominent white politicians from being critical of police.

Correia said he thinks the best things to come out of DOJ investigations are not the reforms but the reports detailing the systemic abuses and unlawful behavior. The consent decree process, he said, is almost like a baptism where you come out of it looking squeaky clean despite the fact that no real substantive changes are made.

One recent study on the effectiveness of consent decrees suggests the money saved by preventing future lawsuits over police violence and other misconduct is worth the steep costs most cities must incur to comply with most consent decrees. However, other surveys indicate that deeply rooted problems often linger well after the Justice Department has left town.

Last week, the independent monitor overseeing Seattles reforms released a report declaring that the department had been in initial compliance with all of its court ordered reforms since 2012, including new policies on use of force, stop-and-frisk, and bias-free policing, and could now petition the judge to find the city in full compliance of its consent decree.

The same day the Seattle monitor released that glowing report, two white Seattle police officers shot and killed Charleena Lyles, a pregnant black mother of four, after shed called to report an attempted burglary at her apartment. The officers said that Lyles, who reportedly suffered from mental health problems, was wielding a knife when they opened fire on her in her home.

Monika Williams, center, after her sister, Charleena Lyles, was shot and killed by Seattle police. (Photo: Elaine Thompson/AP)

*****

A spokesperson for the Justice Department in New Jersey declined to comment on whether theyve received any guidance from Washington to ease off enforcing Newarks consent decree during the review.

Among the departments handful of first quarter achievements was the relocation of its internal affairs unit to a nonpolice facility, intended to make citizens feel more comfortable filing complaints about officer conduct. However, according to Harveys report, while NPD has begun to revise its internal affairs policies and procedures, the department has yet to provide either a revised internal affairs policy or new training materials, which must be approved by both the independent monitor and the Justice Department as part of the consent decree.

Still, at Mondays meeting, Harvey insisted that the Newark residents should report misconduct to the internal affairs unit, comparing it to a leaky faucet that must be tested to determine whether its fixed. But Harvey discovered that the relocation had made little impact on the departments longstanding practice of responding to civilian complaints with ambivalence, hostility, and even retaliation.

While one resident said many in her neighborhood choose not to report officers for fear of retaliation, Corey Ross said hes gone to the new internal affairs unit a number of times already with complaints about officer misconduct, only to have those fears reaffirmed.

About a month ago, Ross said two officers showed up at his front door in the middle of the night after he filed a report against them earlier that day.

You made a report against me! Ross yelled, re-enacting the angry officers arrival by banging on the chair in front of him.

When I say he was beat up by the police, he was beat up by the police, Rosss partner, Erica Lizotte, said, confirming the incident. My kids and the neighbors kids were in the hallway screaming at the police officers to get off of him.

Erica Lizotte, right, during a meeting about police reform in Newark, N.J., June 19, 2017. (Photo: Caitlin Dickson/Yahoo News)

Lizotte said theyve since returned to internal affairs three times to report the retaliatory attack and nothing has been done.

Though seemingly shocked that such practices were continuing, Harvey urged everyone to be patient and to continue to report these experiences to internal affairs.

They are making progress, he said, reminding the group that the consent decree will be implemented over five years. This kind of change that were talking about doesnt happen overnight.

But, Ross wanted to know, how do we protect ourselves when we make reports against individual officers, to ensure our safety as human beings against retaliation by police officers while change is being implemented? Harvey didnt really have an answer.

*****

According to this report, the Justice Departments civil rights division has investigated a total of 69 police departments for patterns and practices of unconstitutional conduct since it was first given authority to do so by Congress in 1994, following the riots sparked by a video of Los Angeles police beating Rodney King two years before.

Twenty-four of those investigations were launched during the Obama administration, many of them prompted by high profile police killingslike those of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Freddie Gray in Baltimore, and Laquan McDonald in Chicagothat, much like the King beating, caused long-simmering tensions to boil over into civil unrest.

But while Obamas Justice Department may have been more committed than any of its predecessors to imposing police reform, such incidents have continued, raising questions about future reform in cities that have not already committed to consent decrees. That includes places like Minneapolis, where recently released video footage has renewed outrage over a police officers acquittal in last years shooting death of Philando Castile, and other cities where such incidents have yet to become the subject of a viral video.

Two years after the death of 17-year-old police shooting victim Laquan McDonald, Chicagoans protest police violence. (Photo: Max Herman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

While a federal judge in Baltimore rebuked Sessions request to delay approval of the consent decree negotiated by the DOJ and city officials before Obama left office, the new attorney generals opposition to police oversight seems to be having an effect in Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel backed off his previous promise to sign a consent decree with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Emanuel is opting instead to work with the DOJ on an agreement to implement reforms without court oversight.

Gupta, who called the move by Emanuel woefully insufficient, explained that theres a reason only 14 of the two dozen investigations of local police departments conducted by the division since 2009 have resulted in consent decrees.

The Justice Department never went into a jurisdiction and conducted a civil rights investigation based on one specific incident, Gupta told Yahoo News. The civil rights division specifically gets involved  in cases where the erosion in community-police trust was so severe that, usually, police departments were at a crisis point.

Chicago was that kind of place, she said.

Emanuel insisted last week he is no less committed to following through on his promise for reform. But Gupta says the slow pace and high cost of implementing mandatory reforms in Newark  whose population is a 10th the size of Chicagos  offers an illustration of why consent decrees are necessary  in jurisdictions where the deficiencies were so longstanding that it really would require significant time, investment and resources to be able to build back up a constitutional police department.

Enacting departmental change is hard under any circumstances, said Dianna Houenou, policy counsel for the ACLU of New Jersey. So without the DOJ enforcement its really going to put a damper on the progress thats made, and [its] also going to be really disheartening for the public to know that the top law enforcement official in the country doesnt think theres an issue with police brutality, with discriminatory policing and with theft by officers.

Its really hard to continue trusting in a criminal justice system and law enforcement officers if you have no assurances that the people who are supposed to protect your constitutional rights  especially at the federal level  are going to do so, she said.

*****

A march against police brutality, racial injustice and economic inequality in Newark, N.J. (Photo: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Even if consent decrees fall short of completely reshaping the way local police departments approach law enforcement, the simple requirement that officers be trained to treat civilians like human beings can at least lay the groundwork for a more positive relationship between police and the people they serve.

Julio Sancho has experienced the difference firsthand. Sancho has had his fair share of encounters with both the Newark and New Jersey State police, who came under their own consent decree in 1999 after a Justice Department investigation into pervasive racial profiling in traffic stops.

The latter decree, which was dissolved in 2009, hasnt stopped Sancho from getting pulled over regularly. But while his encounters with Newark officers have been abrasive, tense, and completely devoid of pleasantries, Sancho said the state troopers are a little more respectful, always making the effort to ask how hes doing before requesting to see his ID.

They treated me with respect, Sancho said, through the translator. And as a result, he declared, I have respect for state police.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Faith & Freedom Coalition Chairman Ralph Reed speaks during a rally in front of the US Supreme Court: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a Missouri church seeking state funding in a case that tests the boundaries of separation between church and state.

The case concerns Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Missouri, which applied for a grant from the Department of Natural Resources to help renovate their preschool's playground. The state rejected the church's application, citing a strict policy against funding programmes controlled by a religious entity.

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 against the state, writing that it may not deny the church a public benefit because of its religious status. In its policies against religious favouritism, the Court found, the state came dangerously close to preventing the free exercise of religion.

"This Court has repeatedly confirmed that denying a generally available benefit solely on account of religious identity imposes a penalty on the free exercise of religion," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority decision.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg dissented, arguing that the decision weakens the separation between church and state.

Justice Sotomayor claimed the ruling "dismantles a core protection for religious freedom" and ignores a history of separating state funding from religious causes.

"The Court today blinds itself to the outcome this history requires and leads us instead to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a constitutional commitment," she wrote.

The Trinity Lutheran Church first sued the state of Missouri in 2012, after the Department of Natural Resources removed them from competition for 14 Scrap Tire Programme grants. The church had ranked fifth out of 44 applicants.

A district court dismissed the church's suit, claiming the Free Exercise clause does not prevent states from withholding benefits  such as playground restoration grants  on account of religion. The Supreme Court overturned that ruling on Monday.

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The decision could have cascading effects on the approximately 35 other states that also bar public money from funding religious institutions. These so-called "Blaine Amendments," which prevent money from the public treasury from going to any religious group or teacher, seek to prevent the state from showing favouritism to any one religion.

The court also decided on Monday to rule on another religious liberty case, this time concerning the wedding cake of a same-sex couple in Colorado. The court will consider the right of private parties  in this case, a wedding cake baker  to deny services to same-sex couples on religious grounds.
London (AFP) - Britain's minister in charge of Brexit talks warned Sunday that any bid from within the Conservative Party to unseat Prime Minister Theresa May would be "catastrophic" for negotiations.

David Davis also said he was "pretty sure" Britain could reach a satisfactory deal with the European Union, and that no deal would be better than a "punishment deal."

When asked by the BBC's Andrew Marr whether May's ouster would be catastrophic, Davis replied "Yes. Yes.

"I happen to think we have got a very good Prime Minister," he said. "I know she is coming under a lot of pressure at the moment, but I have seen her in action. She's bold. She takes her time."

May is under intense pressure after losing her overall parliamentary majority in a snap election called in an attempt to increase her majority and strengthen her hand in Brexit talks.

She faces her first major test next week when MPs vote on her legislative agenda, traditionally seen as a test of confidence in the government.

Davis has been mentioned as a potential replacement, but when asked by Marr if he was a leader-in-waiting, he replied: "I'm not getting into it."

The minister, who kicked off talks with his EU counterparts this week, said he was still "pretty sure" of reaching an agreement despite the government's precarious position.

But he added that "no deal would be better than a punishment deal".

Davis also said Britain would likely need transitional trade arrangements with the EU for up to two years after Brexit.
Congressman likens Trump complaint on White House inaction to knowingly receiving stolen property [and] blaming police for not stopping the theft



Adam Schiff speaks during a discussion in Washington earlier this month. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Obama adminstration should have done a lot more to combat Russian interference in the 2016 US election before the result was known, a top congressional Democrat said on Sunday.

Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, also said Donald Trumps complaints about White House inaction, tweeted after the Washington Post reported that Barack Obama knew about Russian interference as far back as August 2016, were like knowingly receiving stolen property [and] blaming police for not stopping the theft.

I think the Obama administration should have done a lot more when it became clear that not only was Russia intervening but it was being directed at the highest levels of the Kremlin, Schiff said.

And indeed Senator [Dianne] Feinstein and I were repeatedly trying to make that case to the administration initially when they didnt want to make attribution, to talk publicly about Russias role, and later when we issued our own statement and they did attribute the conduct to Russia, he said, referring to the California Democrat.

I was urging that they begin then the process of sanctioning Russia, the administration talking more forcefully about what the Russians had done. I think that was a mistake.

Schiffs comments were echoed by Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democratic member of the Senate intelligence committee who told CBSs Face the Nation that once knowledge of Russian interference had been verified and cross-checked [it] should have been made public.

On Friday, Trump responded to the Washington Post report with a tweet in which he appeared to say Russia did interfere in the election, as US intelligence agencies believe.

The president, whose aides are under congressional and FBI investigation for links to Russian agents and who is reportedly himself under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, has contended that the hack of Democratic party emails and other actions could have been directed by other national actors or individuals.

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Just out, he wrote, making a charge he repeated in a Fox and Friends interview broadcast on Sunday. The Obama administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?

On Saturday, he added: Since the Obama administration was told way before the 2016 election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T[rump]!

During the election, Trump greeted the release of Democratic party emails by WikiLeaks and invited Russia to find and release emails from the private server Clinton used while secretary of state. The Post reported this week that US intelligence captured direct instructions from Russian president Vladimir Putin in the operation to damage Clintons chances of winning and help elect Trump.

Schiff said: I have to contest what President Trump is saying because for Donald Trump, who openly egged on the Russians to hack Hillary Clintons emails and celebrated every release of these stolen documents to criticise Obama now is a bit like someone knowingly receiving stolen property blaming the police for not stopping the theft.

Donald Trump is in no position to complain here.

Another Trump tweet on Saturday referred to reported Obama White House concerns that any action on Russian interference before the election would be seen as to favour the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton.

Obama administration official said they choked when it came to acting on Russian meddling of election, Trump wrote. They didnt want to hurt Hillary?

Schiff, who was speaking on CNNs State of the Union, said such concern was a factor and it should not have been the most weighty factor.

I think they were concerned about being perceived as having interfered in the election and trying to tip the scales for Hillary Clinton, he said. I think they were also concerned about not wanting to play into the narrative that Donald Trump was telling, that the election was going to be rigged, even though Donald Trump was talking about a completely different kind of rigging than foreign intervention.

Trump repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that large-scale voter fraud would cost him the election. In the event Trump won the electoral college while Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2.5m ballots. Trump has since continued to make such spurious claims and has appointed a panel to investigate so-called mass voter fraud.

On Sunday, Trump returned to the subject of rigging in a tweet about the Democratic 2016 primary, using a loaded word in the context of the Russia investigations: collude.

Hillary Clinton colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat Crazy Bernie Sanders, the president wrote. Is she allowed to so collude? Unfair to Bernie!
President Donald Trump will be meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday for the first time since his inauguration. A one-on-one meeting between the two leaders is scheduled for 3.50 p.m. EDT, to be followed by talks involving top officials from both sides.

After the meetings, a joint statement will be released, and then the two leaders will address questions of reporters in a press conference, according to Indian TV news channel NDTV.

Even though the White House had previously stated that neither the president nor the Indian prime minister is going to take any questions from the reporters following the meeting, the schedule has been revised since and it has been decided that the two leaders will take one pre-selected question each from the gathered reporters.

Read: Time Person Of The Year: Indias Narendra Modi Tops Readers Poll

Narendra Modi

Photo: Getty Images/Sajjad Hussain

The meeting is aimed at consolidating the alliance between the United States and India, a diplomatic relation that has cooled somewhat due to Trumps America First policy that vows to place the H1-B visa program under review. The program is used by Indian software engineers to work and stay in the U.S. after getting employed by American companies.

Something that also struck a discord with Trumps nationalist instincts in recent times was Modi inviting U.S. and other international companies, like Apple, to set up manufacturing plants in India under the Make in India initiative.

However, the tone for the upcoming meeting seems to positive and enthusiastic. Both leaders took to Twitter, one of their go-to social media platforms, and posted upbeat messages in anticipation of the meeting. While Trump called the Indian prime minister his true friend, Modi thanked the president for the warm personal welcome.

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There are a few topics that the two leaders are most likely focus on during their meeting. These include defense contracts, counter-terrorism measures and the deteriorating relationship between India and neighboring Pakistan.

Read: Indian PM Modi Criticizes Controversial Triple Talaq Muslim Divorce Law

The Indian prime minister is most likely to push the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative that facilitates U.S. arms technology transfers to India, Indian newspaper the Economic Times reported. Rumors have been floating for weeks of an arms deal being struck between the two nations, involving 100 armed Predator drones made by General Atomics. Modi will also likely seek Trumps support for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that will be manufactured in India.

The Trump administration has blamed Pakistan for harboring terror groups that were planning to hit India and Afghanistan.

Pakistani-based terrorist groups will present a sustained threat to the U.S. interests in the region and continue to plan and conduct attacks in India and Afghanistan, National Intelligence Director Daniel Coats told the Senate intelligence panel, Hindustan Times reported.

To put an end to the common enemy of terrorism, Modi and Trump are expected to work towards strengthening defense ties.

Modi is also expected to meet Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin.

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On June 14, a Turkish court sentenced Enis Berberoglu to 25 years in prison for spying. The decision sent shockwaves through Turkey, even after a year during which the government arrested, detained, or purged more than 200,000 people in the aftermath of last summers attempted coup detat. Berberoglu is neither a supporter of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses of orchestrating the military intervention, nor is he a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party, a terrorist organization that has been waging a war on the country for three decades. He is a journalist and legislator from the Republican Peoples Party, which represents a decidedly secular and nationalist constituency.

Turkey has imprisoned 177 other journalists, but never a non-Kurdish parliamentarian. The charges against him are fabricatedhe has run afoul of the government because he does not support the ruling Justice and Development Partys (AKP) religiously based agenda to transform the country, and is believed to be a source in a story detailing the shipment of weapons to extremist groups in Syria by Turkish intelligence agents. In response to his imprisonment, the leader of Berberoglus party began to lead a nationwide march for justice.

The unfolding Berberoglu drama is about freedom of the press, the arrogance of power, and justice, but it is also emblematic of the intra-Turkish struggle between the AKP faithful, followers of Gulen, secular elites, Kurds, and liberals. As Erdogan has consolidated his personal political power, destroyed any semblance of an independent media, brought the military to heel, and purged the bureaucracyall in an effort to complete the transformation of Turkey he began 15 years agothe struggle over what it means to be Turkish has kicked into high gear. Given the Turkish Republics history, this should surprise no one, but that does not make it any less worrisome, because fights over identity tend to be destabilizing and protracted.

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In Turkey, this conflict can be traced back to the founding moment of the republic. For modern Turkeys founder, Mustafa Kemalknown universally as Ataturkto be successful, it was necessary build a mythology around the idea of Turkishness. This mythology established linkages between Turks, the Turkish language, and the land. As a result, the loyalty of citizens would, in theory, shift from the Ottoman political-religious establishment that ruled over a predominantly Muslim domain, to a nation of Turks and a state whose rulers derived their legitimacy from the defense of Turkishness.

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Paired with the mythology of Turkishness was Kemalism and its Six Arrowsrepublicanism, statism, reformism, populism, nationalism, and importantly, secularismthat served as the ideological foundation of the new republic. Neither Turkishness nor Kemalism garnered unanimous acceptance as a legitimate system of belief. There are many in Turkey, especially those of a previously dominant political class, who embraced Ataturks ideas, but others have resisted them, and still others have remained ambivalent. Consequently, Turks have grappled with questions of identity similar to those facing others in the region.

Throughout Turkeys history, the demands of Turkishness have alienated Kurds, whose identities the republic officially denied. This is not a problem that is unique to Turkey, however. Kurds in Syria, Iraq, and Iran have also confronted the challenges associated with being a minority ethnic group. Still, while many Kurds in Turkey are well-integrated into the political, social, economic, and cultural life of the country, there is an inherent friction between Turkishness and Kurdishness. That tension broke out into a war between PKK and the Turkish state in 1984 that has continued, on and off, ever since.

Beyond the Kurdish issue, there is also the deeper tension over religion. In his efforts to mark a break from the Ottoman Empire and consolidate the new Turkish Republic, Ataturk moved to disestablish Islam. When in 1924 he abolished the Ottoman caliphate, which had served as the center of both political and religious power for Muslims, it was a historic step, but it was not enough. A massive cultural shift was also required. Toward that end, Ataturk instituted the use of the Latin script, European numerals, surnames (which the Ottomans hadnt used), and the Gregorian calendar in place of the Islamic one. He also criminalized the fez. The office of the Sheikh al-Islam, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Pious Foundations, and religious schools were abolished, while Sufi brotherhoods were outlawed. And in 1928, the article of the constitution that identified Islam as the religion of the state was deleted.

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For those to whom Ataturks secularizing reforms did not make sense, opposition was not just a matter of personal piety. After all, one could be a fervent believer in the new republic as long as religion did not enter the public spherepolitics, education, media, and the artsin any way. This was not an accommodation that pious Turks were willing to make for two related reasons. First, the official narrative that connected secularism with progress, and faith with backwardness, had consequences for the pious, who confronted institutional discrimination. Second, when Turkeys Islamist movement developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, its leaders sought to fuse religious ideals and principles with other spheres including politics, education, business, and culture. Part of their resistance to Kemalism was the Islamist view that the elites effort to embed Western ideals and institutions in Turkey was needlessly emulating alien ideas and values that were inconsistent with a Muslim society. These competing conceptions of Turkish identity have largely defined the parameters of political discourse since the republics founding.

Inasmuch as a culture war is at the heart of Turkish politics and Turkey is often portrayed as a country with two societiesone secular and the other religiousliving in parallel, these categories are not as clear as this rendering suggests. Turkeys Islamists are nationalists who accept the fact of the republic even as they work to undermine its founding values. At the same time, the republican elite have used religion for their own ends. The most relevant example is the way the militaryroutinely described in the Western media as staunchly secularpromoted Islam as a specific part of a broader national culture in the 1980s. This was an effort to establish political control over a society in which violence between leftist and rightist groups killed thousands before a coup took place in 1980at that point the third military intervention in 20 years. The idea, called the Turkish-Islamic synthesis, was, at its base, about identity.

Erdogan and the leaders of the AKP have worked assiduously to cast their opponents as not authentically Turkish.

Yet it was not until the AKP came to power in late 2002 that Turks could explore their religious identities more freely. This was unsettling to the partys opponents and was made more so not just by the AKPs electoral successes, but also by the way these victories advanced and reinforced religious sensibilities in Turkey. Conventional accounts that label the AKP as Islamist, placing it in the company of the Muslim Brotherhood, do not adequately capture the nature of the party. The Islamism of the AKP is less targeted and more diffuse than that of the Brotherhood, though it certainly belongs within the general classification of Islamist groups, which seek to forge religious societies.

The party shares with Islamist groups the idea that societys deviation from religious values has had a deleterious effect on it. In Turkeys case, this deviation came in the form of Ataturks inauthentic reforms that placed the country within the ambit of a West that did not accept Turks as equal partners. Ankaras natural place, in the AKP leaderships view, was instead as a leader of the Muslim world. Domestically, the party has sought to expand and embed a pious sensibility that flows naturally through all aspects of society. Although the AKP has limited alcohol sales and secularists have raised alarm over the perception that an increasing number of Turkish women are donning the hijab, the party claims not to be interested in the transformation of Turkish society through religious dictates. Rather, one of the great accomplishments of the AKPand a source of its electoral successis how the party has paved the way for Turks to explore and express their Muslim identity in ways that would have been unthinkable and unsafe in the past.

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The problem for them, of course, is the considerable resistance to the AKPs project. Even given the large numbers of Turks who self-identify as believers or who regard religion as important to them, the AKP has never been able to capture an outright majority of Turkeys popular vote. Although Erdogan garnered 52 percent of the vote in his 2014 presidential elections, the partys high-water mark in legislative elections was 49.83 percent in a June, 2011 vote. Multiple variables account for electoral outcomes, of course, but Turkeys history of culture wars and a political strategy of polarization based in part on identity are an important part of the explanation.

Erdogan and the leaders of the AKP have worked assiduously to cast their opponents as not authentically Turkish in that solidly middle class with conservative values way of the partys core constituency. A 2013 dispute over alcohol was a case in point. When secularists objected to an AKP plan to restrict alcohol sales, Erdogan hit back by seeming to insult Ataturk and his longtime deputy, both of whom were known to consume copious amounts of alcohol. Given that a law made by two drunken [people] is respected, why should a law that is commanded by religion be rejected by your side? he asked. Erdogan was clearly drawing the line between God-fearing good Turks and those who preferred the illegitimate legacy of two alcoholics. Although the AKP may have resolved the problem of Islamist politics in an officially secular political system, identity remained a raw issue.

The problem in Turkeyand elsewhere in the Middle Eastis that as politicians purposefully polarize their own societies for political profit, there is a dearth of democratic institutions through which people can process their grievances. The result is rage and violence. War between the Turkish state and the PKK already wracks the southeast of the country, occasionally spilling into the streets of Ankara and Istanbul. Rumors abound that the AKP is arming its own cadres out of fear of another coup attempt like the one thwarted last summer, as Erdogan and his party pulverize his opponents through purges, detentions, and arrests. The country offers some unsettling precedents for extreme polarization. In the late 1970s, almost 5,000 Turks were killed in fighting between rightist and leftist forces, prompting a coup in 1980 that brought stability back to Turkey, but at the cost of even more lives. How long will it be before the current situation deteriorates into more widespread violence?

This article has been adapted from Steven A. Cooks new book, False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
By Jon Herskovitz and Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A small border town and some of the largest cities in Texas told a federal judge on Monday a new state law aimed at punishing sanctuary cities could lead to an immigration police state and asked him to halt it because it was unconstitutional.

The Republican-backed law in Texas, the U.S. state with the longest border with Mexico, takes effect on September 1. It is the first of its kind since Republican Donald Trump became president in January, promising to crack down on illegal immigration.

The law, known as Senate Bill 4, calls for jail for police chiefs, sheriffs and possibly frontline officers who fail to cooperate over U.S. immigration. The measure also allows police to ask about immigration status during a lawful detention.

A lawyer for Texas said the law helps ensure conformity across the state on the application of immigration law and prevents localities from adopting positions of non-cooperation with federal authorities.

"It is a moderate law that fits hand in glove with federal immigration policies," Darren McCarty, an attorney for the state, said in opening statements.

But Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who represents the plaintiffs, said if the court upholds the Texas law it could have national ramifications.

"That would set up an immigration police state," he told U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia.

"We could be removed from office if we endorse a policy that is different from the law," Austin Mayor Steve Adler said outside court, adding that the law violates constitutional free speech protections.

Other cities that sued to block the law include Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Plaintiffs also contended the law could lead to racial profiling and divert resources from local police who would be under the threat of job loss and fines if they do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

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Several hundred protesters rallied against the law outside the court. A decision in the case was not likely to come soon.

SB 4 supporters have said immigrants who do not break the law have nothing to fear. Critics contend SB 4 allows police to detain people for up to 48 hours for immigration checks, even for minor infractions such as jaywalking.

On Friday the Trump administration filed court papers to support the Texas law, saying it will help keep America safe. A U.S. Department of Justice lawyer told the court on Monday the Texas law will ensure co-operation on immigration matters.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Jim Forsyth; editing by Dan Grebler and Phil Berlowitz)
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lower court's ruling that barred a lawsuit against a U.S. Border Patrol agent for fatally shooting a 15-year-old Mexican from across the border in Texas.

The justices, in an unsigned ruling, sent the case back to the lower court to reconsider whether the lawsuit brought by the parents of Sergio Hernandez can proceed against U.S. Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa.

The high court did not decide whether the U.S. Constitution's ban on unjustified deadly force applied to the slain teenager, a Mexican citizen on Mexican soil, when the shooting occurred in June 2010.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case on Feb. 21 when it still had a vacancy and was divided with four conservative justices and four liberals. President Donald Trump's conservative appointee Neil Gorsuch joined the court in April and did not participate in the case.

"The facts alleged in the complaint depict a disturbing incident resulting in a heartbreaking loss of life. Whether petitioners may recover damages for that loss in this suit depends on questions best answered by the court of appeals in the first instance," the court said.

The incident took place at a border crossing between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The Border Patrol said at the time Hernandez was pelting U.S. agents with rocks from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande before the shooting. U.S. authorities have asserted that Mesa shot Hernandez in self-defense.

Lawyers for Hernandez's family disputed that account, saying the teenager was playing a game with other teenagers in which they would run across a culvert from the Mexican side and touch the U.S. border fence before dashing back.

The Supreme Court on Monday also ordered two other cases that touch upon immigrant rights to be argued for a second time in the fall so that Gorsuch can participate, likely breaking a tie vote.

The first is on whether immigrants held in long-term detention during deportation proceedings can seek their release.. The second is on the scope of a federal law that requires immigrants to be deported when convicted of certain felony offenses.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Churches and other religious entities cannot be flatly denied public money even in states where constitutions explicitly ban such funding, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a major religious rights case that narrows the separation of church and state. The justices, in a 7-2 ruling, sided with Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri, which sued after being denied access to a state grant program that helps nonprofit groups buy rubber playground surfaces made from recycled tires. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court's majority, said that "the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution" and "cannot stand." Missouri's constitution prohibits "any church, sect or denomination of religion" or clergy member from receiving state money, language that goes further than the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state. Three-quarters of the U.S. states have provisions similar to Missouri's barring funding for religious entities. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion saying the court had swept away legal precedents that allow for limits on state funding of churches. Fellow liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg also dissented. "This case is about nothing less than the relationship between religious institutions and the civil government - that is between church and state. The court today profoundly changes that relationship by holding for the first time that the Constitution requires the government to provide public funds directly to a church," Sotomayor wrote. The ruling could help religious organizations nationwide win public dollars at least 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 rather than public schools. A challenge to a 2015 court decision invalidating a Colorado voucher program is pending before the justices, awaiting the Trinity Lutheran case's outcome. The court could act on that case as soon as Tuesday. Republican President Donald Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a prominent supporter of such "school choice" plans. Roberts, in a footnote in the ruling, said, "This case involves express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing. We do not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination." White House spokesman Sean Spicer called the ruling a "significant victory for religious liberty and an affirmation of the First Amendment rights of all Americans." "This ruling reaffirms that the government cannot discriminate against individuals or organizations simply because they or their members hold religious beliefs," Spicer added. The dispute pitted 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. The discrimination against religious exercise in this case was Missouri's refusal to allow Trinity Lutheran "solely because it is a church" to compete with secular organizations for a grant, Roberts wrote. Trinity Lutheran, which runs a preschool and daycare center, had wanted a safer surface for its playground. 'COMMONSENSE PRINCIPLE' "The Supreme Court's decision today affirms the commonsense principle that government isn't being neutral when it treats religious organizations worse than everyone else," said David Cortman, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom conservative Christian legal group who argued the case. "Equal treatment of a religious organization in a program that provides only secular benefits, like a partial reimbursement grant for playground surfacing, isn't a government endorsement of religion," Cortman added. Trinity Lutheran argued that Missouri's policy violated its right to exercise religion as well as the U.S. Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law. Missouri argued there was nothing unconstitutional about its grant program, noting that Trinity Lutheran remained free to practice its faith however it wants despite being refused state funds. Daniel Mach, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's program on freedom of religion and belief, expressed disappointment in the ruling. "Religious freedom should protect unwilling taxpayers from funding church property, not force them to foot the bill. The court's ruling, however, focuses specifically on grants for playground resurfacing, and does not give the government unlimited authority to fund religious activity," Mach said. The justices overturned a 2015 ruling by the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2015 upheld a trial court's dismissal of the suit. Just before the April oral argument, Missouri's Republican governor, Eric Greitens, reversed the state policy that had banned religious entities from applying for the grant money. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Will Dunham)
LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds of police officers lined the streets of London and Birmingham on Saturday to prevent far-right demonstrators from clashing with rival anti-fascism groups on a day of protest following deadly attacks in Britain. In the country's second biggest city Birmingham, dozens of members of the far-right group Britain First took to the streets waving national flags and chanting "Britain First, Fighting Back". Banners declared it was "Time to fight Islamic Terror". Britain has been rocked by a string of attacks in recent months, with 35 people killed by Islamist assailants in London and Manchester while a man killed one and injured several others when he drove a van into Muslim worshippers leaving a London mosque on Monday. The country has also been rocked by a fire at the vast Grenfell Tower social housing block in west London which killed at least 79 people. Britain First describes itself as a patriotic resistance operating on the frontline in Britain, working to keep "our people" first ahead of "foreigners, asylum seekers or migrants". West Midlands Police, which covers Birmingham, said they understood people had concerns over the march but could do nothing to stop it. "There will be a high-visibility police presence at the scene and we have significant resources on standby should they be required," they said on Twitter. In London, where police are still recovering from three major attacks in three months, officers imposed strict conditions on marches in the capital, dictating when and where people could protest. Officers stood across major streets to prevent the English Defence League from getting near the Unite Against Fascism and United Against Extremism demonstrations. "We have made the decision to impose conditions based on current tensions and concerns, information about the intentions of the organizers of these events and intelligence from previous marches held by similar groups," Superintendent Emma Richards said in a statement. Police in 2013 arrested more than 160 people as trouble broke out between anti-Islamist activists and thousands of counter-demonstrators in an area of east London that was home to one of Britain's largest Muslim communities. (Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
When Rufus Edmisten was 31 years old, he delivered a subpoena to the president of the United States asking for tape recordings from the Oval Office. It was July 23, 1973, and it had to be the hottest day in the world, he told me last week, 44 years later.

Edmisten had recently been appointed deputy chief counsel on the Senates newly formed Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, also known as the Watergate Committee. Its chairman, North Carolina Democrat Sam Ervin, was leading an investigation into the break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters, which had occurred the year before in the midst of President Richard Nixons reelection campaign.

It would take another year of firings, cover-ups, and claims of executive privilege, but the committees evidence-gathering would ultimately lead to the indictment of 40 administration officials and the first-ever resignation of an American president.

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I spoke with Edmisten, now an attorney in North Carolina specializing in government relations and litigation, about what it was like to play a part in one of the most tumultuous periods in modern American politicsand how he feels like hes reliving some of that period in 2017. Our conversation, which took place over the course of two phone calls, has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Elaine Godfrey: Tell me about your role on the Watergate Committee.

Rufus Edmisten: I guess you might say Im now one of the oldest hands around. All the members of the committee are dead, except [Republican] Senator [Lowell P.] Weicker. [Chief Counsel] Sam Dash is dead, [Minority Counsel] Fred Thompson is dead.

My role was deputy chief counsel of the Watergate Committee. I like to describe it this way, as Fred Thompson once did: Everybody knew that Rufus was Ervins man. I appreciate that because who wouldnt want to be Ervins man?

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Godfrey: When people think of Senator Ervin, they think of Watergate. But you had known him for a long time before that.

Edmisten: Theres a lot about Senator Ervin that was way before anything called Watergate even occurred. Ervin was big into the privacy issue. He was extremely interested in [the 1970 revelation that the U.S. Army was conducting domestic investigations on U.S. civilians]it just infuriated him. He was the unheralded leader of those that thought the government had no business snooping on people.

Godrey: Before all of this, you worked with him as counsel on Senate Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Constitution, which focused on civil rights and constitutional amendments. Then, when Ervin became chairman of the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, he named you chief counsel. What was that like?

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Edmisten: Unknown to meand, of course, the senatorwe were doing a rehearsal for Watergate. We were studying separation of powers, executive privilege, impoundment of funds. Senator Ervin had been having a battle with Nixon since he was first elected in 1968, battling what he called excesses of executive power. [Ervin] referred to the imperial presidency, where the president would say things like the president can do whatever he wants to do.

These are all the principles that came up during Watergate. Before, nobody would attack a president, but it didnt bother Senator Ervin. And ironically, he had been sworn in in 1964 by then-Vice President Richard Nixon.

Godfrey: In 1973, the Watergate Committee was formed, and Ervin asked you to come on. Why?

Edmisten: Everybody was vying around Capitol Hill to get a piece of this thing called Watergate, because it was in The Washington Post every day. [Senate Majority Leader Mike] Mansfield named Senator Ervin [chairman of the panel] because he wanted a man that everybody trusted. I think everybody would agree [Ervin] was the perfect man to lead the hearings.

Ervin asked me to be the deputy chief counsel, because he said Rufus knows Capitol Hill. I had been with him since 1964. He said, I got to have somebody I can depend on to help me get this stuff done.

Godfrey: What was it like working on the committee when the hearings came around?

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Edmisten: I was in charge of press credentials, lining up that stuff. I was helping prepare witnesses, helping interrogate them, in what I called the interrogation dungeon. Before anybody went public, we interrogated them in this little windowless room down in the basement of the Dirksen building. Dash brought some bright people on [staff], and I brought some qualified people on from North Carolina, some people from George Washington University Law School.

Im having deja vu all over again in recent weeks.

Godfrey: What stands out to you from those interrogations?

Edmisten: During a hearing, I remember one time asking L. Patrick Gray, the acting FBI director, a question: How in the world did you get yourself in such a fix? [Gray, who had resigned in April 1973, admitted to destroying documents he received from a White House official a few days after the Watergate burglary.] He said: I was in the Navy, and there were bombs exploding around me, but I have never run into a buzz saw like this thing called Watergate.

I kept thinking, How could these people, who were well educated, fall to the hypnotism of thinking that they were doing something for their country? You know that breaking into a building is as wrong as wrong can be. All these folks involved with Watergate were blindly following their leader. They were doing this to impress the president, to curry favor with him.

Im having deja vu all over again in recent weeks. Theres so much attention being given to Watergate. Everytime I turn the TV on, somebodys talking about Watergate, and most of those people werent even born yet.

Godfrey: Do you see similarities between your investigation on the Watergate Committee and the investigations now, into Donald Trump and Russia?

Edmisten: Im not making judgments yet on President Trump. As my mother used to say, Son, before its cooked, dont talk about it. This things not cooked enough yet. But eerily, you have so many of the same things going on. You have presidents who seem to believe in the theory of the imperial presidency. You have a president asserting that he can do just about anything, and it not be against the law. This has all been brought on by a very active press. The press has been very active in this to keep it in the minds of the American people. Both presidents had a very strong dislike for the press.

Theyre certainly not giving the impression that all is well at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Godfrey: Another North Carolina senator, Richard Burr, is leading the Senate investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well asand allegations of collusion between Russia and Trumps campaign. How do you think that is going?

Edmisten: I think theyre doing it the right wayquietly, deliberately. I told him some of the things that we did in the Watergate committee, and I think he is very well capable of doing whats right.

Senator Burr has been a friend of mine for many years. While Im a Democrat and hes a Republican, I dont want to see a North Carolinian head up a major committee and make a flop of it. The Watergate Committee worked because of the very closeness of Senator Ervin and the vice chair, Senator Howard Baker. I was in the room when [Ervin and Baker] agreed that they would not publicly disagree on anything. [Burrs] staff had asked to draw from my experience, and I just gave him advice like that.

There seems to be a wonderful relationship between Senator Burr and [Vice Chairman Senator] Mark Warner. I really think theyre doing their homework.

Godfrey: Do you see parallels in how the two investigations unfolded?

Edmisten: When Watergate got to a crescendo, you had people speaking out that were of the same party as President Nixon. Were not to that point yet. This thing with Nixon had been boiling over for five years.

Were not far enough into this yet to know exactly where its going to lead. But [the Trump administration is] doing some very fine copying, early on, of some of the things that brought down some perfectly sound people in Watergate.

Godfrey: What do you mean?

Edmisten: The old adage, which I know is hackneyed, is: We study history so we wont repeat the mistakes of the past. It occurs to me that the Trump administration has read Watergate and used the worst things about Watergate as a playbookasserting their executive powers [for example]. Some witnesses are going on Capitol Hill and asserting all sorts of things, like: Weve had a conversation with the president, and we cant talk about it.

Godfrey: Right, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Director of National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers all said something similar in recent congressional testimony, though they didnt invoke executive privilege specifically.

Edmisten: I have no idea where that came from. If there is a legal basis for that, I want somebody to show it to me. If [White House Counsel] John Dean [who was involved with the Watergate coverup] had said, Well, I cant talk about anything I said with the president ...

Ervin threatened everyonehe told them: If you dont talk to me, well hold you in contempt. He said were not going to put up with it.

Godfrey: What about Special Counsel Robert Muellers inquiry? What do you think about the suggestion floating around that Trump might fire him?

Edmisten: The special counsel here is a creature of the Department of Justice. If anybody were to try to touch Robert Mueller, they would do so at their peril. This mans reputation is sterling. I just cant imagine anybody even thinking about firing him. I think it would fire up the nation again.

Godfrey: When you said earlier that the Russia investigation isnt cooked yet, what did you mean? How do you know when its cooked?

Edmisten: If [and when] you find people lying under oath.

Were just not to any stage yet where you can say [with certainty] that were well along the way to some sort of a copycat of Watergate. But, while there never may be a charge in this whole thing, theyre certainly not giving the impression that all is well at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Sometimes impressions are killers, almost as much as the actual act.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Ivanka Trump, President Trumps daughter and senior adviser, says she speaks up when she disagrees with her father on certain issues  but not when it comes to his tweeting.

I try to stay out of politics, Ivanka Trump told Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt in an interview that aired Monday morning. His political instincts are phenomenal. He did something that no one could have imagined hed be able to accomplish. There were very few who thought [he could win], early on. I feel blessed just being part of the ride from day one and before. But he did something pretty remarkable. But I dont profess to be a political savant.

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, played key roles in Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, and the pair moved their family from New York to Washington, D.C., to take up official posts in the White House.

I advise my father on a plethora of things, Ivanka Trump said. He trusts me to be very candid with my opinions. I dont have a hidden agenda.

The first daughter  who reportedly clashed with President Trump over his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord  said that its natural she and her dad sometimes disagree.

Were two different human beings, she said. I think its normal to not have 100 percent aligned viewpoints on every issue. I dont think anyone operates like that with a parent, or within the context of an administration, and I think that all different viewpoints being at the table is a positive thing. And I think one of the things that, in this country, we dont have enough of, is dialogue.

Related: Ivanka Trump: I felt blindsided by the viciousness of D.C.

Still, when asked what grade shed give her father on his presidency so far, Ivanka Trump didnt hesitate.

Oh, an A, of course, she said. Im slightly biased, but definitely an A.

I think hes doing an unbelievable job, Ivanka Trump explained. And there are always naysayers  its much easier to criticize than it is to actually dive in and do and effect change and move the ball forward, she added.

Story continues

The Fox & Friends sit-down was the latest in a string of interviews the Trump family has granted to the Fox News morning show, which President Trump has called his favorite on cable news.

Late last week, Trump gave an interview to Earhardt during which the Fox host complimented the president on his suggestion there were secret tapes of his conversations with fired FBI Director James Comey.

It was a smart way to make sure he stayed honest in those hearings, Earhardt told Trump a day after he announced no such tapes existed.

Well, it wasnt very stupid, I can tell you that, the president replied.

Read more from Yahoo News:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from the Endangered Species List yesterday (June 22).

The decision to return the Yellowstone bears to state and tribal management reflected rebounding grizzly numbers in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), a region that encompasses Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said in a statement.

However, scientists and Tribal Nations representatives have argued against the delisting, citing that the bears aren't out of the woods just yet, according to a statement published online by the Sierra Club, a nonprofit environmental organization. [Species Success Stories: 10 Animals Back from the Brink]

About 700 bears currently inhabit the GYE  up from 136 individuals in 1975  and their range covers 2,500 square miles (6,475 square kilometers). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) found the population to be stable and sustainable, determining that the bears had reached a recovery point that no longer required federal protections, representing "one of America's great conservation success stories," Zinke said.

Grizzly bears "have long warranted delisting," as they have met or exceeded recovery objectives since 2003, Wyoming governor Matt Mead said in a statement published online by the governor's office.

Grizzly bears were listed as endangered in 1975. They were delisted in 2007, but protections were reinstated by a federal judge in 2009, stating that the USFWS had overlooked the decline of an important food source for the bears, and Mead requested removing grizzly bears' endangered status again in 2013.

But many remain skeptical about the bears' prospects, despite USFWS assurances. Some experts say that the grizzlies' recovery is still a work in progress, and without federal oversight, the progress that the bears have enjoyed in recent years could quickly be reversed, according to Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.

Story continues

"Without necessary endangered species protections, the survival of grizzly bears in Greater Yellowstone is put in jeopardy," Brune said in the Sierra statement.

The Yellowstone bears' delisting follows another recent legislative decision that abolished other types of protections for bears in Alaska.

On March 21, the U.S. Senate voted to overturn hunting regulations in Alaska refuges that banned aerial hunting, trapping and baiting of grizzlies and other wildlife. Supporters of that resolution claimed that relaxing hunting restrictions against large predators would benefit other types of declining wildlife, but there is no evidence to support such a claim, Sierra Club representatives said in the statement.

"People and bears can coexist  and as grizzly recovery so far has demonstrated, can do so in a way that is highly beneficial to all," Brune said. "However, coexistence cannot work if misplaced political hostility continues to impede the ability of sound science to keep bears from sliding back towards extinction."

Original article on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations
Israel has turned down a request by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to visit Hebron ahead of an upcoming vote by the organization to register the town's Old City as a Palestinian World Heritage Site.

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"As a matter of principle, Israel will not provide legitimization to any Palestinian political move under the guise of culture and heritage," said Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen.

Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

The Palestinian Authority submitted a request to list Hebron's Old City, including the Tomb of the Patriarchs, as a World Heritage Site in 2012a process that can take yearsbut is now trying to fast-track the application by claiming that the site is endangered.

Shama-Hacohen described the Palestinian request as "tainted by politicization, lies and libel against the State of Israel and against the Jewish people's connection to the site.  The Palestinians have opened another front in the religious and cultural war they are trying to impose on us."

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee meets July 212 in Krakow, Poland, for its annual assembly. Hebron's Old City is listed on the agenda as Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town, Palestine.

The 21 member nations of the World Heritage Committee will vote on the Palestinian request in a secret ballot. Israel needs seven votes against in order to block the motion.
The Syrian army warned Israel on Sunday of the "dangerous repercussions" of its "aggressive activities" after the IDF retaliated against spillover fire in the Golan Heights for the second day in a row.

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"After the Syrian army forces managed to thwart the wide-scale attack of terrorist al-Nusra  the Israeli enemy continued today to attack one of our military stations, in a desperate attempt to support terrorist organizations and boost their low morale," read a statement from the army of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Syrian rebel fire (Photo: Reuters)

"The Syrian army general command warns against the dangers of these aggressive activities and lays the responsibility for the dangerous repercussions of these actions on the Israeli enemy, whatever its excuses may be. The general command stresses it is determined to defeat the terrorist organizations, the Israeli enemy's proxies in the region."



IDF hits Syrian traget (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit) (Credit: IDF Spokesperson)

X

Meanwhile, photos were released in Syria of the alleged victims from the Israeli retaliation attacks, likely the one on Saturday.

Three Syrian army soldiers reported to have been killed by Israeli fire

Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij was sent on the orders of Syrian President Assad to visit soldiers celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in south Lebanon on Sunday, where he spoke about the civil war raging in the country for almost six years.

Al-Freij visits Syrian army soldiers

"Our brave, armed forces, in cooperation with our allies and friends, are more determined than ever to continue our war against the terrorist organizations and smash the illusions of those supporting them," said al-Freij. "Our fight will continue until we have returned stability and security to every grain of our homeland's soil."
Five Muslim artists from different countries asked to have their work removed over the weekend from the 3rd Mediterranean Biennale, which is scheduled to open in the Sakhnin Valley this week, following pressure from the BDS movement. The artists said they decided to cancel their participation in the Israeli exhibition as a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

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The Mediterranean Biennale will be held in the Jewish-majority community of Misgav and the Arab-majority cities of Sakhnin, Arraba and Deir Hanna. It will feature the work of 60 artists from 25 countries, including many artists from Arab-majority countries that have no diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, such as Kuwait, Morocco and Algeria.

The work of Yto Barrada (France/Morocco)

Ahead of the opening, several artists of Muslim descent submitted a request Saturday to cancel their participation in the exhibition in light of the solidarity with the Palestinian struggle and to reflect their unwillingness to cooperate with an Israeli institution. The artists include Zineb Sedira (France/Algeria/England), Bouchra Khalili (Morocco/France), Walid Raad (Lebanon/United States), Akram Zaatari (Lebanon) and Yto Barrada (France/Morocco).

About a year and a half ago, the Mediterranean Biennale contacted the FRAC museum in Marseilles and asked to borrow pieces created by several video artists from Arab countries, including Morocco and Lebanon. The request was submitted to the museums artistic committee, which decided to lend the work from the museums collection (a national collection) for the duration of the biennale. The exhibition was required to pay a certain sum for borrowing the work, as is customary in such cases.

The work of Akram Zaatari (Lebanon), showing houses bombed in Lebanon. Will not be part of exhibit

In an unusual move, the French museums director then asked the Mediterranean Biennale to remove the Arab artists work, saying they did not want their work to be displayed in Israel. The artists have declared on social media that they support the Palestinian struggle against Israel and wont cooperate with Israel by displaying their work in the biennale.

The screens for the removed video pieces, which have already been put up in different places ahead of the event, will remain shut. The works include a map of refugees route from Africa to Europe, videos from a trip through Algeria, images of bombed houses in the first Lebanon War and a car bomb explosion in Beirut.

The work of Bouchra Khalili (Morocco/France)

The Mediterranean Biennales curator, Belu-Simion Fainaru, said in response: This is a political decision supported by the BDS movement, aimed at creating a boycott against Israel in every possible field, including the field of art, as a reflection of the new anti-Semitism that has been created in France and Europe in recent years. They are trying to spread anti-Semitism in the world while harming, slandering and isolating Israel in the global arena and creating an international boycott against the state.

The work of Zineb Sedira (France/Algeria/England)

There have been BDS-tagged calls on social media to boycott the event and to refuse to take part in it. Art has a power of rising above disputes and political conflicts between communities and serving as a tool for free expression, bridging between people and communities in conflict and dispute. The goal of art is to unite rather than to separate, increase hatred and animosity and violence, through boycotts that have created situations of war, refugees seeking shelter in Europe, acts of terror around the world, etc.

I believe, Fainaru added, that art is above politics, and its real power is in creating love and solidarity between people. It should be noted that these artists works are actually being displayed to a Palestinian population which lives in northern Israel, in the cities of Sakhnin, Arraba and Deir Hanna. As an artistic event, the Mediterranean Biennale aims to create a stage for a discourse and coexistence through art, while opposing the enhancement of hatred and animosity through the boycott.
- Nigeria Ag President Professor Yemi Osinbajo on Sunday received the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo at the Presidential Villa in Abuja

- The two leaders had a close door meeting

Ghana's President, Nana Akufo-Addo has paid a courtesy call on the Acting President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

President Akufo-Addo is believed to have been on a private visit to the oil-producing nation and took the chance to hold talks with the country's acting President.

Nigeria Acting president Ghana's President Akufo-Addo

READ ALSO: Michael Essien celebrates Ramadan with Indonesian kids

Prof. Osinbajo has been the stand-in president of Nigeria for some time now, with substantive President Muhammadu Buhari yet to fully recover from an illness.

The two presidents engaged in a closed-door meeting at the Aguda House, Presidential Villa, the seat of the Nigerian government in Abuja.

Nana Addo pays courtesy call on Nigeria counterpart

Details of the meeting between the pair have not yet been made public, but reports suggest it was to strengthen bilateral ties between the two West African countries.

Get more YEN news here.

President Akufo-Addo was accompanied by some ministers, including his Executive Secretary Nana Asante Bediatuo, National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah and Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway.

Ghana's delegation and Nigeria's delegation

This represents the second time the Ghana president has visited Nigeria, having already held talks with President Buhari last December.

Do you have any stories to share with YEN? Get featured! Contact us on Facebook and email via info@yen.com.gh.

Source: YEN.com.gh
NO NAME, NO PROBLEM

One provision in particular has emerged as a likely sticking point in the upcoming negotiations. Of the U.S. cities with the five largest police forces, only Chicago restricts investigation of anonymous complaints. In fact, the FOP contract requires not just a name but a sworn affidavit. Many misconduct complaints begin with a letter or phone call; an investigator must then follow up with the complainant. But if the individual cannot be reached again, or does not want to provide a sworn statement, the investigation typically ends there: Accused officers are not even questioned. Another contract provision allows investigators to proceed without an affidavit in certain cases, but they have done so just 17 times in the last five years, out of tens of thousands of complaints, according to the DOJ report.

Detective Tracy Byerly, 44, works in the Chicago Police Department (CPD) unit devoted to the investigation of sex crimes against children. She has been the subject of just two misconduct complaints in her 20 years on the police force, both of which came with affidavits and neither of which resulted in disciplinary action. She supports the affidavit requirement. In our legal system, you have the right to confront your accuser, she says. Its the same thing for us.

Advocates, however, say civilians reporting police misconduct have good reason not to want to be identified, let alone sign an affidavit. For one, doing so often requires an in-person meeting with an investigator, which can be intimidating and complicated to arrange.

[The affidavit requirement] doesnt sound like its unreasonable, says Torreya Hamilton, an attorney who defended the city in police misconduct cases before opening her own firm to prosecute the same type of cases in 2006. But theyve created so many obstacles.  Sometimes the complainant simply cant come in because they have work or didnt have bus fare.

Beyond logistical challenges, complainants may also fear reprisal from police. Contract rules require investigators to give the name of the complainant to the accused officer before questioning. And in cases of domestic abuse or sexual assault by police, victims may be ashamed or have a personal relationship with the offender.

The union declined to comment for this story. The FOP does not want to negotiate through the media, Vice President Martin Prieb wrote in an email to In These Times. But a February post on the blog of the Blue Voice, Grahams campaign slate, says the FOP will not surrender on affidavits, calling the issue non-negotiable.

The FOP argues that affidavits are needed to prevent a deluge of false complaints. The low number of sustained complaintsthose that investigators deem to be supported by enough evidence to justify disciplinecould suggest that many misconduct allegations are already baseless. Between 2010 and 2014, investigators sustained just 11 percent of the 7,300 complaints received with signed affidavits.

A November 2016 study by Kyle Rozema and Max Schanzenbach of Northwestern University, however, found that the volume of civilian complaints against a Chicago police officer correlates with whether the officer will eventually be sued for misconduct, as well as the probability and size of a civil settlement. Unsworn civilian complaints were just as predictive as those with affidavits. Civilian allegations, if properly managed, could play an important role in reducing police officer misconduct and costly civil liabilities, the study concludes.

Between 2004 and 2014, the city spent more than $500 million in police misconduct lawsuits, according to an analysis by the Better Government Association. Meanwhile, about 40 percent of misconduct complaints are closed each year because they lack affidavits, according to the DOJ report. In These Times review suggests these unexamined complaints could have acted as warning signs.

Over the same 10-year period, the 50 most complained-about Chicago officers averaged 17 no-affidavit complaints each. Drawing on civilian complaint data released by the city in October 2016, as well as investigative files obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, In These Times identified at least a dozen cases in which police officers sued for alleged misconductincluding false arrests, warrantless searches and excessive use of force against civilianshad previously racked up multiple complaints describing similar types of behavior. But because these complaints lacked affidavits, they were never investigated.

Sean Campbell, a white police officer working in the citys Chicago Lawn district, has been named in four separate misdconduct lawsuits that collectively cost the city of Chicago $96,000. In one 2015 case, Campbell and fellow officer Steven Sautkus were sued by Lashaun Duprey, a 20-year-old African-American man who was a passenger in a car stopped on the Southwest Side of Chicago. The officers allegedly asked Duprey, What are you monkeys doing around here? before pulling him out of the car, punching him in the face and arresting him. Dupreys family was unable to post bail, so he remained in jail for 10 days before the charges of resisting arrest and disobeying a police officer were dismissed. The city settled with Duprey for $30,000.

According to the suit, which is one of several that Torreya Hamiltons firm has filed against Campbell, he often makes racist comments during his arrests, suggesting that he has control over the people in the Eighth District, and that non-Caucasian people are not welcome.

Another 2015 case named not only Sautkus and Campbell but Campbells wife, Emily, and brother, Michael, who are also Chicago police officers. Jonathan Guzman, an 18-year-old Latino man, accused the four officers of repeated harassment. Emily Campbell allegedly threatened Guzman with arrest in 2013 for passing out flyers for his grandfathers landscaping business; Campbells relative owned a competing business. In another incident, Sautkus and Sean Campbell allegedly pulled Guzman over, planted marijuana on him, impounded his car and stole his iPhone. The case settled for $35,000.

Prior to these incidents, 16 complaints against Sean Campbell were closed because they lacked affidavits, including allegations of racial slurs, unnecessary physical contact and illegal arrest. Between 2000 and 2014, Campbell amassed 79 total complaintsamong the highest of any CPD officer over that period. According to available data, Campbell has been disciplined just once, for an off-duty DUI. Attempts to reach Campbell for comment through the CPD, FOP and city attorneys were unsuccessful.

In March 2011, nine officers raided a South Side Chicago apartment in search of a 30-year-old black man suspected of possessing crack cocaine. Police instead found Estella Walker and Ray Robinson, a middle-aged black couple who had rented the apartment the month prior and were watching television with their 24-year-old son, Ray Robinson Jr., and a 39-year-old friend, George Graham. According to a lawsuit against the nine officers, police screamed obscenities at the confused residents, demanded to know where the drugs were and tore the apartment apart. They allegedly spit in a coffee maker, urinated on mail and assaulted the three men, but failed to find anything illegal. Later, the suit claims, a sergeant entered the apartment, looked around and told the officers present, You fucked up another one.

The case settled for $24,000 in May 2013. All nine officers had previous complaints related to illegal searches that were closed because they lacked affidavits. They have collectively been named in six suits that cost the city $170,000. The DOJ investigation found that, in most such lawsuits, [the Independent Police Review Authority]s parallel misconduct investigation was closed for lack of an affidavit, meaning that officers were never disciplined, or even investigated, for the same incident that sparked lawsuits.

In at least one case, CPD apparently missed an opportunity to catch a sexual predator because of a closed misconduct complaint. On Oct. 23, 2013, a 21-year-old woman left her uncle, off-duty police officer Allen Hall, in the car with her 3-year-old daughter. When she returned, she noticed the toddler was now in the front seat and looked upset. Later that day, the child told her mother that Hall had forced her to fondle him.

The mother reported Hall to police detectives. A criminal investigation revealed that Hall had abused the mother, as well, when she was a teenager. Hall was arrested and pled guilty to molesting both the mother and her daughter. He was eventually sentenced to four years of probation, evading prison. The CPD put him on administrative duty until he retired in October 2014.

CPD records reveal that the department had been warned about Hall in April 2013, when, during a pre-employment polygraph test for the Cook County Sheriffs Department, a job applicant disclosed that Hall had sexually assaulted her and at least two other victims years earlier. (The victims names were redacted from records provided to In These Times. Hall declined to comment through his attorney.)

These allegations were reported immediately to the Bureau of Internal Affairs, triggering a complaint file. But Hall was never questioned. The complaint was closed in August 2013because it lacked a signed affidavit.
The US Congress is just as aware of Irans violent and destabilizing activities as are the president and his foreign policy team. Secretary of Defense James Mattis has repeatedly told the press that Iran is at the center of virtually every Middle East crisis, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has publicly cast doubt upon the narrative of internal moderation surrounding the May 19 reelection of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Just after the Iranian elections, Tillerson recommended that Rouhani bring an end to the Iranian ballistic missile program and extend rights of free speech and free association to all Iranians. If Rouhani wanted to change Irans relationship with the rest of the world, those are the things he could do.

But there is little sign of Rouhani moving in the direction of Tillersons recommendations or any of his own campaign promises. Many of the trends that characterized his first term have already renewed themselves before the start of his second, including a world-leading rate of executions and a massive crackdown on protestors, independent journalists, and anyone who appears to be promoting Western lifestyles or democratic ideologies.

Additionally, the Rouhani personally rebuffed calls for restraint in the countrys ballistic missile work. The Iranian nation has chosen to be powerful, he said in May, dismissing Western concerns and declaring that the international community has no say in the future of such Iranian weapons, which have the potential to carry a nuclear warhead.

According to international reporting in the wake of the election, even many of those who voted for Rouhani did so only to proclaim him the lesser of two evils, without actually expecting any serious reform to result.

Meanwhile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran and its main constituent group the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) have disseminated images of empty polling places and accounts of vote rigging, to support the conclusion that participation in the election was nowhere near the 70 percent of eligible voters claimed by the Iranian regime. These pro-democratic dissidents organized a boycott of the election in order to call attention to the absence of any actual reformist voices, and thus the need for regime change.

The NCRI will reiterate this message on a much larger scale on July 1 when it holds its annual Iran Freedom rally, an event that is expected to attract something like 100,000 Iranian dissidents from around the world, as well as hundreds of dignitaries from the political and academic circles of the US and Europe.

Those Western supporters of the Iranian Resistance are already aware of the important role that will be served by the new US sanctions package once it goes into effect. They are presumably also aware of how much more important that role can be if it is backed up by additional action aimed at isolating the Revolutionary Guards and retracting their influence from the broader Middle East.

It is not often stated outright, but the ultimate goal of broad-based sanctions is regime change. And if this is not the declared US policy in the case of Iran, it should be. Rouhanis reelection leaves no doubt about the current regimes unwillingness and inability to change, while the NCRI rally calls attention to the fact that there is already deep antipathy for that regime among the Iranian people, as well as an established framework for a new, democratic nation based on the 10-point plan of NCRI President Maryam Rajavi.

The Senate bill passed by a vote of 98-2. Every senator who voted in favor of the new sanctions package should be commended. But if they also recognize the inherent danger posed by the Iranian regime, they should be willing to stand up in support of the Iranian Resistance, and to declare that a terrorist regime with cavalier disregard for international security is a regime that is not long for the world.
President Obama assured the regime in 2013 that he was not seeking regime change, but many critics are saying that regime-change needs to be the policy, emphasising that the US and other nations are unsafe for as long as the dictatorship is in place.

One way to pursue regime change is to put pressure on the countrys government in terms of diplomatic and economic actions, but also via covert operations. For example, supporting dissent in the country.

Recently, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was asked about whether the Trump administration supported regime change. He said that the US policy towards Iran is under review, but claimed they would work with opposition groups to bring a peaceful transition of the Iranian government.

This angered the foreign minister of Iran, Javad Zarif, who said that the US was illegally alluding to regime change. Irans ambassador to the United Nations filed a formal protest indicating that the US Secretary of State made it clear that the US is planning to do something that is against every norm and principle of international law.

Many officials in the Trump administration have identified Iran as an enemy with the current leadership in place, even with Rouhani as the President  the reformist who was praised by Obama.

Last year, Mike Pompeo, the director of the CIA, called on Congress to act regarding Iran and to address the Iranian regimes behaviour.

Many officials in Washington have criticised Obamas appeasement of Iran, accusing him of ignoring very serious infractions in terms of terrorism and human rights. While negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, Obama had a chance to address many issues but he instead chose to ignore them to ensure that Iran did not back away from the deal.

The Iranian regime rules on fear, not democracy. There is no popular support for the regime, therefore by showing the people of Iran that the United States supports them will increase domestic dissent. In 2009 there was a huge uprising after allegations that the election was rigged. It was a very real threat to the Supreme Leader and his regime. The people involved in the uprising were brutally suppressed and this is how the regime continues to live on.

During President Rouhanis first term, more than three thousand people were executed. He was involved in the negotiating of the 2015 nuclear deal and boasted that he deceived the other world leaders. Despite any claims about his reformist stance, Rouhani is not going to be able to improve the situation for the Iranian people.

The only way to guarantee freedom and democracy is to topple the regime and replace it with a peaceful one.
Around the same time, the Supreme Leader of Iran attacked the US in a speech saying that the US is arming terrorist groups that are responsible for instability. He even went as far as to say that the US created ISIS. On Twitter he said (about the US government): Theyre against an unrestrained ISIS but agree with a controlled ISISUS president accuses Iran of terrorism, while terrorism in this region has American roots

Many believe that the US and Iran are heading toward a full military conflict. Tehrans lobbies are saying that if the US takes action against Iran it would cause a new war in the Middle East. They are trying to make it be believed that it is better for the US to treat Iran as a regional power and to negotiate. In other words, to continue with Obamas policy of appeasement.

However, looking deeper into the issues, Iran does not want to start a new conflict  it wants to ensure that the existing conflicts in the region continue. As well as the domestic threat that comes as a result of the people of Iran increasingly voicing their dissent, the Iranian regime is terrified of the external threat. Everything the regime does is something it believes will counter ones of these threats.

The Iranian opposition, the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), is one such threat. For eight golden years with Obamas policy of appeasement, the Iranian regime could carry out dangerous meddling abroad and suppressed the people at home. Executions have been carried out like never before, and the export of terrorism has been increasing.

Earlier this month, a bill for more sanctions against Iran was passed by the Senate. It is the first firm step that has been taken by President Trump and his administration and it shows the Iranian regime that it needs to be taken seriously.

On 1st July, the Iranian opposition will be hosting its annual gathering in Paris. This event attracts Iranians from all across the globe to gather and listen to prominent political figures and personalities from many different countries pledge their support to the Resistance and to the people of Iran.

If we want to avoid another war, the only way to defeat the cruel, inhumane and dangerous regime is to put it under pressure and to support the opposition and the people in Iran who are crying out for freedom, democracy and human rights.
[June 26, 2017] A New Way of Banking Launched in Israel: PEPPER by Leumi Goes Live

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pepper enables customers to manage their bank account via mobile only - with no current account fees and with a personalised, unique and innovative user experience

The Leumi Group (TASE: LUMI) today announced the official launch of "Pepper", a first of its kind digital platform in Israel - and among the first in the world - to allow customers to manage all of their banking activities entirely via mobile and with no current account fees: from on-boarding to performing common banking transactions, including ordering credit cards and cheques, transferring money, taking out loans, managing savings deposits, and more. Pepper represents a revolution in how Millennials think about and manage their money in a digital world. It is based on a unique artificial intelligence technology that helps customers better manage their finances and make the most of their money. This cutting-edge technology allows Pepper to get to know its users, customise relevant content, and offer a personalised banking experience that differs from person to person - one that is completely different from the traditional banking language we have come to know. Pepper's user experience is similr to that of social media feeds, comprising of customised content which includes: Personal consumer tips and insights, real-time updates on expenses, summary and analysis of expenses on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, comparisons with peers, instant alerts upon duplicate charges, relevant news articles, live updates, and much more - all in a simple, young and friendly interface.



Pepper offers live customer service by professional bankers available around the clock (24/7) via video chat, online messaging, or by phone. Pepper's online on-boarding process takes only eight minutes and can be done from anywhere and at any time convenient to the customer. Following this brief process, customers will receive an update on their current account and credit facilities directly to their mobile phone. Once registered, customers can order a credit card and cheque books, free of charge.

Pepper, which is currently available to domestic customers in Israel, joins the free mobile payment app "Pepper Pay" which was released to app stores several months ago. Pepper Pay allows customers of all Israeli banks to transfer money to any beneficiary from their mobile phone contact list, in a quick and friendly manner - with no commissions. Towards the end of 2017, Leumi will also launch the "Pepper Invest" mobile app, which will enable trading in securities. About Leumi Group Bank Leumi, established in 1902, is one of the leading and largest corporations in Israel, providing comprehensive banking services and commanding an approximate 30% domestic market share. The Leumi Group operates branches throughout Israel, in addition to branches and offices located in key financial centers across the globe, including London, New York, Palo Alto and Shanghai. In 2016, Leumi reported a net profit of NIS 2.8 billion ($728 million) and a net return on equity reaching 9.3%. As of December 31, 2016, total assets under management of the Group reached NIS 1,259 billion ($327 billion) while total assets amounted to NIS 438.6 billion ($114 billion). Leumi is leading the way for innovation in Israeli Banking. Today, 'Leumi Digital' spearheads the digital banking field in Israel, with a wide range of innovative online banking services based on cutting-edge technologies. Leumi was the first financial organization in Israel, and one of few in the world, to implement cloud computing technology, in addition to establishing a designated Digital Banking Division and appointing a Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Leumi is the first Israeli bank to launch a standalone fully-mobile banking platform - 'Pepper'. SOURCE The Leumi Group

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Yes, Simon's Cat is between the covers again The new book is called Simon's Cat vs the World and you can win your own copy, acco...
Shrewsbury International School

Job Opportunity

Position / Job Specification: EAL Specialist

Department: Academic

Salary: This is a Local Hire Position, and salary would be dependent on experience

Position Summary:

The EAL Specialist reports to the Director of EAL and will typically be expected to engage in a full timetable of 50 periods per ten day cycle. Our highly motivated, experienced and flexible team of EAL specialists, working across all age phases, have good knowledge of the National Curriculum for England, and support its delivery through an EAL model of sheltered immersion. The EAL specialists also play key roles in the promotion and development of EAL strategies for all. They do this by working closely with mainstream teachers at the planning and delivery stages, and through leading staff training. English language learning is one of the main pillars of the schools mission, and our expectations of the children are very high. The solid foundation set at the primary level and the development, consolidation and refinement of our students proficiency in English as they move through the school is crucial to meeting these aspirations. EAL Specialists at Shrewsbury are exceptional practitioners who understand the nature of second language acquisition and how best to support it in a specific setting such as this.

General:

Shrewsbury is one of South East Asias outstanding international schools, with enrolment of 1600 students from Early Years to Sixth Form, exceptional examination results and particular strengths in the creative arts, design and sport. The school itself enjoys a delightful and spectacular setting, right on the banks of the Chao Phraya River in the heart of Bangkok. The school is readily accessed by road and has its own boats, which provide an easy and quick link to Bangkoks Skytrain and the city centre. The link with Shrewsbury School UK (www.shrewsbury.org.uk) is taken very seriously and, year-on-year, develops into a world-class educational partnership.

Candidate Profile:

The successful candidate:

will be qualified (holding at least a bachelors degree, or equivalent, and an entry-level TESOL qualification) and experienced, preferably within an international school setting;

have sufficient up-to-date knowledge of the key issues in Second Language Teacher Education;

have sufficient knowledge of/experience of teaching EAL within mainstream curriculums;

will have either experience of working with English Language Learners or a desire to broaden his/her experience and skills in EAL teaching and learning strategies;

be motivated, enthusiastic, imaginative and innovative;

have excellent interpersonal skills;

be aware of and sensitive to the demands of working in a cross-cultural setting;

will be a dedicated teacher capable of inspiring students;

will have a working knowledge of the National Curriculum for England and an ability and aspiration to attain high standards;

will have assessment for learning skills;

will have a flexible approach to working within the school curriculum and structures;

will have demonstrated an appreciation of the value of the extra-curricular dimension in developing the potential of students;

will have a positive approach to professional development, particularly in the areas of EAL and ICT;

will be happy to commit to and apply all school policies;

Child Safeguarding:

Shrewsbury International School is committed to Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The successful candidate will be required to

attend in-house Child Safeguarding programmes

promote and safeguard the welfare of all students in the school

report to the Child Protection Officer any concerns they have for the welfare of a student. This may include unsafe practices witnessed within the school as outlined in the schools Speak Out (Whistleblowing) Policy.

keep professional relationships with students where personal boundaries are respected and maintained

seek advice from a Line Manager or Child Protection Officer with issues or concerns related to Child Safeguarding.

Requirements:

Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) prior to the start of contract.

Formal proof of identity with photo ID (Original Driving License / Passport).

2 signed, confidential references (one of which will be from the candidates current headteacher) before the start of contract.

Verification of original qualifications.

How to Apply:

Applications will only be accepted on the official Shrewsbury International School Application Form, which is available on the school website Job Vacancies page.

Further Details:

Full details of the school are available on our website at www.shrewsbury.ac.th.

Any queries should be forwarded to jobs@shrewsbury.ac.th
Retirement is a major milestone in your life, and it should be a time you look forward to. But around half of all Americans aren't looking forward to leaving the workforce forever -- and money is a big reason why.
Gov. Pete Ricketts has approved and signed a request from the state Medicaid division to adopt emergency regulations regarding payment of Medicaid claims that will save the state money.

The emergency regulations, which affect providers with clients eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, will allow the state to pay providers the lesser of a Medicaid or Medicare rate. Until July 1, the state will continue paying up to the Medicare rate, which is generally higher than the Medicaid rate.

Without the change in the payment method, the department would have needed to cut Medicaid provider rates by 3 percent, Thomas "Rocky" Thompson, state Medicaid interim director, said in a letter to Ricketts asking for the emergency regulation. And those rate cuts could have caused a loss of providers, he said.

The change was estimated to save the state $11.3 million in general funds in fiscal year 2018, Thompson said.

Jon Day, executive director of Blue Valley Behavioral Health, said the change will mean losing about $15,000 in reimbursements to his agency. That would be on top of no rate increases paid by the department in the next two years, even though providers have increases in expenses such as salaries, health insurance premiums and utilities, he said.

Rate increases proposed by the Appropriations Committee, but vetoed by the governor, would have meant about an added $50,000 for his agency, Day said.

About 30 percent of Blue Valley clients are on Medicaid, and 10 percent to 15 percent are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare.

"Anytime you lose money, it's going to hurt," Day said.

Day said his frustration is that provider rate issues should have been discussed throughout the session, not held until the end for the veto override debates, when the Department of Health and Human Services handed out a last-minute fact sheet to some senators.

The state budget appropriated $1.69 billion over two years for the state Medicaid program, and Ricketts vetoed $11.8 million from the amount in each of the two years.

During the budget veto override debate, Ricketts' office asked senators not to override his veto, and said if the veto stood, providers would not receive across-the-board rate cuts. The Medicaid division would manage the program to minimize losses in access to services for Medicaid recipients, according to that information given to senators by the Department of Health and Human Services.
A Crete man this week got prison time for sexual assaults on two underage girls, one of them at the dance studio he owned with his wife and the other at his home.

Vinson Jenkins, 28, pleaded guilty in April to two counts of attempted sexual assault in the first degree.

On Monday, Saline County District Judge Vicky Johnson sentenced him to 12 to 14 years in prison.

Jenkins, who worked for Crete Public Schools as a paraeducator and as an instructor at Dynamic Dance Co. in Crete, also will have to register as a sex offender.

He could have gotten up to 40 years.

Crete Police arrested him April 28, 2016, after two middle school girls said he had sexually assaulted them.

One of them said he began kissing her while they were in his basement, then took off her clothes and penetrated her while holding her arms over her head with one of his hands and covering her mouth with the other, according to a probable cause affidavit for his arrest.

The next day, a second girl came forward and said Jenkins had sexual contact with her more than once at Dynamic Dance between August and December 2015, police said.

The affidavit says he sent her messages through social media and asked for pictures of her in her underwear.
HELENA, Mont.  Federal agents found homemade bombs in the Montana home of a man they suspect is the "AK-47 Bandit," who is wanted for a string of bank robberies and is accused of shooting at a Kansas state trooper, according to authorities and court documents filed Monday.

FBI agents were tipped off when Richard Gathercole, 39, called his mother from a Nebraska jail following his arrest in the attempted shooting of the trooper who was trying to pull him over on Interstate 70 last week, according to a search warrant application to a federal judge. The trooper wasn't injured.

According to a transcript of the call, Gathercole told his mother, who is unnamed, to "get all the guns out" of the house. The woman agrees, then says, "Um, this is recorded. You know that."

FBI agents, along with officers from Chino, California; Rexburg, Idaho; and Montana's Musselshell County searched Gathercole's home in the town of Roundup, about 50 miles north of Billings, on Saturday, according to officials. Inside, they found "numerous" improvised explosive devices that were removed by a bomb squad, the officials said in a statement.

FBI Los Angeles spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said the search was connected to a bank robbery investigation.

"Multiple departments are investigating whether evidence found during the search in Montana may be linked to a series of bank robberies currently under investigation in California and other states," she said.

FBI officials have been looking for years for the man they call the "AK-47 Bandit," wanted for bank robberies in Chino, Rexburg and others in California, Washington state and Nebraska dating back to 2012. He typically wore a balaclava mask and carried an AK-47 rifle with a drum magazine during the robberies, according to FBI officials.

The robber shot and wounded an officer in Chino while trying to escape one robbery, according to FBI officials.

The application to search Gathercole's home by FBI Special Agent Andrew Ubbelohde details one bank robbery by the "AK-47 Bandit" that FBI officials said was carried out by Gathercole: A 2014 Nebraska City robbery in which $90,258 was stolen.

The application also accuses Gathercole of stealing $126,000 from a bank in Mason City, Iowa, in 2015. During that incident, the robber pulled out an explosive device that contained powder, metal pieces and a fuse, according to Ubbelohde.

A similar explosive was removed from the trunk of the car Gathercole was driving when authorities say he fired on the Kansas trooper with an AK-47 rifle. It is not clear if the homemade bombs taken from his Montana home were of the same type.

The search warrant application does not describe the other "AK-47 Bandit" robberies.

Gathercole is being held on charges of theft and possession of stolen firearms.

He was arrested last Tuesday at a gas station in Lexington. He had stolen a truck and guns as he was trying to get away from the Kansas trooper, according to the search warrant application.

Gathercole has a court hearing in Nebraska on July 6, according to the transcript of his phone call with his mother.

Federal charges have not been filed, Eimiller said.
Sebastian Baillie, an incoming senior at Lincoln East High School, has been awarded a full scholarship by the Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha to attend the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. All applicants have to have intent to attend the academy after high school.
"By the grace of God, we made it here. We survived, after being marched through the desert, starved, robbed, and everything else that went along with it, we survived."
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.

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212 missing kids reunited with parents

The National Centre for Children at Risk, a body functioning under the Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB), in coordination with the Nepal Police has rescued 212 children out of 283 missing children from around Kathmandu Valley on the basis of missing reports from parents and relatives.
7 injured in explosion during Maoist Centres election rally

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Authorities mull ban on traffic movement at night

The local administration is considering a ban on vehicular movement along the Narayangadh-Muglin section in Chitwan during night.
Bomb found at police post in Bardiya

A pressure cooker bomb was found at a police post at Basgadi bazaar in Bardiya district on Monday.
Border sealed off for local polls

The Nepal  India border has been sealed off for three days beginning from Monday in view of the second phase of local level election slated for June 28.
CNP likely to begin search for new male gharial from Oct

Chitwan National Park, which is facing crisis in its gharial conservation effort following the death of its only male gharial last month, is likely to begin its search for a new male gharial from October.
Govt declares Eid holiday today

The Home Ministry has announced a public holiday on Monday to mark the Eid-ul-Fitr.
Home Minister urges voters to take part in election confidently

Minister for Home Affairs Janardan Sharma has urged the voters to take part in the election with confidence.
In a fix

One bright spot in Nepals politics in recent times has been the coming together of six Madhesi parties to form the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N).
Indian CA graduates to be barred from practicing

Chartered accountants, who get enrolled in the Indian chartered accountant institute after mid-July 18 will not get a licence to practice chartered accountancy in Nepal.The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal (ICAN),
Man accused in rape-murder of 14-yr-old arrested

Police have arrested the man accused in the rape and killing a teenage girl five-and-a-half years ago.
Migrant workers returning home for elections

Nepali migrant workers are returning home from India to cast their votes in the second phase of local polls being held on June 28.
NHRC calls for peaceful elections

The National Human Rights Commission has urged the security agencies to make the upcoming elections peaceful, safe and human rights friendly.
No measures to reduce invalid votes: Observers

Pointing to a large number of invalid votes during the first phase of local level elections, three organisations have alleged that the Election Commission has failed to introduce adequate measures for decreasing the invalid ballot percentage in the second phase.
NRA: Pacts worth over $3b signed with donors

The government has achieved a substantial progress in signing loan and grant agreements with donors, accounting for 75 percent of $4.10 billion they had pledged during the International Conference on Nepals Reconstruction in June 2015.
Pokhara intl airport construction set to begin from Thursday

The construction of international airport in Pokhara will formally begin from Thursday, a day after the second phase of the local elections, the project official said.
Preparations begin for PM Deubas India visit

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has started preparations for the India visits of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Deputy PM and Minister for Foreign Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara.
Stop them before they start

The theme for International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 2017 is Listen First - Listening to children and youth is the first step to help them grow healthy and safe.